A/N: Aaaaand we're back! Can anyone see this? Yes? No? Maybe so?
I certainly hope so, with all the glitches currently plaguing the site, I have no way of telling. Hope to hear from you soon in the reviews~!
As of Monday, new stories and new chapters are randomly disappearing. Stranger still, profiles are randomly rolling back to the first week of June, only to mysteriously fix themselves, then snap back to the wrong format again. Absolutely maddening!
I myself didn't notice until one of my updates stories "At the Edge" started acting strange. Case in point, this is the message most receive.
Story Not Found
Story is unavailable for reading. (A) Story Not Found
Hopefully the devs can get this fixed. Let them know through the usual support email and the fictionpress twitter.
I'm afraid no one will see this, much less review it...but I don't want to hold this chapter back.
Now, then...you can thank Slifer for this.
Through his tireless effort, encouragement, and brilliance, the two of us were able to work together and give this story the update it deserved.
Introspective chapter ahoy!
My health has been...better. Between back and breathing problems I'm feeling the pains of being old.
With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.
And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.
Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
No Q&A this time. Folks complained. Ah, well~!
Alright, think I've kept you waiting long enough, I have.
You came here for a story, didn't you? Don't mind the rambling of sickly man.
As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes or memes. Not a wit or a one! Hope you enjoy!
"A grimm hunt sounds fun, but if we find a damn dragon I'm blaming you.
~Roman.
Partners in Introspection
Naruto didn't know quite what to think of Arthur Watts.
When the smartly-dressed man had first darkened his proverbial door, the singular word that had come to his mind was 'fop'. His clothes told him that this was someone who had enjoyed the finer things in life. The crisp purple suit, pointed tie and a remarkably fuzzy moustache told Naruto that this was a man who had no place in the veritable frontier that was Mountain Glenn.
However, there was more to him than warranted by a cursory glance. Despite his seemingly refined sensibilities he carried himself with a jovial loap that one might see in an architect on holiday, or rather a business trip. His eyes, somehow wide yet beady, drank in the slowly rising structures of Mountain Glenn with a keen interest, like a sculpture seeing the statue within an untouched block of marble. He was, in a word...
...interesting.
Now sequestered away in a plush tent that Naruto had appropriated from the the currently absent Sienna, the blond sat across the table from the self proclaimed 'professor', a silence between them as they each sipped a drink from a tankard. While usually Naruto would have slaked his thirst on hard liquor, he had instead opted for water, because once Watts had begun to speak in earnest he came to the conclusion that this was a man who would require his full mental faculties to spar verbally with.
"This… benefactor of yours, they sent you here to offer your expertise out of the good of their heart?" he queried in a level voice.
Watts chortled in amusement, "I wouldn't go that far, we simply find ourselves in an interstice of circumstance, and the both of us stand to gain from working to, oh what is it the youth say," he scratched his chin before snapping his fingers in realization, "ah! Kneecapping Atlas!"
There was a glee in his voice that went beyond simple mutual help, the prospect of Atlas suffering a hit appeared to be a cherry on top for Watts regardless of whatever reason had sent him to speak with Naruto.
Sasuke bridled in his head. "I don't like this slime, Naruto. Crack his mind open like an egg and see what he knows."
Naruto ignored Sasuke's caustic words, placing a fist beneath his chin as he mulled over the mysterious man's words. Logic told him that this was a fool's endeavor, that he was clearly just a tool to be used by this mysterious benefactor and if there was one thing he hated it was people's lives being reduced to tools for an uncaring third party…
And yet…
Twisting his head to the side, Naruto began to speak with reserved interest, maintaining eye contact with his single uncovered eye. "You seem under the impression that Atlas are going to send an attack force to Mountain Glenn at some point in the next month; despite the fact that there have been assurances that we are going to get left alone to do what we want to do."
"In layman's terms, yes." Watts groused, drinking his water, "but if you'll indulge me with an elementary deduction, mayhap I can give you a bit of insight into what is going on inside their little tin heads right now?" A beat passed before Naruto nodded silently, "Excellent!"
Arthur rose from his chair, smoothing down his suit jacket before crossing to the far side of the tent where a wide map of Remnant stretched across the cloth wall.
'I'm never gonna get over how messy this planet's landmassess look,' Naruto groaned mentally, eyeing the seemingly haphazard splotches of land, 'it looks like someone spilled ketchup on a napkin or something. Give me a super-continent any day of the week.'
Opening his jacket, Watts withdrew a telescopic pointer that he extended to its full length before tapping the settlement south of Vale that he knew to be their current under construction abode. "In your rather spectacular bout of anarchy related bussy-ness you have succeeded in ticking off," he looked over his shoulder and grinned, "Quite spectacularly I might add, the Schnee Dust Company, the ruling council of Vale, the council of Atlas and one currently disgraced General James "Tinman" Ironwood." the pointer swept up to address Atlas then down towards the south of Anima.
"Moreover, you have made allies with the radical faction and figurative Jacobin club of the White Fang, knocking boots with Sienna Kahn-"
"Oi!" Naruto bleated indignantly but Watts pushed on, tapping the smallest continent.
"-and have the current moderate head of the White Fang and his family held under what can politely be called house arrest here in Mountain Glenn." Watts rounded on Naruto, tapping pointer to palm like some leering schoolmaster. "Stellar resume, truly capital, its rare that a single man can put himself in the sights of three global governments in the space of a few months work."
Naruto fought down the clouding of embarrassment that threatened to touch his cheeks, it felt like he was being given some glowing review by this mayhem teacher. Shaking his head, his eye gained a note of steel and spoke up again, "It's… not how I wanted things to go, but its how things have turned out. So what's this about your so called deduction?"
"Elementary my dear friend, it's going to come," Watts explained, rolling his shoulders, "The Schnee Dust Company has lost product because of you, Jacques Schnee as you may have known has doubled the bounty on your head yet again."
He had? Well shit there was an annoying development, more bounty hunters then. Somehow doubted he'd get another Cad Bane out of the bunch.
"But what you need to see," Watts barreled on, "is that snow-haired little rat of a Schnee is a jilted man, he does not suffer the success of those who have spurned him. He has the capital and the product to spare. Atlas's council was humiliated and see your little anti-authoritarian fief here in Mountain Glenn as an insult to their belief in rigid kingdom borders. Dust is the economy by which all of these kingdoms are flowing, and Vale are getting desperate to have their supply returned to them, willing to turn a blind eye to a little 'expansionist peace keeping' coming through their airspace if it means that their crystals start rolling in again."
The blonde felt pieces begin to move into place in his mind, filling up the puzzle that this interloper had presented. "The Schnee Dust Company, a company that has a known prejudice against the Faunus, whose strongest leading faction is the White Fang… a White Fang who I currently have both leaders living with me…"
"Exactly!" His guest grinned, clapping his hands, "In one fell swoop, Atlas regains its lost honour and removes your symbol of anti-establishment living, Jaques Schnee sates his childish grudge and politically gimps his primary slave workforce while Vale lets it all happen to make sure they still have enough Lien to line their pockets and keep from being eaten by the poor. And, conveniently, there happens to be a certain disenfranchised and angry general to lead such a force to snuff the fire of revolution that they can wash their hands of if he were to perish in black fire!"
The Uzumaki remained silent for a long time, mulling things over in his head, the moustache sporting Watts patiently waiting for a response.
"He's trying to manipulate you." Sasuke seethed from the shadows, "This is not some pure-hearted aid, this guy just wants you for his own ends."
Ignoring the cyclopean Uchiha's shade, Naruto continued to think, for Sasuke had not said anything that Naruto did not already know. It was clear that Watts and his as yet unknown benefactor wanted something of him, some kind of reason why the existence of Mountain Glenn or his actions needed to continue. It was as Watts himself had said, a mutual beneficiary, meaning he stood to gain something…
And yet, for all the feelings of dark glee and analytical enthusiasm he felt roiling off Watts in waves, he could tell that the man was not lying to him. And his argument did make a level of sense.
"When and how would this attack come?" Naruto probed, letting Watts have some line.
Whether or not he hung himself with it it...
...well. That depended on him.
"Less than two months, give or take a week depending on how much capital people are willing to move to see this burgeoning utopia put to the torch." He stepped back, thumbing his chin, gaining an introspective look as he rattled off a list of items. "A mostly mechanised paladin assault force that can be conveniently written off as having been scrapped for 'bad firmware' and thus won't be missed, supported by independent high level combat operators, possibly Ace Ops if Ironwood's clockwork heart gets convinced. And if my reading of the old maps is correct, the train line running from Vale to Mountain Glenn started being unearthed about a week ago, wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for a rather large bomb loaded on a train to detonate beneath the foundations of the settlement, when paired with flawlessly timed aerial bombardment by airship would turn this wonderful concrete flower into a pittius hole in the earth."
"You've thought about this a lot," Naruto drawled in morbid amusement.
Watts smoothed his eyebrows in pride, "When it comes to structural demolition you can say I'm something of an expert. Not that I or my benefactor wants to see that come to pass, we would rather the Flame kept burning if you'll pardon the pun."
"Crack his mind, NARUTO!" Sasuke raged, causing a vein to pulse at Naruto's temple.
"Why are you doing this?" Naruto finally spoke, curious as to what the older man would say, "Not your benefactor. You. There is passion in your voice that is more than some unfeeling pawn in a machine."
Watts' joviality dimmed for a beat, then fervour peaked through from behind his eyes, unbridled and righteous. "16,436,209."
Naruto queried a brow in question at the series of numbers. "Come again...?
"When you burned that Winchester buffoon alive and posted that video, in the 24 hours that it was up it was watched approximately 4 million times before it was taken out of circulation." his mustaches twitched, lifting a little with a smile. "I, at my benefactors behest, put it back into circulation and kept it flowing through various dummy sites for two more days before the CCT finally caught it and purged it but in that time it was seen a grand total of 16,435,209 times, the most watched event in terms of duration it was available to watch in the history of Remnant."
Unease clawed at Naruto, allowing his erstwhile guest to continue.
"And from there you proceeded to make a name for yourself in opposing the malignant status quo to make something new. Not just a recycling and reshuffling of what was before but a true variance from the system. I do this… because you are the proof."
"Proof of what?"
Watts sobured, turning to quarter profile, "When I was a scientist, although I still am, just not licensed, I got my doctorate by proposing a theory. In any given system, there exists a 'Flame of Variance', an X-factor that prevents stagnancy, providing new results within expected parameters, but under the right circumstances shattering the paradigm into something well and truly new. You, dear boy, are the Flame. Breaking this world from its odious downward stupor into something that has never been done before, clearing the decaying wood of a blasted heath so something new can grow. My patron desires to see you give this world order a right drobbing… and I want to see just what this flame will birth."
Passion, it frothed forth from Watts like sea foam falling upon the beach at dawn. It was almost manic, but Naruto could tell that for all Watts' faults, many of which were yet to be unseen, he meant what he said.
Rising from his chair, Naruto strode slowly towards Watts and gave him the once over, a light glow emanate from behind the bandage that sealed his doujutsu and a small part of him was pleased that the sight of him stalking forwards seemed to stymied Watts' enthusiasm back to tolerable levels. "I know you're not telling me everything, you said so yourself that you have a benefactor that wants to see us succeed. But say, hypothetically, I believe you, and I will be sending people to verify what you have told me; what next?"
Swallowing thickly, the older man ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. "Well, I give you the info on where to hit Atlas and the SDC so that their little ingress spins its wheels long enough for you to send Atlas screaming into the present from its-"
"I asked what's next," Naruto interrupted, cutting to the chase, "for this…business venture."
Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth. "What the hell are you doing!?"
Watts chuckled, "My patron…" he trailed off, thinking better of the term, "No, my Queen, Salem wishes to see you prosper in your endeavors while I wish to see Atlas and the cathartic apparatus it represents dragged kicking and screaming into the future. What's next is hopefully the beginning of a partnership truly worthy of your deeds."
A hand was raised and offered is way, now. . Naruto considered all of this for a time before slowly accepting the hand, the squeezed it with enough force to make Watts grunt in discomfort. "If you undermine us, if your machinations bring my people to harm, you'll burn. Are we clear?"
Naruto pulled the cloth loose from his eye and had its baleful red light glare at Watts imperiously. Faced with Sasuke's eye, the scholarly interloper felt a shiver going down his spine looking at the morbid thing, even as his curiosity rose to wonder at its mechanics.
Watts practically preened.
"Transparently."
(0.0.0)
...you're staring."
Hours later, long after Watts had left to make a few phone calls, and Naruto could still feel Sasuke's Shade glowering at him from the corner of his eye. The possible figment of Naruto's imagination had been in a foul mood ever since the meeting with the enigmatic emissary had come to an end and frankly Naruto really wish the duck-ass haired revenant would leave him alone, he had things to consider.
"..."
"Not gonna say anything?" his good eye rolled in annoyance. "Then let me wash in peace."
All that he had been told would have to be vetted and run through their own network to make sure that they weren't being led hook line and sinker into a trap while Naruto also did some cursory investigations into this Salem person. The way that Watts had worded it sounded like she was some hidden hand in all this and Naruto was all for finding said hidden hand to prevent it from ramming a knife into his back. Or, perhaps quixotically, using it to get Mountain Glenn truly operational.
"How can you be so naive after all that has happened to you?" Sasuke spat with scorn while Naruto washed himself in the bath. Are you still that asinine dope that thought he could bring the world to piece by making sure everyone shared their feelings?"
Finally Naruto turned to the burning shadow with a snarl, "Will you buzz off!? I'm trying to have a bath here!"
"It won't wash off the stink of naivete." Sasuke flased from one point in Naruto's vision to another in a bursts of smoke and flame. He loomed over him now, the empty left socket of his head yawning ghoulishly. "I warned you earlier; you should have just put him in a Genjutsu, took what he knew and sent him stumbling back to whatever despot sent him your way."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Naruto sighed in annoyance, "God what the hell did Orochimaru put you through to make you think that mental defilement is the go to act on someone honestly trying to help you?"
"Didn't stop you from using it on Winchest-"
"Do not take the moral high ground using that scum's name Sasuke!" Naruto bit out angrily, Sasuke had been pissing him off all day and his hackles were sufficiently goaded. "I can tell when people are intentionally lying, and for all the machinations that Watts has, he didn't lie. If his or this Salem's plans negatively effect us, we'll scupper it before it gets that far."
Sasuke let out a condescending snort of laughter, "And you are just a wonderful judge in people's hidden plan's Naruto. After all, you never saw what I had planned until it hit you in the face."
Naruto glowered at Sasuke and spoke gravely, "I saw it was a possibility, I just didn't think you were low or stupid enough to actually try it."
"Well then that's a point against your judge in character." Sasuke replied with vitriol. "By the log what is it be like to be so foolish after everything you've been through. Still trying to make friends even as they drag you to hell."
"Better than you."
Sasuke stopped, his tirade grinding to a halt, such was the deathly cold seriousness that Naruto had spoken those three words with. "What?"
Naruto leaned forwards in the bath, his face stern but eyes livid. "Better. Than. You. Because for all your bluster about the darker parts of reality, all you amount to are a set of intrusive thoughts in the back of my head. Sometimes you speak sense, most of the time its toxic bullshit and to be frank I'm getting real fucking tired of being lectured by a ghost and a coward."
Sasuke's shade contorted in rage, flashing towards Naruto with a face like thunder, the flames running along his body flashing dangerously. "Coward!? You dare call ME a coward you-"
"It's the truth!" Naruto roared, causing the shade to recede in surprise, blood thundering in Naruto's ears as months… no, years of pent up annoyance boiled to the surface. "You. are. A. coward. A jealous and vain coward whose only possible proof of justifying your existence is to try and drag me down to your level. Well guess what Sasuke, its taken me a long time but I finally worked out what you are!"
The shade specter set its jaw, but Naruto could see a note of uncertainty in his sharingan, he'd well and truly knocked him off kilter. "Are you sure that I'm not just a little bit of your mind that can't get over the guilt of-"
"Nope!" Naruto raged right over him. "I've finally figured it out! When I killed you, when I wrung the life from you, you found yourself on the threshold. The halfway point between life and death, and when you got there, you saw them didn't you?"
Sasuke gnashed his teeth. "I saw nothing!"
"All of them, everyone you killed, everyone you failed, those you said you would be better than and failed to live up to. Kakashi-Sensei, Sakura, the Sage, your clan, your parents." Naruto let his emotions come to a boil on the last word, ripping it from his throat. "ITACHI!""
The spectral Uchiha looked like he had been visibly struck, recoiling from Naruto by several steps. He clambered out of the bath after him and advanced on his incorporeal companion, pausing just long enough to snatch up a stray towel from the wrack and wrap it round his race.
"That's right! You looked into the faces of every one you ever failed, all those disappointed and scornful faces and you realised that your afterlife would be an eternity of shame. And what did you do?" Naruto asked, his blue eye turning red with a slit pupil.
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but no words came.
"YOU RAN AWAY!" Naruto bellowed, "You looked at your reward for a life poorly lived and you turned tail and ran. You did what Obitio did with Kakashi-Sensei, transferred your chakra and consciousness to the last speck of you currently still flesh. In other words, THIS!" he thumbed at the stolen doujutsu of his eye, now emitting the purple chakra that was oh so familiar.
"NO!" Sasuke bleated but it didn't stop Naruto; rather, it couldn't stop him, he was too overcome to even consider stopping now.
"YES! And that wasn't enough for you was it!? Oh, no! No no no." Hes lapped a palm to his bare stomach where the seal emerged in its swirling black script. "It's no coincidence that Kurama went quiet ever since you showed up, you're drawing chakra from him to stay around, aren't you? Guzzling down his power like a pink eyed tick just because you don't want to face the music."
Naruto drew himself up to his full height before smashing a fist into the support pillar of the room, letting loose his final barb. "You are a base, angry, parasitic coward whose only verification of your existence is trying to make me worse as some proof you ever lived; because that's better than looking into the disappointed eyes of a brother who loved you. So look into my eyes, Sasuke, and let me tell you..."
His natural eye bled back to an arctic blue.
...no matter how much I change, I will never be you. I have a dozen different enemies to deal with, and I don't have time for another. So start working with me, or let me see my real partner again; because I don't have time for this!"
Sasuke's shade stood there, seconds stretching out into eternity.
Finally, with a blink, he faded away into the shadows of the room, leaving Naruto alone in the silence.
The blond eyed where Sasuke had been for a few more moments, half-expecting him to reappear. When he didn't his shoulders slumped and he collapsed into a chair.
From there he lowered his head into his hands and sat there contemplating the silence.
He wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually he became aware of a presence behind him in the bathroom. A hand gently slipped in into his thicket of spiky gold hair and began to slowly rub circles into his head, sending soothing waves into his emotionally shot body.
Looking up with glacial slowness, Naruto met the heterochromatic eyes of Neo looking down at him with concern. In place of her usual attire, she wore a much more casual evening attire of a white and pink dressing gown. The duo shared a look for a minute, Naruto not saying a word.
So much was conveyed between them in those scant seconds, her concern, his emotional exhaustion, her care, his desire for succor.
Grasping the dainty fingers of her hand, Naruto lifted it to press against his cheek softly and watched as Neo nodded in acceptance.
...thanks."
In the silence that followed, he came face to face with the fact that he was broken, but this care, given freely, reminded him of something.
In life, it did not matter how many times you broke, only that you were willing to pull yourself back together.
In that way, he and Neo were friends. Comrades…
Partners.
A/N: Neo be staking her claim~!
And there we go. Next time: Partners in...?
As ever, the Embers rule folks don't like this story...well, it won't be continued. Strange as it might sound, live for reviews and feedback; without them, I simply can't write a single word. So by all means! Speak up! Really, that's no joke. Your feedback is the reason this story continues. Ever bit helps. It keeps me going in these crazy times. So by all means! Speak up! No review is too short or too small!
As ever, read the previews before you review, please.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
Only a few previews today.
'Tis a surprise~!
(Preview)
R&R~!
Ladies and gentlmen, lets get ready to rumble~!"
Roman whistled softly to himself while he worked. "Bang, bang, bang...have a nice dream...
"So we hit the docks, take a bit of SDC dust and get away clean. Are we clear?"
"Sure thing, boss. What could possibly go wrong?"
...you've jinxed us. I hate you."
