Hoohah! New chapter! I hope you guys like it!
Chapter 7
Sora's eyes flashed open, his body going ramrod straight where he was curled against his twin by the wall. Silver mist filled his teal eyes as Koorimasu sprang to his aid, allowing him to see the strange reiatsu he felt, his eyes widening as he did so.
A hand on his shoulder made him jump, and he turned silvery eyes to meet teal ones. Yoru's face was hard and concerned, his grip on his brother's shoulder tight. "What is it, Sora?"
The younger shook his head. "I'm not exactly sure. I can sense a reiatsu that I don't recognize, but when I look at it, there seems to be nothing there. I'm not entirely sure what's going on." He frowned. "Can you feel it?"
Yoru closed his eyes, reaching across the link with Sora to feel what he did. "Yea… I don't know that either. Where is it?"
"In Szayel Aporro Granz's rooms."
Kitsune was beside them in a flash; she had been listening since Sora had first awakened. Nemu wasn't far behind her, and together the group rose to their feet. Nemu moved ahead, leading them through the halls and closer to Szayel's rooms. Kitsune had one hand wrapped around the hilt of Oni, her face tense.
Sora walked close to his twin, still trying to figure out what it was that he could sense. Koorimasu growled uncomfortably, not liking the idea that she could not find what she and her master were sensing. Yoru gently touched his twin's hand, sending reassurance to him.
What could this possibly be… Sora thought, frowning. It feels almost like one of the Espada, but it's far too weak, and they've been dead since the war; I'm sure that they were all destroyed. Perhaps it's something left over from Szayel, something that might be the cause of the epidemic.
They entered the rooms a moment later, all of them tense and ready for anything that might pop up. There didn't appear to be anything nearby, and Sora cast out his senses once more, trying to pinpoint the location of the reiatsu. To his severe discomfort, he couldn't tell where exactly it was; it seemed to be coming from all around them at once.
"I don't like this…" Yoru murmured, sliding closer to his twin and grasping the hilt of his zanpaktou. He distantly noticed Kitsune take a step towards them as well, Nemu following as the four of them formed a circle with their backs to each other.
There was the hiss of a blade leaving its sheath as Sora drew Koorimasu, hoping to use her abilities to try once more and locate the reiatsu. Mist began to settle near the floor, and apprehensively Kitsune drew her blade as well, readying herself.
Sora suddenly let out a shout, hitting the floor heavily and dropping his zanpaktou with a clatter. Yoru cried out his name, reaching for him and barely missing his hand as he was dragged off into the misty room.
"NO!" Yoru screamed, instantly releasing Kogasu to get rid of the mist in the room. As it cleared he spotted the one thing that he never expected to find among the ruins of Las Noches.
Szayel Aporro Granz.
The orange-head's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open a little. Kit swore, releasing Oni and taking a reflexive step towards Yoru. Nemu crouched down slightly, though she showed no indication that she was going to go for her zanpaktou.
The Espada smirked slightly, gesturing with one hand to the swollen tendril on his wing. He was already in his released form, and now that they knew he was there, the feeling of his reiatsu swelled from the weak one that it had been to a full blown torrent. Yoru growled angrily, clenching his hand tighter around the staff of Kogasu.
"Well, well." Szayel purred. "I was wondering when I was going to see someone here when I noticed that my virus had gotten out. I figured it wouldn't be long, and I would get someone else to play with."
Yoru growled again, shifting Kogasu and preparing to strike. "Give me back my brother!"
The Espada chuckled, and then threw Sora at Yoru, causing the orange-head to let out a shout and quickly lower Kogasu, barely avoiding slashing his twin. Sora coughed heavily, his body covered in a slimy substance. Szayel calmly reached out, catching the small figurine that fell into his hand.
"I didn't expect them to send such weak opponents, but…" he smirked again. "I suppose none of you knew that I was alive, now did you?"
Sora coughed again, glaring at the Arrancar. "Bastard! How did you survive! They reported you dead!"
Again the Hollow chuckled. "They believed me dead. They didn't realize that I have several methods of retaining myself in situations such as that. It was a mere effort to consume a few of my Fraccion and regenerate myself. Then it was merely a waiting game, to see when they would send someone out to discover what was in that vial that I broke before they left."
Yoru's eyes narrowed in anger. "You broke that vial? You started all of this pain and suffering!.?"
Szayel closed his eyes, idly playing with the doll in his hands. "I figured it would be the easiest way to let Soul Society know of my presence. Obviously I was wrong, and you are all more idiotic than I suspected. Now then, I tire of this meaningless drivel."
With that he flicked the doll in his hands in the forehead.
A soft choke left Sora's mouth, and blood trickled down his forehead as his head snapped back. Yoru let out a cry of shock as his twin crumpled to the floor, stunned as he lay there.
Kit swore, releasing Oni and leaping into action. She could remember what this power did, and she knew that they had to stop the Espada before he did irreversible damage to Sora. Yoru followed her a moment later, anger flooding his body and flames flickering around the white-hot blade of his scythe.
Szayel easily dodged their attacks, looking bored as he did so. Kit swore loudly, firing several bullets in his direction, only to miss every time. Yoru yelled a battle cry as he slashed, managing to leaving a bloody scratch across Szayel's arm.
The Espada looked surprised, glancing down at his arm. "You are better than I thought you would be. I haven't gathered any information on you, so this is a little difficult to assess as I usually do. You look very similar to Kurosaki Ichigo, boy."
Yoru glared, spinning Kogasu in his hands. "He's my father."
"Ah." Szayel looked almost relieved. "Well then, we may have more fun than I originally thought." His hands closed around the doll, and Yoru gasped as he wrenched it open, revealing the small colored objects inside.
Kit let out a cry. "No! Yoru, don't let him touch those!"
Yoru didn't bother to ask why; he slashed out with Kogasu, a shout releasing a wave of flames. Szayel frowned, though he didn't move. At first Yoru thought that he had landed a hit, but when the flames cleared Szayel barely seemed singed. "Once again, child, I think I've underestimated you. You have power, that's clear."
The teen had to jump backwards as one of the Espada's wings came close, knowing that if he was caught that he would end up in a similar state as his twin. He lashed out again as Szayel reached for the organs of the doll, terror filling him at the thought of what was going to happen once the Espada got to them.
Szayel idly examined a small structure, and then squeezed, breaking it into bits. Sora let out a scream, and leaned over to vomit blood across the debris cluttered floor. Yoru shouted his name, turning to run for him, but a soft chuckle from Szayel made him turn once more.
"My, my, you're reacting that much and I've only crushed his stomach. I wonder what you will do if I go for more important things…" he reached into the doll again, and Yoru felt something snap within him.
"NO!"
Szayel was forced to dodge as the orange-head was suddenly in front of him, pink hair fluttering to the ground as Kogasu roared past his head. The Espada's eyes were a little wide, and he stumbled backwards into Kit's attack. He lashed out in a way that was unlike him, and Kit hit the wall with a crack, slumping to the floor.
The Espada frowned, reaching into the Sora doll once more. "I believe it's time to end this and move onto you, boy. You're taking all of the fun out of this."
Yoru's eyes flickered to the object that the Espada pulled out and he felt his heart stop.
Chink.
A chip fluttered down off the object, and Yoru turned just in time to see Sora's eyes go white, blood exploding from his lips as his body fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"Yo-ru…"
Thud.
"SORA!"
The piece that Szayel held in his hands was the heart.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Alright, to explain things a tad... Szayel has many ways to regenerate himself, as he stated in the chapter. In my universe here, he was 'killed' by a group of shinigami from Ichigo's squad and not Kurotsuchi Mayuri. In this respect, he was able to use one of these methods to come back because they didn't know of all of his abilities. He allowed them to believe that he was dead in order to concoct this sort of revenge with the virus. As for why Sora doesn't seem to fight back, the first blow from Szayel on the forehead basically knocks him unconsious; he's got a pretty serious concussion. Until the next chapter....
