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

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss stared into the Wyrm's eyes. They looked tiny in the thing's massive head, but they were still huge, and they filled his world at that moment.

He blocked out all that was around him, pushing all of his strength of will against that of the Wyrm, focussing everything on it, and feeling the force of the Wyrm's own pushing back against it, like a wall.

Wonderweiss had known all along that this would be the longest battle he had fought, but the intense reality of the beast's gaze compounded that notion beyond belief. He balled his fists. Fear had no place here.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia didn't suppress the smirk that grew on his lips at Lumi's reaction. Nel's grip had been tight, and strong, a sharp reminder of the strength an Arrancar possessed. Her reiatsu had flared, and Marluxia hadn't stood before a Light that strong and that angry since he'd faced the keyblade bearer.

He hadn't feared, however. Neliel was at heart a protector, and where Wonderweiss was concerned, a mother, if not a biological one. You tangled with a mother at your peril, especially when they were trained to wield a sword, but Nel was just that bit too disciplined to actually injure him.

Lumi, conversely, was that bit too disciplined to refrain from reacting. The response was almost possessive. It put Marluxia in mind of an obedient guard dog whose master was being threatened, a fact which was all the more amusing because he and Lumi had quite an equal partnership. The role of guard dog and master was one they played for the audience, but there was no denying the genuine nature of Lumi's indignation at Neliel.

He'd have to bring it up later.

[declaregamuza]

Nel nearly, nearly, responded to the grip on her wrist with her sword, but Lumi's presence hammered at her senses and she grit her teeth. He was injured, she knew, but he was monstrously strong despite that, his grip on her wrist painful and attention grabbing.

She bared her own teeth back at him, and ripped her wrist away.

"You'd better not let anything happen to him, then," she hissed, defiant and holding Lumi's gaze.

She threw Marluxia one more poisonous look before she turned away and stalked back towards the Palace's entrance. She couldn't stay and watch this. As much as she wanted to make sure that Wonderweiss wasn't hurt, she couldn't stand to simply watch him take on something like this. It made her sick and angry at the same time, and if she had to do it for much longer, she'd do something that might get him hurt.

She resisted the urge to rub her wrist as she went.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel had made his way to the doorway when Marluxia and Lumi had exited. He didn't want to get too close to the wyrm, of course, especially being one of the weakest Arrancar present, barring his own brother and Apache, but curiosity had a tendency to win out.

Wonderweiss really was intent on taming this thing. It was absurd. And yet.... Maybe it wasn't that absurd. Marluxia and Lumi seemed to have a weirdly consistent, if heavily biased, belief that Wonderweiss might be able to pull this off.

He raised an eyebrow as Wonderweiss began, and Neliel, being Neliel, did what she'd once reportedly done with Aizen, but this time to Marluxia. "If she keeps this up," he murmured, happily, "she's going to get herself a worse reputation than Nnoitra and Grimmjow."

Attacking or threatening fully fledged members of Khamja. Really, she should be setting a better example.

Lumi's reaction, though. That was worth her doing it just so that he could witness it first hand. Marluxia didn't show a second of hesitation, and nor did Lumi when he stepped in, as if he was offended by Nel's presumption.

"And if those two aren't fucking," he said, "Lumi wishes they were."

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra watched. He watched Wonderweiss initiate his battle, and he watched Neliel's altercation with Marluxia and Lumi. Neliel was plainly not thinking, and while Ulquiorra shared her thoughts that Wonderweiss should not be attempting this, her attempt to stop it was dangerous and not thought through.

Still, if anything came of it, Ulquiorra watched. He'd be able to show precisely what had happened to whomever may need to see it.

[spira_npc]

This one was stubborn. There were other forms of strength than that of the fire, or the claw, and this one possessed it. Some of it.

He pushed back. His will would not be overwhelmed. All else had faded away and the world consisted of only the moment. The boy in front of him, and the eyes staring into his. It was hard to look at, and push against, so tiny a target without losing concentration, but he didn't waver.

[shoottokill]

With the battle on hold, or over, Gin wasn't entirely certain which was correct, he walked through the hallway, his feet splashing softly in the melted water of Even's ice bank.

He'd never witnessed a binding before, but he'd heard that they could be tense, assuming the outcome wasn't assured. Most good Beastmasters could subdue smaller monsters easily enough, but he had heard that it wasn't enough to simply want to bind one, there was more to it than that, a lot of subtle ceremony, a lot of hidden power and a tremendous amount of focus.

He felt that as he reached the doorway to the outside. Splinters of wood lay on the ground ahead of him, evidently gouged out of the door. Huh, he thought. That door was supposed to be magically reinforced.

If Wonderweiss managed to pull this off, he will have achieved something uncommon, beyond even Kuja's scope. That, he thought, grinning, would be something to see.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow stepped back, lowering his hands gradually, tail flicking. Something in him didn't like what Wonderweiss was doing, but another part, the rational, human part, wanted him to beat the thing, just to prove that they weren't as puny as all that.

He backed up, not taking his eyes off the scene until he crossed paths with Gin on the way. Once he reached the door, he turned away and padded inside, looking for Kadaj and Tayuya.

There was nothing he could do outside.

[thechillyacademic]

Even felt ragged.

Nel's spells and his own defensive magic had managed to stop most of the fire before Wonderweiss had absorbed it, but it wasn't enough to prevent him getting hurt. Magic of that calibre was enough to eat away at a Shell spell, gradually depleting it to nothing before the attack was over.

He was singed and suffering the effects of being hit with the opposing spell when Nel went for Marluxia. Even didn't bother trying to interfere. Marluxia was his own man and, besides, he had Lumi to do it and do it Lumi did. He didn't hesitate, either. Had the circumstances been different, Even wondered if he would have killed her. He certainly didn't seem to have any guilt to speak of.

When Nel went inside, Even backed up, giving the boy and the dragon some space. Something was going on that he didn't entirely understand, but the others did.

He wondered what the outcome would be. Was this one of those situations where physical strength wasn't going to be the answer? It would be interesting to see.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi watched Nel go, eyes narrow and his expression deeply unimpressed. When she was out of sight, Lumi turned to Marluxia, jaw set.

"I'll back him up," he said, looking down at his gun as he reset the safety and readiness of it. "I should have brought my sword," he muttered.

Guns were useful for long-range threats, but if the thing attacked without warning, Lumi knew that a sword would be better to brace the attack against than a gun. He should be able to get Wonderweiss clear should everything go wrong, he wasn't so injured that his speed was much impaired, but it still bothered him. He had hesitated, and chose the gun. For the first time, he felt that to be a mistake.

He shook the thought off and looked at Marluxia again, expression back to neutral instead of one of mild indignation and his voice low enough for only him to hear. "Keep everybody clear and be ready with a portal."

It had saved him once, Marluxia could do it again.

[extinguir]

The commotion, talk and movement behind him seemed to fade away to nothing. It was as though it was happening somewhere else, somewhere far away, as if he could only hear it through a radio.

Why were they still there? They should have gone, he was trying this to make them go, to give them a chance at something other than a fiery death, but he knew that they were beyond his control. What they did now was their choice. His world consisted only of the Wyrm, the eyes of the Wyrm, the will of the Wyrm. He breathed out, slowly.

The power of the dragon's gaze seemed to swell ahead of Wonderweiss. It was dense, ferocious, and older than anything he had ever felt, but he wasn't about to let it beat him. He mastered his doubt and stood fast.

Time seemed to stop.

[tozasemurcielago]

This contest could take a while. Ulquiorra was not dressed to assist should it be necessary.

Should Wonderweiss fail to subdue the beast, the beast would almost certainly move to attack. If it attacked, Wonderweiss would be in condition to escape of his own volition. For the same reasons that Summoners took Guardians on their pilgrimages, Beastmasters also required support.

Others they had subdued would service them in this way, but against something such as this they would be insufficient.

Ulquiorra turned, sliding his sword back into its scabbard, and made his way back into the Palace. He needed to change anyway; his pyjama trousers were scorched and ruined, and if he was going to monitor the situation as it developed, as Aizen-sama would wish him to, then he required his uniform. At least he could fight in that.

His eyes met Ienzo-san's as he stepped back inside.

[destroytiburon]

This fight, for Halibel at least, was over. With some effort of concentration she withdrew the resurrección, containing and suppressing Tiburon's power back into the sword.

The transformation fell away, and Halibel watched Nel storm inside the Palace, angry, and making no attempt to hide it. By the rules of Khamja, Lumi and Marluxia did not have scope to exact punishment. Their request for discipline had to be made to Aizen.

Halibel doubted they cared much for such rules, however. Neliel was fortunate they had been so restrained.

She replaced her sword on her back and went after the others. This was no longer their fight, and the fewer distractions Wonderweiss was subject to, the better.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia raised an eyebrow at Lumi, his smirk from how he'd dealt with Nel still present. He'd responded like that, and now here he was, issuing instructions to Marluxia. Most significantly, issuing instructions that dictated that he, Marluxia, the uninjured one of the pair, be the one to stand back.

True, Marluxia was the one who could create portals for them to escape, but if Lumi thought he was about to let him take all the risks, in his condition, he was about to get a shock.

"You are not to endanger yourself," he said, his voice soft, but his tone inviting no arguments. "I'd rather not have to be awake all night keeping Szayel at bay again, and Neliel seems to have gone off us right now."

So Lumi was required to behave, and stay out of the way of the wyrm if it won this battle of wills. It wasn't as if Marluxia was defenceless, after all, and Lumi knew that perfectly well.

He was oddly attached to that sword of his, too, for a gunner. Personally, Marluxia preferred him to be carrying a weapon that didn't require him to get close.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt greeted Grimmjow when he returned with a nod, and a concerned look. He looked, well, like he needed a shower, although jokes about cats and baths were coming to mind.

He was tired. Seriously tired. And the worst bit was that he knew that absolutely no one in the Palace was going to get any sleep between now, and when Wonderweiss finished whatever he was doing, and then when that happpened, the proverbial was going to hit the fan, one way or another.

"Aizen's gonna love this," he said.

He'd missed it all, too. The wyrm, the alarm, his six top Espada going out and getting toyed with, his number three going for Marluxia.... Something told Yylfordt that Aizen was going to have his unhappy face on the next time they saw him.

[spira_npc]

Impressive.

The little one was impressive. There was another within him, a scent of a thing on the edge of being, and that fell creature was not as old, or as large, as the wyrm himself, but it was formidable nonetheless. The others had similar scents.

Separated from that scent, however, this little one was still impressive. Born to the command of ones such as the him, though weaker than him. There was something immovable in him. This one stood his ground, even faced with the force of the wyrm's own power.

Impressive, yes.