AN: Holy shi- another update OMIGOD! And just the next day after chapter 6! This one took even less time... daym... Anyway - here's an another chapter of the story - the lucky number 7 too. :)
For all you wondering - yes, this is gonna be grand and I bet of you are gonna be like "Yaay!" while others are gonna be "Nooo!", but there's nothing I can do. Everything is going according to Aizen's plan - I can do nothing about it. This fic is part of Aizen's plan and all the story is part of Aizen's plan... and me updating so fast is part of Aizen's plan... well you get it. XD
Chapter 7 is - 30 Seconds to Mars, Edge of the Earth.
Chapter 7
"Resurrection/Dancing on the Graves"
Aizen was very pleased with the latest events. He had decided not to trouble Hitsugaya Toshiro much and made his subordinates skip the most gruesome part of the interrogation. The man was not the one to shun away from a torture if need be, but in this case the procedure would make Toshiro only angrier and more detached than he already was and would doubtfully yield any results that Aizen aimed for. That is why he decided to show him the recording before they advanced to the 2nd level of physical and mental interrogation. Oh but there were also a few more levels – up to level 5, but if they reached it Toshiro would better off dead… or just used for Szayel's experiments, instead of interrogation.
But it never came to that. And now Toshiro was part of his forces… but Aizen did not trust him in the slightest, of course he knew what were the boy's real reasons to join his army. Revenge was the reason. It was a good chance to take their forces out from the inside and with Souske's own help the boy would grow greatly – both mentally and in terms of power. Aizen was no fool – he also assumed that Toshiro had gathered enough information to start thinking that the traitor had someone working on the "inside" of Soul Society. It was the truth – Aizen still had a few men there. The man always had a plan C.
Aizen Souske smirked. He was sitting on his new throne in his new fortress – "Imperio Las Noches", which had been built in a mere two years since he was taken captive. The fortress itself was twice, if not three times bigger than Las Noches, and if the previous palace could be called gargantuan – the new one was cyclopean in its size and marvel. There was no end to the halls and corridors, the vast open spaces, the gardens and a small forest which was a smaller copy of the Menos Forest. There were also many-many other "structures" inside this great palace.
Right now, however, Aizen had been spending his time in the Imperio throne room. His new seat was taller than his previous one and was a lot more elegant, rather than being a big stone slab, which basically was the first one. This one was also more comfortable than the last one, and it was not as high.
Right now the man was resting his head on his right arm, supporting his chin with his knuckles. His gaze was fixed on the doors and a smile lingered on his face. One would even say he looked like a devil which knew he would have a new soul at his disposal in a few minutes – and he was indeed very pleased. The only thing to darken the mood was that no one stood beside him. He missed a certain wide grin and its owner's sadistic and witty remarks about each and every thing. Truly… Gin was the only one who could guess what was on Aizen's mind and he alone could read the brown-haired Shinigami's face. He really did miss him, even after the man had betrayed him.
Aizen watched as the doors opened, a group of people – all wearing white clothes entering. He watched closely – their expressions stern and serious, their pace steady, and their reatsu showed no signs of being relaxed. Good.
The group of people stopped near the throne, below, and all of them bowed – all except one particular male with white hair. Aizen's eyes flickered with interest as he looked over his new subordinate. The boy was dressed in a parody of his old clothing, with the only difference of not having a haori, replaced by a similar coat, and all of his clothes being inverted in color – mostly white, as all of the Arrancar uniforms. The boy's turquoise eyes were full of anger and loathing for his new superior. Good – the boy decided to play it fair and not show any kind of sympathy for Aizen, and the rogue Shinigami actually preferred it this way. Aizen looked at each and every one as they rose to their feet.
Szayel Aporro Granz wore his new usual uniform, which was a lot like Aizen's, but more slender and curvy, the man cast a displeased glance at Hitsugaya after he rose to his feet. Rudbornn Chelute joined his hands together behind his back after standing up, nothing was different about him. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez also wore his preferred uniform, the arrancar's expression showed his nervousness and readiness to snap at anything, which he pathetically tried to hide. Lilynette Gingerback was the same as yesterday; she wore the same half-angry half-apathetic expression on her face and tried to hide her anxiousness… Aizen could still see through all of them. Next were the ones not present yesterday. Tesla Lindocruz – the ex-Fraccion of the 5th Espada, he was looking below Aizen's face, silently awaiting him to speak, not minding anyone else. Next to him stood Loly Aivirrne – the one unimportant arrancar girl who survived the assault on Hueco Mundo, while her comrade Menoly was dead, the girl dared not look at Aizen and instead cast a glance at Toshiro, looking like she wanted to rip him apart.
There were no other Arrancar present here, although many awaited the meeting to end, walking the halls of Imperio Las Noches. Aizen spoke, his calm, sweet and sure voice spreading across the whole throne chamber.
Aizen: "Ah, my subordinates are finally here. I am very pleased that you came so quickly, for there is the most important matters to discuss and things to do, which cannot be put away any longer." – the man made a pause, letting the others understand his words. – "As I mentioned yesterday – today is the day when we create a new elite of my Arrancar Army, today we resurrect the Espada! You and I." – the man rose from his seat and descended down the stairs, positioning himself in front of everyone, their eyes locked on him. – "But before we do that, I would like to tell one important thing to the newest of my subordinates."
Toshiro tensed up a bit, which the god of Hueco Mundo could see. Souske showed a warm, supportive smile as he gestured the Captain to come out in front, which the latter did.
Aizen: "I welcomed you as my subordinate already, Hitsugaya Toshiro, but as you understand – I do not trust you in the slightest, so I had taken a few precautions before you were interrogated. You see – while you were asleep after Szayel Aporro Granz poisoned you, you were injected with a very special device, which is now at the base of your Saketsu." – the man lightly touched Toshiro's chest, just in the middle and continued speaking. – "I could not afford to employ you in my ranks if I wasn't sure that you would not betray me. If that happens – I will execute you on the spot. With a simple click of a remote control that both I and Szayel have your Saketsu sealed and your chest will shatter, effectively killing you in the process. It will be very painful." – the man took great pleasure seeing that Toshiro grew pale and his pupils became smaller as he felt fear. – "Also, do not try to remove it forcefully or it will automatically activate and we don't want that, do we?"
Toshiro(gulping): "Is… is there something else I should know?" – the boy tried to make his voice as steady as he could. Good thinking – if he showed a weakness in front of the Espada he'd die in a matter of weeks.
Aizen: "Yes. You should also know that this device acts like a beacon and I will always know exactly where you are. That's all there is to it. I am quite sure, however, that you will not let my expectations of you crumble – you are a strong and able man, as well as intelligent. But I digress… let us move on to more important matters." – the brown-haired man stepped away and clicked his fingers.
Just as before a few Numeros entered, carrying a strange pillar-like device about Toshiro's size, which was placed in the center of the hall, where the Arrancar stood just now. Everyone but Szayel looked interested, while the scientist showed one of the widest grins possible. The pain-haired man proceeded to walk up to the device and turn a few valves and press some buttons, until he turned around, facing Aizen, and nodded with the same very grin.
Aizen smirked again and stepped closer to the device, facing his men.
Aizen: "I shall now tell you a part of my plan and will grace you with a miracle that I had created. None of this would be possible without Mr. Granz however." – the man turned at the scientist and the latter bowed lower than usual, still smiling. Souske turned back towards the others and continued, slowly raising one of his hands. – "I had created something to replace the Hogyoku while it was still in my possession – an artifact powerful enough to influence time and space, life and death – Shinigami and Arrancar. Behold."
Aizen Souske pulled out a small sphere out of the pocket of his coat, showing it to everyone. It was an ideantical copy of the Hogyoku. He observed the shocked expressions of his subordinates. What he did not tell them, however, was that he had created this thing back when the Las Noches was intact, almost three years ago. After he had kidnapped Inoue Orihime he found out her powers were essentially similar to the sphere in a way and decided to create a weaker replica of the sphere, just in case. However as it was completed it turned out to have different abilities – it had been weaker than the original, but it possessed some different powers, and in order to hide it Souske created a unique gigai of himself and placed it in the Human World, protected by a barrier to lay there in case he would need it. And the time had come.
Of course – the only one who knew almost all of it was Szayel, the only man who could comprehend Aizen's plan and who would be able to create this thing. Funny, that even though Szayel was just number 8 – he was privileged to more information than most.
But Aizen let his thoughts digress far enough. The man slowly placed the sphere on the holder in the center of the device and nodded at Szayel, standing back himself, letting the scientist to continue with the most important part. The former Octava started speaking.
Szayel: "This replica of the Hogyoku is a powerful tool which has numerous abilities. It's most basic one is Hollowfication, which the original showed to have as well. Among the other abilities are: time and space control - similar to the abilities of Inoue Orihime, who previously stayed with us; perfect regeneration abilities – those even higher than High-Speed Regeneration; spirit body creation – the sphere can actually create and replicate spirit particles, which further increases the regeneration abilities… basically you can call it Resurrection!" – the man almost drooled as he spoke, excitement evident on his face. Then he closed his mouth and assumed a more serious image, adding. – "The replica can recreate or clone any kind of spiritual bodies; hence it is possible to revive a person… simply by using a single arm or leg. It also enables cloning processes, but they are unstable and flawed at the present time. Watch please… as I show you an example of science in perfection!"
Szayel raised his hand, almost screaming and then lowered them. He clicked his fingers and a single Numero walked in, he handed a wrapped up bundle to his master and left. Szayel smirked and unwrapped the item. It was a thin white hand, which seemed to be chopped off just below the shoulder. Next he put the severed limb on top of the pillar, above the Hogyoku replica and pushed a few buttons. The next very moment, as the scientist stepped back a beam of greenish light erupted from the device, blinding everyone for a short moment. The pillar continued to be illuminated by the green light and everyone present could see something forming in the air above the pillar. They could see as the arm rose and floated in mid-air, and then suddenly something began to grow out of it very quickly, taking a shape of a man – it was not gross in any way and what everyone saw was perfection indeed. Mere 30 seconds had passed and the light faded, a human shape fell to its knees before the pillar. The human was completely naked, his skin was pale and a perfect round hole could be seen right in the middle of his chest, a piece of a helmet was on one side of his head.
The skinny man raised his head. His emerald eyes looked over everyone present, from each eye a green tear-like trail went down to his chin. He spoke.
Ulquiorra: "Ulquiorra Cifer. Quatro Espada." – his voice was monotone and cold, his head turned towards Aizen. – "Aizen…sama… what happened?" – these were such simple words, yet the arrancar never actually used them this way before. Aizen showed a gentle smile.
Aizen: "Greetings Ulquiorra, you have awakened at last. I should inform you that you were dead, defeated by Kurosaki Ichigo when the two of you fought in Las Noches."
Ulquiorra: "I… remember the fight. I was gaining and upper hand… I killed him, made a hole in the boy's chest. And then he rose up, transformed… he looked like a Hollow and one of Vasto Lorde level… he… we fought and I remember him cutting my arm off - then nothing." – Uquiorra had forgotten, and basically had not seen what his original had done after this hand was cut off. Ulquiorra never understood what a heart is… not this Ulquiorra at least.
Szayel: "Miracle… perfection! Using a single arm I was able to revive him completely." – the pink-haired Espada was ecstatic. – "You see Ulquiorra – your hand had no ability to imprint information after it has been cut off, so you cannot remember anything after that – you simply did not experience anything after that." – he scientist explained. – "But enough of that. Let us proceed."
Szayel called in more servants who brought clothes for the revived Quatra and while the latter dressed, without having no qualms of putting on his clothes in front of everyone, no one really watched him – everyone turned their attention towards the device that revived the man. Szayel summoned more servants who had brought in an operational bed on wheels. Once it was positioned near the device Granz cleared his throat and spoke again.
Szayel: "This shall be the second and last miracle for today." – the man grabbed the sheets which covered a dead body, throwing them off with a single hand movement. Under the sheets lay the body of a Shinigami – Ichimaru Gin. Toshiro's eyes showed the most shock as the boy spoke loudly, almost breaking into a scream.
Toshiro: "But how is that possible? I saw Ichimaru's body cremated with my own eyes in Seiretei! Matsumoto asked me to personally arrange his funeral!" – the boy could not believe his eyes.
Aizen(smirking): "What you burned was not the body of Ichimaru Gin – his real body is here, before you."
Still full of disbelief everyone stared at Gin's corpse and Aizen. Only one single arrancar stepped forwards, grabbing Szayel by the collar.
Lilynette: "What the fuck Szayel? Why the fuck do you resurrect this piece of shit and not Starrk? Why is he gonna live while I-he had to disappear, huh? Give me a fucking answer!" – the girl screamed into the scientist's face and everyone could see that she could hardly hold back not to punch him, or worse.
Finally the pink-haired Espada freed himself and fixed his glasses with his fingers.
Szayel: "I'm sorry – but there's nothing I can do here. Starrk's body disappeared right after he died, and there isn't a trace of him left." – the scientist glared at the green-haired girl. In his theory Starrk's body dissolved and all his reiatsu had merged with the girl, transforming her, both physically and mentally. She seemed to contain both Starrk's and her own personalities in her now, with a change of course, since she had experienced great trauma after her own death, so to speak, since her and Coyote were one and the same. Meanwhile Szayel continued. – "If I had at least a single limb I could do something, but otherwise it's impossible. Even the Nuevo Hogyoku cannot do this."
Lilynette clenched her teeth and stepped back, casting a glance filled with anger at both Szayel and Aizen, then turned around, quickly walking towards the door after pushing both Tesla and Loly out of her way. Aizen frowned.
I can't let her walk out like this. If I did my authority would be greatly underminded and the others present would see me as a weak leader, incapable of controlling even a single subordinate. No weaknesses must be shown.
Suddenly Aizen's reaitsu pressure boomed through the throne room, pinning everyone in place. The man's reaitsu was not horrible or terrible – it was monstrous and no one present could stand straight now. Loly, Rudbornn and Tesla fell on their knees, while everyone else simply bent their legs, but otherwise tried to look unphased. Lilynette also froze in her tracks, having halfway made it to the door which led out of the hall. She turned around, looking at her master.
Aizen: "I am sorry, but I can't have someone important absent. You will stay here, won't you?" – the man smiled politely, but under his sweet voice and nice face was a threat that promised death and nothing less should his request and essentially an order be declined.
Slowly Lilynette returned, after Aizen stopped using his spiritual pressure. She looked distant now, as if she didn't care anymore – and maybe she really did not care now, since her brother and other self was not being resurrected.
Aizen nodded at Szayel and the arrancar resumed his operation.
The same procedure followed, but this time the reiatsu beam was white instead of green as with Ulquiorra. After everything stopped the man – Ichimaru Gin slowly opened his eyes, which was unusual in any other situation but this one. He looked around, usingone arm to slightly lift himself from the bed. His eyes slowly closed into slits and his mouth curved into a horrifying grin, even more so than what he had before. His voice sounded hollow and dead in the silent hall.
Gin: "Yer a scary man Captn' Aizen, didja know that?"
Aizen actually laughed a bit and replied.
Aizen: "Yes – I am indeed Gin, I am indeed." – he looked at Szayel and the pink-haired arrancar spoke next.
Szayel: "I should tell you, Ichimaru-san, that while you were dead I implanted a complex device into you – one which will allow us to sleep safely at night. It is a behavior-alteration chip, which will make it impossible for you to betray Aizen-sama or go against his orders. If you do – a strong headache is imminent. Also – try to somehow remove it and you will die." – Szayel grinned and Gin grinned back at him, making the scientis shiver a bit.
Gin: "I didn't expect anythin' different from ya two… Aizen-taicho, Szayel-kun." – Szayel could swear he felt his heart being pierced by the newly revived Ex-Captain.
In the meantime Toshiro observed all of this. All his worst expectations had been met and he did not know if this was a dream or hell into which he had fallen. All this was too bizarre to grasp at the moment and he felt like he was suffocating, drowning, poisoned and what-not. Today had possibly been the worst day in his entire life, aside the one when he almost killed Momo. The boy shivered and glanced at Souske, their eyes meeting. He understood that the man noticed him shover and cursed in his mind. He could clearly see Aizen was satisfied.
As everyone present were ready, including the dressed up Ulquiorra and Gin, who already had his uniform on, Aizen raised his hand after ascending on his throne. Everyone went silent as his voice once again covered the entire hall.
Aizen: "Now I shall create a new Espada. And all of you had been picked as the first candidates – you who had survived so much and who deserve to stand with me in heavens. I have knowledge of all your abilities and carefully picked each position. As I speak you name and number you shall also be further enhanced by the Nuevo Hogyoku." – he began giving them their ranks. Szayel would apply the tattoos later.
Ulquiorra Cifer – Primera Espada(1st)
Lilynette Gingerback – Segunda Espada(2nd)
Szayel Aporro Granz – Tercera Espada(3rd)
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez – Quatro Espada(4th)
Rudbornn Chelute – Quinto Espada(5th)
Tesla Lindocruz – Sexta Espada(6th)
Loly Aivirrne – Septima Espada(7th)
After announcing the numbers and touching the Hogyoku everyone returned back to their places with only Gin and Toshiro remain where they stood. The brown-haired man smiled at them and spoke.
Aizen: "You are not part of the Espada, however you shall go through the same procedure as the others. Touch the sphere and let its power course through you, empowering you with greater strength." – the two Shinigami did so and stepped back, Toshiro was a bit surprised and looked confused though, as if something went wrong. – "Is there something wrong, Shiro-kun?"
Toshiro: "I don't know. I definitely felt something, but it was too faint and… strange." – he raised his head, looking straight at his new superior.
Aizen: "Do not worry – everything is as it should be. Now after all is said and done for today – you are all dismissed. And Gin, Toshiro – while all the others are my Espada, you two shall be known as Escudo." – he waved his head, dismissing everyone. The group walked out, most of them following Szayel to his lab to get their tattoos. Aizen noticed that Gin and Toshiro headed together in another direction. The man smirked.
Now Ichimaru Gin would actually be loyal until the very end. Grand things were going to happen soon.
AN: So that's how it is. Sorry for Starrk, but there's no way around it. Sorry Starrk fans T_T. And I kinda made them both into just Lilynette, who has changed a bit. Expect an update soon... and READ AND REVIEW! *rawr*