The topic of today's episode of 'Fun in The Sanctuary~!' was submitted by SerbiaTakesCntrl. ^.^ May cookies rain down on you as an expression of my gratitude!
Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, meaning it does not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Bleach storyline (such as Aporro [in character, not name] and Vicenta Acere) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
Szayel stared at the screen in his lab, rewinding the clip and playing it over and over and over again.
And several times over the same scene played.
In the window opened on the screen, there was a black sky overlooking white sands, and across that black sky sliced a blue/white beam.
Over and over and over as Szayel rewound and played, rewound and played.
One of his observer cameras recorded the footage and categorized it underneath 'Immediate Attention Needed' for him, and as soon as he'd seen it all else had been erased from his mind.
It took him a bit of time (and quite a bit of reading over the specs that had come with the footage) to process, and when he finally did he realized what he was looking at.
It was, undoubtedly, his daughter's cero.
She was alive.
She was alive and well enough to fire a cero.
Szayel sighed and dropped his head into his hands, his shoulders slouching.
His protégé was alive…
She wasn't anywhere near where the rescue party had gone off to, but she was alive.
And as soon as Ukitake was done fighting the Vasto Lorde out in front of El Sanctuario, more people could be sent out to retrieve her.
…Until then, Szayel would just have to keep his mate from finding out about this development, or he wouldn't be able to contain her, even with the new sedatives. Though they left her too impaired to move properly, she did wake up from them much quicker than she had with the old serum.
Ah, the ups and downs that came to tweaking chemical formulae…
Shaking his head, Szayel turned his attention back to the fight with Ukitake and Gillo, watching as they exchanged blows and sighing when he realized that they had not only taken the fight away from The Sanctuary, but they were also alone.
No sign of Aporro.
Relieved, Szayel leaned back in his seat and watched the fight.
After Szayel had indulged Aporro and allowed her to sate her maternal instinct by taking care of Vaida, he had gone and escorted her back to their room, where she had promptly dropped off to sleep.
Szayel had yet to tell anyone that their shinigami 'guardian' was engaged in a fight, because if they knew someone would be forced to go out and assists… And with Halibel and Grimmjow gone, the odds were between him and Stark.
And Stark hadn't been heard from for some time now…
Instead, Szayel had increased the power the generators hooked up to the reiryoku sealants let out and had effectively smothered all signs of the battle going on outside to those inside.
Of course, he was fairly sure that several who were too weak to withstand having that much of a percentage of their blood reishi drained had long since passed out, but… Szayel didn't really care.
He wasn't particularly fond of most of those who lived in his compound, and the only reason he hadn't turned them all into experiments was Aporro.
She would be incredibly irritated if he did that…
Considering it wasn't as though the weaklings wouldn't recover once he turned the barrier's strength down again, Szayel didn't pay much mind to it beyond acknowledging it, instead watching the fight between Gillo and Ukitake for a moment longer.
Then, he finally decided to check on his mate.
When Szayel went to switch views between the battle outside and his room, he twitched when a message window opened on the screen.
'Your request requires that you be in live mode. Switch to live mode now?'
Szayel stared at the screen, "…Son of a bitch."
He'd completely forgotten that he had rewound the battle visual at one point or another to get a better look at a move Gillo had made, and he'd never gone back to live mode.
Though it could easily mean nothing, Szayel couldn't shake the heavy feeling in his chest and he reached out to switch the computer to live mode, staring at his empty room once he had.
Aporro was gone.
Twitching and going for the worst possibility first, Szayel switched the view back to the fight outside, cursing and dashing for the door when he saw his intuition had been right.
On the screen, Gillo and Jushiro were no longer fighting, instead watching as Aporro took off in the direction Vicenta's cero had been seen.
Aporro stumbled up the steps and to the entrance/exit of El Sanctuario, flinching slightly as it got harder and harder to walk.
Just what in the hell was going on outside?
Frowning up at the door, she braced her hand against the frame as it swung open and looked out, her eyes widening when she saw Jushiro fighting a Hollow.
And not just a Hollow; a Vasto Lorde.
And by the looks of things, he wasn't faring well.
"Jushiro!" Aporro jumped forward, opening her mouth as the two fighters glanced at her. A violet ball of energy quickly formed, then fired.
The Vasto Lorde, a male with grey skin and slightly darker grey hair, scowled, easily brushing the cero aside and disappearing with a resounding snap.
Aporro barely heard Jushiro call out to her before the Hollow reappeared before her, his hand wrapping around her neck and catching her just before she landed.
"Arrancar…" He hissed, his eyes narrowing and two whip-like tendrils of flesh wrapping around and grazing her body.
Aporro hissed back and struggled weakly, still under the influence of Szayel's sedatives.
Apparently sensing something wrong with her, the Vasto Lorde's scowl eased to a frown and he looked her up and down, finally mumbling, "You've been deliberately weakened by one of your own kind…"
"Apparently makes it easier to control me." Aporro grumbled, then struggled harder and hissed, "Where's Vicenta?"
The male quirked a brow, "Who?"
"Vicenta, you asshole!" Aporro shouted, kicking ineffectively at his chest, "The only reason I could think of one of you bastards being here is because of her! If it's a fight you want, just challenge us, damn it! Don't drag my daughter into this!"
"…I'm not here because of your daughter." The Vasto Lorde growled, glaring at her flatly as he lost interest in her, "You have someone in there who belongs to me. I want her back."
Aporro blinked, barely noticing Jushiro watching anxiously out of her periphery as she looked the Vasto Lorde up and down, "…You're Gillo." When the Vasto Lorde's frown deepened, she elaborated, "Vaida said you might come."
The Vasto Lorde's eyes widened slightly and his hand twitched around her neck, more an involuntary reaction than a threatening move. "Vaida's alive?"
"Of course she is." Aporro mumbled, her struggles weakening as Gillo's grip on her neck loosened, "She was an unwitting pawn in all of this; I couldn't let Szayel kill her…"
When Gillo's hand abruptly let her go, Aporro fell back onto the sand with a soft grunt, pushing herself up into a halfway sitting position with her hands propping up her upper body.
She jumped slightly when Gillo knelt in front of her, meeting his eyes and blinking.
"In all of what?" The Vasto Lorde asked, looking somewhere between curious and angry.
Aporro blinked, then explained briefly what was going on, concluding, "When we have Vicenta back, there would be no point in keeping Vaida further and I'm planning on making Szayel let her go… She didn't do any of this with any darker intentions in mind, and she really doesn't seem to be much of a threat."
"She's not." Gillo grumbled, running a hand through his hair, "She's just a burden." He then looked at Aporro jadedly, grumbling, "Fine. I never was too keen on the idea of fighting or eradicating your species to begin with; you were more an annoying presence than anything. And now that we've done all of this talking, I don't really feel like fighting anymore… So I'll just take Vaida and leave."
"You can't have her."
Gillo twitched, narrowing his eyes threateningly and growling, "What?"
"I…" Aporro looked away guiltily, mumbling, "I can't let you have her until I have Vicenta back…"
"She's useless to you." Gillo tried to reason, slowly getting more and more pissed off, "I'm not involved with your daughter's kidnapping, and the ones who are don't give a damn if Vaida lives or dies. You trying to keep her is only going to piss me off and bring a third party into this conflict, and then you and your people really will die."
"But I can't just let her go." Aporro rasped, looking up at him pleadingly, "If I do, we lose whatever small advantage she gives us… And as much as I don't want to keep prisoners, I can't just let what we did to capture her mean nothing!"
"But she isn't worth anything!" Gillo snapped, bearing his teeth.
"But she is to you…" Aporro mumbled, shuddering and looking down at her lap, "…Help us, and I'll make Szayel let her go without any further fighting being necessary."
Gillo twitched, narrowing his eyes sharply and hissing down at the woman. It was getting really, really hard to refrain from just slapping her aside and storming the compound, but hitting someone as weak as the woman in front of him didn't sit with him well.
…She reminded him too much of Vaida…
"And why in the hell would I help you?" Gillo asked.
Aporro looked up at him beseechingly, "Because you know how I feel."
Before Gillo could respond to this, a streak of blue to his right caught their attention.
As a navy cero cut through the black of the night sky, Aporro tensed, her eyes widening.
Without thinking about it, she slipped away from Gillo and started to run towards it, tripping slightly as her stumbling got her caught up in the sand. She was just about to climb the sand lip of the crater Jushiro and Gillo's fighting had caused when she heard someone shout behind her.
"APORRO, COME BACK!"
It was Szayel.
But Aporro didn't stop, instead preparing herself to use sonido the second she was on even ground.
The moment she'd climbed out of the crater, though, an intense pressure slammed her facedown into the sand and she found herself being scooped up and thrown over a shoulder.
Aporro blinked down at the bare, grey-skinned back of the person carrying her, taking a moment to comprehend and starting to flail when a whip-like tendril brushed her face, "Gillo, let me go!"
The tendril brushed her face again, and Aporro blacked out.
Gillo glared down into the stunned face of the pink-haired male Arrancar who could only be Szayel Aporro, hefting the woman off of his shoulder and shoving her into his arms.
"You should keep a better eye on this wench." The Vasto Lorde growled, sneering in unbridled disgust.
Szayel blinked up at Gillo, still stunned, then nodded, "Yes, yes you're right…"
Gillo snorted, then glanced up at the doorway of El Sanctuario, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Szayel glanced, as well, blinking when he saw Stark staring down at the Vasto Lorde with an unfathomable expression.
After a moment, Stark lifted his hand and waved, "Berenzo. Yo."
Gillo twitched, growling, "Coyote Stark…"
Stark chuckled, then jumped down from the doorway and landed between Gillo and Szayel as they stepped back to make room for him, "What're you—" A flash of peach skin and green hair fell on top of Stark, making him urk and fall as Lilinette stood up top of him, grinning at Gillo.
"Gillo!" Lilinette burst, throwing herself at the Vasto Lorde and hugging him tightly.
Gillo twitched and growled, grabbing Lilinette by the back of her neck and tossing her aside carelessly, "Brat."
Ignoring Lilinette when she shrieked indignantly, Stark stood and brushed himself off, meeting Gillo's gaze evenly and nodding, "What are you here for?"
"My whelp." Gillo grunted, glancing at Aporro, "At least, I was…"
Stark followed his gaze, blinking at Aporro before looking up at Szayel questioningly.
Szayel shrugged, eyeing Gillo with a blatant air of distrust.
Gillo nodded, getting Stark's attention before jerking his head over his shoulder, in the direction Vicenta's cero had come from, "Let's go, Coyote. We're getting the woman's brat back."
Stark's brows shot up, but he didn't question it and followed the Vasto Lorde when he started walking.
Szayel blinked, again finding himself shocked but not saying anything.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Lilinette burst angrily.
Stark glanced back at her, shaking his head, "Nette, you stay here. I don't think this situation is so serious that I'll need to release…"
"You probably won't." Gillo grunted, glancing at Jushiro, "Shinigami, you're coming, too. Seal your zanpakuto and conserve your energy."
Jushiro blinked, but ultimately complied.
Szayel stared after them, blinking.
What had suddenly changed…?
Just what… in the hell was going on…?
Before the newly formed party of Gillo, Stark and Jushiro left the area, the Vasto Lorde looked back at Szayel pointedly.
"Tell the woman I'll get her daughter back in exchange for her continuing to protect Vaida."
Szayel blinked as the three disappeared.
After staring at where they had departed from for a moment, Szayel glanced down at his mate, sighing, "Such a strange ability you have, Aporro… This power of persuasion."
Fun in The Sanctuary~!
When the Light Go… Out…!
She never thought that this would actually happen…
Aporro never, ever thought she'd have to face it again, this unquestionably childish but uncontrollable thing…
Because they'd never had problems with the generators before. In fact, back in Las Noches, having a problem with the generators had never been even a remote question of possibility.
But, as Szayel had explained to her, El Sanctuario was much smaller than Las Noches, and it still housed all of his facilities; it had never really been intended to be used as a permanent lodging.
Of course he would be able to fix it, but problems were only to be expected.
However… being told about it doesn't make her feel any better.
Because Aporro… is…
…Well…
…She's afraid of the dark.
And when the lights (always on, just dimmed for when they go to sleep) suddenly go out, Aporro wakes immediately and tenses, her eyes wide and her breathing ragged.
When something shifts beside her, Aporro lunges and latches onto Szayel, trembling slightly and clamping her eyes shut when her mate twitches awake and curses.
"Aporro, let me go so I can go fix the generator…" Szayel mumbles, making weak, groggy attempts to pull away from her.
"Don't leave me." Aporro rasps.
Szayel groans, flopping back, "Not now, Aporro… I'm tired and I want to get this fixed so I can go back to sleep."
"L-Lumina and Verona are probably already going to do it, right?" Aporro tries to reason weakly, clinging to him tightly, "Let them. Don't leave…"
Szayel blinks, then sighs and relaxes again, mumbling, "What seems to be the problem, Aporro…?"
Aporro twitches, then sighs. There's no point in lying to him… So long as just he knows… "I… I'm afraid of the dark…"
Her confession is met with silence.
Then, Szayel is suddenly gone and Aporro is left alone.
She whimpers and sits up, looking around in the murky darkness, "Sz-Szayel…?"
When hands suddenly set on her shoulders from behind, she jumps and screams, spinning around and punching her mate in the gut when he laughs.
"You bastard!"
Szayel chuckled, "Ah, I finally have something to use against you…"
Before Aporro can snap at him, Szayel pulls her close and smothers her mouth with his, his mind reeling with all sorts of evil plans.
Maybe he'll have Lumina and Verona hold of on repairing the generators, just for a bit…