Episode 225: Hell Is Other People

Even within the supposed protection of the walls of Cozy Glow’s so-called ‘Legion’, there was no true safety. The men and women who comprised Cozy Glow’s loyal followers were no less violently mad than the rest of Tartarus’ residents. Just crossing the wide, circular mess hall on the fortress’ bottom floor was a trial, in more ways than one. First, Rarity had to contend with the smell. A concentration of cloying odors ranging from sour bodily waste to the ever present rotten stench of congealing blood was focused upon the chaotic hall of stone carved tables. Rarity tried not to think about what was being served up on those tables, within rough hewn goblets and bowls of rock. The only real resources in Hell were the ever regenerating bodies of fellow Sinners, so the less fortunate, the weaker, of any given group were little more than meatbags in the eyes of their fellows.

Rarity was ever needing to maintain her station in the pecking order, and inevitably someone always tried something every time she so much as needed to get across the damn room.

She was past being polite about things. Her patience was well and truly worn to a non-existent nub. When her swift steps brought her through the mess hall, the cacophony of degenerates in garb of tanned skins and bones barely registered to her. She just needed to get to the stairs on the other side that led up to the higher floors. Rarity barely even paid attention when a few of the dumber members of the Legion saw her and howled and hooted her way, one of the bunch, a noseless bald fellow with hands like metal claws, skittering into her path with a nauseating look on his face, “Hey smoothie girl, we’re taking bets on which of us will be the first to pin down your pale little-”

She’d heard the spiel before. She just kept walking, the sound of clanking crystal resounding behind her. The gaggle of moronic Hell gangers looked behind them to see that a half dozen of Rarity’s crystalline knights had entered the mess hall in her wake, and spread out behind them, swords and axes already bared. Rarity didn’t even look as the knights began to methodically butcher the group. The Sinners fought back, of course, but Rarity trusted her knights to handle the matter and if any of them were destroyed they would be replaced within moments by her Fullbring’s gate, which she summoned periodically to refresh them. At this juncture she just kept about two dozen or so knights active at all times, some guarding her and Blueblood’s quarters, and others following her as escort for these annoying incidents. She felt her Fullbring getting stronger, the knights behaving with greater autonomy. Their range remained about a kilometer from her person, but she was experimenting with sending them on reconnaissance around the city, learning its streets more thoroughly. She still was not sure how fully autonomously they could act when not being mentally directed by her while in line of sight.

Most of the rest of the mess hall's residents just jeered and laughed at watching their comrades getting cut down by the merciless red constructs, for them it being little more than a show to go with their meal. One of the agitators managed to slip free from the falling axes and blades of the knights to come howling at Rarity with a spear of bone, but she didn’t even look their way, her right wrist flicking once to create a long rose whip of blades that decapitated the offender before they got within ten paces of her. She didn’t even feel the need to wipe away the blood from her face. At this point, with nothing resembling baths or showers to be had, she was already filthy beyond fixing short of a complete decontamination.

“Well, somebody is the big bitch on the block, now.”

Rarity reflexively snapped her whip out, wrapping the sharp barbs around the speaker, but not quite removing their head. It was a woman, tall and lanky, with skin no less dirty than Rarity’s but also faintly scaled. She wore a long, stained red cloak, and had hair that was a messy mane of black. Yellow eyes gazed at Rarity with distaste and resentment, but not actual murderous hostility. Rarity held her whip in place, voice dispassionate, “I have no interest in this place’s pecking order or politics. I merely wish to be left alone until I can depart on my own terms. Life would go easier for all of us if you Legion ruffians would cease these constant attempts to probe me for weakness.”

“That’s the name of the game in Hell,” the woman spat, and Rarity noticed something lash under her cloak, a pale tip of a snake-like tail, “You don’t get a free pass just because Cozy Glow’s taken a liking to you. Even in the Legion, everyone has to prove their strength.”

“And how many of you do I need to butcher to make my position clear, exactly?”

“Less, if you didn’t have that damn Soul Reaper with you,” sneered the woman, and by now Rarity felt the faint ring of familiarity in her voice, although placing it was difficult. She tightened the grip of her rose whip around the woman’s neck. By now the sounds of violent slaughter had finished in the mess hall and her knights, blood dripping from their glistening crystal armor, marched into the stairwell hall behind her.

“While I appreciate that Soul Reapers are not popular in Hell, I will tolerate no threats against Blueblood. Those who lay a finger upon him will discover just how creative I can be when I set my mind to it.”

“Look at you, all grown up, soaked in blood, and ready to be a proper Sinner,” the woman chuckled darkly, “Warms my fucking heart, seeing at least one of you brats fall down here. Wonder if I’ll see any of the others show? Guessing you never got around to offing Grogar, and ain’t seen Grand Fisher down here, either, which is a damn shame.”

It took another moment, but mention of Grogar, and certainly Grand Fisher, sparked a chain of images and flashing memories within Rarity. What was only a matter of months ago now struck with the weight of what felt like an entirely different life, but it only made Rarity’s barely contained guffaw all the more genuine, “Oh my, now I think I recall you. You’re one of the first Hollows we fought, when Rainbow Dash’s Fullbring awoke. I do remember Clover and Sunset taking you down, and... well, yes, you did get brought here, didn’t you?”

The Hollow’s eyes gleamed with violent fury, held back by pragmatism, although her voice was no less laced with venom, “So touching you remember. Been a real treat, spending my days in this shithole.”

“It’s Hell, darling. Nobody is here for the five-star service.”

“And yet here you are with your dainty little ass. What, commit a few too many oopsies up top and the Soul Reapers sent you here?” the Hollow inquired with a sneer. Rarity understood this Hollow, like most here in Hell, were actually rather clueless concerning Hell’s real origins and purpose. Rarity didn’t see any reason to enlighten them about it, either.

“I’ll leave it up to your imagination. I don’t intend to remain here, and if you have nothing of greater interest to say than a few barbs, I’ll be on my way,” Rarity replied, flicking her wrist again and retracting the crystal whip from around the Hollow’s neck, who rubbed at her throat. As Rarity turned to walk away, she heard the Hollow woman yell.

“Cozy Glow is just using you, you know!? Bet when she’s done with you, she’ll string you up to rot! I’ll enjoy watching it from the sidelines!”

“Watch all you like, but keep your mouth shut from now on, otherwise I’ll sew it shut for you,” Rarity said, making an idle gesture as she walked away that created a series of several dozen crystal needles woven with thin, red threads that danced around the palm of her hand. A simple gesture, but the threat was clear. She didn’t hear the Hollow say any more as she marched up the stairs to the upper floors of the fortress.

The Legion’s stronghold wasn’t quite as maze-like as it appeared at first glance from the outside. Everything was surprisingly well organized once one got familiar with the layout. All the common areas were on the bottom floors, with each floor up having fewer rooms for higher ranked members of the gang. More important chambers were located towards the center, away from the walls, which made sense because even in the short time Rarity had been here she’d noticed at least three or four attacks from other gangs. She hadn’t had to participate in any of those skirmishes, but it showed her just how often and common the violence was, here. Even Cozy Glow, essentially among the top gang leaders in Tartarus, had her Legion being attacked on the regular by rivals. And the continuous noises of combat ever hung over the city like the sound of traffic might a regular city.

The constant smell of blood became a bit less noticeable, higher up, as Rarity crossed an arching stone bridge that clanked with under hanging chains. Leading into the central hewn edifice of rock that rose up from the bulk of the stronghold, Rarity passed by a pair of burly guards. These Sinners looked like twins, faces covered in masks of leather, bare chested and pale skinned. Each had unpleasant, milky white eyes that watched Rarity pass with unblinking intensity. In giant fists these individuals carried hefty weapons, one a spiked maul, the other a four pronged hook larger than a human body.

“P...passwurd...” one of them grumbled in a gravel laden voice that Rarity only barely understood.

“Go fuck yourself,” Rarity said with a sigh, really wishing Cozy Glow had any sense of decorum whatsoever. Even under her present circumstances she really didn’t like using such language, but she wasn’t the one choosing the passwords. She half expected Cozy Glow instated them just to annoy her.

“Mmm...yuh...right passwurd...go ahead...”

The giant opened the big stone door for Rarity to pass. She left her two escorting knights behind to have a silent stare off with the Legion door guards while she passed through. Beyond the door was about as close as one might get to ‘luxury’ in a place like Tartarus. Actual fur rugs and coverings on well carved furniture made from, well bones, but the bones were covered in leather so well tanned one might forget it was probably human. The fur was, as Rarity understood it, acquired from harvesting the hair from subjected residents, or in rarer cases certain individuals who arrived with beast-like traits. Rarity didn’t want to think on that too much.

The area was one large living space with stairs at various points lining the walls that led up to higher chambers, guest quarters and the like, along with Cozy Glow’s own room which remained closed behind a door covered in chains of her own making. Cozy Glow herself was lounging by an actual fireplace carved into the wall, blazing with flames burning on a pile of bones. She had a big, yet amazingly well carved set of stone chess pieces set up on the floor, her legs kicking idiy behind her as she lay there with chin propped on one hand and her other moving a piece on the board.

“Gonna be checkmate in three, Sunny,” she said, Sunburst sitting cross legged across from her with a look of tired, smiling acceptance as he scratched as his nose and examined the board.

“Probably.”

Cozy Glow glowered, “Not ‘probably’. Definitely. C’mon, just give up. You never beat me.”

Sunburst made a faint humming noise under his breath, eyes still locked to the board. Rarity approached, knowing the two had sensed her enter, and examined the game. She wasn’t really much of a chess player, although she knew the rules. From the look of things, she thought Sunburst had a fighting chance, but apparently Cozy Glow was thinking well ahead of her opponent. Rarity imagined she ought to take that as a warning not to underestimate the Hellborn child. With a final nod to himself, Sunburst moved one of his bishops, only for Cozy Glow to immediately yawn and claim it with her knight, which made Sunburst frown.

“But I’m covering that with my queen, and trading a bishop for a knight-”

“Quit yapping, Sunny boy, and make your move. Checkmate in two.”

He scratched his rough beard and took the knight with his queen, only to blink in surprise a moment later when Cozy Glow’s own queen on the other side of the board moved to take one of his pawns, but in a position that clearly showed a threat to his king. Rarity could see it now, he had no way to move his king to safety in the next move, and any action he tried wouldn’t stop what was coming, just delay. While it wasn’t actual checkmate yet, Sunburst chuckled under his breath and tipped his king over, “Fine, fine, you win, like usual. Sneaky little devil.”

Rarity wasn’t certain if the smile on Cozy Glow’s face was genuine, manic, or genuinely manic. She certainly seemed in good spirits as she hopped to her feet, “You’re still better than anybody else in the Legion, that’s for damn sure. I’d kill, and have, to find a decent opponent. Hasn’t been the same since old Tepes went.”

“Tepes...?” Rarity said wonderingly, to which Sunburst and Cozy Glow both looked her way, the little girl giggling fiercely while Sunburst groaned and began to put the chess pieces back into the starting position.

“Exactly who you’re thinking,” he said, “Literal Vlad Tepes. Long story, his, tied to those poor Bount souls the Reapers screwed over. You ever run into Bounts, back home?”

She could hear the yearning in his voice concerning ‘home’, and not for the first time wondered how Sunburst had maintained his sanity for so long in Hell. She’d been here a matter of days and felt inches from the precipice. Her stomach was a constant knot of hunger pain. Her throat was so dry from thirst she had to strain just to speak normally. In some ways she was starting to understand and sympathize with the madness Hell’s denizens exhibited. In a place like this, how long could one maintain any semblance of humanity? In some ways it was shocking Tartarus, this harsh and jagged bedlam of a city, existed at all.

“Bounts... yes, I’ve met a few. My little sister is close friends with a young Bount. I’m not particularly familiar with their story, however,” she admitted, “Certainly not how the man that inspired the Dracula myth would be involved.”

Cozy Glow made a dismissive snort and shrugged, “Reapers made them, then fucked them over. Typical BS from that crowd, far as I’ve heard. Most of their souls ended up here in Hell, although Tepes was convinced a few made it to Hueco Mundo and went Hollow, or that others survive on Earth. Guess the old codger was right.”

“Was he their leader?” Rarity asked, and Cozy Glow laughed.

“Nope, just a savvy asshole who put them up for awhile in exchange for helping him crush his enemies. Dude was more, like, an alchemist or some shit that studied the Bount while he kept them in hiding, used that knowledge to mimic some of their abilities, including drinking from a victim to gain youth and power. Not that it really helped much when the Reapers eventually ruined that party.”

“And he ended up in Hell, although the way you talk about him suggests he’s not around any longer?” Rarity further inquired.

“Yeah, sucks, but that’s how it goes. Old Tepes mentored me a bit in my younger days,” Cozy Glow said, apparently ignoring the oddity of claiming ‘younger days’ when she looked to be twelve or thirteen at most, “Taught me the best ways to take a person apart for inflicting maximum pain, the importance of spectacle and fear in controlling ally or enemy alike, not to mention patience and strategy...” Cozy Glow gave the carved chess set a fond look, “He made this, actually, for teaching me. I almost miss his smug ass.”

“What happened to him, if I may ask?”

A quiet stillness overcame Cozy Glow for a moment, her one good eye starring at nothing for a second before the girl blinked and cracked a razor thin smile, “Same thing that happens to everyone here, eventually. Hell broke him down, until there was less and less of him. Then one day... poof, gone, just like plenty of others before him. Same thing that’ll eventually happen to us if we don’t figure a way out of this literal Hell hole. So, on that front, princess, we got work to do. We leave Tartarus tomorrow, which means I got to put some shit in order around here. Sunburst is coming with me, but how about you tag along?”

Rarity cleared her parched throat, considering. She had not had too much contact with her friends via the journal, but enough to stay up to date. Writing on her own skin and reading off replies was awkward, but doable, and through that she’d learned of the most recent events in the world of the living. Rarity felt uneasy about Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash being stuck in the Beast Realm, but it sounded as if Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were getting prepared to go after them, although they’d been a bit dodgy about the details. Soul Society being occupied by Zero Division was exceedingly concerning, although Discord had suggested there were plans being made to dislodge Bowtie and free up the Soul Reapers to give aid in the Beast Realm.

I’m impressed Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie actually took on and won against Espada. I almost feel like I’m falling behind... Rarity glanced at her wrists, sensing the presence of her Hell chains. But then again, I’ve a path of my own to walk, laden with hardship and treachery as it may be. I swear, once I gain my freedom from Hell, I’ll be sure we all can pay back the Zero Division most thoroughly.

“I’d like to check on Blueblood first,” she said, “But I’ll accompany you on whatever errands you’re up to. I still feel I’ve much to learn of Hell. By the way, where are Ahgg and Sebastian? I didn’t see them on the lower floors anywhere.”

“Ahgg is gathering supplies he said he needed for passing deeper into the layers,” Sunburst answered, “I saw him leave this morning. Not sure what he’s gathering that would count as ‘supplies’, but he’s the expert on Hell’s lower layers, so I’m not going to question it.”

“As for that dumbass of a dandy, Sebastian said he’d meet with us once we leave Tartarus,” said Cozy Glow, her stance radiating distaste with clenched hands and the rattle of chains beneath her soot black robes and cloak, “Still can’t believe you want him coming with us.”

“Want is not exactly the term I would choose,” Rarity replied, wondering at the nature of Cozy Glow’s clear ire towards the man in question, “He simply seems to have attached himself to our venture. Considering how dangerous the wilderness of Hell may be, and the threat we may face from Typhon or Cerberus, I’m not inclined to complain about having additional muscle along for the trip. Just what is your issue with him?”

“He’s one of the only people around here to have gotten one over on Cozy Glow,” Sunburst stated, to which Cozy Glow swiftly kicked him in the shins hard enough to make him wince.

“No he did not! Bastard got lucky, once, that’s it!”

“And it still bothers you that you’ve never been able to one up him back ever since,” Sunburst stated, shaking his head as he rubbed his shin, “Fair’s fair, you’ve tried plenty of times. Why not see this expedition as a chance to bury the hatchet?”

“Oh I’m gonna burry a hatchet, alright. Right between his damn shoulder blades, the second he drops his guard around me. Haughty prick,” Cozy Glow wrinkled her nose and turned a flashing glare at Rarity, “You watch yourself around him. He may act like some half-assed gentleman, but he’s not attaching himself to you for the shits and giggles. He’s got some scheme in mind.”

“Like yourself?” Rarity jested, “No offense meant, of course, but I sincerely doubt you’re aiding me purely out of charity.”

“Pfft, of course not! Unlike Sebastian, I’ll lay it out for you what I’m after. I want out of Hell. I want Sunburst out of Hell. You’re the first glimmer of a chance that I’ve seen since I was born that there’s a shot at escape. Way I look at it, if you manage to find a way out of here, I want you owing me. And if you don’t, well figure you’re still useful as either part of the Legion, or at least an ally to draw heat from the other gangs. So helping you is mostly a win-win deal for me.”

“I note that you didn’t mention your Legion when talking about getting out of Hell,” Rarity noted, to which Cozy Glow threw her a coy smirk.

“Not leaving them off the table, but not getting ahead of myself, either. Let’s see where this expedition leads, first. So go check on your boy-toy, then we go take care of some errands.”

“I am quite well, thank you very much, and I would appreciate it if you did not insinuate any improper behavior between myself and Miss Rarity,” said the only somewhat pompous voice of Blueblood as the man shuffled with as much strength and dignity as he could muster from the doorway of one of the guest rooms. His normally lustrous marble flesh had a more ashen gray look about it, his long, blond hair plastered to his scalp in a sheen of sweat. He had tried to arrange his Soul Reaper robes and white Captain’s haori into something resembling good order, but it was hard to miss the tattered state of them, almost as ragged as the cloaks Sunburst and Cozy Glow wore. He had his Zanpaktou sheathed at his hip, and Rarity could feel the fluctuating dimness of his and its reiatsu as he came down the winding stone steps curling along the edge of the wall that ran from his guest room door.

“I was going to come up to check on you,” she said, approaching him at the foot of the stairs, offering him an arm to lean on. He looked, for a second, as if pride might make him refuse, but he swallowed that and took her arm with a grateful nod.

“I heard you talking, and thought I might spare you the bother, my lady. It doesn’t suit to make you worry unfairly over me, certainly not as a Captain of the Gotei 13.”

“Oh yeah, gonna be fun watching you stroll through town,” Cozy Glow said with a happy and hungry twist of her lips, “You look like you’re having trouble staying upright. Sure our food is too good for your unsullied lips, Reaper?”

Blueblood held his head up, straightening his stance, even as Rarity felt the tremor in his limbs. He hadn’t eaten anything or had a single drink, much as she hadn’t. She wondered if he was feeling the effects of starvation even worse than she was, given his spirit body did still use food to replenish energy, even if he couldn’t die from lack of nourishment.

“I’ve no need to consume the offal you cretins call food. Truly, feasting on the blood and flesh of your own is heinous even for denizens of Hell. Neither I nor Miss Rarity will be stooping to such a low.”

“Geeze, get a load of you. Talk about judgmental,” Cozy Glow licked her lips, eyes sharp as obsidian glass, “We’ll see if you feel the same way if you’re stuck here for years, decades, centuries on end. Might be, given enough time, you’ll find yourself acting rather heinous yourself. Buuuuut we’ve wasted enough time yapping. You coming along, Pretty Boy? Having you along just means we might have to break a few extra skulls along the way, but I’m always up for extra entertainment.”

“I’m not sure you should, Blueblood,” Rarity said, “You should conserve your strength for now.”

He shook his head, gently squeezing her arm, eyes resolute, “No, I shall accompany you. I’ve rested enough, and quite frankly would rather feel better moving than sitting still. If violence is offered, rest assured I am still able to defend myself. I may need food to recover my full power, but rest alone has restored enough of my reiryuku that I’m hardly an invalid. I shall hold my own.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” said Sunburst with what he probably hoped was a helpful smile, “Between the reputation you’re building, Rarity, and me and Cozy Glow, I doubt anyone is going to want to take a stab at us, even with your Soul Reaper friend along. At least, nobody who’s a real threat. Might still get a few thrill seekers just out for a fight. Big disadvantage of being undying down here, not a lot of ways to deter folk from violence in the long term.”

“I’ve gathered as much just from how often I’ve had to butcher some of your Legion goons downstairs,” Rarity said with a sigh, “I swear some of them genuinely seem to enjoy it.”

“Well what do you expect?” Cozy Glow said, gesturing at Rarity up and down, “You practically shine with ‘step on me mommy’ energy, and there’s a lot of guys and gals down here that are into that kind of thing. Bet anything most of my dudes who come at you are only doing it to get off to you kicking their asses.”

“How... disturbingly off putting,” Blueblood said, to which Rarity nodded emphatic agreement.

“The sooner we leave Tartarus, the better,” she said, “So just where are we going on these ‘errands’ of yours, anyway?”

The errands, as it turned out, was something of a lengthy jaunt to several establishments and gang territories across the better portion of Tartarus. Since Cozy Glow was going to be away for an unknown amount of days, or even weeks, along with Sunburst who was her nominal second-in-command, she had to make a lot of arrangements to ensure the very Legion she’d built could stay functional for that timeframe. That meant calling in a lot of owed favors, the preferred currency in Hell besides flesh, force, or pleasure. Cozy Glow had built up a network of alliances with several neighboring gangs, and called in what favors were owed to her and the Legion to have those gangs run extra interference against rivals for the next few weeks.

Then there was a most unpleasant meeting at a ‘meat butcher’ to ensure a regular supply to the Legion fortress. Rarity and Blueblood both stood pale and did their best to try to scrub their minds of the sights there, no less than what one might expect out of the harsh, blood covered stone edifice through which weaker denizens of Hell were ushered to be used for... what one might darkly imagine such a place would use them for.

“I cannot comprehend how this is tolerable, even for Hell,” she whispered under her breath, still hearing the echo of screams in her mind.

Cozy Glow hadn’t even been nearby, exchanging words with a massive brute of a woman with a blood stained head of tangled hair, wearing a butcher’s smock made of skin leather and carrying a notched set of cleavers dangling from multiple belts. Yet the girl finished talking with the butcher and came skipping up to Rarity, who’d remained near the exit of the building, and gave her a flat look, “What’s so intolerable about it? Hollows eat each other all the time and don’t even come back from it the way we Sinners do. A good half of the population here used to be Hollows anyway, so it's not like eating other people is something new to them. Seriously, princess, you should try opening your brainpan a little.”

“I would rather not open my mind to this overly much, although I take your point with the Hollows,” Rarity said, thinking back to her encounter with the Hollow who was with the Legion, “So do all Hollows who come here gain human forms again? I met one in your fortress whom my friends and I defeated, and she wasn’t remotely human in shape when we encountered her in the living world.”

“Oh yeah, all Sinners are more or less human in shape, although as you can see from Ester back there,” Cozy jabbed a thumb back at the hulking butcher woman, “There’s plenty of variation in ‘human’. And like you saw with Ahgg, we get a few rare Beast Realmers here, but they’re waaay uncommon.”

More than glad to be away from the butcher’s establishment as the group walked on through Tartarus' hellishly hot, smoky streets, Blueblood spoke quietly, “I’m shocked to see any here at all. It was always my understanding Beast Realmers had their own set of rules for passing on.”

He kept one hand ever close to the hilt of his Zanpaktou, his eyes continuously scanning for danger. Thus far in their walk around the city for all of these errands, there’d been two attacks from shuffling gangs of Sinners, quickly dispatched before they caused too much trouble. Rarity suspected they’d have to deal with a few more by the end of the trip. In truth there would have already been more attacks if her knights were not providing a preventive screen from the shadows. Rarity could sense them, knew their movements, when they engaged whomever they deemed had hostile intent. They would follow her instructions with great precision, yet in a way she was testing their capacity for independent thinking and action right now.

Among the knights she could summon with her Fullbring, she knew there were the bulk of over a hundred that were the baseline, capable and quickly replaceable if damaged or destroyed. But there were those twenty or so knights who had more unique traits and potency that seemed to, in essence, be her ‘honor guard’. Since having her full army summoned was draining in the long term, she had only a couple dozen of the regular knights active, and four of the honor guard ‘leading’ squads of their fellows. Of those she’d given one such squad instructions to shadow her and Cozy Glow during this excursion, and intercept perceived dangers. The two times Sinners had managed to attack her and the group, it was only because she sensed her knights dealing with another group that had been seeking to ambush them at the same time.

None of her knights had fallen thus far, and Rarity was pleased with their initiative and independent function. It was just a shame none of them spoke. A silent army of loyal, crimson knights had a certain appeal, but at times their silence was unnerving.

Her musing thoughts turned back to the conversation as Sunburst spoke in answer to Blueblood’s query, “I figure we get the odd Beast here every now and again for the same reason I ended up here. They did something or knew something that got on the bad side of the wrong people.”

“Zero Division,” Rarity said icily, “They certainly made an effective hole to sweep their problems into. I will do all I can to dig us a way out of it, I promise.”

“Aww, ain’t she a sweetie, Sunburst? It’s almost like she cares,” cooed Cozy Glow.

“I need not take everyone with me, of course,” Rarity quipped back, “Certain snippy little girls with foul mouths might be left to consider the value of being less sarcastic.”

“Oh, she’s learning to toss shit back! Be still my black little heart, we’ll make a proper Sinner out of you, yet, princess!” Cozy Glow clapped merrily, then casually beheaded a Sinner that jumped at her from a dark alley, knives barred. Her chains moved like dark iron cobras, plucking the man’s head off, which she then kicked like a meaty hacky-sack across the opposite side of the street, “Yeash, the riff-raff are really active, today.”

“All the more reason to conclude our business swiftly,” said Rarity, “Now that you’ve got you’re...ugh, ‘food’ issue sorted out, I presume to keep your Legion supplied while we’re gone, and added a layer of protection from your alliances, what’s left to do?”

“Got one last stop to make, but its the biggest one. Having a few extra bodies to watch my territory is one thing, but I can’t just leave Tartarus for too long without making a announcement out of it. A violent one. Remind the other players while I’m still top bitch on the totem pole. If I fail to do that, then the Legion will probably fall apart on its own while I’m gone.”

“Why do I have a terrible feeling that this is going to be far more barbaric than it needs to be?” Blueblood said with a sour look, “Just what are you dragging Rarity into, you savage little imp?”

“You need to work on your insults, anus-breath. But, to answer the question, we’re paying a visit to everybody’s favorite place in Tartarus; the Theater.”

Rarity had to blink at that one. “The... theater?”

“Theater, princess, work that capital T in there. And yeah, you heard me. Everybody loves the Theater. Fuck I don’t even participate most of the time and I like it. It’s owned by my nearest rival in power right now. Of course the place has exchanged hands plenty of times, as the Theater is near as old as Tartarus itself, but right now it’s Som’s turf.”

“Som?” Rarity tilted her head.

“Somnambula,” Sunburst provided, and gave Blueblood an odd, sidelong look, “She might react poorly to you.”

“Hmph, why, is she a Hollow?” asked Blueblood.

“No, she’s a former Soul Reaper.”

Several possibilities had run through Rarity’s mind about just what the ‘Theater’ might be like, but she hadn’t quite expected the term to be meant quite so... literally. They had crossed over to the eastern side of Tartarus’ great cavern wall, upon which a vast space within that wall had been hollowed out and carved into a great series of partial domes. Rarity counted eight of them in total, four to either side of a big tunnel worked into the rock. Splattered in bright blood in letters large enough to be seen for several city blocks away were the words “Surrender Hope - Gain Freedom: The Tartarus Theater”.

It was, at once, both a drearily macabre yet strangely uplifting statement, as if whomever painted it did so with a rebellious energy to spit in the eye of their own fate. Upon getting closer, Rarity realized the blood was fresh, painted over words carved into the stone likely some time ago, if the age of the Theater was as old as Cozy Glow indicated. There was a wild space separating the wall the Theater occupied from the cluster of choking buildings around it, perhaps as wide as a generously sized parking lot. The space was barely enough to contain its throngs. Rarity was given the sensation of entering into an outdoor concert, the kind overcrowded and filled with as much drinking, screaming people on drugs as those paying attention to the show.

Or shows, in this case.

Cozy Glow was not gentle in clearing a path. The violent child barely got out the words, “Move it, losers!” before her chains, sharp edged and vicious, cut into anyone not swift or smart enough to move out of their path. Sinners cried out in equal parts anger, shock, or dismay, some turning weapons upon them, but if it wasn’t Cozy Glow clearing the path ahead, it was Sunburst dispersing the throngs from the flanks. Flames, hot and angry orange in color, poured from Sunburst’s hands. Rarity was impressed with just how swiftly the mind mannered man turned flinty eyes to the crowd and precisely controlled tongues of fire that scorched black amidst those that refused to back off.

Rarity, ever making mental notes, compared Sunburst to Sunset, as it was difficult not to. Sunset’s flames always seemed to explode with eager fury from her Zanpaktou, wild, free, controlled only in the sense that they were unified with Sunset’s cause and eagerness to protect. Sunburst’s hellfire, by comparison, had the dark, focused lash of something potent but bitter, whipping with a cold precision that elicited a shiver at the sight despite the intense heat.

None in the crowd had much appetite to face his flames or Cozy Glow’s chains, and soon the thick crowd was giving way to their steady pace through it. Rarity heard murmurs, some darkly noting the Soul Reaper among them, others glaring or staring at her in equal parts curiosity or recognition by her own growing reputation. It wasn’t long before they had gotten close enough to the carved out sections of wall that Rarity could actually see details, and at once the name of the Theater made sense while leaving her even more convinced she could not escape Hell fast enough.

Each divot scooped from the bleary, worn gray stone of Tartarus’ cavern walls was easily twice the size of a stage one might expect to find at an outdoor amphitheater. The walls were carved with pillars showing violent or lurid figures in acts of rapture or torment, each ‘stage’ given over to the whims of whatever artist had worked their mad desires out in stone over the centuries of Hell’s existence. Demonic mouths or bodily orifices were carved to hide archways into the stone, no doubt leading deeper into the bowels beyond. Light was provided by the burning of bones, no doubt Sinners with powers over fire akin to Sunburst’s were responsible for keeping the bonfires or stone basins alike freshly lit.

The flamelight illuminated the players upon each stage, casting eerie shadows upon the domed walls as, willing or unwilling, they acted out their parts for the entertainment of the crowd.

It took Rarity some few moments of wide eyes starring to work out what any of the plays were. Upon one stage she was fairly certain Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was being acted, although she knew for sure that the titular character never did anything like that with all seven dwarves. Another stage was acting out vaguely familiar scenes from Star Wars, a set of films Rarity had seen but was never all that into; but she was fairly confident that Anakin’s slaughter of Jedi younglings wasn’t supposed to go on for this long or be cheered quite this much by the audience. Each stage was of like manner, familiar stories being acted out in various twisted fashion, often being changed mid-scene at the whims of whatever the audience shouted loudest to have happen, which was almost always something terribly violent or sexual.

“Oh hey, I oughta ask you sometime about new movies,” Cozy Glow said casually, kicking aside a bisected corpse of a Sinner that was still trying to pull themselves together. She gestured at the nearest stage, “Anytime we get new people in, its worth a lot of favor to grill them over films we haven’t heard of yet.”

“I’m afraid I’m not much of a movie-goer,” Rarity admitted, trying hard not to look at the stages any more than she had to. They were making their way between them, to the part of the wall that had the sizable tunnel carved out of it. She noted that even Cozy Glow and Sunburst’s violent pathway had not fully cleared out a line of Sinners gathered in front of this tunnel, held off by a set of other Sinners garbed from the waist down in leggings of bone, and from the waist up bare chested. All were armed, acting as guards or bouncers as far as Rarity could tell.

“That’s a shame,” said Cozy Glow, “People around here are going crazy wondering what the next Marvel movie is gonna be. That shit’s all the rage right now, but the best actors are kept for the inner Theater. These outer stages are for the regular crowds, whereas all the good stuff is on the inside.”

“I see... and what are we meant to accomplish here? You said something about making a scene,” Rarity said, feeling more uncomfortable about this by the second. Unconsciously, she stayed a step closer to Blueblood, almost protectively. She felt her knights still following behind, and no longer feeling stealth was necessary she raised a hand to her mouth and whistled to them. The already unsteady, partially dispersed crowd broke up even more as the small squad of six knights, led by one of the large, unique knights, came marching from the shadows of the surrounding buildings and hastened to Rarity’s side.

Silent as ever, Rarity still nodded to them, speaking to them as if they were real, “Stay close to me and Blueblood. Do not strike unless we are struck first, but I expect the need for violence, soon.”

The unique one inclined its helmeted head at her. He was a bit taller than his fellows, draped in a cloak edged in crystalline red fur, his armor showing not only the usual sigils of roses, but the etching of hunting hounds upon his shoulders and knee guards. Even his helmet had a faintly houndish appearance, a tail of fine crystal strand rising from the helmet’s crest. He carried a long, ruby spear with a cross-guard and finely pointed tip.

I really ought to start naming the unique ones, at least... she thought, but any further thoughts on that matter were halted by the fact that their little group had arrived at the threshold of the tunnel and Cozy Glow’s way was barred by the eight or so armed guards blocking the path. There was already ripples of recognition tensing them as Cozy Glow approached, Sunburst casting jets of flame upward from his palms like a professional juggler.

“No what the fuck do you think you’re doing, harassing our clientele, Cozy Glow!?” bellowed one guard, a literal onyx skinned fellow bearing a sanguine cord of braided hair down his otherwise bald head. He carried a crescent axe with a saw edge, several holes along its edge looped with rusty red chains.

“Paying your boss a social call, Zeb, now kindly move your scrawny ass out of my way before I strip your skin for a new cloak,” Cozy Glow said, not breaking stride. Her chains were already coiling around her and snaking forth like a black iron tide, and the other guards around Zeb looked more than a tad nervous as they cast looks to him, apparently the man in charge of the group.

For his part, his lips curled in a frustrated sneer, the rust chains around his axe vibrating as a similarly rust colored aura of energy flowed from them, “Somnambula doesn’t pay me to bend over for anyone, even you. You want past, got to pay the toll in flesh and blood.”

“Music to my ears,” Cozy Glow said, and moved more swiftly than Rarity had ever seen the girl move up until that point. Almost instantly Rarity’s mind went to analysis, for she could immediately tell this was not going to take long, but she wanted to remember any details of how Cozy Glow fought.

The number of chains that sprouted from Cozy Glow’s cloak was practically uncountable, the way they massed together in thick clumps that filled the air with a terrible, roaring rattle. They spread and sprouted offshoots, all crashing in upon the tunnel guards in crushing, cutting fury. The guards weren’t slouches by any means, leaping away to evade, barring weapons to try and defend or block, but Rarity saw two bound together and shot through with chains so thoroughly it was like looking at mushy, blood red playdough pieces being squished by a rambunctious child.

Zeb was clearly the swiftest of the lot, barreling through the forest of grasping chains to meet Cozy Glow’s darting form head on. Where the rust red energy of his axe passed, chains turned to rust as well, corroding and chipping. But there were always more chains, and Cozy Glow wrapped her arms and legs in them, forming whipping limbs of severing metal to meet Zeb’s axe in a thunderous exchange. The saw bladed crescent axe cut low and high with equal speed, appearing in both places at once, but Cozy Glow spun through the blows, angling herself sideways to deliver a crushing kick to the man’s chest that tore gouts of flesh from his bare chest.

Sunburst was not idle, jetting into the air on bursts of flame from his feet and arching hellfire down in sheets upon the other guards that were still standing. The fire danced to deft motions of his hands and fingers, like a puppeteer expertly controlling his craft. Flame sheets focused into a rain of white hot darts, burning through heads, necks, torsos, leaving blackened and sizzling holes in their wake as the darts moved like birds of prey, each flame repeatedly striking targets over and over again.

“Hmph, my Zanpaktou can do as much, and more elegantly,” Blueblood said, but his tone suggested he was reluctantly impressed. Rarity kept her silence, still analyzing Cozy Glow’s fighting style. It was like the girl was a controlled storm, her style seemingly wild and furious, yet Rarity saw there was a methodology to the strikes.

Zeb was strong, and the rust energy flowing from the red chains in his axe created almost something akin to a barrier around him. But that protective field had to thin out as he struck, and Cozy Glow baited out those strikes and always had fresh chains ready to punish him the moment those openings appeared. It was a short, almost playful dance, and it ended brutally fast when Cozy Glow leapt upon the axe’s edge itself and tied it down with a mass of chains. The chains rusted, but kept the axe planted in place long enough for her to grip Zeb’s face with her chain covered hands and rip upward, literally removing the man’s face in a welter of crimson. He screamed, falling, and Cozy Glow giggled as more chains wrapped his stricken form, tearing.

He wasn’t killed. Not in the sense that Sinners could temporarily ‘die’ and require time to regenerate. Cozy Glow kept her promise, leaving his body intact, but taking the skin, which she threw over her shoulder like a secondary cloak.

“Thanks for the warm up, Zeb! I’ll let Sommy know you did your job!” the girl called, striding past his writhing form, and the burned remains of the other guards, Sunburst following behind her. She cast a glance over her blood coated shoulder at Rarity and Blueblood, “You two coming or what?”

Rarity took a deep breath, and rather regretted it as the thick smell of blood and other human fluids assaulted her nose. She was never going to get used to the stink of this place. Ignoring the way her shoes made wet splashes in the freshly blood soaked ground, she walked into the tunnel, with her small squad of knights marching behind her. Blueblood followed closely, even more ashen than before, his hand gripped with white knuckles around the hilt of his Zanpaktou as the tunnel mouth swallowed them.

The interior of the Theater was lit with more braziers and carved out sections of wall piled with bones, burning low with crackling flickers of ember. There were at least half a dozen or so side tunnels leading off elsewhere, and Rarity saw the shadows of Sinners peering at them from those side tunnels. She heard sounds from those directions, cries of anguish, cries of ecstasy, and noises she did not want her imagination to dwell on. Symbols carved into the wall above each tunnel seemed to depict a different type of ‘entertainment’ taking place down each path, none of which interested Rarity. Even the ones she couldn’t fully decipher the meaning of still left lurid suggestions that made her skin crawl, and she couldn’t be done with this business of Cozy Glow’s fast enough.

Cozy Glow ignored those side tunnels, proceeding at a brisk pace as she skipped down the main tunnel, which began to ever so slightly slope downward. She was talking cheerily, like someone playing tour guide, “Now where the Legion has its toes in a bit of everything, Som’s really fully invested in the Theater. When we’re not trying to kill each other I do sometimes enjoy the vibe here, and will take in a show or two. Sunburst is kinda a killjoy, he doesn’t ever join me on those excursions.”

“Not my style,” he said simply, keeping a dancing ball of hellfire over his right palm to help light the way, “I can barely stomach the shows out front. I mean, I still remember what good cinema is like. Which reminds me,” he turned to Rarity, “Did any new Star Trek shows come out? I keep asking, but its like nobody in Hell even knows what Trek is.”

“I...um, I think so?” Rarity tried to supply, dredging her memory. “I could have sworn Twilight mentioned something, but sorry, that isn’t my area of interest and I can’t quite recall.”

“Hmm, oh well, maybe when we get out of here I can see for myself,” he said, and Blueblood gave him a strange, sidelong look.

“Is that really what to focus on, here? Trapped in Hell itself, and your first thought if you manage to escape is of some television show?”

Sunburst looked back at him, his eyes reflecting the dark orange light of his hellfire, “It helps to have something simple to focus your hopes on, Soul Reaper. Something that reminds you of what being a person was like.”

“Heheh, watch it, Sunny, don’t use the H-word around Somnambula. If anybody is gonna set her off, it’s gonna be me!” Cozy Glow chuckled merrily, just as the main tunnel began to open up into a larger chamber. Rarity had thought to ask just what Cozy Glow meant by the ‘H-word’, but that thought was stolen by the spectacle of the area in which they’d now entered.

It was a mockery of an opera house and an arena mixed together, the tall stone walls carved down like a deathly canyon. The sides had scones, dozens of them, where Sinners sat on chairs of bone and skin, their higher position offering an ideal view of a long, jagged stone stage that jutted out over a hundred feet long and twice that wide. Stone spikes rose around the rim of the stage like inward bent teeth, and row after row of stone bench seating surrounded it. Skulls had been appropriated in multitudes to form misshapen chandeliers and torch mountings to provide light, but the stage itself as light brighter by clever contraptions consisting of stone bowels piled with burning bones, with a disc of stone polished to trap and reflect the light through a thin skin tarp that created a crude spotlight.

A ballet of sorts, for lack of a better work, was taking place upon the arena stage, and to Rarity’s brief shock there was actual music accompanying it. Her eye was half drawn to the source of the music, a set of Sinners using instruments made of bone and sinew that played at the base of the stage. The rest of her attention was on the stage itself, where the ‘dancers’ of the show performed. It was not a coordinated dance that one might rehearse, but nor was it quite the same as the frightful chaos of a fight. Each dancer was lithe and clad in little save scraps of cloth or leather, but each had a weapon, and each cut into one another as they danced in an ever moving display of violent, primal grace. Knowing something of ballet, Rarity could recognize parts of the dance, yet all was punctuated by the cleaving or puncturing of flesh, and she could not look for long without forcing her gaze elsewhere.

“We should not be here,” she heard Blueblood say under his breath, sliding closer to her side. Her knights formed a protective circle behind her, a steady shield at her back that gave her comfort, much as Blueblood’s presence did. She nodded, touching his arm.

“We shall not be for any longer than needed, I promise you.”

Completely uncaring about the performance, Cozy Glow strutted in and bellowed out, loud as a trumpet, “Hey SOM! Where you at, girl!?”

The performance screeched to a halt, music stopping, dancers faltering. The eyes and murmurs of hundreds of audience members turned to the beacon of noise Cozy Glow had made of herself, Sunburst hovering nearby, Rarity and Blueblood right behind. Cozy Glow seemed to soak in the unwanted attention, the rueful stares, but Rarity took note of the fact that even more Sinners upon recognizing her showed fear and shrank back, already eyeing side tunnel exits as if they knew what was coming.

From above the entrance, where stonework rose forward into a large, elegant lip of central box seating, a figure stood and hopped down, or rather floated down on wisps of dark trailing cloth. The cloth, like living limbs, touched upon the ground and held the woman aloft as she turned around to face Cozy Glow with a look of thorns and acid in her wroth features. Rarity looked the woman over, thoughtful.

Somnambula was like a well carved statue, possessing a beauty that even Hell’s rigors could not fully mare, although one could see the worn elements around her darkened eyes of violet. Peach skin was clad in the remains of a Soul Reaper’s robes, torn and resewn into something more like a two-piece chest wrapping and waist cloth, further adorned with black strips of cloth that wrapped her arms and legs almost like a mummified body. A head dress of black covered her head, but still let long, split ended sea green hair fall forth. Unlike many of the Sinners present, a certain power vibrated within Somnambula, sharper and more potent and now focused heavily upon Cozy Glow’s group.

Her voice was rich, almost too vibrant for the setting, “Cozy Glow. You wouldn’t be so brazenly interrupting my day if you weren’t looking for a fight. What, did your new toy bore you already?”

The way those deep set eyes looked at Rarity it was clear the ‘toy’ bit was aimed at her, which didn’t surprise Rarity. Word of her presence would have reached anyone of importance by now, and if Somnambula was the second strongest Sinner in Tartarus besides Cozy Glow it made sense she’d probably have Rarity’s description. Rather than demurely remain silent, Rarity decided she’d take the reins herself and strode forward to stand next to Cozy Glow.

“I assure you my business with Cozy Glow is strictly that; business. Somnambula, I presume? My name is Rarity.”

“Lovely name, and I don’t actually care,” Somnambula replied curtly, flexing her right and left hands where the distinct rattle of chains was followed by parts of her black arm clothes unraveling. Rarity didn’t see the chains that were making the rattle, but she did see the cloth gain a metallic sheen as they bound together and took the shape of a pair of long, curved shotel blades in Somnambula’s hands, dark as tar. “An insult like bursting into my Theater and interrupting a performance can’t be ignored, and certainly doesn’t put me in the mood for polite conversation.”

“Aww, we can cut each other up plenty in a sec, Sommy, but why not let the princess here have her chat?” said Cozy Glow, her own chains already unfurling from her body in a waving fan of ready death. By now those of the crowd that were going to vacate the area were already doing so, while others like the performing dancers and the band were instead getting ready with their own weapons, prepared to back up their boss against the invaders.

Rarity made a nod to her knights and they readied weapons, but she was swift to say, “Truth be told I think Cozy’s need to instill a little fear in everyone to be a bit questionable, but since nobody can truly die here in Hell I suppose that makes violence a more casual thing than I’d prefer.”

“Personally I would like to ask how another Soul Reaper came to be here?” Blueblood said, having drawn his Zanpaktou, held loosely at his side. Somnambula looked at him with a slow blink of her eyes, as if only just now realizing his own manner of dress marking him as a Soul Reaper. Then her expression turned sour, like she smelled something rotten.

“I am no longer a Soul Reaper, and spit on the very name. By your tattered haori you were a Captain? Your reiatsu doesn’t feel like much, to me. Have the standards of the Gotei 13 fallen so low?”

A rattle of a growling sigh escaped Blueblood, “I confess to not being at my best at the moment, madam, but I’ll ask you to refrain from petty insults otherwise I may need to avenge my honor.”

“I somehow doubt you could,” Somambula replied, eyes flicking between all of them. Rarity saw the woman thinking, despite the anger boiling like the dark flickers of a leviathan under the lakes of her eyes, “Cozy Glow wouldn’t attack unless it was to make a damn statement and put fear into the gangs for awhile. Which means she’s going somewhere. Which means you two are somehow responsible for that. There’s a story there, but I can’t bring myself to care that much. Whatever you’re doing is going to fail. Everything in Hell fails.”

“Sooooo, we done with the chatting? Because I really am down to start tearing you and your buddies apart!” said Cozy Glow, “Think of it as my going away present to keep you entertained and tided over until I get back, Som!”

“Ugh, Spirit Queen above, I hate you so much,” Somnambula muttered, then threw one blade forward in a commanding sweep, “Everyone who isn’t a worthless coward, attack!”

“Stay behind me,” Rarity told Blueblood as those Sinners who hadn’t fled now rushed forward in a screaming mass of murder, and Somnambula rushed forward at their head, aiming right for Cozy Glow. Within a mere eyeblink the darkly lit, underground opera house became filled with the dance of blood once more, only now no longer contained by a stage.

Blueblood, for his part, threw his Zanpaktou up, letting it shine with a gleaming light that filled the chamber as he summoned forth a stronger voice to intone, “Look upon the world’s treasures; Mezurashi Kokei!”

The first line of Sinners dropped as their bodies were pierced by the invisible glass daggers that rained down from Blueblood’s Shikai release. Rarity, with a mere mental command, sent her knight’s forward, and although they were few, they were a solid wall of crystal bodies that barreled into the crowd with ruby weapons flashing. This bought Rarity a second to call forth her whirlpool of blood from the crystal rose on her left wrist, and begin drawing forth a long, elegant red rapier. She felt a sharpness of reiatsu on her left, and saw a line of Sinners crawling along the walls, using the box seats of the theater as handholds and platforms as they drew forth ranged weapons like bone forged crossbows, or even firearms that crackled with hellish fire. Apparently some Sinner’s weapons or powers manifested in shapes best suited for ranged attack and those among Somnambula’s gang that had such abilities were going to use the higher seating to best advantage.

Without thinking she leapt up and swept her left hand around, a rush of blood red from her whirlpool forming a curving crystal barrier that shaped just in time to take the barrage of bolts and explosive bursts of flame from the Sinners in the box seating area. She retaliated instantly by forming a hail of crimson blades and sweeping it across the left side of the chamber’s box seats, impaling a few dozen Sinners and forcing the others to take cover. More shots were coming at her from the right side, but she had placed her trust in Blueblood and that trust was rewarded as those shots deflected off of sparking, near invisible daggers from his Zanpaktou.

Then Sunburst flew up, jetting about on trails of hellfire as he dragged his arms across the ceiling. At first Rarity wasn’t sure what he was doing, but then it became clear as his hellfire, blazing from his palms, melted stone in sheets across the right side of the opera house and began to drop molten stone upon the Sinners within those box seats.

Meanwhile the center of the opera house was a storm of clashing metal as Somnambula herself and a core of her own gang consisting mostly of the dancers all attacked Cozy Glow at once. And the little girl, grinning wide, seemed to welcome being outnumbered as she laughed and let her chains begin the murderous act which she came to the Theater for.

Author's Note

A full chapter of Rarity, and a bit more to go since next chapter will be half the fight with Somnambula, and half elsewhere. Hmm, I think with Somnambula here the only other of that group from the show I haven't made much mention of is Rockhoof? Well, at any rate hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

As always I appreciate any and all comments, questions, or critiques. 'Till next time.