The Dawn Breakers
Part II of the Day Break Trilogy
19 weeks later
A hand clamped over a tiny form, hauling her from the ground even as the gold shimmer of light that had shrouded her dissipated in the man's wake. He smiled wide, clutching the small burden and nudging the unconscious woman sprawled on the pavement to make sure she was out.
"That was too easy." He jibbed as the girl in his grasp twisted around to face him from where she hung in the folds of her cloak. But the fright he expected to see in her eyes was absent, and instead he was met with a wide, toothy grin and eyes narrowed with devilish mirth.
"You should not be smiling aarancar-child. Do you know who I am?"
"Doesn't matter." She chirped. His thin lips pulled even tighter in frustration, dark eyes cutting dangerously,
"Oh? You don't think so?" But his menace did nothing to deter her confident grin.
"No. Because you're dead."
He caught the briefest blur of blue motion in the reflection in her eyes and dropped his burden to defend himself. Air rushed past him, he raised his sword to counter but found himself facing the empty street, the child's gleeful laughter sending a rush of furry through him and he turned back slowly to meet the newcomer.
"Nel tried to tell you. Now you're gonna die." She was perched in a pair of strong arms, her small hands fisted in the sweat soaked cotton of his tattered shirt. She hadn't taken in the blood that snaked out of his hair, the tear from collar to ribs in his once white t-shirt. She hadn't noticed the way that old injury in his thigh seemed to be causing him to put more weight on the left, or his heavy breathing that indicated he'd travelled a long way to get here. No, all Nel knew was he was back, she was in his arms, and that Grimmjow Jaggerjaques would not allow to live anyone who threatened her.
"So the sixth is back from Hueco Mundo is he?" The Vandernreich soldier addressed him.
"Dachs, Commander of the Midnight Squadron. So you didn't go down with your men afterall?"
A flush of red touched those pale cheeks and one hand balled tight in a fist while he raised his other, that Quimcy charm dangling from his wrist.
"So it was you who slaughtered my men?"
"What, don't tell me you didn't know. That's why you're here, afterall, right? For a little revenge." He glanced down at the girl in his arms.
"I want you to suffer, Grimmjow. I want you to feel pain like-"
"Like what?" The voice was right next to him, how had he not seen him move? "Like having your soul torn apart? Like being alive but dead at the same time? Oh, I think I might know a little something about that?" Grimmjow had a hand wrapped in Dachs' collar, and the soldier's eyes worked their way down the bare skin of his arm, seeing those long, gruesome scars.
Grimmjow's whole body was shaking he'd gotten so angry. Behind him, Nel stood where she'd been left, that devilish smile gone now and the slightest traces of fear in her as she saw her hero's maddened state. It was no longer a game, it was war, violence and horror. Terrible memories returned to her as well and all the terror of this war shook her all over again.
Grimmjow never let go of his opponent—no his prey- it was all over for the commander even if he didn't know it. He hadn't yet noticed what hung on Grimmjow's hip, what Nel stared at with wide eyes not having seen it in so long.
"You ran away from your men back then because you're a coward just like your bastard King went running home when he got burned in Soul Society. And now you came here to take out your cowardly rage on the people I care about? Well then, why don't I introduce you to a friend you haven't met yet," a malevolent smile grew on Grimmjow's face, "and trust me, if anyone wants revenge, it's him." Dachs' body jerked at the intrusion he hadn't even felt coming. The blade slid through his spine and worked through his torso, cracking its way through his sternum and rising above his shocked eyes. The silver-white blade practically glowed beneath the sheen of crimson on its surface. Grimmjow leaned close and hissed in the dying's man's ear, "Meet Pantera."
He watched the slow register of shock before the light left the commander's eyes and Grimmjow let him fall, shaking his blade free with unmasked disgust. This was war. He had no mercy.
He did his best to flick the blood from his glimmering zanpakuto before shoving it into the sheath that rested loosely on his hips, belted over his ragged white shirt and black pants.
"Ichigo's gonna kill me for ruining more of his clothes." He muttered with a half smile before he looked up to see Nel wide eyed and silent and suddenly his boiling rage and the satisfaction of the kill were replaced by a cold clenching in his gut. "Nel..."
He hadn't meant for her to see him like that. It had been a long few days on the other side, practically every minute spent in the heat of battle, ripping the enemy to shreds only to find another wave of them coming, hear another explosion in the distance or watch another piece of Hueco Mundo fade away as it was absorbed by the Quincy powers. And when he returned to this world, nearly untouched by a war that raged in other dimensions- he found it very difficult to turn that part of himself off, to not be a soldier on the front lines. He shut his eyes for a second and forced it all down before approaching her and kneeling. He looked her over, seeing no harm done and lay a hand on her bone mask.
"You okay, kid?"
It was all he needed to do to get that smile back and she threw herself onto him. He just stood with her, one hand easily enough to hug her back and keep her against him as he moved to the second figure on the ground that had been all but forgotten.
"Shit, Orihime." He knelt next to her and put his fingers to her neck, the pulse was steady, he saw nothing but a bruise on her forehead. "Nel." He set her down again in order to scoop Orihime carefully into his arms. "What happened?"
"Orihime was taking Nel to get her new favourite food: ice cream! But that soldier attacked us! Orihime used her powers but the man took them away somehow and knocked her out!"
"It's okay, Nel. It's what they do- they leech of the spiritual pressure around them, which includes Orihime's powers. Urahara knows this, he shouldn't have left you two on your own."
"Clogg man isn't here! He left for Hueco Mundo yesterday."
"What? He shouldn't have left until I got back. Who's here then?"
"Ichigo and Rukia."
"Great." Grimmjow had Orhime safely gathered in his arms and Nel knowingly took hold of his pant leg. They flashed through the air and landed in the yard of Urahara Shoten.
"Orhime!" Grimmjow winced, already anticipating the hysterics that would come with their arrival. Ichigo tried to run forward but fell completely flat and Grimmjow saw now why the shifts must have changed: Ichigo was wearing a cast from foot to hip and there seemed to be bandages layered all under his clothes.
"Damn, what happened to you?" He asked the struggling teen.
"Orihime first." Grimmjow moved past Ichigo who was stuck as he was on the shop floor and set Orihime down on a mattress.
"Soul Reaper!"
Rukia was already on her way, hurried out of the back and took in the situation in a glance. She at once began a kido spell to assess the damage. "What happened?"
Grimmjow explained and Rukia nodded when he finished, drawing back her kido. "It's not serious, some ice and a bit of healing and she'll be just fine."
"Good." Grimmjow turned to Ichigo now and after watching him fight to get up for a few more moments, leaned down and hauled up.
"Thanks."
"How did this happen?" Grimmjow asked, waving a hand to indicate the whole of Ichigo.
The teen hobbled a few steps to lean against the shop counter and sighed tiredly. "I was careless. I thought I could handle the Commander of the Dawn Squadron.
"Lothure? You tried to take Lothure and his brutes on by yourself? Idiot."
"Halibel told me you finished the whole Mindnght Squadron by yourself!"
"They were a bunch of half wits and half breeds. The Dawn is gonna take alot more and you knew it, so why take the risk?"
Ichigo shrugged like a scolded child.
"Ichigo?"
"I'm tired of it, Grimmjow. I'm tired of living life in shifts- getting home only to see you, Halibel, Urahara,Chad, Renji, Rukia, even my dad, leaving to fight the war I just left behind. And every time I come back, I think, what if one of you are killed by someone I didn't get while I was there? What if the Dawn takes someone else I care about?"
"What happened to Uryu is not your fault. And you know they can't have killed him, they wanted him, so he's still out there, you can still save him."
"Can I? Look at me, I made a bad decision and now I'm useless here, Orhime even got hurt on my watch, Nel could have too. Soul Society is still closed off to us, we have no idea what the war is like on their end and we are still no closer to finding a way into the Vandenreich's world than we were five months ago when all this Hell started."
His knuckle were white where they gripped into the counter. He glanced Rukia's eyes, widened by hearing the defeat in his voice, Nel too, was soberly quiet and he practically flinched from the judgemental stare he got from Grimmjow. He shook head. "Forget it, I know. I know we'll get Uryu back, we'll find a way to defeat the Vandenreich."
"That's better." Grimmjow stepped back from him and Ichigo just noticed his state- there was nothing shocking about the collection of minor wounds he had- they all returned like that after a few days of endless fighting in Hueco Mundo- but it was the torn clothes that Ichigo was eyeing.
"Those were good pants!" He cried out. "Dammit, Grimmjow would you stop stealing from my closet!"
"Okay sure, next time I'm in Hueco Mundo, I'll go up to Las Noches and just stroll into my old place and pick out some of my old clothes."
"Fine, then I'll get you some of your own, just stop ruining everything I own."
"Fine."
"There." Rukia sighed and leaned back from Orhime. "She's sleeping, she shouldn't have more than a head ache when she wakes up. How are you Ichigo?" Rukia came to his side and poked an arm, he winced.
"Why didn't Orihime heal you?" Grimmjow asked.
"This wasn't the first time she was attacked recently." Rukia explained. "Apparently the King wants her powers. She was severely weakened and has only just recovered enough to form her shield. Now it sounds like she'll have to wait again for her spiritual pressure build up."
"Damn." Orihime's powers had been an invaluable asset for the last nineteen weeks and Grimmjow couldn't deny he'd been looking forward to her healing touch when he returned.
"Are you alright, do you need healing?" Rukia looked him over, her eyes coming to rest on something she hadn't noticed at first. "Is that...Pantera?"
"It is." He smiled as he pulled him from his sheath. They both gasped out at how brilliantly the blade shone, its pristine, almost white shimmer was very different from the jagged rough blade Ichigo remember biting into him on several occasions.
"He's changed." He breathed.
"You're right." Grimmjow said seriously, the smile fading. "And I wanted to talk to Urahara about that."
"Does it feel different?" Rukia asked.
"Stronger. But in every other way, the same. He's Pantera through and through, but we're connected like we never were before."
"How did it happen?" Ichigo asked.
"I don't really even know. I took a hit, was pretty stunned, and I reached for him like I always would because my mind wasn't working right and I had forgotten, but he was there when I grabbed for him, at my side, like he'd never left. Except he was like this and..."
"And what?"
"I can't use Resurrection."
"No?"
"I tried. He has the power but nothing happens, it doesn't feel right."
"Do you think your powers may have changed?" Rukia asked. "Maybe you have to relearn them, maybe your old Resurrection won't be the one you have now."
"I never thought of that." He admitted. "Maybe you're right. This is what I was hoping to talk to the old man about."
"It's still amazing." Rukia sighed, still marvelling at the blade. "I'm happy for you, Grimmjow." Words she'd never thought she'd say, flowed easily from her now, in the heart of war times.
"Nel is happy too!" She did not like being forgotten and climbed up Grimmjow until she was on his shoulder. "And Nel can help Ichigo if Orhime can't!"
"No, Nel, don't!"
Grimmjow winced when the spew hit Ichigo but couldn't help the twitch of a grin.
"There!" Nel said proudly as Ichigo stood drenched in her clear healing substance and looking absolutely repulsed. But then he caught the smile on Grimmjow's face and narrowed his eyes,
"Hey Nel, Grimmjow's hurt too."
Nel sat quietly at the foot of the couch where Grimmjow was stretched. He was tired, much more tired than he was letting on. Upstairs, Rukia was watching over Ichigo and Orihime. The house was quiet. A family had been torn apart by this war. Ichigo and his father hardly ever saw each other unless they stumbled into each other on the battlefield. Ichigo's sisters were far away, sent to stay with different relatives and kept under the watchful eye of one of the Visoreds who had still been in this world when everything started. The house was so quiet. Since Tessai was gone for a few days trying to dig up ancient secrets and learn about where the universe of the Vandenreich could be, they decided to return to the Kurosaki home to let the humans rest up in comfortable beds.
Grimmjow felt his eyes shutting but resisted. The war had raged for months and yet the human world was of little interest to their enemy and had thankfully gone untouched- until now. Within just a few days, there had been two attacks. They wanted Orihime.
Well, he had to at least hope this meant that the king had gotten seriously wounded when Yamamoto threw him out of Soul Society. Not that they were even sure that's exactly what happened since all their information about the Soul Reapers' universe came from what they overheard or tortured out of the enemy. The walls to that universe had remained closed this entire time. It pained Renji and Rukia greatly. They had tried opening a Senkaimon from Hueco Mundo but that had failed just like their attempts here. It was hard to tell if it was the Soul Reapers now who kept their walls closed or if it was the Vandenreich. The Quincies didn't seem to have any trouble getting in and out of Soul Society from their universe- just another reason their little resistance group wanted into the Vandenreich home-world so badly.
For now though, Hueco Mundo was their only battle ground. Halibel and Grimmjow had decided right away they wouldn't stand by and watch the Vandenreich subjugate their world. Not like they had with Aizen. They were done being ruled, would never again don the clothes he'd chosen for them, or pay heed to the numbers he'd given them. They were free, and they would fight to free their world to the end. And Ichigo and the others fought with them, because it was their only way of striking back, at hoping to help their friends. They all wanted to find a way to the Vandenreich universe, to their king, and stop this now before the whole universe fell under them.
They had done fairly well for themselves, left their mark on the Quincy army. Halibel had taught their new allies all about the geography of their world: Hueco Mundo was a land not be underestimated or simplified into a mere desert. They had learned of all the squadrons who named themselves by the times of day.
The Vandenreich soldiers spent their time in Hueco Mundo routing out evils none of the espada had even ever heard of, forgotten creatures buried deep in the sands or in distant craggy cliffs or under the Menos Forest. Some of these beasts they converted into hybrids, others they consumed and others still they used for darker purposes. The Dawn Squadron had even created their own Calvary by taking control of adhuchas long lost in the deserts, who's minds were no more than beasts and had broken like the horse-beasts of the world of the living. Since then, the Dawn had quickly become the biggest threat, and one glance at Ichigo today was a reminder of that. Their commander, Lothure, would not be taken easily, and his men would hardly let you get close to him. But on a certain level Grimmjow understood Ichigo's urge to engage them. It would be Hell on Soul Society if the Dawn crossed over, which they no doubt would be doing very soon.
War had changed the teen Grimjow had once fought nearly to the death. He had not hardened- his desire to act with honour and give the enemy a fair fight had not changed, and he did not participate nor even really know about how Urahara, Halibel and Grimmjow went about extracting the information they needed. But he was not the overconfident hero he had once been. War had humbled him. Before, he could fight each enemy one on one until he got to the boss-man and threw him down. It was a pattern he'd followed since he'd gained his powers so he didn't know how to deal with failure, with frustration, with utter exhaustion and the never-ending nightmares of all the battles and the blood. It was as he watched the boy changed that Grimmjow realized just how young Ichigo was. At times, he actually missed that arrogance.
But they had taken Uryu. Grimmjow hadn't been there, he'd found them after. The teen Quincy had been with Renji and Halibel in the Northern Desert. According to what Halibel could piece together in her memory, the King himself had come to get him. When Grimmjow arrived, the Twilight had been closing in to finish off the pair. They'd made it out with all limbs intact but it was a serious blow to have lost the Quincy. He had proven a strong ally but they also knew hat the King desired him and now he had him.
That was five weeks ago, and Grimmjow couldn't help but wonder if his capture had anything to do with the second mass strike on Soul Society since the war began. The initial strike had failed- or at least they assumed it had, since if they had succeeded in destroying Soul Society in a mere day like the King had first boasted, there would be no war. Then, last week, they began to hear rumours that the King had gone to face Yamamoto. Did Uryu's capture give him something he needed to do that? The timing seemed too close. But once again, the King had been thrown back, and they had to hope if they were coming after Orihime, his injuries were grave.
"Nel wants to take Grimmjow to try ice cream some time."
Grimmjow was pulled out of his thoughts by the tiny voice.
"What is it?"
"Ice cream is cold and sweet and colourful. It tastes really good! Orihime takes Nel to get some all the time!"
"She does? Is it good for you?"
"Nel doesn't know."
"Well human food isn't enough for you, remember that and eat what Urahara makes for us."
"Nel does!" She squeaked and seeing now that he was not going to fall asleep just yet, jumped up onto his stomach. He lurched a little, deep bruises triggering pain, but he didn't say anything as she settled down, laying her head on his chest, her tiny body barely a noticeable weight on him when she wasn't moving.
"Yo Nel." He shifted slightly, pulling Pantera out of his sheath and holding him above where they lay. "Do you remember Pantera from before?"
"Uhuh." Her eyes were tired now too but her gaze remained fixed on the beautiful blade.
"Do you think maybe it's your power that changed him? Does it seem...familiar or anything to you?"
"Nel doesn't know, Nel doesn't remember being an espada."
"Hmm."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just didn't want to think that you ended up losing part of yourself for me."
"Nel doesn't mind." She smiled tiredly. "Nel saved Grimmjow and Grimmjow will be with her forever, that's all Nel cares about."
"Right, then get some sleep, kid." He lowered the sword but didn't put him back in his sheath. Rukia would be awake to stay on watch but he wanted to be ready in case something came, so he shut his eyes as he was, child on chest, sword in hand.
Well I'm back with the second installment of the Day Break Trilogy, the Dawn Breakers. Hope it wasn't too slow, but the action will pick up soon, I promise! Chapters should be coming out pretty regular now!
Riza