"Speaking Japanese" "Speaking English"

'Thinking' 'Zanpaktou'

"Hell Butterfly" "Radio"

'Hichigo' "Hollows"


While Byakuya and Ichigo spoke with the General, Toshiro had Abarai remove the kido spell after walking for a few minutes. To Renji's dismay, Alex didn't become visible beside him when he did so.

"He went to find McMullen on his own." Hitsugaya told the confused Lieutenant.

"That means he…?" Renji's face paled.

"Yes, he stayed back and consumed one of the people put unconscious earlier."

"Damn him." The Lieutenant turned to go towards Alex's now clearly felt Spiritual Pressure.

"He wants his memories and soon, so he's taking a risk. I'll be speaking with him later on…and he's going to tell me everything or pay the consequences."

"Captain…"

The icy mask of no emotion kept Renji from seeing what exactly Toshiro was feeling, but by the chilly breeze that ran through the middle of their hallway deep inside the building, he was beyond pissed.

"I'll meet you back outside, Abarai."

Teal eyes settled coldly on the red head and he got the message very quickly. Hitsugaya was going to speak to Mercer alone, and would not hesitate to attack if it came to it.

A quick bow and the Lieutenant was gone. Shortly after, the white haired Captain made his way quickly towards where Alex was, the Spiritual Pressure being suppressed by him undoubtedly McMullen, giving off an aura of fear. Then it was completely snuffed out. Mercer had done his part.

However, when he arrived, he realized Alex hadn't gotten what he wanted. McMullen had shot himself, and Alex could only consume those that he himself killed. All that work and he had lost his chance for the remaining part of his memories.

"I…I tried to talk it out of him." Alex said, catching Toshiro's attention.

He tilted his head slightly, silently questioning him.

"I guess…I wanted to see if your way would work, to interrogate him instead of consuming him…then he pulled the gun."

"I see..." Hitsugaya sighed. "We better leave; the gunshot will bring attention here."

"You knew I came this way." Mercer piped up.

"It was obvious you wanted to find McMullen quickly by yourself, I just wish you wouldn't resort to those measures."

"How come you know me so well?"

"As Abarai said, I'm a prodigy. Quick thinking is only one benefit of being such. Now hurry, be-"

As if on cue, the sirens rang loud and clear and both men were on alert. They assumed McMullen's suicide had been found out, but that wasn't the reason. Toshiro's little search through the files had been noticed, and Alex's missing file was reason enough for the alert to be sounded.

Not that they knew that, they just rushed through the halls to get out before they were caught.

'I need to show Mercer the file.' Toshiro thought to himself. 'I already know everything about his past, I just need him to remember it all so I can figure out the reasons behind what he did.'

'He's going to want to know why you have that file, as paranoid as he is.' Hyorinmaru warned.

'No doubt. I just hope…shit!'

'Toshiro?'

'The alarms weren't for McMullen; they must have realized I got into their files. I really should have thought more carefully about how to get into the locked drawer.'

'Calm, Toshiro. They won't know who did it, just that someone broke through. They'll assume it was Mercer, what with McMullen being dead.'

'In the long run that could spell disaster if we ever wanted him to make friends with the military.' He pushed through soldiers barring his way, freezing their feet with ice from his blade tip so Alex could rush past.

'Not that such a thing will ever happen.'

'It's an end worth trying for.'

Hyorinmaru went quiet while his Soul Reaper froze the tightly locked front doors and broke them apart to allow him and Alex outside. They simply glanced at Renji and he joined them in the escape from Gentek, hiding among an alley for the military to pass them by before relaxing.

"Well, that didn't really go over well." Renji sat against the wall, a little ways away from the group. Toshiro had yet to discuss things with Mercer, and he didn't feel like becoming a human icicle.

"No, it didn't." Alex slumped against the wall, defeated. He'd worked so hard to find his memories and lost it because of a moment of hesitation. The one time he didn't consume on sight and he lost his only chance.

"Mercer." The man looked up at Toshiro, who still looked somewhat furious at him. "Here."

A folder was tossed at him, a folder with his name on it. It was his file, kept under heavy lock and key, from what the soldier he'd consumed earlier had known. How did the tiny Captain have it?

"Where did you…?" Alex was already showing signs of distrust.

"The alarms weren't for McMullen's death; they'd realized I'd broken into their files." Toshiro replied. "I neglected to hide my presence there in my hurry when I took that file."

"That look you're giving me means this has the memories I need, the ones you wanted to know about."

"It does." Hitsugaya muttered.

"It also tells me you don't like it."

"I don't. However, I need to know what happened from your own viewpoint. Reading through that should spark the memories in you. After that I want to know exactly why you did what you did."

"Uh, Captain, can you stop switching back and forth between languages?" Renji spoke up, cautiously raising his hand to make sure he had the white haired Captain's attention.

"I'm not." Toshiro replied, suddenly confused.

"Actually you are." Alex countered, wanting desperately to read through the file but waiting for the moment.

"I…But, I know when I switch. The language comes easily, but it's a conscious decision to which language I'm using."

"You did it again."

"What?" The file was forgotten in the moment of confusion as to why Toshiro was switching so easily back and forth between Japanese and English without him even knowing. "How is that possible?"

"I'll ask Urahara about it. I meant to bring it up earlier because you confused me going back and forth like that, but we were in the middle of a mission."

The Lieutenant stood and stepped out of the ally, summoning a Hell Butterfly to bring a message to the eccentric shop keeper. With that bit resolved, Alex flipped open the folder and eagerly read through the contents. Hitsugaya didn't quite notice at first as he tried to figure out himself why he would be merging the two languages together without realizing it.

'This could become a problem.' Hyorinmaru rumbled nervously. 'I have yet to speak English, but it may soon affect me as well. Since the names of my attacks are Japanese because we speak it, they soon may not work.'

'The attack wouldn't be full power. That really is bad news.' The Captain massaged his temples as he tried to figure out a way to reverse the effects. 'First things first, Abarai needs to lose the bracelet before he's affected, and we'll need to keep an eye on Mercer's speech pattern.'

'I'll keep a close watch on that, as you still can't figure out if you yourself are speaking Japanese or English.'

'Thank you.'

A startled cry caught his attention and he looked at Alex, only to see the man was holding his head in pain, the folder dropped onto the ground. The memories were flowing in.

"I nearly forgot; when you remember something, it's painful."

"Just a bit."Alex growled, getting over the pain and picking the file up again. "Once I've seen the memories, it goes away as quick as it comes."

"You're vulnerable in that state."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't really worry about it; since it happens so quickly I can usually get out of danger."

A white eyebrow rose in question, but the Captain instead turned to the matter he was first concerned about. Now that Alex remembered what had happened before the outbreak, he wanted answers.

"Captain Hitsugaya!" Renji called out, cutting him off.

Toshiro strained to hold back a growl, the temperature dropping ever so slightly. Why was he ALWAYS interrupted during the important conversations?

"We have a problem." The Lieutenant stood straight in a reporting mode, and Toshiro was surprised to see Rukia was with him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"The military General has decided to continue on with the plans for the bomb. They're going to nuke the city tomorrow afternoon after they've evacuated everyone they can."

Alex cursed loudly and Hitsugaya couldn't help but want to do the same.


Oh dear, Shiro has a language problem! This could get ugly. But now Mercer has his memories back and the truth is out, so progress might actually get somewhere! First, Alex needs to recharge.

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