Episode 112: The Severed Bond
Episode 112: The Severed Bond
The moment the Garganta closed, leaving Fenice alone atop the tower, she found herself heaving her Fullbring’s blade up and swinging it around with a loud shout of frustration. Some magma spilled out of the burning blade, landing by the hatch, and elicited a yelp from someone who’d just poked his head up and had to duck to avoid a face full of lava.
“Huh?” Fenice turned at the yelp, seeing Dumbbell’s surprised expression as he watched the magma melt some of the dirt next to his head.
“So, uh, gonna guess you’re not in a good mood after that conversation I just totally didn’t eavesdrop on?” he said, giving her an awkwardly concerned look, while also holding back a pained wince. He was still nowhere near recovered from the severe beating he’d received at the hands of Grogar’s guard mutations during he and his friend’s raid on the Espada’s lab, and Roka’s stitch-work was still clearly visible on his body.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, narrowing her eyes, “You know the rules. No one but family is allowed on top of the tower.”
“Technically I’m still in the hatchway, not on top,” he pointed out, “Me and the guys had just finished setting the table, but didn’t know what you and the Fourth wanted us to set out to drink, and then I kinda overheard you and him talking about some kind of emergency, him totally blowing off your concern for him and leaving you behind in an emotionally crippled state... uh, should I not be saying that? Adagio says I sometimes talk too much.”
More magma bled from Fenice’s blade, but her ire at Dumbbell couldn’t last under the cold reminder of her father leaving her behind. With a dour look she planted her sword next to her and sat down, the magma cooling off in a chill hiss as if it’d been dunked underwater.
“Of course he left me behind,” she said quietly, looking at the medallion around her neck, “I’m not strong enough to help. Roka’s stronger than me, and way more responsible. That’s why dad agreed to let her be part of Adagio’s crazy plan in the first place.”
“Lady Adagio’s plan isn’t that crazy,” Dumbbell said defensively, then thought about it for a second, “Okay, maybe a little crazy. I’m not really big on this whole ‘cooperate with the Quincy’ thing. Could be them that just screwed up the plan enough to warrant your old man going out there. Or Gilda. Hmm, you know, it was probably Gilda.”
“Doesn’t matter who screwed up what,” Fenice said, grabbing up a clump of dirt and giving it a frustrated heave over the side of the tower, “Whatever went wrong, dad’s gone to fix it, but...”
“But?”
“...What if he can’t? He’s strong, but that Quincy woman put some kind of seal on his power, and if things got bad enough for Adagio to call him in that means there has to be someone or something really powerful that’s in the way now.”
Dumbbell grunted a bit as he climbed more out of the hatchway, enough that he could brace an arm on the rim and hold up a finger, “Sooooo you’re thinking this could be more than even the super-scare Lament, Fourth Espada, The Decapitator Extreme, could handle?”
She gave him a weird look, and Dumbbell coughed, “That last title might just be what me and the guys call him. So you’re worried about him, right? But, uh, you’re also kind of right that in a fight between him and something as strong as him, what would you do other than, err... how to put this delicately?... Be totally useless?”
Her expression became as flat as a board and he coughed, “Too blunt?”
“Just a tad.”
He sighed, then looked at her with a shockingly head on stare, “You’re not the only one who feels useless, you know? Lady Adagio entrusted us with breaking into Grogar’s lab, and we pulled it off... but I’m going to be out of commission for weeks, and the things we fought down there weren’t even Grogar’s strongest mutants.”
“How do you know that they weren’t?” she asked, vaguely curious and trying to distract herself from the tightening knot of worry in her heart as she thought about her father and Roka.
“Eh, we’ve been reading through the extra files we stole from that lab. Gotta pass the time somehow, you know? I don’t understand any of it, but it looks like the ancient bastard has been experimenting on Hollows for a long time,” Dumbbell shook his head, “Anyway, the point I was making is that I get how frustrating feeling weak is. That’s been pretty much me, Score, and Hoop’s day to day reality since forever. Even with Lady Adagio being nice enough to give us a place and a purpose, we’re still pretty next to useless to her. Why do you think we’re stuck here instead out there fighting alongside her with Di Roy and Gaw?”
“Is this supposed to be a pep talk? Because you’re not good at it,” Fenice said with a dejected glower.
“Not a pep talk, more like a lead in to an offer,” he said, making a gesture with his hand. Fenice blinked as she heard the familiar ripping noise of a Garganta portal opening up, and looked over to see the familiar sight of a yawning chasm to darkness now in the air next to her.
She looked back silently at Dumbbell, who gave her a hapless shrug, “You’re on your own to get back, but if you really want to go help, then this is your chance.”
“Why? I mean, not complaining, but you do realize my dad is going to kill you when he finds out you did this?”
“Eh, maybe Lady Adagio’s crazy is rubbing off on me, or maybe I like the idea of you owing me a favor,” Dumbbell said, “Promise to try and cool your dad’s jets when you all get back, alright?”
Fenice stared at him a moment longer, then looked back at the Garganta he was holding open for her. Slowly her dour expression turned into a fierce smile, and the blade next to her started to glow hot orange again as magma bubbled along its surface. She grabbed it up and shouldered the massive weapon, stepping towards the portal.
“Tell everyone to go ahead and eat lunch without me,” she said, “But to keep seats open for me, Roka, and dad, because I’m bringing all of them home.”
After she was through the portal, Dumbbell closed it, but then blinked, “Huh... I wonder if I should have told her I actually have no idea where Lament actually went so I had to send her to the place me and the guys are most familiar with?”
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“The mall?” Fenice said, left eye twitching as she stood in the center of the still disaster strewn Canterlot downtown shopping mall, “What the hell am I doing in the mall!?”
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Lament had a very odd premonition as he crossed the infinite void of the Precipice World, as if he really wanted to decapitate someone but he wasn’t certain who. His right hand was filled with a killing itch, but he ignored it, focused on what lay ahead of him. The length of space between one end of a Garganta portal to the other across the Precipice World always varied, but the distance was less consequential for someone of Lament’s speed. He was through in mere moments, and emerged out into the colorfully warm light of day.
How long had it been since he’d seen the natural sun of the living world, or felt wind on his skin that wasn’t the dusty, dead breezes that rarely stirred within Las Noches? For an instant it was an overwhelmingly familiar feeling as he looked up at the first blue sky he’d with Hollow eyes, breathing in a lungful of clean, fresh air that wasn’t stale with death. The sun hung up there in all its shining warmth, and its touch stirred uncomfortable ripples of memories beneath the ocean of his subconscious.
“Father?”
Roka’s voice snapped him back to the moment, and he looked over to where she was standing nearby. They were at the edge of what appeared to be a large, dry lake bed, Roka standing alongside who Lament recognized as Torch’s daughter, Ember, and Adagio’s vassal, Di Roy. All three looked somewhat roughed up from what Lament assumed were recent struggles, and although that sparked an instant sense of protectiveness towards Roka, he could tell her injuries were all extremely minor, so he controlled his urge to start hunting down whomever had hurt her. He glanced around, opening up his sharp Pesquisa senses to take in the battlefield all at once.
A number of bubble shaped, white tents at the bottom portion of the dried up lake contained a number of relatively weak Soul Reaper reiatsu. No threat, there. There were three powerful Soul Reapers in the area, however. One far to the east, near the mountains, and Lament sensed Grogar’s reiatsu there as well. Another was much closer, somewhere to the northwest, and Lament sensed a familiar Quincy reiatsu there; the girl who was the daughter of Twilight Velvet.
He suppressed a twitch, and focused on the other potent reiatsu he sensed, for the moment ignoring the cluster of human souls he felt across the west side of the lake bed. This third Soul Reaper signature was incredibly potent, perhaps an even match for the one fighting Grogar. Near this spiritual pressure he felt Adagio’s reiatsu, alongside Gaw’s, and one other he didn’t readily recognize.
There were some other errant spiritual pressures out there as well, but he didn’t consider any of them important. Nothing mattered other than doing the task he’d come here to do. The faster he dealt with this, the sooner his daughter could safely return to Hueco Mundo, along with Adagio and Ember.
Actually, why were Roka and Ember still here? He looked to his daughter and said, “You could have come straight to the tower with Ember, daughter. Why call me here while staying put?”
“It’s my fault,” Ember said, and Lament could tell the daughter of Torch was nervous admitting that to him, her whole body tense as she watched Lament as if ready to bolt, “The Soul Reapers took my Zanpaktou, and I didn’t want to leave without it.”
Irritation rose like a black tide in his soul. Fool girl was putting his kin in danger because she wanted her damn pig-sticker!? He ought to cut her damn head off for keeping his Roka in this dangerous...Lament took a deep breath, forcing the irrational, destructive desires back down. His hand had been clutching his Zanpaktou’s hilt, but he forced his hand to unclench. Roka stepped forward, and put herself just an inch or so between him and Ember.
“Father, we don’t have much time. Adagio is facing a very dangerous enemy. While you help her, Di Roy and I will assist Ember in retrieving her Zanpaktou. You know how important they are to an Arrancar. She can’t leave without it. It’d be like leaving behind a piece of her soul. I promise you as soon as we’ve got our hands on it, we’ll retreat to Las Noches.”
“You can count on us,” Di Roy said, providing an unconvincing thumbs up, “Nothing but wimpy researchers in that lab anyway. We’ll grab and dash before they even know what hit them.”
Lament turned cool eyes towards him, to which Di Roy’s brow broke out in a swift sweat, but then Lament turned his gaze back to Roka, eliciting a sigh of relief from Di Roy.
“Be careful, daughter, and also... be quick? I left Fenice behind in a bit of a rush. She was pretty steamed at me. Wouldn’t be surprised if she looked for a way to come after me.”
“Oh,” Roka said, understanding filling her eyes, “We’d best hurry then, before she threatens one of Adagio’s vassals to open a portal for her. You really should have just brought her along.”
“Don’t need her getting herself all hurt on account of me. Shouldn’t even have let you come here, but that Adagio’s got a way with words, the blasted woman.”
From the north, where Adagio’s reiatus could be sensed, there was a tremor and an explosion of noise as some massive impact sent a tower of rock and dirt into the air, visible even at a distance. Roka put a gentle hand on Lament’s arm, squeezing tightly.
“And you need to go save her, now, before we lose her, father. She’s our best chance at carving a better life for ourselves and our family in Hueco Mundo, and more than that... she’s a friend of the family now. Her, Gaw, Di Roy, all of them.”
“Hmph, I get it, don’t need to guilt me none. You’re near as bad as she is,” Lament said, but he didn’t have any rancor in his voice as he said it. He titled his head towards the lab in the center of the lake, “Get going, get Ember’s sword, and then get gone. I’ll be right behind you, with that orange headed fool in tow.”
Roka nodded, and after affirming looks to both Ember and Di Roy, the trio headed off in buzzing flickers of Sonido. Lament watched them go, then turned his attention northward, drawing his Zanpaktou’s long, smooth blade in one motion before vanishing as well in a burst of inhuman speed.
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A few minutes earlier...
Once more Sweet Cider came rocketing towards Adagio like a high speed bullet train made out of nuclear warheads, and once more Adagio barely managed to get her trident braced to block the earth shattering blow of the Tenth Division Captain’s Zanpaktou. The large, machete-like sword hit hard enough to rattle all of Adagio’s teeth as she bent her full strength into absorbing the hit, and was still forced to use two hands to Sweet Cider’s one.
The woman was just... freakishly strong. It struck Adagio as fundamentally unfair that this woman could be this physically powerful despite being a Soul Reaper for such a short amount of time.
Hello pot, this is kettle, have we met? said a sarcastic portion of her mind, realizing that she herself was a rather freakish example of swiftly obtained power among Hollow-kind. If Applejack’s sad backstory was to be believed, Sweet Cider had been dead for years. Comparatively speaking it was rather impressive Adagio was holding her own against her physically after only being dead for the span of a month or two.
And Adagio was holding her own, if barely. Sweet Cider had focused almost all of her attention on the Espada in front of her, and with good tactical reason. Adagio was the most obvious threat, still in her full Resurreccion form. Taking Adagio out of action quickly would likely mean an easy victory over Gaw and Thorax (presumably) and the swift rescue of Luna. So far Adagio had managed to vex Sweet Cider’s powerful, swift strikes, but each of Sweet Cider’s attacks got closer to breaking Adagio’s defenses than the last, and Adagio didn’t get the impression Sweet Cider was even trying that hard.
It didn’t help that Adagio was already exhausted from her fight with Luna. Had she been at full power, she’d be able to mount a counter offensive. As it stood, while she could still summon and control some water, and could pull off a few more Cero blasts, she was having to conserve that spirit energy to focus on powering her Sonido, at least until she got an opening.
Gaw and Thorax had both leaped in different directions away from the fight, but not to keep out of it, but more to seek their own openings in their own ways. Thorax was the freshest among them, having barely used any power fighting Rarity while disguised as Greta. Now he carefully observed Sweet Cider’s motions while biding his time for the right moment to jump in. Or at least that’s what Adagio was hoping the effeminate, lazy bastard was doing! Wait, was he edging towards Luna!?
“Don’t even think about it!” she snarled, “Get your skinny ass in here, or you can forget about any deals!”
Thorax paused, edged away from Luna, and placed a hand on his chest, “But of course, I was just making sure dear Luna wasn’t affecting an escape while you were distracted.”
“Of course you were,” Adagio grunted, her form blurring with the speed of Sonido as she ducked one of Sweet Cider’s swing by centimeters, a blow which sent out a pressure wave that sliced down a few dozen unfortunate trees in the distance. Adagio tried to stab with her trident as she spun inside Sweet Cider’s guard but the woman batted the strike away with her bare hand and nearly caught Adagio with a knee thrust that Adagio was only able to roll away from by a scant inch.
“Gaw, you too! Resurreccion form, now, but fight at a distance! Don’t even think of getting close to this woman!”
Her orders were barked in a hard, commanding voice, but it was undercut by a current of very real worry. She knew it might be a mistake to even keep Gaw in the fight, but she couldn’t afford not to use every resource on the battlefield right now. Gaw wasn’t nearly strong enough to risk getting into melee with Sweet Cider, but the Soul Reaper hadn’t shown much ranged ability, so Adagio hoped that if Gaw kept at range and just used Ceros and Balas that it’d help provide distraction and maybe an actual opening for Adagio to get a hit in, while also keeping Gaw safe.
Gaw, loyal to her alpha’s command, took an additional leap back until she was near the edge of the clearing the battle had made in the middle of the forest. There, she gripped her large, claw-shaped Zanpaktou in front of her and ran a palm across it’s edge, drawing blood. A deep sanguine glow suffused the short Arrancar girl’s body as her reiatsu coalesced around her. In a battle without high ranked Espada or Soul Reaper Captain’s present, her spiritual pressure might have been impressive in it’s own way. It wasn’t even all that far off from Gilda’s.
”Go for the throat; Cazadora!” (Huntress)
Ruby energy of a liquid texture bubbled up from her Zanpaktou like a fountain of blood, and swiftly surrounded her in a geyser. The spinning, crimson torrent crackled with arcs of energy as it rose upward, then burst apart in a shower of red droplets of reishi. Where Gaw’s small, washboard form had once stood, now emerged what could best be described as a thirty foot tall, humanoid dinosaur. There was a distinct similarity to the theropod form she’d had as an Adjuchas, yet now fused with a feminine, humanoid shape. Muscular, clawed arms were married to a burly but still human-like torso. Powerful reverse jointed legs more akin to her dinosaur shape ended in wide, thick claws. Her head was also saurian once more, although seemingly now encased in a thick skull-like helmet of bone. In fact most of her body was now back to being covered in plates of scale-like bone armor, spiked along her spin, head, arms, and all the way down to the end of a powerfully muscled tail. The only other notable difference from her old Adjuchas form besides the smaller size and more humanoid shape were the blades producing from her forearms, long and jagged, with several notches in their uneven length.
Fixing golden eyes on Sweet Cider with a predatory growl, Gaw followed Adagio’s instructions and with a strong leap sent herself soaring up into the air. There, she halted herself and then raised her left hand towards Sweet Cider. The Soul Reaper and Adagio were still locked in close quarters, so Gaw had to be careful with her aim, or at least as close to careful as Gaw could get. Sparks of red energy skipped along her hand’s long, curved claws, and Gaw formed four Bala, one along each fingertip, and then fired them off in rapid succession.
These Bala were a bit different than normal ones as well, more conical in shape, like sharp little cones rather than the more rounded bullet shapes of regular Bala. This gave them more speed and penetration in exchange for taking up more energy, but since Gaw had to stay at range anyway she figured there was no point conserving her power.
The pointed Balas slammed downward at breakneck speed, coming straight for Sweet Cider with skillful precision. The Captain turned half a glance towards them, and without pulling her sword from launching a deadly upward swipe at Adagio, Sweet Cider adjusted her stance and made a backhanded gesture with her free hand balled up into a fist. Three of the four Bala were smashed by Sweet Cider’s backhand as if they’d been made of glass. The fourth had been aimed a little lower and impacted with Sweet Cider’s hip, but the sharp point of the energy bullet only tore a little cloth and scratched the flesh beneath, unable to penetrate against Sweet Cider’s overpowering reiatsu.
However, that moment did split Sweet Cider’s attention enough that Adagio was able to slink around the Captain’s upward slash and gather a moment of focus and conjure a jet stream of water from her trident, which she then swung with both hands at Sweet Cider’s side. Sweet Cider stepped back and bent away from the trident, but the water still exploded outward from Adagio’s Zanpaktou in a triple jet, one from each tip, that combined into a powerful torrent that engulfed Sweet Cider in a torrent of enough water pressure that even several stacked together tanks would’ve been sent reeling.
Adagio let out a gasp as not only did she see Sweet Cider’s shadow inside the blast of water, holding fast, but saw the Captain take a strike forward and thrust her sword through the water with a strike aimed for Adagio’s head.
The water still slowed the strike enough that Adagio didn’t have much trouble dodging away from it, deflecting the blade with her trident and dancing backwards, but she still stared at Sweet Cider as the water dissipated and the Captain strode out, soaked but otherwise unharmed.
“...You are ridiculous,” Adagio stated, “It’s infuriating how strong you are. Huh, this must be how Gilda feels about me. That’s a moment of self reflection I could’ve done without.”
“Ain’t in the mood fer banter,” Sweet Cider said, hefting her sword and bringing it down in a two handed chop. Adagio could feel the wind pressure build up alongside the spiritual pressure, and considering Sweet Cider was now gripping her blade with both hands, Adagio wisely decided that dodging was an ideal move at that juncture.
Even with her swiftest Sonido she almost didn’t make it. The forest behind her sure didn’t. The raw force of Sweet Cider’s blow sent out a wave of spirit energy and raw air pressure that flattened an untold amount of forestry behind where Adagio had been standing, and carved a nice, deep fissure several meters wide.
Flipping and hand springing away from the path of destruction, Adagio started to grow more desperate as she conjured additional spheres of water and coalesced her dwindling spirit energy into them. From the spheres, about eight in total, she cut loose a rapid fire barrage of Aqua Bala. She had no expectation the charged water bullets would do much damage, but she was hoping they’d pin Sweet Cider down for a moment. She spotted Thorax circling behind Sweet Cider, and wanted to keep the Captain distracted.
Likely sensing Adagio’s intent, Gaw circled above in the air, hopping across the air with a couple of short Sonidos to get around to Sweet Cider’s left side.
Sweet Cider swung her blade, but not at Adagio’s incoming Balas, but at the ground in front of her. A huge slab of dirt and stone was flung up by the impact, acting as a barrier that Adagio’s Aqua Bala started chewing through, but didn’t immediately penetrate. At that same time, Sweet Cider turned, just as Gaw had opened her fanged, saurian mouth to charge a blood red Cero within.
Gaw discharged the Cero, a vibrantly bright beam of crimson, and Sweet Cider took it head on. A sizable explosion of vibrant red flame and force caused nearby trees to bend and break branches from the wind force. Even Adagio had to admit it wasn’t a bad Cero, and considered that if Gilda ever was killed, or moved up in rank, it might not be a bad idea to pitch Gaw as a replacement Tenth.
Unfortunately Sweet Cider rose up through the flames of the explosion, little more than bearing singed clothing, and then vanished with an insanely swift Flash Step that Adagio had to focus to follow.
“Gaw, move!” Adagio shouted, preparing to rush towards her vassal with Sonido, even though it’d be far too late as Sweet Cider flickered into view in front of Gaw, blade barred to strike.
Then at the same moment, something struck out like a strange, fleshy whip, and actually caught Sweet Cider on the wrist of her right hand, and yanked her sword arm so that her strike just barely missed Gaw, who then followed Adagio’s command and jumped back.
Adagio blinked at the sight of what looked like a long, extended tentacle wrapped around Sweet Cider’s arm, but then it let go as Sweet Cider yanked on it and Adagio saw it retract back to its owner’s mouth. Thorax licked his tongue over his lips, “Huh, she actually tastes a little like apples. How interesting.”
Adagio raised an eyebrow at him, and he smiled at her, “What?”
“I’m not going to ask, but thank you for saving my vassal.”
“None of us are saved quite yet,” Thorax said, noting that Sweet Cider had given her slobbered upon wrist a disgusted look and flicked the spittle away, and now was glowering down at him, “I think I just got on the angry woman’s bad side.”
“You might want to consider Resurreccion now,” Adagio said vehemently, and Thorax gained a coy look that matched the twinkle in his eyes.
“Had to get a taste first, Adagio. You’ll understand in a moment.”
As he spoke, Sweet Cider came down at him like a falling satellite, smashing her sword down at him with clear intent to split Chrysalis’ eldest child in two bloody pieces. Thorax didn’t stand still, throwing himself to the side with Sonido, and even then Adagio saw Sweet Cider’s blade leave a bloody trail down his right side that could have easily been an instantly fatal wound on a lesser Arrancar.
The impact of her sword on the ground caused the entire ground to quake, and sent up a towering geyser of shattered rocks and dirt. Thorax appeared out of that cloud of debris, bleeding profusely from his wound, but his body also glowing brightly with a intense, lime green light. Adagio saw him invert his grip on his cutlass-shaped Zanpaktou and then extend his tongue to lick along the length of the sword.
”Drink deeply; Deseo.” (Desire)
Energy poured out of him in a thick, neon green mist. It buffeted the air and churned outward in several wide currents that then turned back and impacted into where Thorax was at the center of the tumult. Adagio felt the outpouring of his reiatsu, and had to admit, she was impressed. Thorax had been holding back. She didn’t estimate he was at her level, but he certainly wouldn’t be a pushover either, if they ever came to blows. If any of Chrysalis' other children were like this, then the Second Espada had been holding some potent cards in her deck, and hadn’t been letting that information become widely known among the other Espada.
Sweet Cider had climbed out of the impact crater her sword strike had created, and now watched with a faintly annoyed look on her face as Thorax’s transformation completed itself.
The storm of green mist slowly halted, but didn’t immediately dissipate as it slowly started to swirl away, but form within the depths of the cloud an object shot out at blinding speed, blowing a hole through the mist through simple shock-wave force.
Sweet Cider’s blade moved in a sunlit flash, sparks showering from it as it deflected the object, but not without clear effort as Sweet Cider’s eyes narrowed and she was driven back a step or two by the impact. The object spun around like a boomerang and returned to Thorax’s location inside the swiftly vanishing cloud of mist.
“You know, I haven’t used this form very often. Mother prefers my siblings and I keep our strength hidden,” said Thorax as the mist cleared and revealed his Resurreccion state, “But I don’t think it’s likely you’ll go blabbing to any Espada, will you?”
Thorax’s body had changed into that of an insectoid centaur. His upper body remained largely unchanged, with the same black skin and incredible good looks, but his back had gained white shoulder guards that extended into a silken green cape down his bare back. His stage beetle helmet had grown into something closer to a crown, with the mandibles grown larger and pointed in an upward back sweep like that of a noble deer. His lower body merged into the shape of a large, white beetle like body, with six powerful legs and a thickly armored carapace bearing two plates that briefly opened to allow green, membranous wings to flutter briefly before closing.
In his hands were a pair of highly unusual weapons, the design of which Adagio was not familiar with. Had she known more about handheld weaponry she might have recognized them as “deer horn” knives, but to her eyes they just looked like a strange melding of two crescent shaped blades, the combined curves creating weapons that looked like someone had taken two crescent moons, turned them towards each other, and blended them together so that the outward curves of the blade pointed outward while leaving the inward bend on one side to act as a handle and the other to act as the central body of the weapon. Both of Thorax’s were around four feet long and formed from black iron, but with the handle portions covered in grips of white bone.
Overall the form still retained a substantial sense of grace, with even the beetle-like lower half of his body having a slimmer, streamlined look that emphasized poise and speed over brute strength. Thorax confirmed this point as he gave Sweet Cider a thin smile, and extended his wings. There was a louder buzzing noise than was normal with Sonido, and multiple afterimages of Thorax appeared as he came at Sweet Cider from several differing angles. His body showed great dexterity as he spun his oddly shaped blades in a complex dance of strikes, his arms moving in hypnotic patterns that seemed to blur the two weapons together to make it difficult to measure just what trajectory they were attacking from.
Sweet Cider was like an immovable mountain by comparison, her sword swinging in deft, short defensive motions in conjunction with her free hand. It was a little like watching a typhoon try to batter down a cliff. To Thorax’s credit, he was scoring hits, delivering the first actual wounds to Sweet Cider thus far with several shallow slashes marking her arms from awkward parries. Sweet Cider remained on the defensive for only a few seconds, however, before her eyes flashed dangerously and she let out a powerful side swipe that caught Thorax, even at his high speed.
He blocked it with both crescent blades, but was knocked back towards Adagio. She caught him with a gentle wave of water that arrested his movement, and she moved up next to him, trident at the ready.
“Not bad, but you’re still weaker than me,” she stated, “We’ll need to take her together, at least long enough for reinforcement to arrive.”
“Oh, I knew that from the start,” Thorax said, “I do hope your backup doesn’t take forever, but in the meantime... bon appetit.”
Wondering what he meant, Adagio looked as he raised one of his blades to his mouth and licked the edge again. Only this time the gesture seemed to have a purpose, as a golden aura of energy rose from the blade like sap and Thorax consumed it with a pleased look on his face. Sensing the energy, Adagio realized with a blink of surprise that it was Sweet Cider’s spirit energy that Thorax just ate.
“How did you do that?”
”Sifon del Alma.” (Soul Siphon), Thorax replied, “As long as I get a taste of my opponent’s reiatsu prior to activating my Resurreccion, I can use my blades to siphon off parts of their reiatsu to consume for my own.”
“I’m surprised you told me that,” Adagio said, tensing as she saw Sweet Cider approaching them, the Captain’s own spiritual pressure rocketing upwards as the woman wore a dark glower.
“We’re soon approaching the point where secrets don’t garner me much benefit, Adagio. I thought revealing my cards concerning Luna would prove I’m serious about our own alliance, but we can discuss that after we survive this present situation,” Thorax barely had time to say before Sweet Cider came at them both with a earth rending charge.
Whatever Sweet Cider might have been holding back before was no longer the case as she went on the pure offensive, both hands gripping her sword as she showed both incredible speed and power of her own, starting with a dual slash that nearly appeared to be one attack. Adagio flew up and around the slash aimed at her, but still felt a painful bite as the blade still caught her tail and cut a chunk from it. Thorax side stepped with his six, fast insectile legs, but still had to cross his blades to block the slash that came his way, and the force still drove Sweet Cider’s blade down hard enough to open a gash in his shoulder.
With no more words, the two powerful Arrancar flanked Sweet Cider and counter attacked with ferocious blows of their own. Adagio found that Thorax coordinated naturally with her as she used her trident to stab for Sweet Cider’s vitals while Thorax spun his blades in their complex patterns to try to force the Captain to open up her guard. In the span of a handful of heartbeats a storm of exchanged strikes filled the air with blood and sparks, both the Arrancar and the Soul Reaper taking wounds. One of Adagio’s thrusts managed to stab a trio of bleeding holes in Sweet Cider’s right thigh, while Thorax scored a shallow slash on her own shoulder to match the one she had given him. Even so, those were minor wounds compared to the laceration one of Sweet Cider’s counter-blows landed on Adagio’s left arm, cutting nearly to the bone about halfway up past her elbow and forcing Adagio to adopt a one handed means of wielding her trident. Meanwhile Thorax took a cut to his head where his helmet kept the strike from being severe, but the bone cracked and left a trick of blood running down his face.
Adagio wondered where Gaw had gone, but that question was answered a moment later as she felt her vassal’s reiatsu focusing in the air directly above them. Glancing up, Adagio immediately dodged backwards from Sweet Cider and swept her trident forward with one hand, blasting out another jet stream of water. This wasn’t to injure Sweet Cider, but hopefully just distract her for a moment. Thorax sensed what was going on, and backed off as well, licking more of Sweet Cider’s golden reiatsu off his blades that he’d siphoned off in their brief exchange. The absorbing of that reiatsu seemed to replenish his own, and even help seal his wounds. Adagio found herself being a little jealous of the ability.
Up above, Gaw had flown up to a distance of several hundred feet, and was gathering more pulsating red energy in her mouth. Only instead of blasting it out as a Cero, she was applying the same ability to sharpen her spirit energy as she did with her Bala. This was Gaw’s own unique talent, transforming the shape of her reiatsu into something sharper, meant to tear and gouge; an expression of her predator nature.
So what formed this time was not a Cero, but rather a giant pointed fang of concentrated Cero energy, over five meters long. Like a huge energy missile, Gaw whipped her head forward and fired the projectile, the fang-like Cero flying down at Sweet Cider at well past the speed of sound.
Whether it was because the attack had just enough bite behind it to be worth of Sweet Cider’s attention, or simply because the Captain of the Tenth Division was getting fed up with the fight, she turned fully towards Gaw’s projectile and held her Zanpaktou above her head in a two handed stance as her reiatsu shot up once again. This time Adagio had little doubt what was about to happen, and wasting no time, flew up towards Gaw while Sweet Cider spoke in a hard, level tone.
”Sever; Kizuna.” (Bonds)
Blinding gold light bathed the forest for a vast distance, exploding from Sweet Cider in a thunderous wave of spiritual pressure that made Adagio break out into a frozen sweat. It was hard to tell if Sweet Cider’s reiatsu was stronger than Luna’s had been when she’d assumed that lycanthrope-like form, but it certainly felt like it could eclipse it. A frightening prospect, considering this was just Sweet Cider unleashing her Shikai. Had Adagio been fresh, rather than already wounded and battle ragged, she’d at least feel like she could put up a fight against what she was sensing, but as of that moment she was essentially at the end of her rope. Even with Thorax’s help, this wasn’t looking good.
As the gold light faded, Sweet Cider was seen swinging a truly colossal blade. To Adagio it looked less like a sword and more like a long chunk of bronze, bigger than even a person as substantially sized as Sweet Cider, that a bored and lazy blacksmith had given the hint of a sword’s shape. Sweet Cider swung it with both hands upon its metallic hilt, aiming upwards.
Adagio didn’t look back, and just powered herself forward to shoulder tackle Gaw’s thirty foot frame out of the way and carried both of them away at high speed. It was just in time to avoid a wave of golden power that blasted out of Sweet Cider’s blade and rocketed up into the sky, blowing away a few stray clouds as it continued up into space. Adagio didn’t even want to think about taking a blast like that head on. Gaw would be vaporized instantly by an attack of that level, and Adagio would need to be at full strength to have a decent chance of countering it.
“Grr,” Gaw growled, “This is frustrating. I can’t do anything to dumb strong female. Best attack do nothing.”
That much was true. Gaw’s fang shaped, sharpened Cero had been completely consumed by the wave of energy Sweet Cider’s Zanpaktou had expelled. Adagio gave Gaw an understanding look, gesturing with her trident, “You can’t do anymore good here, Gaw. Go find Roka and Di Roy, and help them with Ember.”
Gaw didn’t have much range of expression in her Resurreccion form, but her gold eyes burned with reluctant frustration, but she did nod her head in acknowledgment. “As you command, alpha. Don’t die, or I get very mad at you.”
As Gaw flashed away with Sonido, Adagio turned her attention back to Sweet Cider. Thorax had attracted the Captain’s attention by slinging both his blades at her. The weapons flew, seemingly of their own accord, in haphazard patterns as hypnotic and hard to follow as when Thorax wielded them with his hands, spinning through the air with a deadly whistling sound.
Sweet Cider just strode forward and then hefted her giant blade, spinning it around in a single, circular motion that generated such a powerful pressure blast of air that both Thorax’s weapons were deflected. Thorax raised his hands and called them back to him, but only just in time to get them crossed together in defense as Sweet Cider Flash Stepped right up to him and chopped her sword down with both hands.
“Ya wanna drink up my energy, then here’s all ya can take!” she shouted, her Zanpaktou exploding with gold radiance as she slammed it down and unleashed a point blank blast on top of Thorax.
It was a testament to Thorax’s speed and resilience that he managed to twist aside and blur away with Sonido, but not fast enough to entirely evade the explosive blast that detonated out from Sweet Cider’s strike. Adagio watched in bitter awe as a towering wave of golden power cleaved through another few kilometers of forest, adding to the ever growing number of new ravines, craters, and minor canyons that Everfree Forest was turning into as a result of the day’s battles.
She couldn’t even guess how tall the energy wave had been. Thirty, forty meters?
The only positive thing she noted in all of this was that Sweet Cider was a bit slower, now. Insanely more powerful, but that humongous sword did seem to take a bit more wind up than usual, giving just a fraction of a moment longer to respond to the attack. It was why she’d been able to knock Gaw aside, or why Thorax was able to partially dodge. Not that it might do much good in the long run. Thorax had landed a few dozen meters away, off to the side, and even the partial hit of that powerful energy wave had scorched his entire right side and cracked the carapace on his lower, beetle half. He was breathing hard, and his face was showing a grimace of barely controlled pain.
Adagio appeared next to him with a burst of Sonido, “This could be going better.”
“I confess I may have underestimated our chances. Perhaps we can affect a retreat while still taking Luna with us?”
“Doubtful. I haven’t even agreed to your terms regarding her yet, anyway.”
“Ya’ll done yappin’ over there!?” Sweet Cider growled, stomping towards them, “Mayhaps if ya hand over Luna right this damn instant, I’ll consider lettin’ ya walk away. Ya ain’t winnin’ this fight.”
Adagio turned her eyes towards Thorax, who in turn was giving Luna a longing look. The other Soul Reaper Captain remained in Adagio’s imprisoning sphere of water near the edge of the battle, silent and having simply been watching the fight with narrowed eyes.
Adagio opened her mouth to speak... then closed it as she sensed the approaching signature of a familiar reiatsu.
About time. What did he do, stop for lunch on the way?
“Well!?” Sweet Cider said, raising her sword for another strike, “Ain’t gonna give ya another chance past this one.”
“And it’s appreciated,” Adagio said, offering up a wry smile, “Especially considering it’s allowed for our backup to arrive.”
“Backup won’t do ya no good, ya connivin’ little-” Sweet Cider started to say, then the words just turned to instant dust in her mouth as a figure appeared before her from a swift, near silent Sonido.
For a moment, time utterly halted for Sweet Cider, then rushed back a span of years as she felt her heart nearly stop in her chest. Cold shock flowed through her, opening her mouth agape and turning her eyes to wide, green lakes. She nearly let go of her Zanpaktou, and only the years of discipline and training as a Soul Reaper let her keep her grip, even as she felt her knees suddenly soften with the need to buckle.
It was him. His skin might have been more pale and his hair allowed to grow out to a wild length (that she realized looked rather good on him), and his expression had such a drained, sorrowful flatness to it that it was at utter contrast to the energetic and brightly smiling face she was used to seeing, but there was still no doubt at all that this was her husband; Hard Nail. Yet the unbelievably thick aura of Hollow reiatsu flowed off of him like an oil slick, and the black Hollow hole at the base of his throat was unmistakable.
Arrancar. Her husband hadn’t just become a Hollow, he was an Arrancar. The power coming off of him would have marked his place among the Arrancar, even if she didn’t spot the edge of the number “4” tattoo on the side of his neck.
The reality of the situation hammered at her mind, screaming a hundred different responses that tore at her to go to him and wrap her arms around him, to shout any number of a dozen different questions, or to just say anything past the impassible lump in her throat, to even raising her Zanpaktou to strike so she could free his soul from its present form and give it proper rest. Instead she stood there, frozen, unable to do more than grapple with her own shocked mind and heart.
For Lament, he was struggling with his own abrupt confusion. He’d arrived just in time, it seemed, for Adagio looked to be in terrible condition. He barely recognized Thorax, and questioned why one of the Second Espada’s children was here. He didn’t know Luna, but could tell she was a Soul Reaper Captain, just like the... strangely familiar red skinned blonde in front of him.
The woman was staring at him with what appeared to be utter astonishment, and Lament felt a heady and unnerving mix of emotions as he looked back at her. He couldn’t separate it all out, the rising waters of regret, longing, fear, familiarity, warmth, denial, all of it frothing together in a maelstrom he wanted desperately to keep a lid on. He knew this woman, somehow. Her honey blonde locks of hair, her stern yet beautifully carved crimson features, and those utterly fierce emerald eyes, all struck chords within him that felt at once cozy and inviting, yet somehow completely and overwhelmingly threatening. This Soul Reaper represented a dire threat to his memory, his mind, and the family he’d built for himself these hard, lonely years since he’d awoken in Hueco Mundo.
An entire flood of memories and all the strings attached to them were banging at the back door of his mind, and Lament feared if he let that dam break, he’d end up losing everything he was and all he had, including the adopted family that was most dear to him.
He had to attack. He had to do it before the woman spoke, and started saying things that might strip away the moorings on his sanity. That’s what he’d come here to do, right? Assist Adagio Dazzle, who clearly needed help dealing with this Soul Reaper. Yes, a Soul Reaper. He had to focus on that. He wasn’t fighting a woman he knew. Just a Soul Reaper.
Like Twilight Velvet was just a Quincy?, the stray thought rushed across his mind, and he remembered with a chill the sight of the woman’s corpse at his feet, her daughter covered in her mother’s blood.
He didn’t think he could afford to remember his past, but what was the price of continuing to forget it?
Forcing the thought back, he let battle instinct take over. His reiatsu poured from him as his vision focused to a knife’s edge upon his opponent. She was still staring at him, her guard down. There would be no better moment to strike.
Sweet Cider felt the intense focus of Hard Nail’s reiatsu and knew to expect the attack, yet her shock wasn’t anywhere near worn off. Only her own battle hardened combat instincts and honed skills saved her as she saw Hard Nail varnish and she swung Kizuna upward in a reflexive parry. Even then, Hard Nail’s speed took her by surprise and she felt a sharp bite of pain on her left shoulder from a bloody cut he left as he darted past her. Her Zanpaktou had managed to deflect his blade from what would have been a decapitating blow.
There was no mistaking his killing intent. For a moment she’d thought she’d seen a spark of recognition in his eyes, but now they’d gone flat and dead, like a murderous doll, focused solely upon the kill. She spun to face him as he darted at her again, his Sonido so swift she swore even light might not catch his blade. Yet she wasn’t slow, despite her heavy sword, and Kiznua was wide enough to be both blade and shield in one. She adjusted her stance, hefting the blade around like a tower shield, and Hard Nail’s Zanpaktou skipped off of it’s bronze edge.
His own Zanpaktou was not quite as long as Kizuna, but it was still an impressive long katana, and he flipped over her, swinging it around with the very momentum from her parry. She moved to the side with Flash Step, feeling his sword cut her Captain's coat, but just barely missed her flesh. With a wordless shout, anger now boiling up in her in denial of knowing what her husband was, what he’d become, what he’d been made into, she poured her spiritual energy into Kizuna.
Fused with her Fullbring, the unstable Zanpaktou eager drank up both her energy and her rage, rebounding that anger to fuel it to even greater heights in Sweet Cider. She should be angry! The Hollows had perverted the man she loved into some kind of emotionless husk of the loving man he’d been! Turned him into one of their Espada and forced him to fight their wars! How DARE THEY!? When she was done here she’d storm Las Noches itself and rip Tirek down from his throne and cram her sword down his throat for this!
Her shout turned into a furious roar as golden energy erupted from Kiznua along with a spinning, uppercutting swing aimed right at Hard Nail. The hulking burst of destructive spirit energy that exploded from her blade forced Hard Nail back, but to Sweet Cider’s surprise he was able to take it with his sword crossed in front of him, braced by his free hand, as black reiatsu flowed from his body in a protective shell. It still burned his skin and caused him to grind backwards across the ground along with the wave of energy, but he withstood it. Aside from Scorpan and Celestia, no one had ever taken one of Kizuna’s blasts directly like that and come out of it with so little damage.
As the wave of gold energy faded, Lament took a moment to assess himself. His arms felt numb and he was honestly shocked he was still standing. That blast had been beyond potent. He wasn’t even certain his own Cero’s were a match, at least not without Resurreccion. He glanced at the nails in his palms, and tested them with his reiatsu. The last power of Twilight Velvet’s Vengeance still held fast, sealing a portion of Lament’s reiatsu, but he did feel a slight budge within them. Had Sweet Cider’s blast somehow loosened them?
He had no time to ponder that as the woman, her face contorted with a rage that shocked even Lament’s usually calm demeanor, came at him with a surprisingly fast series of powerful sword strikes, given the size of her blade. He relied on his speed to evade, keeping just ahead of the blunt yet no less lethal edge of bronze from the massive slab of metal. Entire sections of the land around them were carved up with each near miss, until the end where even Lament found himself underestimating the woman’s ferocity and after dodging back with Sonido he still found his stomach bearing a deep cut from the pressure wave of the strike alone.
Luckily his body didn’t bleed like normal, so the wound meant little to him, but he wasn’t certain how well even his deathless state would hold up if she managed to start landing solid blows. Bleeding or not, needing his internal organs or not, he couldn’t do much mashed up into paste, and this woman could probably pull that off if he let her.
Having gained a bit of distance, he decided to test her own resistance to his spiritual energy, and raised a finger towards her. Black and green energy swirled into a small orb at the tip of his index finger, and then Lament unleashed a wide Cero blast that covered a dozen meter diameter. The green and black lined beam smashed towards the Soul Reaper, who made another enraged war-cry as she cleaved downward with her sword. The Zanpaktou smashed into the Cero like an anvil, and then the woman started walking through it with her sword held out like a dam against the Cero’s river.
Finally, past the rage, past the shock, past all of her conflicting emotions alongside a wetness in her eyes that she refused to acknowledge as tears, Sweet Cider found her voice.
She shouted hoarsely over the sound of the Cero she was walking through towards her husband with ever hastening steps, turning it into a headlong charge.
“Stop actin’ like ya don’t know me ya dang fool!”
Bracing Kizuna with one hand, she cocked back her right fist and emerged from the Cero right in front of a surprised looking Hard Nail, and proceeded to crack him across the jaw with her fist.
The blow actually did very little damage, despite quite possibly cracking the jawbone. The real effect was on Lament’s mind as that angry shouting voice, with its familiar accent, alongside the sensation of his jaw taking a solid smack from that fist, sent him reeling backwards. Not physically, but within his mind.
----------
The fist caught him right on the jaw, and he found himself on his back staring up at a blue sky beyond the swaying branches of apple trees, filled with ripe red fruit. The pain in his jaw wasn’t that bad, but the gorgeous woman glaring down at him angrily with her green eyes blazing reminded Hard Nail he’d best not say so as he sat up, rubbing his jaw and looking up with a boyish grin.
“So, that's a ‘no’ then?”
Sweet Cider snorted like a bull, hands on her hips, sweat pouring down her brow from beneath her stetson as she kept her eyes locked on him, “Yer a real piece o’ work, Hard Nail! What’re ya thinkin’, askin’ me to marry you outta the blue like that!? We ain’t even been datin’ more n’ a month!”
“I know,” he said, cracking his neck and hopping to his feet, still smiling at her, and enjoying the way that only Sweet Cider could make her eyes shine like that, even in anger. Besides, he knew she was blushing under that complexion of apple red, noting the pinker hue to her cheeks. “Turns out a month is all I need ta know where my heart’s at, with you.”
“Well mine ain’t so sure ‘bout you yet,” she said, turning back to her basket of apples and using her height and long arms to pluck a few more out of the nearby tree to set in the basket, “I’m a’ respectable girl, ya dang city slicker, an’ while ya might be handy with a’ hammer n’ nail, an’ are plenty soft on the eyes I’ll admit, it takes more n’ a pretty smile an’ a’ decent pair o’ work hands ta win over Sweet Cider Apple!”
“So, we talkin’ another month, or...?”
“Yer talkin’ yerself inta an’ early grave if ya don’t stop flappin’ them gums an’ help me finish up here,” she said, prodding another nearby apple basket with a foot. Hard Nail didn’t lose his grin as he did just that, helping her finish plucking apples from the last tree on that end of the orchard.
“How about with us nearly being done here, I take you over to my place?” he asked, and at Sweet Cider’s glare he added, “I’ll cook us up some lasagna.”
She paused, and he saw her lick her lips even as she tried to hide it with the brim of her stetson, then he heard her say, “Yer lucky yer a good cook, ya dang rascal. Ma still needs me ta finish patching up the barn door, but once that’s done I’m free.”
“I’ll help ya out n’ we’ll be done in no time flat,” he said, coming around the tree to her side and slipping his arm around her waist. She didn’t fight the touch and in fact leaned into it a bit, reluctantly starting to smile a bit herself.
“Yer cute, but don’t get cocky, Hard Nail, ya ain’t wormed yer way inta my heart just yet, even with the clever tactic o’ helping out on the farm here, an’ feedin’ me that sinfully good cookin’ o’ yers.”
“Don’t forget my rugged good looks, charming smile, and the fact that I’m an honest, hard working man who thinks the world of you and isn’t freaked out by the fact that you’re also an incredible ghost fighting superhero.”
“Eh, yer smile’s at a solid six at best, Romeo, but... it is nice that ya don’t fret none over what me n’ the gals do,” she said quietly, and he snaked his hand into hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Ya saved my life, Sweet Cider. I ain’t ever gonna forget that,” he said, leaning towards her slowly. She didn’t turn away from him, instead moving closer until their lips were nearly brushing, “I ain’t ever gonna forget you.”
----------
The memory finished crashing over him like a tidal wave, and Lament staggered backwards, head shaking. What had he just remembered? Was that... his life? Was that who he’d been, before Hueco Mundo, before becoming the Lament? And this woman, Sweet Cider... she’d been his...?
She was looking at him with her face flushed, her own breathing hard, not from exertion but her own internal war of emotions. Her eyes were a pyre of fury and need intermixed, and he could feel her spirit energy from both her and her Zanpaktou like a blanketing heat on his skin, as if he were standing next to an active volcano.
“That jog anythin’ in that thick skull o’ yers, Hard Nail Apple?” she asked in a hot, achingly familiar tone of indignation. “Ya near drove me ta the nuthouse with yer antics tryin’ ta marry me, ya oughta at least remember that ya actually pulled it off and got me ta walk down the aisle with ya!”
“No...” he said in a voice a scant fraction above a whisper, “I don’t remember. I can’t remember. Not now. That man isn’t me.”
Even as he said the words, bits and pieces of memory were escaping the bindings of his mind, slipping through the deep, deep darkness he’d kept them in and bubbled up to the surface. The scent of freshly baked apple pie spicing up the air alongside the laughter of a family sitting around the table. The sensation of sweat sweetly trickling down his back after a long day of satisfying work, made better by the laughter of children playing in the orchard. The warmth of his hands entwined with another’s in the darkness of night, drinking in her scent and feeling the thrill of her blissful gasps.
Each memory was a heated brand, poking his mind, and an entire ocean of ingrained denial and painful regret rose, armed with stark fear to fuel his reiatsu as it flooded out of him. Shadowy spirit energy rolled off his body as he held his Zanpaktou up and he narrowed his eyes, “I am Lament. Fourth Espada. Father to my precious children. Their protector. I won’t let anything make me forget them!”
“What n’ blazes are ya goin’ on about!?” Sweet Cider started to shout, but Lament came at her again, faster and harder than before. Their swords met in a blinding crash of motion, black reiatsu scorching against an aura of gold as their power’s clashed. The ground beneath them broke apart as if smashed by a great fist from the sky, shaking the earth, and causing a thunderclap of sound to resound for miles.
Adagio and Thorax, having been watching the spectacle in awed silence, finally were able to react and looked at each other. Thorax’s face was a picture of wry curiosity as he said, “I don’t suppose you have any idea what this is all about?”
For Adagio’s part, she hadn’t been fully blindsided by the apparent fact that Sweet Cider and Lament knew each other. Or rather, had known each other. Adagio was an intelligent woman, and it hadn’t taken her very long to slap the puzzle pieces together. Applejack had gone on enough about her dead parents for it to be rather obvious, even if Grand Fisher hadn’t boasted about his role in killing them or the fact that Applejack’s father had been turned into a Hollow.
Him being the Lament himself wasn’t even that much of a shock, as she’d had a few suspicions from a few previous clues. The failed apple orchard on his tower, his apparent obsession with family, his vague country aesthetic. Then there’d been the fact that Twilight Sparkle’s mother had recognized him. Adagio wasn’t sure Twilight had actually put two and two together herself, but then Twilight probably tried very hard not to think about Lament very much at all.
Granted, Adagio hadn’t been sure, and if she had been she might have reconsidered calling Lament in, but now that it was confirmed it didn’t change anything for her. She still needed Sweet Cider kept busy or otherwise neutralized. The problem now was whether Lament could even do that, with his mental state getting more unstable by the second while facing his previous life’s spouse.
“I may,” she confessed to Thorax, “But that’s not important right now. While Lament has that Captain occupied, we should regroup with my vassals and Ember.”
“And what of Luna?” Thorax asked, an insistent light entering his eyes. Adagio wondered just how far his interest in Luna actually went? Would he turn on her if she tried to leave Luna behind, or didn’t accept his offer? A part of her wanted to think Thorax could be a worthy ally, but for all he’d done to earn trust from her, it was still difficult to forget that such trust came with a hefty risk among Hollow-kind. It was often a matter of give and take, and Thorax had made it clear what he wanted Adagio to give. She just wasn’t certain. There were a lot of considerations and risks involved with utilizing Luna as a bargaining chip.
Adagio gave him a frank look, “Let me put it to you like this, Thorax. We can’t do anything with Luna until we’re all safe, and that,” she gestured to where Lament and Sweet Cider were a nearly invisible pair of flashing blurs, their blades creating small earthquakes with each tumultuously powerful blow, “Is not safe. We finish what I came here for first, then we discuss Luna.”
He pursed his lips, giving the titanic battle taking place a few stone’s throws away it’s due glance of concern. He then nodded, “Yes, I suppose you’re right. After you, then.”
With that Adagio gestured to Luna, causing her water sphere to float over to her. Captain Luna continued to glare at Adagio and Thorax, but Adagio noted Luna was also sparring a worried look towards Sweet Cider.
“You’re just going to leave them like this?” Luna said.
“Lament doesn’t die easily,” Adagio said, “And no, I won’t leave him like this. But I came here to rescue Ember. The person you took, remember? None of this would be happening if not for you, dear Captain, so cease your complaining or trying to guilt trip me. Once I know Ember is safe, I’ll come back to assist Lament however I can. Now do be silent.”
Adagio made another gesture and a coil of water rose from the sphere and proceeded to gag Luna, who resumed giving Adagio her full attention of glared daggers. Adagio didn’t particularly care if the woman wanted to glare. The day had gone bad enough already, an angry Captain Luna wasn’t going to likely make it much worse. In fact, Adagio was struggling to think how the day could get much worse.
----------
At Camp Everfree the students of Canterlot High had gathered in front of the ruins of the camp center while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie conferred with Lieutenant Posey and the Quincy from Crystal Prep. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were hanging close by with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but had been gently encouraged by Posey to remain silent while the adults and near-adults talked. For most of the Canterlot High students they recognized the Quincy as girls from Crystal Prep, but had zero background on why they were wearing strange, white military uniforms or wielding odd powers alongside the Rainbooms.
“We are so out of the loop I’m not even sure we count as being in the same solar system,” commented Bon Bon to Lyra, who just shrugged at the words as she gave her friend a pointed look.
“So, no different than usual? Relax, Bon Bon, I’ll admit this might look more intense than the usual magical accident about to destroy our fragile reality, but so far, so good, right?”
“Even those crazy C.M.C girls are involved,” Bon Bon noted, and something in her friend’s tone got Lyra looking at Bon Bon with a concerned, sidelong look. “And let’s face it, the destruction is harder to contain this time. A whole camp is wreaked, and we’ve got a missing lake. Then there was that attack on the beach. It was easier to keep a lid on all this when it was just the school, but now...?”
“What are you saying?” Lyra asked, but Bon Bon just shook her head.
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud.”
“I find thinking is waaaay too much work! You shouldn’t do it unless you have to!” said a cheerful voice as Chappy popped up between the pair. Both Lyra and Bon Bon gave the unusually peppy Sunset Shimmer their own, odd looks. They vaguely understood that this wasn’t actually Sunset, but it was still weird seeing Sunset walking around with someone else behind the proverbial wheels.
“No worries there, Chappy was it?” Lyra said, pointing at her skull and then giving it a few raps with her knuckles, “I hardly think at all! Just ask Bon Bon.”
“It’s true.”
“YEAH!”
“...You don’t have to agree that loudly, Bulk.”
Meanwhile the impromptu conference had reached an impasse, Lieutenant Posey gulping as she tried not to hide behind her bangs and project a calm, confident face befitting a Soul Reaper seated officer.
“I know you all want to go help your various friends,” she was saying, “But Captain Sweet Cider told me to look after all of you and I don’t think it’d be a very good idea to split up our forces even more. Um, but that’s just, uh, how I see it...”
Sugarcoat’s gaze on Posey made the Soul Reaper feel a tingling discomfort, as she didn’t know whether it was rude to look at the Quincy girl’s visor or not.
“You do whatever you want, but we’re not under your command. Twilight Sparkle is our immediate superior, and the only reason we came to the camp was to make sure the immediate threat to living humans was neutralized,” Sugarcoat said, “Now that it is, we have to go find out what happened to Sour Sweet.”
Fluttershy had brought the three present Quincy up to speed on what had occurred concerning Sour Sweet’s apparent replacement with an impostor, and Lemon Zest being knocked out. Sugarcoat wasn’t thrilled with Lemon Zest being left unconscious near a couple of Hollows, either, but priority-wise the situation with Sour Sweet was the bigger threat. Rarity had already run off to chase that potential assassin, but Sugarcoat wasn’t about to let one girl non-affiliated with the Quincy take care of what should be our own business.
“I’m worried ‘bout Rarity, too,” Applejack said, “Just don’t seem safe fer her ta run off on her own like that.” Her expression darkened, “O’ course Sunset had ta run off too, makin’ things even harder!”
“I can’t control what any of you do,” Posey said, her voice filling with an earnest strain, “But I ask you all carefully consider things before doing anything rash.”
“Like sit on our butts doing nothing!?” said Indigo Zap with a angry twist of her lips, “Typical Soul Reaper. Twilight’s in trouble too right now! Sour Sweet being replaced sucks, but I’d rather go help Twilight!”
“Help her by doing what? Dying?” Sunny Flare asked, “She’s fighting a Captain. We wouldn’t be any help there. I’m sort of wondering why we’re still standing here when we should be calling for help! We barely just graduated from being cadets! This is Sternritter level threats we’re dealing with. Let’s do what we should have done from the start and get reinforcements.”
“There’s no time for that,” Sugarcoat said, “We don’t have fancy portals like Soul Reapers and Hollows do. All the Sternritter that could help are either already here, or still in Canterlot City. It’d take hours, at least, for more to show up, even if we did call. No, we have to deal with this ourselves. We wouldn’t do Twilight any good, but we might be able to back up Rarity-”
“Against one of our own,” said Sunny Flare, “You do realize that whatever this impostor is doing, they have to be a Sternritter to have replaced Sour Sweet, right? What if they’re acting under orders from His Majesty? Should we be interfering with their mission at all?”
“You lamewads do whatever you want,” said Rainbow Dash, smashing a fist into her palm and producing a bust of lightning from it, “I’m not sitting around arguing this. AJ, Flutters, Pinkie, we go help Rarity first, then we go help Sunset. Sound like a plan?”
Fluttershy nodded, having kept calmly silent the entire time until that moment, “I’m worried about Rarity, too.”
“Sunset’s super strong, so she oughta be okay for a bit!” said Pinkie Pie, “She’s got a solo quest to do right now, but Rarity is trying to take on a secret boss by herself! It’s time to party-up!”
“It’s decided then,” said Applejack, “We’re goin’ after Rarity.”
However, no sooner had the words left her mouth that the entire group sensed the sudden and monumental uptick in spiritual pressure stemming from the north side of the Everfree Forest. One of the intermingling reiatsu out there was an intimidating, fearfully dark aura that made all those present shudder, while Applejack was extremely familiar with the source of the other reiatsu. She’d felt that spiritual pressure up close and personal, after all.
“Ma...” she said, sensing the unmistakable signature of her mother’s reiatsu being fully unleashed. Whoever or whatever the owner of that massive, dark aura of reiatsu was, her mother was facing it head on, and was having to go all out to do so. And the frightening thing was, Applejack couldn’t tell if her mother’s reiatsu was stronger than this new, dangerous one.
“Ma?” asked Apple Bloom, breaking off from her friends, “AJ, did ya say ma?”
“Oh my,” Posey said, hand shaking as she gripped her Zanpaktou, “T-that aura... that has to be one of the upper echelon Espada.”
“Upper echelon? Like, how strong are we talking here?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Um, I don’t know, but strong enough that I'm worried for Captain Sweet Cider...” replied Posey, voice becoming an uncertain squeak even as she tried to continue projecting an aura of calm she clearly didn't feel.
Sugarcoat flinched as something in her visor gave off a reading she didn’t like, “I have no idea either, but my visor is going haywire. This is bad. Good thing there’s a Soul Reaper Captain out there to deal with that.”
“That Soul Reaper is my ma,” Applejack said, teeth clenched, eyes wide with equal parts anger and sudden fear. She turned to the north, “Ya’ll... ya’ll go help Rarity, but I gotta go to help my ma.”
“Applejack! Whadd’ya mean ma!?” Apple Bloom shouted, repeating herself, and causing Applejack to suddenly look at her little sister with blinking, uncertain eyes.
“Apple Bloom, I...”
“Applejack,” Fluttershy said, “Whether you tell Apple Bloom or not, she’s going to find out eventually. Right now, maybe you should stay here. I don’t know that going to help your mother is a good idea.”
“What in bloody barnyards are sayin’!? She’s my ma! ‘Course I’m goin’!”
“But what will you do? You might end up getting hurt, and that won’t help your mother at all,” Fluttershy said, her voice calm, reasoned, with an undercurrent of deep worry that was being expertly controlled. Apple Bloom on the other hand was the completely opposite, her face reddening as she stamped a foot and shouted.
“Will somebody just tell me what is goin’ on!? AJ, why’re ya’ll talkin’ ‘bout our ma like she’s here? Like she’s a’...” she glanced at Posey, at the Soul Reaper’s uniform and Zanpaktou.
The girl’s face paled then with understanding, mouth opening as she let out a quiet, “Oh...”
Applejack had a miserable look on her face as she went up to Apple Bloom and knelt in front of her, putting hands on her little sister’s shoulders, “Apple Bloom, I’ll tell ya everythin’, I swear it to ya as an’ Apple, but I gotta go. Ma needs me.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” asked Sugarcoat, “If you go, you’re very likely to die.”
Before Applejack could respond, Rainbow Dash stepped in, her own face an understanding, grave mask.
“No, AJ’s right,” she said, turning to give Applejack a hard look, “You can’t ignore this. Just don’t be stupid about it. Go to your mom, and help her out, but don’t get dead in the process, you got that?”
There was something in Rainbow Dash’s voice that got Applejack to pause. She looked at her sister, Apple Bloom’s eyes shining wet with confused tears and a clear need to know the truth. She squeezed her sister’s shoulders, meeting Apple Bloom’s questioning eyes.
“I’m comin’ back, Apple Bloom. When I do, no more hidin’ the truth, I promise.”
Apple Bloom swallowed hard and wiped at her face, forcing her eyes to a determined gleam, “Okay, sis, I trust ya.”
Applejack bit back a loving sob, and hugged her little sister, then without another word she boosted off with jets of gold energy from her arm and leg armor, and took off towards her mother.
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wow....AJ...will stop.. that fight with help from fence
Well it seems memories aren't the only thing Sweet Cider is shaking loose from Lament. That's not a good thing given how even this fight is with her already in Shikai. With his resurrection even Sweet Cider's not going to be able to fight him by the looks of things. The only hope as I see it is for mother and daughter to team up to unlock all his memories (with Applejack no doubt evolving her Fullbring in the process). It's the only way I can see this fight ending without someone dying.
Not sure where Fenice is going to fit into all this. She can't really interfere in the Lament v Cider fight, unless something goes wrong when Ember, Roka and Di Roy try to retrieve the Zanpaktou (More than likely Silver Star or Meadowbrook or both will turn up to fight them or something) and Fenice could back them up. Though I do hope the Rainbooms spot her at some point.
Kind of pissed we didn't get a Rarity scene considering the cliffhanger from last time but I suspect it will be worth the wait.
<—-TO-BE-CONTINUED—-
This chapter was everything I wanted and it's just the beginning.😭 Great fucking job.
This looks like a foreshadowing to me. Wondered if Sweetie Drops would have something to do.
And it's sad when parents are arguing. Things always end up in a fight. Can't just people sit down, talk and have a big slice of home made apple pie? No? OK, I guees kids will have to be the mature ones.
Till death do us part...
i was gunna put up a meme about fighting parents, then realized that's in bad taste.
Rarity still dying in her own blood?
10143585
For the moment, technically yes. I'd intended to have something with her this chapter, but just didn't have room for it, so we'll be getting to her next chapter.
Thorax's weapons remind me of the Klingon bat'leth.
With how... nuanced this setting is, lagging the simpler Black and Whites the Shinigami vs Hollow vs Quincy had in the canon, I.. have mixed feelings. Hollows aren't as evil in this as they are in canon. And we know the cycle of souls works a lot more... believable might be a good term for it? Either way, I really hope this Life and Death match between Sweet Cider and Hard Nail turns into more of a lover's spat as Lament's memories return.
And I kinda get his fear. He's made a new family to try and fill the hole the old one left with his memories gone. I can see why he might fear loosing the new to the old.
10133194 Death has a different meaning in this realm...