AN: As always, thanks to my reviewers. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ichigo's feet skim across the hall, running now seems so much easier, Alive, alive, they're alive The thought races through his mind as he and Orihime race down the hall, and she looks as light and happy as he feels. He had almost forgotten the last time he had seen her look this unreservedly happy.
Their friends are alive, and here, coming to rescue them.
So why does it feel like ice water is seeping up into his stomach?
Whenever he blinks, he isn't seeing Rukia, or Chad, or Renji, but Uryu's blue eyes, searching, memorizing, the worn resignation -
- he nervousness in his face when he suggested the diversion, the tightness in his mouth, the how he closed his eyes -
- and he stared at Ichigo as if he would never see him again -
- never see him again -
"That idiot." He skids to a halt. "Dammit, Ishida."
"Kurosaki-kun?"
"Orihime," He starts, looks up at her, fear and anger warring inside him, and he can hardly focus enough to speak. "Orihime, I need you to break my binders. I think," He swallows. "I think something must have gone wrong with Uryu." Or something will go wrong, because if he's stupid enough to do what I think he's doing, I'm going to kill him.
The corner of his brain that isn't raging or panicking notices that Orihime looks faintly confused, worried. "Maybe I should -"
"No," He tries to sound calm, to smile, act like he has a plan. "You need to get out, find the rescue party, and tell them what's going on. They probably don't even know that we escaped. Tatsuki," he adds, desperate to persuade her, to go Uryu bleeding, dying, screa - "Tatsuki, and Rukia, and Chad - they'll all want to see you."
She stares at him for a moment, biting her lip. "O-okay, but," she says, raising her hands. "Please be careful, Kurosaki-kun."
He lifts the corner of his mouth in a cocky grin as the binders dissolve, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Don't worry about me. Tell the others I'll see them in a bit."
When the binders have fully faded away, the reiatsu of shinigami captains is almost overwhelming, but he doesn't investigate them, reaching out instead to try and feel in the other direction, seeking Uryu's unique signature. He closes his eyes to focus more intently, and he begins to feel, almost like the faint brush of a whisker on the edge of his senses, the twist and flow of white spirit ribbons. As he leans closer, trailing back to the source, a jagged edge overwhelms him, and his eyes snap open, concentration hurled away.
Grimmjow.
When he sees that Orihime has reached out to him, he realizes that his horror at being proven right must have been blanched onto his face. "It's okay, I found him." He replies to the unspoken question, reassuringly, he hopes. She nods, and he slips into shunpo before she can ask anymore, before he has to explain, because if he has to say it out loud, see the horror on her face, he doesn't know what he'll do.

Uryu screams.
Blood spurts from his leg, and Grimmjow's snarl disappears, sliding into maniacal laughter. His blade sends crimson droplets splattering downward as it swipes upward.
The Quincy speeds backward, securing more spiritual threads around his leg, aided by the reiatsu he has absorbed from the Espada. No major tissue has been damaged, thanks to the split second delay his puppetry has given him, but he can feel those strands fraying. Between lifting his own body and restraining Grimmjow's, his energy is limited. I can't hold on for close range combat.
Blinding ceros follow his retreat, pinning him, he dodges one, scrapes the second with seele schneider, desperate for energy, summons the shield of hirenkyaku to cushion the impact of another. With that last effort, he feels the threads on Grimmjow's arm fade, as the blast sends him spiralling across the room.

Ichigo hurries down the hall, a blaze of fury lighting each shunpo.
How could he do this to us?
(Red blood spurting, Uryu's screams echoing - )
How could he possibly be so stupid?
(Dying, gasping, Grimmjow laughing, laughing - )
How dare he leave us like that! How could he lie to us?
(Eyes fading, glazing, blue marbles, not Uryu, not - )
Stupid, stuck up, insane, proud, self righteous son of a bitch Quincy.
(Collapsing, gasping, blood bleeding dirt, neck bent wrong ogod blood - )
"Goddamnit," He mutters, seizing on to the trail of Uryu's spirit energy like a liferaft. "How could someone so fucking smart think this was the best plan?"
(Does he really think he matters that little?)

He darts behind one of the larger blocks of rubble to gather himself, pushing his glasses up his nose as he takes in deep breaths, trying to gather the ambient energy while he still has time.
"If you're just going to run and hide, I'd be better off finding Kurosaki." He hears the Espada scoff.
Idiot.
He leans out from behind the rock and sends a blast of Licht Reigan towards the exit of the room. The ceiling crumbles, collapsing the end of the hall and blocking the exit.
He feels a faint breeze. "You think that'll stop me?" growls a voice from right behind him -
- "No, but this might." He has reversed their positions and slashes seele schneider across the Espada's back again, as deep as he can through his hierro, then launches a barrage of arrows before Grimmjow can return the favor. He doesn't bother to send them at his opponent, but aims at the ground close around him, smashing it to pieces and sending the Espada tumbling down. Flying away, he picks out a circle on the ceiling just above the pit, and sends that crashing down on top.
He can breathe for a split second before twin blasts send debris hurtling through the air, and he has to flip his shield in front of him to avoid being pummeled by the cascade.
Grimmjow emerges, huffing and bleeding, from the chasm. "Now you're really starting to piss me off." He snarls, raising his blade, and Uryu can see the beginnings of a blue glow
- Resurreccion? - no - I can't -
He sends a swarm of bolts down at the Espada, letting his blood fall freely on the cracked and shattered floor.
The longer I keep him from achieving Resureccion, the longer I can stay alive, the longer Ichigo has to escape.
He repeats it as blood spurts from his fingernails, an overlong mantra (but when has he ever been simple?) He knows the arrows won't damage the Espada, but they might distract him just enough to keep him from advancing.
Rain after rain falls from his bow, and he can feel blood and energy seeping out of him. Dimly, he realizes that all of the energy that he can absorb won't make any differences when he runs out of the reserve to hold them together.
Maybe they're out. They've had enough time by now. They must be safe. I can rest...
A geyser of blood spurts out of the crook of his arm. What am I thinking? I can't give up. I won't lie down and die in front of this monster. How could I ever look Grandfather in the eye if I did?
He lets the rain fall.

Ichigo hits the wall of rubble, feeling the clash of spiritual pressures beyond.
I'm not too late.
(Bleeding, gasping - )
He shouts Uryu's name, fruitlessly, hearing it only echo back from the jagged rocks. He leaps upward in shunpo, looking for the top of the pile, clinging on to the ribbon of Uryu's spirit energy, dragging it out from under the pressure of Grimmjow.
(Please, don't let me be too late.)

Uryu can feel control of the arrows slipping away from his bloodslick fingers, his vision beginning to blur as sweat drips into his eyes. Each barrage is fuzzier than the next, peripheral arrows fading away in midair.
The dust is beginning to clear as his blasts slow.
Grimmjow isn't there.
Laughter rings out from behind him.

Ichigo feels a charging of spiritual pressure, tearing at the edges of his concentration - Grimmjow.
Shit.
He leaps higher.

Uryu spins, and there is blue light gathering at Grimmjow's palm.
Oh no.
He tenses, ready to jump.

Ichigo reaches open space, sees the Quincy, arms drenched in blood.
"Uryu!"

Uryu hears Ichigo's voice, his name - no, you idiot, why - and he has to tell him to go, to run -

Ichigo catches the sound of Grimmjow's laughter, sees the blue blast - no -

Uryu is still frozen when the pain hits him -

God, no, Uryu -

Uryu screams -

Ichigo hurls himself forward -

And there is a moment of clarity, as though Uryu had simply been sitting in meditation, and has reached a wellspring of insight, like he has finally seen the twist that will make the math problem work, felt his hand move the right way to make a stitch.
Oh, I get it now.
And he embraces the cero, pulls it into himself as though it were only the slightest flicker of reiatsu.
He feels himself being burned alive from the inside out, and doesn't care.
And then Ishida Uryu lets go.
It tears through everything, and he is left to fall.

Ichigo watches in horror as the cero hits Uryu, watches as Uryu burns -
- and then the blue light is shifting up, around Uryu, his head thrown back, dark hair flying-
- and he explodes, a crescent of light hurling outward, shattering -
He hardly realizes that he is moving, doesn't even register the sight of Grimmjow collapsing -

Someone is calling his name. Why are they shouting? I'm so tired... It hurts -

Ichigo seizes Uryuu from midair, feeling his hands slip on blood, sinking from the impact of his fall.
"Uryu! Uryu?"

His breath is knocked out of him, he feels arms wrap around him, warmth.
Ichigo. Its Ichigo.
I'm alive?
"You idiot, Kurosaki, stop shouting."
"Idiot! Me?" Wham He is jarred away by a sudden kick, hitting the ground with a thump, scraping raw nerves.
"What the hell was that for?"
Wham "For this!" Ichigo jabs a finger at the ruined room. "What the hell were you -"
"What am I doing? You're supposed to be with Orihime! Why the hell did you co -"
"Shut up!" Wham "You are not allowed to get caught up in some stupid duel with that punk! You are not allowed to stay behind!" Ichigo storms towards him and pulls him upright. "I made a promise to get all of my friends out of here! Chad! Rukia! Renji! Orihime! And you!" Ichigo looks at him straight in the face, and Uryu feels his cheeks go red. "So staying behind is not up to you! You are one of us, so you have to stay alive! You can't just think of yourself!"
"Ichigo -" Uryu starts, but Ichigo steps back and turns around.
"Whatever you were trying to do - whatever your reasons - it was a bad decision." Ichigo looks back over his shoulder at him, but doesn't meet his eyes. "Didn't you think - Orihime would miss you if you left?"
The pause, the left out I isn't lost on him. He stands, open mouthed for a moment, then, settles back, letting out a breath. He adjusts his glasses, carefully looking away from Ichigo. "I don't know what dumb idea you've gotten into your head, Kurosaki, but don't be so presumptuous. Not everything - "
Loud huffing from the rubble makes them both turn, a bloodied Grimmjow hauling himself out of the wreckage. "What the hell... do you idiots... think its over?" Pulling himself upright, he unsteadily raises his sword. "Do you think that... shit... is enough... to kill me?"
Ichigo's eyes flicker back at Uryu, and he realizes how he must look, covered in blood. Glancing down, he realizes with a jolt that the Quincy pentagram has shattered. No -
Ichigo pulls out his blade, stepping in front of -
Crash!
"Oy, Ichigo." There is a hole in the wall, and familiar figures are gathered around it. "Looks like you've gotten yourself into trouble again."
"Rukia?"