I sat atop a little hill that my brother had brought me too. It over looked a good portion of the Seireitei, and the Rukongai districts. I leaned on Aerio's arm, my head resting on his shoulder as I ate a small sandwich. "So," I said as I swallowed, "What brought this on?"

He sighed, and I felt an irritating buzz in the back of my mind telling me something was wrong, "I've been thinking…"

"Ooh! That's a shocker," I giggles and poked his knee, "Aerio thinking!"

He grunted and nudged me playfully, "I was being serious."

"M'kay," I responded, "Continue please."

"As I said; I've been thinking… really its just pessimistic thoughts, but I have a feeling…" He stated and I took another bite of my sandwich. "What happens if I die today? Tomorrow? Any day? What will happen to you, and what will happen to me? Do I go to another place? Or do I get reincarnated?"

I choked on the bite I was taking, but managed to swallow it down, "Whoa, whoa, whoa." I said and turned to look at him, my emeralds to his sapphires. "Your thinking about what will happen when you die?"

"Yeah…" he sighed and flopped down on his back. "I just have a feeling that I'm going to die soon… if I do die, I want to be buried up here if possible…"

I reclined back too, so I could look at him. "You're not going to die Aerio. I wont let you, I promise. What ever happened to 'Where ever we go, were in this together' huh?"

"I know," he sighed, "but it's just a feeling. It's probably just a reaction to me stopping by the fourth. Someone died when I was there, and it freaked me out a bit."

I nodded and finished my sandwich, before I curled up next to him. "Were in this together Aerio, remember this, your never alone. I'm with you where ever you are. I, you, we wont die for a long, long time."

"Yeah.."

"Now gimme your sandwich!"

(Im..!.wheee.!...!)

Oh how wrong I had been. Not to long later, a large number of us from all divisions were sent out to obliterate a nest of hollows.

(..make...it)

I hopped along the trees of my home district, a couple of my division mates and other soul reapers from other divisions around me fighting an assortment of other hollows. My right arm supported a rather burly fellow that had taken a few too many hits to the head and ribs and the other held Elohcin, however I don't remember his name nor any of the others, minus a few that lived, that followed me for most died. I directed my jumps to the old herb clearing where our team of fourth division healers were located. We were in the middle of a hollow invasion, the nest had settled two miles North-West from the clearing, and were spawning out hundreds of hollows by the hour. I was fighting and ferrying my teammates, the ones that couldn't make it themselves.

"Take him." I said as I dumped my load on a set of healers. I took off again, determined to find my brother. I had yet to find him, and I know he's here.

I swung my blade trough the mast of a hollow, and bounced off its already disappearing shoulder. I bound through the battlefield, passing through the masses of hollows and bodies clashing. I felt a small inkling in my mind telling me to head to our old home, so I went.

Once I got there, I found it to be a blood bath. I saw dead things everywhere, and a trail of blood leading into our old cave. I followed it, deep into one of the many caverns; killing little hollows every now and then. When I reached the spot where the blood ended, I found Aerio lying behind a boulder. As I drew closer and pulled his semi conscious bloodied form to my torso, I noticed many things that make a not form in my throat and tears spring to my eyes. His left eye was scratched, from the brow down, his right swelled like a blimp, and his face was bruised. His intestines and other organs were peaking out of a deep gouge, and the bones of his left shin was poking trough the skin. I strapped his sword, Jyozenmaru, in between my twin blades.

"Brother, Aerio, come on, say something please?" I asked as I shifted him to pick him up.

"mmm… 'cedes." He said in a whispered tone, "…'urts…bad…"

"I know big brother, I know," I stated quietly and scooped him up. He gave a little pained noise as I struggle a little; "I'm gona fine some'n to make you better, yah'hear?" my voice clogged slightly, giving it an old twang my Mama had used to say came from deep with in my DNA.

I started running. Dodging bodies, slipping in blood and other organs. I was covered in blood and so was Aerio. Said boy was barely keeping conscious and I was rambling to keep him with me. Its kind of cliché, I know, but when your brother or other family is dying in front of you, it's hard to keep from rambling. "You remember, when we were younger, and I had my first attack? Do you remember what you did?"

"Yeah." My brain was now translating all of his half words to whole ones, "I freaked and wouldn't leave our side 'cause I though you were dieing. That's when I said that we're in this together."

"Yeah." I said. I was almost there. "Remember, just before we came here, what did we agree on?"

He let out a gurgling wheeze and said, "Where ever we go…"

"Were in this together." I finished as I landed in the clearing. I rushed him to the nearest healer, who happened to be the Four division lieutenant and said, "Please, save him, its my brother!"

"I'll do my best." She said and set him on a small cot thing, and I clutched at his hand. "Go help the others, it's almost over. We'll fix him, okay?"

I nodded, and left. I didn't go far, I was just keeping a short distance from the clearing, and was keeping any hollows that made it here from going any farther. Really nothing happened for about forty-five minutes, and then we heard a boom. The boom signaled that the nest had been exterminated. When I stepped back into the clearing, Unohana came up to me and pulled me to the edge to talk.

"Most of the men you brought here for us to heal did not make it. The injuries were too severe for my subordinates to heal." She said to me.

I nodded, "How is my brother?"

She gave me a long tired look that betrayed her youthful looks, giving her an aged weary look, "He's still with us, but I don't know for how much longer. There is damage around his heart, and if he does survive, he will never be a soul reaper again." She grabbed my wrist and began to lead me to him.

When I saw him, topless and lying on a cot free of blood, I broke away from her grasp and ran to him. As I kneeled by his side, I saw a pale ice blue orb peek open and look at me. His face had been healed as much as it could, and his intestines weren't out of his body, but the discoloration I hadn't seen before on his torso gave me the knowledge he was bleeding internally. I reached up and traced my fingers over his cheekbone, "Hey Aerio, how are you doing?"

He gave me a small twitch in his lips for a smile and murmured, "Hurts… they can't fix me, can they?"

"No," Unohana murmured from behind me, "its too dangerous for you. There's damage near your heart, and you would undoubtedly die quicker if we were to try and fix it. There is still a slight chance you can survive, though you will never be able to resume the duties of an active soul reaper."

He closed his open eye and cringed as tears trekked down from it, "So I'm going to die…"

"You still have a chance to live!" I stated, as Unohana walked away to tend another patient.

"Mercedes…" Aerio began slowly and quietly, "I can feel it, I'm going to die."

I gave a choked noise, and traced my index finger up his temple and wiped the track of tears away. "Where ever we go, were in this together."

"Together." He agreed.

I gave a watery smile to him, and brushed a strand of his brunette locks off his face.

"Jyozenmaru…" I pulled it off my back and laid it on his chest.

His arm drew upward and stroked my face. "I'm still with you even when I'm gone."

"I know…" I took his hand and curled it around his blade.

"See you on the other side." His eye started to fade.

"Yeah, see you there bro." I said. When his chest stilled, I reached up and close his eye. "Good bye, Aerio, brother mine."