A/N: My Co-writer suggested a song for this particular chapter, and it packed a punch. For me, at least.
"In this Shirt" by the Irrepressibles. Not the remix. You don't have to listen to it of course, but it really helped me to write this chapter and get into the groove of things, ya know?
There, that's my shilling done.
Weeeeeeeeeekly updates are still -relatively!- a go~! Might be delayed bit with the holiday coming up.
Amazing what a good bit of feedback can do for motivation, eh?
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that.
Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
Now for your questions, comments, and concerns.
Q: You still playing Elden Ring? How far along are you, m'lord?
A: I ain't no lord. Did the New Journey, running around getting all the items, armor and such I missed. I'm going for the Perfect Order ending this time around. Also doing the Recusant questline, which, after looking into the lore and armor you get, really makes me feel bad. Tragoth and Juno were good people. Heroes, even. Don't regret making the Dung Eater my puppet, though. Bastard deserved that fate.
That said, my level's far, far, FAR too high for reliable co-op these days, and I miss it...T_T
At least I have my second character for that...
Q: Running off to Rykard already? Do you hate him that much?
A: I wouldn't say hate. Its complicated. I LOVED his boss fight, but he became the very thing he swore to destroy. Near the end, its almost as if he KNEW what would happen to him once he fed himself to the Serpent; he even tried to make Tanith forget about him via potion -though she refused- and its implied he cared a great deal for Rya after her "birth" as it were.
That TOGETHAAAAA line made me laugh as well.
Q: Please don't let Naruto sacrifice himself. That's the vibe I'm getting. Let him rest!
A: Sacrifice? Naruto cannot stand to see others in pain. Its in his very nature to help, even if that costs him an arm and a leg. Literally in one case! Makes sense he wouldn't be able to sit still, but no, we'll hardly be bouncing from one conflict to another constantly.
Rest assured, the gang's going to get some downtime soon enough.
Q: GIVE US RADAHN!
A: Not yer! Rest assured, the screentime Radahn gets here in "Witch" will be...unique to this story. Won't say what, when, where, or why. Likewise, the encounter in "Grace" will be a completely different beast.
Literally.
Q: Ayo, can we get some bonding time?
A: Funny you should mention that. I've been holding a certain scene back for awhile now. After all, Naruto and Ranni know next to nothing about romance...which makes it hilarious to write and watch them stumble through it. In that regard, I hope this chapter brings a smile to your face.
Alright, then, this old man has kept you long enough now! I'll let you enjoy the story.
As ever, I own no quotes references, themes or memes. Not a wit or a one!
Here it is. What you've all been waiting for~! The "Thy" thing is a bit of a theme now. Do you like it, perchance?
"Ah, thou...would that I had met thee an age ago. How I would have loved ye...but no, your heart belongs to her now.
Be good to little Ranni. Make the journey. Fight in her stead, where she cannot.
Let them call your defiance blasphemy. It matters naught.
Do what you feel is right.
Stand! Rise! FIGHT!
~?
Thy Blasphemous Resolve
Naruto slept well.
Perhaps too well some might say; because he couldn't recall falling into bed in the first place. Meh, semantics. He was comfortable and nothing short of an earthquake was going to move him. Indeed the moment he awoke, his body's immediate instinct was to yawn, cuddle closer to Ranni, bury his head in her hair and go right back to sleep...
.
..
...waitaminute.
Blue eye snapped open with a start, suddenly and intimately aware of three very important factors. The first being the quartet of slender arms enfolding him; those pale fingers clasped tight behind his back. Of the second, her slim figure nestled against him. Third, her body pleasantly cool to the touch, even through those snow white robes. He barely even heard the creak of her joints, the faint sound as she shifted in her slumber. She felt real and solid and whole, despite her fragile form. His heart skipped a beat.
Against his better judgement, he looked down. "Ranni?"
Mercifully, she remained sound asleep.
Thank the Sage for small mercies.
Alright, his brain bleated, don't panic. There's probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. He just had to raise his hands, create a clone, then use a good old-fashioned substitution jutsu. She'd be none the wiser for it. Slowly now, carefully, wouldn't do to wake her.
The moment he twitched, her left eye fluttered open.
Naruto didn't dare move. Neither did she.
Something had to give eventually.
Much to his surprise it was her.
Ranni ducked her head. "Finally awake, are thee?"
"Me?" He scoffed at that, couldn't help himself. "You woke up after I did...and how did we get here?"
"'Tis no fault of mine." she pressed her forehead to his chest, bringing with it pleasant chill. "Be still. You had a fever. You've only just recovered."
That explained...nothing at all! "I do? I did?" Strange, he didn't remember falling ill in the first place. Kurama?
"You got burned by Rennala, remember?" a jaw-popping yawn followed hot on the heels of that reminder. "Wasn't was bad as she makes it sound, but you were pretty out of it by the end there. Apparently injuries inflicted by magic don't heal as quickly, hence the fever. Your little witch has been using her spells to keep you cool."
'She doesn't belong to me!'
"My mistake. You're clearly hers."
He sputtered indignantly, to no avail. 'Oi!'
"Maybe you'll remember to dodge next time and not get hit, eh?"
"You've been abed for the last three days, but you began to recover broke last night." Ranni continued at length, stifling his retort. "I cannot warm thy bed as I am now, but I can at lease hold thine body and help thee slumber."
...I appreciate it." What else could he say?
They lay in silence for awhile longer, neither willing to speak.
Ranni caved thirty seconds in and poked him. "You're still tense. Tell me what ails thee at once."
He shouldn't have. If he wasn't half asleep or near delirious, he never would've worked up the nerve. "You kissed me."
She hung her head at that, and lacking her hat, instead hid her expression in her voluminous hair.
"Yes." her voice sounded tiny. Small. "Does that bother thee?"
Naruto took a moment to ponder those words. Did it bother him? He already knew the answer. Not a jot, as Ranni was so fond of saying. He'd never really gotten to know a girl before, not like he knew her. Sure, she could be stubborn and stuffy, even a bit huffy if you teased her too much. She might even appear cold to the untrained eye. But once you got past that frigid demeanor, once you cracked her icy shell...she was so very warm. She trusted few, and loved even less, but for those she did, she'd move heaven and earth to help you. So, did her attention bother him?
...not at all."
He knew he'd said the words aloud when she gasped.
Right then, this was venturing into unknown territory he wasn't prepared for. Find a new heading!
"So what's eating you, then?" he quickly changed tact before she could call him on it. "You seem pretty stressed yourself."
She gave him a flat look. "There is no need to concern thyself with my woes."
"Ranni."
"Fine...fine." she made an irritated noise, but didn't let go of him. "'Tis this place. The academy is full of ghosts and old memories for me. Just last night I thought I saw Godwyn."
Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Who?"
Her face closed down. "Another time, perhaps."
He blew out a long suffering sigh. "Another secret, you mean."
...yes." the frankness of her admission didn't surprise him. "Of a darker sort. He was mine kin and I...I killed him." the admission seemed to take something from her. "Not intentionally perhaps, but my actions led to his death," she paused for a long moment, steeled herself, then continued. "And indirectly, the Shattering that followed."
Oh. That...that was a lot to unpack.
"Art thou satisfied now?" she didn't look at him, much to his chagrin. "I am a foul and rotten witch. If thou wish to divest thyself of my services, I would understand."
Not a chance! Not happening! "This Godwyn guy...did you want him dead?"
Ranni's hands tightened around him, digging into his back. "Nay. If it were not him, another would have died that night."
He pressed her. "Did you take pleasure in his death?"
"Of course not! Who do you take me for?!"
"Then I'm sure he'd understand."
Ranni bit her lip. And he knew.
...he's not dead, is he?"
"Not...as such." she squirmed a little in his arms, but now it was he who held her, refusing to let her escape. "You must understand, the Night of the Black Knives did not go...entirely as planned. In the moment that I slew mine own Empyrean flesh and cast it away, so too did Godwyn "die" as it were. I escaped my body. My soul survived." there it was, a bite of cold anger in her words, that hint of self-loathing. "Godwyn's did not. His spirit is gone, but his flesh yet lives. I had hoped that he would go to his rest, not linger on as he as...
A bit difficult to wrap his head around, but he could understand it, at least in theory. "So he's alive then?"
Ranni's knee smacked his, only relenting when he ddn't let go. "I suppose one might see it that way."
He ran a hand down the small of her back. "You gonna tell me where he is?"
She shook her head. His right eye twitched.
"Raaannniii...!"
"Do not drag out my name in such a mater!" she glared up at him hotly, lone eye blazing in the low light. "I would not have you exposed to that...thing, to the abomination he has become. To go near Godwyn as he is now would have ye corrupted by Death itself, just like that stubborn dragon Fortisax! I will not have it! I won't!"
Her words rattled him. Dragon? No, nevermind that. "Someone already tried?"
"And failed." she clicked her tongue at him.
"Look, I ain't gonna die-
"You misunderstand." she shook a little against him. "There are worse things in this world than death."
Naruto stilled, retort withering on his tongue. Rennala and Radahn. One lost to the madness of her own mind, the other festering with scarlet rot. Radagon, vanished to parts unknown. Rykard and Godwyn, made monsters by circumstances well beyond their control. And poor Ranni, shackled to the body of a doll, unable to truly experience the world in its entirety.
Yes, there were worse things than death.
He pressed his head into her shoulder, unable to ignore the faint hitch in her breath.
"Fair." he allowed. "But I ain't got a clue what to do next."
Even now the admission rattled him a little. Rennala was still...not quite right in the head, but she was better than before. She wouldn't attack them. Who did that leave then? Rykard? Radahn? Radagon? Maybe Godwyin if he pulled out a miracle? He was terrified of breaking Ranni, both her body and her heart.
Some of his anxiety must have shown through; because Ranni tugged at him.
"I would ask ye to wait. Allow Blaidd and I to recover."
"You know I can't do that." He couldn't wait. Not when he knew others were suffering. "Your family's hurtin' people."
"..."
"You said yourself, you don't know where your old man ran off too. Maybe he's safe somewhere. That doesn't change the fact that Rykard and Radahn are hurting others. That and...well..." a pained grimace stole across his features as he remembered the grisly details Seluvis had give him. "Eating people...
"'Tis no fault of Radahn." Ranni ran a fractured hand across his chest. "He was a noble warrior, once. Honorable to a fault. He would have liked you, I think. Before Malenia ruined him with the Rot."
"Wait, wait, you have a sister, too?!"
"Half-sister." she spat. "A stubborn and prideful wretch who would sooner corrupt an entire continent than admit defeat.
"Sounds like me and my fists need to have word with her...
"Pah!" She barked a bitter laugh at his remark and curled into him. "T'would certainly be amusing. I do not wish to kill mine kin, but what's done is done. If death is the only release we can grant them...then so be it. But I tire of this. I would return to mine slumber."
She rolled away from him, her back to his, only to scoot closer. She made no move to escape.
When she finally spoke, Naruto found he had to strain to hear her.
...might I ask you to hold me, just for a little while?"
Heat rose to his cheeks. How could he say no?
"Sure thing. Whatever you want."
Sleep came quickly.
(.0.0.0.)
"How're ya feeling?"
Blaidd groaned and raised a trembling arm from where he lay. "Like death warmed over."
"Heh." A rueful smile tugged at Naruto's mouth as he plonked down in a chair. "Look like it, too. Or maybe that's just your ugly mug."
...you're lucky I can't get up. Just you wait. I'll tear strips out your hide once I can walk again."
He couldn't help but chuckle at that."Promises, promises...
Sprawled across no less than three conjoined cots, the half-wolf didn't look much pleased to be out of his armor, much less abed and wrapped in bandages. He'd acquitted himself well against Rennala, a stubborn warrior through and through, but he'd taken his fair share of wounds all the same. He wouldn't be up and about for awhile yet.
"How's she doing?"
"She's...better." Naruto fought down a yawn. "Still sleeping, though. Managed to swap myself with a clone and wriggle away."
"And lady Rennala?"
He grimaced at the reminder. "They cried for a bit last I saw 'em, but I think they'll be alright."
Ranni's shadow made a noise that might've been a laugh, of perhaps a gravely grunt. Hard to tell. Still, even with his wounds, his mind stood sharp as ever.
"You're wearing your armor."
His head inclined a fraction of an inch. "Noticed that, did you?"
"Ranni's tuckered out. She expended an awful lot of energy to get here quick as she did, and that's taken a toll on her." when he saw his pensive expression, he barked a laugh. "Don't worry, she'll be right as rain in a few days...but you're not going to wait that long, are you?"
"We don't have "a few days", Blaidd." Naruto steepled his fingers and laid his chin atop them. "You of all people know that."
"Aye," his head fell back to the pillows. "I doubt Radahn will much mind as he is now...
"And those Recusants you told me about? You said you saw a scout near here."
"She's not around anymore. Moongrum checked."
"And what do you think that means?"
Blaidd opened his mouth to retort. Closed it. "Blast. That's a big fish you're going after. I'm in no shape to fight, mate. Not for long."
"I know. I healed you as best I could...
"An' I appreciate it." a hand waved loosely, unable to reach him. "If not for you I'd be laid out for months rather than of a few days."
The silence was his answer.
"You know, I don't much like the idea of you doing this alone." Blaidd rumbled. "Don't do anything foolish out there. Ranni loves you, I think. She'll cry if you die."
Naruto's throat closed, strangling any crass reply he might have given in kind.
Blaidd chortled. "Speechless are we? Never thought I'd see the day."
"Not another word." Naruto grumbled. "I'll bite you."
"Probably how she likes it."
"BLAIDD!"
(.0.0.0.)
"And where art thou going?"
Naruto paused midstep, one foot through the door.
Of all the people he'd expected to challenge him, he'd not expected this.
"Well," he pivoted, shouldering his pack. "I didn't think you would leave your library."
"Dear boy," Rennala scoffed as she stepped out the shadows to loom over him. "I am mad, not paralyzed."
His gaze drifted to her right hand, nothing a rather unfamiliar weapon there. Rennala had a new staff; something forged of purest green crystal. He could feel her mana swelling, even now. No surprise there. That awful Rebirth, though it had failed to strip her memories away as intended, had left her body both younger and far stronger than before. She stood before him now in her prime, just as she had stood before Radagon on that fateful day, ready to lash out at the slightest provocation.
Unlike him, Naruto stand his ground. "You wanna rematch?"
He saw her consider it. And then: "My daughter intends to court thee."
"Eh?" he blinked, somewhat taken aback. "That's an odd way of saying Ranni likes me."
"You don't seem to understand," Rennala ground her teeth, almost ready to call him a knave again, then swallowed the word. Her smile was bright, a light to burn through her madness, if only for a moment. "When I say courtship, I mean mine daughter intends to have thee as her husband come the end of this." his eyes widened and, so too did hers narrow. "'Tis a battle not even Queen Marika herself, nor the Greater Will shall save thee from."
Naruto's jaw clicked open. "Bwah?"
Then his temper sparked. Greater Will? Marika? What good where they?!
"Screw them! If the Greater Will and this "Queen" would let the world fall apart like this, then why should I care what they think?!" He slashed a hand back, reaching for the Bloodhound's Fang on his back. Firm fingers curled around the hilt, but he didn't draw it. "I say its time to for a change."
.
..
...ha!"
He wasn't prepared for her laughter.
Rennala bent double, one hand flying to her mouth as her shoulders shook, body physically convulsing with mirth. Naruto found himself balking at her, unsure what to make of such a sordid display. This madwoman, this once former queen, giggled herself silly. She laughed until she cried, then laughed some more, shuddering until she was spent.
Naruto dared to edge forward. "You, ah...okay there?"
...I am well enough." She straightened slowly, wiping a lonely tear from the corner of her eye. "You truly are like mine husband...and yet more than he ever was." another giggle shook her shoulders before she managed to master herself. "How he would have hated you. Ye would have been a heretic in his eyes."
Something hardened in his heart of hearts and he found himself lifting his chin in mulish defiance once more. "If I'm a heretic for trying to do right by Ranni and this world, then so be it."
"Are you prepared to sully thyself for her?" the queen of Caria pursed her lips in a thin line and tilted her head, dark tresses obscuring her right eye. It reminded him so much of Ranni. "To bloody thy hands?"
A lifetime ago, he would've said no. Now? Hindsight was a remarkable thing. He'd killed before in the past, or fought with intention to kill. If that was what it took...
"I'll do what I have to do." he said at last, raising his head to glare bloody blue daggers at the woman Ranni once called mother. "No more, no less."
Rennala's gaze went half-lidded. She stalked forward. Naruto tensed, ready to dodge away.
Pale palms seized his face. Warm lips alighted upon his forehead.
His world froze.
"Ah, thou...would that I had met thee an age ago." as he stood there aghast, Rennala drew back, gazing longingly at him. "How I would have loved ye...but no, your heart belongs to my daughter now." a hand came down to pat his head, as a mother might her wayward son."Be good to little Ranni. Make the journey. Fight in her stead, where she cannot. Let them call your defiance blasphemy. It matters naught. Stand. Rise. Fight. Do what you feel is right.
"Oi!" He swallowed thickly, unprepared for the sudden surge of emotion. "Did you just give me your blessing to-
"Now go forth, brave warrior." Rennala spoke over him, drowning his words out. "Prove thine worth, make yourself worthy of my daughter's hand. And know this, if you betray her...
Her staff flicked out and perched under his chin, glintstone blazing blue.
...I will feed thee thine own heart.
"Don't have to tell me twice. I ain't gonna turn on her. Not for nothing."
It was enough for her. Rennala stepped aside.
Off he went.
(.0.0.0.)
A golden flash heralded his arrival.
Iiji looked up from his worn tome, helm clinking as he raised his gaze to meet the newcomer. He knew who it was, of course. Ever lacking subtlety, this one. Sure enough he found Naruto standing before him, body shining brighter than the Erdtree itself, though such a thought was blasphemy. Such a curious ability. The irony was not lost on him. For if Lady Ranni sought the Age of the Stars and Moon, then the young man before him made one dwell on a different era. The Age of the Sun.
The Moon and the Sun. Night and Day. One could not exist without the other
What an amusing -and fitting!-twist of fate. Ah, but to business.
"How can I help, my good fellow?"
"I need a weapon." Naruto planted a fist on his hip, uncaring as the old troll took up his hammer once more. "Something durable; something strong enough that it won't break when I use it." he laid the Bloodhoung's Fang on the anvil before him with a solemn expression. "This is good an' all, but it'll snap if I swing full force. I need something better. Fireproof, too."
The old giant quirked a greying brow. "Something to slay a Serpent, perhaps?"
The silence was his answer, and amusing it was. "How did you...?"
"Come now, I'm old, not senile. I've just the thing...
(.0.0.0.)
Ranni woke some time later.
She could no longer feel warmth, but she still noticed the absence of a weight curled around her, and the faint peace that came with it. Sitting up only confirmed her mounting dread; a cursory glance all the moreso. Sure enough, she found herself alone, not a hint of him to be seen.
"Fool of a boy. Where did he go this...time...?
Her words trailed off as she beheld the note on her pillow, written in loose, familiar scrawl.:
"I'm headed to the Volcano Manor. See you in three days.
Please don't be mad at me. I'm doing this for you.
Don't worry, it'll all work out."
~Naruto.
Rykard. He was going after Rykard, though whether to slay or save him she knew not.
The note crumpled in her grasp. "He didn't go there alone. Surely not!"
...of course he had!
She smacked a hand into her pillow and tried to stand, only for her legs to buckle. Blast it all. She wasn't recovered enough. T'was not fair. She wished she could do more. She wished she could feel him. She wanted to run her hands through his hair. To experience his hands as they held her, to breathe in his scent, to hear him cry her name as she rode him unto blessed release.
The floodgates were open now, the dam burst. All the emotions she had striven to conceal and control and corral were set free and there was naught she could do abou tit.
She couldn't banish them, no matter how much she tried.
Worse, she knew she could have these things in a heartbeat. She had but to ask. Or rather, she should have. With both his skill and ring in hand, he could craft her a body true, and blessed as her consort forevermore. It would be so easy.
She had but to reach out to her miniature doll -she knew he still had it-and ask for such. He might yet turn around, and then, rejuvenated, she could join him.
And yet she couldn't do it. Not yet. No matter how she might wish it so.
To do so now, with her Two Fingers still alive and their Baleful Shadows yet active, would be her ruin. They would surely notice such an ascension; once they did, they'd send everything they had at her. Assassins would be the least of her worries; they'd send their Tarnished, their leal hounds, their It would undo everything she had worked for. Her new form might even be safe from their influence...might.
But if it wasn't...they would bind her. Take her. Use her. No. She couldn't do it.
Caught between desire and duty, she snarled into her pillow.
"You'd best come back alive...
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto took one look at the Volcano Manor and sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this...
He tugged up his cloak to hide his face and stalked down the rise.
The things we do for love.
A/N: Next time? TOGETHAAAAA!
Sorry, but Ina's got me rolling after that bit.
Not gonna lie, the temptation to write some Rennala romance was there...but this is a single pairing story, and I bloody well meant it!
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this little tale. Sad to say, but if folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs during the holidays so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And have some previews.
Granted, some are far off, but still...
(Previews)
"This place is full of monsters and madmen. It should be burnt down."
A long pause followed his words. And then: "...do you consider me a monster, good sir?"
Naruto blew out an angry breath. "Not you. You're a little cinnamon roll. But you need to leave this place. Now."
"We must be better than this!"
"Will you not have an audience with our lord?"
The spear sang in his hand. The Serpent fell.
"Wake up, you slimy bastard!" he planted a golden boot in the gravel and glared up at the serpent. "I know you're in there!"
...very well. You! Join the serpent king as famillllyyyyy!" And so the abomination spoke; his low, rasping voice filling the chamber. "Togetha, we shall devour...the very gods!"
"How's about you fuuuuuuuck right off!" he drawled. "Its Rykard I wanna talk to. The real Rykard. Not...whatever you are."
"You would daaaaaaare defyyyyy the Ssssssserpent King?"
"Sure would." The spear clanked down against the volcanic floor. "Because I have a dream. You did too, once upon a time. Have you forgotten?" As the abomination glowered at him, he lowered his arm. "That's alright. From one mosnter to another...
His body swelled with golden light as Kurama howled to life around him, gaining size and mass...
...we'll MAKE you remember."
Rykard raged as he fought.
This man's intents were no doubt blasphemous, for he sought to rise against the Erdtree.
And yet, he did not sacrifice himself in search of strength. He was pure. Whole. Hearty even, his resolve untainted by power. "You were everything I wanted to be!"
R&R~!