A/N: Just wanted to thank everyone for all their support over the years.
I've been doing this for awhile, and...well, its been fun. So thanks. It means a lot, and it always will.
In other news depression's starting to hit even harder these damn days. Like a sledgehammer paired with concrete.
Sometimes I wonder why I do anything at all. I can't claim to understand what's going wrong with my head anymore. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way! One moment I'm fine, then my mood craters for a few hours, then I'm back again for a bit, and the cycle repeats. On and on, round the bend, forever and without end! Its rather annoying; as though I've become a prisoner in my own mind sometimes. Sure, what's one more mental problem on the pile. Not like I don't have enough, what with already being this old. Feels like every day is a battle sometimes. Meanwhile, my doctor insists that I'm fine. Take a health walk he says. Go fishing. You'll be fine.
*siiiigh*
Right. Suuuure.
Don't bloody feel fine, doc.
As ever, I own no quotes, references, quotes, themes or memes! They're simply tributes to legends far greater than I.
I'm just an old man who writes as a pastime. I don't make any money doing this, not a single cent.
I've kept you waiting long enough, lets go.
"...shinobi. You have become an annoyance."
"About to become a lot more than that.
...wait? What are you doing? No!
~?
Suffer Me Now
"Hello there~!"
The Elden Beast opened an eye...
...and immediately regretted its poor life decisions.
Being a vassal creature of the Greater Will, it did not possess true "sight" in the traditional sense of the word; but its lone orb regarded the interlopers before him all the same. It wasn't surprised to see the Interloper after all this time -some things never changed across the multiverse- but when it saw the being beside the Blond One, it floundered.
He hadn't come alone this time. Interesting. Across the multiverse, there were many such outcomes, but this was the first time he'd brought someone with him into the heart of the Erdtree. Sometimes he burned the tree, at others times, he left it be; in one he had torn the tree out completely, root and stem. He wore many faces, some reasonable, some kind, some cruel.
But this...this was new.
Naruto stared back, wearing a mildly bemused smile. The woman beside him tugged down her hood, revealing a lively face and a sealed eye. The other fixed firmly upon it. Her clothing looked decidedly singes, as though he'd just yanked her out of a fire. Preposterous of course. This must be a trick of some sort.
For across the Lands Between, indeed, in ever Lands Between, there was always a singular constant.
Melina always left.
In every reality, the kindling maiden sacrificed herself, burned, or ran away. Yet here she was.
Another unexpected outcome. The Blond One seemed to delight in creating them.
Really, it would've been commendable, if it wasn't so indefatigably irksome!
It said as much. "...shinobi. You have become an annoyance."
The blond beamed. "About to become a lot more than that.
By the Greater Will, what was he plotting now?
In every reality him, or someone like him, rose up to challenge the Golden Order. The stories were different, but the faces were so often the same. The Elden Beast thought it might actively hate this mirthful mortal and every other incarnation of him as it had never hated another since Marika herself. And today it would fight, as it always did.
No! Today it would finally win!
Thus it reared back, brandishing its sword-
A bolt of black light burst through its cracked chest and tore its body in half.
How?! It hadn't even seen the attack this time! Trying to rally availed it naught. Evidently they had given it courtesy enough. Gravity took hold and its body crashed to the floor, good eye staring listlessly up at the golden pillars above. A boot settled on its long serpentine neck, pinning it in place. Naruto's voice rang out above it, smug with triumph.
"All yours, Melina. Enjoy being a goddess."
The Beast thrashed, to no avail. It couldn't hope to escape.
Faintly scarred hands seized the Elden Beast's face and yanked. "Suffer me now, creature."
A/N: And scene.
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, as such, 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 here. Time for me to rest a bit.
R&R~!