A/N: This chapter is from the villains' point of view and also where the Arrancar arc truly kicks off! Iss still a bit slower paced, but I just wanted to inform y'all that we are now hitting the beginning of the end (of part 1 anyways).


Chapter 31: Before the Sunrise

Dan (goddammit the stupid hollow's got him calling himself that) didn't know what to do.

He'd been discouraged from going out and slaughtering the hollows that he would usually incinerate to pass the time (something about Aizen's plan about to come to fruition). There wasn't much else to do in Hueco Mundo: civilization basically only consisted of the aforementioned hollows, the creepy ass Gin, stick up his ass Tosen, the cocky as whole Aizen, and quite the bountiful amount of sand. At least, nothing that he particularly cared about.

It was only natural that he was forced to something he hadn't done, willingly, in years: he had to look within himself.

"What brings you to my domain, Dan? You should visit more often!"

He scowled. As if he would visit some old, wooden house with an even older inhabitant. Come to think of it, he wouldn't visit anybody. Ah well, at least he got a little bit of nostalgia every time he saw his inner world.

With the rundown buildings, billowing smoke, cratered and cracked streets, he felt like he was back in his Amity Park. He would never admit this to the hollow, though. "My name isn't Dan, and this isn't a pleasure visit."

"Correct. . . how could I forget?"

Ignoring her usual sardonic tone, Dan (dammit) made his intentions known. "I'm here for an explanation. I want to know exactly what you're capable of."

"I can do plenty of things! I can give you regenerative powers, increased stamina, and access to new techniques."

"New techniques?"

"That is what I said, isn't it?"

"Cut the sarcasm and be specific!"

"Look who's talking!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. ". . . Fine. What new techniques can you give me?"

"I can give you Sonido, which is a form of short, high speed travel. I can gift you with some hollow kido as well. Ah, let's see. . . oh yes! I can also gift you multiple new forms as well as an all-powerful Vasto Lorde form."

"The hell is a Vasto Lorde?"

The hollow sighed as she waved one of her many hands. "I forgot you aren't all that well acquainted with this side of the afterlife. Strap in because this can get a little long."

His eyes narrowed at that. "Wonderful."

"A hollow has five forms. The first is that of a demi-hollow. A demi-hollow has a corrupted chain of fate and starts to take on the traits of a hollow while still partially being a Plus, a spirit who hasn't yet been sent to Soul Society. Once the chain of fate is fully broken and corroded, the demi-hollow becomes a full hollow."

"I'm assuming that I wouldn't have to worry about those forms?"

"No, you're a ghost. It wouldn't even be possible for you to undergo those types of changes. Your chain of fate has long since become your core."

He nodded. It wouldn't do him any good if he accidentally regressed into one of those savages. Not to mention that they looked particularly ghastly. "I see."

"Anyways, after regular hollows is the class of Menos. They are powerful titans comprised of numerous hollows. The Gillian subclass is the largest. They're relatively dumb with the intellect of an wild animal. As such, they attack in groups. People like you, Vlad, Danny, and Aizen would have no trouble with them. I'm sure you've seen some before. They're shrouded in black with those ghastly, white masks with pointy noses."

There weren't many of them that he'd see in person thanks to the barrier that Aizen put up to shroud their Reiatsu, but he had seen a fair amount of them in the distance. He couldn't help but think that they looked remarkably dumb and ugly. "Yes, I remember."

"Good. Now, if one of the hollows within the Gillian can take control of the whole unit and consume enough hollows, a Gillian can become an Adjuchas. These beings are as smart as you or I and could give either of us a fair degree of trouble."

"I doubt that. What's the last one?"

If the hollow had had eyebrows, they surely would've been twitching. Instead, the poor creature simply had to settle for a twitching eye to express her irritation. "I'd have gotten there if you would've let me finish!"

He made no attempt to hide his smirk as he rolled his hand about. "Proceed."

"Watch your tone."

"You're not my mother."

The hollow shot him a lingering glare before letting it drop. "Whatever, as I was saying, Adjuchas are powerful, but there's a class above them: the Vasto Lorde. There isn't much known about them; the amount of them in existence probably wouldn't even be able to be counted above the single digits."

"I guess that explains why I haven't run into one."

"And you should count yourself lucky that you haven't," she retorted with the smallest tremor in her voice. He couldn't remember a time where he'd actually heard that hollow be afraid of something. "There's a reason beyond keeping you in his pocket that Aizen doesn't let you go off on your own."

He wasn't ashamed to admit it: these Vasto Lordes had to be the most intriguing thing that he'd heard about in weeks. Just the idea of running into one was setting his excitement all a flutter. "And why is that?"

"The threat posed by a Vasto Lorde is beyond that of a Captain. Even Aizen as he is now would likely fall to one of them."

He grinned, widely, baring all of his teeth. "Huh, if that was supposed to deter me from trying to seek one out then you don't know me at all. I would assume there was a reason why I haven't sensed any of these boogeymen?"

"Vasto Lordes aren't spotted unless they want to be. If they get injured, they may start to regress back to their Gillian state and become a mindless Menos. No reasonable Vasto Lorde would risk that for an unneeded fight."

And just like that his interest was killed. Cruelly, cruelly killed. "I suppose that makes sense. Just what can a Vasto Lorde do that makes it so powerful?"

"It can use Cero, which is a devastating reiryoku attack, quicker Sonido, and an even faster regeneration rate than a typical hollow possesses."

"Alright, this all sounds promising. I suppose that I should give them a test run."

"Not so fast," she held up a finger as if she were a parent cautioning a child. "You can't just use the powers all willy nilly. These are powerful tools, but only when used properly."

Feeling rather unimpressed at the sheer number of roadblocks that he seemed to be facing in this new time period, his eyebrow had begun to twitch as if incapable of idly handling the bullshit. "And how do I use them properly without testing them out?"

The hollow grinned, widely. He just knew this wasn't gonna be good. "Meditation, of course."


There were times when Aizen's genius surprised even himself. Although ghosts and hollows were relative enemies with even their inner natures being incompatible, he was able to get them to coexist with his newest stroke of genius.

The arrancars were designed to mimic the powers of shinigami while housing the natures of hollows and ghosts. He'd considered adding Quincy abilities into his concoction but later discarded the idea. It had taken long enough just to make these arrancar stable with the conflicting hollow and ghost natures. It would be downright asinine to disrupt his meticulously crafted creation for some unneeded Quincy powers.

Besides, he already had a few fitting guinea pigs already set to figure out if such a thing was possible. From what Dan was telling him, it was working out quite nicely on his end (although he admittedly lacked any Quincy powers anyway). The same couldn't be said for Daniel and Danielle.

He truly hoped that the two survived their ordeal; they would be valuable assets in the oncoming fight against the Soul Society and that sorry excuse for a king. Odds were, however, that they would be stubborn. That stubbornness would surely lead to their demise if they refused to fall in line.

Ichigo was another promising guinea pig. Admittedly, he was an unplanned guinea pig, but he was bearing interesting results, nonetheless. He had to thank the substitute shinigami one day. After all, he was the reason that he'd truly begun to believe that his plan could be made a reality. All of those conflicting natures bottled up within one vessel while not succumbing to the turmoil but instead pushing their powers beyond natural limits. It was truly a sight to behold.

His inner musings had taken him all the way to his trusted arrancar's quarters. Ulquiorra may not have been one for much emotion, but he gathered himself to attention as Aizen strode into the room. "Well, Ulquiorra, how are you feeling?"

"The same as usual, sir," Ulquiorra responded, clenching his fist. Aizen cracked a smile at that sight. Soon, he too would have the power of the hollows joined into his very being. His power would be unparalleled. "I believe that this new power will be the key to becoming unstoppable."

"I'm glad to have your vote of confidence."

"I'm feeling a bit of turmoil, but with all of the souls that I've had to subjugate, I am certain this will be no different. The Seireitei trash won't stand a chance."

"And I have no doubt as well. You're a resilient one, Ulquiorra. That is one of the many reasons that you are so highly favored by me."

"I will do my best to ensure that your favor is not misplaced."

"I would hope so. Remember to inform the other Espada to do another check-in with Szayelaporro today. We need everything to be perfect before we begin our mission."

"Yes sir."

Aizen gave Ulquiorra one final nod before he left. He had a new pep in his already content step after his talk. 'My goals are finally coming to fruition.'


"No, not like that!"

Dan promptly ignored the inferior creature's advice as he fired a Cero from the tips of his fingers, like a gun. To his surprise, the energy didn't come out of his fingers like his ectoplasm typically would. Instead, Reiatsu exploded out of his arm.

Quite literally.

He winced as he felt his dripping mess of an arm trying to stitch itself back together while he himself was dripping in the ectoplasm that was once his arm. "The hell was that?!"

"I told you, you dumb Badger. It doesn't work like that!"

"How the hell does it work then?!"

"That's what I was trying to explain to you, nitwit!"

The ghost glowered at the hollow before waving his newly healed arm. "Well, go on then!"

If looks could kill, he'd surely be a stain on the ground with how hard she was glaring at him. Sucks for her that looks couldn't kill. Much less from someone as harmless as herself. "Ungrateful little. . . we need to sync for it to work!"

His eyebrows furrowed at that new piece of information. "Sync? Can't you hear my thoughts already? Not to mention that you're already bonded to me! How much more synced do we possibly need to be?"

"C'mon, Dan, you're smarter than this," she sighed. "I've already told you that ghosts and hollows aren't particularly compatible. It'll take our energies being synced for you to get off any hollow attack. Even the basic ones."

"Well that's just great! How are we even supposed to sync our energies? Do we sit by the fire singing Kumbaya?"

She sniffed as she turned her nose up at him. At least, it seemed like that was what she was trying to do, but it was quite hard to tell considering that she didn't quite have much of a neck and she didn't have a nose. "Well, for one, getting to know my name would help."

". . . You're kidding."

"Not in the slightest."

D- He scoffed as he stared off at the ruins in the distance. What wouldn't he give to be back in his own time period causing mischief? Or rather, what wouldn't he give to be anywhere causing some damn mischief? But no, instead he had to play ice breakers with a goddamn parasite. "I cannot believe I'm doing this. . . what's your name?"

"It doesn't work like that. You have to hear it."

"Obviously that's why I asked you!"

The hollow cackled, her entire frame shaking with laughter. "Oh boy, I guess I should explain it in a different way. I cannot physically tell you my name. Even if I told you that it's. . . you would be unable to hear it."

His scowl deepened. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Why would anything come easy for him? "So, what do I do?"

"Ah that's simple: all you have to do is get a feel for the energy. Meditation helps with that. So, you ready to go?"

Without further prompting, he floated into a cross-legged position and closed his eyes. "Let's get this over with. I've got an egotistical, jackass calling my name."


Doable.

Emotions.

They were a series of chemical processes that went on in the brain. Some believed that emotions were more than that. Feelings aren't something that made any shred of sense to him. The heart was an organ, not a grouping of feelings.

At least that was how he felt until a few days ago.

He'd been administered some synthesized ghost DNA as had his fellow Espada a little over two weeks ago. While his ghostly side was still trying to merge with his person, he'd begun to experience new thoughts that he didn't quite know how to make heads or tails of. For one, he finally felt complete. He didn't mean complete in the sense that something was missing, however. That would simply be illogical.

Rather, it felt like. . . He wasn't quite sure. All he knew was that he felt different, and that he quite approved of these changes: they were practical yet innovative to give him and his fellow Espada an edge on the Seireitei trash. This wasn't to say that he didn't trust Aizen-sama; he certainly knew what was best. It was simply because he truly did believe that Aizen-sama knew what was best. He had spared no expense and left not even the slightest bit of a possibility that the trash in the Seireitei would have an edge on them.

He supposed that this could be where his approval and confidence came from. Before, he had felt fine, but it didn't compare to how he viewed his current composition. The only true drawback was that he didn't quite know how to grapple with these new thoughts that had been intruding into his mind.

The thoughts sounded almost strikingly similar to what some humans referred to as the "heart". The deeper emotions, as some would call them. His omniscient eye could see all. All except for these deeper emotions, the "heart", the humans claimed to exist. The "heart" couldn't possibly be real.

It couldn't possibly be real.

"Oi! Ulquiorra! What the hell are you doing in here? Ya get lost or something?"

Ulquiorra felt his ire begin to rise as he found himself forced back to reality. "Hn. Grimmjow. I'm for your checkup. Or rather, I'm here to tell you about your checkup. Make sure to head over to Szayelaporro before the day is over."

Grimmjow stepped closer to him, wearing a deep scowl. "For fucks sake, didn't we already do this?!"

"Yeah, what of it? The ghost and hollow natures aren't exactly-"

"-compatible, I know Szayelaporro wouldn't fucking shut up about that shit. I feel fine anyways. I feel better than fine. I feel stronger. There's nothing wrong with me, none of that destabilization crap that Szayelaporro kept bitching about. I'll be fine."

Ulquiorra gave Grimmjow an unimpressed look. "Whether you're fine or not is not for you to decide. That discernment is for Szayelaporro and Aizen-sama alone. Unless, of course, you're questioning Aizen-sama's expertise?"

". . . Tch. Goddamn lapdog. Fine. Where the hell is Szayelaporro anyway?"

"In his lab as usual."

"I'll go but if he starts monologuing, I'm outta there!"

Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed a tad. "Just do as you're told."

Grimmjow brushed past Ulquiorra as he walked towards the lab base. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Ulquiorra stared after him with distaste before shaking his head. Grimmjow has always been irrational, a rash one. A delinquent. He'd probably believe in the "heart" like the fool he is.

Ulquiorra scoffed to himself as he went on his way to the next Espada, Yammy. His inner musings hadn't changed much. It wasn't as if he didn't trust Aizen-sama's judgment, but there was more than a small part of him that questioned his idea of making Grimmjow an Espada. He was the least fit out of any of them, but his master made the call. So, it was good enough for him.

Turning his thoughts to other matters, Ulquiorra couldn't help but think about the human world. It was only a matter of time before he'd be deployed there. Part of him wanted to talk to the humans, or at least observe them up close, to make sense of these new. . . thoughts springing up in his mind. Or even possibly unveil his new powers. He almost felt quite pleased at the thought.

Only for Aizen-sama's sake, of course.


"This infernal synchronization isn't working!"

"I told you. It's going to take some time. Now quit whining."

He could feel his teeth grinding as he seriously contemplated blasting her to smithereens. "Things don't take time for me. They get done."

She snorted at that. "Well sorry to disappoint you, O Gifted One, but some things take time. This just so happens to be one of those things."

"Just how are we going to get this done when you're clearly so inept?!"

"Me? Inept? You're hardly allowing me to do anything with how much you're forcing your way through this! How about you let me take the lead for a moment here and you feel me out?"

His eyes narrowed as he glared in the spider-hollow's direction. "I recall you saying that you'd serve me."

"And I recall saying that I'd lend you my power. Power that you most certainly can't use yet. And if you can't use my power, you will be of no use to me nor I to you. I'm sure that I'm right in assuming that neither of us wants that?"

". . ."

"Here, just let me take over. . ."

Dan flinched. He could feel the globs of white Reiatsu shaping together on his face. He wasn't sure what it was trying to create, but he could feel the effects. His energy felt more chaotic, his vision was starting to tint golden. His mind was racing almost as fast as his heart. It was taking everything within him not to break the hardening globs and cease the horrible transformation.

Why was he allowing this? He was above this hollow. He was above Aizen. He was certainly above Daniel and Vlad! He didn't even need this hollow. He had no idea if she was even-

"Relax, Badger. I'm not gonna use you. I meant what I said whenever I told you that I view our alliance as a partnership. I'm just showing you the reins."

". . . Take the lead, then."

"With pleasure."

The globs had completely solidified. Dan felt as if his insides weren't trying to split him in two anymore, which was a good sign. "I believe it's working. Can I try it now?"

"Go ahead. Try another Cero but remember to go slowly. We don't need you blowing your arm off again."

"Ugh, don't remind me!"

He lifted his hand and took a deep breath. He felt her energy. It felt cold but not abrasively so. It was like a cool breeze in autumn. It made his fiery core feel just a little bit cooler. He felt warm.

A decent sized beam shot out from his palm and exploded against the stone floor. It had been a bit smaller than his typical Ghost Ray, but it was a start. He couldn't help but smirk a little. It felt weird with the encasing on his face, but he'd get used to it.

"Don't get too cocky, Badger. You've still got a long way to go, but nice work."

"Tch. Let's keep going."


A/N: And that was the beginning of the end! Let me know how y'all felt about this chapter. As always, have a great day, night, afternoon, etc. and stay safe!

Uploaded: August 28th, 2022