A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting.
PLEASE READ THIS NOTE, WOULD YOU KINDLY? It would mean the world to this tired old man.
This chapter is... a fair bit shorter than I'd like, but it was the best I could with my health as is.
Practice Makes Perfect really took a lot outta me; it was a longer chapter, one I poured my heart and soul into..
As ever, this story remains under the Embers rule.
If folks don't like it? Poof! Gone! To the void it goes! DELETED. I simply haven't the time to write something that people don't like these days -two jobs, no days off, that sort of thing!-which leads to me being very choosy with what I do write. So by all means, speak up!
Every bit of feedback, every review, no matter how large or small, means the world to this tired old man.
Now lets answer your burning questions, shall we:
Q: Was that...the Hound?
A: Recall that Naruto and Summer didn't kill it. They were too busy trying to escape with Neo. Needless to say, mistakes were made.
And what do Hounds do? They track. Their prey. DOWN.
Q: Have you seen Arcane?
A: What's all this about Arcane? I know jack all about League of Legends but fine I'll give it a go.
.
..
...
Damnit. Well. Now I saw Arcane. Moreover, THAT episode. Moreover, that scene with Vander. *inhales deeply* NOPE NOPE NOPE! I AIN'T HAVING THAT SHIT!
There's a massive reference in here to that scene, a tribute, if you will. That's right. There's a homage in here. Nothing overt, just a little something.
Bloody hell, now I've got the "Revenge" track from Arcane banging about in my head...
Q: Who the hell attacked them?! And why are they working with the Grimm?!
A: Read and see.
Q:...Naruto's about to snap, isn't he?
A: *grins*
Alright, I've kept you waiting long enough.
Once again, I own no references, themes, or memes. Not a wit or a one.
As per the story, each story will have a unique "Heart" theme for it.
Now then...prepare yourself. Quote is meant to be familiar.
"If you fight a man whose children are behind him, you are fighting a force that makes God shiver...
...if you fight a man with nothing to lose, you face a foe that makes devils cry...
...if you fight a man who cannot -WILL NOT!- go down...
...if you fight a man who will never give up...
...then say your prayers."
~Wrath.
Hearts of Wrath
Naruto awoke with a start.
Ears ringing, pain howling through his shoulder, eyes stinging in the dark, he nevertheless grit his teeth and tried to rise. He couldn't; because something held him back. Pinned him down. A bruised blue eye flicked up and saw the heavy concrete wedged against his spine. He could feel it stabbing into his body, grating against muscle and bone, all but skewering him.
A grimace tore across his whiskered visage.
He remembered fire. An explosion. Flinging himself over it to protect Weiss and Winter. A blinding spasm of pain passed through him. They were on the ground floor, which meant the roof must've caved in from the blast. A lesser man might've wept. Homes could be rebuilt. Family could not. Summer would be alright. She had aura. He grit his teeth as he dragged an arm out from This wouldn't stop him. A little impalement would hardly keep him down.
Where was everyone?
He cast a glance about and immediately regretted it.
Lights flickered overhead. Flames crackled. The faint smell of a broken gas-line reached his nose.
All around him the bedroom lay in a hazy ruin. He could see Winter's limp arm buried under a pile of ruble. Weiss wasn't far, her small form pinned by a door. Summer wasn't much further; her body sprawled out over Neo and Arslan's prone forms. Neither moved. Naruto sucked in a ragged rasp of a gasp. His forehead kissed the floor in despair. A lone tear rolled out of his undamaged eye.
No.
No, no.
No, no, no.
This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. Not again...!
"Take the girls." An inhuman voice intoned near the hazy doorway. "Kill the rest. Kill them!"
Movement in his peripherals snapped him back to reality. Weiss whimpered where she lay. The sound reactivated him; made a faint keening noise that tore at the heartstrings. Even in unconsciousness, she cried out in pain; even with her eyes squeezed shut, she sobbed softly.
In the same instant, Neo shifted under Summer, her little face wrought with pain.
Summer muttered something less than pleasant and raised her gaze, tucking a stunned Arslan into her side. Only then did he see the blood on them. None of them were in any shape to fight. Another crack etched into Naruto's heart of stone to join the others. This fracture became a fissure, a deep canyon bubbling with rage. His mind fell into it. Everything bled into oblivion, turning all the world a rich rose red. Blue eyes flashed into nine shades of smoldering scarlet. He planted his good arm on the ground, levered himself up on an elbow, and...pushed.
'Move! Damnitall!' he heard the footsteps creeping closer. "Just..MOVE!"
Slowly, gradually, the rubble gave way to him.
Naruto Uzumaki screamed.
(.0.0.0.)
A scarlet eye creaked open in the dark.
(.0.0.0.)
Salem felt the surge of energy.
"And so it begins."
(.0.0.0.)
Ozpin saw fire on the horizon.
His eyes widened.
"No!"
(.0.0.0.)
"Kill them!"
Eager to obey his master, a man rushed into the haze.
Something roared in the dark and his body sailed back out in three pieces.
Naruto stalked through the smoke-filled doorway after him. Tan hands clenched into clawed fists at his sides, swaying loosely with every step. No words were given. No taunts made. No offers of peace extended. He simply advanced. Nothing more. Nothing less. His mangled arm set itself with an awful pop, dislocated shoulder withing-snapping!-back into place of its own accord. Matted blond hair hung over his eyes, shading them from view, hiding whatever dark intent might have lurked within.
Not so his clenched teeth.
His assailants shrank back at the sight of his snarl; utterly unnerved.
"He's just one man, brothers!" distantly, he heard someone shout. "What can one man possibly do against-gack?!
He never finished those words. The world blurred. A palm closed around his throat. Squeezed. Blood spattered across the yard. His prey died with a gurgle. Naruto's head rose slowly, turned now, right hand still clutching the now crimson cadaver of the zealot. Blue eyes boiled a wild, baleful red as he counted those remaining. Three. Six. Nine. Twelve. They were, all of them, wearing strange white masks. Made it feel less personal, somehow.
Their numbers weren't anywhere near enough. They could send an army, and it still wouldn't be enough.
His eyes spied movement near the back; the strange black beast from before. It lurked behind them, using the assailants as a shield. An awful ember of confusion flickered in the icy plane of his anger. Why was a Grimm working with humans? It didn't make a lick of sense.
It saw him and growled. A low rumble pierced the gloom. "Take...the girls...kill the rest...
His brow turned thunderous. "...you should've stayed dead."
An ugly chortle answered him. "Take...the...girls...
"You heard it! Kill him and take the kids!"
One of them, a big bruiser of a man, lunged at him with such a cry. Naruto read him at a glance and moved accordingly. Slow. Clumsy. Not a threat. A simple backhand tore his head clean off. His body slumped to the ground. Another charged in to avenge them. He caught their punch on his shoulder, surged up, and wrapped his limb around it. Then he drew them in. Bones creaked ominously under his grip. His fist drew back. A low roar tore out of him as he slammed a fist into their torso.
Once.
Twice, now.
His victim gasped in pain, reeling in his grasp
A third punch blew clean through the man's chest entirely, leaving a fist-shaped hole in its wake. He dropped like a sack of potatoes; only for Naruto catch his falling body by the arm and whip him into another. His assailant became little more than a red mist and the corpse with him, leaving him brandishing a mangled arm. He drove it through another's stomach, leaving them a shrieking wreck. Someone grabbed him by the shoulder, trying to spin him around. He fed them a Rasengan for their trouble.
Everything descended into a mad whirl of melee after that; there was no longer any rhyme to reason for it. The masked men flung themselves at him in droves and died for it. They died badly. He ripped and tore without hesitation, without mercy, without honor. This was no brawl, no duel, not even a fight.
.
..
...it was slaughter, pure and simple. He was the butcher and they were so much meat. Red ran across the grove. Screams and shrieks filled the night. But he didn't stop. He daren't stop. All the while he kept his eye on that beast in the back, expecting it to slink off into the house when it wasn't looking.
It tried. Once. A flash of silver light from their ruined home -Summer!- sent it stumbling back.
Naruto raged anew at the sight.
"You come into my home!" a vicious backhand sent another sprawling. "Try to lay hands on my girls?! No more!"
His hand closed around their face and squeezed. Their skull pulped like an overripe grape.
Not one more!"
Something stabbed into his back; a steely point thrust through his chest, causing him to lurch forward. A sword? In his rage he didn't feel it at first. He reached around and crushed the one responsible. By the time he comprehended the ain he'd nearly healed; red light bubbled up from him, twisting his expression into something furious. He tore the cold steel free, opening the wound again. Didn't care. He used the long blade to spit three men like a a roast pig and nailed them to a tree.
The rest cowered before him. One actually had the gall to beg. He didn't listen; they died screaming to a man.
Only then did he face the Hound. It stepped over their corpses, utterly unafraid. "Take...the girl...
Naruto surged forward to meet the abomination with a wordless roar.
They closed on one another in a whirl of claw and fang.
Everything blurred after that.
A/N: And the plot thickens!
Wonder who was stupid enough to attack...?
As ever, this story remains under the Embers rule.
If folks don't like it? Poof! Gone! To the void it goes! DELETED. I simply haven't the time to write something that people don't like these days -two jobs, no days off, that sort of thing!-which leads to me being very choosy with what I do write. So by all means, speak up!
Every bit of feedback, every review, no matter how large or small, means the world to this tired old man.
EDIT: As ever, flames make me not to write. At all. Anything. So does silence. Keep that in mind.!
So lets clarify!
Neo = Fall Maiden.
Blake = Spring Maiden.
Weiss = Winter Maiden.
Arslan = Summer Maiden.
As ever, reviews keep me writing. They're the only form of payment I'll ever receive. Without them...I can't write.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review...Would You Kindly?
No previews. That would spoil things.
R&R~!