Theme: Half-life

Way to the Future

What was he supposed to do now?

The big secret was out, revealed by his own traitorous lips, and he didn't know how to move forward. He'd spent so long pretending to be Zangetsu that he didn't know how to be himself anymore. The mask he'd worn for so long had been cast away, but he'd forgotten what his own reflection was supposed to look like.

He'd created himself from a web of lies, and now the anchoring strands had come loose he was left hanging by a tenuous thread, pushed and pulled at the whim of any passing wind. Had he been wrong to do as he had? Was it so wrong to want to protect Ichigo in his own way? He'd subjected himself willingly to a half-life, a sort of psuedo-existence; by denying his own true identity in favor of usurping Zangetsu's, he'd stripped himself of even a name.

And now that the lies had unraveled, he wasn't sure he could reclaim his forfeit identity. Ichigo had chosen the path of the shinigami, and it was a path too narrow for his own feet to follow. Would he be cast aside and forgotten, left to wither away in some isolated corner of the inverted city scape while Ichigo and the true Zangetsu continued without him?

Even so, he could find little fault in his own actions. He'd done everything within his power to keep the boy safe. Was it so wrong that he'd wanted to keep him from embarking on a journey in which he could not follow? Was it so wrong that he'd wanted to be the one Ichigo relied upon, to be the one to protect him and keep him safe with his own hands?

And now all of it had come to an end. Nothing could be the same from this day forward, of that at least he was sure. His time had passed, ended by the arrival of an enemy that a mere impostor could never hope to best.

But perhaps he didn't have to wither and fade. The cloudless sky smiled down upon him as the forging of a new blade commenced, and for the first time since Ichigo had plunged Sode no Shirayuki through his chest, he felt peace and acceptance wash over him. Maybe it wasn't an either/or situation like he'd always believed. Why follow an old, worn out path when he could blaze a new one all his own?