The Return (Closed | Cayo)

His portal opened above a city, bright and sparkling with life. The space inside was quite with the hum of static while outside his ears caught wind of all manner of sound. He'd missed this place and it's people. It was so colorful! So full of life! It was everything that the other world was not. Where the other world was all black, white, and grays, this one was vibrant hues that reflected beautifully off his mask. Most of the time, he couldn't see that it was so but he was sure of it nonetheless. Finished admiring the city from above, the hollow pitched his body forward and let it free fall to the ground below.

It wasn't a long fall, maybe forty feet or so but it was enough that his landing brought with it the increasingly familiar sound of bones cracking. Standing, he found that none were broken. Taking mental note of his body, he noted only minor cracking on a few bones surfaces. Not too long for them to heal, then. He hadn't come to hunt, not really. His kind was much better tasting, and much more fun to play with, than the various pluses he'd used to find in his ventures here. It was the life around him while he was here that held his fascination. The vehicles, the buildings, the moving pictures and rapidly changing colors, what more could one want? If one did get really hungry, then people were everywhere! Just pick one up and keep going! Preferably, it'd be the most boring one around. Obviously the more exciting ones would taste better, as far as humans went anyway, but then they were gone and with it their entertainment value. 

The first few streets were rather uneventful. No overly interesting cars going by, no interesting people, no billboards. He was starting to get bored already and he'd only just gotten here! It wasn't until he rounded a corner that the little sack-hollow laid eyes on an arcade. His heart leaped for joy as he took in all of the dancing colors and eager cries of children. A simple sonido sent him to the building's entrance, the scent of sweat and tickets filling his nostrils furthered his excitement. 

He recognized a few of the games, though most were the staples of any arcade; ski ball, hoops, claw machines, racing games, the things any arcade is bound to have. What really caught his attention, though, was a game he just knew he'd never seen before. It was a big ride style game that the player was strapped into, going up to the second and even third stories of the building. As he rushed over he saw that each player was assigned a balloon. They were each tasked with going as high as they could with their balloon while still attempting to pop or otherwise impede their opponent's progress. His eyes twinkled as he watched the first couple of riders ascend and their ensuing fight. The winner, a boy around nine or ten, had a blue balloon with neon green stripes. It just looked so cool!

Despite knowing he wasn't likely to be seen, the hollow squeezed his way to the front of the line to try and weasel his way onto the ride. No one was going to tell him he couldn't ride. What were they going to say? He was going to get hurt? If that was the case, then he'd simply cut himself and show them how well he healed and then they'd have to let him ride!


[WC: 594][TWC: 594] 

His movement to get into one of the seats of the ride was stopped, sadly. He tried, futilely, to get himself into the little rig a few times before he realized the tug coming from his midsection. He felt his mask as it reflected the glowing yellow rope that bound him. The hollow wasn't sure what it was but try as he might, he couldn't break it. Not easily, anyway. His little green eyes followed it like a trail back to its source. A woman stood above the people milling about amongst the machines, like some haughty referee to the arcade's games, and from her hand came the rope.

She didn't seem like the rest of the people from Hueco Mundo. Never mind her brightly colored hair, she entirely lacked any sort of mask, or remnant thereof, and her body bore no visible hole. Simple reasoning told him she wasn't like him, then. Who, and what, was she then? He forgot about the ride while he considered the possibilities, his tiny head lolling to the side as he thought.

"What." even though he tried as hard as he could, the hollow couldn't come up with an explaination as to what the woman was. The best thing to do, then, was to ask. Right? "You?"

He pointed with his free hand, his other having been confined due to the glittering rope, the end of his finger appearing from beneath his sack to indicate the woman. As he did so, two of his mirrors appeared on either side of the rope where it met his body and in the blink of an eye crashed into each other. With their work done, Cayo dismissed his mirrors. A single shake of his body caused the now severed remains of the rope to fall to the floor, where they shimmered before fading away. 

Knowing now that he could, the hollow began to raise himself into the air. His steps were small but eventually he found himself on the same plane as the woman. She was even more interesting up close! On her hip was a neat looking weapon, a sword? Her clothes were black and white, like the rest of his people! Maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe she was one of his kind? If that were the case, it's be awfully rude for him to not introduce himself. After all, who'd want to play with someone who couldn't even bring themselves to say a proper hello?

"Me's Cayo!" he proclaimed, rather excitedly. Beneath his sack, a tiny fist slammed on his rib cage in indication that he did, indeed, mean himself. "Play game?!"

[WC: 438][TWC: 1,032]

"mmmm, 'Kay!" he supposed the lady was right. There were a lot of people here. More importantly, there were a lot of neat machines! Even aside from the one she'd pulled him from, there were others he'd wanted to try. It'd be a shame if any of them were lost to one of his games. They could get pretty chaotic, after all. He followed the woman out of the arcade without another word, lazily looking around at the various things that happened to catch his attention. Right next to the door there was a claw machine that had a prize he wanted, a classy looking watch with a digital face. He'd have to remember to come back to it. 

The hollow's attention turned back to the woman just in time for him to see her smile down at him and point to a far off rooftop, a clap of what sounded like thunder sounded as she took off toward their appointed destination. His head lolled to the side as he thought how strange it was that she sounded like thunder, where he hand his people so often sounded like a louder version of the static from their portals. Was she one of them? He let that occupy his thoughts as he propelled himself after her.

Sacked feet suspended his tiny body in open air as he bound after her. The feat was much harder to accomplish here than it was in his new home, though he wasn't sure why. He liked this place much better, despite the lack of tasty food but it'd be that much better if it had all the benefits of his new residence. It wasn't long until he found himself setting down on the rooftop with the stranger, smiling up at her as he set foot on the warm roof.

"What name?" he thrust a finger from beneath his sack to point at her, tilting his head to the side as he did so. Tiny fragments of mirrors began to form in preparation for his game, little flecks too small to notice quite yet. Even he was only able to take note of them thanks to their connection to him. He wasn't quite ready to start yet. Thanks in large part to his latest encounters, he was actually genuinely interested in the woman's name.

Ai and Cazador had both been rather pleasant encounters, and very near to the beginning of both encounters he'd exchanged names with the other party. The other man though, that'd been nasty. He was still mad about it. He still didn't know the other man's name and that had been his only other encounter outside of feeding in recent memory, surely it only had gone so sour because he hadn't introduced himself. Right?

[WC: 461][TWC: 1,493]

"Sure! Let play!" as if on cue, the tiny specks of glass blossomed into full fledged panels of mirrors. They moved silently and seemingly without instruction to create a room. There were enough to make walls, a floor, and even a ceiling! The hollow had to admit, he was impressed even with himself. As the ceiling came into place, light became hard to come by. What little there was came from tiny slivers between the panels and they rebound endlessly inside of the room, reflecting off of every surface that wasn't comprised or carried by one of its two occupants. 

The hollow skipped around some, pleased to be playing once more. A warbling tune could be heard coming from him as though he were humming to himself. The child wondered if this is what his passed playthings had seen when he'd played with them, he didn't really remember much from before but he knew he'd gotten a lot better with his mirrors so the room was more complete. Were they afraid? Was she, he wondered as he looked over at the woman. Were they exited like he was? Ultimately he shrugged the ideas off in favor of putting his full attention on his game. 

"What play?" he posed the question as though he hadn't already decided. One with higher intelligence might consider taunting his prey with false hopes as cruel but he didn't. It was fun! The way their faces fell as he started his games made things all the more fun. This time he wasn't going to play hide and seek. It was one of the more fun games, sure, but the last time he'd played left a sour taste in his mouth. No, this time he'd play something he hadn't played in a good long while. "I know!"

He came around to stand in front of Hanako, tilting his head to the side as if in thought. As soon as he stopped moving the glassy surface of the mirror seemed to ripple like water and began to swallow his feet. He made sure it was slow, hardly noticeable. He didn't want his plaything to try and run away already. Not long after his feet disappeared from beneath him, they rose behind the woman. He was ready. "Tag!"

Without a sound, the rest of the hollow's body disappeared into the surface of the mirror to rise again, this time upside down, behind Hanako. His hand shot out from beneath his sack, tearing through the fleshy confines to push the woman in the small of her back in an attempt to send her flying forward. "You're it!"

Once again, he let the force of gravity pull his tiny body back into the realm of his mirrors. This time his form was reflected over the surface of the dozens of mirrors. His mask, while usually bright, was shadowed in the reflections. Any features one could have detected beneath it's glittering surface otherwise were now shrouded in deep shadows. It was a coincidence due to the lack of light but it was one that seemed to make him better fit the leader of his game. "What do~ Where 'm I~?"

[WC: 528][TWC: 2,021]

His mirrors had been affected before, sure, but never something like this. As the acid ate its way through the shiny glassy substance Cayo came to realize just how deep his connection with the mirrors went. The sensation of losing one on its own was like an itch. Having one taken away slowly, its connection to him severed piece by piece, was painstaking. The sensation was surreal, almost as though his flesh itself was being corroded along with the mirror. Anger slowly began to seep into his otherwise jovial mood as he watched Hanako from the safety of his mirror realm.

"mmmmm~?" he felt the pull of his hunger on the back of his anger's heels but he wouldn't let himself be taken so easily. She was interesting! The weapon, what ever it was, was something new~! He needed to know what it was! The energy that'd come from it's change confirmed that she wasn't like him, or anything else he could remember coming across. He could feel the energy caressing the glassy surfaces of his mirrors but the feelings it brought with it were muddled. "oh!"

"No cheat~!" A boom of static brought Cayo flying from the surface of one of the ceiling's panels to fall just behind Hanako. Long, sharp fingers cut their way through the surface of his sack as he used his hands to spring himself off to her side. "Promise! Just play~"

Green eyes narrowed behind the beast's reflective mask, trying to unwind the woman. He stuck like a fly to the room's wall, giving him a good vantage point to stare down at the woman. The child's mind struggled to make sense of what she was. It was obvious she wasn't human. She smelled different, at least. Most humans stank of vulnerability and meekness. That's what attracted the others of his kind to them. She didn't seem interested in the mortals like his kind would have been. Actually, he recalled she'd been concerned for them. His brow furrowed as he concluded she couldn't have been one of his kind. None of them would have cared so much for the living. "What."

"You?" his head lolled to the right as he looked at her, his mind spinning. The action was quickly becoming a habit as the hollow tried to work things out in its mind. Unsure of when he'd done so, Cayo unfolded his still exposed hands to point at the woman just to make sure she knew he meant her. A knobby, black skeletal hand outstretched from his sack. Pieces of flesh dangled in the open air from his razor sharp fingers, almost like little chimes suspended in the faint breeze that'd drifted in from the hole in the wall.

[WC: 456][TWC: 2,477]

"Huemco Mumndo? ... Purrified?" the first bit of Hanako's explanation went far over the young hollow's head, most of it was wasted as he'd never retain the information given to him. The only information he really gained from it was affirmation that she really wasn't like him. As her weapon made another strange noise and she sloshed more of the liquid, it was more than clear to him that she was out to kill him. "Sorry~"

He let himself begin to sink into the mirror's surface once more but not before the acid from her weapon made contact with the flesh of his sack. What was a tingle as he finished disappearing into the mirror quickly evolved into a burning sensation as his sack began to disintegrate. Inch by painstaking inch the skin and flesh fell to pieces. But rather than scream in agony as someone of his age would have, Cayo focused his attention on healing the wound as he glared out from the depths of his mirrors. 

Just beneath his anger, he felt a tinge of sadness. He wad only wanted to play. He didn't care if it had been in the arcade or a game with her, he hadn't wanted to hurt her. She'd pushed him though, resulting in any sadness being quickly washed away. He'd play fair, sure, arguably underhanded but fair in as loose an interpenetration as one can get.

As the flesh of his wound healed completely, the hollow let loose a boom of sonido and rocketed himself out of the mirror he'd entered through. He landed firmly on the mirror opposite the one he'd exited from for a moment before another screech of static sent him flying toward another mirror. He did this a few times, each mirror he landed on forming thin spider webbing cracks in its surface and each time he landed he made sure to lock eyes with the woman. The last mirror he landed on was the one she'd burnt through with her acid. Cool wind blew across his sack as he brought out his other hand from its depths and perched himself on the sharp edges of the glass. "I'm it."

"Ready~?" He wasn't above crediting her projectile liquids as marking him as 'it' in their little game. It was fine with him, she'd be it soon enough. The form of his knees came into view as Cayo hunched himself forward, balancing his elbows on his readied legs. "Set."

He pitched himself forward until he stared at his reflection in the floor's mirror. Time seemed almost at a standstill as his eyes focused on themselves. They were wide and wild, clearly crazed in the madness of his hunger. He was nothing more than a beast out for blood in that moment and he couldn't bring himself to care. Most parts of him didn't even recognize what that meant but there was a small piece of him at the back of his mind that relished in the moment. As time sped up once more, he propelled himself off the mirror with one last sonido with such force that the mirror broke. "Go~"

The shockwave from the sonido reverberated across the linked mirror panels and each one that he'd weakened with his earlier propulsion gave way to the force, shattering too. The light flooding into the previously darkened 'room' was blinding but luckily for the hollow, he was already on a trajectory path toward Hanako. He didn't need to see to know where he was headed, he already knew. With any luck, the woman would drop her weapon and his outstretched hand would grab her head and slam it into the still solid wall behind her.

[WC: 614][TWC: 3,091]

Confused green eyes slowly blinked an empty hand into focus as the hollow tried to make sense of what had happened. In the short time that his eyes had been screwed shut, the woman had disappeared. To an extent, he still felt her presence, so she didn't go too far. Yet, his hand remained empty as he pulled it away from the now shattered surface of his mirror. The edges of the shards twinkled a brilliant blue as he tried to sort out the situation. It wasn't until he felt the direct heat that Cayo thought to look up for his plaything.



A blazing blue ball of fire bore down on him and behind it was his toy. She, no doubt, was the fire's origin. What remained of the mirrors he'd shattered with his sonido gathered before him just as the fire reached to try and singe the hairs on his head. They provided sufficient enough cover for the blast but he could feel the flesh of his sack growing warm. Should it have continued there was no question he would have boiled inside of his own sack but as it was the fire faded away shortly after it came. What followed were more torrents of acid slung from the woman's blade.

Panel by panel he could feel as the acid made contact and the damage it was doing. Before long, he would be without any of them and that just wouldn't stand. It couldn't happen. They were so much fun! How could he fight without them?

Bit by bit his fingers slipped into the surface of the wall he'd meant to push Hanoko into until eventually his entire hand was submerged within its depths. His arm followed suit up to the shoulder, where he allowed himself a pause. The sensation of his connection to the mirrors being severed sent a chill down his spine. It was surreal. They were so naturally a part of his mind that to have them ripped away from him after their creation was something alien. His mind, what little of it that there was, struggled to comprehend what this meant as he completely withdrew into his mirror. 

The pieces he'd collected to form a shield from the fire was, albeit a bit burnt, unaffected so far by the woman's acid. The tiny cracks that laced the surface of the glass began to mend until the panel was whole. Cayo let himself watch her from within before he handed himself over to his hunger. Tides of it washed over him and he felt himself about to be swept away but before he could he, the hollow buried his feet in the idea of destroying the woman. 

Static screeched from every panel still left standing as he launched himself toward the mirror's surface. It took a second, maybe two, for him to break free of the glass and he was suddenly flying through the open air toward the woman in black once more. This time, the pretense of a game was dropped. His feet pushed free of his sack, allowing a fresh spray of blood to trail in his wake. Now, all four limbs were set free from their confines and braced for impact with his target. She'd surely regret her supposed 'strategy' as soon as his claws and talons bit into her soft flesh.

[WC: 559][TWC: 3,650]

A gleeful smile split his lips beneath his mask as he felt the woman's flesh tear beneath his fingers. Standing himself upright on the air, he bent himself backwards at the waist to look back at her. The maniacal grin could just be made out around the corners of his mask before he brought one of the, now bloodied, fingers to his lips. An ashy black tongue licked the drops of coppery liquid off the appendage before they could fall to the ground. He watched, albeit upside down, as she launched another volley of acids in his direction before righting herself and following suit.

The smile evolved into a cackle as he watched the acids fly toward him with her not all that far behind. With the tiniest movement of his feet, the child brought about another screech of static as he propelled himself directly into the face of the oncoming attack. As air passed over his body the hollow could feel the faint sensation of his body preemptively generating tissues to replace those he was bound to lose to the acid. His form contorted in an inhuman manner as he twisted to fully face Hanako. What little there was of his mind swam with possibilities about what he might do with her once she was subdued. There were a couple games he could think of off hand that might be suitable, or maybe he'd see if whatever she was could regrow limbs too.

While he'd subconsciously aimed himself for the gaps in the liquid, some of the acid still found its way onto his sack. The subsequent stinging helped to refocus his attention on the task at hand, as he still found himself hurdling toward the woman in black.

His vision nearly slanted as his hunger pitched itself against the walls of his stomach. The mere sight of her made him ache to his core, just as with every other being he'd come across. It hurt. He had to have her. Like a broken record repeating in his mind as he neared the Shinigami, Cayo couldn't shake the idea that he had to have her. That she would be his next meal.

The piercing sound of bone on metal tore through the otherwise relatively silent air as he caught her weapon between his hands. Catching it mid strike was nothing short of an accident, he had to admit, but the child sought to use it to the best of his ability. Letting his momentum carry him, he flipped himself up to do a handstand atop the weapon. "Game."

"Over." His feet began to lower themselves on either side of Hanako's head as he made eye contact with her, the action telling more of his inhuman bodily structure than words ever could. At the same time the tell tale, almost bass like, thudding of a garganta began to prickle his skin. He would have her, she couldn't be allowed to escape. She would be his first meal taken back to his new home. 

[WC: 503][TWC: 4,153]