The Stone (Lifeboat)

He stood from the rubble of his division, dried blood coursing down the left side of his face, the eye on that side swollen completely shut. He began walking forward slowly, favoring his right leg. He glanced down at his left thigh, his face twisting in pain as he surveyed the damage done to his limb. All things considered, he thought as he looked at the hole running through his leg, it's not that bad.

Aizen and Gin had visited him personally.

The word of Captain-commander Yamamoto's murder had just reached his office when he'd leapt up from the desk, streaking for the door. He had been outraged and sickened at the news; rumor had held that one of the Espada had collaborated with Lieutenant Sasakibe in the assassination. He had barely reached his door before it had been blown in.

Ichimaru Gin had blasted the door into the office with Shinsou,the fox-faced traitor smiling eerily as he stepped into the room. Aizen followed behind him almost immediately, unsheathing his zanpakuto as he entered. He'd fought against them with all he'd had, but the ancient partners eventually overwhelmed his strength as Ichimaru's wakizashipierced through his thigh and Aizen blew the entire building down with high-level kidou.

Now he stood as the massive column of smoke from the first division rose into the sky. He could feel the reiatsu of the three combatants pulsating across Seireitei as he stood in the wreckage of his quarters. He stepped forward once more, gingerly placing more weight on his injured leg. When he was satisfied that his wounded limb would not fail him, he looked up and towards the battle.

"Well," he spoke softly as he removed the signature piece of cloth from around his shoulders. He draped the silken garment on a chair that had miraculously stayed erect as he walked out of his office.

"I guess it can't be helped."

Kurosaki Ichigo panted like a dog as he leapt back from his fallen opponent.

Opponents.

So much had happened to Ichigo over the past six months. Back in May, he'd have never guessed that he would be here now, his soul torn from his body as it accomplished superhuman feats while fighting for the fate of the universe. It was almost enough to make him laugh. He only wished that he could use this as an excuse for his slipping grades, but he doubted that his teacher would ever believe that he was a shinigami fighting against damned and cursed spirits in an attempt to stop a madman from seizing control of God's throne.

Shit, he thought as another set of Aizen's clones encircled him, it all sounds kinda silly when I actually say it…

But even worse, he was starting to run out of excuses for his bad grades. When his last report card had come in, his father had been furious. Kurosaki Isshin wanted more than anything for his son to take over the clinic after he retired, but Ichigo's marks continued to fall closer and closer to the 'unacceptable' line. And while his excuse shouldbe valid, he could never reveal the truth to his family.

Like his stupid dad could ever comprehend something like fighting hollows anyway.

Ichigo reached forward, his black blade streaking across the sky as it eviscerated two of the illusions before him. He spent no time looking upon his kill as his masked face turned, staring at the other half of the attacking force. Even with my mask on, I can't get rid of him, he thought as the remaining copies of Aizen rushed at him simultaneously, their twin blades arcing through the air as they jabbed at the shinigami.

Ichigo vanished in a blast of shunpo as the two clones neared him. He began to dance circles around the duo, his form stepping in and out of visibility as he forced them to go back to back with one another. The high-speed threshing suddenly stopped as Ichigo's blade came crashing down onto "Aizen's", the force of the blow shoving the illusionary man into his twin's back. The Vizard's gold and black eyes glared at the passionless face of the man before him as black flames licked around his zanpakuto, Zangetsu shoving the clones together.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

The attack screamed forward, immediately disintegrating the two doppelgangers as it tore through the air and slammed into the ground. Ichigo breathed harder as he felt his energy slip into the first stages of fatigue.

He growled in irritation at the thought, his voice bubbling slightly with his hollowed form.

While the clones were being indefatigably re-spawned, he'd suffered very little physical harm at their blades. Though he had been cut by the illusions, their blows were weak and their movements were sloppy. Aizen was simply putting the numbers on his side and hoping that the Arrancar and the Vizard would eventually tire. And though Ichigo didn't want to put words in Grimmjow's mouth, he was probably getting tired too.

He didn't dwell on the thought for much longer as another collection of clones appeared and attacked him.

Soi Fon streaked past the third division, noting the extensive damage as she flash-stepped over the remains of the front wall. She could still feel the reiatsu of Grimmjow ahead, but it was getting weaker by the second. Even with the three of them against Aizen, it seemed that the traitorous captain was successfully holding his ground.

She was worried.

Her conversation with Hisagi had snapped something inside of her. She was tired of being alone, tired of having nobody to sleep next to, of having nobody to wake up next to. Looking at Shuuhei laying in the fourth division, she realized that she needed someone to care about, and someone to care about her.

And she wanted it to be that blue-haired Espada, dammit.

Something about the way he treated her felt right. It felt perfect. He wasn't overly sweet to her, he didn't put up with her bullshit. Hell, he even kicked her ass in a fight. And oh, the sex… Where else was she supposed to find someone like that? She'd cared about Hisagi- with all her heart she'd cared about him. But not once did she feel the same way about Shuuhei as she did about Grimmjow.

And right now, Soi Fon was gonna make sure Grimmjow was gonna stay alive long enough for her to enjoy him.

She was approaching the second division when one of the walls to her right exploded outwards, a huge Arrancar bursting out from the rubble in front of her. She stopped quickly as the massive figure towered over her small frame, a gruesome smile on his face. Despite being bald, he maintained a long black ponytail that ran halfway down his back and a pair of equally dark sideburns. The remains of his mask took the shape of a lower jawbone that was fastened tightly to his face. A large black hole was bored into his chest and a pair of red marks adorned his cheeks.

Soi Fon flashed forward with extreme speed, leapt onto the giant's chest, and rammed her zanpakuto into his throat. He looked up in surprise and gurgled in pain as blood began pouring from his mouth and nose. She twisted the blade around in the flesh of his neck, ensuring that the blade did as much damage as possible, and that the wound could not close. She ripped the sword out of his trachea, slinging an arc of blood through the air as it went, and flash-stepped into nothingness before he even fell to the ground.

Soi Fon didn't know it, but she'd just killed the tenth Espada.

The grin was still plastered on his face, even though he didn't feel very happy.

Ichimaru Gin sat in the holding cell of Captain Unohana's division, Sekkiseki shackles chaining him to the wall, a collar of the same stone around his neck. It wasn't so bad in the cell, except that he was beginning to feel awfully claustrophobic. He'd always figured that Unohana had at least oneholding cell in the division.

He just never knew that she'd have only one.

Another explosion rocked through Seireitei, the evidence of Aizen's continuing battle coming to the fore once again. Gin tilted his head up slightly as he reached out with his mind, feeling for his companion's reiatsu. His smile faltered slightly as he touched it. Sousuke,he thought solemnly, are they truly giving you that much trouble?

Aizen was struggling. Gin could feel that his mentor's reiatsu was at an unacceptably low level and it was perplexing him terribly. He hasn't used hisbankai in so long,he thought. Maintaining it for as long as he did was probably unwise but… it shouldn't be draining him this much. Unless he's cloning himself too much but… who could possibly force him to go that far?

He had definitely felt Grimmjow's reiatsu surge like a monstrous wave when the Espada had released his zanpakuto. Still, Grimmjow in his released state should still be of little difficulty to Aizen. The Arrancar was fast, but the shinigami should, theoretically only need to clone himself a handful of times to kill the former Sexta Espada.

Identifying the owner of the other spiritual pressure was giving Gin troubles, however. It felt terribly familiar, but extremely foreign at the same time. It felt almost like an Espada's reiatsu; it was dark and cruel and powerful. But Gin could recognize all of the Arrancar and he couldn't readily place this one. And in their fight against Aizen…

Whoever it belonged to certainly wasn't helping matters much.

He searched out further, trying to sense the life-forces of his fellow invaders, but he was coming up with nothing. Ichimaru had felt Tousen's reiatsu vanish while he'd been led away by Unohana. He hadn't been all that surprised that the blind shinigami had lost; while his bankaiwas extremely difficult to escape from, it had happened to Kaname in the past. And despite the possibility of him losing being present, Tousen remained overly-confident while tucked away within his black balloon.

It would seem that his opponent this time around had not been as merciful as Zaraki Kenpachi had been.

The earth rumbled once more, causing him to again seek out Aizen's diminishing reiatsu. His signature smile fell completely this time as his old friend's spirit pressure continued its downward spiral.

Ichimaru Gin wasn't sure if he'd be getting out of this one.

When his foot caught the clone in the chin, Grimmjow used his opponent's body as a launching point. He thrust his clawed foot forward, decapitated the illusion, and rocketed himself backwards and into the next Aizen copy. He was upside down as he speared his hand forward, the black claws piercing straight through the body of his opponent. He retracted his arm and flipped forward, the man disintegrating into blue and lavender particles as he fell to the ground.

They seem to be going down more easily, Grimmjow thought. At least there's that.

Despite the small blessing, he couldn't seem to find a smile to put upon his face. He was exhausted. The Aizen clones had kept on coming, one after another, slowly bleeding Grimmjow of his endurance. And though he didn't want to put words in his mouth, he was pretty sure that Ichigo was feeling the same way. Grimmjow risked a quick glance over at his shinigami companion and chuckled; that fucking mask of his was almost gone.

As much as he hated Aizen, Grimmjow never thought he'd be here, fighting against the man that had basically created him. The Arrancar were an animal born of fear and hate and sorrow; to them, Aizen Sousuke was a powerful idol that had crushed these emotions in himself. To them he was benevolent in his giving, granting them power to replace their failings and bright futures to replace their despair. Many of these blessed hollows followed him out of fear; fear of being stripped of these gifts, fear of being crushed by the wrath of their newly attained God.

Grimmjow Jaggerjaques was not one of them.

Grimmjow followed Aizen for one reason— to command respect. A creature born of fear must be able to instill fear into the hearts of those below him. Being afraid of someone above you was an implication of frailty that he simply could not live with. He always strived to grow stronger and smarter and bigger; anything to make those below him dread him more than he could ever dread the world around him. And to accomplish this, he needed Aizen above him.

But now Grimmjow had a new goal. He had developed the desire to take all of the power he had accumulated in crushing the man who had used him and his kind like cattle. Aizen could create an army and use his soldiers as distractions and shields, as if they were but instruments to his success. And where he could carelessly sacrifice his creations, Soul Society had taken them in. The shinigami had looked past the fact that the Arrancar were their sworn enemies, looked beyond the notion that these were the nightmares that they had trained their whole lives to slaughter, and treated them as equals. They had given him a place he could call home. For this, for Soul Society, for Soi Fon, he would crush Aizen Sousuke. Even if it drained him of the rest of his strength.

After all, Grimmjow had always been one to repay his debts.

His arms lurched forward, his claws slashing out teal gashes through the sky in their wake. Grimmjow knew it would be the final time he could use this attack; he would be surprised if he could even produce a ceroafter using it, but Aizen's clones were beginning to appear in larger hordes. If he was going to lose his ability to fight soon, he could at least take out more of the illusions with him.

Desgarrón,his most powerful attack, rocketed out from his fingertips and towards another group of Aizen's clones. Lacerations ripped across skin as the attack tore through their bodies and hit the earth below. More buildings fell as the blasts slammed into the ground, the explosion bringing up large clouds of dirt. Grimmjow doubled over in exhaustion as his resurrección began to melt away, the white armor turning into smoke as it fell off of his skin and reformed itself into his zanpakuto.

"Grimmjow!"

Ichigo's scream brought the Arrancar's head up as he noticed the shinigami was rushing to his side. The boy's mask had completely vanished, leaving him looking as exhausted as Grimmjow felt. He stood up swiftly, hoping that the teenager wasn't thinking that he needed any sort of help. But he soon noticed that the shinigami's brown eyes were focused on the ground below as he flew over to him. Grimmjow followed his gaze, his own azure eyes widening as Ichigo arrived at his side.

Aizen was on the street below them, leaning heavily on one knee as he breathed harshly.

The brown-haired man soon stood, his composure returning as he looked up at them. A solitary illusion appeared before them, the form of Aizen looking at them calmly while the real thing remained safe below.

"I must say," the fantastic shinigami spoke calmly, its voice serene despite the amount of fatigue its wielder was showing beneath them. "I had never expected the two of you to last this long against my hypnoses. I commend you, truly." The smile faded. "I must end this now, however. I can no longer risk defeat by withholding my full power."

The air around the apparition began to twist and warp, the atmosphere rippling with shades of cerulean and purple as more clones began to appear. And more. And more. There were soon dozens of the brown-haired man, each one brandishing a razor-sharp zanpakuto as they stood before the two combatants. They continued to spawn out of nothing, a phalanx of deadly illusions a hundred deep staring down the hopelessly outnumbered and exhausted duo.

A wave of pink blades filled their visions as it swallowed the horde of clones.

Captain Byakuya Kuchiki stood below them, his face bloodied, his white haori and pale scarf missing from around his shoulders. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi roared forth in massive waves, crushing the army of doppelgangers beneath its countless blades. He looked up at the two fighters above him, his normally impassive mouth curving into a slight grin as a hole in the lethal cyclone opened, offering a window to the shocked form of Aizen.

Grimmjow Jaggerjaques and Kurosaki Ichigo looked at one another for only a second before rocketing downwards, their smiles returned.

Both of them began flashing in and out of sight as they flew down, their positions changing randomly while they descended ever closer to their joint target. Grimmjow's sonidowas perfectly synced with Ichigo's shunpo, both sets of flash-steps creating a blurred double-helix of black and white, of blue and orange. The Espada could see the panic spread on the face awestruck man below, his blade rebuilding itself as they approached at an incredible speed. He burst forth once more, his smile wide and vicious as he swung Panteraforward.

Aizen's zanpakuto found its way through Grimmjow's chest.

The blue-haired Arrancar's smirk didn't even falter as the blade erupted from his back and the blood began to pour out of the wound. He simply grinned his wicked grin and grabbed onto Aizen Sousuke's wrist as Ichigo beheaded him from behind.

Fuckin' figures… Grimmjow thought idly as he fell to the ground, that little punk would kill Aizen.

Soi Fon wasn't the only one to arrive at the first division then. Kyoraku Shunsui arrived at the same time she did, his swords drawn as he pulled himself out of shunpo.Komamura Sajin and Unohana Retsu appeared as well, both captains looking ready for battle. The fight had ended suddenly, and it seemed that was the only cue they needed to move in. So Soi Fon wasn't the only captain to appear at the wreckage of the first division.

But she was the only one to dash across the courtyard and over to the three fighters in the middle of it.

Grimmjow was on his back, a pool of blood beginning to form around him. Ichigo was kneeling next to him while Kuchiki Byakuya stood nearby. Oh fuck.She was on her knees and next to him within an instant, not caring how she looked to the other captains as she practically slid along the ground to his side. She soon realized that the duo was chuckling. Her eyes were fierce as she glared at Kurosaki's smile, Grimmjow's smile, the wound that was located just below his right pectoral, and back at Kurosaki.

"Why haven't you gone and gotten medical assistance yet, Kurosaki?" she asked indignantly, trying to see what was so funny.

"He said he didn't need any help," Ichigo replied with a chuckle, further deepening the scowl that was on the second division captain's face.

"Don't put words in my mouth, you jackass," Grimmjow said, his voice hoarse, his breaths ragged. "I said I didn't want any help." He looked over at Soi Fon, his eyes softening as he looked at her. He suddenly squeezed his eyes shut, sucking air in through his teeth as he grimaced in pain. "But I probably do need some."

He turned his gaze back to Ichigo. "Would you and Captain Hair-Noodles over there mind getting a doctor before the good captain here has a stroke?" His grin returned, wicked as ever as she glared at him. With another laugh, Ichigo stood and departed, Captain Kuchiki making sure to walk slightly ahead of him.

Grimmjow's impossibly blue eyes swam back over to her as he managed a weak smile. He was beginning to shiver slightly and his skin was growing colder beneath her touch. Absurdly, she wished she could give him the warmth she felt in her cheeks as the tears began to form on her eyelids. His mouth turned up at the corner, his frail smile turning into an even fainter smirk.

"What do you think, little captainess?" he asked softly, his voice almost a whisper. "Not half bad, right?"

"Of course not, you stupid..." she said, trying to return his attempts at joviality, but her voice was lost in a small hiccup. His faint smile fell slightly as the first of her tears rolled down her cheeks and fell from her chin. She could hear Captain Unohana walking up behind her, but she couldn't turn away from Grimmjow. She felt like staring at him in her tear-stained vision was all she could do to keep him alive

"Hey, don't be doin' any of that," he said with a weak chuckle and an even weaker squeezing of her hand. His eyelids were wavering as he spoke, the blue eyes beneath them swimming in and out of focus. "I'm gonna be fine."

His smile faded completely as his eyes fluttered closed.

author's note

whew. that was a fun run of chapters. ended all them fights just in time for the epilogue.

a few things:

"hypnoses" is the plural of "hypnosis" plz don't be messaging me about it.

reviews, please.

that's 100,000+ words kiddies. we made it.

fuck yammi.

shoulda been studyin.

jta~!

the stone - dave matthews band

lifeboat - lovage