AN
Yes this is an author's note, and no these top ones will be quite short so have no fear there.
I'm slapping down my obligatory "First Story" bit here to get that out of the way as well, but I hope this fact by itself is not a turn off and I implore you to give my little brain child here a read.
I would also like to warn you all now that I am a fan of gradual story telling rather than exposition dumps, but I respect the fact that some people like to actually know what the hell is going on, so I'll be placing small clarifications after the story in a kind of spoilers section. Lastly, I will be taking priviledges with the lore of both universes to have the story be more cohesive, but there will not be a large divergence from how the magic systems and etc work in these universes.
Disclaimer: Bloodborne and Bleach are not owned by myself, but this story and the characters I create are mine and mine alone.
Sleeping Above Reality
He felt it at the center of his being. That ripple of unfathomable creation that alerted him to the fabrication of another reality.
The good hunter stirred in the vastness above everything and awoke for the first time in, well, he wasn't sure. As the emptiness around him refused to take note of his awakening, he took in his own being. A time before this one, he was human, but no longer. The part of him that was closest to human screamed out that he was a Great One, having usurped the power of the three-third cords, and yet he knew this to be false as well. He was more than just one or the other, and he himself was unsure if there was another being that existed in the way he existed, that is, above existence itself.
The hunter vaguely remembered a mother. She was a fake mother, in every sense of the word, but she was warm, and she did watch over him until he reached his full potential. Taking note of the emptiness around him, part of him felt at peace. There would be no more secrets, or forbidden knowledge if he remained here, after all, what did he care for the secrets of lesser beings, who could barely grasp the shadowy light between the stars?
Another part of him, the human part, screamed in protest. This infinite catharsis was a prison. He wanted to feel. The hope that the sun's rays brought when they shone on his face. The beauty that dumbfounded him when the moon lit the land with an ethereal shimmer. He felt this yearning, the yearning to feel again. To feel human again. And as he was, could that be so far out of his power? He simply needed to dream, to let his consciousness fall into existence, and manifest itself into the dream of another being.
The ripple that awakened him, the new dream of a powerful being. He moved his being from his physical form, and allowed it to ride the winds of the cosmos down to the dreamer. The hunter observed the dreamer. It was encased in some sort of crystal, of this he was certain, but within the crystal the being resembled a human missing it's limbs. He peered into the dream of the crystal man, and saw he did indeed dream of humanity and more. Hungry, empty husks, humans that could wield weapons of light, and souls, that gained the power to guide others like them.
This world interested the hunter greatly, and as he viewed in from a higher plane, he saw a shining light. The potential for greatness and maybe, even transcendance. He felt the will of this human, this dream, and he made his decision. Here, in this time and in this place, he would enter the dream.
Now, how to go about doing this? The hunter mused. He should arrive as human, but then again, could he maintain this heightened understanding while simultaneously manifesting as a human being? The simple answer was no, but the simple answer came with a simple solution. He would simply forget himself. Become the hunter that he used to be before all this. Back when he roamed the streets of the blood drunk Yharnam.
And so, he entered the dream, and was once again human.
James stood in the middle of a small Japanese town called Karakura. Not that he knew that, of course, but he was certainly aware of it's shocking contrast to the streets of Yharnam. The first thing he noticed was that he was wearing his regular hunter attire, tri-pointed hat and all. His grey eyes stared out at the street he was standing on. Night had fallen, and as he stood under a street lamp he realised another thing. He was completely and totally unarmed.
"Figures," he mutters to himself.
Before James can get his bearings, however, a rather unsettling cry echoes through the air. He knew exactly what this was of course. A beast. Yet the cry was different, hollow even. But, deprived of weapon and objective, James knew what he was supposed to do, after all, he recalled, a hunter must hunt.
After getting lost a few more times than he would like to admit, James decided to take the high ground for a bit of reconnaissance. While doing this, he discovered that, to his delight and confusion, he was much more physically capable than he was before, leaping up to the roof of a building with blinding speed. He suspected this had something to do with the fact that he wasn't really human, but… how was this so? He remembers a feeling of intense longing, and finally satisfaction but for what? Something in the depths of his mind told him that this was what he wanted, to be in this place at this time, and despite the feeling being alien to him, it also felt unquestionably right that he be here.
The chilling cry echoed out again, snapping James out of his thoughts. Adjusting his hat and collar so that they would not be tousled, he began again to move at high speeds towards his quarry. Upon arriving he took a moment to observe the beast. It took the appearance of a humanoid with gray skin, which would have stood at double his height had it not been crouched on all fours. Two more notable features he felt were the bone mask it wore, as well as the hole that ran all the way through the creature's midsection. Interestingly enough, it did not seem to care about this glaring feature in the slightest.
"You are an odd one!" The hunter called to the beast.
The hollow turned to face the human. Originally it was going to have to look for a meal, but it seems that one has simply walked straight into it.
The hollow approached the human slowly, and upon coming within range took a casual swipe with the purpose of pulverizing this morsel.
The hunter stepped gracefully around the swipe, coat fluttering behind him from the movement. He let out a small sigh, and wished that he, at the very least, was in possession of one of his firearms. While visceral attacks were considered to be a rather dark skill to employ for any hunter, none could argue it's effectiveness. And just like that, with a blue glow, the Evelyn appeared in his left hand, like it had been there all along and James had simply forgotten about it.
For a moment, the good hunter was utterly baffled and transfixed by the weapon that had materialized in his grasp. He admitted to himself that stranger things have happened to him, but it didn't make the sudden appearance of his pistol any less surprising.
The hollow roared in frustration at the hunters sidestep, and swung again, with more ferocity this time. Coming back from his thoughts for the second time that night, the hunter swiftly raised his pistol and placed a shot directly into the beasts chest. With a howl, it reeled back, but James was far beyond the speed of the hollow, knifing his hand into it's mask, shattering it, and causing the beast to fade into small particles.
The hunter stood there a moment, before gazing down at his pistol. Could he, perhaps, call upon the entirety of his arsenal in the same way? First however, he willed the Evelyn to return from where it came, and the gun obeyed, fading into a mist of cosmic shadow. Before he tried for another weapon however, there were more pressing matters to attend to.
Eyeing an alley over his shoulder, the hunter called out, "reveal yourself!"
And reveal themselves they did, as a black cat slinked out of the shadows and into the street opposite of the hunter.
"Ah, sorry little one, I suppose this new scenery has me a bit paranoid," James said.
With a tip of his hat he introduced himself to the cat, but the feline just sat there and observed him.
"I am trying to be polite, but I must tell you that I know you are more than you seem," He told the cat, "I am well versed with both mysteries and beasts, and you are most certainly not the latter."
The cat seemed to stiffen at his comment, and was turning to move away when he called out again.
"Please, I mean you no harm! If you will not speak with me, is there another that I might talk with?"
The black cat gazed back at him, yellow eyes searching his grey ones. With quick swish of its tail, the cat sped towards him at a faster than a human eye could track, and mounted his shoulder. The cat regarded him with interest from his new position, and then mewed lazily as it gazed off in the direction it most likely wished for him to journey in. More prominently however, the hunter was surprised how pleasant it was to have a companion, even a temporary shoulder cat. He regarded it once more, then set off down the night time streets of Karakura.
AN
*Fair warning, this next section is for those who desperately seek answers and may contain spoilers, if readers (if any) despise this with a passion, comment or Email me about it and I'll put the axe to it*
So, the good hunter has returned from his long slumber. I'm continuing the story of Bloodborne after the events of it's "third ending" where in the player character becomes a Great One. The divergence from this is the fact that I am considering the good hunter a combination of human and Great One, therefore being something greater than both, a truly transcendent being.
For those who can't stand the mystery, the ability for the hunter to call and banish his old arsenal of weaponry comes from the fact that he is technically a higher being projecting a human form into a Great One's dream, thus, he has a minor amount of reality manipulation. He does not know this of course, due to his mind not really being able to comprehend his true form currently, so he will be regarding it as a nifty ability mostly.
Thank you for reading,
DeadManDreaming