A/N- Please leave a review telling me how I can improve, or any errors I made. I will try to write characters as in character as possible, but I might have to bend them a little for the sake of the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Warning: Aisuhime sucks at writing fight scenes. Consider yourself warned. ALSO, the timeline is totally messed up. Just try to ignore it if you can.

FYI: A lot of people were wondering last chapter about the two different Ichigos. The first one was an illusion by Aizen. More detail on that later.

Chapter 15 Pt. 1

The End of the Line, Unlikely help

She hesitated. "Do you guys ever hear a voice in your head?" she asked shyly.

They glanced at each other. "Okashii," they said at the same time.

She nodded.

Ulquiorra walked up beside her. "We're going to rescue you," he said. "We're getting you out of here."

Orihime blinked once, then again, her mind frozen. Her brain couldn't process the word rescue, not coming from them. She couldn't believe it. Luckily for her, she didn't have to.

Grimmjow walked right up to her, hauling her out of the bed and tossing he over his shoulder. Her mind started up again.

"G-g-Grimmjow! What're you doing?" she demanded shakily, blushing heavily.

"I figured as long as you were taking your sweet time sorting things out, we could make some headway on the 'saving you' thing," he snorted meanly. "Got a problem with that?"

She scowled indignantly.

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes. These two would never change.

"Let's go," he said simply. Grimmjow nodded.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

Ulquiorra replied," You'll understand soon enough. Do you trust us?"

She laughed ironically. "I shouldn't, seeing as how you guys are the enemy, but I honestly can't help but trust you guys. I have no idea why."

"Don't worry, we're trustworthy guys," Grimmjow answered," We just tend to lie for our own gain." They left the room, Orihime on Grimmjow's shoulder.

"That's not trustworthy," she pointed out.

"No, that's dishonest. Very different. If we say something like,' Abigail was a former Espada' we're probably lying. If we say we're going to save you, you can damn well trust us," Grimmjow corrected.

"So Abigail being an Espada was a lie!" Orihime exclaimed. "I knew it!"

"Of course it was," Ulquiorra inputted. "If we had told you the truth about Abigail right away, Aizen would have known about it when he read your mind."

Orihime froze. "When he… what?"

Ulquiorra answered," He can reach into your mind and pull out memories to use to fuel his illusions. In this case, the illusion was something unpleasant with your friends, correct?"

Orihime felt burning relief. "So Ichigo doesn't hate me?" Tears of joy and relief welled up in her large eyes.

Grimmjow sighed noisily. "Can we save the tears for the reunion?"

She wiped her eyes, a huge smile now set on her face. It never left her as they walked.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Later:

Ichigo had finally defeated Nnoitra. Of course, he owed his success to Nell, who was back in child form after overstraining herself during the fight. He still couldn't believe that the innocent little girl he had carried on his shoulder all this time had actually been the third Espada.

And he really couldn't believe she was actually a grown woman. He blushed a bit. That was the last thing he had expected.

He, once more, cursed his seeming inability to sense people's spirit energy. How on earth was he going rescue Orihime? Where the hell had the 'kind-hearted' Grimmjow gone? Wasn't he supposed to be helping? He sighed. Why had he been so stupid to take the enemy's word for gospel?

He sprinted down the halls again, yelling for Orihime. It wasn't the smartest move while in an enemy base, sure, but Ichigo had long since decided to stop opening every single gray door he passed. He'd grow old before he was halfway done.

"Orihime!" he yelled again.

Great. At this rate he'd rate he'd lose his voice in no time. This was so much harder than Soul Society. At least he'd been able to find out Rukia's location by threatening the enemy…

And what was stopping him now? God, he was such an idiot! Why not find out where Orihime is from one of the enemies?

A small, weak-looking arrancar was coming down the hall at this very second. Ichigo ducked behind a large white pillar, waiting. As soon as the arrancar had past him, Ichigo leapt at him and pinned him to the wall, holding him loosely by the throat. It wasn't even enough to cut of his breathing. The arrancar looked terrified anyway.

"Where is Orihime Inoue being kept?" he growled, trying to sound menacing.

The skinny boy arrancar looked menaced. "Her room is s-seventeen doors d-down from here," he stammered," on the l-left." His eyes squeezed shut, as if expecting to be killed now that he was no longer useful. Ichigo sighed in disgust at Aizen's way of rule.

He let the little guy go, even went so far as to pat him on the shoulder and say thank you. The boy looked absolutely confused.

He ran down the hall again counting out seventeen of the spaced doors. When he finally reached it and, considerate friend he was, burst through the door, he realized that Orihime wasn't here.

He slouched. Had the arrancar lied to him? No. Orihime had definitely been here at one point. Her spirit energy clung to the walls, and he scent, light and floral, hung in the air. But where was she now?

He shook himself. He had to keep looking. Standing around wondering wouldn't rescue his friend. He set off again.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Ulquiorra froze. He felt to spirit forces making their way toward Orihime, Grimmjow, and him. He distinguished them as Zommari and Barragan.

He cursed silently. Grimmjow could take Zommari, no problem. Ulquiorra had utmost faith in him. But Barragan ranked above himself, even if it was only one rank, and he couldn't afford to leave Orihime unguarded. He cursed again.

His eyes met Grimmjow's. "You have to get Abigail out of here."

Grimmjow looked confused at first, but soon he too sensed their enemies, and his eyes hardened. "No way! I'm not leaving you, you suicidal bastard!" Orihime slept blissfully on his shoulder.

"We need to get her out of here," he repeated.

Grimmjow snorted. "Why? There are two of them and two of us. Zommari is a weakling for frick's sake!"

Ulquiorra answered," We can risk her getting hurt while we're distracted."

Grimmjow looked conflicted. He glanced at the girl on his shoulder, then at his brother. He was torn between the two loyalties.

"Let's stash Abby behind a pillar or something. No one can hurt her if she's hidden, right?" Grimmjow said after a few moments of deliberation.

Ulquiorra shook his head. "If we lose, then Abigail is too vulnerable, and her friends may not find her in time. It's relying too heavily on the X-factor, which is whether or not we'll win."

"So what the hell do you want me to do?" Grimmjow demanded. "Leave you here to die? Hell no! We fight together, same as always."

"Yes, because that worked so great last time," Ulquiorra commented dryly.

"Abigail's death wasn't our fault," Grimmjow hissed.

"You're right," Ulquiorra agreed," it was mine. I am the reason she died."

"No, you aren't." Grimmjow argued, his bow furrowing angrily. "When are you going to accept that it wasn't your fault?"

"I almost killed her!" Ulquiorra hissed back, angrier than he remembered ever being before. He was angry at himself, at Aizen, at her friends for being so slow. He felt out of control. Try as he might, he couldn't seem to get a grip on himself.

"Well, you didn't!" he shot back.

"I would have if you hadn't stopped me."

"Congratulations. We spent this entire time arguing and now the Terror Twins are almost here. We need to make a decision!"

"We can help with that," a new voice said. Stark walked up, Halibel in tow. The latter glared at them.

"I'm not interested in fighting," Stark continued, leaning against the wall," but I could get the girl to her friends."

Halibel looked at the sleeping Orihime, a bit of genuine worry in her eyes.

Ulquiorra nodded in thanks, relief visible on his face. Grimmjow handed Orihime over to Stark, and the girl didn't even stir. This girl was an inhuman sleeper, that much hadn't changed.

"Halibel," Stark said softly, totally calm," while I'm moving, keep a constant perimeter around me. Let me know if anyone gets too close."

"I understand," she said simply.

They didn't get far before the Exequias caught up with them.

"This is bad," Stark said calmly as they surrounded them. "The Exequias are our level; they need to be to take care of renegade Espada."

Halibel nodded back. They stood motionless for a few moments before Stark asked softly," Would you care to do the honors of beginning it?"

She nodded again, and began her attack. She became a blur of movement, striking so quickly that her feet barely found purchase before they launched her off towards her next opponent.

Stark, holding Orihime firmly in one arm, lifted the other, a red glow gathering at his fingertip. He sonido-ed behind them and released the cero. About a fourth of them fell.

Ulquiorra wasn't having quite as good of luck. Barragan had well-earned the rank of third Espada and Ulquiorra couldn't stop for a second to release his sword. They clashes swords again.

"Wouldn't have thought you'd be the one to defect," Barragan laughed dryly. "You think you know a guy…"

Ulquiorra didn't dare answer, didn't dare avert his attention from staying alive. One mistake was all it took to end a life.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

A/N- Wow. This chapter is SOOO late. And it isn't even complete. is shot Anyway, part 2 will be up soon. Expect in to take a few days, though. So sorry!