(M16 – London)
Obviously in a sour mood due to sleep deprivation from being roused by an urgent call in such an ungodly hour, Sir James Curwen hurriedly walked in to the Situation Room. "Basil, mind telling me what the hell is happening." He then said with a frown on his face.
"Good evening sir." Basil Hemsworth the chief of staff of MI6, greeted with a rather nervous expression on his face.
"For heaven's sake dispense the pleasantries, it's already morning. Get on with your report already. What's so important that you have to wake me in the hour of the wolf?" Curwen sneered with a furrowed brow.
"Right…." Hemsworth said in a quivering voice, seemingly he himself couldn't believe what he's about to report to his superior. "Thirty five minutes ago the BGS registered powerful seismic waves that was strong enough to be measured on its third passing around the globe. This tremor was caused by a massive explosion on the south-east coast of Brazil that completely destroyed Ipanema. One of our satellites was able to pick up the explosion." He then continued, showing on screen the satellite images of the destruction that was like a glowing ember on the map of Brazil.
"Is this live?" Curwen inquired, his eyes widened.
"Yes sir." Hemsworth concurred.
"This amount of destruction could only be caused…..by a thermo-nuclear detonation, a hydrogen bomb with around ten megaton blast yield." Flabbergasted the shear amount of devastation, Curwen muttered his hypothesis in an airy voice.
"That was our first conclusion…that is until…" Hemsworth replied as he typed something on his computer.
"What do you mean?" Curwen inquired, puzzled.
"Scans indicate there is very little trace of radiation on ground zero, lowering the chance that this was caused by a nuclear explosion." Hemsworth replied as charts supporting his argument flashed on the screen.
"What are you suggesting Basil?" Said Curwen in an ominous tone while the lines above his eyes crinkled, reflecting a well guised confusion.
"Well sir, about a year ago we received intelligence of a similar but much more…uhmm….contained incident happening on an area near a small town called Forks." Hemsworth replied.
"Yes, I saw that on CNN. We believe that the Americans were experimenting on a powerful top secret directed energy weapon that went awry and destroyed a small mountain in the vicinity." Curwen said ponderingly. "It is possible that they continued experimenting on the same weapon system but this time whatever complication it had, has gone so far out of hand to cause all this destruction." He then continued.
"It would seem so sir." Hemsworth supplemented.
"Blasted Americans! They never learn!" Curwen said sneeringly.
However, out of sudden the live feed was severed and the screen turned white as if their spy satellite was destroyed.
"What bloody hell was that?" Curwen inquired in confusion while Hemsworth scrambled in to the phone to find out what happened.
"Our satellite was knocked out…..so are two of the Russians and one of the Americans….just a moment sir, we have another one coming in to range…..now." Hemsworth said as he analyzed the data transmitted to him, maintaining an astute composure though he himself was much bewildered by what happened.
To everyone's surprise and horror when they saw on the screen a gigantic fireball on the borders between Brazil and Colombia a hundred miles in radius and was like a blooming crimson flower of pure devastation. The atmospheric distortion caused by the ensuing shockwave was clearly visible to the spy satellite's ultra-high definition camera and was like ripples harrowing away the clouds on its path.
If this wasn't nerve racking enough it wasn't long before they beheld millions upon millions of energy blasts descending from space, continuously bombarding the ground beneath for fifteen straight minutes until the planetary crust cracked like the shell of an egg and lava spilled out from the mantle.
Everything touched by these energy blasts was instantly destroyed. Much of the rainforest cresting the upper half of South America with its lush abundance was incinerated and the ground became scorched and blackened, and was dead as the moon.
"My god…what's happening." Hemsworth said stutteringly out of trepidation.
"Mr. Curwen, sir. The prime minister is on the phone." One of the staff informed the dazed James Curwen as his eyes widened from watching the ensuing chaos of the horrific sight.
"I….I'll take it in my office." Curwen said in a low quavering voice as he slowly walked out of the room and in to his office.
There was a full twenty five minutes of silence and disquietude as most of the staff thought this was the beginning of world war III. Finally the lacquered door of James Curwen's office opened slowly and its creaking broke the silence permeating the air around the situation room. On his pale face was a countenance of disbelief, horror and confusion, all jumbled down in to a singular expression that was quite rare to see from a seasoned man of his station.
"Everything alright sir?" Hemsworth inquired, confused as well as anxious.
"I just talked to the prime minister along with my counterpart at the CIA…..gentlemen, it would seem we along with the rest of the worlds governments is about to embark on the greatest cover up in modern history." Curwen replied, regaining some of his composure though he spoke with quivering lips and in a voice that seemed to be a ghost of his former voice, as if he was privy to something so disturbing, so dreadful and awful that it drained most of his courage.
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(Quileute Reservation – Forks)
"Leah! Mom!" Seth howled in a hollow voice that reflected the urgency of the matter.
"Seth what's the matter?" Sue inquired frantically as she abruptly went in to the living room but was herself gone taciturn as she saw what's on the news.
"Massive destruction in the upper half of South America as what experts believed to be a large meteor impacted near in between the border of Brazil and Colombia. Meanwhile, chaos and panic ensued from the survivors….." The news caster said as live feed of the devastation was aired. It was too much for Sue. The graphic images has unnerved her so much that she instinctively winced and looked away.
"Hey, what's happening?" Leah asked in a somewhat grumpy voice as she had very little sleep on the night prior, having a strange feeling that something bad has happened. "What the hell…." She then muttered in an airy voice as she saw on TV an aerial shot of a disturbing scene highlighting the extent of the devastation caused by what she first thought to be calamity or total war.
The once lush tropical rainforests that were usually featured on the Discovery Channel and on National Geographic for their biodiversity and natural beauty were now the very vision of a fiery hell, a wilderness of chaotic blackened stone, of fused obsidian-like blocks, where streams of molten lava still ran in the mighty chasms, or poured like torrents adown unfathomable pits that had opened in the ground.
They watched silently in horror as the graphic aftermath flashed on the screen. The highland city of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, was like a scene from a fiendish and post-apocalyptic nightmare. Mephitic and metallic vapors arose all over the city, intertwining with the black smoke from the burning and toppled buildings and the thick billows of suffocating clouds of dust from the overthrown skyscrapers. Amidst the wreckage were the charred bodies of the poor denizens who had been caught by the searing touch of the wrathful demigod's unforgiving energy blasts.
The reporter noted that it was extremely difficult to mount a rescue mission from the dizzying heat that emanated from everywhere, surging upon the rescuers as buffeting waves when they attempted to brave the ruins, forcing them to retreat.
Sue can no longer take it. She grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, feeling so much distress and unease, regretting why she even watched it on the first place.
Leah on the other hand can't help but feel anxious as the image of Naruto flashed unceasingly inside her head. She couldn't explain the gnawing disquietude in her heart but she felt that as if something horrible has happened to the blonde.
Suddenly, three knocks reverberated on the door, followed by three more which broke the ice of deep and serious contemplation on Leah's mind for some invisible force guided him to the wooden portal and upon opening it saw Naruto with a big smile of relief on his face.
Without hesitation Naruto hugged her ardently. "I'm so glad you're ok." He then said while a tear of joy raced through his face.
"I'm fine. What happened to you?" Leah inquired in bewilderment seeing the tattered and partially burned clothes of the shinobi along with some bruises and wounds on his face as if he got in to a huge bar fight or something.
Though she knew that Naruto is by all means physically invulnerable to injury save for the most obscene of damaging force, and it worried her for she had a hunch that whatever caused the destruction in South America is somehow connected or more likely directly responsible for the shinobi's current condition.
"It doesn't matter…" Naruto said in a serious voice while he looked directly at Leah's eyes, making the latter feel a bit uncomfortable. "Is it true am I going to be a father?" He then inquired in the same serious but obviously hopeful voice.
"Yes…two months." Leah muttered in a low voice, uncertain of how Naruto would react.
An indescribable joy burst out of Naruto. Overwhelmed by the emotion he was left taciturn but an unmistakable expression of happiness and delight was etched on his wide smile. Suddenly, he noticed that his breathing became fast and deep, clammy sweat ran on his forehead and he could hear some wierd ringing sound on his ear. Before the shinobi knew it, he became lightheaded and his vision blurred. Subsequently, he then felt his body impact the ground and heard Leah's fading voice as he drifted in to unconsciousness.
"Naruto…hey! hey!…don't you… don't you dare faint on me Naruto!" Leah screamed in both bewilderment and worry as he saw his overjoyed boyfriend faint upon hearing her confirmation. "Seth! Help me!" She then continued.
"Whoa what happened?" Though fully aware of what transpired, Seth inquired with an amused smirk on his face upon seeing the unconscious Naruto lying senseless on the ground with a rather frozen smile on the blondes face as if dreaming something wondrous and effervescent.
"Don't just stand there help me get him in the house…and wipe that grin off your face while you're at it." Leah said chidingly that only made her brother snigger as the latter took one side of the shinobi's arm and help her sister carry him inside.
"Oh my god! What happened?" Sue said as she saw the unconscious shinobi being carried by both Leah and Seth in to the sofa in their living room.
"He fainted." Seth smirked with a goofy smile, earning him Leah's reprimanding gaze.
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(Cairo, Egypt – One Week Later)
As the final stone seal of the royal tomb was broken Dr. Giles Petersen secretly smiled with the air of a victor while still tried to maintain the composure of an erudite man of science. A once respected archeology professor he was single minded and obsessed with regards to the study of ancient artifacts to the point of resorting to unscrupulous means of acquisition, overzealously valuing knowledge over the petty trivialities of ethics.
When his peers learned about his extracurricular activities Dr. Petersen was shunned from the academic circles and derided by the scientific community as an embarrassment and a mere tomb raider. As if fate wasn't kind enough to the good doctor he was relieved from his position at the university siting some heavily euphemized excuse though he was well aware of why he was being fired.
Embittered, he found no other reason to continue living. About a year ago he was ready to end it all. With a pistol pointed on his head he was about to pull the trigger when his phone rang. At first he decided to ignore it but the constant and incessant ringing seemingly pushed all his buttons and made him angrily lift the device and answer the call, only to be surprised as he found out that he was being commissioned by a certain British nobleman to lead an exploration team whose goal is to find the tomb of king Neferkah I; pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty who ruled over the old kingdom, over four thousand years ago.
Though reigning only for a little over thirteen years, there were stories that the pharaoh was a practitioner of the mystic arts and has in his possession a dark stone given to him by the dark gods he worshipped. The sacrilegious use of this stone was known only to himself but it was speculated by many that it was some sort of alchemical appurtenance used in the darkest and most foul rituals he and his priests perform during the lunar equinox.
Dr. Petersen dismissed this as just a bunch of silly superstitions as he deciphered the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the limestone barrier with a warning saying that breaking the seals of the tomb would engender the destruction of the Earth. Though he must admit that finding the tomb was no easy task for it is located deep beneath Cairo, accessible only through a series of secret vaults and tunnels.
This whole endeavor was, by the letter of the law, highly illegal. Officials were bribed, diggers were paid extra for their silence and every other precaution was taken by Dr. Petersen to insure the concealment of the excavation for if the Egyptian government found out about it he would not only risk being arrested but the glory of discovery would be taken away from him.
But finally, after a year of grueling hard work he has found what he was looking for deep in the heart of modern Cairo; and a gleam inadvertently escaped his mouth as the stone seal of the tomb came down.
"Ahh! It stinks." Lestat said besides Dr. Petersen as with his vampiric olfactory sense he smelled the rank air emanating from the newly opened tomb.
"This chamber hasn't been opened for the last three thousand years monsieur de Lioncourt. That explains the bad quality of air." Dr. Petersen astutely explained albeit with a well-disguised sneer.
It is bad enough to find out that his patron and benefactor was just a mere teenager with lots of cash to spare but to send a rock star from the late eighties who don't know a thing about archeology as his envoy is insulting on his part. Though, nonetheless he complied seeing that his success in this undertaking is the only way to restore his former glory and rub on to the faces of his colleagues that he, Dr. Giles Petersen, the very person they have scorned and laughed at behind his back has made one of the greatest archeological find since Howard Carter discovered the tomb of king Tutankhamen.
Shining the beam of his flashlight Dr. Petersen was stunned on the staggering amounts of treasure the tomb holds. There were vessels of exquisitely carved alabaster that contained the expensive perfumed unguents of the ancient world; amphorae of imperial wines, now all dried up; there was the pharaoh's war chariot, gilded and studded with jewels; there were magnificent sculptures and trinkets finely crafted from gold and lapis lazuli, jasper, turquois and other semi-precious stones; there were chest upon chest of jewelry of exquisite quality; and most of all, at the edge of the antechamber is another sealed room where rested the great pharaoh himself.
As the stone seal was brought down entirely Dr. Petersen and Lestat strode the passageway leading to a clay sealed gate of Neferkah's burial chamber. This seal they also broke, and as the hieroglyphic etched gilded gate opened they beheld the great gold sarcophagus of the pharaoh himself.
"Isn't he magnificent?" Dr. Petersen mumbled in a voice interlaced with barely restrained glee.
"Yes…very" Lestat said sarcastically in an uninterested voice. After which, he strode forward in to the sarcophagus and in to the wall near the statue of Anubis on its left.
With vampiric senses able to observe the details that the common person would miss in the environment around them he was able to discern that there is a secret chamber behind the said wall by just listening on how their voices bounce and echo on its surface.
"What are you….doing?" Dr. Petersen said stutteringly as he saw Lestat feeling something on the wall. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" He then exclaimed after he beheld in shock as the latter suddenly punched the wall with force similar to that of a sledge hammer, causing it to be easily demolished, revealing a secret storage chamber behind it.
Within the said concealed chamber were two boxes. The first one was a large heavy chest made of intricately carved wood, ivory and gold, and studded with precious and semi-precious gemstones; while the second is a smaller box wrought of unrusted gleaming black metal and adorned with curious glyphs that were not of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
"Load the boxes in to the car." Lestat said with a subtle smile on his face as he gave his instructions to the workers who carried his orders without delay.
"Monsieur de Lioncourt what is this? What's happening?" Dr. Petersen inquired in both bewilderment and outrage as two workers pass by him carrying on their hands the bigger box while the smaller one was handed to Lestat by another worker.
"These items will be shipped to Cardiff, obviously." Lestat responded in quite a sarcastic manner.
"But sir, those along with the rest of the artifacts must be studied." Dr. Petersen urged, practically begging to return the items for study seeing the hieroglyphics on the larger box and realizing that the chest held inside scrolls of papyrus containing sacred spells and ancient incantations while he speculated that the smaller box held within it an artifact known as the hearth of Nyarlathotep, a mysterious dark stone reputed to be given to the pharaoh by the dark deity himself.
"Under the terms of the concession anything that you'll find on this dig belongs to my employer. However, Lord Storm is generous enough to let the Egyptian government keep the mementos of its ancient heritage and credit you with this marvelous discovery, along with a handsome compensation package of five million euros. All he wants is a little souvenir for this glorious albeit expensive endeavor." Lestat expounded smilingly in a calm and suave voice as he continued walking out to the tomb's exit.
"But sir…" Dr. Petersen protested but was cutoff.
"Of all the money and efforts his lordship has put to realize your vision I think a couple of boxes is the least he's entitled to, don't you think Mr. Petersen?" Lestat riposted.
"It's Dr. Petersen" He scoffingly corrected. "What would I say to the officials once they inspected the tomb and found out that two of the pharaoh's most prized possessions are missing?" Dr. Petersen then continued.
"Fine, Dr. Petersen." Lestat sneered a little. "Move some of the treasures from the antechamber or better yet tell them nothing is in that hell hole on the first place. Be creative, that's why you're getting paid extra." He then continued but suddenly halted as they reached the threshold of the tomb's entrance and saw the beam of sunlight shining through it.
"Is there something wrong sir?" Dr. Petersen queried, puzzled by Lestat's sudden hesitation that borders fear to step on the limestone floor illuminated by the rays of mid-day.
"Nothing. Old habits die hard I suppose." Lestat said in a hollow voice as he then continued to walk out of the tomb. In truth the centuries' old fear of daylight has deeply imbedded itself in to every fiber of his being that it was still quite prevalent even though Errealth's power has tempered his flesh to withstand the rays of the sun and make harmless the light that was once lethal to him.
"Monsieur de Lioncourt please reconsider…" Dr. Petersen pleaded as the chauffeur opened the door of a flint gray 2012 Mercedes G-Class to Lestat.
"You have your orders. It would be in your best interest to just obey." Lestat said in a stern voice, silencing Dr. Petersen.
Subsequently, as he entered the car he saw Armand seating on the opposite side of the rear seat, waiting for him. "So, how is he?" Lestat inquired. Though his voice was calm and mellow flowing there is a hint of concern intertwining in its cadence.
"He has regained consciousness after a week of being in coma….he's still very weak and his wounds are just taking too long to heal." Armand said in a solemn voice which fell in to a whisper like murmur near the end of his sentence. "How about you? Any good news from the dig?" He then opted to change topic.
"Yes….quite fortuitous. We found what we're looking for." Lestat responded though he seemed distracted and anxious after hearing Armand's previous statement. "They are now being loaded in the convoy as we speak. Smuggling it out of this country is just a simple matter."
"What do you think those are for?" Armand queried, perplexed.
"The big box contains some scrolls which are obviously spells. The smaller one however…well, I don't know really but I heard from him once that inside it is some sort of key." Lestat said as he sifted through the contents of his vampiric memory.
"A key to what?" Armand once again inquired out of curiosity.
Lestat shrugged. "I don't know." He then said in a hollow voice.
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It was in a cold winter night that Bella found herself deep in an alien forest. Unlike any mundane woodland filled with the signs of creatures both nocturnal and diurnal, this strange and nightmarish place was void of life save for the dissonantly twisted trees with branches like beckoning demonian digits. Thick and ghostly vapors arose opaquely from the mottled, mineral encrusted ground and the entire locus was haunted by a maddening silence that is from time to time broken by the sound of eerie blowing winds.
"Hello! Anyone!" Bella called, hoping that Edward would answer but there was nothing save the shrill echoes that was like the screeching of mocking demons laughing at her predicament.
Filled with fear and despair she lowered her head in to the snow covered earth that reflected a crimson light descending from the sky.
With great trepidation, she slowly lifted her head and realized that she was now standing near the edge of a rocky crag overlooking a violent thrashing sea. Suddenly, out of the black waters rose five spire-like things that clawed their way up in to the low lying clouds of the dark burning sky. Much to her horror when Bella realized that these spire-like things were serpentine necks and atop them were supremely repugnant dragon-like heads.
"What's this….what's happening?" Bella muttered in a quivering voice.
At that point she noticed the crimson light from the sky intensify and continued to do so until the snow sparkled with a wan amaranth luster. Lifting her head and looking up, all her courage abandoned her and was replaced by a terror that made her body stiffened and her heart seemingly stopped in ineffable revulsion for the blood red light wasn't from the tainted sun but from the sinister glowing eyes of one of the titanic dragon heads rearing down at her with a horrific grin carved on its monstrous countenance.
Suddenly, its mouth opened wide as it prepared to swallow its prey. Overwhelmed with terror from the knowledge of her impending doom as she gazed upon the rows of cyclopean razor sharp fangs on the gulf like maw of the monster Bella could only helplessly shiver in fear while her entire life flashed before her eyes. Then with all the rapidity of an impending cataclysm the creature descended upon her, biting off the ragged crag were she stood, subsequently shutting its mouth tight as it swallowed her whole.
"No! no! no!" Bella fretfully groaned as the darkness and the cold engulfed her and numbed her every senses. But suddenly, when all hope was seemingly lost she heard a voice, a comforting voice, it was Edward's.
"Bella wake up. You're having a nightmare." Edward said in a gentle and velvety voice, rousing Bella from her nightmare entangled sleep.
"Edward" Bella muttered then hugged her husband tightly.
Two weeks have passed since the incident on Isle Esme but the trauma it had wrought was very much fresh, though this isn't the cause of her bad dreams. A few days after they came back to the states Bella experienced mood swings, peculiar eating habits, terrible nightmares and severe morning sickness, which confuses her.
After finding tampons in her bag, she notices that her period is five days late, and a hard, growing bump protruding from her hips, realizing she is pregnant. Strangely, for some reason, it took her out of Alice's sight that made the latter extremely worried about her.
After finding out about it Edward was distraught. He knows that there have been stories of women who died while giving birth to a vampire's child. Therefore, he leaps into action, as always, only caring about the safety of Bella, and insists that she let Carlisle remove the abnormally rapid-growing fetus. She won't allow it, however. Enlisting Rosalie's help as a bodyguard, with support from Emmett and Esme, she refuses to have an abortion, determined to carry the child.
Edward begged Naruto to convince Bella to have the abortion in order to save her life but the shinobi was torn between two fires as the latter was determined to carry the baby. Then out of a sudden an idea struck the shinobi.
Using his medical ninjutsu Naruto was able to counteract the unhealthy effect of the baby, healing Bella's from the damage done to her body by its movements and at the same time nourishing it with his own raw life energy.
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(First Beach – La Push)
There was no sun but it wasn't raining either, a decent weather by Fork's standards. Today the pack decided to hang out on the beach and unwind a little. Though, strangely it would seem that they were divided in to two groups; those who have imprinted and those who haven't yet, and as if both groups were completely invisible to one another.
It has been a few weeks now since Edward and Bella got married. Jake was anxious and couldn't help but speculate that Bella was gone, considering all that happened and due to the fact that all this time she hasn't heard from her.
"Maybe they'll say she was in a car crash, or tripped and fell off a cliff." Jacob said grimly as he gazed in to the sea shifting to the horizon, watching the waves crash in to the shore.
Seth felt a bit uncomfortable; the last thing he wanted to hear was Jake talking about the possibility of Bella dying at Edward's hand.
After a while Seth shifted his gaze downward as Jake grew silent, as if the latter was deeply contemplating how he'll kill the vampire if anything happens to Bella. After an interim he shifted his gaze again, this time to the other members of the pack as they shouted, laughed, and kicked a football across the sand with their imprintees.
"At least I'll get one thing out of it." Jake spoke again as a small, twisted grin formed on his lips, making Seth frown. One wouldn't need telepathy to know that he was thinking of all the brutal ways of how he'll kill Edward.
"No you won't." Sam said sternly, surprising Jake, Seth and Embry as he jumped into their conversation. "The Cullens are not a danger to the town or the tribe." He then explained, looking over the three, just as Leah had come to join them.
"Well he's either gonna kill her, or change her. And the treaty says-" Jake said in protest.
"I say, Jacob. I say." Sam said, dismissing the argument as he walked on.
"You know, if you wanted things different, you should have become Alpha." Embry said.
"Turning it down seemed like a good idea at the time." Jake replied with a bit of regret.
"Jake, you really think you could kill Bella if she came back a vampire?" Seth inquired, trying to knock some sense to his friend.
"No. He'd make one of us do it then hold a grudge against…." Leah joined the conversation but was cutoff.
"Oh shut up Leah." Jake sneered, not having the patience to deal with her at the moment.
"Would you just get over it!? It's not like you imprinted on her." Leah snapped back.
"Oh you could say that because you imprinted on one of them, that Naruto." Jake roared, seemingly venting all his anger to Leah.
"You have no idea what you're talking about Jake." Though irked Leah said equably that took Jake aback and made him calm down a little. "Go home. We'll talk again about this when your head cools down." She then continued in a gentle voice, empathizing on the latter's pain.
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(Cullen'ss Residence – Later That Day)
"How are you feeling now Bella?" Naruto inquired while green light emanated from his hands as they were pressed gently on Bella's stomach, healing her bruises caused by the baby's supernatural strength.
"I'm feeling much better now. Thank you Naruto." Bella said with a gentle smile.
"My pleasure." Naruto replied jovially. "Rosalie you might as well come out now. I thought you guys were gon'na go hunt today. What are you doing hiding back at that tree?" He then said with a blank expression on his face. He knew from the start that the latter has concealed herself behind a red cedar tree nearby but decided to just play along, pretending not to be aware until he himself find it tiresome.
With vampiric speeds Rosalie moved in to the house's living room where Bella and the Shinobi were. "Well can you blame me? I have to look out for the baby." She said to Naruto with furrowed brow.
"Oh for heaven's sake! We've already been through this many times ya'know. I'm not planning anything bad with the baby, ok." Naruto grimaced then replied in an exasperated voice.
"Just making sure." Rosalie riposted, smiling at the shinobi.
"Fine, fine" Naruto shrugged. "I think I'm gon'na get something to drink. Want something from the fridge Bella?" He then inquired.
"I'm good." Bella replied. "Naruto…uhmm." She then said as if wanted to ask something from the shinobi but seemingly hesitant to continue.
"Yeah?" Naruto inquired, a bit confused with the hesitation on Bella's voice.
"No, it's nothing." Bella said diffidently, earning the attention of both Naruto and Rosalie.
Naruto sighed deeply then sat near Bella. "Come on, tell me whatever it is. I promise that no topic would be taboo." He then said with a reassuring smile.
"Well….you see, I know you're a good person and a great guy and all….also, I don't want you to think that I'm sticking my nose where it doesn't belong but it's just…I don't really know anything about you." Bella said in a low voice and seemingly with great hesitation, not wanting to offend Naruto by being too nosey.
"Yeah….come to think of it we've been living together for seventy nine years and I know anything about you. Except for the fact that you can be annoying, childish….and did I mention annoying?" Rosalie said, quipping at the end of his sentence that made Naruto pout.
"Fine. What do you guys want to know?" Naruto shrugged, smiling in relent.
At that point the rest of the Cullens came from hunting. "Is something interesting happened while were gone?" Carlisle smilingly inquired in a gentle voice.
"Oh great. More audience." Naruto said sarcastically in a monotonic voice and with a humorously deadpan expression on his face.
"Naruto is just about to tell us his deepest darkest secrets." Rosalie sniggered.
"And we're just in time." Alice supplemented, giggling.
"Alright….might as well, let's get this over with." Naruto sighed again. "Okay, where should I start?" He then said.
"At the very beginning of course." Jasper answered which the others unanimously concurred.
"Oh boy this is going to be a long story." Naruto thought, sighing once again. "Ok….I was born approximately ten thousand years ago, in a world far different from this one. Back then people were born with chakra. It's a form of energy created when the physical and spiritual energies of a living being are molded together, and is essential in performing jutsus." He then started that instantly caught the attention of everyone in the room.
"What are joe...jutsus?" Emmett inquired with a confounded countenance on his face.
"Well, for all intents and purposes, Jutsu is tantamount to what you people refer today as magic. They are the mystical arts a shinobi utilizes in battle. To use a technique, I need to use chakra. To perform a technique, I have to bring out and release the two energies of chakra. By forming hand seals, I am able to manifest the desired technique." Naruto explained sagaciously as he held out his hand then from his palm manifested a rapidly spinning ball of blue energy that dazed everyone.
"Okay, where was I? Ah yes…I was born in a continent that was once situated in an area you know now as the Pacific Ocean, in a village within the Land of Fire called Konoha. Back then it was constant war, even though I was born and spent my childhood in an age of relative peace bloodshed was commonplace and people were inured to it. It's something modern day folks like yourselves would probably identify as a dystopian society. For me and the other kids back then, it was home. Though, admittedly I wasn't treated very well by the villagers throughout my childhood years. Nonetheless I strived to earn not only their trust but their admiration as well." Naruto recounted in a nostalgic voice, beaming a little with a sad smile as he reminisced the era from which he hailed and the hardships he endured during his childhood.
"I don't understand. How can they hate you? How can they possibly hate such a good person like you?" Esme inquired maternally, wanting to hug Naruto, wanting to ease the latter's burden from remembering the pain of the past.
Naruto slightly bowed his head, maintaining the sad smile he then continued his tale. "At the night of my birth a nine-tailed fox suddenly appeared. Its tails lashed out, smashing mountains, and sending tidal waves crashing to the shores. The shinobis rose up to defend their villages but most of them were all but wiped out easily. That is until the leader of the village of the hidden leaf faced the fox, sacrificing his life to seal the beast to his new born son, me."
"Orphaned, I grew up not knowing who my parents were, receiving only my mother's surname, as Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, wanted to protect me. My father, Minato Namikaze, has one dying wish. That was for me to be regarded as a hero but it was honored by the very few who could put aside their pain and losses caused by the disaster, while the majority of Konoha, however having no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding my birth, openly ostracized and resented me for something I never chose….for containing the beast that devastated the village and took many lives. Some even viewed me as the Nine-Tails itself. Soon, the Third Hokage forbade anyone from mentioning the kyubi, hoping that the younger generation would not blindly hate me as their parents did. Nonetheless, however my peers emulated their parents' hatred of me, despite not knowing why." Naruto said in a sad and hollow voice. The expression on his face turned a little bit somber as he reminisced in his memories the pain of those unbearable loathing glares he received from the villagers, how they murmured to each other every time they see him approaching, how they expressly forbade their children from playing with him, and indeed thought them to hate him as they do.
"See what you did? So uncool dude." Shukaku said to Kurama teasingly inside of Naruto's head.
"Put a sock in it! Like you did any better with that Gaara boy, you fat dumb squirrel. Last time I checked you drove the poor lad mentally unstable." Kurama comically burst out in exasperation. "And what the hell is up with the hippity-hop talk?" He then continued in a sarcastic voice.
Everyone was silent upon hearing the shinobi's story. It was quite a strange thing to see Naruto not in his usual happy, boisterous and exuberant personality but to see his fortitude amidst all his misfortune was sublime.
Naruto continued, telling his captivated audience his adventures, the battles he fought in the past, and how he eventually won the acknowledgement and friendship of the people of Konoha, who through his unrelenting hard work and perseverance has begun to believe in his vision. But when everything seemed to have gone alright, a disaster struck.
"The ten-tailed beast, the progenitor of chakra, has gone in to a rampage destroying everything in its path; prompting the usually divided and untrusting elemental nations and hidden villages to band together for their survival."
"Setting aside petty differences for a greater cause, a great and mighty force was able to be assembled by the combined forces of the shinobi world but facing such an extremely powerful opponent has proven to be too much. Valiantly they have fought but the Juubi effortlessly wiped them out like reeds drowned by the tempestuous rush of a violently cascading river. In the end the beast was sealed but the price of victory was as bitter as defeat for all save I have perished in the process. For a long time I wished that I died that day along with my comrades."
"Naruto…." Bella muttered. "I'm sorry" She then said, feeling a bit guilty for making the shinobi recount his past and made him feel such a horrible feeling of sadness and desolation.
"Nothing to be sorry about Bella." Naruto said flashing a jovial beam.
"Oh please do go on. We're about to get to the exciting part" Alice eagerly said wanting to hear the rest of the curious tale.
"The next thing I knew, I woke up thousands of years later on an island in the west of Bahamas. And as fate would have it a steam ship, the Isabel, was passing by on its way to England from a largely unsuccessful exploration to the South Americas."Naruto said in a lively voice, seemingly regaining his happy go lucky personality back. "Oh oh oh….you want to hear something interesting?" He then said ecstatically with a wide smile on his face.
"What?" Edward inquired, unable to read Naruto's thoughts.
"Remember that closet pervert, Mike Newton? I actually met his great grandfather way before. Dr. Michael Newton. He was the physician aboard the steam ship Isabel, a good man." Naruto said musingly as he sifted through his memory.
Suddenly Bella's eyes widened as if she remembered something. "So that boy on that picture hanging at Mr. Newton's sports shop…that was really you?" She then inquired with a singular expression on her face.
"Yeah, that's him." Emmett chuckled that made everyone snigger. "Noticed the crappy jumpsuit he's wearing?" He then continued in a roaring belly laugh.
"Hey! That's an official ninja uniform I'll have you know!" Naruto burst out hysterically while Bella and the rest of the Cullens sniggered. "How about you wise guy, I remembered the first time I saw you. You look as if you were mauled by a bear." He then sneered comically.
"I was mauled by a bear." Emett replied in an awkward voice.
"Yeah, and you shat your pants remember…" Naruto riposted but was cutoff.
"Stop!" Emmett said as he covered Naruto's mouth with his hand "Come on dude you promised not to tell anyone." He then muttered embarrassedly in a low voice.
"You started it." Naruto replied childishly. There was an awkward silence between him and Emmett before the two suddenly burst in to laughter that made everyone chuckle with them as well.
"Weirdos" Rosalie scowled though she herself can't help but let out a snigger.
Everything seemed perfect; a moment of pure familial happiness that insulated them from the clutching weariness of immortal existence, but amidst the merriment Naruto felt a throbbing searing pain in his chest as if his insides were on fire.
"Arrgghhhh!" Naruto screamed as the pain quickly mounted beyond his threshold while all his strength was seemingly zapped away like blood gushing from ruptured flesh.
"Naruto what's happening? Naruto!" Carlisle inquired in a fretful and worried voice as he along with Alice caught the shinobi as the latter fell on the floor.
At that point Jake came in. Worried that Bella was dead he came to confront Edward but was surprised to see the woman she love pregnant with the vampire's child while Naruto is on the floor squirming in unfathomable agony. "What the hell is happening here?" His eyes widened as he could only mutter in an airy voice interlaced with horrific bewilderment.
-End
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Hey there folks!
I hope you enjoyed reading! Sorry I wasn't able to update for the longest time. Currently, I'm taking my MBA at the university, and at the moment I am working on my thesis, which unfortunately is very time and brainpower consuming. I will try to continue writing the story whenever there is available time, and hopefully I could update soon.
Anyways, all inputs and suggestions that will help improve the story is always welcomed, and if you guys have questions feel free to post them on the review section so that I could easily see them.
See you awesome people next chapter!
Cheerio :)