(Cullen's House)

"I'm telling you it's a waste of time." Naruto muttered as he waited for Jake and Leah to return. It has already been three hours since they left and the shinobi had become a little bit edgy as well as troubled knowing that they're quest to save him, though noble, is ultimately futile due to the simple fact that the demi-god is one those people who want him dead.

"Would it kill you to be a little optimistic?" Rosalie chided, worried about his foster brother and at the same time peeved at what she thought to be pessimism on the latter's part.

"I'll be dead either way so…." Naruto retorted.

"Naruto don't say such things!" Esme exclaimed with teary eyes.

It took Naruto aback and made him taciturn upon seeing his foster mother hurt by the statement. Ever since he awakened from his millennia long slumber a certain emptiness has always nested deep in his heart. Later on, this emptiness has turned in to rage and hate when he was made aware of what truly transpired ten thousand years ago and the doom that has befallen his people which resulted in guilt and loathing that clouded his vision up until this very moment when he realized that long ago he has found a family among the Cullens; a family that loves him unconditionally; a family he failed to appreciate in pursuit of revenge.

Uncontrollably, tears flowed from Naruto's eyes and streamed in to his face. "I'm sorry….you guys were always there for me but I was so blind and selfish….I'm so sorry." Filled with remorse, the shinobi apologized over and over again until he saw Esme came over him with vampiric speeds and subsequently wrapped him in a motherly hug.

"You're not going to die….we'll find a way." Esme said in a gentle and maternal voice, giving much relief but little hope.

The Cullens, along with Bella was about to comfort Naruto as well when they noticed that Alice just had a vision.

"What is it Alice?" Jasper inquired while he held here hand.

"He's back." Said Alice with a distant stare a few moments before the door opened, revealing Jake on the other side of the threshold.

"Jake" Bella greeted in a voice that reflected the pain and hardship of her pregnancy; nonetheless, for reasons she can't explain she was beyond happy to see the shape-shifter like it was some sort of weird pregnancy quirk or craving; even the baby seemed to feel the same judging by the way it responds and calms down whenever Jake is around.

"Where's Leah." Naruto inquired, perplexed and more unnerved than ever.

Edward, who already knew what transpired by reading Jake's mind, was silent and just solemnly folded his arms.

"Well…it's complicated. Leah will follow soon." Jake replied. There is a certain tremble in his voice that made everyone suspect something's amiss. "I hope." He then thought, sighing.

"How did it go?" Carlisle made a follow up question.

"He can't help us…." Jake said, he thought that it would be best to break the bad news as gently and as euphemistically as possible but was cutoff.

"Stop sugarcoating it Jake! He explicitly said that he won't help us." Leah snarled behind him.

"Leah what happened?" Jake inquired, seeing Leah dripping wet as if she swam her way back to Forks.

"That little monster dropped me in the middle of Lake Crescent, that's what." Leah fumingly retorted.

"Judging from what happened earlier I say it actually helped cool your temper." Jake thought to himself, but dared to say it out loud.

"It's ok you guys. I'm just glad you made it back safely. Naruto said in an amicable tone, smiling softly even though assaulted by the infinite fiery pangs of Errealth's curse that was far beyond the pain threshold of any ordinary human.

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Later that night Jake decided to patrol the perimeter. It was a cold night; the gentle breeze of impending autumn blew softly on his face as he stood guard outside of the Cullen's abode. His sharp eyes vigilantly scanning the woods for any signs of other Quileute shape-shifters; former friends and comrades who now desire to kill the thing inside of Bella's womb at all cost.

Suddenly, he felt a presence. "Who's there!" He snarled warily and prepared to transform in to his wolf form.

"It's just me." Naruto said amicably, emerging from a nearby shrub.

"You got me worried for a minute there." Jake sighed, speaking in an airy voice.

"Sorry about that." Naruto chuckled, scratching his head guiltily.

"How are you feeling now?" Jake inquired.

"Meh, crappy I suppose." Naruto shrugged.

Jake snickered in amusement. "You have a weird sense of humor man." He then told the blond.

"Well, what can I say, it's a gift." Naruto once again comically shrugged. "But kidding aside…." He then continued in a somewhat more serious tone.

"Dude, please…." Jake said, cutting the blonde off, knowing where the conversation is about to head. "I think Leah's the one you should ask about this."

"She's an amazing woman really." Naruto said looking at the cold and crowding stars with a smile on his face. "But it's funny how she always divert from the topic whenever I ask what you guys learned about my no less curious than distasteful predicament from that spoiled A-hole. Nevertheless, she never get tired of trying to cheer me up afterwards." He then continued shifting his gaze to Jake.

"Well that's Leah for you." Jake replied, smiling uncomfortably as Naruto looked at him with azure eyes that was pleading him, and indeed slowly persuading him to tell in full detail what transpired during their meeting with Alex.

"Jake…I need to know what happened." Naruto said so compellingly. Though in truth, the shinobi utilized a little genjutsu as he spoke, purveying the needed 'encouragement' for the shape-shifter to tell him what he wanted to know. Ordinarily he would just read the latter's mind but due to his unfortunate condition he wasn't able to effectively utilize more chakra intensive abilities such as telepathy and thus he has to employ subtler means of acquiring information.

"Ok...Ok…though if she asks, you didn't hear it from me." Jake finally relented to the blonde's request. "Alex said that a curse of some space-god is eating you from the inside out, in time…" He then continued in a calm and solemn voice but couldn't bear to finish his sentence for it was too horrible say.

"Well that sucks." Naruto said, having already deduced what Jake was trying but failed to imply. "Ah well…you know what they say. If you got to go, yah got to go." He then continued casually with his hands clasped behind his head.

"Not exactly the reaction I'm expecting." Jake said with a slightly tilted head of bewilderment as he peered at Naruto, puzzled by the shibobi's blasé reaction to the grim news. "Seriously? Is there something amusing about you going to die?" He then inquired, ever so perplexed.

To this Naruto chuckled lightly then sat beside Jake. "I suppose the problem with us immortals is we've lived too long, seen too much. After existing for a little more than ten thousand years…death doesn't really bother me anymore, in fact I welcome it. My only regret is that I have to leave Leah once more and won't be there personally to see my son or daughter born and grow up." He said sagaciously in a gentle voice to the shape-shifter.

"That's deep man" Jake replied, amazed of Naruto's wisdom and courage in the face of a looming inexorable doom. "However…there's one more thing." He then continued in a much portentous tone.

"Hmmm?" Naruto hummed inquisitively then peered at Jake.

"If you die while under the curse….your soul will be destroyed as well." Jake muttered in a somber whisper.

"I see...I appreciate the honesty man." Naruto said calmly with a gentle smile, unnerved by the sheer direness of his horrific predicament but his warrior's spirit refused to yield itself to despair.

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(Two Days Later)

"Jake their coming." Seth said as he and his sister caught up with Jake who was standing beneath the darkening shadows cast off by the colossal trees of the ancient forest.

"I know." Jake said, turning his gaze upon them then turning it back to the surrounding woods abruptly as he heard the sound of multiple footsteps coming in closer and closer, stalking them like a wolf would its prey.

"We should phase Jacob. We can't protect ourselves like this." Leah admonished.

"They'll see it as a threat." Jake replied before facing the woods where he heard a dried twig suddenly creak as if a massive paw has broken it. "I want to talk. It would be easier if I can hear you too." He then continued.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could once again be heard but this time they were that of humans's as opposed to the beastly ruckus they've heard earlier. From a low stony crag then emerged Paul and Jarod, the former spitting on the ground out of revulsion.

"This isn't your territory anymore." Paul said arrogantly. "How's your new family working out?" He then continued in a mocking tone.

"Are you done?" Jake replied trying to be as calm as possible.

"You coming home Jake?" Quil questioned as he and Embry also made an appearance.

Jake shook his head, "Not until I finish this." He then replied.

"What do you mean?" Paul demanded, slightly confused.

"I want Sam to take back Leah and Seth." Jake clarified, looking straight at Paul.

"What?" Leah exclaimed in both indignation and disbelief. "You can't be serious Jake!" She then thought fumingly.

"No way!" Seth said in protest.

"Quiet!" Jake hissed in harshly to Leah and Seth then returned his attention to his former pack members. "I want them safe. And I want this over. I need Sam to wait until Bella's been separated from the problem."

"You mean till she's dead." Paul paraphrased in his direct and much less euphemistic vocabulary that made Jake growl under his breath.

"Ease up, Paul," Embry reproved, earning himself a disagreeing glare from Paul.

"Then what?" Paul inquired haughtily.

"Tell Sam that when the moment comes, I'll be the one to destroy it." Jake professed in a serious and mirthless voice.

"Jake!" Seth yelled but his outcry was all but ignored.

"I'm the only one who can. They trust me." Jake continued that made Paul grin rather sadistically.

Suddenly, wolves howling filled the air, with it a telepathic message from the other shape shifters of the pack.

"You played us?" Paul snarled wanting to rend Jake limb from limb but the urgency of the howling has compelled him to set aside his anger and rejoin the pack.

The four of them then started to head back into the forest, with Embry the last one to disappear as he looked at Jake with a certain disappointment and sadness in his eyes, can't believe that his friend is now really his enemy.

It made Jake feel bad and a certain disquietude has racked his brain that he just stood there, frozen for a few minutes, without saying a word.

"Jake let's go." Leah said in a comforting voice but suddenly her expression, along with that of Seth and Jacob, became hard as they sensed that they weren't alone.

"Nice one…bravo!" Exclaimed an amused voice that sounded akin to that of a snickering teen boy.

Cautiously and with forbidding expression on their faces Jake, Leah and Seth lifted their heads then directed their vision up the trees, where the voice seemed to originate. To their surprise and detestation however, when they saw that it was a vampire sitting on the high bough of a great tree, and was seemingly watching them with great delight.

Instantly, Leah and Seth phased in their wolf forms and snarled fiercely at the mysterious stranger while Jake glared at it, never letting his guard down.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Jake hissed as he eyed him quite darkly.

"Hello. My name is Armand." The vampire introduced himself then dropped on the ground with such grace, pageantry and stealth that not even the tiniest sound or vibration was heard and felt from the landing even with the acute senses of the shape-shifters. "Don't worry I'm just here to observe and not cause any trouble." He then said, smiling gently at his wary audience.

"Don't trust him. His one of Alex's minions." Leah snarled, sending at telepathic message to Jake.

"I mean you no harm." Armand interjected telepathically, to the shape-shifters surprise and consternation.

"What are you?" What do you want?" Jake inquired in a foreboding hiss. "Leah wait!" He then exclaimed, seeing Leah charge upon the vampire.

"Die!" Leah roared; disregarding Jake's minatory cry she rushed wildly at Armand then pounced at him with an open intention to kill. To her bewilderment however, when the vampire suddenly vanished without a trace in a snaky darting that her eyes couldn't follow. "Show yourself!" She demanded in an angry stentorian voice as her eyes became white and featureless while the veins around it bulged.

"Up here." Armand said playfully as he hovered high in the air, far beyond Leahs's reach.

"Come down here you coward!" Leah roared.

"Leah stop it!" Jake exclaimed angrily in his alpha voice, muzzling Leah who could only whimper in protest. He then turned his attention back to Armand in hopes of relaying a message to the latter's master but found out that the vampire was gone. "Ah great" He then muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose in frustration.

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(Cullen's House)

"Next time just let me do all the talking." Jake admonished to Leah in a sere but calm voice.

"Sorry" Leah replied guiltily.

"Yeah. You're kinda too volatile Leah." Seth unctuously supplemented.

"Ok I get it!" Leah exclaimed, eyeing her brother.

"Just saying." Seth shrugged.

"Will you two stop it!" Jake chided with folded arms, exasperated with the bickering siblings.

"Sorry" Leah and Seth in a somewhat weird synchronicity.

"Anyways….you two keep your eyes peeled. I have a feeling that Sam's not very happy right now." Jake said in a more serious voice as he saw Carlisle, Esme and Emmett just emerge from the forest. "I take it the hunt didn't go so well." He then inquired solemnly to the vampires.

"I'm afraid not." Carlisle replied in a calm but solemn voice.

"The wolves just came upon us. We weren't able to hunt." Emmett supplemented in the same manner.

"I bet you, Leah and Seth are famished. I'll get you something from the kitchen." Esme said in a more positive tone, opting to change the conversation.

"Thanks" Jake replied as he and the Cullen's entered the house.

"Back so soon mutt." Rosalie said to Jacob snobbishly that earned her a sneer from the latter and a disapproving look from Esme.

"Rosalie why don't you get Jacob something from the kitchen." Esme said to Rosalie, trying to diffuse the situation between the two.

"Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather not eat something that blonde just spit at." Jake sneered, lashing back at Rosalie.

"She'll never embarrass me with such a lack of hospitality."Esme replied as they walked towards the living room where Bella, Edward and Alice were.

"Of course." Rosalie said, begrudgingly forced to comply. Though, at the back of her head she was deviously planning hand Jake his food on a doggie bowl.

"Jacob it's so good you're here now." Alice giggled cheerily.

"something I miss?" Jake inquired in bewilderment.

"Go ahead. Tell him." Alice said to Bella with an over-enthusiastic voice.

"What now?" Jake queried, even more confused.

"Rose is trying to talk Bella out off her baby names." Edward answered with a bit of amused smile on his face.

"She hates them." Bella supplemented.

"Here you go. Enjoy mongrel." Rose walked in, haughtily placing a doggie bowl on the floor containing Jake's food, as if the latter's a dog.

"Well, then I'm on your side no matter what you picked." Jake replied to Bella which was more of cunning snide to Rosalie.

"They're not that bad." Bella pouted, a bit defensively. "If it's a boy, EJ. Edward Jacob." She then continued that made both Edward and Jacob smile.

"Okay fine. That one's not awful." Rosalie admitted. "Why don't you tell him the girl's name." She then insisted in a peculiar tone, as if expecting something very funny or weird to immediately follow the announcement.

"I was playing around with our moms' names. Renée and Esme…and I was thinking, Renesmee." Bella said. Opting for a unique name but not one that is too out of the ordinary to the point of weird such as Bentlee, Mafalda or Voldemort.

Upon hearing this, the expression on Jake's face was that of singular discomfort, finding the name quite bizarre that he wanted to burst out of laughter but trying to maintain a straight and composed face as to not offend Bella. "Renesmee" He inquired in an unintentional squeaky voice, the effect of inordinately holding down a chuckle down his throat. It made Edward snicker.

"Too weird?" Bella inquired in a hopeful voice. Hoping that Jake would say no.

"Ah, yeah!" Jake thought but politely declined to comment; though the weird constipated expression on his face made his opinion loud and clear.

"No, it's not weird." Edward said supportively. "It's beautiful. And it's unique which certainly fits the situation. I like Renesmee." He then continued that made Bella beam.

"I suppose Renesmee is fine" Jake once again thought, smiling to himself.

"He likes it." Bella said to Rosalie that made the latter roll her eyes.

Out of sudden, the light flickered portentously, closely followed by a terrible peal of thunder and violent rumbling that for a second seemingly shook everyone's minds.

Edward held his terrified wife in his arms as the floor trembled beneath their feet, the walls shook and wavered, and the rumbling noise, in long, shuddering undulations, grew louder and more ominous. The solid floor appeared to rise and flow with a continuous sickening motion; and then, as they turned to brace themselves, it seemed that the universe came down upon them in a roaring deluge of night and ruin.

"What's happening?" Bella inquired in an unnerved and terrified voice, hugging Edward ever so tightly as the glass wall of the house, which overlooked the Calawah River, shattered in to a million fragments that gleamed with malignant glints as they were intercepted by the spectral silver rays of the pale and hollow moon that grew gray with the stillness of night.

Edward tried to comfort and calm Bella down but was horribly cutoff as he heard in the dark a loathsome laughing, mixed with such a scream as no man else ever heard save in the hell of unrelatable nightmares; a scream wherein reverberated the horror and anguish of a haunted lifetime packed into one atrocious moment.

"Naruto" The Cullens concurrently muttered with breathy voices as they fearfully gazed upon the direction of the shinobi's room.

Soon, Leah and Seth came frantically scampering inside the house and straight in to the living room with trembling limbs. Both of them were shivering and frightened out of their wits; and the expression on their faces were that of a person whose nerves are still taut from witnessing unmentionable horrors.

"What's wrong?" Jake questioned in a deathly serious tone.

Breathing heavily, Seth couldn't utter a word, but could only fearfully point his index finger in to the direction of a large window adjacent to the living room.

Cautiously, Jake walked towards the said window and slowly lifted the curtain. "What the hell…" He stutteringly muttered in a low, barely audible voice as he stared in dread.

"What is it? What's happening?" Edward inquired, living Bella for a moment to Rosalie and Alice's care, but as soon as he saw what's outside he became suddenly taciturn himself and the expression on his face instantly merged to that of Jake's aghast; as if both of their very sanity were cruelly sucked out of their brains.

The light of the moon has now strangely failed, and an eerie mournful mist surrounded the Cullen's abode in every direction like a sentient, slow encroaching wall of turbulent eerie vapors from the seven hells that blazed with a wan unearthly glow; and from the mist they beheld in phantasmagoric, gut wrenching horror the ghastly dancing silhouettes of macabre monsters and unnamable abominations, leaping and howling in sadistic cacodaemoniacal mirth.

Then out of sudden, they felt a spectral change in the atmosphere, as if the laws of earth were bowing to greater laws of the infinite abyss. The air congealed and curdled from an unseen but palpable fear, and the unearthly light issuing from the demonic fog flickered even more violently as the dancing shadows within its folds leapt and howled in an even more chaotic cadence as if in a blasphemous rite of satanic incursion.

But before any of them could utter a word or shriek in fear, they once again heard Naruto cry out in great pain and trepidation, as with the throes of a second dissolution; as if the very essence of distilled fear and terror has fastened itself upon the inmost soul of the shinobi.

Unthinking, unhesitating, Leah quickly streaked to Naruto's room that has somehow stirred the others to crush their fears and follow hence.

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Not without terror, Leah, closely shadowed by the Cullen's, rushed as quickly as their feet could carry them to Naruto. However, they suddenly halted as they reached the threshold of the shinobi's room.

As through the chinks and apertures of the said room issued a cold and eldritch yet strangely dazzling illumination, pale and frigid as if the fire of ice, and so mesmerizing that their senses were instantaneously dimmed whilst an existential fear gripped their very souls.

The ghostly light made them question the very foundations of their life; whether it has any meaning, purpose or value; and the urge to end their hollow existence became stronger and stronger for every passing second.

"Your existence is irrelevant. Give your life to me." A thin hypnotic and commanding voice seemingly issued telepathically behind the door with a drear echo as the spectral beams flared up for an instant with a more astounding iridescence. The thundering tone cast an echo in to infinity and the words seemingly burned in to their souls; slowly making them believe that they don't exist at all, that they are just a mere empty thought; a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities.

"No….Naruto" Leah muttered with impotent hopelessness in a low, barely audible voice, and with half-lowered eyelids on her eyes that were transfixed and had a blank, trance-like, distant stare in them, as if she was under the influence of a powerful hallucinogenic alkaloid. Suddenly, the image of Naruto flashed unceasingly inside her head like a lucid dream.

The thought of her mate, sharper than the thrust of a dagger, has brought her back to agonizing consciousness. Then with the force of near-superhuman strength, she kicked the door in front of her, shattering it in to several pieces. Strangely, the tumultuous distraction of breaking wood has seemingly brought back the Cullens's volition.

"What was tha…" Carlisle was about to comment but his voice flattened in to silence wrought of utter awe as he saw what's on the other side of Naruto's door.

The now unconscious shinobi was lying supine on the floor while above him was something out of a strange nightmare. To describe it in words was difficult for it's too alien and defies mortal logic. It wasn't a creature or a thing from the mundane sphere but seemingly hailed from a much higher plane of ethereal and supernal existence, beyond even the lore and power of Earth's gods.

Vaguely, it looked like a starry, dark crystalline shard fluctuating above Naruto's midriff, which, on rhythmic intervals, seemingly shifts its form in to a rapidly expanding and contracting energy mass that contained an endless plethora of dimensions and universes.

Surrounding the shard was an areole of fiery blue-white aura that seemed to distort the very fabric of reality and decussate the boundaries between the material, spiritual, conceptual and metaphysical planes while numerous flickering orbs of energy akin to that of miniature stars continuously form, pulse and nova as they orbit it like electrons on a nucleus that coruscated with eldritch glints which in turn produced the unearthly illumination that enthralled their minds earlier.

Suddenly the surroundings turned deathly frigid then out of nothingness there came a burst of evil laughter, a hysterical cackling born of utter malevolence. It rose to the grinning quintessence of all horror, without a mouth to give it birth.

Hearing this, the onlookers' faces became a pale white mask of newly reawakened fear. Though this was just the beginning for what happened next is even more unspeakably grisly, and it all ensued with startling swiftness.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he began to scream and claw wildly at the empty air. In that strange pallid light they saw the shinobi contort in to a grimace of insane suffering.

A moment later, his body rose unsupported from the floor and began to bend outward to a backbreaking degree. They then heard the sickening grind of breaking bones as his form now hung in mid-air, his azure eyes glazed and his hands clutched convulsively as if at something unseen.

Once again there came the sound of maniacal tittering, but this time everyone could have sworn that it came from the shard.

Unable to bear the horrific sight any longer, Leah was about to come to Naruto's aid. However, suddenly the stars seemingly rocked in red anguish, and the cold air gibbered at her ears as she saw the shard has now morphed in to a fiery globe akin to that of an elfin star, while the energy wreathing it became flushed with scintillating rays of dazzling effulgence.

From it, there issued tendril-like ethereal filaments, pearly, shuddering into strange colors that appeared to fasten themselves, and indeed immaterially pass through the floor, walls and roof of the room, like the weaving of a spider. Thickly and more thickly they multiplied, forming a barrier between Leah and Naruto.

Now the web had filled the entire room. It ran and glistened with a hundred changing hues, it dripped with glories drawn from the spectrum of dissolution. It bloomed with ghostly blossoms, and foliage that grew and faded as if by some malign divinity.

When Leah tried to touch one of these webs, a sharp numbing pain smote right through her skin. Her hand became momentarily blackened, and if she wasn't able to quickly desist it would've rotted on its wrist and fallen away like the sloughing of a leper.

Naruto once again shrieked in pain. His screams blended with that gleeful, atrocious laughter from the shard while his body dangled in space, subsequently bending backwards once again as his blood burst out from the pores of his skin like crimson mist. That cloud of blood however never touched the floor for it stopped in mid-air as the laughing ceased and a loathsome sucking noise took its place.

In a new accelerated horror, Leah and the Cullen's realized that the blonde's blood was being drained to feed the shard. With blank amazement and dread, they spectated with eyes riveted on the horrific scene, powerless to act, and can only hope that Naruto will survive.

Moment after moment of mind shattering horror they were forced to watch the blonde's torment. Then suddenly the wrathful shard, a thing of evil beauty, alive and aware in some holocryptic fashion, has now seemed to have sated its thirst and fury for the time being; leisurely descending back in to Naruto's chest and bonded with him like a parasite with beyond god-like energies that slowly consumes its host.

Subsequently, the web like barrier dissipated and Naruto fell to the ground, senseless. Carlisle and Leah quickly rushed to him and held him up.

"Naruto…..please don't die!" Leah said in a distraught and fearful voice.

"He's alive….but barely." Carlisle reassured the Quileute in a low but hopeful tone as he realized that despite of Naruto's grievous injuries he was starting to recuperate. "It's a good thing he's Naruto." He then further commented on the shinobi's incredible healing factor as with his vampiric senses he was able to see the latter's tissues regenerating on a cellular level and hear his broken bones snapping back in place and mending itself.

"That thing earlier. It intentionally stopped when Naruto is about to die….as if it wants to prolong his suffering." Edward speculated. He, Bella and Seth came to the scene after sensing that the danger has passed.

The ominous statement has made everyone put on a face of deep and serious contemplation, especially Jake and Leah who were told first hand of what will happen if Naruto would expire while the curse of Errealth remains unlifted.

Without warning, a ghostly diaphanous tendril bolted out of Naruto's chest. It lashed out violently which caught Carlisle and Esme in its fold, seemingly vaporizing them into oblivion.

"No!" Edward cried out in anguish.

In truth, this unimaginable horror is the manifestation of Errealth's vengeance, a loathly spawn of his wrath and hatred before the outer-god succumbed to his doom. This monstrosity, too awful to permit of even a brief contemplation and with intentions that is too plainly hostile has unswervingly darted with an unbelievable speed and celerity of motion to Bella's womb with feticidal inclinations.

"Aghhhhh!" Bella let out a blood curdling shriek in both horror and unimaginable torment; as inside her womb, the inimical ethereal monstFrosity coiled itself around her baby like a serpent then began to constrict harshly, malevolently aiming to rend the unborn child limb from limb.

"Bella!" Exclaimed both Edward and Jacob as they, along with the other vampires and shape-shifters desperately tried to liberate her from the vile entity but to no avail for it will never relinquish her that easy, and there physical attacks proved naught against its ascended nature; then with a terrible crunching sound Bella's spine broke.

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. Well aware of the dire predicament he lifted his aching and heavy arms, and folded his hands in to a tiger seal. "Five Elements Spiral Seal" He muttered in a low quavering voice; then with the last of his strength cast the fuinjutsu, eliciting a spiral crest surrounded by glyphs to manifest on his chest.

This seal is somewhat similar in appearance to the Eight Trigrams Seal on his belly but much more complicated, sporting a series of Torii around the spiral crest that served to deadbolt and fortify the seal itself.

Then, from the fingers of his right hand blazed blue flickering flames of chakra, together with serpentine cursed seals that manifested on his arm. "We'll die together then." Naruto said with a smile of righteous retribution on his face as he slammed his hand on to the seal in his chest then twisted it counter-clockwise, causing the spiral seal to also turn in to the same direction like a combination lock.

Naruto knew that the measure was insufficient to permanently contain the shard so he opted to use the fuinjutsu in order to imprison it inside his body and be its Jinchūriki until the time of his close impending death, hoping that it would expire with him. This, he made Edward aware through the latter's telepathy.

Abruptly, the ethereal tendril melted upon the air like smoke as the Toriis began to shift its position and interlocked on the spiral crest. Seeing this, Naruto was content. "Thank you for making my life worth living." He calmly said what sounds like his final parting words as a courageous smile cracked on his face before his tortured lips relaxed and his eyes closed, slipping in to a state of death-like catalepsy.

Unfortunately however, the problem is far from over as the assault on Bella earlier has engendered her to go on labor.

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"Rosalie pass the morphine." Edward said distraughtly without taking his eyes off Bella.

"Carlisle said the placenta must've detached." Alice said while on the phone. Fortunately, Carlisle and Esme were just teleported away, though it would take a bit of time even with vampiric agility for them to reach home. "He's coming as fast as he can." She then continued.

"We'll have to do it." Rosalie said worriedly, with scalpel in hand.

"Let the morphine spread." Edward protested, holding back Rosalie as the latter was about to cut Bella's stomach.

"There is no time. He's dying!" Rosalie retorted, fearing for the baby's safety.

"Get him out, now!" Bella screamed in pain.

Upon hearing this Rosalie didn't hesitate and made a quick incision on her stomach.

"Bella, look at me." Jake said as Bella let out a shrill scream of agony from the immense pain she was made to endure.

At that point Bella seemingly shifted back and forth from consciousness to unconsciousness. She saw Rosalie slitting her belly with a scalpel then suddenly became distracted with the blood flowing from her freshly opened wound as the latter's strong vampire instincts kicked in, prompting Jake to tackle her and Alice to restrain and drag her down out of the room.

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(Night Islands)

The Night Islands, a personal creation of the vampire Armand where everyone is welcome to its doors, mortal and immortal alike, to bask in its splendor and the many distraction it offers. Located off the coast of Florida, the picturesque high-end island resort is complete with its own copter pad and marina, secret illegal gambling casinos, mirror-lined gymnasiums and overheated swimming pools, crystal fountains, silver escalators, emporium of dazzling consumables, bars, taverns, lounges and theaters.

It was a rather warm and pleasant for an autumn night around the island, even by the standards of sub-tropical Florida. The soft illumination of the stars who boldly declared their brilliance upon the dark-blue night sky, along with the gentle rays of the peering moon were iridescently reflected on the undulating surface of the sea, giving off a curious light show akin to myriad of fireflies skimming on the water's surface, coruscating their light on a cruising luxury yacht.

"Happy birthday" Lestat greeted, smiling softly at Alex.

"Thanks" Alex smiled back. "What's the matter?" He then inquired as he saw that the smile on Lestat's face was suddenly replaced by a somber expression.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Lestat inquired solemnly, gripping the steel railings of the yacht rather tightly as he and Alex stood on its terrasse located on the vessel's upper deck.

"Does it matter?" Alex said in a voice of gloomy sarcasm as he gazed on a dark oval shaped crystal that was black as the abyss and is actually the physical manifestation of the gateway through the shadowy realm were the evil god's were banished long ago. "You know I have no choice." He then continued, looking at Lestat with somber blue eyes that glowed faintly as they reflected some of the starlight that placidly illuminated the night.

"You could choose not to be a part of this….You mustn't open the gate. There is a reason they were imprisoned by Errealth." Lestat implored the young man's better senses.

"It's all the same old friend. The barrier that separates our sphere from their realm has become too corroded…..sadly, I can't do anything much about it. Only Errealth has the power to mend the barrier but he's dead now." Alex explained in a voice interlaced by both sadness and foreboding. "Don't you understand? The end is inevitable. In time The Others will return to Earth and believe me when I tell you that it'll be far preferable to be on their side rather than on their way."

"How long do you think we have before the barrier completely fails?" Lestat queried in a soft voice that bewildered the young man for the question wasn't only out of the coquettish vampire's character but the equanimity on his face as he inquired has mystified him as well.

"I reckon more or less about two hundred years." Alex hummed contemplatively. "Even if I sacrifice all of my power I could only buy us a bit longer than that." He then continued but was taken aback seeing the calm and equable expression on Lestat's face.

"Two hundred years is enough." Lestat said in a gentle voice.

"I'm sorry…what?" Alex inquired with a confounded countenance. The query wasn't only a request for the latter to clarify what the statement meant but was also a subtle way of conveying his confusion over his friend's rather strange demeanor lately.

"We can live here in peace, in this island…you, me, Armand. Let's no longer get involved in the affairs of Naruto or be a pawn to scheming gods." Lestat said in a hopeful voice, trying to convince the young man.

"That would be nice." Alex muttered softly in contemplation then smiled back at Lestat. "Away from all the troubles of the world, looking at the white sand beach and the sapphire blue sea first thing in the morning, and fishing until the sun set…..I like that. Also, I think I'm gon'na get a pet cat. A big, fat, fluffy one." He then said in a gentle voice of a person who thinks aloud as the things he always dreamt of doing ever since he was just a child but was forbade by his cynical and imperious parents flashed in his head.

"A fat cat?" Lestat inquired amusedly. "What, you want a walking pillow or something?" He then quipped that made both of them chuckle lightheartedly.

Suddenly the two noticed another shadow fell along with there's. Directing their attention to the adumbration's owner, they saw it was Armand.

"What news from Forks?" Alex inquired somewhat apprehensively, seeing the grim expression on the vampire's face.

"Not too good. Errealth's shard is on a rampage." Armand said somberly. "And Bella….she's dying." He then continued.

To this Alex seemed coldly silent but the way he recoiled and blenched from hearing the grim news has made it quite clear to the vampires that the young man still deeply cared very much about Bella no matter how much he tried to suppress his affection for her or replace that love with the hate that Nyarlathotep seeded in his heart.

"Should we help them?" Armand said in a whisper like voice, his query was as much a suggestion as a question to the now pensively contemplating young man.

Looking deeply at his reflection on the dark crystal he held atop his palm the memories of Bella flashed before Alex's eyes. As if a phantasmagoric vision, he remembered so vividly that day when he first met her in biology class, then that day in La Push, along with her curiosity with vampires which he found cute. Like the unfailing luster of a burning sun he ruminated and mentally relived every fond memory he had back when they were still friends.

In some strange way, the tiny glimmer of nostalgic sentiment made Alex smile ever so slightly before the full gravity of reality quelled that spark and the bad reminiscences started to flash inside his head; he recalled how she suddenly started avoiding him without a word or explanation, he remembered the bone shearing loneliness and pain of how Bella looked at him in a malefic view, with so much contempt and disgust like he was a filthy animal as she renounced their friendship the day before her wedding, along with the belittling indignity of elegiacally watching her tie the knot with Edward as an invisible uninvited outcast.

"I offered her the gift of my love…and she only broke my heart in return. She has chosen her own fate. Give me one good reason why the hell should I help her?" Alex smirked, angered and despairing as he thought of how unfairly he has been treated, clutching the dark crystal until his hand bled as the sharp edges of the adamantine artifact sank on his flesh from gripping it too tightly with his constricting fingers.

"Whatever your decision is, we'll always be by your side." Lestat said supportively that brought the young man out of his pensive brooding and back to his senses.

To the vampires surprise when Alex sighed heavily as if in submission to the love he couldn't deny or escape, subsequently flinging the dark crystal in to the sea with great force that it was propelled for miles in a ballistic trajectory before hitting the water with a splash and sinking like a heavy ingot of lead.

"Let's go to Forks….for one last time." Alex beamed boyishly with the same innocent smile he had back when his heart wasn't yet corrupted by darkness and hate. "You guys go ahead. I have something important to do first. I'll follow soon." He then said to Lestat and Armand which they gladly concurred.

Then, utilizing both their cloud gifts, the couple of vampires took off from the yacht and zoomed with jet like speed as they traversed the interlaying distance of their destination.

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(Cullen' House)

"Save her, you got to change her!" Jake said in frantic.

"I can't, not while he's still in her." Edward replied. "I've got to get him out first." He then continued

"Stay focused." Jacob said in a serious voice, pushing Bella to keep herself alive. "Keep your heart beating."

"He's suffocating!" Bella screamed in maternal concern, even though she herself was in great pain.

Jake looked away as Edward tore the placenta with his teeth then pulled out the baby, cutting its umbilical cord in the same manner.

"It's Renesmee" Edward smiled gently as he showed Bella their daughter.

"She's beautiful." Bella sighed, smiling as Edward then handed Reneesme to her. She held her close to her heart; seemingly all her hardships have melted away.

Edward suddenly cringed when Renesmee bit her mother, prompting Edward to take her away.

Soon, the pain became too much for Bella to bear. She started to lose consciousness and everything went dark as the immense stress and trauma to her body caused it to inevitably shut down. Soon, she stopped breathing. She just lay there motionless, on the brink of death.

"Bella?" Jake nervously muttered as he noticed Bella no longer breathing. "Bella, Bella!" He then exclaimed, growing more frantic by the second, shaking her shoulder then giving her CPR but there was no response on her part.

"Jake, take the baby." Edward said, attempting to revive Bella himself.

"Get that thing away from me!" Jake snarled as he glared angrily at what he perceived as the cause of Bella's predicament.

"Edward, I'll take her." Rosalie said, walking back in to the room, overcoming her vampiric bloodlust. "I promise I'm ok now." She then further reassured that convinced Edward to hand Renesmee to her.

From a drawer nearby, Edward took a large glass syringe containing a clear but wispy substance within.

"What's that?" Jake inquired in both curiosity and apprehension.

"It's my venom." Edward answered as he placed his hand on the center of Bella's chest, trying to find where her heart is; and when he did, he quickly administered the venom with an intercardiac injection.

Nothing happened, she remained motionless and unresponsive. At that point Edward decided to give her another CPR and bit her in different parts of her body so that the venom would spread more rapidly. But to no avail for Bella was dead.

"I won't kill you. That'd be too easy. You deserve to live with this." Jake said with tears in his eyes, in a voice interlaced with both extreme sadness and loathing.

Edward on the other hand just continued performing the CPR and paid no attention to the shape-shifter, uncaring if the latter kills him or not at that very moment as he desperately tried to revive his wife. "You're not dead….come on…come on!"

Unable to take the piteous sight any longer Jake stormed out of the room then out of the house, wanting to punch a tree until his hands bleed just to distract him a little from the pain of losing the woman he loved. In the end he dropped in to the ground and cried, wishing he could've turned back time and prevent the disaster from happening.

"She didn't make it." Seth said solemnly with quivering lips as he and Leah saw Jake's anguish.

However, as they grieved, a wolf from Sam's pack was stealthily lurking behind the shadows and overheard the dreadful news.

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(Jake's House)

"He's still my son!" Billy protested as Sam and his pack prepared themselves for battle.

"I'm sorry Billy. I just thought you should know." Sam said solemnly. Suddenly, Paul came out of the woods and whispered something to him. "Bella's dead…it killed her." He then averred to everyone in a broken voice that reflected his sadness but he quickly regained his composure being reinforced by his great desire to protect the tribe.

To this, Sue, who was standing behind Billy, was shocked and tears began to well up her eyes. While the latter was horrified and could no longer utter a word, for deep inside him he knew that exterminating the monster that murdered Bella was the right thing to do. Though, he cannot help but feel worried for his son's safety and could only pray that he's gon'na be alright when the dust settles.

"Let's go!" Sam then commanded in a harsh stentorian voice, prompting the other shape-shifters to follow.

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Meanwhile, back at the Cullens House; Jake's grief has turned itself in to anger and utter loathing. He knew what he must do. He must kill Renesmee not only to avenge Bella's death but also to avoid a bloody war between the Cullen's and the pack.

Seeing this, Seth attempted to talk Jake out of what he's about to do but Leah clutched him in the arm. Glancing to his shoulder, he saw his sister with a solemnly grim expression on her face as if she was telling him that they don't have any choice.

Out of sudden they heard the streaking sound of paws in the forest, and it would seem that the Cullen's caught it as well, as they are now outside their house, and preparing to defend themselves. They knew that Sam and his pack will be coming for them soon with terrible lycanthropic swiftness, and that a bloody skirmish would soon erupt as they now shifted in to their wolf forms.

Very soon, the wolves revealed themselves, emerging from the shadows and darkening boles of forest trees like phantoms. There were more than eleven of them, snarling and with open intention to kill as they assembled in to a vicious attack formation with Sam on the lead.

Sam, who was physically the largest of them and the most intimidating, bared his dagger like canines which seemingly glowed like deadly moon-washed marble as they stood out against his dark coat and the black shadowy backdrop.

"We're outnumbered." Jasper assessed without taking his eyes off the wolves.

"By a lot." Alice supplemented, stating the obvious.

"I won't let them hurt my family." Edward said without a hint of trepidation in his voice as the wolves snarled menacingly and crouched low, priming to lunge at them at any given moment.

Then, with inhuman rapidity it all happened. The wolves lunged for the kill and the Cullen's also charged at them. Edward took Sam directly while Emett, Jasper and Alice took care of the wolves on both flanks.

More agile than the others, Alice was able to evade her opponent's unrelenting assault and caught a wolf off guard. However, the said wolf was able to instantly flip itself and plunge back with a maw full of razor sharp teeth, barely missing the vampire as the latter acrobatically somersaulted.

However, another wolf leaped on a transecting trajectory and caught her in mid-air. Its jaws took her on the torso then slammed her face on to the ground.

"Ahhh!" Alice let out an involuntary cry of pain as the wolf's canines gritted and dug on to his flesh. She saw that Edward was borne to the ground and Sam was snarling above him as he pinned the vampire.

Seeing an opportunity open as the wolf lightly relinquished its grip on her stomach, Alice brought her feet up to meet its torso and with a powerful kick, propelled it off of her, throwing the shape-shifter high in to the air, of which it struck the thick trunk of a nearby tree and landed with a yelp.

Briskly, she then jumped back to her feet and gracefully dodged other attacks and rushed to aid Edward who was about to be killed. To her relief when Carlisle and Esme finally arrived, with the latter tackling Sam and the former giving a powerful punch to an attacking wolf, knocking it back to the forest.

At that point Leah also joined the fray and lunged at Sam as the latter was preparing to mount another assault, while Seth seemed hesitant to attack his former friends and pack brothers. Unfortunately however, despite the reinforcements they were still outmatched.

Alice saw her mate Jasper, along with Carlisle, desperately trying to fend off their attackers; Emmett was also being assaulted by multiple belligerents and has to retreat to the safety of a nearby tree; she saw Leah now on the ground, being overpowered by Sam; while the other wolves surrounded Edward and Esme, pacing slowly and menacingly in a circle around them.

Then with all the rapidity of an impending nightmare, she saw a wolf launch itself and gaped upon her, revealing rows of razor sharp canine that could easily rip her head apart. There was no time to react, it was closing in so fast, its jaws widening with the same extreme ferocity that accompanied all its other movements.

Alice closed her eyes and prepared to meet her maker. However she remained alive, instead of the grisly sound of her bones being crushed and tissues being torn she heard in its lieu a crashing sound followed by the wolf whimpering like a fierce animal between rage and fear. Slowly, she lifted her eyelids then saw someone chillingly familiar, it was Lestat.

"Mademoiselle" Lestat said with a coquettish smile on his face as he offered his hand to help Alice out of the ground. "We heard you require assistance."

To this Alice was petrified; she didn't know how to react at the charming vampire in front of her. While it's true that he saved her life, she also saw how brutally ruthless the latter was when he and his fellows quickly dispatched James, Victoria and Laurent.

"Get away from her!" Jasper exclaimed as he quickly streaked between them and glared at Lestat. However, this distracted him from the ongoing fight, and a wolf manage to sneak itself unnoticed behind him then lunged itself at the vampire.

The attack however never connected it was intercepted in mid-air by Armand who executed a fast and destructive dive then landed his feet on the wolf's spine. "Don't worry we're on the same team this time." He then said in an amicable air as he kicked another wolf, sending it flying to the forest, in a sharp trajectory.

"Be careful Armand. We're not supposed to kill them." Lestat reprimanded lightly, as he saw the wolf maimed.

"I know what I'm doing." Armand replied, sending another wolf flying in to the forest. He seemed to be enjoying the battle a little too much.

"It's not that we don't appreciate the assistance…." Carlisle said as he dodged an attack. "But why are you helping us?" He then inquired after giving an angry wolf a solid punch.

"Our master will explain it to you once he arrives." Lestat replied as he held a wolf by its neck with one hand. Suddenly the said wolf along with others of its pack was seemingly smitten by a somnolent spell of inescapable stupor that engendered them to instantly drop to the ground in a catatonic slumber. "Oh, it seems he's already here." He then remarked with a crooked smile cracking on his face, making the Cullen's, particularly Edward, understandably anxious.

At that point Jake came out of the house. There was something in the expression on his face that both the Cullens and the Clearwaters found to be rather 'different', though they couldn't point it out exactly; except for Edward who suddenly became a bit crossed at something as he eyed Jake quite darkly and seemingly about to charge him any second, but he didn't for some reason.

"Bring them back." Jake said in a calm voice, requesting Alex, who was now standing behind him, to reawaken Sam and his pack.

To this, Alex concurred with a nod. One by one the wolves then stirred from their magically induced torpor and rose on their paws slowly, feeling a slight vertigo from the residual effect of the spell.

"Jake you traitor!" Sam roared as he paced towards Jake, trying to insinuate a mortal combat between the two of them.

"Stop! It's over." Jake said, trying to reason with Sam. It was seemingly to no avail however, as the latter attacked him. "If you kill her, you kill me." He then continued but the alpha sent him spiraling into a chunk of bushes by the house, prompting him to shift in to his wolf form in mid-air then confront the latter as he landed on his paws.

Guttural snarls echoed throughout the trees and the forest as Jake and Sam telepathically communed while the other wolves, including Leah and Seth, peered with an air of ponderous unbelief.

"What's happening?" Emmett inquired, bewildered.

"Jacob's imprinted..." Edward said in a somewhat slightly bitter and resenting voice as they watched the wolves.

"On whom?" Emmett queried once more, this time for clarification. However, his eyes suddenly widened as he realized that it was Edward's daughter who Jake has imprinted on. "Oh hell no! You got to be kidding me." He then said quite loudly in a voice that was half disbelief and half amusement.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this." Edward muttered irately to his sibling.

"Sorry" Emmett replied in a sheepish voice. "Look, the wolves. They're retreating." He then pointed out, changing the topic.

"They can't hurt her. It's their most sacred law." Edward said, explaining to him that they could no longer touch Renesmee the moment Jake imprinted on her for when a shape-shifter's soul mate is killed, he will never forget or forgive whoever's responsible for her death. In the case of the killer being another pack member, whether purposefully or by accident, the inevitable result is a fight to the death. To avoid feuding bloodshed within the pack, the La Push shape-shifters established their most strictly followed law, by which no wolf may harm or kill a fellow wolf's imprinted one, with no exceptions.

Shifting back to his human form, Jake sighed. "Finally, it's over." He then said, knowing that at least they wouldn't have a problem with Sam and his pack anymore.

For a moment there was an atmosphere of equanimity; but a brief one it would seem for the said serenity was broken as Edward glared at Alex and the latter did the same.

"What are you doing here?" Edward hissed with clenched fists.

"I'm here to offer you a truce." Alex replied that shocked everyone. "I will help Naruto. In exchange I want to see Bella." He then said that gave Leah so much hope.

"She….she's dead." Edward replied in a low, crestfallen voice as his heart grew sick from knowing that the woman she loved was now claimed by the reaper.

For a long second, Alex was taciturn, bowing his head in grief. It made Leah anxious for she feared that the demigod would never agree to help Naruto without the much needed leverage of Bella in the equation.

"Please" Leah practically begged.

"Nonetheless I want to see her." Alex said in insistence as he lifted his head and looked at Edward.

To this, Edward eventually agreed reluctantly after some time of solemn reflection but was ever vigilant to the young man's odd condition.

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With benumbed and painful mental processes, and confused to the last degree Naruto slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was lying on a riven and tilted pavement, among gigantic blocks of fallen stone. Above him, the light of a torpid heaven came down among over-turned and jagged walls that no longer supported their colossal dome.

"Where am I? What is this place?" Naruto muttered to himself as he stood up on his feet and scanned the environment of what looked like the ruins of an ancient temple. Then walking towards the direction of the fane's threshold where great gates once stood, the shinobi saw in shock the horrific landscape outside the temple.

The most striking and immediate impression he experienced was the lack of color and light; no sun, moon, or stars adorned the vault of the inky black sky, and all things looked as if the color had leeched out, leaving nothing but black and white, which in the dimness were more like 'dark black' and 'light black'.

"Quite a sight huh?" Said a familiar voice that immediately caught Naruto's attention.

"That voice….." Naruto muttered in a breathy voice of wistfulness and happiness alike. Then turning to the center of the ruin he saw a light of an oil lamp, and sitting near it was a tall man seemingly writing a novel with his ink brush on a laid out piece of paper. "Pervy sage" He then said in a somber voice as he felt a whirlwind of emotions upon seeing his old master.

"Been a while Naruto!" Jiraiya greeted, smiling paternally at Naruto as he placed his ink brush down.

"Master Jiraiya!" Naruto exclaimed in ebullient keenness, as with tears welling up his eyes he dashed towards the Sannin to give him a hug but suddenly crashed on the latter's outstretched palm in a comedic manner. "What the hell you do that for!" Annoyed, Naruto protested in a comical chibi form.

"Too much sweetness kid. Dial it down a notch." Jiraiya said, chuckling at the shinobi as he helped the latter to stand up.

Suddenly the expression on Naruto's face became noticeably gloomy. "Am I dead?" He then inquired th Sannin.

"What do you think?" Jiraiya inquired a counter-question, smiling cheekily on his former student.

"If I'm talking to you….then I suppose I am." Naruto smirked. Though once again the expression on his face took a rather sad solemn countenance as the image of Leah flashed before his eyes along with the vision of what life would've been if he could stay with her and their child.

"Well, do you want to pass on now?"Jiraiya once again queried.

"Honestly, if there's any choice….I want to hang out a little longer to be with Leah and see our baby born and watch him or her grow." Naruto said in a hollow voice then sadly smiled knowing such a thing would be impossible.

"If you really want it. Then open your eyes Naruto." Jiraiya said sagaciously with a gentle smile on his face as a lurid nova of light suddenly burst out like an exploding star and engulfed everything in a blissful empyrean whiteness.

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Azure eyes opened, only to see the face of a dreaded enemy. Swiftly, Naruto sprang erect and from a seal in his right arm summoned a gleaming katana wrought of folded adamantine steel. "What the hell are you doing here?" He then glared darkly, pressing the razor sharp edge of his blade on to the young man's neck, dangerously close to his jugular.

"Saving you it would seem. Don't worry I'm not expecting a thank you." Alex retorted sarcastically in an impassive voice and with a straight face. "Nice big sword you have there, compensating for something?" He then continued with a rather snarky comment.

"Say what!" At that point Naruto's deathly serious demeanor subsided and was replaced by a rather comical outburst of annoyance. "Leah, tell this fairyboy how big it is!" He then exclaimed childishly that made everyone snigger a little, except Leah who was quite flustered by the shinobi's relatively uncouth statement, and Edward who was still devastated by Bella's passing.

"Naruto…" Flustered, Leah reprimanded in virtuous indignation.

"Or better yet get the ruler we're measuring again. But this time I'll decide where the base is." Naruto exclaimed in an irked voice, like a person who thinks aloud and without any sort of mental filter; it would seem that in his fixation he wasn't even aware of his surroundings or the chuckles he's eliciting from the increasingly amused people around him.

"Damn it Naruto! Shut up!" Leah thundered. Giving Naruto a swift piercing stare as her discomfiture of the blonde's antics promptly converted itself in to exasperation, and later on, with help from her raging pregnancy hormones, became a great desire to smack the blonde silly to shut him up.

Like a man asleep douched with ice-water Naruto snapped out of his comical ranting and saw Leah's angry glare directed at him. "Oh…hi there Leah." He then muttered in a squeaky, terror laced voice while diffidently waving at her girlfriend.

The gesture was to no avail however, as she seemed to be greatly riled. With a fear like the slow creeping of hemlock, Naruto gulped seeing Leah pace towards him like a wolf about to tear her prey limb from limb.

"This is all your fault." Naruto sneered at Alex who in return just responded with a nonchalant shrug.

"Leah….calm down, I was just a bit peeved that's all." Naruto explained in a nervous quivering voice as he saw her annoyed girlfriend came nearer and nearer like a looming harbinger of untold doom. At that point the shinobi readied himself for a smack but to his surprise when Leah hugged him keenly in a warm embrace.

"I'm just glad you're ok." Leah said in a gentle sob while tears welled up in her eyes. "Don't ever scare me like that."

"I won't. I promise." Naruto said serenely in a soft voice hugging Leah back while his reassurances merged in to ardent protestations of love. He then kissed her torridly as if they were the only ones in the room, eliciting a myriad of reaction from their hushed audience.

"Ugh, get a room you guys!" Seth thought, blenching from the uncomfortable awkwardness of seeing his sister sucking face with the shinobi.

"Alright!" Emmett smirked boyishly, relieved that Naruto is now out of harm's way as well as feeling a certain pride for his blonde foster brother seeing him make out with this fiery hot girl.

"Erhm" Alex coughed sarcastically as if to demand Naruto's attention, which he did caught but only for a moment as the blonde just childishly scoffed at him then went back to kissing Leah. "Erhm!" He then coughed up louder, apparently out of an uncomfortable annoyance.

"What!" Naruto sneered. "What the heck do you want now? You want to kiss me pretty boy? Wait your turn. Oh wait…I don't do other dudes!" He then continued in a comical sarcasm.

"That's not what I heard. A little birdie told me that his first kiss is from Sasuke."Lestat gossipingly whispered to Armand that made the latter along with some of the Cullens chuckle, earning the ire of the exasperated shinobi.

"Yeah, I remember him." Armand snickered.

"Shut it you two!" Naruto chided in a comical chibi mode with a cruciform popping vein in his forehead.

"Why you ungrateful little….." Alex sneered at the shinobi but quickly regained his composure. "Well, I'm sorry to disturb your uncomfortable public display of affection. But I'm afraid you're not out of the woods yet." He then continued acerbically, reaching something from his pocket which he subsequently tossed to Naruto.

With his fast reflexes Naruto was easily able to catch it. "What's this? A flash drive?" He then queried, curiously inspecting a USB flash drive in his hand. "What is this for?"

At this point Alex's eyes glowed white with fiery energy as the young man began to recite something in a harsh hissing tongue akin to the language of serpents that rolled in countless echoes throughout the room.

The hissing inflections that rose in to the air like fire, along with its esoteric meaning and the power it held was alien to the apprehensive vampires and flummoxed shape-shifters who could only be certain that it was some sort of incantation, likely from the darkest of magical lore. With ever watchful vigilance they readied themselves for battle in case the former proved to be treacherous with his intentions.

Anon, a triangular looking glyph, crimson as blood, suddenly formed on Naruto's right arm; and around the glyph manifested ciphers that were not the pictorial symbols or alphabetic characters of any language known to the shinobi nor to the vampires and shape-shifters.

"What's the meaning of this?" Carlisle reproached in a mirthless voice as the rest of the Cullens assumed a more aggressive stance; while Lestat and Armand quickly stationed themselves beside Alex as they seemingly prepared for combat.

"Guys calm down." Seth exclaimed, trying to defuse the situation while Jake and Rosalie hurriedly took Renesmee away to safety.

For a moment there was an uncanny silence as the belligerents sharply glared at each other with bone gritting hostility, and it would seem that soon a violent clash was imminent to erupt.

"I know you can't be trusted." Edward hissed at Alex but was ignored as the young man was seemingly focused solely on his conjuration. He was about to charge but abruptly halted as he heard Naruto's commanding voice.

"Stop!" Naruto said in a voice interlaced with that of amazement, enjoining everyone to calm down as he peered attentively on the arcane seal that had been branded on his arm and watched in stupefaction as the link-like burns on his body was magically drawn then sealed in to the folds of the ciphers while the undulating excruciation and infinite fiery pangs that assailed every square inch of his body earlier wholly died out.

"Listen, your very life depends on this." Alex started in a cold voice.

"What do you mean?" Naruto inquired in a serious and foreboding tone.

"The weapon you used to kill Errealth has sundered him in to infinite shards. The biggest of which was entrenched in you and has acted as the catalyst of your current misfortune; ravaging your body and soul from the inside out, rotting it as the shard's unfathomable raw power slowly unfolds. This, along with the hatred and spite he had prior to the moment of his death will painfully consume you like a dreadful disease." Alex elucidated in a matter-of-fact tone, trying his best not to feel any sort of malice to his friend's killer as he spoke. "I was able to placate the shard by transferring half of my power to you…making it think that it still inhabits my body. While the ciphers branded in your arm are powerful arcane runes of Atlantean magic which will act as a buffer and put it in check for the moment being by enjoining it to dampen back in to its inert state." He then continued which gave everyone much relief. Suddenly however, as everything was seemingly alright trepidation once again mounted in everyone's heart as they saw how the expression on the young man's face became foreboding and his voice turned somber. "However, such measures are only temporary. In time, the shard will circumvent my protective magic and will once again assume its wonted virulence."

"I knew it's too good to be true." Naruto smirked at his predicament. It would seem that the shinobi has already accepted his fate.

"No. This can't be the end of it." Leah muttered in an airy hollow voice while staring blankly in to the air, hoping that some sort of cure can be found to save Naruto.

"There is a way." Alex started in a mellow flowing voice that gave Leah much relief. "On the flash drive is a page from the book of Eibon I transcribed myself….I'm not sure if you can read the runes of Hyperborea so….." He then continued in the same manner though he enunciated the last part of his sentence in a quick monotonic tone which made Naruto sneer a little with a puerile pout on his face that would have been hilarious if it weren't for the serious nature of the subject. "Anyways….within it is the formula of the summoning ritual and the name of the one whose assistance alone can save your life, along with the incantation that will rouse that power and the necessary sacrifices needed for its propitiation."

"This sound shady and all, ya'know." Naruto hummed contemplatively, subsequently gazing incredulously at the demigod. "How can I be sure there won't be any kind of monster that will suddenly appear and eat me after I perform that little diddly squat ritual of yours?" He then inquired in a skeptical tone.

"Because if I wanted you dead I don't even have to lift a finger, all I have to do is to watch you slowly rot." Alex replied nonchalantly, directing a cold glare at the shinobi.

"And what caused this sudden change of heart and mind? Just a week ago you threatened to kill me and everyone I love." He then queried in a tone of mirthless sarcasm and with a sharp steely glare in his eyes, not letting himself easily fall prey to the latter's deceit.

To this Alex sighed deeply as he massaged the bridge of his nose to let out some of his exasperation. "If it would sate your humooooongous ego, let's just say that it's because you're lucky and I'm stupid." He then said sardonically.

"Meh. Fair enough." Naruto shrugged, seemingly content with the latter's answer.

"As I've said earlier, your life depends on this so I hope you'll listen closely." Alex said in a calm but somewhat firmer voice. "Three days from now, Venus, Earth and Mars will align in a planetary syzygy. It is the only time the summoning rites could be performed. Once you successfully executed the evocation ritual a spirit will appear. Ask it to give you the dawn and the dusk. It shall give you two glittering gems. One being larger than the other. The larger of which is a clear white and flawless gemstone that is like crystalized starlight; while the other is only the size of a grain of rice, and is crimson like blood and radiates a strange aura of warmth around it. You must swallow the latter gem. It will enable the fragment of Errealth's power as well as my own to merge in consonance with your essence and thus, in time, you will be able to utilize our powers as you will, greatly enhancing your own already formidable capabilities.

For a moment Naruto brooded about something. "How about the other one….the white gem, I mean." He then inquired curiously.

"Magically it's useless but it's a diamond the size of a monkey's paw so I suggest you hang on to it." Alex replied.

"Hmmm interesting." Naruto hummed. Contemplating about the possibilities and added responsibilities of acquiring even more power.

"I have upheld my part of the bargain." Alex said as he peered back to Carlisle and Edward. "I trust you'll fulfill yours." He continued in a voice that was soft as a viper's hiss.

For a moment of uncanny silence Carlisle and Edward traded glances then the latter nodded to Alex, silently enjoining the young man to follow him.

At that point a memory from a distant dream struck Naruto's cognition like lightning from a cloudless sky. "You're that boy…." He muttered in an airy voice of astonishment and ponderous disbelief. "The only survivor of that village on the high plateau." He then continued in the same manner as he looked curiously at Alex which caught the attention of everyone albeit they have no idea what he's talking about.

"What?" Alex inquired. His head was slightly tilted and there was a perplexed countenance on his face as he looked at the shinobi.

"Nothing." Naruto muttered in a somber voice and with a wistful smile on his lips as he came to the realization that like Leah when he first saw her, the young man was seemingly wholly oblivious of his former life as a child of the Elemental Nations. "Ya' know, if things were a little different we could have been friends." He then said in a tone of owlish irony as he smirked.

"Perhaps" Alex concurred, smiling back with the same ironic smirk. "But it's too late now." He continued and was about to walk away but for some reason stopped on his tracks and peered back at Naruto. "By the way….Errealth's curse would've only activated at the moment of you experiencing the bliss of true happiness. If you'll indulge me to inquire, what caused you to experience such?" He then queried in a curious but somehow sheepish tone.

Hearing this Naruto looked at Leah and smiled. "When I found out that I'm gon'na be a dad." He then said, turning his gaze back to the young man.

"Ahh…how lucky you are." Alex nodded, a placid smile emanated on his face though he can't help but feel a bit of guilt for threatening the life of an innocent unborn child during the fit of his temporary insanity that time he battled the shinobi in Isle Esme. "For what it's worth Naruto…..I'm sorry….for everything." He then said in a broken and barely audible voice along with a genuinely apologetic beam that surprised everyone; though, they weren't given any chance to respond for the young man has now swiftly strode away with Edward to the other room where Bella laid.

It was a strange scene indeed, of how the remaining children of the Elemental Nations were reunited after more than ten millennia of temporal separation. As if destiny quipped for the entertainment of those higher beings watching from above but wasn't funny at all to those who are subject to the cruel joke.

Stranger still, amidst his own confusion Naruto noticed the singular expression on Lestat and Armand's face. Though they were able to hide it very well from everyone else, the shinobi, with his sharp powers of observation and sage-like awareness of his surroundings, easily picked up the minor and subtle mien on the two, leading him to believe that they were privy to something no one else knows.

As if the young man has given them a telepathic message of some impending misfortune for the expression on the umber parchment of their countenance was that of grief and sadness, like that of someone about to lose a brother and powerless to stop it.

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"Right here" Edward said, leading Alex to an adjacent room which looked like a hospital's intensive care unit, complete with all sorts of medical equipment.

"Uhm privacy" Alex requested but it was something Edward's never going to grant as he watched him like a hawk, fearing he'll steal Bella's body or something.

"That wasn't part of the deal." Edward said coldly.

"Fine" Alex sighed as he entered the room.

In a cot located on the far side of the room he saw Bella, who was now a cold corpse. The latter was emaciated, reflecting the hardships of his pregnancy and labor. The piteous scene has visibly crushed the young man's heart judging by the expression of despondency and sorrow on his face as he pulled a chair next to the bed then sat beside her and gently held her hand.

"You are as beautiful the day I met you. I remember that day quite clearly. We were at biology class, and you're seemingly annoyed about something, or someone…. " Alex said, quipping lightheartedly and looking at the lifeless Bella with ardent eyes, recalling the first day they met.

"I remember when you greeted me, the new kid, with that ever so sweet smile of yours while you seemingly shimmered as the soft rays of the sun gently touched your skin with its golden light. The truth is I fell in love with you that very moment. I couldn't even begin to remember how many times I wanted to ask you out to a movie but every time I try I froze up and stutter like an idiot. Truly, it's a sad thing in life when you meet someone who means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and you just have to let go. In some strange way, I always kinda knew that we can never be more than friends for you love someone else but I was too stubborn to admit it. People think I'm stupid for making you the center of my universe, but it doesn't matter. Seeing you smile is the one thing that has always given me hope and happiness as I watched behind the shadows, hidden. My only regret is that my physical weakness has left me incapable of helping you any further…..and that I never had the courage to tell you how much I loved you from the very beginning." He then continued in a gentle voice and with watery eyes, smiling softly while he held Bella's hand.

"Well, I'm afraid I have to go now Bella….it would seem I have to prepare for my final journey very soon. Honestly, I don't really know which path to thread next or what fate awaits me in the end, but please know that I will forever hold our friendship dear to my heart as I walk in to the night….and wherever my journey would take me I shall always think of you fondly. Farewell Bella, my best friend from Forks. I wish that you will always be happy everyday of your new immortal life."

He then kissed Bella on her forehead and whispered in to her ear the incantation that resurrects the recently deceased, subsequently sacrificing his remaining divine power to reinforce the dimensional barrier that divides the human sphere from the outer-realm, buying the denizens of Earth more time.

"Lord of the Crossroads, I hail thee.

Guide her in life as in death,

May she walk in truth and balance,

Guide her through the shadows of night,

Challenge her in the dark,

Guard her when she cannot guard herself,

Open the ways of her heart that it may be pure and light upon the scale.

Open her eyes and awaken her soul. Let light come from darkness, ever fresh, let it take form and serve its purpose, then let life be its reward."

Unfortunately, the very enchantment that rechanneled Bella's life energy back to her body and anchored her spirit in to the world of the living has quenched Alex's life in return.

"Please….take care of her." Alex said to Edward his final words in a soft voice.

"I will." Edward nodded solemnly.

Hearing this Alex nodded back contentedly with a gentle smile on his face, silently accepting his fate as he started to fade in to nothingness. Thinning away until he was like a transparent silhouette from which Edward could see through him as clearly as one could see through glass.

In the end, all that remained of him were softly shimmering ethereal stardust that was like a thousand fireflies swept away by a gust of wind and ascended in to the dark blue heavens unhindered by mundane obstacles and no longer troubled by the pains of mortal sorrow.

-End

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Hey there folks!

I'm back! It has been quite a while. My post-grad classes in the university just started a month ago and boy was it intense. Thankfully, I was able to catch a break tlast weekend to update the story.

So, in this chapter Alex died. Originally, the story should've only spanned 18 chapters but all the love and support from you awesome people has inspired me to extend it. I had real a blast writing especially the fight scenes. So yeah, as I have explained before. Initially, Alex would've played a minor role post Errealth's death until he himself expires shortly afterwards. The reason why he has to linger far longer is because of this chapter where gives Naruto a final power boost. At the time I wasn't really able to tell you about this in full detail nor can I tell you yet the purpose of the power boost as it would be a big spoiler.

Anyways, all I could say for now my dear readers is that there would be some interesting stuff happening in the near future

As always any suggestions that would help improve the story is always welcomed.

See you next chapter!

Cheerio :)