middleofsomewhere | Memory Cave

One moment Ichigo was on the beach watching his cat play in the sand. Then he'd seen and heard a pretty damn inspiring speech by a kid and felt a deep sense of pride at the boy's strength. He'd blinked, and now he was in some sort of cave with glowing moss on the walls. "Alright, this is officially weird as fuck."

Roland was getting ready for another soak in the hot springs when the feeling returns, and he is whisked away. It happens again; watching things from someone else's perspective, a life that didn't belong to him. But this one was different from the first memory he witnesses. This one hit too close to home that he felt physically uncomfortable, temperature rising and temper flaring in a way that always riles him up.

Though the memory ends fairly pleasant, a feeling of camaraderie resonating in his heart, he is disturbed by the bullying. The punches, the jabs to the stomach, the psychological torment on this young man of rich colored skin and wavy brown hair. It makes him want to jump in to help, even though he was looking at it as if he was.

It's not hard to put two and two together. When the reel in his mind ends, Roland finds himself face-to-face with only one other possible person. He only takes a second to look around the strange little enclosure, small and intimate, before he speaks, arms crossed over his chest.

"That's definitely one way to put it." He inhales deeply. He's seen him around the train, some days in the dining car, others at training, but they've not spoken before this. "Hi there. If you're here, and I'm here, then I guess I can presume you're the one who saved your friend from those jerks. By the riverside." He glances down, eyes low. It feels strange to talk about it. Roland didn't ask to see it, didn't ask for permission to view someone else's memories, yet here they were. Might as well get through it together.

"Jerks by the riverside...the kid I saved was tall, dark hair and tan skin, yeah?" Ichigo walked around the cave, a bit unnerved to be out of his body and not in his inner world. "Gotta say, this is a new one for me. Usually when I slip into a mental scape, it's my inner world. You're Roland, right? The team leader who's sharing duties with Glorfindel? I'm Ichigo."

He nods somberly. "Yeah. That's him. They were taking his necklace. They were going to do...worse things to him, too. But he was saved in the nick of time. I felt anger. He should have been defending himself."

It was falling into place, now. Even the first memory, where the same dark haired teenager was present in the cafe, surrounded by friends. Memories that belonged to this man before him, feelings he had at the time they had happened. Roland nods and meets him halfway. "That's me. This isn't the best circumstance to make your acquaintance, but nevertheless, it's nice to meet you Ichigo. I..."

Roland is rarely lost for words, yet here he is, apprehensive beyond reason. So first, he says only the obvious. "...I don't know what to make of this, to be quite frank. If this is the doing of the people running the train, or if this is some magic shenanigan from the island."

"It's pretty damn weird, and that's saying something for my life. I think I saw one of your memories before I got off the train, some skinny dude with a rabbit mask on? I hope you find out what he's about. But just before being here, listening to the little boy talking to the crowd? I felt damn proud of him. I don't know who he was, but I could just feel overwhelming pride. An' as for Chad, he had promised his grandfather not to use his strength to fight for his own sake." Ichigo smiled as he shook Roland's hand. "Damn shame that kid in your memory has to take on such a burden so young, though."

Roland shakes his hand back, firm and quick.

"Chad's his name, then? He was in the first memory which I assume was yours, too. You were all talking about final exams, and he came in after training." He crosses his arms close to his chest, gaze looking around them as he tried to make sense of the cave. Was this another reality altogether? "You did the right thing though, beating them back the way you did. We can't let bullies win. Never. I commend you for that."

He takes a deep breath to calm himself, and he feels a fist clench in determination; in frustration. It's all so overwhelming, and Roland was careful to keep his private life close to his own heart, never bearing it for anyone else to see. Yet here they are, no choice at all.

"You saw the Conductor. He's...special. He helps find heroes, using dreams to communicate. And the kid, the kid you saw is probably Evan. Talking in a crowd...that could be any other time, really." He closes his eyes for a moment. "No. Evan wanted this. It isn't a burden. It's his destiny. His birthright as king was taken from him in a coup."

"Mm, I've been bullied a lot for my hair and for seeing ghosts, so it was easy for me to stick up for Chad. And we made a deal that I'd fight for him if he'd fight for me, which worked out pretty damn well." Ichigo grinned at the thought, before his face fell at the mention of the boy in Roland's memory. "He was talking to an army about wanting to unite the people. He's so young, it's good that he has you there for support. There's no way that's easy on him."

"...He's helped me more than I've helped him. I just happened to have more experience on the politics, but the rest was all Evan. You're right, it wasn't easy, but it was worth it." He smiles, recognizing the memory he was referring to now. It was the speech Evan made to unite the four armies to fight the Horned One. And boy, did he ever.

He takes a good, long look at Ichigo, his own mind running with thoughts that he had no idea what to do with. So he falls back on the easiest sentiment.

"You didn't deserve to be bullied for being different. I'm sorry you had to go through that. But I'm glad that you didn't let them abuse you any longer. You, or Chad. I felt how close you all were, in your first memory. It was...nice." And he can speak from experience himself. Roland was a victim of bullying in his youth, too.

Ichigo smiled at that. "Yeah, they've been through hell and back with me. Not that I ever wanted them to get involved in shit to do with spirits and hollows and all that, but they did." Seeing some larger rocks that were at least flat-ish, Ichigo took a seat on one of them. "So that army Evan was talking to, did it work? Did he get them to work together?"

"How far along are you all in your studies? I assume...high school, from the uniforms you wore at this colorful cafe?" Because Roland really only looks like he's twenty years old. A middle aged man he is, deep down in his soul. Literally.

He leans against the wall, arms crossed as he watches Ichigo get comfortable.

"It did. Nobody else could have rallied such differing cultures together in a united cause but him. The assault was a success." He has a far off look in his eyes, staring at the glowing moss on the opposite side. "We...got closer to the bad guy."

"University, actually. Ishida, the one in glasses, is in the same medical school I am. Chad is training to be a professional boxer like his grandfather was. If you saw a pair of women walk in, the red head is Inoue and she's going to culinary school to learn how to bake. The brunette is Tatsuki, who is the one I've actually known the longest. She's working on becoming a world class competitor in a form of martial arts called karate." And she was getting damn close, which Ichigo was incredibly proud of.

"But you didn't defeat the bad guy, did you?" He knew that look and that tone, he'd seen it in the mirror and heard it in his own voice more than once.

"You're a talented bunch, then. With really bright futures ahead of you all. I'm glad to hear everyone in your group is working hard for their dreams." And he genuinely smiles at that, because the feeling that washed over him wasn't a lie anyway. That first memory - he was happy, happy to be there.

"Heh. Well, I suppose we did, eventually." He uncrosses his arms, glances up at the ceiling. A memory that was his reality not too long ago. "But I guess it depends on how you define bad guy, to begin with. Maybe he wasn't really a bad guy after all. Just...desperate."

"Yeah, we're doing are best to be 'normal'. Not easy with the shit we've been through, but we try."

Ichigo nodded in understanding at what Roland was saying. He'd seen desperate before. That pretty well described Byakuya's vehement defense of the bullshit charges against Rukia. "Did you accomplish your goal with minimal loss of life on your side? Is Evan still alive? And mostly unscathed?" There was no way a kid that young could survive leading an army without losing something. Innocence at the very least.

"Evan's alive. Even if I wasn't around, he wasn't going to get beaten that easily. In a lot of ways, he's stronger than me." And Roland's pretty adamant about that, clenching a fist in determination just to emphasize the point. "We did, though. Eventually, we won."

He pauses, if only to recall something Ichigo once said in passing..."When you said you're doing your best to be normal, is that at all related to when you told me you were bullied for being able to see ghosts?"

"When I was fifteen, I met a soul reaper. Her job is to help souls pass on, and to purify the souls that corrupted because they couldn't pass on in time. She had to give me her powers to save my sisters from one of the corrupted spirits. Those're called hollows. Giving me her powers was illegal, she was sentenced to be executed for it. Naturally I had to save her, she'd helped me save my sisters. The punishment was a ruse by a traitor to the entire soul reaper establishment, and Chad, Ishida, and Orihime got dragged into it with me. We ended up getting involved in the war against the traitor." Ichigo raked a hand through his hair. "Going to war at fifteen fucks with your head, a lot."

"...I'm sure it does, Ichigo. I'm sorry. You and your friends shouldn't have had to experience that kind of terror at your age." Roland speaks as if he's seen it before, as if he's been through it even though physically, he looks around the same age as Ichigo.

"But you were brave to save the woman who saved your sister's life. You couldn't have known the consequences, but you jumped in to rescue her anyway. That's an honorable thing to do. A difficult one too."

"That night, all I thought about was saving my sisters. I didn't want to take over as a soul reaper at all, but Rukia convinced me. When I die, after I attend the soul reaper academy to learn the parts I don't know, if they don't find a way to make me a captain, I will ask to be put in her squad."He knew she was working hard to be able to take over the 13th.

"Wow, an academy? I guess there really is a school for everything, huh. Even becoming a soul reaper." He hums to himself. "So, the hollows are what you call the corrupted spirits. How do you purify them so they can cross over peacefully? How do they get corrupted in the first place?"

"Well, with the blade of a soul reaper's sword. Killing a hollow is what purifies it. The butt, or I guess you could call it the pommel is what helps souls that haven't corrupted move on." Reaching for his hip, Ichigo managed to draw Zangetsu's short sword to use as a demonstration. "As for how a soul corrupts? In my world, a soul is tethered to its body by a chain, called a soul chain for obvious reasons. When you die, the chain breaks. The links will self cannibalize the longer a soul lingers after death. If a person can't move on by themselves, then the chain will eat itself. The shorter it gets the more painful it is. And in the middle of the chest is an anchor plate, holding the chain to the soul. Once the chain is gone, the plate peels away slowly. It's excruciating. But when the plate fully falls off, it leaves a hole in the chest. Kind of physical manifestation of losing their metaphorical heart. And the soul changes. It turns into a monster with a mask of bone driven to eat souls that haven't passed on and any humans with spiritual energy it can get." Ichigo wisely didn't mention that he was far, far too familiar with the process of becoming a hollow.

Roland visibly grimaces after Ichigo tells him the tale.

"For something that sounds really spiritual, with souls and purification and all, that...sounds awfully, physically, painful. How much of that is literal?" He shakes his head.

"That's a heck of burden for someone so young..." Or so Roland assumes, given the memories he's received so far.

"Very. King oughta know, had ta go through it all 'imself to get the Old Man's power. Hurt like a bitch, too. I'd show ya my hole, but with the shinigami shit runnin' in us, I ain't got one." Behind Roland, Zangetsu's hollow side came up and used the dark haired man as an armrest. "I'm mosta King's power. Th' hollow energy that tainted his Mama, th' shinigami power that saved her life, all wrapped up in lil' ol' me."

Something changes in the way Ichigo speaks, but before Roland can question it properly, he feels a weight on his shoulder. He glances, eyes wide, stumbling a little as someone very different appears out of the blue.

"W-What?" He doesn't hide his shock at all. Eyes in gold, the whites of his eyes turned dark. What in the world? "Who are you...?! Where's Ichigo?" Roland is alert, frowning deeply. Was this part of the cave's magic too?

Ichigo was still there, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Zangetsu..."

Getting up, he grabbed the hollow by the ear. "Stop being an ass to Roland. I didn't even say you could come out."

"..."

Roland watches this exchange with even more confusion, darting his eyes back and forth trying to make sense of it.

"I'm...gonna have to ask for an explanation, here." He says, though how Roland manages to sound incredibly neutral throughout all these surprises is a question for anyone to ask him at some point. It's enough to pique interest because Zangetsu - as Ichigo calls him - looks a different version to the high schooler Roland's shared memories with.

Could it be...?

Ichigo put an arm around Zangetsu to hold him in place. "This is half of Zangetsu. He represents the majority of my powers, and he's said nothing but the truth. My mother was poisoned by hollow reiatsu when she was a teen, my father gave up his soul reaper powers to seal the hollow reiatsu away inside her so it couldn't kill her. So I was born with the fusion of that power.

"The first time I lost my power, I had to basically be killed to get it back. My soul chain cannibalized and the plate started to peel back before I found the other half of Zangetsu. I call him Old Man most of the time, found out a few years down the line that he's the power I inherited from my mom. But this one is the mouthy one."

Memory Cave

Re: Roland | Ichigo

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