A/N: *long yawn*
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
VIERUNDZWANZIG
TIMELINE X + N
Upon reentering Soul Society with Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Kuchiki, Akon immediately leapt into shunpo and raced to the Twelfth Division grounds ahead of them. The scientists of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute paused in their duties to scurry out of their way and watch the bloodied party with fear or curiosity as they descended into the more secure labs near Captain Kurostuchi's office. Akon barked an order to a mousy young scientist who scrambled away to fetch something. When they neared a particular door, Akon set the damaged sensor on the ground and carefully took the small containment kidō Captain Ukitake was maintaining around the spindle that had floated down when the pocket dimension had collapsed. Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Kuchiki stood outside as Akon placed the strange little gem into an isolation room. As he closed the door, the mousy scientist brought three tubes and handed them to her Third Seat, then hovered to await new orders.
Akon popped the cap off the tube and poured two small ampules into his palm. He pantomimed to Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Kuchiki to copy him, then pressed them into his ears. All three grimaced at sharp pain, but could hear again almost immediately.
"What was that?" Lieutenant Kuchiki asked as she winced through the pain while rubbing her ears.
"Rapid repair for tympanic membranes," Akon answered. "It's not uncommon for us to blow our ears with an explosion." He turned to his subordinate and pointed at the damaged sensor. "Get this down to the Spiritual Wave Measurement Lab now. I want this salvaged and studied as soon as possible."
"Um, sir?" the scientist said nervously as she lifted the sensor, "Uh, where is Department Head Tsubokura?"
Face grim, Akon replied, "Probably dead."
The scientist gaped, then fled.
Akon was scrubbing his hands over his face and considering his next move when Nemu Kurotsuchi slid into view. She eyed the trio for a moment, taking in their roughed-up appearance. "I see the retrieval mission encountered complications," she said placidly.
Akon snorted derisively. He tiredly rubbed his neck as the Thirteenth Division officers silently watched. "Tsubokura and the escorts are most likely dead, though we found no bodies. The portal I reported earlier led to some bizarre pocket dimension with some weird thing that turned into a giant LRAD. When the LRAD-monster was destroyed by Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Kuchiki, the dimension collapsed. The damaged sensor array is on its way down to be salvaged. Other than that... well, look."
Nemu calmly peered through the viewing window and the spindle in the containment field, then turned back to Akon and raised one eyebrow.
"It fell out of thin air when the pocket dimension collapsed. It feels like the energy of the dimension hyper-condensed into a single object. It also happens to feel a lot like Hollow reishi."
"I would like Captain Kurotsuchi's input on this situation," announced Captain Ukitake. His eyes were hard as Nemu looked his way. "I read the reports. Something isn't right in Mitakihara. I don't want to assume we eliminated the only threat. Something is capable of evading detection while preying upon humans and unseated shinigami. If it can hide from your broad-scale sensors, we have no way of knowing how many of these things are out there without direct involvement. This needs to be investigated now."
Nemu stared at the captain for a moment before dipping her head. "I will inform Captain Kurotsuchi."
Captain Ukitake nodded decisively, then turned to leave. Three steps away, he turned back. Jaw tight, he added, "Also inform your captain that I am reporting the situation to Captain-Commander Yamamoto, so he should expect to hear from First Division soon." Everyone present translated it to This isn't something I'll let your captain avoid because it's not interesting enough. Let him know I'm willing to sic the old man on him.
The Thirteenth Division officers left. Akon was itching for a smoke— he hadn't seen combat in years and the adrenaline crash had hit him headlong— but he saw the way his superior was eyeing him. She was going to make him explain it to their captain. Great.
Akon had a migraine by the time he sufficiently explained everything to his captain. He was about to flee and acquire smokes and coffee when a Hell Butterfly fluttered in. Kurotsuchi, far more interested in the little black gem, relayed an order to immediately recall Captain Hitsugaya from the World of the Living for a captains' meeting that evening. Well, at least the Captain-Commander was taking the mess in Mitakihara seriously. Making a phone call to Captain Hitsugaya should be simple enough.
Fifteen minutes later, Akon listened to a recording of Captain Hitsugaya's clipped tone professionally asking the caller to leave a message for the tenth time. It was unlike Hitsugaya to turn off his phone and let it go straight to voicemail. Uneasy, he dialed Urahara's Soul Phone.
"Hello, my shinigami friends! I'm currently unavailable! Am I inventing something? Doing an experiment? Selling candy? Giving cream to stray cats? Who knows?! Try again later, hahaha!"
He dialed Urahara Shop.
"Hello, hello, hello! Urahara Shop is currently closed! If you'd like to place a special order, please leave a message! If not, try calling again tomorrow!"
He dialed Kurosaki Clinic.
"Hello, you've reached the Kurosaki Clinic. If this is an emergency, please hang up and call for an ambulance. The clinic is currently closed—"
He dialed Ichigo Kurosaki's Soul Phone.
"Yo. I have this thing on vibrate and will ignore the call if I'm in class, so just keep calling until I pick up if it's an emergency. If it's not urgent, you know what to do. Later."
He dialed Ichigo ten times before trying the teen's normal cell phone. No answer. Tried Captain Hitsugaya again. Still no answer. Frustrated, he dialed the Soul Phone Urahara had given to Ichigo's Quincy friend.
Click. "Ishida speaking," said an annoyed voice.
"Uryū Ishida, correct?" asked Akon. At a peevish affirmative, Akon leaned forward on his terminal and continued, "This is Akon, Third Seat of the Twelfth Division. I'm sorry for bothering you, but I am trying to contact Captain Hitsugaya, Kisuke Urahara, or Ichigo Kurosaki. Do you know where they are?"
After a pause, Ishida suspiciously replied, "Kurosaki returned to Karakura yesterday. I would assume he and Urahara are there. I have neither heard from nor seen Hitsugaya in months."
Akon chewed his cheek. "I've tried calling all of them, even Urahara Shop and Kurosaki Clinic. Everything goes straight to voicemail. Are you sure you don't know something?"
The line went quiet for a moment, then the sound quality changed as the Quincy switched to speaker phone. A feminine sound of confusion and a deep murmur faintly came over the line. Probably Ichigo's other friends.
"Certain. Why are you trying to reach them? What's going on?" Ishida asked tensely.
Pursing his lips, Akon replied, "There has been an incident in Mitakihara. I am attempting to recall Captain Hitsugaya from his mission for a captains' meeting."
Before he could continue, Orihime Inoue's voice worriedly chimed, "Mitakihara? Does this have something to do with that poor girl Ichigo said is visiting his sisters?"
Cold sweat beaded on Akon's face. The lack of communication was like the Mitakihara expedition all over again. That many powerful figures being out of contact was unlikely to be a coincidence. What the hell was going on?
Akon checked the sensor data for Karakura and found nothing unusual for the town— a strong hollow signature had spiked by the shop and had been extinguished almost immediately, but that happened every few weeks. All he could think of were the Mitakihara portal only detectable at close range and Urahara's report on the strange girl from Mitakihara. Correlation was not causation, but a feeling of dread crept up on Akon regardless.
"Mister Akon?" Inoue said when his silence dragged on.
Akon scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know. But we lost the Mitakihara research team to an enemy unlike anything I've ever seen."
After a short pause of quiet murmuring that turned into hurried footsteps and distant doors opening and closing, Ishida coldly demanded, "Tell me everything. We'll leave for Karakura on the next train. We can be there in an hour."
Akon debated what to say. Screw it, may as well give Kurosaki's comrades-in-arms enough information to avoid being killed when they inevitably flocked to their de facto leader's side.
Ten minutes later, Akon tiredly hung up. He reluctantly picked up the office phone and pressed his captain's extension. As expected, the man snarled at him for interrupting his study of his new toy. Akon rubbed his temples and said, "Sir, I think we may have another situation."
So screwed.
§ x § x §
"Any last minute advice, Miss Akemi?" Urahara asked as he solemnly examined the room.
Homura pursed her lips, doing the same. "It is difficult to say. The overall theme of the labyrinth could mean the Witch will be defensively strong, but it could also mean that it is more vulnerable to attack once the labyrinth's defenses been breached. We may be able to tell more once we see what form the Witch has taken, but even its appearance cannot be trusted."
Urahara nodded thoughtfully. "Well, there are rather more lasers than I care to dodge. No need to be tidy— let's just destroy the walls they're coming out of."
Homura watched their techniques with interest as Urahara and Mr. Tsukabishi blasted opposite walls. Fascinating. But Urahara caught her watching them and must have seen her interest, because he reacted with... curiosity, perhaps? But he shook his head and looked away without saying anything. Instead, he directed Ichigo to one side of the vault door and stood by the other side himself. Both wedged the tips of their blades into the seam of the vault door and charged their attacks. They successfully blasted the door open. They dodged as the door fell toward them, then resumed their diamond formation to cautiously enter.
They found a limited space in what seemed to be a very large cavern, if the distant, shadowed ceiling was any indication. Stacked treasure chests formed walls that were about three meters tall, densely adorned with caltrops and razorwire. Crisscrossing razorwire formed a woven ceiling between treasure chest walls. The wide path was forcibly narrowed by neat, waist-high stacks of gold and silver ingots. Fancy jewelry, ceremonial weapons, and ancient artifacts were in glass display cases on the flat surface of the bulwark of precious metals. The only source of illumination was the amassed riches, all softly glowing.
"Do not touch anything if you can help it," Homura said coldly. "The treasure may be traps like the photos were."
The group carefully followed the hallway in a curve with a slight downward slope. It took almost ten minutes to near the end. They paused to brace themselves before exiting the brighter doorway, then slowly crept out.
The overall cavern was enormous and glittered with treasure. The riches were piled up against the inner circle of treasure chests and strewn all over the ground. Everything glittered with gold, silver, and jewels. The chamber floor sloped downward from the walls, but changed course and rose into a wide hill of gold, silver, gemstones, books, weapons, sculptures, framed artwork, dolls, photo albums, and scattered skeletons of ancient creatures. Atop the hoard was a massive exhibit pedestal bordered by velvet rope and an over-sized museum placard featuring a line of large runes. Presiding over the entire chamber was a draconic figure of composite parts: A triple-size tyrannosaurus rex skeleton with golden chain mail over its ribs and proportionately large red birds' wings erupting from where the dinosaur's forelegs should have been. Improbably large rubies were lodged in its eye sockets and glowed ominously.
Everyone stopped and stared, many in disbelief.
"That's... that's supposed to be Karin's soul?" Hitsugaya said just above a whisper, horrified.
Homura glanced at his pained face and looked toward the Witch again. She didn't want to look at the Kurosaki men. "Yes."
Isshin numbly slid down onto his knees, transfixed by the form his daughter's soul took when twisted by despair. Ichigo staggered out in front of the group in shock, speechlessly stumbling down the hill of coins as Homura called out for him to stop. He ignored her in favor of painfully shouting his sister's name, his weapon held loosely as his world narrowed down to a single point.
The skeletal dragon bellowed, its roar interwoven with a tortured, furious scream that sounded like Karin. It beat its wings and stamped its feet.
Mr. Tsukabishi reacted faster than any of them, throwing a large magic shield over their heads as heavy objects fell from the ceiling. Most appeared to be anvils, but several large glass objects shattered against the spell. Ichigo wasn't as lucky, finding himself trapped in a glass bell jar with a neat runic label. He startled and tried to break out, but there wasn't enough room to swing his blade and the glass seemed to accept his power as an energy source to glow by rather than be compromised by it. The young man looked from his sister's monstrous soul to the retrieval party in dread.
The anvils had scarcely slammed into the ground when they rose once more, sprouting horse legs. They cavorted ominously, each draped with gold chains bearing glittering rubies. Homura shot one and scowled as her bullet simply ricocheted off the anvil. Urahara muttered a phrase and swung his blade, bright red energy lashing out and cleaving an anvil in two. One nearby turned, bucked, and fired its rear legs at the group as some bizarre horseshoe rocket. Urahara sharply drew his left arm up and silently cast a round magical shield to deflect the projectiles.
Homura was getting more and more curious about the variety of magic they used. It seemed extremely versatile.
Another fight broke out, anvil-horses charging the group or launching their legs. Hitsugaya focused on immobilizing them with ice as they charged or fell from above, then leaving them for others to pick off between their own enemies. The fake Ichigo resentfully withdrew behind Tsukabishi's shield, finding his kicks useless against solid iron. He stood protectively over Isshin, who seemed to have distanced himself from reality to stare at his daughter's face with his head bowed. Jinta focused on trying to take out the horse legs with his club, gritting his teeth whenever he connected with iron just wrong and the impact painfully resonated through his bones. Ururu fired her spirit cannon in every direction but Ichigo's. It was chaotic, but Homura found herself impressed by how well they handled themselves under the onslaught.
Her experience with the Pumpkin Witch fresh in her mind, Homura opted to ignore the Familiars in favor of the Witch. She could shove bombs into its jaws but the chain mail niggled at the back of her mind and made her think that its weak spot would be the portion protected by armor. Face set in determination, Homura put her Beretta in her shield and darted away from the group with flash steps, nimbly weaving her way through the enemies while using her shield to bat away horse legs. She ignored the dismayed shouts from the fighters and scaled the central treasure heap in several jumps, landing on the mahogany platform. The Witch snarled and turned to face Homura head-on as she pulled an RPG launcher from her shield, swung it up to her shoulder, and fired a grenade at the center of the golden chain mail at close range.
The grenade exploded on impact and blew apart the front of the armor. The dragon hunched forward, beat its wings, and blew fire at Homura with an enraged roar. Homura reacted without thinking, dropping the launcher, freezing time, and leaping to one side to avoid being roasted alive. She brought her shield up and flared her magic around her as she let time resume. When the smoke cleared, Homura stared dumbly while several of the fighters across the room cried out in horror.
Without its chain mail, the dragon's rib cage was exposed. Within it was Yuzu's body, bound to the dinosaur skeleton's spine at heart-level with many strings of pearls. It was dressed in a billowing yellow princess dress, white-gloved hands clasped over its breast and secured in place by a strand of citrines. The dress' sunny frills swayed with the Witch's every movement, as did the little veil attached to the conical hat on the corpse's head.
The Witch took advantage of Homura's momentary shock to spin and swipe at her with its bony tail. She got her shield up in time, but was swept off her feet and sent airborne. Homura angled herself for a decent landing but her direction suddenly changed after an impact in midair. Looking to the side, she found herself snagged in Hitsugaya's free arm as he brought them to a halt and set them on one of the treasure chest terraces. He looked at her, face pained, and quietly said, "Let's end this."
Homura's face hardened and she nodded firmly. Both looked back to the mountain of treasure, where the dragon roared and breathed fire in random directions in a display of anger.
Hitsugaya adjusted his grip on his blade. "Can you get back up there yourself?"
"Yes. You have a plan?"
"I'll freeze her... it... in place from behind. Try to... to blow h-its head off with that thing you used," Hitsugaya said heavily.
Homura nodded again. "Be ready to grab Yuzu's body when the Witch fades or it will disappear with the labyrinth."
Hitsugaya swallowed, worked his jaw, and nodded slowly, eyes darting to Yuzu's doll-like corpse. His face shifted into something cold and businesslike as he steeled himself. "Ready?"
Homura nodded at him with newfound respect. "Yes."
Both took off at high speed. Homura landed in front of the Witch to get its attention while Hitsugaya landed behind it. He shouted and lashed out with his blade. Icy dragon constructs burst from the sword and wrapped around the Witch's tail and legs as Homura pulled a new RPG launcher out of her shield and readied it. The Witch beat its wings and shrieked in fury, turning its head to breathe fire at the shinigami. Hitsugaya made a shield of ice with a shout. Homura had a clear shot at the unprotected side of the Witch's neck. She froze time for a moment to perfect her aim, then released her hold on time as she pulled the trigger.
The grenade exploded against the skeleton's cervical vertebrae and completely severed the head. Homura immediately dropped the spent launcher and readied a second in case the Witch hadn't been killed, but it proved unnecessary. The dragon's bird wings exploded in a flurry of feathers as the skeleton fell apart. Hitsugaya leapt up and caught Yuzu's body as soon as it began to fall, golden frills dissolving and transforming back into her school uniform. A moment later, the world wobbled and the labyrinth completely collapsed.
The entire party found themselves in the ruined back half of the Urahara Shop. They looked around in surprise as Homura sadly watched the Witch's Grief Seed drift to the floor.
Freed from the bell jar, Ichigo dropped his blade and mutely crawled toward the silver and black spindle with jerky movements. His hands shook as he held them over the gem that radiated Karin's warped magic. Ichigo made a choking sound and carefully cupped his hands around the Grief Seed, then lifted it to stare at it. He was silent for a long moment, then roared with enraged grief.
Homura's heart ached. As always, she didn't need to be a Witch to inflict despair and suffering on good people who actually had something left to lose.
§ x § x §
The occupants of the wrecked Urahara Shop numbly stood or sat in the aftermath. After a pause to get his bearings, Tōshirō stepped forward and carefully laid Yuzu's body on the floor in front of her father. Isshin's reaction was delayed, but the man soon put Karin's body beside her sister's and sat staring at his daughters with one hand covering the bottom of his face as he struggled to cope. Something in Tōshirō cringed at the sight of his former captain's state of desolate heartbreak. The man was completely undone and Tōshirō didn't know how to fix it. Urahara solemnly approached Isshin and lay a hand on his friend's shoulder. Ichigo stayed where he was, curled up on his knees as though shielding Karin's Grief Seed while his shoulders silently heaved.
Tōshirō, Ichigo, and Urahara's phones shrilled notifications for missed calls all at the same time.
"That can't be good," Yoruichi said ominously.
The Mod Soul pulled Ichigo's phone out of his jeans and looked around the group for instruction. Urahara motioned for Kon to stop as Tōshirō tiredly flipped his phone open and looked at the notices. "Twelfth Division," he said dully. He opened a text message which announced his orders. "Urgent, unscheduled captains' meeting tonight to hear Ukitake's incident report and Kurotsuchi's initial findings."
"Sounds like things went to Hell up north, too," Yoruichi said quietly.
Tōshirō scrolled down, reading multiple missed call notices and increasingly concerned texts. He sighed and pressed the callback button. The call was picked up almost immediately. "Hitsugaya reporting," he said tonelessly. Tōshirō stared at the Kurosaki sisters' bodies as Akon spoke rapidly on the other end of the line. "We're fine. I understand. I will return just before then. There's been... an incident here. We need to figure out some things." Twelfth Division's Third Seat stammered an objection, but Tōshirō cut him off with a weary, "The things from Mitakihara are also in Karakura. We are dealing with a crisis. We have a lead. I'll report what we figure out at the meeting." He didn't bother waiting for a reply, ending the call and closing his phone.
Urahara straightened, face businesslike. "Ichigo. Let me see the Grief Seed." Ichigo huddled around it more. "Let me try to help her, Ichigo."
Ichigo sniffed and shambled to his feet. He placed the Grief Seed in Urahara's palm gently, then hovered his hands over it as one would a sacred object. "Please," he rasped, looking up at Urahara desperately.
Urahara lay his free hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "I'll do my best." He was prudent enough to avoid making promises he wasn't sure he could keep. Ichigo nodded his understanding and shuffled over to his father. He sat next to Isshin and joined him in silent despondency.
The sight was jarring for Tōshirō. Everything about this was wrong on so many levels that he felt frozen in the moment, unable to react. How was he supposed to react? His best friend and her sister were dead, the savior of Soul Society needed an entirely different kind of salvation himself, and Tōshirō's old father figure was utterly broken. Wrong wrong wrong. The worst thing was that he didn't understand.
Someone did, though, he thought as he eyed Homura Akemi. The girl was bloodied and exhausted and looked dead inside, but she had answers.
Tōshirō wanted answers.
Urahara breathed deeply, assessed the room and its occupants, then barked orders. "Kon, Jinta, Ururu, clean the place up as much as possible. Yoruichi, keep an eye on them." He indicated the surviving Kurosakis with one hand. "Tessai, make them some tea then write an incident report." He gave Tsukabishi a significant look as he said it. Tsukabishi nodded in understanding; Tōshirō had a feeling there would be sedatives in the tea given to Isshin and Ichigo. "Captain Hitsugaya, Miss Akemi; if you would come with me, please."
Akemi warily obeyed, recognizing the order hidden in the suggestion. The way she looked at Tōshirō told him she understood that he would be behind her specifically to keep her from fleeing. She followed the scientist through more corridors than the little shop should have been able to hold until they ended up in a combination lab and office.
Urahara crossed the room and indicated a chair at a desk. "Please, sit, Miss Akemi."
Akemi approached the table as though walking toward a guillotine. She sat primly as Urahara wandered across the room. She was obviously conscious of Tōshirō's sharp eyes watching her every move from the door, but she didn't squirm. A shinigami at her front, a shinigami blocking the exit, and no idea how they would react in the wake of the tragedy, but she remained calm.
That took guts. Especially given she thought shinigami would hunt her kind. Tōshirō hoped she wanted them as allies now that they had fought by her side. He hoped she felt the twins' precious people deserved an explanation.
Above all, Tōshirō wanted to know how to save the Kurosaki girls— and who would be feeling Hyōrinmaru's wintry wrath.
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
WITCH DATA
ALEXANDRIA, the Hoarding Witch with a protective nature. She will shield her treasures from all threats and preserve them forever in her museum fortress.
Minion: Eligius, whose duty is to trample thieves.
A/N: This hurt to write. OTL
This chapter was replaced with an edited version on November 1, 2019. Reviews with timestamps before that date refer to a slightly different version of the chapter.