Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When I wake up from my slumber in my cave, I check the tallies in my home, right at the center of those tallies is a name ‘Kuro’ the name I choose once I became a Hollow. It’s not a name I have given often but it is the name that has helped me survive years of constant conflict, the name of a Hollow shaped by constant conflict.

The place I’m in is so full with tallies that it’s impossible to tell just how much real time has passed.

Luckily that’s not the purpose of these tallies, instead they are used to keep track of the time as I currently remember it.

If I lose track of the Month then that day becomes the beginning of the month. I’ve gotten good at keep track of time if I do say so myself!

Today for example the….

It’s been a few… years I think?

Fuck.

Ok.

Today is the beginning of the new the month. Moving on from that.

I’ve managed to survive by eating scrapes from larger Hollows in the beginning before moving on to Shinigami and Stronger Hollows. It’s been a lucky break every time I found a Hollow worth going after each time although maybe luck has nothing to do with it.

Maybe fate would be the right word.

Time is a construct and if you know how to cheese the game then you can guarantee your victory.

Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Having foreknowledge of some of the biggest hitters as well as their philosophy’s has helped me survive many close calls. It sucks for me because it often puts me at the mercy of someone but how I see it as long as I can bail before dying it’s not the worst thing out there.

Nothing compared to my early days as a Hollow where dying was a constant fear.

Getting used to these appendages had been difficult but not impossible. I wasn’t lucky enough to become a wolf, or a bear or the usual Alpha predators nope, I got unlucky enough to end up as a fly Hollow which gave me wings.

I also have four other limbs that I can use, sure the claws don’t look as intimidating as other Hollow’s but they have their perks.

The upside? I’m fast, the downside? It’s nothing compared to an actual mid level Shinigami or higher level Hollow.

That’s why developing my senses had become a priority above all else. If you can spot a Shinigami from 1000 miles away then you can survive the majority of their attention after all.

It’s standard math, if a low or mid level Shinigami can move at Mach 1 then that’s 767 miles per hour. If I can measure the Spiritual Pressure of the ones who usually move at that speed and eat them then I can level up faster without risk of fighting a captain or higher level Shinigami.

It’s also why I only choose to collaborate with other Hollows during invasions.

Turning on a Hollow for a quick snake during an invasion is like asking yourself to get killed if not by the Shinigami then by every other Hollow in the group.

Running away on the other hand is totally understandable and even expected. You aren’t there to take over the Soul Society like a suicidal idiot after all, you’re there to eat and bail. When I sense anything Higher then my usual prey I bail since I risk getting killed.

‘Adjuchas are a lot less idiotic, sure most of them are still ravenous monsters but they are ravenous Monsters with a brain.’

Thanks to this little cultural understanding as well as generally being looked at as weak I’ve managed to survive pretty easily. It’s a pain getting treated so badly by the other Hollows but if I showed too much strength then the others may consider dog piling me.

It just wasn’t practical. If only there was an easier way to gain power..

‘Still I did get really lucky this past decade.’

What I’m referring to is the Blade I looted from an Inexperienced Shinigami during one of the Hollow invasion against the Soul Society.

‘An Asauchi, Evil spirit cutting nameless blade of endless possibilities.’ unsheathing the blade I look at its reflective surface. In it I see a Masked Hollow that looks similar to the Hollow Knight.

I still find it ironic if I’m being honest, of all the forms my Hollowed Soul could have taken it took the form of an Iconic video game character?

Still I guess it made my build more justified. I sheathed the blade before looking at one of my clawed hands.

The ability I have developed along side my senses had helped me immensely.

A slow ‘schink’ sound reverbs through the cave, long sharp claws reflect the coming light creating a glare outside the cave.

‘No sound or movement, good.’

Hollows are creatures of instinct, they rely on it so often that they never realize how often it betrays them. For me who has decided to use my foreknowledge as an edge it had led to me developing many tricks to take out Hollows and Shinigami. This was just one of those few tricks.

A trick I would often use to check if-

‘Crack’

I move without a second thought, I leap out my cave then make a turn towards the noise. A worm like Hollow try’s to dig away from my clutches only to be stabbed through the torso and lifted up into the air.

I stab the Hollow through the torso with my claw ignoring the unholy screams of the Hollows pain.

I then—-

————-

“Rumor has it that a weak Hollow tends to stay around these parts. He’s usually friendly which is pretty uncommon for a Hollow, it’s pretty suspicious for someone that claims to be so weak that they need stronger Hollows like me to keep himself alive.”

“Weak huh? Well of course he is, if he wasn’t then would we really be having to pick up his slack all the time? The coward ditches whenever there is a slight inconvenience, even a Shinigami that’s only a little stronger than him is enough to get the weakling running, disgusting really.”

“Haa, that guy huh? He’s a coward amongst Cowards. Even I who have lived a long life have never seen a coward so willing to abandon a good meal just because of a little trouble, he’s so weak that it wouldn’t surprise me if he died next week.”

—————-

—- Learn all I need to know.

With a quick snap of my wrest the now dead Hollow falls to the ground. I grabbed it by the Tail taking it to my home for food.

‘At least this one will taste better than the ones before it.’

That’s the ability I managed to develop, memory theft, the ability to learn one’s history to better survive the trapping of the weak and strong.

In a world full of beast there is only two real ways to survive, be strong or be smart. I can not be strong, I don’t have the courage to risk my life on battles that will gain me great strength so instead I focus on learning what I can from each of the lives I reap.

The strong don’t always fight in a straight forward manner, sometimes they send the weak to deal with a nuisance they find particularly annoying. In those instances I learn that I am unwelcome and will die if I stay there any longer.

The weak don’t always follow the strong, sometimes a subordinate that is particularly close to a much stronger Hollow might want me dead because of any number of reasons. A lot of them actually being from jealousy at their lords interest or resentment for their own weakness.

Ironically human sentiments really, regardless my point is that with this ability I learn a lot each time.

This life for example I learned that I need to ditch or end this group. They don’t look hostile enough or discontent enough to actively hinder me.

Still….

No it’s a useless risk.

I made it a point to only go after the inexperienced Hollow or the Hollows who have turned Hostile towards me and use my senses to keep track of all the Soul Reaper with higher Spiritual Pressure.

A God send if I’m being honest, after I developed that ability in the next invasion I managed to get myself a Zanjutsu user who had mastered all the fundamentals of a Zanpakuto, which has saved me more times then I can count.

‘A Hollow using a Zanpakuto like a Shinigami. I’m sure the other Hollows would laugh at me for even attempting it, normally they’d be right too. A blade is useless if you don’t know how to use it, luckily for me I have the means to review the fundamentals as many times as I wish. It just takes a more bloody method to do so.’ I really hated what I needed to do to stay alive, I accepted it but it still pissed me off.

Besides the Swordsmenship everything else was beyond me, Shinpo required stable Spiritual Energy which most Hollows did not have. Kido is fundamentally incompatible with Hollow still I did know it was possible to imitate it with enough experience.

That’s been my goal for a while not imitating Sonido, Hierro, and Cero Varients.

A Gran Rey Cero is beyond me, I simply don’t have the Spiritual Power to attempt it. The Cero Oscuras on the other hand has been a lot more successful, it’s not nearly as powerful as the Grand Rey Cero but definitely still useful, it’s not something I am able to pull off reliably but definitely something I can use if I’m cornered.

Bala’s are also something I’ve been working on, they’ve been meh but then again it’s not like I can make use of them without Sonido, their basically weaker but faster versions of Cero. Which is bad if you can’t take a hit which most Hollows can’t btw.

Sonido and Hierro are beyond me, I tried trust me I have but the skills elude me. I’m not sure if it’s cause of my unstable Spiritual Energy or if it’s because I don’t know what I’m doing and just throwing things at the wall until something works but it looks like I’ll have to wait for Aizen to show up so I can learn all the techniques I can from Zommari or one of his lieutenants and Szayelaporro. That is if those two fanatics don’t try to screw me over, Szayelaporro I should at least make sure is never alone with me. Zommari won’t do anything as long as I adhere to his bullshit.

I’m just not knowledgeable enough to figure it out. I’ll have to settle for Sword Techniques and repeated meditation sessions with my Sword.

My morality had quickly turned grey from living in this world. A constant fight for survival will do that too anyone in my opinion, truthfully I don’t even know how old I am, just that I’m old enough to have been alive when Stark hadn’t ripped his mask off yet.

I stayed there for a week before ditching the place. I even visited Stark once to thank him for his hospitality.

Of all the Kings I think Stark is the one I would willingly follow if I ever gain the power to not die by just existing around him.

“Which beg the question of how to reach the point where I don’t end up like the arrogant fools who stood under the paw of a giant and didn’t expect to be crushed.” It wasn’t my main goal, but it was a goal worth striving towards, Stark is one of the few Hollow I can trust not back stab me after all.

Also it’d be nice to have a friend I wouldn’t have to worry about dying to anything but a Captain class fighter.

The Hollow I had eaten had become nothing but bones. It’s form slowly dissolving into the Hollow night sky.

‘I’m really going to end up hating myself if I survive this won’t I?’
—————

Chapter Text

I traveled in Hueco Mundo my daily training with my Asauchi or Zanpakuto, I’m not sure if it counts as one anymore since the Spirit that resides in it. It doesn’t have that cool design the other Zanpakuto do though so it could just be that it’s in a constant unreleased state.

Sadly I don’t remember that particular detail and I’m not willing to go to drastic measures to remember.

My spirit is uncooperative to say the least. I think I know why, at the end of the day ‘The Blade is Me’ so it would of course it have its reservations about working to kill Shinigami to get stronger and survive. Even weak ones that likely would have died regardless of if we intervened.

I think It understands that ultimately we are the bad guys and that won’t change until we have finally become Arrancars which means working with the bad guys…. I think.

I can ever really get a read on her.

Well it at least it’s ok with me killing other Hollows. Well, mostly ok with it, it’s always been a weird Zanpukto spirit.

Speaking of Evil Hollows….

“Fisher, what are you doing here?”I say at the huge hollow that snapes at my voice.

“Eh? Oh it’s you. It’s none of your business where I’m going.” Fisher angrily grumbles trying to hide his fear with a tough front.

I don’t blame him for that, if our situation were reversed I’d do the same except unlike me Fisher would undoubtedly eat me.

But sadly for me he still had his uses.

“Come on, we haven’t seen each other in decades. What’s to say we can’t at least chat before going our own way?” I say with a threatening tone as my claws start to slowly extend.

Fisher scurries back but doesn’t try to flee knowing that if he tried too I’d chase him down and butcher him.

“I do! I’m busy ok, real important stuff to do.” He yells in a panic, waving both hands in fear in an attempt to make me reconsider ripping him in two.

Again, luckily he still had his used.

“And that important thing is?” I questioned in a tone that clearly ment I wanted to know.

“I’m going to the Human world to grab some grub ok?” He bluntly stated as his eyes darted away from me.

“You…. Did you find a way to avoid the Shinigami’s detection?” It was something that was going to happen regardless of if I did anything but for me this was an important event. An event that signaled a lot of change.

Change I’m still not ready for…

“Yep, took me a while but I’ve come up with a method to chow down on some human Souls. I’ve been especially excited about an orange haired woman that’s been popping up lately.” The huge Hollow says joyfully as he brag about his new ability, eyes lighting up in joy.

‘Orange haired, does that mean….’ I really hope I was wrong but I needed to confirm it. Hopefully Imm wrong and I still have more time before I have to do something drastic.

“Alright, thanks for telling me I’ll be going this way then Fisher.” I tell the Hollow as I move the opposite direction of where he’s going.

“Right, I better not see you again otherwise we may not meet on the friendliest terms, HAHA.” The Hollow threatens, a common occurrence with lower level opportunist Hollow who wants to be taken seriously.

With that information confirmed I start planning my next move, Barrigan should have or is losing Las Nouches soon. That’s not my concern however, no right now my concern getting an edge before getting involved in the plot that means….

‘Yeah, no choice I guess.’

My back up plan incase I fail to obtain power in the given time. It’s frustrating but I’ll die if I don’t do this, no not just me everyone will die. I have to get strong enough to stop the destruction of everything no matter what.

I make my way back to my cave, grabbing the bolder I pull it in front of the cave blocking the entrance. I then use my senses to check for any stray or powerful Hollows.

Another trick I’ve developed to keep myself alive and for when I inevitably visit the Human world to keep an eye on the star player.

This is one of the most important abilities I have because if I mess up I risk losing the ability to evolve further. The downside of reaching this far into my evolutionary tree is that it comes with many caveats.

Caveat one, I must continue eating a large quantity of Hollows and Shinigami. I’ve found that eating either of them satisfies my need to eat enough for me to take a break.

Caveat two, I must not allow a single part of me to be eaten, even destroyed if preferable to being eaten. At least that’s what I think, I never took the risk of allowing myself to be eaten or getting into a position where I’d risk losing a limb and I don’t remember if Kubo actually stated that.

Caveat three, Time, it takes an extremely long time for a Hollow to evolve. So much time that memories blend into each other and others lose who they are. I’ve managed to avoid that fate thanks to my ability.

Finally Caveat four, the ‘friends’ you make along the way. While being an Adjucha gives you some prestige it also sets you at odds with literally everyone. The lower level Hollows want a piece of you if they aren’t too afraid of you, the Hollows at your level also want a piece of you and rarely are friendly, and the higher level Hollows is a toss up with a high likelihood of death.

All this leads to a life of isolation and violence, you can imagine that it’s been a very long time since I last spoke to someone without the threat of violence silently hanging in the air.

Seriously how the years go by….

I find nothing in my search, none of the Hollow here that do exist have the capability to harm me so for at least now I am good.

Sitting in a lotus possession I begin meditating. Thoughts begin to clear as the surrounding and my senses begin to mute.

When I open my eyes I find myself in a corroded world of white sand and tall buildings. It wasn’t like this before, back when I first stole the Asuchi many years ago these streets were clear. Now sand covered them so deeply that you couldn’t see a single door, just building stretching to the sky without a single entrance.

Glancing around the the building I look for a familiar silhouette, it luckily only takes me a few minutes before I see her, a girl wearing a bug mask similar to another bug from a popular franchise except much more human and much more feminine. Her body looked lean and lithe but in a way that emphasized her femininity giving the impression of an athletic gymnasts that could probably pull off all kinds of acrobatic feats. Her womanly curves hugging the black tight skin suit she wore and her breast while noticeable covered by a striking red cloak that upheld her modesty.

Overall she made for a striking unforgettable figure to anyone that would meet her, if they could that is.

Wonder what it says about me that I’m so down bad for a girl that my sword spirit manifest as a sexy more human version of Hornet.

I’m not that lonely am I?

I bend both my legs before blasting off the roof of the building I’m in to the one she stood at. Even behind her mask I can feel the judging gaze of the sword spirit evaluating me with some unseen criteria only she could see and grade.

“So you’ve come back here, going to beg for my name again I presume?” The spirit questions, not even drawing her sword.

She knows I won’t force her to submit like other Shinigami do, for starters it would just harm our relationship and secondly I don’t want to force power if I don’t have too, or at least I did….

“Yes actually, the show is about to get started. I have two targets I want to take out before things really starts hitting off and I need your power to do it.”Still that didn’t mean I wouldn’t at least try to ask, things were getting dangerous even she should be able to understand that we needed to get work together if we wanted to live.

Or at least I thought she would.

“Haa? What are you talking about? You haven’t confirmed a single thing you know.” The girl bluntly states confusing me. She should have seen Masaki too, the girl was younger sure but that was her. It’s only a matter of time before Kurosaki Ichigo is born and starts his journey.

“I’m pretty confident that I’m right, fates already moved the pieces so at this point everything is going just as intended. I’d like to survive the coming battles and I can’t do that without ‘it’ and you.” I just as bluntly tell the Sword Spirit not wasting time with games.

The Sword Spirit had never once approved of my desperate measure, she didn’t even think I should get involved and honestly I would agree with her if my circumstances weren’t so bitter.

Truthfully joining Aizen if I didn’t meet my Goal was a foregone conclusion. It’s easy to say you’ll never fo something bad when you aren’t hungry after all. Aizen presents the guaranteed chance of doing just that instead of continuing to follow a blind path that may lead towards my death or worse.

Death of ‘ME’ or more specifically death of the ‘EGO’ a fate that in my opinion is a million times worse. It sucked but what other choice did I have? Go to the Shinigami and let them kill me? Sure then I’ll get turned into a powerless scrub for Ywach, Aizen, the Hollows, or who knows what other filler bad that probably appeared decades back to mess around with. At least the current me has the option to fight, that’s not something I’m willing to give up for anything.

The sword spirit didn’t see it that way.

“This is… you will most likely die if you do this you know that right?” It was really a question, both me and the spirit acknowledged Aizen as a superior in everyway. Trying to betray him is useless, trying to kill him is impossible, trying to steal from him is a death sentence.

Considering all that, it makes sense to think that working with Aizen who will definitely discard the Arrancars is a bad idea. However that doesn’t matter for one reason alone.

“I need power, I can’t gain that if I don’t take some risk. I’ve been playing it safe for a millennia hoping that I’d be strong enough by then. Clearly that won’t happen without an edge.” And it’s true, when I committed to the path of a Hollow instead of risking becoming useless I did so with the intention of becoming an Arrancar, I made very few friends and hunted based solely on spiritual energy for that reason alone.

I haven’t even talked to anyone that wasn’t a named cast member because I wasn’t sure they’d be alive in the next few years or joined any groups since I feared being eaten or losing a part of myself before I evolved into an Arrancar.

It was all to gain the power to fight against the coming storm. That was the intention at least, that’s why I expected her to understand this and give me the power to fight.

However….

The Sword Spirit just shook her head in denial.

“Haaa, even if I wanted to give you my name it wouldn’t work because of your own heart.” The Sword Spirit surprising told me, she’s usually more roundabout about the things she’s trying to say so this was pretty surprising.

“My heart?” I question the Spirit, confused about how my heart could be lacking, I literally endured a century of constant killing and hunger without wavering.

How could my heart possibly be wavering?

“Yeah, even now despite knowing the stakes you don’t want to kill Humans. You’ve limited it only to Shinigami, other Hostile Weaker or slightly stronger Hollow, and the occasional Quincy but you generally stay away from the Human world at all times, yet now it wavers.” The spirit bluntly explains, that’s when a realization hits me and I understand what she means.

Still….

“Well when there are a group of traveling Captain level Shinigami hiding out in the mortal world I tend to make it a point to stay there as little as possible. Something I can’t do anymore.” I deflect stupidly, a reflex from the few get togethers I’ve had with the other named not hostile Arrancars.

Deflection and lying is the name of the game for me for the longest time, it’s why I stupidly defaulted to lying despite knowing it’s pointless here.

“And who are these Targets that you think you’ll need my help with?” The spirit questions, something that would usually be unnecessary for a normal Sword Spirit with normal wielder. Sadly I am anything but normal.

I’m a Hollow who’s trying to forge an actual connection with a Zanpakuto after all. Nothing about our relationship is normal, especially for me who’s a reincarnation. It really does screw with the usual wielder and weapon dynamic.

Here’s an odd quirk about Sword Spirits that could help put context into the situation. Sword Spirits know the feelings of their wielders but not their thoughts, they can see through their eyes and even experience the same sensations of them learning every minute detail about them and still misunderstanding them utterly.

My situation especially highlights this, I who can see what will most likely happen and her who can only see what I experience in this life. The bridge of what she knows and I do is a stark wall that separates the two of us.

“I won’t need your power for these targets but I still need it regardless, If everything goes as Nuts as I remember then we need to start working together to survive.” I say to the spirit, we held a moment of silence before the Sword Spirit raised its head to the clouds as contemplating something.

“Again with this, survive, survive, survive, that’s all you ever talk about. Like what’s the point of even surviving if you don’t live a little?” She questions, the sword spirit would often say something like this question why I limit myself and why I don’t live a little but my answer usually always stays the same….

“I’m dead.” A blunt rebuttal that speaks more than enough for the both of us. Truth of the matter is I’m a cannibalistic monster, for beings like me settling or being lax is a terrible idea as it could lead to the death of my Ego.

“No you’re Undead! Ha, get it! Cause you’re an abomination against God.” The spirit mocked not like my answer one bit.

“The God in this world wouldn’t care, he’s cationic remember?” I remind her rolling my eyes at her antics.

“Yeah, I remember and I also remember that someone at our level would stand no chance against a Captain let alone the Arrancars or the Sternritter this is our limit, just accept it and survive. We’d get slaughtered” The Zanpakuto replied annoyed at my instance on this path we both know I hate.

“That’s why I need your power, alone I definitely can’t do anything but with you and my targets I think maybe we’ll be able to survive everything.” An emotional appeal, me and her have been together from the start, they know our circumstances. They know where I’m coming from so they should be willing to lend a hand, and yet.

“No, I won’t give my power to the current you who fights for the sake of fighting.” The Spirit says bluntly once again denying me its power.

And just like that the connection was disrupted. The Sword Spirit was trying to tell me something indirectly I knew that but I didn’t know what it wanted from me.

I didn’t want much in life, just to live peacefully and eat good food. That’s all I ever wanted even in my previous life so why is it so unwilling to help me get to that point?!

“Dammit!”

The Yell was followed by a loud ‘smack’ that cracked the very walls of the cave. ‘I still don’t understand what you want my sword spirit, my circumstance don’t allow for that kind of life, you should understand this better then anyone.’

With a sigh I leave the cave to instead pursue a different goal, in hopes of clearing my frustrations.

———-

I decided to follow Fisher, I stayed back of course. Didn’t want to be murdered by the Ex-Shinigami when he gets his powers back and starts hunting me, if he’s even lost them yet.

It took a while of peaking and searching but eventually I did see her, just not how I expected.

After I saw the Middle Schooler Masaki Kurosaki or Ishida right now. I decided to exit the scene as to not push my luck.

I was about to leave when I noticed that the woman was staring right at me. Damn, even with weak Quincy power she still has sharp instincts, too bad that those very same instincts won’t serve her well in the future.

I close the Garganta before heading back to Hueco Mundo. I let out a huff of air in displeasure at being found si easily before making my way back towards my cave.

Genius types always annoyed me, they instantly get what took me literal decades to perfect with even more bullshit mastery in not even half the time.

So unfair.

As soon as I enter my cave I lay back on the bed I stole. In front of me the Sheathe Zanpakuto leaned on the cave wall. The Spirit of the Blade still tranquil.

“Soon it really has started, you know what’s at stake and yet you still refuse to help me, why?” I questioned, the blade’s spirit.

It really wasn’t leaving me any choice here. I wanted to avoid this if possible but what choice do I have when the alternative is death?

“ Fucking hell.”

I really did wish things didn’t come up to this.

———————

It was the dead of night when I opened another Sky Ridge. I once again stood in the Human world after who knows how many countless nights, even after I gained power as a Hollow I made sure to avoid the Human world out of fear that I may attack a Human to sate my hunger.

Luckily I have grown outside the need for Human sustenance. No it’s only now that I can safely walk through the Night Sky with zero fear that I’d lose myself to my Hunger.

The Hunger was still there, but it had grown to the point that a Human Soul could never hope to satisfy it.

At least normal Human Soul wouldn’t be able too. That’s why it has come to this.

I have spent that last few months looking for this person in hopes of becoming more powerful. They are the easiest and most effective way in gaining the power necessary to smash my current walls.

‘That’s what I tell myself at least.’

Standing outside a building that I knew was the home of my Target, I slowly made my way up towards the building door and to the elevator. Loud thumping sounds could be heard with each step as my skeletal toes brought me closer and closer to my destination m. It’s only as I bend down that I realize just how tall I am compared my original height.

‘Just how inhuman I am now’

Press the button I wait as the Elevator music starts to play. This will be my first time killing a human, I haven’t killed a single Human in all the time I’ve been alive.

Other Hollows and Shinigami?

Yes, but never a Human or a Human Soul I haven’t even killed a Plus or a Blank.

I gripe tightly the scabbard of my blade, knowing that I have to do this if I want to survive the coming battles.

My life, is at stake here.

I don’t want to die again, I don’t want to be weak again, I don’t want to fight to survive again.

I have to do this, my blade, my blade is one that will survive to see tomorrow. I refuse to die before attaining that.

A loud ‘bing’ rang through the elevator as the elevator stops, the door opens. I push myself forward despite the reluctance, each step signaling my approach to those more spiritually aware.

It was dumb but a small part of me still didn’t want to kill a Human. I didn’t think the Human would be able to stop me but even so….

“5-A, 5-B, 5-C, this is the one.”

I breathe in and out before raising my skeletal leg, and with one quick movement I smash the door off its hinges.

“Shit, I won’t let you!!” The Human formed something in his hand, it looked like a Trigun but before he could fire it I chopped his hand off.

“Aaaaaa” He screamed in agony as his hand fell on the floor. His knees falling on the floor as he put pressure on his forearms in an attempt to halt the blood flow.

“Sorry Old Man, your girl was unfortunate enough to be born with something special I intend to claim that.”

“Dammit, no, I won’t let you!” The man charged at me with speeds comparable to a Shinigami, it might have worked too if he had the memories I did.

Within a blink of an Eye I caught the man mid flight and tossed him through the door holding his daughter.

“Wha-what?! Papa!” A girl with short black hair yelled in worry for her father. It was difficult to watch this as a former human but I kept moving forward despite that.

“Ghak!” Blood dripped from his mouth as the impact indented the wall, he still hadn’t been knocked out.

Shame, it would have been painless if he did.

“How stubborn can one guy be… seriously old man. You’re making this harder on me than it needs to be.” I step forward past the broken door and make my way to the pair.

The girls eyes reflecting fear, not for herself but for her Old Man while the Old Man just looked up in defience.

“Fu-fuck you.” He bravely says before I bring down my claws-
————————-

‘I wish there was something I could do for you. If only you didn’t inherit my curse’

‘It’s necessary, If I don’t do this then you will without a doubt experience great pain because of me’

‘Your mother loved you more than the world my pretty princess. I’m sure if she could see you now she’d be the happiest woman alive.’

‘I love you Aura, I only do this to protect you’

‘Happy birthday!’

————————-
-and cut him in two.

The blood sprays on my face, the girl now looking at me with a blank look cries while her arms grasp her mouth, I couldn’t tell if it was in horror or despair, I pushed on regardless.

“I’ll at least make it quick, with a quick stab before I end you girl, the Souls of Father and Daughter will live on through me for a greater purpose.” Without looking at her I swipe my blade through the girls neck cutting her head off from the rest of her body.

I was disgusted with myself, here I am monologuing about how they’ll be something greater when all they wanted to do is live their life.

Seriously why did I do that?

Unwilling to violate the memory of the girl after experiencing the unconditional love the girl had for the father. I didn’t bring out claws to take what little memories I could get from her Soul.

Looking down at the corpses of the two humans, one outside the cage and another cut along with the cage. It reminded me I can’t help but feel a pit through my chest.

“Sorry, I won’t blame you for hating me in the next life but I’ll do whatever I can survive this one.” I didn’t know why I said that, it could have been to make myself feel better, it could have been to try and explain my situation to the two souls in my stomach or it could be for some other reason I couldn’t really think of.

I didn’t know, I just know I did what I did because if I didn’t I would have died.

“I’ll at least promise you that you two will be my last human victims, from this point on. I promise at least that much.” As I walk away from the corpses I made, blood still dripping down my poncho I ask myself again if this was the right thing to do?

I never doubted it before in Heuco Mundo, I killed so many Hollow’s that I’m honestly surprised that I still felt the pain of taking another life.

In the end it’s too late to second guess myself. Now that I have what I need I have to commit to this path or I did all this for nothing.

And that is a Sin I am unwilling to bear, it will mean something even If I have to make it mean something.

With a stretch of my hand I open a portal back to Heuco Mundo, unwilling to be here when the resident soul reaper of Xcution member shows up. That if I even have the timeline right…

Hopefully this will at least be worth it.

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