The man smiles with grim satisfaction.
"Fancy seeing you here, Ichigo Kurosaki."
The surroundings are barren. To describe this area in terms of furnishing or landscape would be difficult, it was an endless void of black. Or rather it might have not been endless, but the dimensions were hard to determine.
Some five or so meters apart, the only material objects were present. Two people, of similarish build and height although it was hard to tell, as they were sitting down, sat opposed to each other.
One of them, a man who by appearance looked to be around thirty, was bound to his chair by multiple black cloth wrappings, in a way that looked incredibly uncomfortable, as even perhaps a nervous twitch or a change of position to accommodate for discomfort were not allowed. He was much like a mummy in appearance, an old Egyptian ruler, or so the other man at least thought. His hair was brown and through what little of his face could be seen, swept back.
This was the one that had spoken, and thus the only other person there, had to be Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo Kurosaki was a very young person, and with a demeanor reminiscent of some sort of delinquent, or perhaps one would say, of someone that always seemed to have something incredibly foreboding on his mind.
"Aizen…?" the young man looked at the slightly older in alarm.
"Think of this as a station or meeting point, and don't worry, this is a space fairly metaphysical, something similar to your inner world, and so it is fairly impossible for me to harm you or for you to me, although your alarm is very validating," he began, with something of a jeer but Ichigo noted, not the same sort of fictitious emptiness that he had found so characteristic of this man.
"No, you see if I were to describe it, the reiatsu emanating from myself and you formed some pattern of connection, and this was made only possible due to both of our current binding predicaments," he said, with somewhat of an edge, and Ichigo too grimaced, his mind altogether still in deep torment over what had led him to this place.
"I am incapacitated, in most human meanings of the terms, my sense of touch, smell, sound, taste, all of it has been binded. And as such I have a higher proclivity to sensing things via spiritual essence, and so in that little network I have made, I was able to catch some fleeting glimpses of another, and as such I made my way here, metaphorically though," and then he looked at Ichigo quite a bit more maliciously than he had ever let himself look, "How does it feel then? Although I can with a degree of accuracy garner what happened, hmmm, if you'd oblige me, let me begin…"
The boy called Ichigo Kurosaki, for whatever reason, seemed to be mute and uninterested, as though he had arrived at this venue with a deep and great exhaustion.
"Well, I don't know of what time this is, right now, the dimensions of time and space exist with many restrictions as I am now, but I can ascertain not long has passed since my sentence, you still look about the same age as you were then, and although this might not prove directly anything, but I'll put an arbitrary time and you can tell me later if I am wrong," so far this interaction, while some alarm had been present on the side of the young man, was more or less of the same nature as daily chit chat.
"Let's say a year. Now, for what reason, have I, locked as I am, been able to sense your reiatsu? You are not as of regular present in Soul Society, nor should I with these variety of restrictions placed upon me be able to sense the spiritual pressure of anyone, whether it be that young man from the 4th, Hanataro was his name, or Yamamoto, no spiritual pressure is reasonably large enough for it to seep so deep into the ground where I reside."
Aizen looked at him with much amusement in his eyes.
"-And, besides, you are no longer a Soul Reaper, so we have a mystery on our hands, or you might think it is a mystery to me, and I will entertain this, and give you my solution…"
"I'll lay before you a proposition that to me, as I know your constitution very well, is the most likely.
Firstly, you currently are within the confines of Soul Society, and not only so, but bound in a similar nature to me, although not quite, as my restrictions chain me even in the metaphysical realm, of my own spiritual world, you at least, are free here.
This is the most simple explanation of why I was able to catch this frequency, the one of your spiritual pressure.
Secondly, since your Spiritual Pressure is emanating far enough that I was able to receive it, you have certainly not lost the powers you thought you had, right? But I'm sure this confuses you as well, and really, you may be surprised to know, but I already know the answer to why."
"Zangetsu filled me in, er, about that, or I think I'll still call him Zangetsu, maybe? It's confusing to be honest, but yes, I know that I'm sorta a Quincy too."
"Ah! This is really better than I could have expected, it saves me the long exposition, You see, Ichigo Kurosaki, you are my Plan B.." and seeing that Ichigo both understood what Aizen was talking about, and was fairly upset at this revelation, he was about to speak, and yet Aizen continued in a louder tone, "You see Ichigo Kurosaki, for long I was rather confused, I knew that a revolution was necessary, for Soul Society, and the cycle of rebirth, the pathways that exist in the current worlds, but I also knew that a revolution had the most chances of failing.
Another option, a fallback of sorts, if there were someone who could transcend, but with the youth of the Soul Society at his side, and with the well wishes of the people, maybe change that sordid institution from the inside. That was you.
Nevertheless, I acquired the Hogyoku, and thus tried to transcend, to compete with the current powers at work, the unequal distribution, but I had the idea that I might fail, and that this pragmatic approach might be upended, by Urahara, who you are already familiar with…" Aizen grimaced, "And so long before this was set into motion, I made it happen, you can despise me for playing god, but I needed to do this in secret, a soul with all three elements, or four, if you count the human element, one that could transcend, and do so naturally, and then… again Urahara! I don't know whether he thought of it too, or was just cautious of what you implied as a phenomenon, but he got in the way again."
Ichigo raised a brow.
"Kisuke did? But didn't you send Rukia?"
"You needed a catalyst, take your soul for instance, it has all of those possibilities inherent, but also due to the natural life you held, there was no way that you could have triggered it, and so I thought, if he is incited to 'copy' a Shinigami's abilities, and then that copy is torn away, there would be a grave imbalance in your soul, and to repair it, your natural abilities would rush forth, and this would have happened if…"
"You're kidding…"
"Urahara's so and so devices, by I think utter coincidence, blocked this natural path once again, and yet the deadline was closing in, if I waited any longer my plots would be discovered, but look what happened!" Aizen was uncharacteristically eager, "After you used Letzt Stil, and that is the closest approximation of what you did, and you were told it was some bizarre technique inherent to your Zanpaktou, but did you ever consider why the people around you knew of it? Each soul is unique, there would be no way…anyway, after that, you were left alone, and with the same disrepair in your soul. Thus you started getting stronger, scarily, terrifyingly fast, and it was terrifying, I am sure, for the Soul Society, tapped into your comings and goings unbeknownst to you…"
"And here you are."
"Aizen, frankly, I'm standing by what I told you before, you talk way too much."
"Well, was I accurate?"
"Pretty accurate yeah, it's been seven months."
I won't give too much light onto Ichigo's coming and going during these seven months. Life went on as usual for the first few months, but rather rapidly and exponentially, his abilities started to come back, and then, rather than what he had thought first, they started to increase. He did not train, during this period, as he was rather afraid of being detected, due to such a paranoia for which he did not at the time have any reason. Nevertheless, at an event concerning the safety of a child, he had been very motivated, and though he had some morbid foreboding thoughts when he let go of his tight control of spiritual pressure, he chose to save the child that was about to be mauled by a hollow.
A few days of uneasy calm passed, and upon one day on returning back from a night out with Keigo, Ichigo was stabbed in the back, literally, by a certain person, of whom all that can be said is that by now she was rather a master of stabbing him in particular.
His consciousness had faded in and out from then onwards, and all Ichigo knew for sure was that he had been detained and locked away in Soul Society, and although he didn't want to think of what it implied of his friends, that was the gnawing anxiety in the pit of his stomach.
"The Soul Society is an institution first and foremost, and it has been fairly consistent with its approach to threats against its power for as long as it has existed, tch, what a sham," and there is frustration evident in his brows as he says this.
Ichigo, not for the first time in this conversation, wondered if he really understood what had been going on in the series of events that had led to this moment. Rukia's arrival, and just as quick her departure, invading Soul Society, invading Hueco Mundo, he had scarcely gotten time to think during this period. Afterwards, he had felt a deep longing for his friends, both human and soul reapers, and yet, even the former had drifted away despite his best efforts. He did not blame them, though, with how the fantastical and terrifying worlds had invaded the conscience of the ragtag group of friends, all conversation revolved around it, and they felt much too uncomfortable doing this in his presence.
"But this is most fortunate, your binding from what I can tell won't hold as mine, and for a fortuitous reason, and I've hatched a bit of a scheme already. Tell me, Ichigo Kurosaki, now that you have been thoroughly betrayed, do you still not see any faults!" his voice boomed.
"Maybe, maybe with the Soul Society, but I don't hate them, still, I can't…"
"That is perplexing, do you not allow yourself anger? Seemingly imprisoned for eternity, by those you trusted, and this betrayal does not anger you?"
"No, I'm definitely angry, and sad too, but I don't hate them, I… think I still care about them," he said.
"The lover's heart is a terrifying thing, I should have known. You love them still, and her obviously," Aizen's face seemed to settle somewhere between shock, exhaustion and disgust.
"Yes."
"Be that as it may, you are stuck now, your freedom is gone, any future you imagined where you could live in that illusion, in that imperfect world, in that bubble you'd make that was beautiful, it is gone. Your options are scant now, if you remain here, in this abyss, you will wither away in torture, and oh is this torture. Believe me, although I may have it worse, a confinement of this nature destroys the mind, and I do not know if mine will withstand, or give out, but what stretches on in front of me is an empty eternity, or not quite," he again alluded to something vaguely.
"Well, regardless of what the future holds, even if I am free from these shackles unpredictably soon, it will be too late by then, you see, the devil is soon going to visit Soul Society. What was it, that old hymn…
The sealed King.
Over 900 years, he shall recover his heartbeat.
Over 90 years, he shall recover his intellect.
Over nine years, he shall recover his power.
And over nine days, he shall recover the world.
You can call this a premonition for the end, or the natural progression that is coming, yet this is an unacceptable prophecy. The desire for annihilation, for nothing to remain, this is not anything but nihilism. I reject it!"
At this point, it seemed to Ichigo that the man in front of him had fallen into a state of delirium, and he just looked upon him with confusion.
"Ah, you think, you think I've gone mad. Listen, after we're done here, because I have more to say, go back, and see that Zangetsu of yours, he will tell you, he needs to tell you now, because otherwise even you won't last."
"Okay, I will," the boy said, even with warmth, and Aizen looked at him, taken aback a bit. In his speech thus far there was contempt, anger, fear, and deep torment, and as such he had been hailing a barrage of whatever he could, maybe not so much hoping that the boy in front of him would care, but airing out his own frustrations. He remembered this characteristic of Ichigo's now, even back then, in their final clash of swords, a gaze full of care. It even infuriated him now, how this one could be cut down and thrown away, it was after all wholly unexpected to him.
Aizen had indeed planned for a person to come about as a sort of investment or last ditch hope, yet he couldn't have possibly made a person this kind or empathetic. After all, he was no longer any of those things, and hadn't been, in an eternity.
"I have lost my composure many times over now, and listen, because this connection is not indefinite, and I am also losing my energy to speak, but the only choice out of the question to you is oblivion. I won't let you waste away, because this would mean the end to everything. No, no, you musn't, you musn't…" he inhaled.
"Therefore, your only option going forth is to be free. How? They have you in a bind, but I am already wasting away, and thus I can do this much without any kindness at all…" he said forebodingly.
Now this next event is of particular importance, and that too from the view of the boy, Ichigo Kurosaki. It seemed to him in the following seconds that something dreadful occurred.
A scream, loud, and so tormented, a horrible one of deep anguish bellowed and echoed through. Ichigo flinched terribly. He could not stand it, and it hurt his heart that someone was crying so deeply. His hairs stood up and he felt as though the moment was stretching on for infinity, even though it was only a few seconds.
'Who is that, who is that?' his heart yelled, in a sort of frenzy, even as he looked around a bit.
He was answered shortly.
Something materialized out of bright gold light a few feet behind Aizen, and slowly elongated, he vaguely recognized the shape is that of a sword, and no sooner had he done this, it shot out quite unceremoniously in his general direction, and landed some feet behind him.
He turned.
"Is that…Kyoka… Suigetsu?"
"It is yes, it's yours now, I no longer have any need of it," Aizen said, as if he were talking about giving away some old and used shirts to someone out of charity.
In Ichigo, the cold gaze of the man before him left an impression he would never quite forget. Ichigo knew how his soul had longed for the part he had lost in those beginning few months, the suffering that it produced. Those screams, and this man, and the realization that followed, it was all too much. Suddenly Ichigo felt like he could cry.
"Did…Did you not hear anything just now?"
"Pardon?"
"What..What have you done to yourself?" he yelled, frustrated.
Aizen looked at him peculiarly, as though he really did not understand what Ichigo was saying. Ichigo for his part was suddenly feeling very ill, and he could no longer stand to be here, with the man in front of him. Not out of hate, definitely not out of hate, as it was impossible to hate him, now that it had finally dawned on him who this person was.
"Ahem, well, so the plan is as such. That old blade is fairly good at trickery, and should you feel obliged to do so, as your spiritual realm is unbinded, perhaps because you did not pose as immediate a threat as myself, you can manifest it. It is highly useful to in a way, bend reality, and that of its abilities you will understand only in time. But I believe given the special constitution of your soul it is doable, and your escape will be imminent. Whatever you decide to do now, well, who knows, you may love them, but you can't trust them, and thus is a deep torment of yours too. Either way, if I recall, the blade can talk, and thus you can figure out the specifics with it, it is of at least some intelligence."
Slowly, they had both begun to fade from the meeting point, as if they were losing their color to the infinite nothingness stretched about them. It seemed it was time to return. Ichigo could feel at the edges of his soul something new. This was, he thought, Kyoka Suigetsu, and it was fairly at odds with the rest of his soul, yet it didn't concern him greatly. He was too lost in sadness at this moment, and to his shock when he looked over to Aizen, the man wore a different expression from one he had ever seen on him.
It was almost child-like, not grim but lighthearted, and the words that followed too, would Ichigo remember for the rest of his long future.
"You do not have to answer me, for you do not have any answers either, I know this. But, I have thought about it for a long time. What is equality? Are souls equal? Soul Society, much the same as your world, is improbably reigned in by people desperate for power, but even they don't have full 'control'. And yet of souls, if we talk, a child in the human world suffers great abuse, at the hands of society or their own parents, and dies in torment. That same child is then brought to the outskirts of Rukongai, hungry, impoverished, and with barely any chance of happiness. Is this the heaven you humans envision? It is wrong, it is wrong! I don't believe this suffering should exist, that it can be allowed to exist. And that thing that looms in that Palace, what of it? That cannot be the god you humans dream of. It is all so meaningless, and yet there must be an answer, a solution.
Ichigo, if you do nothing else, please find this answer for me, and if you can do this much, I will be content with my eternal condemnation."
He looked at Ichigo, with something bizarrely reminiscent of kindness, and of Ichigo we cannot speak, as he was fully overwhelmed with emotion. Before Aizen fully faded away…
"For in the afterlife too, do people dream of heaven."