A/N: Well, One with Spirits really didn't get the feedback I was hoping for...T_T
Warning. This fragment's got an edge to it.
I really don't feel right. Is this what depression feels like? Or is it apathy? Not sure. I'm swinging between that and anger, getting annoyed by the strangest things.
Either way, I feel...off. Been feeling out of it these past few days.
Really, I WANTED to update "Edge" today, but that would've meant a rushed chapter and 2k less words. Also wanted to finish "Berserker" and "Caster" today, but that didn't work out either. I'll figure out something later.
Really need to find something to perk me up soon, I don't like feeling this way...T_T
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.
"Be reasonable about this!
"Screw your reason! I don't want it!
If they're not in this world, then this WORLD CAN GO...!
~?
Burn
"Use me."
The Frenzied Flame sang to him.
"Unleash me."
It sang to him as he stared at Marika's fractured body.
"Burn this rotten world to ash!"
Naruto felt it whispering in his veins, boiling in his blood, awaiting his command. It would be so easy to give into his impulses and let loose; unleash it upon the Lands Between after all it had taken from him. And it had taken so very much. All those he'd tried to help. Dead, or even worse off. Death might've been a kindness for some.
It certainly would've been for Rennala and Sellen. The others weren't much better off.
Blaidd, driven to madness, forced to be put down like the dog he wasn't. Iiji dead in a bed of blackfire. Thopps dead in the academy, broken by knowledge. Boc lost to foolish rebirth. Alexander shattered in Farum Azula. Ranni had fled, abandoning this world for the stars. Milicent crumbled into a pool of rot. Fia lay dead in a bed of roots. Melina, who would've burned herself alive, abandoned him instead, cursing him for taking her purpose. He hadn't even a chance to say goodbye.
Roderika and Hewg had refused to leave the Hold, and so burned alive with the Erdtree.
Last came Hyetta, poor sweet, Hyetta the sole survivor, the one he'd tried to protect the most...until she melted in his grasp.
And with her death, he lost the last sliver of pity. His enemies...he'd killed and killed and killed them all, until his joints ached and he could barely move his arms anymore. The Elden Beast had been his final victim. An emissary of a god, it too, had died screaming as he burned it from the inside.
Too much pain. Too much death. What was the point of a world like this, the final boss defeared, when he had nothing to show for it?
He didn't want any empty throne. He wanted his friends. His family.
Blue eyes blazed with golden fire. Before creation there must come destruction. And after death, rebirth.
But he didn't want death. He wanted to reset it all and start over.
"Use me, my Lord."
In truth the Frenzied Flame had been tamed from the moment he took it into his body, that once uncontrollable blaze was broken and bent to his will like a beast of burden. The very essence of an Outer God made his, all that power burning at his fingertips. Now it was eager to serve; to please him. He would've felt bad, if it hadn't been so inherently evil. It was no match for his and Kurama's willpower. Even now it awaited his command, ready to consume all at his will.
If only Melina had listened. If only Millicent kept the needle in. If only Hyetta stopped eating those grape. None of this would have been necessary if they stopped being so damn stubborn and opened their ears. But they hadn't, she didn't, and she wouldn't!
No one did! No one wanted to listen! They all thought they knew better!
If only he'd used it sooner. If only he'd made them listen to him.
He'd been foolish to ever think he could have a life here.
If only. If only. If. Only. So many ifs...
A burning leaf fluttered down from on high and landed in his hand. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Tendrils of hungry gold flame crept up his body. He grabbed them, directed them, sent them shooting down into the base of the tree, preparing to tear it out, root and stem. Even then, he lingered, waiting for Melina to appear and at least try to stop him. She didn't. Somehow, that hut even worse. Even now, in his moment of triumph, she didn't dare show her face. But her words lingered.
"You are no longer fit."
He snarled at the memory.
Kurama felt it. "You sure about this?"
...yeah."
He focused the flames, not letting them spread out as they willed, but instead wrapping them around the Erdtree and the Erdtree alone. He would not destroy everything. Even now, at his lowest point, he was better than that. He forced the flames higher, wrapping them around every faced of the russset-red-trunk before him, With destined death unleashed, there would be gods and immortality here no longer. Only mortal men and beasts. They could fight over this crumbling world for all he cared. He wouldn't be here to see it.
If his friends and family weren't here, then he didn't want to be here either.
Burn it all, start over, and go back.
...I wanna go home."
A lone tear rolled down his cheek and burned way to steam. He felt a muscle jump in his jaw, his eyes glowing gold.
Naruto threw his head back and howled. The Frenzied Flame roared with its new master.
Together they screamed. All their rage. All their sorrow. All their spite.
Beneath those golden flames the Erdtree became so much ash.
In cleansing fire the world was reborn anew.
Naruto wasn't there to see it.
He was already gone.
A/N: Aaaaand scene.
Well? Did it bring a smile to your face? Did you like it? Yay or nay?
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? T_T
No previews. Too out of it.
R&R~!