"Don't move." A hand fell against his chest. Sedative heavy eyes slowly parted.
"Szayel?"
"Seriously, don't move." Grimmjow obeyed but his eyes wandered down his body to where his brother's hands were busy.
"Shit what are you doing?"
"Making sure I don't have to cut your arm off." His arm was fixed to a table before him. There was no cast around it, instead thick steel needles protruded from his arm. Szayel must have numbed the limb because he felt nothing.
"What the Hell?"
"You had a terrible break, Grimmjow, nerve damage, everything. I did what I could to put it back together but you won't be able to move it at all for a while. These pins are holding everything in place. There." He finished and withdrew. "Like I said, don't move. It needs to remain stable."
"Shit." Grimmjow swallowed, looking around the ward. Ichigo was nowhere to be seen. Yammy was on a ventilator next to him.
"Brain hemorrhage. About fifty percent chance of recovery," Szayel answered the unspoken question.
"Damn. Where's Ichigo?"
"With Aizen. I wouldn't expect to see him any time soon."
"Damn." He just swore again.
"I thought you'd be happy."
"Yeah," Grimmjow sighed. "Me too. But I don't want to think what he's doing to the kid."
"That's how we all feel about you, Grimmjow, when Ichigo's got you in your room." This brought Grimmjow's attention back around.
"And yet, you all let it happen."
"Yes. Our feelings on the matter are irrelevant if Father orders it."
"Fuck him."
"Don't say that too loudly."
"What? What do I really have left to lose, Szayel?" He shut his eyes. "I don't know how much longer I can do this."
"I'm frankly surprised you've lasted this long." His brother moved to his IV.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting you through the next few days."
"You're putting me under?"
"Might as well, otherwise you'll probably move around and fuck up all my work."
"Wake up beautiful."
This time it was ten times harder to escape the bonds of sleep. He opened his eyes to a bruised and swollen face but Ichigo smiled down on him.
"There you are."
"Shit, how long was I out?"
"A couple days."
"Dammit." He sat with Ichigo's help. He felt the dead weight at his side and saw his arm had been moved to a cast. His face tightened at the sight of his swollen, discoloured fingers.
"It'll get better," Ichigo read his thoughts.
"I hope so."
"Come on, we're going back."
"What?" He looked Ichigo over. He was beat to shit, one hand wrapped tight, cuts and bruises everywhere. "I can't leave and you look like you should be in a bed too."
"Nah, no rest for the wicked. Aizen's been running me ragged since my disobedience as punishment. But he's out for a few days now, so let's go back."
"But Szayel said—"
"I won't move your arm, I know. Szayel gave me a run down."
"Oh, okay then."
Ichigo carefully put his arm in a sling and got him in a wheel chair, and took him to their room. Grimmjow was a bit uneasy but let Ichigo set him up in bed where he propped up pillows to rest Grimmjow's arm. He was supposed to keep it elevated whenever possible.
Grimmjow was still sore from the beating he'd taken, and Ichigo looked like his own wounds were fresh, Aizen must still have been punishing him.
"You okay?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah. Well, I mean, Ichigo I can't—"
"Relax, I didn't bring you here to fuck you, not today anyway." He sat on the bed and pulled his shirt off. The abuse covered every inch of his skin. Grimmjow winced at seeing the deep discolouration along his ribs, some places the skin cut open as if he'd been kicked. The teen let out a long breath that betrayed his true discomfort. Ichigo smiled. "As you can see, I'm not really up to it either." He lay down next to Grimmjow. "Night."
Grimmjow woke early. He'd been awake for much of the night and only caught a few hours before dawn. Just before the sun came up, he woke with a start, not sure what nightmare had just assaulted him, but his heart beat calmed, and he turned to the side to regard the sleeping form next to him.
Ichigo. He looked himself when asleep. Features relaxed, that innocence returned to them, that youthful face he had come to expect every time he needed help. What a fool he'd been, to think it had all been chance—to believe he could ever get out from under the thumb of his father.
"I'm sorry, kid," he whispered. Ichigo slept on. Grimmjow watched him until he drifted again.
"You're up early."
"No, it's past noon," Grimmjow answered, never looking up from his task. He had figured out where Aizen kept stores of hogyoku. The problem was he needed a combination to the room. His best bet was constructing the small camera he worked on now, in order to see someone punch in the combo.
"You got up by yourself?"
"I'm not completely useless," he replied, ignoring the fact that it had been a struggle for him to get himself up and to his desk where he now worked. Ichigo watched him use tweezers to line up two electrodes. When he succeeded, he leaned back and took a drink of clear liquid from a glass.
"Just noon and you're drinking already?"
"You took me from the ward without the pain meds I was on, sue me."
"Oh, I'll get some for you."
"Thanks."
"Nice look," Ichigo commented, seeing Grimmjow's open, unbuttoned shit.
Grimmjow looked down at his shirt and sighed. He tried to push the buttons back in one handed with little success. This earned a laugh from Ichigo.
"Shut up." Grimmjow shot but Ichigo moved across the room and took over, buttoning him up. When he got to his collar, he smoothed it down and leaned in to plant a soft kiss on his forehead. Grimmjow watched him carefully, waiting for more, a rough hungry kiss like he usually received before Ichigo left for the day, but he saw something different in his features. Was it pity? Could it possibly be guilt? Or was it something else?
But Ichigo withdrew and turned away and the brief moment was gone.
"I'll get your pills, and some food."
"Okay."
He left.
Ichigo did not come back.
It was Szayel who opened the door. Grimmjow had assumed Ichigo meant he'd be back soon but when hours passed he guessed he was going to have to wait all day for his medication and something to eat. But around dinner time the door opened.
"Szayel." He covered the materials on his desk with a magazine. "What is it?"
"I want to take a look at your arm."
"Oh."
Szayel got him in the wheel chair and took him to the ward.
"You shouldn't have been released."
"I had as much choice as you in the matter."
"Yeah...well, we might have a little more control soon."
"What's that mean?"
"Nothing."
"No, really Szayel."
"Grimmjow, be more concerned about yourself." Szayel took his arm and stretched it out over a table. This mere movement sent shivering pain through Grimmjow.
"FUCK!"
"You also could have had painkillers here."
"Screw you."
"Don't move." Szayel began his tests, poking Grimmjow's fingers, looking for reaction and frowning when Grimmjow gave none at certain times. He felt his stomach knot.
"Is it bad? Will it heal?"
"It's too early to tell. The swelling is probably still too bad for you to feel much."
But Grimmjow didn't feel reassured.
When he was done, Szayel adjusted Grimmjow's sling, holding his arm up against his chest and shoulder to give it more support.
"There. You really can't move it around much, okay?"
"I know. Pills?"
Szayel handed him a limited amount of pain meds but a new bottle of anxiety pills. "You can't fuck them up this time," he warned. "It's very hard to get the proper dose figured out the first time, let alone a second. Try taking one a day and we'll take it from there."
"Okay. Hey, Szayel."
"Yeah?"
"Is Yammy going to live?"
"There is still too much swelling on his brain. If that doesn't stop, he'll die."
"Oh."
He left with a cold pit in his stomach. He was slow making his way back, shaken by both his and his brother's dismal prospects of healing. He was just passing the gym when he noticed blood on the door, as if someone had had blood on their hands when pulling it open.
He knew it wasn't uncommon, but it still caught his attention for some reason and he pushed inside.
"Shit..." the room was a wreck, wracks of training equipment spilled all over the place, wooden swords were broken. Weights had rolled from their cart. "What the Hell happened in here?"
"Revenge." The voice startled him, he turned on the spot. "For Yammy."
Ichigo was propped on the floor at the back wall. One of the broken swords lay next to him and a large amount of blood seeped from his side where one hand was pressed. The rest of him was utterly beaten, he'd already been in terrible shape but this was something else again.
"Ichigo, no." Grimmjow moved to him, seeing not the man who'd controlled him for the last few weeks but the boy who's stood to defend him in that alley, or stitched him back together in the clinic. "Dammit, it's bad."
"I'll live."
"Will you? Shit, there's alot of blood. Who did this?"
"All of them."
"What?"
"They knew I was weak, ganged up on me 'cause of what I did to Yammy."
"I'll take you to Szayel."
"He'll probably finish the job. Just get me back to the room."
"Okay."
It was a hell of a struggle, Grimmjow was hardly in any shape to support Ichigo but they managed it. Ichigo stifled a cry when Grimmjow dropped him on the bed. He got a pair of scissors and began cutting Ichigo's shirt off. The wound was awful. Someone had broken the sword to create a jagged point and left a rough and deep cut full of splinters in his side.
"Is this the worst wound?"
Ichigo nodded.
"Alright. I'm going to get these splinters out first." He set to work, washing the wound first, revealing deep bruising under the blood. Then he got his tweezers from the desk, moved the lamp so it better illuminated the slivers and began the tedious task of pulling out each one.
Ichigo was shaking. It was the first time since his transformation that Grimmjow had seen any sign of real pain in him, even after Aizen beat him. He gave him a pain pill. It encouraged sleep and his patient passed out while he was stitching him up. He had some first-aid materials in the bathroom, enough to stitch and bandage the worst cuts. There was another long one down Ichigo's back, a scrape from the wooden blade, he patched this as well once he managed to get Ichigo onto his stomach. He needed to wrap his ribs but Ichigo would have to help him with that. He felt exhausted in the aftermath, everything he did was difficult with only one arm. He hadn't eaten all day so when he sat back at his desk and took a swig, it hit hard.
"Shit." But he stood. He had a short window to act on this. He was careful to lock the door behind him, in case someone went for Ichigo when he was down. Then he found them, where he expected, in Halibel's room.
"So, revenge for Yammy," he said shutting the door behind him. "You only need revenge if you give a damn."
"Yammy is one of us," Halibel answered for them all. "Ichigo is not."
"We thought you would be relieved," Szayel said.
"Relieved? He's a high school kid who's been beaten to Hell!"
"He's the man who—"
"Don't!" Grimmjow turned on Ulquiorra. "I know exactly who he is. This version of him is not the real Ichigo. This is temporary."
"Temporary? You realize in a few more weeks he'll have heart failure and be just like us. He'll never be able to go back."
"I know."
Halibel narrowed her eyes. "You mean to escape with him?"
"Of course I fucking want to. But that doesn't mean I can."
"Why did you come here, Grimmjow?"
"If you really want Ichigo out of the picture, you'll help me."
"Help you escape?"
"Yes."
"Never."
"Then screw up his dose while Aizen is away. Help me take him off Hogyoku."
This met silence. "It would be risking his life," Stark warned.
"I'll risk it."
"He could become unbalanced like you," Szayel said.
"I'll risk that too."
"It's still a betrayal to father," Ulquiorra intervened. "We won't do it."
Grimmjow scanned all their faces, but saw they too, would inevitably back down from any treasonous thoughts.
"Fine. But answer one last question. If there was a way to kill Aizen for sure, with no risk, and you'd have your freedom, would you take it?"
"ENOUGH!" He was back handed by Ulquiorra and got no help from the others when the next hit was a full punch and he fell against the door. The pain that shot through his arm made him see black and he slid to the floor.
"Get out," Ulquiorra warned him. Grimmjow worked his eyes up to him and when the crippling pain lessened, he stood and opened the door.
"Ulquiorra. You and I are closest in age. I loved you."
"Get out."
"It was only me that you told about your nightmares, about the woman in white staining red. You know that was your mother, right?"
"I said—"
"You know Aizen killed her, probably in front of you. And then he made you forget, just like my mother, just like all of your mothers."
Ulquiorra put a hand on his chest.
"Do not speak of this again." He was shoved into the hall and the door slammed shut. Grimmjow let out a long breath, knowing he could have come out of this a lot worse than a bloody nose.
"You never stop playing your games," Ichigo whispered when Grimmjow sat down on the bed next to him. "You're a manipulator, Grimmjow."
"I'll take that as a compliment," he sighed and lay back. "We need to bandage your ribs."
"In the morning."
"Okay."
"I'm surprised."
"What?"
"That you didn't finish me off. That you helped me."
"I'm trying save you, Ichigo. If you died, that would kind of ruin my plans."
"I know you'll try to get me off Hogyoku once we're alone."
"Of course I will."
"I also know, it will never happen, so I'm okay with letting you believe it."
"How generous of you."
"But you should accept it, Grimmjow. You'd be happier."
"And here I didn't think you cared," he jibed.
"I would rather not have to listen to you bitch for the rest of our lives."
"The rest of our lives? You really don't think you'll move on at some point?"
"Never." The word chilled Grimmjow. "It's you and only you Grimmjow. My sole desire since waking up."
"That's not creepy at all."
"I'm just being honest. What was it for you? What was the one thing you wanted when you were on Hogyoku?"
"Freedom. I loved my father, and devotion should have been it, the one thing I felt, but I wanted to be free. I didn't understand that though, so I was just angry."
"I'll give you freedom, Grimmjow. I'll take you far away."
"But I can never leave you. So I won't really be free."
"Would you? If we escaped and were far away and I gave you the choice, what would you do? If you knew it was the last time you'd see me, and you'd never have another chance to save me, would you go?"
Grimmjow was struck by the question, by the answer that came to him so quickly he couldn't pretend to hesitate. And when he didn't answer, he felt the smile he couldn't see in the dark.
"That's what I thought. We're together forever, Grimmjow, so get used to it."
Grimmjow got up early and finished his camera before day break. As soon as it was done he slipped from the room and down dark halls to the locked room where supplies of Hogyoku were kept. This was easy enough, he'd made a magnetic key card to override the door and got inside without a sound. Then it was just a matter of positioning the micro-sized camera where it would see the combination but also remain hidden. He did his best to mask it and left just at the sun was lighting the high windows in the corridor.
"Where were you?" Ichigo was just sitting up in the bed.
"Putting our plan in motion."
"Oh."
"Your ribs." Grimmjow picked up the cloth strips he'd cut the night before. They worked in silence, Ichigo having to do most of it himself. Then he lay back.
"Shit."
"You're beat to Hell, just rest."
"And show them I'm weak?"
"What does it matter now? We'll be gone soon."
"And when the Hogyoku runs out?"
"What?"
"Well, what then? I know you aren't planning for the long term, but I am."
"Then that's your problem."
"Then I won't leave."
"Fuck off, why didn't you bring this up sooner? You really want to be Aizen's bitch forever?"
"No."
"Then we'll figure something out."
"No we won't because you don't want to. If I wait until my heart fails, you'll have to help me."
Grimmjow watched him carefully. "No. Ichigo, it's too risky. Look what's already happened to us in the time we've been here. In another few weeks, I'd probably lose my arm completely and they might even kill you."
Ichigo considered this. There was a bit of a risk involved. "Then we get Hogyoku replicated once we're gone."
Grimmjow tensed. "Urahara?"
"No. My father."
"What?"
"We go to my father and make him replicate it."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why?"
"Interpol tampered with his memories."
"He'll figure it out, he did once before."
"What if...you hurt him? I mean, would you hurt him?"
"Not if he did what I want."
"He's your father. Ichigo, do you have any feelings for your family anymore?"
"Not that I'm aware of," he said nonchalantly. "Now come join me in bed and we'll celebrate our impending freedom."
Grimmjow just shook his head. "I'm getting something to eat."
Ichigo made a frustrated noise, unable to control Grimmjow in his current state, but Grimmjow didn't hear. His mind was on the future now, and what might happen to Ichigo's family when he showed up demanding a drug that would make him a monster forever.
As always, thanks for the reviews! Super happy to have hit 200!
*Please note: I was made aware of an error in Chapter 3/4. I totally forgot a scene which was actually pretty important: it is the first time Ichigo witnesses Grimmjow's depression. I feel very silly for having missed it when I uploaded those chapters and so I have gone back and included it at the beginning of chapter 4. Sorry for any confusion! Thanks to Cici000 for bringing this to my attention.
Also, if anyone is current on the manga or just loves zombies, I posted another chapter in "Beginnings" about a Soul Society Zombie Apocalypse.
Riza
