City of Emptiness Chapter 8

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Bleach AU
Chapter Summary: Shiro and Ichigo get some answers.
Word Count: 1,532
Rating: Gen? (some swearing)

         He snarls at the woman the instant she brings unfamiliar energies to bear.  He’s never been so close to being that unthinking Hollow when he’s not even in the right form.  King cuffs his injured shoulder, and he winces.  It’s enough to distract him, just barely enough.  Which, given the quick flash of smug victory, is actually exactly what Ichi’d been going for.  He’d offer his congratulations to King if he did that kinda thing.
         It does feel, vaguely, like a Hollow’s power, but with the sort of control a Shinigami has.  That kind of emptiness that he’s been feeling from the townsfolk is exactly the sort of thing that drives his less conscious cousins to eat and eat seeking to fill that void.  From most of the townsfolk, it means utterly nothing.  They have power, or are power, or something, but no will, no purpose.  They exist, which is the end of their meaning.
         So how can a woman with no will manage to cast some kind of magic?  If she’s existed without meaning, where would she have learned the discipline to cast some sort of—
         “Ow,” he hisses through clenched teeth, suddenly aware that he’s been sidetracked successfully and hadn’t actually noticed the healing.  He flexes his hands, which feel freshly healed, still a little tender and awkward.  His chest’s ache has eased (and, come to think of it, he’d forgotten to mention his injuries during his fight with Rukia to King, though honestly that might be just ‘cause he’s still trying to keep on Ichi’s good side), and, as he stretches his shoulder—yep, more of that ‘freshly healed’ feeling.  It’s enough to give him hope.  He calls for the mask—
         And next thing he knows, he’s screaming, curled up on the floor.  It’s all he can do to concentrate on his breathing.  He doesn’t even remember having fallen.  King’s gently holding his hands, curled up into fists.  Presumably so he doesn’t lash out and tear something apart.
         “Would you quit that?” Ichigo requests irritably.  “You can’t use your Hollow powers right now, and you’re just hurting yourself by trying.”
         “You lose Zanjii and then see how you feel.  I bet you’d be worse than me,” he snarls, before realizing he’s not trying to pick a fight; he’s really not.  He shouldn’t be.  Working with King is actually pretty cool, if they can both get over themselves.  It’s just that he’s not used to being vulnerable, or in pain, or weak and pathetic.
         Strawberry shrugs, not rising to the bait.  “Yeah, probably.  Why’re you speaking like a Hollow?”
         “His power is fractured,” the lady explains, and quails a little at the sudden glance of twin eyes.  “It’s like if someone solved a puzzle and someone else just came in and took it all apart.  It’s all still there.”
         “Well, that’s just annoying,” Shiro states, before realizing his voice is back to normal.  “So what, I have no control over this?”
         “You’ll have more control if you stop seeing yourself as merely a reflection,” she responds, and he raises an eyebrow and thinks about that one for a minute.  He is just a reflection, isn’t he?  Just Ichigo’s Hollow?  Except she’s implying that he’s not.  Maybe it’s more that he can choose to become more than that?
         “What do you know about him?” Ichi asks, harsher than he probably intends.
         “You two are like yin and yang.  Twins.  If you work together, you are stronger.  Whole,” she suggests, and King rubs his face, frustration bleeding through his reiatsu.
         “Damn it.  What does that mean anyway?”  He sounds more tired than anything, but then, the situation sucks and there’s no straightforward way to save their friends.
         “Nah, Majesty, I think I get it.  This is your body, after all, so you’re the little bit of black in me and I’m the little bit of white in you.  We exist, same and separate, because we’re from different worlds.  And if what she’s sayin’ is true, that means we’ve got a chance to fix whatever this is.”  He rubs his face, too, before realizing what he’s doing and dropping his hand.  “What I don’t get—what I really don’t get—is that stuff she’s saying about not being your shadow or whatever.  What the hell else would I be?”
         “You have to find that out yourself,” she responds, shivering a little.
         “Shiro.  Stop hurting the woman,” Ichi commands, and—oh, yeah, he should probably stop digging his fingernails, however blunt, into the woman’s arm.  It’s still gotta hurt.
         “Right, sorry,” he agrees, sheepishly letting go.
         “By the way, who are you?  What did you do?” King continues.  He’s actually using his brain for once.
         “I have been called Erinna.  I am one of few, in this city, to have awakened to the truth.  As an Echo, I understand your existence.  Most of my fellow citizens are content to live lives without effort, never changing the inevitable.  I try, but with my power…” she shrugs and sighs deeply.  “I can only heal.  I can be no one stronger.”  Her chuckle is dark, like a Hollow’s.  “Welcome to Oranbega, the Phantom City.”
         And just that little, that shared similarity, is enough to set Shiro’s mind racing.
         “That’s still just words that don’t make any sense,” King complains, and for a second his ‘twin’ thinks of course you don’t you dumb animal before realizing yeah, of course, why would he; he doesn’t know what it means to be a Hollow.
         “Nah, it makes perfect sense,” he contradicts, meeting his counterpart’s eyes in an effort to convince.  “I’d bet we’re somehow in the same space as the true Seireitei with all its brat Shinigami, just like I used to exist inside you.  It used to be just an empty copy, and the longer this goes, the closer it gets to the real thing.”
         “Until it replaces the original,” Ichi finishes, eyes narrowed.  “Same for the people in it, I guess?”
         “Question is, how did we get here?  Bet this place isn’t used to gettin’ the original inside it,” and isn’t that uncomfortably close to his own situation?  Thankfully, King has yet to notice or realize his little slip of the tongue earlier.  It’ll probably be fine, though.
         “It’s happened before.  The process has its flaws,” Erinna explains.
         Ichigo frowns.  “That’s not right.  If people just bled through, or whatever, they’d end up with the Captains or something.  Not us and our friends.  And that’s nowhere close to explaining why you’re here.”
         “That’s a good point,” Shiro agrees, really wishing he had a knife to play around with just for something for his hands to do.  “I mean, I’m not complaining.  The world I was in before sucked.  I’d really like to know if I’m gonna just get kicked back out, or somethin’.”
         Ichigo doesn’t ask.  Not then.  But his twin gets the feeling it’s just a brief reprieve and he’s gonna get questions he won’t wanna answer later.
         “And she’s talking like this has happened before,” Ichigo adds.  “Did she copy someone?”
         “Someone else who probably fell in.  What happens to the original when it’s been replaced?  ‘Cause if it copied multiple places, it can’t have kept being the same thing.”  They’re almost thinking in unison.  It’s almost as much a thrill as a fight.
         “If you’ve heard of other vanishing ghost cities, like Atlantis—that was our fault,” she responds, and he feels an instant of panic that he quickly bites back.  So the original stops existing, huh?
         “What about the people?” he asks, instantly, because if that means Princess stopped existing, they’ll smash the whole city between the two of them.
         “They’ll last until Oranbega reaches its full strength,” she responds.
         “What happens to you if we stop this?” King asks.  Trust him to find the compassionate response.
         “I don’t know.  I just want the cycle to end.  I’m sick of watching them all die.”  That determination is the single strongest emotion she’s felt this whole time, so yeah, it’s probable she’s telling the truth.  Maybe she’d copied some other protector type, but couldn’t manage much with that amount of spiritual power, or something.  And the legacy of wanting to protect, wanting to stop the violence…well, that’s a legacy he knows a thing or two about.
         “How do we stop it?  Who’s in charge?”  He feels Ichi’s shocked gaze and nearly rolls his own eyes.  Compared to King, he’s practically a strategist, come on.
         “It changes at will,” is her unhelpful answer.  “People like you are the greatest danger, so it will try to subdue you.  If you can destroy it and its court, the will holding this place together will crumble.”  And hopefully he won’t just be shunted off back to where he came from.  He’s enjoying working with King from the outside, and sure, even if the idiot decides to stab him, that’s much better than going back.  No matter how much he wants to continue to experience life, to explore and to learn.
         “That’s more the kind of plan I’m good with.” 
         Ichigo’s enthusiasm is kinda contagious, and he finds himself grinning along, just the hint of fang in his toothy smile.