Warning: Some spoilers for the Spirits Are Forever With You novels.
Divine Intervention
by: Ryoko (Lewd Concubine)
Szayel Aporro Granz was, indeed, the opposite of a Shinigami. Instead of taking lives, he now restored them. Oh, the great and terrible battles his fellow Arrancar had been through. Yet not one of them was dead now. Most died, yes. But were dead no longer. Szayel returned their wretched little inferior lives to them, placing all in his debt. He alone remained aloof as always, his cycle of rebirth left unbroken.
All was as it should be.
At least that was what he should have been able to say.
Yet with each rebirth, he had become more of a threat to Aizen. Of course, Szayel had always been his greatest threat and Aizen had always known that. Different, though, when the others were on to him.
Having to put those who sought to curry Aizen's favor in their place was getting annoying. The miscreants ruined several of Szayel's experiments. Even his prized Fraccion was stolen from him albeit not with the same gain in mind.
To add insult to injury, it was a Shinigami, the very one who sought to end him at one point, who did it. He tried to steal Szayel's research and when that failed, made off with a specimen from which to extract the information.
It wouldn't work.
Szayel knew it, but that worthless man didn't. And by the time he was done with Yylfordt… Szayel could heal the physical and the spiritual. It was the mental and emotional he had yet to master.
Yylfordt was his alone to harm. Szayel did not take it kindly when anyone touched his things, much less someone who had once literally been a part of him. Therein lay the real danger and the real insult, as well he knew.
The less Mayuri knew about Szayel, the better.
Time to call in all that was owed him.
Nnoitra might have hated Szayel for bringing him back from his much-wanted death, but he wouldn't turn down a fight, especially not one involving Shinigami. Not when there was the possibility of a rematch with the one who almost sent him spiraling back down to humanity.
After a brief discussion-monologue, really-the man grinned and said he would be happy to "fuck some shit up" as long as Szayel stayed out of his way. Fine by him.
It was easy enough to open a Gargantua without anyone noticing and easier still to mask his reiatsu while in Soul Society. The hard part was navigating the maze of his counterpart's domain. He was certain the man or one of his underlings watched him despite the measures Szayel had taken for secrecy-he brought scramblers for the cameras and radio equipment and took several inoculations to prevent any foreign compounds from making their way into his system.
Mayuri, it seemed, anticipated as much.
The woman he consumed for his own rebirth appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him. Next came the accursed Shinigami himself.
"So, Perfect Being, you thought to turn the tables on me?" A mirthless chuckle accompanied the man's words.
"Oh, but that's my line, isn't it?" The woman's grip tightened around his chest, but he paid her no mind. "That you had to try to steal my research is very-mmm, should it feel this much like homage?" Szayel's smirk was both superior and cruel.
A hand whipped across his face almost too fast for him to see it coming.
"Watch your tongue. Nemu, come." He turned away without another word.
Szayel tasted blood in his mouth, but this only made him smile. That he was this easily ruffled could only mean Szayel wasn't too late.
The interrogation chamber was what he had been trying to find. Based on his initial research, it seemed the most likely place Yylfordt would be. Szayel Aporro was seldom, if ever, wrong. This instance was no different.
Szayel let the woman guide him to his shackles and place them on his wrists and ankles-reiatsu muting, they were, and of the finest quality. He could tell.
Yylfordt was chained to the opposite wall, but Szayel never looked at him once.
Instead, he waited for the Shinigami to come closer. Before the man could utter one taunting word, Szayel used the human girl's powers to reject the shackles. He then wrapped his long fingers around that pale throat and rejected his existence before he even had time to blink.
The girl's abilities were exceptional when used correctly. The devices he implanted into his body only offered a tenth of the raw power she could have generated, yet this was the result.
Szayel dropped his hand from the empty air, ignoring the shock so blatant on the woman's normally expressionless face.
"I think," he said, "it's time to peruse."
Once he used the same power to restore Yylfordt's vitality, he gestured to the dead man's subordinate.
"She'll be coming with us."
The smirk that spread across his face was predatory. Although Yylfordt didn't share his gleeful abandon, Szayel could tell he was relieved. It was in his relaxed posture and the cant of his head as he regarded his former captor.
"At least you didn't do that to me," was all he said. Yylfordt stared at the woman as if she were some kind of domesticated snake.
Szayel could do nothing but laugh.
"If you were too obedient, I would never have any reason to discipline you." Discipline meant discovery. Yylfordt was his ultimate specimen, having once been a part of perfection himself.
Szayel would never let him forget it.
.
Spoilery Notes:Okay, so Spirits Are Forever With You...can you fucking believe it? BOLD CAPSLOCK ISN'T ENOUGH TO CONVEY MY SQUEE. Say hello to former Cero Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz who was demoted because heexperimented on himself by removing Yylfordt from his body! I realize this isn't a great fic-it's mostly exposition, short, rushed, etc-but I had to pay homage to greatness in some way. Both our belief in you as well as your ego is totes justified, Mr. Perfect Being. Segunda Etapa, indeed! Plus escaping from Hell and coming back to hack into Mayuri's computer and troll him. I haven't read the raws or any translations yet, but all these things I have heard and seen. It can only get better from here, my fellows. Now join me in celebrating Szayel Aporro Granz, the Arrancar who Kubo loved enough to make him even more bamf :)