Paradigm Shift (Patreon)

It was just one of those things.

One of those stupid, regrettable, idiotic, things that, in hindsight, was completely avoidable.  We all have experiences such as these: a car accident, one too many beers, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, cheating on your girlfriend…yeah, they might be accidentswhen they happen, but looking back, it’s hard to imagine being so stupid as to not expect them to happen.  Granted, the sheer scale of the event in question was such that those involved could barely comprehend their own idiocy at that particular moment in time.  And, of all the place for world-redefining events to happen, none of them, not a single one of them, expected such a seminal occurrence to take place in the apartment of one Inoue Orihime.

Reality tends to be a real bitch like that.

Tatsuki and Orihime had just been stunned into semi-unconsciousness/death by the enormous black-skinned serpentine-like monster that had broken through Inoue’s roof.  Both girls were experiencing the startling dissociation of their souls from their bodies, long chains stretching between their metaphysical and physical forms as they tried to comprehend exactly what was happening to them.

“Orihime!  Tatsuki!”

The roaring of the beast almost drowned out Ichigo’s cry.

“Take care of the hollow!  I’ll watch your friends!”

The new girl, Kuchiki, leapt in front of them, as if her petite form could shield them in any way from that thing.  Her eyes flickered towards them…the ‘them’ that was conscious, at least…which brought forth an entirely new slew of questions about just what the hell was going on?!

“Stay down and you might live through this,” Kuchiki ordered, her tone implacable and cold as ice.

“What-?”

“I said stay down,” Rukia ordered again, fairly spitting the word.  “He doesn’t need you to distract him right now.  This Hollow is especially strong.”

Tatsuki swallowed her rebuttal in favor of shifting her gaze towards Ichigo.  The orange-haired boy looked as though he’d stumbled through a time-warp.  He was dressed in a traditional hakama and carrying a massive blade.  His swings gave him the air of someone who knew exactly what they were doing…the focused intent of a seasoned swordsman.

Of course, just as her childhood friend was about to strike another blow-

The monster’s tail whipped out, grasping around Tatsuki’s waist and throwing her towards the substitute-shinigami.  Predictably, Ichigo threw his blade away and moved to catch his friend’s disembodied soul.  And in that moment…

Absolutely everything went wrong.

The Hollow which had once been Orihime’s brother, reached for his sister…and through the obstacle standing between them.  Rukia’s lips were moving rapidly as she incanted-

“-flutter of wings!-”

A sickening CRUNCH of bone and muscle as Sora’s claw scythed into her chest-

Amidst the blood and gore, no one noticed the shining a small pebble freed from it cage within Rukia’s soul.  The glittering stone flew through the air to rest on an unopened box-

Ichigo’s zanpakuto, cutting through the air from it impromptu flight-

Rukia…screamingthe last of the chant, her death cry overloading the kido and igniting a flux of power throughout the room.

Invisible to all, that same energy traveling through currents that still connected her and Ichigo…their borrowed powers and their entwined Soul Deeps.  The almost electric shock of power coursing through him, Ichigo stumbled, words on his tongue that he didn’t know…that were being force-fed backwards through his mind.

“MAE, SODE NO SHIRAYUKI!”

The sword, the soul-cutting-blade shifted and groaned, a noise like steel tearing filling the room as a single blade attempted to embody two different reflections of two very different essences.  A light, utterly blinding in it’s intensity, erupted from the supernatural weapon, the corona raising the hairs of any spiritually-sensitive being across hundreds of miles.  Across the entirety of Karakura town, individuals looked up from their beds, their work, or their meeting with friends.

The Vaizards’ heads snapped Eastward, towards the disturbance, each of them looking with trepidation and fear, wondering what could possibly put forth that amount of energy.  Ishida and his father, each in different locations, felt their mind’s eyes, their spiritual senses, explode in a kaleidoscope of radiant power.  Isshin Kurosaki cursed venomously as he stepped into his first flash-step in over a decade, racing against time to reach his son.  Kisuke Urahara, on the other hand, felt no urgency at the impending probable doom suddenly brought onto their town.  Lifting the sake bottle to his lips, he merely muttered…

“Well, Fu-“

As the coursing energy reached it’s peak, the tumbling fluid shape of light that was once, a cohesive blade plunged downward-

The soft glimmering of the Hogyoku belied it unassuming nature as the jewel rolled to a stop, it’s unearthly nature reacting and awakening from it’s deep hibernation in response to the power being displayed…

Directly above it.

The Hollow, it’s instincts overriding the insatiable hunger within it, rippedopen reality, a dark tunnel boring through nothingness as-

The impossible blade which was tied to two souls fell-

And struck-

The Hogyoku SHATTERED.

Cracks of light, purest bright light…light which had not been glimpsed from the dawn of time when HE who SPOKE at that moment said, LET THERE BE LIGHT, the light of creation, coursed through the cracks erupting in reality as that WHICH IS NOTbecame THAT WHICH IS…

Time itself seemed to scream in a wordless, echoing voice that broke the bounds of the world and became the destruction and recreation of everything that ever was, ever is, or ever will be.

WHAT IS WILL NO LONGER BE

The King, from his throne on high, looked forward, knowing what was to come.

WHAT HAS NEVER BEEN WILL NOW BECOME

Light coursed through his Throne Room, unmaking reality as HIS word became law.

Ichigo woke up, cold sweat covering his body.

The room spun as blood rushed from his head and he tried to recover his bearings.  Memories came rushing back quickly.  His father, his mother, Yuzu, Karin, Rukia, Tatsuki…His entire life flashed before his eyes, visions of karate tournaments, smiles from his parents, a life-defining death-

His thoughts spun so fast nausea threatening to win the battle with his churning stomach.  Flickering images of his mother’s death which…

Which…

Didn’t Happen.

Memories diverged, his life splitting in twain from that point.  Happiness and Mourning blurred as each event played out differently.  He got in trouble for fights…he was a model student.  His smile withered to a frown…the expression softened as he met a girl who was cold as ice…her violet eyes reflecting disdain and mockery.  He and Tatsuki bickering constantly, Keigo and Meizuiro chiming in on either side…the quiet companionship of the young woman he’d come to call ‘girlfriend’…finding friendship with an open-faced kendo student…

Saving Sado…

Meeting the girl’s older brother and fearing for his life as he asked permission…

High School blandness giving way to nightly terror as the monsters-Hollows-

Kendo spars, learning the sword, getting near-perfect grades…

I should know your name before I die-

He closed the distance between them, bringing their lips together for the first time.

It’s Kuchiki.  Kuchiki Rukia.

She pressed back, the contact sending electric sparks through his being.

I’m Kurosaki Ichigo.

Then the door to his room opened.

It was his mother, back from being not-dead, waking him for school.

Ichigo, his brain blown one too many times, allowed his eyes to roll back into his head and drifted away into blessed unconsciousness.

“Ichigo!”

His eyes shot open, his upper body shooting upright a moment later.

“Mom!”

Kurosaki Misaki’s soft, concerned gaze relaxed somewhat on seeing her eldest son awake and coherent.  “Ah, you had me worried there for a moment, sweetie.  I bet you were just faking it to try and get out of school again, right?  Something planned with Rukia-chan tonight?”

Ichigo flushed, pressing a hand to his face as his mother nudged him…as he wondered how, exactly she knew about the movie he and his girlfriend had intended to catch after school.  “Moooom,” Ichigo groaned (because he was a man and men did not whine), “I’ve got a match with Tenchi today; he’d never let me hear the end of it.”

“Alright,” His mother grinned, then turned serious, “I guess you must have just sat up too fast…try and be a little more careful, okay honey?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ichigo nodded, looking pointedly at his mother.

She rolled her eyes tiredly, but left her son to dress all the same.

As the door shut, Ichigo exhaled deeply and let his eyes wander to stare into space.