Ok so like most of my fics, this one came to me in a dream… But I figured this would be more of a darker fic. So… let's see where it goes.

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Lies. Apathy. The world is full of it. What lies beyond life? Wouldn't you like to know. Is there really someone looking out for us? Believe what you want. But there are a certain few who will tell you never to believe what you hear or read. It's safer to stay hidden in the shadows, hiding with a special lust for one thing everyone on this planet has. It they told you what it was they're after, they'd kill you before you could pass it on. But who knows. These individuals aren't after you. Oh no. They're after a different someone. A certain someone who, at one time, almost cost them their lives… no, not lives. Afterlives.

"I'm telling you it was nothing," Ulquiorra shook his head solemnly.

"Probably, but what if it wasn't nothing?" Szayel argued.

"To hell with it," The icy stare of Grimmjow stared down at the table in front of him, "It probably those pesky shinigami again."

Nnoitora clicked his tongue, "Ch! No. When they were here is was a different feeling."

"Well what do you propose then?" Aaroniero addressed the group.

"Why don't we all calm down?" Aizen said, speaking for the first time.

There was a brief moment of silence as all 10 espada plus Aizen pondered this new spreading agitation. It was a good solid 3 minutes before Grimmjow slammed his balled fists down on the table, "I can't take this! This damn feeling is driving me insane!"

Ulquiorra nodded once, "For once, I agree with you. Lord Aizen, this feeling is very aggravating."

Aizen rubbed his chin with his forefinger and thumb, "So it is."

"What do you propose, sir?" Stark asked from the opposite end of the table.

He shook his head, "Nothing. I have an instinct that this growing feeling is nothing more than nerves."

"Nerves?" Halibel asked exasperated.

"You think this is nerves?!" Nnoitora roared, "Do you honestly believe we don't know when we're nervous?"

There was an uproar among the Espada as they lashed out with crude remarks and sneering comments.

Before an violence could erupt, the lights dimmed. Only briefly did the lights go out before coming back on, only brighter this time. It was enough to gain attention of the wily crowd. They gazed around the room, looking up at the ceiling then at each other. As they were about to ignore it an go on with their argument, the lights blacked out for good.

"What the—" Someone said, though it was too dark to see who. It was so dark, no one could see their own hand in front of their face.

Grimmjow, who gazed anxiously around him for any sign of light to see, felt something brush against his face. He angrily brushed it away, but not before taking a defensive step back into something. The thing he bumped into huffed angrily and shoved him forward so hard he collided with the table and had the wind knocked right out of his lungs.

Ulquiorra, on the opposite side of the table from Grimmjow, felt the same brush of fabric against his pale face. Instead of lashing out as his comrade did, he readed for his sword handle. As his hand was at the hilt, a soft hand of someone was placed on top of his forcing it in place, and a hot breath was at his ear, "There will be none of that." The voice was cold yet feminine.

There was a maniacal cackle that echoed in the space beside them, a laugh of a child which surprised them. There were tiny footsteps around them, like a little girl running.

"What's going on?" Nnoitora demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" A woman hissed in his ear. He lashed out at the voice with his elbow but was caught by a sturdier hand of a man.

"It is not polite to attack a woman," the man addressed Nnoitora.

"Do not interfere Nickolai!" The woman spat, "He was attacking me. What right to you have to get in the way!"

Aizen's eyes widened into the dark, "Nickolai?!"

"Remembering, are we?" There were vibrations on the table as someone walked along it like it was a catwalk.

"No. You're all supposed to be dead!"

The man on the table gave a hearty laugh, "Is that what was told to you?"

Aizen remained silent. Stunned by what he was hearing.

"Andreea!" The man shouted sharply, making a few Espada jump, "The lights if you please."

There was a sound of someone exhaling and the lights dimmed upwards again. Surrounding the table were 9 figured, cloaked in red.

Several gasped.

Grimmjow grunted as he stood, glaring behind him at the cloak figure who shoved him. The figured moved his head slightly to look eye to eye with the 6th Espada. The penetrating gaze from the cloaked figured make the blue haired Grimmjow recoil.

Ulquiorra blinked, glancing at the feminine hand restraining him. It was almost as pale as he was. He followed the hand to the wrist then the red cloaked arm then up a perfect neck. He paused, where those bite marks hidden behind her necklace? He continued to her face. Behind the hood he could only see her coal black eyes and dark, full lips.

Outraged, Aizen stood and in a quick movement, had the hooded man in his grip. He pulled the man's hood down and gasped, "It is you!"

The man's slick blonde hair was parted to one side and his firm jaw clenched as he forced a smile at his captor, "Happy to see us?"

"Who are you people?" The big Yammy asked. A little girl, no more than 11 or 12 in appearance skipped to his side.

"We are whatever you believe!" She giggled.

"Mirela," The man who shoved Grimmjow snapped, "Restrain yourself."

"Come now, Marius," A sensitive voice echoed from behind Szayel, "She is only toying with the poor man."

"And what after that Andreea?"

"What?"

"Do not play games with me, woman."

The woman chuckled, "See now, Marius, she means no harm at the moment."

There was a twisted set of hysterics in the opposite side of the room. Standing, arms crossed, against the only exit in the room was another cloaked figure, "And if she does mean harm, pretty Andreea, what is to become of the big man?"

"Tybalt, it's a miracle you even came on this little voyage of ours after what you did." The woman who had a hold on Ulquiorra said. Her voice was icy and uncaring.

"Please, Vesper, and what you did was any better?" Tybalt sneered.

"You brat! How dare you speak to your higher ups that way!" The fellow who stopped Nnoitora earlier came to Vesper's defense. The man had bleach blonde hair and a pair of dark blue eyes to match/

"Goody two shoes as always, Nickolai, looking for an excuse to move up in the ranks," Tybalt shook his head, his hood falling down. His blood red eyes gazed over the scene before him.

"Enough!" The man Aizen had in his grasp roared, "Enough blood has been spilt tonight on our behalf. Let it not be our own this time around."

"Who are you lunatics?!" Nnoitora spat. The woman behind him jabbed him in the kidneys.

"How dare you speak to our leader with such disgust, scum!"

"Please, Ileana," The man on the table raised his hand, "Answer his question, Tavian."

One of the last remaining hooded figures threw his hood back, shaking his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes her gazed around the room.

"We are the former Espada," The boy, Tavian, shrugged simply.

Outrage raced through the current Espada like a plague.

Aizen coughed, regaining their attention, "It's true."

"It was." Marius spat, "Until you left us for dead in the God- forsaken desert!"

"Marius, silence!" Their leader said.

"Why did you come back?" Aizen hissed so only the other man could hear, but he knew the others could too.

"Why you ask? Because we could." The man grinned, and for the first time, the Espada could see tiny fangs glistening in his mouth where a normal human's canines should have been.

"Vampire!" Ulquiorra whispered.

Vesper behind him hissed, "What was your first clue?"

"Was it the fangs?" Tybalt asked as if he were a grade school teacher, "That's usually a dead giveaway."

The last remaining hooded figure stepped up onto the table, grabbed Aizen by the shoulder and threw him like a rag doll into the wall. The current Espada immediately leaped to their feet, drawing their blades. The ex-Espada gathered around their leader in a 'V' formation, fangs bared.

"Do not engage!" Aizen coughed.

"But Lord Aizen—" Ulquiorra began.

"Do not engage!" He repeated louder. He climbed to his feet and stared the leader in the face, "Well, Iuda, we're back to this old song and dance."

"So we are."

"If you insist on staying we're can't go on calling you Espada now can we?" Aizen asked.

"No," the leader, Iuda, growled, "You cannot."

"Then what shall you and your band of vampires be called then?"

Iuda peered past Aizen, almost through him before nodding at nothing, "We have come to an agreement."

Without missing a beat, Aizen answered, "Let me hear it."

"As long as we are here and together, we shall be known as the Others."

Aizen sighed, defeated, "So be it."