Chapter 99 - A Satisfactory Conclusion
"Sorry about this. To be honest, it's a pain for me too." – Coyote Starrk.
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This particular laidback wolf was not one to be spectacularly surprised by anything anyone did, because why would he? It was either he was too engrossed in his self-loathing to notice, too lazy to care, or couldn't even be bothered in the first place.
When they arrived in Las Noches, honestly if Baraggan had come to ask him to serve under him(maybe without all the death threats) and that he and Lilynette will be allowed to stay with at least a few Hollows that wouldn't just die out in his presence, he would've agreed.
Starrk didn't care much about a lot of things and serving under someone for the purpose of camaraderie wasn't that much of a big deal. In fact, Starrk would argue that he's on the winning side of the deal.
Then why?
Why didn't he accept when Baraggan gave him that option? Why did he ask Itachi, a stranger and enemy, to secure Lilynette's safety while he stayed behind to hold back Baraggan?
Someone he had known for barely a week and he was putting Lilynette's safety in their hands. A Shinigami for that matter. Thinking about it now, maybe Lilynette was right after all that he was going senile.
Still, none of these changes anything.
He was fighting a Vasto Lorde Hollow, and even when he knew Lilynette was in danger – AGAIN! – he still remained fighting Baraggan and seemed to trust Itachi to save Lilynette.
His thoughts were so conflicting and alien that his focus wavered for a moment which Baraggan immediately capitalized on.
His aspect of death flared up, which Starrk's senses immediately became aware of, but while he tried to defend with a few Cero of his own, Baraggan dissipated his ability, a clever feint, and went for another one coming from up above.
Starrk's Cero clashed Baraggan's aspect which, for a split moment, left his midsection opened for a brief moment which Baraggan used to slam a Cero into him.
Starrk flew back and took a dive into the sands, and Baraggan, not being one to miss an opportunity, called back his aspect of death and let it sink into where Starrk fell into.
Baraggan could feel it. Or rather he couldn't.
His fraccion's Reiatsu. They were disappearing one by one. Snuffed out. Killed.
And now only three remain… only two remained.
A breath of fresh death for all. The final respite of everything – living and nonliving.
"RESPIRA!"
Black and purple miasma bellowed out of him in a torrential wave – rotting, decaying and killing EVERYTHING it touched.
A point to kill. A point to destroy. A point to make across.
It all began with a point, a tiny dot in the void. And when everything has turned to dust, then the end point would have been reached.
"CERO EL PUNTO."
Zero Point.
Was it because of what came out from below or because of what fell down from above?
The cause didn't matter because the end result would have been the same anyway.
The white sand hills and the sparse crystal trees, all of it, killed off. Erased from existence.
All reduced to an endpoint.
The might of two Vasto Lorde, the highest evolutionary anomaly of the tainted Hollow souls, having the same level of power – or perhaps even greater than – as that of a vaunted Shinigami Captain.
Despite being miles away, the walls of Las Noches trembled and cracks ran through it from the resulting shockwaves of… whatever that was.
Even more surprising was the blanket of darkness that could be seen from as far as Las Noches. A void dark space thrice the size of Las Noches where everything within it was erased to nothing.
A new eternal point in the landscape of Hueco Mundo.
…..
Three people – Itachi, Lilynette and Starrk – sat at the peak of a small mountain and just stared off into the blankness that was the perpetually monotonous canvas of Hueco Mundo.
"You're going back, right?" It was a question that sounded like a statement, one which Itachi gave a little hum to.
This time Lilynette didn't argue or say something smack, just hanging her head even lower when Itachi replied.
"My window is up. I can't push it forward more than this."
Starrk scratched the back of his head, trying and failing to mask his frustration, before ultimately giving up and sighing tiredly. In the end he asked a simple question out of curiosity.
"What does the World of the Living look like?" Even Lilynette's ears perked up to hear Itachi's answers.
"Of the three worlds – Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, World of the Living – I believe the World of the Living is the one that is most 'alive'. Unfortunately, it's not for any of us dead souls to inhabit."
Starrk and Lilynette gave a mirthless chuckle at that. That much was obvious, even for them. With the Living World being the most fragile world, mostly due to it being almost barren of spirit particles, Reishi, compared to Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society where everything there was made of Reishi.
"Itachi," Lilynette called out softly, her words coming out in nothing more than a whisper.
"Mm?"
"Will you… come back here… to Hueco Mundo?" She hugged her knees closer to her chest and wordlessly muttered something with her face buried between them.
Though she didn't make a sound, Itachi could read the slight twitches on her face and was a bit saddened when he realized what she couldn't bring herself to say.
'Please.'
Starrk didn't notice what Lilynette couldn't say but there was no doubt that he understood exactly how she was feeling.
Itachi regarded the two Hollows besides him with a brief glance and did something that was very foreign and alien to him, something he couldn't actually remember doing in his short-lived life and shorter death — an impulsive decision. No logic, no reason, no tactical benefit behind it.
"It might take a while, a few months to a few years, but I might be able to visit Hueco Mundo every once in a while."
The smile practically grew on her face and her eyes almost seemed to sparkle with sheer ecstasy and hope.
"Really!?" She pushed her head towards him, asking for every tiny detail to make sure she didn't hear wrong.
There was a part of him that told him to smile if he was feeling like it but Itachi promptly ignored it.
"It might take some time, but yes. I still have unfinished business in Hueco Mundo. As for if we'll see again—"
"You can come to our old place. We'll just go back since we have nowhere to go." Lilynette said.
Itachi looked at Starrk with a calm stoic face that carried with it a pair of questioning eyes, making Starrk chuckle with a nonchalant shrug.
He dug his hand into the sands and raised to his eye level to watch the wind slowly blow them away.
"Lilynette is right. Better to go back to our valley than wander around with no purpose. Not to mention Baraggan will be looking for us. Best to keep our head for now."
"That, or you can try to find other Hollows like yourselves. They might be rare, yes, but that's no reason to think you both are the only Hollows like this." Itachi suggested.
"Are you trying to mock me, Itachi?" Starrk lazily drawled off, not in the slightest bit offended. At least he didn't sound so.
Itachi ignored Starrk's remark and slowly stood up. "I'll see what I can do about that."
With someone like Starrk, finding someone that appreciated at least the general characteristics he upheld would be a good thing for all of them.
Itachi, personally, knew the mental and heartfelt pains people who were alone went through. Genuine companionship was a great treasure that most, unfortunately, fail to appreciate.
"Wait, how are you going to go back to the Soul Society?" Lilynette couldn't help but ask.
"The same way I came in." Was his simple reply. "Trust me, I have it under control. Until we meet again then."
He didn't wait for them to say anything before he left, leaving behind a pouting Lilynette and a grumbling Starrk.
With his mission concluding in a slightly intensive manner, the Shinigami made his way towards where he had found a colony of Menos and a few Adjuchas. Itachi didn't mention anything about Aizen to Lilynette and Starrk because there was no reason to. The details concerning the mission was for him, and him alone, to know.
"I wonder how Junpei and Soi Fon are doing." He muttered to himself as he went about his way.
It would have been better if Starrk and Lilynette could have opened a Garganta for him to pass through, but unfortunately neither of them had any experience with it being the severe recluse they were.
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