[Bleach] Little Black Cat

The cat often dreamed when she slept but sometimes that became remembering the past.

One set of memories kept calling out, as if demanding she pay attention, trying to remind her of something she had forgotten about.

Immortality.

It is unambiguous when one talks about one's dreams.

Without a doubt every mortal mind has shifted towards that (often lauded as unattainable) desire.

Even if few outright admitted to their wish to go against the nature of existence; one that states all things must come to an end.

When one looks at the incalculable numbers of people who died versus those who live to see beyond the end of their own universe; the impossibility of the feat does come into question. Although that also leads into the question of "what" constitutes immortality. Since some would argue just remembrance constitutes.

But for how long must people remember for it to be considered immortality, having people remember you after the end of civilization is very ambitious, afterall. At that point is it immortality if you are linked to a group of people who are as uncertain as humans? Is such a thing truly worthy of being considered?

These were all questions that the little black cats had long considered due to their uniquely dramatic time among the living. As cliche as it was to say - they were never normal. The soul of a god born in the frame of a terminally ill mortal and with a brain to resist any whispering influence the unknown may have.

Without a doubt it was a malicious attempt to curb the power of that primordial god before they even had a chance to bloom. Or even be born. What they didn't expect was for the mind to be so powerful that it not only surpassed them but the weakness of the body.

That was how Cheshire, the prime architect of the spirit/fae, came to be.

Their wisdom so mighty that they managed to even find accidental apertures in the very tapestry that made up the rules of reality. Through that they achieved a feat that propelled them even further above the gods who had attempted to drag her down. An enterprise that reshaped existence forever.

She multiplied.

Not once or twice.

For fate had saw to it that they curb the branches of opportunity through creating entire new universes where things could play out in another way. Those realms often "cut short" as she pruned reality like one would their prized poplar. A tragedy for most who were forced to realise their lack of urgency…

But for the cat it represented something that would fail to be recreated; only possible due to the largest oversight those power entities had ever made.

For Cheshire too was a mortal thus was part of that process.

In other words… There was more than one Cheshire.

With Cheshire Prime taking the lead - the once eternally separated but endless army of cats united into a think tank unlike any others - they massively pushed forward their advancement. While their body may still have been weak; they had achieved an ascension of the mind. Surpassing nearly anyone in their exploits.

Through their invention came the downfall of the divine - bringing forth the unknown fear that pushed those beings to act in the first place.

While the soul was immortal by nature and the mind had ascended to leaving an immortal legacy, a prospect talked about in literature all over, one has to question the body. With both the mind as well as soul having arissen to some form of immortality… What happens to the body that was weak by fate.

It falls into the abyss.

So what could the body of a little mangled cat do to reach up the exaggerated feats of the compatriots in the form of mind & soul who had far outstripped it long ago?

ₛ̷̲̍̀ₕ̷̨̼̀ₑ̷̲̰̋̀ ̴̫͋w̷͎̫͐͝ₒ̷̘̅ᵤ̴̟̖̊̑ₗ̴̭̉͠d̷̖͕̽̽ ̸̘́͆b̴̧̫̈́ₑ̵̨̟͆́c̷͎̆͐ₒ̶̤͍͐͘ₘ̴̼̟̑ₑ̷̦̒̃ ̸̫̜̏͑ₘ̶̟͋ᵤ̵̯̫̈́̃ₙ̴̥͌̾z̶͓̳͒͝ᵤ̸̨̍ₘ̴̮̠̒̈ᵢ̴̻̐ᵣ̸̜̟͘ₐ̷̭̅ ̷͖̯̚ₒ̴͙̌̌f̴̮̱͘ ̸̜̐ₜ̸̐ͅₕ̶̺̈́ₑ̶̺͝ ̸̰̈́̅ₐ̷͚͍̑b̶̲̿y̴̖̮̋̾ₛ̶̪̜̂̄ₛ̵̬̯͐̐;̴͕̣̌ ̸̡̟̇ₜ̷̬̃͝ₕ̵̤͂ₑ̵̮͖͐ ̸̫̋ₒ̷̣͒ₙ̶̡̈́͠ₑ̴̰̰̑̀ ̴̥̖̏̐Ŵ̴͉ₕ̴̺̻͗͘ₒ̵̩͕̀̋ ̵̺͂̕ᵣ̸̥̔̒ᵢ̶̖̚ₚ̶̢͚̓ₚ̸̥̈̐ₑ̵̠̉͠d̴̡̐͑ ̸̺̖́̂ₒ̶̳̕͜ᵤ̴̟̒ₜ̵̥̲̓ ̵̡̄ₜ̷̲̓ₕ̴̥̙̍̍ₑ̵̝̯̍͠ ̷͕̂̆ₑ̴͇͎̓y̴̢͒́ͅₑ̶̗̗̂̈ₛ̷͉̃ ̴̺̇ₒ̶̠̓̄ͅf̷͓͇̿̃ ̵͓̟͌̀F̷͈̾ₐ̴̧̯̾̿ₜ̶̫̍͛ₑ̸̣͑͆

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Darkness overtook the city yet that did not mean it became any less active.

At the very least - the streets became far more chaotic & most definitely dangerous.

Like an invisible switch had been activated and all the illicit activities that were once at least taken care of out of the way were now happening all over. There were no attempts to hide drug usage or gambling as it happened on the streets that once served the merchants. Technically currency still changed hands.

Of course that meant violet became all the more common as well. At this time of the day; those already lazy police didn't even bother to patrol around the lower city streets so nothing was stopping the gangs from taking over as de facto rulers. Something they fully took advantage of at literally every corner.

Those police obviously still were in the higher districts as a barrier to prevent any of the bedlam from overflowing into the wealthy areas of the city.

That also meant that no one was stopping the odd member from taking a random person off the street in order to use them as an atm. What could they even do about it? Not like the leaders of their organisation will hear out some random slum dweller while they were more likely to be hustled from their belongings if they approached the police.

If those police didn't just tell the criminals directly about the "unruly grass" that needs cutting.

Everyone who grew up there knew the rules so no one played hero; they all saw a group of four walking up to a figure wrapped in a tattered blanket. Strangely they had bright hair which no one believed could have possibly been beautiful. Not to mention the unnaturally perfect division into two colours.

Both bluish with one side being far more purple than the other.

"HEY YOU, WITH THE COLOURFUL HAIR, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!"

Seeing a clearly new figure standing out was enough for those arrogant gang members to get involved so no one found it surprising. They only thought the person in question was either pitiful or stupid for daring to stand out. The one in the land quickly moving forth to grab that colourful hair without care of the neatness.

"OI; LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING!"

Trying to drag that person's head up by the hair so that he could see their eyes.

Only to fail.

He wasn't even able to make that head slightly shake.

"What the-"

"Shouldn't have touched the hair~♪"

Discarding that tattered bit of cloth to fearlessly stand up - within seconds those who sought to mess with him felt immense regret. Meanwhile, those who dismissed him found themselves with an ice cold sweat down the back of their necks. That monster easily towering over all of them - even while slouching.

Leaning forwards till their forehead rested on that of the deadbeat who dared to actually grab and thus mess up his perfectly balanced hair.

"Oh~ not even a god will be able to make sense of what I leave behind of you~♪"

The man tried to hurriedly back away however he wasn't nearly fast enough to escape from the monster's hand that promptly reached out to grab his face. A malevolent smile formed on the deceptively beautiful features of that beast. Soon cackling as the fists of the thug began to smash across its chest.

"How about we let your sins decide your fate; I hope you've been a good boy~♪"

That sing-song voice did little to hide the disturbing amusement the fiend felt upon seeing that grown man panic even more at his words.

Clearly he wasn't a very good boy.

Navy flames began to spew out from between their fingers while their sharpened black nails sank into the human flesh to prevent them from slipping. A strange tattoo of whites & blacks was atop that face however it was impossible to make out what it was nor did anyone care to. Far too focused…

On the screams.

It was nothing short of horrifying.

No longer did the goon try to attack that monster but instead tried to forcibly rip the hand off his face without care if it ripped out flesh. Those blue flames only become more vicious with each attempt to pull the hand off. From grabbing the wrist then back of the hand before finally trying to remove finger by finger.

All failing as the ruffian finally gave up on resisting… Instead reaching into his pocket to pull out a rather rugged & blood stained knife. Everyone expected to see that knife pierce into that terrifying stranger's flesh, nevertheless, life is often filled with surprises.

Because that dagger didn't pierce that monster's flesh.

Not due to them being more sturdy…

But…

Because it was never aimed at that deceptively human looking creature.

"Aw~ shucks~♪"

Sounding disappointed as they looked down to see that the man had used that knife to messily cut his own jugular which resulted in a veritable explosion of blood.

Soon they carelessly threw the muscular man to the side to have them impact the now blood stained dirt like a water logged sack of rice. One of his "allies" hastily scampered over to turn him around to at least see if there was any hope. Only to reveal a harrowing scene to all those who were there.

His entire face had melted under the pressure of those flames. Meanwhile the meat had clearly been cooked to the point where the smell was almost pleasant as disturbing as that was. At certain points the bone could be seen although that had been visibly singed.

That eyeless face somehow still portraying their last expression of complete suffering that was far beyond what a regular fire should have done to a man like that.

Suddenly the tattoo on the back of his hands seemed far more familiar to all those people.

The whites and blacks were just like the charred skull in front of them.

"Now that I have your attention… Bring me to your leaders as I have a job for you~♪"

Obviously none of them answered them as everyone was still in a state of shock - something that seemed to bring the gleeful delight of a child finding a toy to that heavenly looking demon.

"Well ain't that a shame; I'll have you find out the hard way~♪"

It was then that it clicked… That thing wanted this.

"W-wa-"

"Time to-"

They didn't even get a chance to break out their stutter as that monster seemingly teleported in front of them to grab them up by the neck. Lifting them up only to then pivot on their heel. Throwing that unwilling participant over their shoulder only to then use their combined force of their body weight to-

"-Plant a dumbass tree~♪"

-bury his upper body into the ground.

Soon blood began to bubble up from the cracks in the dirt floor hardened by dozens of years of people walking down the street. Steam literally rising as the power & pressure from the slam literally ended up boiling the blood. No one had any thoughts about their head not becoming mush let alone surviving.

Abruptly they threw their free arm out only for a bastard sword to seemingly appear from under their sleeve to land right in their awaiting hand.

They thrust it forward to pierce right through the neck of another thug who was thumbling to get a knife out. His eyes widening from the pain yet that sadistic villain wasn't done. Lifting them up via the sword in their throat thus letting them slide down the full length of fuller.

Leaning forward to give a light peck on their lips as they finally hit the guard - followed by bruising whipping their sword to the side to use that not quite corpse as projectile. Having their body slam into the only unharmed member of the party who could only sit there in a daze.

"I always found this method more reliable than boring interrogation~♪"

Sauntering over with a cackle as that last member broke out their stupor on account of having their dying friend land on top of them.

Not able to easily push the hulking man off his own body he looked around only to see…

Life is moving on as usual.

No one even seemed to judge this worth paying attention to.

In that horrifying revelation he felt that unusually soft & gentle hand rest on his forehead.

"Sshhhhh~ it'll all be over re~al soon, you snack, you~♪"

Sure enough… It soon ended.

…

Once more that monster walked through the streets on their journey to one of the many gang leader hideouts only to stop upon seeing a child with black hair and black eyes; not exactly a rare sight.

The kid seemed confused and unsettled at the titan who was looking at them.

Especially confused when they used their pointer fingers & thumbs to make a box that they looked at the young girl through. Humming softly to themself for a moment. Soon nodding with a bright smile as they reached a hand out to grab that brat.

"You'll do nicely; would have been too troublesome to get the actual one~♪"

Stopping a moment to catch the cough they let go - ignoring the scared child - instead focusing on the scorch marks that were now present on the palm of their hand.

"Well if that ain't a signal to get my butt in gear then I don't know what is~!"

Laughing out loud as they turned back to the child.