The small army was marching on, with us stuck in the middle.
This was one hell of a show of force. Mustering such manpower to capture three people was already overkill, but whoever was in charge also sent his lieutenant, and he was no joke. If this guy was a weaker than his boss, this was going to be trouble.
I looked at Isamu and Naoko. The first one didn't know one bit how to react to his current situation while the second one was sweating bullets. She probably knew what was up. Asking her was probably a good idea.
"Naoko, do you know who they're bringing us to?"
"Well, considering one of the guys escorting us is fucking Emon, yeah I can guess what kind of monster wants to see us. His name is-"
"Silence." sternly interrupted the now named Emon. "My boss insisted that he would introduce himself in person for dramatic effect." You could sense the disdain and annoyance for those notions oozing from every word. This guy didn't seem to hold his boss in high regard and probably had no desire to work for him, but I was going to guess he didn't really have a choice in the matter. This was also visible in his general behavior, Emon looked annoyed beyond belief, snapping at his men every few minutes for the most inane of reasons. Perhaps I could do something with that, but I doubted I could turn him against his boss in the time we reached our destination. The fact that he sneered at almost all our attempts at discussion didn't help.
Despite the interruption, this also told me that our future host was of the theatric sort. I could respect that, I was the same after all. Nothing left a bigger impression on people than something larger than life. Entrance, presentations, declarations, if you wanted to make yourself appear bigger than you were, you needed to take every opportunity to make yourself bigger than their own imagination cracked you up to be.
What he wanted of us was obvious, he probably was going to press-gang us. As for what I could do against it, I honestly had no idea. Violence wasn't an option, I was still seriously injured, outnumbered and outgunned. No, I needed diplomacy, not something I was proficient in.
I wished Lisa was here, she would have known what to do.
On second thought perhaps not. She would have inadvertently annoyed our escort into killing us.
After ten to fifteen minutes of walking I started to see a change in our surroundings. Rundown shacks were replaced by slightly less rundown shacks, red symbols in the shape of square eights painted on them. It was still shoddy, but you could tell they were organized.
Finally, we reached what could best be described as a plaza. It was a large expanse of leveled terrain surrounded by houses. In the middle, there was a wooden stage elevated a dozen feet off the ground to let the public have a clear view. And a public there was. At least two hundred people not counting our escort, all armed.
There were two men on the scene. The first one was probably in his thirties, a rather lean body and somewhat tall, nothing special. No, what really caught my attention was his garb. It was in perfect condition, a contrast with the other men's fraying and dirty clothes. His weapon too put him above the rest, it was a very well maintained katana with an elaborate guard, by far the best bladed weapon I had seen since my arrival.
He was the boss, and the man trapped in wooden restraints next to him was going to be executed.
"You are charged with the murder of my men and in general being a pain in my ass. Any last words?" The tone was powerful, making sure to be heard by the whole crowd without seeming to be shouting. This was a spectacle.
"You can go fu-AAAAAAAH!" Before I could even blink the sword had swung down, and the condemned man's tongue went flying. An impossible show of precision, it wasn't like it had been hanging out of the man's mouth, he must have needed to reach in there with his sword to cut it while not touching anything else. The crowd exploded in laughter.
"Insult to the executioner is punished by the severance of the offending appendage. Unfortunately, it also means I need to wrap this up. We don't want blood loss to take from you the awareness of your final punishment." He put his foot on the screaming man's back and prepared his sword for the strike.
The head rolled out of the stage while the body was unceremoniously kicked off to join a small pile of headless corpses on the ground. Were those the rest of Bõ's men? No, they all had a swastika painted on their body, something those I fought earlier didn't have. Were there Nazis even here of all places? Didn't make much sense.
"Alright, was it the last of them?" he asked as he casually wiped his sword with a cloth before sheathing it.
"Yes sir!"
"Good good…Now we can address our three guests." He turned towards us. "Welcome to my humble abode! I am Dai Shikei, Zaraki's grand executioner!" He exclaimed while making wide movements. "I'm the one who lords over North Rukongai's trash, or at the very least a good chunk of it!" People in the audience chuckled. "And you must be the Red Lady and her two hangers-on. A shitty title as far they go to be honest, but what can you do, people around here are not that imaginative. Don't worry about it, after all I started out with far lamer. What's your real name?"
The idea of withholding that information didn't even cross my mind. It wasn't that big of a thing to give up: nobody around knew who I used to be. But even more than that I didn't want to get on his bad side. He was strong, his aura was far more powerful than that of anyone else present. I didn't stand a chance.
"I'm Taylor Hebert, and my companions here are Naoko and Isamu Kodama. I apologize if I overstep my boundaries but why exactly were we brought here?"
He laughed.
"Hehehahaha! You're as stuck up as they said you were! Straight to the point too, I like that in a woman! Nevertheless, I brought you here because you proved worth watching out for."
That was both a good and bad thing. That meant I was being recognized by the big players, but that also meant they would keep an eye on me. If I proved too much trouble for this guy to let roam free he was going to take care of me, and as I was I did not believe I could take him one bit.
"I can sense it, you're weak, and yet you were able to take on someone so much above your level. It would be like a child killing a grown man. My men saw you fight, you make up for strength with skill and ruthlessness. I can imagine what kind of killing machine you'll become in a few years."
"You're saying I'm a potential threat to you?"
I was met by a dumbfounded silence. Then a small laugh bubbled up from Dai's lips that spread like a plague through the crowd to finally become an uproarious laughter a hundred people strong.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! A-A threat?!" He wiped some tears that started forming. "Hehehehe you got some good jokes lady, and to say it with a straight face! Alright, I believe you need a quick course on exactly what you're dealing with!"
The best description I could give to what he did next was that he flexed. Until now his aura had been calm, kept in a completely passive state, and now he was showing it's full extent.
Mine was decent enough, at its best it extended around 10 meters and I could crack stones if I focused it enough.
His extended beyond my senses. I was around 50 meters away from him and it was still thick enough to almost make the air too heavy to breathe. Most of the audience simply collapsed on their knees. Isamu did the same, crying in abject terror and about to pass out. Naoko threw up. I did not blame them one bit. All my instincts were blaring alarms, it was as if liquid fear was coursing through my veins.
And yet I stood.
I was no stranger to fear, it had always remained present within me, from the simple cape fights to the Endbringer attacks and eventually Scion himself. Fighting with no fear at all was merely recklessness, and recklessness led to death. But I had lived through too much to let it turn into terror.
But it wasn't just a mental attack. It was as if the air itself had become molasses, the weight of the atmosphere pressing far harder on my shoulders and every motion becoming a slog. My legs were straining to keep me upright, and with the mere function of breathing being impeded, I was starting to suffocate despite my best efforts.
Quickly, the first spasms came, warning signs for the slight increase of CO2 in the blood starting to settle in. They were easily suppressed.
And then came the second wave as the pH of my blood kept dropping, my body begging me to breath that thick liquid the air had become.
Normally the best way to deal with apnea was to stop thinking. Imagine a white wall and relax, your body can deal with much more than what it lets on, but I couldn't, my mind was simply focused on him, watching out for the slightest movement of the existential threat in the vicinity.
After a few seconds that felt like an eternity he brought his aura down to its previous level. We all took great gulps of air and my companions shakily attempted to get up once more. Dai looked impressed.
"You actually withstood my spiritual pressure, and that with that measly power of yours. I gotta say, you got some serious grit girl. When I first heard of you, I admit I did't think much of it. Just another small tadpole making barely noticeable ripples in the pond, why would I care? Bõ wasn't much either to be honest, a small fish playing as if he was a big one. Very annoying, I was looking forward to his execution. But you took it away from me." He sighed. "I wanted to punish you for it, but seeing you now, the tadpole who ate the fish, I'm actually impressed."
He closed his eyes and marked a pause, seemingly thinking over his decision.
"For the crime of killing the victim of the designed executioner, I sentence you to pay the life you owe him with your own! Your life shall now belong to him until either leaves this world! Now bow down!" He smiled.
That was bad. Joining an organized group would probably be the safest best around here, especially with such a powerhouse of a leader, but I didn't know enough about them to actually be sure I wouldn't get dragged into some fucked up stuff.
"Come on Taylor." Naoko urgently whispered to me. "You know he wasn't asking, just say yes."
She was right of course, it wasn't like I had any choice in the matter, Dai already made his decision, I was going to join whether I liked it or not. I had no power, no leverage, no information. I had no cards to play. And yet, I couldn't make my legs buckle in the slightest. Some part of me violently recoiled at the idea of kneeling to him under duress. At that moment I found myself almost wishing he would have stuck with his previous punishment. Only the fact I wasn't alone prevented me from straight up spitting in his face to get on with the execution.
"Hmm, I can see on your face that you don't exactly agree with my decision. Unfortunately for you I am the law here. Bring the other ones up!"
The thugs around us roughly grabbed Naoko and Isamu. They struggled back of course, it was in vain. I tried to pry off the grips of their assailants, but there were simply too many of them. Quickly, the mass of bodies separated us as they were inexorably pulled to the scene, no, the scaffold.
Once up there they were brutally thrown to floor. I could tell by the way they struggled to pull themselves up the injuries of our fight against Bõ still weighed on them, not that it would have mattered anyway.
"If you refuse to comply with my judgment the weight of it will have to be increased. Instead of just taking possession of your life, I will have to cut down those that belong to you as well." He unsheathed his sword and put it above Isamu's head. "You have 5 seconds to comply or I will consider you in defiance of the order of the judge and will act accordingly. Five!"
The bastard. I doubted he was going for the emotional angle by taking hostages, not in this sociopath-filled district. To him they were just my tools, and he simply was confiscating my property.
"Four!"
I looked at Isamu. He didn't look sad or scared. He was simply resigned to his fate. Naoko looked in terror at the incoming death of what I hoped had become a friend.
"Three!"
This sensation of powerlessness. This feeling of being utterly trapped. I hated it, ever since my trigger event this weakness came back over and over again to haunt me. This old trauma would once have terrified me, even maybe paralyzed me. But I always overcame it, the increase in power it had given me always gave me enough to escape. I wouldn't escape today, but I could channel this feeling into another one, one that would ensure I would get out eventually. Rage.
"Two!"
I swore in my mind I would kill him. It may take months, years even to escape his clutch, but it would happen, and I would happily watch him lose his life for the one he was stealing from me.
I grit my teeth and lowered my knee
"WAIT A MINUTE!"
The powerful voice came for nowhere and cut through the tension like through butter. Even Dai looked surprised. Everyone looked in the direction the sound came from. On the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the plaza a man stood.
"Who the hell are you?!" Shouted Dai, left more confused than actually angry by the interruption.
"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU THIS FAR OFF!"
"I asked who the hell you were!"
"WAIT A SECOND, I'M COMING CLOSER!" And with those words he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in a second on the scaffold. I didn't see any movement between point A and B, and judging by the reaction of everyone else they didn't either, only Dai looked completely unimpressed. Teleportation? Maybe. It may have also been simply ludicrous speed, past a certain point the two were indistinguishable from one another anyway.
Besides his little showcase of speed, the man looked powerful as well. It wasn't nearly as strong as Dai's absurdly vast aura but it was still above pretty much anyone else here. He looked in his twenties with messy brown hair and a goofy grin. A sheathed sword was at his side. Dai raised an eyebrow in recognition.
"You? You better have a good explanation for this interruption."
"These are my pupils. Their lives already belong to me. If you want to take them, I am the one you need to talk to." He stood confidently in front of this monster, not showing an ounce of fear despite only having a single terrible bluff to properly defend himself. At that moment I sincerely hoped that Isamu and Naoko would keep their mouth shut. We didn't need a poorly placed word to send us back to the beginning.
"Since when do you have pupils Ozawa?" He gave a glance at the sword at his belt. "They don't even have a Zanpakuto. Why would a vagrant Shinigami give any care to such things as pupils, what would one such as you even do with such things?"
"Of course they don't have swords yet, you know how hard it is to find a Zanpakuto, let alone a salvageable one this far in Rukongai." He smiled "And as for why I want to train them, I believe this is only for me to deal with, don't you think?" The lines were delivered with absolute confidence, the mark of a true bullshitter. Most people knew that with enough confidence you could enter unchallenged the majority of restricted areas uninvited. What tipped people off wasn't the fact you were an unknown face, in doubt they would simply assume their memory failed them. No, what blew your cover was the air of self-doubt you projected, hesitation on which route to take, nervous tics in what should be an ordinary situation. That didn't only apply to infiltration however, this was true for pretty much every type of lie possible. As long as you acted like you believed what you said, people would have no reason to doubt it.
I just hoped it would work this time.
Dai mulled it over for a few seconds. He turned around to Naoko.
"Girl, what is his full name?" Internally, I started panicking. This was the exact reason that bluff was terrible, any question on this guy as a person was doomed to make it crumble.
"K-Kosaku Ozawa." She knew him? Was he famous? Questions for later, for now I was just relieved we dodged that particular bullet.
"Hmm…If it's not sword fighting what exactly does he teach you?"
"Ju-just hand to hand combat and knife fighting for now, until we find a sword."
"…Fine, maybe they are your pupils, but you do realize this does not change anything about their fate right? You have to compensate the damaged party, which means me, and there's little material possessions in Zaraki that has any value, let alone more than their life. They will still belong to me." Bastard. Ozawa didn't look the least bit surprised though.
"That is where your assumptions are wrong, I have something of far more value than three mere lives. Knowledge." This caught the attention of Dai.
"Knowledge you say. You Shinigami are certainly ripe with it, but to say one like you would hold some that would be of value to me is a bit daring." He said, skeptical.
"That's true, I doubt you would be interested in kido or zanjutsu. But I have a single piece of knowledge that would be able to compensate you." His gaze moved to Dai's katana. "Your Zampakuto is a fine sword indeed, but it's not meant to only be a mere blade. You must have seen from fighting Shinigami what it can really do. I can teach you how to do the same." Dai scratched his chin in thought.
"You intend to compensate me with power. A bold move." He smiled. "I like it. Something like that is easily sufficient to repay your debt. Maybe with this I could finally be able to kill it…" A wondering look appeared on his face. An opponent he couldn't kill huh? It was something to keep in mind.
He quickly composed himself. "Alright! You lot can get back down to the ground!" he announced.
Slowly, as if they were afraid their survival was only the fruit of their imagination, they began to rise to their feet and went down the scaffold. Soon they were back at my side.
The Shinigami appeared next to me, his face set in the most serious expression I had seen on him since he appeared. "Once he gives us permission to leave, we get out of his territory as fast as we can. I would not recommend overstaying our welcome." He turned back to the scaffold, loosening his features. "Alright! I'll come back tomorrow morning to start your training. How does that sound?"
"That sounds perfect. But don't forget." Dai took a more sinister tone. "If you don't show up it will take a lot more than the lives of your pupil to pay your debt. And I will come collect personally." He put his smile back on. "Well, that's about all I had to say! You can get out of my hair now. You're dismissed!"
The sea of thugs parted in front of us and Kosaku took the lead as we walked out of there.
"Oh! And one one last thing little lady!"
I turned around. He was sitting on the edge of the scaffold, his sword resting on his shoulder. Still smiling.
"Welcome to Zaraki."
After a few dozen minutes of walking we finally stopped seeing red paint on the shacks.
We were out.
Now it was time to ask questions.
This guy came out of nowhere, was apparently important enough for Dai to pay attention, stood up to him and was able to make a good enough counter-offer to save our lives. And all of that for what? Saving the lives of three people he didn't even know?
That didn't make a lick of sense.
He would perhaps try to leverage the life debt we owed him. Although that didn't make much sense either considering the kind of place we were in. Honor was a concept difficult to find around here.
"Alright. I'm going to be blunt. Why did you intervene?" No sense beating around the bush. Whether his answer was a lie or the truth, I needed something to base my opinions on.
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Heh. Straight to the point like he said." So he'd been listening from the beginning. It made sense, nobody with half a brain just jumps headfirst into that kind of situation without an idea of what was happening. He probably pretended to arrive at the last second in order to appear more heroic. Honestly, I couldn't really begrudge him that considering I probably would have done the same thing. "I don't suppose you would go along with it if I said I just wanted to help someone in trouble?" Not for the bargaining chip he just gave up. "No?" He sighed. "Fine, I saved you because I could do with your help."
The only question in my mind at that moment was why us. He put himself in a lot of risk to get the help of three mildly strong people. And it's not like we had any real influence around either. There had to be people more useful than us. And yet that's the people he chose to bargain over against a guy who could kill us by flexing 50 meters away. Isamu expressed that sentiment perfectly.
"O-Our help? I-I'm really grateful sir for what you did, but…aren't there better people?"
"Maybe. But I believe Taylor here has what it takes." He turned to me. "I want you to start a gang."
What?
"Look at this whole district. It's nothing more than chaos. No real unity, and those who try to be that lynchpin become targets for those that came here to escape any sort of law. To bring order you need to be strong. And, well, you can't really call the top brass around here anything close to reasonable."
"And yet you managed to reason with Dai. That's the whole reason we're alive isn't it?"
He snorted. "That man only cares that he can kill someone and feel somewhat justified about it. Despite his fickle nature, that makes him somewhat predictable. There's one thing that he feels more justified in killing than anything else, and yet he can't. I just had to pull on his frustration, offer him a way to get stronger quickly and get a chance to scratch that never-ending itch. And if he manages to kill that Beast, then all the better. That's one less problem we have to worry about."
"Something even stronger than him…" Isamu mumbled. The very thought of such a concept seemed to terrify to him.
"Hey don't worry about it alright?" Naoko said as she put a hand on his shoulder in a reassuring manner. "I've been here for a long time and I never met it, so what are the chances that we will now?"
"She's right." The Shinigami continued. "Although having that thing dead would be nice, it's just a walking disaster. Nothing less, nothing more. While Dai has an army and a wide influence, the Beast is just a dangerous, overpowered, unkillable animal. He's neither the root or a symptom of the problem. No the issue is that 80th districts are the border of Soul Society, the place where the worst of humanity is inexorably pushed ." He made a frown of disgust. "Why would they restrain themselves when the only ones who could call them out on it are the same? Except that they're not everyone, simply the majority."
"The recently dead."
"Exactly. They're not much of population, randomly scattered and easily killed, but they exist. And there's of course those that are not all that bad but are trapped here. There is a base of people that wants a stable place where they would feel even the slightest bit safer." I knew where he was going with this. Impressing the fact that this place needed order and that there would be supporters for such a thing. He wanted me to be their leader.
"Let me get this straight, you want me to become a warlord?"
"Precisely. Of course, not like Dai or the other ones. They don't want to protect anyone or actually rule, they want to be able to do anything they want with impunity. I want you to care."
I wouldn't lie and say I didn't think about it before. He wasn't lying when he said that this place could do with a benevolent ruler, and I had experience. The question was: did I actually care enough about this place? Until now I had been bidding my time, waiting to be strong enough to escape. But why escape this place if I could change it into somewhere worth living in? Or being dead in I supposed.
"I'll do it."
"But you're probably wondering what I-…what did you say?"
"I accept. I'll be the warlord you need."
"Well, uh, damn…I expected this to be a bit more difficult. I've been rehearsing this speech in my head for the past twenty minutes to convince you, and we're barely at the half of it. You got some balls for a girl…or I guess a very feminine boy?" I knew my curves were still as a flat as they could be, but this was plain cruel.
"Definitely a girl." I said, injecting as much venom in my voice as I could.
"Right. Still that kind of grit is exactly what a leader need. I knew when I watched you stand up in front of Dai's spiritual pressure, a man that could stand up to a Captain, that you were what I needed."
"Alright, alright enough of the flatteries." Naoko chimed in before grabbing my arm. "Can you leave us for a moment?"
She turned around and pulled me out of earshot. I went along with it, her uncharacteristically serious frown made it easy to guess what she said next. "You're not actually considering that do you? That's insane! Even more insane than your usual kind of crazy. I know that we should be grateful that he bailed out our asses from there, but that whole mess should be an incentive lay low and be more careful about who we piss off, not paint a target on our backs and shout a big 'fuck you' to everyone important in a 100 miles radius!"
She was right of course. This was going to attract the ire of any other warlord in the vicinity, and this time there wouldn't be someone coming to our rescue at the last second. But what was the alternative?
"Remind me. How long have you been here Naoko?"
"Huh? 13 years. Why?"
"In your 13 years around, have you witnessed things get better around here? Have this district been safe for a single moment?"
"I..Uh…" Her eyes fell. "No." As I suspected.
"Then listen." I put my hands on her shoulders. "This place isn't going to get better by itself. A wise man once said : 'Be the change you want to see in the world'. If noone wants to do it, then it falls to us to take on the job." She prepared herself to respond, but I quickly interrupted her. I wasn't done. "I know this is going to be incredibly dangerous, and that our chances of success are at best feeble. But what is the alternative? Living a long life hiding in shadows, terrified of the monsters around us? Or do you want to take the risk to live a happier life, as dangerous as it may be? I already died once Naoko, and I am ready to die again. What about you? Do you want to survive, or to live?"
Her eyes were wide. "I-I don't…know. Alright? I don't know. This is….a lot." Her breathing became ragged, her voice laced with panic. "Maybe you…no. This is insane, we can't. But if…no. Just…Just give me some time alright?!" She pushed me away, obviously trying to get some space in an attempt to manage the anxiety that suddenly gripped her. I didn't resist. This reaction caught me by surprise. I was used to her cool demeanor, sprinkled with snide remarks. I did not expect her to keep on this trend with such a serious decision, she knew to take things seriously when they needed to be. But this? A damn near panic attack was not on my list.
I realized in that moment that despite all the time I spent with them, all the hours of training, all the discussions we had about the world around us, I didn't know much about her, or Isamu for that matter. I felt relaxed when the three of us were together, and I enjoyed watching the both of them argue and mess with each other, but that was pretty much it. I didn't take part in the whole dynamic. I was distant, like an observer. Why was I doing this? Why did everything I took part in had to be business? I couldn't do with them what I did with the Chicago Wards. There was no impending doomsday, I was not on probation for the murder of two people, and I did not have the baggage of having been Skitter, the woman who took over a city. To them I was just Taylor. That is who I must be. Not Weaver, not Skitter, Taylor.
My musings were interrupted by Isamu who ran to help Naoko, doing his best to calm her down. She needed space from me for now so going to join him in his efforts would probably not help. The only thing I could do to alleviate her confusion was to make things clear, it wouldn't make it go away, but it would make things easier.
"I made my decision." I spoke loud enough so that the Shinigami could hear me. "I will become a warlord and do my best to build a safe place in this district." Isamu and Naoko looked at me, their expression hard to read. "Whether you want to join me or not I won't hold it against you. This is a reckless and probably idiotic idea, but I believe it is the only thing worth doing right now." I turned back to the Shinigami. "If I'm going to do this I will need some help. You offered Dai a way to gain power quickly, I will need that if I'm to stand the slightest chance against the other powerhouses."
"Impossible." He shook his head. "You literally do not have the equipment needed to do that." He marked a pause, seemingly thinking over something. "But I can teach you the next best thing. How do you feel about magic?"
A.N.
You're all probably wondering what happened. Why did this chapter take 3 months to make? Well for the first month I was completely distracted : a week in the Périgord (very nice place, far better than Paris in my opinion. I recommend if you prefer rural areas to crowded cities and are not vegan.) and I got a puppy. She's adorable, although I'm pretty sure I failed to convince my parents that I didn't name her after some anime character. Not that they're wrong. After that I just...lost motivation. I guess I was in better place emotionally so it became harder to write a gritty work like this one.
Perhaps I should write other stories in parallel. Whatever it is, I need to find a solution because if I continue at this pace I'll finish this fic in 2030.
I'll abstain from making promises on the time between updates in the future.
