HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope you all had fun and safe celebrations wherever you are.
Also, last week... Wow. I didn't know how many people liked Aaron that much. I didn't think people cared about OCs as much. That doens't change what I've done though.
"Aaron! Stay with me! Stay with me!" Ruby's yelling didn't work. Aaron's eyes rolled into the back of his head. The heart rate monitor appeared in the right side of Ruby's vision. She wished she could share hers with Aaron. It was high enough for both of them…wait, what was Aaron's heart rate?
She backed off Aaron and grabbed one of his wrists. He had a pulse, but it was weak and getting worse. Ruby whipped her head toward the Bullhead. "Dust defib! Now!" She focused back on Aaron. She opened Aaron's jacket and ripped his shirt open. His chest would be burned, but it was better than being dead. Ruby put her hands on Aaron's chest and began compressions. "One. Two. Three. Four…" Hopefully someone had some Lightning Dust rounds left.
What was taking the others so long? Ruby had already gone through two full CPR cycles. "Ruby! Get out of the way!" Ren yelled. Ruby crawled to the side as Ren broke open two of Pyrrha's Lightning Dust rounds over Aaron's chest. Ruby looked around those gathered. Everyone was looking at Aaron, and Weiss still had her glyph open in the portal.
Ruby looked back at Aaron. His face was losing color, but his mind was still there. Barely. Ruby looked up at Nalia. The oldest dragon's eyes were wide and her wings were pressed flat against the ground. "Nalia!" The dragon's eye's shifted to Ruby. "Is the spell still draining him?"
No…there's nothing left to take…Nalia focused back on her Rider.
"Weiss!" Ruby whipped around to her partner. "Cut your glyph. Cerise! Figure out where we are on the other side."
The instant Weiss' glyph disappeared, Cerise dove into the portal. Ruby faced Aaron again. Ren had run wires from his Scroll through the Dust and back into his Scroll. He took a few steps away. "Clear!" He hit the power button on his Scroll. The Dust flashed, and Aaron's chest rose. Two black spots on his chests marked where the Dust discharged.
Ruby launched forward and grabbed one of Aaron's writs. His pulse was still weak, but it was stronger than before. "Clear a path to the Bullhead!" Ruby stood up and pointed both hands at Aaron. "Adur." Aaron's body floated off the ground. Ruby repositioned herself so she had a clear shot at the Bullhead. "Ganga." Aaron moved toward the Bullhead. Nalia padded along after Ruby.
Pyrrha pulled Aaron into the Bullhead and strapped him flat against the seats. Ruby stood by Aaron's side, holding one of his hands, half checking his pulse, half for her own comfort.
"Hang on back there!" Blake called from the cockpit. The Bullhead lifted off the ground and tilted forward. Ruby saw the Bullhead enter the portal and then they were over the ocean at dusk. She stretched out her mind to Cerise. Where are we?
Maybe ten miles southwest of Vale, Cerise answered. You can see Beacon from here.
Ruby left Aaron's side and stuck her head out the side of the Bullhead. Sure enough, the antenna of the CCT stuck over the mountains. She pulled herself back in and stepped into the cockpit. "Get us clearance at Vale General."
"On it." Blake picked up the radio and tuned it to the right frequency. "Vale General, this is Bullhead BB-159. We have injured on board. We're requesting permission to land on your transport pad." Blake held the radio away from her face.
"We hear you, BB-159," came the reply. "The pad is clear. You are green for landing."
"Copy that. See you in a few." Blake hung up the radio. "It's on them now, Ruby... Why couldn't you do anything there."
Ruby hung her head. "I don't know." She walked back into the crew compartment. She somehow missed that all members of JNPR were on board, even Ren somehow made it on the Bullhead. Ruby once again grabbed Aaron's hand and took his pulse. Her bionic hand couldn't measure someone else' pulse automatically, so she had to do it the old-fashioned way. Less than thirty beats per minute. He wouldn't die, but it was still dangerously low.
How is he? Nalia asked.
Ruby looked out the side of the Bullhead. Nalia flew alongside the transport, keeping pace the way only she could. Alive… Ruby faced Aaron again. You can't get through to him, can you?
Nalia whimpered. No… I can tell he's alive, but that's it.
This is bad, Nalia… How close are we to the hospital?
We're about a few minutes out.
Got it. A thought burst through Ruby's head. A childish one, and shoo shook her head to clear it. This wasn't a Hisney movie. Magic doesn't work through true love's kiss... no matter how much Ruby wanted it to.
A few tense minutes later, she felt the Bullhead slow down. The view of the buildings outside said the Bullhead was descending too. Seconds later, the Bullhead stopped completely as it landed on the roof of the hospital. Several nurses and doctors rushed to the Bullhead with a gurney in between them. Jaune and Nora left the Bullhead, but Ruby stayed by Aaron's side and undid the straps around him.
"Over here." Ruby directed the doctors to Aaron, and only backed away when they entered the Bullhead. They slowly moved Aaron from the seats and onto the gurney. They started taking their readings as they rolled him away. Ruby moved to follow them, but firm hands clamped on both her shoulders. She turned back and saw it was Pyrrha and Ren holding her back. It was probably for the best. She already did all she could.
Ruby looked to where Cerise led the other dragons into Vale airspace. She clenched her fists and glared at the air behind Cerise. Umaroth. What. The hell. Happened?
Have care how you speak, Umaroth defended. We did not know this would happen. There was no indication that this would happen.
Yet you let Aaron go ahead with a spell that may very well still kill him! Ruby's throat constricted on that last part. She probably couldn't have gotten it out if she was talking.
Ruby, not here, Cerise said. We don't want to reveal the Eldunarí… or make you look crazy.
Ruby broke off her glare. Umaroth, I want an explanation as to why this happened by tomorrow. She closed her contact with Umaroth and retreated to the side of the roof that was closest to Cerise.
When she turned around, Ruby saw Nora talking with one of the doctors on the roof. Some of her anger dissipated. Nora was in pretty bad shape too. Hopefully the doctors here would be able to do something about her scar. If not, it really was magic. The elves or Eldunarí would have to find a cure or counter curse or whatever the heck it was. Nora was escorted into the hospital with Ren right by her side.
The Bullhead rose off the pad and angled east. Pyrrha and Jaune still stood on the roof. Blake must be getting the transport refueled. Vert and Velvet followed Blake, and all other dragons landed on the pad. All Riders dismounted their dragons. Viki and Yang had doubled up on Nalia. Everyone on the roof gathered up just off the pad. Viki never took her eyes off the door the doctors took Aaron through. "Is Aaron okay?" she asked with her voice barely above a whisper.
Everyone else looked at Ruby. "I don't know." She shook her head. "We couldn't send him energy. There's no spell to do that… now we have to hope and pray." Ruby glared at the spot behind Cerise. At the moment, she didn't care if anyone asked why.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Jaune started, "but we should probably move. This isn't exactly a public area."
As if on cue, Ruby heard the sirens of an air ambulance. The dragons scattered, but Nalia kept her eyes glued to the hospital. More doctors and nurses ran onto the roof with another gurney. This really wasn't the place to have this conversation, or any. "Let's get inside." She took a few steps toward the door to the rest of the hospital.
Before she made it halfway, someone's Scroll rang. Ruby face the source. Pyrrha fumbled around on her belt for the Scroll. They weren't back for ten minutes, and someone's already calling them? Telemarketer?
Pyrrha looked at the screen and blinked. "Ozpin? So soon?" She brought the Scroll to her ear. "Yes, professor?... Now? We have a situation here." Her eyes hardened. "Understood. We'll be there as soon as we can." She hung up her Scroll and locked eyes with Ruby. "Ozpin would like to speak with us."
"All of us or…" Ruby let the thought hang.
"Just us." Pyrrha shook her head. "I think something happened to someone else."
Ruby's heart sunk. Who'd they lose? She turned her head to the door into the hospital. So much was going on. She sighed. "Weiss, if anything happens here, take care of them. Wait until you hear about Aaron, then get back to Patch. Blake should have the Bullhead refueled by then." She walked to Viki's side and squeezed one of her shoulders. "Viki, I'm going to have to go talk with someone about what happened in Alagaësia. Stay with Yang. She'll look after you. She's taken care of me for years."
Cerise landed back on the transport pad. Ruby walked to her dragon's side with Pyrrha right behind her. She climbed up and helped her fellow Maiden up as well. Hold on tight. Cerise stood up and faced Beacon. She jumped into the air and flew toward the school.
While in the air, Ruby noticed a few things didn't look quite right. The city itself was fine, but there were a lot more gaps in the trees in the Emerald Forest, some of them were still smoking. One of Vale's Aerial Corvettes flew above the city. That hadn't happened since the Battle of Beacon. What happened while they were gone?
"Oh, Ruby," Pyrrha reached around Ruby with the scroll that held the time dilation spell. "I picked this up."
"Thanks." Ruby took the scroll and skimmed it over. As expected, she didn't see anything that could block Aaron from being leant energy. It had to do something with the forgotten words. She shook her head and stuffed the scroll into a saddlebag. She could look into it more later.
They made it to Beacon and Cerise landed at the docks. At least Beacon hadn't changed much. The biggest difference was some basic framing stood where the Dragonhouse used to… But that was some pretty big framing for the first floor. Was the new residence hall going to have garages?
Ruby and Pyrrha walked through campus in step with each other. There weren't too many students around, but then again, school was out in this part of fall. The only students around were likely those who either failed classes or were crazy enough to take off-semester classes. Still, there were enough people around to make Ruby wonder if any of them could see what she was feeling. She never had a poker face.
They entered the base of the CCT. As always, this was the busiest place at Beacon, as it was open to the general public. But the Maidens weren't there to make a call. Ruby held her Scroll in front of the elevator call panel. It took a few seconds before the elevator made it to their floor. When it did, they stepped in and Ruby leaned against the back wall.
"I am not ready for this," Ruby sighed.
"It's just Ozpin, Pyrrha said, "There's nothing to be scared of."
"I'm not talking about Ozpin." Ruby held her head in a hand. "Aaron's in the hospital, there's something going on in Vale, a Maiden is possibly dead, and I'm probably going to be doing the early negotiations between Alagaësia and Remnant." She shook her head. "That last one is more of a Weiss thing, but I can't just pass everything off to her."
Pyrrha stayed silent for a few seconds. "I don't envy you, Ruby. But I think I speak for the rest of my team saying that we'll assist in any way possible."
"Thanks. I have a feeling we'll need it." The elevator dinged and Ruby pushed herself off the back wall. She needed to focus, despite how much she didn't want to be there. The doors opened, revealing Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch standing at Ozpin's desk. Both professors stared at a projection of a building that kind of looked like the frame of the dorm under construction.
Ozpin looked up and smiled. "Ruby, Pyrrha, it's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back." Ruby took a closer look at the projection. The ground floor was filled with garage doors with windows on either side of each door. "Students in this dorm will have attached parking? You don't see that much in apartments in Vale."
"Not exactly." Ozpin shook his head. "Forgive me for assuming, but I had this dorm designed to hold up to eight dragons similar in size to Nalia during her third year here."
Ruby nodded. She would have preferred that Ozpin ask the Riders before it was planned, but none of them could claim to be the leader of the dragon Riders back then. Anyway, this could very well save time in the future. She looked up at Ozpin. "Something tells me you didn't call us here to talk about a building under construction."
Ozpin sighed. "I wish it was that simple."
"While you were away," Goodwitch started, "Grimm attacks have skyrocketed. Villages have fallen faster than we can support them. Vale and Mistral have a refugee crisis that none of us have seen before. Atlas' fleet has been withheld due to attacks on their own cities. Vacuo, well, the information that has come out of Vacuo these past few months has not been the most informative."
"Is this room secure?" Ruby asked.
Ozpin blinked. "Yes. This office is soundproofed and has no recording devices anywhere."
"I'm not taking any chances." Ruby raised her head and started chanting in the ancient language. She prevented anyone from listening or seeing in, either magically, physically, or electronically. If anyone was spying on Ozpin, their eyes would be blinded. "There. Now we can talk freely about what's going on."
"Scarlet Harris is dead." Ozpin's voice didn't waver. "Killed in her own home. A Huntsman passing by heard her scream and chased away the assassin. We believe her daughter is the new Summer Maiden."
Ruby's shoulders dropped. She'd met Scarlet's family once. Little Sol was only a year old. "Is she safe?"
Goodwitch nodded. "She's downstairs with Vernul. Last I checked on them, Sol was asleep."
"Does she have any family?" Pyrrha asked.
"I'm afraid not." Ozpin shook her head. "She has her brothers, but the oldest is only five years old. Their father is dead. I'm working on setting them up in families we can trust."
Ruby crossed her arms. "How close? You can't exactly send them to a remote village anymore."
"We are looking to relocate them to Vale." The hologram changed to a view of Sanus. "Vale's situation isn't as bad as Mistral's, as the military has been able to secure most outlying cities and villages. Also, it won't be as much of a shock for ones so young."
There had been enough small talk. Ruby thought it was time to bring things to the source of their problem. "If it's Salem that's coming after Sol, we're going to need to get her a little more protection."
Both Ozpin and Goodwitch stiffened. "Your mother told you?" Ozpin asked.
"I wish it was that easy." Ruby shook her head. "It was Aaron, and he learned from his teacher on the other side. Salem isn't from Remnant, she's a Shade from Alagaësia."
"A Shade?" Goodwitch asked.
"I'd rather explain this once. My mom did tell me that all headmasters of the academies are in on this whole thing, along with the relics under each one."
Goodwitch looked at Pyrrha. "Did you know about this before now?"
Pyrrha nodded. "A Shade almost killed Nora. We need to know our enemy. If Salem is after the relics, we need to keep them from her hands."
Ozpin stared at Ruby, then reached a hand under his desk. "We will be in a conference call with the other headmasters in the next few minutes." He paused. "I noticed some major changes to your force on your flight into the city. What happened on the other side?"
Ruby's shoulders slumped. "So much. We found one of Aaron's friends, Nora was almost killed by a Shade, then I actually killed that Shade. We found allies…" Ruby clenched her fists, "Cerise was poisoned. Us Riders flew to the elves for more allies and training," her shoulders dropped, "Weiss was kidnapped and tortured while we were away." Ruby allowed a smile to form. "But she escaped with an egg, which later hatched for her. Saphira's the blue dragon you might have seen."
Her smile disappeared. "Then came the first big battle. I was almost forced to kill Aaron. I got out of that and took down the Traitor. Halcyon was killed, and Yang's bordering on suicidal." Ruby sighed. She hated switching from that extreme lowlight to more happy things like she was brushing it off, but she had to. "But on the bright side, we won. About a week later, we took out all hostile Riders. We found Aaron's sister as well, but she's been enslaved since she was three."
Ruby stopped herself from going further. She turned her head to the side, away from anyone. Umaroth, this is the man I've told you about. Do I have your permission to go through with our plan?
Umaroth took a few seconds to respond, probably still simmering from Ruby's outburst earlier. While we are not thrilled about this, and alliance with Ozpin may be necessary.
"Viki wasn't the only one we found." Ruby faced Ozpin again. "We found over two hundred eggs, fifty of which are with us now."
A ghost of a smile crossed Ozpin's face. "It appears I may not have overestimated the number of dragons we could be housing."
"You may still be. It will take a while before there are a lot of dragons flying around. Also, we found several hundred more in a… different state." Ruby looked around and gauged everyone else' reactions. All of them looked more confused than anything.
"What are you talking about, Ruby?" Pyrrha asked. "More dragons are alive?"
"Yes and no." Ruby lifted her head. "Umaroth? Care to explain?"
I believe I shall, Umaroth said, and judging by everyone's reactions in the room, he was in their heads as well. Do not worry, friends of the Riders. My name is Umaroth. My Rider was the elf Vrael, leader of the Dragon Riders before Ruby Shadeslayer.
Ozpin brought a hand to the side of his head. "Well this is certainly a surprise."
"How is this possible?" Goodwitch asked.
I, along with many other dragons, are what we call Eldunarí. Umaroth went onto explain what exactly the Eldunarí are and how they work. Of course, he finished with saying how important it was that the Eldunarí be kept a secret. Then again, everyone in this room has some pretty big secrets of their own.
What I have just told you, Umaroth said while finishing up, may not leave this room. No one else, not even your teams may know.
Pyrrha shifted on her feet. "I am not comfortable with keeping secrets from my team."
"Believe me, Pyrrha, I know." Ruby nodded. "My whole team has a thing about keeping secrets, and quite a few times it's gotten at least one of us injured. I don't like secrets, but it's not up to us this time."
Something beeped on Ozpin's desk. He pressed another button, and all the glass around his office blackened. Images of three people appeared on the panes of glass. General James Ironwood, Headmaster Leonardo Lionheart, and Headmistress Dora Thi, Headmasters of Atlas, Haven, and Shade respectively. Professor Lionheart's eyes were red and had bags underneath. Mistral was probably well past midnight, so he was probably dead tired.
"This better be important for this time of night," Lionheart grumbled.
Dora Thi leaned forward. "It appears our two missing Maidens have returned. How was your mission?"
"Eventful to say the least," Ruby said. "We won, but at a big cost."
"Oz," Ironwood started, "we usually don't have Maidens in our calls. What's this about?"
"It appears Miss… Shadeslayer has some information on our enemy." Ozpin nodded at Ruby.
"Thank you, Oz." Ruby blinked. Did she really just call Ozpin Oz? That felt so weird. She took a step forward and looked at each of the headmasters. "To start off, we know about Salem. Everyone who went to the other side knows about Salem. I'm sure you all know a good deal about her, but I'm pretty sure we can fill in some gaps."
Ironwood crossed his arms. "Salem is a secret better kept than the Maidens. How can you have learned more than your mother knows?"
"Because Salem isn't from Remnant." Ruby watched the three screens. Ironwood raised an eyebrow. Dora Thi's jaw dropped. Lionheart shifted in his seat. Ozpin and Goodwitch already knew from earlier. "She came from Alagaësia, and is what's called a Shade. They're about as close to vampires as is possible. I know I'm going to be using a lot of terms that don't seem possible, but bear with me. I doubt you expected dragons were real five years ago.
"Shades are humans or elves that are possessed by Spirits. They were typically sorcerers who underestimated the power of the Spirits they summoned. Anyway, Salem is the strongest recorded Shade ever. She created the Grimm over there, then was driven out when the Riders were still new. Somewhere along the line, she made it here."
"A fascinating history lesson," Lionheart started, "but how is this useful."
"The more you know about your enemy, the better you can fight them." Ruby tried not to think about the one who taught her that. "Back to my comparison of vampire, you kill Shades the same way."
"You can't kill Salem." Dora Thi shook her head. "It's happened before, but she's come back stronger than before, if after a few decades or centuries."
"How has it been done?" Ruby faced Shade's Headmaster… Hopefully there was no relation between the two words.
Dora Thi held up a finger. "Decapitation, arrows and Dust rounds to the head, electrocution, and most recently, flattened by a Great War tank." She added fingers for each one. "She was only missing for a year after her last 'death.'"
"Then her heart has never been destroyed first." Ruby looked at every Headmaster. "Really, it's not that hard. We need to get in close. Then any skilled Huntsman can take her down with a quick stab to the heart." Ruby paused. "But something tells me that's exactly the problem."
Ironwood shifted in his seat. "We have an idea of where she is, but at the moment we have no way of getting there. Every inch of Manchu is Grimmland. We can't send infiltration teams there and expect to get them back. They would need to search the entire continent. It's a suicide mission even for the best of my specialists."
"Is there anything else we should know about… Shades?" Goodwitch asked.
"They are strong in magic, and I'm not talking about Maiden magic here. I'm talking Alagaësian magic. If she really wanted to, I'm sure she could kill everyone in all the Kingdoms with only a few words." Ruby slowed down toward the end. "If she just wanted to destroy us, she could have done that centuries ago. Are the relics really that important?"
Ozpin nodded. "They are. If any one person controls all four, they control Remnant, and could become as close to a god as any mortal can be."
"As much as we would like to," Lionheart started, "we can't use any resources at all to combat Salem directly. The attacks on all our Kingdoms require all militaries and Huntsmen make it so we can barely trade between Kingdoms. We don't have the escorts."
"Give us a week or two and the Riders will be back out there." Ruby dipped her head. "We have our own wounds to lick, and even then, some of us are going out there weakened."
Something beeped on Ozpin's desk. "It appears that's all the time we have." Ozpin faced the other headmasters. "Thank you for answering on such short notice." The other three headmasters nodded and their images disappeared.
Ruby stared at Ozpin. "What was that about?"
"We cannot risk being traced. The shorter our conversations, the better. After the hack that started the Battle of Beacon, we aren't taking any chances."
"Good thing I didn't mention the Eldunarí then. I'd like to deliver that information in person anyway." Ruby paused. "Where is the relic?"
Ozpin and Goodwitch exchanged a look. They both nodded. "In a vault deeper than where you found me during the battle," Ozpin stated. "We can't even take the elevator down that far. There is a concealed staircase in that Vault that will take us the rest of the way."
"Can I see it?"
Goodwitch narrowed her eyes. "Why do you ask?"
"So I know what I'm protecting, and so I can maybe get an energy reading off it so I can see how dangerous it really is. I can also place wards around it so it's even safer." No answer came from either professor. Ruby sighed. "Really, it's me. Do either of you think I'd try to steal it or use it for my own gain?"
"No," Ozpin sighed. "But the Maidens only have access to certain relics. Winter can access Creation, which is in Atlas, and Fall can access Choice, which is some distance beneath our feet."
"What?" Ruby turned to Pyrrha. "Did you know about this?"
Pyrrha looked at the floor. "I… did."
Ruby shook her head and stared at Ozpin. "Why did you keep me in the dark about this?"
Ozpin flicked his eyes to Ruby. "Because of your… other allegiances, the other headmasters wondered if you could be trusted with the information."
"What would they think we'd do? Take the relics to Alagaësia and use them in their favor?"
"That is the general idea."
Ouch. "What do you think?"
Another long silence filled Ozpin's office. "Well, more protection can't be a bad thing," Ozpin said.
Ruby nodded. "Thank you, Oz." Again with the Oz… Mom's getting to me.
"After this is done" Pyrrha spoke up, "I would like to check in on the others. I got along well with Scarlet's kids. I think they could use another friendly face."
Ozpin's shoulders relaxed. "I believe they would."
"I think I'll join you." Ruby hung her head. "They're not the only ones to lose someone recently."
"I will stay here." Goodwitch hit something on Ozpin's desk and the hologram of the new dorm glowed to life. "Someone needs to keep in touch with the construction crews."
Ozpin walked toward the elevator, "Well then, shall we?"
Ruby and Pyrrha joined Ozpin at the elevator door. Cerise? Ruby called, I'm probably going to be out of contact for a bit.
I expected as much, Cerise said. I'm going to take a closer look at the new dorm. As close as I can get without being chased away, that is.
You do that. Ruby paused. Was I being too much of a jerk in here?
Of course not. You were saying what you needed to get your point across.
I still didn't like it. Ruby mentally sighed. And I'm going to have to do this every day now. What did I get myself into?
You're not alone, Gem. I am with you, your team is with you…and Aaron will be when he wakes up.
If he wakes up. Ruby shook her head as the elevator doors opened. The three people in Ozpin's office entered. The elevator doors closed and it didn't stop for a while. The lights behind the floor buttons lit up to ground level, then stopped. Ruby leaned against the back wall. I want to go home. I want to snuggle with Zwei, sleep in my own bed… and drink as much chocolate milk as possible. I need a break.
You'll get all that. Stay serious for a little while longer. The connection between dragon and Rider strained as Ruby got farther underground. Of course, Ruby fell out of her own and her dragon's range. It wouldn't be for long, but considering the day she was having, it made her worry she'd break down before she could do what she needed to.
The elevator stopped and the door opened into a vault below Beacon. It didn't look anywhere near as big as it did when Ruby found Ozpin here years ago. Even though the room felt cramped compared to then, Shruikan still would have fit comfortably in the space.
Ozpin led the way down the vault. He turned down a side hallway, then to a pillar a little way down. "The relic is through here." Ozpin touched his cane to the pillar and a hidden doorway opened inward. A spiral stairway appeared on the other side. He stepped through and Ruby followed.
"This is becoming a common thing." Ruby watched as the doors closed behind her.
"Your trip to Vroengard?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, where we found the Eldunarí." More green flame lanterns lit up the stairs. The three walked for a long time. Ruby thought they might be going as deep as the Vault of Souls, if not deeper. The stairs showed no sign of stopping.
A thought came into Ruby's head, and she was surprised she hadn't asked it sooner. She faced the back of Ozpin's head. "You have all the Maidens come here every year. Sol is here right now, and she's not even a year old. Pyrrha's said Amber told her that she'd been seeing you since shortly after her mom died. Why didn't you call me here after my mom died?"
"Your mother used most of her Maiden abilities when she attacked Fort Castle, and judging from police reports on the Nevermores while she was fighting them, she froze areas there as well. If anyone in that organization knew that the Maidens were real and how their magic worked, it would not take them long to figure out the two most likely candidates that would be in Summer's last thoughts."
Ruby hung her head. "Well, I guess they would've been right." She took another step down, but found flat floor instead of another step. Ruby leveled her head out and saw what she could only describe as an old-fashioned bank vault door a few feet in front of her. Pyrrha stepped forward and raised an arm. Her eyes glowed, and the door spun open.
A… diamond hammer rested on a pedestal behind the door. "I don't know what I was expecting," Ruby started, "but it wasn't that."
"It is the Relic of Choice." Ozpin faced Ruby. "It was buried here even before Beacon's foundations were laid. Very few have seen it since. Do what you need to so we can seal this again."
"I'll be quick." Ruby extended her mind toward the relic. She gasped and brought a hand to the side of her head. There was…so much. She took a step back as wave after wave of energy flowed off it. Without intending to, Ruby drew some of the energy from the relic. She stored as much as she could in the two rubies on her, but those filled in less than a second. Ruby cut her mind off before she overloaded with excess energy. She saw her Aura flare, and unlike whenever she said her true name, her Aura stayed visible.
Pyrrha rested a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Now I know what that thing being super powerful means." Ruby shivered. "I have never felt more awake in my life."
Ozpin faced Ruby. "Well? How powerful is it?"
"From what I felt, there's enough energy in there to destroy Vale…from Atlas, with some energy left over to cause the largest earthquake Remnant has ever seen." Ruby paused and her Aura faded back into transparency. "I've done what I needed here. Close this thing up. I'll put wards all over that and the staircase on our way up." Ozpin nodded and walked back up the staircase. Pyrrha raised her arm and closed the vault.
As Ruby chanted in the Ancient Language, she tried to piece together what she just felt. Before, she could tell the difference between Aura, Maiden Magic, and Alagaësian magic. But what she just felt…she'd need to go over that with Umaroth and the other dragons. She looked up at the staircase. She might as well use some of her excess energy to protect the relic.
Rooster Teeth, thank you for making more Maiden and relic stuff that I have to work around...I honestly just BSed Ozpin's explanation there. Don't know what else I could do. And yes, Vernul. Why? With Raven not being a bandit and not recruiting Vernul to the tribe, she's not a bandit.
Also, last week this'll be here 'cause the game's on Saturday... HOP UNTIL FRISCO! HOP UNTIL FRISCO!
