Where's Your Cape? [closed]

It was hard at first, to hold it all within his mind. He'd never attempted anything like this before, to not only perceive the full scope of this terrible clash of tremendous powers but then to maintain each presence at the same time in the back of his mind. He couldn't do it, not totally but he could do enough for his purpose. That was the first challenge, the be able to actually carry out to task of perception, the second was bearing the weight of what he saw.

Misery. Suffering. Death. More than just noting the quiet extinguishing of light he actually felt it, their final moments of anguish before the end, Hollow, Shinigami and innocents all. The invasion was complete chaos and Jian had to make peace with the fact that even with all the power he had now he couldn't save them all. He acknowledged it, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try like fucking hell.

The Hollows had been twisted though Jian suspected that, for nearly all of them, it had taken little more than a nudge to drive them here. But, there were others, few and scattered, to whom this stood against their nature. Jian wouldn't spend the effort to save them, he wouldn't pick them over the lives of the innocent of the Rukongai whom they hunted, he wouldn't pick them over the few scattered defenders who rose up to oppose them. There was...an exception.

Her.

But she was safe now, she'd encountered a Shinigami but before Jian needed to step in the encounter fizzled away and she was...herself again. Cheshire.

He didn't linger a moment longer than he needed. In his mind it was like a hundred monitors going at once, most tuned to the channel of those closest and most important to him. The rest flickered rapidly searching for the souls who cried out in their last moments to be saved, those in need of his power and when found he saved them.

A flickering effort of will, he sent Hogoshi forth and protected them with its providence. A single moment to turn the tide, not enough to steal from them their struggle but enough to give them their fair chance.

Of course, that wasn't all. Those were the times where a simple shield could turn the tide, in the other moments his Hado would rain from the veritable heavens. All the while he kept his eye on a conflict which raged, the important one that mattered more than any of the combined efforts of the assembled that were outside of it.

As time passed the act of observing the conflict grew easier. He had paused to catch his breath, a worried glance spared to the conflict. It was then he felt another presence spring forth. Familiar yet changed in a way that was also familiar. Like him. Like what Shun had done to him.

He descended from the sky, dropped fast towards her with a mind filled with curiosity and anger. With surprise, he noted that as he approached her she approached him. He touched ground and continued his efforts to deploy shields out in the distance but here the fighting had quieted, he allowed himself a moment of reprieve knowing what was to come later.

She was beautiful, but then he'd always thought that. "You looked better with red hair, Evelynn," he said as he pulled his power back from her, kept its weight contained. She looked nothing like their last encounter, for reasons that entirely escaped him now but he knew her presence well enough to know it was her.

It took only a moment for his mind flicker to thoughts of Seryu and from there to the Vaizards. Takua had told him what Evelynn had done, all the lives thrown into chaos. Had she created Nagisa's, who nearly killed him and whose battle with him had blown up a chunk of the city? Had she created Ayato's, whose existence had forced him to fake his own death? How many others with monsters lurking within them existed because of her, veritable time bombs forced into hiding or face becoming a pariah? How much of the suffering of his last year had been caused by her?

Had been caused by Obsession?

Anger never came. When he'd first learned he felt betrayed considering how they had last parted but those feelings simply didn't exist anymore, and he knew it wasn’t just because he was a sucker for a pretty face either. He'd seen things differently back then, clear cut black and white and now there was room, not much but it existed. Perhaps his anger would return if he found answers from her but he accepted that people could change.

All the same, his hand never left the hilt of his blade.

"What happened to you? What are you doing here in the Rukongai when all of this is going on?" Starting with the very basic though he could admit a 'good to see you' would have been more polite.

840/840

Distracted. As it approached, the soul tugged in other directions, as if all of the people in the world demanded its attention. On some levels, it was impressive to see just how far his reach could go, but at the same time it was frightening. Deadly, dangerous. He was, after all, the kind to think in black and white. She is -- was -- an Arrancar. He was not. She was evil, he was not. That’s what they had talked about before. It was a memory she could smile at, if only because it was fairly bright in comparison to most of her other memories.

As she slowed to a stop and craned her head up to watch him fall, she couldn’t help but let her hand fall to the hilt at her side. The empty blade. Just a piece of metal she kept on the off chance Samyaza might return. Hell, Eve didn’t even know how to use a sword. It was all for show. But her grip was lax and stance easy going. It was more of a formality until she knew which side he was on.

Apparently, he had the same idea, she noted as she glanced down to his hand as well.

“If you ask nicely, I’ll change how I look for you,” she said with a cutesy smile. All jokes, nothing serious.

She stood before him as a ying to the yang. Calm, uncaring, perhaps even a little dead inside. She didn’t even flinch at a distant rumble that surely marked the death of at least a few people. She made no reaction when a burst of that broken energy flared out. None of it even seemed to make her radar as she smiled to the boy before her.

But him? He was tense. Distracted. Unamused. All seriousness in the face of this terrible disaster going on around them. Chances were he only stopped before her simply out of curiosity. His focus faded in and out slowly, spiritual pressure coiled inward, but not completely. Whatever was going on in the back of his mind was certainly important.

“Should I call my lawyer before I answer any of those questions?” Eve chuckled. “I feel like I should be asking you the same thing, Human. Shouldn’t you be out protecting your people, or something?”

Her eyes slowly shifted over his shoulder, as if she could see the Seireitei behind him.

“Maybe new allies? I’m not here to judge.” The thought was tagged on quickly. “Or are the waffles here that much better than on earth?”

Maybe it wasn’t for the best that she was dodging his questions. Maybe it would have been smarter to be a bit more serious with someone who clearly looked like he was pressed for time. Maybe’s piled up over and over, none of them even given a second thought by the nonchalant Vaizard.

“But if you’re asking if I have anything to do with that,” she continued as she flicked her fingers in the general direction of the madness. “I’m sorry to say I don’t even have the slightest clue as to what’s going on. I’ve been out of commission for a couple months. Normally, I’d joke and say getting kidnapped, almost executed, and then having my soul played with was just a standard weekend for me, but I’m a little annoyed at a certain someone.”

Shun, of course. It was his fault any of this happened. It was a double edged blade. On one hand, it was because of him that she made it to the Garden quicker and thus fixed her soul quicker. But on the other hand, he had tortured, humiliated, and essentially lead to the destruction of who she was. Robert was killed, she was sure. All of her connections, severed just like that. All because he chose it.

Eve’s expression soured noticeably as the thoughts rolled through her mind. Tapping her fingers on the hilt of her blade, she brought her attention back to Jian.

“Anyways,” she huffed, trying her best to clear the bad mood that was growing inside of her. “If you want actual answers to your question, I’m going to be a little greedy and ask for your full attention. It’s a long story and I really don’t want to tell it twice. If you’re not so inclined, maybe you can tell me why you’re out here?”

[ 731 | 1,161 ]

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips. "You're pretty enough as you are.”. It was a little sad when he realized that he was weighing a decision of killing her in the same breath he could toss out that corny flirtatious line.

He studied her as quick as he could and all he could see was that she suffering and it was one that seemed all too familiar but he wasn’t sure, was he projecting? She didn't seem to feel it, muted as if she was hiding it all away, the same way he had. Whatever happened to her, he didn’t feel it was welcome, how could anyone readily embrace such a change? No he was certain, she’d had about as much time as he’d had. He gave up trying to read her, not willing to trust his judgement. He’d take simply what she gave him.

"Human? Did you forget my name already?" he sounded hurt but it was playful. It was, after all, a compliment wasn't it? He couldn't be sure how she intended it, but it felt good to be called it after everything that had happened to him. "I am here for allies, in a sense. Enemy of my enemy and all that. The people here might not live on Earth, but they are as innocent and your...former? King is a threat to us all." Jian turned from her abruptly, swept a hand in a decisive short motion and confirmed what he was watching in his minds eye. Another crisis averted, he supposed. He turned his attention back to her. It'd taken him a moment to catch that she'd just told a joke. He laughed once, brief but sincere. "I haven't had a chance to try them actually, maybe we should when all of this is settled? You can pay this time." He showed his teeth in the boyish little grin that appeared, but only for a second.

He shook his head as she went on. "I wasn't asking about that, I know you're not involved, and I'm sorry to hear that." It had never crossed his mind, even for a moment, that she'd been responsible for this. He wondered briefly why that might be. Kidnapped, almost executed, she had her very soul twisted on her. He exhaled sharply, did she catch the indignation? Did she see the anger? He put it away quickly, now wasn't the time. Who else could it have been? Evelynn was strong and that alone narrowed the field quite a bit. Fate was funny like that.

"I can't promise you my full attention," he said distantly but not so there wasn’t a bit of regret there. He caught himself and he turned to her, eyes focusing intently on hers, it was a sincere shift. "But I promise I'll pay enough." He smiled reassuringly. "I think we could both use someone to share with, don’t you? Would you mind walking with me for a little while? And while you share your story, if you don't mind, can you tell me why you were helping to create vaizards, and which ones you're responsible for?" His tone was utterly casual as if it wasn't a topic he frequently considered hunting her down over in the past. Maybe it was enough to spook her, he wondered if he would chase her if she ran. His hand had long since left the hilt of his blade.

573/1413

The little joke about paying got her. Something so silly and mundane as paying for something seemed outlandish in a world with monsters and supernatural powers. How often do you see Superman footing the bill for dinner? Batman filling up his car with gas? Things like that just faded into obscurity. But even here, amidst all of the chaos, that tiny slice of reality brought the both of them together.

That was probably the first time she had truly laughed in months. It felt good, like losing a few pounds.

“I guess I missed you a bit, Jian,” she mumbled with a smile, purposely accenting his name to play off the little joke they had going on. “We certainly have a great sense of humor. Maybe we should tour?”

How funny was it that despite her being literally an entirely different being she still had the same, dry sense of humor. That sarcastic wit that carried her through all of her insecurities and faults. Of course, that little veil was much easier to peek through now. She didn’t have the comfort of believing her own lies anymore, so knowing that she was running away made it hard to pretend otherwise.

She shook away the thoughts in favor of falling in line beside Jian. He lead the way, walking at a comfortable pace as his eyes flicked about. What could he see with those superhero eyes, Eve wondered. Could he hear the suffering? Sense those about to die? She could sympathize in a way. Her new sight let her see those things. Torture, murder, fear, panic, death, chaos, emptiness, sorrow. All of it. So blindingly obvious despite not being right in front of her. It made it hard to stay light hearted.

“If you ever run across a guy who goes by the name Shun, kill him or run as fast as possible,” Eve started with surprising bluntness. She didn’t really address his comments or flinch at the Vaizard bomb, though she did refuse to look at him now. “Really, anyone with a Minamoto plastered on their birth certificate should die on sight. He stalked me for a year before beating me, capturing me, and then trying to publically execute me all for the sake of killing my boyfriend.”

The words fell out of her mouth dry and calloused. Pain and anger danced behind her tongue, but never slipped out enough to really color the words either way. She was torn on how she felt. Did she hate his guts? Fear him? Worship him? In a lot of ways, it had been him who had set her free. But at the cost of her suffering, of course. It was a strange situation that she just defaulted to anger with.

“And when I did manage to get away some guy…” His name was on the tip of her tongue, but it wouldn’t come out. As if she had forgotten it entirely. “Erm… Whatever he went by. Decided to play legos with my soul and turn me into a Vaizard. Some sort of irony in there, I’m sure.”

That got a small smile out of her.

“He thought it would be a good way to make me feel bad for everything I’ve done, I guess,” she continued, voice relaxing slowly. “But, I like where I am. Having the complete and whole picture laid out in front of me. Having the insight I never could have. Feeling whole for the first time in my life. Sure it took some getting used to, but in the end?”

She paused just long enough to look over at her friend and smile softly.

“I couldn’t be happier.”

The words hung for a while before the sound of a Hollow’s roar drug her attention back to the real world. The glazed over look in her eyes faded and, with a small exhale, started to wrap up her little story.

“So if you want to know why I was making Vaizards, it was because my king ordered it,” she said simply, not bothered at all by the words. “Considering I was his right hand man, I couldn’t exactly turn him down. Nowadays?” She paused just to hum over her thoughts. “Will I continue to make Vaizards? Only if asked. I truly believe that it’s nothing but good, but I won’t force it on anyone.”

Her eyes drifted back to him, drinking in his reaction for just a short period of time before she gave him the friendliest smile.

“Hopefully, that doesn’t offend you too much?”

[ 756 | 1,917 ]

Jian brightened, even laughed with her little cute mumble with which she confessed that she had remembered him after all. This was what he'd needed during his brief respite, just a moment of peace among all the chaos, something else to settle his mind on as he recovered his spirit. The bulk of his focus still sat outside of visible space, obvious in the way his eyes stared off into the distance between her words, clear in the way his spiritual presence flickered as he directed his will this way and that to preserve what he could as they walked together.

"Unfortunately, I've had the pleasure of his acquaintance as well. He's the one who er, took the stab, at creating what I am today. I haven't quite settled on how I plan to respond to our next meeting." He was content to allow her to pass off on the Vaizard comment for now, he'd press her soon if she brushed it off entirely. He listened to the rest of her encounter with Shun. She was an Arrancar and one who'd created literal monsters in the souls of people, how had what she done to them any less terrible than what Shun had done to him? How was it not worse? Rationally, he knew better, and yet he still couldn't help but be disgusted by the account which he couldn't help but believe. He did his best not to show it on his face, at the very least.

The next bit was a bit strange, and it stuck with him for a moment before he filed it away to the back of his mind. How had she forgotten the name of someone so important? Someone capable of altering a soul so fundamentally? A chill ran up his spine, Jian did his best to shrug it off. "Jokes on them then?" he offered. He was glad she found some measure of peace, but he wasn't sure how well deserved it was. Who existed still in turmoil and torment because of what she'd done?

He smiled back at her, helpless to do anything but that seeing the look of genuine happiness. "I'm happy for you, it appears we've both found some measure of peace in our respective transformations." Jian stretched out, a few sounds of cracking as the Hollow roar seemed to snap her out of her moment of reflection. Another battle, another desperate struggle to cling to life but one which they were almost entirely removed from. The one’s fighting would persevere, he determined. He'd make sure of it.

Jian laughed at her simple explanations, not cruelly but with some genuine mirth. "You could have stopped being the king's right hand," he replied quite simply. "I don't understand why when people decide to surrender their will to someone else that they feel no longer responsible for what that someone decides to do with it. It's the same with the Shinigami. Take Takua, he decided he didn't like what was being done so he left, in quite grand fashion I heard. You could have done the same." He shrugged helplessly. "But honestly? I don't think it's the same situation. I know you're strong enough of a person, if you didn't want the order you would have refused it. You did it for your own sake as much as it was for the orders your King gave you, am I right? That's why you have no guilt for it, you believe it was the right thing to do."

He shook his head at her smile, glancing away as one matching hers spread across his face. Bold of her. "Does it offend me?" He scratched his chin. "I think it's misguided to believe that everyone is better with an inner demon inside them. Perhaps in your case, but then how would you know the difference? I can't imagine you'd have been worse off as a human, can't you trace almost all of your hardships to the Hollow nature inside you? I say that because I've yet to meet an Arrancar who is more balanced or at peace because of their nature. Isn't your own present peace and clarity tied to when you gained that living active Shinigami presence inside your soul?" He shrugged again.

"I don't know, really I don't, but I am content to let you find your own answer to that question, Evelynn, and I hope you do."

He walked in silence for a moment. "You never did answer my first question, though, why here? In the middle of all this chaos, surely you'd be safer on Earth? I can't imagine the Shinigami will pardon you on account of your mysterious transformation if they wanted to execute you for what you’d done."

790/2203

He was right. She could have just not listened to Erasmus. After all, the vast majority of her life had been as a wanderer who refused to be tied down by the politics of Las Noches. So what changed? She frowned as she thought it over. Something about the way he spoke was inspirational. Erasmus was a great leader in her eyes, even if she didn’t understand the motives behind his actions. Something about the way he guided her with such confidence was more than enough for her to swear her life away.

The thought alone felt weird in her mind, though she hardly questioned it. Even still, she didn’t really want to push the matter.

“The past is the past. We’ve all done a few bad things, haven’t we?” Her eyes flicked over to him before moving back forward. Nothing judgmental, nothing condescending. Just a reassuring nod in his direction. “All we can do is learn from them and keep moving forward.”

But just what was she still doing here? Truth be told, before she was cowering. Hiding away in a place where she felt safe while she grew accustomed to a new body and skills. Now she had no excuse to still be here other than feeling lost and alone. Should could rip open a garganta, surely, and just leave this all behind. So why didn’t she? Why had she been moving towards the source of her fears?

Wish stirred, scoffing softly at her thoughts as he listened in on the conversation. Prying his way into the back corners of her mind and encouraging the thoughts of just giving up. Heading home. It was easier that way -- she had no reason to stay. No reason to fight.

“Atonement.” She finally said after a long pause, voice low and unsure. “You’re right that what I did in the past was the wrong way of going about things and, because of that, I’ve lost a part of me.”

Samyaza. As much as she hated the little demon, she was incomplete without her. Just a half heart wearing Vaizard skin.

“I want to help those I’ve hurt and help them make an educated decision about what they want,” she continued, eyes forward and distant. “And, if they so choose, help them purify what I’ve done to their souls. I know most are far beyond my help, but some are out there, still struggling with what I forced on them.”

Her steps slowed unconsciously, letting Jian trail in front of her just a hair.

What was this feeling? Cold and consuming. It pulled her lips down and tugged her eyes away from the man beside her. Regret, perhaps. It had been a long time since she felt that. Was it evn real? Maybe she was just pretending in hopes of putting on a good show for her inner visitor. What was the line between reality and fake with her?

Did she even know anymore?

“I guess I was hoping this madness would be the perfect way into the Seireitei to find the people I want to help, but…” Her voice trailed again.

That was a feeling she knew all too well. The cold shiver, the way her voice just cut. Cold sweats, heart rate up. All she needed was a flash of his face in her mind to feel that anxiety grip her and shake her violently. Shun was there, of course. The final boss she didn’t feel ready to confront.

“I dunno,” she finally sighed, forcing out a chuckle as she looked to Jian. “I’m probably not making a lot of sense. You’re just trying to save people’s lives and here I am doing the ‘poor me’ act.”

[ 619 | 2,536 ]

"We don't forget the past, but we shouldn't let it be some kind of shackle either. We always have the power to be better, to move beyond the person we once were." It would be too easy to let himself off the hook for his mistakes, it wasn't right. Somewhere between letting himself be free, and not being forced to live and die on each one was ideal, the path to improvement.

"Atonement?" he repeated, tasting the word briefly with a curious look. He directed it away from her when he saw how unsure she was as if her voice didn't do a good enough job. Did she even know what it meant for her to atone? She was lost, alone, facing a change in her nature she couldn't even begin to fathom. He knew, because even now they were close to the same. Jian closed his eyes briefly, slowed as she did, stopping after a moment in front of her. He exhaled slowly. He'd come a long way in three days, but considering how much there was left to walk, they were almost one in the same.

Admirably misguided, all the desire to help and no idea how to direct it. He didn't want this right now, to be reminded, to see it all reflected by another back at him. She could make amends if someone gave her the chance to. Would the Shinigami? No, not after what she was, what they'd done, not in a million years...but part of her wanted to believe otherwise didn't it? Why else had she gone so far with him. He felt uneasy.

He turned to face her as her voice trailed away, as he saw the cold shudder run through her, the sweat. He could feel the tension running along the surface of her soul and it was impossible for him to pretend he hadn't seen the source, Shun. Jian sucked in a short breath as she forced a little laugh. He wished she was right, that it didn't make sense.

He took a step towards her, rested a hand softly on his shoulder hoping whatever calm he projected on the surface might be clear to her. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Three days ago I was right where you are now. Changed...into something I still don't fully understand. I wanted to help people, I wanted to be here today doing this and I found a way, I found my path."

"You will too Evelynn, in time, I promise." His hand fell away from her shoulder flashed a brief sincere smile before turning back towards the Seireitei.

"Until then, don't sweat it, you'll help in your own way. You just need time to figure out what's happening to you, how you want to go about it." He spared one more glance back and added, "When all this is done, if you really want to try to make amends, find me in Karakura. You don’t need to worry about them, about him, I promise. Maybe we can figure some of this out together."

513/2716

There was a brief moment in which they both just looked at each other. A split second that lasted far longer than it should’ve. In that moment, both of them realized they were talking to mirrors. Sharing the same story with it’s own little twist. It was a far cry from their first conversation and how adamantly he defended his position. Even if he hardly said it, they both knew it.

They were both walking broken roads.

“You make it sound like you’re about to leave,” she said with a dry chuckle. Slowly, she stepped back towards him. “You’re not honestly going there, are you? What about the people who need you here?”

Quiet. Pleading. The softest of ‘don’t leave me’’s. It wasn’t a demand, but a gentle pull beckon for him to consider otherwise. In a lot of ways, she cared about him, so to see him run off to his doom…

Robert’s smile flashed across her mind’s eye for a moment, forcing her to take a half step back. Her eyes drifted away from him. It wasn’t her place.

“I’m going to kill him for what he’s done,” she blurted, eyes distracted by something in the distance. “I know you don’t really…”

Really what? Agree? It was murder. Murder was bad. That’s how Jian saw things, even in this sort of a situation. Eve didn’t finish her sentence. She just shook her head and finally looked at him. Softly prying away that outer layer in hopes of finding what he truly felt. A softly little caress of her new powers letting her reach further than words could.

“He can’t keep doing what he’s doing.” The words fell out more as a plea to get Jian to stay and listen a while longer, though the truth behind them came out easily. “He’s only going to get stronger and cause more problems. We can’t let him go unchecked.”

Silence.

Jian thinking about the words, surely battling his inner demons and trying to reconcile the thought of taking someone’s life. Evelynn worried that with just a few words se had shattered one of the few bridges she had left.

“So…” Quietly, carefully, she looked at him. “You don’t have to do anything, but I thought I would let you know. I don’t really care what you do with that knowledge I just… Since we’re in the same boat, I thought you’d want to know.”

[ 403 | 2,939 ]

Jian could feel it in her aura, the hesitation, perhaps as far as fear as she realized that he was going. It stopped him, unexpectedly as she stepped towards him.

She was right, of course she was. He was needed here, people needed him, he could feel them everywhere around him, countless lives that he could save. Lives that in his absence would be lost. He could feel the plea delivered wordlessly and he couldn't claim that it wasn't appealing. There was a justice of a sort in the remain, Hogoshi made no effort to conceal his desire either, but he couldn't.

There was something greater at stake here, something with consequences further reaching than the war itself, the blood, the life and death that raged around them. He could feel it, like electricity passing along his skin, something was in the air today and it felt like not even destiny had decided which way it would go. Jian knew it might not matter whether or not he involved himself, but could he live knowing that whatever came he simply allowed it to pass without trying?

He flashed a soft smile to try to comfort her but she turned away from him. He tried to find something to say, but she interjected first. "Huhn?" was all he managed. It took him a moment to find the context, Shun. She meant to kill him? He straightened up and turned from her now, letting out a long sigh that she seemed to misunderstand.

"I don't what...?" Her comment stuck and gave him a moment of hesitation. Did he really come off so weak willed? Did people not know what he’d do for his beliefs? He forced a smile across his lips. "You think I don't feel the same way?" A short forced laugh escaped. "If I thought Shun dying today was the best thing, I'd do it right now. Not for my anger, or my ego, or my pride, but because if I believed it would be a better world without him then it’d be done." He placed a hand over his chest and felt the sting that radiated from scar tissue that refused to heal. "In a heartbeat."

His hands dropped to his side, clenched so tight they started to hurt. After a moment he relaxed them, let the tension roll off his body, the air had since grown thick. It relaxed as he turned to her and felt the calm feeling of resolution fill him. Every night, every spare moment, brief as they'd been since his last encounter with the man had allowed him to realize how he truly felt. "Today he has his part to play, a world to save, in fact. When all this is over, when I get the chance, I'll draw the line for him and the moment that scale tips from good, and I'm all but certain it will, I assure you Evelynn,"

"I will kill Shun Minamoto with my own hands." He looked straight into her eyes and even without her powers gleaning his soul she'd know that there was no doubt at all when he made that claim.

A moment past and the weight of his claim lifted, he brightened and gave her a faint smile. "Until then, Evelynn, don't do anything rash okay? I'd like to see that better world I mentioned with you in it."

565/3281

Maybe there was more gray in that black and white story of Jian. Maybe life had changed him for the better and let a glimmer of rationality peek through his infant mindset. She could feel it on the edge of his thoughts, a soft pull of justice that edged him closer and closer to that gray area that most struggled to understand. What was good? What was bad? Who had the right to decide what was for the better? Did he even know?

Either way, she smiled softly at him, returning his encouraging words with a small smile. She couldn’t really hold his stare, but her features softened into something more… Human. Nothing hidden for that brief moment. The insecurities that racked her brain, the fear of just what was going on, the hope of someone to save the day. After all, she had long since learned she wasn’t the hero of this story. Just a pawn.

Without thinking, she moved forward and be it out of shock or acceptance, Jian opened his arms just enough for her to slide into his chest. It was funny how much taller he felt now that her forehead was pressed against his upper chest. Did a single foot make all that much of a difference, or was there something else that made him seemed stronger?

Her hands tightened a bit around his back as she sighed.

“Don’t get yourself killed, okay?” It was all she could say. Nothing would make him stay. Nothing would really make sense of how she felt. There was no point in fighting. Resignation was her middle name it seemed.

Just as soon as it began, it ended. She pulled herself away from him and flashed a strong willed smile. Fake as ever, but just as believable as one would expect from someone like her. With a gentle pat on the shoulder followed by a playful shove towards the Seireitei, that brief moment of openness was gone and replaced by the cheerleader she knew he needed.

“Kick ass, take names, and come find me when you’re done, okay?” She grinned as she crossed her arms, eyeing him with pride. “Waffles are on me once this whole mess is done with.”

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[ 65 GP ]