A/N: Well, its official! I'm back into Bioshock Infinite! Just replayed the game today, and once again the ending was a total mindfuck but then again, I can still apprecaite the effort. I just wish the new Burial at Sea DLC would hurry up and come out! Anywho, I've been on an updating spree as of late, when I realized I had been neglecting one of my finest fics! Dark of the Moon, Die Another Day, and Shinobi Menace aside, I'd forgotten all about this one! And on that note...
...hope you enjoy it! Sorry if its short, but its finally here at last!
"I. Exist."
~Elizabeth.
Tear
"Just what the hell are you?" Booker demanded seven soldiers, six turrets, and five firemen later. "A man? Or a devil?"
"I am not, nor have I ever been a devil." Naruto admonished as he applied some much neeeded pressure to Dewitt's dislocated shoulder, clucking softly to himself whenever the older man tried to squirm away from the painful wrenching of his limbs."I'm a sage. And unlike you, I can take a little bit of pain! So stop squirming!" The former Pinkerton bit back a hiss, struggling to keep still as the blonde set his joint and prepared to shock it back into place with that uncanny strength of his. He'd dislocated it trying to ram a Skyhook into a Fireman's face; with unpleasant results. Not only had the manmade inferno melted his weapon into useless slag-later forcing him to procure another-but he'd been burned and knocked his shoulder out of alignment.
If Naruto hadn't come to his rescue, he might not be sitting here, griping over his injury. That'd be the last time he'd be getting up close and personal with one of those deadly demons ever again! Unlike Naruto, he had no regeneration to speak of; he was all too vulnerable to flying firebombs and bullets. Now he was feeling even more vulnerable, with his arm out of sorts, he was keenly aware just how precious little he knew about/of his supposed ally. Why the blond had chosen to aide Booker in the first place, why he was still aiding him even after all this, remained beyond him.
"A sage?" he frowned at length. "Don't even know what that is."
"That's because you're not meant to know." His unlikely ally murmurred. "By the way, Booker-san, what's your favorite color?"
"Red. And what kind of question is thaaaaaaaat?!" His words ended in a roar of pain as the sage popped his arm back into place with a sharp pop. "Bastard! Why didn't you warn me?!"
"Sorry." For once, Naruto looked and sounded genuinely apologetic. "Thought it'd be best to distract you while I set your arm there. Wouldn't do for you to move around and make me break the joint all over again now, would it?" Testing the strength of his restored limb, Booker had to agree with him. The last thing he wanted was to experience that sort of pain again. Ever.
"Clever sonuva bitch." he admitted. Unfortunately, Naruto took immediate offense to his incautious wording.
"My mother was no such thing!"
"Right, sorry." Now it was Booker's turn to apologize, abashed by the boy's fury. "Didn't mean anything by it. I meant to say that was smart of you; to distract me..."
"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Naruto's grin was positively beatific. "Maybe there's hope for you yet, Booker-san. Ya really should thank me more often."
"I did!" Dewitt detracted.
"Did you? Was that what you meant?"
"I think so."
"Ah, but do you know?" It was clear to him now that the sage was enjoying himself; taking a perverse pleasure in this little verbal game of theres
"I do!" Booker bit back.
"Good."
"Excellent, but we're doing it again, aren't we?"
"Doing what?"
"That thing we did before."
"Lets stop, then." Naruto decided. "Can't having it growing old and tattered and whatnot."
"...Right."
Having taken refuge in one of the many abandoned buildings littering Columbia, the pair had taken the opportunity to refuel and resupply. Naruto his chakra and Booker his Salts and ammunition. Apparently the blonde couldn't exactly hurl those Rasenshuriken things will nilly as he'd first suspected; he'd claimed it drained too muc energy to utilize more than three times a day in this world. Then, there was that. Naruto remained mum on any and all details but Booker had his suspicions; the kid wasn't from Columbia.
He probably wasn't even from here at all.
Booker knew not how he knew this, but something was telling him, with every fiber of his being, that Uzumaki Naruto did not belong here. But that was another matter for another time. For the time being, with his arm tended, it was back to the fight. Picking up his pistol, he gave the blonde a glance, realizing Naruto had yet to rise. His gaze seemed focused on a distant point of the adjacent wall, staring endlessly into space with that odd look of his again. It was...eerie.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, quietly worried about the blonde's deteriorating health and apparent mental state. The kid obviously meant well enough at any rate but with every moment they spent together, Booker was beginning to think his time here had driven Naruto completely, and batshit insane. Of course, that was just a thought. He'd never admit it aloud.
...have to break the circle." The blonde muttered suddenly, his words the barest of whispers.
"Um...kid?" Dewitt deliberated a moment longer, daring to wave a hand before the blonde's face. "Earth to Naruto...?"
"Hmm? Oh, I'm feeling better, I suppose." Just like that the moment was gone; Naruto blinked and shook his head, hoisted himself off the floor with a grunt, his face having regained some of its pallor. "Shouldn't have wated a Rasenshuriken back there on the barge like that, though. They-
-take a lot out of you, I know." Booker interrupted. "You told me, I remember."
"Ara, you were actually listening?"
"Tch." he shook his head, letting the blond bound ahead of him, just in case they encountered another wave of Comstock's men. Was it growing dark, or was it just him? "Cheeky little-
"Shit."
Booker stopped shortly, nearly slamming into the blonde's back as he stopped short.
"Hey, what's the big idea?
Naruto merely raised a hand and pointed, indicating the statue before them. It was many times their size, towering over their heads in the resplendent glory of a man-presumable Comstock-stabbing at a seires of what looked to be a brood snakes, his first armed with a small dagger. For an instant, Booker half-thought it might come to life and attack them, just like everything else had in this god - forsaken city. When it did not, when the blonde continued to stare past it, his attention obviously elsewhere, the former Pinkerton took a moment to avail himself of its inscription.
"Commstock fights of the Serpent of Nations." He murmurred, staring at the twisted statue before them. "Huh."
"Not that, baka." His companion tapped at his shoulder. "That."
"Well, that isn't creepy at all."
Naruto gulped; for the first time since they'd met, he seemed very much afraid, a very real touch of fear in his otherwise uncaring character. Booker didn't blame him for his fear. Deep in his soul he felt it, too. Order of the Raven it read, the words cavrved into the massve mansion towered before them out of the shadow like a thing alive. It hung there, beckoning to them. The pair exchanged an uneasy glance, silenty sharing their old distaste for the dark, gloomy house that beckoned them
"Yeah, I really don't wanna go in there." Naruto hissed. "It's probably got ghosts in there and I hate ghosts...
"So do I, but we really don't have much of a choice." Gritting his teeth, Booker flung the door open and stepped inside.
Muttering an impreciation beneath his breath, the blonde followed him into the darkness. In hindsight...
...events started to move most rapidly after that.
Crows.
They were everywhere, Booker realized. They hung from the mantles, picked at unkempt food upon the tables, nested in the rafters. Shat upon the floor. Everywhere you looked there were dozens of the damned things with no signs of human life whatsoever. As if the mansion's occupants had just up and left. Or so thy'd thought. Scouring the room clear of salts and ammunition, the two men ascended the stairs, warily approaching all but a horde of crows, said birds seemd to pay them no mind whatsoever. But it wasn't the birds that bothered Booker; it was the blonde beside him.
Naruto seemed to grow more and more agitated with each step into the raven-infested mansion; it started with a worried glance here or there, now his fingers kept twitching toward the hande of the absurdly long knife he'd acquired somewhere during their travels as if he were just looking for an excuse to use it. He was visibly on edge, anticipating trouble at eve
Then, at long last, they met the members of this so-called Order of the Raven.
Booker poked his head around a doorway and hissed softly to himself, his eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight below the blacony. Well this explained...a lot. There were dozens of them down there, many men and women garbed in eerily similair attire like the Klu Klux Klan, only burgundy within color. After all he'd seen and dealt with in the city of Columbia already, one might think Booker Dewiitt would've become desensitized to such sights and images. But this was another matter.
At the center of theerm all, in cent stage a lone figure stood. His body shrouded in crows, whip in hand, relentlessly flogging a Chinese man. With each flagellation he preached to his so-called brothers of the crow-voice growing in pitch, becoming warped and shrill as the seconds ground on:
"And so, the Prophet led us onward, and demonstrated to the sodom below, the true mission of our-
It certainly didn't help that he had a slighted opinioin of racism to begin with.
'You sonuva bitch!'
Disgust roiling within his gut, finger twitching toward the trigger of his machine gun, preparing to unleash a wave of leaden deah upon his foes. A hand closed around his wrist at the last instant-yanking the barrel down before he could fire. Naruto met his gaze evenly, shaking his head slowly. Any sign of dementia was gone, replaced by a cold solidarity. Even as he started to protest the whiskered warrior seemed to ripple, vanishing in the blink of an eye, taking the hand from his rifle. Seconds later, the poor victim on the stage vanished, reappearing only a few feet from where Booker himself crouched, his prone form flopping to the floor in a heap of nerveless arms and legs; the blonde had substitut himself for the slave as easily as one would draw breath.
"The hell?"
The Order of the Raven below seemed to be of a similair opinion. Cries of shock and dismay came from below; evidently they did not like having their scapegoat removed.
"What devilry is this?!" The Crow demanded.
"No devilry." Naruto's voice rang calm and clear. "Just ninjutsu. But you wouldn't know about that, would you?"
"Silence!
Crows burst forth from the man, engulfing the blond in a shroud of swarming, shrieking birds. That blonde abruptly burst into a plume of smoke. The vigor-wielded whirled, seeking his enemy, tracking the blond-but he was nowhere to be found.
"Trickery!" he declared. "Deceit! Show yourself! In the name of the Prophet, I command you show your-urk!"
"Gonna have to stop you there." Naruto whispered into existence behind the Crow, knife in hand, eyes bright with something dangerously akin to ferocity. "Never was one for prophets or prophecies." With a single and effortless flick of his wrist he sent the man's head toppling from his shoulders. In the chaos that followed many men died, leading to an excessive waste of ammunition on both sides. When it was all said and done, that eerie enemy vanquished, Booker found himself honestly expecting, well, more. Between him and the blonde it had been almost...easy.
"Blech!"
He glanced at Naruto expectantly, momentarily bemused to find the blonde snifing a vigour he'd recovered from the man's corpse now recoiling as though he'd been physically struck. Dewitt ducked when he tossed it to him, his hands closing around the blue bottle, warily eyeing its crowhead.
"What, you don't want any?"
Naruto stuck out his tongue. "No, thank you! It smells awful!"
"Right, forgot about your heightened sense of smell." Bracing himself, the former Pinkerton uncrewed the cap. Steeling his stomach and liver for the onslaught of foul liquid he resolutely drank. This time there was none of the fire and flames of Devil's Kiss-instead he saw only a single crow, perching upon his arm. And then it was over, the eerie vision vanishing within the blink of an eye.
"Told you." the Uzumaki snickered.
He was seriously beginning to dislike these vigours.
Just as he found himself beginning to love the skylines. There was just something so exhilerating when it came to rushing upward on the rails, suspended only by a single wheel. It was also innately terrifying moreso for Naruto, who was forced to run along that rail on foot just to keep up with Booker. Just imagining the level of concentration it must take to actually run along such a thing and curving line constantly dipping up and down rising and falling...it was enough to make his head swim and leave him physically ill.
How Naruto did it, he'd never know. And he'd never have the chance to ask
"Stand down!" A voice boomed from above the Skyline, reverbrating through the walls of the nearby buildings. "Stand down!"
Booker dismounted to find the guards kneeling in reverence, not for them, but the unseen voice.
Warily, they passed h
The Prophet Comstock loomed before them in all his glory, his massive visage outlined on one side of a blimp, dominating the sky. He leered down at them with impotent fury his bushy brow dark with clouds of fire and fury at the sight of these two interlopers. He loomed there, glaring at them until Booker finally pulled the crank that sent the lift rising into the air.
"I know why you've come, False Shepard." Comstock declared, his every word dripping venom and bile. "I see every sin that blackens your soul." His voice thundered down at them like lightning itself. "Wounded Knee, the Pinkertons, the drinking, the gambling. And of course...Anna. And now, to repay a debt, you've come for my Lamb. But not all debts can be repaid, Booker."
"You don't know me, pal!" Booker growled, irate that this prophet would presume to lay claim to such things.
Behind him, Naruto said nothing. He kept one eye to the unmoving suplicants below, and another to the massive blimp above. Undaunted, Comstock continued.
"Prophecy is my business, Mr. Dewitt. As blood is yours. Do you know why these men will die for me? Because I have seen their future in the glory, and hence, they are content. What brought you to Columbia, Booker? Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt? This WILL end in blood, Dewitt. But then again, it always does around you, doesn't it? It always ends in blood." Then his gaze swept toward Naruto, as though truly seeing him for the first time. "And now we come to you, boy. Don't think I do not recognize you. You come here not to aid the False Shepard, but to ruin my Lamb, to steal her away for yourself, to sully her innocence-
"Shut. Up."
Booker barely even saw the handsign, only that a gust of wind had ripped the blimp from its course, cutting the transmission short. Its pilot tried to course correct but the resounding gale was simpl too much, and with a ponderous groan, the massive vessel drifted away, leaving the lift to ascend in peace.
Naruto and Booker continued on ahead, neither daring to speak over what had just occurred. The former because he had no idea what Comstock was on about and the latter, out of silent spite for his painful past. Their silence could only hold for so long, however.
The blonde coughed. "So...
"Yeah?"
"I think its safe to say he doesn't like us."
That got a laugh from Booker.
"No, I don't think he does."
"Wanna get a beer after this?" Naruto asked. "You know, after we save the girl and homicidal maniac stops trying to kill us an' all.
The former Pinkerton couldn't help but shake his head at the thought, a wry smile. Naruto was crazy enough sober...
Abruptly, Naruto paused, stopping short.
"Say, Booker."
"Hmm?"
"There's something you should know before we go any further." The blonde's expression went from speculative to something inscrutable. "I respect you. At first, I thought you were a complete and bumbling baffoon. A simpleton who needed protecting. Guarding. A weakling; some sort of burden, meant to weigh me down."
"Gee, thanks."
"The point is," Naruto cut in, "That I was wrong. After all this, I'm proud ta work with ya. For what it's worth, ya would've made a fine shinobi."
"Hey-
"You've come to lead my lamb astray but thy crook is bent and thy path is twisted!" Comstock's voice ripped through their ears to silence his sentence; evidently he was not so easily swayed, nor was he content to try and take the not-so-subtle hint that the blonde had so eloquently given them. "Go back to the sodom from which you came!" A massive explosion ripped through the wall between them to punctuate his words, tearing into Naruto's exposed back thanks to his shielding of Dewitt; the resulting shrapnel threw the poor blond off of his feet and bloodied his back, throwing him bodily against the former Pinkerton.
"Go...damn!" the blonde growl, spitting blood as he collapsed was flayed open. "Bastard's getting smarter. I actually felt that one."
Dewitt hesitated, realizing how weak those words were; Naruto just might be bleeding out in his arms.
"Kid...
"Just a flesh wound." Naruto tried to laugh it off but Booker could see it; for the first time, the selfstyled sage was actually genuinely concerned. By some miracle he shook off the older man's arm and actually managed to stand on his own power. Around them the building was pitching and yawing, unable to stay aloft, having suffer so much damage. It would be a small matter for him to jump the gap from building to airship-but would Naruto be able to make that same jump? If he couldn't...
"Go." As if sensing his thoughts, the shinobi hissed out a warning. "I'll be right behind you."
"Look, I'm not leaving-
"I SAID GO!" Naruto gave him a furious shove, launching him away with a start.
"Go back!" Comstock roared, shouting over his attempts to be heard.
Booker did neither, he bounded through the opening left by the explosion, Naruto limping at his heels, barely making the gap. He could see a glance that the blonde wasn't healing, it was a small wonder he was still in one piece after taking a blast like that. All thoughts of sympathy left him as the building collapsed behind them, leaving the two men trapped on the airship with an army of irate men. One stormof bullets and shadow clones later and they officially owned said ship, had it all to themselves. It would be child's play to guide it to Monument Island. They didn't even pause to consider the innocuour robe-clad woman near the helm. That proved to be a mistake, one that would cost them most dear.
But before that...
Grimly, Booker began the lengthy inspection of checking the blonde's wounds. Naruto's back had indeed been savaged by the blast, he lay slumped on the floor, his coat in tatters, barely breathing. He afforded Booker the wannest of smiles at his approach, a touch of his old confidence returning as the older man began to apply gauze to the bloodied trenches in his back. His shoulder had nearly been blasted right down to the muscle itself; t'was a small miracle he cound even raise his arms at all, let alone speak.
"Told ya I'd be right behind ya." Naruto exulted, lisping around the blood in his mouth. "Didya think ye'd be rid of me that 'sly?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Dewitt siged at the blonde's easy behavior, but the words were without rancour.
Remarkably,Naruto was already healing. Red light seemed to stem up from within his flesh, knitting flesh and bone back together as though it had always been. Within five minutes the blonde was able to stand again in some fashion. Ten minutes had him up and about, good as new, well enough to hazard an attempt at the airship's controls. The skyline stretched out before them in grand expanse; milky white clouds lining the horizon as far as the eye could see. The sky was the limit. They could take this airship anyhwere. Anywhere at all.
That was when the barge loomed before them. Comstock stood upon it in person-as though to mock them for their feeble effort to outmaneuver him.
"God forgives everything." he said, sounding surprisingly contrite, the microphone rising his voice over the wind. "But I'm just a prophet. So I don't have to." His head bowed once, as though in signal. "Amen."
"Amen."
Booker turnd just in time to witness the woman raising the torch-to see Naruto's knife fly into her throat. Blood spurted but in her last moments she managed to drop the torc herself...setting fire to the entire vessel in a blaze of dying glore. Within seconds the inferno had spread to the rest of the ship-engulfing its wooden frame before Naruto could even consider putting out the blaze with his ninjutsu. Ironically both men shared the same thought in that instant:
"Oh, shit!"
"Why is everyone in this city so suicidal?!"
Booker shared Naruto's opinion as they swept down the skyline, missing the airship's explosion by a hairsbreadth. Even from this distance they could still feel the heat of the blaze searing into their skin, still witness the death of the mighty craft, hear its frame creak as it steadily sank down into the clouds below. It was a grand sight, broken only the knowledge that they were indirectly responsible for it. But the Skyline cared not for all they'd gone through, it resolutely carried them onward to their final destination:
Monument Island.
He dismounted roughly, his shoes scraping the pavement seconds before gravity caught up with him. Naruto alighted behind him no less gracefully-clearly worn from surviving such a near death experience. The kid had his limits, Booker reminded himself, flashing back to the grievous wound on the airship. He wasn't immortal.
"Well there it is, Monument island." It felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders just by saying those words. "Wonder why they got her locked up in this place."
"One way to find out." Naruto cleared the gate in a single bound, Booker leapt onto the Skyhook after him. Another statue awatied them from beyond-its warning no less dire. A ceramic angel held aloft a scroll for them to read, another prophecy of gloom and doom for the so-called sodom that was earth below their feet.
"The Seed Of The Prophet Shall Sit The Throne, And Drown In Flame, The Mountains Of Man. Huh. What a bunch of...SHIT!" Naruto stared at the statue a moment longer...then he did something with his fingers. It was far too fast for Booker to even begin to see, but whatever it was, reduced the angelic fixture to a pile of powder at their feet. Booker arched an eyebrow; it was almost sad, how used he'd grown to such things in such a short time with the blonde. It was almost scary.
"Damn prophets and their prohecies...
Naruto entered the building at a run, crashing through the doors like a bull through a china shop. He spared no time for the fancy baubles or scientific equiptment, nor the facts that he and Booker the only living beings present in the entire building, he was far too focused on finding a way out of the hell into which he'd been cast. Until they reached the Siphon. Just standing in is prescence made the blonde feel weaker, it was as if that machine was somehow actively conspiring to suck the very chakra from hos body...
Naruto gazed up at the Siphon in undisguised anger.
"Lets...get away from this thing."
They delved deeper into the bowels of the beast, passing experiment after experiment, riddle after riddle, until at long last, they finally found what they sought...
Filled with trepidation, Booker pulled the handle.
Metal shutters slid back to reveal what lay beyond the looking glass, that which they had been seeking for so long.
Soft blue eyes shone out from within tha heartshaped visage, her face frame by auburn-colored tresses before being bound back in a ponytail between her shoulder. As they looked on she tucked a strange of hair back behind her ear, as though glancing at a mirror. Doubltessly she couldn't see the two men watching her from behind the window pane. She clutched a photo lovingly between her hands as if meant the world over to her and given the terms of her confinement, it probably did. She turned it end over end in her hands, silently beside herself with glee. In that instant, Booker caught a glimpse of the precious photograph, fade and worn of years of years of tatters.
It was a picture of a young Naruto.
Abruptly she cringed, dropping the photograph with a pained wince, her full lips opening in a small moue of pain. A tiny pinprick of blood slipped forth from her finger, she waved it painfull as they looked on. But just as quickly as she had flinched, so too did she recover. She snatched back up the picture, and darted from the room, running well past what the window allowed them to see. The grate slid shut after her, ending their idyllic little scene with a dull clank of metal. Then that was that.
Booker watched her go, and held his tongue. He turned back to Naruto, half-expecting some kind of snarky comment. None came.
The poor boy looked as though he'd just seen a ghost.
"Elizabeth." he whispered. "That was her. Elizabeth." He lunged before Booker could catch him, his fist striking the window pane where mere moments ago, the girl had been. It splintered with an audible crack but it did not shatter; even his superhuman strength had its limits, it seemed. Naruto snarled and cocked back his fist, for a second strike, then seemed to reconsider, recognizing the futility of such an effort. Life itself seemed to leach from his features, draining forth of his very soul, leaving a shriveled shell of a man behind.
"I take it...you knew her?"
Naruto nodded; a jerky motion that set his head to bobbing.
"We...used to play together as children." his voice sound far and away, eyes glassy and distant; then he shook his head, clearing the memory. "That was such a...I don't even know how...what's she doing here?" Dewitt wisely held his tongue in this instant-any comment on his part might be enough to send his estranged ally over the edge. At length, when it seemed that Naruto wasn't going to try and destroy his surroundings again, a tentative inquiry pushed past his lips.
"Are you alright, kid?"
"It all makes sense now." the blond murmurred brokenly. "All makes sense...
Evidently Naruto and this "Elizabeth" shared some sort of connection.
"Naruto." he shook him roughly, jostling the young man to and fro. "Naruto! You need to snap out of it! Now! This is not the time to lose your marbles!"
"I...yes." his face seemed to regain some of its color. "I can't fall apart now. Not when I'm so close. Elizabeth." He strode on ahead woodenly, each step seemed as though it were made by that of a puppet, manipulated by some unseen puppeteer, an unknown maestro of strings. "Elizabeth." the name was like a littany. "I have to see her. Have to tell her..." Clearly the sight of her had gotten to him in more ways than one.
Booker followed the blonde at a walk, keeping his own counsel. Certainly, this was the girl he was meant to use to settle his debts. And yet Naruto's reaction unsettled him.
The next pane showed the newly-named Elizabeth once more, though this time she stood in a different room altogether. A gallery, of some strange short? Pieces of paper littered the room, numerous drawings brilliantly showcasing her level of skill throughout the years. She gazed adoringly upon one such easel, her hands worriying at some unseen point in the painting. Larger than all the others, and more masterfully made, it depicted the likeness of a small village over which a mountain with four faces presided.
She gazed at the painting for a long moment, then, did something with her hands again. The air itself tore apart, exposing...
Another world.
It was as if the very fabric of reality had been sundered; exposing another time. Another place. A war. Chaos raged around this world within and without, men and women dying in the streets, blood shed by the gallons, a world utterly engulfed in flame whilst strange warriors strove against one another for dominance...and one of them noticed her. A man started toward her, drawing what looked like an iron knife from his pouch, intent obvious and deadly and not at all polite. fleeing for their
Elizabeth closed the tear with a yelp, but not before a kunai got through. It slammed into the window with a dull "thunk!" cracking the glass between them. She stood there a moment longer, still cringing, before finally realizing she was no longer in mortal peril. Hot tears burning in those large eyes, she all but fled from the room. Slowly, warily, Booker risked a glance at Naruto. If the boy had been pale before, then now he was bone white, trembling from head to toe.
"That was my village." His words were a throaty gasp. "Just what the hell happened while I was gone?" He began to wander again, his steps winding towards the next door. "I always wondered how she was able to find me, though. To appear out of nowhere. Now it makes sense. Elizabeth. It all makes sense. All makes sense...
At the end, the third and final window revealed nothing special, Elizabeth had gone to the libray, her sadness forgotten, now staring longingly out the window pane. Once more the vision of loveliness vanished, leaving the two of them to their thoughts.
"Booker."
"There's something you should know before we go any further." The blonde's expression had gone from sorrowed to something...inscrutable. "Somewhere down the road, you're going to make a decision. To make that choice doesn't even begin to cover it; its gonna happen, with or without my help, with...or without me. Live or die. Die or live. Whichever it'll be, when that time comes...I want you to think carefully before making that choice, ya know? It may seem silly now, but I feel it needs to be said.
"If you make the wrong one, I'll end you myself."
He swung open the door and strode forward, his gaze fixated upon the door at the other end of the corridor. That was where Elizabeth must be. He never once considered that she might be right below his feet.
"Sonuva biiiiiiiitch!"
Naruto felt the floor drop away from him with such suddeness that it took his breath away; he didn't even have time to blink, before he was sent plummeting to the ground. His hands closed around a rail just before he could crash to the earth, latching onto it like a leech. He peered upward and, almost immediately, found himself confronted with a familiar face. Her face. Up close she looked almost just as he remembered her, only all but a decade older, lovely as a flower, gentle as a summer's breeze, and all he could manage was a weak-sounding:
"Uhhh...long time no see?
Thwack!
She yelped and threw a book at him. Hard!
Naruto raised a hand to ward off the weapon-only to lose his grip on the banister and topple to the floor in a heap of arms and legs. His world exploded into a sea of stars and storms. She threw another book after him; this one connected solidly with his head causing even mmore pain.
"Hey-ow-knock it off! UGH will you stop it?!" He ducked as a particularly large textbook whistled over his head,"WILL YOU STOP IT?! I'm not here to hurt you!" he shouted, but to no recourse as she darted up to him, a slim book labeled "The Principles of Quantum Mechanics" by a "Rosalind Lutece clutched firmly between her fingers.
"Who are you?" she demanded, holding the book over his head as though she intended to bludgeon him with it. "Answer me!"
"Don't you remember me?" he was slightly taken aback, hoisting himself to his feet with a groan. "Lizzy! It me! Naruto!" He grappled at her arm for a moment, preventing her from slamming the book down upon him in a surge of righteous femaly fury. "Uzumaki Naruto! Don't you...remember?" To this...the young woman did not reply. She simply glowered at him-her brow pinched in what might've been confusion and anger. Abruptly, they widened as though seeing, him, truly seeing him for the first time. She blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Her fingers loosed around the book until it finally slipped from her hands altogether. Now it was her hands upon his face, cupping his cheeks
"Naruto?" she gazed at him in disbelief. "It is you...isn't it?"
"How did you get here?"
"I've been trying to figure that out for the last year."
Anything else she might've said died when Booker tumbled down the shaft to land in a heap at their feet.
"Who's this?"
"A...friend."
"I can't believe its you!"
A lilting whistle interrupted the tender moment; piping up from a nearby statue.
"He's coming!" Elizabeth exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Y-You've gotta go."
"Why?" Naruto had no intention of leaving; he'd only just gotten to see her again after all these years.
"You don't wan't to be standing there when he gets here-JUST A MINUTE, I'M GETTING DRESSED!" She hollered the last part-a lie-at the gaping hole in the ceiling, from which the noises were coming. It sounded as if a bird were chirping at her. A very large bird.
"I can get you out of here." Booker had since found his footing, now he wearily clamored to his feet
"There's no way out." Elizabeth shook her head in denial. "Trust me, I've looked-STOP IT! YOU'RE TOO IMPATIENT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" She screamed once more at the hole from which Naruto and Booker had fallen.
"Then I'll make one." Naruto turned toward the glass, crossed his fingers, and raised a hand toward the glass. Before she could think to warn him, he stuck down with all of his strength. It was like striking steel. His fist simply bounced off, rendering his strike utterly useless...with a few broken knuckles to boot.
"OW!"
"What about this?" Booker held up a key.
"What about it?!" Naruto and Elizabeth exclaimed as one.
"Its the way out, isn't it?"
"W-What're you? Give it to me!"
Elizabeth thrust it into the lock without hesitation wrenching it within the tumblers and opening the door. Freed from its captivity, the frame creaked open a few inches. Nothing more. Together, the three of them were able to wedge the stocky iron block even further, prying it open with their combined strength. Even as they worked as one so, an unearthly shriek ripped through the library, sending all three of them to cringing within these hallowed halls. Whatever it was, this cruel creature was coming closer...
"What in the hell is that?!" Booker growled.
"It's his job to keep me locked up in here!"
Naruto grunted as he was able to force the door open just enough for the pair to wriggle through the gap. "Who?!"
"The Songbird!"
As if summoned by the mere mention of its name, a massive thud signalled the arrival of the very creature that had been threatening them with its calls. Its bulk filled the Library, angry red eyes clicking down at them behind its glass lenses. Its massive wing span spread wide, the beast began to advance, intent on capturing and or ending them before they made their escape. Elizabeth and Booker had only just managed to squeeze through, leaving Naruto in the midst of wedging it open when the bird struck. Its massive fist whalloped the door and wrenched it from his grasp, slamming it in the blonde's face. Leaving him here to face the furiously fierce fiend.
Alone.
"Well...damn." he whistled, peering up at the monstrosity looming over him. "That's...a big bird."
A/N: And there you have it! Naruto and Elizabeth DID know one another as children, even played together as made evident by her entering his world through tears made created as a child, before that evil Siphon started sapping her strength. It IS said in the story that Elizabeth went to many places when she was a child...she just always came back. But the question remains, just how did a tear open to allow Naruto into Columbia himself? We also see that Elizabeth is fascinated with Japan instead of France this time round, another subtle change taking place in this story.
I imagined Elizabeth would be able to speak Japanese after being cooped up in her tower for so long; I mean...if she can pick locks, merely from reading, than who's to say what else she might've learned? These last three chapters have been told from Booker's perspective, next is Naruto and Elizabeth's view of the events to come! I'd thought it'd be better, to switch things up a little in that regard, as we see just how the story unfolds through the eyes of the characters. Naruto vs. Songbird next chappy! We also see Daisy!
Now, I know we're not in rapture at the moment, but I'll say in anway just for the hell of it:
In the immortal words of Altas...
...review, would you kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!
(Preview)
Elizabeth extended a hand unto him as she twirled in place. "Oh, won't you dance with me, Naruto?"
The blonde sweatdropped.
"Hah?!"
R&R! =D