(Authors note-Hey guys and girls, got the chapter up sooner than I thought so I hope you like it. I was pretty happy to get 5 reviews in only around 12 hours after release, so I'd like to thank animelover1993, yeven zane, glad to be alive, Zangetsu50, and an extra thank you to Dark Jason for their reviews. Hope you enjoy it.)
Chapter 2: A Hollow Gaze
Stark & Lilynette, during Ichigo's fight with Gin
In a corner of the fake town that has housed the battle between Soul Society and the espada, one of the many piles of rubble began to tremble as something underneath began to move. As the moving stopped it was quickly followed by a beam of energy that revealed an extended hand, with a tattoo of the number 1 on the back. It was followed by a body holding a small arrancar in it's other arm. Coyote Stark, primera of the espada, was still alive.
As he pulled himself free of the pile he looked down at his other half, Lilynette Gingerback, who was currently unconscious and covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises. He looked up and saw the remains of a building that had been severed from its top. When he looked around the inside of the base he saw a stairway going down to a basement and he quickly followed it to find a place to let his fraccion rest. "If we're lucky, the shinigami didn't notice anything and still we're dead." he thought to himself as he looked for a place to set her down.
When he found a good place to let her rest he sat down next to her and began sniffing the air, his form of pesquisa, as he tried to sense any other surviving espada or fraccion. After a moment, the only ones he sensed who were familiar were Gin, Aizen, and one other arrancar close to him, but it was weak and he couldn't tell who it was. He sighed as he looked back down at Lilynette, who had a look of pain on her face now, but he noticed her injuries had all closed, leaving only bruises and a few small scars, they would heal soon enough Suddenly he felt the unknown reiatsu flare and he quickly realized who it was. He had to hurry, but he didn't want to leave Lilynette. After a few seconds he leaned down, picked her up in his arms and used sonido to get back onto the street. He turned to the direction of the reiatsu and focused on it, after a moment he disappeared instantly, as he made his way to help the trecera espada, Tia Halibel
Halibel, moments before
Tia Halibel woke to find herself laying on the edge of a street, and as she sat up, she felt pain from where Aizen had stabbed her but the wounds were gone. She was dazed for a moment before remembering the death of her fraccion and Aizen's betrayal. She felt her anger grow as her reiatsu began to pour out. As she felt reiatsu appear behind her, she turned to face Hitsugaya, and Rangiku, both were wounded with somewhat labored breathing. Even though her outer wounds were mostly healed, she wasn't sure if she was ready to fight the two in front of her in her battered state, but her anger at the loss of her fraccion drove her to fight.
Just as she reached to draw her sword, Stark appeared behind her with Lilynette in one arm as he grabbed Halibel around her waist and vanished he used his sonido, leaving the two shinigami wide eyed in shock. A few seconds later, Stark's group appeared in the middle of a street as far away from the fighting as he could take them. Halibel stared at him for a moment as he set down Lilynette, "What are you doing," she asked in her emotionless voice. When Stark finished checking Lilynette, he looked up at the female espada for a few moments, and sighed before he finally spoke, "I'm taking Lily back to Las Noches, and since you were still alive, I thought I'd give you the chance to go with us. Make your decision soon, I don't feel like getting caught by the shinigami." and as he finished he tapped the air in front of him, opening a garganta.
At hearing this Halibel could only wonder at his reasoning. "Why would he show himself to the enemy, risking him and his fraccion, just to give me a chance to escape?" As she thought over this for a second she saw Stark pick up Lilynette once again as he stepped into the rip in space. Once inside he looked back at her, "Are you coming or are you still determined for revenge?" he asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned to him with a slight glare and walked into the portal and simply said, "It can wait," as the garganta closed behind her.
Los Noches, just before Ichigo fights Aizen
After she had been healed by Isane, Rukia had gone over to her brother, Captain Kuchiki, who was facing away from her. When she stopped a few feet away, after noticing him watching a tiny screen of kido, Byakuya acknowledged her and motioned for her to approach him. "How is the fight going nii-sama?" she asked as she sat a little behind him. Byakuya passed a hand over the kido as he turned to face her, "Ichigo Kurosaki, Aizen, and an unknown shinigami are the last in fighting condition, although the unknown man looks as if he is tiring. Kurosaki and Aizen will most likely face each other very soon." he said in an emotionless voice as he began looking in the direction of Captain Kurotsuchi, "Make sure Kurosaki's friends are prepared, we will be leaving immediately to provide support." he told her as he began to walk in the direction of the captain. "Yes nii-sama." Rukia said as she stood and went over to Inoue, Chad, and Ishida, who were sitting against a piece of stone a few dozen yards away.
"Hello Rukia!" Inoue said, waiving when she saw her approaching. Rukia smiled at her before she addressed the group. "Nii-sama has asked that you all be prepared to leave, we are going to give Ichigo our help." Hearing this, the three friends stood and stretched, "we're ready," Inoue and Ishida both said as Chad gave a small nod. The four now turned and saw Kurotsuchi and Nemu, each standing on a pillar, as they opened the garganta before they jumped down ushered everyone through. "About damn time, I'm gonna miss all the action." they heard Zaraki say as he stepped through with Yachiru on his shoulder. He was followed by Byakuya, Isane, and Nemu before Rukia, and her group all entered, followed lastly by Kurotsuchi, who closed the opening. While they all had different reasons, the entire group thought the same thing. "I hope we make it in time."
Fake Karakura town, several minutes later
As the garganta opened, the group came upon the scene of Captain Unohana healing Captain Yamamoto, who was covered in burns. "How did this happen?" all three captains asked at once, while Isane ran to heal others who were scattered around, with varying degrees of wounds. As everyone got settled Hitsugaya and Rangiku appeared next to the captain commander, both kneeling, "We lost sight of espada Tia Halibel when someone appeared and took her away. We believe it was Coyote Stark, primera espada." Yamamoto sighed before he spoke, "It is regrettable that they have escaped. We will capture and kill them later to ensure the full victory in the fight against the espada." Suddenly, everyone's eyes were open wide, as Ichigo's reiatsu suddenly began to drop rapidly, followed by Aizen appearing in the air only seconds later, twenty feet above them.
Aizen looked down upon them with a small smile on his face, his clothes somewhat torn from battle but otherwise unharmed, "Now that all the captains are here, I think I'll retreat for now. So I don't seem rude, I left you a parting gift. You'll find the body of Ichigo Kurosaki, though I won't disclose where, lying among the rubble of this doomed town." as he said this, Rukia's hand shot to her mouth, Inoue dropped to her knees, and Both Chad and Ishida looked as if they needed help standing. "I have to find him, I can't lose him" Rukia Thought as she steadied herself before using shunpo to get to where she last noticed Ichigo's fading reiatsu. Inoue suddenly stood up as tried to wipe the tears filling her eyes, "Someone take me to him!!" she shouted, "I can save him, I can reverse it, I know I can!!", and Ishida appeared at her side as he placed his hand on her shoulder. He used hirenkyaku to take them to Ichigo's location.
"I have lost interest in him and what he represented. I will leave you with a victory today, we can settle this amusing war later." he said as drew his sword and inserted it into the air, causing the end to disappear in a newly formed gate. It looked as if the doors were made of a combination of human bones, broken hollow masks, and rusted zanpakuto. As it opened, all one could see inside were dark flames accompanied by very dark and violent reiatsu. At seeing this, the captain commanders eyes opened in complete shock. Aizen, noticing this, stepped through with a smug look on his face. "Until we meet again." he spoke, and then the gates closed before disappearing.
It was then that Yamamoto spoke up, "All shinigami are to return to Soul Society. We will leave the task of the fake Karakura town to Kisuke Urahara and his group. I would like to ask former Captain Hirako and his group to watch over Karakura town for the moment." Shinji nodded as he rested against a building, his smile gone. "We leave immediately.", and with that, Commander Yamamoto stood with the help of Captain Unohana and opened a gate to Soul Society that all the shinigami walked through, some with the help of others. No one spoke.
Near Ichigo, moments before "death"
As Rukia appeared next to Ichigo, she collapses. She was completely stunned at the sight. He barely looked injured, but the life was noticeably disappearing from his eyes. Before she could think of anything to say, Orihime appeared with Ishida behind her, at seeing Ichigo, she began crying. "Ichigo!! Don't die, you have to stay alive, please don't die!!" Inoue was instantly next to him, tears streaming down her face. As Rukia and Inoue sat next to him, Ishida turned his back and disappeared, leaving the two women to grieve. After he disappeared, the two were shocked when Ichigo turned his head towards them, before he eyes lost all life.
Soten Kisshun: I Reject!" she said, as she forced back the tears as best she could. The healing barrier quickly reverted Ichigo to a state where he looks completely uninjured, and for a few moments nothing happened. Then a black liquid began to come out of Ichigo's eyes and mouth. As it began to run down his face, it quickly turned to a thick black smoke. As the smoke filled the barrier, cracks appeared and slowly began to cover the entirety of it, before it shattered and the black smoke shot out in all directions.
Before either one could react, the smoke filled their mouths and they breathed it in. It had no flavor or texture, but the unknown substance caused both to suddenly feel ill and become very weak and tired. As they both began to collapse, the last thing they saw was the smoke clearing, revealing Ichigo's back, as he stood above them.
Ichigo looked down around at the black smoke surrounding him before turning around. When he saw his two friends on the ground, smoke surround them, he picked them both up, one under each arm, and shunpo'd away, landing on a nearby building. He set both girls down and made sure they looked comfortable as Ishida appeared behind them, a look of worry on his face, "Is that really you Kurosaki?" he asked, remembering the last time the orange haired shinigami came back from the dead, he'd been less than friendly. "Of course it's me", Ichigo said in a hollowfied voice. As he turned to see the quincy, he saw a look of complete surprise on his friends face.
While his voice sounded hollowfied, and his eyes were black and gold, his face was unmasked.
(Authors note- I didn't really like this chapter but I had to do it for details excluded from the last chapter. I'm hoping to have the next chapter out in 3-4 days or less. The next chapter is when everything should start to get good, and Ichigo's "problem" gets some attention, so I hope you stay tuned.
For the girls poll, Rukia is winning with 2 votes and Halibel has one. If you feel like changing the odds a bit, make sure you speak up.
And if anyone has any character ideas for any shinigami or arrancar, let me know. I'd like to add in around 10-20 and I'd love to avoid making them all myself.
See ya next chapter.)