A/N: If you're seeing this, the Grand Edit should be live. Most corrections are for technical stuff, rephrasing, POV drift, and breaking a lot of contractions in two characters' dialogue to better match the rules I eventually developed for their speech. That will be the source of most of the word count increase. There is also some expansion of character POV/motivation in the first timeline. You won't lose out on plot changes if you don't reread.
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ACHTZIG
TIMELINE X + N + 1
Ichigo wasn't sure what the hell was happening.
He was very confused. Disoriented would probably also be a good word. He felt... detached. Distant.
His surroundings were a major part of it, but the abrupt nature of his arrival was the most jarring thing. Also the fact that he had "arrived" anywhere at all. Last Ichigo checked, he was sitting in a chair. There was no chair here. Wherever "here" was.
Right. Back up. Walk through it step by step.
Ichigo had thought things were going... as well as possible, really, with Karin taking the relatively easier part of the explanation so Homura could reserve her emotional energy for the truly difficult part— the time travel. Even that had seemed to start... not as a disaster. Well, a less severe kind of disaster than dreaded. But with his hand on Homura's back he could feel her tremble with restrained anxiety as the moment of truth approached. If she told everything, it would be the moment she recounted many of her worst memories; whether she told the truth or twisted it, she risked destroying the relationships she had salvaged this time around. She was in an unenviable position, stressors piling onto her from so many angles it was a miracle she hadn't cracked. Well, hadn't cracked worse than the laughing/crying fit, which felt more like catharsis than anything else.
Ichigo felt the miserable grief seep into her reiatsu as the time travel was discussed. That was alarming. Then things got weird. Madoka was sitting on Homura's other side and her reiatsu started to... do something. Sitting so close to the two girls let him distinctly feel a subtle push and pull of reiatsu between them— like standing neck-deep in the sea and feeling water currents tug in and out in rhythm. The two girls kept leaning slightly toward each other, then slightly away from each other on some unknown cue. He had never seen anything like it. The closest thing he could think of was when Karin and Yuzu did one of their intuitive twin things, but that was never so... synchronous.
Ichigo looked at everyone else at the table. A lot of them were distracted by the drama, but a handful— his father, Sandal-Hat, Tessai, Ukitake, and Byakuya— were eyeing the two girls somewhat warily. Ichigo looked back to the girls.
Meet and part, meet and part.
"Did— did you help Kyōsuke?!" Sayaka demanded.
Homura avoided her eyes, twirled a lock of hair around one finger, and quietly said, "For your sake. To keep you from contracting. I am so... tired... of seeing you die."
Sayaka stared in mute astonishment, mouth hanging open.
Ichigo thought tired was not the word Homura truly meant. It was something deeper than that, an intense grief that deadened her eyes.
"When—!" Mami blurted. Everyone looked at her. She seemed to be choking on her words in distress. "When— when you say— you say that—" her face contorted in fear— "that you've seen too— too many— too many magical girls— die— is— do you— are—?!"
Ichigo heard Madoka's breath hitch. He squeezed Homura's shoulder. This was going to be painful.
Homura bent her head low and closed her eyes. "That includes all four of you. And Karin and Yuzu. And others."
Mami burst into sobbing tears. Rangiku cooed, "Oh, honey," and hugged and rocked her. Mami clung to her like a lifeline.
Ichigo wondered if Ran had been assigned to tag Mami or if she had just gravitated to the girl.
"Homura," Mrs. Kaname said seriously. When Homura looked at her, she asked, "Has Madoka contracted before?"
Homura nodded heavily, face grieved.
Mr. Kaname shook. Mrs. Kaname grasped his hand; both where white-knuckled and tight-faced.
Homura and Madoka's reiatsu was still doing that thing. Meet and part, meet and part. But... getting heavier? That wasn't the right word.
Old Man Zangetsu felt intrigued, so Ichigo tossed a curious feeling at his zanpakutō. The spirit hummed in thought then murmured, Kaname appears to be unconsciously attempting to stabilize her mood. But—
"Has— has Madoka—" Mr. Kaname's voice broke— "died? Before?"
Homura screwed her eyes shut and stammered through sudden tears and a rough sob. "Ev—! Ev-ery! Time!"
Ichigo's heart broke for her and everything went to hell.
Homura's tumultuous reiatsu had been controlled, but her grip on it was loosened by overflowing grief. It felt like it was pulled to Madoka, then back to Homura. The emotions or the reiatsu? Too dizzying to tell. Meet and part and meet and— part and meet and part and mee—
Pink and purple reiatsu flared. Instead of soothing Homura's pain, Madoka's ability seemed to be magnifying it. Ichigo felt like he was body-slammed by grie—
Waking up on his back in muddy grass, rain on his face, sound of raging river, Mom sprawled across him, heavy and so so so cold—
Ichigo blinked hard and shook his head.
"Madoka!" Mr. and Mrs. Kaname cried. They leapt to their feet as the timestop ended.
Wooden chairs scraped in a chaotic overlap of sound as the airborne china continued their trajectories and tea splashed onto the table. Everything on the table rattled continuously. Madoka's parents tried to rush around the table to her.
"Stop them!" Sandal-Hat shouted as he stood.
Tessai snagged Mr. Kaname by the collar and Chad caught Mrs. Kaname by the wrist. Both parents writhed and fought to break free. Mrs. Kaname actually moved to throw Chad, but he was simply too big and she was too distracted.
"Everyone be careful!" Urahara continued.
"They need help!" Mr. Kaname roared. He lurched so hard his collar tore; Tessai wrapped his arms around the man's chest and barred his arms down. "HELP THEM!"
"We need to break the feedback loop!" Urahara shouted. "CAREFULLY!"
Old Man Zangetsu sighed. This was bound to happen with her lack of training. This child may need some manner of seal or power sink.
Heh. Slap Kenpachi's eyepatch on Pinky, the Hollow snickered as waves of pink and purple reiatsu and grief washed over Ichig—
On his knees on a rooftop, rain on his face, Fullbring shivering around him and wicking up into Ginjō's sword, too stunned to do anything but stare down at the broad blade in his chest as his armor burst away from his bod—
Screaming screaming screaming NOOOOOOOOO! screaming screaming screaming MADOKAAAAA!
Ichigo shook his head and blinked. Everything was too bright. He was having trouble picking people's words apart.
"What do we do?!"
"Safe to—?"
"Not sure—"
"Both—?"
This needed to stop.
Ichigo squinted through the brilliant light and tried to see the girls' faces. Both were identically vacant-eyed and confused. They were leaning heavily against each other but seemed unaware of it. Maybe if he could get their attention?
"Hey. Hey," Ichigo said loudly, voice thick with emotion. "Listen. Hey, c'mon, you two. Focus. Look at me."
No reaction.
He scowled stubbornly— he was going to help them, dammit!— and put some of his power into it.
"Hey. We're gonna stop it." Ichigo shifted and reached to give both a strong shake. "Look at me!"
Homura still stared at nothing. Madoka turned blindly toward him. He wasn't sure if her eyes were reflecting the light around her or actually flickering with pink light. Both girls had tear tracks on their cheeks.
"What's happening to my daughter?!" Mrs. Kaname screamed.
Ichigo grit his teeth and pushed more power into... some vague sense of middle.
The hell are you trying to do, King? the Hollow asked with morbid curiosity.
Following my gut, Ichigo thought to him. I'll protect them from themselves! I—
Standing in the sands of Hueco Mundo, Orihime finally finally finally safe, jogging to heal Kenpa— lanky man in white flickering into existence in her path— Espada!— "I'm gonna borrow her for a bit" gone gone gone gone GONE, saved and FAILED and gone gone gone gone gone—
Ichigo dragged himself up out of the despair spiral and gasped for air as though surfacing from a deep dive. People were shouting, but he didn't care.
You have no idea what the fuck you're doing, the Hollow deadpanned.
"Ichigo, give it up! Stop!"
"NO!" he snarled at... whoever said that.
Ichigo pushed more power "between." He would break this endless loop if it fucking killed him.
"We have no choice but to sedate them."
And that was how Ichigo came to find himself sitting on a slab of concrete in the flooded ruins of a city.
Well, that was the last thing he remembered, anyway.
His first thought was that he must be in the sideways city in his Inner World, but that wasn't right. Nothing was recognizable in the light rain; the city looked like a typhoon had casually razed all of civilization to the ground as it passed. Wan light streaked through gaps in the cloud cover and sparkled on the water.
Everything suddenly shifted out of and back into focus.
Whaaat the hell?
Ichigo was about to ask the uneasy spirits of his blade some questions when he heard quiet shuffling and splashing followed by muffled crying. Concerned, he turned to look behind him and—
"The hell?" Ichigo blurted aloud.
A short distance from his pile of rubble and hidden from the waist up by yet more rubble, two girls in matching Mitakihara Middle School uniforms lay on their backs in the water.
Ichigo slung himself around and vaulted down from the slab, tripped on some twisted rebar hidden in the water, and slogged over to them. "Hey! Hey, are you all right?!"
The girls didn't react.
The Hollow sighed in disgust. You're an idiot, King.
Everything flickered, faded out, came back grainy; twin images of the girls overlapped. Ichigo swayed on his feet, then stopped to rub his eyes and shake his head. Disoriented, ugh.
A memory, Zangetsu suddenly declared.
Whose? Ichigo asked as he stepped around a tall bit of rubble to see the girls' fa—.
Homura and Madoka.
Badly injured, bedraggled, exhausted, arms nearest each other crossed at the wrists, a blackened Soul Gem in each palm.
"Ohhh, nooooo," Ichigo moaned in dread as everything came back into sharp focus. "Why am I seeing this?"
Think you got your dumb ass caught in the crossfire. Dumbass, the Hollow said scathingly. Mocking applause echoed in Ichigo's head, followed by, Get out. I hate the rain.
How would I even do that? Ichigo thought at him. He made his way to the girls' side and looked down on them. Their sorry state pained him.
How the fuck'd I know? The Hollow sneered.
So helpful.
Madoka was staring straight up at the sky, a kind of tired peace on her face. Ichigo leaned over and waved an arm in her sight, but she didn't notice. He called their names, but they didn't respond.
He was going to be forced to watch, helpless to change anything.
"I guess... this is the end for us, too...," Madoka said softly.
"I don't want to see this," Ichigo said, heart sinking as Homura smiled with the same tired peace and turned her head toward Madoka. Oddly, her hair was in twin braids tied with purple ribbons and she was wearing rectangular glasses with red frames. Glasses?
"You don't have anymore Grief Seeds?" Homura asked, just as soft.
Madoka smiled gently and shook her head.
"I see," Homura murmured.
Viewing this... may explain some things, Old Man Zangetsu said reluctantly.
"I don't have permission to see this," Ichigo protested.
I dunno 'bout that, King, the Hollow said doubtfully.
The fact that we are able to view it at all may imply permission, Zangetsu added.
"Can't be sure about that," Ichigo argued, "and this looks really, really personal."
"Hey. How about the two of us become monsters and really mess up this whole awful world, huh?"
Ichigo's blood chilled at past-Homura's words.
"Until there's no more evil, no more sadness, nothing left at all...," Homura continued. Her breathing was labored and her eyes were screwed shut. "Let's just crush, crush, crush it all to dust...! Don't you think—" she failed to completely restrain a sob as her voice broke— "that would be great?"
Ichigo swayed again. He wasn't sure if it was whatever happened to him before or if it was the force of his own despair for the girls.
Then Madoka rolled toward Homura and tapped a Grief Seed against Homura's Soul Gem. Homura's eyes opened wide and she sharply turned her head to gape at Madoka with a frightened lack of understanding.
Madoka gave her a little smile and a breathy sound that should've been a giggle. "I lied earlier. I had just this one left."
Kid's as stupidly selfless as you are, the Hollow grumbled.
Homura gasped deeply with understanding. "No! Why would you—?" She rolled her body to face Madoka and grasped Madoka's hand; she tried to pull the Grief Seed away from her Soul Gem but was too weak. "Why would you waste it on me?!"
That one, too, the Hollow added as Ichigo swallowed hard at Homura thinking it was a waste to save her.
"Because I want to ask you to do something that only you can do," Madoka said with a rueful smile. "Homura... you can go back in time, right?" Her voice cracked and started to shake, getting more tearful with each word. "You can change history so it won't end like this, right?"
Homura opened her mouth to speak, choked on her words, and gave a crying hum of agreement.
Openly weeping, Madoka pressed the Grief Seed to Homura's Soul Gem even more forcefully as its purple shine returned. "Then would you... go back and save stupid me before I get tricked by Kyubey?"
Homura's whole body jerked as though electrified and gripped Madoka's hands with something near reverence, then fervently cried, "I swear it! I promise I'll save you! No matter how many times I have to go back and try!" Her voice rose hysterically. "I swear, I will protect you!"
Ichigo dragged both hands down his face. So Homura had been directly asked to do this. It wasn't just something she took upon herself, it was something she had been asked to do by her best friend. Or her best friend had reinforced her self-imposed mission.
That did explain a lot.
Madoka sagged in relief and smiled through her tears. "Thank you." Then her Soul Gem sparked black. She bared her teeth in a grimace, convulsed, and rolled away from Homura. Her entire body flailed and contorted as she screamed in agony. Homura cried out in alarm and shot up into a sitting position, then crawled to Madoka. The convulsions stopped, but Madoka still trembled all over. Her face was waxen and pale, eyes unfocused. She breathed heavily for a minute, then rasped, "Can I ask you... one more thing...?"
Homura was leaning over her on all fours, messy braids trailing down into the water. Madoka's free hand wandered around, found the end of one braid, and tugged weakly, rolling hair between her fingers. Beyond words, Homura nodded and made a tearful sound of agreement.
"I... I don't want... to become a Witch," Madoka whispered.
Homura's face screwed up in confusion.
Oh, God, it's that memory, Ichigo thought. Bile rose in his throat. He really did not want to see this. But... Homura had to live with it every day. So Ichigo really had no right to complain.
You're an idiot, King, the Hollow repeated with disgusted resignation.
Everything flickered and split into slight double exposure, misaligned images jittering apart before snapping back together.
Ichigo reeled. He felt like someone had bashed him over the head.
"There are awful, sad things in this world, but... there are lots... of things... worth protecting, too...," Madoka continued in a small, strained voice. "I don't... wanna ruin... them. Don't—" she gasped and tensed with pain for a moment— "don't let me ruin them. Please."
Ichigo swallowed hard. Madoka wanted to be killed to protect the world.
Homura suddenly understood what was being asked of her, reared forward in horror, and wailed, "Madoka!"
Vertigo. Oh no oh no oh no. Spinning spinning spinning rain on his face—
Madoka continued staring sightlessly skyward, not even blinking when rain fell in her eyes. She struggled to shift her arm. "Homura, you... finally called me... by my first name...," she said somewhere between a squeak and a rasp. It obviously took great effort for her to slowly raise her arm and hold up her Soul Gem. "I'm... hap-py...," she breathed.
Homura abruptly transformed, pulled a handgun from her shield, took aim, and whined deep in her throat with despairing agony as she pulled the trigger.
Ichigo flinched hard at the blast and muzzle flash, but recoiled deep in his soul at Homura's guttural scream of grief afterward. He was very familiar with the feeling behind it.
Everything flickered again and Ichigo woke to someone shaking him, worried voices, and a hand lightly smacking his cheek.
"Homura!"
"—Okay, Ichigo?!"
"Madoka!"
"Answer us, dammit! ICHIGO!"
"You can let go of her, Ichigo, c'mon."
Ichigo couldn't even identify who was saying what as he swam back into full consciousness. They were confusing and the gunshot and scream were still echoing in his hea—
"Homura!" he gasped as he jolted back to his senses.
His panicked instinct was to grab his sister and keep her safe, take her somewhere safe, but his arms were burdened by— Homura?
How did that happen?
A hand thrust into the air between his face and the back of Homura's head and snapped its fingers several times. "Ichigo. Do you hear me?"
Ichigo blinked slowly and followed the arm with his eyes until he reached Urahara's worried face.
"Ichigo," Urahara repeated, calm but stressed. "Say something."
Ichigo stared blankly for a moment— processed the words through the loud whine in his head— then blurted, "It was like I was there."
Everyone else shut up.
"Like you were where, Ichigo?" Urahara asked patiently.
"In the ruins. In the rain. With the girls. And the gun."
Spinning spinning spinning—
"Does... does that make sense to anyone else, or...?" Renji said uneasily. Somewhere.
"I couldn't stop it," Ichigo said dully. His eyes burned.
"Stop what?" Urahara asked.
Ichigo ignored him and dazedly looked down at Homura. He didn't remember doing anything, but it seemed he must have bodily dragged her out of her chair— away from Madoka, who was now missing— but only gotten her halfway into his lap before... passing out? His arms were still around her torso and she was slumped forward onto the table, legs dangling to one side. She was breathing, which was good, but what came as a monumental relief was the lack of bright lights and overwhelming grief.
"Here, Ichigo, give her to me," his father said tiredly as he reached for Homura.
Ichigo swatted the hands away, shuffled Homura into a different position, tightened his grip, and stood abruptly. He looked around to get his bearings— dizzy, too bright!— then carried Homura out of the room, down a hall, and toward a dark, unoccupied bedroom. Faster. People trailed after him in a parade of noise. Faster. Ichigo kicked the door shut in their faces and leaned back against it in exhaustion.
Spinning... spinning... spinning...
"Open this door right now, Ichigo!" Rukia snarled outside. Ah, her worried snarl. Great.
Hands beat on the door and voices yelled things. Head pounding and ears ringing, Ichigo finally roared, "Shut the fuck UP! I can't hear myself THINK!"
Silence.
Except his own shout hurt his head. Ow.
Right. Center himself. Reality. Reality.
Spinning...
REALITY.
All right. So.
….
What the hell was he doing, again?
The Hollow scoffed in his head and said, Being a bleeding-heart idiot. As usual.
After a few decades of silently leaning against a door in a dark room while holding an unconscious magical girl in a princess carry also while trying to unscramble his spinning spinning spinning mind, his father's voice professionally said, "Ichigo. Describe your symptoms."
That... gave Ichigo a solid starting point.
"Killer headache. Ringing ears. Dizziness. Fatigue. Uh..."
"Do you feel like you're going to pass out?"
"Nah," Ichigo replied.
Spin... ning...
However, "Ugh, I feel like my eyes are gonna explode. Kinda blurry. Burns."
"Sensitivity to light?" Dad asked.
"Uh, yeah."
Dad continued to ask him an entire battery of questions as if he was a patient at the clinic. It gradually calmed and stabilized Ichigo. When Dad was satisfied that Ichigo was coherent, he asked, "Son, why did you take Homura in there?"
"Too many people," Ichigo blurted. "Too much..."
"Over-stimulation?" Sandal-Hat asked solemnly.
"That's a word," Ichigo sighed.
"Why did you take her with, though?"
"I couldn't just leave her. Not after that," Ichigo explained, appalled that they even had to ask. God, after what they saw—
Prrrrrretty suuure we're the only ones who saw that, the Hollow interrupted. He sounded... disturbed?
"After what?" Urahara asked after a long pause.
"None of you— didn't anyone else see that? The city and the rain and Homura and Madoka?"
A long silence.
"No...," Dad hedged.
What the hell.
Spinning... "I swear!" ...spinning... "I will protect you!" ...spin... ning...
Ichigo wanted to press his thumbs into his eyes but couldn't while holding Homura. He should probably put her in bed, actually.
"Ichigo, I'd like to examine Homura," Urahara said carefully. "Will you let us in?"
Ichigo closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Yeah. Yeah. Not a lot of you, okay?"
"Okay," a few voices said quietly.
Ichigo stepped away from the door. He was gently setting Homura down on the bed when the door creaked open behind him. Ichigo fretted over her like when the twins were sick; patted her clammy cheeks to see if she'd react— nope— felt her forehead— cool. But not dead-cool.
Dad came up behind him and hesitantly laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, son." When Ichigo didn't startle or lash out, he lightly kneaded Ichigo's shoulder. "Hey. We need to get to her."
Urahara was leaning around his other side, straining forward; Ichigo swallowed the sudden urge to shove him back. Sandal-Hat noticed his arm twitch and pulled back anyway. "I just want to scan her, Ichigo," he said evenly. "We had to sedate her in a hurry. I want to make sure we didn't overdo it."
That sounded... reasonable. So Ichigo shuffled aside.
Urahara quietly thanked him and moved slowly to hover glowing green hands over Homura's head. Then his hands started to drift toward her left hand— toward her Soul Gem. Ichigo tried to jerk forward to shield her but his father clamped down on both of his shoulders. Orihime laid a calming hand on his arm— when did she get there?— and softly said something. Asked something.
"W-what?" he stammered.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Orihime asked quietly, brow knit in worry.
"I— I don't— know?" Ichigo answered.
Orihime slowly raised a hand to his face and brushed his cheek— brushed away tears he hadn't realized he was crying. "What did you see?" she whispered.
"I— don't—" Well, he knew what he saw, but... was it really his place to say?
"Orihime," Sandal-Hat called quietly. He held up Homura's Soul Gem hand. "Please purify her Gem. It's not as bad as I expected, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."
"Of course!" Orihime responded with subdued cheer. She patted Ichigo's arm and bustled around the bed, Shun Shun Rikka sparking from her hair, bright gold in the dim room.
Like the flash as Homura shot Madoka's Soul Gem.
Ichigo startled violently. His father gripped his arms and held him still as Homura's howl of grief faintly echoed in his head again.
He couldn't focus on anything anyone said through his screaming screaming screaming headache. He squinted to watch Orihime's shield drawing darkness off of the Soul Gem until it shone clearly again. Urahara nodded with satisfaction. Homura was peacefully asleep. Safe.
His sister was safe.
Ichigo's body almost collapsed from the release of tension. Dad held him up and guided him to a chair. His ears were ringing again.
"Iiichigooo," Dad said with wary encouragement. Like when a patient was zoning out on him in a bad way. "C'mon, son. Look at me. Talk to me."
Wanting to reassure him but not knowing what to say, Ichigo went with, "Hi." This was apparently the wrong thing because what little he could see of his father's face in the light from the hall got more worried. "Sorry." Also wrong.
Sandal-Hat came over and held a glowing green fingertip in front of Ichigo's face. Ichigo winced at the light but forced himself to look into it and follow it as if it was a doctor's penlight. "Looking a little shocky there, Ichigo," Urahara said mildly.
"Oh. That's bad, right?"
"Yes. But it looks like you're coming out of it. I'm not having to give you instructions for this test."
"His pulse is better," Dad said.
Oh. Dad was holding his wrist. When did that happen?
Those brats fried what little brain you have, his Hollow said snidely.
"Shut up," Ichigo said. Dad and Sandal-Hat looked surprised. Whoops. "Not you. My Hollow is being a dick. My head hurts like hell and he's mocking me."
Dad snorted with reluctant humor.
Sandal-Hat made both his hands glow and touched Ichigo's temples, making his head hurt less. "Why did you react to Shun Shun Rikka like that?" he asked quietly.
Ichigo breathed deeply and closed his eyes. "It was like the gun. The—" words escaped him— "the light thing when one shoots."
"Eyes open," Urahara murmured. "Muzzle flash?" At Ichigo's nod— bad life decision, that— Urahara prompted, "You said something about a gun earlier, too."
"Yeah," Ichigo replied as Urahara stepped back. Ichigo promptly rubbed his eyes. "No one else saw... that?"
"No," Urahara said solemnly. "What we saw was you shaking both girls, flaring your reiatsu, and dragging Homura away from Miss Kaname before... it looked like you had an absence seizure, to be honest."
"Oh. Huh."
Dad wearily scrubbed his hands down his face. "What did you see?"
Ichigo opened his mouth, but paused and tried to sense if anyone from Mitakihara was present. He was even sloppier about it than usual and only felt some of his friends... maybe hovering in the hallway? The men noticed his clumsy attempt and looked at each other. Urahara conjured a ball of red light over his palm and told Orihime to close the door, then said, "Tell us, Ichigo."
"Zangetsu thinks it was a memory," Ichigo blurted. "Of— of another timeline, I guess."
"What kind of memory?" Urahara demanded, features suddenly intense in the dim redness.
Ichigo screwed his eyes shut— spinning spinning spinning, the girls' screams, the gunshot. "The one where Homura... assisted Madoka. In, uh... mercy. With a gun."
Dad sucked in a sharp breath and Orihime made a sound of dismay. Urahara rifled in his pockets, did something to a phone he found, and commanded, "Describe it. As much detail as you can. Before it fades."
Ichigo hesitated. The vision had been deeply personal— akin to someone seeing his memory of Mom's death.
"What are you waiting for, Ichigo?" Urahara asked impatiently.
Ichigo bit his lip and thought aloud. "I'd... rather ask her... permission. First."
Urahara blinked slowly, like he didn't understand. Then his face tightened with stress. "We may need to know this, Ichigo," he said. "Something important could have been in that memory. Something an outsider might notice that she did not. Something to tell us how to share memories again."
"Yeah, but... I'm not doing that to her," Ichigo stubbornly declared.
Urahara made a jerky hand movement, stepped away, and dragged one hand through his hair in frustration. "Ichigo. This is not the time."
"Compromise!" Orihime suddenly suggested. When everyone looked at her, she clenched her fists and earnestly continued, "Write it down! Like our journals! Then you have it recorded and can ask Homura if you can share when she wakes up!"
Ichigo grinned in relief. "Yeah!" He winced at his own near-shout. "I can do that."
Urahara sighed deeply. "Better than nothing."
"She'll appreciate it, Kisuke," Dad chided.
"I know, I know," Urahara said, defeated. "I'm getting ahead of myself again. Thank you for slowing me down before I make everything worse," he added mournfully.
It still unnerved Ichigo to see Sandal-Hat so subdued.
"I'll get a notebook," Urahara continued as he opened the door. "And a small lamp. To avoid over-stimulation." He turned to Ichigo with a wry half-smile. "I presume you want to stay here."
"Yeah," Ichigo said. He was smart enough to not nod this time. There was no way he was leaving Homura.
"Miss Inoue, will you come with me, please?"
Orihime bit her lip and looked at Ichigo. He smiled weakly and waved her off. They probably wanted her to look at Madoka. Orihime nodded and slipped out the door.
Karin and Yuzu peeked around the door when Sandal-Hat left. Ichigo waved them in. They split up to fret over Homura and him, then perched at Homura's bedside like bodyguards. Dad fell into another chair with a deep sigh and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, watching all of them tiredly. Chad soon brought in a notebook and lap desk and Uryū set up a desk lamp; both retreated to the doorway without a word and sat outside it— also like bodyguards.
With Homura safe and surrounded by a buffer of friends and family, Ichigo began to write.
§ x § x §
Renji felt like he had been dragged into a drama above his pay grade.
That should be normal for literally any drama involving Ichigo, yet here he was. Surprised.
He had thought himself prepared by the sudden top-secret meeting in the Captain-Commander's office. Before he had met Ichigo and been drawn into the guy's orbit, Renji would've laughed at the story laid out to them. But... Ichigo.
Ichigo had collected yet another spiritually aware person with a tragic biography and took up her cause? Normal. Kid revealed centuries-long evil campaign the Thirteen Divisions had been blind to? Normal. Kid had time on a leash? That one was a bit more intense than normal, but in a "yeah, sure, of course Ichigo would find something like that" kinda way. Whatever the hell just happened? The light show and the chill of despair that had run up his spine, suddenly remembering his long-buried grief for the other kids in his old street gang, dead fifty sixty seventy years? Remembering the worst defeats he had suffered? Not normal.
Speaking of...
"What the hell just happened?" Renji asked in the silent aftermath of... whatever the hell that had been.
The table was a mess, items scattered across its splintered surface. Many of the room's occupants had hurried down the hall following Ichigo's dramatic exit. Some hovered around where the pink-haired kid was out cold on the floor in her parents' arms as Tessai ran scans on her. Some of them were still sitting or standing around the table in shock.
Except for Renji's captain, who had tensed and half-stood when everything went to Hell but was now placidly sipping his tea.
Composure. How did the guy do it?
"Damned if I know," the redheaded Kyōko girl grumbled from her seat. She still looked disturbed by the things Ichigo's charge had said to her. "Hey, Mami. The thing the shop guys did to them. Was that the spell-thing they used on me?"
The blonde who had been startled out of her tears blinked slowly like her brain hadn't quite caught up with the outside world before saying, "I think?"
"It's called Hakufuku," Ran said helpfully.
Captain Hitsugaya heaved a deep sigh and bonelessly plunked back into his chair. "I don't like how much power they had to throw at them to sleep them," he muttered warily. Then he gave Renji a bit of an odd look.
Renji realized he was still standing in a battle-ready position, chair sideways on the floor several paces behind him due to the haste of his rise. Whoops. So he righted his chair and stood by it, unsure of whether he should be doing something. He looked to his own Captain for a cue; cool but meaningful glances told Renji to sit down. Renji did so and looked around at faces. Once again, the sheer tired lack of alarm of the shinigami who had already been stationed in Urahara's Mitakihara hidey-hole struck him as worrying.
"Why are you guys calm about this?" Renji asked before he could stop his stupid mouth.
"Welcome to our special Hell, Abarai," Captain Hitsugaya said dully, "where everything goes wrong in increasingly bizarre ways day after day after day."
The clandestine briefing in Yamamoto's office had implied that but it must not have really stuck because Renji still felt like he was in an anime. Which he now found himself fervently glad Urahara's shop brats had forced him to watch when he was stationed with them during the war. Also grateful for the manga he had stol— borrowed— from the kids and read in desperation to not be roped into something more inane by wandering around in his boredom.
He would never, ever admit it to the shop brats.
Rukia reappeared from down the hall, face pinched. She anticipated his question and said, "Ichigo seems to be... mostly okay."
"Mostly?" Renji asked.
"Seems like he's coming out of some kind of paranoia and has such a bad headache that he screamed at us to shut up and they're not even turning the lights on in the room he holed up in."
"Why'd he take the kid?" Renji asked.
Rukia lifted her hands in a wide shrug. "All I know is he sees her as a little sister. Which..." Her eyes darted to her brother, then back to Renji. "You know Ichigo and little sisters."
Renji snorted. Yes. Yes, he did.
There was a lull in conversation as the pink kid's dad hauled her out of the room and people shuffled around in the halls. It felt like the room had been paused in a different way than the timestop. Which was, by the way, equal parts awesome and terrifying.
He spared a single instant to wonder what Aizen would have done with that power before he brutally repressed the thought as a horror too awful to contemplate.
"So did alla you know about the time travel bullshit?" Kyōko asked out of the blue. "Did all your fuckin'—" she waved her hands sarcastically— "aaallieees know?"
The two other girls who had been out of the loop— hah— tensed and were suddenly very attentive. Captain Hitsugaya heaved another sigh and dragged his hands down his face, looking ceilingward in search of patience.
"The knowledge is very much on a need-to-know basis," Captain Ukitake rasped. His eyes above the filter mask were sympathetic. "Rangiku, Renji, and Byakuya were only briefed just before they came today. Our leader and his assistant know. Even my best friend doesn't know as of now, though that may change in the next day or so. If word of Homura's powers was to spread..." Captain Ukitake briefly bowed his head, then looked up at the girls with his serious commanding officer face on. "There may be those who would be... tempted. To take her. To experiment on her. To weaponize her. To kill her."
The three girls looked suitably spooked.
"Please, have patience," Captain Ukitake said more kindly. "Telling you was a gesture of deep respect. I think she will be inclined to tell you more if you can... avoid being overtly confrontational."
"She tends to speak at greater length about difficult subjects if you wait her out awhile before asking another question, even if she is silent for awhile," Captain Hitsugaya said. His tiredness was softened by thoughtful concern. "She is very careful and... deliberate about her words. If I had to guess, it takes her a bit to speak because she figures out how to put something in words in such a way that she is not misunderstood— she is very aware that she is not the best at communicating and is trying to fix it. She responds more to coaxing than commanding. If you rush her, she shuts down. Don't force eye contact."
"Oh! I didn't know the eye contact thing!" Sayaka said in surprise. "Thanks!" Her brow furrowed in curiosity. "How'd you know?"
Captain Hitsugaya gave her a considering look and quietly replied, "When she gets overwhelmed and runs off, and I hunt her down, I let her know I'm there and just sit with her. She eventually starts talking once she settles. She'll make eye contact sometimes— usually if something you say surprises her— but she's very obvious about forcing her eyes away again."
Renji tried not to look at the young captain. He wouldn't be able to hide his curiosity about what exactly the guy's relationship with the time-traveler was.
"Whatever you do, do not give Homura Akemi cause to distrust Captain Hitsugaya," Captain-Commander Yamamoto had said with a piercing glare at each of them. "Her trust in him is vital for any further timelines. Considering... Asunaro—" meaning the spiritual clusterfuck there— "it is highly likely the girl will be going back. If... distasteful... words or actions become necessary, take them upon yourselves. Mind that Captain Hitsugaya may be obligated to pretend objection to sound strategy to demonstrate sympathy to the girl. Captain Hitsugaya must remain beyond reproach."
Renji was pretty sure that Captain Hitsugaya was in no way pretending sympathy for Homura. The strategy he had just laid out for talking with her sounded very much like the talk Rukia had given him about Ichigo and the other humans before they deployed for their mission in Karakura during the war.
"You'll probably get on fine with Ichigo if you just be your big dumb self and avoid talking rain, rivers, or mothers. And for Soul King's sake do not ever even pretend to threaten his sisters. I won't save you," she had hissed.
Trade Rukia's protective anger for exhaustion and you got Captain Hitsugaya's advice. You got empathy.
Renji knew the Kurosaki sisters had dragged the captain into a really weird friendship. If Ichigo had claimed an honorary sister, then it made perfect sense to Renji that she'd be able to drag Captain Hitsugaya into their own weird friendship. That was how Kurosakis rolled, and Homura was an honorary Kurosaki.
Look, it made sense in that weird Kurosaki way, okay?
The question was whether the captain-commander knew it seemed to be a genuine mutual respect if not outright friendship. And whether he would consider the Tenth Division's captain to be compromised. And how he would react.
Wait. If time reset again, the next/past Hitsugaya wouldn't know any of this personally. If he was compromised— pfft— then he would be instantly uncompromised.
The thought made Renji unexpectedly sad. That Homura kid really seemed like she could use good friends. And Tōshirō Hitsugaya could be a hardass stick-in-the-mud, but if Momo and Ran were to be believed, once you fought your way into friend category, he was rock-solid in his support even if it was quiet and gruff.
That time-traveling girl seemed the sort to reject pity but he couldn't help pitying her.
There was another uncomfortable silence that dragged on forever. Then Kyōko huffed and suspiciously continued, "Yeah, well, why were these three brought in on it?"
"High rank in our organization and personal ties," Captain Kuchiki said smoothly, speaking for the first time since their gathering in the bowels of the shop at their arrival. "We have collaborated to contain large-scale threats in the past."
"Oh yeah?" the kid taunted. "What kinda threats? What kinda ghost is sooo threatening that it needs alla you to be so teamworky? Or do you all just suck at fighting?"
Captain Kuchiki raised a brow at the rudeness of her challenge. Renji coughed and covered his mouth to hide a smile. He was starting to like the brat.
"I was under the impression that you had been informed of Hollows," Captain Kuchiki mildly replied.
"Hungry ghosts, boo-fuckin'-hoo," Kyōko said with a scornful roll of her eyes. "That's basically fighting Witches and I do damn good job of that by myself. Unless you got yourselves a Walpurgisnacht Hollo—"
"We do," Captain Hitsugaya interrupted her derision. "We told you Hollows can combine and get stronger by eating other Hollows. The most powerful are termed Vasto Lorde." Captain Hitsugaya tossed his head back slightly, indicating a direction. "The thing that attacked Asunaro? Barely equal to one of the low-end Vasto Lorde." His eyes bore into Kyōko's, sharp and cold as the blade he wielded. "You won't get very far flying solo once you get past small fry. Then it's teamwork or die. You would do well to remember that."
Kyōko's mouth worked like she wanted to argue, but instead she looked unsettled then crossed her arms and tried to hide her discomfort with sullenness.
"Lone wolf type," Captain Hitsugaya had said at their basement briefing. "Prickly. Orphaned when her wish backfired on her. Technically homeless, but good at stealing and scamming her way into stays at hotels instead of sleeping on the streets. Very familiar with death and hunger."
"She steals food if necessary," Homura had continued, "but she prefers to steal money from bank ATMs because she knows banks can replace it and her sources of food and clothing do not take losses. She does not want to be responsible for someone's family going hungry."
Renji had shared a significant glance with Rukia. He knew she was thinking what he was: remembering their childhood running the streets of Inuzuri together, far out in the Rukon. Struggling to get food and avoid beatings. Surviving as their friends— their family in all but blood and name— died. Renji had glanced at Rangiku, knowing she had a similar history. She had been spared the worst of the fighting by virtue of Gin Ichimaru deciding to protect her in probably the only altruistic whim he experienced in his life. Knowing him, it probably wasn't entirely altruism that motivated him. He had seemed kinda possessive of Ran despite being distant with her. Whatever his motivations, it had resulted in Ran surviving.
The one thing that snake had been good for.
Well, he had also turned on Aizen as revenge for something unclear that was done to Ran forever ago, so maybe two things. One and a half? Whatever.
Anyway.
Yeah, this Kyōko kid wasn't going to be shrugging off the three Rukon-"born" lieutenants anytime soon.
"What're you lookin' at?" Kyōko snapped.
Oh. He was staring. Renji gave her a wry grin. "Just thinkin' you're a real little spitfire."
The girl's lip curled in a sneer. "I'll spit fire up your—"
"Kyōko!" Mami scolded, appalled.
"Tch." Kyōko averted her eyes and sulked more.
Considering the state of affairs, it was probably a really bad idea to laugh. But laugh Renji did.
Kyōko scoffed, stood, and loudly declared, "If we ain't getting' shit til they wake up, I'm gonna go play a game." Then she all but stomped out of the room, grumbling.
"Oh! I'll come, too! Wait for me!" Sayaka called. She huffed and ran when the other girl ignored her and kept going.
Captain Hitsugaya stood more sedately. "I'm going to go sleep. Only wake me to reconvene or let me know if another apocalyptic emergency happens." He looked at Rukia and lowly said, "You too, Kuchiki. We have to recharge more after what we pulled off."
Rukia blinked in brief surprise before she remembered she was supposed to be exhausted and said, "Oh! We do!"
Technically speaking, they were both spiritually recovered. Their exhaustion had been from draining the small portion of their power that had been left unsealed. They had released their limiters while deep within various wards and let the majority of their reserved power soothe and re-energize them before reapplying seals. The kids didn't know that, though. And Captain Hitsugaya looked like he genuinely needed the break, but for exhaustion of his spirit rather than spiritual exhaustion.
Their departure left Renji with his own captain, Captain Ukitake, Rangiku, and Mami. They all looked at each other.
"Maybe we should clean up?" Mami suggested timidly.
"Oh, no!" Ran cried. "You should be with your friends!"
"But—"
Ran hoisted the girl to her feet and tugged her toward the exit. "Don't worry about cleaning! Come on! I'll take you to your friends and come back. All us adults can clean! You relax! You've had a rough time! You need your friends and something to take your mind off everything!"
Renji was zero percent surprised when Ran didn't come back and he had to clean the room himself, but he'd let it slide this time. For those kids.
§ x § x §
Madoka woke slowly. She felt like she was drifting in air, but realized she was laying on her back. The sandy loam beneath her was soft. A gentle breeze carried the scent of roses. Heat from behind her made her think of a campfire.
Exhaustion weighed down her eyelids, so she only opened them partway. It was dark, but she wasn't frightened. Distant stars gradually sparkled into focus. Bright moonlight highlighted the edges of shapes around her, but she saw no moon and couldn't identify the silhouetted shapes. The moonlight and maybe-fire faded away, leaving darkness and lingering warmth. She wasn't frightened.
She let her mind wander. The visions she had seen were fading. She felt like it was important to remember them, to see them more clearly. Had to try—
Small fingers smoothed her bangs away from her brow. Was her head in someone's lap? Reminded her of Mama. Madoka felt sleepy again. She fought it and murmured, "But... I wanna..."
A quiet voice hushed her. "Not yet."
"But..."
"Go back to sleep," the voice whispered.
Madoka's eyelids were so heavy. Sleep sounded wonderf...
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A/N: Love you all. Have fun with the edit. Happy All SOULS Day!
Not sure when the next chapter will happen. Hopefully another brief wait but no guarantees. Having a lot of pain problems.