"This is ridiculous." Vance groused as he gazed over the trees. His spear was in his hand, completely unused. The sun was just starting to set and while the colors were pretty, he was in no mood to appreciate it.
All day, he'd been leading the arrancar and shinigami as they tried to find what was wrong in the Zaraki district. They had not found a single thing. That pissed him off, a little, but what really got him on edge was the feeling that it wasn't real. The calm of the Zaraki district was a false front and Vance felt an itching between his shoulder blades that spelled danger. Were these fucks just waiting for the sun to set?
"It doesn't feel right. I miss Sentaro." Kiyone said and Vance nodded. He'd never met that Sentaro but he knew, in a general way, what had happened. A disproportionate number of the surviving shinigami had been females. For advanced hollows, women were rare and prized. Once, he'd done a rough nose count and Vance thought that less than a quarter of the arrancar were female. Of that, half didn't like men and the other half were weak whores or happily mated. Hueco Mundo was a giant sausage fest, no doubt about it. So in the invasion, they'd gone easy on the women. The men? Fuck 'em, they were nothing but rivals. That was why Kiyone was here but Sentaro wasn't.
Then he stiffened as a sound reached his ears. It sounded like a moan. Vance almost mistook it for a hollow's cry but then it ended on a weird titter?
"Hey, did you hear that?" He asked, feeling a bit of ice crawling down his spine. He had to be imagining things. But that sound, that fucking distinctive sound, he'd heard it dozens of times. Yet, how could it be?
"It sounded like a hollow." Well, at least he wasn't totally imagining things. Although Vance took no comfort in that when he heard the sound again, this time louder. Closer? And he was not wrong about that titter.
"Holy shit." Vance breathed before twirling his spear and setting into a ready position, trying to pinpoint where that sound had come from. "Bad shit is coming. Send a message to the troops to get ready!" This was it, what they'd been waiting for. Kiyone quickly sent out the message with kido and Vance spotted the movement as she was talking.
He barely managed to save her life. The attack was an insanely fast rush and it targeted her. Vance managed to keep the cleaver from going through her skull, but couldn't stop the foot that hit her in the ribs. Kiyone flew away with the crunch of breaking bones and Vance snarled, meeting light blue, crazy eyes.
"Vaaaance." The crazy man crooned and he was moving as fast as he ever had, using his spear to catch that cleaver and keep it away from his body. Vance grimaced as it raised sparks from the contact. Holy shit, he was stronger!
"Butcher!" Vance barked his name as he leapt back. There was a pause and he got a chance to look at the guy. "You're… bigger." And the motherfucker had been big when he was alive. Now he was huge, a scary as fuck mountain of a man. Although was he a man at all? He wasn't a hollow and Vance was sure he wasn't a shinigami. "Why are you wearing a mask?" It didn't matter, he would recognize the crazy man anyway, but the mask was weird. It covered most of his face, although there were a few peeks of dead white skin.
"Dunno." The nutjob said before giggling and Vance was reminded that the Butcher was basically retarded. It had been sort of funny when he'd been alive but it was annoying as fuck right now, when he really wanted an answer. "Gonna kill you Vance." Then the fucker rushed him. Vance hissed out a breath between his teeth as he blocked and tried to take the offensive. Fuck he was so fast! His spear drew blood but the fucker didn't seem to notice and Vance remembered. The Butcher had never felt pain, not really.
"Why?!" He managed to say as they moved across the clearing. Vance couldn't concentrate on anything but the battle. The Butcher didn't have much technique but he was so fast and strong, it was appalling. "Why d'you want to kill me? I was nice to you!" He'd brought the fucker cookies. He'd even given him cake for his 'birthday.' There was that weird howling sound, ending in that creepy giggle.
"You wasn't scared. I want you to be scared." He said, those blue eyes glowing with madness and Vance blinked. Scared?
"What the fuck you… on about? I'm scared!" He'd be crazy not to be. More sparks flew and Vance just barely managed to duck a kick to the head. The Butcher used his whole body when he fought, it was part of what had made him scary. But then, Vance did too.
"Not like the others. You never scared like them." The Butcher said and Vance noted he wasn't breathing hard. Son of a bitch. "You talked to me. You gave me cookies."
"…The fuck? You want to kill me BECAUSE I gave you cookies?" Crazy motherfucking son of a bitch! "Because I treated you like a fucking human being?!" The other guys had been terrified of the Butcher but Vance had thought it was just sad. Poor lunatic in a cell, it would've been kinder to kill him. Vance could see edges of a wide grin under that white mask.
"Yes." Then the attacks kept coming and Vance would have sworn but he didn't have the breath. And it was time to take this to the next level.
"Fly free – MPH!" Something long and white went around his face and clogged his mouth. Hair? Vance was yanked off his feet before he was abruptly thrashed into the ground. The impact stunned him for just a moment and that was all it took for a foot to land on him. Vance cried out, muffled by the hair, as he felt ribs snap and heard the Butcher's laughter. He'd lost his spear and that damned stuff was winding around him, it was too tough for him to break and the Butcher stomped on him again and again. Vance tasted blood and heard bones crunching. Was he going to die? Rage flared and he snarled behind his gag before fighting with all his strength. White light flared and there was a surprised scream just before the hair stuff parted. Then he was on his feet and somehow, his spear was back in his hands. He released it and took back his wings in a burst of power.
For a while, Vance totally lost his mind. The rage was like a fire in his mind and he used it to power his body, keep him moving when he should have been on the ground gasping and whimpering. The two of them – there was a woman now, a woman with long white hair, dead white skin and green eyes – were actually on the defensive for a bit. Unfortunately, the rage wasn't magic and when the Butcher kicked him right in his broken ribs the pain started to get through. Pure white ceros – his power was white – lit up the night as he spent his rage.
It was the woman that got him, though. That damned hair of hers was a wicked weapon and she fought with a sword, too, a long, twisted thing. It got him in the back and Vance reeled at the pain right before the Butcher punched him in the face. He felt his cheek bone crack as he went flying, the blade tearing right out of his body. Vance hit a tree and heard it splinter before he came to a halt.
"Sh… it…" He gasped out, trying to find his spear. Fuck, he'd lost it again… then there was a footstep and he looked up into ice blue eyes.
"Kill you now." The Butcher giggled and Vance snarled. But then a white hand was on the Butcher's arm?
"No, not now." The woman was a soprano and she sounded like she'd make a fine opera singer. Vance wondered what the hell she was thinking though. The Butcher didn't listen to anyone, that he'd seen. Well, maybe things had changed.
"Why not?" The Butcher sounded pouty. He was like a kid sometimes… then the woman knelt down beside him and Vance looked into her eyes. Her mask hid her lower face, and her eyes were green as a cat's.
"Because he's not scared. You want him to be scared, don't you?" She said sweetly before chucking him under the chin. Vance tried to bite her but missed. Damn, he was so weak! "Are you scared?" Her dulcet tones were seriously pissing him off.
"Fuck you… bitch!" He rasped out before spitting out a mouthful of saliva and blood. It splattered across her face but she only hummed, reaching up with one black gloved hand to wipe the mess away. Vance felt disgruntled as he watched the movement. These fuckers wore black too. Why the hell was he the guy in white?
"He's not scared." The Butcher sounded disappointed and Vance thought about cussing him out too. Well, why not?
But not in Japanese… Vance went native and started to tell the asshole what he thought of him in Italian. "Figlio di puttana. Succhiacazza." His hand found the spear and he gripped it before trying to use it as a crutch. But when he tried to stand up, oh god the pain! "Dio dannato," Vance whispered, remembering… the priest would have been pissed, hearing that. God, what did he care? Heaven was right here and Hell was here too. "Bastard son of a pox ridden whore." He rasped, switching back to Japanese. He didn't think the woman understood Italian. Actually, Vance didn't think the Butcher understood Italian. Wait, how was he speaking Japanese? Oh, who the fuck knew. "Fuck you both I hope you rot in Hell." For some reason, that made the woman laugh.
"That is so funny!" Why? Vance blinked as she moved with lithe grace, settling on the Butcher's shoulder before patting him on the head, like he was a pet. And he let her, acting like a docile little puppy. Were they fucking? Gross. "Well, Valenncoro – " He hated that name. "I want you to take a message for me. Tell Kyoraku Shunsui that when we meet, I'm going to eat his eyeballs." The sweet way she said it made his blood run cold. The bitch meant it. "Before I eat his heart." The desire in her voice would have been nice between the sheets. In this situation? Creepy. As. Fuck.
"Who the fuck are you?" He rasped and she tilted her head before chuckling softly.
"Oh, that is important isn't it? I am Kuhara Rey." She said and Vance wondered if Kyoraku had fucked her. If so, he was a brave man. Vance thought he'd rather stick his dick in a meat grinder. "Now, goodbye." The Butcher took his cue and loped off. Vance was pissed when he saw the way the fucker was moving. Hadn't he hurt the asshole at all? But the Butcher never really felt pain…
Shaking that away, Vance tried to walk and gasped. Holy shit his ribs were a mess! And he was pretty sure his sternum was cracked. Not to mention… actually, he just shouldn't think about it. He was seriously fucked up, that was enough. But he was an arrancar and his healing factors were kicking in. Grimacing, he managed to move. He had to find Kiyone. Where was she?
Vance almost tripped over her and he was really upset at what he saw.
"Shit!" The poor chick wasn't looking so good. It wasn't just what the Butcher had done to her, either. Vance saw with dismay that it looked like the woman with the hair had stabbed her. Had she tried to help him? Probably, she was a seated officer after all. Vance managed to kneel beside her and checked her over before hissing. Her pulse was weak and her skin was too white. He was a good field medic and he could see she was bleeding internally. The location of that wound wasn't good, he guessed it had gotten her somewhere vital. "Damn." He was pretty sure that he couldn't get her to the Fourth before she croaked. Were there healers around? Vance shook the thought away. He had no kido, no way to request help and he sure as shit couldn't count on running into one.
"Angelo." Vance breathed, pressing a hand against the wound. "Bless this woman, Angelo." His spear glowed white. Vance knew this was a terrible idea but he couldn't just let her die… power left him and Vance grunted in pain. But Kiyone's wounds hissed for a moment and her color suddenly got way better. Vance checked her pulse and it was stronger. He tried to use his spear to stand again –
"Fuck!" Vance choked before coughing up a mouthful of blood. "Dio… dannato…" He'd compromised his own healing factors with that bit of fuckery. Vance tried one more time before he realized it was hopeless. He couldn't walk out of here and he sure as shit couldn't carry Kiyone. Letting himself collapse beside her, he breathed heavily as he looked up at the stars. They were pretty for a while, but then they seemed to swirl together…
Vance let himself fall unconscious and honestly, he was glad.
"That was a fine performance, Tercero." Vance floated on a fog of candy colored gauze. That voice though. He knew that voice and it was really annoying. Oh right, Tousen. He was remembering now. "You lost half your arrancar and a quarter of your shinigami." Well whoop de shit, it was kind of hard to do much when the two strongest fighters on the battlefield were targeting him! And it was the fucking Butcher! He was lucky to be alive.
"Vaffanculo." Vance whispered, only half-conscious. "Tousen, pezzo di merda." Wait, had he said that out loud?
"Tousen Kaname. I know you are eager to question him but I must insist you leave." Oh thank god, that was Unohana Retsu. "He is badly injured…" Vance vaguely felt them moving away and let himself relax into the blankets, embracing that candy colored gauze. This felt really nice. Then his nose twitched as he smelled something familiar. Peony perfume and a warmer, spicier scent…
"Vance." He tried to open his eyes and found that he couldn't. But Vance could imagine Nanao there, looking down at him. Would she have tears in her eyes? "I care for you, you know. Please, get better." Her hand was stroking his brow and shit, that felt nice.
"Nanao. Ti voglio bene." Vance whispered. God, he wished he could see her. "Sei bella." I care for you. You are beautiful.
"What is he saying?" Kyoraku. Wasn't he supposed to tell him something? Vance couldn't remember.
"I don't know. But it sounds wonderful," Nanao said. Well, he was more than happy to say a bit more.
"Sei l'amore della mia vita." Was that true though? Vance wasn't sure but right now, he felt like it. "Voglio stare con te per sempre."
"He just said, 'you are the love of my life. I want to be with you forever.'" Unohana. Wait, she spoke Italian? Hah! No wonder she'd wanted to get Tousen out the door. There was a soft sniffle from Nanao and Vance felt warm arms around his neck. "While I can tell he's happy to see you, I must ask that you leave. We need to check over his injuries." He wasn't healing too well then. Vance wasn't surprised, he'd fucked himself up properly.
"We'll come by to see him later," Kyoraku said and Vance heard them leaving before he felt gentle hands, adjusting him to get at all the wounds. Healing kido touched him and Vance sensed they were working on his bones. Ah, he was healing so slowly. Well, he was lucky to be alive.
Vance was willing to take what he could get.
The next day.
Vance grimaced as he gingerly took his seat on the cushion. A servant fussed over him a little before he waved her away. He wished they had chairs. Normally, cushions didn't bother him but right now Vance was feeling every single ache and pain.
This was a combined meeting of the Espada and the Taichou and Vance was going to be giving his report. Tousen had already heard all the details – the asshole – and Aizen had been informed. Everyone else, though, needed to hear. Vance wished he'd gotten a chance to talk to Kyoraku privately about the bitch, but everyone probably needed to know anyway.
"Vance-san, please let me know if you cannot continue." Vance turned his head to smile at Unohana. She'd escorted him here and was sitting on her own cushion. Right beside him wasn't her usual spot, but it was today.
"Yeah, I'll tell you." He wasn't feeling any stupid male bravado right now. His body was nothing but a giant bruise and the bones were only mended if you were feeling charitable about it. One good blow and it'd all come apart.
Soon the rest of the group began to arrive – they'd gotten in early, his sonido wasn't up to snuff – and Vance glanced around as they took their seats. Of the Espada, there was only Halibel, himself, Grimmjow and Szayel. Vance knew the latter two resented the way he'd suddenly jumped over them, but they were smart enough to know they couldn't touch him. Halibel was the highest, now ranked Segunda. There was no Primera. Aizen was still looking for a hollow stronger than Halibel. He'd even mended a few more broken masks among the arrancar, but no one else had soaked up power like Vance.
"Hey there!" Grimmjow grinned and moved to slap him on the back. Vance almost flinched – that would HURT – but to his surprise, the blow never landed.
"Do not touch my patient." Retsu's tone could have refinished the table and Grimmjow's grin wilted. His wrist had been caught in her hand and the Sexta muttered something before pulling away and finding his own place at the table. Vance breathed a bit easier when Grimmjow's butt hit the cushion.
Then there was the taichou. Ukitake was there, looking almost as bad as Vance felt. Kyoraku had his spot and Vance knew Aizen was pretty pleased about that. In fact, he was happier to have Kyoraku than Starrk, which kind of pissed Vance off. Sure, the Primera had been a lazy shit but not a bad guy. Leaving that aside, Vance glanced at the others. Toshiro was there, looking pretty tired, and Tousen of course. He was heading a Division as well as sticking his nose into everything else. Everyone else was dead. Maybe in a few decades there'd be some new shinigami taichou, but it'd take some time.
Then Aizen walked in. Vance looked up, trying to seem alert and eager. If he hadn't know better, he'd have thought Aizen-kami was just another shinigami. The hogyoku was hidden under his clothes and his power couldn't be detected at all. Vance knew that was beyond his perception but if he'd just seen Aizen walking down the street, he could have mistook him for a plus soul. It was sort of creepy, actually.
"I see we are all here. Excellent." Aizen said with a smile as he took his seat. "As you all know, we are here to discuss the new challenge facing Soul Society. Vance?" He invited and Vance started to give his report.
"It started when the sun began to set…" Vance described the whole battle, keeping any profanity out of it. Then he got to the punch line. "The guy with the cleaver was named Butcher, when he was alive." He said and most of the table gave him weird looks. "I knew him, as a Living Man." That really got their attention. "The Boss kept him in a cage, liked to feed his enemies to him." Alive. The screams had been spectacular. "He's completely insane, he doesn't feel pain or just doesn't care. They had to shoot him a dozen times to kill him." He'd taken so many bullets and had just kept moving. Although… "I wasn't there when that happened, I was at the beach with my wife. I heard about it later." A little vacation, Vance had thought it was the best timing in the whole world. The Butcher had killed a half-dozen men in his escape and rampage.
"But you said he wasn't a hollow?" Szayel seemed really interested. "What did you sense? And did you recognize the woman as well?" Vance shrugged helplessly before responding.
"I don't know what I sensed. It wasn't shinigami or hollow. And I didn't recognize the woman but she gave me her name." This was going to be good. Vance looked at Kyoraku. "Her name was Kuhara Rey." His eyes went wide as his expression congealed with shock. Ukitake was wide-eyed too. "I don't know the story behind it, but she said she's going to eat Kyoraku's eyeballs." So gross. Seriously, that was something the Butcher would do. Shit, no wonder they got on so well, two crazy fuckers. "Before she eats his heart."
"Kyoraku?" Aizen said and Shunsui blinked before drawing a breath.
"I… it was almost nine hundred years ago. I hadn't even achieved bankai." He sounded like he was in shock. "Kuhara was my superior." Ohhh, really? "She intended to subvert Yamamoto's reforms." Vance had heard about that. Tousen bitched that they hadn't gone far enough, allowed so many injustices, but Vance thought he wasn't giving Yamamoto enough credit. Until his reforms, some assholes had thought it was fun to test their newly sharpened sword by decapitating a peasant. He'd made that kind of shit illegal. Enforcement could be a problem but it was still a step in the right direction. "I seduced her and convinced her I would help her rule from the shadows. I betrayed her and she was executed for treason." Wait, so he had fucked her? Wow.
"You are a brave man, having sex with that beast." Vance said and cringed as everyone looked at him. "No offense," he said quickly, before Tousen could take him to task for being 'unprofessional' again. Aizen cleared his throat.
"This is typical of the other reports. Tousen?" Tousen began to detail what he'd learned from the shinigami and arrancar. A lot of the arrancar had recognized their assailants, and some of the shinigami. Mostly the older ones. It was hard to get a complete picture since a lot of them were dead, but a bunch had managed to kill their old demons. Apparently, they were all a little traumatized by it. Vance knew the feeling. He was feeling a bit traumatized, seeing the Butcher going after him with a meat cleaver. What a nightmare. "I believe these souls are from Hell." WHAT?
"That's what she meant!" Vance burst out and bit his lip as Aizen-kami looked at him. "Uh, I apologize." He said before bowing slightly in his cushion. That really made his ribs hurt, ow.
"Please explain," Aizen said with the faintest edge and Vance swallowed before doing that.
"I told the woman I hope she rotted in Hell. She laughed and said that was really funny." That suddenly made sense. And Vance did know that Hell was a real place. He'd learned about that after he'd come to Soul Society as an arrancar. "But how could they be here?" Hell was jealous with the souls it took. You went in but you didn't come back out. And there were so many!
"That is what we need to learn. Szayel, you are to investigate and attempt to find the entrance these souls are using to enter Soul Society." Vance grimaced and rubbed his face, feeling a little sick as Aizen gave out their assignments. Although his was nice and simple… go back to bed and rest. Vance took the dismissal, climbing to his feet with a bit of help from his spear. It was an amazing crutch, when he needed it. Unohana gently steadied him too, before escorting him back to the Fourth. As soon as he could, Vance slumped into a bed. Even getting undressed was too much trouble.
He'd worry about everything tomorrow.