Orihime had been banging on her cell door for what seemed like hours. She had screamed, cried, and demanded that she be let out. She knew that they wouldn't listen but she tried anyway. She so wanted to go out there, find her friends Chad and Rukia and heal them.

But she couldn't. She knew these people were heartless enough to not listen to her demands. Who was she but a hostage? In frustration, she kicked the door and instantly regretted it.

"Yowch!" She started hopping around on one foot before collapsing on a coach. She rubbed her sore toe and thought hard of how utterly hopeless the whole situation felt.

There was a knock on the door.

"Orihime Inoue," a voice called before the door opened. Inoue stood straight up because there were only three people within Las Noches who could enter her room. Ulquiorra, Aizen Sousuke, and la Reina, Agito. Last time the human had seen la Reina, she was like a block of ice, cold and untouchable. Now though, something was different, and she felt afraid.

Agito was smiling.

"Let's go for a walk, Orihime," she said, opening the door wider to show no guards outside. For a brief moment, Orihime thought of running. But one glance at her jailer and she immediately knew that running wasn't an option. Agito-sama had a look in her eye. One that promised torture and pleasure to the enactment of torture should she not comply.

Meekly, Inoue walked out of her room and followed la Reina through the halls silently. There was no one around. Sometimes there were windows to the false sun and blue skies but there was no way for Inoue to map the layout of Las Noches with such confusing turns and corridors.

"Do you know why I'm walking you, human?" Agito said and Inoue flinched. Agito said that as if she were walking a new pet dog and didn't that hurt to hear?

"No," Inoue answered.

"Take a guess." Agito's tone was playfully amused and Orihime was getting nervous, droplets of perspiration gathering at the nape of her neck.

"Um...."

"Come now, I know you have to be smarter than this," she said, "Tell me, why am I walking you?"

Orihime gulped and she dutifully gave an answer, "You're ... being kind."

"Am I?"

"No," she said with a quick shake to her head, "You're using kindness as a weapon. You're being mean by being kind."

"And how do you know this, Orihime-chan?" Agito asked, her tone revealing how much she was laughing at the little girl.

"I don't," she admitted, "But ... it's what you're doing isn't it?"

"I am being rather obvious, aren't I?" They stopped before an open platform where the whole of Las Noches spread before them. Agito spun around, her balance and stance so playful Orihime couldn't help but gather the fact that this woman felt absolutely no fear being around her, in Las Noches, or even Hueco Mundo.

Taking a chance she said, "But ... that's not all is it?"

"Oh? Very smart girl, tell me, what else can your tiny brain think about my motivations?" Agito's smile was kind but her eyes were sharp and assessing. Orihime got the distinct feeling that she was being tested.

"Um ... I don't know," she said.

"You don't know." Suddenly, Agito wasn't acting so playful anymore. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and it was as if a tiger lying in wait in the bushes stepping closer to prey. Orihime fought the urge to shiver in fright.

"I don't know you," she explained, "I don't know anything about you."

Agito laughed and it was just a joyous sound it shocked the little human girl.

"What a smart girl!" she praised, "So very smart! So very obvious! Now I have a very particular question for you-"

Suddenly, Agito was standing directly in front of Orihime, the woman's hand was pressed against her collarbone, pushing her back firmly and gently enough to make her move. Orihime was guided back to the wall and pressed against there, quivering in fright, unsure when the dangerous woman would just lean in and take a bite out of her throat.

"-What makes you think you're not being as obvious?" The silent threat and vague hint made Orihime's insides run cold. "Here in Las Noches, we play games that'd make you run to hell's gates. Smoke, ghosts, mirage, and shadows. Assassination of phantoms. False kings and devil worship. We make love with the gods and kill them for it. You think you're being sneaky? Oh sweet thing, rejecting the existence of the Hougyoku was the very first thing we thought you would do."

"What?" Orihime asked, scared and afraid of the future.

"This-," she hissed, baring her teeth at the ignorant little girl who was stumbling over war games trying to be a player when she was nothing but a pawn, "-is an act hundreds of years in the making. You make no difference to the body count we've accumulated. You think you can stop this? Think again."

"What are you saying?" Orihime asked because Agito didn't seem like the type of woman to give threats without reason.

"Stop trying to be a hero," Agito spat, "Do so and we will craft as horrid tragedy in your name. Your friends will make you a martyr and come in flocks to avenge you. There's too many hungry hollows here for just you to satisfy them. You will be the appetizer, they shall be the buffet. Can you see it, Inoue? I think you can."

The woman smiled but there was nothing kind about it. It was all sadism, as if she were thinking about the rivers of blood filling the sands of Hueco Mundo, creating an ocean to rise and sink. Orihime could see it and it frightened her. She nearly screams.

"Don't go scaring the children, Reina." Agito steps away and Orihime is grateful to the intruder-

-until she realizes who it was and fear cripples her once again.

"Gin," Agito greeted as if she wasn't caught terrifying the shit out of the human girl.

"Whatcha' doin'?" asked Gin, that coy smile ever present on his face, looking relaxed and casual.

"Having a bit of fun," she lied but no one knew, "I see why you like terrorizing people." That made him giggle. Giggle!

"Now, now, Reina Agito-chan," he said, "You know that's not what I meant."

Behind the teasing smile on her face, Agito's mind was working ten times faster than normal. Gin was Aizen's man, through and through. She had recently hurt him and he was more liable to poison her than to forgive her. Orihime was the outside factor. Whatever she said had to be carefully crafted so that the human didn't get any information. But what game was Gin playing? The man was a phantom. A ghost in a snowstorm. If he was here to harm her, she would have to be prepared to strike smoke.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Aizen-sama wants you at his side, Agito-sama," he said, his vague words holding shackles meant to chain her, "The world is near ending."

"Mm," Agito hummed before acknowledging their frozen guest, "Run along, Orihime. Don't want to be caught outside where the big bad wolves can get you now."

She barely nodded her head before running off to the safety of her room. After Agito's terrifying threat and witnessing two dangerous individuals flirt with each other, she was damn near falling into hysteria.

With the girl gone, Agito turned back to her silver haired companion, "I'm assuming he will be where he always is?" She didn't even have to ask. She was already turning on her heel to go directly to the War Room where Aizen would most definitely be.

"When did you get so scary?" Gin asked, his voice stripped of all the odd tones that usually meant secret meanings and hidden agendas.

"Care to repeat that?"

"I know you," he said as if he didn't just say the three most terrifying words in any language, "You ... aren't this. When did you get so good at War Games?"

He was referring to the fact that one-hundred years ago, Agito wasn't like this. Manipulative. Secretive. Cruel for the sake of fear. Back then she was as mean as a demon but now she would make the Devil run to his mother. Back then she was as obvious as a wildfire in summer but now ... she was a mountain ready to rupture. A silent, ever looming threat with no tell of destruction. The transformation was so slight, he wouldn't have even noticed until now standing beside Orihime who reminded him of a much younger Rue-chan.

"What?" she said, "You don't think that I've spent so many years watching the master of War Games dance with shadows and not learn a thing? How careless of you." She grinned and he was very glad that she was not an Espada or even a Visard like Aizen wanted to create. She would have been a horror to behold, probably now grinning with blood stained teeth.

"Watching?"

"I taught you, Gin," Agito frowned, "You are not nearly as stupid as you're trying to pass yourself off to be. You've always known I learn best by watching first. You're the same. So tell me, Gin Ichimaru, is this all educational?"

The tone, the lilt of voice, the selection of words and how they were put together revealed a hidden world that no one but them could guess. Hell, even Gin had a difficult time translating her talk.

She was acknowledging the fact that he too learned best by watching. She just admitted to watching Aizen-sama and subtly hinted that he did the same. That he was the same as her. It was no secret that Agito hated Aizen, that she was now planning something. Could it be that Agito was hinting that she knew about him?

Did she know that Gin was also planning to kill Aizen-sama?

Probably not because though he did watch Aizen-sama for weaknesses, he also watched Agito. She has always been a dangerous variable, a wild card, a fire with barely any restraint. And now she was proving to be even more dangerous. A wildfire is wild, mindless, and easier to stop. But sentient flame ... now that's deadly. Playing with fire just got a whole new meaning.

So of course he watched her, looking for weakness. Besides that of her obvious weakness with her emotional attachments to others, there were some obvious weaknesses with her shikai but her shikai of a hundred years ago couldn't compare to what possibilities her shikai would be now. And then there was her bankai. With the few moments he had witnessed her bankai, he knew finding a weakness would be close to impossible. She didn't even have her zanpakuto then. The bankai she had shown that day would be half of what exactly her bankai should be.

It was an awesome thought.

"You could say that," Gin acknowledged, choosing a vague answer for a vague question. Agito left, having no reason to continue the conversation that would no doubt be recorded by spies. She made her way to the War Room where Aizen would be. The man was always there. Though Agito planned the upcoming war, she didn't plan the aftermath. That was his business.

"Aizen," she acknowledged upon entry.

"Agito," he said, "Would you ever refer to me as your superior?"

"At this point, if I did it would be suspicious." He didn't even give her a response to her reasoning. He didn't have to. In Las Noches, he had the power, the full control. He could yank her chain wherever which way and she would always be stuck in the reactor's position. The disadvantage was a knife point at her belly. The advantage was a drug rush in his bloodstream.

"I'm quite proud of you, mi Reina," Aizen said, "You've commanded my forces faithfully, training them into perfect soldiers that hold unquestionable loyalty to my cause." Agito stayed silent and still, making sure not to betray her feelings of contempt.

"What a beautiful Queen I have," he mused, "What a wonderful Queen. They will sing you praises for eons to come, they will remark about your intelligence, your diligence. They will forget your cruelty, they won't know how traitorous you really are."

Agito wasn't prepared from him to just suddenly be in front of her, gently taking her throat in his hands. She looked into his eyes and saw his fury, knowing that her Judas act was out of the bag.

"Do you take me for a fool?"

He layered his hands with reiatsu pressure. As with all energy, the gathering of reiatsu began to grow uncomfortably hot, burning the first layer of hair on her skin. It would take a little more energy for him to brand her neck but the threat was there unspoken.

"No," Agito said, never flinching and controlling her natural instinct to fight back defensively, "You're no fool, Aizen."

"Then what nonsense are you planning? Did you truly believe you can hide from me? I see you, Agito," he said, "I see you."

"I plan on betraying you, my King," she hissed as mocking as she dared, "But you already knew that. Why are you angry?"

He released her throat and took a step back, detesting the fact that he, a god, would ever stoop to reacting to his anger so primitively. He said, "You were so perfect. Why now would you show such ... buligering faults. I believe you smarter than this show of disgraceful planning.

"I was willing to let you play Judas, but I thought you would at least be competent. This ... this plan is pathetic. Your plan will fail because it is so disgustingly obvious."

"You're angry because I'm not being clever," Agito said, "Now I'm disappointed in you."

"Do not test me," Aizen growled and it was such a foreign sound that she let the sound echo before speaking.

"Truly, I'm disappointed," she said while stepping back into his personal space, running a single finger over the ridge of his shoulder, "You know I'm not that type of lover. I'm not one to skip foreplay, to think you would ever believe me capable is ... disheartening. You know me better than that."

They were both cut off by two reiatsu signatures rising far in the distance. A fight. They both waited a breath, feeling what the fight was telling them. Grimmjow seemed to be having fun.

The mood was broken. Agito extracted herself out of Aizen's arms and the usual cold between them returned. Purely professional.

"Do you know why I called you here, Agito?" Aizen said, moving their meeting back on track.

"Intimidation tactique," she immediately answered, "You already know I'm going to pull a Judas stunt, you called me here to throw me off balance."

"So clever," he praised and it felt grating against her nerves, to be praised like a dog learning a new trick, "But that's not all."

He sat down again in his chair and motioned for her to do the same. She took her seat and waited for him to speak. He said, "You never questioned why we were going to the Living World."

"Should I have?" she asked.

"I wonder what you believed we were going there to do," he mused, taking a sip form a tea cup.

"Every single possibility I dreamt of was more and more ludicrous. I would believe that you're drawing all Shinigami forces out to the Living World and Hueco Mundo, leaving Soul Society undefended, or at least weakened."

"Good," Aizen relented, "But not good enough. Do you know what the Okken is?"

Agito had never heard of an Okken but clearly something deep inside herself did. Something rolled up and over in her spirit, peering out of her eyes in interest. Agito couldn't stop it and didn't even try. If Aizen was even paying attention, he would have noticed a brief moment where Agito's eyes turned pitch black. The color receded quickly but it was proof that something was there.

"The King's Key," Agito said, repeating words the dark entity said before muttering in the ancient language no one was supposed to hear.

"The King's Key," Aizen explained, "Is the only way for anyone outside of royalty and the Royal Guard to enter into the Soul King's domain. Currently, there are only two Okkens in the entire tri-world sector. One is secretly housed within Seireitei where no one but Yamamoto knows and the other is within the protections of a Noble House."

"Are we to attack a Noble House?" Agito asked, already planning an assault on any one of the Houses.

"No. You weren't in Seireitei when I tore the Noble House of Shiba down and found nothing. But we don't need to look for two existing Okken when it's much easier to make one."

"To make an Okken," Agito mumbled, "To make a key to the Royal Palace, it must take an enormous amount of energy."

"You're right," Aizen said, "I takes the souls of a hundred thousand living humans to create one Okken."

"A hundred thousand?" That was roughly-

"Yes, we will use the souls of Karakura town for our purposes. Karakura not only has the necessary amount of souls but is the location where all three worlds seem their closest together. A-"

"Convergence," Agito said in awe. There was so much information and different scenarios that she was near dizzy with it. A hundred-thousand human souls will die. Karakura, the town she lived in for fifteen years, will become a ghost town. All for access to the Royal Palace.

"Once the Okken is made I will go to the Royal Palace," Aizen declared, "And kill the Soul King."

Agito never cared for the Soul King. She was aware that he was a well respected presence within Seireitei but she grew up with the bare minimum in Rukongai and with her own blood, sweat, and tears did she rise to power. The presence of some godly being being the ruler of Soul Society never mattered to her. Aizen was slowly rising to power. Sometime in the near future he would transcend to that of godhood and he would seek to kill the closest god within his grasp.

It was a rather smart plan if you were a megalomaniac with a god complex and no true experience of the gods.

But she knew better. There was currently something ... close to the gods within her very soul and it was screeching in glee. It was chanting something. It was chanting something in a new language, and the words rose and fell like a tidal wave of blood. Agito didn't mean to be swept up in it but it happened and she could taste the metal between her teeth.

"Agito," Aizen called out, bringing her back into the present, "You look unwell."

She indeed looked unwell. All of her blood just sank to the floor, leaving her skin nearly white. If her hands were up on the table, he would have seen them shake. She asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

Why was he telling her all of his plans? She already admitted to planning his murder, a wise man would leave her floundering in the dust, chasing him across the three worlds but here he was giving her all she would need to plan out their battle.

"Do you really plan on killing me?" he asked.

"Yes," she said with utter conviction.

"That's too bad," he said, "I don't plan on killing you."

"Lies," she immediately concluded.

"You hold the future, Agito Diabolos," he said, his voice full of command and she couldn't escape the notion that he was saying something that was meant to fly over her head. "I have destroyed all of your possible routes to returning to the life you once had. I have given you my army and when I am a god I will give you Hueco Mundo, mi Reina. I have told you everything. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"