Chapter 5: Live to Tell
Even deep in sleep, Byakuya could sense that something had gone horribly wrong. The shivering that had afflicted him just prior to surrendering to sleep had begun to envelop his entire body. He laid in a limp heap in Aizen's arms, quivering and sweating profusely. He could hear Aizen's voice speaking to him, but the words sounded garbled and his own attempts to speak proved useless.
How odd that I should come to such an end, the noble mused, I have been betrayed by my own kind and lie, taking what may be my last breaths, in the arms of the Seireitei's most notorious criminal...a man I thought to be heartless.
But the arms that hold me do not feel heartless...
His mind sadly replayed his discovery of the bodies of the dead councilors in the conference room, and his finding that the nightmarish dreams that had invaded his mind weren't dreams at all, but a nightmare that he was living.
It isn't supposed to be like this.
We are the spirit king's most loyal servants, the ones upon whom he places the honor of being defenders of justice, and upholding the laws of peaceful society. I have believed in those basic tenets of our society all of my life. I was proud to stand among the strongest of the nobles...to be an agent of peace and lawfulness.
But what was I really defending?
Central 46 has become frighteningly corrupt. They have corroded the very foundation on which our society is built. Kami, it is no wonder that we have a criminal like Aizen on our hands. It is the natural outcome of their destructive lawlessness.
They defied their own reason for existing.
And in so doing, they created Sousuke Aizen.
Because...the laws of nature demand balance...is that not what I was taught?
Then...perhaps...perhaps it isn't chance or circumstance that this man walks among us now. Perhaps their corruption that made him into the monster he became, only did so to restore the balance that we have lost. I cannot fix this. I haven't the power or the ruthlessness.
But he does.
And maybe when the balance is restored, his soul will be made peaceful again. I do not know. I only wish that I had the strength to see this through. But I feel the signs in my body. My time in this world is done. I have but one thing left that I can do to make a difference...to restore the lost balance.
Somehow, he found the strength to open his eyes one last time. His weary and devastated gaze met a pair of deep brown eyes that held unusual warmth and unexpected sympathy. Aizen's fingers touched his face gently.
"So," Aizen said solemnly, "is this our parting, Byakuya? You would rather let go of life than set us both free from this nightmare?"
"I was...wrong," Byakuya managed in a tremulous whisper, "I thought that...what was needed was..."
He shivered and coughed, then settled again.
"I am not the one who can restore peace to Soul Society this time. Central 46 h-has become too...corrupt, and there is...no justice. You are a stronger, more ruthless man and you c-can stop what is happening."
"Byakuya..."
The noble slipped a trembling hand into his pocket and withdrew a golden token. He slipped it into Aizen's hand and closed the other man's fingers around it.
"What is this?" Aizen asked, his voice echoing oddly in Byakuya's fading mind.
"That t-token will admit you to the K-kuchiki family archive. None may enter without my leave. You will be safe there. And there may be useful records. J-just...promise me one thing, Sousuke Aizen."
Aizen's eyes held his steadily, and he nodded briefly.
"Let no harm...come to m-my household. If the end must come for me, I accept that. But...leave me with some hope...a small light in the darkness that has taken over."
Aizen's fingers threaded through the noble's dark hair, and he nodded again.
"The Kuchiki noble house will be protected from whatever comes. I give you my word, Byakuya."
Byakuya's hand rose again, and Aizen's heart pounded in anticipation as the noble placed a quivering palm on his chest. Aizen laid a hand over Byakuya's, stopping him for a moment. Byakuya looked up at him dazedly.
"Do not unseal the hogyoku," Aizen warned him, "It will interfere in my plans. Just remove the seal on my powers."
"I have your word that my house will be protected?"
"Yes."
"Very well, then," whispered Byakuya, closing his eyes, "I will take my leave of you, Sousuke Aizen. Mind that you keep your promises to me."
He fell quiet, and a small blade of reiatsu arced between the noble's hand and the seal in Aizen's body. Aizen's brown eyes widened as the seal inside him shattered and power flooded his long deprived form. He sighed in relief as the feeling of weakness left him, and looked down at the man resting in his arms.
"Thank you, Byakuya," he said softly, "I know that your pride would have made you die, rather than free me. Your heart must have been truly broken at what they did to you. But rest reassured, I will make sure that the ones who have taken your life do not succeed in their plans. I will avenge your death and I will see that your noble house continues on. I owe you that."
He bent his head and kissed the noble's still warm lips, then gently laid him on the ground. He knew he should go, but something made him remain at the dead clan leader's side.
How did you accept what they did, and still keep such honor and grace about you? Why wasn't your heart jaded by their cruelty as mine was? Byakuya, why? You have as much reason to hate them as I do now. And yet, there was no hatred in you as you drew your last breaths, and true to your character, you used the last of your strength to do what you thought would restore order. I promise you, you will not be disappointed. The ones who did this to you...and those who did those things to me and still walk free...all of them will pay.
All of them...
He fixed a last image of the fallen noble in his mind, lying facedown, stretched out as though sleeping, his lovely, smudged face finally peaceful and rested on one slender arm. A draft made the ends of his hair flutter, igniting a soft catch in Aizen's heart and bringing about a strange, unexpected wish.
I wish I could have returned the favor and saved you too. But my own powers, formidable as they are, will not bring back the dead.
He turned away from Byakuya and took a step, but stopped again as a soft voice spoke into his mind.
You cannot save Byakuya Kuchiki, but I can.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Are you sensing anything?" Renji asked, his voice rough with frustration, "Anything at all?"
"I can find no sign at all of his reiatsu," Rukia said solemnly.
"Neither can I," added Hanataro.
"Well," said Ichigo, wiping the dirt and sweat from his brow, "We aren't all of the way to the bottom yet. There are still three more levels that we haven't reached yet. Let's keep going."
"All right," agreed Renji.
He glanced at Rukia, just in time to see her brush a tear away from her eyes.
"It's gonna be all right," he assured her, "We'll find him. That guy's not going to die so easily."
"I know," answered Rukia, sniffling softly, "it's just that it's been a few days. What if he was hurt, Renji? There's so much damage to the prison..."
"Hey guys," hissed Hanataro, "Get down! There are more guards coming."
The four took cover and watched as the guards passed.
"That so strange," commented Rukia, after they passed, "Central 46 said that no one would be allowed down here...that they would just be detonating charges at the end of the week, once they were set, to cave in the rest of it so they would have stable ground to rebuild on."
"I guess maybe they're just really trying to keep people out of here. We aren't the only ones who have loved ones who were caught in this."
"I don't think they give a shit about that," said Renji, frowning, "Those guys were in a search pattern. They are looking for something. I wonder what."
"It doesn't matter," said Rukia, standing, "We need to keep moving. They are going to demolish this place tomorrow and I want to know what happened to my brother! I can't just..."
"No," said Ichigo, "None of us are buying that we should just sit back and let them do this. We're going to find him."
He glanced at Renji, not liking the expression the redhead wore.
"One way or another," he added.
They moved forward cautiously, listening for sounds of passing guards and trying not to make noises themselves. They were near the end of a corridor, when they saw a ragged man run down the corridor they were headed for, almost bumping into a second frantic man.
"Let's get out of here! They're just killing any prisoners they find. They want us all dead!" exclaimed one.
Rukia, Renji, Ichigo and Hanataro dashed into an alcove.
"I guess they just want to get rid of as many of us prisoners as they can, ne?" said the second man.
"No," panted the first, looking around, "No, I saw them kill a councilor...one that had survived the bombing. He was yelling at the guards as they killed him...that they wouldn't get away with what they were doing. There's some kind of doublecross going on!"
The two turned into the passageway where the four were hiding and started to run as a pair of guards appeared behind them and began firing kido spells. The weakened prisoners fell quickly, and the four in hiding watched with shocked eyes as the guards stabbed the collapsed bodies to make sure they were dead.
"Leave them," one guard said to the other, "This is all coming down tomorrow anyway. We need to finish on this level and get down lower. Councilor Furukawa wants to be sure no one is left alive down here."
The two continued down the corridor.
The four in hiding waited until the corridor was quiet again, then stepped out and slipped silently to the end of the hall. They passed a long row of cells, all with the doors opened.
"Renji!" Ichigo called softly, stopping the redhead and pointing inside one of the cells, then another.
"Looks like what those guys said about them killing surviving prisoners is true," concluded the redhead, "I think these guys were killed after the bombing. You can see where the doors are damaged from them trying to get out...but now they're standing open. Yeah. They were killed after the bombing."
"But what about what those men said about the councilor...the doublecross?" mused Rukia, "Something really frightening is going on. I just hope that my brother is okay."
"Well," said Renji, "Although the prison was badly damaged, a lot of it is still standing. And Captain Kuchiki is really smart and strong. If anyone can survive this and get out, it's him."
"But they're killing survivors, Renji!" objected Rukia, "What if they...?"
"Stop," said Ichigo, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Come on. We're not going to find him by standing here and worrying."
"Hey, look," Renji said suddenly, "This looks like it goes down to the bottom."
The others studied the rope that had been tied off at the top of a long, dark shaft.
"That's where we have to look," said Rukia, "My brother was questioning a prisoner on the lowest level...Muken."
Ichigo tested the rope with one hand.
"I guess I'll go first," he offered.
He slid down the long rope, into the blackness, and reached the bottom without incident. Renji and Rukia followed, leaving Hanataro to guard the rope. They walked the long corridors, listening for any sounds of anyone who might have survived. But the area was deathly still.
"Renji, Ichigo," Rukia said softly, stopping as she came to a place where a torn, hooded cloak laid on the ground, "I feel it. Byakuya was here!"
Her eyes widened and she knelt next to the crumpled cloak.
"It's not much," she whispered, "But it means that he was alive, and headed in the right direction."
"He's probably already out of here," said Renji, "He'll probably be waiting when we get back to Kuchiki Manor."
"Yeah," chuckled Ichigo, "He'll yell at us for being so reckless, and going after him needlessly."
Rukia continued along the corridor and paused, staring, as she saw something that she had nearly missed in the darkness.
"What is that?" Renji mused.
"It's a tunnel," said Ichigo, "I'll bet this is how Byakuya got out. Come on. Let's get Hanataro and then see where this goes!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Byakuya stirred, surprised first, that he was still alive and breathing, and secondly, that for the first time since the bombing, he felt comfortably warm. The room he was in was dark, so he could not see. But he could feel that he was wrapped in fine bedding and that his body was curled into someone else's arms. He recognized the pleasant, masculine scent of the other person at once. He tried to lift his head, but Aizen's palm touched his cheek and pressed his head back to the other man's shoulder, where it had been rested.
"S-sousuke Aizen?" he whispered, "Where are we?"
Aizen smiled.
"Don't you know this place?" he asked.
Byakuya peered into the darkness, making out some familiar shapes.
"This..." he mumbled sleepily, "We are in the recess...in the Kuchiki archive?"
"Yes, I thought that, given the fact that neither of us should be showing our faces in public, this was our best option."
"But," Byakuya said, shaking his head in confusion, "I don't understand. I was dying. I know I was. How is it that I am not dead?"
"Well," said the other man, "I could hardly let you die after you were so kind as to free me."
"Actually," said Byakuya, recovering himself slightly, "that is exactly what I would have expected from you, Sousuke Aizen. You have made no secret of your capacity for cruelty. If I am alive, then it is because you have a use for me."
Aizen's smile deepened.
"I would be lying if I said that I didn't have some ideas about how you might be of assistance to me," he admitted, "But that wasn't the only reason I rescued you."
Byakuya's eyes narrowed questioningly.
"I have grown used to your stimulating company," he whispered in the noble's ear, sending a bright flush roaring across Byakuya's face.
He tried to pull away and climbed out of the bed, but found that his legs collapsed beneath him, and he fell to the floor.
"You need to get back into bed," Aizen said reprovingly, getting up and helping him back in, "You are still weak from what happened to you. You nearly died, remember?"
Byakuya's eyes narrowed.
"I did die," he announced softly, "I know I did! How is it that I am still alive? What did you do, Sousuke?"
Aizen's hand drifted down to the 'v' in his yukata, and he opened it, baring his chest. Byakuya's eyes widened and his hands clenched in distress as he realized that the hogyoku implanted in Aizen's chest was fully unsealed.
"Kami!" he gasped, "What have I done!"
