Chapter Text
Taka's always been bright. He's always been a source of cheer and joy, even at the darkest of moments. Yet when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a desert. An empty and cold desert, with only his will to live keeping him on his legs. How much time passed? Months? Years? He can't remember his past life, but.. maybe it's for the better.
While he was subduing his hunger with a hollow, a man caught him. He promised him a better life. A stronger self. A safe home. He'd be dumb to refuse, right? He took the man's hand expectantly, and knew he made the right choice the moment their hands touched.
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As he mopped the floor of the corridor, Taka could hear the distant screams of yet another servant getting toyed with, and sighed. More work. But, that's what he's here for, right? He smiled happily and made his way to the source of the noise, humming to himself with his bucket of water and soap dangling in his hand, his mop in the other. "Taka, we need you to fix the light in the meeting room. It keeps flickering." A servant said as Taka walked past her, and he smiled more. "Got it!" "Taka, the fourth hallway is covered in-" "Already on it!" "Taka, Szayelaporro-sama's experiment ran away. Could you-" "I'll get right to it!"
The servants watched as the man walked away with a skip to his steps, still humming to himself. "..I bet you he'll break in a week." One servant mumbled. "Week? Try three days." Another said.
Taka paid them no mind. He's here to work, not worry about gossip! When he reached the source of the screams, he knew instantly what happened. Seems like another one of Nnoitra's messes. The Quinta really hates women that much? That's the fifth one this week! "A job's a job if it keeps you fed and clothed." Taka said with a smile and went to the nearest broom closet. He grabbed another bucket and started collecting the limbs on the floor, wondering where the rest of her body went. From the trail of blood, it seems she was taken.
Taka put the bucket aside and moped the blood, then went to get everything cleaned. He burned the limbs, washed the buckets. cleaned the mop, and put everything away before heading to the meeting room. Another peaceful day of work at Las Noches.
When he reached the meeting room, he turned on all the lights to see which one was flickering, and huffed when he saw it. "You can't just start flickering right after I changed you." He complained to the bulb. "What? Is it your circuit? I'm not an electrician, I can only do so much!" He turned off the flickering light and went to the corner of the meeting room, where a wooden platform elevator was placed. He used a rope to pull the elevator up, then tied it to keep the platform in place before he walked down the wooden path that lead to the lights around the room.
He took out the bulb and checked if anything was broken inside. Nothing. It looked good. He looked up to where the bulb was and smiled. "Ah. You're the problem." He said as he reached a hand up and grabbed a loose wire. Chewed. How strange. No hollow would chew on wires.. right?
Taka wrote the issue down on the notepad in his pocket, and went back to the platform. They'll need to fix the wire before he could put the bulb back in.
Right as he was about to go down the platform, he looked up in time to see a rat like hollow attach itself to his leg. He looked down at the creature and smiled. "Are you Szayelaporro-sama's experiment?" The rat hollow kept on chewing his leg, splattering blood all over. "Eat as much as you want. I'm sure Szayelaporro-sama will be happy to know you've been fed." He undid the rope and lowered the platform, then stepped out. "Leave it to me! I'll get you back home!"
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The screams could be heard through the thick metal doors, but that was nothing new. "Szayelaporro-sama's working hard! I should take a page from his book!" Taka said determinedly and looked down. "Oh? Are you full?" He asked the rat like hollow on his leg. His thighs were gone, now skinned to the bone, and so was the meat and skin around his knee and calves. The hollow was all fattened and full, dangling from his ankle by its teeth.
Taka picked up the small creature and knocked on the door. The screams stopped. The sound of a saw stopped. "..who is it?" Szayel called out. "It's Taka, Szayelaporro-sama! I believe I caught your experiment!" It was quiet for a minute after that, but Taka stayed there and he stayed quiet. The door eventually opened, and the pink haired Octava looked surprised to see that the servant was still there.
"Your experiment!" Taka said happily as he held it out. "Why is it full?" Szayel asked. "It was eating my meat." Taka answered. Szayel looked the servant up and down, but.. he didn't find any missing parts. "Which meat?" "It avoided my bones, so it must really hate it." Taka said instead of answering. "..I see." The Octava fixed his glasses. "Get rid of it. I don't want something that runs on its own." "Yes, Szayelaporro-sama!" The door slammed shut after that.
Taka frowned. "Sorry.. I couldn't take you home." He told the sleeping hollow. "I couldn't deliver on my promise.. say.. I'm also hungry.. since I helped, will you pay me back?" The rat didn't answer. "Then can I help myself to a bite?" Again, no answer. "..thank you." He smiled. "Just leave it to me! I'll make it painless!"
The screeches of a rat echoed through the halls for a second, then died down. Taka licked the blood off his hands and his face, then started sucking it out of his sleeves. "Ah.. sorry.. that wasn't painless, was it?" He laughed lightly as his hollow mask crumbled away from one of his eyes, revealing his lifeless brown orb.
"But.. you're gone now, so it can't be helped. I can only apologize." He straightened himself and brought a bucket of water and a rag, then cleaned up his mess. He went to clean his equipment in the bathroom, and tilted his head at his reflection. He touched his eye, his dirty finger touching the lifeless orb. "..normal." He smiled. "I look normal! That's good! I'm glad I'm not frivolous looking. Ah- but maybe the arrancar would like that. They like making love to the good looking ones. Should I change my face?"
"Are you talking to me?" A nearby servant asked from where he was sitting in a stall, reading a book. Taka paused. He turned to look at him slowly. "..what are you doing here?" He asked. "Skipping." The servant answered. "You won't tell on me, right?" "Why are you skipping work?" "..what?"
Taka dropped his rag and stomped over to the other servant, his eye filled with rage. "Why are you skipping work?! Everyone is working hard! They're doing their best! Why do you get to rest?!" "What are you-?!" "Aizen-sama blessed us with these bodies! He gave them to us to work! Why aren't you working?!" Taka started to tear up. "Oh.. oh, you poor thing.. you've been robbed.. who robbed you of this joy? The joy of serving? The joy of working? The joy of being of use?" He cupped the servant's cheeks and looked him in the eyes.
The servant tried to break free to no avail, and was now gasping as some sort of pressure hindered his breathing. "Don't worry.. I'll help you.. I'll show you.." Taka assured and smiled widely from ear to ear. "The joy of serving will be itched into your very being.. just leave it to me~"