Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Bleach (Anime & Manga)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ulquiorra Cifer/Inoue Orihime
Characters: Ulquiorra Cifer, Inoue Orihime, Aizen Sousuke, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Original Arrancar Characters (Bleach)
Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Inspired by Disco Elysium, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Entroponetics
Summary:
Lord Aizen, former Captain of the Gotei Thirteen, is utterly captivated with the idea of transcendence. He encounters a very strange human, with powers far beyond that what should not be possible. They brush against the domain of the Reiō. What if this young woman was given the means to ascend? Orihime Inoue finds herself turned into sacred and terrible.
Hello Ulquihime Nation. I did a thingy.
I have a AU in my head that is eating at me to write. Bleach but Aizen forcibly turning Orihime into an Arrancar. Some ideas are floating in my head like now that Orihime has been subject to the brutalistic profrane state of affairs of the Hollows, she is not immune to the Hollow tendency to consume to fill the void in her heart (a representation of despair for this story). Orihime is the heart that always gives but how she sustain her resolve in a world that does not reward this unrelenting altruism (dw, she wins out). I think she is forced to achieve a ranking of an Espada, maybe even 0 ranking (because I don't like Yammy). Her aspect of death is Denial. I think it is fitting as a corruption of her abilities to reject, I don't know how this translates as her Zanpakuto or her Resurrecion.
Other ideas in my head. As Oirhime is forced to consume Hollows and Arrancar (because she's not immune to the conditions of their existence), Orihime actually is able to talk and retain the individualities of souls that comprise her body. We are told that Hollows are always at risk of an individual personality overtaking the body. I think it would be interesting for Orihime to have a handful of souls who serve as internal voices that guide/challenge/inform her. Think the skills in Disco Elysium. And like Ichigo, she has her own moment in which an inner Hollow briefly takes control of her body.
Other Idea II: When Orihime reunited with her friends there is now a serious question. Do they purify her? Maybe there is material suggesting otherwise but I always took the regulating of cycle of souls in Bleach to be an automatic process. Some souls will enter Soul Society no problem, some will immediately reincarnate back as humans, and some may return as Hollows; whatever souls are in queue and need to be divided up to retain the balance of the three realms. The point being that at this current moment in time, Orihime accepts her existence as an Arrancar. She has grown attatched and loves every soul that comprises her body.
Other Idea 3: Orihime is introduced to why Hollows sided with Aizen even if they don't necessarily trust him. It's his promise to rid themselves of their condition of never-ending consumption to fill the voids in her hearts. And specifically many Hollows blame the Soul King for this. He is the one who fashioned the world as it is, he is the one condemned this to this condition.
Sorry to blab, I recently got back into Bleach and I remembered how much teen me loved Ulquihime. Sorry if there is much actually direct Ulquihime here but he lives and loves his wife very much.
Wow! Aren't you just filled to the brim with ideas! 🤭 I'm happy to see that UH has inspired such passion from another fellow fan and I sincerely hope you will be able to see your ideas come to life through your writing one day.
Maybe a hot take among our community, but I LOVE the cannibalism trope for UH. It's so fitting for a dark UH fic. I mean...hello?? Hollows? Souls? Consuming for survival? Animal resurrecions?? I'm shocked it isn't done more often in our fandom. Of all the UH fics I've read, I've only read ONE (and it is indeed one of my favs!). It's called "Pomegranate", btw, and the link can be found on my Carrd.
I like the aspect you gave her. "Denial". It sounds double-edged and powerful. I also headcanon her having the same aspect for the same reasons. And I melted when I read the last sentence 🥰 Yes, Ulquiorra would be so awestruck by her!
Sending you the strength and motivation to flesh this out!
#the status quo should change as the mindless hollows that have been hunted developed far beyond expectation#orihime gets to witness all of that#they even hint at her being changed#also the idea of her listening to other souls is so good especially since it’s similar to her fairies
Some amount of this fic is dedicated to making sense of Hollow society, culture, and condition of being a Hollow in Hueco Mundo. How Aizen's entrada radically reshapes and recontextualizes how Hollows and Arrancar think of themselves, when their human individuality returns to them with all that it entails.
To paraphrase one of my favorite lines from Disco Elysium, "Few of us can imagine to be the horror that is you, with all of creation reflected in your forebrain. It must be like the highest of hells, a kaleidoscope of fire and writhing glass, an eternal damnation."
Orihime will radically change upon being forced to endure the conditions that is being an Arrancar, an evolved Hollow that consumes the souls of others, but still is consuming tortured human souls within her. But her will to do good, to be good, to place that faith in others, will remain. This fic will be deeply existential.
Ulquiorra understood what a heart is through Orihime and Ichigo, especially through Orihime's unwavering love for Ichigo and her friends. Even when Ulquiorra tried to break her faith by killing the love of her life in front of her, Ulquiorra finally understood "what a heart is."
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These are ramblings. Maybe there are elements that are contradicted in the canon that I missed. Some of these are born from the fact that the original material is vague or doesn't actually reckon with the ideas Kubo didn't have the opportunity or skill required to mature them. Some of these are also very likely teeter or straight up are "fix-it" in nature. Lastly these ramblings are also informed by my recent re-exposure to the video game "Disco Elysium" and a book set in the same universe, "Sacred and Terrible Air."
Anyway, I want to think a lot about what differentiates Hollows, Shinigami, and Hollows.
Hollows are the souls of humans who have overcome to despair and need to consume the souls of others. In "Can't Fear Your Own World," the introduction specifically correlates the idea of Hollows to that of entropy. In which chaos ultimately reaches uniformity. In the primordial world, humans still began to turn into Hollows and enough Hollows came into existence to form the first ever Menos. In response, the Soul King emerged, killing this Menos. It's remains were turned into sands of resihi which now compose Hueco Mundo.
Hollows are made of souls they have consumed. There is always the risk in consuming or being consumed that a particular individual soul within the Hollow will become the dominant one and take control of the body. It's never technically outright stated that the Hollow evolved beyond a Gillian is a specific human who actually lived, or the dominant personality coloured by the possibly thousands of souls that make up its being. As a gestalt being how do we precisely know that the personality that emerges is actually a lived human or the mass amalgamation representation of traumas, anxieties, fears, and impulses of the souls contained? I honestly don't think that is what Kubo wanted or intended, but I love this idea. I want to play with this idea.
I also want a moment to discuss the what differentiates an regular soul in Soul Society and that of a Shingami. As we see in Hitsugaya's extra chapter, what differeniates him from the other souls is he hears his Zanpakuto Hyōrinmaru long before he became a shinigami. It is my understanding/HC that there are those souls who become part of the Kido Corps or other departments of Soul Society's military are those who failed to become Shinigami. While being a Shinigami is an occupation, one that anyone could train for, the ability to either have a Zanpakuto spirit or create one through a relationship with an asauchi is what truly differentiates Shinigami from the other souls in Soul Society.
Now connecting this all together. There were Arrancars prior to Azien's use of the Hōgyoku, these being having emerged naturally. It is my belief that to become an arrancar is something, that like a Shinigami, requires an amalgamation of souls contained with the Hollow with the potential to become Shinigami had they been in Soul Society. In other words, these souls contain within them enough of Zanpakuto spirit for the Hollow to then tear off their mask, and condense the bulk of their hollow powers into a Zanpakuto. Since these Arrancar Zanpakuto are a composite of who knows how many Zanpakuto spirits, its form and function are drastically different that Shinigami Zanpakuto but still serve to copliment as a reflecton of the Arrancar's sense of self. It is also only the balancing nature of enough souls with the potential to become Shinigami that a Hollow can become an Arrancar. Despite it being known that Hollows can become Arrancars, they don't seem to be all that common and perhaps not beneficial to become one in the first place. It would fit the themes of the story that while some Hollows can become Arrancars, most are too consumed by their base impulses. Becoming an Arrancar gives the Hollow mild relief, perhaps their consumption is diminished (but never truly gone), but now possessing the full intellect of a human agent again. To paraphase Disco Elysium, "Few can imagine the horror of you, with all creation reflected in your forebrain...it must be the highest of hells."
Hollows consume to ease the pain and to feel human again. Becoming an Arrancar only eases the amount of consumption with the consequence that you are in full awareness of your actions, no longer can your sins be forgotten by the full domination or submission of yourself to the Id, now you must bear the guilt.
Aizen's goal to become the new Soul King, the being who may have subjected all of Hollow to this never-ending suffering, he will fashion a new world where the cycle of consumption ends. Liberation from this dreadful condition. This may very well be the apologia Aizen uses to bring Hollows to the fold and willing convince them to become Arrancars.
I have a AU in my head that is eating at me to write. Bleach but Aizen forcibly turning Orihime into an Arrancar. Some ideas are floating in my head like now that Orihime has been subject to the brutalistic profrane state of affairs of the Hollows, she is not immune to the Hollow tendency to consume to fill the void in her heart (a representation of despair for this story). Orihime is the heart that always gives but how she sustain her resolve in a world that does not reward this unrelenting altruism (dw, she wins out). I think she is forced to achieve a ranking of an Espada, maybe even 0 ranking (because I don't like Yammy). Her aspect of death is Denial. I think it is fitting as a corruption of her abilities to reject, I don't know how this translates as her Zanpakuto or her Resurrecion.
Other ideas in my head. As Oirhime is forced to consume Hollows and Arrancar (because she's not immune to the conditions of their existence), Orihime actually is able to talk and retain the individualities of souls that comprise her body. We are told that Hollows are always at risk of an individual personality overtaking the body. I think it would be interesting for Orihime to have a handful of souls who serve as internal voices that guide/challenge/inform her. Think the skills in Disco Elysium. And like Ichigo, she has her own moment in which an inner Hollow briefly takes control of her body.
Other Idea II: When Orihime reunited with her friends there is now a serious question. Do they purify her? Maybe there is material suggesting otherwise but I always took the regulating of cycle of souls in Bleach to be an automatic process. Some souls will enter Soul Society no problem, some will immediately reincarnate back as humans, and some may return as Hollows; whatever souls are in queue and need to be divided up to retain the balance of the three realms. The point being that at this current moment in time, Orihime accepts her existence as an Arrancar. She has grown attatched and loves every soul that comprises her body.
Other Idea 3: Orihime is introduced to why Hollows sided with Aizen even if they don't necessarily trust him. It's his promise to rid themselves of their condition of never-ending consumption to fill the voids in her hearts. And specifically many Hollows blame the Soul King for this. He is the one who fashioned the world as it is, he is the one condemned this to this condition.
Sorry to blab, I recently got back into Bleach and I remembered how much teen me loved Ulquihime. Sorry if there is much actually direct Ulquihime here but he lives and loves his wife very much.
Wow! Aren't you just filled to the brim with ideas! 🤭 I'm happy to see that UH has inspired such passion from another fellow fan and I sincerely hope you will be able to see your ideas come to life through your writing one day.
Maybe a hot take among our community, but I LOVE the cannibalism trope for UH. It's so fitting for a dark UH fic. I mean...hello?? Hollows? Souls? Consuming for survival? Animal resurrecions?? I'm shocked it isn't done more often in our fandom. Of all the UH fics I've read, I've only read ONE (and it is indeed one of my favs!). It's called "Pomegranate", btw, and the link can be found on my Carrd.
I like the aspect you gave her. "Denial". It sounds double-edged and powerful. I also headcanon her having the same aspect for the same reasons. And I melted when I read the last sentence 🥰 Yes, Ulquiorra would be so awestruck by her!
Sending you the strength and motivation to flesh this out!
Hello Ulquihime nation. Here is my Arrancar Orihime AU Essay that might be a fic.
Aizen turns Orihime into an Arrancar, viewing her human state as a limitation.
Orihime is now subject to the constant never-ending desire to consume other Hollows. Orihime refuses to eat despite how much agony she goes through (though she ultimately does by coercion). As she is forced to eat Hollows, the souls of those Hollows are now a part of her. Their energy fuels her, they burn up in instances of regeneration. There are people within in, dying, trapped within her being, unable to ever interact with the world. Orihime speaks to these souls, forming friendships with them. Though some, are not content with this state of affairs and desire to impose their will and take control over Orihime's body. At least once Orihime's has a genuine wrestle for control over her body by a Hollow contained within that refuses to be a "horse" per White's analogy. I am thinking that though Orihime is now a composite of thousands of souls, there are perhaps only a handful she regularly speaks to. Think of them as the skills in Disco Elysium.
Some other alterrations to the canon. Orihime is the Secret 0 Espada and her aspect as death is Denial (does anyone care about Yammy). Think of this as a corrupted version of her ability to Reject. I am asking for suggestions to how this manifests in her Resurrecion. Orihime's original design was that of a dragon, Orihime is prone to flights of fantasy, and she is very much a girl of near-unwavering faith. I think Denial would be a complimentary corrosion of her, there is a point when faith corrupts what is actually present with our eyes, when we fall into the delusion, the lies we tell ourselves to cope with the reality is cruel to is. This ties with Ulquiorra. Orihime as this bundle of love and goodwill that never depletes against the representation of nihilism, an unending void (Orihime will win btw). Maybe there is also something potentially selfish to examine in Orihime that she rejects the world that is, going through extraordinary lengths to save everyone, or transcending her newfound nature as a Arrancar. Maybe this is worth interrogating and Ulquiorra is that important contrast.
Other things I want to do here. Orihime gets hints that not all is at seems about the nature of the three worlds. The Hollows side with Aizen to rid themselves of the horrific cycle of consumption. What happens to Orihime when they finally save her? This is pure HC territory but there is a cycle of souls regulated by the Soul King and it is my interpretation that not all souls enter Soul Society. The regulating of souls seems to be an automatic process and to achieve some equilibrium I think some souls are immediately reincarnated back into the human world or perhaps more horribly, as Hollows. It is with this idea in mind and Aizen being a bit more forthcoming about the true nature of the world, that he is able to recruit Hollows by promising to rid themselves of their condition. And this becomes a serious question with Orihime. They could purify her but is it guaranteed that she will enter Soul Society? What about the souls contained within her body? Will they? And this isn't even going aout the memories that might be lost between them all. She's become too attached to them to simply let them go. Some might go to Hell and for a story about what constitutes a monster and achieving inner harmony, Hell is a place where we can only assume there is no room for genuine repentance and restoration. And in all of this there is perhaps a discussion again about the world and whether we ought to accept the world that is.
Other ideas that are forming but informal. Harribel is a tough mother but genuinely comes to love Orihime as like an adoptive daughter. Idk Harribel is done pretty dirty. Some light interactions with Stark and maybe Zomarri should be more philosophical about the order and structure of their worlds.
There are definitely elements of this story shaped by Disco Elysium which I am currently replaying as I'm writing this. If anyone has suggestions or ideas please do share.
