"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
William Shakespeare.
"That outfit unexpectedly suits you."
Orihime froze at the sound of his detached voice but refused to acknowledge him. Him. The very him that was the source of her anger, frustration and above all, hatred. Since their last encounter, these alien feelings had bubbled and festered until the monotony of her dismal existence in Hueco Mundo was now entirely consumed by her loathing of him. Ulquiorra. The heartless monster. He was the one who took her away from her friends, he was the one who brought her to the nightmare land, and now he was the one who silently taunted her with his intimidating presence…
…and just hearing his voice again made her skin crawl.
"I suggest you find that tongue of yours quickly woman. Aizen has summoned you and he will not be kept waiting."
Orihime's head zipped around at his words, her mouth hanging open in horror with any pretence of bravery temporarily lost. Ulquiorra was standing by the door with his hands firmly in his pockets and his eyes staring resolutely at her. The blinding light from the corridor engulfed his slender frame, illuminating his granite skin and giving the emerald tears on his cheeks a ghostly glint. Not a twitch of his eyebrow or quirk of his lip gave any indication of emotion as he continued to stare with his unnerving eyes. Orihime nervously patted down her clothes and took a big gulp of air as Ulquiorra stood aside from the door to let her pass. She held her head up as she walked out of her cell, trying to ignore the weight of his eyes on her and hoping the false courage she displayed would not betray the terror she felt.
Upon entering the corridor, Orihime was confronted with a sea of endless white which was in stark contrast to the gloominess of her cell. Instead of finding comfort in the opposing brightness, Orihime found it unnerving, like all the life had been bleached and stripped from the walls leaving only the empty husk of nothingness.
Ulquiorra immediately began to walk down the corridor away from Orihime and she obediently followed, but stumbled from the lack of strenuous use of her legs and fell to the floor with an ungraceful plop. Ulquiorra either did not notice or more likely, just did not care about his captive who was sprawled on the floor and continued walking without a backward glance. Orihime glared in his direction as she pushed herself up from the cold floor with a grimace and then continued to follow Ulquiorra whilst rubbing her sore backside.
The halls were empty and silent. Walking a few paces behind Ulquiorra allowed Orihime the opportunity to study him more closely without the fear of being subjected to his returning gaze. Ulquiorra was the symbol of everything she detested about this abhorrent world; cold, hollow and soulless, yet he possessed a powerful grace which was almost hypnotic to watch. Each mechanical step and measured movement was decisive and purposeful yet flowed naturally with the rhythm of his body. His ease within the world meant that he had to be otherworldly, a macabre angel of death which sought to ruin her life one piece at a time.
I will not let him. She vowed.
They walked through a labyrinth of corridors and stairs until they reached a large steel door which appeared to be their destination. Orihime began to feel a tightening in her chest as Ulquiorra pushed open the door and walked in.
Orihime timidly peered around the door and watched as Ulquiorra sat at a long table which was already occupied by a number of large looming shadows which were talking animatedly. As Orihime stepped into the room, the noise instantly stopped and the only sound came from the echo of her footsteps. She could feel eyes devouring her so she instinctively lowered her gaze and watched where she placed her feet before quietly sliding into a vacant chair as far away from Ulquiorra as possible. She regretted this move however when she looked at who she had inadvertently sat next to.
The burly man on her left was slouching in his chair with his bear-like chest exposed which openly displayed the hollow-hole in his abdomen. His hair was blue and the remains of his hollow mask extended from his jaw which emphasised his intense, feral eyes. A tall, lanky man sat on her right. He was leaning back nonchalantly in his seat with his hands interlocked behind his head and his sinewy legs stretched out lazily in front of him. He had long, greasy black hair and an eye patch obscuring his left eye, however, this did not stop him from leering at Orihime like a hungry beast.
Orihime looked around at the rest of the table, every face was as equally terrifying as the next, and every head was turned in her direction, sneering. Orihime shifted uncomfortably and sank lower in her seat wishing she could disappear. She looked over at Ulquiorra who was the only one not looking at her. He was sat rigidly upright with his hands placed neatly on his lap. His dead eyes were fixed on the wall in front of him and his gaze never flickered in her direction as if he didn't know she existed. This annoyed her, at least until Aizen entered.
All the Espada turned to look at Aizen as he took his place at the head of the table with his two lackeys flanking either side.
"Good evening my dear Espada. I hope you will join me in welcoming our new guest." His voice was like liquid mercury, calm and confident but with a hard metallic edge. "I am so glad you are able to join us, Orihime."
All eyes turned to her again, except for Ulquiorra who continued to look disinterestedly at Aizen. A nervous squeak escaped her lips.
"It appears we have intruders," Aizen continued. "But before we talk about that, let's have some tea."
Orihime gawped at him.
Tea?!
A hot steamy mug was placed in front of her and she studied it suspiciously before watching as the Espada picked up their cups and began drinking. She keenly observed with a morbid fascination to determine whether the liquid would spray out of their hollow-holes. She was almost disappointed that it didn't. With trembling hands she pushed her own mug to her lips and drank. The warm liquid trickled soothingly down her throat and she relished the feeling of heat which spread through her body. Warmth was alien to her in Hueco Mundo and she intended to savour the feeling for as long as possible.
After a mouthful of tea, Aizen leant forward in his chair and rested his chin on his hand. He would have been handsome in a rugged way, except his smile never quite managed to reach his eyes.
"My dear Espada. Let's begin." The authority was clear in his voice. "There are three intruders trying to break in; Yasotura Sado, Uryu Ishida and Ichigo Kurosaki."
Ichigo
At the mention of his name, Orihime tightened the grip on her mug and felt her heart flutter in her chest. She was not the only one who stirred at the mention of Ichigo's name, the man with the blue hair on her left banged his fist violently on the table, causing his tea to spill onto the hard surface.
"These pests are not a threat, I will kill them". His voice was gruff and dripping with malice.
"Patience Grimmjow." Aizen responded smoothly. "I wouldn't underestimate these so called pests. The 22nd underground passageway has already collapsed."
"Only the 22nd, where's the danger?" The voice came from a dangerous looking man with shoulder length pink hair.
"Have you been listening at all? Lord Aizen just told us not to underestimate them," interjected a female Arrancar with blond hair.
The Espada all erupted into heated conversation. Orihime was sipping her tea whilst listening intently to the discussion. It was quickly interrupted by a loud bang as Aizen slammed his mug down onto the table.
"I have not finished speaking." Aizen interrupted coolly. The shock of his sudden action had caused Orihime to spurt out her tea which mostly landed on Grimmjow. Grimmjow did not look pleased.
"It appears they have entered Hueco Mundo to rescue our lovely Orihime and take her away from us." Aizen continued lazily whilst completely ignoring the tea-soaked Grimmjow. "They will not succeed. Szayelaporro and Nnoitra," he looked towards the pink haired man and the man with the eye patch, "I want you to intercept the intruders at the outer wall. Harribel," Aizen turned toward the female Arrancar, "I want you to ambush the intruders from behind with your fraccion. The intruders will not leave Hueco Mundo alive."
"NO!" Orihime blurted. She had never meant to speak but upon hearing the horror of Aizen's despicable plan to ambush her friends, the words had instinctively escaped her lips. The Espada turned to look at her with probing eyes and Orihime timidly looked down at her hands, her cheeks hot with shame from her outburst.
"Is there something you wish to say, Orihime?" Aizen asked with a devilish glint in his eye, he was revelling in her terror. Orihime's eyes remained fixed on her hands as she shook her head in answer to his question.
"Very well. Dismissed." The Espada quickly rose from their seats and Grimmjow immediately turned towards her, a look of fury in his eye from his tea-soaked clothes. She tried to back away but walked into Nnoitra who was standing behind her.
"Check it out Grimmjow, we have a new pet to play with." Nnoitra drawled, his reptilian eye devouring her like she was fresh meat. Orihime could feel the bile rise in her throat as Nnoitra and Grimmjow edged closer, circling her like predators stalking their pray.
"She's a pretty one alright. I'll enjoy ripping this one to pieces." Grimmjow sneered at her.
Orihime's eyes darted around for help but realised the other Espada were also leering at her like a ravenous pack of wolves, slowly closing in on an injured victim. Panicked, Orihime anxiously searched for Ulquiorra who was already walking out of the large steel door. Adrenaline pumping, Orihime elbowed Grimmjow in the ribs and pushed Nnoitra hard in the chest and ran desperately in Ulquiorra's direction before the rest of her tormenters had the opportunity to pounce. She could hear the cruel, manic laughter of the Espada as she left the room.
She was gasping for breath when she managed to catch up with Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra immediately stopped and turned to look at her from over his shoulder as if he had forgotten she had existed but Orihime was relieved that he appeared to accept her presence and wordlessly continued to walk as she followed him back to her room. She walked much closer behind him now than she had before, remaining no more than a foot behind him, but continued to look over her shoulder to make sure no one was lurking in the shadows.
Orihime realised that her presence at the meeting was part of Aizen's sick game to torture and torment her with the destruction of her friends .It had worked. Orihime was shaking from her ordeal for the entire journey back to her room and could not disguise her erratic breathing. She could feel the sting of tears forming behind her eyes as she thought of the dastardly plan Aizen had concocted to ensure the downfall of her friends and realised it was all her fault; if she had not been brought here, her friends would never have come to save her. She thought of the menacing Espada and realised it was hopeless. She wiped away a tear that threatened to fall.
As if reading her thoughts, Ulquiorra stopped and turned his head to look at her over his shoulder with his grotesque eyes. Orihime recognised that they were now outside her cell.
"I see you have realised that I am not the only monster lurking in these halls." He said in his usual detached manner.
Orihime knew that if she looked him she would not be able to fight back the tears. He was right, this place was full of monsters and there was no way to escape her nightmare. Determined to not display her weakness, Orihime kept her head lowered as she hurriedly scurried past Ulquiorra to enter her room. Once inside, she grabbed the door and slammed it shut, hoping it would hit Ulquiorra in the face.
I hate this place. She thought, as she collapsed to the floor and cried.
Author note: Firstly, thank you for not ripping me to shreds so far! Warm fuzzies to Cleotara, Ulquihimi7980 and Death-Angel-of-Anime for your reviews. Stryk123- thank you for the useful feedback, I hope you approve of the amended summery.
I needed to firmly set the scene in this chapter so I apologise for the lack of Ulquiorra/Orihime goodness. However, I am now itching to get going with the actual story so from now on, there will be heaps!
