~The adventure has been rekindled~
Wow...it's been a while since I last wrote anything for this story...but a lot of people are still asking about it, even after almost 3 years! And honestly, I've never been able to get the ending out of my head for this story. I've always known how I want to end it, but it's quite obvious there is still a VERY long way to go before we get there.
Even with my current job, new waifu and new lifestyle, there are still comments every now and again asking about this story. This story keeps getting older and older, and it's honestly my most popular story...and I really don't want it to end like this either.
So let's finally get back to that crazy blonde...
Who is currently squealing in delight as he zips along the edges of the Arbiter's grounds on top of his new toy.
"MIDNA! YOU GOTTA TRY THIS! IT'S AAAAAAAWWEEESOOOOOOOME!" Naruto giggled as he zipped along the tracks made specifically for the top. The Twili floated lazily after the giggling blonde, half annoyed, half relieved. After they had finally gotten through that freaky ghost area, the entire temple almost seemed to brighten up. There seemed to be more lights, more open spaces, better visibility...everything just seemed...better. She wasn't sure if it was because they were out of that unnerving place, if it was because Sasuke wasn't on their asses anymore...
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEHEEEHEEHEEHEEEEEEE!"
WHOOOOSH!
...Or if it was that the hyperactive idiot was finally back to his old self again. The moment he started smiling and laughing again, it felt like an entire weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. A tension she didn't knew she even had was gone, and it felt really, REALLY nice.
"WHEEEEEE-OH SHIT HEADS UP MID-"
WHACK!
As the blonde continued to apologize to the Twili, the two speeding along the rails, she began wondering if all that tension was completely gone or not...
"How..." Suigetsu asked in disbelief, carrying a load of boxes. Both him and Sasuke were carrying several large crates and boxes towards a tower in the city. "How are we not dead!? Both of us sneaked out into the world of light, both of us took Sol, and BOTH OF US ARE STILL ALIVE!" Suigetsu's mind was spinning frantically. "By every possibly account, we should be nothing but ashes in the ground...why didn't he kill us?"
Sasuke glared forward. That was a question he would also like to have answered. Zant didn't even laugh at them, glare at them, hit them...he didn't hit them. AT ALL. HIM. The freak who would play "How many lashes can I give in a minute?"
Sasuke slowed to a stop, his eyes furrowing in confusion before looking back at the temple.
Something was off about him...
In the Twilight King's throne room, Zant sat in his great chair, staring stoically forward, his mask hiding his fatigue. The psychotic ruler's breathing was finally returning to normal after the gruesome feat he had just accomplished...and it was ridiculous how difficult it was to do what seemed like a simple task. But as his mask began to peel back the layers of metal, his pale blue face began glowing in the twilight, revealing his wickedly curved smile, his fangs glistening in the dim light. No matter the difficulty it was to do that much damage to it, it was definitely worth it.
...as the moment SHE saw it...
Midna's eyes widened in horror as her and Naruto finally made it to the sacred grounds of the desert temple. She slowly began floating down to the ground, all energy fading from her limbs as a silhouette stood in front of her in the waking hours of the dawn.
She would realize how worthless her attempts were.
She could hear his laughter, his maniacle, high pitched laughter ringing in her ears as tears of frustration began hitting the ground. She clenched her fist tightly before beginning to curse in her native tongue. Her cursing began to grow in size, volume and complexity, the imp quickly increasing the string of curses as Naruto merely stood off to the side in silence as Midna continued swearing in words he had never heard of before. He looked over to the source of her grief, the shattered remains of what looked like a desk mirror. Only one large chunk remained on the frame of the mirror, and Naruto could only guess that it was the Mirror of Twilight that they had been looking for.
"Midna..." Naruto started as he squated next to her. He gasped as the imp continued cursing, a pale yellow glow beginning to surround the imp. He could feel a very large power eminating from the small Twili, instantly recognizing it from the dream he had months ago underneath the bridge at Lake Hylia. "M-midna...Uh, MIDNA!" He began to panic as the glow began to increase in size, quickly beginning to turn from a pale yellow to a bright golden light. Naruto began backing up before a large roaring sound echoed throughout the temple, causing the area to shake. "Wh-what was that!?" Naruto yelped, looking around for the source of the shaking. His eyes quietly settled on the glowing yellow imp. "M-midna?"
A loud crashing noise erupted from the side of the ruins, causing Naruto to spin around to see a giant dragon-like skeleton emerging out and into the dessert. He blinked as he thought he heard a screaming noise, only to look up and see a red-haired young man flying towards him.
"Oh..." Naruto started.
"SHIT!" Gaara finished as the two crashed, tumbling backwards into a wall.
"WHAT THE HELL MAN!? WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FLYING!"
"YOU THINK I WAS TRYING TO FLY FUCKFACE!?" The two had sparks raging between their eyes before the screaming of the giant skeleton regained their attention.
"AW MAN! I thought I was done with fucking skeletons!" Naruto groaned. "...and why is it so big...?" He looked back to Gaara suspiciously. "Don't tell me you did some kind of voodoo on it or something."
CRACK!
Gaara glared harshly at the blonde's accusations as he shook his hand, Naruto holding his head in pain. "If I could do that you would have died quite a while ago..." Naruto glared back up at him before idly noticing a severe lack of bloodlust coming from the redhead.
"You okay?" Naruto asked without a second thought. Gaara's eyes widened before turning towards the blonde.
"What?"
"I don't know...you just seem...less evil..." He rubbed the sore spot on his head. "Maybe it's just cuz it's not pitch black out but...you seem...different." Gaara glared back out towards the Stallord.
"Shut up idiot. We still have to worry about that thing." Naruto quirked an eyebrow before glaring back out to the monster gliding through the sands of the desert.
"You're right...Midna, I need you to-" Naruto stopped as he looked at Midna, who had calmed down from her fury and just sat on her knees. The blonde quickly walked over to her, waving in front of her. "Midna?"
"It's useless...it's over...there's...no way now..." She cried weakly. Naruto's eyes widened as she looked up to him with lifeless, smiling eyes. "Zant has destroyed the only way back to the Twilight Realm...there isn't any way back...he's won..."
"Hey! This isn't the time to get depressed over this! We finally found it, right!?" He began to panick. He didn't like this Midna. It was like she was some sort of lifeless doll. "You said you were going to save the Twilight Realm, right? You can't give up now!" His lip started to twitch, almost giving in to the temptation to cry. A corpse looked like it had more life in it than her.
"Naruto, we've got a problem!" Gaara shouted from the other side of the Mirror's chamber. Naruto glanced over to him to see the Stallord was done swimming around in the sand, quickly heading towards the Arbiter's Grounds and the Bulblin Camp. Naruto looked down towards the lifeless Twili, crying with a dead smile on her face.
"He's destroyed...everything...there's nothing...nothing we can do now...I...I can't go back...everyone...I'm so sorry..." She cried quietly, Naruto's eyes widening.
"Gaara..." He said, barely a whisper. The redhead glanced over to the blonde, the area beginning to shake and rumble. "I want you to take Midna...and get out of here." He breathed the words out so quietly Gaara barely heard him.
"What?" He began walking over to Naruto before gripping his shoulder tightly. "You want me to just take her and run!?" Gaara's eyes widened as he noticed the same cold feeling from his first fight with the blonde, only for it to quickly grow colder and more menacing by the second.
"I s-said..." Naruto began quivering, Gaara quickly pulling his hand back. "T-to take her..." He began to twitch more and more. "AND GET OUT OF HERE!" He glared forward, his eyes slit and red. He suddenly spun on his heels, walking towards the Stallord in the distance. Gaara noticed something floating away from the small imp, orange and black in color before Naruto's Master Sword suddenly clanked to the ground, along with his Hylian Shield.
"Wha...what are you doing?" Gaara asked quietly, the bloodlust erupting from Naruto horrifying him more than any monster could ever hope to. The orange Twilight Shard slowly floated over to Naruto before melding into the back of his head.
"I'm gonna to kill him."
Gaara's eyes widened as a blood red aura suddenly flared up around Naruto.
"He crushed what little life she had..."
He began twitching violently.
"He ruined her only chance..."
Gaara could hear a heart pumping loud and fast.
"She had finally found a way HOME...!"
The blonde glared forward, the whites of his eyes disappearing into pure blood red hatred as tears began pouring down his face. A whirlwind of sand and rocks converged around the swordsman, the ninja suddenly crouching down before a deafening explosion launched him out towards the sands of the desert.
"AND HE FUCKING DESTROYED IT!" He roared as his form disappeared behind a swirl of sand and debris, an enormous blood red Nine-tailed fox bursting out of the sandstorm and running straight towards the Stallord, which roared at it's newly unveiled opponent. The two giants collided, a sandstorm springing to life as the fox's tails thrashed wildly in the air, slamming into the ground and sending a wave of sand up into the air.
The skeleton king roared as legs assembled underneath it's torso, the skeletal dragon roaring as a single spiked tail swirled to life around it before getting smashed by several red, intertwined tails. The Nine-tailed fox slashed several claws across the hardened bones of the colossal king, the monster roaring out in pain before slashing its own skeletal claw across the face of the fox. With a howl of pain, the fox snarled in rage before it jumped once more after the skeletal king.
Gaara stared out towards the Gerudo Mesa with wide eyes.
"He...he transformed...into...into a..." Cold sweat ran down his back. He could have done that in the bulblin camp...why didn't he? His eyes widened as he spun around, catching sight of the unconscious Twili behind him. He slowly turned back towards the fox and the Stallord, realization dawning on him at the thought of the strange stone. He took a deep breath before shaking his head. "But why would he let an imp like her hold something like that?" He glared back towards Midna before walking over to her, idly noticing the Master sword and Naruto's Hylian shield off to the side, which had been blown back by Naruto's overpowered jump. He walked over to the weapons, picking up the sword and staring at it, the sword still resting in it's scabbard. He put his hand on the legendary sword's handle before his eyes widened. His face grimaced as he tried to pull the blade free of the scabbard, the sword and scabbard seemingly a part of each other. No matter how much he tried pulling the blade out, it would not budge. He glared fiercely at the weapon, knowing Naruto had pulled out the sword with ease before. He glanced down the scabbard, noticing the Triforce marking adorning it. He glanced up above him, where he knew the symbol had been carved into the mountainside of the Arbiter's Grounds. They must be connected somehow...
He glanced once more back towards the fight between the fox and the Stallord, noticing the Mirror of Twilight's frame and the last remaining piece. Walking over towards the frame, he noticed the Triforce symbol once more, etched into the centerpiece of the mirror's remaining fragment. Again, the symbol appeared in front of him, and again he had no idea what it meant. He looked over to Midna, where the Hylian shield rested near her. Again the symbol was present. He glared back out towards the battlefield, wondering why Naruto had so many things that held the same symbol...what did they mean!?
The loud scream of the Stallord caused Gaara to flinch before seeing the giant fox get smashed backwards into the mountainside near them. The fox was panting heavily, Gaara noticing the blood red eyes were slowly fading, revealing the fox's eyeball and slit pupil.
'He's losing...' Gaara realized before the fox's eyes glanced over to him and the imp. The fox glared not so much at the two of them, but more in concentration before snapping back towards the Stallord. With a loud howl the fox leapt back out towards the colossal skeletal dragon. 'At this rate...he's going to lose...' Gaara furrowed his brow in concentration. If a giant fucking demon fox wasn't able to beat this thing, then how in the hell could HE!? There had to be something he could do. He looked down towards the unconscious Twili, half annoyed that she was unconscious in such a crisis. Stomping over to the imp, he grabbed her by the Fused Shadow piece and started shaking her.
"GET UP! Worthless peice of shit...I SAID WAKE UP DAMMIT!" Gaara roared, tossing the imp off to the side. The hit to the ground brought her back to reality, causing Midna to look up and around, quickly regaining her senses.
"Wha...where..." She noticed the shattered mirror of Twilight before the helplessness she felt moments ago resurfaced. Her face began to grimace once more before she received a backhanded hit across her face. "DAMMIT NARUTO, I SAI-" Her eyes widened as she realized Naruto wasn't the one who hit her.
"Listen you maggot, I don't know what the hell happened to you, but if you can fight then get the fuck up!" Gaara pointed a finger in the direction of the two fighting giants. "That fucking sack of shit out there is fighting for your sake...whatever it is that makes him think you're worth fighting for, then you better make sure you are worth it! Because I sure as fuck don't see it!"
A loud, screaming howl forced both of their eyes back to the battlefield, where they saw the nine-tailed fox get flung up into the air towards them. The giant fox began to shrink as it got closer and closer, leaving Naruto's limp, human body to fall towards the ground. Midna quickly dashed to where Naruto was going to land, her hair quickly flaring to life before turning into a giant hand, catching Naruto before he hit the ground. He was gasping for air, wheezing into the Twili's hair. Spinning the blonde around to see his face, Midna's eyes widened in horror as a large, bloody gash lay across Naruto's face, starting from above his right eyebrow and spanning across his face to the bottom left corner of his jaw. The swordsman was breathing heavily as blood continued to come from the wound. Tears began to stream from the Twili's face as she delicately ran a hand along the edge of his face, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"Naruto...I'm so sorry...you've been risking your life for my sake...and all I've ever done is sit around, making you do the work..." She pulled the blonde's face close to her. "But...I won't let you do it alone anymore..." She smiled as she began to glow yellow, Gaara watching with a furrowed brow. The hair thing was interesting, but that was about it. "Gaara, right?" The redhead turned to face her for a moment. "The Stallord in front of us, Naruto's been fighting it for a while now...right?" She asked quietly.
"Since you passed out." He snapped at her, the imp visibly flinching. Midna looked up at the Skeleton King as it got closer and closer, showing no visible signs of damage. It was as if Naruto had never fought him.
But he had. The proof was etched across Naruto's face, which had suddenly stopped bleeding. Holding the blonde's head tightly in her arms, she glared towards the Stallord, her single fang gleaming faintly against her pale skin. "It's being powered by Twilight Magic." She said in anger, Gaara staring at her in confusion. "No matter how much damage we do to it, it will keep healing itself unless we destroy the source."
"And where the hell would that be?" He grumbled in frustration as he looked out to the Stallord slowly making it's way back over to the trio.
"Twilight Magic has to have a focal point. If it's making the entire body move, it has to be along the spine. If you can distract it for a few moments, I can find out where it is." She glared forward, her eyes lit with determination. Gaara closed his eyes in concentration, thinking of a way to stall it for a few moments. He might not be able to kill it, but stalling it and distracting it was definitely in his range of capabilities.
"All right. But make these few moments count. I don't know how long I can distract it." Gaara said before whistling sharply, Lucy the Kargarok quickly swooping in and landing next to her master. Quickly mounting up on top of the creature, Gaara tapped Lucy on the back of the head twice before she took off into the air, quickly pulling out his bow and one of the bomb arrows that were still with her from Naruto's earlier distraction. As the two sped towards the Stallord, a thought occurred to Gaara.
"You got here pretty fast...what happened to the guy that was with you earlier?" He asked the creature. A series of squawks and trills were his response. "Disappeared huh? That's why you got to me so quickly..." Lucy hummed quietly as they got closer to the Stallord. 'It probably happened when he transformed into...that...' He thought, feeling as if he had seen that monster fox before. A scene flashed before his eyes, one where a giant orange fox was rushing at him. He felt sand all around him, despite seeing trees in the area. He was snapped out of his vision as Lucy quickly pulled to the side, dodging a large, bony claw. "Fucking flashbacks are going get me killed at this rate." He snarled as he knocked back an explosive arrow. "Go in towards the spine Lucy!"
The Kargarok let out a high-pitched screech before dive-bombing down past the Stallord's ribcage, spinning upwards before evening out long enough for Gaara to snap a shot towards the monster's spinal column. A loud roar quickly followed the explosion, the colossal giant trying to swat the pest flying around it.
Midna stood on one of several high towers, looking out towards the pissed off monster. She glanced back down towards Naruto, quietly resting near the broken mirror. His clothes were in tatters; the tail end of his hat was shredded, his gloves had been destroyed, leaving burnt fingers, and the only thing remaining of his boots were the cuffs around his shins.
"You've fought enough for one day..." She said quietly before putting her hands in front of her, forming a triangle with her thumbs touching. Her only visible eye peered through the hole made by her hands, focusing on the Stallord's spine. "Now...where are you hiding..." She mumbled to herself as she began feeling for any Twilight energy coming from the Stallord. "To move something that big, there needs to be a large amount of Twilight Magic..." She glared as she slowly moved along the monster's spine. "But it's nowhere along the spine...how in the world could it-"
Midna's eyes widened as Gaara's latest bomb arrow impacted right against the Stallord's skull. The monster's tail and several finger bones began falling away from the creature before quickly floating back into place.
"THAT'S IT!" She shouted before lining up her hands towards the monster's skull. A low, almost invisible pulse appeared in between the monster's eye sockets. "Gotcha..." The small imp lowered her hands before extending her left arm outwards. A glowing blue and black spear appeared, similar to the one she had used to beat back the moldorms. "Zelda...I'm going to borrow a bit of your power..." She took a deep breath before the spear began glowing a bright golden yellow, quickly changing it's shape into an arrow of golden light. The light arrow began floating next to the Twili as she glared at the Stallord, the arrow quickly growing in size.
Gaara and Lucy floated in front of the skeletal king, Gaara snarling in rage. No matter where he hit it, nothing happened! No marks, no scratches, nothing! It was as if he was fighting a giant puppet! Trying to figure out a way to finally kill the damn thing, he noticed a light was reflecting off of its skull. Glancing behind him, Gaara did a double-take to see a giant arrow of light floating next to a pillar.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me...SHE CAN DO SHIT LIKE THAT!?"
"This one's for the dork!" Midna shouted as she snapped the arrow at the colossus, piercing it straight through it's skull. With a howling scream, the monster evaporated in a flash of light.
"Give this to the idiot when he wakes up." Gaara said, tossing Midna a small necklace with an hourglass on it, completely colored in. The imp caught the hourglass easily, staring at it in curiosity. "Stupid thing is nothing but trouble." He grumbled before he began walking towards Lucy, Midna watching him carefully.
"Aren't you going to try killing him?" Midna said quietly, glancing over towards the still unconscious Naruto. Gaara stopped, turning to look at the blonde before hopping on Lucy.
"Killing him now would be pointless. It's no fun killing something so weak." He snorted defiantly as he tapped Lucy's head twice, the creature screeching before taking off into the air. "Take me to the others." He said quietly, not noticing the Twilight Portal that had appeared after the Stallord was defeated.
As the two disappeared into the distance, Midna's legs gave out, sending her rump down to the ground.
"Heheh, he probably could have killed us both right then..." She chuckled before looking over to Naruto, then to the shattered Mirror of Twilight. "Probably would have been better..." She sighed turning back to Naruto. "I'm sorry...we went through all this trouble...only to find the mirror in this state..." The imp's shoulder's slumped as she stared at the mirror. If only Zant hadn't destroyed the mirror. They might have had a chance to defeat him. Nobody had even heard of the mirror being destroyed. This was the first time this had ever happened in the history of the Twili. Sure, they had said only the true ruler of the Twilight Realm could destroy it, but no-one had ever thought of destroying it before! But now that Zant HAD destroyed it, Naruto's only way to the Twilight Realm was gone. Sure, if she was lucky enough, she herself might be able to make it through one of Zant's monster portals, but since Zelda had given Midna her own light, it would probably end badly, what with her technically being a being of light now. "Is there really no other way?" She questioned aloud.
As if in answer to her question, a glow caught her attention. Glancing over to the source, she found Naruto's right hand glowing with a yellow light. Three golden triangles appeared underneath him before his clothes began to reform. As the blonde's clothes repaired, the three golden triangles underneath the blonde began pulsing, a low ringing sound echoing around the area. Midna's eye widened as she heard another low ringing sound, as if resonating with the three golden triangles. Glancing to her side, she noticed the back of the Mirror of Twilight had the symbol of the Triforce at its center, which also began to pulse and resonate. As Naruto's clothes finished repairing themselves, the glow faded away, the ringing noise also disappearing; leaving only the sound of the rushing wind of the desert.
"Tha...THAT'S IT!" She grinned before beginning to dance around the area. "That's it! We don't NEED another way! We can just repair the mirror! If we can find all of the shards, we can fix the mirror!" She giggled happily, not noticing a certain someone had woken up after his outfit was repaired. "And it looks like Zant could only break it into four pieces, so if we can find the other three, we can repair it! YES! We still have a chance!" She stopped before pointing her finger out triumphantly to the rising sun. "Watch out Zant, we're on our way to kick your ass!"
"OORAH!" Naruto shouted right behind the imp in a matching pose, causing her to shriek and turn around, her hair flaring to life as it smacked whatever was behind her into the wall across from her. Midna was breathing heavily, her arms held delicately to her chest, before noticing that it was the blonde swordsman who had created an imprint on the wall.
"Ouch...that smarts...still, to think I'd see the great big bad Midna actually acting cute...maybe I'm still dreaming...?" He grinned cheekily as he clapped his hands together, looking up towards the gods. "Thanks for the treat though!"
If Midna's face had gotten any hotter, it would have burst into flames. "I SWEAR I'M GONNA-" Her hair began growing in size before hovering over the swordsman, ready to pancake the giggling blonde before she noticed the now permanent scar across Naruto's face. It was no longer bleeding, but the light pink scar tissue would now be a permanent feature to the blonde, much like his whiskers. Midna slowly floated over to the blonde, who finally noticed the giant floating hand, before lightly slapping him across the face. "...pay you back for this..."
"Eh?" Naruto quickly looked back and forth from the giant, menacing hand, to Midna's regretful look. "EH?" The imp quickly spun around.
"It's nothing...you'll find out soon enough." She said curtly. "Besides, we're gonna have to pick up the search again now that we know the mirror was shattered. We need three more pieces to repair it."
Naruto's eyes widened. "So...it's like the Fused Shadow pieces..." He said quietly.
"Yes...except this time it won't be so easy..." She turned around to face the blonde. "Think you can handle it?"
She noticed he was shaking, but was concerned for only a moment as Naruto suddenly burst out with a loud, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL RRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!" With flames in his eyes, the blonde grinned fiercely. "THIS ADVENTURE IS JUST GETTING STARTED AGAIN!" Midna smirked as she shook her head.
"That's just like you. Always ready to go."
It's been ages since I last wrote a chapter, and I won't lie by saying I was squealing like a little girl after I finished this chapter...
I no longer have Microsoft Word, which was my main typing resource, so until I regain that program, (my entire PC needed to be factory reset) I have to use Notepad. And working at my new job is slow and boring, but I have since found a loop-hole! That being that they also have Notepad. And I am allowed to type on it while I work. (it's a boring call-center job btw)
And now that we have finally finished the Fused Shadow Arc, WE CAN START THE MIRROR ARC!
If the chapter seemed a bit short to you guys, I'm sorry. I've done longer boss fights, but...honestly whenever I write, I imagine the entire fight scene playing out while I'm typing, so it feels like it's a really long boss fight to me, imagining the smashing, slashing and bashing between Kyuubi and Stallord, but word-wise, it's actually kind of short...again, I'm sorry, but it feels like I drag out the fights long enough after re-playing it in my head hundreds of times until my fingers catch up with my imagination...but should I still try making the fights longer? Leave a comment!
Also...
Naruto, Kenta and Midna: WELCOME THE FUCK BACK BITCHES!