Chapter Twenty-Four
"We're... trapped in the past?"
Vance sounded exhausted. Ryohime didn't blame him - her friend had been chasing a captain through sewers for nearly five hours. But even though he was now lying on the roof as if ready to roll off at any second, Vance's eyes were bright with excitement at her discovery.
"I think so," replied Ryohime, leaning on her drawn-up knees. "At least, it's the only thing I can think of that would explain all this. People you and I know as captains are currently only lieutenants or seated officers, Zaraki Kenpachi is still alive, and there is no war going on because Caro hasn't even shown up yet. And the incorporeal...ness could be because of that, too. We've gone back far enough that messing with the past could create a paradox, so we simply can't mess with anything."
"A neat idea," Vance agreed slowly, nodding. "But... how far back are we, then? And how do we get back to our own time?"
Ryohime shook her head bleakly. "Not a clue. The thing is, I never knew Zaraki Taichou. If he was alive when I was born, he died before I first visited Seireitei, when I was four. Which means, at the absolute least, we've gone back fourteen years."
Vance whistled. "That's... a long time."
"Tell me about it."
The two were silent for a moment as they mulled over the implications. Vance whistled again.
"Time travel. Cool."
"Cool, but very badly timed. Everything is falling apart back home, and we're stuck here... watching the clouds."
"They are nice clouds, though. No denying."
"From an artistic sense, I suppose. They'd be murder to draw."
Vance seemed to realize what they were doing and sat up abruptly. "You're right, though, this is no time to be bantering. Herald isn't even here to appreciate the cloud-talk. So what can we do in our current situation?"
"Fact list?"
"Exactly." Vance held up a finger. "Fact: We are currently out of sync with our appropriate time."
"True."
"We are incapable of making ourselves known, through touch or voice, to the people of this time."
"True... so far."
"No one seems to have noticed our reiatsu, either."
"True."
"We are on our own."
"Most likely."
"Ah hah!" exclaimed Vance. "In that case, our first priority should be to determine whether or not we are, in fact, on our own. There are a lot of powerful Shinigami in Soul Society, and we should check in with all the ones we know to try and make contact."
Ryohime nodded. "Sounds good. But tomorrow. It's getting late, and it's been a long day."
"Gotta agree with you, there... alright, first thing tomorrow then."
.
Ryohime lay awake, staring at the stars. Vance was nearby, curled up and fast asleep, but she couldn't possibly follow his lead.
So much tension had been building over the last few days, and none of it resolved. It left her feeling heavy inside, filled with anxiety. Vance didn't remember much, if any, of it, which was probably a good thing, but it left her with no one to talk to.
"Muramasa," she whispered, very quietly. She picked up her sheath, held it up against the sky.
Then her eyes narrowed, her eyebrows lowered sharply. She wasn't going to just sit here and beg her Zanpakuto to come comfort her. That wasn't how things worked between them. When she wanted to talk, she went to him.
Her inner world was the one place she would never be denied access. And he couldn't keep her out.
Mind made up, Ryohime sat up and settled into a cross-legged meditation pose. This time, there was no emergency to distract her, no Vance to look after. They had all night.
.
She opened her eyes on the wide beach of her inner world. The frozen ocean spread out before her, icebergs poking up here and there on the otherwise featureless icy plain. The sun, usually caught on the horizon to cast a glorious spectrum of colors across the world, was gone.
Twilight. Dull, moonless, starless twilight.
"Muramasa!" she called, turning to look all around. He usually spent time on the rocks of the shore, looking out over the ocean, but he, too, was gone.
Her calls echoed back at her, bouncing off the cliffs behind and disappearing across the ocean. She took a breath, then started down the beach, head swiveling as she scanned the beach and the ocean with each step.
"Muramasaaaa!"
.
Vance jolted up in a chill sweat. For a moment, he saw only white sand and black walls, and inhuman, inHollow, screams echoed in his mind.
"Stop him!" he screamed, still half asleep. "Kill-"
Then it was gone. Like mist swept away by the wind.
He blinked, rubbing his eyes.
Ryohime was sitting on the roof, her Zanpakuto across her knees. Vance hoped he hadn't disturbed her meditation with whatever nightmare he had been having. He chuckled weakly, rubbing his arms. He couldn't remember waking up in such a state before... it must have been a bad dream.
His own Zanpakuto was lying next to him, where it belonged, and he picked it up and pushed it through his sash. He looked down at himself for a moment, then set about brushing off his badly damaged robes as best he could. Even if Ryohime was the only one who could see him, that was no excuse to go about looking like a half-dead goat.
He had entirely disassembled his horribly-mangled braid of black hair and was picking through it with his fingers when Ryohime stirred. She sighed, opening her eyes, and gave her Zanpakuto a very disappointed look before standing.
"How'd you sleep?" she asked, stretching. Vance shrugged, fingers still working diligently on his hair.
"Pretty good, I think, though I had a nightmare before waking up. Can't remember what it was about, though. You?"
She ran a hand through her hair ruefully. "I didn't sleep. I was trying to find Muramasa."
"He still wasn't wanting to talk?"
"He's... gone."
Her voice was suddenly very grave. Vance paused, looking at Ryohime in concern.
"Gone... gone?"
"I walked my inner world all night, calling for him. He didn't show up, and I couldn't sense a trace of him anywhere. It's as if he just vanished." She drew her Zanpakuto an inch, looking sadly at the silvery blade. "I don't get it. Maybe it was my using Bankai... maybe I did something wrong, and ruined everything..."
"BANKAI?!"
Ryohime jumped at his furious yell, and Vance totally abandoned his hair in order to wheel on her, thoroughly vexed.
"What do you mean, Bankai?! Since when have you been using Bankai?"
Ryohime shrank back slightly. "I just used it for the first time yesterday!"
"Why did you have to use Bankai yesterday?" asked Vance intensely. "What does it do? What does it look like? How is it you figured out Bankai and I didn't hear anything about it?!"
"You had other things to think about!" Ryohime snapped suddenly, putting Vance back on his heels. "Seriously, Vance, do you know how you've been acting these last two months? You haven't really been making it easy to talk with you!"
Vance winced under the reprimand. "I..."
"... have been totally absorbed with trying to figure out your Hollow powers," Ryohime interrupted. "And every day that went by with you no closer to a breakthrough made you more and more withdrawn. More and more self-centered. Herald didn't even need me to tell him when I discovered my Bankai; he figured it out the very morning after and brought up the subject himself. If you had been paying attention to anyone besides yourself-!"
Ryohime cut herself off suddenly, clamped her mouth shut. Vance was frozen in shock, eyes wide.
"I'm sorry," Ryohime managed after a long moment. "I'm sorry, that wasn't..."
"No." Vance looked away to avoid her gaze. "I get it." His hand tightening around his Zanpakuto's sheath. "But how about you try being the only person... the only person to fail." His voice faded, and he went silent again. Staring at his Zanpakuto...
After another long, stretching moment, Ryohime finally worked up her nerve. "It's time you hear everything," she said, as bravely as she could. "I... may have made a mistake, but it seemed like the only option at the time. Hear me out?"
Vance sighed heavily, then gestured towards the warehouse nearby, the one that stood where Fourteenth offices would eventually. "Can we get off this slanted roof first, though?"
They settled down in the dust and darkness, and Ryohime tried to figure how far back to go.
"Do you remember... the fight against the Hollow Whiplash?"
Vance shook his head.
"Then... I suppose that's where I'd better start. Because it was after that battle, Vance, that you disappeared off the face of the earth."