...
The silence in the cells had been almost comforting to the two inmates. They'd been under the constant eye of one Toshiro Hitsugaya, at least up until the moment Soifon's ninja corps had been redistributed to guard every nook and cranny, not that the two prisoners could actually see them- Not to mention the newest reiatsu restrainers they'd put on them.
Gin Ichimaru, up until the hopefully temporary viewing hole that had unceremoniously torn through their visual reality thanks to Aizen Sosuke's actions in the Hollow realm, had been unwilling to converse. Or frankly show any outward emotions.
Kisuke on the other hand was... for lack of a better term, stumped. Not physically of course, given most of the injuries he'd picked up had either finished healing or outright disappeared once he'd left the toxic hell that Hueco Mundo had become. He hadn't exactly paid much attention to it.
Yoruichi, to his utter shock, had been granted a chance to see him once-
Evidently, Aizen Sosuke had somehow managed to convince those in charge of the realm to put her on parole.
A fact that had, quite frankly, broken every last shred of faith he may have had left in the world.
Reality, itself, had finally gone completely mad. And he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about it.
Still, up until they'd gotten an unwanted view of the fight currently going down between what he presumed was an honest to god primordial hollow, powered up by a perfect Hogyuko and Aizen Sosuke, the other in the cell had been practically catatonic.
Now?
The shinigami looked downright miserable.
Though he was at least finally talking to him. Something he wasn't entirely sure whether he ought to be happy about the fact given the information that had come to light.
The first of which, had been what exactly, he'd believed was the power behind Aizen Sosuke's shikai.
The power to modify one's perception of reality.
And if not for one conceivable problem, one he'd inadvertently caused himself, he would've been ecstatic at the news.
The problem was the trial that went down.
Even if Aizen's shikai had allowed him to manipulate everyone's perception. It wouldn't have worked then due to the nature of that trial itself.
He hadn't given the trial too much thought when it had gone down, having assumed his conspirators to be responsible for modifying the outcome of it.
When Gin had dissuaded him of that notion, the trial had come back to haunt his mind in full force.
Now... Now he wasn't sure what to think anymore.
The man on the other side had even been willing to give him a direct rundown of the events leading up to said trial, if only to get his opinion on what he could've possibly missed.
For he definitely had missed something.
Gin Ichimaru was likely the only person who had admitted to him the truth of the matter.
Hueco Mundo shouldn't have been fighting Aizen. They should've been at his heel. They should've obeyed his every command.
He'd confirmed every sneaking suspicion that he'd ever had about the place.
Yet, in the end it had all been wrong.
At face value at any rate.
The veil over it, as it were, had finally lifted when Gin Ichimaru had told him of one very important fact.
A fact the other hadn't been particularly certain on, going as far as not to give it the light of day until he'd specifically asked.
A fact that surrounded a Quincy who may have had the potential power to rewrite reality through the use of imagination.
Unfortunately, besides the singular word, Gin hadn't had much information on the actual details of it.
Though it had been enough for him to make a somewhat workable theory around.
After abusing his Shikai's presumed powers, Aizen Sosuke had scared the Quincy back to where he had come from. For only the ability to manipulate perception would work against such a being.
And as far as Gin had been concerned, the story with him had likely ended there.
Urahara's theory banked on the Quincy having come back, almost immediately. Whether to finish off whatever he had started or to merely scout out his enemy didn't entirely matter.
A small part of him had considered the two to be working together- Though the Quincy himself had shot that down after Gin had explained to him of what had actually gone down after he'd left the shinigami's quarters.
That being the fact the Quincy himself had quite literally gone mad in his rage towards the shinigami following their encounter. A natural result, in truth.
Anyone that dealt with Aizen generally went mad at one point or another.
Still, odds where the Quincy had likely returned during the turning point that was Aizen's explanation of the future he'd come from.
Given they'd found no sign of the Hogyuko he'd hidden in Rukia, it had likely been after Aizen had somehow stolen it.
How he'd done so, remained to be seen.
His theory, passed that point, unfortunately, relied on far too many variables to be true. Though considering Aizen hadn't shown any signs of possessing the Hogyuko, and given what he'd himself learnt during his excursion to Soul Society, he had a feeling something terrible had gone down just before the trial had started.
Because, judging by the way the current fight been showing to every living soul in existence was headed, he doubted the Primordial hollow would manage a victory.
Even then... The main holes in said theory, unfortunately, were too big to ignore.
The first problem came up with the fact that Aizen had willfully disregarded the plan he'd spent decades working to perfection before he'd ever encountered said Quincy.
A Quincy that up until his own insertion into their realm, should've never occurred to the man in question. Given not a speck of history showed his existence. His powers even less so. Gin himself had agreed with such a thought, given the man had spent most of his life on his heel. Ever since meeting him for that matter.
Yet according to Gin, Aizen Sosuke had somehow recognized him. Which unfortunately for him, once again pointed to him having knowledge that could've only been possibly gained by his coming back from the future.
The second problem... Was the fact he had been entirely uncaring of the fact he'd seemingly lost the Hogyuko he'd spent decades working towards- Unless he already knew it wouldn't grant him what he desired, which was another point in favor of his claims.
One could possibly argue the fact he'd only went to Hueco Mundo to look for it- Yet, even there he hadn't shown any interest in acquiring it, instead he was more interested in the Hollows themselves.
Perhaps, presuming it was part of his plan, he may have simply wished to see if his gambit in using that Quincie's powers against him worked? Yet... to what purpose?
To test his strength? Certainly possible... Yet entirely unlike him. Aizen wished to ascend himself, not help another race too. A race that was against him, to begin with. A race that only obeyed out of fear.
As of this point, Urahara was more or less convinced of two things.
Aizen Sosuke, the one that had ruined his life... Was likely no longer the one running about.
Whether due to his claims of being from the future or not... He was firmly convinced it wasn't the same one.
The other?
He watched, his eyes widening the slightest, as for the first time since the fight before them had begun, Aizen Sosuke had started hurting the Primordial Hollow.
The other was that... Even if he were to somehow inexplicably succeed in his revenge... It wouldn't be to the right incarnation.
Hell, judging by... Well, every action since the moment Aizen had, likely unknowingly, thrown every conceived plan he'd painstakingly created to the wind...
It would be against an innocent one.
The only thing he was absolutely certain of was the fact that the Multi-verse theory was rightfully becoming the biggest pain in his ass.
For only such a theory- Only the very twistings of reality and fate itself could possibly create an innocent Aizen fucking Sosuke. Yet reality hadn't had the decency to let his timeline be the one to be blessed of it, given he'd had to deal with both, the asshole that was the original, and yet not get the satisfaction of truly beating him.
Yet... If Aizen's claims of being a time-traveler were true... It quite literally meant that a heroic Aizen Sosuke had somehow resulted in the figurative end of his own universe.
He wasn't sure whether to laugh at the irony or to curse every deity that ever existed.
Leave it to Aizen Sosuke to somehow fuck everything up by being the good guy.
He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not that his world had been initially gifted the asshole one.
His only consolation to everything that had gone down would be the fact the Aizen Sosuke that had ruined his life had likely gotten the karmic fate he truly deserved.
To fail due to divine intervention before ever seeing a single one of his plans bare fruit.
He'd always known it would take a miracle to deal with the guy... He just hadn't expected it to be of that kind. To see the one responsible quite literally get overwritten.
Evidently, prayer was a legitimate form of revenge.
If only it didn't leave him feeling empty inside.
Though he supposed revenge was never truly meant to leave one with feeling anything in the first place.
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