Heroes

Chapter Forty-Eight

"Lesson Three," the man called, "complete! Good job, you two!"

Babs and I collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted. Our bodies no longer held feeling, our heads were light...we were completely spent. There was no chance we were getting up from this ground for a few hours.

Ururu came up beside us and crouched down. "Can I get you guys any food or water or something?"

I mustered up the strength to wave a hand. "Nah, thanks though, U-chan. We wouldn't have the energy to drink or eat, anyway." She just nodded and walked away, leaving me to slam my head back onto the ground.

Kisuke came up next. "Told you it'd be all the layers of Hell."

I took a deep breath, feeling my chest rise and fall painfully. "That you did, Kisuke. Now be an angel and get us to a bed or something...." I winced. "Please. Now."

He laughed and jerked me up into his arms, getting Tessai to grab Babs. "We'll take you back to a spare bedroom; I don't wanna risk running into the Oh-So-Lovely Couple."

I chuckled darkly, halfway heaving. "Good...point."

"Goddamnit!" Babs said, "Just get us to a mattress!"

The men complied and we were taken to a spare bedroom where we passed out on a mattress.

*************************************************************************************************************************

The next few days felt like minutes: we trained and trained and trained, Ichigo almost got obliterated (much to my amusement), and our complete team was readied. We were all together: Yoruichi (to watch over us), Ishida (to show Quincy's superiority to Shinigami), Orihime (to find Rukia) and Chad (to protect Ichigo according to their agreement). But no matter the reason, we were all completely prepared for battle.

At least...that's what I thought.

"What do you think, Chinohana?" I said to my zanpaku-to.

He sighed. "I'm not really sure. I'm not worried about Zangetsu...to be blunt, he tears shit up. So I'm sure Ichigo's gonna be fine. I think you and I will survive without much difficulty. I'm a bit worried about Sourusacha; despite her domineering stature, she's actually a bit of a baby. I'm afraid she's gonna chicken out at a critical point, and your friend will be the one to take the blow. And Taiyo-Otsuden. I'm afraid he and his master aren't trained enough...we'll have to watch over them."

I nodded. "I'm fine with Ichigo and us, I'm not so worried about Babs...a bit, but nothing too terrible. I'm really concerned about Tara. She's just not strong enough! I'm gonna hope she and Ichigo can stay separated so they don't distract each other...I'm afraid it will be Tara that will be Ichigo's demise."

Chinohana nodded. "That's very true. I think you have some good insight." He puffed up his chest for a second. "I guess I have taught you something."

I laughed. "Sure. We'll go with that." With that I retracted from my mind and went back to the real world. When my eyes adjusted to the new world I took a look around. Everyone was gathered together in a clump; reviewing battle strategies, worrying, strengthening.

Preparing for a war.

I walked over to them and smiled. "Hey guys," I said, waving slightly, "you ready?" I recieved weary looks from my two friends, a sad smile from Ichigo, a genuine grin from Orihime, a stoic nod from Uryu, and nothing from Chad. Like always. Nothing from Chad.

To be honest, he kind of creeped me out.

But that was irrelevant.

Our attentions were caught by Kisuke, who began clapping his hands animatedly. "Alright, guys!" he called. "Before you head out, I have some things we need to review! First! Hey, Mr. Kisuke," he mocked, "how are we getting there if we're not already konpaku?" He pointed at us. "Good question! Well, in the Dangai Precipice Gate, AKA the Senkaimon, there's a device that performs what we call spirit-particle conversion. Basically you're bodies, made of kishi, are converted into reishi, the spirit particles that make up konpaku. Without this phenomenon you would die on the way to the Soul Society. So be thankful. Moving on to the next question!" He paused. "Urahara, what's the Dangai Precipice World like? How do we get to the Soul Society? Another amazing question! For that I have one word. Run." He went to the side of the Senkaimon, beginning to activate it. "In just a few moments you'll no longer truly be a member of this physical world anymore. Your lives will change completely and you'll be forever chained to this fate. Are you ready to accept any consequences that you may face?" Upon seeing our mutual agreement, he nodded. "Alright. Have fun," he said somberly, activating the gate.

I took a deep breath, my heart pounding. I grabbed Tara and Babs' hands, clenching them tight in my own. They looked at me and I smiled. We came to this world together, Hell knows we're going out together.

We stepped into the portal to face the rest of our lives.

But we'd be damned if we didn't die without a fight.

____________________________________________________________________________________

And that's the end, my dear friends. Heroes is over.

I will be taking a break from now, April 1st, to mid-May, unfortunately, to get a good headstart on the next installment and to organize everything going on right now. I apologize that the break is so long, but I'm really left with no choice. During this time there will be more poems, entries, oneshots...I'm not gonna disappear. I'll still be RPing in my PM box :D 

I wanna thank everyone who's stuck with me from Chapter One, from Tara getting that detention she never served (oooh...), from Shane posing in his ridiculous trousers :D...thanks to all my fans (not to that one little jerk that unfanned me...gr, you know who you are) and everyone that I've met through this wonderful experience of Heroes. Shoutouts to Emo-san and Kuro-kun for endlessly supporting me, to C.C. (@pepsi_panda) for keeping me in the mood to write. Shoutout to @Squeker11 for giving me good things to edit (via GrammarNazi!Maycee), and to everyone that's been reading with me through all this :D

I started this almost a year ago, it's weird for it to be gone, even if only for a little bit...I feel kinda strange. I've never "finished" a book before, so this is a first...and to reach this much support with my reads and fans...you guys are absolutely amazing. Thank you again, so much. Gomen for the giant AN (that I hope all of you read *looks pointedly*) and I'll see you guys soon :)

All the love in the world,

<3Maycee-chan~

*EDIT: I have permanently ended this "series" of sorts; there will be no sequel. However, I DO take requests for fics (it doesn't have to be Bleach, but it can be) in my PM box, so feel free to drop me a line if you wanna see more! Thanks so much, you guys are the best!*