His life was failing him… slowly, I admit, but surely. We were both going to end up dying here together if I didn't do something about it all. ~ Get up, King! ~ I was yelling at him. ~ You have to get up! ~ I knew he couldn't get up on his own… And that fact alone hurt my soul more than any scratch in this blade could ever do to me. My King was going to live… He was going to take his place at a throne… He might not enjoy what I had planned on making sure he lived but, it was the only thing I knew how to do. Ichigo Kurosaki had saved his life once already… I was hoping he'd be kind enough to do so again.
/No One's POV\
The blade beside Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, lying in his limp grip, suddenly began to glow a bright blinding white; a figure slowly taking form as the ball of light shot off towards a group of people, all tired and worn out from the day's fights they had just had. Startling the group, most of them drew their weapons at the sight of the light, squinting their eyes as the figure slowly took form and let its feet touch the burning sand. "Please," a light voice called out, sounding pure enough that the ones that drew their weapons faltered in attacking the being as the light disappeared and showed them all exactly who was talking. "My master is dying… I need your help."
The figure's form was lean, slightly well-built by how they could all very clearly see the muscles moving across her body when she stepped forward again to capture their attention; though it was clear she already had it. Her eyes were a plain dull gray color, almost being mistaken for pearls in the blinding fake sun casting down on all of them; tears slowly brimming them from the emotion she obviously felt towards her so-called master. Light navy – a dark azure – hair fell down her back in straight locks, ending at her waist while some blew with the wind and ended up over her shoulders; a hollow mask was shown attached to the back of her head as a large jaw piece, the top row of fangs seeming to be holding back her hair to some extent.
Stepping closer still, the figure – with the appearance of someone their own age – walked a few more paces before stopping in front of a busty red-head, taking her hands in her own and whispering a barely audible, "Please help him, Señora." Her voice obviously had a faint Spanish accent, as if she herself was of the same Hispanic heritage of the towering heavily tanned Hispanic standing not but a few feet from the milky white toned girl. Her accent resembled that of someone they had just captured, a still fox-like grinning ex-Captain Shinigami, but had the faint bilingual Hispanic tone.
"Where…" the red-head couldn't deny this woman in front of her, regardless of how much of an Arrancar she appeared in looks; or of how much she looked like the man who coincidentally helped rescue her. "Where is he?" She couldn't say no to her anymore than any of the others would've been able to, there was just something of a pull everyone had to the girl; something that made them want to help her and clear away the tears gathering still in her eyes. No doubt out of worry of her so-called master.
"Lead the way," a fiery orange-haired male said afterwords, stepping up beside the busty red-head as he nodded for the girl to go ahead and show them where her master was. The girl looked towards him with a large smile lighting on her face, almost as if she knew exactly who the teen was standing in front of her. The smile appeared in a moment and stayed there as she nodded and quickly turned to lead them the way she had just came from as a ball of light.
The closer they got to her master, the more uneasy it was for them. The fiery orange-haired male was getting more and more on edge with each passing moment, worried about just who this girl's master was because of her leading him in the exact direction he had just come from almost an hour ago… after facing off with a certain blue-haired Arrancar.
"Grimmjow!" The orange-haired teen shouted out in shock as the girl quickly moved to the blue-haired Arrancar's side, putting her hands over one of the still bleeding gashes on his chest; her tears still being held at bay while looking down at him. "He's your master?" Though none of them could believe the information they had just received, the red-head wasted no time in thinking anymore about it and stepped over to Grimmjow's other side; holding her hands out as if she was about to heal him.
"My name is Pantera, Señor." The girl said to the group, lifting her head to look over at all of them almost proudly. "I am his Zanpakuto." They stared. There wasn't much else they could do beside stop the busty girl from healing him, but they didn't even do that. The shocking realization of the statement she had given them made them all wonder just what was going on if a Zanpakuto was able to fully materialize in front of others and be seen. It was… unexpected, to say the least.
"You really do care for him, don't you?" The busty girl questioned the self-proclaimed Zanpakuto while healing Grimmjow, smiling over at the girl softly to show she had no problem with the realization. The girl turned to look over at her and smiled shortly once more, nodding her head with a short 'yes' coming from her lips.
"It's probably against so many unspoken laws of nature… but I love him more than I probably should. He wants to be King, he wants to live… and I want to stay by his side. This probably sounds silly," The girl - Pantera - ended with her smile faltering some after she confided in each of them just why she truly wishes to save Grimmjow's life. "A Zanpakuto in love with its user… It's about as cliché as cliché gets."
"I think it's perfect, Pantera-San." Orihime - the busty red head - said to her after finishing with Grimmjow's wounds, moving back shortly in order to take in the view in front of her. Pantera was trying to focus on the conversation between the two of them but in all honesty… she could have cared less at the moment. She wanted to ensure that Grimmjow was healed and was going to survive. That was all that she truly cared about. "After all, the two of you have known each other since the beginning, right?"
Pantera smiled. "Something like that, Señora… " Moving her hand away from his wounds and seeing them perfectly healed, her smile widened slightly. Standing to her feet, she looked down at him through half lidded eyes, the others taking immediate notice of the overly fond expression… the look of total love on her face as she gazed at him.
"Could you do me a favor, Señor…? Could you… not tell him I ever did this?" She looked directly at Ichigo - the fiery orange haired teen - while speaking. "You know that he likes to do things himself… knowing that I helped him… well… I don't wish for him to be upset with me." The thought amused her and Pantera let out a small giggle at the thought of Grimmjow being upset about her getting help in order to save his life.
"What are you going to do now, Pantera-San?" Orihime asked since everyone else were still in their own forms of shock.
"I'm going to change back so my master can regain his reiatsu faster. He won't be pleased when he awakens so I suppose this is good-bye for now, everyone." Pantera walked up to Gin Ichimaru - the prisoner they had managed to capture after killing Aizen - and stared in his eyes for a brief moment. "Although my master hates you, Gin-San… I want you to know it really did cheer up one of us to be around you every now and then." She said to him, going back to her place at Grimmjow's side before facing the group of Shinigami once more.
"Thank you… all of you. Not to be disrespectful or rude, but I hope we don't cross paths any time soon." The smile on her face showed what she was talking about and everyone understood. She meant about her being Grimmjow's Zanpakuto once more while he was pissed off at the fact of still being alive and having lost to Ichigo Kurosaki in the end.
"Good luck everyone. I wish you all a safe trip home." Pantera said to end everything, making her face blank before she began to glow once more; just like she had when she first appeared to the crowd. Everyone turned away and shielded their eyes against how bright the light became and when it died down, the only thing left of Pantera was a sword sticking out of the ground.
"Should we leave him here, Captain-Command Yamamoto?" Byakuya Kuchiki asked the elderly man as they remained where they all were, watching the sword for any movements. Yamamoto seemed to snap out of his thoughts at the question.
"No… If his Zanpakuto truly wishes for him live, I think we should give her just that."
"Captain-Commander?"
"Here there's a chance of a Vasto Lorde getting a hold of him… however… if you take him to Soul Society…" Isshin - Ichigo's ex-Shinigami father - trailed off at the end of his sentence to let the minds of everyone around finish.
"Captain Zaraki." Yamamoto had obviously made his decision by how his stature straightened and he directly his gaze over to the bulky Eleventh Division captain. "I'm sure there's a place in your division for the Arrancar."
