Lightning gazed upon Storm's crystalized form on Etro's throne, the Lance of Longius piercing his L'Cie brand as the figure slept in crystal stasis. She carried his lifeless body and rested it upon the throne herself, she heard Etro's laments as Lionheart, a spiritual replica of Cypher Naruto created in case of emergency walked in. His calm demeanor was that of assurance as he looked at his former self's condition. "It's been a few months since he died using that gamble with Highwind. His soul is in the Void, barely there." he spoke up as Lightning turned to him.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" she asked as Lionheart shook his head no. "He needs a miracle...One that will come to pass soon." Lionheart answered cryptically as he turned to leave. "Do you like songs Master?" he asked as Lightning nodded her head slightly. "I guess then this song will do you good. I'm not sure how [I] know of it, but I'm sure [I] learned it in a forgotten life." he told her as she stood at the balcony as Lionheart cleared his throat and began to sing.

You are the ocean's grey waves, destined to seek

Life beyond the shore just out of reach

Yet, the waters ever change

Flowing like time, the path is yours to climb

In endless dreams

Lightning looked at the crystal form of Storm, finding it fitting how he sleeps in countless dreams as a spirit, unable to awake from his sleep ever again.

Countless realms collide

The words caused something within her to feel uneven, as she recalled how various incarnations of the boy named Naruto Uzumaki now clash against each other, all vying to obtain control of the power of Cypher that Storm has. Could it be that this song is...?

Hope falls only to rise like the changing tide

But all dreams come to an end

Just whispers on the wind

Can it be, this song is a prophecy? A prophecy fortelling of what is coming to pass? Could it be that since they were out of hope right now, did it mean it will rise again when they needed it the most?

Sing with me one last time

For light's sacrifice

Endless dawn came but not without a price

Lightning felt a chill down her spine when she heard those lines, it sounded sad. It didn't take much to figure out there was a parting now. What she theorized, that at the end, Lightning and her friends departed, seperated from both Naruto and Cypher Naruto, their two newest friends once the world was restored to the way it was.

Lost in the waves, there is a pale blue stone

I think of you all alone

Hearing those, she pulled out the blue crystal she remembered Storm gave her. In it was the feelings of the human Naruto Uzumaki he inhabited. The boy whose body he's borrowed, had developed feelings for her, and she did not give him the answers in their short time together. But Cypher Naruto made it to remember the child Naruto by when Cypher Naruto's work is done.

You are the ocean's grey waves, destined to seek

Life beyond the just out of reach

Yet, the waters ever change

Flowing like time, the path is yours to climb

You are the ocean's grey waves...

She clenched the stone in her hand, promising to remember the two versions of Naruto Uzumaki she had befriended and crafted a special bond with. She knew, that one day, they'll be back. Until then, she will fight to protect this crumbling world, with everything she's got.

*The Void*

Cypher Naruto floated in the vast emptiness, sensing everying around him in utter agony as it felt like an eternity of suffering as he felt his body turn numb. He heard them, the screams of terror and despair as worlds in the Multiverse that were connected to the person known as [Naruto Uzumaki] threatening to fade away, doomed to utter oblivion, and forgotten to all. "Damn it all to hell Highwind, we've condemned the worlds to fall apart...and we didn't even know until it was too late." he thought bitterly as he weakly held his arm out into the Void, towards the condemned worlds unseen. Willing it, he channeled what little of his remaining power to stall for some time.

Slightly content, he went limp as he felt the Void starting to devour his body in a slow and agonizing pace. He accepted his fate to fade into oblivion, but deep in his heart, he prayed, prayed for a miracle so he could atone, and set things right.

If a god had taken pity on him, he felt a tug on his fading soul as he opened his eyes. He knew this feeling, it was a summoning for a Heroic Spirit, originating from a mixed universe of the [Naruverse] and the [Nasuverse]. Why? There was no world that exists in one of the mixed universes that hold him in a legend to be worthy of a summon as a Heroic Spirit. Yet, there it was, and a strong catalyst by the person's own existence no less is the source.

He had no reason at first to accept the call, only to see two souls to fly to him. He knew their faces well enough. They were the Minato and Kushina of that world, and even without saying a word, their eyes begged him to look after their child. He began to compare which is worse, babysitting a child till he or she is probably Hokage, or suffer an agony like no other till his soul was gone. He thought for a moment when he felt a dark presence in that world, an all to familiar stench of a god he loathed to his very core was there. Fine, he'll kill two birds with one stone, regain his strength and return to the world he died in to save it and the 'bonds' he made there.

His soul was restored to its prime as he donned a mask and cloak to conceal his being and identity as he was pulled into the world, heeding the call.

As he materialized, he knelt before the person in front of him and his lips moved. "Servant Cypher has heeded your call...I inquire, art thou my Master?" he asked, his eyes from behind the mask, looking at the young Naruko Uzumaki clinging onto a familiar Holy Sword as she looked at him with awe. Beneath the moonlight of the full moon, a new contract between a legend and an aspired child was forged.

To be Continued in...

Storm of the King