Okay, finished it. Waited to post the prologue until i was almost done with this one, that way i can have an actual chapter up to see how people like it. By the way, my questions from the prlogue still stand, i love hearing others' ideas to help me along. So, yeah, here's the first chapter. Since this is mainly my imagination, it's most likely going to be longer than Ice Dragon and Chaos. I have a tendency to drag things out into really long stories sometimes...i'll try not to. Last thing, i'll start posting these comments at the bottom so you can get right to the story! Enjoy!

It had been a long day.

Standing in the doorway to his office, Squad Ten Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya glared fiercely down at the four inhabitants that currently occupied it. His teal eyes were alight with cold fury and the temperature was quickly reaching freezing.

"A-ah, Captain. You see…" Renji Abarai tried to give an explanation but a quick glare silenced him. The red-head backed off into the corner.

But the Squad Six Lieutenant was not to blame; Toshiro understood that he'd simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No, it was the OTHER three he was furious with. Two of them were men, both passed out drunk on his office floor and half-naked. The other was his Lieutenant, face down on the floor and seemingly passed out as well.

"MATSUMOTO!" He shouted at the woman angrily.

The strawberry-blonde shot up in surprise, blue-gray eyes unfocused.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"I was taking a break Captain!" She replied cheerily, attempting to stand but only falling on her butt into the couch. "Kira and Hisagi came too!"

"I noticed." The small Captain growled. "And why are they here when you still have tons of paperwork to finish?"

"I don't have that much, it's almost all done." Rangiku complained.

She pointed to, or rather gestured in the general direction of, the small pile of finished paperwork and separate small pile of undone. Instead of seeming impressed and calming down, Toshiro stomped over to his desk.

"Mind explaining why there's an enormous stack hidden under my desk? In the spot you USUALLY hide sake?" He growled at her, pushing the said stack out for all to see.

Rangiku froze in her position, which was a strained smile with her finger still pointing towards her desk. Realizing she wasn't getting out of this one she promptly began to beg.

"Abarai, take Kira and Hisagi and get out." Toshiro snapped to the only other sober person in the room. "This is going to be ugly."

Renji sighed and did as he was told, dragging the two completely passed out Lieutenants behind him as he quickly left the area. The Squad Six Lieutenant had been attempting to find Hisagi and Kira to see what he'd missed during the Lieutenants meeting-he himself had been sick-only to find them with Rangiku and completely stoned.

As for Toshiro, he gave no mercy to his own Lieutenant and put her on office arrest. For good measure he took her sake. She wasn't happy, but he told her the minute all her paperwork was finished, and correct, she could have it back. She then complained that it was hard to do paperwork when the room was an arctic wasteland. Sighing, Toshiro defrosted his office and set her right to work, moving to his desk to work on his own.

Normally he was used to this, so while it always frustrated him he'd never gotten to the point of freezing the office before over it. Other times, yes, but not for something she did on almost a daily basis anyway. Rangiku seemed to have picked up on that and had started quickly on her work once it was defrosted.

But it had been a long day and his nerves were frayed. The very Lieutenant he'd sentenced to office arrest had also caused him stress early in the morning, when she had decided to run off to the World of the Living for a spontaneous shopping trip with Orihime. Of course, he had to go after her and almost literally drag her back to the Soul Society.

Right after that he'd bumped into Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who'd been bugging him since he'd returned from the world known as Gaia to examine Hyorinmaru. Both Soul Reaper and zanpaktou outright refused. That didn't stop the sadist from trying, and today he'd been especially hard pressing to the point of nearly binding the Ice Captain with Kido and forcefully taking away the Weapon spirit. He was saved from that by the timely arrival of Retsu Unohana, who quickly ushered the scientist back to his lab.

While he was grateful for Unohana's help, the fact that Mayuri was willing to resort to violence to get Hyorinmaru was unnerving. Retsu had promised to report to the Head Captain about Mayuri's behavior.

Then he went to visit Momo, who in the months he'd been on Gaia had gone through a full recovery through careful therapy with the aforementioned healer. She was happy to see him and had finally gotten over her obsession with Aizen, though she would still occasionally call him Captain…that always rubbed Toshiro the wrong way.

And now he had to deal with a drunken Lieutenant and with no doubt angry Squad Three and Nine Captains. The Visored Captains of those Squads weren't as apathetic to their Lieutenants' actions as their formers, but they were well liked. Even with their Hollow powers.

Sighing heavily, Toshiro pushed his thoughts of the day aside and returned to his work.

Ever since the Omega Incident his paperwork had gotten a little more numerous. He now had reports from both the Jenova War Heroes and Shin-Ra to keep him updated on any important events. There was one a month or two back that had concerned him enough to send three of his seated officers to assist; a Mako Reactor had exploded in the town of Nibelheim in the mountains and had caused havoc in the town. People were injured and the amount of Lifestream in the area was toxic to the humans. Aerith protected the Soul Reapers from it while they moved people out of town.

Those three officers were still there as the Mako and Lifestream levels continued to rise and fall unpredictably. This was all due to Omega's destruction, as the Lifestream it had been carrying to leave the planet had been suddenly thrust back into Gaia, causing it to become unstable.

As he worked his way slowly through the pile he read through a report from President Rufus Shin-Ra himself explaining that the levels were beginning to stabilize and he appreciated the help. His officers would be able to return soon enough.

Fortunately, for Toshiro at least, the rest of his day continued at this normal pace. He'd almost completed his pile and leaned back for a small break, rolling his wrist to get some of the tension out of it. Glancing over at his Lieutenant's desk, he wasn't surprised to see her asleep. At least she'd managed to do a fifth of the pile he'd fished from under his desk. It was a start.

It was then the chime sounded in his office and he turned to the window, expecting a Hell Butterfly with some kind of urgent report to make his day terrible again.

Instead he saw the ethereal butterfly with glowing aqua wings and a black smoke lining to give it a physical sort of form. Emerald energy trailed behind it as it fluttered its way towards him. Toshiro held his hand out for the strange bug that was obviously meant for him and it landed with a touch lighter than air. Even the Hell Butterflies weren't so…ghostlike.

"Captain Hitsugaya, it's Aerith. I thought a butterfly might best fit as a messenger for you, like the Hell Butterflies. I have a warning for you and the Soul Society." Toshiro frowned as Aerith's voice continued to echo in his mind. "I'm worried that the Nightmare Sephiroth has found the strength to regenerate again and has found a way to travel to your world. I don't know what it is he'll do or how he managed it, but I'm worried it may become just as bad as the event two years ago with the Remnants. I ask you watch out for him."

'Sephiroth, in the Soul Society?' Toshiro mused to himself as the butterfly evaporated into green light and died in the Spiritual Pressure of his world. It seemed the black lining was there not for a physical form but to make sure the butterfly made it to him without dying in the foreign world. 'She's right, that could spell trouble.'

After waking Rangiku and letting her know he was leaving, and that she should finish her work, Toshiro sped off to the Head Captain. This was now a matter for them all to discuss, as the Soul Society was possibly at risk. He didn't know what powers Sephiroth had, nor if they would work in a world of the dead, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The Squad One Lieutenant happened to be leaving just as Hitsugaya appeared before him with Flash Step.

"Captain Hitsugaya, what brings you here?" He questioned the small Captain, straightening his white robe as it had shifted in the wind Toshiro had created.

"I need to speak with Head Captain Yamamoto." Toshiro replied quickly.

The silver haired, amber eyed man nodded and opened the door for Toshiro to pass through. He could tell by the seriousness of Hitsugaya's expression that the information was important.

Moving quickly through the building and into the old man's office, Toshiro was glad to see the Head Captain still there. He was standing at his balcony looking out at the setting sun with a cup of tea in his hand. At the sound of the doors opening, the old man turned, saw Toshiro, and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Sir, we have a problem."