Rukia was faced with a dangerous enemy and she was forced to fight him alone. However, the fight seemed to be one-sided as the member of the Eight Hollow Swords, Aaroniero, turned her ice against him. Aaroniero revealed that he was a demon from the book of Zeref and is draining Rukia of her magic and her soul with her screams filling the air.

"You can't keep resisting, Rukia Kuchiki." Aaroniero said. "Soon your magic and your soul will be ours."

"No way." Rukia said as she was trying to stay strong, but Aaronier was constantly sapping her strength. "It won't end like this."

"That is where you are wrong." Aaroniero said. Rukia was getting weaker and it didn't look like there was any hope of escape for her.

"No." Rukia whispered as her vision was getting cloudy. "Is this really how it ends? Gray…." Rukia thought back to when she learned her magic. This tells the story of our snowflake being formed.

"My Own Style"

…

Gray

"Ice Demon's Zero Longsword!" Gray swung a sword of ice, but Gray jumped over his attack. Natsu and Erza jumped up to Aizen and they both tried to attack him, but he pushed them both back. Lucy summoned Scorpio and he launched a sandstorm, but Aizen blocked it. "I'm coming Rukia." Gray tried to run past Aizen so he can go help Rukia.

"You're not going anywhere." Aizen said. He used Bullet Magic and shot Gray in the leg with him dropping to the ground.

"Rukia…." Gray said as he tried to reach out to her. He was beginning to think back around the same time of his past that intertwined with Rukia's.

…..

Flashback

It was around six years ago. Rukia joined Fairy Tail with her older brother, Byakuya. She's been part of Fairy Tail for about a month around this time and ever since she joined, she hasn't really done much of anything.

"Hey, you're the new girl." Rukia looked behind her and was met with a younger version of Renji.

"Who are you?" Rukia said.

"My name's Renji. I'm a pretty big deal around here." Renji said. "So how come you're always sitting around?"

"Mind your own business." Rukia said. She looked over to the side and saw her brother. "Byakuya, are you going on a job. I'll go with you."

"No thank you." Byakuya said. "If I were you, Rukia, I try to learn some magic. We've been here for a month and you haven't learned any magic. It would be beneficial for everyone." He left with that and Rukia was left alone.

"That guy needs an attitude adjustment." Renji said.

"He is right." Rukia said as he looked down at the ground. "I need to learn some magic if I'm going to be part of this guild. The problem is that I don't know what magic to learn."

"Back off, Hothead." Rukia heard some complaining going on and saw Gray and his group with him and Natsu in one of their childish arguments. She saw Gray use his Maker Magic and was amazed by it with him freeing Natsu. "Chill out for once."

"Who is that guy and what magic was that?" Rukia said.

"His name is Gray Fullbuster." Renji answered. "That was Ice-Maker Magic he used. It's his specialty." That intrigued Rukia. She got up and went over to talk to him.

"Maybe now you'll learn to grow up." Gray said.

"You're one to talk." Lucy said.

"Excuse me." Gray looked over to see Rukia was talking to him.

"Hey, you're the new girl. Is there something can I help you with…..Ruky?" Gray said as he tried to remember her name.

"It's Rukia. I just saw you use that magic of yours. I want to learn how to use it."

"Say what? You want to learn Ice-Maker Magic? Why?" Gray asked.

"I don't know any magic and my brother thinks I should learn some." Rukia said. "I think the form of magic you use is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Ice Magic looks amazing and I want to learn it." Gray didn't seem so sure and Rukia could see that. She got down on her knees and begged. "Please, I'll do anything."

"Is this girl serious? She wants to learn from a loser like you?" Natsu said, but Gray actually ignored him.

"Alright. I really don't see any harm in trying this out." Gray said.

"You mean it?!" Rukia asked.

"Yeah. No need to make a scene over it. Let's get started." Gray said as he got up and Rukia followed him.

….

Mount Hakobe

Gray took Rukia up the coldest mountain around. Rukia was shivering while Gray didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"What are we doing up here?" Rukia asked.

"You want to learn how to use my kind of magic. What better place than a snowy mountain?" Gray said. "Get ready. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm ready to get started." Rukia said. She was all set until she saw something shocking. "Why did you take your clothes off?"

"That usually happens unintentionally with me, but it will help." Gray said. "The first lesson is for you to strip down. You've got to embrace the cold instead of resisting it. Come on, everything, but the garments." Rukia thought it was embarrassing, but if she was going to do this, she needed to.

"Good thing no one is around." Rukia said as she took off her clothes except her garments and felt even worse.

"Alright, let's start with a little running." Gray said as he started the jog and Rukia went after him. "While we're running, you need to learn the second lesson. Maker Magic gives a person the most creative freedom and each wizard who specializes it has their own style. Remember that."

"Right." Rukia said as she tried to keep up with him. This was the start of Rukia's story in the world of magic.

End of Flashback

…

Gray was blasted into a building by Aizen. As much as he wanted to go save Rukia, Aizen wasn't going to let him through.

"In mere moments, your apprentice will be lost forever." Aizen said. "It wasn't like she or any of the other members of your guild stood a chance to begin with."

"Stop talking." Gray said as he managed to get back up. "You don't know anything about her!" Gray charged right at Aizen and continued to fight him. 'Rukia, I love you like you were my own daughter.' He thought as he remembered all the times with Rukia. How he trained with her in the mountains, how he tried to keep her warm until she was unaffected by the cold on her own, and how he always carried her at the end of training from exhaustion when she was younger. 'Rukia, one of my biggest dreams was to one day take an apprentice as my own. You made that dream a reality. As much as I want to rush to your side to help you, I know you can win against whatever opponent you're facing.'

…

Rukia

"I believe in you." Rukia wasn't sure how, but she heard Gray's voice and it gave her power again.

"No. I won't fall like this." Rukia said as she moved her arm and froze Aaroniero's tentacle.

"What?! How did she do that?" Aaroniero said.

"There's no way I'm going to die until I save my friend." Rukia said and broke herself free with Aaroniero in pain from losing part of his tentacle.

"Where is all that reserve power coming from?" Aaroniero said.

"You were right from before." Rukia said as she thought back about Gray. "I copied the style of my master, but only because I admire him so greatly. I can't do that anymore. I have to find my own style. I'll use everything he taught me to beat you."

"Oh and what did he teach you?" Aaroniero said.

"I'll show you." Rukia said as she reached for her shoulder and ripped her top off with her dress hanging around her waist. "First lesson is to strip to embrace the cold."

"What? What kind of lesson is that?" Aaroniero said thinking that was so dumb.

"Second lesson is to create your own style." Rukia said as she made the stance.

"Give it your best shot. We are prepared for anything you might throw." Aaroniero said.

"Ice-Make: Ice Katana: Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia formed a katana with a white ribbon attached to it.

"What?! We have no information on this spell!" Aaroniero said.

"Here I come!" Rukia said. She charged in to attack.

"Your ice is useless." AAroniero said. He swung the trident, but Rukia jumped over him.

"Ice-Make: White Moon Dance!" Rukia formed a circle with Aaroniero inside and it shot out a light that formed a pillar of ice with him trapped inside.

"You never learn." Aaroniero said through the ice and turned it into water. Aaroniero controlled it and turned the water into a ripping wave right at Rukia.

"Ice-Make: Avalanche Dance!" Rukia punctured the ground four times and thrusted her sword forward and created an avalanche. The two attacks collided against each other and Aaroniero lost sight of her.

"Where did she go?" Aaroniero asked.

"Right here!" Rukia jumped through the snow and water with her sword out. Aaroniero acted as fast as he could. He swung his trident and impaled Rukia, but at the same time, Rukia's sword went right through Aaroniero's glass dome and it shattered.

"No, this can't be happening. Damn it!" Aaroniero's heads said as they bounced against the ground and his body collapsed with him being dead. Rukia removed the trident from her and stood over Aaroniero's body in victory, but she used up so much power, some was drained and suffered great injuries.

"I need to keep going. I need to save Orihime." Rukia said as she tried to walk, but her ice sword shattered to pieces and she collapsed. She found her own style, but did it cost Rukia her life.

…

Renji

Renji fought his way through Noches Espada's soldiers. He knocked a few down until he came to a stop for he felt something was wrong.

"Renji!" Renji looked up and saw Uryu come down to his side. "You shouldn't stop in the middle of a war."

"I know, but I feel something is wrong and I think it might have something to do with Rukia." Renji said.

"I'm sure Rukia is fine. We need to keep going and rescue Orihime." Uryu said. "This might be a bad time to ask, but why are you always so concerned about Rukia? You always wanting to be by her side. Don't think I haven't noticed." Renji thought this was a good time as any to talk about it. So he took a deep breath and talked.

"Rukia always seemed to be by herself back when she first joined the guild. Byakuya hardly looked out for her so someone had to." Renji said. "I tried to be her friend and I always checked on her when she went to do her training with Gray." That was the truth. Rukia never knew, but Renji use to follow her and Gray up to the mountains so he could keep an eye on her. You can imagine his face when he saw her strip down. "Soon we did become close friends and I began to feel like I should be b her side until I saw she could take care of herself. I don't know. There's just something about her." Renji felt a little embarrassed to admit that, but Uryu understood.

"How sweet." They heard a third voice and neither of them knew who it was. "Young love is such a graceful quality."

"Who's there?" Uryu said.

"Show yourself." Renji said.

"Over here, boys." Both of them looked further down the road and was met with Szayelaporro with him walking their way.

"I take it you're one of the Eight Hollow Swords." Uryu said.

"I am. Forgive me, but I couldn't help myself from overhearing your talk." Szayelaporro said. "This Rukia must be important to you. It's a shame for you that she's at death's door."

"What did you say?" Renji said. Szayelaporro pulled the wrong trigger.

"Don't worry yourself about it. You'll be joining her soon enough." Szayelaporro claimed. One of the eight is down, but the battle is far from over.

…

Ichigo: We face one enemy after another. Each one is deadly with their own form of dangerous magic. We struggle to defeat them, but we have to keep fighting. Fairy Tail never gives up the fight. We find a way to win and we never let anyone take one of our friends away from us.

Next Time: Our Persistence

Ichigo: No matter how tough the fight is, as long as there is something to fight for, we will never give up.