Monsters We Became { Bleach Aizen Sousuke Fanfiction }

13 - Into Revelations

Each lantern burned with a steady flame; one sat upon the table in the center of the room and two hung from the ceiling. What little light they offered was overshadowed by the abyss that reached out from every unlit crevice. Shelves filled row to row with books lined the nearest wall on the left. Here the illumination reached enough to decide color, although reading would prove a challenge. Better lit was the table, surrounded by six white zabutons. Wear on the stone table told the tale of centuries of service.
Curious contraptions embellished the far wall, including the machination from the night Aizen joined their group. Woven from a collection of vines, a basket sat to the near side of the glowing machine, full of smoldering semi-round blobs of pale pink energy. Beside the table, familiar red orbs wrapped in golden thread sat tossed into a woven sack without a hint of consideration to where they had landed.

"Rymenocc failed to retrieve the device?" Bulky form too heavy for her disproportionally thin legs of pallid scales, Kaisett collapsed onto the rightmost zabuton.

"That is correct." Koukou said.

"In that case... we may struggle to feed all of those set to arrive." An amorphous blob, Kaisett slumped even more onto the floor and into the table against which she leaned. Soujimaru sat next to her, his green silken robes flowing behind him as he walked across the room.

"Honestly it is okay, Kaisett," Soujimaru's voice was low, and each word came out slow and slightly slurred, "I can keep stabilizing the orbs until we do get the device."

"Soujimaru, are you sure? You look and sound like you haven't slept in a week." Motherly instinct reached through each word and caressed the half-conscious sheepish creature beside Nallundra.

"It's fine." Soujimaru yawned, his arms reaching over his head. His hood slid itself from his golden crown of hair. Each strand fell around his face, as though begging for rest. Half-closed eyes peered out from his ram-like mask, their yellow iris unfocused.

"I can't help you stabilize the orbs, but I can at least cover the baskets so they evaporate more slowly." Nallundra said and she turned to the woven basket. Arms extended, vines appeared from the space between her hands and weaved themselves into a coarse rounded lid, just the size to encapsulate the basket in front of the machine.

"There, that should–" Nallundra's voice dropped as she turned to find Soujimaru with his head down, asleep. With a light smile, she took a seat across from Kaisett and looked to Koukou.

"What actually happened on the mission?"

"The details are still unclear. Rymenocc refused to report to me afterwards." Anger would be justified in response to such insubordination. Yet Koukou appeared to have none.

"So the only information we have is what Bylosse was able to get from him? That doesn't sound promising." Nallundra said, "And Soujimaru can't keep doing this."

"Agreed," Koukou said, "Using his threads was only supposed to be a temporary measure until we obtained either the stabilizer or its blueprints from the Shinigami. As for the reconnaissance mission... if Rymenocc is refusing to report the results of his mission, it is likely that most, if not all of his direct subordinates were killed."

"What? He's never– Kaisett, did your intel include any mention of that level of resistance?"

"No. The Shinigami must have predicted their arrival. I do not know how." Kaisett's cloudy eyes remained forward as she spoke.

"You don't think someone is relaying information to the Shinigami, do you?" Nallundra's accusation grazed Aizen then turned her eyes back to Koukou, "It has been quite some time since we've done a mission like this."