WOW, I feel like it has been a really long time but its only been a week or so... Nonetheless, I'm really sorry for the late update!

I'm so unbelievably excited for you guys to read this chapter!

Thank you sooo much if you followed this story! It means everything to me! Really.

Warning: We are getting into the darker stuff so please do not read if not prepared for the worst!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, just the story line.

Without further ado- Chapter Eight here we come!

"Who exactly are you?" I hissed through the cracks in their forever flowing conversation. Deciding to throw politeness to the wind after five minutes turned to ten.

Bonnie and Kisuke paused, and turned slightly to stare at me blankly. I counted two heartbeats before Bonnie turned to my uncle, "She isn't on board?"

Kisuke laughed under his breath as he shook his head in a small motion, "I was leading up to it."

"Leading up to what?" The irritation was clear in my tone.

With a big, overly dramatic, roll of her eyes in Kisuke's direction Bonnie took three steps toward me, until her tiny frame was right before me. The very top of her head coming to a stop at my brow, and the scar looked even more rough close up. Almost like she's tampered with the healing process. Like she wore the mark like a badge of honor.

And that was exactly how she held herself; Honorably.

"You, Orihime Inoue, have been chosen. Not for your allegiance, or status but because of your actions toward the weak and the helpless." Her fingers reached into her cloak, and Vladimir was already half drawn before her cloak dropped, revealing her leather laced seal, etched into the blackness of her military grade trudge neck shirt in a piercing red.

At first I did not understand, because I had seen the image before, every day. In fact my hand was currently wrapped around it. For it was a long Claymore blade encased in thorns, wrapping up to entwine with a rose resting a top the swords hilt.

Her seal- it was Vladimir.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Bonnie grinned, in a way that told me I had asked the question she'd been wanting. "I could tell you, but I've always thought that seeing things with your own eyes, speaks louder than even the rightest of words."

She moved towards the doors I'd noticed upon entering, leaving her cloak at my feet. She placed both palms flat against the splitting wood, pausing just long enough to look over her shoulder at me and say with a poorly hidden enthusiasm, "Welcome, Heir, to the end of the world."

The doors being thrown open revealed to me a jaw dropping sight. One that made me wish I had never followed Kisuke into the slums.

The warehouse was deceivingly large, roughly the size of three cattle barns- and with a similar smell. There were three balcony levels, each one wrapping around the entirety of the large space, even taking up the space above my head. But it was not the size that stopped my heart clean in my chest.

The room was filled with Inbetweeners.

Every balcony filled to the brink, and even the ground level where I currently stood, was completely packed with bodies. Small and large, male and female alike.

I'd allowed Kisuke to lead me to my death.

I would never leave this place. Well, perhaps my head would. As they sent it to the king in a pleasantly wrapped gift box. I'm sure my father would mount it to his wall as a trophy.

I waited for them to charge, not even bothering to reach for my own weapons, I'm sure they would overpower me within seconds either way.

Yet, none of them even looked my way. They all continued on as if no one had entered, as if the Heir to the very throne that had spent years crushing their people did not stand utterly defenseless not ten feet in front of them.

"Don't mind the smell. I've been trying to encourage more hygiene but... you know how men can be." Bonnie shrugged, casually.

Having no words, I turned, slightly wide eyed, to Kisuke. Who also seemed rather relaxed. If not slightly amused by my expression. "You seem surprised, my dear?" Formed as a question but delivered with a snickering tone that conveyed it as more of a jab.

I, deliberately, chose to say nothing. Though, many hateful words filled my head, right along side the useful knowledge that the door we'd emerged from was the only exit. Instead of indulging in my annoyance, I surveyed my surroundings more thoroughly.

And I was still slightly shocked to find that no one cared about my presence. It seemed I was the only one not aware that I'd be here.

Though, across the room, I did notice a pair of eyes watching me. A tall man, with bright orange hair and muscle to spare, stood between two others who only glanced slightly in my direction, if only to see what had taken their friends attention away from them. And as soon as they knew, they turned away again- uninterested.

I tried not to be insulted.

"Don't worry, Orihime, I gave the order for them to keep their distance. They know you're merely here to observe today." Bonnie's gravely voice broke my attention away from the men. I turned the full weight of my gaze to her, and she did not shrink. Actually, she seemed to stand taller, like my eyes, somehow, made her feel more empowered. Odd.

"And what exactly am I here to observe, Bonnie Carter?"

Her mouth twitched at her name, and she folded her arms behind her back firmly. "The rebellion we have built to overthrow your father."

I scoffed lowly, for a moment not fully believing her words. But as the seconds ticked by, I could see in her young, yet brutalized, face that these were not words said lightly. The very air in the room shifted, as I very suddenly, felt the full and unoccupied attention of every person within ear shot.

'What will she do?' They must be thinking. And I had the same thought, my mind automatically switching into the role of General. Thinking about how many people were close enough to attack, using my past experiences to determine which one would strike first, if given the order. And wondering how many of them could I drag down to hell with me.

I had not yet decided who I should be in the next moments, Heir or General? But, I was given a few more seconds to decide when a male, perhaps ten years my senior, with sleek black hair and a narrow face appeared behind Bonnie.

Bellatonian.

"I know you didn't want to be disturbed today, Bronze." I blinked at the name. "But SS refuses to comply."

She turned her face towards him, her scarred tissue stretching over her cheek bone, as she spoke so lowly, I barely caught the end. "- bodies drop without cause in the lower rim far too easily. Let us see how SS feels then, Ishida."

Barely a nod given to her words. And a slightly curious snap glance at me, and Ishida was gone. But even through the rising sound of conversation surrounding us the nickname hung in the air and I took the opportunity to avoid the conversation that would surely leave me with a sword sticking through my chest, and asked, "Bronze?"

Bonnie looked up, rubbing at the nape of her neck, and so abruptly she appeared so completely young. "Oh, that. Everyone began calling me Bronze when I joined the cause."

"Because of your hair?" I threw out, not at all focused on her. My gaze once again back towards the only men who'd looked at me. Only the one remained, he'd come closer, just close enough for me to make out the flecks of gold in his dark eyes. And now, a dagger spin on the tip of his long index finger. The man, having noticed my attention, had the steel nerve to smirk.

And if looks could kill, he'd be dead already.

"My hair?" Bonnie questioned, confused for a moment, then barked out a laugh, "Oh, no, not because of that. The real reason- well, it's actually quite embarrassing, really."

I shifted my gaze back to hers, her tone- soft and slightly guarded- drawing my interest more than the words themselves, but her eyes were downcast, focused instead on her shuffling feet.

"If you don't wish to tell me, then I don't wish to know."

I was, perhaps, the last person allowed to demand answers, for I had more than enough to keep quiet about. Thinking the discussion over, I couldn't keep my stare from the man with the bright hair and sharp dagger, and he lifted a brow in a questioning arch. A challenge as clear as the sun itself. I had already begun my first step towards him, fully intending to smash his teeth in, when Bonnie's voice sounded out.

"Well, it's because of you. When I came here, I would always talk about you."

She crossed her arms, slouching slightly, settling in as she began her story.

"You probably won't remember, but when I was eleven I visited this city. Now, I realize, that I'd taken a walk far too late in the night, but in Bellator, no one fears such things. So when two men attacked me, I did not know anything about preventing their violence. To this day, I don't know why they chose me, I'd had a pack filled with food, even a few silver coins, but they didn't even look for them. Not even a glance. As I grew older, I began to think that they did it just for pure enjoyment. Of hurting something smaller and weaker than they were." Her hand drifted to her cheek, her fingers sliding over the scarred tissue. I could guess how far down that scar went and anger filled my gut, already knowing where this story led.

"Well, long story short, they were pieces of filth, and they died far too quickly." Her tone filled with a lethal venom that I understood deep in my very core.

"You killed them?" An eleven year old Bellatonian? Against two adult males? Even if they hadn't been from the underbelly of this city, I still wouldn't have put the odds in her favor.

"No, Orihime." She explained, softly. "You did."

Shocked, I studied her bright red hair, her piercing eyes, and tried to attach her to a memory I must have long since forgotten. Yet, as hard as I searched, I could not find it.

Though, my imagination could picture the scene far too easily, as if a door had been slammed open, a door I had welded shut.

It showed me a young girl, broken and bleeding, screaming at the men who had done the breaking. I walked through the darkness towards the smell of blood, towards the men standing over a naked girl, I listened as she begged for a mercy that wouldn't come.

I shook my head, clearing out the thoughts sprouting from within me.

"So, you do not remember.. that is alright. For I remember it as if it were yesterday. In one moment, he was moving to get on top of me, and in the next he had a Silver Sword sticking straight through his heart. And then, when he slumped back, I saw you, dressed in white. Truthfully, I thought you were an angel at first; my own personal savior. Your sword... dripping with his blood, your eyes shining with the promise of death. The other male, the one who'd been holding me down, began to beg you. Begging you to understand. First, you cut out his tongue," she smiled wickedly, as if savoring every detail. "and then you slit his throat wide and let him choke on his own blood. As long as I live I'll never forget it, even when my soul is ripped from my body. You'd only been 15 and you'd killed them so easily, had done it without remorse. It was then that I knew, that you could see what I saw, that they deserved to die."

Bonnie straightened, a twinkle forming in her eye. "I had only seen you once before, in the arena that day you became Heir, it had only been two years but your soul had aged; darkened. But when you looked at me, I knew you were still righteous, deep down where it counts." She paused for a small moment before continuing, a new firmness finding its way into her tone. "You gave me your cloak, and told me to stop crying. You told me tears were useless against fists and if I didn't want this to happen again, then I should pull my head out of my ass and do something about it."

"As sensitive as always it seems." I laughed, attempting to lighten the overwhelming darkness that had begun to swarm like wasps into my stomach.

But, Bonnie did not laugh, she simply looked at me, her beautiful unyielding face, her eyes, somehow, soft. "You were right, of course, I had hidden within myself long enough. So, I came here, and I learned to fight and to steal and to lie. I never saw you again until now, but I spoke of you often, perhaps I even worshiped you. Soon, they'd began to call me Bronze because, since that day, I strived to be like you, to be as strong as you. The Silver Heir to the Golden Throne. You were everything I wanted to be."

Each word that passed her lips felt like a fifty pound brick being added to my shoulders, threatening to crush me.

I could not be a role model, for I wasn't a person to be rallied behind. My hands dripped in so much blood, that I wasn't sure if there was still skin beneath it all. I had done unspeakable things, I'd tortured and terrorized too many to count.

I couldn't even remember the men I had killed that night in the alley- how many others had I forgotten? Dozens? Hundreds?

"And when I look at you now, I know I am right, that you are destined to save us all."

I swallowed, thickly, her words lodging something deep in my throat. And the longer they hung in the air around us, the larger the lump became. "You know the things I have done, the things I have let be done. How many girls have been dragged into that alley? Girls I didn't save. I have killed men, women and children. Innocent people. I was forged by the Gods to destroy- that is all I have done and all I will ever do. You are already doomed, if you believe me to be your angel, or your savior. I am just a broken person who has lost the ability to save myself, let alone anyone else."

And even though every word I said was dripping in truth, Bonnie just continued to smile. She grinned so wide I thought her cheeks might rip open.

I took a step back and was met with a wall of flesh. Looking behind my shoulder I saw the man who had been staring at me all this time. The dagger long gone, but the smirk remained.

"Don't you see," Bonnie began, gesturing to the crowd that had gathered to listen, "we are all like you. We have all done terrible deeds, all the things we had to do, to survive this horrid city. Sometimes, we aren't given a choice, Orihime. But if my only options are to kill or be killed," she took a deep steadying breath, "well, then give me a rock, and I'll bash my opponents head in."

Her choice of words wasn't lost to me. Many of her soldiers had probably been born here, and, more likely than not, they'd been brought to watch my trials all of those years ago. Which means they were all there to see me kill my brother and were all old enough to remember it.

Kill or be killed, a very poetic way of describing it.

I stepped away from the man, and didn't stop until I was looking directly into Bonnie's eyes. "My father is a very busy man, but you would be a fool to think he does not know everything that goes on in his city. I do not know why he has let you play the rebel but I can assure you that his mercy will soon wear thin."

I looked about the room, at all the young faces, they stared back and I could see myself in their shimmering orbs. They believed me to be something I was not, something I could never be. They thought we were the same, and perhaps we were, but none of them had the same weight to bear. None of them knew what it truly cost to survive.

"The king is not a kind man, as you all know. Imagine, your homes burned to ashes; your families trapped in the flames. And if you try to escape, if you run, he will send me after you. And believe me when I say that I will kill each and every one of you myself. Do not take my words as cold and uncaring, take them as the warning they are. His justice will soon be upon you," I looked back at Bonnie... Bronze, "make sure you are prepared for it."

She nodded, understanding the risk I was taking for her, for them all. But despite my threats, as I left the warehouse- leaving Kisuke behind- I felt lighter than I had in years.

For deep inside me, a tiny part of my blackened soul had begun to glow.

.

.

.

Well, hello Ichigo! Everyone has been waiting, oh so patiently, for you!

I know he didn't have any dialogue in this chapter but hey, at least you know he exists! ^-^

Please leave a review if you have any thoughts! I'd love to hear them!

Till next time-