2,476A/N: Would you look at that? Rapid updates!
Weekly updates!
Amazing what a little feedback can do, eh? Downright miraculous.
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
So here we have a little something that never quite made it past the cutting floor. Hope you enjoy it.
As ever in the words of Kaif...
...SPOILERS!
"One must always heed good counsel...
~?
Wise Words
Radahn's time had come.
He knew it had, and how he loathed the coming dawn. On the morrow, his forces would clash with those of Malenia. His arm would meet hers in the Caelid Wilds. Come what may. The winner would determine the fate of the Lands Between. He did not relish the idea of facing his half-sister in combat, but he knew it was a necessity. If she would not see reason, if she would not heed counsel, then she'd left him no choice. He would face her and hers in combat and knock some sense into the lot of them.
He'd lost enough family to this wretched Shattering. He would not lose another.
"Don't fight her, big guy."
Five little words. A simple set of syllables.
And yet they threatened to turn the course of destiny.
General Radahn turned away from his war table, away from his sprawled maps and plans. He did not reach for his blades. Not even as he turned to face the figure lurking in the shadows of his tent. There was no need; for he felt no fear. He hadn't felt such in an age.
"Who might you be?"
"Bit of a wanderer." the hooded newcomer tapped his gnarled staff against the ground. "I've been going around putting out fires for the last yea, and lemme tell ya, I've had just about enough it. So I came to give you a warning."
A dark brow quirked.
"Simple. Don't fight fair." Quick as a flash he upended that dark ringed weapon and leveled it at his chest. "You go out there, and maybe ya win, sure. Maybe you're able to put some order back into this rotten world." slim shoulders rose and fell in a spry shrug. "But from what I've seen of her, Malenia's a sore loser, precisely because she's never lost. Whose to say she'll play fair?"
Dark words, but they brought a question with them. "...and you did not think to speak with her, instead?"
The man's mouth opened. Closed. Frowned.
"I just did. Use a shadow clone." Whiskered cheeks dimpled in a scowl. "She's a stubborn bitch. Barely got nine words in before she lopped my head off."
He knew not what a shadow clone was, but it sounded like some manner of sorcery. That alone helped endear the stranger to him. Radahn was a man of honor, after all. This one rather reminded him of a teacher he'd known in an age past. Sharper, perhaps, but no less dangerous.
...and had he not lost enough of his family to his wretched war? Perhaps his half-sister would yet see reason on the morrow.
"Speak more, oh wise sage." he sat down with an effort, doing his best not to startle the wise man who had crept into his camp. "I would hear your counsel."
"Sage?" A blond brow quirked within the hood. "Haven't been called that in a while, ya know. There's been plenty of names since I landed here, soothsayer, sorcerer, simpleton, but sage? Not that."
...might I see your face?"
A low laugh. "Sure, but its not a pretty one...
The man reached back and pulled away his hood.
Radahn, Starscourge Radahn, flinched at what he found there.
He'd expected scars with a hood like that to be sure, but nay, not this...
Limned in the firelight, he found himself gazing upon a hard-bitten blond with whiskered cheeks, his once-blue eyes covered by a grisly web of scars. They had healed, but poorly. What had caused such a wound? Rot? Fire perhaps? He didn't want to think what might have wounded such a man like this, let alone made the wound stick. Stranger still, he seemed all the more dangerous for it; as though the loss of his sight had only made him all the more fearsome; even more of a force to be reckoned with before.
Sure enough when he shifted his great bulk to the right, the blond's body shifted as well, tracking him.
"If you fight her, and I'm thinking you still might despite my warning, you need to put her down hard. Don't give her the chance to surprise you.
Radahn glowered but a little. "Such is not honorable."
"Honor? Bah! The young man clicked his tongue, tugged up his hood and walked out. "Honor's all well and good." His voice remained, echoing after him. "But there's a point where honor gets good men killed...or blinded. I have seen enough "honorable" men die deaths they didn't deserve. Think of your men tomorrow, general.
"Wait!" Radahn reached a gauntlet after him. "I would have your name!"
The stranger paused at the threshold.
"Naruto. Lets fix this world, eh?"
A/N: Prize for the one who figures out how Naruto lost his eyes. Wasn't subtle about it.
Might tweak this later if this ever becomes a story or somesuch.
And there we have it. Request fulfilled.
Do you want this to be a story? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard! Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular story, and others.
If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly? And have some previews -potential blot bin things- that I'm working on.
(Previews)
Slim arms enfolded him from behind.
"Dearest Miquella, oh, brother. Whatever will I do with you?"
He still wasn't used to that name. Even now. It always took a second to respond.
"Me?!" Naruto looked up from his book. "You're the one picking fights, Melania! Must be the redhead in you."
She thumped him with a pillow and he fell out his cot with a laugh.
They were children, after all.
A grinning God caught the knife in his open hand.
"Do be careful." the smile of "Godwyn" was pure and bright as ever, but now there was an edge to that golden grace. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to kill me." his figners closed around the weapon, both crushing it and the arm of his would be killer. "That would be terribly rude, you know."
There was a moment of hesitation. Then the Black Knife Assassins descended upon him as one.
The god grinned, whipped his victim at them, and lunged with a roar
Bodies hit the floor.
"Right, screw this! Burning it down!"
"I will have order. One way or another."
...you appear to be under the impression that I'm going to fight you fairly. Tell me, Mohg. Was what you did fair?"
"I suppose that depends on your definition of the word-
The omen's head snapped back, spitting teeth.
R&R~!