I started writing this immediately after the previous chapter, not often that I'm so fired up to make some progress. I was hoping for a little more reviews but oh well, thank you very much to the two who reviewed. You made my day!

Szayel-Aporro Grantz

Halibel was feeling proud of her progress so far so the next morning, she immediately headed through the halls to the area of the infamous Octava espada. The strange part about him was that not even her fraccion knew of any precise information on him. Everything is speculation and most likely exaggerated rumors.

The fact that her girls, well two of them, are gossip queens and still could not extract anything useful was actually worrying by itself.

As Halibel strolled through the hallways, she heard the patter of feet on the floor as she approached the corner and she slowed down, remembering a previous experience. As she expected, Lilynette came barreling around the corner and immediately dragged her heels on the floor in an attempt to slow down when she spotted the Tercera.

"Hey Halibel-sama, I sure didn't expect to find you here off all places. Which way are you heading?" Lilynette jabbered but she blanched in fright as soon as Halibel pointed her finger in the direction of the Octava's quarters. "Wait what? You can't go there, it doesn't matter what the reason is or if you're just using it as a short cut or something. Nobody walks through the halls of Szayel-Aporro's domain!"

"Why not? I'm just going to talk to him?" Halibel asked in confusion.

"That guy's a madman. The odds of even making it to his main laboratory are already minimal. All you hear is stories of numeros and fraccion who went to take him a message and were never seen again." Lilynette quickly made clear.

"Does he kill them if they're in his area? That sounds oddly territorial for an espada…" The blonde mused.

"Kill? No, I doubt that. He's mostly a scientist so it's probably experiments and stuff. The other problem is that his hallways are covered in traps and random corridors so it's easy to get lost. It would suck if you vanished like the rest." Lilynette said sadly.

"Relax Lilynette, I'm the Tercera Espada. I'm not going to let the Octava espada catch me in one of his petty traps. I'll be fine. If worst comes to worst, I'll just destroy the wall until I'm out." Halibel reassured her.

"That's what Neliel-sama thought… Anyway, bust the walls? Aizen's not gonna like that but I'd personally love it if you did that!" Lilynette exclaimed. "Good luck then Halibel-sama. I'm looking forward to hearing some destruction." She ran off with a wave.

"Heh, no guarantees." Halibel continued her walk until she reached the border of Szayel-Aporro's domain and paused at the edge. 'This place does have quite ominous stories… I wonder if this is really the brightest idea. No, I'm already this far. No point in turning back now.' She took deep breath and entered the domain of Doctor Szayel-Aporro Grantz.

A few hours later

'I believe I'm lost.' Halibel thought to herself as she reached yet another intersection with no clue of which side is better. Her patience with the scientist was starting to wear thin by now. She was convinced that Szayel was probably watching everything on one of his monitors so blonde decided to test her theory.

"Szayel-Aporro! If you're listening, I want an immediate short cut to where you are right now. I've played your game but I don't have any more time for this." Halibel paused to wait for any reaction. There was none. "All right then. I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no choice. The walls are irritating me." She reached back to unsheathe Tiburon, but suddenly a doorway opened. 'Heh, the bluff seems to have worked.'

The shark empress lowered her hand and entered the doorway. After a minute's walk she came into a large office with another opening to Szayel's pride and joy, his laboratory.

"Well, look who I have the honor of receiving a visit from today. You're the newest espada I believe, Neliel's replacement." He chuckled while pushing up his glasses.

Halibel felt uneasy at his words, there seemed to be more to them than it sounded. "What do you think you're doing, playing games with an espada higher ranked than you?"

"Simply a fickle habit of mine. It's not every day that I'm visited by another espada. It's usually just a couple of scampering fraccion, numerous or even my brother, nobody worth mentioning." He said in a snide tone.

"Your brother isn't worth mentioning? Or rather, since when do arrancar have family? Did you band together as hollows?" Halibel asked feeling puzzled at his words.

"Why, no. It is usually just a formality among arrancar but Ylforte happens to be my real brother. We still remember enough of our lives to recall that little fact. Not that he's very happy with my though." Szayel said thoughtfully.

The blonde frowned at this, "I remember that name, he's one of the fraccion if my memory's not failing me. Is he jealous of your power or something?"

"Not at all, he accepts it as a fact of life that I'm better than him. His annoyance is probably due to the fact that it was a lab accident of mine that caused our deaths. Really… such a fickle thing to hold a grudge over, wouldn't you agree?" Szayel asked Halibel.

"It's true that it is a waste of time to hold grudges as we are now but I would probably be annoyed too." Halibel said darkly.

"I wonder… does the Tercera recall her own life? Maybe there is a grudge or two I could help you clear up since I have a little experience in that subject." Szayel suggested.

These words seemed to link up with Halibel's earlier unease but she didn't want to make any accusations yet. "I'd ask what you meant but I have a feeling you'll tiptoe around the question with your words."

Szayel's smile widened slightly, "How… perceptive of you. The other espada are usually blunter. Hopefully you'll last longer than Neliel if we get along nicely."

'Neliel… this is the third espada to mention her. Just what happened to her? Szayel seems to know more than the other two.' Halibel thought to herself before a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Szayel-Aporro-sama! Szayel-Aporro-sama!" A bouncing figure came through one of the doorways. "Medazeppi is eating Verona! Help us!"

Szayel barely spared his fraccion a glance, "Lumina huh? I can't really blame Medazeppi, Verona happens to be cherry-flavored. I'll make a new one later and scold Medazeppi so leave us." He looked back at the slightly blanching Tercera. "Some of my fraccion are edible, what's your favorite flavor?"

"I'll pass, thank you very much." The quick reply came.

"Pity, I work hard on the flavors but the fraccion still have their uses." Szayel said matter-of-factly.

"You care so little for your subordinates…?" Halibel quietly asked, slight fury in her voice. Szayel noticed the threatening undertone and took a slight step back before regaining control of his legs.

"Each to his, or her, own I suppose. We may disagree on some subjects but Hueco-Mundo is a cruel world. You'd do well to learn that as soon as possible, especially if you want to the other espada to take you seriously." Szayel informed Halibel.

"I'll keep that in mind as long as you keep in mind that my fraccion are not to be trifled with. If one of them even has a hair out of place after approaching your domain, you will answer to me… and I will destroy you." Halibel stated.

Szayel felt cold sweat run down the back of his neck. "Noted." He watched the Tercera turn around and start walking, before pausing and turning back.

Halibel recalled something that Apache mentioned in one of the rumors surrounding Szayel-Aporro and decided to test this theory. "Where is your hollow hole?"

Szayel's cheeks quickly reddened in anger.

"That's none of your business!"

To be continued…

Hmm, good to see that I managed to keep this ball rolling. Let's see if can keep up with the pace I'm writing at now. It was easier to write Szayel than Yammy and Aaroniero, probably since he was around for much longer than they were in my point of view. Next is Zommari then and I already have his chapter written mostly, until next time!

Ultrawolfie out!