A/N: ...sorry for the delay, live reared its ugly head yesterday -and today!- throwing me off balance.

So here, this is to make up for yesterday's lack of update.

Shed No Grace On Me is coming along nicely, but it needs more time. At this point I have EIGHT new stories that I could post -thanks for the help, Slifer!- but I desperately want to finish some things first. Said new stories are crossovers with the following: RWBY (Two of those), HOW NOT TO SUMMON A DEMON LORD, INVINCIBLE, DOTA: DRAGONS BLOOD. ONE PIECE, DARK SOULS, ELDEN RING, and so on. Not gonna lie, I really, REALLY want to write the Dota one after season three's ending. But...I'm trying to restrain myself.

I'm afraid if I start posting new stories I won't be able to stop for a week.

As ever we're still sticking to the "Embers" rule here, folks. If folks don't like this...well, I won't continue. Every review, every comment, no matter how large or small, keeps me writing in spite of my busy work schedule. I don't get days off anymore, so I try to respond when I can, but lately it feels like this has become a job in and of itself; albeit one I don't get paid for, one that it is often thankless... No reviews? No inspiration. No inspiration? Sad writer. So speak up! Your words matter! That's no joke!

As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one. They're merely tributes to those far greater than I.

This was something I very nearly wrote as a new story today...but I managed to stop myself.

"Life, death, same thing really. Stopped fearing them awhile ago.

Lets give this one more go.

Charge!"

~?

Scarlet Sky

...I really need to stop reincarnating."

The boy gazed at his hand, fighting a frown as he forced his fingers into a fist. It was his hand, but not his hand. Larger and strong, yet not his. He knew it wasn't. Even after ten years, that memory hadn't faded. Someone once said death wasn't the end, but merely the end of the beginning. Perhaps they'd been right. Still, this...this would take some getting used to.

Every day he grew larger. Taller. Stronger.

He considered the straw dummy before him. Unsheathed his twin greatswords. Black metal gleamed in the light of the stars. They felt light, even now. He could've used a Rasengan, a Rasenshuriken, anything he wanted. But he didn't. He'd already tested all of his old techniques long ago. There was no need to restrain himself. No one suspected a thing. There was no need for a ruse; he was accepted just as he was.

He was the eldest child of Renala and Radagon after all.

One day he would reach up and grasp the very stars themselves.

But today, today...there was something he wished to test; something he'd feared.

Chambering both blades together, he raised both weapons to the sky and roared in defiance of the stars. Baleful light bled across his greatswords to rattle the very earth itself. He held the pose for a moment, letting his cry reverberate into the night as his power built, swelled. Wind lashed at his long red hair, his strength piquing, reaching a crescendo...

.

..

...now!

A movement, a thought, and his target exploded into a shower of splinters.

"Just as I thought." he hummed in a voice that both was-and-and-was-not his own. "In terms of sheer strength, this body's better than my old one." An awful crack pervaded his ears and he winced, realizing he'd carved a deep canyon into the earth, one that was growing wider with each passing moment. "Ooops...?"

"That's all well and good, but I swear, if you try to ride me like a horse, I will bite you."

"It was just an idea I had, Kurama." his mouth curled in a sardonic smile. "Don't get your tails in a twist."

He had so much power now; but for what purpose? The world was at peace...wasn't it? He wanted to believe it was. Truly, he did.

And yet something had been nagging at him of late.

There had been dark rumors at court and they told worried him still. Some said Uncle Godfrey had been hounded from the capital, taking his army of Tarnished with him. Queen Marika sought another suitor to take his place, a second Elden Lord. Dragons were stirring in the north. The Fire Giants had returned. Beasts fell from the stars. Omens allied with the Albinaurics and Misbegotten for purposes unknown. Rumors, some might say, and nothing more, but even the strangest rumor often held a nugget of truth. No matter. He would put his spies to work, ascertain answers, and get to the bottom of this.

"And if you don't like what you find?"

His lips thinned. "Then I'll do something about it."

Kurama spoke to the doubt in his mind. "Perhaps its time for the Golden Order to end."

...what makes you say that?"

"If nearly every race in the Lands Between would rise against them...well. You know what Marika is like."

"Radahn?" a faint, reedy voice called out him in the night, distracting him. "Are you there? Brother, where art thou? Where did you wander off to?

Naruto sighed. Such a needy little sister. Still, at least she was prickly than Rykard. And she sounded distressed. "Over here, Ranni."

A pale missile of blue cloth and red hair struck him -well, his leg, really- at speed. The impact rocked him back on one foot despite his greater size, forcing him to catch her or risk being bowled over entirely. Even then it did little to still the dread in his heart. Why was she up so late? Moreover, how had she found him so quickly?

"Hey?! What's wrong?! Why're ya...Ranni?"

He heard a noise in the low light. A tiny hiccup. It laid him low. The faintest of sobs, for his ears and his ears alone.

"He's left." Ranni turned teary eyes upon him. "Father left Mother! He's gone to the capital to wed Marika!"

Naruto's world went cold. "...what?"

A/N: There we go. Naruto as Radahn, no holds barred.

Phew. Managed to stop myself from making this a story somehow.

Remember, Ranni had red hair and pale features in her original, Empyrean body.

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular story, and others.

If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so 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 nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.

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. I'm utterly exhausted.

Sorry about that...NO! You guys deserve a proper preview.

(Preview)

...it will all come to naught in the end, my son."

Maybe." he unsheathed his sword. "But that's my choice to make, Morgott! Not yours."

"Put these foolish ambitions to rest. They will only bring you pain."

He wrapped his hands around the Erdtree. It seemed so small now. So much power flowing through him. So many souls. So many great runes...

And for what? She'd died to grant him this gift.

His eyes burned. A roar shook the world.

He pulled. And so uprooted a god.

The hearth crackled with fire.

Flickering shadows cast themselves across two figures sat in a splendid chair. One large, the other small.

"And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low?" a faint rustle as he turned to another page, "Only a cat of a different coat, that's all the truth I know. In a coat of gold, or a coat of red...

He paused and his son squirmed into his side, wriggling with anticipation. "What happened next?!"

"Its getting late. Naruto hummed, closed the storybook, then ruffled the boy's golden hair. "That's a tale for another time, Gwyndolin...

Fia hummed softly and wrapped her arms round them both, chin coming down on his shoulder. "Come now, my dear Lord. Don't torment our child. Finish the story."

The Elden Lord sighed softly, whiskered cheeks dimpling in a rueful smile.

R&R~!