Author's note: So, I've been reading the Bleach Manga a lot recently and just got past the Barragan fight (now into the Fullbringer arc). I did not remember that he could age things without Respira in his base form. Whoops. My memory for small details failed me. Oh well. End author's note.
Ozpin stood on his balcony, looking out over the valley the city sat in. Even after all this time, it still amazed him how resilient human and Faunus kind were. A knock came from his door and he turned around, walking back inside. "Come in."
Glynda Goodwitch opened the door and came in. "There is something I would like to discuss with you."
Ozpin nodded and slammed his cane on the ground, sending out a green energy wave across all the surfaces of the room. "Please, sit." He motioned to the table off to one side. They sat on opposite sides and Glynda laid her head in her hands. "What is it, Glynda?"
"It's about those boys. They all seem far older then they look. Their demeanor, their stance. It's all off."
"I noticed that as well. They feel similar to me. Older then they appear, Barragan in particular."
"The feeling he gives off is, otherworldy, even in comparison to the rest. He exudes a feeling of dread. It's all I could do to keep from screaming." She grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "Even the grimm don't feel that, evil."
"Indeed." Ozpin stood and turned away. "Frankly, I'm surprised they have nothing to do with Salem at all."
"You believe them?"
"You don't?"
"Of course not!" She stood as well. "For all we know, Salem gave Ulquiorra that eye ability, whatever he called it, to deceive us."
"No. She has the ability to control and manipulate grimm however she pleases, but never have I seen anything like that from her. I do not think she is capable of such a thing, nor do I believe she could give anyone such an absurd amount of Aura. Considering the source of Aura itself, I don't think such a thing could be possible. Not unless they started that way, or..."
"Or what?"
"Or a countless number of souls were combined into one."
Ulquiorra opened his eyes just as the door opened and a blur shot into the room. When the blur stopped in the bed Barragan took last night, he found that it was Barragan. Interesting. What was he up to? He decided to stay for a few minutes. It would make Barragan less confrontational if he thought he hadn't been seen.
After a bit more then a few minutes, he didn't know as he had fallen asleep again, he released his hold on the beam and floated down to the ground. The other three, reacting to the sudden movement, began stirring and waking up. Jushiro yawned as he sat up. Gin slid down the frame and Barragan jumped to the floor.
"Is everybody up?" Jushiro asked. He was met with a series of nods. "Okay. Let's wait a few hours for breakfast to end, then we can go down and eat."
"What do we do in the mean time?" Ulquiorra asked.
"Well," Gin responded. "We could discuss what we do when Ozpin has to kick us out."
"That's a thought." Jushiro rubbed the rest of the sleep from his eyes.
"Did anyone else have a dream?" Barragan questioned. Three sets of eyes stared at him
"Like what?" Ulquiorra answered.
"Just curious." Barragan crossed his arms and turned away.
"I dreamt about Rangiku and Izuru." Gin's half-smile dropped.
"Rukia and Ichigo," Jushiro added.
"Ichigo and Orihime." Ulquiorra looked at his open hand. "What of you?" He looked at the back of Barragan's head.
"I'm not sure yet." After a time of having six eyes trying to pierce his brain, he finally said something. "What of the living arrangements?"
"We can go out into town for the next few days and look around." Jushiro stood and stretched the stiffness out of his shoulders. "It will have to be somewhere we can train undisturbed and near a library. That way we can have easy access to information. Gin, did you find anything interesting yesterday?"
"Yes. It seems there is a cultural divide between humans and Faunus, animal people. Apparently, Faunus have been seen as less then humans for as far back as I could go. Those prejudices still exist today, though not as strongly as before." His tongue flicked out. "Ulquiorra and I will have to be careful. Also, the main power source for this world is called 'Dust'. What it is, I don't know yet, but it's some sort of crystal most of the time."
"What power does it possess?" Ulquiorra asked.
"It seems to depend on the type, but generally it's elemental, like fire or ice. I was just getting into the section discussing combinations before we left for food."
"Well whatever we're doing, we should do it quickly. I don't trust Ozpin." Barragan turned towards the door.
"And why is that?" Jushiro asked.
Barragan stopped. "He feels off."
The four of them grabbed trays and went down the counter of left-overs. Ulquiorra, followed by Barragan and Gin, ending the line with Jushiro. The counter was covered in various kinds of cereals, sandwiches and little vegetable bowls. Next to the vegetables were dispensers of various dips and condiments; ranch, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and the like.
Ulquiorra grabbed a few sandwiches and a couple cereal bowls, but completely passed over the vegetables.
"Ulquiorra." He turned to look at Jushiro. "Best to have some carrots."
"And why is that?" He grabbed several containers.
"They're good for maintaining one's eyesight. Now that we're here, we'll have to take care of ourselves."
"I see." He moved on so the others could pick stuff too. "How annoying."
They all got their food and sat down at the nearest table. A few minutes of silent eating later, they had put their trays back and were heading back to their room. "I'm going to the library to do more research on 'Dust'," Gin stated.
"I wouldn't," Barragan ordered. Everyone stopped.
"And why not?" Gin asked.
"Because I said so. Do you need any other answer?" He turned to look back at them.
"Yes, we do," Ulquiorra answered. "We're all equal now. You're no longer the King of anything, and if you expect us to listen to you, give us a reason."
Barragan glared at him, knowing full-well that he was right. This isn't going to go over well.
"You broke into the library last night?" Jushiro yelled. "Why would you do that?"
"You wanted to know the dream I had last night? It was about a woman, covered in blood and asking for help. Her name was Summer Rose. I couldn't get very much information out of her and that was the only way I could think of to get it."
"By compromising our position here? Do you realize what you could have done?"
"I know exactly what I've done. I gathered the information I needed on this 'Summer Rose' person."
"That's not the point. Unless we tell Ozpin, we have to get out of here as soon as possible, if he doesn't kick us out first. We'll be on the street by tonight if he wants us gone."
"So what if he'll try to get rid of us? We're strong enough to fight him and all his minions."
"WE'RE NOT!" Jushiro grit his teeth. "Have you learned nothing since we got here? Did that attack on our first day not make you realize you can't throw your weight around like you used to? You claim to have been a King, but what kind of King were you? It's no wonder Aizen was able to defeat you so easily and usurp your throne. You were then and are still, nothing more then a fool!"
Barragan lunged forward with Arrogante, but Ulquiorra and Gin drew their swords and held them at his throat.
"Stand down." Ulquiorra took a step forward, grabbing the haft of the axe.
"We can't be fighting each other like children," Gin said. "We're in this together and we can't start killing each other over something so stupid. We'll tell Ozpin, and whatever he decides to do with you, Barragan, we will follow."
They walked through the empty halls of the academy, silently moving towards the elevator towards Ozpin's office. Turns after twists and twists after turns led them closer to the center of the campus. Finally, crossing the courtyard, they entered the building and went up the elevator. The doors opened and they stepped into the room at the top.
"I don't recall summoning you four here." Ozpin spun his chair around to face them.
Ulquiorra, who had been carrying Arrogante, threw it towards Ozpin, wedging it into the front of the desk where it stopped cold. Ozpin didn't react. In tandem, Jushiro, Gin and Ulquiorra, drew their swords and aimed them at Barragan as he stepped forward.
"I broke into the library last night." Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "I had a vision last night about a 'Summer Rose' and accessed the personnel files in the restricted section. I then locked the door on the librarian before she could discover my location."
"It was my understanding that the latch was rusted shut. The locking mechanisms for both library and restricted doors were gone. Not a single trace of them was left."
"Indeed. My power allows me to manipulate time." Ozpin's eyes widened. "Usually, I have a time-field around myself that stops anything I don't want reaching me. However, if I reverse it in a localized area, I can speed up the aging of something. I can turn bones to dust in living beings and I can rust steel and iron into nothing. There is nothing my power does not work on."
"You say you control time. Is this to be taken at face value, or do you merely accelerate and slow movement?"
"No. My power controls time itself. There is no movement involved, it is nothing but time."
"With such a power, there is nothing that can stop you, is that correct?"
"It is."
"Then it seems I can no longer trust the safety of the students with you here, but I cannot leave you to your own devices. You are to leave these premises immediately, and will be under heavy surveillance. If you do not break any laws while in Vale, I might invite you to attend next year, but should you violate any rules between now and then, you will be exiled to the Wilds."
"Are you sure you can?" The blades crept closer to his throat.
"Do not test me." Ozpin's voice grew dangerous and his eyes began to glow. "I know why you are as strong as you are. You are an uncountable multitude of souls inhabiting one body. You may be able to control time, but so can I." He stood and a green aura seeped from his body into the air, lifting his hair and causing a small wind to swirl around him. "My cane is the Long Memory for a reason. I can store time within it's construction, and I have been charging it for longer then you've existed, in any world. You cannot challenge me."
The green aura in the air turned to needles striking the ground at incredible speed and the entire building and everyone in it felt a tremendous force bearing down on them. This force was almost as strong* as Aizen's when he wanted to make them bow. The four of them, and everyone else feeling it, were forced to the ground all at once. Barragan's bravado was instantly crushed with his posture, and he said no more.
The pressure let up after a few seconds and they could breathe again. "Get out." He spun his chair around as he walked behind it to look out the window. Jushiro and Gin drug Barragan to the elevator while Ulquiorra retrieved Arrogante. The doors closed and Ozpin collapsed into his chair, panting extremely quickly. "I haven't had to exert myself like that since the last time Salem and I had a direct confrontation. I am sorely out of practice."
They stood at the bus station, waiting.
"So," Ulquiorra said. "What do we do now?"
"Once the bus gets here," Jushiro responded, "we find a place to stay for the night. With no money, that almost certainly rules out any hotels, unless they're willing to take labor as payment."
"I can't believe this," Barragan huffed.
"You're the reason we're in this mess." Jushiro crossed his arms. "You have no room to complain so shut up and follow along with the rest of us."
Barragan huffed again and turned away. Ulquiorra looked down the road. Still no bus.
"Come to think of it," he said. "I don't think they're going to let us on with our weapons."
"I didn't think of that," Jushiro sulked. "Maybe we can ride on top if there's a roof rack."
"That's a distinct possibility." They stood there for a few more minutes. Still nothing. "Did anyone bother to look at the schedule?"
"I thought you did," Gin said. "But if you and I didn't, and I'd say it's safe to assume Barragan didn't, that would leave, Jushiro."
"I didn't look either. I was too busy trying to keep track of all of you." He rubbed the side of his head. "Ulquiorra, would you fly up and see if there's a bus anywhere near here?"
"Certainly." His wings unfolded through the flaps in his shirt and extended across the entire platform, before he flapped them and in a single burst of wind, he was gone. Soaring high above the city, he scanned the streets, searching for anything on the move. Nothing anywhere within his vision. He took a deep breath and let it out.
An ear-piercing shriek came from all around him and he slammed his eyes shut to block it out. When his eyes closed, so did his wings and he began to plummet. He fell for three hundred feet before he opened his eyes and his wings again. Now stopped in the air, he looked around, expecting to see some sort of bird, but he saw nothing.
He breathed a sigh of relief, and heard the sound again. Looking around again, still nothing. He exhaled and heard the sound. After a repeat, It's coming from me. He exhaled and heard it clearly. There was a bus coming. He whistled and heard it moving. Interesting. He floated down and landed.
"There is a bus coming from a ways off. It should be here in about ten minutes."
"What happened up there?" Jushiro asked. "You dropped for a few seconds. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just discovered something that I must explore at a later date."
After several more minutes of waiting, the bus finally arrived. It did have a roof rack which was fortunate as they couldn't board carrying weapons, even though there weren't any other passengers. The driver took them to the residential district and dropped them off at the nearest station to continue on his route.
"Okay," Jushiro said. "Let's split up and search for some shelter. Gin, you go with Barragan. Ulquiorra, come with me. Head back here when the sun sets."
After about a hundred yards of walking, Jushiro sighed.
"What is it?" Ulquiorra asked.
"I was hoping for a bit more preparation before this part, but we don't have it, so there's no sense complaining about it."
"That's a fair assessment." He looked at the surrounding buildings as they continued walking. "What, precisely, are we trying to find."
"I'm hoping for a hotel that's willing to take labor for payment. Maybe we can work in the kitchen or as janitors."
"I never saw the point in cooking. I never had to eat before. Do you know how?"
"I learned from my parents before I went to the Shinigami Academy, and thankfully it seems the food here is at least similar to what they taught me. It shouldn't take me too long to adapt."
"Are there any other potential choices for our stay?"
"There's always the alleyway. It's a good thing Ozpin decided to give us our original clothing back. He even had them washed," he chuckled. "But aside from that, we might be able to find a restaurant and work as dishwashers. They might let us sleep in the dining room or the broom closet."
"Sleeping in a closet would be most uncomfortable, I'd imagine."
"Indeed it would be, so let's hope it doesn't come to that." They walked for another few hundred feet in silence.
"I'm sorry about the yesterday," Ulquiorra said. "I don't know what came over me."
"That's called anger. It's a common emotion, able to surface in the most unexpected of situations. Be careful with it. If you don't mind me asking, what, exactly, set you off?"
"It seemed like he was trying to evade the question. The answers Ichigo and Orihime gave me, though confusing, weren't elusive. They were always directly answering the question asked of them. He's hiding something, not just from us, but from more who need that information."
"Speaking of which, I wonder what he meant when he said Salem. When he said that name, it felt like a cold flame was let out of a lamp. Tame, but dangerous."
"I think that's a discussion best held off until we have somewhere more secure, away from prying eyes."
Jushiro sighed. "You're right. We should hurry along. It's mid-morning now, and we have an entire city to scour."
"We could fly."
"No, I want to keep your wings secret for as long as possible. Yesterday, Barragan said that Faunus aren't allowed everywhere, so I think it's best we don't announce it to everyone in the city."
"Fair point. No flying then."
Gin and Barragan had been walking for several hours before Gin finally said something. "Why didn't you tell us about your dream?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because your reaction to it put us here. We weren't ready to be out here this early into our stay."
"I don't owe you any explanation." Barragan continued walking.
"I think you do." Gin stopped. "Look at where we are right now, we're in the worst position we've ever been in, aside from our deaths, thanks to you."
"Thanks to me?" He turned around. "How?"
"Even now you still don't listen." Gin Rubbed his forehead. "How is this not your fault? Can you answer that?"
"I don't need to listen to this crap." He turned to walk away.
"Just as I thought, you can't. Here you are, running away from your problems again." Barragan stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
"It means just what I said. What happened the last time you had a problem? Where were you after Aizen, Kaname and I massacred your armies? You didn't show up for close to twenty years. What were you doing all that time?"
"Shut up!"
"Why? Are you still too afraid of me to make me?" He smiled at him. "I would certainly like to see you try."
Barragan turned and swung Arrogante at Gin, who jumped out of the way.
"So that's how it's going to be." He drew his sword and pointed it at Barragan. "Shoot to Kill, Shin-" His face slammed into the pavement between his feet and everything went black.
He sat up with a splitting headache. Looking around, he was in an alleyway, surrounded by trash and dumpsters. "What happened?"
"Evidently, the teams were divided wrong." He looked to his left and found Ulquiorra sitting next to him. "As to what happened, Jushiro and I could feet your animosity before we even turned onto a different street. We had to turn around and run back towards you two. It's a good thing we got there when we did. You were about to kill each other." He chuckled. "It's amazing how quickly one can learn something. Anger truly is an emotion that can appear in even the strangest of circumstances."
"How do you mean?"
"I am very angry with you two right now. In fact, I think I want to kill the both of you and be done with the problem." He laid a hand on Murcielago, and then was promptly smacked upside the head.
"There's no need for that." Jushiro then grabbed Murcielago. "You can get it back if you're good." He then slid it through his belt with the other two katana's there. It was then that Gin realized that Shinso was no longer in his possession. "Why is everybody acting crazy today?"
"How long was I out?" Gin asked.
"Twelve hours. Ulquiorra hit you pretty hard, and Barragan's still out. He's over there." Jushiro pointed down the alleyway where Barragan was propped up on several bags of garbage.
Gin gave a short laugh. "He's certainly not going to like that."
"He can get over it." Jushiro sat down next to Gin. "We haven't been keeping calm very well, have we?"
"No, we haven't. I don't know what came over me back there."
"Well, I hope it doesn't become a regular problem. We don't need both you and Ulquiorra having issues." He pulled all three swords out of his belt and rolled them into his captain's haori.
"What are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked.
"I can't leave them here, so I'm concealing them while I go out."
"What of Arrogante?" Gin questioned. "Aren't you taking that too?"
"It's too big to carry around unnoticed, so I've hidden it somewhere. I'm not risking you three killing each other while I keep looking. It's almost nightfall and I really don't want to have to sleep here tonight." He tied the two ends of the bundle closed with his sash and looped it across his shoulder. "Stay put. I'll be back in an hour, tops." And with that, Jushiro was gone.
Gin leaned against the wall, hands behind his head. "That could've gone better."
"Indeed." Ulquiorra sat down on a garbage bag, which tore open and released a rather nasty smell. "That is rather unpleasant."
"I don't smell anything." His tongue flicked out.
"If you truly are a snake, then I wonder if your sense of smell works the same."
"I suppose not. Snakes don't smell through their noses, but from their tongues."
"I did not know that."
"I spoke to Harribel's subordinate, Sung-Sun about it one day. I can't remember what started the conversation but she explained how snakes smell. I suppose it makes sense considering what kind of hollow she is."
"What happened to them during the battle?"
"Are you worried about them?"
"No, just curious. You said that it was just you and Aizen who went to the Soul Society after the battle in the World of the Living. With Barragan having joined us here, those two things mean the top three Espada were defeated. What happened?"
"Barragan was killed when one of the Shinigami teleported their Respira infected arm into his torso. Starrk was killed by one of Captain Kyoraku. Starrk released and it didn't even take Kyoraku's Bankai to kill him."
Ulquiorra's eyes widened. "He killed Starrk with just Shikai?"
"His Shikai is pretty terrifying, and quite the problem to deal with. Harribel's Fraccionnes tried to fight the Captain-General all at once, but they failed. Harribel herself was killed by Aizen just before we left for the Soul Society."
"I see. So Aizen betrayed us. Tell me, was I meant to die atop the canopy?"
Gin didn't answer for some time. The alley grew dimmer and dimmer until the streetlamps finally lit. Even then, Gin didn't answer. After what seemed like all night, he finally said, "Yes."
"Did he know?"
"About Segunda Etapa? Most likely."
"I see."
Jushiro had been through seventy establishments in the last twenty minutes and nobody accepted his proposal. Thankfully the last place he went to pointed him in the direction of the 'Royal Inn and Housing Establishment.' According to them, that was the place anyone could go for work and shelter, and off he went. He had little idea where he was going but he knew where he was coming from.
"I just hope they let us stay there. I really don't want to sleep in an alleyway." Thunder rolled over his head and he sighed. "Especially in the rain." He picked up his pace and kept looking around. It was supposed to be taller then any building around it, with giant blaring lights surrounding the name sign. "I should probably head back and get Ulquiorra to see if he can spot it." He stopped and sighed again. "I hope they haven't killed each other."
He spun around and began making his way back to where he left them. That's when it started raining. Once again, he picked up his pace and almost started running back to where he left the other three. Eventually, he returned, panting.
"Ulquiorra, I need you to do something." He slumped against the side of the building.
"And what might that be?"
"I need you to fly up and see if you can find a very tall building. It's called, 'Royal Inn and Housing Establishment.' I was told it's impossible to miss. Can you do it?"
"And what of my wings? You did say to keep them hidden for as long as possible."
"Yes, I did, but if you fly high enough, to the point you can't clearly see people anymore, they shouldn't be able to spot you either. Get to the top of this building, and go from there."
Ulquiorra nodded and began to climb the fire escape before vanishing into the darkness. There was a great whoosh before he ceased making noise all together. Jushiro slid to the ground next to Gin.
"How were things here?" Jushiro asked.
"Fine. Ulquiorra asked what happened to the rest of the Espada. Barragan still has yet to wake up, which is concerning."
Jushiro stood up and went over to him. He placed two fingers against Barragan's throat to feel for a pulse. He then listened to his nose. "He has a pulse and is still breathing. Let's wait until Ulquiorra gets back to wake him."
"Alright then." Jushiro sat next to him again. "How were things out there?"
"It took quite a while, but someone finally told where I could go, not just we couldn't stay there." He ran his hand through his hair. "I Just hope it's nearby."
It was almost three hours until Ulquiorra returned, and he made Jushiro jump, as he was about to fall asleep.
"I found it." Ulquiorra rolled his shoulders and flexed his wings.
"How far is it?" Jushiro asked dejectedly.
"Halfway across the city by flight. I flew as fast as I could and it took over an hour to get there." He slid his wings back into his shirt. "It's too far to make the walk tonight. It will have to wait until the morning, especially since Barragan is not easy to move while unconscious."
"Agreed," Jushiro said. "I was going to try to wake him up when you got back, but you took so long, I figured it was a longways off." He stretched both arms above his head. "Let's wait until morning to wake him. Hopefully he's calmed down by then." He yawned. "Who will take first watch?"
"I can't," Ulquiorra stated. He was trying to keep his eyes open and he looked like he was about to fall over.
"I can see that. Gin, would you mind?"
"No problem." He stood from his sitting position. "Even without Shinso, I should be able to fight should anything happen."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Ulquiorra took Gin's spot next to Jushiro and immediately fell asleep. When he did, he slumped over into Jushiro's shoulder. "Wake me in four hours. I'll take the rest of the night."
"Will do." Gin sat there, unmoving as the cold rain poured down on them. After a while, he heard Barragan's breath hitch. Looking back, he could see Barragan shivering, so he stood up, walked and threw his outer robe over Barragan's sleeping form. "Can't have you freeze to death in the night." He went back to the entrance of the alley and took a seat once more. He was just on the inside of the shadows, concealing him from most prying eyes and allowing him to see any passersby. Over the course of the night, the rain eventually stopped and he could stop flipping his wet hair out of his face.
He couldn't tell if it was good or bad that Barragan was exuding that presence of his again. On one hand, it seemed to keep others away as a natural deterrent, but on the other, it spread so far so quickly that it might have been reaching the edge of the kingdom by now. Barragan alone could probably attract more grimm then the defensive forces could handle. After resisting the urge to fall asleep himself for quite a time, he finally decided to wake Jushiro. They switched spots and Gin fell asleep.
He dreamt of the time he was a kid, living with Rangiku in the Rukongai. He dreamt of the first day the met, the day he saw those Shinigami running off with something in a container. He saw them through the bushes as they handed something similar to Aizen, not even a lieutenant at that point. It was soon after, in the winter, that he found and killed one of the people who had hurt Rangiku that day, and he decided to become a Shinigami. Not for some noble goal like protecting the innocent, but to get close to and kill Aizen, no matter how long it took.
Gin opened his eyes and the sun had risen. Ulquiorra was just getting up and Jushiro was trying to wake up Barragan. It wasn't working too well.
"Have you tried bringing Arrogante nearer?" Ulquiorra suggested.
"No," Jushiro responded. "Why?"
"Arrancars work differently then Shinigami. Our weapons are parts of ourselves that we've separated into the form of a blade. Most of our power is stored there, so, if he's not waking up, Arrogante might be too far away to transfer power to him to heal his head trauma."
"I never thought of that." Jushiro sighed. "I guess I need to go get it." He clomb up the fire escape and didn't return for several minutes. After a while, he jumped from the fire escape and landed, almost falling over in the process. He placed Arrogante next to Barragan and his eyes opened.
Barragan sat up, rubbing his head. "What happened? My head feels like it's been split open."
"Ulquiorra found where we're hopefully going to be staying," Jushiro stated.
"What?" Barragan stared at him. "Where are we?"
"Still in Vale, and still in an alley," Gin answered. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah, why is your coat on top of me?" He threw it at Gin.
"You were shivering last night, and we can't have you freeze to death, now can we?" His smile widened by an inch.
"I suppose not."
"We'd better get going now," Ulquiorra said. "If we want to make it there by nightfall."
"You lead the way then." Jushiro motioned for Ulquiorra to go first.
It was five in the afternoon when they got there. Sweating, thirsty and hungry, they came to the front doors and collapsed. The doors opened and a man stepped through. "Excuse me," he said. "Are you in need of some assistance?"
After much negotiation, they got a room. It wasn't very big, but it was just big enough. Jushiro leaned the bundle of swords in one corner and placed Arrogante next to it before flopping down on one of the two beds. Two would have to sleep on the floor, but they agreed that they would switch every night. Aside from the two beds going along one wall, there was a small closet next to the door. A table sat in the middle of the wall opposite the beds and had a small TV on it. Ulquiorra was trying to figure out how it worked. The weapons had been placed in the corner left of the table. Gin was hanging up there extra set of clothes and Barragan was trying to make the beds.
After a while of futzing with the remote, Ulquiorra finally figured out how to turn the TV on. He dropped the remote from the sudden increase in volume. The voice of what appeared to be an announcer was spouting some nonsense about a competition, but he spoke so fast that Ulquiorra couldn't understand him. Jushiro thought the recording must have been a little slow.
"Well," Jushiro said. "At least we're out of the rain. Everyone, get some sleep. We need to work so we can stay. I managed to get the manager to only keep three of us so the fourth, whoever it may be, can look for work elsewhere, and after that happens, we can start cutting down our workload here. Any questions?"
"What is this creation?" Ulquiorra asked.
"That's called a Television," Jushiro responded. "It enables one to view something from across the world, or even something that happened in the past."
"Like my Solita Vista?"
"Not really," Jushiro nervously chuckled. "No eye tearing involved. The information is purely visual and auditory. It's recorded onto a disk of some kind and can be played back later."
"Interesting." He looked between the remote and the TV, thinking. He pressed a few buttons, and here's what happened. It got louder, the channel changed, the brightness dimmed, the contrast got sharper and the picture mode changed from Movie to Sport. "Half of it is awful."
"What do you mean?" Jushiro asked as they gathered around him.
"I'm not sure. Shall I show you?" Jushiro shivered. He still didn't know how he felt about that.
He sighed. "Very well." Ulquiorra activated Solita Vista and they saw how half of the picture had been warped and deformed by something. They couldn't quite tell what it was, but it was definitely noticeable, especially after the memory faded. "Can you change it back?"
"I can try." He began pressing more buttons, strategically, this time. He would press a button and see what it did. It took him two hours to get anywhere with it, and by the time he got it back the way it was before, dinner had been gotten, three hours before. He pressed the red button on the end of the remote and the TV turned off. "That was problematic." He flopped back on the bed.
"At least it's back to normal," Barragan stated. "Did you figure out what does what?" Ulquiorra didn't answer. "Hey, I'm asking you a question."
It was then that Ulquiorra began to snore. Eyes closed and arms spred across the mattress, he looked peaceful.
"I guess I'll take the floor," Gin said.
"I will too," Jushiro added. "You can take the bed, Barragan. After that blow to the head yesterday, you need it more then I do."
"And what about me?" Gin asked. "Can't I take a bed for my head wound?"
"Tomorrow night. Ulquiorra got to it first." Jushiro pulled his haori around his shoulders and closed his eyes.
Author's note: So, first thing to clarify, Ozpin was not nearly as strong as he felt to them. Their current forms are far weaker then they were before, so Ozpin's pseudo-reiatsu technique was NOT as strong as Azien's, by any stretch of the imagination. Since they are weaker, their perceptions have also been messed with, so their frame of reference is all off. In reality, Ozpin is only as strong as, say, Hanataro, maybe. I know this took longer then a week to get out, but hey, one month is better then two, and two is better then three. I've been getting faster getting these chapters out. I am disappointed that no one harassed me about the chapter after the first week though. I was expecting at least one person. Anyway, let me know what you think. I don't think I did the best with this chapter, it most certainly could have been better, but hey, at least they're out in the world now. Any suggestion for other places they could visit, leave a comment, and for those wondering when this takes place, it's approximately one year before volume one. That was purposeful. Oh yeah, last thing. This chapter was actually supposed to come on time for once, but my computer completely conked out one me and I had to restart the entire chapter. I shut my computer down for three days because of that. Well, that's enough out of me. End author's note.
