Vai'el Head Moderator
Posts : 211 Join Date : 2014-01-24 Rank : Kaosurura Exp : 571 Weapon Skill : Expert HSM : Master Reiatsu : Master Hakudo : Master
| Subject: Vai'el Grace Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:40 am | |
| ~~~Vizard~~~ Name:Vai'el Grace Alias: -/- Age: 2,500 (2,520 to be exact) Visual Age: Mid twenties Gender: Male Reiatsu Color: A mix of blue and purple. - Spoiler:
Ex-Division: Ex-Captain of the 2nd Division / Commander and Chief of the Onmitsukido Affiliation: The Kyoshinja Rank: Kaosurura --------------------Persona-------------------- Appearance: - Spoiler:
Vai'el is most identifiable for his platinum colored hair. A natural color, mind you, but most people swear up and down that he dyes it. Aside from his hair, this male stands at about six feet tall and boast sapphire blue eyes. With a set of full dark eyelashes, his blue eyes appear to be a deeper and darker blue than they really are. His skin is fairly pale, but not without a decent tan to it. He has a minimal amount of scars, most of them being on his forearms and thighs from various events during his time in the Rukongai. He refuses to have them tended to. He often is seen wearing his earrings as well. He has no discernible features other than his platinum hair. He has no tattoos on his body, and he doesn't wear anything out of the ordinary. As far as outer-wear goes, he is usually seen wearing a sleeveless shirt of some kind and jeans. Anything else makes him feel all stuffy. Sometimes he will don his old Shinigami attire if he is feeling particularly lazy that day. His Zanpakuto, being the size that it is, is usually kept on a leg sheath wrapped around the outside of his pants. Usually. Personality: Vai'el's personality is a tough thing to describe. How do you describe someone who has never felt the loving touch of a mother, the protective feeling of being at a place called "home", the warm social network of friends (or rather allowed himself to feel such a connection)? He's been a vagabond for as long as he can remember, and though he may not know it...life wasn't that much better either. Vai'el is highly distrusting of people. He does not view the vast majority of living beings to be trustworthy. He can use two fingers to count the number of trustworthy people he has come across in his life. An ironic statement given his current situation, having broken one of the most sacred laws of the Soul Society. Still, what would drive a man to be so...distrusting of people? As a human, his mind was built up and shattered so many times by those he felt he could trust that he actually developed a split personality. As a spirit his mind is, more or less, healed together. Though he still retains a lot of the mistrust of others. Vai'el has learned to manipulate others on a very basic level to believe he is feeling something. He has mastered the art of portraying specific feelings in their entirety, being able to cry on command, laugh with a smile that reaches his eyes, and fully express and hold a look of rage. Now, what does all this mean for the average scenario? It means that 98% of the time, he's lying. Will you know it? Unless he wants you to...no, no you will not. His mind is capable of understanding emotion and producing the needed chemicals to create those emotions, but on that same hand his mind is also INCAPABLE of understanding why he should feel those emotions as it relates to people he doesn't trust, care for, and or need. Now is that to say that everyone in his life is equatable to useless pawns to be tossed aside? No. Absolutely not. At a VERY basic level he does value the lives of others in his life, but he doesn't feel he NEEDS them, and so he doesn't feel that he can trust them, and so he doesn't bother feeling anything for them. During his time as a Shinigami he never cried over a death, even after his first Captain died. He was upset, or at least his version of upset, but he didn't cry. He didn't truly mourn. He understands the science behind feelings, but it's the application of those feelings that he lacks. Mimicry he understands and he can piece together. Looking at the group around him, and using context clues, he can figure out what emotion to display at what time, but very very rarely will he actually feel the emotion he is emulating. --------------------History-------------------- History:The man below him was still as it fell through the air, gracefully falling to the ground below. The spirit's eyes looked at the fallen body of the only man he ever dared to call friend. His face was barren of emotion, void of thoughts, there was only flesh. How did it come to this? That his only friend should fall, and by his own blade no less! As he watched the man's lifeless husk fall, he remembered the times that led up to this moment. Wanting to push the rising sadness he felt behind the memories that brought him enough peace to keep him calm. - The Beginning:
It had started when he woke up to three Shinigami surrounding him, in a triangle formation with the point being at his feet, on the roof of a building in the 147th District of the Rukongai. He eyed them all suspiciously, and took notice of their openings. Getting away wasn't going to happen, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. One of them spoke up, asking if he was Vai'el Grace. The soul just stared at the guardians in silent judgement and suspicion. Sure, he knew their role in society and in life, but that didn't mean he had to trust them. While he knew the GROUP he had zero knowledge of the PEOPLE, and that is always the important part. The shinigami closest to his feet drew his blade in disgust and pointed it to the defiant soul. He demanded, in the name of the Gotei 13, that Vai'el answer his question. The soul sighed and stood up. If he was going to be like that, then this was going to be boring to resist them.
"I assume you wish for me to accompany you to the Seireitei...hm...I'll go, but I'm neither confirming nor denying my identity until you tell me why you came to me in the first place." He spoke softly and evenly. The leader sheathed his blade and growled angrily at him. Vai'el turned his clear blue eyes to the man, silently challenging him. Vai'el did not know these people or what they wanted, but he did know that if they wanted him dead they could have just done it. If he was going to go, he would make sure they knew it was on his terms and not theirs. The man sighed in defeat and turned on his heels. They trio guided the young spirit to the inner-walls of the Soul Society. Thus began the rise of Vai'el Grace...
Though why were they there? Of course they didn't just see him and decide to pick him up off the roof of some random building. No...they had been watching him for some time already. As Vai'el slept at night, his abnormally high reiatsu came began to affect his surrounding area. The child suffered from nightmares, and his heightened emotional level would cause his powers to flare up. The air around him would become distorted, and the winds would lash out in various directions. Such activity didn't go unnoticed for long by the Shinigami. In truth, he was only there a week before they had the free manpower to go search him out. He was always kept on watch though in case his powers should flare out of control and need an immediate response. All the same. In all reality, the wait wasn't very long. It did take Vai'el by surprise though. He was not execting this kind of treatment. He wasn't even fully aware of his reiatsu's effect on the wind. So when presented with this information on the way to the Seireitei he was...more than troubled. Yes. He didn't really care for anyone, but that didn't mean that he wished them harm or restless nights. He just didn't want to have to deal with them more than need be.
If they were willing to teach him, then he was willing to learn
- Academy Years:
Vai'el didn't remember his human life. He knew nothing about it. He had...feelings, if you can call it that, but as for actual memories? No. He wished that he could. He desperately wanted to know about his life in the human world. He pushed these feelings aside though when class was in session. He abandoned those desires to focus on the lessons at hand. He couldn't help but feel that combat and running had been deeply woven into his life though. During his Hakuda class he was number one, and actually ended up in an advanced class half way through the year where he was third. He also excelled in his Hoho class as well, proving to be number one both in his course and the advanced course he was placed in as well. These two areas alone drew the eyes of the Onmitsukido, and 2nd Division by extension, to him. Though he was a first year student only half way through the year, they decided to bring him to their training grounds to participate in their practice runs. Vai'el initially declined, but upon seeing them in action (during a Hollow attack in the Rukongai), he decided to take them up on that offer.
His other classes, Vai'el also shined in as well. Zanjutsu and Kido, he was also moved to advanced classes as well. He was second in his initial Zanjutsu class, and fifth in his advanced class (though he constantly moved up and down from fourth to fifth). In his Kido class he was first, and in the advanced class he was second. After knowing exactly why he was invited to join the Academy, he wanted to work hard to control his powers. He didn't want people to suffer at night because of him and his reiatsu. He would spend extra hours working on his reiatsu control exercises, his meditation, and kido casting, to insure that he had flawless control over his reiatsu. Just a little before the end of the first year he had managed to mildly suppress his reiatsu as well, which he used to avoid other students when they wanted to spar with him. At the end of the first year, he had shining colors across the board. The Gotei 13 wanted him to be released from the Academy walls, but one man stood up and said no. The 2nd Division Captain protested the idea of allowing him to leave. This came as a shock to everyone, since it was well known in the higher ranks that he, more than anyone, wanted this gifted student under his command. The leader pointed out that though Vai'el's combat prowess was great, and he had an uncanny aptitude for learning, his social skills needed work. The other students disliked him for the most part because of his icy nature, and that would merely complicate things on the field. When questioned as to how he knew this, he admitted to skipping paperwork to spy on his future investment. The Academy agreed though, and left him enrolled for a second year.
His second year was the year he also discovered the name of his Zanpakuto. With this in hand, he rarely spent any time in class, and spent more time fighting with the 2nd Division members or going on quick assassination missions. During his second year there he ended up having a private meeting with the Captain of the 2nd Division. This was a man whom he had become rather used to having chats with. He took a while to warm up to the man, but he found that the older male's wisdom and lack of invasive questioning was comforting. He went to the man's office for the meeting. There the captain passed on words to Vai'el that he has taken to heart even to this day.
"The way of the Onmitsukido is stealth. We are a Black Ops division that handles the seedy undesirable business that other divisions are ill equipped to handle. We are a strike force. We get in, get out, and leave no trace of our involvement. For what little time you've spent in our world, you have shown much promise...but, the way of the Onmitsukido is more than just the mission. You must be one of us both on the field and off. We are ill liked because of our willingness to abandon our allies, but we need allies all the same. Your...attitude, your personality, forces people away from you for anything short of a sparing partner. People know of your potential and of your skill...but if you can't gain their trust what use are you to them? What use are they to you? What use are you to us? Nobody is saying you need to change...but appearances are everything, Vai'el. Don't forget that."
After that day, Vai'el changed. Or at least he pretended to. He had awkward small talk with other students, he had lunch with students or division-mates, wherever he was that day, and other people took this change of heart as being weird. It took a month or so, but eventually they warmed up to him and this new Vai'el. He still wanted nothing to do with it. His poker face needed work, and he failed to smile on cue. Overall, acting just wasn't his forte. Luckily for him, others just dismissed his strange facial expressions and mannerisms as him getting used to social interaction. So it all worked out for our Shinigami. The captain took notice of these events, he was a bit of a slacker on paper work so he would often take strolls through the Academy to oversee students, and was pleased. He approached Vai'el at the end of his second year and offered him an official spot on his team. Of course he accepted the offer.
- Vai'el the Vice-Captain:
Vai'el spent decades in the service of the 2nd Division / Onmitsukido. Him and his Zanpakuto, began to grow close during this years as is common. Because he joined the division already knowing the name of his Zanpakuto, he was given the 7th Seat as opposed to a lower one. Once in the squad, he saw considerably less of the Captain, but would still visit his office from time to time to give him status reports. He also sought the captain out for training purposes. These training sessions were held in their training grounds and for all the Squad to see. Both fighters were given a red ribbon and the goal was simple. Fight and render the other unconscious, or swipe the ribbon. The Captain bested Vai'el for years. It was hardly a contest for the more experienced man, but Vai'el never quit. This aside, Vai'el kept up the appearance of a social butterfly. People came to rely upon him, view him as an asset, and see him as someone they could count on to perform his portion of a mission without fail. There were casualties, of course, and there were hard choices, but Vai'el began to prove himself as someone who could truly put the mission first.
He would spend almost all of his free time training in one form or another. Whether it was playing chess to sharpen his mind and tactical abilities, practicing with his Zanpakuto, working on his stealth skills, or sparing with the Captain in their little game, he was never found not doing something. This proved to aid him in the future, something we will put a pin in for right now. The Captain of the division, died during these years. They were sent to the Human World to handle a sudden Hollow attack, and normally another division would have handled this, but the leader wished to handle it as an excuse to get away from paperwork. With permission he took a small squadron, including Vai'el, to the Human World where they were met with a handful of low level Hollow. Really nothing that demanded a Captain of all things being there. The Hollow alert was a trap though. Quincy lay in wait near by and as the last Hollow was slain, arrows were loosed and flew through the air. They were outnumbered four to one here. The Captain began to bark orders, telling everyone to kill. How they had managed to get the upper hand on them is something Vai'el wouldn't find out for a years to come. For now though, he wasted no time following orders. Though he was only a 7th Seat he displayed his worth that day, dispatching Quincy after Quincy with an assassin's focus. The entire division fought admirably, but in the end it came down to Vai'el, the Captain, and a 5th Seat. The three of them cleared the remained Quincy with moderate ease. The Captain had only suffered a handful of scratches, but the other two suffered a bit more damage. They were about to radio into headquarters to report the mission when they caught wind of a very powerful Quincy. Vai'el immediately lowered his pressure to be overwhelmed by the Captain's, who was flaring his, and moved to hide. The fifth seat stood his ground for a little while longer before an arrow appeared between his eyes.
The Shinigami fell and the Captain deflected a second and third bolt. Suddenly a Quincy appeared from almost nowhere and a fight broke out. He utilized the Blut ability rather well which pushed the Captain into his Bankai. The fight went on for a while before Vai'el saw an opening. He did not hesitate to launch himself at his enemy in that moment and managed to slice his hip, though he was aiming for his spine. The Quincy grinned down at the Shinigami and nearly shot him, but Vai'el was just a fraction faster. The Quincy admitted that he knew there was a third, but didn't know where he was. That was all the wording the Shinigami would get before they would be met with dozens and dozens of arrows. It was all Vai'el could do to avoid being fatally wounded. The Captain had a better time defending himself, and managed to loose a few kido spells as well. In the end though, Vai'el was the only one who escaped. The Captain traded blows to fell the Quincy, but in the process fell himself. Vai'el rushed to his side, but the wound was fatal. Vai'el lacked knowledge of healing and so he couldn't even stabilize the Captain and call the 4th Division. The Captain wasn't afraid to die though. He told Vai'el to report back to the others before more Quincy came. Finally, he told him that he wanted Vai'el to be the new Vice-Captain and that the current Vice-Captain should be promoted. Vai'el held back tears as he watched his mentor and only friend, since becoming a Shinigami, die in his own arms.
Vai'el stood and recollected himself. He couldn't allow this death to affect him. He made his way back to the Soul Society. Vai'el gave his report to the other 2nd Division members. Nobody mourned for long. It wasn't their way. Within 48 hours they were back to business as usual. Vai'el told the Vice-Captain the message he was given, and they took the news to the Sotaicho. Within the week, Aurella was made Captain and Vai'el was made a Vice-Captain as the previous Captain desired. The newly appointed Lieutenant spent the majority of his time performing Jinzen. He would spend countless hours on top of the 2nd Division Barracks, meditating and communicating with his partner. Captain Aurella allowed this to happen, though her run of the division was severely harsher than the previous Captains. She wanted everyone training at all available downtime periods, she sent people on far more missions than her predecessor, and she never accepted failure. To report a failure to her was to basically sign your own death warrant. She would host weekly Hakuda contests between division members, with the reward being a day off duty. Vai'el didn't like her, nobody did, and that was one of the few genuine things Vai'el ever felt he connected with his division mates on.
As the new Vice-Captain Vai'el heard a lot of the complaints the Squad had. The number one, of course, being Aurella's unfair treatment. She got things done, that much was undisputed, but the way she ran the Squad was risky. Too risky. Since her taking over the amount of lives lost had gone up by about ten percent. The deaths were not what was unsettling to the Division. Death is what they were accustomed to. Death is what they knew best. They were deliverers of death, and they were good at their job. Their problem was the lack of planning she did. She reacted without foreknowledge, she was a great fighter...but a tactician she was not. Vai'el brought this up to her and she nearly had his head, claiming he was being insubordinate. The next day, the entire division was put through hell with practices. After the practices, Vai'el decided it was best to simply bide his time. There would come a day when Aurella would mess up. She was meticulous in keeping her desk work in perfect order, and in combat she never made a mistake. Truly, the things they all hated her for were nothing worth getting her canned over. Risks were taking in almost all walks of life. The business of one division didn't involve another division. So running to another Captain would do little good except for make him and the others look weak for not handling their own business.
Vai'el knew exactly how to handle this situation.
- Rise to Captaincy:
The iron first of Aurella never eased up once over the years. This was something that didn't really affect Vai'el too much, being that he was almost always busy with 2nd Division duties or training. The others, however, grew tired of Aurella's rule. They thought that maybe as time went on she would ease up. They all knew her and she knew them. She could be a bit overzealous. It didn't ease up, and this wasn't her being overzealous. She knew exactly what she was doing, and the complaint many years ago from Vai'el that the men had given him still stuck with her. She just chose to dismiss such things. Vai'el, over these last dozen years or so, had been looking into Aurella. He merely wanted to know better the woman he was dealing with. What he found though would cause him to switch tracks and gain a new mission.
It started with looking into her past with the Division. He investigated her recorded missions, and found a lot of them to be vague at best. Given the kind of logs she keeps now, he felt uncomfortable with this. As the Vice-Captain of the Second Division, and having proven to be rather resourceful when needed, Aurella appointed him Patrol Corps commander of the Onmitsukido. It seemed that this position was about to pay off as he dug into her a bit more. He gathered some men who he knew to hate Aurella, and asked them to go and gather intelligence on her history. It would take a full year before anything significant came up. During that time, Vai'el did his best to keep the peace around the barracks and on the field. He directed the men put under his care with ease, and the men under his care, in turn, respected him. Though Vai'el didn't really trust any of them, he knew they would perform their duties time and time again. The words of the former Captain still rang in his head at night, and by this point in time he could pass off just about any emotion you could throw at him. At this point in time, he could laugh, cry, joke, and play with the other division members just as easily as he could ignore them and be about his day. True they knew that he really didn't want to be doing anything with people, they knew he didn't REALLY trust them, and they knew his actual position when it came to them all. They, however, trusted him, and respected that he would actually fight nature to try and make them all a bit more comfortable. So they would help him out in this matter as well.
After that year went by, Vai'el was presented with some interesting news. It would seem that Aurella and the previous Captain had joined the squad at the same time. The Captain, however, had managed to outshine Aurella in virtually all areas. Vai'el began to compare old mission logs from back then and now. Sure enough, the one presented within a three year period before the late Captain's death were lackluster in comparison to the previous ones. He also noticed that she went from apparently hating spending time in the Human World to spending a lot more time there. As a Captain, she hardly left her desk. If she ever needed to go to the Human World she would often try to send Vai'el in her place. There were soft things. Nothing solid really, but something didn't sit right with him. He decided to pay a visit to the Human World where he would begin a ten year long Quincy hunt. The difficult part for him was that he had to go without raising suspicion around his activities. If he assumption was correct then she would probably think that he was going to do to her what she did to her predecessor. In which case, she would ruin him.
During that ten year period there was a moment when Vai'el had to investigate another Division's Lieutenant as apart of his Onmitsukido duties. The Lieutenant was accused of treason against the Seireitei by way of selling out his group to Bounts during what was supposed to be a routine Human World patrol. Vai'el had the man locked into the Maggot's Nest and looked into these accusations. During this time, the accused sat down with Vai'el while he interrogated him. While under interrogation the other Vice-Captain began to spew facts unrelated to the reasons he was present, including that Aurella had dealings with the Quincy for some time. Vai'el made a deal with the Lieutenant. If he told him all he knew, he'd make sure the investigation of him went to the top of his list. While it may not seem like a grand deal, the fact that investigations often took years and years to finish meant that this particular Vice-Captain's case would be finished a lot sooner than originally planned. A deal was made. The information obtained shortened Vai'el's search to the ten year period he was looking into his captain. Apparently, it was this Lieutenant who had bribed the Bounts to cause enough of a ruckus to keep the Shinigami eyes turned on them and thus not paying a great deal of attention to the Quincy who would attack Vai'el's previous captain. The imprisoned Vice-Captain had only agreed to it, because if Aurella was named captain then he would have a friend on the inside track. Apparently...it didn't turn out that way and thus he sold her out.
This was all he needed. Aurella had set the whole thing up just to obtain captaincy. For the first time since he came to the Soul Society, Vai'el felt something. He read over his report over and over again, he paced back and forth, he felt hot...he was angry, and he was going to ensure that she didn't get a chance to visit the Maggot's Nest. It was too good a fate for her. Vai'el brought his findings to the Sotaicho. These charges were grave indeed, but what was even more concerning was that there was more than one party involved. Vai'el promised to look into it more to ensure that no other parties were involved, but only if he was allowed to handle this situation. The Sotaicho was reluctant to allow it, but given that this matter hit close to home for Vai'el, he ended up granting him the permission he needed to execute Aurella.
That night, Vai'el performed Jinzen as usual. His Zanpakuto's Spirit contacted him. It had been watching, judging, and finally the time had come to put Vai'el through the final test. Vai'el need only do one thing in order to prove to Khione. Within the spirit's world, he must play a game of hide and seek. If he could find the spirit three times before dawn in the Human World then Bankai would be his. This was completely insane of course to Vai'el, but he had gotten used to the Spirit's antics. For as antisocial and emotionless as he was, Khione was the opposite. He loved to chat, he loved to play games...hide and seek was his favorite. Before Vai'el could ask any questions the spirit was gone. He excelled at this. Sensory wouldn't work either. This world radiated his signature. He was literally undetectable here. In this city of eternal darkness, finding Khione was like discovering a needle in a city...which is about what he was asked to do. The Shinigami set to work. He knew the Spirit. He was a trickster, but he always left clues. Vai'el managed to find him once because of an oddly shaped figure in one of the city windows, and the second time was because some of the lines in the street were slightly crooked and pointed to the clock tower. The final time though was the hardest. He almost did not make it actually, but eventually he noticed it. Rings all over the city, and all of them had notches that pointed to another ring, and another ring, and eventually he found the spirit in between two buildings. The spirit informed him that had he been just ten seconds longer, he would have failed.
Upon returning to the real world, Vai'el slept for a few hours to relax himself a bit. Aurella let him sleep having seen him performing Jinzen in the middle of the night. When Vai'el awoke, he approached her and accused her of treason in front of the entire 2nd Division during training. He dispatched messengers to the other captains. In no time at all there was a gathering of 200 people, and thus a formal duel in front of 200+ Shinigami began. Vai'el proclaimed his accusation once more and after he was done exclaimed that the chosen punishment was execution. Several captains went to step in, but Vai'el stopped them. He would be the one to subdue her. Aurella found this amusing but wasted no time attacking. In her eyes, defending her position would get her nowhere. If she was going to die, she was going to take Vai'el down with her. The fight was intense, this was nothing like Vai'el had ever done before. He knew her though. He had studied her movements, and her shortcomings. Vai'el was used to fighting stronger enemies, but fighting something like a Captain was a totally new experience. The same rules applied though. Set up traps, lull into security, strike. Of course this was a fellow Onmitsukido member he was dealing with. It wouldn't be easy to lure her into traps. Hell, it probably wouldn't be possible to trap her! He was going to try though. Her Zanpakuto was a ranged weapon when released. So he could use this to his advantage as his was an elemental one which allowed him to perform ranged or close combat.
The fight dragged on until she was forced to enter bankai. Vai'el felt a crushing sense of dread. There would be no dishonor if he called for help. The other Captains would jump to his aid. He was sure of it. He couldn't though. He wouldn't allow himself to be put into this situation. Bankai was the only way out of this, but his was so far from incomplete. Using here would basically force him into a captain's position IF it didn't kill him first. He managed to get some distance between her and him and suddenly the air in the area got dangerously cold. Even those who were used to such cold weather began to shiver uncontrollably. Then he said the words everyone feared and hoped he would say. "Bankai..." There was an explosion of white and snow, and the temperature in the surrounding area became unbearably cold. Khione spoke to him in his mind. He told him using his bankai now was basically the dumbest thing he could ever do, but if he was set on it then he had about ten minutes to end this fight before Bankai ended.
Thanks to the nature of his Bankai and how similar it was to his Shikai, 10 minutes proved to be more than Vai'el needed. Between the additional controls and more versatile nature of his Bankai, he had little trouble defeating his superior. At the end of it all, there was a nice frozen structure of the Captain. He used a quick Bakudo spell to bind her movements before freeing the woman. Her execution occurred several hours later. After all of this went down Vai'el was called to the Sotaicho's office. He was congratulated on his tenacity in this investigation, but because of it he himself would be investigated before control of the 2nd Division would be handed over to him. He agreed to this, fully understanding why. In two short years he was made captain and true to his word he sought out any other treasonous acts, though none were found.
- Fall of a Captain:
Things were normal for sometime. Vai'el being in command of the 2nd Division put his squadmates at ease. By this point in his life, nobody knew whether he still hated the idea of socializing. In truth he did, but the words of his only friend to date still rang true in his head. He settled into a nice routine of training, missions, paperwork, meetings, rinse wash repeat. He took risks like Aurella, but he never took unnecessary risks like she did. He was careful with his Divison's lives, and the other Captains enjoyed his company far more than the ice-queen Aurella. He dedicated a solid amount of time perfecting his Bankai until it was something that he could actually use in combat, but more often than not Shikai was really all he needed to use. All good things must come to an end though...
One particularly slow year, Vai'el decided to take a stroll through Shinigami historical records. He came across the race known as Vizards. Of course he had heard of their power and knew to wield such power was illegal, but he knew little of them as a whole. He was disappointed to find so little information on them. From what he could tell one was still out there, and from what he was reading they didn't seem to pose a huge threat beyond having power over the Shinigami...Vai'el suddenly found himself feeling a second emotion since becoming a Shinigami...sorrow. He felt bad for the Vizards. What had they done? Obtained power. That is all the Shinigami had ever done. Who were they to point and judge anyone, their own kind even, for doing what they themselves have always done? He frowned at the documented pages and put the records away. He continued his investigation though, asking some of the Shinigami who had been around longer than he. Most gave him awkward looks, but answered his questions. He was even accused of seeking out their power, to which he questioned his right to know the enemy that hides in the shadow. After all, how could he and his men protect the Shinigami from inside attacks if he was blind to the enemy? The charges were quickly dropped. He was still watched with a certain...suspicion by some Shinigami, though nobody in his own division questioned him and not the 12th Division Captain.
One evening while he was patrolling the Seireitei, he was approached by a man. Vai'el though he had felt a strange reiatsu signature, someone he didn't recognize, but it was gone too quickly. To think there was someone here that could get the drop on him...well he felt excited. The man was a stranger here, Vai'el knew that, but he heard the man out. The man said he could show Vai'el the information he was searching for. The man said he knew of the Vizards, he knew their history, their power, their everything. Vai'el merely had to accept his gift and become one. Vai'el drew his blade and told the man to leave. He wouldn't betray what he worked so hard for. The stranger merely laughed at this denial of power and knowledge, and said something that shook Vai'el to his core. "You stand ready to slay me to protect these...people. The people who slew my own kind out of fear and ignorance, people that hunted my friends and family down out of some twisted form of vengeance. What have they done for you? Why should you emulate their behaviors? After all...I didn't come to you, you came to me." The man vanished from sight and Vai'el was a tad stunned. He didn't even immediately realize that the man had left. He walked back to the barracks, the man's words echoing over and over again. Why was he here? He only wanted to learn to control his reiatsu so nobody got hurt...So...why was he still here?
Because he wanted to protect Humans? Because he wanted to hunt Hollow? Because...just because...He was tearing himself apart thinking about this. It would be a full week before he'd see the man again. He didn't know how to contact him, but he figured that the man appeared once, he would do so again. He caught wind of the reiatsu again and this time he hunted it down. It was on the move though. Why? Where was he going? Eventually he managed to corner the man. The stranger chuckled and clapped in approval. They had a brief chat again and this time, Vai'el agreed to accept his offer. Vai'el had no idea what he was doing, but he felt that this was the only possible way to discover answers. He had gotten what he wanted from the Shinigami, control of himself, so what was keeping him here? The moral cage they had built into his mind, the obligation they had instilled inside of him. He wasn't a beast to be caged though. Now he wanted freedom...this man offered him just that.
The man told him to meet him in The Dangi World, a short ways away from the Valley of Screams, in three days. The Shinigami agreed to meet him there. Three days passed, and Vai'el told his men that he would be gone for the evening. He had gotten a tip of a traitor hiding in the Dangai. It shouldn't be a big deal for him to go alone, so he didn't take anyone with him. He left that night and true to his word, the stranger was right where he said he'd be. No time was wasted, and the man bestowed upon Vai'el the Vizard Strain. The rush was like nothing Vai'el had ever felt before. He heard whispers in his head. A subtle voice calling out to him. He was immediately thrown into the inner world of his Zanpakuto...but he wasn't there. Khione was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a woman clad in skulls with blood red hair and amber eyes. Vai'el looked around. The usual snowfall of the world was not there either. The shadows that often occupied the windows were not there too. He demanded to know who she was. She merely laughed and charged at him. During their fight she informed him that she was his downfall, his anger, his hatred, if Khione were the emotions of positivity, she was that of negativity.
The fight didn't last too long. Less than two minutes and Vai'el had her subdued. When he snapped back to the normal world, the old man was clapping. He congratulated him and began to inform him on their kind. He quickly learned what they were, where their powers came from, what they could do, so on and so on. Vai'el's head was swimming. The old man instructed him to return to the Seireitei. Lay in wait. He was merely the second of his children, and he would not be the last. When Vai'el asked who the first was, the man refused to answer. Vai'el did as he as told, and returned to his normal life. Nights, however, would never be the same...he'd be haunted by the Inner Hollow Sombra.
- Purge:
The day finally came. Their numbers were still small, but they were just big enough that people took notice. It was total chaos. The night before, Sombra and him had actually spoken instead of fought. Come dawn, however, it was complete anarchy. Vai'el never found out what started it, but it didn't matter. Their kind had been exposed, and the time came to stand by the other Vizards. He appeared at the sight of battle along with the man simply known to him as Book and Muriko, the 12th Division Captain at the time. He looked at the man and a smile was offered in return. They turned their attention to the battle raging on below, and the three of them donned their masks to release their individual Cero's into the sky. Book demanded peace for just a moment, as the battle that would rage on here would destroy the home the Shinigami wished to protect. In the interest of not destroying the Seireitei the Shinigami agreed to a VERY temporary cease fire. The Vizards were presented before Central 46, and judgement was passed. Execution would demand battle, which, to Book's point, would wreck havoc upon their home. The only option was banishment. Book accepted the offer. As they all prepared to leave for the Dangai World, Book was captured by the Shinigami. His final words were to not retaliate, but to grow. Vai'el wanted to fight back but Muriko stopped him, he stopped all of them.
They followed orders and remained in the Dangai World. They built a home for themselves, nothing as grandiose as the Seireitei but they didn't need such flare, and it was here that they began to train night and day. Muriko worked his way into Vai'el's heart and became good friends with the anti-socialite. Vai'el eventually came to trust the man, the second person in his entire afterlife that he had ever trusted. Muriko proved to be a great leader for them. They ventured to the Human World here and there of course to combat the Hollow threat, but they never stayed for long. As enemies and traitors of / to the Shinigami, they were on a high on the public enemies list. While the Human World wasn't the ideal battleground, it was not exactly a chance that Muriko wished to take. All they needed was one overzealous Shinigami with a twisted sense of judgement to launch a full scale attack on them while they were there. So it was always in and out with them. For the most part, however, they remained in the Dangai where they were safe. Vai'el was rarely there though. He spent a good amount of time in the human world.
Eventually...word reached their ears from a new recruit. He said that a man had been moved into the deepest levels of the Maggot's Nest. A man who spoke like their old friend Book. This was what started the separation of Vai'el and Muriko. Muriko wished to make an attempt to grab Book. Vai'el said it was too dangerous and they had to obtain more power. Muriko said they had enough power, between the two of them they had 4000 years worth of power at minimum! Vai'el argued still that the two of them were not storming the Seireitei the POWER BASE of the Shinigami. It was their kin. They couldn't afford to take such a risk. The argument raged on for a month before things began to fall apart. It was an even split. About half of them agreed with Vai'el, and the other half agreed with Muriko. In the end, Muriko challenged Vai'el to a duel to the death.
And so here he was...winner of the duel, new leader of the Vizards. Vai'el had a heavy weight on his heart as the realization of what just happened finally hit home. He let out a Hollowfied scream and shot a cero, out of rage, into the air. He clenched his fists and looked at Muriko's body as it hit the ground. He dropped down and the other Vizard's gathered around. He had a choice to make now... Follow the rumors, or stick to his ideals?
Last edited by Vai'el on Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:03 pm; edited 11 times in total |
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