A/N: EDIT: the site seems to be going down on and off again, which means this chapter is getting a little in the way of feedback. Hopefully it's fixed soon... it really hurts to write a chapter and receive mostly silence...T_T
Another birthday approaches. Gah, I feel proper old...
See what happens when you let me cook, though? You get a nice loooong chapter. Hopefully I get some nice reviews for it...
First and foremost, this chapter hits HARD; its also a massive tribute to some truly great comic minds out there, to which I own nothing.
Second, if you thought the last chapter was bloody...you're gonna love this one.
Still here? Great! You won't be disappointed.
I wanted this to feel like an episode of Arcane; hopefully I succeeded on that front. Looking forward to your feedback~! Reviews really keep me going despite everything. Appreciate you all~! Do let me know if you want weekly updates! Very important!
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. Here we go~!
We've an IDW Eggman moment ahead and tributes to some comics I blundered into online. I can't remember them all, only that some lines really resonated with me. As a result, this chapter took longer; I wanted my homages to be done just just right.
Here we go~! SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO AHEAD! =D
"Oh, the misery!
Everybody wants to be my enemy!
Spare the sympathy!
Everybody wants to be my enemy!
Do you know what happens to my enemies...
.
..
...let me show you."
~The Moment He Snaps.
Perils and Progress
"They surrendered?! Just like that?! How the heck diddya pull that off?!"
Powder rocked back on her heels, blue eyes wide with disbelief.
Ha! He'd never get tired of surprising people.
Naruto savored the awe of his apprentice, clasped his remaining hand behind his head, hummed once, kicked up his legs onto the counter and leaned back in the chair for good measure as beamed at her. It was a rather comfy chair, he found. Heated, too. Piltover really did have the best stuff.
Rather posh place, really.
He'd laid claim to an abandoned apartment on the other side of the river for the duration of this meeting; as one of the few buildings left undamaged during the fighting, it commanded a dominating view of both the bridge and the upper city itself. There had been a brief bit of looting and violence besides once his forces crossed over into Piltover, but he'd swiftly put a stop to that once the Council caved to his terms.
Ah, but his little apprentice was looking to him for answers and he shouldn't keep her waiting.
"I struck a bargain."
Vander tapped his knuckles against the table. "We figured that much already, but how?"
Sevika rolled her eyes, wholly unamused. "How do you think, old man?"
The barman glowered at her. "Not too old to tan your hide, pup."
She shot to her feet. "What was that?!"
Powder made a disgusted noise. "Ugh, get a room you two."
The duo recoiled, Vander most of all "With her?!"
"What're you smoking?!"
Naruto leaned back and allowed their banter to continue, silently reflecting on what he'd done.
Their impromptu little war council consisted just the four of them; himself, Powder, Vander and Sevika sat around a...well, a round table. It felt right. There would be more seats to fill later as he delegated more and more tasks, he was sure, but for now he wanted to keep this in-house. Loose lips sank ships and all that.
Powder interrupted his musings by scooting her chair closer to his. She even had the nerve to elbow him and grin as she did it.
He didn't remember his cheeky little apprentice being quite so brave.
Made him feel all warm and fuzzy, it did.
Her question...not so much. "Did you kill the Council?"
Naruto sucked a breath in through his teeth. "A few of them, yeah. It was necessary."
"M'kay." she nodded, accepting his word as truth. "I believe you."
Her trust hurt.
Not because she believed in him, he was glad she did, really, but the fact that she didn't even think to call him on the carpet for it. He'd murdered people today. Taken lives. And everyone was just acting as though it were the done thing, somehow, that it was simply meant to be.
He'd taken lives before, mind you. He hadn't been happy about it, but he had.
Yet for everyone to just brush it under the rug like this...
.
..
...did it matter that he'd crushed them so effortlessly? None of them put up a real fight against him. Not that they could.
By the sage, he'd probably have to kill more before this was over; not everyone could be talked down so easily.
He wasn't sure he wanted to anymore...
Shaking his head, he looked back to Powder and found her rapt at attention, hanging on his every word.
"You shouldn't always trust in me so blindly," he muttered under his breath. "If you have questions, ask them. I won't reprimand you for speaking your mind."
"But I don't mind," she replied, chipper as ever. "Bastards probably had it coming. After all, they've looked down on us for years...
Dangerous thoughts, there. He was quick to correct her. "Killing should only ever be a last resort, Powder. Remember that."
"Gotcha." her head bobbed in a nod, ever the eager student.
"I mean it. He kicked her leg under the table, shooting her a quelling glance when she made to protest. "The only reason I took so many lives today was because there was no other choice. If I'd come to the Council with flowery words and well-wishes, I would've been laughed out of the chamber. The only way to bring them to the table was to force them to it. You should always use words first."
Her at last, her smile crumpled. "I'm no good with words...you've got a silver tongue. Mine's practically lead."
An apt comparison, but she was just a child. "Don't worry, I'll teach you." he elbowed her in return.
"You mean things besides jutsu?"
He clicked his tongue at her. "Ninja are more than fancy tricks. Don't worry. I'll teach you everything, I know. I promised, remember?"
"Hmm!" It was the right thing to say; because her face absolutely lit up like stars in the night sky and she latched onto him like a limpet. "You're the best!"
"I'm really not, ya know." he glanced her way with a grimace, narrowly resisting the urge to ruffle her hair; if only because he knew she wouldn't take kindly to it while Vander and Sevika were in the room. "Any of the other Hokage would've handled that meeting far better than me, with way less bloodshed."
Vander and Sevika stopped trying to kill one another long enough to perk up at his words.
At least, the former did. "Hokage-what-now?"
Heard that, had they?
"Eh, basically the leaders of our villages where I'm from." he waved a hand quickly, not willing to explain. "No one important."
Pausing to pry Powder off him, he frowned inwardly.
How strange.
There was a time when he'd wanted nothing more than to be Hokage. It was his dream. To make everyone look at him, notice him, stop ignoring him. Even when he'd grown older, it was still his goal for the longest time, he'd thought...until one day it wasn't. At first, Powder was a priority, then Vander became one, followed by Zaun itself. There wasn't time for foolish delusions of grandeur. He'd become so consumed with making things better for everyone around him that he'd inadvertently discarded his once cherished dream.
"Its called growing up, Naruto."
Was it? Felt like he'd lost a pivotal part of himself. His innocence, for one...
He glared at his hand, wondering when it had betrayed him; when his thoughts had turned to other matters.
'When did I change? Or rather, have I been changing all this time? Am I even me anymore...? I kill so easily now...without regret...
And for a moment yesterday, he'd thought about killing the entire council and taking over.
Just a moment, but the thought was still there.
"..."
Vander took one look at his pensive expression, frowned, and released Sevika from the headlock he had her in. "Can we have the room?"
Powder made a confused noised and planted her elbows on the table. "Don't we already?"
"Powder."
He stared.
His goddaughter stared back.
Vander kept staring with a will of iron, an old wolf refusing to budge.
Mercifully, Sevika cottoned on before either of them could escalate the situation.
"C'mon, runt." she stood and placed a hand against Powder's back, steering her towards the door. "Let the boys have their macho talk. We'll see if we can't get you some new knives from that shop we passed over on the way here. Pretty sure I saw a pair of pistols on sale, too.
Powder balked. "What, as in actually buy them?"
She chuckled. "We're rich now, remember? Thank your teacher over there.
"Awww," huffing, she kicked at the ground. "But I don't wanna spend our money."
Naruto coughed into a fist. "Is my adorable apprentice considering robbing someone blind?"
"Meep." Powder blanched and pivoted in an instant, terrified of disappointing him. "Fiiiiiiiiiine...but they better be good ones!"
In short order Sevika escorted a sullen, sulking Powder from the room, leaving him alone with Vander.
He didn't like the look in the older man's eye. "Whatever you're going to say, no."
"Alright."
"I don't need help."
"Didn't say you did, kid."
"Then why're ya asking me all these questions?"
Powder's godfather didn't rise to the bait. Instead he stood, fetched a large bottle from a nearby cabinet, tucked it under his arm, then snatched up a pair of pewter-colored mugs besides. With expert care he set the later down before the two of them and poured. One glass he kept for himself; the other slid his way.
Naruto sniffed, inhaling reflexively. Whiskey. Sweeter than usual. Tolerable.
"Be honest with me now, how are you holding up?"
He knocked the drink back. It tasted...good; burned all the way down. "Trying to psycho-analyze me now?"
Vander downed his own and poured them each another. "Just checking in. I owe you that much after all you've done." when he didn't immediately answer, the larger man stared down at his hands, touching a hand to the bracer covering his arm. "I know things have been...tense between us, these past few days.
"Yeah, no kidding." he held out his mug. "Pour."
Vander did so. "For what its worth; I'm sorry, for all of it."
I'm sorry, too." there they were, the words out in the open. "Maybe if I had trained Vi and the others with Powder from the beginning-
Vander raised a hand, cutting him off. "What's done is done. No point crying over spoiled milk." Well, so he said, but he could feel the man's anxiety as he bulled on ahead. "I've been a shit godfather. I promised Felicia I would protect her daughters. Both of them. Even if I did adopt Mylo and Claggor afterward. I promised."
"I made a promise, too." he sloshed the mug about, eyeing the liquid within. "I said I'd teach Powder to be a proper shinobi. Now she's learning to kill. And she doesn't mind it. I don't think I do, either." an awful thought dawned and his head snapped up. "Does that make me a bad person?"
"Depends."
"On?" he challenged him.
Vander made to pour, realized the bottle was emptying rapidly, and retrieved another. "On what you want from this."
He didn't have an answer.
Vander noticed.
"At least your problems are simple," he said. "I've got three missing kids to find."
That, at least, they could work on."So do better. They're still out there, somewhere. We haven't lost them yet.
"You say that like its a simple thing.
"It is."
"Is it, now?" too late, he realized his mistake, the old brawler was smirking. "I could say the same of you. If you're struggling, trying to decide what's right or wrong, then that hardly makes you a bad person now, does it?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Wise words, councilor."
"Me?" Vander's brow shot into his hairline. "You're putting me on the Council? You can't be serious."
"Sure am." he granted him a wry smile as he took another drink, savoring the man's incredulous expression. Serious as steel. It was in the charter I made the Council sign. I asked Sevika earlier and she turned me down. Not a fan of Piltover. You got on with Grayson, you practically the Undercity, and you kept the peace for a good long while before I came along. I can't think of anyone better for it.
"Not you?"
"Me?!" He recoiled at the thought. Sure, I wanted to be in charge when I was younger, but I'm beginning to see the fallacy of it all. You can have the chair, and the hat too."
"Hat?"
"Making a joke." He chuckled ruefully, imagining Kakashi's incredulous face. "You'd hafta be there to understand."
Vander saw right through him. Old man always did. "How are you doing, really?"
More booze. He was entirely too sober to dwell on this. "I'm breathing."
"How are you able to keep moving forward all the time?" Vander asked. "All living beings need rest in order to survive. Even Powder takes a pause, now again. Yet you...you give yourself mere minutes for a break, then keep charging forward, running toward danger.
"Well, I'm not like other living beings." glaring at his suddenly empty mug, he seized the unopened bottle and necked it. "Time moves differently for me."
"No," Vander disagreed, "Its more than that. Most of what you do causes you pain in some form, whether its physical or mental. I can tell. You've nearly gotten yourself killed more times than I can count. Yet you...you don't do it simply to be a hero, do you?"
Naruto hid a smile behind his mug, but didn't answer.
Vander pressed on. "Sometimes you do things on a whim, maybe more if Powder's involved. I just don't get it. Why push yourself like this? Why make yourself seem the villain to Piltover? How do you keep going, knowing it'll bring you only pain, maybe even death?"
Another drink, and only the slightest buzz to be had. The whiskey wasn't working. He was still irritatingly sober.
"Are you sure you want the answer? You might not like it."
"Hit me."
"It's pretty simple, actually." Taking a moment to ferment his thoughts, he steepled his hands and laid his chin to rest atop them. "I keep moving forward because there are only three thing I'm afraid of, more than pain, misery, even death.
Vander leaned closer, mug in hand. "And what's that?"
A shadow fell over Naruto's face.
"Being alone."
"Well," he laughed, and the shadow passed. "That, and boredom. Zaun's been pretty entertaining. I can hardly screw up when I've got so many people depending on me now, can I?"
Why was the bottle empty? Had he really drank that much? Annoyed, he staggered to his feet in search of more, only to find the cabinet empty.
And was the room starting to spin?
Right, screw this, he didn't like this heavy shit.
"M'going for a walk," he muttered under his breath. "The Council wanted to meet tonight anyways. I'll find you come tomorrow."
"Naruto." Vander's voice caught him before he could leave by the door, like a thorn in his ear.
He looked back, curious as to what, if anything, he might say. "Hmm?"
"Don't go dying on us. Powder would never forgive you."
A wry smile crinkled his face.
"Don't worry about it, old man. Whether I like it or not, I'm in this for the long haul now...
(.0.0.0.)
Whether I like it or not...
(.0.0.0.)
...Uzumaki? Are you paying attention?"
Naruto opened his eyes, emerging from the realm of memory with a sigh.
"Just lost in thought," he hummed a little, swaying in place. "What was it you were saying again? Something about trade deals...?"
Lady Shool resisted the urge to scowl. Was he drunk? He smelled like a distillery. Still, he'd come here at her request to the hollowed out council chamber in the dead of night, just to meet. That was dedication if nothing else...even if he wasn't entirely sober for it.
She supposed that would make this easier.
"Say," The Guardian of Zaun craned his neck, regarding the empty seats. "We've been talking trade deals and marriage proposals for a bit now, but I've been wondering...where's the rest of the Council?"
"They needn't be here for this," she replied. "What I have to say is for your ears alone."
...I see."
Behind him, the battered door creaked open on damaged hinges.
Someone stepped out of the shadows behind him.
Several someones, actually.
Shool counted her masked and armored Enforcers by threes. Three, six, nine now, until they had the bothersome blond surrounded.
Naruto didn't budge. Even when her Enforcers drew their weapons and aimed at him. Even as the telltale click of safeties echoed in the empty chamber. He remained slumped in his seat; no, if anything he seemed to sink even lower, planting his face in his hand before dragging said palm across his whiskered visage. A muffled groan ground itself out between his palm.
"They never learn...
Yet for all his apparent despair, he remained quite alone. There was no counter ambush, no reversal, nothing at all.
Shool found that surprising; if only because he must've suspected some semblance of treachery, yet here he was. Alone. Unarmed. And actually drunk, by the look of it. Bastard must've been off celebrating victory with his fellows. Was he that stupid? Had arrogance blinded him?
Or was she merely lucky?
In the end, it didn't matter.
The result would still be the same.
"I'm sorry." she rose, brandishing a pistol of her own. "This is for the good of everyone."
"No, it isn't. He took his head from his hand and fixed her with a flat stare, resignation made manifest. "I'd say I'm disappointed in you, but that would implied I actually cared about you. I don't. Not really."
She couldn't help but goad him. "You don't hate your killer?"
"No," his retort proved immediate, and without hesitation, so much so that she found herself given pause instead of him. "I hate what you represent. I hate the obstacles you put in my way, I hate your mindset and I hate what you made me become. Infallible. Wise. Charismatic, compassionate." he counted them off on his fingers, one by one. "I have to be a paragon for a city I never wanted to lead, but I HAVE TO, because no one else will or can. Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The insecurity. Loneliness. Agonizing self-doubt. And yet all of you just keep clamoring toward your own deaths."
"Sounds just awful." She offered him a saccharine smile, supremely false in its sweetness. "I'll be sure to put some flowers on your grave."
"Enough." For a fleeting moment the facade and she glimpsed the young man beneath. "I have endured...more than enough. I'd ask you to forgive me for what I'm about to do, but I know you won't. Although...
A tingle shot down her bald scalp; she didn't like it. "...although?"
He smiled, and it was not a kind one. "I'm grateful."
Cold shivers shot down her spine. "For what?"
"For you showing your true colors so early," he replied blandly. "You might've made things difficult for me if you bided your time. I'm so glad you didn't; and glad I didn't bring Powder for this."
Shool bristled. "We'll kill her, too."
"No," he rasped, drawling the word with a forlorn chuckle. "I'm afraid you won't be doing much of anything beyond screaming in the next few seconds."
He was bluffing, surely. She had him surrounded this time. Dead to rights. It didn't matter how fast he was; the slightest twitch would see his body filled with leaden holes. Even if he didn't move, the result would still be the same.
Naruto sighed ever so softly.
Just the once.
Singular.
When next he opened his eyes, they blazed an eerie gold, his lids dusted with orange, pupils morphing into eerie horizontal bars of alien blackness. The sight of them stilled Shool where she stood; because she'd seen it before. Back in the council chamber. Before the slaughter began.
There was no fear in those golden honey eyes when he gazed upon her. No anger. Only serene calm...dare she say resignation?
As if he'd foreseen this very event, and her treachery with it.
Suddenly, she didn't feel so calm herself.
Was this a trap?!
She panicked. "Kill him! Kill him now!"
"Oh, the misery." Naruto tutted sadly, like a parent chiding their child. "Everybody wants to be my enemy...
The blond did not move; movement implied one static step between another, putting one foot forward after the next, that sort of thing. Instead, he flickered. Like so much static on a radio broadcast, his body seemed to phase out of existence for a moment where he sat, then back into reality.
Behind him, three men dropped like puppets from their strings each missing their heads, the loss of which spattered their compatriots crimson.
Six remained.
Naruto didn't deign to look at the remaining six as he spoke. "If anyone wants to leave, now's the time."
One of the Enforcers broke ranks and fled.
Shool shouted at him. "Coward!"
Five, now.
"See?" Naruto pushed back his chair and rose, still wearing that small, serene smile. "Now why don't the rest of you-
The nearest Enforcer brought a baton down on his head, flailing wildly.
It bent against Naruto's skull on the first blow, dented on the second, shattered on the third. By the fourth, he was left little more than scrap metal. Aghast, his attacker balked at it; but not for long. Naruto's hand closed around the man's masked face and squeezed. His mask, and the face behind it, crumpled like so much tinfoil.
Four.
The remaining quartet opened fire, only for their bullets to pierce the back of their still-dying comrade as Naruto wielded him like a shield. Shool shrank back, unable to pull the trigger herself until the last moment for all the good it did her; she watched it bounce off him like he was made of metal.
Impossible. Human skin wasn't that hard. It just wasn't possible...!
Naruto waited until their guns clicked empty.
Then he pounced.
Casting his corpse-shield aside, he reached one Enforcer, seized the gunman's arm, ripped it free from its socket and proceeded to club him to death with it.
Three left.
His death gave the remainder a chance to reload and fire on him again; he batted their bullets aside like so many feathers in the night wind. One ricocheted and took an Enforcer out at the throat.
Two.
Frantic, the second lobbed one of their net grenades at Naruto briefly entangling his limbs. He could've dodged it. He didn't. His arms flexed and he broke through, whirling into a spinning kick to obliterate his temporary captor at the waist. What remained of his lower torso slumped to the ground, utterly decimated.
One.
And that, as they say was that; the last of her surviving men wholly lost themselves to fear. They charged him, rushed in, slammed the barrel of their pistol against his skull, screamed in bowel-loosening terror and opened fire on him, point blank. The orange terror took the bullet right to the skull, turned his head, frowned, grabbed them by the face reeled them in like a fish and headbutted the poor bastard's nose-alongside a goodly portion of his face- into crimson oblivion.
Wiping their blood -and bits of grey matter- from his face, he pivoted to face her.
"Did you honestly think that would work?
Shool sneered and brandished her pistol and fired at the ceiling.
The explosives there triggered immediately, bringing what remained of the roof down on his head. In shorrt order he vanished beneath the rubble, never to be seen again.
She dared a tentative breath.
A gasp now, when he didn't emerge.
Outright laughter as the ruined debris settled.
"I did it!" She touched a hand to her head, relieved. "He's dead."
"A nice dream," his voice reverberated beneath the fallen metal and stone, "But sometimes, dreams are meant to be...
The mangled mound of debris burst outward with a dull whump of sound, peppering her body with sharpened shards of rock. By the time the dust cleared, she knew what she would find there.
...broken."
Naruto rose from the rubble, dusting off his coat, wholly unharmed.
"Did you let that happen?"
"I was curious." he shrugged. "Frankly, I expected more. How incredibly disappointing."
A black, ringed staff appeared in his hand. Hefting it over his shoulder, he sauntered forward.
"You people never learn, do you?" already his voice was adopting a lecturing tone, as teacher might chastise their apprentice. "And here I was prepared to give you a chance. It wasn't greed that sealed your fate, but your ambitions. You hate the idea of Zaun so much that you refuse to even acknowledge the concept of change. Not out of any personal wrongdoing, but because you hate us. Why is that, I wonder...?"
Shool stepped back, warding the pistol before her face. "Filthy undercity dweller...! You played me...!"
"No," he tapped a finger to his forehead, "You played yourself."
"What...?"
"Its simple." he launched into a grand explanation. "I specifically came here alone once I realized you wanted to meet, because I knew I wouldn't have to protect anyone. I knew your obsession with killing me would give you logical tunnel vision. I knew you'd stop at nothing, whatever it may be, to exploit any perceived weakness of mine to its fullest extent. And thus!" He held up a finger and crooked it her way," I knew you'd probably bring the building down on my head just to make certain I died."
All the while, his smile never wavered.
"You were so very proud of your plan, weren't you? Did you honestly think I would let you within arms reach without taking some precautions...?"
Sweat beaded upon her brow, ran in rivulets down her face. He'd seen this coming? No! He couldn't have...
"Impossible! No one would think that far ahead, have that much foresight-
"I've made my mistakes." He stomped down on her right foot, trapping her where she stood before she could think to flee. "One of them was tolerating idiots like you for this long."
"I won't let you-
"Young lady, what makes you any choice in the matter?
He smacked the pistol out her hand, caught her arm, wrenched it down and broke it at the elbow, leaving it dangling loosely at her side.
Shool balked, gaping at her ruined limb. Something slammed into her torso while she was distracted; staggering her. She lurched back, and looked down, found a knife in her gut.
The metal was black, bleaker than the frigid gaze currently meeting hers.
...I take no joy in this. I want you to know that."
Shool gasped, one hand to her gut. "You...!"
"Don't worry." he released her, but didn't give chase, didn't even seem to care when she slumped against the wall and slid down it. "You won't bleed out...yet. Its not a mortal wound. But you will bleed. Slowly. I'm told its terrible." He ran a bloody hand through his hair, blue eyes cold. "Did it ever occur to you that I might be more than a monster? I suppose not-I gave you no reason to believe otherwise. I was too busy playing the villain to even consider how any of you would perceived me. Yet if you had stopped to consider for one second, why I would do this, things might've been different. After all, why would I DO ANY OF THIS-
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling forcefully through his nose. "I'm sorry." when next he looked to her that false smile had returned; somehow it was even more terrifying than the brief burst of rage he'd shown. "I've gotten ahead of myself again. I'm not good at this you see; this whole villain thing. Even now I want to heal you, fix you, shake your hand and pretend that everything's alright; trust that that you'll learn from your mistakes...
Tutting softly, the whiskered warrior shook his head.
"Trust. Such a little thing. I trust exactly three people on Runeterra at the moment. You're not one of them. And I've already killed three councilors. What's to stop me from flaying a fourth and hanging your skin over the bridge as a reminder?
Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare...!
"Now you feel it." Naruto crouched down before her. "Fear. You realize how stupid this was. If hundreds of enforcers couldn't stop me, what good would an ambush do. Did you think I was tired? Sloppy? Weak? Sure, I'm a little drunk at the moment, but that doesn't make me any weaker now, does it? That just lowers my inhibitions. Sage knows I have few enough of those already.
Panic dawned as she gripped at her bleeding wound, to no avail. "If you murder me, you'll restart the war!"
"Will it, though?"
Something in his voice caused her heart to hitch.
With a flick of his fingers, Naruto vanished in a plume of smoke...but not for long.
A doppelganger stared back at her, the very spitting image of herself, sans her gut wound.
"Councilwoman Shool took her own life." How eerie it was, to hear his voice shining through the disguise. "A tragedy, to be sure, but an undeniable one."
Another plume of smoke, and he was himself once more.
"What you failed to realize was this; my rules weren't made to protect me from you, they were made to protect you from ME. But today, I'm breaking that code."
Steel flashed out, stabbing into her thigh. Shool gasped, tried to cry out, only to find her voice muffled against his palm.
"Do you know what you lack?" he leaned it, forehead pressing against hers. "Perspective. You look at me and you see a villain. I'm the bad guy, you think! Lady trust me, if you saw MY villains, you'd know I'm being nice. Madara would trap you within your mind. Sasuke would burn the flesh from your bones. Kaguya would would've sucked the life out of you. Orochimaru would pick you apart, piece by piece, until he understood what made you tick. He'd love this Hextech thing. Kinda makes me want to destroy it, to be honest...
She bit his hand, causing him to withdraw. "You wouldn't!"
"I might. He shrugged a shoulder. "We'll see how it shakes out. You won't be around to see it, though. I'm not sorry for that. Out of the surviving councilors, you were the one I trusted the least. Someone can make better use of your seat...
Shool's mouth went dry, her throat became an arid desert.
She couldn't die.
Not here.
No!
She still had so many grand plans, schemes to accomplish! She was going to tear Zaun apart for their foolish rebellion, salt the earth and burn the ashes!
But she needed time for that. Time she wouldn't be afforded, it seemed.
Buy some, idiot!
Must delay!
Stall!
Naruto tutted. "If you're expecting someone to save you, don't. I came prepared. Hold still and I'll make it quick."
She tried to crawl backward, and did, until her back struck a wall. "You don't have to do this! You can let me go! I'll leave! Mercy-
"Mercy?" he tilted his head quizzically. "You didn't show me mercy. No," he shook his head, "My mercy's long since drowned. It died to bring me here. And as long as you're around, plotting in the background, Powder's fate, remains unknown. Which means I'll have to kill you...
Fear became anger, spiteful in her final moments. "Heimerdinger would be so disappointed in you...
"I know."
"You'll become a monster...
His head bobbed. "Like I said, I know."
"Do you even realize what you've unleashed?"
"I know, and I don't care." there was no anger in his eyes, naught but steely determination. " Let this world see me as a monster, I know the truth, and so does she. Nothing else matters."
"Then you are lost."
"And found," he replied. "Thank you for opening my eyes.
A shadow moved on the ruined roof behind him, observing them.
Shool saw it and tried to buy time. "Why are you doing this?! WHY?!"
"I told you already, didn't I?" out came another knife, caressing her chin. "I swore that I would create peace between Piltover and Zaun. Even if I had to drag both cities to the table, kicking and screaming. That's possible with Mel, Cassandra, and Heimerdinger. For all their flaws and faults, they're decent people - or rather, they want to be. What do you want, hmm?"
Shool tried to answer; only for him to backhand her and talk right over her.
"The status quo." he answered. "Things to go on as they were. Unchanging. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. On and on the cycle goes, unbroken."
"You're starting to sound like-
"Like Silco?" his head rose a bit too quickly, the movement jerky, almost sudden. "You're not the first to say that...or something similar. Probably won't be the last, either."
Like a tyrant, she'd meant to say. Instead, her panicked brow furrowed. "Who in the pits is Silco?"
"That's right, you wouldn't know his name, would you? Still, for all his flaws and faults, he was right about one thing.
She gulped. "What's that?"
"Putting an end to people like you."
His knife nailed her in shoulder, adding another mark to her plethora of wounds.
She wheezed out a gasp and tried to ward him off, to no avail. "Wait-
"I won't." Up and down went his knife again, tearing into her remaining arm, severing the nerve. "I've got people to protect, an apprentice I can't neglect, so I'm not taking chances here. You're done for."
No...!
"How long has it been since you served the people of Piltover anyway?" he paused, just shy of stabbing her again. "How many bribes have you taken? When did you forsake yourself? I really don't care about the answers, so long as you understand the questions; y'see. If you were
Why was he dragging this out? Why hadn't he killed her yet? Why toy with her so...?
"Someone interfered in a battle of mine recently." he said suddenly, apropos of nothing. "They turned what should've been an ordinary blaze into something that could hurt me. I can't sense them, but I know they've been watching me ever since." He glanced over his shoulder into the gloom. "They're probably watching us right now."
The unseen shadow shriveled beneath his gaze and vanished.
He sneered at it. "Coward."
Shool scrambled to her feet while he was distracted and tried to flee.
The door! If she could just make it to the door she could call for help! She could...!
Naruto sighed behind her. "Why are you running? I already told you how this would end...
A hand caught her by the throat and slammed her down. One of her lungs burst. Something snapped in her spine. Her legs went boneless, leaving her unable to move. He rolled her over onto her back, set his knives aside, and began to crack his knuckles. Slowly. Methodically.
He was so calm about this. No anger. No rage. Only unflinching resolve in his eyes.
No, that wasn't quite it? Duty? No, something darker.
Determination.
Why...?
"I'm sure you must be wondering why I'm dragging your death out." his fingers bit into her throat, not strangling her, but holding her fast all the same. "Its not as though I enjoy torturing you, Lady Shool; hell, I could've snapped you up with Kurama ages ago. It would've been fast. Clean. A better death than they deserved. But they wouldn't have learned anything about me. And I wouldn't have learned anything about them.
The pressure of his grip intensified, rendering her world a dim blur.
"Now I know the one watching me is crafty; clever, and cautious. They won't strike blindly at me as you would, nor like a berserker; instead they'll wait for their moment of opportunity. Weakness, ya know. If they were stronger than me, they wouldn't wait at all and they'd attack right now."
No attack was immediately forthcoming.
No rescue for her.
No salvation.
"See?" Naruto looked back to her, and here at last, he dropped the smile. "Thank you for helping me learn about my enemy, Lady Shool." His fingers shifted to grip her around the face, forcing her to peer through the gaps of his fingers just to see, until he closed his hand and denied her even that. "Find peace with your gods," his voice echoed around her, "if you worship any. If not...my apologies."
Shool tried to speak up; to rally, to say something, anything really.
All that emerged was a croak, a rasping gasp. "Damn you...!"
"Don't have to tell me twice. I know where I'm headed."
Crushing pressure intensified in her skull.
No! No, no! No, no, noooooo!
Not like this! Please! No-
An awful wet, tearing sound filled her ears. She could feel her skull -and her neck- giving way in the face of Naruto's grip. There was no light. No light here. Not one. None. Mama always said there would be light. So why couldn't she see any light...? No, wait, now she couldn't...feel much of...anything at...all...
Councilwoman Shool died as she lived.
A mere footnote in history.
Forgotten.
A/N: Told you this chapter hits hard.
Another Councilor thinks they can do as they please only to summarily bite the dust. And nothing of value was lost.
Well, maybe Naruto's sanity. Gotta watch that; lest he be the one to lose his mind rather than Powder.
And who was our little eavesdropper? Revelations will be had next chapter.
We'll call it there for today! Timeskip will be midway through the next chapter, my time and schedule permitting. Hope you're ready!
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, I'll not continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, 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!
Reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
(Preview)
Heimerdinger sighed. "My boy, you simply can't do things like this."
"Can, have, did. And I'm not your boy. She attacked me first. I have a witness."
The Yordle tutted and dragged a hand across his fuzzy face. "I'm certain the people of Piltover will surely side with you
"Is that sarcasm I detect?"
Echo kicked at the ground. "Sooo...any chance you can teach me a thing or two? I mean, Vi's still out there and all...
Powder clasped her hands.
Naruto rolled his eyes.
Time flew by like wind...years passed...
And Zaun changed.
Beautifully.
Powder stepped out from the sea of dancers and ran a hand through her long hair. "So...how do I look?"
Naruto stoically averted his eyes, doing his best not to say anything.
Life was so much easier when she was a runt following him around.
His troublesome apprentice had grown up.
"Heh." she grinned. "You can stare if you want. Like you said, I'm an adult now.
"Barely...
"Still counts!"
Vander laughed in the background. "She's got you there...
Naruto snatched an empty mug off the table and winged it at him.
Powder held out a hand. "Dance with me...?"
Can't spoil things further than that.
Looking forward to chatting with you all~!
R ~!
