Author's Note:Next Chapter up! Working hard to remaster this story! Got the first two chapters of the Sequel done and am sending to my beta today!
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(Chapter 14)
Ichigo and Harribel turned to Aizen; both unsurprised at the sudden appearance.
Orihime, still fearful of Aizen, hid behind Ichigo while Neliel immediately jumped up from the ground and brushed away some of the dust on her clothes. She too stood behind Ichigo.
"Greetings Aizen-sama, I…" She stopped at the passive gaze Aizen gave her.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear the first time." Aizen began unemotionally as he began to release his reiatsu.
His eyes narrowed, realizing that Ichigo was blocking his reiatsu from hitting Neliel and Orihime.
"You should relax Aizen-sama, too much stress isn't good." Ichigo said impassively as he felt Orihime grab his sleeve for reassurance.
"What is the meaning of this, Kurosaki?"
"I would have assumed it was obvious Aizen-sama." Ichigo replied. Harribel couldn't help but smirk behind her collar.
Aizen stared dispassionately at him.
"I had Neliel in a secured cell. Why did you release her and then proceed to restore her to her former self?"
"I believe that she would be a great help to us."
"I gave you no such order."
"I didn't think I needed one." Ichigo replied.
"Neliel has been deemed a traitor to Las Noches."
Nel stared at Aizen in confusion. 'Traitor?'
"From my stand point, we need a lot more powerful hollow, besides Starrk, Harribel and I, to fight Soul Society's top fighters. I know that you can feel Nel's power. She will be a great asset to Las Noches.
"Watch yourself, Kurosaki." Aizen replied calmly.
"Aizen-sama, Neliel is very powerful. She may not be as powerful as Ulquiorra, but she is definitely stronger than Nnoitora." Harribel added, assisting Ichigo.
Aizen was taken aback when Ichigo suddenly bowed before the Shinigami, "Please I ask that you reconsider,"
"I'll watch over Neliel for you Aizen-sama." Harribel interuppted, "To keep a closer eye on her."
Aizen already knew enough about Ichigo to figure out what he would do, he would remain adamant in keeping Neliel here. He didn't want Ichigo to openly oppose him, so there was only one option.
After thinking on it Aizen finally spoke. "Kurosaki, Neliel is your responsibility. If she betrays me, you will be found just as guilty as she is." Aizen stated.
"Of course." Ichigo , standing back up as Aizen turned to leave.
"And Kurosaki, don't test me again." Aizen said as he left the room. Ichigo remained staring at the spot Aizen had just occupied.
"As if you could stop me." Ichigo replied just low enough for Haribel, Nel, and Orihime to hear. Nel looked at Ichigo in confusion.
"Ichigo, what do you mean?" Ichigo stared at the former third Espada. Nel was very confused; she couldn't seem to remember clearly. "And why did he call me a traitor, I was always loyal to him."
"Can you remember anything?" Orihime walked from behind Ichigo and stood next to Harribel.
"Everything, but...it's fuzzy," She whispered sadly.
"Then you don't know about the war with Soul Society?" Ichigo asked. Nelliel shook her head.
"I know that Aizen-sama was planning it, he sent us out to find Vasto Lorde all the time. That was back before Nnoitora..." Nel trailed off. Ichigo noticed that she wasn't acting hyper like she was before. 'She's very serious now.'
"We can get you up to speed of course." Ichigo, with the help of Harribel began to fill Nel in on the war, how they became Vasto Lorde, the Espada revival plan, and about the plan to overthrow Aizen. After twenty minutes of explaining Nel seemed to understand what was occuring.
"So the question remains. Will you help us?" Ichigo asked. Neliel smiled.
"My path… is the path you set for me. I will follow you not matter what Ichigo." Nel answered; Ichigo smiled.
"I feel the same Ichigo." Orihime added.
"Thank you Nel, Orihime." Ichigo replied. He didn't know why, but he was beginning to feel closer to them, if only a bit.
"We can let Starrk know tommorow."
Harribel agreed.
"Then we are done for today, we should get some rest."
"Wait Ichigo." Nel urged, Ichigo glanced at her.
"Pesche and Dondochakka, can Orihime heal them?" Nel asked.
"I see no reason not to, besides you should be asking Orihime." Ichigo replied.
"It's fine; I can heal them for you."
Harribel tapped Ichigo on the shoulder, he turned and saw her holding a vial with three mask fragments in it.
"I forgot, sorry Harribel."
"It's fine." She said quietly and handed over vial to Ichigo.
"These too Orihime." Ichigo said as he threw the vial to Orihime, who barely managed to catch it.
"I'll go get them." Nel said. "Oh thank you Ichigo!" she cried out as she gave Ichigo a hug before running out of the room to get her fraccion.
"I hope she doesn't think that she could do that whenever she wants." Ichigo whispered, Harribel was thinking the same thing.
It didn't take long for Nel to return accompanied by her Fraccion. Both of her Fraccion wore serious expressions.
"Neliel-sama has filled us in on what's happening. Thank you for restoring Neliel-sama to her previous form. We don't have to act like complete fools anymore and it's time to once again be our true selves. Neliel-sama hasn't seemed so happy in a long time. She seems…at peace. That is all Dondochakka and I wanted." Pesche said to Ichigo.
"I, too, wish to thank you Ichigo-sama." Dondochakka added. Ichigo waved his hand.
"Don't thank me; Orihime is the one that will heal you." Ichigo said unemotionally.
"No need to thank me." Orihime said while scratching the back of her head and blushing.
"Can you start?" Halibel asked.
"I'll do you two first." Orihime told Pesche and Dondochakka. Both proceeded to lie on the floor as Orihime instructed them to.
"Soten Kisshun: I Reject" Orihime incanted. Soon both were engulfed by the golden light.
"I'm so happy; it'll be just like old times." Nel said as her Fraccion smiled at her, both were happy to see a smile on their leaders face.
With minutes of getting healed both Arrancar began changing right before everyone's eyes. Pesche's body transformed from bug-like into a human. He had pale white skin, shoulder length blonde hair, and blue eyes. The remains of his hollow mask covered the upper left side of his face with a hole for his left eye to see out of and a short horn at the top of his mask. Dondochakka went through a similar transformation. His body became human; he had short brown hair and brown eyes. His mask fragment took the shape of a white gladiator helmet.
Orihime cancelled out her ability as both Pesche and Dondochakka summoned their respective zanpakuto.
"Thank you, Orihime." Both Dondochakka and Pesche said at the same time. Orihime blushed.
"Pesche, Dondochakka!" Nel exclaimed; hugging both her Fraccion. "I'm so happy your back!"
"So are we, Neliel-sama." Pesche replied. As they continued to hug, Orihime dropped the contents of the vial on the floor.
Harribel smiled internally. Besides Neliel, she was the only Espada that truly cared for her Fraccion.
With Orihime's energy nearly spent, it too much longer to revive the three. It took an hour to revive them to their fullest. During that time Ichigo remained standing, watching Orihime's powers work. He could tell that she was having a difficult time. Harribel, waited in anticipation while Nel began filling her Fraccion in on what was going to happen.
"Nervous?" Ichigo asked, noticing Harribel was tapping her finger.
She looked at him, wondering how he could tell.
"You're tapping your finger." Ichigo voiced softly.
She immediately stopped. "I always do that."
"I'm sure." He replied with a smirk. Harribel continued to look at him, she liked when he smirked.
When she realized what she was doing she turned back to her Fraccion. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to ignore the slight embarrassment she was feeling. Luckily for her, her face was covered all of the time.
One by one, her Fraccion began to open their eyes. Each of them; looking around in confusion.
"Relax." Harribel reassured them.
"Harribel-sama what's going on?" Apacci asked.
"Where are we?" Mila Rose asked.
"Everything will be explained." Harribel replied.
Everyone was suddenly taken aback when Orihime collapsed on the floor, causing her Shun Shun Rikka to break apart before she could end the technique herself.
"She must be exhausted from overusing her abilities." Ichigo told Harribel as he picked up Orihime from the floor.
"Harribel-sama whats going on?" Apacci asked.
"You three were... killed during the war." Harribel answered.
"Orihime was able to heal you." Ichigo said as he laid Orihime on her bed.
"Hey I know you; you're that jerk that was fighting with Grimmjow!" Apache yelled.
"Silence Apacci." Harribel snapped.
"But Harri-," She was interrupted.
"Grimmjow," Ichigo began thinking about that name, which sounded very familiar to him. "I defeated him once." He said to himself, ignoring the insult.
"What's going on Harribel-sama?" Sung-sun asked. Harribel, who was looking at Ichigo in confusion, turned to her Fraccion.
"Much must be explained, wait a little longer."
"Yeah, shut up Sung-sun!" Apacci yelled.
"Quit being a bitch, Apacci!" Mila Rose snapped.
"Don't you start something, too."
"All three of you shut up." Ichigo snapped in frustration.
Silence...
"The girl that just revived you is sleeping. Show some respect." Ichigo ordered.
"Who ar…"
"Silence Mila Rose." Harribel ordered.
"Nel, can you stay with Orihime tonight?" Ichigo asked.
"Of course, Ichigo." Nel replied as she finished explaining everything to her Fraccion.
"Thank you, I'm going to bed." Harribel's Fraccion watched as he stopped to the right of Harribel and whispered something in her ear; placing a hand on her shoulder.
Apache's eye narrowed, she made to yell, but Sung-sung stopped her.
"Harribel-sama doesn't seem to mind." She whispered.
After a moment Harribel nodded and Ichigo walked off.
"Let's go girls; I have much to fill you in on." The Espada said and turned to leave the room with her Fraccion following close behind her.
She felt oddly happy when Ichigo touched her shoulder, a smile hidden behind her mask fragments.
"Fill them in on everything. Make sure your Fraccion can keep a secret; they are very loud and annoying, they could let something slip. After I wake up we will convince Ulquiorra to join us." Ichigo said low enough so that only Harribel heard him.
(10 am- Next Morning)
"GOOOOOODDDD MOOOOORRRRNNNNIIIIINNNNGGGG IIIICCCCHHHHHIIIIGGGGOOO!"
Ichigo's eyes snapped open, jumping up from his bed and looking around wildly for the voice that had just echoed in his head. His heart pounded wildly as he begun to realize that the voice had echoed in his head. Something was occurring between his dreams and awaking.
He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the voice. After a moment, he looked up at the clock on the wall opposite him.
'I over slept,' He thought to himself trying to remember the dream he had, and the voice... In the dream he knew that man that the voice belonged to but the harder he thought about it now, the faster it slipped away.
Realizing it was pointless, and noticing that someone was approaching his door, he went to it and opened it.
Lilynette was there, fist up and ready to knock.
"What do you want?" He asked tiredly, already knowing the answer.
"You're late, Starrk sent me to come get you." Lilynette answered with a small blush.
"Where are they?"
"Upmost room of tower 3." Lilynette replied, before she could say another word Ichigo used Sonido.
"He's so cute!" She squealed before using Sonido herself.
Ichigo appeared right outside of the highest room of tower 3 within moments and knocked.
"It's Ichigo." He began, opening the door. Upon entering, the first thing he noticed was that the room had many different layers and platforms so that not one platform was the same height. He then noticed the all the Espada and the remaining Fraccion were present.
"You're late." Barragan announced; he was residing on the upmost platform.
'What a surprise' Ichigo thought sarcastically. "Really I hadn't noticed" he replied as he jumped up to the platform that Harribel and her Fraccion were on.
"Let's not start anything, Barragan. It's way too early." Stark complained tiredly as Lilynette appeared next to him. Ichigo looked around and saw Ulquiorra standing completely still with his eyes closed. 'He probably doesn't even know why he's here' Ichigo guessed as he continued to look around. He was slightly surprised when he saw that Wonderweiss had joined them.
"Why's he here?" Ichigo asked Harribel.
"I'm not sure; he just appeared next to us. We didn't bother to ask him anything." Harribel answered.
"Hi Ichigo!" Nel cried from the opposite side of the room.
"Ichigo-sama." Mila Rose snapped. Ichigo and Harribel turned to the Fraccion. Apache and Sung-sun were pushing Mila Rose towards Ichigo.
"I know." She whispered to her fellow fraccion.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked.
"Harribel-sama filled us in on everything. We wanted to apologize for our behavior." Mila Rose said solemnly.
Ichigo stared at them a while before looking away.
"Forget about it." He replied. The three released the breath they had been holding. Harribel had told them that Ichigo's power surpassed Aizen and that they should respect him. They were worried he would despise them for their behavior.
"Isn't this dangerous? I'm sure Aizen is wondering where we are." Ichigo stated for everyone to hear.
"Aizen has locked himself up in Szayel's lab; we are not to disturb him." Starrk explained. "We should get to the reason why we are here."
"Shall we let Ichigo do all the talking; we all know he has a problem with not letting us in on his plans." Barragan stated while motioning to Nel.
"I have no problem with Ichigo reviving the previous Tercera Espada, nor does anyone else besides you." Starrk said defensively.
"Do you have a problem with her, Barragan?" Harribel asked.
"Maybe you feel threatened?" Ichigo said unemotionally. Barragan glared at him, but remained quiet.
"Where's Orihime?" Ichigo asked.
"She's still asleep, Ichigo" Nel answered.
Ichigo nodded. 'She must have been really exhausted from using her powers so much'
"I'm sure," Nelliel began, "Ulquiorra is wondering why we have gathered without Aizen."
"I have guessed the reason." Ulquiorra replied, eerily calm.
"Your answer?" Ichigo asked.
Silence filled the room as the Arrancar waited for Ulquiorra, who had his eyes closed in deep concentration.
"Aizen-sama gave me this power, why would I…we betray him?" Ulquiorra asked.
"That man is no longer powerful enough to control us. I have said this before when I was king…"
"When you were king. That time has long since passed, hasn't it?" Ulquiorra interrupted. Barragan narrowed his eyes.
"Aizen cannot be trusted to lead us. Ever since the Espada started to fall, Starrk and I noticed that Aizen could care less about us. He just stood, watching over us as; Harribel was pinned down, I faced numerous opponents and Barragan killed. He just doesn't care and I refuse to follow someone who sees us as nothing but tools." Lilynette stated.
"Are you saying that you are betraying Aizen-sama because he wouldn't assist you in your fight against Soul Society?" Ulquiorra asked. "You and Starrk are the only Espada who would be saddened by another's Espada's death."
Lilynette glared at him.
Nel stepped forward, "That's not true!" She snapped, "We aren't beasts! We make bonds, just as easily as Shinigami... as humans. Lilynette and Starrk are not the only ones who are saddened by the loss of a comrade."
"What Lilynette is trying to say is that we need to cast Aizen aside because of his failure to lead properly." Stark interrupted.
"Can you do better?" Ulquiorra questioned.
"I never said I could." Starrk countered.
"Then why would we follow you instead of Aizen?"
"I'd rather follow Starrk than Aizen, I think Starrk could be a good leader." Ichigo commented.
"If you would stop sleeping so much." Lilynette whispered to Starrk before giggling.
"Nevertheless, those who remain loyal to Aizen-sa…"
"Loyal… loyal you say. Is it not you Ulquiorra Cifer, who has been hiding your true power from Aizen? You told me this yourself…Segunda Etapa… you're the only Espada to have such a transformation yet you hide it from Aizen. You also told me that Shinigami are weak and will never be as powerful as Hollows yet you kneel before one willingly. You speak of loyalty to Aizen-sama, yet you had doubts of him way before we did." Ichigo revealed. 'I remember... everything about our can't hide that from me.'
"Segunda Etapa… a form greater than Resurreccion." Barragan whispered while the other Arrancar were thinking along the same line "Impossible! You! Segunda Etapa! Don't make me laugh, that is nothing but a fairy tale Hollows tell each other to fuel their own desires for greater strength."
Everyone ignored Barragan as Ulquiorra stared at his former rival, their eyes locked. Ulquiorra knew the truth in Ichigo's statement could not be countered. After all it was true; he did doubt Aizen's ability to lead. Still he persisted, "What can Starrk, or even you offer us, which Aizen-sama can't?"
'Starrk would be the obvious choice to succeed Aizen, but Ichigo seems to have greater potential. I was indeed wrong about him.' Ulquiorra thought to himself.
"Nothing. If you want live your life following a Shinigami be my guest, but know this Ulquiorra Cifer… times are changing; the time of Hollows has come. Nel is right, we are not beasts. We will not be treated like them, to be cast aside and revived on the whim of some outcast Shinigami. I cannot fully remember my past, I can't tell you who I was... But now, I am a Hollow; that will not change, and I will fight to take back what was taken from you all. But we must do it together, so... will you follow us?
Whispered of agreement echoed throughout the room, even from the likes of Barragan.
When everyone but Ulquiorra answered, Ichigo turned to him. "Well?" He asked darkly.
Ulquiorra remained quiet for a moment before answering.
"I..."
(Author's Note: So how was it? Not too much happened in this chapter, but this chapter was necessary.)