Chapter 1: Caja Negación
Orihime watched with mixed emotions as she watched Ulquiorra disappear in a blink of an eye.
She closed her eyes in a brief second and clenched her hands together.
"Ulquiorra…" She did not know what she felt about the green-eyed Espada but she did not hate him. She could not.
Orihime's eyes pulled away from the spot where Ulquiorra was and half listened as Grimmjow explained what he did to Ulquiorra.
Please, return soon Ulquiorra-san she wished silently before focusing on the battle between Grimmjow and Ichigo.
Aizen did not deserve Ulquiorra loyalty. Of that, Orihime was certain. In her brief time in Hueco Mundo, she was certain of that with all her heart and soul.
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Ulquiorra was stuck in Caja Negacion. Grimmjow was going to pay, probably with another limb. Ulquiorra was not prone to anger or useless bloodshed but right now, he was a tad pissed.
The trapped Espada knew that for someone at his power level, breaking out should be easy, a half an hour at most. However, Ulquiorra decided to take this time to reflect and enjoy the peace and quiet that had been denied to him since Orhime came to Los Noches.
Orihime was not a bundle of sunshine but she was like a weed that persisted to grow between two pieces of concrete. Ulquiorra could not deny her strength of will, she surprised on many levels not just in her will but her mind as well. He just wished she wouldn't practice her will on him.
As he was thinking, thoughts popped into his mind. His thoughts have traveled between Aizen and his ambitions to his own ambitions, which was to serve Aizen's will, and with the occasional urge to maim Grimmjow for this betrayal.
But soon even his thoughts, grand and deep as they were lost substance.
He was bored, plain and simple.
There was nothing to do in Caja Negacion. Nothing. Other than ignoring the occasional dark denizens that lived in this dark world, there was nothing to do. Most arrancar would die from this boredom, or lose their mind.
Being stuck in a cube in usually did that to people, hallow or not.
Ulquiorra was no random arrancar, Ulquiorra was an Espada and a Vosto Lorde before his gained his Death God powers. He was not one to be trifled with.
After what seemed like hours to Ulquiorra, in reality ten minutes, he decided that enough was enough and that he was breaking out. He summoned his reaitsu and channeled it into his fist. One clean punch should break the Negacion without bringing injury to himself or straining his reaitsu.
He punched.
Nothing happened.
Ulquiorra frowned, the thin line on his face deeper than usual. He punched the invisible wall, concerned and was a bit miffed that it did not break. With his raw strength, the little hat he was using, the wall should be shattering and he should be free.
How puzzling.
It was then that he remembered who exactly trapped him here.
Grimmjow.
The big rude feline had probably enlisted the help of Szayel and had Szayel create a special Negacion that would take more time and reaitsu to break. Only Szayel could do that.
Ulquiorra usually stayed away from the little power plays that occurred. He was content with his position and his desire to serve Aizen no matter what. Now Ulquiorra was mad. His face did not show it but he was mad. A slight twitch in his normally apathetic face signified his anger.
Grimmjow was going against Aizen's wishes and ambition. Aizen, his creator that gave him the ability to take his mask off and gain more power beyond his normal capabilities, had ordered him to take care of Orihime. Seeing as how he himself was trapped in the Negacion, he was disobeying his orders and that makes him trash.
Trash was worthless.
Ulquiorra raised his fist again and this time, instead of using brute force, decided to fire off a cero.
He opened his fist, and pointed a finger at the wall ahead of him.
"Cero."
To his surprise, the cero, instead of destroying the wall it bounced off the wall as if reflected and slammed into the shocked Espada. Ulquiorra normally should have been able to block his own attack or at least brush it away.
Apparently, Negacion has a strange affect on him. An affect that made him freeze up at a crucial moment. Right before the cero hit him, Ulquiorra had the strangest feeling that he was not the one in control of his body.
At the brief moment of impact, Ulquiorra felt a snapping feeling. He was not sure if it was his mind of a part of his body, but he gained a moment of uncertainty.
The force of the blast, threw Ulquiorra through the wall and back into the colorless world of Hueco Mundo. Unnoticed by Ulquiorra, his mask cracked, a small line appearing nearly invisible.
As it turned out Szayel created this specific Negacion so that the only way to get out is to shoot yourself. Szayel was certain Uqluiorra was not that stupid or reckless. And even if Ulquiorra did shoot off a cero, Szayel was confident that Ulquiorra would dodge his own cero blast.
Unfortunately, Szayle did not account for pure dumb luck. Or the fact that Ulquiorra was different from the rest of them and thus was subject to other extraneous factors.
Even Aizen did not suspect that Ulquiorra was unique among his Espada.
Ulquiorra landed on the ground, his body bearing no sign of struck by his own cero. It was not that his cero was too weak to injure him it was just that Ulquiorra calculates everything. He estimated how much reiatsu was needed and only used that amount, no more, no less.
He despised wastefulness.
The battle had moved from his place his entrapment. Ulquiorra could feel Grimmjow's energies or lack there of. Grimmjow was close to dying, he was severely injured. Without a competent healer, Grimmjow might never be restored to his former powers.
A few other Espada were engaged in battle or dead.
Ulquiorra turned, ready to sonido towards Orihime. That was his objective, his goal, his duty. Protect Orihime and keep her here.
He took a step.
Faltered.
Took another step.
Faltered.
Ulquiorra closed his eyes in irritation. His body was not responding to his commands. It was ridiculous. As a Vasto Lorde, he had risen above the other countless voices that made him and remained supreme. His power dominated over all others and that was why he was the one in control. Yet, he could feel a foreign but familiar presence awaken in him. He could feel a hunger stir in him.
Hueco Mundo was abundant with spirit particles. Thus, it allowed stronger hallows, like himself, to survive without devouring souls or other hallows. Ulquiorra knew the distinct pangs of hunger but this one was different.
Suddenly thoughts and feelings exploded into his mind. The clamoring voices in his head belonged to only one person, a strong-minded individual that had been lurking inside Ulquiorra all along. Memories appeared along with pictures and senses. For Ulquiorra this experience was new to him. When hallows ate souls they would gain whatever knowledge that soul had along with memories but they were able to control it so it will not overwhelm them.
Within seconds, the hunger expanded occupying all parts of the mind.
Quatra Espada turned away from the direction of battle and instead followed his nose back to Aizen's castle. He used sonido to quicken his journey but his gait was different. He was not stiff backed but slumped. His face was still apathetic and his hands were still planted firmly in his pocket.
He moved like a person with two minds in one body each jostling for control. By the time he got to the castle, one mind had clearly the upper hand.
He sped past the arrancar in the hallways paying them no heed. The lower level arrancar knew not to disrupt a higher level Espada, especially Ulquiorra. It was not that Ulquiorra does not show emotion, it is because Ulquiorra does not show emotion that people are scared of him.
He is a blank slate. You cannot really tell what he is going to do. Only one living person deciphered Ulquiorra and she was not in the position to tell anyone anything at the current moment.
He went to the kitchens, walking past the startled servant arrancar without paying the arrancar any notice. He started searching the kitchen, ripping open cabinet doors and sniffing the air like a dog.
The servant arrancar was, understandably, freaked out. Who wouldn't be if they saw apathetic Quatra Espada sniffing the air like a mangy mutt.
After a few more seconds of sniffing, Quatra Espada found what he was looking for. It was a cake, a nice delectable chocolate cake with raspberry frosting. Some of the arrancar were experimenting with human food that was why the cake was even in there.
The Quatra Espada demolished the cake in seconds. By now, the servant arrancar's jaw was touching the ground in disbelief.
"Candy?"
The arrancar servant blinked bewildered. "What?"
"Candy?"
The arrancar got the gist of what the Quatra Espada was saying. "Over there." Strange, Ulquiorra is usually more articulate when speaking and never he had never ever wanted candy.
The servant arrancar wondered if he should start stockpiling candy seeing how Ulquiorra was stuffing in his pants and mouth.
"That's all?" His voice was muffled by the amount of candy in his mouth.
The servant arrancar nodded, still in disbelief. "Ulquiorria-sama, may I ask why you wish for candy?"
The arrancar cringed ready to be punished for overstepping his bounds. No blow or cero came. He looked up to see Ulquiorra studying him intently. He gulped. The eyes were what got to lower level arrancar. Ulquiorra's eyes were the only thing alive on his face. The green eyes with slit pupils were intense and seem to be calculating who you are and what you are.
It was then that he noticed how slouched and casual Ulquiorra's posture was. The Quatra Espada is usually the one who is the stiffest for better lack of the word. Now Ulquiorra seemed so different. Amusing even with the candy bulging in his pockets and the ones stuffed in his mouth.
"I should be going there right?" Ulquiorra pointed to the general direction where the fight was.
The arrancar nodded, agreeing. He could feel the shinigami and arrancar reiatsu in that area and knew to avoid it. He was not powerful enough to survive a fight of that magnitude.
Ulquiorra tilted his head and scratched his hair. He mumbled to himself and the arrancar could only catch a few numbers and words which made no sense to him.
The arrancar looked up when he realized he was being addressed to.
"I can trust you will keep silent about this correct?"
"Yes sir. Of course sir."
Ulquiorra looked at him again, snaring the arrancar in calculating green eyes. "Good." He then disappeared.
The arrancar sighed in relief. The arrancar was so involved in keeping himself alive and in one piece he didn't notice that Ulquiorra had an extra zanpakuto.
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L used sonido, zipping across the sand at an impossible speed. Impossible for him when he was still alive but now he was dead but still alive.
It was rather easy for him to slip into a cold and uncaring state. That was the only way he could act like Ulquiorra and not get attacked. While L could fight, after reviewing bits of information L had concluded that as long as he was the one controlling the body he was going to get them both killed.
L could hear the being called Ulquiorra in the back of his mind, telling him things he needed to know. L had access to the memories but that would take time to review and analyze. He would just have to trust Ulquiorra.
The reason L was able to gain control and take Ulquiorra over was simple. Had Ulquiorra remained a pure hallow, Ulquiorra would live his life out without even knowing L was there. However, when Ulquiorra changed into an arrancar and gained shinigami powers everything changed.
All this could be blamed on the Death Note. The Death Note threw a loop into the normally consistent transformations. With each transformation, Ulquiorra would evolve and change. What Ulquiorra did not know was that L was still there, undigested, a mirror of his soul. The Death Note protected L's soul, keeping most of the memories and experiences intact.
L was not aware of his surrounds, unlike Ichigo's hallow. When L woke up, he had the advantage of flooding Ulquiorra with images and memories. That combined with a powerful seal that kept Ulquiorra from moving in the mindscape. Ulquiorra was stuck, once again, but this time in his own mindscape.
In this situation, Ulquiorra was technically the rightful owner of the body and L was the trespasser. But the situation was stacked against Ulquiorra.
Because of that, L was able to gain control of the body.
When Ulquiorra gained shinigami powers, Ulquiorra was changed fundamentally not also physically. While the shinigami powers were dormant, it did not mean they were useless. It merely bonded with Ulquiorra's other soul, the core soul. Ulquiorra's shinigamification took more easily than others were because there was a waiting receptacle for the shinigami power.
L was running across the desert sands, towards the fight.
Why?
He needed answers and the green-eyed Espada trapped inside him was only one source of information. He needed other sources. L found it interesting that Ulquiorra looked amazing like himself except for the eyes and the weird skull ornament.
From what Ulqiorra knew arrancar's human forms were not predetermined and were subject to guessing. One would never know how a future arrancar would look like.
L yawned and popped a tootsie pop in his mouth as he sonidoed. To him, this afterlife scenario was the most interesting thing he had ever experienced easily topping the Kira cases. He could not really remember what had happened before he died. It was all blurry and then suddenly he was awake in a color less land and a funny skull helmet practically glued to his skull.
The skull ornament was stopping him from scratching his head or even sitting in certain positions. It seemed incredibly bulky and heavy and yet it was light. L could barely feel it.
L wondered if it was because the body he was inhabiting was made naturally strong or the skull ornament was actually really light. What a conundrum
As L ran, he could hear Ulquiorra's low and emotionless voice in his head. In addition, he could hear another voice, another being that was in his mindscape hiding somewhere. Later on, L would reflect that the voice came from the extra sword that appeared when he gained control.
Ulquiorra's sword was still strapped to him but now L got an extra sword that he had no clue to do with. He stashed it on the other side of his body. Surprisingly, Ulquiorra was taking this well when his body was being hijacked.
Then again, it was not as if he could do anything. The foreign seal stopped Ulquiorra from moving a muscle to stop L.
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What do you guys think? Did you expect this to happen? Tell me what you had expected or this was something you guys thought would happen and I didn't surprise you.
Man, I probably won't update till next week or something. This has drained a lot of my brain that is needed for school. Please review and help in my recovery.
Also I might not be able to update faster on my other stories due to spraining my left wrist. Typing is hard with one hand and the other in pain.
So REVIEW!!!
Tell me what you think, what you hate. Some mistakes I may have missed or some funny plot thing you thought didn't work. I'm all ears.
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You know you wanna push it!