AN: So...I posted the first chapter of my short story, and let it "simmer" per se. When I look back I was...flabbergasted! 12 Reviews! I was expecting a lot less, maybe 3 to 5 at most. I also received so many favs and follows! I was pleasantly surprised, so my heartfelt thanks to all of you! This is my first time getting such warm reception, since the stories and challenges I have posted so far were quite REMOTE (i.e. unexplored by readers/authors). What was I thinking when I wrote Gears of War/Vocaloid story...oh yes Plot Bunnies.
Some of you have posted questions on the first chapter, and one reviewer even attempted to answer the 'take-away questions' I so casually asked. Well, it is pretty darn obvious who Ripple-Eyes man is no? Well it is Naruto, who else could it be? For those whom are still thinking who Erza is (there could be some), her identity would not be revealed/implied yet. I tried to finish this story by this chapter, but alas...
Why you may ask? Because this Chapter WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN! This plot bunny has just evolved and I felt inclined to expand on this short story a little longer. Perhaps instead of 2 chapters in total, it would be 3 to 4.
For those whom are wondering the "odd pupil" on Naruto's Rinnegan AND have not seen the prescribed Manga Chapter and page, it is the Yin/Yang symbol. Majority of the story is focused on Erza's POV so she would have no idea what it is hence "odd pupil".
I will stop my comments now and get on with the story, so I hope you will enjoy it because I enjoyed writing it! Once again, appreciate any reviews or comments!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.
"conversation"
"thought"
"powerful being talking/Jutsu"
"[Elementaris conversation] i.e. Shinobi Language"
Rikudou's Point of View:
He cast the sleeping genjutsu on the little red-head, he could see her falling closer into a slumber. Frankly, Erza is very sweet girl; the only problem was all the pain and torture she was subjected to. Her experiences turned her into a mess, and something that should not be there, in the darkest parts of her mind was born from the hell she was subjected to.
He had seen her posture, guarded to the very end until she broke down and cry on his shoulder. She was very soft-spoken and her voice was bitter, and when he looked into her eyes, he felt her pain and her hate...it was not the eyes a girl as young as her should ever have. There were so many old bruises and cuts, some of them potentially fatal; it is a wonder how she managed to survive from them, let alone moving and talking. She reminded him of a time long passed, a time he wished he could forget. Though he had to admit his bitter memories lack that much physical abuse. What really pained him was her resemblance to his most precious person, someone whose mind and soul he could never see again.
"(Yawns) what is your name... sir?" He heard the girl said, her voice was slightly slurred and was relaxed, genjutsu obviously taking effect. Well, he should have seen this question coming but considered whether to give her his name at the moment. Hearing the red-head sounding so at ease made him lighten up, he wanted to keep it that way.
He was not his very late Godfather, FAR from that but he could guarantee that if this little girl, Erza grew up well, she would surely be a heart-breaker, and if she was anything like him in his younger days, she would be pretty dense and unaware of it.
But still... he HAD to answer her question. Thinking up a sufficiently elusive and mysterious response, he gave his answer.
Despite his VERY long life, he felt the need to leave an impression, so what better way to do it than being an enigma?
"I am a wandering sage, just call me Rikudou", a pretty good job if he says so himself...
"(Yawns)...weird name..." she heard her say before finally falling asleep. The now named Rikudou chuckled, but he had an internal face-fault, how could she not... oh he was not in Japan now, that place really reminded him of home, though all the people there looked different; there were no red-heads, no blondes and certainly no dark-skinned people, they were all across the world, more focused to the farther West.
Though it would be reasonable to assume that the girl had no idea what it meant...how did he overlook that?
He ended his internal rant and looked back at Erza. He could not help but admire at how peaceful the girl in his arms was when she was finally asleep. At that point in time, she could pass up as any young, innocent little girl without any worries in the world. He knew when she wakes up; this peaceful look would be gone again.
With that he got to work on the other task other than saving her from those monsters. He cast a weak fire Jutsu to dry up and warm the floor, and laid the girl down. He summoned a brush and black ink out of thin air and pulled back the girl's tattered shirt, exposing her deathly pale stomach. With that he got to work; he drew a very complex series of markings and symbols in an ancient language, and in about ten minutes, there was a very intricate seal drawn on her navel.
Before he completed the procedures, there was a shift in the wind and in seconds, there were six silhouettes, standing behind Rikudou and the sleeping girl. Rikudou turned back and spoke in the same ancient language, which is akin to Earth's Japanese but still very much different.
"[You know what to do, all of you. Keep an eye on chibi-chan when I am...indisposed. I will also have to keep the darkness in her at bay; Tendou, Ningendou, both of you have quite a task ahead. Take good care of her...and make sure she does not succumb to her darker emotions.] "
The six human-shaped figures gave curt nods but remained where they were; Rikudou gave a lingering look to "Tendou" and "Ningendou", his rippled eyes giving off a hint of sadness as well as an almost grim determination."[I will not let history repeat itself, not to another one, not to her... and I will keep my promise]" he mumbled to himself. It was then Rikudou decided to complete the procedure. He did a series of complex hand seals in very rapid successions, making his arms a blur to the naked eye.
"Gedou: Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin", Rikudou declared, this time loud and clear rather than a whisper, upon declaration a large mass of black and white energy surged out from his body and saturated. Soon Rikudou's body was fully cloaked in the overwhelming energy, and his forms slowly dissipated, as the energy became more vivid. "Looks like there are perks with being a chakra construct after all...I will always be with you Erza. You may just find the answer I never could, and perhaps bring the cycle to a stop...and I will be there to see you through it." were his last thoughts before he became one with the maelstrom and turned fully intangible.
At that point the maelstrom of mystical energy with Rikudou in it surged towards girl on the floor and made contact with the pattern drawn on her navel. In time the energy surrounded her frail form until she was fully covered by it, it took a minute or so until all of the energy merged with the pattern on her stomach, the seal markings glowed black, then white, before it faded, leaving only the black markings visible. Throughout the process, the girl was still miraculously, sound asleep.
The six individuals remained un-moving throughout the phenomenon, as still as statues. Only after the sealing was complete did one of the six approach the sleeping child to carry her back to the orphanage. The other five went to the corpses that littered the ground and performed the relevant fire jutsus to burn their bodies. Those from the mob who were still breathing had their necks slit by the figures before having their bodies burned as well.
Whilst the sixth individual brought Erza back to her room, her sleep became a lot more uneasy.
Unknown Dreamscape:
Erza's Point of view:
Erza had no idea where she was but she did NOT want to be here, all she knew was that she was walking on what would be an accurate description of a battlefield, more specifically a town under siege. The town she was in was something she had not seen before, an odd mix of modern as well as ancient architecture. For most part, the place was in shambles, most of its buildings destroyed, some were on fire. It was the peak of night and the full-moon was up. If it was not for the sheer destruction around her, she would have appreciated its beauty for a while.
There were corpses littering the streets, almost as if they were all just recently massacred. They wore odd clothes, they adorned 21st century flak jackets, but what caught her attention were their headbands, they were similar to her saviours but lacked the horns; furthermore the symbols on the plates were an odd cross between a spiral and a leaf.
She did not want to stay there any longer, so she started to run; not sure where she was heading, as long as it was away from the bona-fide killing grounds. Not long later, she saw more of the strange people; they were alive and were running towards a specific location, apparently they did not see her OR were not aware of her presence. With nowhere to go, Erza followed them. She had to run fast to catch up to them, but surprisingly she did not tire, then she realised it was a dream so it did not matter. She saw more rubble, and many other similar people leaping off the roofs of the buildings. She also caught a glance of the odd posters and banners of the various buildings; they were all in a language she could not understand.
She also passed by areas where fights took place a distance away, there were more of those strangers fighting humanoid armoured beings. The armoured humanoids resembled those Japanese warriors she caught a glance of from televisions, though the pieces of armour were all attached together by purple flames. All of the humanoid beings were wielding elegant curved swords which were engulfed in the same purple flames as the humanoids themselves. The opposing side stood no chance and were being cut down effortlessly by the flaming armours.
Not long after following the group of strangers, she reached to what she assumed was the town square, it was also in rubbles. A lot of people were there, all wearing the same headband as those she found dead. All of them had looks of shock, awe and most prominently, fear. Erza wondered what could give them such strong emotions, so she looked up and followed their vision.
That was when she saw him again
Standing on nothing but air, was the unmistakeable figure of her saviour, Rikudou, he looked exactly the same, from the short, spiky blonde hair, horned headband through to his mesmerising eyes. His entire being was overflowing with visible WHITE energy that his entire person lit up brightly. His face lacked no apathy or calmness that she came to know of from meeting him, but instead it was unshackled, unhidden and unbridled RAGE. She noticed a distance away behind him, were six other figures floating as well, but they were spaced out evenly and generously between each other, and all of them were covered by the shadow of darkness. Well all except their eyes, which were glowing brightly. She had to narrow her eyes to focus on their images; it was hard to see their general form from such a distance. However she did notice they wore similar long flowing cloaks much like her saviour AND they had similar eyes, though theirs were less elaborate; they were still a metallic purple with four concentric circles but lacked the Rikudou's odd pupil and comas surrounding it.
From the way they are positioned, the power radiating off each and every one of them and the fact that they were FLOATING, it almost felt like she was looking at vengeful Gods, ready to pass judgement to the people on the ground.
She then heard a shout in an unknown language from one of the people in the crowd; she diverted her attention to the source of the attention and saw a heavily bandaged man, his face contorted in rage and fear. Behind him were a group of masked men in strange but form-fitting armour.
Whatever he was saying, it sounded desperate, angry, and fearful, it sounded like he was appealing to her saviour for something, but managed to make it sound condescending. Rikudou glared at the man and directed some of his oppressive aura towards him. The man fell to his knees and was gasping for air. It seemed that the masked individuals did not take too kindly to his saviour's gesture and started throwing knives at him. She was surprised by the force and speed behind the mask people's throws; they were almost as fast as bullets. For a brief moment she was worried that Rikudou would not be able to dodge it...but her worries were for naught.
From what she could see, the knives stopped midair, possibly inches from her saviour's face; and without warning they changed their directions back towards the masked people who threw them and in less than a second they disappeared and were firmly planted into each masked man's skull. All of them were dead before they hit the floor. Once again, she was at awe at such a display, it was as if nature and reality itself was his to command.
With that interlude done, she heard her saviour make a speech in a booming voice, loud enough for everyone to hear; Erza wanted to know what he was saying but alas she could not.
Then she saw Rikudou enclosed his arm, forming a black ball of void-like energy in his hands, he ended his angry speech with some declaration, but his voice was softer and sounded resigned, then he whispered something that she should in all honesty not be able to hear considering the distance but could nevertheless hear it clearly. Deep in her subconscious she knew that something would happen when he finished the word.
"Chibaku Tensei", then a very BRIGHT light overwhelmed her vision to the point that she had to block her eyes, she heard the echoes of screams coming from the crowd, but they were dimming.
Transition:
She opened her eyes again after the blinding light was gone, and she took a look around. She gasped when she saw where she was, it was a place she did not want to see ever again.
It was the same alley way she was at when the scarred bastard almost killed her; the only difference was...there were corpses EVERYWHERE. All of them were bodies of the people, whom tormented her, and of the angry mobs, some of them lacked limbs, others had their bodies literally crushed and some were horribly mutilated. She was in a shock, everyone she had ever hated were there, ALL of them dead, in the most horrifying and gruesome way possible.
It was then she heard a giggle behind her.
She looked around, and there, sitting on the wet floor was a VERY familiar person...herself. The lookalike had her entire body especially her hair covered in blood that was very likely not hers, head lowered and hair blocking her face. She was giggling, and for some reason she did not like that sound. It sounded, insane.
"Queen...how nice of you to join me...so like what you see?", her lookalike raised her head and she saw it; a mirror of herself, but the only difference was that she had a manic grin, her eyes glowing with bloodlust, hate, malice and not to mention her face was covered in blood.
"Who..w-wha..." Erza tried speaking but was too shell-shocked to say anything.
"Who am I, what am I? Well that is a simple answer, I am you...or perhaps what would have been you if our dreamy Ripple-Eyed God did not save us..." said her insane lookalike in a sing-song voice.
Erza managed to rein in her shock and ask her image a question, "w-why are you here?"
Her lookalike gave her a deceptively sweet smile and wagged her finger, "oh silly girl, I have always been here. I became part of you since your little magic trick four years ago. All your pain, your sorrow, your hate and your anger made me. Perhaps if it wasn't for him, I would have been the one to have killed the scarred asshole, and every single one of those bastards. After all, WE ARE freaks, aren't we?" the eyes of her insane lookalike glowed and in moments, both her eyes burned with ominous green flames. At that last statement, her smile turned into a vicious and toothy grin.
Her surroundings started to shake violently, cracks forming on the alley walls as well as the floors, her insane lookalike had an ominous red aura surrounding her, red lightning-like energy vividly coursing through her entire being. The corpses and bodies around her floated for a brief moment, and exploded in a shower of blood leaving only crimson puddles on the floor and walls. Moments later waves after waves of painful memories flooded her mind; Erza could not take it anymore, she fell to her knees and screamed the loudest she could, the memories the last four years too unbearable to relive.
And as quickly as it happened, the shaking, and the memories stopped. Erza breathed a shaky sigh of relief, and managed to will herself to look up, and she saw her lookalike who was already standing, looking down at her. She had a pout on her face, which was unnerving.
"We were waiting for that moment to come...he had to take it away from us, BORING! But maybe...someday we can have our fun, we will get a chance to see the people we hate to fall down and bleed to death, just a matter of time no? Who knows...maybe one day I will be the Queen instead?"
Her face then turned bright and cheerful, "So, see you around Queen! Don't be a stranger when you feel lonely you hear? Right now, get out of here before I rip out your eyes!" She spoke the last sentence whilst waving her hands back at her. It was then, everything started to fade; before Erza could fully leave this nightmarish dreamscape she heard her voice of insanity giving her a last comment,
"Looks like destiny AND a God has taken a fancy to us, wouldn't you think so."
AN: How was it? I really hope it turned out well, let me know about it! Some more demonstration of a Godlike Naruto in the first half of the Chapter...oh and what do you think about the "armoured humanoids". Since I outright show Naruto wielding a TRUE Rinnegan and no one really knows what it can do, I thought why not allow the wielder to use advanced Onmyoton (Yin/Yang release) to summon Chakra armour and give them the ability to function independently like soldiers? I was inspired by Tetsu no Kuni's Ultra-Samurais, Infernals from Warcraft and Nazguls.
As I said before, this chapter was not part of the plan. But I had a sudden surge of inspiration after thinking about how most RinneganNaruto never emphasised on the awesomeness that is the Sage of Six Paths, AND trying to emphasise on Erza's bad experiences affecting her psyche and hence developing her character enough which was slightly inspired by Elfin Lied.
By the way, just so you know ONLY Naruto knows Chakra, so Erza was not demonstrating chakra manipulation. It is however still Biotic abilities but she is special since she needed no surgery or implants. If you see her dark/insane side, you may have noticed how POWERFUL she is, practically Jack times 5.
This will be the last chapter I will be posting for about...three weeks or so. I have commitments that I need to take care off (*cough* Exams *cough*). Hopefully I can wrap this short-story up by then and post the challenge in earnest.
What have we learned this chapter? What did Naruto do to Erza? Did you see that coming?
If not...that was my attempt at being Non-Conventional. Thanks everybody!
Druid
