Toshiro still slumbered on, but the tears had stopped and he wasn't gripping as tightly to Rangiku as before. Shelke watched as the strawberry blonde continued to stroke the ice Captain's hair and hum a soft tune.
"Are you his mother?" Shelke asked.
"Wha-?! No! I'm not!" Rangiku paused in her mothering to quickly deny the question. "It's just…he needs SOMEONE to be there for him right now, so I thought I'd take up that role."
Returning her attention to Toshiro, Rangiku vaguely wondered if she should adopt the boy. But then, with him being her Captain that would be too awkward. He didn't have a mother, only a grandmother and a sister, both nowhere near him to be of any help.
"You take on the role well." Shelke commented once more.
"I know him pretty well since he's my Captain, but that's the part that would make being his mother awkward." Rangiku replied. "Besides, I've never seen him cry before. Whenever terrible things happened he'd have a tantrum of sorts and fight back, but I don't think I've ever seen him cry about it. Not since he was very little and still living with his grandmother."
Toshiro stirred and the girls both looked at him. He did not wake, simply shifted into a more comfortable position.
"How long will this barrier last?" Shelke asked the question that had been weighing on her mind.
"Well, I'm starting to feel a little tired out." Rangiku sighed. "It might just be a matter of time." She was worried more for Toshiro's sake than her own. Once back in the darkness, those terrible memories would plague him again.
"Vincent approaches." Hyorinmaru's voice was faint, but they managed to hear it and looked around them into the darkness.
"Vincent? He can walk through this place?" Rangiku turned her eyes to Shelke.
"Chaos's power allows him to do so." She nodded in reply.
It took another two or three minutes, but the black and red clad figure of Vincent became visible. He looked at the three of them inside the Kido barrier, sticking onto Toshiro the longest before he looked back up at Rangiku.
"Unless you find this place appealing, I suggest we get out." He said to her.
"But the darkness…" She hesitated.
Icy mist crept off the blade on Toshiro's back and quickly formed into Hyorinmaru's humanoid form. Before Rangiku could ask about the change in him, and how he managed to do that, the ice dragon had picked up his master with one arm and gripped tightly to Rangiku's arm with his free one. Vincent stepped inside and gripped Shelke's.
"We'll lead you safely out." Hyorinmaru told them. "I did not have enough energy to lead all three of you out before, and Toshiro needed me there after what Nero did."
The Kido barrier fell and the two Weapon powers led them through the darkness and back outside.
"Mask your Spiritual Pressure, Matsumoto, the Lifestream rejects anything foreign this far down." Hyorinmaru warned the Lieutenant as they stepped outside, now in front of the entrance gates.
Shelke was quick to collapse due to her low energy and Rangiku couldn't keep herself standing, having been sitting down all that time. Hyorinmaru knelt down and let Rangiku hold Toshiro once more, while he stood again and glared fiercely with Vincent at the figure in front of them.
"Sol Wrought of Terra Corrupt." Nero chanted. "My darkness has no control over you. And the dragon is a Weapon…how troublesome." Nero looked hungrily at Toshiro. "I rather enjoyed his nightmares."
"How dare you, you bastard!" Rangiku growled fiercely, holding tight to her Captain. Her grip caused the boy to whimper, as he was alone in his Inner World once more.
The Tsviet turned to face them, his metal wings spreading slightly as he lifted his arms.
"I shall try a different dance."
An enormous wall of darkness spread out behind him, making the girls flinch. A stray wisp approached the sleeping Toshiro and his expression quickly turned to one of agony.
Hyorinmaru easily removed the wisp and put a barrier around Toshiro's mind to further protect him. The human dragon's rage was clearly felt in the air around them as the temperature sharply dropped.
"Harm my master again and you will die a terrible death." Hyorinmaru snarled.
As far as they could tell Nero was enjoying this. He'd figured out where their weak spot was and was using it fully to his advantage, especially since the target was still trapped in sleep.
Nero paused suddenly, turning around to face the wall of darkness he had created.
"My brother calls." He said simply, and vanished into the shadows, said shadows disappearing as he left them.
The group relaxed slightly and Hyorinmaru quickly left to return to Toshiro's Inner World. As long as he had the materia on him, the dragon could switch back and forth between his summon and his zanpaktou spirit. Rangiku looked over the boy once more before shakily standing and carrying him in her arms. Vincent knelt down next to Shelke.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"I…I don't know. My magic is nearly out."
Nodding in understanding, Vincent picked up the small girl and he, along with Rangiku, ventured inside.
They continued inside until they reached a small room that Shelke recognized. It had been the room where she kept track of Vincent for the Tsviets, pointing out her computer station. On the wall at the other end of the room was a large Mako tank. It was here she asked Vincent to set her down so she could renew her strength with a Mako 'bath'.
Meanwhile, Rangiku set Toshiro gently down on the floor and put a hand to his forehead. She knew the boy's body temperature was colder than most due to his Spiritual Powers over ice, so for him to feel warm by human standards meant he was definitely in bad shape.
'Hyorinmaru will do his best, Ran, just give him a minute.' Haineko purred hopefully.
Rangiku nodded and kept a vigilant watch over the ice Captain as Vincent helped Shelke stand inside the tank and worked the controls to get Shelke recharged.
"Mr. Valentine." Rangiku looked away from her Captain a moment to speak with the gunman.
"Hm?" Vincent turned as the tank Shelke now stood in filled with glowing green light of Mako.
"If my Captain is like this, he won't be able to shut down the reactor." She reported. "I'll go in his place but I need to know where to go."
"The destination is marked on his phone." The gunman replied.
She nodded and turned back to Toshiro. When she reached into his pocket for the phone, he stirred and opened his eyes slightly.
"Oh, Captain!" Rangiku grinned in relief that he was awake, setting the phone she had just grabbed aside for now. "Are you alright?"
The answer was obvious to the others there, but they wanted to see what Toshiro would say. Vincent understood what he had seen, thanks to Nero, and Rangiku already knew what horrible memories he would have faced. Of course, Toshiro only knew the latter.
"Fine…Nero's darkness took my energy away." He sat up, showing no signs of his earlier fear. "I just need a little time…to get it back."
His face was lowered so they couldn't see his eyes, but they knew he was hurting.
"Toshiro Hitsugaya." Shelke put a hand on the glass, her voice a little weak due to her exhaustion.
The Captain raised his head to look at her, curious.
"Why do you fight for a planet that isn't your own?"
"It…It's my mission."
"Your life is being put on the line for this mission, to save a world you didn't know about until Aerith contacted you."
"That's what Soul Reapers do." Rangiku replied this time. "We help people every day who have no idea of our existence. We risk our lives for them, and they don't even know about it. We live in the afterlife, they in the World of the Living. Separate but connected."
"I now have a connection to Gaia as well." Toshiro reached back and put a hand on the hilt of his zanpaktou. "I may not have some sentimental reason for putting an end to Weiss and Omega…but Deepground has pissed me off enough that I'll finish this mission no matter the cost."
"And you, Vincent Valentine?" Shelke turned to the gunman.
Not having expected being put in the spotlight, Vincent took a moment to think before answering.
"To destroy Deepground and stop Omega's awakening." He said. "It's time to put an end to this madness. Or at least, that's what I tell myself. I'm not sure if that's my real reason."
Hitsugaya nodded in understanding. There wasn't really a solid reason for fighting Deepground, just that it needed to be done to save millions.
"Not sure…" Shelke became lost in thought. "I don't want to see the world end…I just…don't want any more pain."
The visions flashed back in Toshiro's mind and he scowled, lowering his head once more to hide his face from the others.
"There will always be pain." He said, everyone's attention turning to him as he spoke. "No fight is without sacrifice. No person comes out of a battle without some kind of scar, and some come out with more than others." He rubbed the wound across his body, the one he had thought Aizen re-opened in his nightmare. Rangiku, however, noticed that the part of the scar he held his hand over…was directly over his heart.
Toshiro stood a little shakily but stood tall, his expression once more emotionless.
"We need to keep moving." He said.
"You're in no condition to fight, Captain." Rangiku also stood, objecting to the small Soul Reaper's words.
"I won't be doing the fighting."
"Huh?"
"Hyorinmaru." Toshiro called the name out after taking the materia from his pocket.
The human form of the great Ice Leviathan appeared beside him, his own blade in hand to prove he would fight in Toshiro's place.
"I can't be too far away from him, but it's better than nothing." Toshiro leaned heavily on Hyorinmaru for support. "Down here, Spiritual Pressure is useless."
"Then how is he here?" Rangiku didn't get it.
Hyorinmaru gave a brief summary of his revelation as being Gaia's Ice Leviathan and Rangiku turned to her Captain, enlightened.
"That's what you meant when you said you had a connection to here." She cupped her chin in her hand as she mulled over what she'd been told.
"We've wasted enough time, let's go." Toshiro, having taken the time during the conversation to rest, stopped leaning on Hyorinmaru and took lead.
He wanted to find Nero quickly. And when he did, he would kill him without mercy.
Okay, he's fine now...sort of. Since this story mainly focuses on Toshiro with the occasional Vincent POV, i skipped the fight between Vince and Nero. Sorry if that dissapoints anyone.
Enjoy!