Chapter 11

Same time as Sung-Sun

Appaci had been sitting in her room and letting her thoughts wander. And for some reason they were returning to Connor and everything Dante had told her about him. The curse of Aphrodite that had been set on him and how she hadn't been affected.

Dante's words rang in her head. 'Because you are capable of loving him fully, Appaci.'

Love. That was a word that she had always scoffed at, but now that she had found someone she was apparently able to love, she felt…weird.

'To hell with it.' She thought and stood up. She would talk to Connor.

Appaci left her room and walked to the boys room, then pushed open the door to the TARDIS. She then walked to the control panel and said, "I'm looking for Connor."

The path flashed underneath her and lead the path to Connor. She followed until she arrived at a door, with a sign that read Combat Simulation Room. Above it was a sign that was lighten up to show IN USE.

She didn't hesitate and pushed open the door. She was then greeted by the sight of Connor fighting what looked like to be robots, in a gymnasium like room, as she saw him kick one in the gut towards her. It hit the wall next to her and slumped down before looking up at her. This was an odd robot. The face looked like dull silver color, but a human quality, and human like eyes, which were green. The rest of the body looked the same. (A/N: it looks like the robots from the Will Smith movie I Robot).

The robot shot out a hand and grabbed her throat. Appaci was raised as the robot stood, struggling to get out of its grip as the robot said in a surprisingly human voice, "You are a threat. Will you comply?"

"Bite me." Appaci choked out.

She grabbed her left bracelet and detached it, flicked it to bring out the blades, then sliced through the elbow. She dropped down and landed on her knees, choking and hacking as she got her breath back. Then she looked up as the robot looked down at its arm, then her and said, "You are a threat."

It kicked her in the ribs and sent her flying backwards, skipping backwards. Appaci managed to skidded to a stop and thought, 'These things are strong. I felt like I got hit by Nntoria!'

She looked up as the robot leapt through the air, its remaining arm set to hit her. She used sonido to dodge to the side and glanced back as the robot hit the ground, shattering the wood and making a crater 10 feet across. Appaci used sonido again to get behind the robot and tried to slice of it's head, but the robot leaped forward, skidded while turning, and flew towards her, it's arm poised to strike, and moving too fast for Appaci to block as it threw a punch at her head.

Or tried to.

The robot was stopped as Connor appeared in front of Appaci and caught the fist easily. Connor grabbed the robots head and ripped it off with his bare hands. He turned his head and said, "You really shouldn't be here."

"I needed to talk to you."

"Yes well…"

He was cut off as another robot punched Connor across the face from behind Appaci, sending him flying forwards. Appaci whirled around and sliced the robots head off with ease this time, the head falling with a clunk to the ground. She grabbed and flicked her other blade, then used sonido to get next to Connor. "You okay?"

He stood and rubbed his jaw and said, "Fine. But let's finish this things before we talk."

The remaining 5 robots charged at them. Appaci threw her blades at one, but it leaped forward and spun to avoid it. Appaci dodged to the side and charged a quick bala, then punched at the robot, knocking it off course and to the side. As it hit the ground, and Appaci's thrown blade returned, she threw it at the robot and sliced it down the middle, at the waist. But as the blade returned, Appaci saw the robot start crawling towards them, dragging itself towards them again.

"What are these things!?" Appaci shouted as she used sonido to get beside the robot and slice through the head.

"Robots. NS-5 models that I set to kill for training!" Connor shouted back as he sparred with another robot before punching it in the chest, causing it to jerk before going limp.

"WHY?!" She shouted as she ducked below a punch before slicing the robot through the chest up, splitting it in half.

"Because otherwise I don't get a challenge!" He shouted as he ducked leapt back before flinging himself forward to shove the robot into the wall, where its head collided first and was crush into a pancake.

Appaci flipped over a robot as it tried to punch and grabbed it by the next while trying to slice it's head off. Then she felt something on her shoulders and looked to see… the robot's feet?! But that was cut off as she was thrown backwards and flipped to skid. The robot she had just tried to kill whirled around and charged forward. Appaci tried to slash, but the robot twisted itself out of the way, moving like an acrobat, and leapt over her before locking it's arm around her neck and started squeezing.

"Connor!" Appaci choked out.

He saw her predicament and leapt towards her, grabbed the robots arm and broke it clean off. Then he used it as a club and swung up under the chin, breaking it so it hung at an angle.

Appaci coughed and saw the last 2 robots standing side by side. Appaci quickly braced her feet against the floor and pointed her horn at them. Connor saw a red light building up in front of it and knew instantly it was a cero just before Appaci fired it, the light engulfing the robots and hitting the wall, where it exploded in a cloud of dust and wood splinters. Connor covered his eyes till it cleared and he lowered them when the wind died to show a mess. Appaci was breathing hard as she said, "You need to lighten up a little."

Connor just looked at the mess around them, the room in shambles, and simply said, "Maybe."

He walked out of the room as Appaci said, "Wait!"

Connor didn't respond as he walked out of the room and walked down the halls. Appaci followed him and found herself with Connor at the infirmary. He sat down on a bed, looking at the floor, and asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

Appaci sat down the bed opposite of him. But now that she was sitting across from him, she found herself unsure of what to say. She sat for a few minutes, then said, "When Dante told about you, he also told us about your curse. How anyone who looked into your eyes who couldn't love you completely would be killed."

Connor didn't respond. He just sat there, letting her talk.

"Was there…ever anyone you loved?"

Connor sat silent for such a long time, Appaci thought he never would.

"Once."

Appaci watched him as he began his story.

"Before I was a vampire, I traveled the world with sailors. I went many places, met many people. But there was one person that always stuck with me. Her name was Rebecca."

For some reason Appaci felt a little jealous at the way he said her name.

"She wasn't very rich. She was poor, her family dead. But she never unhappy. When I met her, she was kind to everyone. And very beautiful. She had deep black hair, sky blue eyes, and a laugh that would cheer up anyone."

Connor seemed deep in thought as he talked, but Appaci wanted him to stop. This wasn't really what she wanted to hear.

"She ran away with me when I and my friends sailed away. We went to several places all around the world. We fell in love. We were happy. Then he happened."

Connor looked up and his face was truly twisted.

"That vampire. He wanted revenge on one of our crew for killing his friend. And he did. But I happened to be with him at the time, and the vampire didn't kill me. He decided to make me like him."

Connor tightened his fists as he continued, "Then I became a vampire. I went back to my crew when I had regained my senses, and when Rebecca saw me, do you know what she did?"

Appaci shook her head.

"She screamed. She screamed at the top of her lungs and called me a monster. I then saw in that moment, everything I know shatter. My life, my love, my humanity. Everything."

Appaci was shocked to see tears running down Connors face as he recounted this to her.

"And then I ran. I ran and ran for as long and as hard as I could, until I collapsed in exhaustion. And I begged the gods I worshipped for so long and so much for death. And instead of my deepest wish, I received… absolutely nothing. No death. No reprieve. Just…life."

Connor let a single sob out before getting his emotions back under control. He then wiped his eyes and said, "Well, you know what happened after that. Dante's told you."

Appaci sat for a while until Connor snapped, "Well?"

"Well what?"

Connor rolled his eyes. "Generally after hearing something like that, people say something."

"Sorry. It's just… I can relate to some of that, I guess."

Connor leaned back and sat up straighter, not pushing but waiting.

"When I was a hollow, males always saw me as weak, and just a snack, simply because I was female. They all attacked me and I may have escaped, but of course, I was eventually cornered. A hollow had attacked me, and was about to devour me. Then… then Mistress Tier saved me."

Appaci then looked up at the ceiling. "She had taken me to a cave where she had gathered Sung-Sun and Mila Rose. Tier said that if we females were weak alone, then we should band together so we can be strong."

Appaci paused for a minute and continued, "We wandered Hueco Mundo for years. Ran into Baraggan a few times, and being the enormous arrogant bag of bones he is, demanded tier to join his army. Tier denied every time. But the last time, a hollow tried to get Tier to show 'respect.' Tier gave him a scar across the face in punishment for touching her."

Appaci rubbed her left arm which Connor noticed.

"Then it happened. The hollow that Tier had struck down somehow became an Arrancar and came back for revenge. She fought him while telling us to run."

"And you didn't."

Appaci then looked at him. "We did. But then it hit us all at the same time. Tier had put down so much for us, and brought us together. So we went back and fought beside her. But the Arrancar was too strong. We were defeated and about to be killed. Until…"

"Wait. Let me guess." Connor then put a finger to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Azien came out of nowhere and saved you from the Arrancar."

Appaci looked shocked by this asked, "How did you…?"

"Lucky guess."

Appaci looked skeptical, but didn't press it. "So yeah. That's my little life story."

Connor looked up at the ceiling. "It's interesting to say the least."

The two sat there for a minute, but Appaci felt weird. She knew Connor better on a personal level, and the same with her. And she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"You hungry?"

Appaci blinked. "Sorry?"

"You hungry at all?"

"No."

"Well, I need something to eat."

He opened the cupboard and took out blood pack and wineglass. He poured the blood into the glass, then gulped it down.

"Ugh."

"Bad batch?"

"Yeah. it's just blood is never as good as when it's fresh. And the older it gets, the worse it tastes."

And then Appaci said something she never thought would come from her mouth.

"Want some of mine?"

Connor blinked and stared at her. "Did I hear that right?"

Appaci was blushing so much she thought her head was about to burst into flames, but she nodded slightly and muttered, "Yes."

Connor leaned forward. "You're sure?"

"Yes."

"And know that you aren't in any way pressured to do this?"

"Yes." She said slightly annoyed.

"And you do know that this will hurt?"

"Yes! Now are you going to or not?!" Appaci snarled. She knew what would happen and this guy just kept asking!

Connor shook his head. "All right."

He put down his wine glass and moved over to Appaci's bed. She tilted her head to expose here neck. Connor still hesitated and asked one last time.

"You are absolutely sure about this?"

Appaci turned to glare at him. "You ask one more time and I am never extending this offer again."

"Fine."

Appaci turned her head again and Connor took a moment to find the pulse in her neck. Then bit lightly to pierce it, but not too deep.

Appaci winced as he bit, then felt him suck out her blood. She had to fight back a slight moan at the sensation of him sucking out the blood. He did this for half a minute before taking his mouth off, then quickly pressed his hand to her neck to stop the bleeding. He wiped his mouth on the back of his other hand while he said, "Hold your hand there for a second. I need to get some gauze."

Appaci did as he said as Connor grabbed some gauze from the cabinet beside her bed, and some masking tape. He put 4 layers on the bite wound, then held it there with the masking tape. He saw a bit of red bleed through, then it stopped.

"That'll hold until that heals over."

Appaci lightly touched the gauze, finding it itchy, simply said, "You've done this before."

"I was in a lot of fights." Connor said. "I would've had to learn to treat wounds. Plus the sailors I stayed with taught me to do this."

"So you never miss home?""

Connor looked up at her. "Would a man miss home if his home was hell? I don't think so. So to answer your question, no. I don't miss it. And I don't regret coming to this universe either."

Appaci was surprised by this. "Why? You lost your friends and adoptive family by coming here."

Connor looked at her and said, "Because I met you."

Appaci looked at him stunned, but then smirked and said, "Can you pick any line that's more cheesy?"

"Why? It worked to get through didn't it?" Connor said with a smile.

"Yeah. It did."

Then she did something that came to her out of pure instinct. She grabbed Connor by his neck and smashed her lips against his. Connor seemed to choke for a second out of surprise, but then he closed his eyes and put his hands around her neck. They slowly deepened the kiss, then started dueling with their tongues, a back and forth rhythm that reminded them of fighting, but they stayed like this for a while, but then something ruined it.

The door opened with a click and they heard a familiar voice say, "Hell-o."

Connor and Appaci leapt apart, then turned to see Dante in a muscle shirt and black camo pants, and his smirk looking smug beyond belief.

"Enjoying yourselves?" He asked.

Appaci's face was red with anger and embarrassment as she snarled, "That's none of your god damn business!"

Dante held up his hands in defence. "Hey, I'm not judging. But it looks like he gave you a rather nasty hickey there." He crained his neck to look at hers. Appaci suddenly realized he could see where Connor had bitten her.

"And what were you up to all this time?" Connor asked.

Dante's smirk fell. "I was…uumm…"

"Dante?"

Sung-Sun appeared behind him and stared to say, "Dante, what's…" then fell silent as she spotted Connor and Appaci, both looking very embarrassed and red. And being as smart as she was, Sung-Sun was able to put 2 and 2 together.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Then they both blushed for some reason.

"What are you doing here sung-sun?!" Appaci asked.

"I was…looking for Dante." She said quietly.

Connor looked at them both, their suddenly shy behavior, sung-sun standing rather close to Dante, and how they both glanced at each other before looking away. And it clicked. Connor smirked and said, "Seems you two enjoyed yourselves as well."

Appaci looked between Connor and then Dante and Sung-Sun before it clicked as well. She smirked as well and said, "So, you seemed to have fun as well Sung-Sun. I thought you were above that."

Dante and Sung-Sun were so red. Well, sung-sun was. Dante simply looked like her had gone to a much darker brown tinged with red in his cheeks.

Dante cleared his throat and said, "Okay, how about we all just agree that we won't tease each other about what they did. Agreed?"

Everyone glanced at one another for a moment. While Appaci would love to be able to tease sung-sun about this, she didn't want to be teased back. Connor felt the same way about Dante, so they said, "Agreed."

Dante clapped his hands and said, "Good. In that case, we'll need to get back out. If they've noticed, Tier and Mila Rose will be wondering where we are."

They all nodded and walked out. And with them holding hands. But lo and behold, when they got to the control room, Tier and Mila Rose were looking at the console as Mila Rose started to say "We're looking for…" then stopped as she looked up and said, "Oh. There you are. We were…wondering…" then she slowly cut herself off as she noticed what Appaci and Sung-Sun were doing. Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she looked at Dante and Sung-Sun, as well as Connor and Appaci... holding hands.

To say she was shocked was an understatement. She couldn't be more shocked then if you channeled all the energy from the TARDIS through her at once. Her mouth was hanging open extremely wide and her eyes were quite possibly wider. Tier was shocked as well, but then she also felt proud. Her fraccion may have developed feeling for them, but she didn't condemn them like she was sure the other Espada would. She was proud because her fraccion had someone who she could tell would genuinely care for and take care of them, but know they could fight on their own.

Mila Rose felt mostly the same. Though she did push Appaci's buttons, she did care for her on some level.. and seeing her looking slightly happy at the moment almost made her smile inside.

So she simply said nothing, while Tier said, "Well. This was unexpected."

"You're…not angry?" Appaci asked suprised.

"For you being happy? No. No, I'm not."

Sung-Sun and Appaci both smiled happily as Dante then said, "To what do we owe the pleasure Tier?"

"Simply checking on you. We hadn't seen you in several hours, and thought it might be important to make sure you were all right."

He bowed slightly. "I thank you for your concern, but as you can see, we're all fine."

He glanced at the Ultramatrix and started. He had lost track of time. The person they needed to meet would be close to Los Noches now.

"But Connor and I need to be going."

Tier blinked. "Why?"

"We we're planning to take a run outside Las Noches. Need some exercise besides simply fighting."

Connor's head turned to look at Dante and he glanced back, and gave his right eye a twitch. Connor knew what that meant. Time to bring a new player into the game.

Now normally Tier would object to this idea. But as she had learned to accept, Dante and Connor were far from normal.

"Fine. But get back here in 1 hour."

"Done!" Dante said with his best grin.

He went to the console and quickly grabbed two small capsules from the control panel, then quick went to Sung-Sun, gave her a quick peck on the lips. "See you later."

Sung-Sun was too shocked to say anything as he headed for the door, and without turning around, said, "Coming Connor?"

"Yeah."

He also gave Appaci a quick peck on the lips. "See ya." Then he left right behind Dante.

Mila Rose and Tier looked at each other, then Appaci and Sung-Sun, who were staring at the door. Tier chuckled and thought, 'Well, there's a sight I never thought I would see. They both look a little happy.'

Mila Rose was thinking the same thing, with the inclusion of, 'I can't believe Appaci is actually quiet.'

With Dante and Connor

Connor quickly summoned his cloak, then used it to transfer them to the outside of the dome of Los Noches.

"Where to now?" Connor asked.

Dante closed his eyes and let his instincts tell him which direction to go. Then his eyes snapped open ad he point off into the distance. "6 miles that way. 15 minute run. But we're taking a short cut."

He took out the two capsules and tossed one to Connor. He took a look at it and saw capsule corps Inc on the side.

"What's in these?" Connor asked.

"Vehicles that I thought would be good to use. You know the drill. Press and throw."

They both did this then tossed their capsules and they exploded in a burst of white smoke. When it cleared, it sowed two Galatic Empire land speeders. One black, the other red.

Connor rose an eyebrow. "Really? We couldn't just try something different."

"Nope. I love land speeders, land speeders are cool." Dante said as he went to the black one and hopped in, flipping switches and pulling a lever to activate his.

"You always make us use these." Connor muttered as he climbed into his and activated it.

"That's not true. I don't have us use them for walking."

"You use them so much we might as well."

"But then you wouldn't need feet to begin with." Dante said in a snappy tone.

"Smart ass." Connor muttered.

"I heard that!"

"Bite me!"

They both rode off then in the direction that Dante had pointed and 5 minutes later, they saw a cloud of dust.

"And there they are, right on time." Dante said looking at the Ultramatirx.

Connor stood up and looked at the cloud. "You sure about this?"

"If there's one thing I can do, it's to get people to like me."

Connor rested his face in his hands and thought about how that little gift had gotten them into trouble.

Dante got out of his land speeder and pushed a button on the console to put it back into capsule form, which he then picked up. Connor did the same thing, then they both waited for the dust cloud to get closer and they saw who they expected to see. It was a group of 3 hollows, who were chasing what appeared and sounded like a little girl, who had some sort of green shroud and hood over her head as she ran crying from the group of hollows. 2 of them were humanoid, one with a tiki like mask, the other a insect head. The last was a long black, worm-like hollow

Dante then said, "Now."

Both of them blurred out of sight and after a few minutes, the 3 hollows that had been chasing terh girl were immobilized due to Dante pressing nerve points around their bodies, while the girl in question was standing there in shock. Dante knelt beside her and said, "You okay?"

"NO!" the little girl screamed.

"You wruined our game of eternal tag!" the girl cried, sounding like she hadn't learn to speak properly. Then she threw back her hood to show her face. She had green hair, a scar that traveled from her upper head to the middle of her face, large hazel eyes, a red mark across her face, but the real kicker, was the hollow mask set on her head, which looked cartoonish.

Dante looking surprised, asked,"You're a hollow?"

"Yes." The girl said. "My names Nel."