Layne sprinted down the tiled corridors, his only guiding forces being Ichigo's stupidly large reiatsu up ahead… and the large group of eleventh division grunts behind him in pursuit
Ichigo came into sight, with his own personal mob of pursuers closely behind him
Layne waved a greeting as they met and turned left down a conveniently placed T-intersection, the Shinigami chasing them joining up and forming one larger mob as they stumbled to change directions
"Jeez, they're persistent,eh? Ichigo" Layne pointed out calmly, tilting his head backwards to indicate the eleventh division who were currently shouting stupid things that only made partial sense to Layne and Ichigo like "Move Faster!" and "For Captain Zaraki!"
Ichigo nodded in acknowledgement, surprised that Layne had seemed to largely avoid injury in his fight with Yumichika
"Sadly" Layne continued, ignoring the 11th "There are possibly too many for us to safely take on all at once" In contrary to his usual unemotional inflection, Ichigo noticed, Layne was beginning to betray his emotions in his voice at the moment it was amusement and… disappointment?
Ichigo was about to reply when another stupidly large mob of Shinigami came around the corner Ichigo and Layne planned to turn down
As they blocked both routes of egress they sneered in contempt as one took a wild slash at Ichigo, who dodged it easily, sending the poor fool to Layne, who knocked him out with a quick elbow to the back of the head
"Shit…we're trapped" Ichigo muttered as he grabbed hold of Zangetsu
"It would appear so…can't say I imagined this when I woke up this morning… but hey, things around here started weird" Layne replied, narrowing his eyes at the assembled Shinigami and easing Roxas out of its sheath
As the eleventh division prepared to swarm them, a small human ball named Hanataro Yamada came rolling through the group of eleventh division behind them and ended up stopping just before Ichigo's feet
Ichigo's face gained a very nasty grin and Layne's eyes started twinkling
"I just thought of a way to get out of here Layne"
"You too? Let's do it then" Layne replied as he held Roxas out in front of him
"Drift, Roxas!"
Roxas disappeared in a flash of white light and Oathkeeper appeared in its place
"Hey!" Ichigo shouted at the assembled group of Shinigami as he picked up Hanataro and shoved Zangetsu against his neck, though being careful to avoid actually cutting "Let us through or your friend dies!"
"…"
"…"
Layne had a blank look as he turned to Ichigo; completely underwhelmed by the response their threat had been given
"Maybe we should say it again" he said dryly
As soon as the last word issued from Layne's mouth the entire eleventh division collectively burst out in laughter
"If you want to kill him go ahead" one person jeered
"Two birds with one stone"
"He's not part of the eleventh so we don't care anyway"
"Now hold on a second" Ichigo sputtered indignantly "Just because he's not your friend, you don't care if he dies? That's horrible!"
"Nicely said" said Layne with a sweatdrop, and then grinned as he felt Chad's reiatsu nearby
Swinging Oathkeeper in an arc in front of him while making it look like a stretch he muttered "Riptide Strike"
"Dammit" Ichigo said, having finished his tirade against the eleventh "Guess we have to fight our way out"
Chucking Hanataro under his arm he pointed Zangetsu at the mob behind them and Layne moved Oathkeeper into a combat ready position when an explosion engulfed the Shinigami behind them
"Chance!" exclaimed Layne
"Rain!" he shouted and a wave of dark green reiatsu shot from the arc he had made with Oathkeeper earlier and cut a swathe through the eleventh in their way
Ichigo and Layne hauled ass, dragging Hanataro with them, surprisingly docile for someone with the status of a hostage.
Chad stepped out through the hole in the wall he had made and looked around
"I could have sworn it was Ichigo's reiatsu here, just a second ago" he thought to himself as he noticed the remaining 11th members who were all pretty ticked
"What the fuck? You messed up our chance to score!"
"Are you a friend of those two?!"
"…Probably" Chad replied, taking notice of the assembled Shinigami
"Awesome! We'll finish you in five minutes for getting the in the way of the eleventh division" they shouted collectively
"…I'm sorry…but that's not going to happen" Chad replied calmly
"What did you say?"
"This won't take five minutes…because I will finish this in two"
And he turned towards the 11th with primal reiatsu surging off of his arm and blowing holes in the wall nearest to him
*Boom*
"Are you sure you don't want to answer my question? Eh? Madarame-kun?
Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi stood by Ikkaku's bedside with his finger pointing at a recently made and still smoking hole in the wall
"I'm sorry Captain Kurotsuchi, but I was beaten and I didn't even catch the face, nor reiatsu feel of my attacker, I don't even remember what it sounded like"
"Mayuri-sama…" Nemu began, intending to say that there would be no point in asking any further questions and that she sensed Zaraki's and Joel's angry reiatsu's nearby
"Shut up Nemu, you worthless whore" Mayuri snarled, moving in to slap her, only to have his hand intercepted by a flashing zanpakuto
Joel stood in the doorway, holding his zanpakuto out between Mayuri's hand and Nemu's face
"I thought I told you, freaky kook, if you were going to assault Nemu again then I was going to interfere…Captain or no captain" he said calmly, though inwardly sweating, nothing about Captain Kurotsuchi exactly sat right with him, but there was no way he was going to let Nemu get hurt in front of his eyes
"How dare you!" Mayuri snarled, his every word dripping with fury as we reached down with his other hand to unsheathe his zanpakuto
A powerful reiatsu surged behind Joel and Kenpachi entered the room, sword drawn and ready for a fight
"Oh, if you're going to try and challenge my wounded third seat to a fight, I'm going to have to accept on his behalf, Mayuri Kurotsuchi" Kenpachi said with his usual grin whenever the prospect of a fight came up
Mayuri was outgunned by Kenpachi and though he didn't like to admit it, Joel and so he had no choice but to leave, with what dignity remained him
"Come, Nemu" he snarled pushing his way past Kenpachi
She made a move to follow him but Joel help up a hand to stop her
"She's staying here with me, freaky kook" he said without looking at Nemu, avoiding the sight of her blush
Mayuri just left anyway, what did he care if this Nemu model had useless failings like emotions and caring for people, he already had a second one waiting to be finished anyway
When Joel was sure Mayuri had left, he relaxed and Kenpachi let his monstrous reiatsu down a notch
"Thanks, Captain Kenpachi, I don't think I could have gotten the bastard to leave on if I was by myself" Joel growled, still angry from the attempted assault on Nemu
"No problem" Kenpachi replied, and then let out his monstrous reiatsu out again "But you owe me a fight later!"
Joel blanched at the thought, well…shit
"Captain?" asked Ikkaku once Kenpachi turned to face his bed and let his reiatsu down again
"Yahoo!" Yachiru piped up, sticking her head over Kenpachi's shoulder
"Oh, the Lieutenant is here too" Ikkaku said, sounding mildly surprised
"Are you alright? I was so worried baldie" she continued
Ignoring the vein pulsing in Ikkaku's shiny forehead Kenpachi took over the conversation
"I heard you lost a fight"
Joel's eyes widened and he took his attention off Nemu and began listening into Ikkaku's conversation
"Yes, I know that failure is unacceptable but Yumichika and I came back anyway after losing a fight"
"Are they strong?"
"Their reiatsu is impressive, and the one who I fought has great skills, and is getting better incredibaly fast, if you see him it should be a brilliant fight, He has orange hair and a sword as long as he is"
"Yosh, then I'll go see Yumichika about the other one
Joel and Nemu followed Kenpachi and Yachiru, who was still on Kenpachi's shoulder into Yumichika's room, Joel hoping to hear news about Layne, and Nemu seeing nowhere else to go other than with Joel, simply followed him on reflex while plotting ways to display her gratitude for his previous actions today.
"Yo, Yumichika" Kenpachi began
"I heard you lost a fight"
"Yes captain, it's a most unbeautiful thing that has befallen me" he pouted
"Is he strong?"
"His release cleaved through the blades of Fuji Kujaku as if they weren't there, He had messy brown hair, and his zanpakuto is normally in the sealed form of a normal katana"
"Alright then" Kenpachi grinned, "He sounds pretty strong too"
Nemu whispered something into Joel's ear and he blanched
"Yachiru" Joel said with resignation "We have a Lieutenant's meeting in 10"
"Sorry Ken-chan, I'll be back a little later kay"
"Whatever" Kenpachi replied
Yachiru transferred to Joel's shoulder and began kicking him
"Your sooo slow Joe" she began as he started walking
A vein pulsed dangerously in Joel's forehead and he flashstepped over as fast as possible to rid himself of the pink annoyance as soon as he could, good thing too, or he would have been absolutely amazed at the intensity of the deathglare Nemu was giving Yachiru as she followed behind him.
"My name is Hanataro Yamada" Hanataro began
The three of them, Layne, Hanataro and Ichigo were on top of a building with a good view of the surrounding area, but it was hard to see them from the ground, they'd already dodged several patrols this way
"…Why are you introducing yourself to us?" Layne asked with a blank look, in between looking around the area for more patrols
"Yeah aren't you our enemy?" Ichigo added
"Why did you even bring him along?" Layne wanted to know
"I didn't exactly want to leave him there to get slaughtered by his fellow Shinigami" Ichigo replied defensively
"Well whatever. Did you manage to learn anything?"
"That Ikkaku guy said Rukia would probably be in the Senzaikyuu" Ichigo remarked, pointing at a white tower in the distance
"…Rukia" Hanataro half whispered
Layne and Ichigo looked at Hanataro again blankly
"You're still here? You can go now we don't want to hurt anyone that we don't have to" Layne told him, while Ichigo nodded
"Um, is the Rukia you're talking about Rukia Kuchiki-san?"
Layne nodded before Ichigo could stop him
"Then I know of a shortcut to the tower, I can lead you there"
"Then let's go" Layne grinned as he started moving off
"Hold it" Ichigo snapped "Why are you so willing to help us save Rukia, aren't we your enemies?"
"Actually… I sincerely hope you will save Rukia-san" Hanataro replied and launched into a long emotional speech
Layne sat down and relaxed, they might be here for a little while
Joel, Nemu and Yachiru made it into the meeting a couple of minutes late
That weird Iemura guy was there too, Joel noticed, also noticing the absence of Isane, the Lieutenant of the fourth division
He leant over and whispered to Nemu "Isn't he a third seat?"
"Iemura Yasochika generally delivers the casualty reports with Lieutenant Kotetsu is otherwise occupied" she whispered back
"The seated officers that have left the field are as follows: Ayasegawa Yumichika, 11th Division, 5th Seat, and Madarame Ikkaku, 11th Divison, 3rd Seat" Iemura stated, as if he hadn't been interrupted in the middle of a report
"Most divisions are reporting minor injuries but the 11th division is reporting to have been completely wiped out."
Each Lieutenant instantly gained a shocked and horrified expression. Embarrassed probably could have been added to that if they knew that out of seven Ryoka, Only three had actually engaged the 11th division and the one who had beaten most of them wasn't even the strongest of the three
"These guys are overpowered…they only came a few hours ago" murmured Hisagi, recovering the quickest
"The entire eleventh…" Kira muttered
"We've also lost contact with the fourth seat of my team" Iba spoke up "Can you send someone to check on him in Grid twenty west?"
Iemura nodded and made a note on his clipboard and waited for the Lieutenants to finish
"Fourth seat, fourth seat… Isn't that Jirobo? The Kamataichi?" Matsumoto asked
"Jidanbo's brother?" Hisagi added
While all the other Lieutenants were busy talking, Joel caught sight of Renji sneaking out, shedding his Lieutenants badge as he went
Joel grinned, he knew exactly where Renji was going to go and he needed to get there too, so he stalked off, making sure all the other Lieutenants were occupied enough to not notice him,
He didn't count on Nemu who was continually watching him and paying attention to his every move, to follow him and so he didn't notice her.
A sewer hatch popped up and the top half of Hanataro's head popped out and surveyed the surroundings
"Its all clear" he called down the ladder
Ichigo and Layne leapt out of the hatch immediately and gasped for air
"God, it feels like I haven't breathed fresh air for ages" Layne groaned
"Take a look, this is as close as I can get you to the Senzaikyuu" Hanataro said
He pointed at the centre of the Seireitei where a white tower stood prominent on a raised section of the city
"Let's get going then" Ichigo said
"Hold It" Layne said sharply throwing a hand up to halt Ichigo's advance "Someone's there"
Renji stepped down the stairs, Zabimaru out and at the ready
"Remember me? Ichigo Kurosaki?" he asked arrogantly, lifting his goggles up of his face and onto his forehead
"Renji Abarai" Ichigo replied, immediately unsheathing Zangetsu
"Who is this guy?" Layne asked Hanataro calmly "He has a totally different reiatsu to all the other guys we've met"
Hanataro was shaking with fear, not being able to resist Ichigo's, Layne's and Renji's high reiatsu density all at once with no effect
"That's Renji Abarai" he replied nervously, licking his lips "Sixth division Lieutenant"
Hanataro's eyes suddenly widened and he fell to his knees, pointing at a figure emitting a fourth reiatsu
"And that's… Joel Bluzer… 13th Division… Lieutenant" he choked out
At the sound of that name Layne's face drained of all blood, becoming as white as alabaster as he turned to look where Hanataro was pointing
"Joel" Layne whispered, the shock of seeing his friend alive and well, and standing in front of him nearly too much for him
Sure enough, it was Joel, in full Shinigami attire with his zanpakuto unsheathed and held loosely at his right side
"Yo, Renji" he drawled, "You might have told me where you were leaving to, to save me some time"
"Shut it, your ones over there" Renji replied, indicating Layne
Joel flashstepped over a few metres away from Layne
"Joel" Layne said, recovering a little and walking a little towards Joel then jumping back to dodge the swing Joel suddenly made
"What the hell!" Layne asked angrily
"Amazing" Joel replied "It's really is you Layne, only you would have been fast enough to jump back as you moved forwards"
"…What?"
"Because of our friendship Layne, It's only fitting that I am the one to kill you"
"Have you fucking lost it?" Layne shouted at him, connecting the dots instantly, but unwilling to believe that Joel, his best friend was standing in front him and declaring his intention to cut him down
"I've sworn an oath to the Gotei 13 Layne; I need to defeat all of you Ryoka"
"You don't need to do anything other than finding Moll and apologizing for making her cry herself to sleep the first few nights we were here" Layne stated coldly, unsheathing Roxas and preparing for the fight
"I…I am sorry…but this is something I have to do" Joel replied, trying to attempt a stoic façade, but Layne wasn't buying it
"That's it then, I'm going to beat you here, and then I'll go find Moll and make you cry as you apologize to her"
"I'm sorry Layne, but you're going to die here and have your name recorded as another enemy of the Shinigami. Though since you are my friend, it would be an insult to your abilities to use anything less than my absolute best"
Joel lifted his zanpakuto up, horizontally in front of him as he slid his left hand over the blade, red reiatsu flaring as he released into Shikai
"Make Your Choice; Riku!"
The ordinary katana disappeared and a new sword appeared in its place, it was shaped like a scimitar that resembled a red and blue outstretched batwing from the hilt
"Riku's Darkness: Soul Eater" Joel proclaimed moving into a combat ready stance
"Yeah" Layne replied, resigned to the fight
He sheathed Roxas then picked it up sheath and all and threw it to the side
"Drift; Roxas"
Moving his left hand as if he was gripping a blade Oathkeeper appeared
"Figures that you'd be able to do that as well… It took me ages to get it, but you never had a problem with anything I struggled with, did you Layne?"
"Let's just get this over with" Layne said sadly, before disappearing from Joel's sight
Layne flashstepped behind Joel attempting a strike similar to Byakuya Kuchiki's Senka move
Joel merely grinned, turned to the side and muttered "Earth's Power: Magnetize"
This was actually going to be easier than Joel had originally thought
When Layne went for the strike Oathkeeper hit the reiatsu shield and was bounced off, momentarily surprising Layne and removing his guard entirely for a split second
That split second was all Joel needed to win; he brought Soul Eater up in a deep diagonal slice right across Layne's chest
Blood spurted from the wound, Oathkeeper vanished in a flash of white light and Layne hit the ground, defeated
Joel turned around and looked at Layne's unconscious and bleeding form
"I'm pretty slow, All I've been doing since I got here is train against opponents that are faster than me… I got pretty good at it. We could have…should have had an epic fight" Joel remarked, strangely detached as he turned away from Layne's fallen body, a single tear shed from his right eye
"I can't do it dude, I can't bring myself to make the final blow, so once Renji beats this other guy he'll have do it, if you haven't bled out by then" Joel finished, moving over to sit down where he wouldn't have to look at Layne's body
Layne woke up to the sound of rushing water and an uncomfortable feeling of a rock poking into his back
"Alright, at least I know where I am" Layne thought to himself with resignation
Sitting up and opening his eyes and sure enough, it was that same lake with Roxas sitting under that same dead tree
"That was pathetic" Roxas commented, Layne got up, moved over and sat beside him
"Yeah, I know, I wasn't prepared for the knockback that his move had" Layne replied
"It's not because of that, you were holding back, you saw that blade coming and you did nothing about it… you could've stepped back, flashstepped out, but no, you saw the blade coming and you thought 'Finally'… Lie to yourself if you want, but you can't lie to me"
Layne said nothing, and Roxas sounded annoyed at the lack of a response
"It's alright to not be aiming for the top Layne… but after your mother died, you stopped aiming at all"
"How do you even know this?"
"I was born from your soul, I've been with you since the very beginning, and I remember what you were like before this sickness took root in your spirit. You're an idiot; you're thinking that nothing matters, as long as you're the only one who gets hurt from your stupid death wish… but guess what, Joel's going to go kill Ichigo, and then Moll, Inoue, Ishida and Chad are going to get hunted down… and this Rukia woman you're here to rescue is going to be executed… That's six people who need you to stand up and fight; would you like to know what happens after that? Those people have families that never see them again, and the cycle continues.
Roxas' tone softened after he took a breath, noticing the tears streaming down Layne's face, dripping onto the edge of the lake and disappearing as they soaked into the ground
"I can't drag you out of this, you have to stand on your own, I can't promise that will be easy, or get any easier… but it will always be worth it"
Roxas stood up and gestured around him at the barren featureless landscape, with only one dead tree
"This could be a paradise, but you've made it a wasteland"
Layne slammed his fist into the ground and stood up rapidly, turning to Roxas with red rimmed eyes and a look of determination on his face
"I can't believe how blind I've been… but I can see it now Roxas… the spark that I've been missing for far too long"
Roxas said nothing and remained expressionless, but inwardly was quite pleased
"I didn't want you to use this as… It could bring problems a bit later" Roxas began neutrally "But it seems that I've been given no choice in the matter, you seem ready to use the darkness as something more than an excuse now"
Roxas stood up and moved a little away from the tree, while Layne watched in interest
Roxas scuffed a little of the rock away then pounded the ground
Nothing happened for about three seconds, then Layne noticed this water in the lake churning and a second dead tree emerged from the ground up from where Roxas had pounded it
Layne stared at the new tree with interest, it was different to the tree Roxas sat under while that one was brown; this tree was all white, as if it had been composed of ash
Roxas stuck his hand into the tree and pulled something out and tossed it to Layne,
"Here, you'll know what to do"
As Layne vanished from the inner world Roxas moved down, sat under his tree and looked at his right hand, and surely enough it was turning pale white
"I hope that idiot can contain the hollow" he muttered
Ichigo was barely standing over Renji's broken and bleeding form, Joel was amazed
"No way could this kid beat Renji" was the thought percolating through his head
Ichigo collapsed, barely conscious, unable to move, but still able to watch and comprehend events as Joel moved over towards him
"Sorry kid, I've never killed anyone before… But If this is how this is going to be, I guess I'd better get used to it" he said with resignation
"And just who exactly… was going to be killed?" A voice sounded behind Joel
The blood drained from Joel's face and he turned around
"Impossible" he said with pure shock as he gazed upon Layne, forcing himself to stand, bleeding heavily from the diagonal wound across his chest
"Very possible" Layne countered "If you can't even keep me down, I doubt you could kill Ichigo, even when he's like that"
"Bastard" Joel muttered as he charged forwards only for Layne to catch Soul Eater with his hollowfied hand
"No Joel, you're the bastard, the only reason Moll and I came was so that we could find you, we just tagged along with Ichigo and the others because they were coming, though we found our own reasons to swear with them to the very end" Layne, paused in his speech, recalling the night where he and Moll made an oath to Yoruichi to stick with Ichigo
"You on the other hand, have been fine, and the first move you make when you see me is to try and have me killed, that's what we call a dick move"
Layne tightened his grip on the Soul Eater and tossed it aside before taking a few steps back, putting some distance between himself and Joel, who was frozen by Layne's rising reiatsu levels and couldn't seem move at all as his zanpakuto flew away, hitting the ground with a loud clatter
"This is my second form Joel" and Layne brought both hands back and gripped something in mid-air
"Roxas: Oblivion and Oathkeeper!"
Layne reached his right hand out and a black keyblade appeared with a flash of dark green sparks, the same basic shape as Oathkeeper or Moll's Sora except pitch black, seeming to suck in the light around it as Layne held it forwards in front of him, studying the chain pattern that went up the sides all the way to the teeth, in the shape of the kanji for darkness
"Two zanpakuto…." Joel was dumbfounded, this was something that in his admittedly short crash course on being a Shinigami that he'd never heard of, but here it was right in front of him
"I never told you how grateful I was… you and Moll pulled me back from a very, very dark place, but I haven't been able to completely live with it; until now"
Layne looked at Oblivion, an inscrutable expression on his face as he flipped it over, taking in its full appearance
"I'm sorry Joel… but I'm alive and for the first time in five years… I actually plan on being that way tomorrow" Layne said flatly as the gigantic slash across his chest began to seal up and disappear, as if it was never there "And if you're going to swear to your oath to this place… then you're in my way"
And without a further word, he appeared next to Joel, who barely had enough time to throw up a Magnetize
It was useless however, as Oblivion sheared straight through Joel's technique as if it wasn't there and slashed straight down his chest, mirroring Layne's earlier injury, with enough force to throw Joel back into the wall next to Renji, where he slumped down, utterly defeated.
Layne sealed his zanpakuto and was surprised to find that they sealed into two Katana now, rather than just the one from before
"Hanataro!" he called, "There are people coming, we should get Ichigo back into the sewer"
He moved over and picked Ichigo up, slung him over his shoulder and followed Hanataro back to the sewer entrance.