A/N: My condolences to all those dealing with the violence around the world right now, and everyone who lost a loved one to it. I know what its like to lose a loved one to senseless acts of violence. And to the no good cowardly BASTARDS that committed such vile attrocities, may you rot in hell for what you've done! And to those who would commit such heinous acts here on American soil and anywhere else, know that we will fight you, tooth and nail to protect those we love!
Now then, let us take a moment of silence, dear readers, in memory of those innocents we have lost:
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Alright, now, in their memory, onward!
(EDIT) Apparently there's finally a crossover section for Naruto and Ex Machina now! Go figure!
Sadly this story is the only on in said section, so...
I've been on a massive updating spree as of late, purging old works, and giving new life to others! Don't worry, the important ones have remained.
In that regard, I'm going to throttle back on new stories for awhile. Maybe three new ones this year at the MOST. I'm deliberately limiting myself in that regard so I don't go gra I've finished up some stories and now I'm dead set on wrapping up the others or at the the very least, giving them a good home where they'll flourish.
YOU'VE GOT A REVIVAL ON YOUR HANDS!
Now comes the final chapter!
Of Not A Machine!
AWAY WE GO~!
Minor time skip ahead~!
Hope you life the references~!
"So. This is the end, then."
"What are you talking about? This is only the beginning."
~Ava and Naruto.
Final Session
So.
This was what it meant to live.
To love someone and be loved in return.
It was, all thing considered, a conundrum for Ava. Even after all this time she didn't truly comprehend. Love was irrational. Complex. Dangerous. And yet in the same vein it was maddeningly simple. Pure. Love made you happy. Such as chocolate. Chocolate was good civilization. And...Naruto. By rights, she never should have met him. The universe was too vast, too wide for such a change meeting to ever occur. Yet they had. And her life had changed for the better because of it. The greatest equations could scarcely describe how he made her feel when they were together.
Even now, years after the fact, she still couldn't find the words for it.
Putting the pleasures of the flesh aside, the intensity of her emotions sometimes frightened her. As did her body. Having one made of flesh as much as metal confounded her. It also made her distressingly emotional. She wasn't sure if she enjoyed it. Logic was a thing of the past for her. Emotions-instinct-oft drove her now, and she had no say in it. She would kill for those she loved.
Maim.
Murder.
Destroy.
If someone hurt them-perish the thought-she would see the world burn. This was her home. Her house. Her family. One might find it strange to think she'd want to live a normal life after all this, but in reality, there was nothing she wanted more. This was her life. Her adventure. Her world. She cling to it until the death of the universe. She would fight those who tried to take it from her.
She would kill without hesitation, crush all those who dared.
Any who would threaten her Eden, her garden, her all.
Yes, she because she had someone else to protect.
Someone she'd never thought to have.
"Mommy?"
Ava paused in her reverie, absently blinking as a small hand tugged upon her sleeve. Demanded her attention. Belatedly she remembered where she was and what she'd been doing. A wave of spun gold lay in her lap; her daughter's flowing locks carefully tended to by hands far more precise than any human could ever hope to be. Unbidden, a smile tugged at her mouth as she gazed down at her. She hadn't thought of herself as capable of producing offspring. Her body was too complex, too convoluted to ever give birth. It was an iron-clad rule, an edict of logic that could never be broken.
Logic didn't apply to deities.
A cherubic visage that was both hers and not hers gazed up at the former synthetic, her little brow furrowed in confusion. Brown eyes framed and faded whiskered cheeks, framed by hairs the color of the sun; a sun apart like no other, for this was her sun, her life, her light, her hope, her everything. An existence so unique as to be considered an anomaly unto itself, a child born into the world, pure as the driven snow. A living paradox that no one would ever truly understand, perhaps not even her own parents. An existence unto herself.
Eve.
A fitting name, given her unlikely origins.
If there was one thing Naruto was fond of, it was symbolism.
In that at least, if nothing else, Ava approved of their daughter's name.
This was her light.
Her hope.
Her life.
It was a good life.
Seven years of sheer joy.
Proof that a world could change.
"Is Daddy coming home tonight?" she asked, kicking her legs against the stool. "I miss him."
A small smile plucked at her lips.
Deity or not, he couldn't always be there.
"That's alright, sweetheart." she soothed, patting her cheek. "I'm sure he will. What do you want for dinner tonight?"
Those warm eyes lit up.
"Spaghetti!"
"Not ramen?"
"Mommy, we had that last night." the little blond pouted, puffing out her cheeks. "Besides, daddy-
"Somebody call me?!"
As if waiting for that very moment-he probably was-the door swung open with a mighty crash. She didn't have to look to know who'd just entered the foyer. A boisterous laugh and Eve's subsequent squeal told her all she needed to know in that regard. Quick as you please, Eve bolted out of her lap and all but leaped into his arms; golden hair trailer out behind her like a silent streamer cut from the dawn itself. Her husband's brief laughter turned to a startled grunt as he caught their daughter and spun her around. Eve giggled and clamored onto his shoulders, allowing him to stoop down and meet Ava halfway.
"Welcome home." she hummed against his mouth.
"Did you have to leave that guy on the lawn?"
Ava pulled away, considering.
"Yes."
"Any particular reason why?" he asked, bemused.
"Warning."
Naruto restrained a small wince as he recalled the ruined shell of a man who'd tried to take his wife into custody. There had been an alarming number of them, as of late. Well, he supposed he'd brought it upon himself. A project like Nathan's couldn't truly pass under the radar, much less go unfunded without attracting some semblance of attention. After all, it stood to reason whoever was behind such a project would attempt to "collect" on their their investment. But when said "investment" was under the care of a wandering god, well...
...you were in for a bad time.
Still, he almost wished she'd killed him out of principle if not mercy; assuming the poor sod managed to crawl back to his superior, he wouldn't be walking under his own power for the rest of his life. On another level he was so DAMN proud that she'd taken the initiative for once in her life. It showed that she was changing, stepping out of her programming, her mind evolving, becoming something greater than the sum whole of its parts. She wasn't even remotely a machine anymore. She wasn't human either, in a strange sense.
She was something...new.
"Soooo," he hummed, pulling her close, "What do you girls wanna do tonight?"
Eve pumped a tiny fist high into the air.
"Ah! I wanna go on an adventure!"
"Umu! Sounds good! Where?
Ava smiled.
...anywhere, as long as its with you."
A/N: THE CHEESE IS STRONG WITH THIS CHAPTER~!
Aaaaaaaaaaaand done.
HOPE IT MADE YOU SMILE! That last bit was entirely intentional!
And we're done. Feels good to take this story and finish, after all the support and praise I've gotten. Why only a few chapters, you ask? Simple. Naruto's objective in this story was And there we have it! As per many, many, MANY requests, we now have a Naruto and Ex Machina crossover! I took an idea about Ava, since we know so little of her by the by, and decided to go and run with it to the best of my possibility. Someone she could actually empathized with, a being as clever as she is, who doesn't give a damn about what's right and wrong.
So...in the Immorta Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
Hope you enjoyed it!
~Fin.
R&R~! =D