A/N: Read this note, please. Big changes are coming to this site.

Bit of an interlude this time. I feel like crap and I can barely muster the energy to write.

I'll say it plain, if this email opt-in business with the doesn't get resolved soon, I'm probably going to retire.

It HURTS to say that, but with this new system, reviews and readers have dropped to an all time low, authors are leaving the site in droves.

If you're not already aware of it, ever since the 16th of November, you now have to turn ON your email alerts in account settings -AND MAKE SURE YOU CLICK SAVE SETTINGS!- else you won't be notified when anyone updates. No alerts, no email, no nothing. Apparently that's a thing we all have to do every ninety days or so, now. Alas, not many are aware of it...which is a problem. As things stand this new "fix" as it were, has cut everyone's viewership/reviewers in half because most folks don't know about it.

Sometimes opting in works. Sometimes it doesn't. Really depends.

I hope the admins tweak/update this system. This sudden change is driving authors away in droves; because no one knows, since not all of us have Twitter, which means most aren't even aware; as a result, they think we're not updating, and they don't read or review...which makes us write even less...

So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Had a blast writing this, but we're just about done here.

Unless folks wish otherwise...?

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? Well, it ends. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.

No questions this time.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one. They're just references.

I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.

Hope you enjoy this chapter. I...found myself conflicted, writing it.

All good things must come to an end, and so must this story...

"Are you frustrated by the fact that you are the weakest one?

If so, hold on to that feeling. That's proof that you haven't given up yet, on yourself. Listen, don't give up saying that you're living within your boundaries. Don't be a boring person like that. If you have the guts to not give up, you can become anything you want to be. We're living creatures that don't have wings, yet we can still fly.

After all, in order for a mediocre man to defeat a genius, he must become a demon.

And demons...well. Even gods notice demons.

She certainly did.

~?

A Good Dream (Prelude to the End)

This was not his room.

The realization came as something of a sudden start to Naruto; he remembered laying down after a long day of productive research to rest, the excitement he'd felt as he struggled to sleep. The first of his Needles was finally ready after nearly two years, and he was eager to test it on Malenia come morning. Things had been...not better, not since the funeral, but they weren't bad, either.

He remembered closing his eyes and falling asleep, more or less. That much made sense.

But this? This was not his bed either.

"Good morning, Miquella." an all too familiar voice crooned. "Or would you prefer Naruto?

It wasn't morning at all he realized; because there was no sun to be seen. Nor was there a moon at that.

He was laid out on a verdant green plain, long blades of grass tickling his back. A sky full of endless stars awaited his vision, each a world in its own right, a reality all its own. He reached out for one and found he could actually touch it; his finger brushing that distant word.

And in touching it, he saw. He heard. A rush of noise and emotion, of sights and sounds:

He was looking at another iteration of himself. Younger, paler, with silver hair arguing bitterly with someone. Another reincarnation? He didn't know his name. No, wait. He did. A name came to him. Godrick.

"This is wrong! The cycle has to end here. We must be better than this."

"What would you know? You're but the runt of the litter."

...why did you have to say that?"

He gasped as his "self" snapped someone's neck. In the same instant he pivoted and drove a knife through someone's chest.

Naruto felt the pain as though it were his own and shoved the scene away. "What is this...?!"

"This is a dream, and yet not a dream." He knew that voice. "Its been some time, hasn't it? More than seven hundred and thirty days since last we spoke. I see you still prefer your true form in this realm. Understandable, given all that's transpired in the past...

He raised his gaze and found the Greater Will sprawled out in the grass beside him, dark hair a curtain behind her head. "Why are you here?"

She crossed one leg over the other and sulked. "Can I not visit your dreams?"

...you can, but why? You vanished after Rykard's funeral...

She frowned. The loss of your kin still saddens you."

"It does." he wave her words away. "But that's my burden to bear.

"It need not be." she sat up, gazing at him with eyes that rippled like the very cosmos. "More shall fall in the days to come."

He sprang upright. "Who? Tell me so I can prevent their deaths."

...I do not know for certain." she tugged him back down. "Fate is murky at the best of times. That is not why I am here." As he looked on, she stood fully. "I have come here to reaffirm the final portion of our pact. No," a hand rose when he made to speak. "Let me finish. In countless realities and tales, I have observed you. Watched you. In some, I even opposed you. Why does he do this, I wonder? Why does go that way? Why speak when he can do battle instead? You've been something of a mystery to me.

"Is that a compliment?"

She flashed him a dazzling smile. "If you wish it to be. What I'm saying is this. Only in this reality, this "story", this thread of fate, are we this close." she took his hand and guided it over another world. In it he glimpsed himself, looking as he always did, sitting on a grand throne. A woman in blue sat beside him. She had four arms. The Greater Will pulled their hands away, and the image vanished. "Even so, I will offer you one last chance to escape. If you are uncertain, now is the time to back down."

He heard a voice call to him in that instant.

"Brother, brother!" through a dim haze, he felt Malenia prod at him." Wake up! How long are you going to sleep...?

"Ah, your twin is waiting for you." The Greater Will tossed her head to one side with a huff, running a hand through her hair." Be sure to use that needle on her when you wake. It should at least stymie the Goddess of Rot for a time."

...do you want me gone that badly?"

"Not at all." She smirked. "I am a god, dear one. I can wait awhile yet. You are already mine. The bargain is struck, pact made, the promise signed in blood. You're already mine. You simply have yet to realize it. Your body is in no danger in the waking world. If you wish to remain awhile longer, it matters not."

"No. I'll stay for now." He firmed up his jaw. His answer was the same as it had been two years ago. "Nothing's changed."

The Greater Will bulled into his personal space. "You still wish for us to remain equals?"

"I do."

The moment, the very instant he said those words, the "dream" around them wavered.

...as I'd hoped." Her smile was a dangerous thing indeed. It frightened him...and excited him. "So you have spoken, so let it be. Now for the final act."

The goddess tugged a the straps of her white dress and let it pool at her feet. She wasn't wearing anything underneath.

Naruto's throat went dry. He frowned at her. "You do realize this is a dream. None of this is real."

"Ha! A dream, he says." Her smile softened, becoming coy. In an instant she was in his lap, pressing the fullness of her form against him. "You forget, I am the Greater Will. Dreams are as real or false as I will them to be, my champion." she waved a hand and his clothes vanished; she took the chance to push him down and straddled him. "And I say let this be a good dream."

She began to move atop him and the "dream" descended into a carnal haze.

A/N: Aaaaand scene. Didn't see that coming, did you?

Pairing's still very much up in the air here, so lemme know what you think.

Do you want this to be continued? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard! By all means, let me know!

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.

Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would You Kindly? Only a few previews this time.

Almost done now...

(Previews)

Knives in the dark.


"I will end everything!"


"Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."

R&R~!