-Chapter 3-

As they approached the gates, Zezuri began to stir. She lifted her head and first noticed the pale desert behind them. She didn't speak, but only gazed with confusion and then noticed Airi walking behind her being led along by a man with short silver hair. "Airi!" exclaimed Zezuri before being dropped to the ground. Struck with surprise and pain from the rough confrontation with the ground, Zezuri lay in a crumpled heap until Airi scrambled over and helped her friend to her feet.

"Seems like you can just walk from here," the lewd man with blue hair said as he pushed through the enormous gates.

As they walked through, a feeling of doom filled both of the girls. Zezuri closed her eyes and clutched to Airi's arm.

As the gates closed behind them, total darkness engulfed all but a lit doorway ahead of them.

"A-are we dead?" Zezuri whimpered.

"If we are, this is really cliche," Airi said trying to make light of the situation. They stepped into the pale walled hall, relieved to see again, but there wasn't much to look at. Colorless stone walls illuminated by the light seemed just as abysmal as the dark.

The girls followed the group of strangers down the hallway until they came to another set of big doors. As they opened, the leader made his way to the head of a long table and sat down.

Airi and Zezuri exchanged nervous looks as they noticed more white-clad figures already seated at the table.

"I'm sorry I do not have time to give you a tour, but I have something to take care of," he said slightly smiling.

The two girls were pushed into seats by the silver haired man before he and the rest of the members that had followed them in sat down as well.

"Ah, Ulquiorra, you've returned," the leader addressed the pale man sitting in the chair next to him, that had been empty mere seconds ago, "I trust you terminated the problem?"

"Yes, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra replied.

The leader nodded and turned his attention back to the two girls who were fearfully sitting in silence. "As you all can see, our trip was successful," Aizen addressed his underlings, "However, I was unable to detect exactly which one we needed, yet both seem to have much potential."

A few soft murmurs were heard from the group.

"As such, I expect you will all treat our guests with respect," a cold smile slithered its way onto the face of the commander. His eyes twinkled darkly as he looked at the girls, "I expect you to treat your hosts with the same respect," he gently insinuated.

Airi felt a chill run down her spine as she shuddered briefly. Something in his tone certainly didn't make her feel like a guest.

Aizen continued, "I have arranged for them to stay up in the top floor of the East tower. Unfortunately, due to some recent damage, we will have to post a guard until our maintenance crew fixes the West basement, since there isn't a door."

Grimmjow suddenly was flashed a quick look from his master to which he returned with a scowl, "Not my fault..." he muttered.

The blue haired man's comment was ignored, "Before I send them off to their room, I believe I should offer them a proper welcome. Tosen?"

A dark-skinned man wearing an orange scarf and large, shield-like glasses entered bearing a tray with two plates of food and glasses of a strange, pale green colored liquid. He moved without a sound and placed the food and beverages in front of the two girls.

At first neither made a move to eat or drink.

"I assure you, nothing is poisoned. If we had wanted to kill you, we would not have brought you here. Besides, I wouldn't be a very good host if I killed my guests, would I?"

Airi's stomach growled and she looked down helplessly at the food in front of her and then to Zezuri who shared her pained expression.

"Well, we all don't have to sit here, this meeting is dismissed. Gin, would you mind keeping these two company? There are somethings that need my immediate attention."

"Of course, Aizen-sama," the silver haired man gave a small bow of his head to Aizen.

The leader nodded and exited the room followed by an entourage of white-clad figures.

Gin rose from his seat next to Airi and moved to the other side of the table so that he was facing the two girls. "Well, eat up!" he said enthusiastically, "Can't let you starve now can we?"

Airi's stomach growled again. this time she gave in, but reached for the drink first. Its pale green color reminded her of a soda drink from back home, yet, as she raised it to her lips it certainly didn't smell like it. A sickeningly sweet smell wafted from it to which she wrinkled her nose in response and took a sip anyways.

"W-well... w-what is it?" asked Zezuri half expecting Airi to drop dead.

"Oddly... like... really sweetened soy milk..." Airi stated before taking another sip.

Zezuri continued to watch her friend drink, very untrusting of strange food in strange places.

Soon, Airi had finished her beverage and began to pick at the roll on her plate.

"No matter how much my stomach hurts, I can't bring myself to eat," Zezuri said slightly depressed.

"Hey, don't be like that. We don't even know why we are here, just eat so you don't pass out," Airi tried to encourage her friend.

Zezuri grabbed the cup and slowly drank the strange liquid. As thirst-quenching as it wasn't, she did not want to drink it again.

The two girls sat quietly and ate their food as the man named Gin silently walked around the room.

When they finished they continued to remain in their seats until someone else entered the room. He looked strange, and the girls stared at him and secretly questioned if he was even a he.

"Ah, Luppi. So you've come to escort the girls," Gin said from the wall he was leaning on.

"Unfortunately," the newcomer replied while giving the girls a snide look. He had dark brown hair in bowl-cut style and three pink diamonds tatooed above one eye. Like most of the others, he too had strangely shaped white material in his hair. "Aizen-sama needs someone brave enough to handle these human scum."

"Now now, Luppi. Aizen told us to treat them as guests." Gin smiled and turned to the girls, "I leave you two in Luppi's care, you should follow him to your room".

Airi and Zezuri rose from their seats awkwardly, still unsure of the newcomer and where they were being taken this time. Regardless, they followed him quietly, leaving Gin behind in the room as he waved merrily.

"Treating you like guest is a pathetic waste of my time," Luppi laughed once out of Gin's earshot making the girls feel even more uncomfortable with their cynical caretaker.

Luppi led them down long stairways that seemed to go on forever. By the time they arrived to the room they would stay at, Airi and Zezuri's legs were going to fall off from beneath them.

"Where is an elevator when you need one," Zezuri said panting.

Airi was also breathing hard, "Or an escalator," she added, weakly.

"Quiet you two!" yelled Luppi from in front. He turned around a corner, and opened a door revealing a tall ladder, "Up you go," he sneered, standing aside for the two girls to ascend.

The two friends hesitated.

"UP. NOW. OR I DON'T CARE WHAT AIZEN SAID ABOUT GUESTS!" yelled their captor. Power surged from him in waves.

Airi stepped forward first and put a hand on the cool metal of the ladder. It looked like it went up forever, "W-woa... that's... really... high..." she muttered suddenly feeling nauseous.

An impatient growl from behind snapped her back to reality and she quickly scrambled up the first few rungs.

Zezuri waited until there was just enough room for her to squeeze on under Airi; being left behind with Luppi was more terrifying than the endless ladder.

After what seemed like hours of climbing, they arrived at the top of the ladder and then entered yet another hallway. Airi and Zezuri were thoroughly exhausted when their captor finally came to a stop at an entry way.

"Supposedly Aizen-sama has even provided new clothing for you. Not that you would even fit in or anything." Luppi sneered from behind.

The two girls wondered what the nasty man was trying to imply; neither were large or even slightly close to being heavy-set. The blonde's stick figure had resulted from a recent growth spurt and still lacked much of a chest. Zezuri was a more endowed, but a her teenage metabolism was still strong.

Looking around the room, Zezuri noticed it was as incredibly plain as the rest of the featureless castle. The room was empty, save for two white beds and a bathroom to the left of the entryway. The only light in the room came from the moonlight that rained in softly from an open window setting in the wall at the other end of the room. A set of clothing had been folded nicely and placed on each of the two beds. A pair of sandals was set to the side of each bed as well.

Luppi stayed outside the doorway and muttered to himself.

Airi and Zezuri looked at the beds.

"How do we know who gets what?" asked Airi absently.

Zezuri gave a puzzled look to her friend, she had a good point. Airi was too tall for most of Zezuri's clothes and had bigger feet.

Luppi said nothing and continued to act like no life existed in the room to his backside.

Sighing, Airi moved to the bed on the left and pushed the clothes to the floor, "I think I'll pass on this offer right now," she let out a yawn, "I'm so tired..."

The brown haired girl moved to the other bed and set the clothes to the side before taking a seat. She wasn't tired and was amazed Airi was actually going to attempt sleeping here. As she watched her friend drift off, sleeping didn't sound like such an unreasonable idea. After fluffing up the sad excuse for a pillow, Zezuri too laid down and soon was drifting off to sleep.

An odd dream started without warning. A chain broke somewhere in front of Zezuri as pain surged through her soul. A feeling of loss, emptiness, and confusion whirled around until an orb filled with a depthless blue suddenly absorbed her inside. The feeling of loneliness was replaced with that of warmth. She wished she could stay like this forever. Then they showed up. A group of white figures, blurry, but Zezuri recognized them in an instant; her captors. The warm feeling went out like a candle in a gale as her subconscious re-lived the moments of her capture. Suddenly, the white figures were chased out by a mass of darkness. Something in it beckoned to her and warily, she started to follow it.

Airi too, dreamed. She was seated in the great hall of the white palace with a goblet of the green liquid in front of her.

"Whatever you do, don't drink it," boomed the thunderous voice.

"But... it's too late," replied Airi, noticing the goblet was empty.

"Beware..." the voice started, but Airi did not hear the rest as she doubled over in pain.

She noticed a long silver chain extending from her chest to halfway across the room. A large portion of it vanished in an instant and the pain intensified.

Airi bolted upright drenched in sweat. She looked down, no chain in sight. A wave of nausea overtook her and she clutched her stomach hoping to alleviate it. She made a mental note not to drink the green liquid again as the pain subsided.

There was not much else to do since the room was almost empty, so Airi lay on her bed and Zezuri snoozed on in a light sleep. Suddenly Airi felt like she had enough and sat up quickly from her bed.

"Zezuri." she said trying to quietly get her attention. Zezuri opened her eyes and leaned over to her as Airi whispered in her ear.

"It seems like that guy fell asleep over there... It's risky but I think we can make a run for it."

"But... we don't even know where we are," Zezuri murmured sleepily.

"I know... but no one is around and I'm tired of sitting here." both of them looked over at the sleeping Luppi.

They nodded in agreement and began to creep over slowly to the doorway.

Sorry for the long wait, we've become really bad about designating chapter starts and stops so the next few chapters are going to be really long... Things started to sound a lot like the original version here, but we'll see what we can get to go differently! We do like suggestions! ~Airumel