A/N: Double update day is a go! We've updated both this, and Omen of Change. Hope you enjoy!
Arcane has officially ended, and I am broken inside. If the first six episodes of this season were a gut punch, the last three went straight for the soul.
But hey, we got to see a few interesting things!
Here we go. I'm tentatively updating this again in the hopes that it will be enjoyed. Every bit of feedback, no matter how large or small, really helps.
Worry not, Welcome to Heaven will soon reclaim its Tuesday slot next week, swapping in with the Arcane stories every week or so as my time/health allows. Basically, bi-weekly updates for now.
Work has been...busy. Two jobs an' all, remember? Now they're kicking into high gear. No day off last week, none this week either. I MAY have Thanksgiving off (there will be no update that day) but then its back to no days off again.
As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes, or memes. Not a wit or a one! They're tributes to legends far greater than I. 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~! Here we go. And yes, obvious references are very obvious.
Get ready.
This chapter's gonna HURT.
I won't say why. You'll have to read and see.
Consider this part one of said chapter, if you will...
"Silco,
I've looked everywhere, but its clear you don't want to be found. God, I'm shit at this, aren't I? Felicia would've smacked me upside the head by now.
I'm sorry. When she died, I lost my head. I told myself what I did to you was for the greater good - that you deserved it.
But the dirt was on both our hands. Anyway, you know where to find me.
Blisters and bedrock.
~V.
What Have They Done to Us (Part I)
Piltover was easy.
Easy to enter, easier to infiltrate and easiest yet to fleece.
As in rob its greatest minds quite literally blind of everything they ever owned.
Naruto almost felt bad, given what he was about to do...
.
..
...almost.
Then again, as someone who could leap tall buildings in a single bound and literally disguise themselves with a snap of the fingers, it wasn't exactly fair for him now, was it? The moment Silco -Dad-! asked him to back and raid the Hextech laboratories properly by himself, that was it. Their fate was already sealed.
Someone once said that with great power, comes great responsibility, right?
WRONG! With great power comes great chaos, and with chaos, freedom!
Responsibility was so terribly boring. Let chaos take the world!
It would've been so easy to sow some horrid havoc once he slipped into Piltover proper, start a few fires, burn a few buildings, maybe even tear the city down around his ears, but that would've ruined things. Anarchy was all well and good but Dad and Mom couldn't very well run this place if everyone burned alive in their beds now, could they?
Best if none of these blasted blue-bellies knew he could disguise himself, that was a card he intended to keep up his sleeve as long as he could.
Ignorance was bliss for them, and success for him.
Poor, poor Pilties. They had no idea what was coming.
Tread water long as you like you like, you'll still drown in the end.
...that was almost poetic of you."
Naruto grunted as he alighted upon a fresh rooftop in a pointed crouch, caught his breath, then took to the air again in another flying leap that carried him into the night. He caught a weather vane in midflight and used his momentum to swing himself around it and land upright, clinging onto its metal frame for balance. Leaping around like this, running the rooftops, it reminded him of home.
A cold breeze lashed at his face, prompting him to smirk as he squinted. "Feeling talkative today, are we?"
"I'm humoring you."
"Riiiight."
Clicking his tongue, he took a moment to survey his surroundings; not that there was really all that much to survey. Most of the city was sound asleep; lights burned in the odd window, but none emerged to challenge him on the rooftops. The night was cold, cloudy and best of all, calm; with neither the moon nor the stars visible in the heavens.
This was his domain.
A second chakra-enhanced leap sent him soaring higher into the air, wind in his hair, and a third brought him spiraling down to his destination.
Vaulting down a fire escape he leaned out to get his bearing, found a hatch, and rubbed his hands together with merry glee.
"In we go...
It was the easiest thing to disguise himself as one of the janitors.
Using a transformation jutsu would've been too easy.
So he didn't.
He could become anyone, or anything, and with his mastery of transformation, the shape he took was solid. But relying on it was a crutch; one that made his infiltration skills sloppy. By contrast, it was a tried an' true test of said skill to knock a guard out, hide their body, snag their uniform -and their rebreather face mask besides- then slip in unnoticed. no one would know it was him.
He reveled in his disguise as he reached the academy interior, perfectly concealed in the guise of a guard. It would hardly due to disguise himself as a councilor now, would it?
Although that would be amusing. The chaos, the havoc, the PRANKS...
"Focus!"
"Boo. Spoilsport...
By contrast, The Hextech gems weren't all that hard to find; already they shone to his senses, little blue baubles that they were. He could feel them through the walls, resonating with his chakra, waiting in the workshop he sought. Weren't too many of them. Possibly ten, tops. Bit of a pity, that. Doubtless this "Jayce" fellow didn't have a lot on hand, given he could clearly create more at the drop of a hat.
It kinda begged the question, ya know?
What was the point in snatching a few more gemstones out from under Piltover when could simply crank out more?
Heck, once Jinx cracked the Hextech formula, they could stark making marvels oft heir own. All the while, Jayce would hammer out one after the other. Round and round it went, the cycle unbroken.
Maybe kidnap the man himself? Stop the production of them entirely? See how Piltover functioned without their boy wonder? The thought was tempting - why stop there? He could always take it a step further destroy or otherwise dismantle the very Hexgates themselves, cripple the so-called city of progress.
On a whim, he decided against it.
Topside was already breathing down their neck over one gemstone, who knew what they would do if he went and yoinked their boy wonder? No, no, that would bring too much heat down on Zaun, and they weren't ready for that yet. Probably best to just follow Dad's orders for now.
Poking his head around a corner, he hummed a nameless tune under his breath and carried on.
Of course the fox -Kurama!- couldn't let his good mood slide. "This is too easy."
He would say that; bastard had no concept of a good heist. "What makes you say that?"
"We've not encountered a single guard since entering the academy."
"There were some outside," he argued.
"But not here."
"Its late. Maybe they're being lazy. "
"After the stunt you and Jinx pulled? Do you truly believe that?"
Not really, no, but he wasn't about to concede victory to the fox without a fight.
Thankfully found what he was looking for soon enough, a locked grate. He managed to pick in good time-thanks Mom-then eased it open. "What do you want from me here, Kurama?" He mumbled under his breath, peeling back the vent. "I'm already cooperating with ya, ain't I?"
He ducked into the ventilation shaft before the fuzzy bastard could reply.
Surprisingly roomy down here...and not a single trap.
Ominous.
"A bit of caution wouldn't go unwarranted," the fox grumbled at him as he threaded his way through ducts. "You've gotten through everything with luck and grit, but everyone's luck runs out sooner or later and grit can only get you so far. How many times have I bailed you out, now?"
Naruto grimaced, waving away a cobweb and careful to avoid the spider therein. "A few...
"Precisely. Be more careful. You don't have the excuse of being insane like that Jinx of yours."
A muscle jumped in his jaw as he edged around a nest of rats. "She's not a jinx. Don't call her that."
"I wasn't, fool. Honestly, you're far too protective of your mate."
Here at last he paused, fingers biting into the cool metal. "Haven't you ever been in love before...?"
"I am a beast made entirely of chakra and malice. I know not what love is. Only hate.
"Nah, I don't believe that.
"Hrrmm?"
The ghost of a grin plucked at his whiskered cheeks. "If you hated everyone and everything, you wouldn't be talking to me now, would you?"
"Who says it isn't boredom?"
"Liar~!"
Kurama fell silent at that.
Ha! Victory!
His fingers found the exit grate soon enough; from there he levered himself up tumbled onto the floor, and took a moment to revel in his triumph, verbal and otherwise.
The workshop was a humble room all things considered, just the sort of workshop one might find for two tinkerers out of their depth. Spartan, relatively devoid of decoration, with plenty of their precious Hextech sprawled around the room on benches and pedestals an' the like.
Really, it was just begging to be...borrowed.
No alarms rang as he approached the pedestals. No security came crashing in as he ran his hands over the gizmos and gadgets. Were they truly that confident? Maybe. There was a bloody vent that led straight to their quarters, for crying out loud.
Righting himself, he cast a glance about.
There was a massive pair of power gloves over there, at least he assumed that's what they were. His fingers itched just looking at them...
.
..
...he really shouldn't. He was plenty powerful enough already; he didn't need a pair of gauntlets like that, even if they already had gemstones in them. They were far too bulky, crude, downright cumbersome really. Good for punching and crushing, and knocking the daylight out of someone, but little else, not like the masterworks Jinx had made for him.
And yet he still wanted them; if only as a prize to hold over Piltover's head.
Bah. He'd come back for them later, maybe.
The Hextech Gemstones were easy to find, locked in a cabinet, contained in a sealed case that he cracked open inside a minute. Only five of them, but they'd do. They glimmered and glowed in the low light, refracting off his blue eyes. After a moment's pause he shrugged, He stowed them in a pouch and sealed said pouch in a storage scroll for good measure
The unstable ones he let be in their own respective container. Not messing with those. Not after what Jinx had told him.
His prize secured, he let his gaze roam across the workshop in search of anything else he might "appropriate."
And then he saw it.
There was something on the table, tucked away int the corner, nestled among dead plants. Pulsing and shifting with eldritch runs, writhing and moving, radiating eerie purple light. It almost seemed to spark and shift under his gaze. This, whatever it was, seemed to be of a different make compared to the Gemstones. Larger, too. Spellbound, he found himself drawn to it..
Close.
Closer now.
Yet closest as can be.
He reached out for it, eager to claim it. What a prize this would be...
Kurama hissed out a breath. "Don't touch it!"
Naruto paused, fingers just shy of brushing its shifting surface. "Why?"
"Why indeed?" a new voice intoned.
Startled, he craned his neck to the side as someone stepped out of the shadows behind him.
A young man clad in white and grey shuffled forward, clutching a cane in his hand. Clutching, not leaning upon. He felt the distinction important given how he looked. Whomever this one was he looked gaunt, tired, dark hair disheveled, skin pale, eyes sunken in his skull from lack of sleep...or perhaps illness. Likely the later. He didn't appear at all healthy and...his right leg didn't look, well...right, for lack of a better word. He could only glimpse some of it through his trousers, but what he saw alarmed him; it was dull and black and purple, shimmering with arcane lines of energy, producing a faint clanking sound with ever step.
"Remarkable isn't it?" the gaunt fellow indicated the shifting rune matrix with one hand. "We call it the Hexcore. The next step in the glorious evolution that is Hextech."
A chill shot down Naruto's spine; he wasn't quite sure why. "Who the hell're you...?"
In hindsight, it was both the right question, and the wrong one.
"Viktor." The unwell man coughed into a fist. This is my lab you've come to pilfer. Well," he amended after a moment's pause. "Our lab. I'm afraid Jayce is out at the moment." A rueful smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "How may I help you?"
Wait, THE Viktor? This was Jayce's partner. Indispensable in the creation of Hextech, if rumors were to be believed.
Naruto hesitated, not quite certain what to make of this man. He seemed harmless, and yet... "You're not going to sound the alarm?"
Viktor sighed, shoulder slumping but a little. "I could, of course, but of what use would that be? You would be long gone by the time the Enforcers arrive."
Realization broke like the dawn, and what a bitter one it was. "You sent them away, made the academy vulnerable...
"I did." the scientist bobbed his head in a nod. "In the hopes that you would return. And here you are."
True. He'd gotten what he'd come for. By all rights he should simply leave...
.
..
...shouldn't he?
And yet a thorn of curiosity tugged at him.
"You went through an awful lotta work to meet me...why?"
"Ah, you have no idea-ack!" Viktor made to speak further, only to double over and cough harshly into a fist; Naruto glimpsed blood on his knuckles as he straightened himself up once more. "To be frank, I wasn't entirely certain of your existence at all, until a mutual friend confirmed my theory." he indicated his altered leg with a sigh. "It was he who granted me to access to Shimmer in the first place, and from him that I learned of your fascination with Hextech, and the potent force which drives you...
His mind reeled for a moment before he put two and two together.
Shimmer? Singed. He was talking about Singed. Had to be.
What was that old quack up to this time?
Firming up his jaw, he edged back toward the Hextech Gauntlets. "You still haven't answered my question."
Viktor realized what he was doing and held up a hand. "There's no need for that. We are alone here, you and I; I've already sent Sky home for the day. What harm could I possibly do to you?"
"Whaddya want, then?"
"A moment of your time, nothing more." The sickly man pulled up a chair. "I had hoped we might have a little chat."
Suuure. Like he believed that. He subtly began channeling chakra into his right palm, just in case. "What about?"
Here at last, Viktor seemed to come alive before his very eyes. "I have heard tell of this substance of yours. This...chakra. It is internal, yes?" he made a gesture with his hand. "You produce it within your body?"
He was curious about chakra? Why? He couldn't possibly use it. "I do..."
"And it allows you to perform great feats, heal, even?"
Naruto found himself frowning. "To an extent...
"Don't trust him. He wants something."
"You don't trust anyone, furball."
"Within good reason!"
Viktor saw his pensive expression and sighed. "You do not trust me. But how could you? I've given you no reason to."
Naruto glanced toward the vent, still open, waiting for him. "You're right, you haven't. You're just another Piltie."
"I'm from the Undercity as well, actually." Viktor corrected him with a laugh that soon became a rattling cough. "The plight our people suffer from is most unfortunate."
Wrong words, there, bub. He wasn't from Zaun, but the way Viktor phrased that last sentence their ground his gears and had a muscle jumping his jaw. "Tragic? You've got a funny way of phrasing it...
"I misspoke." the mad scientist temporized with a raised hand. "Forgive me."
"Forgive you?' he scoffed at the very implication of the word. "How can I, when you're working with the enemy?"
""We are trying to improve lives, make people better-
By raising up Piltover over Zaun with Hextech?" he crossed both arms before his chest and rolled his eyes. "Great job. You've all but cut the Undercity off with those Hexgates of yours."
"That is precisely what I have been trying to prevent!" Viktor slammed his cane down, cutting him off. "Or rather, what we wished to prevent." With a sigh, he dragged a pallid hand across his face. "In the pursuit of good, I fear we may have failed to do great."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"But with your help," the ailing scientist implored, hand raised, "We can make things better. That is why I wished to meet, you see. The doctor rebuffed me, but if you would could lend me a vial of chakra-
"I can't."
Viktor flinched. "Whyever not."
"I...because chakra doesn't work the way. You think it does. As far as healing goes, I'm an exception to the rule." he wasn't about to mention Kurama, not when that might see him sliced open or worse. "Whatever you want from me, I can't give it to you. Sorry. You'll have to do research on your own time.
And he was. Sorry, that is. Viktor seemed to mean well enough, even if he did stumble over his words at times, but nothing would budge him on this.
"I do not have time," the sad scientist said. "I'm dying."
Ahhh. It all made sense now; Viktor's desperation, the reason he'd endeavored to meet him here, everything. The truth proved a bitter pill to swallow and left him feeling even worse. People should die in battle, living their lives, not wasting away from the inside out. He pitied him - no, more than that, he felt sorry for him. But there was nothing he could do. Kurama wasn't a healer. Neither was he. His current regeneration came from the fox, and he didn't know how to share it -or if he even could. Or should, for that matter.
"Do you understand now?" Viktor pleaded with him. "The Hexcore cannot save me, not quickly enough. I need your help."
"Never." Kurama all but bit out the word, all his old ferocity returning in an instant. "Not for someone like him. I've seen his like before. Knowledge for knowledge's sake is never enough; no matter what you say or do, he will always want more, need more, crave more. In time, he'll become another Orochimaru."
"But if we found a way to cure him, he wouldn't have to be-
"I said no!"
"Who are you talking to?"
Shit. He clammed up, cursing himself for the slip. "No one."
"I see." Viktor considered him anew, or rather, his stomach. "The Doctor was right after all...you truly are a most extraordinary exception."
Damnit, Singed! Whose side are you on?!
He already knew the answer to that one; nobody's side but his own, of course. The man would do anything to save his daughter. His goals just-so-happened to align with Silco's for the time being. The man was an utter opportunist through and through. Naruto couldn't even bring himself to blame him for it, not when he'd definitely do the same for Jinx.
Sympathy wouldn't stop him from thrashing the good "doctor" when he got back, though.
"And I still can't help you." he took a sharp step back from Viktor, placing himself well out of arms reach, until his spine brushed the counter. Cold metal brushed his back.
The scientist sighed. "You refuse to share your gifts, then."
"I'm not refusing anything." he snapped back. "Your body isn't built for chakra. It'll kill you."
Viktor didn't seem to hear him, he was already looking elsewhere. "The gemstones you've taken. What will you use them for?
Naruto laid a hand on his parcel. "What do you think?
"Weapons, then. I had feared as much. The gemstones are a power not to be trifled with, and this...even less." as he looked on, he set his cane aside, leaning it against the wall near the Hexcore. "I don't suppose I could convince you to give them up. "
"No can do."
Viktor heaved a sigh. "That is...unfortunate."
A hand closed around Naruto's face and levered him into the bench; he felt something crack in his skull, stunning him.
Faster than he looked!
He whipped a hand up to defend himself only for another to crack across his jaw. A tooth whistled free into the air, sending a pulse of pain echoing after it. But pain brought clarity. Focus. When that fist came back at him again, he seized it by the wrist wrenched it to the side, then down, away from his throat. The other tightened around his whiskered visage, draining him.
Kurama swore. "I warned you!"
Dazed, he glanced to the Hexcore then back to Viktor, glaring up at him between pallid fingers.
Metal fingers, shimmering with the eerie energy of the arcane.
That bastard...
He hadn't altered only his leg after all, it seemed. This close he could seen veins of light threading through his skin just beneath his clothes at erratic intervals; whatever he'd begun doing to himself wasn't finished, but it had left him leagues stronger than any mortal man should be.
What had he done to himself?
"Seems you've been improving yourself already." he hissed out.
Viktor sighed. "For the good of humanity, yes. Jayce will understand."
Naruto titled his head and leered at him. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
His captor scowled, all traces of humor gone. "I'm afraid I'll have to extract a sample from you by force, now. You may experience some...discomfort."
Nope.
Not happening.
He refused to die here...!
Naruto gave up the struggle and slammed both his arms backwards across the bench, seeking something. His chakra was draining at an alarming rate -he'd need Kurama soon- taking his strength with it, but he still had the wherewithal to remember his surroundings. And if memory served, Viktor had slammed him up against the counter where those were...
After a moment's fumbling, he found it.
Blue eyes blazed with triumph.
Gotcha.
The gauntlets were exactly where he'd left them; his hands stabbed into their padded interior, sheathed themselves deep, and squeezed.
Hextech whirred to life.
A harsh click reached his ears as he forced the fingers of his right hand into a fist.
Viktor looked down, alarmed, just before a gauntlet found his chest, sending him rocketing across the room. His back struck the wall with a harsh clank; producing a tinny metallic sound, not that of broken bone. If not for his grunt of pain, he wouldn't have thought he felt the injury at all.
And yet for all that, he did didn't die. A normal man should be dead. Bastard was already getting up...!
"Fascinating." he rasped a laugh. "I hadn't thought you'd be able to use those in their current state. I suppose that's my folly. I feel most foolish...
Naruto righted himself and raised the gauntlets, adopting a boxing stance. "In a moment, all you'll be feeling is oblivion."
Viktor clicked his tongue. "I think not. You've given me more than enough for my purposes."
He swept a hand forward.
Naruto ducked back out of habit, wanting to avoid those grasping, draining hands.
Nothing happened.
Too late, he realized his mistake.
Viktor smiled serenely. "Now, Jayce."
The door slammed open behind Naruto.
Instinct took over; he was already moving, whirling, twisting aside, but in his weakened state, he wasn't quite quick enough. He'd only just barely managed to get the gauntlets up when something large and heavy slammed into him and sent him sprawling. He righted himself quickly, just in time to see someone seal the vent with a blast of blue plasma.
So much for an easy escape.
Was that a hammer in their hand...? When had they managed to make that? Wait.
Through ringing ears, he put two and two together. Ohhh. So that was wonder-boy over there. Jayce Tallis had a remarkably punchable face.
Through ringing ears, he heard them argue with Viktor.
...was reckless of you!"
"Excellent timing, my friend."
"Viktor? What have you done to yourself?"
"What was necessary to prolong my life, Jayce."
"I barely recognize you. We'll be having words about this...
"In good time, once we've dealt with this intruder." Viktor looked back to him. "Please, surrender. It is for your own good. You've clearly reached your limit."
Naruto absolutely twitched at the implied insult. "Limit?"
Kurama snarled within him, incensed.
Blue eyes bled red.
"LIMIT?!"
He hunched over, snarling.
"I've got your freakin' limit right here!
Red chakra blasted from every pore of his body, flinging them away.
"Look at you two. Playing the hero. But you're not, are you?" he dropped low to the floor, raking a gauntlet-clad hand across its smooth surface. "You're the bad guys here."
Jayce bridled. "In what world?!"
He spat at them.
"MINE."
Beneath the gauntlets, his fingernails crooked into claws, warping the metal as his features roughened and became more feral. He didn't even need the cloak for this. Not a single tail. Not really. He could handle them in his base state, with only a little help from Kurama. But sometimes, you had to make an impression, no matter the cost.
Red chakra shimmered around his shoulders, just a hint of the true horrors yet to come.
"You have no idea what real fear is. But that's alright. LEMME SHOW YA!"
He lunged forward with a snarl.
(.0.0.0.)
Awake.
He was awake.
Why was he awake now?
He didn't want to be awake. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to dream. Being awake mean pain. Fire in his blood and burning, burning BURNING. His heart thumping, burning, straining against his chest. The itching and twisting and snapping and breaking! He had to escape. Before the madness came. Before he lost himself again. And he could already feeling himself slipping; bits and pieces of himself sliding back into the abyss, falling and falling, always falling...
Remember.
Remember, remember.
Remember, remember, remember.
Remember names.
Vi. Powder. Mylo. Claggor.
Felicia. Never forget Felicia.
Never forget Silco.
Blisters and Bedrock.
Never...forget...!
He smelled blood now. HIS BLOOD.
The same power coursing through his veins.
"You feel it too, don't you? His anger. His wrath. His rage."
Snarling, he turned and found the bandaged man -Singed!- patting his arm, injecting him with more vile substances.
"Very well." the bandaged man chuckled. "I suppose you could do with a trial run. "And he would likely appreciate a distraction about now."
So speaking, he reached up and unlocked one of his shackles, those holding his right arm.
"Go to him. Show him what you are capable of."
The Beast slouched forward, confused, but not for long. Next came his left arm, allowing him to droop to the floor, despite the shackles holding his legs and throat. Soon those too fell away, leaving him unbound for the first time in years.
Red light burned in his mind's eye His very world stained a sickly scarlet stain.
So close, and yet so far. Instinct took over. Hunt - it must hunt him.
Free at last, he bounded forward with a feral snarl.
And the Beast was set loose.
A/N: But is he friend or foe?
We'll have the second half of this next week, health and time permitting.
We've clearly entered into an alternate timeline, but we'll call it there for today, I'm exhausted.
Also, Sky gets to live as implied by Viktor Naruto interrupted things. Huzzah~!
Well? What say you? Would you like weekly updates again? Do let me know!
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule for this and other stories. That's no joke. Really, it isn't.
If folks don't like this...well, it will remain, but I'll not be able to continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule an' bouncing between two jobs I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
As ever, reviews are my lifeblood, my fuel, my sustenance. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas... ...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews. References are strong here...
(Preview)
They were losing.
They shouldn't be.
They had Hextech, and they had the numbers.
Jayce dragged himself upright. "Enough! I won't let you get away with this!"
"Get away with what?" His adversary scoffed and tossed Viktor away like a rag doll, gauntlets steaming. "We already have what we needed. Its too late to stop us. All your precious ideals mean nothing!" The blond berserker righted himself with a grunt, set his shoulder and forced it back into place with an awful pop. "Nice hammer, pretty boy. Lets see if you can make a miracle happen TWICE."
He closed the distance in an instant; to which Jayce stepped in and swung.
A clawed hand caught his hammer. "Guess not."
And then there was pain
tell me, are you familiar with the concept of instantaneous airway collapse?
What are you talking about-
He punched him in the throat.
And he heard the roar of a beast.
...you dyed Isha's hair?!"
Looks pretty good, doesn't it?"
Weapon's ready~!"
"Is that a bloody rocket launcher?
"Yeah?
"It looks like a shark...
Killing is a cycle. One that started long before Vander and Me. And it will continue long after the two of build our own prisons. Bars forged of oaths, codes, commitments. Walls of self doubt and accepted limitation. We inhabit these cells, these identities, and call them us. I thought I could break free by eliminating those I deemed my jailors. But now I realize the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away.
"What the hell is that thing?!'
"Wait! I think its...
He never heard her; because the Beast barreled into him.
"Don't. Touch. MY DAUGHTER."
Silco ran a hand through his hair, dismayed and horrified. "What have they done to you, brother...?"
Vi doubled over, clutched her skull, and screamed. "Get out of my head!
"Black and white and gray, I don't know what to do with gray...
EDIT: Hey, you made it! Sorry for the lack of length. Still down with the sickness, as it were.
As ever, the Embers rule remains. If folks don't like this story...well, it will remain, but it won't be continued. With two jobs, and rent to pay, my free time is at an all time low. I'm lucky to have four hours to write a day. I can't afford to pen stories that no one enjoys. So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
Looking forward to chatting with you all when I get back from work,
~Nz.
R ~!