'The final Getsuga Tensho is... me, becoming Getsuga itself.'

'The final Getsuga Tensho, if I use this technique, I will lose all of my Shinigami powers...'

'That's why it's called 'final'...'

"Absurd! That can't possibly be! A mere human cannot surpass me, that just cannot be!"

Ichigo decided that obliterating Aizen with this attack is his only chance to end it all, so he got close, he appeared a few feet in front of Aizen and slashed with his blade.

"Mugetsu."

There was no sound, no color; from up close, one would think that the world had just disappeared.

But then, somewhere from inside the darkness, something became visible, a small glowing orb the size of a marble.

Instead of disappearing into the darkness and never being found again (the solution Ichigo was all for), it slammed straight into his chest, throwing him back to the edge of the crater he was in.

The darkness receeded and all that was left was a crouched Ichigo, still in his final form.

He felt two presences inside him, one felt confused and familiar, it was the fused form of his sword; Tensa Zangetsu was back and yet he was still in his final form.

The other presence felt weak, scared and sad. It didn't take long for Ichigo to figure out just what had happened; the Hogyouku was in his chest, visible in the same place as it was with Aizen.

Ichigo came to battle Aizen in Karakura calm and collected, he was prepared for anything he could throw at him, he was prepared to fight off all of Hueco Mundo and Seireitei if that was what it took to get to Aizen. But he was not expecting Hogyouku to abandon Aizen and merge with him.

He felt the Hogyouku, he didn't know much about it, but he felt that in the desparation, it practically jumped on him and latched on, not wanting to be destroyed. It merged with him for safety; it was alive.

As he saw Aizens dead remains drop onto the ground, Ichigo went over to them, appearing there in a blink, he would have to figure out what to do with the Hogyouku later, Urahara would probably know more than him anyway.

As he approached he noticed something, his power was doing something to the land around him. And then Aizens body started releasing spirit particles, slowly falling apart. He stepped back a bit to leave the body in one piece.

He figured it out, his spiritual energy couldn't be felt by others but it was still there, and it was so powerful that it could destroy anything made of spiritual particles. The very idea was ludicrous to him.

"Kurosaki-san, is he dead?" Urahara was the one behind him, he knew the voice and the spiritual pressure from him was unmistakable.

"Yeah, but we have another problem..." Ichigo turned around to show Urahara the Hogyouku in his chest. "I need you to get rid of this thing, I don't think it wants to leave by itself."

Surprise would be an understatement, Urahara was way past surprise at this point, he was speechless, Did Ichigo implant the Hougyouku into himslef? He couldn't have, but it also shouldn't have been able to just switch owners. As he started walking towards him, Ichigo shunpoed away.

"Sorry, but standing near me isn't an option, just by being close to the body, it started disintegrating. My reiatsu dissolves almost anything nearby."

"That... might be a problem..." Urahara managed to say after calming down.

He remembered his life with fondness, his family, his friends, his allies, they were all nearby, watching him.

After a lot of unsucsessful research methods and a mere few succesful ones were done on him, He was deemed a threat to the worlds. His form was constant, he couldn't lower his reiatsu emissions any more, and standing anywhere other than outside the 5 meter radius around him was lethal.

They were now all there, on a nearby plateau, watching as Yamamoto opened the way for him with the Ouken.

The dimension with the Spirit King was the only one stable enough for him, it was small and sturdy, one might say.

His departure was announced a few weeks beforehand and a lot of people were watching as he slowly stepped towards his new destiny.

He said his goodbyes beforehand, a lot of people were crying too; that was something he didn't like, all this felt like his own funeral, it was creeping him out more than he would care to admit to anyone.

He stepped through with one last look towards his closest friends. He would probably never see them again, since the agreement was that he would be called back only in case of something as dangerous as Aizen emerging.

He wanted to protect everyone, and now he can... by leaving them forever to assure their safety. He would never again know physical contact with another person. He would be destined to walk alone watching over the living world forever.