Summery: Left all alone in the dark, who could blame him for his momentary lapse in sanity? Too bad for Aizen that the Shinigami are watching and he was supplying them with the perfect blackmail.
Slight Warning: Minor spoilers for the Sternritter arc in the manga.
Beta'd by The Many Masked Identities
Isolation can effect the mind in strange ways. Of course, Aizen knew that. He had always prided himself on being very up to date on all forms of torture. To be a malicious dictator of the world one would have to know these things. However, when facing the threat of isolation himself he felt confident in his mindstate. After all, how could someone like him fall prey to something as insignificant as loneliness?
After he had lost the war, he had been held for judgement. It had been a rather mortifying experience. To be strapped in a chair in a strait jacket absolutely helpless had not been the type of image he had been striving for. The terrified whispers and wary glances had been somewhat satisfying, and he held his head high so as to keep some of his dignity.
Being stuck in a chair as the other shinigami had sentenced him to eternal darkness had been a blow to Aizen's pride. His ego had been severally lessened by this whole experience. Kurosaki Ichigo and Urahara Kisuke. He cursed them both as he was left in the dark. There was no sound coming from anywhere and he knew that no matter how long he sat there - which was going to be a while - his eyes would never adjust to this darkness.
All he had left to do was wait. For what, he wasn't sure. Did he even have anyone who would be willing to rescue him let alone powerful enough? He sighed to himself. Waiting for nothing had been what he was reduced to. Now, how to keep oneself entertained?
It had been Akon who had first become aware of the new development with Aizen. Going about his usual day, Akon had been interrupted from his very intense game of Batman Arkham City. The popup had been a welcome distraction. He had just failed once more at gliding from one building to another. Running head first into a completely different building he had been debating whether or not to climb back up to the rooftops for what seemed like millionth time or to rage quit.
His saving grace had come in the form of an alert. Akon had clicked on it without reading what it was for, happy to get away from grown men dressing as bats. Which, he thinks, is no where near as strange as whatever the hell his captain had shown up that day wearing.
He was immeditaly bombarded by Firework by Katie Perry. Akon wasn't sure what to do with what he was seeing. His first thought was, woah, Aizen can sing. And he could; well, kind of. Listening to him hit a higher note Akon reassessed his opinion. The little wiggle thing that the obviously crazed man was doing was, in Akon's honest opinion, the best thing he had seen in a century. Make that two centuries, he amended, amused, as Aizen gave a more violent wiggle that was a borderline spasm.
As much as he wanted to watch the obviously mad former captain's display more, he knew that this was something his superior would want reported to him immediately. Not just because this was Aizen, but more since this type of insanity was right up his ally. In fact, Akon doesn't think that there is a type of madness that his poorly dressed captain wouldn't enjoy. Perhaps the boring kind, he muses, not entirely sure what that would be himself.
Regardless, this was... something. A development, definitely, but was it important enough that it had be reported immediately? The cameras were recording so even if Aizen were to gain back some of his sanity there would still be record of his momentary lapse. Akon was broken from his thoughts as the song changed to Anaconda. And oh, was he trying to twerk? Whatever it was it definitely involved his hips.
This was important he decided. It didn't matter that Kurostachi-taicho was currently in a captain and lieutenants only meeting with the captain commander. This was urgent. If his superiors disagreed then they couldn't really blame him. It's not like he had ever been briefed on how to handle a situation like this.
With Aizen's impression of the laugh thing that Nicki Minaj does ringing in his ears, Akon transferred the camera feed to his laptop and shumpoed towards where he knew the meeting took place.
When the doors had burst open with a loud bang all heads had turned to the disturbance. They all dropped their guard and those who had drawn their zanpakto sheathed them once more as they took in the twelfth division's panting third seat. Clutching a laptop to his chest Akon stumbled forward down the hall that the lined up captains and lieutenants made.
Akon gathered himself and managed to form a respectful pose. "Soutaichou-sama, if I may report?" Akon requested, meeting Yamamoto's gaze.
The old commander stared back at him impassively, and Mayuri took this opportunity to speak to his subordinate. "What are you doing here?" He asked, voicing the question on everybody's mind. Akon turned to look at him and was about to respond when the Captain Commander spoke, drawing everyone's attention.
"Report, third seat. This had better be important."
Akon fidgeted nervously, he hoped that this was considered important enough. He briefly wondered what would happen if it was not deemed important. Surely not execution perhaps demotion. But then again the Gotei 13 did not always make reasonable laws and punishments should they not be upheld.
He gulped, "It... It's about Aizen." That grabbed everyone's attention. People had been avoiding speaking of him recently.
"What about Aizen?" Yamamoto demanded, eyes narrowing dangerously. Aizen as was a dangerous man and whatever Akon had to report on him could not be good.
Instead of replying, Akon opened his laptop and after a bit of typing he turned it to face his superiors. It was obviously feed from one of the many security cameras the had installed to watch Aizen. Aizen himself was still thankfully strapped to his chair and not in any danger of escaping - which brought many fears to rest. However, he was... dancing? Was that what was happening? Many weren't sure.
Zaraki was the first to break the silence that was brought with the appalled starring with his rough and slightly insane laughter. Kyoraku joined him almost immediately, doubling over in laughter apposed to Zaraki's head thrown back. The sudden noise snapped the others out of their shock as well. Some shared bewildered glances with their fellow Shinigami while others were unable to take their gaze away from the screen. The 'dancing' and 'singing' - for they assumed he was singing due to the movements of his lips - was just too much to properly process.
Akon cleared his throat and gestured towards the video feed as if anyone had not been captivated it. Attempting to explain - explain what? - he started, "I was pla-" cutting himself off he tried again more firmly, "I was working and I got a notification that there was a disturbance in Aizen's isolation. It brought me to this." Unsure how to explain this he trailed off.
No one seemed to care though as they were still fascinated by the new development with Aizen of all people. The same man who had unexpectedly turned traitor and caused them so much trouble. They had fought a fucking war against this man. Looking at him now they could hardly believe it.
"What is he doing?" Yamamoto asked, not completely sure he wanted to know.
"I'm not completely sure, sir." Akon admitted. "He's singing as well, sir. I have it muted now."
Nodding, Yamamoto glancing warily at Aizen's moving lips trying not to think what horrible noises they were making. "Yes, I'm sure," Yamamoto replied. He was getting too old for this job. Much too old. "Thank you for your report. You are dismissed."
Akon nodded, glad he could leave. Practically running out of the room he took the computer with him. All eyes turned back to their leader as he sat back in his chair and let out a weary sigh. "Forget that ever happened," he told them, too tired to make his voice more demanding. All he received were nods, some more sincere than others.
"Dismissed."
He really needed a break from other Shinigami right about then. It had been a long day.
The twelfth division got quite a few visitors after that meeting. All captains being accompanied by their lieutenants who asked for Akon. Everyone below third seat didn't know what they wanted, but had grown accustomed to others dropping by. Akon would always lead them into some back room and sometimes - depending on the captain - they could hear laughter echoing down the halls.
The all seemed to leave in a good mood though. Someone even claimed that they had seen Byakuya smile on his way out the door. It was a heavily debated rumor and had yet to be confirmed or denied.
Mayuri was ecstatic with the new attention and was plotting ways to get money out of it. He could make them pay to watch Aizen or even blackmail them into doing things for him by having Aizen watching as a reward.
Akon hadn't minded too much at first. The captain's and lieutenant's reactions were great, but his gaming time was being limited. He would never beat Batman at this rate.
When Yamamoto had died and Kyoraku had been elected into the vacant position he had to figure out how to deal with the new lurking threat, Yhwach. They needed strong fighters and although the captains were strong they needed help. Without Kisuke they would be dead, and even with Ichigo it wasn't enough.
The epiphany that came to him made his growing grin feral. Turing to his lieutenant, Lisa, he asked her to go find Akon and to bring him to him.
The light had been unexpected. He had almost forgotten about light. It seemed like something that had been part of his life so long ago. Now, being blinded by it, he realized just how much he missed it. Aizen's room was illuminated and once his eyes adjusted he drank it all in. There was nothing particularly interesting to see, but seeing anything at all was such a relief.
His eyes flickered back to the now opened door, curious. There, standing in the doorway with an unsettling smile, was Kyoraku. He walked towards Aizen who could do nothing but watch.
"You," he started as he reached Aizen. He was confident and made eye contact. Aizen wasn't sure he liked the look in his eyes. "You are going to fight for the Soul Society."
"What?"
Aizen was lost. Him? Fight for the place his had fought so hard to appose, to destroy? No way in hell would he ever agree to such a thing. There was nothing Kyoraku - who seemed to be the new Captain Commander judging by his haori - could possibly bribe him with.
He had not been expecting Kyoraku to pull out a laptop and face it towards him. "You are going to fight for us," he said again before hitting play.
No. No. Anything but this. He should have known that they'd have cameras. It'd be dumb of them not to. He wished he could cover his face to hide the embarrassed flush that crept up his neck. What had he been thinking? He cursed himself to hell and back multiple times. Why? He had no explanation.
Even though Aizen could not bring himself to look up at the smug bastard standing over him he knew Kyoraku's smile had gotten larger and more sinister.
"You are going to fight for the Soul Society."
All Aizen could do was nod.
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