GRAVEYARD

[foundationmods]

[On the instant of your death, you're suddenly outside of your body - probably staring down at the remains it's become.

Yet, you're not alone. For all of you (except Szayel), a young man appears from behind you, his face set into a firm, yet sad, scowl. His shaggy strawberry blonde hair is pretty eye-catching, along with the black and white Shihakusho he wears and the large sword on his back, even as he gently tries to lead you back into the lobby and away from what was once your body. You can still clearly hear and see the living, if you want to try - but they can't see or hear you.

'Welcome to the world of the dead in this Resort,' he says, quietly. 'Looks like you're stuck here with the rest of us.'

He hands you a tablet, just like the one you had before. "You'll need this if you want to keep talking to them,' he explains, looking sad.

It looks like you've passed on, and yet...You still feel like you have a role to play in all of this.]

Comments

[perfeccion]

[Szayel hisses as the blade presses against his throat, his reiatsu enough to make his knees buckle. That sword -- amazingly powerful, brimming with power, so unique...]

You are no fool. Again -- it is a fact that you could kill me without ever even lifting a finger.

[carefully, slowly, he places his hand on the sword, pushing it away]

I can heal your injuries -- but I would like to examine the energy left behind by the wolf beast. If you want to save the others, I need to collect as much data as possible.

[bladeisme]

[Ichigo pauses - looking Szayel dead in the eyes, which look worn out and tired - apparently trying to gauge how much of the truth the Espada is telling him. His eyes flick down and back when Szayel mentions the others trapped in here, and the possiblility of saving them - and it's that hope that makes him lower Zangetsu and place it back on his back with an easy, practiced movement.

If it's for all of them - for Shirou and Akira, who was so much like Ren it made him miss everyone from Camp - then he's willing to sell his soul to the devil.]

....Alright. But just that, alright? If you do anything out of line...

[There's a harsh flash, a glint of yellow in one of his eyes. He assumes Szayel will get his meaning.]

[perfeccion]

[Szayel pales at the flash -- it's a dangerous look, a predatory one. One that takes him right back to fleeing through the white dunes in a cold panic, desperate to reach one of his safe dens where traps would save him from larger, fiercer Hollows. He breaks into a chilled sweat, biting his lower lip]

You have my word, Kurosaki.

[he removes something from inside his clothes, something that looks just like a blood collection tube, but is specialized for containing soul energy. Also tucked away are a pair of forceps that seem to be made of bone -- more basic spirit science. Carefully, he removes some of Ichigo's bandages and looks for any remnants of the wolf beast's energy]

[bladeisme]

Good.

[For a moment, he finds himself...proud of that paling, that obvious fear. It's something instinctual deep inside of him, something proud of the power it bears - but he shoves it down in the next second, moving on to what Szayel's doing. He grunts a little as the bandages come off, and the wounds come into view. They're kind of deep - enough to be rather painful - and the faint remnants of the Barghest, although they've been clearly deteriorated some by Ichigo's own intense reiatsu.]

[perfeccion]

[Carefully setting the bandages aside, Szayel adjusts his glasses and looks closely. With the bone forceps, he grabs what he can, doing his best to detangle the remnants from Ichigo's energy. He manages to get some, visible to Ichigo as jet black strands of energy that seem to suck in light, like tiny voids. He places most of them in the tube, but then cautiously places a small amount on his tongue.

It's contaminated with Ichigo, but he focuses on trying to sense the not-Ichigo in it]

[bladeisme]

[It's facinating, and he watches the entire process - it oddly reminds him of his father, when he would work on his patients.

Then Szayel tastes it, and it goes right out the window.

The things relating to the Barghest taste like wolf and spirit. Actually, there's a strange taste to it, like something exotic, something that a Yokai or mythological creature would have.

Also, it's biting back. Hm.]

[perfeccion]

[ow???

ow ow ow.

Szayel does something he's never done before -- he spits it out. He then crushes it under his boot]

...... I don't think I've ever had reishi bite me. [well, not quite bite. But painful, almost acidic]

[bladeisme]

...Yeah. It's been doing that in my wounds ever since I was injured.

[THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING, ICHIGO.]

[perfeccion]

[UH.]

.... Kurosaki. I don't think you... comprehend how serious that is. Like an infection, eating away at your soul. We must remove all traces of it, immediately.

[Szayel walks back and unsheathes his sword]

I'm going to release my zanpakutou, Kurosaki. Using Fornicaras' full power, I can cleanse you of extraneous reishi. Will you allow me to do that?

[bladeisme]

Eating away at my soul? I feel fine. Actually, the pain's gone down - it used to be a lot worse.

[Yet...he would like to be totally out of pain, and even though Szayel is kind of creepy...he also knows what could happen if he breaks his promise now. So...he nods.]

Alright. Just - be careful, alright?

[perfeccion]

Probably because the damned stuff has eaten away your nerve endings -- or it's been partially neutralized by your own reiatsu. [he rubs his temples with his free hand, biting back the urge to call him a complete buffoon]

[he shakes his head and brings his sword to his mouth] Sip, Fornicaras...!

[And then Ichigo is treated to the SHOW. Whatever Renji and Ishida described, it can't begin to compare to the release in person. The grotesque bloating, the slow release, the eerie growth of tentacles. To his credit, Szayel keeps the moaning to a minimum.]

Aaahhhnn..... Alright...

[without waiting, one of Szayel's "wing" tentacles suddenly distorts, opening at the end like a toothless worm's mouth.

And with it, he swallows Ichigo whole. He is moved quickly into one of the red tear-drop like appendages, now swollen to hold the boy. It's... snug, and dark. And warm. And slimy. And certainly too tight to move. But the slime isn't completely unpleasant, tingling as it knits Ichigo's wounds and sucks out the foreign reishi while bolstering his own. The whole process takes only a minute, but probably feels like an eternity.

The strange fruit bursts, releasing Ichigo onto the ground, covered in clear ooze -- gross, but completely healed. The other red fruits on that wing-tentacle are slightly swollen and have turned an ugly shade of black, and Szayel himself looks to be in a bit of pain]

Eerrgh... it's... difficult to digest...

[bladeisme]

[The moment he hears the moaning, he knows he's made a massive mistake. As szayel's true form appears and he's sucked into the fruit, it takes everything he has not to panic and cut hisway out, but he lets it happen. It's both uncomfortable and cramped and yet pleasant and soothing, and the conflict between those two really does make the whole process feel like an eternity is slowly going by.

But when he's dropped - he coughs, wiping away the ooze from his face and eyes, trying to get it off as much as he can - and looks up to see Szayel clearly in agony from healing him.

And Despite everything - despite knowing Szayel is a terrible, awful person - he can't help but get to his feet and approach, looking worried.]

Are - Are you alright?

[perfeccion]

I'm.... urgh... [he actually looks nauseous, if we're being honest. The blackness is spreading up from the fruits to the branch, and it looks as bad as it feels] I thought I... would be able to destroy.... this... hnnngh. This reishi... but it's too foreign to me. We'll have to settle for containment.

[his mouth quirks into an ironic sneer at the use of the word. All at once, the blackened fruits fall off and land on the floor with sickening "plorp" sounds.

One of them, the most swollen and rotten-looking of the bunch, bursts open when it hits the floor]

[bladeisme]

Contain-

[But before ichigo can comment on the ironic word choice, the fruits drop - and one busts open, leaving what looks like...

A tiny, ghostly black puppy? It shakes itself clear of goo, and then runs off like a bolt before either of them can move.

Ichigo just stares at the spot where it used to be, before looking at Szayel with a flat expression.]

...I think you're a mother now.

[perfeccion]

[Szayel's mouth hangs open, slack as can be as he watches the puppy run off. He looks at Ichigo, then looks at where the Barghest puppy was]

... Ah... hm... M... mazel tov?

[he's just gonna.

pick up the rest of the fruits and go put them in the bathtub.

and close the door.]

[bladeisme]

...Yeah, no.

[Ichigo is picking up those fruits and going to the kitchen. If Szayel follows him, he'll find Ichigo asking the chef if he can use the kitchen and to temporarily harden it so he can destroy something. The Chef looks worried, but nods and moves most of the equipment in the area to the side.]

....Gotta do this before they wake up....

[Closing his eyes, he concentrates...

...and the area around him floods with power, as he hollowfies, his reiatsu swirling around him in a storm of black, red, and blue.]

[perfeccion]

[well, of COURSE he's following. He has to know what's going on here. He wisely hangs near the door (the chef could harden the kitchen? Well... if the Resort really was alive...) and watches curiously.

Then that happens. Szayel barely manages to stay on his feet from the blast of sheer power, and he actually does fall to his knees when he comprehends what he's seeing.

Sure, he saw it in the manga.

But it's a bit like reading about a tornado, and then being right in the middle of one.

He opens and closes his mouth, never managing to form words]

[bladeisme]

[Ichigo doesn't notice Szayel as he takes out Zangetsu - the larger one, of course - and suddenly - the air shifts, trembling with power as a ball of pure red energy forms at the tip of his horn.

That is, unmistakably - a Gran Rey Cero, a blast that only the most powerful of hollows can use. And yet, as it grows, Ichigo just raises Zangetsu, sticking the blade into the ball as the enegery flows down the blade.]

....Gran Rey Cero!

[With one quick slash, he aims towards the fruits -

And in a flash of red light, they are gone. The room around them creaks and rumbles, cracks forming in the walls and floor as it struggles to contain the energy.

And then - it's over, and Ichigo changes back, becoming just a normal shinigami again and placing his Zanpakuto back on his back.]

Ah, sorry about the damage - I just had to make sure those were destroyed.

[That's aimed at the Chef, of course - who nods, a little pale.]

[perfeccion]

[It's probably the most glorious thing he's ever seen. Such sheer power, such elegance, such perfection of hybridization...! A Cero with the power of a Shinigami behind it...? The light of the growing orb is blinding, the heat excruciating, but he can't tear his eyes away. It is all at once exhilarating and horrifying. He wants to weep, from joy and terror. And parts of him are definitely tingly. It is, undoubtedly, a Gran Rey Cero.

When the thing is actually fired, the way it completely incinerates the fruits and warps the fabric of spacetime around it, it's too much for one Arrancar to take, and Szayel collapses completely.

u made him faint, ichigo

having lost consciousness, his Resurrected form evaporates into pink reishi, then coagulates back into the shape of a katana, back safe and sound in its saya]

[bladeisme]

[Ichigo doesn't even realize until he turns around that Szayel was even there at all - when he sees the Arrancar splayed out on the floor, eyes rolled in his head and maybe kinda foaming at the mouth???

And in his own ways, he just assumes the pressure knocked him out - and he feels bad for it. After all, it'd been a while since he'd first broken into Hueco Mundo, and he'd grown stronger since then. So with a gentle apology, he excuses himself from talking with the Chef, and reluctantly picks up the fainted Arrancar - carrying him out to one of the couches in the lobby and leaving him there to recover.

He's going to go help the chef get everything back in order and get some food, now. Firing off those things always make him hungry as hell.]

[perfeccion]

[all of those things are true. He almost looks like he had a seizure or something. It's nothing so serious, but lort.

Szayel recovers on the couch, taking him about half an hour to wake back up... with a fleeting image in his mind. A beautiful image!]

... Was that real...?

[bladeisme]

Yep.

[Have a coffee being shoved in your face, Szayel. Ichigo takes a seat opposite him, placing his own mug of hot chocolate on the table between them.]

Sorry about that - I didn't realize you were there.

[perfeccion]

[Coffee? Szayel wrinkles his nose, but takes a sip anyway] I prefer tea...

[blink]

Eh? Wait... it wasn't just a crazy fever dream? I actually... I witnessed.... .... ah....

[bladeisme]

Then I'll get you tea next time.

[Huff!!!]

...Yeah, you saw it. What's wrong? I mean, I would've thought you read our Manga and everything.

[He takes a sip of his hot chocolate.]

And uh - sorry if it was too intense.

[perfeccion]

I did read it! Of course I did! [how could he resist seeing how things unfolded after he was cast into hell? ... to be honest, he's sort of happy he missed out on all the Quincy nonsense. It seemed like a hassle] But reading it and experiencing it first hand are completely different! It was.... it was....! [he makes futile grasping motions with his gloved hands before letting out a quick sigh and allowing his hand to drop] ... it was beyond words.