Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.
A.N. - We're almost at the finish. I wasn't sure where I was going with this fic when I started, but I think the end result turned out all right. If you disagree, blame my inner Lily; she had almost total control of my brain as I wrote this.
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By the time they reached camp, the moon was already beginning to rise. They found the other Espada huddled around the fire, already discussing the day's plans.
"We were wondering where you were," spoke Halibel, sensing them without having to look over her shoulder. "Isn't Yammy with you?"
Zommari's eyes flickered to Orihime. After a short pause, she realized that he was allowing her to do the talking.
"He lost," she answered simply, hoping they wouldn't prod her for more information. Let them think what they wanted. It would be even more to her advantage if they assumed that she had been the one to beat Yammy.
"He was a fool. We are better off with him dead, even if it means only seven of us will reach lord Aizen," said an old Espada wearing a crown of bone. Orihime had never learned his name.
"In the meantime, Nnoitra believes he has found the way to Las Noches. If he is correct, we will be there before moonset." Halibel's expression was hidden behind her collar, but she sounded relieved.
"If he is correct..." repeated Stark with a shrug. Orihime glanced at Nnoitra to see how he might react, but the Espada's usual grin merely widened a small fraction.
"I'm sure you'll recognize the landmarks along the way, just as I did. But if you'd rather find your own path, Stark... well, we just might reach Aizen first, that's all."
Stark leapt to his feet, an unusually brisk movement for one who seemed to enjoy taking things slow. "If someone with your dull senses could find it, I'm sure I'll have no trouble." He winked at the others, casually waved and said, "See you there!", then shunpoed off in a cloud of dust.
Halibel's eyes--the only part of her face anyone ever saw--were narrowed in disapproval. She motioned at Nnoitra to lead the way, and soon he too disappeared, moving faster than Orihime could follow. She and the crowned Espada vanished immediately after, leaving Zommari, Orihime and Ulquiorra to stand alone in the middle of their deserted camp.
Maybe they'll leave me here, Orihime thought hopefully. The green-eyed arrancar turned to her, and with a sinking feeling, she knew that he was about to offer to carry her. Orihime hadn't yet worked out where she stood with Ulquiorra, especially after his betrayal in her dream. Should I really trust a dream, though? she wondered guiltily. Still, the thought of being so physically close to him this soon made her uncomfortable.
"You'll get there faster if I carry you," said Zommari before Ulquiorra could open his mouth. Orihime's shocked silence wore off after a moment, and she quickly made the decision to accept his offer.
"Thank you, Zommari-san," she said with a bow of her head. As she climbed onto his large back, she made sure to avoid Ulquiorra's startled gaze.
The scenery around them streaked by so fast that Orihime was forced to close her eyes to keep from getting nauseated. She wondered how she managed to stay clinging onto the seventh Espada's back, then realized that somehow, the space immediately around him was standing perfectly still. She didn't feel the rush of wind against their bodies, or the jerky movements of his feet bouncing against the ground with each step. He just physically stood in one location one second, and miles away the next.
Orihime wasn't certain how much time had passed when she felt Zommari begin to slow down. She wondered if he was finally growing tired, especially with her extra weight on his back. Suddenly they came to a full halt, and in surprise, Orihime let go and tumbled onto the sand. Before Zommari had even turned around and noticed, Ulquiorra was leaning over her and offering his hand. Orihime was too flustered to refuse his help, but froze when she saw him also reach down to lift Yammy's zanpakuto from where it had fallen out of her cloak. She quickly snatched it back from him and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed while she tucked it back in place.
The others had appeared within seconds of their arrival. Orihime wondered what had caused them to stop--the desert was still empty for miles around with no fortress in sight.
"We will rest here for now while Nnoitra confirms our position," said Halibel, answering Orihime's thoughts. "Don't stray too far; this shouldn't take long."
Ulquiorra was staring at her with his disconcerting gaze. His eyes then shifted to where she had hidden the broken sword. Orihime fretted that he would ask her how Yammy had died. Vague memories often showed the two of them together, and she wondered if they had been close. Would he now resent her for killing his friend? She opened her mouth as she tried to think up an apology, but he spoke first.
"Clearly you are not as helpless as you seem," he nodded in approval. "Nevertheless, I still offer my services to you, Orihime."
She was stunned, her mouth moving silently as she tried to think of something to say. "Thank you," she finally answered him, "but I'm sure Zommari-san is strong enough to carry me the rest of the way." She began to turn away from him, but he caught her shoulder before she could escape, pulling her closer to him.
"There are other services I can offer you," he reminded her softly, cradling her head with his hand and running it through her long tresses. "We will be human for only a short while longer. We should spend these last moments together, enjoying each other's company." His hand guided her head towards him, but she broke free and backed away several steps.
"Please don't," she protested faintly. "Nothing good can come of this. Soon you-we'll be hollows, and none of this will mean anything."
Ulquiorra came closer, closing the distance between them. "I thought so too, but I have been remembering things, Orihime. I remember watching over you; protecting you. What's more, I remember doing so not simply because Lord Aizen wished it, but because I wanted it. Your innocence, your beauty, your fragility--these notions were foreign to me, but it made me appreciate you that much more. Over time, that appreciation grew into something I can now recognize as love."
The human girl felt her resolve shattering. Love was one of the many emotions that she could no longer feel, but she remembered how happy it once made her. She knew she had loved her friends, even if she could not remember their faces. And she had felt an even stronger bond with someone--also a nameless shadow in the corner of her memory--but remembered with a pang of sadness that it had been one-sided. She was somehow certain that Ulquiorra was the first person to have ever told her that he loved her in that special way.
She had always imagined such a moment would be both beautiful and meaningful, a memory she could hold onto and cherish forever...
Maybe in a perfect world, she would have been capable of expressing and returning Ulquiorra's love. As she was now--isolated from every possible emotion--she was wholly incapable of doing so. Because denial was the only option left to her, she told him, "You're wrong. A hollow doesn't understand love."
He did not back down, his voice only growing louder. "I am no mere hollow. I was once a Vasto Lorde, a creature made of hundreds of thousands of hollows. Of that multitude, my soul emerged the strongest, and my mind dominated all others. If I could do such a thing, imagine what might be possible, especially with the aid of the hougyoku? Lord Aizen told we arrancar that our souls had reached the ultimate perfection. How could that be so if we were deprived of emotion, something so basic that even humans possess it?"
All humans except me, Orihime thought to herself. Yet at the mention of Aizen, she realized that she had one last card to play. Ultimately, it was the one reason she could not allow herself to love Ulquiorra, even if she had been able to.
"Aizen-sama would never allow it," she told him truthfully. "He wanted you to keep me safe because he has special plans for me. Are you really prepared to go against him?"
Frustration showed in the Espada's emerald eyes. "Why are you making this so difficult?" he growled. "You talk as if you don't want us to be together, yet I can feel your desire burn as strongly as mine. We should-"
"No!" she cried, at last pushing away from him. "It can never happen!" She rushed to where the other Espada were gathered, trusting that Ulquiorra would not try anything directly in front of them. Already, she suspected that most of them had been watching their exchange.
She cast one last look behind her, catching the flicker of motion as Ulquiorra fled.
"Come, it's time we get going," said Halibel, making no other comment. Orihime once more climbed onto Zommari's back, feeling so drained that she wondered if she would be able to hang on this time. The thought of falling off and being left alone in the desert was vastly preferable to where they were actually heading.
As promised, Stark was the first to arrive at Las Noches. They found him standing just outside the fortress, staring grimly at the entrance gate.
"So kind of you to have waited for us," remarked Nnoitra dryly.
The Espada snorted. "I've already been inside. I thought I might spare you some disappointment and give you fair warning."
"I don't sense Lord Aizen's presence!" spoke the oldest among them, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Right. He ain't here. The throne room is trashed, and I can't find anyone left alive. From the looks of things, we came too late to help him."
Halibel clenched her fists in anger. "We should never have wasted so much time in the Sereitei or the human world. We ought to have left for Las Noches as soon as we were reborn!"
A new voice made them turn around and stare at the figure as he materialized behind them.
"Even then, you would have been too late. Or did you forget the way most of you died?"
The gathered Espada braced themselves, their hands reaching for their weapons.
"Who are you?" asked Zommari, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
The stranger grinned, his teeth lining up perfectly with the fangs of the skeletal jaw hanging off the right side of his face. "I'm surprised you need to ask. I guess purification really does screw with your head. I am Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, and since it seems I'm the only arrancar left, I also hereby appoint myself your new lord."
"Heresy!" shouted the black-skinned Espada, drawing his zanpakuto and thrusting it into Grimmjow's abdomen before the other had time to dodge. Despite the brutal wound, the blue-haired man continued to smile, then grabbed his large opponent and tossed him aside as if he weighed nothing. He pulled out the zanpakuto without any effort, and threw it back to its owner.
"Now that we've re-introduced ourselves, let me give you a little advice," he said casually, watching in satisfaction as his wound repaired itself. "First off, none of you should be having any regrets that Aizen is gone. That scheme of his to summon a key to the Shinigami King's dimension was the only thing he ever cared about. He created arrancar as a source of spiritual power, knowing that it would be too difficult to collect enough human souls to manifest the Key. But he worried that even we Espada wouldn't be enough, and used that girl, Orihime, as bait to draw the strongest humans and Shinigami to his fortress. Once we had all assembled, he planned to sacrifice us all."
"And you're saying that's how we died?" hissed Nnoitra suspiciously.
"No, that's how the top three Espada died. You, Nnoitra and Zommari, were killed by Shinigami captains. And you, woman--don't think I don't see you hiding there--you were killed just before the final battle. Aizen was furious; I think he had counted on your reiatsu to help power the summoning kidou."
"And you escaped alive because you were too weak to be useful, is that it?" asked Stark, appearing uncharacteristically tense.
Grimmjow laughed lightly. "Let's just say I know how to pick the winning side. If you have any common sense yourselves, you'll join me."
"Why should we trust anything you say?" asked Halibel, her voice a low growl. "Lord Aizen may still return to us."
"Return?" guffawed Grimmjow. "To this hell-hole? Whatever delusions you might have had about our ex-leader, he never intended to stay here. And if you doubt my words, maybe this will convince you that he isn't coming back."
The arrancar threw a swirling purple object at her feet. It was instantly recognizable to everyone there. Halibel knelt down almost reverently to pick it up.
"Don't get your hopes up about using it on yourselves. Aizen already drained the hyougoku of all its energy. It's useless now."
"I guess that means we'll just have to find some other way of getting our powers back," said Stark with a shrug. The other Espada, however, were not taking the news so lightly.
"Even if you are the last arrancar alive, I will never follow anyone but Lord Aizen!" swore Halibel. The others around her nodded in grim agreement.
Grimmjow seemed amused by their words. "I didn't really expect any of you to show common sense. Very well. If I have to knock sense into your thick skulls, so be it." He lifted his zanpakuto from its light blue sheath and called out, "Grind, PANTERA!"
From the mist that swirled around the released weapon, Grimmjow reappeared in his feline form. With a savage roar, he raked the air with his claws, sending streaks of energy towards the gathered Espada that sliced through everything it touched. The group shunpoed to safety just in time, while Orihime stood her ground behind the protection of her shield.
The attack kicked up clouds of sand that obscured everything in sight. When the dust cleared, the top three Espada were hovered around Grimmjow, their own zanpakuto drawn and aimed at the newly transformed arrancar.
"Even without our hollow abilities, we are more than a match for you, traitor," snarled Halibel. At her signal, the three shouted as one-
"BANKAI!"
"I don't sense Lord Aizen's presence!"
Orihime almost collapsed in relief at those words. Aizen wasn't here. That dream--wherever it had come from--now had no chance of coming true. She stopped listening to the Espada argue amongst themselves, focusing once again on searching for a way to escape. If their leader was no longer around, would the Espada disperse?
"...did most of you forget the way you died?"
Grimmjow!
The name rose to her lips before she had even turned to stare at the newcomer's face. New memories surfaced, and Orihime suddenly realized that here was the true Sexta Espada. He had freed her once before, and then joined her friends--those mysterious friends whose names she still couldn't remember--in their last desperate battle against Aizen.
And then she had died.
Zommari's screams dragged her back to the present as she saw him run his sword through Grimmjow's belly. The fierce arrancar reacted by throwing the man aside and tearing out the bloody blade, making no sound of pain at what ought to have been a mortal wound. Instead, he continued to address his former comrades in a taunting voice.
Orihime couldn't help but wonder if this arrancar was her salvation. Then the meaning of his words suddenly registered-
"...he worried that even we Espada wouldn't be enough, and used that girl, Orihime, as bait to draw the strongest humans and Shinigami to his fortress. Once we had all assembled, he planned to sacrifice us all... that's how the top three Espada died."
Bait. She had been nothing but bait! And all this time, she thought Aizen had wanted her for- wanted her for what? Never mind that now, what about her friends! Had they really all been sacrificed in Aizen's mad scheme? Had the ex-Shinigami reached the King's dimension? She cared less about that than the fate of those who had come to save her. Bait! She had been stupid to let them take her prisoner. Wait a minute... when had she agreed to be captured?
Her current logical state of mind struggled against the seeming nonsense of her returning memories. What in the world had she done?
"...you were killed just before the final battle... He had counted on your reiatsu to help power the summoning kidou."
At least she had defied him in that small way. But had it made any difference? Aizen had the power of his top three Espada at his disposal--arrancar who were even more powerful than Ulquiorra, who himself had been a Vasto Lorde. And he would be able to draw on the spiritual powers of all the Shinigami captains and humans who had come to rescue her. The Espada had all been killed--that much she knew for certain. Where then were all of her friends? Had they also been resurrected in Soul Society, or reincarnated back on Earth?
She abruptly summoned her shield as Grimmjow transformed himself, channeling blinding bursts of energy that ripped through the air. To her relief, the Shun Shun Rikka's field survived the blow, though streaks of light now danced across Orihime's vision. She saw the higher level Espada make use of the cover of dust to maneuver and surround Grimmjow.
Orihime looked away, for this was a battle whose outcome bode poorly for her no matter who won. After his indiscriminate attack, it was obvious that Grimmjow would not come to her defense. She also no longer had Ulqiuorra to watch over her; but then keeping the Fourth Espada too close had been a danger in itself. With Aizen was gone, perhaps that was no longer the case. Regardless, he wasn't present to protect her this time, and she had no one to blame for that but herself.
The only other Espada who had shown her any kindness was Zommari. She walked hopefully towards the broken wall where she had seen him crash, but to her dismay, there was nothing there but rubble.
"He left," said Nnoitra from over her shoulder, startling her by his close proximity. "Probably searching for Aizen as we speak." Orihime moved away from him quickly, causing the lanky Espada to grin at her discomfort.
"Despite all his eyes, he followed blindly after those who promised him the impossible," Nnoitra continued, once again sliding his body towards her. "Then again, I suppose we can all be accused of not seeing the obvious, wouldn't you say, Orihime-chan?"
"I don't know what you mean," she answered, backing up against the ruined wall. In truth, she was afraid that she knew exactly what he meant. Yammy had already shown her how displeased Espada could be at having been made fools of. Orihime didn't know who had been more surprised--her or Yammy--upon realization that she had never been one of them.
"Let me show you then," said Nnoitra, the corners of his smile twisting into a grimace. As he reached for her, Orihime's hand slid under her cloak to clutch the handle of Yammy's zanpakuto.
"Don't do it, Orihime!" shouted a shrill, male voice. One of those fairies--the creatures who had appeared when she had summoned her shield--now fluttered over her left shoulder.
"We'll protect you as long as we can; just run!" another shouted as he lined up with his companion. As Orihime watched, the third centered herself between them, hovering just above the ground.
Nnoitra looked at the Shun Shun Rikka in disgust. "Are these pathetic things supposed to impress me?"
Orihime had a sudden vision of three other winged creatures floating before her, only to be cut down a moment later by the flash of Aizen's sword. She saw a flower-shaped hairpin identical to the one she now wore, except that all of its petals had fallen. Those missing petals represented pieces of her soul, and somehow Orihime realized that if her other hairpin was destroyed, the rest of her identity would also be lost.
The shield immediately appeared between them, diminutive bodies forming the corners. Nnoitra tried to circle around it, but the Shun Shun Rikka kept pace with him.
"I won't leave you," said Orihime matter-of-factly. Her voice sounded neither courageous nor particularly determined, but there was no doubt that she meant what she said. "If you die, I'm as good as dead anyway."
The Espada aimed a furious sweep of his zanpakuto at her shield. "Good to know," he grunted.
Orihime could see the strain on their faces as the Shun Shun Rikka concentrated on blocking the blow. She fumbled for the hilt of Yammy's sword, both hands wrapped around a grip that had been made for someone three times her size. Even missing half its length, she was surprised that she was strong enough to lift up the heavy blade. This thing was made from a part of Yammy's soul, she remembered, sensing echoes of the Tenth Espada's essence. She felt a surge of power emanating from it, and a strong desire to strike back at her opponent.
She reached out to the zanpakuto with her mind. I have no strength of my own left; nor will or skill to fight, she said silently, projecting her thoughts. But if you lend me yours, maybe we can both survive a little longer.
She thrust the half-sword through her shield and met Nnoitra's blade head on, knocking it away from her. Not daunted in the least, the Espada wore an expression of pure glee.
"So you're finally able to summon your zanpakuto, and it turns out to have a broken blade," he chuckled spitefully. "As if you needed any more proof of your inferiority!"
Movement out of the corner of her vision made Orihime look up. Nnoitra faced the opposite direction and didn't see, but took notice when a large shadow suddenly blocked out the light of the moon.
"LOOK OUT!" shouted a voice out of nowhere.
Part of a parapet and a cleanly-sliced section of tower came hurtling towards them. Nnoitra tried to flee, but tripped over the scattered stones of the ruined wall. Orihime ran to his side and spread her shield over them both, holding her sword in front of her even though she knew the move was futile. Above the fortress of Las Noches, the flashes of reiatsu and ceros told her what was causing the destruction.
Just as the giant block of flying masonry was about fall on top of them, a burst of energy shattered the stones into pieces, many of them disintegrating as they struck against her shield. Orihime looked around to catch a glimpse of whoever had saved them, but she couldn't see through the dust and flying debris.
Nnoitra looked furious rather than grateful at being rescued. As his single eye scanned the darkness, Orihime heard his sharp intake of breath.
"You...!"