Chapter 11
Her inner world. She had brought them all to her inner world. They stood in a group amongst the trees, cast in a forever twilight. The trees were immense, towering over them like an army of giants and with gnarled branches that stretched out like broken old fingers. The sky was a cloudy sepia, with ghostly clouds blanketing its entirety and drowning the trees in eternal shadow until they were monolithic silhouettes of blackness. The air was serenely warm, bathing them all a scentless, tasteless breeze that was barely strong enough to sway the gnarled branches over their heads.
She called it the Twilight Forest.
"Welcome to my inner world." Nyruki said softly as she rested a hand on the trunk of a gargantuan tree, feeling the hidden roughness of bark against her palm.
"This goes on forever." Ukitake exhaled, just trying to comprehend the vastness of it all.
"As far as my mind wills it." Nyruki said.
"It's oddly... serene." Kyōraku said as he too placed a palm on a nearby, much smaller tree.
"It is. It wasn't hard to learn Bankai here." Nyruki said, taking her hand back.
"I'd imagine not. The vastness of this is ideal for such learnings." Captain Unohana said.
"I agree, though the trees tend to be a problem sometimes." Nyruki said as she looked at the dirt covered ground beneath her feet.
"Welcome to my domain." Came a sultry, slightly deeper voice from behind one of the massive trees nearby.
The group all turned their heads to the voice's owner as she stepped out from behind her vail. She held a remarkable resemblance to Nyruki, save for her crimson eyes and fuller lips with long, entirely black hair that fell free of any restraints. She wore a simple sleeveless gown of crimson that danced around her bare feet, with a deep V neckline that dove to her naval and long slit that crept up her right thigh.
"The spirit of Kibōyūwaku." Byakuya said softly as he drew in a long breath and clasped his hands behind his back.
"You would be correct, my dear." She bowed her head.
"Good evening, Kibōyūwaku." Nyruki said with a shallow bow.
"Good evening, my Princess. I wasn't expecting them to agree to this." Kibōyūwaku said, returning the bow.
"It seemed like a pertinent idea to help give us a better understanding of your abilities." Ukitake said, his eyes never moving from the woman as she came to stand next to Nyruki.
"And I agree. You all have come a long way believe it, or not, but you need just a bit more help to push you over the edge." Said Kibōyūwaku, her eyes partially lidded to give her a sultry bedroom gaze.
"How is this going to work?" Asked Sajin Komamura, finding himself under the soft gaze of the woman spirit.
"As promised, I will keep to anonymity. There will be no indication of whose desire I show." She said with a sweet smile across her plump, red painted lips.
"And we can trust you?" Asked Soi-Fon, crossing her arms as usual.
"I made a promise and I intend to keep it."
"Then we should begin. There isn't much time to waste." Ukitake said, drawing in a breath that Nyruki caught as nervous.
"Very well," She took in a breath, "At this very moment, I can see all your desires and what lies within your hearts. I feel it, sense it. Every single one of you are wrapped around desires of the heart." Kibōyūwaku said, her voice airy and mystical as she stepped around Nyruki in a slow circle before stopping once more at her side a few feet away.
"Desires of the heart are the hardest to break from because they show you the root of your desires. They are seated in the depths of your soul and act as anchors." Nyruki said as Kibōyūwaku waved a hand out in front of her.
The action caused an inky swirl of black to form in front of them, swirling and darkening as if it were a worsening storm. It grew and shaped as it swirled, taking on the shape of a person and with a single flight of the spirit's hand once more, the inky black shadow erupted like ash blown in a wind, leaving behind a visage of one such desire that earned a gasp from the every single throat; Including Nyruki's.
"W-What?" Ukitake breathed as he stared at the unmoving visage of the woman that had appeared.
Nyruki's eyes had gone wide, as the image was certainly not what she was expecting to see, especially since it was an image of a desire of the heart. She silently told herself that a desire of the heart could be anything; A loved one that someone regarded as family, a daughter, or a son, but it didn't explain the white gown the image wore. It was too intimate, the hair too elegant to be considered anything other than an image of a lover.
"It appears one of you has a secret." Kibōyūwaku sang soothingly as she plucked a long flowing lock of black hair from the image's shoulder.
Nyruki forced herself to stay calm as she crossed her arms self consciously and shifted her eyes over the crowd in a hurry. There was a pain in her chest, but she needed to ignore it and proceed.
With a gulp, she continued.
"A desire of the heart can be several things. It can be family, friends... or lovers." Nyruki said, ignoring the nervous pang in her stomach as she spoke.
"This particular desire of the heart, is the desire for a lover. She's a recent one. A fledging desire only born a few nights ago, but it is there, seated behind other desires." Kibōyūwaku said, playing with the image's obsidian hair with both delicate hands.
Nyruki gulped, "There's only one way to break from a desire of the heart like this, and that's to be rid of them. You have to realize that the image you're seeing isn't the real source of your desires."
"You mean to-" Ukitake exhaled, his shock still clear in his features.
Nyruki nodded, "I'm afraid so. Desires of the heart are deep seated roots that wrap around your very being. They are the strongest of anchors and the only way to break free of those roots, is to cut them. Think of it this way; You're standing in front of a mirror and you see the reflection of what you desire most. How do you get rid of the reflection?" She asked as she slowly blew out a slow breath to settle her twisting stomach.
"You break the mirror." Ukitake exhaled.
Suddenly, a thin blade burst from the image's chest, spraying black all over the white gown the image wore. Their golden eyes filled with tears and pain as she dropped to her knees with mouth agape in breathlessness as the sword slid from her body. She collapsed to the ground onto her back, seemingly dead at Kibōyūwaku's feet, whose elegant hand held a simple silver blade whose handle was shrouded in an inky cloud.
Laying before them, in a stained gown of white that was identical to the crimson one worn by Kibōyūwaku, was a perfect image of Nyruki Sawada.
As her image lay on the dull dirt, eyes now void of that sparkle of life, Nyruki softly cupped a hand over her mouth and looked away. It was hard to see one's self laying dead, freshly killed right in front of her, and she opted to look at the captains, which wasn't much better.
They all appeared a bit shocked, save for Mayuri Kurotsuchi who was simply staring from his spot in the back of the group. The others had managed to keep their expressions under control, for the most part, except for Captain Ukitake, who couldn't seem to look at the image of the murdered Nyruki. His eyes were unseeing, shaking even and his arms were wrapped around his torso as if he was holding himself together. He had the air about him of a father having just been told his child was killed.
"Unfortunately, all of you possess a desire of the heart... save for you." Kibōyūwaku said softly as the silver blade disappeared in the same inky swirls that the visage had appeared.
She stepped away from Nyruki's side and approached the group of captains. They parted as she walked passed them and came to stand in front of Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
"Who are you?" She asked, tilting her head slightly in curiosity.
"Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Captain of the 12th Division and head of the Department of Research and Development." He said without changing his rather creepy expression, staring at the spirit with unblinking eyes.
"I see. Oh, I remember you now... From the Head-Captain's office. I passed on turning you." Kibōyūwaku said as she began to step around him, examining him as if he were an animal up for purchase.
No one spoke. They simply watched.
"Even now, I can sense your desires and they are... rather simple." She said.
"Simple?" Kurotsuchi reeled.
"Quite. They belong to a man with a singular focus, whose sole desire is to gain knowledge through science and you do not care how you get it. The ends justify the means. You invaded your colleagues inner space without their knowledge simply to garnish data for your own gains." She said, flighting a hand over his chest to dust over his captain's haori.
"The data I acquired is invaluable. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again." Kurotsuchi said, crossing his arms in irritation.
"Oh, believe me, I know, Captain. But here's where in lies my problem. You invaded my master and that, I attest." She said, her sultry smile giving way to a scowl.
Kurotsuchi's painted brow line drew down hard over his sickly yellow eyes, "How you feel is none of my concern."
Her scowl worsened as she put an open hand over Kurotsuchi's face and thrust backwards, tossing him with ease to the still dirt.
"You, I have no problems embarrassing. All these others, they have a certain amount of respect, even the one who possesses that delicate image." Kibōyūwaku growled as she stepped back through the crowd and extended a hand towards the image's dead body.
"Easy... We aren't hear to make enemies, Kibō." Nyruki said, her arms still loosely crossed over her chest.
"A little humility never hurts." The spirit snarled with a snap of her elegant fingers.
A strong breeze suddenly blew through the Twilight Forest, billowing clothes and hair and kicking up clouds of dull dust. They covered their faces from the gritty assault as the gust blew through, rustling branches and howling in their ears like an army of nearby Hollow.
Just as suddenly as the wind had come, the ground began to shake with a low, surrounding rumble that came from every direction. It quaked beneath their feet as the rumbling deepened, sounding like cracking stone and splitting earth that was so guttural, so absolutely, that the sound could only be produced by Earth itself.
"What's going on?" Ukitake gasped as he widened his stance to stabilize himself against the shaking.
"There!" Komamura snapped as he pointed into the distance.
The ground shook harder as a tower began to rise just before the cusp of the horizon. It was a mutilated tower that was topped high with smoke stacks and pipes that billowed massive plumes of thick black smoke into the air. It kept rising into the twilight sky, soon followed by an army of smaller towers that surrounded the main structure, but something was too familiar about the towers and the flat topped rock that was crumbling behind them instantly proved to them all that they very much knew the image in front of them.
"That's... T-That's." Ukitake stuttered with eyes unable to tear away from the sight.
"This way." Nyruki said with a flash step.
She near instantly appeared high in the branches above, bringing her sight above the tree line. The captains followed, all claiming their own thick branches to get a full glimpse of the rising image that rose from the sundered ground.
Laying before them, covered in hazy smoke and ruins, was the Seireitei, having been destroyed and converted into a facility for science. Everywhere they looked, tubes filled with colored liquid sprouted from the ground and ran along the ruined streets to the central towers that were Squad 1. The Seireitei had been lost and turned into a giant laboratory.
"This is what your dear Captain of Squad 12 wants. This is what he desires." Kibōyūwaku hissed from her tree branch not far from Nyruki's.
"To assume control of the Seireitei and use it for his own gains. Somehow I am not surprised." Byakuya said, shifting his silver gaze to that very captain, laced with a harsher scowl than he usually wore.
"It's... It's magnificent!" Kurotsuchi replied, his eyes wild and untamed.
Nyruki's eyes narrowed, but they went instantly wide when Mayuri Kurotsuchi vanished, only to reappear several trees ahead before doing it again as he headed straight for the defiled Seireitei.
"Damn... We have to go get him." Nyruki frowned.
"This isn't good, is it, Nyruki." Kyōraku asked, having flash stepped onto her branch.
"Not even a little bit." Nyruki grumbled before looking up to Kibōyūwaku, "Can you sense him still?" She asked.
"Yes, but-" The spirit said with her crimson eyes turned down.
"What's wrong?" Nyruki asked.
"I'm not sure. We should hurry." She said, shaking her head.
"Why not just make the image go away?" Ukitake asked from his nearby branch.
"Look to the ground, Captain." Kibōyūwaku said without taking her eyes away from the ruins.
Not just Ukitake, but Kyōraku, Byakuya and the others all looked to the ground where they saw the dead body of the Nyruki image still laying on the ground with eyes frozen wide. She hadn't vanished the same way she appeared like the others had somehow thought she would.
"She's still there." Ukitake said ultra softly.
"The image is apart of one of you. I merely manifest it and show you what's in your heart." Said Kibōyūwaku, finally looking away from the ruins to regard at the captains.
"It's linked to our souls." Byakuya said, flashing to the same branch as Nyruki and Kyōraku, not worried about weight as the branch was a trunk in its own right.
"Exactly." The spirit said.
"But you killed the image. What happens to its owner if the desire is killed?" Ukitake asked, doing the same to occupy another spot on the same branch.
"Nothing. One does not die when they break the mirror they are looking into. At its base, it is just an image of your desires, a copy that I make to show you. The original desire, the source of that desire within your own soul, is what matters." The spirit said softly with a hand resting against the thick trunk of the tree she stood upon.
"So whomever has this desire for Nyruki, only they can make it vanish." Kyōraku said with a short lived glance at Nyruki, whose cheeks were painted a sharp red.
"Exactly. But I doubt that will happen as that would expose the owner of that desire." Said Kibōyūwaku.
Kyōraku clearly saw how uncomfortable Nyruki looked. Perhaps out of embarrassment, or uncertainty, he wasn't sure, but he decided it best to shift the conversation away from the poor thing.
"So what's going to happen if we don't retrieve him?" He asked, sending Nyruki a soft smile of reassurance, which she returned.
"He runs the risk of being lost to desire." Nyruki said with worry building in her chest.
"Even being in your inner world?" Ukitake asked, placing a hand on Nyruki's shoulder.
"Which makes it worse... Come on."
Before anymore questions could be asked, which she was sure there were lots, Nyruki flash stepped away to the next branch just up ahead. The captains followed suit until all were flying through the air, hopping from tree branch to tree branch on their way to where Kurotsuchi had so eagerly rushed into.
The closer they got, the more the air was seared with charcoal and chemicals, burning the sinuses with every breath. Several captains couldn't restrain the cough. None spoke as they traveled, only concentrated on reaching their next branch until they reached the edge of the Twilight Forest, having reached a massive clearing filled with the defiled Seireitei.
With one last flash step, the group reached the ground to get a true feel of the size of the construct in front of them.
"We are going to have a hell of a time finding him." Ukitake sighed as his shoulders sagged slightly at the thought of it.
"Perhaps we should consider splitting up into teams to search. We will be able to cover more ground that way." Said Captain Unohana without her usually pleased expression in her eyes.
"I agree." Byakuya said.
Nyruki softly gulped, but nodded, "Teams of two."
It didn't take words for the group to pair off and head in different directions. Kibōyūwaku headed straight for the main tower with Hitsugaya close behind while Ukitake and Kyōraku had gone off to search in the direction of the great library. Komamura and Soi-Fon went off to search the streets, and Kenpachi and Unohana had gone to search the underground.
The last team, being Nyruki and Byakuya, went to search what would normally be Kurotsuchi's normal stomping ground; The Department of Research and Development.
As they walked through the streets, they found themselves stepping over crumpled rubble and pipes that vented noxious green gases into the air. The fumes smelled of rotten eggs and formaldehyde, and it caused Nyruki's nose to crinkle in disgust.
"This is disgusting." Nyruki groaned as she huffed the nauseating scent out of her nose.
"It is unpleasant, but not unexpected from Mayuri Kurotsuchi." Byakuya said, stepping over a small tube that bubbled with a fast moving white colored liquid.
"I'm not sure I wanna know what's going through his head." Nyruki said with a grimace, as a nearby vent hissed a puff of green into the air.
"It appears we're going to find out." Byakuya said.
With a preexisting knowledge of where to go, they soon found themselves standing outside of the Squad 12 facility and it was in a deplorable state. The main building was filled with holes that surrounded more tubes, all filled with bubbling liquids of different colors. Some had yellow, some had blue, but all ran a wild course towards the Squad 1 towers.
They squeezed through the small space between the ruined front gate and started for a large hole in a wall that would allow for entry into the facility, underneath a large tube filled with bubbling blue liquid.
Byakuya had entered first, having crouched low to crawl nearly on his belly beneath the tube, but as Nyruki followed behind, her long ponytail snagged on a rusty bolt sticking out from the steel connection ring that wrapped around the tube.
"Ow!" Nyruki hissed as she tried to get her hands out from underneath her to free herself, but there simply wasn't enough room to maneuver.
"Hold still." Byakuya said, kneeling down in front of her.
With deft fingers, Byakuya untangled her hair and pulled the long ponytail towards him to remove it from the cramped space so that it wouldn't get snagged anymore as she crawled.
"Thank you, Captain... Stupid hair." Nyruki grumbled to herself as she finished crawling out from underneath the tube.
"Kneel here. This should help to keep it from snagging again." He said as he pulled the tie free from her hair.
Nyruki tried not to smile, but it happened anyways as Byakuya ran his long fingers through her ebony locks to untangle the rats that the bolt had caused. His fingers scraped back along her scalp, pulling her lengthy bangs back into the fray before she felt him begin to thread pieces under and over each other, starting from the crown of her head and working his way down. In a matter of moments, he adeptly braided her hair into a neat french style and tied it snuggly at the end with her tie.
"I hope that is to your liking." Byakuya said as he rose to his feet and began to scan the dark hallway they now found themselves in.
Nyruki ran a hand back over her new braid and smiled a bit wider, "I'm impressed, Captain. Thank you."
"Of course." He nodded.
"Where'd you learn to braid?" Nyruki asked before she could think better of it, following him down the hallway in his chosen direction.
"My lieutenant taught me." Byakuya said with a glance out of the corner of his eye.
Nyruki's eyes reeled, "Really?" She tried not to gasp, but a bit came out anyways.
"I would not joke about something like that. Renji's hair is... just on this side of tamable. He has an ungodly amount of it and if he doesn't braid it at night, he'll wake up with an atrocious mess of red on top of his head that would take hours to comb smooth." Byakuya said, stepping over a fallen steel door that had been blown out from the inside.
"Seems kind of... Kind of... odd, to have your captain braid your hair for you on a regular basis." She blushed as she grabbed the long tail of hair of her own fresh braid self consciously.
"Perhaps it is my unspoken caring of Rukia that drives me, but she used to do it for him when they were growing up. Now that she lives at the estate, and he the barracks, it's much harder to continue that tradition between them. I assumed the role after one such morning he didn't have it braided and it was... offensive. It was a wild nest that actually pained me to look at." Byakuya said as he began to squint through the darkness.
"You helped him didn't you." Nyruki deadpanned.
"I was compelled to, it was that bad. Hours of conditioning and combing finally tamed that beast. Where mine is silken fine, but full, his is horse hair thick and equally so." Byakuya actually grumbled.
The light from the Twilight Forest was fading fast, so with a soft wording, Byakuya opened his fingers in a crescent shape and mumbled lowly in the dark.
"Hadō 31: Shakkahō." He said softly as a small ball of red began to build in his hand between his fingers and thumb.
The light from the spell illuminated the hallway, but it was weak, struggling to reveal a number of obstacles that they would have to climb over, which included a portion of the ceiling that had caved in and blocked the hallway.
"That's sorta better," Nyruki sighed, "So you couldn't take the crimson mess hmm?" She added after a moment with a soft chuckle in her throat, finding that the light conversation helped her to push passed her nerves at their growing situation.
Byakuya shook his head, "Not at all. One should take pride in their mane. That is why I agreed to braid it before leaving the barracks in the evenings."
Nyruki softly laughed again as they reached the portion of the downed ceiling and climbed over the rubble, having to pull themselves up to the second story since the rest of the hallway had been blocked off. Byakuya reached it first and turned around to help the shorter Nyruki by leaning down and grasping her hand.
"Thanks, Captain. I don't have the height to climb all this." Nyruki said, dusting herself off.
"Of course. Flash step would be difficult in such cramped and dark surroundings. In fact, it would be careless." Byakuya said as they started down the new dark hallway of the second story.
"One false step could prove bad." Nyruki scoffed quietly.
"Precisely. Especially since outside of my Shakkahō, it is still pitch dark." Byakuya said, pressing up against the wall to skirt around a large hole in the floor.
Their idle talk drew silent as they continued through the dark of the second story hallway, coming to a thick steel door that had been gouged open right through the center and curled outwards like a blooming flower.
Something had come out.
However, the hole in the door was too small for Byakuya to fit through with his larger frame, which left Nyruki the one to try and get to the other side so she could open the door.
"One moment. Let me see if there's anything on the other side." Byakuya said, placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from trying to get through the hole. He felt the slight flinch.
"Just be careful. This may be my inner world, but this is Captain Kurotsuchi's desire. Who knows what's crawling in there." Nyruki said with a visible shutter.
"I understand."
Byakuya drew in a long but silent breath as he stepped up to the door and leaned his head to the hole, holding the small ball of red light through to get some sort of idea of what lay beyond. However, it appeared to be a massive chamber, as passed the small field of red light, it was entirely black and the only object the small light could show was a grated catwalk just on the other side of the door.
"I'm afraid there isn't much to see. It appears to be a large chamber." Byakuya said as he stood up straight and took a step back away from the door.
"Alright. I'll open the door once I'm through." Nyruki said.
With her Captain's nod, Nyruki stepped up to the door and began the process of squeezing through. She first stepped her right leg through the hole before sliding her right shoulder into place. It was an incredibly tight fit, but thanks to her flexibility and extensive training, she was able to squeeze through without trouble, for the most part.
As she popped her hip through the hole, she straightened too soon to bring her upper arm in contact with a jagged edge of the metal which gouged a slice into her flesh that instantly bled.
"Damn it!" Nyruki growled as she briefly glanced at her wound in the extremely low light.
"What's wrong?" Byakuya's voice came through the hole, soon followed by the small ball of red light.
"Nothing. I'm fine. I just got cut by the door is all." Nyruki sighed before she turned her attention to opening the offending door.
She cranked over the deformed turning wheel, releasing the small army of prongs that held it closed and immediately swung it open with a resonating metal groan that echoed from every direction and ricocheted off the unseen chamber walls.
"Least the door still works." Nyruki grumbled as she inspected her wound more thoroughly, now that there was more light.
The door now open, Byakuya stepped through and took a cautionary look around before setting his eyes on the cut on Nyruki's arm. Even in the dull red light, he could see the thick lines of blood dripping down her arm and stretching down to her elbow
"Let me see it." Byakuya said as he grasped under her arm and brought the ball of light close to the wound.
Nyruki, for her part, just allowed him to look.
"Hmm... It appears to be just a surface wound. Healing Kidō is not my specialty, but it should be sufficient enough to control the bleeding." Byakuya said just before the red light went out.
They were immediately cast into an eternal blackness so complete, so surrounding that Nyruki couldn't see the man standing right next to her. The only thing present that told her she wasn't completely lost was the feel of his soft hand around her arm.
Only a moment passed before a soft blue light began to radiate from his open hand, only powerful enough to barely light their faces against the dark. The light felt warm against her skin, soothing as it licked away the sharp sting from the cut and she could see, barely, as the blood began to stop seeping from between the edges of flesh.
"That won't do much, Captain." Nyruki said softly, the darkness surrounding them consuming all other sound.
"Why not?" Byakuya asked with a soft furrowing in his brow.
"Kidō is much, much weaker here. Especially since you're in my inner world and doubly so that we're inside Captain Kurotsuchi's desire." Nyruki said as she pointed to her arm, which wasn't healing. It had only stopped bleeding.
The furrowing in Byakuya's brow hardened, "I see. That could prove problematic should one of us get hurt more severely than this. Captain Unohana will not be able to use her skills efficiently."
"See why we need to find the Captain?" Nyruki scoffed.
"Yes. At least the bleeding stopped. However, we should wrap this." Byakuya said, releasing her arm.
"It'll have to wait, Captain. No bandages." Nyruki said as the soft blue light winked out.
"Produce a controlled Shakkahō." Byakuya said.
With a nod, Nyruki did as told by her captain and opened her palm, producing a smaller, weaker light for Byakuya to work with. In the low red, he leaned over and grasped a fistful of his captain's haori, pulling the bottom up to his teeth where he grabbed its edge and pulled, tearing off a strip of the fabric the length of the entire bottom edge of the custom haori.
She remained silent as he wrapped the impromptu bandage around her arm with an edge printed with the pattern on every captain's haori and tied it with a small knot to keep it in place.
"Thank you, Captain... Again." Nyruki smiled for a moment as she let her Hadō spell wink out of existence.
Byakuya's much more controlled spell near immediately returned, "I imagine you would do the same for me."
"I would do my best, Captain. For all of the captains really." She said as they started to walk down the catwalk, hoping they picked the right direction.
"I see." Byakuya said.
Their hopes were rewarded with a set of stairs that lead down, but the soft red light was only powerful enough to light four steps in front of them. They carefully walked down with Byakuya in front, their backs to the wall, until the steps wouldn't allow them to go any further.
"What is it with all the climbing today?" Nyruki grumbled as she tried to peer down towards the floor to see how far it was.
"It would seem we are facing a bit. Stand back." Byakuya said.
He held his palm out and released his small Shakkahō, that popped weakly against the floor only five feet below the last stair and disappeared, casting the pair back in the eternal black void.
"Oh good. That's not too bad." Nyruki smiled.
Byakuya illuminated another small red ball and jumped down first, followed by Nyruki, whom had actually vaulted over the handrail in a backflip and landed on her feet beside him.
"You've been practicing." Byakuya said as they started to walk, realizing that the entire floor was one, giant metal grate over a chasm of blackness.
"Of course. I wasn't about to be left defenseless because of my fear of my Zanpakutō. If I wasn't gonna use my blade, I was gonna use close combat." Nyruki said.
"Wise decision. Are you still fearful of your power?" Byakuya asked.
"Yes. I'll always fear it, but now I have a respectful fear of it instead of a debilitating fear of it." Nyruki said as a thin outline of another door broke through the blackness.
They drew close, revealing that it was, indeed, another door, but this one hung by a singular hinge, having been ripped from the others by something with an incredible amount of strength.
"I'm not liking that all these doors are destroyed, Captain." Nyruki said as she yanked the door a bit to widen the space they could step through.
"Neither am I. Remain vigilant. I don't think we're alone in here." Byakuya said, stepping through first.
As Nyruki followed, a metal cling sounded through the silence as if it was a pop of thunder. The sudden sound scared them both with a jump as it echoed from every direction, bouncing around the walls like a bouncy ball and so quickly, that they couldn't pinpoint where the sound had originated from.
"What was that?" Nyruki gasped, her breath catching in her tightening throat as both froze solid.
"Proof that we aren't alone."