Hello! Okay, so since it all looped back to "42 days ago" last time, I am now done time jumping. I am, however, keeping track of the countdown to the Vandenreich attack on Soul Society as you will notice in this chapter but it is chronological from here on out!

Present- Hueco Mundo- Three Days remaining until the attack on Soul Society.

Sheets flew up in a violent fury and the patient woke feeling a horror and dread deeper than anything he ever imagined possible. He tried to breath but the air was cold and thin and the dark room around him spun uncontrollably. He felt his nakedness—his body was clothed but his spirit torn wide open, it felt like he'd been cut in half, and his mind couldn't cope with the loss, the agony. He felt that moment he'd been torn in two, and it wouldn't leave, it wouldn't stop playing over and over in his head. And before that he couldn't remember anything but pain. He felt chains, he smelt blood, but nothing beyond that, no memories of what his zanpakuto's name was, what it had felt to be one. He could see faces and names, but felt nothing, no emotions with these memories.

"What...how..." the room stilled enough for him to rise.

"Shhh, Grimmjow." the dark voice rippled in his head and fell back into the wall recoiling from it. No one was here, he was alone, but it was inside of him, gripping him. "Remember, you were saved."

He saw himself on the table in the meeting room, he saw his own blood and he saw that dark framed face, smiling down on him, and he knew he had been saved.

"That's right," he calmed himself, standing up again, the panic receding. He tried to let it all slip away, but as he moved away from the wall, his pant leg snagged on a piece of equipment, tugging tight and for a single second he could see her face staring up at him, hear her shrieking laugh or mournful howls and more than anything feel her tiny fingers wrapped in his hakama in fear, or anger, comfort, or love.

And even though the memory was already starting to slip away, so was that darkness the shadow king had wrapped him in.

Three Days remaining- World of the Living

"You can't seriously plan to keep me tied up in my own home."

"Shut up." Renji stood above the teen, hands on hips and sour look on his face. "I should be preparing for the attack with my squad but now I gotta babysit you because you're such an ass."

"Then let me go." Ichigo said from his bed where the many bindings on his body glowed.

"Nope, orders." The lieutenant sat back on Ichigo's chair at his desk and let out a lengthy sigh. "This sucks."

"Don't you think we should be doing something instead of just waiting?"

"That's not for us to decide."

"That's not how you felt last time."

"We were rescuing Orihime. This is different."

"No it's not!"A piercing voice chimed in, bursting through the door, Rukia right behind the excited child. "This time Ichigo has to rescue Grimmjow!"

Renji just stared at her and Ichigo sighed having heard this several times already.

"Sorry, Nel, I don't think that's going to happen."

Her features scrunched up and the tears began. "WHAAA!" Renji covered his ears as her shrill sobs filled the room.

"Ichigo, why did you do that!" He hollered over the girl but he already knew it was to punish himself and Rukia. The female Soul Reaper set her hand on the child's head and tried to get her to stop.

She quieted down some after a few minutes.

"Hey, when did she stop talking with a lisp?" Renji asked.

"I asked her the same thing," Ichigo answered, "She said it annoyed Grimmjow so she got rid of it."
"Geeze, that guy, I don't get it."

"I can't say I do either." Nel had talked alot about Grimmjow and had told them what she knew of the Vandenreich but he knew there was still so much she hadn't said, like exactly what had happened right before she arrived. She kept telling them Grimmjow needed to be rescued but she didn't say just what they'd been doing to him.

"Do you feel better now?" Rukia asked when Nel's noises subdued to mere sniffles.

"Yes, Nel knows what she has to do now."

"Do? What is it, Nel?"

"Nel is going back to Hueco Mundo, and she is going to save Grimmjow herself!"

"Nel, you can't." Rukia said softly.

"Well if nasty shinigami won't do it, who else will? Who else will help Grimmjow get his soul back?"
They all stiffened at this. Ichigo sat up as much as his bindings would allow. "Nel...what does that mean? What happened to his soul?"

Her bottom lip trembled, the water was rising up in her round eyes again. "that man...Nel was hiding for so long, waiting to rescue Grimmjow. He told Nel to stay there and Nel did, but there were other tunnels and she followed the noises to that room where they were hurting him..." they all listened in stunned silence to her description of what the king of the Vandenreich had done to the sixth espada. When Nel related his words that he planned to do this to the Soul Reapers, Renji at once pulled out his soul pager to relay this information.

And then she explained her escape.

"Nel tried to save him." she wept out, new sobs taking her, "but Nel was stupid and it was a trap. The dark man tried to kill Nel and Grimmjow," she sniffed deep, "Grimmjow saved Nel!" She wailed and broke into terrible sobs. Rukia held her gently but they needed to know the end of her story.

"He saved you, that's good, isn't it Nel?" She prompted.

"NO!" She shook her head. "Because he broke it, he broke his sword and Nel felt it. Nel saw it disappear and then Nel ran away! Nel was so scared she ran away!"

"Shhh." Rukia pulled her back into a hug. "You did what Grimmjow wanted, it's okay."

But there was a sudden flare of spiritual pressure and Rukia found herself on the floor. "NO!" the arrancar child screamed.

"Renji stop her!" Ichigo cried form his bed but even as the red headed lieutenant made a grab for her the window above Ichigo smashed and the crying child was gone. Renji leaped past Ichigo but stopped at the sill.

"What are you doing, go after her!" The human demanded.

"I can't..." the lieutenant breathed, "she already went through the Garganta."

Three Days Remaining- Hueco Mundo

Grimmjow sat in silence while the medical staff went over his condition with their lord. They'd worked hard to bind up the wound at the base of his neck and replenish his strength. They said something about how long the process of turning him had taken and despite their healing what tolls that might have taken on his body. He couldn't really remember how long he'd been on the table, the whole memory was unclear like everything else before the moment he'd sworn loyalty to the Vandenreich.

When they said he was cleared to leave, he stood up to go with the king but passed by a mirror. There was no hiding his reaction when he jumped in surprise at seeing himself.

"Grimmjow, what is it?" The king asked, seeing azure eyes wide and taking himself in. It was true, he had gone through a dramatic physical change, having lost so much weight in those twenty days, not to mention all the scars on him now. But the shadow king got the impression that that was not what had startled him.

"Is that...me?" Grimmjow almost whispered.

"Yes, Grimmjow, did you forget what you looked like?"

"I uh..." It was clear Grimmjow was seeing himself for the first time.

"Interesting, he lost all sense of self image, it would seem, when he turned. Make a note of it." The king ordered the medical staff and then lay a hand on his newest soldier's shoulder. "Come Grimmjow, it's okay. Come with me, we have work to do."

"...yes sir." Grimmjow slowly tore his eyes from the mirror and followed after his king. They went straight to a meeting- not in the old meeting hall since it had found another purpose- but in Aizen's old throne room. It was more appropriate, really, since there were many more than ten in attendance.

Grimmjow had been instructed to stand off to one side, behind the king and to observe and listen. It was his first time seeing the masses of his army—though this was still only his highest ranking soldiers. There were many different faces in the crowd, many different types of spiritual pressure and he wondered where they were all from. He himself had converted, so he guessed they were all beings who had chosen to be loyal to the Vandenreich, but he couldn't be sure.

They discussed the invasion plan, which, to his surprise, the king announced their newest soldier, Grimmjow, would be joining them. Their leader then used this as a segue to introduce Grimmjow- the first re-born soldier. Everyone seemed to know what this mean and a reaction went through the crowd and then the King stood and proclaimed how glorious it would be when the likes of Yamamoto of the Gotei Thirteen also bowed down to him and told him every last secret the shinigami had to hide.

The meeting ended, Grimmjow was excused. He started walking down the hall, not thinking where he was going, the meeting running through his head over and over. He knew their plans, he knew they were going to convert the Soul Reapers, and he knew he had converted, but...he kept thinking about Halibel, and trying to remember what he himself had endured. He had fought, but now he couldn't remember why. He sighed long and came to a halt outside a room. For a long moment he didn't know where he had wandered, he was far from the main base of operations of the Vandenreich, but then he pushed the door open.

It was his old room, where he'd still come even after Aizen's defeat. How had he forgotten that? He looked at his bed, there were still bottles of sake all around it. And in the corner was a pile of blankets and pillow far too small to be of any use to him. Nel. Her image came and went in a flash but the feelings that came with it lasted longer. He spun around, suddenly feeling cold and exposed. What was he doing? Why had he let them do this to him? Why wasn't he fighting them? He reached to his side and felt nothing where his zanpakutp should be.

Just like when he'd woken in the night, the memories of that moment struck him like a physical force and he suddenly trying to shut them out at any cost- forget, even if it meant losing himself. But he fell next to those ruffled blankets and he could see her, he could remember her and he could remember Halibel and Yammy and even that damn dog.

"They were my allies." He said to the empty room. His body and mind were numb. It wasn't that those memories had stirred emotions, he simply felt emptiness. But in this moment he knew exactly why he felt that emptiness.

The table.

The chains.

The sword and the blood.

But most of all that dark cloaked figured watching him day by day as he destroyed him.

He had to move now, before he lost his sight of the truth again. He was in a borderland between the mental breakdown of understanding what had actually happened to him and the that numb existence that allowed him relief but made him a mindless soldier. He didn't know how long this clarity would last, he had to act.

Halibel jerked at the sound of the door banging open so violently and it caused more blood to spill down on the table around her. She swore under her breath and waited for the intruder to make himself known.

"Hal..Halibel!" She felt the vibrations in the table when he jumped up raced over to her.

"Grimmjow!" She couldn't look up to see him but that voice was definitely his. "You remember?"

"I don't know for how long." He had no sword to cut her down with and thinking of this and seeing her caused him to feel the terrible pain inside him again. He staggered back from her, gabbing his head.

"GRIMMJOW!"

"I can't...how...tell me what to do before I lose it."

"Just rip them down, Grimmjow, it doesn't matter, my zanpakuto is still strong, it won't shatter."

"Okay." He braced himself, trying to keep his grip and jumped up, striking the chains where they connected with the ceiling. His fingers were still sharp, he was strong enough to do this at least. She cried out when the chains fell and their weight dragged her sword down her back. But he caught the sword before it fell further and broke the chains that held it against her tanned skin. She fell on the table before him and he let her zanpakuto drop, taking a few steps back.

"Grimmjow, stay with me." She said behind her mask, struggling to pick her blade up with her wounded hands.

"I..." he shook his head. "Right, come here." He put his arm under hers and helped her up. She was struggling so he put his another arm around her waist as well and got her off the table. "I can't focus..." the battle in his mind was too much and he came to a dead stop.

"Just keep going forward, I'll tell you what to do."

"Okay." He took them toward the door, but before he could reach the handle it opened.

"Fell for the same trick twice, Grimmjow, shame on you. This is just pathetic."

Seeing the king before him and back in that dark presence he was completely frozen. The king saw the transformation coming over him.

"That's right Grimmjow, what are you doing?" He said, prompting the obedient soldier he'd created to take back control.

The light in his blue eyes faded. Grimmjow looked sideways at the blonde espada in his grasp and she felt his hands tighten around her.

"Grimmjow don't listen to him."

"She's a witch, Grimmjow, she wants you under her spell, but we liberated you, remember?"

The hands supporting her were suddenly gone and Grimmjow let her drop, recoiling as if repulsed by her.

"My lord, I'm sorry," he clutched his head, "I...I am confused."

"Yes, you are, we will have to fix that won't we?" But he was leering down at Halibel. "I can see what you are thinking, don't even try it."

But there was no bone in her body that would let her go down without a fight. She rose, despite all the pains in her body, the toll her spirit had taken in the last weeks, and pointed her zanpakuto at him.

"Grimmjow, remember Pantera, remember what he took from you. Remember Yammy, and me, and remember Nel."

"The arrancar-child." he said at once, his voice in that dead tone but his eyes flashing like he did remember.

"Grimmjow!" the king cursed, Halibel flashed forward and he ignored the broken arrancar behind him to face the woman.

"You already know you cannot defeat me."

Grimmjow stood watching them. Halibel was struck, she was no match for this creature. Her thin form struck that table, already blood-slicked hands slipping across it's crimson surface. Grimmjow watched the king grab a fistful of yellow hair, drag her back as painfully as possible.

The slap of flesh, she rolled on the ground, barely able to push herself back to a sitting position. The King raised his sword above her.

"Nel run!"

"No!"

The sword was raising against the child.

"Nel do what I said!"

Moments of time were blending as one. The broken man stood transfixed, seeing one moment the child on the table, himself in ruins above her, and the next watching Halibel struggle to lift her sword to defend herself.

"The garganta." He finally said, thoughts churning out as slow as his hand rose in the air. Halibel was on her feet, but the sword fell against her own an she was too weak to hold back the impact. She stumbled back but instead of striking that table again she was falling through empty air, dark cracks consuming her and neither she nor the king understood what had happened until she was gone.

The king stood breathing hard in his anger, finally registering Grimmjow still standing there, hand just now dropping, eyes distant, revealing no emotion at what he'd just done.

"Bastard." Grimmjow collapsed at the blow. "Getting her back is going to be messy."

The moment Renji finished undoing the bindings Ichigo dropped his body and moved to Soul Reaper form.

"I'll go with you." Renji said guiltily.

"No, this will get you in enough trouble as it is."

"It's my fault, I should have stopped her." Ichigo had screamed at him to let him go after Nel vanished and he had finally relented. Before, Ichigo had wanted to bust into Hueco Mundo on the remote chance he could improve the situation before the attack, but now it was for a friend, and even Renji couldn't deny that though very strange, Nel had been their ally in Hueco Mundo and they could not abandon her now.

"Would you two stop arguing," Rukia said, jumping to the window. "Let's go."

They were headed to Urahara's in hopes that he could send them through immediately but the all stopped when they felt the dark ripple in the sky.

"The Garganta!" Rukia exclaimed.

"Is Nel coming back?" Ichigo asked hopeful, but saw Renji stiffen.

"Espada." He growled and shot forward to intercept.

But when he found the third, blood-covered and free-falling through the sky, he lowered Zabimaru and out of instinct, caught her before she struck earth.

"Renji, that's... Halibel, the third espada." Rukia gasped out when she caught up to him.

"I don't get it." Ichigo muttered, "what happened?"

Halibel suddenly jolted in Renji's grasp and he jerked back when her sword swung close. When she rolled out of his hold, however, she wasn't able to rise from hands and knees and they saw the deep gouges in her back, her arms and wrists and the back of her hair was matted in dark crimson.

"That bastard." She moaned behind her mask, they could hear her gasping for air, she was in rough shape.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, kneeling before her. "How did you get back here?"

"Grimmjow...he saved me." She gripped her zanpakuto and rose. For a moment they thought she was going to open a Garganta right there, but she swayed where she stood and Ichigo just moved in time to catch her. Her eyes were shut, she was unconscious.

"Damn..."

"There." The king withdrew his hand form the arrancar's blue hair. "Get up." Girmmjow did, looking around the room and trying to figure out what he was doing here.

"My lord?"

"I am afraid you had a relapse, Grimmjow, you betrayed me." Grimmjow sputtered to make an apology but the man held up a hand telling him to stop. "You understand how important you are, Grimmjow- I need to know if your conversion is a success before I attempt it on others more powerful than yourself. You must tell me if you start to get confused."

"Yes, of course, my lord. What would you like me to do?"

"I want to run more tests, come with me."

He wrapped a hand around Grimmjow's arm and half drug him down the halls to the medical wing. Grimmjow followed after, still trying to figure out what he had just done and how he had betrayed his master. He was practically flung into a chair and the dark lord called on all his staff.

He threw questions at them and demanded answers. He examined Grimmjow's aura himself, and said he didn't understand how he could have helped Halibel if those feelings were tied to his life before, and the part of his brain that had broken with his soul. No one could give him the answers he wanted, he began to get angry and violent.

"Test, I need a test of his loyalty." He looked around the room and found the most useless of the staff. "Kill her Grimmjow."

Grimmjow looked down at the trembling girl with cold eyes. "How would you like me to do it, my lord?"

"Show me a cero."

The girl in his arms shook. "No, please." She begged both he lord and the ex-espada before her. But the king released her, and everyone stepped back when the red light shot out from Grimmjow's palm. It burn hot through the middle of the lab, destroying equipment and tearing a hole in the far wall, but everyone was looking to the pile of ash on the floor where the medic had stood.

Grimmjow felt himself yanked forward but just stood there in his commander's grip. "How did it feel?" He asked, starring into his eyes.

"I felt nothing." Grimmjow answered sincerely, wondering what he was supposed to have felt.

"Good. But I want to see one more test. I want you to go down in that desert and kill Yammy."

"Yes, my lord." He let Grimmjow go and watched him walk out of the room. Soldiers had come wondering what had happened and when they heard their master's orders there was confusion.

"My lord, I thought we needed the espda's power."

"Shut up." The king commanded, following after Grimmjow, "I won't let it him kill him, but I want to see him try, I need to know he would do it."

Grimmjow came to a stop ahead of them, not having overheard but glancing back to see if the king was following.

"You don't need me to go with you," his lord said evenly, "I trust you can handle this."

"Yes, my lord." They watched the blue haired soldier leave.
"You," the king grabbed the nearest soldier, "Stop him before he kills Yammy but don't let yourself be seen until that moment."

"Yes sir." the king waved the others off and strode to the control room Grimmjow had so kindly showed them. "Okay, Grimmjow, show me how deep your loyalty lies."

Grimmjow was halfway across the desert, Yammy not even in sight yet, but a noise stopped him. An insistent yipping.

"Dog." He saw the little skull head attached to the hollow body. He had vague memories of it but it made no difference and he continued walking, ignoring it's yelps. That was, until he heard something else.

"What is it, Dog? Did you find something...Gr..GRIMMJOW!" A force struck him before he could react. He stared down at the green lump attached to his leg.

"What are you doing?" He asked the lump but a loud wailing came out of her and she kept repeating his name and her own for some reason.

"Nel got lost trying to save you!" She wailed, "But she found the desert and remembered where she used to play with Dog. She thought Grimmjow might remember too and he did because here he is!"

"Get off of me." He said shaking his leg but she only clung on tighter. Those small hands pressed into him made his movements slow. His next command for her to let go died on his lips and he just stood there staring down at the broken mask on the top of her head. When she felt this she looked up to him again, scared face wet with tears.

"I said, get off..." but the words came out like the echo of a memory and his eyes seemed to refocus on her. "...Nel?"

"Yes it's Nel! Grimmjow can't have forgotten already!"

"I...no...NO!" He grabbed his head, reeling back in the sands. She let go of him watching in horror as he fell to his knees and began to scream. She had brought him back to his waking nightmare, all he could feel was his missing soul, feel how broken he was and re-experience that moment when it happened. Past the malice woven into him he could remember that he had wanted to protect this child like he had wanted to rescue Halibel but he couldn't remember the reasons, couldn't feel what he knew he should feel to have such a motivation. Her presence forced his mind to face a reality it could not handle, and so he was frozen in his broken state, screaming at a memory he couldn't escape.

"Grimmjow!" but a force blew past her, a man in all white, one of the soldiers. More were coming at his screams or at their king's command. "No stay away from him!" but her shouts went unheeded as they tried to contain him.

He fought against them, violent, uncontrolled, just reacting. But they aleady had his arms and someone drove their elbow into his sternum and he collapsed gasping. Another moved behind him and struck him in the back of the head, subduing him entirely.

"Gr...Grimmjow." Nel watched him fall into the desert face first, saw him wheeze for breath and begin to lose his grip on consciousness. The men moved to collect him, he couldn't defend himself. "Don't touch him! Leave him alone! GRIMMJOW!"

A storm of sand blinded them all for a moment, and they staggered in the sudden rush of spiritual pressure. They all stood, mouths agape, when the woman warrior appeared in the place of the child.

"I said," she took a step forward, baring her zanpakuto, "leave him alone!"

Hello all, struggled to get this next one out quickly so I made it a little longer for you! Should be posting again in the next couple of days.

Riza