I thought this should be the first one to finish, along with Halibel's wiki since these are the two stories closest to finishing and I can't work on the longer ideas when the shorter ones keep nagging at me.

Oh and for this chapter, it would probably help to remember this:

"bladida" (bold) – Aaroniero's deep voice

"bladida" (Just italics) – Aaroniero's high voice

"Bladida" (Normal) – Kaien's voice

'Bladida' (Just one inverted comma and italics) - Thinking

Aaroniero Arrureurie

'I didn't do that badly with Yammy when I think back on it. That could have been much more annoying if he acted like the brute he resembles…' Halibel thought to herself while walking through the halls of Las Noches. She decided to head back to her room and hear what her fraccion had to say before moving on to the novena espada.

"Halibel-sama! You're fast at this as usual!" Apache was quick to respond to Halibel's presence in the room.

"Of course, you twit. This is Halibel-sama after all." Mila-Rose added without missing a beat.

Sunsun just sighed before looking at the espada. "Surely you didn't return just to listen to these two bicker. Did you need something Halibel-sama?" She noticed Apache and Mila-Rose tune in on the conversation from the background.

Halibel nodded at the quiet fraccion and replied, "Yes, Yammy was easier than I expected so I came to hear if you three had any insight into Aaroniero before I approach him."

"I heard that Aaroniero is the last one remaining from the original espada before Aizen took over and he used to be one of the strongest, despite being a Gillian." Mila-Rose said thoughtfully.

"That must have hurt his ego, to get knocked down the rankings like that." Apache muttered.

"But some of the numerous mentioned that Aaroniero still has the ability to gain strength from devouring hollows even though he's already an arrancar. I'm not sure if that is even possible…" Sunsun interjected.

"I wouldn't put anything past the espada, we have a lot of strange people among us after all… I don't even remember seeing Aaroniero's face as far as I recall. Being a Gillian, it is possible that he is not even human-looking." The shark empress added and thanked her fraccion for their help before turning around and leaving the room.

In the tower of the Noveno espada…

"It seems that we have a guest…" a high-pitched voice sounded, followed by a deep voice.

"Indeed, from what I can tell, it seems to be the new Tercera who was chosen after Neliel's demise." The mysterious figure looked down at Halibel from a tall tower while hiding his presence. To his surprise, Halibel suddenly stopped walking at looked straight up at him. "I'm surprised that she noticed us from here. This one is extremely perceptive…"

"Then we should probably go introduce ourselves, since it would be rude to ignore her now." The first voice sniggered. The figure jumped down to Halibel's level.

"Nice of you to come closer, I didn't feel like shouting at you. Halibel said coolly.

The masked figure raised his hand to remove his mask. "My name is Aaroniero Arrureurie, the Noveno espada." The mask was removed to reveal a serious faced man with spiky, dark purple hair.

Halibel nodded and lifted her hand for a greeting. Aaroniero hesitated before taking it in his own hand and Halibel's hand stiffened a bit before relaxing. 'That's odd, his hand felt strangely soft and flexible. It wasn't normal'

"What brings you to my humble tower, Tercera? The view or the sunlight maybe?" Aaroniero asked with slight sarcasm as most of his tower is shrouded in darkness.

Halibel noticed the sarcasm but ignored it to reply, "I'm just getting to know my fellow espada since I'm new here, is that so strange?"

"Here, it is certainly puzzling. The only other espada who bothered trying this is Neliel and she quickly gave up when everyone gave her an attitude, especially Nnoitra." Aaroniero explained.

Halibel nodded at his explanation, "That makes sense. When you start getting attitudes, you wouldn't want to waste your time anymore. But I'm still curious since everyone seems to be hiding something under their exterior."

"Under their exterior huh? What a strangely convenient way to put it…" Aaroniero said with an amused expression.

"Why is that?"

"No it's nothing. Is there anything specific you wanted to ask me?" The man asked thoughtfully.

"I hadn't really thought about questions since I prefer to judge by your words and behavior instead. To be honest, I'm convinced that you're hiding something from me. Your hand felt different than a normal hand, you're wearing a mask even with your normal face, nobody can fear the sunlight that much to live in such a dark place and lastly, your reiatsu… feels like a shinigami." Halibel saw Aaroniero start at her words and felt a sense of satisfaction as this confirmed that she was at least close to the truth.

"How blunt… and perceptive, this new Tercera is something else indeed-" Aaroniero said to himself.

"Why are you talking to yourself, I'm in front of you." Halibel interrupted impatiently.

"Since you've already come this far, why don't I show you the truth…"Aaroniero's head started melting down while his voice distorted as he was speaking. Halibel's eyes slightly widened in shock as she looked at Aaroniero's head morphing into a glass tube filled with red liquid and two floating heads.

"Well… this isn't exactly what I expected. I thought you were a shinigami with hollow powers like those Vizards hiding on earth or something like that." Halibel said with an amused expression after the shock wore off.

"Well this is new. People usually react with more disgust when they see my face." The deep voice said and chuckled.

"I've… seen stranger things. Living in Hueco Mundo has shown me not to judge a hollow by its mask." She pulled her own collar down a bit to show her own mask's frightening appearance. "I've lost count of the times other hollow and arrancar flinched at my mask, even my own fraccion… That's why I eventually started keeping it covered." The blonde woman explained.

"Hmmm yes, I guess that makes sense and gives us something in common. As for the shinigami thing, it was an interesting guess but real reason is that we have the ability of endless evolution. We devoured a hollow that had absorbed a shinigami in return and gained their powers." The whiny voice filled alibel in.

"Devoured? How exactly, if I may ask. I don't see an opening in that tube and I don't recall you ever drinking Aizen's tea… not that I blame you. That tea is completely tasteless." Halibel sighed and Aaroniero sweatdropped at this before responding by removing his glove to reveal the tentacle mouth. "I suppose that answers my question… Thank you for giving me your time then"

"It was our pleasure, it is not often that we get to have a normal conversation with another espada so be sure to visit again." Aaroniero greeted her.

"See you another time then, Aaroniero Arrureurie." Halibel departed from the Novena tower and started walking along a path, deep in thought…

'I can't believe I touched that hand…'

To be continued…

I wasn't sure how to end this chapter… Aaroniero is difficult to interpret. This brings us to Szayel-Aporro Grantz then. Please review with suggestions if you have any ideas of what Halibel should discuss with Szayel-Aporro. Until next time

Ultrawolfie out!