A/N: before I begin, I want all to know that I have had this idea forever, and finally have managed to find the right words to bring it to life. Even if you have only just started the Arrancar Arc, there shouldn't be any spoilers. After Ulquiorra crushes his left eye in the fic below, everything typed here is my own idea. (All Japanese will be in italics, and thoughts will be written like this: thought.) Also, this will always be one "chapter" long, because I'm gonna add on to the same document as I go. It's easier that way. Please forgive me if things don't go exactly as they did in the manga/anime/whatever-you-get-Bleach-info-from. If any Ulquiorra fans are disappointed by what I did to the poor guy, please feel free to let me know. So, without further ado, enjoy, Ulquiorra-fans!
(scene: Aizen's throne room, shortly before Ulquiorra and Yammy's report)
Ulquiorra stood silently before the throne of Aizen, awaiting his acknowledgement. Finally, having gotten bored, he spoke quietly, saying, "We have returned, Aizen-sama." Aizen smiled and replied, "Ulquiorra, Yammy, welcome back. Now, tell me everything about your trip to the material world. Show me, Ulquiorra, all that you know from your journey. Leave nothing out." Sighing mentally, Ulquiorra focused his memories of the mission, then moved his hand up to the left side of his face...
…and popped out his left eyeball. Holding his …eye… at arm's length and ignoring the pain, he simply said, "Hai," and crushed the emerald-and-white orb, transforming it into dust which scattered across the room, enveloping the arrancar and ex-Taichou Soul Reapers, granting them access to first-person witnessing of the battle between Ichigo and Yammy, the two who had interfered, and Ichigo's friends, all through the eyes (or eye) of Ulquiorra, seen as he had seen it.
After a moment's pause, Aizen spoke again. "Well done, Ulquiorra. You knowledge was a wonderful addition to my experiences of the human world." Ulquiorra smiled fractionally (by his standards) and tilted his head slightly, acknowledging his master's rare praise. But Aizen was not done yet. "You have served me well, Ulquiorra. However, you have, as of this moment, outlived your usefulness."
Ulquiorra's face paled to a degree none present had previously possible. (I mean, is it even possible for any 'living' being to be paler than Ulquiorra's usual skin tone?) Aizen's final statement sounded like, to Ulquiorra's ears at least, the proclamation of doom at the world's end, "My dear arrancar, Espada and Numeros, you have free rein. Kill him." With that, the ex-Shinigami turned and left the hall, leaving Ulquiorra standing in the center of the room, twenty bloodthirsty Arrancar practically glowing with anticipation of his death.
In truth, Ulquiorra had known this day would come. To Aizen, arrancar, even Espada, were just playthings to be thrown away when he tired of them. Ulquiorra had watched it many times before, even participated in the bloodthirsty crowd. However, Ulquiorra had always believed, no, hoped that this day would never come for him.
He was given a half-second respite before the shrieking, yelling horde descended upon him. Ulquiorra caught a glimpse of Halibel on his right and Yammy advancing to his left before a tall shadow dominated his vision. "Hey, pleased to beat you," said the voice of an obnoxiously familiar blue-haired Espada, before Ulquiorra's face was introduced to the other's fist. Taking the hit, he allowed the force to shift him into a retaliating move, his left foot shooting out from under him and would have hit Grimmjow in the gut had he been Ulquiorra's height, which he was not. Because of this, Ulquiorra's kick ended up connecting with a somewhat lower (and considerably more painful) region. Grimmjow barely had time to fall before Yammy arrived on scene, a massive hand wrapping tightly around Ulquiorra's thin waist and hoisting him effortlessly off the ground.
"It's payback time!" Yammy roared, squeezing the smaller Espada. Ulquiorra winced imperceptibly as two of his ribs cracked. Fortunately, Yammy had forgotten to pin his hands. "Yes… my payback," Ulquiorra hissed through gritted teeth. "Cero!" An emerald colored bolt of light incinerated Yammy and three other arrancar who had been unfortunate enough to be standing behind the giant.
Ulquiorra landed on the ground with feline grace. More arrancar were surging in though, and he didn't know just how long he could hold out. Out of the twenty, I've taken out four and…incapacitated…a fifth… fifteen to go.
His thoughts were interrupted by a crimson bolt of light shot close-range on his left. There was no time to dodge, so Ulquiorra whirled around and caught the blast with both hands, then flung it away (incinerating ten more unlucky arrancar and Aaroniero). The Primera Espada was standing directly in front of him (the biggest hint to the fact that it was indeed the first was the fact that many arrancar minus Halibel, who had been knocked out by the blast's "redirection" were edging away. Ulquiorra stared at his hands for an instant of shock. Did I just catch a Cero from the strongest of the Espada?
Ulquiorra wasted no more time on thought. He charged, drew his zanpakutoh (much to the shock of the arrancar present no one had ever seen him draw it before), filled his blade with a bright green cero, and sliced off the strongest Espada's head. As if on some hidden signal, every (living) arrancar in the room drew and released their zanpakutohs. Ulquiorra was no exception, murmuring a quiet phrase to his sword. It flared as bright a green as his eyes, then melted into light that surrounded the Cuatra Espada. Every arrancar near him backed off a bit, except for Grimmjow, who sensed a good fight coming.
Ulquiorra opened his eyes as the light faded to reveal his transformation. His standard appearance had not changed much, but now, in addition to the other half of the horned-helmet mask now firmly in place (his face was still visible, though), his body now glowed with energy. The Cuatra Espada's fingernails lengthened into claws and he charged at Grimmjow, who leapt high into the air for an aerial assault. Everyone in the room received the shock of their lives when Ulquiorra leapt up too, opening his newly-formed black raven-wings and flying to meet Grimmjow. As every person knows, cats can't fly, so Grimmjow was at a severe disadvantage. One, two, three rapid slashes later, and Grimmjow's head tumbled off to land on the Fifth Espada, who flung it away in disgust.
Not all of the slashes had been formed by Ulquiorra, though. Grimmjow had landed just one hit, a long slash that ran from Ulquiorra's right hip up to his left shoulder. Breathing slightly harder than usual, Ulquiorra landed again, and was met with a surging tide of Espada and arrancar, who had been emboldened by Grimmjow's successful final attack.
Ulquiorra turned to face the bloodthirsty crowd. Rolling out of the way of the first wave, he closed his emerald green eyes for two seconds as the mass realized his location had changed. The breathing-space gone, Ulquiorra folded his black raven's wings and stood, clawed hands in pockets, waiting for the attack to come. Four Espada remain… Nnoitra, Zommari, Stark… a sharp needle pierced the back of his neck and Szayel…
"This is my revenge for all those comments you made, Ulquiorra," Szayel hissed in his ear. Ulquiorra thought fast, stalling for time as he swiftly overpowered the toxin-laced tranquilizer now flowing through his blood. "Comments, Szayel?" he inquired softly, forcing a dull, flat note into his voice to fool the scientist as he concentrated his immense power.
"Don't pretend you don't know!" Szayel said angrily. "Nerd, Trash, and all those comments about my hair! I've had enough!" He drew his arm back for the final strike. At that moment, Ulquiorra struck.
He extended both wings to their fullest extent at the same time, launching Szayel backward about twenty yards. Then, before Szayel had time to land, the Cuatra Espada was behind him, intercepting Szayel's landing course with a roundhouse kick. Szayel never had a chance. As he collided with the opposite wall with a sickening crack, Ulquiorra's left hand pierced his neck. "My mistake, Szayel," he whispered to the scientist's limp form, "You are not trash. You are filth not fit to live in this world. Goodbye, Octava Espada." Ulquiorra withdrew his hand, watching coldly as Szayel's corpse fell to the cold stone floor.
Now, only Zommari, Nnoitra, and Ulquiorra were still standing. Nnoitra smirked and reached to draw his zanpakutoh, but his long fingers never even touched the hilt before Ulquiorra was upon him. The smaller Espada came at him in a low, crouching run, then rapidly went upright as he reached his target, shifting into an uppercut to Nnoitra's jaw and sending Nnoitra flying backwards, semi-conscious. Zommari wasn't spared either. As Ulquiorra's fist connected with Nnoitra's jaw, he leapt into the air and spread both wings wide, then came down at Zommari like an avenging angel. The Seventh Espada fell before he even knew that he'd been hit, split in half from top of head to stomach. Ulquiorra landed and folded his wings. At that point, Halibel regained consciousness, having recovered from the "redirected" Cero. Seeing the carnage and slaughter all around her, she stood and backed away from Ulquiorra, who advanced slowly toward her.
"So, you are the last one?" he asked, though it was obvious. "I will spare your life, Halibel-sama, if you do not try to take mine." Halibel nodded, but her mind was seething, pulling together a plan to defeat the Espada before her who had just decimated almost all of Aizen's best warriors. That plan centered on whether or not said Espada noticed one of the bodies around them was still moving…
Behind Ulquiorra, Nnoitra was stirring. The blow to his chin had knocked out a few teeth and almost done the same to him, but Ulquiorra was slowly weakening fractionally, and that fact had saved Nnoitra's life. He got silently to his feet, absorbing his surroundings. Just one chance, he thought. If I screw this up, I'm dead for good this time.
Ulquiorra's sensitive ears picked up a quiet sound behind him, the rasp of metal on metal, like the hiss of a deadly serpent. Swiftly he turned, but not swiftly enough. Time itself seemed to slow as Nnoitra's blade pierced his chest and exited the other side. The Fourth Espada staggered slightly and coughed, spraying blood onto his once-white clothes. A cruel smirk covered Nnoitra's face as he pulled the zanpakutoh from his victim's body, delivering a vicious kick to Ulquiorra's torso that sent the smaller Espada flying ten feet across the room where his path was abruptly –and painfully –intercepted by the wall.
Slowly, every cell of his body in pure agony, Ulquiorra rose using the wall for support. Coughing up blood, he raised a single pale hand and lightly tapped the air before him. "Open…Gargantua…" he breathed, forcing open a rip in space with the last of his strength. The Gargantua stretched open like a gaping mouth and swallowed the pale, half-dead Espada with darkness. Before either Nnoitra or Halibel could react, the portal had sealed again and the only proof of the Fourth Espada's previous presence in the room were the bloodstains on the wall and the corpses at their feet.
Halibel looked at Nnoitra and said, "He escaped. Now what; do we pursue him?" Nnoitra shook his head. "Nah, he's half dead anyway. Let's get this straight: we saw his corpse right before a combined Cero dissolved it, right, Halibel-chan?" Halibel glared. "Alright, but I will kill you if you call me that again."
In a small forest of Karakura town, a gaping portal opened. A pale figure staggered forward, pressing his hand against a tree for support. As the portal closed, his strength left him and the being known as Ulquiorra stumbled and fell. As he lay there, facedown in the grass, truly alone for the first time in his memory, Ulquiorra prayed the end would come quickly as darkness consumed him.
A/N: No, I didn't kill him… yet. (laughs evilly) Don't worry, Ulquiorra fans, help is on the way for our favorite Espada… or should that be ex-Espada now? Ah, well, I'll type more in the morning. (It's 11:45 pm right now --;;)
