Chapter 28: Turning the Tide
The four Kido Corps members maintaining the cage flinched as Renji threw himself against its walls like a wild animal on a rampage.
The man cried out in fury, spittle flying from his mouth as he began to pound against the barrier imprisoning him with his bare fists, uncaring of the damage he was doing to himself in the process.
Rukia couldn't bring herself to keep watching. She tightened her hold on Zabimaru's sheath. She didn't feel right laying her hands on a piece of her friend's very soul, but they had been forced to take it away from Renji once he started trying to—clumsily, at that—cut his own arm off in an attempt to rid himself of Lilith's mark.
He hadn't been the first of the afflicted to try, and without her and Byakuya's intervention, wouldn't have been the first to learn the futility of doing so, either. Two others who had managed a 'successful' amputation only had the mark reappear elsewhere on their bodies almost immediately after.
Rukia knew that Renji's struggling was supposed to be a good thing; it was proof that he was still fighting, had not given in to the witch's control just yet. She could only pray that his struggles wouldn't end up being for nothing.
"Can you do it?"
As usual, neither her brother's tone of voice nor the expression on his face gave anything away. He looked as calm and composed as always, yet Rukia nevertheless knew he was at the end of his rope. Even a man like Byakuya could only take so much at once, and after the disaster this entire plan had devolved into, it was a miracle he still found it in himself to keep going.
"Hell if I know."
Rukia had to fight the instinctive impulse to draw her weapon when Takahashi approached. They had taken away his sword and fitted him with one of Urahara's paralyzing collars, yet the man was by no means powerless, especially now that Orihime had given him back his arms. He may have been willing enough to help save Ichigo's life, but Rukia still trusted him about as far as she could throw him.
The man looked around uneasily, clearly uncomfortable being out in the open like this, surrounded by the angry glares of Shinigami and Arrancar alike. Takahashi had a lot to answer for, but right now they needed all the help they could get, even if that help came in the form of the person responsible for it all going to shit in the first place.
"Let's just get this over with," he muttered demurely, then headed for Renji's cage with determined strides. Rather than waiting for the Kido Corps members to open a gap in the barrier for him, he simply walked right through the wall of the cage like it wasn't even there, causing many of the twitchier onlookers to fumble for their weapons.
Rukia clenched her jaw in frustrated exasperation; tensions were high enough just from having him walk around camp, it certainly didn't help when he went and did things like that.
"Abarai!" Takahashi called out, and Renji paused his assault on the cage. He whirled around with a flourish of long, crimson hair, turning his maddened stare on the other man. With a furious snarl, Renji stomped through the sand and charged him with bloodied fingers curled into claws.
Rukia's heart jumped up into her throat as she watched it happen, and she reached out for her brother's hand, too nervous to even register him squeezing hers back.
Renji jumped up as high as the Kido cage's ceiling allowed, angling his fingers to gouge out Takahashi's eyes on the way down. Fortunately, he never made it that far.
"Geki," Takahashi muttered, and an aura of red energy encapsulated Renji from head to toe, leaving him helplessly trapped in midair. Renji spit and snarled, struggling against the Bakudo as hard as he could, and only redoubled his efforts when the other man took hold of his arm and pulled it down.
"This is going to sting," Takahashi warned, his Hollow Mask materializing even as the fingernails on one of his hands grew into a pale mimicry of his Resurrección's massive talons. Renji cried out in response, but Takahashi didn't waste any time in driving the nail of his index finger deep into the flesh of Renji's bicep, stabbing directly into the center of the mark left by Lilith's Kiss.
Renji's scream turned heart-wrenchingly pained, and he flopped down on the sand, writhing in agony once Takahashi unceremoniously released him from the binding spell.
Removing his mask and exiting the cage as easily as he'd entered, Takahashi wandered off again, clearly considering his work here finished. "It's up to him, now," the man dismissed Rukia's cry of outrage with a casual wave, and fled from under the countless angry and judging glares directed at him, presumably to go and cause chaos in some other part of camp.
"Rukia, look," Byakuya urged, his grip on her hand suddenly almost strong enough to bruise. When she did, she saw that damned hickey on Renji's arm twist and deform into a shapeless, ugly black smudge as Takahashi's own Curse began to fight Lilith's.
The network of 'veins' that had spread out from it suddenly became perfectly visible, bulging up and pulsing furiously in tune with Renji's heartbeat. The furthest ends of the tendrils reached all the way up to his neck, barely encroaching on his jawline, but had not yet gotten any further than that. Renji rolled over onto his back, fingers beginning to claw at the skin of his neck and quickly drawing blood.
Rukia lurched forward, only to be stopped by Byakuya not letting go of her hand. "Wait," he ordered, still sounding maddeningly calm, even though his eyes were now wide and utterly transfixed on the sight before them. "Look," he told her again, and this time she saw.
The tendrils were slowly withering away, dissolving into black smoke that poured out from between Renji's fingers. Renji himself had let up on the screaming, and was drawing in big gulps of air in between groans of pain and effort.
"Get… out… of my head!" he snarled, his feet wildly kicking up sand as they moved seemingly of their own accord.
Whispers were beginning to emanate from the inside of the cage - empty promises and sweet nothings that made Rukia's blood boil once she realized whose voice she was hearing.
"I… said… GET OUT!" Lilith's whispers abruptly cut off with a furious hiss, and the black mark on Renji's arm dissolved into a puff of putrid miasma as the last of the witch's Reiatsu was forcibly expelled from his body.
Renji went limp, all four of his limbs bonelessly flopping down onto the sand as he struggled to catch his breath.
"Renji!" The Kido Corps members were wise enough to dispel the cage as soon as they saw Rukia thundering towards her friend. She dropped to her knees at his side, quickly cupping his cheek as she looked into his eyes to ascertain it was really him in there.
"I'm so glad to have you back," she choked out, "why do you idiots always have to make me worry like this?"
"Sorry…" he gasped out hoarsely, but he was smiling. "Bad habit."
Rukia chuckled as she rested her forehead on his chest. "Fool." She took a second to compose herself, then dried her eyes on her sleeve and held out Zabimaru. "Here. I kept him safe for you."
"Thanks, Rukia."
He accepted the sword, but felt the smile slip off his face when Byakuya approached. If he hadn't already been lying on the ground, he would have dropped down into a dogeza and begged his Captain for forgiveness for this screw-up.
He was more than a little surprised when Byakuya simply said, "I am very glad to have you back, Renji," instead of the reaming-out he had expected, and gently reached out to heal the scratches on Renji's neck with Kaido.
"I'm sorry, Captain. I became compromised due to my own negligence. I will-!" Byakuya cut him off with a simple shake of his head.
"No. The fault is mine. As commander of this operation, its success was my responsibility, and I failed to see through the enemy's scheme. I am sorry, Renji." He bowed his head, and Renji had no idea how he was supposed to respond. Fortunately, Byakuya saved him from having to speak.
"Nevertheless, shameless though it may be, I must request your aid once more. We still have one more duty to perform."
It was invisible to anyone who didn't know him well, but Renji could see the grim set of Byakuya's features, and he didn't fail to notice Rukia's downturned gaze either.
"Much has happened while you were indisposed… None of it good, I fear."
Renji tightened his grip on Zabimaru.
"What do I need to do?"
He had finally managed to elude his two pursuers.
Gomorrah still wasn't entirely certain of what was going on exactly; who the people chasing him were, or why they were even doing so in the first place, but those were questions better left for when his life wasn't in immediate danger.
The shorter of the two blond men, the one with teeth like piano keys, was probably the more dangerous of the two. When he'd gotten close enough for Gomorrah to smell the sweet scent his Zanpakutou released, his sense of direction had gotten completely messed up; suddenly down was up, left became right, and going forward led to moving back instead.
He'd panicked, and almost gotten a sword through his gut for his trouble, and so he'd been forced to pick a random direction, ignore the nausea and vertigo as best as he could, and run like hell until he'd gotten far enough away for the effect to wear off.
The other man, the one with the long, wavy hair, didn't seem quite as dangerous, and yet Gomorrah couldn't help but think that there was something… off, about him. Every time Gomorrah tried to think about why that was, it was as if there was a fog in his mind, concealing the answer he knew was there, and keeping it just barely out of reach.
He could almost swear he'd seen that golden, whip-like weapon the man wielded once before.
Inexplicable sense of Déjà-vu aside, he'd come here to do what his siblings asked of him. He laid down on his belly in the sand, and observed the people milling about in the sprawling tent camp before him. The enemy's camp, his sister had told him. These people were all trying to kill them. As much as he hated the thought of doing so, she had said that Gomorrah had no choice but to kill them first if he wanted himself, and his new family, to live.
He gasped softly when he noticed the girl she had told him about—she certainly didn't look evil. In fact, she rather looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly as long as it hadn't committed unspeakable crimes against her person first—but the color of her hair proved that she was dangerous.
"Kill the orange-haired ones, dear brother," Lilith had whispered in his ear. "They are the greatest threats we face, wielding terrible power beyond our understanding. Leave either one alive, and they shall slaughter us all."
He had no other choice. He didn't want to be alone again.
Gomorrah turned his heart to stone as he trained his weapon on the girl. It was a pale white rifle; one with lime green accents, and a red flame pattern around the muzzle.
"Watch over me," Gomorrah whispered to the weapon, and felt it come to life in his hands.
"Lilynette."
"Does it still hurt?"
Ichigo paused his attempt at tallying the numerous injuries he now sported all over his body. "Kind of," he replied, forcing himself to look away from the unnatural depression above his left hip. "It's not too bad, as long as I don't move around too much."
That had been the blow that decided the fight, he remembered. A direct hit to his waist with the side of that godforsaken Lance, with every ounce of Kali's monstrous strength behind it. The impact alone had been powerful enough to break both his hip and his spine, but that hadn't been what nearly killed him. No, the shrieking gale surrounding the lance had been responsible for that. It had eroded away his flesh and even dealt severe damage to his internal organs. Grimmjow said that Unohana had needed to surgically remove his left kidney, as well as cut out a considerable chunk of his intestines.
According to her, it was something of a miracle that Ichigo had held on long enough for Grimmjow and Rukia to find him. Even more mind-boggling was the fact that Kali had neglected to finish him off—he may have just about taken off her arm, but that shouldn't have been enough to hinder her from killing a man with a broken back and his guts spilling out onto the sand.
Ichigo smiled wryly. "If you're this worried about me, I've really got to look like shit, huh?"
"How's that any different from usual?" Grimmjow shot back, a crooked, albeit deeply tired-looking grin playing on his lips.
"Ass." For an insult, the word came out awfully fond, even to Ichigo own ears. "Are you heading out?"
"Yeah." Grimmjow got up from his chair and held the tent flap open. "Try not to get yourself killed while I'm gone this time, alright?"
"…I promise I'll try not to."
Grimmjow had to fight off the urge to groan. "…Guess that's as good as I'm gonna get with you," he eventually grumbled, shaking his head in exasperation. He took a deep breath and sighed loudly. "Just… I'll see you soon... Ichigo."
"Yeah." Ichigo hoped the expression on his face was as encouraging as he had intended it to be, rather than the pained grimace it felt like. "Be careful, Grimm."
One final, indecipherable look passed between them, and then Grimmjow left with determined strides, the tent flap falling shut behind him.
"Did you tell him?"
"Of course I didn't tell him," Grimmjow scoffed, looking over his shoulder to ascertain Kurosaki was out of hearing range of him and Orihime. "Like he'd ever leave Hueco Mundo if he knew he was leaving two of his friends behind here."
"…He's never going to forgive us for this, is he?"
"…Maybe not," Grimmjow admitted, resenting the stab of guilt that shot through him. This sort of thing was so much easier back when he just didn't care. "But we both know we're not getting either of them back as we are now."
Orihime nodded sadly. "At least we should be able to come back for them soon, provided this next part goes well."
"Provided Takahashi wasn't talking out of his ass, and this doesn't get us all killed," he snarked back, taking every available opportunity to point out the sheer stupidity of placing any faith whatsoever in the words of the man ultimately responsible for putting them all in this position to begin with.
Orihime opened her mouth to argue this point and play devil's advocate, but appeared to realize the futility in doing so about halfway through dredging up the necessary effort, and simply closed it again.
"Grimmjow, before you go," she said instead, "I… I have to apologize." She lowered her head so her bangs fell in front of her eyes. Nervously, she began to fiddle with the hem of her shirt. "I asked you to let me fight at your side, promising that I wouldn't let you down, but I did. Because of my arrogance, you… you almost- Ow!"
She blinked rapidly at him, mouth hanging open in disbelief as she pressed both hands to the pained spot on her brow where Grimmjow had just flicked her in the head. Hard.
"Knock that shit off already," Grimmjow commanded brusquely. "You didn't do anything wrong, so quit apologizing."
"But I— okay seriously, OW!"
"Shut it!" he cut her off before she could get more than two words out, reaching out to give her another flick in the exact same spot as before. "Neither of us screwed up, Princess, will you get that through your thick skull, already?! If I hadn't used Segunda Etapa, Takahashi would have slaughtered us! And if you hadn't stopped me from killing him, Ichigo would have died from his injuries! In fact, I'm glad it was you who killed me, since you at least bothered to bring me back afterward!" he concluded his rant, secretly enjoying the absolutely flabbergasted look on her face.
"Now are you going to drop it, or do I need to hit you again?!"
"No!" she quickly squeaked out, using her forearms to defend the aggrieved area from Grimmjow's fingers. "It's fine, I get it! I won't bring it up again!"
"Good. Now go get Kurosaki ready to— What the hell?"
It was barely perceptible, at first. But then, the unnatural pressure weighing down on Grimmjow—no, not just on him, but on the entirety of Hueco Mundo, intensified enough for even the Arrancar who were frantically preparing to evacuate the camp to stop whatever they were doing. Like Grimmjow and Orihime, they too gazed upward… and saw the Black Moon that loomed over them all engorging in a manner that was almost grotesque, writhing tendrils of shadow bursting up from its surface and reaching out across Hueco Mundo's night sky like Eldritch, grasping fingers as it slowly grew to eclipse the White Moon behind it.
"It's him," Orihime stated with absolute certainty. The white ring that was all that remained of the White Moon was reflected in her eyes as she spoke. "Angra Mainyu. He's here."
"Fuck." It was the only thing that seemed appropriate to say. "He's taking back control of Hueco Mundo," Grimmjow realized. A pulse of pitch-black energy flared out from the Moon, and the abrupt sensation of disconnect and mild vertigo that came over Grimmjow told him that every Garganta in Hueco Mundo had just been sealed off.
That thing was trying to keep them trapped here; like rats in a cage.
Grimmjow quickly sharpened his senses to confirm that, yes, Urahara's portal at least was still open. They still had a chance, but if that thing had fully awakened, then they were officially out of time. If Takahashi's intel was correct, Angra Mainyu could see anywhere in Hueco Mundo that the Black Moon shone down on, as well as see through the eyes of any Menos Grande.
As soon as that thing realized that there was still a way out of Hueco Mundo that it couldn't close off, it would be sending its Warlords out to slaughter them all before they could escape. The noncombatants had to evacuate, now.
"Jaegerjaquez-san!" Tessai called out as he came running up to them. "The others are ready and waiting! We need to head out immedia—"
Grimmjow didn't listen to the end of his sentence, as the overwhelming sensation of approaching danger that came over him instinctively had him throwing himself in front of Orihime, just in time for the deep blue, laser-like beam of an unusually narrow and high-powered Cero to blast apart his shoulder instead of the girl's head.
"Jaegerjaquez-san!"
"Grimmjow!"
Tessai closed the rest of the distance with Shunpo, and was already standing in front of him protectively before Grimmjow even had the time to sink to one knee. "Bakudo 91: Seiiki [Sanctuary]!" The man called out, and a transparent blue dome materialized over the three of them, completely sealing them off from the outside world.
Orihime began healing him immediately, and Tessai waited intently for the follow-up attack to come, but nothing did. Grimmjow however, had frozen up completely. Not from the pain, which was rapidly fading anyway, but from the Reiatsu that attack had emitted.
Grimmjow knew that Reiatsu.
"What is it, Hirako-san?" Tessai spoke up, cupping one hand over his earpiece. "Yes, Jaegerjaquez-san was hit," he confirmed, muscles still tense as he peered out in the direction the attack had come from. "The shooter stopped moving immediately after firing? Why would they-?"
"Hirako!" Grimmjow barked into his own communicator, "Was that fucking Starrk?! Are you telling me you've been chasing after Starrk this whole time?!"
"You recognized his Reiatsu then, Grimmjow-san?" It was the other guy who asked the question, the blond fop with all the frills– Rose, if Grimmjow remembered correctly.
"Of course I fucking recognized it!" he snapped back. "Like hell I'd forget what the Reiatsu of the freaking Primera felt like!"
"Then it is as I feared. He seemed familiar to me, but until now he didn't use enough Reiatsu for me to be able to identify him with any certainty, and he's clad in robes from head to toe. He's been very difficult to spot against all this white scenery."
"Why the hell is Starrk of all people fucking shooting at us?!" Grimmjow demanded, rolling his shoulder to make sure it was fully healed. "If he's still alive then why didn't he come back to us?!"
"Jaegerjaquez…" Hirako started hesitantly, "As long as Lilith is alive, then perhaps what Starrk wants isn't much a deciding factor here."
Grimmjow couldn't help himself from snarling out an exceptionally egregious selection of curses in response to that, and Orihime quickly reached over to switch off the microphone of his earpiece, hoping to spare the ears and innocence of anyone else listening in.
"Speaking of which…" Hirako went on, "You're about to have company."
"The Harlot Queen is on her way here?" Tessai asked, "Is she alone?"
"If you're asking if she's the only Warlord to show up, then yes, she is. She's brought a whole bunch of other guests, though. About an army's worth, as a matter of fact. They should reach the camp in around fifteen minutes at the rate they're going."
"She's alone," Orihime repeated, the slightest hints of hope beginning to show through in her expression. "Just like Takahashi-san predicted. That means…"
Grimmjow quickly got to his feet again. "Yeah. Means that maybe this won't turn into a huge shitshow after all. Tsukabishi!"
Tessai didn't need any further prompting to dispel the barrier.
"Get Kurosaki out of here!" Grimmjow ordered Orihime as he started to run, Tessai hurrying to keep pace.
"Right!" she shouted back, turning on her heel and doubling back to Ichigo's tent.
"How many fighters do we have?" Grimmjow asked Tessai as they ran to where the rest of their team had already gathered.
"Only you, Lieutenant Abarai and myself will be attacking her directly," the man replied. "The other Shinigami forces that remain on our side will assist the Arrancar in holding back her main army until the evacuation is complete."
Grimmjow clenched his jaw. Just the three of them against the Whore, and none of them were in anything resembling top shape right now. And among the three of them, only Grimmjow and Renji had been exposed to her Reiatsu before and should therefore be able to resist its effects now, while Tsukabishi had only his mental fortitude as a Kido Master to fall back on.
Every time Grimmjow thought they'd hit peak idiocy, this plan just kept getting even dumber. If, after everything Grimmjow had already gone through today, this ended up being what got him killed, he was going to be so pissed off.
When they arrived at the rendezvous point, it was to the sound of bickering voices.
"It's Ikkaku!" the freak with the feathers around his eyes cried out, pointing in the direction of Lilith's approaching army. "He's in there, I can sense him!"
"I can recognize several of my Arrancar amidst 'her' troops as well," Harribel added with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Using our own allies against us… how utterly despicable."
"Psychological warfare at its finest," the midget Captain put in. Grimmjow was somewhat surprised to see Hitsugaya here, in full possession of his mental faculties, no less.
The last time Grimmjow had seen the brat, he'd been shackled to the ground with several high-level Bakudo, hissing and snarling at any and all passers-by like a wild animal as he desperately tried to fight off Lilith's Curse.
His Lieutenant had been doing her utmost to keep him from giving in to the witch, and clearly her efforts must have paid off. Lilith probably regretted trying to snag the kid Captain for herself, as her greediness had inadvertently allowed him to see through her illusion and handily divorce the mind-controlled Mosqueda's head from his shoulders.
"Despicable as it is, it's an effective tactic," the boy went on, absently rubbing the spot on his neck where the Curse Mark had been. "It's all but guaranteed to lower our forces' morale."
Zaraki didn't seem to agree with that assessment. "So Ikkakku's over there, is he?" he reasoned aloud. "That's good, isn't it? Means we can drag him back with us after beating the snot out of him." The giant of a man suddenly grinned, exposing all his teeth and drawing his facial scars tight. "Maybe this time he'll even fight me without holding back."
"You're late!" The smaller Kuchiki called out, pointing an accusing finger at Grimmjow and Tessai as they approached.
"My apologies. We were momentarily held up," Tessai hurried to explain, before Grimmjow could tell her to 'Bite me, Kuchiki.'
"Yes, we all heard your conversation with Hirako and Otoribashi," the prissier of the two Kuchikis responded. "Let us hurry, now. If we wish to stall the horde long enough for the evacuation to complete, then we must take up defensive positions immediately."
"Right!" many different voice chorused in response, and all of them set off toward their assigned locations at the outer reaches of the camp, leaving Grimmjow alone with Tessai and Abarai.
"This is gonna go horribly wrong, isn't it?" Renji asked with a weary sigh once it was just them.
"Of course it fucking is!" Grimmjow snapped back, "You assholes came up with this entire harebrained, piece of shit excuse for a plan based on fucking Takahashi's intel! How can it not go wrong?!" he ranted, still committed to pointing out the sheer idiocy at every available opportunity.
"Please calm yourself, Jaegerjaquez-dono," Tessai soothed, "There is certainly a not-insignificant risk factor here, but I fear it is our only option if we wish to have any hope of ever reclaiming Ishida and Sado-kun. We must destroy the Harlot Queen's Relic, before she can do permanent damage to their minds."
"Like I care about the Quincy prick."
Renji blinked in bewilderment. "So… Does that mean you do care about Sado…?" he ventured cautiously, only to flinch and shoot Grimmjow a bashful, placating grin when he was suddenly faced with Grimmjow's Murder Eyes.
"...Shut up, Abarai."
Gomorrah's heart beat wildly in his chest as he ran for his life.
The strange part was that his panic hadn't been caused by the two men currently trying to run him down and probably kill him. No, it was what had happened before that that had him clutching his weapon—clutching Lilynette—like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to his sanity.
He ducked and weaved between the fireballs and snaking chains his pursuers threw at him with their Soul Reaper magic, not even thinking about fighting back. As distraught as he was, Gomorrah doubted he could keep the barrel of his rifle steady long enough to land even a single hit.
The girl he'd tried to shoot had already given him the impression that he was forgetting something when he trained his sights on her, but the man who had jumped in front of her and blocked Gomorrah's Cero? Gomorrah knew that man. At least, he knew that he should know that man.
Grimmjow. The man's name was Grimmjow. He was certain of that much. But why? Why could he remember that, and nothing more?
He couldn't make sense of it; not now. There were too many questions, and far too little answers.
He had to get back—back to his home. Surely, his new family would have the answers. If not his sister, who had brought him back from the brink of death and puzzled the broken fragments of his mind back together; then his brother would surely know the truth. Samael still scared him a little, even now, but he was smart—smarter than anyone else Gomorrah knew. Gomorrah couldn't help but subconsciously compare him to A▅z▅▅.
He stumbled, the splitting headache that suddenly came on almost enough to bring him to his knees, but Gomorrah persevered. The glowing golden chain that had attempted to wrap around his leg while he faltered was quickly demolished by three separate Cero blasts—each of them appearing out of thin air with little more than a thought and some energy expenditure on Gomorrah's part.
The two men behind him swore when one of the stray blasts almost hit them. Gomorrah hadn't even been aiming for them, but he'd take any advantage he could get at this point.
He knew that his Ceros were special—no other Hollow he knew of could just fire them off without a single gesture, let alone multiple blasts simultaneously. They certainly couldn't just fire them from the very air around them, whereas Gomorrah could create as many as he wanted, in any direction he wanted, from anywhere within a one-meter radius around his own body. He could even shoot an entire barrage of them directly behind himself without bothering to turn around or aim.
He wondered where he had even picked up an ability like that, then grimaced when he realized he'd just asked himself yet another question that he had no answer to.
He had to get back. He had to know who Grimmjow was. Who the brown-haired man with the calculating gaze was that flashed before his mind's eye when he thought of his brother.
Gomorrah needed to know who he was.
