A/N: Sorry, hit a delay.
As ever, reviews are my fuel, my fire, my life.
Without them, I lose all inspiration, all hope, all ability to write.
So by all means, speak up! Make yourselves heard! Every bit of feedback, no matter how small or large, matters! Really, it helps a lot. Its a joy to take with you all and bandy ideas back and forth; it really is.Sorry if this seems shorter than usual, working on a tight schedule here.
Now, lets answer your burning questions, comments, and concerns:
Q: Timeskip when?!
A: Timeskip now! I've been hinting at it for a bit, and it finally happens here. There may well be a few more down the line.
Q: Sooo...do I smell a new General in the running?
A: Naruto's all but laid claim to Atlas at this point, but he has no interest in the military or day to day matters of government. Doesn't mean he'll stay there forever, either. Wouldn't be much a story if everyone just stayed in once place.
And we'll see James again. Make no mistake.
Q: Wait, just how badly did Jacques mess up Willow's head?!
A: Well, he tried to mind rap her and make her his slave. We're talking Killgrave (Marvel) levels of mental manipulation here. He failed, but that's not something you simply bounce back from. Lets just say she's become more...open with certain things since we've seen her last.
Q: Soooo...just how much has changed from canon because of this?
A: Quite a bit! It would take too much to explain at this point, so I'll let the chapter do the talking for me.
Q: Winter is coming?!
A: Aye, she is, but not quite yet...
Alright then, I've kept you long enough.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one. Should be reeeaaally bloody obvious by now.
So sit back, put your feet up, grab a drink -I recommend something strong!- and enjoy the show.
Because here. We. Go.
"Time waits for no man.
It marches ever onward, without fail.
Of course, the same can be said of humanity itself...
~Future is Now.
Sowing the Seeds (Setting the Stage)
Focus.
Willow closed her eyes against the morning sunlight and inhaled slowly, filling her lungs with life-giving air. Deep breaths. Slow breaths, the better to steady her hammering heartbeat and marshal her flagging energy. One by one, all earthly distractions bled away. She ceased to hear the children playing in the garden, no longer felt feel the warm sunshine on her back through her tunic, nor smelled the faint scent of the coming snowfall. The sweat on her brow ceased to be an irritant as the last of her worries dissipated altogether. And so she began to recite her mantra.
Peace is a lie.
She'd believe otherwise once. Until that night. Peace was all well and good in theory, but too much of it made you weak. Weakness made you vulnerable. When you were vulnerable, you suffered. She'd learned that lesson well when she'd been abducted by Jacques nearly. She would not be weak. No Never again. She not fall for the lie of peace.
There is only passion.
In the end, that was what life was all about. Your passions defined you, just as she was defined by hers. She knew what she wanted, and so she would take it. She knew the might of the Winter Maiden longed for release; that it wanted to be used; unleashed against her foes. It burned in her veins like dry ice, hot yet cold all at once; a rising tide that was hers to control, channel and direct at her will. This power did not respond to logic or reason, or even the very laws of the world. This was a power that responded to emotion, and nothing else.
Through passion, one gained strength.
Naruto had once described chakra as something similar; a vast internal source of such strength, a veritable wellspring waited to be tapped. But his power was different; though it had a will of its own, it was calm. Hers was wild, roaring with the power of countless lifetime, still untamed. A power that she must master if she was to survive; a force to be broken like a beast of burden and bend to her will.
Through strength, power.
Even now, nearly a year after inheriting Frey's blessing, Willow sometimes struggled with the concept of controlling her powers. How could she not, when the very elements themselves were hers to command? She had but to will it and her power would burst forth. A wave of her hand could call down hail; a mere thought might summon a blizzard. When she was truly angry, she could even conjure lightning. With time came understanding, if not quite mastery. She could summon it, direct it, but the finer points eluded her even after all this time.
Through power, victory.
There! She'd grasped it! A rush of cold wind swept in from the south to gather around form, sending the long white curtain of her hair swaying behind her back. Azure light swirled to life at her command, tugging her upward, holding her aloft. She raised both arms at her sides and felt her eyes begin to burn; trails of azure flame springing beneath closed lids. Only then did her senses truly expand. Only then did she truly leash her gift for the first time in a calm state. Only then did she see victory and grasp it with both hands.
Through victory her chains were broken.
A peal of laughter escaped Willow, despite her best attempts to contain it. She glanced down at her hands, curling her fingers into fists. She felt like a goddess. Was this what Freya lived with? This was well worth being hunted for. She felt powerful. Invincible. Untouchable. And thus, she was free. What did it matter if others sought this power? They'd not have it. She'd sooner die than give it up. With this...with this she could stand by his side. Not just as a companion, but an equal. More than that! She could protect everything she held dear! In her eyes, it was well worth the danger this power posed. Ozpin had been dire in his warnings, but the promised danger had yet to materialize.
Anyone who came for her and hers would regret the day they were born.
"Hey, don't go laughing like a villain on me." a familiar voice drawled well below her. "Its weird."
Willow pivoted in the air, searching for her Beloved, and found only empty air. She couldn't see him, of course. He was hiding from her; as she'd asked him to. What point was there in power if one could not test it? No, she most assuredly couldn't see him. And yet...
Her eyes drifted shut for a moment.
Followed by a faint smile.
"I sense you."
"Good." Naruto's voice laughed at her from where he'd hidden himself. "That's the whole point of this training." his words came from everywhere, yet nowhere. "Your reaction speed's certainly improved if nothing else." In her mind's eye she saw his feet move, legs tensing for a single monumental spring. "Are you ready? I'm not going to hold back...much."
Her smile became a girlish grin. "Neither am I."
More laughter. "I like a challenge."
There was a silence.
...
...
...
Movement!
Something shifted in her peripheral vision.
Her eyes burst open as her sixth sense shrieked a warning.
Willow whirled with a triumphant cry. Her right hand clenched into a claw, summoning a wall of ice between her and her foe. She heard a faint crunch as someone scaled it in a single bound. Her eyes betrayed her and snapped open. Golden light flashed through the air as something -someone!- soared past her. Warm lips brushed a startled Schnee's cheek, slowing her for all an instant. Then he was past with a merry cackle, evading the thunderbolt she called down in retaliation. A quick hop, skip and a jump and he was gone again, lost to sight once more.
"Blast it!" she howled! "What did I tell you about stealing kisses?!"
Merry laughter swelled through the air. "To do it whenever I got the chance...?"
"Yes, well!" a hint of color flooded her cheeks. "I wasn't ready for that one! You cheated!"
"Shi~no~bi~!"
Against her better judgement, Willow descended to the ground in search of her intended. No such luck. The Schnee Manor was massive on a good day and the gardens themselves were more than large enough to hide in. Certainly for a shinobi. Ice blue eyes narrowed upon the space she'd last seen him. Not a trace remained. Blast it. He'd always been good at hiding when he wanted to. Sometimes she wondered if it was possible to learn such a power; to simply erase her presence in the blink of an eye, to move undetected. Her stance shifted, ready for any trick, for him to erupt out of the ground, come running around a corner or-
She whirled as a shadow fell over her and summoned a frozen blade to her free hand.
Naruto crashed into her like a falling star, driving a metal fist into her guard even as he brought his staff around with the other. Their weapons clashed, sparked, split apart, and struck again. They collided in a storm of blows, fire and ice alike. The earth shook and the sky boiled, grass burned and fire roiled. Even then she knew he was holding bakc if not for her sake than his. Once upon a time that might have galled her. Now?
She grinned. "You'll have to do a little better than that, dear."
Blue eyes blazed gold.
"Fair enough."
He slammed a punch at her face, one Sable summarily swept it aside in a silver arc, trailing glimmers of ice as it went. He blocked of course; she knew he would. Unfortunately in doing so, he fell right into her trap. The moment her empowered blade made contact with his staff frost burst across the bladed edge to coat his arm, entrapping both limb and weapon alike. She struck out again with her secondary weapon, forcing him to use his dominant hand to catch the blade. His sage-empowered limb didn't bleed, even as sparks flew.
"Huh." A rare frown touched his face as he regarded his entrapped limb. "That's new."
Her eyes flashed with renewed flame. "You haven't seen anything...yet...!
She flicked two fingers from Sable's hilt and rammed a gravity glyph into his face, forcibly ending their short-lived deadlock to cast him away like a flung stone. His back struck one of the stone walls and crashed through it at speed, leaving a decidedly Naruto-shaped impression behind. Yes! A tiny voice inside her preened. That was the first time she'd gotten the drop on him in...well...forever.
"Ha!" her composure broke at last and she pumped a fist into the air. "First blood!"
It wouldn't keep him down, of course. She'd surprised him, nothing more.
Sienna hooted from the sidelines. "Might wanna look again!"
"Wait, wha-
A flicker of motion was Willow's only warning as Naruto burst through the opening. Say what you would about Naruto's manners, but he always faced his problems head on.
She had all of an instant to react, no even less.
It was enough. She discarded her frozen weapon and resorted to a different element entirely.
When next Naruto closed with her, he was met with a course of lightning. Vicious violet light forked from her fingers to strike him head on. He stumbled once and crashed to a knee. A startled hiss fled from his lips as just about every muscle in his body clamped down. Yes! Triumph burned through her. This was Power! Unlimited power! She had him-
Naruto raised his gaze and granted her a grim grin. "My turn now."
His clone vanished in a plume of smoke.
Willow had all of an instant to frown.
"Bugger!"
He struck her from behind and swept her legs, sending her sprawling to the dirt. She rode the blow down and flung her hand out at him again, prepared to make him pay...and failed. A sudden dizzy spell hit her before she could follow through, and it was her turn to bend the knee. The lightning guttered out as her concentration slipped, her power slipping through her fingers even as she reached for it.
'No! Not now! Not this again!'
She knew the reason for her sudden weakness, galling though it was. Even then she didn't give up. If she was to lose this spar, she'd go down fighting. She parried furiously and kicked out at him, buying herself time to lurch to her feet-
She struggled upright and felt a knife touch her throat.
"You should've stayed airborne." warm air brushed her ear. "What did I tell you about giving up the high ground?"
Her smile broadened. "I didn't, you silly man."
Naruto frowned and risked a glance down, only to find now a hardened dagger of ice pressing against a particularly vulnerable part of his anatomy. He looked back to her, golden eyes slowly shimmering back into blue. A stalemate. Were this a real fight they would've grievously wounded one another. Could Naruto survive a wound like that? Willow didn't want to find out. Eventually, a slow smile spread across her partner's whiskered visage. The knife vanished up his sleeve, though he didn't release her.
"Clever girl."
Her own dagger dissolved into harmless morning dew.
"What can I say?" she looked up at him through half-lidded eyes and ground her rear against him. "I learned from the best."
"Urk." It was a thing of beauty to watch his face darkened with a flush. "You're absolutely insatiable."
His arms settled on her waist and she leaned into him. "Would you have me any other way?"
"Suppose not...
They stood like that for a long moment, simply basking in one another's company. Willow leaned further back, pressing her head against his chest, not yet trusting herself to speak. She wanted to. More than anything, she did. She'd been silent long enough. Now seemed as good a time as any to tell him. Did she dare? Fear stilled her tongue. No, this wasn't the way. He'd figured it out himself if she kept silent for much longer. Best to clear the air now, while she could...if she could...
She bowed her head a little, then raised it again.
"Something wonderful has happened." once spoken, the words couldn't be taken back. "I...well...you see..."
Naruto blinked. "See what...?"
Never once looking away, she took his hands in hers. Guided them to her stomach. Counted to three for good measure. His body stiffened against hers and she swore she saw the moment he realized. His eyes flicked to her stomach. Back to her. To her stomach yet again.
Naruto's jaw clicked open. "Oh. Wait, are you actually...
She dared a tiny nod. "Just this morning."
He looked away, numb.
"That's...wow...that's wonderful!" Quick as a flash he had her by the waist, ready to swing her around. He thought at the last second. "I don't even have the words. This is-
"Mom?"
They jerked apart as Cinder wandered over. While she did, Willow stole a glance at her worried ward. She really was growing into a beautiful young woman. They'd be beating her suitors back with a stick at this rate. Well, she'd be doing the beating. Naruto would probably terrify them. No one was good enough for his little girl.
Well, he was right about that...
"And where were you hiding, little one?"
"Wasn't hiding." Cinder flushed a bit and scuffed the ground with a heel. "I was training." her brow furrowed. "I had the dream again."
"That dream?" Naruto tilted his head, regarding her intently. "The one of about the hill of glass and swords?"
...yes. I can't understand it." She stomped a foot. "I want to be strong, but it makes no sense!"
"You can't just be strong. With great power comes great responsibility." Willow's hand touched Cinder's back. "Do you understand?"
...I believe so." her heir made a face. "I, we," she amended just at their dry look, "Have strength, so we mustn't use it frivolously. Right?"
Naruto quirked a brow. "That's a new word."
"It is." Cinder preened. "I've been reading. I have to be well red if I aim to run this company someday, let alone the fmaily."
"Certainly." Willow winced a little and dove right in. "Speaking of which, do you feel about a sibling?"
...are you pregnant?"
"I am."
An ominous pause followed those words.
Willow regarded Cinder with quiet concern. Once upon a time a more uncertain Cinder might have panicked and lashed out blindly. Now? She took time to think. Willow tried not to worry about that. A cautious Cinder was a clever Cinder; it was too much to hope that she wouldn't plot something. Whether said scheming would be benign or not was anyone's guess.
"I think I'd like that." when the girl finally smiled, it was a small, fragile thing indeed. "I was first, after all."
Aha. There was the unspoken question, the quiet fear she couldn't quite banish. She didn't want to be forgotten, she feared being replaced. Even after all this time some fears couldn't be so easily eradicated.
"Yuuup~!" Naruto pulled her close, banishing such anxiety. "Nothing will change that. You'll make a great sister."
"Oi!" Sienna bulled into his side. "What am I, chopped liver? What's this about a kid?!"
Willow leaned back with a sigh, trying her darndest not to smile.
This was her life. She would fight to keep it.
And then her blasted Scroll rang.
"Now what?!"
(.0.0.0.)
"Alright, Arthur. We're here. What's the big emergency?"
As ever the man's lab was in utter disarray; so much so that Naruto couldn't help but pity him. Papers scattered too and fro as the man zipped about his workplace, making some final preparations for something he didn't understand. The smell didn't much help. He sniffed once and cringed, wincing at the faint odor of burnt ozone mingling with...what as that? Rotten eggs? Antiseptic? He didn't know and he didn't want to know. Ignorance was bliss, as they say.
'Yeesh, and I thought I was a slob...
Sienna whimpered and pinched her nose. "Smells bad...!"
Naruto patted her head.
"I apologize for the somewhat hasty nature of my message." The scientist in question paused to bowed before them, low and deep at the waist. "Rest assured, I am ever your loyal ally." Credit where it was due, the man could brown nose with the best of them when he wanted to. "As to the why, I simply wanted you to see this before the rest of the world."
His gaze moved to a cynical Cinder and an amused Willow.
"See what now?"
"This!" came the cackle. "My magnum opus, all thanks to you!"
As they looked on, the mad scientist all but marched to a bulky contraption of some sort. Whatever it was, it was carefully concealed by a heavy white sheet.
In a single fluid movement he ripped the bulky cloth away to reveal a lever.
He gave it a firm yank and the floor split only a few paces before him, exposing a yawning pit. Something rose from within. No doubt the masterpiece he was prattling on about. Watts had ever been an eccentric sort, but the last two years had left him a little...off. Still, he was undoubtedly an ally to the Schnee family, and by definition, him. Who needed normality anyway? Sanity was boring.
They were all mad here.
"Behold!"
At firs Naruto couldn't comprehend what he was looking at.
Whatever it was, it was metal; all red and gold, vaguely humanoid in nature. It stared lifelessly back at them, cold and lifeless.
"That's it?" he blinked. "What's that supposed to be? Armor?"
"Eh?" Watts saw what he was looking at and straightened with a sputter. "Blast it all! Wrong lever. Don't mind that." he reached past and fiddled with the contraption in question. "Its a pet project of mine. Nothing to see here!" He gave the device another crank and said suit slammed back into the darkness. "Now, lets try this again."
A towering transparent cylinder rose from the depths with a whir of hydraulics.
There was something -someone!- sleeping inside, cocooned in warm blankets. A...girl? Resting within that comfortable pod, she looked every bit at her ease; if one were to ignore the wires jutting from her back, funneling further into the container. A shiver stole over him at the sight. Whatever she was, she wasn't human...was she?
"I can sense her." Kurama banished his concerns. "She's no machine."
...what was she, then?
"Alma, dear?" Arthur rapped his knuckles against the glass once, producing a faint chime. "Time to wake up. We have guests."
Golden eyes fluttered open.
With neither word nor warning the pod creaked open, releasing its occupant. She stepped out daintily; like some little princess waking up from a nap. Those strange wires receded back into the pod, leaving her clutching a worn teddy bear to hear chest. Such a tiny thing...
Cinder recoiled. "She looks like me...!"
Not quite. Her skin was more pallid, almost grey, and she was undoubtedly younger, but there could be no denying the resemblance there in the face, or the simple red dress she wore. Perhaps a bit leaner and more full of face with longer hair -nearly trailing down to the floor itself!- yet even a child could make the comparison between them.
The girl looked left. The girl looked right. The girl frowned.
"Who is this, Father?" her voice was the sweetest music, entirely her own.
"This is the man responsible for your creation, Alma." Watts placed one hand upon her back and guided her forward, much to Naruto's chagrin. "Without the chakra he provided, you wouldn't exist. You can finally meet him now."
"He is?" Alma considered him with grave, golden eyes that seemed to glow. "Is he my uncle, then?"
Arthur's mustache twitched in mild amusement. "Why, yes. I suppose you can call him that."
Naruto's jaw clicked open. With a monumental effort, he snapped it shut.
"Well, hot damn." He whistled. "Here I thought I'd seen everything...
Then Alma's gaze found Willow and Cinder, Sienna too.
She offered each a beatific smile.
"Please to meet you~!"
A/N: As ever, reviews are the fuel that keeps me writing.
Without them, I can't write a single world. Seriously! So speak up! Every word -and every review!- really does matter!
Well, Willow's certainly embraced THAT code, hasn't she?
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews.
Hope you're ready~!
(Previews)
"Pietro, was it?" Naruto leaned around the hangar door. "I'm afraid I'm really busy, I've got places to be...
"Please! This will only take a moment!"
There was only one aspect in which her daughter truly needed her opinion and as such, Willow was understandably loathe to give it. Cinder was growing both upward and outward as a person. That was all well and good in every way. Yet for all her ambition she still lacked something. Her and Sienna both.
...you two should be more kind. And make more friends.
Sienna hissed.
Cinder scowled. "How?"
"Oh, my sweet precious children...
"Isn't it remarkable, that one can have all the power in the world. And yet the words of a single woman can sway the thoughts of millions."
...and what do you intend to do about this?
"She will be silenced soon enough. For now we must play Ozma's game. We must let the wheels turn...
"Congratulations!" Naruto clapped him on the back. "You named her Robyn, huh?
"Vacation?!" Sienna all but purred. "Yes, please!"
"Hello~!"
"What happened this time, Kali?"
"How rude! Am I not allowed to visit an old friend?"
"You do realize I have Summer of speed-dial."
"Alright, alright, don't be such a stick in the mud.
Cinder tilted her head near ninety degrees. "And who are you?"
"Listen up; because I'm only going to say this once. I will protect everyone. That's not a threat...its a promise."
"Bold words. You are but one man in this world. What can you possibly do?"
"You're right. I AM one man. But we...are legion."
R&R~!