Last Chapter for Weapon Submissions

Several Days Later

"Ray," I mutter gently, as I walk up to the aforementioned person, "how are you doing?"

He turns around from the window he was looking through, and plasters a weak smile on his face, "I'm doing fine, thanks."

It doesn't take a genius to see through his guise. Still, I can't blame him that much, last from what I've heard, he's still living in an apartment in the meantime, while his father is still resting in the hospital, hell he even stayed out of school for almost a week.

"How's your father doing?" I ask, trying to make some small talk, while I rest against the wall.

He shrugs, "He is doing fine. Doctors say he should be out in less than a week now," he mutters going back to staring out the window and into the rainy sky.

I pause for a bit, thinking about what I was going to say, "Have you even eaten yet?" I ask, realizing how it is only the beginning of lunch.

"I'm not hungry," he says shaking his head.

I furrow my brow, "Ray… are you actually fine?" I ask, a more serious tone in my voice.

Ray lets out a large sigh and turns to me with exaggerated movement, "Caerus… listen. This is nice and all, but I don't need you to mother me. I can take care of myself."

I merely stand there for a second, unsure of how to respond to his outburst, "I'm not trying to mother you," I start saying, "I merely care about how you are doing, and as a friend, I'm concerned for how you are."

"No. It's just… uh," he groans, "I… I" He takes a deep breath, "You don't know what I'm going through. While it is really nice of you, I would prefer it if you just leave me alone."

Yeah, that's not going to happen. "Ray," I say a bit more sternly, "I know I'm being an ass by doing this, but pushing people away isn't going to help. I just want you to sit down for a bit and talk with me, trust me, you will feel better."

"No I won't!" he counters, "Everyone just says, 'Oh just talk about it, and it will be fine'. But it doesn't work like that! How does talking fix me almost dying!"

"Ray," I again say, speaking softer this time, "I was there with you. I also almost died. We were both in the same situation. I just want to help you, I would hate myself if I were to do nothing."

Ray finally snaps.

"And that's the point!" he says twisting towards me and jabbing a finger in my face, "You don't even know what I'm going through! You can say there we were in the same situation but you were doing everything, and because I did nothing, my dad is in the hospital, and we almost got killed, all because I am too pitiful to even protect my parents!'

He turns around and runs his hands through his hair violently, "If you weren't there I would either be dead or captured! You don't know what it's like to be me! So stop trying! Just leave me alone because you can't possibly know what I'm going through!"

All I can do is stand there with my mouth agape, having completely unexpected his outburst.

"Ray…" I try to start, but all I can do is stand there, wordless.

"You know what!" Ray says interrupting anything I would say, "maybe my brother is right, maybe you are just a soulless animal!"

And again, I am left speechless. Part of me just wants to walk away, while the other half wants to continue trying to comfort him… but as it seems, he doesn't want that. Why do kids have to be so difficult to deal with?

But when I look at him, I don't see anger, I only see sadness… and regret. He's confused, and his first instinct is just to push me away.

"Ray," I start.

"No," he interrupts, "just leave me alone."

And now I start to get more upset, "For one second, just shut up and listen to me!" I half-shout.

I take a deep breath to calm down a bit, "Wallowing in self-pity will get you nowhere. Some things will happen, yes, and some things may not go the way you want them to go, but in the end, the only way you can continue going is forward."

I stop to let him reply, but he only sits there with his mouth shut so hard to the point in which it looks like it hurts.

"Ray," I start again, "I know I've really only known you for a week at this point but I can already tell that you're a good kid. So, at the very minimum, please listen to what I'm saying. I've messed up too many things in my life, and I just want to get this right."

But all he does is stand there with his mouth shut, and his eyes narrowed at the ground, his fist clenched to the point in which his knuckles are turning white, and if I look closely and listen carefully I can even see tears trickle down his face, and I can, through my faunus ears, hear him sniffle a bit.

And after an elongated half a minute of him just standing there, he finally looks up, and with teary eyes says, "Just leave me alone… I just want time to think."

And then he walks off. For a second I consider walking up to talk to him more, but I end up stopping. I might as well give him time to think.

I'm having another one of those 'dreams'.

One of those 'dreams' meaning one of those times where I wake up in a completely different area… but this time, I'm in the blood-red forest, and the mountain is right behind me, and well it is my second one of these 'dreams' so I can't exactly say they are a common occurrence.

But still, it seems just like how I remember it, blood red trees, dark red ground, gentle wind, leaves blowing past me, some distant hills, rocks, and branches on the ground, ominous aura pretty much everywhere.

And even the Grimm dragon.

Albeit, it is flying around in the far distance, to the point in which I can easily block it out with my pinky finger, but nonetheless, it is still there, but unlike last time, I don't feel afraid. Maybe it is just how far away it is but at the same time… maybe I've just grown.

But now there is a new addition, as in front of me there is a field, a field with no trees, just rolling hills. But the hills… they just seem dead, there's already no life on them, but they just seem devoid of anything. No grass on the hills, no flowers, just gray dirt.

Yet, there's a building in a distance, barely visible and obviously dilapidated, yet in the distance, peeking out from over some hills, stands a building, reaching into the sky.

Parts of it have fallen off, with visible chunks of it missing, yet despite what I would think, it still stands mighty and tall, going off into space.

And unable to resist my curiosity, I slowly start making my way towards said building, my lazy walk turning into a slow jog.

Slowly the area around from turns from the red forest to the dead hills, and yet then, the building still seems ever far away, as I start to realize that the building is a lot further than I thought it was.

Yet bit by bit, it creeps up, until it reaches up into the sky, from behind a large hill, which is a lot harder to climb up than I thought it would be.

Nonetheless, once I climb the hill, I am greeted by a new sight, to what I once thought was a lone building, turns out to be a small city, all built by the seemingly same gray material, all with unusual architecture full of curves and odd shapes.

Yet the building I had to seem from the distance, it is absolutely massive, reaching up to the sky and even beyond that, but what is most interesting, is that the sky seems to distort around it like it is somehow altering reality around it.

Part of me tells me this is a good way to die, exploring strange ruins with a Grimm Dragon in the distance, yet another part of me is too intrigued to leave. That part wants to strip away everything in the city and find out its little secrets.

So I awkwardly stumble my way down the hill heading towards the large spire-esque building. Part of me says that the other buildings probably have something of interest, yet it makes sense for the largest and most imposing building to have the most interesting thing because literally every fictional story ever.

And as I come up to it, I spot a large entrance, quite unlike anything I've ever seen before. While I would expect some large doorway, instead there is a large circular metal sheet in the way, yet as I approach it, it folds up upon itself, opening up to allow me to see the insides.

And the inside… it looks very barren. A large empty plaza with an unrecognizable insignia on the ground, with the occasional pillar rising up to the heavens, several parts of the chunks missing, along with parts of the wall. In actuality, it is quite dark, and if it weren't for missing chunks of the wall, which allow light to filter through, it would probably be pitch black. Yet luckily enough, with the little light there is, and with my faunus enhanced vision, I can see clearly enough.

Yet, right in the middle, on a human sized pedestal sits an orb. It looks to be black, yet on the inside seems to be some swirling liquid of varying colors, giving it almost a rainbow, liquid-esque look to it. Still, even despite the fact it isn't giving off any visible light, it almost feels like it is glowing unexplainably, almost like there is something it is emitting. Something… ominous.

And, while part of me tells me to go examine it, another, more sane part, tells me to get the fuck out of there, because this is literally how every and anyone has ever died.

So, ignoring the strange aura, I flip back around and start walking out, deciding not to risk any chance of death. Deciding that I'd rather just explore somewhere else, or find my way back to reality.

Yet, I hear a cracking, something which sends shivers down my spine, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the origin of the cracking is originating from the orb.

But the cracking… it just feels wrong, inhumane almost, like horrifying. Like someone just cracked glass that is holding me 10,000 feet in the air. Like my body knows I'm about to die.

My body tells me to run off, but I remain rooted to the ground, while the cracking continued. So slowly, and unsurely I turn around. And just as I do, it detonates, sending an unholy aura over everything and anything.

A wave of dark green, and imposing light flies over everything, including me. Yet, what I would think to just be energy literally sends me flying back and into a nearby pillar, my back sending pain throughout my entire body, making me wonder if I broke it.

I could say there was some last thing I saw before I passed out, but like someone flipping off a light switch, everything went dark instantly.

The Next Day

I rub my hands through my hair once again, as I grumble at the computer screen angrily, upset at the lack of results I've gotten.

I partially want to scream out in frustration, but since I'm in a library, it sounds like a good way to get kicked out, hence my angry muttering.

"Hey Caerus," Ray says walking up to me, "Uh… sorry about how I acted yesterday… like really, I feel like a horrible person… and, uh, I understand if you don't want to be my friend… but, uh, I just wanna say I'm sorry."

I turn to him, and blink a couple times, "Okay. Yeah…" I mutter, half-asleep, rubbing my eyes, "Sorry, I slept horribly last night, and…" I briefly consider telling him what happened, "I've just been having some bad dreams."

"Oh," he says, "Do you want me to go… uh, do you want me to leave you alone."

I shake my head, "Nah," I say half paying attention, "I'm just kinda out of it at the moment."

"Here," I mutter pulling up a chair next to me, "anything you wanna talk about?"

"Uh," he again stutters, "like I said I just wanna say I'm sorry. Besides that, everything is going kinda okay. We were just given the okay to head back home, and my dad should be out of the hospital soon."

"That's good to hear," I respond, yawning shortly afterward.

For a brief second, there is silence, which I take to go back to the computer to continue my search. "What are you looking at?" Ray asks, looking over my shoulder.

Oh yeah. He's right there. We both take a second to look at the query in the search bar, 'Abandoned City & Orb'.

I'm tired shut up.

"Just…" I shake my head, "I don't know, just some weird hunches."

He looks at the screen his eyes narrowing a bit, "Hey," he says after a couple seconds, "Mind if I take a look."

I scoot to the side saying, "Sure, go ahead."

He scoots up and starts typing on the search bar saying, "I remember my dad once talking about some weird ruins they found Mistral. And… uh… I don't know, it just sounds familiar."

He types in 'Schnee Dust Company Mistral Ruins' pressing enter.

After a brief pause the results come up, clicking on the images tab I am greeted with the sight of several excavation pictures, it's kinda hard to tell what's going on due to the contrast of the lighting they use compared to the darkness of the underground ruins, but after a good second I can confirm that those are the same architecture.

"Ah," Ray says as I look at the pictures, "They found these about a year ago, all I really knew is that they think it is just some tomb they didn't know of before hand."

I scoot over and grab the mouse, clicking back to the results tab, and click on the first link. 'Kael Tombs - An Ancient History Encyclopedia', reading briefly over the article.

Apparently, it was named after the area it was found, the Kael Hills and Ray are pretty much correct in what he said, after a short excavation with several people being brought in, it was just deemed as some sort of previously unknown tomb.

I grab the mouse and type in 'Kael Tombs' into the search bar.

"You find something?" Ray asks watching my progress.

I nod for a second, saying shortly afterward, "I think so."

I look at the results. All the same thing, apparently it wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, it was apparently news for a couple days, then it died off and everyone forgot about it.

I search, 'Kael Tombs Architecture'.

Here's something. Some paper by a kid in college which goes over how the architecture is unique compared to anything previously. I would probably read it if it weren't about 20 pages long.

I hit 'Ctrl-F' and search 'Similarities'.

Nothing

'Examples'

Nothing

'Previously'

Something, but nothing helpful.

'City'

Nope.

'Abandoned'

Zippo

Uh… 'Tower'

Nada

…

'Orb'

Two results. Ray and I both lean in to look at the paragraph. 'One common element in the architecture was a certain orb. It was only referenced to in engravings, making it quite hard to discern what use it had, causing several wild speculations to what purpose it may have had, ranging from a chunk of condensed dust, to merely an object of religious significance, but nonetheless due to its repeated use in the engravings, it has been dubbed the 'Kael Orb' until we find any more information on it'.

"I never heard of that," Ray says from next to me, "Hmm… have you heard of this before?" He asks me.

"Kinda," I respond, not paying much attention to what he is saying.

I search 'Kael Orb'.

Just the same paper, and a couple other articles which state the exact same thing.

Brrring

The bell went off.

God damn it.

"Well," Ray says standing up, "I'm going to head to class. See you later."

I wave goodbye saying, "Later," absentmindedly.

I rub my hands through my hair as I groan, leaning back on the chair. So close, yet so far.

It's just… ah fuck. I felt like I was actually getting somewhere, to figuring out what the hell happened last night.

…

Hmph. I may have just had an idea.

I quickly type in another search entry into the keyboard, bringing up the picture of the orb, zooming in quite a bit I notice little details carved into the stone, possibly due to erosion, but something that looks a bit too similar to just be a coincidence.

Putting that on half the screen I pull up another tab and pull up an image of a simulation if Remnant's moon were to be rebuilt and looking over it… they look almost exactly the same.

Of course not the coloring, but if I look at each and every detail, the shading, the depth, they are all the same.

I… I may have just found a lead.

"How you doin' Caerus?" Jae asks walking up to me as I lie down on my bed.

I would respond, but I'm still too confused. So I just lie down on my bed and groan angrily.

"Well then," he responds, walking up to me, "do I have to kill someone?"

I groan again.

"Did… someone kill you?" he asks.

I groan again.

"Are you just bitter that I'm leaving for Shade academy?" he asks a bit more seriously.

I finally respond, "No… I've just had a long day. Didn't sleep well. And, uh," I just stop there sitting up.

Jae takes one good look at me, "By Oum, you look like a panda with those bags under your eyes. What's goin' on?"

I groan once more, thinking about how much I should share with him, "Have you ever had a dream, that seems a bit too real to be a dream?" I ask.

He stares at me for a good second, "You're fucking insane aren't you?" he jokes.

I flop back on my bed.

"Okay, okay," he mutters, "Let's say I have. Let's say that somehow I am some weird ass hippy, and I think my dreams are some prophecy. So what you tryin' say here?"

I look at the bunk above me, "I just had a really weird dream last night, and maybe I am just going insane, but it felt too lucid to be just a dream, and I think there may be something behind it…" I pause for a good second thinking about what I'm saying, "I am going insane aren't I?"

"We wouldn't be friends if we weren't," Jae responds a large grin on his face.

I sit up and look at him, "Just humor your crazy friend for a second," I pause for a second to phrase what I'm going to say, "Uh… let's pretend you are given the opportunity that may or not make a big difference in the future. Now, you're unsure if this 'opportunity' is true or just you being overly superstitious. What would you do?"

He crosses his arms and stares at me, "Sounds simple enough. Like, really. If you want my honest to heart answer, I would pursue it. If your so called, 'opportunity' turns out to be true, then congrats you just accomplished something, if not, then the only thing you lose is some of your time… and a bit of my trust in your sanity."

I laugh a bit at that.

"But really," Jae continues, "Why you asking me this? Is there something important going on?"

And with that, I freeze. I mean I've known Jae for almost 7 years at this point. Can I trust him with this information, the information I've held close to my heart for basically my entire new life. I mean, he's very nice, and…

"Caerus," he says now concerned, "you trust me. Right?"

"Of course I do," I respond adamantly, "... It's just…" I pause for a second and take a deep breath, "Yes, there is something that's going on. And I do want to tell you…"

"Are you in danger?" Jae asks now concerned.

"Not really," I respond shaking my head limply, "Just…" I run my hands through my hair and over my eyes, "I really do want to tell you. It's just something I've kept secret for so long. I hope you understand if I'm reluctant."

He nods slowly, "Caerus if there is one thing I ever want you to know, it's that I'm here for you. Hell, even if you become a serial killer I will be here for you, I'll maybe slap some sense into you, but I'm still here for you. And while it does hurt a bit that you don't trust me enough to tell me your secret I do understand, and I do hope that eventually, you'll trust me enough."

I smile and let out a sigh, "Thanks."

I flop on my back and laugh at the absurdity of the situation, "Okay, well I'm just gonna go to sleep now. Wake me up when I'm dead," I say after a large yawn.

"Caerus," Jae says, still a bit emotional, "It's not even 9 yet."

I angle myself and pull the sheets over my body, turning myself to look away from him, "I didn't ask for your opinion."

For a short second I can hear him thinking of interrupting me, but after a short bit, he walks out the room, closing the door behind him.

When he does I twist back around and look at the door he just walked out. I may regret ever being reborn, but at least I have him.

So here's my attempt at a shorter chapter. I tried to get this one out faster, although I did run into some roadblocks. What do you guys think of this chapter though? Good? Bad? Meh? Should I stick with long chapters that take longer to get out or what?

I'm going to respond to DamascusVazarin, who's asking for a Penny romance, as I imagine pairings are going to be a moderately big question on some people's mind. Long story short: I'm undecided at the moment. I can say right now, at the very minimum you might have some softer moments with some characters, however, I'm not sure about full off romance, although I imagine it is something I will try to accomplish some point in the future.

Thanks to: DamascusVazarin, Killer-Kog, Emiliano733, Bomberguy789, Dragenn332, and an unnamed Guest for their review/tips/suggestions/questions.

Till Next Time