《The Entire Sky | Madara Uchiha》15
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The next night, Sen's mind was still a mess. She sat on the roof of her apartment and watched the sky. There were no stars to be seen tonight. The thick purple clouds blanketed the night sky, tucking the stars away for a brief rest.
She felt someone's presence near and activated her Byakugan. She saw Madara walking toward the Hyuga compound and felt her heart begin to race. Her hands began shaking as he slowly strolled closer. He would see her soon. She had to relax herself.
"Sen?" that familiar sonorous voice called out. "Why are you on the roof?"
She closed her eyes and gulped. Without turning around, she replied, "Just watching the sky."
"May I join you?"
There was a long silence before she croaked that he could. In an instant, Madara was sitting beside her, his eyes looking up into the clouds. Sen's heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she was afraid he would hear it. However, the Uchiha kept his obsidian gaze to the heavens.
"How have you been? I'm sorry I haven't been back sooner. Things have been busy around the village."
"I've been... okay," she lied. "How about you?"
"Some days are better than others."
"Mhmm," she hummed softly.
Her mind was blank. There was nothing on her mind except what Tobirama had told her the day before. "He isn't your friend. That man is no one's friend." Her hands were shaking as she silently sat beside the Uchiha man.
Madara noticed that Sen seemed unlike her usual self. Only days before she had bounded up to him with an electric smile and now she seemed nervous and scared. It concerned him greatly, so he laid a hand on her knee and asked softly, "Sen, are you sure everything is alright?"
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At his words and touch, her body flinched. She felt frozen while Madara waited on her reply.
"Sen?" he asked again.
"M--Madara?" she quivered.
"Yes," he answered with worry. He watched as her body trembled under his hand. What the fuck is wrong with her? Is she... scared of me? I don't understand?
"I need to ask you something."
"Anything," he breathed lowly.
She took a deep breath before turning to face the man. Her eyes were shining with tears as she asked, "Is it true? Did you kill Izuna?"
His face turned ghostly white as he coldly snapped, "What did you just ask me?"
Sen felt her courage fleeting; however, she put on a brave face and asked again, "Is it true that you killed Izuna?"
"Who told you that?"
Sen was silent as her voice was frozen in her throat. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
"Who fucking told you that, Sen?" he asked in a growl. His dark eyes were digging into hers as his hard face was set in anger.
She answered just above a whisper, "Tobirama."
"Why were you with him?"
Sen finally found her voice. She ordered with a thick voice, "Stop interrogating me and answer my question, Madara!"
"I DIDN'T KILL IZUNA!" he roared. "THAT BASTARD SENJU DID!"
Sen didn't flinch from Madara's anger. She heard the pain in his voice and saw the anguish on his face.
"Mad-" she began before being cut off.
"Don't," he snarled. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
Her eyes laid into his and she replied, "I don't care. Tell me the truth, Madara. Tell me what happened to Izuna. I just want to know the truth."
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"That is the truth, Sen! Do you really think I could kill my only brother? I loved Izuna more than anything..." Madara's voice wavered. Sen saw the pain on his face and instinctively reached her hand out to him.
He pushed her away and glared at her with his Sharingan blazing. "Don't touch me."
Madara's malevolent chakra seeped from him and choked the air. Sen felt suffocated by the ominous presence his chakra gave off. Her body trembled in complete fear. She was hypnotized by the fear of what this man was capable of.
Using the final ounce of courage she had in her, she activated her Byakugan and met his eyes. In a pseudo-confident voice, she told him, "Go ahead and kill me. I'm not scared of you."
Instead of death, she felt herself being pulled into a dark void. Time and space escaped her as her vision adjusted to the ominous landscape.
I'm sorry I have to do this, Sen. It's the only way to make you truly understand, Madara thought before adjusting his focus.
◇ ─ ◇ ─ ◇─ ◇ ─ ◇ ─ ◇
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Entangled Fates Book 1 - Quantum Beginnings
“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” —Eliezer Yudkowsky Hey all, we're moving over to book 2. This content is in a state of transition. The book is now availble on Amazon (includes extra chapters): https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07W1534R8 Artificial intelligence was nearly mankind’s last invention. AI took off like a rocket, then when it racked up an impressive death toll, it crashed before it could blossom and took most high-tech industries with it. Resistance and fears became deep-set. Two decades after the infamous Rev. 4.6 incidents, humanity hasn’t quit dreaming of the wealth and power that could be at their fingertips. A new generation of mega-corporations rose from the ashes. When one melds a quantum computer to a barely functional mental patient as a PR move, there are those who seek to profit, those who want to destroy it, and Alex. Alex Sage is a typical college student trying to keep up his grades and maybe find a meaningful connection with the fairer sex. Then, an automated semi crashes into his home, killing his family and turning his head into a pin cushion in the process. Alex awakens to find most of his memories gone and an illegal AI hidden in his brain implant. Now the pet project of a tech billionaire and heavily in debt, Alex struggles to stay valuable enough to be kept online. Still grappling with the repercussions of his injuries, and threats from a dangerous anti-augmentation political movement, there are no easy answers and threats loom around every corner. Alex must use whatever resources he can to escape from under the thumb of a ruthless corporation, while keeping those he comes to love safe. Chapters will stay up on RRL until Aug 10. It'll go up on Kindle Unlimited after that. How do you get those extra chapters I didn't have planned for RR? If you want them, they'll be in the published book. Book 2 will still make sense without them - I made sure of that. But... isn't $3 a lot for extra chapters? Think of it as tipping me for a good job and you'd also be getting my eternal thanks. If you enjoyed it so much that the idea of missing out a few chapters haunts you, I did my job as an author and made an engaging story. What's in those extra chapters? Resolving a few issues, set up for the cybernetic revolution, a rather intense sex scene with a new partner, revelations of who's really pulling strings, and a bit of set up for book 2. Complaints that people missed out on it when it was published here won't help (sorry!). I posted this for the folks who helped me shape the book, which is you all! (Again, yay!) But... Why! Why not keep it all on RR forever? My editor likes being paid for one. For two, I'd like the ability to get broader readership. If I break even on editor costs, I'll be incredibly happy. What about book 2? Drafts for Book 2 will go up around Sept 10. My draft of Book 2 is done, and it will be handed to the editor once Book 1 is published. Feedback has been even more positive. Beta readers devoured it and wanted more. I'll add a link to Book 2 once it's up on RR. I'm more or less, using you all for Beta Readers, so you get it before it's "canon" and edited. I invite active and meaningful feedback during this process. In return, you get early access to chapters. That does mean that the book content or plot might be adjusted before it gets published as I refine it. Sex Y/N? Yes. I heard the feedback, 90% wanted it explicit. You all will get the "full" experience. Will I dump all of book 2 here? Honestly, I'm not sure yet. At a minimum, it'll be up to the 75% mark as we collect feedback, much like what I did with book 1. It really depends on how good the feedback is and how nice people are. Lots of support + meaningful feedback to make it better = higher likelihood you get all the book. Will be it up here indefinitely? No, it'll probably go up on KU at some point, but I'll make sure there's enough time for a large readership to grab it here. Then we move to book 3 which already is around 60K words already. What about other adventures in the same universe/characters? Yep. Absolutely. Nothing ready to share yet though. I plan to keep those side chapters and more slice of life stories as RR exclusive. Since I'm carving this off in book-sized segments, I'll have to figure out where those disconnected story arcs belong. I'm open to suggestions.
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//Three weeks ago Wally would have shoved such thoughts to the back of his mind in the 'nope, I am straight' section. It's amazing how some crazy aphrodisiac chemical and one kiss can change everything//Warning: I was like 16 when writing this. It sucks. Go read something better on Archive of Our Own, I beg of youWarnings:NSFW, obviously (but not in every chapter, there is plot). Based on the rebirth Titans comics. Some things pulled from pre-new 52. Swearing. Cover art is mine.
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