GRAVEYARD

[foundationmods]

[On the instant of your death, you're suddenly outside of your body - probably staring down at the remains it's become.

Yet, you're not alone. For all of you (except Szayel), a young man appears from behind you, his face set into a firm, yet sad, scowl. His shaggy strawberry blonde hair is pretty eye-catching, along with the black and white Shihakusho he wears and the large sword on his back, even as he gently tries to lead you back into the lobby and away from what was once your body. You can still clearly hear and see the living, if you want to try - but they can't see or hear you.

'Welcome to the world of the dead in this Resort,' he says, quietly. 'Looks like you're stuck here with the rest of us.'

He hands you a tablet, just like the one you had before. "You'll need this if you want to keep talking to them,' he explains, looking sad.

It looks like you've passed on, and yet...You still feel like you have a role to play in all of this.]

Comments

[bladeisme]

Contain-

[But before ichigo can comment on the ironic word choice, the fruits drop - and one busts open, leaving what looks like...

A tiny, ghostly black puppy? It shakes itself clear of goo, and then runs off like a bolt before either of them can move.

Ichigo just stares at the spot where it used to be, before looking at Szayel with a flat expression.]

...I think you're a mother now.

[perfeccion]

[Szayel's mouth hangs open, slack as can be as he watches the puppy run off. He looks at Ichigo, then looks at where the Barghest puppy was]

... Ah... hm... M... mazel tov?

[he's just gonna.

pick up the rest of the fruits and go put them in the bathtub.

and close the door.]

[bladeisme]

...Yeah, no.

[Ichigo is picking up those fruits and going to the kitchen. If Szayel follows him, he'll find Ichigo asking the chef if he can use the kitchen and to temporarily harden it so he can destroy something. The Chef looks worried, but nods and moves most of the equipment in the area to the side.]

....Gotta do this before they wake up....

[Closing his eyes, he concentrates...

...and the area around him floods with power, as he hollowfies, his reiatsu swirling around him in a storm of black, red, and blue.]

[perfeccion]

[well, of COURSE he's following. He has to know what's going on here. He wisely hangs near the door (the chef could harden the kitchen? Well... if the Resort really was alive...) and watches curiously.

Then that happens. Szayel barely manages to stay on his feet from the blast of sheer power, and he actually does fall to his knees when he comprehends what he's seeing.

Sure, he saw it in the manga.

But it's a bit like reading about a tornado, and then being right in the middle of one.

He opens and closes his mouth, never managing to form words]

[bladeisme]

[Ichigo doesn't notice Szayel as he takes out Zangetsu - the larger one, of course - and suddenly - the air shifts, trembling with power as a ball of pure red energy forms at the tip of his horn.

That is, unmistakably - a Gran Rey Cero, a blast that only the most powerful of hollows can use. And yet, as it grows, Ichigo just raises Zangetsu, sticking the blade into the ball as the enegery flows down the blade.]

....Gran Rey Cero!

[With one quick slash, he aims towards the fruits -

And in a flash of red light, they are gone. The room around them creaks and rumbles, cracks forming in the walls and floor as it struggles to contain the energy.

And then - it's over, and Ichigo changes back, becoming just a normal shinigami again and placing his Zanpakuto back on his back.]

Ah, sorry about the damage - I just had to make sure those were destroyed.

[That's aimed at the Chef, of course - who nods, a little pale.]

[perfeccion]

[It's probably the most glorious thing he's ever seen. Such sheer power, such elegance, such perfection of hybridization...! A Cero with the power of a Shinigami behind it...? The light of the growing orb is blinding, the heat excruciating, but he can't tear his eyes away. It is all at once exhilarating and horrifying. He wants to weep, from joy and terror. And parts of him are definitely tingly. It is, undoubtedly, a Gran Rey Cero.

When the thing is actually fired, the way it completely incinerates the fruits and warps the fabric of spacetime around it, it's too much for one Arrancar to take, and Szayel collapses completely.

u made him faint, ichigo

having lost consciousness, his Resurrected form evaporates into pink reishi, then coagulates back into the shape of a katana, back safe and sound in its saya]

[bladeisme]

[Ichigo doesn't even realize until he turns around that Szayel was even there at all - when he sees the Arrancar splayed out on the floor, eyes rolled in his head and maybe kinda foaming at the mouth???

And in his own ways, he just assumes the pressure knocked him out - and he feels bad for it. After all, it'd been a while since he'd first broken into Hueco Mundo, and he'd grown stronger since then. So with a gentle apology, he excuses himself from talking with the Chef, and reluctantly picks up the fainted Arrancar - carrying him out to one of the couches in the lobby and leaving him there to recover.

He's going to go help the chef get everything back in order and get some food, now. Firing off those things always make him hungry as hell.]

[perfeccion]

[all of those things are true. He almost looks like he had a seizure or something. It's nothing so serious, but lort.

Szayel recovers on the couch, taking him about half an hour to wake back up... with a fleeting image in his mind. A beautiful image!]

... Was that real...?

[bladeisme]

Yep.

[Have a coffee being shoved in your face, Szayel. Ichigo takes a seat opposite him, placing his own mug of hot chocolate on the table between them.]

Sorry about that - I didn't realize you were there.

[perfeccion]

[Coffee? Szayel wrinkles his nose, but takes a sip anyway] I prefer tea...

[blink]

Eh? Wait... it wasn't just a crazy fever dream? I actually... I witnessed.... .... ah....

[bladeisme]

Then I'll get you tea next time.

[Huff!!!]

...Yeah, you saw it. What's wrong? I mean, I would've thought you read our Manga and everything.

[He takes a sip of his hot chocolate.]

And uh - sorry if it was too intense.

[perfeccion]

I did read it! Of course I did! [how could he resist seeing how things unfolded after he was cast into hell? ... to be honest, he's sort of happy he missed out on all the Quincy nonsense. It seemed like a hassle] But reading it and experiencing it first hand are completely different! It was.... it was....! [he makes futile grasping motions with his gloved hands before letting out a quick sigh and allowing his hand to drop] ... it was beyond words.

[bladeisme]

[Yeah, alright - that nets him A Look, because that's...really fucking odd, my dude.

Also, he'd agree on the quincy nonsense.]

Is it really that special? You're making it sound like you had a religious experience, or something. All I did was hollowfy.

[perfeccion]

[he just wiggles his fingers in that mad sciencey way]

I don't think you quite understand, Kurosaki, how important and incredibly rare you are! I once thought I was the perfect organism, capable of regenerating indefinitely. But that clown was right about one thing -- I am far from perfect. You, Kurosaki Ichigo. [he points across the table to the young man, then takes a gulp of coffee] You are perfect. You are the pinnacle that I aim for, the most powerful being our world has to offer! I should thank you, profusely, for the new direction in my life. I had forgotten... the struggle, the work, the goal of always making oneself better... It is exhilarating....!

1/2

[bladeisme]

[bladeisme]

[Just

Gets up

and moves to another couch with his hot chocolate]

You're....welcome, I guess...?

[Hlep]

[perfeccion]

[Szayel just cackles.

Aspect of death; MADNESS, indeed]

Ah... haha... Ha...

[he doesn't give chase at least. Instead he leans back on the couch and kicks up his feet]

If it puts your mind at ease, it means you're safe. You don't vivisect the golden goose, as it were.

[bladeisme]

...You know it's still really goddamn creepy to hear you go on about me like I'm some kind of perfect being, right?

[LIKE. GIVE HIM THAT, AT LEAST.]

Just because I'm safe doesn't mean I like being praised like that.

[perfeccion]

But you are! Ichigo... just the fact that you contain both Hollow and Quincy traits without your soul tearing itself apart is a miracle. The fact that you seamlessly include Shinigami and Human into the mix is simply astonishing. [he sighs and takes a drink of coffee. It's not as bad as he thought it would be...] I would have never expected that Hollow I helped to create would end up like this...

[bladeisme]

[COUGHS ON HIS HOT COCOA

Because while he was content to just tune out the rest of Szayel verbally fellating him, the last bit is something that he didn't know at all.]

What?! You mean - you're the one who created White?!

[On one hand, that makes sense. On the other, what the fuck.]

[perfeccion]

[he shrugs, but it's very clearly just another ingenuine gesture of his own narcissism]

Of course I did! Lord Aizen provided the raw materials, of course -- [that is, Shinigami's souls by the hundreds] -- but I was the one who created it. Lord Aizen is very smart, but remember that Hollow genetics and technology are my specialties. I also designed the Hollowfication virus it carried. [he holds his hand to his forehead dramatically] Just imagine how disappointed I was when I had heard it self-destructed after wasting its venom on a Quincy woman! But that ended up being serendipitous, didn't it? And now, my creation lives on in your Zanpakutou.

[bladeisme]

[...

There's a lot in there he didn't want to know, but.

Excuse him - he's just going to hug himself and shiver, because it's not just him who's reacting to this.]

N-Nice to know, I guess.

[perfeccion]

[he can feel you squirming, Ichigo. And more than that, he can feel Zangetsu squirming. He chuckles and sips his coffee] I find the relationship between you Shinigami and your zanpakutou truly fascinating. A completely separate soul, forged from your own... Separate, and yet inexorably linked. Cuttings from the same branch. [sip sip] Ours are not the same.

[bladeisme]

[Well, if he can feel that, he can probably feel Zanwach glaring at him, too - the quincy half of his reiatsu ever on guard.

Though at that, Ichigo blinks.]

They're not? What are they like, then?

[perfeccion]

[Well someone has to be, he supposes!

Szayel sets his coffee aside and removes Fornicaras from its saya. He runs a gloved finger along the well-oiled edge]

I call her a 'her', but Fornicaras has no soul of her own. No personality, no will, no memories or thoughts or desires. The zanpakutou of a Shinigami is... like a partner, isn't it? The zanpakutou of an Arrancar is just a tool -- a physical embodiment of what we left behind and how far we've come. There is no spirit to commune with.