Blackest Night Falls from the Skies

Bleach and all related characters belong to Tite Kubo. Green Lantern and all related characters belong to DC Comics.

There was pain and then nothing. That was what it felt like for the Substitute Shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki. What it felt like to die. The massive Cero blast from the Cuatro Espada went straight through his heart, blasting a large hole through his chest. The Arrancar then let the Shinigami fall from the tower that had been the place of his death. And fall he did. Right down to the sand covered ground that made up all of Hueco Mundo.

"ICHIGO!" Orihime Inoue, the young woman that was the entire reason Ichigo had come to this place, called as she ran toward him.

SAME TIME: ANOTHER UNIVERSE

A small black ring jetted across the endless blackness that was space. On the face of the ring was a circular emblem with the symbol of a white inverted triangle with five white bars atop it, giving the rough depiction of a hand. As it hurtled through the cosmos, a small wormhole opened and the ring made contact with it, thus sending it flying into some unknown universe.

"ICHIGO!" Orihime called again as she neared the young man she secretly loved. She did not want to believe he was dead, did not want to accept that he was dead, even though the evidence was clear. He did not respond, did not move, and even at the distance she was from him could see he wasn't even breathing. As she ran up to him she collapsed next to him and covered her eyes as she cried. However, had she looked she would have seen a shining white portal open over her and her fallen love. Out of the portal came a black ring. It floated up and down for a moment, before becoming completely still. The ring then shot down to the corpse of Ichigo Kurosaki and slipped itself onto his right middle finger. The body of a Shinigami, a death god, was unlike anything this ring had encountered before. It was a weapon powered by the death others, but this one was different, it could still be powered even though it had not killed a single thing as of yet. Even in death, Ichigo Kurosaki proved to be a curious being.

At this point Ulquiorra came down.

"Even now you still confuse me woman. He is dead and it was his own doing for being so arrogant as to think he could challenge me." The Arrancar said. Orihime looked to the bat-like Hollow with tear filled eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to see the last Quincy, Uryu Ishida.

"Don't worry Orihime. I won't let him harm you." The Quincy said as he stood between the grieving girl and the Arrancar.

"You won't let me? You speak as though you have a choice..." Ulquirorra began as a sudden surge of energy came from Ichigo's body. Black energy surrounded him as the three present heard an unearthly voice say,

"Ichigo Kurosaki. Rise."

Suddenly Ichigo slowly stood.

"Ichigo?" Orihime said in disbelief as he stood, but then froze in fear when she saw how much her friend had changed. His skin was now as pale as the Arrancar that had slain him, he had dark rings around his eyes which made his now glowing white eyes all the more intimidating, and he wore a black ring on his right hand. He wore an all black outfit, similar to his Shinigami attire, that consisted of black tights and a coat that looked like a completely black version of his Bankai coat. The only source of color was a white inverted triangle with five white bars atop it that gave the rough depiction of a hand on his chest.

"Well now it seems you are full of surprises Kurosaki, even in death. This may be of interest to Aizen-sama, so I will ask you how you came back to life." Ulquiorra questioned. Ichigo began to walk toward his killer, his fists clenched as a black energy began to form around his right fist.

"The Blackest Night falls from the skies,
The darkness grows as all light dies,
We crave your hearts and your demise,
By my black hand... THE DEAD SHALL RISE!"

Ichigo roared in a voice identical to when he used his Hollow mask, causing everyone present to ponder what that meant.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ulquiorra asked, growing a bit frustrated at this turn of events.

"It means I'm a Black Lantern. That means there's good news and bad news." Ichigo said as he stopped walking when he was just five feet from the Espada.

"The good news is that I'm back, in black as it were, and the bad news is that I've got a lot more tricks up my sleeve than before." The newly risen Black Lantern said as he glared at the Espada.

"Such as?" Ulquiorra asked, as Ichigo smirked and then blasted him with a wave of black energy from his ring. The Espada had never felt such power before as he was blasted at least several miles away.

"Now since you killed me, you also destroyed my connection to my zanpakuto. However I can still do a little trick I know you'll remember." Ichigo said as he now stood over the downed Espada. He held his right hand high in the air as a black construct formed in the shape of his zanpakuto's Shikai.

"GETSUGA TENSHO!" The Black Lantern yelled as he fired the attack at point blank range. Ulquiorra laid beaten, in a crater formed by the attack, as Ichigo floated over him.

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret Ulquiorra. This ring of mine isn't from this universe. In its home universe its mission is to raise the dead to bring an end to all life in that universe and is powered by death, namely the killing of others to keep it powered." Ichigo said to his fallen enemy.

"I see. So now you will kill me to keep your weapon powered." Ulquiorra surmised from the current situation.

"Nope. You see this ring has never encountered ANYTHING like a Shinigami before. Normally an undead being, which I do technically become every time I leave my body, would be totally under the ring's control and and lose its personality as well as its free will. But a Shinigami is unique as not only are they capable of keeping the ring powered fully without having to kill, but from what the ring is telling me, is also totally immune to control by it." Ichigo said as he floated down to Ulquiorra and looked at him with glowing white eyes.

"Now I've just come up with an idea that is sure to stop Aizen dead in his tracks so to speak. Seeing as how you Arrancar are half-Shinigami, I figure you're in the same boat as I am. Now I'm gonna try a little experiment so hold still." The Shinigami turned Black Lantern then quickly punched Ulquiorra in the chest as hard as he could with his ring hand, punching straight into where his heart would be. Then he began to pour his ring's black energy into the Espada.

With a quick flash of black Ichigo floated back up, his friends running up behind him.

"What happened Ichigo-kun?" Orihime asked, still slightly afraid of the teen. Ichigo turned and smiled as he floated over to her. He grabbed her trembling hands and said,

"I've just got the power to stop Aizen now and if all goes as planned, I won't even have to raise a finger." Ichigo said softly as he then turned his attention to the crater he left Ulquiorra in.

"Ulquiorra Cifer..." Ichigo called as Uryu and Orihime looked at each other with confused expressions.

"Rise." Ichigo said in a dark voice as Ulquiorra floated up from the crater. He looked normal, even out of his Second Release and back into his usual form, but something was off. He now wore a jet black version of his Espada uniform and on the left side his jacket was a small white symbol. It was the same symbol Ichigo now wore.

"I welcome you Ulquiorra as the first of many Lanterns to join me. Welcome to the Black Lantern Corps."

PLEASE REVIEW! This is a one-shot as of now. If I get enough reviews and requests to continue by next Saturday I'll post another chapter and see where it goes from there. So if you want it to continue, be sure to tell your friends about this story!