BLEACH: The Dusk In Red

In a small prison cell with an opening blocked by a steel grate, Gerbert was stuck waiting. Despite how cold it was, he couldn't feel it at all, and yet the rage in his heart was burning him from the inside out.

"That bastard... why couldn't he just shut the hell up??"

In his anger, he began to here a faint voice from the opening. Quickly checking, he saw a strange smog hovering in front of it. Somehow it felt familiar to him, almost as if it had been there the entire time, and yet he hadn't been able to notice it till now.

"That Elf, he mocks you, he antagonises you, he's a lazy waste of space."

Despite questioning the voice in his head, for some reason... he agreed with it.

"That's right.. that's right..."

"Those people could never understand how important we are, that we matter more then them..."

"Yes.. that's true... I am more important then all of them! Without me, there won't be any toys to begin with!"

The black smog started to flow down through the holes in the grate, before warping around Gerbert. He began to feel strange, as a sensation of power he shouldn't have began to burst inside him, and yet, he liked it.

"Free me, and we will show them the truth together.. free me, and we can achieve by ourselves what all these fools have to accomplish with teamwork.. I'll show you the true way.. the way Klaus neglected to teach you.."

**

"An Elf?", Two voices said at the same time.

Kai quickly looked next to him, and was surprised to see a Soul Society Lab researcher also witnessing the event. He seemed like a meek person, with short brown hair tied up in a top not with very narrow eyes.

The two made eye contact for a split second, before the elf began to cheer.

"No way?? I actually made it!?"

He immediately saw Kai, seeing that he was wearing the black Shihakushō and was armed with a Zanpakutō. Although he was lacking in the flames department, he quickly deduced that this was the guy he was looking for.

"Your him! Your the hero! I didn't think I'd find you this quickly!"

"Eh?"

As the dust cleared, a small crowd of citizens began to form. Since Elf's weren't really meant to be seen, he ended up panicking and grabbed Kai by the wrist. Surprisingly, he was stupid strong.

"What!? Let go! You got the wrong guy!"

The two quickly fell into the Sleigh, and with the press of a button it began to slowly float. Just before it took off, two Soul Reapers ended up arriving at the scene.

"What the hell is that?"

Kai quickly looked over the Sleigh before shouting,

"HELP M-!"

Before he could even finish uttering those words, it blasted off into the atmosphere quickly disappearing in a flash of blue light. A boy who was training in a nearby mountain, quickly caught a glimpse of a zooming red object fly in the sky, with a voice screeching out of it. By chance, he recognised it.

"Kai?"

**

After a long period of screaming later, the red sleigh entered the atmosphere of a white desert, before seemingly crashing into the fields of endless snow and mountains. A loud boom echoed across the land, causing an avalanche to fall.

Luckily, it missed all three of them.

As Kai got up in a daze, he lazily asked,

"What-? Where? It's so cold..."

The Elf quickly appeared in front of him, as he started to violently shake his hand.

"Hello, great hero sir! My name is Surveyor Kahn! I brought you here to the world of winter, to save my people and the world!"

'The world of winter? I think I've heard of that place before?'

There were four different Societies of Spiritually inclined groups for each cardinal direction. However, they rarely made contact with each other causing knowledge of them other to disappear over time. This was the first time in hundreds of years which that boundary had been crossed.

"You called me the great hero? I think you grabbed the wrong guy?"

"Of course you are, your the great hero from 2000 years ago! Black robes, flaming sword, you fit all the descriptions!"

Kai suddenly flinched once he heard that description. Putting one hand on Kahn's shoulder, he quickly explained.

"2000 years ago?? Do I look that old?? My Zanpakutō doesn't even use fire, it's a gravity type!? You know there's multiple of us, right!"

Realizing his great mistake, Kahn stepped back flabbergasted. He could try to go back, but it seemed the old sleigh had broken from that earlier impact. Suddenly he collapsed as he started to sob,

"Why do I always mess these things up..."

Kai looked down on him with pity, but then he felt something in the snow begin to move. He turned around while drawing his sword, as a shrieking monster jumped out at them.

He quickly rushed in to pierce it, but then it shouted,

"Wait! It's so cold!"

On closer inspection, this snow monster had the spiritual pressure of a Soul Reaper which he found very strange. The husky snowman started to shake itself, causing the excess snow to fall, revealing the person hidden underneath.

Kai recognised him as the Researcher he had briefly met, prior to the Sleigh crashing in front of them.

"How did you?"

He tired to speak, but the harsh winter of this world gave him a terrible cold. Every time he tried to speak, he would either cough, sneeze, or stutter so badly that whatever words he tired to say, sounded like utter garbage.

Thinking about it now, he was starting to be affected too.

"Uh, hey? Can you take us somewhere warm first? We'll talk about what to do next afterwards."

The Elf then said with a weak response,

"Sure..."

Strangely, he wasn't affected at all by the intense cold. For the next hour or so, he perfectly guided the two through the terrible snow storm, all while the sun quickly went down. Even as the darkness encroached, Kahn was able to navigate the lands perfectly.

'Handy...'

After walking for sometime, Kai could see a sea of yellow light blinking in the distance. With some hope on his face he quickly started to run towards it with the other two trickling behind him.

It didn't take long for him to get there before being stunned by what he was seeing. Several more Elf's much like Kahn were all running around minding there business. Buildings made from what looked like ginger bread stood at only around, twice of his hight, with several Christmas trees decorating the place.

Since Kai was that much taller then everyone, it didn't take long for him to be noticed. One Elf dropped the presents he was carrying, before screaming out loud,

"WE'VE BEEN FOUND! WE'VE BEEN FOUND!!!"

Every single one of them dropped whatever they were doing, and very quickly the entire place turned into a deserted city. Kai was just a little dumbfounded, but Kahn just lead him on.

As the group walked they eventually entered the inside of the main factory. From their, the three walked all the way through various corridors, before reaching a much taller wooden door that had a 2 words engraved on them.

"Santa.. Clause..? He's actually real??"

"Yep! And he runs this place!"

"How come I never got any Christmas presents last year then?"

Kahn didn't answer. He quickly pushed the door open, and the three were greeted to an awfully modern looking office for this kind of guy. Surprisingly, Klaus wasn't here. Kahn just said a weak,

"Oh..."

It appears Santa had ran away along with the other elves.