Interlude to a Dream

The last thing that had so clearly gone through Grimmjow's mind was the image of that wretched Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, dropping his blade and grasping his outstretched arm.

"That's enough, Grimmjow." He'd said, "I don't know about being King or whatever, but if you fight and kill everyone around you, you'll just wind up being King all alone, and there's no fun in that. So if you really want to keep fighting, then fine, I'll fight you as many times as you want...but for now, just knock it off!"

"G-..." The blue-haired figure stumbled a little, "Go...go fuck yourself!"

The world suddenly seemed to sway.

Then the pain came, and Grimmjow looked at his left shoulder, where a crescent-shaped piece of flat metal had struck him.

"Guh..."

"You don't know when to quit..." Came a voice, muffled by what sounded like water rushing.

Blood flying through his brain, probably, causing a cacophony of noise in his ears. Grimmjow collapsed to the ground, and Ichigo looked aside as that monstrous weapon was hauled back. The source; another Espada. A tall and lanky man with an eerie smile and a single uncovered eye.

"Just die already. The Shinigami is mine."

"Nnoitra..." Grimmjow managed to say, weakly, "Y-You bas..tard..."

"The Hell? Still alive?" Nnoitra sneered, moving quickly to raise Santa Teresa a second time, bringing it down on the fallen Arrancar.

Ichigo had lunged in front and caught it with his own blade.

"What the fuck are you doing? You bastard!" Nnoitra snapped.

"That's my line." Ichigo corrected, "What are YOU doing!? Attacking a guy who can't even move?"

Nnoitra laughed and pushed off, grinning sadistically at the downed Espada, "What a sight! You can't even look, can you, Grimmjow? Losing like a pussy and then having your life protected by the guy that kicked your ass!"

Grimmjow could say nothing; both the humiliation of the fact, and his body collapsing under the weight of his defeat prevented him from mounting a capable response. All he could do was lie there in the sand, and listen to the clamber of blades clashing together as his vision faded to black.

-

"That Nell...is Nelliel tu Oderschwank. A former...Espada!"

"Stay here for a while. You came so far, brought my little self here and kept me safe. I'll show you my gratitude... Don't worry. This will be over quickly."

A brief moment...perhaps just a hallucination. There was a flash of green. The ground rumbled and the wind felt warm with the heat of a recently exploded Cero.

Black again...

"Hey..."

I'm still alive? That voice again from before...

"Hey!" The voice said again, this time louder.

Grimmjow felt a warm slickness on his chest again. It couldn't have been his blood still; that had long dried and caked up by now. He managed to pry his eyes open, one after the other. The black sky of Hueco Mundo greeted him, a stark departure from the sky and clouds he'd expected.

"Good, it'th tharting to take effect..."

"What...th...e Hell..."

"Jutht thtay there and be quiet. You're awake, but you shouldn't thpend your energy on thomething ath dumb ath complaining." The voice continued.

"...You...you're that...kid again..." Grimmjow said anyway, seeing the green-haired girl with the broken mask coming into focus, "'Nell'...?"

"Yeth." She answered, "I'm trying to fixth your injurieth. Itsyugo thaved your life, but Nnoitra put it back in danger again. If you keep trying to talk, you'll jutht undo what I've been able to heal and you'll thtart dying again."

He abruptly felt something get shoved into his mouth...fabric from something.

"Tho jutht thtay there and be quiet!"

He was far too spent to be able to attempt pushing that wad of material from his teeth. He just begrudgingly accepted it and lay there quietly. As minutes dragged on, he started to feel better. The pain from his injuries was lessening, and soon, he realized he was able to move his right arm. Hearing no complaint, he reached up to pull the gag away and then to rub the sand from his eyes.

Did she leave at some point?

Grimmjow looked around, seeing quite the contrary. The girl had simply sat down a foot or so away from him and was watching as he pushed himself up. He could see that the roof above them had only been damaged...a massive hole in it that originated from higher on the dome. The rest of it was still mostly undamaged. He then looked from the sky to his chest, seeing the deep cuts were still there, but the bleeding had been stopped and the rest cleaned away. It didn't take more than a second to realize that she'd ripped away pieces of his hakama to make the gag from before, and clean him up. Still, only one question burned in his mind. He looked the little Arrancar in the eyes and uttered one word.

"Why?"

"Becauthe you're like me."

Her words took him aback. He'd honestly expected some kind of pitiful drivel like 'I felt sorry for you' or 'You looked like you needed help.' He didn't 'need' help from anyone.

"Becauthe Nnoitra backthtabbed you, too, and left you for dead, not even giving you a chanthe to fight back." Nell continued, "The only reathon I'm forgiving you for fighting Itsyugo is becauthe he wanted to fight you, too. But maybe thith experienthe hath humbled you a little bit and you won't jutht go looking for another fight."
She stood up, although it only meant she could look him straight in the eyes where he still sat.

Grimmjow wasn't sure what to tell her. He forced himself back up onto his own feet, struggling as he went, and then waited a moment as his equilibrium returned. As he looked down on his tiny associate, he scoffed, but then roughly dropped his hand on top of her skullmask, "Fine. I'll let it slide for now as payback for healing me."
She looked up at him, "You're not out of the woodth jutht yet, Grimmjow."

"I know that." He said, starting to step away, moving to where he saw his Zanpakuto poking out of the sand. It was then that he truly realized he couldn't use his left arm, as he was unable to grasp the sword with it. "Damn that Nnoitra...I'll kick his ass for that bullshit."

"Nnoitra ith dead."

"Huh?" Grimmjow lifted his head, looking at the girl and then to where she pointed. Sure enough, in the distance, the Spoon Espada's corpse lay face-down, blood everywhere. "You're shitting me...Kurosaki actually beat him?"

Their attention was grabbed as a tremendous weight started to befall them. The ceiling above them, starting with the existing holes, was starting to crack. Grimmjow looked towards the central five towers and saw the remnants of a Gran Rey Cero dispersing in the distance, causing the far wall to ripple like his own had earlier on.

"That reiatsu..." Grimmjow growled, "...Ulquiorra!"

"Don't forget that you owe me by not fighting!" Nell argued, "None! You need to thee one of the Arrancar medicth before you even think about it!"

The Sexta Espada snarled to himself, but then turned and started heading towards the nearest intact building that led into Las Noches proper, "Come on..." He said, starting to hobble away. Nell quickly chased after him, getting close in case he collapsed, "If you're gonna be a little monkey on my back, you can walk on your own. I'm not gonna carry you."

The girl just paused and leveled him a deadpan look.

She then tripped him outright.

Watching the once mighty Espada collapse onto his face in the sand served two purposes at that point. One, to remind him that he was in no position to backtalk, and two, to bring him back down to eyelevel. Nell crouched in front of him.

"Need I remind you that I thaved your life?" She asked, giving him quite the look.

Grimmjow stared bitterly, spitting sand as he propped himself back up again, "I'll kill you if you do that again."

"Oh, I like it rough, but you'll have to recover firtht if you want to try it." She quipped, stepping ahead of him. If anything, the tiny Arrancar could bet on the idea that pissing off Grimmjow would motivate him to get moving again. She was right. He was back on his feet in less than 30 seconds that time. The only thing that stopped him from attempting to drop-kick her was watching the rest of the dome collapse behind them...