A/N: Bloody site glitches messing up my chapters!
I'm aiming to update this story weekly as well now; the feedback really keeps me going.
In the end, it all comes down to time, which I have very little of these days. Hopefully I'll be able to remedy that soon.
Still waiting for the shoe to drop on the rest of my transmissions costs; anxiety is eating me alive. All of my money has gone toward taking care of my sister while she recovers from surgery so unless parts and labor end up being cheap -unlikely- I don't know how I'm going to pay for it, even with all the crazy hours I'm working at bot jobs.
Rental car is a no go, those are too expensive, and I haven't the money to buy a new one. Terrified of taking a loan out from the bank. But I'm also afraid to open a you know what or accept money from others. I've never done so before... And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone. Its a lot to think about...
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.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far, far, FAR greater than little 'ol me.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time. Feedback is important.
Kudos to Chronosign for some dialogue in this. They wrote some up in a review.
Also playing around with a few rhymes/lyrics here.
You know them well!
Bit of singing here, but hey, its Hazbin...mixed with Epic...
"I've got people to protect! Friends I can't neglect! So I'm not taking chances here!
You've made you're one wrong move! Now you're done for! I will be the one to prove that you're done for!
Not even a prayer saves you now, 'cuz you're done for! Ohhh you better run, or soon those wings will be done for!"
~?
One Wrong Move
Extermination Day.
Extermination.
Day.
Naruto stumbled through the empty halls, words ringing in his head like a bell as he staggered along. He could still hear them. Over and over. Louder and louder. Every word, every soul, every syllable etched into his head with painstakingly clarity; a haunting tale he'd never be able to forget. The very theory of Extermination Day sounded terrible enough on paper, but the explanation that followed -the words Lute told him!- proved so much worse. Even now they haunted him:
Once a year. Exorcists -Angels!- descending to Hell and killing every soul in sight.
A full twenty-four hours of pain and torture and torment and DEATH.
Senseless slaughter. Sickening savagery. Spiteful slaying.
He wasn't satisfied with just her word, of course. People lied all the time. Even Angels. For all he knew, Heaven had a way of getting past his negative emotion sensing or somesuch. This place was already affecting him in some ways, who knew what else it might do? And so he had asked -demanded!- more questions of her, until he knew everything, not just the yearly Exterminations, but Adam's part in them, and the one who ordered it all.
In hindsight, he really shouldn't have pried.
Ignorance was bliss, something he should've clung to.
It wasn't possible anymore; because now he knew the truth, and the truth had set him free.
The worst part about it all? Lute was telling the truth. At the end of the day, Adam's second-in-command genuinely believed she was doing good by committing genocide. In her twisted soul she thought this was her duty, that all those who dwelt below Heaven deserved to die. Unacceptable.
Ohhh, he knew Lute was trying to play him in other ways, make no mistake. Telling him this wasn't just for the sole purpose of inflicting pain; she probably sought to spur him into action; egging him on in the hope that he would fly off the handle again and do something foolish. Oh, yes. He knew. But it didn't change the facts. Lute's voice taunted him even now.
"The next Extermination is in six months. Can you live with that knowledge?"
She was right. He couldn't. Unacceptable.
He'd been on the warpath ever since.
The First Step was Lute herself.
He knocked that smug bitch out, tied her down, and locked her up.
The Second Step came in the form of the Exorcists.
It took less than an hour to gather all of Adam's followers together under the pretense of a meeting. From there, he asked them what they thought of Extermination Day. Their answers had proven...enlightening. Of the one hundred "Exorcists" currently on active duty, only four girls expressed anything less than complete and utter devotion to Adam's cause. The rest gleefully looked forward to the next "E-Day" as they called it. Some were even keen on moving up the timetable to twice a year at that.
Four voices of dissent. Amongst one hundred.
Those four, he excused, idly resolving to ask their names at a later date.
As to the rest...diplomacy failed. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed in them...or himself, for what he did next.
In the end, he did what he did best. He beat his enemies half-to-death, gave them a stern talking-to and strung them in the square for all of Heaven to see until they changed their minds. Broken bones, mangled muscles, warped wings, you name it, he did it. They wouldn't recover for months, if not longer. Which gave him more time to plan his next move.
The Third Step proved a bit more cowardly on his part...in that it involved him staunchly and absolutely avoiding Emily until he got this settled and sorted.
He didn't think he could face her as he was now. Hopefully she wasn't a part of this. She couldn't be, right? She mustn't be. But if she was...
.
..
...no, don't think about that.
As for the Fourth and Final Step...that awaited him here andnow. His legs had carried him to his final destination. Good.
To his credit, Naruto didn't hesitate for long. A quick breath to marshal his anger. Nothing more.
"Alright." Steeling himself, he reared back, raised his right leg and-
His shoe met door with an awful crunch.
The latter yielded.
Loudly.
"SERA!"
The head Seraphim jolted to her feet from behind her desk with a stricken look on her face, gasping as the door to her office crashed open, all but tearing free from its hinges He knew how he must appear to her, face carved from stone, all traces of light and levity gone, concealed behind a stern mask of anger. Gone was his once sunny smile; in its place stood a stern scowl bordering on an outright sneer. His once blue eyes burned a molten shade of gold, warping the very air around him.
Was she angry at him? Was she afraid? Was she going to try and talk him around?
Too bad. He already knew his answer.
Tough.
"Naruto." Sera forced a smile to her face, when in truth, he could see she very much wanted to fly away. "You've been busy, I see. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
"Funny you should mention that." he stalked forward and planted a hand on her desk. "I have been busy. Because little birdie just told me about a fascinating Holiday we have up here."
Her shoulders drooped a little. "And what Holiday is that?
"Extermination Day."
Sera's smile died an ugly death as her wings slammed down behind her. Not good. As he looked on she drew herself upright, looming large over him, silvery eyes blazing into his gold. Naruto lifted his chin and bristled in return, ready to defend himself should she attack.
Would it come to a fight? He wasn't certain.
Could he win?
Maybe.
Sera was clearly a cut above Adam, but then again, he didn't rightly know how powerful he'd become himself since his death. His body felt so damn powerful right now, but she could easily be his match for all he knew. In any case, he wouldn't be the one to throw the first punch. Not here.
Was that Lute's plan? Piss him off, make him kickstart a fight with Sera, then get him kicked out of heaven?
Clever girl.
Something ugly curdled in his chest.
It almost felt like respect; were he alive, he might've fallen for it...
Sera sighed suddenly, drawing his attention back to her. "You are, quite possibly, the most exasperating angel I've ever met."
"Thanks...?"
"It wasn't a compliment." she sank back into her seat with a huff. "Please, won't you sit?"
He crossed both arms before his chest, wings twitching at his back. ""I'll stand if that's all the same to you."
Who told you of this? Lute? No, don't answer." she waved him down before he could get a word in edgewise. "Of course she did. That girl seems determined to make you Fall."
His brow furrowed in momentary confusion. "Fall?"
Sera looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "It is the fate of an angel who does...disreputable things."
No, no, no. He wasn't letting her wriggle out of this. "You mean like Adam? Oh, wait!" he snapped his fingers. "He hasn't fallen, has he? So why wold I for asking about Extermination Day?"
Sera pinched the bridge of nose, closed her eyes and heaved a long suffering sigh. "Why must you be this way? Questioning everything, upsetting the natural order of things."
"Its not like me to leave things be if something's wrong. Its human nature!"
"You're not human!" She sprang to her feet, tiara glowing, wings flaring as she shouted at him, distress bleeding through her facade at long last. "Neither of us are! We command legions, possess powers that would make mortals quake and with great power, comes great responsibility. We must be better than those who have come before us!"
Silence stretched between them, fit to strange them both.
Naruto stood his ground. "Answer my questions and we can be. Did you sanction this?"
He didn't hate Sera, but he wasn't exactly her biggest fang right now, either. Her response here hinged on how he would treat her in the future. And so he waited...
.
..
...until she looked away.
Something cracked deep in his chest at that. It felt like his soul. "You did, didn't you...all those people...
The silence was her answer.
"You allowed Extermination Day to happen...?" His hands clenched into fists at his sides and. "I'm sorry, you wanna run that by me again? Otherwise...
All of Heaven dimmed around him anew, more than ever before.
"A guy might get the wrong idea, ya know?"
Fury bubbled up in him, not a wrenching rage as one might expect, but something altogether colder. Oh, he was still angry, downright livid, but it was a fa cry from the seething tempest Adam had unwittingly ignited in his idiocy. This was different. Cold. Arctic. Glacial.
Huh. A small, rational part of him mused, I think this place might be affecting my emotions...
He took a deep breath and let it go, releasing it now in a plume of frigid steam.
"Alright," he exhaled softly. "I've had enough."
Then he moved.
His right hand settled on Sera's desk and ripped it aside, casting it into wall with a sonorous crash. She recoiled, but he had no pity left in his heart to be moved by such a sound. He didn't miss a beat and waded through the mess it made, finger jabbing forward in accusation like some glowing dagger.
Sera shrank back from it as much as him.
"Can't you see it?!" Sera flung out an arm to ward him off, or perhaps she feared an attack; he wasn't sure which. "I've got people to protect! Souls I can't neglect! So I'm not taking chances here!"
"You've made you're one wrong move!" he shouted over her, voice rising to stifle her shout. "Now you're done for!" his finger drilled in, jabbing her ribs. "I will be the one to prove that you're done for! Not even a prayer's gonna save you now, 'cuz you're done for! Ohhh you better not run, or soon those wings will be done for!"
Sera glared back at him, defiant, unrepentant, chin jutting out furiously, a myriad mess of eyes glowing in her hair as she snapped back. "These souls are like my children, I protect them at all costs." up cam her hand between her breasts, eyes blazing. "The last time I failed in my duty, we faced a heavy loss...I just want to protect my people with this fragile peace we have...
"Still better to save than to stab!"
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I do what is required."
"To think that Emily admired you...
Her words were admirable, but misguided; no, foolish, even. Couldn't she see what she was doing here? Naruto shook his head. "I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'... No matter how hard you try, the rest of Heaven is going to find out. You've gotten lucky so far, but this isn't the kind of secret that can last forever. People WILL find out about this... A guilty conscience, loose lips, or a redeemed soul; it doesn't matter how long it takes because it will happen.
The Head Seraphim squinted at him. "What are you proposing...?"
He scoffed at her, stamping down on his anger. They're gonna find out sooner later, all you can do is make sure they can understand... without turning them into zealots. You need to tell them yourself before they find out on their own. In the meantime, I'm going down there.
Sera blinked. "Down where?!"
He smirked. "Where do you think?"
She balked. "You want to visit Hell?! Are you mad?!"
A/N: Why, yes! YES HE IS!
Next chapter title: Suggestions, please?
Hope you enjoyed this! Would you like weekly updates? Four slots remain!
Might make an alternate version for this with Naruto down in the hells. I'm torn between "Smile Like You Mean it" or "All Eyes on Me". I've not written anything on that front, we'll see. As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, we'll not continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
Reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
And enjoy the previews.
As ever:
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Get ready to smile~!
Obvious references are obvious~!
(POTENTIAL!) Previews! What can I say? We've been busy.
Carmine heard the explosion from on high.
Someone had torn open the sky.
A lone angel flew through.
"That can't be good...
CRASH!
"Okay, didn't stick the landing...
Verosika stopped short. Did a double take, now. "Hullo, handsome...
"I want to be better." He gripped his throat, dangling him over the edge. "Don't make me let you down."
"You're insane."
"Ah, but what is madness if not the path to brilliance?"
"You'll learn, or you will be made to learn. Simple as that."
Alastor tittered merrily. "Well, well. This promises to be...entertaining."