Author's Note: So this is what happened, I wrote this for the Broken Object challenge for on the Anonymous Writers' forum. However, I unfortunately published a draft instead of the actual story. I did not realize what I had done until a friend in real life pointed it out to me. In my defense, I've been busy with my numerous rounds in the hospital and newly found insomnia.

Anyways I confessed to the moderators of the challenge in spirit of fairness and all that. Naturally, I was disqualified but they were kind enough to leave the link up in the challenge thread so people could still be exposed my story. A real nice group, I suggest stopping by if you are a writer. They're very helpful.

As for the main story...'Shrugs helplessly'...busy's the word. My sincerest apologies. I'll do what I can to upload this month but no promises.

Anyways, with me being disqualified I doubled the length of the original one shot and made it a rather engaging tale.

Hope You Enjoy!

"So tear me open but beware, there are things inside without a care"-James Hetfield, Load

Ichigo scowled. "No, you are not getting into the shower with me."

"Hmm." Amber arms snaked around his neck and fingers entwined in his dull orange hair, pushing him up against the tiled bathroom walls.

The dark-skinned beauty tilted her head, allowing her waves of white-grey hair to pool onto one shoulder, and fixed him with a piercing gaze of sapphire. She firmly pressed her lips to his, melding them together for a bare second before pulling back.

"It has been quite some time since we have enjoyed ourselves in the water," she whispered, keeping her eyes on his lips as she pecked them again.

He shut his eyes in a silent sigh as her nose softly nuzzled across the bone of his jaw.

"Well, beloved?" He could practically hear the half-lidded smile in her voice. "Shall we?"

Knowing all too well that any semblance of hesitance would cause her to pounce, he kept the inflection in his voice as neutral as possible. "I don't have time. I have to go to work."

"Little one," amusement played across her eyes as she lightly chided, "you have had a sufficient extent to accustom yourself to the ranks of the Undying. We are immortal. That tedious triviality will still be there even when you are delayed. Till the end of time, beloved."

'When' not 'if'.

A part of him silently admired the way she was so certain of getting her way. Though, that didn't mean he was going to give into her. Because, while he was practically frozen in time, the rest of the world still ticked on.

Admittedly, while he was still adjusting to the whole immortality deal, his nearly indefinite lifespan was something he had long since acknowledged. On the other hand, he was only twenty. He figured the severity of the acknowledgement wouldn't really sink in until the next century.

Ichigo drew his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest. Immediately, she let out a satisfied purr and he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Despite her impressive and rather intimidating age, she was a hopeless cuddler.

He pressed his lips to the crown of her head and murmured against her mane of wild white hair. "I have to go to work, Tiamat."

Lifting her head from his shoulder, he saw a moment frustration flash through her eyes, giving them a feral luster as she pushed away from him in irritation. "Hmph. Very well."

An apologetic smile crossed his face, even though he didn't really mean it. She knew it too, thus her eyes only narrowed further in annoyance.

He gave her a quick patronizing peck on the cheek as he walked past her, which only served to irritate her further. Deftly dodging a shove aimed at him, he maneuvered around her. And a good thing too. His supernaturally enhanced eyesight easily measuring the force in her lean and rippling muscles across her forearm. Had that hand connected, he'd be firmly embedded in the wall behind him.

Fun fact about Tiamat, she could lift a bloody train…with her toes.

He dropped his cell phone onto the fresh batch of clothes on the countertop and began to strip off his current apparel. However, halfway through the motion of taking his shirt off, he turned and gave her a pointed look. She responded with a smile that wickedly curved the edges of her mouth.

Countering with a single raised brow, the corners of his lips quirked as she gave in and turned around. A small sense of accomplishment ran strong…until he realized that the direction she had turned in was towards the bathroom mirror. The very same one that gave her a full show regardless of her back turned to him.

"Why do I even bother," he muttered as he brought his shirt overhead and slipped off his jeans and boxers.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed. He and Tiamat were intimately familiar with one another's bodies.

After all, Tiamat was…Tiamat.

Ancient beyond measure; a primordial entity of the Old World that arose in what eventually became Mesopotamia. Several thousands of years beforehand, mind that. Tiamat embodied the Primeval Oceans, Motherhood, Femininity and…well…sex.

It was natural for her to be very physical in her relationships. It was part of her nature. However, Ichigo felt that at least one of them had to hold some modicum of civility. And considering that society and civilization didn't even exist for a decent chunk of her life, that burden was left squarely on his shoulders.

As he threw a glance over his shoulder, a wave of frost ran through his lungs. The mirror staunchly reflected Tiamat's inhuman eyes and their predatory shimmer. When the tip of her tongue slipped out of her mouth and ran over glossed lips, Ichigo was forced to bite the inside of his cheek to keep his own arousal grounded.

Tiamat could seduce the sun out of the sky and, knowing her, probably did at one point too.

"You need to find yourself a hobby," he idly said as he stepped into the shower.

A low laugh rang into his ears. "Beloved, you are my hobby."

And with that, he heard the soft patter of her feet across the stone floor as she left.

The click of the door closing caused him to shake his head and heave a sigh. However, a small smile graced his lips as he reached out and turned the shower knob.

Immediately, a surge of water, scalding and steaming, cascaded down and drenched him. His hair fell thickly over his eyes and blissful warmth spread onto his neck and down his back. He simply stood there, head bent forward, as the water enchantingly raced over him.

It wasn't long before the entire bathroom was filled with thick steam. So much so, that Ichigo could no longer make out the rest of the bathroom as the glass door of the shower had been thoroughly layered with heavy moisture.

He had a custom built water heater just for his own personal bathroom in this portion of the castle. The water came out of the showerhead at boiling point temperature. For any normal human, hell, for even some of the denizens of the Underworld, his showers would have caused severe burns and sent them to the hospital.

Yet, for Ichigo, it was no different than a normal tepid bath. And that was because he had long since lost the last vestiges of Humanity within him. It had been nine months since he had accepted Lucifer's offer and strode into the ranks of the Lords of the Underworld.

The Infernal Fire burned with such strength in him that there was absolutely no flame of the mortal realm that could harm him in any sense. Even in the supernatural, there were very, very few sources of heat that could scathe him. Only the most extreme of fires infused with the densest of magicks were capable of harming his body.

And even then, that was only so long as he was in his base human form. Once he revealed his true form…a shudder passed through Ichigo at the thought.

Involuntarily his hand reached up to touch his chest. His eyes were drawn to two jagged and wickedly shaped scars sprayed across the right side of his torso. He had nearly died the last time he had been forced to release the full scope of his demonic powers.

He shook his hair, banishing the images of snapping jowls and the sounds of snarling madness.

Ten minutes later he was out of the shower and running his hands over his body with a towel. Making sure to get every drop running down his body, Ichigo walked over to his clothes and grabbed the fresh pair of jeans.

Slipping them on, the edges of his vision grabbed his attention as he briefly noticed the vibrating cell phone. It astounded him how many messages he tended to receive in a span of a few minutes. Astounded, and quite thoroughly annoyed.

Flicking through all the messages, his eyes scanned the few that had sprouted up during his stint in the shower. A few work related e-mails were the usual find. There were a few advertisements from subscriptions to the Underworld's newest brand of clothing.

Those were for Tiamat's benefit.

After having finally decided to garner herself a wardrobe, Tiamat found herself fairly enamored with the idea of clothing. Embodiment of all things feminine indeed…

He returned his attention the phone and swiftly ignored the majority of advertisements however, there was one particular text message that caught his eye. Namely, who it was from

Yasaka

A frown crossed his lips. It was extremely rare for his wife to send him a text

Ichigo tapped his wife's message and was assaulted with an impressive number of emojis.

"Are you coming home this weekend?! Are you coming home?! Are you coming home?! Are you coming home?! COME HOME!"

Ichigo smiled fondly. 'Looks like someone stole their mother's phone.'

He quickly sent back a message confirming his visit.

Slipping his phone into his pocket, he reached out to grab his shirt…only to find it missing.

He let out a frustrated sigh. 'That woman…'

He exited the bathroom, which connected directly to his bedroom, with a grimace. However, his expression turned surprised as a chill crawled up his arms.

The balcony doors were wide open, letting in the cold morning air and sending a wintry breeze through the room. As well as sending all the papers on his desk flying onto the floor. Ichigo twisted his fingers, sending a wave of magic that neatly piled the papers back into place and floated a book to lay on top of them as a paperweight.

His gaze went back to the open doors and he walked under the threshold, sweeping the fluttering drapes away from his face.

The sky was still a dark shade of purple as the local star of this part of the cosmos had yet to break the horizon. Utumno and Angband, the twin moons of the Underworld, shone with pale sheen on the fringes of the night as first light approached.

But Ichigo had eyes only for the solitary figure seated on the terrace railing. Legs bare and an oversized shirt covering the rest of her body, (the missing apparel found) Tiamat sat with a solemn, if not melancholic, expression. Her eyes fixed on a lone object floating above her palm. He followed her gaze and, instantly, Ichigo's eyes froze as an old horror came over him.

Memories from more than five years ago flashed through his mind. Recollections of a lifeless blade reflecting solitude and stained lunacy flashed to the forefront of his mind.

A single breath halted in his lungs as his hands clenched painfully.

Floating deceptively above Tiamat's cupped palms, a lone orb, barely the width of two fingers, pulsed with a dark blue and ethereal purple radiance.

Ice crawled through his chest and his throat constricted tightly. 'There's no way…how could she…?'

A choking noise escaped him and, as it reached Tiamat's ears, shattered her fixation on the eldritch globe.

When her eyes fell on him a sudden flash of terror crossed her face and the Ho-orb vanished with a flick of her wrist. Ichigo's mouth gaped open and shut a few times before he closed his eyes and forced himself to stop the whirling rage of his thoughts.

Slowly, he reached up to brush away wind strewn and damp strands of hair from his eyes. They fell back on Tiamat and, once more, he found himself utterly stunned. Though she was doing her best to avoid his gaze, he could easily make out the moisture in her eyes.

Any sense of bafflement melted away and, with preternatural speed, Ichigo closed the distance between them. No impression of pause showing, he drew her into his arms and cradled Tiamat to his chest. A second burst of demonic power through his ankles had both of disappear from the balcony ledge and reappear on his bed.

As the sheets shifted under their combined weight and he adjusted their bodies in a more comfortable position, he felt his eyes burn with magic and the glass doors slammed shut with a bang.

Returning his attention to Tiamat, Ichigo brushed his thumb across her cheek and frowned down at her considerably. "You alright?"

Tiamat gave a grateful smile and, weak one that it was, it did little to alleviate the distress in Ichigo as he saw lines form around her eyes and mouth.

"Do forgive me, little one," she said and leaned into his hand. "It was but an old memory from days long since gone and best lain forgotten."

Ichigo wasn't buying it in the least.

The two of them had a familiar bond. A powerful mental channel linked which bound the two of them together and, in the moment that Tiamat had locked eyes with him on the terrace, there was nothing but pure unadulterated dread pouring through that bond. An absolute overwhelming sensation of crushing grief and mind-ripping terror.

"Tiamat, you were-," he began but she quickly cut him off.

"Please…," and how he hated the sheer desperation and pleading in her voice. How he hated how her resilient and domineering persona laying utterly shattered in her hands clutching at him. "Please, just let me forget."

Ichigo closed his eyes as his hold on her tightened.

And what he hated the most of all, was that callous Devil within his nature that scathingly laughed back. "She still kept me from going to work!"

Two Months Later

"In other news, Lord Falbium Asmodeus was found slumbering under a hotdog cart in the middle of downtown New Lilith."

"Of course he was." Sitting on his bedroom couch, Ichigo openly scowled at the T.V. This was hardly the first time that Falbium had disappeared from his palace only to be discovered napping away in some obscure and ridiculous location.

He suppressed a twitch at the corner of his eye as one particular incident came to memory. Ichigo, along with half the city's security force, had spent four Lucifer-forsaken days looking futilely for the missing Demon Lord. Finally, a few contacts in the Human World came through and had reported sighting Falbium passed out at a Sushi restaurant in Manhattan.

Sirzechs had personally accompanied Ichigo and the retrieval squad. The beating the two of them gave Falbium afterwards ensured that the Sin of Sloth wouldn't be disappearing for a good length of time.

"He is such an entertaining child." Tiamat's voice reverberated from behind as her arms encircled his neck and her chin plopped down on his head.

"For you, maybe," he said with an irritated grunt. "For those of us who actually work with him, he's an outrageous pain in the ass."

"Perhaps," she gave a soft chuckle, "but even you must admit that behind his horrid work ethic lies a most intriguing and discerning mind."

That was true enough.

Falbium, past his lethargic and drowsy nature, possessed perhaps the single most brilliant mind in all of the Underworld. His deductive reasoning and insight could only be described as downright monstrous. There was a reason, after all, Sirzechs had appointed Falbium to be the Supreme Commander of all Demonic Forces and Head of Military Intelligence.

More than once, had Falbium affirmed the decision of his appointment as the correct one in the cold war that had been lasting for the last past thousand years.

"Still, he's annoying as Heaven when he's snoring up a storm," Ichigo sighed.

Tiamat slid away and walked around the sofa to stand in front of him. She raised her hands and stretched her back, allowing the soccer jersey stolen from his closet to climb up and reveal her midriff. With an evolved indifference, Ichigo pushed her away from blocking the T.V with his foot.

Shaking her head in a mock sigh, she went down on the sofa and spilled over onto his lap.

'She acts more like a cat than a dragon,' he thought with a dry smile.

As time passed on and he continued to watch the Underworld news, Ichigo found his fingers playing through the soft waves of Tiamat's hair. It had become a typical ritual between the two of them; for the other to play with the hair of the one who was resting.

She often twirled the locks from the back of his head and he tended to sift his touch through her unruly mane.

After several minutes passed, Tiamat broke the comfortable silence. "Little one?"

He answered without looking away from the T.V. "Yeah?"

"There is something I have been meaning to ask you." He felt her shift her head in his lap.

He raised the remote and flipped through the channels. "About what?"

"Chocolate…what is it?"

He opened his mouth with an automatic response however, his mind seemed to shut down as he actually registered the question. With almost painstaking slowness, he dragged his eyes from the screen to look down at the inquisitive gleam in her ocean blue eyes.

He blinked once…twice…then promptly shut his mouth.

"…You're serious."

"Quite." She answered as her brows furrowed in slight confusion.

He opened his mouth once more, but, just like before, no words formed. Instead he pulled out his phone from his pocket and promptly Googled 'chocolate'.

"Little one." He could hear the open vexation in her voice. She never did take too well to being ignored.

"Gimme a sec," he said as he laid an appeasing touch on her arm.

His eyes dotted over the text on his phone as he quietly mumbled the words to himself.

"Discovered by the Aztecs…accident while trying to make beer…introduced to the rest world in the sixteenth century."

That last part caused him to put the phone down and blow out a laden breath.

'Well that explains it.' He thought wryly.

Tiamat had been out of touch with the Human World for the last thousand years or so. The last time she made a notable appearance in the mortal world was shortly after Ddraig and Albion went on a complete rampage and nearly brought the planet to its knees. She had lent her powers to the various Supernatural sects in trying to contain the magical backlash unleashed from the full onslaught of the Heavenly Dragons.

Still…that she had no idea as to what chocolate was…

"My sincerest condolences," he said with complete solace.

Her brows furrowed even further as she bared her teeth at him. "Do not make me bite you. Again."

He held back a grimace as a phantom pain shot through his left shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry." He rubbed her arms soothingly and gave an apologetic smile. "I just sometimes forget how long you secluded yourself from the rest of the world."

He raised a hand and sharply snapped his fingers. Instantly there was a sharp rap on his bedroom door.

"Enter," he called out.

The door drifted open and revealed a delicately dressed maid. The young girl stayed at the threshold, not daring to enter. "You summoned, my Lord?"

"Can I get a whole chocolate cake?" He asked, craning his neck to look at the girl.

"At once, sire. Will you require any refreshments as well?"

"A couple glasses of milk would be nice, thanks."

"Ah," The maid paused for a second as she appeared to consider something, "do you have preference of milk, sire?"

"Just cow's milk, thanks. Normal cow's milk, mind you." Ichigo said the last part hastily. While he'd been involved with the supernatural community for a few years, there were a few things he wasn't quite prepared to partake in. Foremost among them, the numerous beverages that were offered.

Hydra Venom Rum, Vampiric Cedar Juice, Liquid Metal Slime and…Minotaur Milk. Immortality be damned, some things were just not worth it!

"I will return shortly, my Lord," the girl said softly and Ichigo waved her off as she backed out with a bow.

Tiamat sat up and looked at him with a finely raised single white eyebrow.

"Give it a minute and you'll have your answer." He smiled.

"I assume it is some form of food, then?"

"You'll see." His smile only grew.

"Hmm." She sent him a withering look but he took it all in stride.

Tiamat pulled herself into his lap and made herself comfortable...or from his point of view; she twisted and squirmed until the muscles in his thighs ached in sore protest and certain points of his anatomy were in danger of chaffing.

Not even half a minute later there was knock on the door and Ichigo called for the servant to enter. The same maid came in while pushing a food cart forward.

He noted with humor as Tiamat gave a barely noticeable whiff of the air. Undoubtedly trying to gauge what she would soon be consuming.

For his part, Ichigo took regard of the ostentatious looking cake. The chocolate confetti was so flamboyantly assorted across the round cake, Ichigo was left wondering if the maid had high-jacked it from some poor child's birthday party.

The young girl slipped a knife through the cake and Ichigo was forced to hold back a laugh as Tiamat watched with near haunting eagerness as the soft layers were revealed. Plating the wedges on ceramic squares, she handed them over to Ichigo who quietly reached out and grabbed the plate.

"Do you require anything else, sire?" The maid asked.

"No that will be all," Ichigo said with a bemused shake of the head. Tiamat's single-minded stare at the piece of chocolaty fluff was all too entertaining. All too similar to a cat about to pounce on its prey.

It was moments like these where Ichigo fully appreciated just how radiantly beautiful she really was. In these, for a lack of a better word, human moments.

He leaned forward and placed a kiss right under her ear.

"Hmm?" Tiamat tilted her head slightly but her gaze never left the contents of the plate.

Ichigo smiled against her smooth dark skin. "You going to eat it or just continue to stare at it?"

She gave him a suspicious look before gingerly picking up the fork and using its edge to part a piece of the chocolate. With an elegance entirely betraying her untamed nature, Tiamat pushed the small piece of dessert passed her lips and began to move her mouth in a slow, deliberate chew.

His chest rumbled as with each passing second, Tiamat's blue eyes grew wider and wider. As soon as she was done with that mouthful, she carved another piece and plopped it in her mouth.

The moment the second piece landed on her tongue, she set free a throaty moan.

The next thing he knew; she was babbling off in some long forgotten language. And quite excitedly too.

"Fil ahrk lok! Stahdim ont zos!" With near comical animation, Tiamat turned towards him and began to gesture elusively with her hands at the half eaten slice of cake. "Bok nusaan ko nev! Krosis!"

In a rather impressive span of five minutes, Tiamat attacked the rest of the cake and devoured it with frightening ferocity. He had to admit, the crumbs around her delicate mouth being the only evidence of there ever even being a cake, would have made for a cute sight.

Would have.

Not did.

Because upon realizing that the entirety of the cake had been introduced to the rest of the contents in her stomach, Tiamat's ocean blue eyes collapsed into serpentine slits and a silent pressure fell on him as her neck gradually turned to him with a vicious stare.

Their bedroom filled with the scent of a sea-salt breeze and a distinct hum of power that ran through the floor and up into him through the sofa.

Ichigo's throat went dry.

She lifted his chin with her forefinger and traced his lips in a circle with her thumb. He could only swallow helplessly as he was caught in her dark and mesmerizing draconic stare. A single word escaped her in a low husk.

"More."

He didn't need any further incentive on his part to agree and quickly nodded. Just the sheer possibility that she would sink her fangs into him if she didn't get what she wanted was reason enough.

Tiamat hummed pleasantly and kissed the tip of his nose with her chocolate covered lips. "Good boy."

Five cakes.

Five whole, bloody cakes.

Like lambs to the slaughter, she had annihilated the poor things in the formidable span of fifteen minutes. And it wasn't as if she tore into them like some boorish savage. With a methodical and economical precision, Tiamat leisurely took them apart, piece by chocolaty piece, before deftly chewing them into oblivion.

Lucifer.

He had gained a whole new appreciation for the sheer tenacity of his lover's appetite.

He knew Tiamat ate far more than most beings. Taking into consideration her true physique was a virtual engine of destruction in the form of a colossal sapphire encrusted, blue-eyed dragon, it really wasn't something to be surprised over.

He had accompanied her on her hunts into the vast wilderness of the Underworld and watched her take down game more than five times his size and swallow their carcasses whole.

But in her humanoid form?

Tiamat rarely took part in food and drink. Preferring to lazily lounge about instead while absorbing all the information of the major occurrences of the last past millennia. And…well…tempting him into bouts of passionate sex and lust whenever and wherever she fell into the mood…which tended be frequent and all over the place.

As far as Ichigo was concerned, Sirzechs was never to figure out where the dents and scratch marks on his desk came from. His eccentric and unpredictable King wouldn't let him live that down for centuries.

He ran a tired hand through is hair and let out a fatigued huff.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asked with a fond smile as he looked down into his lap.

After systematically wolfing down some twenty pounds of chocolate, Tiamat had curled back up on the sofa and promptly fell asleep with her head resting on his legs.

Every often or so, she would shift and rub deeper into him in a very cat-like manner and he would lift stray locks of hair away from her face.

For two whole hours, he sat there in idle peace. Her warm breath tickling his abdomen while he rubbed her arms as he flipped through T.V channels.

A frown crossed his lips when he felt Tiamat shiver against his legs. He looked down and found that the soccer jersey she had pilfered from him had ridden up past her midriff and allowed the cool Underworld air to creep against her bare legs.

Her aversion to pants was no little source of teasing on his part…and endless seduction on hers.

He let flow a sliver of demonic power and coiled it into magic. A thick white fur hazed into existence and gently landed across her figure.

She let out a satisfied purr and mumbled sleepily. "Thank you, beloved."

His lips twitched as he raised the remote and switched over to the Human channels. It had been quite a few weeks since he checked in on the current status of the Mortal World. It was always good to stay up to date on the current affairs of Humanity.

Too many in the ranks of the timeless tended to ignore humanity as a whole and ended up being taken for a rather wild trip when they finally did pay attention. He remembered something old Mephistopheles had once told him. 'They are but transient guests. No more than ignorant children in vain trying understand that which wrought by hands Undying. Yet in their ceaseless toil ever are the hues of Man's dreams so more vibrant and deeper than ours.'

"I think you've slept enough." He said as he absently placed a hand over her head.

Miraculously, she actually did open her eyes and begin to squirm out of the heavy furs he had conjured. Raising herself so that her front was to the T.V, Tiamat threw her arms in the air and stretched her lithe back. Ichigo shook his head in amusement and raised the volume, which he had kept low while she had laid in rest.

As Tiamat took her customary seat in his lap, Ichigo transferred the remote to the other hand so he could wrap an arm around her waist as she snuggled her face into the side of his neck.

"You're going back to sleep, just like that?" A hint of laughter made itself known in his voice though he never took his eyes off the screen.

"Entirely is the blame yours," she said imperiously. "Who gave you permission to be so comfortably warm?"

He rolled his eyes. "You have to be only person in all of Creation who thinks Hell-Fire is comfortable. The Eight Immortals refused to take their hands away from their divine tools when I was hunting lost souls in China and Loki all but fled at the sight of me during my trip to Asgard."

"You compare me to children. Odin's forefathers and the Celestial Ancestors of the East did not even exist when I was first labeled ancient. What are they in my eyes? Naught but grains in Time's shift."

"Well," he said in a casual manner though an impish glint appeared in the corner of his eye. "Considering how my situation is the same when compared to them, doesn't that make you the world's biggest pedophile?"

Tiamat pulled away from him and raised a single, challenging brow. "What of it?"

Well now...how was he supposed to respond to that?

"Never mind, then," he said dryly.

She placed a light kiss on his cheek and set her head back against his shoulder. "I have outlasted many societies and their norms and I will outlast this one as well. Do not take it to heart, little one."

He was about to respond with a quip when something the anchorwoman said caught his attention.

"Countries all around the world are pouring in relief aid for the victims of the massive earthquake that shook the eastern Mediterranean four days ago and the subsequent Tsunami that followed. Cyprus, southern Turkey and the Greek Islands took the worst damage however, regions in the Middle East and North Africa also felt and suffered infrastructure damage."

"Great." Ichigo muttered with a wry twist of the mouth. "Poseidon got drunk again."

Tiamat shifted and turned her attention as well to the T.V. Not that he was surprised. Home was home, after all.

"Billions of dollars' worth of damage has occurred and an estimated one hundred and forty-eight thousand people have lost their lives."

"Unholy crap," Ichigo said breathlessly as he sat up straighter. "One hundred and forty-eight thousand? What the Hell is Poseidon on?"

He subconsciously tightened his arms around Tiamat's waist and the ancient dragon placed a comforting touch on his thigh.

"Even now, rescue parties are searching for any survivors trapped under debris."

"Ever will mortals suffer by the fleeting whims of the Undying." A lick of sorrow touched her voice. "But such are the ways of this World. Why else do their numbers swell while ours remain stagnant and even decline? Is it not to ensure their survival against the callousness of those indifferent to their momentary lives?"

The T.V switched to several shots of entire towns flattened by surges of water and people clinging by the dozens to elevated structures.

"Doesn't make it any more right," he muttered darkly.

"No, it does not." She shook her head lightly. "But it is not our place to dwell on such things. Little can you divert the nature of those unchanged since their inception eons past."

He leaned forward with a rueful smile and rubbed his jaw along her shoulder. "Are you saying you haven't changed at all in these thousands of years?"

"Not in the least."

He blinked in surprise. "Seriously? You haven't changed? At all?"

She turned towards him with a superior smirk. "Even amongst Immortals, we Primordials are unique onto us. Brought to form and given character, we are the World; reflections of the Precepts which govern the Cosmos. If we are to change, then all of Creation so too must."

Wow.

Ichigo gained a whole new appreciation for those Immortals who have been around for so many countless years. Appreciation and…pity.

He remembered what Tiamat had said when they had first met. "Rent from time, seated on throne immortal."

To remain stagnant, unchanging, while all of life passed you by day by day? No wonder she could remain so detached from the ongoing of both the Mortal and Supernatural realms. What did she honestly have to tie her down aside from endless memories?

"Little one," amusement lined her voice as she looked at him with mirth-filled eyes, "I do not need your pity."

"Ah." He opened his mouth in surprise before shutting it tight. No one could read his mood quite like her. Especially when taking into consideration their mental link. "Sorry, I was just...temporarily overwhelmed."

Tiamat brushed his bangs away and kissed his brow. "It is quite alright. Even by the count of Humans, you are still quite young. I look forward to seeing who you will grow into this coming century."

She kissed him again, a light one on the lips this time and rested her forehead against his. They shared a stolen moment together for a brief instant before turning their attention back to the tragedy playing out on the T.V.

A good fifteen minutes passed with both of them comfortably in each other's arms when something on T.V caused Tiamat to sit up suddenly and Ichigo to frown heavily as gnawing dread crept into his mind.

Utterly confused, Ichigo gave a careful look around the room yet found nothing. It was only a second later that he realized that the cold sense of fear was radiating through his bond with Tiamat.

"Tiamat?" He softly called to her as she stiffened visibly.

"Are you alright?" He laid a concerned hand on her, but jerked it back with a pained cry. The moment their skin touched, a burst of static charge visibly arced against him from her.

"Tia-Hey!"

She abruptly shot up and stood with her arms limply at her side.

"That's not possible," she muttered with stark horror.

"What's not possible?" Ichigo also stood up and turned to look at her. However, he was completely rocked with what he saw.

Sheer dismay was plastered across her gorgeous features.

He saw her throat constrict and, helplessly, Ichigo followed her line of sight to the T.V.

He blinked in perplexity. The News Network was showing a recording of a cliff overlooking the Sea. Long pillars were carved onto the side and beyond them lay smooth and marble white stairs leading into a black and cavernous doorway.

Was it some sort of ancient temple?

"The Mediterranean earthquake has been responsible for untold amounts of destruction." The anchorwoman's jovial and ironic tone stood completely at odds with her statement and the horrified expression on Tiamat. "However, relief groups passing by boat noticed this once formerly solid cliff had collapsed partially into the sea to reveal this ancient structure. No one's quite sure as to what it is and, as currently all efforts are being manned into emergency aid for the suffering people of the region, it has yet to be approached and explored."

Tiamat's hands flew up to her mouth and, as tears began to flow down her eyes, Ichigo stood entirely paralyzed. Crying.

His Tiamat was crying.

His impossibly beautiful and down-right arrogant Tiamat had actually been reduced to tears.

Practically on instinct, Ichigo moved to take her in his arms but she lurched away from him.

"Tiama-" He reached out with a tentative hand, but a sudden flash of blinding light and an Earth rending boom sent him flying into the wall. Crashing through plaster and wood, Ichigo knocked his head on one the many networks of plumbing and fell to the ground with a groan.

"Oh, fuck me," he groaned as he reached up and brushed away dust and chips of the wall off of his hair and shoulders. "What the Hell has gotten into her?"

He stepped out of the impressive hole he made in the wall and stretched out the sudden crick of his neck. He cast a glance around the thoroughly trashed room and shook his head. There were scorch marks across the walls and under the flapping window drapes, broken glass littered the floor.

"Wonderful," he sighed as his eyes shifted in concern. He took a solemn breath and set his mind to touch the thread of energy that connected his mind to Tiamat's. However, he had found that she had set up an iron wall between them, disallowing him access to her mind.

Unfortunately, while their natural link was closed, several other denizens of the Underworld suddenly began to assail him with mental probes. A strong flinch passed his features as he felt a sharp ache begin to spread across his head. He pulled up a mental barrier and only allowed one familiar touch through.

Though he quickly regretted that soon enough.

"What the Hell is going on!" He winced as Sirzechs' voice roared within the confines of his mind.

"I'm taking care of it." He answered back before shutting their connection.

Ichigo walked right under the flailing curtains to the balcony…and with his first step outside, his face fell. "Oh sweet Lucifer."

It was a bloody hurricane. Tiamat had summoned a monstrous storm in the span of mere seconds. Which meant she was throwing a serious temper tantrum tantamount to to him getting struck by lightning over and over again.

The sky churned a mass of black clouds and lit up so strongly with branches of lighting that it turned a blinding white every few seconds.

Thick sheets of rain poured down in layers so dense that even with his enhanced eyesight he couldn't make out three feet in front of him. Millions upon millions of rain drops patterned in the air as gale-force winds slammed them into everything across the land. With such ferocity they crashed that every window along the walls burst in spray of craggy glass.

It was only through a layer of demonic energy coating him was Ichigo himself not pelted into the ground. He threw out his sense, feeling out the numerous servants and making sure they had taken proper shelter.

He reached out farther and, with a terrible realization, felt enormous columns of air twisting their way onto the ground as they tore through the earth and lifted whatever lay in their way: high into the nonexistent mercies of the storm.

Yet through it all, the fervor of the tempest, the peals of thunder and the screaming of the wind; a single blackened roar shattered the sky with agonizing pain.

Ichigo felt his heart break.

Drop after drop stung against his hardened skin and he felt a constriction through his chest. That was his Tiamat. His knees bent and Ichigo launched himself clear into the sky.

He reached deep, willing his soul to touch the Darkness and allowed the Devil within to roar to life. Crimson eyes flared to life and from underneath his skin, the Infernal Fire raged and crashed against the cascading water and instantaneously vaporized it.

A missile of fire and brimstone, he hurtled through level after level of clouds. Every moment, every second of his ascent, lightning from the storm wrapped its way around his smoldering body and ripped through to strike the ground.

Minute after minute passed, yet still he climbed higher. Hell-fire, friction of the air and surges of lightning ensured that his clothing had long since crumbled into ash but he continued onwards, nonetheless.

He finally broke the clouds and Ichigo momentarily forgot his purpose as the star-way of the galaxy was brought in full regalia before his eyes. Glimmering across black space, inferno after blazing inferno appeared as pinpricks and shone without the impediment of artificial light and atmosphere.

The sudden crack of lightning brought his attention back downwards and once more, Ichigo had his breath stolen.

He saw the world curve.

A dark and violet line that colored the entirety of the Underworld. And beneath it was a near endless sea of clouds. Formed in a spiral and spanning hundreds upon hundreds of miles. Ichigo realized with awe mixed with alarm, that Tiamat had conjured a hurricane in full.

He knew she was powerful beyond belief but this…?

She was literally drowning the world. Now wonder they titled her the Undying Storm.

His eyes tracked the towering masses of air and landed a deep azure glow at the very center, the eye of the storm. Ichigo let out a leaden sigh as he tried to reach out to her futility.

"What's wrong?" He whispered to himself. "What's hurting you so much?"

He clenched his fingers tightly, nails digging into the meat of his palm, and allowed gravity to take him. He burned through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of fire through the sky yet still, he wanted to go even faster; wanting to reach to her. And again, her name rang clear in his mind.

Tiamat.

Yeah, he'd admit it freely. To anyone and even to her. He was absolutely and utterly in love with that sex-crazed dragon.

Tiamat hadn't crept into his heart so much as she tore the doors right down and made herself at home.

There's was no subtlety involved in their courtship. Hell, there was no courtship. She wanted him and she came after him. And he reciprocated all of her wild passion.

Every moment. Every touch. Every bloody primal desire.

And as he came down, fire serving as his only form of clothing and eyes scorching in opposition to the elements she had summoned, he finally saw her.

Every perfectly fitted scale glared as diamonds and sapphires reflecting starlight. The spines running across her back were colored in ever-shifting and impossible hues of blue and along them, electricity swam and bolted into the churning clouds far away.

Scaled pinions carefully folded around her, shielding and shying her away. Even her spiked tail was wrapped to cover the gaps between the membranes of her wings.

Ancient power swirled about the air and so flew Dragon King Tiamat.

So poignant was her wretchedness that he could have tasted it…as well as crave it.

The Devil within him drew forth all the negativity emitting form his lover and gorged itself savagely. Warring with his inherent nature, Ichigo ruthlessly pressed down his baser instincts and slowly treaded across the sky. The air condensing under his feet, acting as a makeshift walkway.

"Tiamat." Her name soft and warm on his tongue.

He was unsure if his voice carried over the screaming of the winds but, nevertheless, a slight crack appeared amidst the armor of woven scales. A single ocean blue eye peered out, slit and wavering in turmoil.

He gave her a distressed smile and called out weakly. "Hey..."

Her wings spread wide, sending a mile-long shadow onto the ground far, far below and she arched her powerful neck. A mournful cry colored the sky and Ichigo had his mouth go dry as he felt her misery crack through the wall she had put up between their minds.

A wall, he now understood, was more for his benefit than hers. Even in utter misery she still thought of him.

"Tiamat…what's wr-" He had taken a single step forward but abruptly stopped in his tracks. His eyes flew wide and shards of ice began to form through the breath laying leaden in his lungs.

wrongwrongWrongwrOngwROngWRonGwroNGWRoNgWRONGWRONGWRONG

He immediately tore his gaze away and painfully clutched at the throb in his head. Tiamat saw his reaction and gave another soulful cry.

His breathing labored, Ichigo hesitantly threw a glance back towards her. Right there, between her two glittering claws, a single orb of purplish-blue radiance shone. It was the same one from a few months ago. The same one from…

He shook his head, not allowing his thoughts to drift in that direction.

However, the last time he had seen the…thing…he had not been clad in demonic power. The Harrowing Taint running through his veins gave his eyes additional sight into the unseen folds of reality.

"No, no, no," he groaned as he ran a stiff hand through his hair and in response Tiamat wailed excruciatingly.

He stared feebly at the sphere floating with deceptive innocence. 'This cannot be happening…not again.'

There was a flash of blue and the next thing he knew, slender and nude arms clutched at him desperately as she sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. Distraught and so terribly unsure of what was to come next, Ichigo held her tightly.

Surrounded by walls of wind and water he could only press the heat of his hand across her heaving back while cradling her head with the other. All the while, that aberration pressed itself in between them; mockingly pulsing against his bare skin.

"Tiamat," he begged helplessly. "What have you done?!"

Off the Coast of Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea

It had taken Tiamat hours to calm down. During which, a portion of the Underworld the size of France suffered a record breaking forty-nine inches of rain in the span of a single evening. Not to mention the monstrous winds and deluge of lightning from the chaotic sky.

Sirzechs had been screaming his head off at him whenever the opportunity arose. Of course, considering how occupied Ichigo had been with watching over Tiamat, the opportunities ended rather unceremoniously when he slammed the metaphorical door shut in his boss' face.

Felt damn good though.

Regardless, Tiamat had ceased her efforts in drowning out her sorrows, along with hundreds of miles of real estate, and had fallen into a deep slumber.

And slept she had, for three whole days straight.

All the while, Ichigo had ignored every and all responsibilities of his and refused to move from his lovers' side. He received numerous complaints from both subordinates and fellow Lords, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

When she had finally awoken, Tiamat had been adamant about going to the ancient edifice that had been revealed on the T.V. The same one that had triggered her episode.

Hence, they were currently standing dozens of meters above the Mediterranean Sea and looking down on the cliff-side temple.

He stole a glance at her from the corner of his eyes. A white sleeveless dress hugged her charmingly and her hair waved about across her back in the rough ocean breeze.

"Seeing how were here," he began dryly, "are you going to tell what this is all about now?"

"Soon, beloved," she said, giving his hand a light squeeze and sending him a smile. He looked away from her with a grimace. Her smile never quite reached the eyes.

And he hated how those same eyes, the ones that entranced him and held him every night he spent with her, were devoid of their mischievous glimmer. They lacked that dark luster which caused both man and woman to be utterly transfixed by her gaze.

And more than anything, he absolutely loathed how that damnable 'thing' was playing through the fingers of her other hand. It took quite a bit of self-control for him not to reach out and chuck it deep into the waters below.

Then again, considering how she was an entity of the oceans, the stupid body of water would merely spit it out at a snap of her fingers. Actually, it would be much more effective for him to open up a Hell-Gate and throw it into the deepest pits of the Abyss. Never mind the consequences of unleashing the single most feared existence into the Human World. So long as he could be rid of that accursed object it would be well worth it.

As for what 'it' was…well…he refused to verbally acknowledge that fact for fear of the inevitable insanity that would ensue.

"Come," she said softly. "Let us unveil these best forgotten secrets."

She began to descend from her place but Ichigo suddenly yanked her hand back, pulling her towards him. Her countenance morphed in surprise, which only grew more profound when he placed his free hand on her cheek and leaned in to touch their lips.

She went still for a brief second but quickly began to move her lips against his and reciprocated the kiss.

He pulled back after several seconds though kept his hand on her cheek. Running soothing circles with his thumb on the bone of her jaw, he gave her a solemn and unwavering stare. "You have me."

Her eyes widened ever so slightly but quickly closed as she gave her first real look of contentment in days. She turned her head, nuzzling his hand and pressed a kiss into his palm.

"I know, beloved," she whispered as she leaned forward and brushed the tip of her nose against his, "believe me, I know."

He gave her another quick kiss and together they descended down.

As his shoes touched the white stone sprinkled with seawater, Ichigo cast a quick sweep of the premises with his eyes. The entire structure was carved out of natural rock with layers of vegetation already beginning to grow on the newly exposed rock. Upon the lower walls, vines crept over various engraved images from histories unknown to him.

Winding columns, tall and even as the day they were carved, stood unblemished as they were struck with crashing sea water. Flat and level stairs rose in a dozen and led to a cavernous and black entrance lacking any door.

A frown grew heavy on his lips as he gazed into the darkness beyond the temple threshold.

There was magic here.

Deep and powerful spells laced into the very foundation of the rock. He tried tracing several of the mystical formations however, seeing how he was never really any good with the more delicate and intricate aspects of the arcane, his sight could only take him so far before it all became befuddled to him.

What he could discern was that these weaves of magic were very old and still drawing their power from the very potent natural elements around him.

The ambient energies of the sea, the sun and even the earth were all drawn in to fuel whatever enigmatic purposes that the magic here served.

A near visible tremor passed through Tiamat's frame and Ichigo responded with an encouraging squeeze of the hand. She brought the orb to her chest, clutching tightly against her sternum and whispered something so softly he couldn't pick it up. It gave a brief glow, as if responding to her murmur and Ichigo was forced to hold back a hiss of discontent.

They walked in unison, taking the stairs step by step. Upon reaching the gaping maw of a doorway, they both paused as a sudden blast of cold air hit them.

His gaze narrowed and from beside him Tiamat tensed considerably. The soft patter of flesh against stone made way to their ears. The vines along the wall twitched and began to bulge. As if time were being pushed forward, the greenery grew at a rapid rate, giving birth to verdant leaves and young buds which quickly blossomed into great flowers of lush and vivid colors.

But none of it could detract from the chokingly sweet and cloying scent that suddenly struck his nostrils. A stench which he instantly recognized with that of belonging to the dead. And there was only one being he was familiar with that had such a contradictory nature.

Which begged the question. What was she doing here?

Ever so slowly, a bare foot stepped into the brief rays of sunlight that penetrated into the dark. The rest of the leg came, soon followed by the person in full.

Ethereally beautiful and seeming the reverse of Tiamat's own magnificence, she stood high and proud across from them. With skin of soft and pliable ivory over sharp and high angled features; hair so dark and red that it seemed to dull and grey the light around her and eyes of such vibrant green they gave off their own dappled radiance.

His eyes fell from her face as he noted her pale hands cupping a single flower. A lily flower.

"It's been a long time," Ichigo's voice came out hard yet, almost sympathetically, "Chthonic Queen Persephone."

Persephone's gaze swept over the two of them and, as her eyes fell on Tiamat, or rather the object in the Dragon King's hand, a flicker of distaste passed through them.

Ichigo closed his eyes in a silent sigh. Of course she would understand what that thing was. Out of all the immortals in the world she would, perhaps, know what it was best.

The Olympian was a bit of a self-contradictory existence. During her initial years, she had been one of the lesser daughters of Zeus. The season of Spring made manifest. She embodied the rebirth and renewal of life. Then she got married and shared her husband's domain; effectively crowing herself Queen of the Dead.

Life and Death…what legend described as a tragic princess whisked away by a dark and evil king was in reality one of the most dangerous and capable entities on the planet. Not for her strength, but for her ability in governing the souls of both the living and the dead.

As if sensing his thoughts, Persephone's eyes darted back to him, her eyes briefly shining with amusement.

Inclining her head, she said, "It has indeed been some time, my Lord Tartarus. I bring greetings from my Royal Father Zeus. He bids you and the Lady Tiamat welcome to our lands and offers Olympus' facilities if you have any need. He only asks that you keep the peace that you find within our domain."

"We're simply revisiting some old memories," said Ichigo. Given Tiamat's delicate state, he understood it was the best that if he did most of the talking. "Likewise, the Four also send their respects and mirror your hospitality. If Olympus has any wishes in the Underworld we are always willing to cooperate."

Given his responsibility in hunting down the fugitive souls of the damned, Ichigo often ended up visiting faraway places and realms. As such, he had a significant brush up on his diplomacy skills via a very strict and unbending Grayfia.

Persephone then said, "I also bring a message from my Lord Husband."

And on that note, whatever smidgen of joy that had survived the last few days instantly died. Tiamat also gave off waves of displeasure from her silent stance.

Hades.

The name alone brought a sour taste to his tongue.

The eldest son of Cronus and the most powerful of the Olympians. He was the Marshall of Souls and the King of the Dead. He was also counted amongst the most powerful beings in the known worlds. There were only a handful of people capable of matching Hades and each and every one of them were monsters in their own right. Ajuka and Sirzechs were the only two Devils in the Underworld capable of standing up to the Dead King and, even then, that was just barely.

Ichigo had many dealings with Hades in the past and couldn't admit to them being very pleasant. Hades was famous for own brand of cruel and unusual mischief.

Although, that wasn't to say that he was evil. Quite the opposite really. Hades was a judge of the dead. Fairness and justice were intimately woven into his spheres of power. It was just that he was completely and utterly without mercy. Hades did not know pity and he gave no quarter. And…well…he was an ass.

"And just what," Ichigo said tartly, "does that old bag of bones have to say?"

Persephone ignored the insult to her husband but her voice went dead cold nonetheless. "To you, Lady Tiamat, he says this; 'Cease your foolishness. Not even you have the right to continue this abomination of an act.'"

Tiamat let out a savage roar that shook the entire rock and caused dust to settle on all three of their shoulders. Ichigo, for his part, dropped his head into a hand.

'Yeah, that sounds like Hades. Brutal and tactless in delivery,' he thought glumly.

Another vicious sound tore from Tiamat's chest as she said, "This matter is no concern of his!"

Persephone stood silent for a second before turning to him. "As to you, my Lord Tartarus, he says this; 'Do what must be done.'"

Ichigo acted quickly and brought both arms around Tiamat's waist as she nearly launched herself with a furious series of growls.

"Easy there," he said through gritted teeth. He was quickly failing in holding back his near frenzied lover so it was with no small relief for him when Persephone dissipated in a shower of golden light.

Slit eyes raged with sapphire fire as Tiamat snarled fiercely. "Insolent brat! My teeth to her neck!"

He put a hand on the nape of her neck as a placating gesture. No need for her to summon another storm. Especially as they were out in the middle of the sea. "Ignore her. Let's just head inside, hmm?"

Tiamat snorted and let out the tension in her shoulders, though the fire never quite died in her eyes.

He took her hand once more and led her into the interior of the structure. It entirely dark, devoid of any source of light. For that reason, Ichigo decided to summon a lick of fire from his fingertips, but before he made the gesture, the entire hall was lit up in a dark glow of purple and blue.

His dissatisfaction with the orb grew even further. Now it was wholly impossible for him to ignore the damn thing.

As they went further and further in, Tiamat took the lead. Guiding him through various winding passageways and corridors. Ichigo noticed that they were slowly descending and after a good twenty minutes of walking, he figured they were now below sea level. Which meant that he couldn't afford to use any significant power down here. Not unless he desired to have the whole temple, along with the Mediterranean Sea, come crashing down on their heads.

Tiamat had been silent throughout all of their descent and he was quite content with simply walking with her in silence, hand in hand. If it weren't for the doom and gloom atmosphere, along with the sense of dreadful foreboding, it would have actually made for a nice date.

Eventually, the two of them passed into large room where the orb's light fell into dim glow. 'Wonderful. Now the stupid thing wants us to walk about blindly in the dark.'

About to give voice to his annoyance, Ichigo was quickly silenced when the roar of fire vented throughout the area.

Several cauldrons placed around the vicinity erupted in a dark cobalt blaze, basking the chamber in a pale and eldritch blue glow. They both stopped in place, and Ichigo stood in marvel as he beheld a colossal mural that depicted, what appeared to be, a story through images.

Tiamat let go of his hand and headed for the left side of the massive depiction and Ichigo slowly trailed behind her. As they reached one end, he cast his gaze up and was amazed by the contents of the stone picture. To the foremost left were two individuals, one female and the other male, standing tall and smiling mysteriously. Both of them had a hand raised with their palms touching. Considering that the woman bore a striking resemblance to Tiamat, it was an obvious guess to who the man was.

Abzu.

Primordial of Fresh Waters, King of the Mesopotamian Pantheon and Tiamat's first and only husband. A slight smile made its way onto Ichigo's features as Tiamat reached up and traced the etched features of her deceased husband. A fond and nostalgic curve twisted onto her lips.

'Thousands of years gone and she's still in love with him…'

Ichigo respected her need for a moment and drifted away, silently crossing his arms and closing his eyes as he leaned against the adjacent wall. Was he jealous of a man dead for so long that history had all but forgotten him? Hardly. If anything, he was glad that Tiamat could gain a sense of closure from the tragedy of her past.

Several minutes went by, where Ichigo had his back to stone in standing meditation when he felt a sudden pressure on his chest. He opened his eyes and was momentarily confused. The chamber had disappeared into a stark white fuzz. It took him half a second to understand that his vision was being obscured by Tiamat's hair.

"Come," she hugged his arm and began to rub her cheek against his shoulder much like a cat would, "you know my history, but now you may put faces to the names."

So she showed him all the figures of her tragic tale.

She pointed towards the figure that he had guessed correctly as her husband. Then she pointed out several others that came after that image. Her children.

Those that went on to proclaim godhood over Mesopotamia and most prominent of them was a single figure that all the others rallied around like banner: Marduk the Betrayer. The one who led the traitorous children to slay their own father and take his throne.

And so the next image depicted Abzu surrounded by his own sons and daughter…and a dagger piercing through his chest as he lay in bed. Then there was Tiamat, howling in grief as she shed her blood into the oceans and the subsequent tidal waves mixing with her blood and transforming into the visages of sea serpents and dragons. Each and every one of them filled with a terrible wrath.

Thus, the war came. Tiamat's children slaying one another.

On one side were her children born to her husband. On the other were her children born to her grief and hatred. The war went on, brothers and sisters slaughtering each other for years on end. Dragons tearing the Mesopotamians with fang and claw while Mesopotamians stabbed with spears and swords. It was senseless carnage that went on for more than a century. But it ended. In the most terrible and desolate of ways, it ended.

Tiamat paused as she came to the climax of the story being unfolded. It was a simple etching; a raging inferno overwhelming everything in its path and with a single pair of webbed wings marked above.

"And there he is," she said in a cold whisper. "Ddraig, the Crimson Emperor. Not for naught did we fear the wings of the Scaled Emperors even in the Elder Days."

She gave a shake of her head even as a mirthless smile played across her lips. "You are lucky, little one, to grow in a world where you have no need to fear a sudden fall of dragon fire from the sky. For in those days, be it those proclaiming divinity, mortal men doomed to die or even the dead in their hallowed grounds, it mattered not. For we all burned under their combined wrath."

She let out an uncharacteristic snort. "Heavenly Dragons they were crowned. When in truth, they were the greatest monsters of all."

Ichigo tore his stare away from the quietly seething Tiamat and fixed it upon the pair of wings imperiously standing above the all-consuming fire.

Albion and Ddraig were legendary in the supernatural world. Fighting and warring against each other for untold eons as hundreds of thousands died in their rampages. A thousand years had passed since their defeat and consequent sealing, but still were their names spoken in hushed whispers and with the deepest of reverence and fear.

He was familiar with Ddraig's involvement within the Mesopotamian civil war and, quite frankly, he could hardly blame the dragon for annihilating both sides. Ddraig had fallen in love with one of Tiamat's daughters. He even had a child with her. However, the war saw both his lover and child stolen from him in a cruel and brutal fashion.

Mesopotamia saw fit to draw his ire…and they died in droves. Regardless of their allegiance, the children of Tiamat were condemned to genocide under the wings of the Crimson Emperor.

Tiamat gave a regret laced sigh and, as they moved on, and she waved at her own demise.

Marduk had fled rather than face the Crimson Emperor's wrath and, by a dark twist of fate, he chanced upon a heavily wounded Tiamat. He slew her, tore her body to pieces and sealed her spirit into the earth where she would be tormented for next few millennia.

Ichigo didn't bother lingering on that part of the tale and quickly walked to the final portion of the mural.

It was interesting to note how this was the only splash of color to be found on the wall. Where the rest of it was the same color as the sea-grey stone it was carved from, this piece was painted a deep and vivid red.

Rays of scarlet light broke through the clouds and pierced into the earth below.

Ichigo instantly understood that this could only be one single entity, the Ultimate One. The Illusion of Dreams, had taken pity on Tiamat. It lifted her spirit and crafted her a new body. One in the form of a dragon and crowned her the first of the Dragon Kings.

And that was Tiamat's legend. A wife in mourning and a mother in madness.

He firmly took her hand and sent her an resolute gaze. "Never again."

"Do not grieve for me, beloved," she said softly. "The past is gone and dwelling on it has never produced any fruit. None worth the effort, at least."

"Then why all the grief?" He asked gently as he lifted a hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

She exhaled heavily and raised the sphere of dull blue and purple light. Ichigo instantly tore his eyes away with a heavy flinch, unable to bear the sight of the thing that stood as an anomaly against his nature and purpose.

Hades' words delivered from Persephone solidified what he suspected the object to be, but still, he was unwilling to believe that such a thing could have been done by Tiamat's hand.

The ancient dragon unwound their hands and made her way to the depiction of herself and her husband touching hands. She raised the abomination and held it against the image of the conjoined fingers. A deep rumble shook the room and the image of Tiamat began to tremble and, slowly, her visage slid into the floor, revealing a hidden passageway.

Ichigo raised a questioning brow at her.

"It is not the past that haunts me," she said with sigh touched with more than a hint of sadness, "but rather that which continues to be."

They barely went twenty feet into the passage before they found themselves in a small circular room of grey stone walls with a pedestal at the very center of it. He noted the spherical indent on the flat top of the jutting device.

She placed the orb within the depression and lines of blue light immediately raced down the small dais in the four cardinal directions. They sprinted across the floor and climbed up onto the circular walls, forming and knitting various runes and symbols which he was entirely unfamiliar with.

The floor shook and he quickly caught himself from falling. "What's going-hey!"

As they suddenly started falling down the shaft at a rather impressive and, alarming speed he realized that the room was actually a makeshift elevator. When the near free-falling lift came to an abrupt stop, Tiamat raised the orb back into her palm and turned to touch the wall behind her.

It slid open and revealed another long path way. However, as Ichigo followed her out, he found, much to his horror, that the path was actually a thin rock bridge over a massive chasm that didn't seem to have an end in sight.

"Because that's reassuring," he muttered as he peered over the edge into the abyss.

Tiamat swiftly crossed the crude stone bridge to the other side of the chasm, where a simple round door was carved into jagged rock wall. Reaching out with a shaking hand, she abruptly stopped just before the pads of her fingers were about to brush the simple door and jerked her hand back.

"Hey." Ichigo was instantly behind her as their bond flared with a sudden panic. He wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered soothingly to her. "I'm here. We'll do this together."

Whatever was beyond that door had her utterly terrified. He had no idea what could scare his Tiamat so thoroughly, but regardless of what it was, he would make sure to resolve it. As far as he was concerned, Tiamat wasn't allowed to be unhappy while he drew breath.

She gave a hollow whisper so quiet he wouldn't have comprehended it if not for his enhanced hearing. "I built this place near three thousand years ago. Never did I think to return after I sealed it away."

"Are you sure you want to do this. There's always later…or in our case the rest of time."

Leaning back into him, she craned her neck and gave him the saddest of smiles. "No little one, I must see them else I fear I will lack the courage to do so in the future."

She wriggled out of his arms, though not without leaving him thoroughly confused.

'Them? Who's them?'

Tiamat pressed a hand to the door and it glowed a bright blue which vanished in a foam of light. Her shoulder's shook and she took a deep breath, pressing onwards. Naturally, he was behind her all the way.

Ichigo trailed after her and each step caused his eyes to widen further and further.

It was an absolutely mammoth underground lake. The sheer size of the place was capable of fitting at least half-a-dozen cruise ships! A sense of familiarity hit him as he viewed boulder sized cerulean gemstones, ablaze with a deep azure radiance and embedded deep into the cavern walls and glittering in the waters below.

Crystal clear waterfalls ran down the side of the cavern over the massive gems and, amazingly, they moved so slowly they appeared to be suspended in time. Seemingly falling an inch at a time while throwing rays of sparkling light.

It was nearly identical to the system of caves he had first conversed with Tiamat in, except a hundred times bigger. The lake was like liquid sapphire, translucent and perfectly lucid, and it shone with the purest of coolness.

Ichigo had walked through the Gardens of Amaterasu in the Celestial Plane. He had visited the Isles of the Blessed in the Realm of Hades. He had even, through a long and convoluted series of messes, walked through Eden with Archangel Michael at his side.

Tiamat's haven could easily rival those created Paradises.

He took several steps forward, the rock they were standing on had been flattened and at the opposing edge were a series of steps that led into the glittering lake water.

Tiamat strode past him, stopping at the head of the stairs. She raised a hand and trailed fingers through her long hair, murmuring something in a long forgotten and dead language. She lifted her chin and her lips parted.

A noise filled the gigantic underground fissure. It was a note; clear, strong and without melody, but it seemed to pierce the world around them nevertheless.

All of a sudden, the numerous jewels set throughout the cave gave off a brighter light and seemed to resonate with Tiamat's sound. They vibrated, letting out a crystal sound that sang along with his lover's echoed note. Ripples in the water began to form and Ichigo stood still as several things began to rise out of the surface of the water.

A gentle hand laid on his upper arm. An affectionate gleam sparked in his eyes as he grabbed the hand on his arm and gently tugged it so that she was touching sides with him. He wrapped the other arm around her waist and Tiamat leaned her head against his shoulder.

At this point, he resolved to maintain silence. Whatever was happening, it was enough for him to simply be with her. He didn't really need answers. All he needed was for her to move past the profound grief that swirled in her eyes.

Ichigo turned back and saw…bubbles?

He tilted his head in confusion.

They were bubbles…hundreds of them. Granted, they were the largest bubbles he had ever seen. Most of them were around the range of twenty feet in diameter however some of them easily measured more than a hundred.

They flew into the air, mismatched and all over the place.

One of them drifted over head and Ichigo craned his neck to peer at it more carefully. Much to his astonishment, the bubble gave an iridescent sheen and revealed a snake like creature contained within its confines. Its thick and roped muscular body of dark green scales was coiled tightly. He then noted its eyes, lifeless and dull. No trace of thought or emotion could be found within.

But it wasn't dead.

His eyes narrowed and he cast a visual as well as a magical sweep of all the floating apparatuses. All of these spheres contained living creatures. This wasn't a graveyard…this was an asylum.

He turned towards her with a hesitant and questioning glance.

Her jaw quivered and she finally managed to choke out, "Survivors."

He blinked twice before understanding hit him with the full force of a meteor. A terrible dismay filled him and he gave her a look of utmost pity.

Tiamat bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood and gave a suffocated sob. Her eyes darted from floating body to body, tears silently and helplessly pouring out en masse. Ichigo's grip on her waist tightened and she closed her eyes, burying her face into his shoulder.

"Oh, beloved," he muttered in quiet horror.

They were her children.

'Survivors.' The word going off again and again in his head with all the delicacy of a supernova.

They were the survivors of the ancient conflict that saw her dethroned and locked away. Survivors of Ddraig's single minded slaughter as hundreds of her progeny were burned to ashes.

He cradled her to his chest, running soothing circles with his fingers down her spine and pressing his lips to the crown of her head. All the while, Tiamat wept mutely. Her fingers tearing the fabric of his shirt as she clenched at him.

He closed his eyes, falling into himself and deep into the recess of his own mind. From there, he traced the bond between them, enveloping her mentally as well as physically. Her tears flowed into his own eyes as he melded her grief into his own soul. He did his best to take as much of the pain from her and shoulder it himself.

Though he knew it was completely impossible. What force was there that could make him understand a mother's agony? A profound and unfathomable pain twisted and pressed from the deepest love. What chance did he have to truly comfort her?

He, a Lord of Fire and Shadow. Countless souls held under his sway yet every single one of them forever damned to infernal and malevolent eternity. Tiamat's desolation was forever beyond him.

So he did what he could. Holding her in any and every way possible. Letting her wordlessly pour out more than three thousand years' worth of misery.

Time passed, how much he wasn't quite sure. It could have been hours; it could have even been days. But he simply held the grieving Tiamat and allowed her to take refuge in his arms and mind.

When she did finally move, she was in the same state as when she initially entered his hold. Silently weeping for her children while they innocently drifted behind her.

He brought up both hands and brushed her tears away with his thumbs. Leaning forward, Ichigo rested his forehead against hers and she closed her eyes in a silent thanks. A moment passed, where he could feel her heart throb against his own and she pulled away from him, though not before pressing a lingering kiss to his jaw.

Gradually, Tiamat walked over to the stairs and descended to the lake below. She seated herself, allowing her feet to dip into the water. He walked up beside her and, as he came to a stop, she leaned her head against his leg.

"My children," she said in a whisper.

He reached down to touch her head and she quickly raised a hand to grab hold of him. "My babies." Her voice wrapped around 'babies' in heartbreaking croon and tears drizzled anew.

Giving a bone crushing squeeze, Tiamat's grip casually slipped from his and she righted her head. Gazing out at her floating progeny.

He didn't say anything. Ichigo was patiently waiting for her to speak when she was ready. He would give her all the time in the world. Literally, if it came down to it.

Moment after moment passed and minutes leisurely churned to hours.

Ichigo went away from Tiamat after a while, leaving her on her own for a bit, though keeping his mind ever anchored to hers. He had taken a single step onto the lake surface, sending a single wave-like ripple through the still water.

He walked further and further onto the lake, until Tiamat herself was but a distant speck on the horizon. All about him, her children lapsed in doleful slumber. Eventually, he lapped around the lake and began to make his way back to the entrance.

She remained as he left her. Irises darkened to a navy blue without any of their natural sheen and surrounded by a red soreness. Her cheeks still stained wet and her waist length grey-white hair strew about her and on the stairs.

"They lived." He stopped as her voice carried over in a coarse whisper. "I was reduced to but an entombed spirit and they lived."

"But they did not live in peace." She hung her head with a regretful sigh. "The Anunnaki, those immortals born from me, they hunted down their dragon siblings. Enslaving them and turning them into beasts of burden and tools of war."

"No different than how I used them." She added in a miserable lament.

"Tiamat." He started, but she quickly cut him off.

Shaking her head, she raised her sight to all the protective membranes above him.

"They have no blood in their veins. Venom, instead, flows through their hearts and minds. My rage and madness pressed into their very beings. I brought them into this world with hatred and I marched them into war and fire."

His hand clenched. Broken ache leaked through their bond and caused his chest to tighten unbearably. There was a bulge in his throat that he just couldn't manage to swallow. She'd been living with this for thousands of years?

"Marduk's desire for sovereignty knew no bounds." And the pain in her tugged at his heart strings. "He saw the power his youngest siblings wielded and craved it for himself. He…he did things to them. Terrible things."

He licked his lips hesitantly as Tiamat turned her head down and resumed her weeping. He knew he was going to regret it, but he did so anyways.

He allowed the Devil to surface. He allowed sulfuric burn to taint the air in Tiamat's hallowed haven. Brown irises bled red and Ichigo took a deep breath, trying to taste the negative energies of the dragons and serpents.

Nothing.

His eyes snapped open and he looked around wildly.

"What?" He whispered in bafflement.

Not a damn thing. He couldn't feel anything from these creatures. Ichigo had assumed that they were in a magically induced coma, but they weren't. All of them, each and every single one...was nothing more than an empty husk.

And it finally all made sense to him. Why Tiamat was being crushed by guilt. Why Hades, of all people, had decided to send her a warning. And why that fucking orb of hers reminded him so much of Aizen's madness from five years ago.

He snapped his neck towards her with a horrified gaze.

"Tell me you didn't." He steadily shook his head side to side in a terrible dread. "Please tell me you didn't."

And there it was. That damnable purplish-blue orb that emanated waves of wrongness. That anathema of an existence, which grated on him to the point of obscenity, sat in her fingers.

"What was I to do?" She cried dejectedly. "They are my children, beloved. You cannot ask me to kill them."

"But this?" Ichigo waved at the dragons, a fury building in his chest. "Tiamat this is worse than death."

Dragons were not like other creatures. They weren't built out of matter. They were energy given thought and consciousness. Ambient energies of the natural world brought to life spontaneously by the laws that govern Creation.

They were unique in this aspect, reflections of the Universe and the precepts that bind it. And, while they could mate with one another and were made of flesh and bone, it was still different from other life. He didn't quite grasp the metaphysics behind a dragon's biology, but he knew enough to grasp a basic understanding of their nature.

Normal dragons were born from the truths of the world. Of fire, water, earth, and other natural elements. Sometimes from the more obscure truths such as the sun, the trees or even gravity. There were even dragons born from darker truths such as tyranny, greed and chaos. Those were often referred to as Evil Dragons.

But there was a third category. The Corrupt Dragons. These were dragons that had lost all sense of rationality and betrayed or sought to break from their inherent nature. And all Corrupt Dragons eventually burned out into nothingness. Even their very souls were consumed in the end and cast forever into the Infernal Fire.

His fire.

Tiamat's first brood, the very first dragons she had birthed, were entirely composed of her negative feelings. All of her anger and rage and sadness. These were creatures that were bred for war and devastation. And the source of all their black emotions, their metaphorical heart, had been Tiamat. Their mother.

The mother they saw slain and quartered by their elder siblings of another race. Those same siblings who hunted them down, enslaved them and tortured them.

But these dragons never submitted. Their torment only further fueled their malice because they had something to hold onto. Their mother.

Ichigo cast a helpless glance around the lake and ran a stressed hand through and pulled at his hair as he realized what put them on the path of Corruption.

It was love.

Naïve and simple, it was a child's love for its mother. Love so strongly against their nature of hate and destruction that it was poison to their very being.

Pure love...in the darkest and most wretched form.

"They're insane," he breathed out in understanding. "They're all insane…and you took their souls!"

That crystalline orb glittering in her hand was an amalgamation of the souls of her own children!

"I cannot watch as my own children burn themselves into oblivion! Their minds may be dulled, their souls torn away but they remain alive and away from pain's reach!" She yelled at him desperately.

"Tiamat this isn't living!" Ichigo finally peered deep into the shining mass within her clutch.

He should have destroyed it the moment he laid his eyes on it.

The Hōgyoku, or Distortion Orb, took an extraordinary number of powerful souls to create. It had the unique ability to grant the desires of those around it by bending reality, but it tended to instill a terrible greed and madness in those who possessed it. The worst part was, it had a will of its own. Unpredictable and often dangerous.

As far as Ichigo knew, only three had ever appeared in recorded history. More than one hundred years ago, two had managed to appear in the same era in the afterlife realm of Soul Society. Urahara had created one and so had Aizen.

Aizen had eventually stolen Urahara's and gone on to fuse it with his own. The fallen soul reaper had then proceeded to start a war in the afterlife using the power of the Hōgyoku.

As for the third, Yasaka had confided in him that it had appeared more than five hundred years ago in Japan, before she was even born. The resident spirits of that era had called it the Shikon no Tama, the Sacred Jewel. It had been destroyed, though the means were unrecorded and remained unknown.

This was the fourth as far as he knew and, luckily, Tiamat's was still incomplete and held in check by her formidable will and power.

Eyes shadowed as he hung his head, Ichigo disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in a silent crouch before her. A single finger touched her chin and he slowly raised her gaze to his. Frenetic panic and grief surged deep into his mind from their bond and his eyes began to glisten in response . "You can't hear them, love. But I can."

Tear-filled eyes widened and Ichigo slowly cupped her face as he sluggishly shook his head. "Tiamat their souls are screaming. Screaming for the mother that can't hear them. Raging and ripping at the world that has so wronged them."

Her breath hitched and tracks of water poured down. She hopelessly scanned his face. "What would you have me do?"

"Let them go." He tenderly pressed her hair away from her face and stroked her cheeks. "Let them go and let them sleep."

Tiamat stared at him at him, her pupils tracking his in despair. Her mouth parted and closed several times as she struggled in the throes of her anguish. She hugged the pulsating jewel to her chest. "My babies…"

Hades' words rang dead in his ears. 'Do what must be done.'

He gave her a pained smile that quickly died and drew his hands away. Ichigo firmly pressed his lips to her brow and murmured against her grief lined skin. "I love you…I love you so much...and I'm sorry. So very, very, sorry."

Demonic power flared and Ichigo's hand lashed out with all the strength he could muster. His fist struck Tiamat in her solar plexus with such force that the stairs behind her crumbled and the supporting rock cracked into pieces.

There was a terrible moment of silence as Tiamat doubled over, eyes wide in pain as she feebly grabbed at him. "Ichi…no…"

He laid a loving hand on her hair as he ruthlessly pressed the other deeper into her abdomen. She gave a strangled cry before finally her grip on his clothing loosened and she fell into unconsciousness.

"Forgive me, beloved." Tear stained lips pressed themselves to her brow one last time.

He heaved her onto his shoulder roughly, paying little heed to the imperfect Hōgyoku as it rolled from her hands and onto the crushed steps with a clack. It bounced once against the stone before plopping into the lake water and innocuously sinking to depths.

He stood, shifting the woman in his arms as all of the previous emotion drained away with Tiamat's last bit of consciousness.

Ichigo twisted the fabric of space with a snap of his fingers and the folds of reality gave way, opening like a gaping maw filled with endless darkness.

Another coil of magic and Tiamat gently floated off his shoulder and into the opening of the rift. Looking at her falling hair and the still present distress on her sleeping expression, a brief moment of emotion passed his eyes and he brushed her lower lip with his thumb.

Pulling his hand away, he slowly blinked and turned on his heels as he did so.

Taking a deep breath, his eyes snapped open and he felt the fire in them flood through the veins in his skull. He lifted his arms and his entire frame was quickly clad in a shroud of smoldering red flame. It surged forward and swiftly consumed the natural bluish tint of the underground sanctuary. Brimstone and smog wafted through the air and the immediate water near Ichigo's feet began to frantically boil.

His aura flared and the cracked stone beneath him filled with molten veins. The Earth shifted and trembled causing the once calm lake to churn in turmoil. Every shadow and dark crook twisted to life; thundering forward and gathering at the opposite end of the cavern.

Pressing together in visions of nightmare and atrocity they piled on top of one another in bulges and grappling shapes. At last, they solidified and melted into a massive pair of doors several dozen feet high.

They were grotesque things.

Covered in thick rusted chains and corpses whose faces were forever disfigured in eternal damnation. On each frame, half a gigantic skeletal body protruded out and they glared with miniature suns in their sockets. The twin skeletons each had a single bone wing ripping skyward with most of their feathers plucked away. Relic ash grey feathers floated about and the places where they fell upon the lake, the water turned a sickening blackened ooze.

"Do it. Burn it all."

Both skeletons hissed in a terrible mockery of life and dug clawed bone into the black and doom laced door. They pulled and, as the doors parted ever so slightly, a dusky and smelted burn radiated from the crack.

With a final heave they opened fully and Hell-Fire exploded.

It surged to every corner of Tiamat's grotto and the flames roared high into the unseen ceiling. The entire firestorm was reflected in Ichigo's eyes, churning black and volcanic. It devoured everything. Exploding across the rock wall and melting crystal gems into a superheated liquid; causing the water to detonate forwards and the resultant steam to be further eaten by the flames.

Hell unleashed in full. Tyrannical and absolute, it seared in plumes of burnt orange and violent red all around him.

And Ichigo tore out his own heart as he began to hear the vicious roars of sheer agony coming from within the fire. The Hōgyoku must have shattered under the Primal Flame and the dragons must have awoken from their ancient slumber, their souls finally restored.

But they couldn't be allowed to live...and he would kill them all.

The children of the woman he loved would die by his hand and in doing so he'd make sure that they wouldn't be condemned to spend their afterlives in the very fire that was consuming their mortal bodies.

Closing his eyes in a soft sigh he turned to leave the Hell on Earth but a sudden gargantuan figure tore from the blaze with a wave of fire and smoke. It's massive serpentine body crumbling away in charred pieces but still it came. Still it sensed the very reason it had persevered over many millennia despite every iota of its body being eaten away by the malicious blaze.

It stared at Ichigo with eyes long since drowned in madness and, with a knowing sigh, he stepped away. A single claw reached out, along with a mournful cry, as it beheld its mother.

And as the flesh of its arm fell away in ash and the bone beneath became brittle and broken, a single black nail touched Tiamat's hair before it too crumbled to dust.

The dying dragon stared long at its mother before switching its gaze to Ichigo. They stared at one another amid fire and storm and Ichigo finally said, "I'll take care of her, that is my promise."

It gave no sound or sign…merely falling back into the sea of flames with its eyes closed.

Ichigo gave a solemn look where it once stood and then turned around. However, halfway through his movement, he stopped and reached out with a waiting palm.

The fire came apart and the remnants of the Hōgyoku flew into his hand. All that remained were black and jagged shards. With furrowed brows, he regarded the shards silently before shaking his head. Perhaps, the accursed remnants could help form some final closure for her.

Ichigo strode into the dimensional rift and took Tiamat's unconscious form into his arms, closely cradling her to his body. Several steps into the winding shadows, he threw a brief glance into the closing gap filled with fire.

"Sleep well."

Author's Note: The title as well as the plot was inspired by the Metallica song from the album Load. Major props to the boys in the metclub for finally putting out another album and on my birthday too!

There are tons of allusions to other literary works, movies and shows in this one. Can you find them all? Winner gets a shoutout when I finally put out another chapter of Do Me A Wrong.

On a side note...Seriously? No one noticed the similarity between Aizen and Naraku? It's the same obsession via the same method!

Sixteen thousand bloody words! I don't want any complaining I'm being lazy!

CE-NEX says: Peace Out!