Chapter 13: Dark Angel's Cry
(Thanks so very much to RosyDigzzz23 (You've got it! Here's more for you!), D-Chan (That witch will be very sorry for underestimating what is between Aizen and Byakuya!), Sariniste (lol, The battle has just begun! But it will end in this chapter in a display we only wish we could see done in anime!), Guest (Okay! Here's more...), SexyBVirgo (Aizen will be a bit breathless at what happens next!), and Finkleisms (Hope you saved some popcorn for the finale of this battle!) Enjoy the chapter! Love, Spunky)
"Come, Byakuya," the witch said calmly, extending a hand.
"No," said Aizen, strengthening the barrier around the noble, "He is not going to be involved in this fight. As one who depends on him for your ritual, I would think that you would spare him."
The witch laughed loudly and loosed a huge blast that shattered the protective barrier around the noble and released him from the bonds on his body and his powers.
"Byakuya," Aizen called, his lips tightening in fury as the noble disappeared and reappeared alongside the witch.
A moment later, the dark Senbonzakura formed in his hand.
The witch laughed louder until her voice rebounded off the walls all around them.
"Now," she said, smiling, "We are going to kill you, Aizen Sousuke."
The king's eyes darkened with fury as the witch fired plantlike tendrils from her hands that snaked about, growing like ivy around the room and covering the walls, floors, ceiling and even the rocky debris. Kido erupted from his hands, fending off the approach of the crawling tendrils as Byakuya stepped back with one foot and lifted his blade, point upward, gazing at the tip with dazed eyes and breathing a command.
"Kuragari no mitsukai..."
Despite the nature of what was happening, Aizen Sousuke's breath was taken away as his lovely mate's body was suddenly surrounded by the lovely, black petals, then emerged again a moment later, fully transformed.
"Watashi no koi," the king whispered, still fending off the witch's plantlike tendrils, but enchanted by the soft looking, feathery black wings and dark halo that formed around the transformed consort's comely, pale body, the depthless, full-golden eyes, even longer, flowing black hair, darkened, shapely lips and pearly fangs, "You will strike me dead with just your beauty alone."
He watched in awe as Byakuya's sweet lips parted and emitted a soulful, keening cry, then he felt as though razors had raked along his skin. He stared, rapt as blood leaked from a multitude of minor cuts that had opened up on his skin at the sound.
He didn't miss the fact that as Byakuya's cry sounded, the witch shielded her own body from it as well. But before he could respond, Senbonzakura re-formed in the hollow's hand, and Byakuya flash stepped and swept up into the air, above him, his feathery wings fluttering.
"Such a lovely thing, isn't he?" Yumejaaka said softly, her eyes almost tender as she watched Byakuya move towards Aizen, "What a sinfully beautiful sound he makes, no? Are you tempted?"
Aizen flash stepped towards the transformed noble, shielding himself as Byakuya's voice sounded again. But even shielded, he wasn't completely able to stop all of the wickedly soulful edges from cutting his skin. He noted too, that the witch was staying well away from the noble, opting instead to watch from a distance as Byakuya moved forward, in an attempt to corner his royal mate.
Ah...I see.
Aizen quietly invoked Kyoka Suigetsu's power and flash stepped past the noble, barely escaping a sweeping slice of his black blade. He caught his breath in surprise as a deep cut appeared across his back, opened by just the disturbed blast of air that touched him as he dodged.
The witch cackled.
"Fool!" she taunted him, "It doesn't matter that you have used your powers to blind me. He can still see you. And as you can see, he can do you plenty of damage! If you continue to play so gently with him, he is going to kill you in no time at all. Not that I mind, of course. I am eager to continue the ritual to restore the true king!"
"The true king?" Aizen said mockingly, "You know that Diablo was never more than a crafty, but hateful creature, who would take little interest in maintaining the balance necessary to keep our worlds stable."
"Huh! Why worry about balancing worlds," hissed the witch, "when one can simply let them self destruct and rebuild them in any way he likes? We would prefer to begin from nothing!"
"You consider the vast collection of souls across the dimensions...nothing?" Aizen asked, flash stepping out of the path of Byakuya's sword, and moving subtly in the witch's direction.
"You are a fine one to prate to me about not valuing the souls already living in our worlds, Aizen Sousuke! Did you not once plan the slaughter of a million souls, just to make a key to open the doors to the heavens?"
"I did," the king admitted, looking unrepentant, "At the time, I felt that it was what was needed to end what I viewed as a vacuum of leadership in the spirit dimension. After all, what good is it to pray to a god who does nothing to protect the souls that walk the worlds that he is guardian over? You might remember that the one who misguided me to that conclusion was, none other than your Diablo...hidden within the hougyoku and attempting to use me to invade the spirit dimension again after being defeated by the king and Hajime!"
"Lies!" snarled the witch, "Excuses! You pretend to be a better being than Diablo, but in truth, you are not! It was a mistake of birth that put you on the throne, one that my husband will soon undo!"
The witch inhaled sharply in surprise as Aizen whispered a command to his weapon, shattering the illusion he had used to draw closer to her, and appearing in front of her. She spun away, blood exploding from her shoulder as Aizen's blade struck a glancing blow.
"Snake!" The witch screamed at him, making the green tendrils around him attack at once, "What did you do? He is supposed to be following your movements! How did you...?"
"That is simple," Aizen said calmly, invoking his power again and moving in for another strike, "I included Byakuya in my release, so that Kyouka Suigetsu misrepresented both my consort's movements and mine, and allowed me to draw closer to you."
He appeared in front of her, making her flee again, leaking more blood from a second slash he scored on her body as she moved. She disappeared suddenly and reappeared behind a pillar, panting in pain and breathing a spell to stop the bleeding. She set the plants about the room into a frenzy, peering out and watching as they stretched out about the room, seeking the king.
"Damn you!" she gasped, "Where are you?"
She fled again, taking more damage as Aizen appeared and slashed at her again, then made her body collapse into ash and reappeared on the other side of the room, spitting blood and howling in fury.
"You are fortunate," said Aizen, "I think it only fair to appear to you in reality before I strike. If I had not done that, you would already be dead. Now...agree to yield to me, and I will cease attacking you."
"Hah!" spat the witch, "You think that you are the only one not using your full abilities? Let me show you what Byakuya and I are capable of!"
The witch removed a long, wicked looking, red-bladed dagger and thrust it into the hole in her chest.
"Hidai...Midori!" she said in a low, malevolent voice.
Aizen watched in surprise as the greenery in the room swelled and grew until it simply swallowed Yumejaaka completely.
"What is this?" he asked softly.
"Now then," laughed the witch, "Both of us are capable of playing the hiding game. My power hides me within this mass of greenery so that you can no longer strike at me, but look at what I have in store for you!"
The king watched with widened eyes as new, black thorns erupted from within the seething mass of green tendrils that filled the room. Each thorn oozed with an odd, glowing fluid.
The witch's laughter morphed into a satisfied cackle as Aizen glared at the sea of thorns and tendrils, and made himself unseen again. He was forced to flash step away as Byakuya attacked with his blade, then slashed at him in a flurry of clawed hands and feet. The noble screamed again, forcing Aizen to shield and stealing enough of his attention that a green tendril curled around his leg and sought to pull him down onto one of the threatening looking spikes. He cut himself free with his blade, then flash stepped again as Byakuya stopped and gazed at him hatefully.
"Now then," said the witch, "I have invoked my powers. It is time for your consort to release his full power as well. Would you like to see it?"
She extended one of the tendrils, which wrapped around Byakuya's wrist and tightened for a moment, then released.
"Your Byakuya has been injected with a compound to make him fight anything and everything in his path that moves, with intent to destroy."
"Aren't you concerned that he will fall victim to your plants' toxin?" asked Aizen.
The witch laughed again.
"You won't trick me into giving anything away," she chided him, "You had best focus on survival now. Your lovely Byakuya is about to shower you with his sweet affection!"
Byakuya's already blazing reiatsu spiked again, as the noble loosed a horrifying shriek and began to grow in size. The feathers on his wings, and his clawed hands and feet caught fire as he rose into the air and flew towards Aizen, his blade held ready. As the noble closed in on him, the king stunned both him and the hidden witch by standing his ground and smiling disarmingly.
"My beloved," he said softly, "I see I am given no choice but to open your eyes forcefully."
"You cannot affect his mind!" screeched the witch's voice, "I have taken control of him. Nothing outside of his body will penetrate the lock on his mind."
"Nothing from outside, you say?" Aizen repeated quietly, "Then...something from within?"
Aizen gazed lovingly at Byakuya as the consort's devilishly beautiful form hovered over him, poised to attack.
"What are you talking about?" objected the witch, "I told you. Nothing can penetrate his mind now. I have control!"
"You have control?" Aizen breathed in a mocking tone, "And nothing can penetrate his mind and steal it back? Is that what you think? Then, watch as I instruct you..."
He flash stepped forward suddenly, throwing himself inside Byakuya's guard and wrapping a hand around the noble's blackened blade. He laid his other hand on the noble's face and looked deeply into the odd, golden eyes.
"Byakuya," he whispered, sinking into the connection they had forged between them, "My beloved..."
Byakuya flinched and his eyes widened as his mind was suddenly inundated with memories.
"You see," said the king as Byakuya froze, unable to tear his eyes away from the storm of images that enveloped him, "I do not have to attempt to make a connection from the outside. Byakuya and I are soul bonded, and that means that some part of each of us already rests within the other. I needed only to invoke that part of myself that I entrusted to him to make him see."
"You bastard!" seethed the infuriated witch, making the tendrils around the two come to life again.
Aizen caught his breath sharply as the tendrils tore the noble away from him, and lunged at him from all directions, seeking to ensnare him. He flash stepped away, still focusing on the link between his mind and Byakuya's.
"Now," he said softly, "Watch me open his eyes and let him see who and where the true enemy is. You see, one of the things that we can do, being soul bonded, is to share thoughts and memories. And because he shared his memories of what you did to him when the two of you first met, I can bring those memories back to him."
Byakuya's eyes rounded as the memories flooded his mind, taking him back in time.
"Impale!" said the witch's voice in Byakuya's mind.
He felt something sharp enter his body and heard himself scream in pain. But somehow, he felt separated from the sensation, though not the nightmare of cognizance.
"Impale…" the witch said again.
Another hot, stabbing pain passed through his body, making it yield another scream, then another…and another. He counted seven times that his body was breached before the witch whispered into his ear. He could sense that his disassociated body was panting heavily and groaning. Her hands touched his face and his vision slowly returned. He found that seven red bolts now protruded from her body and had pierced his. His breath came out in short, clipped gasps and his legs threatened to collapse beneath him.
"Wh-what are you d-doing?" he managed in a harsh whisper.
The witch gave him a wide, toothy smile.
"I have connected our spirit centers. And when I give the final command, a last bolt will impale your heart. When that happens, my power will flood your body and restore your spirit centers. Do not worry, Kuchiki taichou, the nightmare is almost over. Now, look into my eyes and do not look down!"
Byakuya took a shuddering breath and locked his eyes on hers. The witch's eyes looked back at him with challenge. She waited a long moment to tease him, then her lips parted and she whispered the last command.
"Pierce and open!"
The transformed consort screamed in fury, his reiatsu exploding around him, and blazing, firelit petals erupting from his body and bursting outward from his tensed, staring form. The witch's screams joined his as the noble's flaming petals arced around his king and brought themselves down on the witch's plants, burning, tearing and raking them until he revealed her, then burying her in a life-ending blast of fire, petals and cutting shrieks. Aizen watched with captivated eyes as the noble's power came down on the wide-eyed witch, first tearing her to pieces, then burning her broken body to ash. Byakuya was left standing over the pile of gray ashes, panting heavily and groaning fitfully.
"Byakuya," whispered Aizen, flash stepping forward.
Byakuya's head lifted and his golden eyes flickered unnaturally. The heavy swell of reiatsu around him faded, and the wings and halo that had formed on his body slowly burned away, leaving him with the pale white body, dark-clawed hands and feet, fangs and the pink, white and silver mask. He collapsed onto his knees, moaning in pain and holding his midsection.
Aizen flash stepped to him, and caught him as he fell.
"Easy, watashi no koi," he said gently, "The fighting is over. She is gone."
But what happens now? the king wondered, I was not able to learn from her exactly how she did this to him. I will have to hope that once he has rested and we connect again, I will be able to divine the method for restoring him from seeing what it was she did...if, in fact, he was even cognizant of what happened.
"S-sou...suke!" Byakuya managed haltingly, holding onto the king's shoulder as Aizen knelt with him in the ashen remains of the witch's plants.
"Shh..." Aizen said, kissing the words away, "You need to rest."
"It...h-hurts...ins-side!"
Aizen looked around, searching for another exit, but failed to find one.
"Breathe slowly," he instructed the hollowfied noble, holding Byakuya close and sending soft pulses of stabilizing reiatsu into his abdomen, "You do not want to go into labor now. You must wait until we find a way to restore you. If you have our child now..."
If he has the child now, it will at least be a hollow, and the child might still be affected by whatever Yumejaaka did to him! I need to stabilize him and get him back to the palace!
He smiled as Byakuya's clawed hands clung to his shoulder and the noble rested his masked face against the king.
"That's right. Be calm. I will take you back to the palace and we will seek our answers there. You will be all right, Byakuya. And...this time..."
He rubbed his face lightly against the hollow mask.
"This time, our child will be all right. I will not let him or her die. I swear it."
But even as I say the words, I wonder if they are true...