Shattered Destiny

Chapter 31: Empty

"Mul Qah Diiv!" What was once a child, is now an adult human sized dragon, the blue magic leaking from the dragon's body is contained by astral scales that form across the body giving him the shape of his old form.

"KILL IT!" The jonin of the Lightning team shouts.

Alduin roars, lifting off of the ground by his own power. "Su Grah Dun, Wuld Nah Kest!" Wind gathers around the dragon, and then he catapults forward, thrusting a wing into the offending Lightning Shinobi and launching him back and to the ground breathless, with broken ribs.

With a yelp the still standing shinobi thrust kunai into the scales, only to watch as they become lodged in the spectral scales, leaving the dragon unharmed. "Yor-" The Dragon faces one and opens his mouth. "Toor-" The back of his throat lights up and the shinobi leaps back. "Shul!" A wave of flames bursts forth, missing the shinobi by mere feet as the inferno blazes past.

The shinobi still next to the dragon electrifies her kunai and attempts another plunge, while the blade doesn't go any deeper the electricity does.

In response Alduin whips his tail around knocking her down. "Zii Los dii du." The light of life snuffs out as a second mortal soul is devoured.

"What… are you?!" The last standing shinobi demands.

"I am Alduin, the first- Wuld!" Alduin speeds to the shinobi and rams a wing into his face, knocking him to the ground. None may stand against the World Eater.

With a triumphant roar Alduin takes off, flying towards the mist wall unhindered.

But once Alduin passes through the barrier, it's a different story. The village is built into the sides of the mountains poking out from the mist wall. Alduin lands on one of these buildings and lets out a challenging roar, attracting the attention of everyone in the conflict. "Dragon!" Someone shouts.

"Yor Toor Shul!" Alduin lights the building on fire by spitting flames into a window, the force of the flames pushes through the floor and down onto another level of the structure. Some shinobi break off from the Stormcloak offensive and rush to face the dragon torching their homes when two stop them.

"Deal with the invaders, we'll take care of the 'dragon'." The Raikage tells his shinobi.

"Yes Raikage!" The Shinobi turn their attention back to the main gate, and the Stormcloaks that're rushing through. "Let's go, B."

"We'll make that Bakayarō regret coming here."

Alduin takes off as the building he's on is engulfed in flames, the Kage and Jinchuuriki chase after him, making it to the next rooftop before Alduin can set fire to it as well. Alduin pauses, hovering in mid air watching the shinobi. "I recognize you, but I don't know from where." Alduin tells Bee.

"And you look like the Heir of Akatrash, but there's no way you'd be back in the fight less than a month after dying." Bee shakes his head.

Alduin laughs sadistically. "You dare mock the names of the nine divine, and my father?"

"Enough." The Raikage demands. "Leave my village or die."

"The only one who can kill me is the Dovahkiin, and neither of you have his spark." Alduin announces their folly. "Fus Ro Dah!"

The Lightning shinobi hold their ground against the powerful shout, tiles of roof being flung at and around them. The moment the shout ends Killer Bee throws a chakra tentacle at the dragon, slamming just under the wing and sending the world eater careening to the side and into the side of a mountain. "If we're going to fight him, we'll need to clip his wings."

"The Bakayarō will never see the lariat coming." The two are already running for the dragon, Alduin pulls himself out of the mountain and throws himself off into the air.

"Yor Toor Shul!" The Raikage slides down the mountainside and avoids the burst of flame while Killer Bee hops further up the mountain to avoid the scorch mark.

The Raikage leaps off the mountain, electricity crackling and an arm pulled to deliver an aerial haymaker.

Alduin flaps his wings and pushes himself backward to avoid the strike. "Fus Ro Dah!" The shockwave pushes the Raikage back into the mountain, and pins him there as the World Eater maintains the shout, shaking the mountain with the pressure.

"To soar is the dream of man, but flight belongs to the Bakayarō, Konoyarō!" Killer Bee leaps at Alduin, an electric blade aiming for a wing.

Alduin has to stop shouting to stabilize, but the wound inflicted was superficial. The Raikage gets up and jumps out of the way of another Unrelenting Force and joins Bee lower down the mountain. "You said his name's Alduin?"

"The Bakayarō? Yes."

"We can't maneuver to perform a double Lariat with him in the sky, and we can't ground him with his natural armor."

"Fo Krah Diin!" The lightning shinobi have to dodge or be frozen in place by a wave of frost.

"We can't, but Eights can."

"Get him out of the village first."

"I'm no Bakayarō, Konoyarō." Bee says with a chuckle.

"We'll see." The Raikage says with a grin.

Alduin strafes the mountain, scorching everything in his wake between him and them, including an unlucky home.

Killer Bee stands in the way, and a tendril slams into the dragon, attempting to grab him as the flames go wild.

"Wuld Nah Kest!" Alduin launches away from the jinchuuriki's grasp and out of the mist wall, not for long, but long enough to move the fight.

The jinchuuriki chases after Alduin, and the Raikage turns his attention to the Stormcloaks.

"Akatrash!" Killer Bee calls out. "Right here." He leaps away from the village.

Alduin, ever prideful chases after. "Tiid klo Ul!" He speeds up. "WuldNahKest!" And accelerates into the shinobi, his wing slamming into Killer Bee's back, knocking him off his feet and into a tumble down the mountain and down into the valley surrounding the village.

Killer Bee recovers from the tumble and slides the rest of the way, avoiding Alduin's strafing runs. "Okay Eights, you ready to smack some Bakayarō's?"

"There is only one energy in Alduin, the Jinchuuriki is suppressed to the point that I cannot sense him."

Killer Bee's form starts changing, growing and morphing into the Eight Tailed Beast. "Alduin is controlling him, we'll knock the Bakayarō into submission and show him who's the true Killer, Bee." Killer Bee raps.

Alduin backs off, watching the transformation. "So, this is the Bijuu's true form." He notes interested. "But have you gazed into Oblivion!?" And with that, Alduin lets out a roar and the sky cracks open as meteors begin to fall.

He continues roaring, widening the cracks and expanding the web across the sky, allowing for more meteors to fall, and far larger ones. The Eight Tailed beast uses it's tails to deflect the meteors from the village. "Bijūdama!" An orb of darkness forms in the beast's mouth and he launches it into the sky past Alduin, to detonate it behind him and where it doesn't have a chance to damage the village.

The shockwave pushes Alduin forward as the resulting turbulence knocks him around. Seeing the opportunity, a tail whips around and slams the dragon into a nearby mountain, sending boulders flying from the collision. He repeats the slam not once, not twice, but three more times, using the rest of his tails to block as many meteors as he can.

There's an explosion of electricity from the warzone as the Stormcloak line is pushed back. As the Eight Tails lifts its tail up, Alduin slowly pulls himself out of the indent that was made, his scales fading, leaving him unprotected. "I can't die… I am Alduin, the First... born-" And he collapses where he stood, a wing bending the wrong way and a flattened tail.

He shrinks back down to his human form as the last vestige of his energy is spent, an arm bending the wrong way. "He's still alive." The Eight Tails tells Killer Bee.

"We'll deal with him later, for now we have bigger concerns." They turn to face the siege.

I can't believe how ready I was to hand control over to Alduin, did I hurt anyone? What was I thinking!? I wasn't… it was like I lost the ability to think properly when everything broke like that. I curl up in a ball, something's wrong with my arm, but that doesn't matter.

The Hyperventilation begins.

I don't feel like the skin I wear is my own, more like I'm filling the void while a being far more powerful than I am, far more angry than I am, roams the stars without a body.

A vessel, far too small and weak for a being so powerful, waiting for the moment that it is strong enough to hold it. It's horrible.

…

…

…

I don't want to be a ninja anymore, I don't want this bloodline anymore.

Alduin can go to Oblivion for all I care. My arm itches.

"I don't care if he's a shinobi, or that you're the Kage's secretary." Is that… Mama? A-are we back in Kirigakure? Am i finally… Home? "We want nothing to do with shinobi, period." Mama sounds furious.

I pull myself up from the bed, my arm is in a cast even though it's not broken. "Ever since he's become a genin, he hasn't had a single day where he wasn't on duty, the boy's nine!"

Jin hops on my lap, nuzzles my cheek, and lets out a squeak. "Hey Jin, am I... home?" I ask, just to confirm.

He nods, and my eyes tear up. "I don't want to be a shinobi anymore, Alduin… Took control."

Jin lets out a squeak and scurries off with purpose. "Jin? What's wrong boy?" Papa calls as the otter bolts out of my room. How long was I out this time? I sigh. That's the third time I've had to ask that question this month.

"I'm not asking him to mobilize, I just want to check up on Keiki-kun." The secretary calmly states. "It's important." The Secretary hesitates, and then stops.

I get out of my bed, my heart aching with each step. The door creaks as I open it enough for me to walk through.

All conversation ends, waiting on me. With a deep breath I push forward towards the front room. "Keiki!" All five people in the room shout in unison.

My parents stand to rush to my side, but the shinobi secretary is faster. "Are you okay?" The secretary looks me in the eye and clasps my shoulders.

Anger fills my soul, rivaled only by Alduin's rage for mortals. Without thinking about it I swing at him as wild energy rips the cast apart.

The Secretary screams in pain and recoils as claw marks rake across his face. Shocked, I clutch the metamorphed arm and take deep breaths. "Keiki?" My mama asks in a tone that breaks my heart.

Once I calm down the energy calms down and my arm changes back, leaving an echo of the pain of the transformation, it's never been this intense before. The Secretary scrambles away. "I knew it was a mistake to trust that you'd keep that thing under wraps!" He screams at me, scrambling out the door clutching his face.

Goro calmly approaches me, and blue energy threatens to yet again resurface, but there are a few reasons as to why I fight it down. "Can you forgive me?" He asks, kneeling and looking me in the eye.

I close my eyes and slowly cry. No longer will Alduin effect me. Instead of speaking, I throw my arms around my old mentor in a hug. "Alduin kept me mad, I'm sorry, Goro-sensei."

"It's alright." He hugs me back, glad to finally put this behind us.

"Alduin?" Papa is standing behind Goro, a concerned look on his face.

"Do you want to tell them, or should I?" Goro asks.

"You can." I wipe my eyes.

My sensei stands and turns to address my father. "Alduin is a Dragon residing within Keiki, he's the reason why he suddenly has a bloodline that can defy death."

Papa nods slowly, letting the information digest. "Do we know where 'Alduin' came from?" Goro shakes his head in reply. "Do we know what he wants?"

Goro turns to me. "Revenge, on every mortal alive." I answer sadly.

"Can you keep him locked away?" Mama finally asks.

"It used to be that he'd only surface if he called his name, but something changed." Goro answers for me.

"Who's that?" I point at the fifth figure in the room, who'd remained silent the entire time.

"Hey." A skin grafted hand rises from under the cloak.

"Koi-sensei!?" I choke on the words.

"Yeah, finally allowed to wander outside of the hospital, thought I'd pay a visit to the nearly immortal genin." She jokes. "It's strange seeing you without so much as a scratch, after what abuse you've taken."

"Wh-what is she talking about, Keiki?" Mama asks authoritarian.

"I, uh…. Can heal any wound as long as I don't die." My face turns a bright red.

Koi lets out a series of coughs. "Does that include, let's say… Losing an arm?" Papa asks casually, and both Koi-sensei and I don't make a sound, unsure how to explain. Papa looks between us, then double takes several times eyes slowly widening. "He-WHAT!?"

I nod simply. "I'm sorry." I say simply.

"I'm feeling faint." Mama sits down on the couch and papa moves to comfort her.

"Goro-sensei, how did the Stormcloak Siege end?" I finally ask him.

"I don't know, I got the team together and beelined it back to Water as fast as we could, and thanks to the Shark Clan we made excellent time… for all I know they could still be going at it."

"Stormcloaks?" papa asks.

"Tell you what, I'll tell you everything later, but for now let's be happy everyone's still alive."

"What about Junchi-san, Mei-chan?"

Goro points out the door. "Outside, unsure how to talk to you."

Oh.

"How are you feeling?" Goro asks.

"I don't want to be a shinobi anymore, I don't want to use Alduin anymore, I don't want to-"

"Keiki! Calm down." Papa calls out reassuringly. "Deep breaths, I don't want you to suffocate… if you can that is."

"I want to stay home…"

"I'll speak with the Mizukage, hopefully without the secretary making things worse." Goro lets out a sigh. "Not your fault, you're still stressed about everything that's happened."

"Yeah… I'm not going on any missions anymore, I refuse!"

"I'll join you on that." Koi chuckles, she couldn't go on another mission even if she wanted too. "But… I'll have to ask that you keep Alduin a secret, no one outside of this room, and Goro's team, and the Mizukage, are to know about Keiki-kun's secret, okay?"

"Will people treat him like a Jinchuuriki?" Mama asks.

Koi-sensei pulls back her hood, revealing a battle scarred face and looks at mama in the eye. "Yes, and having a Bloodline won't make things any better."

Both of my parents nod in agreement. "I have a question…" Papa looks upset with his question already.

"What is it?"

"Have people… given up their children because of bloodlines?"

Goro and Koi share a look, and they nod. "And worse." Koi answers sadly. "Very few shinobi know about Keiki's bloodline, fewer still of Alduin."

"Will we have to move?" Papa asks.

"Depends on if our secret leaks, you might need new ID's if it happens."

"Please no." Mama looks like she's about to cry, and it's like a spear through the heart.

"We'll do our best, mister and misses Sekine." Goro promises.

"With what good I can do." Koi chuckles.

"You are still a trained jonin." Goro reminds her.

"So I'm told." She waves it off. "Don't feel like it anymore."

Goro looks down at me with a smile. "We'll take care of it, don't worry Keiki-kun."

I look between my old mentor and my old sensei, and nod. "Okay, we can stay with my parents until everything is over." Papa announces.

"But they're all the way in Iron, we'll have to pass through half of fire to get there." Mama groans, and both jonin tense up.

"What?" Papa noticed, as did I.

"Nothing, that's a long trip." Koi answers quickly. "But not a… bad plan?"

"Then it's settled, if you need to reach us in Iron, look for the Sekine household." Papa stands. "I'm trusting the fate of my family in your hands, Goro-sama, Koi-sama."

Both shinobi nod and I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe I can finally wind down and be myself for awhile, no pressure to use Alduin, no pressure to kill anything, no pressure to protect anything. I smile with relief. "I'm going to say goodbye to Junchi-san and Mei-chan first, okay?" I tell my parents.

"It'll take a few days to get everything packed and loaded onto the boat." Papa tells me. "You have time."

Goro and Koi both let out sighs, and I smile, glad I'm not the one with the enormous mission for a change.

===To be continued===

Authors notes: It's been a long journey, but I'm calling it here, for now anyways. I'll return to the Shattered Destiny world (there is a lot that can happen) someday, but for now I need to focus on other projects and other things. If you really want me to continue I have a (it will be on my profile...hopefully). But as things are, I can't keep making Shattered Destiny, I'm sorry, really sorry, it's the most popular fic I have but unfortunately it's not something I can continue doing as is.