102 days ago
"Get away from me." Grimmjow muttered, only half awake when he felt the presence move next to him but he quickly realized it wasn't Nel. "Oh, Halibel." He sat up in his bed, surprised to see her here since they always met in the domed desert over the past year. He glanced around, confirming it was barely morning.
"What's going on?"
"I felt a disturbance a few minutes ago. I think we should check it out."
"What?" He had woken too, but he hadn't known why. He shook off the rest of sleep and got up, knocking sake glasses over in the process. She noted the stink of alcohol in the air but said nothing- she was no one to judge how he managed this empty life they lead.
He grabbed his jacket and followed her down the hall, Nel stumbling behind them, having woken up herself at Halibel's intrusion.
"Yammy's already in the desert."
"What, why?" Grimmjow asked when they arrived at the control room.
"He said if there was any chance he might get to fight someone he was going."
"Idiot." Grimmjow groaned, taking a seat next to her to begin looking over screens and readings.
"There," she said almost at once, stabbing a finger into a monitor of a scrolling line like a heart monitor.
"What is it?" Grimmjow wasn't afraid to admit he didn't know what half of this equipment did.
"A foreign party has entered Hueco Mundo."
"Soul Reaper?"
"It's..." She brought up more information on the reading after typing something into the computer. "Nothing we've ever encountered."
"What?"
"It's headed this way, fast, we should join Yammy."
They got out to the desert as fast as they could but only to find Yammy yelling in anger at empty sands.
"Whoa, what is it?" Grimmjow asked the giant who very close to transforming into his Resurrection form.
"Bastard!"
"What, who?"
"I don't know! He just danced around here, not staying still long enough for me to hit him and then vanished."
"Did the intruder say anything?" Halibel asked.
"Just one thing."
"What?"
"He asked me if I had bankai."
"And?"
"He didn't wait for an answer and disappeared."
"Damn." She muttered.
"What?" Both men asked and Nel gripped Grimmjow's leg, feeling the collective swell of their anticipation.
Golden eyes narrowed, looking over her companions very seriously, "a scout."
99 Days ago.
Grimmjow dropped onto his bed, just looking for a moment of peace in all the chaos. Halibel had started ordering them around at once after their encounter with the unknown being and for some reason he hadn't minded taking her orders. She'd sent them in different directions, first, looking for hints of more people. Nel had stayed clinging to his leg for most of it as he searched the desert for other spiritual pressure but never finding anything more. When he reported back, Halibel had already had more work for him- research. She had divided up stacks of books from Aizen's old quarters for them to go through to try to figure out what the being had been.
Now Grimmjow breathed on his bed, seeking out a bottle and popping the cork. He was fine with staying up for long periods of time, but searching through those books was mentally exhausting.
"What are Scouts?" Nel asked. She hadn't interfered this whole time but now that he was finally alone she had questions about the last few days. "Why are they so dangerous?"
"Not scouts, Nel. A scout. It means he was here to find out what it's like and then he'll report back to someone. What it means, is that more are coming."
"More what?"
"We don't know, that's what we're trying to figure out." he stood up. "Now get away from me."
She smiled at the statement he shot at her every day because somewhere in the last year and more that they'd been together she'd decided it was a sign of affection. He just sighed, and left his room, leaving the bottle behind to return to his work.
22 Days ago.
"This was once an important room for you right?"
Grimmjow was still coming too. He'd been lying on a cell floor starving for two weeks. He hadn't expected to wake up here when he'd last fallen asleep.
His bare feet were just barely touching a cold surface beneath him, his arms stretch above him, taking most his weight. He tried to look up but a sharp pain struck the back of his neck and he was forced to keep his head bowed.
"Don't move, Grimmjow. I will explain."
The room started to come into focus, he saw the high-backed chairs and that table, who's surface he'd stared at in many long meetings. He was standing on the table in their old meeting room, and if he could have looked up straight, he would have see that he was facing Aizen's old chair. As it was, though, he couldn't see much but the table before him until the dark king moved into his field of view.
"What the Hell?" He asked, jerking in his chains but feeling something very sharp dig into his arms and he cried out at both the physical pain and a tug in his soul. He stilled in the shock of it.
"You can't see it, but I know you can feel it, Grimmjow. Between your arms is chained your zanpakuto. If you move, your own blade will cut into you. It's tip is aimed just above the top of your spine, so if you look up, it will cut into you."
Grimmjow growled in furry. "What is this?" He already felt the trickle of blood running down his arms and dripping onto his neck and bare back.
"This is my experiment, Girmmjow. At first, I didn't mind not capturing you, as you were the weakest of the three and I thought you less valuable. But instead it was you I really desired most, to test my new method of recruitment. I need to harness the power of the other two but, you... you I can live with losing if you don't survive."
"Asshole." Grimmjow's head shot up again without thinking and he felt the stabbing pain in his neck. His arms jerked in response, opening up more cuts and he felt Pantera's anguish at causing this pain to his master. He saw the pleased looked cross the king's features.
"You see, I am going to force your soul to shatter itself. As the cause of your pain, it will begin to crack, and then, when your zanpakuto fears that it will be the cause of your demise, it will destroy itself to save you. I will then have a blank slate with which to work. With no zanpakuto, you will no longer be an espada and I will be able to mold you into the perfect soldier. And if it works," he smiled darkly, "I am going to use the same method to convert every powerful Soul Reaper after I conquer the Seireitei."
"I'm not a Soul Reaper, idiot."
"The principle is the same. Your soul is just as weak as theirs and I will break it—what's his name, Pantera?" He sneered.
His words sent that red rage through Grmimjow again and he screamed out in furry.
"YOU BASTARD!" Grimmjow yanked against his chains again and more blood rained down on him. He screamed once more, feeling the growing rent in his soul even more than the terrible wounds he was opening up in his arms. He was forced to stop and hold himself as still as possible, bowing his head once again but the skin on the back of his neck and head was already torn open.
"My, Grimmjow, my explanation was meant to warn you, not to get you to hasten the whole process. You must feel it, right? You must hear your other half screaming."
"Shut up! Pantera won't break, not like this." he growled out, wanting to meet the man's gaze, but unable to lift his head again. It truly was torture for his body, soul and his pride.
The shadow king chuckled before sweeping out of the room. "We'll see..."
Present.
Grimmjow accepted the list of names he was given and scanned them over.
"Is that all of the arrancars that were still inhabiting Las Noches?" the other soldier asked him.
"You missed one, in the maze on the third sub-level. She's tricky but should be no problem."
"Excellent work, Grimmjow." Their king strode in, everyone bowed until he told them to stand. He dismissed the others and placed a hand on his newest soldier's shoulder. "Now, I have more work for you."
"Yes, my lord."
"I want you to tell me everything you know about Aizen's plans to take over Soul Society."
"Of course. Anything you ask, my lord."
10 Days ago.
"Well I certainly did not expect you to last this long. I guess we're going to have to make this more unpleasant." The king spoke, looking up to the tortured man on the table. He was perfectly still, doing everything to keep his own blade from cutting him. He'd done well in the past twelve days. Even when the emperor had him whipped, the espada had remained as firm as possible. It had still succeeded to some extent, forcing his body to tense and flinch and scrape against his own blade. He could see the tears forming in the sixth's aura, but they were no where near as deep as he expected after so long.
"You don't want this to be quick." Grimmjow muttered weakly. "Otherwise you would have just run me through with Pantera."
"Well, I guess you are right. It is better to take this slow, so the damage to your soul runs deeper, but I am growing impatient." Grimmjow could see him now and he watched the shadowed man nod to someone he couldn't see. With a jolt he dropped to the table, his feet finally touching flat and taking his whole weight. It was one instant of relief before his chains dropped even lower, forcing his arms to bend against the blade and the tip to drive deep into his neck and back. He cried out before dropping lower, blood pouring down his neck and head and his soul screaming out in torment. His arms were straight again, but he was struggling to stabilize himself at this height. He was too high to kneel but too low to stand straight and if he tried to stand up again his blade would run down his skull and back. It was a cruel position and the king knew it.
"Things should move much more quickly now, thank you Grimmjow."
He listen to the man move out of the room, his head bent forward, flayed back exposed to the cold air. His legs shook in the effort to keep him stable, his feet slipping in his own blood that slicked the table all around him and he knew true despair.
92 Days ago
This time Grimmjow was awake when he felt them burst through the Garganta to their world. It was many souls. Nel came running up to him, her claw-like fingers wrapping in the leg of his hakama and he heard Yammy's dog yipping in fright back to it's master.
"Get off of me." Grimmjow shook his leg to no avail.
"Shit, are we going up to meet them?" Yammy asked but Halibel dropped next to them.
"No, the traps are set, let's see how they do."
They made their way to the control room. They'd prepared well, even holding a meeting with the arrancars and privaron espada left in the palace. All of Aizen's old traps were in place, it should take any intruder days just to reach the central desert under the dome. And once they got there, the three remaining espada were prepared to face them.
"Watch everything." Halibel said, "we need to learned everything we can about their tactics before they reach us."
"Feels like cheating," Yammy grumbled.
"It's survival." Halibel responded.
"They didn't send very many," Grimmjow commented, seeing the few that entered the main gates. But Halibel stiffened.
"What?"
"Don't use your eyes, Grimmjow." He caught her meaning and felt out with his spiritual pressure.
"SHIT!"
All around them a mass was growing, a solid wave of spiritual pressure. "They're coming at us from all sides," She announced.
"Then we go to the desert, meet them." Grimmjow said, rising.
"Maybe."
"That was the plan!" he urged.
The room shook, somewhere a wall was crumbling. These people weren't going to play Aizen's games, or theirs. They were just going to bust right in.
"The plan is ruined." Halibel announced. "We split up and take down the first wave as fast as possible then regroup here."
Another explosion hit, there was no time to argue and they ran their separate ways.
"WHAA!" Nel screamed as Grimmjow ran to battle with her stuck to his leg.
"Get away from me kid if you don't wanna get killed!" he grabbed the back of her cloak and ripped her off his leg. She dropped to the floor, ready to pounce back on him but the wall beside them exploded into powdered dust and she staggered behind the blue haired espada when he drew his sword to meet the enemy.
"Okay mystery freaks, let's see what ya got."
2 Days ago.
"...Nel.." head forced down as it was, her face filled his field of vision. Her small body shook, standing beneath him, her feet wet in his blood. Tears bloomed out of the corners of her eyes.
"Grimmjow" she sobbed out in sympathy for him, in despair. "I'll save you."
"...don't think you can this time, kid...go, to the human world...it's the only place you might make it."
"But Grimmjow..." She refused, looking past him for a way to reach his chains and free him but she was just too small. She shut her eyes and balled her tiny hands into fists.
"What are you doing?"
"If Nel could grow up, like Grimmjow always tells her too, Nel could reach his chains and free him."
"It's okay." His voice was foreign in it's gentle tones, "just go."
"But Ichigo can't see Nel!"
"Find Orihime...remember her?" Nel nodded. "She'll look after you."
"But Nel can't leave Grimmjow like this!"
"You have to."
"Ah...so the child finally emerges." The cold voice made them both jump. Grimmjow winced as his blade dug deep into him in so many places. The king smiled.
"You're very close Grimmjow, I can see your aura, I can see Pantera breaking. One more wrong move, one more drop of blood shed, and your soul will have no choice but to shatter."
The Vandenreich king took his time in crossing the chamber toward them. Nel turned and stood defensively before Grimmjow.
"Nel, go!" Grimmjow begged her.
"What an interesting pair you are. She's been watching you this entire time, you know, waiting for us to leave you alone. But poor thing is too small to do anything. I was just curious, to see what she would do, and how you would react. I must say, after all this time I thought you were a hardened warrior. I didn't expect you to be so soft."
"Nel, run!" He commanded her, ignoring the shadow king.
"NO!"
But one wave of the king's hand an his power washed over them. Nel stumbled back and fell shaking.
"Nel..." Grimmjow straightened himself as much as he could, the king was before them on the table, he heard the draw of his sword and saw the steel point at the younger arrancar's throat.
"I have no use for one so small and so weak."
"Nel, do what I said!" Grimmjow screamed, and though he knew what it would cost, though he had tasted the agony that was before him these long days, he somehow could not bring himself to watch her be cut down. And so he did the only thing he could.
He stood up.
Pantera slid along his wrists, his forearms, cutting to the bone. The tip drove deep into the top of his spine before raking down his bare bare, already lacerated by the whip. It cut through his blue hair, down to the bone of his skull.
And when he let out a mighty roar, and twisted his body so that he could swing out with a foot to kick the Vandenreich King, knock him back just enough so that his descending blade missed Nel- those final tears in his flesh rent his soul asunder.
Unable to suffer causing his master's death, Pantera destroyed himself to save Grimmjow. The tortured zanpakuto shattered in the chains that bound master and blade together, not into shards, but into silver whispers of dust that were blown away in the swell of power that left Grimmjow's body. And from him came a cry of primal pain, of loss too deep to be fathomed, to be contained- agony no man should ever endure or be able to survive. And so his mind broke with his soul, he collapsed on his knees before the dark god, empty, a vessel waiting to be filled with his malice, his deceit, his every command and desire.
And though the arrancar child had escaped through the Garganta in the chaos, the King smiled. Because everything that made the bloodied man before him Grimmjow Jaggerjaques, was gone.
Thanks for those who are keeping up with my version of the new story arc, looking forward to reading Kubo's next chapter tomorrow! And thanks for the reviews!
Riza
