Smoldering Embers
Ruby just continued to stare in shock at the being standing over her. She suddenly realized that she was forgetting to breath; his presence was near suffocating.
"Ruby!" Jaune called, "Are you okay?" Ruby stuttered out slightly, as she just pointed up at the being.
"Are you crazy!" Jaune shouted, not bothering to just communicate his thoughts to the god.
"I acted as I thought necessary," Darkness said, "I assumed you would be grateful for it."
"Jaune, you know this guy?" Ruby asked.
"Sort of," Jaune said, cringing slightly.
"I would certainly say we know each other well enough at this point," Darkness answered. Jaune
"Look, Ruby," Jaune said, "Its a really long sorry. I can tell you later, but not here."
"Okay," Ruby finally said softly. She tried to stand, only to double over with a cry, as she realized her ankle was sprained. Jaune came over to boost her up. As he watched, Darkness remembered when mortals would come to his brother to, and a thought came to him. The god held up his hand to stop his tenant. He then fell to one knee before Ruby, who flinched back.
"What's wrong little one?" the god asked gently. Ruby hesitated at first.
"My ankle," was all she eventually said. Darkness looked at it, as he slowly put his fingers on Ruby's ankle. Despite what Ruby expected, it didn't hurt. It felt cold, but in a good way; like cold water on a hot day. And suddenly, the pain simply disappeared.
"Its…. better now," Ruby said. The god just nodded at her, before fading away.
"Ruby!" Blake called, as she made her way over to them.
"Blake!" Ruby said as she stood up, "Did you…" She stopped as Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. When she looked at him, Ruby immediately knew not to bring up the being she saw.
"…see where Penny went?" Ruby finished.
"Uh, no," Blake said looking around, not seeing her, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, somehow," Ruby answered, as she got to her feet, still feeling a tad shaky on her ankle.
"Do either of you have your scrolls?" Blake asked, "We should call the others. I'm sure their worried about us."
"Yeah," Jaune said as he took out his scroll, "But I thought you…"
"Whatever you initially thought I wanted, i don't anymore," Blake interrupted, before looking away, "I've… I've got some things that need doing." The three then started to leave, and as they did, Penny watched the from shadows sadly, before a hand appeared on her shoulder, and guided her away.
(back in Beacon)
On the way back to Beacon, Ruby and Jaune ran back into Pyrrha and Yang. After the younger sister tried to chew the older sister out (which resulted in the latter laughing about how cute the former was), they made their way back to Beacon with Blake. There, Blake was reunited with her own team. When she got back to the dorm, Nora, and even Ren, all but kicked Weiss out.
"Make nice," was all she said, before slamming the door in the two girls' faces. With not much to do, Weiss reluctantly agreed to walk with Blake on an invitation. They made their way back to the courtyard, and eventually they came to the side of the dining hall.
"Weiss…," Blake began. But the white haired girl held up her hand.
"You and I are going to have to deal with each other one way or another," Weiss said, "Now we best make peace, or we'll…"
"I'm sorry," Blake said. Weiss immediately stopped talking upon hearing that.
"What did you say?" she asked, not believing what she heard.
"I'm sorry," Blake repeated, "It was wrong for me to act so judgmental and accusatory. I think… I think I should stop talking and start listening." She then sat down on the bench, and gestured for Weiss to sit next to her. While the white haired girl hesitated, she eventually did so.
"Why don't you tell me everything?" Blake suggested.
"Like what?"
"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Weiss looked Blake straight in the eye, as she considered what to start with, taking a breath.
"The first one was a train worker…"
(in the not so good part of Vale)
Roman angrily gnawed on his cigar as he glared at what remained of his weapon. With the heist a total bust, he had returned to his hideout to regroup, or more accurately, fume. And the day had started so good before Red and her friends decided to drop in. Damn kids, why couldn't they ever mind their own damn business?
The sound of footsteps drew his attention behind him, as a girl dressed in a whitetail jacket with brown pants, black gloves, and black and white high heeled boots. She had long hair that was half pink and half brown and white streaks. On top of all that, she had one pink eye, and one brown eye. She had a pink umbrella on her shoulder.
"Where were you during all of this, Neo?" Roman demanded. The girl, Neapolitan, just smiled and shrugged innocently. Roman grumbled to himself, as he looked back at Melodic Cudgel. Neo came up next to him, and looked at as well, before looking at her boss with an arched eyebrow.
"Don't give me that look," Roman said, as he walked past her, "That cane and I have been through some hard stuff." He pulled out his scroll to make a call, when he suddenly felt the air heat up significantly. Knowing what that meant, he whirled around as Neo quickly held her umbrella at the ready. Approaching them were three shadowed figures, two female, one male.
"You know I have a scroll," Roman said, as he glared at the coming figures, puffing some smoke again, "You don't need to dance around in the shadows."
"Oh my dear, Roman," the lead woman said as she emerged fully from the shadows, "You know that's not my way." Cinder Fall had long, dark hair that was mostly over her shoulder. Her eyes were a brilliant amber, almost like flames, and she were a short red dress.
"So, you lost to a bunch of students?" the young man with her said. Mercury Black had grey hair and grey pants, and a very punchable face. At least according to the girl who accompanied him. Remold Sustrai had dark skin with red eyes, and mint colored hair that was short, save for two long locks.
"If you boss had better aim, we wouldn't have to deal with Red at all," Roman responded.
"You blaming your failure on Cinder?" Emerald hissed.
"Oh don't worry yourself with him," Cinder said, "Blaming others for their own failures is typical of men of his standing." If it were any other woman, Roman would have some choice "words" for her. But Cinder Fall was certainly not any other woman.
"So is there a particular reason why your here?" Roman said.
"You've been going far too slowly," Cinder said, advancing on him, "And if children are scoring victories against you, I think you may not be entirely cut out for this task."
"Listen here, Ms. Fall," Roman said, as he took one final puff of his cigar, and tossed it over his shoulder, "You can't give me a task like this, and then give me a strict deadline and set of rules. If you want your plan to work, it'll have to fall in with my plan." Suddenly, the room got even hotter, as Cinder's eyes flashed.
"You should know by now that there is no 'our' plan," she said flatly, as she came closer to Roman, "There is only my plan." Neo moved to back up her boss, though she noticed Mercury and Emerald moving as well. Roman held up his hand to stop her.
"Whatever you say," was all he knew he could say.
(on the Beacon rooftop)
Finally, Jaune called Ruby up to the roof to talk. She wasn't sure what to expect, but figured that her partner hadn't steered her wrong yet, and had no reason to assume he would at this point. When the girl in red reached the door, she put her hand not he doorknob, inhaled, and opened it. When she did, she saw Jaune standing by the railing. When he saw her, he waved her over.
"You ready?" he asked. His partner just nodded slowly.
"Alright then. Now Ruby, what I'm going to say and show you will seem crazy, but its the truth," Jaune said. Ruby just nodded again, and Jaune then gestured. The same being as before then materialized beside her in full form, his arms folded behind him. Ruby took an instinctive step back.
"Ruby, this is the God of Darkness," Jaune said, "One of the gods of Remnant, and…" He trailed off slightly, before clearing his throat.
"One of the creators of humanity, one of our creators." Ruby's head suddenly felt so light she had to lean on the railing to prevent herself from collapsing. In the lists of things she had experienced since coming to Beacon, since being born, this was certainly a new one. Religion was never something Ruby had given much thought of; sure, she believed the gods existed, but she was certainly not religious. And now one of the gods was standing right in front of her, addressing her.
"I understand you have many a question, some I could answer, some I could not," Darkness then said, "But all you need to know is that I am not a threat to you, or your friend."
"So, you're a god," Ruby said, before asking, "What can you do?" Darkness held up his hand. That raised some alarm bells with Jaune.
"I know what you're thinking," he said, "Please don't give a demonstration." Fortunately, all Darkness did was materialize a ball of clay into his palm.
"See this?" he asked. Ruby nodded, as it floated over to her, and she took it.
"I can mold your reality as easily as you mold that clay," Darkness explained, "That should grant some perspective." Honestly it didn't. Ruby kneaded the clay with her fingers slightly, not sure what she was supposed to do with it. Apparently either noticing or sensing her confusion, Darkness looked towards the night sky, and held up two fingers. He put the fingers around a star, and to Ruby (and Jaune's) awe, literally plucked it out of the sky. He held it in his palm, a swirling glowing sphere.
"But… I thought…," Ruby said, thinking about what she learned in school about astronomy.
"This is what I am capable of," Darkness said, as he held up his hand, and the star simply floated back into its place in the sky, "And that is still only a single inkling of my true power." Ruby realized she was forgetting to breath again, as he put her hand on her chest.
"Okay," she finally said, "So… what am I supposed to take from this?"
"I really don't know why he's here," Jaune explained, "He just kind of… showed up the day I was going to Beacon."
"And he's been standing next to you all this time, invisible?"
"Well, not always," Jaune admitted with half joking shrug, but Ruby wasn't laughing and continued, "I've been communicating with telepathy."
"You can read his mind?" Ruby asked.
"More accurately, I am the one who reads his mind, but that would be an over simplification" Darkness explained, "I am merely only allowing him to hear me. But I can extend that to others if I so wish."
"Are you going to do that to me?" Ruby asked.
"Ideally I would simply remove the memory from your mind," Darkness explained, "But I prefer not to tamper with minds to such a degree if I can avoid it. So while it would not be my first choice, I will allow you to see me as Jaune can." Ruby supposed that was better than getting amnesia imposed on her, as she clicked her tongue.
"Well, this'll take some getting used to," she finally said.
"Trust me, I know."
RYPJ Chibi: Questions of Faith
Ruby found out she had quite a number of questions for the newly introduced god. So when she got a chance, she managed to get him cornered, and started pestering him with question while Darkness continued going through the book he took from Blake.
"So, is there an afterlife?" Ruby asked.
"There is," Darkness answered as he turned a page.
"What's it like?"
"Beyond your comprehension."
"Is Remnant flat?"
"No."
"Are we alone in the universe?"
"No."
"How big is the universe?"
"Bigger than you could possibly conceive." Ruby thought about other questions to ask, before a new thought came to her mind.
"What's the meaning of life?" Darkness actually paused on that one, looking up, actually considering this question. He then came up with an answer.
"Cookies." He had expected a least a few seconds for Ruby to fully process what she was told. He was wrong for once.
"I knew it!" Ruby cried as she ran off to spread the word. As he ran away, Jaune came up next to Darkness.
"Uh," he said, pointing after Ruby, "Should I be concerned about that?"
"Relax," Darkness answered as his attention went back to the book, "No one will believe her, and if this continues too long, I will remove the memory."
Note: So Ruby's now fully privy to Darkness' presence. And Cinder and her lackeys are here to join in on the fun. Things seem to be picking up now.
Few things irritate me more than a person who thinks their entitled. And frankly, Cinder and her lackeys act (at least to my perspective) VERY entitled. And I suspect a god would share a similar perspective.
I'm not sure how to clearly define Roman and Neo's relationship. Based on what we see, Neo definitely cared for Roman, and there's nothing to suggest that Roman didn't care for Neo. Some would call it father-daughter, but I'd see it as closer to big brother-little sister. We don't know how old for certain Neo is (with her Semblance, we can never be sure of his age), so she actually could be close to Roman's age.
Be sure to review.
