Summary: My take on the meme started by Prettysketch, Dance With Snow White.
"The Soul King is the key to this world. If the Soul King dies, Seireitei, the present world, Hueco Mundo, Everything…will disappear. -Hyōsube Ichibē"
He saw his blade strike home, saw Zangetsu cleave through Ywhach's body. Then everything…shattered.
"It's starting Orihime" Ichigo said.
"Be right there!" His wife cheerfully replied.
"You seen Kazui?"
"Hrmm. He should be upstairs. According to Tsubaki and the others, he just got back in from snooping around Hiyori's place."
Ichigo shook his head in disbelief. I'm married to Orihime? He thought. What? Why would that happen? That just doesn't make sense.
Nothing Ichigo saw was making sense. The latest fragment drifted away from him tumbling end over end glinting like a mirror shard. They surrounded him as far as the eye could see. He floated in a formless void, helpless and confused, surrounded by the glowing, glassy things displaying light and life and sound. Some of the fragments made sense. There he was as a child learning karate with Tatsuki. Over there he saw Isshin treating a patient. Further out was someone he didn't even know going about his daily business setting up shop. Ichigo couldn't understand what it all meant. And every once in a while, he'd see something that he knew didn't happen.
"Traitor!" Ichigo snarled. "Did you really think you could get by me with something like this?" Angrily he held up a silver arrowhead. "How dare you call yourself a Quincy? How dare you raise your hand against the emperor?"
Ishida raised his head up from the dust to glare up at Ywhach's successor. Blood spewed from his mouth as he fought for breath staining the boots of Ichigo's snow white uniform.
"Don't be a damned fool Kurosaki." He panted. "Can't you see? He's no leader. He's a monster! He's going to destroy everything. You have to fight the hold he's placed on your mind Ichigo. You have to break free!"
The former Shinigami sneered as he drew Zangetsu from his back. "The only thing I have to do is eliminate the last obstacle to our future."
Ichigo turned away. He couldn't bear to watch anymore. There's no way that could ever have happened. Ishida was his friend. What could ever make him want to harm his friends? It was a lie. It had to be.
Floating around was getting him nowhere. He tried touching one of the fragments. It moved away from his fingers like a soap bubble. Reaching for another had the same effect. There had to be something he could do! He sighed as a different fragment drifted past his eyes.
Ywach chuckled. "You never had a chance Kurosaki Ichigo. There was always a missing element in your attack."
"I'm not done yet." Ichigo declared. "Let's see if I can find that element."
"No need." Ywhach mockingly assured him. "I've found it for you."
Reaching into his billowing cape of eyes, he dragged out something large. Or rather, someone. Tightly bound and hobbled, she struggled to stay on her feet as Ywhach cruelly dragged her forward by the rope around her neck. Ichigo had flashbacks to Aizen pulling her by her prisoner collar.
"Rukia!" Ichigo cried.
"Yes, Kuchiki Rukia. " Ywhach confirmed. "By trying to protect her, you have engineered your doom. Had you attacked me as a team you had a slim, but very real chance of winning."
"Ichigo…" She gasped fighting off strangulation. "Run..."
"Don't worry Rukia." Ichigo said bringing Zangetsu to the ready position. "I'll save you!"
"Oh, I can't allow that." Ywhach countered. "While you have a slim chance with her alive, dead you have no chance at all."
Ichigo screamed in terror as Ywhach drew his sword. Even as he moved with every ounce of strength in his body, Ywhach seemed to move even faster. He was powerless to do anything as the blade swung down.
"NO!" Ichigo shouted. "RUKIA!"
"Ichigo?" A far away voice answered.
"Rukia? Is that you?" He called back.
"Of course it's me fool! Who else would it be?"
He smiled. Just hearing her voice again made him feel better. At least he wasn't alone. The spinning fragment containing her death drifted away forgotten.
"Where are you?" He asked "I can't see you."
"I don't know." She griped. "I'm just sort of floating around out here."
"Can you see me?"
"If you can't see me, then how can I see you?"
"Good point. Wait a minute, I'm going to try something."
Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind. Closing his eyes, he focused inward, trying to see with his mind's eye. It didn't take long for him to see it. The unbreakable bond. The red ribbon connecting him to Rukia. Now that he had a fix on it, he gathered spiritrons under his feet and followed it through the glittering cloud.
I'm coming your way." He announced. "I'll be there in a second."
"Me too." He heard her say. "You sound louder. We're getting close."
They nearly bumped heads when met. They both clutched the others sleeves to stop moving. Ichigo managed to pull enough spritrons together under his feet to create a "floor" allowing them a place to stand.
"Rukia. What are you doing here?" He demanded.
"I…I couldn't stand waiting for you Ichigo. I felt I had to be there with you for some reason. I followed you and Renji as fast as I could. I'm…I'm sorry Ichigo. I wasn't there in time to help."
"Did you see what happened?" Ichigo asked. "One second I'm fighting Ywhach, the next we're…here. And where is here anyway? Are we in another dimension? Another world?"
She sadly shook her head. "No Ichigo. This isn't another world. Oh...how can I explain this? This is...all the worlds. All of space and time. Everything that was and everything that might have been. All smashed to pieces."
"How is that possible?" He said. "How could our battle destroy everything?"
"Don't you see?" She replied. "Soul Society set up the Soul King as the linchpin to reality. Ywhach took on that role when he absorbed the Soul King's power. When you defeated him, that linchpin was destroyed."
"What, seriously?" Ichigo demanded.
"Yes! Seriously!" Rukia countered. "Do you have a better explanation for what you see here?"
"Well is there anyone else here?" Ichigo asked. "Hello! Hello!"
They both tried shouting. "Hello! Hello!"
"Looks like it's just us here." Ichigo observed. "Why is that?"
"I don't know." Rukia replied.
"So what happens now?"
"I don't know."
"Well what about..."
"Ichigo!" Rukia snapped. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to do that. I...I'm a little scared right now. I knew something like this could happen if the Soul King was killed, but I was never trained, never prepared to deal with it. I'm sorry Ichigo. I can't help you."
Ichigo gave a wry smile. "I'm sorry too. I'm so used to getting my answers from you. You've always been there to tell me what to do. I think I might putting too much on your shoulders sometimes."
"It's all right." She said. "Someone has to be there to keep you steady. Right?"
They both smiled bravely, but the fear persisted. Unconsciously, Ichigo pulled her close. He could feel her heart pounding against his chest as the fragments swirled around them.
"Ichigo, look." Rukia pointed. "That piece over there."
Following her finger, he quickly realized what was happening.
"It's dying." He said.
As they watched, the "life" guttered out of the fragment leaving it gray and dull.
"Is this what's going to happen?" He asked. "Is everything just going to fade out?"
"I think so." Rukia replied. "With reality broken, there's nothing to generate new energy. New life. I think this is the end of everything."
As more fragments began to sputter and die, it became harder to maintain the spiritrons under his feet. Ichigo stumbled as he lost his footing.
"Hey be careful." Rukai warned.
"I'm trying." He replied trying to regain a hold. They began spinning in place.
"Let me try." Rukia offered. She had no more luck than Ichigo. With energy fading there was less to work with every second.
"I'm starting to get dizzy." Ichigo complained.
Rukia nervously chuckled. "Why Mr. Kurosaki, you dance divinely."
Ichigo tried to think up a comeback when he noticed something.
"Hey Rukia. Do you feel that?"
She frowned. "Feel what?"
"I'm not sure." He answered. "Just follow my lead."
Instead of trying to stop the spin, Ichigo began using what little push he could generate to increase it.
"Can you feel it now?" He asked.
"Yes." Rukia replied. "I can feel something. I can feel power. We're generating something."
It wasn't long at all before they could create a solid spritron platform again.
"Interesting." Rukia noted. "But what good are we doing?"
"Who knows?" He replied. "It's not like we have anything better to do. Besides, it just feels right."
"I've trusted your instincts before." She said with a smile. "And yes, what else do we have to do?"
Ichigo had an idea. "This is getting boring. Let me show you a few moves."
With a solid "floor" under his feet, he began to move in a pattern. Placing his hand on Rukia's waist, he held her hand out to the side. "Here, follow my lead. This is a basic box step. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4."
Rukia was surprised. "You never told me you could dance."
"Mom used to teach me when I was little." He said. "I was planning to show you some day. Let's try this now."
Ichigo showed her new steps and moves as they went along floating in the vacuum. The energy they generated grew stronger and stronger.
"The fragments." Rukia said. "They're glowing again."
"And they're moving different too." He added. They were all moving outward before. Now they're starting to move back. Let's keep it up!"
As the fragments bumped and collided around them, they began to make a strange sort of music. The young couple began to forget the predicament they were in and were actually enjoying themselves. Rukia was a quick learner. It wasn't long before she mastered the steps Ichigo showed her and could improvise steps of her own. With the energy growing by the second, it began to affect them. Before Ichigo's eyes, Rukia transformed into a vision in frosty white. Ichigo gawked in amazement. He'd never seen her bankai form before. She was gorgeous. Laughing she pointed at him. He was transforming into his final form, covered in black flames. Fire and Ice, Yin and Yang, they danced in perfect balance and harmony.
Suddenly Ichigo saw it. Reaching out, he pulled a fragment out of the maelstrom. He showed it to Rukia. It was them. It was the very first moment they met in Ichigo's room. Rukia spotted another fragment and seized it. It was the moment she gave Ichigo her powers. Using his flame, Ichigo melded the fragment together. Using her ice, she sealed the mended pieces together. They soon found more. Going to school together. Fighting Shrieker. Battling Renji and Byakuya. Meeting again in Soul Society. Moment leading into moment, piece leading to piece, the broken pieces of reality were being reforged. It became a part of their dance as they moved back and forth, finding and repairing reality, one broken piece at a time.
How long could it take to repair infinite pieces? It didn't really matter. In the void there was no time, only the satisfaction of purpose, the joy of creation, and the dance, always the dance. They put back together not just their lives, but all lives. They fixed the warped and damaged pieces created by Ywhach's perversion, setting things right. They were new gods of creation, remaking the world with the power of their dance. After an infinity of time that didn't seem that long at all, they were done, all of reality arcing overhead, a rainbow of light and life and possibility. The song of the universe was quiet now, only a steady thrum like the beating of a heart. And still they danced.
"It's almost done." Rukia told him. "There's only one part left."
Ichigo nodded. "Us. Once we go back, it all starts again."
"I wonder what's going to happen?" She asked. "I wonder how it will be when we go back."
"I know what you mean." He answered. "I'm kinda nervous myself. Let not think about that for now. Lets just dance for a little while longer."
Swaying in each other's arms, they put all other thoughts aside, simply enjoying each other's company.
"Rukia." Ichigo began. "Before we go back, I just want to tell you..."
She put her finger against his lips. "I know."
The music slowed, then stopped. Rukia let him go and stepped away.
"It's time."
Nodding, he took her hand. Reaching upward, they rejoined the rest of the universe.
A strange voice was speaking.
"When the two that share destiny part and reunite, beyond the frame of time the ceased clock will awake and start to tick once again."
Opening his eyes, he saw a strange tall man standing over him.
"Hello. Ichigo is it? I'd like to thank you for putting everything back together. I have to admit I was a bit worried. Prophecy's not as cut and dried as people think."
It was then Ichigo noticed his eyes. They were just like Ywhach's! He scrambled to his feet in alarm and whipped Zangestu off his back.
"Just who the hell are you!?" He snarled.
"No need for that." The strange man assured him. He began to stretch and wave his hands around. "Ah, it's so nice to have my limbs back. I hope they had a good time."
"Listen freak!" Ichigo warned. "If you don't tell me who you are and just what the hell is going on..."
He was interrupted by a smack on the head.
"Fool!" Rukia shouted. "You can't talk to the Soul King like that!"
"Argh, dammit Rukia!" He complained rubbing his head. "Wait a minute. That's the Soul King? Wait. Rukia? We're back? We're back!"
Dropping Zangetsu on the floor, he swept Rukia up in his arms. Laughing and talking excitedly, they lost all notice of their royal host. He turned his back to give them some privacy. Well, as much as a near omnipresent being like himself could give. There would be time to go over his plans for them later. This was only the first step in a series of badly needed reforms in Soul Society. They still had a lot to do and Ichigo and Rukia would be key to every step. Judging by the way they were still holding each other, he was sure they wouldn't mind.