Truth beyond the lies...

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Thread description: Plot related Specific users: None
Special conditions: Arrancar resu. Forme (permitted)
Special conditions2: Shinigami shikai (permitted)
Objectives: Investigate the ancient chamber / confirm the whereabouts of the hogyoku shard(s)

Somewhere in a deserted area in the middle of Hueco Mundo, a sand storm blew across a large dune which collapsed revealing a hidden ‘chamber’ leading underground. It’s been long deserted, and is now falling into ruin. Inside can be heard the far off sounds of water droplets falling into shallow pools, and well as the eerie whirling of the wind through the dimly lit halls and passages. Recently, a number of powerful hollows have been spotted wandering the chamber’s once deserted halls. There have also been reports of a hogyoku shard possibly being hidden deep within the chamber.

A shocked expression flickers across her face,followed by disbelief. "I can't believe they would do such a thing!Without my knowledge!" Slamming her fist into the wall so hard rock cuts skin and it begins to bleed she doesn't flinch,trembling with anger."If they weren't both out..I'd throttle those two.." Trying to calm down she takes a deep breath,thinking it over.As a thought occurs Altria look at Fen frowning,disturbed expression on her face,"Fen..Tsuki...did he..force this..this bond.. on Shibu?..I know..how he can be.." Glancing down she rubs right wrist absentmindedly in old memory.

Uriko flash-steps over towards Kyuri and shakes her slightly trying to rouse her from unconsciousness. "K-Kyuri-chan.... are you..... alright?" her voice is still shaky from talking to Altria, but still has a determined quality to it.

Kyuri twitches, and blinks awake slowly feeling unbearably ill. "uhg..... U.... uri-san?" she tries to sit up then falls back down into a coughing fit, "cough cough... augh! damnit...... that jerk..... he ruptured something." she continues to cough then decides to just remain still, as it hurts to move.

Uriko rifles through her pack and takes out a vial with a healing elixir in it, she uncorks the vial and help Kyuri into a sitting position. "here.... this'll heal the internal injuries."

Kyuri takes the vial from Uriko gratefully and drinks it. she winces at first then relaxes when her injuries heal. "thank you...." She springs up feeling full of energy. "Where did he go?!? I'm gonna beat that bastard so hard, his human life is going to feel it!!!"

uriko smiles in relief when kyuri jumps up. "....I'm glad you're ok.... but..." she pauses, "Destadi escaped..." She gets up and starts walking over to where Altria and the others are. '...... I hope..... we'll be able to help shiro-kun......' she looks up and continues over to where loki is and sits down near him. "...... but... first.... we have to help loki-kun...."

" I see.." Looking away saddened her thoughts run in a confused jumble.'I'm so sick of this..being 'protected'..Shiro always getting hurt..it only ends in heartache..I don't want it for that price...do I?Tsuki..is a part of me after all..so is it actually me forcing that on Shibu?Is that my true wish?...Ah..damn it..this is too confusing..no..no..I wouldn't do such a thing...That's right! I don't want someone to protect me but to fight along my side.I'm a shinigami..a warrior..I can protect myself..When he wakes..there must be a way to remove this unwanted bond from us..from Shiro..I don't want to burden him with it..but..it seems right now,it is actually useful..a way to communicate..' Squeezing Shiro's hand still held in her own gently she looks over him sadly,leaning forward to sweep aside hair from his eyes."I'm not..angry..with Shiro..can never really be.." Speaking to herself she murmurs in a half a whisper,"We're wishing for same thing..but something always rises to stand in the way..and it cannot be." Turning to looks at Uriko as she sits down near Loki she remembers the tendril,hurriedly pulling wrapped bundle from her pocket,"Uri..I sliced off the tendril with the poison..you can make an antidote from it,right?You're the best healer.." Handing it over Altria studies Loki's face,looking simply asleep,then looks over at Shiro.'They both look like they're just taking a nap but.. no, Loki-kun will be fine,Uri can make an antidote..I believe in her.And Shiro..will be fine too..there's always a way..I wont rest until we get his soul back...I just wish he was himself right now..and I could apologize for what Tsukiyomi has done behind my back..threatening something so..so..wrong..as if he could do such a thing,locking away memo...ries...' Eyes widening with dawning realization she holds a hand to her forehead,leaning forward suddenly feeling sick, 'Wait..wait.. memories..memory..memory doors..locked until I open one..and some..I could not open...the black half of them...past cannot recall..questions avoided..inner world..his domain..our domain..that look in his eyes...could he..could he actually?' Blood draining from her face Altria whips her head up sharply to look at Fenikkusu,voice coming out shaky,"F-fen..can a zanpakuto spirit actually do something like that?Lock away..memories...?Is that really possible?Or was it an empty threat,nothing but a bluff?"

Uriko carefully takes the severed tendril from Altria, and looks at it with a probing expression. placing it on the floor she turns and pulls out a variety of herbs and a few small vials containing different pale colored liquids. Uriko looks over her herbs carefully, then rifels through her bag once again and pulls out an emptry vial. she takes out a small pocket knife while picking up the tendril, making a small puncture near the tip of it with the knife. Uriko takes the empty vial and gathers the venom leaking from the tendil and corks it. "...ok....." she turns to her herbs and selects a few rather spindly looking ones and grinds them into a powder. she takes a few sweet smelling herbs and grinds them down as well. Uriko picks up the vial and uncorks it, adding the herbal powders. She then takes one of the the other vials (one containing a clear liquid) and uncorks it, pouring the contents into the one she just added the the herbs to. Uriko recorks the vial and gives it a shake to mix the ingredients together. She stops and looks at the vial, noticing the mixture become a pale blue in color she hands it to Altria. "...... ok...... ...... neechan..... have loki drink this....... it should..... reverse the effects of the poison in his body....... " she pauses, seeming a bit nervous, "...... if it works...... he should.... wake up within..... a few minutes...."

Smiling at Uriko she takes the vial,"It will work Uri-chan.I believe in you." Pulling Loki into her lap she uncorks the vial,managing to pour the liquid into Loki's mouth and make him swallow.Looking at him carefully Altria waits for the antidote to work,hear beating painfully.'.He's going to be so angry for only getting one strike in..come..wake up..'

Slowly coming to he coughs,lazily opening his eyes."Mnrgh?Is it morning yet??" Last vestiges of sleep evaporating Loki realizes his location,in Altria's lap,immediately flushing bright pink.Jolting up straight too quickly he clutches his forehead,pounding headache making it feel like someone took a hammer to his head,"Holy frack...what the hell happened?Last thing I remember was..I was.. about to kick that freaks ass..then..all blank?" Scratching his head Loki looks at Altria and Uriko,then takes a look at Shiro.All the questions and concerns come out in one breath."So what the hell happened?Where's that betraying sonnava Arrancar?Uri-chan..were you crying?And how's Shiro?Altri you look horrible too.."

Kyuri comes running over just in time to hear Loki's questions. "Tiger-freak escaped! and there's no sign of him anywhere!!!" she kicks a nearby wall, denting the bricks. "Damn it.... damn him... Damn him damn him!" she paces in a circle for a bit then stops. "I just found niisan.... why the hell did that sonofa damn hollow do this to him?? Nrgh!!" she begins pacing around again with a very frustrated look on her face.

Listening to Fenikkusu quietly she looks down sad,fingering hilt of her zanpakuto. 'If he can do this..did do this..why?..All those dreams..and uncertainty..not knowing where you come from or who you were..thinking,wondering..was I a good person? Bad?Is this punishment for something done?Who am I?..Why..why would Tsuki..do this to me?..' At Fen's last words Altria looks up, frowning, remembering the time,"When..when Shiro..d-..died..back then..I..I was so..'distraught'..I lost my connection with Tsuki..couldn't even do shikai..but.. he kept trying to do something in the inner world..I just don't know what..and it didn't work..because our connection was too weak..I..I guess..if he really can do this..that's what he was trying to accomplish.." Looking into the distance she smiles slightly,"..and when Shiro came back...I was so incredibly happy and relieved..and angry too..they were such strong feelings..it must have affected him as well..." Shaking her head Altria clutches the hilt forcefully,looking hurt,"I just don't understand Fen..why.. when we're closer then anyone can be..to do this..it seems I can't trust even my own zanpakuto.." Smiling sadly she turns to Loki as he wakes up,relief written on her face."You were poisoned,Loki-kun. Uri made an antidote.Destadi is..gone..he..escaped as Kyuri said.Shiro is..he was conscious but he's very weak and needs rest and..he's not..himself now.." Hugging herself Altria looks down,"I'm sorry Kyuri..I'm sorry.."

Kyuri stops pacing and turns to look at Altria, her frustration cooling. ".... it's not your fault Altri-san.... It was our fault for not picking up on this sooner...." she looks down, "I didn't feel right going with Tiger-freak, the whole 'splitting up' thing... was just a way to separate us from each other....." she shakes her head. "and I bet the whole Hogyoku shard was all shammed as well...."

Fenikkusu watches Altria silently, then nudges her gently with her head. ".... why we do things is not always clear...... but we never do anything to purposely harm masters...." She makes a gentle cooing sound before fluttering up to sit on Altria's shoulder.

Shiro awakes, blinking slowly his gaze passes from Fenikkusu and Altria, to Loki, Kyuri, and Uriko before coming to rest on some distant unseen object. Carefully, Shiro grabs the wall and pulls himself into a standing position. he takes a few steps down the corridor before dropping to one knee while still holding the wall, beginning to breath heavily.

"No Kyuri..the shard..was not a sham.." Reaching into her inner pocket she pulls out a handkerchief,unwrapping it to show the shard."..and it is partly my fault. I have been suspicious of Destadi's behavior for some time now.The way he looked at Shiro when he thought no one was watching..and almost..stalking him..I had such a bad feeling,should have listened to it and didn't let him go..what's more.. Tsuki..told us a warning about a week ago..he can sometimes see glimpses of future events.." Remembering his words she repeats them quietly,"Some..are not what they appear.Beware of the deceiver.Bringing much grief..." suddenly brightening she looks up,"but then,'Stolen can be retrieved.Awakening from sleep!' I don't know what the sleep part refers too but..it means we can get his soul back.There must be a way.We just need to find it!" In a slightly better mood Altria runs her fingers over Fen's feathers lightly,smiling,"Thank you Fenikkusu,for those words and for telling me." Standing up when Shiro gets up she follows after swaying,unsteady on her feet, kneeling near him."Shiro..where are you going?You shouldn't..move yet..you're too weak..and with..with..missing pieces..there's not enough..power..and you need to conserve strength." Glancing at Fen she murmurs,a new worry rising,"Will he..be..alright..until we can retrieve it?He has..time..right?What was left..is enough to keep him alive?"

Fenikkusu coos at Altria reassuringly, "even with missing soul... Shiro will be able to keep going.... he's not one to give up so easily..." she coos again, "If anymore of his soul was stolen..... I'm afraid the out come would've been much different."

Shiro shakes his head at Altria's words about 'being to weak to be moving yet'. He struggles up again and takes another step forward almost collapsing again. "..... n...no...... got....." he stops breathing heavily, "got.... to.... g....et..... back........sei...rei...tei........ngh..." he drops to his knees, and struggles to remain awake.

Looking relieved Altria nods,"Oh..good..so we have..some..time.His devils luck saves the day again." Watching Shiro struggling just to take a step and remain conscious a pained look crosses her face.Kneeling near him again she takes his hand,squeezing it tightly,"You're as stubborn as always.Ok,let's go home to Seireitei.But you need to conserve strength,ok.So..I'll be your support." Pulling remains of her spirit energy out with a struggle,it shimmers around them soothingly,Altria places his arm over her shoulders and wraps her own underneath it and around him so she's supporting his weight,rising slowly and pulling him up as well."Kyuri..if you could please open a gateway.The closest you can get to out barracks.."

Kyuri nods and opens a snekeimon in front of Altria and Shiro, before jumping past them and through the portal.

Moving slowly under added weight she takes careful steps for the gate,legs trembling slightly.'You can do it..one more step..so tired..no,no,one more step..come on..' Stepping though the senkaimon Altria makes slow way for the 2nd division barracks and her quarters.

( OOC-Ok,mission almost over.Let's finish up. ^^ )

Uriko gathers up the rest of her herbs and heads to the senkeimon, and passes through it to the 2nd division barracks.

Getting to his feet Loki stretches tired muscle,chasing away last vestiges of sleep.Taking last look around the chamber he enters senkaimon,returning to second division.