A/N: ...posting these to keep myself sane, and my mind off the pain.

Strings, Over Fallen Leaves, and Surpass Your Limits are coming along nicely.

Not feeling my best with yet another damn HOLE in my side...but I've been watching Hazbin Hotel while recovering. Still in a lot of pain.

Long story short, I had to get a massive swathe of skin on my side cut off the other day because my doctors are concerned and checking for cancer. And when I say cut, I mean CUT as in with several scalpels at once, leaving me in horrendous pain. Now I may need to go back to the hospital and get yet more "pieces" removed which has me stressed out even more. Don't get me started about the bleeding and the bandages. Painkillers aren't helping and I'm concerned it might be spreading while trying not to panic over here.

I've since had more pieces carved away on my chest and neck besides. In other words. I. Am. Suffering. Writing distracts me from the pain, if only just.

So here we go. The fate of this fragment 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, wicked world, one word at a time.

Once more, I own no quotes, references, or memes. Not a wit or a one. NOT! A! THING!

They're all tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me. Disclaimer over.

If anyone gets the references, kudos to you.

Full Alastor moment incoming.

"Hello, there! Its nice to meet you! Can you tell me where I am?

I don't know how I got here, but I think I'm starting to...

...understand."

~?

Shadow and Flame

What manner of madness was this?

She was a goddess. Divinity incarnate. Darkness itself.

Only a select few could hope to rival her power, much less stand against her.

So why...

...whyyyyy...

...why in Ao's name was she being humiliated like this?!

Here! Now! In the very heart of her power, her domain! No matter what she said, what she thought, what she did, she couldn't find the strength to rise; any attempt to extricate herself from her prison only resulted in more pain; chains of searing flame binding her down, searing into her flesh. The light burned, branding into her very being like a red hot poker and she couldn't stand. These flames burned worse than her sister's light and worse; she could feel them weakening her, stripping away her divinity like flesh from a fresh carvass.

Yet none of her fellow deities made a move to aid her. Not her sister Selune, not Silvanus, not even Ao himself.

...I'll allow it.

What was that just now?!"

"Shar, was it? You know, that's a good look for you." A boot ground down against her cheek, forcing her face deeper into the ground. "Tell me now, what did you call me? A two-bit god? A pretender you wouldn't give the time of day, much less kiss the boots of?"

"You wretched UPSTART-

His ankle twisting, digging into her nose, forcing her to kiss foot.

"You know, you're right." Merry blue eyes crinkle, flecked with shards of azure flame. "I haven't been the same since I expired, but now I have the power to bathe people like you in entertaining fire. Hey!" the pressure on her face relented for a moment as he laughed. "That rhymed. Go me! Karlach would get a hoot out of that if she wasn't dead.

How was he doing this?!

He was only a newborn god!

Sure, the mortals had worshiped him for his deeds, for his noble herosim, but to think he would accumulate this much power, this quickly...!

"I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be-

He wrenched her head to the side with an awful crack, tearing another piece from her.

She felt so weak. So frail. So small. Everything seemed so much larger somehow, or was she smaller? She could no longer tell...and that galled her.

"Gods. I always found that word amusing. What makes a god?" Another chain wrapped around her neck, forcing her to look upward, to meet that whiskered visage, that golden glowing form that would've put Lathander himself to shame. "What defines a deity? Is it mortality? Worship? Something more, perhaps? I never understood that. Shadowheart worshiped you with all her heart and soul, and where did that get her?" Those awful chains tightened, searing into her skin as she shrank further. "Dead with the rest."

"She was mine to do with as I pleased-

"SHE WAS NOT!" his head smashed into hers and here at last, the former mortal's facade cracked as she glimpsed the sheer, bloody rage beneath, that perpetual smile becoming something twisted and monstrous as its owner snarled at her. "She had a life! Hopes! Dreams! You took them from her! You obliterated everything that she was, not because you needed to, but because you could! And you laughed!"

Shar saw it then, all the monstrous power he'd accumulated, and felt something.

Why, it almost felt like...no, that couldn't be possible.

It was fear.

"No," Naruto leaned back, smiling mask in place once more, "We're fixing this little game over; we are going to correct things-go right back to the beginning of this Absolute mess and effect balance." He tilted his head, considering her anew. "Or at least, Withers and I will. But you?" he pressed a searing finger to her forehead, carving a burning brand there. "You're going to learn exactly what's its like to live amongst the mortals you enjoy playing with. Maybe this time you'll learn some humility."

Panic bleated in her. "Never! Release me! Let me go!"

"Of course I will!" Came the happy chirrup. "Don't get your dress in a twist."

Shar paused, eyes stinging, wasted and gasping for air. She sensed a "but" coming...

"Certainly!" The god who-once-was-Naruto leaned in, whiskered face dominating her vision. "I'll let you go once I'm finished here. I have just one tiiiiiny little question first." a hand came up under her chin, forcing her to look into the eyes of her fellow deity. "Tell me, do you gods...

...BLEED?"

Out came his claws.

Screams rent the heart of the Shadowfell.

A/N: Shar getting put in her place, stripped of divinity, and cast down to Faerun as a mortal.

A fitting fate for that vile god.

There we go.

Well? Should this remain a story? Yay or nay, what say you? Not much else to say this time 'round. Reviews keep me writing, and without them, my inspiration falls flat. Ever bit of feedback helps. Pain hurts. Pain hurts a loooot. But silence from readers and reviewers? That hurts even more. As ever, reviews keep this old man alive during these dark and crazy times. I ain't joking.

Seriously, we're all locked away anyways these days, feedback is all that sustains me.

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... Review...Would You Kindly?

May the make you smile~!

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

PLOT DETAILS AHOY!

YE BE WARNED!

Read at your own risk!

(Previews)

"What a curious way to awaken."

"Tell me about it, I've got one helluva crick in my neck. Time travel sucks."

"Hello, Ketheric! Selune wants a word~!

Shar stared down at her hands.

Small hands. Childish hands.

"Nooooo!"

EDIT: Hope these made you smile~!

k

EDIT: Hey, you made it! Thanks for reading!