14The story is coming to its end. After this here'll be one last chapter, so enjoy this little bit before the end.
Seven months later
Hueco Mundo was the home of evil, where darkness lurked around every corner, waiting with hungry eyes and cruel, demonic smiles. The air stank of damned souls; the still wind carried their screaming voices across desolate plains of despair. Those that ruled the bitter domain were soulless, cruel creatures that bore no regard for the lives and feelings of others. That was what the Espada were told they were, and that's what they believed themselves to be. Until now. Until Ulquiorra, one of the most powerful Espada realized that he had started to feel emotion, that he had started to care about how the young woman he had started having coffee with actually felt. The feeling of joy that encased him was a dangerous drug, one that caused him to lose track of the way he thought, to break out of his well established character – one that was cold and unfeeling. He was careful around his fellow Espada, and even more cautious around Aizen and his goons. If any of them found out about his sudden change in emotion or discovered Akane, there would be trouble far greater than he could cope with. It would likely end with his death.
"She's in danger." The voice whispered quietly in Ulquiorra's ears. He froze, chilled by the voice. "She needs you." The Espada scanned the halls cautiously, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Who is in danger?" He practically whispered the words, hoping that he hadn't gone insane.
"She is in danger." The voice spoke again, quieter this time. Ulquiorra frowned, not appreciating the lack of definition on who 'she' was.
"Who?" He asked again, a little louder and more impatient than last time. The response was just as annoyed.
"Jeez, Ulquiorra, I worked hard on sounding ominous and you can't even get what I'm saying?" Grimmjow had returned, except this time he was in Ulquiorra's mind.
"What are you doing here, trash?" The pale man's voice was cold and angry.
"I'm warning you. Akane is in danger and you need to help her. If you don't...she dies."
"Why are you doing this?" Ulquiorra growled. "Why do you feel such a need to bring me so close to some stinking human? Why do you want me to help her?" His voice remained cool and irritated as he spoke.
"Huh, well, I thought you'd grown attached to that woman, you've been spending a lot of time with her after all. It's only natural to think you had feelings for her." Grimmjow paused a moment. "I can see you don't really care. I won't bother telling you that Aizen found out about your little friend and plans on...well...killing her, to put it bluntly." Ulquiorra clenched his jaw, cursing the sudden need to go and rescue the young woman.
"When?" Was all the pallid Espada could ask.
"Tonight."
"I don't understand why you're helping me." There was little emotion in his tone.
"A chance for forgiveness. By helping you, there is a chance that I'll get into heaven. That and I've never seen you anything except sulky until this woman came along. Everyone deserves a chance at happiness." Ulquiorra frowned. "Anyway, you better prepare to go save your girl. I'll see you around, Ulquiorra." Before the fifth Espada could respond, Grimmjow had left his mind, abandoning him in the hall. The young man stood for a moment, thinking.
The past few months had been a blur to Ulquiorra. It was a race of emotions, a change in feelings, an immense feeling of passion and desire. It was something that he had never thought possible before. He had always been so careful to detach himself from other, to suppress any emotion that he felt deep in the pit of his soul, trapped like the Titans on Tartarus. But this woman, Akane, had changed everything. Her scent, her movements and the way she talked and always gave more information than was necessary. All these things made Ulquiorra happy. At first the feeling had confused him, for he had never felt truly happy. As time passed, however, he began to grow accustomed to the emotion, to the light feeling in his stomach and the smile that always threatened to spread across his face. He knew that the feeling was happiness and he accepted it as such. It was out of character for him to so freely express this to someone else, but Akane felt like the piece of his life that had been missing for his eternal existence and it made him want to show how...appreciative he was. Expressing joy and pleasure seemed a small price to pay for her company. Now everything he had held close was at risk of being lost. The thought physically hurt him, like a knife in his chest. He couldn't let Aizen hurt her. He couldn't lose what he had only just found. He liked the feeling of happiness, he liked being around her. He wasn't going to let it go without a fight.
R&R appreciated. Coming up: The final chapter.