...

His theory regarding the man he'd spent the past decades on trying to outmaneuver or at least prevent from achieving his destructive goals, was slowly and surely proving itself truer with every moment.

Ichimaru Gin had long since been moved to another cell for one reason or another- Soifon hadn't been particularly talkative in that regard, which had effectively left him alone for the past... Who knows how long really?

"Er... Hello? Earth to Kisuke?"

He wasn't sure why he'd asked for the man outside his cell to come through, though he had been surprised that he'd done so rather willingly and quickly at that.

When he'd first received the confirmation that Aizen Sosuke would visit him as asked, a small part of him had quickly jumped back to the paranoia surrounding the man, the paranoia surrounding what had to be one of the biggest gambles in terms of subterfuge in history.

Yet...

He let out a sigh as he settled back into the wall behind him, his resolve quite literally breaking as he took in the cross-legged sitting captain outside his cell.

Subterfuge or not... The Aizen he knew wouldn't have ever been capable of holding the expression before him.

Perhaps if he'd paid enough attention to it during the trial, he would've noticed- Fact was, his memory gave him a crystal clear reminder that said expression hadn't changed whatsoever during every encounter he'd had with the man. Which in itself meant that he couldn't have tricked him during the trial- And following the attack on Hueco Mundo and Aizen's current lack of a Zanpakuto, he certainly couldn't do it now.

"Sorry." The word left him easily. "I am finding it rather hard to focus." He added on quickly.

If there was one thing that Aizen's expression could never pull- Even if every other facet of his persona exuded it, it was pure innocence.

The man outside his cell, truth be told, had perhaps the brightest look in his eyes he'd ever seen- One untarnished by the... Workings of Soul Society's government, or even by the constant exposure to hollows and the like that would've broken most ideals.

It was the kind of look one found in a newly graduated shinigami- Or even the look of someone who'd experienced something truly haunting- And found bright hope at the end of it.

Aizen let out a shrug at his words, leaning back against his hands as he appraised him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you though?" The other questioned with a frown. "Are you really sorry? You caused quite a big mess you know?"

The irony of the statement wasn't lost to him as he held back the urge to throw a heated response.

"Yes, well, I am not sure if you'd noticed, but the Aizen I knew and..."Aizen's eyebrows rose up in sequence. "You are rather different."

"Hm... Different how exactly?" The other scratched the back of his head, a sheepish look to his face.

The image before him was wrong on so many levels really.

"I remember the trial nonsense, but really I was still... Uh... Getting used to everything." Aizen finished with an uncaring shrug.

Even he found it somewhat amusing-

His eyes immediately narrowed, the action taking Aizen back by the suddenly startled expression on his face.

"Truth be told." He immediately started, pushing himself off the wall as his hands gripped hold of the sealed bars before him. "Let's say I believe you- That you're from the future."

Aizen nodded, warily.

His own eyes simply narrowed further.

"How did you know I'd hidden The Hogyoku in Rukia's soul?"

Aizen blinked once in response while he simply held his breath, his paranoia surfacing once again as he searched the man's eyes.

After a tense moment, to his surprise, Aizen Sosuke simply shrugged.

"'Cos, you did it before?" There was a questioning look on his face.

Urahara held in the urge to gulp.

"Why?" He questioned again, watching the other's gaze for any signs of deceit. "I hid it there, to keep it from you- So the only way you could've-"

Before he could continue, however, Aizen simply interrupted him with another shrug.

"I mean, even if the players are different, it's the same old game, you know?"

His eyes narrowed again.

"Explain." There was a surge of confidence in him as he uttered the word, parts of him almost convinced that if it wasn't the same Aizen he remembered, he would do so.

"Simple really," Aizen remarked off-handily, his own stomach practically filling with knots at the carefree expression. "There's a few constants in the universe- Constants you can easily prove that is." Aizen raised a finger. "Example, you been exiled, to me, is a sign that you went down the same path- You created the Hogyoku, and incidentally suffered for it."

"I suffered because..." He made to add his own two cents before thinking better of it.

Better to let the other divulge more information really.

Which was why he simply shook his head.

"In your past, how did you find out where the Hogyoku was?"

Aizen blinked at him for that one.

The look on his face, truthfully, made him twitch.

It was the kind of look one gave to a child for asking a stupid question.

"You hid it inside Rukia's soul to turn her into a human." The man deadpanned towards him. "Your endgame for it was that once her soul became similar to humans, Rukia would live out her life as such, the magical stone in her notwithstanding, happily."

Urahara stiffened at the words, hints of horror filling him entirely as he really took in the man's point.

"...She died?"

Aizen blinked once at him, let out another shrug, and settled for silence.

Urahara simply found himself feeling slack as he pushed himself back against the wall.

"...She became a hollow, didn't she?" And in effect... He'd handed the Hogyoku over towards Hueco Mundo directly.

And as much as he might wish to use that as a reason to convince himself that it simply meant he had succeeded in keeping the Hogyoku away from the man in question...

One, the fact he wasn't remotely bothered by the lack of said stone showed he didn't even care about it- Hell the man had been more concerned about Rukia's life than anything else... And two... There were a lot of people that would've wanted the power of the stone, people he would've felt the need to hide it from... People like Aizen Sosuke, or at least the one he knew.

Aizen blinked again, before letting out an amused, albeit... There was something in the man's eyes he couldn't quite discern-

"According to Ichigo-san, she always had the personality of one." The man deadpanned towards him.

Despite the morbid subject, Urahara found himself stifling a snort.

"... That doesn't explain why it was never found within her though..." To his surprise, it was Aizen that remarked those words. "'Cos she's still alive in this timeline, yet the-" The man, seeming to have noticed him gawking at him, promptly stopped speaking, a brief hint of worry going through his face. "Err... Sorry, I am not really supposed to talk about these things!" The man remarked uncomfortable, once again scratching the back of his head.

He blinked a few times at that before simply nodding in turn.

Time travel was certainly a dangerous subject to talk about- Least of all because of the bloody existence of Imagination-infused reality warpers.

Though, admittedly enough, a small part of him enjoyed knowing the true cause of why their timelines had converged and twisted around each other the way they did while Aizen Sosuke didn't.

Was it petty? Probably.

Did it really matter given it was a different version of the one he'd hated? Nope.

After all, it was the small things in life that gave one joy.

He idly wondered how this Aizen Sosuke would react to finding out he'd inadvertently caused the very thing he'd come to stop.

Even if he'd temporarily sorted out the hollow mess already.

It'd certainly annoy him to no end if he were in the other's shoes.

"Was I really the problem?" He blinked a few times at the sudden question, raising his gaze back up towards Aizen's face he found... A very uncomfortable expression.

So uncomfortable in fact he actually felt bad about his response. "You don't want me to answer that..."

Because despite it all, it all came down to one thing.

As much as he might... Loathe the idea that the Aizen he'd known, the Aizen that had caused his life to go down the way it did, would never truly get the justice he deserved...

It was admittedly a relief to have a morally better, albeit somewhat crazier version, as an ally.

And really, it should've been a pretty obvious giveaway, even before he'd gotten his theory from Gin's own grumblings about the man in question.

The Aizen Sosuke he'd knew would've never sacrificed a part of himself for anyone. And the one before him? Had sacrificed his Zanpakuto, without so much as a protest.

All to save everyone else.

Even he'd be hard-pressed to give up such... Power for the greater good.

And this Aizen's Bankai?

Well.

Needless to say at least the version he'd plotted against hadn't had that up his sleeve.

This man had been seconds away from instigating a literal hollow extinction single-handily and had only stopped from doing so by his own choice.

He doubted the Aizen he knew would've even needed the Hogyoku if he'd had such power.

"Eh, it's a pity really." The man's voice brought him out of his musings, the words causing a frown to take over his face.

"Pity?"

"Yeah." Aizen nodded. "'Cos if I was the bad guy, it would've made my bloody job of saving the future so much freakin' easier." A beat passed. "All I would've had to do was turn myself in, and boom, Soul Society saved from the Hollows!" Another beat passed. "Would've just advised everyone about the rest of the problems from a comfortable prison cell or something!"

He... Didn't have a response to that.

Like, what could he even say to that?

On the one hand, he could point out the fact that he used to in fact be the bad guy- At least the version before the one that stood in front of him... On the other, it also meant pointing out that the only reason he hadn't gotten lucky enough to just... You know, stop the clusterfuck by turning himself in, was entirely because he'd told everyone about the future he'd come from, with a reality warper listening in. Effectively bringing the future back with him.

...He figured the guy in front of him had been through enough shit as it was- Least of all been the evident death of his timelines Soul King. There was no need to stamp on the wound.

"Huh." Was all he settled on as a response.

Aizen Sosuke let out a sigh and promptly stood up. "I know right? Yeesh, coulda avoided playing 'Risk The Reality' and kept my Zanpakuto." He shook his head. "Poor Kyoka, thrown away for conceptual bullshit."

"...Right..." Urahara deadpanned in response, actually feeling bad for the guy.

He'd never thought he'd see the day where Aizen Sosuke, different version notwithstanding, was apparently a gift horse that reality and fate kept beating with a bat.

"You know, if you promise to apologize to Byakuya and stop trying to make my, and everyone else's life harder, you can get out on parole like Yoruichi-chan."

...He'd pay so much money to see Aizen call Yoruichi that- It took him a moment after to process the rest of the man's words.

"Well, that about proves it." He shrugged in response. "The Aizen I knew would've only let me out of this cage if it involved feeding me to a pack of hollows."

The man blinked in response, frowning.

"... You're making me sound like a dick." Aizen Sosuke his frown settling in further as something seemed to flash through his eyes.

Still the words themselves, he practically couldn't help but laugh at.

"No wonder Santa Claus wanted to promote me!" Aizen remarked, palming his right fist. "It all makes sense now!"

...What?

...

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