middleofsomewhere | Memory Cave

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Memory Cave

After the passengers see a glimpse of a life that is not their own they appear in a cave. It is light, a strange moss glowing on the walls and ceiling illuminates the cave nicely and it is large enough for them to pace around in without trouble.

They are not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker. Maybe someone they know well, maybe someone they have only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave together.

The cave has no exit, at least not yet. They know that it will, eventually. When the time is right.

But for that time to come, they first must talk...

(OOC: For reference: memories!)

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"...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."

There's a lot to unpack there, so Roland tries to get it together one by one. He glances between them in this strange little space they've been dragged into and starts with the simplest question: "...So you and him - " he gestures to 'the mouthy one' with a pointed look. " - are essentially the same soul? Split in the middle because of what happened to your mother and what your father did to save her life?"

Roland can't help but rest his finger under his chin. "You're...a Hollow, too?"

"I'm kinda a mix of everything. I'm a soul reaper, I'm a hollow, I'm a Quincy, I'm a Fullbringer, and I'm human. That last one is probably mostly due to being born in the living world and the fact that both Quincies and Fullbringers are groups of humans with reiatsu." Ichigo shrugged and nodded.

"You've seen me in my soul form, with the big sword on my back and the trench knife on my hip, right? Zangetsu is the larger sword, and the Old Man that's the manifestation of the Quincy powers I never learned to harness is the trench knife."

And here Roland thought having another version of himself in another world was strange. He doesn't try to hide what he feels, his expression looking exactly the way it should given the information he's received.

"All in one, huh? Is that something you have a choice in? You can choose to be one over the other when the situation calls for it?" Roland shakes his head, frowning. "This is a heck of a burden to put on someone. To be all these things..." His hand makes a gesture. "What are Quincy's? And Fullbringers?"

"Quincies and Fullbringers are humans with reiatsu. Quincies got their power from the son of the Soul King. The Soul King exists as the anchor for the worlds, and his son is the God of the Quincies. And an asshole, but that's a whole different story."

Smiling, Ichigo shook his head before he could get sidetracked. "Fullbringers are humans who were exposed to hollow reiatsu while in the womb. Their mothers were attacked and survived, and the imprint was left on their growing children."

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Memory Cave

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