Bleach: Fall and Rise

21: Friends

Jack's POV

Looking around the city of the dead I grumbled looking for anyone familiar but there is no one I can recognize" hey kid." I looked over to see Tao" can you get me to the souls I've seen around New Orleans? Where have they been placed?" I asked, and he handed me a card" there all in the eastern part of the 6th district, they insisted." He said.

"Not surprising there, even in death we don't want to be separated from each other, that's the way of the dead in New Orleans." I said," I got a sense for that when I first went there." Tao said," yeah, I'm sorry for touching your sword." I said," you saved yourself so I finish the hollow off." He said.

"Yeah, and the teacher said I exposed my soul, I don't want to end like that thing, so can you get me an entrance exam? I'm joining the academy even if I'm not rich or a noble person." I said, Tao, snorted" a good portion that sign up come from the lower districts having grown tired of the thugs infesting the place, people signing up from districts 1-20 got bored, and a few have parents who are rooting for them and the rest are nobles having there kids enter." Tao explained.

"You never told me why you joined." I said," I grew up in the Polish town in district 60, it was a friend's idea and I thought he was crazy but here I am 15 years later." He said," I will remember how I joined." I said" it's entirely my fault for endangering you. After you pass your test you are to go to the Sereitei and the central 46 to have your spiritual power measured, how much do you have?" He asked.

"How do I let it out?" I asked," close your eyes and let it loose." He said, I did so before opening my eyes again, they widened when he fell to his knees, and I stopped" are you ok?" I asked," yes I am, that's decent." He said," was there someone else who got measured could everyone feel their power?" I asked.

"6 months ago yes, whoever was measuring theirs caused a 12.0 earthquake, people from the living world felt it too for crying out loud I ran into her when she came back from the Sereitei, I pressured her and she explained her story," Tao said," who was she?" I asked" she's one of the students down in the living world learning Konso, her name is Hasine." He said" you mean the girl that swung a rock into a hollows head?! How the hell is she that powerful?" I asked.

"It's because she's an archangel, sent here to help us in a future battle that will decide the fate of creation itself." He said," then why is she training to become a grim reaper when she's the most powerful being other than God himself?" I asked," she wants to blend in, that's why, now don't tell a single person about this." He said," I might as well, if I didn't then I'd be sending a lot of people into a panic thinking she's a messenger of the apocalypse, is she?" I said.

"No, those are 2 of her brethren's jobs but not for a long time." He said," her secret is safe with me." I said. 45 minutes later we got to the eastern part of the 6th district to a huge abandoned house on the outskirts where sure enough all the souls that were brought here are living as the older ones brought supplies" hey kid! Come and join us!" One of them called" I'll see you later." I said running over.

"So what happened to you?" The guy asked, "I got shot, someone thought I was insane that could see souls and killed me, what's happening here?" I asked," we're starting to build a mini New Orleans, others are hunting for other people that have died in New Orleans and bring them here." He said," what's your name?" I asked," Max, the rest are in the house and cleaning up the mess." He said.

Jogging into the house I yelped dodging a pile of trash that was thrown at me" sorry about that! Knock next time." One of the girls said," I'm sorry, is there anything I can do to help?" I asked," we've been cleaning for the last 2 hours and we're nearly done, we're fine." She said," come on, the sooner we get everything done we can have fun." An 18-year-old kid said," don't you think you'd make a fine grim reaper?" She asked.

"We found each other on the streets and I was the temporary leader before you came Tia, maybe I could." He said" I want to become to protect the ones closest to me, why don't you become on with me? The test comes in all languages but we have a lot of studying to do." I said," studying the Japanese language is one of those things." He said.

"Are there even libraries in the afterlife?" Tia asked," there is, 5 blocks from here." One of the adults said coming it" that makes it so much easier." I said.