A/N: Rise of the Beast Hero is coming along nicely, got a couple thousand words already, but I want it to be longer/more polished.
So here, have a multi holiday update while its still in the oven, as it were.
I'll be updating this and at least two other stories.
Happy soon-to-be-Fourth of July!
As ever, the Embers Rule Persists; if folks truly don't enjoy this tale, then...I'll not continue it. I can't bear to write something folks don't like, and working two jobs on a near back-to-back basis leaves my energy at an all time low. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard!
As ever, I own no references, themes or memes! Now then, with that said...awaaaay we go~!
Again, this is merely a fragment out of time...
Something that was never made.
"Its nothing personal. Just good business."
~?
Eighth Fragment
There was a knife in his chest.
Why? Why was there a knife in his chest?
It hadn't been there a second ago. So...where had it come from?
Marcus blinked down at the jagged implement of death, struggling to make sense of it all. No. No, this could not be. It must not be. He'd won. Finally shot that blond bastard dead. Right in the head. Between the eyes. No more quips, no more threats, no more anything. He was gone for good. Victory was his.
.
..
...wasn't it?
"MURDERER!"
The sheriff tried to raise a hand as someone -as she!- screamed at him. Tried to pluck the weapon free and defend himself, but his body...wasn't listening. His fingers curled around the knife...then fell slack. For all his incredulity, his arm wouldn't respond. Somehow he managed to raise his gaze. Heard it then, he did. The faint sound of a round entering the chamber. He crashed down to a knee; someone kicked his legs and his face smashed against the cool metal of the bridge. The impact drove the knife deeper still, tearing a gasp from his lips.
He saw him then.
Lying there besides, eyes wide in his final moments.
He also beheld the precise moment Jinx reared back and slammed a syringe of Shimmer into Naruto's back.
No.
Dread dawned in the sheriff's dying heart.
No, no.
Still clutching that bawling babe -her daughter!- to her chest with one arm, she pressed her thumb down on the stopper with a snarl.
No, no, no!
And just like that. Naruto's body twitched.
Marcus couldn't look away from what followed. As the stunned sheriff gazed on, the wound -the hole!- in the blond boy's head sealed with an awful squelching sound. The bullet in his skull was ejected in summary fashion, pinging off the deck as the drug went to work on him. Vicious violet veins scrawled across whiskered cheeks, blazing those dead blue eyes a wild shade of violet. He jerked back to his feet like a puppet severed from its strings, body twisting, muscles writhing, chest heaving. Wild eyes found him. Narrowed. Marcus wanted to weep.
It wasn't fair. He'd killed them. Stupid bastard had taken the bullet for her and everything. Why couldn't he just stay dead...?!
The crude barrel of a pistol pressed against the side of Marcus's head with intent.
An angry hiss filled his ears the black exultation of a dread beast.
"If its any consolation for you...that hurt like hell."
Five pounds of pressure on the trigger.
A deafening noise filled his ears.
Darkness rushed in.
A/N: And there we go.
Well? Did you like it? Yay or nay?
A fragment, something that may or may not come to be.
As ever, reviews keep this old man alive during this dark and crazy time. I ain't joking.
Seriously, we're all locked away in isolation or worse these days, words are all that sustains me.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... Review...Would You Kindly?
Still no previews this time. Too depressed.
Feel's like the world's gone crazy.
R&R~!