Chapter 17: Sage of Hearts C-17
Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Naruto, Disney or any of its affiliated properties. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this now would I?
"The connection of our hearts…" : Speech (Bold for yelling ,Bijuu, or massive creatures)
'The connection of our hearts…' : Thought
Tremaine estate, evening after the picnic…
When Naruto and Snow returned from their picnic earlier that day, they found themselves taking the long way home – amorous as the two were, they kept finding excuses to stray of the main road to 'canoodle' so to speak. As such, it was no surprise to anyone when they finally arrived at the estate, they found Grimhilde and Ella waiting for them (Grimhilde having a knowing look on her face – she did teach Snow seduction tactics after all).
"So, you two lovebirds finally decided to grace us with your presence after all! Ella here was even joking about the possibility that you might have eloped with one another~…" Grimhilde said as Snow and Naruto looked at Ella askance, the girl laughing a little at Naruto's aghast expression.
"Oh don't look at me like that! I was merely talking in jest – after all, Snow and I are close friends and I know she tried something I would have done if she hadn't taken the chance to do so!" Ella said, walking over to Snow and nudging with an impish smile on her face as Snow blushed prettily, her earlier boldness evaporating in front of her best friend.
"Wait – you knew about Snow's plan already? Wow – you ladies work fast huh? Looks like I need to step up my game if all of you are willing to 'get down and dirty' as the saying goes…" Naruto said, stroking his chin pensively as Grimhilde hummed at his assessment.
"We've been ready for a while darling. We were just waiting for the whole situation with Ella to resolve itself – and good thing that we did since Madonna joined the fold. She'd be here waiting too if she wasn't a little tired from her palace outing. Just keep us in mind whenever the opportunity presents itself or we'll take charge~." Grimhilde said, moving towards Naruto to lean on his chest and look into his eyes with a smoky look in hers.
*Ahem* "Right, right…I'll make sure to keep you girls on your toes. So, how goes the magic consultation Ella? You said the wand has accepted you as its wielder and that it has been bothering you with visions for a while now?" He said, noticing Ella pull out the wand – it had changed from its original bone white color to a gentle aquamarine and seemed to respond to the slightest wave (just pulling it out made an arc of sparkles appear).
"Yes – remember what the fairy said about the Grimm Principles? After discussing the issue with Grimhilde, we've come to the conclusion that the magic of the world or worlds that allow for such miracles to happen rely on the faith and adherence of the fates of their inhabitants. So as you can imagine, any higher entities particularly subsist of the manufactured trials and tribulations they put mortals through – this is something you seem to be free of."
Ella had to take a breath to recompose herself – that was quite the information dump. However, Grimhilde was there to add her own two cents.
"Yes darling – you seem to be the exception to this universal rule. Your power is unique and is not magic of any kind, meaning that you are free of the trappings of our reality. How you came to be so lucky is another can of worms and I think you don't know just how special you are anyway. No matter though, we'll discover it all together!"
This, naturally took Naruto's head for a spin.
"Hold on one minute. You're telling me the powers that be literally 'fix' the destinies of everyone so that they can survive off of all that faith energy?! Is magic literally a tool to fool us into believing in their existence?! That's ridiculous – but on the other hand, it explains how exaggeratedly bad or good some of you were when I met you (Anastasia and Drizella actually looked comely now and weren't atrocious at everything they tried to do – basically normal women now and not the trolls they were back then…)." Naruto said as he looped his arms around Snow and Grimhilde with a thoughtful look.
Ella laughed a little at his expression before her face became serious once again.
"Yes, that is true. Unfortunately, your actions, while having freed us from our destined roles we were to play, has also began a slow unraveling of our universe. Magic is bleeding out of the world, turning the magical worlds mundane and vice versa – the sanitized fates we would otherwise have also have changed. Things could go either way from here – villains could be redeemed, heroes could die. The wand has been giving me updates on the situation and quite frankly, Grimhilde and I are at a loss at what to do from here…" Ella said, holding the wand aloft to show a massive tapestry of stars, each shimmering with an ever changing palette of colors.
The starfield was slowly turning more chaotic though, with some parts of it turning grey and some parts gaining an incredible degree of color saturation, with the velvet space they were in turning into a roiling sea.
Looking at the cosmos laid out before him, Naruto took note of his companions expressions. Snow looked bewildered by this reveal, while Grimhilde and Ella had the conflicted and simultaneously resigned looks of educated people accepting their lot in life. He was confused as well – he thought he was helping everyone with how he changed their lives for the better but as it turns out, his meddling basically doomed the universe?! That sounded like hogwash to him – he knew all too well that if there was a will, then there definitely was a way.
Clenching his fist as it glowed a solid gold for a moment, he walked over to Ella and put his hands on her shoulders as she looked up at him.
"Well that just means that I have to fix my mess now doesn't it? Grimhilde did say that my power makes me immune to these changes so all I have to do is go to these worlds and fix them, just like this one. We can survive without the guidance of fancy shmancy fairy tale magic – Grimhilde has her own powers and look at you, already taking control of the fairy's powers! I say we use the wand as a compass to guide us to the worlds I must save - if you need power, I got plenty of it right here!" Naruto said, passionately gesticulating as he spoke and making a fist at the end, the limb now covered in a thick cloak of golden chakra.
Hearing him talk, a spark of hope ignited in Ella's eyes.
"Y-yes…t-that could work! The wand already keeps bothering me about the state of the timeline as it is so why not use that information for something constructive! Besides, like you said, we have powers too so we can help you out too mister – no gallivanting around the universe without us you hear?" Ella said, playfully punching Naruto's shoulder as he grinned at her impishly, happy that she seemed to have regained her spunk again.
"Yes darling – you seem to have gathered quite the party of women by your side, women with particular talents shall we say. Snow possesses the heart of the Fairest One, meaning that she will be the anchor when we traverse worlds so we don't get lost. On the other hand Ella will direct us to new adventures, her wand paving the way. My powers will make quick work of most dark magic we find – we shall not find ourselves obstructed by corrupted worlds. Madonna has yet to find her role but I suppose her wisdom will come in handy in the mundane worlds we visit I suppose…" Grimhilde said as their little group made their way to Madonna's bedroom (which had been converted to a massive bedroom for all of them, given their relationship).
Tremaine study, the next morning…
"So what you're telling me is that Naruto, through some cosmic cock up has managed to set the entire universe into a chaotic loop from which it can't recover unless we travel to each world to fix it? Ah, I miss the times when all I cared for was the throne and how to secure the royal bloodline for the Tremaine family…" Madonna said, tiredly rubbing the bridge of her nose as she gave a pointed gaze to Naruto, who at least had the decency to sheepishly rub the back of his head before grinning at her.
"Something like that – I mean, don't you think it's only right that people like you actually get a chance to truly live their lives, their choices their own? Your fate would have been a miserable one, had I not intervened~…" Naruto said as Madonna grumbled some choice curses before nodding her head in submission.
"I suppose I can't argue with you on that. Alright, when do we leave? I will need to say my farewells to my daughters – granted they seem to be independent young ladies now, given their relations with the Prince but a mother needs such things after all." Madonna said as Ella and Snow giggled at that last part (Anastasia and Drizella ran the Prince ragged with their insatiable libido and the poor man found himself pondering the nature of the delicious hell he found himself in – the King found this hilarious and egged on the ladies any chance he got though, all for his future grandchildren).
"That's fine – we'll let you set your affairs in order before we make the jump. Say about a week? I believe that would be sufficient time." Grimhilde said as Madonna nodded, crossing her arms over her impressive bust (Naruto's eyes flicked over to that for a second before he looked away).
Timeskip, one week later…
Time seemed to fly for Madonna after being told that she had to leave her daughters (possibly forever considering the daunting scope of their task). After a few tearful farewells, Anastasia and Drizella came to terms with their mother's departure and decided to keep it a secret from the Prince and King, assuming that the fewer people knew about her departure the better. However, Madonna didn't tell her daughters about the nature of the quest she would be embarking on since such a revelation would probably break their minds.
Coming back to the present though, Naruto and the girls were on the edge of the forest around the Tremaine chateau, having used their mounts to get there. The air was charged with energy – both from excitement and tension. They were about to leave their world for a whole new one and for people who didn't even know about how big their original world even was, this was quite the difficult concept to wrap their heads around.
"Alright Ella – how are we doing this? Do you need my power to charge your magic?" Naruto said, leading Spirit to Ella(who was riding Major, rejuvenated to his youthful self through chakra infusion).
Ella nodded at him, using one hand to hold the wand aloft while the other reached for Naruto's arm to hold it in a firm grip.
"The concept is rather simple – I will let the wand drag us to the worlds in question and I will use your energy as a power source since the magic volume required is gargantuan. Thankfully your energy is vast as it is dense so it is perfect for this!" Ella said as Naruto grunted and channeled his chakra into her (Ella gasped in arousal for a second, her cheeks blushing prettily. Off to the side, Snow and Grimhilde smirked behind their hands, all too familiar with the effects of Naruto's chakra.).
"Alright then – here you go. Have this power for your spell – let it loose!" Naruto said as Ella whipped the wand in a slicing motion, opening a rift above their heads which sucked all of them up in a vortex of magical energy.
When all was said and done, all that was left was a patch of disturbed grass with nary a clue to suggest that Naruto and company had embarked on their fairy tale odyssey.
That wraps up chapter 17. Now that we have a device to move between Disney worlds, we will have varying situations on how stories can unfold. In some worlds, not all of the party will be present and this will lead to some interesting story directions and in some worlds, some people might be younger, older or not even human! I'll be putting up polls for that stuff after the Alice in Wonderland arc.
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