Chapter 1: Failure

Ichigo's breath came in ragged breaths. He knew he was dying. He'd failed. The hole in chest was a testament to that. He had known that this was a possibility, but hadn't truly thought about it. His mind was shutting down too, as his sight had darkened slightly; everything around him was as black as the night was in Hueco Mundo. As he gasped for breath his lungs gave a shake before blood was expelled from them, or he should say from his remaining lung, as the hole in his chest was a through and through and there was no lung there any longer. Memories began to flicker in his mind as his remaining hand clutched Zangetsu's hilt, his sword broken once more. He could barely see the two spirits that had always been with him. They were flickering, like ghosts, in his mind's eye.

He still could remember seeing Zero squad dead in the royal realm. The monk that had helped train him and Rukia, cut into pieces by Yhwach. Hearing his voice telling Ichigo to call his name; Hyousube Ichibei, and suddenly he came back to life. Him asking Ichigo to defeat Yhwach and protect soul king, but at the same time saying that because they were humans they couldn't defeat Yhwach.

He could still see Yhwach when he arrived in the Soul Palace and say, "You are to be crushed atop the gears of fate. A small insect like you has no need to curse his destiny...Be thankful...It shall be by these very hands that you perish."

How true those words turned out to be. he thought as a single tear escaped his eyes. More blood dribbled out of his lips as his breath became even more ragged. I'm drowning in my own blood. he thought grimly as his eyes became even more blurred.

What he hadn't known at the time, was that Kisuke's plans were almost complete as he, Chad, Inoue and Yoruichi had gone to save the Soul King. Hiyori and the rest of the Visoreds had appeared in the Research and Development building shocking Shinji who's standing next to Soi Fon waiting for Kisuke to finish telling them what to do to get to the Soul Palace. Hiyori yells at Shinji for dumping his workload on them while he was off helping save Soul Society with Urahara's help. Hoyori sprays the area with a fume that looks like a liquid, it's a substance created between the distortion points between Soul Society and the Dangai. He had no idea how much they truly were helping Souls Society and the Gotei 13. They had regained their Shihakusho from Urahara, though Hiyori had fussed only to have Love stop her by slinging her over his shoulder and walking away with her and the others. Urahara had created a gateway between soul society and the royal realm with the help from the Captains of the Gotei 13.

Yhwach had said many things, such as being able to see all. At the time Ichigo hadn't understood, not like he did now. He even asked, "You've seen all? What the hell is that suppose to mean?" like the cocky teen he was.

"I saw everything." Yhwach had said, "That you would in fact come here and that the you who came here..." He moves aside. "Would be too late to change anything." Ichigo gasps in surprise when he saw Yhwach's sword piercing the Souls King 's body. "The soul King is dead. There is no longer anything you can do to remedy this." Yhwach had said so proudly and being so stupid he had run to grab the sword to pull it out but just then his Quincy blood began to activate forced him to kill the Soul King.

Ichigo shivered as his body began to feel cold. I killed the King. How could I allow this to happen? The King is dead because of me? I should've been stronger? No, smarter; maybe? It was a trap. He egged me on and I took the bait. His thoughts began to feel clearer, even as his body began to shut down.

Only moments ago he and Renji were fighting Yhwach in Soul Society along side Aizen, who had used his sword Kyouka Suigestu on Yhwach. Never in a million years had he thought he'd fight along side that traitor, but if had happened.

But it failed. he thought grimly as he closed his eyes, his breath coming out in slower, softer puffs.

Killing Aizen and then cutting Renji's sword hand off, Yhwach came after Ichigo, who dodged the attacks the best he could. Yhwach had smiled, "You've got some annoying, persistent good fortune, Ichigo." he said this before snarling in anger at the boy.

Zangetsu had merged into one sword from being two, Ichigo had thought he had, had the edge. His sword was stronger, so was he. He no longer doubted himself or the spirits within him. With double bladed weapon in his hand, he prepare for the next attack. The reiatsu around the them had tripled, causing the ground to break up. Ichigo was already so tired but he knew everyone was depending on him to stop this monster.

If only I had been stronger. He thought mournfully.

Yhwach had seen his exhaustion and chuckled because of it and Ichigo felt his stomach drop at his next words. "You're hanging on by a thread, Ichigo."

I used that form too soon. he thought dimly aware that something or someone was watching him. Cracking his eye open he saw nothing but shadows.

Ichigo had prepared for the final attack, but Yhwach moved too quickly, faster than any flash step Ichigo had ever seen and as his arm is torn from his body Ichigo hears Yhwach's voice again. "Nothing escapes my gaze." he says as his hand reaches for Ichigo, the young man gasps as his sword shatters before his very eyes. "Rest in pieces, Ichigo." He suddenly felt his chest exploding in pain as a hole the size of a fist appears in his chest. "It's been fun, Ichigo." Yhwach's voice wavered as his ears rung from the pain he was experiencing. He barely caught the next few words. "…resistance was ...amusing...best.

Ichigo had suddenly felt his body hit the ground as he was cast away from Yhwach, gasping for air, blood splurtting out of his mouth as he coughed up blood. His lungs, one of which was gone, filled with the red liquid. Karin, Yuzu... Forgive me. he had thought as he had lain there dying. In the distance he heard Renji's voice screaming his name.

From the corner of his eye he had seen hand appear out of thin air and pull him into a hole of darkness where he began to lose consciousness; however, now that he was there he found himself feeling oddly at peace as the final moments of his life was spent regretting that he had failed his friends and family.

Just then a soft and gentle voice fills his mind. "My warrior, you have not failed. I should've made two, instead of one." Ichigo could feel his very soul shaking at the voice.

Turning his head to the side where the voice had been, he saw nothing but a shadow. "W-who…are you?" he gasped as his throat filled with blood once more. Coughing the blood up, it sprayed everywhere.

"It doesn't matter. But now know I will make this right." The shadow said as it lifted a hand and Ichigo began to feel tired, even more so than he had been. Silence filled Ichigo's mind and slowly his consciousness comes to an end. "I know how to fix this, I've just got to do it quickly." the shadow stated as it began to fade. "To you it'll be years before we meet again; but to me, it'll be seconds." The shadow became a whisp as the power that bound it to this plain of existence began to fade away. A bright yellow light shot out from the whisp as it quickly faded and entered the dying young man's body.

Outside the plain of existence everything froze in place before like a machine it went backwards and everything began to rewind until it came to a certain point in time. Inside the separate plain Ichigo's body shrunk until it was that of a babes and then it glowed as he turned into a ball of energy and vanished first into one ball of energy until it suddenly split in half, a glow surrounding both as if it as if it was trying to protect the two halves of its host until it vanished inside of the two orbs.

In the real world the hands of time stopped for only a moment as it was turned backwards before it begun once more. A shinigami male with dark hair and a quincy woman with reddish brown hair stared at each other before they began laughing lightly as the hands of destiny began to pull the two souls together once more.

M-Angel: So here is my next Bleach story. I thought I'd test it on here before posting it on AO3. So what does everybody think of the beginning? This story will probably make it to around 30-50 chapters.