After the meeting:
It took a good while, but the meeting was finally over. Much had been discussed, and it all dealt with preparations for the upcoming war with Soul Society. After the meeting, Harribel went back to her chambers and saw Apache, Mila-Rose, and Sun-Sun were there waiting for her. However, she could easily see that someone was missing from their group.
"Where is Ben?" she asked her Fraccion.
"Ben said he was going outside of Las Noches, Harribel-sama," Apache replied.
Harribel raised an eyebrow. "Did he tell you where or why?"
At once, all three girls looked at the ground in embarrassment.
"We didn't ask him, Harribel-sama," Mila-Rose answered.
Harribel had instantly noticed that her three Fraccion had become closer to Ben ever since the incident with Nnoitra. They were more respectful of his abilities, complimented him more, and anyone could see the small redness that would occasionally appear on their cheeks whenever they were near him. As impossible as it sounded, there could only be one explanation.
Her Fraccion had developed feelings for Ben Tennyson.
And Harribel herself was surprised when she found herself worrying about Ben and activating her Pesquisa to locate him. She sensed him leaving Las Noches. Was Ben trying to run away? No, Harribel sensed others in the direction that Ben was heading. They weren't humans or Shinigami, which meant Ben wasn't betraying them to Soul Society. Harribel found herself feeling relieved that Ben was still on their side. But then, who was it he was going to meet?
---
Outside in the desert of Hueco Mundo, little Nel was sitting on the ground, staring at Las Noches. Pesche, Dondochakka, and Bawabawa watched her.
"Come on, Nel," Pesche said. "He's probably not coming."
"But he said he would," Nel said stubbornly. "He pwomised he would pway with me."
"Nel," Dondochakka gently said. "He probably won't come. He…"
"He's here!" Nel suddenly shouted. "He's here!" she began jumping up and down while pointing towards Las Noches.
Pesche and Dondochakka looked where Nel was pointing. They could make out a red blur that was flying towards them. As the blur got closer, the trio could see that it was the red stingray form that Ben had used when he first met them.
"Ben!" Nel squealed happily. "Ben!"
Once he was close to them, Jet Ray turned back to normal and walked up to them.
"Hey guys," he managed to get out before Nel tackled him.
"Ben!" she cried, hugging his neck tightly. "Nel knew you would come back. Nel knew you would."
"Nel," Ben wheezed. "Can't….breathe."
"Oopsie," Nel said when she realized that she had been unintentionally choking Ben again. "Sowy, Ben." She let go of him, causing Ben to take deep breaths.
"It's okay," he said, rubbing his neck. "I promised that I would come back, didn't I?"
Nel nodded happily. "Now Nel and Ben can pway togewer."
"That's right, Nel," he said with a grin. "We can play together."
"You want to play Eternal Tag with us?" Pesche asked.
Ben grinned. "How about Eternal Tag with a twist?"
Nel's eyes lit up. "Twist?" she asked excitedly.
Ben grinned. "I'll use my forms to make the game more interesting."
Nel smiled happily. "Really?"
"Really," Ben said. "First, we're gonna play Aerial Tag."
He activated the Ultimatrix and transformed into Jet Ray. "Now here's the rules." He said to them. "You guys run and I'm gonna try and catch you from the sky."
"Hey," Pesche commented. "That actually does add a good twist to our game of Eternal Tag. Why didn't we think of that before?"
"Silly, Pesche," Nel chirped. "We can't fly."
Pesche slapped his head. "Of course!"
Jet Ray sighed. He worried about Pesche and Dondochakka sometimes. He wasn't worried about Nel since she was just a little kid. She was allowed to have a big imagination.
"Alright, everyone," he said. "Ready?"
"Ready!" all three yelled.
"Then let's get started!" Jet Ray took off into the sky. No sooner had he left the ground did Nel, her brothers, and Bawabawa start running. Instead of crying, Nel found herself giggling as she saw Jet Ray hover above them, making airplane noises for effect. Jet Ray then nosedived downward. Nel, Pesche, and Dondochakka all ducked. While Jet Ray could easily tag them, he figured that Nel wanted something new to happen instead of regular Tag. So instead he flew over them, but turned around to let them know he was coming back.
"Look out!" Dondochakka cried. "He's coming back, don't cha know?"
"Run away!" Nel cried happily. "Run away."
They started running again, with Jet Ray in hot pursuit. He once again shot downward, but Nel and her brothers dove into the sand again. Once Jet Ray passed overhead again, the others picked themselves up and starting running in another direction.
"This is fun!" Nel cried happily.
With that, the new game of Aerial Tag continued. Although there were plenty of chances for Jet Ray to tag Nel and her family, he saw how much fun they were having and decided to just keep playing along. But over time, Jet Ray found himself getting tired and wishing to take a break. Unfortunately, Nel and her brothers looked like they were having too much fun.
"How in the world can they keep doing this? I'm starting to see why they call it Eternal Tag."
Ben lowered to the ground and turned back to normal to catch his breath.
"Aw," Nel whined. "Why'd you stop?"
"Just taking a quick breather is all," Ben told her as he panted.
"Aw, come on, Ben," Nel said. "Nel is having so much fun!"
"That's true," Pesche agreed. "Aerial Tag is a lot more fun than our boring Eternal Tag."
"Yeah," Ben said as he regained his breath. "But now it's your turn to try and catch me."
Nel groaned. "No fair!" she said. "We won't catch you! We can't fly."
Ben smiled as he patted the skull on Nel's head. "Don't worry. I won't use Jet Ray. I'll do something that you can catch. But I won't make it easy." He added with a grin.
Nel smiled and clapped happily. "Yay!" she squealed in delight.
Ben smiled as he continued to rub her head, despite the skull getting in the way. This, he figured, must be what it feels like to have a little sister. It felt pretty nice. If he found a way to get home, he'd see if Nel and the others would come with him.
"Okay now," Ben said. "Here's a new game of tag we can play."
He activated the Ultimatrix and turned into Echo Echo, shouting his name out as he did.
"Wow," Nel said as he looked at Echo Echo. "Ben got tiny."
Echo Echo grinned. "The rule of this game is to…catch all of me!"
Suddenly Echo Echo created copies of himself and all of them dashed in different directions.
"Whoever gets the most is the winner!" the main Echo Echo yelled as he and his copies ran off.
Nel's face lit up as if she had just been given a load of presents. No sooner had Echo Echo yelled out the rules of the game; she took off after the closest one. And of course, Pesche, Dondochakka, and Bawabawa followed her example and began to chase after all the Echo Echos.
If there was one thing about Ben, he certainly knew how to get rid of boredom. Just when it seemed that there was going to be a winner in this new game of Tag, Echo Echo would make more copies of himself, causing the other players to chase after them all once again. Nel loved every moment of it. Ben had made Eternal Tag fun again!
Once they done, Ben used his forms to entertain Nel. He dazzled Nel with a fire show using Swampfire. Then he used Water Hazard to create water sprinklers for Nel to play in. Afterwards, he let Nel ride on top of him when he turned into Terraspin. Then he turned into Humungousaur and used his body as a giant slide for Nel, Pesche, and Dondochakka. But Humungousaur was firm when Bawabawa had attempted to slide him down.
After a few more rounds, everyone finally got tired and stopped to rest.
"Wow, Ben," Dondochakka said. "You come up with great games, don't cha know?" he asked.
"Yeah," Pesche nodded. "Thanks to you, we've got even more games to play."
Nel on the other hand had set herself comfortably on Ben's lap, nuzzling against his chest. "Nel's happy to have met Ben."
Ben smiled down at Nel and hugged her close to him. As Ben looked at the skull on Nel's head, curiosity filled him as he looked at the crack running down it.
"Hey, Nel?" Ben asked.
"Hmm?" Nel asked, looking at Ben.
"Why is that, er, skull thing on your head cracked?"
According to Harribel, when a Hollow became an Arrancar, fragments of their mask would remain on them, which would explain things like the jawbone on Yammy or the teeth on Grimmjow. But Ben had never seen a mask fragment that had been damaged before. He wondered what could've happened to Nel to make it like that.
Instantly Pesche and Dondochakka both froze as Nel pouted her lips and went into thought.
"Wasn't it always like this?" she asked, more to herself than Ben.
"You don't know?" Ben asked, amazed. He certainly would've remembered if something like that had happened to him.
Nel frowned as she thought about it. "No," she replied. She looked at the ground. "Sowy, Ben."
"No problem," Ben reassured her, not wanting to make Nel feel bad for something that wasn't even her fault.
But Ben noticed that Pesche and Dondochakka were looking rather nervous all of a sudden. Ben raised an eyebrow at them as he continued to stroke Nel's hair in a brotherly manner. Nel gave a murmur of content as she slowly started to feel drowsy. Soon, she drifted off to blissful slumber.
Smiling some more, Ben slowly got to his feet while gently lifting Nel as he did. He walked slowly over to Pesche and Dondochakka, making sure not to move too fast or he would wake her up. Pesche immediately held out his hands for Ben to place Nel. Ben looked at Nel one more time before handing her over to Pesche.
"Well," Ben said. "Guess I'd better get going. Later guys." He started to head back to Las Noches.
"Ben," Pesche said. "Wait."
Ben stopped and turned to look at Pesche.
"What's up?" he asked.
Pesche seemed nervous or reluctant to do something. He looked at Dondochakka, who nodded. taking a deep breath, Pesche handed Nel to him and walked over to Ben.
"Ben, look," Pesche said. "Nel is happy with you. If something were to happen to you, she would be devastated."
Ben's face softened as he looked over at the sleeping Nel. His heart softened as he looked at her peaceful form.
"Truth is, Ben," Pesche said. "We used to live in Las Noches too."
Ben's eyes widened.
"But one day, a fellow Arrancar attacked Nel and badly wounded her. You asked what that crack on her skull came from? It came from his attack."
Ben's eyes narrowed. "Who?" he asked coldly.
"It doesn't matter now," Pesche said sadly. "All I'm saying is for you to be careful in there and watch your back."
"No need to tell me," Ben said, remembering Yammy, Nnoitra, and Baraggan. The top three people in Las Noches that he was very certain wanted to kill him.
"Just," Dondochakka said. "Don't go and get yourself killed, don't cha know?"
Ben smiled softly. "I won't," he said. He activated the Ultimatrix and turned into Jet Ray. He soared into the sky. Looking down, he saw Pesche and Dondochakka waving at him. He waved back at them, then smiled when he looked once again at the sleeping Nel. Then he took off back to Las Noches.