-Forenote-

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

With the introduction out of the way, we can get down to the meat of the actual story. Sorry again for how short that first part was, but for dramatic effect, that last scene worked better as is. As you may have noticed, the mask I used on the Menos is the not the first actual mask form that shows up in canon, it is the second, from Ichigo's fight with Renji. I always considered it to be the first active sign of the hollow showing itself. Obviously this is a much different situation, but I feel like it's still a good way to start off; something familiar in an unfamiliar scenario.

Speaking of, several chapters ahead (including this one) will be fairly full of info dumps. I'll be working them in smoothly so they aren't just "THAT'S HOW THIS WORKS" sorts of text walls, but they are necessary to refresh both the readers knowledge of canon Bleach mechanics (just in case) and to simply flesh out the world. Characters are important, but if you can picture the scenario as well as what's happening with minimal effort, that's the good stuff.

As you will notice, I have (after quite a lot of discussion with a friend of mine) made some rather significant decisions as far as forms and dates and all that. I was also surprised to learn that pretty much ALL of the things that happened in the canon series with Ichigo were only within about a year. A fucking year. It was apparent in the actual series, but it somehow hadn't dawned on me how close together it all was. So, with that, I had to try and piece together events and who was around or otherwise at the time that this takes place. Not an easy task, because I couldn't find almost any sort of timeline for what happens in Hueco Mundo. Which, I will admit, I may still be wrong in my assumptions about that; but I will take solace in the fact that I gave it a damn good effort at coaxing it into a workable scenario. Some may like these changes, some may find them interesting, and even more will probably call me a heretic.

I get that. But I'm enjoying writing this, and if you don't happen to like it, you are not required to read it.

Also, I've actually no idea how feedback works on this site, I personally just follow or favorite things I like. I don't know if PMs work for it or if it would be smart to make a forum for discussion or something. I'll look into it, but if someone knowledgeable out there has a good idea, shoot it my way.

-Forenote end-

Chapter 2: Ravenous

The pale white sands of Hueco Mundo were said to be nearly infinite. No known end to it existed, and any who tried to find something of the sort rarely returned. Had it not been for the inherent warring nature of its inhabitants, something more may have been discovered.

The only defining features were the bright moon overhead, said to show the opposite lunar cycle as in the human world, and the occasional patches of short, spindly trees made of a quartz-like substance; the very top branches of the gargantuan formations below the surface that seemed to hold the entire layer up, creating the gap known as the Menos Forest.

This is the only place the Menos were known to reside, as they were almost never seen on the surface. The presence of stronger hollows in the open environment also drove some of their weaker bretheren down into the relative safety of the forest, where many were never seen again.

Alive, at least.

There was only one reason to go into the forest otherwise: to bring the Menos along on a raid to the world of the living. To this end, two bulky forms were seen running along the sands towards a small rise in the otherwise unremarkable surface. A small line of black below signaled that there was an entrance to the caverns.

One was short and stocky, with a mask like a boar encasing his head, two sharp tusks at the front. Lines of dark fur ran down his brown skinned limbs, accentuating its beast-like nature.

The other, a rather wide four-legged creature, traversed the sands in a thunderous, booming way quite a far distance behind the boar. Its mask and form was nondescript, and the dark markings on its surface seemed only to enhance the appearance of its massive jaws. The boar stopped at the top of a large dune, looking back at its companion. He snorted angrily, breath clouding in the cool air.

"You slow bastard!" He shouted, the voice guttural and low. The other hollow either didn't hear or didn't care to respond, causing it to growl in annoyance. "We're never going to make it if this keeps up." It abruptly sat on the dune, determined to wait - just not very patiently. The hollow scanned the area carefully, seeming to calm itself some.

This is all to evolve...I need to be more cautious. My survival depends on this big idiot.The two hollows were known as adjucha: the class directly superior to the Menos gillians. They were created after consuming enough energy - either from soul reapers, humans, or even other hollows - to evolve into their current forms. As gillians, they had been little more than semi-sentient animals. Now, as adjucha, they were much more intelligent, with the dominant soul and consciousness ruling over the rest. Their forms were smaller than gillian, but still quite large in most cases, and strongly reflected the individuals soul itself. Some took on aspects of various animals, some as large insectoid creatures, and even more were unrecognizable except as some sort of terrifying type of beast.

Such as the boars ally. He tossed another glance at the still-distant hollow, noting with some relief that it was at the least much closer than before. Its four almost insect-like legs alternated steps as its long body undulated, throwing itself forwards, its wide mask moving side to side hypnotically as it ran.

Another snort steamed in the air as he returned to his thoughts, a scan of the area showing nothing new.

He couldn't help but think of what was to come if their plans worked out as intended. The next step in evolution - into becoming vasto lordes. They were the peak of achievement in Hueco Mundo, the strongest known form of hollow in existence. Said to be as small as a human and infinitely more powerful than any other being in this realm, they were what every conscious hollow yearned to be.

It was no simple task, however, to reach that level. Adjucha like himself were prone to the same bottomless hunger they had as normal hollows and gillians. In fact, this was even more dire for every adjucha than any other hollow: if they did not regularly consume the energy and souls of other beings to sustain their own individuality, they would eventually regress in evolution and once again become a simple Menos. Lost in the swarm of souls that made up their existence, they would never again be able to ascend to the fore. The thought of that, for most hollows, gnawed at their minds more than the incessant urge to feed. Thus, the desire to search for new sources of energy to consume.

He had heard rumor that if a piece of an adjucha was consumed by another, their evolution would simply stop - both to advance and to degrade. No more risk of becoming a gillian again, but no chance of ever becoming more powerful.

The thought had crossed his mind many times.

The hollow unwillingly remembered his last meal several days before. The joy of the hunt, the pleasure of realizing his opponent was putting up a good fight for once, the well-earned victory.

Then the sinking realization after consuming them, feeling his energy barely increase. How long had it been since he had felt his power grow with each kill? How many hundreds, if not thousands of hollows of varying strengths had he eaten?

When was the last time I had any hope of becoming stronger?

The boar surged upright, violently shaking the thoughts from his mind as he stood, muscles tensed in some unspeakable emotion. He swiveled, checking the sands around. From the shaking of the ground, his companion was close, and he could never have too many allies.

Giving his tusked head another shake, his eyes focused on the other hollow as it plodded up, breathing heavily behind its mask.

"That took you long enough," the boar growled, irritation from his internal thoughts seeping out. Glowing eyes peered at him for a moment, devoid of any visible emotion, then gave a sort of rolling shrug, turning back towards the dark opening they had been heading to. It had never spoken even a single word. He nodded, resigned to another long run.

Another grumpy snort, and they were off.

--The Menos Forest--

After they had reached the opening some time later, the journey downward began. Some of the gaps were chasms, leading down for an indeterminate amount of time before simply dropping into the forest below. The pair, however, had found a much smaller path down, seemingly carved into the rock. It twisted and turned, in some places nearly too small for the larger of the pair to make it through.

But make it they did, sometimes having to break open a an opening to other tunnels simply to fit.

Finally, after many hours, the rock finally gave way, leading to a small shelf overlooking a large expanse of the forest. The faint light shining down only showed a small area directly below, the rest was an impenetrable black.

The boar had an odd sense of foreboding looking down at this place; whether it was from the inherent atmosphere, the fact that he had not returned here since his last evolution, or somthing else, he could not tell. Glancing to his companion once, he dropped down, pushing off of several of the gargantuan trees to slow his descent.

He landed in the middle of a large clearing, where he had expected to see at least a few of the gillians wandering around as they usually did.

Nothing was there.

Attempting to peer into the surrounding shadows, he started in surprise as the other hollow landed heavily behind him, sending up a small cloud of dust from the impact around each of its legs. Sending it a small glare, he went back to his search, listening for any other noise indicating where the gillian were.

Still nothing. It was as if the forest around them was empty.

The boar felt a chill run through him. This was not normal, not from everything he'd seen. The large Menos were supposed to be everywhere down here, and yet not even a sound or trace was to be seen.

"The gillians dont normally move around much, do they?" He wondered aloud, looking to the other hollow in the hopes it had some idea. From the narrowed eyes and a small shake of its head, those hopes were dashed. Something was not right here.

"Come on. We'll at least find one before we open the garganta, that should make it safe enough if some soul reapers show up." He randomly picked a direction, trotting slowly into the dark, his ally following behind as quietly as it could.

They wandered for a while, noticing nothing out of place except the oppressive silence. He couldn't help glancing back to make sure the other hollow was there just in case, realizing that he was truly nervous.

Abberations in such a place as Hueco Mundo were not common. It was not a natural living place such as the mortal realm, and nothing except the passing of a particularly powerful entity could affect anything enough to cause a disturbance in the world.

The Menos being absent was certainly abnormal. They were, by essence, not fully conscious. They were masses of souls where if one was not asserting dominance over the others, they had no mind capable of truly independent action. Therefore, they normally were anywhere and everywhere in this place. They did not form packs or roam.

The boar was just considering the final option when the two passed between two of the monolithic trees - and spotted a gillian in the distance. Exhaling a breath he hadnt realized he was holding, he nodded to his partner and leapt towards the silhouette.

As he approached, he couldn't help but examine the Menos warily. It was alone, its back to him, facing out into the blackness of the forest. As he closed, he yelled out to get the creature's attention.

It turned, and his entire being recoiled in shock.

As it moved, he fully saw the scale of it against the trees nearby; it was absolutely massive. Taller than any other gillian he'd seen, taller than anything he had even imagined, its head nearly grazed a lower portion of the caverns ceiling as it shuffled to face him. The mask then caught his attention, chilling him even further and causing him to skid to a halt some distance away.

It's unique.The mask it wore had no features other than three deep red lines, running from the side to narrow down to tips between its eyes. The gargantuan creature stopped moving once it was facing him, looking down at the pair as his companion also stopped nearby. The boar looked to it and noticed it was further back than he was, staring at the gillian in front of them in confusion - and something else he couldn't place.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, the boar turned back to the Menos, realizing it was still watching them with an odd curiosity.

It's very...awake for a Menos, and that mask clearly means there's a strong soul guiding it. I can't imagine it will take long for this thing to evolve. He observed it carefully for a moment; he didn't like the way it held itself somehow, as if it was on edge.

All the more reason for our raid."Gillian, we're making a run to the human world to gather souls. You'll be coming with us." It didn't respond at all. The boar frowned slightly under its mask. "With how you appear, maybe you'll get enough power to evolve."

That seemed to catch the attention of the gillian, as its glowing eyes widened slightly.

Proper motivation, I see. The boar hollow barked out a laugh, crossing it's arms haughtily. "That's right. You look strong, so it probably wont take much to get you to turn into a powerful adjucha like us," he gestured behind him at his ally. The creatures massive head tilted slowly to one side, as if watching something. It wasn't looking at him anymore, he realized. He followed its gaze to see it fixated on his large, four-legged companion, who was...backing away?

The boars mind went blank as he watched its legs slowly, ever so slowly inch backwards, its long body lowered down. It was acting like it was trying to escape the gillians watchful stare, the look in its eyes strangely wary. He whipped back to the gillian to see the massive creatures glowing orbs narrowed, following every tiny movement as if entranced.

His mind raced, something deep in his core recognizing the behavior.

Like a predator stalking its prey...

Before he could act, the hollow scurried backwards, disappearing behind one of the trees the forest was named for; and faster than he thought possible, the Menos bent down - and leapt after it, the ground shattering in its wake.

Impossible... He watched it vanish surprisingly quickly into the unlit area, its black robes perfectly concealing it's titanic form. Frozen in place, he heard various stomping noises, the sound of skittering feet from the smaller hollow-

A horrible echoing screech emanated from the shadows; he could hear struggling. And all too suddenly it was cut off, replaced by a sickening crunching and snapping.

Gillians don't move like that!

The boar snapped out of its confusion, jumping as high and as fast as it could. It found a foothold near the top of a monolithic tree, hidden in the shadows, its breath coming in panicked bursts. It had no time to mourn the loss of his ally - for he knew that scream had come from the four-legged hollow in its last moments.

The hollow dying wasn't what terrified him: it was how. The Menos hadn't simply attacked them, firing off a cero or attempting to crush them underneath its feet as would any normal gillian.

It's trying to feed, not just kill. With a sinking realization, he knew precisely where all the other menos in the area must have gone; consumed by this monster in its urge to feast. Normal menos were passive, they would never have a chance against something like this. To his knowledge, no gillian had ever been so aggressive, even when a strong soul managed to take control.

The hollow paused, focusing all it could on its surroundings, suppressing every trace of its spiritual energy possible.

The noise had stopped.

He peered around the area below his perch warily, straining to see through the shadows, to catch a glimpse of this massive gillian. To his surprise, he couldn't see even where the beast might be; it had vanished. Amazed something that large could hide its presence so well, the fact that it even could and clearly knew how to sent another cold wave down his back. This thing was clearly ahead of its class.

Teeth grinding, he felt his hackles rise; something in his core deeply rejected that line of thought. He was still an adjucha, a higher form on an evolutionary scale. If this monster wanted his soul, he was going to have to fight for it.

He unfortunately did not have the time to think of a plan as the gillians massive hands suddenly appeard from below, reaching around the pillar from both sides, huge pale fingers almost delicately crawling up the pilllar to find him.

Cursing, he leapt out of the way, falling towards the distant ground; the gillian immediately came rushing around to meet him.

The hollow grinned, the heat of the moment taking over, as it brought both hands together. A tiny red orb formed, rapidly growing to dwarf his torso in size as he funneled all of his power into it. "You can eat this then!" He roared, thrusting the cero forwards at the gillian, its jaws already open wide as it lunged at him.

The technique unleashed a torrential wave of crimson red energy, fully consuming the beast in a massive explosion. The entire cavern shook, small shards of rock falling from the ceiling overhead. The boar spun as it fell, landing heavily in the cloud of dust his blast had thrown up. He couldn't see anything; the unfortunate repercussions of such an attack in such an enclosed space. Standing, he scanned the area where he last saw the creature. He couldn't imagine any gillian being able to withstand a cero like that, but he wasn't taking any chances.

The dust began to settle, and he managed to see its form, partially draped across one of the trees, its head bent back, mask out of view. Its massive body was still smoking slightly.

The boar could only admire the creature; in almost any other situation, that would have vaporized a normal Menos. This thing acould have become quite the force to be reckoned with. It may even have been able to become a vasto lorde in the end, had it not attacked them first.

He let out what sounded like an amused snort, quickly stepping towards the creatures body to finish it off -

A colossal white hand shot out, crushing him in it's grip, the gillians unusual mask appearing as it lifted its head. There were several scorch marks covering its surface, but it seemed unharmed otherwise.

The creature finally stood, holding the hollow close to its face. It hadn't relented in its strength, and it was all the boar could do to stay conscious as he choked on his own blood, body shuddering as bones snapped and splintered under the pressure. He managed to see its jaws opening wide before his vision blacked out. He had a faint feeling, an odd satisfaction, dying like this. This Menos would make it to where he wasn't able to, he was sure of it; to the very top of the hierarchy. Whether through instinct or sheer power, this creature had both in excess.

He would be there, in a way, to witness it.

--

The gillian finished consuming the other hollow, letting its remains fully dissolve and merge with itself. Immediately after, it felt a strong thump emanate from its core, and bent over slightly as it began to radiate light and heat. Its shape began to blur at the edges as it shrank rapidly, finally coalescing into a much smaller body.

It appeared, at first glance, to be some sort of reptilian creature. It had a wide, heavyset torso and four thick limbs, standing at nearly two dozen feet in height. The back two had reversed joints, leading down to large reptilian feet, complete with sharp claws. The forelegs extended slightly to the sides, adopting a low, wide stance, and ended in long, viciously serrated talons. Its head was covered by a bone-like structure as always, but had morphed several feet forwards into a squared, blunt-nosed head and snout; oversized, angled teeth lined its powerful jaws. There were two white horns protruding from the top that curved backwards before looping around and jutting nearly four feet forwards into lethally sharp points. Its glowing yellow eyes were shrouded by thick ridges of bone, and coupled with jagged red marks running down to its topmost teeth, they turned its appearance from being simply intimidating to outright terrifying. The rest of its thick body was a pale gray, odd black lines undulating down its limbs from a point on the shoulders and hips. From the back of its mask a large bushy mane appeared, colored a vivid orange, running to a midpoint down the creatures back. Further down its torso a thick tail emanated, a dozen feet in length. It tapered to a fine point, the same marks on the limbs running down on all sides to cover the last foot or so in an inky black cap.

The only thing missing from its dragon-esque appearance were wings, but anything looking at this powerful beast would have no doubt it was likely mobile enough even without that.

The large hollow shifted after a minute, breath escaping its parted jaws in a steaming cloud. The eyes blinked several times, and it stretched mightily, talons slicing into the rock beneath it with seeming ease, muscles rippling under its thick skin. Back arched, it let out a vicious roar. No longer the mindless howl of a hollow; this was deep, growling bellow of a true predator.

I'm awake! He shook his large head, dispelling any lingering sluggishness. For the first time, he could clearly think! The cacophony of emotions and noise that had plagued him in his previous form were gone - only a tiny whisper remained, and he quenched that with hardly a thought.

Examining his new form, he brought one taloned paw up and grabbed a nearby piece of rubble. Holding it carefully, his weight shifted onto his massive left shoulder as he rotated it slowly; then ground it into dust with a twist. Eyes lit up in a satisfied way, he flexed all the digits on that hand, noting the strange tattoos leading up to his torso, turning to see the similar markings on his tail and back legs.

Feeling rather pleased with the results, he surveyed the area, noting the scars in the terrain from his fight with the other two adjucha - if it could have been called a fight. All he clearly remembered was faking his own defeat, even if the cero that the other hollow fired had stung more than expected.

For a moment he experienced an unexpected pang of remorse for attacking first, even if it had been mostly instinctual. The two had at least tried to reason with him, and may have turned out to be valuable allies. On the other hand, who knows how long it would have taken to evolve if he hadn't eaten them.

What's done is done. Trying to stay sane much longer in that form would have killed me.

He glanced around the damaged cavern once more, then loped off in a brighter direction, looking for an exit to the depressing place; he had been here long enough.

--

Several hours later he managed to find a wide enough opening in the caverns roof, legs surging as he leapt off one of the colossal trees, he easily found purchase on the wide ledge he found. Looking ahead, he was faintly surprised to see a broad tunnel, slowly rising upwards as it went. Shrugging mentally, he powered up the slope, long limbs and muscle making quick progress. To say he was happy with his transformation was an understatement.

He was free.

Free to leave these dismal caverns, free to roam where he pleased; for who could stop him as he was now?

Seeing brighter light ahead, he pushed more power into his run, racing along the tunnels length. He burst out into open air, seeing the surface of this world for the first time. Pure white sands, endless in their breadth. A dark sky, punctuated only by a crescent moon that appeared to be the only source of light he could see.

What about the stars? The thought leapt to his mind, emanating from some deep corner of his consciousness. He frowned underneath the mask. Why would there be? This wasn't the living world, he knew that, yet still the image would not go away.

But when had he seen a sky filled with stars?

"What's this? You're only an adjucha..."

The voice came immediately to his right, and in his surprise he immediately lashed out with a claw. To his surprise, he didn't hit or see anything there, skidding to a halt in the sand.

"That was quite rude."

His head whipped back around, catching a glimpse of the speaker as he leapt away, jaws open, a crimson cero charging instictively. The being, shaped like a normal human with long turquoise hair, seemed to sigh. It didn't move an inch as it watched him land, forelegs stamping into the ground as he leaned forwards. The technique grew wider, as wide as his torso; with a wild roar he unleashed it, feet digging into the dunes from the force.

All he could see was the crimson energy surging forwards after he cut it off - until it vanished. Astonished, all he saw was the being standing in the exact same place.

What the hell?

It was leaning back slightly, cheeks bulging out. It shifted forwards - and a massive turquoise cero blasted past him in an instant, searing his flank. He shouted, surprised, moving away as quickly as he could-

His head jerked to the side, a hand gripping part of his mane as he was slammed to the ground, sand kicking up from the impact. He howled in pain as another hand grabbed one of his horns, yanking his view up-

To see a spectacularly annoyed female face glaring down.

If looks could kill was the phrase that came to mind, not that the woman needed that to do so; she seemed perfectly capable of manhandling him in the first place.

A fact he was very aware of, as one of her deceptively delicate hands now rested just above his left eye. She stared at him for several moments before calmly saying, "are you done?"

A pause, a single slow nod.

Her expression lightened some as she released her grip, stepping back as he rolled to his feet, towering over her form with little effort. He met her pale green eyes with his own glowing orbs. He couldnt help but inspect what he saw there; the fact she had been able to throw his huge form around with no apparent strain was something he could not simply ignore - if only for his own safety.

It was only then he noticed what appeared to be half of a hollow's mask from the teeth up resting atop her hair, leaving her fine features fully exposed. The mask fragment was a pure bone white, with two small, curled horns on the sides, like a ram. An odd round pink mark stretched across the bridge of her nose, ending high on her cheeks. She wore some sort of form-fitting and padded clothing, hiding her exact form, but showing a tall and well-developed body all the same. A sheathed blade sat at her hip, hung by a black belt, one slender hand resting on its hilt. Otherwise, she appeared to be just human - though the aura she gave off spoke of a hollow. She cocked a slim brown at his inspection. "So are you going to say anything, adjucha? Or can you not speak?"

He hadn't even thought to speak; though he hadn't exactly had a chance to try yet. He took a wary breath. "Who are you?"

The woman gave him a curious look. "Why do you sound like that?"

"...What?"

"Your voice, its...layered, like there are two people speaking. You hadn't noticed?"

"This is the first time I've spoken at all." Her other brow raised to meet its twin as she hummed contemplatively.

"So then you were the source of power I'd sensed. Interesting. How are you only an adjucha, someone with your strength is usually a-"

"Who. Are. You?" He demanded, a growl slipping into the syllables, frustration and impatience getting the better of him. The woman sighed again.

"I am an arrancar. My name is Nelliel tu Odelschwank."

"...Arrancar?" She nodded, knowing he wanted something more detailed. "Arrancar are hollows that have managed to remove their masks, becoming closer to humans or shinigami in exchange for a large increase in power - and cognitive ability, for the most part. Though you, even as an adjucha, are quite reasonable already."

His large head tilted to the side in question. "You aren't attacking me anymore, are you?" She asked in amusement.

Fair enough.His rolling shrug only made Nelliel smile wider, making her seem rather mischevious. "So, how about you? What's your name?"

A long silence ensued. "...I don't know."

Her eyes widened, lips parted in surprise.

"The first memory I have is of myself as a gillian. Though there's not much I even remember from that, due to..."

"Obvious reasons, right." Nelliel finished for him, comprehension dawning on her expression. "That must be why you don't have something at the very least, you were probably never a normal hollow in the first place...but then how could your soul come be in control? You're clearly very strong, but why..? Hmm." The woman suddenly became very animated, muttering to herself for a minute before whirling back and looking up at him cheerily.

"Well you can't go around without a name, even here! So I'll give you one!"

"...Why?"

Nelliel paused, a rather innocent expression flitting across her face. "Because I have a good feeling about you. Do you have any ideas?"

What kind of reasoning even is that..? The bulky hollow sighed internally, searching his lacking memory for anything relevant. He felt an odd sense of something whispering in the back of his skull, causing him to shake his head in irritation. The motion brought his eyes to the small sliver of the moon, its light seeming to clear the sensation he was feeling, and he felt just as much as he heard the voice for an instant.

"...getsu..."

Nelliel looked back up in surprise, having assumed a pensive position on a nearby dune. She followed his eyes. "What was that?"

"I remembered something...I think. I can't seem to bring it back though." His odd voice still conveyed a subtle tone of frustration. She watched the hollows long claws dig into the sand before turning her gaze back to the sky.

"Getsu...shingetsu. The crescent moon," She said in explanation as he swiveled his neck to look at her. "It could also mean new moon. And, well, from what you say, you are as new as they come."

He snorted in amusement, turning back to face the sky thoughtfully. "Shingetsu, huh?"

The woman smiled softly. "If I'm not mistaken, I'd say that's a yes, at least until you remember something else. I think I'll call you Shin, for honesty. Otherwise it feels too much like a title, especially if we're friends."

Friends? He swung back around. He would admit a part of himself had enjoyed their little talk, but the rest of his being wanted nothing more than to continue feeding, to satiate the craving that still lingered from his previous form. He couldn't tell if it would ever truly stop.

But now, as opposed to when the two adjucha had approached him, his mind was clear. He could think, he could rationalize, he could reason.

And he could not see any reason in denying the pleasure he felt in having someone nearby that had nothing to fear from him.

Shin looked down at his new ally, his friend. "Thank you...Nelliel."

She laughed, the bell-like sound happy and pure as it rang out among the wastes. "Please," she began, waving a hand dismissively, "call me Nel. I won't stand on ceremony if I dont have to, which I certainly don't all the way out here. Though speaking of, Pesche and Dondochakka-"

"Excuse you."

"-are probably looking for...wait, what?"

They traded confused looks. Shin felt a strange heat rise under his mask. "Oh. Those were names. Uh...nevermind."

He looked to the side gruffly, embarrassed, as Nel rolled on the sands for several minutes, roaring with laughter.

Well thats a great start. He grumbled, annoyed with himself, as the other hollow cheekily perched herself on his back, still giggling as she pointed him towards a small silhouette in the distance he hadn't noticed before.

As she assured him that was their destination, he began padding his way towards it, his mind pleasantly calm.

If this was any indication of how his life might be from now on, if even for a short time...

He would gladly seek it out.