Disclaimer: I forgot my pancakes. What say you, Naruto?
"You don't own me!"
So I don't…but that's not what I asked. What about you, World of Warcraft, you silly abstract idea who can't possibly respond to me in a coherent fashion, as you are neither physically capable of doing it, nor are you imbued with some strange sentience.
"You don't own me either!"
…I see….
Here's the next installment of The Legend of Uzumaki Naruto!
Benedictus was quiet throughout his recovery period, and after he was released he spoke no more than needed, and took to staying in the confines of the new chapel within the castle, which had been designed exactly as the old one had. The chapel held for him some very special memories, mostly of the girl he had most recently taught, but it too held for him the very last memories of his first apprentice. He would not speak to anyone about her, and only said to the panicked leaders that he she resembled King Anduin's late wife Demi in only a passing resemblance, and that it had obviously been sort of trick to enter the castle. He didn't think anyone believed him but he didn't care.
Not much happened that week, while everyone scrambled around, pointing fingers, shouting and trying to organize themselves enough to find out where Kira had been taken and how she could be taken back. None of the ideas had been sound, and many didn't believe that it was all that necessary. Tsunade, surprisingly, was one of these.
"Sakura's with her," Tsunade had said, calmly. "They'll be fine." Benedictus had been unable to read anything in her eyes at that moment, so he was unable to tell if she really meant that. Sylvanas had been similarly convinced that it was nothing to worry about too much; Naruto, she felt, would probably end up saving Kira if she really had been taken that far, and if he didn't, she would figure it out for herself.
But the other leaders—Tyrande, Magni, Mekkatorque, even Vol'jin, Cairne and Thrall, had not been so convinced. "She is only a child," Magni had rumbled, "up against a monstrous force such as the Scarlet Crusade—we must do something!" He'd been adamant, but no matter how he had worked it, it would be impossible to mount a rescue attempt that would not be entirely useless.
"They haven't sent a ransom or tried to contact you," said Sylvanas; she seemed almost amused by their distress. "They obviously mean to kill her or to send her back alive and well and probably as insane as they are."
"So you suggest we leave her to her own devices?" Magni thundered, his face turning scarlet, smashing his hand on the round table. "You suggest we leave them to the mercy of those monsters?"
"They are not left to their own," said Sylvanas, smiling again. "You realize of course that we don't even know where she has been taken. The boy could already be there, and if he is, you can be assured that they will come back intact, and if not, we will not have to deal with the Scarlet Crusade again, I'd wager."
"Small chance!" growled Magni. "What if he is not there, or they have left? You hold too much stock in this one chance, and we cannot lose Lady Kira—"
"Why not?"
The question made Magni recoil, the color draining from his face. The rest of the room had frozen.
"What?"
"Why must she survive, when there are others who might be wiser to take her place? She is a child, and foolish, ignorant, in the ways of the world. She is hardly qualified for the position that she holds now. What would change, if she did not return?"
"Many things," said Tyrande softly. Her eyes were fixed on the Dark Lady. "She may not be politically wise, as you say, but it is because of her that this entire alliance exists. Do not pretend that she is not the heart and soul of this group."
Sylvanas didn't respond, and sat back; she was still smiling.
Magni did not show up to the next few meetings, though he remained in the city. Benedictus observed him a few times in the Cathedral, praying at the altar. He nodded when the dwarf passed, but the dwarf never seemed to see him. His eyes were too clouded with grief, though Benedictus knew that it was not for Kira.
Tensions grew higher, and the leaders began to bicker, as Benedictus knew they would. Benedictus rarely spoke at these meetings. He didn't believe that they would get anything done, no matter how much they argued. It was the curse of all councils, and he hated that for it. Councils never decided anything, even ones made up of the most powerful leaders in Azeroth. They could never reach an adequate decision, thus making their entire purpose meaningless in his eyes. The Council in Anduin's time had not been much better, but then again, they had had a king to oversee them. The best comparison Benedictus could make was Kira in this situation.
Tyrande was right, of course—this alliance could not last without Kira or Naruto; if even one of them did not return Benedictus knew that the alliance would fall. But he felt nothing—the future was for once clouded so much so that he didn't feel anything. He did not know if Kira was going to return or not, and it scared him far more than if he had known. Every day, he prayed to the Light without fail, and hoped harder each day. Hoped that Kira would at the least return alive; and at the very most, that she would return with somebody else. Benedictus did not know if it was possible, but he hoped and he prayed.
Then, more than a week after Kira's disappearance, a message arrived for Benedictus, written in very proper letters on a dirty piece of paper, carried on the leg of a small bat, which disappeared in a puff of smoke when he removed it (but not before sticking it's tongue out at him and calling him something in Gutterspeak that he didn't understand, but was sure was rather offensive). Inside, he found the first truly good news he had heard in years, one that had him almost in tears of relief.
Kira was alive; in fact, nobody had died, and they had met with Naruto's group shortly after their arrival in Stratholme, and had escaped relatively unharmed. They had made it to the rim of the Ghostlands, at the very tip of the continent, and after resting at Silvermoon (for they apparently had a blood elf in their party), and speaking with the Argent Dawn, would quickly make their way back; it would most likely be a week, perhaps more. The message came with more good news—the Scarlet Crusade was effectively no more.
He happily announced this at the meeting that day, and was pleased to see that most—even the former Horde leaders—looked as relieved as he felt. Tyrande was almost in tears of joy, and Mekkatorque was happily hugging Magni, who no longer looked so old and worn, with such a large grin on his face. Sylvanas was smirking, obviously pleased that she had been right, and that she no longer had to deal with the Scarlet Crusade, either. Lor'themar Theron of the Blood Elves showed no reaction to the news, save for a slight rising of his left eyebrow, which Benedictus took to mean he was impressed. Thrall, Cairne and Vol'jin all looked pleased, but did not vocalize these thoughts.
"I am assuming, then," said Benedictus, when everyone had quieted, "that everyone would agree for this meeting to be postponed until after she has returned?"
"That would be agreeable," said Thrall. "I must return to Orgrimmar for a few days, at the least—I'm told there is a matter that needs my attention."
"Aye," said Magni, "I'd like to return to Ironforge as well. For a few days."
Nobody else disagreed, so Benedictus gave a nod. "Very well. This meeting is adjourned until further notice." He wished he had a gavel to bang at that moment—he'd always wanted one. He was far too happy, he decided as he left. He must have looked a little strange the way he left the room, almost sashaying, and humming a catchy tune, but he didn't care—he could think of no better reason to be happy than knowing that Kira was safe; even though he knew that there would be far more to the story than that, when the message had contained no trace of Demi and few details about what had occurred in Stratholme. But he did not let it dampen his spirits. He tried not to think about it.
After that, the leaders went their separate ways. Even Tsunade left, having received an urgent message from Jiraiya requesting her presence immediately—nothing life-threatening, he assured her, but something that she needed to address as soon as she could. That had been two days before Kira's message—immediately after it arrived, Benedictus received a missive saying that she had left the city and had returned to Gnomeregan with Mekkatorque. It also said that her bodyguards would remain in Stormwind until Naruto returned. Sylvanas and Thrall left immediately as well.
Some lingered, however—Cairne was in no hurry to return, deciding that his young grandson needed the lesson in responsibility, as he had been left mostly in charge of Thunder Bluff while Cairne was away. Vol'jin did as well—he had no reason to go back, and spent most of his time traveling the forests around the city, for he would return each day to the castle covered in mud and sweat and looking happy. Benedictus would receive more than a few complaints from the surrounding villages about his appearances there, but he ignored them. People would have to get used to the extra company, he decided.
Magni stayed for some time as well, intending to sort out the affairs in the Dwarven Quarter, which had been long neglected in Anduin's reign.
But almost as soon as Benedictus thought the future was clear, he got a feeling—it riddled him with chills, and often woke him in the night, panting and gasping. He couldn't tell from where or whom it originated, but he knew, once again, that something was going to happen.
But he didn't know what.
The Ghostlands were not like normal woods; they were always dark, always cool, like the very cave they had just left, even though the sky was always visible through the bare treetops: a blank, dark blue that showed no stars or clouds. It seemed to have drifted to earth as well, shrouding the distance with a dark fog that made it as difficult to see as in the Plaguelands.
Though they were far more pleasant.
They were not oppressive, or fearful—in fact, the days within them passed like a dream. There were few sounds compared to the teeming life of the Plaguelands—only the occasional rustling of barely green shrubs on the ground, the loud groaning of trees and the whistling of a slight breeze through their many holes like a soft whispering, an omnipresent chattering that did not emanate from any one place and seemed to belong to many animals and none, and the soft thumps and scuttling sounds of the large spiders that lived in the trees dropping on their prey and then returning to the webs with it. But the sounds were not ever-present; sometimes it was dead silent for hours, save for their own movements through the forest. They were peaceful, and almost enjoyable compared to the ever-present fear of death or worse within the Plaguelands.
Naruto was able to sleep at night. Not well, but he did not find himself awoken by the wails of wandering ghouls, and his nightmares of Sasuke had almost stopped. He could not say he liked the Ghostlands, but he felt much less hurried as they went through it, towards the Eversong Woods, where Hisari's hometown and the capital of the blood elves—Silvermoon City—was. Hisari was leading them in a much less direct route than Naruto would have liked, but with so few supplies and so many injured, they couldn't risk crossing the Scourge in the center, who lingered there like tumors, despite their headquarters being gone, destroyed by Hisari's people a few years prior. But as such, he couldn't complain. They did not encounter anything on their way, so Naruto was left to his thoughts mostly, which was far better than the alternative.
He glanced to the very back of the group, where Kira and Kylia trailed along a little ways behind everyone else. Kira held her head low and hardly seemed to notice where she was walking. Kylia kept her hand trained on Kira's shoulder and sometimes her hand. She didn't seem much better however, although she hid it more than Kira did. His eyes lingered on them for a moment, as they often did, before flicking to Sakura and finally, hurriedly, back to the scenery. He could still feel her glare on his back. He didn't know what he'd done, but Sakura wouldn't stop glaring at him. It hadn't started until about two days after their escape from Stratholme, just after they had left the tunnel. She had been real quiet, and had kept meeting his eyes, smiling a little, and then looking away. But then, she'd stopped smiling and had started frowning, and that had led to a full glare by the second night.
He had no idea what to do about either situation.
Naruto could still hear her voice, hollow and brittle when she'd told them everything; she had never sounded like that, not even after her father had died. Since then she'd spoken nothing, not even to Kylia. She hadn't even cried. Naruto knew she was grieving, but he couldn't do a goddamn thing.
He had no idea how to relate.
How could he? How could he possibly attempt to relate, or even make her feel better about it? He couldn't even imagine what that must have been like, to have gotten somebody he'd loved so much back for such a short and painful time, and then realizing that you would never see them again. It seemed almost shameful to even try.
How could he cheer her up when he didn't know if it was right to?
So he stayed quiet as well, and mostly talked with Sai, Fen or Tsuwabuki, and sometimes Hisari. The elf treated him far different from before—she did not talk down to him, or insult him any longer; she spoke to him as if she were speaking to another, rather thick blood elf who didn't understand their language. She didn't tease him, as she seemed wary of him still, but Naruto found that he could even begin to like her, and that she wasn't so different from himself.
Sai had changed, too; the boy still smiled, but he no longer seemed to be trying to keep it up. Sometimes it even looked real—especially when he was drawing. Sometimes, it was almost a reflexive action, but when Naruto drew attention to it Sai fought it down and distracted himself by asking Naruto a bunch of questions that the blonde felt strange answering.
"So," said Sai, one day. "May I call you Naruto, as well?"
Naruto frowned at him. "I guess so. We're friends, right?"
"Yes, which is why I asked. I would like to address you informally."
"Well, you shouldn't ask somebody if you can do that," said Naruto. "You just do it when you feel that you should, like when you know we're friends."
"Ah," said Sai, nodding. "But when is that?"
Naruto blinked. He didn't know how to explain that, so he waved it off and Sai went silent for a while, until he brought up a question about what male friends did with each other in general, and mentioned something that Naruto didn't really want to talk about with Sakura, Kira and Kylia so near, and then something that Naruto didn't want to talk about at all, but Sai seemed fixated upon.
Yamato spent most of their days quiet and at the back of the group. Sakura had healed almost all his wounds, but he seemed paler, and always looked like he hadn't gotten enough sleep. He finally said, at Sakura's question, that he didn't like this place very much. The trees felt strange, almost repulsive, and he didn't like the feel of the soil, while inhaling the air was like inhaling a waft of cigarette smoke; Naruto found nothing wrong with air, however, nor did anyone else, not even Tsuwabuki's extra-sensitive nose.
"I have heard night elves say the same," said Hisari, "when we have spied on them, in the past."
Fen and Myrdraxxis stayed at the head of the group, with Hisari, and spent most of the time talking in Gutterspeak, unless Fen had something particular to mention. He would often say things about the area that Hisari knew well enough, but also about its past that she knew nothing of. Nobody knew why it looked the way it did, why the sky was always so dark, or why those with particular sensitivity to the earth or chakra in general seemed to fear it, sometimes even going mad if they lingered within its borders. There was a section through the middle that they sought to avoid—the Dark Scar—where Arthas Menethil had marched with his Scourge to raze Quel'Thalas, the great city of the high elves. But by the end of it, especially when the Grand Crusader's head began to smell and rot, Fen no longer fascinated them with trivia and only tried, always unsuccessfully, to get someone else to hold the head.
But they soon reached the edge, without trouble, and the change was almost instantaneous. They seemed to pass from eternal night into glowing, ever-present day. The sky cleared, becoming a rich sapphire aglow with a sun that seemed brighter than ever before. The trees were immense and flushed with emerald leaves, which did nothing to block the radiant sunbeams; the forest they entered, the Eversong Woods, seemed to be made of light. It shined from every direction, as if they were in a world of pure light. There was a nice breeze and the air was so clear that when they first entered it, nobody could resist cracking a smile.
Not even Kira.
But this didn't last, and she quickly reverted. Even amongst the cheery chattering of the animals and the continual singing of the birds and the rest of the forest, she kept her head down and her eyes averted from everyone, and she didn't speak.
That night they rested in a small grove in the middle of the forest, which continued to hum a beautiful tune that made the horrors of the Plaguelands seem like a bad dream. Kira sat apart from the rest, and merely poked at her food, while Kylia kept telling her in a small voice that she needed to eat. Naruto felt miserable watching them, wanting to do something but unable to. Then, with a very audible sound of frustration, Sakura stood up, grabbed Naruto roughly by the shoulder, and dragged him out of the camp. He almost protested, but her fiery glare silenced him, and everyone else who was about to ask what was going on. She dragged him as far as she could away from the camp, until the light was almost blocked by the greenery.
"Stop it," she finally snapped, pushing him back and crossing her arms. "Now."
"Stop what?"
"Doing what you're doing!" she said. "Talk to her, you moron!"
Naruto blinked. "What?"
"Are you that thick, Naruto?"
Of course he wasn't. He understood what she was talking about. "What do I do? What am I supposed to do, Sakura-chan?"
"Talk to her! Cheer her up! Do what you do best!" she said. "Make her think about anything else than what just happened to her—are you that stupid? I know you've been watching her for the past few days, so why haven't you done anything?"
"I couldn't!" Naruto protested. "What could I have done? I have no right to tell her that everything will be better, do I? I can't cheer her up!"
"Why the hell not?" Sakura leaned so close that Naruto could feel her breath on his lips. Her eyes—visible even in the darkness—glittered like emeralds before a flame.
"Because I can't relate!"
Sakura took a step back, frowning.
"What?"
"I can't relate to her," Naruto said, his voice now soft. "How am I supposed to help her if I won't even know what she's going through? I've never had parents, Sakura-chan…how can I talk to somebody about losing one if I don't even know who mine were? I don't think I've ever felt that sort of love before, not really, at least…" he thought of Tyrande for a moment; she was probably one of the closest people he'd ever been to, but she was hardly his mother. "So how could I even think of trying to make her feel better?"
Sakura's look softened briefly, while the boy looked down, shuffling his feet.
But only briefly.
"What are you talking about?" she said, leaning forwards again. "You don't have to relate to cheer someone up."
"I know, but…"
"No, Naruto," she said. "You may have been able to do it in the past because you thought you could relate, but you don't have to at all. Maybe you can't sympathize, but you can act like you give a damn about her, and make her feel as if things are going to get better! That's all she wants, Naruto. Nobody could imagine what she's going through, but she needs someone to talk to her, anyways!"
Naruto's stomach plummeted, and he slumped. He felt worse than he had after all those battles; guilt and shame buzzed in his stomach like swarms of insects, and he began to shuffle more fervently, a sudden desperation to apologize flooding his mind. The silence stretched on, as these feelings amassed within him until he was no longer able to stand still. He ran a hand through his hair.
"Was I really that stupid?" he mumbled.
"Yes," Sakura said. "A complete and utter idiot."
"Why didn't you help?" Naruto muttered, frowning at her.
"Do you really think I would've been able to help?" Sakura said. "I haven't known her what, a year and a half? I don't know her all that well, and I confess I didn't like her that much before this all happened, so what good would my words have done? It would be the same as if she talked to me after something bad happened."
Naruto slumped further, squatting near the ground as he began to hold his head. "Dammit…I'm an idiot!" The guilt continued to buzz, feasting on his stomach until he began to feel queasy, and sweat.
"I know," said Sakura. "So shut up and do something about it."
Naruto stood, and took a few deep breaths. He began to feel nervous, but Sakura gave him a slight push back towards camp. He nodded, and then turned towards her again.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan…."
She shrugged. "Now you know." She paused, and then said, "I'd have wanted you to talk to me if something like that ever happened." She was glad it was dark. "You know. Comfort me."
Naruto blinked, and then he flushed. He was glad it was dark, so that she couldn't see. "Y-yeah. Course I would."
"Good," Sakura said, and then pushed him again. "Let's go. You'll do it as soon as we get back."
Naruto nodded, and his heart began to thrum. "Right…."
When the returned to the campsite, not much had changed—Sai was still sketching with a strange, almost dreamy smile on his face; Yamato was lying with his back to a tree, his sharp eyes moving across the campsite and into the woods beyond, and he glanced at Naruto and Sakura when they returned; Myrdraxxis was apparently asleep against another tree, and Fen was writing something in a small, leather-bound book; Hisari simply sat near the fire with her eyes closed, a pleasant smile on her face as she listened to the forest; Kylia looked like she was trying to sleep, but failing; and Kira was staring into the fire, barely registering Naruto's return, only until he had walked straight up to her. Her eyes, dulled by grief, stared up at him when stopped.
"Kira-chan," he mumbled. "Can I...um…talk to you for a moment…?"
Kira stared for a second, and then very slowly nodded, and stood up. Kylia made to as well, but Naruto shook his head very briefly to make her sit down. He took Kira off into the darkened forest, until the light and the heat of the fire had died completely. When they were with only the forest around them, still singing softly in a most beautiful way, as if to encourage him, Naruto stopped and spoke.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Kira frowned a little; her face was barely visible in the darkness but Naruto could see that much.
"For not talking to you sooner."
"It's fine," she said. "You didn't have to."
"Yeah I did," Naruto mumbled. "I'm your friend, right? I was supposed to. Guess I'm not as big an expert on that subject as Sai thinks I am, huh?" Neither of them laughed, but Naruto hadn't intended it to be funny. "I should have talked to you."
"About what?" Kira asked.
"Your mom."
The darkness seemed to fold around Kira's face, and her expression was impossible to tell. "What about her?"
Naruto didn't answer, for a moment. He still had no idea what to say or do. Talking was good, but how could he cheer her up? Why did Sakura-chan seem to think it was so easy for him? He swallowed and looked at her again, but she had turned slightly away, off towards the orchestral forest.
Finally, he gulped.
"Do you remember her smile?"
Kira stiffened beside him.
"W-what?"
"Her smile," Naruto said again, softly. He didn't know why. The words just fell out. "That's what I always remember about people."
Kira was now staring at him. "Their smiles?"
"Yeah," said Naruto. "I dunno why, but I guess it's something I picked up when I was a kid, when I got so few smiles that I could count them on one hand for the first seven years of my life. I guess I just like the smile best of all, and to me that's how I remember people." He scratched his head. He hadn't told anybody that before. "Guess that's why I hated Sai's for so long when I first met him. It was so fake." He glanced at her. She was still silent and rigid, and was still staring at him through the darkness. Her eyes were a little wide, and no longer dull.
Naruto shuffled his feet again. He felt a little stupid suddenly. But he pressed on.
"So, what was your mother's smile like?" He didn't know it was right to ask, but he felt he needed to.
Kira glanced away, finally. She stared into the darkness, and let the sounds of the forest fill in the silence, while Naruto continued to feel awkward and grew ever more worried that he had said something stupid again and that she'd burst into tears at any moment. He was waiting for the first sob to begin.
But then he saw something a little surprising, and very beautiful, flare up in the darkness:
A smile.
"She had a special smile," said Kira, very quietly. Naruto stopped moving and looked at her. She turned to face him. "A special one, just for me; it made me smile every time I saw it, even when I was a baby. The only thing I remembered about her, for a lot of my life, was that smile. I only had stories—what Benedictus had told me, what my father had told me—and all of them were about how she was such a wonderful person. She was beautiful, talented, smart, and so kind that she did everything she could to save people, to stop the suffering of the world. She was so kind that everyone loved her. But I realize that wasn't my mother at all."
Naruto's eyes widened. "What?"
"My mother was only ever half there," she said, softly. "She was just one half of a whole person—all good, and no evil. She tried to save everyone, no matter how hard that was, no matter how much suffering it caused to her family and friends and to herself. She did it because she felt she had to." She looked up into the canopy, where the clear sky was just visible. "She even said it herself…she was a slave. She was enslaved to what she had been taught in the past, to acting against her own feelings because of what others wanted. She must have been so conflicted, so confused...I don't think she quite knew what people wanted from her. But maybe because from her past—to keep the very parents that had enslaved her happy—she learned to keep them happy by smiling and by being happy, and so she bottled away all of those dark feeling that everyone feels, and became for everyone an angel that knew no wrong, and everyone forgot she was supposed to feel those evil things, even my father, even Benedictus. I don't think even they saw her real self, because she had sealed half of it away."
Naruto couldn't tell what her expression was, now. She had turned away again, so he moved a little closer, until he stood right next to her. "Kira-chan…."
"But," Kira said, "I think I did see her real self…at least when she was smiling at me. She loved me so much, Naruto. She put everything she had into that smile, because I think it was the same for her. Whenever I was around, she could smile too. I mean really smile, without holding anything back. Is it stupid to think that?" She looked him.
Naruto fidgeted, and didn't say anything for a moment.
"I…dunno. I never met her, and I don't really understand all of this." He looked at her with vibrant eyes, however, and he smiled a little. "But I can't think for a second that your mom didn't love you with everything she had, even if—" He stopped, and looked at the ground again.
"But she was so sad," Kira said to him, leaning closer. "She was a pitiable person, Naruto, and I see that now, I see that it's so sad that she could only be whole when she smiled at me—I don't even know if she smiled like that for my father, or for Benedictus. I don't know anything about her, Naruto, even when I picture that smile!
"But…I still smile."
She looked at him, and she was. Her eyes were glinting and she suddenly seemed normal again, happy and wonderfully beautiful.
"It still makes me smile, makes the sadness disappear, and you know why? I loved her too, Naruto. I love her so much that I don't care about how sad she was, how pitiable she was, because she was my mother, and Naruto, I understand her now!"
She had begun to shake, and was leaning against Naruto now, making him place a hand tentatively on her shoulder.
"And…she loved me too, Naruto," she said. "She loved me so much. That last smile, Naruto…her eyes were so sad…but it was still that smile...that same smile that I'll always remember.
"And that had to be real—she had to be whole—if she could show me that grief, right?"
Naruto looked at her face and into her hopeful eyes. He didn't understand any of this, but he knew what he had to say.
"Yeah," he said, softly.
Her smile held for a moment longer, and then the tears spilled down her face, and it shattered as she began to cry anew. She clutched at Naruto, and he held her for a long time.
"She never left me," Kira sobbed, softly, against Naruto's shoulder. "Because I still have her smile. She kept her promise, Naruto. She'll never leave me again."
Naruto held her tightly, but said not a word.
The woods sang a little softer, then, and Kira only spoke once more before they returned to the camp, her eyes brighter than before, a little smile on her face that made Kylia smile too, while Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto who just blushed and sat down against a tree next to Tsuwabuki, who placed her head on his lap. The words echoed in his mind all night.
"Thank you."
"What are you doing here again, old friend?"
Magni looked away from the altar, and stood up as Benedictus walked towards him. The old priest was looking far better since the news had arrived, and his golden eyes shined as brightly as the sunlit, stained-glass windows of the Cathedral. But Magni looked the opposite: his face was grey and sagged like a laden sack, and his eyes were dull and cold.
"What reason would I come to a cathedral for?" the old dwarf said.
"To embrace the Three Virtues and confess your strays from them," said Benedictus. "But I think that is not the reason at all."
Magni didn't respond, and turned back to the altar. Benedictus sat down on the pew next to him.
"I feel old, Benedictus."
"I hope not because I called you old friend," said Benedictus. "That was just a term of endearment, you see."
Magni snorted. "Are you sure you're a priest?"
"Positive," said Benedictus. "Though I don't share their fancy for boys, I confess."
"That was a long time ago, wasn't it?"
"Many years, in Varian's time, I think," said Benedictus. "You remember, do you not? Such a scandal it was. I remember not being able to walk through the streets without garnering a very nasty look from all of the mothers of the city."
"I was a much younger dwarf then," said Magni. "I remember being able to joke with Varian about it, over drinks when I had come to visit the Dwarven Quarter. He seemed to find it immensely amusing, I remember, and so did young Moira—though like all females, I think she found it more distasteful than amusing."
"So you grieve for that, then?"
Magni didn't answer.
"I miss her so much…I miss them all, Benedictus," he finally said. "I thought Moira might return someday but now I can hardly remember her face. I thought she might have been tricked…how could she love him? I do not understand it."
"We are not meant to, are we?" said Benedictus, softly. "Love, that is."
Magni began stroking his beard, and stared at the altar again. "And Brann…I miss his smile, you know. He could always cheer me up, bring me back to the present—then he had to go and get himself lost, didn't he? I don't know where he is now, or even if he still exists!" He pounded the pew with his fist, splintering it and standing up, growling. "And now I have to sit in the same room with those murderers!"
Benedictus looked at the dwarf, as he stood there and shook with anger. He sighed.
"Forgive me," Magni finally said, when he stopped shaking and he had returned to his seat. "I didn't mean that."
"You did," said Benedictus. "But it's understandable. You cannot expect to get along with them in the span of two weeks, Magni."
"No," said Magni. "I don't expect to get along with them at all, and I think that is the exact problem. I am too old, Benedictus, I have seen too much and it has made me bitter towards the world. I thought it would be easier than this, when I told that young man that I would join this alliance. I thought of how wonderful the world would be if we could stop these wars, but that was only my head and my hopes! When I heard that damned witch woman speak for the very first time, I heard every one of my people that had been killed by the Horde and the Scourge—I heard my brother Benedictus—scream at me to kill her. I was able to talk normally with them but I was so close to exploding that I thought I wouldn't be able to do it." He looked at Benedictus with hopeless eyes. "I am too old, Benedictus…far too old."
Benedictus looked at the shattered, ancient dwarf. He leaned over and clapped a hand on Magni's shoulder.
"Go back to Ironforge. Get away for some time, and return with a fresh mind, Magni. Remind yourself of why you can—and you will—endure this." He stood up, and gave the old king a bow. "I must, regrettably, take my leave. I don't expect to see you here again, Magni."
The Archbishop walked away, leaving Magni standing there, looking upon the ancient altar with his dull eyes.
The next day they arrived at Silvermoon City; it was tucked deep in the forest, but its spires and sounds and smells could be heard for miles around. Hisari led them through the woods, avoiding the paths—it would get them there faster, as the high elves had built the roads a long time ago with the intention of showing visitors the wonderful scenery more than forging a direct path to their cities. The blood elves didn't mind it, either, and took pride in their ancestors' roads, so they hadn't changed them. But Hisari said it would take almost half a day longer if they followed the road, so they went straight through the trees, occasionally crossing the wide dirt road, which was covered in a canopy of trees that made patterns of sunlight on it, making it appear arcane and mystical.
They came first to the edge of the woods, where the road passed them once again, only this time it was not dirt, but cobbled with beautiful white stone that glowed in the sunlight as if they were soaking it up. The road led up a small hill, to a cavernous red and gold gate upon towering white walls with gold-topped towers and billowing red flags. But as they approached it, Naruto's attention was caught by something very odd. There was a bridge before the gates, but it didn't appear connected to anything. It floated in mid-air, several feet from the end of the road to the start of the path leading up to the gates. Torches lit with green flames were lit on each end, but they hovered as well, unconnected to anything.
Hisari came to stop next to the bridge.
"How's it doing that?" Naruto asked.
Sakura looked a little closer. "Genjutsu?"
"In a manner of speaking," said Hisari. "Nobody but a blood elf could cross this bridge unharmed. It is why our enemies rarely approach from the front."
"What do you mean by 'a manner of speaking'?" said Yamato.
Hisari grinned. "Illusions are only one of the problems for those crossing this bridge."
"In other words," said Fen. "It's so laden with chakra that you could call it enchanted or something like that. You'll find that most blood elves are like Hisari here, in that they love making things go boom with as much chakra as you can possibly imagine."
"We have enough to spare," said Hisari. "Some even like to call what we do 'magic'."
Hisari stepped onto the bridge, and held out a hand. A familiar green light coiled around it and then extended to the threshold. There was a small shattering sound, and suddenly something appeared—it seemed to fade in from nothing, a monstrous figure that made everyone jump back and draw some kind of weapon, save for Hisari.
It was massive—nearly fifteen feet tall and made of nothing but glowing rocks carved and arranged into a human-like figure, floating a few inches apart from each other. Where it's face would be was a rock with a carved out portion where a glowing blue smoke resided, mixed with an angry red that seemed to be getting more pronounced as they watched.
It said something nobody but Hisari could understand—it reminded Naruto of the night elf tree beasts—the Ancients—that stood guard outside the walls of Darnassus. But the creature's voice was not nearly so beautiful—it was hard, mechanical, monotonous and it grated the ears; even Hisari seemed to recoil from the very sound of the creature's voice.
She spoke back to it, and her voice sounded infinitely better—the language was noticeably different from the night elves', but retained the light, almost singing quality. The beast didn't respond, and then it turned and vanished again as it crossed the threshold of the bridge. Hisari nodded, smiled back at them, and then followed.
"You must hate those things," said Kira, softly, when they were past the bridge with no other incident. "They make your language sound awful." She had become far more talkative since hers and Naruto's talk, though she was still quiet at points and looked distant, despite her renewed cheer. She assured everyone that she was fine, and that she just needed to speak with Benedictus for a while. Everyone knew it would take more time, but they were all pleased to see her change.
"Yes," said Hisari. "They are good protectors but we have not yet found a way to make their voices better."
They entered a large hallway, where two statues of the same blood elf dressed in regal robes stood on either side, gazing at each other sternly and clutching balls of green flames.
"Our missing king," said Hisari. "Kael'thalas Sunstrider."
"Where'd he go?" Naruto asked.
"Outland, it is said."
"What's that?"
"It's the same place," Kira said before Hisari could, "that the orcs originally came from. It's another world, just like yours. There are—or were—portals built to it a long time ago, but they've been ineffective since. But why would he go there?"
Hisari shook her head. "I know not. But we have spared no expense in attempting to find him again, even if it means opening the portals to Outland. Regent Lor'themar has been an admirable leader, but it is the wish of the people that Lord Kael'thalas should return, and reassume his duties as king."
Past the grand hall was a vast street, made of white, smooth stone and lined with golden bars to mark the sidewalks. It was crowded with people—all dressed in red robes or armor, all as fair and beautiful as Hisari, and all with the same glowing green eyes. Many stopped and stared as the group walked down the street, gazing at the oddities that lined the various shops and buildings of the street. They saw a broom dusting the front of a shop by itself, and it occasionally did a little dance for those who looked on, while the shopkeeper stood near the entrance to the shop and looked rather pleased with himself. Some shops were filled with strange machines that buzzed, moved, floated and glowed every manner of color, and these were usually filled to the brim with eager customers. Hisari said that most of the machines didn't do anything that couldn't be done by hand, but blood elves were slaves to convenience. They passed shops filled with books, shops selling strange animals to be kept as pets (which both Kira and Sakura frowned on), shops with obscure names and purposes, shops filled with smoke, shops filled with weapons, chemicals, and powders. Some shops sold solely herbs from the rarest places on earth (again, Hisari said that this was mostly a scam—they more than likely came from the Eversong Woods or the Ghostlands and had been changed a bit by a clever jutsu.)
"They use jutsu for everything," said Yamato, sounding a little disgusted. "They don't treat those arts with respect."
Hisari didn't answer him, so Fen did.
"They don't have to treat it with respect. They aren't shinobi, you know, and their lives don't revolve solely around battle." Fen looked keenly at the shinobi, who didn't respond and simply looked sourly as a few blood elves passed, their bags floating behind them.
Naruto, however, looked excited. "How do they do that? Make things float? Can I learn?"
"Why would you do that, Naruto-kun?" asked Sai.
"To fly!" Naruto said brightly. "It'd be awesome!"
"You can't," said Hisari, sounding amused. "Such techniques mostly use runes and require an immense amount of chakra to keep active. As I said, we have the ability, but I'm afraid that your kind does not."
Naruto looked annoyed for a while, but this disappeared when they found out where'd they be staying: a large, white palace topped with golden domes and spires, whose entrance was covered by a thin strip of cloth that danced in the breeze. Inside it was just as luxurious as it looked—the carpets were soft down and all of the furniture covered in silk; it was amazingly cool and smelled like spices and aromatic oils, and a thin smoke wafted from underneath a few doors that made Naruto feel relaxed beyond measure.
Hisari spoke with the innkeeper, and they were given three rooms in which to sleep—Fen, Myrdraxxis and Yamato in one, Naruto and Sai in another, and the girls in the largest of them.
"Where's your house?" Naruto asked Hisari.
"I have none," she said. "I mostly remain at inns, and because I am a blood knight, I am not required to pay. It is the least they can do for we who defend them." She then ushered them into their rooms and told them to get their rest. She would inform the Lord Regent of their presence while they slept, and they would stay three days for recovery, before Matthias came to pick them up and take them to the Argent Dawn.
"Hope those guys can wait for a while," said Naruto, before he entered his room. "But they'll probably hear about what we've done before we even get there, won't they?"
"They'll probably have a feast waiting for us," grinned Fen. "One thing about the Argent Dawn is that they reward you quite well, especially if it's for their cause."
"I just don't understand," said Sakura. She stood outside her door, wanting to sleep but was far too excited. "How have they lived there for so long? The danger must be incredible, don't you think?"
"True enough," said Fen. "But those guys are pretty tenacious. It'd take a hell of a lot to get rid of them, especially since they're as devoted as the Crusaders were in their pursuits to destroy the Scourge, only you know, without the crazy." The Forsaken grinned at Sakura in a way that might have been reassuring had his face been intact. "Don't worry, they'll be there when we get back, and you guys will have one more ally for the future, I think."
His master's servants arrived unseen, exactly as he had been told they would.
The Baron sat in a room surrounded by instruments of torture, watching as a number of small men whose skin looked like poorly made patchwork quilts tottered about the room, lifting the monstrous rotting arms of the former abomination, Ramstein. The Baron, had he possessed any conception of regret or loss, would have been sad to lose such a devoted and powerful servant. Ramstein had served him and his master more faithfully than any other abomination; but as it stood, he only cared about the parts. Ramstein had been made of very special parts, and it would be foolish to waste them.
They arrived as he watched, making not a sound. He was almost startled to see them: standing at the entrance to the room, four of them all dressed in black robes and hoods, one of them carrying a black sack that was very full, and darker near the bottom; but in death nothing surprised him any more.
Death, he had been told in life, was the final surprise.
'Welcome,' he said to them, and nodded.
The one holding the sack stepped forwards.
"Our mission," he said, in a calm manner with a deep voice and an accent that he could not place. "Is complete."
"Both?"
This time, another of them stepped forwards. This one was short and slight and very obviously female from the dark hair that spilled from beneath her hood. She pushed a hand up under the hood, making the dim light reflect from her spectacles, and then she held up her hand, which had a small square box in it.
"We have it," she said. "Just like he asked. We found them in the…um, Western Plaguelands…was it?" She looked to the one in front for confirmation, but the big one next to her with a large sword strapped across his back nodded instead. She continued, but sounded slightly irritated. "There weren't many of them left, but the ones we found had mutated almost beyond recognition. They weren't even human-like, anymore. What does he want this for, anyways?"
"Stronger allies," The Baron said. He then nodded to the one with the sack. "Show me."
The figure walked towards him, until The Baron could see his eyes, and once he did he felt it. It was a sickening presence, powerful beyond measure, but violent and wicked too—cursed. The boy did not emanate it, only his eyes did—they were frightening eyes, he saw, red with black that seemed to be older than time, and as twisted as the Nethers—nothing his master could create. But he saw on the—child's skin, for he could be no more than sixteen years of age—the paleness of death, and he felt the arctic winds of his master's realm from the boy's breath, and he heard no beating of the boy's heart. This boy, he saw, was like him. He smiled beneath his mask.
"Show me," he said again, for the boy had stopped moving and was now simply staring at him.
The boy nodded, and reached into the sack. He produced a head, that of a man, whose face was horrified in death. It was lovely to look upon.
"All of them?"
"None escaped," the boy said. He dropped the head of the Argent Dawn's leader, Maxwell Tyrosus, back into the sack and then tossed it at the Baron's feet. "What would you have us do next? We were told to report to you once our current mission had been completed."
"You wait." The Baron motioned to one of the small patchwork men, and the creature tottered over and dragged the sack away. "And you listen. Enjoy the sights, as they say."
"Of this dump?" snorted the one with the sword on his back. "It reeks, and there's hardly anything to drink here, as it is."
"But," the fourth figure, who had not spoken yet and was the largest of them all, looked down at the sword-bearing one. "You don't drink anymore…"
"So?" that one snapped. "It's a hard habit to break, especially for someone like me who's made of fucking water!"
"Fine," said the boy in front with the terrible eyes. "Tell us when you have need of us again."
"I shall."
Uchiha Sasuke turned and walked away from the Baron, and his companions followed, and they went as silently as they had come and were gone before the Baron had realized it.
Shorter chapter, but a good place to end, I think. Rest and relaxation for the warriors now, while the action shifts to another part of the world, and things begin to happen that I hope you guys won't expect.
I hope the scene with Kira and Naruto made sense; if you still don't understand why Kira still loves Demi despite her only being half there (and maybe even deluding herself into thinking that Demi might have been whole) refer to what Benedictus says to Magni about love. That's my view on it, at least.
Sasuke's here as well, isn't he? You'll be finding a bit more about his doings this arc as well. He's been through a lot since we last saw him, as you'll see.
What really surprised me was that so many of you didn't realize that Demi was dead. Yes, I made it ambiguous, but only to the cause of her death. I said "corpse" many times during that scene, so yes, she is dead, and no, she will not be coming back. Sorry for you fans, but I never intended her to come back at all. That's part of the tragedy of her character.
See you guys next week, with more treachery and the beginning of the new arc, which I will keep you in suspense for until the next chapter comes out!
General Grievous