Disclaimer – I own neither DGM nor Bleach
Chapter Thirty-Three – Path Made Clear
The psychological torture that had been meant to make him unable to fight had in reality had the opposite effect on Hitsugaya, AKA the Musician, and now the malevolent glowing of his golden eyes was enough to make it inescapably clear that he intended to fight. It was a different determination than before and the haunted look had faded from his eyes, no longer was he dwelling on the past that he could not change.
No, now his focused was squarely on the future that he could.
"I can fix it," he repeated, his resolve steeled as he stared at Road, contemplating for only a moment before he once again raised his sword. Swinging it through the air there was once again a haunting melody that accompanied the ice that he had grown so accustomed to. How he could have forgotten his powers was something that sort of confused him even though Hitsugaya realized the reason for it. He had forgotten because his mind didn't want to remember.
It needed a way to protect itself from the memories that it could not cope with.
That was the same reason why his soul once freed from his body had taken on a childlike form, another attempt to completely bury the person that he had been in life. And it had worked amazingly well until he had been given this mission and had interacted with people from his previous life.
It did actually give him pause and cause him to wonder if maybe Head Captain Ukitake had known more than he had always claimed to about where Hitsugaya had come from.
A question for later to be sure, for now he had more pressing matters to attend to.
Ending this fight being chief among them.
Road was completely shocked by this transformation that was overtaking the Musician and needless to say she was not happy about it. Her plan had been to destroy his mind so that he would never again be a threat to anyone and especially not her family. But this plan seemed to have backfired and all she had succeeded in doing was giving him a reason to fight.
"You're going to die! And it's going to be permanent this time!" Road all but screeched at the white-haired youth as he pulled out his sword and fired an attack. She used her own powers to block and protect herself from this attack, her eyes gleaming with a look that made her look almost insane. Gone was the attempt to act like an innocent little girl, no now she was going to show her true colors and she was going to give the Musician a taste of his own medicine.
He was going to die and she was going to be the one to end his life.
Lord Millennium would be pleased with that and then their family could go back to the way that it was before he appeared in their lives again.
"You can't kill me…" Hitsugaya said in a calm voice, watching as she summoned her candles and prepared for an attack. This was something that he was familiar with, more so than he ever would have wanted, because she liked to use these particular weapons to play a twisted game of tag.
He himself had been the victim of this 'game' on more than one separate occasion.
A fact that left him uniquely equipped to fend off the attack and manage a counter attack while he was doing so. This was probably the first time that he had ever been grateful for the fact that she liked to play those twisted games so much. It had actually helped him out, even if he hadn't been able to anticipate that outcome at the time.
Meanwhile in the outside world the battle with Tyki was raging on and Allen really wasn't faring all that well with it. He was just as determined as his white-haired counterpart who was battling Road but he was still trying to get used to the powers of Crown Clown and Tyki was definitely one of the harder Noah to do battle against.
It left him wishing that his friends could help.
But it didn't lessen his determination.
His friends needed his help, the others that were fighting outside of the tower, Lenalee who was trapped currently and even Hitsugaya who was a prisoner inside of his own mind thanks to Road's powers. Allen knew that he needed to win this fight so that he could save at least the two that were still with him. He would hold out hope that the others, that Lavi, Kanda and Krory were okay but right now the only ones that he could actually save were in the room with him.
They were the reason that he was fighting.
"Are you ever going to take this seriously boy?" Tyki asked in a taunting voice, his gleaming golden eyes focused on Allen as he spoke. This was not the first time that the two of them had gone up against one another and he of course vividly remembered what had happened the last time.
And he was guessing that the same held true for Allen.
"I am taking it seriously!" Allen all but shouted as he used the huge sword that was a transformation of his arm, to swing at the Noah. It seemed as if he too had found a new resolve and his own silver eyes were gleaming with a determination that was practically palpable.
Allen was determined to win.
Determined to save his friends.
Road could sense that things were heating up in the outside world as well as in her own little dream world and that made her wish that she could help Tyki. She didn't want to think about any more of her family members falling to the Exorcists. Unfortunately she was currently completely occupied by her battle with the Musician and he was being unrelenting.
Initially she had planned to just leave him with his memories and let them destroy him but now she was forced to fight instead.
And while she had the home field advantage as it were since this was her sandbox she was still finding herself struggling in this battle against him. That was something that she vividly remembered from the times that she had coerced him into playing a game with her and not something that she was happy to be reliving now.
In a more life and death situation.
"You are going to pay for what you did to my family!" Road screeched, a demented look in her eyes as she once again initiated an attack against him.
Hitsugaya for his part just remained calm and allowed her to come, a look of calculation in his eyes as he waited for just the right moment to unleash his powers. The end result of that was not Road's death, as he had been aiming for, but it did actually serve to free Hitsugaya from the dream realm in which she had trapped him.
Returning to full awareness with a gasp the white-haired prodigy heard the sound of metal striking against something and he turned his gaze toward the sound to see Allen fighting with Tyki. Immediately he made a move to help but it was in this moment that Allen struck a decisive blow that brought the Noah down hard.
This was heralded by another ear-piercing screech from Road.
"Allen!" Hitsugaya exclaimed as the cube that was holding Lenalee faded and allowed her to fall to the floor.
Immediately the trio made their way to a spot on the floor where they could stand together, their eyes focused on the pair of Noah as Road tried to keep Tyki from dying of the wound that Allen had inflicted. It was pretty clear that they had pissed her off and it was equally clear that this was going to be a bad thing just based on the insane look in her eyes.
"I think we may have bitten off more than we can chew this time," Allen said as he wrapped his arms around Lenalee to steady her, his silver eyes focused on Road.
"No," Hitsugaya responded, shaking his head slightly. "We are going to be the ones that win. I will not accept anything less."
As he said this he once again pulled out his sword, taking a few steps forward as he did so. Twirling it in front of him the eerie music from before started to once again fill the air, and this seemed to once again send Road into a rage.
"The Ark is going to collapse, you're out of time," Road said as she gathered Tyki and then summoned her escape route. "Have fun dying together…"
Hitsugaya didn't even pay any attention to her as he continued what he was doing, it was as if she didn't exist. Using his powers he summoned a portal to a special room inside the Ark. Unfortunately while he was focused on this task the building around them was collapsing and as soon as he summoned the entrance he was startled by the sound of someone sceaming.
The floor had just given way and Lenalee was hanging on with just one hand while Allen attempted to save her.
Immediately Hitsugaya rushed forward, making a move to help them but before he got the chance Lenalee lost her grip and plunged through the large hole, the sounds of her screams echoing as she fell, accompanied by the anguished screams of Allen who was still holding out one hand to her.
"LENALEEEEE!"
Hitsugaya was kicking himself for not having anticipated that but right now there wasn't time for such things so he looked to Allen and said, "Come on, we have to go or we're next." His voice had a commanding tone to it, the same voice that he used when he was giving orders to members of his squad, and he fully expected Allen to obey.
But what he expected and what actually happened were two totally different things.
Allen just appeared to be numb at this point and he remained kneeling on the floor, a floor that was still rapidly collapsing.
"We don't have time for this!' Hitsugaya snapped as he grabbed Allen and jerked him to his feet, showing surprising strength for one of his size. Once he had done that he turned and dragged Allen toward the portal and inside, the doorway closing around them the moment that they were through it.
In a matter of moments, they were in a room that was nearly devoid of all color, the furnishings, everything was white. There was a white piano with reverse keys occupying a place of honor inside this room.
Once in this room the truth was impossible to deny any longer and Hitsugaya was once again struck with the guilt of what he had done, what he had allowed to happen, and the people that he had harmed in the process. Chief among them the white haired teen that was currently in this room with him, a room that he had always kept to himself.
"Allen…we need to talk…"
There was a note of resignation to his voice as he said this but Hitsugaya knew that there was no way out of this. Allen had a right to answers and as much as it was going to pain him to give those to him Hitsugaya knew that he owed the white-haired teen that much at least. There were so many things that he would do differently if he were able to go back and change his past but for now he had to focus on the future and on making up for the things that he had done.
He had to focus on fixing the things that he had broken.
A/N – End of another chapter and things are coming to a close. I know this didn't happen the same way that it did in canon but that's the beauty of cross-overs, they're AU by default. Hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading!