CHAPTER 14.

Suddenly it was fall,

the season of death,

the anniversary of things-going-to-hell.

Meghan O'Rouke


The castle of the Dream Kingdom was under siege, no one could enter or leave there, so Karin and Jugo watched the thousands of sentinels outside it, hoping that Suigetsu had reached his destination safely. While they watched in horror at what was happening, as it was the first time someone tried to claim the Dream World, they heard someone knocking on the door. Karin looked at Jugo scared, and he gestured for her to calm down as he approached the door to see who it was.

When Jugo opened the door there were two human-looking figures, they were two men; one with blond hair and blue eyes, and the other with pale skin, dark hair and jet-black eyes. Jugo frowned, not knowing who they were, and feared that they could be two subjects of Phantasos.

"What do you want?" Jugo spat grumpily.

"What's going on?" The blond man said, his voice was friendly and his expression did not convey any threat, but Jugo remained on alert.

"I asked first," Jugo replied unfriendly.

"Oh, excuse me. It's normal, you don't recognize us like this," said the blue-eyed man while scratching his scalp nervously. "We are Naruto and Sai, Sakura's protectors. We haven't seen our protegee for days and now we've noticed all the fuss that's been going on in the castle." explained the one who claimed to be one of Sakura's felines, but had now become a man. That was quite common. The creatures that Morpheus created could usually transform into human form, it was one of the qualities they had.

"Are you really Sakura's two stinky cats?" Jugo asked, narrowing his eyes, not quite believing them.

"He probably is, I'm not stinky," said the man with black hair with a smile.

"Hey!" Naruto looked at him with a frown.

"What's wrong? Who are these two?" Karin asked as she approached the three men.

"Nothing. They are Sakura's protectors, but in their human form," Jugo said, opening the door to the room all the way.

"And what do you want?" Karin asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Nothing, we wanted to know what's going on since we've seen that the entire castle is surrounded by soldiers we don't know," Naruto answered worriedly.

"Lord Morpheus' brother has ocuppied the Dream World, proclaiming himself the Lord of Dreams," Karin explained to them as the two protectors entered the room and Jugo closed the door so that no one could hear them.

"Phobetor?" Sai asked.

"No, you idiot, Phantasos. Phobetor would never do such a thing," Karin replied thoughtfully. She barely knew the Somnia, but from what little she knew, she knew that Phobetor and Morpheus were very close, closer than with Phantasos.

"And now what?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"We have sent our partner to warn Lord Morpheus. Most likely he already knows about all this," Jugo replied.

"I hope so," Karin said as she looked through the glass where she saw the large garden outside the castle, where there was normally tranquility, it was now full of unknown beings.

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Sakura's body could no longer hold on much longer. Her breathing was weak as was her heart that was beating slowly. She was exhausted. She had not rested for more than 24 hours. She could barely feel her body, she heard a voice repeatedly, laughter, but she barely felt any pain anymore, the level of pain she had was such that it had surpassed the threshold and she no longer had any sensation or power over her body. She had dissociated herself from that room, she was in the deepest darkness, without feeling any kind of sensation, it was her and nothingness.

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Sasuke found himself back on that border that divided the world of fantasies, the world of nightmares, and the world of dreams. The barrier that Hypnos, Phobetor, and Morpheus had tried to tear down, but none of them could, continued to appear. This time, they were accompanied by Thanatos, Hera, and Suigetsu. The god of Death tried first, but with no luck. On the other hand, as soon as Hera touched the barrier, something changed in that atmosphere. It began to change of color, and began to fade away before the five men present and the light-haired woman.

"Gentlemen, the world of fantasies is yours," Hera said as she watched Sasuke enter first, heading to his older brother's palace, Itachi followed a few steps behind his brother, and Suigetsu followed behind them.

"Thank you, Tsunade, for helping us," Fugaku thanked the most powerful goddess of Olympus.

"The pleasure was mine. Next time, don't hesitate to count on me," Hera said, winking at them as she disappeared, leaving a poppy petal falling. Fugaku and Madara laughed at her words. Who would have thought that Zeus' wife would help the dreamers, the wrath of thunder would fall right there. Once the old gods said goodbye, they entered the world of fantasies in search of Sakura.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted frantically "Sakura! Where are you?" he called out in total desperation. One of Phantasos' servants came out to meet him and Sasuke didn't hesitate not letting him speak, leaving him there and then engulfed in flames. Itachi passed by the almost burned servant, and Suigetsu looked at the scene with disgust as he passed by, afraid that he would touch him. "Eros, where are you? When I find you, I'm going to pluck every single one of your feathers, you son of a bitch," he continued yelling at the top of his lungs as he walked aimlessly, searching through all the rooms in the palace.

Sasuke had no idea where to look, he had barely been in that palace, and every servant who crossed his path was electrocuted or burned down in its wake. Although in the eyes of others, they might not be guilty of what had happened, but for Sasuke if they had not acted to help Sakura, they were accomplices and it was clear for him that he was going to kill each one of the accomplices in Sakura's kidnapping.

Meanwhile, as Itachi observed that his brother was walking around enraged without any direction and without any plan in mind as anger blinded him completely, he began to search in other places so that he could gain time and not all of them were searching in the same places. Itachi began to hear sobbings and sounds of blows. That sound came from one of the rooms in the west wing of Phantasos' palace. It was a dark wooden door, it seemed to be closed by some kind of enchantment, but it didn't seem to be very strong like the one on the border of the fantasy world; it only prevented mere creatures of the palace from entering. With the blink of an eye, Itachi was able to remove the spell that kept the door closed and swung the room open.

At first, Itachi couldn't discern anything, with his hand he was able to summon a flame and thus observed the horrors that awaited that room. First, he saw Eros, which Itachi was able to act on quickly by keeping him immobilized by absorbing him with sleep paralysis. It was withstanding to him, because doing that was not the same for a god of Olympus as it was for a mere mortal.

"Sasuke!" Itachi shouted "Sasuke!" he shouted again, calling the attention of his brother who was walking through the halls of the palace in such a rage that he was burning everything down. There was no need for him to call him a third time, within seconds Sasuke appeared inside that place, in the room illuminated by Itachi's flame that was now floating in the air and all of Itachi's concentration was on Eros.

Sasuke looked at the body that was in the corner of that room. He quickly knelt down to take her in his arms, she was cold, dirty and smelled of blood, sweat and tears. Sakura's full weight fell on Sasuke's chest when he untied her. She was unconscious, he looked at her face to see if she was still breathing, but her breathing was very weak. Seeing her like that all the rage and anger he had inside dissipated and now he was invaded by an absolute concern for Sakura's well-being. Her body could barely keep itself alive, if they had taken a few more hours perhaps they would have found her dead. Sasuke trembled with rage, at that moment he wanted to carry out the worst of atrocities on Eros.

Hypnos and Thanatos appeared, observing the baroque scene that was in their presence, the dark image of the room of horrors, the almost lifeless body of Sakura in Sasuke's arms leaving the room, and Itachi standing next to Eros while holding him immobilized.

"Thanatos, take him to Keres," said Sasuke when he saw his uncle appear as he passed by with Sakura in his arms. That was not a request, but rather an order. Madara observed his nephew, as did Fugaku. He seemed so calm that both men felt a shiver run through their bodies, they had never seen Morpheus so sober.

"What's the plan going to be?" asked Thanatos.

"Take her to your sister, and when I'm done with Obito I'll go pay them a visit," answered Sasuke.

"If the twelve know that we have one of them, do you know what will happen?" Itachi asked worriedly.

"Yes, and I don't care," Sasuke said.

"The war between the Somnia and the Olympian Gods," Thanatos laughed. "So happy to be alive to see it," Madara said amused as he watched his nephew walk away.

"Father, do you think this is a good idea?" Itachi asked as he continued to hold Eros still.

"It doesn't matter if this is a good idea or not anymore, the oracles have spoken," Hypnos replied, and Itachi looked at his father in confusion as Thanatos placed his hand on Eros' head and they both disappeared, leaving Itachi and Fugaku alone in that horrible smelling room.

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Sasuke and Suigetsu appeared inside his palace, in the Throne Room with Sakura in his arms. There was Phantasos sitting on the throne of Morpheus with several subjects and soldiers guarding the door, but for the very god of dreams and king of that castle, nothing prevented him from being able to function in that place that he had created himself with his power. Quickly seeing Sasuke appear, the soldiers approached to restrain him, but in just a mere gesture he made them disappear as if they were dry autumn leaves.

Phantasos was still sitting in Morpheus' Throne, watching the scene uncomfortably. It seemed that he did not expect the arrival of his little brother. When Sasuke looked up to look at Obito, his face was almost dislocated by the fury he contained. He gently put Sakura on the ground, and at that very moment Phobetor and Hypnos appeared behind Sasuke. Observing that, Obito stood up nervously, he felt cornered. The whole plan he had hatched with Eros was collapsing like a house of cards. What had happened? He asked himself confused.

"Son, I fear this will be the last time we see you," said Hypnos, anticipating the fate of his eldest son.

"You can't, I have the help of one of the twelve," he answered nervously.

"Forget about Eros, he's with Keres," said Sasuke as he approached him like a lion approaches its prey, slowly, cautiously, keeping his eyes on his target.

"Itachi, you've always been the smartest in the family. You know if that's true, it's the end of our family," he turned to Phobetor nervously, not knowing how to get out of that situation.

"We don't care. You've betrayed one of us, brother, and that has a price," said Itachi. At those words, Obito tried to escape from Sasuke, who was now much closer to him, but Sasuke quickly immobilized him.

"Why did you do it, brother?" Sasuke asked, he wanted to know the reason why his brother had betrayed him, he wanted to know before killing him. Obito looked at him with anger and contempt.

"Because you are a brat who does not know how to take advantage of the power you have. With me the world of dreams would have been bigger than the underworld, than Olympus itself. The world of dreams has no limits," he said maliciously. "If this is what you want, have it, continue being the useless family in the eyes of others, better to be dead than alive to see it,"

At that moment both Sasuke and Itachi enveloped their older brother in black flames that seemed to have no end. Within seconds Thanatos appeared on the scene, when Obito's body remained almost lifeless. When Obito stopped screaming and writhing on the ground they heard a small moan coming from behind them. It was Sakura, something was wrong.

Sasuke quickly approached her taking her in his arms again, her breathing was now heavy as if she was fighting to survive, her chest moved rapidly, and her body trembled. Several tears fell from her eyes that remained closed. Sasuke did not understand what could be happening, perhaps her body could not take it anymore due to all the torture she had suffered. At that moment he blamed himself because he should have gone sooner to Karin to have her healed as soon as possible, and keep her alive while he took care of Obito. But his thirst for revenge blinded him and took him there directly without thinking that Sakura had so little time left.

"Sakura…" he whispered desperately, touching her all over her body as if that way he could keep her alive in his arms. "Sakura, please stay," he begged without knowing who.

From the pain and rage several tears fell from Sasuke, he didn't want his family to see him in that state. He kept his head resting on Sakura's chest, holding her against his body in desperation, hoping that she wouldn't leave. She was the most precious and pure thing he had ever had in his possession; she had made him feel things that even his vocabulary couldn't describe, and all that was going to dissipate between his fingers, leaving him alone and miserable. Without her. Thinking about all that was driving him crazy, he didn't want a life without her, his feelings for her were so deep that he hadn't realized until now. How could that be? Even though his brother had made Sakura especially for him, the feelings were still deep, that couldn't be a mere spell, it had to be something else. Sakura's body was beginning to stop shaking, and her breathing was already so weak that he couldn't feel her chest moving, her body was cold.

"Sakura please. Stay with me," the four men observed the almost pathetic scene of Sasuke there on the ground holding the almost lifeless body of Sakura with such desperation that it seemed like the universe was going to fall apart. At that moment Fugaku, Itachi and Madara understood it was not that Sakura's body had not endured Eros' torture any longer, it was that her creator had just died and therefore she, as a specially created creature, was fading away along with her creator. So, Sakura's body stopped shaking and breathing at the same time as Obito, and lifeless she fell asleep in Morpheus' arms.


A/N: I know i know.. originally Eros is not a God of Olympus... but... i changed that in my story to make it more interesting and also because i wanted to make Eros, the god of love, an unpleasent God...