It probably takes them longer to reach the Soul King with White Zangetsu carrying him while he gives the directions, but neither of them is complaining, and the Soul King certainly doesn't seem to care about their tardiness. Not that it looks like the Soul King can complain, given the state they find him in upon entering his chambers. Ichigo hadn't known what to expect, but a mutilated body encased in some sort of crystal certainly isn't anywhere on the list.
"I don't know what th' Soul King wants with ya, Ichigo, but if yer gonna end up like 'im then I say fuck th' Shinigami an' th' Quincies," White Zangetsu says in a low, almost angry voice, and the hold he has on Ichigo tightens.
"Well, we won't know what he wants with me until I…I don't know," Ichigo frowns as he studies the Soul King and the crystalline structure he is encased in. "Do you think I need to go touch it?"
"I'm not lettin' ya go up there an' touch it by yerself," White Zangetsu growls out, and for a second, it seems like he's going to haul Ichigo out of the room, away from the Soul King, but the moment passes, and he starts walking towards the Soul King instead. "I want it t' go on th' record tha' I don't like this one bit."
"You're not the only one who doesn't like this, White," Ichigo states, keeping his voice low as they reach the crystalline structure and it looms over them. "He looks…almost human but not," he murmurs as he takes in what he hadn't been able to notice before. After a moment, he slowly reaches out to touch the surface of the crystal. "Who did this to you and why?"
Words and images begin to flood Ichigo's mind as soon as his fingertips graze against the crystal, and he instinctively jerks his hand away, cutting off the flow of information almost as quickly as it starts. It wasn't enough of a connection to glean anything significant, except that if he does go through with this, whatever it is the Soul King intends to do, it is going to be irreversible. "White, if I do this…"
White Zangetsu huffs and sets Ichigo on his feet, keeping one arm firmly wrapped around his waist. "I already told ya tha' yer not touchin' that thing by yerself, Ichigo," the hollowfied Zanpakutō spirit says in a firm and chastising tone as he places his free hand over Ichigo's outstretched one, going so far as to twine their fingers together, and then presses their hands against the crystal.
To compare the difference it makes, the flood of information from before was akin to a trickle, while now it's like getting hit with a tsunami, and all of his muscles feel like they're locked into place. He can't pull away, even if he wants to, and he suspects that it's the same for White Zangetsu, but he doesn't have the time to even think about that. With the overload of information, his vision seems to blur, and in this moment, he swears that they both have claws instead of nails and the skin of White Zangetsu's hand turns black like pitch while his own becomes a brilliant reddish-orange, almost reminiscent of fire. In the very next moment, everything goes dark and-
"Time for me to take your measurements, Kurosaki-san," Shutara Senjumaru calls out as she steps into the room, and Ichigo blinks, mostly in confusion.
He knows that he was just in front of the Soul King with White Zangetsu, but he doesn't recall what had happened after they had touched the crystal, and he especially doesn't remember them making the trip back to Shutara's floating disc and the city on it afterward. In fact, it's almost like their trip to the Soul King was something he had dreamed up while he was meditating because White Zangetsu is still a sword lying across his lap and not-
"I'm right here," White Zangetsu intones quite dryly from behind him, and Ichigo twists around to find his hollowfied Zanpakutō spirit sprawled out on the floor and favoring his right side. "An' I strongly recommend not movin' around anytime soon," he adds, right as a searing pain in Ichigo's left side makes itself known. "But I'm probably late with th' warnin'."
"Yeah, I'd say you're a little late with the warning," Ichigo grits out through the pain and tries not to curl in on himself.
"Well now, it seems like you and your Zanpakutō have been up to something," Senjumaru observes with a critical tone as she makes her way over to them, and it takes everything Ichigo has to turn back around to look at her. "Show me your side, Kurosaki-san," she demands and reaches towards him.
In a flash, White Zangetsu is standing between them, and he snarls at Senjumaru. "Keep yer filthy fuckin' hands to yerself, Shinigami!"
"Zangetsu!" Ichigo tries to get up, but the searing pain in his side still proves to be too much, and he wonders how White Zangetsu managed it if he's in the same amount of pain. "She-"
"They plan t' cut ya up an' replace the Soul King with ya," White Zangetsu interrupts with a growl, and Ichigo freezes as the words register.
"What?" The Zero Division plans to…
"No! That's not-hrk!" Senjumaru's voice is suddenly cut off with a strange gurgle, and Ichigo snaps out of the daze that he was starting to fall into to find White Zangetsu lifting her into the air by her throat.
"I know what I saw, Shinigami, so don't you dare deny it," White Zangetsu hisses at Senjumaru, whose eyes are wide with fear as she tries to pry his hand off of her throat, only to find that she can't budge his grip at all.
"Zangetsu! White! Put her down!" Ichigo tries to get to his feet again, gritting his teeth through the pain as it persists, and barely manages to stand up, which sends the sword on his lap tumbling to the ground. His head is swimming, and he feels like he's going to keel over if he keeps moving around, but White Zangetsu is right in front of him. If he can just reach out and-
"You idiot," White Zangetsu grumbles as he drops Senjumaru to the floor and turns to catch Ichigo right before he collapses. "You're still hurt."
Ichigo blinks up at White Zangetsu, and then his brows furrow as he frowns. "You're talking properly," he observes, his head still swimming from the pain.
"You're out of it, Ichigo," White Zangetsu responds, his voice starting to sound far away, and then everything goes dark again.
