Perfidiōsus: A Soul King Aizen fanfic

♚ Part 5 :: ( Fealty & Frailty )

黒崎 一護. Kurosaki Ichigo –––––

The youth who exceeded his expectations and ultimately thwarted the ambitions he had painstakingly sought to give effect to... albeit, seemingly, that victory was of no real consequence in the eyes of Zero Squad.

The name acted as gateway to a plethora of sentiments, most of them frustrating; thoughts which were only exacerbated by the look in the lad's brown eyes as he stood in the vast, hallowed hall that God called 'home'. Prison. And gazed up at God's visage.

Again he looked pitying, perhaps even empathetic.

It was clear that one of the two titans had to lose in that final bout; and while the redhead did not want it to be him, he did wish for a better outcome. The God could hear a sentiment plain as day from within the recesses of Ichigo's mind.

Not like this. It shouldn't have ended like this.

"Why do you look so forlorn, Kurosaki Ichigo?" the God smirked, startling the boy, "Hmph. Did you think I was incapable of speech like this? Well, clearly that is not the case... Now, what business do you have with me?" of course he knew, but it was pointless to simply dictate the flow of their conversation.

He would allow the boy to participate fully in this little audience.

"Aizen..." for a moment the hero fell silent, then his gaze hardened and he lifted his head to offer a far braver expression, "I'm here because of the Quincy, they're coming to overthrow Soul Society."

"Ho... It seems you are truly a dutiful sort to the very end," Aizen's dark eye trained its gaze upon his rival, he clicked his tongue, "And yet... you are far more toothless than when we crossed blades," there was a degree of satisfaction in knowing it had taken every ounce of strength the lad possessed in order to subdue him; even if the events that stemmed from that defeat were unacceptable to him, he took pleasure in that fact.

"... Yeah, I lost my Shinigami powers when I defeated you and had to regain my strength in other ways," something painful burned in the core of those strong brown eyes. A trauma. The price of strength was great –– he'd paid in full, it seemed.

"Yes... the Fullbring, which you lost only to regain some form of Shinigami power from your... allies. And now even that has been taken from you," of course Aizen knew what had happened in the World of the Living and beyond while he languished in his crystalline cell; he could see it all, playing out like a series on a scene. A television drama, "Was it all worth the cost?"

"No..." it was a single word, but the emotion behind it was deep and vast –– there was nothing in this world worth risking the safety of his family for, and yet that was precisely what had happened. The God watched as memories flashed across Ichigo's tortured face; the God dipped into them and felt the searing fury that had driven the lad to cut down his foes in as close to cold-blood as he could ever hope to come.

More like lukewarm, really...

"I see, and yet you have paid the price. I'm sure this lot will find a way to repair that which has been shattered... I find it amusing that we are both in this place. I admit that I did not expect such a thing to come to pass," in his mind the plan was clear: craft the Ōken, destroy Zero Squad and kill the Soul King. He expected that Ichigo would arrive at some point, gravely wounded but still willing to fight, and he would have spilled what remained of the boy's blood across the throne room.

A perfect christening for his new reign.

Sadly such savagery and ritual did not come to pass, and his desire for blood now transferred to the grinning monk who stood beside Ichigo. For a moment he glowered at Ichibei, "Leave us," he snarled.