You Are the Miserable [Bambietta, Urahara, Erika]

Her blade was drawn and responded to the explosion. It was treachery then as her reiatsu was expelled around her sword to counteract the momentum, she was furious at this development. It was like being proven correct once again, a constant cycle of being trapped in a fatalistic outcome that would always pass. Betrayal but she had not been the victim of this sleight this time.

"Zettou: Iss—!"

She would've gone straight for eviscerating Urahara in an instant if not for the need to take a stance to use her strongest feats of swordsmanship. A stance that caused just enough of an opening for his hand to connect with her chest and crush the her diaphragm that silenced her. The shock to her system was momentary but she was well aware of the situation she was in.

It wasn't possible to compete with him in kido, footwork, or even swordsmanship if he chose to release his zanpakuto. His spiritual power exceeded hers. He was superior to her in everyway and her eyes became wet thinking about it. She didn't have a dream nor did she feel strongly for the Seireitei but Murasaki did and he was dissecting that dream for an inconceivable reason.

"Bring her back... I won't let you destroy her dream like this. Her blood, her suffering... She doesn't deserve to be repaid like this."

Her voice was a mixture of requests and statements. Pleading and threats blended together as one while trying to grab onto the hand that had made every breath an agonising feeling like that hold could make him do what she wanted or at the very least become a victim of that attack.

The air was still reverberating from the shockwaves of the explosion, ears left ringing, but Kisuke moved with a sense of perfect precision. Much like he was following a rehearsed script, every move he made was done with absolute certainty in the response that it would receive. Without taking his eyes from Erika, his shikomizue pointed in the direction of Bambietta's incoming attack. On a different day, he might have commented on how satisfying it was to see a technique delivered in such a perfect manner, but instead, he simply let the Hyapporankan silently shatter upon a Dankū.

"This is not her story's end, only the death of a dream destined to fail long before she tried to stem the bleeding."

In the confines of their self-made prison, his spiritual power unfurled as the pressure intensified. For these few short moments, this was Kisuke being entirely serious. It had been centuries - or decades for most - since he had last exerted himself in such a manner, but for every second longer he dallied here the greater the danger would be. There was an almost unrecognisable coldness as he firmly ripped his hand free of Erika's desperate grab, pulling it back for a moment before suddenly lunging for her face. A blinding white light emanated from his hand as he attempted to use a Tanma Otoshi to end this futile resistance before it became noble folly.

"You may stop now, Ms Basterbine. We are done here, the threat has been neutralised and soon we shall be free. Do not let your gratitude blind you to what Soul Society has become."

The switch back to his usual persona was almost effortless, a mask slipping on and off like it was nought but a switch, as Kisuke turned to face Bambietta and lowered his weapon. His voice was softer again, soothingly manipulative as he tried to mire her mind with a little seed of doubt. And all that was not to say that he was paying no attention to Erika, lest she still have enough willpower to overcome his attempt to subdue her, but his back was now turned all the same.

Bambietta could only tremble in abject fear as she watched her bakudo fail her completely, as she watched the vice captain of the 1st division be taken out so effortlessly. She didn't have any chance to get away even if she wanted to. Whatever happened, it had to happen here.

"Free of what? What about Soul Society is so awful you would do this?"

She needed more time. She had to think, she wanted answers. But even if she waited, she knew that would probably give Urahara even more time to take her out, too. That wasn't good. But if she acted too quickly, she could misstep. This was a razor's edge that she didn't know how well she could walk. All Bambietta could do, at this moment, was try to buy time. She already knew, if it really came to it, that she had a last resort on hand.

But she'd have preferred not to use it, if it came to that.

"No. No... No..."

She murmured and reached out to grab hold of his captain's haori. He couldn't do this and get away with it. He didn't deserve to wear this and what it represented. Even if she couldn't fight him, she'd tear it off him in defiance through despite passing out. Though her body might give out it was still an instrument of her will, and that was exactly what her hand did.

If she were a better shinigami, she would've given up both hands to Itto Kaso him but the complexity of that spell was too much for her. A skill that was well beyond her scope unfortunately. Instead her defiance could only hold onto the symbol of the people that he had betrayed, and her friend who it represented.

"Free of these barriers we just created." Kisuke's lips curled into a slight smile, suggesting there was more to it than that but enjoying the suspense. "But Soul Society is quite terrible when you boil it down. The people trapped in a vicious cycle."

His haori tumbled away at Erika's last pull, the cloth peeling off him as he turned back to one of the few items that had not been destroyed by his sabotage. It had always been an ill-fitting thing, he had always thought that, though perhaps that was because he had always known it would end this way. Not that he was the worst person to wear such a thing, or even the worst person still wearing one. He scooped up the reinforced briefcase as he mused on such macabre things, tucking it under one arm so casually that it seemed like he was doing nothing of import.

"Your body is still fragile, Ms Basterbine. I should know, I did put you back together. I won't ask that you simply give up and let me leave, though it would be quite pleasant if you did, but if you insist on putting yourself in danger then I will be forced to subdue you for your own good."

It sounded so dangerously close to compassion that it might even have been genuine, and he certainly spoke with intent, but he could not force her to believe him. It was up to her how this would all end, and he held little hope that it would be pleasant, though this had always been a consideration. She likely thought it was a coincidence that she was here, right now, bearing witness to all this. The truth was quite the opposite, and there really was no one else in Soul Society that he would rather be sharing these final moments of serenity with than her.

"So..."

"Even if you just go...even if I just let you walk away... Do you think I'd let it stay that way? All I know is that you're betraying us, that you're putting everyone into danger. You know I'll try my hardest to save everyone. I have to. They've done so much for me."

No preparations were even possible right now. Nothing she did was possibly fast enough to actually stop him from coming toward her in time. No, that wasn't entirely true; if she really wanted to, she could probably raise barriers. How many? She was confident in how strong they would be, but could she bring them up before he got to her?

"I'll come after you. If you won't explain, then how can I ever believe you? If you're right, wouldn't I help you!?"

It wasn't even that Bambietta really thought that was much of a threat. After all, she wouldn't be the only person doing that when this was all over. He hadn't killed the vice captain, so she would undoubtedly be able to get the information out. That left Bambietta feeling like something she didn't like one bit; a forgotten piece of the puzzle. Just one more loose end.

"The danger is quite terrible, yes. My actions will seem hardly rational. Yet our motivations are the same, I simply see them through a different lens. To save everyone, one must often make sacrifices and it is long overdue that I paid my dues."

A clear sadness hung to Kisuke's smile, perhaps if the circumstances had been different then he could have devoted more time to avoiding this. Instead, he had been unable to act as covertly as he wished, and now there was simply nothing left here to do but waste time and put more people in danger. His allies old and new.

"You have always been capable of making your own decisions, Ms Basterbine. If you now carry a hatred for me then so be it. We both know that you are not the only one I have wronged today and left alive, but I do not believe that you will let that define you as it might others. Stay true to yourself and we will meet again, under different circumstances."

Walking towards the door, Kisuke placed a hand upon the barriers and then, with a single flare of vibrant crimson power, they began to crack and shatter layer by layer. It would not take long for him to be free, free to leave this would-be prison so that Bambietta could tend to the fallen Vice-Captain without further interruption. One step closer to a goal that was still so far out of sight, and two rings richer.

Sacrifices.

Bambietta had been a sacrifice already. She knew what that meant, she knew what that was. The thought that these people, who had given her something to live for, would suffer that same fate-

She couldn't abide that. But she couldn't stop him, either. Hate burned behind her eyes, burned in her voice as she spoke again, turning to treat the fallen vice captain rather than try and stop someone like Urahara. She couldn't yet; all that meant was that she hadn't tried hard enough yet.

"You won't get away the next time."

Even kneeling down was too difficult for Bambietta, and so she simply fell to the floor as she looked over Erika's unconscious form, the glow of kaido forming over her hands. She wanted so badly to try and stop him; she even thought, briefly, to go with him. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe she could have tried to get the upper hand.

But against someone like him, it was better to just be honest. Straightforward. She would have to cut through every trick and every lie in the only way she was able to.

The last of the barriers crumbled away, his exit now free of obstruction and Bambietta's focus shifting away, but Kisuke lingered just a few moments more. His hand rested upon the threshold he had just created, debating whether to create another barrier to seal them inside for a while longer. It was unlikely any of the other Arrancar would find them here now, he could not sense any in close proximity, so instead he ran a hand through his hair to sweep it back before placing it beneath that old striped bucket hat.

"Until then, Ms Basterbine, do take care of yourself."

It was nigh impossible to believe that the idle comment was genuine, for even when every effort was made to make it appear so it paled quite drastically in the face of Kisuke's actions, yet he did hope to plant that single seed of doubt in her mind. He was certainly not motivated by hatred today, nor did he bear them all any ill will, but his hands were stained black all the same.

Pulling his shawl back around himself, his presence vanishing along with his person, the former Captain vanished up the stairs and back into the warzone.