middleofsomewhere | The Mountain Top: Grasshopper 25

The Mountain Top: Grasshopper 25

After the strangeness of their second day on the island for some, with memories and conversations in a cave, the third day goes calmly.

At least until mid afternoon. As the day winds on into evening all of those who have been sharing memories with others will feel a pull.

A pull to climb the mountain in the north. It is a good feeling, that mountain is where you need to be. A sense of belonging, friendship, camaraderie. You don't need to be alone, just climb the mountain.

For those that climb they will find worn wooden benches spaced around the lip of the caldera in concentric circles, the centre set up like an amphitheatre. The Jema syrup spills from crevices around the edges, running down from the peak in well-worn grooves and channels.

The sun sets slowly on Jema’grethy, slowly sinking into the ocean over a period of a couple of hours. During that time pairs of Voidtreckers will feel drawn towards the syrup, to touch the surface.

When they do they will receive a memory and find themselves back in that cave once more. For those watching it is as if they are in a trance, lasting a few moments.

People feel moved at different times and so there are always people aware, sat around the mountain top. It might be that there are other friends they wish to speak to about what they see. It might be that they wish to sit silently and avoid everything, if only their friends will allow it.

But it is a place to be together nonetheless.

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"Heh. Was it his patented 'death from above' move? He made me do that when I got him a fish from the freezer the first time we met. I'm glad to see he's still at it."

He nods as Ichigo shares how he got his kitten. "Let me know when you've named him. I'm sure it'll be a good one." He tries to focus on petting him, back of his fingers feeling soft bristles of fur, but the distraction grows too strong to ignore. He shakes his head, even rubs his eyes, but the syrup smelled so sweet. It looked so colorful, palpable to the touch...Roland turns his head towards the pool, almost as if longingly so.

Then, without a single word, he walks towards it with every intention to touch. He wonders briefly if Ichigo is following; if he's feeling the same pull.

There was a vein of the syrup right near Ichigo's foot. In fact, all he would need to do would be to bend down and he could touch it. He felt himself leaning, curling around his kitten in the process.

Roland is transfixed in a way he can't explain. So he doesn't fight the feeling, wanting to see where it will take him. Them. It's clear to him that they've been drawn together as witnesses to one another for a reason.

He kneels on one leg, and only hesitates for a breath before the back of his hand touches it, blue and pink and thick against his skin. In the blink of an eye, Roland is shaken. He looks around and his consciousness is back to the cave, mossy and glowing. But it's different this time. This time, he is watching something that is both his memory and Ichigo's, like a screen rolling out a movie. He can feel Ichigo enter the same space too.

They were both watching, it seems. And it was making Roland jarringly uncomfortable - too much, all at once. Despondence washes over him as he watches Ichigo overtaken by sadness. Guilt. The backs of the friends he spent time with in the cafe no longer warm and inviting - all turned away from him. And the boy with glasses, the look in his eyes that Roland sees play out in front of him...He isn't sure what to make of it. How Ichigo lost his power to see ghosts. The aftermath of the war.

But he can't move, and he can't seem to speak. He watches Ichigo's memory play out like a spectator in the stands until it ends. And as for Roland's memory...

While his stomach had churned at his own memory, and he had struggled to look at it, Ichigo felt physically ill at Roland's. "My god...was that a nuke? Was that New York getting nuked?" He'd never been to the city, but he'd seen enough pictures to recognize it. He swore he could feel the heat and the pressure of the shockwave. It was jarring to say the least.

Roland watches his own memory play out as if he was detached from it. As if he's seen it countless times before. But maybe he has? In the deepest darkest parts of his mind; where he is free to replay it any time he wishes. And he has.

He lets a breath loose, one he didn't even know he was holding. "...Yes. Yes, that's right." He hears himself speak, as the final seconds play out and the shockwave that levels his city knocks him cold. Vestiges away from death. "The city was bombed and I...woke up somewhere far, far away. In a brand new body. A brand new world. So it goes."

He looks away. With a low voice, he addresses Ichigo again, as if he was guilty. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Fucking hell. I thought going a year an' half powerless was bad, but you got nuked." Ichigo couldn't stand still, wasn't willing to face his own bad memory even though the shame was burning in the back of his throat all over again. He paced a little. "When you woke up, no ill effects? Being a new you saved you from radiation poisoning, right?"

There's a silly sort of irony there that makes Roland laugh wryly. "I suppose we were both powerless there, Ichigo. In different ways. I don't want to discredit what you went through, either."

He keeps still as Ichigo paces, arms still crossed and back resting against the wall. "Right. Magic goes a long way, I guess. I had more energy. I was back to how I looked like twenty years ago." His voice drops a cadence as he stares at his hands. It almost seems like he's retelling a real story, not his actual life. "...I wasn't worried about myself, though. Not by a long shot."

Coming over, Ichigo put a hand on Roland's shoulder in sympathy. "Who did you lose?"

He hates what this island is doing to them.

He hates that he has no choice. Stripped of his free will to hide his pain. Even back in Evermore, during their stint in Memory Lane with The Conductor, Roland refused. He'd rather spare them of his long story, irrelevant to the task at hand. Yet here he was, once again facing demons that the island - the train - was forcing him to unearth.

Hate is a strong word, but Roland can't think of any other to describe how he feels about what this place is doing to all of them. He closes his eyes and takes his time to breathe before he answers the teenager in front of him, grasping at his shoulder in firm reassurance.

"...William Crane." He opens his eyes, but stares only at the wall ahead. "My son."

Not to mention, the millions of people - his citizens who trusted him to lead them, who voted for him twice - he had failed. He failed them all. But most of all, his child. The one and only. The boy he holds dear, more than anyone else.

Edited (LAST EDIT sorry, icon change!) 2020-09-06 05:25 (UTC)

There was nothing Ichigo could say to undo that pain, nothing that would make it better. So he did the only thing he could think to do. He pulled the man into a tight hug.

Roland doesn't really move, but he doesn't turn the physical affection away either. Eventually, the older man wraps an arm around Ichigo in response, patting his back a couple of times too. But when he pulls back, Roland doesn't seem to look sad. His eyes glint with fierce determination.

"But things changed. I'm sure of it." He shakes his head, his bangs loosening out of place. "When we saved Doloran, my soulmate. When he decided to make a new kingdom out of nothing...That had to have meant something for my home."

His breath turns heavy. "As long as I'm still alive, nothing is going to stop me from saving my son. He's going to be okay because I believe it. Because I'm here."

Edited 2020-09-06 15:38 (UTC)

Giving Roland's shoulder a squeeze, Ichigo smiled at him. "If there's anything I can do to help, I'll be there. Just gotta let me know."

"Thanks."

It's a small smile he offers Ichigo, but it's enough. With what they've been through these past few days, Roland is pretty sure there was a point of no return anyway. Ichigo knew what he knew, and that was that. The same went for Roland. And speaking of...

"What happened, Ichigo?" He rests his hand on his hip, concern tinging his voice. "You lost your powers?"

Ichigo nodded at that, looking away in shame. "There was a soul reaper captain who betrayed everyone and turned bad. He got his hands on this item, called a Hyogoku that he could use to manipulate reality, and lifeforms. He used it to create an entirely new, more powerful class of hollows, and was fusing with it. No one could hurt him.

"There's a space between the living world and soul society, and time moves very differently there. My dad, who is apparently a soul reaper, and I didn't know it until he showed up, took me there to try to learn a technique even his own sword refused to teach him. It's called Mugetsu. We spent a year in the in between, but it was maybe an hour at most for those on the battlefield?

"I learned the Mugetsu. I used it, used every iota of reiatsu in me, and it still wasn't enough. The bastard is still alive, even if he is locked in a prison even he can't escape."

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The Mountain Top: Grasshopper 25

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