A/N: Winding down now. Only two chapters to go. It's been a long ride, but a lot of fun I think. Enjoy, minna! Ja ne!


In a very short while, Ichigo returned, Shiro in tow, along with Renji, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. The bat carried an icepack where he actually had flown into the wall when the butterfly and his mate arrived, the tiger limped in with restraints slung over his shoulder as he was still healing from having to help in this way with the panther, who, in turn, brought everything else—stones, candles, chalk for marking the floor, paint for marking the bodies, and sustenance in the form of chocolate and wine. The Mage set up the book that had been so helpful the first time on the bedside table, frowning at Shinji and muttering something about idiot insects while blotting away some of the sweat and casting a minor analgesic spell to numb the near constant migraines he knew the smaller male was enduring. The King directed the others to stand about the room, Renji at the door, Grimmjow next to the window, and Ulquiorra by the bed, behind Aizen.

"Gin has the children practicing shielding in the East building." Ichigo informed the butterfly, then turned to his brother, "So, how do we do this? I was sort of...blown through it last time."

Shiro looked up, then handed his twin a pot of paint, "Here, start inking the bug while I do th' same ta his mate. Jus' follow th' symbols in th' book here." He pointed to the page that had 'Memory Keeper' scrawled across the top.

Aizen's eyebrow went up. "Dare I even ask what has you so upset?"

His voice was dry, even removed. It was an odd, even, cold tone none of them had ever heard before. It made Grimmjow's tail fluff up, and Ulquiorra's ears flatten. Even Renji shuddered. Said bug climbed off the bed to give Shiro full access, and his eyes were like his voice...oddly cold and distant. Shut off. Yes, he was completely shut off from the others, his inner fire and emotion, any connection to the outside environment cut off like a burnt-out light bulb. This was even worse than the black wings, and it frightened the other Horsemen.

Shiro grabbed his chin. "That." He jerked it, glaring into that dead-panned expression. "M th' fuckin' Mage! I C'N SEE YER STUPID, ALL THOUGHT-OUT PLAN B'FORE YA EVEN FINALIZE IT!"

Disgust radiated from the albino. He wouldn't speak of it, refused to acknowledge it, and even more, refused to meet his twin's sad—too sad—eyes. He would not recite why the butterfly's plans for suicide struck a chord so deep within him that he couldn't even bear the connection he shared with the one person who'd been at his side since before he was born. Turning away, he shuddered, going back to pulling runes out of the air and placing them around the room in soft glowing colors. He was muttering under his breath again, and if a few of his motions are more choppy than usual, it only served to punctuate the fact that something about this situation greatly upset him in deep ways that none of the others had ever seen before. The only one not reacting to the volatile attitude was Ichigo, who was very quiet as he gestured for Aizen to remove his shirt.

The Third's mouth just slightly curved up as he bared himself to the waist. "We're hoping we don't have to go down that road," he replied serenely, legs crossing at the ankles as he hovered in the air. "Grimmjow, kindly make the circles. I can't, as my magic is going to go wild and the circles would dissolve before it was time."

The First nodded and started sketching with the chalk, deathly quiet with his velvet-padded footsteps as the whole Court reflected on that something. They knew of course. How after the monarch's twin little sisters there had supposed to be another baby—a little boy—but he hadn't survived. It had been devastating to their mother, and within the next year she'd taken her own life, swallowing the entire bottle of anti-depressants her doctor had given her to deal with the miscarriage.

They'd learned all there was to learn about King and Mage once it had become obvious who the twins were. But it wasn't to be talked about. No one mentioned, ever, why the pair had grown up without a mother from the age of nine. In fact, the only time anything about that lost little brother had been brought up was when the King's heirs had been born, sixteen years ago. Because Shiro had asked very quietly if maybe they couldn't name one of the boys Kon in honor of that missing sibling? So they had, and it was explained then why the blond-haired boy with the orange highlights had been so special to the albino. Not that he loved the dark-haired, ice-blue-eyed twin any less. Kon was the heir; Tensa would be the next Mage. That gave the more stoic child an equally special place in Shiro's heart, but they all knew that Kon was almost more dear to him than his own twin.

The sole reason for that being that it had been Shiro who had discovered their mother's cold, dead body on that rainy June afternoon when he'd challenged and beaten Ichigo in a race to get home from spending the day with Uncle Kisuke and Yama-jii. Goat Face hadn't yet been home from work, but Yama-jii was there immediately, pulling the albino boy into his arms and trying to soothe his screaming. That was really the beginning of Shiro's obsession with demons and magic, because to start with, before he'd gotten a grasp on what the Cycle of Rebirth really meant, he'd been driven to try and find a way to bring their mother back from the dead. Or at least, to contact her from this plane of existence. He'd never been successful at it, and over the years the drive had dwindled, but he never stopped researching, on the off chance he just might have found something that could have fulfilled that childish heartfelt plea.

None of that mattered to Aizen at the moment though. He'd made up his mind. If he couldn't have his mate this time around…if the beautiful blond took his own life…the Third horseman would follow him into the grave. And he wasn't going to change his mind. No matter how the Mage and the King felt about it. He had been alone too long for any other option to be viable if this failed.

Ichigo's voice was heavy but barely above a whisper, "It doesn't change the fact that we would be lost without you, So-so."

He finished his drawing with a flourish, and stepped back behind Renji. Though he could easily balance his brother, the King couldn't interfere in the inner-workings of his Court. He had to remain objective, and he knew, if this didn't go as planned, he knew if he was part of it, he'd inflict his Will on them both, trapping them in a state where neither could move forward nor could anyone send them back.

Shiro took the potion from the windowsill, poured it into two cups, and stalked over to the butterfly. "Just so ya know..." He growled, dangerous and low, as he handed the brunette his cup, "If this don't work, I will never fergive ya." His eyes flashed, and he whirled back around to collect himself and his magic before working the spell. "Qio, I need th' Paladin awake. C'n ya rouse him 'nough ta drink th' potion?"

"Then this had better work, ne?" It was a simple reply to both of the twins; again, rather serene. Aizen seemed to have gone somewhere inside himself, somehow, in preparation for the influx of memories.

The bat simply came forward to remove the spell-induced sleep, gently shaking his shoulder and coaxing the blond up until he could drink and swallow the potion without choking. The butterfly downed it at the same moment Shinji did.

Shiro immediately set to work Grounding the magic that began to whip about the room, "Lord of Stones, Gods of Earth, bring balance and re-birth, keep the—oh screw it!" He cursed, and continued, Goddamnit all, do as your told!

The energies flung about the room settled into a complicated weaving pattern that only the Mage could sort out, feeding the memories of one into the mind of the other, and linking to two even further than they already were. The blond on the bed came fully conscious, staring wide-eyed at the butterfly and he reached forward with one hand, the fingertips glowing in gold more brightly than they ever had before.

Famine, eyes swirling with the same rainbow in his wings, reached for and took that out-stretched hand—then his power exploded. In an absolutely blinding array of color, his magic swirled within the circles, being channeled, and shrieking when, joining with gold and memory, it was borne back to its source. The never-ending loop of magic and memory, of lives and pain, seemed to go on forever. Renji, due to his injuries, had collapsed against the wall from the backlash, eased to the ground by the King, who stood as the final barrier between the circle of magic and the outside world. Grimmjow ducked his head behind his arm, shielding himself physically from the blinding light, and even Ulquiorra had to hide within his wings.

At last, hours later, the final life before the current one's memories were brought into the butterfly's mind on a ribbon of gold and yellow, and Aizen slumped where he knelt on the bed, wings giving weak flickers.

Shinji panted heavily, eyelids fluttering, fairly certain he'd passed out and been reawakened several times in the process, but it felt like a weight larger than anything he could comprehend was lifted from his mind. He felt light, airy almost; like he could fly if he wanted to, and it helped him to gather himself together. He reached with his other hand, pulling the exhausted Third to his chest. Their first kiss was soft, the joining of two souls in one place, but it ignited more, the fire between them fanned by Shinji's new-found wind.

Aizen, on the other hand, was completely exhausted, though he tried to match his lover's enthusiasm. It seemed Shinji would be doing the work this time, something that the brunette, as a gentleman, tried not to let happen too often.

All it took to remind the Paladin that they both were too tired to truly enjoy one another was the waning of his butterfly's strength against his embrace. So, the blond merely smiled and cupped his lover's cheek, brushing his thumb under one thoroughly worn out eye. A line of gold appeared following his movement, and he continued tracing Aizen's cheekbone down to his jaw in the way of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. His index finger added a second line from the corner of the Third's eye, curling up to meet his brow.

All the while he murmured, "Always be Mine, Liebling."

Famine chuckled softly and kissed the wrist in front of him. "I will never be anyone else's, dear one." His wings folded flat, and he curled up as he hadn't done since he was a child, eyes drooping. "I...want to Mark you...later. When we have more energy..."

"Ya already have, my love...ya already have." Shinji chuckled tiredly, as the kiss blossomed into a Milkweed flower on the inside of his wrist.

Oh they'd consummate the Marking later, multiple times if the Paladin had anything to say about it, but for now, he was content in just staying curled with his butterfly, and letting the rest of the universe slip away.

Ichigo coughed lightly to get everyone else's attention and Shiro nodded, leaning heavily against the wall near Ulquiorra. The albino smiled, one eye closed. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar, took one square of it and handed the rest to the bat while he nibbled. In response, Death pulled his mate, and the candy, into his protective wings and nibbled on the bar, tail twitching. The Mage tried to take a step toward the door on his own and failed miserably. The bat promptly picked him up in his arms, offering him the rest of the chocolate bar from where it was clamped in his teeth, already stalking from the room.

Renji and Grimmjow supported one another, exhausted just from the backlash and the lightshow. As they reached the door, the King stepped in to bolster them both, holding one feline on each side, and leaving the Third and his mate to their much deserved privacy.

Once the door was shut, Aizen pulled his mate into snuggle and dropped into an exhausted, busy sleep. No dreams for him tonight, he had memories to sort!

It took two days for the pair to resurface to the land of the living, but when Shinji did, he yawned with a noise that only the completely content make. He scooted himself into a sitting position, the brown mess of hair that was his lover's head slipping down into his lap. The sunlight from outside told him it was early afternoon, and the sound of the birds told him that he had exactly twenty-four hours before Samhain. What he didn't hear were the sounds that made his heart break. There were no fairy bells, or siren songs. No whistling dryads, or humming fauns. No unicorns. No dragons. No selkies. No merfolk. The world around him was teeming with life, but the melody of magic was missing. In essence, the Plane of the Living...was dead.

It was the same horrendous, gruesome silence Aizen had been living with for thousands of years. It was the sound that had driven him to the cusp of madness once or twice, that sound of silence. He had grown accustomed to it, more or less, over the years. But nothing sounded quite the same. He shifted slightly at his mate's movement, but grumbled a bit, wings fluttering as his eyelids tried to open without much success.

"We need to fix this, So-so." The blond looked around, frowning.

The sakura tree outside their window cried silently into the breeze and a Shinji let a tendril of the magic he now understood flow from his fingers to soothe her pain. Ten thousand petals, and not a one worn by the spirit who should have lived within her branches. There was a sudden shift in the air, and it brought an even deeper frown to the Paladin's face. He nudged his mate.

"So-so...we have a visitor."

That got him bolting upright, eyes wide and wings flared. He wasn't as intimidating as say Ulquiorra or Renji, but it was still a warning sign that regardless of how peaceful he may look, he'd let nothing harm his mate.

The shadow that separated from the wall was bowed as low to the ground as it could get, its belly touched the floor, and its tail actually dragged for once. "We're ssso very sssorry." A soft voice, hissed. "Ssshe had our treasure...Forsssed usss to sssubmit to her...we ssspied for her...killed for her...did dessspicable thingsss for her...we cannot give back to you what you lossst, but we cannot help begging for forgivenesss."

The nue was strong, old, powerful, with deep purple markings, and a heavy ruff. Its knuckles were worn from travel, and its brow deeply furrowed. The snake that was its tail, curled around those massive forearms, eyes focused on the space beneath the bed. The eighteen years since its last visit to the Shrine had not been kind to the aged dreamweaver.

"This is...I see. Shinji, this is your jurisdiction, love," Aizen said gently, turning to his mate, though the edges of his wings began to darken considerably. "You are the Paladin, the Protector. Forgiveness for any misdeeds, especially when held captive, is only yours to give."

"Well, what'd he do?" Shinji asked, looking between the creature and his mate.

"We are responsible for the extinction of many of the magical races. The warlock-who-has-no-name conscripted us to lure Beings to where humans could take advantage of them, and collect parts of them for use in her spells." The baboon head bowed until it rested on the floor.

"I poisssoned the Mage for getting clossse to War." The snake added, a wriggle going through its body.

A blond brow arched but the Paladin looked more bored than annoyed. "Anythin' else?"

"We told her Famine was coming for her."

"We ssspied on War and knew when he Awakened."

"At that moment, we hoped she would reveal herself to answer for her crimes."

"We were correct in that asssumption, but it alssso gave her time to prepare."

"After her Trial, we tormented the Jester because he was the last kitsune, and mated to War."

"It wasss foolisssh of usss, but we could do nothing elssse until he ssstood up againssst usss. It freed usss to look for our treasssure."

"We found a good many artifacts in our search of the ruins of her home. We brought them with us in the hopes that it might help to atone for the crimes we committed in her service."

"Hopefully they will be of sssome ussse to you."

In the manner of all multi-headed Beings, they took turns speaking. The baboon pulled a satchel out from beneath itself, and sticking from the top was the dragon's horn wand that Famine had been sure he'd taken with him after the warlock's Trial so many years ago. Pushing it forward, the nue took a step back to allow the Third and his mate a chance to retrieve the items without fear of repercussions. Shinji knelt, and began sorting through the bag. Besides the wand there was a vial of unicorn blood, the tail of a kitsune, primary feathers from a phoenix, the pelt of a selkie, a vampire's fang, a full set of werewolf's claws, powdered mermaid scales, on and on and on. A few things were still missing, but most of what they needed to resurrect the missing species was in that bag.

"I think...in light o' yer attention ta detail...I c'n fergive yer trespasses...however," Shinji paused and the nue froze, swallowing nervously, "Ya must work here in th' Shrine, aidin' th' Court in penance fer havin' harmed th' Mage and th' Jester."

"Thank you, Sir Summer." The Being bowed again, obviously relieved.

"Take this ta th' library and give it ta Death. He'll store it 'til we're ready fer it." The blond closed the top, and climbed back up onto the bed, as the nue gave yet another bow and vanished through the Veil on its errand, taking the bag with it. He turned to his lover once they were alone again, "How was that?"

"That was...wonderful, mate," Aizen tried to assure him, but his wings had turned black as pitch unconsciously.

There was a reason Shinji was the Paladin—Famine tended to be much too unforgiving. Just bringing up that warlock put him into fits. So having to determine whether to pardon the one who was aiding her…? Even knowing she was holding them captive, even aware they had no choice, if it were up to him…he knew he could not have forgiven them. It wasn't in him.

"You made the...the best choice, love, I…I…just…I need to…" his wings snapped and he shuddered.

Sharp, brown eyes narrowed by a fraction and the blond grabbed his lover's face, kissing him soundly, with all of the love and emotion he could pour into the gesture. Like a spell, but better, Aizen's wings fell limp and turned a lavender-pink of love and arousal, eyes closing as he purred and returned as much of his own love as he could into the kiss. His loving, darling, amazing mate...what had he been upset about again?