Chapter Four

The trio sat in the darkness for what seemed like several days before anything happened. Ichigo asked the occasional question, but for the most part remained silent. She had failed. That attack… It was meant to be the end all. Aizen was supposed to fall… Not only had the man survived, but he had taken her hostage as well. There was no way around it.

The Seretei was demolished. All of her friends were doomed if Aizen managed to succeed at this.

"I… I've failed them all…" The hollow looked up sharply as the red hot knife of self-hatred cut through their soul. "I thought… I thought that this would resolve all of the problems."

"We know, Kouhi," the hollow muttered, "We know. Trust us, we understand."

"There was nothing more you can do…" Ossan added, staring off into the desolate waters around them. "If there was, you would have done it."

"But… I'm sure there was… Something…"

"Kouhi." The hollow cut in sharply, drawing the former daiko's eyes to herself. "There was nothing else." Ichigo frowned, looking down and trying to let the statement come to term.

"But what if there was?" she asked, desperate to find another way.

"Ichigo…" Ossan commanded her attention, "Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate."

Instead of replying to the elder portion of her zanpakuto, Ichigo looked away. A few hundred yards lay between the group and the stain. A few years lay between the dying girl and the event. Yet it still weighed down on her. As she observed the stain, it seemed to grow. Blood seeped from the ground and raced towards them.

"Zan… Zangetsu…" Ichigo stuttered, looking between the two figures camped out on the floor of the enormous ocean of her soul alongside her, "What's… going on?" Surges of power were rippling through her, sending her consistency tumbling. She was used to feeling the drain on her soul, constantly tearing her apart as she tried desperately to hold her soul together with will power alone.

"Ichigo!" after a few moments, she realized that she had stopped breathing. Suddenly, the power vanished and enormous gasping breaths came in, drawing in the oxygen that she so desperately needed.

"Ichigo!" both spirits came up on either side of her, hands on each shoulder to help her regain control after that massive shock. Ossan grimaced slightly as the strain began to gather. Shiro glanced at him sharply and his burden eased ever so slightly as Shiro took a portion of whatever power was flowing through them.

"What is this?" she asked, feeling the power flow through her despite the majority of it being held by the other two inhabitants of her soul.

"Well… It feels like some kinda hollow to me," Shiro commented, frowning as the ground around them began to shift.

"Not quite though," Ossan cut in, "It has other… Traces within its' signature…"

"What do you-?" Then she felt it. Aside from the lonely, pain filled despair of the hollows was a primal rage, beyond the emotional range of a hollow. Their hate always fuels itself from their agony, but this… This was merely the twisted dimension of a soul that used to be but now only falls to ruin.

Around them, the ground continued to rumble and, ever so slowly, the buildings around them began to rise.

"Move!" Shiro screamed, grabbing the pair of them and sonidoing to the side. Where they had been sitting moments before, an enormous red stain was seeping from the pavement. It began to rise ever so slowly, taking the form of a large stone pillar, similar to those of Greek architecture. Blood red light reflected from it as it began to grow into the distance.

"What is that?" Ichigo asked, heart in her throat as her knees began to tremble from the strain.

"Invaders." Ossan said solemnly. Suddenly, Ichigo felt fingers on her arm, dancing over her skin. She looked up sharply and noticed neither of her spirits' hands were near her arm.

"…Guys…" she breathed, "I think I'm-"

"-Wake up, my little bell!" a smooth voice called, reaching Ichigo's ears. Both spirits leaped towards her as she collapsed, her inner form vanishing moments later.