A not-so triumphant return
Who: grimmjerk, 1stguardian, and OPEN to any inhabitant of Nueva Last Noches!
When: Early evening, directly following his post and continuing later into the night.
Where: The baseball diamond, then en route to the castle, then the castle itself.
Summary: Grimmjow finally returns from the dead - and from a trip back home. An unfortunate side-effect is a collection of ( Read more... )
When: Early evening, directly following his post and continuing later into the night.
Where: The baseball diamond, then en route to the castle, then the castle itself.
Summary: Grimmjow finally returns from the dead - and from a trip back home. An unfortunate side-effect is a collection of ( Read more... )
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You're always so fucking loud. ] Shouldn't...you know?
Stupid.
[ That was weird, too. He'd been staring at Ichigo's back less than five minutes ago, watching the idiot scream at that bastard Nnoitra for what any person with brains in their head would have done - any person that was an asshole, but even so. Grimmjow still didn't get it, still couldn't wrap any part of his mind around what could have possibly driven the shinigami to jump in like that and put his ass on the line over an enemy that was as good as dead, anyway. He looked at Ichigo now like he had looked at him then:
Like someone that he suddenly didn't know.
Instinct made him attempt to roll away from Ichigo's hand, though the most that he managed was a twitch and another flinch from the fresh ache that rolled across his body in steady, distracting waves. ]
Get off.
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[He cut himself off as his brain caught up with his eyes and wedged the realization in through the mounting urgency to get the hell out of there: Grimmjow had two arms again. And there was only one time that Ichigo had ever seen him when he looked the way he did right then. Nnoitra.
But that couldn't be possible. Could it? Edgeworth had come back sounding like he didn't even remember dying. Unless... Ichigo knew the Core messed with the timeline. Maybe that was what happened. Maybe this Grimmjow wasn't the one who'd been in Siren's Port before. It was crazy and impossible and it made his head hurt just thinking about it. And more importantly, there wasn't time to be worrying about it.]
Keep still.
[He let his hand drop, glanced briefly around the baseball diamond, and looked back down at him again, expression flat and serious.]Look, I know you're confused and in pain, but we don't have time for the bullshit right now. You're in a lot of trouble and if anyone finds you out here, you're going to end up locked away again ( ... )
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God, Ichigo's face was still so fucking annoying. And everything that poured out of his mouth was still annoying, too.
Guess some thing's done change.
Hard to tell what was relief and what was blood loss. Had to be the second, because the first was too pitiful for him to really stand.
Annoying. ] ...che. Whatever. [ He closed his eyes and tried to swallow, because he sounded ( ... )
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Getting to his feet, Ichigo yanked Zangetsu out of the ground, dropped his Bankai - there was no way he was going to be able to carry his zanpakutou and Grimmjow back to Nueva Las Noches - and slung it over his shoulder. He didn't try to explain why, when the Bankai faded, he was wearing the uniform of an Arrancar. In the moment, he didn't remember he had the stupid thing on, and most of his attention was focused on unwinding the sash from his waist.]
Okay. Here's what I'm going to do. [Because maybe if he explained it, Grimmjow would tolerate it better. A long shot, probably, but it was worth a shot. Crouching down on the side of the worst of his injuries, Ichigo held up the sash.] I'm going to get you sitting up, I'm going ( ... )
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Hallucinate?
He must have started in on that at some point, because what he saw didn't match up with what he knew. For a few seconds his injuries and his situation - trapped again, again, and fuck if he knew if he would be able to get out again - mattered less than staring hard at Ichigo and attempting to prove that what he saw was real or his own screwed up imagination. He looked both right and wrong at same time, this odd mix of suitability and the idea that things weren't quite how they should have been.
Maybe someday all of this would make sense again. ...and Ichigo was talking, wasn't he? It sounded muffled. ]
You even know what the hell you're doing? [ Probably not. ] Fine. Hurry it up.
So fucking slow.
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[He'd helped out in the clinic during his life, he knew how to handle the injured without jostling them too badly. The effort was probably lost on Grimmjow, but he was as gentle as he could be as he helped him sit up. Just like he was careful about not wrapping the sash too tightly around the wounds. It was good enough. It had to be.
Moving to his other side, Ichigo cocked his head to the side.]
Arm around my shoulder. Unless you'd rather I carry you. I'm going to shunpo here in a second, so whatever's more comfortable for you.
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Guess I'll be alive for a little longer.
Somehow, he couldn't make himself see that as a bad thing, even as shitty as the rest of his day was turning out to be. ] Fuck you. Like hell I'd...fuck you.
[ It took more effort than it should have. It took everything he had, in fact, and bile rose in the back of his throat when he realized that. But he managed it in the end and did what he could to hold on. ]
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In that moment, more than any other, Ichigo resented the people who'd 'trained' him, who'd doled out just enough information for him to be dangerous yet not enough that he could actually make use of it. He knew there were things that could be done with reiatsu, and he remembered Unohana telling him that if a person's reiatsu were healed, then the rest of them would quickly follow suit. But he couldn't risk attempting it for fear of making a bigger mess of everything.]
Kick my ass for the suggestion later.
[He had to content himself with very carefully looping his arm around Grimmjow's waist, well away from his injuries. If he started to fall, Ichigo would catch him. And when he was certain Grimmjow was settled, he took off, falling immediately into shunpo to get them across the city and back to the safety - and wasn't that ironic? - of Nueva Las Noches ( ... )
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He'd almost thrown up, but it wasn't like there would have been anything in his stomach to begin with. Control, stubbornness, and exhaustion had spared him that extra little humiliation. ] Fine.
[ And maybe if he had been less tired, he would have paid more attention to just how strange this was, too. What the hell was Kurosaki doing? What the hell had happened? Grimmjow knew the dumbass had a way of getting the stupidest of ideas into his head, but too much of this was too bizarre to just swallow.
In the very back of his mind, in the place that could still think if not be heard, he wondered what it was that Aizen had done. ]
...go around the back. There's a...door. Another door.
Can get inside from there.
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[He didn't waste time standing there. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he started for the door, though he made sure to keep his pace steady and slow. Because Grimmjow didn't know, he started explaining it. That, and to give him something else to focus on instead of the pain.]
I live here now. It's... [Ichigo wasn't a liar, and he was never going to be. The words wouldn't roll easily off his tongue.] ...safer than living out in the city.
[At least in terms of imprisonment. Living with people who wanted to kill him wasn't exactly safe, but at least they weren't going to lynch him supporting one of their own.]
A lot of people were upset when you killed Edgeworth. Trying to defend you didn't make me many friends, so Aizen offered to let me stay here.
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But it didn't matter. And Grimmjow would never just say it.
Thinking it was pathetic enough. ] ...for fuck's sake, Kurosaki.
You really--...
[ I don't get it. ]
Idiot.
[ I don't understand. ] You tryin' to screw yourself over on purpose?
[ It must have been easy, then. Aizen could...he was good at that. He always had been. He knew what to say and how to act to make it seem like what he offered was not the only way, but the best way. Immense power helped, especially around Hollows, but it was always the words that started it and finished it.
The human probably hadn't stood a chance. ]
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I'm not stupid, Grimmjow.
[Sorry to disappoint you.]
Apparently death isn't permanent here, and when they said you might come back, I figured you could use someone running interference. Staying here made it easier. I didn't know where you'd come back. If you'd come back.
Hold on.
[At the door, Ichigo paused and attempted to sift through the reiatsu present in the building. It wasn't easy, not when he was actively trying like this, and eventually he gave up in favor of the old-fashioned way. Cracking open the door, he peered inside before nodding.]
Coast is clear. Come on. I'd like to get you up to your room without running into Luppi. Otherwise I'm probably going to kill him and that's going to send the wrong message to the others.
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Ahahaha.
Kill 'im for me, save me the trouble. I already did it once. [ It was easier, much easier, to think about that instead of all the rest of what Ichigo had said. He'd waited for him? He'd asked for troubled, probably pissed enough people off to last him the rest of his stay here, went even so far as to buy into whatever Aizen had offered just because he...
Grimmjow saw in his mind's eye Ichigo's back and heard again the high ringing as metal met metal.
Saved twice in one day. He didn't look up when they went inside; if Ichigo could get in, he had to know the layout by now, right? It wasn't like it was anywhere near as big as the original fortress had been. What the hell is this.
Might be dreaming. Or just dead.
But pain was something only those that were still around could feel, and he felt it with every slow step. It distracted him, made him lightheaded and less careful. ]
You shouldn't be here.
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I thought I'd wait til you got back. It's your place he's trying to take. If I'm going to kill him, you should at least get the chance to watch.
[Joking about killing people wasn't really his thing, and though there'd been a moment that first day, Ichigo didn't actually want to kill him. But when his first inclination was to badger Grimmjow about his injuries and how he felt and what he should do to heal them, he felt it prudent to look for something else to say.
He hadn't really explored Nueva Las Noches; the majority of his time had been spent outside of it, and when he was there, he kept to his room. Still, he knew which rooms belonged to who, he'd been paying attention during Ulquiorra's tour, and he wasted no time in heading directly for Grimmjow's.]
I know.
[There's a lot I shouldn't be doing. His mouth quirked into a grin as he assumed an ( ... )
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Not for him, or any Hollow. There was a reason why their world had always been the same perpetual night, right from the very beginning. Nothing altered, nothing grew or reduced.
At least until Aizen had come. ] You're threatening me now?
I'm gonna beat the shit out of you. [ There wasn't any strength behind that, but it still felt good to say. At least that part isn't any different.Grimmjow's room was an interesting study in what it might have been like back in Hueco Mundo and what staying in this city had offered him. One half was clearly of the original design: a couch, a bed, a high ( ... )
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