Hey everyone! Here's the long awaited action-packed next chapter! I really don't have much to say up here this time...other than I've gone to work for 12 days straight. Yay science. And we may or may not have decided on an ending for this, not that it's coming that soon, but still... have to set some things up now. Mwahahahaha. -Airumel 5/24/13

-Chapter 24-

The day was dragging on and Airi was making no progress. Pulling herself to her feet she wondered how much longer she could keep this up. Her determination was beginning to waver as her body began to fail again.

Maybe being an arrancar wasn't all that bad.

The thought had been growing louder and louder with every passing hour and was the only reason she was still so resolved to keep fighting. There was no way she would stay this way when she had a chance to be something closer to human. Something that wasn't a monster.

"Do you still want to continue?" called Lisa, her current opponent.

The Vizards had taken turns switching out, hoping that if Airi had to keep adjusting to a different fighting style, she would eventually have to try to summon her release. A few times they had come close, but the arrancar would suddenly lose focus. Usually this was accompanied by substantial damage from her failure to dodge or block in the same moment.

Airi knew it was no fault of the Vizards that she was unable to summon her release. Unsure she could control it, a small part of her mind resisted until she found herself lying on the ground time and time again.

This time would be different. The thoughts in Airi's head were beginning to veer closer and closer to a hollow's bloodlust. There was a thin margin of equilibrium before her feral side overtook her.

Taking a deep breath she steadied her stance and closed her eyes, forcing herself to remember how the release went.

Lisa glanced at the other Vizards to question if she should attack.

Airi raised her sword out in front of her and slowly raised it above her head, keeping the blade parallel with the ground.

Shinji gave a nod to his comrade who began to rush at her opponent.

The arrancar seemed completely unaware of the incoming attack, but Lisa wasn't about to hesitate. Swinging her sword, she made to attack Airi's unprotected side.

"RAGE! Oceano viento!" shouted the arrancar. An unexplained rush of wind blew her attacker backwards to the ground.

Zezuri was running out of strength, or perhaps she had a long time ago; maybe she was running on pure desperation. The shadow swung quickly as Zezuri tried to defend, her arms wobbled and the rusty sword was flung from her hands, landing with a clatter a short distance away.

The girl looked from her sword to the shadow, hope draining from her face. The dark, featureless form didn't hesitate about eradicating its foe. Soundlessly, it leapt up into the air, kicked off the wall behind it and hurdled straight downward at Zezuri, creating a huge blast.

Luckily, Zezuri still had enough energy to dodge. She dropped to the ground and rolled across the floor to where a giant decorative urn had been placed. Her heart pounding, she hide herself behind it wondering if she could fool her shadow and catch her breath. Seconds went by, but no attack came. Very shortly anxiety got the best of her. Peaking out slowly from behind the urn, she looked around the room for her shadowy foe. The only other being in the room was the captain, who was still watching with the same amused expression he had worn when she had started this battle. It seemed as if the shadow had simply vanished. This left Zezuri more worried. The hair on the back of her neck stood up despite her efforts to calm down. Sweat on her palms made the grip on her sword hard to maintain.

"W-when did I get my sword back?" She thought quietly; had she picked it up while dodging the last attack and didn't notice? That didn't sound too plausible. Come to think of it, hadn't the blade shown signs of wear and rust? She had little time to carefully look at the blade when she felt the presence of the shadow directly behind her. It sliced cleanly through the urn which Zezuri had just been leaning against. A new surge of energy filled the girl as she quickly moved again. Before she knew what she was doing, the brunette turned and adeptly deflected another well-aimed blow from the shadow.

"This sword feels..." She began to think again. The shadow readied itself for its next attack, yet Zezuri's arms stopped shaking. Fatigue and soreness drained away from her mind as she began to feel slightly empowered. "This isn't the sword I had before..." She thought finding herself able to push the shadow backwards.

"You are a shinigami, but you are not. I am here to aide you down this path to greater power if you wish it so..." A faint whisper filled her mind. Zezuri looked over at Captain Kyoraku, wondering at first if it had been him who had spoke to her. It clearly wasn't. The middle-aged captain was beginning to nod off despite the raging battle in front of him.

"Call my name!" The whisper came again, this time harsher and louder with a slight bit of a hiss.

With its opponent distracted by some unseen force, the shadow leapt around Zezuri's defenses. Before Zezuri could utter a word the shadow had plunged its black sword through her right shoulder.

The great expanse of the starry sea reached out to the horizon as if it could merge with the darkening skies of the perpetual sunset. Airi blinked open her eyes knowing exactly where she would find herself. However, the waters surrounding the rocky sandbar were only at a gentle chop. The prelude to a storm, she thought with slight apprehension. She remembered the last time she had awoken here; a storm had been raging and the dark haired girl had been in control. Just where was she?

Airi stood up and looked around. Every direction she looked held only the twinkle of stars from the sea. She was alone.

"This is odd..." she muttered aloud. Something did not feel right. Every time she had been here since becoming an arrancar, the girl had been waiting for her. Why was now any different? Did she know that Airi was coming to fight her?

A dim flicker of light being reflected caught her out of the corner of her eye. Quickly, she turned and braced herself for an attack.

None came.

Lowering her arms, Airi looked cautiously around to see what had caught her attention. A mound of small rocks a short distance away appeared to be covering something. Curiously, the girl slowly stepped closer.

The flash of light came again as a glittering wave swept in towards the mound.

Airi knelt on the ground and moved some of the rocks away. Her sword reflected the light again as another wave rushed over its metallic surface. With much care as to not cut herself, the girl unearthed the sword as she wondering how it had become buried.

When it was free from the pebbly contents of the beach Airi sat back and stared at it dully. How was this going to help? While she was stuck on her island what was happening back outside of her mind?

Another wave washed ashore, the lights inside cast just enough light that Airi briefly saw her reflection. "W-what?" She exclaimed staring harder at the sword's well polished blade.

Staring back at her was not her reflection as she remembered it. Heavy black streaks ran through her long blonde hair. Grabbing a lock of it in her hand she looked away from the blade only to see it was as the reflection had shown. Heart hammering away in a suddenly burst of panic she looked back at the blade only to find an even bigger change. Wide eyed with confusion Airi could not fail to notice that only one of her eyes was green. The other was now deep shade of purple. "What's going on!?" She dropped the sword like it was something poisonous.

A laugh tinged with a bitter edge echoed from within the blade. Cautiously, Airi picked the sword again. Right before her eyes her reflection moved on its own and spoke in a gleefully sarcastic tone. "Oh sorry, did you think you could defeat me?"

Airi's mouth was agape in shock. The voice was that of the black haired girl whom she suddenly was resembling.

"Or should I say us? Afterall, we are the same. Two sides of the same coin as the cliché goes. At least we are now."

"Who are you?" The girl demanded of her reflection.

Her reflection sighed. "You still haven't figured that out? Well, I suppose it would be a bit complicated now, so I guess I will tell you after all. I started as a single soul. I entered your mind when you let your guard down. You remember, it was when you were sure you could defeat that ex-Shinigami blocking your way out of Las Noches."

"That was when I became-"

The reflection cut her off. "Yes, I am the hollow within you. Your lust for power created me, that and your deeper emotions fed me along with the souls that were injected into your bloodstream. Silently, I grew stronger until I was able to take a physical form. After that, it was only a matter of waiting for the right moment to completely break through to the surface."

"Then this is your sword?" Airi asked disgusted that she had used it.

"That thing? No, it's not mine," the reflection scoffed, "A true hollow needs no blade. Though I will admit it does come in handy."

Airi clutched the blade gently, now feeling safer with this knowledge. It was hers, not this monster's.

"Heh." The hollow laughed. "If you think that will save you, you're wrong. As we speak, I am in control of this body."

"How?!"

"You called on me. Why else do you black out when you summon the true power of a hollow? Because it's all under my control."

"Airi!" yelled Shinji, to the rampaging arrancar as he kept his sword between himself and her steel-like talons. The battle against Airi had become severely one-sided after Airi had summoned her release. Every Vizard had sensed the change and was fully aware that the girl they were trying to help was no longer in control of her body. Three pairs of white wings created a gale force wind that was hard to stand against, let alone launch an attack. Yet the ex-shinigami were no weaklings. Despite the added difficulty they fought on, hoping Airi would regain control, but they were already weary from fighting against the girl all day.

A blast of water came surging at Lisa, perhaps the most worn out of the group. She watched helplessly as the arrancar suddenly appeared behind her. Which attack to block?

Taloned hands met steel, but not that of Lisa's blade.

"Let me handle this." Starrk had blocked the attack from behind while the Vizard had chosen to deflect the water with kido.

Relieved, she nodded and flashed away from the fight.

"You want to know why we look the same?" Taunted Airi's reflection. "It's because I am you. That means you are hollow, same as me."

"No! I'm not!"

"Sure, deny it all you want, the evidence is there. You hunger for power, for SOULS. Deep down you even miss being the fraccion of the Fourth!"

Doubt began to creep into Airi's mind. "T-that's... that's not true!"

Confident laughter came from the reflection. "You hesitated. Surely you can see the truth."

"You're wrong!" The girl's fist was clenched tight around the hilt of her sword now. "You said this was my sword."

"So what?"

"Hollows don't have swords!" Airi shouted at the top of her lungs. At the same moment, the sea behind her swelled up into a massive tidal wave.

"True, I may not own the sword, but that doesn't change what you are." The words of her reflection echoed in her mind as the giant wave crashed down upon her. All her senses went dark as the deep thunder of the wave took over.

Zezuri's eyes were wide, her expression frozen in shock. Pain surged through her body on a level she could hardly comprehend. Just when she thought she couldn't hurt any more, the shadow withdrew its blade from her shoulder, flicking gore from it blade. She cried out and fell to her knees. This was it, wasn't it? How could she keep fighting in this much pain? Faceless and expressionless, the shadow wasn't wasting anytime for its opponent to regain her strength.

"Ugh..." Zezuri moaned as she dragged her sword in an upwards arc to intercept the shadow's strike. Still unable to figure out how she was still fighting, let alone conscious, Zezuri gave silent thanks to her new found strength.

"If you don't hurry, you will die here!" Zezuri grunted at the voice in her head again. "Stop denying yourself power! Release your fury!"

"Seishin..." She began, but before the girl could finish, her shadow began a relentless barrage of blows aimed for her head, alternating swings from the left and right. Gritting her teeth, the brunnette held her sword over her head and braced weakly against the strikes. Each swing crashed down with vibrations that shook her arm until she was sure it was going to fall off. This was hopeless, she began to think, maybe she wasn't made to have greater power.

"You will die, your friends will die, everything will die!" The voice admonished.

Zezuri suddenly remembered the nightmares that had been plaguing her nights. Her friends died in front of her before she perished as well. "No..." Tears began to form in her eyes. Her resolve strengthened and she pushed herself to her feet despite the shaking in her knees. "I won't let them die! I have to live to protect them! Seishin Byakko!" A bright light shone off her blade as the shadow shielded itself from the light.

"Well well, It's about time..." The captain yawned.

Concerned voices came into focus along with the painted blue sky overhead as Airi blinked her eyes open. "W-what happened?" she moaned blinking from the bright light.

"You went out of control again." A voice she hadn't heard in a long time spoke.

Turning her head to the right, she saw she was surrounded by a crowd of people. Her eyes wandered until they fell upon Starrk. He knelt next to her staring with the slightest amount of concern on his usually placid face. "Starrk?" She asked weakly.

"Who else would I be?" Even his voice betrayed concern though the ex-Espada was trying his best to hide it in his normal monotone.

Green eyes studied him intently; where was his mask and hole? Search as she might, his defining features of his arrancar status were nowhere to be seen.

Seeing her confused expression he felt a pang of empathy.

"But... how?" She managed, her body felt as if it barely had enough energy to maintain normal functions.

"I'll explain later. It's a long story." He looked over to Hachi. "Is she stable to move?"

The large Vizard nodded, but was silent as was the rest of the group. From their faces, Airi could easily see they were all exhausted. As she caught Shinji's eye, he gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry about us. We're a little out of shape, that's all."

Starrk began to lift Airi from the ground.

"I'm fine," she protested, "Really. I can walk." Her face flushed. When did she get so weak that she was always being carried around?

The ex-Espada said nothing and let go.

"You might not want to push yourself." Kensei suggested.

Shaking violently with the effort, Airi pushed herself up from the dusty ground. The Vizards stood ready to catch her if she fell. Slower than she had ever moved before in her existence, the girl pushed one foot out in front of the other. A few wobbly steps forward was all she could take. Yet, she would not fall. Standing in place, she wished she could vanish. Moisture began to well up in her eyes; she had failed to control her release, failed to defeat her inner demon, and now she was failing to walk. What was the use?

A strong hand on her shoulder startled her. "There's no use cryin'. Starrk might have had an easy time with this process, but the rest of us... well, it took a long time."

Tear-stained eyes looked up at the Vizard leader. Didn't he see how useless it was for her to try?

"We were all much further out of control than you were. We were hoping you would be able to use the same technique that worked for Ichigo-kun." He gave an encouraging smile. "You're a lot more like us than you know."

No, I'm not like you, she thought, my hollow side can't be separated from me. Suddenly, the girl sagged as her legs gave out under her.

Swiftly, sturdy arms found their way behind her back, breaking her fall.

"I think you don't get a choice in this matter anymore." The blond Vizard winked before Airi could protest again as she found herself lifted again by Starrk. Realizing Shinji was right, Airi gave in to save herself from further embarrassment.

The brunette gazed at her Zanpakto in awe, she hadn't realized this had been possible. Before she knew it, her blade was guiding her motions as she resumed her fight against the shadow.

"You and I are one. Control my sword and harness the power within you." The voice said again, but no longer from within her head. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see a blurry white form. She turned her head to look for a brief second and caught a glimpse of a white tiger.

"Is that thing talking to me?" She wondered after pushing her opponent backwards with a thrusting blow.

The shadow came at her again, it seemed aware that the tables had been turned, for it was the one attacking out of desperation. Zezuri tightened her grip, readied her stance, and in an instant was above and behind her foe. Her arms swung the blade aided by the pull of gravity. In one fluid motion she cut the shadow in two before it had a chance to turn and look. Instead of falling to the floor, the two halves of the shadowy mass dissipated, blown away on a non-existent wind.

Zezuri took in a deep breath of air, letting it out slowly. Relief filled her knowing the battle had been won. The blade in her hand gleamed brightly; the hilt was wrapped with gold material.

Captain Kyoraku, whom Zezuri had been sure would still be napping, came closer to her and patted her shoulder. "See? I knew you could do it." She looked up to see a large smile on his face. "The Zanpakuto you summoned is your own. All that kido you were using wasn't pure kido; it was mostly raw energy you should have been able to use to draw out your sword with. But, don't go feeling sad that you had this much trouble. I'm sure if the other captains around here were honest, you'd find they struggled to obtain their own power too. You at least had more control over it than most." He chuckled inwardly thinking of a certain young captain that was still having troubles of his own. "Now you should find fighting easier, though you might have a bit of trouble with kido..."

"Okay..." Zezuri tried to take in the information, but everything had happened so fast. Before she said anything further she turned to look across the room again, but the beast was gone. She had wanted to ask about the tiger, but something told her it had been something only visible to her. Picking up a scabbard that had appeared next to the vase she had hidden behind, she sheathed the blade and slipped it into the belt of her hakama. It was then she noticed that the terrible wound in her arm had vanished without a trace.

It was now early in the evening; the sun was beginning its descent into the West and flooding Airi's room with light. After the group had exited the basement only Shinji and Starrk had remained with the weak arrancar as Urahara went rushing for his supplies. "Artificial souls will only help so much," he had explained to her, "I don't want mean to sound harsh, but you really only have two choices: one, you succeed in reversing the Hollowification, or two, return to Hueco Mundo. The atmosphere there alone would provide the sustenance you need to recover."

Airi sat in silence staring at her hands as she fidgeted with her robe trying to ignore the discomfort of the IV in her arm. She hadn't told Urahara about how her soul was fused with the hollow's.

"Knock, knock." A voice came from the doorway.

The blonde looked up and watched Starrk enter. "That guy with the striped hat seemed pretty concerned about your mental state. He asked me to pick your brain for him." The ex-Espada tried to sound as disinterested as he could.

Turning her head and looking out the window, Airi began to speak, "When I use my release, I black out."

"That much, I think we all are aware of."

"I always wake up on this island... and she would always be there."

Starrk waited for the girl to continue.

Airi turned to look at her comrade, "The hollow side of me. I had planned on trying to destroy her..."

"But you couldn't." The ex-Espada finished her sentence.

She shook her head, "No... her... we... ours souls are merged together..." Airi looked back outside quickly trying to hold back her tears.

A sigh issued from Starrk. He seated himself next to the girl on the floor.

For a long moment, neither said a word.

"That's normal, but I bet no one told you that."

"What?" Airi exclaimed.

"Hollows are born when human souls give in to the darker feelings. In your case, it was just helped along by Aizen's experiment. Your human soul had already begun converting towards a Shinigami-like state from the reports I saw. You summoned the sword before you became a hollow, correct?"

The girl nodded.

"That makes you more like the Vizards than me. It would be my guess that since you were hollowfied immediately after that point your hollow powers are greater than theirs." He ruffled her hair, still staring at the wall. "You'll be able to become like us in no time. Your approach was wrong, that's all. You can't destroy the hollow, because she is part of your soul. Just the same, an arrancar cannot destroy their Shinigami side."

Airi looked at the brown-haired man wondering what he meant. "If I don't destroy her, then what do I need to do?"

"Prove that some other side of you is more powerful." The look he received from Airi was not amused. "I don't think I can explain it any better than that. A hollow wants to be the strongest, or following someone they think is stronger, it's their nature."

Airi took in the information with a straight face. She wasn't sure how she could do this.

"Don't think too hard on it. You'll figure it out."

"Thanks."

"Peh, don't mention it."

A question that had been in the back of her mind since earlier bubbled up. "Say, Starrk... why did you switch sides? I thought you were the strongest Espada."

Starrk didn't answer. Instead he was staring out the window, a strange expression on his face.

"Starrk? What's wrong?" Airi asked becoming concerned. As the words left her mouth, she too could feel something wrong, not in the air, but in her tone.

Before she could think any further on the matter a tall dark figure suddenly appeared in front of the open window.

"A hollow always follows the stronger being." The voice inside Airi's head was smug.

"Ulquiorra." She gasped.

Dun dun dun CLIFFHANGER. You're welcome. Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you're still enjoying this! Please feel free to comment/review/ask questions/make suggestions/leave words of encouragement/etc. We're always happy to have feedback. See you next time! -Airumel