Technically, Still Human CH.7 (RWBY)

Charlie realized far to late that he was locked out of the room for the night. He could always knock until someone woke up and let him in, but that would be rude. It wasn't vitally important that he go inside anyway and it would keep quiet questions better left unsaid, so he elected to wait the night outside.

It was by this reasoning that Charlie found himself standing on a landing pad. The pad was situated at the top of a cliff with several waterfalls around it cascading down into a wide river. The main reason he chose this spot however, was the panoramic view it offered of the city of Vale.

Vale looked exactly as he expected a city at night to look. High-rise buildings dotted with the lights of late night workers and a trickle of road traffic moving through the streets. If anything, it was one of the most normal things he had seen here so far.

The wind howled and Charlie swayed slightly in it.

"It sure is windy tonight", he thought. He looked behind him when an odd sound alerted him, which turned out to be a tumbleweed skidding across the pad. A strange thing to see here, considering the climate.

It went on like this for a few hours. It was an interesting thing to him to be able to stand out in what he was sure was a cold night. When the wind picked up, he could feel it but it wasn't cold or unwelcoming; it was just a feeling pushing against him. Occasionally, it would blow hard enough that he could hear it whistle through his audio receptor.

Another tumbleweed bounced by. This one falling off the edge and into the water.

Charlie looked over the edge. It was a long way down. If he fell, would he survive? Was he even waterproof? He wouldn't float, of that he was certain.

A strange feeling came to him then. The closest thing he could compare it to was hair standing on end but that was inaccurate for obvious reasons. Whatever it was, it set him on edge. He looked to his left. He looked to his right. He even looked up. But it wasn't until he heard another scraping sound that he looked behind him.

In a split second, he took it in. It was a tumbleweed and a big one at that; perhaps five and a half feet in diameter. He dismissed it as non-threatening and stood still, anticipating it to simply bounce off of him.

He should have been concerned.

It was only later that he learned of a species of tumbleweed that grew in the area called the Tumbling Stone. The seed dispersal strategy of the plant was to grow a large, mostly hollow ball that was strengthened by the minerals the plant took in from its roots. When the ball was mature, the stem it was attached to would dry out making it very easy for the wind to pluck it from its place. Although light for its size, the Tumbling Stone was as hard as its name suggested. They were quite infamous in certain parts of the world due to the minor, yet amusing danger they posed to unwary travelers; knocking fully grown adults off of their feet when they collided on particularly blustery days and nights.

Needless to say, Charlie was not expecting the amount of force the unassuming bouncy thing exerted. The tumbleweed shattered on contact and forced him back two steps. So focused was he on the tumbleweed that he forgot that he was standing near the edge of a landing pad until his second step found nothing but empty air.

It was too late to correct his mistake; the cruel laws of inertia and gravity ran their course. Falling backwards and head first, Charlie tumbled off of the landing pad and down into the water below. He would have shut his eyelids if he had any to brace for the coming impact. But he didn't, so he was forced to watch the surface of the water approach far faster than it had any right to.

He hit the water face first. Like many things for him recently, the feeling wasn't painful; just a simple register that yes, he had just touched down in a body of water. As he sank towards the bottom, Charlie reoriented himself the right way up and felt his feet sink into the riverbed.

He stood stock still for a moment, hardly believing that he was still alive underwater. He took a step forward, exerting some effort to move his feet to overcome the suction-like force of the sand in the floor.

Charlie decided that he kind of liked being underwater. Sure, it was kind of dark and his line of sight was severely reduced but no one could follow him down here without scuba gear. Without the need to breathe, he could stay underwater indefinitely or at least until he needed to refuel. Of course, he was assuming he was completely waterproof and not just water resistant. If the latter was the case, he should probably find his way back to dry land as soon as he could. Turning around, he waddled back toward the cliff face.

After some time searching, he managed to find a set of wooden pillars; presumably the supports for a pier of some kind. Managing to find a grip, Charlie slowly shinnied up the pole until he breached the surface of the water. He scrambled up onto the pier and, besides his coat being thoroughly soaked with water, Charlie was no worse for wear.

Stripping his coat off, Charlie wrung out the water as best he could before putting it back on and making his way towards the other end of the pier and the path that lead back up the cliff. After a short trek up and navigating through some winding tunnels, he found himself well within academy grounds.

It was still late at night or, very early in the morning depending on how it was looked at, and Charlie still had nothing to do.

"Well, my coat is still damp. Maybe I should find someplace to dry it?"


The soul is a strange yet beautiful thing.

Coiled up inside multiple dimensions and existing simultaneously both within and without the prime physical world, it truly was not something most mortal minds could easily comprehend.

He did not have such a problem. As a being born of the aether, perceiving geometries that others would call impossible was a natural ability. Describing such geometries in a human tongue however, was something he did not have an affinity for. But, these idle thoughts were a minor distraction that he cast aside so he could better focus on his current task.

"Parasite, I grow tired of this. Where are you?"

A nearby plane shimmered and he set forth a tendril of pure destructive intent. However, it found no purchase and subsequently faded.

They had been going at this for some time now. For how long was anyone's guess; it was easy to lose track of the flow of time in places like this. It could have been as little as a few seconds on the physical world or as much as several years. He used a moment to reorient with the stream of time.

Less than a day. Good. He still had much time to use.

"Feeder! Speak to me! Do you not have anything to say for yourself?"

A whisper that seemed to come from everywhere replied. "Leave me alone."

"I can not do that," he chuckled darkly. "But I can make you an offer. You belong neither here nor anywhere else. Why not come peacefully?" I am sure that few of your kind that remain in captivity will be glad to have you."

There was no response. He was not expecting one anyway, having already fully committed himself to destroying this creature. So, he wandered.

As his prey had only managed to attach itself to this soul and not burrow deeply as of yet, he had been tracking it over the 'surface'. It was an elusive thing, of that he could give it credit; he could tell where it had been but not where it was or where it was going. But that was going to change. He had been holding off on using Charles's consent, hoping that he could slay the parasite without resorting to such desperate measures. As the hunt went on though, it became increasingly clear what he already knew deep inside: this thing would not be caught unless forced to stop.

Looking around and finding his immediate proximity clear of anything overtly suspicious, he brushed a tendril against the surface of the soul he had determined to protect. Things like these can not be described perfectly in any language of man, but if he had to try he would say that its surface was smooth and slate gray, like a rock.

No... that wasn't quite right. More like... steel gray, like a slab of metal.

It was not usually his business to get involved in affairs like this, but instinctively he knew that this effect could not be natural. Perhaps it was simply an effect of the body it currently drove? Or purposefully altered? Whatever it was, it was not his area of expertise. He was only a Watcher and as an Watcher he did not fully understand how the mechanisms of the engines of life worked, only that they did and the logical pathways thereof.

The surface responded to his touch and intent. A single square of it receded and fell away, forming a small and geometrically perfect hole. Then the hole widened, forming square segments that sank and disappeared along its edge. Then it happened again. And again. And again, and again, and again until finally it was a gaping, perfectly square hole hundreds of times its original size. And down below in the abyss was frothing ocean of pure, viridian energy.

He had already been down there of course, having been invited into the 'green room'. But now, the gates were wide open for anything to come in. Of that, he was counting on.

He waiting for what seemed like an eternity. His perception, being what it was, was aware of everything around him from the unmoving slate, the void above and every ripple in the sea below. So it came as no surprise when he instantly picked up his prey's movement. What did come as a surprise was how quickly it was moving. Faster then he expected and difficult to believe. But he supposed that is what desperation did to things.

A shining comet of orange, gluttonous, want came hurtling down; splashing down in the turbulent sea like such an astronomical object would. It effects were immediate.

Where it touched down, the sea of energy stilled and changed it hue from green to orange and branches of darker color slithered deeper into the depths.

"You work quickly." He shot down and dove into the sea after it. "But I work faster still."


Jaune went up the stairwell to the roof

It was mid-afternoon and the class he'd usually have at this time was cancelled by the professor so he decided to use this free period to get a little practice in. Sure, later tonight he'd meet Pyrrha up here but as she told him, he should try to squeeze practice time whenever he could wherever he could. Practice makes perfect after all.

He did't bother to change from his uniform into his combat clothes because he was only going to be practicing techniques on empty air with his sword and shield for a short while. The roof was a good place to do this; it had a nice view and no one went up there.

The roof was empty save for a long-coated figure standing at the edge. Jaune was about to say something but the figure turned around, revealing a green-visored faceplate that was starting to become familiar.

"Jaune," he said.

"Ah, uh, hey Charlie."

"Are they looking for me?"

"Who's looking for- oh right. No, no I'm here by myself."

Charlie simply nodded and resumed staring out into the distance. "Nope, that's not creepy at all," Jaune thought. Nevertheless, he went on to do what he came up here for; drawing his sword and expanding the sheath into full heater shield form. He always kind of liked the sound it made when it did that, the sound of metal sliding over metal. When his father first started teaching him how to use it, he remembered thinking how delicate it looked. But now he knew better and found its heft reassuring. It was old but solidly built; it would probably last another few lifetimes.

He looped his hand through the grip of the shield and brought his sword up. He glanced at the cross guard for a brief moment, reading the words inscribed in the center: "Crocea Mors". He'd been told that it meant "Yellow Death" in some dead language, which he always found cool. It was an expectation to live up to. Hopefully one day he'd be able to.

With that in mind, he started his exercise. It was a simple drill intended to help speed up his strikes. Cut right, cut left, thrust forward, repeat. Easy. Pyrrha sometimes had him on a timer, challenging him to swing as many times as he could within a minute. She'd stop the clock and berate him too if it looked liked he wasn't putting enough effort into it.

He really did appreciate her help though. Under her guidance, even he could see the improvement being made. She was a world-class fighter who'd won a few championships back in Mistral, which was impressive from what he'd heard. Apparently she was something of a celebrity in that scene, but she didn't act like it. She was so nice and so skilled yet understanding and humble. She didn't have the kind of overbearing presence of a celebrity either. And he'd met a celebrity at a convention before too (Spruce Willis, action movie star!) so he would know what that felt like! But, Pyrrha was easy to talk to. She was just... a great partner and a really good friend.

Absolutely terrifying to spar with though.

The thought put a grin on his face and the only thing he could do about it was to keep up the drill.

As Jaune practiced his craft, Charlie had turned around to watch him. Of all the crazy weapons he'd seen on Remnant so far, Jaune choice was the most orthodox. The only thing transforming or otherwise questionable about it was the sheath that doubled as a collapsible shield. But it was sturdy enough for its intended use, of that he had witnessed in the forest yesterday. If the knights of old had anything like it during their day, Charlie was sure they would have loved it.

After a while, Jaune finally noticed Charlie observing him and stopped his drill.

"No, don't stop just because someone's watching."

"Well, yeah. It's kinda awkward."

"So me standing here silently with my back turned towards you is any less awkward?"

Jaune was about to say something but Charlie interrupted him. "Never mind, don't answer that." Jaune made a wry smile at that as Charlie stepped away from the edge and closer to him.

"So... I was talking with Ruby earlier this morning," Charlie began. "I was wondering what I should be doing exactly when I'm not around her or the other three answering questions or doing whatever. She told me I should practice my 'aura control'. When I asked what that meant, Yang just told me to 'punch something or get punched.' Apparently, they want me to test how well I can mitigate damage to myself. So, I've been standing on this roof for a few hours now wondering what exactly I should do. I've thought about jumping off, but I don't want to go that far just yet."

"But as I was watching you practice, I had an idea," Charlie continued. "I was told to punch something. I've avoided punching walls because, well, you know, property damage. But what about something designed to take hits?" Charlie gestured towards Jaune's shield.

"You... want to punch my shield?"

"Yeah man. And you can bash me back too."

Jaune thought about it. It's not like anything could go wrong, right? What's the worst that could happen? Besides, he had time to spare anyway.

"Sure, okay let's do it."

"Right on." Charlie took a step back and reared his fist as Jaune brought up his shield. When he gave a nod, Charlie threw his punch.

The sound of the fist striking his shield was like a hammer blow on a slab of metal. Loud. The force behind the blow caused Jaune to take a step back to absorb it. He wasn't expecting him to hit that hard and adjusted his stance accordingly.

"Okay, now bash me."

"Uh..."

"C'mon don't think about it, just smash right in."

He complied. With a quick lunge forward he performed a powerful shield bash. The blow didn't move Charlie, but he did waver from it.

"It stopped like half an inch before it landed. Still felt it though," Charlie reported. "Let's try again."

"Okay." Jaune brought his shield up again.

They repeated this another dozen times. Jaune became used to absorbing the force of the punches and managed to push Charlie back a step on the last few bashes.

"I definitely felt that. Looks like my aura stopped working."

"It's just depleted. You'll just need to rest a few minutes."

"How am I supposed to know when it'll be ready again? I don't feel tired."

As an answer, Jaune shrugged and leaned against a nearby wall. "Just give it like, five minutes."

"Okay." Charlie crossed his arms and turned his gaze away. A minute later he spoke up.

"You know I've been meaning to ask, what is that big tower over there?" He pointed away from the school and at the edge of the city skyline. A single tower stood above the rest there, a massive, white cylinder supported by flying buttresses and topped with several equally massive antennas and parabolic dishes.

"Oh, that's the CCT. Stands for Cross Continental Transmitter, I think." Yesterday, he did say he came from another world. "Maybe they don't have something like that there?" Jaune thought.

"Christ, it's huge." Charlie said and took a thoughtful pose. "I suppose it makes sense though. You can't build relays out in the wild; the Grimm would just chem 'em up. I wonder how it works..."

"Beats me. Wireless is pretty much magic to me," Jaune replied.

"Heh, same. Though, if they're worried about Grimm damaging transmitters, they should just bounce a signal off a satellite. I'd like to see a Beowolf try to chew on a transmitter in orbit."

Jaune blinked at that. "What?"

Charlie turned to look at him and, after a prolonged pause, he said, "Now that I think about it... I don't remember reading about any space programs in the history books, I just kind of assumed it. Interesting to know."

"Whaddya mean 'space program'?" Jaune asked. "Are you telling me people from your world can go to space?"

"Sure, if you've got the money. It's mostly the realm of scientists and the military. It's way too expensive for the average person to get off of Earth."

"But have people been to other planets?" he asked with growing enthusiasm.

"The furthest the government ever sent a living person was the moon. They've managed to land unmanned rovers on other planets though. Like I said, expensive. Mind-mindbogglingly so."

"Wow... that's still so cool though! I wish we did that here."

"I'm sure the kingdoms of the world could if they were given a good enough reason. But right now, they're focused on making this world safe first. Can't go gallivanting off into the unknown if home isn't secure after all. I suppose that's what the Huntsmen are for."

Jaune nodded sagely at that. As an aspiring Huntsman, it would one day be his duty to help extend the reach of civilization. Maybe one day people could do awesome stuff like that. But there needed to be peace first. Well, more peace than there was now; there hadn't been a war in decades. Point is, the Grimm threat needed to be eliminated and the best people to do that were the Huntsmen and Huntresses. So in a way, by training to be a Huntsman he was helping pave the way to such an incredible end goal. It was inspiring; he could feel his spirits lift and he held his head just a bit higher.

Become a Huntsman, help end the Grimm and usher in a new era of even more peace and prosperity. To become a hero. Yeah, he liked the sound of that.

"Hey bud? You still there?"

Jaune cleared his head with a shake. "Yeah, yeah I'm still here."

"Good. Let's get back at it."

With a nod, he hefted his shield back up and stepped forward. "Okay, this time I want you to intercept my strike. Bash my hand while its coming in," Charlie said.

"If you say so."

They readied themselves and with a simple nod crashed into each other. However, there was a slight problem.

Jaune may be relatively unskilled, but the reserve of aura he could draw upon was staggering. It protected him like nothing else could.

Charlie struggled to manifest his aura. It would protect him, but not for long. He didn't know it yet, but five minutes was not nearly long enough for his aura to recover. It wasn't his fault though, he couldn't feel it like someone with a natural body could.

So when Charlie threw his aura-less punch as hard as he could and Jaune went to block it mid-throw with an aura-enhanced shield, some damage was to be expected.

Charlie's metal fist shattering like a sports car hitting a steel wall head on at 200 MPH was... unexpected.

Little pieces broke off into high-speed fragments; the pinky finger broke off entirely and the middle three were only held on by strands of wire. The thumb bent at an unnatural angle. Charlie steadied himself and stared at his broken hand intently then at Jaune who had his mouth agape and eyes wide.

"Well, shit."


Destruction is a simple art. Especially when one is surrounded by the very things they wish to destroy. All around him were the roots of corruption and all around did he destroy it.

It had finally stopped. The parasite had anchored and he had been hacking at it ever since. It was a tedious process though; every tendril springing from it had to be cut at the base then systematically destroyed in its entirety, lest it regenerate. Its propagation was slow, thankfully. The medium of the soul was resisting it, hindering it. If it were not, this would have been much more difficult. Perhaps impossible. But the rate at which he was damaging it and the rate at which it healed itself was three-to-one: every three corrupting roots he destroyed, only one replaced it.

Simple arithmetic. Soon, there would would be no more roots and soon it would have nothing to protect its core.. Victory was still far and it would be hard won, but it was in sight.

"Why do you hate me?" The message seemed to come from the same root he was targeting.

"We have already been through this, parasite. You are atrocious. You simply cannot be allowed to exist anymore. You don't have the right to."

"I have a right," it calmly stated.

"What? The right to exist? Your actions have long ago rendered that null and void."

"No. The right to struggle for life." The closest root suddenly sprung to life and flew towards him. The malicious contact was easily deflected and destroyed.

"There will be less pain if you would just die quietly." He continued his tedious work.


"So, you wanna to stay awake?" Ruby asked him, puzzled.

"Yeah, I want to see you do your thing." Charlie assured her.

"There's not going to be much to see. Your hand is a drop-in part. It'll be easy." She emphasized with the spare android hand she had acquired. The gray metal of its surface was still unpainted and exposed to the elements.

"Still, it'll be cool to watch."

"...Alright," she said after a breath. "Si' down then." Charlie pulled up a chair and did what he was asked of. Ruby dragged another chair from across the room and sat in front of him.

Just under an hour after he broke his hand on Jaune's shield, he had met the girls back at their dorm. The face Ruby made when she saw it was completely mortified and she immediately asked what had happened. He simply told her that, following her advice, he had punched a wall one too many times; carefully leaving Jaune's part in it out. That boy was gonna owe him.

Right after he had explained, Ruby took off to find a replacement and came back twenty minutes later, hand in hand, pun not intended.

Ruby rummaged through a toolbox she had set near her chair and brought out a small, cordless drill. After fitting it with a screwdriver bit she said, "Lemme see your hand."

Charlie extended his arm and with shocking speed Ruby removed a few screws, took off a pair of fasteners and popped his hand right out of its socket. She reversed the process, shoving his new hand into the socket, turning it until it audibly clicked, and screwing the fasteners back on.

"And done. Can you move it?"

"Well..." Charlie moved his arm around but the hand wasn't responding. Not even a finger twitch.

"Oh," Ruby sighed. "You probably need to restart or something. Here..." She began reaching around him and fishing for his power button but Charlie slipped out of the chair and out of her reach.

"Now, now hold on! Let me see if I can do it." He held out his working arm and frantically waved the other in an effort to move it.

"A restart would probably be a lot easier..." Ruby said, her eyes darting to and fro with the motion of his arm.

"Just... give me a second."

Ruby slid over to Charlie. "C'mon, it'll only take a second," she said and tried reaching around him again, but Charlie backed away.

"I'd rather not."

"Why...?"

"Because of... reasons?"

Ruby scrunched up her face in confusion. "Like what?"

Charlie held up his one working index finger and looked ready to speak. "What kind of restriction is that? Not telling anyone? 'Interacting on hidden dimensions my ass!' " he internally lamented. "Would... you believe me if I said that I'm deathly afraid of the dark that comes with shutting down?"

"...No? It wasn't a problem before."

"Then, I got nothin'."

"Okay, so lets do the restart." She started moving towards him again but once again he back away from her, this time into a corner. "Maybe I can tell her that a bad thing would happen. That should be vague enough, right?"

Almost certainly to answer his question, a text box appeared in the corner of his field of view. "A message from your Patron: Maybe. Safety concerns would dictate something even more vague."

"What? How are you doing that?"

"Your Patron dedicated a minuscule portion of its mind to answer questions such as these."

"That would have been good to know BEFOREHAND! Anything I CAN say to satisfy her questions?"

"Your Patron has no advice on how to deal with the current situation besides stalling and deflecting the conversation as best as you can. Run if you must."

"What kind of stupid terms are these anyway..."

"Your Patron admits that this was not the most ideal circumstance. Heeding its previous suggestions is critical at this very moment however because a complex removal operation is underway."The text box disappeared and Charlie saw that Ruby was still waiting for a response. Evidently she hadn't been waiting for long; the pause for a mental conversation like that must have been barely perceptible.

"If I shut down, I have a feeling something unpleasant might happen," Charlie finally answered, apparently deciding to throw a some of his caution to the wind.

"Like what?

"Like... stuff." His head jerked in an involuntary twitch.

Ruby's wondering looked changed to one of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... yep, I'm... 100%" He looked around the room for sympathies. Yang cast him a bemused glance, as did Blake. And Weiss was standing by a desk doing something with a scroll...

Ruby cocked her head to the side then nodded thoughtfully with a hand rested under her chin. She suddenly stopped and narrowed her eyes. "Wait you're not telling me everything, are you?"

"DING DING DING DING! GOT IT IN ONE!" he mentally shouted. "What makes you say that?"

"I dunno. You're just kind of acting weird. So, what's up?"

"Well..."

Charlie never managed to finish his sentence. His optics and lights abruptly shut off and he limply toppled over face first.

"There," Weiss suddenly said. Ruby wheeled around to face her partner. "What did you do?"

"I forced a shut down from your scroll. You knew you could do that, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to force him," Ruby sighed.

"He was behaving erratically. It was for the best."

"I guess... start him up again and let's see if it worked."

Weiss nodded and tapped an icon on the scroll.

Nothing happened. She tried double tapping it.

Still no response. With worry etching her features now, she held down the icon.

"Ruby, it's not working from here."

"Hold on, lemme try using the actual button." Ruby knelt down at Charlie's side and pressed his physical power button, thinking for sure it would work.

It didn't.

Wide-eyed with shock, she stared back at Weiss. "Uh oh."


Charlie regained consciousness, once again in the Green Room.

"You did not even last a full day."

He searched frantically around until he found the source of the voice. The faceless, gray-hooded and robed figure was standing nearby, as far as he could tell.

"It wasn't my fault!" Charlie defended himself. "I knew Weiss was some what cold, but damn!"

"The parasite out there cares not whose fault it is," he stated matter-of-factly. "It's only care right now is you."

"Do I want to know why?"

"If your mind is as free as it is now, it will never be able to completely secure its hold over your soul and by extension your body. As long as you are free, you have a chance." The room shook furiously as he finished.

"What was that?"

"That would be the parasite trying to break in. It knows you are here."

"Can I stop it?"

The hood shook in a negative. "As everything is right now? No."

"So what can I do?" Charlie pressed for a better answer. The hood looked down for awhile; the shaking and pounding of the room growing louder and more intense.

"There... is one thing we can try," the hood finally said.

"I'll try anything at this point! Let's have it."

The hood floated towards a wall and beckoned him to follow. "As I said before, you have gone under a unique alteration; the full extent of which I am still trying to comprehend. There is one thing I have noticed, that may be helpful to us right now: your soul... can only be described as moldable."

"Moldable?"

"Like a piece of iron still hot from a blacksmith's furnace. It can and will take a shape if pounded into one."

"I... don't understand."

"You could fight the parasite. But, you will not be able to understand the environment in which it dwells. You will likely lose. So, change the environment. Fight it on your terms."

"How..?" Charlie didn't know where to even begin with that.

"Of that, I can be of assistance. Come closer." The hood waved for him to move.

"Alright," he said with no small amount of reluctance. "But what do you want me t-" his sentence was cut short by the hood shoving his arm into Charlie faster than he could think. The hood took his other arm and forced it through the wall.

"What... are... you doing?" It was hard to speak. His mind felt like it was being smothered by several thousand pillows.

"Taking knowledge stored in your mind and soul and imposing it onto the environment. In order to properly interact, the parasite will be forced to take a form that is congruent with this constructed field. It might be one entity, it might be many. Whatever form it takes does not matter, you will still be able to kill it." The hood lifted him towards the wall and started pushing him against it.

"Survive, Charles. I will bring help to you soon." The pressure on his back increased and Charlie could feel a part of himself start to flow through a hole smaller than the eye of a needle. He could barely groan in protest before disappearing completely through the hole with a sound like a high-powered vacuum.


"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodwhatarewegonnado?" Ruby was rocking back and forth in a fetal position on Weiss's bed.

"Dammit Weiss! Why did you have to do that!?" Yang was pacing in frustrated circles around the room.

"How was I supposed to know that would happen!?" Weiss yelled in objection.

"So, is he dead?" Blake whispered to no one in particular.

"Wejustkilledsomebody!" Ruby cried.

"You mean Weiss just killed somebody."

"Hey!"

Yang shook her head in disapproval. "Okay, everyone just chill out! Now think, what are we gonna tell Ozpin?

"Uh, he shorted out and nearly burned down the dorm!"

"Terrible idea Weiss!"

As Yang and Weiss bickered between themselves (with Blake making a few contributions), Ruby had been staring at Charlie's lifeless body and noticed something strange. "Um, guys?" she said but was ignored or unheard. "Guys?" she tried again with the same result.

"GUYS!" Ruby finally shouted. When all eyes in the room came to her she said, "Thank you," with an irritated huff.

"What is it, Ruby?" Blake managed to speak first.

"Look," she pointed at Charlie. "He's glowing."

And indeed he was. A wispy, bluish-white glow was emanating from all over his body.

"Why's he doing that?"

"Does it look like I know?"

Ruby began leaning over to touch it, but her sister stopped her.

"Don't touch it Ruby! I volunteer Weiss to touch it!"

"Hey! You can't volunteer for me!"

"You got us into this mess, so yeah I can!"

Rolling her eyes, Ruby ignored their arguing and moved in to poke Charlie. Her hand found no resistance, but the glow started to get brighter and began pulsating.

"What'd you do?" Weiss and Yang asked at the same time.

"Nothing! Nothing, I just... touched him."

The pulsing was getting faster and brighter, to the point where it was disorienting to look at. "Maybe we should get out of here," Weiss suggested.

"Yeah, Let's go with that..." Ruby started edging away from the scene but the pulsing suddenly stopped. A split second later, the glow gave off an incredibly bright flash. Ruby heard a thump on the floor and turned to see Weiss splayed out on the ground.

"Weiss? What's wrooooong...?" Yang trailed off before she too collapsed on the ground.

Ruby felt extremely tired all of a sudden and she didn't know why. "Blaaaake, are you feelin' this tooo?" she slurred and looked towards the raven-haired girl, only to see her slumped over and teetering uncomfortably close to the edge of her bed. Why was everyone falling asleep? It must have had something to do with that flash...

The last thing Ruby remembered thinking was how appealing the bed looked before giving in to the sudden, overwhelming fatigue.


She woke up with a start, hopped to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. Ruby, along with Weiss, Blake, and Yang, had awoken in a pitch black expanse. The other three were either still coming to or finding their bearings.

The place they found themselves in was strange. It was dark, but they could still see each other clearly as if they were in a brightly lit room. The world around them was empty and featureless, and as far as Ruby could tell the floor was perfectly flat.

"Where are we?" Weiss decided to break the silence.

"That, is an interesting question," a deep, unfamiliar voice answered her. The four of them searched around themselves until they spotted the source: a gray-hooded and fully robed figure. "Hello girls," he (presumably) said when they were all looking at him.

"Who are you?" Yang demanded and flicked her wrists to activate her gauntlets, only to find that they weren't there.

"There are far more important things to discuss than questions of identity," he stated. "To answer your first question Weiss," he said her name with a noticeable contempt, "welcome to the inner sanctum. A human soul. Specifically, your new friend's soul. Charles."

"Wat," Ruby oh so gracefully articulated.

The hood chuckled in earnest. "Indeed child! It is a complicated subject. Let us begin."

Blake took a step forward and managed to get a single syllable out before the hood raised a handless arm to silence her. "Your next question is going to be: why are we here? Yes? Yes, of course it is. Allow me to answer that: your friend, how can I put this simply? Ah yes, your friend caught something of a parasite back in the forest. Basically, it wants to eat his soul and imprison and or destroy his mind, possessing his body in the process. I, was actively trying to rectify this. The only thing I asked of him was that he does not fall. Asleep." the hood stared at Weiss.

"What?" she said and looked around to see her three friends staring at her too. "What!? How was I supposed to know!? He could have told us!"

"Not possible. Conscious worry in this case would only have made it worse; there was no way you could have known without further jeopardizing his safety. That is why you are not entirely to blame here."

"What kind of screwy reasoning is that anyway?" Yang said.

"I admit, this was not the best of circumstances but it was necessary for my work to fix him. As the saying goes 'mind over matter'. You would be surprised at the power of simple thoughts," he explained. "But I digress. You must want to know why I called you here." They nodded cautiously in affirmative. "Of course. I think from the beginning I knew this would happen, so I needed another plan when this one failed. But alas! There was no plan I could prepare without disengaging and leaving your friend to die. But, there was you." He pointed towards Ruby.

"Me?"

"All four of you. You are all fighters; your souls are strong and you seem to have some kind of concern for him. You can offer assistance and at this point you may be the only ones capable of saving his life. But are you willing?"

The four girls exchanged looks. "Do we even need to think about this?" Ruby asked them. "There's a life on the line! We're Huntresses, aren't we!?"

"In training," Weiss muttered.

"Same difference!" Ruby shouted back. "I put him together... so it's kinda my fault he's even here in the first place, so he's my responsibility! If you won't go then I'll go alone!"

Weiss raised her arms up defensively, surprised at her partner's zeal. "That's not what I meant! It's just... I don't know, are we ready?"

"If there's no other option, then we have to be. Even if we aren't we have to try."

Yang moved to her sister's side and patted her on the shoulder. "Can't let you go on your own. I got your back, little sis'." Ruby clasped her sisters hand and looked at Blake for her answer. "Blake?" The 'B' of RWBY was staring at the floor looking hesitant and conflicted. She brought her head up slowly and looked at Ruby in the eyes.

"C'mon Blake. We might not have known him for long, but Charlie's still a friend right?"

"A friend..." Blake nodded slowly. "A friend," she repeated, this time determination lighting a fire in her eyes. "Yeah, I'll go." Ruby smiled and pumped her fist and turned to look at her partner. "Weiss?"

The white-haired girl shook her head. "Do I have a choice?" she said, sounding exasperated but with the hints of a smile on her lips. "I'll come, even if it's just to keep you all from dying."

"Awww, Ice Queen does care."

"Shut it, Xiao Long."

They spun back around to face the hood. "There you have it," Ruby spoke for them. "We'll do it."

"Excellent. I did not think you would decline."

"Wait," Weiss interrupted. "What exactly do you need us to do anyway?"

"I expect you to do what you are learning to do and what you do best: fight."

They nodded. Of course, it was obvious. What else could they possibly help with?

"Wait, where's our weapons?" Ruby said. "Can't fight without them."

"Oh, about that," the hood answered. "You see, because of our current circumstances the parasite controls much of this soul. It was difficult enough to simply manifest you all here together and in one piece. Even more so with clothes! However, I did manage to manifest the tools of your trade somewhere but they are not... here. You will need to find them or make do with something else."

She grimaced at that. Not a good start. "Okay, so what about the field? What are we working in?"

"Nothing too different from what you are used to. In order to aid Charles in his survival, I imposed his desires, memories, and thoughts to shape the environment into a world based on those factors. It is fairly hospitable and should not present a problem."

The space they were in suddenly shook violently. "What was that?"

"It appears it knows I am up to something. We need to start now. Are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Yes."

"Let's go."

"Mmhmm."

"Very well." The hood slid off to the side and in its previous spot stood a tall, pure white rectangle. "Simply step through the portal and you will be on your way."

Ruby was going to step through it but decided to sate her curiosity first. She ran around and looked at the portal's side. "Huh, I always wondered." She had always seen portals in movies and shows and had noticed for a long time that they never showed them from their sides or rear. She leaned over to look at it from the back and found nothing there. Like, there wasn't anything there; she could see through it.

"What are you doing?"

"It's thinner than a piece of paper Weiss!" she said with a grin and ran through it from the back. "You can walk through it too!"

"I know a two-dimensional object in a three-dimensional space is amusing but child, we do not have time for this." The hood and robed figure berated her.

"Right, sorry!" The girl threw a lazy salute and disappeared through the doorway in a flash of white light.

"Argh! Ruby wait!" Yang sprinted after her sister. Blake shook her head and ran after her partner, leaving Weiss alone. She sighed heavily and stared at the empty sky. "The things I do for extra credit..."

"Indeed," the hood spoke to her as she marched towards the threshold. "I will provide support where I can. I am sure you all have many questions and I will be happy to answer what I can when this is over."

"I'm gonna hold you to that... you!" Weiss stumbled. Did this thing even have a name?

"Of course. Good luck to you Schnee. All of you. You will need it."


Author's Note: Well folks, if you've stuck around this long, then welcome to the second half of this story arc. Sanity might be put on the back burner for awhile so be ready for that.

If the friend zone were an ocean, then at this point of the story call Pyrrha "Captain Nemo" 'cause she's twenty thousand leagues under it.

They never bring up a satellite or anything space related in RWBY so I'm running with that. After all, if you had communications satellites why would you need to build something like the CCT?

I'm trying to change up my style. Was there anything about the writing in this chapter that was noticeably different than others? Besides how I'm writing thoughts in italics and parentheses now. Also, how's the pacing? Is the story progressing too fast or too slowly? I need input people!

In other news I've recently got back into EVE Online and well... [DESIRE TO WRITE CROSSOVER INTENSIFIES]

Anyway... comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome. As always.