Return to the Essentials [Solo]

The kick to her knee was unexpected and came with a sharp crack. Pain shot through her leg while the snowy ground was coming closer at a dangerously high speed. She awkwardly tried to move in hopes to block or counter whatever attack would be hitting her next, but the unpleasant distraction in the form of panic took away enough of time for her opponent to easily floor her with an elbow to the chest. With a thud she hit the ground before feeling her uninjured leg being grabbed by the ankle. Trying to protest she coughed while the eerie creature started to drag her towards the hole in the icy lake. Awkwardly limping the decaying child refused to let go of Kasumi's limb as the latter struggled violently.

“Let go of me!” she growled, but there was no reaction from her assaulter. As if deaf to anything but the silent call of the frozen lake, the creature made its way through the snow and across the slippery surface.

Desperately trying to get a hold of anything that could provide her with enough grip to get away from this nightmare, Kasumi dug her fingers into the ice but her attempt to anchor herself this way was in vain. Long, deep traces of broken ice could be seen zigzagging across the field of white as the two females struggled.

“Vör!” Kasumi called out again, panic palpable when her voice broke.

At the edge of the lake, the Spirit stood tall. Her greyish eyes were following the scene but she made no signs of planning to move. Instead, she slowly shook her head and spoke – her voice falling over the world like the first snow. “I can't hurt you.”

With a look of pure horror Kasumi was dragged further over the lake's surface. With her Spirit refusing to help her, she had to find a way out of this predicament. That's why her gaze went from Vör's oddly peaceful expression to the ugly creature pulling her along. Only now did she notice that one of the arms of her assaulter was actually missing from the elbow down. The icy limb with awkwardly shaped fingers was rapidly crumbling like melting ice as they came closer to the center of the lake.

While the panic was still real, something about the scenario felt familiar. The kicking of her injured leg didn't prevent the creature from doing anything else but turning around for a brief moment. Again, their gazes met. A second later the two teenagers fell into the icy water as the being with eyes like hers swam toward the bottom of the lake.

It was harder to kick here, less freedom to gain the power needed to come free. Kasumi tried to swim into the opposite direction in order to get away but the pulling was too strong. This stupid thing, this ugly piece of meat, this – she looked down to see an odd silvery light come from a sphere at the bottom, it illuminated the younger girl's face – this.. this was her?

They fell through the light and mere moments later she gasped for air when her face came above the water. Pleasantly the liquid ran from her chin when she rubbed it out of her eyes. The place was dark, but the silvery glow coming from the pool she was in gave off enough light for her to see her greyish surroundings. Trapped by stony walls Kasumi felt disorientated. She was confused, but no longer as afraid as she had been. With heavy coughs and awkward motions she turned just enough to meet the icy face that belonged to the one who had brought her to this cave of sorts.

With a healthy amount of cautiousness she placed her palm on the girl's wounded cheek. The hanging bits of skin crumbled, fell into the pool they were floating in and dissolved completely. It brought a wave of tastes and smells with itself. Citrus, sweetness – vanilla? She could taste the freshness of the watermelon on the tip of her tongue when it turned sour. Soon salty. The taste spread into a bitterness across her tongue while she gripped the other's face tightly. Another piece fell, she watched it disappear with cold brushing against her back. A shiver brought her closer to the crippled body she was holding onto, but by the time she let her hands fall on its shoulders, the cold had turned into a furious heat.

It hurt, everything hurt. The pain spread from her arm through her body in agonizing waves that had her going under again. She yelled into the silvery pool, hoping to get rid of whatever was tearing off her arm just to realize after a couple of hellish seconds that her arm was still there.

A memory.
It was nothing more but a memory.
A very lively one, but a part of the past regardless of its power.

Being dragged out of the water by the back of her uniform Kasumi found the maimed head of the girl sinking into the pool. The face was melted, calm. The ugliness wasn't as terrifying as it had been. She was dead, the young Shinigami realized with a little frown that silently bled into shock.

“She has been dead for a while now.” Vör spoke from the side of the pool. The tall Valkyrie was sitting on the stony edge with eyes speaking of a certain sadness.

While Kasumi tried to grab the fading figure, memories of her past life filled in the previously existing gaps. The puzzle was complete. An Arrancar had torn off her arm not too long before her death. The death she vividly remembered now as a foolish act of youth.

“Why didn't you tell me?” she whispered with fingers grabbing at the silvery water she was in.

“I couldn't just tell you, you had to understand.”

Like the time during the fight with Shun..

That's why the situation had been vaguely familiar. Vör was helping her in her own way. It only took time to realize that, as it always did.

Shaking the water off, she climbed out of the pool with the help of Vör's firm grip on her shoulder. Water streamed from her soaked body onto the carved floor. Runes, they were everywhere. Glowing a mysterious blue, the lines lit up with the help of the silvery liquid in the middle of the cage.

With hesitant steps the white-haired Shinigami made her way toward one of the walls just to lightly caress one of the runes which had been cut into the stones. There were hundreds of them, no, probably thousands. Fingertips traced further and further until she found a large, vertical cut. From the floor all the way to the ceiling this gap of less than a hair in breadth showed her a different type of light on the other side.

Placing her palms firmly against the double door, she pushed with all of her might. They yielded with a gentle creaking whine, letting in an odd type of humid warmth. Green leaves prickled her eyes from left and right. Sun rays fell through the roofs of dark green and brown from the nearby trees. A crashing sound of water falling with immense power caught her attention and forced Kasumi to curiously slide outside of the stony shrine.

“Where..?” Too baffled to speak, she stared at the world around her.

Vör squeezed her mistress shoulder in a gesture of encouragement.

“The other side of the mountains.”


Words: 1256/ 2111 – 28GP
Thread End