A/N: Alright, I know it took me way to freaking long to publish something like this piece of crap, but here it is, the next installment of Family Jewels. Cheers, all! Have a good week! :D
Steal Away
Ggio was at peace, for the first time in a very long while.
He had everything he wanted, needed, had ever dreamed of.
Money? His. A woman who he actually loved? Check. A home, friends he could trust, a sense of fulfillment? All there.
And yet, he knew something.
The one constant in life is that it changes; if things are bad, they'll change. And if they're still bad, they'll change again.
And when you're on top of the world?
It can only go downhill from where you stand.
….
Ulquiorra grunted softly as a twinge raced up his side, his feet suddenly shifting beneath him. He staggered, regaining his balance before Orihime's helping hand had made it more than a few inches, her cry of gentle alarm choking off before it left her lips as she watched her lover.
The woman was exhausted, Ulquiorra could see, and he hated it. He hated that he had caused her pain, and fear and sleeplessness to the point where Neliel had become the designated driver for the pair despite the fact that she hadn't driven a car in close to three years. He hated himself for having caused that.
He supposed that was why, for the first time in his whole life he was running away from his duties. He tossed Orihime's keys to the green haired woman, which she caught with ease as the three of them halted outside the red head's car. The back seat had a large bloodstain on it, one that would probably never come out of the gray upholstery, but it didn't really matter. No one had to sit there for the moment anyways.
Despite soothing and promises by the freak doctor who had treated Ulquiorra, Szayel had been gone by the time the three of them had woken up the next morning. He had left only a very vague and unhelpful note.
Sorry guys, I had to bail pretty early this morning.
I don't expect to see any of you again, but hey, I can dream, right? I wish you all the best of luck in your search for… what, peace? I guess that makes sense.
There's one thing I need you to do before you follow in my footsteps and try to book it before you get killed. I need you guys to tell Ggio that they're coming for his ass, and they are fucking serious this time. By the time you find this letter (unless you all died during the night, which would have made my efforts entirely pointless) it should be about the day after tomorrow that they go for our beloved Ggiovanni. I am almost entirely certain I don't have to clarify who 'they' are, you're a smart bunch.
Ulquiorra, you take care of your girl. She's lovely, body and soul, and if I ever find up you passed up a woman like that I might have to kill you. Try to keep off your feet, and keep an eye on Nel for me.
Nel, I'm glad you're back and sorry we're separating again so soon. I never had like, a crush on you or anything, but I always admired you in a way. Take care of yourself, and go on the way Grimmjow would have wanted you to.
Orihime, you keep the two hotheads in check, alright?
Stay Strong,
SAP
So, here they went on a fool's errand, Ulquiorra thought, wasting time that could have- would have- been used to keep their tails turned to the violence. There was no point in alerting Ggio; the man probably had already caught wind of what was going on- he was an expert and running away, after all. He wouldn't have survived that long if he wasn't. Why couldn't Szayel have come by Ggio's house anyways?
The only saving grace was that the thief's house was on the way to their original destination anyways, so Ulquiorra had decided that it wouldn't make much difference if they stopped to deliver the doctor's message- although he had the feeling that the woman would have made them stop out of her misguided but somehow endearing sense of compassion, no matter what her companions had decided beforehand.
The turning of the car had Ulquiorra throwing out a hand to catch himself before his head connected with the window, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Would you drive a bit slower?" he asked Nel acidly, pushing himself back upright with his free hand pressed against his side.
"Sorry," the driver said sheepishly, easing her foot a bit off of the pedal. The car slowed minimally, coasting the rest of the way down the street before rolling to a stop in front of a rather wrecked looking old bar, "This is where he lives, right?"
"Yes," Orihime answered quietly, looking distressed.
"We should use the back," Ulquiorra asserted flatly.
"What am I, your chauffer?" Nel huffed, pulling away from the curb despite her protest. Ulquiorra could see in the way that her muscles hummed like live wires, the way her shoulders tensed when she turned the wheel, the way her smile wasn't completely without strain- she knew how bad the situation was getting. She wasn't oblivious like she had been, she was just trying to play off her own nervousness with humor.
It disgusted him…. But only a bit.
The group pulled up in the dank, ever-shadowed alley behind the bar, swerving around the back motorbike parked next to the stairwell and almost taking out its badly repaired side mirror. Ulquiorra sighed as he got out of the car.
There would be no easy way to end this.
….
Ggio sighed, tipping back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head; the building around him was completely empty but for the cat, and he was bored out of his mind.
The resident females had gone shopping with their newly-acquired riches, which he had thankfully avoided for the day, but his bailing on the shopping-spree now left him with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Well, he could talk to Mao, he supposed, but the cat wasn't a very good conversational partner.
The dark haired man tipped further back, trying his best not to think too hard or to let his mind stray into the darker, more morbid part of him that was trying to drag his mood down. There was a part of him that kept straying to earlier times…. when he would have been sitting here with Tesla, flipping a coin between the two of them to see who would have to go get groceries, or dealing out a game of cards to pass the time.
Ggio shook his head and sighed again, wondering when he house-mates would be back; A sudden booming knock startled the man from his thoughts, and his already overbalancing chair tipped completely over, spilling him on to the hardwood floor.
"Shit," he muttered disgustedly, rubbing his smarting elbow, pain making his murmured words sharp, "What, did they forget the keys? Just use the front fucking door, it's not that hard…"
The man who lived in the flat above the bar threw the back door open ill-temperedly, opening his mouth to complain about the fall he had been caused, but bit back his words as he saw who was standing on the stairs.
His had strayed toward where his gun usually hung on his hip- only to realize that he had left the weapon behind.
Careless, he thought harshly, clenching his jaw. He forced himself to relax and appear at ease as he began to speak.
"Fancy seeing you here!" he laughed, gazing eye-to-eye with Ulquiorra. The man didn't so much as crack a smile, which was expected, but looking at his face Ggio thought he looked worse than usual- strained, tired, pained…. And his breathing was a little bit too heavy for someone in his condition. Nothing ever caught the Bat out of breath.
Looking over the man's shoulder, he could see Neliel and the redhead who had come by to patch him up.
"And hey, you brought girls… How ya doin' babe? Come here often?" Ggio leaned on the doorframe and tipped a wink to Neliel, who smirked in reply.
"Oh, yeah, all the time, just for a drink you know?" she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm, "Can't get enough of this place… too bad though, after this I probably won't ever see it again."
"What do you mean? And… Nel, I think that's the most coherent thing you've said to me in years," Ggio replied slowly, sobering up in an instant and allowing his faux grin to fall away.
"Yeah," Nel answered with a sad smile, "I got my brain back… too bad it only took losing everything else."
"What are you talking about?" the ochre eyed man asked, apprehension creeping in beyond what was normal for a visit from the Espada.
"We don't have time for this!" Ulquiorra snapped hoarsely at Nel, shutting her up in an instant. The redhead behind him winced at the sound of his voice, as rough as it was.
"Then, why are you here?" Ggio queried, raising one eyebrow.
"To save your sorry ass," the Bat snarled, "And because I couldn't get around it. I'll keep it short."
"Many thanks," the man in the doorway said uneasily, watching Ulquiorra waver between catatonic and wild, galvanized energy.
"Grimmjow is dead," the green eyed man reported in his monotone, causing Ggio to flick a glance at the obviously distressed Neliel; the Bat lifted his hand away from his stomach as he spoke, and Ggio could see thick, congealed claret soaking through the white of the man's shirt, "Aizen sent Stark after him. They tried to hit Nel after that with Tier and Aaroniero. We killed Aaroniero and chased off Tier, but there's no doubt that I'm on Aizen's scourge, and Granz is gone. We're leaving town."
"Well…. Fuck," Ggio was thinking quickly of the implications of this set of news. Aizen was alive, the son of bitch, of course he was. He was alive, and still running the whole damn city, just as he always had. He had killed Grimmjow and gone after others, true…. That left only five of the ten original Espada loyal to the crime lord. What had it to do with him, though? It was important, but not so much so that Ulquiorra would stop to tell him that, "Fuck, but what do you want me to do about it?"
"Granz wanted me to tell you something before we left," Ulquiorra explained, "He wanted us to tell you that you're next."
"Excuse me?" Ggio coughed, gripping the doorway so hard that his knuckles turned white.
"The rest of Aizen's men are coming to pull down the building and bury you in it, so to speak. The day after tomorrow, we were told. Granz wanted us to tell you that. Goodbye, Ggiovanni."
With that Ulquiorra turned away and stumbled down the back steps, leaning against the side of the car to wait for his female companions. Ggio just stood there blankly for a moment, numbly accepting a hug from each of the women before watching them steal away sadly.
"So you're telling me I'm going to die?" he asked the verdant eyed man who stood watching him.
"That," Ulquiorra answered flatly, "Is entirely up to you."