Title: An Unending Abyss of Gears.

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Out of all of my stories, this story is ranking roughly 2nd or 3rd place in popularity. Yay! And if I keep this up, it will soon be a definite second!

Ever since that subbed version of the second trailer for DiamondDust Rebellion has been put on Youtube, I've watched it at least two dozen times. And I've already fallen in love with the theme song. And started talking along with Yamamoto when he goes, "Hitsugaya Toushirou must be executed," or whatever he says there. And Hitsu has the coolest line. "This is my problem, I will solve it alone, so don't bother me. Die." Well, it looks like we'll get to find out who would get their asses kicked if Hitsugaya and Ichigo went up against each other.

I went on the website even though I don't know a shred of Japanese. Lil' Shiro is so cute! I now have a cropped screenshot of Hitsu in the rogue shinigami cape with Hyorinmaru and his ripped sash in his hand as my background. Both of my computers have now become Hitsugaya shrines. And my new image is made of screenshots from the website. Yes, I know it looks like crap, but I'd like to see you do better in Microsoft Paint, then convert it to a JPEG using Windows Imaging.

Please wait while I babble about what I think will happen because no one in my family cares. This A/N is going to end up being an entire page.

So it looks like the old friend that is long dead is also the bad guy. How, you ask? Well, the bad guy does have some sort of Hollow mask, so everybody could think he's dead, but he actually turned into an evil Vizard and went and hid in the mountains to plot his revenge. He seems to have some sort of fire zanpukto, which makes me think that the 'other Hyorinmaru' is actually a fire version of Hyorinmaru, wielded by bad guy/old friend/dead dude. And there's one part where it shows him and this other shinigami meeting and there's his zanpukto sheath sticking (quite ridiculously) out of his rogue shinigami cloak. So there goes the 'the sash is there so his sword doesn't drag on the ground' theory. And that shinigami looks like the fukutaichou of Fourth Division. And then there's this one blue-haired girl fighting Matsumoto and appears to have a zanpukto like Gin's. Oh, and there's this one cool screenshot where Hitsu's looking all emo with a fiery background and it rocks. And the other Hyorinmaru being the bad guy's fire-ness would make sense because he was both a friend and a rival to Hitsugaya. Oh, and the bad guy has a nice shiny scar on the right side of his face.

I really hope they stick clips from the movie in the anime opening like they did for Memories of Nobody. I'm banking on that to keep me sane. Now all we have to do is wait a year for it to come out on this side of the Pacific and see if I'm right. Or we could just wait until Christmas and check Wikipedia. Then we can have a virtual party because I bet I am.

This A/N is 547 words long.

Wish: DIAMONDDUST REBELLION!!!!

Where the hell was Hitsugaya?

However it would be wrong to say that that was the foremost thing on Edward Elric's mind. The foremost thing on Edward Elric's mind was that bastard Arrancar in front of him. The thing wasn't even giving him time to release his zanpukto. Even to a prodigy like himself this was a particularly deadly combination.

Ed dodged left, then right as Shawlong Qufang attacked. There was a sharp pain in his side as he barely got away in time. He barely got away from several quick jabs and watched the arrancar, catching his breath. Realizing that he only had so long before the arrancar released his sword, he decided to go with all he had in one fell swoop. "Separate and join together, Fumito!"

The blade shortened and melded with his metal arm. Charging, Ed let out a battle cry. For a second there it looked as if Shawlong wasn't going to defend himself. But at the last second Shawlong raised his zanpukto to block it. Ed wasn't expecting this, and nearly jumped back from the sudden movement. It would have been better if he had though.

So focused was he on Shawlong he hadn't noticed a second arrancar sneak up from the side. Suddenly his world turned red as there was a terrific pain in his right shoulder. The second arrancar hissed in his ear. "Without that arm, you're as good as dead, aren't you?" There was the sound of ripping flesh and Ed watched in horror as his automail arm, socket and all, as well as some flesh, was thrown to the street below. And with it his zanpukto.

He gagged as Shawlong's zanpukto rushed through his stomach. Then it was removed, and he fell backwards into unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered was Shawlong turning to the second arrancar and mentioning something about finding the others.

Ed hurt all over. It felt as though a chimera made of an elephant, a rhinoceros, and a third even larger creature (brontosaurus?) had run over him, then backed up and done it again. Without even opening his eyes, he had a sincere feeling of déjà vu. When he slowly opened them though, he didn't immediately see why.

The room he was in seemed a cross between Rukongai and Earth. His vision was foggy, but he could make out a young girl with black pigtails leaning over him. "Hang in there. Help is coming."

The words reached his ears in a seemingly disjointed fashion. He had just enough time to register his lack of right arm before he was unconscious again.

Hitsugaya groaned, then opened his eyes to a haze of gold. Ah. Inoue Orihime was healing him. That was what was with the strange feeling.

Slowly the gold faded, and Hitsugaya waited as Inoue swathed his torso in bandages. Then he slowly sat up and moved out of the way while Matsumoto arrived and set down Kuchiki Rukia. The golden glow covered her and he stood, thinking something was off.

That was when he realized it. "Has anyone seen Elric?"

Everybody shook their heads, then looked around. Hawkeye wasn't there either.

"Shit." Hitsugaya quickly belted his uniform shut and slipped his arms through his captain's haori. Searching for reiatsu, he found Ed's, flickering, at Urahara's. He found Hawkeye's rushing the streets, fluctuating in panic. "He's at Urahara's. Matsumoto, go find Hawkeye and bring her there. I'll meet you there. The rest of you stay here."

He charged off, not even looking to see if Matsumoto was following his orders, because he knew she would.

It took scant minutes to reach Urahara's. He slid open the front door to see Urahara walking out of a back room. Urahara looked up. "Here for Midget Captain Number 2?"

"You could say that, but don't let him hear it."

"Or what's left of him…" Urahara trailed off. Then he held up the elbow down of Ed's automail. The rip was not clean at all, and even as Urahara held it up gears fell out. "He took quite a beating. The design on this really is quite impressive, I'll have to commend Kurotsuchi on it next time I see him."

Hitsugaya shifted uncomfortably. "Kurotsuchi didn't make that. Elric-taichou had that arm when he entered the Academy. We always assumed there was an extremely skilled mechanic somewhere in Rukongai, that was until he started asking Kurotsuchi to fix it when it broke."

Urahara waved the hand, more gears spilling out carelessly. "Well, that could be a problem. Because the arm didn't just break in half. It was ripped off- literally- socket and all. Nearly took his shoulder bone with it if the thing hadn't broken in three places. At least his leg didn't break."

Hitsugaya was momentarily stunned. "His leg?"

"Yes," came a voice from behind them. Hawkeye and Matsumoto strode into the room. Hawkeye continued to speak. "That boy hasn't had an easy first life."

Hitsugaya turned around. "What happened to him?"

Hawkeye looked sad. "Lots of things…"

"Which brings us to the present situation!" Urahara nearly shouted, waving the arm some more. More gears fell out, and one hit him on the head. "How many damn gears are there in this thing anyway?" He looked up it and started shaking it vigorously. He was quickly buried in a small mountain of gears.

"Anyway," Hitsugaya continued, turning to Hawkeye. "We appear to have a problem. Elric-taichou met one of the Arrancar and had his right arm ripped off."

"Can't he just go back to Soul Society and get Kurotsuchi to make him a new one?"

"No; the whole socket was ripped off."

"That's not good."

"No it isn't. Do you know where he got his first set?"

Hawkeye seemed unsure of what to say. "He got them before he went to Soul Society, but it is entirely likely that the person who made them, Winry Rockbell, has since died."

A hoarse voice came from the other room. "If she's died already then I'm a hollow. Hell, if Granny Pinako died before me I'm a hollow. Those women are frigging immortal."

They all rushed into the other room, well minus Urahara who was still buried in gears. Hawkeye knelt next to him. "Edward?"

Ed's eyes were closed and his face was scrunched up in pain. "Even if… even if she were dead, she couldn't help. The nerve endings… they're too short. Only a master would be able to craft a port… I wouldn't doubt her being one, but…" his voice faded away.

Hitsugaya snapped his fingers. "That's it! Matsumoto, go get Inoue!"

Comprehension dawned on Matsumoto. "On it, taichou!" She shunpoed out of the room and into the night.

Urahara wandered into the room, a gear falling out of his sleeve. "What did I miss?"

Hitsugaya gave him a glare for being so carefree and Hawkeye ignored him, eyes only for her wounded captain.