THE EDGE OF THE EVENT HORIZON
"SCREAM FOR ME."
Ulquiorra's eyes went wide as Aizen's body was suddenly removed from his presence; a wall of black ichor shooting up from the ground. The Espada watched it nervously, knowing full well it wasn't real, but not being able to see past it. He grit his teeth in irritation.
The cloud-spackled sky above him darkened abruptly, and the sun was replaced by the moon. The wall of black continued to rise until his line of sight to the heavens became almost entirely obscured.
What is this? Why can't I see through it?
"Quit playing games, Aizen." He said defiantly, "You know very well that this won't hold me for long."
The voices that answered him weren't expected though. He quickly spun around and saw the 'council' of black Hollows that had once conspired to eat him. Ulquiorra's eyes went wide.
"How is this possible?" He asked out loud, "Aizen doesn't even know about this. How can he be creating it!?"
"Kurosaki-kuuunnn!" Came Orihime's voice.
The Espada grimmaced, "ORIHIME!" He yelled, "What is she DOING here?"
No...what am I saying? I KNOW she isn't really here...
The dark figures were looming behind him, hands reaching for him.
So why can't I stop myself...from believing she is?
Ulquiorra lost his focus for a spit second and the demons mauled him. He struggled against their might, but was forced to the ground, forced to endure the terrible feeling of their teeth digging into his flesh. They were eating him. He focused every cell in his body to fight back against them, and forced himself back to his feet, lashing out at the Hollows closest to him...but then, he stopped. His attention was grabbed by a blinding light.
"Wh-who are you...?" Orihime asked, basking in that surreal glow, "Why did you hurt Kurosaki-kun? What kind of monster does something like that?" She cried. "You're horrible! I HATE YOU!"
"No..." He whispered, "...Wait! ORIHI-"
His words were cut off; only muffled screaming echoed forward from the place his mouth once was. His Vasto Lorde form was apparent again, and the black Hollows behind him immediately went for his head, grabbing for his face and limbs. The light faded away and the entities holding to his body, now limp from the trauma of what he'd just experienced, dug their fingers into his eyes, blinding him.
Beyond the veil, unknown to the emotionally destroyed Espada, it was Aizen digging his fingers into his eyes.
Content with his victory, he threw Ulquiorra to the ground.
"Hmph..." Aizen huffed, his body dissolving into the wind, leaving only the original on the battlefield from then on, "Pathetic."
The rain was still pouring in Ichigo's nightmare. He worried it would never let up. It seemed like an eternity already when his ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps. Weakly, he turned his face towards the source, and when he looked up, he saw his father there. It didn't bother Ichigo at all that the rain seemed to avoid the large man; he stood there, completely dry, in the downpour.
"What are you doing? Ichigo." Isshin asked, kneeling before his son, more annoyed than concerned.
"Why are you rolling around in the mud like that?" Yuzu and Karin appeared beside him; they, too, dry despite the torrent.
"Dad...Yuzu...Karin..." Ichigo whispered, blood trickling from his mouth still, his body wet from the rain. "W-we have...to find...Rukia..."
"Who?"
The teen was shocked.
"Taking off like that, Ichi-nii...what were you thinking? Mom would be so mad at you..." Karin chided.
"You didn't even stay to talk to mom...why are you such a bad son?" Yuzu asked as well.
"...What...? No..." Ichigo felt awful, succumbing to his wounds and misery, "I tried...so hard to save her... I don't...know what's going on anymore..."
"We'll help you understand." Karin said flatly, getting closer. She and her twin reached out to help their brother stand, placing their hands on his chest and back. Just then, Ichigo felt their fingers clench down into his ribs, blood spurting forth in a gush. He choked on it, and he looked to his sisters, betrayal in his eyes.
In reality, Isshin was actually Aizen, and the two siblings were the heads of his forward-most wings, clamping down on Ichigo's ribs with their teeth. But Ichigo couldn't see it. He simply slumped his head down in defeat and confusion.
"Why did I get stuck with such a miserable failure like you? It's all your fault Masaki died." Isshin said, kneeling down to look at his son. "If you hadn't been such an idiot as a kid, she'd still be alive. You weren't worth saving. I would've taken her over you any day! Every day that goes by, every word you speak is an insult to the life you stole from her. Every time you rush head-first into a fight to save someone you don't even know...it's an insult to the sacrifice she made for you! Who the Hell do you think you are!?"
"I'm sorry...dad...I'm sorry..."
"You took our mom away." Yuzu said, tears in her eyes.
"You took our childhood away." Karin scorned.
"You took everything..." Isshin repeated.
Ichigo wept at their words. He didn't even notice how Isshin's arm had suddenly grasped an umbrella from thin air.
Isshin drew it back, ready to stab the teen in the heart.
But then he stopped.
Yuzu and Karin dissolved into the fog. Ichigo looked on in stunned horror and confusion. Before him, Isshin was being held back by a figure he'd come to believe was just a dream. His own Inner Hollow, clad in his white Bankai coat, with the inverted black and white, horned mask...and the white Tensa Zangetsu at Isshin's throat.
"The privilege of tearing down Kurosaki's resolve," He said, "Belongs exclusively to me."
"Why...WHY DO YOU PERSIST!?" Isshin bellowed, only to find his umbrella-holding arm sliced clean off at the shoulder. The limb and weapon went flying in a whirl of blood, landing a distance away, hidden in the fog and rain.
"Take a closer look!" The Hollow ordered, his stance open and intimidating.
"Do not presume to order me, Hollow!" Isshin snapped. His eyes widened then, however, as the Inner Hollow turned his body, forcing him to look directly down the length of his blade.
What Ichigo couldn't know was that Aizen was staring down the sword of an oddly twisted Murcielago. The blade had become black, and waves of black and green energy whipped off the back of its hilt, up its wielder's arm like puffs of dark fog.
I don't believe it... Aizen said, his sword-arm missing and the stump bleeding. It can't be...
He stopped for a moment and focused on regenerating his arm; Kyouka Suigetsu reforming itself, still fused to his hand. Looking at it briefly, Aizen then turned his eyes back to his enemy, sneering behind that black face, "So you've managed to fuse with your zanpakuto and used it to break out of my Bankai."
"Not quite." Ulquiorra corrected, his face matted with dried blood, his sclera darkening, "It did help, but...becoming one with my zanpakuto is actually rather old news for me." He lifted his head up proudly, "I told you before that I'd gained a new power. A result of which is that my Hollow hole filled in...but don't forget. I am still the aspect of Nihility. You won't break me as easily as you did Kurosaki."
"Then I'll just kill you the old fashioned way."
"Excellent. You're finally going to take this seriously." Ulquiorra raised his fused sword-hand, the energy pouring out even thicker than before, "Then I'll respond in kind and cut to the chase. No more dancing around the matter."
"You're getting ahead of yourself, Ulquiorra." Aizen said dubiously, "Not even the Espada ranked higher than you could manage a single strike against me. You should give up and flee."
"Don't get the wrong idea." The Arrancar retorted, black plasma rising up around his feet like boiling oil, "I am nothing like those weak fools. The rank you gave me only reflected the power I volunteered to you. I am easily stronger than any of them ever were. I may have been the most loyal, but even I had the presence of mind to be cautious of your inevitable betrayal. The greatest mistake you ever made was asking for my support while still posing as a Captain of Soul Society. You came to me as a traitor in the making."
"I see." Aizen mused, raising that accusatory hand again, "Yet you still supported me. You accepted the power I gave to you and followed every order without question. I won't insult you with the notion that your actions were borne out of fear or stupidity, but the question begs...why go through the motions?"
Ulquiorra shook his head, the energy rising higher yet, "In the beginning, I had no hope of challenging you. But, like a moth to the flame, I was drawn to the fire of your fearlessness. However, unlike the moth, I knew the flames would burn me... I thought that if I was careful, and toed the line long enough, I might be spared the conflagration. So I bided my time...accepted your gifts...followed your orders to the letter...and kept secret the advances I'd made on my own. When you let me to watch Las Noches, part of my was grateful that you at least hadn't killed me yourself. But, in hindsight, you knowingly left me to die, so you haven't been absolved of the responsibility."
Aizen tilted his head eerily, "My primary goal has always been the acquisition of the Hougyoku. Every beaten enemy cursing his own defeat, every fallen ally proclaiming his martyrdom in my name... In the end, every corpse, friend and foe alike, will be stacked up to pave the road that will lead me to godhood."
"I see." Ulquiorra sighed resolutely, "So it's just as I surmised. Even while amassing an empowering an army, in your eyes, you were just at the front of a procession of the walking dead. You had always intended to abandon us the same way you abandoned the Gotei 13. You're the greatest traitor of all. You have no allies, no friends, no comrades...not even yourself. The moment you decided to guide Kurosaki's development, you betrayed your own interests. It's only his own fault that he can't win."
Aizen would have clapped, had his right hand not been locked into a single block with his sword, "Ah...this is why you were always my favorite. Even among all my allies...none but you has ever been able to see through me so clearly, late as it is even so."
Long black licks of hair waved before Ulquiorra's darkened eyes, and he turned his head, shamed by the man's words, "Aizen...the only thing I see in you...is something to be pitied." He looked up sharply, "BIND...MURCIELAGO."
The black energy coalesced around his body, streaks of it pouring over his chest to form a black circle in the center of his chest while large plumes of it bolted away from his shoulders and into the air behind him. It surrounded him in a maelstrom, and then exploded outward again, revealing that final form.
"RESURRECCION SEGUNDA ETAPA." Ulquiorra boomed, raising his wings up high behind him, "LET US END THIS LONG, FANTASTICAL STORY...AND FINISH THE FIGHT WE STARTED ALL THOSE DECADES AGO."