A/N: This story is inspired by the wonderful story titled "White", written by Melkor's Mercy. If you haven't read his story yet, I can only implore you to give it a try, it's a great read!
~Hollow~
~XxX~
Prologue
Ichigo fell to his knees as a large monstrous, masked creature smashed a fist overhead. The cracking of bones could be heard accompanied by his scream as the creature reached down and grasped him in its hand. The masked monster squeezed Ichigo tightly, draining the life out of him before finally, darkness overcame the boy.
A thousand sensations could be felt in his final moments of life. After what felt like an eternity, he could see again, but things seemed different. His body was lifeless on the ground in front of him. The orange-haired teen stared at his body with pure disbelieve, and could only hopelessly wonder if he was dead, unable to fully comprehend what he saw with his own eyes.
Indeed, he was no longer in his body, and instead, he was staring down at it, seeing a severed chain that hung loosely from his chest. The hollow monstrosity turned towards him and again released a deafening shriek from its maw lined with razor-like teeth. It took a step towards him, and grabbed him by his orange hair, lifting him into the air, ignorant of his cries and struggles before dragging Ichigo away.
The boy tried to resist in desperation, tried to fight back as best he could as he was dragged further and further away from his lifeless body.
From around the corner of their living room, he could make out the terrified expression of his sister, Karin, who was forced to watch helplessly as the creature dragged him away.
The sight of his sister caused a plethora of dark emotions to well up from within him. His predicament was all but forgotten and he only berated himself for dying in front of his beloved little sister.
He saw the tears that trailed down Karin's cheeks, and that sight alone was so much worst than any of the pain that monstrosity could inflict on him, it broke his heart.
Why?
Ichigo looked back at the monster that held him in a tight grip and noticed the strange black hole. He had no idea what it was but a shiver traveled down his spine as the creature passed the black holes precipice.
Why was this happening to him?
He took a last look at his sister who looked like she was trying to follow him, and Ichigo managed to smile weakly before the black hole closed shut, bathing him and the creature in utter darkness.
'I'm sorry…'
~XxX~
Strange visions swam before his eyes, and he experienced the feeling of floating in utter darkness. He felt aware and yet not, and with each passing moment, he lost his sense of self. He knew not what he was, or what he used to be, he only felt hunger.
Deep and all-consuming.
Visions of his former life flashed before his eyes, and yet…
'Who is he?'
Whatever he once was, is now only one of many as memories and stories of countless other human life's flashed through the amalgamation of many minds and souls that now made up his being. But strangely, the memories of that orange-haired human seemed to hold so much more important to them.
Memories of many lives filtered through their broken and fragmented mind, and yet whenever it remembered the life of that orange-haired human, it paused. Tried to focus, but then lost focus just as quickly as hunger once more consumed them.
It continued like this for what seemed to be an eternity.
Memories, brief clarity, then came hunger, the taste of blood, the crunch of bone, and tearing of skin beneath its bony fingers, and then came memories once more.
Each time this cycle repeated itself, the creature could feel that that moment of clarity lasted longer and longer. Each time it fed itself on one of those masked creatures, it seemed to become more aware of the world that surrounded it.
And so it hunted more, fed vigorously, consumed the masked creatures with a sense of joy. Cries of pain turned into music, tearing a creature apart felt invigorating and consuming them, tasting their blood and feeding on their spiritual energy felt...right.
As time passed, it grew bigger and bigger until it towered over the other creatures it hunted. They all seemed so scared when they saw it, and it was noticed that hunting them became harder and harder as it became bigger.
But it needed to hunt, needed to taste blood on its tongue, needed to hear their cries, because every time it did, its broken mind became a little bit more whole. Every time it killed another being, it gained clarity, every time it tasted blood the many voices in its head stopped.
So the creature became a better hunter. It saw that many of the masked creatures were fast when they fled from it, so it became faster. It noticed that many of the creatures it hunted, tried to fight back, so it became stronger.
The creature was learning, and it noticed that learning too brought clarity to its mind.
Then it saw one that was like it. A great masked creature that stood taller than any of the other creatures it ever hunted.
Was that what it looked like?
Taller than many of the buildings it remembered and clad in black flowing robes. A great white mask with a long bony nose.
Were they the same?
The great creature turned towards it, and then the darkness around them was pushed back by this glowing red light as an orb of red energy formed in front of the other creature's maw.
Strange, but it mattered not. It needed to feed, and so it did. The glowing beam of red light didn't stop it when it hit its skin, and soon darkness once more descended around it, and the music of the cries of the tall creatures was wonderful to its ears.
~XxX~
He felt strange as he came to his senses. His body felt foreign as it stood up to his full height and then began to look himself over. His hands were a bony white with sharp black claws, a contrast to the rest of his body which was predominately white.
He looked over his shoulders and saw that he had a tail, bony white with a black tip, before promptly beating it on the ground, causing the area around him to tremble with each beat of his tail.
That seemed...useful.
The creature turned its head from left to right and then it saw something dangling in front of one of his eyes. He reached up with a hand to grab that dangling something between his claws and looked it over.
It was...hair?
A strand of orange hair, and he remembered seeing this color before in memory. It was the memory of that human boy, and it no longer seemed as hazy as it once was.
'Was that me?' He wondered, 'am I him?'
He thought hard, trying to recall what the boy was called, but he could not remember. The memories were like a silent film, he could see but not understand.
He recalled faces but knew no names.
'Why can't I remember.'
The ground shook as he raised his spiritual energy in a bout of anger born from frustration. But then something else came to him…
'Maybe if I feed more I will remember' His golden eyes widened as an epiphany struck him, 'yes, that's it!'
His eyes glowed as he looked through the darkness that surrounded him, and when he saw them towering in the distance. A large group of those massive hollows that seemed oh so familiar to him, and in the next moment he was gone, leaving only the sound of a static boom in his wake.
And in the next moment, he felt his claws tear through black cloth, white masks, soft flesh, and hard bones.
And he devoured them all in his quest to remember.
~XxX~
A/N: Well hello there good people, and welcome to another story of yours truly, I hope you will enjoy!
As I've already stated above, this fic is inspired by the story "White", written by Melkor's Mercy. The idea is his, but everything else going forward will be mine, and I have no intentions to stick to the plot or lore of "White", so with that said, I hope you enjoy, and remember, a review and a follow would be much appriciated!
-RagnartheRad