#66: Spooky Season #5: (Bloody Sand)
Prompt: mummy, howling, skeleton
Starrk and Shunsui are forced work together (under protest) to track down a reanimated mummy bearing the curses of Egypt. (Inspired by The Mummy (1999))
The sky above is black, but the horizon is deep red and a howling wind that smells like blood stirs the white sand of the high dunes all around, throwing small flurries into the air to form little whirlwinds that die out within seconds. The breeze groans like a dying thing and the scent sticks to the throat like sickness.
Beyond the dunes, a pyramid rises sharply in the west, a dark shape against the red horizon, and to the east, the blocky skyline of a modern city sparkles with electrical lights in the distance. In the hollows between the dunes, dark forms lay motionless, some of them already scavenged by animals and others avoided like the plague, even by the vultures. There are dozens of them, dressed in a mix of modern, antiquated, and ancient clothing.
Above the dunes, half a dozen figures hover in midair, standing in place as if on a flat surface. One is pointedly separated from the others by a dozen yards. There are bright flashes of glinting steel in the group, but only one man steps forward to confront the loner.
"Okay, I'm going to need an explanation for this one." The loner is dressed in white and floating but otherwise looks fairly normal…save for a massive empty hole in his chest, bisected by a nasty scar.
"Ah, Espada-san!" The other is a man dressed in pink-on-white-on-black and sporting a straw hat that pushes back to reveal twinkling, mischievous eyes.
"Not an espada any more, Taicho-san."
"Starrk-san, then!"
The former primera espada crosses his arms and directs a low-powered glower at his old enemy. Kyoraku doesn't even have the grace to apologize, just offers a wicked smirk and a shrug. Then he's forced to grab his kimono so the pink fabric doesn't fly away in the snarling breeze. Starrk raises an unimpressed eyebrow, then pointedly looks down at the figures in the sand below them.
The bodies are a gruesome sight, but it's the souls that really grab the attention of the ghosts; namely, the fact that most of them are missing. There are two opaque figures standing in the very center of the massacre, swaying back and forth on wobbly feet and staring blankly at nothing. They both still have their soul chains, but their bodies are…faded in places. Even as Starrk watches them, their bodies grow dimmer and he senses their energy signatures diminish.
"So. You called me here." He continues as if Kyoraku had not spoken. "Why? What's going on?"
"Ah, it's not a pretty sight, is it?" The captain advances until he's only a yard or so from the arrancar but stops when Starrk's eyes shift to look at him, a clear warning. He gives no sign that it wasn't his own idea to stop, just turns to look at the bodies. "My subordinates were called here to deal with some errant souls that left our radar and we discovered…well. We're not sure what we discovered. At first, we thought it was a hollow of some sort, eating them."
"That's not the work of a hollow." Starrk interrupts, descending until he's perched on the highest dune, closer to the dim souls. Neither of them turns to look at him, despite the fearsome reiatsu signature he's projecting. "They're not eaten."
"So a hollow couldn't do this?" Kyoraku's tone is sharper and so is his gaze as he comes to rest on the dune next to Starrk. This time, he isn't warned away.
"Not…necessarily. But a hollow wouldn't have a reason to do this…we only get energy from souls we devour."
"Hm. That makes sense. And it aligns with what our Twelfth Division found."
"Oh? What's that?" When Starrk realizes just how close Kyoraku has gotten, he scowls and walks away along the crest of the dune.
Immediately, the shinigami follows, talking the whole way. "That there is a reiatsu signature around these bodies, and the other caches just like this, and it is surprisingly human."
"….Human?" Incredulous, the former espada looks back over the scene just in time to see one of the souls dim entirely and vanish from existence. Its soul chain is the last thing to disappear. "A human did this? How?"
"Not fully human. The signature is warped somehow, like the creature has been merged with a hollow, or their soul has been…altered." The implications leave a heavy tension in the air between them.
Starrk breaks it with a sigh. "And that's why I'm here, I take it? You want to know if Aizen had anything to do with it? I can tell you right now that he didn't. All of his attention was on the Karakura Town mess. And even if he did want to do something like this, he wouldn't trust such power to someone outside of his direct control."
"Good to know, but we already came to that conclusion on our own. Thank you for the confirmation, however!"
"…Sure. Whatever. So why am I here, then?"
"Well…" The mischievous grin that slides onto the shinigami's face instantly puts Starrk on guard and he pulls back.
"What?" The single word is a gruff growl.
"Oh, it's nothing that bad! But we've been having trouble tracking such an odd reiatsu signature and, while Captain Kurotsuchi is sure he'll be able to put something together eventually, time is of the essence. And I happen to know you arrancars are especially good at tracking reiatsu…"
Starrk furrowed his brow. "You want my pesquisa? That's it?"
"For the most part. For now." There's actual regret on Kyoraku's face when he continues. "And I'm afraid your assistance is of the essence here."
"Uh-huh." Starrk glances at the other shinigami that came with KYoraku, noting the zanpakuto they're all holding free and ready to use. The 'you won't be leaving until we let you' implication hovers in the air between them. "Why bother me with this? There are hundreds of other hollows you could have dragged out of Hueco Mundo."
"Other, less dangerous hollows", goes unsaid but heard just the same.
"You're the most reasonable and you've been willing to assist us in the past." Kyoraku finally cuts to the chase. "And you're most likely to have the intelligence and ability to succeed." He smiles, more friendly than mischievous this time. "And for all your danger, you're the least likely to actually attack."
"Hmph." Starrk grunts, then looks up at the sky and sighs again, heavy and put upon. "Oh, fine. But you'd better not ask me to fight anything."
"Wouldn't dream of it!" Shunsui claps him on the shoulder and takes the lead down towards the bodies. "Now, we think the trail starts around here…"
Starrk takes one last look at the remaining plus soul, watching it fade out of existence just like its companion, then silently follows Shunsui down into the sands.
Author's Notes:
I really like the 1999 Mummy movie. It's hokey and silly and the cgi isn't great...but it's just so much fun.
Thanks to all of my readers and reviewers!
