A/N: Sorry, I failed you. Notifications are still down for the site, which means hardly anyone will see this update. That hits right in the inspiration T_T
To make matters worse, I have less and less time between my shifts these days, which in turn is affecting my update schedule. I was so close to finishing this and a chapter for Shed no Grace on Me, but I just couldn't make it in time.
Lungs are getting better for the time being, but I'm still paying off my car repairs while using a friend's car. My sister's still a hot mess, unable to work until mid-July, which means what free time I have is also spent making sure she's alright.
As usual, all the bills fall to me. Because of course they do. I hate being the oldest sometimes...Can anyone see this?
Review if you can. We STILL have no site notifications over here on my end since they broke again; its been affecting everything and ruining my drive to write. I'm sorry. Between that and life, I just can't update properly as of late.
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 quotes, references, themes or memes. Not a wit or one. They're tributes, one and all. 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.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
So here, have a teaser for Take the Girl. Mind you! Its still rough as all hell!
Haven't had time to polish it. For the sake of entertainment, I'll post the juicy bits:
"Ha! Haha! HAHAHA!
Of course you are, you fool!
Because that's just what you do, isn't it? How has that worked out for you?"
~?
Lionize the Girls (Teaser)
"Hey!"
"Listen!"
"Watch out!"
Blake opened her eyes with a groan, wincing as those words rang in her ears. Everything hurt. Her face itched and she couldn't remember what had happened. Hands on her shoulders, shaking her, the sound of combat, dying gurgles, and triumphant cries, all mingled together with the terrifying scent of Fire.
When she finally found her center, the room proved slow to swim into focus; almost painfully slow...no. She frowned, squinted, then blinked again. She must've been half asleep, because she was surely seeing things. An all too familiar face dangled inches from her own, lilac eyes glowing in the gloom. No, wait, they were actually glowing; she could see literal violet flames fan from the edges of her eyes, bleeding out into the air as she beamed at her.
"Hello~!" she sang. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Mmrrng?!"
"Yup its me. Sorry for the pun."
She tried to speak against the gag, to no avail. Mmmrow?!
How? Well, tha'ts a long story and here, lemme get this off you.
A hand tore the gag away, allowing her to draw in a ragged breath.
"Yang?! How did you get here?!"
She beamed. "I ran."
"How?!"
"Well its not hard if you know how, you just put one foot in front of the other-"
"No! I mean how did you get here! In this building! How did you find us?!"
The beaming blond giggled once. "That's easy. Dad's smart."
"Huh?"
"Like real smart. He knew exactly where you were."
"Again, how?!"
"I dunno, magic I guess. He sent me in while he's distracting the bad guys."
"But you're just a kid like us!"
"Hey, hey! I'll have you know I'm a kickass huntress in training!"
One of the goons stirred behind her.
Watch this! She swung an arm outward. A wall of fire flashed forth, blasting the man into a wall.
You burned him!"
"Aaaand?"
"He might die!"
Yang showed no such guilt. "He's a bad guy. Daddy says bad guys die all the time. Nobody's gonna miss one more. 'Sides, Dad needed a portal and a distraction, and I'm the former, sooo
An almighty rumble outside rattled the roof.
"Right on time!"
Illia whimpered. W-W-What was that?
"Oh, that's dad."
Adam whistled.
All the color drained from Blake's face. "How are you not afraid?"
"Why would I be? This is just another Tuesday for me."
"You're insane. Actually insane."
"Maybe." She shrugged a shoulder.
A bird fluttered down from the rafter and took the shape of a scraggly man.
"Not bade, Firecracker. You weren't kidding."
"Told you I could fight!"
A crimson portal opened behind her and a terrifying woman in black and red emerged, smiling ever so softly. "Time to go, brats.
Adam looked at her blood red blade and came to the obvious conclusion. ...I want that.
Yang chirruped happily. "Hey, Mom!
.0.0.0.
Watts checked his watch. "Right on schedule."
The Headmaster of Hell, Mistral's own monster, considered the thug he was holding by the throat. A brief squeeze broke the man's neck, then he cast him down.
"Must you kill them all?" the doctor tutted softly. "Good help is so hard to find these days. It took a great deal to arrange this."
He had his contingencies, but even then, he couldn't quite supresss a shiver as Naruto smiled at him.
It was not a nice smile. Far too wide, entirely too many teeth, and it made his eyes glow red.
Careful, now. He would have to be very careful indeed, or he'd lose his life here.
"You hurt those kids."
"Sacrifices must be made. You understand, I'm sure."
"No, I don't." he stomped down on a recovering thug as he stalked up to him, casually crushing the man's skull underfoot. "Don't care to either. Any last words?"
Watts burst out in a peal of laughter. "Of course you don't care. Because that's just what you isn't it? You can't bring yourself to bother with anything or anything outside of your precious family. How has that worked out for you?" he swept a ringed hand outward with a sneer. The grand hero, Headmaster of Haven, Sovereign of Sanctum, revered by Mistral, its indomitable protector and avenging angel. You thought you could gather allies and we wouldn't take notice of you. But you couldn't. Now the eyes of the world are upon you and your failures."
"Watts...
"And let's not forget your deal with Miranda Malachite," he prattled on with a hoarse laugh, too lost in the sound of his own voice to care for his own safety. "Get all the criminal underworld under your control so it can't cause any trouble. But that's the problem with keeping so many criminals under your thumb. They rebel!"
"So that's how you did it...
"Indeed I did!" He flung up his arms with a cackle. "It was all too easy to find allies here. A few words whispered to Paul Parrot and the man practically fell over himself to do my bidding. And still you chose to rely on scum like him. If only someone could've warned you against such a miserable idea. Oh, wait! I did!" he hooked a thumb into his chest with a snarl then reversed it, jabbing a finger his way." But you pushed ahead and you lost it all when all you had to do was kneel! All of this could've been avoided if you just pledged your fealty to Salem like Lionheart did, but no! You had to be the hero!"
The ground trembled underfoot.
"You think you can fix everything just because you want to, but wanting isn't enough! You can't just be strong, you have to be smart! Can't just be deserving you have to be WORTHY! But clearly, all you have eve been is a bloody...why are you laughing? Stop that! Stop laughing at me this instant!"
Because he was. He'd started three seconds ago into his rand and now he burst into full-throated laughter of his own.
"I'm sorry, was that little speech supposed to demoralize me?"
All hell broke loose.
A/N: We'll cut it here. Don't wanna spoil too much.
Would you like an update next week? Do let me know! We'll be picking up the pace soon, but with the notifications down, I really need to hear from you here.
RWBY may have been canned by Warner Bros. but we fanfiction writers are out here trying to keep the light alive, as it were. 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.
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?
No previews. I just can't...
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review Would You Kindly?