Under Normal Conditions

Act 4

4.7

Chad never spoke much. Even while living exclusively with Grimmjow, they'd never talk extensively. Still, Chad had talked enough for Grimmjow to know a few things. Chad cared about people and, if he ever was in a mood to talk, he'd generally talk more about them than himself. So Grimmjow knew Uryu, or at least the "Uryu" Chad saw. He knew about the sewing, the studying, the power, the pride, and the solitude. Those seemed to be the key features of "Uryu Ishida."

From his own conversations with the Quincy, he saw his own side of "Uryu." There was the pride and the power, but he also smelled the fear and desperation, two things Chad never seemed to notice. And maybe they weren't there before… but Grimmjow thought they'd lived in Uryu for a long time.

Grimmjow cracked his neck, then opened the door. Uryu sat next to the mouse cage, holding one in his hand. Small creatures. Weak creatures. Grimmjow didn't see their merit. But he understood why a man grasping for power would hold something so weak in his hands. Uryu glanced at Grimmjow, making no effort to set down the mouse. Grimmjow raised the sandwich, canned coffee, and water and tossed them onto the bed.

Uryu raised an eyebrow, "he's not coming, again?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" Grimmjow took a seat on the floor across from Uryu.

"So you are." Uryu turned his attention to the small creature in his hands. The little thing would continuously run out of his hand only to be caught by the other. Grimmjow watched it run. "This is the sixth meal you've given me, so it's been approximately two days." Grimmjow let his eyes wander up to the Quincy's face. Uryu was unhappy.

Grimmjow rubbed at his neck. "You've got a problem?"

Uryu's eyes sharpened. "Yes. Why," the boy stood and placed the mouse back in it's cage, "is he avoiding me?" Uryu crossed his arms and looked down at Grimmjow. The look was surprisingly intimidating.

"Don't ask me, kid. I don't wanna get in the middle of your shit." The Quincy tapped his foot impatiently. He was anxious, annoyed. "So you're trying to send Sado away?" The tapping stopped. "He's not gonna leave without you, you know? You humans are all the same, the way you carelessly throw away your lives for each other. It's honestly kinda gross."

"I guess a Hollow wouldn't understand." The comment meant nothing to Grimmjow; he briefly wondered if it was intended as an insult. "Sado is a good person; I don't expect him to leave here willingly. But Granz should be able to force him out, right? Make him go home. Or at least leave this lab."

"You hate it here. So why not write your own ticket out? Stop worrying about other people-"

"You wouldn't get it!" Uryu's eyes burned wild blue. Something dark and foreboding; a sky starting to storm. "I've tried to leave, but I can't get out yet. I doubt I'll be able to think of a good enough plan before he tires of me. Sexta, I'm going to die here. I've accepted my fate. So I need to do my best to get Sado out of here. Before he gets interested in studying him, too."

"Studying, huh." Grimmjow felt his eyes wander again. Uryu's posture rivaled that of Ulquiorra's; straight back, high head. Too stiff. But… his face was far different than Ulquiorra's. It displayed far too many emotions for even Grimmjow to understand. It was confusing, twisted, lost in itself. "You're a dumbass."

Surprise. Confusion. Anger. "I don't want to hear that from a brainless brute like you." Grimmjow laughed from his place on the ground. Uryu huffed and sat back on the chair. "Why are you giving me advice, anyway?"

Grimmjow shrugged, then rethought. "I've been alone with Sado forever. The guy doesn't fucking talk… But you run your mouth nonstop. So I figured I'd balance out my ears before heading off. Since you're not coming with."

Uryu's eyes widened, "he's letting you go?" Surprise. Hope. Fear.

"I'm going. But Sado… he won't leave without you."

The Quincy jumped out of his chair and grabbed onto the Espada's clothes, practically sitting in his lap. He pulled tight enough to break the threads in the neck of the garment, something deranged flashing across his face. "YOU HAVE TO MAKE HIM."

"I don't have," Grimmjow grabbed Uryu's wrists tight enough to hurt, "to do anything. I'm tired of humans bossing me around."

He was crying. Uryu tried to pull a hand back to wipe his face, but Grimmjow kept hold of them. This emotion… this was the confusing one, he realized. Sorrow. It didn't read right on the Quincy's face. If there were no tears, you'd think he's smiling. But that… that couldn't be right. It was contradicting. Confusing.

"You have to get him home. Please." Soft, almost imperceptible words. "Please." Again. "Please." Again. It wasn't the same weak he would normally associate with human tears. It was a broken, tired, weak that he had only heard from himself. All those years ago. Grimmjow shook off the thought. He let go of Uryu's wrists. The boy stopped pleading.

"Where's that bitchy attitude gone? Huh? Where's that loud mouth of yours?" Uryu slowly stood. He took a few steps away from Grimmjow to lay down on his bed, curling up beside his meal. The Espada sat, lost in what had changed.

"Leave me alone." Uryu pulled his blankets over himself. "You're not going to help me, so just leave me alone." He stared blankly at the wall, willing his tears to stop.

Grimmjow, after a final moment of confusion, stood and left.

4.8

Coyote snored loudly from his place on the ground. Lilynette sat with her boney ass digging into his spine. He didn't seem to mind, Grimmjow noted.

"So what you wanna do," she maneuvered a beaker with her left hand and another with her right, "is combine these in a small container." They both glanced around. She pointed at a small bowl with a lid. Grimmjow stood and grabbed it, emptying its odd gooey contents onto the ground. He handed her the bowl and lid. Lilynette dumped one beaker in, then the other, quickly sealing the container, placing it down, and jumping off of Coyote. She and Grimmjow ran behind a table and waited. Within seconds, the chemical concoction blew, scaring Coyote awake, but not doing enough to injure him.

Still, he jumped up and made a big show about being attacked. He jumped around and grabbed Lilynette, throwing her over a shoulder and singing a funny song Grimmjow had long since forgotten. Of course, Szayel came storming in soon after, and started complaining about the mess and demanding they "stop testing chemical reactions in his lab." Still, he never really threw too big a fuss. Grimmjow wondered if it was because he was scared. Scared of him, the Sexta Espada. Scared of the Primera Espada, too.

Grimmjow took Uryu's trash-a bento from some convenience store in Japan, he gathered from the labels-and a few water bottles. What was he doing, he found himself repeating again and again. He took the trash to the lab and disposed of the water bottles in the weird dark hole Szayel had shown him when he started taking care of the human. He kept hold of the bento trash and started searching the lab. This room was currently not in use; most of this underground lab seemed inactive. At this point, Szayel barely left the main lab. So this room, filled just the same with chemicals and tools, sat empty.

What was he doing, he repeated. He smelled around the lab and located the ingredients Lilynette had shown him before. He couldn't remember what she'd called them, but he doubted she had used their "right" names anyway. He grabbed a beaker, picked up two of the ingredients, and combined them together. He grabbed another beaker then found the other three ingredients, putting them in the other beaker. He then grabbed the two beakers with one hand and the bento trash with the other and left the lab.

This wouldn't be easy, but it could work. He wouldn't be able to use sonido, so he'd be cutting it close, but it could work. And if not… nothing lost, really. He'd pull Ichigo out of hiding on his own.

Grimmjow opened the door to Chad's cell. Chad looked at him expectantly; he'd been waiting for Grimmjow's decision. The Sexta rolled his eyes, "come on." Chad was hesitant, but he trusted Grimmjow enough to follow him out of the room and down an expansive hallway. "You better be able to run fast. It's the only way this shitty plan will work." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chad perk up. Grimmjow smirked; humans were weird. They turned down a few halls, then Grimmjow held up his arm to stop Chad in his tracts. "You wait here. Be ready to run."

Grimmjow went further down the hall, turning a few more corners until he finally picked a place to stop. He poured one of the beakers into the container, took a breath, then poured the other, quickly closing the lid, putting it on the ground, and running back to Chad before the loud bang of an explosion validated Grimmjow's chemical selection. He didn't stop at Chad, instead running straight past him. Chad, after a panicked millisecond, ran after him, down a few halls and twists. Grimmjow suddenly stopped, causing Chad to almost topple with the suddenness. Quickly, he typed the code on the wall, and the door to Uryu's room rose.

The boy sat in his chair reading. He immediately looked up at Grimmjow's panting form, scrunching his eyebrows together. "Let's go!" Uryu was out of the chair, throwing the book as if it were nothing, and running after Grimmjow and Chad down the white corridor. Embarrassingly enough, Uryu felt enormous strain from what would normally be such a simple run. He could barely keep up with Chad and if they kept this pace for much longer, Uryu feared he'd pass out.

They ran for less than a minute and arrived at the main lab. It was empty, Grimmjow smirked. His shitty plan was working. The Sexta ran in and pushed a dissection table aside. He lifted the panel to the tunnel-

-then was kicked so hard he flew back six feet and put a Grimmjow-shaped hole in the wall.

Szayel closed the panel, panting hard. Grimmjow slowly pulled himself out of the wall, "you're faster than I remembered-" As if to prove a point, Szayel used sonido to cross the distance between them and threw a few punches to Grimmjow's gut till he was keeled over, gasping for air.

Uryu stood wide-eyed. Grimmjow was the Sexta Espada, but here he was so easily knocked down by the Octava. It felt like a nightmare. With no humor, Uryu pinched his arm so hard he felt the skin break and warm blood smear his fingertips. He wasn't asleep. This was real.

Chad lifted an arm in front of Uryu, the Quincy stopping in place, now realizing he'd been slowly stepping forward. Chad put his arm down and rolled his shoulders back. Szayel kicked Grimmjow's face, sending him flying to the other side of the lab just as easily as he'd sent him six feet back. Without much warning, Chad ran at Szayel, drawing back to punch the Espada. Uryu barely had the time to be horrified before Chad's fist actually connected with the Espada's face.

Still, even with all the strength he could muster, without his powers, the punch didn't so much as move Szayel. The Octava grabbed Chad's arm and twisted. Uryu swore he heard a snap, but Chad only softly grunted in pain. Szayel's whole face scrunched in on itself, "that HURT." The Espada lifted Chad by his broken arm and punched him in the face with ten times the strength Chad had used. Szayel dropped Chad to the ground just in time to dodge a flying kick from Grimmjow. The Sexta flew past Szayel and landed poorly on the ground. He immediately got to his feet.

Szayel was faster. The Octava had a hand around Grimmjow's neck, squeezing tight enough to match his face to his hair-binds around his wrists had turned his hands a discolored blue: they blistered and smelled of-Grimmjow threw a punch to Szayel's gut, actually managing to land a blow. Similar to Chad's punch, the pathetic amount of power only served to piss Szayel off. The Octava lifted his other hand and proceeded to bash Grimmjow's face in. When seemingly satisfied with his work, Szayel dropped the Sexta to the ground. Szayel swiftly kicked him in the side, causing Grimmjow to pull in his body. "I was going to help you. Why would you cause such a mess?"

Grimmjow laughed, thick and full-bodied. "Payback? For your stupid display of power the other day." Szayel laughed, thin and brittle, in disbelief. The Sexta slowly rose to his knees. "That guy says he'll do me a favor. Figured that'd be of use." Szayel arched an eyebrow, still not convinced. Grimmjow pulled himself to his feet.

He was running through the halls of Las Noches. Sonido was against the rules, but every once in a while he'd light it under his feet to go just a little faster. He needed the advantage since he was so big anyway. Grimmjow ran past a few power walking Hollow, none truly brave enough to hang around in the halls of Las Noches for long. In particular, he noticed Aizen's aids-they walked quickly and close to the wall, but they at least braved speaking in the echoing hallway. For shits and giggles, Grimmjow stepped out of the middle of the hallway to walk directly in their path. The blonde girl quickly averted her eyes and dragged the brunette to the other side of the hallway. Grimmjow let out a booming laugh, then quickly silenced himself. This wasn't the time to be messing around.

He sped up, careful not to cheat with Sonido too much, and rounded a corner. He opened a door and rushed inside, closing the door after himself. When he looked at the room's occupants, they looked down. They seemed to be seamster Hollow-since Aizen insisted everyone in Las Noches be fully clothed, those evolved to have functioning hands were typically made to sew. They didn't talk first, and he didn't want to chat. Without any warning or explanation, he walked over to a pile of fabric and shimmied himself into the middle of it. It was unclear how good the hiding place was, but Grimmjow felt pretty confident he'd win.

After a moment of confusion and hesitation, the Hollow got back to work. Grimmjow peered out into the room from his spot and observed some of the work being done. It was boring and completely unnecessary. Aizen always chose to make things more complicated than they needed to be. The door to the room opened and Grimmjow shoved himself further back in his spot. The Hollow stopped their work. He waited, listened, because searching for reiatsu was against the rules, and was delighted to hear the door close again. He was in the clear-

-the pile of fabric was pulled off him. Stark and Lilynette laughed, Grimmjow did too. They'd found him.

He had wanted them in his pack, but they were far too loyal to Aizen to trust. They were probably dead by now, used on the frontline of a Shinigami's war. Grimmjow had found himself obsessed with what it would've been like to truly have added them to his pack. Maybe he could've convinced them to hang back in Hueco Mundo, too.

"I'm a leader, Octava. I need a pack to lead."

Szayel's face contorted as if to laugh, then expanded with rage. He kicked Grimmjow harder this time and kept kicking him until he let out that original bout of laughter. It was deranged, horribly echoing back into Uryu's ears.

Uryu snapped back into the moment. Where had he gone? He'd seen the scene play out, but it seemed as if he wasn't physically present. With a swell of nervous courage, Uryu ran forward and tackled Szayel. To his surprise, he actually managed to take the Espada down to the ground. Szayel seemed surprised, too. Then angry. He glared, then threw the Quincy off of him. Uryu's body only stopped when it collided with the wall. His head hurt; so did everything else.

Before Uryu could focus on anything, he felt himself being lifted by the front of his shirt. Szayel held him up against the wall, a truly terrible frown etched into his face. "I told you I'd catch you." Szayel let go of him, dropping Uryu to the ground. Uryu looked up and noticed the reason for his descent. Szayel held Chad by the throat so tightly he lifted slightly off the ground, even though the boy was four inches taller than him. Chad's hands clawed at Szayel's to no avail.

Chad started panicking. He began really fighting against Szayel, kicking and punching out, but nothing could land. Uryu managed to drag himself up, even though his head was spinning, and started grabbing at Szayel as well. Szayel just used his free hand to hit Uryu back into the wall, knocking his head once more. Chad's face twisted blue under the sterile lights of the lab. His fighting weakened, his hands slowly slipping off of Szayel's.

Uryu tried to pull himself up, but his head was too groggy. His vision swam every time he moved. "No…" Chad's body started going limp. "STOP!" Szayel held tight. He kept his cold, sadistic gaze locked on Chad's dying face. Uryu's scream resonated like a tsunami, blanketing everything in a heavy wave of sound and light.

Uryu pushed himself up and ran at Szayel again, tackling him to the ground. Chad fell on his side, gasping for air. Szayel stared up at Uryu, whose hands were now tight around Szayel's throat. The reiatsu coating Uryu in layers of power was not his own, but Szayel's. It burned pink, thick and heavy in the air. Uryu squeezed harder, a pink noose pulling taught around Szayel's neck The Octava gasped for air; Uryu laughed, loud and deranged.

Silence.

Uryu's eyes widened; his hands loosened. Szayel twisted his sword further into the Quincy till it was visible on the other side. Uryu reached towards the sword, Szayel pushed him off of it and onto the ground. He was not smiling, not laughing in the slightest.

Szayel glanced towards Grimmjow, who still lay recovering halfway across the lab. Then glanced towards Chad, who had just caught his breath. Szayel stepped forward, lifting Chad the boy by his throat once more. He squeezed tighter, till Chad's face was once again blue, and Chad's fingers were clawing at his hands.

The neon pink that had wrapped Uryu's body now focused on his wound. It tried to form a bandage around his torso, seal his blood and guts in, but Uryu fought the temptation to heal. His life didn't matter in the same way Chad's did. And yet, when he tried to stand, his legs refused to move. And when he tried to use ransotengai on Szayel, to tie him up and buy more time, the ribbon just wrapped tighter around his wound.

Chad's feet weren't touching the ground, and some of his fingernails had pulled off, and his face, what you could see of it under his hair, was blue-the color of death. And Uryu couldn't stand, couldn't fight, couldn't even body check Szayel a third time. So it was hopeless. Just like Renji, and just like Keigo, and just like Lumina and Verona.

Hope powered people like Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad.

But, Uryu admitted, hope never powered him.

"I'LL DO WHAT YOU WANT," Uryu screamed. "I'll do anything you want." Szayel held Chad for a moment longer, then dropped him to the floor. Chad gasped for air.

Szayel turned his icy stare to Uryu, "you'll do what I want?"

He was crying, the tears splintered his words, "yes. Anything you want. Just don't kill him. Please don't kill him."

It was annoying. Szayel wasn't as happy as he should've been. He was getting what he wanted, yes, but he was getting it because Uryu cared for someone else enough to wrap his greedy little hands around the Octava's throat.

Szayel looked back at Chad, who kneeled on the ground, still gasping for air. "Get out." Chad's heavy breathing stopped. His brown eyes peaked through thick bunches of hair. "I said, get out."

Chad drew in another breath and sharpened his gaze, "not without-" Szayel kicked him in the face, knocking him down. Chad held his eye, Uryu held his breath.

"I don't like to repeat myself." The Octava stood over Chad, rage lurking behind his eyes. "Don't make me say it again." He turned his back to Chad and took a few steps away, trying to appear nonchalant. Collected.

Chad's hands pulled away from his face, blood dripped from his eye. He used his hands to push him up to his feet. There was a shift in his body, and he charged towards Szayel again. Uryu pushed the pain down to stand up. He fell into Chad, stopping the boy before he could hit Szayel once more. Chad held Uryu up; it seemed like he could no longer do even that on his own. "You have to leave. Now." Uryu tucked a piece of paper discreetly into Chad's waistband, hidden by his shirt.

Now I am going to destroy my heart myself, and pour my blood into your veins. I shall be happy if a new life can enter into your bosom, when my heart has stopped beating; Uryu almost laughed, finally understanding those words.

Chad shook his head, "you can't stay here alone."

Uryu smiled up at him, his tears finally stopping, "I'll be alright, Sado-kun. You have to go now."

Grimmjow managed to pull himself off the ground. That damn Octava had really let him have it. But still, Grimmjow knew the Espada could've killed him if he'd wanted to. Neither of them had even tried to pull their swords on each other, the outcome would've been too messy. Mainly for the powerless Sexta. Grimmjow slinked over to Chad and Uryu's display and put a hand on Chad's shoulder. "C'mon, kid, we've gotta go. We'll find that Kurosaki shit-head on our own. The Sexta's done helping us."

Chad held Uryu tighter. Uryu pushed him gently, Chad did not move. "You have to tell Kurosaki about Abarai and Asano. You have to go home now. I'll be alright."

Ichigo. If he could get home to Ichigo and the others… they could all come back and find the lab and take Uryu home. But Uryu wasn't safe here. Chad didn't like the power Szayel exuded over the proud Quincy; he didn't like the way the Espada looked at Uryu, either. He wanted to stay and protect him however he could.

Chad looked down at Uryu, who was showing him that fake smile again-all while trying to discreetly put pressure on his own wound-the wound Szayel had caused.

Uryu Ishida was different from people like Orihime or Ichigo. He didn't smile all the time, but he also didn't have a permanent scowl etched into his face. He usually wore a blank expression, but he'd smile when he saw Chad, or when he enjoyed a song, or when the sun was out and the day was warm. He'd scowl too; when a Hollow appeared-Chad's first sign was always Uryu's scowl-or when Ichigo pushed him too far-Chad would be watching in case he needed to physically intervene. But this odd forced smile used to cover up something was new. And what he was covering... sadness, loss, grief, pain, fear… Chad was unsure. It twisted knots in his stomach.

He had to get Uryu out of here, but he stood no chance on his own. He'd have to find a way home. Chad pulled Uryu into a hug, Uryu stiffened, Chad held him tighter. He whispered, "I'll come back. Just… stay alive. Juro volveré." Chad loosened his grip on Uryu, the boy still showing him that fake smile. He didn't believe him, Chad knew. But he'd prove Uryu wrong.

Grimmjow put a hand on Uryu's shoulder, startling the Quincy out of his connection with Chad. "Don't die yet. You owe me a fight!" Uryu's eyebrows pulled together. Grimmjow laughed again. "You said if Kurosaki beat me, you could too. I wanna see you put your money where your mouth is." Grimmjow removed his hand and motioned for Chad to follow him out. Chad made sure Uryu was stable enough to stand on his own, then followed after. Grimmjow lifted the panel again and started climbing down the ladder. Chad looked at Uryu once more, nodded, then followed after the Sexta. Right before Grimmjow's head ducked into the tunnel, he looked at Szayel, "thanks for your lovely hospitality." He went further into the tunnel until he was out of sight. Chad was eventually out of sight, as well.

After a silent moment, Szayel walked over and closed the panel, pushing the table back over it. When he turned back to Uryu, the Quincy wished the floor would swallow him whole.

"How interesting," Szayel cooed. "A supposedly powerless Quincy using powers. Why didn't you say you could do this earlier?"

Uryu looked down at his stomach, no longer wrapped in pink ribbon. At this point, the only thing keeping his insides inside was the half-assed pressure generated by his tired hands. He felt the blood spill out of his back, as if to prove a point. Maybe he'd lost some guts, too.

"I didn't know," he ground out. "I don't even know how I did it then. It just happened and suddenly I was coated in your reaitsu… and I couldn't feel my mind."

Szayel slid closer. Uryu refrained from retreating. "Kill or be killed; who originated that?"

"I don't know," Uryu responded.

"You don't seem to know much," Szayel fixed himself; fluffed his hair, cleaned his glasses. "Try taking better notes, I don't have any use for a stupid lab assistant." He cracked his fingers, "and be ready for the new experiments I'll be preparing to test out this blip in my computers censoring." Amber eyes drifted down Uryu's paling frame, "and lie down on that table, I need to heal that wound."

Shuffling to the table, Uryu risked a glance back towards Szayel, "the people: free them first, then deal with me."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Nothing's ever completed fast enough for your liking." Szayel shrugged, "don't die in the meantime," and he was gone.

Uryu took heavy steps closer, closer towards the table, but with each stride, he further felt the dizzying effects of blood loss, enough to wonder how much blood he could lose before going into hypovolemic shock. He couldn't have lost that much, not much time had passed at all, but sure enough, the floor behind him was coated in red blood.

4.9

With quick feet, Szayel passed through the halls of his lab to where the humans were. He opened the door to the "strangers" room and, before they could physically react, blasted the room with so much reiatsu they were instantly knocked unconscious. He stacked them on top of each other, then threw them over one shoulder. For a moment, he wished Lumina and Verona were here to carry the dead weight, but quickly brushed the notion aside. Uryu was assisting him again; he didn't need anyone else. Szayel rushed over to the "married" room and repeated the process of knocking them out, and placed them over his other shoulder. All four seemed to be alright; malnourished, but breathing. He'd really have to review the footage and collect proper data from the experiment; though, was it even worth collecting data since the experiment had an altered end?

No. It did have a purpose, and he should document it, the Octava reasoned with himself. Still, he found himself contesting the experiments worth in an effort not to sit around for days reviewing their time here. He really didn't care about the people. He didn't care about the snakes, either. That was the problem. Who was he without his experiments? Who was he without science and study? And what would fill their space now that they'd taken ungranted leave?

Love? Szayel found himself walking slowly back to the lab. He had wanted to return immediately after he'd left, so why was he dragging his feet now? Only questions, Szayel noted, only questions. And the thought of love, since love had always been quite the thought. His shoulders felt heavy; weighed down by four beating hearts. He didn't care about a single one of them. They could cease their useless pumping at any time and Szayel would feel nothing from it.

But if Uryu's stopped beating-a shiver went down his spine. That was a useless thought. Since the Quincy was here, Szayel could easily ensure his continued survival. Or could he? How long is his lifespan? Much shorter than that of a Hollows or Shinigami. He was unsure of how long a Quincy's lifespan was, but it was safe to assume that it's relatively close to that of a human. So 100 years. Less. 80, then. That seemed closer. And the boy was sixteen. It wouldn't be long until he died, Szayel realized.

He stopped walking.

64 years. That's how long he had. 64 years. An impossibly short time to spend together. Not even close to the time Szayel'd spent alive-or rather, the amount of time he'd spent dead. So what would he do with love after the boy died? Could he keep Uryu's soul around the same as his physical body? It would be harder. He'd have to reinforce the walls to prevent Uryu from passing to Soul Society and possibly do some experiments to see if a spirit could even survive in Hueco Mundo and how long until they'd turn into a Hollow. Since he couldn't have Uryu around as a mindless Hollow.

Unless he could. If Uryu lived for 64 more years, died, became a spirit, then became a Hollow… Szayel could help that Hollow then become a Vasto Lorde. It would be risky, since there was no concrete way of making sure the foremost personality would remain Uryu's, but… with some minor experimentation in the 64 years, Szayel was certain he could find a way.

Or he could consume Uryu.

Szayel jerked himself out of the thought. It came upon him so suddenly and without warning, he'd surprised even himself. Sure, it had been a while since he ate in the traditional sense. Hunting for fun was more Grimmjow's territory. But he didn't really need to eat that way. And he certainly had never wanted to eat that way. But eating Uryu… his mouth watered, forcing him to bite his tongue. That kind of thought wouldn't do. The brief enjoyment of eating Uryu's soul would be nothing compared to the boredom of the boy's absence. So, that thought could be reasonably shoved down.

Down, down, down, Szayel noted.

He sped back up to a much more appropriate pace. If he was gone too long, Uryu might think he'd left him alone and try to follow after Chad and Grimmjow-no. Uryu had sworn to him. He wouldn't try to escape. So Szayel had nothing to fear. Seeing his memories, Szayel understood the importance of Uryu swearing on his pride as a Quincy, but he couldn't help the irrational fear that Uryu would leave anyway.

Szayel rounded the corner and finally found himself in the hallway leading up to his lab. He readjusted the bodies on his shoulder, actively trying not to look like a serial killer to no avail. With one final adjustment, he walked back into the lab to discover an unconscious Quincy on the ground.