Trial of Fire

Chapter 23
Torn Apart

Reina slowly came to, glancing around and realizing she seemed to be back in the throne room and surprisingly unrestrained and not sealed. She pushed herself up from her undignified sprawl on the floor and gained her feet. She also appeared to be alone, although that didn’t seem to last long.

“Useless creations. Beating by mere children.” Monban snarled as he entered the room. “I told you that one wasn’t worth controlling.” He muttered under his breath.

His eyes fell upon her and despite her attempt to remain cold and collected, she felt a rush of fear shoot up her spine at the look Monban was giving her and remembering what Grimmjow had looked like.

“Ah, you have come to. A pity for you. This would have been less painful had you remained unconscious.” He grinned at her.

“What plans does you master hold for me?” She demanded firmly.

“He desires that power of yours, so unique indeed. He was unable to harvest the soul of your Otousan, but perhaps yours is the better deal after all.”

“I see my new pet is awake.” Akusesshou commented as he flowed into the room.

“Yes Master. Shall I begin to break her?” Monban asked, a great gleam of enjoyment sparkling in his eye.

“No. I do not trust one to wield such a power for me, not when she seems so unaware of what she is capable of herself. I believe we are done here. The balance is off completely in this region and it is time to move to the final location to finish unraveling the boundaries of this world. Soon enough rifts should be opening between this world and the living one, spilling the two worlds together.

“Bring her. I have no doubts she will serve me well. And the offspring I can breed from her well no doubt make the next task of ripping the walls down from Soul Society all the more easier.” Akusesshou grinned at her.

Her legs collapse and her stomach knot in terror as his implications washed over her. She wasn’t sure what terrified her more, the thought of being raped by this creature to produce children for his cause like her mother had been forced to suffer through, or the thought that he was clearly planning to destroy the barriers between the different realms so they would clash and cross in pure chaos.

She felt a hand grab her arm and drag her to her feet. She didn’t hesitate in the least as she fired a kidou into Monban’s face and leaped away from him, to crash against something solid.

Arms encircled her and held her still as she struggled against Akusesshou’s grip, terror ripping through her usual control and sending her over the edge into hysteria. There was a deep chuckle in her ear, freezing her to the spot.

Monban snarled and picked himself up from the floor, his robes singed from her kidou blast but otherwise unharmed. Rage radiated off of him in waves that were almost visible.

She felt it then, her friends reiatsu spike and then fall back down to a normal level. Their fights were done and they were still alive. Daring a risk she forced herself to calm down and sent her own reiatsu out.

They were hurt, but alive. And Kinomi. She almost couldn’t find the girl her reiatsu was so low. She wondered how long it had been, and then decided it didn’t mater, even a minute could mean the difference between life and death.

She inched her hand to her blade, surprised they had been foolish enough to leave it on her. She would have one chance at this but if it would help her friends, so be it. Clearly Akusesshou wanted her alive so she felt safe in the knowledge he would not strike to kill.

Her fingers grasped Tenkou’s hilt. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for what she was about to do and the pain that would no doubt follow it. She was going to have to work fast to succeed.

“Celestial Anomestar, Tenkou.” She whispered.

Power roared around her and knock Akusesshou about a foot back, his hand catching on her shoulder and almost pulling her over with him.

“Regresar.” She called out, pouring every once of her reiatsu into the spell.

She felt the power fly out, felt it wrap around her friends and heal them of their wounds, rewinding time around them until they were at a point before they were injured. Then there was a sharp pain at the base of her neck and she fell into unconsciousness, her wings exploding in burst of feathers and her red dress returning to her black shinigami robes.

Akusesshou caught her as she fell, a look of annoyance on his face. He put her over his shoulder and turned about to face an alcove. The sound of feet pounding against the concrete alerted him to the imminent arrival of her friends.

“Destroy them then join me at the western castle.” He ordered.

“Yes master.” Monban bowed as a portal opened in the alcove and Akusesshou stepped through it just as Reina’s friends came through the door.


Kinomi was a stubborn girl, more so when Reina‘s reiatsu washed over her exhibiting pure terror. She pushed off from the ground, her wounds momentarily forgotten as she forced her battered and abused body to move.

A hand landed on her shoulder, but she pushed it off and staggered a few feet forward, blood gushing from the wounds yet to be bound.

Only one thing mattered, the pure terror in Reina’s reiatsu. It was a terror Kinomi had never, ever felt from her friend and it had to have been bad indeed if the normally stoic Reina was this worked up.

She staggered a few steps forward, forcing herself into a run, and made it four feet before she stumbled and was steadied only by the silent hand of her companion. Why he was still even here she did not know, but he was.

There was another flare of power and her wounds started to heal. As each cut mended she moved faster and faster, launching into Shunpo the moment she could, racing towards Reina and where the others were.

Her companion kept up to her easily with his own Sonido, and once again she wondered why he was bothering to follow her and hadn’t just left.

She ignored him in favor of racing to her destination. She spotted the others ahead, watched as they burst into the throne room, her and her companion right behind them.

She saw Reina and Akusesshou, saw the portal, and didn’t think any further then that. She raced forward, consolidating her reiatsu around her, bursting through the wall of earth Monban had summoned to stop her, and then slammed into the wall as the portal closed before she could reach it.

Roaring with rage she turned her fury onto Monban. He looked at her in shock as her reiatsu lashed across the room, causing her friends to stumble under the force of it. She drew both blades and activated her Bankai.

Across the hall the others raised their reiatsu as well, fury and primal rage radiating from them as they activated their respective abilities. Then they moved as one unit, as they had been trained and practiced for hours on end. There was no mercy, there was no surrender, it was them verse the creature.

The creature that had tortured Grimm-ji. Kinomi had never fought in such rage before, but it was a cold rage, a channeled rage. Never before had she wanted to kill. She wanted him dead, dust, a memory.

She could feel ‘tera’s reiatsu coil tightly around her own, acting like a support as the Zanpakuto’s own rage at what had been done to the other part of its soul gave the energy a kind of frightening intelligence. In the back of her mind Kyattsuai hissed in rage as well, bloodlust flowing from her spirit.


A single figure stood in the door way as he watched the fight, watched how the strange Shinigami/Hollow hybrids went against Monban in a fury that was frightening more so because it was focused rather then blind. He could read death in each of their eyes.

“Why are you still here?” He asked as a figure joined him.

“Heard there was a good fight going on.” Nnoitra answered with a wide grin as he joined the former 4th at the door. “Strange thought isn’t it, espada having kids.”

Ulquiorra spared his companion a glance before returning to the fight before them, the room now nothing more then shreds and the ceiling long since blown off. Energy cackled in the air as the six elements wielded by Monban clashed with the various reiatsu attacks of the hybrids.

Looking at Kinomi he wondered how it could be she was not Grimmjow’s kid judging by her Bankai form. What was even more puzzling was the skill in which she wielded Pantera. Even a hollows Zanpakuto should have rejected a strangers touch but Grimmjow’s blade was doing anything but rejecting the Shinigami, instead it was working with her, lending her its power.

It was unprecedented and it drew his curiosity. What had happened while he had been under Akusesshou’s spell? Beside him Nnoitra had eyes only for the fight, his gaze locked on a boy who reminded him so much of Ichigo he could almost see the reddish blond hair and black Zanpakuto.

“Hard to believe that brats is Grimmjow’s kid aint it?” Nnoitra suddenly asked, grinning when Zan busted his way through the large ball of fire Monban had tossed at him as if it was merely a candle flame and not strong enough to have dusted more normal Shinigami or hollows.

Ulquiorra simply nodded his head in agreement, his eyes on Kinomi. There was a primal fury there that did indeed remind him of Grimmjow, but it was far more refined. Not necessarily domesticated, but more in control. Like the difference between a well aged lion and an adolescent trying to carve a place for his own pride.

“They are truly amazing, aren’t they? I just want to get them into my lab and see what makes them up.” Another voice joined them.

Ulquiorra spared a glance at Szayel as the pink haired man joined them to watch the fight.

“Hard to believe she’s related to Stark-san isn’t it? I think a minute of her activity is more then I ever saw him put out in a year.”

“Which one?” Nnoitra asked curiously.

“The one with wings.” Szayel waved to where Taka was hovering in the air, currently charging another cero while dodging a blast of air aimed her way.

“They seem pissed about something.” Nnoitra commented, stepping aside as a reflected blast tore past them.

“One of their friends was taken by Akusesshou.” Ulquiorra answered.

“Ah.”

There was a sudden rush of power and the others suddenly scattered away from Kinomi, her reiatsu flashing bright blue and white. The twin reiatsu swirling around her and enveloping her.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen before, and judging by the looks of shock on her friends face this was something new to them as well.

“I think a tactful retreat might be in order.” Szayel suggested as the reiatsu burned against their skin.

The three former Espada disappeared in three bangs of Sonido as they put some good distance between themselves and the force that was Kurosaki Pantera Kinomi.


He would not fall, he refused to drop. Elemental magic clashed against their own reiatsu and the walls of earth he summoned made it almost impossible to get into melee range. They tossed their own Kidou and hollow spells out to counter his own elemental magic.

In a fight like this Leon dropped his Resurrección, tossing kidou left, right, and combined. Zan had retained his form, relying on his strengthened hierro to help parry and block the elemental magic being flung about.

Water was the only element Monban didn’t employ against them, and they had Barbo to thank for that. It didn’t stop him from using ice though and Barbo was not nearly as trained as his mother had been to make use of the similar element.

Lightning crackled through the air, fire burnt it. Beams of solid light and darkness flew in all directions and walls of earth made getting into melee almost impossible. Blast of air forced them to keep a distance as well as the only one who seemed able to predict the invisible element was Taka.

The lose of Reina was felt, but they had trained for such events. Times they would be down members simply because they were on another mission or injured.

Kinomi could feel ‘tera’s silent rage building inside of her, could feel the Zanpakuto’s reiatsu envelope her like it had since she was a child, protecting her. She could feel the blades anger at the creature before her, the creature who had hurt the other part of ‘tera’s soul.

She felt the blue reiatsu merge with her own, lending her strength she had never felt before. The power built up around her, coiling around her until she felt like she was ready to burst.

Having not been engaged for the last several moments Monban was not paying attention to her, instead he was taking great satisfaction as one of his lightning blast hit Taka and her childhood friend screamed in agony as the bolts raced across her body.

Kinomi charged in, both blades poised and ready to strike. A wall of earth rose before her, but she ignored it, pleased when the red beams of energy from her brother’s Sangre Inciso broke the wall down.

Monban was just turning to face her as she buried ‘tera to the hilt in his chest. His eyes widened in shock as he stared down at the Zanpakuto buried in his chest before looking back at Kinomi.

“This is for everything you ever did to Grimm-ji.” She declared coldly.

Then she pulled ‘tera up, almost cleaving him in two and backing away at the last second to avoid the fountain of blood that erupted from the body. She felt ‘tera’s reiatsu pulse once, as if spitting on the corpse, before subsiding and going quite in Kinomi’s hand once again, the reiatsu returning to its normal, if not exhausted, feeling sense.

Monban was down, and now that the adrenaline of the fight was over they were able to take stock of just how badly beating up they were.

Kinomi staggered as for the second time in under an hour she had blown through her reiatsu. She caught herself on Kyattsuai, leaning against the blade in exhaustion, her world fading in and out.

If it took all of them to take out Monban, what the hell where they going to do against Akusesshou? She didn’t have long to think about it because the blackness won and she felt herself falling, although she never would recall hitting the ground.

When Kinomi awoke she realized she was in a room, laying on a rather uncomfortable pallet. Her hands automatically reached out for her weapons, a soft sigh of relief washing over her as her right hand ran down Kyattsuai’s sheath while the left ran down ‘tera’s.

In her mind Kyattsuai purred softly and she felt ‘tera’s reiatsu pulse warmly around her before settling down.

“I have never seen such a thing. It is truly remarkable. Had she been his daughter I might have a basis to work with, but she isn’t related at all.”

That was a voice she didn’t know and she forced herself to sit up and look around. Her friends were in various states of repair around her.

Galgo was awake and rewrapping a binding around a nasty gash in his arm.

Taka was unconscious, smelt like burnt meat, and looked like she had been electrocuted half a dozen times, which she had been.

Barbo was unconscious, tossing a bit in his unrest. His fingers were black from frost burn as Monban had been turning his water attacks into ice. His skin was pasty white and Kinomi could see his breath, no doubt his lungs still recovering from being iced.

Leon was sleeping mostly peacefully, but his reiatsu was almost extinguished. His pool was no where near as large as theirs and despite his meticulous control the fight had drawn every drop of his power, which was another reason he had dropped his Resurrección.

Azucena, who was in the middle of healing a nasty burn on Zan’s back, appeared fine while Kinomi’s brother was still unconscious, his skin bright red from the intense heat of Monban’s fire spells.

That led her to gaze at the other three occupants of the room. She knew who they were of course, for she had all the data on them, but why they were still here and helping her was a mystery.

“Oh, I see you are awake.” Szayel commented as he waltzed up to her.

“How long have I been out?” She asked.

“A few hours.” He answered. “Now that you are awake, perhaps you could answer some rather intriguing questions for me.”

She really didn’t feel like getting interrogated by the former 8th right now, but giving her current condition there really was no escape.

“A few.” She reluctantly agreed.

“Perfect.” He smiled at her. “Let us begin with who you all are perhaps.”

With a sigh, Kinomi introduced her friends and their respective parents, confirming Aizen was long since dead and that Lilinette, Stark and Ggio had been living in Soul Society while Grimmjow and Neliel had claimed Las Noches.

She was positive she saw the former 5th jerk a bit at Neliel’s name, but she wasn’t sure and ignored it for now as coincidence if anything.

“All very interesting, breeding Shinigami with Arrancar, what a delightful concept.”

“You are starting to sound a little too close to Kurotsuchi-taichou for comfort.” She grumbled.

A look of dread actually shuddered up the former 8ths spine and Kinomi wondered what had happened between the two to warrant that, then decided it was another item to add to her 'she was better of not knowing' list.

“You seem to have a close connection to Grimmjow’s Zanpakuto.” He commented.

Kinomi nodded as she hugged the blade close, so many fond memories racing through her mind at the mere presence of the blade.

“As long as I can remember ‘tera has been close to my soul.” She admitted. “When we were just children being raised in Las Noches there was a lot of powerful reiatsu that hurt. Grimm-ji wasn’t always around and Okaasan’s reiatsu was often sealed so he use to leave ‘tera behind to protect me.”

“You were raised here?” Nnoitra suddenly spoke up.

“For the first six years, yes.” She admitted. “Until Otousan, the vizard and the rest of Soul Society came to rescue us.”

“Vizard?” Szayel asked confused.

“A shinigami/hollow hybrid. An earlier experiment done by Aizen he thought to be a failure, but his test subjects survived and paid him back in full.” She explained.

For the next hour or so she filled them in on what had been happening while they had been enslaved, answering their questions as they came. Nnoitra seemed more interested in what she had to say about her father and Kenpachi while Szayel was more interested in the half breeds and her link to ‘tera. It made for a very jerky and jump about conversation.

As her brain restarted and her body’s aches started to slowly seep her mind went back to Reina and the terror she had felt from her friend. They had no idea where she was and unlike when they had been searching for Grimmjow they had no way to track her.

She almost wished she hadn’t killed Monban so they might interrogate him on where Akusesshou had taken her, but without Reina they could not undo the past. Hindsight really was an evil thing.

“It was far harder to capture something you want alive then kill anyhow. Trying to take him alive would have likely resulted in casualties.” She thought to herself and heard Kyattsuai murmur in agreement.

Her phone started to beep, causing them all to jump a bit in shock until she dug it out of her pocket and flipped it open to see what the new message was.

“What’s it say?” Taka asked weakly from her pallet.

“Well, it looks like Yoruichi-san was successful in convincing the sotaichou that Akusesshou is a threat and they are sending a force in to deal with it.”

“Surprisingly good news. So what’s the catch?” She asked.

“What makes you think there is a catch?” Nnoitra asked.

“When the Sotaichou is involved, there is always a catch.” Taka, Kinomi, Zan and Leon said at the exact same time.
Galgo just grunted, Barbo remained silent, and Azucena continued to heal them nervously.

“So, the catch?” Leon encouraged.

“The usual.” She sighed. “We are suspected of traitorous actions for playing with the system to make up fake missions and coming to Hueco Mundo without orders.”

“Well, we did see that one coming.” Taka sighed.

“Who are they sending?” Barbo suddenly asked.

“Not sure. Either way we need to find where that bastard brought Reina-chan.”

They shared a sigh, having no idea on how or where to even look for where Akusesshou had brought Reina.

“Let’s search the fortress.” Galgo suggested. “We might find something useful.”

With a nod they all forced themselves to their feet, some more easily than others. Azucena protested, but gave up four words in, knowing just how stubborn they all were.

“You lot aren’t in any shape to be going anywhere.” Nnoitra pointed out.

“No one else to do it.” Kinomi declared. “And it will be a cold day in hell indeed when we leave one of our own behind. HMK’s, let’s move out.” She declared.

“HMK’s?” Szayel mused at the strange term.

“Hueco Mundo Kids.” Zan explained. “Since other then me they were all born here.”

“Then how do you fit?” Nnoitra demanded.

“I was conceived here.” He shrugged.

“Leaving now would be fool hearty.” Ulquiorra spoke up for the first time since Kinomi had awoken.

“Sitting here isn’t going to get us anywhere.” Kinomi countered. “And after Akusesshou’s purging there really aren’t any threats out there right now. We can recover while we move.”

He regarded her in silence before speaking again.

“Akusesshou just finished refurbishing a fortress far to the West. Perhaps he went there.”

Kinomi nodded in thanks and led her friends out of the castle and down to where the two boats from earlier still sat on a beach of rotting corpses. The three former Espada watched from the cliff face as the HMK’s headed out.

Kinomi didn’t expect them to come, after all they had already done more then she had anticipated from them and she would have been shocked had the former espada offered to help rescue their friend.

She would have thought they would have at least wanted revenge, at least Nnoitra, but when she thought about it there was no doubt that it was Monban who had tortured and weakened them enough to enslave them and as such their hatred had probably been for the now dead man.

The truth was that the three of them where in worse shape then the kids. Their reiatsu drained to nothing and apparently not replenishing at a steady rate like it should have. There was nothing left to eat here and attempting to eat one of the kids would have aroused the wrath of the others, and in their weakened state would have meant their deaths.

The only thing to do was suffer silently as the natural energy in the air of Hueco Mundo replenished them at an agonizingly slow rate and rest their revenge on some brats they had never met before now.



Reina awoke slowly to find her Zanpakuto gone, her shinigami outfit replaced by a simple, shear gown she would have no chance of hiding anything in, and in a simple room with no window and only a bed for furniture.

Terror held her as she quickly checked her body for damage and determined she appeared to be fine and nothing hurt like she was sure it would have had something happened.

Her reiatsu was suppressed but she found no items on her person to explain why so figured it must have had something to do with the room. A quick check of the door showed no way to open it and it appeared to be firmly sealed.

She retreated to a corner as far away from the simple bed as she could get and wondered briefly if this had been the fear her mother had lived with while being held by her father. It had come as a shock when she had learned what her father had done to her mother.

Everything she remembered of her father was that of a stern man whose eyes would soften just the slightest when she was presented to him. Who demanded perfection from her in every way while praising her in his own way for doing well.

Did her father lover her? She did not know and often lost sleep over it after the relationship her parents had shared came to light. She settled that while he may not have loved her, he at least had been proud of her and never hesitated to show her off to Aizen when the chance arose.

Still, to learn of her parents relationship had come as a bit of a shock and she envied Leon the relationship his father shared with their mother. Now here she was in the same position her mother had been, only this time there were no friends to help her through it, no one to heal the damages done by the monster in the morning.

She jumped when a small slit in the door opened and a small tray of food with a glass of water was pushed in, and then there was silence again. She ignored it, not moving from her place huddled in the corner of her cell. The plates were replaced twelve times before someone opened the door finally, and she felt her heart stop in terror as the light crept into the room.

“You are refusing to eat.” Akusesshou commented as he stepped into the room.

Reina ignored him, looking at the wall instead. She wanted nothing to do with the creature. She tried to still the pounding of her heart, but she still flinched when his shadow fell upon her, terror chocking her.

“I require for you to be in full health.” He declared.

She suddenly wished she was as strong as Kinomi or Taka. They would have told him just where they thought he could take his requirements and probably lay a fist in his face at the same time.

He bent down and picked up the plate of food before setting it in front of her, looking at her sternly.

“Eat.” He commanded.

She shook her head.

“If you will not eat then we can get right down to the reason for your being here.”

Her entire body stiffened in terror. She forced herself to move, to take the plate of food and begin to eat, the food was tasteless and she had to force it down her throat. Akusesshou smiled at her. After her third bite he turned and left, informing her she had better eat the whole tray by the time he returned.

As soon as he left she pushed the tray aside and remained curled in her corner. Several moments later the door opened again and a creature walked in. She glared up at the intruder before quickly ignoring it. It took the tray of food, sat down before her, and tried to force her too eat.

She struggled against the zombie like creature, her eye wide in horror. It simply tried to cram the food in her mouth without a word. After the forth forced mouthful that nearly choked her to death she relented and ate the rest of the meal before she died from choking to death.

Once she was done the plate was removed and the zombie like creature left. It continued like that for the next five feedings, the strange, soulless creature coming in with her food and force feeding her if she refused to eat.

Stay tuned for Chapter 24: Journey to the West

Where we see more terrain other than just desert and learn some startling things about Hueco Mundo's history.

/love ya my reviewers. Tomorrow night is the deadline for sending out requests for what you want to see in the side story.

7dragons7, just try to hold on my friend, tomorrow brings a big surprise and since I got the day off the chapter might be up around noonish PST.

Hmm, Noitra and Nemu, now that is an interesting parring. I'll see if I can work with it but Nemu is difficult to work with. I might have a base line for it though. Wait till you all see who Szayel gets. I can guarantee it not a single person will guess it, except for the one person I already told of course, lol.

A while back Kazes and I did a one shot each on the same theme to see how two different artist can take the same idea and have it turn out so differently. It's called Lab Hazards and features Nnoitra/Szayel.

Well we had so much fun with it we did it again, this time the prompt was Stark/Grimmjow and drunk and I'll be posting them this time, Kazes posted the other. So if you feel like checking them out it would be cool. This one is called Binge Drinking and it's side effects. I am posting it right after I post this chapter :)

See ya all tomorrow