I assure you we're not dead yet. This chapter took extra-super lengths of time as I had to make up the plot. Yes, the moment you've been long awaiting. I thought I had it all written back in February, but then I had to add a page a few days ago... Anyways you aren't reading this story to listen to me ramble. Please ignore me and just get to the story. -Airumel (3/25/13)

-Chapter 22-

Warm and peaceful were the first thoughts that bubbled up from the depths of an endless darkness.

"But that can't be right..." thought the girl as she struggled to remember who she was and what had happened before she'd fallen into nothingness. Everything was fuzzy, as if part of a dream. Maybe it was.

All at once, the rest of the girl's senses came back online as if someone had hit a switch. She felt the warmth of blankets that had been lain over her and listened to the calmness of her surroundings. Hope renewed itself and for a moment all was good with the world. She would wake up, at home, in her room, her bed, on a perfectly ordinary day and just in time for breakfast.

Yet as her senses came more into focus, the hope for normality began to fade. What was that faint beeping noise? Why did her arm hurt? Furthermore, the scent of the room further convinced her this wasn't home.

Knowing she couldn't hide under the covers from the monsters that plagued her mind, the girl begrudgingly opened her eyes.

An unfamiliar scene came into focus. The room was dark, save for the light that crept in from the hallway revealed by an sliding paper door that had been left open. Airi's memories flooded back lead by thoughts of the last two rooms she had woken up in. This wasn't the Seireitei. Nor was this Hueco Mundo.

Instinctively, she drew her hand to the right side of her head. Fingers met bone and all hope vanished in a flash. It was true then, it hadn't been a dream; she was an arrancar. Airi found herself longing for the darkness she had awoken from.

She shut her eyes, wishing she could slip back into the blissful nothingness. Try as she might, it would not come. Memories of all that had happened played inside her mind in fast forward. Only when she remembered the events in the Seireitei that she opened her eyes again.

A particular phrase had stuck in her mind along with the sad look that had accompanied it. Hadn't she been told she was dying? Airi recalled feeling weak and in a great deal of pain. Nothing seemed to hurt; everything seemed normal aside from a dull pain in her left arm. A tug followed by a sharp pain came from just under her elbow as she propped herself up on her right arm. Despite the darkness of the room, the girl could plainly see a the needle of an IV stuck in her arm's most prominent vein. Airi stared up in horror at bag of fluid hung on a rack next to where she lay. However, it was not her newly obtained fear of needles from Syazel, nor her old fear of being hospitalized that caused this reaction. Rather, the contents of fluid bag was what terrified her most. Light from the hallway was enough to reveal the color; a pale green.

Despite not having a physical heart, Airi still felt her pulse quicken. Why was the same substance that she and Zezuri had been forced to drink now being used as her life support? Should she pull it out? What would happen if she did? Placing a hand on over the where the needle stuck out from her arm, Airi prepared to remove it.

Only the soft thud of bare feet on the solid wood floor stopped her from carrying through with her current course of action. Instead, Airi waited to see who was coming.

"My, my!" exclaimed the figure when it stopped in the doorway, "Seems like you're an early bird."

A faint click sounded and suddenly the room was illuminated by fluorescent lights overhead.

"W-who are you?" Airi blinked hard as her eyes adjusted to the light. The stranger was male, garbed in green and wearing a striped hat. For reasons she could not explain, Airi felt as if she had met this man somewhere before.

"Kisuke Urahara. This is my shop you're in."

The arrancar struggled with her next question. "This might sound odd... but where is that?"

Urahara chuckled, "Don't worry, you're safe here. You're in Karakura, Japan. Sound familiar?"

Green eyes widened at this bit of information. Airi opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, finding herself at a loss for words.

The shopkeeper flashed her a kind smile flecked with sadness as if something was haunting him. "Yes, this is your world. The living dimension, if you will."

Relief washed over Airi, but it was quickly replaced with despair. "It's not my world anymore..." her free arm moved subconsciously over the hole in her chest.

Silence engulfed the room. Airi looked down, eyes not focusing on anything while Urahara crouched down to inspect the IV machine.

"I'm sorry."

"What? Why?" the girl looked up, confused as to how this could be anyone's fault aside from Aizen's.

"Because it's my fault, mostly, that is." Urahara seated himself on the floor next to the puzzled Airi. "I suppose it's time I tell the whole story." It was a little after four in the morning and Urahara knew he owed many others the same explanation he was about to give.

Taking a deep breath, Urahara removed his hat setting it on the floor next to him. Honesty is the best policy, or so Yoruichi had tried to tell him many a time. Maybe she was right."The truth is, none of this should have happened to you."

"I-I don't understand..." Airi was becoming increasingly befuddled by this man's apologetic behavior.

"Let me start at the beginning. Do you remember the night your friend went out and didn't come back?"

Airi thought long and hard. The memory was there, but she could have sworn it had been a dream. "I think so?" It was more a question than a statement.

"Well, I suppose you wouldn't, at least not clearly, but I'll get to that. Your friend, Zezuri, I believe, was the victim of a hollow attack."

"What?!"

"A nearby soul that had not been sent transformed and attacked her before any of my detectors told me what was going on. I arrived in time to dispatch the hollow before it was able to consume her soul. However, it had already severed her chain of fate; Zezuri was already dead."

"B-but she was fine the day after that!" exclaimed Airi.

Urahara nodded patiently. "That's because of this," he procured a glowing blue fragment from his pocket.

Airi recognized it immediately, "A shard! Aizen had us collecting those!"

"It's something I created quite recently... in fact, for events such as what happened to your friend. As we can't always predict when and where hollows will form, I wanted to make something that would be able to revive the victims of such attacks. This shard is designed to reforge the bond between soul and body. It's only a prototype and I was only successful in creating four."

The shard looked like nothing more than a glass fragment to Airi's eyes, but she could sense its power as she had with the others.

Urahara pocketed the shard once more. "Aizen has two, I have one, and the fourth resides inside Zezuri. She was the first person I used it on. When it worked, I became so wrapped up in my success that I overlooked the possibility that others had noticed. You were one of them, in fact."

"Huh?" the girl couldn't remember anything like this happening.

"You came running down the alley just as I revived her. I should have realized what else I had done right there. You were not able to see me until the shard fused with Zezuri's soul. It awakened spiritual abilities that you should never have come into. As I sensed only a very small amount of spiritual power coming from both of you, I was certain it would disappear. Clearly I was wrong. Humans don't just obtain power overnight and it seems yours only grew from there. I'm not sure how Aizen found out so fast, but I would imagine that's why he came after the two of you so quickly. "

Airi looked at her hands folded in her lap, had that really happened?

Urahara continued, "At first I didn't realize what had happened until Ichigo told me he had seen Aizen in his school. By then, I was too late to do anything. The two of you were gone, or at least your souls were. I found your bodies inside the in-between dimension and brought them back."

The shopkeeper stopped talking and looked down at the floor. He knew he had to tell her. Inhaling deeply, Urahara brought his eyes level with Airi's. "I wasn't able to save you," there, he'd done it.

Green eyes stared blankly at him, waiting for elaboration.

"I tried to use another shard on you, but it didn't work since your soul was missing. There was nothing I could do but watch you wither away."

Airi found tears welling up in her eyes. Even though she had accepted her death, it was painful to hear there was another end to it. "What about Zezuri?" she asked trying to move her thoughts from self-pity.

A small smile crossed Urahara's face. "The shard worked far better than I had thought; Zezuri's body is still living."

"S-she's alive?!"

"More or less in a coma, but yes, alive. In the technical sense of the word at least. As long as the shard is not separated from her soul, she can return to her body."

The blonde dissolved into tears once more, overwhelmed by everything she had just heard.

Urahara patted Airi's shoulder, "I'm sorry. Should I come back later?"

Shaking her head no, Airi tried to hold back her tears. She wanted to hear all of this now.

Keeping his hand on Airi's shoulder for whatever comfort he could offer, Urahara continued "I tried to lure out Aizen's forces by hiding the other shards where he could find them, hoping to get the Seireitei's aide. They came, but I didn't expect everything to go the way it did. It didn't occur to me that you would actually fight against them, but I don't blame you Ichigo told me he had seen you as an arrancar, I understood why I wasn't able to save you."

He paused to allow the girl to comment, but she remained silent.

"That's when we decided to rescue the two of you. Thankfully, breaking into the Seireitei is far less dangerous than Las Noches."

"Is Zezuri here?!" Airi's spirits rose.

"Regrettably, no. We couldn't locate her, but from what the Espada has told us, she seems to have been taken in by the Gotei 13. She's safe for now, but the longer we wait, the harder it will be for her to return to life."

"Oh... Wait! You rescued an Espada? Grimmjow?"

"I believe that's his name."

Airi felt relieved to know her comrade was alive as well, "They didn't kill him, that's a relief."

"He wasn't in too bad of shape, just a little bruised compared to you."

The girl looked back at Urahara, she had many questions about how she had been able to recover, but assumed she would be getting those shortly.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure you were going to make it. You were in a coma, I don't know for how long, but I would imagine not more than a day or so since you recovered so quickly. It's only been about half a day since we brought you here."

"But how? I was told I was... wasn't going to make it." Airi asked.

Glancing up at the IV drip he gave the answer, "Retsu is very powerful with the healing arts, but her skills are limited to those who are Shinigami. She overlooked a fundamental aspect of the hollows when she was trying to heal you."

"What's that?" As usual, Airi felt completely uninformed. Despite being something of a hollow herself, she had no idea what the man was talking about.

"Every being, living or spiritual needs subsistence to convert to energy. Humans and shinigami eat food. Do you know what hollows eat?" a dark expression crossed Urahara's face.

Airi's expression was troubled. Hadn't Grimmjow told her once?

Before her mind could produce the answer, the shopkeeper gave it to her, "Souls. Hollows eat souls."

Instantly, Airi's hand was on the IV needle once more, this time a gently placed hand on her own stopped her.

"Wait a moment! Let me explain," Urahara looked into Airi's eyes. They were full of panic. He couldn't imagine what it felt like to be on her end of this conversation. Somehow, she'd retained all of her human mind despite the hollowfication. That couldn't be easy to deal with.

Reluctantly, the arrancar relaxed her grip on the needle in her arm, but did not remove her hand completely.

Deciding she was calm enough, Urahara continued, "The contents of the IV is not what you are thinking it is. I've spent a long time studying and creating artificial souls, so I used that knowledge to create something of a replica for you."

"Are you saying that I couldn't heal because I was starving?"

"More or less. That much damage would take a great deal of energy to repair."

Still not sure if she could relax, Airi blurted out the question plaguing her mind. "It looks just like what they made Zezuri and I drink..."

"Oh?" Urahara's eyebrows shot up, "You'll have to explain this to me."

From her transformation to waking up in the Seireitei, Airi retold her part of the story to the avidly listening man.

When she had finished, he said nothing for a moment, processing the information.

"Unohana mentioned something about my status as a fraccion being part of the problem." Airi added, remembering that dreadful conversation.

"It is a possibility. I don't know too much about the ties between an Espada and their fraccion. All I can suggest is that you take it easy for a bit and let me know immediately if something feels wrong." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "I won't let you die again."

Donning his hat and getting to his feet, Urahara made to leave the room. "I need to discuss these matters with some others who might know more. Try to get more sleep in the meantime."

Airi watched the green-garbed man exit the room. She wanted so badly to get up and follow him, but could not deny that she did feel rather tired still. Hesitantly, she removed her hand from the needle and laid back down. For the time being, she decided, a little more sleep couldn't hurt.

Despite it being only the day after the break in security, the Head Captain had ordered only a small force to carry out investigations while the rest of the Seireitei's forces were to return to normal duties immediately. Zezuri could do nothing but continue her training, as the Soul Society finally settled down. She was on her last day with Unohana as she patiently waited for the Captain to arrive. Today she had something important she needed to address.

"You're here quite early. You must be eager about something?" Unohana half questioned Zezuri, entering the room. The Fourth Captain had seen the same look in the young girl's brown eyes many times before and knew what would be coming next. A knowing smile crept onto her face.

"Well... I feel like I'm not getting any stronger... All I can do is heal and set off some energy..." The brunette admitted.

"What are you saying? You destroyed a Menos at a captain's level."

"I know... But one blast is all I can do. I don't have the stamina. I need to be stronger, because right now... I doubt I could destroy Aizen... or even be of any help."

The Captain understood exactly what Zezuri was trying to say. It was true the girl was strong with kido skills alone, but stamina was everything in a real battle. None one knew that better than Unohana, perhaps Zezuri should have started her training in the sword arts.

"Don't doubt yourself, Zezuri. You've already shown much progress. Just stay patient and diligent." Unohana smiled reassuringly at Zezuri, "Now, let us begin today's lesson."

Urahara Shoten had been abuzz with activity since the early hours of the morning. The small shop felt even smaller with the extra group of visitors that were all crowded around a low table set in the middle of a tatami mat-covered floor. They had been deliberating on their next moves for the majority of the time aside from a few breaks that the shopkeeper made to check in on the girl in the spare room.

Grimmjow sat next to the sliding door outside of the room, eavesdropping on the meeting. It wasn't a secret conversation, in fact the blue haired Espada had been invited to join by both Shinji and even Urahara himself. With his pride still intact despite a bruised ego, Grimmjow had shrugged off both invitations. What did he care about the girl upstairs? She was an arrancar like himself and the first rule of being an arrancar was the weak were destroyed. Part of him tried to argue that he too had been hopelessly stuck in the seireitei as well. He pushed the thoughts back by telling himself he'd escaped with minimal assistance. Then again, she was Zezuri's friend.

Frustrated with himself and bored out of his mind, Grimmjow got to his feet and began to wander aimlessly about the shop. Why was he still here? It didn't seem he would be able to get Zezuri any time soon. If this group 'rescued' her, who was to say that they wouldn't just keep her captive too?

The light was on in a room further down the hall. Curiosity erased the Espada's other thoughts.

"Hey, you..." Grimmjow addressed the room's sole occupant.

Airi jumped and looked up from a book she had been reading. "G-grimmjow?" she blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, who else would I be?" The Espada scowled in frustration. Something had changed about the girl since he'd last seen her when they had departed Las Noches what seemed an age ago.

Airi smirked, "I don't know. I'm just surprised to actually see you; only Urahara has been checking in on me. He told me you had been rescued as well."

Grimmjow was about to make a correction about him being "rescued" when suddenly he figured out what was different about Airi.

"Your emotions are back?"

Struck with the sudden realization, Airi's eyes grew wide. "You're right! I can't believe I didn't notice!" She sat in silence grinning at the thought of recovering. The moment was brief and the smile quickly faded. "Wait, I had my emotions when I was in the Seireitei as well... what does this mean?"

"Guess Ulquiorra got fed up with yo-"

"No he wouldn't." Airi cut off Grimmjow.

The two arrancar exchanged a glance.

As soon as the words left her mouth Airi knew it was true. The indignant tone spoke more than her words.

"Peh, what are you going to do about that?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's still controlling you. How long do you think he'll just leave you here?" The Espada couldn't help but smirk, even in verbal conversation he enjoyed having the upper hand.

Panic spread across the blonde's face. "He can't just order me to come back? Can he?"

An exasperated sigh escaped from Grimmjow as he put a hand to his forehead. "No, that's not how it works. I can't just order my fraccion around just by thinking things at them. I would've gotten out of that damn cell faster if that were the case!"

Airi felt a little relief, "So he would have to come here..." She began to piece the situation together. "That would mean... there would be more fighting... and I would..."

"Be forced to fight on his terms." The Espada finished her sentence.

"We can take 'em!" a new voice chimed in from behind Grimmjow.

Airi watched as a tall man with straight blond hair stepped into the room. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Grimmjow scowl at the newcomer.

"I guess I'll be going now. See ya." With a slight wave of his hand, the Espada made a sudden exit from the room. The very sight of the Vizard made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Arrancar and shinigami should never mix in one being as far as he was concerned.

The newcomer shrugged as Grimmjow brushed by him. "Oh well, I guess he hasn't warmed up to me yet!" A bright smile suddenly was on the man's face. "The name's Shinji. Pleasure to finally see you awake!"

"Uhhh..." Airi wasn't sure how to respond.

Shinji chuckled. "I'm one of the ones who rescued you. But, you wouldn't know that since you were out cold."

"Oh... Thank you. Very much." The girl looked down as a red hue crossed her face.

"And you shouldn't worry about getting dragged back to Hueco Mundo, we won't let that happen." Shinji directed the conversation back to its original course and knelt down next to Airi. "Urahara told us your story. I think we might be able to help."

"We?"

"The Vizards. That's what we call ourselves at least. We're a bit of an interesting group." A faint light flashed as he brought his hand up to his face.

Airi gasped.

In the strange man's hand was a mask. Not just any mask, a hollow mask. Without thinking, she brought her hand up to her fragments. "What are you?" She asked in awe.

"Neither an arrancar or a shinigami. You could say I'm something in between."

The look of wonder in Airi's green eyes prompted the Vizard to tell his whole story. After all their stories were so similar, Shinji felt he couldn't let the girl think she was the only one who had met this fate.

"I was a shinigami who became a hollow... not by choice, but by my crafty little sneak of a lieutenant." He glanced at the floor, a thousand regrets ran through his mind. "Damn Sosuke, how many lives will you mess with?" His voice filled with anger.

"Sosuke?" The name was unfamiliar to Airi.

Shinji sighed, "You've met. He's the reason you are what you are as well."
"Aizen?!"
"The very same."

Silence filled the room for a few minutes until Shinji spoke again. "We think there's a chance you could remove this." He tapped the feathers on her head.

"Really?" Excitement and hope bounded through Airi.

Shinji suddenly became serious. "It won't be easy. You're still weakened from your injuries and it sounds like that won't be healing fast enough for us to wait. We're short on time as your blue-haired friend mentioned; I would bet on the other Espada to come calling soon."

A curt nod from Airi signaled her agreement and understanding.

Shinji went back to beaming, "Great! I'll tell the others and we'll start tomorrow!"

Thanks so much for your continued patience with our slow writing/editing process. Please feel free to tell us what you think/yell at us for slow updates/review/whatever. I respond to all comments. :) Hope to see you all next time! -Airumel