2012 and Convert is back with Eat Cero and Die! I know I've been on unannounced hiatus on this story and I'm greatly sorry! I'll save my long apology and announce this Chapter 8 of ECAD! My style of writing changed quite slightly, but I still hope you'll take the time to read and continue to read Eat Cero and Die! I'll do my best to continue to write ECAD and hope for no mishaps that prevent me so.

I'd like to thank all of you that have favourite, subscribed and reviewed my story. Thank you so so much!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. But I do wish reality was like Bleach...


"… R-run that by me again? You want me to do – what now?"

"I want you to obliterate this wall with a blast just as how you preformed when you escape from your cell." The only known pink-haired Espada spoke as he pushes up his grey-framed glasses.

"W-wait, I don't even remember ho—"

"Vanille, Rie. I order you to obliterate the wall this instant."

"Don't get all sassy with me!" I fumed and threw in a short side-to-side of the head. Really… things were going so normal just a few minutes ago. We had just received our spankin' Arrancar uniforms, and suddenly Szayel drags us into this spacious room deep underground Las Noches and tells me to blast this light teal wall like I did when I got me and Kaye out of the cell. To recap: as far as I can remember, we were in a big pinch and needed to get out, ASAP. Ecstatic rush, and might be hunger (possibly), welled in the depths of my body and as I came in contact with the wall at the base of my fist, BOOM! WALL BE-GONE! To sum it all up, I have no idea how I did such a thing.

"Rie just try like, whamming your hands on it or something. Maybe it'll work again!" Kaye cheered with much hopefulness. She clearly just wants to see it again, and so do I, but I doubt I can let it out all willy-nilly.

Szayel clears his throat, "Well?" he says, trying to get back my attention, "Are you just going to dawdle or will you get to the point where you make some progress with that wall?"

"Is it me or is he getting awfully snappy about this?" I thought. To avoid getting any more smartassness from Szayel I decided to give it a shot and walk on to the wall. "Don't blame me if I can't even get a scratch on this." I grumbled. I stood in front of the wall, inches apart from the tip of my nose, looking straight at it with much concentration. "All right Rie, you can do this. Whatever happens just freaking wing it." I sighed out. "Wall, please crumble away." After I bonded and begged with the wall, I clenched the fists beside me and slammed its base on the wall's surface. But, nothing happened.

"Jeez." I turned around to face the two hopefuls. "SEE! Like I was trying to say, I have no idea how I did that before." Kaye's excited face crumbled and Szayel just look displeased as usual. They're as supportive as always.

"Aww it's okay Rie!" Kaye smiles weakly.

Szayel scoffs, "It seems I overestimated your being. It seems what you did back there was merely a fluke, possibly due to the mass amount of spiritual energy surrounding you..."

"MAN! So what if it's a fluke!" I growled at Szayel. I've had it with his grouchiness! He may be my favorite character and think he's a real sex-god and all, but he's acting really annoying now. "I don't care if I can shoot a 'hoo-haa beam' or whatever; at least it got me and Kaye out of that cell!" Rage. Fury. Adrenaline. They kicked in deep down and as I tapped that wall behind me with my left fist, it shot it out. I turned my head around and saw the blast. It was black, full of energy and heat and it boomed the room with the erupted blast that disintegrated a big portion of the wall. The blast lasted for at least three second that felt like minutes, and all three of us were speechless for five seconds after. All the noise left was the chunks of wall pieces falling out from the sides. What was clear and familiar to me, what I realized that time, what I had just done… blew my mind. "HO—LY… SHIT."

"Rie… you just did…"

"… she destroyed that wall… with a pitch black Cero." Szayel commented in awe.

"That was… mother-fucking AWESOME! Holy crap, Kaye! Did you see that? Did you see what I did?" I flailed my hands around and looked to Kaye then back at the wall then back to Kaye, to the wall. That was unbelievable! All this time I was performing a Cero when I busted those cell walls and it's a mighty fine Cero too!

Kaye flails her hands around like me, "That's unfair! How come you get a "cero" and I don't?"

I shrugged, "Heck, I don't know. But it's so cool, right?"

She nods her head vigorously, "Yes! So that's why I want one!" she whines. We passed each other long telepathic speeches of how legendary that was using our ecstatic expressions and smiles which went along for a while.

"For two people who came from the same world, I would have expected you both to have the same abilities…" he mumbles to himself. "Nonetheless. Rie, what you did was in fact, a Cero, quite a strong one at that. But it seems you were not releasing it to its full potential."

The happy-streak ended when Szayel brought in the seriousness of it all. I gave him a wary look, "To be honest, I don't even know how I released it. Really!" I gave him a light chuckle. I look down on my hands again, "Just how…?" I thought maybe my hand was leaking some sort power from a hole in it or something and concentrated it to a beam. It didn't make sense… how was I able to do a Cero for the third time? Then a flicker of thought popped into my head… the pitch black Cero power gave me a sense of déjà vu kind of feeling… but it instantly went away as I couldn't fit the pieces of image together.

"We will get to the explanations of these questions later. For now I must record this data and take you to a safe room." Szayel fixes up his glasses and walks us out of the underground place. Poor sucker who has to fix that wall up again – my apologies. Kaye and I walk behind Szayel up the stairs and back to the hallways of his wing. "Wonder where we're gonna get locked up now…" Now that I'm seen as someone who has power therefore is quite a mild threat, they can't just treat me as nothing 'cause I might beat their asses (which is unlikely since I can't even figure out how to control it). Still I'm – no WE – are a threat ever since we got here but now we're a much bigger threat with a Cero on my hands.

At the walk back, none of us three try to make conversation. I'm just exhausted for some reason and would like to get some sleep; I have a feeling Kaye's pretty beat too. I stopped looking at the boring sight of the hallway's floor and look up to see Szayel's back half a metre away. Jeez, this guy was acting really snippy in that room; he should smile more, or be a sexy-yet-quiet-and-mysterious kind of guy – those are a major turn-on. I gaze at the pink-haired researcher's back frame and noticed how broad is shoulders were and that his arm has quite a muscle build to it despite the arm being thin. "Eh?" I spotted his white glove-covered right hand and they were slightly… shaking? His left hand seems to be shaking too. "W-Why?" Hand… shaking… could he be that excited to write the data down on paper that his hands are shaking with anticipation? Can't be, he didn't leave the room happily; he left the room with a look of aggravation or sort. Shaking… "If it's not anticipation then could it be, fear? He's scared… of me – and my Cero?" I didn't get a clear look at his reaction when I blasted that wall to smithereens. Psssh, can't be, I'm overanalyzing this a bit too much.

Moments later we arrive to yet, another room in his Wing and opens the door out for us. "You are to stay in this room for a while. It is specially made to fit a guest's need..." "I knew it. 'Specially made' must mean—"

"The place is bugged, isn't it?" I blankly interrupted.

"Why you sure are not as dumb as you look after all," he says as he buries his head to fix his glasses. I missed my chance to get a good look at his face. Let me remind you that a simple smirk from him made me turn into a red cherry, so I haven't dared to catch a glimpse of his face since the lab.

I briskly walked to the middle of the room and viewed around. It's definitely much better than a cruddy cell we were put in, twice. One king-size bed, few lamps, a long dresser and a door in which I pray leads to the bathroom. There were hardly any décor but it does feel more room-y. Szayel clears his throat and continues to speak, "Stay in this room until I call you forth for more practices in my lab." He holds on to the doorknob to make his way out but before he does I walked towards him to give him my thanks but he immediately stepped out and closed the door shut. "Weird."

I shrugged and blew out a sigh, "Well I don't know about you but I'm EX-HAUS-TED!" I ran towards the bed, jumped front down and landed my head on the pillow. The bed and pillow were quite damp and chilly, but it felt nice and comfortable overall. "The experiments, the walking, the blowing up things, the more walking… I say we call it a day."

"Yeah, you're right. We should get s'mm sleep and see wha's gon' happen tomorrow." Kaye joined beside me on the right side of the bed and slept with her back facing me. Tough-diddly-day indeed. I can only hope it gets easier soon because all this new excitement each half an hour is a little too much for lazy teenagers like us. And me? Shooting a "Cero"? How could I be turning into an Arrancar for what only feels like a few days here in Hueco Mundo? And with more questions piling up to one another, I slip into a deep sleep.


"… You want us, to leave?

Y-Yeah I get what you're saying but ho—

Wait, what?

You! You, who are you!

You're a loud person, speak to me and shut everyone else up!"

You… to leave…

"… H-Huh?

I heard ya the first time but like how am I—"

... Understand… not here…

"What do you mean?"

Here… you'll…

Being here, you'll only lose yourselves.

"What?" I abruptly opened my eyes. "Who… was he?" I heard a clear voice this time among the chatters of the rest. It's like whenever I sleep I hear these people, speaking directly at me and telling me all sorts of things I can't make out. But this time, I heard one guy say a clear sentence to me; yeah, it doesn't make sense, but it's… clearer: "Being here you'll only lose yourself." What does he mean by that?

I slowly sat myself up with my left and right arm for support and turn to Kaye, still fast asleep. I look around the room's blank slate wall for a clock that usually hangs on a bedroom wall but time doesn't seem to exist here in Hueco Mundo. "I know!" I sprung up and back straight, "Maybe I can like… feel the atmosphere of this place or something and compare it to my body's jet lag! Then maybe we can find out the time—" Nope. That's way too technical and I have no idea what I'm even saying. I breathed out a sigh. Since there was no way of telling time and no way of telling if I should wake up Kaye now, I decided to get out of bed and head on to the bathroom. I grabbed the handle and pushed it down to open and took a step on the white tiles before looking around.

"Surprisingly clean," I thought. Really, for an evil organization they sure are quite neat and pristine. The bathroom wasn't gigantic but had the necessities of a shower plus bathtub, toilet, sink, and sets of towels. On top of the towels were clothing that were pink with purple polka dots. I didn't even have to think to guess what they were and just took one and opened it out. "Damn night gowns," They were the damn night gowns; the night gown designs that Szayel made us wear at the experiment. "Geh. They just look so bad." I folded it back on and started removing my Arrancar outfit, readying myself to take a nice warm shower.

I got out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and squeaky clean. We haven't taken a bath since we got here in the first place and we've already went through a lot of messy mishaps. My Arrancar outfit doesn't look too dirty but I should really ask Szayel for spares of mine and Kaye's just in case it rips. Speaking of Kaye, I turn to Kaye who is still sleeping.

"Kaye, it's about time you woke up!" I called out to her.

"Kaye!" I made my way over her and just as I was about to shake her awake she started mumbling,
"… Reach. I can't reach… grab… your name…" suddenly her sleeping expression cringe and looked as if she was suffering.

"Kaye? Kaye, wake up!" I shook her left shoulder till she opened her eyes. "Kaye, are you okay?" she slowly sat up on the side of the bed and nodded her head slowly, still looking dazed. "Yo, wake up. Go to the bathroom and take a shower. It'll help you wake up more." She slowly nodded her head again and stood up as she made her way in the bathroom and closed it. "Wonder what she was dreaming…" It must've been a nightmare for her to wake up listless like that. I stared at the bathroom door and waited till the shower waters were running. I could hear it go off and breathed out all the worried tension - at least she didn't fall asleep in there.

Minutes later my friend comes out with a damp brown hair but looking happily refreshed. "Pwah! That's some good shower!"

"Yet you wonder how they get water in this grey desert world, huh?" I chuckled and Kaye laughed along with me. The laughing got interrupted short with a loud rumbling in the room.

"Sorry! That's my stomach. I'm starved!" she whimpered while hugging her stomach to quiet it down.

"Same 'ere," I nodded and looked down on my stomach silently crying for food. "Should we walk around and see if we can find the kitchen around this dump?" I pointed to the exit with my thumb. I'm well aware that Szayel specifically said we should stay here but I'm sure he rather wants us alive and we need food to keep from dying. Kaye agrees to leave the room and we both make our way outside to Las Noches' hallways.