The fight proves to be the least stressful thing of the day. Comparatively, it's almost easy.
The cyclops excels in strength and durability. It changes size to thirty feet the moment he attacks but yet never strategically shrinks back down, even when Naruto monkey bars off his limbs.
Naruto finds, and it's with a roll of his eyes, that they are very similar in that sense. Almost no strategy; and thoughts are only made with fists.
The cyclops is slow— numbingly, time-is-frozen slow compared to Luke. Naruto dodges and bobs around fists and lands his own, backed by chakra that most shinobi just don't have.
It goes well till he's got the cyclops on the floor and Naruto is dive-bombing to the ground, a Rasengan spinning on his palm.
Naruto launches his hands on its stomach.
It growls what must be mancave threats and promises as it tries to keep the Rasengan from swallowing it whole.
It doesn't succeed a bit.
Blue overtakes it. It's like azure fireworks pop as Naruto lets the ball shape containing the compressed energy stop holding it back.
Then instead of slumping with defeat, eyes rolling to the back of its head, the cyclops glows.
Yellow light emanates from under its skin as it crumbles. The arms fall down, then into grains. "Uh.." It bursts, like one would expect a balloon would, into droves upon droves of golden sandy-dust.
Naruto's momentum continues.
Before he can correct he's at the ground with his hand sticking out.
It lands awkwardly, and Naruto hears over his hissing, it twist till it cracks.
His face contorts harshly, because it's the same hand, curses slipping out before he can filter them for Nico's ears.
His hand goes numb, dead-feeling in every cell, yet buzzes with gritted pain. It only gets worse as the rush of battle fades and adrenaline stops moving through his veins.
Naruto gets on his feet, wincing at every movement. His fingers wrap around his wrist. The area burns though his fingers are cool.
He snaps it back in place.
It pops and he bites at his lip. Electricity runs up his arm and the few hairs on it rise. Goosebumps form as he groans through his closed mouth.
The sand starts coursing into the crevices of his toes whilst wedging between the fabric of the sandals and his ankle. He, grimacing, moves away from it.
Naruto slumps on a nearby wall, mustering bare traces of the Kyuubi's chakra, (ignoring Jiraiya's voice whispering in his ear: 'Even little streams erode rocks.' ), when Bianca and Nico reach him.
"That was so cool!" Nico says, "You have to teach me how to do that!"
Bianca bites her nails. "How do you do that kind of stuff?"
He answers once his vision has cleared and he doesn't feel like he's going to pass out or slur his words. "Physical and spiritual energy combined or something— or maybe it was mental energy?" He raises his hands, "I don't know. Sorry Nico."
Nico pouts. Naruto doesn't imagine he'll stop asking any time soon.
Bianca leans on the alley wall. She looks at his healing hand "So where are we going?" She asks and this is the second time she's asked today.
He's pleased to find an answer ready on his lips this time. "For now, we're heading for a hotel." He looks up at the night sky, where no stars shine. "Tomorrow, Los Angeles!"
"LA?" Bianca asks. "Can I ask why there specifically?"
"I have a few questions for the guy from the casino." The guy that is his only connection to his life before. His only hope, really.
He doesn't say that, and a part of him wonders why.
"Ok. As long as we're together; I don't mind where we go," Bianca says.
Naruto smiles at her. She offers her hand and he uses it to get up, wiping lasting remains of golden dust from his clothes. "Let's hope the hotel we find isn't as much of a trap as the last one," he says.
He sends his final look back at the neon lights reading 'Lotus Hotel and Casino' as his feet steady under him.
He doesn't wish it goodbye and starts off with the two Di-Angelos by his side.
They walk, not very far— possibly two blocks, before they find another mega hotel.
The design is a lot more boring than the Casino.
It isn't a sphere like the Lotus but a rectangular cubicle stretching fifteen stories high. The walls aren't made up of glass polished till it reflects feelings but old boring concrete.
The inside is a lot more muted too. Warm yellow lights hang above while red carpeted floors rest below.
Naruto breathes a sigh of relief. It's regular. Maybe.
The guards at the gate look at him weirdly as he hands over his collection of kunai and shuriken. They pause as if they're going to stop him, then shrug, passing their metal detectors over him again.
Once they're done, Naruto opens the door and walks to the man by the desk. "I'd like a room for two," he says.
The clerk looks up at him. He tries to make his look inviting but it doesn't work, hampered by eyebags and slouching.
"I want my own room," Nico says.
"No," Bianca says.
The clerk looks at them, then back at him with a raise to his eyebrows. "Where are your parents?"
"Dead. Now can I have a room for two?"
The guy gapes. "Uh– uh sorry that was insensitive." Naruto gives unimpressed with his look. "How will you be paying?"
Naruto pauses. His fingers twitch to grab at his frog wallet but stop just as they slip in. He's in the past, he remembers and yeah, he didn't think of that.
"I have a casino card if you accept those?" Bianca says.
The clerk ponders. "We'll see," he says.
He ushers for her to give him the card and she does so gingerly. He swipes.
Then his eyes widen and his face slackens.
"What?" Naruto asks. When the guy doesn't respond, he leans over the wooden desk to take a look at the machine.
"That's… a lot of ramen bowls," he says. The sides of the machine's screen short out into vague coloured pixels while a sideways eight flashes rainbow colors.
The clerk swallows and looks over to Bianca. "Um, here you go, Your Ladyship."
He hands her two hotel cards, then slowly, like a child forced to give back the candy they stole, gives her the Lotus card.
The clerk asks for more details, and they, or Bianca, gives all of the info he'd need. Naruto tries to muster energy to listen but at every word he catches the next he's focusing on something or rather in the room
He blinks, and the guy is now giving them a bow, a bow? He chortles, and waving them goodbye.
Naruto waves back then starts walking.
The only people in the lobby are the people leaving it. Naruto thinks they're heading for a dining room because one curses not being able to finish their food in time and another whispers annoyance that the pineapple crumble is most definitely done.
Though his stomach grumbles, Naruto can do nothing but frown.
By the end of the lobby area, there is another machine he's never seen.
Some type of futuristic stairwell with moving steps and bars to steady oneself with. By its side is the dining room, wafting fresh food, and on the other is open space where guards rest and say "the pool is closed till morning" when they see them.
"And what is this?" He asks Bianca.
Nico, who wasn't the one asked, responds; "Are you from even further before us or something?" He says, "It's an escalator obviously."
Bianca thwacks him on the head. "They were just gaining popularity if I remember correctly. I think they're more commonplace now."
Naruto sees it move, and frowns. There are things of the past that don't exist in the future. Things that feel… advanced.
Odd.
But the year—
"You could take the stairs right there." Bianca points.
Naruto eyes both of his options for a mere second. Then he's shrugging. "What the hell," he says and walks onto the step that starts rising.
It's not a surprise that it's as nausea-inducing as the elevator. Bianca holds his shoulder before he can topple on them both and Naruto keeps the grip on the handle white-knuckle tight.
By the second floor, Bianca can put her hand down from his shoulder.
By the fourth, he's letting go of the handle, and taking hesitating steps forward.
By the sixth, he's joining Nico running down the escalator then running back up.
By the twelfth, Nico has long since given up and Naruto is finally allowing his body some rest, panting heavily, head light.
"You're a child," Bianca says.
"I sometimes forget that myself."
Bianca picks her pocket for the hotel cards.
When she gets them, she takes a second to read over the words, then looks up to the banner in front.
"We're here," she says.
Nico groans, dead on his feet. "Why was it so high? There is no way they expect us to do that every time we want to go up and down."
Bianca shakes her head. "I'm pretty sure there was an elevator but I kinda wanted to see how this was. I've never been on one."
"I'm sticking with this, but if you want, you two take the elevator next time," Naruto says.
The aisle to the rooms is the same as the ones he's seen below in passing.
It's almost shocking how exact they are. The walls are a monotonous white, the same pale shade he's seen as he's climbed, and the doors are a deep oaky brown that would be more impressive if it was different.
"This is premium worth?" Naruto says, "We should have gone with the regular option.".
"That wasn't on the table. This was the only available one."
"The clerk said so? Probably a scam."
As Naruto says that he notices the one thing that makes it different.
The open windows to his sides have no metallic bars on the outside. It's not dissimilar to a door in appearance, just one that slides up, for he can see—with no interruption— the dark horizon and glowing moon.
Naruto thinks for a moment, as he gazes at the neon lights coloring the horizon, that it's a security risk, then wonders if the people here can climb buildings as easily as he can.
Bianca looks on as enchanted as he feels. "It's probably for the good view," she says as she gestures. Nico struggles to get a good look near her. "Or maybe because of better service or something."
The wind blows from one of the windows whilst he shrugs. It's cold, the way only something that wants to make him sleep is. It's strong, weirdly so as it strikes on his skin and it has—
Naruto's eyes sharpen. His slouch disappears as the air runs through his bones.
He smells it now too. He hears it shriek in the wind.
Naruto pulls Bianca and Nico back before the mouth of the aisles.
Then it swoops through.
A thing of darkness sweeps from right to left. Naruto sees, and for a second he gapes, as a vase of plants sitting by the corner disappears as the thing moves past it.
It stops before it can reach the window. The vase clatters on the floor beside it. It breaks and soil falls.
The world is quiet next to the whispers of rage the thing emanates. So strong does the rage burn, like perfume.
Before he can wonder how he's going to fight a ball of darkness, it shifts.
The ball grows legs, short stubbly legs that don't grace the ground because black, leathery wings form just as the thing's toes get a hair's breadth away from the floor.
It starts hovering, its wings flapping. The breeze that washes over at each flap carries soil into his eyes and dust into his nose.
The thing turns into a being when glaring eyes from, as soulless as they are red.
"Let's do this tomorrow," he says, "I'm really tired."
The being hisses.
Naruto turns to Nico. "No idea," he says. "The cyclops wasn't mythomagic accurate and I knew just cause of the eye." He looks again. "A demonic harpy, maybe?"
The look the being, lady-kinda, gives is less chilling then he expects."I am a fury," she scolds, "One of the mighty Erinyes. Alecto."
Bianca taps his arm as he braces to jump. He halts.
She's furrowing her eyebrows as she stares. Naruto watches her eyes move from spot to spot. Her gaze is inquisitive, touched by confusion.
"She looks familiar," Bianca says finally. She leans back. She looks unsatisfied, like her look hadn't given her an answer she understood.
He seriously halts this time, his legs uncurling.
"What?"
"She doesn't look like what she does in the cards though," Nico says.
"Not Mythomagic but… personally? She just looks like I've seen her before."
Naruto is sure he's supposed to react to that with something, but he's not sure what. "Did she try to eat you?"
"I don't know. Fuzzy memory."
Naruto nods, and turns back. "We'll go with yes then."
He charges energy into his thighs again.
Alecto glares for a second, then with nothing changed, her expression turns sickeningly gleeful, like she's already won.
He's taking the first annoyed step when Bianca is calling; "Watch out!"
But it's too late.
His hip complains as a human bullet launches from the same right hallway; through one open window and hits him out of another on the left.
He passes the first of the Erinyes as he sails, and through the pain, he glares promises of what'll happen if the two behind him are hurt.
He catches himself on the edge, his fingers wrapping on the bottom of the frame mere blinks before it's too late.
He looks down, only now can he sympathize with Bianca grunting 'another floor?' because below him is twelve stories worth of air and no trampoline at the bottom, only busy cars and walking pedestrians.
He curses through grunts, his tried and tired muscles burning, as he pulls himself back.
When he does un-defenestrate himself, he sees Bianca putting herself between Nico and the now two 'Erinyes', waving her hands about to try and scare them.
The furies aren't attacking though. They're whispering with hushed voices to them, faces calm and understanding. We just want to talk, he hears one whisper, then father… something something something.
That gives him pause.
He hears Bianca's reply though, nice and clear. "You just threw my friend outside the building! I'm not trusting you!"
His heart warms just that little bit, then embarrassment flushes over him. How is he getting touched by someone referring to him as a friend?
"Oi," he says. "Get away from them and we can talk," he says.
It reminds him eerily of Thane the way the furies' faces switch from genuine to protective anger in moments.
Alecto looks over. "Who are you to order us around?"
"Someone who wants to keep those two safe. Like you guys— I think."
Alecto starts sauntering to him, claws stretching from fingernails. "Who are you to order us around," she repeats.
Another one of her fury pals walks out of another hallway.
His eyes trace to hers and they're just as soulless. Just as cruel and unforgiving.
"Calm it, Alecto," she says and her voice is silky smooth, like deadly linen. "We are supposed to be fair judges. We cannot allow ourselves to be driven by our emotions."
The hatred in Alecto's eyes doesn't fade as she stops, but she does indeed stop.
The same one turns to him. "You wanted to talk, correct? I believe we can come to an understanding, then."
He beckons her to continue.
She smiles. It's kinda fake.
"We are taking these two to their father—."
"No,"
Even the plastic smile fades as she narrows her eyes. "Listen first, mortal," she says, "We are also needed elsewhere, however. Deliver these two to Hades by tomorrow, without harm, and you shall be provided with much gratuity."
"What 'gratuity' can—"
Nico gasps.
He pulls out his figurine.
Hades' gaunt face looks at him as Nico moves it around wondrously.
"Hades!" he says to his sister, "Hades is our dad! The one they were talking about!"
Bianca blinks at Nico. It's a long, tested blink that tries to wrap its head around the situation.
Fuck it, he can hear her think, It's not the weirdest thing that has happened today.
"Huh," Naruto says. So this is just his life now. Mythomagic.
Naruto shakes his head. Focus.
He starts speaking and the furies stop giving Nico their proud look. "Uh… what 'gratuity' can Hades provide for me?"
A way back home, he hopes.
"A pardon," she says instead and he frowns, "You are not supposed to exist here— now. Hades is willing to let that slide if you bring his children to DOA records."
Rebelliousness presses at his throat. Hades can go and suck it, he nearly says but keeps quiet and nods.
"I'll do this quest of yours," Naruto says, "But you better keep your word."
Perhaps, Naruto thinks, if Hades knows he's not meant to be here, he can take him to where he's supposed to be.
His threat goes unremarked on and the furies start filtering out the building, when Alecto turns again.
"Any chance you've come upon a couple of questers? A nasty, rude duo of pre-teens gallivanting with a goat?"
"Nope." Naruto says, and for the first few seconds it's the he remembers his friend from Vegas, and his face goes slack with remembrance and wonder.
That last guy was a… goat?
The furies seem to know of his deception, and their ruby eyes glow and glare. They walk, menacingly slowly, to the stairs and their heels clack as they go down.
Naruto only releases the breath he didn't know he was holding when he can't hear anything but drunken Hotel room arguments and employees bringing room service up.
He stops looking at the staircase when he hears Bianca next to him shift. "It's late" she says, "And we–"
"Sleep?"
"Sleep! I'm so tired of today."
"Yeah," he says, "I can't imagine having a father that's a god amongst men, one that's so… powerful. Must be weird."
Took out the cyclops fight. No stakes and I need stakes! That's why it's a bit late.