Chapter 4: Good doctor

Ulquiorra suddenly awoke. His body was stiff and sore bleeding from several large chunks seemingly torn out from his body. The wounds were healing relatively quickly mainly thanks to his very nature as a hollow but they worried him. they were covered in a thick viscous goo an abnormality and Ulquiorra was feeling strangely 'Hollow'. He couldn't explain it to himself.

He got up from wherever it was he was laying, and only then did the condition of his surroundings hit him. The entire village was razed to the ground. Hell half of it was nothing but a crater. Raging fires lit up the sky as if the very pits of hell had manifested. He could see the corpses of the bandits and villagers torn apart and burnt to a crisp. Most of them were unrecognizable save for a lucky few who's mutilated bodies had been thrown into the ditch. Ulquiorra hurriedly ran into the village looking for anyone who could tell him what had happened.

He tore past one ruined house after the other, memories of the villages popping up in his head as he did, they had never been kind to him, it was understandable but the very companionship they had for their family and friends the warmth they shared it flooded into his 'heart'. He stopped right in front of Anna's house. also in ruins but he could see him Benjamin or at least what was left of him embedded in the ruins. The fool had come back for his wife. Ulquiorra's heart flooded with a new emotion perhaps humans would call it 'grief' but whatever it was it hit him hard like an iron fist. Filling his heart, it gave him excruciating pain, pain beyond what he had ever experienced. He clenched his chest, his hand digging into it as if to rip out his very heart. Ulquiorra stood there not knowing what to do.

Just then he heard breathing, a slow faint breathing but very much there. His head shot to the direction of the sound, he hurried nearly tripping in his haste to a small pile of rubble beside the house, perhaps it was the storehouse but none of that mattered right now. Ulquiorra heaved the rubble aside digging it up with his bare hands looking for that small sound , moments later he found it, a small o so familiar hand . He grabbed it, there was still a faint pulse. Ulquiorra hurried carefully pulling Anna out from underneath the rubble. her body was badly wounded with a deep gash on her face and who knew how many other wounds and broken bones. Ulquiorra picked up the child gently. She could survive, he had to make sure she did else he would never be able to bare with the guilt. He hurried using up whatever reiatsu was in him towards the next village, some 10 miles from here, they would surely be able to treat her wounds they had to. He hurried onwards still questioning his reasoning for this.

These humans meant nothing to him. He wouldn't have cared if he slaughtered them in droves before he entered this new world yet now they seemed closer to him as if he subconsciously had formed a bond with them, a bond weak but there. He continued, this child had to survive, every inch of his being told him so. He ran through the green pastures leaving and over rocky rivers. His wounds throbbing, the cold wind like daggers on his bare skin and open wounds. His body burned like the raging fires in the pits of hell. The pain was like no other but something compelled him like the hand of a puppet master. His heart pumped wildly blood pounding in his ears a sensation he had never experienced before. He ran through the morning light as the gentle rays of the sun lit up his face. He ran until he saw the outline of the village, A small one no doubt but it would serve his purpose. He could see the outline of a monastery against the glow of the morning sun, he would go there they were sure to grant him aid, that was where the humans went in the last village. He stumbled across the cobblestone road his body giving out from sheer exhaustion. He collapsed against the door before sliding down to the ground his vision hazy, he saw an old man open the door evidently startled to see him there. His vision grew hazy and he could feel his heart weakening. The man hurriedly called his assistant a young nun. The old man dragged him inside while the nun carried Anna. Ulquiorra breathed a load lifted from his heart. He did not know why but it gave him peace of mind to know she was safe. His vision swam as he slipped into a deep dark slumber.