A/N: EDIT: only two reviews... maybe it shouldn't be updated as often anymore, people really don't enjoy it it seems..T_T
This week has been a mess.
Slifer and I worked hard to get this out to you, and yes, Practice Makes Perfect will be updating shortly. We're hard at work on "Kindness of Gold" and Father of Monsters, so you can expect updates for those this month as well.
That said, we're both exhausted, and not getting much in the way of feedback lately. A few reviews really do a long way to giving us the energy to keep going...
Just wanted to say,we appreciate you all! All those reviews means faster updates! It's especially important in these trying times, with the main site having problems. Every word counts and i appreciate you all! All these reviews really keep me inspired! Looking forward to hearing from you~!
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.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild, wicked world, one word at a time.
Once more, I own no quotes, references, or memes. Not a wit or a one. NOT! A! THING!
They're all tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me. Disclaimer over.
Hope you enjoy this chapter, may it make you smile.
"Let us have but a moment...
~?
Conversations under a Cloudy Sky
The bedroom in the Rennala's apartments was pleasantly cool once the sun set.
Evening had ushered into night and the restful space was mostly at peace save for the figure that turned slightly beneath the sheets. Naruto tossed and turned for several more minutes before finally letting out a sigh of defeat and looking up at the canopy of his and Rennala's four poster bed. He sat up slowly, his eyes adjusted to the half light of evening very quickly, revealing familiarly luxurious sights, nothing out of place save for a simple fact.
The lack of Rennala.
It didn't worry the blonde Shinobi because he knew in all likelihood where she was, but that didn't mean he wasn't missing her pleasantly cool yet warming presence nestled up against him in bed. He rolled his eyes wryly as he realised how much things had changed since coming to this world.
But a sense of listlessness washed over him like a fine mist as he realised how many things had happened in such a short time. Jerren's ill fated assault on the capital of Neo Caria had the potential to become something horrid given the amount of parties that had taken advantage of it. The Gelmir Recusants, Gherman and the Daughters of Rot had cast a terrifying shadow over the burgeoning nation but the bonds they had made in such a short time had quickly banished the shadows with an almost miraculously little bloodshed.
And that wasn't hyperbole in the slightest. With an invading force of less than 150, the unlikely enemies had failed to inflict major casualties comparable to their numbers with the Recusants and Daughters taking the lion's share of the lives, but even then the casualties had been less than 50 on the defenders side. Once Naruto had woken up from his well deserved nap from the battle with the First Hunter he had been quick to send out his Shadow Clones to assess damages.
The Curtains of Tranquility had stymied most of the damage to the floating city and what damage had been done could quickly be put right by the construction golems that had been working non stop since the day after the battle. The majority of actual damage was done to the now torched tent city on the lakeside when the Redmanes had burned it. But in a telling showing of his new responsibility as a sovereign leader - or at least viewed as one by the populace - Naruto had seen this as good a sign as any to speed up moving families and refugees into the quickly expanding housing. While he had been tearing his hair out at the prospect of being given a mountain of paperwork in order to get it to work he was surprised when Ranni and Iji stepped up to the plate to handle those matters and people began filling their new floating homes at a truly astonishing rate.
'Most of them because a lot of what they brought with them got torched by those assholes,' Naruto grimaced, it was unsettling to consider how happily the Redmanes had gone from adventuring heroes trying to do 'what's right for a great man' into trying to burn people alive in their beds just because a charismatic leader didn't care about their means while he achieved his own agenda. Maybe he could have done more? The smart part of his brain scolded him that he had been focused on Gherman at the time as well as somewhat annoyed at the same time.
'Somewhat annoyed,' who had completed the total demotion of his fiance's childhood home as a byproduct.
His lips quirked up into a wan smile at his own understatement. He felt guilty at how easily he had been roused into a rage but at least the Redmanes had met their end. Loretta had brought the vanguard on them in a cavalry charge that had threshed them like wheat. Whatever skill, martial or magical, they had had was poultry before the former Knight of Caria's greatbow and war sickle. 'I just wish she handled the conversation afterwards better,' he thought, the secondhand account from Moongrum had not painted the most positive picture of her reaction.
But how would he have handled knowing someone he had sworn himself to was a twisted little scumbag? If it turned out Kakashi or Jiraiya were just using him as a means to an end while promoting their own wants, hidden behind a veneer of faux prosperity, manipulations and unfulfilled promises? Pissed the hell off he'd imagine. Naruto reached over to the side of the bed and prodded a lamp that lit with a glintsone light, casting the room in ghostly blue.
'Probably shouldn't think about hypertheticals too hard, keep focused on what's actually happened since the battle.' he refocused thoughts and for once he was glad that Kurama was leaving him to draw his own conclusions. And there was a lot more to think about once the battle had wrapped up. Mopping up the rotted creatures that the Sisters had made was a systematic job that had needed his help to sense and drive them into a corner before killing. Along with destroying the Abductor Maiden the Recusants had used to sneak into Raya Lucaria in the first place.
Then came the matter of their 'new tenants.'
Gherman had been given a small quarters in the academy grounds under watch while he recovered and hadn't come out except for offering what little he knew about his now ex 'patron.' The Daughters of Rot however…
(...Flashback...)
"Ooooh~ aren't thou just the cutest sweetings in all the lands?" Rennala squealed happily, lifting the now toddler-aged Mary high into the air. The little redhead's gold eyes were a spitting image of Milicents and matched the other three.
"Haabraduuu," the toddler burbled in confusion tinged happiness, flailing her pudgy limbs in the dark blue and red toddler's dress that Irina had been able to find… somehow. Naruto didn't pretend he knew how the partially sighted castellen's daughter was so deft at finding clothes when Rennalla could just magic them up with a snap of her fingers but she had found them all the same.
"They're kinda cute, yeah…" Naruto said tiredly for the seventh time that hour. He bounced the two sisters Polyanna and Amy on his knee, causing them to giggle to themselves. "Are you sure that-"
"They'll be fine, father." Ranni pitched in, making shapes with her two upper hands for little Maureen who was laying in a large bassinet. "I hath a firm understanding of the unalloyed needle and experience with how to suppress issues of the flesh. The rot shan't blight them. Still, Sir Annsbach's work with the fire was remarkable."
"Yes…" Naruto mused before starting to pull funny faces at the two he had been saddled with. They giggled like little cherubs and he felt a warmth tickle in his chest. Looking up at Rennala, her hair down and playing with her new children, Naruto came to a decision. Fate may have conspired to make him a magnet for this sort of thing, but he was beginning to grow very fond of it. "Very yes."
(...Flashback END...)
"I just wish she would actually sleep in our bed instead of being so caught up playing with them all that she goes to sleep with them." Naruto commiserated to the empty room. He blew a lock of spiky blonde hair out of his eyes from slowly lengthening bangs. They had been growing for some time now and knew that were he to look into the mirror he might be forgiven for seeing his father's lion mane staring back at him.
The smile on his lips thinned to a thoughtful frown as he finally hit upon the two biggest revelations that had been plaguing him these past weeks. Miquella the not so kind and the reveal that the Greater Will had not been part of this world for a very, very long time. And what remained piloting its system was not a god by any stretch of the imagination.
As of right now the truth was only known to a very few number of people given the theological and social ramifications that 'God pissed off and what you think is God hates you,' had the potential to reignite fires and spread them across the whole Lands Between. Naruto had never been overly religious, and that was perhaps why the reveal had not been as earth shattering for him, but even he knew that religion could drive even the most well adjusted people to commit horrors beyond count.
Ranni had looked vindicated while the sorcerers amongst them were deeply intrigued while Milicent, bless her, felt doubly relieved. The religious amongst their number had needed to sit down and absorb the news with Loretta having to go out on a long ride when hit with the double whammy of Miquella's true colours and Metyr being the one running the show.
Personally, Naruto hated anyone and anything that manipulated the multitude to misery, especially if the end goal was short sighted and selfish, because then intent could not be used as a poultry defence. And he was very ticked off that the Mother of Fingers had tried to manipulate him and others into hurting those he cared for.
But right now? Right now naruto was just missing the fact he wasn't currently snuggled up with his fiance and future wife.
Throwing the sheets back, he stepped into a pair of slippers and pulled on a dressing gown. Perhaps a moonlit walk was in order?
[LINExBREAK]
Contrary to what Naruto had expected, there was no moon to be seen hanging over the capital of Neo Caria, instead the heavenly tapestry was obscured by a thick bank of impenetrable night clouds. It's dark countenance only slightly offset to a breath of grey from the scores of stars trying to cast their light down onto the Lands Between.
It didn't overly bother him as he walked through the halls with the little glowstone lamp in hand like a candle, the sound of his slippers tapping likely on the hard masonry underfoot. He had come a long way from his former sleeping arrangements in Konoha, at least the ones before Pain had flattened the village. He still missed his old nightcap and would take it over the slippers but at least the new digs were far superior. In retrospect when he really thought about it, his original apartment hadn't been the worst thing in Konoha despite what many seemed to think, rather it was ill-suited for a growing young boy with nothing but a monthly stipend for food to properly take care of.
Naruto didn't hold it against Hiruzen. Not truly. Had he more time to speak with the old man during the war he probably would have punched him in the gut but that would be about it. Had the old man made poor decisions? Gods above yes, but if he hadn't made those decisions then Naruto wouldn't be where he was right here and now. And given the splendor waiting outside of the window, Naruto considered the matter about even.
Exiting out onto a walkway high up within the academy to take a scenic route to where he knew Rennala was most likely to be, Naruto peaked over the side to see the goings on below. While the academy itself was mostly deserted and lacking in activity it was still pleasantly lit enough for the blonde to make out construction golems finishing off any repairs and starting expansion work. His vision drifted to the floating city that orbited the great academy like a constellation, many of the dotted latices now lit from within at the many dozens if not hundreds of families that now occupied their new homes. As far as views of ones home went, it was up there with the best when compared to Konoha.
'I wonder if it's cloudy right now back in Konoha?' Naruto silently wondered to himself as he looked again at the uncertain sky. A beat passed before he caught something odd about his chain of thoughts. At what point had he started referring to Raya Lucaria as his home and not Konoha? He sniffed in curious amusement.
"You know I can only take so much wistfulness from your mind before I have to talk, right?" Kurama rumbled from the back of Naruto's mind, sounding as if he had just been roused from a pleasant nap, his words carrying that blunted point of annoyance that he had been enjoying his rest. "And I think it's summer back in the Land of Fire. Take from what what you will about what the sky looks like back there."
Naruto shook his head at the attempt to be nonchalant, he could practically feel the snark dripping from the fox's vulpine muzzle. But still, his mind pondered. 'Hey, Kurama.'
"Hmmm?" The mightiest Bijuu quested.
Moments passed as the other tried to put his questions in the simplest possible terms. 'Do you think we could try to reach out to back home through the Bijuu's link? Find out what's going on or at least tell 'em we're okay?'
"Oh, I did that two months ago."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Naruto came to a complete stop, blinked once, twice and then thrice before exploding with a "WHAT!?" Two minor construction golems that were moving boxes deep below looked up at him briefly before returning to their mindless work.
Kurama plugged his long rabbitlike ears until the violently loud exclamation came to an end. "You don't have to yell. But yes, I contacted the others a few months back now. Everything in Konoha is going well according to Gyuki, Kakashi gave you an official leave of absence and Sasuke is looking for a way to find this world. All good."
Tick marks covered Naruto's head as the veins at his temples throbbed something awful. When he replied to Kurama, his thoughts came in a strained tone, 'And you didn't think that maybe I'd want to know about that!?'
"Well to start, need I remind you that I don't overly like talking to my siblings. Shukaku has the personality of crushed glass and a voice a close second. Son Goku has a chip on his shoulder the size of the Hokage rock and the others just want to keep to themselves." Kurama explained, his words painting a colourful picture of why he reid to avoid chatting to most of his siblings despite having the ability to at any moment if he so chose.
Naruto facefaulted at the banal explanation and resumed his walk, taking time to digest what Kurama had said before, at least things did seem to be okay back in Konoha, but the casualness of how he had talked about Sasuke implied that finding him was not a top priority.
As if watching the gears turn in Naruto's head, Kurama leapt on that conclusion and pushed on. "It's because you're happy here, Naruto. Recent invasions and Deity based revelations aside, you're as happy here as I've ever seen you. You have a place to live, people who stand beside and behind you, and as sickeningly sweet as it may come across at times a burgeoning family that all love you and you love them. Why would I want to screw that up?"
Whisker marked cheeks were dusted with pink as Kurama's words filled Naruto with a fuzzy warmth. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, 'I… I don't know what to say.'
"You talk too much as is, so maybe silence is golden."
'Piss off.' Naruto immediately spat back goodnaturedly.
Chuckles growled from the back of his head, and Kurama began to settle back into his nap. "You've got things to do, sure. But just this once, why don't you just kick up your feet and enjoy the peace. If you have a priority, maybe you should decide in what it is now that that worry has been laid to rest."
Silence reigned between them as Naruto felt Kurama retreat deeper into his subconscious, returning to his nap. But he did leave Naruto in a moment of pondering. If home was here and going back to Konoha was not an issue, then what was his top priority now?
The cloudy sky offered no answers.
(.0.0.0.)
The long and meandering walk continued, the glintstone lamp a lone willow the wisp in the gloomy parts of the many ramparts and walkways that Naruto was taking to get where he needed. He enjoyed it because physical actions usually went hand in hand with his ability to think and ponder on things. But soon enough he would find himself not alone on a midnight stroll.
Turning a corner onto a walkway that opened up onto a balcony, Naruto spotted a figure clad in long dark robes, helm and a blood red gem pinned at his chest. The man was leaning against the balcony to oversee the stillness of the air, the lights from below highlighting the intricate designs in his helmet that he wore even when not on the battlefield. Hearing Naruto's approach, the man turned slowly to face Naruto, raising a gloved hand in greeting as he pushed off the balcony to address him.
Naruto waved in kind, "Ansbach," he greeted warmly. While they had not interacted much in the past weeks since the Paleblood Knight had taken up residence with them he made sure to be nice to the man who had saved his friends and loved ones.
"Ah, Lord Naruto. Taking in the night air as well I see." Ansbach greeted in his refined and aged voice, the ideal vision of a knight.
"Something like that, yeah." Naruto leaned against the balcony next to Ansbach and set his lamp down beside him. "Rennala's probably sleeping with the kids and I needed the walk to clear my head."
"A fair choice in such troubling times." Ansbach conceded, now both looking out over Raya Lucaria. They fell into a peaceful silence for a while, simply watching the world go by before Naruto finally broke it.
"I know I thanked you before but again, thanks for saving people here. You didn't have to but chose to. That means a lot in my book." Naruto complimented the older gentleman.
"Your praise is appreciated, Lord," Ansbach dipped his head respectfully, "But any Knight worth their salt should do the same…"
"Hmm," Naruto hummed, hearing the very well hidden emotion in the bearded man's words. There was a frustration there he could tell. "Boggart and Irina would be dead if not for you, you know that right."
"Perhaps, but I'd say that the Sir Blackguard acquitted himself remarkably well, and the sobriquet of love was something out of a storybook that inspired me to become a knight long ago."
"Don't tell him that, his head will swell up in that iron mask he loves so much." Naruto chortled, drawing a sniff of amusement from Ansbach. They continued to trade belated thank yous and pleasantries before both resumed their walk, a sedate pace they worked closer to the matter at hand.
"I'm sure you must be curious of what originally brought me to Raya Lucaria." Ansbach stated plainly.
Naruto gave a slow nod before replying, "I knew we'd get there eventually, but so far you hadn't shown any sign of doing anything stupid."
"Well then I can count my decorum for that much at least. Yes…" the Paleblood Knight admitted before turning to look at Naruto who could just make out the other's eyes through the slits in his helm. "As I have said, I am Captain of the Paleblood Knights of Lord Mohg. A son of Marika and Godfrey, Omen and disparaged and prophet to the Formless Mother."
"The creepy blood obsessed goddess," Naruto identified from what Rennala had explained to him about the various Outer Gods.
Ansbach drew his robes up on him, his feather ruffled by the brusque generalisation. "While I don't care for such crass terminology that is the shape of things. And Lord Mohg is one of the Demigods chosen by an Outer God. Lord Mohg may be unpleasing to the eyes and ears but his actions are not to disparaged…." he grimaced, "or at least they didn't used to be."
There was so much emotion and frustration in Ansbach's words that told Naruto this was something he had been agonising over for a long time, possibly decades if not centuries given how ageing worked in the Lands Between.
"Lord Mohg and us Paleblood Knights have long since acquired a poor reputation. Of monsters and blood parched tyrants but it wasn't always like that. The Formless Mother is a goddess of blood who extols shared pain but she is a patron and protector of the outcasts and oppressed. There was a time long ago that the Paleblood Knights would act to protect those persecuted by the Eternal's predgidices. Like the Omen or Misbegotten. But before the shattering, something… changed."
Naruto listened, reminded of how well meaning groups could be perverted towards evil by tragedy or charismatic leaders with darker plans. Obito's manipulations and nagato's grief had turned the once great Akatsuki into a terrorist organisation that had resulted in the deaths of nearly 50,000 people in the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Gloved fingers touched the large red gem fastened to his chest, probably a mark of office Naruto guessed. "Before the shattering, Lord Mohg began to grow very appreciative of Miquella the Kind," Naruto scowled at mention of that little toerag, "Your grimace shows what I feel. Where once we protected those beyond the light of the Golden Order, Miquella's Haligtree rose to cover that and in its shadow, it became more about sharing out pain than it did saving people."
Thinking back on what Rennala had told him about her returned memory, things quickly clicked into place. "You think Miquella may have charmed Mohg?"
"I believe so, yes." Ansbach confirmed before reaching out a hand and touching Naruto's shoulder. "Lord Mohg sent me to here because he said that the Formless Mother had appeared to him, and that you, along with Miquella would 'join in the birth of his new dynasty. Your compliance was not needed."
Revulsion twisted in Naruto's guts. The implication was cleared and the fact that Miquella may have been responsible for it pushed him much higher up on Naruto's shitlist. "That's the voice of a man whose come to his senses."
"Justice and evil exist in a grey mist, but Miquella the Kind has driven my Lord to live without his dignity for centuries. If his inclinations for bedmates are as such then so be it, but to twist a once noble man and his followers against their will into this now? That cannot be forgiven."
Naruto absorbed the words and swallowed thickly, "Well I'm glad you changed your mind." he said somewhat sheepishly.
"Ha!" Ansbach laughed, "After seeing what you did to the Carian Manor and that distant Plateau I must say I'm glad I didn't either. I am made of stern stuff but these old bones would rather not be broken in any battle where dignity wasn't on the line. Ser Gherman has earned his bedrest after being able to fight as well as he did."
"Another person who used common sense to see their boss wasn't all there in the head," Naruto mused. "And both had their final straws. What was yours?"
"Lord Mohg's claim of a visitation of the Formless mother in… well a form. While I may use her abilities and have never spoken to her, I know that she truly is formless. At most a voice on the wind, heard in places where great blood is spilled. But Mohg's description sounded like something that would be conjured by the mind of a child… or at least one bound to the body of one."
"And finding out he toyed with Rennala's mind to speed up her drop into madness connected the dots." Naruto said, following the logic as they came to rest at another balcony. "What I don't get is.. Why? Why Mohg? And this stuff about the Lands of Shadow. I'm missing some pieces of info here."
"If I were to make an educated guess, I would think it must have something to do with the fact that Lord Mohg is an Omen, and one of Marika's blood."
Naruto let the man continue.
Ansbach pointed in the direction of Altus. "As part of the Golden Order, the Rune of Destined Death was removed from the Elden Ring, giving rise to Erdtree and the cycle of reincarnation. Those who die within the scope of the Golden Order do not leave a body for a long time. Those touched of Grace will have their bodies fade and souls drawn into the Erdtree, eventually to reincarnate."
"The afterlife is broken," Naruto recalled his conversation with Kaimon, "and Mohg fits into this because…"
"Omens are banished beyond the Golden Order. When they die, their body simply persists and their souls go… nowhere. They simply pass on to places where things that do not die easily end up. That is all I know of the Land of Shadows connection."
"This is all a bit heavy for an evening walk." Naruto moaned, rubbing his temples. "And I fit into all of this somehow."
"Indeed, but how I cannot know. Or even speculate." Ansbach said gravely.
"But perhaps I might hazard a guess," spoke a horse female voice from behind them.
Both Naruto and Ansbach turned and saw the tall figure of Loretta looking at them by the door. She stepped out towards them and as she grew closer the light from Naruto's lamp caught the features on her face and his eyes widened. Loretta looked a far cry from the usually beautiful, strong and refined woman she usually was. Instead her long white hair was a mess of tangles and her pale face was a blighted by deep bags and bloodshot eyes.
Loretta inclined her head silently to the both of them and settled on Naruto. "Your Greater Runes. That is my guess. All of them correspond to things extolled by Lord Miquella, and in any other situation would have been ideal in his hands."
Naruto listened intently. He kept himself ready in case Loretta had a sudden burst of aggression or emotion because out of all of them she had taken the reveal of Miquella tampering with Rennala's mind the worst. Flat out and verbal denial before secluding herself away. A seclusion which had wrought great depression on the usually stately Albanuric.
"So you've finally come to your senses," Naruto stated plainly, causing Loretta to wince. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes, unsure what to say.
"I'm… I still don't believe it. No that's not right," she whispered listlessly, "I don't want to believe it. I am a sworn Knight of the Haligtree and live by what it tries to teach."
"But?" Naruto prompted gently.
"But… but in my time thinking on the matter after hearing Queen Rennala's account I have begun to notice some inconsistencies in my memories. Things that don't fit together right and at the heart of every one of those moments is Miquella the Kind." Loretta said quietly as if afraid that by admitting the words they would become real.
"What matters right now is what you will do now. You can't just sit and stew in your own hopeless situation." Naruto offered and Ansbach nodded in agreement to the words.
Loretta opened her eyes and met Naruto's who held her stare for a while before she was first to look away. "I am a Knight of the Haligtree. I live by Lord Miquella's stated goals and desires. None bar perhaps Leda are so fervent in our belief in them. And yet… my heart tells me that Lord Miquella is not all he seems."
"You need answers from him." Naruto summarised while grinning, "and hey, there's nothing wrong with trying to be a good person protecting the persecuted. Mercy is not a sin."
"Aye," Loretta said, a weight seeming to lift from her shoulders. She turned to leave before looking over her shoulder at the two men. "Good evening to you, Sir Ansbach, Lord Naruto."
She vanished beyond the threshold, leaving Naruto blinking owlishly in her wake.
"Something wrong?" Ansbach enquired.
"I… I think that was the first time she ever called me Lord…. Feels weird."
"Hahaha!" Ansbach laughed heartily at the flustered Naruto's expense.
One thing unsaid had passed between all three.
Miquella's days were numbered.
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto had parted with Ansbach after some more polite conversation where the old Knight decided he best turn in for the night, leaving Naruto to continue to make his way to the apartments on the other side of the Academy where he knew Rennala would be. She had been so taken up in her euphoria of taking care of so many new children that every day this week she had ended up falling asleep with them all in a regal looking cuddle puddle.
Naruto was hankering to be part of that cute family moment now that all that deep thinking had been worked through and hastened his footsteps to make it there in time. Sadly, fate had a habit of giving Naruto inopportune and unlikely moments of meeting. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted a splotch of magenta hair and turned to look up towards the distant turrets.
Silhouetted against the cloud filled sky was the small shape of a young girl stood atop one of the tiled roofs looking out over the Floating City. The feathery magenta hair and presence of Radagon's Red Wolf would tell anyone who it was immediately even with her head turned.
Naruto rolled his eyes in amusement, not questioning why his first daughter was on top of a roof at night. Instead he turned and leapt up onto the nearest rooftop and began deftly jumping from rooftop to rooftop towards the little girl that had set him on this bizarre turn in his life. The wind fluttered through his dressing gown and hair as he flew through the air, a pleasant rustle of noise that hit the ear just right.
He touched down on the rooftop a few feet behind her and slowly advanced. "I'm amazed you were able to slip away from your mom. Though you might have inherited that from me." he joked, scratching his chin in amusement at how the little girl was able to imitate him unconsciously.
Melina did not reply. She didn't even acknowledge his presence, simply silently staring out at the lights coming out of the Floating Silence.
The smile melted from Naruto's face, replaced by a worried frown. "Melina?"
She slowly turned to face him, revealing a sealed right eye and the other open to reveal a brilliant gold that glowed.
Naruto's hands twitched, Marika had done what she said she would not and- 'No…' he thought. While the visual was the same, there was none of the same air of power that had occurred when Marika had swapped with Melina. If anything the air was soaked with a profound sadness that felt like despair even without negative emotion sensing. "You're not Marika, are you?"
Melina looked at him forlornly, still not speaking as she walked over to the great Red Wolf and pawed at its crest of russet red fur. The Wolf let out a melancholic howl and lowered its head in supplication of the little girl. "I think you know who I am. Outlander brought here to fill our role." a rich man's voice spoke out from Melina's mouth.
Radagon.
Naruto's eyes hardened to chips of frigid blue ice. "I'm gonna push past how creepy that sounds for now and tell you this. Say what you have to say then get the hell out of my daughter. I might not be as precise as Rennala but I'll find a way to get you out of there."
Radagon looked at him again and Naruto was taken aback at what incredible sadness there was in that eye. The possessed little girl lowered her head in supplication to Naruto. "You have my most profuse apologies. I know I have no right to do this but… I had to see this for myself."
"What? The place you abandoned? The place you cast off like so much discarded trash to play second fiddle to a God that's not even-" Naruto bit his tongue, he knew it served no purpose getting angry here. And if anything, the suffering in Radagon's words was enough. He just didn't like it coming out of his daughter. "You're don't sound like someone who really wants to be here. However that is."
The Radagon possessed Melina let out a breath, the meanest ghost of amusement. "It's quite alright. I've had enough of being a font of bile, and this child's state has its advantages. As my physicality was used to give her a corporal base I am able to slip more easily into her mind compared to my Sister Self."
"I'd rather you didn't do it at all." Naruto ground out frostily.
Radagon closed his one available eye. "When she was made, I thought her a Godless thing. A clay doll that was just another blasphemy created by Marika as an attempt to run from her sin. But now I see… everyone is a godless thing." the eye opened and tears began to trickle down from it as he looked up into Naruto's eyes. "Outlander, tell me truly. Is my God truly a fake? Did the Greater Will really abandon us and everything since… everything I did… was for nothing?"
The words echoed off into the night sky, their impact making something inside Naruto feel ill at ease. Was he witnessing the grief of a god?
"Yes," Naruto said bluntly, he did not need to be understanding to this man. What he needed was the truth. "The only thing that sits in the sky is Metyr, Mother of Fingers, and whatever is left over of the Will's system."
A broken smile pained itself onto Melina's lips, "So that's why it never replies…" Radagon said. Feathery hair rustled as he shook his head. "My whole life was a sham, but if there was any single thing I did for me and me alone it was loving my family. One I cast aside. I have no reason, warrant or mandate to ask this. But please, I beg of you, Naruto Uzumaki, Bodhisattva of Compassion, become a Lord not of Gods, but of man, and love your family more than I ever could."
The light began to dim from Melina's eye, but while it still glowed Naruto dropped to one knee and asked a rhetorical question that would stick with Radagon for the rest of his days.
"Do you even have to ask?"
Ah, humans.
"I… suppose…not."
The light faded and eye closed, its seal of black script moving back to the correct eye as the right eye opened again.
Melina blinked, her eye focusing before she jolted as her awareness caught up with her. "Wha!?"
"Gotcha!" Naruto snaked an arm around Melina's waist to prevent her from accidentally jumping off the roof. "Out of all of your sisters you always make me run around the most!" he said cheerily, letting what Radagon had said slip into memory. What mattered right night was making sure this munchkin got off to bed.
"Oh, Papa, where are we?" Melina asked, looking around before sniggling into Naruto's hug. "How'd we get so high up? I was just playing with Wolfy when… when.."
"Sleepwalking, Melina. Athletic sleepwalking. All the Shinobi back in Konoha do it." Naruto lied through his teeth, making up the explanation on the spot.
"That makes sense!" Melina said, punching one fist into her open palm as if he'd just had some kind of grand discovery.
'Awwwwww' Naruto mentally cooed. He would smack himself for it later but telling white lies to your kids was just a certain kind of fun. "Now let's get you off to bed." he looked at the Red Wolf, "You can get down on your own, right?"
"Grrrrrrrrrfffff," the world chuffed in offense, getting to its feet and walking to the edge. It looked back at both of them before leaping off the edge and jumping from rooftop to rooftop with Lupine grace, spawning sorcery constructs to flip off of as it went.
"Show off/Show off." Naruto and Melina said simultaneously. They looked at one another before dissolving into a fit of giggles. When that past Naruto hefted the growing girl onto his shoulders and began their own descent, this one bound for bed.
No more detours.
(.0.0.0.)
It did not take long at all to find the apartments where the girls had collectively taken residence. Technically the new babies were under Irina's purview if Rennala and Naruto were busy but what this usually meant was that Rennala would show up near the end of the day and get an overload of familial love that made her reluctant to leave the den.
'Cuddle puddles have gravity stronger than a Chibaku Tensei,' thought Naruto as he slipped inside the room, Melina now snoring against his spiky thicket of hair, finding the correctly soft spot quickly enough.
The bedroom was made up of a large bed and a bassinet next to it for the youngest of their number to sleep in. The bed on the other hand was far fuller than usual. Rennala laid in the centre wearing a modest white nightdress surrounded by her numerous daughters old and new. She smiled at him in bliss as Naruto entered. Seemed she couldn't drop off without everyone accounted for.
"The last sweeting appeareth," Rennala whispered just loud enough for Naruto to hear.
"And I'm the hired help." Naruto barbed in retort, looking over the many girls sleeping or half awake on the bed. Ranni looked at him with a bleary eye from her spot next to Rennala's left hip. Milicent and Sellen were curled up in a hug on Rennala's chest while the four new arrivals snored in the crib.
"That would class as royal service, love." Rennala said, spreading an arm to indicate the space she had kept for him.
"Thank you," Naruto said as he set Melina down on the bed and before his eyes he watched her subconsciously crawl under the sheets and burrow into a ball at the heart of the throng. 'Wait I was bullshitting the sleepwalking!' he mentally bleated. before shaking his head and getting into bed with Rennala, feeling her rest her head on his shoulder.
They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the play of pleasant coolness and wonderful warmth that the presence of everyone brought. Rennala turned to look at her younger lover, "So?"
"So what?" he whispered back.
"Where do you think we stand from here, my sun and stars."
"You start, I've had enough thinking for tonight, I could do with some sleep." Naruto replied, closing his eyes and earning himself a playful smack from Rennala.
"As much as I would like to find Miquella and feed him his perfect teeth or take Tanith over my knee for being such a tawdry daughter in law, I think it's long past due we handle Radahn." Rennala said, but her words had grown more unsure the deeper she got into the conversation, expecting a rebuke.
"I think you're right." Naruto nodded earnestly, causing Rennala to look at him with some surprise.
"Truly?" She asked, searching his face for answers but saw only genuine support for her.
"Did you think I wouldn't want to do it because it came from the late hooded and bearded bad guy who attacked us?" Naruto said, seeing just that in his fiance's stunning blue eyes. He turned towards her more fully as he spoke, "Just because he came here with the worst of plans, he highlights something I saw. A Problem. Your son is all alone in Caelid, and doesn't deserve to be there alone any longer."
"A road to hell paved with good intent then." She said in reference to Jerren.
Naruto shook his head vehemently. "No. That's not what I said at all. Jerren was in the wrong and let his spite delude him, holding up 'justice' and 'common sense' and his loyalty to Radahn to justify what he tried to do. We will save Radahn for us, not because Jerren had a point."
Rennala was moved by his words and buried her head into the cook of Naruto's shoulder, offering one last sleepy bit of eloquent snark. "Thou hath thy moments of silver tongued eloquence beloved, but brevity is the soul of wit."
A hand snaked up and turned the Full Moon Queen's chin to face Naruto who gave her a slow but loving kiss, a perfect response considering it made Rennala willingly capitulate to the fact his tongue was more than just silver.
Several hours later, Naruto was briefly roused from his sleep by a weight on his chest, and upon checking it discovered Milicent looking up at him with paternal adoration. She spoke six words to him with an emotion filled whisper, sleepy tears of joy rolling down her face.
"Thank you for setting me free."
Naruto hugged her close to him, deciding that this moment right here was what he would defend and fight for.
That was his new top priority.
(.0.0.0.)
Within the golden heart of the Erdtree lay a black space that was a prison for a Goddess Eternal, held in place by her own power, the Elden Ring twisted to hold her in place.
Long had she lingered here, trapped, unable to do anything but suffer.
But as time ticked by, something miraculous began to occur. Her body began to sway and writhe. It distended and twitched before finally with horrifically wet slap she fell to land ungracefully on the floor far below.
"Ugh…" she groaned in pain and confusion, slowly getting to her feet. What was this?
"Marika, sister self, what was once one has again become two...
Marika looked up in shock to see just Radagon hanging from the inverted parabola of light, the dark hole in his side glinting with the light of the Elden Ring, except it didn't look right. She looked down at herself and saw something wrong as well. "Radagon, you-"
"Are still a sinner, as are you." Radagon called from on high, "But… if my god has long left, then there is no reason for me to hold you here. I have kept most of the Ring as is my mandate to the Golden Order. What you do from now on, sister self, is up to you."
Marika looked up at her brother self. Perhaps simply just her brother now? It mattered not. She limped over to the centre of the chamber where it lay. The anvil and her hammer, still buried deep in the rock where she had shattered the Ring. Shell shocked by Radagon's moment of uncharacteristic depression induced leniency, she was still able to grab an issue here. But she would cross that bridge when she came to it.
She reached out a hand and took hold of her hammer, pulling at it as the anvil creaked and cracked before it finally came loose. A familiar warmth rose from deep within at the familiar weight and she turned her back to Radagon. The entrance was sealed by impenetrable thorns, and even with as much of the Ring she had, her hammer and her slowly returning strength she doubted she would be able to escape just yet. But at least right now she could stretch her legs for the first time in centuries.
She began to swing the hammer to get the aches and pains out of her body, each swing filling her with a vitality that had been long absent, honing her swings for a singular moment she would see in the future, be that near or far.
What moment, you ask?
Why, breaking every single one of Metyr's fingers.
And by her title as a goddess, she would show a fake god what it meant to befoul a real one...!
A/N: Aaaaand scene!
We're exhausted. Hope you enjoyed this.
Not much more to say here, Hope you enjoy this chapter; we worked hard on it!
Looking forward to chatting with you all later~!
May you have a great day!
R ~!