"Hnh." Grimmjow grunted as he whipped his sword to the side, splashing blood on the cold stone of the mountains. "I think we're getting close." Although that was obvious to even a moron.
"Right." Ichigo sounded a bit spooked, not that Grimmjow blamed him. They'd been encountering more and more adjuchas, all of them infected with that red stuff. And they'd run into one low level vasto lorde, and that had been creepy as hell because she'd still been halfway in control of herself and had begged them to end her life. Grimmjow had no idea what this shit was but apparently, it hurt. A lot. He wasn't eager to find out how much.
"I'm scawed Itsy-papi!" Nel said, her brown eyes big and wet. Grimmjow didn't blame her too much either. She was just a little kid, of course she was scared.
"We'll find out what's doing this and make 'em go away." He said comfortingly as Ichigo scooped up the endless child. "I'll take point." His reiatsu sensing was better than Ichigo's anyway. Although Ichigo could sense an impressively long distance, he still hadn't gotten the hang of doing it unobtrusively. He spread out his senses carefully –
And nearly had his head blown off, figuratively speaking. Grimmjow swore violently as he snapped his sensitivity back down to normal levels. Someone had just lit up with some serious mojo and it had ripped into his senses like an out of control battering ram.
"This way!" Ichigo said excitedly and Grimmjow rubbed his head before following. He would be absolutely fine, it was just a shock. Like a night creature getting hit with the beam of a flashlight. Grinning a bit at the thought, he followed as Ichigo made his way deep into the mountains. Then the shinigami abruptly stopped dead. Grimmjow looked around him, his eyes widening as he took in the scene.
"Dat's Renji! An' Uwyu! But who's dat Gwimm-papi? He's scawy!" Nel lisped from her place on Ichigo's shoulder and he glanced over at the teen. He was staring, his brown eyes wide. Grimmjow couldn't really blame him. The Quincy and the red pineapple were pulling out all the stops. The tattooed freaks bankai was pretty damned impressive no matter how you sliced it.
Even more impressive was the baleful light at the centre of the small clearing in the mountains. Grimmjow recognized the hollow at the centre of it, although he'd changed a lot. The glazing of red all over his body was new, and so was the dark fire in the sockets of his skull mask.
"Rudbornn." Grimmjow made the name a curse. He'd honestly never thought the Exequias might have something to do with this. He just wasn't that powerful… but now he was. It was a highly unusual power, too. Not vasto lorde but something else and just as strong. "Motherfucker! Come on Ichigo!" Now that he knew who was involved, he was on the side of the shinigami. Rudbornn had always been a pro-Aizen fanatic. If the fucker was up to what Grimmjow thought he was, he could just die in a fire.
His sword led the way and Rudbornn looked up sharply as he came in. The blade clashed with red tendrils and Grimmjow grinned wickedly before slicing one off. It helped that a lot of the Exequias attention was split between him and the snake thing. The Quincy was trying to take care of the infected adjuchas, and there was one hell of a lot of them.
"Grimmjow! Join me! Help me free our god from his prison!" Yep, that would be it. Grimmjow's grin turned into a snarl as he leapt away and gripped his sword.
"When Hueco Mundo sprouts flowers! Grind, Pantera!" He snapped, assuming his first stage. But this was too important to risk not using any of his power. "Segunda Etapa!" His power flared brightly before he assumed his second form. Rudbornn seemed a bit taken aback by that.
"I see you made Vasto Lorde. That will only make you more useful to me when I take you as my own!" Then dozens of tendrils were after him and things almost got very ugly. Grimmjow yelped as one of them caught him around the ankle but then it was sliced away by a wickedly sharp black sword.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo was in the fray and Grimmjow could guess what he'd been doing. He'd been putting Nel somewhere safe. Brown eyes were narrowed in determination, a familiar look. Only now, he was glad to see it.
"Ichigo!" The redhead called but Ichigo ignored him, concentrating on the fight. He and Grimmjow worked together like a well oiled machine, covering each other and tearing apart everything in their path. Rudbornn resorted to making clones of himself to delay them but he was starting to get agitated.
"Why would you fight for shinigami Grimmjow? Why are you fighting against me?" He demanded and Grimmjow laughed. Was this asshole for real?
"Why are you fighting for a shinigami?" He said mockingly, turning it around. He could practically see the smoke boiling out of Rudbornn's ears.
"That's not the same at all! Oh, just die!" A flare of red light caught him off guard and Grimmjow yelped in pain as he was blasted away, right into the hard, unforgiving mountains. Fortunately his hierro was strong enough that the stone broke rather than his body. Before he'd become vasto lorde he'd have had broken bones or worse.
Shaking his head woozily, Grimmjow still heard the shriek of hollow fury. Pulling himself back together he saw Ichigo, or something he thought was Ichigo, attacking the Exequias in a frenzy. It looked like an unbroken Vasto Lorde, covered in bone with nasty, forward facing horns. The only thing that really told him it was Ichigo was the orange hair streaming behind it. That shade was quite unmistakeable.
After a quick check to make sure everything was relatively intact, Grimmjow joined the battle with his mate. Black and gold eyes flicked to him for just a moment and he could see the feral intelligence in them, a spark that was hollow but also Ichigo. Was this his hollow, the teen or both of them together? He honestly had no clue but he was going to go with it.
Between the two of them they tore Rudbornn to shreds and the snake thing delivered the finishing touch, nearly devouring what was left of the arrancar. At least, Grimmjow thought it was devouring. He wasn't sure the thing could really eat but it seemed to be having a go at it.
"Well, that was fun – huh?" Ichigo abruptly vanished in a burst of sonido and Grimmjow blinked. "Ichi?" He frowned as he realized he was alone with Ichigo's friends. "…Huh." They were both looking at him, too. The redhead looked confused and the Quincy seemed to be curious.
"What have you been doing with Ichigo?" The redhead asked and Grimmjow thought about everything that had happened. It was a lot to go into but it would probably be easier for him to explain.
"Well, it started when I found him almost dead after – GAH!" There was a flash of sonido and Grimmjow found himself over one bone covered shoulder. "The fuck?!" He gasped out, his belly hurting as they shot off like a greased rocket. "Ichigo!"
"WEEE!" Nel caroled from Ichigo's shoulder, his other hand tangled in her robe and her little legs flying in the wind. So that was where he'd gone, he'd gone to get Nel. But why was he running away from his own friends? Grimmjow could only hold on. Trying to make him let go when he was moving like this would hurt Nel and possibly the two of them. How was he going so fast? Bankai combined with sonido?
It felt like forever before Ichigo finally slowed down. The hybrid finally came to a halt and put him down, which Grimmjow was more than in favor of. It felt like he had bruises on top of his bruises. Ichigo was still in his full hollow form and Grimmjow scowled as the teen cradled Nel gently in his arms.
"The hell is wrong with you, shinigami? Those are your friends!" He said, irate, but the hollow Ichigo just ignored him in favor of checking Nel for any injuries. She was just fine and elated about her 'magic ride.' "Why did you run away from them?" Sure, Ichigo hadn't been too enthusiastic about meeting them but why would he run away? The hollow finally gave him his attention.
"They would take you away from me." He said, his voice distorted and strange yet still Ichigo. "You are my mate. I won't allow it. I won't!" Clawed hands gripped his shoulders and Grimmjow blinked as he was shoved against the face of the mountain. Bone began to flake away, revealing the teen's face and he reached up to tug off the horns before giving him a deep, thorough kiss. "I love you Grimm." Ichigo was starting to sound more like himself although his eyes were still honey gold. Those eyes that had pissed him off so much before, that had seemed so arrogantly dismissive, were full of a different kind of heat. Grimmjow swallowed, trying to engage his brain. This was flattering as hell but…
"Okay, I can see where you're coming from, but this ain't right." He said, struggling with himself. He was just learning not to be a selfish asshole. Being completely unselfish was asking a lot. The look Ichigo was giving him wasn't helping at all. "You stormed Soul Society to save the midget. You went through Los Noches, you actually got killed, not just once but TWICE trying to save the woman. You fought me and you won! Shit, Ichigo, these people mean everything to you. You can't just – "
"But I don't know them!" Ichigo cut him off. The gold bled away, leaving pleading brown eyes. "What if my memory never comes back? What if they're always strangers to me? I know you Grimm. I love you and I don't want to go. Please, don't make me." His voice was pleading now and Grimmjow tried one last time.
"If you stay and your memory comes back you're going to freak out, and not in a good way." He muttered, thinking about it. He'd anticipated the kind of freak out that involved a lot of yelling, throwing things and some mocking on his part. That would be funny as hell. If Ichigo found he'd abandoned his friends and family, though, the freak out would probably involve the business end of his sword. But… was he scared? Fuck that! No, he was just concerned. He really didn't want to see that 'I am going to kill you' look on Ichigo's face anymore. "What about your family? You have a sire and siblings – " A warm mouth clamped over his and Grimmjow completely lost his train of thought.
"I won't blame you Grimm." Ichigo whispered in his furry ear and Grimmjow twitched at the feel of warm breath, stirring his fur. "I finally have a mate, even a cub… She might not be our own but she's still ours… I can't leave you." He kissed the corner of the arrancar's mouth and he felt his willpower fading. He just couldn't be a fucking saint, he couldn't.
"Shit." He suddenly moved, turning things around and pinning Ichigo to the wall. The teen squirmed for a moment before looking at him with smoldering eyes. "You know what? You can do whatever the hell you want. I'm not your sire." He said before kissing the shinigami soundly. "You can stay as long as you like." He was done with this bullshit. If Ichigo wanted to be his mate forever and live in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow was fine with it. He just hoped the shinigami never remembered. It would be better that way. "But we can't play right now." He drew back and grinned as Ichigo made a disappointed sound. "Your friends might catch up to us. C'mon, let's go."
"Where should we go?" Ichigo asked, looking at him trustingly. He was still the experienced one, the leader of the fraccion. Grimmjow frowned, thinking for a moment and scratching his head with one claw. Fortunately, or not, Nel took that moment to butt in.
"You're gonna stay Itsygo? You'll be my Itsy-papi forever?" Nel said excitedly before launching herself up. Ichigo just barely managed to keep her away from his throat and Grimmjow laughed. But Ichigo just smiled, cuddling the eternal toddler close.
"Yes Nel, I'm going to be your papi forever." Ichigo promised and Nel beamed. The pure happiness on her face was so beautiful that Grimmjow decided this was definitely the right thing. Ichigo's friends could just go suck it.
"I think we should go into the wastelands." He said after a moment's thought. Ichigo looked at him questioningly as Nel nodded vigorously. "That's the empty lands past the mountains. Hueco Mundo seems to go on forever – it's a lot like Soul Society – but the reishi gets really intense out there. Perfect for us, we're strong enough to endure it and we can use it to make reishi pills. And Nel was vasto lorde before her mask was broken so she should be fine too. It just might let her take her true form more often."
"Uh huh! I was tryin' to go there when you found me!" She said and Grimmjow nodded. That explained why she was in the mountains. Not really a great place for a helpless cub, and the Vasto Lorde would be especially dangerous to her. They would know she was more than she seemed where an adjuchas would be vulnerable to a very nasty surprise. Ichigo nodded.
"Okay. Let's go." He said and Grimmjow took to the skies. He wasn't a natural flier, of course, but getting through the mountains would be easier in the air. Ichigo followed behind him and they both used their sonido and shunpo, moving quickly.
Getting to the other side of the mountains would take a while, but then they would be on their way.
The wastelands were boring. Very, very boring.
"I thought the place I met you was empty." Ichigo said as they walked. The ground crunched underfoot. "But this is empty to the ninth degree." Grimmjow grunted from where he was carrying Nel. She could only walk so long before the ground here started to hurt her feet.
"Yeah." Grimmjow had never seen the wastelands before. Everything he knew about them was from stuff he'd picked up in Los Noches. Mostly from Barragan, now that he thought about it. Aizen had gotten the old hollow to make a map for him and while it hadn't been remotely detailed, it had been a starting point. After that he'd gotten the numeros to do a proper survey. But they had never reached the mountains, let alone the wastes.
So he hadn't known that the wastelands were really different from the sands. They were, though, and it wasn't a good difference. If Hueco Mundo proper was a sandy desert, this was a stony desert. In one way it was easier to move in – no shifting sand to tire the legs – but the stone was cruelly sharp. Nel needed a lot more carrying here, her hierro could only defeat it for so long. Grimmjow lifted a leg and glanced at his shoe. Fortunately the fabric was spiritual so even if it took damage, it would come back.
"At least it's warm." He said, transferring Nel to his other arm. Most of Hueco Mundo was cold but this barren land was warm, sometimes verging on hot. It was the enormous amount of reishi in the air, bumping against itself and generating heat. That was his theory, anyway. Szayel could probably have shot about a zillion holes in it but Grimmjow refused to care. "Want a cub?"
"Sure." Ichigo took Nel with a smile and she just snored, dead to the world. "Hey, what's that?" He said and Grimmjow looked over sharply. Sure enough, there was something in the far off distance. Grimmjow extended his reiatsu, delicately trying to feel it out, but detected only the faintest of signatures.
"No idea, but it's different. Let's check it out." Grimmjow said and Ichigo nodded. They walked towards the little spot, and it was a much longer walk than they'd expected. The distances were very deceiving here. But it wasn't like they had anything else to do.
The closer they got to the object, the more it looked like a boulder. It might have been white once, but the surface was covered in grey dust and bits of glued on stone. It looked like someone had coated it in glue and hit it with a spray gun full of dirt, to Grimmjow's eyes. From one step to the other, he stopped moving. Ichigo came to a halt beside him, glancing at him curiously as Grimmjow finally managed to uncover the truth in front of him.
"Oh shit. Ichigo, step back, slowly." He was afraid to even breathe. The 'boulder' in front of them was actually a sleeping vasto lorde, and a damned powerful one. Stronger than himself? Possibly. Stronger than Ichigo? Probably not, but it would be much better to avoid a fight with a being of such power. And who knew how he would react to having his sleep disturbed?
"Nnngh." The both froze as the boulder shifted and began to uncurl. Grimmjow blinked as he realized the Vasto Lorde wasn't as big as he thought. He was an… armadillo? Something that curled into a ball easily, anyway, and he'd kept the trait even as a humanoid. "Snrf." The vasto lorde lurched to his feet, sniffed the air, scratched himself and glanced around. Then he practically levitated. "YAH!" Apparently, they'd managed to completely surprise him. Grimmjow would have congratulated himself if it hadn't been so dangerous.
"AHHH!" Nel screamed, jolted from her sleep by the stranger's cry. Grimmjow winced as Ichigo tried to comfort the toddler. The other hollow had taken a defensive posture.
"Who the fuck are you? A shinigami and an arrancar? I dare ya! I dare ya to try an' drag me to Los Noches! We'll see who gets fucked up!" He gestured pugnaciously and Grimmjow blinked as he realized this guy was way behind on the news.
"Why the hell would we want to do that? Aizen's gone. You know that right?" He said and the armadillo tilted his head to one side before snorting loudly.
"How would I know that? I'm too young to read the winds. And we're scattered to hell and back out here. I haven't seen the dragon at all." He said in a tone of mild complaint and Grimmjow wondered who 'the dragon' was. "Well, that doesn't mean it's safe to go back."
"Got that right." He said, remembering the poor infected bitch he and Ichigo had killed. It sure hadn't been safe for her. The vasto lorde gave him an inquiring look.
"Oh?" He said and to his bemusement, Grimmjow found himself recounting recent events. This was pretty unusual. When he'd been an adjuchas he'd generally killed everything in sight. Well, not always… he'd talked to his fraccion, after he'd killed two of them. Maybe that didn't count. "So shinigami are there now and will be for quite a while, looking for this one." The stranger jerked his chin at Ichigo who frowned. "Ugh, more time in the wastes. I hate this place." He scratched himself again, dislodging a bit of gummed up sand from his carapace. "I feel like I've been sleeping forever… are you going anywhere in particular?" He asked and Grimmjow frowned.
"No. Why?" He asked suspiciously and the stranger shrugged.
"Just wondering if I could tag along. I've got nothing better to do and that's a cute cub." He said, waving at Nel. Nel giggled and waved back. Grimmjow frowned, thinking hard for a second.
This offer had some serious drawbacks. He was still a freshly turned vasto lorde, new to his power. This guy was clearly very comfortable in his standing. However, he wasn't an arrancar. That made a real difference in power and Grimmjow thought there was a good chance he could clean the stranger's clock. And if he couldn't, the two of them fighting together certainly could… so maybe that disadvantage wasn't too bad. The armadillo wasn't bad looking but Grimmjow hated being the beta. The other main disadvantage was that they just didn't know the guy, but that was pretty normal for a pack. You picked people up and either accepted or discarded them, depending on the pack dynamics.
The advantages were clear. Adding another vasto lorde to their little group would be extra firepower if the shinigami somehow hunted them down and would help make any other packs steer clear. Vasto lorde were normally rather solitary but Grimmjow had a feeling they might be packing up a bit, out here in the wastes. This place was so damned empty that even the company of someone you didn't exactly like might be welcome. So a third might be helpful.
"Hmm, alright. But I'm the pack leader, got it?" Grimmjow narrowed his eyes dangerously at the armadillo, who just shrugged.
"Don't care. Might not stay long anyway." He said vaguely and Grimmjow sighed to himself. This guy was reminding him a little of Starrk. He seemed just as aimless. "I'm Rocca Gallangar." He introduced himself and Grimmjow nodded.
"I'm Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and this is Ichigo Kurosaki." He knew the last name was supposed to go first but Rocca probably didn't. It was better not to confuse him. "He's my beta, so no shagging him." He added for good measure and Ichigo made a choking sound before punching him in the shoulder as Nel giggled.
"Oh, that's not a problem. I prefer to get shagged." The armadillo said and it was Grimmjow's turn to choke. Ichigo gave the hollow an evil look before transferring the hard stare to Grimmjow. He avoided his glance, his cheeks feeling hot. Had he been thinking that the vasto lorde was good looking? No, of course he hadn't! That had been some other Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. "My hand gets plenty of action." Rocca said mournfully and Grimmjow snorted. That, he could see. Then he suddenly paused as he realized something.
"You carved up your den in the mountains, didn't you?" He asked. Now that he thought about it, those carvings… he'd thought the vasto lorde in them had some kind of cape, but it could have been an armored carapace. Rocca nodded, his body language a bit surprised. "I think we stayed in one. You like cocks a lot, don't you?"
"That's a bit cruel." He complained as Ichigo laughed. "Can I carry the cub?" He asked wistfully and after a quick conversation, Ichigo handed her over. The armadillo set her at the top of his armored cowl and she settled in easily, giggling. "Shall we?"
"Sure." Grimmjow shrugged as they started moving again. There was nothing to do here but walk. Maybe they would even find some place to den.
He didn't think so but you never knew.