1 Prologue

Ichigo stood in a barren wasteland as he stared down the monstrosity that once was Sosuke Aizen. The megalomaniac that in his quest for power allowed the Hogyoku to twist him into the abomination that stood before him. The monster before him had three sets of white wings each with an eye in the center and a mouth at the tip. His body had deformed and three large basketball-sized holes had opened up stretching from sternum to groin. His face had contorted and a black skull-like mask had formed over it. To top it all off his right hand was completely fused with his Zanpakuto and its once pristine white blade had turned a sickly black.

Ichigo stood in front of him his left arm covered in burns and after a moment of silence readying himself for what he was about to do he spoke. "Let's end this already, Aizen" Ichigo raised his blade and brought it in front of him raising his burnt arm to place it on his forearm.

"Let me show you the last attack I'll ever use," Ichigo said calmly as black Reiatsu erupted from around him completely concealing him from sight. When he was revealed his appearance had completely changed gone was the orange hair replaced with long waist-length black hair flowing in a nonexistent breeze. His Shinigami uniform had disappeared, in its place was a gathering of midnight energy that formed a pair of hakama. Thick gray bandages had formed wrapping his entire torso ending at his nose, leaving only his left arm, eyes and forehead uncovered. As Ichigo looked up his hair moved to the side exposing piercing crimson eyes that stared into Aizen's soul.

"Saigo no Getsuga Tensho is when I become Getsuga itself and as I said this will be the last attack I ever use" Ichigo intoned as he formed a blade of black Reiatsu in his hand and began to raise it. He watched Aizen's panicking expression as he brought the blade to its full heigh.

'Im sorry Zangetsu, Hollow, if only things could have been different' Ichigo thought before he sent his arm crashing down.

"Mugetsu" Ichigo called out solemnly as all sound disappeared and a wall of black spiritual pressure rushed forward slamming into Aizen. The monster was engulphed in the onslaught of power a silent scream on his face as his body disintegrated under the sheer mass of the attack's power. When the Reiatsu let up there was only a floating marble left which Ichigo dashed forward and grabbed.

'All this trouble all this fighting and hardship just for this little orb, no more' Ichigo thought as he gathered every last remnant of his power and focused it around the Hogyoku before collapsing it. The sphere started letting off large sparks of purple power trying to defend itself as the light eating black power slowly encompassed it.

'I just wish things didn't have to end like this' Ichigo thought absentmindedly as the sparks of purple power became dimmer before a spark larger then all of the others broke through and shocked Ichigo's hand. Ichigo feeling the shock scowled at the marble of doom and redoubled his efforts as the sparks slowly disappeared and the sphere of black power closed tighter.

When he finally felt his Reiatsu slipping away from him, he saw that the marble had turned to dust in his hand and a strong gust of wind blew it away. With all the ends tied up, Ichigo turned and came face to face with Kisuke Urahara.

"It's over hat n clogs," Ichigo said as the bandages that covered Ichigo erupted into black Reiatsu before fading to the wind revealing his tattered Shinigami uniform. Ichigo's eyes also turned back to their original chocolate brown and his hair shortened and turned back to a familiar orange.

"Aizen's dead and the Hogyoku is destroyed finally everyone is safe," Ichigo said showing one of his rare smiles which Kisuke slowly returned.

"Everyone owes you a great debt Ichigo you have no idea how proud I am to call you my student," Kisuke said in a tone that conveyed how truly proud he was of Ichigo causing the boys to smile to stretch a little wider.

He thought back to all of the good times he had with his student helping his student as much as he could. His musings were interrupted however by Ichigo's sudden heavy coughing. Looking over at him he immediately dashed over and caught Ichigo as the young man began to collapse. Looking him over Kisuke noticed that blood was slowly leaking from his student's mouth.

"Ichigo hold on I have to get you to the fourth division," Kisuke said before he was stopped by Ichigo raising his hand and placing it on Kisuke's shoulder.

"Don't bother hat n clogs I'm already as good as dead," Ichigo said shocking Kisukeas he tried to register what Ichigo just said.

"The Saigo no Getsuga Tensho is final for a reason hat n clogs it ripped out my Shinigami powers people don't recover from losing a part of their soul" Ichigo explained as Kisuke looked at Ichigo with dread.

'The Saigo no Getsuga Tensho was supposed to let his powers gradually fade overtime not rip them out immediately, it would have given time for his soul to adjust to such a major change' Kisuke thought as he stared at his dying pupil in horror.

"I made my peace with this Kisuke just tell Yuzu, Karin and goat face that I love them," Ichigo said as he began coughing violently again. No Kisuke couldn't let this happen he began to think faster than he even thought he could. He thought of any solutions, all the theories he came up with, any of his many inventions, any techniques he could use to help his student. Nothing he came up with nothing the genius of the Seireitei, the founder of the research and development division found in his near-infinite knowledge no solutions to this problem.

So he sat there quietly helping make Ichigo as comfortable as possible he passed on. Eventually, Ichigo's body broke apart and turned to dust as Kisuke continued to sit there and stare were Ichigo had been. After what felt like years he stood up and began to walk back to Karakura town he had to go tell a pair of twins that their brother wouldn't be coming back.