0.0
"Carla," Wendy called out worriedly.
The feline in question had landed them near the front of the capital, overlooking the vast wilderness of Worth Woodsea. They had settled atop one of the roofs of a spacious abode, awaiting whatever it is that was to come. As she looked up at her charge, Carla could feel the wariness and confusion swell within the young girl upon hearing Naruto's frustrated voice carry through the telepathy link.
"Ignore him and cut off the link," she instructed plainly. But upon seeing Wendy's hesitation, she raised her voice, "Just trust me and do it!"
:Wendy, don't!: There was a frustrated sigh. :Damn interference! Look, just tell me where you—:
Carla cut off the link without preamble. "Did you do it?"
Head bowed, Wendy nodded her head in affirmation, turning away from her and refusing to even glance at her direction.
"Good. I know that wasn't easy, but it was necessary."
Wendy voice out one simple question:
"Why?"
"I-I," Carla faltered. "I can't explain what it is so easily, but it's just something you have to trust me on. It's just best for the both of us to be away from Naruto for the time being."
"But we can't just run away from Naruto! We're a team! We're supposed to help each other! Trying to run away and hide all these secrets, it-it's... stupid! What kind of team are we? Don't we trust one another?!"
"Don't be so naïve! Everyone—" Carla stressed, staring at Wendy pointedly, "—keeps secrets. And Naruto, who knows how many skeletons he has in his closet? How much do you think he's withheld from us all these years? Can you honestly tell me where he's from, Wendy? What he's been doing for the past sixteen years before he came to the guild? Or what he's truly capable of? Have you never wondered why something never truly sat right with him; the little things that would have made sense to a child and yet he doesn't know it?"
Wendy fell silent at that.
Schooling her features, Carla continued, "Besides, what I'm about to tell you is no secret. I've had a really bad omen that something might happen to us, to our guild, and no matter what I can't shake off this feeling."
That caught Wendy's attention.
"What? Our guild?"
"Wendy," Carla whispered. "Doesn't that seem familiar to you?"
A distinctive landscape came into view in the distant horizon; a view that greeted them every morning in the small community housing Cait Shelter. The steep slope leading up that they—as a team—had scaled out of sheer boredom in their downtime between missions. Carla knew it was a memory Wendy wouldn't soon forget.
"That's our guild," Wendy mumbled anxiously. "They're heading towards our guild."
"Don't you see that—"
"Naruto!" Wendy shouted. "It's heading towards our guild! They're going to destroy Cait Shelter!" A small pool of tears started to gather around her eyes as she told him, "Stop them, Naruto! You have to stop them!"
"Wendy! What are you doing?!"
The Dragon Slayer was too far gone to listen. "We're just north of the tower, but Carla and I will go ahead and warn everyone at the guild to escape!" Wendy stood straighter as she squared her shoulders, and Carla could see the firm resolution spark in her misty eyes. "We can't let our guild be destroyed!"
Carla could feel her anger pouring off herself in waves as she trembled in place. What had Wendy done? Things were going to get worse—so much worse.
"Stop it! Cut off the link now!"
"Naruto needs to know! We need all the help we can get!"
"You stubborn little girl! You don't understand anything! Why couldn't you just listen to me?!"
It marked the first time she had ever snapped at Wendy, and even the girl knew it, judging how she fell silent at Carla's sudden tirade; how far she had crossed the line at that very moment.
"Now," Carla continued, her voice strangled and subdued. "Now everything's going to come true."
A suffocating pause settled between them.
"Carla," Wendy voiced out hesitantly. "W-What's going to come—" She stopped all of a sudden, as she stared, slack-jawed, at something behind the feline.
"Yes, pray tell... What's going to come true?"
It was Midnight.
His eyes were half-lidded to almost completely shut, highlighting the black eyeliner shadowing his paralysing red eyes. He regarded her and Wendy with a tiny frown, and that alone was able to stun them into a stupor. He bent down and picked her up by the neck, gripping it tight like she was a mere plaything.
Carla could only struggle feebly against his hold.
"How absolutely droll," he said, ignoring his previous question. "Where's the rest of this mighty alliance of yours? Don't they know it's dangerous to let kids like you to wander around at night?"
Finally finding her voice, Wendy let out one final plea through the telepathy link:
"N-Naruto, h-help..."
With a trembling hand raised, she made the motion to slash the air in front of her, but the spell didn't materialise.
Midnight's face was pleasantly patient. "Try again," he said, his voice was gentle and understanding, "I'm sure you can do it."
Carla could only watch in quiet anguish as his reaction caused Wendy to become a nervous wreck. Her earlier vision replayed in her mind with vivid clarity. So consumed by the need to protect Wendy from what she saw Naruto become, Carla never even considered the notion of what, or whom, could have possibly cause her vision of him to come true.
It was her fault—and she knew it.
There was no Naruto to blame this time.
She had taken them away from their one safety net, and Wendy was utterly crushed without the familiar presence by her side. While Naruto would have protected them with his life, she had all but forfeited theirs.
"Sharp winds that... that tear the hea-heavens asunder! Ictus!"
The translucent streak of silvery light didn't meet its target. Just centimetres from Midnight, it stopped dead and zipped back towards Wendy—faster than what she could have ever managed in practice.
Wendy blacked out from the unexpected reversal.
The blunt, horizontal attack hammered her small form without mercy. It lifted her off her feet, her body folding into itself as it connected against her mid-section. She was flung off the roof like a ragdoll, colliding against the adjacent building forcefully. It left a deep imprint as dust and falling debris settled over her listless form.
Eyes wide and trembling, Carla shouted desperately, "W-Wendy!"
"Help isn't going to come, sweetpea. Not in time for you, at least." With a cruel, vindictive smile, he swiped his free arm wide towards the unconscious Dragon Slayer and intoned:
"Spiral Pain."
0.0
Thump! Thump!
Panting, Naruto could feel his rapid heartbeat pound in his ears; his surroundings were on mute for all he cared. His brain was on auto-pilot, guiding him towards where he knew his team would be and he all but willed himself to go faster. In his dazed state, all his mind could do was replay Wendy's meek, desperate plea to come save her.
Over.
And over.
And over again.
Whatever grace and finesse imbued in his gait vanished as he landed onto the stone pavement with a deep and audible crack, the boost in his power from his Sage Mode sending fragments of rock to fly off in every direction. His breathing got steadily faster and shallower as he took in the sight before him. Try as he might, his mind flashed back to what felt like a previous life; how a girl had tried but failed to save him and how she had paid the price in blood.
Her frail and prone body laid deep in the small crater, face-down on the ground as her long hair splayed across her features, shielding her face from view. Her yellow and blue pinstriped dress, the one Magna had given her for her previous birthday, was in tatters and stained in a rich crimson. The wing-like designs she had adored so much had been symbolically ripped off in what seemed like a crude gesture to mock her. What stood out the most was her hand; kept away from her body as if she was reaching out.
To him.
He felt something welling up in his eyes as he stared on in muted horror.
Remember, Naruto...
"Aah..." Naruto breathed out, panting.
Midnight regarded him with an almost pitying look. "Mister hero was too late, it seemed."
Standing over the prone form of his victim, Midnight then threw his feline hostage against one of the surrounding stone abodes with an almighty crack. Carla slid to the ground with a pathetic whimper, a single eye peeking open that went unnoticed.
Undaunted by his sudden arrival, Midnight took a step forward and pressed his foot atop Wendy's head. One could hear the not-so subtle crunch of gravel as her face was grounded into the crater. "Are you strong, Naruto-san?" Midnight asked, as he pressed down harder. "Because I've been looking for a challenge, someone who can really excite the blood. I hope you won't disappoint."
Do not be swayed in the presence of Nirvana...
"Aah..."
His mind went absolutely blank. Naruto could hardly draw his eyes away from Wendy's fallen form. He could feel the familiar yet foreign presence start to invade his body, its malignant aura staining the very essence of his soul.
The evil lurking within you will corrupt and devour you whole...
"Aah..."
Your faith...
But it was a welcomed sensation. It filled the turmoil in his heart with a new distraction—rage.
Mindless, indescribable rage.
Your faith in yourself must remain strong...
"...Ha."
His entire being trembling, Naruto let out an muted scream and saw red. In the back of his subconscious, he would hear a voice—a voice he would forever remember as the one who had caused him to lose all self-control.
.
.
.
When love gives birth to sacrifice, which brings forth hatred, only then will it let you know pain.
Yes...
Know pain.