Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua
The throbbing began to ebb away slowly, the harsh pain fading with the darkness.
Soi Fon opened her eyes to see a dimly lit patch of stalactites, each of the dripstones jabbing down from the ceiling above her. She sat up with a panicked start, only to fall back down to the hard ground with a dull thud. Her head whirled as an immense pain rocketed through her mind, practically pinning her to the ground.
What happened? she thought as her brain thumped painfully against the inside of her skull. Where the hell am I?
She sat back up, much slower this time. Her head still ached ferociously, but she was able to maintain her upright position. She looked back and forth, noting the rock walls on either side of her. She squinted against a spot of harsher light, her mind immediately recognizing it as the mouth of the cave.
So, she thought with a small wince, I'm in a cave. How in the hell did I get here?
She looked around a bit more, noticing that a small pool of water had formed in the corner of this subterranean hovel. She crawled over to the puddle and lowered her small palms into the water, cupping her hands together before bringing them up to her mouth. Slowly she drank from it, the mineral rich water quenching her burning throat. She attempted to stand, but stopped halfway through straightening her legs; the movements caused a bolt of pain to race through her head.
Hazily, Soi Fon remembered the explosion. She remembered falling through the desert floor of Hueco Mundo. She remembered Captain Abarai's body falling through the waves of sand next to her, his form dropping like a limp ragdoll before vanishing behind a wall of plummeting earth. She remembered that her sword had—
She reached her arm back swiftly, grasping hopefully for her zanpakuto, but it was gone. It had somehow become lost in the blast, the tether that had held it on to the small of her back ripping at the force of the explosion. Soi Fon cursed silently. They had fallen right into a well placed trap, after becoming embarrassingly lost. This mission wasn't going well at all. Now she was alone and in a cave, lost underneath the ground of the hollow world.
Soi Fon stepped up to the mouth of the cave, looking out over the great Menos Forest. She looked down, noticing that she was several hundred feet above the fog covered ground, the mouth of the cavern located within one of the numerous pillars that reached up to for the surface. Her eyes began trailing down the massive crystalline column that extended beneath her feet. The white post continued beyond her field of vision, falling downwards into the fog before disappearing altogether.
A sudden sound snapped her to attention, the sound of scuttling rocks outside echoing deeply within her cavernous hideaway. Soi Fon once more reached for her sword in an absent-minded movement; her shinigami instincts were too well honed for her not to immediately grasp for her sword. Upon recalling that it was gone, Soi began summoning energy to her limbs, enveloping her hands and feet within powerful fields of kidou. Her shunkou had long since been perfected, and she was more than ready to demolish whatever opponent was approaching her.
The green-haired, goggle-headed Kuna Mashiro popped her face up from the bottom of the cavern's mouth, her face the definition of joy.
"Soi Fon!" the girl practically yelled, interrupting the serenity of cavern that the second division captain had been experiencing. "You're awake!"
Soi Fon's aching head almost split in half at the piercing voice, the vibrant green hair of the Vizard girl making her eyes squint. Soi was preparing a rude comment to sling at the Vizard when the girl flipped herself up and into the cave, Suzumebachi in her hands. Soi Fon's eyes widened at the sight of her zanpakuto, relief flooding her veins as she looked upon the blue and gold scabbard of her sword.
While the separation from her zanpakuto had, for the moment, been little more than a bother, Soi Fon was happy to see Suzumebachi unharmed. After all, the sword was spiritually attached to her; if he'd been destroyed, the consequences would have been far graver than 'she'd have been defenseless.' Soi Fon was more than capable of defending herself without a blade. As the commander of the Secret Mobile Operations, Soi Fon's hand-to-hand combat skills were unrivalled in Soul Society. But the destruction of her zanpakuto would have limited her spiritual capabilities as a whole; for the past two hundred years, Soi Fon and Suzumebachi had been inseparable. If the blade had vanished, Soi Fon might have become completely incapacitated— such was the connection between the captain and her blade.
Fortunately, the young Vizard had arrived with the zanpakuto, the ditzy smile showing none of the concern that Soi Fon had felt within herself.
"Mashiro," Soi Fon said swiftly, her voice ringing out in stark difference to the silence of the cave. "Where is everyone?"
"I dunno," the girl said with a childish shrug, handing over Soi Fon's zanpakuto. The hand-off of blades was as natural as breathing, both of the women outwardly disregarding the spiritual joy that exploded from both Soi Fon and the sword. "I felt Kensei a while ago, but it's been a bit since then."
"How long have I been asleep?" Soi Fon asked impatiently, her brow furrowing. She had no time for Mashiro's girlish demeanor. "How long since the explosion?"
"Oh, I don't know," Mashiro responded, touching a finger to her lower lip. "Maybe an hour. I found you pretty quickly—"
A massive roar suddenly bellowed from outside the cavern. Soi Fon rushed to the mouth of the cave, her eyes immediately widening at what she saw. Before her stood at least a dozen Gillian-level Menos, their large white faces towering above the layer of fog that enveloped the ground. She watched in stunned silence as the huge beasts continued to move in lumbering unison, their black bodies bumping against each other as they marched through the darkness.
"Gillian," Soi Fon hissed through her teeth, Mashiro whistling in awe by her side.
Soi Fon had always heard about the Menos Forest; all information about the mass of Hollows that gathered beneath the surface of Hueco Mundo was required reading for any Shinigami in the academy. While most of the students would never, ever see this foul place with their own eyes, it was nonetheless an important location for the evolution of Hollows. This was where every Menos Grande-level Hollow was born.
This was the nursery of the Vasto Lorde.
One of the Gillian in the line suddenly stopped, the one directly behind him bumping into it with an inattentive stupidity. The lead monster maintained its inactivity for a few moments before opening its ghastly smile and snapping a red cero down into the fog-covered ground. Within a second or two, the rest of the line followed suit, each of the massive Hollows blasting towards the ground with their enormous crimson rays.
Mashiro suddenly unsheathed her sword and stepped farther towards the mouth of the cavern, causing Soi Fon to blink in surprise.
"Mashiro," she said sternly, her hand reaching out to the girl that had saved her life earlier, her finger tips touching the Vizard's forearm. "Where are you going?"
"To get Kensei," the Vizard said quickly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Can't you feel them down there?"
Soi Fon suddenly could, the wave of previously unnoticed reiatsu hitting her with vigor. While she couldn't readily recognize Muguruma's spiritual signature, she immediately identified Lieutenant Kuchiki and Renji's. She searched out further, looking for Grimmjow, but he wasn't with them. A moment of panic descended upon her, but it was quickly extinguished. She needn't worry about the Arrancar.
If anyone was going to survive the forest, it would be him.
Soi Fon unsheathed her zanpakuto and leapt out of the cave's mouth, following the excited Kuna Mashiro towards the battle.
Renji had also woken up in a strange place, albeit one that was far more unnerving than Soi Fon's cave.
As his vision had cleared, Abarai Renji had found himself dangling over the shoulder of a running Muguruma Kensei. At first he'd been very confused. But as the seconds ticked by and he became more aware of his surroundings, it had been unmistakable; the boots, the cargo pants, the gloved hands wrapped around his waist.
Indeed Renji had woken up in an unpleasant manner.
After a brief yelling match, Kensei had placed the Shinigami captain down on his own feet, Renji stumbling slightly before regaining his composure. Rukia had shown up at that moment, looking relatively unharmed save for a shallow gash in her forehead. Concern had immediately swelled within him, but he'd suppressed it. Rukia was a lieutenant, and he wanted to treat her like one. He owed her that much. So Renji had simply planned to ask how she was.
That was when the Gillian appeared.
Now they were dodging in and out of crevices and behind the massive pillars of crystal in avoidance of the equally massive Hollows that were attacking them.
"Howl, Zabimaru!" Renji roared out the command, whipping his blade forward with deadly accuracy and unrivalled ferocity. The extending weapon flew upwards and sliced off the long nose of one of the masked menaces. With a swift flick of his wrist, Renji brought Zabimaru's spiked edge back down into the white mask of the Menos. The zanpakuto passed through the creature's face like a fin through water, the giant Hollow disintegrating as it was purified.
A Gillian-level Menos was nothing that a captain should have any trouble in killing. They were slow-moving and possessed almost no intelligence. For all intents and purposes, a captain-class Shinigami should be able to vanquish one without breaking a sweat. But a Gillian was impossibly strong, their massive bodies resilient to almost all forms of attack. Unless a powerful strike to the face was delivered, they would continue on unharmed. And their cero, if one were to be caught off guard, could easily kill a high-level shinigami.
And with the three of them surrounded by a dozen of the towering monsters, being blindsided by a giant cero was a great possibility.
As the first of the Menos fell, Renji leapt up into the air and towards the gaping maw of another. He reared his arm back as this second Gillian began to charge a cero from its widened jaws. Renji slung his arm forward then, his whip-like zanpakuto streaking forward to cut the beast's ivory mask. The blade sunk into the black cheek of the monster, the sharp spikes of Zabimarusticking into its putrid flesh for a few moments before ripping through and out the other side.
The Hollow's mouth split open from cheek to cheek, the top half of its head flipping completely over and hanging limply against the back of its thick neck. The cero it had been charging began to go crazy under this sudden lack of control, the ball of energy spurting forth jagged beams of red light in every direction. Some of the blasts began to rip through the pillars that stretched up into the darkness, causing the crystalline structures to snap away, while some of them pierced through the slow-moving bodies of the surrounding Gillian.
Eventually the attack shot out, the crimson beam blasting upwards before vanishing into the darkness of the endless ceiling above. The black titan began to fall, disintegrating before it even hit the ground. Several of the other Menos began to stagger off, the blast from their companion having forced them into a dim-witted retreat.
"Like I would let you get away!" Renji hollered out as he leapt after another opponent, seeing that Rukia had felled another from the corner of his eyes. As he reared back to attack this retreating target, his much smaller body emerging above the black shoulder of his retreating enemy, Renji gasped in shock.
Another Gillian was charging forward, headed directly at him.
They tricked me? He thought incredulously as he leapt back in the air, there's no way! He threw his arms over his face, waiting for the surprise attack to come. But it never did. Instead this second Menos lunged forward and sank its teeth into the black body of its companion. As the first of the Gillian began to howl in anguish, Renji noticed the difference in the masks between the two Hollows. Instead of the conical nose and black eyes typical of the Gillians, this beast had a single empty eye socket in the middle of its otherwise featureless mask.
Renji began to realize, with a creeping horror, that he was witnessing the evolution of a would-be Adjuchas. He knew that this sort of cannibalism between the mindless Gillian could only indicate the conscious thought of a giant Menos Grande that had been blessed with retaining its individuality.
Watching the monster feed upon its brethren with a shocked fascination, Renji didn't see the incoming cero until it had already landed.
The wind was almost blown out of his lungs by the sheer force of the blow near him, the brilliant light of the attack causing him to squint his eyes against the brightness. As the red light vanished, he was shocked to see Kuna Mashiro floating across from him, her palms extended from the massive cero she'd just fired. The two giants fell together, each one missing their head. She looked over and smiled widely at him, her deadly hand waving casually.
"We found you!"
Renji could only stand with his mouth agape at the cheery girl. Was that a cero she just fired? He'd had no idea that a Vizard could shoot a cero.
Could Ichigo do that, too?
Renji shuddered slightly with the thought. He hated the idea of his friend being so close to a hollow; it had never seemed normal to him, it had never seemed right. The shooting of a cero only made it worse.
"Abarai!" a woman's voice yelled out at him.
Renji turned to look for her, but found himself face to face with another Gillian. The massive creature had snuck up on him, its mouth now a mere yard away from his body. Renji leapt back in surprise, but the beast was still too close for him to launch a counter-attack.
Soi Fon suddenly appeared in front of him, the Menos Grande falling under an attack that had been far too quick for Renji to see.
"You should learn to better watch your surroundings," Soi Fon said in her stern manner, "Captain Abarai."
He nodded his head quickly, banishing the thought of uttering a "thank you." He knew that Soi Fon would simply shrug it off. Sometimes the second division's captain could be a brick wall.
Renji's eyes scanned the ground as he lowered himself, his body descending as the last of the giant Hollows fell. He did not see Grimmjow with them. And from the look on Soi Fon's face, she had no idea where he was either. She didn't look too concerned, all things considered. Renji had a feeling that Grimmjow would be able to hold his own; after all, he was a hollow in the hollow world. He was almost certain that Soi Fon shared this belief.
The five of them quickly headed deeper into the forest, hoping to find a way out.
Grimmjow walked into the sandy clearing, his body moving silently between the crystalline towers of the Menos Forest. Out of any area in Hueco Mundo that Grimmjow knew like the back of his hand, it was this place. He'd spent centuries here, deep under the ground, fighting for his life, feeding in the darkness.
As he approached the center of the open space, he realized that he wasn't too far behind the rest of his group.
The explosive trap on the surface had actually flung Grimmjow up and outwards, his body landing well away from the gaping sinkhole in the sands of Hueco Mundo's surface. But he wasn't about to allow the rest of his team to fall into those abysmal caverns. He wasn't going to let Soi Fon vanish below the surface of the hollow world.
Grimmjow had dived head-first into the rapidly closing chasm, falling through the torrents of sand that plummeted down to the darkness below. He could sense Soi Fon's reiatsu, but his mind was disoriented in the middle of this pitfall, blackening all sense of direction.
When he'd emerged out into the open, his body hovering a thousand feet above the dark and hazy ground, he'd all but lost track of the people in his team. He'd closed his eyes, using hispesquisa to search for their otherwise absent reiatsu. He could see the small blue flames of their spiritual energies, but the abundance of Menos Grande in the cavernous forest below had prevented him from locating them.
He'd lowered himself to the sandy floor and waited, his mind constantly searching for some sort of evidence as to their locations. This suspension had only lasted an hour before he'd felt the surge of power from a number of Gillian. Grimmjow had rushed off in that direction immediately, but it had been much further away then he'd initially thought. He could see the red light from a dozen or so cero, the red beams eerily lighting up the dark canopy above.
Now he stood in the empty battlefield, his outstretched hand over one of the craters formed by a cero, feeling the warmth that was rising up from the hole in the ground. Grimmjow looked up and closed his eyes once more, hoping that his pesquisa would be able to locate them now. If they were still nearby, he shouldn't have any sort of problem in finding them.
"Well now," a deep voice rang out from behind him, breaking his concentration from the search. "I haven't seen an Arrancar down here in ages."
Grimmjow turned around and gasped in shock, his eyes widening at the man in front of him. The orange hair, the visor, the white clothing, the pair of daggers held in each hand… Grimmjow knew this man.
"Gantenbainne," Grimmjow hissed through his teeth, his eyelids narrowing. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you think I'm doing here?" Gantenbainne Mosqueda replied casually, lifting up the plate of bone that covered his eyes. "I'm here to kill you."
Grimmjow stood still for a moment, his eyes widening in shock before his mouth turned up in a grin. He then exploded into vicious laughter, his jaws spreading enough to separate the two ivory mandibles on the side of his face.
"You are here to kill me?" Grimmjow asked between bouts of derisive and hateful laughter. "I don't know what's happened in the past twenty-five years that makes you think that a fucking Privaron could—"
The orange-headed Arrancar vanished suddenly, the buzz of his sonído causing the words to stick in Grimmjow's throat. A foot quickly appeared out of nothingness, planting itself harshly into Grimmjow's gut. The blue-haired Arrancar was sent flying backwards, crashing through a crystalline column before skidding through the sand on his side.
Gantenbainne was quickly upon him, the double pronged punching-daggers in his hands aiming for his fallen form. Grimmjow quickly vanished into a burst of sonído, leaving his opponent to slam his fists into the sand. Grimmjow soon reappeared, throwing his own fist downward at his hunched-over enemy. Gantenbainne turned and caught the punch in his hand, causing Grimmjow to once more widen his eyes in surprise.
The privaron Espada smirked before punching his fellow Arrancar in the chest, to again sending him flying.
"What's happened in the past twenty-five years," Gantenbainne said confidently, answering Grimmjow's unfinished question. "Is that you've become no match for the likes of the new Espada."
"The new Espada, huh?" Grimmjow said with a groan, pushing himself up from the sand. "That doesn't mean a fuckin' thing! Just 'cause you got a promotion doesn't mean you can even touch me!"
Grimmjow rushed at Gantenbainne, whipping his zanpakuto out of its scabbard and slicing it outwards at his opponent. The blade slipped silently through the empty air, the Espada having vanished once more.
What the fuck?
"Gantenbainne Mosqueda," came the voice from behind. "Décimo Espada."
Grimmjow spun around quickly, barely blocking the deadly punch with his sword. He groaned slightly as Gantenbainne looked at him impassively. The Espada's second fist swung outwards, but Grimmjow vanished in a burst of sonído, causing the other Arrancar to punch through thin air. Grimmjow reappeared above his opponent and immediately fired a red bala down at him. The attack landed and Grimmjowrocketed himself upwards, leaving his opponent to follow him upwards into the darkened sky.
What the fuck was that?
He'd fought against Gantenbainne Mosqueda before, back when Grimmjow had first been turned into an Arrancar. Aizen had immediately promoted Grimmjow above the afro-headed Espada, which caused him to be challenged for the Sexta spot. When they'd sparred against each other all those years ago, Grimmjow hadn't even broken a sweat while defeating this man. Now he was retreating from him.
Grimmjow stopped ascending and looked down, his eyes scanning the fog for any sign of his opponent. He wasn't about to let this disco-headed freak lay another finger on him; this fight was going to end with Grimmjow as the victor. Gantenbainne wanted some vengeance? Bullshit.
Grimmjow was going to turn this fucker inside out.
A red beam suddenly erupted upwards from the fog, the cero almost striking him from out of the air. Grimmjow could feel the heat on his skin as the blast flew past him, the powerful attack a blazing by mere inches away from his body.
Below him, rising slowly from the mist of the Menos Forest's floor, was the released form of Gantenbainne Mosqueda. The Espada was soon hovering across from Grimmjow, his bulbous and boney shell-like armor covering his arms and shoulders, a long white tail hanging behind his legs. He smirked at Grimmjow once more before rushing at him again, his fists flying out in rapid succession.
Grimmjow was being driven back as his blade blocked against each of the incoming strikes. His lips curved up into an aggravated snarl as he watched each punch for an opening, for just one chance to land a hit on the attacking Espada.
"You will soon see," Gantenbainne yelled amidst the attacks, "the difference in our powers now. You will see the strength that the Hogyouku has given to me!"
The Hogyouku? Grimmjow thought with shock. So they do have it…
Gin lied to me.
An ill-timed punch was thrown, allowing Grimmjow to spin his way outside the stream of attacks. He slashed out with his sword, Pantera's sharp edge cutting a trench through the white armored plating of Mosqueda's Dragra. The released Arrancar spun in surprise, blood spilling from the freshly opened gash running up his left arm to his shoulder. As he turned his body towards his attacker, a bright ball of energy began to envelope his right fist. A massive blast of golden light shot out from his hand, the dragon-shaped attack shooting out towards Grimmjow.
But it hit nothing.
"You think that your little power-boost makes you better than me?" Grimmjow called out from above, his mouth widening into a cruel smirk as he looked down into the eyes of the surprised Espada. "Let me show you exactly why…"
Grimmjow vanished from sight, Gantenbainne gasping in shock at the pure speed of his opponent. He was still looking up, his face pointed at the black canopy of the Menos Forest, when Grimmjow reappeared directly in front of him and grabbed at the white lapels of his jacket, a fully charged cero whirling in his open palm.
"…you'll always be a Privaron Espada!"
Gantenbainne Mosqueda could only utter a small groan as the crimson blast slammed into his chest and sent him plummeting down into the fog of the forest floor. Grimmjow laughed menacingly before propelling himself downwards, following the trail of smoke that his fallen opponent was leaving through the air. He wasn't about to let the cocky son of a bitch escape that easily.
Grimmjow Jaggerjaques wasn't done with him yet.
Halibel was in a foul mood.
Their planning had all been working up until this moment; when the Shinigami came to attack them, they would make their big move. Twenty years of raising an army had come down to the next few days. Their revenge would soon be at hand.
And Stark had vanished.
He hadn't even been around when his little golden-girl had taken her Fracción to the transient dimension. The Primera Espada had been missing all damn day, and Halibel was getting sick of it. He simply said that he'd gotten an idea and then left. If this had been the first time the lazy Arrancar had run off on a whim during something important, Halibel wouldn't mind so much.
But it wasn't.
When they'd prepared to reclaim the palace of Las Noches, Stark had vanished the night before, leaving her and their two female Fracción to annihilate an entire horde of Hollows. It hadn't been much of an issue; most of the squatting beast had retreated at the mere sight of the trio of Arrancar women. But it was still a matter of principle.
Halibel was, after all, the one with the Hogyouku.
She walked along the halls of Las Noches, ignoring the Arrancar she began passing. The majority of these numeros had been created under her hand; they knew better than to cross theTerceira when she was in a foul mood. She continued along until she reached one of the massive sets of white doors that led out into the artificial desert. She opened them and stepped out into the artificial sunlight.
Or what was left of it.
They were still trying to repair the massive, gaping hole that idiot Ulquiorra had blown in the dome. Halibel had no idea what he had been thinking when he'd done that; she wondered if the boy held any idea how lucky he was that he'd been captured by the Shinigami. If he had still been in Hueco Mundo when Aizen had returned, he would have been crushed. Vasto Lorde or not, Aizen Sousuke had been livid at the destruction of his great castle.
And Aizen Sousuke did not get livid often.
It didn't matter now. They'd all learned to live with the after effects of the war. The Shinigami had sent numerous missions into Hueco Mundo, each one causing more destruction to the palace, each one delaying the beginning of her plan to amass an army further and further. They had been such an irritation; it had taken all her strength and willpower not to simply attack them whenever they'd return.
Although they did kill Barragan during their initial siege, and for that she was grateful.
"Halibel?"
She turned around to see Tesla emerge from the interior of the palace. The Quinta Espada had barely survived the war— even the Shinigami had assumed he was dead when they'd captured Grimmjow Jaggerjaques, leaving his bleeding body to rot in the sand. But somehow Nnoitra Jiruga's blonde-haired Fracción had crawled away from his battle against the Shinigami, and had kept himself alive for seven years. And he'd gotten stronger. Outside of Apache and Lilinette, he had been the first of the Arrancar to undergo a second exposing to the Hogyouku.
And then he'd gotten much stronger.
Halibel arched a mental eyebrow at his appearance behind her; Tesla was normally quiet and reserved, choosing only to speak when it was necessary. Which meant that the young man had more than likely come to her with bad news.
"Tesla," Halibel said coolly, turning her covered face back to the fake desert. "What is it?"
"I'm afraid to report," he said, his voice calmly dangling on the border between melancholy and monotony, "that the Décimo Espada, Gantenbainne Mosqueda, has left the borders of Las Noches, and has entered the Menos Forest. I believe that he is attempting to engage the attack force sent by Seireitei."
Halibel sighed. While all of the Espada were considered to be the upper echelons of Hueco Mundo, Stark and Halibel were undeniably its leaders. Orders given by the two them were expected to be obeyed. Gantenbainne Mosqueda had always had trouble following their authority, so this transgression did not surprise her in the least. Not to mention, the former Privaron Espada had bad blood with one Soul Society's attackers.
It was, however, an extremely irritating turn of events. She did not want to lose an Espada because of an idiotic personal vendetta.
"It's fine, Tesla," she said, not taking her eyes off of the sand dunes ahead of her. "If that fool manages to get himself killed, so be it. His loss will have little bearing on the outcome of our plans."
Tesla bowed swiftly and turned, stiffly walking back the way he had come. She didn't turn to watch him leave. She stood alone in the ruined deserts of Las Noches, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared out at nothing, her head mired in contemplation.
Once more Halibel sighed in exasperation, wishing that Stark had at least told her where he had gone.
author's note
"like i'd let you get away!" renji's such a doofus. lol. i hate when they say shit like that, but damn if he doesn't say it a lot.
tesla and gantenbainne and apache and lilinette; it's like an arrancar family reunion up in here.
still gonna have to invent lilinette's fraccion, tho. you guys will have to give me a minute on the next chapter; fleshing out arrancar is tedious.
you could always REVIEW while you wait. i would love it. i swear.
and huge props to my 100+ word reviewers. ya'll know who you are (del, lib). lufs yas.
if you haven't noticed, i'm sort of doing an "epcot-esque round the world" with the names of the chapters lately. so far we've had polish, french, and now latin. five bucks if anyone can guess the language of the next chapter. (btw, the translation for this chapter title is "with the dead in a dead language")
and again, please review. i just typed up 5700 words for you guys. drop me a couple to let me know you liked em?
rollin' down the street (sippin' on gin and juice),
jta
catacombae (cum mortuis in lingua mortua) - modest mussorgsky (again)
