AN: Hey. Some of you might remember the plot mess that was "The Coldest Sound". Some crap happened last spring and I didn't have the time, energy, or passion to finish the story- but I did. It was taken down and the editing has started. So thank you for being so patient with me.
Warnings: This will appear in this chapter only, so please pay attention. In this fic there will be cursing, body horror, non-con/dub-con. I'm pretty sure this is the worst of it, but if you feel something should be added please just tell me over review or PM. If you see glaring errors in facts there is a reason.
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Sousuke felt the Hyougyoku twirl and move inside of him without any consideration to how it would feel; the burning energies going in and out of his body, slowly becoming more and more Him but a taste of something else that he would never have control of. It was the thing's sentient thoughts that he had to oblige himself by. He never bent his own will to anybody or anything but for this he would. The power that coursed through him trembling and constantly chancing; he'd wake up in the mornings physically different until he could control himself again; wings, hands, everything was within the capability of this little orb.
In front of him were things he hadn't wanted to deal with. The forward march should have continued until the King's domain but he'd been forced back by something. Gin wasn't happy and Tousan had no words on the matter. No life, either.
Stark. Barragan. Harribel. Ulquiorra. Nnoitra. Zommari. Aareoneiro. Yammy. For the most part his Espada were dead and only the bodies in front of him were anything of worth yet. Neliel was still here, under the careful nursings of Szayel, probably trying to make amends with his more powerful enemy- and Grimmjow. Oh Grimmjow. Gin had something of a sympathetic spot for that type; he'd kept the company of the eleventh division far too much.
It would be so easy to end it now and just to snap the head off of the beast before he woke up. He tried. Sousuke felt the orb inside of him practically scream with reiatsu. His arm shook from straining to carry out his own actions. He would bend his will to this thing. Grimmjow's pride was broken now and he could be dealt with on a one on one manner if he'd like or Gin could make another pet out of him.
Sousuke felt the strife still flowing through his arm as he raised Kyoka Suigetsu and slashed through the six still tattooed on the arrancar's side. There were no more Espada and a number rank meant nothing. Grimmjow meant nothing. Everything in this place had so little of consequence in it that an irrational anger at having been forced back into this temporary home; he wanted it done.
"That's awfully kind of you, Aizen-taicho." Sousuke knew he wasn't being fair or just or anything that could be mistaken for the values of a good leader. He'd been spending his time in his own mind trying to regain complete control of his body. Gin must feel awful. Stuck, too, in this white prison with nothing to do himself. It would account for all of the strangeness. They had been something tight in his lieutenant manner since the aborted fight.
"Gin. I know you have a soft spot for fools like Grimmjow. Take him- there is no more reason for him to be here." The orb inside of him whirled in contentment- it approved of this action. Good.
Sousuke idly wondered if this might be a good thing; being tamed by some object with no personality or ego to speak of. Gods and Kings of Ego and too full of themselves would fall easily under the guise of invincibility. This would ensure a check would remain of him and he would be the best he could be.
The reiatsu died down and his thoughts felt lighter; noticeably only now that it was gone, like a headache being relieved or a bright light dimmed.
Sousuke frowned as Gin left the room gleefully dragging Grimmjow's body behind him. The expression was uncomfortable on his face.
He liked Las Noches. It was clean and blank and could only be projected on itself and he didn't find much appealing about a creature that was a conglomerate of the eleventh division. He could easily stay with Madarame if he wanted the same feeling. To make matters worse he had not experienced emotional swings like this since he'd finally got rid of Hirako; and he still didn't want to think about that.
A fatigue set in.
He could only imagine that he has expunged too much energy this mornings still trying to retain his form as he wished. Call him vain but this was an image he had perfected and would not allow for a temperamental thing change that.
There was still so much to think about and how to fix. Strike at the shinigami while the were down. Crush the hopes of the exiles and their ilk before they considered this a victory. And most importantly he must regain the king's key. The first, though, would be crushing the hope; all of them symbols that encouraged the Seireitei in their worst moments.
But for now, he would sleep and let the Hyougyoku lull him to a sleep, beating louder than his own heart.
Another pillar went down to dust with a careless fling of his arm. A few more steps and he felt his wings branch out and glide with himself over into the air, moving so fast the debris looked like solid pieces suspended in the air, and retracted again.
A gentle pause and he was back in a regular shape, no oddities or pains, no vestigial growth or disorderly compositions.
The matter still in the air and falling now that he was more up to a comprehensible speed pulsed and shivered with the energy he put into in. Moments later a new shape was erected of the pieces, all in line like perfect soldiers.
Sousuke smiled at the reconfiguration of Las Noches. Something as complex as a building was under his command with the faintest whim. More importantly his body was completely his own again; he'd reached far beyond what any other person, living or dead, had before. Everything was as it should be.
Gin, for his part, frowned at the gaping window that had been a wall.
As bad as keeping a paper trail was he knew from the very beginning that some things should be written in order. The dates were written and he had no reason to lie to himself nor were they edited in anyway.
He simply could not remember what everything meant. Not things like the abbreviation; entire plans suddenly made no sense to him what so over. Insanity had been considered for a few moment before the cold truth had settled into his chest.
The Hyougyoku had reached his mind. This orb was no longer just affecting his physical state, his judgment, but he was loosing parts of himself. Like the image of a cliff worn down and crumpling under a storm.
"Gin…where was the plan." Sousuke knew the image he presented was a tense one. He looked over the maps and charts, staring blindly, shoulder's hunched over. As if his life's work was completely foreign to him. It was all that he could do to not break out in a cold sweat at his failure.
In all logical progressions of power a price had to be paid. He was going for God so he was aware that something should- would, since consideration played no part in this. Aside from Gin he had no human or otherwise close companion, he had no family. He thought the distance from people; his constant barrier between himself and the ants and worms of life and never taking any comfort from it would be enough. That when he finally lost all his human emotions that it would pay off and he would not care for their absence.
No. He was loosing the very thing he prided himself on; self control of his mind. He was under an illusion of himself, of his own doing. Part of him felt the irony.
Sousuke Aizen but for a brief moment contemplated his own suicide.
The hyougyoku did not like that. The pain spread across his body with blinding feelings of panic and disturbance.
Lines reconfigured in front of his face on the paper. Nothing about it had changed but it was like the lights had turned on for himself and suddenly he could see again. The plans were again what he wanted them to be and not a foreign document taunting him with his loss.
An easy way to overcome the obstacle. He would have to remember that his life was precious to the orb. Slowly but surely he was coming to master the Hyougyoku; albeit hiding the weakness of growth was not easy.
"Aizen-taicho shouldn't be playing games like this now." Gin's slanted eyes were not happy if the frown meant anything. He had his hands pressed up in a stance for kido- he knew Gin enough to know his battle movements.
"We're all playing games, Gin. Maybe some of your love of life has rubbed off on me. Wasn't I always a hard one to loosen up?" His lieutenant wouldn't betray him. For the entire time he'd known the by there had always been something off about his dedication and how far he went. They'd crossed so many lines time and again that Sousuke felt reasonably sure that Gin would never think about it- as long as dear Matsumoto was kept safe.
"Oh, but you said something different before." Sousuke raised his eyebrow. He had not, even under strife, said anything regarding the plans recently. His lieutenant was a very twisted fellow if he thought he could trick him.
"Perhaps its the understanding that is too forgone." Gin was still frowning and the face looked out of place on him. The Hyougyoku agreed with a pulse, weaker now. The orb was melting into his body like another organ and the pain he felt was beginning to lessen.
"No, you changed them. We ain't ready." This was as urgent as he could get.
"You should be nothing but steadfast." Through the reprimand, Sousuke felt proud of the man before him. He was thinking further ahead and not just going to play with his prey.
"Maybe if taicho wasn't so strange..." There was a little something again of Gin's old self. A bit more carefree than he'd been in the recent years with his time ticking.
"I am not strange. The dynamics of this all has changed and we must compensate."
"What about your reasons for this?"
"...my reasons were not for discussion." Sousuke made sure the jovial smile was still on his face even as he felt the tightening of his facial muscles. He wanted to give into the tic of frowning but never would. He'd gotten far too good at smiling at fools for the mask to fall so easily.
"Kinda sure I knew."
"You're years too early to understand, Gin."
"Ah so, does this mean we can make new rules to the games we play?" The tense nature of the room was built and quickly came crashing down again. It was if it just disappeared as easily as it had come. That grin on his face made him look seventy years younger, a gangly kid taller than he could fill out.
"Your worries are appreciated, Gin, but for now we have to accommodate for a gap in our numbers..." They had back up plans for it all but he didn't think he had to kill Kaname so soon and a third was needed for some of these to go through. Even if they needed a scape goat or a sacrifice it had to be a good one, not fodder, which made the workings difficult.
"Doncha think we should just fill it in?" Sousuke was warmed that his lieutenant was always a step behind him; supportive...and slower. "But who could do it like Kaname. He was very bossy- I don't wanna deal with another bossy person." So childish but hat was Gin.
The plans were much easier now that the Shinigami were on the alert. They would be waiting for everything, except what was coming directly towards them.
"Uhn..." Ichigo was glad that Ishida had his own apartment or this would have never happened. His father explained things but there was that incredibly distance between them right now but...
They were curling on Ishida's couch- he still hadn't been able to think of the other as Uryu- getting closer to one another. Ishida's hand; quick and clinical in his jerking his dick to completion must sooner then him. Ishida was still hard in his hand. It was like the bastard was thinking that it was a competition. Part of him felt vindicated anyway with the noises coming out of Ishida's mouth.
"Damn." Ishida twitched in his hand and collapsed on top of him breathing heavily. They were both messy with their spunk over their pants and their dicks just hanging out but Ichigo watched the television go from a football game to a car advertisement.
"Tired already, Ishida?" There. Take that crap for making this a stupid race.
"Uryu."
"Hmm?" The game was back on. Ishida was on top of him, literately squishing the two of them together while burying his face somewhere along his shoulders in a too close hug. Tachikawa scored.
"I should be Uryu now. Ichigo." There wasn't any more conversation after that. Ishida had wiped them both off but stayed glued awkwardly to his lap, small puffs of air telling Ichigo that he was sleeping.
He'd be okay with this. When he and Ichida were yelling at each other about what happened at the dome and that accident happened the relationship popped up. This was the first time they'd gotten this physical.
Ichigo felt terrible. This was good- great even- but he saw Ishida's head over his shoulder and realized in the pit of his stomach that it wasn't enough.
"Taicho, I don't like this plan."
"A little violence is starting to get to you?" Sousuke looked over his shoulder at Gin who was hesitantly following him up the stairs to what remained of the north tower. It was quite different to their original goings but it would make everything so effective at the same time. He hadn't counted on how far the humans would go to protect what is there's. Before them next to the plans were picture of the students.
Kurosaki, Inoue, and the other two ryoka were major focal points from them were a few more; two girls and two boys, each growing slowly in their spiritual powers. They couldn't erase time yet but he wasn't going to take chances on their abilities growing to be something that would make things worse off for them.
"Nah, always liked a little blood. It's just that this plan isn't like any of ya others." the rubble around them was still laced with the feeling of Ulquiorra and Kurosaki's fight. Some pieces of the stone still glowed with black fire from either of them.
"Maybe it's staying in the dark so long that is making you uneasy. I trust you enough to not cross over the borders and back into the Rukongai, as tempting as it is." Gin would never want to go back to the world for anything. It was possibly worse off than hell simply because didn't deserve it.
"Dunno. Might be fun to go back to some of my old haunts. You never know what you'll see in the bushes." Sousuke thought he felt something from his lieutenant that he'd never felt before. Was Gin keeping something from him?
"Heh. Just play with the butterflies, Gin. Don't worry it won't be for long...and then you could probably have you grasp on Matsumoto again." He knew he wasn't imagining it anymore. Gin was throwing him dirty look as he stepped into the void between the worlds. It was oozing purple but it was their only resort. His fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles turned white.
Sousuke wondered if he shouldn't mention Matsumoto again as he walked though his own dimensional rip, aiming an opening towards Kurosaki and the next beginning.