And so we arrive at the last of this particular aspect of TDK! *sob* It's been such a lovely long haul with you all! *blows nose* Oh but don't worry, there ARE sequels, all written and ready for the posting. On schedule. There will be writing coming out of this end of the Rainbow Six for QUITE some time to come!
Chapter Warnings: Mpreg, character death, torture (non explicit), gore (VERY EXPLICIT), magic, some seemingly unrelated fluffley cuddles...okay whoever just gagged can join Mr. Faints-A-Lot in the corner!
Only Conquest remained shaken by the events of that morning, shivering lightly against Ichigo's side.
"Easy, Grimm. I trust him. None of this makes sense to me in my head, but," The King looked down at the feline head of blue hair in his lap, and shrugged, "you're always saying I should listen to my gut more."
"I trust 'im too. I jus' seen what he c'n do when he's like that," the feline murmured, and his tail fluffed at the tip. "An' ya should trust yer gut," he asserted with a little grin.
Ignoring the other two pairs getting all lovey to either side of him, Ichigo's mouth curled into a smirk he'd picked up from his twin, "Is that a hint, kitty boy?"
"Meeeeebbeeeee," Grimmjow drawled, slinking under the table, blue eyes glinting out at him above a floating baring of white, fanged teeth much like the legendary Cheshire cat.
"If you're doing that now, we aren't doing it where my brother and best friend can watch."
An orange eyebrow quirked, but though the words shimmered in the air, nothing about reality changed. Though that may have mostly been because Gin had Renji in a lip-lock that blocked the redhead's singular vision, and Ulquiorra's wings were wrapped around Shiro, hiding the mostly monochromatic duo from sight.
Grimmjow snickered. "Oh Ichi. A lil' magical blackout screen's easy enough ta make," he laughed with a scrape of his long black claws over the floor.
"Ok then, I'll be a little more obvious. I'm not having sex in the shop where I grew up. I love you, you're the sexiest thing I've ever seen, even with the new changes, and I love fooling around with you, but this," The orangette gestured to the room. "I was a kid here. I watched my sister throw her first punch here. Shiro threw up in that corner after eating so much of Uncle Kisuke's candy that he got a bellyache. So, no, Grimm, not here."
The feline poked his head out from under the table, long ears perked up and forward. "Sex? Whoever said anythin' bout that? Sex is fer after th' torture, Ichi. No, now I jus' wanna play. Tag er something."
At that, Ichigo smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "I've traded my boyfriend for a giant cat..." He muttered, chuckling.
"Tha' also means ya git a lil' kitty-cat tongue an' barbs," Grimm replied sweetly before disappearing back under the table.
A full-body shiver took hold of the orangette as he thought back to the things his Consort had done to him the night before. He bent down, ungracefully to look under the table. "That's cheating, you know!"
Grimmjow's tail waved. "Hardly. Jus' informin' ya of the new perks."
"Yeah, uh huh, and you have absolutely no ulterior motives." The words flew from his mouth and two seconds later, the King froze. "No! Wait! I mean...shit! Argh. This is so annoying. Just when I think I've got a handle on it."
The orangette scooted his hips so he could flop back on the cushion he'd been sitting on with his arm over his face. True to form, any previously sexual thought had abruptly vanished from Grimmjow's head, so he tried to be comforting as he leapt over to his mate and nuzzled at him.
"Aw, you'll get th' hang of it sooner 'r later, love."
"I can't be sarcastic." One amber eye peered up at the feline above him. "Do you know how irritating that is?"
Snickers from the other side of his arm brought the other honey-amber eye into view, as the King leveled his twin with a glare. The albino leered with the same smirk Ichigo had worn not five minutes before. "Guess I'll jus' hafta be th' sarcastic one from now on, ne King?"
"That's it!"
Ichigo dove for his twin, knocking the pale copy from Death's lap and rolling across the floor with him. They smacked into the wall, rattling the shoji screen, pulling hair and clothing, growling and laughing. A punch was swung and missed. Toes dug into the tatami mat, and they rolled back towards the table again. Ichigo pinned Shiro, sitting on his back, but the albino bit his brother's leg and the pair were toppled again in a pile of arms and legs as both tried to win the spot of rider.
As the pair wrestled past, Gin tilted his head, "Shouldn' we do somethin' 'bout them? I mean, th' King did say ta meet So-So back at th' Shrine, didn' he?"
Renji's ears perked. "Wait, wait, tha's So-So? Really? Bu'...if he's got a key...and he's...but he was...Ishida...uuuhh, fuck? Z said he was fuckin' im stupid."
Gin giggled, holding his ribs. "So-so doesn't have sex with us, silly Tora. He just wants th' company."
"That don't make sense. Then why…" The redhead frowned in confusion but the tell-tale glint in his mate's grin made him groan. "Oh you sly dog. That why ya said tha' stuff 'bout him bein' th' best lover ya ever had? Cuz ya were teasin' us?"
Again the kitsune giggled, and War grabbed him to pretend to wrestle him to the floor. A few squeals of entertainment that had both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra rolling their eyes pretending not to be jealous of the more physical relationships around them.
"Z is gonna flip when he finds out ya were yankin' his chain 'bout So-so las' night." Renji growled.
That made the twins stop and look at the redhead. Shiro being held down, wrists and ankles, upside down and Ichigo on top, but with the same expression, slight disappointment and a hint of jealousy. In one voice, they whined, "You went to Sin!? Aww!"
The redhead smirked, holding his mate gently around the waist. "O'course. I worked there, y'know. Fought for 'em, danced afterward an' everythin'."
"Well yeah, but..."
"...was one'a th' best parts o' bein' friends wi' ya."
They were talking in that twin-speak again.
"So, didja win?" Shiro leered, even more distorted by being upside down.
"Baka! Of course he did! Rage always won." Ichigo smacked his twin, freeing one of the albino's hands to do it.
The resulting scuffling had their positions reversed, when Shiro asked, "Who'd ya mop th' floor wi' this time?"
Gin froze, watching his mate from his place secure within the larger male's arms, his laughter dying away.
"Oh, jus' t'night's Gold," Renji answered casually. "I din't get away scot free either," he admitted, hand coming up to touch his blind eye before he managed to control the reflex.
Ulquiorra's wing twitched as he frowned. "That must have hurt."
"It did." The redhead then gave his mate a kiss in comfort.
The twins echoed, "HOLY SHIT!"
As obviously neither one had noticed the fact that their long-time friend was now half-blinded. Falling out of the pin, the two scrambled over to him, practically pouncing him, much in the energy of a pair of over-eager puppies. First, Shiro grabbed his chin hauling his face around to stare at the scars. Then, Ichigo batted the white hand away to twist War's head around to the exact opposite direction. This incited another glaring contest as both hands gripped a piece of the redhead's shirt. It lasted for a minute or two, then as one they looked down at Renji.
"I can fix it."
Gin squeaked and almost fell off of his mate's lap. "AH! So violent! Are they al'ays like this?"
Renji burst out laughing. "Yeah, yeah they are, luv."
Grimmjow was also laughing, holding his stomach at their antics. It was good to see, to feel, that things were, at least in some aspects, still very normal. "Ya seriously overlooked it all this time?"
Also as one, the twins blushed, though as usual one was more colorful than the other, and the blush was accompanied by the trademark scowl that all but one of the Kurosaki clan could pull off. Sitting back on their butts, legs crossed, still on opposite sides of Renji, they continued to glare at each other, more embarrassed by acting in duplicate than the altercation. They hated being referred to as a set, and did everything they could to play up their differences, though neither would admit that they'd be lost without each other.
"So, do ya want it fixed?" Shiro huffed.
"Like you could do it." Ichigo sniffed.
"I've had more practice." The albino growled.
"So? Cosmos...listening." The orangette made a twirling type motion with his finger at the sky and stuck his tongue out.
Gin felt very much like he was in the middle of a tennis match, gaze shifting from one twin to the other in rapid succession as they argued. "Mah..." He tried.
Shiro cut him off, mimicking Ichigo, "Oh yah, tha's really gonna c'nvince me. Real m'ture."
"If it's so immature, then why'd you do it too?" The King did it again.
"Cuz you did."
"So?"
Gin tried a second time, "But I a'ready...uh..."
The albino cut him off, "Yer jus' gettin' yer feet on th' ground."
"All ya've ever done was keep yer nose in yer books." Ichigo's speech slid into the same manner as Shiro's, the way it always did when they argued.
"Cuz you always laughed at me. Not so stupid now, is it, King?" Again Shiro put emphasis on it, which made Ichigo cringe.
"I know! An' ya don't think I don't feel 'bout it? If I'd paid better attention to ya, wakin' up this mornin' wouldn't've been so bad." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Ya know I was speakin'...what was it, Grimm?"
"Gaelic, then French, then German wit' smatterin's of Japanese," The panther supplied.
"Hold up a fuckin' second," Renji broke in exasperatedly before the argument could be resumed. "Gin a'ready healed it, a'right?! I'm fin', these 'r mah spoils o' war."
Both twins gave a defeated noise that they absolutely refused to admit sounded the same, and muttered. "Just trying to help."
After a few moments of blessed silence, in which the only sound was that of everyone shuffling around in their seats a bit as the tension of the room grew, Shiro frowned. "King, things'll never be like that again will they? I could feel yer power durin' that. Yer like...I don't think I c'n get anywhere near that even if I studied fer th' rest o' my..."
Ichigo swept around Renji, grabbed his twin, both of them hearing the unspoken fear. Ichigo was the King. Shiro would only ever be a mage who happened to be lucky enough to be married to one of the Horsemen.
Ulquiorra glanced up from reading Shiro's book of shadows. "Mate. You are aware that as his twin you are his balance? When there is a King," he looked back down, and turned a page, tail flicking, "there must be...a Horse. To both support the King and to undo what he has done, should it be necessary. Why do you think those in the King line are born in pairs?"
Renji blinked his good eye and went slinking back to his mate. "And no offense, ya two...I jus'...don' wanna be fussed over, yeah?"
The pair blinked at Ulquiorra and both blushed, though they didn't separate or respond to the redhead's statement. Shiro tucked under Ichigo's chin, the orangette wrapped his arms around the albino's shoulders, and sitting in Shiro's lap, his legs mimicked his arms around his twin's waist. So, Shiro crossed his wrists behind Ichigo's back, and tucked his feet up into a cross-legged seat for his King. They didn't seem to have a place where one ended and the other began.
Gin giggled at the display, doing his own wrapping around Renji, and tilted his head, "Not that this ain't fun, but So-So'll be back at the Shrine b'fore long."
The remaining three Horsemen flinched and chorused with identical looks of wariness. "We know."
"We can feel the pull on his power lessening," Ulquiorra added. "He could take only limited resources from his Pool of Power here, thanks to the limits put on him by the curse. While with Urahara's death the curse has been broken, he left in such a rush he had no time to replenish his stores."
"Ain' jus' tha'," Grimmjow chimed in, tail twitching nervously. "He's still achin', deep in th' soul. We all c'n feel it. But...it's less. He's inflictin'... lots o' damage. Gettin' ta th' point where she's barely 'live."
Ichigo looked hard. "He may not kill her. Death, do not collect her soul. It will remain bound to her body, regardless of damage, until I have decided to show mercy."
Shivers ran down Shiro's spine, "Damn, King..."
"Sorry, Shii." The orangette nuzzled his twin, but his eyes remained focused. He spoke to nothing, but everything listened, "Take My Court back to the Shrine."
There was a ripple through reality, and the six of them found themselves in the courtyard of the Shrine. The evidence of their arrival was in the way a flurry of leaves from the trees lining the open area settled just after them. Ichigo immediately stood out of Shiro's embrace, striding over to the Northern building, and as he walked the place changed. An imposing throne grew out of nothing, but melding into the stonework of both the wall and the ground. The Four, in their released forms, made up the rest of the frame. War and Conquest leapt out to the front, creating snarling armrests. Death and Famine's wings stretched up to form the back. And around the base were humans struggling and fighting amongst themselves, falling and dying in battle, the hands of Hell reaching up to pull them down into their eternal torment.
The King turned, and in one motion the sheet he still wore became the Robes of Hades, blood red with black flames licking up his arms, legs and the hem of his cloak. Out of his Third Eye grew the Crown of Judgement, an elaborate filigree in some metal that wasn't gold, or silver, or platinum, but shone with His Divine Presence. Then he sat and a shockwave blew through the courtyard, preparing it for the Trial.
It was then, summoned back by the command of his King, a very unwilling Aizen returned, dragging what looked like a mangled lump off meat like a thoroughly beaten side of beef carelessly across the ground. He was covered head to toe in blood, even his wings dripping the red substance, and his eyes were glowing with demonic bloodlust and continuing rage as he threw the lump before the King's throne- and it moaned.
The warlock. She had been skinned alive, her flesh salted, burned, and the tender burns whipped before her dragging across the rough stone ground, leaving a brush-trail of blood behind. And by all indications Aizen had not nearly been done with her.
As the Four took their places around the courtyard, at the four compass points, Ulquiorra stared impassively. As Death he had seen the kinds of atrocities humans forced on each other. Thus, no matter how violent or gruesome the cause was he would be unaffected, but Renji and Grimmjow both winced. War killed as a matter of necessity and Conquest laid claim without destroying when possible. This level of torture and agony was beyond them. Famine, however, caused months of suffering before allowing their victim to succumb. Aizen embodied this to a T.
Ichigo looked down his nose at the whimpering pile of bones. "Mage, heal her but do nothing to remove the pain."
Shiro, addressed as his title, shivered again and approached the beaten form. It, for in this state of injury no gender existed, tried to wince away, expecting another blow. The albino murmured his healing prayer and the stone glowed repairing flesh and bone, growing muscles and skin, removing the physical evidence of Famine's torture. When the small woman was left on the cobblestones, nude for the spell could not re-clothe her, she looked around and her face went pale. Shiro stepped back and she threw herself at Ichigo's feet.
"Lord of Creation, please! PLEASE! Forgive a poor, misguided wretch, who was gripped by the evil of heartbreak! Have mercy, I beg of you! What I did as a child was deplorable! I swear! I never meant—"
"Silence, Warlock!" Gin hissed, appearing from his mist cloud above Ichigo's left shoulder.
The woman whimpered, her forehead on the ground and her hands stretched out trying to clutch at the King's robes, but through a trick of the wind the fabric pulled itself from her grasp. Shiro frowned pityingly down at the betrayer, and almost said something, but the wind blew her scent into his face. This made him sneer.
"She reeks of Dark Magic. Traitorous she-rat. Sell your morals for the power to conjure. Your kind make me sick. Sneak-thieves who earn your spells by turning your backs on your craft!" The albino spat on her, and the spittle burned like acid, making her cry out and clutch her hand to her chest. "See what your treasonist actions get you."
Ichigo held up a hand and his twin left the thing to whimper, taking a stance behind the King's right shoulder. "Famine..." The orangette spoke softly, "Continue."
Aizen smiled, and somehow his teeth had all turned to points. He made a hand gesture, and the pool of Ley Line magic keyed to him glowed as chains shot up from floor and walls to hold the warlock in a vicious spread-eagle crosstie. Now closer to the source of his power, he could do things he previously could not...
Over several hours, where the woman was healed and submitted to further torture, Ichigo summoned a drink of tea, Shiro and Gin became increasingly pale, and the sun marched on across the sky. Just as it was about to set, the light slid into a ring atop the West building, that of Death, and the King stood, signaling an end to the trial.
Shiro immediately moved in to heal the tattered piece of woman for the last time.
Grimm was hiding under the throne by then, head buried in his own legs to block out the screams. All that was visible of the mighty panther was the rounded curve of his back where he didn't quite fit completely under the throne. It took Renji to pull the shivering feline out to stand in his appointed place. Ulquiorra stood ready, nonplussed as before, but with a tension on the edges of his frame that showed his true distaste for such drawing out of punishment. Aizen dismissed the chains, magic, and let her fall. He wasn't truly satisfied. He never would be, but he felt he could let it go now. He, as the rest, awaited the King's Judgement in his place.
Ichigo strode regally up to the collapsed form, too exhausted to supplicate for mercy a third time. He took her chin in his hand, forced her to look into his eyes, and pity overtook his features. He ran his thumb across her lips, and she opened them, desperate for any kind of affection after all that torment. She even began to weep at the tenderness with which he caressed her skin.
"I have reached my decision. Hinamori Momo, your sentence will be to walk this plane, never finding rest, never finding a place to call home until you have taken three steps for every moment the Four have suffered at your hands. Where your foot touches the earth will be as walking upon a bed of hot coals, even in the coldest of climates. Food will taste as ash on your tongue, and liquid will be as acid down your throat. Magic will turn on you as you have turned your back on Me." His voice was soft, almost sad. "You will re-live the agony of the Four until the skies have fallen and time itself has ended. Then, and only then, will you be taken to Hell to begin serving your sentence as you agreed when you gained your powers as a warlock. All this, and the thread of Fate your Karma has accrued you will carry, and you will do so..." His hand trailed up her cheek until his thumb brushed her brow. "blind."
Ichigo shoved his thumb into her eye, popping the organ like a tomato. As she screamed and blood ran down her face, he repeated the process, all the while his expression was cool, relaxed, and even soft.
Aizen's wings fluttered and turned a pinkish purple of enjoyment that thoroughly frightened the other Three, even as Grimmjow hid his face again and Ulquiorra turned away. Renji simply crossed his arms and nodded. War approved. Sometimes to win the war, you had to devastate the other side. To win the war for Famine's eternal soul, for his sanity, the enemy, the warlock, had to be ultimately and completely devastated. This, he understood.
The King left the warlock to crumple, and held out his hand. Immediately, Gin was there with a towel to clean the blood and mucus away. Still, Ichigo's voice was sad, "Famine, take it where you will, but return as soon as you have disposed of it. Court dismissed."
He turned his back on her, and with measured steps entered the North building. Shiro seemed torn, uncertain whether his twin wanted him to follow, and Gin bit his lip, balling up the towel in his mist to be cleaned.
The butterfly picked up the female's crumpled form and disappeared in a flutter of wings. When he would return many hours later, he would seek his bed immediately, having exerted more energy today than in the last several centuries. Grimmjow scurried after his mate. He didn't know what Ichi's mental state was, but he sure as Hell wasn't leaving him alone. Ulquiorra wrapped a comforting wing around his mate and Renji just heaved a deep sigh, kissed Gin, and said he'd be waiting back in their bed.
Shiro turned into Ulquiorra's embrace, and as he had for the last three years, he left the blue-haired panther to comfort his brother. The Mage mumbled a small spell, drawing on the Ley Line connected to his mate, to bolster them both, then he turned tired gold eyes to the emerald gaze of his bat, "Bed?"
Within the bedroom, with his back to the windows that opened on the courtyard, Ichigo breathed deeply, trying not to let his mind think in terms of humanity and being fair and all of the other things he'd grown up with. It resulted in a storm of guilt that was destroyed by anger and then washed over by pain, then drowned in a psychotic burble of relief knowing he'd gotten through his first official duty as King without anyone but the intended target getting hurt. He hadn't torn a rift in reality, and the world still operated normally. But he shivered, wrapping his arms around his ribs. His robes were piled on the floor, and the crown had shrunk to be a simple circlet he couldn't remove. It turned out that once the Crown of Judgement was donned it meant he accepted his role as King of Demons, but he had at least figured out how to make it less ostentatious.
It was finished. The curse broken, those laid to rest who should have been given eternal sleep centuries ago, and the Court of Souls re-established after millennia of chaos. Deaths could be recorded now. Wars could be won. Conquests could be claimed. And the turmoil and suffering of the world could be curtailed because the King had returned to alleviate Famine's pain. The sun set over Japan and the young man who bore the Crown rested his eyes, weary from only a day's worth of ruling.
Across the world, away from the blood, and the violence, and the darkness of Tokyo, the sunlight streamed over a field of waving grasses, the sky so blue it looked painted. There was a giggle and a boy of six toddled through the wildflowers with hair the color of sunshine and a wide infectious grin. He tripped over his shoe-lace, that he refused to allow his mother to tie, and tumbled onto the ground. He blinked at the rattling sound that started just in front of his nose. A snake, blotchy chevrons of dark brownish grey over a yellowy-cream, dark stripes like tears connecting its unblinking eyes to the corners of its sneering mouth. Before the boy could even make a sound, he'd be bitten, but then something landed on his nose. A large, white thing. Feelers caressed the boy's eyebrows, and tiny, tickling feet gripped his skin. There was the soft flutter of wings and the rattling stopped. The boy sat up, staring at the thing on his nose, and as the shimmering wings flapped lazily a few times there was a not-voice, soft and comforting on the breeze.
I will always protect you, my Key.
Then the butterfly took off, in a swarm of the beautiful creatures, circling around the field and up into that azure sky, as the boy's mother dove on him in relieved tears. Together they watched as the butterflies blended into the clouds, disappearing from view, and the breeze pulled at the grasses, kissing their skin like the touch of a long lost lover.
Just wait 'til you see it with your own eyes.