Same disclaimer as last chapter, I will be using direct quotes.

Chapter 6

It was the scream of a young woman, awful and ululating. Ichigo quite honestly never wanted to hear it ever again. One of the newcomers started to bellow right away, "HERMIONE!" Ichigo could hear him struggle against some type of bonds. "HERMIONE!" he yelled again. Ichigo guessed that was the name of the young woman.

"Be quiet!" another person said from the same direction as the other. Were they tied together? "Shut up. Ron, we need to work out a way—"

Heedless of the other guy, the first (Ron?) continued to bellow, "HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" like yelling would get him somewhere.

"We need a plan, stop yelling— we need to get these ropes off—" the other continued.

"Harry? Ron?" said Luna. She knew them? "Is that you?" The loud one quieted, and Luna continued. "Harry? Ron?"

"Luna?" said the one who kept his head together (Harry?). Apparently, they did know each other.

"Yes, it's me! Oh no, I didn't want you to be caught!" If Ichigo could see, he would probably her look of fear heighten.

"Luna, can you help us get these ropes off?" asked Harry(?).

"I think so… There was an old nail we had… Ichigo, do you still have it?"

"Yeah, I've got it. Here, let me cut you guys out," he said, finally being addressed.

"Who're you?" Harry(?) questioned, a tad hostile. Ichigo matched his hostility ten to one.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, current prisoner and escape artist hopeful," he said peevishly, reaching for the pair.

The young woman made another scream, causing Ron(?) to start bellowing once more, "HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" covering up whatever the screeching woman said.

"What, you guys tied together?" Ichigo grumbled, trying to find the ropes in the darkness. The question was rhetorical and neither of the two answered. Ichigo began cutting at the ropes, finding them very similar to the ones that had tied him before.

The woman's voice came from upstairs again, "I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?"

Hermione(?) begged, "We found it— we found it— PLEASE!" She screamed, Ron(?) spasmed, and Ichigo stabbed one of them with the nail, he wasn't sure which.

Blood started to get all over the ropes, making it even harder to cut, and Ichigo snarled, "Stop moving or I'll cut both your hands off and be done with this! I barely know what I'm doing here—"

Ron(?) said something vaguely intelligible, "Check my pocket for the Deluminator! It's full of light!" Ichigo had absolutely no fucking clue what a Deluminator was supposed to be and the fact that it was 'full of light' seemed like a really strange way to say flashlight. Translating issues?

Ichigo dutifully fumbled around for Ron's pocket. Which was extraordinarily awkward. He would much rather have sawed both their hands off in the attempt to free them, than to try to find another man's pocket in the dark. He did, however, find a metallic box-like shape that could've been a lighter, and that was good enough for Ichigo. He clicked it, expecting a tiny flame.

He was not expecting five glowing stars to burst out of the lighter and hang in midair like some kind of kido. Instantly, the cellar was lit up. Of the two men Ichigo was cutting free, one had reddish-orange hair much like his own but darker, and the other looked like he was suffering from a severe allergic reaction, his face puffed up and red. Two other prisoners were with them, a kid who was bruised bloody and some type of half-man creature that Ichigo really didn't want to think about.

The one with the puffed up face was staring at Ichigo, and Ichigo scowled in response. He resumed cutting the bonds, saying nothing.

"Hello, Dean!" Luna said, speaking to the prisoner next to the creature, her voice oddly cheerful.

The woman was still screeching, "You're lying, filthy mudblood, and I know it! You've been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!" Hermione screamed, Ron screamed, and the woman continued. "What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!"

The rope snapped. "There," Ichigo said, stepping back.

Ron immediately started prowling around, looking for an exit. Dean thanked Luna and stood shivering. The half-man thing was near unconscious. Ichigo was unsure if the welts on its face were natural or put there. He stopped himself from staring.

Now Ron was twisting around in place for no apparent reason. "There's no way out, Ron," Luna said, confirming the fact that the redhead was indeed Ron.

She would've said more but Ichigo interrupted. "Oh, blah, blah, there's no escape, blah. Of course there's an escape!" Ichigo refused to admit there was no escape unless he'd tried to escape first and failed. One hundred times. Hermione screamed, cutting through his confidence, and spurring Harry into the same useless pacing as Ron.

"What else did you take, what else? ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!"

Ron was crying, and Harry was fiddling with something on his neck, complete desperation coming from every feature. Ichigo padded over to the thick door and started kicking it, heavily. One after another. Thump. Thump. Thump. Ichigo figured the door would breakdown eventually if he just put enough pressure on it.

Harry started to call out in help, though he knew no one would come save them. Ron continued to call out for the girl.

"How did you get into my vault? Did that dirty little goblin in the cellar help you?"

Thump, went the door. Goblin? Was that the weird half-man thing?

"We only met him tonight! We've never been inside your vault… It isn't the real sword! It's a copy, just a copy!" the girl choked out between tears.

"A copy?" screeched the woman. "Oh, a likely story!"

"But we can find out easily!" came the man's voice from earlier. "Draco, fetch the goblin, he can tell us whether the sword is real or not!"

Harry ran across the cellar to where the weird creature-thing was crouched in a pile. He whispered something at it that was drowned out in the smashing of Ichigo's foot against the door. It really sucked that he didn't have shoes.

He heard someone trembling down the cellar steps. A moment later, a young man's shaking voice tumbled from behind the door. "Stand back. Line up against the back wall. Don't try anything, or I'll kill you!"

In response, Ichigo hit the door particularly hard, rattling the hinges.

The person was silent for a moment, during which Ichigo was snatched back by Harry. "Just do what he says for now and let him take the goblin; we've got a plan."

Ichigo looked at him dubiously, but allowed himself to be pulled to the wall. He had to allow the kid to open the door anyway, so he could attack him. Ron clicked the lighter and the kido-lights got sucked back in. Ichigo shook his head, he really had no idea what to think.

The kid, blond and pale-faced, marched inside the room, parading some kind of stick in front of him. His eyes seemed to flicker between them all but lingered on Ichigo. He took the 'goblin' by the arm and led it out, taking a route that gave the widest amount of distance between Ichigo and himself. No one else seemed to notice.

As soon as the blond kid's back was turned, Ichigo tensed, preparing to leap on his back and strangle him, if need be. They were torturing a girl up there! Escaping was obviously a priority, and Ichigo had no qualms about knocking out any of his captors. Then a person next to Ichigo lurched in front of him, completely blocking his access to the kid. The blond kid flinched, hard, and nearly ran out of the room, not looking back.

Ichigo shoved the person blocking him out of the way and rushed the doorway, hoping to snag the kid by his clothes and drag him back inside. The kid looked back to shut the door and his eyes widened, his face paling, as Ichigo dived through the doorway, landing in a neat roll. The door slammed shut.

The bottom of the stairwell was very quiet as Ichigo shoved his hand over the pale kid's mouth, preventing him from screaming.

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Ichigo spoke in a whisper, each word with quiet intensity, "You will walk back up there and hand them the goblin. You will not mention me. You will not look at me. You will give no sign you know of my existence. You will do as told, or," Ichigo clamped his other hand on the pale kid's throat, "there will be consequences." The kid looked petrified, which surprised Ichigo. He did not expect his threat to be that effective. Ichigo released him, ready for the kid to scream or something that would give him away, but he did as told and limply staggered away. After locking the cellar door with his stick. Ichigo mentally cursed to himself.

From the other side of the door came a loud yell by Ron, something like, "Dooo—!"

Ichigo couldn't hear the rest of it because Harry yelled, "HERMIONE!" at the same time. Ichigo didn't think much of it and counted to one hundred before attempting to sneak up the stairs. His head peaked into a very shadowy hallway, which was great for him. The first floorboard creaked, making it not so great. Ichigo wished he could walk in the air above the floor, but he wasn't in his soul form and as a Fullbringer—

He had Bringer. Could he apply it to the surrounding air, allowing him to float? Or, better yet, dare he try it in this dire situation? If he failed, well. If he failed, he didn't know what would happen. The girl being tortured would probably die. She would die anyway if Ichigo didn't try it. That settled it.

The girl screamed, and it was far worse the closer Ichigo got. Rawer, more pain-filled. When using a technique Ichigo hadn't really mastered before, it was best to move fast and let his instincts take control. Bringer was a speed technique, so Ichigo would use it to get to the doorway down the hall as fast as possible, just using the air instead of the floorboards. Easy. He took a deep breathe, silently, and mastered his expression into one of determination. Then he jumped into the air, and, instead of coming down, his foot pushed off the air with a burst of blue light (hopefully no one noticed) and he flashed down the hallway in a blur, coming to a stop at the doorway. His entire trip made nary a sound.

Ichigo dared a peek into the room. He saw a very gaunt woman all in black standing over a girl lying at her feet. The goblin was given a broadsword, ornately decorated and well sharpened. A man with long silver blond hair spoke loudly, "What was that? Did you hear that? What was that noise in the cellar?" Ichigo pulled back, his heart beating too fast. Did they hear him?

The man looked to the blond kid from before, they looked very similar, "Draco—no, call Wormtail!" he said, looking away. "Make him go and check!"

This loud proclamation was enough of a call for Wormtail, who appeared momentarily. It was the same man who had taken the lantern away a while ago! Everyone in the room gave each other glares that said, "Silence!" while the man Wormtail moved to the door and towards Ichigo.

What should he do? Ichigo couldn't let this man go down to the cellar and find out that Ichigo was missing. Everyone inside the cellar would be implicated! But if Ichigo took him out now, everyone inside the room would know about it! If Ichigo decided to take out Wormtail, then he also had to take out everyone in the room at the same time. He had no idea what abilities these people had, if they were just regular humans or something more. Ichigo didn't even know why he was there!

Wormtail was coming, the question was: let him pass or take him out? Ah, fuck it, Ichigo thought, and quickly dived to the other side of the doorway, hiding behind one of those tables that serve no purpose other than to collect clutter. It was sparse shelter, but should serve his purpose.

Wormtail didn't really look up when he walked down the hallway, staring at his feet. When he reached the stairwell, Ichigo stood up and used Bringer to flash behind him. At the door, the man called furtively, "Stand back. Stand away from the door. I'm coming in." He tapped his stick-thing on the door and the lock clicked open. Was the stick some kind of lock-picking device?

Wormtail turned the doorknob and swung the door open at the same time Ichigo launched himself from the top of the stairs. His goal was to land on Wormtail with his feet, knocking him out before he could make any sounds. This didn't really happen; as two figures dove out of the kido-lit cellar and tackled Wormtail, Ichigo ended up smashing into Wormtail's back, making the rat-man fly forward, the two figures with him. Ichigo regained his balance and ran over to the struggling figures, seeing Wormtail strangling who Ichigo presumed was Harry (the swelling had gone down some) with a silver hand, Ron sprawled on the ground.

"What is it, Wormtail?" called the man with the silver blond hair from upstairs.

Ichigo grabbed Wormtail by the shoulders and tried to pry him off Harry, Ron seemed dazed but quickly coming to his senses. Unfortunately, the silver hand would not let go, no matter how much Ichigo pulled. Ron began punching Wormtail in the stomach, a good idea, and the man called again, sharper now, "Wormtail!"

Harry choked out some words that Ichigo didn't pay any attention to, trying to figure the best way to get Wormtail into a hold without ripping Harry's throat out. Then Wormtail's death-grip on Harry broke. It wasn't much, little more than a slight lessening, but it was enough. Ichigo worked fast, throwing the man to the ground, knee to the middle of his back, arms pinned.

"H-his mouth!" Harry choked out, frantic.

Ichigo didn't understand what he meant until Harry came over and clamped a hand over Wormtail's mouth, ensuring his silence.

"Wormtail, if you do not respond to me—!"

"It's nothing!" Ron called in a wheezy voice. "Everything's fine!" This seemed to placate the man, for he said nothing more.

Ron walked over to the entrance of cellar, picking up Wormtail's fallen stick. Wormtail had dropped it when Ichigo crashed into him.

Suddenly, one of Wormtail's arms struggled out of the hold using an almost supernatural power. A normal human cannot break Ichigo's hold, and that wasn't arrogance. The silver hand reached up toward Wormtail's own neck and clamped on, choking himself. Harry dropped the hand covering Wormtail's mouth and tried to drag the silver hand away. Ichigo was frozen in shock, one of Wormtail's arms still held in the lock.

"No!" Ron came over and helped Harry, and, still, Ichigo couldn't move. Ron pointed his newly attained stick at the silver hand, said a nonsense word, and nothing happened. Ichigo wasn't sure if something was supposed to happen and didn't, or the desired effect was that nothing happen.

When Ichigo felt Wormtail's body go limp, the sharp scent of piss in the air, he dropped the hold, removed his knee from the middle of Wormtail's back, and stood a distance away, face cold.

Ron and Harry had one of those best friend looks, where all you had to do was look at each other and you'd have an entire conversation in the blink of an eye. They simultaneously ran up the stairs, Ichigo only a second behind them.

Both of them started to sneak along the passageway making a racket (to Ichigo's ears). Ichigo was absolutely positive that the people in the room were aware of the fact that more than one pair of footsteps was coming down the hallway, and that Harry and Ron better prepare for battle, immediately. But Ichigo couldn't really tell them this, or risk being even more exposed. Ichigo had a brief thought about the other people trapped in the cellar. He didn't remember seeing them…

Harry and Ron were at the doorway, Ichigo stood a ways back, unable to see what was going on inside.

"Well?" came the woman in black's voice. "Is it the true sword?"

The goblin's response (Ichigo assumed it the was the goblin) was slow in coming. "No. It is a fake."

"Are you sure? Quite sure?"

"Yes."

"Good," the woman said, relief palpable in her voice. There was a strange yell and a thwack. Ichigo itched to know what was going on, but only so many people could peek around the side of a doorway.

"And now," the woman continued, strangely happy, "we call the Dark Lord!"

What the hell was a Dark Lord? Was it the title of a person with control over shadows?

Harry seemed to have frozen in place, but Ichigo felt instant outrage as the woman said, "And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her." Ichigo didn't understand a lot of what was going on, but he did understand that Hermione was probably about to get raped.

Ron got this as well, and he burst into the room yelling, "NOOOOOOO!" Not exactly the best of sneak attacks, but Ichigo was more than willing to follow him into the room, distantly registering Harry following along in the rear. The woman turned her stick-thing towards Ron, Ron used his stolen stick-thing and nonsense words (Ichigo was beginning to theorize it was the name of an attack move or something) and her stick-thing got knocked out of her hands and flew towards Ichigo. Ichigo caught the thing and thought he couldn't stab someone with it very well so he tossed it to Harry, not looking back to see if he caught it.

He must've, as a red stream of light shot out with the words, "Stupid-fry!" hitting the man with the silver blond hair, knocking him senseless into the fireplace. Definitely an attack move, this 'stupid-fry.'

More light shot out of the enemies stick-things, and Ichigo, taking the hint from the stupid-fry, dove to the floor, rolling over to the still form of the girl. This, of course, meant rolling straight into the woman in black. Not one to lose an opportunity, Ichigo attempted to trip the woman, but the woman was having none of that and she skittered backwards. In one glance, Ichigo saw she had a knife, and the man with the vicious-looking face had his stick-thing pointed at Ichigo and—

It took all of Ichigo's concentration to use Bringer to get out of the way, blurring next to the goblin in a blue flash. In the place where Ichigo had been was a dark smudge of blasted wood. The vicious-looking man was frozen in shock for a moment, and Ichigo used this to it's full potential, barely noticing the goblin's resistance in relinquishing the sword. The sword was heavier than Ichigo expected, which was helpful, since he was better practiced in heavier swords. The sword was still too light and too short, but it would work in a pinch.

Ichigo assessed the vicious-man as the biggest threat, the woman being second, and sprinted forward, sword held low to the ground until right in front of the man, then he slashed upward and across. Ichigo did not account for the man's speed as he leaned backward, turning a killing blow into a deep gash. Ichigo over-compensated for the sword light-weightedness, using too much force, causing Ichigo to overbalance with the follow-through. The man used this momentary lapse to rip Ichigo in the shoulder with his nails, foregoing the stick altogether. Ichigo grunted in pain and immediately tried to disengage, but the man's nails had sunken in with a supernatural strength, and his eyes— his eyes— weren't human.

In was in this horrible position that the woman stabbed him in the back with the knife. Ichigo felt the blade sink in, like he had so many other times in his life. The woman ripped it out and stabbed him again, laughing all the while, the laugh of the insane. Another thing Ichigo had heard too many times in his life. The knife was left in his back.

The woman stepped away, and Ichigo held his stomach with the one arm he could still move, the sword still clasped in his other hand, the man the only thing preventing him from collapsing to the ground. Ichigo heard a large grinding crash from behind him from the general direction of the woman. Shattered glass, metal, and an insane scream.

"Stupid-fry!" The man froze up and went limp, falling to the ground, Ichigo falling with him.

Everything was beginning to fade out, he thought he felt someone grabbing his hand, the one still holding the sword, but he wasn't sure…

Ichigo felt like he was floating in darkness…

The smell of the sea…

Nothing.

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