A Nobody

by Jebest4781

Living a new life in another reality, Naruto now must handle a lot of complications of him interacting with various heroes, villains and anti-heroes. How will things go with them interacting with a Nobody. NarutoXHarem Rated M for language, violence and lemons. NarutoXDC ComicsXKingdom Hearts Please leave reviews. On Hiatus.

56. A Small Reprieve

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto, Disney, Square Enix or Detective Comics. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Radio/TV

"Headset/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 56: A Small Reprieve

Pacing back and forth in her lover's living room, Glenda had the phone pressed up against her ear.

"...And are you sure you haven't seen or heard from Jason today, Harry?"

"Nah, I haven't Glenda." Answered the advertiser. "You talk to Randu about-"

"Yes, I did just before I called you and he said the same thing."

"Huh… and have you even tried calling Jason?"

"I have, but he hasn't responded."

"I'm sure he has other pressing matters that's keeping all of his attention towards, Glenda. I mean, he can't be there for ya all the time."

"Harry, this is serious."

"Really? What's so serious that you gotta see him now of all times?"

"I… I just wanna know if he was alright."

"From the odd quake and shockwave from earlier that destroyed practically all of the windows throughout Gotham?" Harry could feel his friend nod on the other end. "Yeah, it was very strange, like some odd phenomenon that should've been something else. Like some sort of bomb. Luckily not a lot of people got hurt."

"Indeed." Glinda sighed while rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Look, do you possibly have any idea where he might be at if not here at his home?"

"Eh~ either investigating something mystical… or magically traveled his way to New York to that one bar he only goes to."

This got her to groan in thought. 'Of course he would. If not teaching his apprentice; he'd investigate, read, research or sometimes drink with familiar company.'

"Anyways, I gotta get off now." Harry said, not knowing the thoughts crossing his friend's mind. "I've got a few projects to finish up within the next few days and I don't wanna be a bloody procrastinator."

"Alright. Good luck with things on your end."

"Same to you."

After hanging up, Glenda put the phone away with a sigh escaping her lips. 'It's been like this ever since I met Jason a few years ago.' She thought, rubbing the small throbbing on her forehead. 'Should've gotten used to it by now.'

The two first met at a party hosted by the wife of their mutual friend, Randu. Things were cordial and their conversations became more enjoyable. And throughout the event, Glinda grew more and more curious about the enigma that was Jason Blood as time went on, due to how secretive he was.

Wanting to possibly learn more about him, Glenda wanted to see his home in order to gather more information with what she could find there. So after some time coaxing Jason, he brought Glinda to his home during their early dating days. And things were relatively nice on the visit some days later, even though Harry and Randu were there; not that she minded their company at all.

Yet the peaceful event turned on its head when something unique occured… in the form of a demon attack which several things were revealed as a result.

Ever since that day, Glenda learned that Jason Blood was an immortal knight from the days of Camelot. Not only that, but he was a practitioner of the mystic arts along with him sharing his body with the demon, Etrigan.

Oh and let's not forget that she, Harry and Randu had joined Jason in a wide variety of adventures whether they liked it or not.

Despite the trials and tribulations the four experienced, they grew closer together and became the best of friends… well more so than others. For Glenda and Jason saw each other in a more romantic light.

Even though they fell in love with one another, their relationship was rather rocky due to Jason's dual nature. But Glenda always tried to see the best of it that it possibly helped show what their relationship is exactly. But the immortal knight had distanced himself every so often, due to his 'roommate' seemingly getting in between their romance and blaming him as a result. And for some form of recuperation, he'd close or distract himself with various tasks or hobbies.

'I sometimes wonder if me telling him over and over again that enjoying the love we have for each other isn't a sin will ever go through that thick skull of his.' Glenda thought

Just when she headed straight towards the kitchen to get something to drink, she heard steps coming through the entrance of Jason's home… without the door being opened?

"I swear, you need to lay off the snacks buddy." A familiar voice spoke out. "You seem heavier than you look."

"Must be with all that dilly-dallying he sometimes does; among other things…" Spoke the second… which was the same?

Coming back into the living room, she saw Naruto… with another one of him(?) carrying both Jason in an odd white cloaked robe with his student, Rachel, as both were unconscious and roughed up.

"Wh-What the hell is going on?"

Looking over, Naruto and his clone saw a mildly worried/freaked out Glenda just when they placed his companions on the respective couches. "Uh~ hey, Glenda. What's up?" Asked the publisher.

"'What's up?' That's what you're starting out with?" Neither Naruto or his clone could respond before she continued speaking. "What the hell is going on, Naruto? From the second 'you' or twin to why is Jason wearing a god awful robe to both him and Rachel looking like they went through the grinder?"

Naruto already knew Glenda has knowledge of the magical world because of her relationship with Jason. In fact, it was how the pair slowly fell in love with each other… in some twisted and complicated way on how that occured.

What she didn't know was her knowledge of the Uzumaki having powers.

Dispelling his clone, Naruto tried to voice an explanation. "Uh… well… you see…"

A rough groan was heard right beside them, interrupting the little interrogation aimed right at the publisher. Looking over, the pair saw Jason lifting himself up and rubbed his head with a hand.

Instantly going towards her lover's side, Glenda kneeled down and held his unoccupied hand. "Jason, are you alright?"

Turning his head over, the immortal smiled a little. "Somewhat, Glenda. Just rather exhausted…" He breathed out a frustrated sigh, "after what happened."

"...What exactly happened?"

Naruto was the one to answer. "You know of that thing that happened earlier today with the city wide glass breaking?" Glenda nodded. "Well it was caused by a meteor crashing down on an island off the Gotham coast."

The blonde rose a questioning brow. "How in the hell does a meteor cause that kind of shockwave of just destroying windows and glass? Why not cause other bits of destruction like electrical outages or whatever?"

Naruto shrugged. "Beats me. But~ it did wipe out almost an entire island's flora and fauna population while drastically reshaping it's layout."

Widened eyes stared right at Naruto before looking over at Jason for confirmation. "He is right, Glenda. If you read the morning paper or watch the coming news, you'll find out sooner or later."

"But why does this explain why you were there and Rachel and-"

"Because of what the meteor's composition was." Jason interrupted. "I don't know what exactly it is, but it had a lot of magical properties and I didn't want anyone horrible to take it." He then looked over to his unconscious student. "I had brought Rachel along since I needed the help… along with Naruto's."

Jason's lover looked over to the publisher. "What did he mean by that?"

Naruto sighed, lifting his hand and channeled power into it to form a Void Rasengan. "Cause I have powers as well." Seeing her shocked expression, he spoke. "We can talk about that later, Glenda. But we need to discuss on what exactly occurred earlier."

"Indeed." Jason said as he slowly sat up on the couch. "For one, Morgan Le Fay made her return."

His lover's shocked levels went up upon hearing this. "Morgan Le Fay? The witch of Camelot? The same person that one cult tried to resurrect when we first started dating? That Morgan Le Fay?"

"Whoa, back up." Naruto interrupted before Jason could properly answer. "Morgan had a cult?"

"Not exactly, Naruto. It was more of a coven of witches that worshipped her, not knowing she was actually alive for all this time." Jason corrected.

All this did was have the Uzumaki roll his eyes. "Sounds like a cult to me."

"Can we get back to Morgan Le Fay and why she showed up from out of the blue?" Glenda snapped, getting the two men to nod and get back right on track.

"Right. So Morgan wanted the meteor for it's oddly mystical properties and to gift them to her bastard of a son, Mordred, who by the way is alive and kicking somehow." Naruto said, getting yet another surprised reaction out of Jason's lover.

"H-How is that possible?" She then turned towards Jason. "He died at the Battle of Camlann."

"We don't know, Glenda. But Morgan made it possible for that to happen." The occultist clamped his hands together and tightened them. "Regardless, Rachel, Etrigan and I fought her while Naruto dealt with Mordred… in order to…" He then remembered their primary objective earlier before turning to the silver haired man. "Please tell me you got the ore away from them."

Naruto merely rubbed the back of his head. "In a way, yes."

With how he said it didn't make Jason feel any better. "Don't tell me you destroyed it."

Naruto shook his head 'no'. "It merely… became something else." This earned a confused look from the immortal. "Look, the ore is out of Morgan and Mordred's hands and it's in safe hands… well… my hands."

"...I don't follow."

Feeling a bit out of place here, Glenda got up from her place and spoke. "I'm gonna make some tea. I get you two have something to discuss and I'm not gonna be able to keep up with whatever is gonna be said."

With that said, the blonde left towards the kitchen leaving the two men alone with the unconscious purplette.

"Does that happen often?" Asked the publisher.

"Every other time." Came the answer. "Glenda can only handle so much of the supernatural at once -given the situation- before needing some time to breathe."

"I can probably understand. Learning that your boyfriend's ancient foe made her return with quite the unexpecting package would push her to such lengths."

"Yes and you should've seen her on what went down on some of our past adventures with just herself or with both Randu and Harry." Jason then spoke as he wanted to get back into the matter at hand. "You said that you got the ore away from them and you have possession of it, correct? What became of it, then?"

"I fought Mordred with it."

"...Excuse me? Did I hear that correctly? You fought Mordred with the ore?"

"Yes, I did."

"You beat him up with a large, enchanted space rock?" Jason soon snorted in laughter as the visual would've been funny to see. Naruto holding the ore in his hand and beating up Mordred with one hand while the other held Arthur's bastard down.

"Whatever your visualizing isn't what exactly went down."

"Oh? Then tell me, Naruto. How did the fight go down with you fighting Morgan's son with an unrefined enchanted ore?"

The Uzumaki sighed. "It… reformed into an odd looking sword."

Jason blinked. "And where, pray tell, is this sword? I obviously don't see it on you."

"After I got to you and Rachel, it disappeared from my grasp in an odd pillar and specks of light."

"And do you know where it went off to?"

"I think it went off to where my other weapons are at or whatever. I mean, my weapons are constructs from my own power, but this sword is different." Naruto looked at his hand and flexed it. "I tried resummoning it on the ride over here, but no such luck."

"How so?"

The former shinobi started moving and poured power into his hand. "I think it has to be a snap of the wrist or something." In one final bit of movement, a pillar of light appeared within Naruto's grasp. As it died down, he quickly grabbed the handle out of reflex. "Oh…"

Seeing the bronzed blade in Naruto's hand caused Jason to quickly stand up and look on with widened eyes. "Is… Is that a Keyblade?"

This got Naruto to look at Jason in surprise. He only knew of its name from that mysterious voice during his fight against Mordred. "How do you know what it is?"

"I… have seen it once before."

"When? Where?"

"Back when I was still Merlin's scribe roughly 1,500 years ago." Sitting back down, his old eyes were still laid upon the Keyblade.

Following Jason's action, Naruto sat down, but next to his ward with his key-shaped sword resting across his lap. "Mind explaining how you know of this, then?"

Memories flooded Jason's mind as he recalled such events. "It was during the early years of Arthur's rising reign when I first laid eyes upon the sword. And mind you it wasn't the same sword you currently have, but it was of similar design." Naruto nodded and ushered Jason to continue. "It was owned by a wandering sellsword or a hedge knight to what we believed at the time from some unknown land. He claimed he was merely a wandering traveler in search of adventure and for his fellow apprentice -studying under the same master/teacher- who was separated from him at the time. And the encounter was… awkward at best."

"It went downhill, didn't it?"

"Indeed it was. Things were tense as we were still against the Saxons and uniting all of Britannia under Arthur's rule. So we had to be weary of many if any person we came into contact with were spies for our enemies. When he was in Camelot, Arthur soon had him arrested due to his suspicious behavior and had him questioned."

As the former shinobi listened to the story, Jason continued. "Merlin went to question him and I followed after him as to my duty's purpose to record much of what Merlin wanted for later generations to learn from us. Yet my former teacher wanted me to stay out of the cell in case of anything were to happen. I understood and I left to my own devices for the time being until either Merlin or someone else sought me out in order to take care of some task. But when I was on my own, I saw the prisoner had escaped and was fleeing from the scene. In response, I pursued after him and soon saw him confronted by Merlin's student at the time, Morgana."

Naruto held up his hand and spoke in a raised voice. "Wait, hold up. Morgan Le Fay was Merlin's student?"

"Yes she was." Jason confirmed. "Taken under Merlin's wing with what magical potential she possessed. And suffice to say, her power became equal that of Merlin himself after leaving under his tutelage. Though I didn't envy her on what she dealt with when learning under him." He then shook his head. "Getting back to the tale, despite our differences I joined her in holding off the Keyblade wielder. And to our surprise, he used his sword as a magical focus, casting a series of spells which held us off considerably. And if that wasn't enough, he used his Keyblade to help make some sort of light portal before entering it in order to escape."

Naruto was rather dumbfounded upon hearing this as he gazed at his Keyblade. Not only was this weapon capable in casting spells, but it can help make something that was polar opposite of that Dark Corridor he needed to figure out on?

'What else is there about this sword that makes it unique?' Naruto thought to himself before something else crossed his mind. "Wait a sec, how did this guy escape from his cell anyways?"

"Ah, yes. Morgan, Arthur and I had asked Merlin about this after he questioned the stationed guards, who were unconscious at the time of the traveler's escape. Apparently he unlocked the cell with his Keyblade before quickly subduing the guards." Jason soon saw Naruto's interest in his newfound weapon more intriguing. "In the end, Arthur ordered the incident to be covered up as it would've been insulting to many of his knights were outsmarted by some unknown rogue. And it was understandable that if word got out of this, Camelot's reputation would've given a harsh blow."

Jason held up his hand with his index finger pointed out. "From what Merlin managed to figure out and surmise, there are a series of things the Keyblade's abilities. First: the weapon had the power to open and close any type of lock it wanted, whether it was a door or even a chest. Second: it can be used as a focus for one's spells. And third: it can have transformational properties, but I don't know how how that's possible."

Naruto scratched his whiskered cheek while processing this bit of information. "I see." His mind raced through the abilities as his gaze shifted to his young ward. He then voiced a thought that crossed his mind. "Locking and unlocking? Does that mean the full concept on the idea?"

"Yes, why?" Jason's eyes followed Naruto's line of sight, which landed on Rachel and slowly realized what her guardian had in mind. "Oh… I see."

"Maybe, just maybe, the Keyblade could be a way to seal off Trigon's advances from coming here."

"Yes, that could work." Jason muttered while stroking his chin. "But we'll need to research and test it out instead of jumping into it blindly. Not to mention we can't exactly tell her this detail or else we'd get her hopes up, only for them to crash down later on."

"No kidding. Don't want her dad to end up coming here way too soon for our liking if we mess this up. Along with depressing her even further." His eyes then went over to the immortal's current state of dress. "Okay so, what's up with the robe?"

Looking down, Jason saw an old set of familiar garments he hasn't seen in centuries. He let out a bitter chuckle as a result. "Oh, Merlin. You just had to do this, didn't you?"

"What? Some kind of prank?" The silver haired man reproached as the immortal shook his hand at the younger man.

"No, it was Merlin himself who don this for me." The man chuckled subside. "Ahh… just like him to always watch my back even when he left us…"

"I am so confused on this moment."

Jason nodded deciding now it would be best to tell his ally. "Merlin possessed me in the last battle with Morgana, most likely to save both Rachel and I from her last spell. I believe he did this to keep an eye on me as he may deny it… but the Mage of Flowers was always a mother hen to the members of Camelot." The man solemnly explain to his friend before looking tired at the fact. "I didn't think that he would do that to me… after what I've done."

"So… can he come back and help or whatever he did again?"

"He could. Only problem is that he must come to me personally to apply a magical glyph onto myself if this were to happen again… And he hasn't been seen or heard from ever since Camelot fell."

"Then that's a no." Naruto surmised before holding up his bronze colored Keyblade once more. "What else can you tell me about this thing?"

"Asides from what I just told you… It's old to say the least." Jason answered "Not that one in particular but the whole concept and usage of the Keyblade apparently dates back before my time, even that of my master; given what we have researched."

"So are there other Keyblade users, like me?" Naruto abruptly asked.

"Of that, I have no doubt." Jason firmly stated. "My old master Merlin spoke of other Keyblade wielders and from what little I could find in the scribes throughout the world, this appeared to be true. Legends of an ancient seat of power, home to all Keyblade wielders of all ages were able to safely and openly converge there and fulfill their duties to the Keyblade."

"The Keyblade?" Naruto repeated in clear confusion "What does that mean? You just said there were many who had one."

"That always never made any sense to me as well." Jason stated, getting up from his seat before sifting through a bookshelf of some of his old works as a scribe. "What I was able to decipher or simply guess is that it is perhaps referring to a code of conduct, guidelines to those who have been chosen to wield the Keyblade."

"Wait, what? Chosen?" Naruto sounded a bit exasperated on his part upon learning of such a 'small' tidbit.

"Apologies, Naruto." Jason said sympathetically "I can only tell you as to what I can recall or have on hand. Knowledge of the Keyblade is extremely illusive with next to nothing on its origin or how it exactly functions."

The blond headed shinobi could only slump his shoulders, allowing his Keyblade to vanish from his hand.

"Why do I feel a headache coming on?" Naruto grumbled, massaging the sides of his temple now

"It comes when you're pursuing something very little is known about." Jason frowned slightly at this. "To us at the very least. There is one figure however that was noted in these old texts but I haven't a clue of who he or what he was."

"Hmmm?"

"The Master of Masters is what he was called." Jason said cryptically. "From what I've gathered, if there was to be anyone with an extensive knowledge in regards to Keyblades it was him."

"Let me guess, he vanished." Naruto deadpanned. "No doubt passed on."

"Unclear." Stated the immortal. "He just vanished. Dimmed. Faded. Poof. Gone. Never to be seen again."

"URGH!" Naruto moaned dramatically. "Why can't it ever, EVER, just be simple. It's always gotta be cryptic or some convoluted bullshit that needs you to go on some unnecessary spirit journey where you find out that 'hey, the power always came inside, you never needed to go on this side quest. Thank you, come again'."

The occultist gave a bitter chuckle soon after. "Sad to say, but that's true. You've been holding that in for a while now, haven't you?"

Shaking his head 'yes', the publisher soon looked at his ward. "What now?"

"Now? We rest and deal with this at a later time. Nothing can't be done all at once."

"Right." He carefully moved a strand of purple locks away from Rachel's face. "I best take her home now."

"Of course." Jason saw him pick up the ashen child and hold her in a bridal carry. "Though I must warn you of something."

"Yes?"

"What Rachel did when fending against Morgan and her forces might have caused… an imbalance inside of her."

"...I don't understand."

"You will in time." The Immortal gave Naruto an expectant look, throwing off the author. "For now, keep an eye on your charge if anything has become amiss.

"Right…" Naruto said wearing an expression of clear concern as he glanced down at Raven "That's a comforting way to say goodbye."

"Most often are."

Cue eye roll. "Yeah, yeah. Take care of yourself, Jason."

"You too." Was all the new Keyblade wielder heard before phasing through the front door.

Just as he did, Glenda came back out from the kitchen with a steaming pot of tea settled on a small tray. "Oh. Naruto has left, then." She saw her lover give a brief nod. "Good because now we have things to talk about, Jason."

The immortal sighed, knowing that tone of voice meant he was in trouble in some sort of fashion.

-Uzumaki Residence-

"And here comes the airplane~" Harley cooed out as she whirled a spoonful of food towards Hazel's mouth. "Open up so it can make it's delivery~"

"...Aunty Harley." Spoke the dark skinned, blonde haired child as she appeared to be physically two years old.

"Yes, Hazel?"

"I can eat my own food, ya'know."

"...Why'd you and your sisters have to grow up so fast?!" Harley wailed with tears running down her cheeks. "You three were perfect as you were weeks ago!"

"We barely talked three weeks ago!"

"You just wanted to baby us much more than you have to." Thorn said from one part of the kitchen counter -who appeared four years old- ate some cooked broccoli. "Yet you forget, we're aging up faster than you would know."

"Exactly my point!"

"At this point, we more mature than her… W~hich doesn't say much..." Rose muttered out -also appearing like a two year old- as she cut up some apples and spread some honey on them before adorably eating them up.

Off to the side, Selina was merely enjoying the little scene before her.

Things have been relatively well earlier today as she'd been taking care of personal matters. Not much could be said about it really as it was same old same old for her. Yet feeling like you're doing the same old routine over and over again with hardly anything exciting happening made things a bit stale to her.

Sure there is the part of her occasionally looking after Naruto's recent daughters seemed to spice things up ever since their birth last month. They've been able to get the thief on her toes, that's for sure. Never having a proper experience in help raising children would be something that'll take time to get used to.

Not to mention with them having powers of their own.

Now, she was currently watching the three alongside Harley -who was currently sulking in the kitchen- and Pam after the mother/daughters group returned from the Greenhouse. This wasn't anything new, per say, as every other night Selina would come on over and interact with the growing munchins. And yet she wasn't even planning on coming over tonight.

That changed when supposedly a meteor, satellite or whatever came zooming over the city, causing mass hysteria after everything glass related broke and most of the city's power momentarily went offline.

Being the a worried aunt now -something that'll be odd getting used to- the ravenette came over and checked up on them to see if they were safe. They were as the three children were away from the widows, so none of them were pierced by broken glass. And even if the glass were going to hit them, Red's plants would've protected them.

While the pair were watching over the three, the older women wondered what was really going on. Not to mention curious as to where Naruto was at.

News channels were the only means of acquiring vague information for the general public. Yet all they were reporting were the status' of the injured populous while trying to find the source of their recent problem.

But all the news people could find was absolutely nothing! Which was beyond odd.

Wanting to help out in their mild curiosity, Pam connected into the 'Green Network' -as she called it- to find the source of the problem. There was a bit of vagueness that a lot of plants had seen the space object, but a large amount of them were killed off instantly when impact was made. And the survivors of the crash oddly went to either shock or sleep as none of the flora population were responsive at all.

Imagine what would've happened if it hit somewhere within the city's actual borders.

But from what Pam got back from her plant clone earlier, Naruto was already on the case.

That had been an hour ago and not hearing back from him on the status was killing the two nature champions. And when Harley arrived half an hour ago to personally see if they were fine, the mood coming from the bubbly blonde dampened as she too worried for their shared boyfriend.

Drumbing her fingers across her forearm, the thief sighed for the upteenth time as whatever she was doing to keep herself distracted from the present worries wasn't working. She helped cook the sporelings' meal, she cleaned, even playing with them for a little while wouldn't work.

"The hell is taking Naruto so long?" Selina muttered out. "He should've at least called."

"You're telling me, Selina." Pam said in agreement, sitting right next to her on the nearby couch. "Not to mention not hearing from Rachel."

"You think something happened to them." Harley pondered as she came over from the kitchen.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But given Naruto's luck on most days…"

"I see your point, Red." Harley then smiled as she nudge the green champion tone stomach. "Although I think he knows that he would face a scary punishment if he didn't come back with Rachel at all."

"If not, then we'll just have to remind him." Joked the thief, earning small chuckles from her girlfriends.

Soon the three women heard the sound of boots walking across part of the floor. Turning around, they saw Naruto deforming his Vanitas attire as he gently held Rachel in his arms.

"Sorry that we're late…" He send a sad smile as the only male of the household entered the room, placing his ward to a recliner where he then look at his lovers and daughters. "Anyone got pain killers? I have pretty bad headache…" He joked...before the sporelings rushed over to him.

"Daddy, you're back!" Hazel cried out.

"Where were ya?" Rose questioned.

"Is Rachel going to be okay?" Thorn asked out of concern, sharing the same feeling as everyone else. Seemingly even Isis as she walked over and jumped into Rachel's lap, meowing and pawing at her to see if she was responsive or not.

"She will. She just needs some rest." Responded the writer before he was tackle hugged by the changed psychologist with her all of her limbs wrapped around him. "Whoa there, Harley."

"We were so worried, Puddin!" She muttered out, rubbing her cheek against his. "You didn't answer our calls! Or even respond back to them!"

Naruto blinked. "Really?" He went into his pocket and fished out his phone before seeing there was indeed a lot of missed calls. "Huh. Never noticed. Then again I wouldn't have as I was too focused fighting for my life."

This drew in everyone else's attention.

"Sorry, but what?" Selina voiced everyone's shared thought.

"Right~ So you know of the whole incident earlier pertaining a meteor or satellite, correct?" He received various nods from his lovers and somewhat responses from his daughters. "Well Jason needed to procuring the meteorite as he feared its power would've caused a lot of problems if it were to fall into the wrong hands. And sure enough there was trouble over there as Rachel tagged along..."

He stop when the women are glared at him… while Harley had a baseball bat slowly hitting her open palm.

"B-Before we get into this…" He lifted his hands to ward them off, before he slump into the couch. "Okay, how was I supposed to know that a magical ore was suppose to attractive a crazy old magic hag and her ironclad brat? And said brat smack me around like a rag doll across the forest?"

Pam, Selina and Harley shared a look while the sporelings merely went over to Rachel's prone form in order to check on their surrogate, older sister.

"She's fine, uhh… Etrigan… and Merlin protected her." The females only looked back with a confused look as he shrug his shoulders, "Yeah… I… I don't exactly know how either with the whole magic speal of things."

Pam was the one to speak up next. "Then mind explaining to the whole situation, please?"

"Right. But before I get into it…" Summoning the bronze-bladed Keyblade into his hand, both his three lovers and his three daughters jumped in their spots while the household cat merely looked on in curiosity. "So… the meteor I found ended up forming into this."

"The heck is this?" Harley asked as she came up and inspected the skeleton key-styled sword.

"Jason says it something called a Keyblade." He said before giving a small explanation as to what some of its functions were, which seemed to peak his lovers' interests. His daughters, however, wanted to play with their father's new weapon as their naive innocence took over.

And after that he went into what happened on Dorian's island where the meteor crash landed. Depicting on each detail, mostly from his perspective with all of the animal life was wiped out along with most of the forestation. This in turn received negative responses from the two nature champions in the room while the sporelings were rather hurt. Both Harley and Naruto helped console them on this before the writer continued on.

He then went into detail as Morgan Le Fay had made her return with not only an army, but also the revival of her bastard child, Mordred. The fights then became separate with the Uzumaki facing off the Knight of Treachery before ending up taking the meteorite's ore… with his powers… as it formed into the weapon currently present in his possession.

"So… you fought one of Arthurian legend most infamous villains… and basically won… with a bloody large, magical key that can still stab people." Selina summarized.

"Sounds like it, Kitty." Harley said before helping Naruto pry one of the sporelings away from trying to snag the Keyblade from their father's grasp.

"So it is a sword. It just happens to function like a key in very specific situations."

"Like doors, locks, magical seals, safes." Pam listed off before helping out Harley. "Okay, sweeties. You can't play with that. You might get hurt."

"But it looks so cool!" Rose spoke out with stars and sparkles coming from her eyes. A reaction shared with her two sisters.

"I know it is, little Rose." Pam cooed after successfully getting her in her arms. "But even if ya tried playing with it, it's probably too heavy for ya to even hold up."

Rose and her two sisters merely pouted.

"Well with that sword of yours, I think it really functions as a key all the time." Harley said with a delirious look in her gaze. "And when you stick it in people, it unlocks their death."

Naruto, Pam, Selina and even the three sporelings and Isis merely looked at Harley in their various forms of 'WTF' expressions.

"...Goddamn, Harl." Said the ravenette thief. "I would love to live your world for about ten or so minutes on your *cough* enigmatic moments."

"Yeah~ You'd probably have fun."

Selina chuckled. "Maybe. But I probably think I wouldn't get anything done, but I probably wouldn't care that much."

A groan was barely heard, causing the loft's occupants to realize Rachel was starting to wake up. They soon made their way to the ashen child's form, seeing her sit hunched over while rubbing her head.

"Hey, Rachel, you okay?"

"I... think so, Naruto." She responded before feeling Isis lick her cheek. "Hey…"

He gave kind smile as he gave her a small hug. "Hey, from Jason told me you did good against the hag." He then rubbed the top of her head with a chuckle escaping his lips. "Practically held your own for a time. I'm proud of ya, Raven."

The half-demon gave her guardian a small, beaming smile before remembering the events earlier this evening. "Naruto. Were you successful in-?"

"Yes, Rachel. I was." He said before holding out his Keyblade. "Don't know how exactly, but the ore turned into this."

"...Is that a key?" Was all she asked as Naruto sweatdropped at the answer.

"Is this what I going to hear when using this?"

"Probably." Voiced the chorused answer from his three girlfriends.

"Just asking this now, but what are ya gonna do with it?" Selina questioned, with her eyes still focused on the key-shaped sword.

"No clue." He then saw a peculiar look in her gaze. "Why are you interested?"

"Ooooh~ I'm just curious… that's all." She then reached out and took it from him. "Odd thing, isn't it?"

Quickly realizing what was running through the thief's mind, the botanist grabbed part of the sword's guard. "You're not taking it for heists…"

"Oh, come on Red. I think it might make things so much easier on certain jobs." Selina argued, pulling on the sword's grip.

"And yet if you keep using it, you'd become bored as hell." Harley countered while helping out her former patient. "You enjoy the thrill of your night job. And I believe this Key-sword-"

"Keyblade."

"-whateva would merely hampen your skills!"

Without notice, the sword disappeared from their shared grasp in a pillar and wisps of light. Wondering where it went off to, the magical sword suddenly reappeared in Naruto's hand.

Blinking, the whiskered man held up his sword with a curious look present on his features. "Well ain't that an interesting trick. I don't need to worry if someone steal it, it has a Naru-GPS system."

"Do it again! Do it again!" Shouted his sporeling daughters with innocent glee on their faces.

Wanting to play along, Harley quickly snagged the sword from her Puddin's grasp before the same results moments ago occurred once more. Disappearing from her old and ending back up into Naruto's. "Aaah~ I wanted to just hold it longer than Kitty."

"Oi, wasn't me. It did that by itself." He defended the reason as look at the weapon. "Jason said that he doesn't know all of it's capabilities, so this might be one of them, I think."

"If ya say so."

"Can't you just… lend that to me?" Asked the thief, grasping the sword's guard with a innocent smile on her face. "I promise to bring it back after this one job coming up."

"...Don't make me get the catnip and laser pointers again, Selina."

"It doesn't work anymore!" She snapped… only to falter as she sighed, "Yes it does…"

Pam could only shake her head with a chuckle escaping her lips.

She remembered one time when Selena was at the greenhouse that she came across a small spot she was using to grow an experimental hybrid between Nepeta Cataria -otherwise known as catnip- and marijuana. Selina ended up stuck there for a while getting partially high off of the stuff. Ever since seeing this bit in action, she decided to occasionally pay the thief in hte unique catnip… to share with Isis… in order to watch over her little girls.

Looking over at the clock, she saw what time it was. "It's getting late." She looked over at her sporeling children. "You three have already stayed up longer than you should. So it's off to bed, you three."

The sporelings whined in response.

"But we wanna stay up longer~" Hazel pouted.

"Well you three have in waiting for daddy to show back up." Spoke the botanist as she picked up Hazel and held her. "Mind helping me out, Harl? Selina?"

In the psychologist's arms, Rose was struggling to get free. "Already ahead of ya!"

"Might as well." The thief muttered out, gently holding Thorn's hand and guiding her to their bedroom.

"So what should we put them in tonight, Red? The kitty pajamas?"

Hazel paled when hearing this. "No! Not that!"

Pam was rather curious when hearing this. "Why not, Hazel?"

"I can't move all that much with that on!"

"But ya can, sweetie~"

"You just don't wanna be embarrassed wearing it." Thorn said. "But why would you? No one else outside of our home would see it."

The dark skinned sporeling's face got a red tinge on her whiskered cheeks. "That's not the point, Thorn!"

"Aaah~ But you look so cute in them and your cute little whiskers makes them much more adorable~" Harley gleefully said before gently pinching Rose's cheek. "Ain't that right, Rosey posey?"

Said sporeling merely giggled as the respective trios entered the sporeling's bedroom.

Back in the living room portion of the loft, Naruto was getting Rachel caught up on what happened back on the island. Even asking her on what happened on her end of the fight against the Witch of Camelot.

Which soon got into their current topic.

"...So you're saying you tapped into part of your demonic heritage, correct?"

"Yes." The ashen child hung her head down a little. "I didn't have much of a choice."

"It's okay, Rachel. I'm not mad at ya, just… gonna be concerned."

This got the half-demon worried. "Concerned? Concerned about what?"

"The whole thing with your father… and possibly control over your powers."

"...Right…"

Unbeknownst to her, Naruto briefly wondered what other ramifications this action caused within his young ward. Jason said that Rachel's imbalanced now. Was it because of her darkness outweighing her light? Or could it be something much more than that?

"We should probably head over to Jason's place tomorrow, once you're fully rested. He might help us out on what could be going on with ya."

Rachel gave a small, weary nod.

Seeing the young kid down in the dumps, with her mind still plagued about her powers and possibly her father, Naruto formed a small smile. "How about we have some ice cream before going to bed." This seemed to perk her up considerably. "There's still some of your favorite in the fridge."

"...I'd like that."

"Great!"

"And can I have all the toppings?"

"Only the ones we have." He added in, walking over to the kitchen. "I believe we're missing a few, but I'll just have to see."

The ashen child got up from the recliner and made her way towards the kitchen with her mood slightly elevated.

Passing by the patio door, Rachel paused in her step as she briefly caught her reflection. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, exhaustion or with how dark it is outside; but the young ward saw something off about it.

Being that her rich, amethyst eyes were replaced with pools of abysmal darkness… and she was smirking?

Blinking and turning away for a mere moment made her see her reflection was back to normal. Yet the image seemed to unsettle her.

"Something wrong, Rachel?"

Rachel shook her head on her guardian's question. "Everything's fine. Just tired." Was the response before sitting at the barstool.

"Okay, then." He said, placing a small bowl of ice cream in front of her with all the fixings placed in it. "After this, ya gotta brush your teeth, shower and go to sleep. Alright?"

"Right."

He chuckled as he joined alongside her with his own bowl of desert.

As they ate, Rachel occasionally glanced back at the patio window with the small thought still crossing her mind if there was indeed something wrong with her or not.

Only time will tell.

-Next Day, On the Streets-

No snow was falling from the sky today. It was originally supposed to, really. But with the meteor bursting through Gotham air space cleared the sky of any residual cloud to appear.

'Bunch of odd meteorologist BS is ya ask me.' Lois thought as she rode through Gotham's streets, sitting in the sidecar of Naruto's motorcycle wearing light winter wear; consisting of a light purple jacket, matching gloves and scarf. 'At least it's helping out melt the snow and warming things up a little. Not to mention the aversion here.'

Yesterday was quite a nice day for the Metropolis reporter. Coming over to Gotham to visit her old friend and colleague while given a decent tour on most parts of said city with said friend. She even got to meet his young ward and current girlfriend, which was also a little bonus for her.

Then things interesting and out of the ordinary -in her opinion- as an object from space streaked across Gotham and landed offshore somewhere.

A lot of news media was covering the unexpectedly, strange event with many speculating it was either a meteor or a satellite. The later wasn't the case as no one was reporting the loss of their expensive equipment. Hell, Lois even called up her father to check if it was military property, which he stated it wasn't.

Regardless if it was one or the other, the coast guard and many others had been searching for it and had found signs of it's crash zone on a former privately owned island. And upon investigating the site made people wonder how strong the impact was as it basically wiped out all life on the island while reforming the entire area.

Yet there was no sign of the object that caused this whole mess in the first place. The only thing that seemed out of place was that there seemed to be signs of a fight or battle that seemingly took place in the area.

Did people arrive there before anyone else and snatch it? How were they able to secure it? Where was it now? Would the person who one the fight keep it as some sort of prize or sell it on the black market?

These questions and several more bugged Lois to no end.

When she asked Naruto's opinion on the matter, the investigative reporter felt something was odd about him. It was as if he knew something that no one else did. And it didn't help with her remembering how calm he was amongst the chaos… after that odd 'spacing-out' moment of his when the meteor crash landed.

Not to mention the lingering, gut feeling of hers.

Lois had been away from one of her oldest friends for a long time and a lot has changed. Despite the phone calls and the time they spent together yesterday and that time last year, there seemed to be more about Naruto she was clueless about.

For one instance, their current mode of transportation.

"Still can't believe you have a motorcycle and didn't tell me." Came Lois' voiced thought as Naruto parked his old 1930's Brough Superior SS100 at an opened spot at the side of the road.

It was a really nice day and the roads were partially cleared of snow and ice. Had to take the advantage while it was still good. Not to mention she wanted to ride something that she no doubt her father and sister would be outright jealous on having.

The ravenette couldn't wait to rub it in her faces.

"And I told you before, Lois, an old friend of mine shipped this out to me over the holidays." He said, wearing his leather jacket and an orange scarf around his neck.

"The same one you previously owned before coming to the states." She stated, not questioning, remembering the old story he told her years ago.

"Yeup."

"Any reason why?" She asked, unclipping her helmet while getting out of the sidecar.

Naruto was silent, hesitant on answering; something Lois quickly noticed.

"Something wrong?"

"There was a letter that came with it, but…"

"But what?"

"...I never opened it."

Lois rose a questioning brow when seeing him get off his seat. Tucking the helmet on the inside of the sidecar, the investigative reporter decided to press on for answers. "Any reason why you haven't?"

"We… The last time we last saw each other wasn't of the best of terms. Bad things happened and she was somewhat directly apart of what occured."

The reporter's lips were tugged down for a frown. "And that would've been… what exactly?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He firmly said.

Lois clicked her tongue, knowing her old friend will be stubborn in not answering unless feeling like it. Yet a question still lingered that needed answering. "And yet you haven't read the letter. Why?"

Naruto didn't know if he wanted to explain on the details… Well not all of them, obviously. But knowing his old friend, she would be very persistent until hearing at least something from him.

But he didn't know if he should tell her about Talia's feelings for him.

Breathing in, the former shinobi opened his mouth. "She-"

"Naruto?"

Turning around, Lois and Naruto looked over to see Barbara Gordon standing there, wearing a light brown jacket and a red scarf around her neck with a backpack slung around her shoulder.

Naruto smiled seeing her here, feeling a bit relieved on her unexpected presence. "Barbara. Good to see ya."

"Same to you." The spectacled redhead then saw the woman standing beside her secret crush. "Who's this?"

Realizing this, Naruto made the proper introductions. But before he could do so, Lois beat him to it. "Hi there, my name's Lois Lane."

Barbara blinked, slowly realizing the name. "Wait… The Lois Lane of the Daily Planet?"

"One and the same."

"Wow… I never expected I get to meet you." The redhead slowly formed a beaming smile. "I read a lot of your work and I gotta say they were great articles; well the more in depth ones. Hell I even had to do several assignments on them for a class I took."

"Really?" Lois questioned, never expecting to hear that little detail. "Then tell me, what would be your favorite?"

"Hard to chose which one was better. But the one I think was great was the one that helped win your first Pulitzer. The one with the destruction of a coal company with men tied to organized crime."

Lois nodded when she remembered the situation all too well as it occurred way before Naruto came into her life. The coal one was earned around the time she first started working for the Daily Planet when she was in high school. Her father was no doubt worried for her when this happened as Lois was in her mid-teens.

"Glad you enjoyed it." Lois said with a smile. "Now it seems I have the disadvantage since you know me, yet I don't know you." She then looked over to Naruto. "Mind introducing me?"

The publisher nodded. "Right. Lois, this is a good friend of mine, Barbara Gordon."

This peaked Lois' interest a bit. "Gordon, as in Commissioner Gordon?"

"My dad." Barbara responded.

"Ain't that interesting."

Barbara merely shrugged before voicing a question in her head. "So what brings you to Gotham?"

"Two things really." The reporter jabbed her thumb at Naruto. "Seeing this whiskered lug as he's an old friend of mine. The other being checking out the new Daily Planet location here, which we did earlier. And I gotta say, it's looking good so far."

This peaked the redhead's curiosity. "There's gonna be a Daily Planet here? I didn't know that."

"The idea came from my editor-in-chief, Perry."

Barbara soon smirked at the whiskered man she had feelings for. "Seems you'll have some competition in the coming years."

He chuckled. "I guess so. As long as things are fair and all."

"And what were you two doing?"

Lois was the one to answer. "Naruto's been showing me more around Gotham on some places that could possibly be safe. Just wanna be helpful by at least giving some eventual transfers info as to where they can reside and go to without dealing with this city's underbelly all that often."

"Understandable."

There are several places here in Gotham that were not entirely safe as the crime rate tends to fluctuate or is relatively high. Brideside, Burnley, East End, Chinatown, and the Narrows were the most well known crime ridden areas in this city. They are more manageable with her father being commissioner and this city's heroes helping take care of the peace.

"And you?"

"Mix of doin' some errands here and there while going out for a stroll. I mean, it's a really nice day. So why waste such a good opportunity."

This was partially the truth. She was indeed doing what she said she's doing. But Barbara is also scoping out various areas if crime was afoot.

There's plenty of crime occuring in the nighttime, but what of the daylight hours? It's not that often you see criminals performing illegal acts in that time frame. But it's what you'd least expect it on most cases such as bank robberies, certain gang fights and muggings.

Barbara had to thank her time visiting the GCPD in learning this fact. But she wouldn't know to either thank or hate her hero mentor, Vanitas, for getting into this little crime fighting habit in this time of day.

"I couldn't help but agree more." Naruto said, glint in his eyes. "And since you're in such a good mood, Lois would love to tag along with you."

Said reporter blinked, turning to her old friend. "Sorry, what now?"

"I… was planning on dropping you off around here." He laughed… nervously as he scratched his whiskered cheek. "I have things I need to take care of…"

Both ladies gave a solid five minute stare at Naruto, eyes blank and rather terrifying. He had no idea both girls who were so extroverted could seem so dead.

"Uh… Lois? Babs?"

"You know what, I think spending time with Barbara is a great idea!" Lois suddenly exclaimed.

"It is?" Both Naruto and Barbara said in unison.

"Yes, of course." Lois said with a slightly mischievous look in her eyes, leaning over to whisper into Barbara's ear. "Give me some dirt on him and I'll make it your day."

Barbara's own sinister smile shot up to match the reporters -something she didn't think she'd make again since yesterday- and the pair turned to leave the publisher to his own devices.

"Bye now, Naruto, I'll see you later." Lois waved merrily with Barbara doing the same. "I'll stop by your place tonight. Kay?"

Naruto could only stare with a creeping sense of terror and dread, hanging his head low.

"I've made a terrible mistake." Naruto said to himself. "Sometimes…. I really need to learn how to keep my mouth shut and mind slow… URGH, now I got a headache coming on."

The publicist had meant to tell Lois he needed to leave her earlier, but they were so caught up in their time together that he forgot to attend to his more… personal errands.

Shaking his head, Naruto decided now wasn't the time to mope about his two friends off in the distance now. Getting back onto his motorcycle, he had business to attend to.

Down the street, the reporter was having a light conversation with the college student.

"So how long have you exactly known Whiskers?" Lois asked.

"Several months now. You?"

"Few years, give or take."

"Hmmm…. Wait, Whiskers?" Barbara repeated with a snort.

"Yeah~ Cat and I had come up with the name when he first worked with us. And after all this time, we would never stop calling him that."

"Cat?"

"Cat Grant." Lois explained. "And before ya ask, yes we were co-workers and friends but it's been strained." She then sighed. "Though now we've been slowly fixing it."

"Stranger and stranger." Barbara remarked to her new companion. "Ever since I met Naruto, life has just gotten weird for me."

"Good weird or bad weird?"

"Depends really." Babs shrugged. "There've been moments that have no doubt changed me and I wouldn't know if it's because of his influence or not."

Lois rose a brow at this. "Now that sounds rather confusing."

"True. But it feels appropriate, I think."

"Guess so." Lois said, looking around. "Say where are we going right now?"

"I was planning on getting something to eat before I go to the GCPD to check up on my father. After that, have nothing else going on."

"Hmm, I am hankering for a bite right now." Lois mused aloud. "Any good places?"

The spectacled redhead chuckled. "Lois, my dear, I know all of the places… That still hasn't been found by Naruto… but don't tell him that."

Lois smiled upon hearing this. "Well, I'm game. Lead the way."

-Evening, Stacked Deck-

"This is delicious." Lois commented, taking a swig of some bourbon. Placing the glass down, she asked the barkeep. "What was this again?"

"My dad's personal and really my personal favorite." Moxxi vaguely said with a chuckle.

"...And I don't see a label. Should I be worried?" The reporter grabbed the bottle and examined it. "Given the shape of it and color, I swear it's something a stereotypical cowboy would have tied up next to his/her donkey or horse."

"Knowing this place so far, Lois," Barbara spoke up, sipping a bit of her Moscow Mule, "you probably should."

"Come on Bab's, it ain't that bad." Moxxi said heartily.

Barbara responded in kind with her best impersonation of her dad's patented 'I don't buy your bullshit' stare. "You made Morgan drunk off her ass with that pure black absinthe shit that should not be put into market. Any market for that matter."

"But it was personally brewed."

"And yet it burned her way too strong that it practically hurts her. So much so that she tried making up her own language. Three times. Not to mention almost wrecking your bar while temporarily blind."

"Oh it's not that bad." Spoke the barkeep, gently prying the unmarked bourbon bottle out of Lois' grasp. "You should see the more lightweights who try that stuff."

Lois gave off a cheeky grin. "I'd pay good money to see that."

"I got 'em recorded, actually so that would probably suffice." Moxxi then spoke a question. "Any other drinks, Ms. Lane?" She then shook the one bottle in her hand a little. "Or do ya still wanna drink more of this?"

The reporter peered at the liquor shelf behind the bar with a small, scrunched up face. "I'll try… Jefferson Small Batch."

"Comin' right up." Turning around, the barkeep climbed up a small ladder to grab the desired drink, but not before putting away the unmarked bottle. "So any reason why ya wanted this?"

"Just want to try it out, honestly. Never had that before."

"So are you sure you want this?" Moxxi held up the bottle to the light to show off it's brownish, yellow coloring of the bourbon. And on one side of the bottle had a decal showing Thomas Jefferson. "I mean it looks like piss to me." She snorted. "Heh~ drinking a late president's piss."

Lois then looked a little disgusted upon hearing this. "Nevermind. I'll have something else." She then shook her head with a slight buzz hitting her now. "Jefferson can go to Hell, I'm certain, if he's not there already."

"Alright then. More for me~"

"Moxxi, for god's sake." Barbara said, embarrassed on what she was hearing.

"What? It's good stuff, Babs." The barkeep peered back at the reporter. "Okay so if not Jefferson's piss-"

"Moxxi…"

"-then what would ya be havin' before I close ya off?"

Lois looked back as she saw a familiar looking bottle. "I'll just have some of the W.L. Weller Special."

"...They're not all special, ya'know."

"Moxxi!" Barbara yelled out.

"Alright, fine! Ruin my fun, why don't ya." Pouted the barkeep. "Just like yer pops."

The two drinkers merely rolled their eyes at this.

Throughout their time together today, it was quite the enjoyable experience. The pair slowly hit it off, given how things started off all due to Naruto's action. They had a good blast getting to know each other to some degree. Not best-best friend kind of way, but just starting out in the new friendship.

"I've been meaning to ask this earlier, but what exactly do you and Naruto do together?" Lois asked, curious as to how well Barbara knows the knucklehead.

"Hmmm, how do I put this…" Barbara mused, shifting her drink around. "He's kind of like a mentor figure of mine."

"How so?"

"He helped me on this book I've been writing." Answered the college student. "Started out with me asking his opinion-"

"Oh a book writer!" Lois said, leaning forward her interest peaked. "That's an easy gateway into Naruto's life."

"Yeah. Never took him as a man of literature?"

"He's full of surprises." Lois said, munching on some complimentary peanuts. Her eyes then caught onto Moxxi pouring her a glass of her possibly last bourbon for the night before handing it over. "I mean at first he wasn't. But later on with him wanting to start up publishing, much less being a book writer, threw Cat and I off with how good he became. I mean seriously, that Icha-icha series is gold."

She was met with silence from boths Babs and Moxxi, both giving her a half-lidded amused and expectant look.

"What?"

"Icha-Icha, huh?" Barbara said with a growing grin. "Lois Lane, I never expected for you to be such a closet pervert."

"It's always the 'professionals' they say." Moxxi matched Barbara with her own shit-eating grin.

Lois's expression changed from confusion into abject horror, her jaw dropping upon realizing what she had just said out loud.

"Fuck you two." Head hung low in defeat and shame.

"Why I'm flattered, Ms. Lane." Moxxi formed a teasing grin. "I do prefer women every so often. What's your favorite position?" She leaned forward as her grin seemed flirtatious. "I wouldn't mind doing it in the back after closing."

Lois sputtered as Barbara couldn't contain herself, letting out a snorted laugh.

"You guys… Can all go straight to hell." Lois murmured, knowing it was pointless to struggle. This was always her achilles heel in most conversations. Causing her to be careful in what she talked about. "What's in these drinks again?"

Moxxi only chortled. "Honey, drinks remove inhibitions. Whatever you just said was all you, and my oh my what a discovery. What's your favorite chapter, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Moxxi, for the love of-" Barbara could only cover her face with her hand.

Lois's face could only burn in humiliation, slumping forward onto the bar to hide her ashamed face.

"Chapter 13 of Book 2." Lois' muffled response came through her arms.

Moxxi gave a knowing nod while Barbara turned her head away and coughed into her hand as her cheeks reddened a little.

"He does have quite the imagination, doesn't he?" Moxxi stated, giving both women a look. "Isn't that right Barbara? Chapter 9 of Book 3 was your favorite, right?"

"Let's move onto something else, please!"

The barkeep snorted with a shake of her head. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Seeing the bar owner walk away from them, as she needed to focus on other customers, Lois slowly wanted to get back into the previous topic… before things took a nosedive.

"Let's agree to never speak of this with Naruto." Bab's abruptly stated

"Don't need to tell me that twice, sister." Lois nodded, clearing her throat. "So… about this book of yours, when's it coming out? Well if it does come out anytime soon."

"Soon, I think. Naruto said he's been trying to have an appropriate time for a good release. Just nervous if it'll turn out alright or not."

"Right. Right." Lois took a sip of her bourbon before a question was voiced. "And what kind of book is it exactly?"

"Crime and mystery."

"And this is a shot in the dark, but I take it you got inspiration because of your father's work?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Art often reflects real life, doesn't it." Lois stated, taking another sip of her drink.

"Kinda dramatized but… basically, I think."

"With things like that, it's practically another day in the office for me." The ravenette looked around the bar as her eyes caught onto various moments happening at each corner of the establishment. "Been to many places like this bar as they helped me out in a lot of my articles."

"Has that stereotypical vibe."

"Yeah and it's pretty much hit or miss with what can be exploited. Shady business deals happening or just certain get togethers that can reveal much if ya pay attention to the details."

"That's what dad, Bullock and Naruto have told me."

"Given our respective backgrounds, Barbara, it's a good factor to know."

This merely got the redhead to wonder why Lois said this. But she then remembered the reporter is the daughter of a high ranking general of the US military. A lot of details helped influence her as she grew up because of her heritage.

Much like her own. Yet being one's child can't decide and cement who one is as they much forge their own way in life.

For a time, Barbara thought about joining the police force in order to be much like her father. As she grew up, things slowly changed for the spectacled redhead on what she possibly wanted to do in life. Even recently, Barbara had started taking up crime fighting as Batgirl and it was something she started to greatly enjoy.

This is merely part of her nightlife, but what of her daylife?

Would she be a writer? Or perhaps pursue working in law enforcement later on? Who knows for sure with how life is.

"I got a question for ya." Barbara asked Lois, before quickly asking Moxxi for some cold water.

"Shoot."

"I know you're passionate about being a journalist, but have you ever considered working for the military in some way?"

Lois slowly processed what the commissioner's daughter said. It was mostly delayed because of the bourbon, but it didn't take much longer to give her answer. "For a time, I was iffy on the idea." The ravenette swirled on her barstool so she could lean back and have support from the bar while staring at the ceiling. "Mom wanted me and my sister to contribute into helping others and both of us had our own mindset in what we wanted to do. Years passed as Lucy and I still kept deciding and figuring out what would suit us best. I eventually found my calling with reporting while my sister decided to join the military."

"You still didn't answer my question, Lois."

"Right, right. Sorry, Babs." Lois breathed in a bit while massaging her head before turning to face her new friend. "I… did think on joining the military, but things eventually changed with my mom's passing. I didn't see it at first, but slowly saw things what changes one being in that lifestyle."

"How so?"

"Tell me, do you know people who presently or used to serve in the military?" Lois earned a 'so-so' gesture from Barbara. "What can you tell me about what you know?"

Barbara shifted in her seat while scratching he cheek. "Well… some people I briefly knew are more prone to being triggered, defensive, protective, isolated and out of place. Sadly that's all I know really."

"It's quite alright, Barbara. Don't get yourself too worked up about it." Lois quickly ordered several cups of water for her in hopes of helping her sober up a bit before the pair headed out for the night. "The point in asking that is that yes those are some qualities some people in the military are like, despite what kind of help they get. And it mostly depends on what kind of support one has."

"Meaning?" Barbara asked, drinking her water.

"Being in the military -by no means- is an easy experience. Even living with someone for so long being in it." Lois quickly drank an ice cold cup before continuing. "Whatever life you know them prior to them joining would never be the same when you see them next. It changes them in more ways than one."

A far off look was seen coming from Lois' features, staring into the blank emptiness before her. "Everyone needs a proper means of support, no matter the experience and situation. Through the good times and the bad. And in the military makes it even five… ten times more valuable. A means of making one stable and keeping your humanity."

The reporter soon released a sigh. "I remember hearing from Lucy about this one family with the husband coming back from his tour in the military. Everything didn't exactly go well in the long run as the man slowly went into a drinking habit while not able to keep a stable job. He was suggested into going to support groups for people who dealt with similar experiences the husband went through. But he was a stubborn man and didn't take his wife's advice. And one night things went pear shaped as he threatened her during a drunken rant -at gunpoint- on why he couldn't go to the support groups. Because of this, he was sent to jail while a restraining order was placed on him that he couldn't exactly be anywhere near his daughter."

Lois let out a bitter laugh upon seeing Barbara's uneasy expression. "I often wonder what that would've been like if my dad didn't get the proper help. I mean my mom was his main form of support, keeping him grounded so he could live a semi-normal life, despite his career dealing harsh blows onto him. But after her passing, he slowly changed into the man Lucy and I know today. Thank god he didn't get unhinged like what I just spoke about."

Turning around to grab another cup of water, Lois swirled it in her hand while noticing Barbara's attention purely focused on her. "We didn't see much of it at first, but it developed as years went by. Both of Lucy and I did all that we could to keep him stable, but we didn't exactly have our mother's touch in doing so. And with me wanting to live my own life, Lucy believed someone should at least stay with dad to keep him from going on the deep end. Thus she joined the military for his sakes."

"I get the feeling things didn't turn out all that well."

"For the most part, I guess so." Lois responded. "I sometimes get unsettled whenever I spend time with Lucy as she seems different than what I was originally used to. We were thick as thieves, yet we slowly drifted apart with our life's choices. But that's normally expected with us being so far apart, despite what times we tried to have in order to communicate with each other."

Barbara looked down and dipped her finger into her glass, playing a little with an ice cube; processing everything the reporter said.

The experiences in both the military and police forces could might as well be playing in the same ballpark. Certain moments can be quite harsh for a person and hard to deal with. Without the right means, one would spiral down towards their self destruction. And along that process could drag others down as well.

Officers being evaluated more often than most in both professional and psychological means can most definitely mean their own success or downfall as a result.

But this wasn't exclusive to just those particular career fields.

"I can probably relate with that a little." Barbara muttered out. She drank some more water before explaining. "I have an older brother I haven't seen in years. J.J. and I were… close, ambient several times as he isolated himself. But we tried to at least spend time together and I enjoy the memories of them." The spectacled redhead then released a sorrowed sigh. "Once graduating high school, he up and left town with neither me or dad hearing from him since."

"Anywhere you at least know he went off to?"

"Chicago for college." Barbara answered. "But with how distant and secretive J.J. was, I probably guess he's doing something else at some other place."

Lois nodded while munching on some nuts. Feeling a bit depressed from the current topic, the reporter thought it was time to talk about something else in a more elevated mood. Hopefully to at least end this night in a good note, per say.

"I know this seems out of the blue, Babs, but do you have a boyfriend?"

The college student choked a little on her cold drink before coughing in order to expel what water entered her wind pipes. "I *cough* I'm sorry *cough* but what?"

"Do you have a boyfriend? Just an honest question."

The commissioner's daughter was about to answer, but someone else beat her to the punch. "Oh no, sweetie. Barbara here doesn't have one." Lois looked over and saw Moxxi standing there with a slip of paper in her hand. "Your bill, you two."

The ravenette nodded as she looked at it before fishing out her purse to pay her respective share. "And how would you know, Moxxi?"

"She comes here with her friend on most nights." Came the barkeep's response with a knowing grin. "And I often hear them talk about this one guy this gal here has her sights on."

This peeked up Lois' interest. "Really~? Who is it?"

"Well~"

"Moxxi." Barbara interrupted with a narrowed glare. "Don't you dare…"

"Oh what are ya gonna do if I tell your friend you have the insane hots for-"

Before the barkeep could say the name; Barbara leaped over the bar, tackled and clamped her hands over Moxxi's mouth.

"Whoa! What the hell, Barbara?!" Lois spoke out with widened eyes.

"It's too embarrassing, Lois!" Cried out the redhead, struggling to keep Moxxi from prying her hands off from her mouth. She then shuddered when feeling the barkeep licking her palms. "Please don't do that! It's gross and disgusting!"

"MMPHE! MMAERH! HRUMPHE!" Came the muffled talk.

"I don't know what you're saying, but I don't care! You're not telling Lois who I like! If ya do, I'll tell my dad what illegal stuff probably happens here and he'll shut you down!"

Hearing Barbara's threat caused a twitch coming onto Moxxi's eye while sending her an annoyed glare. After several moments, she rolled her eyes before nodding. Seeing this, Barbara pulled her hands away from the barkeep's face.

"Poo~ You're no fun." Her eyes briefly looked over to her sides. "By the way, you're paying extra with what you just broke, Babs."

The spectacled redhead didn't have to look to know what exactly she broke. Given the fact that some glasses and bottles were no doubt shattered with her latest act.

But she didn't care as she merely wanted to shut up the barkeep from spilling the beans! To Lois Lane of all people! Who would no doubt tell Naruto or even Pam! And she did not want to deal with the fall back if that were to happen.

"Is the guy you have feelings for that much of a big deal, Barbara?" Lois spoke up from the other side of the bar. "I mean, damn, you seemingly went ballistic."

"Trust me, toots. It's bad." Moxxi said as she carefully got up from the ground. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to clean this mess up." The barkeep then glared at the commissioner's daughter. "And I better see ya fork over the extra money by the time I get back, Babs."

Said woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

As the bar's owner left to get the cleaning supplies, the reporter looked over to see the college student fish out the money… merely grumbling along the way. "I'm guessing I won't be learning who ya like anytime soon, huh."

"Ya think?!" Came the growled response.

"Come on, Babs, throw me a bone here." Lois pouted mischievously. "I happen to have my fair share of experience when it comes to men."

"Somehow I doubt you've had many."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Lois asked in an affronted manner.

"Lois, I've known you for a few hours and I can tell you haven't been with too many guys." Babs teased. "I can't imagine how many dudes were either too stupid to back off or to scared to even come near you."

"I don't know how you pulled off that backhanded compliment." Lois deadpanned

Barbara went on. "Thanks, anyway, from one red-head to another depending on the lighting."

"Very rich shade of brown, borderline black, thank you."

"Respectfully so, you could count the number of men you've been with on your hand."

Lois stared intently at the novice writer only to grumble, crossing her arms and turning away. "Shut up."

Barbara only smiled cheekily. "Then what can ya tell me about your last boyfriend."

Lois perked up a little by letting out a bitter chuckle. "I practically got under his skin. So much so that it eventually resulted in us breaking up with me initiating it."

"And mind telling me who he is?"

"Oh~ I would." Lois then formed a teasing grin. "Only if ya tell me who ya have it in for~"

"...Then pretty much never."

The reporter snapped her fingers. "Drat and here I thought I'd get it outta ya."

Barbara chuckled a little. "Well asides from that, what else could ya tell me?"

"He's loaded, for starters. Practically built up his company somewhat from the ground up."

"Somewhat?"

"Smartly bought certain businesses while investing in just the right companies that later resulted in what he has today."

Barbara scrunched her face, wondering who this man Lois previously dated. Yet the detail wasn't much to go by as she wasn't all that knowledgeable in the business world. The only people she remotely knew in said world were Bruce Wayne and her love interest, Naruto.

"And what was your relationship like with him?"

"Challenging is putting it lightly." Lois answered while tossing several nuts into her mouth. Once chewing and swallowing them, she continued. "Work was primarily all he cared about and hardly had much time to consider my opinion on things… Then again, I'm mostly like that as well as I try to get good stories in for the Planet. But dating him did have it's perks here and there from going to the best opera shows or seeing various sites I wouldn't normally see on my own."

"Yeesh, he must have been loaded."

"You've got no idea." Lois muttered out.

"Anything else or…"

"Well… it's kind of complicated but it isn't at the same time." Lois vaguely said

"Like what?"

"Sex was alright as both of us needed a means to vent off some work frustrations." Started off the reporter. "Things soon became stale as we didn't see each other often which soon resulted in me looking into him more out of curiosity. It was then I found a factor that made me consider dumping him were the secret dealings his company does on the side. Some of which made me decide to cut ties with him so I don't get dragged down as an 'accessory' or something along those lines if I kept being with him."

"Oh…. OH!" Barbara cringed. "Uh, I kinda hate to ask but how'd he take it?"

"Like one of his favorite toys got up and left while flipping him off at the same time." Lois wryly stated. "Think if your favorite possession suddenly gained sentience, flipped you off and told ya how much of an idiot bitch you are and left then and there.

Barbara was rather perplexed by the analogy but found the bite in Lois's tone more than enough to hazard an idea as to her walkout on her Ex.

"Enough about my ex, Babs. Tell me what you like about the guy you like."

Barbara let out a sigh, making a raspberry noise.

"I don't know where to begin really." Barbara said whimsically.

"What does he look like?"

"Nice try, Pultziporter."

"Pfft, ok, that's a new one." Lois snorted in an unladylike fashion. "Ok, so what can you tell me?"

"Well…" Barbara thought about it momentarily "He's really funny. Self-deprecating to an extent but also genuine. Never truly holds anything back."

"Go on" Lois egged on.

Barbara opened her mouth to speak once more, yet found herself stammering now, her face blushing a fierce shade of crimson.

"I… I do love him… or at least know I have strong feelings for him. Hell, I've been thinking about it quite a lot for quite some time now to see if it's real or not, but-UGH! It's so frustrating!"

Barbara then started fiddling with her hands while spilling out what she could say without giving out anything too revealing. "I don't even know if I could properly mash it down and hopefully ignore it whenever I'm around him. Yet I feel so excited when I know I'm with him as I wanna know more about him."

She then started to stammer a little. "He-He's gorgeous and… and he's a wonderful guy that I practically know he'd be an excellent father… or at least a good one that'll treat his kids right. I mean no one can be a perfect parent, right?"

Lois nodded as the college student went on. "He likes me, but he doesn't like-like me, I think but he's just more focused with his girlfriend that has been through so much apparently."

"Oh boy." Lois gave her a sympathetic side hug. "You're facing one of those situations, aren't you?"

Barbara could only nod in defeat, continuing where she left off; knowing she'd feel better once letting it all out.

"He's well respected by all of his co-workers… maybe, who knows for sure if there's someone at his workplace that hates him." Rambled off the spectacled redhead. "And he's… he's in me-"

"Phrasing~"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, MOXXI!" Barbara bellowed out, causing the barkeep to laugh while scampering away. "Uhm… Where was I?"

"The guy you like is 'in you'."

Barbara nodded and was about to speak until sharply glaring at Moxxi. "Seriously, I am not in the mood right now for your humor."

Lois shook her head, turning back to Barbara and nudging her to continue. "Explain before she gets her chance again."

The redhead quickly nodded. "He's like a disease and I'm infected by him in a good way. Not the bad way, obviously as that's terminal or something." Barbara then laughed a little in a bitter tone. "I can't think about anything or anybody and I can't sleep." Her voice then seemed to crack in pain. "I… I can't breathe. I can't eat and I love him with all the minutes of every day ever since these feelings came up and yet I don't know what to do and how to approach him on this. I try to do what I can to keep myself distracted from him, but the thoughts and feelings always return afterwards. It's eating at me Lois and I can barely stand it when I'm with him."

Lois stared at her new friend, rubbing her back. "You have it bad don't you?" She didn't need to look to tell Barbara was nodding. "If I may be frank about this, I suggest you at least tell him what you feel."

Barbara merely blinked in confusion. "Seriously? Nothing too elaborate or-"

"Things like this get too complicated for people when trying to think around it." Lois admitted with annoyance. "Sometimes it's better in a straightforward manner. I mean, it's how my parents eventually got together She then scrunched up her face a little as if trying to think more about it. "Though my memory on how they spoke about it differed." Lois quickly shook her head, getting side tracked there. "The point is that you should just muster up your courage and just tell him what you've gotta say."

"And what if I choke up?"

"Then try again at a later time when you feel it's right. But not too long or else you'll miss your chance."

"And what if… he doesn't-"

"Reciprocate? He'll at least know how you strongly feel about him and you'll feel better as a result. If he obviously doesn't give you a good enough response as to why he accepts or declines your feelings then you'd at least know you confessed before moving on with your life. And obviously with him in a relationship right now, he'd no doubt decline your feelings."

"And… if he accepts them?"

"Then more power to ya." Smiled the reporter. "But be careful on the fallout as things'll will no doubt be complicated with the challenging moments yet to come. His girlfriend will obviously be cautious around you with what you did, possibly destabilizing their own relationship. She'll see you as a threat and will probably try to get rid of ya, one way or another."

Lois then shook her head with her eyes closed. "Seen this happen with several other relationships and it doesn't look pretty. Thank god you're not pining for a guy who's single with several other women going after him. That's a whole thing I'd rather stay away from as I think that's completely annoying as Hell. But who knows what life will throw at ya for situations like these."

Barbara nodded, taking the advice to heart. She was nervous before but now seemed a bit more with this bit of revelation.

This was completely different than scenarios involving a man or a woman cheating on their significant other with someone else. Things are much more known on what will happen as the ending results.

But what Barbara's going through right now is a whole different ball game that's not often seen and experienced.

As the pair got up and started making their way out of the Stacked Deck, Barbara spoke up. "Thanks for the advice, Lois. I just… never felt this way before… and it scares me."

"Happens to the best of us."

A chuckled grin formed on the redhead's face as she opened up the door for the ravenette. "And what if you find the guy that ends up placing you in my shoes right now?"

"...I'll deal with those feelings when the time comes."

Barbara snorted in thought. 'More like you'll be nervous and wrecked as I am.'

As the pair got near the street, they saw an incoming taxi and hailed for it so they can get a ride towards their respective destinations.

Unbeknownst to them; sitting at the edge of a far off building building, Vanitas peered down at his two friends entered the yellow and black vehicle before taking off from the scene. As he saw it leave his sights, the helmeted hero felt a presence nearby. And he didn't have to look to know who it is.

"Batman."

"Vanitas."

"Hope you've been well." Vanitas said amicably. "Well enough considering our line of work."

"What do you want, Vanitas?" the Dark Knight asked, standing beside the vigilante on the edge of the building.

"What's the matter with having a friendly chat from one fellow vigilante to another?" Vanitas jokingly asked. "Is it to much to believe i want to socialize for once rather than argue or have that annoying tension between the two of us? And besides, you're the one who's coming up to me right now. So the real thing is, what do you want?"

"Because I know you enough to have gauge as to what's going on." Batman bluntly stated. "Last night, I saw something… unusual."

"Bruce, no offence, but have you forgotten that's the textbook definition of our life." Naruto remarked. "You're gonna have to elaborate your cryptic speak."

Batman narrowed his eyes, though not at Naruto's words.

"Shadows." Batman said. "Shadows are moving."

"...I'm not following what your getting at."

"Shadows are moving." Batman repeated, this time looking at his friend. "And they are taking people with them."

That made Vanitas sharply look to Batman in slight alarm. "What do you mean?"

"I've been getting some small reports earlier this evening of some people disappearing after some witnesses claiming they saw shadows moving as if they're sentient." Batman elaborated. "These shadows were shaped in an unusual fashion, showing signs of intelligence though instinctual at best."

"How in the hell did you come to that conclusion?"

Batman gazed at him expectantly, waiting for him to come to his own conclusion.

"Right, world's greatest detective." Vanitas said, rolling his eyes beneath his helmet. "Sorry if I hurt your ego."

"These shadows moved like a pack of hunters." Batman continued on the reports he had read. "Cornering people who had strayed away from populated areas and taking them."

Pulling out a folder from his cape, Batman held it out for Vanitas to take from him. Curious, Vanitas tentatively took the folder and opened it up, seeing pictures of crime scenes and testimonies to the disappearances.

"They're all basically the same." Batman said, eyeing the rooftops of Gotham. "Shadows moving. Sounds of running and panicking screams. Silence after… all but one."

Coincidentally, Naruto reached the last report which spoke of the specific difference this disappearance had with the others.

"You timed that last part, didn't you?" Naruto chortled knowingly though Batman remained nonplussed.

"There was a flash of light and red sphere of some kind going up into the air before shadows consumed it." Batman said. "I managed to track down the last eye witness who saw this and the best that she could describe the light as being shaped like a heart."

"A heart?" Vanitas tilted his head. "What, like a literal organ heart or…?"

"The symbolic one."

The helmeted hero nodded before handing back the file. "You think it's a new meta-upcomer?"

"Probably or something else. The patterns are all random as there's no discernable motive. Hostage scenario… or worse."

"Okay then. I'll keep a look out for these shadows and I'll inform the others to be careful."

"See that you do."

With that, both heroes departed from the area in order to continue their patrol for the evening. Not only to take care of normal crime but to watch out for this oddity.

…..

…..

…..

If either of them were to stay longer in the area, they would've seen something amiss.

Walking out of the Stacked Deck, a thuggish looking man was staggering in his step. He was clearly drunk with his eyes wandering all over and his face red from how hot he was from his drinking.

Getting closer to the street, several cars sped right past him. He swirled around several times as he was almost hit with horns blaring and yells aimed right at him in order to get off the road.

Yet the drunk man didn't care as he wasn't of sound mind.

Once on the other side of the street, the thuggish man made his way towards an alley. He would've gone around the block to get to his car, but the alleyway gave him a shortcut as he couldn't find any parking closer to the bar.

Even though a part of his mind told him he shouldn't be driving in his current state, wanting to hail a taxi to get home, the thug didn't care at the present time.

Traversing through the darkened space, the drunk man ran into a dumpster and fell onto the ground for a brief moment before getting back up. As he did, he swore he saw some beady yellow eyes peeking out from the corner of his sight. He looked over for better detail as they seemed to lock onto him.

In his wasted state, the thug merely thought they were cat eyes.

Shaking his head, the man moved onward and getting closer and closer to the end of the alleyway. It's bright light stung his optics, no doubt with how hazy his senses are. Yet he knew he was almost at his small destination being his parked car.

The moment his foot stepped out of the alley, the thug felt a tug against his leg.

"The fuck?!"

Falling onto the ground, he slammed his shoulder onto the pavement while his head merely bounced a little soon after. Both places were sore as a result. He shook his aching head while shifting onto his side in order to see what he snagged on.

When he did, he saw the same beady yellow eyes staring right at him… and it wasn't alone.

"What the-"

His legs were tugged hard, causing him to be dragged back into the darkened area.

The thug struggled and kicked in order to get himself free from whatever was doing this. He even tried to crawl away, but his one arm was still sore from the recent fall… along with the fact his attackers were quite strong.

Seeing as he wasn't gonna get out of this on his own, the thug cried out for help. But with the sounds of cars blaring from the street, no one was able to hear him at all.

If anyone was able to pay attention and look towards the darkened alleyway, they'd see the thug get dog piled by a bunch of yellow eyed shadows before the man's cries were silenced and his form disappeared.

As if the darkness truly consumed him whole.

-End Chapter-

AN:

Been a while, huh? Well, no kidding. For one, got stuck on this at one point before I turned my attention to my Dragon's Guardian rewrite. And shout out to free man writer and Azure King for the help on this chapter as he helped me write through several parts I've been stuck on.

On another note on this chapter delay… KINGDOM HEARTS 3 IS OUT BABY! YATTA! After so many years it came out!

Though I do wish the game could've been better on several aspects, but hopefully it'll be done in the possible Final Mix DLC. For instance if they do Critical Mode, new game +, more bosses, worlds, replay-world and boss mechanic like what they did in Re:Coded, and maybe more.

Regardless, latest game gave me quite a lot of good ideas on what to work with for this story on various aspects.

With some related Disney news, here's a quick thing: Will Smith's persona as Genie looks creepy from seeing latest Aladdin trailer. And speaking of trailers, the one for Frozen 2 just came out and it seems it'll be more action oriented with Elsa, Anna and Kristoff going on some adventure.

Okay, need to clear this up on the story. Reason why I'm labeling this on DC Superheroes on the crossover bit is because I'm not going to be hitting Justice League events anytime soon. It's going to be a very bloody long time until I get anywhere close to those episodes. So to make things better in the large general run of things, I'm having this be put into the full generalized notion of DC comics.

Now some reviewers asked about the spells I used in the last chapter. Some were obviously from Kingdom Hearts, but some were a bit confused on the others. So… yeah, some of the other spells I used was from the Negima series while others I just had to look up from somewhere else. I might incorporate other spells from other series if they seem appropriate and stuff. After all, in DC comics, there's no real limitations in terms of spells… unless they end up doing the 'backwards speaking' stuff with certain characters mind you.

Also from said reviewer, he wondered why I didn't have Naruto unmask Mordred or destroy her armor in their fight to reveal her identity. Well I wanna let there be a reveal for him and a particular redhead when the time comes on who 'Morgan' is. If I did that too soon then what was the point. Though the idea of removing Mordred's armor like Issei's 'Dress Break' or Negi's 'anti-clothes sneeze' would be funny, but need an appropriate time for that to occur.

So had one guest review come across my notices that I would've just ignored like what I've done in the past. But it brought up a good point that I need to focus better on characters personalities and whatnot as they seem to be a bit OC on most degrees. I can understand this little complication, but I'm trying my best here as I'm not going to be perfect in making things right.

Also yes, I'm sorry to those reading my story that were really confused on what I did here recently. It's just been something I've been passionate about on writing for a long time on what I wrote. My mind just had this wonderful idea upon all my research and my love for the specific works I'm using in my story.

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thanks you!

R&R

-Omake-

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring*

Naruto groggily woke up from his sleep as he rolled over on the bed. Reaching over to the nightstand on his side of the bed, he grabbed his cellphone and blurly saw it was coming from Harley.

Opening up the device, he spoke up. "Harley. Is something up?" His eyes glanced over to the nearby alarm clock and saw the time. "It's around midnight."

"Yeeeaaaah~ You can say that."

"What's… *yawn* ...up?"

"Soooo… the lock won't open up, Puddin."

"To your car?"

"No… the other one."

"To your apartment?"

"No… the other one."

It took a bit for Naruto to realize what she was referring to. "You mean… the padlock to your gear?"

"...Not the one for my hero attire, Puddin."

This ended up getting his undivided attention to realize what Harley really meant. "You mean-"

"Selina and I came back from drinking and we didn't want to end our fun for tonight." She said with some giddiness in her voice. "So she convinced me to do some bondage shit with her to really spice things up tonight."

"...Okay…" He muttered, knowing Selina had gotten the others in their relationship into enjoying that sort of kink every so often.

"Heh~ I tell ya, it's hard to get into all the leather stuff -with the baby powder and oil- and making sure the locks are secure."

"Harley," he interrupted her. "Can you get to the point?"

"Oh, yeah. Right, right, right." Naruto could tell she was quickly composing herself. "We had finished up one part of our romp and were about to switch places… but… the main padlock isn't opening up."

"Don't you have a lock picking set with you?"

"I… lost them."

Naruto rose a brow as he felt something was off. But being one of the more responsible ones in their polyamorous relationship -alongside Pam- decided to help.

"I'll be there in a bit, Harl."

"Thanks~"

Once hanging up, Naruto rolled himself out of bed. He walked over to the other side of the bed to check if he ended up waking up Pam on accident, which he didn't. Exiting his bedroom, he made his way towards a closet to pull out a tool set before going to the patio; taking off via wind lance towards his destination.

Coming to her apartment door sometime later, Naruto knocked on it several times. Waiting for several moments, the writer saw it open up to reveal Harley in a bathrobe. And given the small glance he partook from the attire underneath spoke a leather BDSM getup, which was rather arousing from what he remembered seeing her in.

Holding up the tool kit, Naruto spoke the obvious question. "Where is she?"

Before he could get the chance to get inside of Harley's residence, it's owner untied her bathrobe to have it part open; revealing the attire hugging her figure quite nicely. She then grasped both the door's edge and the frame before going into a sensual position with her gaze matching her form.

"Are you the Keymaster?" She spoke in a sensual tone.

Naruto blankly looked at her with a small twitch in his eye. "You recently watched Ghostbusters, didn't you?"

Her expression somewhat broke as she cracked up a little. "Yeah…"

"...And me having a Keyblade now didn't help you think that, right?"

She didn't have to say anything else for him to realize that the opportunity practically spoke itself for the bubbly blonde.

Releasing a sigh, he spoke. "Okay, Gatekeeper. Let me pass through so I can help Selina out."

Harley merely giggled, letting him in before closing the apartment door so he can do his thing.