Well, can't keep sitting on this and editing it forever. We've all suffered enough.
Notes before we start, because I'm a nerd and can't seem to write like a human being, here are two definitions to clarify things (somewhat)
AA: Pronounced 'Ah-Ah', Hawaiian word used in geology to refer to an especially viscous lava flow.
Leucosome: White part of a rock (the actual explanation would take up about a page, so I'll leave you to look that up if you're so inclined)
Vajra Mudra: A hand sign used commonly in Buddhist practices, in Japanese it is known as 'Retsu' as part of the nine. One meaning is: "seal of the interpenetration of the two realms"
"Ah, for the love of god, no! D-Don't'!"
His pleas might as well have been directed at a tidal wave for all the good they would have done being bounced off the two-headed serpent undulating over to him. For this was also force of nature, and even if it had been at one time a creation of a god either good or ill, it was no longer under its direction once unleashed upon the world. An unrelenting clockwork like time, marching forward and trampling over everyone in its path.
All the money he had gathered in his lifetime, the favors earned, and the secrets kept meant nothing for he was going to die like so many others. This man was all alone. Life no more important than a field mouse as it cowered in paralyzed fear. Pretending this isn't the case is a fool's burden.
"AHHHH!"
Thing is, sometimes, through no rightful cause or logic the mouse is spared its fate, however temporarily. Wishful thinking would ascribe it to some virtue of the prey, some attribute like weapons, or influence, or sheer guile.
But it is truly nothing more than the luck of the draw.
Not believing his own luck, the man stared at the garishly colored archangel that appeared from thin air to slay the dragon with a gob-smacked look frozen on his face.
Rolling her eyes, the very real and very human creature jerked her head away from the disintegrating corpse and the path of rubble in its wake, urging the man to flee. When instead he continued to simply lay on his rear at this mute command, she took the flat of the pencil-thin blade and smacked him on the shin, earning a startled squawk.
This move did remind the man that he was still alive however, and he quickly scrambled to his feet when his body realized it too. He took off down the abandoned streets in his half-priced dress shoes and discount business suit without a backwards glance at his undeserved handout.
She sighed and shook her head, not even for the first time that night as she wondered why she bothered with these beasts in clothes- clothes that were leagues better than the unflattering orange garbage bag she was currently wearing.
"T-thank you!"
Blinking as she held the garment away from her body like it was infected, she looked in the direction the man she saved was fleeing, wondering if she had truly heard him yell.
Noiselessly she giggled, remembering it didn't matter.
The giddy expression diminished when she looked on at the far horizon, at the unnaturally black clouds which continued to linger over that one-time Beacon of hope. Eyes swirled in color like the living storm which they observed, peaceful in the distance as it was there on the ground. Both silences were lies.
Without a peep which might have betrayed this, she mouthed words that had no more effect than the man's cries of mercy.
Finish this.
"Either finish me or let me leave be." Bitterly accepting that the former was drastically more probable as he clutched a throbbing stitch in his side and leaned heavily against a tree to support his quivering legs. "-But if you keep playing with me, I shall make you regret it."
"Eee! Dark… Are you really so ready to die, Ozpin-san?"
Chuckling to disguise the wince, he kickstarted the failing cells with microscopic pulses of Aura. The beleaguered man knew it was but a temporary fix and that his mortal coil would not hold forever.
"You don't really know me very well, do you? In fact, I daresay you probably don't know half of what is really going on, just enough to extort what you need out of people. You've made it no secret that you're not from this world. So, is it just us, or is it your own populace as well? Are you a pathogen proliferating itself throughout time and space, or just a parasite eating its way through hosts?"
"We are neither… just a servant…a scavenger." Its blank gaze and creeping smile felt to Ozpin like a fungus actively trying to grow in him.
"Hardly a scavenger. An opportunist, maybe…" Looking himself for any opportunity to gain the upper hand. While professing not to care for Salem's desires, this thing was keeping him alive on her instructions, of that he was sure. Therefore, if he could get some sort of leverage he might just come out victorious. He couldn't afford not to. "…but a servant. That implies that someone else is choosing your actions and motives besides Salem."
"That is not…untrue." A pause wherein one had to wonder what was going on in the mind of the being known as Zetsu, where semblance of thought and will peaked through the brambles. "We exist to serve the mistress…to return that which was stolen from her… we don't really care for you beings without Chakra, but… we need the one with the eyes to bring her back."
"I don't understand why you need her, but you should understand that Ruby is important to our world too and I cannot let you have her, especially if you are planning further actions." Surprising that it was being this amicable, at this late in the game the headmaster saw no harm in having the truth laid bare. And perhaps it should have been all along.
"She is just… a means to an end… it's Naruto-kun we really want…he's ours! We made him! They are both ours and you can't have them!"
If he had been moving, Ozpin would have stumbled at the outburst from the otherwise obtuse creature. Genuine emotions beyond an artificial cruelty and childlike innocence, parroting the behaviors of intelligence. Here was something it actually cared about.
"What do you mean, 'you made them'? You understand that Ruby was born here in Remnant, on Patch, to her mother Summer Rose and father Taiyang?" Neglecting to mention he had presided over it all.
Zetsu let loose another unearthly giggle that was like trees creaking in the wind.
"We needed the Rinnegan… so we made it… a little poke, a little prod… the right genes… and there you go!...well, not directly. But one of our other experiments worked, and they retrieved his eyes for us…like a good little puppy!"
"So, you muddled around with life because you needed…what? A tool?" Trying hard to keep his darker emotions in check while the Grimm still entrapped them like a forest fire, at this admission he lost what little restraint left in his decaying corpse and an inferno sought to claim all that was left.
"Yes! It was so easy! All we had to do was wait!... and it was just luck that he turned out to be a Jinchῡriki too… not to mention such a cute weakness!"
With a heave and a lurch Ozpin left the support of the tree behind, stumbling a bit on his worn-out leather dress shoes. Tottering slightly while his vision swam, he gathered what strength remained in that failing body for one final exchange.
"Now, I do see. I understand, and I pity you."
"Pity?" Halfway between a laugh and a snarl as that gaping may tried to swallow the human words.
"Yes, you are nothing but a mindless monster like Grimm. Like them, you exist merely to perpetuate someone else's mistake without a will to call your own."
The Grimm around them howled like hyenas, as if knowing they were being snubbed. Zetsu meanwhile went blank, expressing nothing. But retreating into this vegetative state was still a retreat, and Ozpin pressed his first and likely only advantage.
"We are used to living with your kind, and no matter how strong you are, eventually we find ways to hunt you. But whomever it is that dictates your actions, they I cannot forgive just as I cannot forgive myself. I have made more mistakes than anyone -living or dead, and can therefore not allow another to follow the same path."
As headmaster, it should not have been surprising that one day he would have to relearn one of his own lessons. It was a series of mistakes that lead him here, and it would only be by retracing his them that he would escape.
"Your words are meaningless since you are incapable of supporting them. You are weak, and growing weaker by the minute….If you were in our world, we'd eat you like a bug!"
"I can see why you'd think that." Lighting in the air, hackles raising and eyes hardening like quenching steel. All serving to drive their morbid audience wild with anticipation. "So I am sorry if I gave you a false impression. But- oh, what is that saying? Oh yes- We're not in Kansas anymore.
"This is my domain!"
Bellows, heralding the return of Ozpin, the Great and Terrible.
With an all-encompassing sweep like the hand of time, the clockwork mechanism within his cane whined and strained and spat out a great fan of flame which rapidly took up the space between the two. Having been on the receiving end of far grander conflagrations, Zetsu treated this one with contempt and disdain, waiting to see what if anything the foolish man hoped to accomplish.
Second stroke of the maestro, blustery winds of Fall swept through the season of fire and fed the flames so that even the experienced assassin had to find shelter among the roots as the rest of the plant-based life succumbed to the torrent. Within seconds, a forest that had taken hundreds of years to build- trees that the man had seen grown from saplings were consumed.
Half knew what Ozpin was attempting to do, half knew only the pain from the dying forest. Both rushed towards the man while underground to exact revenge and settle their contentions once and for all.
The third beat brought the drums as the man pounded the earth. The note he struck resounded like an earthquake in Zetsu's head, liquified the dirt and lifted it like a blanket before brutally dropping it back down on top of him.
Fleeing the submerged space before he became part of the groundmass, the plant-man flew at his target with the intent to euthanize instead of restrain. It didn't seem to matter what world they were in, some humans simply couldn't be kept alive because of their stubbornness, and if the self-proclaimed Witch could not understand that then she would never succeed in her mission.
Which meant they would have to do it for her. White-Zetsu already had clones poised for this very task, as well as to take down the headmaster while he was concentrated on the original.
To this end, Zetsu uplifted two of the burning trees by their roots and swung them like clubs at the man who didn't so much as blink before julienning them.
What remained of the arbors igniting like fireflies on that hot summer night. All but blinding even to the plant-man as he flew through them and struck with myopic intent. Ignoring the inferno as orange flames lapped at his extended arm, fingers like thorns raked across and felt sweet resistance.
In that numbing pain of being burned though, flesh felt the same. Indistinguishable, like the pain of being on fire and the pain of his arm being severed at the elbow.
An incredulous diminuendo, a pause in which the normally crafty creature comprehended the reversal and key change.
Rising through the flames like a phoenix, Ozpin leapt over the snapping jaws of the Venus Flytrap whilst scoring a deep cut in the plant's back. Not allowing time for a counterattack, the human struck again with a kick that sent his opponent into reeling against the crumbling remains of his own clone, as he prepared for the next segment.
A crescendo, a staccato of strikes as more of Zetsu's clones attacked him from all sides. As if reading ahead on the sheet music, Ozpin nailed each adversary the moment they came up. Then came a slur of stabs from the original to which he mirrored the phrase bar for bar.
For his part, the unwitting critic was stumped. He had existed for decades, centuries in hiding. Manipulating events not only to work for his survival, but towards the eventual revival of his creator. To be predicted as such should not be possible. Zetsu could not fathom where this virtuoso had sprouted from, could not wrap his mind around the fact that he could possibly be the dilettante challenging the master.
Ignoring this traitorous thinking, the plant-man acknowledged that he had to stem the flames which were quickly spreading and threatening to consume the both of them- a fact which did not seem to perturb the arsonist.
Little was he to know that Ozpin had played this canonic symphony before. The moment Zetsu started spewing liquid from his mouth, he was ready with another crystal in hand, light blue projectile hurled into the stream and freezing it faster than it could come out. The newly formed icicle exploded in his face and he hissed in annoyance as the individual fragments were boiled by the uncaring flames.
Re-growing and hardening his forearm, Zetsu blocked the man's next slash and allowed it to sink in and harden like mud. Before he could do the same to the man, Ozpin leapt backwards to the edge of their fiery ring.
"You were hiding your true strength this entire time…meenie!"
There was nothing separating his chuckling from the crackling of the flames.
"Oh no, you are quite correct. I am far, far weaker than you. Even now I have no doubt that I will not survive this fight." In a show of equivalent exchange, Ozpin deigned to answer the pitiable creature's question. Standing up straight, he carefully adjusted his glasses with the palm of his hand.
"I simply have more experience. Having the tools and knowing how to use them are two very different things." To illustrate, with a showman's flourish he pulled a finger-full of multicolored crystals out of thin air. "From what I have seen, you have no problem mimicking nature's abilities and can do so without these as an aid. Your shear capability far outstrips mine, but you lack the ability to fully utilize your advantages."
"We are not as inexperienced as you so assume." Black Zetsu growled.
"That may be, but what of the things you have not experienced? Someday you will come up against that which is not in your repetoire." Clutching his palm, Ozpin made the crystals vanish again and smiled sublimely. "Just as I am now. Before I was fighting with the intention of protecting my students, but I see now that this goal is futile. Nay- it is pointless. I cannot protect them against the likes of you. I cannot prepare them, and can only offer the chance. Therefore…"
Snapping one of his fingers, the sword which had been all but absorbed into Zetsu's body mass detonated like a Bangalore torpedo and sent the handle flying right into Ozpin's waiting grasp.
"…I have to come to terms with the fact that I am superfluous."
As Zetsu charged, Ozpin backpedaled to where his sheath lay forgotten, kicking it up into his hand and snapped it into place. Tossing one of the hidden Dust crystals, he struck it with the cane and a bright light engulphed the battlefield. Halting his attack, Zetsu once more retreated into the Earth and there he waited for the man's next move, pondering the sudden change in the cantankerous individual.
Nothing happened for a while in which the submerged assassin kept thinking in circles about the man's intent and purpose. That record continued to skip until he realized he was getting nowhere. Water logged his system. The now flooded ground above him pressed heavy on his shoulders, depriving him of the oxygen even he needed to survive while under.
Bursting forth in a spray of murky droplets, he blitzed the man with speeds previously reserved for shinobi the likes of Itachi and other Akatsuki members. Ozpin was forced back with several wounds which he shrugged off as if he too could regrow them.
In contrast to Zetsu's childish smile and grievous actions came Ozpin's serious smirk and childish actions. He started splashing water into the plant's face every time an attack came. Chipping it in golf swings between deflecting Zetsu's organic blade, kicking it up with confounding dance-steps which kept him just outside of reach.
"Now who is the one playing around?" The creature growled, decrying the futile delaying tactics.
"Oh, I'm not playing. I'm just not as good as Glynda at this."
Like a schoolboy stomping into a puddle, Ozpin kicked up a ring of brackish water in a circle. And then with a sweep of his mighty staff, the droplets were attracted to the lingering static charge in the metal. Coalescing, he struck the teardrop shape like a pool cue straight at the trailing Zetsu who was taken aback by the bullet of liquid.
One after the other came hurtling at him as Ozpin slowly retreated into the border between fire and water, steam rising like an ethereal mist at that point of contact. His pursuer was not about to let him cross through the curtain. Zetsu was always used to being the invisible one and wasn't sure if he could track this insignificant breed of humans scurrying away like a field mouse in a rice paddy.
But to his confoundment, Ozpin stopped short of the fog and suddenly reversed direction, charging straight at him. Confoundment soon turned into an emotion Zetsu could hardly remember the name of. Surprise, as Ozpin's blow struck home accompanied by a lingering tingle as the reenergized capacitor discharged over his water-logged cells.
And then another, and another, that measure repeated time and again until Zetsu was sure he could never feel shock- literal or figurative, ever again.
"Huh, I suppose an old dog can learn new tricks."
Leering down at the mandrake with roots halfway in the water, Ozpin sported a cruel smirk on his face that portrayed a different man. One which had been constantly lurking behind that shroud of civility. Once carefully guarded by its high walls painstakingly stacked over the years, now they had come crashing down, revealing that they were not to keep invaders out, but to keep a monster within.
"What did you do to me?!"
"I was not always such a… considerate individual." Sneering, Ozpin waded through the inundated battlefield, carefully picking his way around the downed, but certainly undefeated Zetsu. "In another lifetime, I was the kind of person others would want to be rid of through any means necessary. Needless to say, I learned from that … the hard way."
Cane twirling in hand, he stabbed the blunt tip deep into the muck with nary a splash and crouched down in front of the crawling vine.
"Poison can be quite painful, as I am sure you are now figuring out. A coward's weapon to be sure, but I do not mind that title. I am willing to use whatever means necessary to defeat you."
"But…how?!" Rasps like the hiss of vapor. "I am…immune… to all toxins!"
"In your world, maybe." Slowly, as if plucking a rose from a bramble of thorns, Ozpin reached out towards Zetsu's head. "…But we're not in your world, are we?"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
Both recoiled, Ozpin before he could be bitten and Zetsu before that hand like leprosy could touch him. The cells of his body sensitive to the minute changes of environment registered something… foul in the terrible man's hand. A season of death within the palm, decay, pestilence- an end to everything.
"The seasons…" Breathing heavy as far away from the man as he could leap, Zetsu observed the critiquing gaze, but more so the blackened and disease-ridden fingers that were about to touch him. "We did not make the connection at first…but you are the one who created the four Maidens… leaving only the plague for yourself."
"How astute." Annoyed, Ozpin drawled. "Perhaps there is a brain behind that carapace."
Unnervingly, Zetsu smirked, pushing past the pain of having his body forcibly break down from the poison Ozpin had splashed him with and accelerated with the static charge.
"More than a mind…there is purpose."
With no more discomfort than before, Zetsu began to tear himself apart down the middle, separating black from white and leaving an oozing bridge between the two like bloody snot. Once this morbid display was complete, the White half let out a shrill scream that forced Ozpin to cover his ears and squint so that he could barely catch the leucosome dissolving like a witch into the water.
"A purpose that outlives the individual. We are the embodiment of that goal, and therefore you will never defeat us. We are legion."
From the fog another White Zetsu emerged and seamlessly took the place of the other, integrating itself with the melanin-colored half. Its reformed grin spread from ear to ear and showed none of the previous discomposure.
"Tch. So you sequestered the poison in your other half and purged both in one stroke." No less harsh, the smirk held by the former headmaster held a twitch of resignation as the plant-man shrugged off one of his trump cards. Thankfully, he did have more. "Now that hardly seems fair."
"Ne, ne, didn't you basically admit…anything's fair?"
"So I did." Flare of frustration cooling into anger, Ozpin slipped a hand backwards into his pocket wherein lay his scroll. "Unfortunately, that kind of attitude makes matches like these rather short-"
His hands fumbled keying in the code to summon his personal weapons locker by a loud crack and a roar. The sound making the lingering swamp shutter and jump in excitement. It seemed as if Remnant itself were breaking up like the moon so long ago.
Even though he had never personally heard it in all his many lifetimes, Ozpin knew what it was. The last vestiges of defiance crumbled as he realized it was likely his increase of animosity which summoned the ancient beast.
Occupied with his own monster there was nothing he could do, so that even the mutually assured destruction he had planned for them seemed a useless gesture. Staying his hand from calling the explosive-filled locker, he let it drop languidly by his side.
As the Grimm Dragon emerged from its mountainous tomb, it crushed the surrounding stone into dust which took to the sky like a revival of the storm which had smothered them since the previous day. Lightning which flashed between those clouds presented an image parallel with damnation, framing that fearsome creature.
The reality, however, was perpendicular to that assumption.
"So… Octopus-san is here."
The only thing clear was Zetsu's irritation as Ozpin watched the storm dance around the monster in erratic patterns. If he didn't know better, it appeared as if the lightning was attacking, attempting to restrain the creature. This thought brought laughter, but not from him. Giddy bellows echoing like thunder from the broken mount, overshadowing the ragged cries of the Dragon as it reeled in agonizing prickliness.
"Hmm… it appears that I can no longer afford to linger here." The recently reignited hope was almost smothered when an emotionless Zetsu turned his attention back to the him. "Tobi should have finished the Nine-Tail's Jichῡriki by now… but seeing as he's kinda late…perhaps we should go help him retrieve the Rinnegan from Naruto."
"Stop!"
The plant-man who suddenly took off in the other direction and Ozpin found himself unable to follow as his body declared that it could go no further and he collapsed onto a knee, clutching the empty cavity in his chest. The power that he had saved up for decades and blown through in just a few minutes was a part of him, something he kept locked up for the potential damage it could cause. A remnant from creating the Maidens, the last of his power, the last thing keeping him propped-up was gone.
But he was not without his will, that which propped him up and craned his neck in the direction of the escaping Zetsu so that he could glare in bitter spite. It made the sight of an icy wall like crystal sugar erupting and halting the assassin that much sweeter.
"I apologize for being late, headmaster." Correcting the last detail from her otherwise impeccable appearance, Glynda Goodwitch tucked a strand of blonde hair back over her ear as she strolled out of the trees. A flick of her wrist brought the wall crashing down in pointed shards, forcing Zetsu to retreat back further into the clearing. "I had to deal with some unruly children who refused to get out of my way… Ozpin!"
Taking her unamused gaze off the strange enemy for a moment, she saw the pitiable state her boss was in and rushed to his side.
"Forget about me!" He insisted, tearing her concerned hands off his degenerating corpse. "Don't let that thing escape!"
"I wouldn't worry about that." Glynda appraised with eyes narrowed at the plant-creature attempting once more to flee. "I brought help."
With the most basic of ninjutsu, Zetsu replaced himself with a tree limb which was consumed in flame as soon as he did. Declining to show his nonplus, he stared out at the previously-blank spot in the woods from whence the pervading forest-fire struck out at him with purpose. Coalescing from the curtain of flames was a woman he should have recognized but didn't bother to.
"Like Glynda said, sorry to be late." Chestnut eyes twinkled with the fire in her hands as she shot a chagrinned smile at the silver-haired man. "And, sorry to have been so much trouble."
"No trouble at all… Amber." Ozpin greeted, mustering a smile past clenched teeth. "Glad to have you here."
"The Fall Maiden… so Cinder-san failed, huh?"
"I'd say that was an understatement." Remembering the grizzly scene which greeted her upon entering Amber's chamber, Glynda frowned. "Her two lackies have also been incapacitated… no thanks to those two."
"Hey, I blame 'Ms. Procedure' for delaying us." From the shadows where previously only a red-eyed crow resided came a humored voice.
"What?" Yet another stranger to the plant-man, composed but not nearly as well as the deputy headmistress as she emerged from the opposite side of the clearing. "How in the world do you reconcile that delusion?"
Qrow shot his reluctant partner a pointed look and mouthed a string of words which made the woman frown.
"…Whatever."
"Indeed." Ozpin drawled, attempting to stand only to be caught by his assistant when he stumbled. "The real question is if you are here, who is watching the students?"
His and Ironwood's agents shared a look that he couldn't identify before they answered, pointing to the sky.
"We got some… unexpected allies."
"The 'Octopus'?" Ozpin ventured, watching as the dragon was systematically being worn down and even- if he could trust his failing vision- being battered around.
"…Among others…" Qrow's answer vague and mysterious.
Perhaps not to the wise headmaster though who interpreted the look and smiled in peace once again. "Well, I am happy to have all the help I can get." After taking stock of his immediate allies, he leveled his gaze once more to Zetsu who had remained unusually still throughout the introductions.
"Damnit!" The sudden exclaim alerted Glynda so she could hold onto to the wilted man as he tried to jerk from her grip. "He got away! Everyone, head for Amity Coliseum! Stop him!"
The hunting party wasted time sharing questioning looks as the plant man remained rooted with a smirk. Amber was the first to notice the change in their supposedly 'trapped' adversary and so was unsurprised when the fireball she hurled at him did nothing but reveal a slowly melting sculpture of mud.
Before the cruel smirk had time to harden and crack, three of the four were off, leaving Glynda supporting her long-time friend and boss who urged her onward.
"Go, Glynda." Relaxing, and with an air of finality he stated. "There is nothing you can do for me now except to ensure that the next generation has their chance."
If there was one order the woman had a right to protest after all the time by his side, it was this. So he was not at all surprised when she refused to let him sink into the mud of his own making. Instead, she waited with him propped against one of the few remaining trees until his eyes closed and his breath ceased.
After that, it was no longer his concern.
Alone again, huh?
He was no longer there… if he had ever been there… if this hadn't been anything but a dream in my failing conscious.
Could I even dream anymore? Sleep passed time that wasn't there. The period of resting but a snap of the fingers, just like being awake.
How many times have I had this same train of thought running through my head? Once? Twice? A dozen?
Have I ever not thought about how alone I am?
Alone even in company, alone with myself and my emotions.
Bitterness wants to define me. Rage. Jealousy. Such strong feelings with space to occupy and expand. Boundless should I not try and restrain them.
Why should I?
Because they are out there. On the other side.
And so, here I am. A grain of sand amidst the eternal desert.
Waiting, for them to come and find me.
"You… li-ttle…pu-u-nk."
"Oh, so you are awake."
Not so much as pausing for this little exchange, Naruto continued what he was doing with the studiousness of a monk. The brush made from a wood sliver, steel wire and his own hair continued its journey from the man's collarbone up his throat, tickling the jugular. Making that hate-filled eye twitch at the gall and try even harder to tear open a portal into another dimension.
"What… are you… doing to me?"
"I see that whatever that was is wearing off." The acerbic diatribe was water off his back as Naruto concentrated on a particularly difficult character right underneath the man's chin. "Too bad-Ah! There we go." The rising sun reflected off the shattered glass from the fallen commentator's box and illuminated his work.
"As soon as I can but blink… I will tear you to shreds, Kyῡbi or no."
"That's your right." Hand flying against time, in contrast to his clones who were carefully and deliberately doting on Ruby as she lay on a bed of salvaged stadium seats not far away. "If that's how you feel after we're done. However, if you try, I will not fail to stop you."
As sure as he was that his latest masterpiece would be completed before the sun fell on the broken arena, the remnants of the final battle and the building blocks for a new chapter.
"You think you can beat me? Hah! When I was your age, I was killing the Yodaime, not to mention your moth-"
"-It's probably not a good idea to distract me while I'm working on this." His hand wavered over the current symbol as he contemplated all the different ways he could modify the seal he was building to cause immeasurable amounts of pain to this man who had taken so much from him. Only by casting his mind back to his better half could he continue with his route. Every ensuing stroke became easier as he remembered that determination.
"Besides, you won't need to say anything. Because pretty soon, I'll know it all."
"Just what do you think you are going to accomplish? I will willingly tell you the way things will play out in as much excruciating detail as you'd like. I will gladly tell you of the horrors that exist outside your rose-colored world which led me to this conclusion."
"I don't doubt you would." After tickling the frozen man's ears with the brush for his own amusement, Naruto faced him so that he could see the crooked smile he adorned. "But you've probably been lying to yourself for so long that you don't remember what's real and what's not. So ya understand, I got to see the truth for myself."
Purposefully pressing hard and letting his brush linger between Tobi's eyebrows inordinately long, he backed off to see the haphazard sun spray bhindi in the center of his array, admiring it with a touch of glee before tossing the brush aside and settling himself down cross-legged in the spot he reserved.
"And… in turn, you will know my story."
"What?"
Without a mask, Tobi appeared to express himself like any other human despite the deformities contorting his face. Although, maybe this was the first thing that truly frightened him, the possibility of being exposed to the madness- or having himself exposed, it was not clear.
"Are you insane?" The grin answered everything he needed to know about that question. "What about your 'little friend'? You wouldn't be so foolish as to do something to endanger her." There was an unspoked question at the end of that observation that both heard clearly.
"That's why she's outside the circle." Smile never diminishing, Tobi looked past it to note this fact. "She's also why I'm doing this… no. That's not true. I'm doing this because I want to be a better person for her. I want to try and make this life we shared count for something. And if that means understanding your story, then so be it."
As Tobi continued to stand as if that silver light struck him again, Naruto relaxed in his position and brought his left hand into an upward pointing fist with index finger extended, while his right clamped down on that index finger and his thumb struck painfully into the center of the nail. Vajra Mudrā thusly complete.
"This seal is complex, you clearly have a wealth of knowledge stored up in that deranged mind." Sweating out what moisture was in his mouth, Tobi continued to try and reason despite his failing words. "But something like this- it's too complex. No person in their right state of mind would attempt to do such a thing. And even if you were, how do you know it will work?"
"I don't." Smile now as serene as Buddha himself, Naruto let go. "But it was luck that got me this far."
Luck, and a little helping hand.
Was that a scream far off in the distance? A little tippy-tapping on the walls of my cell, rattling of the bars…
Or was that just me? Am I going insane in here as he promised, or was he just my excuse to do so?
There are no walls, no bars, no rattling like mice scurrying around inside my head.
But the scream, enough to rouse me from my slumber- that was real. As real as anything can be in this not-place. I'd know it anywhere, and nowhere.
It was the shock of being brought out into the light after so long in the dark.
Once upon a time there was a child.
Taken from its dark cave where everything was warm and familiar, it was thrust into the harshness of life with the lights that were too bright, noises that were too loud, hands that were too rough, and events which made no sense in comparison to the place where nothing ever happened.
This child would grow, and as it would grow it would come to learn that the world were things happen isn't such a bad place. Pleasures it erstwhile wouldn't have known blunted the rough edges, for a time.
Like for all of us though, time marches on.
As the years pass, this being which was once a child would learn that even more harshness awaited it in this open space called life. Greater pleasures would come too, but it would be a constant struggle against that idealized memory of the cave. Thus, it would come to a question, presented while standing on its high outcrop overlooking those still trapped in that darkness. Was if it was all worth it in the end?
The answer was no.
The answer was yes.
Life, as it turned out, wasn't simply the place outside of the cavern. It was an endless series of caverns nested like matryoshka, and each station was another step into the larger world which brought fiercer climes and clearer views. On that ultimately perilous ascent, some souls inevitably got lost on the way and emerged from the fog mistakenly thinking they had reached the top.
In the end, there was never any top and all of them were crawling about blindly in the mist.
This was the story of Uzumaki Naruto, of Ruby Rose, of Obito Uchiha, of all of us, and the lie they call life.
The most wonderful lie of all.
It didn't work.
It couldn't have, for he felt no different than before, no more content and no less confused than he had been his entire life. Had he lied to himself, feigning to go up when in fact he was stoking his unavoidable march downward?
There would be others waiting for him, at least. He would not be alone as he joined all those sinners he had slain. Familiar faces greeting him with pained smiles, Hidan, Kakuzu, Nagato, Konan…
Wait. Something was different, wrong.
Rather than try and think about it any more with his head which felt like Yang had used him to vent her frustrations with a sub-par haircare product, he did the marginally less-painful thing and opened his eyes.
A smile greeted him, but not from any one of those hungry ghosts.
"Hey there sleepy-head."
Blinking flashed an image of another girl, one with purple markings on her cheeks that weren't bruises and reddish-brown hair that wasn't from the blood and mud caking everything around them. That wasn't the girl he was seeing now, but her face was anything but a lie.
"What happened after I passed out?" Ruby asked as he slowly blinked awake.
Though he would have liked to lay there forever with his head in her lap and staring up at the fluffy clouds that lazily drifted on by, he too desired an answer to this question. So he sat up.
Tried to anyway, as both tired teens fumbled with limbs that wouldn't quite obey what their minds wanted them to do. Eventually they succeeded, leaning on one another to avoid further slapstick and a painfully short journey back down to the ground. Both sets of bloodshot eyes regarded the haphazardly strewn form of Tobi- no, Obito Uchiha, as he lay dissociated from the White-Zetsu prosthetic. Whimpering a bit as he slept restively.
"So, you won, huh?"
With a gaze burgeoning with all kinds of understanding he looked down at the pitiable creature. "That remains to be seen." Though once said, he recognized the falsehood and aimed to correct it.
"Owie!" Ruby exclaimed with a flinch, nearly toppling the two of them. "What was that for?" She asked, rubbing her bruised ribs.
"We won." Naruto emphasized, not entirely remorseful for the poke if his sly smile was anything to go by.
"Jerk." Whispered endearingly. And, with a little more force than necessary, she leaned her head into his producing an audible bonk.
"What happens now?"
An open-ended question which stretched far higher than the prone remains of the Akatsuki in front of them. Past the open top and into the blue sky free of those dark smudges called Grimm. A series of stories not yet written were contained inside, ready to be unleashed on that blank canvas.
"Now, you die."
A beautiful flower blossomed in his chest, petals as soft as liquid and as red as blood surrounded a sharp, blackened stem that extended its way towards the sun. The smell was odd, but familiar. A metallic taste like quicksilver flowed from his mouth and washed out the name on the tip of his tongue. It was all rosy to him.
A blossom which disappeared all too soon, leaving a gaping hole to be filled up by a blizzard of petals, too small and too scattered to accomplish the task.
"No, no, no, no, no, no…" Coming out of her semblance, she lay him down gently on her lap same as before. "Please! Naruto speak to me!"
It wasn't like before. This wasn't a temporary slumber.
Looking up to see her perfectly imperfect visage haloed by the sun, he felt at last like he could see the silver lining in it all.
But he couldn't say so. He couldn't say a thing. It was too late. He still wasn't quick enough.
The only thing which came was a drowned gurgle and flecks of blood which splashed against her face. It flowed like a river from his mouth and his chest onto the ground, a biblical flood, a plague. More emotions flowed from her heart into a body that could scarcely take it anymore. Though she tried not to, a blink of an eye was all it took for all the light in his to fade.
She screamed.
A pinch, a slap, a fall, a shot in the gut- anything to wake her from this nightmare. Having walked the line so many times, she knew this was nothing but reality. Horrifying clarity as her heart tried to rattle its way out of her chest, and the blood still flowing in her veins ignited with the friction and tried to burn its way out.
With anyone- anything at all watching as her witness, she would not be the only one to burn.
"It is no longer worth keeping him alive… can't sense the Fox, don't know what he did with it…nor the Rinnegan. Even if he's hiding it, at this point its simply better to start over from scratch…the fox will reform…and we can always try again."
Zetsu regarded his curved blade of an arm, recently quenched with fresh nutrients. The lack of care displayed towards the simmering huntress wasn't a mistake. It was the correct decision to take out the bigger threat, as he knew exactly what the little one was going to do next.
"Don't worry, no one will interrupt us. They're still chasing after my clones." She stared at him, giving him a view of his current objective.
"Ozpin-san was right, those silver eyes are something special…they completely dissolved all the clones I had here. Perhaps I could even use them for my own goals." Pausing in its pontification, Zetsu changed its attention to the second of two weapons, swallowing the blunted one as fast as the other like a circus freak. Unlike the scythe which he integrated, the kabutowari simply disappeared into his gullet like a black hole. "Might not be able to use those eyes as is…but in a few generations… a little more tweaking…"
"Give it back."
"Hah?"
It was still smiling as the hand clamped over its face, fingers digging in to those jaundiced eyes.
"-Everything you stole."
The plant's head became mulch, and just as rapidly her other hand shot out to the scythe still incorporated into its arm, aiming at recovering it all piece by piece. Yet even without a head, the animated arbor skipped out of her range as she made no attempt to follow it.
"We took nothing." The black half reformed first, garbling a response. "We gave everything. You are our crop. This world, our garden."
From the inconsequential gaps between the tiles, wires leapt and wrapped themselves around Zetsu, staking him upright like a tomato.
"No, we're not."
Eyes as silver and sharp as that wire, she stood still as every atom in her body vibrated past physical and theoretical bounds, latent energy building up and speeding down those pathways provided. Zetsu writhed and hissed as the water contained in his cells tried to boil itself out.
"You wanted a harvest, you got us." She wrapped the biting wire around her hands, painfully dragging the squirming creature forward. "This world grows what it wants and… roses are weeds, too, you know?"
Zetsu deformed as thin as an asparagus to escape, but Ruby yanked back anyway having snagged what she wanted. Radiant Thorn fell into her grip as she seamlessly tucked the other weapon in what remained of her combat dress.
"Maybe that's all any of us are." Feeling like a blade of grass, mown and trampled. "Pretty, ugly, dangerous, useless. Doesn't matter. We're all part of this crazy jungle. And when we die, we return to the others."
"You're talking plants to a plant… you must be some kind of stupid."
"No, I'm... Fine, you know what, I'm stupid."
And stupidly she attacked head on before vanishing in a flurry of silver-tinted petals which danced like lightning. Next appearing behind the monster, bisecting him, quartering him, eights, sixteenths-
"I'm mad, too, and none of that matters."
From these shredded remains came spores, the cloud of Zetsu drifted over to Obito's trembling form. Some wafted into his ragged lungs while others stuck on the surface like mushrooms, quickly gestating and overtaking the damaged human in a skin of parasitic fungi which rapidly reformed into a carbon copy of the plant-man.
"Roses, weeds, beasts, humans, Faunus- none of those names makes a difference." With eyes wide, she drunk in the blasphemous metamorphosis. She couldn't deny that which was the ugly truth, like the cooling body laying just yonder. "We're just people trying to live our lives! That's all this is!"
No response came as a singular red eye opened in the uncaring beast's forehead, and on the other side of its gaze a corresponding portal opened next to Ruby as she threw herself out of the way and into the slipstream.
"If there's a greater purpose, moral lesson- I don't care!" Blue flames consumed her as she got close to her target, but they were simply conducted by Bernoulli's guiding hands around her and the swing which nearly nicked the demonic eye. "I don't care about world peace, or some greater good- I just want a chance to live my story!"
Vines attempted to restrain her, but they melted as soon as they got near the silver aura surrounding the wide-eyed girl, trying to lasso the sun.
"The people close to me, to protect them- is that really too much to ask?" Unhindered, she cocked her scythe back and the aura followed. Coalescing around the metal another blade grew, silver sheen and crescent shape mimicking the moon as it raised high overhead. "They're all I have! Who are you-?!" The kamui vortex opened up just as she swung, intercepting the gleaming wave as it cascaded and tumbled and rocked the tide of stomach bile of everyone in Vale.
"-To take that away?!"
A lava flow of glass spilling into oblivion, that crystalline aa sped down the drain in front of it- but also around, through as it filled the infinite space and spilled over the edges. All three of Zetsu's eyes opened wide as that ocean of blades rushed towards him, seeing the only alternative was throwing himself out of the way.
The sound of a thousand claws on a thousand chalkboards being tumbled in the drum of a rock-mill. When it impacted, reality appeared to bend around the axis created by the immense gravity, and the stadium lurched sideways in the air. Miraculously everything held together.
-Until it didn't, and the bottom dropped out underneath them.
Ruby didn't notice. Simply staring at the spot of her devastation which had been, like all her efforts up to that moment- pointless.
When the floor sunk to the pitch of a wheelchair ramp, she suddenly dashed upwards to where Naruto's body was just starting to roll downhill. Sinking the tip of Radiant Thorn into the tiles, she latched herself on with one hand and caught his tumbling form with the other. With the strength left over from whatever incredible and useless power that had been, she clung on. Simply trying not to be swept away.
Though the world around her groaned and cried in agony as it was slowly torn apart, she heard his footsteps approaching. Unable not to, she opened her clenched eyes to glare at Zetsu as he stood on the steep surface without a care- for it, for them, for everything slowly crashing down.
"Just leave us alone."
Holding as tightly as he once did, she dared the thing to try and separate the two of them in this endgame.
If he'd wanted to, he could have. She knew that. All this time she knew she was-
Pathetic.
An unrealistic dreamer, an optimist, someone who never gave up.
Cruelly stubborn. Set in your ways. I fail to see what it is he saw in you humans.
Even as Zetsu mutely approached, she still hoped against all hope that reality might change if she willed hard enough.
But… you don't have to believe in something for it to be true, do you?
Daring to look in that demonically swirling eye- what more could it do? She was already torn to shreds inside.
Life isn't fair.
"RUBY!"
Zetsu's head whipped to the side as if a meteor struck it. A bright yellow, flaming meteor which turned out to be a shower raining down planetary-scale destruction on that overgrown flora.
Maybe, it doesn't need to be.
"Now, Weiss!"
Barrage finished, Yang slammed her fist into the floor which by now had practically become a wall and stared up at her sister with the bloody bundle quickly slipping from her grip. The path ahead was illuminated with a chain of circular runes and she didn't think twice about letting go and blitzing up them.
Yang clung tight to both- nothing compared to how she held on to the boy in her arms, but it was enough even as her elder sister kicked off and dragged the three of them into open-air, scythe and all.
They landed sooner than anyone could have anticipated, getting the wind knocked out of them but not much else. That was a surreal feeling, until she realized they had somehow ended up in a Bullhead. Then, it became simply incredible.
"Pyrrha! Do it!"
Another voice called out, and she was surprised she even heard it over the rumble of the engines and labored pants of her sis with her ear pressed tight against her heaving chest.
The Amazonian's response was a primal yell which roared out over all the background cacophony. Including the mostly-metallic structure which had been abused far beyond what its designers had ever fathomed and groaning like a beached whale. It was rapidly going belly up through a monumental effort as that redhead screamed her lungs out over them.
"Squish the fucker like a pancake!"
Bringing a smile, despite it all.
Obliging, the Amazonian warrior gave one last concerted burst of exertion, fueled by the donation of Aura from half the passengers in the Bullhead. Once its keel was facing the sky, the anti-gravity engines in the bottom of the coliseum were torn from their housings. The structure itself didn't last long in freefall before it slammed down into the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust that almost swallowed Beacon.
Yet the iconic tower still stood tall over the sea trying to envelope it.
There were cheers all around, elations of victory. And as the sun pierced through the rising plume and framed a fairytale image, she was almost tempted to believe it.
Opening like a long mouth from the abyss to reach out and pluck them from their ecstasy, the invisible attack struck their vehicle and shook them from their revelries. Those cheers turned into cries as the Bullhead went into a tailspin, its counter-engines having gone AWOL into a pocket dimension.
This time the crash was more realistic, more believable. Not merely knocking the wind out of them, but knocking a good number unconscious as they were ricocheted off the hull. It was just her luck that the lifeless body wedged underneath cushioned her fall.
As the only cognizant witness in that delirious lull, it was her obligation to once again hear the deliberate footfalls approaching their wrecked craft. Great and terrible, she listened to the monster Zetsu approach unrelentingly, like the heartbeats of a demon.
Thu-thump. Thu-thump. Thu-thump.
She opened her eyes, duty falling on her to watch the end unfold.
The limp weight of her sister was gently removed from on top and placed aside. As was she, plucked from her reclined state like a babe and without resisting, propped up against an undamaged section of bulkhead.
It wasn't possible. Words she'd never dreamed of serving a purpose. Believing with every fiber of her being that as long as one kept up hope that life could sometimes mimic those idyllic stories.
"N-Naruto?"
"Not quite."
Voice dark and familiar, like the nighttime she longed to regain.
"Kurama." Spoken as if it somehow made sense. "You're back."
"Not quite." The blond repeated, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. "Call me Yin, for now."
"Oh." No such disappointment, if that's what he was expecting. "Nice to meet you."
Flinching as he poked the newly healed flesh, the Yin half of Kurama looked back at his human counterpart with a half lidded, appraising gaze.
"You're a strange one." But as he turned back around, she could see a smile stretching the familiar whisker marks from cheek to cheek. "I think I'm starting to understand."
"Wait!"
He did, whether it was the pleading tone or the body doing it for him, he paused with his one foot out of the transport and the other striding towards the epicenter of the crash still shrouded in dust like morning fog.
"Will you… will he come back?"
The revenant didn't look at her, its guilt obvious in the weight on its shoulders. Maybe it would have been better not to say anything, to not build her hopes or dash them. That was what he reasoned, but it could not explain the lie that came from his mouth.
"Anything's possible."
When Yin found Zetsu it was busy fighting a losing battle with its stomach, disgorging the remains of its last meal as a one-armed Obito dragged himself forcibly from the maw of the creature. He let the two struggle for a while, partly because it looked too gross to touch either one and partly because he wanted the plant-man to suffer whatever heartburn this would cause him.
He finally approached when the manifestation of Kaguya's will was bent double and mimicking the gestures of heaving, though he highly suspected the thing had no stomach to speak of. Obito having managed to squirm away defiantly.
"Hey there, you ugly son of a bitch." Looking up at him disgruntledly, the possessed Naruto gave a Cheshire smile which bore his elongate fangs as he descended upon his prey.
"Tell the old hag Jiji sends his regards."
Well, what now?
No supernatural connection was needed for him to interpret this question posited on that coquettish face. It was genuine, unlike the false-innocence plastered on top which served as a flytrap to those less savvy.
At least, that's what he believed. Never really understanding what went on behind that garishly-angelic visage, nor pretending to. Highfalutin sorts said that the eyes were windows to the soul. Hers were mutable, what lay behind shuffling faster than a magician with a deck of cards. So for him, there was never any reason to try.
"Got me on that one, doll." Leaning back on his impromptu chair, he shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You really do look like a little girl playing dress-up in that thing."
Each word he spoke to her was a gamble, and he never knew quite what lay in the cards. White eyes might roll sarcastically, Brown might jeer and stick out her tongue childishly. Just as easily, pink might stick that blade through his gut as he reclined on the unconscious pile of White Fang they had collectively stacked up in the last twelve hours.
Closing his eyes, he waited with the disinterest of a long-time addict to see which it was.
A breeze tussled his orange hair and caused him to rejoin reality, noting that his recaptured bowler was missing yet again. Chuckling, he knew it hadn't gone far.
"Yes, yes, very cute. It's like looking at my future daughter, or maybe son- ow!"
Rubbing his tender ribs, he grimaced at the young woman currently sporting his prized possession and flaunting it with a delicate curtsy. A familiar shaking of the shoulders under that baggy garment ruined the walkway- image and told him she was giggling. Laughing as he was on the inside while feigning annoyance without.
The two of them were liars, him with his words and her with her actions. Not very good ones either, for both could read through the other's tells as easy as reading the suit dealt to a hand. For all the air of unpredictability and danger they presented, they were disgustingly simple.
But, that was the story they liked to believe.
"Well, I doubt they're going to bother looking for us after all this." Roman spread his arms wide to illustrate the apocalyptic scene which had once been a ritzy part downtown Vale. "-But there's not much reason to stick around, either. Can't shake down the fools whose knees are already rattling as it is." What was the point in robbing those who had nothing?
"Go…to…hell."
"Bad dog!" Scolding the body laying beneath him, he shifted so that he could whack the Faunus upside his dogeared head with his cane. "No barking."
Certainly though, someone like him couldn't stay anonymous for long, disaster or no. It was doubtful the survivors would tolerate being shaken down after the hell they had been through and the 'veterans' of Beacon sure as hell wouldn't cut them any slack. So as much as he hated to admit it, perhaps it was time to move on.
"Nothing good lasts forever, huh?" He asked rhetorically as he ambled to his feet, stretching to relieve his shoulders of the cramped conditions of the cell as well as the exercise he'd just put them through.
This gesture contradicted as a weight settled itself there. Adjusting his hat as Neo kicked her feet petulantly against her 'steed', he was forced to guffaw and amend this offhand statement.
"Yes, of course, except for you." Looking up at his faithful partner with eyes no longer bearing their costume, he asked. "So, where to now?"
A compass- his compass jabbing her parasol into the direction of the morning sun, unwavering in this course chosen at random.
"Alright then, let's go." Feeling that familiar tug on his soul as it hitched along for the ride, he glanced over his burdened shoulders to see that the symbol of humanity's defiance continued to stand erect, proud over the leveled remains of her accomplishments. "Figures…" He grumbled, almost wistfully.
"Can't seem to win against fools."
Life isn't fair. Only a fool believes that it is.
Maybe I am the fool, for trying to give it a happy ending. As if an act of self-sacrifice could sway the universe.
Still, we try. Despite knowing that there is no one there at the end to weigh the goodness of our souls, we try for the posibility. Despite the knowledge that it may not give us anything in return, we try for the sake of others. Despite the shear futility of manipulating this already rigged lottery, we try because there is nothing else to do.
Better it be a lottery than an elite club, for the one still gives hope. Hope that the bouncer lets you and your friend in, hope that the faded numbers in your had are picked, hope that in the overflow of people and events which constitute a life you are not forgotten.
Because every now and then, through pure chance, life finds reason to be incredibly, unrepentantly, inescapably,
Kind.