Hee-ho! How you are you? Glad you decided to stick with me and welcome to chapter 3. As always have fun and feel free to leave a comment.
I do not own any of the characters other than my OC Young Man.
With that out of the way, let the Strange Journey begin!
…
A short but noticeable time later Orihime began to stir from her slumber.
"I…I-Ichigo" Orihime asked only to notice no one besides her. She slowly leaned up in her bed and began to rub the sand out of her eyes when she noticed; she had regained eye sight in her right eye! "My eye it's fixed? No it's like it was never removed. But how, only I can restore such grave injuries." Orihime's thoughts were cut off by the sound of a violin.
The sound was emanating from the hallway and Orihime quickly got to her feet only to stumble over immediately afterwards. However with a quick thrust of her hands forward, she somehow saved herself by blasting a small but powerful blast of wind at the floor, causing her to accidently fling herself back onto her bed.
"W-what did I just? That wasn't Shun Shun Rikka! What did I just-"Orihime quickly became tongue tied much to her frustration! "AGH! Fine, Ayame! Shun'ō!"
"…" nothing happened much to Orihime's shock.
"Umm Baigon! Hinagiku! Lily!" Orihime called out but again nothing happened.
"What's going on? Why can't I use Shun Shun Rikka" Orihime gasped, trying to find the hair clips that were usually amongst her long orange hair, however she found nothing and with a panicked tone she called out one last name "…Tsubaki?"
"…" nothing happened and Orihime could swear she saw a tumble weed blow across out in the hallway, which was odd since there weren't any windows on this floor, what with it being the basement and all.
Regardless Orihime began to tear up and soon tears began to fall down her face when again the sound of a violin caught her ears.
"Just, where is that coming from exactly" Orihime pondered as she entered the hallway. She looked around and found no sign of the tumble weed that she thought she had seen earlier but quickly shook her head and put a somewhat gloved hand to her ear. Orihime listened closing for the string instrument, trying to tune out any other sound that might be made by the being or beings that dwelled on this floor.
"…" for a moment she heard nothing other than the sound of her own heartbeat. Another moment and all she heard was the sound of her own breath on the wind. Orihime was about to give up when just as she removed her hand from her ear the sound of a violin reaching its loudest possible note pierced her ears!
"Got'cha" Orihime cheered and quickly ran down the hallway before stopping at a door which had a strange orange mark painted onto the front of the door. She took a deep breath 'This is it! The sound is coming from in here, well ready or not here I come' Orihime thought as she gripped the doorknob and quickly thrust the door open.
…
Inside Orihime couldn't believe her eyes. There right smack dab in the middle of the room was that of a strange stone object which was glowing with a bright red aura moments before Orihime entered the room. To the right of the strange stone object was none other than the young man, in his hand was that of a violin which seemed too well maintained and clean to even be real. The young man did not look at Orihime as she carefully walked up to him, and continued playing until she was right behind him.
"…" the young man let out a slow prominent sigh before opening his eye, having closed them since long before Orihime had even awoken.
"No, don't stop" Orihime cried sorry she had interrupted the young man's performance.
"No, there is no need. He's gone now, having given his last moments to me through his music" the young man explained cryptically as a single tear fell from his face. However the young man's face remained stoic even as another tear fell from his eyes.
"…umm…" Orihime didn't know what to say but she did manage to ask if the young man if he was okay.
"Yes I'm fine, just a few tears from a lost one. Nothing new" the young man explained wiping the tears from his eyes with his hand. "Anyway it is good to see you are awake. How are you feeling" the young man asked, calmly setting the violin against the strange stone object.
"I'm okay but my eye" Orihime began, only for the young man to get a little too close for comfort. He was in mere inches from Orihime; the young man's face was almost pressed against hers, only separated by a slim centimeter.
"You eye seems alright for now, maybe I should cast another healing spell, just to be safe. Here let us return to the lab" the young man explained backing away.
"Wha…um sorry you say something" Orihime asked a slight blush growing on her face.
"Hmm you seem embarrassed? Oh…" the young man quickly realized his blunder "I have forgotten. You humans have such things as boundaries, correct?" Orihime nodded. "Forgive me, here let me make it up to you" the young man explained before slowly leaning in and giving Orihime a slight peck on the cheek.
Orihime quickly flashed red and slammed the young man across the face, sending him to the floor with a loud thud!
"Oh no, I'm sorry I didn't mean to. You just kissed me and my body reacted on its own and I'm so sorry please forgive me" Orihime pleaded getting on her hands and knees as the young man stood up once more, now rubbing his left cheek which was where Orihime had hit him.
"Heh, such an interesting human" the young man muttered aloud.
"Huh?" Orihime asked raising an eye brow.
"Nothing, let us go back to the lab and fix that eye of yours" The young man explained reaching out a hand towards the apologetic woman. Orihime quickly took the hand and upon contact her entire body shuddered, it was like she had just walked into a blizzard wearing nothing more than a her bra and panties!
'Brrr. He's so cold' Orihime winced as she stood up.
"Something wrong…?" the young man asked looking to learn the name of the woman.
"Oh it's Orihime, Orihime Inoue. And I'm fine, it's just your so cold" Orihime explained.
"Orihime? Hmm if I recall that's what that orange haired swordsman said to me right before he tried to cut me down" the young man explained slightly clutching at his sweater, specifically the area centered on the huge sword wound that he had showed Orihime a few hours ago, at least to Orihime it was a few hours ago.
"An orange haired swordsman…?" it took Orihime a moment before it dawned on her! "Ichigo! It had to be Ichigo! You've seen him! Please tell me, where is he? Is he here?" Orihime asked garbing the young man by the shoulders.
"Please calm down; I'm sure he's fine. Who knows he may be right outside" the young man guessed.
"You mean it? Ichigo is outside?" Orihime was now getting excited, ready to see her love once more but unbeknownst to her the young man was lying, he knew what had happened to this 'Ichigo' person. In fact he was the first person that the young man had injected with the Atma virus, and the results were disastrous! The scar on the young man wasn't the only thing that the Ichigo person had done in the midst of his transformation as Orihime would soon see.
…
"Wha…what did this" Orihime gasped, stating mere inches from falling face first back into the basement three floors bellow!
…
A few seconds earlier, Orihme and the young man had entered the elevator that lied at the very end of the basement corridor. Orihime was budding with excitement at the thought of seeing her beloved once again. It had been so long; at least to her it had been so long, since they last met. Unfortunately last time they had met was in the midst of a war between the Soul reapers of the Soul Society and the malevolent power hungry Aizen. However she hoped this would be would be different since she saw neither a sign of Aizen nor any sign of his arrancars.
The elevator let out a loud ding as it came to a stop at the designated floor, Orihime quickly rushed out of the elevator unaware that it had stopped on the third floor.
'Poor girl, she's so naïve, always hoping for the best when in actuality the results very well may do more harm than good!' the young man sighed and walked out of the elevator and soon found Orihime, standing only mere inches from the edge of what used to be the third floor!
…
"Wha…what did this?" Orihime gasped, turning towards the young man who had on a saddened expression or at least what Orihime thought was a sad expression. The young man sighed and Orihime asked him once more, this time with a bit more of urgency "What happened to this place, please if it involves what happen to Ichigo tell me!" The young man sighed once more, readying himself in case of what he knew was going to happen.
"The one you call Ichigo, he did this! It happened long before you or any of the others awoke. He was the first to awaken and the first I injected with the Atma virus, the very same virus that I injected into you. However my knowledge of the virus back then was spotty at best so…" the young man paused allowing Orihime to take in all the information so far.
"You…you made him your guinea pig?!" Orihime spat, disgusted by the very words she spoke as well as the words the young man had just young man nodded, confirming her suspicions. "How dare you!" Orihime growled gripping her fist with enough force that would crush a solid steel girder. Orihime's pupils began to dilate and then quickly shrank to their smallest possible size. She bit her lip with enough force to cause it to bleed as a black and white mask began to materialize around her face, soon covering it entirely minus her right eye which began to glow with a bright red aura.
"Let me finish before you fully transformation. When I introduced the drug into his system a strange white mask appeared on his face. He began to cackle wickedly and soon his voice changed. It was as if something took him over, however this wasn't the Atma virus at work. By my guess it was his inner demon. Once that happened, this Ichigo person became someone else entirely and the results well…you already saw my scar. The huge chasm behind you was the result of his…what was it called? Getsuga Tensho? I think that's what he called it. Anyway I could hear him screaming it all the way in the basement while he vaporized the hospital's entire north wing!" the young man explained as he finished his story just before Orihime, in her fully transformed Atma form, tackled him over and grabbed him by the throat!
"Bastard! You BASTARD" Orihime screamed, her voice taking on a more demonic tone just like the last time she transformed. However unlike the last time the young man wasn't about to just let Orihime beat on him.
"Agidyne" The young man shouted thrusting his hand into Orihime's masked face! Orihime's right eye glanced at the hand, just in time to see a powerful blast of fire shoot out from the young man's hand! Orihime weaved back in pain as her entire body was set ablaze in an instant.
"GAH!" Orihime screamed as the young man quickly got to his feet and began to cast another spell. However before the young man could finish the spell Orihime rushed him, her body still very much on fire, and tackled him once more, sending both the young man and herself plummeting to the basement bellow!
"I'm not dying here! Not until I restore this world and its people" the young man screamed clutching his first and quickly punching Orihime in the face. The sound of a shattered hand pierced Orihime's ears as well as the young man but he continued to punch Orihime, knowing full well that his hand had become completely shattered!
"Now die you bastard" Orihime screamed jumping off the young man mere seconds before the young man collided with the floor.
…
For a moment the air was clouded with dust and debris as Orihime landed feet first on the basement floor. She no longer was on fire but her head was killing her now, all because of that bastard young man. She quickly walked forward, the steps of her bladed heels echoing in the dead basement. All the lights as well as other electrical equipment had suddenly cut out, possibly due to the large crash that might've ended up damaging the underground generators.
Orihime continued to walk forward until she saw that of a familiar but now bloody, yellow sweater and a pair of black dress shoes.
"Ziodye" a sudden shout from dust cloud! Orihime quickly threw one of her hand up and fired off one small blast of wind behind her however she was then blindsided by a huge bolt of lightning directly in front of her, sending her to the ground.
"D-damn you" Orihime cursed before suddenly transforming back to her normal form, only this time she did not pass out. Instead she just lied there, paralyzed as the young man walked up to her. Orihime took one look at the young man's hands and winced. The young man's hands were battered and bruised; some of the bones had begun to poke out of the skin where as others just looked like they had shattered into tiny pieces!
"…" The young man did not look pleased, far from it. His expression was one filled with rage and scorn! Oh how he wanted to make this girl before him pay, how he wanted to make all those that had attack him in recent events pay!
Orihime blinked her eyes a few times and a look of confusion quickly grew on her face.
"W-where am I" she asked innocently which honestly surprised the man. "And why does my head hurt so much…ow" Orihime groaned rubbing her head.
"You attacked me" the young man explained.
"I did? Wait…" suddenly a flash of images assaulted Orihime's mind making her clutch her head in pain. The young man's expression quickly changed as he slowly approached Orihime, gently placing his busted up hands on her own as the images continued to past through her mind. Orihime quickly glanced at the man then at his hand and once again saw how mangled and truly broken they were.
"Did...did I do this to you" Orihime was shocked by the answer as the young man nodded "But how?"
"You transformed, you entered what some people of this world call an Atma Avatar." The young man explained.
"Atma…Avatar?" Orihime asked a bit scared of what the answer might be.
"You see an image of a woman right, a woman garbed in white with pitch black skin" the young man asked?
"Y-yeah, she's wearing the same dress I'm wearing though I don't see-"
"Keep looking, doesn't she resemble someone?" the young man asked trying to ease the answer into her as gently as possible. He knew this girl before him was fragile and didn't want her passing out again. Besides it was time they left anyway!
"Wait...no it can't be! That t-thing was me" Orihime snaps, fully realizing what she had done. Orihime's eyes began to dilate and shrink as she looked back at the young man. She looked as if she was on the verge of a severe mental break down.
"No, please don't!" the young man pleaded wrapping his arms tightly around Orihime and squeezing her with all his might. Orihime's eye darted around franticly, pupils still alternating between being dilated and extremely small! Her breath hastened and the young man could feel Orihime's heart beat as it began to grow more and more erratic! 'She's going to die! No Please don't die! I don't want to be alone! Please god I don't want to be alone!' for the second time in his existence the young man began to experience the emotion humans called Sadness.
"Please don't die! Please don't die again! Haru! Don't leave me" the young man pleaded no screamed at the top of his lungs trying with all his might to hold onto the girl in his arms.
There was a sudden jolt that shot through Orihime's mind, for a moment her eyes completely dilated and then after a second they returned to their normal size and Orihime spoke.
"H-Haru? Whose Haru" Orihime asked innocently? The young man immediately let go of the Orihime, looked her straight in the face and then gave her another hug. "Oh okay umm could you maybe let me go. You're kind of crushing me" Orihime gasped.
"Oh...sorry, you just remind me of someone" the young man stutters out, quickly letting go of Orihime and standing straight up!
"I'm guessing Haru, right" Orihime asked?
"N-never mind. It's time to go anyway" the young man explained once again returning to his normal stoic manner. Orihime nodded and started to stand up when the young man reach out his hand. Orihime smiled and gladly took the young man's hand and for a moment she could have sworn she saw him smile.
...
Well that's it for chapter 3. Sorry that they're still in the hospital. I promise that next chapter they will be leaving and headed for some place new. In fact I might even through in a surprise or two. Who knows*shrugs*? Well that's all for now folk! As always don't forget to rate and review or just leave a comment telling me what you thought about the chapter. As always questions are welcome!