Episode 3: The garden in the desert, Queen's gambit set in motion.

"You're Barbarossa's man, yes? I don't believe we've ever been formally introduced. My name's Alexi." He said with his usual smile.

"The coming attack will have a long lasting impact on the future of all three worlds. it's hard to relax when one contemplates how important it is. All the same, my apologies for surprising you."

"Yeah, I'm one of the Three Mages." Dallas replied, unaware that his title meant nothing to the man he was talking to. "I'm Dallas." He rubbed his eyes tiredly, trying to remove the dark rings that marred his face.

"Long lasting impacts, huh?" Dallas shrugged. "Barbarossa sure seems to think so. I haven't seen him this...excited?...in a long time." He brushed of a wayward flower petal that had landed on his robe.

"I'd be surprised if he wasn't. His ideals and those of our group aren't exactly in sync. The indignation toward the shinigami, and the desire to attack them may well be the one and only trait we share. I don't mind it though. that's what makes him such a reliable comrade. If he wants to pursue his own endeavors afterward, it's all the same to me."

"Ideals..." Dallas laughed quietly. "He's got ideas alright, and he sticks to them." He sat down on one of the stairs. He normally didn't like to sit on the ground, lest he dirty his robes, but he was currently too tired to care.

"I was one of his ideas. He saw my potential and ordered Walther and Gyne to take me and, even though I was much too young to be one of the Mages. I was part of a traveling circus then, preform mic Magic tricks or change and scraps, barely surviving. He saved me." The young man leaned back, supporting himself on his arms. "Not that it mattered, about ten years after they took me in the Shinigami attacked the kingdom."

"Is that so.?". Alexi joined him in sitting, the outfit he now wore beIng completely expendable to him now, anyway, "He didn't strike me as the kindhearted type, but I learned long ago not to judge by appearances. What's the significance of your title, if I may ask? What precisely is a mage in a world like this one."

"You don't know?" Dallas looked on Alexi with slacked jawed surprise. "Wow...I never imagined that I was older than you, let alone that much older." Dallas stood up, brushing off his robes.

"Well, back in the day, spiritual powers weren't exclusive to Shinigami. Like the Quincy, there were a handful of humans that could see and interact with the dead. Unlike the Quincy, they could actually purify the spirits, rather than destroy them." Dallas kicked his legs out to stretch the stiff muscles. "With any amount of proper training, theses individuals could serve as a defense against Hollows...we called them the undead." He muttered. "It was a simple as finding a spiritand saying the incantation."

"But, there was a higher order of those with spiritual powers. They were the Mages." Dallas continued. "Not only did they have the power to purify spirits, but they could also harness the elements using powerful magics. The Three Mages were the most powerful, and under Barbarossa's direct command. Sort of like the human's weapons of mass destruction."

"The kido that the Shinigami use now is our magics, only simplified." Dallas explained. "Magic is heavily dependent on innate potential, but the Shinigami saw it's destructive power and cannibalized it when they destroyed out kingdom, breaking it down for mass use." He frowned. "Kido is a lot weaker, but there are only a few people left that can use magic."

"The Shinigami did they're best to erase the part of history. You won't find it in any history books. The only way to know about it is if you were there." Dallas ended sadly.

"I see..." Alexi responded thoughtfully. It was no wonder he had never heard of the term before. He wondered for a moment precisely how many civilizations the shinigami had destroyed in the name of law and order. "So that's the seed from which your resentment grows."

The two men had sat in silence, with the short bursts of conversation only interrupting it rarely. Before long the time had come to begin preparations for the assault meeting. As if on cue another garganta opened up before them, this time parting to reveal a familiar young woman wearing a colorful kimono.

"We're sorry we're late." The woman said, bowing apologetically.

"Early, actually." Alexi corrected, checking his watch. "I just had a bout of insomnia, and happened across this gentleman by chance..."


"Oh good." She responded, sighing melodramatically and taking a seat at the table.

"Did you enjoy pretending to be a shinigami for a while?" Alexi asked, quizzically. In response, she nodded her head fervently.

"Oh yes, very much."


Alexi stood up, taking a piece of the coffee flavored gum from its package and chewing into it slowly. He figured now was as good a time as any to get the tea ready.

"Pretending to be a shinigami?" Dallas cocked an eyebrow quizzically. "That seems kind of dangerous, doesn't it? They've got equipment designed to detect us. What if it was on and they knew you were there the whole time?" He did his best to make sure his voice remained inquisitive, rather than accusing. He may be older than them, but they were stronger.

"Well, 'pretending' may be a bit of a misnomer on my part. There's a very large chance that she was originally a shinigami... although dear doctor Mayuri played with her DNA like a kitten with yarn, so it's impossible to tell for sure." Alexi said, shrugging. "Regardless, her soul is so fragmented no device would be able to make heads or tails of her."

"Really?" Dallas rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he examined what appeared to be a woman. "How did you get a hold of something like this? Seems like something the Shinigami would want to keep under lock an key, if only to protect their reputation for rank-and-file purity." He concluded, referencing the purging of the Vizards.

"Twelfth division has never been one to care about such things." Alexi said with a short laugh. "As to how I acquired her, I simply picked her up after they attempted to throw her away. Her soul has a very unique ability. When in a reiatsu-rich environment, it draws energy into her body at a rate that far surpasses that of a normal hollow or shinigami, and then converts that energy into a spiritual weapon for her to wield. Within the SeiReiTei's Seki-seki barrier, and within the confines of the division twelve laboratory, this ability remained hidden, so to Mayuri, she must have seemed to be a failure. He had his division try to secretly destroy the evidence of his experiment outside the seireitei, inadvertently leading to their demise."

"That seems like an invaluable skill." Dallas rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "One has to wonder how they stumbled upon this ability by accident. It just seems unlikely to me." Dallas turned his attention back to Alexi. "It's a good thing you managed to find it. It would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands."

"Those scientist types are always so single-minded. They throw away such nice things because they don't fit the single purpose for which they were created. Ah well, his loss is my gain. I'm actually rather fond of her." Alexi said nonchalantly, looking at his watch. "Is it this late already? It's so hard to grasp the passing of time here."

The sound of footsteps could be heard behind them, and soon Anastasia had taken her seat at the table.

"Where's the commander of the operation?" She asked, curiously.

"He and our darling young king have yet to arrive." Alexi responded with a smile.

"Lord Barbarossa has been in his keep since yesterday." Dallas informed the two. "I'll go deliver the message that his presence is requested." Dallas bowed and left.

"And our king isn't so far away, either, for that matter." Anastasia said with an approving smile, nodding her head toward a faint twitch in a nearby bed of flowers. Alexi turned his attention toward it.

"Well I'll be." He said with a laugh. "If he were an assassin I'd be dead... guess I really am soft."

"What are you doing, hiding over there, Hion?" Anastasia inquired merrily.

Ana couldn't help but chuckle at the 'moe' of the scene. Alexi simple gave a distant smile at the side of hion he only occasionally saw. The Cherrywood family servants had now begun to approach the meeting table, taking their places behind the two siblings as a feeling of welling anticipation and bloodlust grew.

A short walk brought Dallas back to Barbarossa’s manor. He broke the seal on the lock with a brief incantation and opened to doors as quickly as his meager physical strength allowed.

Seconds after he entered, the halls were filled with a deafening blast of sound. Dallas poked his head around a corner pillar and spotted Walther and Gyne in the atrium. The tables and benches had been pushed off to the side and the two older men stood in the center. Around them, Dallas could see a barrier had been placed, to prevent them from damaging anything other than the floor.

“I’m surprised you managed to defend yourself against that one.” Walther sneered, sweat trickling down his wrinkled face.

“I’m surprised you though that spell a threat.” Gyne retorted though his heaving breaths. His arms were still stretched outward with this staff geld perpendicular to the ground, his white-gloved hands gripping the staff tightly. A barrier could be seen projected in front of him in the right light.

“Can we take a break?” Gyne asked as his posture slaked. “It’s been quite a while since we sparred like this.”

“Hmph,” Walther scoffed in reply. Gyne pulled a bench up from outside the barrier and took a seat. He removed his pipe and book of matches from his robe and lit the tobacco within, inhaling deeply.

With shocking agility, Walther raised his hand above his head as they began to glow with a blue aura. With equal speed, Gyne outstretched his own hand, never removing the pipe from his mouth. Walther’s hands became encased in red transparent octahedrons, halting the spell that he was about to cast.

“I’ve know you much too long to fall for that.” Gyne said as Walther lowered his hands. The retort was delivered with no animosity and the barriers around the old man’s hands were released.

“Haha! Glad to see you haven’t softened as much as I had though!” Walther laughed.

Dallas ducked back behind the pillar and continued on his way to his Lord. Walther and Gyne specialized in offensive and defensive magics, respectively, while Dallas’s forte was restorative magics. He would only get in the way of the older and more powerful mages if he attempted to spar with them. Walther had told him as much.

The young mage climbed the staircase to Barbarossa’s keep and knocked on the door.

“You may enter.” Barbarossa’s voice lost no command, even though the heavy wooden door. “Ah, Dallas! What is it, boy?” Barbarossa asked jovially once Dallas came into view. He stood behind a table in the center of the room that had several maps sprawled out over it. He had removed his armor and was now wearing a simple tunic and pants.

“The other Arrancar are assembling and your presence is requested, my Lord.” Dallas replied. Part of the reason Barbarossa favored Dallas so was because Dallas always maintained a proper courtly presence.

“Finally,” Barbarossa boomed. “They are no longer content to sit on their hands as the Shinigami regroup. Tell the others to compose themselves and prepare to move.”

“Yes, my Lord.” Dallas bowed and exited the room quietly. Dallas descended the staircase and returned back to the atrium. Walther and Gyne were in much the same places as he had left them. “Walther! Gyne!” Dallas shouted to get their attention. The barrier they had constructed prevented him from entering.

“I thought I told you to leave.” Walther spat, not bothering to turn around.

“Lord Barbarossa wanted me to tell you both that we will be moving soon.” Dallas replied. “We’re going to meet up with the others.”

“Hmmm,” Gyne mumbled thoughtfully. “I suppose we should dust ourselves off and make ourselves presentable.” He extinguished the pipe and pocketed it. The middle-aged man brushed off is robes, all the while his gloves stayed immaculately white. The younger men moved the furniture back into it’s proper place while Walther washed his hands and face in a nearby basin. Likewise, the rings on his fingers showed no sign of grime and continued to shine like polished ivory.

Once the men had prepared themselves, they waited at the bottom of the staircase for their King.

They did not have to wait long. Soon after, Barbarossa emerged from his keep, in full armor with his sword strapped to his side.

“Come,” Barbarossa summoned. “There have already been enough delays. Let us move quickly.” The almost otherworldy height of the king gave in a long stride. They covered the distance quickly, with Barbarossa’s royal cloak flowing out behind him and every step he took crunching of plate and chain.

“I have been told that you are ready to stopping dragging your feet.” Barbarossa’s voiced boomed customarily as he entered the main garden. “Is this so? Or have you simply called me to tell me that I must wait more?”

"Not at all, Lord Barbarossa." Alexi said evenly. "With the exception of myself, all those you see before you are at your command. Use their power to ignite chaos within the seireitei." He sipped his tea quietly, the bickering and small talk that had filled the crowded table suddenly growing silent at Barbarossa's arrival.

"At last... I'll have my satisfaction. That for which I sold my soul." Anastasia whispered to herself, her body trembling with anticipation as her normally bright eyes darkened. Beside her, Judecca grinned wickedly, while Antenorra looked on, a mixture of sorrow and resignation in her eyes.

"Enough dicking around already, what's the plan, bossman?" Judecca asked.

Barbarossa eyed the young man with contempt before turning is attention to the senior members.

“We will make out landing in an outermost district of Rukongai.” Barbarossa began. “Every since they were betrayed by several of their own, the Gotie 13 have become increasingly paranoid and as such have stepped up their presence thought Rukongai tremendously. In particular, the outlands are now for all intensive purposes a police state.
“My spies have informed me that distrust of the Shinigami is nearing a tipping point. By overthrowing them and releasing the resident of Rukongai from their stranglehold, we will be able to garner to publics support, severely weakening the Shinigami before we attack them at their stronghold.

“Winning the population’s support is key. The Gotie 13 has been given far too much time to regroup. I have fought against them before, and they are not a foe to be trifled with. If we want any hope of success, we must cut off their supply of new recruits.”

"Feed the fires of public outrage, and create chaos amongst the populace. In the most neglected districts of the Rukongai distrust is so great it may even lead to all-out civil war. Such strife will go a long way toward masking our assault on the Gotei. A solid plan... as I would expect from you." Alexi said cooly. He was surprised, in spite of himself. Being a hollow aside, Barbarossa seemed to be legitimately concerned for the souls of the Rukon.

"If that's the plan, then our forces will divide and make our moves in a different district each? Moving inward as we turn the masses to our favor?" Anastasia inquired.

"Yes, a divided front will serve out purposes the best." Barbarossa's expression soured momentarily, as if he had just heard something unsavory.

"We will stagger our attacks. I will make the first move. Once I have the Shinigami's full attention, after about two days or so, you all will make your attacks, cutting deeper faster with less resistance."

"If that's the plan, I say we go ahead and commence." Anastasia said. "This is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time." She pointedly ignored a saddened look Alexi gave her, and rose from the table. "My fraccion and I will await your command to move, then. May the battlefield fair thee well."

With a flurry of excitement, the hollows began to prepare themselves for battle, with the moment of their decisive strike now mere days away.

As the group began to dissolve, Alexi pulled Pawn to the side and whispered something into her ear. the girl blanched a bit as he placed a small object into her hand, but nodded, and the two parted ways.


*Queen's Gambit End*