Bleach: Spirits Are Forever With You

Part 9

Chapter 9

1 hour ago | Karakura Town, Tsubakidai — Matsukura Hospital Site

The wind swept across the rooftop of the abandoned Matsukura Hospital, carrying with it the scent of decay and the distant hum of city life. The building, once a place of healing, now stood as a derelict monument to time's passage. Its walls, stained and crumbling, bore the scars of neglect, and the shattered windows reflected the gray skies above. On this desolate roof, a solitary figure stood, her presence barely more substantial than the shadows that danced across the cracked concrete.

Roca Paramia, the masked female Arrancar, gazed out over the town with vacant eyes. The white fragment of a Hollow mask clung to the right side of her face, its jagged edges a stark contrast to her otherwise delicate features. Her long, silken hair fluttered in the breeze, a cascade of silver against the dull backdrop of the hospital. She was motionless, her thoughts as fragmented as the ruins beneath her feet.

Why am I alive? The question echoed in her mind, a constant refrain that gnawed at the edges of her consciousness. It was a thought she had returned to time and time again, and yet, no answer ever came. Instead, she was left with a void, an emptiness that seemed to grow with each passing moment.

Her existence had been defined by another. Szayelaporro Granz. The name alone conjured a mixture of fear and resignation within her. Her creator, her master—Szayelaporro had been the one to give her life, to shape her into what she was. But he had also been the one to strip away any sense of self she might have possessed.

"Don't think you have any will of your own," he had told her, his voice laced with cold indifference. "When you aren't useful to me, you are the same as those rocks over there... Ah, that's the perfect name for you." And so, she had been named Roca—a name that spoke of lifelessness, of something meant to be stepped on and ignored. She had been a spider-type Adjuchas before Aizen had transformed her into an Arrancar, but even then, she had been little more than a tool in Szayelaporro's hands.

The memories of those days were a haze of pain and confusion. Roca had been the result of one of Szayel's countless experiments—an artificial creation, a Menos Grande born from the fusion of countless souls. Her life had been nothing more than a means to an end, a foil to be used against Kuruyashiki Kenpachi. But when the time had come, Kuruyashiki had spared her, leaving her with a sense of bewilderment she could not shake.

She had expected Szayelaporro to end her life then. After all, she was no longer of use to him. The thought had brought her a strange sense of relief—an end to the relentless questioning of her existence. But Szayelaporro, ever the sadist, had found a new use for her. He had watched Kuruyashiki's death with a twisted fascination, and in that moment, a new idea had taken root in his mind.

"You'll be my experiment for another two hundred years," he had said, his voice dripping with amusement. And so, Roca's torment had continued. Her body had been dissected and reconstructed countless times, each cut and stitch a testament to Szayel's insatiable curiosity. When her screams had grown tiresome, he had administered anesthesia, numbing her pain but not her despair.

Time had lost all meaning in those days. The experiments blurred together in a nightmarish cycle, each one more invasive than the last. Szayelaporro had been relentless in his pursuit of knowledge, and Roca had been the canvas upon which he painted his dark artistry. But in the end, he had succeeded in giving her a new power—a power that should have filled her with a sense of purpose, but instead left her hollow.

The power to connect with all matter via her Negacion threads, to share reiryoku and information, had made her invaluable to Szayel. For a brief time, she had felt a flicker of happiness at being useful to her master once more. But that happiness had been fleeting. Szayel's interest in her waned as he perfected his own ability, Gabriel. The threads that had once bound her to him became unnecessary, and once again, she found herself without a reason to exist.