You sigh as you reach the usual training spot- the clearing where you met Team RWBY. Despite the high levels of energy your usual training regiment demands, you see it as a way to unwind from the daily life of a Beacon Academy student- especially today. The past three days have been the same routine: change into a uniform that's too small, sit through Professor Port's class, eat lunch with Teams RWBY and JNPR, get picked to fight first in Professor Goodwitch's class, get yelled at for saying 'Professor Oobleck' instead of 'Doctor Oobleck', eat dinner, pretend to go to sleep, train at night, rinse and repeat.
However, today took all of those steps and upped the annoying. Your uniform, being too small, suddenly ripped in multiple spots, including a rather 'private area', while you were trying to change into it, so you had to settle in for your normal clothes. Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck were very quick to notice that, and were rather creative in coming up with a verbal chastisement. On top of that, both professors assigned an essay for everyone, including you, to complete despite the fact that you've only been in those classes three times, further adding to your mounting annoyance. The cherry on top of all of that is that in Glynda's class, your aura dropped to 42% when you made several basic mistakes fighting Cardin from Team CRDL, which rewarded you with several critical stares and comments from your peers and a 'note of advice' from Glynda, which further upset your mood.
The clearing suddenly brightens, and you look though the open canopy to see clouds shifting away from the shattered moon. You start stretching out your limbs to loosen up, stretching the muscles until they start to strain slightly. Next, you take Wind Reaper from under your jacket and lay it against a fallen tree, setting your daggers on the ground next to it. Since I use hand-to-hand when I lose my weapons in combat, there's no reason to have those on me for shadow sparring anyway.
You then raise your hands up to your face and shift your posture sideways, preparing to start the three hours of training with an hour of shadow sparring. Then, a conversation from three days ago pops into your head.
"Why does he ask us to call him Doctor Oobleck instead of Professor Oobleck?" you ask as you walk out of his classroom behind Teams RWBY and JNPR.
"Because he studied for ten years and earned a doctorate," Blake explains.
"Why would someone waste ten years of their life studying?" Ruby asks, causing Weiss to look at her disdainfully.
"Don't be such a pest. It takes hard work to get a doctorate, and I don't see you as a hard worker," she scolds. Ruby returns her disdainful stare.
"Hey! I can be a hard worker! I just don't want to," she says with a stubborn pout.
"Keep dreamin', little sis," Yang teases, rustling her sister's hair. Ruby turns and pouts at her older sister, causing a short bark of laughter to come from Yang. Ruby then notices a figure approaching them from the other side of the hall, sporting a cane in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.
"Hey there Professor!" she hails the headmaster, waving her hand in a greeting fashion as he draws closer to your group.
"Good evening, students," he says, returning Ruby's greeting to everyone else, but you notice he's keeping his gaze pinned on you. "I need a quick word with (Y/N)," he requests politely, though everyone knows you're not supposed to tell him no. Everyone else starts off down the hall where Ozpin just came from, the cafeteria and the thought of dinner becoming the focus of their attention. And stomachs.
"So what do you need?" you say, cutting straight to the point as soon as the other two teams drop out of sight. Ozpin takes a sip of coffee from his mug and fixes you with a coy smile.
"I couldn't help but notice you leaving the Forever Fall Forest in the middle of Monday night with miss Rose and miss Schnee in tow. May I ask what you were doing in there past curfew?" he asks, maintaining a rather friendly tone as he gets straight to the point. Your mind goes into lightspeed and immediately comes up with a good excuse to explain Monday night's incident.
"They were helping me fine-tune my weapon. I needed to make sure it would work perfectly during today's sparring class," you say after a split-second. Of course, Ozpin knows this isn't true, but doesn't pursue it anyway. He nods his head, visibly accepting your explanation.
"Very well. Just don't get caught out past curfew by anyone else. The other professors aren't as forgiving as I am, and Professor Goodwitch takes curfew very seriously," he warns as he turns around and heads down the hall in the opposite direction he came from.
You still come out at night to practice alone, despite Ozpin's warning. This training is necessary. This thought goes through your mind every time you're reminded of Ozpin's query, but considering the bad luck you've had so far today, it only serves to add another level of agitation to your movement as you start throwing punches and kicks at your imaginary target. Not two minutes pass before a pressure intrudes upon your senses, and it doesn't take long for you to notice that you've sensed this presence before.
After all, you sit next to her in class each day.
"What do you want, Ruby?" you call out, your annoyance beginning to rise again as you turn around to where she's standing. You become even more irritated when you see that she's not even trying to hide herself or her presence from you. Please don't be something stupid...
"Are you... okay?" she asks hesitantly as she slowly walks into the clearing, and you roll your eyes and sigh. It's something stupid!
"Yes, I'm okay." You try to keep the irritation out of your voice, but fail. "I just want to train alone for a bit," you say, trying to dismiss the conversation and insinuate that she needs to head back to the dormitory. She doesn't.
"It's just that you looked like you were in a bad mood today," she says with a level of caution in her voice.
"Oh gee, you don't say? That tends to happen when you have a bad day," you say in exasperation before noticing something about her that makes you even more irritated, or rather the lack of something. "Where's your weapon?" She promised not to do that again!
"Oh, right there," she says as she turns around and points behind her to the tree she was standing next to a few moments ago. Crimson Rose is propped up against the tree trunk, and you mentally curse yourself.
How did I not notice that? You sigh as she turns back around to you. "Anything else?"
"Well, umm..."
What does she want now?!
"Is, um... is it alright if I... watch you train?" she asks after several moments of hesitation. You tilt your head slightly and raise your eyebrow in a questioning manner.
"Why?" you chop out, and Ruby's eyes start darting back and forth, trying to find a way to phrase her reasoning that didn't sound wierd.
"Well... since I also use a scythe, I thought-"
"One reason I came out here tonight is to be alone," you say, cutting her off before she could fully explain. "I didn't come out here to babysit you." You turn back around and start shadow sparring again.
"Hey! I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself!" she retorts as she stomps over to stand behind you with her arms crossed.
"You're also perfectly capable of knowing when to leave someone alone," you respond without stopping your routine.
"Sorry, am I supposed to leave you alone now?" At this point, Ruby's arguing with you just to be stubborn.
"Yes, you are," you grit as you perform an axe kick and follow up with two more punches to your pretend opponent, your frustration starting to mount up more and more.
"What if I don't want to?"
That's it! You stop shadow sparring and turn around to face Ruby, your face terse with anger. Her arms are still crossed and she's leaning on one hip in a stubborn manner as you take a few steps toward her to close the distance between you two.
"Alright, listen up princess-"
You don't get to finish your sentence as the ground trembles below the two of you without warning, and neither of you have any time to react before it gives way.
"What the hell!?" you shout as you and Ruby fall through the new hole, though it's only for a moment as you both hit the floor of the cave you've fallen into with a thunk. You immediately get back up on your feet, and you turn your head up to see the hole you fell through resting about ten feet above your head. Ruby gets up a few moments after you do, and notices that there are various dust crystals of all types poking out of the cave walls, providing light for you both to see the cave clearly.
"Perfect," you grunt in agitation as you begin looking around the cave trying to find a way back up to the hole. Immediately, several things stand out to you as odd.
The cave itself is a perfect cube. The walls are completely smooth and the floor is made up of several stone tiles. Several dust crystals of various types are positioned along each wall in the exact same way, making each wall look identical to the next. The only wall that didn't look identical was the one that had an arch in the middle of it, a pathway lit up by more dust crystals leading further into the cave. The floor of the room and the pathway are both made of chiseled stone tiles, and there's a pile of dirt from where the ground collapsed. A shaft of moonlight shines through the hole as well, providing more light alongside the dust crystals sitting in the walls.
"What is this place?" Ruby asks in awe as she looks around the stone room, her gaze sliding along each wall observing the details.
"Don't know, don't care," you say as you keep looking around the area in the ceiling where the hole is. Meanwhile, Ruby continues looking around the walls of the room at the dust crystals, noting the types of dust she's yet to see.
"Look at all this dust..." she breathes out as she walks up to one wall, looking at a pink crystal and poking it tentatively with one finger.
"Well, start looking for a way back up there," you snap while pointing at the hole in the room's ceiling. "I'd rather not be stuck down here while our weapons are up there."
As if on cue, the dust crystals in the room begin to glow brighter, causing Ruby to back up from the crystal she was poking. "Um, (Y/N)?"
"What?" You don't look down from the ceiling as you answer her, agitation still evident in your voice. Ruby glances between you and the dust crystals, her head snapping back and forth as her gaze snaps from you to crystal and back.
"Um... the dust is starting to glow..." she says nervously, and you look down at her, noticing the glowing dust crystals on the wall with the archway are indeed brighter than before.
"What the..." You trail off as you look back up and notice the hole beginning to glow along with the dust crystals. Your confusion turns to panic as the dirt that fell with you through the hole begins to levitate off the ground and back up to the hole, the bits locking back into place and shrinking the opening in the hole.
"No no no no!" you scream in frustration as the hole closes up completely, throwing the room back into a dim glow sustained by the crystals, which have gone back to normal. You stroll up to the closest wall and jam your fist into it as hard as you can, burying it at least a foot into the wall, your aura stopping you from breaking your hand. "Damnit!"
Ruby is trying very hard to keep her composure, but on the inside, she's completely scared. If only Yang was here... Suddenly, she remembers that she has her scroll on her, and she pulls it out and opens it up. The sudden light causes you to turn around and see Ruby fiddling with her scroll. Understanding what she's trying to do, you free your arm from the wall with a hard tug, ripping small pieces of jagged stones out with it, and jog over to her, the frustration plaguing you for the duration of the entire day gone for the first time. It only lasts a few moments, however, as the screen changes from the time displaying 12:45 A.M. to a text popping up on the screen when Ruby accesses her contacts: NO SIGNAL. You take a step back and allow your head to hang backward in exasperation.
"Great. We can't call for help..." You look around the cave again, trying to figure out what to do next. Your posture starts to slacken as the extra energy you had from being angry all day suddenly dissipates, leaving you wearily frustrated instead of angrily frustrated. "How did that even happen?"
"It was the dust..." Ruby says quietly, also looking around the room at the dust crystals. "That was time dilation."
You turn around and face Ruby again, an eyebrow raised in question again. "Time what-now?"
"I've seen Weiss practice it with her glyphs once," she starts to explain, doing miniature hand gestures to help her think better. "It's like rewinding time on something. I think the dust invoked time dilation on that hole we fell through."
This time there's no retort or snapping or comment made as you simply go over to the wall opposite the passageway and sit down next to it, one knee propped up with your arm resting on top of it. Ruby follows suit and sits down next to you against the wall, her legs kicked straight out and her hands planted on the ground next to her. You both sit like this for at least ten minutes, your gazes unfocused as you both lose yourselves in thought trying to figure out what to do next. Eventually, Ruby looks up at the passageway on the other side of the room.
"What's through there?" She asks the question just to draw your attention to it, and you look up at the archway holding the tunnel in question, the focal point of your attention lit up by various dust crystals. After a moment of thought, you slowly shake your head.
"Dunno, but it's not somewhere we need to go."
"Why not?" Ruby asks, looking over at you in confusion. "That hole's not going to open up again, so it may be the way out."
"We don't know what's in there, and we don't have our weapons," you explain, turning your head to meet her gaze. "For all we know, that could be a death trap."
"Do you have a better idea?" Ruby asks as she stands up, already knowing your answer. You sigh and stand up as well, following behind Ruby as she starts to slowly approach the opening of the passageway.
"Who built this place?" she asks aloud to no one in particular as she lazy-walks to the passageway, her gaze wandering about the expanse of the room that you're both standing in.
"Dunno- I just hope that nothing here tries to kill us," you say as you turn around to where Ruby is standing two feet behind you. She only nods her head as you start back towards the passageway, a sense of security planted in your head as you start down the tunnel with Ruby not too far behind you.
"Where is she?!" Yang is on full alert after waking up and seeing her sister's bed empty. Weiss and Blake are a little slower in waking up, not immediately understanding why Yang just hopped off her bed and ran up to Ruby's.
"Yang, what's going on?" Blake asks groggily as she sits up slowly in her bed, still under the covers. Weiss follows suit, her hair, usually in a ponytail, messy from a night of sleep.
"Ruby's not here!" she exclaims, mentally panicking as she throws back the covers on Ruby's bed. She starts running a list of every possible spot Ruby could be in her head. Weiss only shakes her head and gets up out of bed, walking over and grabbing her scroll off of the desk.
"Hold on, I'll call her," she says stoically as she brings up Ruby's contact page and presses the call button. Yang walks over and stands two feet away, waiting anxiously for her sister to answer her scroll. After six buzzes, the call fails, leaving all three members of the team in worry.
"Oh, she is in so much trouble when I find her," Yang mutters as she dresses in her regular outfit, grabs her scroll and Ember Celica, and storms out the door. Weiss and Blake quickly change into their normal outfits and follow her out the door, snagging their weapons as they go.
"Maybe Jaune or Pyrrha knows where she is," Yang says as she knocks on Team JNPR's door. A few more seconds pass and she goes to knock on it again, only for the door to swing open with Ren standing at the door.
"What's going on?" he asks, immediately sensing that something's amiss.
"Ruby's gone!" Yang exclaims, cutting straight to the chase. "Have you guys seen her?"
"Unfortunately not," Ren replies. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora come into view behind him, already fully dressed and armed.
"Maybe (Y/N) knows where she is?" Pyrrha suggests.
"He better know," Yang scowls before storming over to your room's doorway, everyone else close behind her. Yang doesn't waste any time in knocking on the door rapidly. No response. She knocks on it again. Still no response.
He's so dead! Yang pumps her fists in the air, Ember Celica turning from two yellow bangles on her wrists into wrist-mounted shotguns. Jaune immediately tries to stop her.
"Yang, wait!" His attempt ends in vain as she punches your door full-force, causing it to fly off its hinges and crash onto your bed, breaking the bed in half and causing the bed to adopt a V-shape at the split. Everyone's eyes are immediately drawn to the broken bed, illuminated by the sun shining through the window, having risen over the horizon about an hour ago. Nothing moved from on top of the bed or from underneath the door. You're nowhere to be found inside the room. Huffing in increasing rage, Yang angrily turns away from your room.
"Ruby's missing, and (Y/N)'s not here," Yang says angrily as she storms away from your room toward the stairway leading to the first floor of the building. "I swear, if he's laid a finger on her-"
"Yang, calm down," Blake says calmly, putting a hand on Yang's shoulder firmly to hold her in place. "I don't trust him either, but I don't think he'd kidnap Ruby. Besides, we'd have noticed if he tried to break into our dorm." After a brief pause, Yang takes a big breath, accepting Blake's reasoning. "The question is, where are they now?"
"I think I might know where," Weiss says, starting for the staircase. "Follow me."
*several hours earlier*
You and Ruby walk into a small room after about ten minutes of walking through the passageway, the winding tunnel lit by a constant string of various types of dust crystals, most of which Ruby never even knew existed. The small room isn't as artificially made as the first room, the only exception being the placement of dust crystals. While you could keep going until at least dawn, you noticed Ruby starting to get weary herself, and upon seeing this small room, you decide to rest here for a while.
"Let's stop here for a bit," you say while walking over to a curve in the wall.
"No, I can keep going," Ruby protests, but a yawn soon overtakes her as she finishes speaking.
"Mmm hmm," you hum disbelievingly, laying down next to the wall. Ruby opens her mouth to argue further, but all that comes out is another yawn. After it's gone, she huffs in defeat and lays down along the wall next to you. Both of your heads are right next to each other, though your backs are turned to each other.
"We're stopping here for a bit- you should get some sleep while we're here," you say, glancing up at the various dust crystals in place in the walls and the ceiling. "We have a good amount of time before dawn."
Ruby doesn't say anything in response as she tries to get comfortable on the stone floor, but soon she starts to shiver from the room's low temperature despite her outfit covering her entire body. You only lay there silently, gazing up at where the wall meets the ceiling as you wait for sleep to overtake you, your jacket shielding you from the cold temperature. After twelve minutes, however, your attention is drawn to Ruby, who keeps rolling back and forth in place, pulling her hoodie over her head and constantly shifting around in her cloak trying to get warm, to no avail. You let yourself dwell in thought for a moment before sitting up and removing your jacket, promptly tossing it behind you onto Ruby's stomach.
"Put that on if you're cold," you say as you stand up from your temporary resting place. Ruby props herself up with one elbow and looks over at you. You're leaning against the wall with your arms crossed and a thoughtful expression on your face, with nothing but a grey T-shirt covering your upper body.
"But you're in a T-shirt," she says after drawing in a shuddering breath.
"I've been able to sleep in colder areas," you deadpan. "Also, I'm not the one shivering so much."
"But-"
"I'm not tired, anyway," you say, stopping Ruby's next protest. "You, on the other hand..."
Ruby squints in disapproval, but draws your jacket around her shoulders. She doesn't say anything, instead lying down on the stone floor, trying to get comfortable again. This time, she doesn't have to toss and turn trying to find a position that traps her body heat thanks to your jacket, and starts becoming even more drowsy within seconds. After a few minutes, she falls asleep completely, your jacket wrapped around her shoulders and covering her body from her shoulders to her waist as a makeshift blanket.
You don't move a muscle from where you're leaning against the wall as you watch Ruby fall asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly indicating she's completely asleep. You close your eyes after another minute, though you remain awake standing against the cave wall. You'd be lying if you didn't think that falling asleep was very tempting to you, but there are too many thoughts flooding your mind for you to relax enough to fall asleep.
The situation that the two of you have stumbled into is enough to keep you awake on its own- you're both stuck in a mysterious and random cave that's layered in vast amounts of dust, both familiar and new. Even more strange than that is the fact that the dust can act as some sort of defensive system against the Grimm on its own- without anyone interacting with it to provide a purpose or direction. Then, there's the fact that the two of you are here and not at Beacon. It may be in the middle of the night, but past experience has taught you that the night can pass one by very quickly, whether awake or asleep. If you spend too long in this place, your absences will be noticed by everyone at Beacon, and that will create trouble. The sooner you can leave, the better.
Won't hurt to take a look further down the tunnel.
You open your eyes and turn your gaze to where the tunnel continues through a passageway a few feet down from where you're standing. You take a few steps toward the exit of the small room, then cast a glance behind yourself to Ruby's sleeping form. Knowing the dust crystals in the room will vaporize any threat before they can reach her, you turn back around and proceed down the passage, which immediately curves off to the right.
After thirty-or-so steps, you emerge from the end of the curved tunnel into another room about the same size of the one you left Ruby in. There's dust crystals peppering the cave walls and ceiling just like the rest of the cavern, but this time there's three tunnels to go through- one to your left, one to your right, and one straight ahead, though that one is blocked off by a flat block of stone with two small holes in the center. You start to approach the blocked passageway when a voice from behind startles you somewhat.
"About time you showed up."
You spin around on your heel to identify the source of the voice, tensing your body and dropping your stance slightly in anticipation of a possible fight. Leaning against the inside of the tunnel that you just emerged from is a man about a foot and a half taller than you. He's dressed in a black suit and red tie, black dress pants, and black dress shoes, which don't have any wrinkles or folds anywhere along his outfit. He has an average build with wavy brown hair extending down to his shoulders, but that doesn't take away from the air of authority he exerts, accented by the critical stare from his orange eyes and the massive great axe slung on his back. To top it all off, you didn't see, hear, or even sense him behind you like you can with other people and Grimm.
"Who are you?" you ask tersely, not moving a muscle as the mystery figure leans off the wall and starts to approach you. Even though his posture is lax and he doesn't seem to bear hostility towards you, you remain on guard as he slowly walks towards you.
"I'm an Eidolon."
Your posture slackens a bit, and you rise slightly from your hostile stance. While your hostility itself starts leaving your body, you don't allow your guard to drop for a moment.
"You're an Eidolon?" you ask as the so-called demigod in question stops walking about six feet from where you're standing, looking down at you with a neutral expression. You squint your eyes and slightly tilt your head sideways in disbelief. "You don't look like an all-powerful being to me."
"If I were to assume my true form, I'd be squished from the lack of room here," he states with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Yeah, sure," you deadpan, twisting your head to the side to glance at the blocked-off tunnel, returning your gaze up to the Eidolon after a moment. "How do we get out of here?"
"Well…" he trails off, turning his head to look at the tunnel leading back to where you left Ruby. "I think you should both be here for that. Yes, I know that you're not alone here," he says before you can interrupt him. "I wouldn't be doing my job very well if I didn't know when someone entered my Conglomerate Chamber," he explains, even though you're slightly puzzled by his words.
Before you can ask any more questions, the Eidolon snaps his fingers, and his body erupts into brilliant blue flames, which instantly cover every inch of his body and emits a bright flash of light. You shield your eyes with your arm from the sudden light for a couple seconds, but when you lower your arm to look at the sudden change, all that's left of the demigod are some dim, blue embers where the combustion occurred.
What the… How did he do that? He just disappeared in blue fire like he was a magician doing a vanishing act. You stand there for several seconds trying to work out how the demigod just ninja-vanished before you shake your head and start down the tunnel leading back to the previous room. I need to wake up Ruby.
You backtrack through the tunnel back into the previous room, finding Ruby just as you left her against the wall. You approach her and, kneeling down, lightly shake her shoulder.
"Wake up."
Ruby's eyes slowly flutter open at the sudden contact, and she raises her head slightly to see you shaking her shoulder, silhouetted against the dim light of the room's dust. She slowly sits up, your jacket still slung over her shoulders like a blanket.
"(Y/N)…?" she yawns, her mind addled by sleep. "How long was I out for?" she asks, reaching for her scroll to check the time while you grab your jacket off her shoulders and secure it on your own, slipping your arms through the sleeves.
"Not long- only a few minutes," you reply as you stand back up and head for the tunnel leading to where you encountered the Eidolon. "Come on- we've got a problem."
Ruby nods and stands up, looking at her scroll in one hand to see the time- 7:52 A.M. Only a few minutes? This says I was asleep for at least six hours! She shakes her head and follows you through the tunnel, pocketing her scroll as she goes.
"So what's the problem?" she asks as you emerge into the next chamber, and her mind immediately notes the multiple paths that exist. "Oh, there's multiple paths. Which one do we go down?" she asks, but she suspects you don't know the answer. The answer you do give confuses her instead of confirming her suspicion.
"That's not the problem," you correct, approaching the blocked tunnel. Before you can say anything further, a recent acquaintance makes his presence known again.
"That passageway will lead you to this chamber's exit, but it requires two keys to unlock," he says, standing in the same spot that he surprised you from last time. You turn over your shoulder to see the Eidolon as he was the last time he introduced himself, while Ruby spins around rapidly on her heel and back pedals a few steps, surprised at the newcomer's presence.
"Who are you?!" Ruby exclaims, her silver eyes wide in surprise and a slight amount of fear. The Eidolon glances down at her, sizing her up through his sharp orange eyes.
"You'll know soon," he responds cryptically, turning his attention to you. "To open it, you simply have to go through these other two passages, fight an enemy, grab the crystals they drop, and jam them into those two slots in the stone," he explains nonchalantly while gesturing .
"You make it sound easy," you deadpan, cautiously glancing down the passageway to your right while feeling a rather empty spot on your back. "Also, we don't have our weapons," you add, glancing back at the demigod standing across the room from the blocked tunnel.
"You mean those weapons?" he asks, pointing a thumb over his shoulder without looking. You and Ruby shift your gazes behind the demigod to see Crescent Rose, Wind Reaper, and your dancing daggers sitting about seven feet behind him.
"How did you-" Ruby begins to ask, confused, but the Eidolon interrupts her.
"I'd hurry up if I were you," he warns suddenly, and your eyes narrow in suspicion as he continues. "I ran into two teams of students while collecting those, and they seemed pretty worried about you," he explains, crossing one arm across his chest while pointing at Ruby with the other one. Then, he looks downward slightly and lets a chuckle slip out. "The blonde one even had the nerve to threaten me."
"They're already looking for us?" you ask, more to yourself than the Eidolon. It's still in the middle of the night!
"They must've noticed we weren't in our dorms, and classes start in about an hour," she explains, remembering that it's nearly eight in the morning. You, on the other hand, just stare at her like she's grown a second head.
"What are you talking about? It's the middle of the night, and we've only been in here for about an hour or so," you say, completely confused.
"Well…" the Eidolon starts, shrugging his shoulders as you and Ruby turn your gazes back onto him. "Time flows differently here than outside. I can stretch out a minute to last hours, or make hours fly by in a matter of minutes."
What he says completely throws you and Ruby off, but you don't have time to ponder as the demigod steps forward away from your weapons.
"I'll stretch out time so that you'll be out of here in the next two minutes," he says as he stops just eight feet away from where you and Ruby are standing, then snaps his fingers, vanishing in the same flash of blue flame as last time. Your eyes squint against the sudden change in light, and Ruby raises her arm to shield her eyes against the discomforting flash. You and Ruby then look back at where the man was standing just to see more blue embers drifting around the spot.
"What…. is he….?" Ruby says in bewilderment and awe, while you just shake your head.
"An Eidolon, supposedly," you say, equally as bewildered as Ruby, though you don't allow it to show.
"You mean like those demigods that Professor Port mentioned?" Ruby queries.
"I think so," you confirm, eyes narrowed downward in thought. Something that the Eidolon says suddenly grasps your attention, and you turn back to Ruby. "Is it really almost eight o'clock?"
"Mm," she grunts in confirmation, pulling out her scroll and turning it on, displaying a time on it: 7:53 A.M.
"Impossible..." You stare at her scroll in complete disbelief, remembering that only an hour ago, or at least what felt like an hour ago, the time you saw on Ruby's scroll was somewhere around 12:40 A.M. After staring at the scroll for a few seconds, you shake your head to clear your head and organize your thoughts.
"If that's the case, we can't waste time then." You don't waste any time approaching your weapons and, after tossing Crescent Rose to Ruby, placing your daggers on your hips and Wind Reaper within your jacket.
"I take the right tunnel, you take the left?" you suggest, approaching the right tunnel while Ruby, now armed with Crescent Rose compacted on her back, nods her head in agreement and approaches the left one. As the two of you proceed through your respective tunnels, however, the Eidolon's voice echoes through the cave again, though this time the demigod isn't present in the room.
"Your past awaits."
Your past awaits? Ruby echoes the question inside her head as she walks down her tunnel, brows furrowed in thought. Does that mean we're fighting someone from our past? How?
Ruby continues to debate the question in her head until she reaches the end of the tunnel, popping out into a large chamber about the same size as the sparring classroom's arena at Beacon, except the walls round off into a dome instead of the usual walls and ceiling. Just like the rest of the cave system, the dome is peppered with various dust crystals.
The redhead draws Crescent Rose and advances slowly into the room, eyeing the dust crystals around her with hostile suspicion. As if on cue, all of the dust suddenly begins to glow, just like they did when you both first entered the caverns. Ruby immediately tenses, dropping her stance and gripping Crescent Rose in front of her to be ready to block any incoming projectiles they might fire.
Instead of firing beams of energy at her, however, the dust crystals fire beams directly into the center of the room, all of the beams impacting one spot and forming a small white dot suspended slightly above the floor. As Ruby observes the beams continue to converge at the dot, it begins to expand slowly. Ruby then backs up a few steps as the white point begins to expand at a much faster rate, growing exponentially without any signs of stopping. As the expansion reaches Ruby in a matter of seconds, she ducks her head down and raises her arm in front of it, bracing herself against the imminent contact.
The first thing that Ruby registers as the expansion reaches her is a mild warmth instead of the violent impact that she was initially expecting. She lowers her arm and raises her head, confused about the warm feeling she's getting, and even more so from what her eyes first perceive- her environment has changed from the dark stone chamber to a cliff side, with shortly-cut grass covering the top of it. Trees occasionally dot the top of the expanse, with a tree line leading to a forest silently resting several dozen feet away from where Ruby's standing. The sky has not a cloud in sight, with the sun shining warmly on the entire expanse. White rose petals are drifting around aimlessly on top of the expanse as far as Ruby can see.
Wait a minute… As Ruby looks around to take in this new environment, something clicks in her head, and she turns her gaze toward the cliff side. A tombstone jutting out from the edge of a short ledge protruding out from the edge of the cliff confirms her suspicions. This is Mom's grave!
As soon as she completes this thought, the drifting rose petals suddenly start to gravitate toward the grave, causing Ruby to look around in surprise and confusion. As more and more petals gather near the grave, they start to revolve around the grave in a sort of mini-tornado of rose petals. Once most of them have gathered at the tombstone, the mini tornado of roses begins to rotate faster and faster, enough to begin shielding the tomb from Ruby's view, but not enough to create a buffeting wind. After several seconds of this, Ruby watches in awe as the petal storm suddenly stops in its tracks, allowing her to spot a figure in a white cloak and white hood standing in front of her mother's grave. While the hood obscures some of the figure's face, the rest is still visible to Ruby, and the Eidolon's words begin to flash through her mind: Your past awaits.
Crescent Rose falls to the grass as Ruby brings her hands up in front of her mouth, her breathing becomes ragged, and tears begin streaming down her face.
"H-How….?" Ruby asks, her entire body shaking as she sobs uncontrollably, her blurry vision trying to focus on the figure standing in between her and her mother's grave: Summer Rose.
Your past awaits. The Eidolon's words echo through her head again, and her eyes widen even further as a terrible conclusion assumes itself in her mind.
I have to fight Mom?! The thought brings a fresh wave of tears racing down her face, and she finally loses the will to stand, sinking onto shaking knees in front of Crescent Rose and burying her face in her hands, refusing to face reality. After several moments of crying, the sound of light footsteps approaching her compels her to look up, her hands dropping onto her knees. Summer is walking towards her slowly, her expression unreadable. This fills Ruby with extreme amounts of fear as her mind begins to race, her normally-cheerful silver eyes, now fraught with fear and disbelief, now locked on to the approaching figure of her mother.
This isn't real… Ruby begins hyperventilating and shaking even more vehemently than before, her hands slowly rising from her knees back in front of her face as Summer raises her arm, a sword flashing out of her white cloak.
This isn't real… This isn't real… This isn't real! She squeezes her eyes shut tightly and her breath catches in her throat as she hopes desperately to wake up from whatever nightmare she's just stumbled into.
The room is silent. Nothing is moving, the air is silent, the dust crystals scattered around the room glows dimly, and the figure sitting on top of the center pedestal doesn't want to disturb that comforting silence as he waits patiently for the two of you to complete the trial. That silence doesn't last long as another presence intrudes upon his senses- a presence he hasn't felt in over eight-thousand years.
The Eidolon looks up, and standing in front of him is another person in the same outfit as him- same suit and tie, pants, shoes- the only difference is his black tie as opposed to the red tie that the other figure sports and the gold-outlined black sword resting in a similarly-colored sheathe on his back. His short, black hair is combed off to one direction, and his black eyes are as serious as ever.
"You ought to be more careful about letting total strangers in here, Ifrit," he comments, crossing his arms as Ifrit stands up from the pedestal.
"You're one to talk," he counters as he adopts a similar stance to the newcomer. "You've been gone for several millennia- you may as well be a stranger yourself."
"I'm aware of that," the newcomer responds, narrowing his eyes in offense to Ifrit's insult. "But these trials are only meant for those with the blood of the clan, yet you dragged in that girl along with Reaper."
"I have my reasons," Ifrit retorts, narrowing his eyes in stubborn defensiveness. "Besides, the girl was basically glued to him, so I didn't have a choice."
"You could have waited," the stranger deadpans. "Reaper returns to that clearing virtually every night, so it's not like this was a one-time occasion." He leans forward slightly and frowns somewhat. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you want to link them together with an affection mark."
Ifrit uncrosses his arms and shrugs, not caring at all that the recent arrival knows his plans- or one of them, at least. "Like I said, I have my reasons."
"They're pretty bad reasons," the stranger remarks coldly, making Ifrit's expression change to a cartoonish skateboard face. "Besides, they may not live through the trials."
Ifrit growls, staring down at the space halfway between himself and his fellow demigod while briefly closing his eyes. "You know the rules, Bahamut: we can't help them."
"Correction, you can't help them," Bahamut snaps, black eyes flashing dangerously despite the dim light of the room. "Nothing says I can't help them."
Ifrit's brow furrows in anger and his teeth start to grind against each other in frustration. "That's not the point! They must finish the trial of their own volition, otherwise they aren't worthy to claim the power from that pedestal!" he shouts, gesturing to the pedestal that he was recently sitting on without taking his now-hostile gaze off of Bahamut.
"Oh please, no one's been worthy to claim it for four-thousand years," Bahamut snaps in sarcastic irritation.
"And this one is?"
"That's not the point! If we don't help them now, they'll die! Everything the master worked towards all these years will be wasted! We can't afford to do nothing now!" Bahamut shouts, frustration seeping into his own voice as he struggles not to lash out at his ancient friend.
WHAT! Ifrit just barely keeps himself from drawing his own weapon in rage, his eye ticking and hands clenching and unclenching in an attempt to control himself. "You're one to talk," he remarks cruelly, the venom in his voice twice as evident despite the volume returning to its usual, quiet level. However, it doesn't last long as he launches into a tirade. "Where were you when our master's vision of a clan of saviors resulted in a clan of tyrants? Where were you when Cadence and the Fashadd nearly wiped us out six-thousand years ago at the Plains of Palamecia? Where were you when the Arbiter ordered us to lay waste to Mantle four-thousand years ago?!"
As Ifrit's verbal onslaught continues, his breathing becomes more labored and tears start to form in his eyes as his rant starts to turn from one of anger into a way to relieve emotional pressure. "Where were you when Remnant suffered under Reaper jurisdiction for three-thousand years?! Where were you when we sided with Mantle to suppress human expression?! Where-"
Ifrit cuts off mid-sentence as his emotions start to boil over, unable to continue raving as he breathes heavily and irregularly, tears streaming down his face as he borders on a mental breakdown. Bahamut merely looks on with a masked expression as Ifrit slowly reigns his emotions back in to a controlled level. When he continues, the venom is gone from his voice and he's no longer screaming, his eyes squeezed shut and his tone emotionally strained.
"Where were you... when we started the Great War?… Where were you… when we were nearly wiped out?" Ifrit opens his eyes and looks up at Bahamut almost pleadingly, tear tracks staining his face and his lip slightly quivering. "You were nowhere to be found. You- the only Eidolon strong enough to act independently of the Godfather's will! You could have stopped all of that..." Ifrit looks down at his hands, turning his palms upward as he recalls the long history of the Reaper clan, looking at them as if they were still stained with the blood of the innocent. "The rest of us aren't strong like you- we're bound to the Godfather's directive no matter what."
Bahamut remains silent, his stoic gaze not revealing anything as Ifrit calms down some more, steadying his breathing and wiping the tears off his face while still staring at his hands. "You'd never understand being forced to do the opposite of what you were created to do." He allows his hands to fall back down at his sides as he fixes Bahamut with a serious stare. "No… more… if they die in these trials, then they die- I don't care," Ifrit states, breaking eye contact with his fellow acquaintance to look back at the pedestal in the center of the chamber. "Good riddance to a fate bound by a legacy of blood."
Bahamut's expression doesn't waver as he ponders everything that Ifrit just confided to him, his words echoing through his mind. You were nowhere to be found. You- the only Eidolon strong enough to act independently of the Godfather's will! You could have stopped all of that... Good riddance to a fate bound by a legacy of blood.
If only you knew, old friend… After several moments of terse silence between the two, Bahamut abruptly turns around on his heel and starts walking towards the exit of the chamber.
"Where are you going?" Bahamut doesn't stop walking as an exact copy of the sword on his back appears in his hand in a flash of white light.
"I told you earlier- they may not live through the trials… not without some help…"
Ruby gasps as she collides against a nearby tree, the breath being driven out of her body. Her aura visibly flickers, indicating she's dangerously low on aura. Crescent Rose is laying on the grass where she first dropped it upon seeing Summer's illusion appear. She hasn't lifted a finger to try and fight back, her emotions rendering her to a crying mess as the illusion of her mother knocks her around left and right, seemingly toying with her for the entire ten minutes that have passed. All she can do is stare up at her aggressor with a tear-stained face and a trembling body as she approaches her again, sword in hand and a neutral expression still drawn upon her face.
"Please… stop…" Ruby knows that she won't listen to her, but her mind is too far gone in emotional shock and paralyzing fear to listen to reason now. All she's capable of doing is watching through a tear-blurred, fear-addled gaze as Summer stops in front of Ruby's unwilling form and brings her arm back, the sword catching the sunlight as she prepares for another strike to the red reaper. Ruby lowers her head and squeezes her eyes shut, her mind at its breaking point emotionally.
"Please!" The sword loses the sun's glint before Summer brings it slashing across towards Ruby.
The sound of metal tearing clothing is heard, but Ruby still feels nothing, still under an emotional trance. The thing that breaks her temporary trance is a yelp of surprise from Summer, and Ruby looks up to see that she's no longer standing in front of her. Taking a quick look around, Ruby spots her off to the right, pinned by her cloak to another nearby tree, her neutral expression finally broken with a look of surprise. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve to get a clearer view of her, Ruby sees something that causes a sleuth of various emotions- one of your dancing daggers pinning Summer's cloak to the tree.
Ruby, emotional trauma lessened from confusion for now, instinctively looks to her left to see you standing a few yards away, the other dagger dangling lazily from your finger.
"(Y/N)…?"
Your eyes dart to your right to see a trembling Ruby slumped against a tree, her face red and stained with tear tracks, but you don't have time to act on this as Summer, hood pulled free from your sneak attack, pulls the dagger free and, with a deft flick of her wrist, sends it spinning towards you at a high velocity. You respond by raising your arm and catching the dagger by the handle before it reaches your head, unfazed. You casually lower your arm down to your side while flicking the other dagger up with your finger before catching it at your side.
Absolute silence envelopes the cliff side as you and Summer stare each other down, neither one of you daring to move a muscle. You then let your gaze glance to your right at Ruby once more, and her gaze is switching back and forth between you and her mother. You can already tell how this person relates to Ruby- they're a spitting image of each other. You let your gaze fall back onto Summer, and she slowly begins to lower her stance, preparing the first strike. You spin your right dagger around your hand before sheathing it, keeping your hand inside your jacket to draw on Wind Reaper at a moment's notice as you and Summer continue to stare each other down.
You blink, and Summer's already covered half the distance between the two of you. With no time to draw Wind Reaper, you raise your other dagger in defense as Summer covers the entire distance, already slashing downward with her sword.
She's fast! Her sword connects with your dagger, and a loud clang resounds throughout the air. You begin deploying Wind Reaper immediately, but Summer retracts her sword and slashes toward your other side. You only barely bring your dagger around to parry the strike, Wind Reaper half-deployed at this point. Trying to get a bearing on her during her assault, you bring your foot up and deliver a kick to her chest as she brings her sword around for a third strike.
She staggers backward a couple steps, her attack interrupted, and you instantly try to cover the distance, sheathing your dagger now that Wind Reaper is completely deployed. You swing at her side just as she regains her footing, but in a blur of movement, she ducks past your swipe while slashing behind herself at your back with her own sword. The hit forces you forward off-balance, and you turn around to try and catch her next attack, only to be met with a spinning kick to your face at tremendous force that sends you spinning through the air several feet backward, losing your grip on your scythe in the process. You tumble across the ground a couple times before planting your hand on the ground, letting you recover your footing and recover into a low stance, but the reprieve is short-lived as Wind Reaper crashes into you blade-first the next second, the force carrying you backward through a tree and into a massive boulder, the impact drawing a loud shout of pain from you and sending up a debris cloud of pulverized dust that obscures you from view.
"(Y/N)!" Ruby has gotten back on her feet, but is still leaning on her arm against the tree as she watches the short exchange between you and her mother, a storm of conflicting feelings rushing through her mind. Part of her wants you to win, but the other part of her… won't be relieved when that happens. She shakes her head to try and free up some room for thought.
He's losing… badly… What do I do?
The dust cloud shifts slightly as two spinning daggers erupt from both sides, curving through the air towards Summer in two converging arcs. She responds by slashing at each dagger as they reach her, knocking them away harmlessly before returning her attention to the dust cloud. Bringing her sword across her shoulder, she slings her sword downward, the sword in turn breaking off into multiple sections held together by a flexible, yet thick metal wire. The chain blade extends toward the dust cloud as she slashes downward, dispelling the cloud as the end of the blade shears right through it. The blade meets no resistance, the dispelled cloud revealing that you're no longer standing there.
Summer's gaze darts left and right, trying to discern where you vanished to while her chain blade retracts back into a sword. Her query is answered as a loud blast reaches her ears from above, and she looks up, only to be met with a scythe blade smashing her in the face, sending her flying backwards. The breath is driven out of her as she collides with a tree, losing her grip on her sword in the process. Before her feet touch the ground, your scythe's chain blade circles around her rapidly, chaining her to the tree.
You're propelling yourself in a circle around her using Wind Reaper's compression blast and the wire to keep you connected to her, scooping your dancing daggers off the ground and sheathing them in the first few rotations. As this happens, more and more of the wire wraps around her as you quickly close the gap between you and her, the tight bind crushing the air from Summer's lungs and forcing a pained gasp from her. When you're only a couple feet away from her, you spin Wind Reaper around to blast forward, stopping yourself dead in front of Summer, who's completely pinned by your wire crushing her chest and stomach. Spinning Wind Reaper around again without giving slack to the wire, you aim the weapon behind you while drawing your dagger backhanded, aiming for a stab to her head.
It's over! You propel yourself forward with another blast behind you, the tip of your dagger rapidly closing in on Summer's head. Simultaneously, Summer concentrates for a moment and activates her semblance, instantly vanishing into a scattering flurry of white rose petals.
THUNK.
Your dagger impacts the spot where Summer's head was a fraction of a second ago, burying itself almost all the way into the tree trunk. Your adrenaline wanes and changes into confusion as you look around at the petals drifting around in the air.
"What the…?" You give a hard yank to your dancing dagger, pulling it free from the tree trunk and sliding it back into its sheathe, then lightly kick Wind Reaper's blade free of the trunk, allowing it to retract around the tree until the blade reattached itself to the body of the weapon. You reach up to one of the floating petals and lightly pin it between your index and middle fingers, holding it in front of your face to take a closer look at it out of complete curiosity.
"Is it…. over?" Ruby's moved from her spot at the tree to stand a few feet away from you, and you turn your gaze to her. While she isn't back to her normal, cheery self, she's no longer frozen from her earlier trauma. You don't answer her, opting instead to look back at the white rose petal snared between your fingers, looking at it for a moment longer before allowing a gentle breeze to gently whisk it back into the air around the tree.
It is over, right? The way the fight ended was slightly perplexing to you, and the cliff side hasn't turned back into the cave where the environmental illusion first spawned. You recall the instructions that the Eidolon gave you after you woke up Ruby- defeat your opponent, grab the crystal they drop, and insert them into the stone blocking the exit. You slip your hand into your pocket and brush it over the crystal you won from your relatively quick battle after parting ways with Ruby.
So where's the other one? Something suddenly pops up in your head, and you look back up at the white rose petals still floating around the area, but this time you're concentrating on any feeling you can pick up from detecting an aura. The adrenaline instantly returns to your blood as you drop into a combat stance, priming your aura once more for combat.
That person's aura hasn't faded away… She's still here!
As if on cue, the rose petals suddenly speed away en masse from the tree where you had Summer pinned to an area about twenty feet from where you're standing. You aim Wind Reaper's compression blaster behind you, expecting her to reappear where the petals are currently gathered. However, to your surprise, the petals start speeding towards you with violent intent, and you're left with no time to defend yourself as the petal storm reaches you.
Ruby watches as the petal storm rushes past you and converges into a spot between you and the tree, scattering again after a short moment to reveal Summer kneeling as if she'd just jumped off a short ledge, seemingly out of breath. Ruby's gaze flits back to you, but you don't turn around to face her mother- instead, you're remaining in place, slightly shaking and wide-eyed in surprise.
Ruby's confusion transmutes into shock as your aura visibly flickers once before your eyes roll up to the back of your head and you collapse to the ground, Wind Reaper falling from your grasp. Blood starts trickling from cuts too thin for Ruby to see initially, and she takes a step back from the scene before her, realizing what it is Summer just did to you. She cut him with the rose petals!
Ruby involuntarily stiffens when Summer's gaze turns towards her, still neutral despite the fact that Summer's breathing is still heavy. She takes another step back as Summer starts to approach Ruby once more, aiming to finish what she started. Ruby's gaze switches from her mother back onto you as she continues backing up- you're still unconscious on the ground, blood now starting to visibly seep through the black pants and grey shirt under your jacket. She doesn't know why, but seeing you in this state grants her a slight moment of clarity.
This isn't Mom… Her fist clenches and she stops backing away from Summer, who stops her advance upon noticing this change in behavior. Ruby's knuckles whiten from how much she's clenching her fists, and her gaze flicks back to Summer, anger and determination ruling her mind. A second later, she bursts into a flurry of red rose petals that heads straight for Crimson Rose, grabbing it as soon as she reappears.
This is an imposter! Ruby drops down into a combat stance, slamming her scythe into the ground to aim at Summer and pulling the bolt on her scythe back to load a bullet into the chamber. Summer leans forward slightly in defensive anticipation, gripping her sword in front of her with both hands.
Before Ruby can act on her moment of clarity, however, Summer suddenly turns around, hopping backward a short distance away from where you're lying on the ground. Ruby's gaze narrows and then flits to you in response, just in time to see your body twitch once. After a couple moments, you stir slightly and rise slowly to one knee, your head lowered to the ground and obscuring your expression from view.
He's getting back up! The sight gives Ruby an extra burst of confidence, further strengthened when your aura primes itself once more, temporarily flashing a red stream over your body. Wait… red aura? Ruby rises from her stance in confusion, Crimson Rose lowered in front of her waist. But I thought his aura was blue…
You raise your hand above your head, and the two redheads watch as the red aura flares into view around your arm. Then, it flows up your arm to your outstretched hand and begins to extend in a thick line away from your hand. Once the line has grown to about three feet, your hand suddenly clenches around it, causing the line to erupt into a yellow light while also growing three times in length. Then, almost a quickly as it happened, the light fades away to reveal a massive ten-foot black great sword, which you have no problem holding despite the weapon's massive size. You then rise to a standing position while allowing the sword to lower down to your side, and Ruby's finally able to see your face as you train your gaze onto Summer. The cuts and blood are still there, but one thing stands out to her above that- your eyes are red instead of silver.
What…? Ruby's completely perplexed at this subtle change in detail. His eyes and aura are different… why?
Sudden movement from Summer pulls Ruby back into the present as she swings her stance sideways and brings her sword behind her, aiming to hit you from over fifteen feet away with the chain blade. She doesn't get a chance to do anything else as you grasp onto her forearm from behind, briefly locking her arm in place in front of you, her blade held inches away from the side of your face.
"Hmph. Too slow." The words come from your mouth, but your voice is completely different, sounding deeper and even carrying a different accent (A/N: British, in this case). You swing your arm over your head and slam her into the ground with enough force to leave behind an imprint of her body in the ground. Ruby blinks her eyes several times in disbelief, surprised by your apparent teleportation even though she knew it's because of inhuman speed. The impact rips a scream of pain from Summer and forces her to release her grip on her sword. After a brief pause, you then throw her into the air several feet by her arm before slashing downward as if you were serving a tennis ball, your weapon's length easily closing the gap and spiking Summer head-first towards the same boulder you crashed against earlier. Despite the boulder being over forty feet away from where you struck her, the tremendous force you hit her with sends her crashing into the large stone in less than a second, the impact completely obliterating it into a million pieces. Summer's body slams into the ground and drills along the surface, her body finally stopping after carving a twenty-foot long crevice in the ground behind the remains of the shattered stone.
The entire ordeal leaves behind a dense cloud of dust and debris that shields the devastating results of the single attack from you and Ruby. Your expression, still covered in blood, remains neutral, your eyes half-closed in neutral concentration, focused on the cloud of dust shielding your target from sight, while Ruby's eyes and mouth are both wide open, her mind desperately trying to make a sane evaluation of the five seconds that just transpired before her eyes. Before she can devote much concentration to a sound explanation, her attention is drawn back to you when you hold your sword straight up in front of you, placing your palm on the edge of the blade as if to steady it. Simultaneously, a storm of white rose petals comes racing out of the dust cloud just as it vanishes, racing towards you in the same fashion as before.
Before it can reach you, however, your red eyes flash for a moment, and time stops completely, the entire environment grey-scaling and entering a state of limbo as a result- the petal storm is frozen only a few feet away from you, you're frozen holding your sword out in front of you, and Ruby's frozen with a look of alarm on her face, her arm outstretched towards you as if to try and warn you. After several seconds pass, you slowly begin turning around with your sword coming down to hover over your shoulder, everything else remaining in limbo. After a moment, you turn once more and step forward, slashing your sword downward in front of you while flash-stepping through the petal storm unharmed, stopping in a kneeling position a few feet behind Summer's attack, looking at the ground.
A few more moments pass, and the surrounding environment regains its original color, the limbo effect subsiding as time resumes its course. Instantly, the petal storm continues in its original direction to where you were standing an instant ago, only to immediately falter and start to collapse on itself. Simultaneously, Ruby calls out a warning to you, completely unaware that the limbo effect even occurred in the first place.
"Look out!" As soon as the words leave her mouth, her mind processes your change in location, and she blinks a few times in confusion. She watches the petals converge back into Summer's original form, who falls face-first in pain next to the spot you slammed her into earlier, aura flickering into view as it falls dangerously low. Her gaze then flicks to the right as you lift your gaze off the ground, your head movement catching her eye, then turn over your shoulder to face Summer once more.
Summer slowly gets up to her hands and knees, then spots her sword laying next to her and grabs hold of it, jabbing the blade into the ground to help leverage her to her feet. Before she finishes getting back on her feet, you start channeling aura from your arm into your sword, the red wave pattern extending to cover the entirety of the massive blade just as Summer finishes getting off of the ground. Pulling her sword out of the ground, she turns around and grips her sword in front of her defensively while you raise your own weapon to shoulder height, pulling your shoulder back as if to prepare a stab with your weapon.
Summer lowers her stance closer to the ground in response, hoping to be able to block another one of your lightning-fast attacks, but you remain unmoving, your massive blade still alight with aura. Then, after several suspenseful moments pass, you thrust your sword forward while remaining in place. Your sword immediately begins to extend rapidly, the blade becoming thinner as the tip races towards Summer at high speeds. Summer brings her sword up to parry the weapon, concentrating her aura towards the front to help withstand the blow better.
Ruby's breath catches in her throat as she watches your sword continue extending, easily covering the gap between you and Summer with murderous intent while thinning to the width of your finger. The sound of metal impacting metal resounds throughout the cliffside, but Summer doesn't move after the impact. Ruby looks at her sword, her eyes widening in surprise as she realizes that Summer didn't block your sword. Instead, it sheared right through the middle of Summer's weapon, impaling her in the heart and protruding out of her back by a few inches.
Summer's stance slackens, her hands letting go of the sword and hanging limp at her sides, her sword still stuck in place on your blade. A soft yellow light begins to spread from her fatal wound to her entire body while her sword flashes a similar light briefly before vanishing into thin air. You pull your sword out of Summer's chest, letting her fall to her knees. The aura covering the sword's blade extends to the hilt, covering the entirety of the insanely massive weapon from view, before flowing back into your arm, the weapon having turned back into the aura you formed it from.
After a few more seconds, the light finishes covering Summer's body before beginning to shrink down to a dot the size of a tennis ball. You approach the dot and reach out to it with your hand before lightly closing your fist around the dot, feeling a hard, gem-like texture in your hand. Turning your palm upward, you gaze at a white rectangular crystal identical to the one in your pocket before placing it in the same location as the first.
Ruby slowly approaches you as you pocket the second key, a sleuth of questions running loose in her mind, but before she can ask anything, your red aura flickers into view briefly before fizzing out, the sound of static accompanying it, informing Ruby that your red aura is no longer surrounding your body. Immediately, your hand shoots up to your head, and you fall onto your back, clutching your head as the blood rushes to it painfully.
"(Y/N)!" Ruby cries out, immediately rushing to your side and dropping to her knees to try and help you. At the same time, a figure in the distance in a black suit and tie allows the sword that is in his hand to fade into white light, his body soon following suit. The light briefly illuminates the nearby trees a smidge brighter, which catches Ruby's eyes, but when she turns to observe the sudden change, nothing's there. Her attention is drawn back to you when you let out a quiet groan. "Are you okay?"
"Just... gotta wait for... the dizziness... to go away," you rasp between heavy breaths. Ruby notices that the cuts on your face have started to slowly trickle blood again, though not as much as when you were hit by the petal storm. Her eyes dart back and forth across your battered body, trying to decide what to do to help you, but you answer that question for her in the next second. You prop yourself up on one elbow- the headache lessening into a soft throb- and extend one hand upward.
"Help me up." Ruby rises from her kneeling position and grabs hold of your hand, hauling you onto your feet, before draping your arm over her shoulders in an attempt to support your weight. You narrow your eyes in a stubborn gaze. "Ruby, I can walk," you say despite your legs slightly shaking from weakness.
"Not like that, you're not," she scolds. You sigh in exasperation, but you don't have the strength to try and prove her otherwise. She guides you away from the massive gash in the ground and back towards the cliff side, where a large pod of light has appeared. The two of you walk into it, and reappear back in the dark room where Ruby was before being transported into the illusion of the cliff side.
Ruby remembers that the blocked passage requires two keys to open, and glances over at you. "You got the other key, right?" You nod your head, and reach into your pocket with your free hand to pull out the two small crystals as Ruby begins to help you back out of the room and through the passageway.
"All that's left now is to open that passageway, and we can leave this place."
"Who did you have to fight?" Her question catches you off guard, and you don't try to hide it as you look at her face with a surprised look. After a brief moment, you sight softly and slide the two crystals back into your pocket. You don't want to tell her who, but that doesn't stop you from giving away a small, cryptic detail.
"Someone I thought was dead." Ruby's eyes widen slightly at the dark and mysterious response, but doesn't press the issue further, knowing that she won't get anywhere with it. He'll just dodge the question like he always does. She doesn't ask anymore questions as the two of you trudge on to the cave junction.
Ifrit's eyes squint slightly as a white light soon flashes into the room, the form of Bahamut soon appearing into view.
Something went wrong. Ifrit can see the look of alarm in Bahamut's eyes and the tension besetting his entire body- Bahamut doesn't try to hide it this time.
"What's got you so worked up?" Ifrit quips, hopping off of the chamber's pedestal yet again as Bahamut intrudes on the comforting silence a second time. "They didn't die, did they?"
"I thought you could sense what was happening in the trials," Bahamut growls, irritation flowing out of him in waves, which is made worse when Ifrit shakes his head in denial.
"An extra precaution to ensure I don't try to intervene," he explains with a shrug of his shoulders. "Did they die?" he repeats.
"No… it's worse than that…" Bahamut growls ominously, to which Ifrit perks an eyebrow in darkened curiosity. Instead of bluntly saying what is was, Bahamut thrusts his arm out in front of him and turns his palm upward to the rocks above them. A small image of you catching Summer's arm behind her back blinks into view in a flash of white light, and Ifrit draws in a sharp breath when his eyes come to rest on the massive sword in your other hand.
"Are you sure it was him?" The same apprehension that Bahamut's feeling is now flowing throughout Ifrit's own consciousness.
"Who else wields a sword that big?" Bahamut deadpans, and Ifrit narrows his eyes in thought. A long silence consumes the room, just as intense as the tension besetting the two ancient warriors.
"…How much time do we have?" Ifrit questions.
"Eight months," Bahamut answers after a brief pause. "The Transition will happen just before the Vytal Festival, which is why you need to give him the Blessing of Rage now."
"I know…" Ifrit says with a dark tone while turning back around to look at the pedestal, the gravity of the situation hitting him full-force. "You were right… the master's lineage is at stake." Ifrit looks back over his shoulder and gives Bahamut a questioning stare. "I assume you're onboard with giving them an affection mark?"
Bahamut sighs while slowly shaking his head. "I don't agree with it… but the girl can perhaps catalyze Reaper's growing strength, and possibly help postpone the Transition."
A bright light starts to glow from further down the tunnel leading into the chamber, and Bahamut's and Ifrit's gazes are immediately drawn to it. Ifrit grunts once in satisfaction and walks over to the pedestal, sitting down on it. "Show time."
Bahamut doesn't say anymore as he fades into a white light, disappearing from view completely. A few moments later, you and Ruby enter the chamber from within the tunnel, your arm still draped over Ruby's shoulders.
"Hmph, I bet you've seen better days," the Eidolon remarks with narrow eyes from his spot on the pedestal, noticing your blood-covered face and the various slits embedded throughout your outfit. You don't respond at first, instead glancing around the room and noticing something that makes you unhappy. Or rather, the lack of something.
"I thought you said this would be the exit," you growl despite your weakened state. "Enough games, show us the way out already!" The pyrrhic warrior swings his legs out to the side and hops off the pedestal, completely relaxed.
"I will, but first, I don't think we've introduced ourselves," he remarks, tilting his head forward in a gesture for you to start. You share a glance with Ruby for a moment before conceding to the Eidolon's request.
"(Y/N) Reaper."
"Ruby Rose."
The Eidolon bows his head slightly in acknowledgement before responding with his own name. "I am Ifrit, the Hellfire Demon, and the Eidolon of this Conglomerate Chamber," he says, introducing himself.
"So, Ifrit… how do we leave?" you ask, wanting nothing more than to get back to Beacon with no more complications. Ifrit places his hand on top of the pedestal in response.
"Let your aura flow into the pedestal, and the wall behind me will open up into a tunnel straight to the surface," he explains, but holds his hand out as you and Ruby start to step forward. "Hold on, that's not all it does." You both stop in your tracks as the Eidolon continues.
"In years past, your ancestors came to this chamber in order to prove their strength and their worth," he starts, glancing at the pedestal as he continues. "However, even if they passed the trial that you two just endured and made it to this central chamber, the decision to allow them to claim this essence of my will was ultimately my decision." Ifrit places his hand on the pedestal, and the object gives off a faint glow upon contact. "The power to call forth the mystical blue flames that embody the wrath of the user... the Blessing of Rage."
He takes his hand off of the pedestal and looks straight at you and Ruby. "I haven't let anyone claim it in four-thousand years." Both yours and Ruby's eyes widen in disbelief as Ifrit lets loose this piece of information to your minds.
Four-thousand years?! He's gotta be joking! you both think simultaneously. Ifrit notes your reactions and smirks slightly before continuing.
"Well, at least that pattern ends today." Ifrit takes a few steps back from the pedestal and gestures to it with one hand. "Step forward. Place your hand on the Blessing Centrifuge, receive the Blessing of Rage, and be the first of this age to wield a power equivalent to that of magic itself."
You and Ruby share a glance before she starts to slowly guide you towards the pedestal, still too weak to walk on your own. Once you're within arm's reach of the pedestal, you slowly extend a slightly-shaky hand towards the pedestal, your breathing now ragged from both anticipation and weakness from your most recent fight. You take a large breath before allowing your hand to rest on the pedestal.
Immediately, a blue energy starts to flow from the pedestal up your arm and into your very being; at the same time, a small black glyph appears on both yours and Ruby's upper right backs, unknown to the both of you. After about five or six seconds, the energy stops flowing out of the pedestal, and the pedestal gives off a small hum as the soft light's it's giving off fades away, returning to just being a regular old stone. At the same time, a light begins to open at the far end of the chamber, and a part of the wall fades away to reveal a tunnel that leads straight to the surface, this one devoid of any of the dust crystals that have been peppered around the entirety of the Conglomerate Chamber, a draft of warm early-autumn air accompanying it into the cold stone chamber.
You retract your arm from the pedestal, and gaze at your hand, various knowledge of how to utilize this newfound power interjecting itself into your mind. After a few moments, you allow your arm to relax and fall to your side, and stare at Ifrit with a neutral gaze.
"I expected that to be more grandiose." Ifrit sighs softly and shrugs his shoulders, though the smirk on his face is now even more apparent.
"Wait until you use the Blessing in combat," he comments, secretly impatient to see when you'll use your newfound strength in battle. "That's where the real fireworks are." He turns around and stares at the exit, narrowing his eyes at the change in light. "Time's returned to its normal flow now. You'd better go."
You try to step forward without Ruby's help, but receiving the Blessing of Rage sapped even more of your remaining strength without you realizing it, and the only thing that stops you from an embarrassing face plant is the speed fighter catching you under the shoulder, once again supporting your weight.
"Don't even think about it," she warns lightheartedly, and the only thing you can do in response is breathe heavily and fall into a weakened daze, barely holding on to consciousness as she helps guide you through the tunnel towards the exit.
Footsteps from behind them immediately draw Team RWBY's and Team JNPR's attention to the edge of the clearing where they saw the figure in a suit and tie collect yours and Ruby's weapons, and they all turn around to see Ruby helping you walk towards them. Yang immediately runs forward and catches her younger sister in a bear hug, not even noticing you at first due to her overwhelming relief at seeing Ruby safe and virtually unharmed.
"Ruby!"
"Ack!" The air is immediately crushed from her lungs and her grip of you falters to Yang's forceful embrace, causing you to drop to the ground and let out a soft groan in response, the impact finally doing you in and causing you to lose consciousness completely. Everyone crowds around Ruby, failing to notice you collapsing onto the ground as Yang releases the scythe wielder from the hug but keeps her grip on her shoulders.
"Are you okay? What happened? Where were you?"
"I'm fine Yang, but-" Ruby stops mid-sentence as she finally realizes that she's no longer supporting your weight, and looks on the ground beside her, noticing your collapsed form. Everyone else does as well, and Yang kneels down first, her lilac eyes now red with anger.
"Alright (Y/N), nap time's over!" Yang says as she grabs your shoulder and rolls you over, intending to wake you up and get some answers out of you.
"Yang, wait!" Ruby orders as she places an alarmed hand on Yang's shoulder, but she doesn't listen.
"Now tell me where you took-" Yang's eyes see the cuts and blood on your face and stops her tirade before it even begins, alarm and confusion quickly filling everyone's mind. "What the…"
"What happened?" Jaune and Nora say at the same time, Jaune crouching down to one knee to get a better look at your face.
"I'll tell you later. We need to help him back to Beacon, fast!" Ruby exclaims, reaching down to try and pick you up, but Pyrrha beats her to the act, picking you up in her arms bridal-style, while Ruby starts to job back in the direction of Beacon. Everyone begins to rush back to Beacon after Ruby, hoping to make it back quickly before anyone notices their absence.
At the opposite end of the clearing, Bahamut and Ifrit are crouched down behind a bush that's had its top sliced clean off, watching the whole exchange before the group of students scurry off towards Beacon Academy with you in tow.
"You did link them with an affection mark, didn't you?" Bahamut queries, addressing the Hellfire Demon once the two teams of students were out of eyesight and earshot.
"Yes- I slipped it into the Blessing Centrifuge along with the Blessing," he explains, staring at the area where your peers disappeared out of sight. "By the time winter rolls around, they'll basically be glued to each other." Ifrit stands up and looks in the other direction, a thoughtful expression revealing his current disposition. "We need to get him to Shiva next."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Ifrit," Bahamut warns, standing up and placing a complacent hand on his old friend's shoulder. "(Y/N) needs time to master the Blessing of Rage before he acquires the Blessing of Patience, and even more time to allow the affection mark to take full effect. For now, we wait."