A/N: Posting super late at night because of that other fanfic. The one I've been reading. It's just too compelling and well-written! Until I finish My Craft, I can expect to near-miss all of my self-set deadlines. (A Minecraft fanfic, by OnTheCobb, featuring a protagonist who initially knows nothing about the world of Minecraft and thus is easy to read even if you have never played the game! Check it out! It's not finished, but is still being regularly updated, with the most recent update only a couple of weeks ago!)
*ahem*
Alright, with that out of my system... This chapter. I had fun with this one.
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Tobi
It was very dark and slippery. It had been so for a long time: hours, perhaps days. Tobi could not travel anywhere without slipping on an uncertain surface or tripping over a broken edge. The darkness didn't help.
Sometimes this combination of darkness and destruction took the form of a thunderstorm. Sometimes it took the form of an earthquake at night. It took lots of other forms too, anything that Tobi could think of that seemed appropriate. But truthfully, there was no storm and the time of day did not matter. The inner world was dark because it was in danger of ceasing to exist, and it was slippery and broken because the mind that controlled it was no longer reliable. Tobi slipped when the ground underfoot changed its physical properties without warning, without control. In the blink of an eye, it could turn from solid surface to choppy waves for no apparent reason. Other things were equally affected; the castle remained a castle, but its appearance flickered between "secure stronghold" and "ominous lair" so quickly and so often that Tobi could not be sure how safe the castle was. The horse stable outside the castle was normally Tobi's refuge, but the magnificent animals inside occasionally became menacing wild beasts barely held in check by chains. Tobi sought refuge in the village, but the village was the darkest part of the whole inner world. The village barely existed; Tobi suffered little from light deprivation because a single step in any direction would result in leaving the village. And Tobi could do nothing to change that.
Ironically, the forest became Tobi's refuge. The forest had always been dangerous and unstable. Tobi felt better in the forest because the danger was familiar, expected. Tobi hid behind a rock and tried to forget the mental images of a secure home becoming a bastion of evil, trusted companions turning into bloodthirsty monsters. The forest was the only location that was still what it had always been.
Light levels began to fluctuate. Things stopped changing their properties quite so rapidly, but still Tobi was extremely careful. Tobi traveled through the forest towards the dragon's lair. Tobi did this partly out of habit and partly out of a need for distraction, but partly because of a suspicion that the dragon was somehow responsible for the devastation. There was no telling what to expect. "La la la, magic voice, magic voice," Tobi quietly sang. That was Tobi's only form of protection.
As Tobi neared the edge of the forest, light levels fell until it was like walking in a forest at night on a full moon. Shadows were deep and black, and only the faint beams shining through the trees illuminated anything. But there were very few of such beams. Tobi navigated the forest through familiarity and touch, fearing all the while that the forest could have sprouted hostile animals with perfect night vision who stalked poor defenseless Tobi even at the very moment that Tobi thought of them.
It was a relief to reach the tree line. The open land surrounding the dragon's cave wasn't any brighter, but at least it wasn't so shadowy. One glance at the cave told Tobi that the dragon was inside. Instinct told Tobi that entering the cave was impossible, and it was always impossible for Tobi to directly perceive the dragon. So Tobi crept up to the side of the cave and sat hidden inside a crevice, listening hard.
Tobi heard…nothing.
Darkness means not existing. Tobi looked around. The landscape, deprived of light, existed in as stable a form as it always had. It was not disappearing the way the village was. But it looked fragile - brittle. The village was and always had been very fluid. When the light returned, the village would return at the same instant. But the dragon's cave was never fluid. It was stiff, inflexible, not changing. In its weakened state, it was in danger of shattering like glass. If that happened, it would stay in shards forever, not healing. The strongest part of the inner world had become the weakest. Tobi didn't know what would happen if the dragon's cave broke, but was sure that would result in apocalypse. This part of the inner world had to be protected. But how?
Tobi crept away from the mouth of the cave. "Magic voice, magic voice, weaving a spell." Tobi sang about how pretty birds were, and why were butterflies called butterflies when they should be called flutterbies, and la la lala lala laaaa. It had little effect. Tobi paused to think of a song that might be more powerful. In a courageous voice, Tobi sang, "O fearsome beast, o fearsome beast… Thy scales are strong and…scary."
Tobi wasn't sure what effect that had. Unlike the village, the dragon's cave and surrounding forest did not make obvious anything that was done to them. Tobi thought something might have changed after that last song. But before Tobi could take a closer look, instinct warned, Too long! Tobi ran back to the forest. Tobi could not stay in the vicinity of the cave for very long. There was nothing to do except go back home, check on the village and castle, and hope to return to the cave soon. "Magic voice, magic voice, saving the world…"
Madara
Strong.
That was the first thought Madara had while drifting back into consciousness. There had been the fight. Great pain. Trouble breathing. For the first time, he had felt fear that he might actually, physically die. Then…nothing.
Until now.
Strong.
Madara became aware of very faint sparkles drifting through the air. He tried to step forward, but couldn't. There was no "forward." Only these faint sparkles. When he touched them, they felt like aching and machine sounds. A hospital. This body is barely alive.
I nearly got it killed.
Madara wanted to slink back, close his eyes, sleep. Thinking of how close he had come to causing his own death made him feel weak, fatigued.
Fearsome. Strong.
Madara shook his head. Where are these thoughts coming from? He didn't know, and it didn't matter. They shook him back to his senses. He must not accept weakness. He had never given up or accepted defeat before, and he wasn't going to start.
Scary.
But lashing out, attacking, was the very thing that had landed him in the hospital. If he had just curled up and let that little fairy-drake try to attack him, it wouldn't have been able to. It wouldn't have found a single weak point in his scales. From start to finish, from top to bottom, that battle was a display of failure on his part. He should be ashamed of every minute of it.
Scales.
Madara settled back. He closed his eyes. True invulnerability came from the inside out. He saw that now.
Next time, his mouth would be just as armored as the rest of him.
Obito
Medically-induced sleep was a powerful force. Obito had no dreams at all. No sensation. Nothing.
When it finally ended, the first thing he felt was pins and needles all over the right side of his body. When he tried to move his arm and leg on that side, the pins and needes vanished to reveal a deeper underlying ache. It felt like his very bones were aching. The pins and needles were preferable. Obito held still, hoping they would come back. Ow… It hurts… It even hurts to breathe. He took a deeper breath than normal. It was hard, like taking an extra-strong suck from a narrow straw. So dry! And now his chest ached. He felt hot and cold all over. It was like being sick with the world's worst flu. He tried to open his eyes, and found that even they felt dry. The effort was painful and it demanded too much strength. I can't even open my eyes. Am I going to die?
"We're here," said a gentle and comforting voice. White Zetsu! "We're here, Obi."
Obito tried to swallow. It felt like being stabbed in the throat. The pain made him tired. He tried to thank Zetsu in his head, but fell into half-sleep before he could. It was a half-sleep filled with inescapable pain. In other words, easily one of the top twenty-five most agonizing experiences of his life.
He was helpless against pain, both inside and out. Pain in his body and in his mind. Pain in his very breath -
Madara
His physical body had armor neither on the skin nor in the mouth. Nonetheless, Madara imagined himself to have armor in both places. Even if his armor was only imaginary, that was better than the nonexistent armor Obito wore.
A gentle touch caressed his left shoulder. "We're here," Black Zetsu whispered.
Madara did not lash out. He had learned: lashing out revealed gaps in his armor. Right now, he needed his defenses intact. He ignored Zetsu and tried to move his left arm. It moved with a minimum of pain, though a bit stiffly. He then tried to move his right. The bone-deep aching returned full force, along with a much greater degree of stiffness. It was like wearing a straightjacket. Madara tried his legs, with similar results. It must be a result of that old injury, long ago. That injury has not caused any degree of impairment before, but this newer injury seems to have reactivated it. How?
"Don't move too much," White Zetsu warned. "You were poisoned. The tissue that I donated long ago didn't react to the poison, but the rest of you did."
"So a lot of the flesh on your right arm, leg and chest tried to swell, only to be blocked by other flesh that didn't," Black Zetsu continued. "It caused more damage beyond the poison."
"The poison was from a really bad insect sting," White Zetsu said. "The doctors have already treated it. Your body should calm down in the next day or so. Right now, the worst injury you have is from what Ani described, so don't move your right side."
"Lift your left hand if you want us to request painkillers."
Madara's first instinct was to refuse. But then, he reconsidered. I am the only personality who can tolerate this level of pain. Do I really want to stay in control, serving as a human shield for a full day? I have better things to do with my time. He raised his left hand. Then he wiggled his fingers, indicating that they should pay further attention, and mimed pouring a pitcher.
"Pouring? Liquid! Water," White Zetsu said. "Gotcha. We'll ask for some nurses to lift you up and help you drink." Madara lowered his hand. They left the room.
Thankfully, he was on a bed that could change shape. All the nurse had to do was press and hold a button, then lift his shoulders and stack two pillows underneath for a more upright posture. Madara forced his eye open. The room looked unnaturally vivid. He realized he had that special eye out and sent it away. But as he drank from the cup that the nurse lifted to his lips, it returned. He sent it away, only for it to come back again. Is my current condition involuntarily triggering it?
After the nurse left, Zetsu handed over the mask. Madara put it on one-handed. "The Sharingan," Black Zetsu said. "You can't seem to make it go away."
Madara nodded.
Black Zetsu narrowed his eye. "...Can you speak?"
There was no way to avoid revealing his identity, so Madara did not bother. He pulled the pillows out from beneath his head, leaned back and wondered how a chakra-activated eye could be involuntarily triggered. More importantly, when would he regain control? Not having control over one of his basic senses was very…disconcerting.
"Thank you very much for almost getting all three of you killed," Black Zetsu spat. "Some guardian you are."
Madara turned his head to look at Zetsu.
"You're just like the people that ruined Obito's life," Black Zetsu continued. "But you aren't supposed to be one of them. You're only supposed to be enough like them to fight them off, their own tricks turned back against them, the way your own biting teeth defeated and nearly killed you." He glowered at Madara with undisguised hatred. "But apparently, you are useless even at that."
"Tone it down, Ani!" White Zetsu whispered.
"Fine." Black Zetsu propelled them out of the room. White Zetsu had no choice but to cooperate. As the door clicked shut, Madara was left alone with a lot of time to kill and much to think about. I don't need to be out for that. He slunk back, leaving his ravaged body to slumber.
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A/N: I really really like this system of characters, and the inner world is just so cool! The writing possibilities with a setup like this are fantastic!
Anyway, I need to sleep. See y'all next week.