saveyourbrain | "Five Years Later..."

"Five Years Later..."

A Good/Bad Ending Meme

Happy First Anniversary, Save the Earth.

Let us celebrate by speculating on where our characters might be in another few anniversaries - pick one or both of the below and do a little babble/blurb - and from there, o' course, freely springboard off of others... or play/thread in the hypothetical scenarios, if you'd like.

Good Ending
Congratulations, Numbers Club - you've fended off the supposed invasion, after a global chase and monster attack and pseudo-political fight one after the other! With the last of the Enemy fleeing and your lot as Earth's heroes, you've got no need to hide yourself any longer - and look how much you've grown in all that time! What have you been up to - and now that you've saved the world, what will you do next?

Bad Ending
...Or you've failed to do any such thing. The alien invasion has succeeded and swarmed over the world. They've overtaken humanity, and the Noble Numbered might be desperately putting up a last-stand defense, hiding their heads, giving in, or on the edge after a string of failures - on a case by case basis. Everyone is bound to react to the apocalypse - and failure to Save the Earth - in different ways.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good Ending

Fun fact about shinigami power: once it manifests, it slows physical aging considerably. Now seventeen, Toushirou sadly doesn't look any older than twelve, still. And won't look any older than twelve for at least a couple of centuries. It's pretty annoying, really.

Like the dutiful little grandson he is, he's still around Locke, still with his granny. Finishing up high-school this year, even. He's got the grades to get into just about any university, but will probably end up going to Locke U just to stay by his granny. Family is important.

Oddly enough, for someone so serious, so goal-focused . . . he's not really sure what to do with his life in general, though hell knows he won't allow himself to be low-rung on the ladder. He'd been a captain, damn it. He'd been in charge. Whatever he chooses to do, he'll be running the show, thank you. Just you watch.

Bad Ending

Some reincarnates are feeling beaten down, don't have the will to keep fighting anymore. Toushirou is not one of those people. It's never been in him to quit; as long as there's still a world, there's still something to fight for. Any losses of people important to him deeply upset him, but instead of sending him into a crushing depression, it only fuels him to fight harder, more viciously, even. There is no mercy on his end when he fights the aliens; it's either blinding rage, or clinical detachment.

The latter has had some of the more poetic people around call him "as cold as the blade he wields". It sounds pretty, whether it's true or not.

There's so much to do. Too much, at times. He's taken on the role of a strategist and a leader; it's what his old self was good at. He needs that here. But in addition to the fighting . . . there are so many souls that need to be helped along to their proper place. Between the living and the dead, there's just so much for him to look after.

Phillip, for obvious reasons, hasn't been taking on a leadership role or a tactical one... but that doesn't mean he's not around to help Toushirou when needed. He's probably only still around because it's pretty much impossible for him to die, considering how many times he's thrown himself in front of other people for even a chance of saving them.

And... saving people is the topic on his mind today as he goes to find his friend. The amount of fatigue and helplessness rising in the world... it could end very badly.

Toushirou can still be hurt, badly so. And he has been on several occasions. But none of it has been enough to kill him; he's survived some obscenely bad injuries. Shinigami don't go down easily, and he's had to rely on that far too often for his liking.

His own fatigue is more of a physical sort. He doesn't sleep much these days because there are so many things he needs to handle on both sides of the life/death divide. He thinks it's kind of dumb that shinigami still need sleep. There's too much work to do; who has time for that? He seriously wishes the Gotei actually existed here. He could divide up the work that way and give himself a bit of a break.

Assuming he'd actually take one, which is a long shot.

He doesn't even look away from the window he's watching out of when Phillip comes in. It's been years since he's needed to look and see when he was coming. The presence no longer induces headaches, but it remains as strong and unmistakable as ever.

"Hey."

"Hey." Yeah, Phillip know just how easy it is for Toushirou to sense him still. Maybe it's even gotten easier. He's never asked. Hasn't really been that important, and, well... even Phillip learned that they only really had time for the important questions now. Which is why instead of 'how are you' Toushirou gets, "Are you busy?"

Easier, yes. For the same reason the headaches no longer come: his own spiritual power has grown. It had to, in order to contain all the abilities he's gotten back.

"Always." Of course he's always busy. But still: "What is it?"

Phillip's not sure he really wants to talk about this, but... it would be worse not to. "...It's getting worse. People, a lot of people, are losing hope. They're losing the will to live. If this keeps up, I-- we won't have a lot of time." Even though it will be him basically self-destructing, he's pretty sure the rest of the world would go with him. And this time, there's no Matt to stop him.

He doesn't expect good news. He never expects good news at this point. Why should he?

He sighs. "I know they are. Even good people are going Hollow within minutes after death if I don't get to them before that."

It's a measure of the despair people have fallen into; the worse the despair, the faster they become Hollows. He tries to get to people before that happens. Soul burial is less painful than sublimation. But he doesn't always make it.

His jaw clenches at that news. Phillip can't help what he is; he doesn't blame him for it, much as he hates what may come. "We really need to start making some damn headway."

Something for people to latch onto, small as it may be, could stave things off, right?

Phillip nods, sighing. He's not very good at the whole 'planning' thing, so he doesn't even know where to start with this. Making headway might give people more hope, but that depends very much on how long it lasts. But... they don't have any confirmation that said headway is about to happen.

"What can I do to help?" He needs some direction here. He has to admit it, but... he might losing hope a little bit himself.

Those poor souls. Unable to rest even in death. Shiro was there to make sure they found peace.

In his stomach.

A small settlement of humans had been taken over by the Gardeners, and every one was killed. Shiro came across them on his rounds, soaring the skies on wings of hellfire. Dispatching the Gardeners was easy enough. Their weapons were powerful, but no match for his steel scales and bone armor. The damage they did do quickly healed, and soon enough, the aliens fell to his Ceros and flames.

Then? It was time for the dragon to feed. There were so many souls, and he needed their energy to replenish his stores. The beast lands, the ground shaking a bit beneath him, and he goes after every human soul he can find, goring them on his horns before swallowing them whole. He has to work fast, though; he knows that meddlesome shinigami probably won't be too far.

"Five Years Later..."

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Bad ending

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bad ending