It's late. Ace is alone in his residence. Calling it a house would be an insult to houses. He glances down at the visibly rotting wood and sighs softly. He knew realistically he could put in the effort and fix up the house, make it into as close of a second home as he could, but didn't want to. He didn't want to try to make this rundown little palace into a new home. He wanted to go home to his daughter, to laugh with her and be able to stay home all night and make sure she was safe, even if Kotaro was watching over her and had promised to watch over her.
The rest of him wanted to leave the house the way it was. He didn't care about the rot in the floorboards or the way that grass poked between a majority of them. He didn't care that almost all of the windows were cracked or broken, or that the door didn't quite fit correctly in the frame. He didn't mind the fact it got so cold at night because the walls were weak and drafts got in. Ace was so tired of living, that he felt trying to fix the house would be more effort than it was worth. Being in this house made Ace feel nothing but misery.
He lay silently in the shitty little cot, staring at the ceiling, counting the leaves on the vines that had grown in through the roof. It was a silent night, with no wind or birds, no sounds of the people that lived near him. It was more than likely they were all asleep, given just how late it had gotten since Ace had laid down. He had hoped that sleep would come quickly, but she was a fickle mistress and seemed content to avoid ace on this night.
“I can't believe you. Oh how you have fallen.” Fura’s voice suddenly breaks through the silence, and Ace sits up. There, at the single chair beside the shitty little table, was Fura. Ace’s original spirit, the one who had been with him since the start of everything, had come back. Ace couldn’t help the tears that welled in his eyes at the sight, even so far from his zanpakuto, Furaminsotomu had not abandoned him. He went to stand, but stopped when Fura raised his hand and pointed at him.
“Do not stand. You are not worthy to approach me. You have fallen from any kind of grace that myself and the others have granted you. You not only allowed yourself to be taken captive, but you allowed us to be taken from you. You allowed us to be separated from you. I thought you swore never to separate from us. Isn’t that the reason you got into this mess in the first place, because you cared for us?” Fura hisses, and faintly, there is a back echo of the other two speaking with him. It appears that even if he could see Fura because he had manifested using Ace’s strength, ace was not strong enough for all three to be present fully this far from his zanpakuto.
“I- you know why I had to. They would have made it so I could never see my daughter again. You know how much she means to me. I couldn’t just abandon her. She lost one set of family already.” Ace says softly, his voice cracking. The only feeling that Ace can feel right now, is a sense of hurt. Fura might have been mean in their collective past, but he was never outright cruel like he was being right now. “Why can’t you understand that? I didn’t want to let you guys be taken from me, but I didn’t have a choice.”
Fura lets out a snarl that is very distinctly from Tomu. He stands and shoves back his chair, crossing the tiny space in barely five seconds before he backhands Ace, Ace’s head snapping to the side with a resounding crack. “Don’t talk of abandonment. You could have escaped. You know you couldve. Turning into the deer form we granted you wouldve allowed you enough time to grab us and run for it. But you are a coward. Because that is what you have always been and will always be. Nothing more than a coward.”
Fura’s hand wraps around Ace’s throat, squeezing to cut off his airflow and force him to look Fura in the eyes. “I should have killed you so long ago. I should have taken your life the first time you entered our inner world, and I never should have given you our name. You arent worth the air you breathe. You aren’t worth an ounce of the power we have given you. I can’t believe-”
He suddenly lets out a pained noise and stumbles back, releasing Ace and allowing him to drag in a breath. Ace gasps, hand coming up to rub his throat as Fura glances down at his stomach. Ace had shot him with a small cero to get him to release. Fura’s eye twitches and his gaze snaps up to Ace.
“Who do you-”
“Don’t start. I am more than just your vessel. I am more than justa coward. I am a father, and a protector. I am kind, and I am forgiving. I am not a coward for not turning into my deer form and making a run for it. I would not have gotten far, and I likely would have been killed instead of placed in this golden cage I call mine. You do not seem to understand more than just my pride was on the line here. I had my daughter and my life to think about. If i had fought back, do you think that Phyre would have hesitated to take my life from me? She wouldn’t have, and I would not be here to fight with you.” Ace growls, staring at Fura where he is across the room. Ace finally stands up, only to let out a gasp of pain as the screaming in his head starts. His head swirls and he staggers a couple of steps before sinking to his knees. He bends over, clutching his head in a desperate bid to get the screaming to stop.
“You wish to stand up to me? To Us? The source of the power you wield. You want to injure me? Then you can listen to our pain. You can listen to us scream. Forever. You want to not try to get us back, you can listen to us beg. You want to disrespect us, you can enjoy our pain.” Snaps, stepping close to Ace and grabbing him by the hair to yank his head up and force him to look at Fura again. “I hate you. I hate being your spirit. I hate being apart of you. I hate living in your head. I can't beleive you were the stupid soul I was attached to. Me and the others cannot stand you. You have turned on us.”
Ace is crying now, though it's not loud. It's a silent cry, tears streaming in streaks down his face. He looks up at Fura, as though pleading with the spirit to make the screaming stop. Fura, though, looks down at Ace with nothing but dislike, maybe even hatred. He watches Ace cry, holding his hair in his hand and considering something. After a second he throws Ace to the floor, where he curls up to cover his ears to try to stamp out the screaming.
“Miserable, arent you little one?”Fura hisses out in false sympathy, kneeling down beside Ace to run his hand over Ace’s hair before laughing and standing again. “If you want us to even consider stopping, then you have to get us back. Go to that Phyre of yours and convince her to let you have us back. Only then will we consider making the pain stop.” Without glancing back at Ace another time, Fura fades to nothing, leaving him alone on the floor.
Ace can’t move, can't bring himself to stand. His head throbs as they continue to scream, to yell, to permeate every aspect of his mind. It takes him almost an hour to struggle to his feet. He feels ready to vomit the instant he's upright. He’s never been in so much pain, but nothing he can do can help him. He stumbles to his kitchen, and after a moment of hesitation, he downs most of a bottle of sake. The alcohol permeates through his body rather quickly, given how long it had been since he last drank. This does drown out some of the screams, and he uses the opportunity to head out, trying his best to seem fine, but it is evident something is off.

His only goal, make it to Phyre’s office and pray that she is willing to let him see his Zanpakuto long enough for them to make the pain stop.