Ooooh, for the ask meme – let’s see. Erich/Kisuke, 51, 100.

– hamelin-born

(51: accidentally married, 100: accidentally saving the day)

Erich’s day started off normally enough, except for the fact that he had to spend time sorting through the mess that his grandson had made of the Quincy supplies. He needed specific tools and books to continue his education of Uryuu and Kurosaki, but Ryuuken had thrown everything into one cramped room and locked the door behind him.

Armor and books and bows were shoved willy-nilly into a space much too small, with ginto and seelie schneider and random ancient Quincy relics scattered about without rhyme or reason. It was a mess, and a hazard, and Erich really wanted to have words with his grandson about the proper care and storage of an entire people’s worth of supplies.

Even worse, Urahara decided to tag along; Erich hadn’t thought it much of an issue at first – he’d thought it would be a quick sweep to find the things he needed – but now… now he was regretting letting Urahara into the room with him. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the relics had been stored properly, but they weren’t, and relics were notoriously finicky even when properly cared for, and these weren’t, and Urahara was a curious man at heart–

“This is certainly pretty,” Urahara announced, something jingling as he pulled it free of the clutter. “Impractical, but pretty. Hey, Rerugen-san, what’s this one?”

Erich sighed and straightened up, turning to see what Urahara had unearthed this time. “Wh–put that down!” His heart sank at the sight of the interlinked bracelets in Urahara’s hand and a sense of dread settled in his stomach.

(What were traditional marriage bracelets doing laying loose amongst everything else?!)

(He was going to have words with Ryuuken after this!)

“Maa, what’s so dangerous about a couple of bracelets?” Urahara asked as he lifted his arm higher, the movement making the bracelets chime with a high, clear sound.

“Those aren’t normal bracelets–”

“Well, no, they certainly can’t be worn, can they?” Urahara peered at the relic, running a thumb over the part in his hand, likely in an attempt to find the catch that Erich knew wouldn’t exist. “So what do they do?”

“They’re marriage bracelets.” He didn’t know the specifics, and that terrified him. The Quincy had so many marriage bracelets, each with their own purpose and rules, that it was impossible for Erich to recognize any of them on sight before they were activated.

“Eh?” Urahara gave Erich a puzzled look and jingled the interlinked bracelets again. “I thought you were supposed to be able to wear anything related to marriage, and these aren’t very wearable, are they?”

Erich ignored Urahara’s question and lunged, aiming to grab Urahara’s wrist so he could force the man to let go before something unfortunate happened. But Urahara leaned back. Lifted his arm higher. Gave Erich a smug little smile and–

Erich’s hand closed over the free bracelet, and he had just long enough to stare in resignation before the relic yanked on his reiatsu and light flared out to engulf the both of them. The metal in his hand dissolved and a band settled around his left arm, its presence terrible and familiar and infuriating in all the worst ways.

(Married to a damn Shinigami of all things!)

(God damnit!)

He staggered back and rubbed the spots from his eyes, hands trembling in reaction and rage, and took a steadying breath. Another. Unbuttoned the left sleeve of his dress shirt and rolled it up–

The metal band sat against the skin of his wrist, one edge gleaming green like his own reiatsu and the other gleaming red like Urahara’s. He could feel the minor draw on his strength, feel the strange press of unfamiliar power against his soul–

He shoved at the band. Slid it effortlessly up to his elbow before it refused to move further. Grabbed it tight and slammed it back down his arm, wincing at the way it jarred against his wrist–

(He hadn’t expected otherwise but… fuck!)

(Married to a god damn Shinigami!)

“Woah, hey, I don’t think hurting yourself is warranted,” Urahara said as he caught Erich’s right wrist and pulled his hand away from the bracelet.

Erich ripped his hand free and stepped back, chin rising and scathing, vicious words crawling up his throat–

Nothing came out. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t shout his fury aloud, couldn’t even step closer or raise his hand. His body was frozen, the bracelet warming against his skin–

“Rerugen-san?” Urahara murmured, concerned-worried-troubled and the incongruity of it… hurt.

Erich took a step back, relieved that the bracelet’s control allowed him that freedom. Rage burned hot-sour-cloying in his chest but he breathed through it, tamping down his fury and turning his gaze to an open box of armor pieces.

(He’d almost– if the bracelet hadn’t–)

(He’d never been an abusive man or given to rage. For the bracelet to label his reactions violent enough to violate it’s anti-abuse clause…)

He swallowed back bile and turned away, shivering as the enforced control faded from his limbs. “Help me find the book on marriage bracelets. It should be somewhere in this damn mess.”

“Of course.”

Erich very carefully refused to look at Urahara as they dug through the boxes, even when the man paused to hand him potential books for him to flip through. It felt like an age passed before they find the book he needed, and the minute they did he gestured sharply for Urahara to follow and left the room; he’d not found what he needed for the teens, but the bracelet issue overrode that.

(He wanted it off!)

Urahara trailed after him, silent the whole way back to the Shoten except for a murmured ‘you can use my lab if you want’ that Erich barely acknowledged in favor of retreating to the room Urahara had given him. He needed to find which marriage bracelet they had accidentally triggered, which would tell him how to remove it and what its conditions and clauses were.

Anti-abuse was common to all Quincy marriage bracelets, but there were so many other clauses that could be applied, and so many ways for a marriage to be considered ‘permanent’…

He didn’t want to risk anything.

Erich studied the book, barely acknowledging Urahara whenever the man knocked to check in on him. He was too busy, too on edge, to exercise more than absent politeness.

(He didn’t like what he was finding. Didn’t like the suggestion that he was currently wearing a peace-marriage bracelet, only breakable by actions that neither of them could do.)

(They had no clan elders to declare the marriage dissolved, and the only other way out was for one of them to attack a member of the other’s Clan with intent to kill and that…)

(Erich refused to offer that up as a suggestion.)

Urahara’s reiatsu trickled through the bracelet and into his soul the whole while, an enforced connection that let him sense the man’s emotions more clearly than he’d ever before managed. It wasn’t an unknown sensation – he and Alexis had been married the traditional way, after all – but it was an unfamiliar one; it had been decades since his own marriage broke with death, and the presence of another person’s power tucked against his soul was disorienting.

Worse, it meant he couldn’t continue to properly hide his reactions from Urahara; with such a direct connection between them, suppressing his reiatsu was worthless, and Erich knew of no healthy way to scrub emotional impressions from his reiryoku. He didn’t know how skilled Urahara was in reading reiatsu but he suspected ‘very’ as the answer, which left his only available option being deliberate emotional focus in order to drown out responses that he didn’t want Urahara to sense.

Which only made things worse.

(It was one thing to stand before a person and connect words and deeds with emotions. It was another entirely to sense things out context.)

Part of him wanted to give in to the inevitable, to accept that there was no way out except to make peace with his fate. Part of him despised the very idea of it, despised that he would even consider it, and the tangle left him sick with nerves and self-loathing.

(Some nights he threw the book aside, drowning his helplessness with rage.)

(Some nights he dug his nails into his skin. Tried to pry the bracelet from his arm. Didn’t notice the blood until Urahara knelt before him and gently-gently-gently coaxed him down, pressing a healing kido into his wounded arm.)

(Those nights were the worst, were the times when he wanted to give in so badly that it ached like a broken bone even when he drowned that longing for comfort in the self-loathing that burned like bile at the weakness he was displaying.)

Urahara’s actions didn’t help. The man was careful and cautious and helpful at every turn. He never pushed, never teased, never touched him and–

Erich missed the casual contact more than he expected.

(He was so weak!)

The onset of war was almost a relief.

(Coward!)

Erich strode into battle with Urahara at his side, the marriage bracelet meaning the two of them couldn’t part ways like he almost wished they could. But fighting alongside Kisuke was… easy, his emotions settling for the first time in weeks and the cold stillness of war-death-kill taking their place.

He felt a brief flicker of hope at seeing Quincy standing across from him; if he held back, let Urahara strike the first blow, then surely, surely the bracelet would register it as attack against his Clan, but…

Erich saw the moment when one of their foes caught sight of the bracelet on Urahara’s wrist. Saw the moment the man’s gaze swung to him with a sneer, spitting ‘traitor’ and ‘whore’ and ‘worthless’ in his face.

Ice settled in his chest.

(Peace-marriages were sacred things.)

(They didn’t know it was accidental, didn’t know that Erich was futilely searching for a way out.)

(To deny the meaning, to throw it back in his face like that–)

(These were no Quincy no matter what they proclaimed.)

He carved through the enemy army without remorse, Urahara at his side. Followed the traces of Quincy through the distorted Seireitei. Found one of the only tolerable Shinigami staring at the sky, shadows twisting across his body and–

Erich yanked at Urahara’s strength through the bracelet. Reached out and severed whatever technique Ukitake was building.

“Leave him to me,” Erich told Ukitake coldly. “Don’t throw your life away for something so meaningless.”

“He’s going to–”

“I know.”

He didn’t wait for Ukitake to respond, just turned his attention to path he could feel carved through the ether. It was closing in Yhwach’s wake, slowly but surely, but there was enough of a gap left–

“Don’t let go,” he ordered Urahara as he dragged the man closer, fingers digging into Urahara’s bicep as he latched onto Urahara’s strength again and pulled–

He launched them up-up-up, seele schneider in his hand and Urahara’s strength bolstering his own. He carved through the healing defenses. Harnessed that freed power and used it to send them higher and–

They landed in the Soul King’s Palace with a thump, and Erich immediately absorbed free reishi to replenish his stores. Sent more down the connection to replenish Urahara’s stores. Ignored the man’s curious noise and strode forward, following the traces of Yhwach on, ever on.

(This shame of the Quincy fell to him to correct.)

(He could no longer stand aside. Would no longer stand aside.)

The remains of the palace guards fell before him; he no longer had the patience or the time to deal with them diplomatically. Whether they survived or not was not his concern.

(He could feel Urahara’s twisting emotions, concern-curiosity-determination tangled into an unwavering knot.)

(He had no time to deal with that, either.)

Yhwach greeted them in the throne room, standing before the strange, idol-like figure. He turned, lips shaping a name that died before he could give it voice, and swept his gaze over the two of them, the tiniest hint of surprise visible in his expression.

“How fascinating. I’d not expected the two of you to greet me,” Yhwach mused. “But that’s neither here nor there. Dealing with you won’t be–”

Erich launched himself forward, seele schneider in one hand and revolver materializing in the other. He slashed at Yhwach’s neck and–

Froze.

His body turned towards the idol against his will, sword raising to strike.

He struggled to control his actions, struggled to reclaim his agency, clawed at whatever outside force was forcing his hand. The bracelet warmed against his skin, forcing his body into stillness, and he once more yanked at Urahara’s strength. Threw everything he had behind the bracelet. Bit his lip as the metal heated and his skin burned and everything narrowed down to resist-resist-resist–

Yhwach snarled. “Paltry treasures like that won’t avert your fate. I am the source of your strength, the Father of all Quincy, and your will is mine!”

Something snapped in his mind–

A sword protruded from Yhwach’s chest.

Metal clattered against the stone floor.

Erich staggered. Spun. Drove his seele schneider through Yhwach’s head and ripped–

Yhwach howled. Clawed at reality with his powers, trying to unmake it all.

Erich dragged the seele schneider down. Tore through Yhwach’s core and ripped at the severed power. Absorbed some and scattered more and felt something in his own soul come undone–

He staggered back. Held onto his weapons by instinct alone. Fell to his knees and curled forward, left arm aching and mind reeling. He felt dirty, felt used, betrayed by a legend and almost forced to betray his friends and family.

(The bracelet’s control had been one thing, freezing him in place and enforcing peace the only way it could.)

(Yhwach’s control was another, stealing his agency and turning him into a passenger in his own body.)

A hand settled on his shoulder. Pulled him over–

Erich snarled. Twisted. Lashed out–

Urahara caught his wrist in a gentle hold. “It’s alright. He’s dead. We’re safe.”

Erich stared blankly at Urahara as the man pressed healing kido into his left arm. Felt for the man’s presence against his soul and found… nothing.

He was alone. Empty.

(Waking up in a strange place, Alexis missing from his awareness.)

(Alone for the first time in decades.)

(Alone-alone-alone…)

His eyes found the bracelet on the floor, metal darkened from heat and color fading away. Flickered over to Urahara, wondering if… but no, Urahara seemed unconcerned, unbothered by the change.

(Just like he should be.)

(This was what he’d wanted.)

(This was what he’d wanted!)

“Hey, you alright?” Urahara asked softly, pale eyes concerned as he let his kido die and cradled Erich’s hand gently in his own.

It was too much. He wanted too much. Wanted Urahara to do… something, anything, to make him forget the sour taste of fear and the terrifying helplessness of Yhwach’s control–

Erich took a breath. Shook his head. Pulled away from Urahara and stood, letting his revolver fade and sealing the seele schneider once more.

“Let’s get out of here,” Erich muttered as he scowled at the damaged bracelet and the pile of ash where Yhwach once stood. He turned away. Left it lying there.

(He didn’t need a reminder. Didn’t need the evidence of his failures.)

Urahara flickered away. Returned to Erich’s side. Smiled soft-kind-proud and said, “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go home.”

Erich swallowed against the knot in his throat. Rubbed at the smooth patch of skin where the bracelet had sat. Kept his reiatsu carefully tucked away even as he desperately wanted to reach out to Urahara to fill the cold emptiness in his soul.

(Home?)

(Was the Shoten home…?)

(He didn’t know.)

He strode from the throne room without looking back.

(He’d deal with it later.)

(For now he just wanted to be somewhere safe where he could lick his wounds in peace.)

(Everything else could come later.)