antiheroed
in
damned
NIGHT 59: M01-M10 HALLWAY
Code Red. Initiate-The sudden sensation hit Riku hard. Just as he stood up to grab his sword in preparation, the power overwhelmed him and made his knees buckle fast. What was happening? It wasn't right. The feeling of this place had never been this intense before, and the stinging in his leg was still there. That feeling wasn't one he was
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Renji opened his eyes slowly, flexing his fingers and toes as he did. His body was functional, perhaps better than it had been in over two weeks. It seemed strange, after the spreading agony of poison, followed by the lassitude of what he had assumed would be death.
The ceiling was plain, white, and far too familiar, but now there was a strange extra glow to it that made him squint. It shouldn’t have been possible to hate a simple inanimate object as much as he hated that ceiling; it meant too many things, all of which he wanted to deny. He was still in Landel's. He was still alive.
Slowly, he sat up, unbound hair snaking around his shoulders. He felt well - healthy, really - but his muscles were heavy, just a little stiff as if he'd been sleeping for a long time. He flexed his fingers again, looking down at his hands and arms: no bruises, no cuts, his skin perfect except for the familiar scars that he’d earned as a child and as a Shinigami. Out of habit, he reached up to his hair, tying it back with the bit of string still around his wrist.
He closed his eyes for a moment, reaching out with what felt like no effort - there were no other Shinigami near. He swallowed hard against the emptiness of that thought, but it was another tear in the open wound that Rukia had left in his mind. No Hitsugaya, no Ran, no Momo, no Hanataro. They had all been alive still when he had died... or not died.
But the institute rang with spirit like the reverberations of a temple bell. It was strange, something he hadn't felt in two weeks, not since he'd come there.
Are you ready to fight?
He hadn't heard the voice in so long, it seemed impossible. Renji turned his head and looked at the right side of the bed, along the wall. Half hidden in the rumpled blankets was Zabimaru.
He picked up the zanpakuto with a shaking hand. For the first time in weeks, the gaping wound in his soul closed. It was enough, for now, to ignore the gaping wound in his heart.
Are you ready to fight?!
Renji couldn't help it; he laughed, so hard that it hurt his throat. "I tried being a coward," he told Zabimaru. "I guess I wasn't any good at it. I'm ready to fight now." He bared his teeth in a grin. "Fight, survive, and triumph."
He pushed the door of the room open and stepped out into the hall.
The real question was - where to first?
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