Edith has been in the academy for less than a week when the stalker showed his face for the first time. He was a blond haired young man with an eye patch much like a pirate. His clothes were torn but that didn´t seem to interest him at all. He introduced himself as Tesla Lindocruz, Edith´s true love forever. She was disgusted with the man, she didn´t even know him for God´s sake! He started to call her Nnoitra-sama, as if it was her name.
"Why did he call you like that?" asked Kitty with a confused look. "Do you know someone named like that?"
"No idea, but I don´t remember anything about my biological family. Nnoitra could be a familiar for all I know" answered her, preparing herself to fight. Tesla was probably the hardest enemy the xmen have ever fought with. The obsessive man kept shouting things about his love and that they were going to be together, finally saying that without him she will die soon.
"What the hell is he talking about?!" yelled Kitty, passing right through one hit of his sword. That didn´t felt like usual, the weapon reminded her more of a living thing.
"I don´t know… but I can find it!" Jean attacked the Arrancar with all her mind and soon was inside his sick head… somehow dragging the others with her. She couldn´t explain this, she wasn´t even aware that she had this kind of power. After some moments of fighting, Scott managed to get control of the situation.
"Where are we?" he asked the redhead.
"I don´t know… maybe inside his mind?"
"What are this doors?" asked Kurt, not minding the danger and opening the door, inside… it was like a movie. There was an arena where some people were fighting, a teal haired woman and a brunette giant. The two were not paying attention to them… or rather to Tesla. After some minutes the woman defeated the giant and left him throwing a tantrum. The blond man went to help him and… everything went blurry. It just showed that the man helped the giant up with love. "Why is everything so blurry?"
"I think… it´s because he altered this memories to fit better in his sick fantasy" she said and used her powers, trying to clear the view. Surprisingly, when the images replayed, there was a pink haired fourth person there. The fourth individual ran towards the place leaving Tesla behind and helped the injured brunette up. Everything around turned red and they were expelled from there. Kitty opened another door that seemed rusty and grey, as it have not been opened in years. The memories inside were even more blurry, but Jean managed to clear them.
"This is…" the teens saw the moment of Edith´s birth, in an underground lab in a country that was in war (they couldn´t see that they were in another world).
"Belle…" the last words of Szayel and his following dead shocked them. Finally the mind of the Arrancar managed to expel them totally and they appeared in front of Edith, Logan and the professor. The police reached the place and Tesla escaped, sending a hatful glare towards the res haired mutant. She shivered, knowing full well what he was capable of. After they were all inside and with a hot cup of chocolate in their hands, Scott told Xavier what they have seen in the stalker´s mind.
"Seriously? I was born in the middle of a war?" asked the pink stripped haired girl.
"And, as long as I can see, your country was losing" commented Kitty, putting some ice on her neck. "But you mom was very pretty… before Tesla killed her"
"So that guy worked under my father and was obsessed with him… so my father´s name was Nnoitra? And mine is Belle? It sounds pretty strange, should have known I was from another country"
"His full name was Nnoitra Jiruga, he had some military charge… I don´t know, I couldn´t see much" said Jean with an apologizing look. "But next time we can catch Tesla and the professor will take a look at his mind. He can extract his secrets" she turned around at the professor. "What are we going to do now, professor?"
"First reinforce the security measures and then I think we can begin the paperwork to change her name to Belle Jiruga… that´s easier than dealing with some kind of lunatic than isn´t afraid of mutants" commented the bald man.
"I think… he is a mutant too. Did you see the kind of strength he had?" commented Scott and all nodded. In the end they went to sleep. Edith… Belle went to her room and looked at the sky. Where was her father? Did he survived the war? And if he didn´t… where was his grave? She heard a howl in the distance, something that surprisingly made her feel like home… a home she never had.
-In Hueco Mundo-
Nnoitra was staring at the eternal night of his world, with no one else. In his lap was his beloved´s sword, Fornicarás. He has been carrying it everywhere the past few years in memory of Szayel and his child that he had never known. Suddenly he heard some howl of low hollow that were congregated near a opened Garganta, muttering something about sensing Arrancar at the other side. He raised an eyebrow, what could some of his own be doing in the human world, where the shinigami could sense them without problem? He got closer and used his Pesquiza… yes, there were Arrancar. It was not Grimm kitty and the Emo bat, or Stark the wet dog and Hali fish. Something trigged his memory and recognized Tesla.
"Tesla…" he muttered. He didn´t knew the other, but was close to Tesla´s… could it be his child? Maybe his Fraccion took him out of Hueco Mundo when the enemy got to the lab. He got to the front slaughtering some hollows and eating while doing so. He had to be full if he wanted to spend some time in the human world. He got to the human world and started searching for the energy signature…
-With the teens-
Belle woke up and was ushered to get ready for school. When they finally arrived to the place, the first hour barely passed before Tesla attacked again, now in front of everyone. His especial gigai allowed him to used his powers and he was not afraid of hurting someone. He screamed like a pig when he received a rotund negative from the girl.
"You have to be mine… Crush, Verruga!" he turned into a giant pig like creature that threatened to crush the entire school with it´s inhabitants inside.
"He is definitely a mutant" commented Scott before his friends and him went to fight the man. They were in the middle of the fight (being defeated but at least most of the students and teachers already flee), when a man appeared in front of them. His long brunette hair and high stature made Jean recognize him.
"Nnoitra Jiruga" she muttered. The Espada looked at his Fraccion and understood in one second what had happened. So… the shinigami never reached the lab, it was Tesla who killed his love and took his child away from him.
"Tesla!" he screamed, taking Santa Teresa in one hand. In five seconds he took care of his former subordinate, strangling him with one hand and taking out the other zanpakto with the other. Fornicarás blade barely touched Tesla´s neck via mental wave that sent it flying. He turned around enraged and was faced by a girl with pink hair and golden eyes.
"You are… my father? Nnoitra Jiruga?" she asked carefully. He eyed her carefully, she was precious. He didn´t even cred he had a girl, she was so much like her mother that he could have cried. After all he didn´t lose everything from him.
"You… look a lot like your mother… sorry it took me too long to get to you…" the elder Arrancar put his arms around his pup and embraced her. While they were doing this, Scott called the professor. After he was here they shared their opinions about the man. He was definitely not normal, a mutant. That answered why Belle was one. Kelly came to interrupt them, yelling that they were a menace, earning just a growl from Nnoitra. Logan stopped the gigantic man from attacking the principal.
"Calm down, you are not doing your daughter a favor… or yourself" growled Wolverine in return. Nnoitra raised an eyebrow, this man smelled different than the others… perhaps older? Yes, much older than even the bald man.
"I want her expelled! And all of you!"
"Shut up" finally said the older Arrancar. "She doesn´t need this place, we are going back home. She needs to eat some good food and…"
"She eats more than enough in the Academy and she does needs to go to school" said Jean, putting her hands on her hips. "Or you want to ruin her future?"
"She doesn´t need a school, her mother wasn´t in there and was a genius. The best scientist of our army!" he replied.
"She could be a genius, but even she needs to learn…"
"What else could she learn here? Where we are going she only needs to know how to survive" he stated. And it was true. "Since the fall of Las Noches our home is not the kind of place you are used to, but you will…"
"How could you even think of taking her there?" Nnoitra growled. This humans wanted to argue with him? Fine, they could stay a few more days before the shinigami detected the Espada and came for him. In that time he can teach them what an Arrancar can do when it was hungry, specially if it was Espada level.
-The next day-
Belle was taking her things to go to school. Her father was in the roof, with one eye open. He didn´t seem to be used to waking up early in the morning. He descended before she got to the car and showed her the blade that was about to kill Tesla.
"This is Fornicarás, you mother´s sword" he told her. "Like my Santa Teresa, it has a connection with me, we need to find yo…"
"You know, this is sweet" interrupted Jean, "but we have to go. You can talk to her about her mother later… and put that sword in another place. I understand that it´s a very important item for you, but… it´s strange for someone to walk around with a sword"
"It´s a zanpakto, you can´t just leave it behind"
"Whatever the name of that thing is, just… don´t leave the house with it" she said before getting into the car. His daughter rolled her eyebrows, she sensed something coming from her mother´s sword that she can´t explain by mutant powers.
"You should have left me with him" she said.
"Shouldn´t be talking like that, he is a military and your mom was probably too, just that she was in the scientific sector" Shadowcat opened her fashion magazine after saying this and started looking for new clothes. "And do you think he can raise you alone? I mean… he is a male! Sure he was okay when your mother was alive, but…"
"There are a lot of males that are single parents" commented Jean. "But she is right, he is pretty strange"
"Don´t talk about him like that" said Belle. "And he is right about my eating habits, I´m so hungry all the times that I can eat a cow"
"Well, you eat too little, you should eat more"
"I try! But somehow everything I try tastes like dust"
"Dust? That´s weird"
-Back at the Academy-
Nnoitra have been behaving a little bit strange all day, jumping from high places and running at high speed (even for Pietro), and stated to ask about the computer that Xavier was using. He was confused that it was able to find Belle, but it didn´t found any of his companions that flee to the earth when Aizen´s reign was over.
"So, you want to search your companions? Are they mutants too?" asked the professor, putting down his helmet. The man looked even more confused.
"Mutants?"
"Do they have powers?" traduced Logan.
"Everybody in Las Noches did" this surprised the men. Have there ever been a city of all mutants? Maybe that was why another army destroyed it, they want to erase the place that posed as a danger to the global security. For his part, the giant was cleaning his sword. They were about to ask when the alarms activated.
"Chuck, what´s happening?!"
"It´s Magneto!" the professor showed the picture of the man walking towards them with Mistique on tow. The blue woman was followed by the Brotherhood of mutants. Xavier called his students, but they would have to resist for a bit.
"Do you really fear that man? Even Szayel´s Fraccion could take him and they were not designed to fight" commented Nnoitra. The x men arrived shortly and started to fight, but were defeated in minutes by the powerful mutant, even his daughter. "Oh, God, you should be starving if you are so weak. I will you to hunt later"
"Hunt?" she asked.
"Get out of the way" ordered Magneto. "I know your powers, they made your skin thick and harder to brak…"
"Just that? You don´t know" he turned towards Belle and smiled in a sadistic way. "Pay attention, girl, I will teach you to put weak humans in their places" the mutants were about to tell him something when he suddenly appeared behind their leader and sent him to the ground. "This is Sonido, it´s used to move at high speed" Pietro moved to hide and attack, but Nnoitra found him without problem. "With Pesquisa you can find anyone wherever they are hiding" the Brotherhood was about to attack him when he opened his mouth and fired. "And you already know Cero, a especial laser"
"How can you have so many powers? Mutants have only one!" yelled Mistique, a little bit jealous.
"I never said I was a mutant" Nnoitra took Santa Teresa out of his back and moved it. "This is a zanpakuto, it hides what we truly are in this human forms. We are… Arrancar! The top predators! Don´t take your eyes away from me, you are going to be surprised" the sword started to glow before he ordered "Pray, Santa Teresa!"
"He is a… mantis?" asked Jean after she have a clear view. The insect creature howled and, raising his scythes, enter to the fight. He was about to kill Magneto when Xavier sent him a mental wave. He prepared to fight, but was stopped by his daughter.
"So we are not humans" she commented as if it was a everyday thing. "What exactly are we?"
"Arrancar, predators that need to constantly feed. In our World the only law was to kill or be killed, cannibalism is an everyday thing. Las Noches… well, it was the first try on civilization in our World and was only made by Arrancar, us being at the top of the Evolution. But another race made war with us and it was over… I don´t even know what happened to my companions, not that really cared"
"What do I need to eat?" she asked.
"Flesh, living flesh. That´s why I was telling those humans that we needed to go back quickly, if you get really hungry your instincts can take over and… let´s just said that human could be in an Arrancar´s menu if it is specially hungry"
"Maybe… you should talk after lunch then?" said Kitty, a little bit scared.
"That sounds good" once the Arrancar left, the mutants let a collective sigh. What could they do with two predators that can eat them under their roof?
