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Bleach Side Story, Filling the Void

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Ember had been on cloud nine for weeks now, and it had showed in her work. Her recent training with Mayuri had improved her abilities immensely, as well as finally given her the ability to use her shikai effectively without (much) interference from her zanpakto spirit. More important than that however was the surgery Mayuri had performed on her to remove her pathological fear of blood. Between these three things, her performance on missions and in training with her comrades had changed on a fundamental level. It was almost as if she were an entirely new person compared to how she was before.

Still, the more she succeeded and grew and was praised by her comrades, the more her newfound cheer faded. The ecstasy of her accomplishments had kept her distracted for a good while, but the more time she spent around her comrades, the harder it was to ignore. Regardless of the fact that she was free from her phobia, her past still haunted her, lurking behind every corner. Time and time again other shinigami invited her to hang out, and the male shinigami who were particularly gutsy or perverted asked her on dates, and each time she politely refused, a tad less so when it came to the pervs asking out a widow. It wasn't that she didn't want to bond with them and make friends, but every time she saw a circle of friends or a pair of lovers happy together, she felt a pain in her chest.

So many times she had bonded with others, opened up her heart and started to care for them, only for them to be ripped away from her by the cruel hand of fate. The irrational fear of blood might have been gone, but the far more rational fear of that happening again still kept her distant. her comrades were shinigami, by the very nature of that it meant there was the risk that they would die and hurt her again. She tried to shake it off, logically she knew that she couldn't seclude herself from everyone forever, the only way to heal her broken heart was to move on and make new friends, but she simply couldn't. It didn't help that she was transferring to the 12th division as soon as the paperwork went through, though there wasn't any real reason that the transfer would make it impossible to make friends in the 13th.

Try as she might, mission after mission passed without her bonding with her comrades. Some gave up on trying with her, but there were still many who understood how hard it was for her and continued to try regardless. This was the state of affairs when Ember walked into the office to receive a solo mission.

"Your mission is to head to the rukongai east district and eliminate a hollow that's been terroizing the locals there, most have fled the area because of it" the official stated "our intel on the hollow is limited, so begin your mission by trying to gain information, don't just engage it blindly. If you can't defeat the hollow on your own, we can send a proper squad in later once we have that intel."

"Understood" Ember said as she turned to leave with the debriefing folder for the mission

"And Ember-chan" the official added "when you come back, please give some more thought to coming for a drink with me and the other gals, I know that's not really your thing and all but..."

"I'll... give it thought" Ember said "thank you…"With that Ember hastily exited the room and sighed. She'd done it again, run from the possibility of bonding with others out of fear. Regardless of how much stronger she'd become since the time where she had helplessly watched everyone she'd ever loved be taken from her, it didn't mean a darn thing if she didn't have anyone to use that strength for. "Stupid..." she muttered as she set off towards the rukongai

Ember made good time on her way to the rukongai, it was a bit of a long trip to the outer districts where the mission was located, but with her newfound speed from her training she was able to complete the trip in a third of the time it would have taken her a few weeks ago. She arrived in a dense forest, according to the mission dossier there was a small town towards the center of the forest, and a cliff on the other side, the area didn't get much traffic since the forest was too thick for travel by horse and carriage or other methods of transport the rukongai merhcants tended to use. There was only one official road in and out cutting through the center, the rest was untamed woodland. The village subsisted on hunting and gathering, and was for the large part isolated from gang activity and shinigami patrols alike.

Ember walked through the woods, stepping on fallen twigs and leaves with a wet crunch with each step she took. It was obvious that it had rained quite a bit lately, everything was soaked and muddy. This struck Ember as odd, seeing as it was the dry season for this area, generally they didn't get much rain at all around this time, part of the reason the forest was so dense was that the trees had evolved to have large and expansive root systems underground, as well as thick trunks to store water in during the dry periods. The abundance of rain was wreaking havoc on the ecosystem, and many trees looked like they weren't doing too great.

"I wonder if this is the hollow's fault?" Ember mused as she took another step, and with a crunch the forest floor around her caved in. "EEP!" she squealed in surprise as she fell about 15 feet down into a large, crudely dug pit trap and landed with a hard thud. "Owwww, what the hell just happened? who makes a pit this big?" she wheezed as she caught her breath from the fall.

"Yeah! I caught it! that hollow ain't gonna get us now!" A young boy's voice said from somewhere out of the pit

"Akune wait up! don't just go running off!, it might be able to get out!"  A slightly older girl's voice said from somewhere more distant

"Nii-san! Don't go!" a much younger girl's voice cried out

Shortly after a young boy's head popped out over the edge of the pit "huh, there's no hollow here, just some lady" he said in dissapointment

Soon after that a girl's head popped out as well "Oh my! I'm so sorry ma'am! Are you ok down there!?!?" she exclaimed "Hold on I'll get some rope!"

Ember looked up at the events unfolding above her in confusion and a mix of mild irritation and amusement. Still she supposed that these kids knew about the hollow, so talking to their parents might be useful. And so she waited, and eventually was retrieved from the pit.

A short while later----

"I'm so sorry about that incident with the pit, everybody fled the village and nobody ever comes here anyway, so we never thought that any humans would get caught in it" The girl from before said with her head bowed. After getting Ember out of the pit they had returned to a small cottage in the woods that was the home of the kids. The boy was named Akune, he was visually about 7 or 8 with brown hair and plenty of scrapes and bruises to go with his tanned skin, the older girl was Arza, and was about 13-14 physically, but lines of stress and worry had aged her face beyond her years, then there was a much younger third girl who was visually around the age of 2 and was named Shiro. She was a little kid even for a girl her age, with long white hair and pale skin.

"Don't worry about it, I should've been paying more attention to where I was going" Ember said, she was a bit embarrassed by having fallen for such a crude trap, sure she could've climbed back out with ease, but the fact that she didn't see it coming and fell for it in the first place was somewhat humiliating. "More importantly, I was hoping to talk to the locals here about the hollow, but you said they all left, so that leaves your parents, when will they be back?"

Arza's face fell, and Shiro began to cry, Ember immediately understood, she knew that look all too well, she'd worn it for many years herself "Oh... I'm sorry..." she said quietly "was it the hollow?"

Arza nodded "it happened a couple months ago, the hollow attacked the main town, me and my siblings were right where it emerged from the woods. Our parents... they sacrificed themselves to buy us time to run away... I... I've been taking care of us ever since... it's all I can do. I wanted to stand my ground and help mom and dad but... I was too scared... I couldn't... I could barely see it... it was raining so hard... all I could do was run away screaming while they bravely gave their lives... to save" she choked out, then broke down crying. On seeing her big sister cry Shiro broke down as well

Ember knelt down before them both and pulled them into a comforting embrace "shhh, it's ok... I know how you feel... just let it out..." she said softly as the two girls cried into her shoulders. They had been living in terror for months now, feeling the fear of death, the guilt of still being alive, and the pangs of hunger as they scraped by just barely well enough to survive. "How long was it... that I was just like them...?" Ember thought to herself sadly.

Akune sat in the corner of the room, looking down and away from the scene with his sisters. Giving him a good look, Ember could see bags under his eyes, he hadn't slept soundly in quite some time, for all his tough guy and carefree attitude she'd seen before when he was helping her out of the pit, he was suffering too, but was putting on the brave face for his sisters. Ember looked away, these children... not too long ago she had been them, thinking of how much pain they were in made that pain in her chest come back stronger than ever. She hugged the girls tight and closed her eyes as she shed a tear herself.

At least a few hours past before the children recollected themselves, or at the very least Arza did, Shiro had simply run out of energy to cry with and curled up in Arza's lap for comfort.

"I know it's hard... but can you please tell me all you know about the hollow?" Ember asked softly "I came here to get rid of it... anything you know could be the difference between if I succeed or fail"

Arza took a deep breath "I know that it's big, and whenever it goes hunting it starts to rain heavily, usually a thunderstorm, it's been wreaking havoc on the forest because of that, and eating the souls of the trees whenever it can't find human souls to eat, we suspect it may be making its home in a cave on the side of the cliff near the edge of the forest, but we haven't dared go check. Apart from that I don't know much... sorry"
Ember shook her head "that's fine, it's more than I knew before, at least I have a place to search for it now" she said as she stood up and walked to the kitchen of the house and took out a few pots and pans

"We don't have any gas left for the stove fire" Arza said "and you don't need to cook us anything anyway, you've been more than kind enough already putting up with us even after all we did"

Ember shook her head once more "that's no problem, and you helped me out too with that tip about the cliff, so it's no big deal" she said as she used her zanpakto flames to begin cooking a meal. This caught Akune's attention, and he began eying the zanpakto in awe, but Ember didn't notice. Before long she'd cooked up a decent meal using her own rations left over from her trip here and served it up hot. The children ate ravenously, clearly none of them had eaten a full meal in quite some time.

"Thank you miss..." Arza began

"Ember, you can just call me Ember" Ember said with a smile "and you're welcome"

Arza nodded, then looked outside, it was getting dark out, and the storm clouds were rolling in "it's coming... put out the lights Akune" she said. The young boy nodded and doused every candle and light source, shuttered and locked the windows, and barricaded the door with a large dresser along with Arza's help. Then came the first thunderclap.

Shiro whimpered and began to cry again in spite of herself. Arza rushed over to try to comfort her, but as the storm picked up Shiro only got more hysterical. Arza did her best, but it was clear that this was a regular routine for her that regularly failed to work.

Ember got up from the table and walked over to sit by Shiro and Arza on the bed, then gestured to Arza to let her take over. Grateful for the help Arza relented immediately, and Shiro latched onto Ember as if glued on.

"Shhh, it's okay now... I'm here, and nothing is going to hurt you as long as I'm here" Ember said softly as she stroked Shiro's long white hair. She continued to comfort Shiro until she remembered a lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was young and afraid of the thunder. Almost instinctively, she closed her eyes and began to sing the song from memory.

"Little child, be not afraid
The rain pounds harsh against the glass
Like an unwanted stranger
There is no danger
I am here tonight"

At the sound of Ember's melodic singing Shiro paused in her crying and paid attention to the lullaby

"Little child
Be not afraid
Though thunder explodes
And lightning flash
Illuminates your tearstained face
I am here tonight"

Almost as if on cue a flash of lightning outside shone through the shutters and momentarily illuminated the room

"And someday you'll know
That nature is so
This same rain that draws you near me
Falls on rivers and land
And forests and sand
Makes the beautiful world that you see
In the morning"

Ember began to rock Shiro back and forth as she sang, while still stroking her hair and holding her close

"Little child
Be not afraid
The storm clouds mask your beloved moon
And its candlelight beams
Still keep pleasant dreams
I am here tonight

Little child
Be not afraid
The wind makes creatures of our trees
And the branches to hands
They're not real, understand
And I am here tonight"

Shiro had calmed down now, and simply snuggled in closer, her eyelids beginning to droop a bit as the lullaby continued on, as if sensing that this was happening Ember's voice grew softer in response.

"And someday you'll know
That nature is so
This same rain that draws you near me
Falls on rivers and land
And forest and sand
Makes the beautiful world that you see
In the morning"

Arza and Akune both watched in captivated wonder at the scene unfolding before them, Shiro hadn't been this calm since their parents had died... but here she was... being rocked to sleep...

For you know, once even I
Was a little child

Ember paused here, her emotions overtaking her a bit before she continued singing from the heart

And I was afraid
But a gentle someone always came

Another pause, longer this time, as tears began to stream down her face, she remembered all the loved ones who had come to her aid over the years and couldn't help but be overcome with emotion as she sang the song. Now she sung as much for herself as for the children...

To dry all my tears
Trade sweet sleep the fears
And to give a kiss goodnight
Well, now I am grown
And these years have shown
Rain's a part of how life goes
But it's dark and it's late
So I'll hold you and wait
'til your frightened eyes do close

Without realizing it Ember's reiatsu gently rose, emitting a soft, warm, comforting red glow in the room. Her zanpakto began to glow slightly as well, as if the song were soothing its spirit as well. Ember looked to Arza and gave a gentle nod as an indicator to sing as well, Shiro was almost completely asleep now, only barely staying awake, and certainly completely calmed down now. Arza returned the nod and chimed in for the final chorus

And I hope that you'll know
That nature is so
This same rain that draws you near me
Falls on rivers and land
And forests and sand
Makes the beautiful world that you see
In the morning

Shiro's eyes closed and her face relaxed as she began to drift off into a peaceful slumber and Ember sang the last few lines.

Everything's fine in the morning
The rain will be gone in the morning
But I'll still be here in the morning

And just like that, she was asleep. Ember gently laid her down in the bed and tucked her in the covers, then sat next to her, looking down deep in thought. Something about this felt... right... she felt like she wanted to cry, but she was happy too... As she looked down at the peaceful face of the sleeping child a storm of emotions raged inside her. She couldn't quite sort them out, but she knew that she wanted to help these children. While she was lost in thought, Arza and Akune sat next to her and leaned in to embrace her, this made her jump slightly and look down.

"E-Ember-chan... c-could you... please stay with us for the night?" Arza asked in a quavering voice "Shiro hasn't slept like that since mom died... we... we haven't either... could you...?"

Ember smiled "of course..." she said softly as she held them close "you can both relax... I'll keep you safe..." Before long, they were all asleep for the night.

The next morning Akune woke before the others and got up and walked over to Ember's zanpakto. Regular weapons were of limited use against hollows, some hollows were susceptible, but larger ones with hierro weren't... but this woman was a shinigami, so this oddly shaped sword must be a zanpakto, in that case if he took it... he could finally go kill the hollow that had taken their parents away. Every night he’d lay awake, torn up by the guilt of just running away when his parents sacrificed themselves for him and his sisters. He was the brother, he wasn't the oldest physically, but he was actually the eldest in actual age, it was his job to take care of his sisters and keep them safe...

But what had he done? He turned and ran like a coward, and even after that, what had he done since? Arza was the one who stepped up and became the responsible one, she took care of shiro and gathered fruit to eat and found places for them to hide. He'd just dug some pit traps and made futile attempts to get back at their tormentor that deep down he knew were pointless. Even if he caught the thing, what was he gonna do? jump down and beat it with a stick? No, he was only trying to distract himself, to avoid stepping up to the plate and moving on with life the best he could like his sister had.

Akune grabbed the blade by the hilt, with this, he could change that. He had a weapon now! and he'd been practicing with wooden swords for ages so he knew he could use it. He could go hunt that hollow down now, and when he found it, he'd have a blade that could kill it. He wouldn't be the cowardly little brother anymore, he'd be the hero of the village who avenged his parents against all odds, he wouldn't have to feel guilty anymore, and his sisters could sleep soundly at night again, Shiro wouldn't be scared of the rain anymore, Arza wouldn't need to work herself to the bone just to scavenge for the supplies to survive... He griped the hilt tighter and turned to sneak out, and bumped right into Ember, falling on his rear.

"Where are you going with that?" Ember asked, despite having caught him red-handed stealing her zanpakto, she didn't sound angry.

"I... I just wanted to..." Akune said, but couldn't form the words and simply looked down in shame

Ember knelt down and put her hand over Akune's, which were gripping the hilt so tightly his knuckles were turning white "I know, believe me I do... I've... lost people too... I watched helplessly as they were taken away from me... I was angry, I felt worthless and pathetic, I felt like a coward, I was mad at the world that had done this to me, but mostly I was mad at myself for being so weak. That's what made me become a shinigami in the first place... I wanted to grow stronger so that I wouldn't feel that way anymore. To be honest, even now I still feel a lot of that, I just hide it, just like you do right?"

Akune nodded and his shoulders sagged "I just... I want my sisters to be happy again... you can see it right? Shiro is terrified all the time that the hollow will come for her next... and Arza puts on a brave front, but she cries herself to sleep every night... last night was... it was the first time either of them slept soundly since mom and dad died... I wanted to make it better..."

Ember leaned forward and gently kissed Akune on the forehead "I know, you're a good brother Akune, just like mine was" she said sadly as she gently removed her zanpakto from his hands "and you're going to grow up to be a fine man, so don't throw your life away. Take care of your sisters, I'll take care of that hollow"

Ember stood and attached her sheathed zanpakto to her side, then turned to walk out, she understood it now. That vortex of emotion from last night, her whole life she had been like these children, scared, alone, in despair, and each time she sunk into that someone had come along and saved her, reached out a hand to her through the darkness and despair and pulled her to the light. Now... now it was her turn to do the same for these children... She took a step, but stopped as she was hugged from behind.

"Please... come back safe..." Akune said as he held on tight "I don't care if you can't kill it... just... I don't want anyone else to die protecting me... so please... just... live"

Ember reached back and ruffled the young boy's hair "you got it" she said with a smile, then she broke free of his grip and left the building, it was time to go hollow hunting
Ember set off to the other side of the forest, where the cliff was located, if the children were right, then the hollow's lair would be there. She'd go, slay the beast, and complete her mission. And then the children could be free from the terror that plagued them. She made excellent time and soon reached the cliff, it was a large area emerging from the woods, there were plenty of places in the cliff face where a cave home could be found or made, but she couldn't easily search it for each and every cave. She had another way to draw the hollow out however, she had learned that the village was abandoned and the hollow had been feeding on the souls of trees for a while now, meaning it must be rather starved compared to how it had been eating when it arrived. Hollows were greedy creatures by nature, and while it could certainly subsist on its current diet, a shinigami soul would be too appetizing to pass up.

Ember drew her zanpakto and raised her reiatsu as high as it would go, broadcasting her location very clearly, she knew it would come, and it had been hunting all night, so it would be tired. This was the best plan possible to get it to come out of hiding. Sure enough, the skys darkened and it began to drizzle as something began to climb over the edge of the cliff. Ember took a ready stance, this would be a dangerous foe, if it could affect the weather with it's mere presence.

The hollow that climbed up was very large, so large that Ember took an involuntary step backwards. This wasn't your run of the mill hollow, it was... "a...an adhunchas?" she said with a gulp. The hollow towered over her, at least 10 feet tall, with reptilian skin, aquatic looking frills on the back of its neck and ears, a forked snake tongue flicking in and out of its triangular head, two large and muscular arms, and a lower body of a snake. She was in trouble, even a gillian was a threat to someone on her level, thankfully those were stupid and slow, she could probably beat one, though she'd never tried. She didn't have those edges here though, adhunchas class hollows were faster, smarter, and even more powerful, she was outclassed to the point where she couldn't even hope to run for it.

The hollow hissed in what might have been laughter, then charged at breakneck speed, slithering towards her from standing still to a full on sprint in a split second as it raised an arm and threw a punch. Ember narrowly managed to jump aside as the punch pulverized the ground where she'd stood a second before. "Rage! Otomi no Ikari" she called as she flipped through the air to land on her feet. her shikai burst forth in a torrent of fire, which she wasted no time throwing at the hollow in a stream.

The hollow hissed as the flames slammed into it, surging around it's skin and singing it, but it wasn't doing any real damage, and it wasn't even pushing the hollow back. With a swing of it's arm it dispersed the fire and charged again for another swing. This time Ember was ready and ducked forward, the fist of the hollow passing mere inches over her head as she shunpod forward, slashing across as she passed by the hollow. She moved through the slash, and managed to deliver a shallow gash to the thing's waist, a splatter of blood fell to the ground as Ember's shunpo ended and she turned just in time to frantically throw up her guard as the hollow's snake tail smacked her through a tree.
Getting back up with a cough, Ember received no time to regain her wind, as she immediately had to jump up and over the hollow as it smashed at her, turning in mid-air behind the beast she unleashed a blast of flames, which did no more damage than the first, then landed on the ground behind it and jumped sideways to avoid it as it turned rapidly and smashed at her again. This time as she moved she sent a blast of fire at the armpit of the beast. This flame made a sizzle at the weaker and more vulnerable flesh got singed, but it didn't do any major damage. She skidded to a halt and fired again at its lower back, she needed to find a weak point, some way to seriously injure the thing, or at least drive it off.

The hollow snarled in irritation as it turned again to smash at the pesky shinigami pelting it with these light attacks, it was being such a nuisance, jumping around and acting all slippery, and the hollow was in no mood for the nonsense. Once again Ember saw the attack coming and dodged, shooting off another blast before beginning to react to the next attack. She was starting to see how this enemy worked, it was far faster and stronger than her, and it was good at moving in curved patterns to turn, but the snake tail got in the way when trying to make these tight turns, and it televised its attacks as a result. So long as she kept on her toes, she could avoid it.

Ember darted forward again, slashing at the hollow's shoulder as it smashed where she'd been, she scored another shallow gash, little more than a nuisance to the beast, but it was something, she could whittle it down as long as she kept this up. She ended up behind the hollow with this move, so she turned and executed a spinning slash to deliver a long gash to the thing's back. Before it could manage to turn she kicked off it's back and back-flipped away to get some distance as she fired off a blast of flame right in the hollow's face as it turned, momentarily making it pause  and cover its face out of sheer instinct, that left the armpit she'd burned earlier wide open. With a shunpo Ember darted in and, without stopping, tore her blade through the hollow's already weakened armpit flesh, delivering a much nastier cut than the ones she'd managed so far, even so, it wasn't the kind of wound that would bring it down, only cause it pain.

Ember landed behind the hollow, but this time something went wrong, she had expected less resistance from the hollow's burnt flesh, and it threw her off ever so slightly, this would've been fine, except that the rain coming from the sky, rain that had been pouring down on ground not equipped for such torrential downpours for months now, had made the ground extremely muddy now. Ember slipped as she stopped, losing precious seconds as she tried to regain her balance.

The hollow saw the opening and swung it's fist at the pesky prey biting back at it, Ember knew she could never regain her footing in time, so in desperation she jammed her sword into the ground and used it as an anchor point to throw herself to the side, narrowly evading the punch and rolling towards the cliff, where she began to try and get up and regain her footing.

The hollow hissed in amusement and pleasure, the shinigami may have evaded death there, but she was disarmed and cornered by the cliff now. It casually slithered around, wrapping its tail to surround the blade and cut Ember off from it entirely as it opened its fanged mouth and began to charge a cero.

Ember's eyes widened, she was still off balance, she had no sword, and her back was to the cliff, she had no way to dodge! No kido available to her either, she had no talent for it at all. "Damn!" she cursed as she desperately struggled to get up in the mud to try and get away.

The hollow was about to fire the cero to finish the shinigami off, when suddenly it was distracted by a rock hitting it in the back of the head, then another, and another. It stopped charging the cero and turned to face the source of the rocks.

"You get away from her you stinking monster!" Akune yelled as he hurled another rock

"We aren't letting you touch her!" Arza said as she threw a rock that hit the hollow in the eye and made it hiss in pain.

"Big bad hollow stay away from mama!" Shiro said with shocking conviction for her age as she hurled a rock into the hollow's other eye

Ember was surprised to see the children, but Shiro's words shell-shocked her, Mama? Did she hear that correctly? Surely not, it couldn't be... right?

"Ember took care of us like mama used to, she sang to us just like mama did, I won't let you hurt our new mama too!" Shiro said "So get away from her!"

The hollow hissed in irritation, what was all this nonsense about? Was this shinigami the parent of these brats or something? Stupid kids, coming out here in some stupid act of heroism, it'd eat them first, then finish off the shinigami girl. It slithered around to face them and prepared to charge.

Ember's eyes widened and filled with tears "No! Arza! Akune! Shiro! get away from here! It'll kill you! Don't sacrifice yourselves for me!" she cried

Arza and Akune picked up their next rocks and prepared to throw. "I promised never to run and let someone die again" Arza said "this time..."

"this time..." Akune chimed in

"we're gonna fight back!" they said in unison

"Don't be idiots! You can't fight this thing by throwing rocks at it! you're just throwing your lives away!" Ember screamed, she could feel that pain in her chest come back stronger than ever, she could feel her heart breaking again, she'd trained so hard for this very moment, and now once again would she be forced to watch people be taken from her again?

"Everything's fine in the morning, The rain will be gone in the morning, But you'll still be here in the morning" Shiro sang as she picked up a rock "right...? mama...?"

Ember's breath caught in her throat and her pupils narrowed, this wasn't happening, she couldn't accept that it was happening, had she finally found something to fill the void of her broken heart only to have it ripped away immediately after? Was she destined to suffer the same tragedies again and again? To never be able to care for another soul again simply to avoid the pain of losing them? Ember closed her tear-filled eyes... then opened them and glared at the hollow with steadfast determination as it began its charge. Everything seemed to slow down, she saw the look of terror and bravery on the children's faces, their desperate stand against the monstrosity coming at them, her zanpakto hilt coming back into view as the hollow uncoiled from it to charge.

"No..." Ember said as her eyes blazed with reiatsu "Not this time"

Ember shunpod forward in a desperate lunge, not even bothering to get proper footing as she desperately grabbed the hilt of her sword, her knees scraping along the ground as she did and ripping apart the skin. She gasped in pain, but gripped the blade tightly and drove it deeper into the ground as she screamed "My heart is frozen!"

The command switched her zanpakto to its ice fire mode, and Ember poured her reiatsu into it, generating a massive amount of flame underground that took all of the soaked mud and instantly froze it, traveling through the ground and freezing it to cut off the cliff between the hollow and the children. The expansion of frozen ground made the entire end of the cliff break apart and begin to fall through the air. And then they were falling, the hollow roared as the ground beneath it gave way to open air as it and Ember were separated from the rest of the cliff.

Ember drew her blade from the chunk of ground she'd been on as they fell, the cliff breaking apart into numerous blocks of frozen earth, with the hollow flailing about helplessly in the air as it lost all the ground it had to stand on. Her blade burst into blue fire as she sprung off her block and to the next, jumping between the falling debris with shunpo as she made pass after pass at the hollow, slashing it while it was helpless and moving through, landing on another block and then repeating the process. Once, twice, 4 times, 8. She unleashed all the punishment she could on the hollow as the number of platforms to spring from grew fewer and fewer, each one she used either broke apart or was knocked too far away for use, after the 10th cut, she only had one platform directly above it.

The hollow howled in rage and fired a hastily charged cero up at her as Ember sprung down, her blade producing colossal amounts of blue fire, far greater than she'd ever produced before and engulfing her in flame as she stabbed downward, meeting the cero head on... and piercing through it. Her attack cut through the cero and split it around her as she stabbed the hollow in the face in a massive burst of freezing flame. But she wasn't done, using her legs to latch onto the triangular head of the hollow and gain leverage she drew her blade back and stabbed again, and again, and again, over and over, she ferociously stabbed the hollow as they fell together. The hollow screamed in agony as its mask began to crack apart and break off. Its body began to dissipate as it died from the countless strikes, each stab amplified by the fire.

"I wont!" Ember cried as she stabbed again "let you!" another stab "hurt them!"

With one final stab, the hollow was finished, its mask fell apart and the body faded to nothing. Ember, falling from an immense height and utterly exhausted, closed her eyes and waited for the end "at least... I saved them" she thought

"Saving someone and then dying on them? I would've thought us the last to do that" Ember heard her zanpakto spirit say in her usual wailing tone, but with a touch of anger added in "we know, we know the pain of losing someone, you'd subject those children to that again after they just found you? Maybe that's how you do things, but I won't have that on my hands too"

Ember's eyes opened wide as her zanpakto acted of its own accord, torrents of blue fire shot down and formed an inferno beneath her, chilling the air to negative temperatures in an instant, then, just when Ember thought the crash into the flames was coming, the flames switched back to heat, hyper-heating the frozen air around it and causing it to burst outwards in a shockwave of heat and wind. The sheer force of the wind increased the wind resistance on Ember's body, and while it did sear her flesh and burn her, the increased resistance slowed her fall massively over a very quick period of time. The flames parted, and Ember crashed to the ground, battered, with broken bones and burns and skinned knees, covered in mud and grime and sweat, but alive.

Ember's zanpakto sealed itself as it lay on the ground next to her, the spirit was silent. "th...thank you" Ember croaked, there was no response from her spirit, but the angry aura her blade was giving off seemed to fade a bit.

Ember lay there for some time, she didn't know how long, it couldn't have been too long, but she was too exhausted to care. Before long the children had descended the cliff and were running to her

"MAMA!' Shiro cried as she threw herself into Ember's arms, which she'd only barely gotten up in time to prevent an impact to her broken ribs. Arza and Akune were right behind Shiro, though they were more mindful of her condition and instead gently hugged her.

"Are you three ok?" Ember asked through the pain

"Yeah... we're all ok now, thanks to you..." Arza said with eyes filled with tears of relief

Ember nodded, then raised her hand and slapped all three children on the cheek, they recoiled in shock, but before they could protest Ember began her tirade. "Don't you three EVER pull a stunt like that again! Do you realize how much danger you were in right there!?!? You nearly gave me a heart attack! Do you think I would be happy if you saved me but died in the process? How do you think I would feel then!?!? If you three do anything like that EVER I swear I will ground you until you're as old as head captain yammamoto! No! Longer! Until you're older than him and all the other captains combined!"

The three children stated in stunned silence for a moment, then Arza began to laugh, it was a chuckle at first, but it soon erupted into full on uncontrollable laughter. Soon Akune and Shiro joined in, leaving Ember rather stunned. "Hey! I'm serious here! what's so funny!" Ember asked

Arza wiped her eyes "it's just... you sound just like our Mom used to when she'd get mad, I don't know, I just felt... happy"

Ember's eyes widened in shock, and she thought back to what she'd said, after a moment of stunned silence, a smile crept onto her face. "yeah... I guess that would be something a mom would say huh?" she said as she embraced the children tightly once more. She closed her eyes and cried out tears of joy, it had taken years and years or loneliness, but at long last, she'd found people who could fill the void in her heart, people she could love and protect and cherish again. Much to the children's surprise, she began to break down sobbing. They remained there, holding each other in contentment, until they all fell asleep from the exhaustion of the day's events. Above them, the rain clouds cleared away and a single beam of sunlight shined down on the scene, illuminating them in a beautiful light.

----- several weeks later------
A week and a half had passed since Ember did battle with the hollow, her injuries had rendered her unable to travel for several days, and it took another couple to get the kids ready to move to her house in the Seireitei and sort out the adoption papers. The locals, once notified that the hollow was gone, joyfully returned to their homes and threw a great party in Ember's honor. The celebrations lasted well into the night, and then she helped clean up the next day.

Ember also stuck around a few days to help with restoring the forest. Using her shikai, she was able to help the villagers drain the excess water from the ground in town and around the forest. It was grueling work, and she fell into at least three more of Akune's pit traps in the process, 4 if you count the one where a villager bumped into her and she literally stumbled into it. She confiscated Akune's shovel shortly after that final incident and had him and some other villagers fill in the rest while she continued to work in each section while standing absolutely still.

After the restoration of the forest's ecosystem, Ember and the children left the town to many friendly goodbyes in a horse and carraige given to them as a gift to help carry everything. The trip back was a long one, since the children weren't shinigami Ember couldn't cover nearly the same amount of ground she had on the way out, and several times a carriage wheel broke and they needed to stop to fix it. Still, after about 3 weeks, they reached the Seireitei and got the children settled into their new home, Ember left them to unpack and relax after the long journey while she compiled her report, then set off to hand it in

And so, at long last, Ember returned to the squad 13 headquarters to hand in her report on the mission. She handed the folder over to the official, who read it over with great interest "well, it seems you certainly had an interesting time of it with this one huh?" she commented as she finished and put the report down on the desk to stamp it approved. "I never could've guessed any of this coming from you, I'd love to hear all about it in detail, me and the other gals are heading out for some drinks after work tonight, wanna come and join us? We'd be glad to have you"

Ember opened her mouth "I..." she began to refuse out of habit, then she closed it and gave it more thought. After a moment she smiled and said "you know what? I think I will!"
Ok so a little bit of explanation on what this is. See Ember is a Bleach OC I've used in other RP forums and the like, pretty much the same profile as the one she has on here.

One day I heard this song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlmhMS…

And something about it just screamed Ember to me. It was just... her... I'm sure some of you fellow OC creators understand that feeling. So in one of those RP forums I did a solo thread with a short story I made for Ember and this song. This was at least a year ago, maybe two years. It was extremely emotional and I put a lot of effort into it, and it turned out amazingly.

To this day this remains one of my favorite RP threads of all time. I recently revisited it for nostalgia's sake, and decided to save a document to my computer with it so it would never be lost even if the site went away or something. After some formatting revisions and whatnot, I decided to share it here.

I'm planning on including in Ember in my fanfiction at a later point, and this story is canon for her, with some alterations for continuity purposes (in the RP she's transferring to the 12th division and is in the 13th, in the story she will be in the 9th and will not be going anywhere. In the RP Mayuri surgically cured her of her hemophobia, that will not be the case in the fanfic.) but the core of this story is going to remain the same.

So enjoy one of my favorite works of all time :)

Bleach belongs to Kubo
Song belongs to the original artist
Ember and the writing belong to me
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Readeroffate's avatar
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star: Vision
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star: Impact

I'm a Bleachie, I've loved it's plot ever since its first chapter. So when I found out you wrote a fanfic based on Bleach and you wanted someone to critique it, I was ready to critique. And can I say this story was really good and it would have made a pretty cool episode.

First, it doesn't center around the main characters, nor does it center around the side characters. It focuses on a new OC, named Ember. She has a pretty good backstory, she has a good personality to her, and she's easy to relate to in some ways. She's a bit overpowered, but this is Bleach who isn't overpowered. It talks about her getting over her fear of losing those closest to her. A pretty good main plot to focus on.

I like how you introduced different concepts in this. You could have done numerous other things to help her get over her fear, but it wouldn't have had as great as an impact of introducing characters who would risk their lives to protect her and her them. It's a beautiful Bleach fanfiction, it doesn't need fight scene after fight scene to get to the point , like in some fanfics. Those are great, but sometimes a story doesn't need a ton of fights, like this one. Keep up the good work, I'm happy to critique for you at any time, and I hope to read more from you in the future.