EVIL NO MATTER HOW STRONG IS ALWAYS DESTROYED BY ITS OWN APPETITE
Ichigo sat in a room by himself in Ichibe's temple. He asked for some privacy and time to be alone so he could communicate with his Zanpakuto. After thinking about it long and hard, he finally remembered where he had seen Yhwach before. In fact he had seen him many times before as the old man that represented his Quincy powers. Ichigo realized that he has been lied to and deceived for years now, that didn't sit well with him, so he decided to get some answers. A few minutes of meditation and he felt his spirit slip into his inner world.
When he opened his eyes he was surrounded by the white European architecture of the giant star cross shaped palace in the sky that he was quite familiar with. Flashing up to the tower he was greeted by the knights now dressed in gold armor instead of the usual silver. As the stronger the swords of his shikai got, the more his knights changed from silver to gold. Now all of them were gold.
Forcibly shoving the doors to the throne room open he was greeted to the sight of the empty throne and the long table that he used when he was trying to get the hollow and Quincy spirits to work together. Speaking of the spirits, the hollowfied version of himself was sitting at one of the table with a pleased smirk on his white face and his legs propped up on the table. The old man was standing over by one of the pillars looking out over the palace.
"Will you not turn and greet me like before?" Ichigo asked the old man while Yami snickered in his chair enjoying the whole scene. "You know, I thought it was odd that you represented the Quincy part of me, yet took the form of someone I had never met before. I thought you were some ancestor, but that was a lie".
"I never lied to you Ichigo", the old man finally spoke.
"Yeah, you just omitted certain truths", Ichigo glared at him. "Like how you take the form of the plague on the Quincy race".
"I had no choice in this, all Quincy are connected to each other and when you were born Yhwach sent a little more of himself to you in hopes that you could be bent to his will", he said sounding somewhat guilty.
"I'm really enjoying the show by the way", the hollow added in.
"Shut the fuck up!" Ichigo turned his glare towards Yami, using his power over his inner world to force the hollows head to explode. The black blood and bits of skull splattered all over the floor. "Now what were you saying?" Ichigo turned back to the representation of Yhwach with a silent threat that he could do the same to him at any time.
"It is as the Soul King told you Ichigo. All Quincies are connected to each other, but Yhwach is special in that he can use that connection for his own benefit. Giving power to any Quincy through that connection and robbing them of power is second nature to him", the old man explained what Ichigo already knew. "When you were born he sensed your potential power and sought to use you, thus he sent a bit of himself to you through the connection and I was born into your soul. I am Yhwach and I am not Yhwach".
"But that still doesn't answer my question, why didn't you tell me?" Ichigo asked.
"That's because my original goal was turn you into the perfect weapon for Yhwach", he said rather coldly. "Even the Soul King and sent you the Zanpakuto with his powers I only saw an opportunity to mold you into 'his' design", Ichigo looked away in sadness, now he had to kill a close companion. "However over the years I found myself doing the opposite. Instead of forcing Yhwach's will on you I helped you to reach your own goals. When you reached out and asked for help from me when you younger all I saw was a child who needed to be looked after not a future weapon for the real me to exploit", the old man finally turned to face Ichigo and all he could was sadness on the elder's face.
"Why?" Ichigo asked.
"Yhwach has it easy, he sits on his throne and takes from the Quincies whenever he wants indiscriminately. He doesn't know what it's like to be there watching a child grow, to watch them overcome obstacles, to be there for them when they need it most, he doesn't know the true joy of having a…son", Ichigo could see a single tear fall from beneath those sunglasses the old man wore and could begin to understand. "If he did, well, he'd probably be a completely different person, one that cares for others, but he's not".
"So that's why, because you came to actually care for me", Ichigo finally understood. It was similar to the immense love and pride he had for Orihime. You live in a world where you could never imagine harming someone precious to you and then it doesn't really matter anymore where you came from or what your goals were, you abandon them for what matters most. "Wow even pieces of Yhwach are capable of rebelling against him", Ichigo chuckled.
"I suppose your right", the old man chuckled himself. "Ichigo how will you fight him?" He asked getting serious again.
"Well I thought about what you and the Soul King said, how all Quincies are connected. What if I used his own method for gaining power as a way to defeat him", Ichigo said walking over to the throne and sitting down, something he usually did when he needed to think.
"How would you do that?" The Quincy asked. While they were talking the hollow spirit finally regenerated his missing head.
"The asshole feeds off other souls like a leech, use that to give him a taste of your own", Yami said cracking his neck.
"Hey that's not a bad idea!" Ichigo snapped his fingers getting an idea. "What if bestow a bit of my soul on the sternritters and have it latch on to the part that is Yhwach, then when he gets them back, he'll have a little something extra", he said formulating his plan.
"How would that be used against him?" The old man asked.
"Duh, with a bunch of king's soul in old prune face, he can use that to absorb his power and take it all away from him", the hollow said leaning back in his chair.
"You're a lot smarter than I thought", Ichigo said looking at his white doppelganger impressed.
"I may be an all-powerful badass hollow, but I'm not stupid", he grinned as he bragged.
"We can add vain to that", Ichigo retorted.
"Ichigo, to pull off a power transfer of that magnitude would require something more that sheer will alone", the old man spoke softly.
"What would it require?" Ichigo questioned.
"You'll understand when the time comes, for now merely do as you need to Ichigo", the elder sounded resolved to something, and Ichigo had his suspicions as to what, but kept silent about it.
"You know, even though you came from that evil bastard Yhwach", Ichigo stood and walked over to the Quincy spirit. "I want you to know that you were like a father to me, one that I needed especially during that dark time", he said surprising the old man. "Whatever happens after this, that's how I'll remember you", Ichigo held his hand out expectantly. The elder spirit understood and was grateful that he would be remembered as an individual and not a part of that 'man'. He shook Ichigo's hand, happy for his time in guiding Ichigo to his own destiny.
"All this sweetness is giving me a cavity", the hollow spat ruining the moment.
"And you have always been like a mean older brother Yami", Ichigo snapped at the hollow. "But you were there for me too, so thank you".
"Don't get all mushy on me king, I don't do that sentimental bullshit", Yami sneered at him.
"Oh really? So if I did this", Ichigo flash stepped behind him and caught the hollow in a hug.
"Get the fuck off me!" Yami yelled and thrashed trying to get him off.
"Don't be afraid of your feelings!" Ichigo laughed holding on to him. The old man watched with a small smile. He would miss Ichigo's antics, that's for sure.
PRESENT
Everyone watched from bellow as the silbern atop the tower exploded with a red light. Haschwald's eyes widened as he felt the reiatsu of his majesty begin to fade into nothing. He immediately stopped his fight with Uryu and rushed to the top of the castle.
Ichigo looked down at a pile of empty clothes on the floor. There was nothing, absolutely nothing left of the former Quincy king. The orange haired hybrid stood there, not much had changed in his appearance except his hair getting a little longer and the black energy that covered the left side of his face with multiple eyeballs mixed in. His horns and red reishi crown remained along with the black substance the formed a large set of wings on his back.
He let out a long drawn out sigh as he looked up at the sky now that the roof of the silbern was destroyed. Ichigo wanted to laugh in triumph, to laugh in his usual arrogant way while helping himself to a candy bar, but not this time. The victor was bitter sweet, now that he understood what his Quincy spirit was talking about. Absorbing Yhwach's power and making it his own was no easy task, the old man burned away every last bit of his persona to make this happen. Ichigo even felt him disappear completely from his inner world. It was an honorable sacrifice, one he would always remember and be grateful for.
"Goodbye old man", Ichigo said with quite respect. Looking back down at the pile of Yhwach's clothes he picked up the black frayed cape first and tossed it away to the wind. Next he lifted up the white uniform that was torn and full of holes.
"Tasteless", Ichigo paused when he heard something hit the floor with a thump after he lifted the shirt up. His eyes landed on an interesting sight. It was a small infantile baby laying awkwardly on the cold hard floor. It didn't move an inch, its tiny eyes stared blankly into space and it wasn't breathing but Ichigo knew it was alive. "Well, well, well, how the mighty fall", he smirked knowing exactly who this infant was. "And here I thought that story about returning to your original form when you lose all power was just a myth", Ichigo chuckled looking down at what was left of Yhwach. "I know you can't hear me, so I'll project my words into your mind".
"Do you remember when I said I was going to kill you Yhwach", the infant didn't respond, but he knew it heard him speaking internally. "I never said how", Ichigo took a few steps back away from him. "I'm not going to kill as a shinigami, because that would mean putting you into the reincarnation cycle and I don't want to have to deal with you again in another thousand years", Ichigo took another step back as he spoke. "Nor am I going to kill you as a hollow, I don't want to devour you and have to live with you as a part of me", he took one more step back away from the motionless infant on the floor. "I'm going to kill you as a Quincy, you understand what that means don't you? Your soul will be erased, extinguished like a candle to water. The only thing that awaits you…", Ichigo held his hand up and his black reishi gathered high into the air above him forming a solid shape, "…is oblivion". The reishi formed to a giant black pentagram in the sky and in the center was a huge white horned hollow mask looking down at the target of this ultimate execution.
"For crimes against humanity, crimes against soul society, the shinigami, the Quincy, and crimes against nature itself, as the new acting Soul King, I Ichigo Kurosaki sentence you to complete destruction", Ichigo projected every word into the infant Yhwach's mind. He chuckled darkly as he felt the thoughts of the other. The only word that kept replaying in the creatures mind was 'Mercy', over and over again. "Do you feel that fear Yhwach, that feeling of powerlessness? That is the same feeling a little orange haired boy felt when he watched his mother be eaten by a hollow after having her powers ripped from her", was the last thing he said as he snapped his fingers. The giant hollow mask roared and opened its mouth firing a huge black arrow from on high right on top of Yhwach's infantile form. The impact caused a huge dark explosion that destroyed what was left of the silbern completely and erasing the enemy forever. Everyone down below witnessed the blast and headed to the top of the tower to find out what happened.
"You know I think I'll have that victory candy bar after all", Ichigo smirked pulling out a chocolate bar to munch on while he looked down at the large hole that ran straight through the Warwhelt. He noticed a figure on the other side of the hole staring at him in shock. "Well, well, Haschwald, I'm surprised you got away from Uryu", the Quincy remained silent, it seemed the shock of his majesty being completely and utterly defeated and destroyed was too much for him. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? You look like you've seen the face of the devil", Ichigo grinned knowing that would probably be how the Quincies would see him from now on, if there were any Quincies left.
"Haschwald, were you ever human? Looking at your history I find it hard to believe there was any part of you that was human in there", Ichigo said solemnly while everyone one of his eyes glared at the only remaining member of the Vandenreich. "You threw away your best friend. You helped Yhwach screw over the Quincies for centuries, perhaps this would be fitting end for you".
"What are you…", Haschwald began then felt an intense pain. Looking down he noticed a large space where his heart used to be. Looking back he saw Uryu as his executioner standing there with his bow and cold look on his face.
"Poetic justice….is such a beautiful thing isn't it?" Ichigo said as he watched Haschwald's body fall forward into the hole where it would be disintegrated by the many barriers between the palace and Soul Society.
"How the hell did I get here?" Uryu asked more concerned with how he seemingly teleported up here than killing his enemy.
"The Almighty lets me change the future", Ichigo told him with a shrug.
"Is that why half your face is like that?" The last Quincy said.
"Like what?" Ichigo asked not knowing what he meant. He pulled out mirror from nowhere and looked into it. "What the fuck is that on my face!?" He shouted seeing half of it was covered by blackness and eyeballs. "Okay this has to go!" Using his reiatsu Ichigo forced the power of the Almighty out of his body where it floated in the air like a black cloud of eyes before dissolving into nothing.
"Wait, did you just get rid of the Almighty!?" Uryu asked in complete shock.
"Well yeah, I'm not going to risk getting drunk on power like Yhwach was, plus…I like to be surprised and controlling the future wouldn't be fun at all", Ichigo stated with his face back to normal he walked over to the white throne and sat down in it, that seemed to be the only thing of the castle that remained standing. Uryu seemed fine with that answer since it was very much Ichigo's typical logic.
"So what now?" The last Quincy asked.
"Not sure, I spent so much time and planning to make it to this point and now I'm not sure what to do afterward", Ichigo frowned and let his wings disappear along with his reishi crown, and horns. Even his eyes returned to their normal color. A few silent minutes later the rest of the Gotei thirteen finally arrived. "A little late, but whatever".
"What happened to Yhwach", Shunsui Kyoraku asked already knowing the answer.
"That's obvious, I took his power, his throne and then I destroyed him", Ichigo said as if he was discussing the weather while crossing his legs in his seat. "A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more", he grinned while quoting Shakespeare.
"But what does this all mean?" Byakuya asked looking at the destruction caused by the orange haired being in the throne before them. Just as he spoke this Squad Zero finally arrived, fully healed and restored. They royal guard didn't even acknowledge them and immediately moved passed them to knell in front of Ichigo.
"What are you all doing!?" Soi Fon shouted.
"What's it look like loud mouth? We're swearing allegiance to the new Soul King", Kirinji said with his head down.
"With the former Soul King dead and Yhwach dead, the power and title goes to Ichigo Kurosaki", Ichibe said with a smile clearly pleased with the outcome.
"It would be wise for you all to do the same", Shutara warned them. Everyone looked around hesitant to follow but quickly complied knelled before Ichigo. With their heads down they didn't see him trying not to burst out laughing nor did they see the next group to arrive with Urahara, Yoruichi, Neliel, Chad, and Orihime.
"Orihime!" Ichigo vanished from his throne and appeared in front of his girlfriend, scooping her up in a hug.
"Ichigo, you're alright", Orihime was surprised to see not a scratch on him.
"Of course, but you, look at you", Ichigo said looking at her white feathery wings with little specs of gold in them. "Just when I thought you couldn't get any more beautiful, you prove me wrong once again", he gave her a kiss on the cheek making her turn crimson. "I saw what you did to that Quincy", he whispered into her ear.
"I'm sorry", she felt ashamed for a moment until Ichigo kissed her again.
"I'm very proud of you, now I know you have what it takes to protect me from anything", Ichigo assured her, telling Orihime how much he needed her. Her eyes widened in realization and she smiled with new confidence.
"Um…Ichigo, why is everyone knelling on the floor?" She asked seeing everyone still in their positions.
"Are you all still doing that?" Ichigo laughed turning back to them. "Seriously get the fuck up!" Urahara and Yoruichi also laughed when Ichigo used his reiatsu to force everyone to stand back up. Picking Orihime up bridal style he walked back over to the now dead Yhwach's throne and sat down again, this time with his girlfriend in his lap.
"Now then, the former Soul King was happy to let you all run things in your own way. I on the other hand am not happy to leave things as they are", Ichigo said switching to a more serious attitude. "I'm not going to rule with an iron fist like Yhwach would, and I'm not going to try and create a perfect world", he said looking at everyone. "However I think we can all agree that things can be made a little better", some captains, Urahara and others nodded their heads in agreement.
"So what are you going to do Ichigo Sama?" Kyoraku asked with a smirk.
"Hold on I think we're missing some people", Ichigo felt more reiatsu heading towards and saw Grimmjow and Kenpachi showed themselves both looking pretty banged up.
"Sorry we're late, had to take down that giant fucker", Kenpachi said having thoroughly enjoyed the fight.
"How'd that go?" Ichigo asked sarcastically seeing the state the arrancar and shinigami were in.
"How the hell do you think?" Grimmjow growled at him before collapsing face first on the floor. After some discussions and explanations Ichigo opened a garganta for everyone to head back to the seireitei and begin getting things back in order. Orihime of course stayed behind in the soul palace with him along with Squad Zero. Ichigo grinned looking around at his new palace, he had some serious redecorating to do.
THE NEXT DAY
"Alright is everyone here?" Head Captain Kyoraku asked looking at the group of captains that remained now that the war was over. Soi Fon while looking exhausted was there. The space for the third and fourth squad captains were empty with those captains dead. Shinji stood there, looking his usual self. Byakuya stood across from him looking like he hadn't lived through a war. Komamura was absent, apparently stuck in dog form and staying inside his quarters. Squad eight still had no captain after Kyoraku's reassignment. Squad nine was also empty with Kensei's death. Toshiro stood at attention in his new taller matured form. Kenpachi was slouching across from him wrapped in bandages and Kurotsuchi was absent too busy rebuilding his division. Ukitake was absent and in the hospital with Rukia taking his place, apparently being the only lieutenant well enough able to continue their duties.
"No we're not all here, not all of us made it through this war it seems", Toshiro Hitsugaya said solemnly.
"Let's talk about the arrancars wandering about the seireitei", Soi Fon sounded displeased that hollows were allowed to roam freely.
"Now, now, Miss Tia Hallibell said that Ichigo promised to leave her and Hueco Mundo alone and I think we have a duty to uphold the same promise ourselves, she was a big help in cleaning up the seireitei while we were in the Soul Palace", Kyoraku told her. "Plus Neliel and Grimmjow are allies of Kisuke Urahara".
"That Grimmjow guy can fight, so he's okay with me", Kenpachi grinned wondering if he could get a fight with the Espada while he was still in Soul Society.
"I think the first thing we should worry about is rebuilding and filling all these empty captain seats", Shinji blurted out to change the subject. While they all took a silent moment to consider possible candidates, the quietness was suddenly broken by the sound of crunching. They all turned and spotted Ichigo Kurosaki, the Soul King, standing in the corner eating a chocolate bar.
"What?" Ichigo asked wondering why everyone was staring at him with their jaws open. "Oh don't mind me, continue your meeting. I'm just here to observe", the room exploded in shouts after the words left his mouth.
"What are you doing here!?" Rukia yelled at him.
"Seeing how you guys are recovering", Ichigo said nonchalantly.
"I think Lieutenant Kuchiki is just confused like the rest of us, but shouldn't you be in the Soul Palace for your own protection?" Kyoraku asked calmly.
"I wanted to visit you guys and Squad Zero doesn't know I'm here so let's keep this little visit to ourselves", Ichigo smirked. "Plus Orihime is here fixing some of you all up".
"What do you mean by that?" Toshiro asked.
"Wow Toshiro, did you hit a growth spurt or something?" Ichigo said walking over to the captain of squad ten. "You're almost as tall as me, I bet Rangiku is all over you now", he grinned giving him an unwelcomed pat on the back. "As for your question, Orihime is here to fix up Komamura, and I'm going to visit Ukitake and see what I can do for him".
"Is that all?" Byakuya asked wondering why he would interrupt a meeting for something like that.
"No actually, I also need to see Hallibell and finalize the treaty", he started counting the things he needed to do in the seireitei on his fingers. "Got to make a trip to central forty six and let them know that they're under new management. Need to pick up our stuff at our old house. Oh and my girls are here to pick up some files".
"Files?" Kyoraku raised an eyebrow at that.
"Yes starting next week I'll be doing some serious evaluation and reorganization of the Gotei Thirteen. Don't worry not all of you will be on the chopping block, but some of you will COUGH! Hisagi! COUGH!" Ichigo cleared his throat.
"Oh crap", Rukia sighed, she had to listen to endless complaints about the Gotei from Ichigo in the past and now he had the power and authority to do something about it.
"Speaking of evil plans I heard you let Aizen out of prison, where's he at?" Ichigo asked with a big bright smile on his face.
"He's sealed and being taken back to Muken right now", Kyoraku said.
"Excuse me", Ichigo walked out of the meeting room snickering like a weirdo.
TEN MINUTES LATER
Aizen sat in his chair, body wrapped in black seals except for half of his face. He was currently still outdoors being wheeled back to Muken by guards. As he was reflecting on his brief time outside his prison a water balloon appeared out of nowhere heading straight for him. He tried to raise his reiatsu to obliterate the projectile, only for the seals confining his spirit energy to be cranked up all the way. The balloon struck Aizen right in the face dousing him with water when it popped. The guards paused in surprise.
"So you came to see me off", Aizen only knew one person who would be childish enough to do something like this.
"Bullseye!" Ichigo shouted a few yards in front of him. "Take five boys, Aizen and I need to have a little chat", Ichigo revealed a table behind him with more water balloons and other things he planned on throwing at Aizen while they talked.
"So you became the Soul King then", Aizen stated as fact.
"Yup, and I'm loving it so far", Ichigo smirked throwing another water balloon at the defenseless man. The former captain payed no mind to the objects and water hitting him. "All those schemes of yours and it turns out I succeeded where you failed", he chuckled rubbing it in.
"I suppose you feel very proud of yourself, don't you?" Aizen smirked as a dart with a suction cup stuck itself to his chest.
"You're the one who should be proud Aizen", Ichigo said pulling out a plastic toy gun and shooting the man with nerf bullets. "After all, you had a hand in making me what I am. My success is kind of like your success, but I'm the one reaping the benefits", He chuckled throwing a rubber ball at Aizen and watching it bounce off his torso.
"You do realize…that when my sentence is up, I shall endeavor to take the throne from you", Aizen said with his typical arrogance.
"Oh, I look forward to it. I'll have tea and cookies ready for when you get out", Ichigo said waving the guards over to continue escorting Aizen to prison. "See you in twenty thousand years Aizen!" Ichigo walked away laughing victoriously.
'Laugh while you can Ichigo Kurosaki', Aizen thought to himself as he was taken back to Muken.
LATER
"Alright he should be fine in a day or so", Ichigo said to himself as he left Ukitake's room in squad four. He managed to give the man a bit of soul to heal the damage done to his lungs and from having the right arm of the former Soul King ripped out of him.
"Ichigo!" Orihime flew down from the air stumbling a bit. It appears she hadn't got landing with her new wings down just yet.
"Orihime", Ichigo caught her as she fell. "How's Komamura?"
"He's fine, I was able to give him his heart back and return him to normal", she beamed with accomplishment.
"Well since it appears that those Squad Zero dummies haven't figured out we're gone", Ichigo said picking her up. "Let's hang around a bit".
"Is our house still standing?" She asked getting an 'idea'.
"Oh you naughty girl, let's find out!" He grinned carrying her to their former home.
Well that's my story. How I Ichigo Kurosaki came from the slums in the Rukon District, made it big in the Gotei Thirteen and now I'm the Soul King in charge of everything. I had a lot of fun climbing this stairway to heaven didn't I? I got some cool fights, got to kill some Nazis and defeated that overgrown child Yhwach. But more importantly I felt this was a love story if anything, if you take into account how I found the love of my life. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go to make sweet love to that woman. Go! Get out of here, this isn't something kids should see.
THE END
Yeah finally done, well not really. I'm doing an Epilogue sort of chapter where Ichigo calls people into his office to basically chew them out. I have a list of people that I feel never got properly taken to tasks on their incompetence Cough! Hisagi! Cough! Some might get demoted or perhaps fired. This is where you readers can help me out. If you have a character who you don't like and want Ichigo Sama to chew them out leave the name of that character in the reviews. And if I too have a problem with that character then they will get a good talking to in the epilogue. Keep in mind this is opinion based and not every character listed will be used.
Also with the old man gone Ichigo doesn't have his Zanpakuto anymore and it's the dark power of his bankai that remains.
I really enjoyed writing this story and I'm glad so many people enjoyed reading it as well. I actually thought in the beginning no one would like this madness and that no one would get it, but I seriously underestimated you guys.
Thanks for reading. See you in the epilogue.