Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Usually, Hueco Mundo was a relatively quiet place. Sometimes you could hear a distant cry of a hollow who wanted to give a voice to the misery its empty soul suffered for years.
Sometimes it was just a violent wind whistling over the white dunes of ash-like sands illuminated by the never-changing crescent moon. Little whispers of tiny sand grains moving against each other, distinctly resembling voices of the beings that already had perished from this forgotten world.
But, sometimes, you could hear things that didn't quite fit in the middle of the empty desert.
Like resonant clanging, carried for miles and miles over the wastelands. Or excited roars of the beasts that still lingered in this world, refusing to lie back, fighting each other to survive, or simply out of pure boredom.
The reason didn't matter in the end. Only those who possessed enough power to survive around here had the luxury of having fun.
So if you, by any chance, heard a feral fit of laughter in this God-forsaken world, the best thing you could do would be to quickly turn around and run as far away from there as physically possible.
There was always a slight chance they were too occupied to pay attention to the small fries in their proximity.
Especially if two monsters were facing each other with an irrefutable desire for blood.
"You sure you wanna keep going?" Ichigo asked with a crooked smile, knowing all too well it would only rile up the Espada more.
"Shut up, Kurosaki! I'm not done with ya!" Grimmjow growled, tail thrashing behind his back.
Ichigo looked at him with a raised brow, making it clear he didn't buy it for a second. The Arrancar's armor was almost entirely covered with tiny scratches and slowly drying blood.
"Just give up. It's already over five years. If you haven't achieved your Segunda Etapa by now, it's definitely not because you didn't try hard enough. There must be something else blocking you from it." He said, Zangetsu propped on his shoulder, trying to talk through the brick wall in the Arrancar's head.
"I said SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Grimmjow roared, sonidoing in front of the hybrid with every intention to cut his head off with his elongated claws.
Stubborn ass...
'Ya have no right to judge him, King. You're way more stubborn than Kitty...' Zangetsu rolled his eyes, though a maniacal grin that split his face didn't quite match it.
Ichigo chuckled at the comment, ducking out of the way while Grimmjow swiped his deadly claws at him.
"Stop laughin' asshole!" The Arrancar roared, losing every last bit of restraint.
Not that he had much from the start, but still.
"Make me!" He sneered, eyes shining with glee.
He fuckin' loved when the Espada became all reckless and unpredictable. It added even more spice to their already spicy fights.
Ichigo met the clawed hand with Shiro's blade, each one trying to overpower the other.
Then Ichigo grinned, all teeth on display, eyes blazing with mischief.
"Getsuga-" He started, causing Grimmjow's eyes to go ridiculously wide.
The feline withdrew and sonidoed back the next instant, eyes incessantly following the hybrid's next move.
"Just kidding." Ichigo laughed at the face Grimmjow sent him.
"You're fuckin' dead." The Espada said it with such an even voice that if Ichigo hadn't seen the fury boiling inside his soul, he could have been fooled.
He appeared right in front of the hybrid, his feline leg already high in the air, preparing for a high kick.
Ichigo only jumped back and then started to run away, yet another laughing fit threatening to take him over.
"Ya know, technically, I am still living..." He shouted over his shoulder at the outraged Espada.
"Not for long! After I'm done with you, I'll make sure to chop that meatsack into fuckin' pieces!"
"First, you'd have to win!" Ichigo laughed while shunidoing behind the Espada, already preparing his own kick aimed at Grimmjow's head.
The blue-haired Arrancar turned sharply, not at all surprised by his move. At this point, there was hardly anything they could do to surprise the other.
After all, they fought almost every day for nearly six years.
There was no way he wouldn't get to know the Espada like the back of his hand. Sometimes Ichigo even thought he could fight with Grimmjow with his eyes closed.
And, of course, it worked both ways. There was hardly anything the Espada didn't know about him.
The Arrancar quickly caught his ankle, digging his claws painfully into it, and swung his other arm with clear intention to cut off his whole leg.
Unfortunately for Grimmjow, Ichigo wasn't as inexperienced or ingenuous as when they fought for the first time. And he had spent all this time fighting one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in all three realms.
So he just twisted in the air and slammed the heel of his other foot into the feline's temple, not carrying at all when those vicious claws tore the skin around his ankle.
It would heal in no time anyway.
The force behind that kick sent the Arrancar flying for a few yards until he turned and landed on all fours with an outraged hiss.
"Monster." The Espada snarled, glaring daggers at his already healing leg.
"Beast." He shot back with a grin, not even missing a single beat.
'Idiots...' Zangetsu murmured with amused exasperation.
'Hey! He started!' Ichigo shouted indignantly at his spirit.
'Doesn't matter.'
Ichigo huffed, but still, his face was nearly aching from the grin that wouldn't just go away. He would never get bored with the Espada. These almost six years felt like nothing, and yet he hadn't had nearly enough of it!
He didn't want to think how it would be if he had to spend it in this empty world without this crazy feline bastard.
"Just fuckin' wait until I have my Segunda Etapa. I'll wipe that stupid smirk off your face with all the skin attached to it!" Grimmjow growled with something akin to tempest swirling behind his cerulean eyes.
"I can't fuckin' wait!" Ichigo stated with delight.
If the Espada actually managed to achieve it, their fights would instantly ascend to another level.
As Grimmjow was now, the hybrid couldn't even release his Bankai if he wanted to fight the Arrancar for more than three minutes. And even without it, it was already over a year since he lost to him.
He missed the times when it was still a challenge to win a fight against him.
They clashed again, claws against claws, scratching and cutting everything in their reach. And since Grimmjow didn't possess high-speed regeneration, this kind of combat was far more straining for him than it was for the hybrid.
So Ichigo wasn't shocked at all when the Arrancar sonidoed back to regain some distance between them.
However, he was pretty shocked when Grimmjow aimed his elbow straight at his face.
Garra de la Pantera!
He hadn't seen it in a while.
Anyway, he might have high-speed regeneration, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt like a bitch if those things blew up in his face. It did too many times in the past; he had no desire to taste it again.
And Grimmjow undoubtedly knew how much he hated those missiles if the wide grin was anything to go by.
"Eat this, Kurosaki!" He roared with delight, firing the crystal-like bullets one after the other at high speed.
Okay, it wasn't like Grimmjow hadn't learned anything new for the last few years. He maybe hadn't achieved his Segunda Etapa yet, but every other ability he possessed was now polished up to a fucking perfection.
Like these Garras... That bastard had figured that the best way to use them was actually to fire them one at a time in rapid succession. That way, it was far harder to avoid all of them than if he fired them all simultaneously.
And since his spiritual power had grown as well, the explosions that followed were even more vexing than they were all those years ago.
'Focus, King, or it's gonna get nasty.' Zangetsu warned.
Shit, these things were fast.
He leaped back, fluidly avoiding the missiles with a series of flips and handsprings that even a professional acrobat wouldn't be ashamed of.
Yet another thing he picked up from the feline Arrancar, though this time not exactly intentionally. It was just a consequence of fighting a literal half-cat for years; you just had to learn a couple of tricks if you wanted to survive.
And still, he wasn't even close to Grimmjow's level of agility.
He managed to twist in the air, by a hair missing the last Garra, and smoothly land in a crouch, one hand already gripping a handle of his sword.
But apparently, there was no need since the Arrancar only whistled with appreciation, eyes shining with something Ichigo couldn't quite describe.
"Ya know... If you ever get your life back, you should definitely join a circus troupe." Grimmjow sneered with a vicious grin.
"Fuck you!" Ichigo snarled, tail starting to whip back and forth, giving the Espada the most venomous glare he could manage.
"Hmm, are ya actually offerin', or are ya just a tease?" Grimmjow's grin changed into something purely predatory.
What an asshole.
It wasn't the first time he joked like that, but Ichigo had already learned how skewed the feline's sense of humor was.
And there was literally nothing he could do to change it. So he learned to ignore it instead.
As for the answer, he just shunidoed behind the Espada and sent him into the sand with a sharp roundhouse kick to his back. He didn't even wait for Grimmjow to get up; he just pressed the edge of his sword against his throat with eyes harder than steel.
Dragging it more would only aggravate Grimmjow's already poor condition.
And he didn't have more time to play with him anyway.
He got other places to be.
"Yield." He ordered.
"Never!" Grimmjow snarled from the ground, meeting the hybrid's stare with his own impassive glare.
"Do we really have to go through this pattern every fuckin' time?" Ichigo sighed exasperatedly.
"I'm not done yet!" The Espada hissed, trying to sit up, not at all carrying that the blade cut into his skin.
"But I am. Everyone is probably already waiting." Ichigo snapped impatiently.
"Che." Grimmjow huffed but still, he deflated under the blade with resignation.
"You can have your rematch when I'm back." He announced, withdrawing his sword and sheathing it at his back. Then he reached with his clawed hand and ripped the very surface of this realm, creating the passage to another world. "You sure you don't wanna come? Karin and Yuzu were asking about you." He asked from the threshold.
"I told you before, I don't want to be a part of this crap. Hollows do not mingle with living unless they wish to devour their souls." Grimmjow stated with a pointed look from the sandy ground.
"I don't get it. It's just a party, and you are clearly invited. Inoue made sure to pass your invitation through me straight into your hands. No one is going to look down on you there." Ichigo frowned, turning back to the Espada.
"They are your friends, not mine . I don't even like them." Grimmjow huffed with annoyance.
"Weird, I could swear you were quite enjoying yourself when they visited me here the last time." He pointed out with a raised brow.
"Shut the fuck up. I hate them. Just like I hate you." Grimmjow snarled, turning his back on him.
But there wasn't much venom in it anymore.
More like a resigned stubbornness.
"Yeah, sure... Just try not to freeze to death while I'm away." Ichigo tossed over his shoulder, entering the Garganta.
"Better worry about yourself. I'm not the one who is going to die if I stay too long in the living world." Grimmjow stated offhandedly.
"It's only four days; I'll be okay. Promise." He replied with a dashing smile that probably easily could pass as a grin. "See ya." He waved over his shoulder, heading into the darkness before him.
He didn't hear what the feline Arrancar said at that, or if he said anything at all, the portal closing right after him, leaving him in complete darkness of the space between dimensions.
The cool air of the Garganta filled his lungs slowly when he tried to even his quickly accelerating heartbeat.
He waited for months for this particular day to arrive.
And it was finally today!
He was going to spend four long days in the world of living with no other objective than to meet with his family and friends and simply to have fun.
No worries about nonexistent Gods and impossible missions.
Everything because today was a very special day.
Today was his twenty-second birthday.
A long sigh escaped Grimmjow's chest when the portal closed after the kid. He really hoped he would have more time to fight with him, but it seemed that was everything he was about to get until Kurosaki returned.
"Happy Birthday, idiot." He murmured when the last traces of the Garganta dispelled before his eyes.
Four days.
Objectively it was barely more than a blink of an eye for a being as old as himself.
But he knew better than anyone that time had a weird habit of warping whenever you paid too much attention to it.
Especially when that particular moment of time you were focusing on was going to be a really unpleasant and vexing one.
Just like it was whenever Kurosaki left.
Throughout all these years, he nearly forgot how it was to be cold again. And now it hit him with redoubled force, causing a series of small shivers to run through his aching body.
Shit, Kurosaki got him good this time; it was probably going to take days, if not a whole week, to heal entirely after their fight. And still, he was as distant from achieving his Segunda Etapa as he was right after the war ended. 5 years and 9 months ago, to be precise.
The thing was, the kid was right.
He was giving everything he got in these fights, and still, it wasn't nearly enough. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he needed help. Otherwise, he would be doomed to lose to Kurosaki for the rest of his pathetic life, and he was never going to accept it!
So that left him only one option...
He had to ask for directions, someone who actually managed to achieve Segunda Etapa.
Fuck, even thinking about it made him cringe.
But there was no way around it; he either swallowed his pride, or he was going to lose every fight against Kurosaki.
Hardly a dilemma.
He huffed angrily through his nose and finally got up from the sand, trying to decide which of his fellow Espada approach with his question. They weren't exactly friends with each other, or at least he wasn't friends with any of them. Maybe beside Nel, but she was just jack-shit crazy and couldn't get the clue when he sent her clear signals to stay away from him.
Or she intentionally ignored all of them. Grimmjow couldn't be sure in her case, though she more than once proved she had some brains inside that thick skull of hers.
And since he always stayed by Kurosaki's side, he was just doomed to her company because Kurosaki sure as shit wasn't going to avoid that goat-brat.
Because Kursaki just had to be friends with everyone!
Fucking idiot...
With a considerable amount of petulance, Grimmjow let his Resurreccion fall, those awful shivers getting even worse when the white armor wasn't fending him from the chilly night anymore.
And yet he knew it was not the night air that caused it in the first place.
He had to get back to Las Noches, but first, he had to find his damned jacket.
Throughout all these years, that crazy shopkeeper Urahara managed to implement several new improvements to this particular part of his outfit. All of them focused on how to keep him warm, and most of all alive, while Kurosaki wasn't around.
It still wasn't perfect, far from it to be honest, but he had nothing better in the end. As it was now, the jacket's inner side was padded with some weird-ass material that could gather spiritual energy and keep it inside for a decent amount of time.
Read, more or less three days...
It was enough for Kurosaki to charge that cloth with his reiryoku, and theoretically, everything should be fine.
That is if Kurosaki even showed up to recharge it.
As he said, far from perfect.
But he had nothing to complain about. Right now, it was charged to the brim; Kurosaki made sure to do so before their fight, warming him up, oh so pleasantly, better than any blanket known to mankind.
He sighed with contentment, tucking the jacket tightly around himself, trying with all his might not to think how good would it feel to wrap his arms around the kid instead.
Seriously, he had to void his head of such thoughts as fast as fucking possible. Their relation was already fucked up. He didn't need to make it even weirder.
Especially when he had a fat suspicion that Kurosaki was actually straight...
Because come on! No one was actually that dense, even Kurosaki, unless they did it on purpose. And that kid didn't respond event to one innuendo he did for almost six years now.
On the other hand, Kurosaki didn't seem interested in women either. Frankly, whenever he encountered a chick that was even mildly interested in him, he just instantly backed off with an abashed, sometimes even annoyed expression. Especially if said chick presented him with a pair of boobs, more often than not cutting off his air supply while doing so.
More than once, he wanted to gut Nel for doing exactly that to the hybrid, though she probably wasn't interested in him that way.
Maybe that was the reason why he didn't act on his threats yet...
So no, he was not going to cave to his whims. He had to spend the rest of his life in proximity to that idiot. And that could quickly develop into a shitstorm that no one would be able to stop anymore.
It was not worth the risk of losing his only source of heat...
Better safe than sorry, they say.
And maybe they are right.
Grimmjow walked through the main gate of Las Noches with a heavy sigh, still not sure which of the Espada to confront about his Segunda Etapa issue.
The most experienced of them was obviously Ulquiorra, but he would rather swallow his own tongue than ask that bastard for help.
Again.
Since he was the one who explained to them all how to achieve it. And yet, Grimmjow still couldn't get it.
So he had to ask someone else. Preferably someone more approachable.
Like Starrk. But Starrk didn't have his Segunda Etapa. Or at least he never tried to release it, so no one knew for sure if he had it at all. He was a fucking powerhouse even without it; not surprising at all that lazy ass wasn't even curious enough to check.
Next was Barragan, who actually had his second release, but at the same time, he was unbearably haughty and grouchy, and Grimmjow didn't have nearly enough patience to deal with him right now.
So that left him with only one acceptable choice.
Harribel.
They weren't exactly friends, but she was friends with Kurosaki and Nel, so maybe, just maybe , she would help him out.
In no time, he found himself in front of the entrance to Harribel's palace, everything inside him contorting at the prospect of the forthcoming conversation.
But he was no fucking coward, always confronting his weaknesses head-on.
So he strode inside, head high, determined to be done with it as fast as fucking possible.
Finding the shark-queen took him far longer than he wanted to admit. This place was fucking huge! He stumbled across three swimming pools before he finally found her. Seriously, who even needed that much!?
Certainly not him; he fucking hated water.
He walked into a spacious area, the opposing wall completely glazed with windows reaching from the floor all the way up to the ceiling, making it far brighter inside than he was used to in Las Noches. In one corner, there was a small round pool with steaming water in which Harribel's fraccion were currently soaking.
The Tercera, though wasn't inside the pool but all sprawled on a nearby armchair, legs swung over one armrest, head propped on the second one. In her hand, there was a book she was currently reading with such absorption that at first, she didn't even notice him coming in.
Yet another advantage of having Kurosaki around. He was some kind of metaphorical bridge connecting this place with the living world and all its wonders.
Like the book Harribel was currently devouring. Or the internet, though he still couldn't understand how it worked...
"Grimmjow." She blinked at him with surprise, putting down the book. "What brings you here? Is Ichigo with you?" She asked, looking for the red-head.
"Nah, he left for the living world; he won't be around for a while." He replied with a sigh, looking at the desert outside.
"Oh, I forgot. The wedding, right?" Harribel asked again while sitting properly on the armchair.
"Yeah, and his birthday. Four days in all." He affirmed, feeling a bitter taste at the mention of the second reason for Kurosaki's absence.
The wedding.
That auburn bitch who not so long ago had a massive crush on the hybrid was getting married to that pencil-like Quincy. She even invited him to the party that would follow the ceremony, but he would rather freeze to death than go there.
He fuckin' hated her with all his hollow heart.
In one moment crushing on Kurosaki to the point, she followed after him to fucking Hueco Mundo just to see if he was fine, and in the next, she caused him a mental breakdown affirming every single fear the hybrid got after the changes he went through.
And then she entirely forgot about him, as if he meant nothing, marrying his fucking cousin.
Bitch.
But in the end, it was better like this. After that marriage, she wouldn't have even a single reason to fuck with Kurosaki's head ever again.
"It's a long while; are you going to be okay?" Harribel asked, throwing him out of his musings.
She looked concerned, and that just ruffled him the wrong way.
But he needed her help, so he couldn't snap at her.
"I'm fine; it's just four days." He stated, trying to transmit how badly he didn't want to delve into this.
"Then why are you here? Is something bothering you?" She tilted her head with a slight frown.
"I... need a favor." He finally spitted out with a wrinkled nose.
She looked at him for a minute, then at her fraccion who watched them with interest.
"Come with me." She ordered, standing from the chair and walking out of the room.
He quickly followed, relieved that he wouldn't need to humiliate himself in front of Harribel's fraccion as well. They walked in silence through empty corridors for a while until Harribel broke it.
"What is it?"
He took a deep breath.
"How have you got your Segunda Etapa?" He asked, barely above a whisper.
She stopped in the middle of her next step and faced him with surprise written all over her face. Or at least the part that was not covered by her mask.
"You still can't reach it?" Then her eyes widened slightly with something akin to realization. "That's why you are all covered in wounds. You are fighting Ichigo without your second release."
He only growled with annoyance as an affirmation.
"As much as I would like to help you, there is nothing more I can tell you besides what Ulquiorra already said about it. You have to understand your death aspect; there is nothing more to it." She stated with somewhat sad eyes.
"I fuckin' tried for almost six years! There is nothing more to 'Destruction' that I don't know about! I'm destruction personified!" He finally snapped.
Who else would know more about destruction than him!? It was the very purpose of his existence, yet it was still not nearly enough!
What else could he do!?
"Maybe you should look into yourself? There is a chance there is an aspect of destruction you still don't fully understand." She advised.
He huffed through his nose, trying to regain his cool. It wasn't her fault in the end. And that wasn't a bad suggestion either.
"Are you afraid Ichigo will eventually get bored of fighting you if you won't achieve it?" She asked with a tilted head, stepping into extremely dangerous territory.
And it was far too close to hitting home for his liking.
He sent her a stinky eye instead, moving past her in the direction he hoped led to an exit.
"I thought you know him a little better, Grimmjow." She stated, walking after him and making him growl again. "I saw you two fighting many times. And I have fought him a few times myself. And even with my Segunda Etapa, he wasn't nearly as excited as when he fights you." She added quietly, making him stop and look back.
"Your Segunda Etapa would most definitely bring him joy, but he won't stop fighting you just because you don't have it. Don't press yourself too much. It's not going to do you any good. Try to understand your death aspect a little more and then come to me again. We can spar a little while Ichigo is away." She said, and from her voice alone, he could guess she was smiling at him behind her mask.
Instead of an actual answer, he nodded his head and then walked through the main door into the sunny desert.
Four days.
He was going to die from boredom instead of freezing to death. But maybe Harribel was right, and looking deeper into his soul would help him in the end? And while Kurosaki was around, he had no mind to do just that, so maybe it would turn up as an advantage in the end.
He made his way towards his room in Las Noches, the same one Aizen assigned them at the beginning of the war. And since he had to spend his life in Kurosaki's proximity, they wordlessly agreed to stick to it.
No sense in changing anything when it worked, right?
But now, when Kurosaki wasn't even in the same world, his only consolation was his damned jacket.
Everything because of this stupid wedding.
He huffed with annoyance, walking into the room and sitting cross-legged on his bed. A few deep breaths later, he felt calm enough to look into himself and search for that aspect of death he probably still couldn't reach.
Destruction...
He knew it like a fucking back of his hand.
It came either because of rage or because of joy.
It was terrifying and beautiful at the same time.
You could use your power either to protect or attack; the destruction that always follows would be exactly the same.
Destruction simply was.
Like air or wind, always there whenever two forces were clashing together.
You could either love it or hate it. In the end, it wouldn't change anything.
The same way, you couldn't change gravity.
So what was there more to know about it? Was he missing something?
It felt like hours when he finally gave up, throwing himself back on the mattress with a low growl.
It was all a fucking bullshit!
He was tired, frustrated, cold, and his whole body hurt!
And he was going to feel like this for a long while. Until Kurosaki got back.
He growled again, turning on his side, trying to fall asleep. Maybe time would pass faster if he did so...
He tucked the jacket tighter around himself, with one last annoyed huff before his mind started to fog with slowly creeping sleep.
Maybe he could find the answer he was looking for in his dreams.
One could only hope...