Chapter 18: A Different Heart

[Wilfora]

Time: Unbeknownst

Place: Hueco Mundo – Turning Grounds

-4 years ago…continued—

“Hello grandfather…”

“No Stray I take it?” he asked as he flexed his hand then arm.

Shira shook, his right hand clenched shut. “Stray… You talk as if you didn’t just run into something. Stray…” Shira couldn’t find the words, and continued to stutter on, always returning to her name.

“Ran into something? Must have been that boulder that didn’t want to move.” He turned to look behind him, scratching his head.

“No!” Shira shouted at him. “you plowed into her!” He puffed up, the pride was beginning to get hidden under the rage as it steadily built up within him. “Right over her.” Shira’s other hand clenched tightly, veins turning black and grey.

“Really? Is she dead now?” He turned back towards Shira, and looked about for Stray.

“No!” Shira got up in his face, and then shoved him back. “No, you won’t get to see her hurt Rakkyon, you miserably mad savage!” Shira yelled as he used his grandfather’s first name in anger. Shira sped forward as if death dagger hollows were at his feed.

Shira’s hand opened and a small red tainted with black and grey was revealed.

Rakkyon stared at Shira in bitter awe, as he narrowed his eyes frustrated as to what it was.

The sphere began to grow smaller and smaller. Soon it was the size of a pearl, and was crammed with energy. Unrelated to its size, energy levels soared past the normal levels of an average arrancar.

“Cierro…” Rakkyon murmured, now recognizing what it was. The expression on his face changed to slight worry. He moved forward slowly, a couple steps at a time, trying to get close to Shira.

“No old man,” Shirra lifted his hand that didn’t have the pearl of black raw power. “You will pay for what you’ve done.” Shira curled his hand into a tight fist, then flared his fingers open. The bones around him quit circling and turned to point at Rakkyon. “Bone Spit,” he whispered.

The bones shifted so they were in front of Shira. They turned up their sharp ends so they were pointing at Rakkyon, then took off at him. That’s when they began to zigzag gaining speed, momentum and ground rapidly.

“Not so fast youngster,” the older voice said coming from behind Shira.

Shira stumbled forward and turned around, the pearl becoming less dense.

“You aught look behind you more often youn’in.”

Immediately after the words left Rakkyon, Shira sprung into the air, flipping over the deathly bones, as they soared under him. Shira landed half on his knees, one of his legs straight to the side at an angle to his body.

The sharp bones continued towards Rakkyon, who had been standing behind Shira. The bones passed through Rakkyon. Shiras took straight, as fear and rage swept over him. The bones came back and circled around him again.

“I’m disappointed Shira. You fell for the illusions again.” Again Rakkyon’s voice came from behind him. Shira turned around to find a cero inches from him. Shira tried to dodge to the left, but the cero was quick and followed the idea of fire on oil.

Shira was hit in the right side, a gaping hole where the cero had bitten way his flesh.

“There… Now you look more normal. All hollows have hollow holes. Now you have one as well,” Rakkyon said as the air rippled and melted away, revealing the hollow. “Why you and your sister never had one I’ll never understand.”

The healing process had begun, but to Shira’s surprise, the portion that had been taken from him did not return. Instead the blood quit seeping over his gray jeans, which were a sight of teal and grey blood now.

Shira felt the hole gingerly. It reminded Shira of Stray and the day he had… He pushed the thought away not wanting to dwell on it long. Then the broken form of Stray crossed his mind suddenly. Anger had then begun to well up into him again. The memory wouldn’t just go back down. Rage closed his senses off from the world. And now, everything made sense; memories and information lined up.

Stray never had a hollow hole. She had been different, secluded, shunned away from the others of their kind. Shira had become her friend, because he too was an outcast. Both had been adopted by Rakkyon, fought together, ate together, and trained together.

Only once did Stray go to see Rakkyon alone. They had always gone together. That was the night that Stray had returned sore and dragging her lower body behind her.

Shira had run to greet her. She was seeping blood through her abdomen. Cut clean through her was a hole. It had begun to heal already but Stray didn’t have very strong herio skin so the healing process could and would have taken hours. She could have died by that time.

And now, Shira, he knew who had did it and why. Grandfather… no, Shira lifted his head. Rakkyon had hurt her. Rakkyon… He rolled the name around in his head a moment, trying to get use to the way it felt. Not that it would matter. I’ll kill him before I get the chance to get use to his name!

“Illusions; is that how you caught her off guard too?” Shira turned his body to the side. {{“How you managed to hurt my sister, to change the difference that we had always shared?! Our uniqueness!”}} A black reiatsu folded over Shira, and then it was enveloped in a static outline of pure white.

“For once, you’ve got it right. I’m the one who’s taken the old you away. Grow up; become normal,” Rakkyon said turning away from Shira, and began to walk way.

“No, you’re not walking away. Not like the last time. I know who did it, and now it’s time to take back the words you hold Rakkyon!” Shira said calmly with much needed power behind his words.

Rakkyon hadn’t turned to look at Shira when he was talking to him. It was now that a cold hand gripped his shoulder tightly, almost crushing the hihio below his built up hierro skin. Rakkyon turned his head to look at the hand. It was connected to a wrist, which was connected to pure bone that ran a short distance to shoulder and collar bones and finally a face he recognized. Shira’s angered side, a mad raging skull.

The second form?! Now?! Rakkyon’s mind raced, anxiety over whelming his inner calm. Never had he been scared in his year. Yet now his inner self shook.

The black fringed with white energy pulsed around Shira’s body then snapped to it, taunt and thin as an envelope around him. The mask recessed and looked more like a human skull. The horns broke away from the top and tumbled through the air before hihio suddenly reached back, elongated and hooked into his shoulder. The front came down and pierced his chest, completing the circle of bone that was thickening because hierro was slowly coating it.

The portions of bone that were exposed to the dead air of Hueco Mundo, branched, rows of splines creating two separate rings of endless needles about the size of a few strands of hair. So delicate to look at, but deadly otherwise.

Shira’s right food stepped back, and braced him for what happened next. A cry of anguish and agony echoed through the sky. Fragile skeletal wings had now come to be. Thorns and hierro plating then began to form over the weaker joints and filled in some of the uneven gaps between the thin bones that made up the wings.

When that pain subsided, another gripped his body. From the base of his neck to Shira’s lower back, the spine ripped from his skin. The top of the spine had begun to separate, as the vertebrae each grew to the size of his upper arm. Two rows of these vertebrae began to settle into place, in the air.

Almost molten hierro ran through the original third of the spine then split, one to each of rows of vertebrae. The hierro snaked and filled the vertebrae. At the end, the hierro hardened and created a serrated bone. Both were pulled towards the body, the vertebrae slid, the sounds of clicking took place as they locked into place.

Hollow blood still ran down his back, the wound not quite fully healed. Inside the nearly-healed hierro skin, a new spine could be seen. Bones protruded out, as the skin healed over. A line of spines now ran down Shira’s back.

The echo of pain, gone. Spirit pressure, massive. Slowly, Shira opened his eyes, those bright clear blue eyes, showing calm anger. Magnificent he stood, the bone wings, and twin tails.

Shira tilted his head to the sky, and an extensive roar escaped him.

Around him, the world shook. The ground rocked violently, and threw sand into the air. The wind grabbed at it and it began to dance wickedly. Soon the whole area was billowing in sand storm of sorts. The canyon walls had cracked and partly crumbled as well, while the ones behind Rakkyon fell to the ground.

Rakkyon, on the other hand, was limp. His mind hurt, and his ears blared out and he could no longer hear the world around him. Rakkyon looked down at his hand, which he had been trying to flex; it hung limp at his side.

Rakkyon held his limp hand with his good one. There were only fragments, mostly dust of his inner bones left. He felt the same sensation go up his arm and felt along it with his good hand. There were fragments as well, but still more dust.

“Fiend!” Rakkyon hissed.

Through with messing around, Rakkyon stomped his right foot onto the ground; sparks danced across the sand wildly. Suddenly pillars surrounded Shira, as they had risen out of the ground at a rapid high speed. There were six of them, all of which were stationary. Rakkyon jumped and took a spot on the top of one. He looked down at Shira, to see what the monster was doing.

Shira was still, calm and not puzzled. There was nothing wrong to him. He glanced at the palm that, somehow, still had the cierro in it. Shira could already feel the effects of this massively small amount of reiatsu playing around within him. Only the energy inside him was four times the power of this small sphere of energy.

To Rakkyon, it looked like he was just staring at the cierro. Sure that Shira didn’t know what he was doing he held a hand to the sky.

“Lightning Eclipse,” the words came, and rang, echoing off the six pillars. The moon, and the closest stars then began to turn red, a blood shed red.

Shira hardly took notice of what was occurring above him. He concentrated on the ball of energy before him. Satisfied with the amount of energy he had transferred from inside him. The energy continued to grow through, just as Shira wanted. His wings snapped open, royal purple cartilage and dripping red blood was visible between the bones. Slowly at first, Shira rose off the ground, as his wings grew stronger.

Shortly Shira was halfway up the six pillars height. Rakkyon stared at his adopted son and sighed apathetically. He looked to the moon. It’s ready… he noted, the blood moon a vibrant crimson color. It’s surface danced with sparks and bolts of light.

He stared into the sphere of energy, past the murky surface of black, to look at the red and white energies below. To Shira, only one thing would solve the conflict; to stop this madness where it began. With him, he thought and closed his fist around the raw energy.

Rakkyon stood tall. “Come dance my libelings!” The surface of the moon rippled. In the sky no clouds were present. No rain to be felt here. Only the usual feel of storms mixed with glass and sand was present; and the glass came from what happened next.

To an observer, the area seemed to have falling stars, twinkling bits, falling from the moon. In total there were many. But each was pulled toward a certain area in the fall, coming together to form six little boxes with many tails that were sharp coming out of them. The closer they came to the pillars, the clearer the shapes were. They were boxes, jammed full of thousands of sparks that were lightning tails. The moon remained a deep crimson red, but continued to ripple on the surface.

The six pillars were the targets of these lightning stars. Each struck a different pillar. It bounced from the original pillar to the next. The bolts turned inwards, sharp and full of prongs and jagged edges.

Shira sensed a slight change in power around him. He cupped the sphere in both hands as his legs pulled up and wings folded around him. The tail wrapped around the delicate portion of the wing tips.

All six struck simultaneously.

Shira could feel the pressure envelope him, push in and try to crush him. Shira opened his eyes and stared at the massive raw energy sphere that was growing bigger. It touched his hands but did not scar pain into them. His exposed torso experienced the same.

Rakkyon then pointed to the moon. The surface unleashed the rest of the bolts, and they hit the different pillars. The air, coated with sand, began to sparkle. Glass had come to be, due to the lightning that heated the air and melted the sand particles together to form these small glitters of beauty.

The moon then began to split into two almost. Not multiplying but disappearing. The inside was the first to go, and soon only two crescents were left. Almost as though a cat’s eye was staring down at him who called the beast. They too faded rapidly after the rest, the dark sky taking its prominent reign over the sky once more.

The wind picked up, the glass sand danced. It swirled around the pillars and moved towards Shira in the form of a glittering typhoon of shards. Bolts shot at Shira again as he was hanging, suspended in the middle of the pillars. Shira was pushed closer to himself, the pressure growing. Suddenly his wings seared with pain.

He hasn’t screamed… more energy! Give… Rakkyon hesitated then continued, …give him more pain! Rakkyon flared his hand. Energy sparks and bolts struck at Shira again, more than there was the first time. There was no reaction from him. Again and again Rakkyon sent energy at Shira and still received little to no reaction from him.

Rakkyon roared in frustration.

Shira, on the other hand, was feeling what was being dished out. He just didn’t feel like letting it affect him. In his hands the sphere had grown larger yet. Now, almost the entire empty cavity that his wings had him in was filled with it. Outside, he felt things change. And he was right. Things were changing in the world around him.

A grin spread across Rakkyon’s face, as he looked to the place where the moon had once been. Around it, a faded ring of blood. The actual moon was black, gone, and the red ring flared about the black moon fully and was perfectly outlines by it.

The red flames rippled across the sky, originating from the blood tinted circle; a bleeding sky.

Rakkyon uttered one work. “Golpear.”

The winds stopped their dance; the glass shards dropped to the soft floor below. No sand stirred from the ground; no more lightning rained down from the sky, or winds batter against the pillars or the two figures that stood or hovered. Everything was still.

Shira was ready. He didn’t know what exactly was coming at him, but curled within his tight ball he decided it was now or never. He began to move slowly to unfold himself.

Rakkyon turned his eyes dramatically toward the moon, lifting his hands and arms as he did so. This was the movement; the first since the winds had died. The second, was now.

The moon pulsed once, the flares traveled with it. The moon flashed a bloody milk white light. From it, a bold covered in murky red transcended upon the clearing. Its target the small figure in the middle of the pillars.

Rakkyon pitied the boy. He’d have only lived a short life. Enough is enough, die, he thought.

A bright white flash occupied the area, the winds raged, blowing from the point of impact.

Rakkyon was sent tumbling off the pillar, and landed in the sand below with a rather dull thud. Infront of him, when he opened his eyes, just inches off the ground, two skeletal feet. Above that was a sand cloud, shrouding the rest of Shira, if he was even alive.

Rakkyon’s mind raced. It… it can’t be! He scrambled back and then rose to a kneeling position. He should be dead!

Sure enough, Rakkyon had been right. Shira should have been dead. He should have been laying on the ground, crumbling to bits in the open air of the ruins. Yet Shira stood before him, his arms stretched towards the sky. He looked as to where Shira’s hands were. His eyes went wide, fear washing over him.

Shira was calm, in control of himself. Yes the plunging lightning from earlier had startled him, and cut some of the energy of his sphere away. But it had been good, because he was still standing here, watching the trembling figure of his past grandfather kneeled before him. Other than that, it hadn’t affected him much. There were light singes on the soft parts of the wings but he ignored the small pain as it healed slowly.

Shira pushed on the calm rage of revenge pulsing through him. He knew, somehow, what he was doing.

Rakkyon had scrambled to his feet, running, trying to get away from Shira as he aimlessly ran through the maze of rock faces that made up the valley. Twists and turns later, he stumbled and turned to look back. He caught sight of Shira.

Shira’s wings beat steadily as he followed Rakkyon by air. He no longer felt sorry or pride for this man. Or really, it is now that your name makes sense. Rakkyon, the Imaginary Rat.

“Ethereal…” The massive cero of red and black energy that had been resting on Shira’s chest in his hands, leaped away and hovered in front of him. Five orbs, small in size, popped from the massive orb. A complex rhythm began as they circulated almost randomly and pulsed lightly.

Seconds of this passed. Movement ended as if on qué, and the spheres stood still, attentive to their position. This rods of energy protruded from each sphere. All five met in the middle sphere, the only one that hadn’t moved like the others.

The target was located; sights of him in range. Shira took a half step back, and quietly snapped his fingers.

“…Cero” the word rolled off his tongue easily. There was no anger, only calm in the ring that echoed over the rock faces below. The wind blew, carrying the words to Rakkyon.

Rakkyon could no longer run. He was at a dead end, no cross roads to take, even follow. A rat trapped in a maze until the end. He turned around slowly, feeling the monstrosity of reiatsu coming at him. Nothing, nothing could be done. He couldn’t even help himself in the end.

The red black cero, already on its way, pulsed once, growing. Then seeing its final destination, sped on, matching the sonido. The walls surrounding Rakkyon burst and exploded before the cero reached him.

Rocks rained down on the area, the beautiful display of a blood milky light over, as Shira glided gracefully towards what was left of the surface the cero had hit. Only a few things remained intact; the sand, a single rock face that hadn’t taken the wrath of the cero and a body that was rapidly deteriorating from the torso chest area, out.

The body belonged to the passing Rakkyon. His lips quivered, as he dryly coughed blood from them. With his good hand, that was still there, Rakkyon beckoned Shira over.

Shira hesitated a split second, before realizing that there was no harm in hearing the old man’s last words. Shira floated over and allowed his wings to give up flight, so he stood on the ground. What he heard surprised him greatly.

“Shira, you are so much better than me. Be a good king okay?” He coughed. “You are the new King of Hueco Mundo now, after all.” And with that Rakkyon, the old King, ceased to exist, as the last of him drifted into the air and became the night. Just like they would all in the end.