~ ROB’s POV ~
[Understood, prepare to transfer in 3… 2… 1… 0…]
I smirked as I saw Reyes and his little group of friends disappear while the two maids began their chores. But my smirk soon formed into a frown as I felt a disturbance with Reyes’ transfer and my eyes widened in shock as the purple fiery orb that represented his soul started to tear itself apart and reform in a constant cycle.
“I thought I got rid of that damned condition!” I growled in frustration, worried about my new source of entertainment dying so soon.
Before I could intervene, I was shocked once again when I saw Reyes’ soul stabilise itself and began to materialise a white substance. It ended up covering half of the orb and solidified itself as some purple markings spread across the surface of the newly formed white shell.
The solidified shell looked more like a mask as time went on, as a hole was created for an eye socket and in place of a mouth was a row of stitches that crisscrossed in an unorganised fashion. The purple markings stopped moving, which was arranged into a claw like scar the ran from the top pf the mask through the eye socket down to the bottom with a slight curve.
After processing what just happened, I was unable to prevent myself from grinning from ear to ear as I stared at Reyes’ reconstructed soul with joy. Not only did his soul resist against the complete transformation he was originally supposed to go through, his soul took control over it, adapted to and accepted the changes made.
As a result, his soul is stronger than ever and Reyes has gained an unexpected powerup thanks to his ability to adapt, which I gifted him.
‘I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him of this new turn of events.’ I thought while picturing a gobsmacked face on the ex-soldier. Especially when he realises what the people of Remnant might think of him in his current condition.
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~ Reyes’ POV ~
While a certain bastard, *cough* ROB *cough*, was laughing at me without my knowledge, I was experiencing the worst pain I’ve ever felt since my days back in training.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Screaming at the top of my lungs I rolled around a snow filled forest clutching onto my Nevermore mask. Tossing and turning on the ground in a fit of pain while the others start calling my name in worry while trying to hold me down.
For what seemed like hours I continued my screams until I unconsciously started spouting out numbers when I could finally struggle to force out words that could make sense.
“*Gasp*…Ni-GRRH-Nine hundred… and ninety-thre-NGH!... nine hundred a-AGH… eighty-six… nine-“ As I continued on, the girls just grimaced at my rambling while looking at each other as they pinned my remaining limbs to the ground.
As my mind receded back into my mind, a white substance began to form itself on the surface of my raven mask.
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~ Reyes’ Mind ~
Looking around, all I could see was darkness. Shortly after walking around aimlessly I turned around to see a chair. In that chair was teenage boy chained as a man held a pair of angle nose pliers covered in blood. Upon closer inspection, the boys fingers could be seen nailless and broken while the man re-equipped with a saw and began to cut the disfigured fingers as he kept asking a single question.
“What’s a thousand minus seven?”
“Nine hundred… and… and… AAAAGGGHH!“
“What’s a thousand minus seven?”
‘Aaahh, it’s my memory’ I concluded in a daze.
Watching the scene unfold it eventually changed to one where I was ordered to kill a group of children no older than 10, by slowly carving their skin with various tools in front of each other.
My past self visibly paled at the order but entered the room regardless where the children looked at him in fear, rightfully so. Picking up a scalpel, he grabbed the nearest child and the little girl looked him in the eye pleading ever so softly.
“I-I-I d-don’t want to d-d-die…” Tears running down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, I have no choice.” I regretfully replied.
As I was about to continue she spoke up, “Can you at least make it painless?”
My younger counterpart froze before slowly moving the scalpel to her neck before the speakers came to life, “We said slowly, Agent Reyes.”
My eyes started to sting as I said to the girl, “I’m so, so sorry.”
Following my instructors orders I killed every single child slow and painfully, all 58 of them.
My surroundings changed once again as I now stand in the middle of a firefight in my original outfit as Reaper with the black coat and skull mask. As I dispersed into a cloud of dark smoke that charged towards the enemy hideout, all of the soldiers panicked and started unloading their entire magazines, hitting nothing as I reformed with a pair of shotguns ready to fire at the men and women there.
Letting the bullets fly as I raided their base of operations, a couple could be seen saying their goodbyes with blood pouring out of the bullet hole I had made. Walking up to the pair, they greeted me with hateful glares as they pulled the pins from some grenades, “Time to die you monster.”
An explosion hit me in full force before my memory changed once again, this time showing me as I lead a rebellion against the Order.
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Fighting my way through the numerous staff there, I ended up in front of the leader of the Order. A man that seemed to be in his late 30’s, with light brown hair and eyes with an average looking face. Nothing about him stood out, no scars, no rough appearance, no scowl present on his face. Just an average looking man that could pass as a normal citizen on the street.
Smiling, he looked at my past self with amusement, “Ahh, Agent Reyes, or do you prefer Reaper? Bah, no matter. It seems as though my time is up.”
Growling at the man I spoke in a deep voice, “You’ve kept us all under your control for long enough. Soon I’ll finally be able to rest easy.”
Scoffing at my words he replied, “Rest? There will be no rest for you, politics will take care of that I assure you. You see, even without me there to stir some trouble, those in power will do all it takes to hide the truth. That’s what they do best after all.”
Pulling the trigger of my shotgun, the leader of the Order falls back into his chair with blood dripping from his wounds as he lay dead. With a grin still plastered on his face.
A new memory comes into view as I saw myself strapped into a chair as my ‘allies’ took turns of beating me to a pulp. I could see a crowd of people behind them, as I sat on top of a stage, where they all held signboards that say ‘Down with the Order!’ and ‘Kill the head of the snake!’ and many other variations.
I was framed. My country, and every other citizen around the globe believed I was the leader of the Order, that I was the source of the problem. Those that fought by my side? They were bribed. Nothing more, nothing less. Simple as that.
Suddenly the memory fades and I’m left in a graveyard, one that spans as far as the eye can see. There was nothing else, no trees, no hills, no buildings. Just a flat piece of land filled with gravestones.
As I surveyed my surroundings, a white figure gains my attention as it walked towards me. The one standing across from me was a carbon copy of myself, except he was covered in white.
While I also had white hair, he had skin as white as paper with his military attire also held the same shade of white with some black and purple outlining whereas I wore a complete black set. His eye and hair were the only things that retained its original colouring.
“Well it’s good to see you boss.” He remarked in a delighted tone, his voice similar to how one would sound when speaking through an electric fan.
I just questioningly repeated, “Boss?”
Raising an eyebrow at me he replied, “Yeah, you’re the boss. Since you’re the original me after all. You should be able to guess who I am, considering how we both know where you’ve seen this situation before.
I took a moment to clear my head before I gave out a tired sigh, “Yeah, yeah, you’re a Hollow aren’t you.” I said more as a fact than a question.
With his lips curling up he nodded in response, “Right in one. I guess you want to know how I was able to form, since you have no memory of going Hollow.”
Giving a silent yes he continued, “When we died, our soul was already undergoing Hollowfication since we were experimented on unknowingly by a group of scientists from some alternate version of Soul Society that existed in our world. But before it went any further, that stupid ROB stepped in and chose us to be used as his/hers/its, I don’t know, little plaything. However, ROB clearly didn’t do a good enough job of stopping me from forming and here we are.”
Accepting his answer, I ask him, “So what, are we going to fight it out like Ichigo or are we going to be smart about this.”
Chuckling he replied, “We’re not as stupid as them to bother doing that. We both share the same goal, getting stronger. And I know for a fact that we’ll be stronger working as one then fighting for dominance.”
Letting out a sigh of relief at my Hollow self’s reasonable mindset I stretch out my hand and said, “Well, here’s to our partnership I guess.”
Shaking my hand, he says, “To our partnership. Oh, before you go, make sure to let me have some fun for a while okay? It’ll be better if you’re used to using our Hollow powers if you keep the mask on for a while. Also, the Hollow mask can be reshaped to fit the Nevermore mask when we have it on apparently.”
Nodding to him I left my mindscape and regained consciousness.
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Waking up with my head feeling as heavy as a truck, I turn to see the concerned looks of my… friends… and give a gesture saying that I’m alright.
Tending to my headache as I sat up, I notice that my mask has turned white while the rest of my outfit had turned black with white was a secondary colour for outlining and other small details.
“How long was I out?” I ask to no one specifically.
Caster was the one who answered, “Two hours Reyes, you had us all worried.”
Checking my body for any further changes as she spoke, I quickly noticed that my left arm had not regenerated itself even with my new upgraded regenerative abilities that Hollows had. Although, Grimmjow wasn’t able regenerate his arm naturally either.
“Hmm, sorry about that. Something unexpected happened.” I replied.
“Does it have to do with that Grimm mask and the colour change?” Illya asked with a hint of concern.
“Yes, it does. But, this isn’t a Grimm mask, it’s a Hollow mask and before you ask it’s not harmful in any way. For now.” I muttered under my breath towards the end.
Speaking for the first time, Scáthach said, “What shall we do now Reyes? Right now, we don’t exactly know where we are or where we’re supposed to go.”
Humming in acknowledgement I stated, “We obviously need to find civilisation, that we all already know. I’ll send out my familiar to scout the area.”
As I finished, an abnormally large crow emerged from my shadow as it cawed. Giving it a silent command, it flies off to find signs of life.
Getting up to my feet I observe the environment for anything useful. Finding nothing interesting we all started walking East. I wanted to run since most of us could travel at high speeds but they girls insisted that I rest so I simply complied to ease their worries.
The walk was uneventful for around 50 minutes, until a pack of Beowolves started surrounding us. All of us got ready for an attack, but strangely enough they just stared at us, particularly me.
Looking closely at the pack I felt a sort of… familiarity with them which seemed odd at first. Before I realised that my inner Hollow was actually reacting to them, recognising them as Hollow. Or at least partially related to.
My train of thought came to an end as the leader of the pack, who was noticeably bigger than the rest, moved forward in a peaceful manner before kneeling down as it gestured for me to get on. Looking to the rest of my group I shrugged and jumped on the back of the Beowolf while three others offered the girls a ride as well.
Letting out a howl, the pack leader sped off towards the mountains with the others shortly following.
As we continued to ride on the back of the Grimm, I started to talk with my inner Hollow who called himself Michael. He said that it seemed ironic to name himself after the leader of Angels, Michael, since I was the Angel of Death, Reaper. I didn’t really mind, so I just rolled with it.
“Why do the Grimm feel similar to Hollows?” I asked.
“It is strange but it does make sense in a way if you think about it.” Michael shrugged nonchalantly.
I hummed in thought about it before speaking, “I guess it does. Hollows are beings that are derived from human souls but end up becoming empty after their hollowfication and feed off of humans, so technically they no longer have a soul of their own. There isn’t much known about the Grimm, but like Hollows they have no soul and also feed off of humans.”
Michael added in, “Maybe it’s just this worlds version of Hollows. After all, our original world had its own version of Soul Society.”
“Alright but the next question is, where are the Grimm taking us?”
After a moments of hesitation Michael said, “Well, if I had to guess, then I’d say you already have your suspicions for that.”
With our conversation finished, I opened my eyes to see a large castle, or fortress, in the mountains which supported my prediction.
Soon enough, we arrived at a massive wooden double door with thick metal reinforcing it. Getting off the Beowolves, I pat it’s head in thanks as I walked up to the door. Before I could knock, the door opens inward and I see a figure of a woman step out to greet us.
“Why hello there, you must be tired from the trip. Please, come in and have a seat, we can talk inside away from the cold.” She said warmly.
*Sigh*, standing right in front of me was the one and only Salem. The primary antagonist of RWBY.
Fuckin’ A.