(Recap)

"Get off." Ichigo growled. Nel ignored him and continued to hug him. It was then that Halibel reacted faster than she ever had and grabbed Nel by her shirt and threw her off Ichigo.

"He said 'Get off.'" Halibel said solemnly.

"Ow!" Nel cried as she hit a wall. Ichigo stared at Halibel oddly, but didn't comment.

"Are you ok Nel?" Orihime said. Nel rubbed her head.

"I'm fine." She was about to yell at Halibel, but realized something.

"Where are Peche and Dondochakka?" Nel asked.

Nobody answered. Ichigo had to explain what was going on.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked. Everyone turned to the door and saw Aizen standing there.

"Aizen-sama." Nel whispered.

Chapter 14

Ichigo and Halibel simply turned to Aizen, both apparently, unsurprised at the intrusion. Orihime, who was scared of Aizen, hid behind Ichigo and hoped that he would protect her while Neliel immediately jumped up from the ground and brushed away some of the rubble on her clothes, she was also standing behind Ichigo.

"Greetings Aizen-sama, I…" She immediately shut up when Aizen locked eyes with her. She knew from experience Aizen was angry.

'What did I do?' Neliel thought curiously.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear the first time." Aizen stated unemotionally as he began to release his reiatsu.

He was immediately surprised to see that nobody was affected by it. It didn't take long for him to realize that Ichigo was blocking his reiatsu form hitting Neliel and Orihime, who would have been the only ones affected by his reiatsu.

"You should relax Aizen-sama, too much stress isn't good." Ichigo said impassively as he felt Orihime grab his sleeve for reassurance.

"What is the meaning of this, Kurosaki?" Aizen asked.

"I would have assumed it was obvious Aizen-sama." Ichigo replied. Halibel couldn't help but smirk behind her collar.

Aizen stared dispassionately at Ichigo.

"I had Neliel in a secured cell. Why did you release her and then proceed to restore her?"

"I believe that she would be a great help to us."

"I gave you no such order."

"I didn't think I needed one." Ichigo replied.

"Neliel is a traitor to Las Noches and I will not have her running free." Neliel stared at Aizen in confusion.

'Traitor?'

"From my stand point, we need a lot more powerful hollow, besides Stark, Halibel and I, to fight Soul Society's top fighters. I know that you can feel Neliel's power. She will be a great asset to Las Noches.

"I have no use for traitors." Aizen said with a tone of finality. "Halibel dispose of…" Ichigo suddenly interrupted.

"I didn't think you would be afraid of such a weak Arrancar. I apologize, Aizen-sama." Ichigo said with a bow.

When Ichigo made that statement everyone in the room, including Orihime, knew that Ichigo had won. If Aizen had Neliel killed he would look weak, but if she was allowed to live Aizen would appear kind, thus giving hollows more of a reason to follow him.

"Watch yourself, Kurosaki." Aizen replied soullessly.

"Aizen-sama, Neliel is very powerful. She may not be as powerful as Ulquiorra, but she is definitely stronger than Nnoitora." Halibel added, assisting Ichigo.

"I'll watch over Neliel for you Aizen-sama." Ichigo said while ignoring Aizen's last comment.

As Aizen already knew enough about Ichigo to figure out what he would do. Ichigo would remain adamant in keeping Neliel here. Aizen didn't want Ichigo to openly opposing him, so there was only one option. After thinking on it Aizen finally spoke.

"Kurosaki, Neliel is your responsibility. If she betrays me, you will be just as guilty as she is." Aizen stated. Ichigo grinned at Aizen.

"Of course." Ichigo replied as Aizen turned to leave.

"And Kurosaki, don't test me." Aizen said as he left the room. Ichigo remained staring at the spot Aizen had just occupied.

"As if you could stop me." Ichigo replied just low enough for Halibel, Neliel, and Orihime to hear. Neliel looked at Ichigo in confusion.

"Ichigo, what do you mean?" Ichigo stared at the former third Espada. Neliel was very confused she couldn't seem to remember clearly.

"Can you remember anything?" Orihime walked from behind Ichigo and stood next to Halibel. Halibel glanced at Orihime before looking back at Ichigo.

"I remember my time up until Nnoitora tricked me, then I remember saving you from Nnoitora and that's about it. I don't even know how I got here."

Ichigo didn't remember her saving him.

"Then you don't know about the war with Soul Society?" Ichigo asked. Neliel shook her head.

"I know that Aizen-sama was planning it, he sent us out to find Vasto lord all the time." Neliel answered. Ichigo noticed that she wasn't acting hyper like she was before. 'She's very serious now.'

"Then this is going to take a while." Ichigo, with the help of Halibel began to fill Neliel in on the war, how they became Vasto lord, the Espada revival plan, and about the plan to overthrow Aizen. After twenty minutes of explaining Neliel seemed to understand what was happening.

"So the question remains. Will you help us?" Ichigo asked. Neliel smiled.

"My path… is the path you set for me. I will follow you not matter what Ichigo." Neliel answered; Ichigo smiled.

"I feel the same Ichigo." Orihime added.

"Thank you Neliel, Orihime." Ichigo replied. He didn't know why, but he was beginning to feel closer to them, if only a bit.

"Stark and Barragan will be filled in tomorrow." He told Halibel.

Halibel agreed.

"Then we are done for today, we should get some rest."

"Wait Ichigo." Neliel stated, Ichigo glanced at her.

"Pesche and Dondochakka, can Orihime revive them?" Neliel asked.

"I see no reason not to, besides you should be asking Orihime." Ichigo replied.

"It's fine; I can heal them for you."

Halibel suddenly tapped Ichigo on the shoulder. Ichigo turned and saw her holding a vial with three mask fragments in it.

"I forgot, sorry Halibel." Ichigo said.

"It's fine." Halibel said quietly and handed over vial to Ichigo.

"These too Orihime." Ichigo said as he threw the vial to Orihime, who barely managed to catch it.

"I'll go get them." Neliel said. "Oh thank you Ichigo!" Neliel cried out as she gave Ichigo a hug before running out of the room to get her fraccion.

"I hope she doesn't think that she could do that whenever she wants." Ichigo said, Halibel was thinking the same thing.

It didn't take long for Neliel to return accompanied by her fraccion. Both of her fraccion wore serious expressions.

"Neliel-sama has filled us in on what's happening. Thank you for restoring Neliel-sama to her previous form. We don't have to act like complete fools anymore and it's time to once again be our true selves. Neliel-sama hasn't seemed so happy in a long time. She seems… at peace. That is all Dondochakka and I wanted." Pesche said to Ichigo.

"I, too, wish to thank you Ichigo-sama." Dondochakka added. Ichigo waved his hand.

"Don't thank me; Orihime is the one that will heal you." Ichigo said unemotionally.

"No need to thank me." Orihime said while scratching the back of her head and blushing.

"Can you start?" Halibel asked.

"I'll do you two first." Orihime told Pesche and Dondochakka. Both proceeded to lie on the floor as Orihime instructed them to.

"Soten Kisshun: I Reject" Orihime incanted. Soon both were engulfed by the golden light.

"I'm so happy; it'll be just like old times." Neliel said as her fraccion smiled at her, both were happy to see a smile on their leaders face.

With minutes of getting healed both Arrancar began changing right before everyone's eyes. Pesche's body transformed from bug-like into a human. He had pale white skin, shoulder length blonde hair, and blue eyes. The remains of his hollow mask covered the upper left side of his face with a hole for his left eye to see out of and a short horn at the top of his mask. Dondochakka went through a similar transformation. His body became human; he had short brown hair and brown eyes. His mask fragment took the shape of a white gladiator helmet.

Orihime cancelled out her ability as both Pesche and Dondochakka summoned their respective zanpakto.

"Thank you, Orihime." Both Dondochakka and Pesche said at the same time. Orihime blushed.

"Pesche, Dondochakka!" Neliel exclaimed before she hugged both her fraccion. "I'm so happy your back!"

"So are we, Neliel-sama." Pesche replied. As they continued to hug, Orihime dropped the contents of the vial on the floor.

Halibel grew happy at the thought of her fraccion reviving. Besides Neliel, Halibel was the only Espada that truly cared for her fraccion.

It took long to revive Halibel's fraccion because Orihime was reviving three this time. It took a hour to revive them to their fullest. During that time Ichigo remained standing, watching Orihime's powers work. He could tell that Orihime was having a difficult time using her powers; healing Neliel, her fraccion, plus reviving Halibel's fraccion had started to take its toll on her body. Halibel was waiting in anticipation while Neliel began filling her fraccion in on what was going to happen.

"Nervous?" Ichigo asked Halibel. She looked at him, wondering how he could tell.

"You're taping your finger." Ichigo answered. Halibel immediately stopped.

"I always do that." Halibel stated.

"I'm sure." Ichigo replied with a smirk. Halibel continued to look at him, she liked when he smirked.

When she realized what she was doing she turned back to her fraccion. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to ignore the slight embarrassment she was feeling. Luckily for her, Halibel's face was covered all of the time.

Soon, one by one, Halibel's fraccion began to open their eyes. Each of them was looking around in confusion.

"Relax." Halibel said. Sun-sun, Apache, and Mila Rose turned to Halibel at the same time.

"Halibel-sama what's going on?" Apache asked.

"Where are we?" Mila Rose asked

"Everything will be explained." Halibel replied

Everyone was suddenly taken aback when Orihime collapsed on the floor, causing her Shun Shun Rikka to break apart before she could end the technique herself.

"She must be exhausted from overusing her abilities." Ichigo told Halibel as he picked up Orihime from the floor.

"Halibel-sama whats going on?" Apache asked.

"You three were... killed during the war." Halibel answered.

"Orihime was able to heal you." Ichigo said as he laid Orihime on her bed.

"Hey I know you; you're that jerk that was fighting on par with Grimmjow!" Apache yelled.

"Silence Apache." Halibel stated abruptly.

"But Hali…" She was interrupted.

"Grimmjow…." Ichigo said and began thinking about that name, which named sounded very familiar to him. "I defeated a Grimmjow once." He said to himself, ignoring the insult.

"What's going on Halibel-sama?" Sun-sun asked. Halibel, who was looking at Ichigo in confusion, turned to her fraccion.

"Much must be explained, wait a little longer." Halibel said.

"Yeah, shut up Sun-sun!" Apache yelled.

"Quit being a witch, Apache!" Mila Rose yelled.

"Don't you start something too." Apache yelled back.

"All three of you shut up." Ichigo said with a tone of seriousness. It was enough to shut them up in a second.

"The girl that just revived you is sleeping. Show some respect." Ichigo ordered.

"Who ar…"

"Silence Mila Rose." Halibel stated.

"Neliel, can you stay with Orihime tonight?" Ichigo asked.

"Of course, Ichigo." Neliel replied as she finished explaining everything to her fraccion.

"Good, I'm going to bed." Ichigo stated. Halibel's fraccion watched as he stopped to the right of Halibel and whispered something in her ear as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Apache's eye narrowed.

Apache made to yell, but Sun-sun stopped her.

"Halibel-sama doesn't seem to mind." She stated. After a moment Halibel nodded and Ichigo walked off.

"Let's go girls; I have much to fill you in on." Halibel said and turned to leave the room with her fraccion following close behind her.

She felt oddly happy when Ichigo touched her shoulder

"Fill them in on everything. Make sure your fraccion can keep a secret; they are very loud and annoying, they could let something slip. After I wake up we will convince Ulquiorra to join us." Ichigo said low enough so that only Halibel heard him.

(10 am- Next Morning)

*Knock* *Knock*

Ichigo awoke at the abrupt noise. He slowly opened his eyes as he let out a loud yawn.

"I must have over slept." Ichigo mumbled to himself while he thought for the dream he had, it was a vision of when Ulquiorra showed him his Segunda etapa. Ichigo was somehow sure he could use the information to bring Ulquiorra to their side.

As Ichigo stopped thinking of the vision and walked over to his door and opened it.

Lilynette was the one knocking.

"What do you want?" Ichigo asked tiredly.

"You're late, Stark sent me to come get you." Lilynette answered with a small blush.

"Where are they?"

"Upmost room of tower 3." Lilynette replied, before she could say another word Ichigo used sonido.

"He's so cute!" Lilynette squealed before using sonido herself.

Ichigo appeared right outside of the room's door and knocked.

"It's Ichigo." Ichigo said as he opened the door. Upon entering, the first thing he noticed was that the room had many different layers and platforms so that not one platform was the same height. He then noticed the all the Espada and the remaining fraccion were present.

"You're late." Barragan announced; he was residing on the upmost platform.

'What a surprise' Ichigo thought sarcastically.

"Really I hadn't noticed" Ichigo replied as he jumped up to the platform that Halibel and her fraccion were on.

"Quiet Barragan." Stark said as Lilynette appeared next to him. Ichigo looked around as saw Ulquiorra standing completely still with his eyes closed. 'He probably doesn't even know why he's here' Ichigo guessed.

Ichigo was slightly surprised when he saw that Wonderweiss had joined them.

"Why's he here?" Ichigo asked Halibel.

"I'm not sure; he just appeared next to us. We didn't bother to ask him anything." Halibel answered.

"Hi Ichigo!" Neliel cried from the opposite side of the room.

"Ichigo-sama." Mila Rose said abruptly. Ichigo and Halibel turned to the fraccion. Apache and Sun-sun were pushing Mila Rose towards Ichigo.

"I know." She whispered to her fellow fraccion.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked.

"Halibel-sama filled us in on everything. We wanted to apologize for our behavior." Mila Rose said solemnly.

Ichigo stared at them a while before looking away.

"Forget about it." Ichigo replied. Halibel's fraccion released the breath they had been holding. Halibel had told them that Ichigo's power surpassed Aizen and that they should respect him, they were worried he would despise them for their behavior.

"Isn't this dangerous? I'm sure Aizen is wondering where we are." Ichigo stated for everyone to hear.

"Aizen has locked himself up in Szayel's lab; we are not to disturb him." Stark replied. "We should get to the reason why we are here."

"Shall we let Ichigo do all the talking; we all know he has a problem with not letting us in on his plans." Barragan stated while motioning to Neliel.

"I have no problem with Ichigo reviving the previous Tercera Espada, nor does anyone else besides you." Stark stated.

"Do you have a problem with her, Barragan?" Halibel asked.

"Maybe you feel threatened." Ichigo said unemotionally. Barragan glared at Ichigo, but remained quiet.

"Where's Orihime?" Ichigo asked.

"She's still asleep, Ichigo" Neliel answered.

Ichigo nodded. 'She must have been really exhausted from using her powers so much'

"I'm sure..." Neliel spoke. "Ulquiorra is wondering why we have gathered without Aizen." She finished.

"I have guessed the reason." Ulquiorra replied.

"Your answer?" Ichigo asked.

Silence filled the room as the Arrancar waited for Ulquiorra, who had his eyes closed in deep concentration.

"Aizen-sama gave me this power, why would I… We betray him?" Ulquiorra asked.

"That man is no longer powerful enough to control us. I have said this before when I was king…"

"When you were king. That time has long since passed, hasn't it?" Ulquiorra interrupted. Barragan narrowed his eyes.

"Aizen cannot be trusted to lead us. Ever since the Espada started to fall, Stark and I noticed that Aizen could care less about us. He just stood, watching over us as; Halibel was pinned down, I faced numerous opponents and Barragan killed. He just doesn't care and I refuse to follow someone who sees us as nothing but tools." Lilynette stated.

"Are you saying that you are betraying Aizen-sama because he wouldn't assist you in your fight against Soul Society?" Ulquiorra asked. "You and Stark are the only Espada who would be saddened by another's Espada's death."

Lilynette glared at him.

"That maybe, but the battle may have been in our favor if he had assisted us. What Lilynette is trying to say is that we need to cast Aizen aside because of his failure to lead properly." Stark replied.

"Can you do better?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"I never said I could." Stark countered.

"Then why would we follow you instead of Aizen?"

"I'd rather follow Stark than Aizen, I think Stark could be a good leader." Ichigo commented.

"If you would stop sleeping so much." Lilynette whispered to Stark before giggling.

"Nevertheless, those who remain loyal to Aizen-sa…"

"Loyal… loyal you say. Is it not you Ulquiorra Cifer, who has been hiding your true power from Aizen? You told me this yourself…Segunda Etapa… you're the only Espada to have such a transformation yet you hide it from Aizen. You also told me that shinigami are weak and will never be as powerful as hollows yet you kneel before one willingly. You speak of loyalty to Aizen-sama, yet you had doubts of him way before we did." Ichigo revealed.

Everyone was surprised to hear about Ulquiorra's hidden power.

'Segunda Etapa… a form greater than resurreccion?' Barragan guessed while the other Arrancar were thinking along the same line.

Ulquiorra stared at his former rival, their eyes locked. Ulquiorra knew the truth in Ichigo's statement could not be countered, but he wasn't the type to rush into things.

"What can Stark, or even you offer us, which Aizen-sama can't?"

'Stark would be the obvious choice to succeed Aizen, but Ichigo seems to have greater potential. I was indeed wrong about him.' Ulquiorra thought to himself

"Nothing. If you want live your life following a shinigami be my guest, but know this Ulquiorra Cifer… times are changing; the time of hollows has come. Who else agrees with me?" Ichigo shouted the last part.

"I do." -Neliel

"Us." -Pesche and Dondochakka

"We do." –Sun-sun, Apache, Mila Rose

"Me too." -Lilynette

"I." -Barragan

"Me." -Halibel

"I agree." -Stark

Wonderweiss let pout a low groan.

When everyone, but Ulquiorra, answered Ichigo turned to him.

"Well?" Ichigo asked.

Ulquiorra remained quiet for a moment before answering.

"I."

(Author's Note: So how was it? Not too much happened in this chapter, but this chapter was necessary.)