"Commander General, you wished to see me?" Hisana stepped into the First Division offices. She frowned, finding them quite deserted.
"I don't like this," Mizu's voice echoed in the back of her head, "something's wrong here."
"You're right," Hisana said, her fingers itching to grip the blade, "something is--"
"Commander General?" her eyes widened, that was Renji.
"What's going on--" that was Senna.
Hisana spun around. The two of them walked right past her, as though she was not there at all. Hisana's eyes widened as her hand dropped and grabbed the dagger at her ankle.
"Now now, surely there's no need for that."
Hisana froze, turning around to see the gnarled form of the Commander General behind her. The voice that came from his lips may have been that of the Commander General but the words were someone else entirely. Hisana's feet automatically went into a fighting stance as she fought the instinct to throw Mizu into his bankai. Logic told her that if he had enacted some kind illusion without her even realizing it, he was clearly more than capable of dealing with her Zanpakto. But a dagger was a dagger and even if bankai was out of the question at the moment having some kind of weapon certainly couldn't hurt things more.
"What do you want with me?" she demanded.
"Oh what I want is not with you per se," he said, "think of yourself as the stepping stone for what I'm really after."
Hisana's fists clenched. If he had her as his 'stepping stone' it could only mean one of two things. Either he was after her family or he was after something Royal. Either way it meant that there was only one man standing before her.
"I must admit," she said ducking her head, "this was rather brilliant of you, Aizen Sosuke."
With a laugh he threw off the illusion and stood before her dressed in black Shinigami robes. He looked genuinely pleased with himself and for a moment Hisana saw red. She forced herself to calm down. Adrenaline fueled rage would do nothing for her at the moment, nothing useful anyway.
"Lady Kuchiki, I must say, it is a pleasure to see you looking so vibrant," he sighed, "it is a pity your blood is going to coat my blade."
Hisana opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out. Nothing because her words were stolen by the agony that seared through her chest, just before her shoulder. Her hand automatically opened, her blade clattering to the ground as her other hand clamped over the fabric of her chest. Hot blood seeped through her fingers and blossomed against the dark color of her robes.
"Aizen--" she could barely get the words out as icy fingers slid through her body, leaving her limbs quite useless in their wake.
He had coated his blade with poison.
"I must say," he said stepping forward as her knees buckled and slammed into the ground, "the fact you are still conscious is quite impressive."
Hisana felt her cheek strike the ground as well. Instead of going rigid her muscles seemed to have been reduced to nothing more than jelly. Her blood began to spread across the wood of the floor. Not as fast as it should have thanks, she imagined, to the poison.
"Its a pity you're so pale to begin with," he said, turning her unto her back, his hand brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, "it will be a bit before the blood loss really shows. By then you will be unconscious."
The world began to blur as her vision began to fail her. The world was slipping more and more out of focus. She was going to bleed out right there. She was going to leave everyone alone this time--
"Oh you're not going to die," he broke into her thoughts, "not because of this anyway," he turned his head. Hisana followed his gaze as best she could. He waved away the illusion to show her the unconscious form of Orihime Inoue, "I bet you thought I was after your precious family," he laughed, "well I suppose that is one way to look at it. After all, I'm sure the desire to spare Rukia the same pain she went through loosing an older sibling will play a crucial role in her decision."
"Why her?" Hisana gasped out.
"Because its very hard to win a war when all those close to me have either left or died," he looked at her, "the ones who have left, well, they are a secondary concern. The ones who have died, they are going to come back," he looked over at Orihime, "and when they do, I will destroy Soul Society and become the King."
Hisana's vision blanked as the poison tugged her towards blissful unconsciousness. She felt Aizen move her aside and take her Zanpakto.
"Just rest," he said, "when you wake up, this will all be over."
Orihime opened her eyes to find she was still in the First Division. Her head hurt form lying on the cold floor. For a moment she was lost in the fog of not really being awake. Then her reason for being unconscious hit her like a ton of bricks. With a gasp she sat up, her eyes flying around the room as she tried to see what was going on. Everything was in its place, everything looked just like it was supposed to, everything made her heart drop. Reaching up she touched her earlobes.
They were bare.
"Oh no," Orihime glanced around but she knew her fairies were not in the room with her. In fact, no one was in the room with her.
Resurrect Ulquiorra Schiffer
The hateful words that followed the request assaulted her mind. Orihime closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her ears, as if she could block them out. Everything he said was true and what was worse was that she wanted to resurrect him. She wanted to do that more than anything else in the world. She could reform him, she knew she could do it. But he had asked her not to heal him and somehow she imagined that resurrecting him would not be taken kindly. But now she was being held prisoner, probably more than she had been back at Las Noches.
"Good afternoon, Orihime."
Orihime turned her head to see the form of the Commander General behind her. Despair swelled inside her then. She thought she was finished with the gams but it seemed that he was still playing them. She felt like she was standing at the bottom of a well, the light and hope so far away from her fingers.
"You don't have to wear the illusion," she said, her eyes drifting to the ground, "he's dead isn't he?"
"Yes," Aizen said, "I always disliked him. Keeping the charade up is an un pleasant task," Orihime raised her eyes to see him standing there in front of her in his normal appearance, "But," Aizen continued, "it is a necessary one."
The pieces of the puzzle began to slowly click into place. The two strong, disloyal subordinates were gone. Because of their help, Yoruichi and Urahara had taken their little family deep into hiding. Now he had two former members of the Royal Guard right in his possession. Soul Society was weak now, even weaker than when he had been in charge. No, Orihime realized, he was still in charge. The Commander General was obviously dead. Aizen Sosuke had never really stopped being in charge.
"I won't resurrect him," Oirhime said quietly, her grey eyes hardening, "he asked me not to--"
"I already told you what he wants is of little consequence to me," Aizen cut her off, "despite an obvious show of emotions towards you, he remains loyal to me," Orihime remembered Ulquiorra's words before he died, when he got someone to take her away, "he is, in essence, what I had hoped for when i created the Espada. He will be what I model my new army after."
"No," Orihime shook her head.
"No?" he seemed almost amused at her feeble defiance, "well then I'm sure the consequences of your decision will serve as an excellent explanation."
"Explanation?" Orihime whispered, horror filling her.
"Yes," he said, "I do have some, shall we say, leverage. Aside from my obvious possession of your fairies of course."
"Who is it?!" Orihime demanded, her voice loud as she tried to search clues in his serene features.
"You have no need to know, save for the fact that you will cost someone dearly, someone you care very much about," he held out his hand. Inside of it was a vial, "I happen to have stabbed them with a poisoned blade," he said, "this is one in a series of antidotes they must take to survive."
"How do I know they'll get it?" Orihime questioned.
"You don't," he said, "but you may rest assured that if you do not do what you are asked they will not get it."
Orihime swallowed thickly. If she did not resurrect Ulquiorra the people she loved would suffer. People who had suffered so much because of her. For the first time Orihime truly hated the power she had. No one had kidnapped Ichigo because of his Zanpakto or Sado because of his arms. But once again she had been taken captive because of her fairies, because of what she could do. Being held captive was one thing but being forced to use her abilities was an entirely different matter. Her emotions played a crucial role in her abilities and she was going to have to rise above them. She was going to have to find a way to rise above them and to do something she did not want too or, or the consequences were too much to consider.
Something must have shown in her eyes because she heard Aizen slip his hand back into his pocket and walk forward. Almost instantly he was in front of her, his hand extended. Inside the palm of his hand were her earrings.
"What if I can't do it?" she whispered looking up at him.
"Then I imagine today will be a sorry one for many people," he said holding the dark green vial.
Orihime took her earrings with shaky hands, gently fastening them in the lobes of her ears. Even if the mysterious poisoned captive was nearby, Orihime could not sense them. Besides even if she tried to find them there was no guarantee that Aizen wouldn't kill them or her before she could save them.
Eyes swimming with tears, Orihime knelt down to the ground.
"Soten Kisshun," she whispered, "I reject!"
It was hard. Much harder than anything she had attempted before. Healing Grimmjow's non-existant arm was hard but this, this was healing an entire person who technically no longer existed. For Orihime time seemed to stop. It could have been hours or days she sat on the floor, eyes locked on the glowing half moon of a shield in front of her.
Sensing some change occurring, Aizen stepped to the back of the room and parted the illusion. Hisana looked truly horrible now, her skin almost sheet white with blood loss. Though a traditional man there were some innovations that Aizen could respect. Especially that of the syringe. He filled the device with liquid and walked over to his patient, sliding the needle into the crook of her arm as he pushed the first antidote into her prone body. He turned and walked back, replacing the illusions that surrounded her.
Back in the room Orihime was still bent over the shield but things had clearly started to move along. It was like watching someone rise out of the ocean. First his toes became visible, then his nose, then the rest of his features, the planes of his chest until a hamaka-clad Ulquiorra Schiffer was lying under the golden glow of the shield, looking just as he had before he died. Reforming anyone was hard but clearly doing it to an Arrancar who already had a natural resistance to her abilities was next to impossible.
Fortunately the impossible had always been something Orihime was rather good at.
He was still laying there and Orihime felt the world was going to be leaving her very soon. Her vision began to sway as she pushed herself. She would save her friends this time, them and whoever was going to be killed to cause them pain. She would save them and then she would find a way to stop Aizen once and for all. The shield glowed brighter for a fraction of a second and then Ulquiorra's chest rose once, twice. Orihime's vision fogged as the shield slipped before retracting fully. With a soft sound she too fell to the ground.
Or she would have if Ulquiorra hadn't caught her.
Through her blurry vision she looked at his emerald eyes. Orihime felt tears of exhaustion and of shame slip down her temples.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm so so sorry."
Then she went limp in his arms.
The door was slammed open.
Soifon looked around the room with narrowed eyes. Orihime Inoue was lying unconscious in the arms of Ulquiorra Schiffer. The Commander General was watching them, his expression unreadable.
"Captain Soifon," he looked up at her, "what is the meaning of this?"
"Lieutenant Abarai came to me after he was supposed to meet with you," she said.
"These are uncertain time," the Commander General said, "Inoue has agreed to assist us by resurrecting the only one who might know more of Aizen Sosuke's plan," he said looking pointedly at the Espada.
"Should i take him to the Maggot's Nest?" Soifon asked.
"The security of your prisons is questionable. I will be overseeing his interrogation myself," the Commander General said, "take her to the Fourth," he instructed looking at Orihime.
"Of course," Soifon said nodding to two men who took her from the Espada and vanished, "will there be anything else?"
"No," he said, "leave us."
Soifon bowed deeply and closed the door. In a flash of Shunpo she appeared at her Division. She knew that the Commander General expected her to keep the resurrection of the Fourth Espada confidential. She supposed in a way it made sense. Ulquiorra Schiffer would know exactly what Aizen Sosuke was up too. But from what she had learned he had refused to let Orihime heal him. It struck her as odd that the girl who had obeyed him the first time around would go against his wishes, even for a place such as Soul Society. The Commander General also questioned the security of her prisons when they had not technically been hers.
No, the only person who had their prisons broken into was Aizen Sosuke.
Soifon's eyes widened before they narrowed in suspicion. It was ridiculous to think something like that and yet, Aizen Sosuke was just brilliant enough to pull it off. Clearly he had some kind of leverage against Orihime. Until Soifon knew what that leverage was, she was not going to go accuse the Commander General of being an illusion of Aizen Sosuke. She was going to need help, help from someone who had pulled off equally stupid things. She needed to speak to Yoruichi. But to do that she had to find Yoruichi and that would be next to impossible. If she up and vanished to find he former mentor rumors would fly and if rumors flew she would be under suspicion. The last thing she needed was to give him a viable reason to arrest her.
Soifon needed, as much as she hated to admit it, help. Help from someone who would believe such a crazy idea and who would be willing to track down Yoruichi. Her eyes widened. She didn't need someone who would be willing to track down Yoruichi she needed someone willing to track down someone in Yoruichi's party.
"Where are you going Captain?" one of her subordinates asked.
Soifon glanced over at her. There was a time when she would have given her a withering look and vanished. But she was sporting a rather spectacular, still purple scar that she knew was from being interrogated. It seemed that even the lowliest member of the Second Divison had refused to show anything but absolute loyalty to Soul Society and their Division. While the rest of the Divisions were quickly divided and hellbent on any 'White Robes' as they called them, her Division was not bloodthirsty, not even to the so-called traitors. The torture of Gin and Hinamori had been carried out by other members of the squads. Soifon realized with a grim sort of shock that that too had been an order from the Commander General.
Even if she swore never to care Soifon had to admit she was proud of her Division. She looked at the wide eyed girl who had questioned her. The girl quickly ducked her head, her lips parting to apologize but Soifon cut her off.
"To the Tenth," she said. The girl's head flew up, her eyes widening as her Captain disappeared in a burst of Shunpo.
I'll try to update but if I can't, Happy Holidays to everyone! Enjoy the snow that I won't get to....because, you know, I'll be surrounded by sand. Should I complain? No. But I love love LOVE the snow! Maybe they'll still be some when I get back. Well Happy Holidays anyway!