Identity Crisis
I don't own Naruto, The Flash, Young Justice, or any other properties.
"Well then, will conclude the meeting here," said Constantine as he formally ended the meeting of Justice League Dark.
"Before we go, I have a question," said Richard Blood, "Where is our fearless leader?"
"I've been wondering as well," said Katana before she looked at Zatanna, Cheshire, and Raven, "You three were the last ones to see her."
"You're guess is as good as ours," said Cheshire as she played with a sai.
"I personally haven't seen here since I found out she had been a drug addict," said Zatanna.
"Isn't there anything you can do to track her?" asked Deadman of Constantine.
"I don't think so," said Constantine after a moment of thought, "Ever since we first made contact, she has been studying magic religiously. I tried my most powerful tracking spell and couldn't find anything."
"Well, the Justice League, Young Justice, and the Teen Titans are looking for her as well," said Raven.
"Have you ever thought that she may not want to be found?" questioned Blood.
"She's going to kill herself," snapped Zatanna at Blood, "We have to find her."
"Easier said than done," said Blood as he drank some tea.
"There may be a way to contact someone who knows where she is," said Orchid as she appeared with pieces of a broken crystal in her hand.
Rio sat in the darkness of her own apartment, a half empty bottle of vodka in her hand and several open pill bottles on her nightstand. After she had confessed to doing drugs to the other members of Young Justice, they had tried to get her help but she quickly escaped, using her money to go into hiding. Having to move several times to avoid detection, she didn't have much with her. She had been spending the little money she got from odd jobs to get anti-depressants, sleeping medication, and alcohol off the black market.
Turning on a small light, Rio took a deep breath before removing her shirt and letting her sweaty body cool off. Lying back down on the bed, she gazed up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Just moments later, the echo of Savitar's laugh reached her ears before she blindly turned on the TV.
"The initial attack was short lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve," said the reported on the news, "And, despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."
Looking at the TV, Rio watched as the members of the League were having difficulty fighting off a monstrous amount of giant vines. The TV went to static all of a sudden before it showed the painted white face of the Joker, knocking on the camera he was looking into. Ignoring a little of what Joker was saying, Rio watched as he turned the camera to show his comrades that consisted of Poison Ivy, Black Adam, Count Vertigo, Ultra-Humanite, Atomic Skull, and Wotan. She threw the remote through the TV and held her head in her hands.
Gazing to her side, Rio looked at her old wedding ring before heading to the balcony while she put her shirt back on. The metal liquid spread out from under her suit, encasing her in her armor before she jumped off the balcony and through a Boom Tube.
The shaking ceased and everyone cautiously looked around.
"Please tell me that it didn't work," said Blood cautiously as Zatanna wrapped up the cut on her arm.
"I'd be lying if I said it didn't," said a very pissed off Death from against the far wall.
"Triple Bacon Cheeseburger?" asked Constantine as he quickly grabbed a bag and sat it at Death's feet before retreating just as quickly.
"You're just lucky you got it from my favorite place," said Death as she sat on the floor then pulled the cheeseburger out of the bag.
"Where's Rio?" questioned Cheshire.
"Don't know," said Death as she took a bite.
"What do you mean you don't know?" questioned Raven.
"She has a sigil carved into her flesh that prevents me from finding her," said Death after swallowing, "How she leaned about it, I don't know. Not even Reaper can find her."
"How could she vanish from your sight?" questioned Deadman, "You're Death."
"Very ancient magic," said Death as she pulled a fry out of the bag, "I thought that every trace of it had been extinct. Now, I'm busy. So, if there's anything else you need, talk fast."
"This is getting us nowhere," said Cheshire as she pulled a scythe from behind a chair.
"Thanks for returning that," said Death as she scythe appeared next to her that very instant, surprising Jade.
"Rio's speed," said Zatanna as she stepped forward, "We figure you're one of the only people that can restore it?"
"Do you?" said Death as she took another bite of her burger.
"She's dying of Speed Sickness," explained Zatanna.
"I've heard," said Death as she gave a subtle look of dismay toward the wall.
"And her hallucinations," said Zatanna, "They're destroying her psyche. She's even resorted to drugs."
"Quit shuffling and deal," said Death as she scowled at Zatanna.
"I want you to fix both those problems with her," said Zatanna confidently.
Death seemed to consider this before looking at Constantine.
"No drink?" she questioned.
Constantine instantly conjured a bottle of sake and hurriedly gave it to Death.
"Choose," said Death as she uncorked the bottle.
"Huh?" questioned Zatanna.
"Her speed or her sanity," said Death, "I only help people once, not twice. Pick one. And besides that, I require payment for it."
"Her sanity," said Zatanna without a second thought, surprising everyone, "I don't know how long she's been having these hallucinations. But if they're this bad, I don't know how long she's going to last. I don't how badly it's damaged."
"It's flayed to the raw nerve," explained Death as she swallowed the last of her burger.
Everyone looked at each other at how badly their leader's mind was as Zatanna tried to find the words to speak.
"Well, is there any way for you to… hack the raw part off?" she asked hopefully.
Death let out a sigh as she got to her feet and took a swig of sake.
"You don't know how bad Naruto's mind is," said Death in amusement as she walked passed Zatanna, "Her parents were killed in front of her and her wife was blown to atoms on their anniversary. What do you think the human psyche is? It's not the soul but still delicate. It can be bludgeoned, tortured, but never broken like some people think. Not even by me."
"Well, there's gotta be something!" said Zatanna.
"Maybe," said Death as she handed the bottle to Constantine, "I can't erase her hell. But I can put it behind a wall."
"A wall?" asked Raven.
"In her mind," reiterated Death, "A dam to hold back the tide," she closed the distance between her and Zatanna until they were an inch from each other, "Nasty, those memories. You haven't even seen the worst of what they'll do to her."
"Okay," said Zatanna nervously, "A wall. Sounds good."
"But it's not permanent," said Katana.
"Very good," complimented Death as she looked over her shoulder at the swordswoman before looking back at Zatanna, "Nothing lasts forever. Well, I do, but…"
"So, that's the choice?" asked Zatanna, "Rio with no sanity, or Rio with some drywall that, if or when it collapses, she's done?"
"Pretty much," said Death, "What's it going to be?"
She held up her hand and Zatanna looked at it.
"What's this price she has to pay?" questioned Blood.
"Her soul" said Death casually.
"What?!" exclaimed everyone else in the room.
"If she wants this for Naruto, it requires something of equal value to what she's asking for," explained Death as she turned to them, "Without this, your friend is as good as dead."
Zatanna grabbed her hand and Death looked at her with surprise.
"Deal," said Zatanna seriously.
Death pulled her hand away from Zatanna then waved it in front of her face. Zatanna felt something cold pass through her and staggered back.
"As soon as Naruto is located, I'll put that wall up," said Death before she held up her arms, showing Zatanna the smoky ethereal chain around them, "Now, if you don't mind."
"Dnibnu reh," spoke Zatanna.
The chain turned into a shower of particles and Death flexed her hands. Everyone blinked and looked around as Death had vanished along with the sake bottle Constantine had been holding.
Ultra-Humanite took aim at Robin and Miss Martian when a Boom Tube opened up to his left and Moon Knight jumped through, kicking both him and Poison Ivy away. The plants binding Miss Martian and Robin relaxed enough for them to escape and they ran. As Robin ran into the forest, Poison Ivy got up to stop him when Moon Knight got between them. The lower half of her mask retracted as she quickly made several hand signs then blew out a ball of fire at Ivy. Ivy shielded herself as Moon Knight jumped through the ball of flames and kicked her hard in the chest.
Jumping through a Boom Tube, Moon Knight came out over Wotan, causing him to drop his spell when she hit him in the head. Landing calmly on one knee, she charged Ultra-Humanite, her fist tearing through his gun and sending the simian back several yards.
"When did you get here?!" exclaimed Superboy.
Moon Knight ignored him before jumping through a Boom Tube to get between Kid Flash and Count Vertigo and Black Adam. Holding her own against the ancient Egyptian, Moon Knight grabbed Black Adam's arm then threw him into Count Vertigo. The giant plant exploded and Moon Knight looked off to the side before jumping into another Boom Tube, coming out in front of Atomic Skull to block the energy beam that was shot from his head at Robin and Miss Martian.
"Enough!" exclaimed Wotan as he flew up into the air.
Blocking Robin's exploding throwing stars with a forcefield, he shot lightning at everyone, causing them to faulter. Moon Knight managed to catch a glimpse of Aqualad catching a duffle bag from Miss Martian's bioship before knocking the lightning holding her down away and running toward the Atlantian. Grabbing the Helmet of Fate from Kaldur's hands, she quickly threw her hood off and put it on. Following a bright flash of light, Doctor Fate stood in the swamp, glaring up at Wotan. Flying into the air, Fate shot a beam at Wotan, sending him crashing into the Injustice League's HQ with the beam turning into energy chains.
"Solvo quod reverto!" called out Wotan as the chains holding him shattered.
He then sent the chains toward Fate, who flicked her wrist to completely destroy the chains.
"I hear you can suppress Nabu," said Wotan as he flew up to level with Fate, "But that won't help you against me. Fulmina venite!"
Shooting magical energy from his hands, Wotan was shocked when Fate effortlessly grabbed the attack with her own hand. Wotan angrily fired more attacks before Fate fired one of her own. Absorbing the attack, Wotan vanished and appeared behind her. Just as Wotan's next attack was about to hit, a barrier appeared around Moon Knight, who just calmly turned to Wotan.
"I'll kill you!" shouted Wotan.
"Ekirts natoW nwod!" called out Zatara as Wotan was struck down.
Fate paid the Justice League no attention when they arrived and just took several deep breaths. The laughter of Savitar rang in her ears as Fate held her hand up when Joker started going off on a rant. The Clown Prince of Crime gagged as he felt like something was squeezing his throat and everyone looked at Fate.
"Rio, stop!" exclaimed Miss Martian as Fate ignored her.
Fate seemed to snap out of a trace and lowered her hand as Joker fell into the water, unconscious. Fate removed her helmet with a flash of light and Moon Knight tossed it toward Kaldur.
"Rio, just let us help you!" called out Robin as he took a step forward while Moon Knight turned to a Boom Tube.
"No one can help me," muttered Moon Knight as she went through the Boom Tube and vanished.
Reaper, having watched from afar, caught Artemis's eye and motioned for her to follow him.
"I'll be right back," said Artemis to Green Arrow as she went after Reaper.
Stopping a couple dozen yards away, Artemis stood in a clearing with Reaper and scowled at him.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"My mistress is looking for her," said Reaper with his raspy voice, "She recently made a deal with someone to save her sanity. She requires your friend's location."
"Well, in case you missed everything, she apparently doesn't want any help dealing with this," said Artemis disgruntingly.
"That is where you're wrong," replied Reaper, "Naruto feels like everything that happened with Savitar is her fault. You need to convince her that it isn't."
"And just how do we do that?" questioned Artemis.
"The girl she is close with," said Reaper before he back into the shadows, vanishing from sight.
"The girl she's close with…" thought Artemis, "Does he mean Jade?"
Moon Knight's armor retracted under her shirt as she plopped down on the bed, exhausted. Reaching for a bottle, she found it was empty before sighing. Getting back up, she flipped her hood as she left the apartment building and walkthrough through the deserted streets before entering a Boom Tube and coming out on a beach. Gazing back at the deserted island town she called her home, Rio walked along the beach before coming to a city.
As the morning inhabitants of the city began their day, Rio made her way to a small convienence store and grabbed some strong sake in the back. As she looked through some small food items, she heard yelling from the front of the store and peered around an aisle to see a man holding up the cashier. Rio sighed as she went up to the gunman from behind and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. An instant later, the gunman was sent crashing through the front window of the store before Rio paid for the sake. Walking down the street Rio tried to tune out the noise of the man she had tossed through the window when she had enough. Grabbing a stone, she sat her sake down and threw it at the man's head, knocking him out cold.
(Meanwhile)
Artemis sat calmly in her bedroom in Gotham as she raced through what she had spoken about with Reaper.
"A girl Rio's close with…" she thought intensely, "It could be Jade but they broke up weeks ago."
Groaning in frustration, Artemis covered her head with a pillow as she tried to relax.
"I just wish those things with Savitar had never happened," she thought depressingly, "If it weren't for him, Rio wouldn't have been like this."
As she went over everything from their fights with Savitar, a lightbulb went off in her head.
"That's it!" she exclaimed as she sat up.
Quickly heading out, Artemis went into a ally then dialed a number in an old phonebooth.
Recognized: Artemis B-07
Connor, Megan, and Kaldur looked at the Zeta Beam platform as Artemis arrived, panting.
"Artemis, what are you doing here so late at night?" questioned Megan.
"That girl…" said Artemis between deep breaths, "The girl that Savitar took that one time…"
"What about her?" asked Connor.
"Rio would always leave during training and stuff to go see her, right?" asked Artemis, "We could use her to find Rio."
"We already tried that," explained Kaldur, "She said Rio hadn't been to see her since before her mission in Taiwan with the Titans."
"But Rio cares about her," reasoned Artemis, "She treats her with more concern than herself. If she were to talk to Rio…"
"Then she could convince Rio to get help," realized Megan before hitting her forehead, "Hello, Megan."
"But we still need to find her," said Connor before a beeping went off on the Cave's computer.
Pulling up a screen, everyone watched as a map of the world that had countless other dots on it appeared in front of them.
"What is this?" asked Artemis.
"I programed the Cave's computer to put up a marker when there's been a potential sighting of Rio," explained Kaldur as he checked the computer, "This time, it was in Nagasaki, Japan."
"Kaldur, isolate Japan please," said Artemis with a thought popping into her head as Kaldur did what she asked, "Now, isolate cases where the individual was male."
A shocking number of dots disappeared leaving only a couple dozen.
"Now, show only ones where there have been strange instances either before, during, or after the sightings," said Artemis.
The computer narrowed down the results again and left them with only five places along the southern coast of Japan.
"Why did you have Kaldur narrow down the results like that?" asked Connor.
"Because most of the sightings were in East Asia," explained Artemis, "Then there's Rio's gender followed by her sense of justice as she used to be a police detective on her Earth."
"So, that would mean that one of these sightings has to do with Rio!" exclaimed Megan.
"I'll send word to Wally, Robin, and the Titans to each check out these locations," said Kaldur over via the bug in the Cave.
"You got that?" questioned Cheshire of Katana, who nodded and proceeded through an ethereal portal.
Pulling out a cell phone, Cheshire dialed a number and held it up to her ear.
"Hey," she said seriously, "We've got a location."
Rio returned to her apartment through a Boom Tube to avoid the long trek home and sat down. Taking a swig of sake, she down a couple of pain killers before she thought about the other members of Young Justice.
"Who are you?" she thought before she tried to get some sleep.
(That Night)
"Are we sure she's actually going to be here?" questioned Starfire as she stood with Kaldur and Wally on the island of Hashima Island.
"This is the only other place left," said Kaldur, "Besides, it would make sense. No tourists are allowed here at night and it's close to where the last sighting was."
"I'll go take a look around," said Wally before he ran right into an invisible wall.
Grunting as he staggered back, Wally nursed his nose.
"She's here alright," said Wally.
"Impressive," said Constantine as he passed the young heroes to look at the barrier, "I haven't seen a barrier this strong in a long time."
"How did you get here?" questioned Starfire.
"I was actually looking for our little friend as well," explained Constantine as he pulled out a wooden stake from his jacket.
Stabbing it in the barrier, the barrier shattered and Constantine walked down the street. Everyone caught up to him as he led them to an old building and heading up to the top floor. Going to a room at the end of the hall, Constantine knocked and waited.
"How do you even know she's going to be here?" asked Wally before his question was answered when a heavily dirty and malnourished Rio opened the door.
"I knew I should've put up some more spells besides that barrier," said Rio as she went back inside.
"What happened to you?" questioned Starfire.
"Everything," said the detached Rio as she grabbed her bottle of sake then drank heavily from it, "Did you know that I'm not able to die?"
"What?" asked Wally as he didn't understand the question.
"I can't die," said Rio plainly, "The first time I came here, I jumped from the balcony and woke up on the ground several hours later."
"But how's that possible?" asked Kaldur.
"You'd have to ask Death," said Rio in misery as she sat down at the table, "Just leave me be."
"We can't do that," said Starfire.
"Why not?" asked Rio, keeping her eyes off them, "And don't say it's because I'm your friend. I've been hearing Savitar's voice for so long I can barely remember who you guys are."
"Fine," said Kaldur as he nodded at Wally, "We'll leave. But there's someone who wants to speak to you first."
Rio closed her eyes as Savitar's face flashed through her head before holding her head in shame.
"Naruto?" asked the familiar voice of a young girl.
Rio froze up the moment the voice spoke and looked to see Meena, standing on crutches with Krypto beside her, standing with everyone.
"These people said you were feeling sick," said Meena as she walked up to Rio, "Are you okay?"
"Why did you bring her here?" growled Rio at Kaldur, "She's not supposed to leave the hospital."
"I came because they said you needed help but didn't want any," said Meena, "You need to go with them."
"I can't," said Rio as she began to cry, "I killed all those innocent people. I killed Johnny. I killed my ex-wife. I killed my parents."
"But that's okay," said Meena, "I found out a few days ago that I only have a few weeks left. But you know what? I just smiled because I had my best friend to talk to."
She gave Rio a hug, surprising the older girl.
"But now, my best friend needs help," said Meena as she continued to hug Rio, "And I'll be with her every step of the way until she is all better."
"But how can I even look at myself after I did all those things?" questioned Rio as she tried to stop crying.
"I don't know what you mean," said Meena as she took Rio's hand, "But I'll do whatever I can to help you get better."
After letting the hug sink in for a few minutes, Rio finally managed to stop crying and looked at her friends.
"I… I think I'm ready to try," said Rio nervously.
"Excellent," said Death as she suddenly appeared across the table.
Everyone jumped at her voice and looked at her.
"What are you doing here?" questioned Starfire.
"Holding up my end of the bargain," said Death as she took a sip of sake before looking right into Rio's eyes, "Now, Naruto, I'm going to put up a barrier inside your mind."
"A what?" questioned Rio.
"It might sting a little but do me a favor," said Death, "Don't tap on the glass. Because, trust me, you're not going to like what comes around."
Extending two fingers, Death touched right between Rio's eyes, making them roll back up inside her head. Shaking almost violently, the heroes tried to stop Death when Constantine cast a barrier between them.
"What are you doing?!" demanded Wally.
"Just wait," said Constantine calmly as Rio's seizing slowly stopped before only her chest going up and down to show she was breathing remained.
"She'll wake up in about a week," said Death as she stood up with the bottle of sake in her hand before looking down at Meena, "I'll see you soon."
Everyone blinked and Death vanished.
(Earth-1)
Death appeared in a nursery and gazed down at the two babies sleeping the crib. Her eyes watering as she grazed their cheeks, Death hummed an tune she hadn't hummed in a long time.
"Don't worry," said Death as her lip trembled, "Daddy will be back soon."
The two babies grabbed a hold of Death's hand in their sleep and cuddled the fingers. Death finally broke down into tears before she vanished from the room.
(Earth-9)
Death walked into an auto-shop garage and went up to a man working on the underside of a car. Death took a deep breath and cleared her throat.
"Be with you in a second," said the man.
"I'd rather it be now… brother," said Death nervously with guilt laced into her voice.
The man stopped what he was doing, pushing himself out from under the car to show his gruff and unshaven face to Death.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as he got up and went over to his workbench.
"I need a favor," said Death as she followed the man, "I need you to head to Earth-16 and watch someone for me."
"After what you and the others did to me?" questioned the man in annoyance as he started working on a small RC car, "Fat chance."
"Please, Destruction," begged Death as she held the pain inside her heart in, "Just this once then I'll leave you alone."
"And why should I-" began Destruction as he turned around but stopped when he saw she had been crying, "You fell in love, didn't you?"
Death remained silent as Destruction sighed in defeat.
"What's their name?" asked Destruction.
(A Week Later on Earth-1)
Rio yawned as she walked into the kitchen of the Cave and grabbed what seemed like every piece of food out of storage. An hour later, practically everyone on Young Justice entered to find Rio had practically eaten everything.
"You're awake!" exclaimed Miss Martian as she flew over to her friend and gave her a hug.
"Best sleep I've gotten in a long time," said Rio with a smile.
"How are you feeling?" asked Wally, "No more visions of Savitar?"
"All gone," said Rio as she grabbed an ear of corn and began chowing down.
"Well, once you're back to full health, we'll get you back on training," said Kaldur.
"Sounds good," said Rio as she picked her teeth while everyone left.
She looked at her reflection in the empty plate and gave it a sinister smile as her eyes flashed with white lightning.
Just a little bit of foreshadowing at the very end there. We're either at or just passed the half way point before this story leaves Earth-16 and heads to Earth-1 for a while. That is when Rio/FemNaruto will become regular Naruto again.
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