It’s Almost as if You Aren’t a Hollow at All

The sickeningly sweet smell of strawberries overwhelms me as I struggle to stand. Before I can even react, the man appears behind me. The way he stares at me is unnerving; it's almost as if I'm not even worthy of being in his field of view.

"To think a mere hollow would dare to parasitize a fragment of the Soul King"

The what?

"Oh pardon me, where are my manners? My name is Sosuke Aizen, and you are? "

My name is Tom, Tom Banks.

"That's a rather unusual name for a hollow, wouldn't you say? "

I suppose so, bu-

Before I can even blink, the man's arm is lodged deep within my chest.

"Why It's almost as if you aren't a hollow at all. "

He's grabbed onto something important, something vital to my being, and he's tearing it out.

*RIIIIIP*

As I fall to the ground, I look up and see Aizen holding something glowing with a warm light in his hand.

"Interesting, so this is what a hollowified fragment looks like. I have a feeling that this will be rather useful for my experiments."

What did you-

"Oh, so you're still alive. How interesting. It's a shame that I don't have any more time to play with you. Let me just wrap things up. "

I didn't even see him unsheathe his sword, but it was already falling towards me. I try to dodge, to move, but my body refuses to listen to me. As his sword gets closer and closer, I close my eyes and wait for the end.

"Oh, don't you dare ignore me!"

Camila attacks Aizen from behind, but not even a single crease is left on his uniform.

"Oh ho, to think an ant would have the nerve to bite me. Let me show you just how small you truly are. " Suddenly, an overwhelming spiritual pressure presses down on me. Camila is pushed flat to the ground, and Joseph can hardly move.

"You won't get away with this." Joseph struggles to stand, but his body is barely able to hold itself together under this pressure.

"Get away with what? Disposing of a few hollows? Why, it's practically all we Soul Reapers do. "

The next instant, Camila is dispersed into dust. There is no flourish, no dramatic fanfare, just a blade moving up and down.

Camila!!!!

"Oh come now, don't tell me you actually cared for her?"

You'll pay for this.

I try to dig deep into my soul, to muster something, anything at all, to avenge Camila's death. I can hardly move, but I begin to pull harder and harder on the world around me. The world refuses to acknowledge me, it refuses to be moved, but I push and pull with my will until I feel a slight shift. Suddenly, the sand beneath Aizen's feet begins to stir. He jumps into the air, looking mildly surprised.

"To think the fusion had progressed this far, wonderful, simply wonderful."

You monster!!!

The sand begins to fall towards Aizen, but with a wave of his hand, whatever force I had mustered is shattered. As slow and steady as the tide, Aizen's hand begins to move towards me. I try to squirm and to wiggle out of the way, but the pressure being released makes the already difficult task impossible. Just as his hand reaches my face, I hear a tearing sound and the world begins to fly away from me.

The last thing I can see is Joseph's smiling face as he closes the Garganta behind him.

It's dark. I can't see anything but the whirling clouds of spiritual pressure pushing me around. I try to steady myself, but the particles refuse to listen to me. As I drift through the darkness, I am forced to relive the scene of Camila's death over and over again. Time and again, I wonder if there was anything I could've done; surely there had to be something, right?

Like the rocking of a cradle, the tempest of swirling spiritual pressure lulls me to sleep. As I sleep, I begin to dream.

I'm home again. My parents are greeting me, but I simply grunt back a reply. They wouldn't understand, and I know that if they did, they would only worry about me. I slink back to my room, trying my best to hide my feelings, but before I can retreat back to the safety of solitude, a tear trickles down my cheek.

"What's wrong?"

Nothing. Just leave me alone!

I slam the door in their faces, but as soon as they are out of sight, the tears begin to fall. There's something wrong with me. Something is broken deep inside of me and I don't know how to fi-

This isn't my room.

I'm standing in a familiar park, but this time I'm alone. There's no mom, no dad, no friends, and no nightmare creature trying to eat me. As I head over to the jungle gym, I notice a sharp hole in the ground that didn't used to be there. It was almost as if a chunk of the world was gouged out. I half expected to hear a "kiddo" coming from behind me, but to my disappointment, it would seem that I am truly alone.

I nearly stumble as the ground beneath me crumbles. I scramble back, but as I look on, the hole is beginning to grow larger and larger.

This... this is bad.

The hole grows, consuming more and more of the park as I scramble to get away. However, with each piece of playground equipment that falls, the more I feel a dull ache in my chest. I fall to the ground, panting in pain as the edge starts to approach me.

"Jeez, kid, If I didn't know any better, I'd say you crave death. I can't turn my back for one minute without you doing something stupid to your soul."

This wasn't my faul-

"I don't care who's fault this was, if you don't fix this, you're going to die."

How the heck am I supposed to fix this?

"Kid, you need an anchor, something to ground your soul before it falls apart. Focus on your hopes and dreams, or whatever. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you care about it. "

I try to find something I care about. At first, I try to focus on my need for revenge, but before that thought can even form, it smacks my head.

"Don't focus on something negative; you'll end up worse than dead if you do that."

I try to focus on my friends, but every time I think of Camila and Joseph, I am brought back to my need for revenge. I try to focus on my parents, but the only thing that comes up is the sadness of disappointing them. In frustration, I thought back to the promise I had made to myself. I wanted to be someone, didn't I? So how could I die here?!

As I focused on that thought, something suddenly appeared from the blackness. It's fuzzy and hard to see, but it seems to be some sort of mirror. I jump into the mirror and suddenly I see that I am flying through the air. The park is gone, replaced by the endless sky, and standing perfectly in the middle of it all is it.

"Aren't you getting tired of calling me it?"

It's not like I know your name.

"Oh come on, you're not even going to ask me how I knew what you were thinking?"

You said it yourself, this is my soul, isn't it?"

Well, that takes the fun out of things. Anyway, kiddo, you already know my name, don't ya? "

That's not your real name, is it.

"Hehheheheh, guilty as charged. How about this? Knock over that tree over there and I'll tell ya."

But there isn't a tr-

I awoke to a blue sky above me.

That absolute jerk!