Act II Scene II: Scissors
"Oh, Ishida-kun!" The Octava's voice interrupted Uryuu's well deserved relaxation. He'd been resting after the previous day's gauntlet, and was no longer thoroughly exhausted. It seemed that while he'd been sleeping the arrancar had healed all the damage the Quincy had sustained.
"Yeah?" Uryuu took a moment to gather his mental faculties. "You said that you'd be testing me again today, right?"
"I did, in fact. Having such an attentive student is quite the refreshing change. The basic procedure will be the same. I've thrown in an itty bitty plot twist this time, however." The scientist held his thumb and index finger apart slightly and laughed lightly. "Variety is the spice of life, and all that. Well, you know the drill; get ready and then do what you did yesterday."
"Alright," said Uryuu. Truthfully, he couldn't wait for the chance to kill more Hollows. Presumably, if he was injured badly, Szayelaporro would rescue him, if only to preserve his testing subject. While Uryuu wasn't exactly comfortable with being seen merely as a specimen, the not dying part sounded pretty good.
Uryuu ate and dressed significantly quicker than he had previously, forgoing a shower. He was spurred on by the prospect of destroying Hollows. The relief from his eternal boredom was just an added bonus. Upon finishing, the boy walked to the space in the wall where the door had appeared the day before.
"My, my. Eager aren't we?" The Espada sounded highly amused. Uryuu chose to ignore his goading. After a moment, the panel slid open and Uryuu stepped through. Without hesitation, the Quincy strode down the corridor and into the ending room. The table with all of his equipment was the same as before, every item in pristine condition.
What caught Uryuu's attention this time was a large white cube adjacent to the table. It hadn't been there last time. Was this what the researcher had meant by 'plot twist', the boy wondered. He curiously approached the object, and was about to touch it.
The Octava's voice halted the movement of his hand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Good children don't peek at their presents. Patience is a virtue, and I'm certain you're the virtuous type. Play with the toys I've already given you."
Uryuu grimaced at how used to the scientist's way of speaking he'd become. With restraint, he turned away from the intriguing cube and set about equipping himself. Once he was fully uniformed, the Quincy returned to the mysterious, large white object. "I'm ready," he said.
The Quincy watched as the sides of the cube melted into the floor, revealing their contents. Uryuu recognized the newly uncovered body as someone he new. "Keigo! What are you playing at, Szayelaporro?"
"Calm down, your behavior is unseemly. I haven't done this vermin any harm, he's merely unconscious. Here are the rules of the game. You're job is simply to stay alive, you can keep that shaved monkey alive as well should you so desire it. The same environmental conditions are in place. While it is in my interest to keep you alive, the same cannot be said concerning your callow companion. I will allow you a moment to verify his identity, then we will begin."
First, Uryuu checked for Keigo's weaker spiritual presence. It was there, but in a prior experiment the Octava had shown his capability to replicate reiatsu. However, the illusions had always been flawed because they were immaterial. The Quincy reached out and poked the other boy's arm. He was met with warm, solid flesh. As far as Uryuu was concerned, that was proof enough that Keigo was real. The archer certainly didn't believe that the Octava Espada was above kidnapping, and so the idea was undoubtedly conceivable. "Damn that bastard," the Quincy muttered.
Uryuu hoisted the unconscious boy's dead weight onto his shoulders and entered the labyrinth the way he had before. Moving through the wall was more difficult this time, what with lugging the extra mass. The Quincy would have stayed out of the underground maze if he wasn't certain that the scientist would have gotten him into the tunnels one way or another. Uryuu preferred to do things with as much control as he could.
The Quincy was determined to stay away from the arena as long as he had Keigo with him. The archer wasn't about to let anyone else get hurt because of him. He was determined to protect the other. Having said that, Uryuu knew it would be difficult, but he would prolong the arrival of danger for as long as he possibly could.
The archer and his cargo continued traversing the corridors for nearly half an hour before Uryuu heard a grunt and felt his passenger stirring. The Quincy placed the student he'd been hauling around down on the floor. "Hey, Keigo, wake up." Uryuu poked the boy in the forehead.
The brown-haired boy roused himself and looked at the Quincy groggily. "What're you doing here, Uryuu? Why are you wearing that funny costume and a silly cape? Do you know that weird guy? I bet he's some kind of pervert!"
Uryuu could feel a headache coming on. At least Keigo couldn't talk when he was unconscious. "This cape isn't silly, it's cool! And I'm not wearing a costume. That 'weird guy' is a scientist and he's captured us. Stay behind me and don't get separated. It's dangerous here." When he finished, he adjusted his glasses and turned to face the other boy.
Alas, the other was long gone. "Woah! What's this do?" Uryuu heard Keigo distantly and ran in the direction of the student's voice. That idiot was going to get himself killed. The Quincy increased his pace when the other was in sight. Keigo was pulling on a handle imbedded in the wall. "I found a secret door!"
The Quincy panicked, remember the scientist's warning about traps. "Get away from that now!" It was too late, as tendrils of electricity snaked out from the protruding handle, wrapping around Keigo. Uryuu could smell burning and watched as the student's body spasmed. Thinking fast, the archer shot the handle off the wall, ending the shocks.
Uryuu ran over to assess the damage. Keigo hadn't been exposed to the electricity for long, but some rather nasty burns had appeared across his body. He was crying and seemed to be having trouble catching his breath. Upon closer inspection, the Quincy noticed that Keigo's hand seemed to be broken due to the violent muscle contractions he'd experienced.
"Owah, tha rirry huhth." The boy's tongue was swollen, and talking hurt. Uryuu helped Keigo stand. Thankfully, though in immense pain, it seemed the student could still walk with support.
"Just nod yes or no. Can you do that?" Uryuu directed the question at Keigo. He received a nod and a wince from the boy in return. The Quincy noticed the other still hadn't established a regular breathing pattern. "Does your chest hurt?" Keigo nodded again, tearfully. Shit. The boy could have internal damage then. It was good that Uryuu had stopped the flow of electricity before the consequences were worse.
The Quincy glared at the ceiling. He could easily imagine the Octava laughing at his distress and Keigo's pain. "Bastard! You're getting off on this aren't you?" He received no comment.
They walked for awhile longer, at a much slower pace than before. Uryuu couldn't even enjoy the blessed silence, what with how it had come to be. Keigo was wheezing the entire time, with the occasional pained whine. The student had an anguished expression plastered across his charred features. The Quincy felt pity for the other and a sense of overwhelming guilt. He had failed to keep the other unscathed, but he would protect his classmate's life with everything he had.
At the end of the hallway they were walking down, Uryuu recognized the colosseum type room from before. He quickly veered away. After another period of walking, it became quite clear that the scientist wanted them to enter the arena. Every tunnel the Quincy and his injured charge turned down somehow led back to the large room. But Uryuu, remembering his earlier defeat, refused to put Keigo in such a dangerous situation.
Unfortunately for the duo, it seemed that the labyrinth had other plans. Even in his grievious condition, Keigo still managed to cause trouble. The student stumbled upon a tile, which glowed briefly. In quick succession, the floor fell away and the Quincy and the brown-haired boy began Flling for an indeterminate amount of time. They were both dumped unceremoniously to the floor. Uryuu's eyes widened when he saw they were in the colosseum space. "Damn it," he hissed. This was bad.
As if on cue, dozens of Hollows entered the room. With Keigo here, the archer's mobility was greatly reduced. Uryuu wouldn't let that stop him. He'd already allowed the other boy to get far more hurt than acceptable. He could do this.
The Quincy launched into action, fully on the offensive. He wouldn't allow any of the monsters to come near his classmate, who was quivering in fear. Uryuu cursed the Octava for involving innocent people, resulting in physical and psychological trauma. The sadist was truly maniacal.
Uryuu's rapid firing rate and long range weaponry was proving to be a great advantage. He let his anger and resolve consume him, he would not lose for the sake of his Quincy Pride. The Quincy fought viciously, tearing Hollows apart like a hurricane. His arrows ripped through the monsters as if they were made of rice paper. Uryuu was a blur of motion and light.
The Quincy was awe inspiring as he killed Hollow after Hollow, fueled by his drive to protect, his thirst for justice. The slaughter continued, Uryuu hardly noticing any injuries. He was a beast, an animal, surviving on base instinct, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Despite his best efforts, there were so many Hollows, and they just kept coming and coming. One slipped past him, closing its jaws around Keigo's prone torso. As the Hollow's teeth dug in, crimson blood splashed across its mask and the student screamed pitifully. The Quincy's head whipped around, and he tore the attacking Hollow to shreds with a barrage of arrows. Keigo was still alive, but several smaller Hollows had managed to latch onto Uryuu like leaches during his distraction.
At this range, his arrows were useless. The Quincy pulled one of his Seele Schneiders from his belt. He hacked and slashed his way through the Hollows around him. It was a massacre. He quickly reverted back to the use of his bow, shooting at the monsters closing in as a deterrant. The room started to shake, and a giant arrancar entered the room, standing several stories tall. Deciding that it posed the largest threat, Uryuu immediately aimed for the face, hoping to catch the arrancar by surprise.
To the Quincy's shock, the hulking monster took very little damage. He quickly changed tactics. He hated to lose one of the Seele Schneiders, but it seemed the circumstances were forcing his hand. He took out the arrancar with an arrow placed directly between the eyes, causing the massive beast to fall to the ground with a roar, crushing many of the Hollows below.
After what felt like moments to Uryuu but was in reality many hours, it seemed the tide of the battle was turning. Uryuu seemed to be winning, and there were very few Hollows left. The Quincy's energy was finally flagging, and he was going all out for the home stretch. Finally, the last Hollow fell.
Before the Quincy could release the tension in his body, a new wave of Hollows entered. However, unlike before, each was an arrancar bearing the signs of being members of the Octava's Fracción. Uryuu prepared to attack, but a mammoth hand broke through the floor, seizing Uryuu. The arrancar threw the Quincy into a wall, his skull smacking against the rock. With blurred vision, the archer could see Keigo. He couldn't blackout. He had to save his classmate. Uryuu lost the fight against the darkness, and his body slumped to the ground.
Szayel was quite pleased with the results of his latest experiment. His specimen's Reiryoku had flared when faced with preserving the life of another. Not only that, but his Quincy's stamina, pain tolerance, and combat skill had increased under the pressure. His threshold of expenditure had risen as well. Emotional changes such as anger had also affected his subject's Reiryoku and reishi control. His theory had so far proved to be supported by the evidence. The next tier of the experiment was ready to be investigated. Szayel needed to see how his Quincy formed attachments, but first he'd have to find a viable candidate for his subject to become attached to. He'd work on that after tending to his Ishida-kun's injuries.
After the boy had passed out, Szayel had ordered Lumina and Verona to return his Quincy and that stolid human to the laboratory. His Ishida-kun had several surface wounds, but nothing too serious. His Quincy's brain showed no signs of trauma, and the worst his subject might suffer was a slight concussion. The idiot human on the other hand, was a different story. The imbecile's hand was obviously broken, he had severe burns throughout his body, lung damage, and deep puncture wounds on his abdomen. The cretin was not only stupid, but one of the most uninteresting beings that Szayel had come across.
The plebeian wasn't worthy of being killed and dissected by the great Szayelaporro Granz. The genius chose to send one of his Fracción to dump the human in the gutter where he'd found him. Szayel didn't need that trash anywhere near his laboratory.
When Uryuu clawed his way to consciousness again, his first thought was concern for Keigo. He had a throbbing headache, which was aggravated when he looked around frantically for his classmate. The Quincy was back in his futon, but Keigo was nowhere to be found.
"Szayelaporro! Where's Keigo? You better not have killed him! You've hurt him enough!" The boy glowered at the ceiling. If his classmate was dead, Uryuu would never forgive the Espada. He was already furious.
The Octava appeared, looking very satisfied with himself. "You're worried about that dirty piece of scum? How noble of you, that's adorable. He's fine, I returned him exactly where I got him from. Funny, I pegged you as the type who enjoyed intelligent company, I didn't think you'd mind if he got a bit scratched up, my bad. And I wouldn't yell if I were you, it'll hurt your pretty little head."
Uryuu calmed down slightly at the news, but his ire hadn't left. Neither had his guilt. "Do what you want with me, but don't bring others into this." He spoke softly.
The arrancar smiled disconcertingly at him. "Don't fret little one. I have all the data I need right now; we won't be doing this again, darling. I'll let you rest now, Daddy has business to attend to." The Octava wriggled his fingers and melted away.
Uryuu's headache had gotten worse.
Like any good scientist, Szayel was problem solving. He needed to study the progression of a relationship involving his subject. In the best case scenario, it would include acquaintanceship, friendship, and a romantic relationship. In Szayel's theory, the stronger the bond, the stronger the influence on the Reiryoku.
The issue was that the researcher wasn't sure of his Ishida-kun's inclinations. He had thought for sure that the boy had feelings for Aizen's redheaded whore, but the boy had rejected her advances. Not only that, but his subject seemed adamant on not dragging anybody else into this. Honestly, his Ishida-kun was so high maintenance. More importantly, Szayel wasn't certain that he would be willing to share his precious experiment with anyone.
Well, the solution would come. It always did, Szayel was the greatest mind to ever live, after all.
A/N: Himorin and Booktiger22 continue to be angels, so dedication to them. Go team. So yeah. Is Keigo alive? Choose your own adventure, it's open ended. (For me, personally it's a no.) Smut next time to break things up. Yeah, that's it. Creo que tal vez voy a escribir este parte completamente en Español algún vez, porque muchos no leen. Eh.
Himorin:I strive for realism (when writing about fictional characters doing impossible things in anime, cough cough). In all seriousness though, thank you. I like beating Uryuu up, though I love him dearly. I know what you mean about the HP fandom. I put Keigo in this because I was thinking "who do I want to bring lots of agony and possible death to?" and Keigo was the one who fit the profile and was available. (So many I wish I could kill though, so very many.) Got some smut for you next chapter.