Chapter Text
“… Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!”
Taking the form of a grotesque golden baby with a silver halo floating atop its head, Uryu took note of the red cape that hung over the creature's shoulders, as well as the thing's body. A caterpillar...? And near the back of the halo, bells? It was an ugly thing, a monstrosity of gold and purple. It spewed out blades and poison, sought to end his life by any means… and the man that controlled it was worse than even that. The captain, the monster of a man that had slain thousands of Uryu’s people… Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Captain of the Twelfth Division, and second head of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute.
“Bankai… a second release beyond the first. We didn’t do enough research before coming here. If their Captains can gain this much strength, then…” Uryu grimaces, wondering just how much his comrades could do against opponents like these. Orihime hadn’t even been able to take on Ikkanzaka, Jirobo, let alone someone of Mayuri’s level. Chad… Ganju. Perhaps Ichigo might be able to pull it off, but Uryu had his doubts.
He needed to win. He had to win and obtain more information, enough that he’d be able to succeed no matter who he faced after this… if he could still fight without his powers.
"It's a real pity that I can't use your genius brain for experiments..."
Mayuri’s words were laced with venom, each letter dripping with poison. He didn’t care about those he killed, those he experimented on. He didn’t care that his lieutenant was still in the area, that by utilizing this move he may do her more harm than he already had. Steeling his gaze, Uryu speaks clearly. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to die yet. My arrow will reach you long before you can release the fatal dose."
Lifting his left hand, Uryu summons what power he can from the air around him, drawing dense reishi from the nearby buildings before forcing it under his control. It flows, floating towards his single wing before surging into his hand, taking the form of a singular arrow that pulsed, beating akin to a heart. He takes aim, pointing his arrow directly at his opponent, holding his breath as the poisonous mist swirled around him. An arrow three times as strong as the last he’d said, and a Quincy never broke their promises.
"Hyahaha! Go ahead and try! I can't wait to see you fail!"
Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo surges forward.
Uryu’s bow lifts a mere 19 mm, and this is all that it takes to change his destiny.
A single bolt surges forward, cutting through the atmosphere. The arrow flies, whistling through the air as it continues to absorb reishi, piercing through the purple smog and slamming into the Bankai with full force. The attack rings through, and as the two powers collide a loud explosion sounds off, scattering tile and dust alike throughout the area.
“On my honor as a Quincy… I will kill you.”
And he had.
Bile threatened to rise up his throat, but the teen managed to keep it down, his eyes narrowed as he stared at his own handiwork. The captain’s head and upper torso had been blown away, leaving nothing but a bloodied lower body behind that spewed blood, splattering against the tile below. Keeping his bow level, Uryu stares forward, half expecting the man to come back to life—for all his experimentation and talk, Uryu knew that something else had to be afoot… it couldn’t have been that easy.
However…
Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s body falls, splattering against the ground, unmoving.
One, two, three… ten.
Ten seconds pass before Uryu lowers his bow, relinquishing the following arrow he’d crafted. The scientist did not rise, he did not move. In fact, the man’s bisected Bankai faded away, alongside his sheath, leaving nothing behind but his remains. “Is… it over?” Uryu questions, eyes slowly widening as he comes to terms with what he’d done. He’d sworn on his Quincy honor that he would accomplish this feat, that he would kill the man… but now that he had, he felt a sense of emptiness, of dread. Of fear and disgust.
This victory gave him no catharsis, gave him no sense of pride or accomplishment. Never had he taken a life that wasn’t a Hollow’s, never had he decided to end someone purely in anger. Never would he forget this moment. It would haunt him for the rest of his days. Which… seemed limited.
Body locking up, Uryu lifts a hand and coughs into it, spewing blood. He’d managed to defeat the man, to kill him, but the poison had still entered his system. He could feel it linger, festering, attacking him as the seconds passed. "The poison... if this keeps up..."
The last of the Quincy had managed to succeed in his vengeance, but in doing so had sealed his own fate. It was almost poetic in a sense. Accepting fate with a grimace, Uryu closed his eyes and breathed slowly, waiting for death -
“Mayuri… sama?”
It’s the voice of a young girl that snaps Uryu out of his self-pity and delusions. Turning his gaze over to the woman that lay in a heap on the ground, he slowly makes his way over, his Ransotengai still allowing him free range of motion and movement. As he nears, he can see the fear and disbelief in the woman’s eyes, he can almost taste the uncertainty. “Did… did you… kill him?”
Little good it did Uryu now. He’d die in the minutes to come for his victory, not knowing what would happen to his allies.
It takes a moment for Uryu to understand her question, to decipher it’s meaning. He still hadn’t come to terms with it himself, but even then… he couldn’t understand why the woman looked so distraught over this outcome. Had Mayuri not beaten her, called her his plaything, threatened to kill her? How could she bring herself to care about his lost life, about the loss of someone that wouldn’t care less if she’d died on the side of the road?
Steeling himself, Uryu nods once curtly, his steel eyes staring into her green ones. “Yes, I did.”
Shock covers her features, as though the moment he uttered those words her entire world came crashing down. She hadn’t believed it to that point, and now… now, she knew it to be true. Had she expected otherwise? Did she think that Uryu would spare Mayuri after hearing the vitriol he spat about the Quincy, about how he’d tortured scores of them, including Uryu’s grandfather? No, he would never allow that to stand, never allow such injustice to continue.
“What… what am I supposed to do now?”
Nemu’s words were soft, dripping with confusion. She was like a baby that had lost its mother, suddenly thrust into a wide world with no one to watch over her. Uryu stares, closing his eyes briefly as he considers his words. He doesn’t want to offend, nor does he wish to fight her should she come at him for revenge. The thought of it is one that fills him with dread— even if he’d killed Mayuri, who quite frankly deserved it, he didn’t want to be forced to kill a woman. Opening his eyes, the young Quincy lowers himself to his knees, grabbing Nemu and lifting her to a seated position with her back against the wall, hoping to give her at least some form of comfort. It was the least he could do, to ease her, to set her on a different path than her former Captain’s.
“That’s something… you need to decide for yourself,” he says slowly, his gaze boring into her own. “You’re free to make your own choices... Kurotsuchi, Nemu.” Each word strikes her like a whip, each sentence forces her eyes open wider than before. Her own choices… something she could decide? She’d never been given an option before to do anything, had never known how to do something without Mayuri’s permission or order. It wasn’t something that was programmed into her, nor did she believe that she was capable.
Patting her head once, Uryu rises to a stand, nodding once more before tacking on something to the end of his prior statement. “I only pray that you do not go down the same path that your father did. Right his wrongs and change this world for the better.”
It was a harsh fate that Uryu placed on her shoulders, something that he’d later come to question. All the same, she was Mayuri’s daughter. She was of his blood, and though she hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger, she was still aware of things that Mayuri had done. She could do many things to incite change, to make the Seireitei better and save lives as opposed to taking them in the name of research.
Turning away from the girl, Uryu clenches his fists, intent on finding his place to die. He wouldn’t allow for the Shinigami to have the last laugh, for them to claim his life. He’d die on his own terms, by his own hand if it meant retaining his honor. Taking a few steps forward, Uryu intends on continuing his journey onward, only to stop as he hears a resigned voice calling out to him.
“Qu- Quincy-san... on my left arm, underneath my Lieutentant badge... there is an antidote."
Turning in shock, Uryu rests his gaze onto Nemu once more as though he'd only just seen her for the first time. Could it be? Would he live past this nightmare, or was this a trap? Gulping, Uryu stalks over to her once more, kneeling as he finds the antidote exactly where she'd said it would be. "... You should take it first," he says simply, uncorking the top as he holds the liquid out to her.
"I have the same blood as Mayuri-sama... I am not affected by the poison." Eyes widening, Uryu takes this into consideration. It made sense, of course. Mayuri had spoken about manufacturing Nemu himself, so it'd be obvious that she'd have the same blood... beyond that, he wouldn't be harmed by his own technique, just the same as she wouldn't be. "Do you think it's a trap? If so, then put some in my mouth, I'll drink it..."
Shaking his head, Uryu downs half of the potion, speaking evenly. "No... it'd be pointless to trick a dying man." All the same, he once more holds out the antidote to her, urging to her to take the other half for herself. "Just in case... you never know what he could've done to you, regardless of if you share the same blood."
It takes time, precious time for the woman to understand, allowing Uryu to pour the antidote down her throat before he set the empty bottle down. "You aimed... for his head. You intended to kill him," she says simply, gaze downcast. "Of course... after what he'd done to your people... what we've done, you wouldn't spare him." Her words weren’t meant for him, of course. Uryu realized that she was trying to rationalize the situation for herself, to come to terms with what she’d seen.
“And yet… you won’t kill me. I wasn’t there for most of those experiments, but near the end… I watched. I was there when your grandfather-“ Lifting up a hand, Uryu cut her off, shaking his head. “My revenge has been taken. I don’t wish to take any more life, especially not yours. You too… you’ve suffered at his hands, even if you don’t realize it for yourself.” He could see it. In some warped way, she truly mourned the loss of her father, despite how he’d beaten, abused, and used her. He’d heard of this sort of thing before of course, but to see it with his own eyes was a different experience entirely.
“Why did you give me an antidote, though? You could’ve just let me die. It would’ve been easy, right?” This was what plagued him, what confused him. It was a contradiction of sorts. She mourned the loss of her father, of her Captain, and yet had allowed his killer to live. Uryu didn’t know what to make of this situation, and his confusion showed on his face as clear as day.
Waiting for her response, Uryu took note of how she stared into him, looking past him… into his soul. “You just told me… that I should decide for myself. That I should do what it is that I want, and that I should go down a different path than Mayuri-sama. This… is my response. The first thing I wanted to do was save your life, so I did.”
It was simple, and yet complex. It wasn’t something that he’d be able to understand, not yet… however, he was alive now. He’d have time to think on these matters later.
"After seeing Ashisogi Jizo, members of my division are probably rushing this way. I'll be fine... they'll help me... but if they see you here, along with Mayuri-sama's corpse... then you will die. Please... go." He understood. To stay would mean that he'd be forced to kill. To stay meant that he’d be resigning himself once more to death, to throwing away the life that she had saved.
Killing more Shinigami now wouldn’t help him, nor would his death help his comrades. He needed to escape, to find a way to meet up with his allies as quickly as possible. Nodding, Uryu rises once more to a stand, turning on heel and regarding her with a final glance before heading off. "... Goodbye."
He’d sustained too much damage, and he knew that his Quincy powers would eventually fade. Until then, his Ransotengai would hold— the legends said that a Quincy could use it to fight until their body turned to dust, so he fully intended on finding out if that was true or not. He needed to get to Rukia before that idiot Ichigo in order to show him just how much better he was, but he also needed to make sure that Orihime was okay. Before all that though, evading capture would be his first step. It’d be a bit more difficult as he didn’t know the layout of the Seireitei, but before his body wore down, before he collapsed, he needed to find shelter.
“I will… survive. I won’t allow you Shinigami to have your way!”
The young Quincy leaves the scene, leaving behind the young Lieutenant and the slain Captain.