Chapter 29: Healing and a Warning
Night trembled slightly and shyly licked his collar bone. Aizen let out a shaky breath as desire flooded his veins. He could feel her heart beating against his stomach. It was a very sensuous experience, even though he wasn't sure why. He stiffened slightly as she bit him, white hot lust prickled through him like electricity. He carefully closed his eyes as ecstasy riddled his extremities.
The only reason why he wasn't jumping her now was that somewhere deep inside of him, something knew that she was too fragile for that right now. Still, it was painful not giving into his body's demands and needs. Eventually she stopped feeding and gently closed his wounds. She trembled a bit before falling asleep, completely sated and warm.
Without looking up, Aizen said, "I was wondering when you were going to get here, Gin."
Gin smiled, "I got a bit tied up with my mate, I apologize. So…." He stepped a bit closer. "That's how you reiatsu feed?"
"Yes." Aizen said, gently cuddling his mate closer to him. He'd done the best he could, and now it was time to move her. "At any other time than this, I would have killed you and everyone else if they saw this."
"I understand, and I promise not to peek again. How is she, by the way?" Gin took his comrade's opinion seriously. Aizen never made idle threats, especially if it was about something he held dear to him.
"She'll be fine once we get her back to Las Noches." He carefully stood up, marveling that his mate was so light. She couldn't weigh much more than 120 lbs.
"And Gin…." He said, looking at his subordinate.
"Yes, Aizen-sama?" Gin crossed his arms over his chest, a habit of his left over from being a captain in the soul society.
"When we get back I want to talk to the visitors as well as the zeros and you and Kaname all together. There is much I would like to discuss." When Gin nodded, everyone disappeared to reappear outside of the shield. Aizen let it fall and dissipate as he and the others returned to Las Noches.
Max, Lisa, Ryu, and Jade lingered a bit, looking around the site for some clues as to what happened. Max found his friend's battered sword and sighed. He gently picked up the hilt and murmured to it, "Thank you and I'm sorry."
It briefly shimmered green to show that it understood before returning to red mixed with purple. All three waved to Nel and her friends before disappearing to return to the palace. Nel sniffled and silently wept, feeling bad about unknowingly hurting her friend. Peshe and Dondochakka consoled her a bit before they too sighed.
A few hours later, everyone had freshened up and changed into more casual clothing. Night was now in Aizen's room sleeping. He left her there shortly after the doctor had made the last examinations. Night was going to be fine. She just needed rest and mental rejuvenation, which would require even more frequent feedings. Aizen didn't mind that so much, he had plenty of reiatsu to spare.
He entered the meeting room, finding it amusing that each one of his most trusted were sitting next to their mates. How quickly we have become so used to their presences. He thought as he sat down at the end of the long table. Kaname followed him and took his seat on his left.
"Before we begin, I would like us to have tea. Does that suit everyone's tastes?" Aizen asked, falling back into his shrewd calculating mentality.
Everyone shrugged or nodded yes, so once everyone got what they wanted, Aizen began, "I called you all here because I need to discuss some important things with you. Visitors and mates of my most trusted, I have called you especially here so that you may understand some things about us and we in turn can understand some things about you."
Lisa, Ryu, and Max nodded, "Fair enough."
Jade also nodded, though she asked, "Before we do so, may we ask you one question?"
Aizen smiled, knowing exactly what she was going to ask. "She's doing fine. Lindor just finished with his last examination about thirty minutes ago and stated that she will recover perfectly well as long as she has plenty of rest and mental rejuvenation."
"Thank you." Jade smiled.
Max and Lisa exchanged a long look. They knew what was up and they weren't sure they liked it. But… Night was Aizen's mate, so why should he not keep her close to him? They sullenly kept quiet.
"All right… let us begin." Aizen said softly and sipped his tea. "One subject I would like to discuss openly is what exactly happened outside the palace, and how it can be avoided."
Lisa rolled her eyes, but answered, "She forced her sword to peel from her soul. It's that simple."
"It is SO not that simple, Lisa." Jade corrected. She turned to Aizen and modified, "All of us shifters have a particular bond with a weapon that is similar to what you all have with your zanpakuto. The only difference is that this bond goes even deeper."
"Go on." Kaname said.
"Well, think of it like this, our weapons are not just a sword that can bond with us… they are living, breathing, creatures that work only as weapons because they choose to. Kiss of Death, Night's sword is made up of a mixture of spirit energy and an organism known as the Fallen. The Fallen are rumored to be descendents of demons and angels from an apocalyptic period that happened several thousand years ago. Our weapons are made of either light Fallen or dark Fallen." Max replied.
"Dark or Light?" Ulquiorra questioned.
"Light and Dark means simply angel or demon. Night's sword is demon Fallen. She is made for several purposes but the main one she usually chooses to go with is killing. Since she is a demon Fallen, she can bond deeply with Night and become fused into her spiritual energy and physical appearance. Unfortunately if one or the other disagrees with one another… they rip apart."
"That's what happened earlier." Grimmjow nodded. "The sword didn't mind the thought of killing that idiot Nel, but Night disagreed."
"And the only way to diffuse the situation was to separate forcefully." Jade said sadly. "The only way to prevent this from happening again is for her to get control of her inner emotions. But, we fear that isn't everything."
"What do you mean?" Gin asked.
Lisa sighed softly and glanced at Max for clarification. Max slowly nodded. "I think they need to know now…. Since she is indisposed right now, I am in charge. We were trying to avoid telling you guys about this… but circumstances being what they are… is forcing us to reveal one thing that is not really my or anyone else's right to tell you… except for Night."
Lisa rubbed her face and said, "The energy source you've been wondering about isn't necessarily ours."
"What do you mean? I studied it a bit and found that it is deeply embedded in your psyche." Kaname admitted.
"It is… but it wasn't ours originally. Let me explain. Each one of us at birth has been fused not only with a weapon… but also with a Daringer." Lisa grumbled.
"Daringer?" Stark questioned.
"A Daringer is a demon that has evolved to the highest level of deadliness and evilness. These creatures are put inside our heads to keep us under control." Max said bitterly. "Oh, we can use it as a last resort in battle, but if one of us gets too weak mentally, the Daringer takes over and if we can't dominate it into submission, we become a Death Bringer, someone who isn't demon, nor human… a cross between the two. Death Bringers are pure evil and only care about death, destruction, and mayhem." He involuntarily shivered. "The whole objective of fusing us with these demons is to make sure we don't get weak… and we don't rise up against our government or our respected royalty."
Lisa sighed, "If we become a Death Bringer, we are doomed to a life of utter destruction and constant killing and fear…."
"So, in other words you become the hunted." Aizen summarized.
"Worse than that. We become everyone's worse nightmare and if we aren't hunted down and destroyed, we…." Jade bit her lip and took in deep breaths.
Gin gently rubbed her back soothingly. She gave him a small smile of thanks. "We don't just destroy and kill till we die… we torture everything living by tearing them apart and cannibalizing. And we don't stop. We mainly target the most pure and innocent. We rape, we feed, we torture, we destroy, and we devour any living thing."
"Damn." Grimmjow's hair was standing on end. That was one of the sickest things he'd ever heard. True, the Arrancars devoured other souls and lesser hollows, but not like that.
Everyone was a bit silent before Jade continued. "Night is from a strong family of shifters. They have all been recognized in battle and have been heavily regarded as one of the noblest families to be of the Cat Dragon shifters. Most of us were fused with our weapons and a small, child like Daringer when we were toddlers. Night didn't have that choice. Only two hours after she was born, she was not only bonded with Kiss of Death, she was also fused with a two thousand year old Daringer."
"Shit." Grimmjow whistled shrilly. No wonder his boss was tangled up with her. She was a walking talking time bomb.
"Do your Daringers have names?" Aizen asked, curious.
"Oh, good one, Aizen-sama!" Gin congratulated his boss.
"We only find out their names after we defeat them. It's sort of a test of wills." Max shrugged.
"Have any one of you defeated them?" Ulquiorra asked.
"I have." Lisa sighed. "Mine's name is Trinity. We take on the names of our defeated submissive Daringers to replace our last given names. It's been four years since I beat the shit out of it."
"What about Night? If her Daringer is so old and strong, how much longer can she control it?" Grimmjow asked the question everyone else was thinking about.
Jade rubbed her face, "We don't know. She doesn't tell us much about it, even when it's bothering her. She wants to keep us safe and not worried, but it makes us worry about her more. When she found out that King Aizen was her mate, she was so ecstatic and took off running after him, even before she even knew what he was."
Aizen chuckled softly, "I gathered that was what happened."
"Do mates have anything to do with helping getting the Daringer into submission?" Gin asked.
"Bingo." Ryu piped up softly. "Lisa was only able to defeat her Daringer because she was so in depth with battle and because her inner demon was a bit of a wuss."
*Ok bbs, going to have the next chapter up either tomorrow or Monday. Thank you again for your patience.*