97 and 93 for the ask meme kisuke/Erich

– flightsofairy

(97: time travel; 93: makeovers… I’m very amused)

Erich stumbles into the deep past, spitting mad and Out For Revenge. Yhwach thought to rid himself of a troublesome Quincy that he could not control by throwing him into another time? Erich would prove to the man how poorly thought out that “plan” actually was.

(He’s going to return to his time by any means possible, and take Yhwach down with him, he swears it.)

Of course, “by any means possible” means… many things to a man who survived the Great War and who reads plenty of sci-fi and fantasy books in his downtime. Erich’s entirely down for screwing the hell out of the timeline he’s currently in, and that starts with shanking Aizen before the bastard can make trouble for Erich’s loved ones.

(He knows exactly what time he’s in when he spots Aizen with a familiar crystal, stealing reiatsu from empowered souls. It takes him all of ten minutes after he’s destroyed Aizen to remove the second Hogyouku from existence, using his Quincy skills to unravel the newly born artifact.)

(There’s something to be said about age and cunning conquering youth and power.)

Erich ghosts through Seireitei, entirely confident in his skills, and ‘drops in’ on the young, uncertain, anxious version of his lover with… a bit less finesse than he wanted to.

Specifically, Kisuke catches him killing Kurotsuchi in order to remove another threat to his future loved ones, and takes Immediate Offense. Not that Erich really blames him, but uh… it’s Very Odd to realize, as they fling themselves into combat and Erich utterly thrashes Kisuke across the Division, that all that sparring against Kisuke’s Future Self made this much younger version almost an open book.

It’s only when he’s pinned Kisuke to the ground, foot on the man’s chest and rifle barrel pointed at the man’s forehead, that Kisuke gives in. They’re both wounded and tired, the Division is a mess, they’ve gathered Attention from everywhere, including other Captains, and Erich wonders if he should just… run.

(He’ll make it just fine; these Shinigami have never encountered magecraft before, and Erich is an expert at magecraft these days.)

But Kisuke covers for him, even though everyone knows that Erich is a Quincy – he wasn’t very subtle with his abilities, after all, not when fighting any version of Kisuke required his utmost – and… the quirk of how Seireitei works ends up working for him. Kisuke laid claim to Erich, so no other Division really has a leg to stand on. Erich is Kisuke’s problem now and they all know it.

They retreat to Kisuke’s miraculously still standing office and… talk. For hours. About the future Erich knows and the things he’s already changed and what remains to be done. They talk about how Erich wants to return to his time, his people, and Kisuke… well, he’s intrigued.

He’s intrigued enough to go along with it, to put Erich in Kurotsuchi’s former position in the SRI, to work with Erich to discover Silbern and the Sleeping King–

(Erich uses this time to eel his way into this Kisuke’s confidence. To give the man the advice he so desperately craves and the human connection that he so desperately needs. He uses this time to help Kisuke bend enough to understand how the average person thinks and views the world, without forcing the man to break.)

(The end result, he hopes, will turn Kisuke into the confident, capable Captain that Erich knows he can be.)

–It doesn’t take all that long to discover Silbern. Once Kisuke knows about a thing, it’s only a matter of time before he cracks it, after all! And not one Quincy in the white castle in the shadows of Seireitei expected Erich and Kisuke to rip through their halls. To sweep up to the chamber of the sleeping kind and for Erich to kill him–

Erich sees things in that moment, his blade driven deep into his progenitor’s chest and the lingering traces of another version’s strength sliding against his senses. He sees the way this reality will go and knows that it will be better. He sees his own way back and the way he can surprise his Yhwach. He sees how these two deaths will lead to so many more realities where Yhwach’s power slips in a crucial moment, where other people, other powers, can win–

He flashes a sharp grin at this Kisuke, tells the man where to find his and Alexis’ souls in a few decades, and flings himself through time and realities.

(The Kisuke who lost his lover to Yhwach’s trickery, who fights with rage in his heart and despair in his soul, falters when a familiar signature appears behind Yhwach and takes the man’s head without effort or retaliation.)

(The Erich who stands across from him, blood-spattered and bold, is wearing a Shinigami’s uniform and a familiar SRI band on his upper arm. The katana he drops to lunge at Kisuke clangs against the floor without dissipating, and the kiss is fierce enough to convince Kisuke it’s real, even though they’re still in public.)

(”You make a cute Shinigami, E-rich-kun,” Kisuke teases his lover once they’ve pulled apart.)

(”Your alternate self was adorably convincing,” Erich answers without shame, a smirk on his face. “Who was I to say no when it let me wander about Seireitei and no one could do a thing about it?”)

(Kisuke just laughs and hugs Erich tight.)