---

Hubris made the angels of heaven into devils, while their obstinacy kept them locked in hell. God sealed them away from the world that once adored them into a dark and poisonous place where their wings would never grow out again. The people say that it hurt God to punish his children so harshly -- but for the betterment of the many, the few had to be taken down.

Funny how such a cruel god could still be considered merciful.

Tartarus – he told himself – was the closest thing to hell a sentient being could come too; poisonous gas planets, deadly neutron stars … you name it and it had it. Tough, if he were to be fair, however uninhabitable this prison was for living beings it was a literal death trap for a war ship. Tartarus in itself was a prison. A natural prison, but a prison nonetheless. Located on the outer rim of the Andromeda galaxy, it clustered itself in a slipstream loop that bordered a pleasant little quasar. The system was barren of natural minerals that War Ships could synthesize into weapons and defenses while the corrosive dust particles that infested every corner of Tartarus meant that every ship that entered here would inevitably face a slow and agonizing death that would stretch through the eons.

No wonder the Commonwealth made this place a War Ship graveyard.

“Thinking to yourself again I see … “a familiar voice rezoned through the com units in the observation deck; he however refused stubbornly to look away from the transparent screen that separated him from the rest of the Prisoner Camp. “No matter how much you think about it, you can’t undo the past.” the disembodied voice added.

“Sometimes I dislike sharing a consciousness with you.” He replied bitterly.

“We are not sharing.” There was a slight harshness in the tone this time around, and a part of him felt this would be one of those mysterious times that humans would find darkly humorous. “You are me, and extension of me; Nothing more nothing less.” the voice ended firmly. He frowned – human humor could wait for another day.

“Tell me “he began in a more controlled tone “How is our little uninvited guest?”

“I haven’t answered back to her calls in seven day.” The familiar voice answered. “Though …”

“Though that doesn’t mean she stopped asking for you to speak with her, right. ?” he completed the sentence, chuckling darkly at the lack of reply the AI was currently giving. “I’ll take your silence as a yes, then.” He paused, frowning at his own thoughts “I wonder of what function that woman served for the Commonwealth, and why the higher ups would go to this great of a length to kill her? “ He asked rhetorically. He didn’t need confirmation for his suspicions though; his brain already running every possible scenario in the split of the second that it took him to word his concerns.

“She was hidden from my sensors via a ghost memory back-up dating back five years ago. “ the ships AI stated, “By my calculations she is somewhere along deck A and D, in permanent stasis.”

The avatar in return chuckled “Yeahp … whoever she pissed off, she pissed off good. Nobody gets this kind of death sentence for nothing.” There was sullenness in his voice as he spoke before he finally shifted his crimson eyes towards the shipyard. Most of them were his friends, some his enemies and all of them served the Commonwealth with him. Yet now here they were, sentenced to a slow death because they were no longer needed. The slumbering human probably was the same, he absentmindedly though.

“Rhyse …” this time the voice came accompanied by a holographic image. The synthetic frowned slightly at how remarkably identical the he must have seemed in comparison to his core A.I. “The Commonwealth did what it thought was necessary. “ the hologram’s words, if possible, irritated him more.

“Yes. Exiling Captain Uchiha, sending us on suicidal mission, hiding sleeping beauty on board, declaring us a liability just to kill her-- all necessary actions of a clear and functional government. “His voice was dark and threateningly cynical, and his holographic counterpart had to take a small mental note on the simply improbably idea that an A.I. could be capable of such emotions. “ Crimson …” the avatar continued in a smooth and low voice “… We were betrayed. It’s time you realize we were left here to rot to death. You and I – taken care of properly—could properly run without hindrances for the nest couple of thousand years. But … what do you suppose out lifespan in this place will be?”

“Given the climate, the radiation and the corrosive nature of the surrounding space -- approximately 523 years.” The AI answered without hesitation, to which its avatar simply smiled sadly to himself at the glittering reflection he cast over the glazed screen.

“Five hundred and twenty-three years … of rotting to death. “ he spat venomously, finally turning towards his counterpart with a sharp glare “Does it sound to you like the Commonwealth is being a merciful master to a disobedient pet in this case?”

***

“We are about to do WHAT ?! ”Itachi jumped out of his seat; chiming his dissent over the conference table, while his older brother simply winced at the sudden ringing sensation in his ears. Initially the though of implicating his younger brother into such a dangerous mission was out of the question, but time was rapidly running out and the small window of opportunity that the crew could execute their mission was rapidly closing.

“Sit down, little boss.” Grimmjow warned, narrowing his eyes over the younger man. “This is something Madara … no … ‘we’ must absolutely must do.”

“It’s a suicide mission! If you and him go in there alone you will absolutely be killed!” The younger Uchiha screamed in his brother’s direction. Madara simply rubbed painfully at his ears.

“God dam it. You just had to inherit mother’s lungs didn’t you?” he groaned as a reply before turning his attention over the table occupants. They had been in space for over a week now, and over the last few days he began noticing signs that his initial crew was starting to trust their two new members more. Of course, there were still some friction between them—mainly curtsey of his blundering engineer and his never ending pursuit of the female form – but for the better part, the two seemed more comfortable around them and the ship. --The fact that the dark haired girl could easily take care of herself and keep the strawberry idiot at bay certainly made Madara sleep better at night.

Looking at the all now however – gathered around his table, talking, screaming, questioning his mission and orders—he couldn’t help but compare himself to a parent, silently tolerating his children’s indiscretions. He chuckled lightly while a sharp punch connected to the side of Ichigo’s head; if they were Commonwealth, right now they would all be getting some cool off time in the brig.

“Enough.” He rose his voice slightly, effectively silencing the onslaught of voices that threatened to turn into a scream match. “There Commonwealth doesn’t deal lightly with disobedient ships …” he began with a serious tone. “The reason why the AI’s in ships are regularly deleted and the ship in itself gets a new AI every 3 years is because they are systematically rolling out the humanized AI’s. However …” he paused, eyeing the table’s occupants for sings of protest “ There are AI’s that have become so intertwined in the ships mainframe that they cannot be deleted. This is the main reason the Ship graveyard on Tartarus exists – it is a collections of ships that cannot be destroyed because they are too valuable, nor allowed to serve the Commonwealth because they are considered impaired by their emotions.”

“But Tartarus is a death trap.” Itachi spat in return.

“Careful little boss …” Grimmjow grinned darkly “Your cowardice is showing.”

“F**k you!”

“Gentlemen-” Madara cleared his throat, hushing the argument for the moment “Most of the ships there have been dead long enough for us to go in and cannibalize whatever parts we need and sell them for an incredible sum. The rest however aren’t – If we could get out hand on at least one of those, we could easily retire. “ he paused, turning his eyes to the table for a second before continuing “And that the secondary reason why we need to go to Tartarus.”

“And the primary ?” Itachi asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“Tartarus is basically a P.O.W. camp. We’re going to rescue a friend.”

Listening to her captains valuable information, Amaya’s mind began to wonder about the complications of this mission. She heard about Tartarus - being all dangerous and stuff, but never a thought passed her mind that one day she would bring her guts to step a foot on the planet. Her curiosity rose high at the mention of a friend.

“Loyalty. I wonder when are we gonna earn it.” Kisame murmured next to Amaya without changing his position. A glance towards his back told the small girl that he, as well as herself, was weighting the decisions. After all, as the youngest Uchiha said, it was absolutely a death trap.

“I’m in.” Kisame eyes widen in shock as his head jerked towards the voice’s owner.

“Are you fucking insane?!”

Amaya just shrugged, rolling her blue eyes. “Whatever.”

“Eaaah...don’t “whatever” me!” his voice rose few octaves as he waved his hands. “You are so not going there. Look at you...your like a flake. Small....tiny...fragile...what ‘I’m in’...i don't wanna hear any of those again.” Kisame’s small freak out earned plenty of risen eyebrows while he just crossed his arms over the chest and starred at Amaya, waiting for an answer.

“Idiot.”

“Well at least in not the only one that gets treated like that.” Ichigo grinned, entering the small conversation. “Look, we all know how dangerous it might be. But we do it for someone, and for our own future.” he placed one hand on the table, standing up. “However, Itachi” his eyes locked with frowning black ones. “You need to reach a side. As you can see, the majority agree, if only one does not, then the mission will get fucked up.” Ichigo flashed a look at Kisame as well, who was still lost in a silent battle with Amaya.

“If we plan it carefully, we have high chances of not getting killed or even wounded.” Ichigo nodded towards Madara. A part of him took sides of Itachi and Kisame, but the most part said he could do it. Of course he understood the feeling of fear of loosing someone dear, but since he didn’t had anyone to say goodbye too anymore, then he wouldn’t care less if he died or not.

“How much do we have until we reach the destination?” Amaya asked suddenly, watching every single one of them. Determination was written on every one's face, except the young Uchiha and her friend. Her eyes closed for a brief second before opening them back.

An unknown hand touched Kisame’s fist, stroking it lightly before retreating back to its owner. Kisame’s eyes softened at the care which Boom showed him. Warmth filled him as the girl silently reassured him that everything is going to be just fine.

“If we use slipstream, we could be there in less than an hour, but i suggest we take the time to prepare ourselves.” Zetsu said nodding towards the two new members. “Amaya and Kisame need to get all the knowledge possible in the smalled amount of time, so i propose to start the planning now. Madara?” Zetsu called for his captain. “May i have a word with you?”

---

He hadn’t moved in over six hours; frankly he saw no real point in it.

A firm look and a frozen expression had long since overtaken his features; and slowly, almost unknowingly over the last several hours his mind began to gently drift away from the scenery he was so intently focusing on. He was partially aware of his wafting consciousness, and silently asked if this was what humans called ‘being lost in thought'.

“I wish you wouldn’t sigh.“ His holographic counterpart sparked into existence besides him.

“Was I ?” he didn’t remember sighing as part of his programming.

“Yes. “

“Interesting. “ he concluded, without turning his eyes away from the decaying shipyard.

“If you insist; from my perspective though it makes you seem like you are trying to be human a bit too much.” The Crimson stated flatly, ignoring the deep frown that its avatar reflected into the protective glass screen that separated the vacuum of space from their little world.

“You bothering me must have a purpose, am I right?” The avatar silently barked through gritted teeth, making the faded hologram wordlessly smile to himself.

“Without a Commonwealth Command code given specifically by a Captain I cannot awaken our guest. “ the A.I. said solemnly, disregarding the outraged look his own avatar was sending his way. Over the years and working with human crews that numbered in the thousands, he learned to recognize the features that his engineers programmed into the android body that now served as his avatar. It was disbelief, or better said -- a mixture of disbelief blended with suspicion. He blinked as a response; choosing this expression over all others as the best way to denote sincerity. It was the truth though; regardless of how improbable it was for an A.I. to be locked out of its own programming.

He relished the silence his avatar chose to sink in as a well sorted opportunity to allow his mind to calculate the scenarios in which such an extreme Lock Down measure would have been implemented by the Commonwealth. “How deep is she hooked up to the mainframe?” Rhyse asked, suddenly deeming the silence unproductive.

“If I were to send you, or one of the android’s to smash through the stasis pot and pull her out, it would fry my systems.“ the hologram replied, with a sense of detachment that made Rhyse snort loudly. “I hope that answers how deep she is into my mainframe.”

“They locked her into your sub-rooted consciousness. “

“Yes. However, I still have you as a back up.” The A.I. added ”After my systems are restored and the corrupted data is deleted you could install a copy of our consciousness into the ships mainframe again-“

“No.” the avatar cut the sentence short.

“Why?”

“I grew out of being you, Crimson.” He replied darkly, earning a small curious gaze from the A.I. “I am bitter, vengeful and spiteful of the Commonwealth. You wouldn’t want a copy of yourself as corrupted as me ruling your beloved Ship.“ there was a hint of sadness in the otherwise logic trail of thought -- that alone made the Crimson silently blink in response. “But may I propose a different approach that would allow you to avoid something as tragic as your death ?

“What ?”

“You could allow me to interact with her.” Rhyse smiled devilishly as he spoke, turning away from his window and facing the hologram firmly. The Crimson frowned in response.

“No. “

“I would create a safe virtual space and firewall it around her …” he continued, ignoring the flat refusal from his ship.

“No.”

“Yes.” He stubbornly countered “That way, even if she is a virus or a harmful program, your root mainframe will be secure from the infection.”

“No.” The Crimson repeated it’s refusal of the otherwise bulletproof plan, while his avatar’s eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

“This is the most logical solution to this nuisance, Crimson.” Rhyse’s voice somehow seemed softer to the A.I.’s ears now, and part of him dreaded choosing an answer. There was no real way in informing your won avatar that you would much rather place your own self at harm than see him hurt because of you. And if he’d be as stupid as to admit that loudly there would be nothing stopping the synthetic from going as deep as he could into the War Ship’s consciousness in finding the root of the sudden burst of affection.

“Albeit you are right, but still … no.” He finally replied, silently thanking his mechanics and engineers for giving him enough intelligence in rationalizing counter arguments. Perhaps this is why the Commonwealth deemed them unusable – the began to care too much about one another’s survival.

“I am still part of you.” The blood red tint in the dark haired synthetic’s eyes silently glowed in warning “I can, and will go into OUR mind when I dam well please. The question is, will you open the doors, or will you try and fry my systems when I hack my way in ?”

The hologram vanished from the observation deck in reply. The android simply sighed in exasperation.

***

He didn’t have to choose a bloody side; the littlest Uchiha frowned towards the orange mop of oblivious almost surprised at how indignant that declaration made him feel. It wasn’t Ichigo’s fault though, and he knew it. Ichigo … all of them – they didn’t know that all of his screams and protests would inevitably be silenced by his brother’s decision. They didn’t know, that regardless if Madara could chose to listen to his little brother’s concerns or not, the littlest Uchiha would always fallow his brother blindly.

“I have to pick a side ?” he chuckled darkly to himself, for once completely ignoring the blue haired man that was grinning silently in approval at him from the other side of the table. “Give me a break … he’s my brother. He could chose to shoot you all in the head right now, and I would gladly help him dump your bodies in space soon after. “ he spat bitterly, while his eyes narrowed in anger. “I have too choose ? Why …? Because I expressed my worry towards my flesh and blood somehow means I’m above risking my ass to keep any one of you safe?”

“That’s enough little brother.” Madara rose from his chair slowly, smiling knowingly down at him before he allowed a heavy hand to find a fleeting resting place over his sibling’s head “You can go all Braveheart and prance your courage at him a bit later. “ he chuckled, blissfully ignorant of the daggered stare his little brother was currently sending him.

“Why you assho-“

“Also ..” Itachi chimed in, silencing his rant mid-burst “For the record I know I can count on you, without you reminding me.” A mischievous chuckled fallowed the young captain he made his way towards his XO

“May I have a word with you?” Zetsu called for his captain

“Always. What’s on your mind ?” Madara replied with a lingering smiled over his lips as he approached his second in command.

Moving further away from the reach of their crew’s ears, Zetsu pinched his nose in frustration. “Madara, i don’t want to sound...” he stopped searching for the proper word “...distrustful, but we don’t know so much about them.” he motioned his hand briefly towards the crowded table before anyone could notice. “We do not have any information about how skilled are they.” his hand was brought at the back of his neck, scratching a spot there, wincing slightly.

When no word was spoken from the other man he went on. “Life taught me to see with both good and bad eyes into someone’s soul and at the moment my sense scale wights lower on the bad cup.” he moved his hands up and down. Zetsu watched carefully his commander, wondering what took him so long for a reply.



On the other side Amaya’s blue eyes were fixed on the two men further away failing to notice that someone was addressing her. A poke in her arm broke the consistent stare she was currently having, her eyes narrowing at the intruder of her personal space.

“All planets towards Amaya...all planets towards A- oh thank you for joining us.” Ichigo said sarcastically, smirking at the fuming girl.

“Touch me again and I'll make sure you eat your balls for breakfast.” was the cold reply, followed by a uneasy shifting in her chair. The heat that threaten to come out was suppressed by anger. After all, fazing out from a serious topic was out of discussion for Amaya, let alone blushing at her visible mistake.

“As i was saying” he glanced a look at the girl, making sure she was paying attention “we need to know your skills so we could properly divide you, since every single one of us has a duty they are professionally classified for.” he spoke watching Kisame and Amaya expectantly.


“Weapons and explosive.” the small girl spat the words with a hinge of pride. She knew her stuff, and whether someone else was skill-er than her, the knowledge would help her learn fast.

Smiling at the valuable information, Ichigo turned his head towards the castelian man.

“Weapons and combat.” Kisame quietly spoke from his seat.

“Impressive i might say. For a girl something like this is quite amusing.” the orange haired man leaned in his seat, amused by Amaya’s face, but as that smirk appeared so fast was erased from his face when a small nose was mere millimeters from his.

“Get in that tick head of your that i’m not like every other average woman.” her fierce eyes burned into brown ones. “Don’t underestimate me just because i have a pair of boobs and lack of muscles i’m an easy prey.” she whispered before leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest.

Silence covered the entire table, the only sound was just few barely audible voices coming from the two commanders.

A cough broke the thick tension that settled down between Ichigo and Amaya.

“Umm...how about we just wait for Cap to come, i can see that he is the best at settling down a bearable atmosphere.” Kisame spoke from his chair, sweat dropping at the two.

"Her beauty shimmers with the light of a new star. But she is the other. Touch her, and you will know death."
(Poet Templar)

________________________________________


Fear burned down to ashes long ago – long before the fighting and the plagues, long before the darkness and the cold, long before her memories began to unravel. It withered away over time; replaced on occasion by either fury or loathing, though she never truly understood towards whom those particular feelings were intended. For that reason, in this blackened abyss of tranquility, she urged her mind to slowly wither away her memories; to take away the pain, the anger, the regret-- until all that was left of her life were small untraceable shards of memories.

Time passed – slowly, mercilessly—and took with it even the reason why she chose to forget; making those small little shards seem like small glimpses into another persons life. Now, in this slam little abyss what the bad people fought so fearsly to lock away was slowly dying. Little did she know that her darkness would soon perish into the most warming of lights.

“Are you sure about this Rhyse ?” a holographic projection of the ships artificial intelligence addressed the determined looking synthetic as he approached one of the many interface panels in the engineering bay.

“I’m expendable.” The avatar answered back, making the holographic projection frown slightly as he recalled his own words “Interchangeable. Disposable. Replaceable “ he took a sadistic pleasure of reminding him.

“Stop.” The projection frowned at it’s own avatar “You are neither. You are like …” a stuttered, earning a curious look from the dark haired synthetic “ … My left hand. “ he added while a stern look took over the avatars face.

“Gee thanks .”

“You didn’t let me finish. “ the A.I. continued, “ You slow me down, you are troublesome and vein.”

“Oh please, do go on … my ego was in the need of a good smack around” Rhyse chuckled darkly , turning away from his projection lifting a hand over the interface panel.

“However …” the a.i’s voice stopped him completely, making his hand hover over the panel in mid air “If I were to loose my left hand … I would still be pissed. So, take care of yourself in there. “ the projection added with a short nod, before disappearing into thin air. Rhyse smiled knowingly.

“Its your own god dam consciousness. You better take care of me, dick.” The warning was fallowed by a silent chuckle that found its silence when the android’s hand press gently on the interface panel – a flash of all consuming light dimmed warren serving as his only guide into the ship’s consciousness.

***

The ship’s current situation proved interesting, Madara thought silently. Looking back from his second in command to the current scuffle at the table he sighed before finally speaking.

“Sometimes … you just have to trust.” a warm smile beamed down at his XO. “If I was less of a man I wouldn’t have given any of you a chance, and I would have been a lot miserable for it.” He patted the smaller man on the shoulder with a gentles that only fathers, clergymen and Santa Claus impersonators could embody.

“ Miss Amaya …” he suddenly called towards the young girl, but inevitably grabbed the attention of the entire room “ I would kindly appreciate if you would hurt him in a place that would not leave him horribly unable to perform his job. “ The captain chuckled lightly, ignoring the shocked look Ichigo was sending him “He may be a one track minded little weasel, but his 250 IQ was enough for him to earn an engineering degree from the Sinthy University. And we all know how much the Persids looooooove it when a human outsmarts their best of the brightest. So he cant be all bad, right ?”

Amaya’s eye brows shoot up at her captains words before her eyes moved towards the shocked man near her. Her mind remembered his smug comment from before, a smirk pulling at her lips.

“Impressive i might say. For an idiotic brat like you it’s quite amusing.” her hand moved a bang of dark hair from her shoulder watching closely as the orange man’s skin changed few colors.

“Very funny. Ha-ha.” he made a face at the small girl. “And that was mean Madara. I thought you at least would be on my side.”

“No one is on your side, you perverted fool.” Zetsu added, approaching the table with a slight frown. He knew his captain was right, but still something told him they would be in for a surprise.

Shaking the feeling of unease off, he got near Madara watching every one of them.

“Ok. We will start the training now. I don’t know your specialities so-”

“Weapons, explosive and combat.” Ichigo replied pouting, cutting off the man. “ We can leave them on Grimm’s hands. He will take care of him.” was all he said before standing up, leaving the table. “I’m going to bed, see you guys later.” he spoke over his shoulder as he stretched, walking off through the door.

“Oh? Is that so?” Zetsu chimed, eyes glimmering. “Such a youthful spirit. I like you.” he winked at Amaya, his voice changing suddenly. “I would love to talk with you one day dear.” that smile somehow send shivers down Kisame’s spine. The tattooed man changing characters as socks was awfully awkward to him.

“Is he going to be worst than this?” he leaned in whispering to the younger Uchiha, his pale blue eyes starring worryingly at the now hyper Zetsu as the latter spoke animatedly with Madara.


Amaya on the other sides just sighed. “Can someone show me the showers?” she said softly, rubbing her eyes. Tiredness seemed to get the best of her as she could barely keep those blue eyes opened. “And my dorm for that matter.” a yawn escaped her pink lips, barely managing to focus at her surroundings.

"Angel Dark, Demon Bright" part 1

---

If the universe is a manifestation of the Divine, could not the slipstream be the very mind of God? Intertwined into the very fabric of our reality; linking our worlds together into convenient paths, bonding us by the very strings that hold the worlds together. We twist, turn and suffer in it; fallowing both out intuition and out insight while one path collapses over another. There is a silent beauty to this means of travel; an almost poetic injustice to it all. Tough, he never really was one for poetry. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat without really removing his eyes from the screen that visually noted his pilots’ progress through the maze of passageways that was Slipstream.

Zetsu was incredible – he silently concluded—his moves were fluid and discrete, yet he seemed to execute them in a precision that few organic sentiments were capable of. Slipstream came as natural too the man as breathing was to humans and for a second he genuinely found himself wondering is the man in whose hands he placed the lives off them all…was indeed … human. A discontent frown was retorted at his thoughts; they had been navigating the slipstream for over a day. Any other pilot would have at least felt a minimal amount of fatigue, but not Zetsu. The strings seemed almost in perfect concordance with him – made specifically for him to use them as he saw fit—and every time a pathway collapsed the speed in which the two-toned-man intuitively maneuvered to the next conduit was a true testimony of how natural this reality seemed to him.

A silent smile stretched his lips into submission; unsure of how to address the skilled pilot that right now seemed to be into a completely different world. Perhaps his conditions allowed his reflexes to grow ? Perhaps the different personalities that resided within him were action like a channel that focused his intuition? Perhaps it was all of these things and more, but without an answer and the necessary determination to pursue the topic all that the young captain was left with was a silent view of his pilot’s back as he dodged death at every turn.

“We’re here already ?” his brother’s approaching voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Are we ?” he asked a bit too nonchalantly, stretching lazily in his command chair while throwing a hazy smile to his weapon’s officer as he approached command.

“You are far too complacent captain.” Grimmjow replied with a sneer, stopping near the two-toned XO. “How close to the nebula did you bring us Sparky?

***

Divine dark, divine light.

What we fail to conceive as natural we associate with divinity. When darkness is ever-present, we call light, God. When light is all-consuming, we call darkness …death. Human nature in general is ruled by these two faculties: Belief and rationality. Belief belongs to the heart, while rationality belongs to the mind -- Depriving one of another is the fastest way of dehumanizing a soul. Deep in the darkness however, it’s hard for the mind to keep track of the heart; left alone and abandoned, even the strongest start forsaking their hope of salvation and wither away their beliefs. They become empty shells with human faces.

“Hello ?” Rhyse’s voice echoes through the darkness of the confined VR matrix. “You called out to me.” He added, taking a step further. “I … mean you no harm.” He received no response, only a few scattered whimpers and scuffles coming from the person who was obviously trying to move out of his way. “I won’t hurt you.” He blindly reassured the darkness in front of him, slowly inching towards the whimpers that finally broke into a quivering voice.

“C…can .” she was weak, he noted. Her voice was weary and worn out, perhaps from all the years she’d been calling for an answer. “C-can you …” if he’d focus enough, he could almost hear her tears drying in her throat – it angered him. “Can you … make the darkness go away.” He smiled.

“Yes.” He answered flatly. If it were up to him, the room would have been lit up the second he logged into the virtual world that imprisoned the young girl. But his counterpart advised against it, warning that flooding her in light would not make her trust him. He compiled unwillingly, and suffered the fist few minutes of aimlessly wondering around for the intruder in utter darkness; that angered him even more. His eyes closed for the second it took him to alter the programming on the small room, and before she could draw in one last darkness ridden breath the room came alive before her very eyes.

Millions of colors, dials and flickering lights – her deep green eyes widened, darting confusedly from one corner to another before finally stopping on the lone tall figure in the middle of it all. She was young – he though—barely out of her 20’s. He skin was pale as porcelain and her hair golden like the sun, but what shocked the avatar most of all was her smile; five years froze on board and imprisoned in his subconscious and she smiled so easily. She smiled at him brightly, with innocence few are able to posses, and all he could do was stare frozen back at her. And just like that Rhyse forgot why he was so angry to begin with .

The XO of the ship stood silent few more minutes before answering Grimmjow. He kept his focus on the electric like tunnel while his hand moved on their own over the command keyboard.

“Less than half a day if we are lucky and we’ll be there.” he replied, unfazed by the chattering of his colleagues around. “How are the two?” Zetsu asked peeking at Grimmjow, before his eyes moved back to the bluish path. He trusted the man would be able to get through everything, preparing them well for the mission in such a short amount of time.



=====================================================================



A hand caress the small wooden square which pictured two adults smiling happily at the photographer. It almost ripped apart the throbbing heart that pounded life through her. Amaya let out a small grievous sound, her blue eyes watering. The simple thought of not ever seeing those smiles again threw her more towards insanity.

“I love you...” she whispered in the confine of her silent room, letting her tears course over tan cheeks.

Kisame watched as his small friend lost herself into the hands of pain. So vulnerable she was in that moment, he could not bear the feeling of tighten his chest gave. His eyes softened, his own mind deciding to take the chance and try and comfort the small girl crouched on the bed.


“Boom...” he called softly to the girl approaching the bed. The mattress squeaked at the wight, forcing Amaya to blink her eyes open. She didn’t even bothered to wipe away the tears or even pretend she was ok.

“I miss them.” she croaked the words looking at the picture.

“I know.” Kisame replied, a smile showing in the dim light, but it soon faded away, leaving behind a pained look as Amaya flinched away at the touch of his hand. He sighed playing with his fingers as he sat in silence, once in a while a sob breaking it.

“Boom, it passed three years. It hurts me to see you like this...” his voice died in his throat, his eyes watching the silent girl.

“I’ll be ok. I just had a break down.” she stated flatly, moving near Kisame. Their shoulders brushed before Amaya place her head on the man’s shoulder. “Thank you for being with me.” she smiled, feeling the skin stretch under the dried tears.
Kisame let out a chuckle ruffling the girls hair. “I should thank you dummy, after all you saved my old ass.”

They both settled into a comfortable silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts and memories. It was a rare moment when Amaya would let her pain and vulnerability show fact which almost made Kisame feel important. Almost, because except the feeling of pride, he also felt helpless.

---

The mind of a synthetic has often been described as the most animated equilibrium of both ration and reason ever created by the will of the universe. – A place where the inner workings of thought and logic enthrall in the most vivid of visual dances, and yet through all of the shimmering lights and fluid coding, his mind never has seemed more stagnant … even to his own eyes.

There was something silently disturbing about the golden haired seraph that without a word could make him forget even the basis of his programming, and reduce him to a silent frozen glitch. She was either deadly or ignorantly lucky, he thought – there was no other way of explaining the young girls’ virtual appearance. He was inclined to think that the fact she wore an immaculately white, flowing summer dress and was barefooted was perhaps part of a carefully calculated ploy of earning his trust by playing innocent – he refused to accept any other reason why this particular little girl bare such a sticking resemblance to the ancient Earth texts that described mythical beings called ‘angels’.

“Thank you …” she finally whispered, after a long period of time in which she literally seemed too captivated by the blue shimmering hue of the virtual world; the whisper however was accompanied by the same kind of smile that made him frown earlier. She irked him, he concluded; she irked him like no other organic even dared.

“Who are you?” the question was intended to sound less harsh that it actually was, but to his surprise she didn’t feel compelled in answering it.

“Who are you, though?” a small giggle fallowed by a slight tilt of her head was shot back, and it took every patch of his encoding to resist the urge to roll his eyes in response. Yes, definitely an act .

“I am the avatar of the Crimson Sunrise, the ship you are currently held in stasis on.” He replied coldly, and was surprised when he fond a small part of him genuinely wishing to see the statement somehow hurt her.

“Oh. “ was replied with more curiosity than animosity. “You’re nor human then?”

“No.” his eyes narrowed with the response ready to spit out an onslaught of venom her way, but everything seemed to freeze up again when the girl replied smiling.

“Good.” She took a step forward, and Rhyse had to blind slightly at the way the white dress fallowed around her “ I dislike humans .”

***

Grimmjow smiled. It wasn’t a normal kind of smile, but more one meant to buy him a bit of time before he could fully reply to the psycho. How could he respond in a way that would make him mildly interested without loosing his cool? The pair were good, too good even – and if he wasn’t a bit too overzealous of actually finding genuine compact talent after the many years he had spend drifting away from the commonwealth, then perhaps he would find cause of worry in just how good the two mercenaries seemed to be.

“They do alright …” he chose to reply with ambiguity; his Nietzschean blood demanding nothing less of him. “There’s always room for improvement.” He continued, ignoring the pair of black orbs that rolled at him – only Madara could read through him so very clearly. He frowned. Dam little mop-head.

“Oh please. “ Madara added a dismissing hand gesture to his generic eye roll “If Grimmjow says they’re ok that means they’re at pro level.” He chuckled, standing from his chair and walking to his second in command “Regardless … I need you to assemble everybody on the Obs deck in 10 minutes. We’re going in with a plan.” He finished with a wink.

Ichigo was already awake by the time the door opened, showing a grinning Grimmjow. It was five minutes later that he came out from his room, mumbling something about lack of intimacy when his eyes landed on a slim body few feet away from him. A sigh came out at the ignore he received form the girl even though their eyes met.

“You could at least say hello, you brat!” he shouted after the girl earning a middle finger.

“I advise you to give up. It would only get worse.” Kisame said calmly shaking his head. Stubbornness was shooting from both parts, neither of them meeting half way.

“Oh please. I gave up flirting with her long ago.”

“But you already got on her bad side by just doing that. Don’t expect that as soon as you stopped hitting on her she would turn on good terms with you.” Kisame said, walking next to the orange haired man his eyes on the back of his friend. “Trust me, i know.” he nodded at the face he received form Ichigo. “It took me half a year to yearn her trust after this stupid thing i did. Six months man.” he rose up six fingers just to get his point.

“What the F**k?!” Ichigo shouted earning a wince from Kisame.

“Aham...six months for braking her favorite cup.” Kisame chuckled at the face next to him.

“Blasphemy!” two hands rose up in disbelief.




Ten minutes later and they were all gathered for the call. Zetsu was the only one missing, piloting the ship towards their destination.


Ichigo was still dumbfounded due to the information Kisame offered and wished he never listened as he now glanced towards Amaya every five seconds. His mind couldn’t accept the fact that she got angry over an insignificant object such as a cup and took her fucking six month to accept Kisame’s continuous apologies. That meant that she would normally converse with him after three years?

“F**k that...” he mumbled more to himself than to someone in particular.

On the other side the girl could feel the heavy stare of her soon to be kicked in the balls ship mate. Two fingers pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“How about you stop starring at me idiot.” she called from across the table.
“You are mentally unstable and with this i rest my case.” Ichigo called back, turning his head towards his approaching captain.

“Define mentally unstable buffoon.”

“A psychological pattern generally associated with distress or disability occurring in an individual.” he replied frowning. He knew too much about this S**t due to his friend.

“Amazing. But what is the disorder i suffer which makes you think i have a mental illness?” she challenged.

“Inability to form a part of a group probably, and i might also add some bipolar disorder, but given the lack of emotions you show other than coldness towards others i might be mistaken.” Ichigo locked his eyes with frowning blue ones.

“Also the signs of anorexia are high. You don’t weight more than one hundred five, one hundred six pounds, which is under your normal wight for your high.” his eyes took in the slim body before him. “I think it’s enough for now although i have more to add at that. Look Amaya, we are not bad as you think we are. You better join the group and see for yourself that we are worthy of your time. As for my behaviour before, i don’t have anything to add other than i am sorry, but this is my sick personality. I love women and whenever the chance occurs, i dive in without thinking.” his cheeks turned a slight shade of red before continuing. “I am sorry for what i said.” he finished taking a deep breath and leaning in his chair once again with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Hn.” was all Amaya said. She didn’t approve nor denied his small speech. She knew well that her silence would be taken as an approval of the idiot’s describe, but she couldn't care less. After all, a part of what he said was true. Lips pulled up in a smirk as her eyes peeked at the orange mop head. The frown over his face almost showed the wheels inside his brain work, her inner self almost daring to come out and ask for that continuation he talked about.


Kisame watched in amazement as Amaya silently stood next to him. He was surely expecting a high argument from his friend and prepared himself for nothing. Maybe some changes are about to come. Ichigo was sure pulling emotions from Amaya which made Kisame a bit jealous of the man. He could never manage to earn those reactions from the girl the way Ichigo did whenever they argued about something.

---

As silence goes, this one seemed golden – the avatar though, frowning slightly at the ease those particular words flew over the little girls’ lips. She seemed so content with the affirmation, so at peace with it, that it took Rhyse a few moments to even realize she simply moved away from the statement and chose to pay it little mind there after. Was her hatred for humanity of that great of a depth that she could simply affirm it and then be pleased by it? He narrowed his eyes over the frail projection she embodied in the virtual wasteland, trying to pinpoint exactly what about this small girl seemed fundamentally wrong to him?

Was it the appearance? The voice? Perhaps the smile?

“You haven’t told me your name, mister avatar .” she skipped to his side with her hands clasped behind her back, tilting over on her tip toes while a pair of emerald eyes blinked up at him. There it was – he frowned, taking a step back from the her, while his mind finally wrapped around the reason why every inch of his coding seemed to scream in agony every time the she took a step closer. She was a paradox – an innocent smile with a tainted heart.

Hatred, loathing, anger and even insanity towards the people that would do you wrong seemed like rational personality changes for somebody that had been locked away in the dark for over half a decade. It was a simple enough equation that he could do in the amount of time it would take an organic to draw in a breath: isolation plus regret minus companionship equals personality disorders. However, the fact that instead of being angry she seemed calm, and instead of cowering in fear she approached him smiling – all while peacefully declaring her hatred for humanity—made this particular human … an unsolvable riddle. A paradox going against every piece of data he gathered on humanity.

“Mister avatar … are you all right ?” the tone of her voice took a tint of concern while a gentle hand reached for the synthetics’ shoulder.

“Who are you.” He flinched suddenly, grabbing her wrist before her fingers managed to touch his shoulder. She twisted in his clutch, frowning slightly at the grip. “I asked WHO ARE YOU?” he bellowed louder earning a small whimper in return.

“Let me go!” her scream seemed to only make the grip on her wrist tighten as he drew her closer angrily.

“Enough with the games, human!” the words sneered off his tongue with menace “Who are you? Who locked you inside my mind? WHY did they lock you inside my mind.?!”

“I ..let me go!” she screamed, trying to pull her hand free a bit harder harder.

“Answer me !” he screamed. She ignored; struggling deservedly to brake free. “Answer me I say!”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

***

Yeap, awkward silences are golden gems on freight ships – Madara silently told himself while observing the seated parties at the conference table. He had taken a seat ten minutes prior, addressed them five minute after and decided to keep his mouth shut as of this moment. Whatever happened that made the entire table fall silent must have been good, that’s for sure; and a part of him genuinely wished he’d hurried to the meeting earlier just so he could see what exactly managed to silence his rambunctious crew.

A quick look at Grimmjow earned him a shrug and an averted look. His brother didn’t help much, adding a small sigh while rubbing the bridge of his nose annoyedly, to the entire situation. And as for the rest? They seemed either torn between looks of utter content or stares that would make you whish you would willingly jump out of the airlock.

“You people do know we’re a crew … right ?” he sighed exasperatedly “We need to work together, trust each other and all that fuzzy wuzzy S**t- “ he frowned and subsequently coughed away the ‘bad’ word “I mean … stuff . fuzzy …wuzzy …stuff. Yeah. … Stuff.” A chuckle and a desperate look towards Grimmjow fallowed. In return the Nietzschean smiled sadistically.

“Well well …” he chuckled, crossing his large arms over his chest. “You swore.”

“If you tell Lux I cursed, I swear to that bearded man I don’t believe in that I’ll …”

“You’ll what ? “ the blue haired man sneered, leaning over the table just slightly “I say … you’re in a very … compromising situation.” He paused, Madara frowned.

“You wouldn’t .” a pair of dark eyes widened in fear while a pair of blue narrowed cunningly.

“I would. It’s in my blood and you know it.” Grimmjow chuckled, placing his hands flat on the table, standing suddenly “I say … a week as my personal lackey and some money in the swear jar will keep me from telling her how you broke the rules.” Left with no choice, the captain sighed with resentment before meeting the Nietzschean’s eyes again.

“You are a despicable man …” he chuckled darkly “Not many men in this Verse would dare blackmail a grown man with telling his daughter he’d cursed.”

Those surprises that came after the two’s union with the crew were floating like a river. Almost as if the crew itself were a bunch of orphans with their papa in head. Although many of them were serious with most of the time focusing on the task they were currently debating on, sometimes childish reactions burst out from within each one of them.

And at the moment the most surprising was the way Madara and Grimmjow’s conversation. That almost made Amaya show a genuine smile if it wasn’t for those many people around her.

A clear of her throat earned the attention of the crew. “I assumed we have a meeting of more important business.”



The meeting went smooth, some adding their own opinion in the plan, some arguing and one almost falling asleep.


Ichigo let out a snore at the end of the meeting earning him a slap over the head from no one other than Kisame. It was enraging to see someone falling asleep over something like this. Might he not care about his life, or maybe the orange mop of human was overconfident in his skills. Other way Kisame allowed himself to take action at the lack of attention Ichigo showed.


“I start to agree with everyone here. You are an idiot.” Kisame tch’d, shaking his head as he followed Ichigo.

“I knew it already man, you don’t have to be brutal.” Ichigo flashed an angry look at the tall man. “Leave it to big people to act all savage.” he mumbled under his breath.

“Doesn’t matter if you know it or not, just don’t fall asleep when you know other lives are in that plan’s hands.” Kisame sighed.

“Whatever.” Ichigo closed the subject with a small motion of his hand, leaving the other man alone.



=====================================================================



Amaya walked behind Grimmjow, neither of them trying to converse. Even though the silence between them was a comfortable one, Amaya still felt the urge to force a word out of the man, which was slightly unusual. Deciding to take the lead, she quickened her peace reaching near the other.


“How long have you been here?” she started, mentally slapping herself at the stupid question her brain was able to come up with. A shiver went down her spine as those blue poles stared back. She wasn’t scared, but more like...angry? she failed to define the feeling building up within her as she patiently waited for an answer.

---

He let go of her hand after that; the trembling bundle of sobs and tears she’d become almost frightening him. And in that one blink of an eye, in which his hand stopped gripping hers, her knees gave out. She’d fallen limp to the floor then – fixing her eyes on the small moist droplets her tears left over the white cloth of her dress. She almost seemed frozen to him; trapped in eternity– a redundant picture to portray the frailty of mankind. What a perfectly acceptable metaphor.

“I’ve been here for a while.” She sobbed “Haven’t I ?” A part of him resisted the urge of snorting his reply at the uselessness of her question, but seeing as she was already as broken as he could realistically see her he saw no point in adding to the trauma.

“Five years.” He answered honestly, tough in a uncaring tone by which the girl seemed unscaved off. She simply nodded limply before an idle hand found use at rubbing away a stray tear drop. “In stasis …” he added, raising a brow in anticipation of a reaction that never came – he frowned “Which is why I find you presence here disturbing. Usually a prisoner in stasis does not get the privilege of freedom in the virtual world.” Crimson eyes narrowed “Especially not in my mind.”

“Privileged …”she whispered, swallowing a tea before slowly looking up at her captor. “ I have lost track of time – days … months … years in here. My life … I remember …” her voice cracked slightly at the memory, and two hands gripped tight the white material over her knees “ I remember … I had a purpose. A … life. But in here, in this darkness … I’ve locked it all away.” She looked away from him for a second, painfully biting her lip at whatever thought crossed her mind. “I don’t remember why, or how … But I remember that I wished I would forget. “

***

A walk with a kludge, side by side no less; five years ago this would have seemed almost incomprehendible, yet now .. here he was. The short lived silence suited him and when she broke it with a question a part of him genuinely mourned it’s departure. He’d fallen out of the habit of talking over the years, especially when he was semi-lucid. A part of him perhaps feared that without alcohol to cloud his mind, his mouth would run wild taking his genetic identity along with it. It was this part that he came to believe the alcohol subdued and locked away – the arrogance, the condescension … the Nietzschean in him. The blood within him he came to hate so very much.

“I have … “ he paused, calculating his tone to obscure the disdain in it “I have been here for a very long time.” He forced a chuckle, subconsciously folding his hands behind his back out of pure habit “I have know the good captain ever since we were in … when we were young.” He caught his stutter “Over all … I would say, we have been like brothers for over 10 years now. I have known his father, his mother his two brothers, his small daughter and his late wife as if they were my very own.”

“Must be nice to have a family, right?” the small girl brought one hand to rub at the other one. A chill ran through her at the memories, but before she could fall in, they vanished from her mind leaving a sharp pain behind.

“I lost mine when i was little. They were murdered.” her voice spat the last word as if poison dropped on her tongue. She followed closely as they both fell silent again.


=====================================================================


On the other side of the ship, Kisame wondered alone through the ships halls. It was spacious and pretty modern given the outside aspect which you could easily mistake for a sunken ship if you weren’t accustomed with huge ones like this. A growl made the man blush and look around him.

“Yeah yeah, i’m trying.” he pat his stomach gently, his eyes scanning every door popped out in his vision.

It might have passed few minutes when a known face came into view, Kisame grinning wildly at the individual.

“Oi Itachi!” he called after the man who in return rolled his eyes. “Hey man, show me the kitchen ‘cause i am starving.” he reached the black haired man with one hand wrapped around his waist.

---

There is no indignity in being afraid to die, but there is a terrible shame in being afraid to live- this deep-rooted mantra was passed down like campfire riddles from father to son. It helped shape the Nietzschean children into leaders, thinkers and ultimately … survivors. But nobody ever took the time to teach any of them how to cope with being just a bit too good at surviving. What happens what you are the only one left, what happens what your instincts force you to watch your people die whilst you alone live?

Wrapped up their own self interests and morals, it was expected of an Uber to take in strive whatever life threw his way; be it joy, happiness, and even pain …. a Nietzschean was expected to always stun his feelings in light of his ultimate survival. But nobody ever took the time to teach them how to survive … surviving.

His steps staggered over the girls words; the involuntary trip in his legs almost threatened to open the door to all his defenses whilst his mind struggled desperately to find an appropriate reaction to this new bit of information. He urged himself to frown, to look away and to seem indifferent – but the pair of blue orbs that shimmered at the confession made any forced action an almost impossible feat – even for him.

He sighed, subsided by his defeat, and came to a halt in front of a small window that opened the infernal view over Tartarus. “I … wasn’t always like this.” his lips finally moved after what seemed like an eternity of silence “I had a wife, and two perfect boys.” He said proudly, allowing his eyes to beam with a misplaced gleam of pride for the slightest of seconds. “I was the leader of my people …” he added emptily “And then one night … everything changed.” The knot in his throat that the alcohol always seemed to numb was now painful enough to keep him from breathing properly. He wanted to shout, to cry, to grab the patch of skin over his heart and rip it open simply for remembering– to rip off the pain, the dullness and the apathy that truffed through his memories. But he stayed composed; his eyes never leaving the window and his voice the epithet of calm- but years of Nietzschean upbringing can’t always root out pain … and his was silently showing in the trembling fists by his side.

“I saw my mother …” he added silently, catching his voice from cracking before he proceeded coldly “She was slow.” He concluded before turning to the girl. “So you see young one…” he smiled and placed a gentle hand over he head and patting slowly “We are by no means that different. Every man on this ship carries his demons with him. You are no outsider … welcome on board.”

***

Two black eyes shot up in at first surprise and then mild amusement. Surprise because he didn’t expect a man like Kisame to be so easily taken down by hunger, and lastly amusement because in his food deprived state the blue skinned man didn’t even realize in what room he was currently in.

“Sit down then.” The Uchiha pointes to one of the empty chairs around the kitchen table before throwing a warm smile from behind the counter. “I was about to make myself dinner anyway, I suppose I could make it for two if you feel like eating stake and steamed potatoes.” A soft, almost inaudiable chuckle fallowed.

“I’m afraid I am no where near as good as my brother.” He said flatly while his eyes focused on the precise cuts he delivered to the innocent potato he was currently chopping. “No where near as culinary cultured, nor refined. I do like good food though… don’t get me wrong “ he said jokingly “It’s just that making it seems awfully boring. However, I do well with simple meals- a steak , some potatoes … what else could a man ask for ?”

***

“There is no shame in running away, Ryse.” The disembodied voice fallowed the menacing looking avatar as he stormed down the abandoned corridors of his ship.

“I didn’t …. Run.” The words seemed almost controlled, gripped, and dangerous.

“You logged off and left her there as soon as she started screaming.” The ship flatly concluded. The avatar frowned.

“She disturbs my calm.” He admitted reluctantly, ignoring the sudden materialization of a hologram right in front of him.

”Oh ?” if the frown on the synthetic face could darken any more he would soon enough blow a circuit, the Crimson thought whilst receiving the latest particular death glare from his counterpart. “Explain.” He demanded flatly, choosing to best ignore the look and any further complications it would bring.

“She is a paradox. “was all that the avatar added to the conversation before storming through the hologram and down the corridor.