A/N: EDIT: Added some stuff...no that anyone seemed to notice T_T
Please read this note, would you kindly?
It...explains the reason for this tale.
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't.
If folks don't like this, it'll be deleted. Poof! Gone! Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
Now, then. I suppose explanations are due.
I had people banging down my door demanding a Piltover version of Naruto. Literally. More email than I knew what to deal with. To say nothing about requests for Ahri, who I looked into. But that's another time, another place. So here you are! Unlike my other stories this LITERALLY starts with the first episode of Arcane. More aptly, that scene.
So here we go! The start of a grand adventure!
As ever, the story title is named after a song from Arcane.
Once more, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. Not a one!
And yes, this is Papa!Naruto. The pairings here might well surprise some of you...
"A great man told me something, once. Home...isn't always the house we live in. It's also the people and things we choose to surround ourselves with. I chose to stay hidden, to surround myself with knowledge in the hopes that it could get me home. I chose restraint. Subtlety, if only because I was afraid of breaking this world, its people, everything. Where did that get me? Nowhere
Its funny, really. I'm so old now. And yet I haven't aged a single day...
But I still have mercy. So tell me, why are you runts here?
What brings you to my home?"
~Just a Man.
Dynasties & Dystopia
They'd hit the wrong house.
That singular thought bleated about in Vi's mind like a wild animal, clawing to get out as she tried to scramble to safety. Tried and failed. She slammed backwards, eyes rolling in her head. Even then she still had the wherewithal to push Powder and her brothers behind her. She couldn't look back. She dare not; if only because she knew the moment she took her eyes from that thing she was dead.
"You really shouldn't be here."
She stared into the abyss and the abyss stared back. It wore the guise of a young man in his twenties, all bright blue eyes and tan whiskered cheeks framed by a messy mop of sandy blond hair. His body was wrapped up in a dirty pair of black slacks and a tattered red vest, the latter of which left his scarred arms bare. Currently those hands were occupied with a pair of chopsticks and a steaming bowl of noodles. As she looked on he laid them down and pivoted, looking up from his meal with a sigh.
"Well?" Whiskered cheeks dimpled in a rare frown. "Nothing to say?"
Mylo swore softly, but for once, Vi couldn't bring herself to shut him up. She felt like doing a fair bit of swearing herself. Damnit, Ekko! In hindsight maybe they'd made mistake; all the houses in Piltover looked pretty much the same. Just a harmless inventor, he'd said. No one to concern themselves with. Weak and soft. This guy didn't look harmless! She could see his lean arms, the subtle grace with which he moved, the long belt knife strapped to his dark trousers. Maybe he was a scientist, maybe not. Either way she didn't feel like testing her luck.
Vander had taught her to read people well enough, and every single sense was shrieking at her to get the hell out.
The patron -man? Something else entirely?-eyed their motley crew with an almost bemused air, like a cat cornering a band of mice. It was too much. Sh snapped.
"What are you doing here?!"
"Me?" the blond tutted in mild disapproval. "This is my home. I live here. So?" A blond brow rose to regard the four of them. "Why are you here?" None of them answered. They didn't dare. "Come to rob me? Been awhile since anyone tried that." Still he prattled on. "Or is it just bad luck?"
Vi heard Powder whimper behind her.
Alright, calm down. She tried to deny her instincts. This was nothing. He was just some posh Piltover type. He couldn't hurt them. He'd probably call his guards at best. Right. Right? All that flew out the window when the smiling blond climbed to his feet and set his meal aside. Nope. Not having it. She didn't trust him for an instant.
The balcony! If they could just make it-
An arm caught her and reeled her in before she could take a single step.
Wild blue eyes blazed before her, shining like twin gemstones in his skull. His forehead kissed hers.
"I really am sorry for this." he almost sounded contrite. "But I'm afraid I can't let you leave just yet." Firm fingers tightened on her arm. "I've got a few questions, ya know?"
"Vi!" A sharp, shrill scream pierced the air behind her. "Help!"
She whirled to find another man wearing his face. Another had Powder by the scruff of her neck, dangling her in the air like a naughty kitten. On his flank two more pinned Mylo and Claggor to the floor, gagging the former when he start to swear. Her gaze snapped back to the man before her, not quite comprehending what was happening. He hadn't budged an inch.
"What the hell...?"
"Good 'ol shadow clones." he walked away from them, even as fourth copy sealed and locked the balcony behind them. "No one appreciates the classics anymore."
Panic bleated anew in Vi's heart as she thrashed. What did this lunatic want with them? Was he mage; was he going to experiment on them?!
"You need to stop that!" The clone holding her wrenched both arms behind her back. "Stop that, will you? The boss ain't gonna hurt-ow!" His words cut off into a growl as she drove her forehead into his nose. It was like driving her face into a stone wall; stars flashed before her vision and she found herself blinking away a haze of pain for her troubles. The copy pressed her down into the floor and held her there, pinning her like the child she no longer was.
"Wait!" her tongue betrayed her. "If you need to punish someone then...!" she gulped once and steeled herself. "Then take me. But let them go."
"Calm down." A merry blue eye flashed over his shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Vander won't let you get away with this!
Vi swore harshly. "Damnit, Powder!"
"Vander?" An ear twitched as he turned to face theme entirely. "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time...don't suppose you know the name Silco?"
Claggor scowled at the remark. "Who the hell is Silco?"
...an old friend." Their would-be-victim hummed. "Might have to pay him a visit soon."
Silence reigned supreme; it seemed to physically pain him.
"In any case," he crossed one leg over the other, "I'm Naruto. This is my home you've broken into. Not very accomplished thieves, are ya?"
Vi groaned, though Powder and Mylo continued to glare at him. Claggor tried to rise, only for a knee to drive him back to the ground.
"Defiant little runts." The blond man thumbed his chin. "You almost remind me of someone-no." He shook his head, cutting himself off. "That's neither here nor there, ya know." his gaze flicked over the once more, keen and assessing. "When was the last time you four had a decent meal?"
Vi's mouth clicked shut even as her stomach grumbled.
...wait there. Well," he amended with a laugh, "Not like you have much choice...
In short order he returned with a tray of sandwiches. A quick nudge sent the metal tray spinning their way. At some unseen command the clones released the lot of them and moved back as one. Vi nearly made a run for it then and there; she would have too, if those damn dopelgangers weren't lurking near the exits. One look at their stern faces told her they wouldn't take kindly to an escape attempt.
"Hungry?" Naruto offered her an untouched sandwich. "Been awhile since I've had visitors in this cesspit of a city.
Powder broke first, snatched up a sandwhich, and shoved it onto her mouth.
Claggor caved to hunger second. "Well, if he's giving them away...
Mylo ripped his gag free and pounced on his. "Dibs!"
"Mylo!"
"What?! Food is food!"
Her siblings ignored her wholeheartedly as they tucked into their ill-gotten gains. Naruto nudged a sandwich Vi's way. When she bit his fingers, he recoiled with a laugh.
"Still don't trust me, eh? Suppose that's fair. Tell you what." he stepped back and gestured to the oddities lining the walls of his humble apartment. "You came here to rob me, right? Go ahead." just like that, the glittering treasures there caught her eye. "Take whatever you like."
One could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. "For real?"
"And why not? Money is no object for me, as you can see." he waved a hand lazily again, and Vi noticed he was missing his right pinkie finger. "I found or built most of this myself, but I've no real use for it."
While he spoke Vi dared a wild glance around what she'd thought a workshop, only to realize it was anything but. A proper scholar or even a scientists would have more...well...sciencey things. If that was a word. She saw blueprints scrawled across a table, pieces of a device left unmade, and some knives mounted on the wall. There was a scroll of some sort mounted there too, alongside an old photograph of four people, so worn by time and water damage as to be nearly unrecognizable. Still, she couldn't help but notice that most of those treasures were weapons.
Swords and staves and knives all, some of which seemed to shimmer as she looked at them.
Realization broke like the dawn. Mylo beat her to the punch. "What are you, some kind of assassin?"
"Excuse me?" A lone finger rose to correct them and Vi glimpsed a strange mark on the palm beneath. "I'm a shinobi. I fought a lot of people to get this title. I deserve to be called such."
Powder found her voice next. "Why do you have all this stuff?
"All these artifacts?" He gestured to a nearby staff on the wall. It dissolved into a trio of black spheres when she looked at it, causing Claggor to jump. "I'm looking for a way home. None of this really panned out and I've got another lead to chase down, so most of the items in here are useless to me anyway." slim shoulders rolled in a shrug. "Pawn them off if you like. Should get a fair sum for 'em."
Mylo whistled. "You're...serious?"
"As the grave." came the returning wink.
The boys needed no further encouragement. Powder, however, pawed at a scroll. "What's this?"
"Not that!" a golden arm shot across the room and snatched it from her grasp before she could stuff it into a sack. "That's not for sale. The rest is free game...if you can carry it."
Claggor lifted their sack, which suddenly looked entirely too small to contain the vast treasures that were being offered them.
"Don't look so glum." Naruto saw it and crossed both arms behind his head. "You're welcome to come back, if you like. In the meantime, I've got some old burlap sacks over there in the corner...
It was the pebble that started the avalanche; the younger children scattered to the four corners of the room, stuffing whatever they could find into the satchel he'd provided brought. A sword and collapsible staff went into the sack, alongside a handful of small gems etched with runes. Naruto looked on all the while, occasionally pointing out the particularly valuable pieces.
"Are you really just gonna let us walk out with all this?" Vi turned her head and spat, unwilling to be swayed. "How do we know this isn't a trap?
"You don't." Naruto laughed, quirking a brow at the stain she'd left. "Well, that was rude. I just cleaned..."
Did he think this was funny?! "Why are you laughing?"
"No reason." he chortled softly. "A friend of mine's chewing me out. Suppose Kurama's right." he scratched the back of his head with a lazy smile. "I always miss the most obvious things, even when they're right under my nose."
Vi wrinkled hers at him. "...there's no one else in here.
"Its complicated." Naruto's smile was decidedly sly and wise at once. Three quick strides carried him past her. Another led him to the balcony doors, which he flung open with a pleased hum. "I'll distract the guards and give you a guide back to the slums, but its probably best you run along now." He leaned out, considering the street below. "I've got an appointment to keep, an inventor to kidnap, that sort of thing.
Powder paused, in the process of stowing a brace of knives into her sack. "Kidnap?"
"Nobody you know, kiddo." Naruto reached around to pat her head. "Just a...business deal to arrange with a fellow named Jayce."
Violet wasn't quite able to conceal her scowl. "I don't want to know.
"Probably best you don't. Off you go~!"
Mylo and Claggor scarpered, clutching their ill-gotten gains close. Powder followed, grinning from ear to ear.
"Later, old man!"
When Vi scooted made to scoot past Naruto, he caught her by the shoulder. A swift tug pulled her backward; naturally her first instinct was to struggle, but a single look from him stilled her. He was still smiling; if anything his grin had grown even wider.. Somehow that made him even more terrifying than before. She felt his fingers bite down, locking her in place.
Naruto lowered his voice then, for her ears and hers alone.
Five little words...and yet they changed everything.
"Remember, he purred. "Its our little secret."
A/N: And there we go.
One ripple. One change...some things remain as we know, while others will never be the same.
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. Its an essential rule at this point.
If folks don't like this, it'll be deleted. Poof! Gone! Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
As ever, reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
And enjoy the previews.
As ever:
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Get ready to smile~!
Obvious references are obvious~!
(POTENTIAL!) Previews! What can I say? I've been busy.
"Rise and shine, pal."
Jayce jolted back to wakefulness, alarmed to find himself tied and bound in the darkness of his room. There was a man sitting opposite him; a masked man, his face hidden behind a porcelain shield.
"Tell me more about this research of yours. Do you truly believe you can create magic?
Jayce swallowed once." I...do."
"Could you use that magic to create a portal?" A scarred hand waved, and he noticed it was missing a finger. "A way to another world?"
"Magic can do a great many things." he chose his words with care, unwilling to give himself way.
"Yes," Pearly white teeth flashed in the gloom. "So I've been told."
Who are you?
"Names?" The man raised his head. "My name..isn't important. So tell me." he pressed instead, "About this hextech theory of yours...
"Its not a theory." Anger sparked to life in him, burning back the fear. "I saw with my own eyes what magic can do, the lives it could save. You've no idea how beautiful it is."
"On the contrary." worn fingers tugged back his cowl, revealing his face. "I'm well aware...
Jayce recoiled. The first thing he glimpsed were whiskered cheeks, pinched a scowl.
"I've seen it firsthand." Sandy blond hair mixed with hints of silver. "I suppose you could say I use magic of...a different sort. Its called chakra." Last were the eyes. Deep and soulful blue, yet hollow somehow. As if someone had reached deep inside of him and scooped something out. He looked tired, his shoulders bowed by the weight of years. "I could tear this city down around you, burn this world to the ground, make it scream my name with its dying breath. But for all that, I can't go home...so you're going to help me."
"Children, the lot of you! And I ain't talking about the brats.
One way or another...I WILL HAVE ORDER."
"Pleasure to meet you, Viktor. I hear your not feeling well."
...you do realize I'm not your enemy, right?"
Vi smacked his hand away. "This was a one time thing."
His voice rang after her. "If you push people away, you'll never be a good leader!"
"Piss off, old man!"
"Silco, Silco, Silco! I've got a deal for you...a once in a lifetime offer~!"
"You know, I could use apprentices...
"We won't betray Vander!"
"I'm not asking you to.
Mel Medarda ran her hand along the length of his arm. "The secrets you know, they could revolutionize the world.
They could," Naruto pulled his arm away, "Which is precisely why they stay with me.
Jayce sighed. "Don't. I already tried. He's not not going to budge on this,?"
There was a girl with nine tails at his door.
Naruto quirked a brow. "I'm just attracting all sorts of strays this week...
R&R~!