It's relatively easy to hide away from Shinigami if you know where to hide. Most of Soul Society was too clean, too unchanged. So once a person grows used not seeing anything, they won't see something new until it jumps out at them.

Or, you just butcher the entire 46 Chamber creating a black hole where no Shinigami in their right mind would ever approach. Gin Ichimaru took me down here in the bowels of the fortress that was the Chamber's residential area, now empty of life. I must admit, Aizen is a genius to have thought of this place as a concealed hideout. Down in the bowels of complete silence.

The residential area had forty-six complexes built for the counselors and their families. Above us was their bodies, here their wives, sons, and daughters rot in their homes, their beds, and comforts. Now it is silent. I may be a Shinigami but that did not mean I was immune to the presence of Death itself and it lay thick in the air.

"What are my orders?" I asked. Gin lead me to a particular house that remained untouched from blood. It was pillaged of any personal items of the dead and if I cared, I would have asked the kamis for forgiveness and rest for the wayward spirit. But if I'm already going to suffer for my transgressions, I might as well make it count.

"You shouldn't ask questions you don't want to know," Gin teased. He walked to a drawer, opened it and pulled out neatly folded white fabric.

"And you should know your proper place," I snapped.

"As Aizen's fukutaicho, I think I have more power over you." Within the next moment, I had Michael pressed against his throat.

"Oh? And here I thought all those years in the living world would slow you down," he remarked, his tone betraying his disappointment.

"Did you really think I was wasting time with my thumbs up my ass? Now tell me what are my orders?" Gin is just as fast, if not faster than me. He turned and moved closer, allowing Michael to slice his throat shallowly before wrapping an arm around my waist, taking a grip of my hair and yanking my head back to expose my throat. I turned my zanpukuto around ready to thrust it in his back but he was much too close and I would run him through his kidneys if I did stab him. He'd live in the end and I would have a broken neck.

"Pretty Agito, it is I who has more power over you," he said, his lips pulling into that smile that made me think of lunging snakes. With my one free hand, I shimmied it through his hold to grasp his throat. I bared my teeth to snarl, "You willing to bet your life on that?"

If metaphors allowed it, it was a fight between an albino snake and a crazed dog.

Gin released me. I released him. Now matter how much the urge to suffocate him with my bare hands persists, I will not put either myself or Rue in the path of Aizen's displeasure. And Gin wouldn't want to take over my station in Hueco Mundo.

He thrust out the white folds of my Espada uniform into my grasp before saying, "The great Aizen-sama has ordered you to stay here, hidden away until he reveals his final plot to the world."

"Careful, Gin, the great Aizen-sama might hear your teasing."

"I already have." Aizen, like the oily weasel he was, appeared behind us out of nowhere. I silently cursed. I had hoped that after so long being away from him, I would prove immune to his zanpukuto but that proves to be a false comfort. If he could appear 'seemingly out of nowhere' behind me, I was still under his control. Motherfucker.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead right about now?" Gin asked and I stayed silent. It would seem that Aizen was already hatching a plan to manipulate the forces at work in Soul Society.

"I'm already dead. I just wanted to see my dearest Agito. It's been so long since I've seen her visage."

"You will refer to me as, 'Her Royal Highness, Diabolos-sama,'" I said before turning my back on them both. He wanted to see my visage? Fine, let's see if he is man enough for discomfort.

I stripped myself of the haori and dirty white yukata that I wore, baring my skin before them both. Gin immediately looked away as if in disinterest to the view but it was Aizen's reaction I was looking for. His eyes casual swept over me before returning his sight to mine eyes. A smile, or maybe a smirk, teased his lips before saying, "Beautiful."

I refused to be embarrassed about my flesh. I will not be some shy woman whose sex can be used against her. So I lifted my chin in silent challenge.

"What can you say?" I asked because I knew the truth. He couldn't say anything. This was a power trip. If he were to say something about my body he would lose, if he were to ignore it he would lose. And what could he say? I am beautiful.

He came closer to me and I refused to flinch. He took up my hand and though I wished to rip it away, that would force me to lose this battle. He lifted it up to his lips and pressed upon my knuckles a kiss. For too long did his lips linger and the idea of exactly what was happening dawned on me.

"Truly, a vision," he said before releasing me. He took a step back but he did not lose. I did not lose. This battle of ... psychology was at a tie. But the outcome, what I have learned of my enemy ... frightened me.

"Your orders will remain. Stay out of sight until the grand reveal. I have many plans unfolding." He turned to leave but before he could he stopped walking.

"Gin," he said, "I believe you forgot to give her something." And with that said he was gone. He faded into nothing and though he could be anywhere at anytime, I didn't think he would linger here for long. As he said, there were many plans unfolding.

I turned away from the door and started to dress myself in my uniform.

"If a few years in the world of the living turned you into a nudist, I think I need a vacation there," Gin said lightly, going back to a drawer to get something.

"Maybe then you'll get laid and stop being so shy around the nakedness of a woman," I teased him. I lifted my uniform from their folds and I stopped breathing this wasn't my old uniform. I sort of expected a new look but not...not like this.

"Do you know?" Gin muttered and though he didn't specifically say what he meant, I already knew.

My new uniform was to speak of my unspoken status. It was a white gown, long a sleek that trailed down to the floor in which I knew would be a train. The top was a highly decorative piece of black lace and jewels in the design of a star at my breast bone. The sleeves were stretching out that black lace and jewels to show my skin. To finish off the look, I had a sheer black wrap with white outlined feathers. This wasn't a uniform of a Comadante as I had before. This was something else. It was more regal, a statement dress. When I put this on, it would mean something to those who really knew what was going on.

"Why me?" I had to ask because looking at the uniform in front of me broke something I never thought could be broken. My pride.

"How could it not be you?" Gin asked. "Even your darling, Ulquiorra, gives you the name Reina."

"But Aizen wants to become God," I say, my voice trembling, "He doesn't need a Reina."

"No, he doesn't," Gin agrees, "He wants a Virgin Mary."

"A Holy Woman?" I have to ask, knowing what his metaphors mean.

"The most holiest of women." I looked down at my new uniform. Aizen, in his unstated way of speaking, wants me to become his Queen. Not to love of course, he could never expect something as vile as that, but to control. I'll sit on a pretty throne and would be just a doll to dress and present. Sure, Queens in reality are much more powerful than what I'm suggesting but Aizen is a different matter altogether.

But I can play a Virgin Mary. 'God's softer hand'. I am to be at his side, offering mercy when there is none. I will be a representation of a miracle. I can be.

I slipped on the dress, feeling it caress my skin in it's silky hold. I will admit the gown to be beautiful, but I refuse to see it as anything more than a costume. I turned around to meet Gin but I froze in horror at what he had in his hands.

"That's not for a Virgin Mary," I said. He gave me this look, so full of pity, I wanted to vomit.

"I might have said the wrong Mary. I meant Mary Magdalene," he said before lifting up the crown to be at my eye level.

"I am to be represented as a whore before meeting my 'God'?"

"Magdalene was never said to be a whore," Gin said softly to correct me. He moved the crown to one hand and with the other he took my wrist and pulled me over to the side where there was a mirror I didn't see before. I looked at myself.

Oh how grand I looked, dressed in a gown fit for royalty. For now, I was royalty. What would I look like to my old friends? Never have I dreamed to be crowned and here I am about to be...wed in a way, to the man I most hated. Gin lifted the crown above my head before settling it down almost gently. I wanted to cry.

The crown by itself was beautiful. A delicate thing of early morning dew drops and silver spiderweb. The grandest jewel dangling in between my eyes, a jewel that glowed from its own light and beauty. It made me look holy, untouchable. I was the 'God's' most favored. It made me sick.

Gin moved around me, getting this and that and before I knew it, he was applying makeup to my face. Black eyeshadow, mascara, and the dark shade of blue to match my hair and probably the cold Hueco Mundo brought forth. If I was to be Las Noches Queen, I am to be unsurpassable.

"You're hideous," Gin said and I was grateful. Grateful that at least someone knows I didn't want this. I looked as beautiful a Queen anyone could ask for. But I was nothing else. I grabbed the black liquid eyeliner on the desk and began my own transformation.

When I was done, I took another look at myself and was slightly happier with the results. With the black eyeliner, I added dots to the underside of my eyes and down my chin. The dots were the size of freckles but they were dark enough to be seen from a distance.

"Better," Gin judged and I had to agree. The dots weren't random. They were the marks of a warrior. Maybe a witch or a sorcerous. That combined with my darkened look told everything that I was someone to be feared. I wasn't just a doll Queen anymore, I was Queen of the Damned. And I rather like it.

"I want Aizen to rot," I said calmly because that was the plan. The end game. Aizen was going to die, no matter what.

"Careful Diabolos-sama," Gin said, using terms I never heard him speak seriously before. It's probably because I was made Queen. "Aizen might be listening."

"He already knows I want him dead. Saying it out loud will change nothing." I turned away from the mirror before going back to the pile of clothing I just changed out of. Hidden among the folds was Tristan's rosary and I couldn't just leave it. I was about to throw it over my head to wear around my neck when Gin grabbed my hand.

"Aizen doesn't want to look at that," he said, his tone telling me everything I need to know. Aizen will destroy my tribute to my dead apprentice if he ever saw it again. I looked down at my dress, trying to find somewhere to keep it hidden. There was nothing. My dress was too silky, too smooth. If I were to keep it hidden underneath, it would most definitely show.

"Gin?" I asked softly. He perked up at the tone I chose to use, knowing that I was vulnerable and didn't want to be. "Please, will you take this to my sister? Only, hide it so she doesn't discover it immediately. If Aizen's plan is disrupted because of this..."

He took the necklace from my hand and put it in his pocket. Honestly, I don't enjoy being around Gin. He was a wildcard I could never guess. But I trusted him with this. I trusted him because Gin knew my life before this mess. He respected it.

I already knew he was going to leave after I gave him my necklace. What I didn't expect was for him to take my hand, the same one Aizen grasped, and began to place kisses across my knuckles. I allowed him to do so only because fighting against him would bring out hi stubbornness. When he was done I asked, "What was that for?"

"Ask Ulquiorra. Or even Grimmjow," he said before leaving me alone.

Everything has changed. And nothing was for the better.

~~~