Disclaimer: I own nothing
Warning: character death, torture
Wading through the Darkness
The Darkness consuming,
Falling through to its depths,
I feel it sucking me in,
Pulling me to the bottom,
Leaving me to lie there,
Alone and suffering,
When it all comes to an end,
Will I be alone in the shadows?
Part 1
He slowly opened his eyes, only to close them again; the world around him was too bright. He opened them again and found that he was lying under a street lamp in the blinding world. He slowly pushed himself up from the ground that he lay on, but as soon as he sat up he fell back down clutching his chest. It hurt so much, why did he feel as if he had been shot through the chest? He sat up again, this time prepared for the oncoming pain and braced himself, but it wasn't as bad the second time and he managed to get onto his feet. Leaning on the lamppost he panted heavily and looked to the ground and something shiny caught his eye.
Lying on the ground was something slim and dark black, he took a deep breath and leaned towards the ground and grabbed the thing. It was a thin black sword but once he had it in his hand it dissolved into nothingness. He quickly sucked in a breath and raised his head to the sky, then Ichigo howled.
X-X-X
Uryu turned his head towards the unmistakable howl of a hollow, he quickly ran towards the source of the noise. Along the way he met up with Orihime and Chad, and the three of them raced towards the sound.
"Where's Ichigo?" Uryu asked Chad and Orihime. Chad shrugged and Orihime responded.
"I didn't see him at school today, he's probably training somewhere"
Uryu nodded his head in understanding, and they came upon a dark alley and a large figure hunched over a smaller one. Uryu, Orihime, and Chad surrounded the two figures and took their fighting stances.
"That will be enough Hollow!" Ishida bellowed at the Hollow, but it just stared at him with its cold golden eyes and continued what it was doing. Within seconds they heard a shrill scream and the figure beneath the Hollow disappeared. Then the Hollow turned to face them.
It had bone white skin covering its entire body, with dark red markings on its arms, legs, and the tip of its tail. Its hands were clawed, spikes were protruding from its shoulders, it had a tail and clawed feet like a raptor, and it wore a tattered black cloth around its waist. There was a shaggy mane of Orange hair from its head but its mask was the worst. The mask looked like a skull with a horrid grin and the hollows black and gold eyes made it that much worse.
The hair on the hollow was the same shade as Ichigo's but Ichigo was out training and there was no way he would become a hollow Uryu thought. From the looks on Chad and Orihime's faces they had the same thought running through their heads but soon that was forgotten as the Hollow bellowed and rushed Uryu.
Ichigo charged at the skinny man and quickly reached forward to grab him but his fist closed on nothing. He looked around, confused as to where his prey had gone and found his prey behind him along with two other humans. He looked at them confused, he didn't remember there being 3 of them, he shrugged it off and dropped to four legs and ran at them. This time he found himself pinned to the ground with a luminescent arrow in his arm.
He tried to move but was stuck, he roared angrily at the arrow and pulled his arm through the arrow and was now mobile only to find a rush of the annoying things coming straight towards him. He quickly turned and ran but found a large man behind him with a strange arm. The man ran up and punched him in the stomach with his strange arm and Ichigo was blasted back, crashing into a nearby wall destroying it.
Momentarily stunned he slumped to the ground and arrows barraged him causing him to scream out in pain. A cloud of dust surrounded him and the neighboring area and he used his claws to break the arrows sticking out of him, causing them to disappear, and he quickly leaped to a nearby roof.
Uryu tried to disperse the cloud of dust but that only made it worse; by the time that it was gone the Hollow was too. Uryu sighed,
"Guys that Hollow is probably ran away but watch your back, it could still be lurking around"
Orihime and Chad nodded and the three of them headed on their way. Orihime Trailed behind the other two, thinking of what Ichigo could be doing at this moment. She sighed dreamily and looked into the sky, she only barely registered a white shape rapidly dropping towards her and she screamed before it was muffled.
Chad and Uryu turned around instantly at the scream and they saw Orihime get dragged away by the hollow they were after. Chad raced after them with Ishida right behind him as they followed the Hollow into a nearby park.
Why hadn't we felt his reiatsu? Ishida thought as him and Chad sprinted after the Hollow and Orihime. They came to a crossroads and Ishida went left and Chad right hoping that one of them would find the Hollow that had taken Orihime.
Ichigo looked at the squirming girl in his hands as he raced along, she looked fairly tasty but these annoying humans were chasing him so how would he get a chance to eat her? He continued running on two legs until he ran straight into a dead end.
He looked around and noticed that he could no longer move forward, and that the scrawny human was behind him. He looked up and saw that the building above him was really tall, how could he get up the building with the girl.
While Ichigo was contemplating as much as a hollow can on this Uryu caught up with him. "Release her Hollow!" Ishida yelled at the Hollow.
Ichigo looked at the Quincy questioningly and then roared in retaliation to his words. The girl in his arms started squirming more so he casually glanced down at her and effortlessly crushed her throat which he was holding her by.
"NOOOO!" Ishida yelled and fired an arrow at the Hollow who just swatted it away, he had learned the arrowman's tricks and would not fall for them anymore. He heard a "SNAP!" from the girl he was holding and looked down to see her dangling from his hand limp and lifeless.
Ichigo looked at the girl's body for a second before looking at the roof above him, and realizing that since the girl had stopped squirming he could now carry her in his mouth. He instantly dropped onto four feet and leaped onto the roof above.
Ishida tried to comprehend what had just happened, Orihime had just been killed before their eyes and they had done nothing but stand there watching as the Hollow just left with her. Uryu snapped out of his daze and sank to the ground, while Chad slowly came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. Ishida looked up at Chad and slowly nodded his head, they had to go find Orihime's body and somehow tell Ichigo.
X-X-X
Ichigo meanwhile ran on rooftops with the girl in his mouth until he came to the end of the buildings. He stopped and smelled the air; he only smelled normal humans and not that Arrowman or the big guy. He dropped to the ground from the roof of the building he was on and rose onto two feet.
He took the girl out of his mouth and carried her with his arm and walked until he found a place of no humans. The place had a few trees and it was green everywhere, it looked empty though. He suddenly felt a pain in his chest and in surprise he dropped the girl and fell to his knees panting.
He felt so empty inside, so hollow, he needed to eat. He looked towards the girl that he had brought with him and hungrily panted. He shakily stood on four legs and got close to the girl. He looked at the girl and saw her chest slowly rising and falling. He glared at her, he didn't like it when she moved, and he put his claw on her chest and found the source of the movement. He took his claw that was on her chest and pierced it into her ; he reached around in her chest for a while and then grabbed the annoying beating organ and ripped it out.
He sniffed it for a minute and then tossed the useless thing aside; he saw the spirit of the girl become unchained from the body and stare at him in terror. His eyes widened at the girl, she was shimmering with such a bright light, such a full light. He grabbed her before she could escape and ripped the soul in half and raised her corpse above him. The sweet light encased him and he shuddered in pleasure, he then shoved the halves of the girl into his mouth and fell to the ground.
He shuddered and shook on the ground and then lay still, he felt whole, strong, and smarter. He looked around, he felt as if he had been here before. He shrugged the feeling away and stood up, he then looked around what should he do now? He no longer felt the emptiness but it may come back, he should have a human in case the emptiness returned.
Ichigo knew not of where he was or anything so he just chose a path and started walking.
X-X-X
Ishida slowly walked forward occasionally bumping into people but not caring. He stumbled over to Urahara shop to find Ichigo, Chad right behind him the entire time.
No one was outside the shop so they just went inside, and found Kisuke, Tessai, Renji, and Rukia sitting around the main table. Ishida sighed and collapsed on the floor; Rukia immediately got up and rushed over to help him while Chad leaned against a wall.
"What happened?" Rukia asked in a worried tone.
"Hollow" Chad replied simply from the wall.
Renji looked at them and scoffed. "One little Hollow did this to you? You guys are pathetic; it wasn't even strong enough to cause the scanner to go off"
Ishida suddenly stood up, scaring Rukia, and glared intensely at Renji. "It was strong and it was smart! I don't know how it didn't show up on your scanner it must have been hiding it's Reiatsu somehow, but because of that thing we lost O-" Ishida choked back a sob and Rukia came over to make sure he was ok.
"Lost what?" Kisuke asked. Ishida glared at Kisuke and Chad responded for him.
"Orihime is gone"
That shut everyone up and even Rukia stopped what she was doing, they all stared at Chad and Uryu.
"What do you mean gone?" Renji asked "like kidnapped?"
Ishida gave Renji the most hate filled glare that he could muster "no not kidnapped, she was killed by your so called 'weak' hollow"
Rukia burst into tears and ran off. Kisuke looked at Uryu solemnly "where was Ichigo?" he asked.
Ishida looked at Kisuke confused "we thought he was training with you"
Kisuke shook his head "no he was training with the vizards but he should have been back by now"
Renji jumped to his feet, "I'll go check at his house! What if the hollow attacked his family or something?" Renji grabbed his coat and ran out the door and into the street. Urahara watched Renji's back as he left and then turned to the rest of the group,
"well that was out of character"
X-X-X
Renji ran through the streets towards Ichigo's house, he was going to go find Ichigo and beat some sense into him for not protecting Orihime. Renji would never tell anyone but he secretly had a crush on the kind, shy, sweet-hearted girl. Tears fell from Renji's eyes as he ran towards the Kurosaki home.
X-X-X
Ichigo's feet had led him to an average two story house with what he could tell three people inside. He prowled around the house; all of the doors and windows were closed and locked except for one on the second floor that was wide open.
Ichigo quickly climbed up to the second floor, latched onto the window frame, and swung himself inside the room. The room was plain with a desk a bed and a closet. He started to leave the room when he smelled something wonderful. Ichigo quickly ran over to the closet and easily tore off the door. He looked around inside the closet eagerly but it was empty, but still that smell inside it lingered.
He went towards the door leading out of the room and tore it open and headed downstairs where he smelled human and the same thing from the closet.
X-X-X
The Kurosaki family was happily enjoying dinner with Yuzu and Ishiin casualy chatting while Karin ate silently. Suddenly a loud thumping noise filled the house and Yuzu and Ishiin stopped talking immediately.
Yuzu looked hesitantly up the stairs, "wh-what was that?"
Ishiin glanced up the stairs, thinking it was just Rukia coming in through the window and tripping or something he tried to change the topic.
"Oh it was probably nothing" he assured them "so Yuzu, what are you going to make for desert?"
That quickly got Yuzu's mind off of the noise and she started talking away about flan and ice cream, but Karin looked back at the stairs. She soon dismissed the noise but then they heard it again and Ishiin stood up. He motioned for Yuzu to be silent and slowly headed towards the stairs.
He looked up the stairs but saw nothing, only darkness, but he sensed that something was off so he made his way up the stairs. He looked around and saw that Ichigo's bedroom door had been ripped off of its hinges and was lying in the hallway.
He warily entered his son's room and glanced around, everything was normal except that the closet door had also been torn away and there were claw marks on the windowsill. He moved to inspect them more closely when he heard screaming from downstairs. He stumbled down the stairs and saw a hollow in his dining room holding Yuzu by her neck and Karin punching and kicking it.
The hollow noticed his presence and threw Yuzu aside; she crashed into a wall and slumped down into unconsciousness. Karin quickly ran over to go help her sister.
The hollow turned and faced Ishiin; it opened its mouth and breathed in his scent, then spread its arms and ran towards him.
X-X-X
Ichigo shot one of his arms forward to attack the delicious smelling man but the man vanished before him. He looked around confused then felt a blow in the back of his neck and he was on the ground. Ichigo quickly got up and grabbed the man's arm.
The man hadn't expected Ichigo to get up that fast and was caught off guard when he was grabbed.
Ichigo took the man and threw him against a wall, causing the man to hit the back of his head and spew up blood. He approached the man who was now on his knees trying to get his eyes focused; he reached out and pulled him close to his face. He opened his mouth wide, but then stopped and looked down at the sword that now stuck out of his side.
"Drop him hollow!" a strong voice emanating from front door said. The sword was then painfully retracted from Ichigo's side and he dropped the man and clutched his wound. He turned towards the newcomer and smiled as the wonderful smell filled the room.
"Shinigami" He said in a gravely, distorted voice. His wound instantly healed and he looked down for the previous man but he was gone. Ichigo roared and anger and turned towards the redheaded man in the doorway.
But the man was gone and then suddenly behind Ichigo with his sword wrapped around Ichigo's torso. Ichigo screeched as the spikes on the sword dug into his chest painfully. The red haired man then quickly flicked his hand and the spikes on the sword dug deep into Ichigo but were then soon retracted and Ichigo shot out one of his arms towards the man, but he had disappeared and Ichigo sunk to the ground.
X-X-X
Renji ran over to where three fourths of the Kurosaki family were huddled in the corner. "Are you guys ok?" he asked them. Karin shook her head and motioned to Yuzu.
"Yuzu's out cold and dad doesn't seem to be doing that good" she responded to the strange red haired tattooed man. Renji nodded and noticed the hollow was regenerating quickly so he hurried up with the girl.
"Where's your brother?" he asked Karin quickly.
Karin shook her head "I don't know, we haven't seen him in a while"
Renji shook his head angrily and lifted Ishiin onto his back while Karin carried Yuzu and they ran past the regenerating hollow and out of the house. They ran down the street and heard the hollows angry cries behind them.
He shuddered as he was running and looked down to find a dark red splotch seeping through the side his hakama top, he coughed but kept on running.
That thing was freaking strong, Ichigo, where are you? Renji thought and he ran with Karin down the street and towards Urahara shop.
X-X-X
Ichigo roared and got up, that shinigami was stronger than him, he needed to beat him! He needed to get stronger! He roared again and ran from the now empty house, he ran towards the park, towards its comforting darkness.
X-X-X
A rift opened into the real world and two men stepped out of it, one had black hair with twin green lines going down his eyes and what looked to be half of a white helmet, while the other had bright blue hair and a skeletal jaw on one side of his face.
The blue one jumped down onto the grass below and looked over to his partner, "This place seems kind of barren, doesn't it Ulquiorra?" The black haired man, Ulquiorra just nodded and looked around.
"It seems that we're being watched, Grimmjow" Ulquiorra said.
Grimmjow got into his fighting stance and quickly scanned the area. "What is it? A human? Or a shinigami!"
Ulquiorra shook his head and pointed to a bush where Grimmjow spotted two glowing yellow eyes. He sighed and lightened his stance "it's just a menos" he then glanced over to Ulquiorra "why'd you even mention him?"
Ulquiorra sighed and walked over to the bush and after much rustling and growling from the bush Ulquiorra came back dragging the writhing thing by its leg. "This is not a menos, Grimmjow"
Grimmjow looked at the hollow that was thrashing on the ground in confusion, "there's absolutely no spiritual pressure coming from this thing so if it's not a menos then what is it?"
Ulquiorra sighed and closed his eyes and the hollow stopped thrashing and stood still. Suddenly its spiritual pressure spiked considerably and Grimmjow shuddered.
"What the hell was that?" he yelled at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra merely shook his head and stared at Grimmjow in contempt.
"Don't be trash Grimmjow, this hollow was merely hiding its spiritual pressure, it seems it was only recently turned and is already an Adjuchas" Ulquiorra said emotionlessly "This one seems rather smart though, to be able to mask its reiatsu. I have decided. Take this to Lord Aizen while I remain here and finish the surveillance mission, there's said to be a very strong soul reaper in this area"
Grimmjow flared at that "what! I'm not missing out on the action just to take this stupid thing back with me! I refuse to!" Ulquiorra looked at Grimmjow and walked up to him dragging the unconscious hollow with him. He came up to Grimmjow's face and looked him square in the eye,
"Don't make me remind you, sexta, who is in charge here. Don't defy me again or I will deem you trash, and trash always gets disposed of." Ulquiorra left the hollow and espada and sonido'd away.
Grimmjow huffed and lifted the hollow onto his shoulder "you better not cause me trouble" he grunted and sonido'd to the Garganta and leapt through it.
X-X-X
Rain pelted the ground as Ichigo walked through the streets of Karakura. How dare the Vizards kick him out, it was that stupid Hiyori's fault for mentioning his mother anyways.
He huffed and walked until he came to the river where his mother had died. He stood with his head lowered until he heard the roar of a hollow and felt its spiritual pressure that shook hi s very being. He sighed and headed towards the hollow.
At least now he could blow off some steam, he took Zangetsu off of his back and raced towards the hollow and unknowingly to his demise.
X-X-X
Ichigo awoke with a start and realized that he was face down on a cold marble floor. He struggled to get up until he realized that he was being held down by two large men.
He heard a low chuckling and looked up to see a man seated in a white throne in front of him. He angrily whipped his tail around; he did not like the look of this man.
"Good job Grimmjow, you just brought back our trump card to winning this war"
Ichigo looked up to see the man on the chair nod at the blue haired man. The blue haired man was shocked and then smirked and left from Ichigo's sight. The first man then waved a hand at Ichigo and the two men holding him down let him go and then left.
Ichigo got up onto four feet and looked angrily at the man. He was smart enough to know when he was beat so he just stayed still waiting for the other man.
The other man got up off of his throne and came towards Ichigo who just stood his ground and growled. The man, Aizen, just chuckled again.
"Ichigo Kurosaki" he said and came up right in front of Ichigo, "those orange locks are unmistakable". He reached to touch Ichigo's hair but Ichigo just growled and backed up.
"oh come now, I know you can speak. If you couldn't what kind of Adjuchas would you be? Hmm" Aizen smiled sadistically and scanned his eyes over Ichigo.
"…who are you?..." Ichigo said in a ragged voice.
Aizen just laughed ten times harder "you don't recognize me at all?" he asked. Ichigo shook his head. "do you even know who you are?"
Ichigo thought for a second who am I? he hadn't had enough time to actually think about that since he was always fighting or on the move. He slowly shook his head and Aizen sighed.
"well since you don't know who you are how about you have a fresh start?" Ichigo looked at the man in confusion but Aizen just kept talking. "my name is Aizen, I am the Lord of Las Noches. As of now you are Nox Graz, and you will serve directly under me." Ichigo deemed Nox stood up unexpectedly.
"I serve none!" he roared at Aizen.
Aizen simply smiled "calm down, I didn't say that there was nothing in it for you dear Nox. If you serve me I will bestow on you a power that you have never known, one so strong that you can vanquish any who cross your path."
Nox continued to glare at the man and then nodded. Aizen smiled and then held out his hand, which Nox glared at and then hesitantly took. Aizen shunpo'd the two of them into the desert and stopped over a chasm in the ground.
Nox looked at the chasm and then at Aizen "what're you do-"Aizen dropped Nox into the chasm leading to Menos forest and he turned around and smiled. Ulquiorra appeared in front of Aizen and bowed.
"My lord, my mission was unsuccessful, Ichigo Kurosaki was nowhere to be found" Aizen waved it off and looked down at the pit.
"It's fine Ulquiorra, I have a new mission for you, in one month's time go to Menos forest and find the hollow that Grimmjow brought back from your mission and bring him to me."
Ulquoirra was confused yet nodded his head and Sonido'd back to Las Noches. Aizen looked down at Menos Forest. "Let's hope that you don't let me down Ichigo Kurosaki or should I say Nox Graz."
X-X-X
Nox fell through darkness, feeling like he was floating in space until he hit the ground back first. He grunted as he impacted, his back healing instantly. Nox slowly got up and on two legs, he looked around him. The air was uncomfortably humid and there were tall skinny trees everywhere, all of them black or dark grey.
Nox slowly started forward, not knowing where he was going or why he was down here, he just kept walking until he heard a roar. His feet led him towards the source of the roar and came upon two hollows fighting with a half circle of other hollows making guttural noises and some yelling in Japanese.
He headed warily towards the half circle of hollows but a large hollow appeared in front of him. "Thiis iis a priivatee paaarty" it hissed. The hollow had the head of a snake but its legs looked like an ox and it had the arms of a human, standing on two legs.
Nox looked at the hollow casually and swiped his hand in an upwards motion, the hollow lay before him in a bloody disintegrating mess. Nox looked down at the hollow than up at the others who had now stopped everything and were staring at him wide-eyed.
One shakily rose a pointed finger at him "y-you just killed Gerejar (pronounced gair-A-har)! H-he was the best fighter around!" The other hollows grunted and growled in agreement and soon they had formed a circle around Nox.
A medium sized one on two legs approached him, it's back legs looked like that of a dog, it had spikes on its back making it look like it had wings, its mask jutted out on the sides and was covered in teeth, it had orange markings covering one eye and orange under its other eye, with a crest of horns on its head.
"you're pretty good, what's your name?" the hollow asked.
Nox paused for a while before replying, "…Nox….Nox Graz…"
The hollow looked at him strangely "ok Nox, I'm Regiro. These guys here are a member of my group and seeing as you've just defeated or strongest member it seems you've earned yourself a place with us"
Nox looked at Regiro, trying to understand his angle "…I want no part…. Your group…"
A bunch of the hollows yelled at Nox angrily "Regiro's almost a Vasto Lorde! You can't turn him down!" "let's tear him apart" "Yeah! He can't take us all on!" they cheered.
Regiro lifted a hand to silence them, he then turned to Nox "I know that you said that you don't want to be a part of our little group, but we're on our way to fighting one of the strongest hollows in the entire forest. I heard about our little conversation with 'lord' Aizen, it seems that the only way for you to get out of here is to become a Vasto Lorde. So how about we have a deal? You help us defeat the Lord of Menos Forest and we'll let you absorb him and become a Vasto Lorde?"
One of the hollows yelled out before Nox could reply "but Regiro! You were going to absorb that hollow so Aizen can make you an Arancar!"
Regiro glared at the hollow "yes I know that, but we all must make sacrifices to get what we want."
Nox raised his head and looked at Regiro "…what is it that you want?..."
Regiro looked at Nox, surprised that he could form full sentences. "I want to become an arancar so that I can defend the hollows of the forest. Even though if you absorb the Vasto Lorde I can't become one myself defeating that Vasto Lorde will help protect them and then maybe you'll put in a good word for me to Aizen"
Nox nodded "…I'll do it…"
Regiro grinned and wrapped his arm around Nox's shoulder which Nox shrugged off. "We have a strong new member of the Forest Brigade! Let's celebrate!" Regiro yelled and all of the hollows cheered, and started to rampage around the forest destroying everything, while Nox suddenly alone slowly headed after them.
X-X-X
Nox and Regiro approached a large cave, having taken two weeks to make their way through the Vasto Lordes army and into the thick of his territory. Regiro looked to Nox "are you ready to become a Vasto Lorde?" Nox stood up on two legs and nodded at Regiro.
The two of them headed into a cave and came upon the largest hollow they had ever seen, it was sitting upon a throne made up of hollows masks. It was drinking from a large mask. The hollow put the mask down and looked at Nox and Regiro revealing that its mask goblet was filled with blood.
"So you are the ones who have been devastating my forces" It said in a deep booming voice that seemed to shake the entire cavern.
"we're here to end your reign Faremir!" Regiro yelled at the large monster. It just laughed in reply to him.
"your lives will end here puny Adjuchas!" Faremir slowly rose from his throne and charged quicker than would be expected at Nox and Regiro.
Nox dodged easily as did Regiro but taking more effort. Faremir slammed its hands on the ground trying to smash Nox and Regiro. Regiro dodged and got a hit on Faremirs hand, as Faremir howled in pain Nox ran up Faremirs arm and onto his shoulders, he aimed a cero at Faremirs neck and took the shot. The cero exploded on impact at Faremirs neck and Nox flipped off of its shoulders and landed on the ground.
Regiro ran up to Nox as Faremir raged and swung its arms madly around. "Nice shot" Regiro commented while panting. Nox nodded and looked back at Faremir who had regained its composure and roared.
The enormous hollow charged at Nox, who had injured him. Regiro took his opportunity while Faremir was charging Nox to jump up on the walls and land on Faremir's back. Faremir not even feeling Regiro, continued to angrily chase Nox.
Regiro quickly scaled Faremir's back and onto the opposite shoulder that Nox had been on before. Regiro lifted one of his spiked feet and slammed it into Faremir's neck that then roared in pain and attempted to shake Regiro off.
Regiro dangled from Faremir's neck while It shook and roared. "NOX! DO IT NOW!" Regiro shouted at Nox who was standing on the ground waiting for his cue. Nox shook his head and Regiro flailed his arms. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!" Regiro shouted "JUST DO IT!"
Nox solemnly lowered his head and jumped into the air, charging a cero in his hand. Once in position he slashed the cero in a horizontal pattern slicing cleanly through Faremir's neck and Regiro's body.
Both Faremir and Regiro fell to the ground, Nox immediately ran towards Regiro. "it's alright Nox" Regiro coughed " just absorb me and Faremir before it's too late" Nox shook his head in defiance. Regiro's face got serious and then calm "Nox just do it. You'll become a Vasto Lorde and make it out of this hole. The Forest Brigade is gone, there's nothing left for me to protect here."
Nox solemnly lowered his head and nodded. Regiro closed his eyes and sighed, Nox lurched over him and tore into Regiro, devouring every piece of him before he was gone. Nox felt a strong surge of power and looked solemnly to where Regiro was and he made his way to Faremir.
Faremir looked at Nox's angry eyes and at his own disappearing body and tried to scoot away but Nox was upon him in milliseconds. Nox didn't give the Vasto Lorde a chance to die before he ate him and all throughout Menos forest Faremir's screams of pain could be heard.
Nox felt an instant surge of immense power, he fell to the ground, the power was crushing and changing him in every way. Nox roared as the power took him over; his roar was heard all over Hueco Mundo.
X-X-X
Grimmjow sat up and cocked his head to the side; he distinctively heard a roar from in the distance. He immediately got off of his bed where he had been sitting on it bored and he went over to Aizen's throne room.
Aizen had been anticipating that Grimmjow would come over since he himself had heard the roar and he knew that Grimmjow being the only member of the Espada with exceptional hearing had heard it too.
Grimmjow slammed the doors to the throne room open and strode in, "Hey! You heard that roar right?" Grimmjow asked Aizen impolitely but Aizen was used to impoliteness from Grimmjow and brushed it off.
"Yes Grimmjow I did, now I want you to take Ulquiorra and bring back our noisy friend to me." Aizen said while smiling.
Grimmjow frowned "why do I have to go with that emotionless bastard?" he hissed.
"I originally gave this mission to Ulquoirra but it seems that it may now require two people instead of one" Aizen said calmly.
Grimmjow grunted and headed back out the door where Ulquiorra was waiting. Grimmjow growled at him and started walking towards the white desert with Ulquiorra trailing behind him.
X-X-X
Grimmjow approached the hole in the desert that led to the Menos Forest. He knelt near the ground and listened, after a few seconds he heard the roar again, this time less loud. "It's down there" Grimmjow told Ulquiorra who just rolled his eyes.
"Obviously" Ulquiorra remarked.
Grimmjow grimaced and jumped down into the hole and into the forest.
The two landed with a thud in the middle of the forest, they were surrounded by menos. Grimmjow growled threateningly but Ulquiorra raised his hand and silenced him.
"we are looking for the source of that incessant roaring" Ulquiorra said calmly.
One of the minor hollows spoke up, "If it's the loud one that you're looking for he's in Faremir's cave" it said quickly.
Grimmjow narrowed his eyes "why would you want to help us?" he asked it.
The hollow shifted in place and another one answered for it, "He's too strong for us!"
"He's insane and would slaughter us all!" another one shouted, soon all the hollows were piping in.
"He's too noisy!"
"He ate all my friends!"
"ENOUGH!" Ulquoirra shouted, and Grimmjow looked at him shocked. He had never seen Ulquiorra raise his voice. "You said He was in Faremir's cave did you not?" he asked.
The collective hollows nodded, "well then one of you escort us there" Ulquoirra said calmly. None of the menos moved so Grimmjow stepped forward.
"YOU!" he pointed at a random menos "take us to Faremir's cave or we'll slaughter everyone here!" Grimmjow snarled and the random menos quickly hurried towards the two espadas.
Grimmjow smirked and kicked their guide who quickly scurried towards the direction of the cave with the other menos looking on.
X-X-X
The two espada approached the cave with their Menos guide whimpering behind them. Grimmjow snarled and quickly slashed with his claws and killed the sniveling menos then returned his attention to the cave.
From deep inside the cave a low growling could be heard, and Grimmjow smirked while Ulquoirra just rolled his eyes and the two entered the cave.
The cave was pitch black but the two Espada's eyes adjusted quickly and saw that the walls of the cave were adorned with the masks of hollows, and Grimmjow's grin quickly disappeared. As they went deeper into the cave the growling eventually ceased and they came upon a large open room. Within the room was a large skeleton and an enormous throne made out of the masks and bones of thousands of hollows. Sitting upon the chair was a single hollow, who looked rather small sitting upon the large chair.
Ulquiorra approached the chair with Grimmjow slowly trailing behind him, as they got closer to the chair they noticed that the hollow on the chair was human shaped. The hollow had its hole square in the middle of its chest with black markings coming out of it from either side and going across it's chest and up to its neck, it had red fur on either side of its neck and around both its wrists, its skin was white and its nails were black, and it had a mask that looked like a skull with black markings and two large horns protruding out the top, but the most distinguishing feature was the long orange hair that flowed straight downward stopping at its lower back.
Ulquiorra stopped examining the hollow when he felt its black and gold eyes upon him. Ulquiorra looked into those eyes and saw no readable emotion on its face, which is unusual since most hollows are angry all the time thus the reason that they became hollows, this one's eyes were cold and hard.
Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed and he walked towards the chair and stopped when he reached the bottom and said casually "Lord Aizen wishes to see you". The hollows' eyes widened then returned to its neutral state and then it flash stepped to the bottom of the chair within milliseconds shocking both Ulquoirra and Grimmjow.
Grimmjow stepped closer to Ulquiorra "he doesn't look very crazy to me" Grimmjow whispered and Ulquoirra nodded in response.
"It seems he has settled down" Ulquiorra said but quieted down when he saw the orange haired hollows cold glare resting upon them. Ulquoirra looked at the hollow but then started walking back towards the center of the forest. "Lord Aizen is a busy man; it won't do us good if we are slow," Ulquiorra said walking ahead of both the hollow and Grimmjow.
Grimmjow ran up beside Ulquoirra who glared at him "shouldn't you walk with our guest so that he doesn't get lost on the way?" Ulquoirra hissed. Grimmjow looked dejectedly between Ulquoirra and the hollow that was walking behind them then sighed and slowed down to reach the orange haired hollow.
Upon reaching the hollow Grimmjow kept his pace and walked beside him. They walked in silence for a few minutes but then Grimmjow tried to make conversation, he put his hands in the pockets of his hakama and looked towards the hollow. "So I wonder what Aizen-Sama wants with you" Grimmjow started but didn't get a response. "I wonder if it's something bad" Grimmjow said and looked around the forest and towards the approaching clearing in the middle. "Maybe it's about all of those hollows that you killed and the bones around you're cave" he added.
When he turned back around he saw that the hollow had stopped and fixed Grimmjow with a hard glare. Grimmjow looked around nervously for Ulquiorra but he was already waiting at the clearing "I bet it's nothing bad or Aizen-Sama wouldn't have sent us out here personally" Grimmjow said nervously and the hollow glared for another minute then started up walking again.
Grimmjow sighed and ran up to join Ulquiorra, he hoped that this new guy wouldn't be staying with them long, he just creeped Grimmjow out.
When all three had gathered in the clearing of the forest they all sonido'd out of the forest through the hole in the roof and headed towards Las Noches.
X-X-X
Nox entered the meeting room of Las Noches and looked around, there were 11 seats at a long table, 9 of which were filled and there were two men standing on either side of the head chair. The man at the head was familiar to Nox, he had seen him before.
Nox narrowed his eyes at the man while Ulquiorra lowered his head and Grimmjow quickly did the same.
"We have brought the source of the commotion as you have asked" Ulquiorra said in a monotone voice.
"So that freak was the source of all that racket?" one of the people sitting at the table said. He had long hair and an eyepatch and his outfit had a large spoonlike collar.
Nox glared intently at the man, already despising him. The head of the table looked intently at the eyepatched one and he instantly quieted down. The man turned his gaze back to Nox.
"Thank you Ulquiorra for delivering our friend here to me, it would have been bothersome to have tracked him down and dragged him here myself." Aizen said while smiling gently.
Ulquiorra lowered his head "it was nothing my lord" he said and then went to one of the two empty seats on the long table. Grimmjow grunted and headed to the last remaining empty seat, leaving Nox standing alone in front of the table.
The man Aizen stood up from the head of the table and walked over to where Nox was standing. The people at the table looked wide eyed as their leader strode toward the newcomer. Aizen stopped in front of Nox and smiled at him.
"Welcome back Nox." Aizen said calmly. Nox grimaced and Aizen continued, "It seems that you've exceeded my expectations and successfully become a Vasto Lord" Nox grunted in reply and Aizen kept on smiling, then turned around to face the people at the table.
"Now my Espada I wish to introduce you to your new brother…" Aizen reached into his pocket and plucked out a black orb. Nox had no idea what the ball was but he could feel the power emanating from it. "Numero Cero Espada, Nox Graz!"
Nox felt an immense pain in his back and fell to his knees with his palms on the ground. The pain overwhelmed him and he shuddered with pain, he could see his mask crumbling around him, he closed his eyes and all of a sudden the pain was gone.
Nox shakily stood up and looked at the shocked faces sitting at the long table. Some of those faces were filled with fear some with awe, Nox smiled he liked the feeling of having power. Aizen stepped towards Nox and leaned in.
"Welcome to the Espada Nox" Aizen whispered then joined Nox in gazing at the seated Espada, all whilst wearing a chilling smile.
X-X-X
AN- ok so I pretty much have this story completely written, the story itself is in three parts, the length of the parts is about the same as this chapter. I have part two completely written and most of part 3 done so you can expect part 2 in about a month, I'm leaving for a trip soon and won't be back until then. The entire story is outlined but if you have any suggestions I'll attempt to squeeze them into the story also if you see any mistakes just point them out, I'm pretty OCD about that so it will be highly accepted if you point out any errors!
Thanks for reading!
-KaosDemon