The silver clad messenger was knelt low, head bowed, as he stood before the Kurosakis with the addition of Ruala, Rukia and Kadin.
"The Soul King requests the presence of his Royal Guard as quickly as possible," the messenger spoke.
"Eh? Me as well?" Ichigo pointed to himself, tone confused.
"Though you have not been made an official guard, your presence is requested, yes," the man replied.
Not seeing a reason to hesitate, Ruala stepped over to Ichigo and held out her hand with the intention of using her powers to transport them both immediately to the Soul King's Realm. The orange-haired man hesitated, looking at his family in silent question.
"Is there a reason Toshiro has called them?" Isshin asked, ignoring the messenger's flinch at using the Soul King's name so lightly.
"To discuss the plans of striking back against the Dark Master, Kamai Dethmaiyn."
"That makes it sound like he's found something." Ichigo mused.
"I wasn't told much, only to let the Royal Guard, Ruala Nakryin, and the soon-to-be Royal Guard, Ichigo Kurosaki, know that they have been summoned.
Ruala moved her hand a little closer to Ichigo, starting to get impatient. She never needed a reason to follow the orders of the Soul King and delays in following those orders were the only thing she got impatient about.
"You'll let us know what happens right, Ichi?" Karin spoke up.
"Duh," Ichigo smirked at them. "See you guys later, hopefully I won't be gone long.
"Wait!" Isshin stepped between Ichigo and Ruala as his son started to reach for the woman's hand.
"You're gonna make her mad," Kadin said, motioning towards Ruala while looking a different direction and drinking his tea.
"So sorry." Isshin bowed to the woman quickly before turning immediately back to his son. Sighing, Ruala stood patiently to the side. "Anyways, Ichigo, I need you to give our king this." A note was pressed into a confused Reaper's hand. "And don't go snooping, ya hear?"
"Yeah, yeah, alright." Grumbling as his father started getting dramatic, Ichigo stored the note into his uniform and once more moved to take Ruala's hand.
This time he wasn't hindered and the two of them vanished the moment Ichigo's hand met Ruala's, transported in the blink of an eye to the Soul King's realm where an increasingly impatient king was awaiting them with his other guards and the commanders, as well as a lingering guest.
"Follow me," Ruala said to the young man, leading him down the halls of dark wood to where they were being waited on.
Ichigo followed a little slower than she would have liked, as he was busy admiring the style of this floor and how much it made him think of the young king. It was a little grand for the Ice King, in his opinion, but he supposed he had to adjust to the larger area for the sake of everyone else who lived here.
When the new guardian heard the woman leading him sigh heavily, he picked up the pace, ignoring the wintery rooms and halls in favor of avoiding Ruala's usually non-existent wrath. He'd sparred with the woman before, and even with all his training she was a tough opponent. Not impossible to beat, but definitely tough.
They stepped into the meeting hall, a large room with no windows, a large chandelier of ice giving out their light up on the ceiling, the sheen of the dark wood reflecting it enough to light up the whole room while not making it too uncomfortably bright. A large circular table was in the middle of bright white stone, comfy chairs of silvery white sitting periodically around it, most of them filled. Ichigo took a few seconds to take in all of it before looking at the various people.
"I was wondering how fast you would get here." Toshiro's voice brought his attention around to the head of the table. The white-haired being was smirking at them ever so slightly, but his eyes held that little bit of impatience. Ichigo relaxed a bit when he realized it wasn't directed at them, due to Toshiro's next words. "Kirinji and Nimaiya aren't here yet, and three of the commanders haven't arrived."
"Alicia is scatter-brained." Damian Talor of the African areas snorted. "Kavain is probably trying to get her here in one piece."
"And my sister likes to be 'fashionably late', as she calls it." Hazuki of the eastern Asia branches sighed heavily.
Hitsugaya rolled his eyes but said nothing.
"As for the two missing guardians, I suppose they're busy wrapping things up in their kingdoms." Senjumaru shrugged lightly, clearly not caring one way or another what the two men were doing.
"So you weren't waiting on us?" Ichigo scratched his head nervously, noticing some of the interested stares in his direction.
"As much as we're waiting on the last of them." Hikifune smiled kindly at him. "Go ahead and sit down, dear, it won't be long now."
Ruala had already moved over and taken a seat next to the purple haired woman, quiet as ever. There was an empty seat next to her and she motioned for him to take it, seeing as he looked confused about where to go. Just before he could join her, though, a figure in the corner made himself known.
"So you are Ichigo Kurosaki, hm?" The tall figure of Satan grinned. It was meant to be a kind smile, a sort of friendly greeting as humans liked, but his appearance made Ichigo flinch a little and take a step away involuntarily. The King of Hell took no offence, used to such reactions.
"Uh…yeah." The young man replied warily.
"I suppose you wouldn't know me, as we never properly met." Satan bowed his head slightly. "But I believe I lent you a bit of my power before during that unfortunate event in my realm many years ago. I do apologize for the treatment of your sisters there."
A moment of tense silence followed as the orange-haired man processed what he'd just been told, piecing the information together until he finally reached a conclusion and gaped, eyes wide as saucers as realization struck him like a hammer.
"Y-You're the King of Hell!?"
"That I am." Satan chuckled at the reaction. These kinds of reactions always did amuse him, and it was so rare that he could get them, considering he hardly ever left his realm. "A pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Ichigo Kurosaki."
"Um, er, y-yeah, I guess." Ichigo stuttered unsure what to say to the being that controlled the horrifying and vast realms of Hell.
"He won't bite, Ichigo, unless you give him a reason to." Toshiro spoke up, slightly amused by how fearful of Satan the young man seemed to be. "Don't be fooled by his intimidating looks."
"You should practice what you preach, Soul King." Satan shot back teasingly. "Our first few interactions you hardly spoke to me for fear of what I would say."
A few of the others chuckled and Toshiro shot them a loose glare. It was true, after all, and making a big deal of refusing it would only end in more embarrassment on his part, Satan would make sure of that. As gentle as the dark king could be, he always did enjoy a bit of teasing.
Three figures stepped inside and attention shifted to them; the three missing commanders. Alicia was panting a bit, clearly having run all the way, while Kavain looked irritated and Hotaru as chirpy as ever as she took her seat quickly next to her sister, the other two following suit to their own seats.
"I guess you won't tell me what's going on until everyone is here?" Ichigo asked the white-haired being, Satan stepping aside so the young man could finally take the seat offered by Ruala.
"I prefer not to repeat myself." Toshiro answered while nodding.
It didn't take much longer before the last two, the Royal Guards before mentioned to be missing, finally arrived and Toshiro sat up straight, prepared to start.
"Since several of you haven't been here I'll bring you up to speed." He began. "I've asked the commanders of the separate regions to head to each of the branches they lead and ask those leaders to lend some of their warriors to this fight. As of now only a few have been contacted, and even fewer have agreed to lend their aid."
He nodded to one of the other commanders. Ryder stood first, standing at attention with her arms behind her back.
"America's Heaven has agreed to grant us aid in the forms of soldiers and weaponry. They will arrive within a day once the connection between gates has been set up."
She sat back down, the United States branch being the only one of hers to give an answer so far. Next to stand was Kavain, leader of the southern European branches.
"Elysium is also willing to assist, and their immortals may be of great help to us."
"Elysium is like the Greek Soul Society, right?" Ichigo piped up, slightly confused.
"Correct." Kavain grinned a little, glad he knew about it. "Their 'gods' are simply Soul Reapers who have been cursed with an eternal life."
"They consider me Hades." Satan said with a chuckle. "But while in their stories I'm seen as evil, I'm really a neutral party."
"So the immortals will help us?" Toshiro questioned, trying to get a move on.
Kavain nodded and sat back down. Though he watched over many branches, they were all relatively small and could not spare fighters, not to mention he hadn't spoken to all of them yet.
Damian also stood and said that two of the African branches were willing to spare warriors to fight the demons. They were surprised to learn that most Africans had experience with demons before, hence their beliefs, so the warriors of the afterlife were already acquainted with the dark beasts and prepared to fight them. Plus, being such big places, they had plenty of warriors to spare while still protecting their own boundaries.
That done, Toshiro moved on to the next topic.
"For many years now Dethmaiyn has managed to remain hidden away in a kind of alternate realm with his demon army, and it's there he can stay safe while he plots away." He spoke firmly, finally getting to what he'd been wanting to talk about. "But I believe we've finally narrowed our search."
A few mutters went around.
"Oh ho, so now we can finally catch this bastard, eh?" Tenjiro grinned, the Royal Guard clearly pleased that after decades of nothing they finally had a faint hope of success.
"Yes." The young king looked towards Satan and the tall figure moved from his chosen corner.
"I have been watching the demons' movements and they have finally made a mistake." The Hell King spoke, holding up a roll of paper they hadn't noticed before. "I have a rough estimate of where they're escaping to, and with the Soul King's help we are fairly certain we know exactly how they've been able to hide for so long."
The gathered figures waited with baited breaths, impatient to hear the news.
"They're using a severed portion of the Precipice World as their home." Toshiro finally answered their silent demands. "From what I've been told, this area is cut off from the rest of the Precipice World, a separate area with no cleaner or restrictive current, perfect for demons to nest. Not to mention it's been inhabited by something dark for a long time now."
"Something dark?" Alicia wondered.
"A being that might just be worse than Dethmaiyn," Hitsugaya turned a calculating gaze on Ruala, "a being who controls death itself."
Ichigo saw the girl stiffen visibly and suck in a quick breath of surprise, eyes going wide. Clearly she knew exactly who he was talking about, but he was completely clueless.
"You mean to say Nakryin's twin is helping Dethmaiyn?" Ichibe Hyousube questioned with a frown, concerned.
"Ruala has a twin?" Ichigo looked surprised.
"A very dangerous twin," Senjumaru replied solemnly. "But I had thought she was gone."
"Not gone, sealed away." Satan corrected, now standing behind Hitsugaya and to his right. "A Soul King from long ago aided me in sealing her away in this cut off Precipice section because we both knew she could be deadly to the balance of souls with her powers."
"Long ago? How long are we talking?" The orange-haired man was all kinds of confused. A being who controlled death? Twin to probably the shyest person he knew? Not to mention sealed away log ago, so how old did that make Ruala? Even for a spirit she looked extremely young!
"Ruala is not just any other Soul Reaper, boy." Kirio chided him. "While she's only been a Royal Guard since the last Soul King, she's been around for a very long time and the elementals have kept her going all these years, as long as she holds true to her vows."
"Vows?"
"I'm sure you can learn all that later, Ichigo." Toshiro interrupted. "What's important right now, with everyone here, is that we narrow down our search further. We know what it is we're looking for now, the only problem is where exactly it is. As for removing the seal, leave that to me."
It was then Satan made known what the paper in his hand was; the map with his scarlet colored circle drawn around Japan.
"You Japanese really seem to get all of the problems." Hotaru sighed as she looked at the hand-drawn circle.
"You're the commander in charge of that branch." Her sister shot back.
"And here I thought you said Karakura Town wasn't the center of attention anymore." Ichigo grumbled as he, too, noticed the fact that his hometown was dead center of the circle.
"The entrance may be a contributing factor to your town being the Spirit Enriched Zone." Satan explained. "When Dethmaiyn decided to make haven there through use of the demons to gain entrance, the increased activity could have caused the increase in souls there to counteract the darkness, thus turning your town into that special zone. Now that you've left, the town will begin to lose that specialty, but it will hold onto it for as long as the demons keep using the entrance."
"You have one last favor to your hometown, Ichigo." Toshiro added. "Take out Dethmaiyn, the demons will stop, and then your town will be safe."
A scowl crossed the young man's face as he glared at the scarlet circle. Toshiro was right; he had one last duty in Karakura Town. However long it took, he would find that entrance to the Precipice World and knock the Dark Master right out of this world. It was high time somebody knocked the man off his self-made throne.
"The only way to find this hidden entrance is your powers, Ruala." The young king now had his attention on his most trusted Royal Guard. The girl looked a bit withdrawn by this request. "You can find your twin, can't you?"
Ruala nodded quietly.
"There's a risk to such a thing, my king." Ichibe piped up. "She does indeed have the ability to locate the whereabouts of her twin sister, but to do so she must open a link to her that has for many centuries been closed in the interest of safety, as then her twin could locate her. This ability goes both ways, and it is not always peaceful." The bearded man looked sympathetically to the petite guardian. "If I recall there had been episodes before where her twin was no less than brutal by using their link as twins to cast all kinds of nightmares onto her."
"But I thought her Hope counteracts the Fear." Alicia frowned. She was one of the newer commanders and wasn't acquainted with this history. Several other commanders were just as confused, as was Ichigo.
"There is a difference between the two that makes it hard on the both of them." Kirio explained. "Ruala's power works through gifting. She gives her power away in the form of light and joy, which takes away from her. As for her other half, her power works by taking. The Fear activates once every happy feeling is consumed, and so she only has to give away a tiny bit of herself before gorging on the emotions that her power then consumes, growing stronger. When the two of them use it on each other, Ruala more often than not unfortunately loses because she ends up giving her power away faster than her twin, while her twin endures longer due to the emotions she's fed on from others, though her twin does weaken because most of what she takes from Ruala is freely given and opposes her own powers."
"That is a problem," Toshiro mused. "Is there a way to increase the chances of Ruala winning a mental battle against her sister?"
"I would have to take," Ruala whispered. "I don't like to take, it weakens others."
"But unfortunately we can't afford to lose you." The young king argued. "Once you locate her you can break off the link again. If you need more power to do so I'd be more than happy to assist if it means finding this realm and stopping this war for good."
"I will assist as well." Hikifune smiled kindly at the blonde.
Several others spoke up in eagerness to help in locating the entrance to the demons' nest, surprising Ruala with the sincerity of their offers. In fact, their eagerness might make the process a little easier.
"If you all are truly willing to give me your power…then finding her will be no problem." She smiled slightly, now more confident in facing her undead twin in order to make some headway in this war.
"Good." Toshiro nodded to her, an almost invisible smile of his own making an appearance before he turned to the others with a serious expression. "Once the location of this realm's gate is found we'll need to gather any available forces in order to make our attack. It's time we struck back at them after centuries of being on the defense."
Several gave a holler of agreement. Now was the time for the counterattack.
Been trying to research the names of the afterlife places in different cultures for this purpose, but the only one I could keep relatively correct was Elysium and Heaven, but if I still messed those up let me know. Plenty of chances for OC's or maybe other fandoms to show up, considering I'm bringing in other countries. The Greek Gods will obviously be making an appearance but here there not gods, just really powerful warriors with strong powers with the gift of immortality that humans would, of course, consider gods. Heaven is up for debate since America is such a diverse place but for the most part it's structured like our military. Also, I could use some help with different names for things, like how Soul Society has the inner circle Seireitei, what would the one for Heaven be called? Or would Heaven be the inner circle with the whole thing called something else? (obviously I suck at anything religious so a little assistance please.) I have similar name problems for other places as well.
Whoo, got that out of the way. Enjoy!
Beta'd by Writer of Craziness