It's come to my attention that Chapter 10 was a double post of Chapter 9! Anyone know how long this has been the case (IE, was this originally the case?) Thank you to unsigned reviewer RandomGeek for alerting me to this very sad circumstance. It has been remedied. Chapter 10 is now the originally intended Chapter 10, complete with lemony goodness.

This chapter will be familiar to most of you, I think. This is a SPOILER ALERT! I've tried to be as close to the original material as I could for the meeting, although translations vary (and I don't read Japanese).

By the way, I found this so intensely boring to write that I will attempt to produce the Cliff Notes version of canon events in the future. So if you and up as bored reading this as I did writing it, rest assured, you won't have to slog through a faithful reproduction of events you've seen in the manga/anime again.

Chapter 14

Vellena stood attentively, observing the proceedings silently. The hall slowly filled, and finally two arrancar arrived together. She recognized Ulquiorra, who looked dwarfed next to an enormous, hulking beast of a man. He somewhat resembled a troll berserker in build. Except he was missing his right arm. The big guy dropped to his knee in a bow.

"We have returned, Aizen-sama." Stated Ulquiorra.

"Welcome back, Ulquiorra, Yammi. Show your brethren what you experienced in the human world," Lord Aizen replied.

"As you wish," the diminutive Espada intoned. And Vellena witnessed first-hand how Ulquiorra used his eye to transmit information. The Cuatro pulled his eye from its socket, held it out and crushed it. As the room filled with shards, Vellena saw, heard, and felt everything Ulquiorra had experienced in the world of the living.

A world full of humans, chock-full of strange structures and technologies, all of which Ulquiorra took in stride (but which shocked Vellena when she witnessed it – it was so very very different from Azeroth). A battle with a large human who was easily defeated, an orange-haired girl with a miraculous power, another orange-haired boy who swung between worthlessly weak and terrifyingly strong, yet who was nevertheless on the verge of being utterly destroyed by the arrancar. The intervention of a pair of powerful shinigami. Ulquiorra removing himself and an enraged Yammi from the scene.

"I see," Aizen spoke. "So that's why you decided he wasn't worth killing."

"Yes, sir. Your orders were to kill him if he looked like he might become an interference. Also—," Ulquiorra did not get a chance to finish whatever he was trying to say, for Grimmjow picked that moment to interrupt.

"That's weak." The Sexto projected his voice easily in the chamber. "If it were me, I would have destroyed them in one hit." The blue-haired man sneered. Vellena decided that if it was the intent of her liaison to piss off Ulquiorra, he was succeeding quite handily, despite the fact that the Cuatro seemed as stone faced as she could be.

"Grimmjow…" the smaller Espada rumbled, ice in his tone.

"If your orders included the term 'kill him', then I'm pretty fucking sure you should have killed him, right?" Grimmjow continued, apparently unfazed by his compatriot's anger.

Beside her, Shawlong made a small sound before interjecting. "… I agree. The boy is an enemy. If there wasn't any value in killing him, there was none in leaving him alive."

"And Yammy!" Grimmjow continued, apparently not finished inciting the room yet, "You got your ass kicked! You might be saying 'it wasn't worth killing him,' but all I hear is 'we couldn't kill him.'"

The big man glared at her liaison, resentment clear on his features. "Hey Grimmjow, weren't you paying attention? I got beat by sandal-guy and the dark chick, not by the brat."

"You really don't get it, do you?" Grimmjow's voice was full of sneering bravado. "I said I would kill them all with one attack."

"What was that?" Yammy snarled, only to be stilled by a single gesture from Ulquiorra.

"Enough. Grimmjow, you do understand that our problem is not the kid, right?" At Grimmjow's uncomprehending 'huh', the Cuatro continued. "Aizen-sama sent us to observe, not the kid's current state, but his rate of growth. He is potentially powerful, it's true, but his power is unstable because of it. If we leave him alone, he may just destroy himself, or end up one of ours. That's why I left him alive."

"That's why I keep saying that's bullshit! What if his power grows even larger than you've calculated and he becomes a real obstacle? Then what?!"

"If that happens, I'll simply destroy him." Ulquiorra's tone indicated that he thought it was unlikely. Grimmjow was speechless, for once. The Cuatro went on, "I see you have no further complaints."

Aizen spoke at last. "Despite what your brothers might say, I am satisfied with your work, Ulquiorra."

The tear-marked Espada bowed. "I am very grateful, Aizen-sama."

Vellena's sensitive ears caught a derisive 'che' from Grimmjow, who forbore to say anything more. Privately, Vellena agreed with him. It was foolish to leave an enemy at one's back, especially if you knew that enemy had the potential to grow into a problem. Knowing the law of perversity that seemed to rule the universe, that enemy would no doubt be the force that destroyed you in the end. She didn't think things were any different here. And judging by the way the boy had defended his comrades, he wasn't likely to willingly come over to Aizen's side.

Having watched the fight and all its attendant dynamics, she was starting to wonder about what she had been told about the shinigami and Aizen's purpose. The shinigami had fought defensively, and had seemed to be more concerned with reducing harm to their side than destroying Aizen's forces. However, she knew there were multiple stories to any war. She suspected there was more going on than she had been told, but she would bide her time. It wasn't her battle.

She suspected that part of Grimmjow's outburst came from jealousy. He didn't seem like the type to enjoy sitting around at home while his comrades in arms got into a good fight, not at all. These arrancar were a tangled nest of rivalries and power struggles, that much was sure.

"That girl," Aizen stated, interrupting the thoughts of the gathered arrancar (and guest), "has a very interesting power. Very interesting indeed. You've given us much to think about, Ulquiorra." With that, he seemed to dismiss the assembly. Arrancar began exiting the room. Grimmjow huffed quietly and stood.

"Come on, let's get the hell out of here. I don't want to sit around here any longer." Her liaison said.

On their way out of the room, the one she knew as Szayel approached them. She was aware of Grimmjow taking a challenging stance, but the pink-haired man merely gave a smug smile and ignored the belligerent Sexto.

"Vellena." Szayel stated, readjusting his glasses with a slight smile. "Aizen-sama has requested that I aid you in your return to your own world. I wish to run some tests, to see how we could go about returning you."

"Tests, huh? I'm coming." Grimmjow said.

"Absolutely not. You'd no doubt destroy delicate equipment, or ingest something you shouldn't, or otherwise become a nuisance. It was bad enough having you in one of my labs the other day, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let you rampage through them now." Szayel snapped. "If you really want, you can hover outside the door waiting while I run the tests." His voice was sickly sweet, mocking.

Grimmjow was silent, no doubt glaring away at the other man. Finally he humphed, "whatever," and stalked off. It looked like she would be accompanying Szayel to his lab. She had no concerns – she was starting to catch on to this business of sensing each other's presence and powers. Szayel would not stand against her, if it came to a challenge. And he could very well be her only ticket out of here. Best let him do whatever he had in mind.

The other arrancar gestured for her to follow, and she did.