Apologizes for this not coming out sooner.
Some of that fault falls on my desire, as it went to my Fox of Remnant remake and Guiding Light.
And this entire section took a bit out of me, being an emotional rollercoaster.
It hit me hard and took a while to get this one out the way I desired for it to come.
So no more stalling,
Let's end the Shadows of Rose, shall we?
This sensation…
The raw surge of chakra flowing through him… Was so much different than any time he felt its chakra enter his system.
As the typhoon of burning chakra around him relaxed and condensed, a breath escaped his lips. Everything seemed as if it was in slow motion. He could see the subtle twitches of intake and outtakes of the witch's breath—the straining of her cheek muscles as her expression darkened.
The slow lifting of her hand and crackling of dark energy formed with the palm of her hand.
So this was the full power of the Nine Tails?
No, he wasn't gonna let her get a chance this time.
The moment he stepped forward, his eyes flickered, barely able to comprehend and react to his movement. He felt a faint surge within, guiding his movements, allowing him to respond just in time.
And slam his fist into the witch's face.
His eyes shimmered, horrified at watching her head rupture from the contact before squinting at what he saw. Shrouds of darkness sputtered as the momentum of his blow catapulted her away, wisping in the air, returning to her and enshrouding her head.
Her body was made of darkness, just like the Grimm?
Glancing in her direction momentarily, a perplexed expression crossed Naruto's face as he gently landed. That didn't bother him so much… Seeing her already recovered from everything Raven had done to her, it made sense. Instead…
He expected a power boost like every time he wielded the Nine-Tails' chakra, but this was something else!
Raising his palm, flexing his hand into a fist a few times, he observed the golden aura wisping like a fiery flame from his form. There was a moment of pain as he felt his muscles contract and tense with each movement, the chakra coursing through every fiber. It felt like his muscles were ripping apart only to be quickly mended back together…
Your body cannot withstand the full intensity of my chakra, even while we are 'cooperating.' It's barely adjusting as it is. Be thankful that I'm withholding the full capacity of my chakra. The moment I cut my chakra from you, it's going to hurt like hell and probably take you out. You are NOT nearly ready enough for this.
Naruto scowled but could feel the truth in the statement. This rush was almost overwhelming him. It was like an ocean…
He blinked a few times, his eyes widening as a peculiar feeling washed over him. It was almost like… He could see everything around him? …But more importantly…
He could see all the Grimm… Not just near him.
No… He saw every single Grimm that stained the planet.
Every single one. What they were doing. How placid some seemed. How aggressive others were. Some entire areas that they congregated within… He recognized Mountain Glenn.
But there was an area shrouded in darkness—a crimson sky stained with dark blotches.
What was that?
The Land of Darkness… The Evernight. It's where the witch resides… It's a place you know well…
It's where I made the deal to preserve my existence.
Naruto's eyes flickered, clutching his chest and hunching over. That was… Where he… Where everything began.
The Nine-Tails stayed silent, letting the knowledge wash over the boy. There was no point in hiding the information now that he knew that place existed… But now was not the time to focus on that.
He needed him to see the bigger picture. So he manipulated his chakra, causing Naruto to wince once more.
People? Naruto's attention was drawn from the realm of darkness, and he could see thousands of people worldwide.
It wasn't everyone… He knew that there was far more. Yet he could feel these people. It was like…
They were all in pain of some kind.
The image in his mind focused. A familiar presence shone in his vision…
"Neo?" Naruto whispered, his eyes flickering, sensing her as if she was next to him before he grimaced, feeling agony that dropped a pit in his stomach. "Ruby? What's happening?"
Relax… You're sensing what I feel. Seeing what I see… The negativity of the world.
Naruto's eyes shimmered solemnly. This is what the Nine-Tails could feel all the time? What he was able to see?
Focus… We need to take care of what is in front of us first.
Hearing those words from the Nine-Tails, Naruto's expression hardened, gaze coldly focusing on the witch before him. Finish this quickly, is what you are telling me.
He could feel the Nine-Tails' arrogant smirk as it growled a chuckle.
Tear her apart a few times for good measure. I want her to 'know' how insignificant she is.
Naruto grimaced at the scathing tone before his face hardened, clenching his hand into a fist one last time. His gaze fiercely pierced into the witch clad in black. For once, he couldn't help but agree.
"Naruto, watch out!"
"I know," Naruto whispered, without even looking, latching onto the stretching hand of the Nuckelavee, stopping its momentum without budging. "I can see everything…"
"I'm ending this now." Naruto's eyes shifted toward the Nuckelavee, its petrifying shrieking proving ineffectual in keeping Naruto rooted to the spot.
Several Grimm could not capitalize on it, crashing into one another where Naruto had been the previous second.
This time, he was far more ready for the acceleration. He was more than able to react on his own, feeling little guidance from within.
Kicking out his right left and pulling back his, a satisfied grin left his lips as shadows shredded and parted around. The Nuckelavee dispersed into shadows as he pierced through it, landing on his feet behind where it stood, the ground beneath his feet cracking as the explosive shockwave of his blow's impact he had created carried past him.
And in the next moment, he was in front of the group that collided where he had stood prior, and with a whole roundhouse, the aura of his leg extending the range of the blow, swiftly dispatched the Grimm back into shadows.
With a reverent bow, he muttered a small thanks to those who came before him. A tribute to a friend and one of the greats of his village…
And he was far from finished. His eyes shifted toward the witch, sensing every motion of her body as she rose back to her feet. Her skull fully recovered from the wound he had inflicted earlier.
Allow me!
Following the Nine-Tails' guidance, he pushed the chakra forward and felt nine tails forge behind him, several snapping and stretching toward Salem. Before she could react, a pain shriek as two massive tails snapped and wrapped around her figure.
Her crimson void eyes glimmered down toward him as he stopped on a dime in front of her. She could only stare into his dazzling gaze that burned with determination right before he delivered a driving kick into her jaw. "And for the finish!"
The tails loosened around her, releasing her from their crushing grasp the moment he made contact. Her body was launched at speeds he wasn't sure he could have registered before, but now…
He saw clearly. And he knew while he was like this…
He could catch her.
He was immediately upon her before she could register the next hit as he slammed her skull with an ax fist, sending her reeling down below. Just to be launched back up into the sky with a punting kick.
A backhand. A knee strike. A shoulder tackle.
He kept striking her and bouncing her back between the ground and the sky, never allowing her to make contact. Even as the darkness poured out of her body and attempted to return to her body, he inflicted another blow. He didn't quite know how the technique went, but he had the gist of it. Besides, that was for the best… Didn't want to copy it blow for blow.
No, he just wanted her to feel pain!
"This is for all the people you have ever hurt!"
Another strike that lofted her into the sky.
"For those that you killed!"
A pounding blow that rocketed her back down.
"For Vernal!"
Putting a little more force into the kick, feeling her torso deflate from contact, he watched her sail back into the sky momentarily. Savoring the moment.
But it was far from over.
Her crimson voids shimmered as he appeared in front of her once. He could see the agony in her eyes.
Good.
With another strike to her face, feeling it cave once more, still having managed to form back from his blows, he put even more with this strike. "And that's for Summer!"
"And this!" The chakra of his left arm stretched and grasped around her waist as she plummeted to the earth below, snapping around her body and painfully squeezing around her chest just a mere moment from colliding into the ground.
Only to be snapped back, his face driven once more in the heaviest right he could muster, crashing her head between his fist and the earth below, the majority deteriorated town shattering from the impact shockwave and turning to dust. "Is for taking her away from my sisters!"
"Uzumaki Lotus!"
As the dusty remnants and the rubble of the town scattered around, landing on their feet just outside the walls of the fallen city, two sets of crimson eyes glistened.
"What the fuck did I just witness?" Raven muttered, her features paler than usual as she gazed into the epicenter of the devastation, barely able to stand on her feet while being consumed by the gales emitted from the blast.
The yield of the destruction was more devastating than most bombs she had ever witnessed before. And she had seen the bombs Atlas was developing!
"The power of the strongest Sacred Beast." Qrow nervously responded, his eyes wavering as he shielded them from the dust in the air. "A living natural disaster…"
This is what it was capable of when its energy was focused and combined with the kids?!
Every time he had seen fragments of what lay beneath, he knew the creature had devastating power. It was far beyond what any Huntsman could hope to achieve. Maybe a Maiden, but now…
That was far from the truth.
"Natural?!" Raven hissed, her hair whipping behind her as she stood her ground. "I don't think Atlus Dust bombs can even compare! Naruto didn't even use his most destructive attack, and he's doing this!"
Qrow grimaced and gnashed his teeth. He hadn't, and that perturbed him. What if he had…
"You need to go!" Naruto appeared to land between them, his eyes bouncing between their figures before returning to the destroyed town. "She's gonna come back… I can't stop that…"
"But the Nine-Tails says I can slow the process down and make her regret showing her face here." Naruto held out his right hand, noticing a vibrant glow from the palm of his hand.
"Fucking Ozpin lied then!" Raven spat with a terrified expression as she saw the shrouds of darkness scattered around, returning to its origin point. "We need to run… Collected Tai, Ruby, Yang… And run as far away as we can…"
"Hey, chill out, would ya?" Naruto growled at the panicked woman, his eyes glistening as he listened to the voice within. "He said he doesn't have the power to stop her… He never did…"
"But I have the potential to." Chakra began to swirl in the palm of his hand as nine tails emerged from his backside, a golden, black-tinted cloak forming around him with black wisps as the tails wrapped around him, the tips wavering around the forming sphere. "So get outta here, would ya? Just open a portal back for me in a minute so you don't get any feedback sent through."
"This is gonna be a big one."
It had been several years since she felt a searing pain like this before…
No matter how many times she allowed herself to be torn to shreds, beaten, and broken, she was always able to feel the pain. But over the centuries, no millennia, she had become numb to it.
She allowed people to rip her apart. Just so when she kept coming back, their morale would wither before her very eyes.
It was a satisfying sensation. To know that no matter what, in the end, she would come out on top.
But just like several years back, this was a pain that far surpassed others. The beast's chakra left lasting pain that would ache her body for years to come. It had a property to it that seared her essence and wouldn't let her go.
She was still feeling the sting when it ambushed her previously.
The boy's beating did not help matters.
As her body recollected and filled out once more, she snarled. She couldn't treat the beast or the boy like others. No, she would have to approach them differently. She needed him, and she would have him. So she needed a different…
Void eyes snapped open, and her darkened body shivered. A golden speckle stood on the still-standing wall of the ruined town. He hadn't retreated… No, he stuck back…
And she could feel the power the boy and the beast were generating together.
A thin grin graced her features. So, the boy was more than capable of pulling the trigger.
As a golden flash of rapturous light engulfed her, the darkness that formed her body disintegrated before her eyes. She couldn't even feel the pain this time around.
This was joyous! …Perhaps there was another way to end this.
"Tailed-Beast Bomb!"
"Bring my big brother back! You came back, so bring him back! I want my brother!"
Wincing at the volume of her daughter's voice, feeling her fists pound against her, Raven recoiled. She didn't know how to handle this… Didn't know how to tell her he would be home in just a minute…
"Yang, that's enough," Qrow stepped forward, separating his niece from her mother. "You gotta let your mom concentrate… We're going to bring him home in just a minute, okay, sweetie?"
"I want my brother!" Yang kicked and screamed, forcing Qrow to continue restraining her by simply lifting her up and away from his sister, putting her back onto Ruby's bed where her father wrapped his arm, embracing her into him.
Raven further withdrew into herself as tearful silver eyes peered at her, her father clutching her hysteric form. Her eyes flickered toward her brother before she shamefully tucked her head.
He was here when she opened her connection to him. It was always a possibility. She was aware of that. She had an idea of why he would be given the circumstances…
But the children were exposed to something they didn't need to see now…
"Where's Vernal?" Raven's voice was filled with remorse, biting her lips as she held her fears back.
"Downstairs." Qrow winced, clutching his fists as his eyes pierced into hers. "I… carried her down. She's gone."
Raven squeezed her eyes shut. She was such a fool… She let her emotions get the better of her…
And it cost her and the Branwen clan everything. …Vernal was the future. And now…
"Raven," Tai's voice reached her, snapping her attention back to her husband and seeing his face contort as he carefully chose his words. "Can you go back and get him? It's not going to calm down until he's here… I don't know what is happening, but…"
"Give him a minute," Qrow responded for Raven, scowling as he shook his head. "Much as I hate leaving him behind, it was the only decision we had left to us. He's finishing the job."
Scowling as he held onto his sobbing children, Tai repressed his scornful glare as he tended to his daughters. He wanted to know more. But it would have to wait… They needed him more.
Qrow repressed his mixed emotions, carefully glancing at Ruby's palm and noticing it was still glowing. Furrowing his brow momentarily, he knelt beside the bed and gently took her hand. "Ruby, does it still hurt?"
It took a moment for Ruby to register his question, but even in her terrified state, she eventually could confirm. "It still hurts…"
Qrow forced a smile to comfort her, and to Yang, gently rubbing circles in Ruby's palm. "Good… This is your connection to your brother, okay? As long as you feel that, you know he is still up and kicking. He's still putting up a fight, just like the heroes in all the tales you love."
Narrowing her gaze as she listened to what her brother said, Raven repressed a scowl. That mark allowed her to feel when Naruto was in danger… She had a strange connection to him as well?
"That's why it started hurting… We were… Out on a job… And were ambushed by a lot of Grimm. …One being far more dangerous than the rest." Raven added to her brother's statement with a white lie, earning scathing glances from her brother and husband, but pushed through. "He had a trick up his sleeve for us to escape, but he had to stay behind to activate it and told us to grab him in a minute, okay?"
She winced as she heard her and Summer's daughters' sobs increase in volume. Yet, for the briefest of moments…
She thought she saw the smallest of thankful smiles grace Tai's lips.
"See?" Tai soothingly embraced his two daughters. "Your big brother is just fine. He'll be here any minute, okay?"
Staring at the scene, a sense of loss washed over Raven, an empty void swallowing her stomach whole. Her eyes twinkled before she rapidly turned her head from the scene. "I'm… Gonna go downstairs. I'll open the connection there…"
"Yeah, that's for the best." Qrow nodded in agreement, grimacing as several ominous thoughts swarmed his mind, standing up and leaving Tai to the children. "I'll join you…"
"Just in case."
Whoever said the dead looked peaceful…
Was a bald-faced liar.
Crimson eyes glistened as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.
Her naturally sun-kissed skin was so pale. Her usual calm to irate expression was erased and in its place was etched on her features forever a pain-surprise… And a horrified fear.
Raven tucked her head away, unable to gaze upon Vernal's figure. This was her fault… She should have left her behind.
No, she wanted to test her merit! Wanted to see just what she was made of after all the time and effort she invested into training her…
Preparing her in case the inevitable befell her.
Raven clenched and balled her hands into tight fists, her nails cutting into the flesh of her palms. She was never her decoy, despite how often she told her that was the case… She was more than that…
She had chosen to groom her to be the next Branwen clan head… To carry on her stead.
"Raven." Her brother's voice pulled her out, his hand sliding onto her shoulder. "I know what you are feeling… Vernal was but a babe when we left, but even then, Father saw greatness in her…"
"No, you don't…" Raven shrugged Qrow's hands from her body, her eyes vividly burning with seething intent. "You abandoned the clan… You…"
"I never did…" Qrow solemnly responded, his gaze drifting and falling upon Vernal. "I chose a different path to protect everyone. Everyone that meant something to me. Even then… I still fail. I keep failing… And I failed yet another person I cherished."
Her body tensed, stumbling away from her brother. The rage she wanted to hold toward him sapped away.
She tucked her head away and tightly closed her eyes, the pit in her stomach growing. She, too, for a time, had nearly taken that path…
And she had failed just as much…
"Raven, it's been more than a few minutes." Qrow simply reminded his sister, unable to tear his vision from Vernal's body. "Let's get him back…"
Nodding in affirmation, her eyes slowly opened, and she inhaled deeply. Lifting her hand, she searched her heart for the connection she could never explain. Opening a connection she should have never been able to open again… He wasn't her… So why…
Why did it connect to him?
As her rift opened, only for a golden figure stepped through mere moments later, the burning aura being like it had previously. He almost seemed content at first as he saw where he was…
And then his eyes drifted below and fell onto Vernal.
His eyes gleamed remorsefully. But then his jaw clenched, and he balled his fists.
A resolute expression dawned as he knelt down, giving a simple prayer, before scooping her body into his arms and lifting her.
"Kid…" Qrow began, reaching out for Naruto.
"I don't have much time before I can't hold this state for much longer… It will knock me out as soon as it's done." Naruto's eyes lingered on Vernal's features before he glanced back at Raven and Qrow. "I want to see her be given a proper send-off before that, ya know?"
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Qrow could only nod numbly. That expression… He knew it well. And while he wanted to be proud, he was holding himself together…He felt the kid had lost something important inside him.
And that destroyed him.
I do hope you enjoyed the chapter!
While I am always content at whatever response, after finishing this mini-arc and what it took out of me...
I would appreciate any and every comment.
Hearing from you guys and gals is what keeps the story going, especially when I hit rough patches, not just within the story either!
Without it, as much as I write for myself, I would have probably stopped a while back!
So please, if you have just a moment to leave something behind, it would mean the world.
Until next times my friends,
Peace.