Unrest Chapter 15: SPECIAL! Stark Tribute, Szayel CRIES?, a bleach fanfic

Notes: i was going to make a lemon only chapter next, but i've been moved by the death of Stark. In Unrest he's still alive. Bean is kinda, mweeee, grimmjow is traitor but I still have Stark-sama! But mainly thats because he uses a gun, and Bean is a hillbilly. And bean is a chiuaua/rat arrancar. He'd want to be near an arrancar who used wolves to attack, pack instinct.

But in this case, Zephly is going to be confronted far too early with some of the consequences of his actions. From the moment I saw Stark's battle and his death I fell in love. This chapter is special, Stark this one is for you. 333

and I know the perfect song to capture this moment, "Comatose" by skillet.

Zephly and Szayel had been very very in love, but they avoided one topic for quite a long while. Szayel had been the submissive during the fever, for him and two others. But Zephly was the one he wanted.

Zephly put his book down, and turned to Szayel. "We need to talk. I'm sorry but we have to. I've felt it, the change in your body. I've smelled the pheromones you give off. Szayel I love you dearly, we need to talk about it."

"I know." Szayel replied. "Nnoitra and Stark. Nnoitra was an animal, and we were together for awhile before I found you. But he's afraid of confronting those he fucked that night. Stark was... strange. Zephly there's something wrong with him. He was an absolute whore, but he cried the entire time, he was calling for Lilinette. The entire time I was fucking him he cried 'all I want is my lillinette, I don't want any other child I can't live without my lillinette!'"

Zephly's expression was one of instant concern. "He said that? He'd rather die?"

"yes."

"I wish you'd told me that /months/ ago! SHIT. If you had /told/ me he was in that bad a psychological shape I would have checked him for pregnancy and reccomended it be terminated. People can become delusional and suicidal from pregnancy hormones. And this late in the game, we can't stop it." He got up and sonido'd out of there.

"Like I /know/ anything about pregnancy beyond the biological processes?" Szayel ran after him, top sonido, to stark's chamber's.

Bean's scream of agony made them run harder. Then they felt the reiatsu roaring from Stark's chamber. "WHAT THE HELL?"

Bean's eyes rolled back in his head, his hand disintegrating in front of them as ominously as if Barragan had used Respira on it. Szayel's instinct immediately was to pull the fraccion away. "BEAN, get ahold of yourself! RUN! His reiatsu will tear you apart!" He shoved the panicking underling down the hall.

"Go to the infirmary Bean, I'll take care of you there!"

Bean stumbled down the hall, then disappeared with sonido, recovering his wits as he got further away. "GOSH DURNED IT STARK-SAMA I WAS TRYING TO HELP YEW!"

I hate feeling like this
I'm so tired of trying to fight this
I'm asleep and all I dream of

Is waking to you
Tell me that you will listen
Your touch is what I'm missing
And the more I hide I realize I'm slowly losing you

Szayel plunged into the storm after Zephly. "Zephly stay back! his reiatsu will tear you to pieces!"

Stark was screaming and writhing on the ground, tears in his eyes. "Please no... not again... I can't lose another one... please, PLEASE I JUST WANT LILLINETTE! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT HER LILLINEEETEEEEEE!"

"STARK! STARK! What's happening?" Zephly demanded.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Stark demanded, biting Zephly's hand when he tried to touch him. "The only one I want is my lillinette! Don't make me have another! HOW COULD YOU MAKE ME HAVE ANOTHER?"

I'll never wake up without an overdose of you

I don't wanna live
I don't wanna breathe
'les I feel you next to me
you take the pain I feel
waking up to you never felt so real
I don't wanna sleep
I don't wanna dream
'cause my dreams don't comfort me
The way you make me feel
Waking up to you never felt so real

"Another... Stark are you telling me you got pregnant before?" Szayel demanded.

Suddenly stark couldn't talk anymore, all he could do was scream. Zephly ripped open his shirt and uniform. Stark's abdomen had something moving around in it. This wasn't something he had anticipated. "did the virus do this? STARRRRRKK!" Zephly yelled, throwing his arms around the other arrancar. "Stark TALK TO ME!"

Stark's soul was in unbearable pain. Something had gone wrong with Zephly's fever virus. Stark had been plunging deeper and deeper into despair, spurred by the hormones of pregnancy and the agony of losing a part of him when he felt another life growing in him, it just spurred him deeper into grief. He'd become a recluse. Lillinette was a piece of his soul. In essence, he had given birth to her and in some ways he considered her his child, his /daughter/. He didn't want to bring another child into the world, he'd rather die, all he wanted was his Lillinette back, and that could never be. an abortion never occured to him, Stark was a loving arrancar. He wanted love more than anything else in the world. Most arrancar wanted to be strong. Stark wanted to be weak.

I hate living without you
Dead wrong to ever doubt you
But my demons lay in waiting
Tempting me away
Oh how I adore you
Oh how I thirst for you
Oh how I need you

Stark /howled/, clinging to Zephly. He knew all the signs that his soul was about to split again, and spawn another. He was fighting it so badly that it created the storm of reiatsu. Stark had never told anybody about Lilinette's origins. He thought that Aizen might have guessed. Their powers were too unusual.

But the other Espada didn't know the secret of their primera. A secret Zephly would have needed to know, or he wouldn't have infected him, the risk of killing Stark in the process was too high. But he felt the reclusive Primera would have great genes to pass to the next generation. That he was loving and kind and would raise a child with the same tenderness. That he needed love. He didn't realize that Stark had been hiding both a secret and such incredible pain.

Zephly could feel it, on Stark's reiatsu, he could feel his agony and his arrogance about the Fever Virus, for the moment shattered. He knew he'd messed up. "PLEASE! TELL ME HOW TO HELP YOU!"

I'll never wake up without an overdose of you

Breathing life
Waking up
My eyes open up

At that moment, biology took over, and Stark lost the battle. He felt his body rip itself apart. He heard the crying of a child. Unlike Lilinette, this one was born a baby. Stark didn't need to look at his body to realize he was in bad shape, his ribs were emaciated, his waist so skinny. It had sucked nutrients, will, and souls from the many that had formed into his body, but the virus had done its job.

He passed out, vision going black, tears in his eyes. And at that moment he hated Shunsui Kyouraku so much. He wanted to kill him. But he just didn't have the will or the power. At this point he truly didn't care if he never woke up again.

Comatose
I'll never wake up without an overdose of you
Oh how I adore you
Waking up to never felt so real
Oh how I thirst for you
Waking up to never felt so real
Oh how I adore you, ohhhh
The way you make me feel
Waking up to never felt so real

Stark...

"Stark wake up... Stark please!" Zephly's voice nagged Stark to wakefullness. "please stark open your eyes! Stark I'm SORRY! If I had known I never would have done it!" Zephly sobbed. Stark was in spiritual agony. Zephly's apology only just made him madder. He'd even attached an IV. At that point Stark just didn't want to be saved. He wanted to die. The only one he wanted was Lilinette. He would have welcomed another child with open arms, but only if she were still alive. Thats why he'd had sex so many times during the fever. He wanted to make the pain stop.

I hate feeling like this
I'm so tired of trying to fight this
I'm asleep and all I dream of

Is waking to you
Tell me that you will listen
Your touch is what I'm missing
And the more I hide I realize I'm slowly losing you

Comatose
I'll never wake up without an overdose of you

"Coo." The sound, and the feel of tiny hands clinging to his body trying to wake him made shocks of pain go through his entire soul. Stark just squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to acknowledge the life he brought into the world, his expression agonized.

"COO!" the cry was more urgent, the child tugging on his mask. Stark turned his head away. His heart was just too broken.

"Don't make me, please don't make me." He mumbled, delirious with grief and pain.

"This isn't good. He's refusing to acknowledge his own child. Spontaneous generation, damn, thought they'd proved that one a myth. A soul so strong and lonely that it can split to make its own kin rather than live in agony. Szayel, you should have told me he was suicidal, I would have reccomended he get an abortion. The virus combined with the pregnancy to make his soul unstable. He could have died."

"I'm not used to talking." Szayel replied. "I've never really had a serious relationship with anyone before. I'm not used to reaching out, or giving a damn." And Zephly was rubbing off on him, Szayel was actually starting to care about other people.

"You're already scaring me, I don't need to lose two people I care about in one day."

He... cared? Zephly wasn't just some sarcastic crochety old man? He cared?

The tiny hands and feet were up and crawling instantly, a mischievious giggle as they crawled down Stark's body. What on earth?

Stark's eye edged open just a little, trying to figure out what the hell was going on?

"thats it stark, show some interest. Please i'm begging you." He squeezed his eyes shut again, turned his head away again in rejection and was about to pretend to go to sleep.

Tiny hands punching him in the groin shocked Stark to alertness, may have been a baby, but the child was /really/ strong, and his reaction to being punched in the privates was too hard wired. Stark yelled, sitting up straight.

I hate living without you
Dead wrong to ever doubt you
But my demons lay in waiting
Tempting me away
Oh how I adore you
Oh how I thirst for you
Oh how I need you

Comatose
I'll never wake up without an overdose of you

"COOOOOOO!" the child had gotten him awake, and Stark felt his emaciated body connect with a solid, demanding little body that clung to his chest, begging for love, as if to say 'see? i'm here!'. He looked down, and for a moment what he saw didn't make any sense.

Green hair, red markings on the mask. The tiny mask was /identical/ to Lilinette. His eyes widened. He'd heard of reincarnation, but so soon? How... HOW? How had his body known? Had the virus copied her. "l... l... Lillinette!" He gasped. Was she the original, or his grief making a wish real? His heart ached, racing a million miles an hour in his chest.

"Coo! Coo!" the child clung to the ribs that were showing through his chest. "Cooooooo." She was so worried, he felt it was a she, he knew it was a she even though Zephly had put a diaper on her already. The baby lillinette was running fingers down his ribs, almost as if she were counting them, whimpering in empathy with his pain and confusion.

"I don't believe it... she's the spitting image... how did... he killed her, he killed my lillinette I saw him!" Stark groaned, barely able to believe what he was seeing. A heart long since carved from his chest ached, broken, hoping against hope that it was the same person, but how could it? Was she the same lillinette?

"Lilinette came from you?" Szayel asked.

Breathing life
Waking up
My eyes open up

"The shinigami thought she was just a weapon, but my reiatsu, it was so powerful it killed anyone that got near me. I didn't want to be alone anymore, so desperately. I started to feel sick, and my head hurt, it kept happening for months, then one day I collapsed, my body just divided and she was there. Thats why I joined the Espada. I wanted someone strong, some amount of contact, of affection, who wouldn't die just by coming near us!"

"Arrancar have special DNA, highly unstable. Lillinette's DNA was probably encoded within you, you had the key to bringing her back inside of you the whole time." Szayel had tears in his eyes, dabbing at his sleeve. "But you were so heart broken, so lethargic, so suicidal, you were able to make a whole, grown child appear from your body the first time, the second time, because you fought so hard not to make it happen, you didn't have the strength to make her appear as a grown child. She appeared as a baby." Szayel gave the baby Lilinette another poke and she responded by biting his hand. "OW! Definitely the Lilinette I remember."

"I didn't know what to do. I hurt so badly I just wanted to die. But something inside me screamed 'don't do it'. I felt sick, every time I thought about dying, every time I wanted to die, I felt sick inside. Like something was screaming at me to stop. But it hurt so bad, I couldn't take the pain of producing another lillinette, only to have her die again."

"She was calling to you, telling you that if you died she would to." Szayel replied. my eyes are wet. Szayel realized. am i... /crying/? oh my god. i've never felt like this before. something inside me is melting. DAMNIT stay /strong/ Szayel, you're the Espada of insanity you can't crumble like this NOW! but what came next just broke Szayel right then and there.

"I was only willing to have children if Lillinette was there. I would have wanted a family desperately." Stark said quietly. "But not without her. I couldn't stop grieving. I felt like a part of me died with her. When I realized it was happening again, that I was pregnant, I just wanted to die. It hurt so bad. Feeling life grow and unable to let go of the other life I'd had."

"well, your power coupled with an arrancar's regenerative powers, brought her back. I think." Szayel was fascinated, but couldn't stop /crying/. "Zephly?"

Zephly's tanned face was white. "Don't scare me like that again." He growled. "From now on, you and Lillinette will hang with me and Szayel. I don't want you to be in pain like that. I thought I'd killed you." Zephly started to sob.

"I'm still angry, but... but I have another chance. Thank you." Stark started to cry. "Zephly you'll be alright. Just..."

"God Stark, look at you. The next time you're feeling distress TELL ME. I wouldn't have... I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"

"Zephly shut up. I have Lilinette back, that outweighs any anger or resentment /or/ danger by a long margin. You gave me back my reason for living." Stark clung to the baby Lillinette, who coo'd happily, holding tightly to his chest and sucking her thumb.

Tousen was tired, but the disturbance in Stark's quarters made Wonderweiss /run/ in that direction, screaming like a banshee and dragging him by the robes. "Wonderweiss what... What happened here!" He tried to be stern. But Wonderweiss' strange ululations frightened him, like someone was so in pain, so in despair, they would die and then, the halfwit's cries of fear turned into wonder, then excitement, then a squeel of glee!

"Tousen-sama!" Szayel's expression was giddy. "We had our first birth, come see who's back!"

Tousen frowned. "you know I can't... OOF!"

a tiny body squealed with a happy "COOOOO!" and suddenly Tousen was being face hugged by a baby who could already crawl, and appearantly jump, who's reiatsu felt incredibly familiar. He carefully pried the arrancar child from his face and cradled her in his arms, puzzled by Wonderweiss' happy cries, like he was welcoming someone home who had been gone for a long time, but he knew would come back. Wonderweiss hadn't been infected with the fever, but he'd been acting strangely around those who were pregnant from it. Tousen wondered if Wonderweiss was somehow tuned in to births in the area.

Tousen patted the baby's mask over gently, and suddenly a happy reiatsu inserted itself into his, cuddling against him with an air of relief and giddy happiness. One who felt so familiar. But what...

"Its lillinette... Tousen-sama. I'm not sure how..." Stark sounded absolutely gastly. "she's been reborn, from me, as a baby. But i'm not in very good shape, feel my ribs."

With permission, Tousen silently ran his free hand over Stark's ribs. They were showing, and his waistline was severely emaciated. "Rest Stark, you've had a rough... ooph! I will find you some hollows to feed on, you need sustenance badly."

"Thank you Tousen-sama."

"I'll use my technique to compress some gillians into energy balls. It should help." Szayel's voice was strange to the blind man. Was he /crying?/

Wonderweiss kept making the most peculiar sounds, Tousen could tell he was happy, clinging to his robes to try and get a look at Lillinette, who coo'd happily, hopping onto the medical bed next to stark and reaching out to the halfwit, who walked over, letting the baby climb on his shoulder.

Tousen then realized what had happened. Stark was able to somehow bring back the arrancar he considered his only love and only daughter.

"what he never told us was that Lillinette is a part of Stark. So she can come back to life through him if she's killed."

"Sounds like a shinigami's zanpakuto." Tousen wasn't sure what to make of this. He'd have a better idea if he could see. But he'd accepted his lack of sight a long time ago.

Zephly walked over, observing the interactions between Wonderweiss and the infant Lillinette.

"Cooooo, coo coo!" Lillinette reached out, patting Wonderweiss's face with a chubby hand.

"oooaaaaaaah." Wonderweiss' eyes were huge, his reiatsu and body filled with happiness.

"Cooooooo!" this lillinette seemed to want to hug everyone. Even Wonderweiss. And it wasn't long before she was clinging to his back. Wonderweiss turned in circles. "Woaaaaaaah." Trying to get a good look at what she was doing.

"Coo coo coo!" Lilinette gave his neck a snuggle before jumping back onto Stark. Stark let out an "OOF. Easy Lillinette! My ribs!" And the response was a coo of apology and devotion. Unlike the halfwitted Wonderweiss, it was clear this infant had a full set of adult wits, tempered with the innocence and affection of a child. Or maybe. Stark thought, she was so relieved to be back, and be born.

Suddenly Lillinette crawled over to him, pressing her forehead to Stark's. Her huge baby eyes looking into his fell closed. He heard her voice in his head, sleepy but plain as day the voice he could remember. /Stark, my beautiful Stark, don't ever scare me like that again! I am a part of you, no matter what happens to me, i'll be able to use that man's invention to come back again. Don't cry, don't hurt, it hurt me so bad to see you in pain. I felt that you wanted to die. I would have been whole, but you were in such distress, I had to SAVE YOU! I won't be able to talk to you again until I grow, but please, remember how much I love you, and live for me. Be happy./ Lillinette fell asleep, her forehead against his. /And for gods sake, get knocked up for real this time and have a few dozen children. I want some playmates./

Stark burst into tears, stammering... "D... d... dozen? I don't think I'll have that many. But I will find you a playmate. I promise." He said quietly, holding Lillinette tightly in his arms, refusing to let her go. "I will Lillinette my lovely. I will." and Stark passed out again, but this time, for a moment, his soul felt so alive, he almost forgot his heart was just a hole. It was funny, his soul had just split into two, again, but he had never felt so whole.