Chapter 30

"Ken-chan! Ken-chan! It's Bunny-chan! Just like Tōshiō said!" piped a little girl's voice. Vellena watched as the scarred, belled, eye-patched mountain of a human approached her resolutely; pink-haired girl in lieutenant's robes perched on his shoulder. She was completely unsurprised to see the white captain's robe on this ominous man. Where he came from, she had no clue, but she knew why he was here.

"If you're going to kill me, do it quick." Vellena said. The man came to a stop, staring down balefully at you.

"You're the one Hitsugaya told me about, the one who isn't an arrancar. I was gonna fight you, but someone already beat the shit out of you." He said. She was vaguely surprised to hear only a slight disappointment in his voice – no curses, no anger, and no tooth-gritting determination to end her pitiful existence; just a little bit of disappointment, like someone who just found out that the last sweet-bun got taken by his best friend or something.

"Nnoitra." She said. She doubted the name meant anything to him. "He'll be back to kill me when he's done with Grimmjow." She gestured at the fighting Sexto.

"That's one of these Espada?" asked the giant man.

"The fifth." She said. He grinned. She could see a twinkle of bloodlust in his eye.

"That's great! I can't wait to meet him." He licked his lips. "Where did your armour go?"

"Destroyed beyond my ability to repair. Hitsugaya did that." She replied. This was so fucking bizarre. She could feel by this guy's reiatsu that he could obliterate her in a matter of seconds, especially weakened, injured, and stripped of her powers as she was right now. Yet here he was, chatting her up casually, mildly disappointed that he wasn't going to get a chance to kick her ass in a fair fight. It felt surreal.

"You left this behind." He reached behind his back and pulled out her mace. She stared at it for a moment before reaching to accept it.

"Thank you."

"It's really a shame you're so beat up. I was looking forward to seeing how you fought."

"I'm sorry." She said. Gods this was so fucking weird.

"So why did an Espada do this to you? I thought you guys were supposed to be on the same side."

"Not any more. It appears that I am no longer welcome here." She said, and she knew it was true. There was no going back now. Whatever happened to her or Grimmjow, she wouldn't be going back to the way things had been the last month. Either Nnoitra would kill them, or someone else would. Someone noticed when she visited Orihime the other day, and someone put two and two together. Her loyalty was suspect – that Nnoitra was released with that device was proof of that. Grimmjow wasn't going to get off easily either – if he won against Kurosaki he might survive, but if he lost and wasn't killed, well… he had been demoted once for disobedience. She didn't think he'd survive it this time.

"So what are you going to do?" The man-mountain sounded genuinely curious.

"Try to survive the next few hours, regain my power, and go home. Back to Azeroth, the world I'm from." She replied calmly. "I'm sick of Aizen's treachery." She sighed. There was no doubt in her mind he was behind at least some of this. That man was too manipulative, too canny. How she had ever trusted him, she didn't know.

"Damned kidō-wielding prick. I never trusted that bastard." He was silent for a moment as they watched the fight. "What happened to your power?"

"Nnoitra had a device. It took my reiatsu, my rune power, everything except a few night elf tricks I was born with. It's starting to come back now, but it's not enough." She sighed.

"That doesn't sound very fair, or like much of a challenge."

"No. Nnoitra is not a very fair person, and he wasn't interested in a challenge."

"I want to meet this guy."

"Stick around, and you'll get your chance. He's waiting for this to finish, then he intends to kill Grimmjow. He'll probably kill Kurosaki too if the kid isn't already dead. Nnoitra's kind of a fucker like that." She remarked.

"It's really too bad I don't know any healing kidō. I could heal you up and then we could have a go. I don't know any kidō though." He said, conversationally.

"I am sorry to disappoint." She stated.

"Ken-chan! I see Big Boobies!" the little girl, who had watched their exchange with more or less silence, cut in. She was bouncing on the giant man's back, pointing to the top of a half-destroyed red pillar. The man turned his head and followed the little girl's pointing finger.

"So you did, Yachiru-chan!" he smiled. Vellena didn't feel any safer looking at that smile. "Orihime could patch you up. What did you say your name was?" he turned his attention back to the night elf.

"Vellena Nightwind, Knight of the Ebon Blade."

"I'm Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the 11th."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Zaraki." She said.

At that moment, the fight between Grimmjow and Kurosaki came to its conclusion, with Kurosaki grabbing the limp form of Grimmjow before the blue-haired arrancar could plummet to the ground. They sank to the sands.

Vellena sighed. "Stupid, pig-headed, obsessed idiot." She muttered.

"Which one?" asked Captain Zaraki. "I thought you weren't friends with any of them anymore."

She sighed again. "Grimmjow, and… I don't know. I'm not friends with any of the others, but… Grimmjow is a special case. Besides, they're not likely to go easy on him either. This is twice now he's broke ranks. Last time he lost his arm over it."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

What was she going to do about it? She looked at the still form of Grimmjow lying in the sand, peripherally aware that the battered shinigami boy was rising to the top of the pillar to retrieve Orihime (and another little girl; seriously, what was with all the little girls in Hueco Mundo?). What did she feel right now? Sorrow. Everything was coming crashing down. She was still half certain they were both going to end up dead before the day was out. She didn't want that. She didn't want to see Grimmjow die. Did she love him? She still didn't know. But she didn't want to see him die; and she no longer wished to stay here in Las Noches. Those were the only two things she knew.

"I don't—," she began, and cut off when Grimmjow rose once more, releasing his resurrección in a blue buzz, once again resuming his old, familiar form. She saw him take a few steps towards Kurosaki, clearly intent on continuing until he died. "Goddamn idiot, he's going to get himself killed." She said. And then she stiffened, freezing in shock as Nnoitra's oh-so-familiar and oh-so-hated weapon came from out of nowhere and cut Grimmjow down. She hissed in anger. "Nnoitra!"

"That's him?" Zaraki asked, following the weapon to its wielder with his eyes. "Doesn't look like much."

But she was already gone, stumbling towards the battlefield with death in her heart, pulling Sanguiferrous from her bags. Her power was returning. Enough to use the Runeblade – she could feel her body moving more easily, the aches fade to nothing as she gripped it. The red veil rose in her eyes. It was time to end this.