Disclaimer: Bambietta Basterbine and all related characters belong to Shueisha.

The sternritter known only as BG9 was alone on the battlefield, those it had attempted to deal with having escaped in a flash. The machine knew well what it had to do, its thought patterns and computation complete. To give chase, to kill all who dared oppose Yhwach, that was its sole reason for existence now.

Yet then did BG9's sensors pick up a change, a shift in the space around it. The machine turned its head slightly, catching sight of Bambietta Basterbine shimmering into existence, this time alone. BG9 simply remained composed in face of the unexpected opposition, speaking with the most unemotional of tones. "Ah, hirenkyaku."

"What would you expect from a fellow quincy, huh?" Bambietta asked, appearing directly behind BG9, a wicked smile crossing her lips. "Now how about we-"

Bambietta's words were cut short as BG9 spun around and caught her across the face with its left hand. The rogue quincy fell back a bit, spitting up some blood as she put some distance between herself and the machine.

"Dammit, up your nose with a rubber hose!" Bambietta snapped as she hit the ground hard, clearly more angry then anything else. "Assuming you have one under that helmet!"

"Your tactics and fighting style are crude and predictable," BG8 said simply. "You speak when you should attack. A fatal mistake I assure you."

"Well now," Bambietta wiped the trickle of red liquid away from the corner of her mouth, "and here I thought the old 'behind you' trick would work out for me. You clearly don't have a love for classics, huh, BG9?"

"I do not possess what you call life, not in the biological sense," the mechanical Quincy retorted. "Love is not a possibility without life."

"Now isn't that a shame?" Bambietta stood her ground, making sure to keep herself between BG9 and the laboratory where the shinigami were trying to move forward. "But you still love to keep secrets, huh? Most of us were up front, but you and Sternritter N just loved to be all quiet-like with your abilities. I was hurt, you know?"

"Hurt?"

"It almost made me feel like you didn't trust your fellow sternritter. Rude much?" Bambietta was feeling it now, the joy of fighting, the thrill of getting underneath an opponent's skin, even if they did not have any in BG9's case. "So what's it stand for? Tell me, tell me, Killbot! Oh, is that it? No wait! That's too silly! What about the Kill?"

BG9 said nothing.

"No, no, I suppose that would be too obvious. The King? No, still too easy. The Key? Not sure how that'd work as a schrift. The Kreatophagia? Really not sure how that'd work as a Schrift. The Kaiju? Cool, but that I don't want to fight that. The Kinky? Oh, I hope that isn't it. I don't, right?"

Bambietta smiled then, her eyes narrowing with ruthless agression and intent.

"Say, how about the Killable? Yeah, I dig that one."

"My designation is meaningless," BG9 spoke, its tone still as inhuman as ever. "You will die regardless."

Bambietta sighed, her shoulders slumping. "The Killjoy it is. God, you're as boring as Haschwalth on New Years Eve!"

"You dare insult me?" BG9 cast off its coat then, revealing its metallic body underneath. The armor plating of its chest opened, a myriad number of tendrils bursting forth at such a speed that even Bambietta was caught unawares.

"Oh, not good!" The cables began to wrap around the quincy's body, pinning her arms to her sides and whipping around until she was bound within Sternritter K's tentacles. Her legs were next, becoming wrapped from top to bottom in mere moments. Bambietta struggled to free herself, but BG9's tendrils only tightened in response. "Well, maybe you are the Kinky after all. Yay me?"

"Your attempts at humor are as effective as your battle strategies," BG9 said as it sailed in close, its armored mask mere inches away from Bambietta's face. "So please, stifle yourself before I gag you."

"Oh yeah, definitely the Kinky."

"Silence!" BG9's cords tightened then, leaving Bambietta to scream as they tore into her body. "Let me make one thing clear, Sternritter E. I understand you more than you do yourself."

"Is that right?" Bambietta cringed in pain, the tendrils growing tighter and cutting through cloth and into her flesh. She struggled to fend off the unorthodox attack with blut vene, the defensive power inherit to a quincy at the ready, but still did the agony persist, blood dripping from her wounds and down the cables that BG9 produced. "That's bullshit! I'm too crazy to call! Even for me!"

"You are mad, yes, but even it cannot escape my understanding." BG9 tightened its hold then, further adding to the terrible sensations tearing through Bambietta's skin. "Knowledge is power and everything and anything is an open book to me. And you, Sternritter E, are no exception."

"So what, you're the Knowledge or something, huh?" Bambietta whispered through pain as the tendrils began to move upwards, suspending her lacerated and bloody body high above and before BG9. "Nah, it sounds to me like you're just the Know-It-All!"

"One glance is all it takes for me to understand and comprehend exactly you are," BG9 continued, undeterred by Bambietta's flippant attitude. "A girl frightened by death and loneliness. You sought release and friendship among the Wandenreich, yet you do not understand others. Everything about you tells the tale. Your personality, your tactics, even your power. You are a loud and obnoxious young lady, unable to handle any such situation with the slightest decorum or tact. All you are is an emotional time bomb, nothing more and nothing less."

Bambietta huffed, cheeks puffing out in frustration, the pain momentarily overshadowed by how insulted she felt. "I am so not obnoxious!"

BG9 lowered its gaze then, a faint glow underneath its visor staring as if into Bambietta's soul and quieting for but the moment.

"What did you hope to accomplish? I understand your Explode as well as any other schrift. Without concentration you cannot utilize it, even if an opponent is as close as I. Pain breaks your ability to focus, that much is clear. Tell me, Sternritter E, how did you ever intend to buy time for His Majesty's enemies?"

"It's simple." Bambietta said softly, her voice marred with pain. Then, however, did she look right back at BG9, a big grin on her face. "By! Being! A! Royal! Pain!"

BG9 was about to reply, to retort once more, but the mechanical soldier's head simply detonated outwards. A shard of metal slipped by Bambietta's face, drawing a slight amount of blood from her cheek, but she did not pay it any mind. The Explode had done its job and another quincy had fallen by Bambietta's hand. For the first time in her life, however, she knew that she would not regret it going forward.

"I guess that answers that at last. You really were the Killable." Bambietta began to pull herself free from of the tendrils, letting them fall slack around her body. She took a deep breath then, preparing herself to join the Shinigami now. "And not that you can add this what was that big head of yours, but that was hardly worthy of being called pain. I've..."

Bambietta recalled it then, the physical and emotional pain of betrayal searing across her very being. She clutched at her arms then, both hands digging tight as she sniffed back a momentary relapse of sorrow and anger.

"I've felt worse. You couldn't possible compare."

The quincy began to move, ready to step forward. Yet did the world around Bambietta begin to dim then, her vision fading as her eyes began to close slowly. She stumbled about then, trying to keep her footing. Blood continued to ooze forth from her wounds, the damage from the destroyed BG9 done.

"No, I will fight!" Bambietta forced herself to move forward then, her eyes locked on the Twelth Division building that the shinigami and other quincy were in. She was desperate now to join them in the coming battles, her drive to fight once more restored. She took one step, then another, trying to push herself forward inch by inch, each movement causing her to lose blood. "Just a little further!"

Bambietta knew she could no doubt ask one of the shinigami for healing. That was not the worry. It was simply that she had to get to them. Yet hirenkyaku was not an option, the quincy far too weak now to properly utilize it.

"It's not over. Not yet."

Bambietta suddenly sensed it, an outburst of power. She looked up quickly and could see a beam of light firing up into the heavens from the Twelth Division barracks. Then did it vanish from sight and Bambietta could feel it clearly, the power of those inside having faded from this plane of existence. She could only surmise that Momo Hinamori and the others had made their way to the final battlefield that was a thousand years in the making. The quincy wished that she could be by their side for the endgame but she knew that was not to be. She had done her part for them all. Now it was their time to fight.

"My part in this thousand year blood war is over. But the rest of you? End this... and stay alive."

Bambietta stood there, bleeding out as she was, her mind lost among the sea of thoughts dwelling within her. She knew where she had come from, that was clear as day, but where she was going was another matter altogether. The day had come, change inevitable. Either the Soul Society and its god would fall or the Wandenreich and its own deity would instead. Bambietta knew where her loyalties were focused now, something she could not truly wrap her head around. Killed by quincy, saved by Shinigami. However she had to wonder why she was so surprised.

"No infighting among the sternritter he said," Bambietta whispered under her breath, her lips curling in disgust. "So I killed underlings behind his back to calm myself down."

Bambietta could remember it well enough. Begging in horror as Giselle turned against her. Watching from the sidelines as Bazz-B attacked Candice during the battle with Ichigo Kurosaki. PePe Waccabrada attempting to take control of both Liltotto and Meninas for his own battles. Gremmy Thoumeaux very nearly obliterating everyone around in a fit of rage that rivaled her own. Yhwach betraying everyone under his command with the auswahlen, killing Robert Accutrone in the process. Bambietta's memories from her time as an undead soldier were muddled but she remembered well the madness that had gone on around her. The chaos of the battlefield and the insanity of Giselle's own personal actions towards her.

"We're all monsters." Bambietta's face fell into her hands then, the quincy sobbing for a moment. Tears began to snake out between her fingers as her body convulsed, splashing down on the pavement below. For a minute it continued, her thoughts a cacophony of untouchable thoughts. Then did she slowly move her hands away from her face, raising her head higher until she could see nothing but the clear sky above. She breathed deeply for a moment, trying to compose herself. "But I don't need to be one anymore, right? I can't."

Then did Bambietta feel it, her mind growing dizzy, her body numb. She felt her legs beginning to give out on her, pain searing across her very being.

"I guess the battle with that bucket of bolts took more out of me than I thought." Bambietta's legs gave out from underneath her, the quincy falling to her knees. She fell forward then, the side of her face resting on the ground as the light began to fade from her eyes. "Momo, Doggy, did I make my parents proud?"

Then did the quincy's eyes close, a serene expression etched across Bambietta Basterbine's still face. For now did the one who had begged for death not an even an hour ago find solace in eternal rest. For now she had found a pleasing death that was its own reward.

"Hey, are you okay? Say something!"

Bambietta could hear it, a voice calling out to her through the darkness. Slowly did she open her eyes in response, finding a man before her. He was dressed in the garb of a shinigami, his blood red hair pulled back into a ponytail of sorts. Remembering where she had fallen, Bambietta had to guess he was a member of the Twelth Division.

"I'm fine." Bambietta could see the man's expression change from worry to relief almost instantly. She glanced around and could see that she was propped up against the barracks. Looking down then, Bambietta could see that while her clothing was torn in places, the flesh was not, all her blood gone. Clearly had this shinigami found her and provided medical treatment. The green light that was fading from the his hands was a clear sign that a healing kido had been employed.

"Thank you," Bambietta said as she began to stand and dust off her black robes. "Uhmm..."

"It's Iyasu," the shinigami interjected. "Iyasu Kiru."

Trying to play the part of a grateful shinigami, Bambietta tilted her head to the side slightly, a wide smile forming on her face as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Thank you, Iyasu Kiru!"

"Man, you don't have to lay it on so thick," the shinigami said as he glanced away, his face going red as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I was just doing my job. No way was I going to let another shinigami die because of one of those quincy bastards."

Bambietta's forced smile quickly receded, her expression becoming melancholy as she gripped tightly to her left arm with the opposite hand. "You really hate them, huh?"

"Don't you?" Iyasu asked as he pointed towards the world around them, the damage from the two invasions evident. "Look what they did to us! They killed as many of us as they could, even Captain-Commander Yamamoto! Everything would be better off if they had never existed!"

Bambietta could see the irony of the situation. No doubt the only reason this man had healed her was because of the clothes she had taken from one of the dead. Still she spoke up, trying to approach this situation as best she could. "Perhaps they despise us just as badly as you hate them?"

"What, over the extermination from a thousand years ago?" Iyasu asked as he shook his head. "They deserved that and so much more. I mean, they're unnatural. They throw the balance of life and death out of sync by destroying hollows instead of purifying them."

Bambietta shook her head. "I mean, somebody had to fight the hollows when we, uhm, shinigami couldn't make it time. I'm sure if they could have purified them, they would have."

Iyasu looked at Bambietta incredulously. "Seriously, did the quincy trash knock a few of your screws loose? You can't be seriously be defending them! They had to die for the sake of the worlds!"

"Yeah, I guess I did take too many bumps to the head," Bambietta said, playfully bonking herself on the head lightly with one hand, wishing she was just straight up punching this shinigami full force instead. She was growing more than a little annoyed now with this man who had saved her. He was no Lieutenant Hinamori, that was for sure.

"That's not good!" Iyasu said, his angered expression fading away due to simple concern for a fellow shinigami. "You still need more healing?"

"No, no, I'm fine." Bambietta shook her head, trying to compose herself in the process. "I was just a little dizzy still, that's all."

"That damn quincy did a number on you, huh?"

Bambietta's thoughts did turn to BG9 for a moment, but the clock for them turned further back, another coming to mind. "You have no idea."

"Captain Kurotsuchi had the right idea, no doubt about it." Iyasu turned away from Bambietta. "Of course he really just wanted to experiment on the quincy, but hey, it gave us a chance to find and exterminate a bunch of the garbage in hiding."

"What?" Bambietta's eyes narrowed a bit, recalling quite well the captain he spoke of. It was the very one who had been responsible for her returning to a living state. "He did what?"

"Oh yeah, my bad," Iyasu replied as he flashed a sly smile over his shoulder at Bambietta. "That's been our division's little secret. But I guess after all this grief we've suffered, it won't hurt to let someone from another division know about it. I doubt the Gotei Thirteen or Central Forty-Six are going to shed any tears over some quincy deaths after the last couple of days."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, the Twelth Division did a little extermination of our own, seeking out any quincy still hiding among the living. Man, I remember that there was this one town that was just full of the little shits. What was the name of that hellhole again? Flora, fauna-"

Bambietta's mind snapped to complete attention then. "Fioritura."

"Yeah, that's it!" Iyasu said, snapping his fingers in response. "What, did your division send you there for a mission or something?"

"No." Bambietta began to breath in and out at an alarming rate, her mind consumed by a storm of confusion mingled with anger. "There's nothing there to protect. It's been a ghost town for over a decade."

"That's good to hear." Iyasu shrugged his shoulders. "It's better off that way. Nothing but quincy in that backwoods village. Hell, I still remember that one guy and his wife who were trying to fight me and my buddy off, like they had anything worth saving." Iyasu's face suddenly lit up, a cruel smile adorning it, one that unnerved Bambietta. "It's just a shame we never found that rotten brat of theirs. No doubt Captain Kurotsuchi could have had a field day experimenting on a corpse so young!"

Bambietta could not fathom what she was hearing. She was staring into the eyes of a man she had hated in life, death, and life again. She had not known his name or his true face and yet, in this very moment, she had learned them both. She began to laugh a little then, her shoulders rising and falling with each one. A low whisper slipped out alongside a deliberate and paused breath. "He already has."

Iyasu's brow furrowed then, unsure of what had come over his healed ally or even what she had tried to say. "Huh?"

Bambietta, meanwhile, was completely overwhelmed and lost in thought. The man who had brought her back from the brink had been the very same one to have issued the order for her parents' death. She could only imagine then what cruel experiments he had performed on their remains. Yet still she owed him her life now. Bambietta shook her head, knowing that was not the truth. He had been intent on killing her afterwards. It was Momo Hinamori and her captain that she owed her continued existence to. Yet still, this monster before her, this shinigami known as Iyasu Kiru, he had healed her now, but it was by his hands that her parents had died once upon a time.

Quincy betraying her, shinigami saving her, those who had destroyed her life bringing it back; it was all too much for Bambietta to process. This time she spoke not with a hoarse whisper. Her voice cracked then, a shrill cry escaping her lips alongside her ragged laughter. "Life's just one fucking demented joke, isn't it? Yes! Yes, it is! This whole world is a fucking hell of a sham!"

Bambietta reforged her sword from her own power, glaring at the shinigami.

Iyasu simply stood before Bambietta, his sword hand resting atop the handle of his sheathed zanpakuto. "You're a quincy?"

"As were my parents," Bambietta answered, her eyes wavering, her lips trembling before at last she screamed again. "And so were all the rest of my family and friends who called Fioritura home!"

Iyasu said nothing, instead simply preferring to draw his katana. "Rend, Yosho-"

The release command to initiate the blade's shikai was never completed. Bambietta's blade slit the shinigami's throat with a strike that was too fast for him to see. All Iyasu could do was fall back, a hand clutching at his neck. His was a horrifed face then, unable to do much but look up as Bambietta's other hand rose. An orb of power slipping away from it then, the shinigami's body simply and quickly detonating into a fine red mist. The quincy stood there and watched the blood and tattered remains fall to the ground without a word. She had felt pure rage upon her transformation, then maddened sorrow, but now she was oddly calm. It was the same feeling she had experienced each and every time she had dispatched a quincy in a moment of need.

She stood there for a moment, her thoughts uncontrolled. Her inherent rage was calling to her, demanding she level the entire Soul Society to nothing more than ash. It was what the shinigami deserved, what they had coming for the actions they had been responsible for. Then, assuming they survived the battles in the skies above, those who had betrayed her trust would be next to die most unpleasantly.

Then did Bambietta see a fleeting vision of Lieutenant Hinamori before her.

Bambietta's body began to shake, her teeth gritting together. She threw her head back then, a scream escaping from her lungs. The quincy dropped to her knees, the palms of her hands planting firmly in the ground before her as she forced herself to breath in and out, her whole body continuing to convulse.

"I am a monster still. A monster."

Once more did the quincy's thoughts flare up with words of the past. Not of those who loved her, not even in a twisted way. There was no sympathy, no compassion, no warmth to be found in her memories this particular moment.

"All you are is an emotional time bomb, nothing more."

BG9's voice, one that Bambietta could not disagree with in the moment. She could see it then, tears dropping down and staining the ground before her. She had not even felt the water forming at the edges of her eyes, so lost in the swirling void of darkness that was consuming her heart. She leaned forward then, very nearly burying her face into the ground as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Awwww, she looks so happy when she's dead!"

Bambietta suddenly hissed, having heard the voice of Giselle in her memory, her teeth gritting as her lips curled back. Her gloved fingers began to tear across the smooth pavement. Slowly did she rise, her face quaking not with despair but fury.

"I'm a monster. She's a monster. We're all monsters."

Bambietta began to rise to her full height, having once more found the place between anger and a twisted sort of peace. The quincy fumbled beneath her stolen robes, reaching for the belt beneath them. Once she had the key she required, she raised the arm up. A portal opened before her, one forged in shadow. She stared at it, realizing that no matter what she did, darkness was all that awaited her in the end.

She could not stay here in the Soul Society, not in a place known far and wide as a court of pure souls. Bambietta could not allow herself to wait here, to greet Momo or Komamura upon their return. Bambietta stepped towards the shadows, staring at the portal to realms outside the judgment of the shinigami. The quincy knew full well that she had enough judgement to offer herself.

"Momo, Doggy," the quincy said softly, sniffing back slightly as she stepped into the shadows, finding herself unable to spare another glance back, "forget we ever met."

Then did the portal close, Bambietta's future an unknown even to her.