Chapter 10: Prisoner of the Empire

A/N: It's happening! It's an update! Nearly four years! And I actually plan on updating this within the next week, because I'm on a roll and I have an idea! But don't get any hopes up because...four years is a long time.

But people kept asking me to update and when I was updating, and I finally caved and I started writing this chapter. Aaaaand it all came out in a single sitting. That's probably a good sign for the future!

I hope you still enjoy my writing and good night, y'all. I have class tomorrow and stayed up writing.

Chapter 10 START

The Capital was bustling with a new sense of fervor. There seemed to be something agitating every person's mind, as if they were integrated in a collective web and a spark at the center had sent a jolt through every link. An event had taken place recently.

A tall, muscular yet lithe figure stepped out of the rather unassuming restaurant through the rags for an entrance, full and content. Despite its appearance, the common restaurant had delicious meat skewers and great drinks, something the Jaeger had been in steep need of ever since the Revolutionary Army had take heart and begun to attack. Not only that, but the Path of Peace was not as willing to remain peaceful, and this additional violence had only added to his headaches. Externally, the Revolutionary Army, and in the interior, the Path of Peace. Those factors combined resulted in a capital that had far more restless days and even more restless nights.

As if things couldn't be any worse, Wave's mood took an ever sharper dip when a new crew called Wild Hunt introduced - more like barged - themselves into the center of the Capital and brought even more issues than resolutions. Seriously, thought the righteous adult, what was their problem. Not only did their mere presence cause every shop and home to hole up and cosplay as a ghost town until they were gone (and even then it'd be a few hours until the town would actually return to life), but whatever district had been unlucky enough to be the visited would remain vigilant and high strung for days on end.

Which was why Wave liked that one particular common restaurant in general. It was boisterous, and the drinks were good, and the owner of it was a rough, yet kind soul. Kind souls were something of a rarity in the Capital, and usually, it would be quite easy for the citizens of the Capital, heartless and cruel, to step all over kind souls. As mentioned, however, the owner was rough. He had a back to him, was tall and bulky with bulging muscles, and was also not afraid to use his...shovel. There was respect given to the owner, and an additional usual customer that came in the form of a Jaeger made targeting the owner in any form transition from a bad idea to a suicidal one. As a result, the shop was always loud, and Wave found himself in loud, brash, but always cheerful company, and the drinks always flowed. He never drank, as he chose to casually relish in the energy of the atmosphere.

By the time he was outside, he was refreshed from suffocating in the Capital's daily heavy life and miasma. He had thought of bringing along Kurome, but she preferred to be left alone. His smile instantly switched to a curled frown. It didn't sit right with him. No, not at all. He had tried everything he could to get the girl to get some fresh air, get out, or at least train. She loved to train before, and with the goal of her sister, Kurome was always fast to her feet to get to work on her skills. But that was before, and now, nothing Wave could do really helped.

Not even the acquisition of Naruto. Not even with the capture of the owner of the Teigu: The Founder.

Curse his bleeding heart, but he'd rather have Kurome be happy than have captured the assassin. More than anything, he wanted the girl to be happy, and ever since she had recently started coughing blood, that tug at his heart wanting to see her grin had only intensified in multiplicative factors.

'Fuck the insurrections. Fuck all of this stupid shit.'

Without even thinking about it, he was back at base and was knocking at Kurome's door. "Come in," was the quiet, feminine reply. Opening the door, Wave allowed himself inside and presented the cake in the box to the room's inhabitant. Kurome's gloomy expression had gone to the wind, and all that was left was genuine happiness and excitement. Wave felt another tug at the strings controlling his heart when Kurome ran up to him and gave him a hug before thanking him honestly and grabbing the box. She waved for him to sit down.

"This is great! I like this flavor, too! Strawberry, is it?" she said, stars in her eyes. Wave couldn't help but grin. Her feelings were contagious.

He almost reached for a spoon out of habit, but remembered that she hated sharing, even if he had brought food as a gift. He contented himself with watching the girl dig into her dessert with gusto. This was usually the only way he could get her to smile and act more animated. Once he realized that, it was a daily occurrence. He would go on watch in the mornings, hang out at the restaurant, and then on the way back return with cake, converse with Kurome, and then the rest of the day was his to do to his bidding. Usually, he would train and Kurome would watch, but her smile was far more reserved and (he hated this) resigned. Sometimes he wished that training wasn't a necessity, but it was his job. The insurgents were powerful, and another battle against the revolutionaries was only a matter of time. Strength would be the ultimate decider in the victor, and he would be damned if he died wishing for a 'what if' and without Kurome alive and by him.

A finger flicked his forehead. "Stop that. You'll get wrinkles and then you'll be ugly."

Wave instinctively fingered his temple and felt it sting at the contact of his fingers. "Isn't that a bit too harsh?"

"The strength of the flick or calling you ugly."

"You called my future self ugly."

Kurome took another bite in response, grinning wildly. Wave deadpanned. What was he expecting.

"You were thinking about training and the revolutionary army again, weren't you?" asked the young Jaeger assassin, finished with her cake. She looked up at him with those eyes, piercing him with her gaze and look at him and through him, all at once. "I know that look, Wave. You need to take a break."

Wave shook his head, a scowl forming quickly. "No, you need to rest. I don't know why the effects of that poison or whatever still hasn't gone away, and your coughs are getting worse. I'm trying to do what I can so that I can protect you."

There were no more smiles. The dainty lift in the room had dissipated and remained was the heavy reality of the impending battle.

"You...you really should rest. You don't know when they're going to attack."

Wave shot to his feet, knocking the chair back. Kurome flinched. He almost apologized, but he grit his teeth and turned around instead in his frustration. She was right; he really didn't know when the Revolutionary Army would attack or what the plan was to deal with Night Raid. But he didn't have answer, and training was his best bet.

"Wave..."

He shook his head, before muttering a barely audible, "I'm sorry." He walked out of the room and cursed, punching a wall when he was sure he was far away enough for her to not hear. He cursed again, and there was a deadly, vicious bite to his words. He walked, and his feet carried him while his mind tumbled with his futile thoughts. For the second time that day, he was at another location without his own bidding. It was another habitual location.

Naruto's cell.

It was more of a torture chamber, but that had changed since Esdeath had left the Capital to deal with the Revolutionary Army on the outskirts. From what he heard, she was doing phenomenally in her defensive position. The men she lost were hardly equal to the sheer number the Revolutionary Army were losing every day. She was outwitting them, out powering them, and simply outmatching them at every step.

At least...that's what he heard.

He opened the door and walked in with a lantern, his boots echoing traitorously loud when he wished to be silent. In another minute, he was in front of the cell holding the most important insurgent to date.

Three months. That's how long he had been kept by the Capital. Wave tried his best to not remember the first month when Naruto was kept by Esdeath, but the bile rose to his mouth against his will. He swallowed, both his bile and his hesitancy to talk, and pulled out a chair. But he remained standing.

Naruto remained silent, his back against the cell and his eyes glowing blue. Wave could hardly see him in the dark, but he could always make out the eyes. They were always alight with power...and those eyes were so different. They held...no fear. But it was different.

When he had first arrived, Naruto had eyes showed determination, guts, and a fearlessness that had a streak of rage. Even after Esdeath's surgeon-like torture began, Naruto's rage only grew. But that rage gradually wisped away and disappeared to a cold, unflinching, winterous silent determination. That changed when she had threatened to promise to cut off digits and then his limbs. He remained silent.

She followed through with her promise.

After all, she had pinky-promised, and he didn't have much of a choice to reject when his wrists were chained and his fingers were all broken. Despite the pain, Naruto continued to stare at her straight in the face, refusing to make a sound. His face had shown hardly any emotions during the amputations, but his face changing colors, from an unhealthy flush of red, to bright pink, then purple, had told her everything. It filled Esdeath with great glee to see an effect finally taking place.

Even better was when they, Naruto, Esdeath, and all the Jaegers, noticed him regenerating the lost body parts the day after. It was the first time they all him scream. Blood curdling, scarring, and a memory that some would keep forever quite happily, and others...wished to drown it out with soap and tons of bleach.

But he recovered and regenerated. Quite rapidly, in fact. Esdeath held nothing back after that, testing all ways that he could regenerate. And he roared, tearing at his throat. Destroying his vocal chords. She would skip sleep to work on the boy. Sometimes, she would walk out and when Naruto had fallen asleep, he would wake up to her cutting off his leg and he'd feel all of his nerves burst to life at once and shriek and wail as millions of connections were severed. And that was when the first change took place. Naruto's hair slowly shifted to a lighter sheen of yellow, until it was a toss-up for whether he had an extremely pale blond hair or a dirty white with some yellow. For all he knew, it may be white with just dirt in his hair.

Scientists had been the next change. Esdeath had permitted them to test on Naruto and gleam any information they could from his body. She originally wanted to remove his Teigu, but that was impossible. She had received quite the shock when she had tried, and she had a mark on her palm to till the day she left as a reminder to not try again. Wave was rather certain it was still there.

The scientists were not kind. They were everything Esdeath was not. She was careful, calculative, and precise. The doctors worked like bludgeoning tools and mallets. They smashed, broke, and then reviewed. They stole blood and samples from the body. However, it quickly became apparent that nothing they could do would make a difference. Naruto's blood, when given to targets to heal, would act as a poison and the injured would die within seconds. No amount of testing made a difference.

He was left alone by the scientists after this. Not even the alchemist brought by Wild Hunt dared to tamper with Naruto's body.

When Esdeath had left, had been removed from her pristine (ironically) torture chamber, and moved to the dungeon. He still had wristbands made by scientists that prevented him from accessing his power, but from Wave could tell, it did not stop the blond from working on every other part of his body.

"You knew I was coming?" Wave tested the waters. Naruto refused to respond. "Today marks the third month you've been here. You have said probably...less than ten words to me since you've arrived."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, as if to ask why Wave thought anything would change just because over ninety days had passed.

'It's not like you ever visited much in the first place.'

"Your eyes speak a lot for what you think, you know? At first, I couldn't understand, but I've visited you enough in the past two months to begin to decipher your body language and eyes."

The blond's eyes didn't change in shape, but Wave caught a small glint. A spark.

Wave started, then decided to drop whatever subject he had in mind. There was silence in the cell. That was another thing that surprised him. Naruto was the only person that has chainged down in this specific dungeon. There was space for nineteen other individuals, but Naruto was deemed so important that all others had been thrown out and moved, and Naruto was watched over here.

"You know...I never said this, but I kind of have respect for you," Wave said, his words betraying everything his mind was telling him not to say. He clenched his fists, and finally sat down on the wooden, rickety chair with the back end of it in front of him. It creaked from his weight, but it was sturdy. He allowed himself to fully sit on it. He caught Naruto's eyes minutely widen. "Naruto Uzumaki. You fought Esdeath when you were younger and won. But you lost your memories and never trained until you arrived one day at the Capital nearly a year ago. That's the earliest we have as a recorded date for your existence ever since your tribe was wiped out."

The white-haired blond slowly shuffled to his feet, his palms against the uneven rocky wall as counterbalance to stand up. Naruto dragged his feet until he was in front of the cell bars. This close, his eyes were only that much more dangerous. Wave felt a sweat dripping off his chin. He could only imagine how frightening it would have been to see the assassin without his chains and outside of his cell.

"What do you want?" A coarse, rough voice asked. It was a voice unused to speaking for months. Wave recoiled in surprise. He managed himself professionally and visually regained his bearings, but he was still shocked. It had been two months since the blond had spoken to anyone.

Wave was honestly at a loss for words now. What did he want? He was telling the blond how he had respected him, but now that the blond had visibly reacted and was now directly in front of him, he didn't really know what to say. But Naruto was there, waiting. In fact, the one in custody seemed perfectly content to wait in silence. After all, wasn't that all he had been doing since he had be chained?

Waiting?

His mouth began moving before he could think. "You were able to fight against Esdeath with only a half a year of training. Kurome said that you forced Esdeath to reveal her trump card." He let that sink in for a moment. Now that he was talking, he began to let everything out. "You have strength that the General acknowledges. Usually, she would let those she captures to fight her, especially if they were powerful. It's a hobby to her, a pastime. But you...you fought her and forced her to get serious, and even protected your team until they could escape. You lost against Esdeath, but you won the mission and your team's lives. I respect your determination, if anything."

'But she wouldn't even take the risk with you. She told us you were far too dangerous to allow to be able to grow any further, despite how much fun it would be.'

"And now you're here," Wave said, his voice getting louder and more confident. "And the Capital is getting all sorts of confused." Realizing what he said, he stopped and locked eyes with the blond, who showed an emotion he hadn't seen in a long time in those eyes.

Interest.

'Fuck. I said too much.' His confidence cracked as if the structure of a building had proven faulty and the marble ceiling had just fallen on it.

For the second time, Wave watched in trepidation as Naruto opened his mouth.

"Is that so?"

The two remained like that for a bit. Wave was staring wildly at the blond's own cool, still orbs. Wave didn't dare to move.

Naruto moved first, standing up and limping back to his spot against the wall. The Jaeger didn't speak a word the whole minute it took. He didn't trust his mouth. When Naruto had finally adjusted himself, and their eyes matched again, Wave swore he saw a small grin on the boy's lips. It wasn't kind.

There were no more words between the two.

Wave was on his feet, and he was outside as quickly as he'd allow himself to walk. When the sun touched his face and warm air kissed his skin, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

'Holy shit. Holy. SHIT! Something is wrong with that kid.'

He gripped his chest and bunched the middle of his shirt as he closed the door behind him. He needed to talk to Ran. How that teen could only speak seven words and frighten him so much was beyond him.

XShuyaX

(Perspective: Naruto)

How long had been a question on his mind ever since he stopped counting the days. Neither the torture chambers nor the cells had natural light enter the rooms, so he had to count each time that Esdeath came to torture him. When that ended, he began to count the doctors returning. After that, however, he had no reliable way to count. It was permanent darkness with the occasional ration. But there was an issue in food as well; his Teigu kept him alive. He hardly required food to survive. That was something the doctors came to realize as well, so his food rations were reduced.

But the moment his wrists were free from the air and he was more able to move about, and when his fucking ankles had regrown...Naruto had silently sat in permanent darkness. Every moment he was alone, his thoughts gnawed at him, until he forced them away. Then, his mind went numb and he thought no more. There were hardly any emotions left in him, and the fear of going insane was not deterrent enough to make him move. But there was...something inside his very nature that wouldn't let him give up completely. The smallest hope. It may as well have been the dream of a man to drill his way into heaven.

The first month was by far the worst. Esdeath had pushed and pulled him so far, he was like a rubber band that had been strained taut and was razor thin. Any more, and he would've broke. Mentally and physically, she was tearing him apart. His eyes had almost shown loss. Despair. Failure. And she was so close, and was entirely engrossed in her work in destroying his hope. But she had suddenly been pulled aside to deal with the issues outside the walls of the Capital, and she very reluctantly stepped away from Naruto and cursed the Prime Minister. She never would get to see him break.

The second month, Naruto was with the doctors, and they were far more destructive, in a sense, than Esdeath. But for some reason, their purpose to learn something about Naruto gave Naruto a reason to stare at each person in the eyes and glare. He was being used, but it was for a purpose other than one's own sadist satisfaction. And that genuine purpose gave Naruto a reason as well. It was resounding in him. To fight. To always fight back, even if he had nothing. He would fight. And he slowly began to remember.

That short flitting of fighting spirit scampered away when he was left alone. He was...truly alone. No one visited him. No light touched his skin. Nothing and no one was there for him. Nothing except the earth. The wall. The metal bars in his cell. And himself. And it was then that Naruto understood true loneliness and how much his failure cost him. If he were a little stronger...if he had trained from the beginning a little harder...he may have won against Esdeath. He would be with his family. He wouldn't be alone! He would be alive. He would be out there, with a purpose. But now, here he was, alone, serving no one. He wasn't serving someone's sadist satisfaction. The doctor's and the alchemist had no more use for him than a boy with a broken toy. He was left here to waste away.

The boy thought to himself, wouldn't it be easier to just not fight? To forget? To not exist? To not think? To not feel?

And for the second time, Naruto almost lost himself to darkness. Not to the Capital, but to his own grieving mind. To depression. To loss. But when he had shrunk so far into himself that he was practically just a shell and a tiny piece of himself, there was something...today. He felt something pound inside of himself. It was like a kind thump that resounded from his core and extended to the edges of each digit of his functioning fingers and toes. Every piece of his skin sang at the unrecognizable feeling. His body instinctively turned to life. And then it happened again, and his shrunken core cracked a bit and grew just a little. The blackness broken, revealing a tiny light. And the shell of his body responded to this light with a pitch black.

Naruto didn't know what to say or do. So he remained. Waiting. It was all he was good at now.

'For now.' He didn't know what had caused that thought, but that thought had implied a future. And a future meant that he was alive. Hope grew. And his light became brighter, burning into the darkness.

For nine days, Naruto waited. His light remained, however, and he kept telling himself soon. 'Soon, it'll return.' On what he didn't know was the tenth day since the internal tap, Naruto closed his eyes.

And he found himself unknowingly in balance with the Founder.

And for whatever Kami forsaken reason, he would not allow the Capital to take away his hope. He still grasped desperately to a small glimmer that Night Raid had not forgotten him. He was not going to be left alone, and that they would do their best, and only their absolute best to save them. Until then, he would bide his time. He had to bide his time. There was nothing else he could do.

Until today. Wave had told him something he shouldn't have.

The Revolutionary Army was making its move. That meant Night Raid would follow through soon. Insurrection was beginning.

Naruto began to think, and that meant his thoughts, that he had locked away for so long, was returning.

Naruto closed his eyes, and fell asleep...

XShuyaX

(Location: Naruto's Mindscape)

And he entered into another world. It was just as black in here as it was in his cell. But he could see his body, and for some reason, there was a kind of white noise that kept playing that never really disappeared into the background.

He didn't even question what he was doing here. It was a dream, perhaps. He hadn't been gifted one in a while.

Suddenly, a white paint screeched against the black world. Naruto eyed it suspiciously as color seeped into the white. Another white line crashed against the black. It was another only five meters, and it had taken nearly a minute for the color to come in, but it had Naruto's full attention. And another burst of color. Slowly, color seeped into the endless black, and along with it came something else.

Feeling.

It wasn't his. It was something else entirely. But Naruto recognized it as something from a dream. He recalled this feeling from a long time ago. But he wasn't sure what this feeling was. What was it?

After what he thought had been hours, probably a tenth of the black was colored in. Facing it, Naruto could see something in the distance. There were mountains and hills, and under the light of the sun, as if chosen by a deity above, lived a tree on the top of a specific hill with perfectly grown grass and vegetation.

The thing Naruto perceived in his chest grew more acute and he didn't know what it was. What was this...fluttering feeling that was gnawing so desperately at his chest.

And then he realized what it was.

It was hope.

Wave had fed the blond hope, and his mind had responded.

XShuyaX

(Location: Ran's Room)

"I swear to Kami, that kid isn't broken. He just isn't!"

Ran took another sip of tea as he listened to the disturbed Wave pace about the room. Whatever had happened in his visit to Naruto's cell, it had bothered him greatly.

"I trust your judgment, Wave. And I don't like it as much as you do that a child had to have his hopes destroyed, but he was a necessity. And he was dealt with," Ran said firmly, yet kindly. Wave looked at him and shook his head immediately afterwards in denial. "Am I wrong?"

"Yes!" Wave hissed. He dropped heavily to his seat. "I've been trying to say that you've been wrong." The winged man gave him a look, and Wave rolled his eyes. "Fine, I've been complaining for the past half hour that something isn't right and you've simply been listening." He leaned forward in his seat seriously, and Ran had to wonder if the world he had been saying actually held merit. "The kid, Naruto - he's not down. He's not lost. At all."

"Perhaps I should give him a visit as well," said Ran.

"No!" Wave hesitated after shouting. "No...I don't think that's wise." He hated himself for saying that. It felt so wrong to tell his friend that letting another child soldier remain broken was the correct action. He looked down at his trembling hand and removed the offending appendage away from view. Fuck him and his bleeding heart.

Ran caught onto his dilemma, it seemed, if the hand on his shoulder was anything to go off of. "It's alright, Wave. I hate seeing children lose hope, and I love to see children grow into fantastic adults. But we have a...mission." Even Ran seemed unsure.

The blue-haired teen was suddenly unsure of his stance. If Ran sounded less than one-hundred percent sure on the moral line on this, then were was he to stand. Why did everything in the Capital have to be so gray? What was he supposed to do?

Wave leaned back against the chair and looked up to the ceiling and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply, then slowly exhaled through tight lips and closed teeth, as if he were hissing. "This day sucks," he finally managed.

The hand left his shoulder. "It's alright. I'm glad you came to talk to me about this." Wave found himself laughing.

"Really. Of all the things and feelings, you feel glad. I really don't know how you do it, Ran." Looking down, Wave saw Ran smiling at him. "What?" Ran pointed at him.

"You. You're growing up. I can see it."

"Yeah. I've gotten taller and I'm able to pay for my village with no problems. I'm a real man now!"

"...Not like that, but I suppose." Ran stood up, and Wave followed. "It's alright, you should relax. I'm just going to take a bit of a walk outside."

Waved stepped out and was soon made sure he wasn't being followed. Assured of his loneliness, he walked to his destination.

Wild Hunt.

XShuyaX

(Time Skip: Two Days Later)

Wave hesitated. His feet had halted in front of dungeon door that held Naruto, and he had no clue why he was back here. He had skipped the bar and gone straight for the cake and returned to base. Kurome had praised his choice as usual, but he had been distracted. It was bad enough that Kurome's mood had been ruined and she told him that he should go deal with his problems.

Which brought him here.

'This is such a bad idea.'

'I agree.'

'And I'm fucking thinking to myself. And that's how I know this is a serious problem. I'm going in.'

Before the other voice in his head could tell him off and argue that his action was a severely terrible idea that he would regret, he had already opened the door and stepped inside.

"You're back," Naruto stated, his voice a bit lighter and less like his vocal chords had been grated. Wave sat down and met the ashen haired teen's eyes and saw something new in them. They were just a bit brighter. He couldn't tell if he should be happy or upset at this development.

"I am. And you spoke first, for once. What changed?"

"..." Naruto blinked at him. He growled in annoyance.

"Of course you go back to not talking," Wave grumbled, throwing his hands in the air. Something surfaced on his face resembling frustration, but it dove away just as quickly. "I don't even know why I'm here, to be honest. Something has been eating at my chest and head for the past two days. I couldn't even really sleep, and I usually sleep like a horse."

Naruto gave him a look as if asking if horses even slept that heavily.

"I don't know if they do. It's just a figure of speech or something. What even is a figure of speech? Why do people say figure of speech? That doesn't even make sense." Wave didn't even realize how far off tangent he was going until he began talking about education and how his schooling was mildly poor and grammar didn't exist since anyone could understand him if his phrase was tossed in whatever order.

"Like a salad mixer," Naruto helpfully supplied.

"I have no idea that is what, sure but," Wave attempted. He chuckled at himself when he saw the blond simply raise an eyebrow. It was more expression and emotion he had seen other than pain since Naruto had arrived. He took that as a plus.

'Wait, why is that a plus? Shouldn't he be kept in the dumps as much as possible?' But the more Wave thought about it in his silence, the more he found himself disagreeing with it. What would he do if it was just another insurgent and not Naruto but in the same position and he were broken? Could he just let him be? After giving the moral question some tossing and very careful turning, his answer was a clear 'No, I can't.'

And that left him wondering why he treated Naruto differently. And that left him to ponder for some more. And he realized that it was because he never really thought about Naruto ever since the first month. He had forced the assassin out of his head ever since he had seen the boy bloodied and disfigured, and nearly puked in disgust. Just remembering almost brought bile to the edges of his mouth. No, he couldn't just leave him alone. That wasn't his character. No one deserved that kind of treatment, and no one deserved to be broken for doing what they believed in to be right...somewhat. He still disagreed fully with many others in the Capital, but making them suffer for so long was not something he could agree on. Neither could he agree on breaking someone to the point of making them hardly exist. It just wasn't right.

"You're surprisingly honest, you know that, Wave?"

Wave snatched his eyes up and caught Naruto smiling weakly at the older teen. There was a new expression in his eyes, but this one was far more easy to recognize. It was understanding.

The navy teen scowled and spat out, "What do you know?" He half-expected no response, but Naruto surprised him again.

"We both want to protect the people we care about. And there's no limit to what we would do to protect them. But we also believe that any kind of punishment should be dealt as swiftly as can be done, and without causing too much unnecessary pain."

Wave was rendered silenced. The boy had spoken more words than he had ever done before in a full explanation. And it made sense. But something else was scratching at the back of his mind.

'He said that we want to protect the people we care about. He's...not broken. Not at all. He still remembers!'

Something was rising in Wave's chest, but he caught it before it could climb any further. Before he could stop himself, Wave threw something in his pocket at Naruto. The boy easily grabbed the airborne object and looked at it with no readable expression.

"It's a pastry," Wave said. He was up and outside before he could see or hear any kind of response. Taking a few steps, he wobbled over to a pillar and leaned against it with his right hand before glaring at the ground as angrily as he could.

'Fuck me and my bleeding heart.'

XShuyaX

Wave had a new pattern added into his day. Before he knew it, he was visiting the cell every day after stopping by Kurome and before training. They were short visits, and they always left Wave with more questions than answers. But it also gave him some questionable feelings of satisfaction at knowing that the boy was getting better mentally, if not physically.

After the third day of visiting in a row, Naruto had even given his thanks verbally. Wave couldn't help but smile. And then slap himself and immediately frown after.

The damage was done. Naruto had chuckled. It had been almost a whisper, but given that there was no other sound in the dungeon, Wave at heard it. And soon, throwing his apprehension to the wind, he laughed with his prisoner.

The next day, the apprehension had returned with double the force, but he visited again, and Naruto had easily worked the weights of uncertainty with his eyes. There was just something about the kid that Wave couldn't quite put his finger down on that made him feel like he was never threatened, even if Naruto was considered the most dangerous insurgent to be wrapped in chains.

And then it dawned on him. Naruto was generally a good kid. He was imprisoned, but he wasn't rude. He listened. He was really good at listening. He remained silent most of the time when Wave visited, but when he did speak, it was always with purpose. And plus, Wave realized that Naruto was actually listening to the grammar story he had told him when the boy had made a joke with it. He had twisted the words so poorly that not even Wave could comprehend what Naruto had meant to say.

So he laughed, and Naruto joined in with a weaker one. He couldn't help but feel accomplished at the fact he made the recent mute with no emotions actually laugh, even if it was just a tiny bit. And so Wave had become more animated and lively, and actually talked to the younger boy as if they were friends.

He just couldn't help it.

XShuyaX

Naruto recognized that something was wrong with Wave. The older teen was dragging his feet more than usual. As of late, Wave had grinned and said "Hey" whenever he entered, or at least said "It's Wave" before he came into view, but today, there was nothing. But Naruto recognized the sounds of those boots. The Jaeger came into view, and Naruto seated himself in front of the bars as fast as his chains would allow him.

There was a long pause. Naruto waited. He was good at that. After what he swore to be another twenty minutes, Wave choked out his next words.

"Ran is dead." Before Naruto could say anything, Wave raised his eyes and glared at Naruto. The two's different colors of blue met. All heat disappeared from Wave's focus as his eyes lowered to the ground. "Don't apologize; you had nothing to do with it."

There was another long pause, but it was far more present and disturbingly loud. Wave's body contracted. Naruto heard something creak, and then break. His eyes could just make out the edges of the chair that Wave had gripped break. Water droplets dripped against the stone ground.

Another feeling that Naruto had not known for a long time rushed into life.

Sympathy. Empathy.

"I couldn't save him...I couldn't save him!" Wave repeated like a mantra, slamming his fist against the chair. It broke completely on the fourth strike. "Fuck!" He threw the chair against the wave behind it. It shattered and splintered before dropping to the floor, its use completely gone. Gasping and crying all at once, Wave threw his arms around and gripped his air angrily. "Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!"

A fist slammed against the wall and the room shook as part of the wall gave way to the brute force.

"...I..." Wave was openly sobbing now. "I...can't even bear...to look at him."

Although Naruto didn't speak, he could feel the the ocean blue eyes trained onto him. Not in anger, though. Not in hatred. He felt washed in concern. Drowning in worry. And it only made his heart clench harder when he realized his enemy sympathized more with him than what should have been his allies in the Capital.

"She fucking made him into a doll!" he seethed, his anger erupting as the rubber band had snapped and gone far beyond its capabilities. "She wouldn't leave him in peace, even after Ran saved her from Night Raid with their surprise attack and after he wished her to let him die in peace and for her to be a better person! Fuck the need for strength. We need to be human beings first! Otherwise, what's the whole point?!" Wave was bristling. Loss. A rage greater than a storm. Confusion.

"..."

The anger slowly receded, and Wave felt exhaustion burden and cumber his body. He slumped against the stone wall, the same side he had punched in his fury, and sat on the cold ground. He didn't even register how cold it was.

"Say something," he practically begged. Another silence. "Anything."

When he thought that Naruto would recede to his old ways and pretend to be a mute, Naruto finally spoke. "I always thought that there was something wrong with this world. There's...nothing wrong with a bit of gray. A dash of moral ambiguity." A break in the words. Wave lifted his eyes. Naruto was studying him and then peering straight through him. "But it's gone too far. When you can't trust the person next to you, I'm not sure if this world is really something you could say is alright. Especially here, in the Capital."

Wave wavered. "What...do you mean? We have friends, though. Teammates." He cursed. Bors would have been better at talking to Naruto and helping Wave getting over this. Instead, he had been dealt the shittiest cards and Bors was dead, and now Ran was a fucking puppet.

"That you can't inherently trust."

"But you can't just trust someone naturally. Teammates take time to work with," he argued. He felt Naruto's frown.

"But can you trust your neighbor. Do you believe they're good people. Do you honestly believe that the rich man is doing what he wants for the good of the country?" Wave faltered more, and Naruto's emotions pressed down on him more. "This world isn't wrong. Everyone's a slave to violence. The strong win, and the weak lose. That's the iron rule of this world, and it's disgusting. But if you want to make a change, you have to play by the rules...and become the very strongest."

When Wave left, it was with a marginally lighter heart. The world seemed to agree, as the rain had gone and only left a meager slimmer of sunlight.

XShuyaX

The next time Naruto heard the door open, he instinctively tensed and pushed his back against the wall, as if willing himself to disappear. The usual sounds of Wave's boots were missing, and instead, there were a pair of footsteps. Both of them were erratic.

"Ohhhh shit! If it isn't the little shit that didn't bow down!"

Naruto knew that voice. It was like scraping nails against the chalkboard obvious.

"I was in a really shitty mood earlier, but this might make me feel just a little bit better. Hey! I'm the Prime Minister's son! Go get the key for this cell!" Syura shouted through the open door. He was soon in front of Naruto's cell again, his face against the metal bars. "I wanna see some blood," he murderously slipped out. The ashen-haired teen deigned to remain silent. This seemed to be the right way to darken Syura's already black mood. "Little shit," he growled, slamming his hands against the extremely strong metal bars that didn't even dent at the blow, "I'm talking to you! And I don't direct my speech to just anyone."

Naruto turned around and faced the wall. Syura began to try and force the metal bars apart, and when that failed, tell his subordinate to use her alchemy to attempt the same. She replied that the metal had been replaced with new ones to counteract any possibility of escape...including alchemy. The spoiled brat howled in anger, kicking stone instead. Naruto head the wall cave in, but not as destructively as Wave's punch had a few days before. The Jaeger hadn't visited since, but Naruto didn't mind...much. He was used to loneliness, and it's not as if he didn't have nightmares anymore. Lately, his dreams had been more...personal. At least half of the black world had become color, and he could feel...what he could only describe as another soul inside of him trying to communicate with him.

At least, he wanted to believe it was another soul. It made him feel less lonely.

"You took too fucking long," Syura roared. There was a jingle of keys, and then the sound of the cell unlocking. "Ohhh hell yeah, I'm going to enjoy this."

Naruto attempted to lie down, but his hair was gripped by the roots, and then he was forced to stand. Before he could even correct his balance, his face made connection with the wall. The wall gave in first.

"Wow, you're a lot sturdier than I thought you'd be," Syura granted when he saw the shit-stained kid only had a bloody nose. Not even a broken nose. "A sturdy toy, indeed. I'm excited to see it break!"

So for another...Naruto wasn't even sure how much time had passed. But the Prime Minister's son had his way with the prisoner, and the alchemist watched his fascination as Naruto continued to regenerate any broken bones. Just because she couldn't suck in his blood didn't mean that she wasn't vastly intrigued at the process. And it continued. She watched, and the Prime Minster's son continued to bash Naruto against the wall, throw him to the ceiling, using his Teigu to create more G-force, and just the plain old beatings.

Naruto had yet to make a sound.

"Did you know he can regenerate limbs?" said Dorothea.

Naruto couldn't stop his traitorous body from flinching. He could feel the Prime Minister's son's sadistic eyes peering down at him. The breaths from the violent adult became labored...heavy. Almost panting in excitement.

"Is that so?" Naruto heard the knife before he felt it. An object dropped to the ground.

'My right thumb' he thought, recognizing the sound of the digit before noticing the lack of said digit on his finger. It had been ingrained to him.

Then the pain came. He bit his tongue, still refusing to make a sound. His face had heated up significantly. The nerves from his phantom thumb arced through his right arm to his chest and raced like drugs to his brain. And it remained there, as if something was constantly scratching at his missing thumb with a dirty scissor.

"Holy shit, you're right! I edged this blade in poison, but I could see the bones growing back." Naruto's brow arced dangerously downward when he heard the Prime Minister's fucking little son whisper into his ear, "You're going to be my favorite toy."

"What are you doing?"

'Wave.'

The sound of the boots crossed the door, passed by where Dorothea was watching, and into Naruto's cell.

"I'm jus - ACK!"

Naruto heard fist meet flesh. Looking to his left, he saw the Prime Minister's son slam into the wall. Turns out the walls were reinforced too. There wasn't even a dent when he bounced off and moved forward, right into Wave's awaiting cocked fist. This time, Naruto saw the punch land right onto Syura's solar plexus. The Prime Minster's son choked and gasped fiercly for air, his hands at his throat. Wave expertly grabbed one of the hands and deftly broke the thumb.

When he looked up to see Wave, he saw the normally expressively warm eyes as cold as a poker dealer's expression. He was a man that had been pushed close to the edge and was now nearly thrown off and grabbing at the cliffs rocks nearly fifty feet away from the top. Naruto had seen Wave frown, and he'd seen him frustrated and upset after he had time to calm down from his anger. But he'd never seen him with so much unbridled hatred and anger, and Naruto knew that it was because it was everything against he stood for. There was no reason for his current pain other than for someone's pleasure, and even then, there was no further gain. At least with Esdeath's torture, he could argue interrogation and a breaking of a will of a dangerous insurgent.

The prodigiously fucking awful prodigal son had no right to touch Naruto, Wave showed in his eyes.

"Get out." Those words held so much malice and deadliness, not even the Prime Minister's son could reject automatically following the orders. When he realized what he was doing, he was already outside of the cell and pointing at Wave, screaming that "THIS ISN'T OVER" and "I'm the fucking Prime Minister's son, you little shit!"

Wave showed him the middle finger without turning around and the key ring around his knuckle. The duo left, but only after the rotten one howled and yelled some more. When they were finally gone, Naruto remained leaning against the wall and standing uncomfortably. The older teen swallowed, as if forcing down his lunch, and then moved towards Naruto. He hesitated, and then pushed forward, placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his face completely drawn in real concern.

When was the last time someone had asked him that. Without sadism. Without an ulterior motive.

Naruto couldn't stop the tears that wrung out of his eyes.

"It's okay...it's okay," Wave told the younger boy. Naruto only cried harder.

There was someone out there, Naruto realized, that was actually a good human being.

XShuyaX

Kurome wasn't sure what to make out of Wave's recent development in character. She was glad to see that he was willing to spend more time with her, meaning he should be relaxing more. But when she visited him in the training grounds, the man had far more bruises and the destruction he usually laid waste to the grounds were multiplied. He had clearly upped his training. He was growing stronger, which she noticed, but he was also pushing himself to severe limits to obtain this strength.

So she decided to be reluctantly impressed and threatened him by not allowing him to visit her if he didn't tone down his training for at least a week. He had promised immediately, and she had seen to it that he had followed through. The destruction was only mildly reduced, but she accepted it for a promise fulfilled and continued to allow him to visit her.

That wasn't what bothered her so, however. Rather, she knew that he was visiting the prisoner. The one that had taken her sister's interest. The very same that had fought against her General and pushed her to use a trump card.

So why did it seem like Wave seemed happier and more confident ever since he had begun visiting Naruto.

Kurome wanted to know for herself. So, one day, she waited for Wave to leave for the dungeon and go to the training grounds. When she was absolutely certain he was gone, she grabbed the lantern Wave hung next to the door and pushed through the dungeon's door without hesitation. Immediately, the smell hit her. And then how cold and dark it was inside. It was hardly livable conditions. Moving further inside, she included dirty to the checklist.

When she saw Naruto, she did not find what she had expected. The last she had seem him was at the Cathedral. He was strong, muscular, and lean. Now...he was extremely gaunt and skinny, as if he had hadn't seen food and been starved. His hair was a weird gray with yellow streaks. His clothes were rags and barely covered his body, and chains covered and weighed down the rest of his body.

She hardly recognized him, if not for his eyes. They were the same shade of blue and, if possible, even more defiant and powerful.

Her blade sung in the air as Kurome pulled it out in one clean motion and pointed the end at Naruto through the cell bars.

"What have you been saying to Wave?" Her eyes constricted and threatened harm if she heard something she didn't like.

Naruto chuckled, the chains rattling with the movement. "Wave talks more than I do," he said, his voice hardly a whisper. She could have excused it for the wind, but there was no wind inside the dungeon.

"You speak. Tell me." She slipped out a kunai that she had stolen from Naruto's bags. This seemed to get a reaction, but not the one she expected. Naruto looked at the blade with a kind of longing...a wistful smile. Remembrance. "Talk!" she screamed.

He just looked at her instead, breaking away from the kunai to stare straight into her soul. It unnerved her. This is who Wave was talking to? This is the person that her sister and Esdeath respected? It all began to piece together in her head. This ki - ...man...no, person...she didn't know what to say about him. The prisoner! The prisoner was able to say so much with just his eyes and expression, and yet also have so much pressure.

She looked around and found a chair not far from where she stood. Walking over to it, she noticed splinters on the ground similar to the one that made the chair. She just stared at it for a moment longer before grabbing the chair and moving back to the cell bars, sitting directly in front of it. Naruto was hardly visible, even with the light from the lantern, and she strained her eyes to see him. Without warning, he slowly stood up and made his way over to her. When he was able to be completely made out, he stopped. The two were a good ten feet apart.

"Why...why does Wave trust you?" she asked finally, the question that she had been mulling over in her head released through her lips. Relief coursed through her chest. She had asked! "It doesn't make sense," she continued, her cheeks flushing with frustration. "I don't understand why someone like you would have not only my sister's trust and interest. Not only that, but the General respects your strength, even though you're an enemy, and now Wave, who's the best person I've ever met." Her eyes flashed with anger. "He's a genuinely good person, and you're going to corrode him. Like the Capital. He's going to be corrupted!"

"You care about him," was the sudden reply. It was louder than before, so she was able to catch the soft undercurrent of honest understanding and...did she hear sympathy.

"Of course I care about him! He's my partner. My teammate! And he's talking with the enemy!"

"Like you, right now."

"I'm interrogating. It's different," she argued.

"..." Naruto simply smiled and nodded, as if he understood. She hated that. What the hell did he understand. Seriously. What the hell did this kid that was imprisoned and fucked over by the Capital and taken in by Night Raid understand? Why did Akame look at him? Why did General Esdeath notice him? Why did Wave, of all people, empathize with the kid?

"It's not fair!" she said. "I know that the world isn't fair and, lately, Wave's been saying some bullshit about gray zones in morality and stuff. I don't give a shit about that. I just want to make sure that the people I care about are okay, and that they care just as much about me! Is that so difficult to understand?" she yelled angrily, more stating than asking. She huffed and slammed the butt of her sword against the wall. It broke down some more. After a few minutes, she sat down and sheathed the blade. Another few minutes of silence, and she glanced at Naruto and the two maintained eye contact.

"No, it's not fair." She started, not expecting him to speak. "But you know, Wave really does care about you." She almost told him off, but she hesitated. If the prisoner was telling her this, then Wave must have talked about her. And he said Wave cared. So she let him continue. And she swore she saw the eyes on the prisoner crinkle just a bit in amusement. "He talks about you a lot, and hopes that you get better. He said that when the war's over, he'll go find a doctor and force him to help you."

He wants to still be with you after the war.

Kurome threw the kunai as hard as she could. It stuck to the wall next to Naruto's head, just a few inches shy of his ear. Naruto didn't even flinch; it was going to miss.

"Don't...you dare bullshit me!" she hissed. She stood up and walked outside in a rush. When the door closed, she let out the breath she was holding. Wave was talking to a person like that? He was...frightening. But he just drew you in as well. He made you want to talk, but also made you want to listen.

The whole situation just made her more confused and left her with even more questions.

But she couldn't stop the happiness from almost spilling out from inside her as well.

'He wants to be with me after the war...'

Kurome didn't know why, but she made it a daily occurrence to leave her room and see some daylight to the prisoner after Wave had left him to go train.

After a week, she thought he was okay.

XShuyaX

Naruto could feel it. His Teigu was speaking to him...not really speaking, but more communicating.

The strongest general had returned. Esdeath had returned to the Capital and was back in the base.

He still had hope in his friends. His teammates. His family, Night Raid.

And besides, darkness was a friend of his now as well.

He closed his eyes and entered his dreams.

Ninety percent of the blackened world was in color.

It whispered to him.

Maybe he should get some sleep.

Chapter End.

A/N: This chapter was...completely different than what I expected to happen. Originally, it was mainly going to be in Naruto's perspective, but this ended up as the result. I hope it worked.

It was honestly fun to write and I wrote it all in five or six hours. I'm not going to edit this, because I feel like if I wait any longer, I'm going to freak out and not post it. So here goes nothing!

As per usual, please read and review. I would love critiques and general comments on your thoughts!

KenzoXShuyita is saying "Peace!"