A/N: PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE, WOULD YOU KINDLY?
DOUBLE UPDATE DAY! Updating this and Dark Side of the Moon.
Warning! This chapter goes right for the heartstrings.
Because! There's only ONE CHAPTER LEFT.
Feels strange that so many of my stories are ending "Wolf" needs an epilogue, "Killing Monsters" has only a single chapter left, "Best Served Cold" could end at any time, same with "Rags to Riches" and this...well, you already know.
As ever reviews keep this old man writing. Without them, I cannot write. No joke, there. Every bit of feedback, no matter how small, or large, boosts my spirits. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters!
Now for your questions.
Q: What will you do about the Crown?
A: I trust you mean the relic, not the organization? Since we've got so little in the way of lore, I've had to make something of a workaround.
And rest assured, I haven't forgotten about Ozpin.
Q: Will we get an epilogue?
A: Suppose that depends on the readers. I haven't the time to write something people don't like.
Q: Naruto's totally a Cinder simp; why does he keep defending her?!
A: I'm really tired of explaining this. He isn't. If anything its the other way around now. Cinder would die for him; she wants the Maiden powers to get Kaguya OUT of him and let him live a happy life. At this point these two are basically partners. They'd die for one another.
This Naruto? Not black or white. He's grey, through and through.
He'll certainly avoid killing innocents if he can, but if you cross him...you're done.
Q: What's the difference between this and Bottom's Up?
A: Bottoms Up is essentially an alternate and lighter version of this, in which Naruto keeps Kaguya plied with booze and drunk off her ass. Cinder clearly isn't the main there.
NOT BY A LONG SHOT.
Alright, I think I've kept you long enough!
Now then, lets get ready. Set! Go! Once again, chapter title is part of the lyrics from the song "All Things Must Die."
As ever, I own no references, themes or memes! Not a wit or one!
They're tributes and homages for everyone, plain and simple.
"How can you side with her?! She's a monster!"
"Maybe so, but she's my monster. I'm rehabilitating her."
~?
We'll Always Evolve
"Happy Birthday, daddy! I made this for you!"
Ozma opened his eyes and looked upon what his eldest daughter had created. A faint smile creased his face as he beheld their work. Really, it was a lovely floral wreath, decked with the flowers of spring. Crudely made perhaps, as only children can make things, but beautiful all the same. He could see the glimmering motes of dust where she'd woven her spells into the vines, a beautiful latticework of light. Magic was beautiful to be sure, but family was a magic unto itself.
'Hrrmph.' he chuckled. 'I must getting old. That sounded horribly cliche.'
But she was looking him now, waiting for his answer, and he was happy to give it.
He laughed and swept young Autumn up into his arms, holding her close. "Its lovely. Thank you."
"Ah!" She wriggled free when he nuzzled her face. "Hey, stoppit! Your beard! It tickles!"
"Now, now," Salem swept past with a smile, arms full with their youngest. Still, she unbent enough to kiss his forehead. "I think it makes him look distinguished."
"Oh?" the knight quirked a pale brow. "And here I thought you liked for a entirely different reason."
She pretended to scoff at that, but were one to look closely enough -as he did!- they might glimpse the faintest flush upon her pale face. She was still beautiful, even after all these years. He reached out to catch her waist from where lounged on the patio, but as ever she was too quick. She slipped away, pale hair sparkling in the waning light.
"Oz. Wake up."
He was awake. Where had that thought come from?
"Stop that." Salem swatted his arm, snapping him back to reality. He turned to watch her lay the mewling babe down in its crib. "You'll get my gift later."
Their children frowned. "Why later?"
Salem coughed. "No reason."
Ozma laughed.
"I just need you for a moment."
A moment away from this? N-No. Never! Ozma frowned and shook such thoughts away.
"Daydreaming again, dear?"
A smile touched his lips as he pivoted. "Only of you, darling."
Sure enough he looked back to find Salem staring at him intently. His words didn't fool her; because she took his head in her hands and guided his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. Their girls gagged at the sight, but she didn't release him and instead slid in beside him. From there she laid her head upon his shoulder. His arm found her waist, and she his.
"Are you hearing the voices again?"
He couldn't lie to her. "I am. They're getting louder."
"Don't listen to them." she shivered. "Damn the gods. Stay here. With me."
Was it the gods speaking to him? He wondered about that. The voice sounded more familiar. It sounded like himself. But surely that was absurd. Yes...he supposed that was all they were. He turned his gaze toward the horizon, watching the sun set as their daughters played at their feet. Perhaps if he ignored them, the voices would go away. Instead they'd grown increasingly louder over the last few days.
"You wanna play that way? Fine!"
Yes. Everything was fine. All was as it was should be. He hadn't run away in the dead of the night. He'd stayed, spoken to Salem, told her everything. She listened to him. They had never lost anything. That...it had all been a bad dream. He'd woken in a cold sweat, her arms around him, nothing to fear. They had four beautiful girls. A fifth was on the way. Yet there it was, the faint tugging sensation that something wrong.
Had he not earned his rest?
Salem perked up at his side. "Who's that?"
Ozma followed her gaze, squinting against the setting sun.
There was a man approaching down the road, cloak fluttering in the breeze. They leaned upon a ringed black staff, limping with every step. Even from here he could see blond hair going white. There was a broken red horn jutting from his hair. His blue eyes were wrong and yet right; as if someone else were looking through them too, some cosmic horror he couldn't comprehend. Strange. Why would he have such thoughts toward a man he'd never met?
"Because we have met." An strangely familiar voice intoned. "And for what its worth...
Ozma blinked, and quite suddenly he was before him, looming over them both with a shadow that seemed far too large.
Salem sprang up at his side, a bolt of black light boiling up in her hand. It splashed harmlessly off the newcomer. He waved a hand and she froze. Everything froze. Their children in the yard, the setting sun, the very world itself.
...I'm sorry."
Ozma scowled. "Sorry?! What have you done?! Release them!"
A hand came down on his shoulder. Something pulsed in his palm. Ozma jolted.
Memories rushed back. He remembered.
He stumbled and clutched at his face as the world fell away, replaced by a white void.
"What...what have you done?!"
"I gave your soul a pleasant dream." Naruto looked at least a little chagrined. "Tell me where the Crown is, and I'l let you return to it."
Ozma glared at him through parted his eyes. "You monster...
Naruto didn't relent. "Where's the Relic?"
"Safe."
"Oz, I need it."
"Why?" he set his jaw.
"To bring an end to things."
An end? Realization broke like a thunderclap. It had been his voice, then. He was the one trying to wake him. And when he'd refused, he came and broke it all apart. He'd lived years in this dream. He'd been happy. A new beginning, a new chance to experience what might have been. Peace! Happiness! All of it! Gone now! All of it a lie!
His lips thinned. "Salem has seduced you, then."
Blue eyes rolled. "She thinks she has. I'm not here to end the world."
"No?" he stalked forward, slamming his forehead against that of the blond's. "Tell me what you intend!"
Naruto did, the truth had him recoiling.
"You're mad!"
"Maybe." he received a shrug in return. "But you gotta admit, its juuust mad enough to work."
It really was, wasn't it. That was the worst part! "And like a fool, I blundered into it."
"For what its worth, I wanted to let you sleep. Just tell me where it is."
"I will." he saw there was no point in resisting anymore. Not now. He was too broken, too weak to fight. "On one condition. I was...happy here." And he was. "Send me back." he begged. "Make me forget. I have no desire to return. I will not. I cannot not. It will drive me mad."
He knew this life was a dream. But better a happy dream than a waking nightmare.
"I'm not asking you to go back." that craggy visage softened. "As soon as I leave, you'll forget all about me again. You'll continue to live this life. You'll grow old alongside Salem and die with her. But are you sure? Oscar's fine, but I could craft you a decent body if you really wanted."
A thorn of doubt plucked at him. "Why would I want to?"
"I revived your daughters, you know. They miss you. You could-
"My children live again?" Ozma rocked back on his heels, world shattering all over again. "Truly? Do you mock me?!"
"Nope." his reply lacked even the ghost of a life. I could...bring you back. You and Salem might be able to patch things up." he shifted a little, leaning upon his staff. "Start things over, you know?"
Ozpin considered it for an instant and made his decision.
"No.
Naruto blinked. "No?"
He could never understand. It was impossible.
"They died because of me." Ozma stared down at his hands, seeing their bloody faces in his mind's eye. "Were it not for my cowardice, they would have lived long, fruitful lives. I have no right to look upon their faces after what I have done. I," he swallowed once with shame. "I would rather stay here. Here, where I cannot see their guilt. Their fear. Their hate. Here, where I committed no such crime."
The silence was telling.
"I know. I am a hypocrite." he chuckled bitterly. "I will live with that sin for the rest of my days."
Now it was his turn to frown. "That's as good as running away."
"But it is what I choose to do. Are they happy?"
"Overjoyed." his fellow exile nodded once, then looked a little chagrined. "Though Salem's a bit clingy, and she pisses Cinder off...
Yes, that sounded rather like her. "Then I would ask one more thing of you."
...name it."
"Save Salem." he begged. "Do what I could not. Make her happy."
His lips pursed then.
Ozma knew it was well within his power to deny him. He could be cruel and spiteful, hide the knowledge of the Relic away from him and doom his efforts to failure. A lifetime ago, he might have done just that. Now? He just wanted to go back. Back to his sleep, back to his dream, back to blissful naivete.
And so he told him. "I have the Relic."
"You do?" a blond brow quirked. "But you're just a soul."
"Indeed, I am." he touched a hand to his chest. "I hid it in the one aspect of me that cannot be destroyed...save by you."
Before the blond could question him, he reached down into himself and pulled. In truth, He'd sealed the Crown into his very soul, where none save himself could touch it. Even here in the void a soul was a soul. It was but the work of a painful moment to pluck it free and another to present it to him.
"It exists in the real world now. You'll find it in your hands. "Take it."
"Thank you." Here at last, the blond bowed.
...Naruto."
He paused, just a bit.
"I never wish to see you again."
"Feeling's mutual." He received a grunt. "Enjoy your dream. Maybe it be a long one. Now...forget."
Those words hit the weary knight like a physical force. He closed his eyes against them, fell back into the black and...
...Ozma!"
Thrashed awake.
Pale arms enfolded him, quelling his racing heart and tugging him back to bed.
"You're alright." Salem's voice lulled him back to slumber, her body warm against his beneath the sheets. "You're alright. It was just a bad dream."
He laid back and let her snuggle into his side.
Sweet came oh so swiftly.
"Just a dream...
(.0.0.0.)
Blue eyes snapped open, rimmed with white tears.
Cinder's face was the first thing he saw.
"And it will be the last."
Naruto shook Kaguya's words off. The second thing he noticed was Cinder's sword at his throat; tapered tip tickling at his jugular, just as he'd asked. For a moment, he saw her flinch, fearing who she was looking at. No doubt she feared Kaguya taking control while he slept. She wasn't wrong to be wary. Any sane individual would be. He blinked slowly and eventually, blue overtook his eyes once more.
"Are you...you?"
Naruto quirked a brow. "You have a beauty mark under your left breast."
Her face flamed and her sword smoldered away into harmless embers. Only then did she look down and see the crown in his hands.
Golden eyes burned with hungry flame. "Is that it?"
Naruto mirrored the gestured, mildly alarmed to find that Ozpin had spoken truly. There was a weight in his right hand. The left still rested upon the dream-prison he'd caged his soul within. For all that, the spirit within felt calm. At peace. He would dream endlessly for the rest of his days.
"You're fidgeting, Cinder."
She scoffed. "Can you blame me?"
He supposed not. That said, the Relic of Choice was surprisingly...plain. A simple golden diadem bearing three red jewels in the center. Two small, one large. Each felt warm under his grasp and for a moment he was tempted to don the Crown and see what it would show him. In the end, he decided against it. The future was his to shape. He had no need ot his.
"We have all four of them, now." he ran his thumb over the largest jewel. "Now we just need to bring them together and...
Her lips pursed. "The power to summon the gods...
"This will not stop me." Kaguya hissed. "I will have my freedom.
"No." he shook his head. "This is how it ends, Kaguya. No big schemes, no grand fight to the finish. Tomorrow, all the papers will say is that the great Kaguya was found, blown to bits in a wasteland- alongside a miserable little nobody!" she snarled at him and he laughed louder. "Heh, kinda funny- ironic, really! You've been prattling on and on about destroying everything I love. All my hopes, my dreams, my...everything." she shrieked at him for that, and he throttled her voice anew. "But y'know, I can destroy your dreams too...and that's really the only dream you have, isn't it? Crushing me.
She spat at him. "I'll find a way. Just you wait. This isn't over.
"Nope. Humanity will evolve without you. Without the gods. We'll always evolve."
"Don't listen to her." Cinder kissed him drawing him back to reality, "Stay with me. Are you prepared?"
Naruto nodded and began cinching the laces in his boots.
"Not really. Feels strange, you know? We've come this far, and now its almost over."
Someone knocked at the door. Emerald poked her head in, expression grave as a Grimm itself. "She's here."
(.0.0.0.)
This was it.
Ruby knew her team would never forgive her for this.
But there were some things you just had to do. If there was even a chance, the slightest possibility that her mother -Summer!- was alive, then she had to take it. They'd understand they had to. Yang certainly would. And if they didn't...well. She'd live with that, too. They were more than welcome to come after her; she hadn't been subtle when she'd left that note. Maybe they could find a way together. Maybe. Just maybe.
'Am I doing the right thing?'
She found the horned man waiting for her outside the tower.
He looked just as Jaune had described, but...older somehow. More tired. Weary, even. He took one look at her and frowned.
"You came alone. Good."
Ruby raised her hands to show herself harmless.. "I'm here. Just like you asked. Now where. Is. My. Mother."
"Look." Naruto pinched the brow of his nose. "I had no part in what happened to her. I just want you to know that, alright..?"
Silver eyes flashed with molten flames. "Where is she?!"
"Don't even think about fighting." his own smoldered white. "You're a thousand years too young ta be threatenin' me, missy."
He swept an arm forward, palm splayed towards the door.
"Now come inside and lets talk this out like adults...
A/N: Next time: This is the End.
Not much to say this time around. Reviews keep me writing, and without them, my inspiration falls flat. Ever bit of feedback helps. Surgery hurts. Surgery hurts a loooot. But silence from readers and reviewers? That hurts even more. As ever, reviews keep this old man alive during this dark and crazy time. I ain't joking.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... Review...Would You Kindly?
And enjoy these previews! Remember those hints?
Yes? No? Hope you paid attention. Because!
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Read at your own risk!
(Preview)
OI! GODS! I want a worth with you!"
...you know us?"
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, last of clan Uzumaki." he strode forward, ignoring Cinder's startled hiss at his back. "Fighting things like you is what I do, and you two...are absolutely...THINGS."
"We were put here at the dawn of life. We made this world. We're a little more than things."
"NO. You're only things! You're just old killers. You don't make anything anymore! You don't live! You just eat prayers and hide!"
...is there a point to this, mortal?"
R&R~!