Nick Kane

Gateway 66

I barely slept that night.

The press of Luna’s body on mine, her hot breath on my neck, her spiritual pressure blanketing me, all mixing together to form a sense of contentment in me that led to one of the best nights in my life. And I wanted to be awake to experience it.

My plans for dealing with the clusterfuck of the previous day could take a backseat to helping Luna get a handle on her new abilities. Although I doubted it’d take more than a day or two for her to want to go...

Gateway 65

The sword in my hand faded away as light exploded out of Luna, her spiritual pressure shooting up to the level of a seated officer.

Instantly, I caught her falling body, watching as the light dimmed to reveal her new form.

Now wearing a shihakusho, Luna was staring in wonder at the silver short sword in her hand. Her Zanpakuto had a sky-blue leather wrapping around the hilt and a crystalline pommel that reflected the moonlight like a diamond.

And then, her face closed off in...

Gateway 64

My senses sharpened, and my hand went for my Zanpakuto’s hilt in preparation for the fight to come.

I focused on Luna and apparated to her, leaving the useless people who hadn’t felt anything to gawk in my wake.

The first thing I noticed was that Severus, Luna, and Isane had relocated to a new classroom after I left. The second was that Isane was just as on edge as I was.

“You felt it too?” Isane asked, her eyes moving every each way in wait for a possible foe to app...

Gateway 63

The string tying Voldemort’s soul to his body withered away, the string attaching Harry to the body with it. And then Voldemort’s soul changed, from a desiccated corpse-like thing, into black, ectoplasmic smoke coming out of his head as he attempted to fly away.

Not like it did him any good. He was so slow compared to what I was used to that he didn’t even move an inch before I had already taken him by the head.

As I inspected his new form, Voldemort used his s...

Gateway 62

Fleur

It took Fleur a minute for the shocked terror of having the Killing curse cast at her to change into the overwhelming relief of being saved.

Her emotions warred inside of her, from the anguish and despondence from the way her life was so carelessly thrown aside—‘Kill the spare’ echoed in her mind—to the grateful joy of him appearing at the last second and saving her…

And it was him, just his voice was eno...

Gateway 61

“A little bit over an hour,” Kyoraku said with a sheepish smile.

I held back a wince. The fight in my inner world hadn’t taken long, but learning everything I needed to did.

Thankfully, that was the only absolutely necessary thing I needed to do before going. Rushing through everything else I needed to do in the next hour, so I had an hour to spare after I got to Hogwarts, was fine.

“Do you plan on fighting your way out if we don’t allow your departure?”...

Gateway 60

Luna

It was with dismay that Luna watched the third task start.

She and everyone she’d talked to about it thought the organizers would have realized their mistake with the second task, but it seemed that they had decided to double down instead.

The people around her grumbled as they noticed it, and at least one couple left when the last competitor entered, and no way to watch their progress materialized.

With a sigh, she settled down to wait for the ...

Gateway 59

I spent most of the walk back after my talk with Aizen and Tousen thinking about what their revelations meant.

Soul Society was strong—I figured that out the day I arrived—but to find out that it was even possible for one being to passively hold three full universes on its back even while essentially brain dead? Insanity.

No. Real insanity was finding someone who was planning to usurp such a being.

Even though I only knew Doni out of my six siblings, I...

Gateway 58

Sousuke Aizen

He stood atop Sokyoku Hill, gazing at the Seireitei as the full moon shone brightly above him.

What Alex told him… It changed things.

Existence wasn’t restricted to a few realms anymore. And it wasn’t completely ruled by a puppeteered corpse. It was far vaster than even he could have imagined.

It also meant he wasn’t stuck anymore.

Different universes meant different universal laws, systems, and constants. It meant further a...

Gateway 57

After the fight, things settled back down for me.

For the rest of the 11th, on the other hand, everything changed.

At first, Zaraki was happy to lose. It meant he still had goals to achieve, and he was already planning on how to do so as soon as he woke up.

And then I told him why we had that fight in the first place.

To say that it hit him hard would be an understatement. The knowledge that his subordinates were stunting their growth and weakening themselves on purpos...

Gateway 56

The battlefield stood still as we measured each other up and waited.

Ever since Captain Commander Yamamoto showed up with the other Captains in tow, neither Zaraki nor I dared make a move; just his presence was enough to make both of us hesitate to continue the fight, at least until we had his approval.

I didn’t know if it was through self-preservation or respect, but it was good to know there was more than one person capable of making Zaraki obey their commands.

As we wai...

Gateway 55

I left the cigarette smoke behind me as I approached the area Zaraki had found for us to fight.

He had been rounding up the 11th for at least two hours before the time we’d set, so I gathered everyone would already be there.

Stopping to take another drag of my cigarette, I looked at the last-minute addition to the watch party. Her feline form was impatiently pacing as she waited for me.

Yoruichi had been curious about my offhand comment about my fight against Zaraki the pr...

Gateway 54: Interlude

Jushiro Ukitake

“First things first,” Urahara said, leaning back and letting the brim of his hat cover his eyes. “They’re still alive and well.”

Jushiro almost choked on his tongue at that information. The last time he saw the eight of them, they were Hollowfied. To think there’d be any chance at being ‘alive and well’ after that was unimaginable.

“You’re wondering how that’s possible when they were already taken over at that point, are...

Gateway 53

“He’s the one who showed me the way here,” I said, stepping forward. “I have a soul-related problem, and I heard you were the expert on the subject, so it made sense to come see you first.”

“Oh?” Urahara said, covering his face with a paper fan he had hidden in his sleeve. “And you used a Captain as a guide?”

His challenge wasn’t without merit. Ukitake could just as well have sent one of his subordinates to guide me here.

...

Gateway 52

My talk with Luna the next morning was, in one word, awkward.

I knew it’d have been like that no matter the circumstances, but having to do it by writing through our lockets made everything harder. Juggling reassuring her that I enjoyed it, with me needing to explain to her how dangerous it was and why we shouldn’t do it again until I found a way to keep us balanced, was a task that really should have been done in person. That way, I’d at least be able to hug her and show how I fe...

Gateway 51: Interlude

My turning of the page in the book I was reading was the only sound in the darkened library.

It was the first day after the Captain Commander gave us restricted access to the Kido Corps library, and I was making the most of it.

Jushiro and Shunsui were passed out on a conjured couch while I used my night vision to let them sleep without the glare of lamps in their faces.

What little access I had was already a marvel, and if I didn’t have more pressing concerns, I’d be go...

Gateway 50

“Thank you for calling a meeting so soon after I sent my report, Captain Commander,” I said, kneeling in front of the man in charge of the entirety of the Gotei 13.

He was a bald old man with an X-shaped scar on his head, a long beard and mustache combo, long eyebrows, and a gnarled wooden cane leaning at his side. What worried me was the feeling he gave off. While Unohana exuded the sense of imminent death only when she wanted, it seemed like he was holding back so as...

Gateway 49

I was still at the statue in confusion when Yachiru started pulling on my cheek.

“Hey, Lupinin, what do you think?” She asked, changing her position on my shoulder so I could see her face. “Kenny had to put a rush job on it, but it came out exactly how we imagined it!”

“I’m just confused. Why would he do it?” I said, eyeing the statue. “It’s not like what I did was that big of a deal.”

Yachiru rolled her eyes and looked backward at the sound of Zaraki’s...

Gateway 48

Isane Kotetsu

She had barely any time to think before the Hollow was on her, attacking in a flurry of movement she could barely keep up with.

Hollow bone plating had started to slowly leak from Yurino’s eyes to cover her face, leaving her with the top half of her face under the new Hollow mask.

Thankfully, the Hollow’s skill didn’t increase as much as its speed and power, probably because of Alex’s distraction. Otherwise, she’d be in trouble.

Gateway 47

Even though I had transfigured Isane’s shihakusho, I still cast a Disillusionment charm on both of us, just in case the Hollow recognized her on our way to it.

Isane’s expression upon seeing me cast it on myself was a thing of beauty. I knew I had a convert to my ways of magic when she saw the house, but now? Now I had a believer. I doubted it’d take a full day after our return to the Seireitei for her to start training.

Casting the spell on her, I thought she�...

Gateway 46

There wasn’t much more to do aside from just entertaining Kie during my stay at the 80th.

I simply did not care about what else was going on in the district. Who was dying and who was killing was meaningless. I had made my choice, and I planned on following through with it.

Although I didn’t expect the kid to be so good.

Kie was brilliant for her age, so much so that she mastered any game I taught her almost instantly. I gave up on that particular avenue when she started...

Gateway 45

With a small flex of my legs, I distanced myself from the man and his stench.

He wasn’t alone. Another 4 equally disgusting men were approaching the secluded area I found, with the last one carrying a crying young girl by the hair.

“So, mind explaining what’s going on here?” I asked with a sigh. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with whatever this was. I had barely gotten anything out of my Zanpakuto before being kicked out to deal with these bozos, so the idea of just...

Gateway 44

I backhanded the man in front of me as I dodged the man trying to stab me from behind, right into the path of a wooden staff swung by a third man. I let it hit, noticing with satisfaction the dread in the man’s eyes as his weapon was reduced to splinters.

Now I finally understood why Zaraki told Yumichika to give me a new set of clothes when I was leaving. This was the third group to attack me since I arrived, and I could already feel a fourth one waiting to attack after I dealt with ...

Gateway 43

“Boom, Fuji Kujaku,” I heard Yumichika say from behind me, prompting me to follow in kind.

“Now you know all, was it worth, an eyeball?” I incanted.

I dearly wished to activate my Runes, but that’d defeat the purpose of taking the mission in the first place. I had to actually bond with my Zanpakuto beyond its use as a tool, and that meant using it.

A Hollow broke the treeline heading for me, it looked like a grotesque and deformed ape with a scorpi...

Gateway 42

“All right, listen up!” I commanded the crowd in front of me in one of the clearer training grounds of the 11th.

Most of the division had shown up, as I ordered. Although I didn’t expect Zaraki and Yachiru to be here, sitting on the sidelines. But seeing them was a welcome surprise.

“These two,” I pointed to the two men beside me. Both of them were serious and nondescript, perfect for the job they’d be taking. “Are the new lifeblood of the division. Every piece of pa...

Ruminations

Yesterday, a friend of mine found out that I'm back to writing and decided spend the entire night drunkenly babbling about her story ideas to me, so when I sumbled home this morning I wrote a drabble of one of them.

___

Ruminations

The constant drip of the badly closed faucet was deafening, the cloying smell of cigarettes she’d let dominate the hotel room nauseating.

The wait was unbearable. Every second she sat there, another proof ...

Gateway 41

“Welcome, students. I am Captain Sosuke Aizen of the 5th Division. Today, as you know, we will be going on an expedition to the World of the Living for your first experience with Hollows. With me are Captain Saijin Komamura of the 7th Division and Lieutenant Alexander Lupi of the 11th Division…”

I tuned out Aizen’s lecture and yawned, more out of habit than any actual need. We had spent the entire previous night working on mixing our two systems of magic, but by the time we had ...

Gateway 40

As I entered the 5th division’s front courtyard to wait for Isane and her friends, I noticed that, despite the architecture being the same, it still allowed enough space for the divisions to showcase their character.

The 11th was all about combat, so any slightly open area became a ‘training ground’, with only packed dirt to denote its purpose, and it was dotted with workout rooms and dojos. The 4th felt like a high-quality hospital, at least the parts I had seen did. But consider...

Gateway 39

My anger had dulled down to a faint simmer during the following week, not because I had given up on having my vengeance over being tricked into being the division’s paper pusher, but because there wasn’t anything I could do short of murder that any of them would care about.

I had tried using violence, but Yachiru kept hiding behind Zaraki, and Ikkaku not only accepted the beatdown, but he thanked me for it and asked about the next time. And I couldn’t exactly force Zaraki into any...

Gateway 38

My talk with Isane was enlightening.

This world had a completely different system of magic, relying more on discovering spells than creating them.

The structure of those spells reminded me of runic arrays. Start with a classification: Bakudo (utility), Hado (offense), or Kaido (healing); add a number to denote power (1 to 99); and finish with the incantation (that suplanted the rest of the internal work of an array).

I lost track of time as I talked with I...