Numb and Hollow

Chapter 11

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Slowly coming to consciousness again Infra couldn't believe how comfortable and well rested he was feeling after the ordeal he went through yesterday;it was as if his pillow had a self warming spell on it and his mattress had a low level…water charm? Wave spell? Who cares! He was comfortable…but Infra didn't remember casting any spells yesterday and doubted he was even in any condition to have done so even before he finally collapsed…Opening his eyes just a peak Infra discovered he was snuggling in the arms of the beauty he had napped with…well it was more like kidnapped by…the other day, Stark was his name if he remembered correctly. Though he wondered how Stark had gotten in his bed of all places he wasn't gonna question anything just yet; he was very comfortable after all;maybe just a little longer…like another three hours or something. Then he'd prank Gin and Grimmjow as they were the most likely culprits to have let the bloody wolf in.

Unbeknownst to Infra Stark was only pretending to be asleep at this point,as he had sensed his Pup waking by the speed of his heart quickening, well,he had been alerted to his Pup's waking by the steadily increasing speed of his breathing more than anything and had watched half lidded as Infra had woken briefly before going back to sleep after recognising him. When Infrahad come in last night it was a bit of a shock to see his new appearance but he still smelled roughly the same; he justsmelled overly of raspberries and jasmine now. No biggie. He was going to mark him with his scent anyway and he still smelled delicious.

-o-o-

Hours later when Infra finally awoke again it was to an empty bed; he would have thought he'd dreamed the whole event if not for his slightly aching muscles and the wolf's scent still lingering among his sheets. Looking out to his balcony he found the 'sun' to already be high in the sky once again; Stark must have duties or something. Remembering his own orders Infra was beginning to rise out of his somewhat less comfortable spot only to freeze and hiss as a stabbing paralysing pain shot through his badly abused muscles.

Waiting a few moments until the piercing chainsaw attacking his whole body and abated into a simmering throbbing, Infra made his way into the bathroom to enjoy a nice long soak with a bottle of pain reliever; while Severus had been a pretty atrocious teacher it didn't mean Infra was bad at potions, it just meant he had had to teach himself the delicate craft instead. Having been in the bath for a long time and used several reheating charms Infra finally decided to inspect the changes his latest 'meal' had gifted him, conveniently ignoring the pruned fingers and toes while he was at it. Despite the overall physical changes it was his mindscape which surprised him the most; where his mindscape had once only had one mansion in the sky with four 'towers' there was now a forth tower…He needed a bit of help on that one.

"Tempest! Loki!" shouted Infra in this 'commander' voice; Neville had once commented that it could probably even be heard over a banshee's scream. Admittedly he was able tobe heard over that bint Ginny so there may be some truth to what Neville had said...

Tempest and Loki appeared quickly before him. It appeared the two of them hadn't escaped the ordeal unchanged either, but they still made an odd pair as far as Infra was concerned. Tempest looking like a more serious and deadly version of Infra had jumped up a few scales as he'd gained a large amount of tiny small chained all over his outfit and a pair of black wings with white tips, while Loki now looked like a minimised version of Infra wearing a priestess outfit with fox ears and twin tailed…he didn't think the look would normally work but it surprisingly did...

"You require our assistance Highness?" inquired Loki, snapping Infra back into 'reality' from inspecting his two guardians further.

"Yes, do you guys know what's in that new tower?" each tower had a different coloured vein running through the rock of each tower; rainbow for the Elements, blue for Loki, red for Tempest and green for Magic, but this new tower had some sort of luminescent silver and black colour running through it.

"A new ability."

"…what type of ability?" he should have known Tempest would leave him hanging like that; sometimes he had this sneaking suspicion that the bastard did it just to mess with him; he probably wasn't far from the mark there either.

"An ability that will allow you to become a Soul Reaper if you so choose." answered Loki with Tempest continuing "it originates from that strange looking Hollow you ate yesterday. Though you can do it without a focus, it'd still be best to gain one, such as a ring or object of importance."

Sighing, Infra knew why Tempest was mentioning a focus when it came to this ability; it was probably dangerous enough that he needed to train it proper otherwise it could get out of control; like when he was learning magic and needed a wand. Looking back he realised how ridiculous the poses most Witches and Wizards preformed when casting a spell were, as if they were actors preforming for an audience on some grand stage; queue dramatic pause and pose!

Looking to the tower once again he noticed a static force hovering before the towers top most windows. It appeared not to have a preferred shape and just float around like a shoal of fish. It was just pure power at the moment, not a sentiment being; looking to Tempest an idea started to form.

"What would happen if you became my focus Tempest? Or at least the swords themselves" as long as there wasn't any negative side-effects it should be alright.

"…if we were to do that you would need to relearn everything in regards to controlling my abilities as well as the new ones you have gained; we would also both be learning the new ones at the same time so I am unlikely to be of much help in regards to teaching...perhaps procuring some books on the subject would be beneficial?" The benefits seemed to outweigh the drawbacks so far but it would only work if Tempest agreed.

Leaving his mindscape shortly after Tempest had agreed to the situation he came face to face with a curious Gin…he would have to check his face before leaving his rooms that's for sure; Gin wouldn't let an opportunity like that escape so easily.

"'ello Infra, I got a gift for ya!"

"What is it?" maybe he should run…

"Pretty little bangles that'll allow ya ta pass through the barrier around Hueco Mundo into the world of the Living as much as you want Kitten."

Ok, maybe not run, maybe just back away slowly after he got the bangle.

Gin handed over the thin double gold bangles and left quickly, now he just knew Gin had done something…was probably trying to film the bloody thing right now too…

Quickly, using a spell, Infra checked for tampering which revealed there was some sort of contact potion on the side of the bangle he wasn't touching. Using a very strong cleaning charm had the potion removed with little hassleand with Gin none the wiser.

…He was starting to feel a bit cold now…looking down Infra noticed he was still in the bath, which sent him into a state of shock; how did Gin get in?

Quickly casting a strong reheating charm on the water and a locking spell on the door Infra began the process of working himself up into getting out. That was the only real problem with keeping yourself clean; the bath was nice and toasty while the wind sneaking in under the previously locked door was chilly. It would have been fine if he could still safely warm the air up but he n Tempest had already started the merge with the new entity. Getting out and drying quickly it was a miracle he didn't fall and land on his ass he was that cold; he was just thankful he could still put warming charms on his clothes.

A/N: 8/9/2013 - I just finished rewriting the previous chapters so they should make more sense now and with a bit more information. I can't promise to update regularly but the updates will eventually come. I don't want to be one of those authors that don't finish their stories and I have too many ideas running rampant in my head to stop.