Return What You Have Taken! [PRIVATE: Arianda, Srath, Fuurinji]

Ever experienced that feeling as if someone was walking upon your grave, and yet you're still alive? That's what Arianda felt, and that is exactly what disrupted her nap. Her spine tingled, her nerves felt shot, and she was more on edge than necessary. Some part of her had an odd feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. Arianda knew that Fuu had departed earlier... But could there have been...?

No questions, only answers, and Arianda had to find them. However, what awaited her was not what she had expected. Cursory checks to a first few areas had turned up nothing. However, upon visiting mount Olympus, Arianda's blood went cold. A torn peak, disturbed by a recent fight, spots of bodily fluids peppered through the area. Blood? Whose? There were no bodies, no physical traces. Instead, Arianda had to rely on the lingering energies around. Fuu's energy was clear to Arianda. However, another presence caused the demon to wrinkle her nose as the fury rose within her; a Hollow. There was naught else to do but use a desperate attempt, to search where she could only think of searching. Where would a hollow take it's prey, devoured or no? Hueco Mundo.

Arianda made her way to the hollow's land, where she used the shadows that had always been her friend. Why wouldn't they? She was a demon, and shadows will always linger within her wake; will always carry her onwards. So she sallied forth, venturing across the sandy expanses of Hueco Mundo upon her wings, where she searched and searched; following a faint trace, a faint hope, that she would find her... That Fuu was still alive.

A week... one week that felt more like a month of searching, when it was only just seven days, Arianda finally had definitive proof; Fuurinji's energy, her Reiatsu. Faint though it may be, it was present; as was that same energy on Mount Olympus. Arianda snarled, her rage finally coming to a full boil after days of worrying and pain; fearful that Fuu had perished upon that mountain, devoured whole. But NO. She would be alive, and Ari would keep her that way. She wasn't going to die, not here, not now. With that, let her entire demonic will, energy, explode out from within her, unrestrained; putrid and palpable. She moved with a fury of a thousand men, and let her being suffuse with hate and anger, vowing to herself to save Fuu completely. And as she forced herself to exceed her limits of speed, only briefly to truly close in upon her goal, Arianda let her voice be suffused with her putrid energy; declaring herself to her enemy. The only thing she spared was that faint star that was Fuu, otherwise she would be harmed by Arianda's presence.

"For your sake... For what life you have... She better be alive... Because you might not be otherwise."

Exiting the cave was a hollow, no doubt about it now, an Adjuchas by the looks of them, and they seemed to be similar to another hollow she had known... A drider, or a spider person; whatever you wanted to call it. Arianda knew the name from her forays into roleplaying games. However, those thoughts were barely more than a whisper compared to the roar of anger and rage within her skull. The demon snarled as the hollow emerged from its cave, it's hideout. The demon watched as the hollow spoke, spoke of how Fuu was alive, but not whole. This likely meant Fuu was missing her Zanpakuto, a vital part of her being; but right now.. Right now Arianda was thinking of Fuu's safety, of her life.

Of course, Fuu being alive was certainly a relief to the demon. However, the demon's rage wouldn't be calmed by such a statement from a hollow, and the one who took Fuu. The demon snarled, focusing her devastating presence upon Srath. However, she didn't make it so that the Hollow would be debilitated. It was a threat, so was the spear of energy that Arianda threw at the highest speeds she could manage; likely nicking the Hollow's mask and cheek if the drider didn't, or couldn't, react fast enough.

"Your words are hollow and your life is forfeit unless I see Fuu right here, right god damn now. You will have no parley until I know she's safe. MOVE."

Arianda's last word, her shout, was filled with all the authority of a ruler; a woman who had commanded lives, whether they live or die. Now, however, she was just a demon capable of anything to save what is precious to her; and she would not be denied what she wished for. Nothing Srath said would deter her from marching into that cave herself, tearing it all up with her bare hands, and taking Fuu from the place. For now, however, a measure of diplomacy was for the best. For now.

As Arianda waited on tenterhooks, she searched for Fuu with her mind, finding the woman and assuring herself of the woman's condition the best she could sense; afterwards, once Fuu had been cast before her, Arianda could only slightly weaken the fall thanks to the thick webbing holding Fuu in check. The demon eyed the webbing and, drawing a pair of odd looking scissors out of a pocket, she used it to expertly cut through the majority of the webbing. After using a bit of conjured fire to help dispose of the webbing, Arianda picked Fuu up completely, examining the woman for cursory injury; doing what she could for the woman at the current moment. Her healing magic wasn't the greatest, but it was enough to ease most of Fuu's aches and pains. After a few moments, Arianda frowned at Srath, her anger still palpable; even if she now had Fuu safely ensconced within her arms, which was likely the only time Fuu felt properly safe since Ari arrived, given the woman's lack of ability to see.

"I'm not sure if I should trust your words, Hollow. I can't say I blame her for not fleeing, and perhaps there are some more things I need to teach you, Fuu, but I will not parley with a Hollow unless Fuu can't, beyond a shadow of a doubt, find her Zanpakuto. So, tell me, if it was truly impossible, what could you have done to make it so? As far as I understand, the connection between a Shinigami and their Zanpakuto is far deeper than we can understand..."

Arianda considered her options for a few moments, looking down at the blind catgirl she held in her arms, contemplating every possibility. If Fuu's Zanpakuto wasn't here, then where? Where could it be? The moon? Unexplored depths of the ocean? Some ackbasswords place of Hueco Mundo? The possibilities were endless; and Arianda didn't much like that. She snarled some, her presence bearing down on the drider in front of them; her voice suffused with rage.

"Tell me why I shouldn't tear the information from you, hm? I may not be the woman I once was, I may no longer be an Archduchess of Shadowfall, but even I learned methods of making someone talk; because there is always worse than death to encourage people... But, perhaps... Perhaps it's best I not indulge in the past, lest it consume me..."

Arianda stopped, looking down at Fuu once more, her words to the woman were a whisper, hopefully quiet enough so that way only Fuu could hear; and not Srath.

"Are you confident you can find them, Fuu? Otherwise, I won't deprive you of your sight just to fuck over a hollow. I won't. Not after I thought... I thought..."

No, that thought was too much for Arianda to bear. She shook her head, steeling herself and locked her eyes upon the hollow once again. Arianda glared at the Hollow before her, her eyes filled with hatred, waiting for Fuu to respond before she spoke to the hollow one more time. It was, in all, an attempt to have all the options available to her; and not just a few.

"Tell me your terms, and I'll think about your parley."

While Srath seemed to be altogether far too cocky for her own good, likely believing she had the advantage in this situation, Arianda couldn't help but note that the hollow's ideas of torture seemed quite... shallow. Ripping off her mask would indeed be quite painful, but it could also lead to an early Arrancar if she had the will to survive the process and evolve, so that was certainly a bad option. However, her other methods seemed well and painful. Ah, but no... Arianda meant causing a person to experience otherworldly horrors, subjecting their thoughts to things that should not exist in this world. True torture wasn't just pain, it was mentally and physically destroying a person through any cruel means possible until they broke. However... Torture wasn't an option. It would take too long, time wasted on finding Fuu's Zanpakuto.

Arianda gently placed her hand on Fuu's shoulder as the woman started to brag, clearly overconfident now that Arianda was here. Arianda squeezed her shoulder gently before wrapping her arms around Fuu. The shoulder squeeze was a warning to relax, but everything else was obviously protective; refusing to let Fuu come to harm again.

"The facts are thus, Hollow. You could be lying to us, attempting to make us despair that Fuurinji couldn't find her Zanpakuto. No matter your confidence, we would be able to find it. Your little hint, if it is truth, tells us it lies somewhere wind doesn't normally blow through. Assuming it is accurate, and this is on earth, we are left with a few results, buried, dropped into the water, or placed within a volcano. I severely doubt you'd want to destroy the Zanpakuto, because it may have been useful for you, in some way."

Arianda glared at Srath with all the intensity of her rage and hate, examining the hollow thoroughly before she sighed and shook her head. This was all far too risky. She would be aiding Srath in becoming stronger, and Arianda didn't like that idea; not one bit. Of course, she could undermine Srath's terms. After all, power wasn't determined by energy alone, but by the skills of an individual. Technically, she could give Srath a hollow of lesser energy, but greater skill in some areas... But was that risk worth it? Arianda puzzled this question for a few moments before she looked at Fuu, steel in her blue eyes.

"Fuu, are you confident you could find your Zanpakuto with my help? I do not want to deprive you of your sight, but I do not wish to aid the hollow who took you, no matter the circumstances of your capture. I leave the decision to you, dear. Are you confident we can find it without the Hollow's bargain?"