A/N: Someone asked for a Salem version of that Shards of Shattering bit, so here we go.
Rest assured, "I Want it All," Popular Monster" and the rest are on the docket; I have plans and ideas, all those RWBY chapters just take time, and I want them to be top-notch quality, not a rushed mess.
So here we go. The fate of this fragment depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others. As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes or memes. Not a wit or one. They're tributes, one and all. I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this becomes a story. Simple as that.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
Full credit to EPIC the musical, I don't own a thiiiiiiing~!
"Death is a mercy. There are far worse fates."
Oh, my. You don't believe me?
Have a look."
~?
How Does It Feel
Salem laughed.
And why shouldn't she?
At long last, victory was hers.
Grimm scoured Vacuo's precious Shade Academy, stalking students and teachers alike in droves. Those who fought would be cut down. Those who fled would die screaming. It was -or would be-a slaughter. A massacre by every means. By the time Ozma's agents reached the desert kingdom, it would be too late.
And she had this fool to thank for it.
"You idiot." she swept a pale hand outward at the burning school before her. "You sealed Vacuo's fate, just to beat me. Let this Academy fall, to get your hands on that Relic and destroyed your one way home to acquire it. And now you'll never get back."
If Naruto was at all rankled by her words he did little to show it. A bitter breeze tugged at his bloody blond bangs, heralding a rapidly approaching sandstorm. He didn't even seem to notice. His dull blue eyes were fixed upon the sword lying at his feet and nothing else.
And still the sandstorm came.
No matter. She'd be long gone by the time the storm arrived-
"You're going to call off those Grimm."
Salem blinked, momentarily bemused by the sudden demand.
"Or what, dear?" she smiled at him, wholly unfazed. "You can't kill me."
He raised his gaze, considering her for a long moment, his once lively blue eyes gone cold and dull. Never once taking his gaze from hers, he knelt down before her. Was he giving up? No, she realized with a rising pang of confusion, he was retrieving the Relic of Destruction, dragging its edge in the sands.
...who said anything about killing you?
His eyes widened.
No. Surely not.
Naruto wasn't cruel. Stupid at times and dense as a brick, but not cruel.
The blond shuffled towards her at a sedate pace, and Salem froze, momentarily torn between the Relic in his hands and the sandstorm at her back.
It cost her.
"Wait!" she flung up an arm and stepped back as he came within range. "We can talk about this! WAIT-
Too late; the Relic swept down, biting heavily into his collarbone. Black blood flew through the air, and with it a startled cry.
She healed almost instantly thanks to her curse, but the Relic itself wasn't so easily bested; her pain remained, sure and deep as the wound she'd received. As she reeled Naruto's swept her legs, sending her sprawling to the sands. He stomped down on her back and pinned her there, braved the blade with both hands over his head and:
"HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE HELPLESS?!"
Agony snarled through her spine as the Relic pierced between her shoulders.
"HOW DOES IT FEEL TO KNOW PAIN?!"
The blade burst through her neck.
"I WATCHED SO MANY DIE IN HORROR!"
He ripped it free, filling her lungs with blood.
"CRYING AS THEY WERE ALL SLAIN!"
Down came the Relic anew, savaging her lower back.
"I HEARD THEIR FINAL MOMENTS!"
Its slender edge split her skull, forcing it to regenerate.
"CALLING MY NAME IN VAIN!"
Salem snarled and rolled onto her back and flung a hand, ready to blast him with her magic.
The Relic of Destruction sang and the hand came off, alongside most of her arm beside, leaving her spell to blow up in her face. The pain was horrific, for that was what the Relic of Destruction did. Destroy. Harm. Inflict pain. And which it could not break...oh gods. Was she going to feel this pain forever?!
Naruto was already winding back for another stab, burying the blade in her belly, bringing his face mere inches from her, snarling in her face.
"LOOK WHAT YOU TURNED ME INTO!"
He tore the blade free, opening her stomach as he did, drawing a pained shriek from her.
"LOOK WHAT I'VE BECOME!"
A downward slice obliterated her nose and this time, she managed to bat the blade away. "Enough!"
"ALL OF THE PAIN THAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!"
He slashed harder, hacking her hand off at the elbow. It too began to regenerate, but he was already swinging down before she could muster another spell. And the pain. The pain, the pain, the PAIN! It built with every swing of his sword, each battering of his blade, the point puncturing her again and again without end. She could not die, yes, but she felt every single slash.
And he wasn't stopping! Gasping, she tried to catch the blade with her regrown hand. "Stop!"
"HAVEN'T WE SUFFERED ENOUGH?!"
He ripped it from her palm and buried it between her breasts, heedless of her scream. "STOP!"
"YOU DIDN'T STOP WHEN I BEGGED YOU!"
Naruto shoved the blade up under her chin, nailing her tongue to the roof off her mouth. He held it there, blue eyes glaring balefully into red before tearing it free and leaving her to choke.
"TOLD ME TO CLOSE MY HEART!"
She spat at him. "You...
"YOU SAID THE WORLD WAS DARK!"
He drove the blade through her right eye and into her brain.
...MONSTER!" Salem cursed his very name, loathing every fiber of his being.
Naruto ignored the word, twisted the blade in her skull, and tore out her eyeball and bit of grey matter besides. Uncaring of the filthy state of his blade, he swung back one more, prepared not to deliver the coup de grace as a true knight might, but fully prepared to torture her for the rest of eternity.
And he would, wouldn't he?
She might be immortal, but he wouldn't let her escape. He wouldn't stop; now that he knew how to hurt her, he'd chase her to the ends of Remnant. Every day would be more of the same. She couldn't fight him off; she'd already tried that. And the pain...it was getting worse. She could scarcely see straight now, let alone think. Every slash added to it, no matter how many times she healed. This was magic most foul, a blighted creation of the Gods that cared not for her Curse, only how much pain it caused her.
It was torture.
It was worth than death.
It was her every fear made manifest.
"DIDN'T YOU SAW THAT RUTHLESSNESS IS MERCY UPON OUR-
"ALRIGHT!"
The Relic of Destruction stopped just shy of beheading her. It hovered over her neck, lingering, steel kissing her throat. Black blood bubbled across its blighted edge, ready to continue its unholy task.
"Please...!" she all but rasped the word, gazing pleadingly upon him with her good eye. "Mercy...
He didn't respond. Why should he? She knew what he wished of her.
She ordered her Grimm to stand down, willed them away, forced them to turn on each other, anything that got them out of Vacuo faster. It was the work of moments, not mintues, before they were gone.
Hefting his prize, the lost shinobi shouldered the Relic and prepared to walk away...until she hissed at his back. "After everything you've done, how will you sleep at night...?!"
He rounded on her, stabbed the blade into the ground, then leaned upon it for good measure to stare at her.
When he finally smiled, it was an old, tired thing, more ancient than her and Ozma combined.
"Next to my wife."
Her jaw clicked open. That was it? All this?! For such a reason...?!
Not world domination, not some silly harem, but all this, ALL OF THIS for one woman?!
Salem twitched in sheer disbelief. "You little fool...!
"Maybe. But I'll be a happy one."
It wasn't fair. If she'd met a man like this, someone who simply refused to lay down and die, she might never have been cursed in the first place. She would've been happy. Her children would've been safe, and their children, and their children's children thereafter. She would've died long ago, ignorant to pain, unknown to suffering or sorrow. It was unfair. So wretchedly unfair. If only she'd known him. If only she'd been aware of his existence, if only she'd seen him first...!
Unfair, unfair, unfair unfairunfairunfair...!
Coupled with the pain she even now suffered, this revelation-the realization-was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Her magic roiled wildly, unable to compensate for her erratic emotions. It was all too much for her. After eons and eons, time immemorial, she couldn't handle it, couldn't cut it, couldn't take it anymore.
She giggled.
It began with that tiny little snicker. Laughter bubbled up past her lips. She clutched at her sides, unable to do anything but giggle. Words failed her. Sense abandoned her. Her mind broke and her psyche shattered into a thousand pieces now as she doubled over and kept laughing like a madwoman.
Naruto shouldered his Relic and walked away.
Salem scarcely notice him.
She'd done insane.
A/N: Did you enjoy the teaser? Do let me know!
RWBY may be in limbo at the moment, but we fanfiction writers are out here trying to keep the light alive, as it were. 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.
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