Summer 1938
The tall concrete walls surrounding the immaculate yet depressing building that was the children's asylum kept him in, but they did nothing to keep the monsters out. He still saw them. They flew; they climbed; they ran; they leaped. All the monsters were still there, and no one could really do anything about it...
... not that he really minded.
Emerald eyes stared down at pale feet as he walked across the grassy lawn, having abandoned his shoes some time ago and thrown them into the bushes. The orderlies would yell at him, but he truly didn't care. He was just so happy to be outside again, having spent the last two months confined to his cell, wearing a straightjacket the entire time.
He crinkled his nose remembering the incident that got him that punishment. It hadn't been his fault, honestly. He'd been minding his business when a pixie flew by and laughed at his hair, or lack thereof. As a rule of Hueco Mundo, Youth Correctional Facility, all residents, male and female, had to have shaved heads. He just remembered crossing his arms and snidely remarking, "I'm forced to have this hairstyle; what's your excuse?" The pixie hadn't liked that, and attacked him after gathering a few dozen friends.
To the orderlies it'd looked like he'd been fighting the air, but for him he was fending of at least two dozen angry, biting pixies. He was removed from outside, and brought before the behavioral analysis, who specialized in schizophrenia, and director of Hueco Mundo: Sosuke Aizen.
The young resident sat silently in the chair across from the calm-faced man, wrapped securely in a straightjacket for his safety, since they'd thought that the bruises and cuts on his face and arms were self-inflicted rather than trauma suffered from pissing off a pixie with an uneven haircut. He was given an even, yet mildly exasperated look from the director.
"A pixie did this to you?" he murmured. "I surely doubt a tiny pixie could hurt you and make you cause such a scene, Mr. Cifer."
The young man looked away with a huff, twitching slightly since the cuts were scabbing over and causing unbearable itchiness. "It wasn't a pixie, it was at least twenty or so. They were angry because I mouthed off to one of them about his hair."
Aizen quirked an eyebrow.
"He started it..." he pouted. "You still don't believe me."
"The orderlies are always nearby," he was told gently. "The ones who recovered you didn't see anything. The pixies weren't there, Mr. Cifer."
"Stop calling me that..." He sighed. "Can I go now? I want to go back outside."
The director pressed a button and a tall man in the customary white uniform of an orderly walked in, his bright blue hair stood out magnificently against all the white around him. "Return Mr. C-" he paused, "Mr. Ulquiorra to his room, he needs to rest."
His already large eyes widened. "But I want to go back outside!" Ulquiorra cried petulantly, his young age, ten years, showing. "I promise I won't get into anymore fights with the pixies!"
"You need to rest," Aizen said with finality. He makes a shooing motion and the bluenet stepped forward and helped Ulquiorra from his chair and out of the room.
The pale resident shook the memory away. It didn't matter anymore, he was free from his room and believed to be "stable" enough to go outside once more, much to his relief.
He wandered over to the pond turned relaxing water fixture off to the side of the building. Two white-clad men stood near it to make sure residents didn't attempt to go for a swim, and there was a stiff netting just below the surface for added protection. He was watched warily as he took a seat at the edge, the cattails allowed to grow concealing him from view slightly, and looked at his reflection.
He was pale as ever, but that would never change. His green eyes dull yet still contained a sparkle of innocence deep within, and bags hung below them from lack of sleep - it'd been a full moon the night before and he was the only one who heard the werewolves howl through the night. He touched his head sadly, running his hand over the light stubble there, and wished that he could grow back his hair. He wasn't vain, he'd just liked brushing it; it was a relaxing activity for him.
He stared a little longer and then noticed something was wrong with his reflection. His unblemished face was no longer so. Long streaks of green extended from beneath his eyes which looked golden. He touched his cheeks quizzically and stifled a gasp when a completely new face peeked out of the water, its ascent stopped by the netting.
Its skin was an extremely pale blue with long black hair fanning around it. Its nose was flattened though not so much as to make it unattractive, and the iris of its eyes were a bright gold swimming in a pretty jade sclera. It smiled at Ulquiorra, revealing long, thin, barracuda-like teeth.
"Hello there, land-walker child," it murmured in a deep and gargly tone. "Can you see me?"
Ulquiorra looked warily at the orderlies near the pond before nodding.
The creature's smile seemed to brighten and it blinked both sets of eyelids. "Ah it's been so long. Very few land walkers are born with the sight nowadays, even then I usually don't meet them until they're quite older. What is your name, youngling?"
"Ul-Ulquiorra," he whispered.
Its dark eyebrows came together and it moved closer to the edge. "Why are we whispering?" it asked.
Ulquiorra smiled and stifled a laugh. "You don't have to whisper; I do! No one else can see monsters like I can, so I get in trouble when I talk with them. I don't want to be confined to the building again..."
The creature nodded in understanding and tried to come more out of the water, but the net stopped him. He sucked his teeth and disappeared under the water for a moment. Ulquiorra frowned thinking that he was leaving, but the frown disappeared when the net was removed from its hook under the water and the male slipped more out of the water and cradled his head in his arms on the shore in front of the boy.
"Make sure you put that back before you leave, or I'll get in trouble," he warned. He nodded when the creature promised to fix the net and smiled as he reached forward to touch his hair; envy came over him, but he ignored it. "I've never seen a monster like you before. What's your name, and what are you?"
"I am Murcielago, but you will have to guess what I am. I will give you three chances."
The young resident screwed his face up in thought as he shifted from his seiza stance to an indian-style sitting position and perched his head on his little fists. "Are you a... merman?"
He shook his head.
"A... water sprite?" He frowned when that answer turned out to be wrong as well. "What will happen if I'm wrong again, Mr. Murcie?"
"I will swim away."
His lip trembled and his eyes grew teary, startling the water creature below him. Ulquiorra sniffled and scrubbed at his eyes and the tears running down his reddened cheeks. "I... I don't want to guess anymore if you'll just swim away! I don't know what you are; it's not fair!"
Murciel lifted his hands and shushed the boy as he gripped his shoulders. "Sh, sh. Do not cry, youngling, I will not swim away. I was only jesting, forgive me."
Ulquiorra snuffled and looked to him. "R-Really? hic! You promise?"
"Yes." He suddenly looked to the side and slipped back into the water. Ulquiorra was about to ask him what was wrong when he heard a voice.
"What are you doing, Mr. Ulquiorra?"
The resident looked over to see the director walking towards him with the blue haired orderly right behind him. He cleared his throat, willing away his sniffling. "Nothing. Just sitting by the pond."
"I heard you talking," Aizen murmured. "Were you... talking to the fairies again, Mr. Ulquiorra?"
He huffed. "You told me not to, so I'm talking to myself. I'm better company than some fairy anyway..."
Aizen nodded. "Would you come with me to my office?"
"But I didn't do anything! I wasn't talking to any fairies! I swear!" More tears came to his eyes. He didn't want to leave his new friend! Not when they'd just met, and he'd promised to stay. "Don't put me in my room again! I'll be good. I'll be good!"
Aizen shushed him and gestured for the orderly to secure the small boy. "You're not in trouble; I only want to talk."
"But if I say something you don't like you'll make me stay inside," Ulquiorra cried as he resisted the orderly's gentle tugging.
"It's not about what I like and don't like. It's my job to find and analyze the source of people's mental hindrances, as well as make sure they're stable enough to move freely without more supervision. I only want the residents to be safe and healthy." The director gestured again and the blue head lifted a squirming Ulquiorra from the ground.
"I'm stable! I'm stable!" he cried, but his words were ignored and he was carried away to the office.
Ulquiorra sat sideways in the leather chair with his knees drawn up to his chin. He shifted nervously, afraid to meet the director's eyes and even more afraid to speak. He was asked many times to lift his head and more times to answer the questions directed at him but he was too scared. Aizen promised that his answers would bear him no consequences, but that did nothing to unbutton his lip.
Aizen sighed. "Grimmjow, accompany Mr. Ulquiorra to dinner and then to his room. Make sure you or Di Roy brings him to me tomorrow afternoon."
"Yes, sir," Grimmjow murmured and guided Ulquiorra out of the room.
He wasn't allowed outside the next day, but his fear of speaking had waned ever so slightly.
"Will you talk to me today?"
Ulquiorra shrugged as an answer but lifted his gaze to the expectant brunet sitting across from him. They were sitting in the cushy chairs on the other side of the office rather than at the desk that day. The director did that, sometimes, to make residents relax better as some were intimidated by him when he sat at his large official-looking desk. Ulqui was one such resident, but he'd never admitted to it, Aizen was just smart and observant enough to notice such things.
Aizen sat back. "Now, be honest, were you really talking to yourself yesterday?"
Ulqui swallowed and looked away. "... No..."
"Was it fairies?"
"... No... I don't know what it was."
"Something... in the pond?"
Ulqui's heart pounded. He couldn't let him know that! If he did he'd probably be barred from going near it and in effect be unable to talk to Mr. Murcie again. "No," he lied. "I was sitting by the pond, a-and it came over the wall and sat next to me. I was lonely and it was friendly so I talked to it. I was only looking at the pond so that it was less obvious that there was something next to me."
"If you were lonely, then why didn't you talk to another resident? Free time is a chance to mingle."
Ulquiorra scrunched his nose up at that. "I don't like the others. The only humans I like talking to are you and the blue haired guy. And the one that wears the light blue bandana."
"Why only us?"
"You're nice and not stupid." He wouldn't mention that the blue guys would occasionally give him sweets.
Aizen chuckled and shook his head. "You think I'm nice despite how I make you stay in your room?"
Pale shoulders shrugged, momentarily slipping out of the larger sized blue scrub top. "It's your job, and I can't help that you don't understand and don't believe in what I see. All humans are like that, right? They don't believe in what the see? Well... gods and gravity and air are the only exceptions..."
The analysis nodded as he scribbled on his notepad for a moment, writing down little notes to go with the audio the tape recorder took. All of that would be stored in a chunky file and put in a box labeled with Ulquiorra's name in the records closet across the hall when he was done with them. He placed his pen behind his ear like usual and returned his attention to Ulqui.
"Are you going to make me stay inside?" he asked gravely with his head lowered.
Aizen sighed thoughtfully as he removed his glasses to clean them with a white cloth he kept in his breast pocket. He slid the wire-rimmed seeing aid back over his brown eyes and looked to his patient. "I see no reason to separate you from this... 'being' as it hasn't shown signs of 'harming' you."
Ulqui could hear the quotations. By "being", Aizen meant "figment" and by "harming" he meant "causing you to snap and cause injury to yourself or others". The boy didn't mind, he was too used to people doubting what he saw to care anymore. He smiled when he was told that they were done, and that he'd be able to go outside the following day. Ulqui slid from the couch and took the director's hand as he was led to the door where Grimmjow stood on the other side.
He stopped before Aizen grabbed the doorknob. "Oh, can I borrow a book from you bookshelf?" Ever since Ulquiorra had told the director about the monsters he saw, the man started keeping some books about the creatures. He wasn't sure why, but his theory was that he analyzed the things Ulqui saw to figure out more about his little mind. He didn't care about all that though, he just wanted something new to read and those sounded interesting.
"Those books aren't for children, Mr. Ulquiorra."
"I know but those are bigger and I read all the kiddie books in the playroom already. Please? I'll be careful and I'll never take it out of my room so that no one else will mess with it." He adopted the puppy-dog look.
Aizen sighed but relented with the condition that he can ban certain books from him.
Ulquiorra went the to the tall bookshelf near the barred window. He picked out a few books that were instantly shot down by the director before he was permitted to take a book about Scandinavian myths. He looked out the window for a moment before leaving and his eyebrows shot into where his hairline would be. He could see the pond from there and Mr. Murcie was still peeking up from out of the pond. The water creature suddenly noticed him and waved and without thinking Ulqui waved back.
"Your 'friend' is still there?"
His eyes widened and he looked to the tall man guiltily. "Uh, um..."
"Don't worry, I already said you were allowed to interact with it."
Ulqui nodded, though he found it kind of odd that he had to be allowed to see Mr. Murcie when Aizen probably thought that he could conjure him up anywhere. With nothing else said or done, he was taken to Grimmjow and led to padded room #4. He was only in a padded room because he'd get hurt in the regular ones when the nocturnal monsters would sneak into his room at night and send him into a panicked frenzy when they attacked, claiming that they'd eat him. They seemed to have a harder time getting into the padded rooms, and he greatly appreciated that, having thanked Aizen and the orderlies for the room change multiple times.
He sat in the middle of the room and opened the book to the first chapter.
Ulqui's eyelids drooped sometime after returning from dinner, but he really wanted to keep reading until light's out. He's falling asleep when his door opens.
"Not in your straightjacket I see."
Ulqui sighed, but let himself to continue dozing even as the door shuts and he feels a particular orderly loom over him. Long arms came into view and a weight pressed against his back. This was a rather common occurrence for him, this night shift orderly had been visiting for some time. Nothing would happen, Ulqui would rag doll as the dark-haired orderly snuggled and kissed him before he tucked him in for the night and left. His hands occasionally roamed but never lingered over his personal bits too long to really worry the small resident.
He fell asleep during the orderly's visit and in the morning woke up with a dark hickey on the right side of his chest.
As promised he was able to go outside the next day during free time. He immediately went to sit down by the pond to await Mr. Murcie. A little less than three minutes passed and the netting was moved and the male's head popped out of the water. They smiled at each other as he moved to sit next to Ulquiorra.
"You are back, my little friend," he praised. "I was worried when I you did not come back yesterday, but seeing you in the window calmed my nerves. Did you get in trouble as you had thought?"
Ulqui shook his head. "No, not really. Mr. Aizen even said that I could still come out to see you!"
"How grand."
"Oh! I still have a guess left! You still won't swim away if I'm wrong, right?" He beamed when he received an affirmative and screwed his face up in thought once more. He hummed happily when he felt a somewhat warm webbed hand gently pet his head. "Are... you... aaaaa... ummm-mum-mum... hm..." He struggled with an idea, the word on the tip of his tongue. "F-Fosse grim?"
"I'm surprised you know about those."
"I read it in a book Mr. Aizen let me borrow yesterday."
"Such a well read land-walker you are. I have seen many your age that were not so bright."
"So I'm right?" he asked excitedly.
"Alas, no, but I was unfair when I started this game."
"How?"
"I am the child of two different water beings, therefore there is no actual name for me. My mother was a naiad, which is where I get my land-walker appearance, and my father was a kappa, which is where I get my webbed fingers, flippered feet, and head plate."
Ulqui looked to his feet, which were still in the water, quizzically, and Murciel noticed his gaze. He lifted his foot from the water to show that it looked like a cross between a human foot and a mermaid's fin. Ulqui saw tiny scales of various blues, all darker than his skin tone, climb his leg until it disappeared under the long, silky, gray skirt Murcielago wore.
"My lower half has those scales; all the way to my hips, but thankfully there is none on my inner thighs. I believe that would cause much discomfort."
Ulqui nodded, agreeing; scales between one's thighs would probably chafe horribly! He stood and gently looked at the top of the mix-breed's head. "I don't see a plate." Murciel reached up and rearranged his hair to reveal the water-filled plate underneath for him to see. "So since you're a kappa, does that mean you eat children?" he asked.
"Hm, I actually have not eaten a child in many years, then again no land-walker has spited me so much that I would do such a thing."
"You only eat bad children then?"
"Those and the children of men who spite me. As I said, that has not happened for quite sometime though."
Ulqui sat back down once more. "Then don't ever meet my daddy, he can be mean and stubborn sometimes, I don't want you eating me!"
Murciel barked out a laugh, startling the youth. "I do not wish to eat you, youngling, so I would find another method to punish your father," he told him, swiping a tear from his eye.
"Yay! Oh, then do you like cucumbers?"
A dreamy look came over the half-kappa. "How I love cucumbers, but it has been far too long since I have enjoyed one."
"Maybe I can sneak you out some the next time we have salad for lunch then? They'll be little slices though..."
Murcielago hugged him from the side. "I would love it ever so much if you were to give me such a thing!"
Ulquiorra melted into the embrace. It was so much more comforting than what the night orderly gave him, and warmer despite the mix-breed man's colder flesh. His arms were trapped but he was able to reach up and clutch the arm crossing over his chest in a semi-hug. He sighed happily.
"Mr. Ulquiorra? Is everything alright?"
The boy looked around to see Aizen there, Di Roy beside him instead of Grimmjow; he must've had the day off. "I'm fine. Why?"
"You're sitting in a very odd position."
"Oh, he's just giving me a hug," Ulqui said simply but proudly. "I made him happy."
"'He'?" Aizen asked. "It has a gender now, does it? What about a name?"
Ulqui straightened as the hug relented. "His name's too long so I call him 'Mr. Murcie', he doesn't seem to mind though."
Aizen pulled out a notepad and started writing. "Has he told you what he 'is'?"
"A mix of a naiad and a kappa," He flinched at the pointed look he received from the director. "Don't worry, he already said he wouldn't eat me!"
"That is hardly reassuring, Mr. Ulquiorra."
His tone made Ulqui regret telling the analysis about Murciel's species. "Y-You're not going to make me stop seeing him will you? He's the first one to ever be nice to me!"
Aizen exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kappas and naiads are very dangerous, child, so it would be in your best interest not to associate with this creature."
"But... he's my friend... umph!" Lithe blue arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a rough hold, startling all present. "Mr. Murcie?"
The half-naiad was glaring daggers at the bewildered director. "You will not separate me from this seer child!" he declared, his voice slightly desperate despite the hiss. Only Ulqui heard him, however. The human boy gently patted the male's arms, but that did very little to calm him. Murciel pressed his cheek to Ulqui's head affectionately.
"It's okay, it's okay," Ulqui murmured. "You've worried him."
The director is still very startled. To him instead of the boy being pulled into an embrace, it looked like he'd abruptly leaned back sharply. "Alright, alright. We won't separate you... for now. If he shows any signs of 'harming' you, then I won't allow you outdoor privileges for quite a while."
Ulqui nodded; that was understandable.
Aizen and Di Roy retreated, but even without looking he could tell that he was being carefully watched from the office window moments later.
For the next few months, until mid-Autumn, Ulqui spent every chance he had with his inhuman best friend. The only days he couldn't were when it'd rained and the few days afterwards because the lawn would be too wet. A new orderly, a man with bright red hair that he always wore in a ponytail, was stationed nearby to watch over him. Ulquiorra and Murcielago liked him, because he'd humor them and join in on their conversations sometime; granted Ulqui had to always relay anything Murciel said to the ungifted redhead.
Ulqui grew sad, however. Since it was getting colder, he wouldn't be permitted outside for a long time. They began ending each playdate with a long goodbye, to make sure that if the small boy couldn't return the next day, then there would be no regrets.
The day came that outside privileges were ended and Ulqui grew morose and reclusive, unwilling to leave his room other than to eat or meet with Aizen, who took note of his depressive state. On days when he had no scheduled appointments, the director would have Ulqui come to his office and draw pictures at the desk in the corner while he filled and filed paperwork. He usually drew the pond and Murciel if not some other creature he'd encountered in life. Aizen filed some of the pictures away, but let him keep some of the others. He was drawing one snowy day, when the phone rang.
"Sosuke Aizen, behavioral analysis, and director of Hueco Mundo Youth Correctional Facility, speaking. How may I help you?" he answered quickly, his hands never faltering from filling out the papers. The shuffling of papers stopped, and Ulqui looked at him over his shoulder. "So you would like to set up a meeting?" He opened a book next to the phone and looked at it for a moment. "... Ah yes, that day is fine but... yes there is much to report, though I cannot guarantee that you'll find my results... acceptable. Hm, yes... Safe travels." He hung up and scribbled in the book next to the rotary phone before looking to Ulquiorra. Their eyes met and locked momentarily before he put his gaze back on the paper pile. "That was your father. Your parents will be here in three day's time for a meeting."
Ulqui nodded and went back to his drawing. Murcielago and he were swimming in a vast ocean in this one.
The next few days passed quickly for him and he was soon situated at a table in a small conference room accompanied by Grimmjow as he waited for his parents and Aizen to come. It seemed like forever passed when they did.
"Mommy!" He scooted out of his seat and went to hug the purple eyed woman. He was quickly smothered in her bosom with warm arms wrapped around him. He'd missed this so much.
"Solita..." a gruff voice uttered behind her.
Ulquiorra sighed sadly as the hug loosened and eventually the arms retreated all together. He looked ruefully at his father, Latigo Cifer. At Aizen's gesture he went back to his seat, and the adults took up the remaining seats. He suppressed a glare when his father made his mother sit on the other side of him.
"Just give it to me straight," Latigo grumbled. "Is my son normal yet?"
Aizen laced his fingers together. "'Normal' is not a word I would use to describe him."
"So what? You can't fix him?"
"Help," Solita urged. "He doesn't need fixing, he just needs help."
"I agree with you wife, Mr. Cifer," Aizen said. "Your son is suffering from a very strange and unique case of schizophrenia. He not only suffers from audio and visual hallucinations, but also very physical."
"That's just him hurting himself, right?"
"He's not being harmed." He takes a moment to clean his glasses. "Over the summer, Ulquiorra made a 'friend' and this friend shows affection that can be 'observed' as physical. He'll suddenly lurch or lean in odd ways and say that he is being hugged. This is the first case I've ever seen or heard of that had such specific symptoms."
"Then are you sure that it's schizophrenia?" Solita asked. "Perhaps you've diagnosed it wrong?"
Aizen shook his head. "He shows a multitude of other schizophrenic symptoms. The hallucinations, reduced social engagement, false beliefs, paranoia and the like. Though, I have considered schizoaffective disorder as a possible diagnosis due to his depressive tendencies."
Ulqui lifted his head and looked to the director. "B-But-!"
"Don't speak, Ulquiorra," his father scolded.
Aizen lifted a hand. "Please." He looked to Ulqui. "What did you want to say, child?" He urged the boy when he fearfully gazed between him and his father.
"I... I'm only sad, because I can't see Mr. Murcie right now."
Both parents looked to Aizen for an explanation. "Who?" Solita asked.
"The 'friend' he made over the summer."
Latigo glared at the ten-year old. "I thought I told you not to be making friends with your imaginary people!"
"He's my only friend! And he's not imaginary, you just can't see him!"
"Do not raise your voice at me," he rumbled, his voice deadly.
"Why not? It's the only way you hear me!" Ulqui cried.
"Mr. Ulquiorra, please calm down," Aizen soothed.
"NO!" Ulqui pushed the table and it scooted away a foot at the least. "Mr. Murcie's REAL! You just can't see him! You don't understand! You don't understand at ALL!" If he'd had hair he would've pulled it. If there'd been something small nearby he would have thrown it. He was sick of people doubting him. Sick of his father resenting and hating him. Of the worried looks his mother gave him. Looks full of pity for him and his "illness". "I HATE you! You're so stupid and narrow-minded! Just let ME be ME! AAUUGH!"
"Grimmjow."
He gasped and his eyes widened when hands gripped his arms. He opened his mouth and let out a ear piercing and mournful howl and Aizen joined the fray. Administering a tranquilizer while the blue-haired man held him down. It worked quickly, his eyelids drooping and head lolling on a boneless neck.
"Take him to his room and restrain him," Aizen said gravely before resettling in his seat. The resident and the orderly were halfway out the door when he heard: "I may have a solution, but it's very new..."
Everything went dark before Ulqui heard the rest.
Ulquiorra moaned and sighed sleepily as his eyes finally opened to the padded ceiling overhead. He knew that he was wrapped tightly in his straightjacket when he tried to sit up, and couldn't use his arms to aid him. His head swam, but he managed to get up anyway and move to the far corner. The dizziness went away and he looked around his room. It was the same. Same padded and bolted down bed. Same white bulges on every surface.
He looked to the side and saw one of the books he'd borrowed from the director; it was about Native American myths. He pushed his shoes off and used his toes to fill to the page he'd left off on.
Ulqui grew quite skilled at the endeavor, able to turn a single page without creasing or creating slight tears; prior pages hadn't been so lucky. He was still reading when the door opened to allow Aizen in. The tall man crouched before the boy and pulled off his glasses to look at him directly.
"Your parents have given permission to try a new procedure on you to help get rid of the monsters," he told Ulqui. "You will begin treatment in a few days."
"But I don't want to get rid of my monsters... I never did."
"You need to be rid of them so that you can live a normal life, gain normal friends, even love someone later in life."
"I can live a normal life with my monsters!" Ulqui claimed. "I don't want normal friends, Mr. Murcie's all I'll ever need, and I love him! I don't want to lose him!"
Aizen sighed and shook his head. "This decision is out of your hands." He stood and turned to leave. "Make peace with your demons, child."
Log of Patient, Ulquiorra Cifer's, Electroshock Therapy Results and Other Notable Mentionings
Start Date: Dec 31 1938
Before first treatment: Patient displays nervousness and complete unwillingness to undergo treatment, even to the point of fighting the staff. Dr. Mayuri Kurotsuchi administered the anesthetic and muscle relaxants, and the procedure continues.
After first treatment: Patient displayed weariness, but otherwise no change.
(Jan 10, 1939) Second treatment: No change, however the patient became unwilling to talk.
(Jan 20, 1939) Third treatment: No change. Patient showed his hope that the treatments wouldn't work.
(Jan 30, 1939) Fourth treatment: No change. Treatment frequency scheduled to increase.
(Feb 4, 1939) Fifth treatment: No change.
(Feb 9, 1939) Sixth treatment: Patient said that the world around him had become dull and lifeless. When prompted to look out a window, he said that he still saw 'monsters' outside. Doubts that the treatment will help was expressed by a few staff, but the treatments will continue.
(Feb 14, 1939) Seventh treatment: The 'monsters' appeared to be blurred to the patient, he grows nervous about this revelation.
Quotes before treatment: "Can this stop? It's not working, and I don't want it to work."
Quotes after treatment: "So fuzzy... the fairies are harder to see..."
(Feb 19, 1939) Eight treatment: Unable to go through with scheduled treatment. The patient grew violent when brought to the therapy room and harmed himself in the process of fighting orderlies. Most prevalent injury was a head injury that caused a concussion.
(Mar 1, 1939) Ninth treatment: Treatments able to continue without fear of previous concussion causing ill effects to the patient. Slight memory loss occurred after treatment however, as the patient believed that it was February 20th. The memory loss wore off after two-three days.
(Mar 9, 1939) Tenth treatment: Patient begged to be left alone before and after treatment.
Quotes before treatment: "Leave me alone! They're getting harder to see!"
Quotes after treatment: "No... I can't... no... 'word salad'. Don't do anymore... Leave... alone..."
(Mar 14, 1939) Eleventh treatment: Patient was compliant before and after treatments. Unwillingness to eat occurred, and the patient had to be restrained and fed a nutritional slurry through a tube. He became willing to eat after the third day of that, though he eats very little.
(Mar 19, 1939) Twelfth treatment: Patient was compliant once more, and no eating problems occurred afterwards.
(Mar 24, 1939) Thirteenth treatment: The hallucinations appear to have stopped, however new schizophrenic symptoms seemed to have developed. Along with the reduced social engagement, false beliefs, paranoia, he is displaying reduced emotional expression, and lack of motivation to prior activities like reading and drawing. The orderlies he described to have liked in the past, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Di Roy Rinker, have mentioned that he "doesn't respond to us beyond that of gazing steadily at us and obeying our orders to eat, sleep, or follow us." This is better if only because he does not respond to any other orderlies on staff, though I have not had him speak with Renji Abarai, an orderly that watched him very closely the previous year. Treatments are ending, perhaps temporarily, and the patient will be carefully monitored and analyzed.
[End of Document]
Log of Patient, Ulquiorra Cifer's, Post-Therapy Observations and Meeting Sessions
Before Meeting Observation: The patient seems quite apathetic and emotionless. He stares blankly in various directions for no noticeable reason. Due to his lessened diet, he has grown gaunt and upon lifting his shirt one can see his ribs quite clearly.
(March 26, 1939) First meeting: It took a very long time for him to meet my eyes or to respond to my questions, however he only mumbles fragmented sentences. I had him returned to his room when he broke out in uncontrollable wails and tears.
(March 28, 1939) Second meeting: He was shaking when he came to the office, and his reluctance to meet eyes or speak was worse than previous. When going to touch him, he cowered and whimpered. Nurses were called to inspect him and bruises were found on his legs and torso, and severe anal trauma was discovered. The night-shift orderlies designated for the padded rooms will be questioned thoroughly.
(April 1, 1939) In passing: While walking past the play room, one could see the patient sitting quietly on the floor in the corner. Other residents walked by him and he spared no glance. One resident stopped and sat by him, and attempted to speak with the patient, however after many moments of no response, the resident grew frustrated and pushed the patient over before storming off. The patient, again, does not respond to the treatment. The orderly, Grimmjow, helps him back into his sitting position after the patient laid on the floor for five minutes.
(April 3, 1939) Third meeting: Patient was very unresponsive, but did not shy away from being touched.
(April 5, 1939) Observation through orderly, Di Roy Rinker: Quote: "I don't think he needed the treatment. He was... odd before, but now he's just downright depressing and scary. The electroshock therapy stole his personality as well as his monsters, and if you ask me or Grimmjow, he was better off with the monsters."
Observation through orderly, Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez: Quote: "He's sad to be around now, when before he was pretty normal despite his hallucinations. You guys really should've just left him alone." When told that it was the patient's parents' decision that the patient underwent the procedure, Grimmjow grew angered. "Screw the parents! You're the doctor, you have higher authority over them! Ulquiorra was one of the few sane residents here before he had his monsters zapped away!"
Fourth Meeting: The patient was more willing to speak and was prompted to look out of the window overlooking the lawn, as well as the pond where one of his more prevalent monsters "lived", and described what he saw. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Quote: "Trees... grass... a pond... flowers... rain... what am I doing again?"
(April 7, 1939) Observation and decision: It's been decided that the patient will be let outside as a final test. The pond holds special significance to him, and if he does not respond to it or "see" his friend, a kappa/naiad creature that he called "Mr. Mercy", then it is safe to say that the procedure worked, though whether or not he can live a normal life is an entirely different matter.
[End of Document]
So dull. So bland. Was everything always so gray? Ulquiorra wasn't sure. He just felt so empty and sad.
He lifted his head when the door opened, letting in the bright blue haired man in. He sharpened his ears, awaiting an order of some sort, and the man didn't disappoint. He ordered Ulquiorra to follow him and the boy lurched off of the bed and followed him from the room. He expected to be taken to the room with the man in glasses, but he was taken somewhere else.
Ulqui didn't react as the doors opened and he was hit with a warm wind and bright sunlight. He stood still for a moment, looking around, before following the bluenet to where the man in glasses stood. The man stood by a pond, Ulqui recognized it as the one he could see from the brunet's room. There was, apparently, something special about it, but he saw nothing particularly fantastic about it. It was just a hole with water and plants, right?
He was told to sit in seiza and stare into the pool and he did so without qualm. Dull, sunken, green eyes stared back at him from the pool, dark bags underneath. They stared back for quite sometime.
"What do you see, Mr. Ulquiorra?" the brunet with glasses asked.
"...Me..."
"Anything else?"
"No... nothing."
x~x
The chill of winter left, and the mixed-breed was able to pull the shroud of slumber off of him. He laid upon his bed tucked in a beautiful hollowed out cave. Pearls worked into the walls and ceilings worked to reflect the little bit of light around to make the one room home brighter. He lazed on the bed knowing that his little friend would not be at the pond for sometime.
Weeks later he felt the seer's gaze on the pond, and went to the pool in the middle of the floor, a few feet from the bed. Murcielago leaned on the pool's edge and waved a hand over it, tapping into the underwater ley line that he used to get to the secluded pond in the first place. He smiled when he saw the boy's silhouette, and hopped into the pool.
The ley line carried him quickly to the pond and he was soon unhooking the net and peeking out of the water. "My youngling, it has been a long cold season, huh? I am so relieved to see you again."
The boy merely stared at him.
He cocked his head. "My boy? Is something wrong?"
Ulquiorra continued to stare. His gaze unfaltering and dead. It seemed as if he was staring right through the half-naiad.
"What do you see, Mr. Ulquiorra?" Murciel looked over, just noticing the brown-haired man behind his beloved youngling.
"...Me..." Ulquiorra muttered, making Murciel's eyebrows raise.
Murciel drew closer. "Are you in danger of getting into trouble, youngling?" he asked.
"Anything else?"
"No... nothing."
"Nothing!? Surely you jest my boy?" the water creature asked, his tone pleading and eyes large with shock and fear. He reached out, but did not touch Ulquiorra, his hand only hovering in front of his eyes. "What's wrong? Can't you see me?"
The bespectacled land-walker grunted. "The treatment was a complete success," he declared with a nod. "Come along, Mr. Ulquiorra. Let's head back inside."
Ulquiorra rose and turned to follow.
"No!" Murcielago cried before reaching out and grabbing the small boy's wrist. He stopped Ulqui's retreat, but he did not turn around, his gaze was still at the brunet.
"Mr. Ulquiorra, what's wrong?"
"...Something's grabbed my wrist... I can't get away..."
The land-walker in white was ordered to grab him, and Murciel panicked slightly. He yanked the arm he'd grabbed and pulled Ulquiorra into his arms. Sending deadly glares at the confused land-walkers, he forced his guise away, allowing the ungifted ones to see him.
The brown-haired one gasped and took a step back.
"What have you done to him?" he snarled viciously. Murciel clutched him to his chest hard enough that he felt Ulqui's breathing stutter. Despite the near asphyxiation, Ulqui still didn't acknowledge the furious creature. "You have broken him! You monsters!"
"You're... real?" was all that could be uttered. He composed himself. "Pl-Please understand, we thought things like you were all in his head. We only wanted to help him."
"Help him?" Murcielago growled, feeling his form shift with every breath he took. Long sharp spine grew out of his back from his shoulder blades to just above where his scales began. His nails lengthened and turned a dark green, and his teeth elongated until they looked like and angler fish's teeth. The green of his eyes overtook his iris and pupil. "You have not helped him! You have ruined my precious youngling. You have ruined what is mine."
The land-walker shook his head. "He does not belong to you."
Murciel hissed and clutched Ulquiorra harder. With one last snarl, he slipped into the water, taking Ulquiorra along with him. The ley line opened up before him and he quickly swam in it, back to his home. He climbed out of the pool and set Ulquiorra on the bed to look him over for a bit, before exhaling and willing away his scary transformation, not wanting to scare his friend.
The boy looked around. "... Where am I... how did I get here?"
"What do you mean? I have lowered my guise, you should definitely see me now!" Alas, the boy was completely blind to the magical creatures he could once see and interact with, the damage to his mind just too great. Murciel felt the unmistakable urge to cry and bottled it up inside with a few deep breaths. "I can... I can fix you, youngling. I'm sure I can." He gripped the hem of his shirt, it was dry despite the swim.
"N-No!" Ulquiorra smacked away his hands and curled into a ball.
Murciel was confused by his resistance, but only laid upon his side and gently shushed him as he removed the stiff garments. When he succeed he lifted the bare boy into his arms and carried him to the still pool. Without the aid of a ley line's magic, it was no more than two feet deep, and he didn't fear Ulquiorra drowning as he made him float.
"What's going on?"
"Hush, now,' he murmured and pet his bald head. He dipped his hand in the water and chanted an ancient spell. One he remembered his mother performing on him when he was just a youngling himself, who'd gotten his leg broken from wrestling with other kappas.
Murciel's eyes glowed as he called upon the ley lines magic. "Mend ti échei spásei , na eínai ópo̱s í̱tan prin . Fix ó, ti katastráfi̱ke , eíte prókeitai gia to myaló , to só̱ma í̱ ti̱n psychí̱." The water grew its own light and cradled the youth in a warm healing light. Swirls of silver surrounded him and he gasped as his body absorbed it, the silver taking over his eyes. Ulqui stiffened as the light around him dispersed and Murciel picked him up out of the water and laid him on the bed. He shushed him and caressed his cheek as he quivered and whimpered, his eyes still wide and overtaken by the silvery magic.
"Sssh, all will be well soon, youngling. All will be well."
x~x
The fog of sleep lifted and his already opened eyes cleared to see a strange ceiling overhead. It sparkled and shined in such a way that he thought he was slipped something. Or perhaps he was dead and this was the sky of heaven.
All at once, it came back to him and he shuddered as tears came to his eyes. A sob erupted from his throat. "Mur-Murciel...!"
Immediately arms wrapped around him and he was crushed into a cool wall of flesh. "Youngling, you're better now; safe now."
"I... I forgot hic! you! I f-forgot everything! It was like I was dead but still walking around!" He clung to the half-kappa desperately as hot tears ran down his cheeks and then down Murciel's chest. Ulqui sobbed long and hard as he was rocked and cooed over. What seemed like hours, though it was only a few minutes, passed and the sniffles and tears calmed enough for him to push away and scrub at his eyes. He chuckled. "I'm eleven now, Mr. Murcie," he announced suddenly in a meager attempt to lighten the mood as well as calm himself more. If he didn't think about bad things, then he usually didn't feel sad or scared.
"One year closer to being a man," the water creature congratulated, catching on to the change of subject easily. "Land-walkers give presents to those who live another year, correct? I will give you something." He set Ulquiorra down and wandered over to where a few chest were set on the other side of the vast pool.
It was then that he noticed and remembered his naked state, and grew uncomfortable. He drew up the blankets around him to his chin and blushed.
Murcielago was smiling proudly as he returned, but the expression melted away when he saw the look on Ulquiorra's face. "What ails you?"
Ulquiorra kept his eye trained on the bulge his feet made under the blanket. "Can I have some clothes? I don't feel comfortable naked." He paused and swallowed though his mouth was dry. "An orderly... touched me while I wasn't right..." He gasped at the loud snarl that went through the air and looked up at the half-naiad. His teeth had lengthened and his eyes clouded by green in his ire.
"Where is he? I'll maim him slowly and sup on his blood, bleeding him drier than bone!"
"M-Mr. Aizen already fired him, and he's probably in jail now."
Murciel seemed to calm, barely. "At least that man did something right..." He kneeled and reached under the bed, returning to his full height with what looked like a dress. "I still have some of my old clothes, as I wish to have children of my own someday. You can wear this though, youngling." Ulqui gladly took it and threw on the bigger garment, the neck of it wide enough that it constantly slipped off of one or the other shoulder, and it completely covered his body. He flinched when Murciel placed something on his head. "Here's your present."
Ulqui pulled it off to look at it. It looked like diadem made of plates of carefully polished and shaped mother of pearl held together by stiff leather that had enough stretch and excess length to fit almost any head. The central plate was decorated with tiny pearls arranged in a circle. With an appreciative grunt he slipped it back on, making sure that the decorated middle plate sat squarely in the center of his forehead.
"Do you like it?"
"It's kind of girly, but I like it anyway."
Murciel chuckled and rested his cheek on the bed. "Might I confess something? I thought you were a little girl when I first met you."
"R-Really?"
"Yes. You were just so cute that I had to resist taking you with me right then and there, but then the man, Mr. Aizen, came and called you 'Mr. Ulquiorra' and took you away." He sighed and gently stroked the boy's alabaster cheek. "You have gotten so thin, and your eyes do not shine as brightly."
"I didn't really want to eat when my head was gone, and I remember having a hard time getting to sleep. It was always so quiet when there used to be the sounds of night monsters all night." He yawned and rubbed his eyes weariness coming over him. "I... I should go back..."
"What?! Why would you want to? You should stay here where you'll be safe."
Ulqui shook his head sadly. "I don't belong here... and besides Mr. Aizen isn't a bad man, he just didn't understand. Now that he's seen you, he won't try to force treatments on me or try to fix me; I'm sure of it. Besides, it was my parents who wanted the treatment to be done."
The mix-breed looked at him with desperation in his eyes. Those oddly hued eyes expressed his desire for him to stay, but he relented after many moments of hesitation. "Then I will take you back... there." He touched the diadem's decorated plate and it glowed faintly. "This will act as a key for you to get back here if anything happens. Do not worry about it being stolen, not only have I covered it in a guise so that the ungifted cannot see it, but only you can remove it, so do not go losing it."
Ulqui's eyes were wide and he shook his head. "I won't! Thank you very much!"
They embraced as Murciel picked him up from the bed and carried him to the pool. The ley line went active and he dove in. It was getting dark when they reached the pond, and the half-naiad sat with Ulqui on the shore. They waited silently for someone to come as it was impossible to get int the building without a staff member with a key. It wasn't long that a flash light blinded them and when the spots went away they saw Grimmjow wielding it.
"Ulquiorra? Kid, are you alright?"
"I'm fine now!" he chirped.
The blue head approached and took to one knee. "You're normal again?! Er, as normal as you were before I guess... Did that monster thing help you?"
"Of course I did," Murciel scoffed.
"Mr. Murcie, he can't see you."
Grimm looked around a bit. "He's here?"
"Yes, yes I am."
Grimmjow jumped letting Ulqui know that the sea being had dropped his "guise" or whatever he'd called it. "I-I'll go get the director." With that, he jumped up and ran back to the building. He returned quickly with Aizen, who carefully approached, obviously afraid that he was on Murciel's bad side.
"Mr. Murcie, I presume?" he asked.
"Murcielago," he snipped. "Tell me what you plan for my boy, and I will decide whether or not I forgive you for breaking his mind."
"I certainly don't plan on making him go through ES therapy again, that's for sure," Aizen said shaking his head. "I want to learn from him; he could lead us into new insight about the state of those deemed schizophrenic. Maybe there are more here that naturally see what he does, but reacts to it differently? With his assistance I could help more people. Your help too, if you will allow it..." He stepped forward and crouched before him. "What do you say?"
The brunet was close enough that Murciel could reach out and grab his collar. He pulled them nose to nose and stared deep into his eyes, searching for any sign of lies and false promises. Ulqui breathed a sigh of relief when the half-naiad released the fabric. "You do not appear to be lying, but know this: If I discover that you've harmed him again, I will not hesitate to hurt you in the most horrid and painful of ways."
Aizen gave a curt nod and looked to Ulquiorra. "Oh, you're shaking. Here let's get you inside and into bed."
The alabaster kid nodded and let the director help him to his feet and lead him to the building. He looked to Murcielago one last time and waved. "See you tomorrow, Murcie!"
This was written and dedicated to guest reviewer kitty kuriousity who brought to my attention that there aren't many - if any - UlquiXMurciel fics and inspired me to right one... or quite a few XD. Check out my profile for updates on the other UlquiXMurcie fics I have planned/have posted!
This might turn out to be a 2-shot so be on the look-out for the possible second (probably shorter) chapter :D I really hope you enjoyed! Pretty please leave a review and possibly vote on the poll in my profile, and have a wonderful day!
According to the wiki, Ulqui's b-day is on December 1st... just thought I'd point that out...
Mend ti échei spásei , na eínai ópo̱s í̱tan prin . Fix ó, ti katastráfi̱ke , eíte prókeitai gia to myaló , to só̱ma í̱ ti̱n psychí̱ : (Greek) Mend what is broken, make it as it was before. Fix what was ruined, be it mind, body, or soul
word salad: "confused or unintelligible mixture of seemingly random words and phrases"