The Hollow Queen

Across the Frozen Sands

In the starless sky above Hueco Mundo, the exit of Grimmjow's garganta opens. The group of shinigami, humans and an espada are immediately assaulted by the extreme cold that has completely frozen over Hueco Mundo. The silver gray sands are now a brisk white as the cold has frozen what little water existed in the sands and the air of the hollow desert. The cloaks that Kisuke provided to shield their spiritual pressure are practically useless to protect the wearers from the cold. Grimmjow seemingly is nonplussed about the cold, but as they descend to the sands of the desert, the others feel the temperature drop even more as they get to the ground. On the horizon is the country sized palace stronghold known as Las Noches, the only sign of civilization and where they will find Aizen and Rukia. Setting foot on the sands, Ichigo recognizes the feeling of the reishi infused ice that is blanketing Hueco Mundo, without a doubt this was Rukia's doing.

"Has Hueco Mundo always been this cold?" Uryu asks incredulously as he shivers next to Orihime and Chad. "I knew deserts can get cold at night, but this feels like the arctic!"

"The ground is frozen moron, and if you took a second to sense the spirit energy from the ice you'd know it's Rukia's." Ichigo chastises, luckily for him his spiritual pressure is acting like a jacket since it's confined underneath Kisuke's special cloak.

"No, the desert of Hueco Mundo was almost always warm like the ones in the real world. Nowhere near as hot as the Mojave or Sahara deserts but it was comfortable for myself and the other hollows. I don't mind the cold all that much, besides the sooner we get into Las Noches the faster we get out of the cold if you all are so pussyfoot about the bad weather." Grimmjow responds.

"I doubt that, since Rukia is the cause of the freezing temperatures, Las Noches will be like walking through the arctic circle." Byakuya says, though his outward expression reads his usual stoic demeanor it's extremely obvious that he is freezing. "I don't know what Aizen did to Rukia to cause her to do this, but whatever it was this is probably her way of defying him."

"The creepy fuck had some sort of obsession with her since she was the only person in his entire life to ever manage to hurt him. He wanted us to either figure out how strong she was when we invaded Soul Society a few weeks ago, or capture her." Grimmjow says as they climb up a sand dune to get a better bearing on the hollow desert. "He's probably made her into my replacement, hell maybe even that fat fuck Yammy's. You feel the spirit energy coming off the ice? It's practically screaming that it was made by an arrancar, most likely an espada."

"I can tell it's still Rukia, even if she's an arrancar now she's still the same Rukia." Ichigo declares as he scans the desert sands for any other land markers. "Do you see that? The feint yellow glow there?"

"Looks like a fire." Orihime says following Ichigo's finger to where he's pointing.

"Hollows wouldn't start a fire to keep warm, maybe a soul that ended up here." Uryu says, "I think we should check it out."

"Might as well, but we're gonna have to move quickly. The longer we stay here the more likely it becomes that Aizen or one of his arrancar discovers our location." Byakuya warns them to begin their journey through Hueco Mundo.

The snow covered sands crunch beneath their feet making stealth more difficult than it already is being this far in enemy territory. The added issue of Kisuke's reishi concealing cloaks being difficult to control while flash stepping is also a difficulty. However, much like the snow that blankets the hollow desert, so does the refined hollowfied reishi of Rukia. Deciding to test the water slightly with someone that Aizen wouldn't recognize if he felt his spiritual pressure, Uryu uses a quick burst of speed to dash from the top of a sand dune to another. Luckily for them, his reishi is concealed completely both by the cloak and by Rukia's that permeates the desert. With this knowledge in mind, the group elects to flash step to each individual dune peak rather than over far distances, as the latter would require more energy to do and would risk their discovery. "I don't think you can flash step can you?" Renji asks both Chad and Orihime. "I know the quincy has a similar technique but what about you two?" The red head sighs deeply as they both answer "No." "Fine, Chad, rest a hand on my shoulder and Orihime do the same with Uryu we're gonna have to do it this way." Ichigo is the first to move, flash stepping to the next dune then stopping and waiting for the others to catch up. Byakuya gives him a signal that they didn't feel his spiritual pressure during the flash step then follows suit.