Chapter 2: Twilight Town: Stolen From Home

The explosion knocked him off his feet and into the nearest building, the hard rock scraping against his arms as he slowed himself.

"Dammit." He growled, ruffling debris out of his white hair before gripping the blue hilt of his sword tighter and grabbing onto the chain extending from the bottom with the crescent-shaped blade before twirling it, waiting.

The monster appeared, a wolf-like beast opening its jaws and charging up a large red energy sphere.

"Cero." His teal eyes widened and he quickly threw the chain-blade, watching the chain wrap around the creature's neck and tighten before leaping out of the way of the red beam. He pulled the chain tighter and ice spread rapidly over the beast's body. With a loud cry he launched towards the creature and split its bone-like mask with one swipe of his long blade, his white robe flaring as icy wind blasted outward from the creature as it disintegrated.

Sighing heavily, Toshiro Hitsugaya brought the chain back to him and had it vanish in a flash of icy white light, leaving him with only a sword as tall as he was.

"I don't know why an Adjuchas level Hollow would be here," He muttered to himself, "but at least it's gone now."

He placed the blade in a sheath at his back, held in place by a star-clasped chain, and began walking away from the battlefield where he had slain other Hollow creatures already with the Adjuchas he had just killed being the last of them. Two of his subordinates, members of Squad Ten of which he was Captain, lay dead on the ground and he spared them a sympathetic glance before continuing on.

Something stirred and he paused, listening. He reached out with his icy Sprit Energy to see if perhaps another Hollow had snuck around him but found nothing. Still he kept his guard up as he continued his pace back to the candy shop owned by Kisuke Urahara.

Suddenly his feet felt sluggish, like they wouldn't move, trapped in quicksand. He looked down only to find thick shadows curling around his feet and up his legs, testing his Spirit Energy and attempting to consume it.

'What the Hell is this?' Teal eyes widened as Toshiro found himself trapped in the shadows, unable to escape their grip.

Holding his hand out to perform a spell, the darkness leaped up and caught his waiting hand, pulling him downward into the shadows eagerly to take his power. He cursed as his body descended into the darkness and his consciousness slipped from him, a rage filled roar sounding off in his mind as the spirit within his soul growled at the darkness taking its master.

Now forced into a deep sleep, Toshiro Hitsugaya fell slowly through the darkness that never seemed to end. It swirled around him, eager to see what power it could consume from this icy child. Icy mist seeped off the blade at his back as the spirit within battled against the pressure of darkness, daring it to approach.

In response to the sword spirit's cries, a light infiltrated the darkness, banishing the shadow tendrils and wrapping its warmth around him. Though the sword spirit was still distrusting, it allowed the light to take its master from the shadows and away to a new world.

In the depths of a basement where only the blue light of a computer screen illuminated the darkness, the light appeared to drop off its charge. Two figures already inside the room jumped to attention and watched the white light drop the boy into their sanctuary before vanishing.

"What's going on?" A man in a red robe questioned dangerously, face covered over by red bandages saves for a single golden eye and his mouth.

The other figure, a tall man in a black robe with silver ornamentation around his neck, cautiously approached the white haired being, taking quick notice to the icy air and long sword at the child's back.

"He's been knocked out." The black robed figure stated, kneeling next to the boy and noticing the gashes along his arms. "Poor kid, someone hit him hard."

"Take him from here; we can't have him interfering with Naminé's work." The man in red turned in his seat and glanced once more at the multiple monitors around him.

"Are you sure?" The black robed man questioned, removing the sword from the child's back, though he could have sworn the blade turned colder as he did so. He quickly set it against the wall to be away from it and picked up the white haired child. "Shouldn't we find out how he got here?"

"Hm…I suppose you're right. But we're busy enough as it is." The red robed man sighed.

"Have Roxas find out, then. We can keep watch over both of them as well as interfere if anything goes wrong."

"It could give the enemy another entry point."

"Look, there's no harm in trying." Though the man in red seemed hesitant, the man in black placed the white haired child onto a small platform with a laser above him, casting a cure spell to heal the wounds on his arms. "Send him in as a new arrival in town. With small towns, everyone comes running to find out who they are, Roxas won't be any different in the state he's in."

"Perhaps you're right." His single amber eye glanced at their mystery child before he began typing away on his keyboard.

Light washed over the unsuspecting Toshiro and carried him into a virtual world. The black robed man could have sworn that, for a brief moment, the room got colder as the white haired boy vanished, before it warmed up again and he shrugged it off.

"Let's see who this young man is." The computer man muttered to himself. "He'll wake up on the train arriving at Twilight Town. Roxas and his 'friends' will most likely come running to meet him."

In the virtual world, Toshiro woke with a start as the train bumped to a stop in the station. It was obvious he wasn't back home and he was also in a different set of clothes than his uniform. When had that happened?

'What's going on?' His senses were on high alert as he looked around the train car he was on, only spotting the train cabby.

'Don't do anything suspicious or use any of your power.' A rumbling voice in his head replied. 'You're being watched.'

'Hyorinmaru? I don't understand, what happened? Why am I on a train?' Toshiro relaxed his position just as the cabby glanced at him curiously. He trusted his sword spirit.

'After the darkness dragged you in something found you and brought you back out. You were taken to what seemed like an underground lab where two men debated on what to do with you. I'm still here in the real world, but they put you in a virtual world where someone called Roxas is going to be used to learn more about you.'

'I see…I accept their challenge. They obviously don't know about zanpaktou since they left you in the same room as them, so I have a distinct advantage.' He heard the spirit rumble in agreement. 'Where am I?'

'They called it Twilight Town.'

Teal eyes looked out the train window at the sunset feeling of the town.

'Fitting…I best find Roxas. By the sound of it he's the only non-virtual part of this town.'

'That would be correct. They're keeping watch over him which is why they put you in Twilight Town. This way they can learn about you and keep an eye on this Roxas person.'

'If only they knew who they were dealing with.'

"Sir, this is your stop."

Toshiro was taken from his inner conversation by the train cabby.

"Oh, sorry." Toshiro replied with a slight bow of his head, forcing his voice to sound a little childish to throw off his captors. "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem." The cabby followed the Captain outside. "Hope you enjoy your stay in Twilight Town. It's a wonderful place."

"Thank you, sir." Toshiro forced a smile on his face. If his captors thought he was easily persuaded into things, it would be easy to get information from them without them ever noticing a thing. 'The faster I get out of here the better.'

He heard someone running towards him and turned towards the source, seeing a boy with spiky blonde hair and deep blue eyes. The boy had a lot of Spiritual Pressure from what Toshiro could tell, and he was the only one in this virtual world that did.

"Um, hi." The boy said nervously, panting a bit from his run. Toshiro saw three others attempting to catch up. "You're new here right?"

Toshiro continued the conversation without really paying attention, just trying to seem like someone who belonged in the virtual world without a clue as to why he was there.

'They aren't sure what to make of you.' Hyorinmaru reported. 'They think you're either far too gullible to learn anything from or smart enough to play around them. They're going to be cautious now.'

'With a little effort I can make them think the former. When they show themselves I can trap them in easily.'

"Welcome to Twilight Town. I'm Roxas." Toshiro blinked and returned to the real – or virtual in this case – world in time to see Roxas smile and hold his hand out before introducing his three friends that had just arrived.

'I assumed this was Roxas. Time to see what they find so interesting about him and why I'm here.'

After his inner spirit rumbled, Toshiro reached out and shook the boy's hand.

"My name is Toshiro. Toshiro Hitsugaya."

This is what happened from Toshiro's point of view and how he got there. It'll mostly be from his view from now on but there will be an occasional POV from Roxas and eventually Sora as well as other characters, though for them it's even less of a chance they get a POV part ^^ Enjoy!