Alright, I got my bowl of Captain Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Let's do this. (Explanations/Apologies will be at the end)
Death's New Life Chapter 8
I watched in frustration from the center of the main lobby as I was left behind... again... for the umteenth time this month.
I didn't understand. I was improving far faster then I could've ever hoped, knowing about how to do something in theory is far different from actually performing the action, and beating Hiyori, on occasion Lisa and Mashiro, when I sparred and trained. Of course, this was without using our hollows, but... still. Was I not trust worthy enough? After eight months of training? Eight months of living with these monkeys? My only reprieve were the brief visits in which Ichigo came to train along side me, though we fought and argued more often then not, when he himself wasn't immersed in his own training. I have yet to gain the upper hand in our mock battles. Stupid carrot-top and his gigantic sword... of doom.
I was close to my breaking point, not once had I left this damned warehouse. My longing for fresh air and the sense of freedom was near unbearable, driving me towards insanity. With a huff I turned and strode toward my room, my reiatsu flaring in harsh electrical arcs over my skin.
'Be patient pup. It will make sense in time.'
Oh, I was not in the mood for this.
"I don't have time! I'm losing my mind in this dump!" I snarled, glaring at the sword resting all too innocently against the wall to my right.
'Then leav' you dim-wit. You may be li'e them, but you are o'viously not apar' o' them. 'Cause of the cat-nappin' Espada, they refuse to a'cept you. Hypocrites, all of 'em. They whine bou' tha shinigami not bein' fair, then treat yew like a lepper, an' refuse ta let ya fight with me. They're scared of ya.'
That- that got me thinking.
Were they really scared of me? I mean yeah, I finally obtained shikai, learned to tame my strange reiatsu, and figured out how to use my own sword... but scared? I still couldn't use Kido past Byakurai, and the Captain level shinigami still handed my ass to me on a bright and shiny platter. I was beating Hiyori, so what? She is nothing compared to the horrors Aizen creates.
We hadn't heard a sound from Seireitei either, in fact I'm pretty sure Rukia is in Soul Society, if Ichigo's complaining about Kon and his incessant wailing is anything to go by. That simple fact sent chills of fear racing down my skin. Soul Society wasn't quiet when there were threats around.
On top of that, I hadn't heard a word from the psychotic cat nestled in my soul. Maybe that's what it was... They were afraid that if I began using my hollow, it would bring out the Espada as well.
A lingering tug in my chest snapped my train of thought, and I groaned as it quickly flared to a searing heat then faded. Out of sight, but never out of mind.
"I still don't know what the hell that is either." I grumbled, rubbing my sternum.
I felt an odd uneasiness from my two constant companions and got the weirdest sensation of shifting in my mind. I blinked as the world spun slightly, and stumbled onto my futon.
"That was not cool guys. Seriously." I mumbled into the mattress.
For once it was silent, and I stretched lazily before sighing as I got up and left the small dismal space I called my own, grabbing my zanpaktou on the way out. I couldn't stay in here any longer, I needed to just go.Reaching the main area, I blinked at its emptiness.
'Where could they have gone?'
A sudden wave of harsh hollow energy raked against my senses, and in an instant I knew.
Ichigo was training with his hollow again. With Orihime in Seireitei for an undetermined amount of time, Aizen has nothing to go on, he can't capture the red-headed healer and goad our ever protective strawberry into Hueco Mundo... though I can't say he hasn't tried. Oh, no. Hollow activity in Karakura has skyrocketed, with innocent lives being sent prematurely to their after life and their families devastated. It's driven Ichigo to a whole new level of stubbornness, he fights harder and longer with his hollow mask. Last I checked, he was able to hold it for five minutes even. Though I've been banished from being in the training room while he is in there. I lose control once, once, and I'm 'banished'.
A flash of anger flitted through me, and I ground my teeth against another. Before this, I had been a mostly peaceful, unable to actually be truly angry.
Dying changes a person I guess.
I spun on my heel and strode toward the door and out of it. I paused, however, when I reached Hachi's barrier.
'Well, shit. I didn't think about that.'
I placed my hand on the only remaining obstacle blocking my freedom and gasped when it simply passed through. I couldn't help the glee that tore through me as I slipped through the Kido, walking on my tiptoes as if the ground was covered in mousetraps. Once outside, I restrained my whoop of joy and launched into my fastest shunpo decidedly away from the concrete prison.
I never saw the remorseful brown eyes watching me as I left.
The sky had never been so beautiful, the sun on my back and the summers warm breeze had never felt so good. I laughed with relief, sheer happiness filling my soul with a peace I hadn't felt in what seemed like an eternity.
I was free.
No longer cooped up in that dreary grey box, I flickered with the winds, laughing as I went, nothing could kill my mood.
Electricity arced along my limbs, sending pleasant tingles to my nerves.
Hailey laughed with me, and my smile just widened in response. Raiju soaked up the sun's rays, a rumbling hum of contentment vibrating through my bones.
'I knew you'd like being out here Raiju.' I thought smugly.
' While I will not deny my own enjoyment at being able to revel in the sun's warmth, I do not condone your actions. Pup, they are only afraid of what might be because you refuse to let them know what is.'He replied with a soft roll of thunder.
I never wanted to cry as much as I did in that moment. He sounded like my father, a father I would never have.
'They don't need to know what is. That's personal and I don't trust them, if they heard that I was all buddy-buddy– 'Hey! Tha's total bull!'–with my inner hollow I'd be called a traitor and sent to Aizen... you know this.' I responded quietly.
I stuck to the skies, leering at the streets below. Ground could not hold me, would never hold me. Tempting though it was, I did not release my tight grip on the thrumming energy just beneath my skin, begging to be released, despite the full body ache it caused.
As I finally came to halt over the Karakura River, I grinned, seeing the ward, a shimmering wall of almost invisible energy, put in place by Urahara himself.
Five Steps.
Five simple steps would take me out of their range and into a place where I could finally release my months worth of pent up energy. I simply breathed and walked forward, the memory of when I had last been able to... experience the entirety of my spirit energy at it fullest crossed my mind.
Four Months Earlier
A string of curses left my mouth as I failed to completely dodge Hiyori's swing. Pain seared through my arm as her zanpaktou sliced through the black material of my shihakshou and soft flesh of my left arm... my main sword arm.
"What's wrong, mutt? Can't keep up? What happened to knowing all about this world, huh?"
I snapped.
Snarling, I leaped away from her next swing creating some distance between us. Hailey laughed in response to my anger, adding not only fuel to my fire but an abyssal black tint to my pure white reiatsu as it flared around me. Everything came into focus and I lunged forward, reveling in the electric feeling that rushed through my veins. My attacks were wild and chaotic, much like my state of mind, and I loved every last second. I could feel the masquerade-esque mask begin to form at my temples as I finally began to overwhelm the-
'Bucktoothed, half-pint, flat-chested, shit-eating, waste of oxygen!' I mentally roared.
I felt Hailey surge through my mind, and accepted her presence, she was an ally a friend and the other half of my soul.
My electrically charged blade ripped through the flesh of her stomach, and I flickered away as she froze clutching her abdomen, unprepared for my sudden burst of speed. My double layered laugh echoed through out the compound, calling the Vizard to me. My own energy raged around me, a bi-hued tempest under a fake blue sky. The milky-white bone material was closing in on itself, much like a curtain to a stage.
A blood-lust smile twisted my features and I ran into a shunpo, my desire to make her bleed fueling my transformation. I cackled as I landed no more then a foot from her, my sword already in motion to remove her own sword arm. However, when my blade came into jarring contact with Sakanade I screeched our rage.
How DARE he deny us our revenge!
Shinji stood tall, his katana aimed for my chest, brown eyes filled with sorrow and pity. I noticed almost nothing, as I attempted to behead him.
How. Dare. He.
I never landed a single hit in my fury. Every single fumbling slash, stab, arc of my weapon was met with the sharp clanging rebuttal of his blade. In a flurry of moves so fast my eyes strained to even try and catch one movement, I found myself disarmed and pinned to the ground like the wild animal I was becoming.
My incoherent roars were punctuated by an increase of reiatsu in the air. All of it mine. The thrill of the battle was still singing in my veins, the call to fight as strong as my thundering heart beat.
'Alicia. CALM YOURSELF!'The thunderous snarl was enough to immediately send me into a shocked silence.
He had never, ever, yelled like that. Ever. My zanpaktou had been a quiet assurance, a constant support. Not... not my punisher. My intricately designed hollow mask shattered in an instant, my flailing reiatsu quieting.
'I had hoped that you the common sense of mind to never allow yourself to be ruled by emotion alone. What you did was foolish, and child like. You are an adult, act like one.'His tone sent shivers of fear down my spine, it was cold and it lashed through my heart.
As sudden as his anger and lightning-like violence had come it left, taking everything else with him.
I cried out as suddenly, I couldn't feel my zanpaktou; my own half of my soul, my hollow, or even the constant hum of energy that belonged to Grimmjow. An emptiness as encompassing as the ocean engulfed me, and I writhed with in my bindings.
"NO! No, please! Don't do this!" I sobbed.
I couldn't lose him.
Not him, never him.
Darkness encroached on my mind threatening to drag me into unconsciousness. I frantically searched within my soul for that piece of me I had become accustomed to, that warmth and rush of electricity in my veins always giving me a thrill when I was bold enough to tap into it. Only to find that it was behind an impenetrable wall, out of my grasp.
With one last heart-wrenching cry, I succumbed to the weight on my mind.
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What I hadn't known was that my stunt would bring me closer to the being I shared my soul with... but it had begun to wake the Espada, something that would've resulted in all of our deaths.
I snarled audibly, I would not make the same mistake again, and stepped through the barrier ignoring the harsh rake of violent and unstable energy across my skin. Finally out of their reach, I flickered out of existence. As far as I was concerned, which was little to none, they could shove what ever they were thinking up their collective rectums.
I was outside of Karakura, with nothing to hold me back but myself.
It was freedom in every sense of the word.
My skin crackled with the amount of energy trying to escape, white streaks of lightning arcing of and around me as if I was a metal pole in the middle of an electrical storm. I laughed and continued to increase the distance between myself and my prison.
'I should've done this a long time ago.' I thought wryly.
Mile after mile passed under me, the urban sprawl slowly shifting to untouched forests and rolling hills. I finally left the skies and came to a halt in a small meadow, no larger then the span of a suburban home, far far away from any form of what I planned on doing, I would need to be. With a slow exhale, I released the locks I had placed upon my soul and for a moment I stood in mental limbo. In between that expanded rubber band feeling and-
With a gasp it exploded outward in harsh arcs of electricity, scorching everything they came into contact with. Sheer power rushed through my veins, making me slightly light-headed with the thrill while sending a trickle of fear into my heart. This was... a lot of power... Yet, I could do nothing but wait until the flow ebbed to a point where I could reign it in and hoped the feral beast tucked within the folds of my soul would not stir..
Hailey nudged against the barriers of my mind, silently requesting a chance at what I was enjoying.
'Like I would deny you now.' I answered softly then went one step further and pulled.
I laughed as she squeaked in surprise at suddenly being in the real world, stumbling as she coalesced into a solid form, her white espada-like uniform a stark contrast to the dark wood of the tree's around us. My zanpaktou's rumble of contentment echoed in my soul, and I smiled taking the sound for what it was and not bothering to think past that.
While we stood in silence for a few moments, I closed my eyes and simply experienced the feel of the wind and sun against my exposed skin. The constant tug in my chest had gone silent and for once I wal allowed to just be.
However, that moment was shattered when the faint whistle of steel slicing through air reached my ears. My eyes widened, and I instinctively launched into shunpo landing only a few meters away. I turned to open my mouth and yell at my, as of yet unknown, attacker, but Hailey beat me to the punch.
"Shut up and draw yer' sword." She growled, her breath ghosting along my ear before she slipped back into my soul.
I shuddered at her sudden proximity, 'When had she gotten so close?'
However no answer was forthcoming as the hollow, for surely only a hollow could radiate this much lust for battle, with the exception of one captain of the Gotei thirteen of course, attacked again and I was forced to concentrate on not dying.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The air was uncomfortably thin in the living world, and the Sexta Espada wasn't sure if the amazingly weak humans below would be able to handle the mass amounts of reishi that would inevitably engulf the battlefield, not that he cared either way. Aizen didn't send his Espada out on trivial jaunts... often. David rolled his blood-red eyes and merely looked back at the others, all of them fraccíon. There were tweedle-dee, tweedle-dum, and tweedle-dumber from Halibel, and the two useless loyalists Loly and Menoly.
Honestly, all of them looked more like snack food then actual warriors to the lone Espada.
"Just to make sure all of you understand, we are here to get one female that has become a thorn in Lord Aizen's grand plan. You five are to distract the pesky shinigami, while I grab this chick." He paused as a large amount of reiatsu suddenly brushed against his senses and a feral smile spanned across his face. "Don't get in my way, and you might live."
With a buzz of Sonido he disappeared before any protests could be made, and didn't hear the string of insults all the fraccíon uttered before moving on to their tasks as decoys. After all, they had been picked by Aizen himself, none of them wanted to face his disappointment.
So caught up in his fierce desire for battle, David missed the sudden absence of the familiar tug in his chest as he sped toward his target.
His first strike missed but only barely, taking a few hairs from the mane of auburn hair. His grin stretched even farther and he struck again and again, relentless in his assault. He reveled in her struggles, and toyed with her hastily erected defenses. He was an Espada, a former Vasto Lorde, this woman stood no chance.
"Come on Shinigami! Show me why Aizen suddenly wants you out of the picture!" He jeered, laughing as he sidestepped a pathetic swipe at his head.
He could see the frustration in her brilliant hazel eyes, and feel the brush of harsh and conflicting energies against his own as she tried to gain purchase.
His blade continually created small wounds, each causing more blood-loss and a haze of desperation to settle over her mind. However when his sword found purchase and carved along the length of her arm, from shoulder to elbow, agony ripped through his chest. David hissed at the sensation, and his attack faltered, allowing her to strike back. He snarled his outrage and caught her blade with his bare-hand, ignoring the bite of the zanpaktou against his suddenly weakened hierro. Lashing out with his leg, he kicked her into the nearby tree line, listening as she went through the first tree and came to a halt in a second. Absent-mindedly, he tossed the zanpaktou behind him, not caring where it landed.
Emotions bombarded him, and most were not his.
Fear, helplessness, determination, outrage.
All of them coming from his target whose attempts at picking herself up off the ground failed leaving her in a beaten and bloodied heap. Her reiatsu, once a beautiful tempest of power, fluttered weakly around her.
Anger bubbled in his chest, and he stalked toward her an audible growl rumbling in his chest.
With predatory grace he picked her up, slammed her into the nearest tree, and froze. Horror and joy warring for purchase.
It was his sister.
He had finally found her.
'What have I done?'
An unseen cut in her hair-line bled profusely, marring the right side of her face with a small flow of crimson, her eyes struggled to stay open. But he knew those eyes.
"Alicia?" He finally asked, his voice cracking horribly, but he couldn't muster up the ability to care.
She was alive, and he wanted to do nothing but hold her.
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End Chapter 8.
I am a horrible horrible author, and I am so very sorry. A combination of things led to me not being able to get this chapter out... Life, school, horses, friends, and crappy compoopers (I had this typed on the 8 hr flight but because this is a P.O.S. It didn't save.. and all I had was the piece I posted earlier)... But now I'm in Germany fighting to find the time and energy to actually type it out between cleaning stalls, feeding 21 horses and riding 8 horses (4 of which I'm beginning to think are actively trying to kill me). On top of that, there is no internet connection where I'm staying so I have to bike 6 miles to the next town just to get access to the interweb. -Sigh- Even now it's still too short for my liking.. and my usual 9-13 pages.
I do know where I want this to go, ~sorta~ and it will kinda deviate from cannon... as in if you've read the manga religiously.. there will be no "Fullbring" arc. The 'special' move, won't be used.. cause seriously? He didn't need it after all that training.
But I felt I has to give you guys ~something~, so this is it. I promise there is more and I have it on paper.. well napkin.. but yeah it's mostly just brain storming stuff.
The reviews and alerts I kept getting seriously prevented me from dropping this entirely, I think I might've bitten off more then I can chew... BUT I WILL NOT GIVE UP! This is turning out to be a monster.
Thank you so so so much for taking the time to read and hopefully review this. For being so late I definitely don't deserve it, but I revel in each and every one.
Much love and apologies:
Animelover