Ah, hello again. Have fun with this chapter. Slight gore.
I might be even slower in my updates...school and all that crap. Anywayz, enjoy you heartless flamers.
Lost Heart
Laugh all you want.
Empty and defeated.
Cry all you want.
Fight and live.
"WHAT IMPOSSIBLE! Why is that brat still alive?!"
The people who surrounded their master took a weary step back.
"Your highness," said the one who was closest, "it appears we were thwarted by an Espada attempting soul reaper abilities. The child's soul still lives. Our spies have confirmed this fact."
"I never should let Isshin Kurosaki live!" his highness muttered, a crazed look on his face. "Send soldiers the annihilate the brat immediately!"
"But Hueco Re—"
"Be damned! I won't have another threat to my power! I don't care if Hueco Rey loses his temper by you being there! Just kill Kurosaki's spawn before sundown!"
"Yes your majesty."
The people all bowed in sync to their master before backing out of the room, relieved to leave his furious presence.
Two figures silently made their way down to the deepest remains of Las Nochas. The shark and fox, so contradictory in personality were strongly united on a single purpose. Both found each other in a time of need. Both had a debt to repay. The fact that it was a perfect being they were indebted to made it all the more interesting.
"Gin, these cells will hardly be enough to hide him during recovery. His friends will no doubt try to retrieve him."
"You're gettin impatient…just wait for it—ah, here we are~!"
The fox pressed a pale hand to an invisible barrier which rippled slightly under his touch. A door appeared to their left.
"After you~"
The Espada cautiously entered, observing the strong built in kidō barrier and the chains hanging loosely from the wall. There were various other supplies on a table off to the side ranging from spiritual pressure restrictors to needles that were filled with a suggestive dark substance.
"I see Aizen was rather prepared…" Harribel stated dryly, folding her arms across her chest. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he was paranoid."
"More like overly careful," Gin's lofty voice sounded from the doorway. "He always had a backup plan, in case his first one didn't work ya see. That way, if something didn't work out, he could still say 'all a part of the plan' and take the next course of action. And after all, the kid did beat him, so you can't blame him for all hard work put into this room. It's build to contain the kid and keep others from knowin the location."
The shark scoffed and strode out of the room, shoving the fox aside.
"It will do, but we have a matter to attend to, don't you agree?"
The fox smiled wider, letting his senses reach out.
"So it would seem. They're here."
Nel froze as killing intent passed throughout the air. Ichigo glanced at her.
"Something wrong?"
She looked at him, surprised.
"You didn't feel that?"
"Feel what?"
Nel widened her eyes, bewildered at his lack of urgency. Was something wrong with him? Were his senses not working properly?
"Feel what?" Ichigo repeated, becoming annoyed at being left in the dark.
"There are strangers here, they want to kill."
He blinked.
"A one track mind, huh…are they Soul Reapers?"
"Yes and no. They feel like Soul Reapers, but…much much stronger…Ichigo, I don't think we can beat them…"
"What?" He looked slightly angered. Nel hastily corrected herself.
"There's at least ten overpowered soul reapers here with the same power as you, only it's more…err…controlled."
"Oh."
Nel frowned at his bemused expression.
"King, we can't just stand here. These cloaks can only hide so much of our powers. I don't want to lose you—I don't want any more senseless killing. We need a plan before they find us."
"What makes you think they're after us?"
"What else in Hueco Mundo would be deemed worthy of attention by 10 strong Soul Reapers?"
"True, but why run? If they're strong as us, we still might be able to defeat them."
Nel sighed. "—because they outnumber us greatly. And the farther away we are, the less chance they'll have of finding us."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes, not exactly liking the thought of running away. But there wasn't much of a choice now, was there?
They sonidoed away at top speed, moonlit sands passing by at a blur, almost giving the impression that they were stepping on a fast running grey ocean. It was a few minutes before they reached High Rocks, tall white mountains of stone with shadows that seemed to grow longer with each second. Here and there, glowing eyes poked out fearfully, watching their king pass them by. Nel paid them no concern, they were of no threat. Her sonido became quicker with each step. She could feel the killing intent become stronger no matter how much ground they covered. The enemy was gaining ground. Ichigo by now was starting to lose control over his power in his anticipation, oozing a steady trail of thick spiritual pressure in his wake. The probability of losing control heightened when he lost emotional stability.
His hollow instincts are starting to overwhelm him. He must be hungering for battle.
It was not too unusual for an arrancar to crave battle. The need to fight to survive always remained dormant. After all, hollows are instinctive with a one-against-all mode embedded in their minds. But Nel had to take into account that this was Ichigo. And all laws of simplicity and reason seemed to never affect him. They would have to be careful.
"We need to move faster!" She shouted. A desperate feeling was starting to churn her stomach. She could not press herself to run harder, this was her limit. Luckily, Ichigo sensed her dilemma and grabbed her arm, pulling her along in his double time sonido. Seeing the scenery move by at such an alarming rate only sickened Nel's stomach even more, the contents of it threatening to come back up.
Nel caught a glimpse of Ichigo's face. Beads of sweat were flying off his face while his breath was coming in gasps. Unfortunately, he appeared at his limit too.
This wasn't enough. This was pointless. Nel now knew they should have remained where they originally had been instead of wasting their energy on escaping. Meanwhile, the dangerous spirit power was closing in.
They both made an unsteady halt near a giant grove of white trees. Nel bent down to hurl and Ichigo tried to regain control over his panting.
"Sorry," he wheezed, watching her sickened state. Evidently he felt guilty. "Do you think we lost them?"
He really was poor at sensing spirit power.
"No," she admitted, eyes downcast as she refused to look at him in the face. Nel wiped saliva dripped from her mouth and rose to her feet. "You were right in the beginning. Let's do our best to fight, King."
She chanced a glance at his face. His spirit power no longer was excited, nor was his features. His eyes were dull and unfocused while that oh so familiar scowl was frozen.
"This…" he said, "This all seems so familiar."
His memories…
"Being chased, running, that feeling like I'm not gonna walk away from this…why?"
His voice trembled slightly. The intimidating spirit power was bound to arrive in a few minutes. Of all the times for him to lose it!
"Is that all I ever ask? WHY?! Why do I even bother asking?! It hurts—I lost something, and it wasn't just my memories! I feel so…so…empty..."
His outburst ended with a whimper as he buried his face in his palms. Nel felt herself soften. She couldn't help herself as she placed her hand on his shoulder, they way they'd done back in the World of the Living.
"Look at me."
It was a command. Slowly, the cero Espada, the Hybrid, the Substitute Soul Reaper, the human, the lost boy raised his head, be it unwillingly, to dare to look at the Primeria's face.
Gently raising her left hand, Nel placed it across his chest, over the hole that went straight through.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, even though you've lost the most important thing in the world, the very fact that you lost it means that you can find it. It can be found. I will do all in my power to help you find this important thing. For now, until then, be strong."
For a moment, his yellow eyes contented themselves to gaze into hers. Slowly, she could feel resolve flicker back into his aura.
That's right. Remember. Your purpose…
She withdrew from him and unsheathed her sword as he did the same. They then turned away from each other and stood back to back, the protective cloaks falling at their feet. The sounds of flashstep filled the air as sand churned beneath ten pairs of feet as the last two Espada were surrounded.
"Declare, Gamuza!" Nel held out her sword in front of her as her spirit power rose, impressing her opponents. She welcomed the sudden surge of strength as her form changed into a four legged powerhouse.
"Heavenly dark sun kills, Resoluctiόn!"
A huge wave of power erupted from behind her. The feeling of a new killer intent spiked through the air, uncontrolled but fierce and ravenous. Ichigo had actually used it, his resurrection.
"Ichigo?" she spoke softly, turning to face him.
He didn't respond.
Long orange hair blew around his new mask that covered his entire face, two red stripes bleeding down the front. His skin was deathly white, matching his Espada uniform perfectly. His horned head swung around at the gathered Soul Reapers, pondering something. He held up his sword, which strangely had not disappeared in the transformation of resurrection. With each breath he took, the very air quavered with unspoken force. A challenge to those before him: Will you dare to attack me?
Nel was filled with awe at such a terrible sight. Such untamed power! It was, unnerving.
Without warning, Ichigo sprung at his newfound opponent, slicing off their arm with unusual ease.
As if that were a signal, the enemy sprung into action, ignoring Nel completely and rushing her king with swords drawn. Ichigo fended them off silently, his body twisting in acrobatic ways that Nel never knew him capable of.
She snapped out of her stupor and charged, picking off a few who were blown back by an unspoken Getsuga Tenshou.
The enemy resembled Soul Reapers to some extent except for the masks that covered their faces. By now, of few of them had wisely released their zanpakutou, a few of their abilities were rather nasty. One controlled a strange blue fire, leaving a nasty burn on Nel's left arm before she kicked him with her hoof.
Another controlled vibrations in the air, managing to land a hit on Ichigo's hierro, shattering it to expose the tender bare skin beneath the shell. But it was a short lived victory as the Soul Reaper was blown up into oblivion, engulfed by a massive red cero.
The fight was getting out of hand. Even Ichigo wouldn't overkill his opponents unless they were really asking for it. Yet Nel couldn't get him to respond to her shouts, leaving her to conclude at he'd lost himself.
His inhuman scream chilled her to the bone ask he charged at his foes again, this time beaten back by four of them. They were resorting to kidō and bankai, fending him off for the meanwhile. As powerful as the Cero Espada was, he had a weakness. And it wasn't hard to figure out.
The source of his unstable spirit power came from his mask. It was almost funny really; something so strong could shatter so easily.
Nel could only watch in horror as she was pressed back, unable to help Ichigo as he fell hard on the sand, limp and lifeless, his resurrection and mask crumbling away into dust. In a desperate effort, Nel managed to throw back her attacker as she rushed to her King's side.
It was all in vain as a sword slashed at her back and skewered her. Blood spattered her clothes was she skidded into the ground, resurrection form dissolving.
The world was getting bigger as her body shrunk. Her hands were tiny now and couldn't fit through the sleeves of her torn up uniform. Nel no longer had any energy left as hot liquid poured out of her body. Through bleary eyes, she could see those stupid Soul Reapers surround Ichigo, running him through with a blade to check if he really was dead.
A sudden cry of pain told them otherwise.
"What does it take to kill you, son of Kurosaki?" a gruff voice snarled, withdrawing his sword and pulling up the boy by the hair.
"SHUT UP! GO DIE!"
"Shiki, stop asking the brat stupid questions and kill him already." said a calm, serious voice.
"I just expected more from a supposed 'perfect being'! Honestly Ginkou, he barely put up a decent fight!" Skiki protested, not relenting his hold on Ichigo's orange spikes.
"Let me see," Ginkou pulled the boy out of his comrade's reach, holding the struggling child up by the neck and focusing in on its power. "It would seem dying once took a lot out of this one, unbalancing the perfection to focus on one side of its power. Some odd form of Konso I would guess, side effects probably includes loss of memory, power control, and mental state. How interesting…"
"Isn't he?" agreed a new lofty voice, startling the group of clustered Soul Reapers.
"If it isn't Ichimaru Gin come to join the show!" Shiki taunted, sneering at the former captain—only to fall flat on his face, a gaping wound in his chest.
"Oh dear, it looks like my aim's gotten rusty, I meant to get em in the face!"
"Stay out of it, ex captain," Ginkou warned, dropping Ichigo on the ground to draw his sword. "This is none of your business."
"Nor is it yours," said Tia Harribel, suddenly sonidoing next to the fox. "This isn't exactly your territory now, is it?"
"And by who's authority are you speaking for?" snarled a tall Royal Guard, leering at the new arrival.
"Wait Kogisha," Ginkou stopped his companion from moving. He turned back to Ichigo who was struggling to stand back up despite his wounds. "I sense many Protector Reales headed in our direction. Let's finished job here and leave, I fear our presence is unwelcome." He then planted his foot firmly on Ichigo's back, pressing him into the sand so that his struggles would cease somewhat, stilling the weakened boy for a clean fatal strike. "Finish those two off, I'll make quick work of this…"
But Ginkou's attention was diverted by the horrible squelching sound his comrades made as they were sliced neatly in half.
"Sadly," said Gin in a mocking voice, his wakizashi dripping with fresh blood, "there won't be any work done here today~."
The remaining Royal Guard narrowed his eyes in hatred and fired a strong hado blast at this new fiend. Gin expertly evaded the kidō, flash-stepping a few meters to the right before pointing his dagger straight at Ginkou.
SGHULCH!
"Why are you always so messy?" Harribel asked tiredly, walking over the dismantled remains to where Ichigo lay.
"I prefer quick instead of messy…"
The fox flash-stepped in front of the Cero Espada who'd currently been coughing up sand.
"Hey kid! How are ya?!"
Ichigo snarled, spitting out more grains.
"Go away fox-face!"
"Nice to hear! Now, how do ya feel about joinin us for a little while?"
"I said go away!"
Gin smiled as the kid's temper rose, pulsing out a stifling amount of spiritual pressure with every jibe.
"Don't get your sword in a twist, we're only gonna return your memories…dunno about your sanity though…"
"You're the one who's lost their mind!"
"You oughta know, huh? Well, so glad you'd like to join us!"
"Gin," Harribel interrupted, "the Protector Reales will be here any minute. We must leave."
"Right you are! Well kid, looks like we have to make a run for it!"
"Wha—" Ichigo didn't really comprehend what was happening to him before his shirt collar was seized and he felt himself being lugged over the strange man's shoulder. He couldn't really find the strength to protest though, seeing as his insides were currently protesting over fact that he'd been impaled.
He could only hope wherever these strange people were headed, they'd get there soon. Till then, he contented himself to lovely sensation of dangling like a sack of meat.
"Hurry up! My insides are getting messed up because of you!"
"They were already messed up, I didn't do anything!"
"SHUT UP!"
It hurt to shout.
