A/N: I doubt anyone will be able to see this...but screw it. I don't care anymore.

Not in the best headspace right now, and it probably affected the chapter. Bit of a rant here, sorry.

Trying to update this again in the same day despite the glitches. Hopefully folks will actually SEE the chapter this time.

Site is being glitchy, reviews aren't appearing -though the number does go up further proving its a sight problem- and I cannot see a single BLOODY EMAIL FROM FANFICTION ONCE AGAIN, but here, have this, read and enjoy it. I'll just sitting in a corner, sulking until the site finally gets fixed

The site broke down last night for everyone across the board; major crashes and everything. Been down for more than twelve hours now; hopefully it'll be fixed sometime tomorrow; if not, I'm going to seriously consider taking a step back and reassessing my path here, maybe even going away for awhile.

I don't get paid to do any of this...so what's the point?

Everyone was enjoying Runt of Litter until the site broke, now I'm getting next to no feedback for it...*sigh*

As you all know, this story may well be ending early. Feedback determines a lot of things, so I suppose we'll see where this goes.

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.

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. 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.

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. Meaning that if folks don't like this, it won't be continued. If the story itself ain't popular/well-received...well, I won't be able to continue it. I'm working two jobs, holidays are here too, meaning I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy.

So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working all hours of the day keeps me absurdly busy; I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.

No questions this time around.

Alright, I think I've kept you waiting more than long enough. With that said here we go.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes! Not a wit or a one.

They're merely tributes to legends far greater than I.

"The worst thing about betrayal...is that it often comes from a friend.

~?

A Good Death

In the span of a single week, everything changed.

The demigods were vulnerable. For the Lands Between had seen two of their number died, and the rest of them bleed. And as the age old saying went, if it bleeds, it can be killed. Those who survived had to do more than merely pick up the pieces left behind by their kin; they were forced to weave their way through a web of dissent and deceit as the realm realized one immutable truth.

Their gods were not infallible; but they were vengeful, and for their assassins paid a bitter toll for the Night of Black Knives.

In the end, Alecto sang like a canary. It was inevitable when one considered the torture she'd been through; one could only last so long with their blood boiling in their very veins. Mohg was quite thorough. She would live, though she would dearly wish she had not. Being sealed away in an Evergaol and left to rot for the rest of your days was a thoroughly unpleasant experience, or so he'd been told. He supposed her final fate didn't much matter; she'd sold her conspirators up the river and Radahn was even now scouring the Lands Between, tearing them out wherever they hid, root and stem.

"And that's what happened, your Lordship."

Dissent was rife in the realm, and thus it fell to him and Malenia to put things right.

Right. He was still holding, court, wasn't he? So annoying. "I'm sorry for your losses...Edgar, was it?"

"Yes, my lord Miquella." The battered knight before him sketched another bow, head all but scrapping the floor as he finished his heartfelt. "You honor me with this audience."

A murmur passed through the assembled nobles, and not at all a pleasant one.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh and grit his teeth to stave off a migraine. Insolent backbiters. If this was the calm before the storm then he wished the bloody storm would hurry up and get here already. He was tired. More than that, he found he didn't much like ruling. Some might say that made him good at it, but he disagreed. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that. Really, it felt like he was just waiting for the hammer to fall, the other shoe to drop, all hell to break loose. How did anyone live with this kind of tension! It was doing his head in!

"My Lord?"

Blast, he'd almost forgotten about poor Edgar again. Focus.

"I understand your plight." He really didn't, but with Malenia standing guard behind him, he would pretend he did. Fake it until you make it, that sort of thing." We will send a detachment of Erdtree Sentinels to help you pacity the Misbegotten that have overtaken your fortress. Castle Morne will be returned you, on that, you have my word.

Begging your pardon m'lord," the man bowed his head again, dark hair briefly hiding his eyes as wrung his hands fretfully," I as hoping you could tend to the matter yourself-or perhaps send your blade?" The latter was said with a long, lingering look Malenia's, gaze raking over her red hair. "I'm sure a demigod would put proper fear into those foul monsters."

Ha! Not a chance. If he left Leyndell he might not come back.

It was already tempting to bugger off, walking beyond the fog, and leave this world to rot. Far too tempting. He could resist such here in the capital while he kept himself distracted, if only just. And he needed Malenia here to help keep order. If she left no one would listen to a "child" at all. No, he would let his chosen handle this and pray they didn't make a mess of things.

Maybe he could just hand this all off to Radahn once he finished hunting down the Black Knives. But for now...

"I'm afraid we cannot be spared. But worry not," he amended when he saw anger cloud the old knight's visage, "Your daughter shall be safe here in the capital and well looked after." And because Malenia looked interested at that and he wasn't in the mood, "Ahe may attend my sister as her personal handmaiden until your return. You have my word.

"But my lord...

Malenia leaned low to whisper in his ear. "He questioned you. We should killed him.

He looked back over his shoulder, wondering if his sister was joking.

She was not. Doom danced in her eyes. "Malenia, no."

His twin subsided with a soft sigh, as looked back.

"That will be all, Edgar."

The weary knight bowed and scraped and said all the right words, but Naruto saw the flame of rebellion in his eyes. He just couldn't bring himself to care. If someone thought they could do a better job at ruling than him, they were welcome to try. He'd happily pay someone their weight in rune to take this chair from him.

Muttering a parting farwell, he waved him on and attended to the next supplicant. Something about destroyed cabbages or somesuch.

Feh. He paid the man his runes and bid him farewell. He had bigger concerns and bigger fish to fry.

Morgott would've been better suited to this. Rykard could have cowed these people into submission with a but a glance. Anyone-ANYONE!-would've been better suited to this. But they were all dead. Dead, destroyed, and gone. At least most were beyond pain. Would that the rest of them were so fortunate.

Radagon was still a blind man, missing his arm and eyes beside, neither of which would regrow no matter the magic he used.

Marika had left her chambers at last but now wandered the halls like a wraith, a bottle of wine never far from her hand. Everyone would could have led were dead or too wounded, or no longer sane.

Radahn seemed determined to avoid the Capital at all costs -though he was perfectly healthy- likely because he feared the onus of leadership and all the burdens that came with it.

Malenia was a follower, not a leader. He had given her the throne for a day and she'd tried to have all the nobles hanged because they annoyed her.

As for Mohg...no. A thousand times no. He wasn't leaving Leyndell in his hands.

And so, once again, it fell to him to lead this pack of parasites.

The thought soured his mood, reminding him of something.

He rose from the Elden Throne. "That will be all for today."

There was still one small matter to attend to. Well, not so small, really. He'd put it off long enough.


(.0.0.0.)


CRACK!

Kurama took the punch in good grace and let it carry him backward, head snapping to the side as his back crashed against a wall. Naruto didn't give him the chance to retort-much less defend himself. He slammed an arm against his throat and held it there, all but choking him out; practically promising to do if he said something he didn't like.

"When were you going to tell me, Kurama?"

Credit where it was due-his old friend didn't flinch.

He'd corned him, and yet despite that, he still didn't falter. "Tell you what?"

"Don't play dumb." He tightened his grip on him. "Rennala's been missing, and Malenia's shadow vanished just last night. Yet you were nowhere to be found."

"I haven't the foggiest idea what you-

He punched the wall beside his head, splintering it. "No games!"

...alright." his old friend lowered his hands. "Yes. That was me. I'm responsible for her disappearance."

"Disappearance or death?"

The silence was telling, damning even.

"How many more have you killed? All this time, Kurama. Behind my back...

It was the strangest thing, seeing his old face stare back at him with such placid calm. There wasn't so much as an iota of guilt in Kurama's gaze. He felt no pity for the souls he'd taken, no remorse for those he'd sent to the hereafter. A response, he would have understood. But this stoic silence...he couldn't bear it. Surely his old friend had a reason for this. An explanation. He must have. He wouldn't just...kill all those people without provocation now, would he?

"What would you have me say? This is for the good of everyone."

"The good of everyone?! Or just me? Damnit!" he let him go and whirled away, running his hands through his long hair. "I didn't want this, I NEVER wanted this! What have you done?!"

"Nothing you wouldn't have."

He wanted to punch him so damn hard!

Instead, he felt sick to his stomach. "How many."

Kurama actually made him say it, the bastard. "How many what?

He whirled back to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. "How many lives have you taken?!

...enough. I struck a bargain for your sake."

"Then unstrike it!" he gave him a good hard shake. "Bring them back!"

"I can't." even now his erstwhile ally remained unfazed. "I wouldn't even if I could. I won't stop. I can't. You'll have to kill me." he tilted his head, regarding him with a small, sad smile. "But you won't. We're friends. Deep down, I know you understand why I'm doing this.

"Understand?!" He understood that he wanted to throttle him! "This isn't who you are!"

"Who I am?" Kurama grabbed him by the wrist and broke his grip, forcing him to let go or risk his arm breaking. "This is always who I've been. I've only ever cared for a select few people. This lot?" He waved his free hand with a gesture of utter disgust. "They're nothing. Peasants, knights, gods? I don't care about them. I never have. I care about you. Nothing else matters."

"I didn't realize you were going around killing people!"

Yes, you did." a slow blink damned him. "You just didn't want to admit it. And they're not people, but ants."

Nausea roiled Naruto's stomach. He nearly choked on it; even moreso the realization that, for all his quips, Kurama was serious. "They are not ants!"

"Aren't they?" Kurama tapped a finger to his chin. "A giant doesn't morn those he crushes underfoot. He moves onward. Upward. Ever higher. This isn't our world, Naruto. These aren't our people. If it was, I wouldn't be doing this. Malenia clearly means something to you, out of respect for that, I've let her be." his hand fell, clenching into a rare fist at his side. "As far as I'm concerned, everyone is fair game."

"But why?!"

Here at last, Kurama lost his temper. "To save you, fool!"

There it was again, that bargain of his. "Save me from what-

The door crashed open in a rush, slamming against the wall with a harsh crack to startle them terribly.

A messenger stumbled in, wasted and gasping for air. Belatedly he recognized him as one of Radahn's men. He looked a proper sight; someone had cut out his eye and his body looked to be a mass of yellow and purple bruises beneath his armor. Even so, he saluted and did his duty without fail. "My lord! General Radahn has gone mad! He's laying waste to the lower city!

Naruto rounded on Kurama. What did you do this time?!"

"Nothing!" His old friend looked ever bit as surprised as he felt. "This is new! I didn't have anything to do with this-where are you going?!"

"To stop him!" He snarled over his shoulder. "Stay here! You step one toe out of this room and I'm chopping it off!"


(.0.0.0.)


He found Radahn rampaging through the lower city.

In all fairness it wasn't hard; he just had to follow the fleeing civilians and walk in the opposite direction. From there it was merely a matter of listening for the sounds of combat and following those. It took him less than five minutes to track his half-brother down. All the while his mind went on a rampage of his own, trying -failing!- to understand what was happening.

Rounding a bend, he arrived just in time to see two Erdtree Sentinels crashing through a fountain. He winced despite himself, then rallied.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Ranni's sibling rounded on him, smiled grimly, and stepped over the dazed body of an Erdtree Sentinel. "Dying, little brother."

Those words may as well have been a knife in his gut, such did they wound him. "What?"

The good general turned his head aside and tugged at the collar of his armor, revealing a lurid black mark on his thick neck. It pulsed as he looked on, cracks spread spreading across his flesh, reaching fingers of fine fractures up to his chin. He knew the symbol well. It was the mark of those black blades. Not instantly lethal, and that was a testament to the general's vitality, but the wound was fatal all the same.

Naruto's heart sank into his stomach. "No."

Yes. His smile didn't waver but it seemed sad now, somehow.

"How?"

"I was careless and angry." His half brother declared. "I hounded the assassins from the capital, chased them across the Lands Between, and slew them all, every last one. The last one managed marked me before I slew her all the same." he let his hands fall and idly, Naruto noticed his trembling fingers. "I can barely feel my arms. I've little time left, maybe a day at best. Worse, I can feel the wound spreading. It was but a tiny cut an hour ago, and now look what was become of me."

Naruto shoved down his fear and stomped toward him. "I can fix this! I can heal you-

Radahn arched an eyebow. "Like you healed Malenia's Rot?"

He winced. "Maybe? I just need time!"

"We both know the best you can do is forestall it." Radahn rolled his shoulders with a rueful sigh and shook his head. "Death is far more powerful than the Scarlet Rot; even if you found a remedy to delay it, I would waste away slowly. Become a pale shadow of my former self. A coward's death! That is not who I am!" His fist swung out, obliterating an empty building. From there he reached up and drew forth his Starscourge Greatswords. "I shall not perish like Godwyn and Ranni. I wish to fall into battle at the hand of a worthy foe. That is why I caused such chaos. I knew it would draw you here...or Malenia."

Horror dawned in him, and with it, realization. "Don't say it-

"You must kill me."

His facade cracked right down the middle.

Of course. Because that was what it came back to, in the end.

Naruto hid his face behind one palm to stifle a sigh, one that warped into a sob as tears gathered in his eyes. It shouldn't be like this. Why was this world so broken? Was there truly no other way?

...Is this really what you want?"

"It is." Radahn lurched forward. "I've wanted to fight you for years. Please, Miquella. Fight me. Best me...and kill me."

Something ugly bubbled up in him.

Naruto startled to laugh. It was an awful broken sound, a peal of purest pain. Then he swore. He spat and snarled and stomped, tearing great furrows out of the ground. The earth cratered underfoot, his bones split and began to crack, but he didn't care. He felt Kurama power flow into him from afar; he wanted to shove it away, but he couldn't. It mended his injuries and stole away the pain, leaving only a numb ache behind.

"One last thing." Radahn readied himself, adopting a low stance, swords scraping the ground. "When I die, you must promise to hold back the stars in my stead. I've left notes in my study.

Just like Ranni. "Why?"

Radahn shuddered a little and for the first time in a long time, he saw a hint of fear in his eyes. "There are things out there in the cosmos, horrors that you do not know. Monsters that not even a God can fight. Promise me you won't let them near, Miquella." he fixed him with a steady stare. "Promise me.

Another responsibility heaped on his shoulders. He was so sick of it all.

But who else was there to shoulder such a burden? No one else could."...I promise."

"Good." the good general nodded loosely. "That's...good. You and Malenia will rule well. I know you will. You have good hearts.

She might. He really didn't. His was blackened by all his dark deeds, those he knew and those he unwittingly allowed under his watch.

"I sent Jerren and a squad of my best men ahead of me to tell the Queen." Radahn prattled on, heedless of his raging emotions. "You won't be blamed for my death. You'll have their swords at your side, if nothing else."

Because that was what it would come to. If he didn't stop Radahn here, Malenia would. There was no way this didn't end without someone dying.

He burst into his adult form with a snarl, gaining mass and height in an instant. "You were my brother, Radahn. I loved you."

"I know, little brother. As did I. Now to battle!"


(.0.0.0.)


Malenia heard he explosion before she saw it.

Startled, she spun toward the window.

Only then did she see the smoke.

No. Surely they wouldn't...

...would they?"


(.0.0.0.)


"Well met, Miquella!" Radahn boomed a laugh as he lumbered forward, spitting blood, one eye weeping red. "Finally! A worthy opponent! Our battle shall be legendary!"

Naruto found himself mirroring the man's grin despite himself. This guy...was just too damn nice. Honorable to a fault, and refusing to disparage him even now that they were at odds with one another. He couldn't possibly be Ranni or Rykard's sibling. Or maybe he'd grown so noble and kind because those two were such bitter, cruel souls. Regardless, it didn't change what he had to do.

"Alright." With a groan, he dragged himself upright. "I'll finish this."

He took hold of his drooping shoulder...

"Aaargh!"

...and popped it back into place.

"Y'know," he rasped out, bending down to retrieve his weapon, "I'm glad I met you...

Radahn grinned right back, a pure and boyish thing for one so large. "And I you! TO BATTLE!"

It would prove a short one. He ducked a swing, parried another, and conjured a rasenshuriken to his palm. Radahn saw it and tried to leap away too late. The Death Mark slowed him. It gave Naruto the time he needed to gather his legs beneath him, leap up after him and smashed his penultimate technique headlong into the man's chest. Armor tore, flesh sundered, blood flew through the air.

Radahn struck the ground first and slumped there. He alighted beside him in a pointed crouch and waited for him to rise...

.

..

...remarkably, he didn't.

Dreading what he might see, Naruto tentatively took ahold of his shoulder and rolled him over now. His eyes widened a little at the horror he found there. The cracks had from the Death-Mark had spread further still, his face was beginning to crumble, falling apart like so much sundered stone. His lower jaw was gone. He could no longer speak. But those rich golden eyes were still alive.

In that instant, he heard a voice in his ind.

"Finish me, please."

Naruto closed his eyes, took up the general's blade, and brought it down in a singular sweep.

Radahn made a final gurgling noise and slumped at his feet, light draining from his eyes. "Thank you...Miquella...


(.0.0.0.)


Marika felt Radahn die.

Another child of hers, lost to her own foolishness. This had not been the plan. It had never been the plan. Only Miquella, Malenia and Mohg remained. But they would die, too, wouldn't they? Everyone was doomed, all her plans for naught. Radagon was ruined. Godfrey was gone. The Greater Will had forsaken her.

Enough. Let it end. Let it all end.

She stood before the altar and brought her hammer down with a scream. Her swing went wide. She missed, her vision still blurry from tears.

Or maybe it was the drink. Her head was feeling fuzzy, her emotions ruling her.

Snarling, she righted herself and took aim once more.

In another world, another time, another Lands Between, Radagon would've sought to stop her. But in this tmeline, he was a broken blind man, missing both his wits and and his dominant arm. Without him there to slow her, history took a different turn...and it was an ugly one.

Marika raised her hammer. Took a deep, shuddering breath. Her shoulders trembled with a sob...

Ashes. Her world was ashes, and her legacy with it. No longer. Today it all changed.

Her hammer rose and fell with the grief of a broken mother.

The Elden Ring shattered in three strikes.

As did the Lands Between.

A/N: Nearly done now.

Its a shame to end this early, but the people have spoken. Unless...?

Do you want this to be continued? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard! By all means, let me know!

Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would You Kindly? No previews this time.

Simply put, I cannot think straight.

R&R~!