Chapter 13: Revelations of the Few

The sound of gunshots rang loudly across the battlefield.

Streams of red light came from the smoking guns, as the man repeatedly fired.

Many hollows fell to the ceros fired from the gun.

"Cross Marian!"

The man was brought out of his memories by the old man in front of him who was practically screeching his name.

His wrists and ankles were shackled to the chair he was sitting in. surrounding him were forty-six elite members of the Soul Society.

He had been brought to Central Forty-Six, following the invasion of the Vasto Lorde.

The old men were glaring at him, and yet he really couldn't bring himself to care.

"Do you want to explain how you, an academy student was able to fire off ceros?" one guy with a wart on his nose asked.

Cross remained silent, not giving them the benefit of an answer. 'So what if I used ceros, I just saved all you're a$#$!'

"Answer me!"

"…"

"Answer me dammit!"

"…"

The wart man ground his teeth, frustrated by the lack of response.

"I have a suggestion." A slightly younger blond man said.

"And what would you suggest Clovis?" the wart man asked.

"If he was firing ceros it is possible that he is an Arrancar in disguise, after all what better way to hide then in plain sight?"

The wart man blinked and murmured conversation broke out. Could an Arrancar actually manage to avoid detection within Soul Society?

"I say we search him for a hollow hole, and have him undergo an evaluation to ascertain his qualifications to be a Shinigami." Clovis continued.

Cross's eyes widened, this wasn't good, his tattoo is still there! He hadn't had a chance to remove it, if it could even be removed.

Two guards came and removed his shirt searching for a hole. There was none that they could see. When one of them looked at his hands, he noticed the gloves that Cross was wearing.

The guard removed the one on the right, nothing.

And then the left.

The guard's eyes widened and he blanched stumbling away from Cross.

"A-Arrancar!"

All those who could see Cross's left hand had similar reactions.

"Well…shit" Cross cursed.

There on the back of his hand, was a tattoo of the number one.

Karakura, Team Headquarters

"Damn it!" Lavi yelled, slamming his fist into the wall.

The five exorcists had been taken to the barracks and locked in their quarters, with guards standing watch outside.

Their quarters consisted of a series of thirteen rooms connected to one common room. Normally only used when seated members of the Gotei Thirteen needed to meet with the Team. The rooms were set up so that a member from each squad would have his or her own room but could still meet with the other squad members without actually going into Headquarters itself.

The common room had a table surrounded by couches in the center of the room and had bookcases lining the walls.

"Are we seriously just going to let them attack the Black Order?" Lavi demanded, glaring at Komui who was sitting on one of the couches.
"There is nothing we can do. We are nothing more than hostages. To attempt an escape would be unwise" Noise stated quietly.

"Why not?" Lenalee asked, "Our friends are there! They could get hurt! Why shouldn't we try to escape?"

"Because they won't hesitate." Noise said. Everyone stared at him, wondering what he was talking about.

"To them hesitation means death, and so if we try to escape we may not survive."

"But they'll still attack the Order! Our friends could die!" Lenalee cried.

"How do you know this Noise?" Komui asked, one of the first words he had spoken since they had been taken hostage.

"Nearly a decade ago, I was part of an organization similar to this one. Our…leader was mysterious, he never showed his face and our enemies were harder to defeat, harder to track. We were their only targets and the only ones who could stand a chance to defeat them. We were unbiased we would accept anyone into our ranks, so long as they met the qualifications and were willing to do abide by the Code."

"What were these qualifications, and weren't you were a part of the Black Order at the time? How could you have been a part of this organization, without us knowing it? Furthermore, what was this organization and what is this Code?" Komui inquired.

Noise smiled, "the qualifications are simple: you must have the Sight and you must be able to see the plates. As for my being a part of the Black Order, I was a member of both until I was attacked and I lost my sight. If weren't for my Innocence I wouldn't have been able to remain an Exorcist. Unfortunately, while I was able to remain an Exorcist I could no longer be a part of the organization. "

"What about the Code? What was this organization called?" Lavi asked, before Komui could.

"Unfortunately I can't tell you, nor can I reveal what we called ourselves, to do so would put you in too much danger." Noise replied.

"I'm Bookman's heir, you can tell me!" Lavi demanded slamming his hand on the table.

"Hey guys," Allen interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Where's Kanda?"

Elsewhere in Team Headquarters

"So an exorcist escaped?" Urahara asked the room full of Monitors.

"Yes sir, the exorcist Kanda Yuu is neither in Headquarters nor the surrounding area. Shall we set up a search party to locate him?" a Monitor asked.

"No."

" but Sir what if he manages to warn the Black Order?"

Urahara sighed, I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me, "your Captain, before his Konso, left something to do with that Exorcist's past, he has most likely gone to pursue that past. Even if he managed to warn the Black Order, it wouldn't matter. They don't have as many or as strong fighters as we do."

"Right…um, sir? Taking in Monitor Captain Yutaka's…mental stability, wouldn't a search party be wise?" the Monitor of Tokyo asked. Yutaka could be rather unpredictable, and the plans for his enemies could be rather…scary.

"Oh don't worry; I'm sure he'll be fine! After all Yutaka wouldn't leave anything that would harm him…much" Urahara said waving it off. If real life were an anime everyone would have sweat dropped or fallen over.

"Moving on, has the Black Order been located?" Urahara asked.

The Monitor of London came forward, "we looked for locations that created the same disturbances n our equipment as the base in Nevada did and came up with two locations: London and the Bermuda Triangle." The Monitor nodded to the one for the Bermuda Triangle, who took over.

"The energy causing the disturbance within the Bermuda Triangle is darker than that of the one of London, I believe that the Black Order can be found there. I believe that the darker energy is that of the Black Order's enemy."

"Noted, thank you Alex, Roger," Yuki said nodding to the two Monitors, "Kurosaki Ichigo will be leading a team to the Black Order Headquarters tomorrow, arriving via Senkaimon, he has already departed to Soul Society."

Turning, he and Urahara left.

Train, Somewhere in Japan

Kanda Yuu was staring out the window looking at nothing in particular, lost in thought.

The folder Urahara had given him was lying safely in his bag, along with his Exorcist Uniform.

Mugen had been shattered again and was in a small bag, until it could be repaired…again.

Until it could be repaired, Kanda was practically defenseless if an Akuma decided to attack him. Oddly enough it wasn't the Akumas that he was anxious about.

No! He was not scared of returning to his supposed home.

He was… curious. How did Rai know about his past? And if he did, why hadn't Rai mentioned anything before hand? Rai had known him for years, he could have told him then…unless it was just before he lost his mind that he found out and didn't have the clarity to tell him until his deathbed. That was a rather depressing thought.

Taking the note that had been in the folder out of his pocket, Kanda studied the words written there, though he had almost memorized them.

'Yuu,

You're probably wondering why there is only a map and this note in the folder, when I said that it was everything I found on your parents and past. There is a reason, just as there is a reason as to why I went insane, but I digress.

The map has the directions to your house and the graveyard where your family is buried. The answers you are looking for are there.

The things I know, the things I left behind, for you to find. They can all be found at the house—your house.

I can guarantee that your search will end there.

-your insane friend, Yutaka Rai'

Kanda had read that note shortly after the battle. When he saw the other Exorcists being captured, he needed to make a choice.

Fight now and risk being captured and unable to escape, or run—find out his past and break them out later?

Normally he would have stood and fought but he had seen the power of the Team members—he couldn't beat them, especially with Mugen out of commission. The fact that he might find some answers was an added bonus.

'So here I am on a train going who knows where, while my frie-allies are being held hostage. Those Team members really need to learn to keep their voices down, I was able to overhear everything! Then again if they hadn't been speaking so loud, I wouldn't have known that they were taken us into custody…and oh god, Rai is affecting me from beyond the grave dammit! Stop going off on tangents!'

Kanda took a deep breath, he had been traveling for nearly three hours; he could survive a few more, so long as no one really pissed him off.

'Fat chance of that'

Kanda tensed, 'who are you?'

'You really don't know? Huh let's just say that I'm your resident nut job! Hey what are you— OW!' A voce from his mind said.

'Ignore him he's an idiot,' came a different voice, it was deep.

'You hit me!' the other voice was back.

Kanda's eye twitched slightly, and now he was going insane.

'You are not insane; we are a part of you. I have been with you since you were very young though you have no recollection of that time. You may call me…."

Kanda's eyes narrowed the voice had faded just as he was about to tell him his name!

'It appears you are still not ready, until such a time when you are, we will leave.'

'Wait who are you?'

They were gone, whoever they were.

Kanda leaned back in his seat, pushing the fact that he had just had an entire conversation, with two voices in his head.

When was this stupid train ride going to be over?

New York, North America

Arisawa Tatsuki was annoyed.

She had less than twenty-four hours to get to London to save Orihime and now she had extra baggage.

A hollow just had to attack a teenager, who had rather high spirit energy on her watch. Tatsuki couldn't just leave him, he would be dead rather quickly by the looks of it.

The teen was probably around seventeen to eighteen, with light brown hair and green eyes. It looked like he had some Asian blood in him. He also seemed to be a complete wuss.

The kid was sniffling for pity's sake! He had to be at least seventeen and he was sniffling!

"Oy, kid what's your name?" she asked the sniffling teen.

He looked up at her with watery eyes, "T-Tamaki, Kenji Tamaki."

Unknown Location

He was really bored.

He had spent years in this place, where ever here is.

He had watched his son grow up from afar, wept when his brother had died and angered when that thing had tried to kill his son.

There had even been a few instances where he had been able to assert a small part of his power through his son to help out.

Not much but it was something.

Hopefully his colleagues would be able to defeat a man that had thousands of years of experience. Hopefully they would be able to defeat enemies that were responsible for the deaths of their comrades.

Hopefully they would be able to weather the coming storm.

For there is a storm coming.

The prophecy given centuries ago, left behind to warn future generations, was drawing closer to completion.

The game is set, the pieces in place.

Now all Neah could do was wait, and pray.

Soul Society, Fourth Division

A city built on the water.

It was a beautiful place, with intricately carved bricks that made up the buildings, trees lined the streets, children laughed as they played in the streets.

It was nice.

It was peaceful.

Then the scene changed.

A man stood in the air, laughing maniacally.

Screams filled the streets as the people ran from the man.

A ball of energy was forming in the air in front of the man as he held out his hand, feeding his energy into it.

It was getting smaller and smaller, until it was smaller than his finge rand was repeatedly flashing .

The energy ball suddenly expanded instantaneously and shot forward from the man's finger with blinding speed.

It swallowed the entire city, completely annihilating everything in it.

Water rushed into the gap left behind by the island city.

The destruction of the world's spiritual center upset the balance of nature.

Around the world volcanoes erupted, tsunamis and tidal waves ravaged the coasts and the earth shook from its very foundations.

The man, who had destroyed nearly a thousand people in a few minutes, grinned maliciously as he held a small key in his hand.

The man disappeared.

The ash from the volcanoes left dark clouds in the sky, blocking out the light of the sun.

The world was dark for days.

Three days…

….wait, why does that sound familiar?

Have you ever had a feeling in your gut when you just realize something terrible, and wish you had continued to live on in ignorance?

Well that's what I'm feeling right now.

It's not pleasant.

I knew I was dreaming, but it felt a little too real to be a dream.

I was looking at the past, seeing events that had already transpired. Kinda like how I could see things before they happened except now it's in reverse.

The three days of darkness, how could I forget? It was one of the first things they told be back at the Asia branch of the Order.

I was watching the original three days of darkness. The days where the Earl fought against the original users of Innocence and was defeated by them. So where were they? Where were the Earl and the Innocence users?

In a flash of light they appeared.

I was expecting people using some of the odd looking Innocence that I had seen. I was expecting normal people.

The guards of the king, the Royal Guard, were the ones who stood facing the man.

I want to know where the Earl is, maybe there's something I can learn from watching his battle, a weakness or something—

I froze, my blood running cold.

I had caught a glimpse of the man's face. A wide, jaw breaking grin was stretched across his face, the face that gave me nightmares for weeks, after I had seen it for the first time.

The face of the Millennium Earl.

Suddenly everything clicked.

The reason the man destroyed the city was to create a simple key.

The key that wasn't a simple, insignificant thing.

A man had almost succeeded in making a second one.

The key that required the spiritual center of the world to be destroyed, I'm an idiot for not realizing it at the beginning of this glimpse into the past.

The Millennium Earl was the one to create the original one.

The King's Key.

An: hello all, wow it's been nearly a month since my last update, sorry 'bout that. I have crossed the dangerous land of Procrastination, and fought against the dreaded homework to bring you this chapter.

This is actually the first time I have hit nine pages. I'm really happy about that.

If you have any questions, comments, mistakes you noticed I made please review!

I look at the reviews more than I do my inbox, I will notice the reviews faster.

Thank you for reading; hopefully I will have the next chapter written in the next month, if not then the month after.