A/N: This is somewhat shorter than I'd like, but we're back!
Preparing updates for other categories -early update for Breath of Fresh Air and Forgotten Son, also Runt of the Litter- but this one was ready first.
Speaking of ready, Partners in Crime will be returning next week. Slifer and I worked hard on the latest chapter; hope it lives up to your expectations!
My health has been...better. Between back and breathing problems I'm feeling the pains of being old. I still refuse to take those bloody muscle relaxers. Not a chance.
With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, 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. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. 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.
No Q&A this time. I won't do them again unless folks wish to see them.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.
Lets pick up where we left off, shall we? Hope you're ready...
Minor verbatim from last chapter~!
"A hero doesn't need a reason to fight. To protect."
But you're not a hero, are you, headmaster?
Oh, no. You're a coward. A craven.
You'd sell your own soul to live.
I HATE COWARDS.
~?
Teach the Girls
Leonardo Lionheart squealed like a struck pig.
In all fairness, he had ample reason to.
"Mercy! Please! Have mercyyyy!"
"Mercy, Headmaster?" A blue-eyed blond demon with whiskered cheeks leaned over him, grinning from ear to ear as he pressed a knife to his throat. "Is that what you want? You weren't very merciful to me and mine, oh no, you've been the exact opposite of merciful...
Leonardo tried to speak. All that emerged was a strangled whimper.
Fate had finally caught up to him; all the karma for the lives he had taken. All those Huntsmen and Huntresses he'd sent to their deaths, all the children that mysteriously went "missing" under his watch. He could see their ghosts now, looming behind this furious young man. There were so many. More than a few whispered in the blond's ear, silently urging him on.
The rest gazed upon Leon one and all and demanded vengeance. Retribution. Justice.
He wondered if his would-be killer could see them. Hear them. Probably not. But he could. Just looking their way terrified him. He him imagined their icy fingers wrapping around his throat, ready to squeeze, to end his life as surely as the knife to his neck. He wanted to run. Run, flee, fly, any other word that involved getting the BLOODY HELL OUT OF HERE. Away from this absolute demon holding him captive.
But he couldn't.
To move was to die; behind him lay a glass window and below it, a massive drop that only the most hardened of Huntsman could survive -and he was far past his prime- but before him lay the knife. If he pushed forward he'd lose his head. Ergo, death! He didn't want that either! Stalwart, he trusty weapon, was utterly out of reach; he knew he'd never reach in in time and even if he did, he doubted the wrist-mounted dust launcher would do much good in close quarters like this.
No, he was well and truly boned, make no mistake.
"Well?" the blond man whose name he STILL didn't know hissed at him. "What'll it be?"
Cry or die most likely, whichever came first.
Alas, the latter was looking ever more likely with each passing moment.
"Whoever you are," he swallowed once, tried to master himself, and when that inevitably failed, he began to gibber like a madman. "Whatever you want, whatever I did to you, I'm sorry! I can pay! I swear, I'll pay!"
"I don't want your money." the knife nicked his jugular, leaving a thin line of blood to bead against the blade. "I want answers. And possibly your head on a spike, depending on the nature of said answers. Start talking and don't try to fight back; I'm not in the best of moods at the moment...
"Alright, alright! I'll talk! You're one of Ozpin's agents, aren't you?" he utterly missed the look of confusion that flashed across the boy's face. "I had no choice, they came for me! I'm not the man I once was; I tried to fight and they broke me! I did what I had to for Mistral's safety...
The last of Leo's courage began to shrivel up and die much like his balls. He sang like a canary, telling this terrifying man of all those he had sent to their deaths, all those he had killed, be it through negligence, ignorance or outright cowardice. Was it his imagination, or did his captor look surprised when he mentioned Salem? No, surely not. It must be an act. A trick of the light perhaps.
He told him all. About the Maiden he'd failed to find, and the Relic he couldn't access without her.
But he could only say so much. Eventually, his words ran dry. He made one last pitiful plea.
"I did it all for her, but no more- I quit! You can be headmaster! Just let me liiiiive!
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing.
He absolutely could not believe what he'd just heard; the horror of it all disgusted him, the depravity sickened him to his very core. And the worst part of it all? It was the truth. For all that he stank of fear and excrement, Leonardo Lionheart was telling the truth. Wild eyes gazed back at him, bloodshot with terror. Unbidden, he found himself looming over the faunus.
"All those people...all those children...you killed them."
Haven's headmaster babbled mindlessly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...
"Sorry?!" the word caught in his throat. "You think saying sorry excuses you?!"
He pivoted and shoved him backward at a wall, sending him sprawling. The headmaster crumpled with a whimper and slid bonelessly to the ground. He'd broken him.
"Get up!" Naruto nudged him with a boot and rolled Leonardo onto his back. The man promptly curled up into a fetal position instead.
"Cannot be stopped," he wept under his breath. "She cannot be stopped...she'll kill me for this...
That one man would do so much harm, to so many, to those he had sworn to protect, just to save his own skin...it disgusted him. All those Huntsmen. All those students. Children sent to the slaughterhouse, left to die against the Grimm, or worse, assassins.
And for what? Nothing. No, less than nothing...
He had come here for...he wasn't entirely sure what. To make Leonardo stop of course; but the finer points of how had eluded him until now. He hadn't come here for the dead. He'd come here seeking the mastermind who had sent assassins after Raven and Yang. He'd expected to find some mustache-twirling-villain gloating at his deeds; a fiend reveling in the crimes he'd committed. Instead he was forced to deal with the ruined shell of a man broken by years of double-dealing.
"What did you expect? Fear can make a man do terrible things.
Naruto bit off a retort before he could say something ugly.
He didn't want Kurama's words of wisdom. Not right now.
Worse still, Leonardo wasn't even the mastermind behind it; he was just a proxy, and too terrified to speak anymore his master. Salem. Whoever that was. Asking who she was wouldn't work. No amount of fear or rage on his part would compel him to reveal her location, no torture or cajoling could force the words from the lunatic's lips.
He had pitied him for a moment, when they first met.
That pity was long gone now.
Only anger remained.
Haven deserved better than this. Mistral deserved better...and its dead demanded vengeance. He could sense them, in this very room, feel their anguish, hear their howls for blood. Under normal circumstances, that sort of thing terrified him. He'd never been a fan of ghosts. But there were so many clinging to this man; so many he'd sent to their deaths...
And then Leonardo dared to look up at him. Him, expecting to be saved even now, after all he'd done. "Will you let me go now?"
Naruto took a deep breath through his nose and released it through his mouth. It was tempting to simply off Leonardo; so tempting he nearly found himself leaning forward. The faunus was an utter disgrace to his leonine namesake; a terrified wreck, a shattered shadow of his former self, little more than coward and a craven both. He'd betrayed everyone and everything he'd ever stood for-all in the name of survival. But killing him because it was necessary and killing him because it was easy were two very different things.
In the end the choice was made for him; Lionheart finally snapped. Babbling apologies, eh stumbled to his feet and dashed for the exit.
Naruto watched him for a moment. And as he did, an idea occurred to him.
A mad, awful idea, but one just crazy enough to wok.
He made his decision.
"...Kurama."
With but a word, a giant, golden fox-head jaws burst forth from his body and raced down the hall after Lionheart. The flailing faunus looked back as he ran. Saw death coming for him. Massive jaws yawned wide, ready to devour him whole. His eyes bulged, first in confusion, followed by shock, then mindless bowel-voiding terror.
A short, truncated scream filled the academy.
An equally harsh crunched echoed it.
With not a soul to hear.
(.0.0.0.)
The news broke the next morning.
Leonardo Lionheart was stepped down from his post as Headmaster, citing an illness.
Much like a certain Schnee before him, he declared his intentions to live in exile to the Mistral Media.
Also much like said Schnee, he appointed a successor for himself, a splendid "Huntsman" to take the reigns of Haven Academy.
His replacement was a relative unknown to most, but he came highly recommended, truly, his dossier spoke for itself, a storied career indeed.
His name was...
(.0.0.0.)
"Naruto Uzumaki! What were you thinking...?!"
Naruto dug a finger into his ear and weathered the words with a tired sigh.
Miranda Malachite wasn't happy; not one bit. He'd expected that. Prepared for it, even.
"I was thinking of an opportunity," he explained calmly, not giving even a hint to his true intentions. "I saw it, and I took it."
"You backed me into a corner!" she grabbed a fistful of his jacket and tried to yank him forward; only to fail as he dug his heels in. "If I hadn't forged those documents for you, you'd be up a creek without a paddle!"
...is there a point to all this?"
His fellow blond growled at him. "You owe me another favor for this-
"No." he batted her hand away. "I owe you nothing. You still have that first favor from me. That's all you'll get."
Haven deserved better than this. Better than Leonardo. He could be better than him-no, he would be better. It wouldn't even be all that difficult. He'd already pulled a similar trick once with Jacques Schnee. With a bit of clever planning he could do it again. He knew he couldn't rely on the Malachites forever; he owned Miranda one favor too many already. No, needed influence to protect his loved ones. A proper powerbase. And so he made his choice. The deed was done.
"Stubborn boy...!" It seemed Miranda still thought it was the wrong one. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You're not creating waves here, this is a freaking tsunami!" She flung up her arms, nearly giving him a good show of her bosom in her rage. "What were you thinking?
Time to be honest with her, then.
"That I owe something to this city." he clenched a fist before his face to ward off another explosion. "I need more than just power to protect Yang and Raven. I need influence. Prestige. As headmaster I'll have that. Someone was behind that madness with Lionheart, too. I can't stand by and let that happen again. The way I see it, she'll come for me now that I'm Headmaster. And when she does...!" he ground said knuckles into an open palm. "I'll be waiting for her. Its not a position I intend to keep forever; I'll hold it until Yang's older, until the city's built its defenses back up again. Now if that's all, its been a long day. I'm headed home.
He pivoted on one heel and walked away with a spring in his step.
Miranda shouted after him. "You're making yourself a target!"
"Better me than Yang~!"
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto found An waiting on the sofa for him when he finally came home.
Willow was sitting with her. Odd. What were they up to...?
And was that Raven lurking in the shadows?
The children were nowhere to be seen. Yang and the girls must've gone down for the night. It was just them, the adults.
.
..
...well, this boded poorly for him. Why did he have a bad feeling about this?
With that in mind, he opened his mouth to ask just what it was-
An beat him to the punch. "We need to talk."
A/N: Here it comes~!
Aaaaaand scene.
What say you? Would you like a timeskip next chapter? Or should we keep the current pace going? Really need to hear from you here.
Feels good to write another chapter for this.
As ever, the Embers rule persists. If folks don't like this? Well, I won't continue it. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter! Really, they do! That's no joke. I don't have days off anymore -two jobs will do that to you- and I'm working myself to the bone.
So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter!
That's no joke! I can't write without feedback. Guess that makes me weak...T_T
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews!
Potential ones at that.
Also, references.
(Previews)
"Yang," Weiss slapped a palm to her face. "You are a horrible sibling and I love you."
"Better than Winter?"
"I'm not saying that within earshot."
"I wanna fight!"
Naruto rolled over on the couch with a sigh. "Lets not. I'm sleepy.
"Fine. Reeeeeen! Help me tackle Dad!"
A soft sigh was his only warning before the little gremlins jumped him.
Qrow kept drinking. It kept the pain away.
Fuck Mistral. It took his sister and his niece. Whole damn place could burn for all he cared.
If there WAS a Maiden in Mistral, she was doing a damn good job at keeping her head down. Better than the other ones-
"Watchoutwatchoutwatchouuut~!"
Buzzed or no, Qrow still had a Hunters instinct; he heard the vice and stepped aside with seamless grace; dodged a tiny flash of long, tawny blond hair, watched it kick off a nearby wall and keep running. Lively lilac eyes flashed over her shoulder as she grinned back at him, never once pausing.
"Sorry!" her voice trailed after as she hurtled around the alley and out of sight.
"Bah. Cute kid. He ignored the girl's halfhearted apology and drank deeply from his flask. "Seems familiar...
Blond hair. Lilac eyes. A lively energetic blond girl who was the spitting image of...
Realization clicked. Red eyes bulged.
Booze sprayed the wall.
"Waitaminute!"
Naruto's head snapped to the side, a sole grunt of pain her only reward.
Bemused blue eyes blazed a baleful red. "You call that a punch?"
Little Yang gulped. "Aw, crapbaskets...
"Fair."
EDIT: Hey, thanks for reading!
Feels good to write another chapter for this.
As ever, the Embers rule persists. If folks don't like this? Well, I won't continue it. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter! Really, they do! That's no joke. I don't have days off anymore -two jobs will do that to you- and I'm working myself to the bone.
So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter!
Hope you have a great day~!
R&R~!