Bold for demon speech, Painwheel speech, or similar characters talking.

Bold and Italic for attack names.

Italic for thoughts and flashbacks.

Recommended listening.

Parov Stelar= Clap Your Hands.

Odd Chap, Octavia Rose- Take the Night.

Glen Gatsby: Someone is Watching Me(Electro Swing)

Praying Hands.

Wolfgang Lohr- Black Swing.

Chapter 15: Stratosphere Serenade

XXXXX

Everything was coated with a foul scent. The air, the ground, the filthy chains that strung her up. Everything reeked of an inescapable copper smell. Blood.

Umbrella cracked open weak eyes, she had been beaten and demoralized, but she wasn't dead.

"He's going to come for me." The first thing out of the plucky princess' mouth, and she said that, "He's going to rip your ugly bony head off your stupid bony body and crush you like an ant, you desiccated dummy mummy!"

Right to the face of Eliza who hummed while laying against a throne.

The luxurious chair had been bussed in by Horace and Albus, with her two bodyguards standing close by.

Swirling a chalice filled with blood, the woman gave a mocking chuckle at Umbrella before knocking back the drink, Eliza entertained her, "So he gives me a True Death. After so many millennia alive, do you really think that frightens me, child? Let me tell you a story. It begins long before your harlot mother was even a sparkle in your great-great ancestors' eyes."

"Don't insult my mom! The Queen was-"

"Silence," The venom in Eliza's tone quieted the girl as nothing short of spite crossed the woman's eyes, "Didn't that degenerate gutter trash not teach you anything of manners before she had the good sense to make a wish on the Skull Heart and rid us all her worthless presence? Speak only after another has spoken, basic manners. "

Her scorn emitted from her eyes, a visible red aura blazing out of them before she calmed, "If it wasn't for her influence, her charity, my name would've been the one the people loved. I relish the thought that her soul is in bondage, if only because it causes more pain to them, and now you. Queen Nancy of the ninny's, Queen Nancy the great Enemy, Queen Nancy her Royal Trash. I'll continue with my story."

Umbrella's glare could've melted stone, but she didn't speak further. Eliza's aura of malice froze her tongue, and so she held it, despite her antipathy.

"There was once a Parasite without compare, a wondrous, perfect, magnificent ruler. She saw a worthy partner and bonded with her. This woman would become the queen of all the land and would hold unimaginable might. But the woman wanted a world in which parasites ruled, in fact, she hated the mocking label given to her kind, when she preferred something more fitting, Theon." Her monologue was slow, delivered with the boredom of someone who knew a story so well, they might as well recite it from memory. "So, she begun to gather allies, strong ones, friends who would unite and help destroy the filth riddled scum who only controlled the world by force of numbers and their simian procreation. Unfortunately, the sands of time forgot her rule, her power, and the insurmountable fact that the unwashed masses continued… breeding like cockroaches stopped her. In other words. I am beyond death, little runt."

"I don't care about the big words you use!" Umbrella wouldn't allow the woman to continue like that, even as tears of fear stung her eyes in her attempt to glare down the malicious diva. "Mom was a woman who wanted those she loved to live a good life, that's the woman big sis and I know by heart!"

"Kukukuku… like a child with fairy tales, you shall outgrow such lies…" Eliza cooed mockingly, but hated the way the girl's eyes did not falter. "Just like your sow mother. When I heard she became the Skullgirl, I was ecstatic. I wanted to fight her and kill her myself. Just to see her suffer. I did in fact lend my aid towards the suppression effort. Watching her die was rapture…That said… Your father was also a vulgar man, completely boorish and with no tact or rationality. If he hadn't been an ex-madman without his head, I'd have killed him too. That all being said, I bare no animosity towards you personally, child."

Umbrella's glare did not falter despite her fear, "That's baloney and you know it, old hag!"

Eliza tutted, getting up and walking over to her. Smiling even. Moments before her fist impacted Umbrella's gut, the child being smacked against the wall before Eliza grabbed her face, her fingers digging tiny furrows into her cheeks as she leaned in and leered, Sekhmet peeling out of her features, "I just have unresolved and pent-up aggression issues towards your parents."

Rather than succumb, Umbrella did the best she could to anger the parasite… lick her hand, "Bleh…"

"Insolent brat!" Eliza was about to smack her only to be halted by Horace. "What are you doing?!"

"Apologies, ma'am, but we know the child should remain unharmed if you want the detective and the girl's sister to not become too… unpredictable," the hawk man stated.

"Keeping her sassy so she can try to give them hope is part of your deal, boss," Albus added with a shrug. "I may as well add, we may be loyal, but… eh, hitting a child seems above you…"

He tried to not offend his boss too much, but she relented, "Fair enough, I did let my anger get the best of me… I shall save the punishment for when this one's purpose is fulfilled…"

"Big Bro Naruto… is going to stop you... He'll be there… because mom saved him…" Umbrella had blackened vision, mumbling to herself in between losing consciousness in short blinks, and knowing in her heart that he'd come. He was a piece of work, even she knew he was. Always lazy, never trying his best, doing silly pranks with her. But despite that, she had always known that he was her hero.

From the moment that he had first taken her into the sky, pointing out the world around them and flying with her in his arms at her request. She had known he was more than met the eye. Ever since her mom saved him from starving, he had sworn to protect her and her sister. She trusted him so completely; she didn't doubt he'd come for her. Not even for a second.

"What did she do…? That woman…That trash… THAT WHORE PERFORMED HER CHARITY FOR HIM!?" Eliza had been about to leave, a second from walking away, until her keen ears heard the mumbling. Her eyes turned yellow, and her skin peeled right off around the lips, swinging around with her bone claws just an inch in front of Umbrella's eyes. The tips, if thrust just a nanometer closer would puncture her eyes, and yet she held back. Her hand trembling with rage, "You grimy…!"

"Boss." Horace reminded her as she scoffed with utter disgust. "She could still become a good vessel for the Skull Heart. She's useful so long as she lives for that."

Shaking her head, Eliza walked away. One hand raised in the air, so Albus took the hint and fetched her coat, and then lit a cigar for her while she seethed. Her dark skin bubbled and churned, frothing as her blood boiled like a churning crimson tide. She wasn't just furious. She looped all the way around to calm then right back towards blinding hatred.

"Prepare the car," she puffed the smoke with a snarl through clenched teeth. "We're going to watch a show, a prelude before giving the detective an invitation."

X-X-X

"I'm going to kill you, and then turn your guts into violin string! Maybe even make your arm into my own personal drumstick!" Swinging the two false Muse he wielded like large clubs; Taliesin was a bard with a completely shattered grasp on sanity.

The shards that had once been nestled in his sociopathic breast were gone, and whatever façade of gentlemanly airs he held were gone with them. By now, more than bloodthirsty, he was frothing at the mouth. The contrast between how the two wielded Muse was clear. One of them worked with her, acting as a partner, a companion, an ally, a friend. Their movements worked in synchronous harmony; two halves united at last. A duet who danced and dueled in a deadly daze. In other words, meant to be.

Taliesin on the other end, wielded each False-Muse as a cudgel. The creation of wooden puppets and instruments that burst from the roof were nothing short of dangerous. Drumsticks with sharpened ends emerging like the jaws of a beast, violin, and piano wire flailing like the many-armed tendrils of a deep-sea leviathan, tuba horns shaped like fists flying like brazen missiles. And yet not even one could compare to the melody that the swinging detective played.

Waves of pure percussion to demolish the drumsticks, cutting wind blades to sever the strings and send them sailing harmlessly on the breeze, and two fists, one wood and one bone to pummel the missiles right back and return them to their sender.

Responding with actions, Naruto spun with his counter-kick, his feet targeting the arms first, knocking them away while his wooden arm kept his partner away from the fight. Using his flesh arm to knock Taliesin's strikes away, and his legs to steer the arm swings off trajectory.

"Ladies had enough with your pretentious artist schtick," Naruto replied calmly with a hand on his hat. A swift shift on the ball of his grounded foot allowed him to change trajectories and slam the other foot's heel onto the madman's knee, "And she's waited long enough to dance on her own!"

Letting out a sharp shriek, Taliesin skidded backwards with the clubs as crutches and his hurt knee on the floor, clenching his teeth in pain yet mostly in rage. He was far too furious to think about the harm delivered onto him. In fact, he was nothing short of a rabid dog.

Which was why Naruto felt nothing but pleasure as he side-stepped a swing and countered with a ferocious full-line slug using his wooden fist. Cerebella gasped, unable to hold back her stunned expression during the brawl. Naruto hadn't just thrown a random punch. He had copied Vice-Versa, even done to the way he had forced chakra through the wood to enlarge its shape, simulating muscle.

Pushing through with the blow, the detective sent the bard flying back like a living missile. "Whiskers… you actually… watched me?"

During the storm, in the middle of a hurricane, his steely eyes shifted back to the tranquil blue state she had always seen them in when they saw each other. He had no anger towards her, only resolution. This could be the last time she might see those eyes giving her that kindness.

The fear of never knowing those eyes again brought her mind over the edge of the wire.

Her feet still carried her forward, her heart still beat like a drum, and she still let out a howl of anguish and betrayal as she matched that perfect copy of a punch with her own.

The rhythm of the brawl matched the battle that went in on their hearts. Naruto stood like a wall in front of Cerebella, one that her fists couldn't push through, one that she couldn't break.

"Don't continue down this path, Cassandra," In between their fists blazing against each other, the two could stand face to face, her hat hiding her eyes but not the twin tear trials that leaked down from them. "Don't be a tool to those Medici bastards anymore! Can you really look at me and then the death that sick spoony bard unleashed tonight and tell me you can support it?"

His voice restrained itself, suppressing his rage and cutting off the words he wished to howl. Naruto couldn't get through to her with anger, nor could he convince himself to allow it to take him. Not once, throughout the years, even with Nadia's condition, had he been able to see the brawler as a foe.

An overswing of her right arm, and he was able to push it aside, in his head he could hear the rumble of his partner, 'Kid. You could end this now. Why are you still holding back against her?'

The chime of his Parasite let him know herthoughts, 'He is right, Naruto. She's…' He shut that conversation down at the core, even if he wanted to shout. He couldn't allow that rage to consume him and swallow him whole. Once he took a step over that edge and fell with it, his melody, the harmony of his swing would forever rot in Discordia.

For the first time since Cerebella had met him, she saw him look at her with sorrow. "They tore Nadia apart, are you so blind that you can't see it? What if Feng was-"

"SHUT UP, WHISKERS! I know that! I know that! Shut up, shut up, shut up! Please stop telling me this!" Another punch that missed and the dam broke, she was bawling as they brawled. Each punch she sent went hurtling past his head, his own being blocked as the forces of their fists meeting lifted them up into the air.

The only sign of his grief, of how much this fight disagreed with how he felt was the clench of his jaw, the tightening of his muscles, and the pained glare that shone from his eyes.

"FORGOT SOMETHING NA-RU-TO!" The bard made his unpleasant return and was met by a backhand, Naruto grabbed Cerebella by her arm and threw her out of his way just so he could grind Taliesin's face against the roof with that much more rage. "Grhrhgh! Hehehe-hehe-ehehaha!"

The eerie laughter didn't suit Naruto's temper, nor how he hadn't felt a scrap of flesh and tooth smear onto the concrete. His only warning was the laughter. Wooden blades erupted out of his body, skewering him in a thousand places.

"Got you- ah!?" Leering at his prize, Taliesin had a brief expression of shock when Naruto's body transformed into the remains of Black Dahlia's arm, the metal screeching in protest at being used for a replacement.

Behind him, the detective spoke up, "This party has gone on long enough." Naruto stated as he crossed his arms, waving his left arm around him while he drew his right fist to his stomach, "And I have so many songs to put an end to."

Taliesin swiveled about, looking more like a marionette caught up in its own strings. "Not… So. Fast." Dropping his stance, Naruto felt his blood run cold, "Ah, ah, ah… 'Detective.'" Taliesin held a struggling Feng in front of the detective, dangling her like a doll, piano wire restraining her limbs and forcing them back. "Don't you dare."

With a blank stare, Naruto felt his hand drop to his side. When? How? Feng had been occupied with Filia and Squigly, Nadia was distracted with those Brass Beasts, swarms of them crawling up the building even to this crucial moment in the fight. It had been when he had used the replacement technique. The lapse of focus and Taliesin's surprise attack, he must've sent his wires out like the sonorous serpent he was and entangled her before Naruto had taken notice.

"You bastard of a bard…!" His voice came out in a choke. The air pressure around him tightening as he wanted to step forward. If he did, he'd walk over an edge into an abyssof pure hate. He couldn't stop it. He lost control of his temper.

'Kid.'

'Naruto…' His eyes turned red, flashed yellow, then became pitch black sockets. Swirling darkness gushing out of them as he spat out his lollipop. Muse shuddered and the wood of his arm blackened. 'P-please stop…'

The world exhaled, and the darkness dissipated. Naruto heaved his breath, holding his wooden hand and touching Muse with a reproached grimace, the wood regaining its luster. "Muse. Sorry."

Her expression, which had become briefly pained regained its serenity, a reassuring pulse of his chakra brought his harmony back. He lost it for a second. 'You are forgiven.' The melancholy in her voice lifted, he listened when she spoke out, a partner who heard what she had to say.

Cerebella was the one to notice it first, she pivoted on a dime when she had been thrown and got to see the whole thing as it had happened. Her tunnel vision widened, and she could see everything in front of her.

"Do tempt me, I've always wanted to use this nimble, nubile body for a piece," the mad artist taunted.

"And I'll kill you," Naruto didn't warn, he promised. Baring his fangs, he snarled as some could see an image of a fierce deity surround him, like a lightning flash which created shadows and making it seem as if four more arms appeared around him with two feral faces at the side of his, "The moment you drop your shield is the moment I end you, bastard…"

"Frightening," Taliesin was too gone to see the danger the man promised, which caused the blond to slow down and think.

If he did attack, he put Feng at risk, and losing his temper would do no good. Unfortunately for the lunatic bard, the whiskered man's words of retribution were no idle chatter.

"W-why hesitate…" Feng whispered, looking at him with bitter resolve, "You don't need to hold back, if you strike you can-"

"If you even need to ask why I'm angry, I'm sorry I didn't say you're my friend sooner," he didn't say more, he didn't need to, he had said enough to make what he thought on the matter clear.

It was the fact that Taliesin was lost, so far lost that he didn't even think twice, "And boop~" He let his fingers sink into her shoulders, the smile on his mask seeming to drip with menace.

Did they shout at the same time? Naruto lost his voice in the howl of a windstorm, Cerebella in the rage of an inferno. But both saw what had happened. Feng's body stiffened. Her limbs petrified from the shoulders down, both arms down to the fingertips, turning to wood as she froze.

Petrified inch by inch, painfully so as she saw the two racing towards her, her last thoughts before seeing only the black void were, 'Do your best. 'Cos you two… you're my…'

"Hands off my bestie, you sick son of a bitch!" Cerebella cried as she delivered a haymaker. "Whiskers please!"

Zipping forth at high speeds, the blond man said nothing as he and the acrobat moved to save Feng. Naruto had connected with a kick to Taliesin's gut, his hands in the same motion forming a cross-shape. Red energy spilled out of his stomach in a spiral motion, infusing the clone that rushed towards Feng!

"Don't you dare make the kid cry,"Feng's eyes burst open, and she breathed in shock, behind her, she saw Cerebella after she had sent Taliesin flying away, and Naruto fighting side by side by delivering a kick to the maniac's face, and in front of her… was another Naruto? This one had red eyes and was holding her hands with his own, having used a mysterious glow to shield her from further harm. Red energy swirled and bubbled across the surface of his body and into her own. He chuckled, then his expression became flat before his eyes returned to blue. "Thanks partner." The crimson shroud that covered him disappeared as he shook his head.

"W-why?" She asked, prompting the clone to give her a lazy smile.

Pulling his hat over his face with one hand, he answered, "Boss hates sad endings. I can't undo the arms, so we're going to have to work with those to take down this nutjob diva."

The arms… her head turned to them. They dangled aimlessly, unable to feel or move them at all, they were as useless to her as if she didn't have them. Puppet arms, with brass joints and tubes for fingers.

"Ah…" she barely heard her own cry. Was this karma for working so long for the Medici Mafia? Was she going to have to- "Hey! Let me down! You hear me!?" her internal anguish was cut short when he reached down and lifted her with his arms.

"C'mon Feng, I'm here to help." Hoisting her up, she dangled helplessly off his strong back, her arms couldn't move, but she could kick her legs impotently against it.

Holding her with his arms around her legs, he gave a fashionable piggyback for her. And promptly introduced both of his feet to Taliesin's head.

"GAH!? Your arms, why aren't you- blgk!" Using nothing but his feet and legs, the clone rammed the full power of his knee into the bard's neck.

Pushing with it and tilting his body, Naruto moved just so Feng could witness the wind surge around them, wreathes of air swirling about the detective's body! Landing down again, his hands holding her thighs tightly, he caught his hat right as it fell off his head with his teeth. Tossing it back up and angling his head so it caught properly.

"Boss, I've got Feng!" He made sure to leap out of the way, charging forward, the original held out his hand, grabbing onto Cerebella's arm. The two pulled in close, the acrobat holding onto his arm and using her own to grab him. The two spun around in a pirouette, and then she let go. Naruto whooshed past her, moving with all the power of a hurricane behind him.

Flying past Taliesin who made one last effort to let out a scream of sonic energy, both Fake Muses held in front of his masked maw to form a crude tuning fork, Naruto beat him to the punch. Muse swung her leg out, a knife attached to the very tip of the foot. This, for her, was goodbye. Hell hath no fury.

The slice that cut through Taliesin severed his windpipe, his spine, and left his body crumpled in a heap. All without letting him die. Each False-Muse cracked into wood fragments that were swept away, ashes on the wind.

The clone Naruto danced from foot to foot, smiling as the original Naruto landed next to him, Cerebella at his side.

"Feng, he-"

"Far enough for you?" Feng asked her friend, exhaustion in her voice, looking at her arms rather than her friend.

Cerebella pulled her hat over her face, her lips twisting into an agonized expression as her world and the reality that it had ignored finally clashed together. Everything felt wrong, up turned into down, left towards right, dark shined into light, night dripped into day… And then she felt a strong hand, a kind hand, a warm hand touch her back. Turning his head towards her, Naruto gave her a tired, weather-beaten smile. The same he had always given her in the past.

"We're going to Medici Tower. I'm going to talk to Vitale and the rest. Cassandra, you're free to make your own choice."

He didn't speak up what he wanted to say. He wanted to ask it. Wanted to ask if she could've given him a shot.

"…Naruto. I'm coming with you. I can- I can… I can't just let you go off with Feng! I'm coming with. Until we return her arms back to normal! Even if we can't, just let me come with you!"

Giving her a worn smile, Naruto tried his hardest to keep his good mood as Taliesin choked and croaked with a broken windpipe… and spine, "He'll live, but there's no longer any way for him to talk or move. I made sure he can never harm you."

"Gehehe… hehehe…" The pathetic creature kept giggling, a wet gurgle being all that remained of his voice.

Cerebella walked over to him, her heels clicking across the roof before she stood over him. Managing to twist his head up, he tilted his head, blood dripping from his mask. The smile it had infuriated her. Just as her eyes flashed and her fist were about to fly…. The wind howled…

"Just to you know, I understand how you feel," Naruto told the acrobat, hands in his pockets. At times he wondered if the habit of smoking would be a requirement… He unwrapped another lollipop and bit into it, tasting sea salt in his mouth, "Burns you right up, but if you let him live… he has two choices, to regret his choices or cling to the memories of what he did. Either way… he's got no choice but to exist trapped in his own body with no freedom unless he ceases all thought."

Observing her clench one of her fists was not reassuring…

"Saving his victims, including Feng, is impossible without him alive. Muse transferring over to me didn't undo the transformation he put them through." He reminded her tapping on his wooden arm while Muse remained quiet.

Cerebella let her shoulders shake, dry heaving in anguish until he held her shoulder. Embracing her felt natural, and for once the two were able to be together, to see each other. She beat his chest weakly, Vice Versa gained a sad look as she kept punching his chest, shaking her head while he pat her back.

"Don't doubt you can talk about it…" he told the girl in a soft whisper.

Silent, Cerebella clenched her fists, knowing she practically granted mercy to the madman by not letting him experience the rest of his life trapped in a broken body with only his mind to keep him occupied. It would have been a fitting end, but knowing he would not regret his actions nor reflect on them… Far too many emotions swirled in her head to ponder at once.

"I want... I want to see Vitale, before I make my choice." In her heart, she knew what she had done. She knew her choice the moment Feng got involved and hurt. But she wanted to conclude things properly, before she…

"Filia. Squigly. Nadia…Thank the storm you're fine." His words interrupted her thoughts, she twisted her head, her expression gained a short look of frustration at having to break apart from his embrace. Mentally she tried to tell herself it was just because it was cold this high up. And he was warm.

"Naruto!"

His band gathered around him. Cerebella gave a short gasp when he turned to her and gave her a nod.

"C'mon. You're our guest member, before we attack the Medici Tower, we need a good jam session to figure out what we'll play for them."

"Stop with the music puns Naru. You'll make me start to feeline angry."

"Ha."

"So, this is-" Squigly gave Cerebella and Feng a glance, her eye taking them in and her stitched mouth turning upside down into a frown. "I see, they're your friends."

"I'm not his friend." Cerebella popped off defensively.

Squigly closed her eye and gained a smile, crooked thanks to the stitches and far from the sweet looks she had given her companions, "Good, then I don't have to pretend to like you for his sake and act like I'm happy to have a Medici as an ally." The undead girl said with a sickly-sweet tone, giving a little titter towards the end, however, her eye opened a small inch, glowing red underneath the lid, "Let us not pretend then, shall we? Honesty might be beyond you, then again, you look uneducated and boorish. I don't think you're capable of galling another."

The fact that it took Cerebella a few moments to grasp the insult only colored her cheeks that deeper a shade of red. "Yo-you! Hey, Whiskers! Tell them not to-"

"Back to Whiskers again? Gotcha, Cassandra." He'd take levity where he could get it, the night was stretching on. Giving the undead singer a glance with a tired grin, he tried to play peacemaker, "Let's also try not to bite each other's necks. We could use the firepower, and I can vouch for that much…"

Giving him a nod, Filia stood proud, looking at the distant Medici Tower filled her heart with a strange surge of emotion. Noticing this, Nadia walked past her, stretching nonchalantly.

"Don't worry yourself, rats nest, you'll get wrinkles early," she flashed a look at Cerebella who looked to the side. "We're in this together, so let's not dilly dick around or spend time splitting cathairs."

Filia gave her a quick nod, "Thanks Ms. Fortune."

"Just remember, ham-thigh, this is now a free for all," the thief told the younger girl.

Filia tilted her head in confusion, then blinked with a new tint of red, "Ham-thigh?"

"Purrcisely one of your most notable qualities," Nadia snickered. "Cheer up. We're going to put down the Medici Mafia for good. Hurry on, don't want to fall asleep before this night of fun ends!"

Stepping off the roof, Nadia held out her hands and flipped off the edge, Naruto had taken a running leap and soared into the air. Squigly sent Leviathan out as a grappling hook, sitting down on his coils like he was a swing while he took off. Cerebella slammed Vice Versa into the roof and sent her own body hurtling after them. This left Filia who took a running leap and let Samson carry her atop the breeze in a glide. Holding his hat with his wooden hand, the swinging detective felt a grim promise of action. And a grin cross his face.

Under a blood red moon, the Medici's time had finally come.

X-X-X

I'm experimenting with shorter chapters to see if I can't move big arcs along. Not much to say or report on, just glad to be back in the saddle.

Thanks for being patient people! We're getting things red hot now.

And now, a word from my Beta Akito the Boxer: Life has been hectic for both of us, mostly myself with some big changes, but I am glad we are seeing this story nearing its end.