[Going to have to shut people up.]

Yeah, you could say that.

Don't worry about that though, I don't expect you to remember or anything like that.

[He flicks on the video feed, there are dark spots of red on his cheeks, but he's managed to compose himself. Mostly.]

[Sixteen, blond ponytail. Nothing else of much note.]

About that. Confronting Itachi? Not the best thing right now. I know you don't want to hear that, but... there's a lot of things you need to hear about first.

A lot of things.

[He's starting to see just how much Sasuke's lost in stubbornness since then. Or, he'd become differently stubborn. Still. Sigh.]

You'd be surprised. I promise.

... Sasuke? What did Tieria tell you about me, exactly...?

I know you're not inclined to trust anyone, especially a stranger, but please believe me when I say that you'll want to hear it.

[A sigh of -- what looks like relief? Followed by a nod.]

Okay.

Sa-

Sasuke, if it seems like I'm trying to keep something from you, I... I'm not. Not necessarily. There's just a lot of complications about me that won't serve us now, and you probably wouldn't want to hear about them anyway. If it ever becomes an issue, which I doubt it will, I'll talk to you about it. Okay?

[Silence.]

All right then.

[Al's voice is detached, almost businesslike, as though he's putting some sort of wall between himself and Sasuke.]

Watch out for Pain and Madara. Especially Madara. Both will want you. You can implicitly trust Ms. Unohana Retsu, she's the resident healer and the most powerful person in the Safezone. She is impartial, but she's always been fond of you.

Sakura, Naruto and Mr. Kakashi will probably keep you safe enough for now. There's another man here named Mello, he's bad news. He's murdered people in the past and he's tried to use me as a hostage.

Ginia is someone else you can trust -- the one-armed woman with dark hair, blue eyes, and a gun. The first time you were here you lived with her a good six months at least. She might not remember -- she came back a second time, same as you, but her memories seem to be returning and she'll probably look out for you.

Vincent is another person you can trust. He doesn't say much and doesn't go out of his way to be friendly, but I know he likes you. He's watched out for the both of us in the past, he's got your best interests at heart.

Mr. Kakashi will probably brief you on the rest. You can ask him about anything you like. He doesn't know everything, but he should be able to fill in a lot of blank spots.

... I think that's everything.

[A pause.]

... if you need a safe place to bed down, hide, or anything else, the coordinates to my house are right here: [x,y]

One last thing.

If a man called Orochimaru shows up here, stay away from him. He will hurt you in the worst way.

I can't bear to see you like that again.

... have you already gone to him?

[Huge sigh of relief over the speaker; yeah, something had Alphonse spooked for a moment there.]

Good. That's good.

Since he bit you and left the seal on your neck, right?

... I was worried, because the timeline fits. In your world, you'd have seen him soon.

It... wouldn't have been good for you.

[A long, long pause while Al stays in his own thoughts.]

Sasuke... this is going to sound weird, and I know you might not believe me, but... I have to tell you this. Even if it's only to prevent you from hearing it from someone else first.

Your future... it's not a bright one. I've known your future self, and even though I cared deeply for him, he had a lot of pain in his heart, pain that he caused himself. Pain, because he carved himself to bits and traded even his soul to come after Itachi.

... I-I can't let you do that again. I've seen the aftermath of that path. We all have. Although the people who love you had begun to heal you, there was no helping the scars. There was no helping the nightmares.

As you are now, Sasuke, you... you have a chance to escape that.

Please, don't come after Itachi. You'll win in the end, but you'll find out that in doing so, you've lost everything.

I know.

Your family. Your clan. Your life. Everything has been him.

... but what if I told you... that everything you've been told is a lie?

Itachi did kill your family.

But Sasuke... the reasons... he wasn't truthful. He couldn't be.

He didn't do it because he was insane. Itachi didn't do it for power, or to prove something.




He did it on orders.

[Silence, for a few heartbeats. Al's voice is flat, and sad. He knows that even if Sasuke comes to hate him for telling him this, he must know.]

Think, Sasuke. Think.

It wasn't that Itachi was insane -- his movements are too calculated, too precise for a sociopath. He relied on the shock and horror his actions caused to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. He made everyone so afraid, they didn't even think to ask why.

It was all part of the plan. Itachi became the enemy. He became the sociopath. He became the monster.

He became the sacrifice.

Sasuke, he did it all on orders.

Orders from Konoha.

[This isn't the first time Al's seen that touch of madness in Sasuke's eyes -- it takes everything he has not to remember Drake, and how he nearly killed himself with those memories.

... Al has those memories too, from Itachi's point of view. He knows everything that happened that night, in vivid detail. Everything.]

...

He spared you.

Why?