And I don’t wanna say I told you so...

[shoottokill]

Gin Ichimaru's footsteps were light on the Desert Palace's ancient stone floor. They were soft enough to barely echo off the walls except for the scuff of a toe or heel.

He liked the Palace at night. It was more peaceful, like any populated place tended to be when most of the inhabitants were in bed and, for the most part, quiet. Even the air seemed to move more quietly when the hum of conversation and the distant sparks and flares of spiritual pressure were felt from the training centre, where the wards applied didn't keep it back if the door was left open.

Peaceful as it was, he rarely slept there. He had somewhere else for that, somewhere within his jurisdiction as a Gotei captain. He retained a room though, and it was from there that he was walking, heading in the direction of the quiet kitchen, while the borrowed sky outside the window was dark and the air was cool and filled with the smells of night time.

Nobody seemed to be up. He was sure that some of the denizens would still be awake, doing whatever they felt like in their rooms, but nobody was up and about. It was too late for the night owls and too early for the morning people. He smiled to himself as he reached the top of the stairs down to the main hall, but the expression fell away abruptly when the sound of an alarm split the silence.

The noise set every nerve in Gin's teeth on edge. Halfway between a scream and a siren, it was a magically amplified and erratic, half-undulating sound that had obviously been designed not to be ignored under any of the circumstances it might be set off to. It was hideous, organic and ear-splittingly loud, akin to the sound of a thousand babies crying and just as many tomcats yowling, foxes screaming and nails being drawn down a chalk board and it rose and fell in tone enough that it was impossible to get used to. For a moment, even Gin stood frozen at the top of the stairs, eyes briefly wide, the hair on the back of his neck on end.

"That's new," he said to himself, his soft voice drowned by the screechy baying of the siren.

He headed down to the hall, feet quick on the stairs. From beyond the front door, and the hall that separated the door to the Zertinan Caverns from the palace proper, he heard a low roar, angry and bellowing, even with the siren's wail doing its best to block everything else out.

"Oh," he said. "Look's like one of Kuja's little pets has slipped its leash." He smiled to himself, directing his gaze up the stairs, anticipating appearances from other members of the Clan. "This should be fun."

Comments

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia had been asleep.

Emphasis on had. The noise cut through his dreamless slumber and woke him so surely that he felt like he hadn't been asleep at all. It was more effective than a shot of caffeine could ever hope to be. More effective than any alarm clock.

Marluxia had no idea what was going on, what the noise even was, but he didn't need to be awake to reason that noise didn't signify anything good. It was both organic, and artificial, and whoever was responsible for it had clearly decided to hit every single note that sawed across a human brain, and from the sound of it, a few more species besides, in a way that was absolutely impossible to ignore.

A warning, then. Though what it warned of remained a mystery.

Marluxia didn't sleep naked, and a sound such as that didn't suggest there was time to dress before attending to it's call. He left his room wearing plain black pyjama trousers, and hair that looked messy rather than fluffy, and not much else.

The sound didn't seem to fade in any part of the Palace he noticed, as he made his way to the entrance hall. He expected Lumi wouldn't be far behind, but knowing Lumi, he was probably grabbing at least a gun before he came out, still recovering from his injury or not. Marluxia had no need to pause to collect a weapon, fortunately. He debated waiting for Lumi, but decided that finding out what was going on would be a more fruitful use of his time, in this instant.

He spotted Gin in the hall, suspiciously fully dressed, though it was hard to claim suspiciously awake given how suddenly alert Marluxia felt, and then heard a noise beyond the Palace's entrance.

"Ah." So that was what it warned of.

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra woke to the sound of the screaming alarm with a look of shock on his face. He gritted his teeth, pushing himself up into a sitting position and was out of bed before he realised what was going on.

He didn't know what the siren signified, but it was a siren, so he was on his feet before he had time to think about it. He squinted around the room, waiting for his eye to adjust, his normally slitted pupil round, not that it helped in his bleary state.

Already dressed in a pair of loose training trousers, he grabbed his patch from the bedside table and groped about in the dark for his Zanpakuto. He was out in the hallway quickly enough to see Marluxia turning the corner at the end of the corridor. He couldn't have stopped to grab anything, he thought. He set off before even considering that he hadn't bothered to suppress his Mist Mutation. As such, he descended the staircase with twice as many arms as usual, his sword held in one of his four hands, the patch in another, and his ruined eye uncovered.

"What the fuck's going on?" He demanded, raising his voice over the noise. In the moments after sleep, his voice sounded rougher than usual.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi awoke instantly and sat bolt upright, eyes wide in the dark, pupils as round as a cat's. Just as instantly, as pain shot through his chest and shoulder, he regretted the involuntary action. He gave a growl, partly pain and partly frustration, and brought a hand up to cover the healing wound and dressing both.

It had stopped bleeding, and the flesh had largely knit, especially on the surface, but keeping it strapped up helped with the healing, or so Neliel had said. He wasn't inclined to argue.

Within seconds the sound of the siren had started causing him more discomfort than the wound. The noise, the different pitches and the screaming tone, cut across everything with all the subtlety of a chainsaw and he found himself gritting his teeth and shaking his head as if to rid himself of it.

Whatever was the cause of that noise, it was obviously serious. He got out of bed, clad in only pajama trousers, and crossed the room in the pitch dark to the dresser. Others might have kept personal items in such a place, but Lumi kept weaponry.

If it was an incursion, he would want a weapon. Instinctively, he reached for the sword, but he stopped short of its hilt, fingers outstretched. A frown crossed his face, the expression deepened by the unrelenting noise. He ran a finger along the woven binding, the bright blue seeming inky black in the darkness. It was a heavy weapon, but comfortable to have. Had he not been injured he might have taken it... but he didn't. He withdrew his hand with a little reluctance, wrapped his fingers around the sturdier of his guns, grabbed a scattering of ammunition, and headed into the hallway with barely another thought.

He had the bullets stowed in his pocket before the door had closed behind him and by the time he had reached the stairs he had it cocked and loaded.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj had, in the past, slept all over the Palace, and he rarely slept alone. Now, he did tend to sleep in his own bed, but it still wasn't often that he slept alone. Grimmjow was a regular visitor, and sometimes his presence included Tayuya's.

Not that night, however.

Kadaj recognised the sound of Kuja's alarm. It had damn good reason for being as nerve shatteringly attention grabbing; if that was activated, then something needed immediate attention. The immediate attention it needed was being eliminated post-haste.

Kadaj was out of bed before he even registered the fact he was awake, and he pulled on a pair of trousers. Nakedness was going to be a bad plan because there were high odds that there'd be a fight in the immediate future, and Kadaj didn't wear anything to bed. He dressed surprisingly quickly, grabbed Souba from his bedside, and exited his room at a brisk walk.

He saw Nnoitra stalking ahead, too far ahead to catch up without running, and let him go on ahead. Kadaj was slightly relieved to see Gin was about when he got into the hall, because Gin meant there was someone else who knew what was going on.

He looked Gin over, from the feet up, noting that he was fully dressed, and not in the hurried, dived-into-his-clothes-but-didn't-stop-to-do-his-hair way that Kadaj currently was. His gaze lingered on Gin's face for a second before he looked away, and to Nnoitra. Marluxia was already there too, and he hadn't paused to dress at all. Nor, from the look of it, had Lumi, although Lumi at least was armed.

"Something hostile's too close," he said, answering Nnoitra's question and raising his voice a bit to be heard over the racket. Kuja really should consider a sideline in alarm clocks; they'd be aggravatingly effective. Nnoitra didn't really need to know any more, and the matter of what exactly it was that was hostile, and why it had become hostile wasn't one they had time to delve into at that second.

[soundfivebitch]

"Motherfucker," Tayuya groaned, rolling over and pressing a pillow over her ears. The noise was like a thousand cats wailing, or a thousand babies screeching, or a whole bunch of foxes getting fucking laid, or all of those things, all at the same time.

She wasn't alone in bed. Between the three of them, her, Kadaj, and Grimmjow had a complex little arrangement that meant on any given night, one of them wasn't alone, although if Kadaj was part of the night's plans it was usually his bed and his room. They were bigger, that was all. Plus he had the expensive shampoo and shower gel, and it was fun to steal them.

"We need to go and kill something," she added, without looking at Grimmjow, before giving up and throwing the pillow across the room in a temper. She was tired, and now she had to get up, because you didn't ignore shit that sounded like that, especially not in Khamja. Anything serious enough to warrant that kind of din was the kind of shit she'd be expected to get out of bed for. No matter how much she didn't want to.

She pulled on yesterday's knickers from the floor, and an oversized t-shirt, and grabbed her flute, looking positively murderous. "Whatever it is, I am gonna shove my fucking fist up its entire ass and punch its fucking teeth out."

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia looked up at Lumi as he approached the stairs to the hall, noting that he had, as expected, brought the gun. He wondered if Lumi should have brought a larger one, given the volume of the thing that had triggered the alarm, and the size it would probably be to reach that kind of volume.

"Something particularly unhappy from the sound of it," he added to Kadaj's brief explanation. Kadaj, at least, seemed to have dealt with similar before, or in the very least, had it instilled in him what he should do in this situation.

It was not going to be a good day for whatever it was, no matter how unhappy and large it might sound. Disturbing the sleep of the Palace's residents was a sure way to ensure a quick if messy death.

"It seems we have an incursion," he said, once Lumi was close enough to hear.

[thesilentstorm]

"It seems that we do," Lumi replied, taking his accustomed place at Marluxia's side. His voice was sleep-roughened, though he didn't raise it much over the noise.

His pupils, even in the light of the hall, remained as round and wide as they had in the dark, like those of a cat preparing to pounce. When he turned his gaze to Marluxia they constricted back into line-like slits, but only for the duration of the look.

"It woke me up," he said bluntly, expression flat, eyes on the door. "It is not likely to be a problem for long."

[prayingmantis]

"How?" Nnoitra asked, tying his patch in place. "I thought there was security."

He didn't look happy, but he looked alert and awake. He took in the assembled group, surprised to not see Ulquiorra, but not entirely shocked to see those who had already made it. Marluxia and Lumi both seemed combat-ready enough to get out of bed immediately at the sound of an alarm even if only one of them had come armed, and Gin was obviously already up. Kadaj knew what the alarm meant, so he hadn't wasted any time. His own upbringing in Balamb Garden had prepared him for quick starts, but the others ... they were dragging their heels.

Patch in place, he released his weapon to the Arrancar equivalent of Shikai and changed the form from a regular sword into his absurd, crescent-bladed hafted axe.

[jawmask]

If the alarm hadn't roused Grimmjow from sleep, Tayuya's raging would have. He pushed himself up, the shrilling of the alarm ringing in his ears, and groaned to himself, looking at the luminous numbers of the clock floating in the dark just above the bedside table.

He couldn't have long been asleep.

"Kill what?" He asked, shaking off the last threads of sleep and getting up, as Tayuya had done.

He grabbed the trousers he'd worn the day before, but didn't bother with the shirt. He did, however, grab Pantera. Without a proper belt to attach the sword to, he just held it by the scabbard and crossed the small room to the door, stepping on the pillow Tayuya had lobbed.

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss steeled himself and jumped down from the back of Forvalaka, expression serious. He heard and felt the attack outside, the discharge of Chakra and Fire magic rippling through the air.

"Now," he said, a little more sharply than he knew he could.

He used Sonido, something he wasn't hugely practised at, to get outside as quickly as possible, trusting that Lumi, Marluxia and Forvalaka would follow him, at a safe distance.

Wonderweiss arrived outside to a sea of flame. The Arrancar were relying on their Hierro and Nel's Shell spells and Even was weathering it with Shell and depending on the force of his own apparently formidable Sentinel ability to guard him from the fire. Fire didn't bother Wonderweiss, not with Fury on his side. Fury was a nickname, a sobriquet, not his Hollow's real name. It's true name was Extinguir, and it lived up to it.

Within seconds of Wonderweiss's arrival, the fire began to converge on him, being absorbed by his Hollow's natural ability to take in and negate fire. Within seconds, the battlefield was clear.

He felt Lumi behind him, sensitive as he was to the proximity of animal-like creatures, and he felt Forvalaka afterwards, his Chakra flaring as he arrived, heavy paws thudding on the rock behind him.

The wyrm, up close, was immense. It seemed even bigger than he had guessed from his glimpse through the door, and its reiatsu was heavy, as befit anything with Chakra reserves as vast as it possessed. Wonderweiss was stronger than he looked, though, magically, and didn't bow. Fury was enough to help him endure it.

Wasting no time, he concentrated his Chakra.

[declaregamuza]

Nel was further back than a lot of the others, but she'd still had to brace against the oncoming surge of flames. She needed to check Even as soon as she could. He was an impressive sentinel, she knew that, but this attack was.... something else.

Nnoitra and Grimmjow, too. A shell spell could only stand up against so much.

She felt the fire begin to pull away before she risked looking up. It wasn't a normal petering out of an attack, it was caused by something else.

The fire swirled and converged on a point, and as it was sucked in and dissipated, she saw what stood at the centre of that point. She saw who.

"Wonderweiss!"

He was too close to the thing, and he looked so tiny before it. He was going to get flattened.

[destroytiburon]

Halibel had already seen who had emerged from the Palace's entrance. Wonderweiss's Hollow absorbed fire, of course. It would make him a useful ally in a fight against an enemy such as this.

She did not expect him to have the strength to stand before it. She did not expect the Torama, or Lumi, or Marluxia to follow him out, a safe distance behind.

They had a plan. If it wasn't for the presence of Lumi and Marluxia, Halibel would believe that plan to consist of Wonderweiss sacrificing himself to allow the rest of them to escape. That was not the kind of action she expected from the likes of the two Ryoka, however.

She lowered her weapon, and watched what happened next.

[gracefuldahlia]

The Arrancar called it Sonido. Shinigami called it Shunpo. Ninja called it the Body Flicker Technique. The Nobodies had never had a formal name for it, it was simply, to them, an ability. It was one Marluxia had been good at, and still was good at.

It also wasn't one he was prepared to show off here and now, since he intended on getting out of this situation alive.

He followed Wonderweiss's trail, not openly rushing, in part so there was time for the fire to dissipate before he walked out into it. A number of the Arrancar were singed, and Marluxia gave Even a long look as he moved past him. He, of all of them, had been the biggest surprise so far.

Nel's voice cut through the air. She was, by nature, caring, but it was no secret that Neliel had a soft spot for the younger Arrancar, and Wonderweiss in particular. There was a rumour that she'd once hit Aizen over Wonderweiss, although how true it was, Marluxia couldn't say. Nel still had her life, after all.

He looked at her, clearly ready for springing into action and dragging Wonderweiss away.

"He is a Beastmaster," he said, "let him try."

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra's eyes widened. Wonderweiss was not so fast that Ulquiorra couldn't see his movement as he used sonido to bring himself to the heart of the flames, and draw them in.

He was soon followed by Lumi, and Marluxia, and Nel's worried voice filled the cavern.

Wonderweiss planned to subjugate the wyrm. It was foolish. The wyrm was many levels beyond that of Wonderweiss, his defeat was likely assured. Another plan, then? Or did Wonderweiss genuinely believe he could subjugate this beast? Marluxia and Lumi seemed to be in support of it, more importantly, they seemed to believe Wonderweiss could succeed or they would not have endangered themselves so by stepping out into the cavern after him.

Ulquiorra suffered a strange sensation, like a knot in his chest, and an itch in his palms. He didn't have friends, but he did not dislike Wonderweiss, who was one of the few that showed due respect and had proved his potential worth. He had stepped in to a fight Ulquiorra had been losing. Ulquiorra had been well disposed to him ever since, and had cared for the dreamhares Wonderweiss kept when he had gone out into the world to practice his skill as a beastmaster.

Watching him stand before the wyrm now felt strange. Strangest of all was that Ulquiorra felt.

[spira_npc]

He spewed the fire forth until he had run out, but the air had become different. It wasn't filled with his fire but with... something else.

A new one. One that was dead, and yet was not. Smaller, and weaker than all the others that had stood before him so far, and yet this one thrived on the fire. This one made him wary.

He stood to his full height, proud and terrible, tattered and ruined wings splayed, and claws scoring the rock below his feet, and he looked at the thing that dared stand in front of him.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi stood in line with Marluxia, his gun in hand, though he held it loosely. Not for the first time he wished he had brought his sword instead.

He watched Nel, carefully, waiting for her to stop Wonderweiss. Lumi knew what it took for Wonderweiss to subdue and bind a beast, if Nel distracted him with some misguided motherly instinct, they were both dead.

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra was barely on his feet after the blast from the fire, and Grimmjow had been driven to his knees by him. He was panting, glad that the Shell had taken the brunt of the attack, but enough had got past both the spell and Wonderweiss's negation that he didn't feel one hundred percent even so.

He looked at the kid, a scowl on his face, astonished to see him not only on the front line, but standing up. He knew that Wonderweiss's position in the Espada was in flux because of his potential power, but he didn't realise that he had enough raw power to stand there, unaffected, in an Arrancar's Shikai, while Grimmjow had suffered in the same state.

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss looked up into the face of the dragon, teeth clenched, and concentrated his Chakra in the tips of the first two fingers of his right hand.

He closed his eyes, held his left hand at his waist, fist balled as if holding the scabbard of a sword, and cut across himself with the extended fingers of the right. There was no visible light, no fanfare, nothing particularly special, but the line was straight and forcefully drawn.

"Rin-byou-tou-sha-kai-jin-retsu-zen-" the syllables came accompanied by a slash horizontally, or vertically. The first came across, left to right, the second top to bottom, and then they continued in sequence until the last, a horizontal, "gyou!"

The language that the words were spoken in was long dead, though it bared similarities to some that had more recently fallen out of use. They were words unique to the Beastmaster class, and were said to have been heaven-granted to those who walked that path. All living monsters, regardless of their power or their status, responded to them, for they signalled a call to a battle of wills that could not be ignored.

The last word rang, and it was upon saying that one that Wonderweiss opened his eyes to initiate that battle.

With an intake of breath and an effort to calm himself, he clicked his front teeth together, the sound lost in the roar of the dragon's breathing. He needed to focus. Focus was everything.

[gracefuldahlia]

He saw Nel move. It was sonido, to try and pull Wonderweiss away from the monster. Neliel's attempt to reach him before he finished incanting his spell was a valiant one.

But it wasn't fast enough that Marluxia couldn't see it, and catch her.

His arm caught around her waist, and her momentum made him shift his feet to hold her. The 'gyou' echoed, and the atmosphere changed to one of intense concentration. It was already too late for Nel to drag Wonderweiss away safely. If she tried it now, she'd endanger them all.

"It's too late for that," he whispered, softly.

[spira_npc]

Beastmaster.

That was the name for them now. There had been other names in the past. Little creatures that used those words, and commanded his attention. They had many names and many forms over the many years.

There had been others that had tried this on him in the past. They had failed. His will had been stronger than theirs. Then others had come along, and their collar had been stronger than his will.

He would not be bound again.

He breathed, the world narrowing to the little one with the big ambitions. This was a different kind of fight. One he had never lost. One he would not lose now.

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss had lost all concept of time.

He didn't know how long he had stood there, nor how long he would have to. All he could feel was the wyrm, the force in front of him, pushing against him, but not hard enough to move him. Dimly, he knew that his legs ached and, even more dimly, he felt the presences of creatures close to him, benevolent ones, two beasts, but he wasn't sure where they were.

He wasn't sure he could even see any more, all he was aware of before him was the dragon, and he couldn't say whether he could see the thing, or whether the creature's power had just imprinted itself in his mind, like the after image left after a flash of bright light. Sweat dripped down his face, but he did not blink.

He was getting tired.

Submit, he thought, determination surging. Submit to me.

[spira_npc]

Only one, long before, when the wyrm was young, had lasted this long. None had been this unmovable. This determined.

This one stood fast. He fought. He fought for things other than himself. He did not wish power for the sake of power.

It was novel, and interesting.

It had been many hours, many more than he had expected, and still this one had reserves of determination that hammered against his own with renewed fervour.

Impressive. Yes, he was impressive to continue on against the fatigue of his fragile, small body. His strength of will contained another, still contained it, despite the extended surge and push of the contest. He was all too aware of how easily these delicate, little creatures that had collared him by force when he would not give his submission surrendered to their own weakness. This one did not, had not, and perhaps would not until the very last.

Perhaps this one deserved recognition of that strength.

I have never submit.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia had been present for other such contests. He'd observed Wonderweiss subjugating the Hellhound. It was the first time he'd ever seen such a thing, and it had been strangely tense at the time even though the monster in question would have been one easily dispatched by himself or Lumi.

This beast would not be readily dealt with, and this contest was taking much longer than others had.

Ulquiorra and Neliel had left, and then reappeared soon after. Ulquiorra first, dressed in his Arrancar uniform and wearing an expression of silent attentiveness. Neliel had reappeared shortly after, and given Marluxia a look that had graduated from merely poisonous to outright venomous.

He'd ignored her. There may be trouble later, but for now, Wonderweiss was more important.

In deference to Lumi's voiced concerns about having his gun for weaponry, Marluxia had collected his sword for him. He hadn't been pleased about the idea of leaving him, but he'd been satisfied that Wonderweiss was in this for the long haul.

He'd also taken the opportunity to dress, since standing before a wyrm such as that wearing nothing but pyjama bottoms felt uncomfortably vulnerable.

The air was thick with the battle raging on between Wonderweiss and the wyrm, although it continued in a form unseen. Marluxia was tiring, but he could manage. He hoped that Wonderweiss would not be suffering from his own fatigue in the contest against the wyrm. It would be a pity for him to lose to it after fighting so long.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi stood a small but significant distance back from Wondwerweiss, in line with his Torama. Neither were close enough to be a distraction, but they were near enough to rush in should everything go sour. He stood, not stiffly, but at attention and with his shoulders squared. He, like Wonderweiss, hadn't wavered. Somehow, he didn't look vulnerable, not even in what he was, and wasn't, wearing.

Something shifted in the air, something so subtle it was barely there, something that may have been beneath the notice of most of those present. The Torama, who had been sitting on his haunches like a temple-side statue, stood, sensing it too.

Lumi straightened a little, eyes narrowing, and looked over his shoulder, to Marluxia. Hours ago, he had felt him leave, and, hours ago, he had felt him return. That was the only thing that could have made him take his eyes off the Wyrm, or off Wonderweiss, and he had seen what he had brought when he had looked round back then.

Something like a sense of profound relief had rushed through him at the sight of his sword and he had nodded his thanks, his expression briefly open, before turning back to the silent and impossibly tense battle between the boy and the dragon.

He hadn't turned back since. Marluxia's presence was enough, and he didn't need to see him for that. If his Chakra had flared, he would have attended to the cause, but it hadn't been necessary. Neliel, evidently, had kept her head.

When he turned now, it was to convey that something was different, that something had changed. He held out his hand for the sword, just in case. The shift was the time to make sure he was really ready.

[extinguir]

Submit now, Wonderweiss willed again, his fists balling at his sides.

He resisted a renewed urge to blink sweat from his eyes and brought his front teeth together again in a click, to bring back his focus. It was an action common to beastmasters and, for whatever reason, it seemed to work.

He wasn't going to lose. He wasn't going to give up, not now. Not after this, not with what was at stake.

Kneel...