CHAPTER 11: A Trip For Three
XoXoXo
Szayel stood from his chair, his face clean of any emotion. "Lord Aizen," He pushed his glasses up, a nervous habit. "Kieli's power is different than other espadas,"
"I am well aware of that Szayel. What I want to know is why no one thought to let me know of her power." Aizen said raising an eyebrow. The pink haired Espada looked at the papers in his hands. "Please explain,"
Szayel took a deep breath, "In addition to the 'extra abilities' I told you about, Kieli also has two stages of release forms where as we only have the one. Normally she would go through her release forms and only reach the limit of our final release,"
Szayel looked around the room locking eyes with Stark, who was now only sporting a few black and blue splotches here and there. "But if she is pushed far enough she slips into another form, a stronger form. Her raw power takes control and will eventually destroy her body as well as anything near her. This power is stronger than even the top ten Espada, but is very uncontrollable. I had thought I had suppressed that side if her though."
"Why would you give such a power to an untrained Espada?" Ulquiorra asked.
"It was a side effect of the stabilizer in her DNA." The scientist replied. "Her body was the only one to reject the test. Nora and Yoh were able to become Espada with no problem so there was no need for the stabilizer."
"And how is Nora recovering?" Aizen asked walking over to the scientist. Szayel stiffened as Aizen got closer.
"She will be fine by tomorrow. She just needs sleep now,"
"Ah, that's nice to hear," Aizen flicked his wrist releasing a Pulse of force into Szayel's center. The Espada was thrown across the room smashing into the far wall and crumpling to the floor. "Is there anything else I should know about these three?"
Aizen looked around the room. "No? Good, you are now dismissed. And someone please get him out of my sight."
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"Kieli," Yoh gently shook his sister awake. Kieli slowly blinked her eyes and sat up. She had been sleeping in a chair she pulled up next to Nora's bed. "I got you some food." Yoh handed his sister a small package of cookies and a cup of water. Kieli took it without a word as Yoh sighed.
"Kieli, Szayel said all she needs is to sleep," Kieli nodded looking at her sleeping sister. "And you need sleep too."
"I did sleep. I'm fine." Kieli muttered. Yoh ran his hand through his hair.
"You slipped into stage two. You are not fine. And an hour of sleep in an uncomfortable chair doesn't count. Please?" Yoh pleaded. He knew Kieli didn't want to leave Nora's side, but he had already faced a threat of losing both his sisters. He just wanted to make sure they were ok. It was his job as the older brother.
Kieli sighed "Wake me in an hour." With that she walked out of Nora's room leaving Yoh alone.
"I'm sorry. I should have stopped Kieli from losing control. I should have deflected Stark's cero from hitting you." Yoh gave one last look at his sleeping sister before softly closing her door.
"It's neither of your faults," Nora whispered to the empty room.
XoXoXo Time Skip XoXoXo
Aizen sat in his chair, his head held high. To his left stood Stark, Harribel, Gin and Szayel. Silence filled the room as they waited. No one wanted to say anything and risk the wrath of Aizen, and Aizen had nothing more to say to them.
The white marble doors slowly creaked open as Kieli, Yoh and Nora walked in.
Aizen smiled at them. "Good morning. Nora how are you feeling?"
"I am doing better Lord Aizen, thank you for asking," Nora bowed her head.
"That's good to hear. Now if three of you will please put those on." Aizen pointed to the three gigais that lay on a table on the side of the room. The three teens did as they were asked, quickly and quietly slipping into the false bodies. Each gigai had a slight modification to it.
Yoh's new body was no longer clothed in stereotypical skater punk attire. Instead he simply wore a faded black 'Rise Against' shirt, dark denim jeans which were frayed at the ends and ripped at the knees. His shoes were heavy combat boots. His long black hair was now cut short and spiked up, no longer into a Mohawk, which Yoh was more than happy to be free of.
Nora ran her fingers through her now extremely short hair. She still had the same green shirt, the same blue jeans and the white ankle boots.
Kieli also still had on the same blue shirt on, the same skinny jeans paired with the same grey boots, and the blonde hair, but something felt...off. It was slightly uncomfortable, like wearing a corset two sizes too small. Kieli placed her hands on her stomach trying in vain to loosen the gigai even an inch.
"Is it supposed to be hard to breathe?" She gasped. Nora and Yoh looked confused. Their gigais fitted the same as always, why was hers any different?
"We thought it best to put a seal to repress your... extra release stage." Aizen answered as he inspected their new bodies. The Lord stood in front of the girl as she tried to get used to the snug feeling. "Mustn't let the soul reapers know who you really are now," He lifted up Kieli's shirt just enough to expose the new tattoo along her side. Kieli twisted for a better look.
The design curved from the front of her right hip to the right side of her lower back. From what she could see without the help of a mirror, it looked like a curving vine with blue roses scattered along all done in tribal design style.
"Neat." Kieli said to herself pulling her shirt back down.
"Shall we continue on our way?" Aizen smiled tightly as he motioned to the second set of doors along the side wall, which the teens could have sworn was not there before. Without waiting for an answer Aizen lead the way out.
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The conjoining room contained two tall white stone pillars but was otherwise empty. Standing next to one of the pillars was some random lowly Espada. His stood straight and still like the royal guard trying to please Aizen, who didn't even give the poor fool a second glance.
"You three shall walk through this and end up in America. Do you still have the plane tickets Harribel gave to you?" Yoh nodded holding up the envelope of paperwork.
"Yes sir. We are ready to go."
"Take these as well." Aizen smiled as Kaname held out three duffel bags. The teens took the bag with their name on it. "You will need it for the plane. Best not to look too out of place" he explained. The bags weren't that heavy. Yoh unzipped his slightly and found a few folded up clothes.
Aizen looked to the random Espada and motioned for him to open the gate. The Espada did as he was instructed. There was a shift in the air as a black oval hole ripped in-between the two stone structures. The teens winced and covered their ears from the sound that could be described as a record being scratched while still playing. The hole quickly grew reveling an empty void.
Swallowing her nerves and an uneasy feeling stepped through making sure her footholds were strong enough... The space wasn't cold like she imagined nor was it hot. There was no distinct Oder and the absence of sound left Nora's ears ringing. There was a subtle turbulence of reishi blowing about. Kieli walked in after her sister trying to take in space. She found it oddly comforting and peaceful. Like nothing bad could happen in the space itself even if a war was raging on the other side, or about to at any rate. Yoh was the last one through as the hole closed itself.
The three were not thrown into darkness like they had expected. A dull light illuminated their path from an undistinguished source. Yoh looked around as they walked forward.
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"How long do we have to walk? I don't see an end anywhere and I'm more than sure we aren't actually moving." Yoh complained after what felt like an hour but was most likely only a few minutes.
"Maybe it's a mental trick, making us thing we are here when we really aren't." Nora stated quickly growing tired of walking in the empty world.
"No, this is real. Just keep walking and we'll get there soon." Kieli said absently. Her thoughts kept dancing around the idea of what the human world was going to be like. Without a sound or any warning at all, the three were thrust into a harsh, bright light. The trio blinked multiple times trying to readjust their eyes to the new setting.
Once they could see again, the sight took their breath away. Huge oak trees dotted the lawn of plush green grass. A lake gently lapped at the rocky shore two feet in front of them. Nora smiled as she fell back onto the grass.
"It's so..." she paused fishing for the right words. "Colorful!" she giggled. Kieli sat next to her sister and inhaled deeply. Amongst the scent of pine, lake water and cut grass was something... Different. It was a thick, heavy, smokey smell. Kieli made a face like she had just eaten something sour.
The initial beauty of the human world faded quickly as the background noise soon came blaring to full volume. The horns of cars sliced the air and the chatter of people was almost defining. So much was buzzing around the human world it was enough to make one mad.
Back home nothing like this existed. It was always quiet with the exceptions of a fight breaking out or one of Szayel's experiments accidentally, sometimes purposely, blowing up. How could you live with all this noise?
"We should get going. We need to find the airport." Yoh said picking up his duffel bag. The girls sighed, standing up and slinging their bags over their shoulders.
"Do we even know where to go?" Kieli asked raising an eyebrow. Yoh held up the envelope and pulled out a map.
"You should really learn to look at what people give you. It might be important." He said walking away from the two girls.
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[A/N] I am so sorry for the delay in posting. A lot has happened in my life so it was kind of hard to post. I work for Disney so all holidays, breaks and even just weekends are crazy. And my boyfriend joined the marines and left for boot camp a month earlier than expected so I've spent most of my free time I had with him and not writing….sorry.
Anyway I hope you enjoy and I will see you in the next chapter, have a magical day!