Duality of Man [Solo]

Watari stood in his study, the once blank walls that contained scribbles of his childhood were now filled with elaborate artwork drawn by his own hand. They ranged from dragons to Shinigami, to Hollow to what he thought a true Quincy would like at the height of its power. Over the last few weeks he had completely filled the walls with his imagination, spilling creativity across the canvas, half of the room depicted bloody battlefields of valor and conquest, the other half of the room parties and sensibilities - noble tedium.

A bed lay abandoned next to his old sleeping crate, Titus had insisted it be installed but Watari hadn’t used it yet. To sleep like a noble still felt wrong to him, but then like many things lately, apparently at some point he’d slept in it. It was like a blurry dream, sure he remembered getting in the bed but none of the reasoning was there, none of the why and that’s what bothered him.

Quincy, his fingers traced brush strokes on the wall, men and women with burning bows purging the landscape of Hollow. Zenji Hatayama said they destroyed the balance, but they were just a tool weren’t they? A gear for the machine that Watari had been concocting, the fuel for a machine that Watari had been setting up for. It was perfect timing. The perfect pattern on the tapestry of fate.

He saw the pieces, they danced across the walls. The Quincy coming for vengeance for what he’d done to one of their own, of Raphael Laurent a man whose genealogy traced to Quincy by his private resources. A man who would undoubtedly meet them all in Karakura. The man who would lead them here. Fantastic.

Raphael Laurent, you were the harbinger of their end. The Quincy would come and when they did it’d all tick over nicely wouldn’t it? Whether Quincy won or lost it wouldn’t matter, it’d be the culmination of every omen of distrust and seed of anger he’d placed against the Gotei 6, against the Central 46 even. Watari had no doubt, with Soul Society shaken at its core a coup was possible.


“But doesn’t Yuki want you to be better?” A voice pierced the room. Watari spun his hand on Bezaliel, where had they? His perception echoed off the walls and yet he felt nothing, there was nobody else in the room aside from his Zanpakuto and the contents of the room.

“Who's there?” Watari called, were they smothering their spiritual pressure? Was this some sort of assaination attempt? No if it was Titus would be on them in a heartbeat, the man had an uncanny knack for those sorts of things. No this was something else, something even more uncomfortable.

“Just yourself” the Head of the Suzumei drew his blade and stepped through his room, eyes scanning the shifting paintings and the contents of the room. Passing over furniture - the bed - the mirror - the drawers . . . wait. He stopped and stepped towards the mirror. Watari’s reflection wasn’t moving, the room behind exactly the same but a door and Bezaliel.

This was a joke.

A trick.

An ache in his mind of things he’d done but not really been doing. Of people he’d met but it wasn’t actually him who’d met them. Of his mind playing two different songs in tandem twisting around each other, both telling a story and before they could function perfectly, two keys to the same tune . . . but now . . . because of Yuki . . . .

“She told us to be better” Watari slammed his fist into the mirror and shattered the glass, but the figure was already in the room, or rather. They were both in the room. Bill sat on the bed and patted the soft downy blankets of the bed.

“Come now, surely you can work with me? If you know Quincy are coming then you can warn people and be prepared, you gave them a way after all!”

“I didn’t know it would be Quincy, could’ve been humans we only knew about Quincy later” Watari pointed to the portrait, of Karakura of threads of fate weaving around the structures and of the different races converging to one point. He would have to thank Yuki later for bringing back their passion for art, being able to tell this story was particularly comforting.

“Good, then we can do what Yuki wants, we can be better,” Bill said, clapping his hands as Bezaliel rattled against their hip. Seriously, how hard would it be? Yuki and Reika believed in them! Believed that they were good people, how hard would it be to convince Zenji, Raph and the Nobles?

“You forget what we did to Raphael, the nobles we murdered and the Quincy we left as a warning”

Bill shrugged.

“Nobody knows we did half those things, you set up Sabitsura Rei didn’t you? Sent him chasing down Shimazu Memnoch with Zenji Hatayama biting his heels. We are good people Watari! We just need a fresh start”

Watari drew their Zanpakuto and stabbed it into the portrait of Yuki Kameko. What had she done? They’d been complete, everything had made so much more sense when his memories had escaped. The reason Bill was here was because of these fancies of being better, because of this hope she tried so hard to inspire in his breast.

“We did all that and I loved it. Raphael’s shattered will - you tried to make it better “it’s okay I just want a friend” you cried trying to convince him it’ll all be better”

“Honestly I like Raphael”

“And Sabitsura Rei? "Don’t worry!! I’m your friend Rei-san, here, here’s your actual enemy", you even used me to make it all more believable. At least I’m honest. I should’ve just fucking slit his throat and left him choking on his own blood”

“Ehhh Rei’s just misled. Good guy, besides, he helped Yuki and may I remind you, I let you nearly kill a Quincy. I would’ve quite happily drunk with him despite what they did to Yuki”

Yuki.

Watari spat at Bill’s feet.

“She did this to us”

“She only sees the best in us”

“You are a lighter shade of grey” Watari snarled, drawing Bezaliel to hand and spinning Bill to the wall with the weapon’s hilt and fist. The other man only smiled back in that knowing way like he always did, arrogant prick.  In the same moment bars of Kido slammed into his torso paralyzing his body and locking his movements - they were caught in a deadly embrace.

“And you’re just a bit darker chum” Bill retorted, incapable of moving even though Watari was paralyzed. If he moved his throat an inch his lifeblood would run onto the floor and they’d both be dead in seconds.

“We have to deal with the door and here you are making friends and allies. We don’t need friends and allies Bill, we need to seed chaos”

“Yuki wants us to have friends Watari, you’re lonely”

“I don’t need friends” Watari barked at his other half, the kido breaking as he pulled away from his other before slamming Bezaliel back into sheathe and stepping away.

“Well how are we going to deal with the door? I can’t just walk in there with you doing whatever you want - you’ll kill somebody”

“Fine, you want the door so badly? You want to tackle that hurdle? Come with me and kill Yuki”

“Uh, I think you’re really misunderstanding my entire schtick here my man, I don’t kill people. That’s your thing”

“Come with me to Yuki and I’ll prove that we’re better together. That all we are is one morally bad person”

“What if she proves we’re better together? That we can actually be good, that ‘Bill’ is the option”

“Fuck it, sure, why not. Yuki and the door. Suits me fine”

“Then you have my word compadre, to the winner goes the spoils"