Note: In which someone has trouble with the mafia, and Chris throws hands with an old lady.
Warning: This story will contain violence, blood, tons of swearing, and subjects that might disturb readers. Proceed at your own risk. More details at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 01: The Roadtrip
It was a typical hot summer day. I stood in front of the mall in Timisoara, eating a chocolate ice cream while I waited for my younger brother Chris to finish his driving exam. I was a little annoyed that I had no shade to hide under as the sun was beating down on me, but I couldn't do anything about it.
Chris had already been gone for twenty minutes, which was not a good sign as far as I was concerned. Usually you either got your license in the first fifteen minutes, or the examiner drove you around until you failed. And I was worried it would be the latter.
A few minutes later, a small black car veered into view from behind a street corner. It approached me and stopped abruptly a few meters away, and Chris got out, thanking the examiner.
"So?" I asked impatiently as I approached him.
"I did it," Chris replied with a beaming smile.
"Great, let's go then. I have plans for us."
We approached my car, and Chris beat me to the driver side door.
"Let me drive us home, Connor. Pretty please."
I hesitated for a moment, but I threw him the keys.
"Fine, but if you crash it, you'll pay for the repairs," I told him as I climbed into the passenger seat.
Chris started the engine and slowly entered the road. After making sure the traffic was clear, he started talking to me.
"You said you had plans for us..."
"Yeah."
"So don't keep me waiting!" He snapped. "What plans? Drinks? Clubbing? Party time?"
"A trip for two to the Lazare Springs," I replied.
Upon hearing the news, Chris's face contorted into a frown almost instantly.
"No!" He yelped.
He frowned and snapped at me, which scared me a little. It wasn't like him to lose his temper so easily.
"What the hell?" I asked. After a few seconds of silence, he calmed down enough to answer me.
"Sorry, I just...don't want to go there."
"Why not?" I kept pestering him. "It's the summer festival there. Music, food, drinks..." I waited a few seconds to see his reaction, but he was still sullen. "Chicks..." I tried a final tactic, hoping he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.
"No, final verdict," he replied in an angry tone.
"What the hell? Do you have problems with the mafia there or something?"
"It's just...I have a bad feeling. Let's stay at home, have a couple of beers, and call Darius and Dean to join us."
"Okay," I said with disappointment. "If you don't want to, you don't want to. Can't do anything about it. I'll call the hotel to see if I can at least get back the advance I paid... "
We left Timisoara and approached Vlasnita, the small town where we lived. We were passing through open plains and there were no other cars on the road, so I got lost in thought. I was wondering what happened to Chris earlier. By nature, he wasn't a violent or easily angered person. And although he did not like going out very much, he never complained about a trip, especially if it was just the two of us.
With my sight lost in the road ahead, I saw a woman come out of the wheat field and step on the asphalt. I got scared and instinctively jumped out of my seat, with my hands on the wheel. I pulled it to the left, and Chris braked hard.
"What the hell are you doing?" Do you want to get us killed?! " He shouted.
"The woman..." I gasped and pointed to the empty road.
"What woman?"
"There was a woman on the road, I swear!" I tried to defend myself, surprised to see that there was no sign of her left. "She was tall and white as a sheet, she had black hair, and she wore a long, white dress."
Chris inhaled deeply and calmed down.
"Okay. You're tired and nervous, and you're hallucinating," he answered in a surprisingly calm tone. "Let's get home already..."
He restarted the engine, and we continued on our way in silence. I wanted to continue the discussion about the mysterious woman, I was certain I saw her, but Chris cut my words short. Which was also unusual for him, but I figured he was probably anxious because I almost caused a crash. So I resigned myself and kept silent.
We got home in about half an hour or so. Chris parked the car in the driveway, killed the engine, and tossed me the keys.
"Go inside and rest," he begged as he searched his wallet. "Get some sleep, clear your head..."
"And where are you going?" I asked him when he turned his back on me.
"I'm going out to buy that beer. I'm the one that got his license, so it has to be my treat."
"Okay," I replied without protest. He was acting weird and I wasn't sure what to do anymore. "Then I'll call Darius and Dean to see if they'll stop by."
"I'll call them myself when I get back. You go to bed, I'm not kidding," he insisted.
"Okay, fine, I'm going!"
I went inside after Chris left, and I threw myself into bed to rest. But I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. I was sure that I saw a woman. I was sure that Chris was behaving very strangely out of the blue. But I couldn't figure out why, and it was eating me up inside.
After half an hour he returned with the beers. He was upset to see me awake and smoking in the kitchen instead of doing what he asked me to do, but I just couldn't sleep.
"At least tell me you didn't leave the house," he said. "I don't need you hallucinating outside."
"What, am I under house arrest now?" I snapped back, angry with him at this point. "I swear on my life, I saw a woman on the road! I'm one hundred percent sure!"
"You hallucinated!" He insisted. "If there really was a woman on the road, I would have seen her too."
"What the hell got into you all of a sudden?!"
Chris sighed deeply. He stepped back, set the beer pack on the table, and approached the door. Outside, the sun was setting and it was getting dark as the reddish light of the sunset enveloped everything around us. Chris took a beer, and a cigarette from my pack before he answered.
"I'm sorry, I'm just stressed out. You almost threw us in a ditch, after all. But I promise I'll calm down. I'll go outside to drink a beer and smoke a cigarette, and we'll talk afterwards..."
"But you don't smoke..." I muttered. But he kept going, not having heard me.
Outside on the porch, Chris opened his beer and lit his cigarette in silence. He took a deep breath and stared blankly as he racked his brain. The sun set completely, and the reddish light made room for the first stars in the sky as the darkness enveloped everything.
"You can show yourself," he said after a while. "I know you've been stalking us for a while now."
Hearing his words, a thin, pale figure approached the gate. She passed through it and followed the sidewalk until she reached Chris, stopping in front of him. Her body gave off a faint, fuzzy light, and her legs barely touched the ground.
"What do you want from us?" Chris asked wearily.
The figure slowly took shape, until she became the woman from earlier. Her hair was long and black, she was dressed in a simple white dress, and her skin was colorless. Chris tried to look her in the eye, but he felt a heavy feeling of uneasiness whenever he met her dark, lifeless stare.
"You know what I want..." she replied in a soft, echoing voice.
"No!" Chris yelled and stood up. The feeling of heaviness worsened, but he fought it back. "I know what you want, but you can't have him! Not this time! Take me, I'm stronger anyway!"
"You can't keep him from me," the figure continued calmly. "Your destinies are already decided. The Denryoku wants to reach him."
"The Denryoku doesn't want anything, you want it. But you can't have him, I swear on my life."
She slowly approached Chris as they spoke, and he trembled with fear from his core. Her mouth slowly widened into an evil grin.
"With what little power you have left, you can't fight me," she told him. Chris took a step back as the weight of her presence pressed down on him, but she followed. "And anyways, you couldn't have done it even back then."
Suddenly, Chris took a step towards her. And then another, and another, forcing her to retreat. A flame ignited in his soul, one long extinguished and almost forgotten. And now it was back, so hot and bright that he scared the entity in front of him for a moment.
"We'll see about that!" He shouted.
He struck the ground in front of him with his foot, and a thick stone sword popped out. He grabbed it with both hands and lunged at the figure, ready to cut her in two. She let out a terrified scream and evaporated, sending Chris's blood boiling with rage.
"Coward! Come back and prove how strong you are!" Chris shouted at the empty yard.
The voice of the figure echoed with a final answer, but she didn't appear again.
"You can't oppose fate..."
Chris let go of the sword, and it melted back into the earth that gave it shape. He took the beer from the porch, chugged it in one go, and returned inside.
"We'll see who can't fight back."
"Pack your bags, we're leaving!" Chris shouted as he entered the house.
"What?" I asked, taking out one of the earphones.
"Pack up! We're leaving! " Chris repeated.
"What? How come?" I asked, pausing what I was listening to and taking both headphones out of my ears.
"I changed my mind. Let's go, or we'll miss that festival."
Hearing that, I completely forgot about the earlier oddities. I was beside myself with joy, I wanted to visit the Lazare Springs for a long while. So I wasted no more time, and I quickly ran to my room to pack my bags before Chris changed his mind.
Fifteen minutes later, I was ready. I packed a few changes of clothes in a backpack, changed into clean clothes, and waited in front of the car for Chris. He appeared soon as well, and climbed in without saying anything.
"You know, I'm glad we're going after all," I told him as I drove off. "I like going out together, just the two of us, it's fun."
"I like it too," Chris gave a short reply.
The rest of the way was just as silent. Chris turned on the radio and we listened to music to fill the time, and he sighed deeply from time to time as if he was upset. I wanted to ask him about it, but I decided not to pester him and risk angering him again.
We arrived at the entrance of the city in a few hours. The peaks of buildings and colorful lights could be seen in the distance over the ridges of the eroded mountains that dotted the area and surrounded the city. It was already past midnight, but to our surprise the streets were full of people, music, and stalls with food or souvenirs. We arrived at the hotel, a small building with a few floors on the outskirts of town. After parking the car, I entered the reception.
"Good evening," I greeted the receptionist.
The old woman had fallen asleep on the front desk. She woke up when she heard me talking and gave me a sharp look. But after she realized I was a customer, she put on a sweet smile.
"Good evening, how can I help you?"
"I made a reservation for the weekend, two person room. Constantine Ispir. "
The woman took a notebook out of a drawer and rifled through it, narrowing her eyes at the small writing. Chris, meanwhile, also arrived in the hallway, carrying my pack as well.
"You forgot your bag," he said before throwing it at me.
"Here you are," the woman said as I gathered my scattered clothes off the floor. "You're a little late, but the room is still vacant."
We both breathed a sigh of relief hearing those news. We were worried that our room would be rented out, but fortunately that was not the case. We took the keys to the room and headed straight for it to unpack, but we weren't going to rest. As soon as we freshened up a little, we headed out to enjoy the festival.
On one of the surrounding hills, a tall, thin figure came out of a portal. The dim light of the moon and the city below highlighted only his white coat and long, spiky hair topped with bells.
He reached a hand in his blouse and pulled out a bright blue sphere. Its light shined on his eyepatch and dry skin riddled with scars.
"Where the hell did we end up, Yachiru?" The man asked.
A little girl climbed from his back on his shoulder before answering.
"I don't know, Kenny. We got lost again. "
They both looked at the city for a few moments, Kenny with disinterest but Yachiru curious to find out what the deal was with the music and all the dizzying smells of food. Kenny shoved the sphere back in his coat, then took a step toward the edge of the cliff.
"It doesn't matter where we are," he told Yachiru. "As long as the others don't find us until I figure out how to activate this cursed sphere, I can be in the depths of hell for all I care."
Then, suddenly, Kenny took another step forward. His foot met empty air, and he plunged into the abyss below laughing.
'So they've arrived,' Chris thought as his eyes darted to the mountain ridges. He had a pint of beer in one hand, and we both waited in line to get something to eat.
"Everything okay?" I asked when I saw him paralyzed with the beer near his mouth.
"Yeah," he replied and took a long sip from the mug. "Everything's great."
A/N: Sorry in advance for such a long author's note, I don't plan to do it again. It's not necessary for you guys and gals to read it, but I want to explain a few things about this story.
I started this story a long time ago, 15 years or so. My first ever story, actually, and I'll admit it shows in certain aspects. Me and a small group of friends, all about 10-13 years old at the time, started watching Bleach, and we fell in love with the anime instantly. And being kids, we of course decided to create a story in which we become Shinigami ourselves. We all came up with ideas, we brainstormed and developed them together, then I'd write them down.
A lot of time has passed since then, and the group is sadly no longer together. But I've kept this funky story around, and I read it every now and again whenever I feel nostalgic about those childhood times. And now, I finally decided to rewrite, translate, and post it (it's also available in Romanian, my native language). I have no clue if people will be interested in reading it, but we'll see.
It's a story full of crazy ideas, like dragons, aliens, time travel, and hopping between dimensions, just to name a few. It is a self-insert of myself and my group of friends (obviously), but I hope that won't stop people from giving it a chance. Also, I started writing it when the anime was near the beginning (I think around the time Ichigo unlocked Bankai for the first time and rescued Rukia), so I won't include a lot of canon things that were revealed later unless they fit.
And that's about it. The story will primarily be in first person POV from "my" perspective, but there will be moments when I'll include other POV's. Not sure how often I'll update, but I hope I'll manage at least two chapters per month. And above all else, thank you and I hope you'll enjoy it. Exo out!