A/N: Warning! This fragment is a bit more...vicious than what I usually write.
Foxfire and Orange Blasphemy aren't quite ready yet -they're long chapters- so I'm updating a slew of other stories today. Terribly sorry about that.
Hours got cut at one job, which meant I had to turn around and pick up MORE hours at the other job, which means no sleep today. *head spins*
In other news...
As my fifteen year anniversary on this site draws near, 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.
And of course, 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. The recent earthquake in Turkey/Syria serves as a terrible example. 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.
This is a fragment from a RWBY story i'm preparing to update. Trying to gear up for that again.
References for Three Houses here. Because why not?
Also Eminence in Shadow. Bloody trip, that one.
"There's a monster in all of us.
We chain it up. We lock it down. We seal it away.
But all it takes is one bad day. One slip. One mistake.
I never wanted this, you know. But now...well. Congratulations. YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION.
~?
My Turn
"Give up, fool! There's nowhere left to run!"
Naruto blew out a short, angry breath. It coalesced before him in a thin plume of steam, rising into the rainy sky above. He barely even felt the chill anymore. The ghost of a smile plucked at whiskered cheeks. Nowhere to run. They liked saying that, didn't they? Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Give up. Surrender. So confident. So brave. So bold. As if they were the heroes of this story. They weren't.
Oh, they thought they were, and perhaps in their sad twisted minds they might be...
.
..
...but appearances could be deceiving now, couldn't they?
They'd cornered him in the gorge, thinking him trapped. Against anyone else it would've been a sound strategy.
His pursuers were four. A hooded woman, a burly man, some foppish fool with a mustache, and a crazed faunus wielding wicked knives and a sinister scorpion tail besides. He didn't know who they worked for and frankly, he didn't care; because he knew why they were chasing him. One of them had let it slip. They were after the baby, this precious little life nestled against his chest in his arm and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Only a year old and already she had her mother's eyes. Even a blind man could see what they wanted from her.
Better that they chased him out the market. He could handle these odds. Her mother couldn't. Better for her to run and get help.
Better that no one saw what was about to happen.
...close o
"Come now, be reasonable about this." the mustachioed man offered him a hand. "Surely one child isn't worth all this bloodshed. Give her to us and you may run away unharmed."
Run.
He could feel them staring at him now. Awaiting his response.
Just run.
It would be so simple.
Just run away.
Could he...?
.
..
...he knew the answer.
No father could ever give up their child.
...four adults to murder a baby." he rasped a low laugh. "You really have no idea who I am, do you?"
"Enough stalling." the large man shoulder his comrade aside, muscles bulging beneath his coat. "Ozpin won't reach you in time. Make your choice. Will you flee, or won't you?"
He had stopped fighting. He'd turned his back on that life, abjured all violence.
But if he ran away from this, they would never stop.
And so the choice was made.
"Run?" blank blue eyes narrowed as leaned his head back, staring up into the rain. "Who's running?" With one hand he carefully turned the infant against his chest, shielding her with his arm and body, preventing her from seeing what was about to transpire. "Where?"
Steam rose from his shoulders as the raindrops evaporated against his back.
He turned to face them fully now, eyes red as blood.
"AND WHY?!"
A golden fist caught the doctor's face and knocked his head clean off his shoulders. His skull whistled away into the dark.
Even as his corpse fell the scorpion faunus lunged with a merry cackle, bringing wrist-mounted-knives to bear on his exposed flank. Rather than risk blocking Naruto turned and presented his back to him. The sharp knives tore through his black coat and skittered harmlessly off the flesh beneath before striking sparks across the ground. The faunus made a confused noise and gazed down at his blades, wondering if they had somehow failed him-
It was the last sound he ever made.
A spinning kick crashed into his ribs and tore him in two at the waist.
Tyrian Callows perished, still wearing that baffled smile as his severed halves struck the ground.
Two down. Two remained.
The burly man reached into his belt and came up with a pair of dust crystals in each hand. He jammed them into his arms. Electricity crackled forth...
...and died with a shrill scream as clawed fingers closed around his jugular. Aura flexed. Fractured. Broke now, as he squeezed his throat. The giant hammered at his arm with both fists, to no avail. A quick squeeze put an end to him. Blood dripped from his fingers as he crushed the man's throat and cast their corpse aside.
No banter. No words. No mercy.
Only the woman remained, her golden eyes wide. She looked to her dead comrades. Back to him now, this mysterious man who had slain them with one arm.
He saw the hesitation flicker in her eyes. Pride giving way to doubt. Fear, now.
He could have said something to her. Could've persuade her to run away.
He could've done so many things. Instead, he walked toward her.
She turned to flee.
Naruto never gave her the chance to do so. Even as she pivoted, he drew a kunai from his belt and flung it at her. His aim was still good after all these years. It struck her Achilles tendon and buried itself to the hilt. She went down on one knee with a wail. She looked back and saw him coming. Not a woman at all, he realized, but a young teenager.
"No, wait!" he saw the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry! Just let me go!"
Naruto hardened his heart to it, stalked up to the would-be Maiden, caught her by the back of her head and smashed her face down into the wet mud. Once. Twice. Thrice. Four times now, he drove her skull into the dirt, ignoring her whimpers, her pleas, until finally her aura broke and the ground ran red with her blood. He held her there until she breathed her last.
All dead in less than a minute...and all it took was breaking his promise.
Naruto stood with a sigh. The infant gurgled softly in his arm. He looked down.
Innocent eyes stared back at him, wholly unaware of the slaughter that had just transpired. "Da?"
"Shh, shh," he cooed softly, wiping a bit of stray blood from her face as she burbled up at him. "You're alright, Ruby. Lets get you back to your mum...
Ozpin could collect the bodies. Summer would forgive him once he told her what transpired here. At least he hoped she would.
If not...then tough. He'd seen what happened when he held back. No more.
Now it was his turn.
A/N: Don't mess with Papa!Naruto.
Aaaand there we go. Hope you enjoyed it.
Soooo? Should this be a story? Once again! This is an AU.
Hoe someone, somewhere, enjoyed this. I just don't know anymore these days.
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review...Would You Kindly?
Hope you enjoy the previews~!
(Previews!)
"You'll never be enough.
He threw his head back and laughed. "Is this some kind of sick joke?!"
R&R~!