Chapter 13: Depths
(Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing! This one will have one more chapter after this, so it's almost done. Hope you've enjoyed the adventure. Love to all, Spunky)
Ren felt as though his body floated, suspended on a warm, soothing breeze. He couldn't move or open his eyes at first, but he could sense that he wasn't alone. All around him, he sensed, were other bits and pieces of sentient life that had been gathered and fed to the glowing orb called hougyoku.
At first, he was frightened, so frightened that his heart pounded achingly hard. He breathed quickly in and out, in and out, struggling against the weight that impeded him. After a time, he was able to open his eyes, only to find that they were of little use in the grayness and cloudiness that surrounded him. But although he couldn't see well, he could sense the odds and ends of souls that populated the core of the hougyoku, could hear their mingled voices and could feel the desperation that permeated the very air around them.
Ren...Aizen Ren...Ren...Ren...
"Who are you?" Ren pleaded softly, flinching as he felt the little bits of reiatsu brush longingly against his more radiant soul, "Are you the ones he fed to the hougyoku? The lost souls?"
Not souls, the voices whispered in unison, We are only part of souls...the part that dreams, the part that wants, the part that desires. Do you know why souls have desires, Ren?
He turned his body slowly, closing his eyes again and reaching out to brush his fingers against the little reiatsu clouds. And he found that each felt unique and powerful in its own way, each presented a different strong urge or want he could feel.
"I don't know why we have desires," Ren confessed, "All they ever seemed to do was get me into trouble."
Desire allows us to form strong ambitions...goals that lead to change, the voices whispered to him, All of us are the voices that called out from within the souls we inhabited, to change those souls in some way.
"But not all desires are good," Ren said softly, feeling an ache of sadness as he felt the close presence of Aizen Sousuke's soul that held the hougyoku, "Aizen Sousuke's desires led to ambitions that hurt all of you. He stole you from the souls that held you. He imprisoned you here."
Yes.
"But why...why do you help him? Aren't you angry that he took you against the will of your souls?"
We were...and we are again. Aizen Sousuke took us and gathered us within the orb. He whispered to us his desire to become king, and we saw that he had the ability to do so. We trusted his strength, but it fell short, and we were left trapped in his body. He cannot become king in the form he inhabits, but if he uses your child to make a stronger body for himself, he would again be able to reach for the crown. We have no other way to have our own desires met, so we must help him.
"But it's wrong!" Ren insisted, "You know it's wrong! This baby inside me..."
That soul in you is not yet sentient, the voices explained, It is pure possibility. It is born of other strong shinigamis and will house the potential to be greater than Aizen, greater in power than any being that inhabits the known worlds. Allowing Aizen Sousuke to inhabit that body means that we will be bonded to that greatness. Why shouldn't we want that? If we couldn't be realized within the souls we were part of, shouldn't we embrace the completion we were denied before?
"They are right, Ren," Aizen's voice intoned, "Their only hope of being fulfilled lies in me."
Ren twisted his body, turning his head this way and that, searching through narrowed eyes until he spotted the glowing form of Aizen Sousuke approaching him.
"That's not true! You're a liar!" Ren accused him, reeling as Aizen floated towards him, moving effortlessly through the hazy environs, "Don't come near me! I'll...!"
"You'll what?" Aizen asked, smirking, "You'll use my zanpakutou against me like you did before, when you entered my inner world? You have to know that I won't be surprised this time. Even though your power is a deadly one, as Kuchiki Tetsuya learned, it is a young power. You haven't come near mastering it yet, so in the face of one like me who has fully mastered his powers, you have no hope of succeeding."
Aizen came to a stop, hovering in front of him as Ren held up his hands defensively.
"Don't come any closer!" he warned Aizen.
"Or what?" Aizen mocked him, "You have no power that I can't overcome. Why don't you try something and see where it gets you?"
"I'm not falling into that trap!" Ren snapped, "I'll find a way to defeat you."
"But how?" Aizen reasoned, matter-of-factly, "You might have been able to use my power against me, had you entered my inner world, but you didn't. You entered the hougyoku instead. And you see, there is no zanpakutou for you to control. Your power is useless here. But go ahead. Try to attack me. You can't, can you?"
Ren loosed a powerful kido blast, only to watch in dismay as Aizen's reiatsu swelled dangerously around his body, constricting around Ren's trapped form and beginning to squeeze.
"Do you understand now?" Aizen asked, gazing down into Ren's terrified eyes and increasing the pressure until the younger man was left unable to move at all and gasping just to breathe, "You are helpless before me...here, and everywhere else. There is nothing you can do."
"Let me go, you son of a bitch!" Ren screamed, struggling against the heavy pressure all around him, "I won't let you win!"
"Ren, don't you understand, you will win too," Aizen explained in a maddeningly calm tone, "Yes, you will lose your child, but we will gain a place in the heavens, and from there, we can change the worlds...anything we desire, we can make happen!"
"I'm not letting you take my baby!" howled Ren, forcing his stiff arms into wrapping around his torso protectively.
Ren's mind reeled as he felt the little bits of soul close in and begin to strike his trapped body from all directions. And with each touch, the whispers of their voices assaulted his mind.
Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!
"N-no!" he gasped, tightening his arms around himself and curling into a ball, "I won't let you!"
"It's all right," Aizen said soothingly, "They just want to enter the baby's reiatsu. They will open the way for the reiatsu to grow, so that I can enter it and use it to construct my new form. Relax. Let them in, Ren."
"No!" Ren panted, his chest heaving and his arms and legs shaking with effort, "No, stop!"
Let us in! Let us in! Let us in! the soul bits chanted, pressing in all around him.
Ren shut his eyes tightly, screaming as he felt the tiny soul bits begin to invade his struggling body, so many all at once that he couldn't possibly expel them all. But just as he felt his defenses breaking, a huge explosion of reiatsu roared through the area, scattering the invading soul bits and tearing him free of Aizen's control. He spun out of control for a moment, before taking a breath and righting himself. And as his senses cleared, he found himself staring at the backs of two shinigamis that had taken up a position between Aizen and him.
Byakuya? he mused inwardly, gazing breathlessly at the Kuchiki leader's lovely silhouette before moving on to his taller, spiky haired companion, Ichigo? But...?
"What a useless display!" Aizen mocked the two, "Impressive, yes, but you will accomplish nothing. I will simply kill the two of you and finish what I started."
He paused, looking them over curiously.
"But before I do kill you, will you tell me how you managed to enter this place? This...the hougyoku's inner world, is under my control. Ren could enter because of his unique power, but you two..."
Moving together, Byakuya and Ichigo wordlessly released huge blasts of reiatsu, Byakuya's in the form of twin lotus bursts and Ichigo's from the end of his extended blade.
"We didn't come here to talk!" Ichigo scolded him as Aizen was driven back several steps under the force of the attack, "We came here to stop you, and that's what we're going to do!"
"I don't know how," Aizen mused, raising a hand to hold off a second volley, "You are powerful. That's what made it possible for me to use the baby in Ren's body. Think about it. This body is made of mine and Kisuke's, the two greatest minds in the worlds, combined with your bodies and Ren's. All of that potential is bound into this child's developing soul. It will be easy to harness that and use it to remake myself. In a few minutes, you two will be dead and I will take on a form that no one can stand against! You would have lived longer if you had only not been so impulsive, coming in here where you will only fall to my power mingled with that of the hougyoku!"
"We aren't going to allow this," Byakuya said, firing another blast of kido that forced Aizen back another step, "We will find a way to stop you!"
"Not likely," Aizen chuckled, "You are wasting your time and mine. But just a move of my hand and you will be swept aside."
Aizen's reiatsu pulsated around him, throbbing and swelling.
"Have you noticed?" the traitor asked them sedately, "My reiatsu is even stronger than before. I have begun to draw on the power of the soul pieces that the hougyoku ingested. As I take over the reiatsu within Ren's body, "the soul bits will compact and form my new zanpakutou...one that will be unequaled by any that ever existed."
Ren stiffened at the words, his mind working furiously to latch on to the tiny bit of hope that they created.
Those broken bits of old lost hopes and desires will come together to form a zanpakutu!
"Hold him back!" he roared, earning quick looks of surprise from the two shinigamis who protected him, "Just hold him off for a minute or two. I know what to do to stop him!"
Byakuya's dark grey eyes locked on his for a moment and tears leaked onto Ren's face at how beautiful he looked, surrounded by the eerie lights of the soul bits and a heavy breeze billowing his clothes and long swirls of raven black hair. Beside him, Ichigo's eyes glowed fiercely, his skin whitening dangerously as the bright orbs turned golden and his hollow mask began to form.
"We won't let him through," the two men promised.
Byakuya raised his blade, tip down and let it fall.
"Bankai, Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
More tears streamed down Ren's face as the pink swords of Byakuya's senkei closed around the three others, buying him the precious moments he needed.
They're strong, but if Aizen is able to draw on the strength of the hougyoku, they will die. I can't let that happen...but there's only one way...
He focused on the little bits of soul clustered around his body and pushing against him to get inside.
Come in, he invited them, Come in and I'll show you what your hopes and dreams should be!
Screams like firebells escaped him as the soul fragments passed through and into his soul, circling all through him and mingling their voices as they spoke to him.
Thank you...
Thank you...
Thank you...
Because of you, we will have hope.
Because of you, we will have power.
Because you, we will have life again!
Ren felt a surge of wonder as the soul fragments wheeled and spun inside of him, and their long lost hopes and desires flooded his weary mind and aching heart.
You are welcome here, he promised them, Here, inside me, you will find what was stolen from you. But, you don't have to give yourselves to the demon who stole you away and trapped you. Instead, you can form a different sword, one that is filled with new life and great potential. Aizen won't control you anymore. And the master you will have, will be one who will love and respect you as you deserve. Look at the ones out there, working to protect you now. They are noble men, powerful and loyal men. They wield their weapons, aiming them at peace, harmony and love. Those are desires we can all understand, aren't they? And you won't find those things if you follow Aizen Sousuke.
Please...
Please help me!
Only together can we stop him!
Please help us to defeat him!
Sound exploded forcefully in Ren's ears, a deafening roar as the pink swords enclosing Aizen, Byakuya and Ichigo shattered and erupted into dust.
"No!" Ren sobbed, watching as Byakuya's bloodied form slowly collapsed, leaving Aizen locked against Ichigo's straining hollow form, "Please, help us!"
Deep in the core of his soul, fiery reiatsu began to flare, burning him until he couldn't hold back ringing howls of agony. In front of him, Aizen drove his weapon through Ichigo's hollowfied body and shoved him away, clearing the path to Ren. Ren steeled himself, watching with terrified eyes as Aizen strode forward, smiling devilishly.
"You see," he chided Ren, "They only threw their lives away for nothing. Nothing is what you gained from defying me, my son. Now, I will have that new soul. I will use it make my new body, and I will use the hougyoku's power to make a new world for us."
Ren's teeth clenched and his lips curled in fury as he raised a weapon that no longer looked anything like his own zanpakutou. Instead, the new sword glowed with the conflagration of the myriad of souls that had been eaten by the hougyoku, all of them howling in triumph and lending their power as Ren pointed the weapon at his surprised father and loosed a few last words.
"Not if I use that power first!"
Aizen's brown eyes rounded as the blade glowed and hummed with life, screaming its hatred at what the rogue shinigami had done and promising death. As bright blue power erupted from the sword, he threw all of his strength against it, shielding himself, but roaring in dismay as he was thrown forcefully backwards and expelled from within the hougyoku's inner world. Ren screamed a final time as fire seemed to rip through everything, and he wondered if the end had come. He sobbed out the names of his lovers, wondering if they, too, were being burned alive. But as despair tore at his heart, he heard the many voices from before join and very slowly become one.
Thank you. We are grateful to you, Aizen Rhazhah Ketsuekibara. We go now to join with your child's soul...to be that power that will always be with him. Together, we will seek our hopes and dreams together, not as the slaves Aizen Sousuke would have made us. Goodbye for a while.
We will meet again...
Ren felt himself falling helplessly, his vision swiftly fading and his mind settling into a deep, impenetrable stillness. He wondered if he still lived as he floated in darkness and unbroken quiet. He wanted to cry as he remembered watching Byakuya and Ichigo fall, protecting him. He felt again their touches on his body as the resonance made them one, creating that beautiful bit of hope that still radiated somewhere deep inside him. He clung to that tiny spot of life, so very tired, but unable to sleep, not knowing if either of his two soul resonants still lived.
Very slowly, life crept back into his body, chasing away the ice that had inhabited his veins and leaving him limp and dozing, nearly unaware. He felt a cool hand on his face and heard a familiar voice that drew a ragged sob from down in his chest.
"You are going to be fine now," Byakuya's voice breathed into his ear, "Sleep, Ren."
"B-byakuya!" he gasped.
"Didn't you hear him?" Ichigo asked, appearing slowly out of the haze as Ren managed to open his eyes, "Byakuya told you to rest."
"Ai-aizen Sousuke?" he croaked.
Byakuya's lips curved into a handsome smile.
"Imprisoned again," he answered, "Whatever you did, shattered the hougyoku. It broke apart and Aizen lost his immortality."
"He was stunned by your attack," Ichigo went on, "I don't know what you did, but it knocked him out and we subdued him. He's going back to Muken, and he's not getting out again!"
"Tetsuya and the baby?" Ren inquired sleepily.
"Both safe," Byakuya assured him.
"And...m-my...our baby?" he asked worriedly, moving his hand sluggishly to rest on his belly.
"I'm sure you can feel it," Byakuya said, touching the hand that rested on his abdomen, "Our baby is alive and well. You have nothing more to fear, but you need to rest."
"Wh-what about the Gotei 13?" Ren persisted, "Won't they still be after me because of what happened in the Rukongai before?"
"Kyouraku Soutaichou has already been here," Byakuya informed him, "He said that you have proven your ability and trustworthiness by helping to return Aizen Sousuke to their custody. You are expected, of course, to submit to proper training to learn to control your power, but our Soutaichou was willing to leave that in the hands of your other father and us."
"Ah," Ren sighed drowsily, what a relief!"
"Rest now," Byakuya insisted, lying down against one side as Ichigo joined him on the other. Embraced closely by his two resonants and finally at peace, Ren managed a little smile and drifted back to sleep.