XX

The Black

I didn't even bother finishing my shift. Quickly, I fled the shop. That was the last string connecting any of my loyalty to Las Noches. Why had I thought that Ulquiorra really cared? Ha. What an illusion. I ran the distance that I had walked earlier that morning. This time I wasn't humming that catchy little tune from the radio.

Using my key, I allowed myself over the threshold of the shinigami's house and practically ran over the little red head.

"Where's Urahara?" I demanded, not even caring if Jinta was currently seeing stars.

He shook his head, "What was that for? He's somewhere in the house, he's got a meeting in fifteen minutes."

That was a good enough answer. I navigated the hallways until I came to that room that I had eavesdropped in before. Tearing up the rug, the trap door grinned up at me. Literally, somebody had painted a face on it.

As I pounded down the stairs, I thought of all this that I had thought anything good of that Espada. Now, it was over and every one of those memories felt like a wet slap in the face. What a bad joke. What a disappointment. I had been on the verge of getting over him killing me. That was orders. This was not.

Urahara was sprawled out in a chair, a donut half in, half out of his mouth. He also looked like he had been mostly asleep until I started tromping down the stairs.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Urahara spat out what was left of the donut.

I shook my head and walked straight past him to his desk. There it was, a permanent marker. Holding it in my hand, I looked at it carefully. Yes, this is what I wanted. There was nothing for me in Hueco Munco. I probably couldn't even think of going back there without getting killed. That was the truth.

Striding to the open wall, the marker screamed with my handwriting. I wasn't going to go with this stupidity anymore. It seemed that Ulquiorra had picked my side for me.

The words were black and bold as I stood back to look at my work.

Turning back, I looked at the man, "Listen well, shinigami, and here this."

I fell to my knees for the thousandth and probably last time. Usually I opened garganta against my will, sometimes for myself but mostly just out of plain obligation. This time my purpose was completely different.

"My right hand is the stone that bridges worlds."

I winced as I called on the shadow that was once my power. I knew somewhere inside of me, there was still enough to do this.

"My left hand is the blade that binds reality."

The tingle came and with it, I could feel my new human body stretch to its limits, "The black-haired shepherd is hung from a chair."

I lifted my hands up, feeling the multitudes of tiny cuts on my fingers "Stratus clouds come."

"And I strike down the ibis."

The world obeyed my command. The garganta moaned and crackled open. Through its mouth, there dimly sat Las Noches.

I pointed a bloody finger inside, "Aizen is there. Also there lie the Espada. Everything is there. I want you to destroy it, fry it, burn it, I don't care."

Urahara picked his way from his chair and looked carefully inside, "that's quite a chant."

"Did you hear me?"

"Honestly, I can't help you." I frowned. "One person is not enough to take down all the bad guys, you know that."

"You can try!" I didn't want to stand to think that Hollow was still breathing and living his miserable life.

"True, but I won't get very far. Look, I have people and I know that they are going to want to go to Las Noches very soon. Give them time, let them get strong enough and I believe that they will be able to do it."

He smiled and looked at me, "Thank you Sola. In the past I have tried to open the garganta and it always failed. Now I should be able too."

I turned to the stairs, stupid emotions still flying through my veins, "Yeah, I knew that."

"You've done quite a bit."

"Just make sure that Ulquiorra Cifer is destroyed, that's all I ask," The words crawled my lips and with that, I left to return to the rest of my human life.

Thanks to Shattered Darknesss, AizheNi, Nizuna Fujieda, and Rose202 for reviewing. That makes forty reviews! That is crazy, thank you everybody! Also, Shattered Darknesss favorited Strike Down the Ibis. Thank you.

As always, thanks to Rose202 for editing this chapter, you should all thank her for making this readable!

And now everything has come full circle finally. Sola has completely cut ties with her old life.

Now I can truly explain the title of this fanfiction. It's called "Strike Down the Ibis" for two reasons. Obviously, Sola gives the chant to Urahara, so he can use it to open the way for Ichigo and company. The other reason is probably something that would be a bit harder to spot. I don't know if I mentioned it anywhere, but Sola's release would have been "themed" after an ibis. Therefore, Ulquiorra quite literally "struck down the ibis".

To answer last week's question. Tea is the relationship between Ulquiorra and Sola. Go back and read a couple chapters, you'll see what I mean. When anything important happens between the two of them, there is always tea. Even Aizen says, right before he orders Ulquiorra to kill Sola, "My cup is empty and so is your time." Ever wondered why?

Not much to say this week. Mostly shocked that next week is the end.

Thank you for all your wonderful words,

-Quin

Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she is still in the process of suing me).