After the fight, Shepard more or less dragged me to the nurses office. Sat me in a chair, and told me to wait while she got the nurse. Not quite sure what she would do to me if I dared disobey. I simply sat patiently, waiting. And reflecting on the events that had landed me here.

I had been absolutely dominated, I was even going to try and deny it. Anthony and his little gang had very casually stomped me into the dirt. Making me their personal punching bag until Jane had come to bail my sorry ass out, and knock a few heads while she was at it. And what's worse is that I hadn't even bothered to use any of my former self training in chakra control. I had simply frozen up and very clumsily tried to avoid their myriad of blows, I panicked and had paid for it. I could spend no more time ruminating on my spectacular failure however, for I heard the swish of an automatic door. As Shepard led a very familiar looking nurse through the door.

Salt and pepper hair. Brown skin darkened by many days under an unforgiving sun. Arms like a longshoreman's. And the warm face and matronly demeanor by which I so easily identified her.

It was Auntie Gloria.

She looked me up and down,

assessing me. Before her gaze finally settled on my eyes, and a smile of recognition settled over her face.

"I only ever met one person with eyes like that. But just to be sure I ain't just going nutty in my old age... What's your name pequenõ?"

I did of course know exactly who she was, but I couldn't afford to show any signs of familiarity. So I simply tilted my head to the side, gave my best confused/hesitant look. And eloquently said;

"Um…. Matthew."

Gloria looked up for a brief moment, sifting through her memories to find the one she wanted. Before she smiled knowingly, and kneeled down to meet me at eye level. Putting a hand on my shoulder.

"You don't know me, but I know you. I took care of you when you were just a little'un."

I simply nodded, secretly happy to see her again after all these years. She led me into her small office and sat me up on top of a table, having me lift up my shirt to survey the worst of the damage. She gave a "tsk" as she gave me a once over, checking the places with the worst damage,

Humming as she stood. Gloria walked quickly over to what looked like a storage locker, she punched in a small 5-digit code (5,1,8,0,7 The Rinnegan was excellent for memorization) and pulled out a canister of….

What the hell was that?

Whatever it was, she gave it a shake. Before popping a small cap off the top like an aerosol can. She approached me with it and began liberally applying it to my stomach, it was runny and viscous but hardened into a more gelatinous consistency as it made contact with my skin. It soothed and numbed as it went. Giving relief to the especially aching areas, hell I could almost feel the bruises healing. She finished her application of the mystery substance. And then waited about thirty or so seconds before peeling the gelatinous layer off like a second skin. And what i saw surprised me, there wasn't a single bruise that i could see. It seemed almost as if I had never been hurt at all.

"There."

Gloria said, a jovial smile on her face.

"All better, right?"

I smiled and nodded, before sliding off the table and landing lightly on my feet. I experimentally patted my stomach, no aches or pains at all.

"What was that?"

Gloria just shrugged as she tossed the canister of wonder substance into the trash. Washing her hands quickly before turning back to me.

"Oh that stuff? That was just medi-gel."

So that's what it was, i feigned ignorance as i said;

"Medi-wha?"

Gloria chuckled.

"It's a brand new invention from council space. You just put it on any owie you can think of, and it goes away lickety-split. Pretty neat huh?"

I gave a simple "Mm hm" as I walked towards the door. Saying behind me as i walked;

"Thanks miss nurse lady!"

"No problem mi hijo, and my name is Gloria!"

"Ok thanks miss Gloria!"

I dreamt of death that night, however fervently I might have wished not too. The last time i had seen him was five and a half years ago. When my Rinnegan had been revealed to me, and ever since then. I had hoped that meeting would mark our last. Though it seemed I was to be disappointed. As I fell asleep to find myself in the same large white expanse as before.

I found him reclining sedately in a lawn chair. As if he was catching the nonexistent rays of an absent sun. He looked up, as if he had not expected me to be there.

"AH MR PRICE, WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE. I AM AFRAID I CAN OFFER YOU NO REFRESHMENT AT THE MOMENT."

He gestured languidly at a vacated chair that sat besides his own, that I had for some reason not noticed was there before.

"PLEASE SIT."

I briefly thought that perhaps it simply hadn't been there for me to notice in the first place. But decided against thinking about it too much more and simply sat down. Stretching myself out on the chair, as I found a comfortable groove. I turned to death, speaking hesitantly.

"Is there any particular reason I'm here?"

"WHATEVER DO YOU MEAN?"

"I mean why did you bring me here?"

"I DID NOT."

I looked at death a tad perplexed, as I sat up slightly.

"If you didn't summon me then who exactly did?"

Death gave a small shrug, evidently he was no more informed right now than I was.

"I HAVEN'T THE FAINTEST IDEA."

Suddenly a voice spoke behind us, speaking in deep low intonations that seemed to reverberate through my body.

"I did."

I turned quickly around, startled by the unexpected noise. And beheld an elderly man, his hair bleached silver by age. His face hung with a long beard and showed all the signs and fine lines that signaled a great age. He was dressed in ragged traveling clothes, along with a tattered wool traveling cloak. A large wide brimmed hat hid his eyes momentarily from view. Before he looked up, and I gazed transfixed into a pair of metallic purple Rinnegan eyes.

I stood bolt upright, my attention fully caught as I came to stand before him. I stuttered as I addressed him.

"Wh-who are you? Why did you summon me?"

The old man lifted his hat off his head, and fixed me with the full force of his Rinnegan enhanced stare. Now I'm not actually five years old, but standing there in front of him under that penetrating stare, I sure as hell felt like it.

"I have gone by many names."

He said.

"Though if there is any name you would recognize me by, it would be Merlin."

I simply stood there for a moment, considering what he had just said. Just what in the fuckmothering hell was going on? Merlin was supposed to be the stuff of legends and fairytales!

Right?

"The Merlin? Camelot, lady in the lake, sword in the stone. All that?"

He nodded silently.

"Some of the facts have been lost to time, and some parts simply are not true. But for the most part, yes. I am the Merlin of those tales."

My jaw dropped, though considering everything else that had happened in both my lives. I didn't even know why I was surprised any more. I pointed idly at his eyes.

"The stories I heard never said anything about those eyes."

He raised one eyebrow. leaning slightly against his staff.

"Which stories were you listening too?"

"Hey I'm a bit behind the curve here, I don't know what to believe anymore. I mean in one story they said your father was a demon."

He actually laughed at that, an uproarious booming laugh that should not have come from the breast of one so beset by age. Though I was beginning to suspect there was more to him than what I could see on the surface.

"No, I was of simple peasant stock, but that is neither here nor there. And that is not why I am here."

"Then why exactly are you?"

Merlin chuckled, he placed his staff down besides him, sat down with his legs crossed. And gestured for me to do the same. I complied, lowering myself to the floor and making myself comfortable.

"I have watched you for quite some time, I've borne witness to many events in your short life. Including that pitiful performance you put on a few hours ago."

I gave the wrinkled old sage a perplexed look.

"And this would be referring to-?"

He cleared his throat.

"You were beaten to within an inch of your life by a trio of untrained striplings. And to think that you are an inheritor of the blessed eyes..."

"No one ever taught me how to fight! And I haven't even unlocked any of the Rinnegan's powers yet! Don't you think you're being a bit harsh?"

Merlin scoffed.

"Hardly, and anyway that is exactly why i am

Here. I have been content to watch things from afar without directly interfering. But now it seems I must take personal charge of your development."

I cocked my head to one side.

"Come again?"

"I will be training you for the foreseeable future, as you are now you can stumble across ponds. By the time I am through with you, you will stride across oceans."

It was, in a word, brutal. Absolutely totally brutal. He built me up, knocked me down and generally made me his bitch. Our training sessions took place as i slept, we started with chakra control exercises. Which involved me attempting to stand on the surface of a lake for as long as possible. While Merlin used his deva path abilities to levitate and throw rocks at me.

After that came hand to hand training, Merlin had spent a good bit of his life developing a fighting style tailor-made to the Rinnegans abilities, it was a style that relied largely on reaction and efficiency of movement. Using the Rinnegans ability to memorize and analyze and in a split second, to exploit weaknesses and react quickly to unexpected situations. I think in the first few days of training I got a pretty good handle on it. I still got laid out on my ass most of the time. But at least I was learning, and I would be more prepared the next time Anthony tried something.

Next was illusionary training, which involved him casting various illusions on me, (and sometimes not)

to see how well I could respond to them. Considering that auditory illusion was one of the Rinnegans only real weaknesses.

After that came elemental manipulation, it was difficult for me because I had only ever manipulated pure chakra. And I didn't have the luxury of shaping chakra with hand seals. Since Merlin had never used them, and therefore couldn't teach me any. It gave me a special appreciation for just how difficult pure elemental manipulation really was. In Naruto canon all a ninja had to do was flash a series of glorified gang signs. And he/she could level a small town. Meanwhile I had to go through the agonizing process of guiding and shaping the chakra without the use of hand seals. It was slow going and ridiculously complicated, but after a good five weeks of blood sweat and tears I finally managed to use lightning. It was only a small amount that could probably only stun a mouse. But after several weeks of frustration it was gratifying as hell to finally get even this small result.

As a wielder of the Rinnegan. I had a simultaneous affinity for all five of the basic elements, but I took to lightning the most. It was quick, powerful and spontaneous. It made me feel alive and full of manic energy every time I used it. It was an element best suited to an adrenaline junkie. After a few more weeks, I could summon and use a reasonably dangerous amount of lightning. And I made an intriguing discovery.

I had learned early on that lightning didn't like to be controlled, guided perhaps. But never controlled. It naturally sought out conduits through which it could travel, and that included living people. I had been getting my ass handed to me by Merlin, which was normal. Merlin had taken a lunge at an opening in my guard, and I had. On reflex more than anything else, enveloped myself in a cloak of lightning chakra. I had learned that cloaking specific limbs in the stuff sped them up considerably. So why couldn't that apply to my entire body?

However, instead of jumping away from him like I had planned. I rammed right into him, my lightning chakra was carrying me toward the nearest living conduit. Which just so happened to be him, he tried to speed away. But no matter where he went I always followed. He could no longer dodge circles around me like he used to. I still ended up losing mind you. And once I dissipated the lightning cloak I learned the technique's main weakness.

I was literally steaming. And i felt exhausted, i had used most of my chakra. And exposing my body to that much electricity was pretty much the equivalent of sticking my hand in a transformer, whilst pissing on an electric fence and stepping on a third rail. I was lucky it was all a dream, or according to Merlin. I would have died. So in the real world it could be used sparingly, and only if I really needed it. Until I could find a way to use it without it killing me, that's all it could be.

Soon after that Merlin began teaching me how to use my Rinnegan in earnest. According to him the only path that a wielder of the Rinnegan could use without training was the deva path. And once I got a feel for it I found he was right, I could do it with no real difficulty.

I gave it about as much effort and thought as breathing. The only real limit to my deva path was my imagination. I could increase or decrease the gravity in my immediate vicinity, sending objects floating upward, or I could crush people under intense gravity fields. The asari could keep their biotics, this was real gravity manipulation.

I even discovered a way to make myself faster with gravity manipulation. I could lighten the gravity around myself to make myself lighter. That in conjunction with my lightning cloak was so fast that merlin professed to being unable to follow my movements. I was making leaps and bounds, but as Merlin was fond of telling me.

I had a long, long way to go.

Jane didn't quite know what to make of Matthew, he was different. Where the other kids yelled and screamed, he was silent. And he mostly kept to himself, but the one thing that separated him from all the others. Were his eyes, they were so weird! Jane could spend all day staring at them. Wondering what had happened to him for his eyes to be like that, she had asked him. And he had told her that he had been born with them, which had raised a whole new slew of questions from Jane.

From the first moment she had seen him she had been intrigued by him. But had kept her distance, mostly out of nervousness. And definitely not because she was scared to talk to him.

As if anything could scare her!

But she had finally found an excuse to get near him, a bunch of meanies had been beating him up. And she, being the awesome friend that she was. Beat them up, and declared herself to be his best friend. She had been happy when he didn't say no, and she had been especially happy when he said he considered her a friend. He was nice to be around, because he didn't talk much. And when he did say something it was meaningful and interesting.

And if she was totally honest with herself, she liked his eyes because she thought they were pretty.

Though she would never tell that to anyone.