Chapter 9: Darkness Gathers
Ozpin was having a troubled day.
He had heard of the fight at the docks, Blake's troubled past, a message from Qrow foreshadowing great struggles ahead, and now he had learnt that Solaris and Weiss had been injured in a fight with an unknown assailant who may or may not be within the school.
Entering the medical ward where Solaris lay wounded, Ozpin inquired after his health from the nurses.
"He has lost some blood, but nothing too severe. His Aura is already healing him, so we project a recovery in a few hours…hopefully. He will have to be monitored the whole time, as we have no medical records available on file for him." One of the nurses said, looking down at the stricken Solaris, his eyes closed. Yang sat in a chair in the corner of the room, asleep with her head in one hand. She had been there all night, apparently.
"Tell Ms. Belladonna to come down here and take Ms. Xiao Long back to their dorm. We will send for them when Solaris awakes" Ozpin instructed the nurses, who then lifted her out of the chair and carried her sleeping form to the waiting room for Blake to get her. Ozpin pulled up a chair and sat down next to Solaris, sipping his coffee slowly and placing a plate of sandwiches down next to him on a side table, alongside a glass of water.
Ozpin sat and waited for at least half an hour before Solaris stirred from his slumber.
"Ah, you awaken" Ozpin said softly as Solaris opened his eyes and then looked around suddenly, before his hand clutched his chest.
"My…my armour…where….where is it?" He said quickly, panic rising. Ozpin placed a hand on his shoulder and held him gently down on the bed.
"It's safe in your room. The nurses had to remove it to patch the wounds beneath. Ms. Xiao Long made sure to take good care of it. She is a fine young lady, I assure you. I'm happy to see you two…so close" He informed the young gentlemen.
"Thank…you?" Solaris said slowly, unused to getting praised on personal matters…or…well…pretty much anything.
"Yet I can't help but wonder…why is that armour so important to you? What is its significance? It is more than a mere suit of protective equipment, isn't it? You and all your past associates have the same, identical, armour, variating only in the colour of both plate and jewel. So, I feel you still have yet to tell us the full picture, even though I am sure you would in time. But I feel that time is running short, for you and for me. So, if there is anything, anything at all, that I, or anyone else, need know, tell me here and now, and I shall write out a report for your team and anyone else who need know. I will only tell them what you want, but I will have to tell them something. So…what is it that matters so much to you about these people?" Ozpin commanded him.
Solaris looked away, and then sighed slowly, exhaling a small breath.
"The people from my past, the four of them, are, as I told Ms. Goodwitch, and I am sure you know by now, an ancient cult, many thousands of years old, from a bygone era and civilization. The titles held by each member are Hatred, Agony, Death, Entropy, and Suffering, forming the group known collectively as HADES. We…they, I mean….represent the tenants of the apocalypse, the greatest ordeals people shall have to pass to be worthy of living in the next civilization after the old one fell. They ensure that only the best and the strongest survive, in a belief that this leads to the further perfection of civilization. The titles are earned by being recruited from a young age, in which most of your life is a serious of tests and challenges designed to mould you into the perfect champion of said title. In my case, the tests I endured was the death and destruction of everyone and everything in my old life. All that happened was part of their sick little scheme to recruit me, starting from when I was nine. The death of everyone I knew back then was rigged, arranged and planned to ensure I would either die or emerge the strongest of them all. And I did. I first met them when I was 15. After my sister had been killed by one of their agents and another one of their agents drove me away from Vacuo itself, they showed themselves for the first time in my life. Of course, I did not know them then, so I saw them as my saviours. They took me to a place called the Citadel, the ancient capital of the civilization that spawned the HADES cult, a desert fortress city, now in ruins, in an isolated expanse of Vacuo, where no maps exist, only empty, barren desert. But it is there, a towering ruin rising from the dunes. And in the tower at the centre of these ruins is where the HADES cult lurks, within a tower some twenty stories high, filled with the wonders and marvels of a civilization so advanced that it once possessed technology equal to, or greater than, our own current level of technology"
Ozpin, if alarmed, disturbed or worried, did not show it, but then again, he knew how many civilizations had risen and fallen over the long march of time, and there a very few records left by the passing of ages of these places. Indeed, the vast majority of the world, whilst roughly mapped, was little understood beyond the four main kingdoms. Anything could be out there, even the remains of a civilization that once rivalled or exceeded the current one.
"So…what exactly is in this Citadel?" He asked, not wanting to miss an important detail such as this.
"The Citadel was the palace of the ruling elite, and the supreme overlord himself. He was…a mighty being, someone who held impossible power, further augmented by extreme technology, if the records in the ancient library are anything to go by. Yet, there came a time when this power could not stop the downfall of his civilization, whether that was by Grimm or internal strife we know not, but the leader had left records, vowing that he shall return to see his civilization perfected, his rule restored once more. He used some exceedingly powerful technology of an ill understood nature to craft five identical soul harbouring cores, each one designed to store one fifth of his power, his soul, and mind, indestructible in nature and always linked to the other four. These jewels were entombed within five vaults along with instructions as to their purpose. The survivors of that horrible downfall found these vaults, and the soul stores, and were then possessed by the ideals of the supreme overlord to see his civilization perfected, all weaknesses torn out and crushed, each time it fell it was to be rebuilt in a grander, greater visage. But, as time went on, it became impossible to rebuild what was left, so they set out to find other civilizations to perfect. And it has been that way for thousands of years. Until now, you see, for the jewels, the soul stores, they are getting restless. His power is growing once more, and his sentience is nearing full restoration. He has convinced Death, I fear, that now is the time for his resurrection. This will be the last perfection, as this is the first civilization in almost three thousand years that has rivalled his own. Death will seek to restore his sentience fully to a physical form, and then…well…then the Supreme Overlord will rule. Forever."
Ozpin nodded slowly. So that is why those jewels seemed so important.
"So, correct me if I am wrong, but that means that jewel you possess holds a fifth of this…tyrants…power, soul and sentience. A fifth of his existence?"
Solaris nodded.
"And through those jewels, we can use the nature of them being linked to each other to carry our thoughts through his own, allowing for a telepathic link between us, if we so chose. The jewels also hold a tiny fraction of his semblance within them, which burns brighter and longer the greater our need for it is in combat, hence the coloured lightning that sparks off us in combat. We can't actually use it, though, it is just ever present, desiring for it to be used, a sensation on the tip of being released, straining the boundaries of its confinement to be unleashed once more upon the world. It builds up to the point where if we don't use enough of our own power, it will burn out our Aura and our souls if it goes unsatisfied by the end of a combat. Which is the reason for my current state in this hospital. I would've done it by killing my opponent, but Weiss intervened, leading to my suffering from Aura loss and quite a bit of bleeding. As well as falling unconscious."
Ozpin readjusted his glasses, and took a sip of his coffee. This young man is dangerous, and powerful. More so then he realises. I shall have to keep a close eye on him in the future.
"I…see" He said aloud. "And all members of HADES suffer this same problem?"
Solaris nodded "They do indeed. But they won't hesitate to unleash as much power as needed to satisfy the desire to destroy."
"Now, Mr. Potentia, now that that is resolved and cleaned up, would you care to explain who, exactly, are these HADES people and their powers? And what interest they have in you?" Ozpin inquired gently, not wanting to strain the young man too much. Solaris agreed.
"Certainly. Hatred, whom Weiss and I fought, is the one reason you won't ever find them in your school, no matter how hard you may search. His power his though and mind projection. If he wants, he will project the idea in your mind that you've known him for as long as you would know any other student, that he has been here for as long as anyone else, that him, and the rest of them, are students like everyone else, that appear in class each day, and do their work. He will make it appear as if he is no different from everyone else and that no attention need be paid to him. He is effectively invisible despite being completely obvious. The others would also use this and hide in plain sight. Unless someone points them, someone who is totally unaffected by the power, or they draw too much scrutiny, the trick is absolute. The next one to worry about is Agony, or Ms. Dutch, who is a psychopath and a Faunas, a Jaguar Faunas if I recall correctly. The aspect she shares with the animal is having Jaguar claws, which she keeps hidden under gloved hands. Her power is probably an explanation for her psychopathy; she can utilise lost Aura, her or her opponents, to fuel her strength or agility. As long as she can inflict pain, or as long as she feels pain, she can keep fighting harder and faster. She is a textbook masochist, except she gets better from it. She wields two knives, one which flays her victims, the other which shreds her victims. She is unbelievably fast, but, if you hit her faster, get her before she gets you, she weakens really, really fast. Speed is the key with her, not strength. The problem is, its hard to find someone faster than her."
Ozpin nodded whilst writing this down. Information like this was important, if ever there was a fight between this group and anyone else in the school. Not that that would be likely, as Solaris said they would be virtually invisible to everyone else.
"Now, here is the worst of them all. Death. As you can guess by the name, he is a very…focused individual. His power is the ability to slip in and out of reality, leaping to and fro this dimension and another. When in that other dimension, he moves at normal speed, but can move through, or under, anything. And he can bring his weapons into and out of this alter dimension separate from his body. So his strikes literally appear from thin air, or even phase inside of you. And Aura doesn't work when the weapon manifests within you. Trust me. I've seen it happen before. He is almost impossible to stop. Especially since all his blades require is one touch to ignite your internal organs and overload your nervous system, as well as evaporating all the moisture inside you."
Ozpin paused as he was writing this down. This indeed sounded…troublesome, to say the least. A fighter who could ignore any and every defence that existed, that could kill with a touch and couldn't even be hit…or seen…in return? This didn't bode well.
"He isn't immortal though. He is vulnerable to physical injury whilst in this realm, and if you can land a hit on him, well, it would do well. He isn't the toughest of fighters, mainly because he doesn't need to be when he can't ever be truly hurt. So long as he keeps on leaping to and fro dimensions, he is untouchable, but with patience, timing, and good reflexes, beating him can be done. It's happened to him once or twice before that I know of, mainly through dumb luck in training."
Ozpin breathed a sigh of internal relief. So Solaris knew they could be beaten. That was reassuring.
"And finally, we have Entropy, whose real name is Aaron Autumns. His power is teleportation, a pretty simple power compared to the others, but he can do it very fast. He can teleport multiple times in the space of a second, which, will tiring for him, means he can be hard to keep track off, especially in a fight. But the real gem of his power his is ability to do it over great distances. I know he has the power to leap from one side of Vale to other in under the span of a second without breaking a sweat, with the only tell-tale sign he was there being a pile of decaying Autumn leaves."
Ozpin wrote this down as well, and then silently handed over the written summary for Solaris to read, to see if there was anything that he had missed or needed to expand upon. However, Solaris seemed to be content with what was said and handed the scroll back to Ozpin.
"I'll see that a file is written out and handed to your team. Ms. Goodwitch and I shall also have a copy. Thank you for your time, Mr. Potentia, you have been most helpful. I wish you a speedy recovery." And with that, Ozpin sat up, motioned to the food and drinks, imploring Solaris to have some, and then left, with his mind processing all these thoughts at a millions miles per hour. Something needed to be done, but right now, Solaris seemed quite assured there was no direct threat from the HADES, sorry, HADE group. Not yet, at least. It seemed they were holding their cards to their chests. But Ozpin and Solaris had both seen the unspoken truth. Death sought to restore the Supreme Overlord back to life, and needed Solaris' jewel to do so.
Back in waiting room, Yang's eyes fluttered open, noting that she was no longer in the ward with Solaris. Wiping her bleary eyes, she stood up, straightened her shirt, and was going to go back inside to find why she had been moved, to find Ozpin on his way out.
"Ah. Miss Xiao Long. You'll be pleased to here Mr. Potentia is recovering well. I've sent for your partner to come take you back to your dorms, and she will be here any moment. I'd recommend being brief with Solaris, and letting him recover. He was most tried by that fight" He said briefly, then walked past her back on the way to his office. She caught sight of something written down on the professors scroll, something which read "Solaris is potentially too dangerous to have here. Recommend extreme caution in future activities"
XXX
Solaris was about to go back to sleep when the room was brightened immeasurably by the presence of Yang, who burst in, her radiant presence bringing a smile to his face instantly. Sitting up on the spot, he nodded at her.
"Yang" He said casually, as if there was nothing wrong with him being hospitalised. Yang ran up to him and embraced him, wrapping her arms around him tightly, not wanting to ever let go from this embrace. Solaris returned the gesture, patting her softly on the back as she quietly closed her eyes and sighed in relief at his wellbeing.
"Solaris, it's so good to see you well again!" She cried happily after realising Solaris from her vice like hug. Solaris laughed softly.
"It's only been a few hours, hasn't it?" He asked her, and she shook her head.
"You were out for almost a whole day. Weiss recovered in hours, but you remained…well…almost comatose" She said, worry in her voice as she sat on the foot of his bed.
"I…was?" Solaris asked slowly, and Yang began to tear up.
"I was so worried about you. I didn't know what had happened. Weiss can't seem to recall the full details of the fight, just that they were clad in black, wielded a staff, and showed her horrible visions.
"Well, that was pretty much it" He said, not daring to mention how he had lost control and almost killed Hatred, and potentially Weiss as well, before getting overwhelmed by the pent up power inside him waiting to be released.
"I'll kill whoever that was that did that to you two, I swear" She vowed, and Solaris smiled gently at her.
"I don't even know where they went" He told her, before adding "So, for all I know, they've gone forever"
Yang shook her head, and hugged Solaris again, causing him to groan something in reply.
"I…think…that's….tight…enough….Yang" He managed between grunts as Yang hugged him. Hard.
"Oh, ah, sorry." She said hastily, pulling back and looking him in the eyes. Solaris smiled, marvelling at how beautiful she truly was.
"But, Solaris, people don't just try to kill other people for no reason and then leave it at that" She said, and he nodded.
"Well, someone might, particularly the people I've met before" He joked, and Yang smiled, hugging him (softly) as he stroked her hair. They looked at each other and slowly kissed, neither one saying a word but sharing the unspoken love between them at this point. However, right at the most inopportune moment, Blake walked in, looking for Yang.
"Yang? Are you in her-EEP!" She squeaked suddenly when she saw her and Solaris kissing each other. Yang stopped abruptly and turned to Blake really, really slowly before saying, sarcastically, "Yes".
Solaris didn't look Blake in the eye and had one hand covering half his face as he found something of great interest in one of the grey walls of his medical ward. Yang got off Solaris bed and stood bolt upright.
"Do you want something, Blake?" She said gently, not wanting to appear too harsh at this point about being interrupted. Blake nodded, blushing gently at seeing the display of affection she wasn't really meant see. Solaris and Yang liked to keep all that romantic stuff mostly under wraps when around other people, and seeing them being so…well…affectionate, combined with her repertoire of smutty knowledge gleamed from bad romances and other smut sources she had read over the long years made her mind wander down tracks best left unexplored. As in, totally unexplored. Preferably unknown as well.
"Ah…yeah…that is to say, umm…the nurses…they say, well, they say Solaris needs rest" She managed to sputter, while thinking "That may be what he needs, but it certainly doesn't appear to be what he WANTS…NO! Bad Blake! I must not think of those things…"
Yang nodded despondently, before turning to Solaris and then hugging him once more. Blake looked away as the bonfire of her imagination had another oil drum thrown on it, as she imagined what else they could've been doing before she got here, or at any other point when they were alone, or when Solaris got out of here tonight and came to the dorm…that would only have her, Yang and Solaris as Ruby and Weiss were staying late in the library studying together. She would have to find something else to do. Maybe she could fine Sun.
Yang finally released Solaris back into his bed, before giving him a quick kiss on the lips, causing Blake to blush even more. Yang saw this and smiled.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" She joked, laughing, as she grabbed Blake by the arm and led her out after saying goodbye to Solaris. Blake managed a half wave as she was pulled out by Yang, leaving him alone in the quiet room, the sound of Yang and Blake talking and laughing together fading as they left the medical rooms.
Solaris let out a short breath when he was alone, full of longing. How he wanted to be free from this place and out there with Yang. How he wanted more than anything to still be in her embrace, her gentle warmth, that radiant smile. How he wanted more than anything to run his hands through her golden hair, to hold her by the waist and remain locked in a lovers embrace past the setting of the sun. How he wanted that more than anything right now.
Solaris soon slipped into a dreamless sleep, and the hours fell away, to the setting of the sun and the rising of the stars and moon in the night sky.
A/N: Here would be the end of Volume 1 of RWBY, but Team RWBYS will continue on for two or three more chapters before resuming the story at the start of Volume 2. Adult content ahoy in the next chapter with Solaris and Yang, and also a meeting of villains, as Roman discovers he might not be the only lord of the underworld when he meets a member of HADES…
All that is too come, however!
Reviews, as always, would be loved!
