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Chapter 10

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Part 1

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Las Noches
Hueco Mundo

Time was a curious thing. You either tend to have a lot of it and then it could feel slow and ponderous, especially when you had to wait for something. Or you could never have enough of it, with every second being a precious, priceless even, commodity.

In Hueco Mundo time passed much faster than in either the World of the Living or Soul Society. That by itself was a priceless gift, which gave me time to recuperate, begin putting my house in order, and most importantly, time to sit down, analyze my situation and begin to properly plan for the future. Between my fragmented memories of what should have been a fictional world, my experience as a soldier, later a Dark Lord of a Sith, and more recently, my existence as Aizen, and all the baggage it brought, I had a lot of data to digest, ponder and figure out how to use.

My first impulse was to stall for even more time before showing my hand outside of my realm. Seireitei was still in a damage control mode, some of their most powerful fighters were either out of commission or mentally compromised, and that would offer me a gift of time. I already had a lot of issues on my plate, and I hadn't really begun implementing changes – once those were underway, I would be even busier.

For example, once I ensured I could reasonably trust my people and was done making examples out of dissenters, I would be properly briefing and preparing them to face Gotei 13 in case my desired future didn't pan out and it came to open conflict. I would be busy for a long time properly reshaping my Hollows from individual warriors in proper soldiers, and then, those soldiers into the best army any known dimension has ever seen.

That by itself was a task which would take months, perhaps a year or longer, depending on the temperament of my future troopers… and that was likely a very optimistic assessment on my part. I would have to spend a lot of that time personally training people too, both as all kinds of NCOs and proper officers.

A full-time job that, enough said.

At the same time, I would be using the military training program to aid building up a proper society, culture, eventually, industry, which would be another full-time job and a much longer one too.

Then there were the outside actors I would have to deal with, some sooner rather than later.

Seireitei and Gotei 13 were on the forefront, their next government and the Noble Clans would be likely competing to see who could cause me more headaches. I would be hands-on when trying to solve this particular thorny issue because for the foreseeable future I wouldn't trust most of my Hollows not to fuck it up by either dying wastefully or killing someone they really shouldn't…

Related to those issues, came Ichigo Kurosaki, who had the potential to be one of my peers in the fullness of time and so I needed to either shape him into a proper ally or remove him from the board. The Shiba Clan, which was obviously related to Ichigo, and the political boon they might be able to offer. Handling them properly would likely turn out to be yet another full-time job…

The trend was obvious, and I was still scratching the surface as far as things that I needed to do, threats, present, and future, I had to either prepare for, neutralize or subvert into useful assets.

I needed staff, proper allies I could trust, and unfortunately, my Zanpakuto, while incredibly useful, wasn't a good solution. Having her out and helping did drain my Spiritual Power at a decent clip. That combined with all the projects I would need the fuel, well it was less than ideal, even with the Yuriko providing refueling options. While in the fullness of time, I would have more power to work with, I would have a lot more projects to work on as well, however, that was an issue for future consideration.

For the time being, I still had a few more people to resurrect and that was going to weaken me temporarily, which wasn't ideal. Potentially healing Nelliel, if Orihime doesn't recover soon would be another drain on my Reiatsu I could do without…

I paused my racing thoughts and looked around. In my wandering, I've reached the top of Las Notches and could see the unfamiliar starry sky, which brought a logical question to my mind. Was this merely a contained realm taking some traits from the human world, or were we upon a different world with this dimension being a whole universe of its own with all that entails? That was something to look at in the future.

Up here was quiet and peaceful, and I really shouldn't have been surprised to find Starrk laying lazily not too far from one of the few stairways leading outside. My Primera Espada merely glanced my way, nodded slowly, then returned to his stargazing.

I not only wanted him on my side, but Coyote Starrk was also someone I needed to work eagerly to bring forth my vision. I had to find a proper way to motivate him, one that wouldn't foster any hostile feelings. Some of the ideas that immediately raced through my mind were typical Sith ones and to my utter lack of surprise, they were among those Aizen would have seriously considered as decent ideas, which told me that one of the reasons he went on the deep end might have been subconscious influence from my past as a Sith. I had to look for that too then, even if the Dark Side wasn't around to fuck with my head anymore.

While subtle and not so subtle threats and blackmail had their place, and were often useful as well, naturally, this wasn't one of those cases.

I once again revisited my mental list of things to do, while enjoying the peace and quiet. Go over everything I knew about Starrk, find a way to bring him fully on board. As a bonus, doing so successfully, meant that outside of heavy combat it was a case of getting two allies instead of one.

Eliminate the dissent in the ranks, something I'll be using Nelliel's return to facilitate.

Deal with all kinds of outside political actors, and there things became complicated from the very beginning. There was a lot to be said about hammering the steel while it was still hot, and perhaps it would be for the best to continue acting and thus keeping everyone flat-footed. The obvious downside here was that a misstep could lead to a confrontation I didn't desire…

I shuffled some items on my mental list and focused on Starrk. Have words with him, then escort Masaki Kurosaki home to see the fallout of bringing Ichigo back, have words with Issin Shiba about my obvious next step – bringing his relatives back as well. That was something that might be better left for later – judging by Masaki, even if I brought Kaien back properly, he would need time, probably a lot of time to fully recover his powers and it would be a waste to let him go before he could take care of himself. I wouldn't be going to all this trouble so someone could easily slit his throat or something…

Then depending on how things turn out, either handle Nelliel and clean up house, or continue sounding out and trying to bring more Espada fully on board. In that regard, Tier would be someone to talk with when she comes back…

With a rough plan in place and a note to speak about it with my Kyoka, I focused my attention on Starrk and began going through everything I knew about him. Back in the day, such a conversation would have been much easier to handle. While I lacked Aizen's charisma then, cheating with the Force and finding the right words to say to twist someone to my desires was a great substitute…

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Part 2

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Las Noches
Hueco Mundo

"This is going to be such a drag…" Starrk mumbled when I approached him. He didn't move or otherwise acknowledge my presence, instead, the Primera continued to stargaze.

I sat beside him, looking at the star in silence for a few minutes, and when it became clear he wouldn't talk, I snorted aloud.

"You know, for someone professing they want friends and companionship, you certainly don't act that way. Being lazy, I can understand, seeking solitude, peace, and quiet, if you prefer your own company and want to avoid people? That's natural as well. For you to do it on the other hand? It brings up questions…"

"Does it?" Starrk idly inquired in a disinterested tone.

"We're at war, Starrk, one I tried to avoid and would do my best to derail, however, there is no guarantee I'll succeed. As things stand, if we face Gotei 13 tomorrow, most of us will die and the rest will have to run, to be hunted down like animals. Even if you and Lylinette make it through, you'll be alone again."

Starrk twitched at that and shifted to look at me.

"We could have delivered a crippling blow to Soul Society and greatly increased our odds of victory in the long run, yet you had us hold back. We're in war because of you, Aizen, otherwise Soul Society would still be none the wiser about our existence." He stared at me with a small frown. "If you don't want to win this war, why should I bother?"

"I didn't want this war in the first place. And if we win it? We will be exhausted, crippled, and facing two more wars against arguably even stronger opponents. If my plans to deescalate the situation and eventually bring forth peace don't pan out, it's going to be a long and bloody affair, many of our comrades will die avoidable deaths."

"This is a problem of your own making, Aizen. Why don't you fix it yourself?"

"That's what I'm doing, however considering the time we likely have, I can't do it alone, Starrk. We need to become a proper army, one that can survive and win this war if it comes to it. And if there is to be peace, if we're to avoid the butcher's bill and have a different future, we need to change who we are. We need to be more than mere monsters, and that's going to be an even harder challenge. You're my Primera Espada, Coyote Starrk, one of the strongest beings in existence, one of the scariest monsters in Hueco Mundo. I need you to lead our people into a new age, right beside me."

"This sounds like too much work. I'll pass."

"Then you'll watch our comrades die one by one, or in job lots. Some when they refuse to change and embrace the future, thus turning into obstacles, others when the war comes and they aren't ready because they refused to become what they needed in order to survive the coming storm."

"You're going to make examples, aren't you?" Starrk sighed.

"Nelliel didn't cripple herself and I can no longer tolerate such stunts."

"She's alive?" The Primera perked up.

"Crippled but alive. Tier should bring her home to be healed soon."

"That's good." And just like that, any spark of life and interest went out of Starrk.

This was like talking to a bloody rock and likely as useful, damn it…

Plan B it was then – figure out how to properly motivate Lilynette and sick her at Starrk, then watch the fireworks…

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In hindsight, I probably should have gone to Lilynette Gingerbuck first. Thinking about it, their personalities in particular, and the fact that those two were two parts of the same soul, it should have been obvious where all the motivation and drive went. Sadly, it wasn't my Primera.

I found Lilynette skulking around Kurosaki's suite, trying to sneakily observe the woman and plotting mischief.

"Didn't I order not to mess up with our guests?" I materialized behind the young looking Arrancar.

Lilynette jumped up with an eep and turned around to stare at me wide-eyed and in no small amount of fear.

"You haven't done anything you're going to regret later, have you?" I raised an eyebrow.

Gingerbuck stood at a semblance of attention and hurriedly shook her head in the negative.

"That's good. Now walk with me." I waved at her and pointedly headed away from the guest suites. "The two of us have a common issue. I need Coyote Starrk motivated and acting like the Primera he's supposed to be and I'm sure you would be happy if he stops lazing around all the time."

Llilynette perked up at that and grinned widely, all fear seemingly forgotten.

"So you do," I continued. "How do we make that happen? You can have my blessing and freehand within reason."

"Really?" The slim girl grinned in a way that once upon a time I would have found disturbing.

"Really. Starrk needs to get up and begin doing his job." I nodded seriously.

"That's going to be a tall order." She nodded solemnly. "I'll do my best."

"I'm sure. What do you usually use to motivate him?"

"Everything and usually it's not really working!" Lilynette pouted. "Starrk's such a lazy ass it's not even funny! Unless I'm constantly on his case, all he'll ever do is sleep, argh!" She waved her slim hands in frustration.

"I've noticed that much," I confirmed, while Gingerbuck continued to vent now that someone was willing to listen.

To say that she was frustrated with the other part of her soul would be a charming understatement…

While watching Lilynette's antics was certainly amusing, it was also a testament to my failure to motivate and get Starrk moving by myself. A direct order might do it, however, I needed him eager an onboard, not lazily half-assing it while showing to everyone paying attention that he wasn't really on board with the program...

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