I intended to finish this chapter a little earlier, but some things got in the way. I know it seems I'm pulling a Kubo and dragging things out, but this is a pretty important part for all the main characters, so I didn't want to skate over it with a couple chapters. With that, read on! Please feel free to drop any criticism in reviews or by PMs.

Chapter 20 – Kill The WORLD, Starting with You

Mood Music:

Sagisu Shiro – Nothing Can be Explained (Instrumental)

- Fade to Black A06

Hans Zimmer – Always a Catch

I.

Kurosaki Ichigo.

Human.

No. Shinigami.

Human.

Turned Shinigami.

Born Human.

Developed Hollow.

"Breathe."

I…

I…

I am…

Kurosaki Ichigo.

Human.

Ichigo's eyes opened, and he beheld darkness.

Wrapped in a white shihakusho, Ichigo found that his whole body felt warm and fuzzy, like he was stewing in a hot tub. Zangetsu was nowhere to be found, but despite the fact that he was weaponless, Ichigo felt…safe.

"Interesting. It likes you, human."

Ichigo turned his head wildly, trying to discover the owner of the echoing voice.

"I am here."

Ichigo whirled around, hands held up in a defensive stance. A tall figure enshrouded in a billowing slate-grey cloak loomed before him, its hood casting an impenetrable shadow over the stranger's face. A hand, long and spider-like, briefly revealed itself from beneath a voluminous sleeve as the figure waved Ichigo's hands away.

"If I wanted to kill you," it told him, voice soft but resonant, "You would already be dead."

The unknown being slid past him in the inky blackness, prompting Ichigo to lower his hands. Looking around, he asked, "Where are we?"

"Within the World Tree."

Ichigo was puzzled. "The World Tree?"

"Did I stutter?" the figure asked calmly.

Ichigo was slightly taken aback by the rhetorical question. "I just didn't understand. What's a World Tree?"

A gesture, and the hooded being was suddenly standing before what looked like a window to the outside. A white vista could be seen in the aperture, and Ichigo recognized it as the snowy landscape he had been in just moments before.

Then a second window opened. And a third, a fourth, a tenth, a hundredth. Hundreds of thousands of windows became known to Ichigo, and he caught glimpses of what looked like impossible realities; green rain fell upward from the ground in one window while lakes of blue flame licked at crystalline shores in another.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" the stranger asked, stroking the windows as he passed them by. "This is the World Tree. It is the first tree God ever created, and it is tasked with holding together the very fabric of creation. It is the crux of all the different planes of reality, even those that never existed."

Ichigo gazed out one window, unable to comprehend the impossible shapes and colors that he saw. "This is…how is this thing…what the hell is it?"

"Yggdrasil is its proper name. Think of it as the center of all things. Everything God ever created is linked to this space. From here, you could go to any plane of existence, provided you are able to survive it."

The hooded being turned to face Ichigo and said, "As I said, it seems to have taken a liking to you. Most humans would be driven insane once shown all these different planes of existence, even if they were seen indirectly through their respective windows. But you? It chose to protect your sanity. It even went ahead and clothed you in something familiar to keep you warm in what is generally a cold vacuum."

For some reason, conversing with this stranger was nerve-wracking; Ichigo felt a sense of dread creep into his chest from his extremities. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Then why haven't you gone crazy or whatever?"

"Because these realities are not unknown to me."

The moment Ichigo heard the hooded being's words, something in his head clicked into place, and a primal instinct within him told him that the stranger was very dangerous. He reassumed his defensive stance, bending his elbows and knees in preparation for a fight.

"Didn't I already tell you that if I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead? Are all humans so stubborn?"

"If you want me to believe you, show me your face," he said, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

The figure chuckled mirthlessly. "You are a strange creature, Kurosaki Ichigo. What exactly makes you think that seeing my face will prove that I am not here to hurt you?"

Ichigo said nothing, still standing with his fists in front of his face and ready to jump at the slightest provocation. "I haven't met anyone who hid their face from me that was telling me the truth."

"Do not hold me by your standards, human. You make the mistake of assuming we are on the same level, and that your rules of engagement apply to me," the figure said, all traces of levity gone from his quiet voice. Ichigo felt a chill ride down his spine, but did not budge.

"But to help you see reason, I will give you something."

With that, the figure reached his spindly hand into the darkness and pulled from it Ichigo's Zanpakuto.

"Zangetsu!" Ichigo shouted, momentarily dropping his fists in shock before putting them back up by his face again. "How the hell did you get that?"

"You dropped it," the figure said dryly.

"I—," Ichigo stuttered sheepishly. I just dropped it? he thought to himself reproachfully.

The hooded figure tossed the great cleaver to Ichigo. "It's yours."

Ichigo caught the Zanpakuto and slung it over his back, hand still tightly gripped on the sword's handle. His black shihakusho immediately regenerated.

"While I would require much more than my personal weapon as grounds for trusting a strange entity, I seem to be correct in assuming that it is more than enough for you," the figure said.

"I don't know many enemies that would willingly hand me my weapon," Ichigo replied. He thought about it for a moment and added, "Maybe one, actually. But I don't see how you could be him."

"I suppose I shouldn't expect much more from a human." He turned and motioned for Ichigo to follow. "Walk with me."

Ichigo was hesitant at first, but eventually tagged along behind the cloaked being, who had already begun to walk forward through the pitch black of the strange dimension they were in.

"Are you going to tell me who you are?" Ichigo asked impatiently.

Without turning, the stranger replied, "All will be revealed in due time," and continued walking.

Then, after a couple of minutes, they reached another window that peered into the Russian snowscape. Through this opening, however, Ichigo could see that there were two people locked in fierce combat. He almost immediately recognized one as—.

"RUKIA!" he bellowed, dashing forward and gripping the sides of the window, as though he could somehow jump through and join her. "Who the hell is she fighting?"

"Look closely," the wraith-like figure said, gesturing with a spindly hand towards the creature with which Rukia fought. "You have seen something similar in a realm connected with your own."

Ichigo shook his head, racking his brains for any sort of memory that resembled what the stranger was saying.

"Get up."

Something came to him.

"I said, GET UP."

Locked in combat, Rukia kept on moving, never staying stationary for more than half a second. The same was true of her opponent who moved so fast that details escaped his perception, but Ichigo kept catching flashes of metal flailing around its arms, as well as streaks of red around its face.

"Hide all you want, coward. I will find you one way or another."

For a split second, the window froze, revealing the face of Rukia's assailant. On his face was a metal mask. The obscenely large eyes and gaping grimace were identical in form to those of the mask that Ichigo had seen in his dreams, minus the red eyes.

He had to help her.

"Let me go to her!" he yelled, smashing the window with all his force.

"No."

Ichigo whirled around and faced the stranger. He unsheathed his Zanpakuto and held it at the ready. "So you are an enemy?"

The figure scoffed. "You are quite a difficult individual to reason with, aren't you? By preventing you from going to them, I am saving your life."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. As you are now, you will never be able to survive in a battle with him."

With deliberate steps, the hooded being circled Ichigo. "Kuchiki Rukia has already faced a trial of her own. She is working to overcome the demons in her heart, but you have elected to sweep yours away, hoping that somehow you will gain the ability to deal with them later on. That sort of cowardice is easy prey for Mathis. Right now, as he is, think of him more a predator than a man. And you, Kurosaki Ichigo, are the perfect prey."

"What would you know?" Ichigo said through clenched teeth.

"I know many things, human. I know, for instance, that you are struggling with an inner being you call a Hollow."

Ichigo's blood ran cold at the figure's words. "How—."

"And," said he, cutting Ichigo off with the quiet force of his voice, "I know that this is the perfect place for you to finally confront him."

"How?!"

"Were you not listening? This is a plane of reality that connects all realities."

A window floated towards the hooded figure and stopped at his side. Through it, Ichigo saw painfully familiar buildings, piercing through a sky of blue and white at an angle that defied gravity.

"But…that's…" he stammered, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. How was his Inner World visible here? Summoned by a stranger, nonetheless?

"Did you think Yggdrasil was limited only to the physical? I told you, even realities that do not exist are connected to its infinite branches. It stands to reason that even your dreams and the inner workings of your mental world are connected as well," the figure said, opening the window with a slow, purposeful motion of his hand.

In the distance, Ichigo heard a familiar cackle. It took him three seconds to process the sound, before his bodily reaction kicked in and prompted him to pump his legs, propelling him to the side.

Not a moment too soon, as it happened. A white Zangetsu rocketed out of the window at extreme speed, slicing the air where Ichigo had been a split second before.

"It is high time you faced your demons, Kurosaki Ichigo," the hooded figure said as he melted away in the darkness. "No more hiding. No more running. Face them head on."

A familiar figure stepped out of the window, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yo, King! How've you been?" sneered his Inner Hollow.

Ichigo held his Zanpakuto at the ready and said nothing.

His Hollow groaned. "Aw, come on, Ichigo. There's no need to be so defensive. Someone else is here to see you, too!"

He gestured to the window, through which a familiar figure garbed in black stepped.

"Old Man…Zangetsu…?"

It took everything Rukia had just to stay alive. More than once she felt one of Mathis's uncontrolled chains barely nick her face or jangle past her stomach. If Mathis had been fully conscious, Rukia had no doubt that she would be in pieces at his feet.

She didn't know if she should be thanking the heavens that Mathis was in the state he was or not, because even though his attacks were infinitely more ferocious and powerful than when he was conscious, the aura he exuded awakened a primal fear in her that spurred her to move faster and with greater care. Like metal striking metal, the fearsome atmosphere honed her senses, pushing her to her physical and mental limits as she fought. She knew that a single misstep could end with dismemberment, that a single mistimed parry or Realmcast could end with her as a shishkebab on Mathis's chains.

Silas, though badly injured from his attack earlier, was advising her on Mathis's current state.

"Right now, he is not Mathis. The official Underworld nomenclature for his berserk form is Rage. It is a combination of a part of a spirit he took into his body and the part of him that despises everything, resultant of a traumatic event in his childhood."

"No need to mince words, Silas," Rukia panted, momentarily catching her breath behind a particularly thick tree as Rage tore at the surrounding trees, blindly searching for Rukia. "I already know about his past. That spirit was a demon, right?"

"…That is correct. How do you—."

"It's a long story. I'll explain another time. Right now, I need to know how to beat him."

"Kuchiki. You cannot 'beat' him. No one short of the commanders at central HQ can defeat Rage, and even if they were here…"

Silas panted, trying to catch his breath.

"Are you ok?" Rukia asked worriedly.

"I…I seem to have broken ribs. Breathing is becoming increasingly difficult. Listen…listen carefully, Kuchiki. The mask on his face is composed of the metal from his bandages. Even now, after I weakened it considerably, it will be very difficult to break."

"I noticed," Rukia whispered, sensing Rage shred through the trees somewhere to her left.

"You must break it now before he progresses along his transformation any further."

Rukia blanched. "You're telling me he gets worse?"

Another series of jangles and snapping cracks echoed through the air in front of Rukia, travelling to her right. He was getting closer.

"Yes, he does get worse, but that's not the worst of it; it becomes more difficult to break the mask once he progresses past Rage. After Rage is Cruelty, and after Cruelty is Hate. Each stage is characterized by certain…personality traits. If you see any marked changes, inform me and I will brief you on how much time you have left."

"Understo—."

She ducked instinctively as her intuition ticked, barely dodging a chain aimed for her throat. The trunk of the tree behind her shattered into millions of splinters from the force of the impact. Quick on her feet, Rukia evaded successive strikes with tucks and rolls. Once again, she found herself running on adrenaline. It felt as though if she stopped moving, her muscles would cease to function and her bones would liquefy, leaving her easy prey for Rage.

Trying to clear some room for herself, she shouted, "Way of Destruct—!"

A chain snaked into view and ripped through the air towards her outstretched arm. It tried to encircle it with wide but speedy twisting motions. Rukia noticed and very hastily cut her mantra short, knowing from experience as well as observation that the chain was very sharp and hoping to crush and shred her arm beneath its iron grip, as it had done to several thick trees not a minute before. With a light flick of her feet, she propelled herself backwards, wincing as the bladed chain nicked her arm before she got completely out of range.

Skidding backwards on the icy terrain, Rukia incanted, "Mass, Flow!" A pillar of water snaked out of the ground and propelled her upwards, and subsequently froze into a solid, massive spire at the touch of Sode no Shirayuki. She kicked off of the top of the tower as hard as she could, sending herself flying upwards while toppling the pillar of ice towards Rage's general direction.

Rukia saw a ripple expand around where Rage was, sending snow and loose debris flying as it travelled outwards across the snow and knocking the white off of snow-laden trees. The ice pillar shattered into millions of pieces, and through the cloud of shrapnel came Rage, chains flailing wildly as he hurtled towards Rukia.

Rukia stepped back to allow herself some room to prepare. She braced her Zanpakuto with both hands and leaned forward. As Rage inched closer and the caustic air surrounding him began whittling away at Rukia's skin again, Rukia waited. At the last second, when Rage was inches from smashing into her Zanpakuto, she flipped forward in the most acrobatic display of swordplay she'd ever pulled off, and slashed at the edge of Rage's mask at the apex of her somersault, imbuing her Zanpakuto with as much reiatsu as possible as the blade skated across the grey metal.

The ice collected on Sode no Shirayuki's edge latched onto Rage's mask and caused it to crack in the same place it had been broken before during Silas's assault, assisted by Rukia's swing and Rage's own momentum. Rukia righted herself in the air and turned to look at Rage.

He hung in the air, breathing heavily. His chains swayed like poised cobras, and his black crystalline hands were clenched and trembling. Rukia had a sneaking suspicion that his labored breathing and shaking hands were not from fatigue.

Rage's next course of action proved her assumptions correct. He turned towards her, the ice on his mask melting as the crack mended itself again, and bellowed his feral scream once more.

The chains flailing around his arms shimmered in the night sky and suddenly turned to liquid. The silver-grey fluid increased in volume as a large portion of the bandages melted away as well. She noticed that as some of the metal was siphoned away from the bandages, some of it was diverted to his mask, fusing with it and extending the lateral plates that had, until that moment, remained flush with Mathis's jawline.

"Silas? His chains are melting and his mask just got bigger," Rukia said worriedly, using shunpo to dash back down to ground level where the trees would grant her cover.

"Oh no. It's…" Silas breathed before succumbing to a vicious cough.

"Silas? Pull yourself together!" Rukia said urgently, panting as she fought off the dregs of fatigue festering in her chest.

"I can't...I'm losing…too much blood…not enough…oxygen…"

His next cough was weaker and sounded like it had originated from an old man.

"Listen carefully…Chain Gang will appear…it is…the mark…the weapon…of Cruelty …Mathis has progressed to the second…the second stage…Lead him…to Sarah…we must hope that…the shock will jolt him back…to his senses…"

"If he…gets to the third stage…"

Silas's next bout of coughing was so harsh and violent that Rukia inadvertently shouted into the mic. "Silas! Are you ok?"

His next words, likely his last breath before consciousness left him, were loud and clear.

"If he gets to the last stage…run."

The grizzled old man remained silent, eyeing him carefully like a hawk. He looked behind him at the window. Then back at Ichigo. With deliberate steps, he circled Ichigo, saying nothing.

"Is this another test?" Ichigo asked, eyes still trained on his insane parallel spirit.

"Damn right it is!" his Hollow said with a chortle. "Tell him, oldie!"

Zangetsu came to a halt at the Hollow's side. He sized Ichigo up once more, and the finally spoke.

"It has been a long time since the last time we met, Ichigo. When was that?" the old man thought out loud. "Ah. It was when you…learned Bankai."

The grizzled man paused for a moment before speaking again: "Ichigo. Your Bankai, then and now, is nothing but a placeholder."

Ichigo heard the words, but couldn't process them.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you heard me, Ichigo," Zangetsu said patiently. "Your Bankai is not a Bankai."

"The reason it functions as a Bankai, and the reason you were able to defeat Kuchiki Byakuya with it is because it was the perfect counter to his abilities. It served as the weapon you needed, the power that best fit the part. I knew the time limit under which you were fighting. I could not grant you your true Bankai in such a limited time. So I gave you a force with which to fight the Captain of Squad 6, who was most likely to be your primary enemy. I molded for you a power that was most capable of helping you save Kuchiki Rukia."

"How's that little hottie doing, by the way?" his Hollow asked derisively, licking his lips. "Haven't got a good look at her since she had that sexy little dress on."

Ichigo almost rushed his Hollow right then and there, but Zangetsu gave the Hollow a look, to which the Hollow responded by making a zipping motion across his lips, though he was still grinning manically.

"But that is not your true Bankai. It was just a combination of parts of both of us, and most of it originated from your Hollow," Zangetsu said, gesturing towards his inner Hollow. "His fighting style was the best answer I had to your predicament, and it was also the only solution I had that wouldn't main you. "

"But because of this, your power is not at its full potential. When you wield your Bankai as it is now, you are utilizing a fighting style that is not your own. It is closer in form and function to your inner Hollow's style. As a swordsman would feel more at home with a sword rather than a bow and arrow, so too do Shinigami fight better with a weapon with which they match perfectly."

Zangetsu beckoned with his hands, summoning Ichigo's weapon to himself.

"I must apologize to you, Ichigo. I lied to you, even though you put your trust in me. Despite the fact that you are alive and well, I had you believe that you had finally reached your full power. To make up for my transgression, let us show you," he said, lifting the giant cleaver with one hand so that it was directly in front of his face, edge out, as the Hollow raised his weapon over his head as he had done when he'd engaged Ichigo in the mannequin factory in Karakura, "what the true nature of your Bankai is."

The darkness seemed to ripple in anticipation as a heavy reiatsu exuded from Zangetsu and the Hollow.

"Ban," the tall man in black started solemnly.

"Kai," the pale man in white finished sinisterly.

She hissed in pain as she administered some sort of liquid salve she'd found in one of the many pockets in her uniform to a deep gash in her leg. Quickly wrapping the last piece of bandaging she had around the wound, she leapt up into the air to resume her clash with Cruelty, as Silas had called him.

Ever since Mathis had taken on the second stage of his insanity, Rukia had not been able to catch her breath for more than a few seconds. Cruelty, in comparison with Rage, was much more methodical in his attacks, though the lack of conscious decision-making in his actions was still evidenced by his flailing mode of assault and inability to lock onto Rukia when she hid herself and suppressed her reiatsu.

Chain Gang, as Rukia had found out, was two weapons that hovered about an inch away from the medial sides of his forearms, coiled into a thick bar of very fine black chain by his forearms and terminating in two different weapons at either end of each implement. Towards his hands were large blades with the same coloration as the metal bandages they originated from, shaped liked glaives but curving farther up than the rest of the blade at the ends with a flattened tip. The function of the blade was very clear: slash.

At the opposite end of the glaives were viciously curved hook-blades. While their function was just as painfully obvious as the blades at the other end of the weapons, Rukia had initially not been able to see how Cruelty would put them to use. It was only when she'd attempted to dash away from Cruelty to gain some maneuvering room that she'd realized their utility; the weapons did not remain static on Cruelty's forearms, and the chain-ropes that served as their 'handles' extended. Shortly after she'd made this observation, one of the hooks had come hurtling towards her from above, while another came from below. It had been easy blocking the overhead swing, but the hook from below had caught her around her right thigh, and quick thinking had saved her from becoming a newly christened amputee.

They weren't limited to ranged use either. Rukia had closed the distance once while Cruelty's weapons had swiveled to allow the hooks to face forward, trying to catch him at a disadvantage. That maneuver had earned her a nasty gash on her left arm and a second wound directly on top of the one already on her right thigh, deepening the injury.

On top of the difficulty in dealing with these new weapons was the fact that they were incredibly heavy; a large portion of the bandages had gone into creating them, leaving what looked like rags behind. Rukia remembered how dense the bandages were from her foray into Mathis's past. Their weight didn't seem to matter to Cruelty when he swung them around, but it mattered to Rukia, who was already a small girl to begin with. Trying to block what felt like a three hundred pound knife moving at high velocity was as difficult for her as it sounded.

How do I end this? She thought furiously for an answer, hoping the solution would hit her before the Chain Gang blades or hooks did. She flipped aside as quickly as her body allowed, narrowly evading the reach of one of the glaives. It smashed into the frozen earth with immense force and sent up plumes of snow, ice, and dirt, covering Rukia's line of sight on Cruelty for just a moment. Her intuition ticked again, and she obeyed blindly, propelling herself backwads as hard as she could. Not a moment too soon; Cruelty had chosen that moment to smash into the space Rukia had just vacated.

She reacted immediately. "Tsugi no Mai: Hakuren!"

From the four slits she created in the earth, a torrent of freezing reiatsu raged forth. Once the glacier-like projection struck Cruelty, Rukia leapt into the air and sent a second salvo. "Mass, Glaciate!"

Icy spears materialized around her and hurtled downwards, peppering the newly created floe of ice, giving it the appearance of a pincushion. She knew something of this level wouldn't stop him. All she'd done was buy herself some time before he came bursting out like furious bull. But in that time, what was her next move?

Even as her mind raced to find a solution, the icy tomb cracked and snapped, small fissures spiderwebbing around a single point until Cruelty smashed through, a storming mass of metal and fury.

I can't even slow him down. Rukia despaired, unable to think of anything in her arsenal that would even halt Cruelty. She couldn't use her Final Dance; it took too long to take effect on someone as swift and ruthless as Cruelty. Her kido was out of the question as well, as Cruelty had made it a habit to lash out with his hooks any time he noticed he was trying to incant one of her demon arts.

As Cruelty bellowed a warcry and leapt up towards her at inhuman speed, Rukia braced herself. She had no more tricks; Cruelty's incredible instinct was too much for anything she was capable of. She'd have to meet him head-on.

The distance between the Shinigami and Cruelty closed.

Rukia prepared.

And then, just as Cruelty's blades were about to smash into Rukia's Zanpakuto, a meek voice cried out from below them.

"Matty! Stop!"

And stop he did. His whole body froze in mid-air, and he hung from the striking position as his head turned to face the source of the voice.

It was Sarah, who limped over to the remnants of Rukia's Hakuren and fell to her knees, struggling to breathe. Rukia noticed the clouds of condensation rapidly escaping her mouth right away, and put two and two together.

She ran all the way here? Alone?

And then…

Now's my chance!

Without a moment's hesitation, Rukia raised her Zanpakuto over her head, arching her back to give the blow more force, and swung downwards as hard as she could. As the blade travelled overhead, she added a jet of water to the flat of the blade to increase its speed, and infused icy reiatsu into the edge to help freeze and shatter the mask encompassing Mathis's face.

CRACK.

The sound reverberated in the frigid Russian air as Rukia's blade bit into the metal of Mathis's mask. Cruelty had turned his head back to Rukia just a split second before her weapon found purchase in the very center of the top of the metal guise. The ice had worked blindingly fast, making the metal brittle and splitting it as the sharp edge of Sode no Shirayuki took advantage of the weakened material.

CRACK.

A second snapping sound resonated from the perturbation, louder than the first.

Then, without warning, Cruelty dropped to the ground like a rock. With a loud symphony of cracks and snaps, he disappeared in a cloud of ice and snow. The mist hung in the air like an oppressive shadow, and the silence that accompanied stifled Rukia. After a long duel, she'd finally managed to prevail?

She gripped her Zanpakuto tightly and waited.

The seconds ticked away.

A minute passed.

Two.

The mist finally cleared away, and Mathis's prone form was vaguely visible underneath some crushed ice and powdery snow.

I got him? she thought, more shocked than relieved.

"Matty!" Sarah cried out, limping towards her brother's motionless figure.

Rukia flash-stepped down and grasped her arm tightly. "Wait."

Sarah looked back at Rukia with a desperate light in her eyes. "Why?" she asked accusatively.

"He may still be dangerous—," Rukia tried to explain.

"Matty isn't dangerous! He might be mean at times, but he's not a danger to anyone!" she yelled, voice strained from simultaneous exhaustion and exertion.

Though she was slightly taken aback at Sarah's uncharacteristically ferocious voice, she still knew she had to be careful. "Even if he isn't, Envy is in the area, and she might still have something planned. We need to get you somewhere safe," Rukia said firmly.

But even as she gathered up the protesting Sarah in her arms and began pulling her away, her thoughts began to wander. Sarah loved Mathis dearly; there was no doubt about that. But for her to not know of his berserk form when it even had code names assigned to its different stages by the Underworld was strange.

Sarah clearly knew Mathis when he was younger, enough to be able to say that he wasn't always the cold, robotic man he was now. But it seemed that there was something missing in her memories, a noticeable gap that even she was unaware of. Mathis himself had said that she could not remember their past, so perhaps her memories were either missing or damaged.

Before they'd gotten even three steps away, Rukia felt a powerful presence appear just to their right and whirled around with her Zanpakuto at the ready. Cruelty must have—.

"That was a great show and all, but I can't say I appreciated the very abrupt ending."

Envy stood with her hands on her hips, her mocking grin replaced by an irritated sneer and her eyes trained on Sarah.

"Dammit…" Rukia swore under her breath. She took a step back, keeping Sarah behind her.

"C'mon now," Envy laughed humorlessly. "Isn't it clear that you can't win this? After all, I did almost kill you once already."

"That was your decoy," Rukia shot back. "Maybe the real deal is weaker."

Envy smirked. "I like your guts. But I don't want you. I want him," she said, emphasizing the last word by pointing at Mathis's prone body.

"You're not taking Matty!" Sarah yelled almost immediately, voice shrill with panic.

"The hell are you talking about? I don't want the meatsuit, I want the one inside him," she said, practically swooning.

A gleam in her eye alerted Rukia to an incoming attack, but she was too slow. She turned to block from the left. But felt nothing.

The world seemed to slow down; she then saw an icy speartip emerge from Sarah's midriff like a budding flower and the rivers of red that flowed from the incision. Sarah's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

"NO!" Rukia shrieked, swinging her Zanpakuto wildly. By then Envy had already retreated to her original position, leaving Sarah to collapse in Rukia's arms.

"Keep it together, Sarah! Don't you quit on me now," Rukia said, cradling Sarah's head in her arms and holding her tightly. "You have to take care of your brother, remember?"

But it wasn't looking good. The wound had likely hit some vital organs, and blood was starting to flow out freely, staining her uniform red. Combined with the frigid Russian air and her exhaustion from running, Sarah's wound was more than enough to begin shutting her down. Her eyes flickered and her breathing became ragged.

"Matty?" Sarah said blankly, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. "Matty, come back…"

"Come on…keep your eyes open, sweetie," Rukia said desperately.

"Please wake up, Matty," Sarah said, giving no indication that she'd heard Rukia.

"Yes, Matty, wake up for me," Envy crooned, eyes fixed on Mathis.

"Everyone's coming to find you…"

But there was no motion from him. He remained where he was, face-down in the drifts of snow and ice.

Everyone's coming? Rukia wondered. That must've meant that the men at the outpost were searching for Mathis right now. She knew what she had to do. She eased the little girl's head down to the ground and lunged for Envy. Despite every overtaxed muscle in her body screaming out in protest at the physical exertion, Rukia attacked. She had to keep Envy away from both Mathis and Sarah until Underworld Forces were able to catch up.

Envy was a little miffed at Rukia's sudden assault, but was able to fend her off with ease. As if to mock her, she raised a long, white blade with a flowing tassel attached to the hilt. The copied Sode no Shirayuki drew blood multiple times, and an exhausted Rukia was brought to her knees in a matter of seconds. She no longer had any energy to fight; she'd been running on willpower alone for so long that nothing could move her.

Envy had not even bothered to finish her off; she had simply left her there, panting and trembling on the ground and bleeding from several places. Envy watched Mathis with a hungry impatience in her eyes.

She clicked her tongue out of irritation and muttered to herself. "Maybe the meatbag needs a little nudge."

She walked over to Sarah and grasped her by the hair. She lifted the girl's whole torso off the ground, despite Sarah's pained protestations, and held the false Sode no Shirayuki to Sarah's throat.

"Call for him. Scream for him," Envy said threateningly, eyes trained on Mathis the whole time.

"Matty…" Sarah whispered.

"Louder, you little shit," Envy snarled, still watching Mathis like a hawk. "He's not going to hear you if—OW!"

Sarah had stabbed Envy's arm with a small knife that she'd drawn from a pocket. The demon flung her to the ground and removed the knife with little effort. She bore down on the supine girl and furiously yelled, "You're going to pay for that ten times over!"

Envy delivered a kick to Sarah's midsection, which caused her to let out a blood-curdling scream of agony and fear.

Rukia didn't know what happened next. An impossibly loud sound echoed from every direction, and she moaned as a scalding wave of what felt like fire roiled over her. The maelstrom of fiery air dissipated, leaving a heaviness in the air behind. Unable to bear her pain, Rukia welcomed the unconsciousness that followed it. But it did not last long, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Envy's face practically split in half by her enormous grin. She felt a heavy pressure from where Mathis was, and she knew. Even without looking, she knew what Envy was staring so gleefully at:

Hate.