Title meaning: Dancing The Darkness: Die Schwarze Maskerade (The Black Masquerade)

Right my honeys, I took my time with this one because I've been busy with work this week and haven't really gotten a chance to fall into it. This is a two-shot with a very rare pairing, a new one I've been looking forward to working with very much. I like the idea of it although this fic, my honeys, is also VERY dark. I'll ask you to heed the warnings, this will most likely contain elements of Stockholm syndrome but I'll list it in the warnings below.

Please heed them now, this story contain: M/M Lemons, Quincy!Ichigo, heavy angst, non-con (only in passing mention), elements of Stockholm Syndrome, Canon setting that deviates in time-setting and plot-setting after the Quincy invaded Soul Society the first time. Only brief elements of torture, violence and blood in the first part. Part 2 will hopefully be a little more 'light-hearted', it will also contain a few month time-skip to ease the darkness of this first part.

This story has a set pairing of: Jugram Haschwalth (ユーグラム・ハッシュヴァル) x Kurosaki Ichigo (黒崎 一護)

I'm not going to say much more, this story is very controversial. I'm working with unexplored themes here that may be disturbing. Please proceed with caution for those of you who are unsure, even though I can mostly guarantee that part 2 will be a little lighter in concept than this.

Please enjoy my honeys, it's 2 A.M again and I'm too tired to say much more. I'll see you at the end of the chapter.

Dancing The Darkness: Die Schwarze Maskerade Part 1

Masquerades disclose the reality of the Soul. Bathed in the darkness of the night, those who constantly aim to see the lies for truth, are the unforgiven. For whispered in the cries of the winds, there are words that'll remain unspeakable as the innocence is shattered and the world rent asunder beneath unstable feet. Nevertheless, in the delusions of your own comfort, let the forgotten gods breathe life into your splintered soul with new purpose my child. A new purpose sculpted by hands once despised, hands that now offer new mercy as the dark moon rises proudly in the black heavens and the stroke of midnight forces time to stand still.

Your soul is brittle when exposed, little one, make sure to protect it wisely...lest fate bids it break under the touch of soiled hands.

Blood; carmine stained with pure darkness was dragged all over the once immaculate white floors of His Majesty's rarely used dungeons. It was painted crimson with sprays, gravitational drops and small puddles that had been carved from the body with pure anguish and created a sickening contrast inside a completely colourless and shadow riddled world. The nauseating scent of it was permeating the very air, becoming a foul reminder of the unclean suffering that had been wrought upon a single resisting soul that had refused to break after more than a month spent captive within the Shatten Bereich's (1*) eternal darkness. The Special War Potential that was held so tightly in their grasp, having once been Soul Society's greatest and most unpredictable asset, truly was a formidable force to be reckoned with. Kurosaki Ichigo may have been practically powerless, his Zanpactō splintered in half and his soul constantly unbalanced by a fierce fight for the oppression and suppression of his Hollow instinct, Shinigami reiatsu, Human fear and awakening Quincy power that only seemed to increase with every passing day. But still his inherent and stubborn will remained untouched, a fact that had been admirable to the Emperor untill the early hours of that evening when a shift in submission had played right into their hands.

'He's yours now, Haschwalth.' Yhwach had said mere moments after he had settled himself on his suspended throne, the imposing seat of power seeming to float in the grip of shadows as the Silbern Fortress had entered the evening hours and the sun had sunk below the horizon in Seireitei's strange coexistence to their obscure world. 'Break him in gently, 'B'. I've marked him for now and he's relented his soul. He's only now starting to awaken his true power though, so be careful. The Hollow part of his existence is very close to the surface. And since his power has nowhere to go but out, he may be a little unsettled. Kurosaki Ichigo belongs solely under your command, Stern Ritter Grandmaster. I trust you to train and protect him well.' In the end, even the most dangerous of their enemies would be swayed by the King's will given time. That was a lesson that Jugram Haschwalth was very familiar with, one that he knew could either be exceedingly painful or very pleasurable for their captives. Depending on the Kaiser's given mood at the time or the value that he places on the soul that he seeks to bring under his influence, he could display a startling amount of control and patience as was required...but only up until a point.

The fact that 'B' was aware of Yhwach's plans concerning Kurosaki Ichigo, also meant that the Quincy King had decided to shatter fate and had claimed a Shinigami-Hollow-Quincy hybrid for his successor instead of the Last Survivor as they had first planned. It was a move that would stun Soul Society into inactiveness, send shockwaves throughout their own ranks and create more than a little discord to satisfy His Majesty's need for entertainment over the next few months. Nevertheless, that choice was not something that he needed to question, Haschwalth was very aware of both the demerits and merits of this newest revelation and subsequent salvation in their ranks. He had been the one to suggest it in the first place, knowing that the potential that rested in Kurosaki Ichigo's soul was something of more value to their Heika's cause than Ishida Uryuu's need for revenge. The Substitute Shinigami also had several weaknesses that could be taken advantage of, something that they had not yet been able to analyze in the Last Survivor. The Thousand Year Blood War that had bound the Quincy, Shinigami and Hollow in an eternal battle to eradicate the other, was no longer a mere clash of powers to prove supremacy and inferiority.

Each side had its justified cause and the seventeen-year-old that had sadly been caught in the middle of it...was about to become a powerful political tool to their side. That, and the Heika really did not enjoy long drawn out battles that could easily be settled in a few days instead. Strategy and planning was The Balancer's (2*) duty after all, just as it was the King's duty to become the Father of his Children once the sun set and the night fell long and hard over these shadowed planes. Drawing a calm breath into the depths of rested lungs, stoic blue eyes lidded thoughtfully at the rising and falling presence that he could sense on the other side of an intricately sealed door engraved with the symbol of their cross. A controlled rhythm of near silent footsteps was leading the hip length blonde haired Quincy deeper into the Silbern Fortress dungeons, paying no mind to two lowering ranking officers that unsealed the entranceway to the one room that Haschwalth had hoped he would never have to enter. Just as His Majesty did not like to see internal fights amongst his men, Haschwalth did not like seeing the cruelty rent upon resisting souls that had been too proud to bow before Yhwach had slowly started to tear the soul of his captives apart with the tip of his sword and many other methods meant to bend and break the mind.

'Let us see, Kurosaki Ichigo, just what the Scales have in store for you this night.' A steady tenor breathed composedly, elegant white gloved fingertips lifting upwards to brush silky blonde bangs away from pale blue eyes and eventually trailed downwards to undo two gold buttons that kept a flowing white cloak in place. Laying silky white material over a decorative blood red chair that Yhwach had placed several feet away from his captive, Haschwalth took his rightful seat upon it as his sovereign mask dictated when the King was asleep at night. He was threading long fingertips together leisurely, closing his eyes for several moments to collect himself and make sure that he had mentally prepared himself to face the despair His Majesty would have left behind in his wake. Even though the bloodied handiwork would have had been made by the some of the lower ranking Stern Ritter, it was still not something that Haschwalth would particularly enjoy engraving upon his mind too deeply. He could already hear soft laboured gasps ringing in his ears, the faint jingle of a chain moving in surprise at his presence and the scent of blood that stained the recesses fo this room so wholly that it was difficult to concentrate on anything else.

If he concentrated enough, however; he could clearly sense the unsettled and erratic reiatsu of a being that was fighting for control and strength when a reiatsu sealing collar should have rendered him mostly docile and powerless. But still, Haschwalth could sense the pure potential that was carried in Kurosaki Ichigo's blood. It was powerful, heady to feel against his skin and sure to intoxicate anyone when fully released as either predominant Shinigami or predominant Quincy. It was a battle that would have come to a head either way, he knew. It only depended which side secured the orangette's loyalty first (forced or freely given) and which side had possessed enough strength to truly awaken him into his fast approaching maturity. And with the Emperor's power now threaded thickly throughout Ichigo's soul, Haschwalth had no doubt that Yhwach's will had been done just as he had said it would be done. Tilting his head to the side curiously when he heard a small groan cresting against the edge of his strained hearing, pale blue eyes slid open thoughtfully as a frown furrowed across pale brows and a stoic gaze landed upon the first pool of dried blood that stained once immaculate floors.

This war had become a bloody mess of death and destruction with no possibility of return in less than one and a half months, he thought absently. But that was not something that he could weep about personally, his carefully structured plans had been the ones which had lead the Wandenreich into having such a high success rate. Just as his King had ordered him to do. Jugram Haschwalth was not beside the Quincy Emperor to mourn their fallen comrades, enemies or show pity when it could possibly weaken their strength and cripple their retaliation. There was no mercy given where no mercy had been granted two hundred and a thousand years before. Only to those who showed the potential to further advance their strength and carried enough power to sway the balance of this war, was careful thought and loving attention given to. Despite the despair of needless bloodshed, personal emotion was never meant to mix with logic when it came to a collision of powers...no matter how much Haschwalth hated to see the streets run crimson with death and hear the mourning cries of lost innocence. It was time, though; that he took in the damage that he would have to mend and the fractured soul he would have to mould into mutual camaraderie in the palm of his hands.

'Such a bloody picture His Majesty painted with your rising power and shattered form, Substitute Shinigami.' Haschwalth said with lilting lament, his sharpened gaze taking in the sight that was arranged like a broken marionette with its back pinned against an icy cold wall. Rivulets of blood had dripped down the white surface, creating haunting smears of red that were scattered across the floor in several pools; some sticky, some dried, some fresh and some still warm as bloodstained bare feet struggled to gain purchase on the ground the moment that the powerful Quincy drew closer with steady steps. It was an impossible task though, a hiss of sympathy spilling from the blonde's pale lips as he noticed two hands that were pinned to the stone above a messy array of spiky orange locks. Those vibrant strands were smeared red on the left side of Ichigo's head, dripping blood across a dazed chocolate brown orb that was valiantly attempting to register the approaching presence as either an ally or an enemy. Haschwalth could see that the newly born Quincy was failing in that task, dulled brown orbs turning on him with instinctual fear that couldn't be contained as the orangette lifted his bowed head with great strain and a unrestrained moan of anguish spilled loudly from split lips.

His Majesty certainly loved to paint quite a strange erotic, bloody, violating and arousing picture with the beautiful ones, Haschwalth thought sadly. The way that he had been so carefully arranged, the torn pieces of a once prided Bankai cloak now in tatters over a rapidly rising and falling chest as three long floor length trails of black and white fabric was stained with the child's suffering behind him. They were tumbling to the floor in haphazard and dishevelled folds, shifting restlessly as the orange haired seventeen-year-old somehow found a little balance on the balls of his feet to decrease the pain that the tip of a broken Tensa Zangetsu had pinned through both his gloved palms into the wall behind him. The horrifying reality of that one visible aspect of torture, must have been the worst violation that anyone could bestow upon a soul that still held so much purity of heart present inside of him. A torn hakama was barely clinging to thin hips, the white sash completely red as the flickers of dim light highlighted shallow and deep wounds that were carved into tanned flesh beneath the torn edges of a cloak-like kosode and the barely remaining folds of a pleated hakama.

Carefully taking note of Zangetsu's hilted portion that was driven through the flesh of a visible right thigh to pin the orangette further, Haschwalth was left shuddering in trepidation when he noticed the fresh blood drops trailing against the inside of tainted thighs and the thick rivulets that were conforming to the end of black hilt and trailing slowly down the long black chain in startling revelation. He could feel deep and protective anger brewing within him in a response to the sight, 'B' knew that there would only be one reason why blood would be smeared fresh on the end of that hilt. Considering, however, that Haschwalth had arrived here a few hours after Yhwach had settled into his sleep and the King wasn't one to really take his tortures and mind games this far...someone within the Wandenreich ranks must have taken liberties where it was not freely granted. Haschwalth recognized the arrangement of the child, yes, the Quincy King liked to play with things when he got bored but he did not break them so harshly that there was only a splintered consciousness and an anguished soul left behind. This was a psychological wound that was not going to be easy for him to heal, nor was it going to please His Majesty when he heard of it when dawn rose.

He'd be absolutely livid that someone had tainted his Heir's inherent innocence, especially since he had handed him over to the Balancer to retrain and gently guide into the dark haired King's arms.

'Who did this to you, Kurosaki Ichigo?' Sighing softly in concern when a muffled whimper spilled passed cracked and bloodied petal pink lips, the blonde haired Quincy realized that he'd receive no answer to his question that night because the seventeen-year-old was in shock. The steady increase in his struggling breaths were far too short and shallow to afford him the ability to speak, his body was also attempting to scramble away from Haschwalth's approaching presence...an orange head tipping forward shamefully to conceal mortified tears clinging to the corner of black lashes as he tried desperately to wrench black gloved hands free from cruel shackles forged out of the broken pieces of a once prided power. Resting gentle fingertips upon the centre of a rapidly rising and falling chest, a flicker of flowing reishi encircled his palm as he allowed a soothing whisper to fall from his lips and a difficultly controlled healing technique flowed into an erratically racing heart to slow it to a more natural and soothing rhythm. 'I shall never harm you, 'A'. You were placed under my care, Ichigo, at the Kaiser's behest. That means that you and the safety of your well being falls directly under my protection, I am the Stern Ritter Grandmaster, 'B', Jugram Haschwalth and I will make sure that you are never exposed to something like this again.'

'I know that you may not believe my words or you may not remember much of your time spent down here when you wake into your newly gained power, but this is not something that goes unpunished in the Wandenreich ranks. The one's responsible for this violation of your very soul, will shatter beneath His Majesty's touch and my blade as soon as I find them.' And there was not a single lie present in the Quincy's pale blue eyes, stoic orbs seeming to deepen with an unbreakable promise before Haschwalth made sure the orange haired teen's senses were dulled against the pain and he managed to heal the worst of the wounds he could see. Removing the splintered pieces of that sword though, was quite straining when a broken sob echoed deafeningly into the vast distance of a largely hollow space and weakened legs were unable to support the rest of Ichigo's body. Deftly catching the Substitute Shinigami before he could hurt himself any further, Haschwalth gently guided unsteady and difficult steps towards a chair before he reached for a white cloak and threw it over shivering shoulders. Cupping a blood stained cheek in the palm of his hand, he paid absolutely no mind to the visible red that was tainting his uniform as he implored those pain glazed chocolate brown orbs to collide with a pale blue reassuringly.

'I'm going to put you to sleep now, so please close your eyes. I'm going to ask that you trust me, 'A'. I know that it is not an easy thought to comprehend but I will never harm you, I promise you this...under my care you will always be protected just as fiercely as you protect those close to you. For a first-time traveller through the shadows, however; this is not a technique that you can live through without losing consciousness. Your Blut (3*) should stem the bleeding and lessen the severity of your wounds until I can heal them properly, but for now I can only take the pain away and lull you into unconsciousness.' Waiting patiently for any indication that Ichigo had heard him, Haschwalth tenderly brushed away a trickle of tears that fell from the corner of a left eye to carve a crystal path of sorrow across bloodstained cheeks. 'I will protect you, Ichigo. So please close your eyes.' When his imploring words were finally heard, the hip-length blonde haired being could finally reach towards the depths of his powers to tip the seventeen-year-old into a healing sleep before his tall white clad form vanished with a shattered soul into an ocean of obscurity that lead him straight to his quarters in mere seconds.

'Welcome back, Master―.' Waving aside the greeting from one of the Arrancar servants, Haschwalth gently laid his new charge upon his bed as he prepared himself for a hard night and morning ahead. Restoring this being's complex power, healing his wounds and retraining him when he regained consciousness was not going to be an easy task. It would a few days just to get him to awaken from the sleep that he had been cast into but he had been given a duty and he would fulfill it at all costs. His Heika was sure to sort out the mess that had been created in the morning, take over where Haschwalth couldn't and eventually ease the psychological taint that had been left within a shocked mind and brittle soul. Gently brushing sticky orange strands away from a furrowed tangerine brow, a quiet sigh spilled from pale lips as elegant fingertips were revealed and bloodstained gloves were placed aside for now. A gentle washcloth was clearing away the blood as he went, warm water stained near crimson as time went on and he healed the cuts and bruises methodically and slowly. 'B' was taking his time to erase the wounds so that the scars wouldn't become noticeable and draw attention to the month of hell the child must have had in those dark and rarely used dungeons...

It would not do for the new Prinz der Nacht (4*) to be tainted by soiled hands.

1* - Shatten Bereich – Shadow Territory
2* - The Balancer – Haschwalth's 'power' hasn't been revealed yet but I'm taking a good guess here that it will be something to do with 'Balance' because his power is centred around scales.
3* - Blut – Quincy defence technique.
4* Prinz der Nacht – Prince of Night

Right, there you have it my honeys. I'm off to bed now, I can't say exactly if part 2 will be posted in the next few days since I have to finish off Chapter 1 of Veil Of Obscurity: The Remix and Winter's Eternal Love's Chapter 2 is vying terribly hard for my attention. But I will come back to it soon, it depends on how it's received.

Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate it and if I can get a small review for my hard work; I'd be eternally grateful. All flames will be deleted of course. Other than that, I need some serious sleep now, I'm exhausted.

Yours Always

Chocolate Carnival