Enjoy!:3

"It's time." I said calmly to Nnoitra and Ulquiorra. They nodded quickly and we waited until we heard Carl's door lock. We sprinted up the stairs as quietly as we could and ran into the bedroom where Nnoitra and I slept in last night. Ulquiorra packed some of his belongings and I woke Aiden up. The kid had already been fast asleep and had a new bruise on his cheek.

"Hey, Aiden wake up!" I whispered loudly and shook him a bit. He jolted up and had a panicked look on his face. He finally saw me and Nnoitra standing next to him and slightly relaxed.

"W-what's going on?" He asked not so quietly and I saw Nnoitra flinch next to me.

"Aiden you need to get up, we're leaving." As soon as I said this to him, he perked up happily and began to put his torn shoes on.

"You didn't forget your promise!" He said happily and made to hug me.

"Yeah, yeah kid. Whatever." I muttered as I held him away at arms length. I turned to look at Nnoitra.

"I'm gonna go down to the basement and get Nel and Lilinette. I want you to go and start the SUV. Ulquiorra, I want you to keep an eye out in case Norah or Carl show up. I just hope that I don't have to drag Lilinette's ass out of here against her will." We went down the stairs quietly and Nnoitra held the door open so that Aiden could run out. Instantly, the porch lights turned on and illuminated the whole area.

"Remember to stick to the shadows!" I hissed at them and then it was just Ulquiorra and me.

"I just want to thank you for this opportunity. You have no idea how much this means to Aiden and I." He said quietly as he stared at Nnoitra's and Aiden's figures running towards the SUV.

"Don't thank me yet. We still gotta get out of this hell hole." I carefully opened the basement door and went down, stopping every once in a while. Ulquiorra held it open, that way we wouldn't be so loud when we ran out. Even though the lights were off, I couldn't risk being seen or heard by anybody else. So I crept down and began to crawl. The problem was, I didn't know which was Nel's mattress.

Shit, this is going to be trickier than I thought.

The good thing was that there was a small window where the porch lights flooded in slightly. I crawled low and lifted my head towards a random bed.

Fuck it, I can't even see their faces. I might as well stand up and hope that they don't notice me.

I stood up and was now able to see them better. Not far from me, I made out a familiar shade of sea green hair. Next to her was Lilinette, who seemed to be fast asleep much like Aiden had been. I tip-toed towards Nel and crawled onto her mattress, accidentally shaking it badly. Which caused Nel to wake up...and punch me directly in the face. She was about to punch me in the face again and that's when I decided to speak up.

"Nel it's me, chill!" I hissed at her and she finally recognized me.

"Grimmjow? What are you doing here?" She whispered in a surprised tone, "I thought we were leaving tomorrow morning?"

"Key word there is were. We gotta go now." I whispered and she began to get up.

"Right now?" She asked skeptically.

"Yeah, Nnoitra is outside waiting for us in the SUV so we can get the hell out of here. Carl says that I'm corrupting his girls and that he's going to cleanse me if I don't leave." I said quickly so that she could get the message. Fortunately, she did.

"He threatened to kill you?!" She hissed and I stood up.

"Yeah. So... we gotta go like, right now." She was about to stand up when Lilinette spoke.

"Are you being serious, sharkface?" She asked me as she sat up. I looked at her seriously.

"Would I lie to you, kid? I'm not about to start lying to you and I sure as hell won't with this. If yer gonna stick with us, you gotta come along. Your dad would be pissed if I left you here." I said and hoped that she didn't start to argue with me.

"I'll go with you!" I suddenly heard and my eyes widened as Melinda sat up and shocked the hell out of me. All of us I think. I looked away for a moment and wondered if I really should let her come along. Nel got up and reached for her street clothes and I began to make my way towards the stairs.

"Lilinette get your stuff." I heard her say to Lilinette and was met with silence.

'Damn, I hope she doesn't start arguing with Nel. We need to get out of here now, before the other girls get Carl's attention.' The sound of rustling clothes reached my ears, along with the sound of many bed springs squeaking as the others girls sat up.

Soon I saw Lilinette's small figure pass me and begin going up the stairs. I hurried behind Nel and inwardly flinched when I heard another pair of footsteps behind me. Ulquiorra was at the door and ushered Lilinette and Melinda out the kitchen door. Nel was the last one out and gently closed the door shut.

"You guys go on ahead, I have to look for something." I turned to look back at her.

"What the hell are you going to possibly look for right now?" I asked her impatiently and she looked back at me seriously.

"I'm not going to leave her." I stared at her confused, but followed her anyways.

"Hurry he's going to notice soon." I heard Ulquiorra say as he got onto the SUV. I followed Nel through the darkness and noticed something different about her. I'm not sure what it was, but before I could comment on it, she stopped near the side of the porch and began to reach into the bottom of some dead bushes. Light mewing reached my ears suddenly and Nel got up, cradling something small and fury.

"We came all the way over here for a kitten?" I asked incredulously and balked when she handed me the furry kitten.

"Hold her will you? I still need to get something from here." When she turned around to give me cat, I figured out what seemed different. She noticed that I was staring at her.

"What?" She asked suspiciously and I just shrugged.

"Your hair looks nice in a bun. That's all." I asked and she began to blush and then I smirked.

"And yer long ass nightgown is pretty damn transparent if ya ask me." I drawled and her blush increased as she tried to cover herself.

"You damn pervert! I should've just let Carl kill you!" She squawked and I was about to say something else, when the front door suddenly slammed open. Causing me to jump and drop the kitten. It mewled loudly and stared up at me. Carl was coming outside along with Norah, who was carrying a shotgun.

"What is going on?" He said in very relaxed and chill tone. He continued walking towards us and stopped a couple feet away from us. Norah was right next to him and she looked pissed. And like always, someone has to cut me off.

"Nothing, we just wanted to leave." Nel responded calmly before I could say anything. Then, he smirked dangerously at her.

"It's a very dangerous place out there for a beautiful young woman," Then, he turned to look at me and frowned, "Especially if you're leaving with him! He's going to get you all killed!"

"He's been possessed by the devil!" Norah spat out angrily and raised her gun. Nel suddenly raised her hands up and took a step forward.

"Hey, take it easy Norah. You might shoot someone." I looked at her with a no shit sherlock expression and also held my hands up.

"He must leave! He has never been welcomed here!" Carl yelled out as he pointed at me.

"We just want to leave damn it! What part of 'I want to leave' do you not fucking understand!?" I yelled out to him angrily as I took a step forward too.

"You're putting my girls in danger!" He said and took the shotgun from Norah. I saw Nel glance towards the car and then back towards Carl.

"We're not your girls," She said slowly and calmly, "We don't want any trouble. We just want to go." Carl stared at her for a moment before throwing his head back and began to laugh vehemently.

"That is very funny but, he has you very confused!" He then got all serious and turned towards me, "Commander Jaegerjaquez, I highly recommend that you release my boys and girls, leave before I make you." He said calmly as he raised his gun at me. Norah looked shocked when Carl revealed my identity. Well, partial identity anyways.

"I'm sorry but, I seem to have misplaced your slaves." I said calmly, even though I was getting pissed off. I guess Carl had had enough of our shit, raised his shotgun and aimed at me. I think Lilinette screamed inside of the SUV, but no one got out.

Suddenly, Nel got in front of me and surprised the hell out of us all.

"Wait!" She yelled out but, Carl decided to aim at her instead. Next to him, Norah gasped sharply and that's when it seemed clearer now.

Just as I thought, Nel noticed and took off in a sprint towards Norah, making sure to make an arch. While she did that, Carl tried to keep his aim at her. He had forgotten that I was still there. I ran towards him quickly as Nel tackled Norah, sending them both to the ground. Norah screamed and Nel punched her. By then, Carl had reached Nel and slammed the butt of his gun against the back of her head, knocking her out slightly. By then, I too had already reached Carl.

He noticed me and the only thing that I had managed to hit, was the side of his mouth. It worked actually, he stumbled a bit and I took this opportunity to take his gun away. I swiftly delivered a kick to his stomach, effectively knocking him down.I aimed the gun at his abdomen, but suddenly thought better of it.

Why not blow his fuckin brains out like he was about to do to you?

There it was again, that little voice from back then. Before I found my dead mother. I quickly shook my head, but still aimed at his face anyways. Norah screamed as I was about to pull the trigger with a smirk.

"Nighty, night bitch."

BANG!

SPLAT!

I slightly grimaced when bloody chunks of his face splattered on me. Norah was screaming bloody murder and Nel was starting to move her head slightly. Not wasting anymore time, I grabbed Nel's arm and began to pull her up.

"Nel! Get the hell up!" I shouted at her and she slightly got up. She looked over at Carl or, what was left of his face anyways. Norah had blood running down her face from where Nel had punched her and was now crouched over Carl, crying and screaming her head off. Nel's eyes widened and she looked up at me.

"What happened?"

"It's obvious ain't it? I shot him." She looked at me and got up. On our way to the SUV, I picked up the damn kitten that Nel had insisted on taking with us, while she grabbed the shotgun that I had used on Carl.

Just as we were about to round the SUV, a fucking tiger stood there. It growled at us threateningly and began stalking towards us. However, Nel aimed her gun at the ground next to it and shot. The shot managed to freak the tiger out and it ran off. I opened the door and noticed that Nel was going back towards the side of the ranch.

"Where the hell are you going!" I yelled towards her and she waved me off.

"Don't worry about it! Just get in!" I stared at her and got in next to Nnoitra. He looked out his rear view window.

"What the hell is she doing?" He muttered and our eyes widened a minute later, when the back of the SUV opened. She threw something in and slammed it shut. In the background, we heard Norah yell something out and some of the girls had come outside. They were wailing and screaming around Carl's dead body. It disgusted me really, I sure as hell didn't even feel bad for him. The bastard got what he deserved for what he was doing to Aiden and everybody else. I opened my door and half hung out. When Nel got closer, I grabbed her arm and pulled her in. She didn't even have time to shut the door, when Nnoitra suddenly threw the SUV in reverse.

"What the hell Nnoi!" I yelled at him as he tried whipping the car around.

"Go! Go! Go!" Nel yelled at him frantically as she pressed her hands against the dashboard.

"I'm trying!" He yelled out and I looked at Nel, who was currently sitting on my lap and trying to close the door.

"Why the hell are you guys freaking out?" I asked and Nnoitra looked over at me with a Really dude? expression on his face.

"One of the girls has a gun and she's pointing it at us, ya idiot!" He yelled at me and slammed on the gas pedal.

Oh

A shot fired but missed us entirely. Nnoitra swerved the car to the right on the gravel road, causing the entire SUV to sway. Melinda and Lilinette yelped in the back and Nnoitra continued to speed down the road.

We were on the highway and Nnoitra kept driving at around 80 or 90 mph, even if we were far away from the ranch. It was easier to breathe and just as I was getting comfortable, Nel leaned back against me. I guess that she had forgotten that she had been sitting on my lap and she straightened back up.

"You saved me again, you know." I said to her and she turned her head to look at me from the side.

"We can call it even." She said and got up off of me and climbed over the center console.

"Hey Nnoi? Can you pullover when you have the chance? Kinda want to get out of these rags and put my real clothes on." She said and Nnoitra looked over at me. I shrugged at him and he continued to stare at the road.

"Yeah whatever, lemme just get a bit farther away."

"Do you even know where you're going?" I muttered towards him and he shrugged at me.

"Not really." I rolled my eyes at him and turned to look at the blank landscape around us.

About an hour or so later, Nnoitra pulled over and us men made a dash towards a cluster of bushes to pee while the girls changed into other clothes.

"Dude, you've got it bad." I looked over at him and frowned.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He smirked at me and nodded down towards the kitten, that had followed me around since we got out of the car.

"For one, she handed you the fur ball to carry while she got to carry the shotgun. If it were me, I would've left it at the ranch. Next, you two kissed before the worship thingy started and walked in holdin hands-"

"I'm gonna cut you off there Nnoi. First of all, I'm not cruel enough to leave a four week old kitten to die. Second of all, we didn't kiss like you claim to say. She lightly pressed her lips against my cheek. That was it. As for the holding hands, she surprised me when I went in." I looked towards the SUV and noticed that they were all dressed and talking about something.

I wonder...

"...I still think you have it bad and just admit it Grimm-"

"I wonder what Melinda is telling Nel. Seems serious if ya ask me." I said as I cut him off and began walking towards them. I looked back towards Nnoitra and Aiden, who was now holding the kitten.

Wait a minute, where the hell is Ulquiorra?

I looked over at Melinda and saw that someone was next to her. That someone turned out to be Ulquiorra.

How the hell does he do that?

I walked closer to them and managed to catch a few words,

"Carl wanted to cleanse Grimmjow. He wanted to have sex with him too?" I gagged at this but continued listening.

"I don't know what actually happens during the male cleansing rituals," I heard Mel answer Nel, "But the last time Carl cleansed a man, it was Sarah's older brother. We had to bury him right after."

"Are you serious!?" I walked up to them and accidentally scared Melinda, "I narrowly escaped getting raped, again?" Nel looked over at me and opened the door for Melinda and Aiden.

"I don't know why you're getting all worked up by this. You were almost killed by a bunch of White Cloak soldiers a few days back. Not to mention that you easily escaped from a rapist months back. Rape seems a bit mundane in comparison to getting taken to Aizen at this point." She said jokingly. Meanwhile, Nnoitra gawked at me and Ulquiorra looked a bit confused.

"You never told me that!" I looked over at Nel who just shrugged at me.

"Why is it that every time you open your big ass mouth, you end up telling everybody my damn business?" I said to her through gritted teeth and she just laughed.

"Yo Grimmjow, why didn't you tell me abo-"

"It's clearly none of your business Nnoitra." While that sounded a bit rude, I didn't really feel like talking about that yet. What am I supposed to say? I got shot with an arrow? That my face got sliced from cheek to ear?

"Kay! Geez, I didn't know it was such a sore subject for ya." Nnoitra muttered and Ulquiorra got into the SUV.

"I'm gonna take a nap. You can drive this leg and Nel can drive the next one. If that's okay with ya." I nodded and Nnoitra tossed me the keys.

"Thanks Nnoi. Sorry 'bout snapping at ya." He just shrugged and opened his door.

"It's okay. I probably would've done the same thing." He said chuckling and got on. I drove a bit and the atmosphere seemed to have calmed a bit. Nel was staring at the barren wasteland around us and every once in a while, we would pass by a sad looking house. Lilinette was in an uncharacteristic silence and Nel tried to make small talk with her. The only words that she used to answer with were no, yes or I don't know.

Eventually, Nel gave up and everybody had fallen asleep. The first rays of the sun were coming up and it was pretty fucking quiet, so I decided to break it.

"So... Do you know where we're going?" I asked Nel and she turned to look at me oddly.

"You're the one driving, silly" she said and I gave her the closest thing to a smile.

"Yeah well, aren't we on some mythical quest to find the base in Idaho?" I said jokingly and she continued to stare out the window.

"It's not like we're looking for a way to get to Rome." She said, brushing me off.

"So? I used hyperbole. You knew what I meant." I said casually.

"I already explained it you Grimmjow, we go west and maybe we'll run into some soldiers." Trying to change the subject, I decided to ask her about her past.

"So why exactly were you at the diner that day when I met you?" There was a far away look on her face and for a second I wondered if it was a good idea to ask her.

"Even when my father was in charge of the resistance at first, he didn't want to draw much attention so he decided to get a normal job. I tagged along of course, and things were going great. Mable allowed me to work there as a waitress and my dad was a cook." I looked at her for a moment.

"How come I never saw you whenever I went?"

"I worked a night shift, if that helps any."

"I use to go there with some of my friends after winning a football game on Friday nights. I should've at least seen you once, right?"

"Maybe you were too busy celebrating to have noticed me. Or, I was taking someone else's order." She said smiling. We drove in silence for a while before I asked her another question.

"So.. How exactly did you meet Nnoitra?" She smiled for a moment before answering.

"Nnoitra was a waiter there for a couple of weeks." At the image of seeing my bug-looking friend in a waiter outfit, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Wow, I had no idea that he was a waiter at Mable's, much less that they even had uniforms available in his size." I said laughing. The sky had started to take on its normal blue hue and everyone was still asleep.

"What were you doing at Mable's that day?" She asked me.

"My mom had sent me to fetch some groceries and by the time I reached town, it was already somewhat destroyed."

"We didn't even have a chance of fighting back when they broke through the windows. My dad had been cooking someone's breakfast when he got shot in the back."

"Where were you?" She looked down at her palms and had a sad look on her face.

"A few minutes before they raided the place, Mable had sent me to the storage room to get some stuff. When I was walking out, there was an explosion that caused the roof and some pans to fall on me. The last thing that I saw, was my father getting shot..." She trailed off and stared out her window.

"I was so weak. If I hadn't been so weak, my father wouldn't have died. Starrk would still be here-"

"Stop blaming yourself. Do you see me acting that way for what happened that night? Or when my mother died? No, it wasn't your fault that your father died, or that Starrk is gone. Both times you were ambushed and there was nothing you could about it." She stared at me with wide eyes and looked down at her feet.

"Do you miss her?" I stared at her for a moment, before looking at the road in front of us.

"Every moment of every day." She stared at me sadly and slightly whispered to herself, but I still heard her.

"I miss mine too." I bit the inside of my cheek before asking,

"Who's Derek?" She stiffened and her eyes widened.

"How do you-?"

"You were kinda sayin his name in your sleep the night before Nnoitra and Lilinette showed up. You sounded kind of sad. Who was he?"

"That isn't really any of your business."

"I still want to know. Was he your boyfriend or somethin?" I asked curiously and she shook her head.

"To me, he might've been. To him, I was just a way for him to be deemed as one of us. I was an idiot to think that we were crazy for each other. In the end, I ended up getting hurt and him and his brother escaped to join the White Cloaks. I could continue talking, but I don't think I'd ever be able to stop."

She stared out into the distance as she said this and a million more questions ran through my head. She looked at me again, "You already killed Sean and I'm sure that Derek knows by now. I'm just going to say this now, we have to be on our guards at all times. He's going to find us one day and he's going to try and make us pay." She may have sounded brave but, I could practically smell the fear on her.

"Are you afraid of him?" I asked her after a moment. She shook her head slightly.

"Not of him. It's what he'll do, that bothers me."

"I'm not afraid of him. Him or Aizen." She arched an eyebrow at me.

"You of all people have no idea what they're capable of doing. Especially if they're together."

"Whatever. I'm not going down without a fight." We continued driving in silence yet again, before she broke the silence.

"Thank you." I looked at her in bewilderment.

"For what?"

"For being here for me. You're the first person that I've actually been comfortable with in telling all of this."

"You're better at all of this than me. Personally, I think you should have been the next commander instead of me."

"Hardly." She said laughing.

"No seriously, you are better at pretty much everything than me."

"Well that just might be true." We laughed together and things actually seemed to get better between us.

But like always, something has to happen and ruin the mood.

The SUV suddenly started to decelerate and I pounded on the gas pedal frantically.

What the fuck happened!?

Then the SUV slowed to a complete stop.