The hallways were dark, dank, and generally the most disgusting place Sakura had seen. She was fairly sure she could spy traces of dried, blackened blood smeared on the walls and floors at various intervals. Evidently the foul creatures which resided there didn't invest in any sort of hygiene regime, and Sakura was only glad that clinging to the back of her wolf had covered her scent somewhat – otherwise she might have been forced to take drastic measures in order not to be found.
Cautiously, she crept forward, hesitantly peeking around the corners of the corridor, as well as keeping an eye on the various alcoves she could duck into in order to hide. Truthfully, she had absolutely no idea where she was going, but something was urging her onwards and upwards – a tugging in her gut. Her instincts. Sakura trusted those the most, though admittedly she didn't have much else to go on.
The fortress was where Madara was, that was for certain, but she hadn't been given any information on where inside the fortress her beloved idiot was being held. Because surely by then he'd realised what a massive mistake he'd made and was trying to get back to her… Sakura scowled at the memory of him leaving like the utter fool he was. But she'd get him back. She would bring him back and knock some sense into that thick skull of his. Stupid Uchiha and their stupid stubbornness and single-mindedness.
Her footsteps were so quiet, partially due to her elven heritage, and partially because she was so tiny and light. Part of her was grateful for her small size – because it meant there were that many more places for her to hide – but the other part was still bitter for losing her chakra thanks to that new body of hers. Still, she reminded herself, diving into a nearby alcove at the sounds of more of those voices speaking in that foul tongue of theirs, it wasn't like there was anything she could do about that now.
Shrinking back into the shadows to hide herself further, Sakura froze as she bumped into something solid, warm, and vaguely leg-shaped. Stiffening, she spun around, stomach dropping like a boulder as she spied the golden hair and the unamused expression on the older elf's face.
So that was where Glorfindel had gotten to, she mused, deliberately looking away as she spotted Elrohir joining him in his stern stare of disapproval. The same one which said they would be discussing this in detail later. Or, in other words, scolding her like the disobedient child she seemed to be. Sakura resisted the urge to stick her tongue out. It wasn't like she was actually a child.
"You must stay close," Glorfindel whispered, tone sharp and scolding as he snuck stealthily out from the cover, hurrying through the next set of corridors with alarming ease. "Tarry not! Your friend is close, and we must leave before daybreak."
Sakura perked up at that, heart pounding as they continued walking through the fortress, ducking for cover whenever those ugly creatures appeared. It was a stealth operation, meaning they couldn't be found, lest they wanted to alert the army stationed around the fortress. Minutes trickled by like hours, and Sakura found herself waiting with bated breath as she followed her usual golden-haired minder.
It felt like hours before they reached the topmost room of the fortress, the door creaking open loudly – a sound which made her wince as they hurried into the room, only to be met with the sight of Madara lying there in the very centre of it, seemingly asleep.
Sakura made to rush forwards, but the arm which came in front of her stopped her in her tracks. "These markings mean nothing good. There is foul stench to this, whispers of a ploy we do not wish to pass," he remarked, befuddling Sakura as she stared around the room, brow furrowing as she spied the moon shining in through a gap in the roofing. It shone down, and Sakura felt the hum of a power at work before she disregarded Glorfindel's warning, running through the foul letters written in blood as they began to burn a bright amber colouring.
Her body felt heavy, oddly sluggish as she reached the centre. As she reached Madara. Summoning the last vestiges of her strength, she lifted her idiot, shoving him out of the ring made by the glowing markings.
"Sakura!" Glorfindel hissed, worry painted across his face as she felt her knees buckled, and then all she knew was darkness as a wave of what felt like burning warmth crashed down on her.
Birdsong greeted her when she came around. All around her, grass grew – a bright, earthly green – trees towering over her. The scent of turned earth and bark bit at her nose, which wrinkled along with her brow as she tried to figure out exactly where she was. It looked awfully similar to the border between the forest and the meadow from Inner's memories.
Frowning, Sakura climbed to her feet, looking around for any sign of civilisation. For any sign of that pretty black-haired lady with eyes that shone like emeralds. "Yavanna," she mumbled, the name coming to her then, and Sakura found herself smiling. That was that lady's name.
One of the Valar. One of the Ainur.
Sighing, Sakura chewed on her lip. What good did knowing that lady's name do when she didn't understand where exactly she was? She didn't know where she had ended up as a result of those foul-crafted runes.
Wind howled through the trees, bringing with it the scent of a bonfire, and the sounds of humming. Eyes narrowed, Sakura turned towards the sound. Was there someone else there? Emboldened by the prospect of company in the strange loneliness of the forest, she hurried towards the sound, twigs and leaves crunching under foot as she made her way towards the source of the humming. Leaves and branches scrapped over her skin as she charged through them, heart pounding as she broke out of the treeline.
The ground dropped away so suddenly, grass seeming to meet the bright blue sky on the lip, and it was on the cliffside that the figure sat.
Long pink hair swished back and forth in the breeze, the clothing she wore something of a mixture between her old world and of that worn by the elves in her new one. "So you've finally come," the girl spoke, turning to face her then, spring green eyes meeting her matching ones as Sakura stared at the mirror image of herself.
She knew her. How could she not?
"Inner," she mumbled, watching as Inner smiled and patted the cliffside next to her.
"Come. Sit," she ordered, turning back to stare at the world below the cliffside – a world currently awash in a sea of amber flames which burnt at the trees down there. "We have some time to discuss things before I do what needs to be done."
"Where are we?" Sakura asked, sitting down on the ledge, short legs dangling over the rocky cliffside.
Inner only chuckled. "Though the way you perceive me has changed, this is still your mind," she explained. "You're still unconscious in that filthy place, though I do believe that golden-haired elf who's taken a liking to you is currently fretting over your unconscious body," she remarked. "It's funny how power calls to power. Even though your body is small, that which exists in the Unseen is anything but… though I suppose that's partially my fault."
Sighing, Sakura swung her feet back and forth. "Are you ever going to tell me who you are? What you are?" she enquired, feeling oddly tired as she heard the amber flames crackle and pop. "And why exactly my mind is currently on fire?"
Chuckling, Inner nodded. "I can explain all of that now… but it starts way back when… and my memories of that time have grown… fuzzy in places, particularly about the hows and the whys I ended up drifting through the space outside this world… the place known as the Void."
Sakura tilted her head, listening carefully as Inner spun her tale. "The Void?" she echoed, the familiarity of those words crashing into her. What Tom Bombadil had called them. Void-born.
"I had no form at that point… and I wound up finding your world through methods I know not." Inner stared up at the sky, and Sakura blinked as she noticed the fact that there were stars out, despite it still being day. But they were in her mind, or so she supposed. Anything could be there. "I found myself needing a form to take in that unfamiliar world not wrought by Eru Ilúvatar, which is how I ended up latching onto your body. I believed it would be my form, and my form alone, but I was wrong there. It was your body, I was just a passenger inside it, and all I could do was watch as you grew – because as you grew, my own powers did as well. They spilled out to you in a form common to your world…"
"Which is how I got my mokuton," Sakura mumbled, shoulders sinking at the realisation.
"Make no mistake though – that was yours. Our fëar have become entwined and tangled… It is why you and your friend were given the hröar of the firstborn… since they were the closest to that which I was once."
Sakura frowned.
Inner only smiled. "A maia," she said, tucking some of Sakura's hair back behind her ear as Inner leant closer to her, resting her head on Sakura's shoulder. "We cannot be killed, though we can be weakened and our powers limited… We do not require hröar usually. Not on this world, at least."
"Why are you telling me all of this so soon?" Sakura asked, feeling oddly uneasy at how easily Inner was providing her with answers.
"Because we're a special case," Inner said, her smile almost painfully soft. "When my kind lose their physical form, we can usually reform… However, our fëar have become far too entangled. They have practically become one."
"Why does that matter?"
Inner sighed, shoulders sinking. "Because what I need to do in order to push out the influence consuming our mind will destroy this form I have in here… it will destroy my consciousness, and given that our fëar can be regarded as one…"
Sakura blinked, chest feeling like ice as the meaning behind those words finally sunk in.
"My consciousness will not reform. It is as close to death as I believe one of my kind can get," Inner said, still smiling even as she practically announced her death. "You would then be regarded as something akin to a half-maia I believe, and I would be entrusting all that I know unto you—"
"Why do you have to drive out that influence?" Sakura demanded, desperation slamming into her with the force of a kunai. "Can't we just… reason with it or something?" she asked, glancing at those burning flames which seemed to be climbing higher and higher as time passed. Or maybe that was just her imagination?
"That influence," Inner continued, heedless about her coming demise, "belongs to the greatest evil the world has ever known. There is no reasoning with it… and it is because it is so great that it will destroy my consciousness. The only reason I can drive it out in the first place is because of the fact that this is home territory, meaning I have the advantage of the playing field."
Her hands shook, and silently Sakura cursed herself. Cursed her brashness which had led to that situation. "How did it even get here?"
"There's a connection between you and the void – where that being resides – due to the circumstances of your incarnation here," Inner said. "Though it would have been worse had you not pulled Madara out of the circle in time. He doesn't have the same protection which my presence has granted you. He's empty, compared to you."
"So it's my fault," she mumbled, bringing her knees up to her chest as she shrank back away from the perilous drop in front of her. "If I hadn't come—"
"If you hadn't come, then those elves may not have reached your friend in time, and that evil would have gained a foothold in this world… which would have been a terrible outcome," Inner said, sounding so terribly wise and old in that instant. Something she would never probably be. "Compared to that, my sacrifice is nothing."
"But without you I wouldn't be anything at all!" Sakura hissed, tears biting at the corners of her eyes. "I'd just be Forehead… a cry baby and a weakling…"
Inner laughed, and Sakura felt it stab at her chest. She hated that sound. The sound which sounded so cheerful in the face of death. "You were never weak," she said, brushing away those tears before they could trickle down her cheeks. "Not in the ways it mattered."
Her lip wobbled, hands curling into fists. "You're just saying that!"
Inner sighed then. "How many times did that Ami girl push you down? How many times did everyone around you tell you a civilian-born shinobi would amount to nothing? How many times did you listen to them and feel hopeless?"
"Of course I listened to them!" Sakura yelled, fingernails biting into the skin of her hands, leaving pale white crescent indents there. "I always did."
Inner smiled again, pushing herself to her own feet. "Did you give up on your dreams? Did you drop out of the academy and pursue a civilian life instead?" she asked, tilting her head enquiringly. "Did you stop being yourself because someone else told you to?"
"But you were there shouting encouragements… and I always cried…"
"So what if you cried? You're the one who ultimately chose. You bore all that scepticism and derisiveness." Inner grinned, hands reaching for Sakura's shoulders. "You're strong, Sakura," she said, pressing her forehead against her own. "And it's because of that strength I know you'll weather and bear this grief that I will leave you with… you'll weather it, bear it, and move on, because that's what you do. You're stubborn, and you always strive for something, whether it's to become stronger physically or if you're chasing after a boy you thought you might come to love in time…"
Sakura bit her lip, hating the tears which built in her eyes, the salty wetness blurring her vision as they stood there. Inner had always been her rock in times of strife. The one person, the one voice, always in her corner.
"I hope in this new life you've earned, you'll finally understand the truth about what it means to be truly strong," Inner continued, eyes closed as her arms wrapped around to tangle in her shorter hair. "And if you ever see Lady Yavanna when you cross the seas and return home…" she trailed off, shaking her head ever so slightly. "You'll like her, and she will no doubt enjoy your company too."
She was lost for words for a few moments, dread, self-loathing, and horror all welling up inside her as she spoke to Inner for what she was slowly coming to realise would be the last time. "I don't even know your name."
Inner smiled sombrely, pulling back from her then. "If I had one, I've long since forgotten it," she said. "Besides, the only one I remember is the only one which matters… You know, it's been an honour to share the name Sakura with you."
"Sakura." Speaking her own name aloud felt weird.
"This is rather an odd thing to say… but I'm glad I ended up sharing your body with you," she said, a smile still on her face, and Sakura felt her heart clench. It was too soon. She had only really just gotten to know who, and what, Inner was… and now she was leaving forever… all because of her own decisions and mistakes.
"Don't be stupid," Sakura mumbled, voice warped by sorrow, tears streaming down her face – a waterfall Sakura wasn't sure would ever stop. "I should be the one saying that."
Inner laughed, grin brightening. "Farewell, Sakura."
Sakura screwed her eyes shut, hands shaking as she lifted her head, eyes opening once more as she forced herself to look at her saviour. The one who had always been fighting in her corner, even if she had been too stupid to ever realise it before.
Her form was translucent then, and Sakura felt a fresh wave of tears streak down her face as she leapt forwards, hands scrabbling to latch onto her. The other Sakura. Inner. "Don't go," she whispered. "Don't leave…"
Fading fingers only brushed at her cheeks. "Sorry," she whispered, voice so painfully gentle. So blameless for the person whose decisions had resulted in this situation.
Fabric vanished from under her grip, hands clawing at nothing but empty air, and Sakura screamed. She screamed her own name. The only name Inner had claim to.
But the sound was lost on the sounds of the surging tidal wave of water which swept through the forest below, quenching the amber flames – driving them off, until Sakura could see nary a whisper of them. Or Inner.
Inner was gone.
Sakura laughed, a humourless sound, fingers digging into the dirt as she fell to her knees, agony ripping through her at the loss. Because it was all her fault. Wind whistled then, and she could only blink as a blob of pale pink landed on the ground in front of her. Rubbing at her eyes, she frowned, dirty fingers reaching out to lift the pink petal. A gust of wind, that much more forceful than the one before, grabbed her attention, and Sakura turned then, blinking as she caught sight of the largest tree overshadowing her on the cliff's edge.
A sakura tree.
Laughter rang out in the air, sounding strangely hollowed and weary. It took Sakura a few moments to realise it was her own.