All the rights of Naruto and Lord of Msyteries belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Cuttlefish Who Loves Diving respectfully.
"Speech"
'Thought'
Onomatopoeia
______________________
'Ugh. My head hurts. What is-'
As he regained consciousness, Damian tried opening his eyes from the pain, but without any success, as his body wasn't answering. He felt like he was made of lead with how heavy his joints and limbs felt.
'Damn, what is happening? Is this what sleep paralysis feels like? How annoying. But this won't stop me!'
Over time, however, he started regaining the sensations of his body. First he could flex his fingers, then he could slightly move his hands and feet, and after a couple of unknown minutes, he could finally move most of his body, though not without effort.
As he regained the feeling of touch again, he noticed something rather peculiar. He wasn't lying down on his back, instead he was sitting upright in what seemed like a chair, but not made of wood, no, from what he felt it seemed to be made of some kind of metal as his arms seemed to be resting on its chair arms. This just started bringing even more questions, as he didn't remember owning any sort of fancy furniture like this one in his house. In fact, he doesn't remember going to sleep either. The last thing he remembered was-
"Hello, my dear guest."
Suddenly a voice that gave him chills down his spine spoke. He opened his eyes to see the voice's owner, only to be greeted by a sight that would be forever etched in his memory.
He was seated at the end of a long bronze table, but what surrounded him wasn't a room, but rather fog. A gray, thick fog that surrounded the whole place, as well as brilliant red dots, similar to stars that shone through the space-like environment and giant stone pillars that gave the place a feeling of grandeur in the same vein as a palace. But what took his breath away was what was at the other end of the table.
In it rested a figure shrouded by the same fog, wearing clothes reminiscent of a circus seer, being covered by a long, black windbreaker. Their facial features were not just covered by the clothing, but the fog seemed to focus on its face, making their face safe from any form of recognition. Yet, from it he still could see their expression.
And they were smiling.
"W-who are you?" The figure chuckled in response while looking directly at his eyes. A gaze that seemed to be able to see right through his soul.
"Welcome to Sefirah Castle, young one. I am known by many names, but you may address me as The Fool."
'The Fool? What is- Wait, no!' Where is he? What happened to him? Last thing he remembered was walking back home with his friends after his high school graduation ceremony when suddenly he heard a loud noise, followed by a piercing pain that lasted for only a brief second before he lost consciousness.
"I can see you're confused. Questioning where and how did you end up here."
The figure kept the gaze upon him, and it was starting to unsettle him deeply.
"The answer won't be easy, but to put it simply: you died."
"I- What?! What do you mean? How-" Suddenly, without warning, images came upon his head. He watched himself crossing the street as he talked with his friends when suddenly, out of nowhere, a car crashed onto him. He remembered seeing the headlights for but a single instant, before he was hit and ran over. He didn't even have time to scream, it all happened in a matter of seconds. Just like that, his life was over
He…was at a loss for words. This wasn't possible.
'This is a dream, right? Please it can't be…'
"Unfortunately for you, this is not a dream. You are dead, simply as that."
His eyes became unfocused. His breath, ragged.
'I lost…everything. My family, my friends, my dreams, everything is just…gone.'
"...I am sorry. For what happened to you, I truly am." He looked at the strange figure expression, which had become melancholic, its smile gaining a somber look.
"...Heh."
He wanted to blame this figure for what happened. He wanted to shout in anger at the unfairness of it all. 'Why me? Just…why?'
"Heh. 'sob sob' Hehehehe. 'sob sob' Hahahahahaha-" He cried and laughed. How couldn't he? Just what was this bizarre situation? One second he was crossing a street, minding his business, when suddenly he just…died? There wasn't even a kid or person to save, nor someone to save him at that opportune moment. His friends couldn't even react in time to see the situation, the car being that fast didn't even give someone the chance to see or do anything. He was just killed without even the opportunity to say goodbye, and now? He was suddenly flung into a place beyond his understanding, sitting across a supernatural being, from which he felt shivers just looking at it. This situation was macabre, horrifying and weird, so much so that he couldn't help himself.
"-hahahaha. 'sob' Well, what now, Sir Fool?" There was nothing that could be done in this situation, so Damian decided on the best course of action in this situation. He cleaned his tear-stained face and smiled towards the figure, he was still shaking under his boots just looking at the otherworldly being but decided to adopt a relaxed, or at least, as relaxed as he could look front. No matter how much despair Damian was feeling at the moment, his rationality still prevailed, and with it came many, many questions.
'Who is this figure?' 'I died so why am I here?' 'Did they have something to do with that?' What do they want?' All of these questions swarmed inside his head, and from it surged both the wish to know more and the necessity to take a cautionary approach towards the one known as The Fool.
The Fool for his part looked at Damian with an indecipherable expression as if he was some kind of peculiarity, that is, before he decided to start snickering.
Damian was confused. 'Did I do something funny? Oh no! Was this being an Evil God of sorts? One who laughs at the suffering of the common people? What should I do in this case? Get on my knees? Lick their shoes?'
As he thought such ridiculous things, the figure snicker became a cackling, seemingly holding their chest as if it found something extraordinarily funny. Whatever lofty appearance The Fool possessed became null as he saw the figure trying to breathe as it laughed madly. Soon though, the laughing stopped and once again it looked at Damian, this time with a barely concealed smirk.
"You are truly one of a kind. I didn't need to use any of my powers to calm you down. To be able to smile like that despite being in complete despair, even maintaining your rationality despite everything! Yes, you're indeed perfect."
"…Um, perfect for what?"
"For becoming my successor of course."
'I am sorry. Successor?'
"Damian Freeman, I'll give you two choices. Either pass away peacefully, or listen to this fool's last request. However, remember that once you listen to it, your fate will be sealed and you won't be able to say no."
'…Really now. I am truly unfortunate. Catching this being's attention and making a mockery of a choice. As if there is any.'
"sigh What request?"
The being gave Damian a knowing look, as if expecting the choice to be made, something that profoundly annoyed him, though he didn't voice it.
"You see, after a confrontation against certain…enemies of mine, I exhausted almost all of my power. However, I know that one of them still lives."
"...And you want me to?"
"Kill them, of course. In return, I'll resurrect you and give you the remnants of my power."
Damian couldn't help but scoff at the Fool's proposal, not just because of its absurdity, but mainly because of how unfair it was. Who could resist after all? A chance to be brought back to life? And with powers? It's an offer too good to be true, and one he had absolute no choice but to accept.
"And who this enemy might be?"
"You will know when you see them."
He couldn't help but internally grumble.
'Pass away peacefully' he says. Having to choose between death and living again it's not a choice! Tch! What makes all of this more annoying is how I have no way of knowing he had anything to do with my demise or not. And most importantly, I have no clue in relation to who the enemy is. Well, he did warn me once I listened I wouldn't be able to say no. So I guess I owe myself a slap for that.'
The figure observed him quietly with an imperceptible smile. Damian couldn't tell at all what he was thinking, but knew from how he talked previously that it could hear his thoughts. Not like he could do anything about it.
"chuckle Good to see you becoming so accepting of your new reality."
"'Accept what you can't change.' As they say sigh…So, what now?" With barely contained excitement, The Fool smile became incomparably brighter, almost manic in nature.
"Now, we shake on it." His eyes closed and he looked at Damian like a suspicious uncle offering free candy to a child. Damian felt chills running down his spine.
"Ok, but stop smiling like that! It's creepy…" He said getting up from the chair and coming towards the strange figure. He really did not want to do this, but he did not have a choice. He had almost, no, he was a hundred percent certain he was getting scammed here, but at this point he did not care.
Everything he ever cared for was gone, so why bother caring about whatever this being was offering? Scam or not, this was his only choice.
Finally getting in front of the mysterious being, he extended his hand towards him. The Fool did the same and soon gripped the hand of Damian. However once that happened the vision of Damian started darkening, his consciousness fading.
"Everything will become clear once you wake up, until then…
"Stay well."
///
"Waaaaaaaaaaah!"
"It's okay, sweetie. Mom is here so relax, okay?" In a humble two floor house, a woman with light brown hair was trying to calm her newborn son with a strained smile on her face. The woman's name was Haruno Mebuki, a chunin of Konohagakure, currently on maternity leave to take care of her baby boy, Haruno Tsubaki.
As she slowly rocked her swaddled baby and he started calming down…
"I am home!" A man came-in loudly, startling the baby, who once more began crying. The mother, seeing that, sighed and looked at the man responsible for making her efforts go down the drain. The happy-go-lucky man with dark pink hair was none other than her husband, Haruno Kizashi.
"Hm? What's the problem, dear?" Why was his dear wife looking like she wanted to burn him with her eyes.
"What's the problem?" She echoed his words as she slowly approached him with steady steps, making him slowly back away.
"You make too much noise, you dumbass! Look at what you've done! You made Tsubaki cry again, and right when he was about to sleep!"
"Hahahaha! Don't be like that dear. That just means he is healthy, isn't it?"
"'Healthy' my ass! Do you know how much effort I spent in calming him down!"
"Why are you complaining so much? He isn't even crying anymore."
"He- Eh?" She once more looked at her baby and saw he wasn't crying anymore. Instead, he appeared to adopt a calm expression and started looking at his surroundings with open curiosity.
"Gah!" A small sound came from his mouth, making the little one frown, or at least, as close of a frown a baby could muster.
"Hm? What's wrong sweetie? Did you poop your pants again?" The baby looked at her and once more sounds escaped his mouth.
"Bah bah! Geh! Neh!" He kept repeating sounds over and over again, before he appeared to get tired and just closed his eyes.
"Huh. What was that about?" Kizashi asked nonchalantly.
"I don't know, he never behaved that way before. More importantly…" Her eyes narrowed once more towards her husband as a never-ending scolding started and lasted until dinner. As for the baby…
'sigh I am gonna have some long years ahead of me, aren't I?'