Hello again! Taking another shot at my first fic, been really wanting to do it right for a while. Expect a slower pace, better grammar all around(hopefully XD), and generally just a better, smoother narrative overall.
The first couple chapters are going to be solely focused on actually giving Sangre, the central OC, some depth and background. I find it kind of laughable, looking back, how little I did to build his character back then. I guess, as the writer, I was so focused on getting to the good stuff that I skipped the most important things for an OC to work.
Also, for anyone into Jujutsu Kaisen, I'm working on a Bleach/JJK crossover story. I'll update you all on its progress as I post new chapters of this.
Anyway, enough of my chatter. Enjoy!
-Bleach: The Sanguine Espada, Revised-
Chapter 1: Of Sand and Blood
What is 'meaning'?
In these pale, forsaken planes, wrought with beasts and death; What purpose could be found?
He did not know. All that he knew, was his name.
"Sangre." He spoke, with no aim but to hold on to the sound.
"Vacio." That was him. That was who he was. That was why he lived, because he was strong.
Once, there were more. Others, whispering, clawing in the back of his head.
But they were weak. They had no names. No will.
"Sangre." He drawled, his body aching with the pangs of a fierce hunger. "Vacio."
Movement. A flash of colored motion in the edge of his vision. Blistering heat took the hunger's place.
He turned, only to be faced with an open maw of fangs. Instinct overrode thought, propelling him to the side as the feline creature clamped down on naught but air.
It turned on him without pause, lunging a second time with such speed that Sangre could do little more than throw his neck out of the way. Blood spattered against the sand as his hunter's fangs buried themselves deep in his shoulder.
Pain.
Sharp, piercing, burning, yet so cold it felt like he was paralyzed.
But he wasn't ready to end.
With an animalistic, desperate roar, he leapt into the air, reaching to grip the beast with his other hand, sinking his claws into its back. They were both small, but he possessed the greater leverage, throwing the creature roughly into the ground. A shockwave rocked the area, but Sangre didn't relent. He sank his own teeth into the pinned cat, violently jerking his head back and forth before tossing it aside.
He pressed his assault, running the beast down only for it to turn on him in a frenzy of claws. Where his own were more like hooks, this creature possessed small, finely honed razors that opened his hide with ease.
Pain.
Recoiling, he leapt skyward, rarely used wings spreading wide to carry him into the blackness above.
His foe couldn't follow, evidently, glaring up at him while prowling in a wide circle, watching. Waiting.
"Get back here, coward!" It jeered, causing Sangre's vermillion eyes to snap wide.
"You..." He struggled to remember the words. "You... speak?"
"Who cares!? Get down here and finish this!"
"Why kill... when we can speak?"
"Fuck that!" An azure light engulfed the sands, the ear-rending, haunting scream of energy gathering and condensing echoed across the wastes.
When the compacted orb of destruction flashed bright, its tone broke in a discordant roar, the wave of death searing the very air as it tore its way to him.
No control...
In response, Sangre gathered his own energy, crimson light splitting the blue as he unleashed a sleeker blade that cut into the encroaching tide.
Off-pours ran to either side, and with a growl he was able to loose the energy coating his claw as a projectile which ran the entire beam in two. The cat leapt aside at the last moment, still earning a wide, burnt gash in the side for its trouble.
"Bastard!"
"You stop, I stop."
"Who said stop!? I'm gonna fucking kill you!"
"I can fly. You cannot."
"Think I can't just wait!?"
"You could." It would be a long, long wait.
A/N: Purposefully going for shorter chapters to start, expect the length to increase as things progress. Still planning to see this all the way through Fake Karakura at least, maybe TYBW, depends.
If I had to give a timeline on how long this prologue-arc will last, I'd say at most ten, probably more like six or seven. Might sound long, but we're talking 1k words a piece-ish, so it'll fly by.
That's all I've got for now. Buh-Bye!
