Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach franchise it is owned by Tite Kubo.

The Contingency

Part I

And to you, my beloved daughter, I shall grant the Letter C, for the Contingency.

Be honored, for with this you shall play the most vital of roles, ensuring the darkest futures I have foreseen shall never come to pass.

Be doubly-honored, for with this you shall share in the smallest fraction of my power, one that none save the Grand Master have ever done before.

Now, drink of my blood, and take your place in the shadows.

…it is an honor, Your Majesty.

To think of the Almighty as simply the power to see the future is to underestimate its power.

No, to see every possible future is simply part of using the Almighty, but that is not what it is truly meant to do.

The future is many-faceted, constantly-changing, shifting, morphing, and evolving. Most possibilities exist side-by-side, differing from each other only in the smallest and most insignificant of details. Others, however, contrast with one another, and any attempt to reconcile them would result in new futures having some but not all of what was previously foreseen.

Some futures are completely contradictory. Once they come to pass, others can never be.

This is the true power of the Almighty. It is to see every possible future, and choosing among them, turn possibility into reality.

Yhwach, Emperor of the Vandenreich, Father of the Quincy, saw, and made his choice. He would have merged the realms of the living and the dead, creating a perfect world that knew nothing of fear, at the expense of all that was, is, and could be.

But the Grand Master of the Sternritter, Jugram Haschwalth, who bore the Letter B, the Balance, also saw, and made his choice. Because of him, the Emperor unwittingly disregarded certain possibilities, leading to his defeat and death. And in death, he became the new lynchpin, by which the realms of the living and the dead alone could exist.

In his death, the Quincy race would survive, and have a chance for a future.

Now, it was time for another to see, and make their choice.

Yhwach's spiritual pressure wavered, rising and falling as the shadows ebbed and roiled, holding open a portal through which one could cross between worlds. Leap across time and space even, allowing the Emperor to return from death as he had promised, when his enemies were at their happiest, and have them taste the fullness of despair.

Kazui Kurosaki touched the portal, and with the pop of air filling a vacuum, the portal collapsed. Yhwach's defeat ten years ago, and the subsequent sealing of his corpse as the new lynchpin, ensured he could not return.

It should have ended there.

But the Emperor had seen this coming. And as the portal collapsed, a figure stepped from its shadow, climbing as though from a stairway, one which disappeared as the light of the Sun wiped away the shadow.

Kazui looked up curiously, sensing no hostility at all from the white-cloaked and hooded figure looming over him. Instead, he smiled, and waved a hand. "Hello!" he greeted her.

"…Kazui Kurosaki, right?" the woman asked, reaching out with a hand, and pulling open her cloak in the process, revealing the equally-white clothes she wore beneath it.

Then she blinked…

…and Ichika Abarai cursed as her zanpakutou cut empty air.

"That wasn't very polite of you." The woman remarked with audible annoyance. "I haven't drawn a weapon at all, and here you are, swinging a sword at my head."

"Don't mess with me!" Ichika shouted, brandishing her zanpakutou in the woman's direction. "You think I don't recognize those clothes you're wearing? You're one of those Quincy, aren't you? A Sternritter…why are you here?"

The woman snorted, and while her hood shrouded most of her face, the lower part was visible, allowing Ichika and Kazui to see her smirk. "So you recognize a Sternritter?" she asked with a mocking tone. "Then you should know better than to swing a sword in my direction. It took captains and lieutenants to defeat the rest of my order. An ordinary Shinigami with barely any training is no match for me. Go away, please."

Ichika's mouth fell open as the Sternritter literally turned her back on her and started walking away. Surprise and shock turned to outrage, and with another yell, she leapt after the Sternritter.

"Take this!" she yelled, jumping up and bringing her zanpakutou down. It cut through empty air to strike sparks against the ground, the Sternritter continuing to walk away unimpressed. "That's…!"

With another yell, Ichika continued to attack, swinging and stabbing to and fro, but each and every time, it seemed she missed just by a hair's breadth. "S-she's using shunpo…or whatever the Quincy use…" she realized. "…she's dodging by the smallest amount…"

Ichika growled, and shouting at the top of her voice, attacked as fast and strong as she could. "Stop ignoring me!" she roared, even as she missed yet again.

This time, the Sternritter responded, turning her head to look darkly at Ichika even as she continued to walk away. "You're a nuisance, Ichika Abarai." She said. "Scram."

Ichika's eyes widened in surprise, and then narrowed in suspicion. "How did you know my name?" she asked softly.

"I have no reason to answer you." The Sternritter said, once again turning her head away. "Still…I guess it's rude to know your name when you don't know mine. Fine…I am the Sternritter C, Hikari Kurosaki. Nice to meet you, now, leave."

"Kurosaki? Wait…that's…it can't be…we're not finished!" Ichika shouted, leaping forward again, and bringing her sword down towards the Sternritter's head.

It never connected. Hikari blocked the sword with a single raised finger on her left hand, somehow having turned without Ichika noticing it. The young Shinigami did notice Hikari's right hand held low, and clutching what was probably their Quincy Cross.

Spirit-forged silver flashed, and then blood was gushing in a great flood through the air. "W-w-what…?" Ichika thought, as cold spread through her, the two halves of her body falling onto the ground.

In the next instant, Hikari was opening the distance, leaping back as she avoided the wild and uncontrolled surge of spiritual pressure from her nephew. It shouldn't have hurt her, but best not to take any chances. Their whole family had a habit of defying expectations. And most importantly…

…the collapse of the Abarai girl's spiritual pressure would soon be felt. Her parents would be rushing to investigate, and the rest of their friends with them. It would buy Hikari some time, but not enough.

Still…everything thus far was going as she had foreseen.

"Sorry, Kazui." She apologized as she allowed her sword to disappear, spiritual particles dispersing and leaving only her Quincy Cross in one hand. "But I can't stay to play and chat. Tell your dad it's nothing personal when he arrives, though."

Then with a flicker of hirenkyaku, she crossed the entirety of Karakura Town in a single leap, and landing in a crouch in a dirty and overgrown empty lot. Such a dilapidated and unassuming location…

…but it was important beyond words. For this was the exact center of Karakura Town, which formed the Juureichi, and which would have allowed Sousuke Aizen to create a Royal Key of his own, and thus allow him to reach the Soul King Palace.

And here, Hikari would have access to all the spiritual particles and energy she needed to do what she had to do.

But, first things first.

"Fast," she thought, as she materialized her spirit weapon, and then gripping the katana's hilt with two hands, turned. At the same time, the particle flow in her veins reversed, spiritual particles instead flooding her arteries to maximize her offensive power. "Getsuga…"

"Howl, Zabimaru!" Renji Abarai roared, leaping down from the sky with his spiritual power and pressure alike blazing with the rage of a vengeful father.

It wasn't enough.

"…TENSHOU!" Hikari likewise roared, spiritual power erupting in an arc from her sword to intercept Renji. With his power limited while in the Human World, and Hikari's own power augmented by Blut Arterie, her Getsuga Tenshou simply ripped through Zabimaru, and sent the Shinigami lieutenant flying across the sky.

Such was the force of impact that the air visibly distorted, a shock wave booming outward to shatter windows for hundreds of meters around. People would be hurt, maybe even die.

It didn't matter. Soon, nothing would matter.

Nothing that had happened today would ever have happened at all.

Then in one smooth motion, she sank to one knee, and placed her hand against the ground, on her shadow. "Sakrament," she cast, even as her shadow extended to form a six-armed cross around her, and she felt multiple spiritual pressures approaching. "Heiliger Raum!"

Pillars of silver rose from the ends of her shadow, and then blazing with power, erected a barrier around her in her shadow's shape. It retracted back to normal, even as Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki arrived. Spiritual power exploded as their zanpakutou struck Hikari's barrier, to no effect.

"Don't waste your time." Hikari said. "Unless you're willing to use the full power of your bankai here in the Human World, there's no breaking into the Heiliger Raum."

"DAMN YOU!" Rukia screamed, tears marking her cheeks as she struck the barrier again and again, frost and ice erupting around her and over the ground with every impact.

"Why'd you do it?" Ichigo demanded, even as he forcibly restrained Rukia. "Why'd you kill her?"

"It doesn't matter." Hikari said.

"What?" Ichigo gasped in surprise at such…apathy.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Rukia screamed. "WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHY DID YOU KILL MY ICHIKA?"

"Didn't Ichigo's son tell you?" Hikari asked back. "I'm Hikari Kurosaki. More than that, I'm Ichigo's sister, his twin even."

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Ichigo shouted in his turn, his anger at the death of his friend's daughter, and the anguish and agony it put her through spiking with such blatant lies. "I…!"

"Don't underestimate the power of the Almighty." Hikari interrupted, and at the mention of that ability, Ichigo found himself frozen in shock, and then mounting horror. "Did you think the Emperor did not foresee the possibility of his death? Or that his planned return could be interrupted? No…he foresaw the possibility, even if he failed to realize the Grand Master's deception until it was too late. I am here. Someone who only existed in countless unrealized possibilities before the Emperor used the Almighty to make me reality. To restore him…and to finish what he started…"

"…is that it then?" Ichigo growled, his rage turning cold even as his spiritual power and pressure spiked to heights it hadn't reached since the Thousand Year Blood War. "You're going to bring back that madman…do you even know what's going to happen when he comes back? Or that he'll actually reward your loyalty? You probably don't even care, do you? Not after you killed an innocent little girl!"

"You know nothing, brother." Hikari said, already turning away. "I really wish I could explain it all to you, give you time to understand. But, there's no time. There just isn't any time."

Closing her eyes, Hikari lifted her head, hands held out on either side, her Quincy Cross lying discarded on the ground by her feet. Already, her spiritual power and pressure were spiking, easily rivalling any one of the Captains of the Gotei 13.

"NO!" Ichigo roared, swinging at the Heiliger Raum with Zangetsu with all his might. "I WON'T LET YOU!"

Rukia and Renji were no different, releasing their power limiters to strike at the Heiliger Raum with their shikai. Though their attacks left cracks in their wake, it just wasn't enough.

"I'm sorry, brother." Hikari said, even as her eyelids twitched. "I'm sure you'd have understood, if only we had the time. I…I also wish…I had the time to know you…to really know you…so instead, I'll give you my first, and last gift. Don't worry, the Emperor will never return. Now, let me open my eyes, and see!"

Hikaru opened her eyes, each eye sporting three irises, even as her spiritual power and pressure alike reached incalculable heights.

This was the Letter A, the Almighty.

A/N

And here's the first part of my two-parter Bleach fanfic. Don't worry, Yhwach won't be coming back. I'm sure you're wondering why Yhwach would entrust such an important mission to someone who'd betray him, except he trusted Haschwalth too, and the Grand Master turned against him in the end as well.

In the end, Yhwach is near-omniscient, but not quite. He can be blind to the…fickleness, of Human nature. In particular, Haschwalth's own unwillingness to sacrifice the Quincy as a whole for Yhwach's glory (this does not extend to the Sternritter), and his own attachment to Bazz-B and their old friendship. And in this case, just how maverick anyone born of the Kurosaki lineage can be.