…...This is an idea myself and my friend had, in a moment of sheer insanity. So, let's begin.
EDIT: Forgot to put in a linebreak. Fixed it. If anyone sees typos, just let me know, and I'll fix em. ((This message brought to you by the SeigyokiMaou Association, dedicated to improving your reading experience since January 18th, 2012.))
Through the Looking Glass
Prologue
Harsh white light cast strange shadows on the wooden walls of the small house.
The light did not touch the mirror.
The mirror did not reflect, but showed glimpses of things beyond. People, worlds other than this one.
The woman sitting before the mirror sighed, her large green eyes bloodshot from too many sleepless nights. A goblet of wine sat next to her, she absently reached for it, knocking it over in her clumsiness.
She looked at it, the wine looking like blood in the magelight. She sighed again.
"Oh my. Silly thing." She extinguished the magelight, and opened up a few windows, both to let in light and to air out her stuffy house.
It smelt of blood and magic. She was used to that.
He always smelt of blood and magic.
She stopped in her cleaning. Why did everything remind her of him?
She looked darkly at the mirror, even that thrice damned thing that consumed her waking moments inevitably led her thoughts back to him.
She realized her fists were clenched. She relaxed. "Why..." She shut her eyes, and sank into a memory.
Kirkwall was safe, the Blight was ended, and there was peace. Not that it would satisfy them. They had become accustomed to adventuring, risking life and limb for little more than a few pieces of gold and perhaps a fancy trinket. But it was the adventure that drew them all, the act of going somewhere largely unknown, facing danger, being victorious. Surviving. Always surviving.
He had saved her, looked out for her, become her friend, introduced her to his friends, who became her friends as well. So when he came to her, inviting her along on an expedition into the Deep Roads, how could she deny him?
If he had asked her for anything, anything at all, it would have been his. Even that. Gladly that.
They came to the entrance to the deep roads, and he greeted his brother, who had been forced to join the Wardens because of that ill fated expedition to the Deep Roads. He was accompanying them, after all, no matter if there was a Blight or not, there were always Darkspawn lurking in the old Dwarven paths.
For the first days were uneventful, a few Darkspawn, nothing they couldn't handle. Then, suddenly, there was a cave in. From what they could tell, nobody had been seriously injured, but they had been separated. She was alone, with him and despite the situation, she was overjoyed. Alone, with Hawke.
She babbled. She babbles when she's nervous. She hates that about herself. Hawke said he didn't mind. That was enough for her. They walked for what seemed like days, sometimes going up, sometimes going down, scrounging up mushrooms and water. It was tough, but she was enjoying it. She was alone with him. It was enough.
Just as suddenly as the cave in occurred, an ambush was sprung. If Carver had been with them, it never would have happened. They fought well, launching magic into the sea of Blighted flesh around them.
Then it had come. Ogre. It slammed its titanic fist into her chest, lifting her slight body off the ground and launching her into a wall. She used the blood, threw up a barrier around her, prayed that Hawke was alive.
Then it went black.
When she woke, Hawke was sitting at a fire, gnawing on a tasteless mushroom. Her clothing and armor were on his lap, a needle and thread in his hand as he patched the holes that she never noticed.
Then it dawned on her.
Her clothes.
On his lap.
In his hands.
She was naked. She "eeped" at the realization, causing Hawke to look back at her and grin wearily. He was exhausted. He had to kill all the Darkspawn on his own. He still found the energy to tend her wounds and patch her clothes.
"Go back to sleep. You almost got the elf beaten out of your ears by that Ogre. I'm not much of a healer though. More of a killer, as you know."
She drifted in and out of consciousness, so her memories were hazy. She remembered him sitting near her, a sketchbook in his hands, drawing intently.
She knew what he was drawing. The lyrium markings. She had branded herself with several, similar to Fenris' lyrium tattoos. They didn't allow her to pass through objects, but they did increase the strength of her magic. Hawke was copying the patterns. She wondered if he was drawing her as well.
When she was well enough to be moved, Hawke helped her get dressed, and carried her on his back. In a few days, they found their way back to the surface.
She opened her eyes. "Oh Merrill. Stop it. Being silly. He doesn't think like you do." Maybe he did, but then Isabela came into the picture. Not that she disliked the Rivani woman, because she did like her. She was just jealous. Stupidly perhaps. Many a time she had been tempted through the mirror by a Desire demon. She knew what she wanted, but she was strong enough to resist it. She hoped.
Fire flickered in her mind, sharp tongues of fury licked at the back of her eyes. She clenched her left hand, and the lyrium markings lit up. She glared darkly at the mirror. "This is all your fault!" She slammed her fist into the mirror, and a spiderweb of cracks spread across it.
Brilliant red light leaked through the cracks, and a deep rumbling laughter filled the room. Scowling, Merrill placed her palm on the mirror, blocking the red light and repairing the cracks. She had interacted with the mirror while feeling a strong emotion. "Stupid stupid."
You can't win boy. I have it under control. I am one with it. You can't stop me.
Merrill stopped, her eyes fixed on the mirror. For once, it was showing her something new.
I can. I will. Believe it you sick freak.
You think you can match the power of the Jubi?
That was a new word for her. Jubi. The man in the black cloak and odd mask radiated power, whatever this Jubi was, it was powerful, and he could control it. His opponent wore a silly looking conical hat and a red cloak with stylized black flames adorning it. She couldn't help but think that he looked like the dashing hero of some children's story.
I can outmatch the power of that overgrown shitpile. I can outmatch you. Eighth Gate; Shimon, RELEASE!
You trade your life for nothing boy. That power is a grain of sand, blown away in the storm that is the Jubi.
The man in the hat was thrumming with power, Merrill could feel the surface of the mirror vibrating when he did his...gate...thing. What did the other man mean by trading his life?
Riiiight. You see this? The man in the hat tilted his hat back, and gestured at his forehead, which Merrill couldn't see from the angle the mirror showed. She tried to turn her head to see from a different angle, before remembering that mirrors don't work like that. Even magical ones. I had Tsunade teach me how to use it. You see? Its healing my body even as the Shimon consumes it.
The two men clashed, their colliding fists tearing up the earth around them and moving the clouds above them.
It makes no difference. Eventually the chakra will run out. Then you will die.
Merrill could almost feel the man in the hat smirking at his opponent.
You see? Common misconception. Most of the chakra generated by the Eight Gates isn't utilized by the one that opens them. It increases physical abilities exponentially, but largely, the chakra is just released into the air, where it is lost. I don't have to worry about that. Because~~ The man in the hat sing-songed, childishly. Merrill couldn't help but giggle.
You have Samehada. Clever. Their fists clashed again, and the man with the mask unslung the odd looking weapon on his back. The man in the hat responded by clapping his hands together, and in a puff of smoke two massive swords appeared in his hands. One looked like a ridiculously large meat cleaver, the other like a log wrapped in cloth.
The pair rushed each other again, their weapons clashing. The sky tore open, the clouds for miles around were blasted away, and the ground beneath them split. So engrossed with the scene before her, the elven woman failed to notice herself. A nimbus of soft white light surrounded her, and slowly, ever so slowly, began to pull her towards the surface of the mirror.
The war-fan swung in, engulfed in demonic chakra. The man in the hat ducked under it, and suddenly he was the man without a hat. "You bastard! I worked for years to wear that thing! AND YOU DESTROY IT. JUST LIKE THAT? YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH I'LL KILL YOU!"
The masked man danced away, "My mother was a saint, unlike yours."
The swordsman frowned, his blue eyes glinting under a metal forehead protector. "You killed my mother you sick fuck!" He dashed forward, twin swords blurring as he attempted to bisect his opponent.
"Tsk tsk Naruto-kun. Such a dirty mouth, didn't your mother teach you better?" Tobi, for it was Tobi, grinned behind his mask.
Cold fury crept onto his face. Naruto looked at Samehada and simply nodded. The sword convulsed, and began to fuse with his arm. When the process was completed, his entire body was covered in sharp scales. Stowing Kubikiri away, Naruto drew forth Kiba, and grinned a sharp-toothed grin as lightning crackled forth from them. "I will destroy you."
Tobi cackled madly as he drew the Jubi's chakra around him. "How long as it been Naruto-kun? A year? Five? I don't recall. It did take me quite some time to master the Jubi's chakra, enough time for you to become leader of that worthless excuse for a village. But considering their standards, it may have just been a week or two."
Naruto dashed at him, the sharp scales covering his body glowing with the sheer amount of chakra that was being released into the air. "You, will, DIE!"
Tobi and Naruto collided, and the boundaries between worlds shuddered.
The mirror pulsed, and flung Merrill across the small room. Scrambling to her feet, she moved back to the mirror. The blonde called Naruto was crouched on the ground, the scales from his blood flowing freely from numerous wounds. The masked man approached. He was missing an arm, and most of his mask, but he was moving steadily forward, the jagged remains of his war fan poised to crash down onto Naruto, and likely kill him.
She leaned forward, "N-"
"-o!"
Tobi stopped, and looked towards the sound. A slim woman, black hair, wide green eyes, pointed ears. Shocked, somewhat lost expression. Tobi grunted, he would deal with her later.
He swung his weapon down. A green and brown blur shot between him and Naruto, knocking the young shinobi aside. A flash of blue light knocked him back, and he saw the woman, sitting on Naruto's chest, her left hand burning with a brilliant blue flame.
"What?"
Naruto looked up at the person that had tackled him to the ground. Green eyes. "What?"
"Um. Hello. How are you? I mean, not well, of course, stupid question when you're all bloody and whatnot. I'm not hurting you am I? I am aren't I? Ohh im sooooo sorry! Oh, I'm being rude. I'm Merrill. Nice to meet you. I'll stop babbling now."
"...What." Naruto looked up at the woman that called herself Merrill. The woman talked a mile a minute, and he had absolutely no idea where she had come from, or what the hell she was saying. He found it somewhat endearing, for some reason he could not fathom.
"Oh! Silly me, I'm rescuing you!" She held up her hand, and it was engulfed in blue flames, with her other hand, she drew out a jagged shard of glass. A chunk of a mirror. Her lips moved in frantic, inaudible speech, and an odd light erupted from the mirror and surrounded them.
"What?"
Naruto looked over Merrill's shoulder, even as she stopped speaking, and everything the mirror-light touched was drawn into the glass. Tobi's hand grasped the woman's neck, and he was drawn into the mirror as well.
Merrill screamed. Naruto screamed. Tobi screamed. Her spell was meant for two people The delicate balance of the Eluvian had been disrupted by Tobi, the vast quantities of demonic chakra within the man turning the spell into...something else.
Fingers burning with demonic chakra dug into the elven woman's neck, the sharp scent of burning blood crept into Naruto's nostrils.
He saw red.
This woman. This, strange, oddly endearing woman, who appeared from nowhere and tried to help him. Tobi was hurting her. Tobi was killing her.
Not again. Not. AGAIN.
Reaching around the woman, Naruto's fingers scrabbled for Tobi's eyes, before digging into one of them. The half-blinded man let go, and Naruto reared back his arm, and slammed his fist into the remains of his mask.
With a twisted cry of anger, Tobi spiraled off into the darkness.
Merrill coughed.
The void between worlds pulsed and screamed.
Naruto put his hands over his ears, letting go of Merrill in the process.
She woman shouted, but the words never reached him. White light engulfed him.
"What the?"
"Do you know where you are, eh milkdrinker?"
Naruto groaned, and picked a few splinters of wood off his face. "Someplace where insinuating that someone drinks milk is an insult?"
AN: SO! That was fun! Thoughts? Hate it? Love it? Want MOAR?
Couple questions for you guys.
1)Where did Tobi end up?
2)Where did Naruto end up?
BLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEGH. I start college tomorrow. So my updates will be sporadic, but I'll try for weekly.
PLEASE REVIEW. ALL YOU PEOPLE THAT FAVORITE THE STORY, ALL YOU PEOPLE THAT PUT IT ON YOUR ALERT LIST; REVIEW THE DAMN THING, LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS SO I CAN MAKE IT EVEN BETTER!