Post by Zeich Yajuu on Dec 12, 2022 19:37:46 GMT -5
(OOC: This is more of a social piece than a training, but can be taken as a form of emotional training/steeling of the soul if the grader wishes it to be so as well. This thread mostly exists to further build on the relationship between Zeich and his spirits to work towards his Rebirth path, as well as a basis for the techniques I will be posting up.)
He could still hear the screams of pain echoing through the street as the woman’s arms were pulled taut, the flesh straining under the sudden pressure from Zeich’s control. The limbs were outstretched, yet his concentration was only on the forearms, using them as a point of leverage to pull. At the same time, he held the Vandenreich’s body still, in opposition to the pull. Between the two, at the shoulder joints, the pressure would build up from the opposing forces, and the muscle, flesh, and bone would fight to hold together against the terrible pressure that were being exerted on them. Yet Zeich did not let up, did not pause for a moment in his actions. Justice. This was justice for a person who so casually took lives away, so casually destroyed their souls without a second thought. She’d live, but once he finished, the Quincy would never hold a bow again. Never.[/I]
Zeich stared into the distance, seated atop the plateau in his Inner World. For once, Haiiro was not with him; the wolf had departed without an explanation, only a promise to be back at a later point. Zeich had chosen not to pursue; there was something in the spirit’s tone that had suggested a need for isolation, and that same feeling came over the bond between them. That bond told the Vizard that his companion was out there somewhere, but he purposely did not draw upon it, did not attempt to trace its course to find Haiiro. For whatever reason, the wolf wanted to be alone, and Zeich could only respect that wish. Unfortunately, his mind could not let it go at that, and had already concluded the reason that the former Zanpaktou Spirit had left.
It was me...
Zeich stared at his hands, as though expecting to see blood coating them. Though he had not laid a hand on the Quincy, he still felt as though he had been the one to rip off her arms himself. In essence, he had. His Zanpaktou had converted her body, made it a part of it, and then Zeich had gone and used that control over his Release to tear the woman’s arms off. He could have been more efficient, more clean; erasing the ash that served as a connection between shoulder and arm would have been far quicker, and would have caused no unnecessary agony. Yet in that moment, he had been angry, so very angry. That Quincy hadn’t just killed people—even that alone was worth condemnation, but at least it would have been better than the reality. No, she had destroyed those souls, obliterated them from existence, keeping them from the cycle that maintained the worlds. So many lives, ruined so pointlessly. For no other sake than to draw out prey…
“Tell me, Tsukikage! What the hell did you do? How did you do that? Why?!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, boy.” The Hollow’s tone held a certain smugness to it, a hint of condescension painting his words. Tsukikage dared to talk down to him?
“You know exactly what I’m talking about! That cruelty, that bloodthirst…! How did you evoke them so clearly? How did you make me do that?”
That Cheshire Cat smile, those lupine jaws stretching into a crooked smirk. Golden eyes on a black backdrop dilated, and that grin seemed to overtake everything. For the first time since he had conquered Tsukikage, Zeich felt his control slipping. He felt his mental cage quivering, shaking under the force of the Hollow’s oppressive will. And yet Tsukikage did not break through the bars, did not even attempt to slip free. Instead the ashen wolf simply sat there, staring, smiling, his expression that of an elder watching a child throw a tantrum. The Hollow was savoring the moment, letting Zeich’s temper grow with each passing second.
Finally, though he responded. “And what, tell me, makes you think that I did that?”[/color] The words were slow, deliberate, intended to make Zeich think about their meaning.
“Because that’s not me. I would never do that. I’d never choose such violence—!”
“Master.” Haiiro’s voice suddenly cut through the heat that filled Zeich. The Vizard paused, glancing at his former Zanpaktou Spirit in confusion. Normally Haiiro avoided Tsukikage whenever he could, and when the two weren’t exchanging their own barbed words, the smaller wolf tried to stay as far apart as he could. Yet here he was, standing between Vizard and Hollow. His eyes were distant, and sad; Zeich didn’t know how to read the expression, and the feelings coming off of Haiiro were surprisingly muted, their bond kept shallow rather than sharing the full range of the spirit’s emotions. “He’s right, Master. I was watching him, and he didn’t do a thing. You can’t blame him for that. It wasn’t him.”[/I]
It wasn’t him.
Zeich shuddered as he felt those words in the depths of his soul. It wasn’t Tsukikage. Even Haiiro admitted it; Haiiro, who feared and hated the Inner Hollow. If he came to his hated enemy’s defense, then… It had to have been me. That was me. His breath came in short, shallow gasps. The Vizard clutched his head in his hands, doubling over as he tried to consider that. That was him. After all the times he had condemned Tsukikage’s bloodlust and desire for violence, Zeich too had proven to have the seed of hatred within him. It was his own anger, his own fury, his own choice.
It was his own fault.[/i]
And so here he was. Zeich stared into the distance again, his eyes focused on nothing. It was strange, being able to see within the depths of his soul; despite his eyes being cleared of Tsukikage’s price, he could peer in the distance and still see nothing. His physical blindness in the physical world was mirrored by his spiritual blindness in self-inspection. Though he was now aware of the truth of the matter, the Vizard had no recourse for his feelings, no solution to that which had burned within him. Never once had he thought that he possessed such anger; for so long, he had contained his feelings, sealed them away, and lived a steady and quiet calm.
That calm had never been perfect, of course; anger was quieted to irritation. Fear was muted, but present. Sorrow slipped past in small trickles, instead of a raging flood. Though compared to a regular person’s emotions, they were dull and faded, Zeich’s own feelings existed in some measurable amount. That calm had never contained it all, only suppressed it. Yet the Vizard had never realized what had been boiling beneath the surface, the sheer strength of the emotions that had been buried deep down. The hints had been there, had Zeich been willing to see them, but he had lived with that subdued emotional state for so long that he had simply been unable to do so.
The question now was this: what was he to do about it? Now aware of his emotional state, Zeich could not simply let it out. Doing so would lead to an explosive burst no better than the one he had unleashed on that Quincy. Yet it seemed that even his attempts at muting it were starting to come apart, with his self-control starting to fray under the pressure of those constantly straining emotions. Further discipline might allow Zeich to keep things under control a bit longer, but that was a temporary solution, and did nothing in the long run. And learning to temper his emotions would be impossible: without Polaris, who served as the filter for his emotional state before her destruction at Tsukikage’s hands, any attempts would leave Zeich washed away by the torrent of feeling.
“You look deep in thought, ‘Master’.”
Though Zeich managed to keep the surprise from his face, the plateau seemed to ripple, like a rush of wind sweeping through the trees below. Lost in introspection, the Vizard hadn’t even noticed Tsukikage’s approach, hadn’t detected the malice that seemed to flow off of the Inner Hollow constantly. A sideways glance and a narrowing of the eyes was all the acknowledgment he gave to Tsukikage as the shadowy wolf strode across the plateau, sticking to his hunched, almost quadrupedal stance for the moment. Even lower to the ground, the Hollow loomed over the seated Vizard, his long body seeming almost unnatural thanks to its half-humanoid build. Golden eyes seemed to gleam with a interest that made Zeich uncomfortable, but he smothered that quaver of uncertainty, kept his face neutral.
“What do you want, Tsukikage?”
The Hollow just chuckled, pacing back and forth behind his host in a slow, almost circling motion. Today, there was a smug satisfaction, as well as a sense of curiosity, an inquiry that went unspoken. Those ripples of feeling crossed the distance between the two of them, with Tsukikage passively reflecting himself onto the Inner World around him. The burned area where a portion of the plateau’s forest had been torn away seemed to draw Zeich’s eyes suddenly, as though the landscape was pulsing in tune with the Hollow’s presence.
“Oh, I simply came to see how you were doing.” Kind words made cruel by a mocking tone, yet that tinge of curiosity rippled outwards again. Maybe it wasn’t concern for Zeich’s well-being, but Tsukikage’s attention was fixated on something. He was here for a reason, with an aim in mind. “After all, it’s not often you get to enjoy the righteous so casually dismember their foe. And so violently too, really it’s a wonder you’ve passed yourself off as ‘just’ for so long now. Creaking bones and ripping flesh are hardly the stays of the right-minded.”
“So you intend to mock me more, even now?” Another ripple, and the air seemed heated. Zeich bit his lip, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Calm was quickly restored, the anger sealed away and buried. Somewhere in the distance, the Vizard felt a response from Haiiro through their bond, a sense of alarm and concern quickly followed by a hint of sorrow. Swallowing softly, Zeich pushed those feelings away as well, though their echo still haunted him. Haiiro was disappointed, no doubt, and Zeich couldn’t blame him; after all, the Vizard’s unstable emotional state and the lack of discipline in keeping them contained probably worried him. That disappointment hurt far more than the barbs that Tsukikage hurled at him so casually.
“Mockery? Oh no, ‘Master,’ I’m simply speaking the thoughts that are bouncing around in that confused head of yours.” The sneer in Tsukikage’s tone made Zeich flinch again. “And even that’s a bonus, really, a little treat to whet my appetite. No, I came to sink my teeth into the main course as I rub it into that little mutt’s face that all his platitudes about how good his ‘Master’ is and how I’m such a cruel and despicable being in comparison are all for naught. Where is that pathetic lapdog, anyway?”
“…He’s not here. He’s… gone away for a little while.”
“Oh, is that so?” Definitely smug, but that curiosity rang out as strongly as ever. Something intrigued Tsukikage. “So much for being your partner, then. Less a wolf and more like a terrified puppy, that’s all he is. You’d never see me running away at the first signs of temper.” The last was not a statement of affection, or even competition; though he sneered at Haiiro’s separation, Tsukikage envied the former spirit’s freedom. Trapped as he was, the Inner Hollow never left the cage of Zeich’s soul, bound to remain near his host as long as the two were connected. He was able to forcibly manifest himself from time to time, but never as more than a shadow, a whisper of the darkness within the Vizard.
“It is.”
Silence overtook the two, and Tsukikage paused in his pacing. A flash of irritation swept out from him, and curiosity became puzzlement, and frustration. Zeich wondered at the sudden turbulence of his Inner Hollow’s emotions, wondered why the shadowy wolf was echoing so many of his thoughts and moods into the bond between them. Normally the Hollow kept to himself, muted their spiritual bond, and only transmitted what he wished – his violent nature, and his mockery and malice. Something was on Tsukikage’s mind, Zeich was sure now. There was certainly more to this visit than a chance to tease Haiiro.
Finally, Tsukikage broke the silence. “Come with me.” His tone was no longer mocking or jeering, but serious. Even as Zeich turned to look at the Hollow, a pool of darkness formed at the wolf’s feet, a portal into another part of the Vizard’s Inner World. On the other side was the realm that belonged to Tsukikage, a vast darkness that covered the true nature of the Inner Hollow’s spirit, hid it in mysteries. The wolf simply turned as though he were talking away, yet as he did so, he faded from view, slipping into the void that led to his own Inner World. Zeich had no choice but to follow, not if he wanted to know what was going on.
Stepping into the darkness was very much like returning to his physical blindness, except for the pool of light that surrounded his feet. It stretched out but a few feet in each direction, illuminating the Vizard and enough space for him to take two or three steps before reaching the border of the light. Zeich knew that within the darkness, an entire city slept. Comprised of memories built from the many souls that Tsukikage had devoured and fused with in his time as a free Hollow, the city reflected the lives of countless individuals. It all lay hidden beneath the darkness, the nature of the shadowy wolf concealing all that he did not wish to reveal.
“I’m here. What do you want, Tsukikage?”
“Watch, and you’ll see.” The words came from the darkness, their direction indiscernible as the sound echoed. As Tsukikage spoke, however, the darkness seemed to grow ever so slightly brighter. Black turned to gray, and slowly the world around Zeich became visible. The Vizard’s eyes widened as the shadows slipped away, and he immediately recognized the world around him. It was the forest-surrounded plateau that he had been standing on only moments before. The difference was that everything was a shade of gray, as if all the color had been washed out of it.
“What the hell…?”
“It’s a projection, idiot.” This time Tsukikage manifested again, seeming to simply step out of thin air as he stood next to Zeich. “I have far more control over my half of your inner soul, and brought you here to show you what I wanted you to see. And speaking of things you need to see...” Raising one of his paws, Tsukikage gestured to a space to the side of them, and a flat square, almost like a movie screen, appeared in the air. The image reflected on it was familiar as well, given recent events. A woman suspended in the air as though crucified, all but the bare minimum of her body converted to the same gray that seemed to envelop Tsukikage’s Inner World, and Zeich himself standing in judgment before her.
Zeich set his jaw as the scene replayed itself before him, watching the same brutal actions that had brought him to his current contemplation. What was the point of visually replaying the incident, and doing so in such scenery? “Is this it? Did you simply wish to revel in my pain—”
“Are you blind?” Tsukikage’s snapping tone came like a slap to the face. “Or are you so self-centered that you think it’s about you and only you? Open your damn eyes and look around. I didn’t recreate that other world for the fun of it. Idiot.”
Narrowing his eyes, Zeich glanced around the area… and realized that something was off. He couldn’t place it, not in this shadowy, warped version of Haiiro’s Inner World, but something was off. The air felt strange—though that could be contributed to the nature of this world—but the way the leaves of the forest below seemed to shift in the wind was strange, almost stiff. There was a sense of tension that he couldn’t explain, yet somehow it felt almost… familiar. “...Take me down there, Tsukikage.”
Another gesture from Tsukikage had the world around them blur, and the projection placed the two of them within a large stand of trees. Stepping away from the Hollow, Zeich’s eyes roamed from tree to tree. It only took a moment to realize what was different, and that stiffness he had seen made sense as he watched leaves curl and crumble, drying and breaking apart as though swept up in a blazing fire. For a moment, the Vizard thought he could feel the heat racing through the area, a wave washing over everything and setting the trees around him to crackling in silence.
“This is...”
“Yes.” Tsukikage gestured, and the scene rewound itself again, back to the calm and tranquility that the scene had begun in. Yet even there, Zeich started to notice faint details and changes, the grass growing stiff and brittle in small patches, like sparks were being set among the forest. “I’ve been watching it for some time now. It comes and goes in sparks and sputters, but this was the first time I watched it explode into real heat. Until now, your Inner World would reflect it, but then it would simply heal, restore itself. It would come back again, leaking out from time to time, but you’d always contain it, control it, and smother it before it became a flame. But now?”
Justice. Anger. Vengeance. Restitution. Blood. Ruin. Victims. Suffer.
Rage.
“This… this was me after all, then.” Zeich said quietly, his eyes lowered as he considered the implications. If the heat of his anger was starting to reflect in his Inner World, it was getting very volatile indeed. What else was happening here, what other cracks in his calm were starting to show? If he couldn’t keep it together, then the Vizard was a danger to everyone around him. Anger and wrath, sorrow and fear, all of them were powerful forces that lay just beneath the surface. All under control… or so he thought. “I didn’t realize how bad it was getting. I thought I could contain it all. In the end, my self-control is far less than I thought...”
“And it’s all about you again, I see.” Tsukikage’s tone was dry as he waved his hand, dispersing the image and leaving the two of them in the darkness of the Hollow’s Inner World again. “I thought it’d be more amusing to prod at the fact that the differences between us seem to be less and less by the day, but you’re determined to make it your fault all by yourself, and that’s no fun. Oh, woe is you. Idiot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said: you’re an idiot who thinks that everything is about him.”
“But that’s exactly it – it is about me—”
“SHUT. UP.” Tsukikage’s irritation suddenly washed over Zeich. “Literally, shut up for three seconds, and stop thinking about it. Let’s go find your mutt, you’ll understand it better then.”
With an almost violent feeling of being shoved, Zeich found himself thrust out of Tsukikage’s Inner World, awakening fully in his apartment. The Vizard slowly pushed himself to his feet, stretching out muscles that were feeling stiff after a period of meditation. What had that been about? Tsukikage was being more vague than usual—normally, the Hollow was more than happy to rub whatever knowledge he had in his host’s face. It wasn’t just his desire to constantly bully and intimidate Haiiro, either; though Tsukikage had shown an intent to find the smaller spirit for such a reason, Zeich doubted the motive was so simple.
What are you planning, Tsukikage…? Zeich’s offhanded inquiry was met with silence, and the Vizard chewed on the situation a bit more. On one hand, he could follow Tsukikage’s “suggestion” and track down Haiiro; though he didn’t begrudge the Zanpaktou Spirit his privacy, at the same time Zeich was worried about his companion’s actions of late. But Tsukikage was also hinting at something, trying to push a point, and given the Hollow’s enjoyment in toying with his host and companion spirit, Zeich couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t a malicious intent to it. There were pieces of a puzzle here, and the Vizard couldn’t see where they came together.
He could still hear the screams of pain echoing through the street as the woman’s arms were pulled taut, the flesh straining under the sudden pressure from Zeich’s control. The limbs were outstretched, yet his concentration was only on the forearms, using them as a point of leverage to pull. At the same time, he held the Vandenreich’s body still, in opposition to the pull. Between the two, at the shoulder joints, the pressure would build up from the opposing forces, and the muscle, flesh, and bone would fight to hold together against the terrible pressure that were being exerted on them. Yet Zeich did not let up, did not pause for a moment in his actions. Justice. This was justice for a person who so casually took lives away, so casually destroyed their souls without a second thought. She’d live, but once he finished, the Quincy would never hold a bow again. Never.[/I]
Zeich stared into the distance, seated atop the plateau in his Inner World. For once, Haiiro was not with him; the wolf had departed without an explanation, only a promise to be back at a later point. Zeich had chosen not to pursue; there was something in the spirit’s tone that had suggested a need for isolation, and that same feeling came over the bond between them. That bond told the Vizard that his companion was out there somewhere, but he purposely did not draw upon it, did not attempt to trace its course to find Haiiro. For whatever reason, the wolf wanted to be alone, and Zeich could only respect that wish. Unfortunately, his mind could not let it go at that, and had already concluded the reason that the former Zanpaktou Spirit had left.
It was me...
Zeich stared at his hands, as though expecting to see blood coating them. Though he had not laid a hand on the Quincy, he still felt as though he had been the one to rip off her arms himself. In essence, he had. His Zanpaktou had converted her body, made it a part of it, and then Zeich had gone and used that control over his Release to tear the woman’s arms off. He could have been more efficient, more clean; erasing the ash that served as a connection between shoulder and arm would have been far quicker, and would have caused no unnecessary agony. Yet in that moment, he had been angry, so very angry. That Quincy hadn’t just killed people—even that alone was worth condemnation, but at least it would have been better than the reality. No, she had destroyed those souls, obliterated them from existence, keeping them from the cycle that maintained the worlds. So many lives, ruined so pointlessly. For no other sake than to draw out prey…
“Tell me, Tsukikage! What the hell did you do? How did you do that? Why?!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, boy.” The Hollow’s tone held a certain smugness to it, a hint of condescension painting his words. Tsukikage dared to talk down to him?
“You know exactly what I’m talking about! That cruelty, that bloodthirst…! How did you evoke them so clearly? How did you make me do that?”
That Cheshire Cat smile, those lupine jaws stretching into a crooked smirk. Golden eyes on a black backdrop dilated, and that grin seemed to overtake everything. For the first time since he had conquered Tsukikage, Zeich felt his control slipping. He felt his mental cage quivering, shaking under the force of the Hollow’s oppressive will. And yet Tsukikage did not break through the bars, did not even attempt to slip free. Instead the ashen wolf simply sat there, staring, smiling, his expression that of an elder watching a child throw a tantrum. The Hollow was savoring the moment, letting Zeich’s temper grow with each passing second.
Finally, though he responded. “And what, tell me, makes you think that I did that?”[/color] The words were slow, deliberate, intended to make Zeich think about their meaning.
“Because that’s not me. I would never do that. I’d never choose such violence—!”
“Master.” Haiiro’s voice suddenly cut through the heat that filled Zeich. The Vizard paused, glancing at his former Zanpaktou Spirit in confusion. Normally Haiiro avoided Tsukikage whenever he could, and when the two weren’t exchanging their own barbed words, the smaller wolf tried to stay as far apart as he could. Yet here he was, standing between Vizard and Hollow. His eyes were distant, and sad; Zeich didn’t know how to read the expression, and the feelings coming off of Haiiro were surprisingly muted, their bond kept shallow rather than sharing the full range of the spirit’s emotions. “He’s right, Master. I was watching him, and he didn’t do a thing. You can’t blame him for that. It wasn’t him.”[/I]
It wasn’t him.
Zeich shuddered as he felt those words in the depths of his soul. It wasn’t Tsukikage. Even Haiiro admitted it; Haiiro, who feared and hated the Inner Hollow. If he came to his hated enemy’s defense, then… It had to have been me. That was me. His breath came in short, shallow gasps. The Vizard clutched his head in his hands, doubling over as he tried to consider that. That was him. After all the times he had condemned Tsukikage’s bloodlust and desire for violence, Zeich too had proven to have the seed of hatred within him. It was his own anger, his own fury, his own choice.
It was his own fault.[/i]
And so here he was. Zeich stared into the distance again, his eyes focused on nothing. It was strange, being able to see within the depths of his soul; despite his eyes being cleared of Tsukikage’s price, he could peer in the distance and still see nothing. His physical blindness in the physical world was mirrored by his spiritual blindness in self-inspection. Though he was now aware of the truth of the matter, the Vizard had no recourse for his feelings, no solution to that which had burned within him. Never once had he thought that he possessed such anger; for so long, he had contained his feelings, sealed them away, and lived a steady and quiet calm.
That calm had never been perfect, of course; anger was quieted to irritation. Fear was muted, but present. Sorrow slipped past in small trickles, instead of a raging flood. Though compared to a regular person’s emotions, they were dull and faded, Zeich’s own feelings existed in some measurable amount. That calm had never contained it all, only suppressed it. Yet the Vizard had never realized what had been boiling beneath the surface, the sheer strength of the emotions that had been buried deep down. The hints had been there, had Zeich been willing to see them, but he had lived with that subdued emotional state for so long that he had simply been unable to do so.
The question now was this: what was he to do about it? Now aware of his emotional state, Zeich could not simply let it out. Doing so would lead to an explosive burst no better than the one he had unleashed on that Quincy. Yet it seemed that even his attempts at muting it were starting to come apart, with his self-control starting to fray under the pressure of those constantly straining emotions. Further discipline might allow Zeich to keep things under control a bit longer, but that was a temporary solution, and did nothing in the long run. And learning to temper his emotions would be impossible: without Polaris, who served as the filter for his emotional state before her destruction at Tsukikage’s hands, any attempts would leave Zeich washed away by the torrent of feeling.
“You look deep in thought, ‘Master’.”
Though Zeich managed to keep the surprise from his face, the plateau seemed to ripple, like a rush of wind sweeping through the trees below. Lost in introspection, the Vizard hadn’t even noticed Tsukikage’s approach, hadn’t detected the malice that seemed to flow off of the Inner Hollow constantly. A sideways glance and a narrowing of the eyes was all the acknowledgment he gave to Tsukikage as the shadowy wolf strode across the plateau, sticking to his hunched, almost quadrupedal stance for the moment. Even lower to the ground, the Hollow loomed over the seated Vizard, his long body seeming almost unnatural thanks to its half-humanoid build. Golden eyes seemed to gleam with a interest that made Zeich uncomfortable, but he smothered that quaver of uncertainty, kept his face neutral.
“What do you want, Tsukikage?”
The Hollow just chuckled, pacing back and forth behind his host in a slow, almost circling motion. Today, there was a smug satisfaction, as well as a sense of curiosity, an inquiry that went unspoken. Those ripples of feeling crossed the distance between the two of them, with Tsukikage passively reflecting himself onto the Inner World around him. The burned area where a portion of the plateau’s forest had been torn away seemed to draw Zeich’s eyes suddenly, as though the landscape was pulsing in tune with the Hollow’s presence.
“Oh, I simply came to see how you were doing.” Kind words made cruel by a mocking tone, yet that tinge of curiosity rippled outwards again. Maybe it wasn’t concern for Zeich’s well-being, but Tsukikage’s attention was fixated on something. He was here for a reason, with an aim in mind. “After all, it’s not often you get to enjoy the righteous so casually dismember their foe. And so violently too, really it’s a wonder you’ve passed yourself off as ‘just’ for so long now. Creaking bones and ripping flesh are hardly the stays of the right-minded.”
“So you intend to mock me more, even now?” Another ripple, and the air seemed heated. Zeich bit his lip, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Calm was quickly restored, the anger sealed away and buried. Somewhere in the distance, the Vizard felt a response from Haiiro through their bond, a sense of alarm and concern quickly followed by a hint of sorrow. Swallowing softly, Zeich pushed those feelings away as well, though their echo still haunted him. Haiiro was disappointed, no doubt, and Zeich couldn’t blame him; after all, the Vizard’s unstable emotional state and the lack of discipline in keeping them contained probably worried him. That disappointment hurt far more than the barbs that Tsukikage hurled at him so casually.
“Mockery? Oh no, ‘Master,’ I’m simply speaking the thoughts that are bouncing around in that confused head of yours.” The sneer in Tsukikage’s tone made Zeich flinch again. “And even that’s a bonus, really, a little treat to whet my appetite. No, I came to sink my teeth into the main course as I rub it into that little mutt’s face that all his platitudes about how good his ‘Master’ is and how I’m such a cruel and despicable being in comparison are all for naught. Where is that pathetic lapdog, anyway?”
“…He’s not here. He’s… gone away for a little while.”
“Oh, is that so?” Definitely smug, but that curiosity rang out as strongly as ever. Something intrigued Tsukikage. “So much for being your partner, then. Less a wolf and more like a terrified puppy, that’s all he is. You’d never see me running away at the first signs of temper.” The last was not a statement of affection, or even competition; though he sneered at Haiiro’s separation, Tsukikage envied the former spirit’s freedom. Trapped as he was, the Inner Hollow never left the cage of Zeich’s soul, bound to remain near his host as long as the two were connected. He was able to forcibly manifest himself from time to time, but never as more than a shadow, a whisper of the darkness within the Vizard.
“It is.”
Silence overtook the two, and Tsukikage paused in his pacing. A flash of irritation swept out from him, and curiosity became puzzlement, and frustration. Zeich wondered at the sudden turbulence of his Inner Hollow’s emotions, wondered why the shadowy wolf was echoing so many of his thoughts and moods into the bond between them. Normally the Hollow kept to himself, muted their spiritual bond, and only transmitted what he wished – his violent nature, and his mockery and malice. Something was on Tsukikage’s mind, Zeich was sure now. There was certainly more to this visit than a chance to tease Haiiro.
Finally, Tsukikage broke the silence. “Come with me.” His tone was no longer mocking or jeering, but serious. Even as Zeich turned to look at the Hollow, a pool of darkness formed at the wolf’s feet, a portal into another part of the Vizard’s Inner World. On the other side was the realm that belonged to Tsukikage, a vast darkness that covered the true nature of the Inner Hollow’s spirit, hid it in mysteries. The wolf simply turned as though he were talking away, yet as he did so, he faded from view, slipping into the void that led to his own Inner World. Zeich had no choice but to follow, not if he wanted to know what was going on.
Stepping into the darkness was very much like returning to his physical blindness, except for the pool of light that surrounded his feet. It stretched out but a few feet in each direction, illuminating the Vizard and enough space for him to take two or three steps before reaching the border of the light. Zeich knew that within the darkness, an entire city slept. Comprised of memories built from the many souls that Tsukikage had devoured and fused with in his time as a free Hollow, the city reflected the lives of countless individuals. It all lay hidden beneath the darkness, the nature of the shadowy wolf concealing all that he did not wish to reveal.
“I’m here. What do you want, Tsukikage?”
“Watch, and you’ll see.” The words came from the darkness, their direction indiscernible as the sound echoed. As Tsukikage spoke, however, the darkness seemed to grow ever so slightly brighter. Black turned to gray, and slowly the world around Zeich became visible. The Vizard’s eyes widened as the shadows slipped away, and he immediately recognized the world around him. It was the forest-surrounded plateau that he had been standing on only moments before. The difference was that everything was a shade of gray, as if all the color had been washed out of it.
“What the hell…?”
“It’s a projection, idiot.” This time Tsukikage manifested again, seeming to simply step out of thin air as he stood next to Zeich. “I have far more control over my half of your inner soul, and brought you here to show you what I wanted you to see. And speaking of things you need to see...” Raising one of his paws, Tsukikage gestured to a space to the side of them, and a flat square, almost like a movie screen, appeared in the air. The image reflected on it was familiar as well, given recent events. A woman suspended in the air as though crucified, all but the bare minimum of her body converted to the same gray that seemed to envelop Tsukikage’s Inner World, and Zeich himself standing in judgment before her.
Zeich set his jaw as the scene replayed itself before him, watching the same brutal actions that had brought him to his current contemplation. What was the point of visually replaying the incident, and doing so in such scenery? “Is this it? Did you simply wish to revel in my pain—”
“Are you blind?” Tsukikage’s snapping tone came like a slap to the face. “Or are you so self-centered that you think it’s about you and only you? Open your damn eyes and look around. I didn’t recreate that other world for the fun of it. Idiot.”
Narrowing his eyes, Zeich glanced around the area… and realized that something was off. He couldn’t place it, not in this shadowy, warped version of Haiiro’s Inner World, but something was off. The air felt strange—though that could be contributed to the nature of this world—but the way the leaves of the forest below seemed to shift in the wind was strange, almost stiff. There was a sense of tension that he couldn’t explain, yet somehow it felt almost… familiar. “...Take me down there, Tsukikage.”
Another gesture from Tsukikage had the world around them blur, and the projection placed the two of them within a large stand of trees. Stepping away from the Hollow, Zeich’s eyes roamed from tree to tree. It only took a moment to realize what was different, and that stiffness he had seen made sense as he watched leaves curl and crumble, drying and breaking apart as though swept up in a blazing fire. For a moment, the Vizard thought he could feel the heat racing through the area, a wave washing over everything and setting the trees around him to crackling in silence.
“This is...”
“Yes.” Tsukikage gestured, and the scene rewound itself again, back to the calm and tranquility that the scene had begun in. Yet even there, Zeich started to notice faint details and changes, the grass growing stiff and brittle in small patches, like sparks were being set among the forest. “I’ve been watching it for some time now. It comes and goes in sparks and sputters, but this was the first time I watched it explode into real heat. Until now, your Inner World would reflect it, but then it would simply heal, restore itself. It would come back again, leaking out from time to time, but you’d always contain it, control it, and smother it before it became a flame. But now?”
Justice. Anger. Vengeance. Restitution. Blood. Ruin. Victims. Suffer.
Rage.
“This… this was me after all, then.” Zeich said quietly, his eyes lowered as he considered the implications. If the heat of his anger was starting to reflect in his Inner World, it was getting very volatile indeed. What else was happening here, what other cracks in his calm were starting to show? If he couldn’t keep it together, then the Vizard was a danger to everyone around him. Anger and wrath, sorrow and fear, all of them were powerful forces that lay just beneath the surface. All under control… or so he thought. “I didn’t realize how bad it was getting. I thought I could contain it all. In the end, my self-control is far less than I thought...”
“And it’s all about you again, I see.” Tsukikage’s tone was dry as he waved his hand, dispersing the image and leaving the two of them in the darkness of the Hollow’s Inner World again. “I thought it’d be more amusing to prod at the fact that the differences between us seem to be less and less by the day, but you’re determined to make it your fault all by yourself, and that’s no fun. Oh, woe is you. Idiot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said: you’re an idiot who thinks that everything is about him.”
“But that’s exactly it – it is about me—”
“SHUT. UP.” Tsukikage’s irritation suddenly washed over Zeich. “Literally, shut up for three seconds, and stop thinking about it. Let’s go find your mutt, you’ll understand it better then.”
With an almost violent feeling of being shoved, Zeich found himself thrust out of Tsukikage’s Inner World, awakening fully in his apartment. The Vizard slowly pushed himself to his feet, stretching out muscles that were feeling stiff after a period of meditation. What had that been about? Tsukikage was being more vague than usual—normally, the Hollow was more than happy to rub whatever knowledge he had in his host’s face. It wasn’t just his desire to constantly bully and intimidate Haiiro, either; though Tsukikage had shown an intent to find the smaller spirit for such a reason, Zeich doubted the motive was so simple.
What are you planning, Tsukikage…? Zeich’s offhanded inquiry was met with silence, and the Vizard chewed on the situation a bit more. On one hand, he could follow Tsukikage’s “suggestion” and track down Haiiro; though he didn’t begrudge the Zanpaktou Spirit his privacy, at the same time Zeich was worried about his companion’s actions of late. But Tsukikage was also hinting at something, trying to push a point, and given the Hollow’s enjoyment in toying with his host and companion spirit, Zeich couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t a malicious intent to it. There were pieces of a puzzle here, and the Vizard couldn’t see where they came together.