Author's Note: Happy Birthday, lilarin! Yay I posted it on time! :)

Thank you so much for everything you do for me! I hope you like your present, and that it makes you cry~

*hugs* –Avi-chan

Inhuman. The sounds erupting beneath the fogs of the highest mountain sounded as such. What was once called humain–mortality–became savagery. Could one expect any more from the ending of all days?

He could expect it. Because it was right in front of him.

The humans had denied the existence of things beyond their control. They had been warned, in ways more than one, of their nearing demise. Their defiance was their undoing. They made it worse. So much worse...

They'd destroyed their own world, casting away the spirit of all that remained. Spirits...

The earth had broken away. The waters had dried. The spirits all died... one by one, all because of humanity. Mortals broke everything apart. The delicate balance fell, and the scale had been tipped by the humans' hands. Even the might of all consuming fire became nothing but ash.

Very soon, all would be gone. Even himself.

He thought nothing of his nearing death. His power went beyond the reaches of the earth. All of his duties had died long before many of the other spirits.

He was the spirit of the moon. Many humans had given him many different names. 'Luna,' 'mond', 'mặt trăng', 'Moonshield'... He preferred the name 'Ulquiorra', the name he had given himself when all others bored him. It was easier to be called that. Yet no spirit called him by his name. No spirit called him anything at all. Besides her.

Ulquiorra was a spirit with a heart as cold and barren as the land he governed. Many of the spirits jested, calling him the 'Stone Spirit'. Because of that, he'd allowed the great wakes to wreak havoc upon an eastern settlement in the middle of the sea. He had easily overtaken the water spirit. The great moon spirit had a bad habit of making drastic points as far as how others viewed him. Sometimes his patience just reached its breaking points.

He ignored the screams below with an expression of indifference, and didn't pay much attention to the rushing, shimmering bit of cosmos beside him. There after stood two of the four remaining spirits, including himself.

The first was taller than the second, hair the color of a blazing fire. He stood with pride, yet his face was fallen with disappointment and grief. Ulquiorra watched him with an emotionless gaze. He knew that this spirit in particular desired the protection of humans above all else. Yet not much could save them from themselves. Humans were very stubborn, after all.

This spirit was much younger than Ulquiorra. He had less names. Some called him 'The Protecter', others called him 'Star Chaser'. Most of the spirits had called him 'Ichigo', as a symbol of a guardian. He had come to the Earth from a very different reality. His job was simple: To rotate the Earth. That duty had ended for him as well, that very morning. Ulquiorra didn't mind much. He never cared for the sight of the world anyway.

The spirit standing beside Ichigo was only half the star chaser's height; female with an icy ability. Her title was, 'The Cold Wind'. An entire culture named her 'Kōri no yōna kaze'. Before they all died, the other spirits had taken to calling her 'Rukia'.

Ulquiorra cared not for either of these spirits. And not because they would be the only ones to survive the Earth's destruction. He disliked them simply because of their wasteful actions. If they had cared so much about the pathetic humans on the Earth as they'd said they did, then they would have tried harder to save those mortals.

Ichigo and Rukia were the only spirits alive capable of remaining so. Ulquiorra was not ignorant of their plan. They had chosen to meet on this very spot. Ulquiorra had figured that he might as well watch and see howthey do. They didn't seem too surprised by his being there, either.

But there was one spirit missing.

Suddenly, the space behind Ulquiorra shimmered and sparkled. He saw it only from the corner of his eye, but sensed the familiar presence with ease. It was too late for him to move away, for she was already colliding into him.

He turned his body at the last moment and caught her easily, no proof of gentleness in his arms besides the spirit inside of them.

"Ulquiorra!" She gasped in alarm.

The spirit sheepishly exiting his grasp was the purist in all existence. She had carefully avoided touching him–and he her–probably wary of how he'd react. Ulquiorra didn't care. It was like all of those millennia where he'd borrowed her power to light the Earth: Never feeling any touch. Despite his highly experienced senses, he hadn't felt a thing. It was a part of having an incorporeal body.

It didn't surprise him that she'd lost her balance and nearly landed on him during her arrival. He was mostly impassive to her clumsiness, anyway. Stars, she'd been like that ever since her creation.

However, being a hopeless klutz was not what she was most known for. Of all the names the humans and spirits alike had given her, one in particular stood taller than the rest. This title was 'The Sun'.

Yes, she was the center of the universe for all the humans of Earth. She'd warmed the planet and provided nourishment for their precious resources. Not anymore, however. Her life was going to end all of this. That day would be her last time setting.

Her death would force all humans to take their last breath.

Ulquiorra knew that she was beloved amongst all of the spirits. They sometimes called her 'Orihime'. The name suited her–she was like a princess to them.

Rukia solemnly drew a linen bag from thin air. Holding it to her chest, she gazed over at Orihime.

With a sad face and a small, reassuring smile, Orihime nodded encouragingly to her. Ulquiorra, standing quietly, saw the sadness in Orihime's eyes. The many deaths of spirits and humans alike had obviously worn on her soul. Ulquiorra never understood that about her. Why should she trouble herself over the evil humans and prideful spirits? If she had chosen to separate herself, like he had thousands of years before, she would have been released from all of the unpleasantries of attachment.

The smaller spirit suddenly enveloped Orihime in a tight embrace. Rukia's fluctuation in emotion caused a cold wind to rush around the feet of the four spirits, spilling down all sides of the mountain in one pulsed wave. An avalanche rumbled down one side. "I'm so sorry Orihime... If there was a way, any way at all..." Tears traced down her cheeks.

Orihime hugged her and pulled away, holding the wind spirit's arms in her hands. Her eyes gentle, she replied, "What you and Ichigo have planned is the best way to save what the spirits worked so hard for. After all of this time, this is the only thing left we can do. And I'm glad that I had a chance to see it all."

During this, Ulquiorra had taken notice of the pain contorting Ichigo's face. The star chaser's eyes were shut tightly, his teeth gritted, and head turned away. Ulquiorra felt no such need to do any of those things, though he could not deny how deeply Orihime's death would affect him, as well.

The cries of the humans below grew louder, some morphing into insane growls and curses. They undoubtedly sensed the presence of the four unearthly beings. Ulquiorra could see them prowling closer, climbing over each other to reach the top of the mountain.

Rukia looked at Orihime once more, then casted her questioning glance at Ichigo. He nodded morosely, eyes serious and tormented.

Then, in a gust of frozen wind, Rukia disappeared down the mountainside.

Ichigo walked to Orihime. Ulquiorra watched, seemingly unaffected by the 'protecter's' closeness to her. With a muttered goodbye, Ichigo bowed to her. The moon spirit did not miss the reddening of the sun spirit's cheeks. He looked away, just in time to see the wind spirit returning.

Rukia stopped beside Ichigo, holding the bag out to him. The linen was stretched and moving slightly, as if a small animal were trapped inside.

Ichigo took the bag from Rukia, looking at it with a small glint of hope in his eyes. His mouth quirked up assuringly. "Good. With this it will be easier to move on and create more human souls... Thank the stars that there were two pure ones left."

Ulquiorra thought back to the star spirit's plan. The other spirits had assumed that all humans had become mindless beasts. That much Ulquiorra could agree with–though he had believed so anyway since he'd first laid eyes on them–and their point was only proven by the feral sounds inching their way up the mountain.

Yet the star and wind spirits had held on to their hope. And to Ulquiorra's surprise, they'd managed to find two pure human souls left on a planet so close to ultimate destruction.

Their plan was a simple one: to take two pure human souls with them to the next inhabitable planet, then allow them to multiply and start the human race all over again. That new world was bound to be awash with spirits of its own, as far as the star chaser's theories were concerned. It was a long shot, but the success of their plan seemed to be walking down a well-paved road.

Ichigo and Rukia gave one last farewell to the fair sun maiden before the familiar flicker of cosmos signaled their departure. Ulquiorra had never given them a second glance, just as they had never spoken a single word to him.

So there he stood, alone with the only spirit left on Earth, as evil creeped in on them from all sides.

Ulquiorra didn't move at all, watching instead how the fog mixed in with the air below the mountaintop. The stench of mortal blood began to seep from it, an omen of death.

The moon spirit waited for Orihime to shimmer away, but she never did. He heard her approach, her reckless steps crunching loudly on the rocks. She was meant to govern the sun for a reason; so that her clumsiness couldn't ruin anything. She never had to rotate. With his perfect grace, he'd managed to do all of the rotations for her.

His throat tightened uncomfortably as she neared. This woman, this sun spirit, had lived just as long as he. From the very beginning, her light shined upon him relentlessly. He was an aspect of her duty, and she was the most important part of his. When her light was going to go out that day, it would take him with it. Of that, he didn't care. But he did care about her death.

As much as his aloofness to the other spirits made him unapproachable by them, Orihime had never treated him as such. Every second of every minute of every day, she'd reached out to him with her warmth and light. Never once in all that time had he spoken to her.

And yet, every time he'd cooperated in silence, accepting the power she'd offered, more and more of his stone heart had chipped away.

But in that moment, knowing her death was imminent, he dared not speak to her and shatter what seemed to tilt so precariously within his chest, and the void that she had warmed and begun to fill was draining back to hollow emptiness once again.

Orihime placed a gentle hand on his arm. He looked at her with surprise, his own skin tightening with the rush of pleasure. This was the first time in millennia that she had purposefully touched his corporeal body of her own free will. The feeling of her hand on him sent prickles of mysterious chills up his body. Strange, he thought. She was supposed to be warm.

The sun spirit's soft eyes gazed into his, her acceptance of their situation reflecting beyond the gloom surrounding them. And he realized something...

She was trying to comfort him.

Rage suddenly filled Ulquiorra, replacing that blissful sensation she had made him feel with rushing blood. Disgustingly human blood. The anger surged through to his hands, which desperately urged to clasp over hers and be tightened into a pain-inducing grip. He managed to defy this want, balling them into fists, instead. The enraged moon sprint was able to ignore her wince as his voice spoke, filled with wrath and rough from disuse, but deep and demanding. "How are you not afraid? Do you not understand what's happening? Look around you; this is all that the world offered." His arm extended to the army of monsters drawing ever nearer. "This is what you have given your life protecting. And look at it now, climbing up these cliffs and boulders just to see your blood flow down upon them. Was it worth it? How? How could you remain so utterly obedient to these pathetic creatures, until your last breath!? Tell me," his fingers squeezed tighter, digging into his palms.

When Orihime didn't respond, he released his eyes' hold on her and turned away. Her hand fell from his arm.

Regret plummeted through Ulquiorra. He did not mean to speak so cruelly, but his sudden burst of anger had taken hold of his tongue. Perhaps he had been too hopeful to think that his first and last words to her would have been kind. He was not that kind of spirit. Not that kind of a man.

But Orihime's gentle voice broke through the thick silence as she made her way back in front of him, eyes blistering in their furious passion. "You're right," Her voice was soft and mellifluous, entrancing him. "I did give my life to protect these people. I did what I needed to do. I gave them what they needed. But that was not the only thing I existed for!" Her voice raised as she took a confident step towards him, looking deep into Ulquiorra's unblinking eyes, "I existed so that I could bring happiness to both spirits and humans! And all of it made my life worthwhile! Especially you, Ulquiorra! All of you held my heart, and now it's time for me to go, too." Her eyes gentled, the edges of her lips softening, "So I'm not afraid of dying, when I know that my heart is with the ones I love."

Her answer was unacceptable for Ulquiorra's pride. It raised too many questions in his mind.

Love?

Past his haze of confusion, anger, and grief, the burning desire to touch her himself filled his hands with the throbbing numbness of longing. His hands became stiff at his sides.

She was so close. He could feel her soft breath ghost across his being. He briefly indulged the ideals in his mind, wondering whether he had the strength of will to close that distance between them, or just leave it a fantasy until it was too late for them both.

Even so, her proximity was that of no other spirit who'd ever crossed into the physical plain. Ulquiorra would never let anyone else get so close. He suddenly wanted to feel that chill again, the cold heat of her delicate touch, before the seedling of doubt Orihime had uprooted planted itself in his mind once more.

But neither moved; staring into the other's eyes until they both knew that their time was up.

Ulquiorra looked away shamefully when Orihime began to shimmer and fade. The moon spirit's mind buzzed with adrenaline, a feeling he'd believed to be solely human. Visions of them together ran through his mind: the curiosity of the feel of her hair spilling past his palms ebbed at him, her humanesque heart thundering loudly in her chest if he were to touch her. Would she smile at him, would she push him away? He had to know.

But when he opened his mouth and looked back, she was already gone.

As the ghastly humans finally made their way to him, their eyes red with bloodlust, Ulquiorra's body sparked and fizzled; disappearing into thin air, leaving the dead planet behind.

...

Ulquiorra's feet braced gracefully against the surface of his domain. His landing kicked up the white dust that lied plentiful across the landscape.

He saw Orihime immediately. Even when dying, her light shined beautifully.

Ulquiorra could see it, the light inside of her body draining away. The sun herself was withdrawling. The moon spirit saw the pain in her clamped eyelids and the wince stretching her lips. Her arms wrapped around her middle as she doubled over in her anguish.

Powerful agony gripped Ulquiorra with such unexpected force. His very body gave out under him, legs buckling until he was on his knees. His eyes stared widely at her, and when he blinked in his internal crash of shock, beads of water floated around his face in the loose gravitational pull of the moon. The reality of Orihime's death hit him so hard that he could do nothing but let out a groan of devastation.

Then her eyes settled on his. He finally indulged that longing in his hand, reaching out for her. And to his utter astonishment, her hand reached back. She spoke something; he could see her lips moving. But he did not hear what she'd said, for her words were drowned out by his own.

He never got the chance to know what she'd said to him. For in the next moment, her eyes shining lovingly and undeservedly upon him, Orihime, the sun spirit, imploded with light.

Ulquiorra stared, unseeing, as her remains tore a blazing trail through space, swallowing the planets in quick succession. Acceptance and grief forced his eyes to slowly close, waiting for her to envelop him. The last spirit of the Earth.

He could feel it then. His heart. It pounded in his ears, drowning everything else away except the eagerness to finally experience Orihime's truest power. It screamed for her. The reality of how much time he had wasted by staying away from her made him sigh with regret.

But with his heart beating, and his domain spinning beneath him, Ulquiorra knew that his heart would only have yearned for her.

With the dim light he saw behind his eyelids growing brighter and brighter, into a white-hot flame, he saw Orihime's kind smile, her gentle hand reaching, her voice echoing hypnotically in his mind. I'm not afraid of dying, when my heart is with the ones I love...

"Orihime..." Her name brushed past his lips, beckoning his demise ever the more forward.

With her face in his mind and her name on his heart, her warmth closed down upon him, shrouding him in light.

And he finally touched her.

...

Ichigo had paused in his flight across the stars, staring down at the destruction of his old home in awe.

Orihime and the moon spirit, Ulquiorra, were dead.

But before that, the star spirit had heard the strangest thing. He could've sworn that he'd heard them confess... Love? Ichigo shook his head. There was no way in any cosmos that the stone-hearted spirit would say that.

But whether Ichigo knew if it was real or not, his hold on the bag of two human souls tightened. What he did know was that he and Rukia would find a new world. Where there would be new humans and new spirits to coexist and create new peace. There would be a new land, a new hope.

And he knew that he would always remember that moment, when the moon fell with the sun.