A/N: SEASON TWO IS HERE AND SPOILERS AWAIT YOU.
Still, here I am. Looking forward to your feedback!
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 fragment becomes a story. Simple as that.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know what you think~!
Soundtrack is Remember me (Intro) from Arcane Season 2.
"This is not the way. Just wait.
We can talk about this.
Please...
~?
Remember Me
Jayce hesitated.
He had to do it, he knew he should.
He must; he couldn't afford to fail this time.
Do it.
Take the shot.
End him before the horror begins.
Viktor hung before him, eyes only just now opening as though from a long slumber. He was utterly unprotected. There were no guards here. Nothing.
He'd promised them. He had swore he would do it. Make things right.
The voices howled at him.
He primed his hammer, a shout building his throat-
A hand closed around his wrist and forced the hammer down; a barefoot stomped upon its twisted surface to keep it there.
"Don't do it."
His head whipped around with a shout
...one that died on his lips when he beheld his catpro.
Eerie eyes met his, the right was blue but the left burned a menacing red, its pupil the feral slit of a beast. That mismatching gaze stood framed by tawny blond hair and whiskered cheeks; a face even now dimpled in a scowl. Whomever he was, he looked...rough. As though someone had just flung his body through a battle and a blender besides; his orange-and-black outfit was a tattered mess, spattered in blood. A stern straightsword -Noxian in origin- jutted through the back of his shoulder to emerge from his chest, but he didn't even seem to feel it. He must've been fresh from a fight of some sort-no!
Focus!
Take the shot!
Do it! DO IT NOW!
But he couldn't. The stranger's grip was ironclad, his
"Please, Jayce." the very word itself was a plea. "I'm begging you. Don't pull that trigger; you'll break everything if you do."
Jayce wavered; if only because this man seemed so terribly familiar. "How do you know my name?"
The stranger smiled. "You know me."
He growled at him. "We've never met."
"We have." he beamed at him, as an elder sibling might their little brother. "You know me. I've been helping you for awhile now, guiding you. Don't you remember?"
He wanted to, but he couldn't.
The voices were so loud.
His skull ached.
Viktor.
He had to kill Viktor, but Viktor was just hanging there, watching him, without a care in the world. His chance to kill him was slipping away...! He had to save them...!
"You know me." the blond's words simultaneously brought his world back into focus and loosened something him. "We're best friends. I'm Naruto. Remember me?"
An awful pit opened deep inside him.
No.
"Remember Cait?"
No, no.
"Remember all the trouble the three of us got up to?"
No, no, no!
He remembered the accident. The explosion.
He remembered Cait's tears as she bawled into his jacket; how she'd loved him.
He remembered the guilt and how had it broke him; eaten him inside like a living worm, devouring everything.
He released his hammer and stumbled back, eyes bulging. "You died...!"
"I got better. It took me awhile to find my way back, but I'm here now." the scarred blond looked down at his hammer, left forgotten under his heel. With a scowl, he kicked it aside, sending it skittering out of reach. "Not a bad weapon, but you're aiming it at the wrong person."
"He's right." Viktor had found his feet at last, and dared to step out from behind the battered blond. "This is not the way, Jayce. Neither of us are your enemy. Your actions here today doom more than you know."
The voices and visions rushed back, bringing the pain with them; he clenched his teeth against it. "Viktor...!
"Let me help you." His old partner held out a hand. "As I said before, I have so much to show you...
No. He shouldn't. He mustn't. He had to KILL him, had to SAVE them...everyone...!
Viktor must've seen his expression; because he stepped forward.
"Please...
"NO!"
His self control snapped and he launched himself forward; not at him, but at his hammer, left unattended. He ripped it from the ground, took aim and...!
Naruto caught him by the shoulder with a soft sigh, spun his body around, and forced the hammer off target. The shot went wide and punched through the roof, raining debris down on their heads. He didn't have time for a second; strong hands tightened upon his wrists and forced the weapon from his grasp, where it struck the ground with a dull clunk.
"You're not thinking straight." his former friend's face creased with sorrow. "For what its worth, I'm sorry."
The fist came out of nowhere; it caught Jayce on the jaw and sent him sprawling.
Viktor was waiting for him when he fell. A hand touched his face.
Jayce felt his world shatter into stars.
Darkness swept in.
A/N: And nothing bad happened at all~! Jayce is fine, Vander is fine, Isha is fine, everyone was just fiiiiine.
Nothing bad happened!
EVER.
If it wasn't obvious, this is a potential teaser for something. Hope it made you smile.
No previews this time. I'm exhausted. Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write.
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review...Would You Kindly?
Hope you enjoyed this, and may your day be filled with lots of luck!
Warm regards,
~Nz.
No previews here. Time for an old man to rest awhile.
R ~!