A/N: WARNING!
This chapter hits hard. Gut punches all around.
Hope you're prepared for that. Ye be warned, reader!
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!
Well, updating this story in less than two weeks. That's new.
Got people pestering me to do it, so here we are.
Now for your questions, comments, and concerns~!
Q: What are you updating next?!
A: Probably a Genshin story, followed by Don't Judge a Book by Its cover.
Q: Silco! Silco! SILCO! Gimme that scene or I will FIND you!
A: Alright, alright hold your horses. It took some time, but I wanted it to be unique:
Naruto's...relationship with him is different in each story. For instance!
His "Everybody Wants to be My Enemy" iteration is more inclined to talk with im.
What Could Have Been bascially views him as the father he never had.
Likewise, this story, Dynasties and Dystopia, has its own take.
Here, its highly implied, if not outright stated that Naruto, in his long lifespan, has some history with Vander and Silco. As to what that is.
Well. This chapter drives it home.
Q: What the bloody pairing?!
A: *zips lips* I've grown tired of repeating it.
Q: How old is Ahri?
A: Older than you think, younger than you expect. That'd be the best way to describe it. She's certainly long-lived like Naruto and we know her kind age slowly...
Alright! I've kept you long enough!
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...
"I used to be just like you, Vi. A punch-drunk dolt who thought he could take on the world with nothing more than a bit of grit and his fists.
I shouted and screamed with the best of them, raged with the worst of 'em. But you? You're a leader. I never was.
Those kids look up to yo, ya know? Take care of them. Be a good leader."
~Just a Man.
Family is Family
It was stable.
Jayce almost couldn't believe his eyes.
A quick blink followed by a second, now a third, and yet still the scene before him did not change. He peered at the apparatus and the fragile gemstone contained within; half-expecting it to explode at any moment. Other tests had done just that. Yet somehow, someway, this time it had held. It was...lifting things. Sending scraps of metal floating into the air, a field that seemed to spread a little more with each passing moment. Given enough power, it would likely lift people, entire vessels even.
"Remarkable." he murmured. "I had hoped, but to see it actually function...!
On a whim, he flicked a screw at the device. It passed through unharmed, floating idly by. Unfettered by gravity it drifted right up to the ceiling and danged there, just out reach. Jayce inspected the device anew, unable to quite contain his smile. Was it the runes? Had he cranked it properly Naruto instructed? Or was this some other influence at work?
A hand came down on his shoulder. "Not bad. Looks stable. What's next?"
Jayce babbled for a moment before sense reasserted itself.
What had he called them? Shadow clones? The ability to leave behind a copy of one's self and use it to act in their stead; that was fascinating enough in his own right. And eerie.
The inventor shivered a little.
Naruto wasn't really here at the moment, not the original. He'd gone elsewhere, leaving a copy of himself behind with that strange scythe of his. The weapon wouldn't speak to him, but could feel its eye watching him from the corner of the room. So long as it didn't try anything, he was willing to let it be. It wasn't as if it could move without him. But enough of that. The council must be told of this glorious discovery.
And they would, just as soon as his new partner returned from...well, wherever he had gone.
Because this? This would change the world.
This was Hextech.
(.0.0.0.)
They were moving.
Ahri wasn't sure why, only that they were.
He'd gone suddenly, leaving early in the morning. He'd asked her to come with him. It was that, or stay behind and watch the odd little human known as Jayce.
And so she had followed.
Followed, as he led her down into the undercity, into the muck and the grim and the filth of Zaun, unafraid for perhaps the first time in her life. She felt...full. Sated. Content. Merely being in his presence kept her hunger at bay. She knew it was temporary, that it wouldn't last; that she might lose control at any moment; try to feed on him as she had so many others. But for now?
"Sorry for dragging you down here all of sudden." Naruto's voice drew her from her reverie like a lover's laugh." Just stay close, okay? This won't take long. Then we can talk."
Ahri hunched down into her robes with a soft noise. She wanted to hold onto this moment. To cling to it -him!- as long as she could.
...alright."
Naruto patted her head. "Good girl."
Ahri's tails twitched. Just once. The merest flick, yet it betrayed her anxiety. He saw it. Those keen, slitted eyes narrowed behind his mask.
"Well, don't just stand there. C'mon. There's work to be done."
She hastened after him.
After all, she had waited so long to meet him. Now that she had, she would follow him. Wherever he went. Her gaze strayed, narrowing but a little as she realized just how many were staring. More than a few. She could hear them muttering. One of them asked how much she cost.
Golden eyes narrowed.
Cost?! As if she could be bought!
Perhaps a snack would soothe her temper...?
(.0.0.0.)
"Seems we've taken in an odd little fox.
Naruto held back a laugh as he slipped through the lanes.
As ever the thick air was familiar, if slightly less poisonous than he recalled.
He wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Times had been easier when it was just the three of them. Him, Vander, and Silco. Simpler times, when he'd devoted himself to a dream of freedom. The whole of the underground, untied as one. Before he'd lost hope. Before he'd thrown himself into the singular pursuit of finding his way home.
Before this curious girl had come to his door.
True to form, young Ahri shadowed him every step of the way. Not quite clinging, but not letting him out of her sight either. He didn't know what to make of her.
Her tails drew more than a few appreciative looks from the denizens of the undercity. And yet for all her anxiety, she could clearly defend herself. When someone tried to grab them, she clawed their eyes out. Another had the very life leeched from their bonds, leaving them a shriveled husk in the street.
Kurama whistled in the back of his head. "Might wanna watch that...
It wasn't that he regretted taking her in; rather, he simply didn't know what to make of her. Whatever the case, she seemed to have laid a claim to him since their first meeting. Now if he only knew what that claim was, he might be able to make some semblance of sense from this. Sooner or later he would. Until then, it was just a matter of time.
In the end, he found his quarry easily enough.
Much like Vander, Silco had those who worked under him. Unlike the "Hound of the Underground" those minions were a good deal less cautious. It was the simplest thing to tag one of those "boys" and follow them from a distance; let them lead him and Ahra down, down into the depths of Zaun.
He'd fallen out of touch. Out of favor.
Zaun had forgotten him.
Time to rectify that.
(.0.0.0.)
Silco was no stranger to violence.
Quite the contrary; he embraced the concept.
It was a singular part of his vision for Zaun, after all.
Power, real power, only came to those who did anything to achieve it. Just as the only way to defeat a superior enemy was to stop at nothing, to become the thing -the one!- that they feared. Likewise, when one fought for the freedom of one's country, a bit of bloodshed was inevitable. Power was not given but earned, and to earn it, one must be willing to fight for it.
Silco had fought tooth and nail for that power.
He fought harder, raged louder than any other, committed heinous deeds in the name of power. He'd done things, terrible things he wasn't proud of. Necessary things for the underground. Suffered betrayal after betrayal, and paid each back in kind tenfold.
But now was not the time for rage. All the anger in the world availed him naught now. Now was a time for fear.
His sixth sense shrieked a warning mere moments before he heard the footsteps. He lowered the eye-dropper from his damaged eye and willed himself to exhale, then inhale again. His fingers closed around the apparatus to stifle a tremor. Mismatching eyes flitted to the worn glass pane of his window and the ocean beyond, watching. Waiting.
A titanic sea monster swept by perilously close, its mighty bulk briefly obscuring his vision of the glass.
As it moved on, he saw someone standing behind him in the glass. He hadn't been there a moment ago. A trick of the trade, just like his armor. Dark leather mingled with patches of deep crimson and navy wrapped up a terrifying man. He remembered when that armor had been less worn; it stirred up old accomplishments and memories best lest forgotten. Of oaths and promises, drinks and laughter shared together as brothers.
"How long have you been there?"
He was still speaking when he felt the cold kiss of a knife caressing his jugular. His good eye swiveled to face his would-be killer. A masked visage was the first thing he saw, and behind it a shock of unruly blond hair spattered with bits of blood. He recognized that mask; remembered that ghastly visage of red-on-white, just as he knew the man behind it. That its owner had chosen to don it again here, of all places, boded...poorly for him.
"Long enough." even the voice was just as he remembered. Older perhaps, tired, worn down by time, but every bit as he remembered.
There was someone lounging by the door. A girl. Were those...tails? The knife drew a bead of blood from his throat and he didn't dare look further. The mere act of moving his neck to do so threatened to turn that tiny cut into a gaping tear. All his strength, all his determination meant nothing in this moment. He had only his wits to rely on.
In the end, that was all a man had.
"Its been some time," Silco swallowed once, wincing only a little as the accursed knife bit into his jugular. "Have you come to kill me then, brother? Finish what you started?"
An awful pang of silence stretched between the two of them. "And if I have? Aren't you afraid?"
"Of course I am." And he was. Not the panic of a lesser, baser man, but the knowledge that if he answered poorly, his life was forfeit. "That's a risk I've known all my life." He wouldn't put on an act like this if he meant to end him, surely. No, he wanted something. He daren't say it, and so chose his words carefully. "But I still believe in loyalty."
A low noise of anger pierced the room. "Loyalty, is it?"
He felt the knife tense against a vein.
.
..
...
Abruptly it fell away. He sucked in a sharp breath, gasping for air. A hand took hold of his chair and spun it around.
"Is this what you call loyalty?"
A booted foot kicked something -someone!- out of a shadowy corner. It took Silco a moment to recognize one of his runners. What was the boy's name again? Deckard? Yes, that was it. The lad looked wasted at the moment, all but useless, body still quivering from the beating he'd taken. Were one to look closely, they could see the fading violet veins near his face, his muscles shrinking back down to their normal size. He must've taken another dose of Shimmer defend himself. And he'd lost. Badly.
Even now, his "old friend" didn't lack for strength.
That masked visage turned to face him. Blue eyes blazed behind it. "Explain."
Silco's gaze flicked to the quivering youth, still shaking at their feet. "Leave us, boy."
Deckard scampered toward the exit and slammed it behind him. Pointless. As if a metal door would stop him. The very thought was laughable. Doors wouldn't stop this demon. If he wanted him dead, he would be dead. That was all he could cling to. If he'd come to kill the lot of them, they never would've seen him coming.
They certainly wouldn't be having this conversation.
A fist slammed into the wall, ratting the room. "Answer me!"
Silco fought down a wince as the glass cracked. "A unfortunate evil, but a necessary one."
And with hope, a temporary one. Deckard was merely a...prototype. Once the Shimmer was perfected -and Singed was so very close now!- they'd have no end of adult test subjects lining up to fight, each willing to bleed and die for the nation of Zaun. Their sacrifices would be remembered. Each and every one.
His name might well be among them if this conversation went south.
"Unfortunate?" His old friend dragged the word out on a hiss, making it more and more likely. "This is wrong. It needs to stop. No, it will stop. Here. Today!
"You're one to talk. Moved up in the world, have you?" Silco scoffed back. "No time for the little people." his lip curled in a sneer. "How quickly you turned your coat. Tell me, was it that carrot that won you over? Or the stick?
"I had my reasons. And you? Drugging up kids?" it wasn't a question, despite the phrasing. "You're better than that."
...he volunteered."
Not a lie. It was the only thing that saved him. Deckard had taken the dose from his hand; supped of that poison willingly. He was, in every way, the first human test subject. There might well be more after him, but that was neither here nor there.
His erstwhile ally pulled up a chair, spun the back around to face him, and sank into it. "You can't win a war with Piltover."
"I don't have to, Naruto." Despite his best efforts to the contrary, Silco found himself mirroring the motion, if only to placate his brother in arms. "I just need to scare them."
His hands trembled but a little as he drew a cigar forth from his desk drawer. The masked man snapped his fingers and granted him a light. It wasn't a kindness, more a warning than anything else. Even so he took a long drag, let it fill his lungs. Willing himself to exhale proved an effort in of itself. It might well be the last breath he ever took.
A ring of smoke filled the air between them. He still lived.
"You taught me that." he rasped harshly. "Fear is the only reliable way."
The mask snapped up, exposing a scowling face and narrow blue eyes. Still impossibly young, despite the weight of his years. Time meant nothing to him. Even after all these years, he didn't understand it. How did a man simply cease to age? It spoke of magic and the arcane, of things he didn't understand. Perhaps a mere man wasn't meant to know such things.
"I taught you restraint." there was an unmistakable edge to his patron's voice now. "I taught you to be better than this."
"And where has being "better" gotten Zaun?" Anger reared its ugly head, stealing away his calm like a thief in the night. "You grasp at straws, searching for a way home while the topsiders grind us down more each year! And now this project of yours!" He swept an arm, scattering papers to the wind. "The sons and daughters of Zaun deserve more than their runoff!" when he didn't reply, he bulled onward. "But no, you choose to help those children, his children, and for what? To assuage your guilt?!"
A blond brow rose."You had me followed?"
"I did." Blast. He'd overplayed his hand. Nothing to be gained by lying now. "You didn't notice?"
...I was distracted."
Silco grit his teeth. "There was a time when you would have fought for this."
He didn't waver, even in his denial. "I did fight."
"Not hard enough!" Silco burst to his feet and slammed both hands down on the table, open palms rattling the worn wood. "With your power, you could have conquered-
"That's enough, Silco."
Naruto never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. He didn't have to. The quiet fury of a shinobi. Silco found himself flinching regardless. For an awful moment he glimpse the monster beneath the mask and shivered. This man was old, older than Piltover and Zaun combined. Although he wore the guise of a man he was so much more. A spike of killing intent hit him dead in the heart, stilling the words on his tongue. His legs folded beneath him, sending him crashing back into his chair.
Neither moved.
"This is your home." Silco broke the truce first. "You helped build these very walls. Do you even remember?"
"...of course I remember." a finger tapped the desk. "I remember it. All of it. Every bit of it."
"Do you remember that day?" Silco grit his teeth in a snarl voice gone hoarse with emotion. "Bleeding from a dozen wounds, my eye nearly gone, and what did you do?"
The mask came back down with a soft click, concealing Naruto's face once more. "I saved you."
"You were the greatest of us all! If you had stayed, the nation of Zaun would be-
"I chose not to be a conqueror. That's no way to live. Leave the kids out of it!"
"Why should I?"
The pressure returned tenfold, strangling Silco's snarl in his throat. And then he understood why. Why this man who had fought with gods and demons, who had slaughtered enforcers by the dozens, why he had run away from all this and hidden. Why he had come back after all this time and not simply slaughtered him in his sleep. He was being kind.
"Because I came down here with an offer for you." Naruto raised a hand, dangling a single key upon it. Accept, and we can both benefit. You'll have your nation of Zaun."
Silco's gaze strayed to his hand, They had been friends once. Unlike Vander, this man had never tried to kill him. Betray, yes, abandon, certainly, but there had never been violence between them. He'd lost a finger preventing just such a killing.
"Very well." he drew up his chair, sat behind his desk, and steeped his fingers. "I'm listening."
The key vanished up his sleeve. "I've seen pieces of what will happen-
"Been messing about with relics again, have you?"
The blond grit his teeth so hard he hear something crack.
"I need you to give Piltover...a push. No killing. Just a good nudge."
Silco waved him on.
Laying his chin atop his hands, he, settled in to wait. He sat there as his old friend laid out his intentions to him, clear as day. Five minutes passed. And when Naruto finished, he drew himself up.
"And they call me a monster." he tutted softly, shaking his head. "I have just one question for you."
That cold mask tilted. "And that is?"
"Are you with me?" he leaned forward. "Or against me?"
Naruto lifted his mask and pulled it from his head. He held it in his hand, turned it end over end. Considered it for a long moment. Then he flung it to the floor. It struck the ground once, bounced, and landed in Silco's lap. There had been a time, before the drowning, when such an act would have terrified him. Now? He quirked a brow.
Naruto stood slowly from where he sat. He extended his hand, palm splayed out towards him. "Do we have a deal?"
"Well," Silco blinked once at the startling expression his old comrade wore. "I suppose that's answer enough."
Together, they shook.
A/N: Saving some bits, but you'll see them sooner.
Behold!
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 and two jobs, 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.
"What's all this?"
It was too much to hope Vander wouldn't notice their haul.
Vi hid her arms behind her back, feeling every bit a naughty child.
"Alright, spill it. Where'd you get all this."
Vi stilled. Deny, deny, deny!"
"We didn't steal it!" Powder argued. "He gave it to us."
"Shhh!"
"Gave it to you...?"
"He knew your name."
Now it was Vander's turn to freeze.
...this guy you met, what did he look like...?"
"Naruto's a nice guy! He's not who you think he is!"
Mylo wagged an eyebrow at her.
"Ewww, gross!" Powder slapped his arm. "Not like that!
Vander sighed.
...everyone out."
He sat before her.
"Those kids look up to you."
Vi sighed and cradled her gauntlets close to her chest."Yeah, I know."
"No, you don't know." Her mentor sighed. "When people look up to you, you don't get to be selfish. You say run, they run. You say swim, they dive in. You say light a fire, they show up with oil. But whatever happens, its on you...
A shadow stirred in his peripherals; no it might be better to say the rest of the man emerged from the shadow itself.
She couldn't take it anymore!
Naruto jolted as Ahri pounced on him.
She expected death and despair from him, extinction as she fed on his soul.
Instead, she received laughter. "Hey! That tickles."
"Oh. That's unexpected."
Vi's head poked in. "Oi, old man. I need more ammo."
Naruto looked up from his workbench. "How quickly she changes her tune...
"May I present my associate, Naruto."
Much to Jayce's chagrin, the man nearly grunted. "Hello."
Mel quirked a brow at the blond. "Not terribly talkative, is he?"
Harsh blue eyes cut to her. "He is, when he meets someone worth talking to."
Behind them, Viktor whistled.
R&R~!