Since it's been so long between my last update and I managed to write a lot this holiday, here comes a second chapter!
Though I'm not sure wether I'm happy with this one or not. I absolutely despise writing battles from now on ^^'' and I don't wanna spoiler but I needed to improvise some to save some of my favorite character because no way would I kill them in my own fanfiction!
On November 1st, the tension was almost unbearable high. All lower seats were practically shaking, since normally they wouldn't have had to fight at all.
The Captains, Lieutenants and Ryoka on the other hand were looking forward to the fight. It was time to end it all. Everything was ready, the fake Karakura town, the pillars and even Kurosaki and his father, after their big argument the other day because Isshin didn't tell Ichigo that he is a Shinigami.
Toshiro was with Captain Kuchiki, Captain Zaraki and the Ryoka when Aizen finally showed up.
A giant hole opened up in the sky over the fake town, and out of it came more Hollows, Arrancer and Espada than he had ever seen.
Together with the rest of the Gotei 13 they stood united as a group in front of the army.
Tosen, Ichimaru and Aizen stood in front of the army and looked around for a while. Then Aizen started smiling.
"I must admit, I am little disappointed that I couldn't get Miss Inoue to join me and lure most of you to Hueco Mondo for a rescue operation but do you really think that changes anything?" he asked with an almost curios tone, as if he was actually wondering about it. It pissed Toshiro off even more.
When no one answered him but instead only went for their weapons he smiled, "It seems like you actually do think you can win this." he chuckled, "But don't let it be said I'm not a magnanimous person. I give all of you the chance to join me right now and save your own lives and that of your friends." he looked each of them straight in the eye and held eye contact with Kurosaki and Toshiro for a moment longer, which made his skin crawl and he clenched his sword even tighter.
But before he was about to lose his composure, Yamamoto stepped up. "None of us will listen to your blatant lies Aizen. We are here to protect Karakura town and we will win, no matter what you planned."
Aizen turned his gaze at the Head-Captain. "It's funny that you say that. Did you really think I am not aware that this is not the real Karakura town? I came here anyway because my goal is to get rid of all of you and then I can still create the Ouken. "
The Head-Captain narrowed his eyes, "We won't let you."
"You can't stop me." he replied and let out a massive amount of reiatsu. His entire army joined him and every soul reaper lower than lieutenant blacked out immediately. Even most captains had trouble breathing but all of them let out their reiatsu as well to counter the onslaught.
After a few tense seconds it stopped. It almost fell surreal. One second the battlefield was filled with bloodlust and the next it was as still as a graveyard.
The silence on their side was broken by Omeada who said something Toshiro didn't listen to. He was solely concentrated on Aizen. After a few more seconds he voiced his opinion.
"The real problem is, whether Aizen will join the fight at the beginning. If he does, we are in trouble."
"Step back everyone, I will handle Aizen for the time being." Yamamoto declared and raised his staff, "Reduce all of creation to smoldering ash, Ryuujin Jakka. Joukaku Enjou!"
A giant circle of fire trapped Aizen, Ichimaru and Tosen inside. Toshiro felt uncomfortable with the heat, but as long as it held Aizen at bay, he could deal with it.
"Wow, the captain commander really went all out."
"That must mean he's not in a good mood." Ukitake and Kyoraku said with a worried and amused look in the old man's direction.
Toshiro once more glared in Aizen's direction but then the Arrancer and Espada started moving and he had to concentrate on his job.
The pillars were attacked first of course, but for some reason the rest of Aizen's army didn't move. Did they have a plan or where they really arrogant enough to assume a few Arrancer could beat them?
Toshiro smirked, he hoped it was the latter one. Because nothing is more valuable in war than to be underestimated. He learned that early in his time at the academy and later until he became a captain.
But whatever they were thinking it doesn't really matter. Maybe if they didn't have a plan and would just try to fight with these guys in one on one matches, then their plan would actually work. But in this moment? This was a god damn war. They will use every advantage they can get and if the enemy was gonna send the weaker soldiers first then they would lose those in an instant.
None of the captains or Ryoka moved but all of a sudden there were four screams coming from the pillars and in less than ten seconds the Arrancer were unconscious on the ground.
This visibly shocked the Espada and even Ichimaru had his eyes open for a second. Aizen on the other hand didn't look at his fallen comrades for more than a millisecond before he went back to his tea. For the smallest of seconds Toshiro wondered were he got the tea from but then there was once more movements from the Espada.
In mere seconds the battle was on again with almost every Arrancer attacking the Gotei thirteen.
Kurosaki and his group each had a different opponent in front of them with Orihime staying back to give support.
The lieutenants were in the same predicament and even some captains were forced to join the fight. All around Toshiro he saw raging battles with no side having an advantage against the other even with their magic backup. It looked like the Arrancer were dodging the spells just out of reflex and the Shinigami were not used to fighting long ranged.
Toshiro badly wanted to join the fight, but he and some other captains stayed back in case the stronger Espada made their move. Not to mention that he needed to study and remember every fighting style of both his allies and his enemies in order to make a convincing illusion. He hoped most of these guys were defeated by the time Aizen makes his move. That would make the illusion a lot easier.
He was so busy studying the fights, that he almost missed it when a cero was directed at him. He barley managed to dodge and immediately got Hyourinmaru out.
A tall, muscular, dark skinned Arrancer came up to fight him. Or at least he thought it was an Arrancer until he introduced himself.
"I am the séptima Espada Zommari Leroux."
"Captain of squad ten, Hitsugaya Toshiro."
"So it is you. For some reason Ulquiorra said you had a weird power that we need to be wary of. I thought he was joking when he said you looked like a kid."
Toshiro gritted his teeth. He was about to attack when Kuchiki stepped in his way. He had half the mind to tell the Captain to stay out of this but before he could, Kuchiki spoke up.
"You have a job Captain Hitsugaya. Don't let some nobody distract you from it."
The Espada didn't lose his cool. "And who might you be, Shinigami."
"There is no need to answer you. We have but one true identity… and that is 'enemy'."
"I see." before Toshiro could even get a word out, the two of them were shunpoing around the battle field like a blur.
He hated it but Kuchiki was right. He had a job to do. It may not be an important job at the moment but it could be vital for the final fight.
After fifteen minutes of blood and screams all around him something changed. But not for the better.
Rukia Kuchiki went down. She took her opponent with him but still. For a few agonizing moments everyone held their breath in fear. There was an angry scream from Kurosaki and Unohana immediately went to the girls side to heal what she can.
Then the fight continued with a new vigor. But at this moment the Espada with blue hair went after Ichigo and Ulquiorra stood up as well. Faster than he could react, Ulquiorra fired a cero at him.
This time there was no one to take the fight away from him but he was glad about that. He had enough of standing on the sidelines!
Looking his opponent straight in the eyes he raised his sword into a fighting position.
'Finally! I was starting to think we wouldn't get any action here.' Hyourinmaru called with glee. Toshro couldn't blame him. This was a fight for the whole Soul Society. There was no way he was standing by any longer.
Ulquiorra looked bored but raised his sword as well. "You are one of the people who need to be killed in order for Aizen-sama to win." he said emotionless.
Toshiro quirked an eyebrow. Was he noticed after all or did Ulquiorra make a lucky guess and attributed the weird happenings in their fights a few days ago to him. Anyway he needed to win this fight in order for their plan to work.
But at the same time he couldn't use too much of his reiatsu otherwise the illusion will never be strong enough.
Before he could make a battle plan though, Ulquiorra attacked without warning. Ulquiorra stabs at Toshiro, who dodges, causing Ulquiorra's spear like weapon to miss. When Toshiro slashes at him, Ulquiorra blocks with his Zanpakutō before slashing at Toshiro, who ducks and attacks Ulquiorra. As Ulquiorra dodges, the few people behind him get knocked back by Toshiro's attack, a millisecond later Ulquiorra stabs at him with his spear again. When Toshiro dodges, Ulquiorra attacks him several more times in rapid succession. Narrowly escaping from the spear, Toshiro jumped back to put some distance between him and his opponent.
The guy was strong but was this the level of the fourth Espada? Something wasn't right. Then he thought of something else.
"Oi, why did you get slower than last time?" he asked with some suspicion.
But to his surprise, the Espada only furrowed his nonexistent brows. "...What?"
Now it was Toshiro's turn to furrow his brows, "I mean that compared to the last fight were I could only react thanks to my reflexes and experience, this time I can actually see you movements. So what happened? I know I haven't changed that much in three days."
Ulquiorra didn't answer, only started his attack again. When Ulquiorra appears in front of him and attacks, Toshiro narrowly dodges and leaps back, only for Ulquiorra to appear behind him and attack once more. This time he couldn't escape completely and uses Hyourinmaru to create a shield of ice behind him just in time to deflect the attack. The blast still had him reeling back almost a few yards.
Toshiro clashes with Ulquiorra, creating a wave of energy upon striking Ulquiorra's sword. From there on it was a sword fight more than anything with both participants dodging and attacking almost at the same time. For an untrained eye, it would look like they were just trying to stab the other constantly while missing the whole time.
All of a sudden, he can see two Arrancer cornering Matsumoto and that his lieutenant was losing in a two against one. Abandoning the fight for moment, he shunpoed to her side and ruthlessly shoved his sword through one of their throats. Seeing an opening Matsumoto made fast work with the second one.
"Thank you captain!" she beamed at him and Toshiro couldn't help but sigh at her antics. She didn't act like a person who was close to death a second ago.
The with a jolt he remembered his own fight and was surprised to see Ulquiorra just standing there.
Walking back to his opponent he couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you use this chance to get me from behind? I know you're fast enough."
Ulquiorra hesitated. Toshiro found the whole experience weird. He was chatting with the enemy while all around him his comrades were fighting for their life! But at least this way he saved energy.
"I don't know. But I would like to ask you a question myself." he hesitated once more, "why did you give me the opening in the first place?"
Toshiro raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't that have been obvious? I had to save my lieutenant."
"Yes, I saw that but why? Wouldn't it be easier to only fight for yourself? It is what we have done our entire life."
"I saved her because she is important to me, easy as that." he scoffed, "But back to your second statement. If you are fighting only for yourself then why are you fighting for Aizen?"
Once more Ulquiorra went silent and Toshiro readied his sword in case he hit a nerve, if that guy even had one. But after a minute of silence the Espada spoke up again.
"I can't speak for the rest but I am here, because I have no other meaning in life and I thought if Aizen could create a whole new world than that could have a meaning." he answered honestly.
Toshiro's eyes widened. He had not actually thought the guy would answer, less alone it was such a reasonable answer. From the point of a Hollow, the world had no meaning except for eating people and from what he saw of Ulquiorra up to now, he didn't seem like someone who would kill for no reason. So of course he would jump at a chance to bring meaning to his life.
Toshiro had an idea. "I see. That does make sense I guess. Can I ask whether other Espada or Arrancer think like that?"
Ulquiorra cocked his head to the side but answered anyway, still in his emotionless tone. "I assume Harribel and Starrk have similar reasons. Why would you care?"
"Because I think it's wrong." Toshiro took a deep breath, he hoped this doesn't backfire on him. "We kill hollow's to save humans. You Arrancer in Hueco Mondo never did anything to us and I think it's wrong for you to have to live a life with no meaning."
Ulquiorra had a look on his face that could almost be described as surprise. They stood there for a few more minutes until Ulquiorra did something really unexpected. He puts his sword down.
"Can I ask one last think of you?"
Toshiro nodded at him.
"My life may has no meaning but I never wanted to die. If I follow Aizen, will I die?" the guy still had his perfect pokerface while Toshiro was in a semi-shocked state.
Did his enemy seriously just ask him that? He thought from the way Ulquiorra spoke, that he was loyal to fault. He took a moment to get his thoughts in order before answering as honestly as he could.
"I am not sure what to tell you. In my admittedly biased opinion the answer would be 'yes, you will'. But I am not sure how he acts around you guys. But one thing I can definitely tell you. If Aizen wins, you're gonna be slaves. Life will have no meaning either and it will only become an even bigger nightmare. If you lose here, you will die as well of course. Even though I don't like it, that's how Soul Society roles. When there is a problem, you kill it."
Ulquiorra did nothing but nod. He didn't even look surprised but then again, he was definitely the smartest from the Espada he had met up to now. Toshiro was conflicted, should he continue the fight or not? It didn't look like the Espada was very interested in a fight anymore, but he was still an Espada…
The only real way to find out would be to ask.
"Ok, so… this is definitely weird, but are you planning on fighting me now or not?"
Ulquiorra looked up again. "I am not sure. It is like you said, no matter what side I choose I will lose."
Toshiro once more took a deep breath. He was actually doing this and to his surprise he wasn't even sorry or regretted it.
"Listen, I cannot make a decision for you, but if both options are bad, then you have to create a third one. If you're not sure about something, just trust yourself. Don't feel obligated to do anything for anyone else. Do everything for your own personal gain."
"You are not telling me to join you? I thought that was what you were going for when you started this topic."
He rubbed his temples and sighed, "No, I won't tell you to join us. In the end it wouldn't help your situation and like I said, if you want to make the best decisions for yourself, you have to trust yourself. There are times when you have to trust friends to help you out, but you cannot let others make every decision for you."
Ulquiorra looked at him with a calculating gaze until a minute later or so he put his sword away, maybe it was only a few seconds but Toshiro felt like they were staring at each other for hours.
Toshior immediately did the same. "I take it, you have come to a decision?" he asked curiously.
Ulquiorra nodded, "Yes, I have. I will not run away, because then life would be meaningless once more. But I will not join you just like that either. I want life to have meaning and I want to ask whether you have an idea how to make this happen. Depending on your answer I will make my decision."
'Oh damn. I don't know whether to feel ecstatic or panicked. What should I tell him! I don't know what gives meaning to an Arrancer!' Toshiro panicked in his head.
'Calm down master. You did a very good job up till now. Haven't you noticed how alike you two are in some aspects? Just think about what gives meaning to your life.'
Toshiro nodded in thanks to his partner and faced the Espada once more.
"I would like to tell you that saving humanity is meaning enough, but I doubt that is something you care for, so I will instead tell you what gives meaning to my life. Before I became a Shiningami, my life didn't have a meaning either except for my grandma and childhood friend. But when I became a captain, I finally knew what it meant to live for a certain cause. The Gotei 13 is not perfect. Far from it actually, but we are working on it and thanks to all the semi-crazy people there, it never gets boring. But don't tell anyone I said that!" he finished with a serious expression.
If Matsumoto and the others find out he liked their craziness to some degree, he will never hear the end of it.
"So you think I should join a cause with others to have a goal?"
"Well yes, isn't having a goal the same as having meaning to some degree?"
Ulquiorra seemed to be pondering about it.
"I see what you're getting at, but what goal could I possibly work on in Hueco Mondo?"
"Well… that is a good question. I don't have an answer but didn't you say there were more Espada who think like you? Why not start something with them. For most people having one person is already enough to give life meaning."
'Ok, now I'm just pulling ideas out of nowhere! I can't even believe he is actually thinking about it! But one less enemy, especially one of the strongest, is worth it anyway.' thought Toshiro to himself.
"I see. If that is the case, I will ask Harrribel and Starrk what they think."
Then he turned around and left. Toshiro was too astonished to do anything at the moment. His only thought was, 'What in the soul king's name just happened?!'
'I believe you have made an unusual enemy.' the smug but also astonished dragon replied.
Coming back to reality Toshiro looked around to find Ulquiorra again. He was standing beside a woman with tan skin and blonde hair. Then he concentrated on the rest of the battlefield again only to be flabbergasted again.
Everyone was still fighting a brutal war, but in the time he was chatting with Ulquiorra, Aizen's army had been slashed in almost half. Kuchiki had defeated Zommari, the Ryoka each had a new enemy, Soifon was now fighting against the personal minions of the second Espada from the looks of it. Kenpachi and Kuchiki had teamed up?! And their opponent was the guy from a month ago but way stronger!
He must have missed a lot in the short time he was busy with Ulquiorra, or was it even a short time? How had no one noticed them just standing in the middle of a battlefield and talking? Toshiro shook his head. No matter, he needed to get back to observing to make an illusion any second now.
Before he could do so though, the Espada that Ulquiorra talked to before came at him with her minions right behind her. In a second, Matsumoto was next to him, ready to fight by his side. For once he wasn't glad about it.
How can he talk to the Espada with Matsumoto and her minions around. But thankfully Espada had identical thought.
"Apacci, Rose, Sung-Sun. I will handle the captain, you will take care of the other one."
"Yes, boss!" and with that they started a fight with Matsumoto. He was worried but he couldn't let this chance go. Matsumoto was strong, so she should be able to handle it, especially with the magic backup.
Just like he thought, the moment they were out of earshot, the Espada lowered her sword but didn't put it away. Toshiro followed her example.
"I guess Ulquiorra talked to you.?" he asked carefully after an introduction, where he learned that her name was Tia Harribel. She was still an enemy and he didn't know anything about her.
The feeling seemed reciprocated. "Yes, but don't make the mistake to think I have the same reasons as Ulquiorra to betray Aizen-sama. I don't care about meaning or some other things Ulquiorra seems so obsessed with."
Toshiro raised his eyebrows, "Then why are you here? And why did you lower your weapon?"
"Because unlike most of the other Espada except for Starrk, I have people I care about. I joined Aizen to save them and now that it seems more and more like Aizen wants us dead or as slaves, I want to protect them. That is why I would betray him, if you guys can come up with a plan that won't end in all of our deaths."
"Wow, so I guess this Starrk person shares that believe? And how strong is that guy" Toshiro asked with a small smirk, an idea forming in his head.
Harribel nodded her head minimal, "Yes, Starrk hates fighting and only does it for his partner Lylinett. He is the primera Espada, so his strength is above mine and probably even Ulquiorra. But enough small talk, do you have a plan or not? Because if not, I will fight you and stay by Aizen, our survival chance is still bigger that way."
Toshiro nodded in agreement. It was time to see whether his plan would work.
"I can't tell you of our secret plan, obviously, but I can share, that we have a sure way of handling Aizen's complete Hypnosis. There is no guarantee in war, so I will not tell you that we will win. But I promise that with said method I can make sure that it looks like you are still loyal to Aizen, even when you're not. That way, no matter the outcome, you will be save from Aizen's wrath. And if we win, I can make sure that none of you or your people will be hurt as long as you stay out of the fight, and better yet, help us the moment I give the signal."
"What reason do I have to trust you?"
"I'll be honest, you don't have one. You only have my word." he looked her straight in the eye, hoping she saw how serious he was about the offer.
Once more a minute felt like hours for him, nnot blinking and not looking away. But then, finally, she put away her sword.
"You are not a liar. Fine then, we will not help you, but we will stay out of it. But if you betray us, we will kill those important to you." she jerked her head to Matsumoto's direction, "We may not be able to beat Soul Society, but we will be able to kill some lieutenant level Shinigami."
"Noted." Toshiro answered coolly. With a last bow to each other, Harribel left and took her Fraccion with her.
Toshiro couldn't help but smirk at this fortunate outcome. With three of the most dangerous opponents out of the equation, their plan could actually work!
Once more he looked around to see what happened in his rather short talk with the Tres Espada. Thankfully, he didn't miss too much this time around. Soifon and Shihoin teamed up to fight the Segunda Espada, but otherwise everyone was still fighting the same opponent, with the Head-Captain still keeping an eye on Aizen.
Now that he thought about t, he should probably tell Yamamoto-soutaicho about their new allies… oh the joy. He let out a suffering sigh and went up to the man.
"Sir, there have been changes in or plan." he started, before he could continue though, the Head-Captain interrupted.
"What?!"
Trying hard not to roll his eyes in annoyance, Toshiro replied, "Yes, but not of the bad kind. I have studied all of the current fighters as good as I can, so I would be ready for the next part. The change I wanted to inform you about is, that the Cuatro Espada Ulquiorra, the Tres Espada Harribel and the Primera Espada Starrk have agreed to stay out of this fight, as long as we don't kill them afterwards."
Yamamoto opened his eyes in astonishment. "I do not know how you managed it, but good job Captain Hitsugaya. I am not happy on the other hand that you made the decision to spare them without me, but I agree to the terms so long as they really will stay out of it. If they don't we will kill them just as the rest."
Knowing that was the best he could hope for he nodded. "That should be acceptable. When should we carry on with the plan?"
"Either when Aizen makes his move or when Captain Kuchiki and Captain Zaraki are finished with their fight against the strongest Espada. Do not worry though, should Kuchiki not be able to make it to watch your back, Juushiro and Shunsui will take over his job. Either way you should get ready to start any second now."
Only now did he start questioning himself. What if he couldn't do it? What if Aizen is immune to illusions, what if Aizen already figured out their plan like normally, what if… the questions were endless.
'This is unbecoming of you Hitsugaya Toshiro. You have made this plan, you have trained for it and you have people on your side who put their trust in you and are here to help. Stop worrying and concentrate. A dragon never cowers.' Hyourinmaru interrupted his chain of thought.
Never before was he so thankful to have his partner at his side. Hyourinmaru was right, worrying won't get them anywhere.
Taking one more look around he calmed his breathing and got out his wand.
But then, for only a split second, he looked at Aizen. And his blood run cold.
The man was looking right at him and smiled.
Becoming paranoid once more he tried to fight down his hatred and panic, tried to tell himself that it's just his usual arrogant smile. It didn't work. In all his panic he missed the moment a giant garganta opened and the small kid from before and a giant Hollow came out.
Before they had time to react, the small kid stabbed Ukitake through the stomach and the Hollow blasted the fire surrounding Aizen, Ichimaru and Tosen away. With the three strongest players back in the game, everyone tensed up.
But none more so than Toshiro, because Aizen was looking straight at him and looked ready to join the battle. Gritting his teeth he chased away those scared feelings and reminded himself that this is exactly what he wanted, a chance to pay the bastard back!
But once again, just as he was ready for a fight, others interrupted! In a split second, the Vizards stood between him and Aizen.
"Long time no see, Aizen." the one with yellow hair smirked. Who the heck did they think they were? He had just decided to get revenge on Aizen!
"Hey kid, didn't you guys have a plan? Get back to it." the same man said in a low voice to make sure Aizen didn't hear.
Toshiro gritted his teeth but he had to admit he now needed to study the fighting style of the new guys. What a bother.
Once again he had to stand by and study their fighting style and the new pairs like Kommamura vs Tosen and the green haired girl vs the freaky Arrancer kid with the giant Hollow.
His plan better ends up working or else he was gonna kill someone for having to stay out of the war the whole time and getting protected.
The war continued with Ulquiorra, Harribel and Starrk joining but not really fighting, only enough not to make Aizen suspect something. The rest of the fights looked like they were ending any moment now.
Grimmjow was almost dead on his feet, the Segunda Espada looked like he was getting desperate and the Espada with the weirdest swords he had ever seen was getting beaten… by another Espada with green hair?! What the heck? Is half of Aizen's army defecting now? And why did he have this awful feeling like it would be his responsibility once all of this was over…
The rest of the Army was either defeated on the ground or dead.
But it was not only their side who had heavy casualties. Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji looked exhausted just like the rest of the Ryoka except for Kurosaki, who looked hurt but fought like a monster anyway. Even Ishida stepped back from the front line after defeating two enemy's or more and joined Inoue with the magic backup, so that the girl could concentrate on healing.
Ukitake was in serious danger and Soifon and Shihoin didn't look good either, not to mention all the lieutenants who were no better than Kuchiki or Abarai. It was lucky that the Vizards joined the fight when they did, otherwise it could have been possible that they really would be wiped out here today.
Concentrating on the Vizards again he started channeling his reiatsu in preparation. All he needed now was an opening and then he would send the signal to separate Ichimaru and Tosen from Aizen.
With each passing moment, tension got higher and higher.
I hope this chapter is alright! As I said before, I'm not sure if I got Ulquiorra's character right or any of the Espada actually... but there's no way I would kill them off, I like them too much! So even if they are a little too occ, please forgive me I'm still inexperienced.