Death Goddess
By Spunky0ne
(A story request by Dalia…Thanks for the fabulous idea!)
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In an alternate reality created by the quincy king, Ywach, a badly injured and dying Byakuya is abducted after his fight with As Nodt, and imprisoned at Silbern. Given the responsibility for caring for Ywach's chosen consort, Haschwald finds himself instead, falling in love with the Kuchiki leader…yaoi, mpreg, some non-con (non-penetrating), non-graphic torture…Haschwald/Byakuya, Renji/Tetsuya
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Chapter 1: Twisted Fate
Dark incoming clouds thickened and a growing chill filled the air as evening came to the smoking ruins of the Seireitei. Near its badly devastated core, a lone shinigami taicho hung limply in the clutches of a ruined pillar, his clothing and body in tatters and the last dregs of his life threatening to spill out with the rain that ran down his trapped body. Dark, brooding eyes looked quietly out from the destruction, trying to make sense of what they were seeing.
They said that Ichigo was coming.
Even in his current state, he knew well that the shinigami substitute would never fail them. Even if he, personally, should die, Kurosaki Ichigo would arrive, and his arrival would eventually mean the downfall of their enemy's leaders. Almost as certain, was the fact that one of Ichigo's first acts would be to seek out the people in the Seireitei that he regarded as his close friends.
Kuchiki Byakuya couldn't, for the life of him, figure out how he had become one of those friends. There was, of course, his connection to Rukia and to Renji, both nakama of the Karakura Town resident. They certainly interacted on a regular basis, although the boy had an annoying habit of being terribly disrespectful of certain boundaries and customs. Still, there was a definite warmth that always seemed to be in the young man's eyes, even when Byakuya was disapproving of something he was doing.
It is like he connects with some part of me that I lost long ago. There is a wildness to his spirit that I know I once had too…before age and responsibility weighed my heart down and it could not longer be so selfishly rebellious as it was.
Still…
Understanding that part of him that is like the person I used to be…it gives comfort as I fade from life. I know Rukia and Renji will be all right, and that the things that I protected will be protected by him in my stead. I can rest easy, because Ichigo has the strength that I do not.
I only wonder.
I felt the touch of his reiatsu reaching out to sense mine.
I felt his intent to come to me…his desire for me to wait for him to arrive.
And yet, I do not feel his presence anywhere near.
There is, however…
He blinked as the outline of a cloaked and hooded figure appeared in the misted rain. The person paused, examining the area carefully before moving forward and abandoning the power that had been hiding him.
"Byakuya-sama!"
"T-Tetsuya."
His cousin swallowed hard, shivering at the sight of the horrid damage to Byakuya's trapped body, but he drew in a steadying breath and forced his body to calm.
"You shouldn't be here," Byakuya managed softly, "The family…"
"They are safe," his cousin reassured him, "I would not have left otherwise."
Tetsuya extended slightly shaking hands and pale blue light flowed around them, sinking into Byakuya's quivering, ruined form.
"I'm going to stabilize you so that I can move you to the encampment," Tetsuya whispered, "It's going to be all right. I'll take care of you."
He frowned and leaned closer, studying the deep lacerations on his leader's body.
"This reiatsu," he breathed worriedly, "Senbonzakura?"
"Y-yes," Byakuya whispered back, "The enemy does not just seal bankai, they can steal it, Tetsuya. Whatever happens, you must not let them…"
Byakuya broke off and his eyes rounded in horror as two dark figures appeared suddenly behind his cousin. He tried to warn Tetsuya, but before he could make a sound, a glowing white blade was thrust through Tetsuya's slender body, brightly lighting his shocked expression as he stiffened and grabbed at the part that protruded out of his chest. Byakuya gasped, trying to reach for his injured cousin as he heard the sickening sound of the sword being withdrawn, and Tetsuya collapsed in a swiftly widening pool of blood at his feet.
"Tetsuya!"
He turned hateful eyes on the quincy leader, who stood glaring down at him.
"He is a healer!" Byakuya hissed, expelling blood as he forced out the words, "Have you no honor?"
Ywach moved forward, capturing the trapped shinigami under the chin.
"He is a shinigami and he was in my way. Do not worry. All who die on this day will receive my thanks for their sacrifice."
"Bastard!" Byakuya spat, "Why did you come here?"
"Hmm, are you telling me that you don't know?" Ywach asked, stepping over Tetsuya's collapsed body and moving in closer, "You don't know the story of how the quincy people were slaughtered by the wicked shinigamis, Byakuya? I'm surprised. I am aware that your family is guardian to the king's archive, and you, yourself, are responsible for recording events of all of Soul Society. Well, inscribe this in your leader's journal. Today, the shinigami will pay for the genocide of my people, and tonight, I will rebuild the worlds for the future that I have seen."
"What future is that?" Byakuya asked more softly, his eyes focusing on his fallen cousin's too white face, "One who treats life with so little regard gives no one any kind of future."
"I can give you a new future," Ywach sneered, bringing his face closer to the noble's.
"I would rather die here…now."
Ywach's eyes darkened and his reiatsu swelled warningly, stealing what little breath the noble had and leaving him gasping and shuddering.
"You will die when I say you will," he hissed sternly, "Not a moment before or a moment after. Everyone in these worlds lives and breathes at my command. And when they take their last breaths, their souls join with mine. All that they were, all of their bodies, their powers and everything they knew and held dear, is revealed to me."
Byakuya's choked breath caught as his dark eyes stared hauntedly at Tetsuya's fallen form.
If Tetsuya dies, he will learn the location of the encampment!
"Now then," Ywach said, straightening, "I have business to attend to…some shinigamis not obedient enough to die as I planned. Haschwald."
"Sir?"
"You will take Byakuya to Silbern and remain with him while he is healed."
His second in command blinked in surprise.
"Your majesty?"
"I have decided to take him as consort in my new kingdom."
The quincy commander gave him a shocked look.
"A…shingami?" he mused.
"Why should it matter?" the quincy king said off-handedly, "After today, all shall fall under my dominion. Differences so inconsequential will cease to matter."
"B-but they…killed…" Haschwald began.
"Take him to Silbern," Ywach snapped, cutting him off, "and remain there with him. I want him healed and I want him prepared to serve me as consort…"
He paused for a moment, looking down into Byakuya's narrowed, hateful eyes.
"…and as concubine."
Byakuya's lovely, pale face turned instantly livid.
"You would dare to defile the soul king's servant?" he seethed, "You will burn in the depths of hell for this!"
Ywach loosed a derisive, rumbling laugh and turned his back, kicking Tetsuya's limp body and sending it hurtling away.
"Take him to Silbern now," Ywach repeated, engaging his hirenkyaku and disappearing, leaving Haschwald alone with the reeling Kuchiki leader.
Byakuya panted harshly, at the ends of his strength.
"P-please. I ask only one thing."
Haschwald's proud, golden eyes met his curiously.
"What would you ask of me, your enemy?" he inquired, "Do you want me to kill you, Byakuya? To spare you?"
"N-no," Byakuya panted, groaning as his awareness began to fade, "G-give my cousin…"
He broke off and went still, earning a more sympathetic look from the quincy commander.
"I see. Here, at the end, you think, not of yourself, but of the one who came to heal you. How very sentimental. I'm surprised. You were said to be quite savage in your obedience to the rules of the noble class, Byakuya. And yet, rather than concerning yourself with your own life, you favor his?"
"Tet-suya," Byakuya moaned senselessly.
"Hmm."
Haschwald sighed softly and walked through the debris to where Tetsuya's body had landed after being kicked there by the quincy king. He extended a hand and expelled just enough power to keep the shinigami alive.
"I apologize for my king's cruelty," he said softly, touching Tetsuya's tormented face for a moment, "We do not usually treat our healers in such a fashion, and it should not matter if you are a quincy or a shinigami. We should remember our honor, whether in victory or in defeat. Rest now. I will make sure that Byakuya does not die. That should please you, healer."
He turned his back and left the fallen shinigami to return to Byakuya. The noble was fully unconscious and barely showing signs of life. Haschwald knelt at his side, working for several minutes to finish the stabilization that Tetsuya had begun.
"Your cousin is a talented healer," he commented to the unconscious Kuchiki leader, "His reiatsu has an unusual vibrance. It would definitely have been a waste to kill him. Let me assure you, I did not let him die. Rest now, we need to get back to the palace."
He lifted the unconscious man over his shoulder and sensed the direction of the palace, then he disappeared, leaving a flash of bright green light in his wake.
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"Renji…" called a distant sounding feminine voice.
The redhead felt cold hands patting his face, and he flinched and groaned.
"F-f-fuck!" he grunted, his eyes flying open.
Seeing his longtime friend's bruised face and the blood that stained her arms and shihakusho, he sat up too quickly, then grabbed his head and swore again.
"Damn it!"
"Thank god you're awake," Rukia sighed, "I was worried, being out here all alone, especially once it got dark. Do you think you can get up? We probably should try to find our way to the family encampment."
Renji shivered and looked around.
"Damn, I got thrown pretty far by that guy."
He looked more closely at his companion.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Not really," Rukia complained, "I was stupid and let myself be distracted when I felt Nii-sama's reiatsu fading. I don't feel his presence at all now. I wonder…"
Renji grabbed her hand tightly in his.
"Don't go there," he said sternly, "Taicho's hurt. I know that. But even though he's hurt, we're gonna find him and he's gonna be okay. We've just gotta go and look for him."
Rukia peered into the darkness around them.
"It's really dark," she commented, "shouldn't we…?"
"I don't think Taicho can wait until morning," Renji insisted, "We need to find him now."
Rukia bit back her misgivings and nodded briefly.
"Hold still and let me heal you a little."
Renji fidgeted and complained intermittently, earning a scowl and a heated scolding from his friend as she slowly closed the cuts on his tattooed skin, then restored his flagging reiatsu. The two climbed to their feet, sensing in all directions.
"Do you know where Nii-sama was from here?" Rukia asked anxiously.
"I know where we started out," Renji said, shaking his head, "but I got thrown this way and Taicho could have been thrown anywhere in the final blast from…"
He met Rukia's eyes unhappily.
"You know about the bankais being stolen?" he asked.
"Yeah," Rukia said sadly, "I heard. Was Nii-sama's bankai stolen?"
"Yeah, it was."
"Oh no…"
"We've gotta watch out for that guy, although I guess they probably wouldn't stick around, since we were all defeated. We need to focus on finding Taicho, and then we can take him to the family encampment. Do you know the coordinates?"
"No," Rukia admitted, "Byakuya purposely had the ones of us going into battle make sure we didn't know, so that we couldn't be used to find the family."
"Well, if you don't know how to get there…" Renji began, "then…"
"My cousin, Tetsuya, and his spirit steed, Arashi, will be guarding the encampment," Rukia explained, "We just need to find Tetsuya."
Renji looked around and huffed out an agnostic breath.
"Oh, just find Tetsuya," he chuckled, "That'll be easy with the goddamned quincy king's reiatsu obscuring everything so that we can't even sense each other."
"Well, do you have a better idea?" Rukia argued.
"Not really. I just think it's ridiculous thinking we're gonna find Taicho and the encampment that easily."
"What? You just wanna give up or something?"
"I didn't say that!"
"Well, instead of whining about how hard it's gonna be, you should be helping me look!"
"I am helping!" Renji countered, "See? On my feet. Moving. I'm helping!"
Rukia fell in alongside the redhead as Renji began by following the path of destruction that had been created with the luchador had crashed into him.
"What a mess," the young woman observed, "The damage to the Seireitei from this conflict is horrible."
"Yeah?" Renji mused, "How about the damage to my body? I was the one sent flying into those broken columns, you know. The Gotei had better not blame me for that. Their advice about how to fight those quincies was bullshit. They didn't seal taicho's bankai, the bastard, As Nodt, stole it!"
"I can't believe that my brother's power is now controlled by one of them," Rukia said, reaching down to touch her own sword.
"We'll get it back," Renji assured her, "We'll get Taicho back and we'll take back his power. I'm not gonna stop until that happens."
"Neither will I," Rukia promised.
The two continued on together, with Renji leading the way until they reached a place that still radiated with the dregs of heavy reiatsu. Rukia paled as she spotted a few fading petals on the ground.
"Renji…"
"I know."
Renji turned in one direction, then another, closing his eyes and trying to remember. He breathed slowly, thinking, as Rukia watched the area around them for any sign of returning enemies. A few minutes later, the redhead opened his eyes and pointed out the direction.
"I think he was thrown that way."
Rukia swallowed nervously, and the two moved in the direction the redhead had indicated. As they progressed, they were chilled by the sight of blood splashed on the fallen columns and heavily damaged buildings.
"Oh, poor Nii-sama," Rukia whispered.
The two warriors slowed as they reached a broken and very bloody pillar that had a deep indentation and looked as though a body had been trapped there and bleeding out.
"Renji!"
Ignoring her, Renji dashed forward and studied the area closely. He sucked in a sharp breath and expelled a heated burst of obscenities.
"Fucking bastards took him!" the redhead steamed, "Who knows what kinda twisted…"
"Renji!" Rukia cried, "Over there!"
The two flash stepped madly to reach the black-haired man who laid facedown in the rubble.
"Nii-sama!" Rukia called out.
"Quiet, they'll hear you!" Renji snapped.
They reached the fallen man's side and knelt beside him, slowly turning him over.
"Nii-sama?"
Their eyes widened at the sight of the young man's face.
"Tetsuya!" Rukia gasped.
"Who?" Renji asked, looking more closely at the young man's comely face, "That's your cousin?"
"Yes, and he's hurt really badly."
"It looks like he was run through from behind," Renji observed, "Fucking evil bastards!"
"That's strange," Rukia said, touching a finger to her lips, "because it's really, really hard to surprise Tetsuya. His senses are very sharp…although the reiatsu thickness because of the quincy king did obscure everything, and I'm sure that if he was here for Nii-sama, he was probably focused on that."
"So, how are we gonna find the encampment now?" Renji asked worriedly, "I don't suppose your cousin's spirit steed can help?"
Rukia shook her head firmly, laying a hand on Tetsuya's chest and bowing her head.
"When Tetsuya's life is in danger from injury, Arashi is pulled inside his body to help keep him alive. Arashi can't help us."
"Well, then maybe I can," said Ichigo's voice.
Rukia and Renji turned to see their friend stepping out of the darkness.
"Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed, "You're finally here!"
She took another breath and her face crumpled in anger.
"Where the hell have you been while we were all getting our asses kicked?" she shouted.
"Whoa!" Ichigo yelped, "I got here as fast as I could. I was locked in the precipice world and couldn't get out for awhile. You're lucky I got out at all!"
He looked around and shook his head.
"Where is Byakuya? I know I felt his presence, and I saw a place like this in my mind. I was trying to get to him."
"We were too," Renji explained, "We couldn't find him, but it looks like the quincies did."
"Damn it!" Ichigo swore, "I was too late."
"We all were," Rukia lamented.
Renji's hands clenched and his eyes narrowed.
"Well, we're gonna have to regroup and we're gonna have to find him."
"I think Ichigo isn't going to be able to help us, Renji," Rukia said solemnly.
"What?" the two men said together.
"You know the power of the quincies is something we didn't expect," Rukia went on, "We have no way of overcoming that power. To protect the survivors and to protect the soul king, Ichigo needs to go on."
"But…" Ichigo objected.
"She's right," Renji added, "Leave the search for Taicho with us. We'll find him, Ichigo. You go and do what you can to stop that bastard. That's what Taicho'd be asking you to do, if he was here, isn't it?"
Ichigo hesitated for a moment, then his face set with determination.
"Right," he agreed, "I leave this to you now. I'm going on ahead!"