Act 9: Another passing

The people passed by, completely oblivious to the presence that was watching after them. They were what those knights were trying to protect, and also what they might inadvertently destroy in the process. What if what that woman said before was correct; what if they could, with enough power, stabilize the realm without the need of the other two? A soft scoff escaped the Espada Commander and he continued to watch the people walking by the city bench he was planted in. The sword, still held within its sheath, acting much like a cane for him to lean on as he had his hands overlapping each other on the end, with his head propped on top of those. Slightly drowsy-appearing eyes watched as the humans passed by. “They’re honestly trying to save you people? Hmm…” His eyes shut for a moment before he rose to his feet, kicking the sword up in the process and settling it on his shoulder before he turned and started to head into the center of the city. On such a nice day, he figured it to be a waste just moping around in the graveyard and ruins of his old life. He came to the human world to “feel more alive” and he couldn’t do that if he stuck around a place of death and decay. As he moved through the crowd toward the center of the downtown district, a light smile came across his face. It was almost enough to get his mind off the situation at hand.

The woman seemed to move around easily, golden eyes shifting about and taking in the scenery. Of course she had ended the journey of many in this world... both soul and Arrancar alike. Around her, her armour seemed to swirled needlessly, feeling a familiar reishi signal about. "Hmmm... I remember that pattern." She whispered, perhaps it wasn't wise to encounter him again, but this time the woman would be ready, she had increased her reshi, drawing in the power of the souls in which she had captured, eyes narrowing as she leapt into the air, letting the wind guide her she floated across the city, until she could catch sight of the espada, by this time she was quite high in the sky, she when she thought she was close enough she made her descent to a rooftop and waited, he would have surely sensed her yes?

For a while, the Arrancar seemed to have been enjoying himself, relaxing completely while melding with the crowd of humans on his way to the real active part of the city. However, a strange chill crawled up his spine, an unfamiliar feeling beginning to make its nasty presence known in the form of an unrelenting emptiness in his gut. He came to a stop and looked around, narrowing his eyes. One of them was there? Really? A deep frown appeared across his face, completely replacing the smile that had once graced his youthful features. “Damn…” He muttered simply to himself, lowering his head and shaking it slowly as well, while his lips pursed. Still, he continued to look around for the source of the inconsistent reishi, finally settling his attention on the skyscrapers around him. A brief moment of silence seemed to befall the area around him before he simply vanished, appearing on the roof of an adjacent building. He stared across the empty way at the building he had pinpointed the source to. “Her…” With that, he once more disappeared, appearing behind the woman with that frown still present. On someone like him, who was usually smiling or showing no emotion at all, the one he was showing then just did not look right. “Why is it, ever since you people showed up… I can never walk this world in peace?” He asked bitterly.

Whitney opened her mouth slightly, letting the cool wind pass through her body, her armour was reinforced this time, a lot stronger than before no doubt. “Because you realize that you do not belong in this world.” She whispered lightly a small smile on her face. “I am surprised though that you haven’t noticed…” She whispered looking over her shoulder at him. “The drop in souls… you don’t see many hollows about here do you not? I bet they must be close to feeding on eachother, your precious children so to speak eating one another. I’ll just let them wipe themselves out but of course, I’ll kill any who try to attack the humans.” Whitney turned around to face him now, her rapier sword gripped tightly. “I’ll be moving soon. And I will take you all out.” The woman ran a hand through her hair, this constant waiting seemed to pt her on edge, she did not feel comfortable with following Von’s plan.

“I have noticed…” He whispered in response, narrowing his eyes slightly while he watched her. His teeth grit, though he didn’t bare them in the slightest. Although it did hurt him to know that the lower Hollows were getting desperate, it was nothing to him. His gaze drifted off from the woman for a split second before returning to her while he drew in a deep breath, only to exhale it once more. “I do not care if they eat each other…” For a moment, there seemed to be a slight flare up in the reishi as he stared at her, otherwise mild-mannered. “I once used to feast on Hollows… I care not for their lives, because even as one of them I knew they were nothing more than brutes…” A hand went up and he lowered his head slightly, running his fingers through the locks of white and silver, ruffling them while he moved to stand on the edge of the roof. For a brief moment of time, he watched the humans moving about beneath them, appearing to be deep in thought. “For a time… I thought that I could protect them, despite the creature I have become…” His tone had suddenly softened and he seemed to relax while he took a seat with his feet hanging off the edge of the building. “You will only be doing us a service, myself and the shinigami who also defend the humans,” he remarked in a gentle whisper while he looked up at her, arching a brow. Then he heard her words about moving and simply sighed, shrugging and casting his gaze upon the crowd below. “Why not make it easy for yourself in the end and strike me now? Hmm? While I am still not willing to put up a fight?” He asked simply, shrugging once more.

The woman listened softly and merely shook her head. “Maybe I might be doing you all a favour, but I’m also taking away souls. And of course shinigami and your kind alike. In the end, I am getting rid of you all, so if I was you I would not truly think of this as a favour, when in fact it will come back to you.” Whitney gave a light sigh watching him sit down and smiled as he spoke only to shake her head. “I could, but then I wouldn’t know the full extent of your power… and that’s something I am curious about.” She raised a brow lightly. “So if you were to get into the mood, I would be grateful. If not… I’ll get you in the mood.” She said merely moving slightly in a sway, smiling lightly as her reshi seemed to grow. “You have a choice, get into the mood now, or it will be a pretty bad outcome.”

With her words only a gentle chuckle came, while Sage shook his head slowly. He listened to her, and when she was done, he only seemed to be fighting back laughter. For some strange reason, he found the whole thing humorous. That didn’t last long though, as when he looked up at her, there was nothing but a straight, placid expression across his features. “It will be a favor for us if you go after the ones who attack the humans. As for coming for us… Of course, then it won’t feel like much of a favor…” He shrugged and pursed his lips, though only to keep from appearing to be getting any sort of amusement out of it. Then he heard those words, her curiosity about his power, and he suddenly got quiet. He stared straight down at the ground below them. “You would risk such a catastrophe in the city?” He asked, slowly the anger seemed to build, showing in his usually calm silver hues and in the expression on his face. Even the grip he had on his sword showed the growing displeasure as it tightened. “Why…?” He asked, looking up at her, narrowing his eyes slightly as a slight glint of sadness seemed to show in them. He didn’t seem at all affected by the increase in reishi, though it was nonetheless unsettling for him. She was really ready to risk the lives of everyone in the city to just examine him? “You really are daft, Whitney,” he whispered simply, before vanishing. When he did, there was nothing left of him, not even a trace of his reishi or reiatsu was present, that was until it appeared again, behind her. He had also drawn his sword but did not raise it to her. He had felt the power of her armor, felt the dramatic increase from the last meeting, and therefore found no reason to try and test it out. He’d only hurt himself at his current level. “Stand down,” he whispered, staring at her, narrowing his eyes slightly while he watched her. “You do this and you’ll only draw something out that not even you have any hope of stopping. Not even with the power of your Hoard behind you.”

Whitney turned to look around at him eyes watching him momentarily before looking at his blade. “hmmm…. You are going to have to fight me sooner or later you know that?” She muttered. Watching him. “So you don’t want to fight me now? And there you were. Advising me to strike, now that I offer it you don’t want it.” Whitney frowned. “Well then… if I have no chance against it… why haven’t you just ended us all already hmm? You’d be saving yourself and others a lot of trouble.” She smiled. “Come on. Fight me.” She whispered taking a few steps back so she could raise her sword at an easier distance. “I’m waiting.”

For a moment, the man stood there, watching her and silently assessing the situation. When she addressed his unwillingness to take the strike, he merely scoffed and turned his head, looking away. “I was willing to give myself to you, let you end me without a fuss…” With that, he began to sheath the sword while going on to say, “And no, I do not wish to fight you, Whitney. I have nothing to fight for anymore, since you took the only thing worth fighting for…” His eyes narrowed and he started at her, listening to the soft click as his sword slipped into the sheath and snapped into place. When she spoke up again, his gaze once again turned away, though there wasn’t a sign of irritation or anger present. He was upset about something then, regretful even. “If I were to do that, I’d have killed you, everyone in the city, and then leveled the city before anyone could stop me… Two souls reside inside me now… Two separates that were once single.” He took a step toward her, watching as she readied her sword and hearing her challenge, yet he did not bother drawing his own sword again as he took more steps toward her. Eventually, he was pushing against the tip of her rapier. “Kill me… please… reunite me with…” He trailed off and sighed gently, biting his lip while he looked down at her sword. “End me now, Whitney,” he whispered gently, pleadingly. It was the only way to ensure that he would never have to worry about losing control of himself again, and a chance to see her again.

Whitney listened to his words and shook her head. “Willing to give yourself? How pathetic… I thought a being like you would enjoy killing me…” She seemed to frown and tilted her head. “Nothing else to fight for? What is the fact that your hollows are being destroyed that hurtful to you?” Whitney seemed intrigued about the power that he boasted. Two souls? What on earth was he going on about? The woman seemed to narrow her eyes as he stood infront of her pushed up against her blade. “What is this?... you are acting completely different..” She seemed to be confused, this Espada was almost begging her to end him. “You are a strange one Sage. And here I thought you would be the one who might kill me… Looks like I will have to seek out a stronger opponent in the future… But since you do want to go… I will grant you that.” Her rapier was propelled forward swiftly, the tip piercing his body with her blade. “Now that I have your blood… may you be judged by god… but until that time comes you will serve out your days in the Heavens hoard.” The woman pulled her blade out of Sage quickly, as the medallion glowed brightly sending a current through her as she placed her hand on his shoulder. “…. You…. are a very strange warrior.” She whispered lightly, her eyes seeming to be in slight pain almost. Why did he want to go there? Most just wanted to defeat her and be the hero. Behind Sage A golden gate appeared, opening slowly as a pink light shone out from it. Thick chains shot out as they looped themselves around his body, slowly pulling him into the hoard. “……” Whitney did not know what to say… this event had caught her completely off guard, and it was something she would have to look deeper into to fully understand it.

“Violence born of violence, Whitney…” He whispered simply in response to her remark about him enjoying killing her. He once again looked down at the sword that was pushing against him and he bit his lip. Was he doing the right thing, allowing himself to be taken? “I told you before, Whitney, I do not care about them. The only thing found any worth fighting for… you took from me.” He looked up into her eyes, his own silver hues seeming to flash. He watched her expressions, smiling when he realized she was trying to figure out what he meant. And as if he had read her mind, he whispered, “I guess you will never know… not immediately at least.” He smiled a little, almost eerily, as he pushed harder against the tip of the blade in response to her remark. Slowly, his head shook and he lowered it, putting a hand up to lightly touch it, his hand up the edge and gently touch her hand. Although it was painful to do so, he wanted to give her at least one last thing to think about; the grip he had, although deteriorating was gentle. “I already said I did not want to kill you, Whitney, or your friends. I want you to remember that…” His voice jolted, as did his body when he felt her run the rapier through him. He went limp for a second before looking up at her, smiling weakly, before his hand fell away from hers, immediately beginning to heal itself soon after. A slight grimace came across his face while she pulled the sword from him, and a hand went to conceal the silver pool that appeared in the white fabric. “I wish… you would have known me as… something other than a warrior though…” He whispered, and then looked back behind him to see the gate form. He watched as the chains came out and wrapped around him, grimacing slightly as he was slowly drawn toward the opening. On the way, his sword was dropped to the ground. For once, a soft whining could be heard coming from it, but it was not audible to only him. Sage watched Whitney for a moment, still smiling, before he said a simple, “thank you.” A moment later, he disappeared within the gate.

It really didn't matter to the woman if he was debating whether or not he was making the 'right' decision, the way things were going, it would be the right and easy decision for Whitney none the less. She still found it hard to believe that someone like Sage could have something worth protecting in the first place. "I suppose that is reason enough to want to kill me, to get revenge even, but to give up? The concept seems a little foolish don't you think?" What was this man talking about? "heh, I'll figure it out Sage, you can be sure of that." If not there was always the added chance that she would just come to accept it as it was now and leave it be. "Tch..." Her eyes went wide, a frown appearing on her shoced features as he once again got through her Armour. So it would seem if she was to fight him again, which would not be the case... she would merely increase the output of reishi received from the countless souls in the hoard. "You seem to like surprising me though..... How on earth could you get through such a thing, I've never fought a being so powerful." She muttered looking up at him with an irritated look. "...And you are a strange man to be so peaceful when you command something..." She watched him silently as he spoke of her remembering how he did not want to attack her. "You..." She closed her eyes, having pulled the rapier from his body she gritted her teeth. "....you are all a thorn in my side." She muttered unsure of her own words but still she had an oath to fulfill. "I believe that time when I could know you as something other than a warrior will never come, because you and I will never talk to each other again." As the hoard was called into existence Whitney watched with a solemn face, lowering her blade to her side she showed little emotion. But yet hearing his words of thanks made her face tense, He had been defeated... even if it wasn't even a fight... but here he stood thanking her for pulling him into the hoard, was that fraccion of his really worth it? "hmph..." Whitney perhaps would never know, for as soon as he spoke the woman had close her eyes to think on the words that he had shared with her, he was confusing her alright.... but the question was, did the espada commander weaken her resolve? She turned on her heels and walked away, opening the dooor to the rooftop and stepping in as the golden gates of the hoard slammed shut, and slowly began to fade away once more, leaving nothing but Sage's sword on the ground, waiting for whoever would come to find it.