A/N: Who says I only update RWBY stories?! What say you now?!
Yes, this is short.
Why, you ask? Because the SITE is cutting off anything longer than three thousand words! What the heck?!
Sorry for vanishing like that. Surgery will do that to you. Well, the main site's been down for nearly a week now, though reviews are slowly getting back to normal. Hopefully they'll be fixed soon?
The app works just fine now, but sadly, not a lot of people use it, so I'm not expecting much in the way of reviews. That's heartbreaking enough, but the gang and I are determined to endure until the site gets fixed. We know it will...eventually. Just gotta wait till the admins get a handle on the server.
Remember, the "Jack" here hails from a different timeline. A bad ending in "A Most Unlikely Berserker" if you will.
I mean, hell, she saw him die. Felt him perish and bawled her eyes out.
And as a result of that...her class...well...I could say it, but...
Obvious references are obvious and I own NOTHING~!
"MINE."
~?
A Most Unlikely Moment (Prelude)
He was alive. Alive, alive, alive~!
Jack's vision tunneled. Her entire world world narrowed to a single point.
Then she gathered her legs beneath her and launched herself at Lancer like a ballistic missile.
"Jack?"
To his credit, Naruto didn't try to run away from her. Maybe he knew better. Maybe a small part of his spirit core recognized her as she did him. Maybe he thought it was just too troublesome to have her chasing him across the forest like some madwoman. Who could say? Regardless, it didn't change the outcome. Mere moments before they collided, Lancer saw her coming and opened his arms. He willingly lowered his defenses, knowing she could kill him in a heartbeat if she so chose.
Something in her heart broke as she crashed into him. Because he'd recognized her.
"DADDY!"
She wasn't sure how, where, or why, but there could be no denying the spark of surprise burning bright in those midnight blue eyes. Did it have something to do with the Throne of Heroes? Some resonance related to the circumstances of their summoning? She didn't known and she didn't care. He was here. Nothing else mattered.
She tackled him headlong, bore him down atop the mighty branch, and pulled his head into her arms. "I missed you so much!"
Jack nuzzled her face against Naruto's neck, uncaring of the strangled sound he made as she crushed his head between her bountiful breasts. He made a strangled noise and in her innocent glee the killer ignored him and crushed him ever tighter. He was just as she remembered him. Sure his scent was a bit different and the clothes were a little off, but still! Daddy! Father! Papa! Other big words she didn't know.
"Can't...breathe...!
She looked down and found his face turning blue. Eh? Was she hurting him? Why was his face turning...blue? She'd only hugged him against her chest-
Oh. Ohhh.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Realization dawned and she released him with a cry, arms flailing as his head struck the wooden floor with a harsh clunk. "I'm still not used to this body!"
"I noticed...
Like it or not, she wasn't a child anymore. How easy it was to forget that sometimes. She'd wished for this, after all. For power. For her prime that never was. The Holy Grail had refused to give Papa and the others back to her, so she'd wished for the next best thing. Strength to avenge them; power to protect Papa when she inevitably found him again. Might that her old body -the frail form of an Assassin!- couldn't contain. There had never been any doubt in her mind. If shedding her old role was necessary, then so be it. Her old self died in that moment, and an Avenger was born.
She'd promptly used her new powers to destroy that wretched Grail.
Now she'd been summoned again by another, in another world, in another time. Of course, one would never know it by the way she was gazing upon the object of her affections.
"Are you...angry?" she touched a finger to her lips.
"Urk." Naruto slapped a hand over his eyes for reasons she didn't understand. "Don't...don't do that. I don't want to ogle someone claiming to be my daughter."
His words warmed her more than any gesture. He might not be Papa as she knew him, this might be a different class for him, but she desperately wanted to believe that they were one and the same. To even thing
Unfortunately, a certain someone disagreed with such. "Who the hell are you?! Where did you come from?!"
Naruto craned his neck. "Oh hey, Sola...why are the two of you? Guess I'm seeing double...
Jack whipped around when someone else called out to her; poisonous golden eyes narrowed to meet pale aqua orbs. It that blasted woman she'd glimpsed before, the one with fine clothes and rosy hair. Her mind whirled, pondering if she was a threat, only to dismiss her in the safe instant. Not a Servant. Magus, then. She must be Papa's master in this war. Jack didn't like the idea of another woman being anywhere near. Papa had Mama. He didn't need anyone else. Certainly not...whoever this was!
Something vicious stirred in her chest.
"Shut up." she growled at the maybe-maybe-not master. "One more word and we will end you."
"Sola." Naruto flailed an arm before they could come dam herself. "Don't. She means it."
The woman in question stiffened. "What would you have me do, then?"
"Maybe...give us some space for this."
He waved his hand and a secondary branch grew out of the one they were nestled on. Sola stepped onto it without hesitation and allowed herself to be drawn back, still well within sight, but now out of earshot. Jack took note of the display, watching it with idle curiosity. Berserker hadn't been able to do that. Just like that her attention snapped back to her fellow Servant.
"You recognize me?" she blinked rapidly. "Even though you're a Berserker?"
"Kinda?" Lancer scratched a whiskered cheek, looking just as shaken as she. "I've never met you before, but when I look at you, I definitely feel...something." He tilted his head to the right, considering her with keen eyes she knew all too well. "I don't know how to describe it." he thumped a fist against his chest. "Its like a part of me's laughing, happy to see you, but another's crying. Strange." His eyes flashed gold for a moment. "And I'm not Beserker. I'm a Lancer."
When his hand descended on her head, she nearly burst into tears.
"See, this is what I'm talking about." he murmured, stroking her head just as he once had when she'd been small. "I've never done this before, yet it feels...right. Weird. Did my other self treat you well?"
Her heart fractured anew.
"You were a Berserker." the words burst from her lips in a whimper. "You died in our War. Everyone died."
"Ah. Is that so?" She looked up and he blessed her with a small, selfsame smile, the same one she'd seen on the day of his death. "Well, then!" he pushed himself upright, supporting his weight on the points of his elbows, the better to look her square in the eye. "I'll just have to stay alive in his memory now, won't I? Although," his nose wrinkled, "I get the feeling I should say something else here."
Avenger felt a strange longing bloom in her chest. It doubled when he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.
"Welcome home, kiddo." he hummed. "You did good."
Never in her life had she needed something so much and never known until she received it.
When the tears came on again, Jack let them flow. She tried to cover her mouth to stifle the cry that followed, but that only made it worse. Despite her new body, she felt like a little girl again, weak and frail all over. Yet Lancer -Papa!- didn't condemn her for it. He just...smiled. Trembling hands latched onto Naruto's jacket and the skin beneath. Jack buried her face in his chest to hide her shame. She cried openly; great heaving sobs that wracked her from head to toe. She shouted and screamed and shrieked, as her heart ran through a gamut of emotions, fear, joy, loss, followed by fear again. Not a single word was uttered.
"There, there." still, he didn't flinch, even when her fingers bore bloody tracks into his flesh. "Its alright now. You're not alone anymore."
Naruto's free hand began to trace small circles against her back, and he began to hum a namelessly lullaby to her, just as he had when she was little. It felt like a lifetime ago. A simpler time. A happier time. Jack cried harder still. She knew it wasn't him. Not really. As much as she might wish it, Lancer wasn't Berserker. Memories and faded recollections could only do so much after all. He was a pale imitation compared to the original. Really, she couldn't hope for more. She knew she shouldn't. And yet...
"I'm not really him, you know." Naruto hummed. "I'm sorry for that. I wish I could be."
"I don't care." she wailed. "Don't let me go. Never let me go again."
He grunted against her. "Alright. If that's what you want."
Strong arms held her until her tears finally ran dry.
"I'm sure he's still out there. Waiting for you."
She slipped into slumber soon thereafter.
A/N: The site really needs to be fixed soon. Not sure I can last much longer.
Adult!Jack really is something, eh?
This was...not quite what I had planned, but this little prelude just evolved into this. Something short, something sweet, a teaser of things to come next month. Oh dear, did I say next month? Yup~! Now, I know I promised this chapter would be from Naruto's perspective, but Jackie went and stole the show out from under him. Coupled with the site issues, I didn't want to risk a long chapter for fear of a glitch wiping out the bulk of the chapter.
Really, everything is own by their respective media owners; I just play with their toys from time to time.
Reviews are Love, Reviews are Life, Reviews are Precious.
Every word counts, even if you think they don't.
So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews!
SPOILERS AHOY!
(Previews!)
"Papa~!"
Sola sighed.
"She's going to be clingy, isn't she."
"Don't be like that." Lancer kissed her cheek, sending her sputtering.
"Y-You! At least take me out to dinner first!
"Sure, if that's what you want...
"We're Servants. Murder is part and parcel to what we do."
"No. It isn't. Servants fight. You...you just kill. Like a machine. Its sad, really. One thousand stakes."
"What?!" The servant barely had time to blink before a swarm of sharpened wooden spears crashed down on them from on high.
"Hello...friend."
Naruto grunted and pushed himself upright. Pain bloomed in his shoulder as the knife there grated against bone. He reached around and ripped it free, scowled at the wound it left behind. The burning sensation there told another story. Poison? Somehow he wasn't surprised. He could already feel his arm going numb. He willed his chakra to it and it began to close...but slowly. Far too slowly for his liking. He was at a disadvantage here, yet he couldn't retreat. To do so would expose Sola and Jack. Not again. Never again.
"We're not friends, Kabuto. Never have been. You think yourself a sage?"
The forest began to stir around them, gradually coming to life.
One hand rose to his face, cupping a golden eye.
"Let me show you how wrong you are."
R&R~! =D