FicWad

Chapter 5
Method in the Madness

When I wake up again, I’m lying on a white table. I look around the room. There are pots containing bubbling water, pipes connecting vials of different coloured liquids, and Ilforte, lying against a white table like me.
He’s trembling, and his eyes are closed. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.
Then it hits me, what Ulquiorra said before.
‘...with a brother like Szayel.’
This is a lab. Szayel is a scientist. He works on anatomy.
Dissection.
Ilforte’s fear must be of being used in one of his brothers disgusting experiments. I don’t blame him. Once, we went round to their house, and found Szayel in the basement, carving up a greyhound. There was a look of insanity in his face, one I’ll never be able to erase from my mind.
I turn to him, and then realise something that makes my body go cold.
I’m not strapped down, but I can’t move my body below my neck.
I should have guessed. If that wasn’t the case, Ilforte would have probably been out of here by now.
“Hey, Ilforte! It’s me, Grimmjow!” He stared at me.
“Oh, thank god!” He was terrified.
“What did you draw on your piece of paper?” I asked. He sighed.
“Szayel used to freak me out with all of his wild experiments. I’ve always hated blood, and needles, and knives, and scalpels, but Szayel insisted on keeping them. He threatened that if I ever would him up, he would perform weird experiments on me while I slept.” There was a sudden whirring sound.
“Oh god no, they’re coming!” I stared at him. He was trying to move.
The light above my head dimmed. I could move my shoulders.
Suddenly, all these white clothed people walked into the room. They all had white hair, pale faces and you could tell by their facial expressions that they were all insane.
One of them picked up a scalpel, and walked over to Ilforte. He started squirming, but the other scientists held him down.
Ilforte is one of the stronger of us, but he’s also quite old school. He’s trained in sword fighting and all nine types of martial art, but when it comes to technology and knowledge, he hates it. He prefers hands-on action.
Now though, he was stuck in a position where his body was failing him, and he had no physical strength.
As he squirmed and struggled, his light got brighter.
Mine got dimmer.
I could rock from side to side. That was good. It was a long drop from the table, but I didn’t really have a choice. I would have to take the fall. Literally.
Suddenly, my light when out. What could have caused him to move so much that it went out? I should have guessed.
“HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY HAIR, BROTHER?” I laughed. Even in a life or death situation, his hair always came before his life.
I rocked to the edge of the table. It was a very long drop. It made me realise that these scientists were absolute giants.
I was probably going to break my arm, but oh well.
It was now or never.
I fell off the table, falling towards the hard tiled floor. I braced myself, ready for the collision.
I then realised, I wasn’t falling. I looked up, to see that one of the scientists had caught me. He had a concerned look on his face.
His eyes were bright green.
I stared at him for a little while. I couldn’t be sure...
...But he said anything was possible in this world, right?
The green eyed scientist placed me back on the table, and switched the light back on.
But this time, I knew the drill.
I moved as much as I could, take the light away from Ilforte and placing it on me.
His light bulb crashed, and a fist went flying into the nearest scientists face.
“Oops, my bad, brother!” He jumped off of the table, and ran to a switch. He flicked it off, and my bulb went out again. I rocked off again; this time the green eyed scientist making no attempt to catch me.
I landed on the ground, landing on both feet just in the nick of time.
“Wow.” Said Ilforte. “You really are a Pantera.” I grabbed his arm, and we made our way towards the only visible door, possibly the one I had entered by.
“Kinda. Come on, we’ve gotta find out who I’m rescuing next!”
We barged our way past a few more scientists, before finally reaching the door, which we slammed shut behind us, and slid down, panting.
“I really don’t blame you for being scared of scalpels, ‘Forte.” He smiled at me. That was the first time I had called him that for years.
There was a slow, taunting clapping coming from across the hall. We looked up.
A bench had suddenly appeared, and with it, Ulquiorra Schiffer.
“Congratulations. As long as you make it to the top by six, Ilforte will not be killed. Seriously injured, maybe, but not killed.” ...That velvet voice!
I stood up.
“Who am I going after next?” Ulquiorra sighed.
“Still have not yet figured out my riddle then?” I shook my head.
“The first part, it’s an emotion, or something that comes with it.” He nodded.
“But what emotion? And what comes with it?”
“That’s the bit I still gotta figure out.” I growled. Ilforte stared at me.
“Well, I would hurry up, as it is a one way ticket to get your friends out of here.” I nodded.
“Who’s next on the list?” I asked, sitting down next to him.
“Can you not wait? I think I enjoyed our last conversation. Please stay.” I looked at his eyes. They were full of longing and loneliness.
“I’m afraid not, not unless you freeze time.” He sighed.
“I promised myself I wouldn’t. Okay, the next one you have to save is Szayel.” He suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Szayel likes to think he’s right. If something is beyond his understanding, he freaks out. Good luck, Grimmjow.”
He suddenly faded, like a ghost. Ilforte stared at me.
“What?” He grinned.
“Nothing. Now come on. How did you find me?” I stood up, and pulled him up. He suddenly pulled his fingers through his hair.
“If I get into a fight, I wanna look good.” I sighed, and pointed to the doors, all with different numbers.
“I guessed you would be thirteen, since you are unlucky. So, you’re his brother. Which one?” Ilforte pondered.
“He likes the number eight. It’s even, it’s symmetrical, and if you turn it sideways, it’s infinity.” I nodded, and we slowly made our way to the door labelled ‘8’.
“That dude was weird, wasn’t he? What did you say his name was?”
“Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra Schiffer.” Ilforte nodded.
“And what was your conversation about?”
“The rules. And he seemed pretty interested in how I thought of Gin.” Ilforte grinned.
“What?” I growled. He stuck his hands up.
“Gin seemed to be the only one who could keep a cool head in the parlour. I think this Ulquiorra guy likes him.” I raised an eyebrow.
“Or you.” Ilforte finished. I froze.
“You what?” We reached the door. Ilforte spun round.
“He completely ignored me. The way he grabbed your hand, and stared you deep in the eyes, and said ‘Good luck, Grimmjow’ like he was terrified that you’d get hurt.” I sighed.
“I don’t know.” I pushed open the door, expecting to fall unconscious again.
Instead, it opened up to some woods.
“Looks like we’re going hiking.” I said, and shoved Ilforte through before he could complain about the dirt.