Breaking Point II - Truth, Apologies, and Attempted Murder
What if he's right?
Halibel growled in irritation at the voice in her head as she rolled over and glanced at the clock, seeing that it was only one in the morning. Sleep had yet to come to her since Tyn's little explosion earlier and she'd spent almost two hours now tossing and turning in bed trying to get his words out of her head, trying to forget his stupid accusations and meaningless threats.
She'd thought she had finally succeeded and was just about asleep when another voice spoke from the recesses of her memory.
What if he's right?
Tia forced her eyes shut and begged for sleep to come, to put this day behind her and forget about everything, but sleep never came.
Instead she found herself treated to memories she'd rather have forgotten.
She remembered the question now, and the first time she'd heard it; it was shortly before Tyn had departed the Espada…
Neliel had disappeared without a trace just a few days earlier and Halibel, still the cuarta at the time, had yet to be promoted to fill the empty spot. Tyn had been questioning Lord Aizen and his motivations since his arrival in Hueco Mundo, ignoring the fact that the ex-shinigami had granted him far greater powers than he'd have ever known otherwise, that Aizen had graced him with a human form instead of his bestial Adjuchas body.
Tyn wasn't alone in his distrust; there were others among the numeros who expressed similar feelings and the rumor currently going around the palace was that the seventh Espada, Linndal, had been executed earlier in the evening for being too vocal…
And then Tia had overheard her own fracción talking…
"What if he's right?" Mila Rose had asked the others, referring to the sexta.
"Don't say that," chided Halibel, stepping in. "He's not right. None of those who question Lord Aizen are right; they are simply being paranoid because he's an ex-shinigami."
"But Tyn did have a point earlier…" said Sung-Sun, the look on her face suggesting that she hated to contradict her superior. "If Aizen used and betrayed the Soul Society, how can we be sure he won't do the same to us?"
"Because I trust him," said Tia, folding her arms over her chest. "Lord Aizen saw how corrupt the Soul Reapers are, how they persecute hollows without mercy…he said the system needs a change, and he's right. With these new forms, we will help him change the system by overthrowing the Gotei 13 and creating a new era where all hollows can become arrancar and live in equality."
"But—" started Apacci, but Halibel held up a hand to silence her.
"It's not open for debate; Tyn is wrong, end of story."
"Yes, Lady Halibel," replied the three women in unison, bowing their heads as Tia walked off the find the sexta and have a little talk with him about his dangerous ideals.
Tyn wasn't hard to find…he never was, unless he wanted to be; the redhead was very swift and stealthy when he wanted to disappear and be alone and finding in him during those periods was nigh impossible. Most of the time, however, the Raptor Prince could be found in his quarters in the palace and tonight, like so many others when he expected a visit from Halibel, he didn't even have his door locked and Tia simply invited herself in as she had so many times before.
She found him perched on the balcony, crouched up on the railing and looking out at the artificial blue sky Aizen had recently painted onto the interior of the great dome, his forearms resting on his knees. She fixed her eyes on the black Gothic-styled six tattooed on the back of his neck just below his crimson hair, a six that would soon be replaced with a five as her own four became a three. She stared at his back for a moment, pondering how best to approach the subject and appeal to his sense of reason.
By all appearances he was completely oblivious to the fact there was anyone else nearby; he had not moved since she'd entered and his zanpaktou stayed at his hip, with its red-feathered tassel dancing about gracefully on the light breeze wafting around inside the great dome.
"Why does it seem like I'm only one bothered by Neliel's sudden disappearance?" he asked aloud, showing that he was indeed aware of her presence.
"Because you're paranoid and seeing conspiracies that don't exist…" said Tia, walking over to stand on the balcony with him. "You know she despises fighting…she probably just decided that she didn't want any part in the coming war and left to go live in peace somewhere."
"I doubt that," snorted Tyn as he hopped down from the railing and turned to face her. "She'd have told us at least…"
"Why should she? She was the Tres Espada; she didn't answer to you, Sexta."
"I mean us as in her friends…we're a pack, you know."
"Don't start that again," said Halibel, shaking her head as she leaned forward against the railing and looked out at the sprawling sand dunes and small buildings that served as quarters for the lesser arrancar serving underneath Aizen. She had already heard his spiel about the lot of them being some sort of unified pack too many times to count and was well past the point of arguing about that one with him.
"Denying it doesn't make it any less true," Tyn said defiantly.
"We are not a pack," Tia reiterated. "We are the elite of the elite. We are Lord Aizen's special forces."
"No, the Espada are Aizen's special forces; I'm talking about you and me, Starrk and Lilynette, Nel and maybe even Grimmjow since he seemed so interested in her…we're a pack, Tia. We've all made a connection with each other and bonded. We watch out for each other."
"You're insane," said Halibel softly, though her voice hinted at a tiny smile behind her mask. "Just because we tolerate each other better than we tolerate the rest of the Espada or the servant-class arrancar doesn't make us a pack…and even if it did, I wouldn't trust Grimmjow to watch my back for anything."
"So he's a bad example," Tyn shrugged, "but my point still stands."
"As does mine; you are insane," taunted the blonde mischievously for a second before she sighed and took on a much more serious tone. "Look, Tyn, let me get to the real point of this visit; I came here to tell you to stop your anti-Aizen rhetoric before it's too late."
"What, did he send you to silence me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as Tia shook her head.
"No… But your mistrust is wrong…wrong and dangerous; it could get you labeled as a traitor and executed."
"They'll have to catch me first," grinned the Raptor Prince.
"You have the speed, but Aizen has the power and the numbers," Tia warned him. "I know by now that you've heard the rumor about Linn being executed…if it's true and you don't watch what you say, you might be next."
"Isn't that proof enough, then? If Aizen is the great savior you think he is, the mighty hero who will finally affect change for the hollows and establish a real balance, why would he feel the need to execute dissenters?"
"Because your ideas could destroy the foundation of the Espada!" Tia exclaimed, not understanding how he couldn't see something so obvious. "If an army doesn't trust its commander, how can they fight effectively?"
"And how is executing people supposed to earn the trust of others?" Tyn challenged. "Look, I understand where you're coming from; Aizen gave us all great power, freed us from the curse of unending hunger, and I love this new form… He's a very charismatic individual and I want to trust him just because of that, but that's exactly what makes him so dangerous; he makes all these grand promises and all he asks for in exchange is complete trust…and you're all going along with it! Tia, anytime someone demands blind obedience, you'd be a fool not to open your eyes!"
"The fool is the one who throws away his chance to help make a difference because of his own senseless paranoia!" countered Halibel coldly as she started for the door, angry at how stubborn he was being.
"Tia…" Tyn called after her, "don't be so blind! If Aizen is really the man you all think he is, then he should be encouraging us to question the status quo! He should welcome dialogue about what his plans are and what the future holds for us!"
She didn't answer as she headed out the door, simply shaking her head as she went. She was amazed that anyone, even Tyn, could be so foolish… Aizen was going to change things for the better, he'd see…if his questions didn't get him executed for treason and sedition first.
Couldn't the fool see that she was only trying to protect him from himself before it was too late?
Halibel awoke on her side, looking out at the alarm clock on her nightstand and the blue digits reading two A.M, and let out a long, tired sigh as she rolled over on her back to stare up at the white ceiling. She couldn't be sure how long ago that day had been; one year? Two? Three? The eternal night in Hueco Mundo destroyed all sense of time and there was no real way for her to know how much time had truly passed, but it felt like a lifetime ago.
What if he's right?
Sung-Sun's voice this time… Mila Rose had been the first to pose the question, and Sung-Sun had been the last, on the day of Tyn's exile.
Barely two days had passed since their brief conversation on the balcony before Aizen had issued an order for his loyal followers to kill all the traitors to silence their poisonous words in the interest of peace and unity and Tia had found herself side by side with Starrk and Ulquiorra as they chased Tyn out of the palace of Los Noches and out into the endless desert, far beyond the dome.
But the Raptor Prince was built for speed through and through and despite their greater strength and power the other three Espada couldn't catch him.
And Halibel had returned to her quarters later that evening only to find herself ambushed by her fracción, asking that damned question again.
She had silenced their fears, had reassured them that Tyn was wrong and that Aizen would lead them all into a new era, and all three of the other women had believed her; they had blindly put their faith into her, and she had blindly put her own into Aizen and his promises…
And there at last, the answer to her hatred of Tyn was laid bare, stripped naked of all excuses.
He had been right all along.
"And I didn't listen…" said Tia to herself, sitting up in her bed and rubbing her face.
Her refusal to listen to his reason had cost her dearly; by blindly following Aizen, she had ensured the deaths of her three fracción, her best friends…and very nearly herself.
"I'm not mad at him…" she admitted slowly. "It's me…it's always been me."
Tyn had been the easy target because of his reluctance to fight back against his 'pack,' and ever since she had come to in Urahara's underground chamber she'd found herself becoming angry every time she even looked at Tyn's face.
He had been right all along and she hadn't listened to him…no one had listened.
No…that wasn't right; her fracción had listened, had seen some of his logic.
And then she had came along and talked them out of it, had talked them into trusting Aizen.
"If I had listened to them…to him, maybe I would have seen it coming…" she murmured, pulling her knees up to her chest. "If we had all fled Los Noches together, Sung-Sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose might still be here… They wouldn't have died needlessly fighting against the shinigami, and Aizen wouldn't have nearly killed me…"
She understood now why she had been the only one to have issues with Tyn… Starrk's lone "fracción" (though Tia wasn't entirely sure that was the best term for Lilynette) had survived, Ulquiorra had never had any fracción of his own, and while Grimmjow simply didn't give a damn about his, Halibel had cared for hers deeply.
And they had died because she had been too proud to entertain the notion that Tyn might be correct.
Halibel pushed back the covers and swung her legs around, climbing out of her bed and going over to the bedroom window, looking out at the moonlit city streets far below as she reflected on the past eight months in Karakura.
How many times had she screamed at him, insulted him and meant it? How many times had she threatened him with violence? How many times had she hit him?
And each time, he had taken it with little to no fuss.
"I'm the idiot…" she said softly, looking at her own reflection in the window as it gazed back at her.
That admission hurt; she was a proud creature, always had been, even in life, but she had to be honest with herself. For eight months, she had been the fool. For almost a year, she had been the unreasonable savage, not him.
Tyn's earlier words came back to haunt her now, relentlessly assaulting her pride even more.
I've tried so hard to be the good guy here… I've bowed and scraped to your every demand and insult, I've smiled as you've screamed at me, and I've tolerated your physical abuse…and what the fuck have I done to deserve any of it?
"Nothing," she whispered to the reflection in the window.
I could have left you to die in Fake Karakura, and I'm starting to think that maybe I should have; I've never done a goddamned thing to you, and you treat me like I'm lower than dirt!
"I'm sorry…" she said, swallowing hard. Apologizing hurt worse than admitting that she had been wrong, and still the worst part was yet to come; no, that would be when she actually said it to him instead of to her own reflection.
Without thinking about what she was doing, Halibel left her bedroom and walked across the living room, and only realized what she was doing when she was standing just outside of Tyn's door. Hesitantly, she put her hand on the doorknob before taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what she had to do.
Just get it over with, she told herself as she turned the knob. Apologize for everything and start fresh.
She hated his bedroom, the Green Hell… He always kept it unnecessarily hot, with a humidifier running that kept the air moist, and the entire room was littered with dozens of artificial ferns and trees throughout…even the stupid walls were painted various shades of green in a vague jungle motif! Tyn was more in touch with his animal side than the rest of them, and his choice in décor reflected as much, and Tia was already standing over his sleeping form when she realized that meant she had just walked into the lair of a very dangerous and very pissed off animal.
I should wait until morning… she thought, looking down at him.
Tyn didn't own a bed; just a sleeping mat, a pillow, and a blanket, and the last two items had only been purchased in the past couple of months.
During his exile in Hueco Mundo, Tyn had become accustomed to sleeping on the ground, his back against the wall to keep enemies from coming up behind him, and he had yet to break those old habits entirely.
He lay on his right side, back against the wall, the covers pushed aside completely and his right arm beneath the pillow under his head. His left arm was just barely outstretched, his fingers slightly curled, and Halibel recognized that would have been where he held his zanpaktou, keeping it with him and ready at all times should one of the extermination squads find him.
The steady, rhythmic movements of his chest indicated that he was in a deep sleep, or as deep a sleep as he was capable of, anyway; she'd discovered over the last eight months that Tyn was an extremely light sleeper and, by his own admission, also a very paranoid sleeper. She supposed he could hardly be blamed for that; paranoia would have been necessary to survive and stay one step ahead of Aizen's death squads. Sleeping lightly and killing anything that came too close and disturbed him would have been the only practical way to stay alive.
If he were to wake up now to see her standing over him, especially with as angry as he was earlier…
Next time you scream at me or come after me, someone is going to die. No more games, no more tolerance; either you kill me, or I'll kill you.
Yeah, being in here right now wasn't a very good idea; it would be best to slowly, quietly, back out of the room and talk things over in the morning. The last thing she wanted was a fight, not anymore.
She took a step back, gingerly easing her foot down, being careful to not make a sound; while she knew he was a light sleeper, she wasn't entirely sure just how light, and she wasn't anxious to find out. She took another cautious step backwards, and she heard one of the floorboards groan oh-so-slightly as her heel touched down upon it.
It was so faint that there was no possible way it could disturb anyone, no chance…
Tyn's eyes snapped open and in the dim moonlight shining in through the bedroom window, Halibel could see her reflection in his green orbs quite clearly. She opened her mouth to try and explain things, to try to apologize, but she was far, far too slow.
The larger arrancar came at her like a wild animal, coming up from his spot on the floor and straight into a charging tackle, driving his shoulder into Tia's midsection and forcing the wind from her as he knocked her from her feet, forcing her to fly backwards into, and through, the wall. She crashed through the wall, sending wood and drywall everywhere as she tumbled into the kitchen, coming to a rest with her back against the stainless steel refrigerator. Dazed, she looked up just in time to see a fist screaming towards her face with the clear intent of crushing her gigai's skull, and she dodged her head just it time to feel the whiff of air is it sailed by her ear and slammed into the fridge door, denting it.
She pulled her legs up and planted her feet flat against his chest, shoving him away from her violently and buying the tercera just enough time to get back to her feet.
"Tyn, listen to me!" she pleaded, but he was beyond hearing her words at the moment as he lunged forward again, hands reaching for her throat. Instinctually, Halibel deflected the incoming hands and slammed a palm-heel strike into his chest before picking him up and hurling him over the small bar and into the living room.
Tia came out of the kitchen, stepping around the bar just in time for Tyn to grab her, hoist her body high over his head, and slam her down into the small end-table next to his end of the couch, destroying the wooden structure.
That one had actually hurt, and she growled angrily with the realization the only way to get through to him was going to be by literally beating him into submission.
Halibel grabbed one of the thick, wooden legs of the broken end-table and came up swinging, connecting with the side of Tyn's head with enough force to take him off his feet and knock him over the couch, landing back-first onto the glass coffee table, shattering it into a thousand tiny shards as a splash of crimson painted the wall. Ever the stubborn bastard, the quinto wouldn't stay down and was back on his feet in a flash, reaching across the couch and seizing Halibel by her golden blonde locks before yanking her back across the couch towards him and shoving her head through the television screen, demolishing it.
He began to pull her back, preparing to ram her head into it a second time, but Tia had yanked the blu-ray player loose and turned around, smashing him in the face with it, forcing him to stagger backwards and collapse onto the second end-table on Tia's side of the couch.
"Damn it, Tyn…" she began, dropping the now-ruined device to the floor as she approached her roommate cautiously. "I just want to—"
He came off the shattered remains of the table with another tackle, and the two of them went down to the floor hard, rolling across the broken glass and splintered wood as they exchanged punches and the occasional head-butt. They were just in front of Halibel's closed bedroom door when she finally managed to kick him off, sending his body through the wooden door.
She sat up and looked across at him as he did the same, shaking his head to clear the ringing before attacking her again, grabbing a long sliver of broken wood to use as a dagger.
"Will you at least listen to me?" she asked, trying to dodge his attacks and not always succeeding, thanks to the gigai's limitations. The impromptu dagger narrowly missed a direct blow to her face, instead slicing a path along her right cheek as she jerked her head out of the way.
"I warned you!" raged Tyn, coming at her again, this time with an overhead stab.
Acting quickly, Halibel reached up and caught his wrist, using his own momentum against him as she plunged her other fist into his gut and hefted him off his feet and threw him across the living room to the far end of the couch. He growled at her as he began to push himself back up to his feet, and then paused, looking at something on the ground near his hand; an innocent-looking green pill that for some reason brought an evil smile to his lips.
"Not the Soul Candy…" she breathed. "You wouldn't! The instant you do, the Seireitei will know we're here!"
His hand closed around the green pill and Tia realized that true to his earlier words, he did intend to kill her, no matter what.
That was his end of the couch, and he'd kept his Soul Candy in that end-table, so hers should be right about where she was currently standing… She crouched down to the ground, quickly sifting through the debris of the second end-table, finding and swallowing the little green pill and popping free of her gigai a split second before the berserk arrancar barreled into her, sending the both of them flying out through the sliding glass door leading to the balcony and then through the balcony railing out into the night sky.
Free of their gigais now, Halibel had a decided advantage in strength as she caught herself in mid-air, grabbed hold of Tyn, and forcefully threw him at the street down below.
The quinto impacted with the unforgiving concrete with enough force to leave a crater some four and a half meters wide and half again as deep, with dozens of cracks racing outwards into the street away from the impact zone. He rolled over onto his back slowly and for a brief second Tia dared hope that such a blow might have snapped him back to his senses.
And then she'd found herself dodging a crimson cero that came racing up towards her face with malicious intent.
She avoided it easily enough and, sensing movement behind her, turned just in time to see Tyn's fist colliding with her face.
God damn his speed! she thought angrily as she flew down diagonally, crashing through the roof of a small café that had thankfully closed for the night several hours ago.
Jaw aching as if her mask had been cracked, a stunned Tia picked herself up from the ground and looked skyward up through the hole, just in time to see Tyn tear his hand open with his teeth, taking the blood and preparing to fire the forbidden Gran Rey Cero.
Shit!
It took every last ounce of her speed to sonido up to him in time to knock his hand upwards and send the devastating blast into the sky harmlessly instead of letting it obliterate the entire city block. The black night sky turned a brilliant crimson for a minute as the powerful energy harmlessly spent its rage in the atmosphere, giving the brief illusion of a red dawn.
She clamped her hands around his wrists tightly, trying to control his fire and keep him from doing anything else that might recklessly endanger the human lives in the city down below. The irony of a hollow trying to protect humans was not lost on Tia, but she couldn't afford to reflect on it as Tyn lunged at her, snapping his teeth and he tried to bite at her face savagely. Jesus, she'd never seen him behave so viciously!
I pushed him to this…it's my fault, all of it…
The madness had gone on for far too long and she had to end it quickly, one way or another.
Jerking her head forward, Tia head-butted him repeatedly: once, twice, three times, and then four. She relinquished her grip on his wrist as he staggered backwards momentarily dazed, and Halibel took advantage of the situation to pummel him with a fierce barrage of punches whose power was such that he could never hope to match, finishing with a devastating roundhouse that came around and down, sending him hurtling back towards the street below once more.
The impact didn't leave a crater this time as he hit the ground at an angle and slid, gouging out a two meter wide, fifteen meter long trench in the unforgiving asphalt.
She opted not to follow up and press the attack, giving him time to get back to his feet and ascend skyward again, hoping that he would begin to realize the futility of this fight and simply give up.
She should have known better as he finally pulled his zanpaktou, Garras Rapaces, free of its scabbard.
"Give up, Tyn…" she pleaded, drawing Tiburón from its own sheath across her back. "You're good with a blade, but not good enough to beat me."
It was only as he extended his arms and held the blade away from his body horizontally that she understood his true intentions.
"Don't you dare!" she ordered him frantically. "Don't you even consider releasing!"
Of course, he hadn't listened to her all night, so she didn't really expect him to start now…
"Rend, Garras—"
A burst of red crimson energy came from nowhere and struck Tyn in the hand, singing his flesh and nearly forcing him to drop his blade.
"I thought we all had an agreement about behaving for as long as you lived in this world…" called a familiar voice, and both arrancar turned to see Kisuke Urahara casually walking across the night sky towards them, Benihime already drawn and in her shikai form in anticipation of a battle. "Didn't we have a nice, long talk about this sort of behavior, or did I simply imagine it?"
"Stay out of this, shinigami…" growled Tyn, turning his attention back to Tia. "This is personal."
"It stopped being personal between you two the instant you hopped out of your gigais," corrected Urahara icily. "Right about now, the monitor stations in the Seireitei are screaming that there are two extremely high-level hollows loose in Karakura and when they find you, you'll both be killed, as will the others and all who have helped you, including myself, Isshin, Ichigo, and Orihime. Do you really want that?"
"I just want her dead," hissed the quinto angrily.
"And I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said Urahara, drawing closer and adjusting his hat so Tyn could see the other man glaring at him threateningly. "If you try to continue this fight, I will have to put you down myself."
He looked back at Halibel as well, not sparing her any of the menace in his eyes.
"This goes for you, too. I'm giving you both one last chance to get back in your gigais and pretend this never happened before the Gotei 13 start showing up."
Whether or not the former Soul Reaper was capable of carrying out his threat was completely irrelevant at the moment as his appearance and declaration had momentarily stopped Tyn's rampage, giving her a chance to try and explain things to him. Halibel returned her zanpaktou to its sheath and took a few steps forward towards Tyn, keeping a careful eye on Garras Rapaces still in his hand, noting that he tightened his grip on the hilt as she approached.
"Easy…" Urahara warned as a low growl began to rumble in the back of the quinto's throat, telling Tia not to come any closer.
"Tyn…" she said slowly, swallowing hard again. "Damn it, I'm sorry, okay? About tonight, about everything…"
His face remained impassive as she continued, wishing the entire time that Urahara wasn't there; admitting this was painful enough without having another witness present.
"You were right about Aizen all along, and I didn't listen… Mila Rose, Sung-Sun, and Apacci all died because I didn't listen… It's not you I'm angry at…it's me. It's always been me, and I've been using you as a scapegoat."
He still didn't respond, and she fought back the urge to scream at him, just to see if she could get any kind of response, to know that he was indeed listening, but she knew all too well that such an action would only re-ignite hostilities.
"I'm sorry, Tyn, for everything," she said instead, her voice soft with shame as she looked away from meeting his hard gaze.
After a long, tense moment, he returned his own zanpaktou to its scabbard and stepped forward, coming nose to nose with her and glaring at her. Reluctantly, the blonde turned back to face him, to show him her green eyes; she knew that he was searching her eyes for deception, that his amber eyes were carefully observing her for the slightest hint of a lie and if he found any, they would be back to brawling, Kisuke's threat of intervening be damned.
And then he simply turned around, exposing his back and the black five tattooed on his neck to her before vanishing entirely. She turned and looked towards the apartment, just in time to see him pause at the ruined balcony and look back at her before disappearing inside. All trace of his spiritual pressure vanished shortly thereafter and she knew that he had returned to his gigai.
Both she and Urahara could hear his bedroom door slamming shut angrily.
Tia exhaled a long sigh of relief and headed back to the apartment herself, Urahara on her tail the entire way.
She eased her way into her gigai as the ex-captain stood on the balcony looking down at the street and the emergency vehicles that had finally started showing up.
"Living in the human world as long I have has earned me a few connections within the city…" he said slowly, watching the confused humans down below examine all the damage. "I'll pull a few strings and get this wrote up as a gas explosion or something. Insurance should cover the damage to the buildings, including this one, although you'll probably be responsible for your own furniture."
He turned back around to face Halibel now that she was back in her body.
"This is the last chance I can afford to give you two, assuming the Soul Society doesn't find you."
"I understand…" said Halibel, bowing her head slightly in thanks. "We appreciate your generosity."
Urahara sighed himself, finally returning Benihime to her sealed form of a cane.
"Only a miracle will keep the Gotei 13 from noticing what happened tonight…" said Tia softly, coming up beside him to look down at the activity in the ruined street below and the shopkeeper nodded his head in agreement.
"After tonight, you two had better hope you have a guardian angel somewhere."