As Chad fell, his fate was instantly transmitted to the others running through the halls of Hueco Mundo
Ichigo, Renji, Ishida and Rukia all reacted with shocked as they felt Chad's reiatsu fall to almost unnoticeable levels
Renji and Rukia flinched, expecting his reiatsu to disappear completely as his opponent dealt the deathblow, but were surprised when it didn't come, and suddenly Layne's reiatsu was coming through everywhere, bright flashes of cool defiance as he clashed with the force that had taken down Chad not moments beforehand, causing a collective relief to spread among all of Chad's allies, that Layne had made it in time to prevent Chad's untimely demise.
Ichigo ran down his corridor, Nel tucked securely under his arm and a stray rivulet of blood running down the side of his face where Dordonh had injured him in their fight earlier
There's no way… He swore he'd come back alive… I have no choice but to believe in them…believe in them
Behind Orihime, Ulquiorra reentered her chambers, barely three hours since he'd departed beforehand after informing her of her friend's invasion of Las Noches
Her position had hardly changed since then, still staring at the moon through the barred window, thinking of Ichigo, Ishida, Renji, Rukia, Chad and Layne, wishing that they hadn't come for her, yet incredibly glad they had simultaneously
"I'm coming in" Ulquiorra said behind her, attracting her attention and she turned towards him with not shock, not surprise, but a steely gaze, she knew what he was here for and she was prepared.
"It seems that you've noticed, It appears that idiot Nnoitra got impatient, even though he was given a direct order to wait in his palace…"
"Sado-kun is not dead" Orihime said calmly, causing Ulquiorra to regard her with his usual blank look as she repeated herself, having felt all of her friends fights, Ichigo vs Dordonh, Ishida vs Cirruci, Layne vs Esteban, Chad vs Gantenbianne, and now Layne currently fighting Nnoitra
"Dead or alive, either way will do" Ulquiorra rebutted "What would you have me say to you… Don't worry; I'm sure he's still alive, I'm sure that Layne Trell will defeat Nnoitra… Don't be ridiculous, I am not here to comfort you"
Ulquiorra stepped closer to her as he continued his attempts to break her spirit
"At any rate, your friends will all soon be annihilated, so what if that is one step closer? If it was me, I would be angered that they had all marched foolishly to their deaths, unable to fathom the danger awaiting them"
Layne barely parried another strong slash from Nnoitra, grunting slightly as his guard bent from the sheer strength of the blow
In comparison to his fight with Esteban, this was totally different, Nnoitra was deadly fast and immensely strong, constantly pressing his advantage against Layne, who even with his natural speed and reflexes, and the additional enhancements his Bankai afforded him had been unable to put enough distance between them or buy enough time to activate any of Oathkeeper's water techniques, and even on the few occasions where he'd managed to land a successful counterattack either of his blades had just bounced of Nnoitra's skin, some unseen force that armored his body from Layne's blades, causing no small frustration, and no end of amusement for the wiry Espada
"You can't even cut through my Hierro, Shinigami" he taunted, his standard toothy grin becoming even wider "Are you sure you're stronger than the other guy?"
Layne didn't quite get it, he had no problems cutting any of the other Arrancar he'd encountered so far, why was this so different?
The fight between Layne and Nnoitra had spilled far away from where Chad had fallen, beaten but still breathing, Layne had been able to confirm before his full attention had been attracted by the monster before him, they had been fighting for close to twenty minutes, and Layne's body was showing the strain, cuts from Esteban's sandstorm had opened up wider, and Layne was bleeding from Nnoitra's initial strike on the side of his head, just behind his right eye, a blow that would have smashed his skull to pieces if he'd been even a nanosecond slower in reacting to it.
As they fought however, Layne had felt that Nnoitra was slowing, becoming easier to predict, his attacks easier to evade and Layne was biding his time, taking advantage of what he perceived to be Nnoitra's arrogance, thinking back to a lesson he'd had with Lisa
Layne's mask shattered as Lisa punched through it, surprising him and knocking him flat on his ass
"Goddamn" he cursed, standing up and lifting the black blindfold from his eyes she'd been forcing him to wear for this particular set of training "I thought you said you weren't like Hiyori, that beating the stuffing out of me wasn't training"
"Get up" she said simply, ignoring his outburst "Again"
Layne muttered his displeasure at the order, but stood up and followed it anyway, pulling the blindfold down over his eyes and summoning his mask
Once the mask was in existence Lisa moved, flashstepping rapidly around him, as he tilted his head in the directions of the sounds when she landed, so far proceeding like the last thirty-eight times she'd done this
Great, I'm going to get punched in the damn face again
"Lisaaa-tan, Roady-tan, Dinner's up!" Mashiro called out
Layne turned his head in the direction that Mashiro had called out from; though knowing from experience that training wasn't over until Lisa said it was over, and if he unmasked now Lisa would do something far worse than simply punch him in the face
Lisa used his distraction as her chance to attack, disappointed that he hadn't appeared to learn anything from this training in the last thirty eight times, leaping at him from his left side, preparing to punch the back of his head
He reached his left hand back up and caught her fist before she could connect, his mask crumbling away as he released it while looking directly at her, despite his eyes being hidden by the blindfold he was smiling
"Got you" he said, a hint of victory in his tone
Lisa smirked as she twisted in midair, slamming her knees into his chest, knocking the wind out of him as he fell backwards and landed with a heavy slam, Lisa kneeling perfectly on his chest
She reached down a lifted the blindfold from his eyes
"You know that there's a punishment if you release your mask before you're physically unable or I tell you too" she said, sweetly yet threateningly, leaning her face in closer to his face "That was only four seconds… you know very well that your maximum is nine
"But, I caught your attack"
"Yes, I was impressed that you managed that this time… but judging from the fact that you're currently lying on the ground under me, and I didn't say that the training was over, you're still due for a punishment"
"Goddammit"
"So, how did you know that I was going to attack you from the left?" She asked, her face still uncomfortably close to Layne's
"After Mashiro called, I figured you'd think I was distracted, and I thought you'd take advantage of that, and that in the instance where I wasn't distracted, you'd want to catch me off-guard by attacking my stronger side…so I caught you"
Lisa nodded slightly "Very good Layne… so how is it that you didn't anticipate my follow-up?"
Layne sweated at the question, her proximity was causing him to squirm a little with discomfort, though that was likely her intent
"I thought that you'd call the training off…" he replied lamely, realizing his error as soon as he said it
"And you think that your enemies are going to congratulate you on a job well done, and just concede defeat when you manage to successfully anticipate their attacks?" Lisa asked, her tone still sweet, but by now Layne was sweating bullets
"No… that would be stupid"
"It would be, wouldn't it Layne… now let's get dinner, on top of your earlier punishment of having to carry me wherever we go, you've now forfeited the use of your left arm for the rest of the week"
At dinner, while Layne struggled incredibly to use chopsticks with his right hand, Lisa explaining the idea behind the training they were currently involved in, as a reward for actually stopping her attack
"You've always been the fastest combatant in your engagements Layne… and that's fine, but it's stunted your perception, because you're always leaning on your sight… this is the exact opposite of how you should be, the perception should be your main focus, otherwise you can get distracted by silly things on the battlefield… or be completely useless to your friends and allies if you were somehow to get blinded on the battlefield"
Layne burned with embarrassment as she mentioned the part about getting blinded, before she tossed a book in his face
"Read that before we start up again… you might avoid a punishment this time around"
Layne danced around Nnoitra, only using his blades for parries now, while Nnoitra had grown quite frustrated that Layne didn't even seem to be fighting back anymore
"The fuck is this, you bitch-ass Shinigami, is this butterfly bullshit all you're capable of?"
Layne frowned as he recalled another lesson from the book Lisa had told him to read, The Book of the Five Rings, realizing that implementing it right now would ignore another one of the books rules
I don't really have a choice right now
Layne dodged another thrust from Nnoitra and counterattacked, hitting Nnoitra's upper arm, with the edge of Oblivion, finally piercing through Nnoitra's Hierro, drawing blood
Nnoitra jumped backwards at the feeling of pain in his arm, before inspecting the moderate cut and glancing back at Layne, his eyes dancing with malice
"The fuck, you actually cut me Shinigami… I guess you did have it in you after all"
Layne raised an eyebrow
"I think I'm getting it now" he muttered under his breath, inwardly surprised that just paying heed to the words of a book he'd read close to a fortnight ago was helping him now
Determined not to fall into his opponents pace again, Layne charged at Nnoitra, his blades flashing as they resumed their clash, sparks flying out from the impact points.
Rukia sped down her hallway, rushing towards the point where she could sense Chad's fading reiatsu, and Layne's flaring
If I hurry… I can save him!
Rukia emerged into the blinding sunlight, shock overtaking her, slowing her to a walk as she gazed around, wide-eyed at her surroundings
"What is this?! A blue sky?! Why is there a sky after coming outside from a wall…moreover…"
"Would you like me to tell you?" a voice from behind her asked, startling her as she whipped her head around, but seeing nothing as the figure used Sonido to appear in front of her
"Follow" it said simply, walking through the doorway at the end of the rampart, causing Rukia to shout after it as she broke into a run to chase it down
As Rukia crossed the threshold she was enveloped in close to complete darkness, the only source of light being the entrance way she'd entered through
"Ahh, I can finally relax" the figure said, Rukia now able to identify his voice as male, but still muffled through the tall mask he wore
At his words, the doors she entered through slammed shut behind her, a fact she took note of grimly
"Sorry, for a very long time, I haven't been very good with that whole sunlight thing, but the sun doesn't reach inside here… so I'll remove my mask and greet you… I am Aaroneiro… Noveno Espada… Aaroniero Arruruerie"
As Aaroneiro removed his mask, and revealed his face and unmuffling his voice to Rukia, her eyes grew wide in recognition, shock and disbelief as she indeed recognized the figure standing before her, but not by the name, or the rank he had given her, but by the one that she remembered him by, the tragedy that had defined her existence for so long, seemingly undone by his presence before her today
"Kaien…?"
Gin turned around in surprise as Ulquiorra approached him, taking his hands off the control panel in front of him as Ulquiorra spoke
"Who is it? Have they found their way into the palaces of the Espada?"
Gin smirked "You comin' up an' chattin' with me, well ain't that a sight… you mean you don' hate me?
"Never" Ulquiorra replied expressionlessly
"Is that so? If that's the case we should try getting' along better eh partner? I been lonely ever since Luppi went and died on me, me and that kid, we used to talk and talk"
Ulquiorra got close to enough to identify the control panel Gin had been manipulating before he entered and turned towards him
"Yep, it's alright" Gin said in answer to his unspoken questions "I ain't doin' nothin' mean… I jus' hate sad stories"
The wall crumbled as Nnoitra shoved Layne through it, after Layne had successfully cut him, Nnoitra had decided that he could probably stop holding back and started attacking Layne with what seemed like renewed vigor, and had been thoroughly thrashing Layne, who was now struggling to minimize the damage that his attacks inflicted, all thoughts of potentially counterattacking forgotten
I can't even call my mask out…I'm in real trouble here
Renji suddenly turned as he felt Rukia's anger clear through her reiatsu, as if she'd been shouting right next to him, scaring the living crap out of Dondachakka
"What's wrong Renji?" Dondachakka asked
"Nothing… Just now I thought…"
"Hey! What the hell yo?! Please don't scare me yo! Even without you doing that, it's already pretty scar…"
Dondachakka was cut off by a loud click as the floor beneath him disappeared and he fell, shouting incoherently
"What the hell are you doing?!" Renji asked, before another loud click occurred, and the floor beneath him too disappeared,
Renji coughed through the dust kicked up by his landing
"Damn, what's with that huge pitfall… and where am?"
Loud laughter answered his question, seeming to reverberate around the large room he found himself in
"Jackpot" the voice said, seemingly through hidden loudspeakers in the hallways walls, I set out many different traps… but I never expected that I'd catch anyone in the simplest one!"
Renji clicked Zabimaru out of its sheathe as a door opened up in the side of the room
"Oops, maybe I should have introduced myself first"
Szayel stepped out of the door and into the hallway, removing some implement from his ear and throwing it away, not needed to use it for his voice to reach Renji anymore
"I will say it only once, so I hope you're able to remember it, I am the eighth Espada… Octava Espada, Szayelaporro Granz"
"Well that was fucking boring" Nnoitra spat as Layne collapsed on the floor behind him "You cut me once, so I thought this might be interesting, but after that, you went and fucking died on me, useless fucking Shinigami"
Rukia looked down at the face of the her mentor, Kaien Shiba, Joel's predecessor as Lieutenant of the thirteenth division, as she was held aloft by his zanpakuto, Nejibana, a trident that pierced her midsection and pointed her broken sword at his face
"I remembered…" she whispered, softly enough that Aaroniero had to strain to hear what she'd said
"You remembered what?" he scoffed "How to fight with a shattered sword, what a joke, drop it"
"The third… dance… Shirafune"
At the feeling of Rukia's reiatsu disappearing Layne awakened, cursing his current existence of pain and suffering
What the hell am I doing? Am I going to let Ichigo do this all by himself, this is pathetic
Layne struggled to his feet, using Oathkeeper as a crutch to pull himself up, his labored breaths a struggle through what he identified, sadly from memory as a deflated lung as well as several other serious injuries, standing up on essentially sheer force of will
"You're a hardy one… for a bitch-ass Shinigami" Nnoitra sneered, having sensed Layne's rise "I'm coming really close to not feeling any shame about this fight"
Nnoitra thrust forwards, intending to finish Layne off, but was intercepted by a keyblade with a golden blade and silver hilt, held by a pair of pale white hands
Mollow stood between them, sneering at Nnoitra as she spoke, her pale skin radiating in the sunlight as she cussed Layne out
"That shit was pathetic Layne; you didn't even use your mask… I almost let him kill you out of disdain… are you really the same man that I fought in the human world?"
"What the fuck are you doing? You sniveling bitch" Nnoitra growled at her "What is this betrayal?"
"Go soak your head you sexist piece of shit" Mollow shot back "This one's mine to kill… Aero!"
Mollow hit Nnoitra with a blast of reiatsu from her keyblade and he disappeared, right down to his reiatsu trace
"That should deal with that fuckwit for a while…"
Mollow paused as she turned to Layne, who had fallen to one knee, desperately grasping for consciousness through the pain of his injuries
"…and now for you" she finished, her eyes seeming to glitter from Layne's perspective as he lost what seemed to be his last, desperate struggle and slumped forwards, passing out on the ground, and with him, what seemed to be his hopes for survival.