"So you chose the human after all."
The black cat stared at Toshiro once more. He sat slowly in the empty room, the wound in his gut painful and the blood in his eye half blinding him.
"I will still do what we came here to do."
"No, you doomed the whole universe because you're weak and you gave into your emotions. You betrayed your duties as a soul reaper." Haineko arched her back and stepped onto the captain's outstretched legs. He winced as her feet became pressure points on his fresh wounds.
"Ichigo may be the only one who can defeat Aizen."
"No, not anymore. Aizen has already shown him his power. Now there is no one."
Toshiro swallowed. Everything in this world seemed real but he knew it was not. However, nothing in his previous dreams had been a lie.
"Its true." the cat purred to him. "You have lost all hope of winning."
"No. The others–"
"Ha! They'll be dead the second Aizen goes through to their world. He'll pinpoint their locations and wipe them out."
"You are just the manifestation of my doubts. I don't have to listen to you. The choice I made was the only one."
"Really?" The voice was not the cat but boomed from the end of the room. Toshiro's eyes widened in shock as he saw the aged soul reaper enter the room, his staff clunking menacingly with every step he took closer to the boy. Haineko leapt off Toshiro's legs and trotted to the Head Captain's side as Toshiro came shakily to his feet.
"Toshiro Hitsugaya. You disappoint me."
"Head Captain, I–"
"Silence." Even though he knew it was a dream, Toshiro's mouth snapped shut, everything felt real. "You came to me, you sought out my advice and even though I could not speak it was as if you could hear my will. You made me so proud, Toshiro, you had come to the right conclusion. But when it came down to it, you forsook us all. You could not sacrifice one life to save billions!"
"But Captain, I–" the ancient fingers were around his throat and Yamamoto smashed him into the wall before he could move. The wood splintered behind his head and his vision blurred but the hand around his throat kept him upright.
"You are a traitor Hitsugaya! A traitor to your own kind! To your responsibilities!"
"No! I made a choice!" Toshiro screamed past the pressure on his vocal cords. "Maybe sometimes we have to take the risk! Maybe sometimes you do have to have faith in something greater than logic and reason!"
"Faith!" the cat screeched at his feet and swiftly transformed into the master. Rangiku continued to laugh, standing just behind the Head Captain. "Faith in what captain? In God?"
"You are a soul reaper." Yamamoto added. "You are perfect proof that God does not exist."
"Just because you have never seen it, it doesn't mean there isn't something more, something greater than your power, Head Captain."
The Head Captain released him for a split second before smacking him hard in the face then picking him up again, though this time his fist knotted in the front of the boy's robes, not his neck and Toshiro braced for the next hit as Yamamoto raised his other hand.
"You know nothing." He said before the fist plowed into the small face again.
"I've seen it."
Yamamoto hesitated but Rangiku laughed hysterically. "He's delusional now, perhaps you should ease up Head Captain."
Yamamoto ignored her and stared at the small captain who now grinned even as the blood seeped out of his mouth.
"Explain."
"How could Ichigo Kurosaki have won all those battles, against hollows, gillions, espada, soul reaper captains? How could his friends have just discovered powers when they needed to help him? How can he never give up even in the face of power such as Aizen's? His will, those friendships– they are proof of something greater than we are. They are proof that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith!"
"Insolent child."
The blows came hard and fast this time and he just caught glimpses of his laughing lieutenant. Finally he was dropped to the floor where he lay barely conscious.
"You have doomed us all on a foolish gamble."
Toshiro couldn't speak. Yamamoto and Rangiku faded but he heard foot steps reverberate through the floorboards. They were slow, but when the hand came to pull Toshiro up, somehow he was not surprised to see the falsely kind smile, the glasses and the tousled brown hair. Aizen propped him against the wall and though he remained leaning against it, the vision of the room changed all about him. He was on Sokioku Hill, there were bodies everywhere and a fire that could not be put out.
"They all burned, because of you. I decided to make them fight each other, it was very entertaining but eventually, after friend killed friend, captain killed lieutenant, the survivors were taken down by their commander's flames. They are all gone. The universe can never return to its balance, I will reign over every plain of existence. Thank you Toshiro, for this gift."
"This is not reality."
"No?"
"This is your illusion."
"Hmmm. Maybe. Or is it still your dream? You torture yourself so much that I don't really need to interfere. But I'll let you decide what is and isn't real. Here." Aizen picked Toshiro up and walked a ways on the hill until he came to the body he wanted. He set the boy down next to it. "Now tell me this isn't real."
Toshiro nearly gagged on the stench of charred corpses, there were many around but this one was untouched. Momo. Her zampakuto was also one of flame and she had taken down many of her comrades. Toshiro touched her cheek. Her face was tight, in pain even in death. He felt the tears and could not stop them from flowing even as he screamed at himself that it had to be a dream.
"I watched her kill them all. Then I reversed it. I let her see what she had done." Toshiro's eyes fell to the girl's wrists and he turned them over. Several gashes ran from her wrists nearly to her elbows.
"You made he kill herself."
"No. I made her kill them. Killing herself was her choice, her cowards way out."
Toshiro retracted his hand and turned to Aizen. "Don't you ever speak of her."
"You know its true. She only made it to be lieutenant because I picked her and I picked her because I needed someone who could be manipulated with little effort."
"You bastard."
"What? What will you do? You have no zampakuto, nothing, because you were weak back then, and couldn't let Ichigo die."
"You're lying! This never happened! This never will happen!"
"You really think you could have stopped me?"
"We will stop you." Toshiro managed to get to his feet but Aizen slammed him back into the ground. Suddenly they were in the empty room again.
"No. You already failed."
"Get off of me!"
"Make me." Aizen smiled wickedly, throwing off his glasses and applying pressure to Toshiro's throat. The little captain glared back ferociously and he grabbed Aizen's wrists, trying to pry the hands off. "You don't have the power."
Toshiro felt his heart racing. He could hardly breath and things began to get fuzzy. His head rolled to the side and he saw the black cat watching him, emotionless.
"Screw you!" Toshiro clenched his fingers tighter around Aizen and let his spiritual pressure flow out of him. The flesh beneath his fingers turned white as ice and Aizen cried out in pain as the frost flowed deeper and spread further. By the time he withdrew his arms were frozen up to the elbows.
"How?"
"Power. Greater than yours you son of a bitch." Aizen vanished and Toshiro fell back exhausted. The pain in his gut wrenched through him and he felt the life seeping out.
"Not bad, little captain," the cat hummed as it perched on his chest to stare down into his drooping eyes. "But like you said, this isn't real. The real Aizen is still out there, and this wound is still killing you. Hope that faith of yours is right, cause it looks like that kid is the only hope left."
Toshiro shut his eyes to the cat and the room but whispered one last thing,
"I believe in him."