Author's Note: Before you start reading, I'd like to let you know that this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction. I would really appreciate any form of feedback in order for me understand where I can improve. This story is based off of the Bleach Manga, and most of the Anime-only content will not be included or considered canon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, if I did Starrk would have lived. All rights go to its mangaka, Tite Kubo.

Coyote Starrk's POV

'I'm Falling.' A single thought rushed through my mind.

After taking that Captain's finishing blow, I knew I was finished

The pain was horrible.

My vision flashed with bright, disorientating colors as I felt reiatsu leaving my wounds faster than I could control it.

I couldn't tell if the draining of my reiatsu was due to the attack or if it was my body's struggle to fix itself.

Despite this, I felt the wind rushing against my skin, the chilling sensation brushing against my burning wounds felt...

'It's so… Soothing...'

I was falling swiftly through the air, blood spurting from my wounds.

And yet, I finally felt at peace.

'...falling...'

'I'm not alone...' I felt melancholy.

I was sad, thinking I'm going out alone and yet…

Memories of my time with Lilynette, Aizen, and my comrades—friends, flashed through my mind as I continued to plummet through the seemingly endless sky.

I felt the seemingly ever-present feeling of isolation—of loneliness fade as I plummeted to the ground at breakneck speeds. I felt I could die because after all this time I was no longer alone

Acceptance.

Thoughts of the battle vanished from my head replaced by an acceptance despite the strange feelings of sadness.

I'd always hated my immense power, which stood out even amongst other Vasto Lorde. It created a divide between myself and others.

That left my time as a hollow shallow, empty, and lonely time of my life, a time I've spent trying to forget.

I would try to befriend others despite knowing my mere presence could kill them.

It only led to more loneliness. Even as an Arrancar, that feeling lingered at the back of my mind.

But right now...

It was gone, and I felt.. a strange sense of

—joy.

"BOOM!"

"CRASH!"

Darkness swallowed my vision as I plummeted into the earth, feeling my bones shatter from the impact of taking a blow into the ground from over a thousand meters in the sky. The oxygen was forced from my lungs in an instant as I felt my last thoughts leaving me.

I was dead…

Darkness.

I was floating in an infinite darkness, with no feeling over time nor where I was.

I didn't know who I was and frankly I didn't care.

For the longest time, I felt at peace.

And then, my mind's eye seemed to open.

'Where am I?' I asked myself, struggling to recall anything, my mind blank.

Panic struck me once I realized... I'm not breathing!

I thrashed and flailed my limbs wildly, clutching frantically at my neck, gasping desperately for air.

"Haa! Haa! Haa.."

Relief washed over me as I gulped down deep breaths, air filling the crevices of my lungs before the grip on my throat loosened.

Slowly, my panic subsided.

My eyes snapped open, my vision filled with blurs and flashes of light as my eyes struggled to adapt to the sudden brightness.

Once my eyes finally began to co-operate, I became aware of the dark feeling surrounding me. Or more like, within me.

A hollow emptiness gnawed at my soul, as if something inside me had been torn away, a feeling that was reminiscent of the time I spent as a hollow, now long ago. Yet, paradoxically, there was a strange sense of fulfilment, like quenching a thirst I didn't know I had.

It felt strange. Both full and empty.

As I contemplated this feeling, laying in what seemed like sharp shards of rock, my mind began to think back.

Slowly, memories flooded my mind while my eyes blurred briefly.

'..Thats right... I lost against those Shinigami…' It had been a irritating battle, not only because I had to fight against several strong foes but because the strongest of them refused to play around and refused to use Bankai.

Granted, I probably would have lost if he did. After witnessing all the other Captain's using Bankai, I was curious and so I wanted to push the Captain into doing so using Los Lobos. He was quite capable in both battle intelligence, cunning and skill.

After fighting his Shikai, I know I probably wouldn't stand a chance.

Sighing, I noticed that I was staring at the bright blue sky.

'Where am I?'

With some effort, I finally looked down at myself. I had fallen out of my Resurrectión after taking enough damage. Either that or the impact of the fall.

I noticed that my usual white Arrancar robe—now stained with blood and dust—wore tears and cuts. The robe was parted slightly at the chest, where the high black collar that usually framed my neck was now ripped and torn from the fall. Small cuts and scratches covered my body, a testament to the fall I had somehow miraculously survived.

What stood out the most was my altered mask fragment, the teeth having protruded and grown to wrap around my whole neck reaching just below my jaw.

Shaking off the weirdness of these changes, I looked noticed my yellow-hilted katana was scattered several meters away from me, imbedded into a wall, its sheathe split open. My mind breezed past the discarded weapon, focusing once again on my attire.

'It's a shame, I really liked this outfit.' I thought to myself while noticing the mess my plummet made.

I struggled to move, my face contorting in a silent show of pain as my broken bones ached in protest.

'Strange.' Apart from the injuries I had sustained from the fall, the wounds I had suffered during battle—including having my guts torn out—were now nowhere to be seen on my tattered figure.

'It seems most of the wounds healed while I was out… But how come? I don't have high-speed regeneration like I used to.' Everything seemed almost perfect, the only problem now was that I couldn't quite move yet.

Exhaustion weighed down on me as I laid in the mess my fall had created. Shattered concrete and dust were scattered everywhere, creating a crater of rubble that was out of place in such a modern area.

While lying in the wreckage, I focused on my senses. I tried making out what was happening above me. That's when I picked up multitudes of tiny reiatsu signatures almost invisible amongst the Captain-level beings.

'Aizen-sama must have destroyed those pillars if my hunch is correct. Those are humans.' I figured, before my mind wondered why I couldn't sense his reiatsu anymore. I could make out Gin and Ichigo Kurosaki battling several miles away—the kid seemed way stronger compared to when he first arrived in Hueco Mundo—but Aizen-sama was untraceable.

'Did they actually manage to defeat him?' I pondered in surprise. The cunning man seemed so invincible and cautious, it was hard to imagine. A small wave of sorrow washed over me at the thought, after all this was the man who saved me from loneliness. I respected him, promised my loyalty even if he didn't care for us Arrancar.

I was even more surprised by the fact that my reiatsu was fluctuating from non-existent to beyond my own with Los Lobos.

I came to several conclusions at that moment as I observed the fight, the top one being that, 'Did my Pesquisa nerves fry during that fight?'

'No.', I could feel the reiatsu signatures of the humans around me, all likely unconscious from the combined spiritual pressures of all the powerful beings present in Karakura Town. 'It was something else entirely,' I concluded.

That thought quickly vanished as I realized something more important.

'Where is Lilynette?!' I was so occupied on everything going on around me that the thought of her hadn't crossed my mind.

'Is she dead...?' I questioned dreadfully, suddenly aware of the anguish building up in my chest.

I hated the fact that it was most likely the case.

'If she's dead, where's her body? It would've been giving off the last of her reiatsu… I should be able to sense her.'

My mind raced in alarm as I tried to look for her petite form to no success. Extending my senses did not help one bit. I felt helpless.

My mind blanked and a thought struck me, 'Is the reason I'm still alive...' I began to put the pieces together. When I first woke up, I hadn't questioned why I was still alive. I was sceptical of being healed but put the thought off.

There was only one conclusion.

'What has this idiot done…' I begged whatever God out there for it to not be true. But deep inside, I knew it was the truth. I felt it from within my very soul

My fists clenched with all their might, my nails digging into the skin of my palms, drawing droplets of blood that brought a stinging pain that was quickly drowned down by my emotions.

"...You idiot..." I rasped, my throat parched and filled with dried blood. Blood leaked onto the dust and rocks, staining it crimson.

The pain was nothing compared to the sorrow I felt at that moment. The peace that surrounded me instantly vanishing.

That prior feeling of acceptance was gone. It had disappeared once I began to truly grasp the situation.

My Fracción—my other half—sacrificed herself so I could live. She remerged our souls together so I could survive.

Gone.

It was such a selfless act I wouldn't of thought possible for her. She was probably dying as well when she did it.

I didn't know what to think.

When she first appeared, I was surprised and felt happiness and joy for the first time in the longest time. She kept away loneliness, a mistress I hated but it loved me.

I never would've thought I'd live without her at that moment, always thinking that we'd either both die or both live.

So I stayed silent in mourning for the longest time, trying to come to terms with my sudden loss.

Just when I found acceptance that I wasn't alone. When loneliness left me.

It returned tenfold stronger.

No tears or sorrowful expressions crossed my face. I simply laid there, in a pool of my own blood and misery, feeling sorry for myself.

Even as hours passed, my mind remained blank with anguish.

There was only one thing I truly knew at that moment. I had given up.

But just when I was at my lowest moment, laying in my sorrow, something hit me.

Pain registered in my mind. Something literally hit me. It reminded me of Lilynette actually.

It was my reiatsu.

And it seemed to react to my emotions, as if it were suddenly guiding my thoughts toward a recent memory now seeming so distant.

(Third person POV)
[Flashback]

After witnessing Baraggan's Respira ability backfire and turn himself to ash, Starrk stood still mid-air, twin ornament pistols in hand as he grappled with the situation.

"The Segunda dies and no one says a word...?" He says to himself, feeling sorry, "How depressing."

"But we aren't the type..." Starrk continues, referring to both himself and the other Arrancar on the battlefield, though he had different reasons for not wanting revenge

"...That fight to avenge each other."

The death affected him, even if he didn't show it. Barragan was still a comrade and a fellow Arrancar who he thought of as a 'friend'. And it brought him to sorrow that none of the others seemed to care.

Starrk's fingers loosened around the trigger. He was tired.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the bushy-haired Visored—Starrk guessed based on the masks they were able to summon—was approaching for an attack.

"We gotta make the first move!" The Visored could be heard shouting out

"Slam!" He called out, his Zanpakutō drawn as he rushed towards the Arrancar, "Tengumari!"

His blade transformed into a massive, black kanabō more than twice his size before he swung the weapon at his opponent.

The Arrancar in question defended himself against his opponent by shooting a barrage of Ceros at the Visored, however, the beams were swiftly batted off by the massive Zanpakutō.

"Like that's gonna work on me!" The Afro Visored shouted with a grin as he swung at Starrk.

The blow was dodged with a swift sonido, the kanabō smashing into where he'd been just moments ago, smashing a building with such force that caused the wood to fold in on itself while its windows shattered.

"Oof!" Love let out as the wood shattered beneath his Shikai.

Starrk knew he was becoming sloppier and slower, and realized that the Visoreds noticed that too.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The Espada was hit down to the ground with a fierce blow from the Visored's Zanpakutō just as he reappeared from the high-speed technique.

"BOOOM!"

Starrk crashed into the ground, his impact turning a building into rubble.

His body laid amidst the ruins of the building, the Arrancar letting out a groan of pain, "Ow..."

The voice of his other half—Lilynette Gingerbuck—yelled from his right pistol.

"STARRK! STARRK!" She began, "What are you doing!? Aren't you going to get revenge?! Look at you!"

"Didn't I say it wasn't my style?", The Arrancar frowns as he gazes at the sky, "Forget it."

"Aizen-sama has no intention of helping us." He figured as much the moment Baraggan fell, seeing as the traitorous Shinigami didn't seem to care.

"These guys are tough." He despised violence and felt like giving up, "I don't care anymore. Somebody's gonna die if we keep fighting."

Starrk rolls onto his side, trying to make himself comfortable in the rubble, using his arm as a cushion for his head.

The pistol knocks into the rubble with a 'fwump'

"STARRK!" Her voice boomed at the Espada, "Are you crazy?!"

"You're the Primera Espada!" Lilynette continued to yell, her voice echoing from the pistol, "Act like it!"

"Stop acting cool and do something!" She screamed at him, "Why do you think Lord Aizen gave you that number?!"

"He believes in you!" She continues to try to motivate the Primera

"If you don't want to see any more of us die... YOU GOTTA FIGHT!" She finishes loudly.

"..."

A sigh escapes his lips, as he gets up, "I guess you're right." And with that, he shot up into the air ready for his opponent.

[End of Flashback]

"…What…" His voice echoed thoughout his head, causing him to wince at the loud sound.

"Did I just…?"

His reiatsu guided him. It showed him a memory.

As if it was trying to tell him to get up. Just as Lilynette did several hours ago.

"…Did I knock something…" He was beginning to think he was going crazy. Because it seemed that his reiatsu, his spiritual pressure suddenly had a mind of its own and it was trying to motivate him.

It suddenly struck him, "Since she remerged our souls back together, she became a part of me…" The Espada trailed off.

It was a calming thought that knocked the sadness out of him like one of her blows.

'Perhaps a part of her lives on inside of me. Or atleast her reiatsu.' An unknown feeling welled up in his chest at the thought.

Relief.

'I have to move on…' The thought shone with importance as if something was trying to control his mind.

'I have to get out of this place.'

Not only that, he felt determination. It was an odd and foreign feeling that made him feel like he could do anything.

He was determined to live—for his partner.

He begrudgingly sat up, feeling his body ache in pain at the sudden movement.

'My wounds have healed enough for me to move.' He'd been lying there for hours, so he really shouldn't be surprised. But the speed was impressive even for a Hollow—though this new regenerative abilities were nowhere near as efficient as the Quatro Espada's own healing prowess.

The Primera slowly got up from the ruins, his body long since used to doing nothing for hours or even days with his sleep schedule.

As Starrk stood amidst the wreckage, he realized he crashed into a back alley, surveying the chaos around him. Trash littered the ground, a garbage bin lay destroyed on its side, and graffiti covered the cracked brick walls. This mess was likely the result of his fall. His katana was imbedded into a wall, fragments of its sheathe lay scattered below on the ground.

Ignoring the mess, he turned away to ponder what to do.

He had no goals he wished to accomplish—his only desire was for friends in the first place.

Along with not being able to sense Aizen, he couldn't sense Gin or Tōsen anymore meaning that they were both likely dead. In fact, the only reiatsu he was able to sense at the moment was that of Kisuke Urahara.

He considered staying in the World of the Living but ultimately decided against it—It was too risky and the Shinigami were likely alert and all over the place after the recent events.

Starrk wouldn't be taking any chances.

'Guess I'll be returning to Hueco Mundo.' The Arrancar thought. The empty feelings still lingered in the back of his mind, but the determination pushed it away. Besides, grieving over what's already past was pointless.

Starrk decided to check on Las Noches, hoping to find any survivors after the Winter War.

Yes, he'd try to find and help any surviving Arrancar he encounters.

And if there are none...

Starrk wasn't quite sure what he'd do. 'If that was the case, I think I'd be living a pointless life,'

The Arrancar shook his head, trying to stay on the positive side of things.

Grasping the yellow hilt, Starrk began to pull the katana out from the wall with some effort, the force causing more cracks to form on the wall to form before finally giving in, revealing a stainless blade that shone in the sunlight.

Having no hilt to store the blade, he skillfully slid it into his black sash, tightening the cloth so that the blade wouldn't fall.

But it was then when he turned to face the street that he finally noticed the bodies. Unconscious or dead humans lay all over Karakura.

Despite knowing he likely had nothing to do with it, the Primera still panicked.

His mind blanked. PTSD—His brain supplied at the back of his mind.

He rushed over to one of the unconscious humans as fast as he could. He had to be sure.

He hurriedly began searching for a pulse, his fingers pressing against the graying woman's neck in order to search for the flow of blood at her neck.

For a brief moment, time seemed to stand still as he felt for a pulse. Relief flooded him as he felt the pumping of blood and then it began slowing down.

Starrk could practically feel the life leaving her until it stopped. She was dead.

'Did I just... Shit.' The Arrancar cursed internally and quickly distanced himself, rushing to leave this place.

He was still a danger to the humans, even in this weakened state.

Taking several steps back, Starrk began to gather his reiatsu in his hands, the process taking time because his reiatsu didn't seem to want to co-operate.

Finally after nearly 5 minutes, he flicked his wrist and unleashed the gathered energy.

A warping sound echoed throughout the streets as the fabric of space was literally tourn apart, forming a portal to the voice between worlds—the Garganta.

This was the Descorrer technique known to all Espada.

Stepping through the portal, his feet were met with air.

Before he could plummet into the dark, infinite void the Arrancar instinctively formed a platform of reishi beneath his feet to catch himself.

After doing this for literal centuries, the act felt as natural as walking.

Taking a step forward, the platform extended seamlessly, as if following him. Gradually, he began to speed up his pace moving forward, his Pesquisa locating the co-ordinates of Hueco Mundo.

There was a reason only Hollows were capable of crossing this place at a whim. It was dangerous, and not just the risk of falling.

Storms of reishi flashed throughout the void, its chaos disrupting the bonds of reishi beneath my feet making it unstable in the Garganta.

Caught off guard slightly, Starrk quickened his movements into a sprint.

He had to move as swiftly as possible before the reishi broke down and he became lost in the eye of the storm—years of experience making the task easier than it would be for most and yet he still struggled.

A sense of calm finally washed over Coyote Starrk. He was familiar with this.

He could finally focus.

He began to maneuver through the endless void, skillfully avoiding any flashes of reishi while making sure to avoid any Valleys of Screams that came into his path.

Despite being swift, in the end, it took nearly 10 minutes for him to reach the massive orb that was the vast expanse of Hueco Mundo.

It was surrounded by a dome of reiatsu. He stepped through regardless, emerging from the Garganta with a shattering sound, his arrival shattering the barrier between the void and the world of Hollows like glass.

Taking in his surroundings, he was surprised to find he wasn't at one of the various entrances to Las Noches.

Even if they had been destroyed during Ichigo Kurosaki's invasion, Starrk should've at least ended up at the location. He was sure that that was his intent.

'How unusual.' He thought, knowing it was likely due to his reiatsu. He was beginning to have problems with control, and it wasn't related to Lilynette.

The Arrancar stood in the middle of Hueco Mundo's gray, desolate desert, its only noticeable feature being the sparsely scattered dead trees—as if hinting at a hidden past.

There were tall hills of sand surrounding, sand so numerous that every slope and pile formed to be the size of a hill or mountain.

Shrugging off his new pain, he decided it was best to make his way back to Las Noches. 'It was pointless to ponder on these things besides standing in the middle of nowhere in Hueco Mundo is just asking to be attacked.'

Extending his senses, Starrk tried to feel for any nearby Hollows—maybe even Arrancar.

To his luck—

'Nothing..' he thought, feeling disappointed. Starrk felt absolutely zero Hollows nearby.

Seeing others nearby might have indicated his location since the absence of distinctive structures nearby left him with no sense of direction and it was making him confused.

Looking around in several directions, he struggled to find the city-sized palace from where he stood in the middle of some valley.

Using a single Sonído, Starrk appeared with a boom on top of a large hill of sand in a near instant.

Scanning the indistinguishable land, his supernatural sight carried his gaze far and wide across the expanse, hundreds of miles further than any human could see, as he scanned the overlooking land.

As he did so, he was surprised by a familiar sight.

About 30 meters away from his location, hundreds of hollows, ranging so high in number their forms seemed to form a sea of bodies, covered in each other's blood huddled in one pact area. This was a mass-intercourse devouring—a sign that a new Gillian Menos Grande was forming.

'Strange…' This sight was usually by mass cannibalism and gnawing, and yet they seemed frozen.

Looking closer, Starrk froze. They were dead.

Dread welled up inside of him, his eyes widening in shock.

Some of their masks were beginning to crack—a sign that made his heart drop as he slowly put the pieces together.

'So many hollows dead in one area...' He trailed off, his mind wandering back to his growing reiatsu problem. 'Dead.'

What scared him was that they and many other Hollows in the area were dead, with no apparent cause, as if they'd just dropped dead.

He did this.

"...No. Not this again.." He remembered the piles of corpses—far taller than him piling up tens of meters above the desert grounds, that once surrounded him—a sight he lived with for decades. The pile slowly accumulating more and more corpses, their deaths caused by his very presence.

"Fuck!" he cursed, uncharacteristically, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. Despite everything he'd done to solve the problem — even going as far as splitting his own soul — the damn curse just came back.

And here Starrk thought he'd finally gotten his reiatsu under control.

'Maybe something else did all this.' He tried to deny it, his brain supplying excuses. But deep down he knew it was the truth. But he just couldn't accept that everything he'd done had been for none.

This was even proven by the fact that as soon as a powerful Hollow—an Adjuchas—began approaching him, it abruptly dropped dead as if its life force had suddenly been drained entirely.

The glow in its eyes began fading as its lifeless body lay in a heap of sand, reiatsu beginning to leak from the pores of its skin. It laid mouth agape dead, its mask forming a look of hunger. It died while trying to consume him for its own gain.

Despite this, the Primera felt guilt.

"...Dammit..." The Arrancar cursed silently.

He knew he couldn't attempt anything with his control as it was now.

That meant his plan of looking for any surviving Arrancar would have to wait until he gets his reiatsu under control.

Starrk felt like he might explode if he tried to contain every drop.

Even if it meant isolating himself until then, facing loneliness, he was determined to get rid of this damned problem.

Starrk hated killing—especially this method.

It was the main reason why he despised the act in the first place. It kept him isolated from those around him, separated.

But if facing loneliness meant that this wretched act would finally come to an end, he'd do it—if not reluctantly.

Taking in a deep breath, the Espada composed himself.

He needed to be cautious. He needed to plan.

He needed to use his wits, He needed to brainstorm.

The first thing to do would be to find somewhere isolated from the rest of Hueco Mundo to train so that he doesn't kill anymore.

After all, containing also meant letting everything out first.

With no knowledge of where he was, Starrk extended his senses as far as possible. He needed to find a spot with the least amount of reiatsu signatures.

He'd journey until he found a good spot, he decided.

As he was about to leave, the feeling of a powerful spiritual pressure nearby washed over him—a powerful Arrancar. One that he was somewhat familiar with.

"Grimmjow..." He murmured briefly, a conflicted look on his face appearing before he turned away from his old comrade's direction, breaking into a full-on sprint at Mach speeds, not wanting to hurt the Espada.

While Grimmjow was certainly powerful, Starrk didn't want to risk anything. And the reckless Arrancar seemed injured despite seemingly racing towards his location at neckbreaking speed.

Damn, he really needed to keep his reiatsu in check. He was light a miniature sun to the powerful beings in this realm.

He began to speed up, gradually working his way up to use several Sonído to distance himself, eventually losing the Sexta Espada and continuing through the vast desert.

Immersed in the moment, a sigh of relief escaped him. This was a start at least.

'At least some of the Arrancar are alright…'

With that, Starrk began to truly utilize one of his greatest assets available at that moment—his unrivaled speed even amongst the Arrancar—to traverse the gray, seemingly endless desert in search of a place to lie low until this problem was fixed.

(Chapter End)

End Notes:

In my headcanon, Starrk is the fastest Espada in general. Zommari is the best Sonído user, not the fastest among them.

The reason why Starrk is acting so sloppy and surprised is because he is exhausted. Despite being completely healed, he is mentally exhausted and needs to rest.