CHAPTER 17

The preparations!

The following day, Grimmjow finally arrived. Ichigo was still spacing out here and there but he had mostly recovered from the shock. Ichigo had become angry when Grimmjow appeared at the eating room with a garganta and dragged him out. He had scared half of the students almost to death and with his insane smile that he still had on his face they had all thought that it was an attack. Dumbledore calmed them later on that Grimmjow wasn't an enemy.

Ichigo just knew that Grimmjow had gotten the most information that she had. It was easily seen by his facial expression. He had that smug and satisfied look on his face. It couldn't really be over looked.

"So Grimmjow, what information did you get out of her?" Ichigo asked a bit curious but mostly serious.

"She wasn't easy to break, that for sure, but after the fifth day of torture she sang like a bird. I had my fun with her and she was really a challenge for me. The others that I needed to torture were all weaklings. She still is in hell thought. It looked like she did quiet much!" He said with a wide smile. It seemed to grow every time to he ended his sentence.

"So what did she sing?" While Ichigo had asked him, the golden trio and the teachers had formed a circle around them.

"She said that the 'Lord'" he said the word like it was poison "has succeeded to become immortal. She screeched that he couldn't die, at the beginning at least. The forth day she desperately screamed to me to stop when I cut of her limps slowly and pulled out her organs still letting them be connected. The fifth day she told me everything she knew. Looked like she didn't like the new torture I tested on her. She screamed everything she knew, mostly random facts that took forever. She screamed out random facts about two days, like his real name, where he lift, what he liked…" Ichigo looked questionable at him "I don't know how or why she knew that, don't ask me about it. Anyway you got it right, then when she was finished with the random facts that had made me really sleepy she started with the interesting stuff. She told me that he had offered blood and an old magic to split his soul and move the pieces of the soul to somewhere else. He split it into seven pieces, one or two already destroyed by the boy there, and for that he offered the blood, body and soul of one of his victims for each splitting. Those souls should still be connected to him and can't escape till the soul part that they are connected to dies. She told me that the soul pieces are all around the world and are protected by powerful beings or creatures. The container of the soul piece can be a living being or an object. He didn't tell her where to find or how to kill the soul pieces and I think he just doesn't trust anyone. He also has one goal that she told me about. She said that he had many, but this one they knew. He wanted to first: Rule the world" Grimmjow gave his insane laugh to it to make it more authentic "and second: he wants to find and that is interesting the entrance to hell."

Ichigo looked at him with an emotional face.

"Why?" Ichigo asked Grimmjow serious.

Grimmjow smiled at the question. He knew as well as Ichigo why Voldemort wanted to find the entrance of hell. "He wants to find and open the box of Pandora!" Grimmjow's smile grew and they could see how he was enjoying it. It would be fun to see the box being opened by a mortal. He would die instantly even if his soul pieces are far away from each other.

"It's pathetic and so foolish of him to wish for that. He has already found the entrance without knowing, but the box of Pandora isn't there. We just hope that no one sings like a bird under our ranks when he is captured. I will only say it ones, do never even talk about the box of Pandora. He will die anyway with all of us when he opens the Pandora. The box that seals Pandora destroys the foolish creature that dares to open it. It will burn down the soul completely, together or not. The soul will not be reincarnated it will die down completely till nothing is left of it. The Pandora will destroy everything around it till the life perished on this planet. If it has destroyed everything here, it will move to the next. That was its destiny after all."

Everyone just looked at Ichigo. They had already known that the Pandora was dangerous but they had never expected something like this. In the legend they had survived even thought it had been opened but what Ichigo told them sounded different.

"Ichigo, when I remember the legend correctly then the humans didn't die directly but slowly died of hunger, thirst and illness."

"Yes but legends are not always true. I will tell you the real story. There existed a first pest, like you had called it that killed over ¾ of the population of this world in just one day. Only a few strong people survived and the earth seemed to be affected to like the animals. That wasn't the pest thought that killed all those people. It was Pandora that had been opened at that time. Had the Pandora been open for two other days, the world would have rotten and died away."

(I made it up with the first pest. If it really happened then great and if not, then don't believe it!)

Everyone just stared at him. They hadn't known that something like this happened to the earth and that it would only take three days for the earth to die under the influence of Pandora. They were shocked into silence. They didn't know that they had seen something so dangerous and even touched it. It was frightening that one of their friends was having the Pandora inside his body and that he was holding the responsible for all the dimensions.

-!-

Grimmjow had gone back to hell to play a bit with the other souls. He really loved this job and right now he was in a good mood. Ichigo had disappeared since the information had been given to him and it looked like he was concentrating on something. The teachers had gone away to have a meeting to discuss what to do next. They knew that they had Ichigo to help them but it was still quite hard to decide, when you didn't know where the pieces are.

The golden trio had already made plans for themselves and Ryuu had watched them for a bit. It was when Ichigo came out of his room that they all met in the dining hall to discuss their plans and ideas of what to do. Ichigo told them something that surprised them greatly.

"I have found out that there are still five soul parts and that two of them are in a living object. I now off their locations, but I don't think that anyone other than the main soul himself or a soul part that resists in a living being can destroy the other pieces. With that all of us are without use. We all do not have a soul part in us expect…" Ichigo didn't finish his sentence and just looked at Harry. Harry himself was a bit slow at this time but the other understood.

"You don't mean that Harry has a soul part in him right?" Hermionie asked.

"Yes he has. I could remove it but with that our only change to destroy them would be find the other living being with a soul part in him or her and get his/her assistance."

"I do not think that this person or creature would really help us if it was in danger when it did so. Are there really no other opinions other then Harry or the other living being?"

"Yes there is one other, but it is very risky and very dangerous." Moody started to look at him with a glare and said: "Say it already!"

Ichigo sighed and said: "We could transfer the soul part of Voldemort from Harry into another being, but that would also mean that this other being could be controlled by Voldemort. Harry has lived with it for many years since he was a baby and his mind has made a defense against it. Other beings are often weak minded however strong the body is. They can't hold on long under torture of the mind and soul because their protectors have not jet awakened. They only wake up, when they are truly needed."

"When is it that the 'protectors' like you call them awaken?" asked Dumbledore.

"It happens after the death of one's body. There are only a few that have received their protector before their death and to be real only a small number of souls really receive theirs."

They looked at him with wide eyes. They couldn't just die if it wasn't really sure if it would function.

Out of curiosity Hermionie asked: "If you received your protector, can you use him right away?"

"No, there is a five years learning period to fully awaken the protector and again only a few can awaken him full right away. The chances that you are a soul that can awaken his protector right away, is about 0.001% likely."

In other words they really didn't have another choice then to use Harry himself. They hadn't any other opinion and it was really not that hard to understand that the only other choice that existed wouldn't function. You would give their lives to help someone strangers anyway. They all looked at Ichigo when they thought that. He had talked about it like he had his protector. Ichigo noticed their stares and understood right away. He sighed and said:

"I am a mix!" They didn't understand by their looks on their faces and he scowled at no one.

"I am a guardian, a hollow the beast that you saw, a shinigami and a human. I am everything and nothing. I could become your guardian for a while if that is what you wanted. At that I will be able to protect the soul and mind from the invasion of the soul part of Voldemort. Helping you will be out of question when I am in a soul thought."

Everyone looked at each other. It wasn't really the best feeling to have someone else in your head. They were still thinking about it when Harry said:

"I will do it! No one else can really do it anyway, can they?

"Harry I need to warn you. Even if you did it I would still need to go into soul and mind space. After you have defeated one soul part or just destroyed it, it will fuse with the soul part in you and become stronger. I could kill it right away, but soul parts fuse to quickly for me to destroy just one. I would kill both of them in my attack and with that our only chance of victory would have disappeared."

Harry wasn't really worried about the part of Ichigo inside him. He trusted Ichigo and even felt protected with him around him. Harry nodded and Ichigo smiled a little at him.

"When should I enter you and we will go on a journey. It will be the trio only thought. The others need to prepare for the upcoming battle against Voldemorts followers and Voldemort himself. "

They all were against leaving the trio on their own but Ichigos gaze told them that there weren't any other opinions again and the explication was plausible. They sighed and nodded. They really needed to prepare for the battle that would soon take place and they really didn't have the time to go with the trio. They wouldn't do any good under these circumstances.

Ichigo looked at Hermionie and Ron.

"Do you really want to come also? It will be dangerous!"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss something this wicked and Harry and I are friends!" Ron said.

"I will come also. I am also a friend of Harry and to be real, since was something not dangerous when it involved Harry."

Harry snickered a bit at that. It was true after all but to hear it like that was still funny. Ichigo looked a bit puzzled at his reaction; he didn't know what happened before but let it be.

"Harry when should I enter your soul? Tomorrow before we go or tonight, what do you want?"

"Let's do it now! I don't want to be in stress tomorrow, when we need to go."

Ichigo nodded and told Harry to sit on the floor. He did so and closed his eyes. The other saw it how it happened. It was really strange to see it. Ichigos body seemed to flare and glimmer like a flame and his body started to form a sphere of light. Soon there was a floating sphere before them that then entered Harrys body. Harry opened his eyes again and felt power run through him. He suddenly heard Ichigos voice in his head.

'You have access to my powers when I am in your body. No one can hear me right know expect for you. You need to think of a weapon to really be able to use my powers.'

"Has it functioned?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes it has" said Ichigos voice through Harrys mouth. "I won't use this method of communication anymore thought. It is not enjoyable for the person that owns the body, to not have control over the movements of the mouth. If I want to say something to you, I will tell Harry and he will tell you then."

With that Ichigo stopped talking. Ron looked at Harry and asked:

"How did it feel like?"

"Not good. Think about your body doing something that you don't want to and cannot stop."

"Wicked" Ron said without any thoughts.

"Is there no other way of communicating?" Hermionie asked. She didn't like it to talk to someone that didn't answer her directly.

Suddenly something started to glint and flicker right over Harrys shoulder. They all stared at it and after sometime it had formed into Ichigos body in his full form. He was really tiny and could probably fit into their palms if he wanted to.

"Is this more to your likening Hermionie?"

"Yes it is! I don't like to talk to someone that I can't see or hear talk."

Ichigo smiled at her. It really was hard to speak to someone that was their but couldn't be seen nor heard. He had some experiences with Rukia and Renji when he had lost his powers for a short while.

"If that was all I would say we should go to bed. The next weeks will be tiresome for all of use so get a good rest." Dumbledore said. Everyone nodded and went to their rooms. They were all tired and soon they were all in their rooms and fast asleep. Harry however wasn't really able to sleep at first. He didn't know of what weapon he should think about to use Ichigos powers.

"Ichigo which weapon should I think of to manifest your powers" he finally asked.

"You don't have to worry about it at all. When the time comes, the picture will just come to your head. It will be the most suited one for you, so don't worry and sleep. Dumbledore was right when he said the next weeks would be tiresome and stressful."

Harry was relieved to hear that and soon fell into a soft but strong sleep. Ichigo smiled at that and decided to explore Harrys mind space.

-!-

Next chapter finished. I really didn't know if I would get it done today.