A/N: PLEASE READ THIS NOTE, WOULD YOU KINDLY?
First off, a WARNING!
This is quite possible of the most tense, if not vicious chapters I've ever written. Its got a bit of that Gentlemen vibe-the Matthew McConaughey one!-mixed with Wrath of Man and Dark Knight Rises added to it. What can I say? Being stuck at home's given me time to watch a few movies. That aside, this chapter really doesn't have all that much in the way of references. Everything's been building to this moment.
Hope you like it~!
As ever, the Embers rule remains in effect.
If folks don't like this story, POOF! Deleted. Away it goes. That's no joke.
So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! Reviews are fuel these days, and sometimes it feels like chatting with you all is all that keeps me going. Just wanted to thank you all for the feedback. Every bit of it helps. Really, it does.
Q: Did he get his memories back?!
A: Read and see.
Q: ...Naruto's furious, ain't he?
A: He's already spent his wrath. Now? Now his head is filled with cold...icy...death.
Q: Can Naruto use his Faunus features to attack? I know he's reincarnated and all, but still...
A: Um...? You do realize he only has ears and a tail. The ears certainly allow for sensitive hearing, but why would he use the tail to attack? Someone could cut it off and he'd be in a lot of pain after that. No, it doesn't factor into his fighting style.
Q: Just how many semblances can Naruto take?!
A: As many as pleases, though he's avoided doing so. And do remember, he has one that he doesn't like to use..
Alright, then. I think I've kept you all waiting long enough, no?
As ever, I own no references, themes or memes. Not a wit or a one! They're merely tributes.
Now then, ask yourself this? What happens when a good man has a bad day? Not just any bad day, but a VERY bad day...?
"I made a promise. I swore to her I would never use this part of me, never, EVER again. But you know what?
Emerald ain't here right now. And I'm angry. Earlier, you told me you liked being in charge. Well...
...do you feel in charge, now?"
~An Awakening.
Do You Feel in Charge?
Emerald hurt.
Perhaps it would be better to say everything hurt.
Everything except her legs. She couldn't feel those. Not anymore.
But everything else hurt. Her arms, her face, her chest; even the physical act of breathing proved a drain by itself. Everything was blurry. She was vaguely aware of being carried. That only made her wound ache all the more. She whimpered, curling inward on herself. She didn't understand. Why was she bleeding out like this? Blast it all, she'd had her aura up! It didn't make sense. She'd been looking right at Roman, yet somehow she'd been shot. She was missing something here. But what?
"Its fine, you're gonna be fine...I'll get you to a hospital...
She looked up, realizing just who was carrying her.
In doing so she aw something else.
"You're glowing."
Naruto frowned down at his shimmering sleeves, which were indeed shimmering a faint flickering shade of gold. It cut a stark contrast with the literal blue fire spitting from his eyes. He looked absolutely livid, pulsing veins pounding on either side of his face, his jaw clenched so hard she could've heard his teeth cracking.
She looked down, saw blood on his hands Frowned. "...what did you do?"
"What I had to." He walked just a little faster. "That's not important right now."
Emerald squinted up at him, trying to place the curious expression he wore. She craned her neck, trying to look back, trying to see what he wrought. She saw bodies. Blood. That didn't concern her. They'd seen and done worse back in Vacuo. No, it was the look he wore that alarmed her. Why...why did he look so ashamed?
"Its alright." he promised, rambling on. "I'll fix this." she could barely hear him now. "Fix everything. Just hang on.
Emerald tried to speak. Tried to reassure him. All she managed was a gasp.
Her body failed her and she fell back into the black.
(.0.0.0.)
"How did the test go?"
Cinder considered the footage as she held up her scroll.
"Well enough, I suppose." she hummed as she watched it play out in live time from a hidden camera. "While I'm still uncertain if that girl's a maiden, our...other project performed marvelously." a small smile plucked at the corner of her mouth. "Be sure and thank our mutual friend, Watts."
"Naturally." the voice on the other end chimed. "I'll keep in touch."
Cinder held up the fruits of their labor, smiling at the single black dust round in her palm. At glance, it looked relatively harmless. Some might say it was...without a weapon to fire it. But it wasn't now, was it? This was so much more than a mere bullet. She turned turning it end over end in her grasp, admiring as one might a fine jewel.
In a sense it was.
Roman hadn't been the one to wound that fool of a girl. He lacked both the ability and the callousness to maim in cold blood. He'd simply been a necessary...distraction. Their scapegoat while a certain someone took the shot. The victims, as Sustrai's partner vented his rage upon them. Roman and Neo might even survive, if they received adequate medical attention in time. They were a necessary sacrifice to see what he was capable of. She'd learned much just by watching them.
"A pound of flesh, indeed." she winced a little as she regarded the grisly scene. "That was certainly vicious enough."
Such a shame he hadn't stayed to make certain they were dead. Mercury would have to finish what he'd started. She disliked loose ends. Emerald would likely live thanks to his haste. The sniper hadn't aimed to kill, only to wound. Her dead would be...an annoyance, to be sure, but only if she was truly the Maiden.
Pale fingers closed around the round, cradling it gently.
Here at last, her smile turned cruel. "This will change the world."
An aura piercing bullet; a singular round that struck its target and dissolved once its bloody work was done, leaving no trace behind. Not the first of its kind, and certainly not the last. Really, she'd have to thank their mutual friend for this. All that pride and prattle aside, his research was quite potent. She could see it now; weapons that mowed down huntsmen heedless of aura, bullets that butchered huntresses in droves. Once they manufactured this en masse, the world would be theirs.
And who better to test it on than that annoying slip of a girl?
"Everyone has their price." Cinder murmured to herself as she watched team Nebula hurtled past her her window. "I wonder what yours is? Money? No," her tongue rolled over her lips, licking them. "You have more than enough of that. Power? A thief has no need for such things. Love? No." her brow darkened as she watched them talk hurriedly with Adam and Illia, then race off campus. After a moment's pause, the two Faunus hurried after them. "You want to be loved. Adored. You want their respect. You crave their adulation." her brow grew stormy. "Friendships...bonds...that...
She scoffed.
...that is what makes you WEAK."
On a whim she turned back to the footage and considered it anew.
And in doing so, she saw something there she hadn't before.
Naruto had returned to the scene of the crime, yet Emerald was nowhere to be seen. No doubt he'd delivered her to the first hospital he could find. He'd proven his agility before. No matter. She could always strike at her there. It mattered not...wait. What was he doing?
Her brow creased in a frown.
Roman lay sprawled out on the tarmac where he'd left him, bleeding from his wounds. Yet for all that, he was still alive. His lips moved, and Naruto spoke something in turn. He made a curt slashing motion with his arm that had the dying man flinching. She couldn't hear what was said. Cinder frowned and magnified the feed to make sense of it. The footage was grainy at best and it lacked audio, forcing her to strain her eyes. Even then she couldn't read their lips.
As she looked on, Roman raised a trembling finger, dipped it in his own blood...and began to move it on the dry ground.
Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, so too did he write.
A single word was revealed to her.
Golden eyes bulged.
"C...in...?"
Cinder.
Horror dawned. He'd written her name. That traitor...!
"Uh, boss?" Mercury's voice trickled through her earpiece. "What now?"
Naruto's gaze snapped toward the hidden camera. To Mercury with his rife, blocks away. Eyes like a winter storm stared into the lens. A lone finger rose and slashed across his throat in a less than subtle gesture. Then he vanished in a whirl of golden light. Mercury swore softly.
Cinder's hand slammed against to her earpiece. "Pull back at once! Get out of there!"
A squeal of Static answered her.
"Mercury!" Respond!"
And he did. But not at all in the way she wished.
Her minion loosed a short, agonized cry; the kind of noise a dying man might make. An awful crack filled the air, accompanied by the sound of broken bones and rent flesh. For a moment she could've sworn she heard him beg for mercy, plea for an end, beg him to stop...stop...STOP...!
The silence that followed was deafening.
It stretched on into three seconds. Six. Nine, now.
Against her better judgement, Cinder swallowed once and spoke. "Mercury...?"
A low, familiar growl rose in her ear. "Mercury can't come to the phone right now. He's...indisposed at the moment."
Panic flared in Cinder's heart. She ripped the earpiece from her ear, flung it to the floor and stomped down on it. Then she incinerated it for good measure. This wasn't happening. She reached back and pinched her left arm, just to be sure. A spasm of pain shot across her skin. No. Not some fever dream. Something she'd imagined, perhaps? Unlikely.
She could handle this. He had no proof and only the word of a criminal. What could he do?
Still...
Her heart skipped a beat as she cleared her Scroll's history; the moment it did she slammed the device under her pillow. Why was she panicking? He couldn't prove anything; no, he wouldn't act without evidence. No one could implicate her. She was safe. Secure. Even if he acted against her in such a manner, the law would immediately set itself against him. He wouldn't dare risk his precious second life in such a manner. Yes, she was safe, she was secure, and no one was the wiser.
The door opened behind Cinder with a soft creak of rusted hinges.
It did not slam, did not crunch, didn't rattle in its frame. Someone opened it. Someone closed it. Nothing more. Somehow that was worse than any abrupt entrance they might have made. A strange heat suffused the back of her neck. She turned slowly, already knowing what -who!- she would find there. Still, she refused to believe it; just as she refused to acknowledge the icy fingers running down her back. How did he get here so quickly? The answer supplied itself readily. His semblance, of course. He could teleport to any marked location. He'd had all the time in the world to set up in Beacon.
Had he marked her room?
If so, why? Was he already suspicious of her...?
"Turn around."
Her legs betrayed her and obeyed his command.
"Don't get up on my account." Naruto eased the door shut behind him. "Make yourself comfortable."
His hand passed over the lock and did something to it; for the circuitry sputtered and died at his touch. Cracks spread across the wood where his fingers graced it. Rust in the metal handle of her door, as it wedged itself in place. Almost as if it had been...decayed. Had he always been able to do that?
Worse still was his appearance.
His clothes were spattered with blood and his eyes were no longer blue; not anymore. They were red. The awful slits of a fox masquerading as a man. His tail was wrapped round his waist, coiled so tightly as to resemble a golden sash. His ears were stiff atop his head, perked with anger. Yet for all that, he didn't explode. He did not shout. Nor did he scream.
"What's that, there?"
Her eyes flickered to the dust round, left upon the windowsill in her haste. Her fingers closed around it and melted it to dust. Losing one round didn't matter. Once the formula was perfected, there would be dozens like it. Hundreds. Thousands. The fools had no idea what awaited them. They needed only time. He couldn't prove anything. She just had to hold her tongue.
"Nice semblance ya got there."
She didn't like the way he said that. "Did you need something?"
Naruto didn't respond, not at first. At length, he spoke. "Sit down, Cinder."
Fall tilted her head just so, raven tresses concealing her left eye. "If its all the same to you, I think I'll stand."
"You don't seem to understand." His eyes pulsed at her barbed retort, almost glowing, twin coals within his skull. "I said....sit."
Something in his voice wiped away any concept of resistance in her mind. Her body betrayed her and she obeyed. A frown creased her face. What was that? It was as if her world had gone blank for a moment. A feeling of strange dizziness fell over her and she shook her head once to master herself.
Naruto sat on the bed opposite her. The mattress creaked a little under his weight. Yet still, he did not shout.
"Earlier today," he frowned at little, mastered himself, and continued. "I took a pound of flesh from someone. Several someone's really. You see," clawed fingers steeped themselves together, drumming restlessly against one another. "They hurt someone very dear to me. So I hurt them in return." he raised a bloody digit, frowned, then scrubbed at it with a cloth. "Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Evil for evil." his head inclined a fraction of an inch. "The doctors say she might be paralyzed, you know; that bullet passed dangerously close to her spine. Its a bit touch and go at the moment."
Cinder schooled her face into a regretful mask. "A tragedy.
"It is." his head bobbed. "But they weren't the source of the hit. Someone else gave the order."
Her heart skipped a beat. "Do you have any idea who it might be."
His eyes fastened to hers. "I have my suspicions."
"Why bring them to me? She took a chance. "Wouldn't it better if you told-
"Quiet."
There it was again. That feeling. Her lips sealed shut of their own accord.
She couldn't speak, even as her mind bleated in confusion.
"Now the question you need to ask yourself is this." Naruto leaned forward, planting both hands on either side of himself even as she leaked back. "If I was willing to maim the hired hands responsible for this dastardly deed, what might I do to the schemer responsible for said scheme?"
Cinder didn't answer. She physically couldn't.
Naruto waved a hand. "You may speak."
It was like a cord came out of her mouth, freeing her tongue. She gulped. "Kill them, I suppose?"
"Kill them?" he blinked once, then shook his head. "No."
Now it was her turn to blink. "No?"
"No," Naruto bobbed his head in agreement. "Death is easy. Quick. Final." he pressed two fingers to the right side of his head and mimed a gun. "Bang! One and done. You don't learn from death. Its part of the reason I refuse to kill, you see.
Cinder didn't like where this was going. She tried to stand-
"Didn't I tell you to sit."
Her legs obeyed like a mindless puppet, even as her mind shrieked in defiance. What witchcraft was this?! It wasn't fear that compelled her to obey; yes, she was afraid, but she hadn't reached that stage of wild, numbing terror yet. Despite that, she still found herself beholden to him. How was he controlling her?!
"Confused?" Naruto tilted his head, regarding her now with a sad smile. "Don't be. I'm going to enlighten you in a moment."
The aspiring maiden eyed him warily.
"You may not know this, but some years ago, I acquired a certain...Semblance from Vacuo. Nasty thing." he tutted, shaking his head. "I killed a man and stole it from him in a moment of weakness. Its something I swore never to use on my friends and family. I swore a blood oath that I'd never use it for evil. However...
His head rose.
...I never said I wouldn't use it against evil."
She needed to stall him. Think. Find a way out of this. "What kind of semblance...?"
"Mind control. Ripped from the body of one Jax Asturias." A rusty chuckle filled the air between the two of them. "He fancied himself the next King of Vacuo. He wasn't. At the end he was just a sad, strange little man who didn't know his limits. His sister wasn't much better...I broke my rule for them, you know. They died screaming."
It was the casual way he said it that terrified her. Mind control? That was a myth!
Naruto was speaking slowly, restraining himself, she knew. In truth, She would've preferred his wrath. His rage. She knew how to fight mindless berserkers, not schemers. Not the talkers. This? This was something new. As if she were staring back at a male version of herself. At someone who wouldn't be tricked or deceived, a warrior who couldn't be led around by the nose. She didn't much like it.
"Does this have a point?
"It does." his reply proved cutting. "I think you know what it is."
A beat of sweat ran down her brow, only to fizzle out into steam. "And what do you think I've done?"
"I think you orchestrated that hit on me and Emerald." here at last, a spark of rage pushed through his icy facade as he bared his teeth at her. "I think you're up to something." He wouldn't say what. "I think that bullet you just incinerated is going to be a problem, and I know you need to be dealt with before you cause even more trouble."
"You're accusing me of this?" A nervous peal of laughter escaped her. "I've done nothing wrong."
"Is that your final answer?" there was a low undercurrent to his voice just then, as though some great beast were speaking with him. "Choose carefully now..."I didn't even have to use this Semblance on Roman." Naruto shook his head. "He told me a great deal, even begged for mercy after I cut him. He wept and wailed, offering up everything he could. Some criminal he was. We're supposed to have class, you know?"
Fine. The jig was up.
"How was it, living a normal life?" she spat in his face. "Are you wiser now? Did you enjoy it?"
She wasn't prepared for his laughter.
"I did." he guffawed. "But if this is what it gets me, then I'm done with it. You know, they say there's no honor among thieves." his gaze rose once more to meet hers, heavy with the weight of years. "But really, there is. There are rules, y'see. You just broke all of 'em. Which is why I wanted to thank you."
She edged back, dreading the gleam in his eye. "For what, exactly?"
"For reminding me that its not wrong to use these gifts." Naruto spread his arms outward, eliciting a flinch from her, yet still he didn't attack. "I was born with the ability to take Semblances. Yet I felt ashamed of it. Why? I was given this gift. I should use it, no?"
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I know you'll never tell anyone. After all, you won't remember anything in a minute." his eyes sharpened. "Mind control they call it. Ha!" he barked out another laugh, harsh and angry. "Its not quite so simple as that. In truth, its more a contest of wills. Care to pit yours against mine?"
An awful pressure bloomed just behind Cinder's temples without warning.
She grimaced and touched a hand to her forehead. "Stop that."
Naruto ignored her demand. "Tell me the truth."
She should answer...no! Resist! "The...truth...?
"The truth."
Cinder recoiled with a start, crying out in pain as his mind pressed against hers from all sides. It was a slow, insidious thing, nothing like the direct control he'd utilized against her before. Oil in water, smothering her thoughts, weighing them down. She felt her very sense of self being eroded. She pushed back against, tried to grapple with it, to no avail. His will was implacable. Ice to her Fire. Her flames were were choked and strangled. She needed to move...needed to act...
Cinder surged to her feet. Not to attack, but to run.
Escape. Fly! Flee, before it was too late.
She slammed past Naruto and threw herself at the window. The glass held as her body crashed into it, sending her tumbling to the floor. She thrashed upright to drive a fistthrough it, uncaring as broken shards rent her arm. She tried to climb through...!
Naruto didn't bat an eyelash behind her. "Kneel."
His command hit her like a physical force; she made it all of a single step before that word slammed her down to the floor.
"I won't yield to you!" She spat up at him. "Never! I am in charge here...!"
A hand settled on her shoulder. "Do you feel in charge?"
"You have no proof! No evidence of anything!"
"And this gives you power over me?" Strong hands reached around, pulling her away from the window, back into the dorm. "You though you were important." he held her close, heedless of her struggles. "And you were...until now."
Cinder reared back and headbutted him with all her might. His only response was to spin her around.
She met his eyes. Mistakes were made. His gaze devoured hers, dark into ight. "What are you?"
"Formerly a shinobi. Then a thief. Now? Just a student; here to end you."
She tried to speak, but all that emerged was a keening whine as his mind pressed down on hers again. This semblance...it went beyond anything she'd felt before. It took her mind and broke it down, bit by bit, brick by brick. He pulled her thoughts apart and read them as one might an open book. No page was spared, no thought overlooked, no plot ignored. He saw it all, pushed through her barriers, knew all her secrets. He didn't stop there. He picked her apart, deconstructed her very sense of identity and kept going. With each passing moment she slipped away.
Salem had to be warned. She must be told...!
"You're...pure evil...!"
"I am necessary evil. And you?" Naruto's right hand came up, cupping her cheek. "You are nothing. You're going to tell me everything I want to know." his voice all but vibrated with the weight of his stolen Semblance now. Clawed fingers tightened, biting into her face. "Every plot, every scheme. Everything. And then?" his head tilted. "When I'm done with you? Emerald always wanted a pet. And like any good pet...
Cinder shrieked as a fresh spasm of pain racked her mind.
Naruto's mind crashed down on hers like a meteor.
"You need to be trained. Now...obey."
Her will shattered like so much glass.
Golden eyes glazed over.
"Yes...Master...!"
A/N: Congratulations, Cinder. You let the monster out.
It really does just take one...bad...day. Doesn't it?
As ever, the Embers rule remains.
If folks don't like this story, POOF! Away it goes. That's no joke.
So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
As ever, reviews keep this old man writing. Looking forward to chatting with you all! Hope you enjoyed!
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... ...Revieeew... Would You Kindly?
As ever, enjoy the previews! And of course!
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
(Preview)
Emerald wouldn't wake up.
"I'll save you. I will. Don't worry...
Blake tugged at his sleeve. "Are you...alright?"
Blank red eyes regarded her. "Of course I'm alright. I've never felt so alive."
Pyrrha winced. "That's what worries me."
"Come, let me show you what true resolve is."
Ozpin sighed. "You mustn't lose yourself to this power.
"I won't. Its the other way around, ya know. You see, I understand now. I've held back for so long. And the people I loved suffered for it. No more. NOT ONE MORE."
Maria whistled. "Right, he's scary when he's angry...
Freya nodded once. "Agreed...
Adam took one look at Cinder and winced. "What did you do to her...?"
"What I had to do. Come along, Cinder."
"Yes...Master...
"Nice semblance ya got there. Think I'll take it."
EDIT: Hope you enjoyed them!
As ever, the Embers rule remains.
If folks don't like this story, POOF! Away it goes. That's no joke.
So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
Really, feedback means the world to me...
...
...
...even if folks think it doesn't.
R&R~!