Countdown To The End Of The World: 6 Days, 0 Hours, 32 Minutes, 12 Seconds...

Ichigo just stood there with the same expression on his face. He was a bit shocked by Nel's nightmare. It's not that he wasn't confident or anything, but he was worried what would happen if Nel was there when she saw it. More importantly, how would she react if he did die.

"By the way Ichigo..." Rukia said, getting his attention again. "I think you should have a little talk with Geddon." Rukia said, walking back into the room to sleep. Ichigo almost forgot about that. The fact he practically gave her a reminder of what they'll have to do to stop the hole must've made Geddon feel terrible. Or at least to Ichigo it did. He sighed as he looked around for her, until he noticed a balcony. He saw here standing outside, starring at the sky. Ichigo slowly opened the glass door to theopening. Even though it made a noise, Geddon didn't seem to be paying any attention, as she just kept starring into the night. He slowly walked up to the balcony, near the edge where Geddon was standing. Ichigo looked at the sky, seeing what Geddon was admiring.

"Sure is beautiful, huh?" Geddon said. Ichigo looked at her curiously, surprised she would want to start a conversation with him after what he said. What was more cruious about it was the fact she had a slight smile on her face.

"Um...yeah." Ichigo replied, unable to think of anything else to say. Ichigo shook his head for a moment, opening his mouth to say something. But, surprisingly, Geddon interrupted him before he could.

"I'm not mad at you." Geddon said, looking at Ichigo. She looked back at the sky, just to admire the view.

"Well...either way, I'm sorry Geddon. I didn't know about spiritual holes. I shouldn't be saying stupid stuff around here." Geddon just giggled, causing Ichigo to look at her curiously.

"Well if you didn't, there wouldn't be anything to laugh at, would there?" Ichigo just grinned a bit at her response.

"Say Geddon?" Ichigo asked, wanting to ask her something that's been on his mind for a few days.

"Yeah?"

"Why is it that you treat Nel so kindly?" Ichigo began feeling nervous asking this as he saw Geddon's eyes wdiening and squeezing her fists. "Look, I'm sorry. It was another stupid thing I said. You don't have to answer." Geddon just shook her head. Ichigo could see tears falling from her face as she did.

"She...reminds me of my daughter." Geddon replied, causing Ichigo's eyes to widen. "My real age....is 329 Years old as of a few months ago. I've been a hollow for 287 of those years." As Geddon continued, she started reminicing the old life she used to have. "I lived around this town, with my husband and daughter. We were happy. Her name was Darla. She had green hair much like Nel's." As Ichigo looked, listening to her story, she could see tears rolling down her eyes. "It was a happier time back then. There wasn't much violence, and we didn't make enemies to anyone. Then one day...." Geddon started to sniffle. "One day, a group of thugs came around, trapping us in an alley. My husband died first...he tried to protect us and hold them off so we could run. He only lasted a few seconds, because they all have knives..."

"Geddon..." Ichigo started, knowing how it feels to lose someone you hold dear.

"They then grabbed my daughter and held a knife to her throat. They said if I didn't give them money, they would kill her. The idea was just walking through the town, getting some fresh air, so I didn't have any money. They thought I was lying, and when I kept telling them it was the truth...they killed her right in front of me. I tried turning away, not wanting to look at what was happening, but they grabbed my hair, and forced my eye lids opened..." Ichigo was feeling really sorry for her, not knowing about her trouble in the past. "And after that...they killed me. I hope I really don't have to explain the rest..." Geddon said, looking down at the streets.

"It's ok, you don't have too, but why is it you never let anyone know about your feelings?" Ichigo asked. Geddon just stayed silent. "If you don't let your feelings out, you'll be miserable all the time." Geddon just shook her head.

"If it's to be liek that, then my destiny is to be miserable." Geddon replied. Ichigo loloked at her a bit stunned that she would accept this.

"Geddon, you don't have to be miserable, everyone has a diffrent destiny." Geddon just giggled to this.

"Thanks, but it's no use. Destiny said my family would all die, and destiny said I'm going to die at the end of this." Ichigo grew a shocked look as he grabbed Geddon's shoulders, hacing her look right at him.

"Don't ever say you're going to die! No one knows what destiny will bring, and destiny is that of your own choice! No one tells you other wise." Geddon just looked at him while tears were rolling down her cheek. She hugged him tightly as she sniffled to herself.

"It's not worth it Ichigo. You wait and see..." She said, as she started to sniffle to herself. In the hallway, Rukia was looking through the opened door just a little bit, watching. She turned her head to the side as she slowly closed the door, not wanting the others to know she was there.

Countdown To The End Of The World: 5 Days, 15 Hours, 21 Minutes, 43 Seconds...

As Ichigo and the others rested in the spirit world, Ishida, Renji, Chad, and Orihime were patrolling the city. Orihime had the West side of town, Renji had the East, Ishida took the North, and Chad took the South.

"This section is clear still. What about you guys?" Ishida said, speaking into the radio.

"Northen district is clear. Although I hate the fact I can still be seen in this." Renji said, speaking into the radio. He was referring to the people in town. Ever since Geddon arrived, her spiritual pressure has been increasing everyones ability to sense and see spirits, so shinigamis were pointless in going into their spiritual forms.

"Guys, I think we can rest for the time being. We've been doing this since yesterday and there hasn't been a single hollow since yesterday." Orihime said, sounding exhausted.

"I think she's right. Besides, if we keep this up we'll be to exhausted for when hollows really do show up." Chad replied. Everyone could hear as Ishida sighed. Ishida looked up, seeing how the asteroids appeared bigger since yesterday. There have been news reports about this on tv, but no one has any idea about what to do or to get rid of them. They're report all around the glove as well, not just Kuahara town. In addition, the earthquakes keep coming in more and more fierce with each passing hour.

"Fine. We all should go home and get rest. But be ready for any hollow activity when..." Ishida started, before looking at his radio confused. All of the sudden, he started hearing static for no apparent reason. "Orihime, Chad, Renji, come in. Can you hear me?" Ishida said, trying to talk into the radio. The others just looked at their radios with the same response as well. Ishida looked around town, knowing that there had to be something around blocking communications with him.

He looked around, qeustionabbly. He was relieved to see no people were around, but what confused him was the fact that it was getting somewhat dark. His eyes widened though as he saw that the dark shadow on the ground was getting smaller, as it centered towards him. He quickly rolled out of the way, thinking that something was going to attack him from above. But when he looked up, he looked at the sky strangely, seeing nothing above him. Looking back at the ground, he saw the shadow growing again and then shrinking. When he finally realized what was wrong, he sighed.

"Ok, come on out Zani. I know it's you." Ishida said, pushing his glasses up. He heard a whinning moan as he turned around, seeing Zani unfading until she was completely visible.

"Now what was wrong?" Zani complained, wanting to know how to improve.

"You kept growing and shrinking your shadow. That's what." Ishida replied, starting to walk down the street.

"H-Hey! Wait up." Zani said, walking with him.

"Look, I don't have tiem to play right now. I finally have some time to myself and I'd like to get some rest."

"Oooooh, this is why you guys aren't fun. Whenever a girl is ready, all the boys wanna do is just sit around like a bunch of asses."

"Look, if you wanna impress me, work on your skill more, THEN come back." Ishida yelled, looking back at her, still walking. He looked at Zani strangely though as he heard her giggle.

"I'm not here to impress you. I was told to kill you." She said, happily.

"You are one strange girl." Ishida said, not even taking her threat slightly.

"Well, mabey this will make you change your mind." Zani said. Ishida was going to turn around to say something, but his eyes widened at what he saw: His own grandfather was lying down on the ground dead. Ishida was shocked at this. He knew that his grandfather was dead, but he was surprised that Zani knew about his past. "I can read peoples souls of their history. Apparently you have a really messed up one. Do tell me though, did I use enough blood for the effect?" Zani joked. She looked at Ishida though curiously, as she saw him shaking his fist, squeezing it tightly.

"You have some nerve..." Ishida said, sternly. "To bring up my grandfather's death like this again, and to insult all the past quincys'......" As Zani looked, she could see a bow being made at the palm of his hands. She grinned to herself, seeing her plan was working. She quickly dodged out of the way at burst speed, just as an array of hundreds of spirit arrows came charging in on her. When she reappeared, floating in the air, she grinned as she saw smoke coming from his hands, indicating his quick speed. Orihime, Chad, and Renji's eyes widened as they sensed Ishida's riatsu. They didn't bother using the radio, as they quickly started running to the Northern part of Kuahara Town.

"Ahh, did I hurt your feelings?" Zani joked, purposely trying to make him angry. Her eyes widened though as she saw another stream of a hundred arrows heading right for her. Obviously anticipating this, she quickly dodged out of the way with burst speed, dodging each and every arrow as they came. This time she reappeared on the ground kneeling, looking up at the bolts of arrows that tried to kill her. She gasped though as she sensed Ishida right behind her, with his bow pointed directly at her head.

"Get up!" He shouted. She gulped nervously, putting her hands in the air as she slowly rose to her feet. She breathed a bit heavier from the stress, unsure if he was really going to kill her or not.

"L-L-Look, just take it easy, ok?" She said nervously.

"Shut up!" He shouted as a reply. He could see Zani sweating scared, as she gulped again. "You disgraced my race with your so called humor. You think it's fun being the last of your kind? Huh? Do you!?" Ishida shouted, tightening his grip on his bow.

"Please...It was just a joke..."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't, huh!?" Zani paused for a moment as she set her arms down. She started to turn around, but to Ishida's surprise, she had a grim smile on her face.

"Because you can't!" She yelled, thrusting a hidden blade right at him. Without hesitation, Ishida fired his bow right at her. But he gasped, seeing how the arrow went right through her. When it did, she suddenly froze as her entire body started to get all phasy. It took him a minute before he realized it was an illusion. He couldn't react fast enough though. By the time he realized this, he screamed in agony as he coughed blood. He fell to his knees, holding himself up with one of his arms, while using the other one to cover up the wound that was just inflicted on him. When he looked behind him, he gritted his teeth as he saw Zani smirking.

"I told you. Besides, you think you have it rough? You've never lived my life Ishy." Zani replied, turning into a stern face.

"My names Ishida!" Ishida yelled, knowing she mispronounced his name on purpose.

"Naa, Ishy sounds so much more cuter, don't you think?" She replied, putting her hands together and gawking at the sun. She looked back down at Ishida, still seeing blood drip from his wounds, then looked back at the small knife-like sword she was carrying, poking the end tip with her finger. "You know, most boys I wouldn't hesitate to kill. But your such so much fun to be around, so I think I'll just hang around here for awhile." Zani replied, grinning. As she looked ahead down the street, she saw Renji, Orihime, and Chad rushing towards them. She looked back down at Ishida, chuckling a bit. "And with that, I bid you ado." With that, Zani disppeared. As Ishida looked at the disappearing girl, he looked forward, seeing his friends that have just gotten to him.

"Ishida! Are you ok?" Orihime asked, a little worried. Ishida stared at them for a few seconds. It wasn't that he was mad that they didn't get there, it's just that he was mad at himself for the fact that he fell for the stupid girls trick. Ishida breathed heavily as he tried getting up, but the minute he made it to one of his feet, he began to collapse again. Luckily, Chad and Renji caught him before he fell, helping him stand.

"Just hold still, I'll heal..." Orihime started, before Ishida put his hand on her shoulder as he began to walk.

"Thanks but no thanks...This is my punishment..." Ishida said, as he slowly limped away. Renji stuck his arms out in front of him, blocking the way.

"Are you crazy? You just lost a battle, it doesn't mean you shouldn't heal and prepare for the next one, right?" Renji said. He looked a bit startled though as Ishida glared at him with anger.

"Get out of my way Renji!" He shouted. Normally Renji wouldn't let something like this go away, but with Ishida's anger, he could tell there was something more to it, that something else was bothering him that was really important. He didn't protest as he simply moved out of the way as Ishida limped passed him. As he walked, the others could see the blood on his back increasing, as a red stain on his white clothing got a bit bigger.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Orihime asked, concerned. Renji just shook his head.

"No, something is wrong here and it's between him and that girl." Renji said. Orihime looked back concerned, as she watched Ishida walking away.

Ishida was filled with rage for a number of reasons. The first thing that angered him so much was that she brought back painful memories, not even respecting his race. The second that angered him so much was that he lost the battle. But on top of it, he was angered at why he lost, seeing how he fell for Zani's plan so easily. All she had to do was make him angry, and cloud his judgement and observation. Because of that, he couldn't focus on knowing whether or not there were illusions he was looking at. It was his own anger that made him lose the battle, all because of his Quincy past.

Meanwhile, on the building above him, Zani smirked as she saw Ishida limping away. She couldn't tell what the others had said to him, but she was capable of hearing Ishida's shouting. She looked behind her though as she saw Rick looking down at her.

"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed.

"You were suppose to kill him, why didn't you?" He asked.

"Hmph." Was all Zani replied as she started to walk past him, walking away. She was stopped though as Rick grabbed her arm, twisting it and forcing her on her knees. "Ow!" She yelled. "Let go of me!"

"Shut up!" Rick yelled. He tore the shoulder piece of Zani's shoulder, revealing some strange purple butterfly tatoo. "Did you forget what this symbolizes? This is the very mark Myatsu put on us to begin with! With a simple blink of an eye, he can make this thing kill us too!" Rick shouted. Zani looked at him with a bit of sad eyes, remembering how she ended up in this mess to begin with. If Myatsu hadn't attacked the four of them and place the curse on them, she would never accept to anything like this. Normally, she would just to stay alive, but the problem with her is that she and the Quincy have something in common, and she's the only one who knows. She quickly tugged her arm away, and covered the mark with her hand, not wanting to see the reminder of the problem.

"I know. I promise I'll get it done..." Zani said with a bit of sadness as the both of them disappeared.

Meanwhile, Ishida continued to walk, still doing what he could to stop the bleeding coming out of his chest. He stopped though as he thought he heard something, looking up as he did. Strangely to him, all he could see was a piece of cloth falling down from the sky. He opened his hand as the cloth dangled down into his palm, laying across his hand as he did. It took him a few moments before he realized it was the same cloth that belonged to Zani. He squeezed it tightly as he grunted to himself, angry with the fact it was because of him he lost the fight...

Countdown To The End Of The World: 5 Days, 13 Hours, 32 Minutes 47 Seconds...

Back at the spirit world, Ichigo, Rukia, Nel, and Geddon had finally awoken. It had been a long day for them, and most of them were still in somewhat shock from any close death experience they had the night before. Rukia and Geddon were still in question, wondering if they were truely going to die had Ichigo not shown up. After getting breakfast, provided by the old man from the other day, they sat at the table again, ready to discuss the next plan.

"So what are we going to do now?" Rukia said, using both her hands to keep her head up on the table. She shift glances back to Ichigo and Geddon, wanting an answer from either one. Nel was on Ichigo's back as usual.

"We're not going to kill Gedden, are we?" Nel asked a bit concerningly. Ichigo gave her a slight smile as he looked back.

"Don't worry Nel. I told you before, Geddon isn't going to die." Ichigo said. Nel smiled a bit as she shook her head, knowing that he will promise to keep it.

"Even if that is the case, you know just as well as I do we're going to have a problem." Geddon mentioned, catching a bit of Ichigo's attention. "My brother will stop at nothing to kill Nel, and you know it." Ichigo shifted his eyes back at Nel, feeling her grip tighten a bit. He could obvious tell she was scared of the situation, and given the situation, he wasn't surprised.

"Well there's got to be something we can d..." Ichigo started. He stopped though as he looked like he was in thought, turning his head to the side. Rukia blinked confusingly, wondering why he stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Rukia asked.

"Hey Geddon, remember when we first met, after that hollow attack? Something about a week, days, hours?" Ichigo said. Geddon turned to the side a bit nervous.

"It's...It's how much time we have left." Geddon replied.

"How much time? Time before what?" Ichigo asked, a bit more seriously.

"It's a time before the end of everything." Geddon replied. Rukia's and Ichigo's eyes widened at this.

"T-That's impossible! How can it be the end of the world? More importantly, how do you know?" Rukia yelled, worriedly.

"Because it happened before. Life just continues to repeat itself as always." Ichigo and Rukia grew even more shocked.

"Before? If it's been the end of everything, how can you tell or remember?"

"Because...I've retained my memories from before. I've met you all already before, every single time...well...almost all of you." Geddon said, looking at Nel. Ichigo looked at Nel a little curiously before looking back at Geddon.

"Wait, you mean we all...died before?"

"All except for..." Geddon started, before looking back at Nel. The more Geddon stared at her, the tighter Nel's grip got as she squeezed Ichigo's kimono. "I think that's why my brother wants to kill her. Something changed in history that caused Nel to live, and he thinks the only way to restore it is to get rid of whatever it was that changed." Rukia looked to the side as if she was in thought. She thought to herself how Nel's existance could change history, and what is it that changed.

"But how could Nel's existance change anything? Didn't anything happen the last few times you repeated this?"

"Well..." Geddon started, rubbing her chin. "The second time Ichigo died trying to stop it, it happened in a large city. The third time it was in a dark opened area. Ichigo couldn't see anything around, and that's what ended in his demise." Nel's eyes widened at what she just heard. The sound of the death in the city reminded her of Ichigo's death in her nightmares.

"Itzy..." Nel said sheepishly, whispering into Ichigo's ear. Ichigo shifted his gaze to Nel, hearing how scared she was feeling.

"Then we split up." Rukia said, catching everyone's attention. "Nel, your sticking with Ichigo. If Myatsu get's his hands on you, then everyone loses. You two will stay in the soul society for as long as possible, until the time passes."

"What about you Wukia?" Nel asked.

"Geddon and I are going to head back to the human world. I want to investigate the different areas around each place Ichigo's battled before. If there is some link in the areas that show us what happened and how, we might be able to use it to not only stop Ichigo's death, but to save the world as well." Rukia said, sounding confident.

"Well what are we suppose to do during the time?" Ichigo asked, bothered with the fact he didn't have anything to do.

"For now, just look around and stuff. I'll contact you as soon as we got anything we can use to our advantage. I'm having Ukitake talk to some of the other captains. I'm sure they'll keep an eye on things around here and on Byakuya." Rukia replied. Geddon sighed as she stood up.

"I guess this is goodbye for now." Geddon said, as Rukia started to stand too.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other soon." Ichigo replied.

"By Nel." Geddon said, waving goodbye.

"Bye." Nel replied, waving happily. As soon as the two left, Ichigo sighed, seeing how he was going to be here for awhile.

"So...what do you want to do?"