Phoenix, like at all times, was never very far away from one of her riddle victim’s. Especially, if she knew they were close in solving their riddle. This one, Ulquiorra Schiffer, was not any different then her other victim’s she played with. As she heard him speak the answer to his riddle aloud, she graceful stepped into his chamber, Murcielago in hand.
“What is it about you that makes you so cold and callous? Do you know? Ulquiorra.”
Ulquiorra was not one to be rushed and he knew that something was definitely off about this riddler. Her gait. Her smile. Her vibrancy. Is this what gods were made of? Sound and noise?
The silence of his room soaked up her sound and rehashed them against his ears, each echo a memory of what he was and never would be. But she was wrong. He was more than what her naive mind could fathom. After all, he solved the riddle, did he not?
"You are a god yet you function as a mediator between my past and my own future. Who gives you authority to ask questions that I deem unnecessary?"
“Only you would deem them unnecessary. After all, most would be glad to remember things only we gods know.” She looked around the room, “I see you precious fraction is not with you today. I am sure she could even fill in some of the blanks for you.” She walked his room with a lofty step, taking note of the things he had around.
A cold silence settled over the small room and Ulquiorra wrapped his mind around the comforting stillness. His eyes followed the Riddler jealously; questioning her motives and desires with his a look of divine judgment. "You imply that I am missing something, but in reality it is you who cannot seem to find what you are truly looking for."
Ulquiorra slid his colorless hands into his pockets and continued to watch the delicate hands of another handle the miscellaneous items of his room.
“You present riddles to us in hopes to get a fair game of sorts. A game in which you hold all the answers, but voluntarily share them in a trifling set of rhyme." He pressed further, yet remained where he was comfortable: within himself.
"From out of darkness you step, yet back to darkness you will return. Where I exist there is no reason for prolonged lack of vision. You will soon see that there is no beauty and the only solace we can return to is death."
“Do you truly believe that? That there is nothing beyond death?” Phoenix’ eyes paused on him then adverted to the small table below her. There sat a blue tiger eyed pendent adorned in a silver frame. She went to reach for it to pick it up. “Then I guess this would mean nothing to you if it were taken.”
It was then Ulquiorra knew the calm before the storm had passed. All rational thought escaped his mind and his only focus was the pendant. It was part of him. It was a piece of Kita only he could have and that he could selfishly dote upon.
"You will cross no further. If you are a god, then you will conduct yourself as such and refrain from encroaching on my own pursuits." The feeling of inward turmoil crushed his mortality and rekindled a dead flame. A flame he hoped had not followed him into this new life after death.
Phoenix grinned and snatched up the pendent on the table she placed it forward between her finger and thumb for only him to see. “I see a young boy of 16, wispy shoulder length dark hair and bright green eyes. He searched for answers in everything he encountered. Questioning everything even if it meant his unhappiness. He had to have that answer of ‘Why?’.” She stood her ground before him lifting her hand placing just her fingertips softly to her chest over her heart, “You say the heart is a fickle thing and not to be trusted, but yet you feel. You told Kita that you are not a prisoner by external means. It is your mind that keeps you trapped. What of your mind Ulquiorra? Are you a prisoner of your own mind? I say yes, you are a prisoner of your own mind.” She looked deep into his narrowed green eyes, "Are you afraid you might find what you sought in life; in your now pending death?"
She turned the pendent looking at it, “It is very beautiful just as she is.” She looked to Ulquiorra again, “One you would protect with your life. She is not?” Looking back at him she grinned, “You show no outward emotions toward her. But they are there and you shun them only because you fear what you cannot see or explain. Just as you did as a young boy when you lived.”
She looked at the espada as he stood in silence in front of her. Gently she placed the pendent back to the table resting his zanpakuto to the edge. She looked to Ulquiorra once more. “Let me give you a piece of advice.” Phoenix told him as her figure faded from his sight, “Just because you cannot see it, does not mean, it does not exist.” Her words faded with her and again Ulquiorra was alone.
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I forgot where the link to the previous post was, so I'll edit the rest of this post when I find it. Thanks for your patience.
