Ichigo hasn't seen Menoly and Loly in a while. Last he heard, they were in charge of sacrificing the números. Must be fun being Aizen's aides. They look tired from fighting off the invasion, and their bodies are littered with cuts. Ichigo doesn't want to hurt them.
"I can't have you stopping me, Menoly. Take your sister and run," the ginger tells the more reasonable sister.
"I-I'm sorry, Kurosaki-sama, but I have orders from Lord Aizen to keep the prisoners here," she stutters.
"You and I both know you won't win. Please, I don't want to hurt you."
"I can't disobey."
"You heard her! Shut up and fight us!" Loly shouts.
Ichigo sighs. "I'm giving you one last chance. Run. Or - hey, I'll even get you out of here myself. Come with us, and I can protect you from Aizen. He won't be able to hurt you anymore."
"Lord Aizen would never hurt us!" Loly snaps.
"Then why is he sacrificing his Arrancar?" Ichigo tilts his head. He slowly appraoches, watching Menoly's conflicted expression. Menoly was always the more human sister. Loly, however, just seems to get more angry. "Loly, why is he sending you to your death?"
"He would never!"
"Stop lying to yourself! See, Menoly understands. Why don't you?"
The pale sister turns to the tan one. "Menoly?"
Menoly gives Ichigo a look. Finally, she lowers her zanpakuto. Her body slouches, and her head hangs in shame. She's on the verge of tears.
"He's right," Menoly whispers.
"What did you say!" Loly shouts.
"He's right!" She screams. "Kurosaki-sama is right! He's always been right! Aizen is a bad man! He's just another Shinigami here to put an end to the Hollows."
"You don't mean that. Lord Aizen gave us purpose!"
"Our purpose is to die! To die for a man who's more hollow than his Arrancar army."
The sisters stare at each other in anguish. Loly starts to cry, her zanpakuto clattering to the floor. Menoly drops her own zanpakuto to engulf her sister in a hug.
"Wha-what are we going to do? We can't run, we'll die. We can't stay, we'll die. At least with Lord Aizen, our death has purpose," the pale sister reasons.
"No it wouldn't. Our death would only have pride."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"Come with me," Ichigo offers.
The sisters look up at him. He got a lot closer while they were talking, yet he still gives them enough space.
"But the Shinigami will kill us."
"No they won't."
"How do you know that?" Loly demands.
"Because you helped me rescue prisoners of war."
The pair glimpse past Ichigo at the four waiting adults. They're bloody and beaten and ready to get the hell out of the dungeon. Menoly gazes up at the Cero Espada.
"We'll come with you, Kurosaki-sama."
The sisters lead Ichigo and the jackass adults through the fortress of Las Noches to where they last saw Nel. They apparently knew that Nel and Ichigo have a specific relationship that none of the other Espada have with each other.
"Oh, what could that mean?" Kisuke teases as they shunpo.
"Nel and I trust," the ginger replies bluntly, trying to ignore the looks he's getting from the ex-captain and his childhood friend.
"Sure, let's go with that," Yoruichi jests.
"If you think him and Nel are a thing, you should see Kurosaki-sama and the Shinigami girl," Loly snickers.
Ryuuken gives a chuckle. It gives Ichigo goosebumps.
"What's so funny?" Ichigo grumbles.
"You've got it so bad, and you don't even know."
Ichigo turns away from them to look at the destruction around them. There's fires and craters. There's blood and bodies. Every so often, the fortress shakes and walls crumble. Ichigo needs to stop the fighting. He needs to hurry to Nel. She can help him with the Espada. Now that he thinks about it, she could probably help him understand how Espada work, too. He has the ability to attract Hollows with his voice. Maybe he can do it again.
There's a faint scream of someone dying in the distance, bringing Ichigo back to the real world. The real world of unnecessary deaths and meaningless wars. He's glad Rukia is safe with the captains. Yes, he had a legitimate reason to have Keigo take her to the captains, but it was also because whoever is there, there's a group of Shinigami captains that will protect her with their dying breath.
"Ichigo?" Yoruichi asks. "Did we upset you?"
He glances back at Ryuuken. The older man furrows his eyebrows at the expression the ginger wears.
"I think I do understand how bad I've got it."
For whatever reason, that surprises the four jackass he calls mentors or dad. Menoly and Loly either smile or roll their eyes. Guess which sister did what?
"But all I can do about it right now is keep her safe, and end this stupid war."
"You think the war is stupid?" Menoly asks.
"All wars are stupid. They represent the hunger for power that no one person deserves."
"You don't think people deserve power?" Loly repeats.
"Not through a war, I don't. Power is earned, not taken by force, or else that power is corrupted with mistrust and betrayal."
"Nicely said, Ichigo," Kisuke compliments.
"When did you get so wise?" Isshin asks.
"Oh, some time between discovering my inner demon and infiltrating an Army of Arrancar lead by a mad man," Ichigo replies sarcastically.
The sisters snort in humor. "You weren't entirely bad at infiltrating. It was keeping up your image where you struggled."
"And you killed, like, four Espada."
"What!" The four jackasses exclaim.
"Hey, only one of them was on purpose!" Ichigo proclaims.
"Why are you killing people?"
"How else was I supposed to get into the Espada? The other three happened because someone let my instincts run wild without me or Shiro at the wheel."
"You let the vasto lorde take control?" Yoruichi gawks.
"Of course. How else to make him feel welcomed? I want him on my side, and that was one of his conditions. Besides, we have to mutually agree on him taking control."
Menoly and Loly abruptly stop. Ichigo just manages to stop before he could hit the angry sister. Looking around, Ichigo recognizes where they are. He gazes at the burned courtyard where him and Uryū practiced shooting arrows. They're outside Ichigo's palace, in the closed off section covered in sand.
In the middle of the the private sand dunes are Nel and Soi Fon. Pesche and Dondochakka lay wounded to the side, but they're alive nonetheless. Nel doesn't look too bad, but Soi Fon looks fine altogether so that can't be good for the Espada.
"Ichigo!" Dondochakka waves.
"Weirdo," Ichigo comments before using shunpo over to the fracción. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, we'll live. What are you doing here?" Pesche questions.
"I'm getting Nel. We need to start the plan."
They both turn deathly serious. "What do you need us to do?"
"Be there for Nel. She'll need you."
Ichigo whips around, not waiting for a reply. He pulls Zangetsu off his back, and he charges at the two women. He uses shunpo to get in between them, grabbing Soi Fon's wrist and stopping Nel's zanpakuto with his. They both appear surprised.
"Kurosaki!" Soi Fon snaps. "What are you doing?"
"Stopping this pointless fight. I need Nel, and you aren't helping stop the war," Ichigo retorts.
Nel lowers her zanpakuto, so Ichigo follows. They sheath their weapons and step away from the captain.
"Pointless? We are trying to stop Aizen!" Soi Fon yells.
"Then why are you fighting Nel? Aizen isn't even in Las Noches."
"He - what?"
"Where is he then?" Kisuke asks.
Everyone approaches the three. Ichigo sighs loudly.
"He's in Karakura Town. The real threat is there."
"But-"
"Soi Fon," Yoruichi interrupts. "Listen to him."
The captain mutters under her breath about stupid gingers. "Then what should we do?"
"Go get the other captains. I'm going to get the Espada. We need all the help we can get to stop Aizen."
Ichigo and Nel don't wait for approval, and they both flash away. Gathering the other Espada was easy enough. Luppi and Barragán died and Szayel was close. Wonderweiss was kinda, well, wondering. The rest were fighting captains, but thankfully no one else was killed. Ichigo fixed Szayel right up, and Luppi got a quick funeral. They don't really care for Barragán, so they did nothing.
The hard part was convincing Ulquiorra.