AN: Typically I publish chapters on Friday nights but it completely slipped my mind last night (oops!). Anyway, here's the next new chapter, with just two more after this one to wrap up the volume. Please leave feedback!
*When Glynda and Oobleck arrived back at Beacon, they were both crushed with grief at the sight of students walking around in a daze, some even crying.
Other students were looking down at their hands, as if there was something in them they couldn't believe was there. Looking closer, Glynda could see that a lot of the tears were tears of relief. Something had definitely happened here.
Glynda found Ozpin walking around looking at everybody. Tears were streaming down his face.
"Ozpin!" Glynda shouted, running to embrace him.
Ozpin silently wrapped his arms around Glynda when she got to him, and Glynda returned the embrace.
"What happened here? I heard your old mentor Gray took over this place," she said.
"He did. Glynda, we need to go. Onyx killed Gray and now she's after Qrow," Ozpin said.
Glynda's heart iced over. "Onyx? Why would she do that?"
"It's revenge for when Qrow left her behind when she was taken by Collus's men a long time ago."
"Ozpin, we can't go. There's an army of androids heading this way right now."
"No, not here. The army is headed for the island of Patch," Oz corrected.
Glynda's shoulders slumped. This isn't right. None of it is.
"There's one more thing. I think Signal went with Onyx."
"We have to stop them," Glynda said.
"And you're going to let us come with," a female voice said. Glynda turned around to face Mayzie and Olive, the other two members of Signal's team.
"Mayzie! I forgot to buy you cookies!" Oobleck said, slapping his forehead in realization.
"Signal is our leader, and Onyx is one of our teammates. We need to be there too," Mayzie explained.
"I don't know if—," Glynda started.
Ozpin cut her off. "Yes, you can come along."**
*Ozpin found himself leading his team, Glynda, Oobleck, and Peter Port, with Mayzie and Olive trailing behind them to board a ship and take off towards Patch.
I hope you'll be willing to listen Onyx. Please.**
*Signal and Onyx landed in a large, round space of pavement for guest ships to land near Qrow's mansion. It was a round mansion, with two spires protruding from it on both sides. For a moment, all the confusion and dread she felt while coming here faded away and was replaced by awe. The mansion was a beauty, draped in crimson, with the spires sporting a hue of magenta.
On the walk towards the large double doors, Onyx stopped and turned to face Signal.
"You have t-to do s-something for me."
"What's that?"
"Help me unlock my A-Aura," Onyx requested. She shut her eyes, bracing herself. Signal was bewildered by how easily Onyx trusted her. She could run away right now and take the ship. Onyx wouldn't be able to stop her; she was more powerful.
But instead, Signal found herself reaching out and pressing her hand against her friend's chest. She uttered the words that needed to be said, and she could feel her Aura beating inside her like her heart and she could feel energy begin to leak out and transfer itself into Onyx.
For it is in passing that we achieve immortality
Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all
Infinite and distanced and unbound by death, I release your soul
And by my shoulder protect thee
Onyx's body lit up, shielded now by her newfound Aura. A giddy smile spread across her face and she looked down at her hands to admire the light coursing through her arms. She reached for her weapon, the double-handed spear, and twirled it in her hand.
"It's time," she said. Signal was baffled that there was no sign of her brain damage in her voice this time.
Signal followed Onyx towards the front doors of the mansion. Her mind was screaming at her. She couldn't tell what her mind was saying, all she knew was where her body was going and where her hand was straying to.
He abandoned both of us, and it's because of him that we suffered for so long; it's because of him that we had children at all only to lose them.
With a simple wave of her hand, Onyx forced the double doors open and stepped in. Signal was taken aback by the cozy feel of the place. It certainly felt like home.
It was home to a monster.
There were two flights of stairs on both sides of the room leading up to the same walkway. Straight ahead between the flights of stairs, there was another set of double doors that were open, revealing an empty room that was meant for training.
"Qrow!" Onyx screamed.
Signal's stomach lurched at the sound, noting the wild note to Onyx's voice.
"Onyx, I don't know if anyone is actually home. I don't know if this is a good idea," she said.
Onyx raised a hand to silence her. "Quiet. He's here, I know it."
Signal almost said something else, but froze when she heard a voice.
Qrow's voice.
"Its been a long time," he said. First Signal heard the footsteps. They were coming from above. She looked up and saw him walking down the stairs towards her. Her uncertainty of Onyx's goal then flickered and died out.
Qrow was almost the way Signal remembered him, except this time his red cloak was tattered and torn. He wore a gray dress shirt and black dress pants. He had a wispy stubble on his chin, and his black hair was a mess, with long strands of it sticking out in random directions.
"You look like a mess," Signal said. She noted the glass of beer in his hand.
"I am a mess. Your point?"
Signal wrapped the fingers of both hands around her daggers. "So that's it? No 'I'm sorry I left you behind and let you get taken away'?" Signal shrieked.
"That's not what I wanted and you know it," Qrow said calmly.
"Remember when you told me that I'm not part of your team and that I'm just a kid? You're still as terrible now as you were then," Signal snarled.
"More men kept coming. They were coming in droves in their trucks, so I left to go get help. I didn't want it that way," Qrow said.
"How did you think that we would be able to fend for ourselves?" Signal cried, stomping her foot to emphasize her point. She turned to Onyx. Why wasn't she contributing to the conversation?
Signal took a moment to look between Onyx and Qrow. Qrow was pathetic. He didn't even look like he was ready for a fight. She was starting to feel like it was a mistake to come here. Qrow was better off swallowed up in his own self-pity, drinking away his misery.
"Come on, Onyx, this isn't worth it. Let's go," Signal said, gesturing to the double doors.
Onyx finally spoke. "No! I'm ending this right here and now! He deserves to die!"
"Onyx, wait—" It was too late. Signal didn't exist in Onyx's world anymore. She watched her friend summon up her Semblance, except it was a different iteration of it this time. Signal remembered how Onyx used her Semblance against her in a fight, which felt like it happened years ago even though it was just a few days ago, and how she had transferred the pain and grief of others into her to weaken her and hold her down. Now, she was bringing together the pain and unleashing them in dark shadowy forms of herself.
The ghosts were armed with broken blades and they continuously screamed. Qrow managed to get his longsword out just in time as one of the ghosts collided with him, knocking him onto his back on the stairs. Qrow kept his sword up, trying to prevent the ghost from pushing the blade into his neck.
"Onyx, stop this—I'm sorry…"
"Sorry?" Onyx cried along with the ghosts. Their voices echoed in unison, overlaid with haunting screams, sending chills down Signal's spine.
"You decide to say sorry now when I'm threatening your life?" she shrieked. More ghosts came, and Qrow was kicked down the stairs by one of them as it slipped behind him. Qrow fell and landed on his face. Signal winced but stayed where she was, keeping herself still.
Then she heard the cries of a little child coming from upstairs.**
*Glynda rose from her seat in the back of the ship and walked up to stand beside Ozpin who was piloting the ship.
"Ozpin, I need to ask you something," she said.
"What is it, Glynda?"
"Are you hiding something from Signal?"
Ozpin stole a glance at her before redirecting his attention ahead of him. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his head.
"You looked into her hospital records, didn't you?" Glynda asked. She reached into her pocket and pulled out several folded sheets of paper.
"And not just hers. But Onyx's too."
"I believed there could've been something more if both of them were expecting on the same day," Ozpin confessed.
"Why didn't you share this with me?"
"Because I didn't want to worry you with it. We can't let Signal know."
Glynda threw the papers down on the floor, allowing them to scatter.
"Oh really? We can't let Signal know that the girl she's obsessed with finding is actually not her daughter?"
Glynda whirled around and started to walk away. Realizing now that the matter was serious, Ozpin flicked the switch to set the ship on 'auto-pilot' and got up to go after Glynda.
"Glynda, please. You have to understand that Signal has been through a lot. If she finds out, then it's only going to cause her more grief," he said.
Glynda turned to face Ozpin, tears racing down her cheeks as her eyes burned into his own.
*Signal ignored the fight as she started up the steps towards the source of the crying child. As she reached the top floor, she raced into one of the rooms. There sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by toys was a little girl who appeared to be no older than two. She had a pale white face with amber eyes and wisps of black hair. But the detail that got Signal's attention the most was the cat ears.
It was her daughter. Blake.
Signal forgot about everything. She forgot the one-on-one fight going on downstairs. She forgot about Beacon Academy and Professor Ozpin and the other professors. She forgot about Onyx and Olive and Mayzie and the other students. She forgot about all of it. Because the only thing that existed in the world at that moment was her and her daughter Blake.
She walked over to Blake and knelt down. Tears pooled in her eyes and fell down her cheeks, hot and salty. She was dangerously close to loudly weeping. Blake stared up at her with her big cat-like eyes and tilted her head, curious but but also nervous of the new arrival.
I found her. I found her!
The overwhelming relief then began to shift into hate. Signal realized that Qrow had been holding onto Blake this entire time. The realization enraged her so much that several blood vessels burst.
"Qroooooooow!" she screamed, screamed loud enough to shred the skin in her throat. The sound echoed throughout the room, and the girl stared at her.
A second passed.
And then Blake began to cry.**
*"So what exactly happened?" Glynda asked, folding her arms and leaning against the wall.
Ozpin wearily sighed, stroking his chin with a trembling hand.
"Signal went to the hospital herself because Collus wouldn't call an ambulance for her. When she got there, she could barely get taken to one of the rooms before the baby began crowning."
"Oh my goodness," Glynda whispered. She could feel her whole body tensing as she listened to the story.
"The child came out dead, but Signal had passed out before she realized it. I spoke with one of the doctors at the hospital and learned that Signal's friend Auburn got there after she passed out. When he realized what happened, he devised a plan. To make it look like her child survived, the doctors took another newborn child to let Signal hold."
"Onyx's," Glynda realized aloud.
Oz grimly nodded. "Signal got to hold the child and she named her Blake before she was taken away. Onyx was going to lose her child anyway. Faunus who are slaves for humans aren't allowed to have children. They're normally taken to an orphanage."
Glynda wiped a tear from her eye. "Then I have one more question for you, Professor Ozpin."
Ozpin fidgeted and his finger played with his shirt, trying to remain calm.
"Do you know where Blake is now?" Glynda asked.
Ozpin didn't answer for what felt like an eternity, then finally nodded. "Yes, I know where she is now."**
*Signal bolted down the stairs, leaping off before reaching the bottom with both of her daggers in her hands. Qrow saw her coming out of the corner of his eye and turned to parry her deadly swing.
The impact of the longsword catapulted her down into the floor, tossing up debris.
"You have my daughter!" Signal screamed.
Qrow frowned, as if he had no idea what she was talking about, which only made the flames rise higher inside her. It was as if she was quickly coming apart, every piece of her falling off and getting lost. She was burning, burning into ashes in her fury. No, she was the flame.
Qrow cut through several more of Onyx's ghosts and continued blocking each of Signal's and Onyx's attacks as they kept coming, each blow faster than the last. Signal almost succeeded in creating a clone of herself through her Semblance, but Qrow flipped a switch on his sword. The sword instantly transformed into a long scythe and he swung it in a one-eighty. Signal flew backwards, her side cracking against the floor. She rolled, pain pinching her shoulders.
She was so tired of feeling pain. And yet she was past the point of feeling tired.
But how she was feeling at the moment didn't matter at all, because the worst was about to come. She sat up and watched Onyx twirl her spear and try to gain the upper hand on Qrow, but he was too fast. Though Onyx moved fast with her spear, Qrow's scythe was like a blur. He appeared to be able to anticipate every one of Onyx's moves and he wasn't slowing down in any way.
Finally, Onyx grew exhausted and she stumbled back, trying to catch her breath. Then, she reached up and tore the eyepatch away, revealing her animal-like eye underneath. Signal started to shake her head as she got a good look at the eye.
It looked exactly like Blake's eye.
"You left me for dead! You and every human deserve to die, and I will make sure of it!" Onyx screamed.
Then the gunfire tore through the wall and took Onyx down.
Signal couldn't hear her scream Onyx's name over the sound of her heartbeat.
She didn't care about whatever new threat had come. She ran to kneel beside Onyx. The Faunus looked up at her through blurring vision, trying to say something.
"I—I only wanted to avenge us and our people," she said.
"You're going to be alright," Signal replied, completely devoid of emotion in her voice. Anything she had once felt towards anyone was gone, wiped away by the events in the past week.
"I don't want to die. The White Fang needs me. My brothers and sisters need me," Onyx cried.
With a violently trembling hand, Onyx reached up and started pulling the part of her shirt that covered her shoulder away to reveal a tattoo of the White Fang's emblem.
The sight sent Signal's mind reeling. Part of the White Fang, or merely an enthusiast like I was?
Then Onyx reached up and felt along Signal's cheek, trying to run her fingers through Signal's hair.
"I don't want to die," she said one last time.
Then she released her last breath and her hand fell from Signal's. Her body started to dissolve, turning into a wispy dark mist. Her body was being swallowed up by her own Semblance and she was returning to Dust.
I love you, okay?
I love you too.
I have to go okay?
What? Where are you going?
I just need to do something very important.
Onyx's body was gone. Signal felt numb all over. Professor Oobleck came up behind her, took her around the waist, and got her out of the battle that was beginning around her.
Signal opened her mouth to scream Onyx's name, but the world turned to darkness around her just as Onyx's body had done.
