The Challenge – Chap. 12
A/N: New plot developments in this chapter! Warnings: Violence, and a great deal of angst on Orihime's part. This chapter is not as dark as the previous one, but it is sad. There's a reason I've been so slow with recent chapters for this story. But now that I've gotten through this section, the rest should go more easily. I hope.
(Originally posted 7/6/2011.)
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Grimmjow stood in the rubble of the doorway, his eyes taking in the two cowering Arrancar and the auburn-haired girl lying on the ground, her face bruised and bleeding, her clothing torn. The human girl looked pathetic, her face a mess, her eyes wide and anguished. Menoly looked sullenly guilty, and Loly, the bitch, just looked hostile. It was clear what had gone on here.
"Yo," he remarked with a savage grin, "Scampering in here to have some fun while Ulquiorra's gone, are we?"
Loly remained stock-still, her hand still clenched in Orihime's hair, and glared furiously at Grimmjow. "Just what the hell are you doing here?"
Grimmjow's eyes narrowed. No way was some low-level Arrancar slut going to talk that way to him. In a flash, he casually kicked her in the midriff so hard that she dropped Orihime and smashed against the opposite wall. Orihime gasped in dismay, while Menoly cried out in anger and rushed the Espada, her fist outstretched. Grimmjow yawned as he caught Menoly's fist in his hand. Then, leaving one hand in his pocket, he fired a cero point-blank at Menoly, grinning with satisfaction as half her body was blown away. He turned back to look at Orihime, his face darkening as he scrutinized hers and noted the swollen and blackened eye, the bruising and scratching on her cheeks and mouth. He relaxed, took a step backwards, and looked down at Loly, both hands in his pockets, an expression of arrogant disgust on his face.
Loly dragged herself forward on hands and knees toward Grimmjow, coughing and spitting out blood. Her face was still defiant. "You bastard. Aizen-sama won't stand for you doing this stuff to us, you know."
The blue-haired Espada's eyes narrowed once again. She still hadn't learned her lesson. This time he bent down and grabbed Loly's ankle as the Arrancar looked on in puzzlement. He placed one foot on her knee, grinning, and waited for her to realize what he was about to do.
"Hey!" she screeched. "No! Stop! I promise I won't tell if you stop!"
Grimmjow relaxed slightly as though he were going to let her up. Then he grinned again and the sound of her bone snapping echoed throughout the room. Loly shrieked in agony, then gasped out, "You bastard. You're gonna get killed by Aizen-sama!" She collapsed on the floor and began sobbing brokenly.
Grimmjow shrugged. He hadn't even broken a sweat. "Dipshit," he said scornfully. "As if Aizen-sama gives a fuck for you two shitheads." Turning away, he looked at Orihime with an odd expression on his face.
She returned the gaze of her unlikely rescuer, her heart still pounding, her face throbbing with pain in counterpoint to the agonizing contractions deep within her belly. She was still in shock at the casual violence she had just witnessed, at the sudden loss of reiatsu within her body. No. Her child couldn't be gone. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be over, just like that, so suddenly. But her eyes suddenly overflowed with tears as she realized that indeed it could be true. The loss hit her again with agonizing force. Her child— and Aizen's— was gone.
What game was Aizen playing, that he would send the two Arrancar to beat her up, destroy his own child, and then send Grimmjow here just when it was too late, to kill the two women responsible? Was he trying to eliminate them so she wouldn't learn that he was responsible? Her head spun and she felt dizzy with pain. What was this place like, where torture and murder were dealt out so casually? What had she been thinking, to even consider that she might love Aizen, the lord and ruler of this place of horror? The word came out of her mouth before she could stop herself. "Why?"
Grimmjow misunderstood, whether deliberately or not, she didn't know. "To repay you for my left arm," he said.
Orihime was taken aback by the conviction in the reply. Grimmjow, she realized in astonishment, actually thought he was trying to help her, to do her a kindness. She had thought that he was only a mindless killer, but perhaps he had a code of honor… unlike Aizen, she thought bitterly. So Grimmjow hadn't come here on Aizen's orders. Although— he could have been tricked or manipulated into coming here. She wouldn't put it past Aizen.
She could see that Grimmjow was furious at himself, at admitting what he thought was weakness. She supposed that was what kindness or repayment of debts would be thought as, here in Las Noches. Weakness. She bit her lip.
But before she could say anything more, Grimmjow took her by the throat in an iron grip and hoisted her into the air. On his face once more was the maniacal grin. "But don't be naïve," he said. "Don't think I came here just to save you." He gave a harsh laugh. "Now. My debt to you has been repaid, and I need you for something, so you're coming with me." He hauled her upright. "But first, fix your face. I don't walk around carting women with bruised faces."
Orihime stared at him, still stunned. She heard Loly's broken sobbing, smelled the blood leaking out from the remains of Menoly's body. No. She was going to fight back the only way she knew how, with the power that Aizen himself had said rivaled that of a god. She spun around and stumbled to the floor beside Loly, ignoring Grimmjow's shout. Without a word, she brought her healing shield into existence over Loly.
The woman gasped and spat at her. "Get away from me!"
But Orihime ignored her. She would not allow Aizen to win, to casually destroy even the lives of his own creations. She would defeat him. She watched as Loly's broken bones knit together again, as her bloodied face cleared up and healed. It was easy, the work of a moment, and she felt a savage triumph as Loly gasped and put a hand up to her own face almost in horror.
Then once again Orihime spun around, this time to face Menoly's broken body. She heard Loly's dismayed cry as though from a very great distance.
She stared at the figure before her. Half her body was gone. What was left of her face stared lifelessly up into space. She was clearly dead. Completely gone. Orihime sucked in her breath. What she was thinking of doing was not possible. It was not something that could be done in this world. Only gods had the power of life and death.
But… she thought in a corner of her mind as her healing shield sprang into existence over Menoly's body, more brilliant than she had ever seen it… if she could bring Menoly back to life, maybe, just maybe, she could bring another being back to life. One hand fell to her own belly, stroked the skin above the area that suddenly felt so empty. With fury and agony she guided her fairies to reject Menoly's death, feeling Grimmjow's heavy reiatsu in the wounds... but, swamped as she was with ferocious emotion, somehow the task seemed much lighter than she would have expected. She felt nothing as the miracle happened before her, as Menoly's broken body reappeared under her shield.
She felt nothing as both Loly and Grimmjow recoiled, as Loly cried in horror, "What the hell is she? She's a… monster!"
Orihime turned away, spent, as Menoly stirred and took a shuddering breath. She had done it. What was she, truly? She raised the healing shield a third time, this time over her own body. She felt the bruises and swelling on her face vanish into nothingness. A trivial healing. She directed the energies lower down, over her own belly, and focused her concentration fiercely once again.
But where the procedure, though difficult, had seemed obvious to her when she worked on Menoly, now there was nothing to focus her energy on. The tiny mote of life within was simply gone. There was nothing for her to grasp, to pull back into being. In a distant corner of her mind, it occurred to her that she could not restore what had never truly been. The tiny spark of life had been too new, too unformed.
It had never had a chance, she thought, being born of a man who destroyed all he touched.
Abruptly, her shield collapsed, and she fell to the floor, boneless and utterly spent, crying bitterly for all she had lost: Her child—her daughter, she realized—and above all, her love for a man who turned out to be a shadow, an illusion, a chimera. A man who would kill his own child.
As Grimmjow picked her up roughly and bound her wrists with kido, then gagged her, she did not resist. She followed him meekly through the endless white halls of Las Noches, feeling as though she were bleeding internally, as though her will and her love and her life were bleeding out through her broken womb, her broken heart.
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Aizen gazed out the window of his reiatsu-shielded workroom. The endless desert, pure, white, and glowing, stretched out to the horizon under the unchanging night sky. Aizen breathed in deeply and let his gaze reach out to the far horizon. It was a peaceful and soothing vista, untainted by the petty strivings of human souls. The purity of perfection… one of the few things that could bring him solace. He had arranged this world the way he wanted it. Soon, he thought, all the worlds would move according to his will.
But instead of that thought goading him to further effort, narrowing his focus to the one single goal he had tracked relentlessly for so long… instead, his mind was jumping about, speculating about the future, lingering over the past, revisiting long-forgotten memories from his childhood… and completely distracting him from his work with the Hougyoku. Oddly, it was actually pleasurable to contemplate the thought of having offspring, to imagine his life with Orihime at his side. He found himself wondering what it would take to bring a smile to her face. She would be even hungrier than usual with a new life growing within her. A smile tugged at his own lips. He had never seen a human with an appetite like hers. It was… enjoyable… to have new and ever more elaborate meals prepared for her, to see her eyes widen with amazed delight. Life with Orihime... would be appealing. His lips quirked in wry amusement. He had lied to her earlier about making her his queen, seeking only to play on her ego and manipulate her, but now he realized that if he wanted to give his child legitimacy, he would have to formalize his attachment to Orihime. How ironic. It had never occurred to him that he would want to elevate anyone to his side, much less a human girl barely into adulthood. But now, it seemed that his lies were going to become truth.
How… entertaining. The thought of Orihime on the throne beside him gave him a peculiar feeling of pride. He stood and paced to the end of the chamber, turned around, still deep in thought. Again, he wondered at the strange thoughts going on in his mind. He had always believed he preferred solitude to companionship. Could that be changing? Or had he always sought companionship but had never admitted it to himself?
He had always been something of an introvert, most at peace when he was by himself, preferring to watch others rather than push himself forward. It was far better to keep his own counsel, to avoid reliance on others, who tended to be fallible. Who tended to disappoint him.
He turned back to his desk to put the Hougyoku away. He would work on the spell later. Right now… he wanted to check up on Orihime. Just to make sure his offspring was all right, he told himself.
He unlocked the door and felt the shielding on his workroom fade away, and paused for a moment, his senses extended. Gin had left the bedroom downstairs and was in the main surveillance center. He reached out further. There were heavy reiatsu disturbances in various areas of his domain. Frowning slightly, he keyed open the control panel for his private surveillance system and activated it in scanning mode. He called up the feed of Orihime's room, and was disturbed to see only static. His eyes narrowed as he reached out to try to locate Orihime's reiatsu.
She was not in her room. He closed his eyes to pinpoint her energy, which seemed to be at a low ebb. She was outside the building, under the central dome. Her reiatsu was almost masked by that of other powerful fighters. Aizen frowned, detecting Ichigo and Grimmjow near her. Where was Ulquiorra, whom he had set to guard her?
Annoyed, he signaled Gin to attend him in his receiving chamber. It looked like his most rebellious Espada had disobeyed him once again and had gone to engage the intruders… and what's more, somehow one of them had drawn Orihime into danger. Normally, it didn't matter to him if his Espada fought with each other. It only made them stronger, and weeded out the weak. But now… things seemed to be different. For the first time, he had something… someone… he wanted protected.
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Orihime gasped as Grimmjow shoved her and she fell to her knees in front of Ichigo's nearly lifeless body. They were outside of the palace and once more under that painted blue sky and brilliant sun. All around them were vast chunks of rubble, as though a battle of giants had taken place here. Ichigo was lying in front of her, on one of the concrete ramparts, battered and bloodied, and there was a huge hole in his chest, as though his heart had been physically gouged out of his body.
With a rough gesture, Grimmjow unbound her. "There," he said, seating himself on one of the chunks of rubble. "Fix him."
She looked down at him. "Kurosaki-kun?" she whispered. His eyes were open and staring, but unseeing. He made no response. She could barely feel his reiatsu.
She felt a great emptiness inside her as she raised her healing shield and tried to focus. There was an incredibly strong reiatsu swirling around and shrouding Ichigo's wounds. She felt weak. She couldn't reject it. More destruction and death, she thought bitterly. She couldn't help wondering if this was Aizen's work. His reiatsu was more powerful than any she had felt before; could he have destroyed her childhood friend simply on a whim?
She half-turned to Grimmjow. "Who— who could have done such a thing?" she whispered, not really wanting to hear the answer.
The blue-haired Espada snorted. "Ulquiorra."
Orihime's eyes widened. She stared down at the wounds on Ichigo's body, unable to believe that the dispassionate man could have exerted such brutal violence on anyone. But of course, it was at Aizen's orders, she realized, and her heart hardened further.
Grimmjow grunted at her look of surprise. "That's his trademark. I don't know if he himself realizes it, but when he finds prey that appeals to him, he gouges a hole in them in the same place as his own." He snarled. "I'll show him what he'll get for messing around with someone else's prey." He glared at Orihime. "Hurry up and heal him so I can settle the score with him at his full strength."
Orihime stared at him, her mouth falling open in shock. "You mean you made me heal him just so you could kill him again?" What was wrong with all these people, she thought. What made them so bloodthirsty and cruel?
The answer was in her head before she even finished the question.
Aizen. Aizen had created the Espada, had designed them to be bloodthirsty killing machines. His personal army to destroy Soul Society. Looking down at Ichigo under her healing shield, she felt a wave of ferocious guilt pass through her. She had actually slept with the man, had deluded herself she loved him. The secret fear that she always lived with rose up and grabbed her by the throat. She was a whore just like her mother, she thought, and felt shame flood her entire body.
Grimmjow stood up suddenly and towered over her, fist clenched. "I told you to shut the hell up! I let you bring him back from the brink of death, so quit your goddamn bitching! Sooner or later, Ulquiorra's gonna wise up and come back!"
There was a crash from behind him as someone blasted a hole in the wall. "Did you call for me?" asked the black-haired Espada in a toneless voice.
Orihime closed her eyes and sagged as her healing shield faded. Whatever resolve she had once had was completely gone. What did it matter if she was about to be thrown into the center of a three-way battle? She had already lost everything that could have made a difference.
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A/N: I should point out that this story is going through a dark period, but it will not always be so dark.
