AN: Hello, and welcome back to Fall, Rise, Fall! This chapter's a fairly lengthy one, so heads up.
Now then, last time, I just set us up on quite a few major events. First was the King and Fall fighting the worm in Cinder's head. Next was Dr. Thalon going to meet up with Roman regarding Neo. Lastly, we have Raven about to fight Salem's newly resurrected pawn. All of that will be continued here in this chapter.
Oh, and just for a heads up, *BZZZZT* is making an appearance again. I know I said earlier that he wouldn't be doing that, but plans like mine tend to be pretty flexible, and I realized that I had a rather interesting idea that I could do with him in this chapter. He won't be doing anything as horrific as he did in Chapter 7, but I just wanted to be completely clear that he's here to stay.
Now that that's out of the way, without further ado, I present chapter 13 of Fall, Rise, Fall. Enjoy.
The King
"DIE!"
A wave of tendrils erupted from the ground, Fall sending a wave of flames to meet them in return.
The pitch-black appendages were ignited in an instant, though that did little more than force them to flail around for a bit in an effort to shake off the flames.
That was all the opening the King needed to send a solid beam of light at each of the writhing tendrils, impaling all of them with pinpoint accuracy. Not a moment after, the light impaling them intensified, burning them to ash as the worm roared in pain. It fired beams of pulsing red energy from its eyes in response to this, forcing them to evade and pushing them back.
Such exchanges had gone on for some time now, neither side gaining any significant advantage over the other.
As it entered the battle, the worm grew massive, stark white armored plates all across its body, covering virtually all previously exposed areas, save for its back, with a thick mass of bone. Such a transformation had turned their battle into a pitched stalemate.
Most of the attacks the worm had sent towards them had been repelled or evaded rather easily, though any chance at a counterattack would be quickly shut down when it simply pressed on with its assault, doing everything it could to deprive them of a chance to catch their breath.
Conversely, any attacks they sent towards it were merely shrugged off as they collided against its thickly armored hide. Any of their stronger attacks, ones that had a chance of piercing their way through, required them to be closer, and such was made an issue by the constant waves of tendrils and eye beams that the worm repeatedly sent their way.
There was also the issue of avoiding too much collateral damage; the human mind was a fragile thing, and such damage to it would be very difficult to fix once this was all over. Such meant that neither of them could go full out with their attacks, not without harming Cinder in the process, and that was most certainly not what they wanted to do.
Of course, the worm had no such reservations, and it spent just as much effort directing its assaults at her mind as it did towards the two of them.
If they didn't end this soon, there would be nothing left of her to save, no matter which side won in the end.
Both of them had absolutely no intention of letting that happen, and Fall in particular was decidedly frustrated with the stalemate that they found themselves in.
"Nothing is working! We need to get closer!"
"I know that! We need an opening!"
Such was easier said than done. The King grimaced as the worm sent another wave of black tendrils at them, forcing them on the defensive as its eyes glowed a bright red, readying for its next attack.
"Hold it off! I'll deal with this."
Fire met the erupting appendages, holding them down long enough for a solid wall of light to crash down upon them and grind them to dust. The wall didn't disappear, however, holding firm as the worm fired its eye beams at it, the light intensifying as the attack connected. A solid beam of light came from the other side, meeting the red beams head on as the wall collapsed.
Red and white clashed in a brilliant flash of color, neither one giving any ground as the King and the worm put everything they had into overtaking each other.
The worm was distracted now. Out of the corner of his eye, the King could see Fall advancing, taking advantage of the opening he had provided and closing in on the worm as it focused its attention on him.
He put everything he had into this, the brilliant stream of light surging from his hands growing brighter with every second. The worm responded in kind, all of its strength placed into empowering its own beam, burning a hateful red as it grew in intensity. Neither of them took their eyes off each other, determined black eyes meeting angry red ones.
Fall was just a short distance away now, and with the worm virtually oblivious to the attack coming from behind, it readied a devastating flurry of fire, wind, ice, and lighting, launching the wave of elemental fury directly at the worm's exposed back, a pained scream coming from it not a moment later.
Their assault wasn't over, however; after Fall's attack connected with it, the worm's eye beams stopped firing entirely, allowing the King's beam of light to surge forward, colliding against its thick hide with unrelenting force. An even more enraged scream of pain escaped the worm's maw as the light and raging elements tore it apart from both sides.
Neither Fall nor the King gave it any quarter, relentlessly pressing their advantage and bombarding the worm with a withering barrage of flame and light. Its armored hide folded under the merciless assault, overwhelmed by the sheer force being directed at it.
A massive black tendril, one that had been embedding it into her mind, burst from the ground, flailing wildly as it tried to strike at either of them. Forced to evade lest they be crushed, they relented with their assault, putting some distance between them and the worm as it flailed wildly in a blind rage.
Their attack had left its mark: entire pieces were missing from its body as the last vestiges of light and fire ate away at what they could.
Its face in particular had been horrifically disfigured, one eye hanging precariously from its socket by a few strands of decaying meat, the burning glow disappearing from it as the last strands gave away, sending it crashing to the ground.
Entire parts of its brain were visible past the maimed flesh covering them, an angry red glow pulsing in and out the exposed organ as it throbbed in its head.
The rest of its body was in much the same condition, black blood oozing out in great streams from the numerous wounds that marred its flesh. A handful of the tendrils that had been embedded into the ground had been severed from the main body, already decaying rapidly into dust.
By all rights, it should have been dead by now, but it refused to simply lay down and die.
Instead, it roared in defiance, its remaining red eye burning with pure hatred as hundreds of black tendrils burst out of its body (some coming out of the gushing wounds and covered in black blood), digging their way into the ground as they continued to grow.
"THIS ENDS HERE!"
The worm was blasting countless red beams from its last eye in all directions and thrashing its tendrils about wildly in a blind rampage. Nothing they sent at it even fazed it, all sense of self-preservation lost now that its mind was lost to its fury.
If it was to die here, then it would drag every last one of them down with it.
"DIE SCREAMING!"
The mental battleground was set alight, Fall's flames and the King's light engaged in a brutal battle for dominance against the worm's raging tendrils and blazing eye beams.
Cinder's mind was faltering under the stress: they needed to end this now.
They needed an opening if they wanted to get a chance at that.
"Keep it busy!"
Fall nodded, a sea of raging flames forming and crashing against the worm's tendrils, causing it to scream in a violent rage. Nothing but pure fury escaped its maw.
"YOU WILL ALL DIE!"
Its rage was twisting her mind, crushing it under the sheer force of its hatred. The skies had turned blood red in color. The ground trembled with every word, massive cracks forming and tearing it asunder. The only remaining things that stood defiant against the darkness that blanketed the area were Fall's flames and the King's light; all else had been snuffed out entirely.
Two lights, brilliant white and shimmering orange, amidst a sea of pitch black and blood red. Neither faltered, burning brightly as they danced their way across the darkness, evading and attacking in equal amounts.
Time was running out; Cinder wouldn't last much longer.
The worm was on its last legs now. Just one final push, and they could bring it down for good.
He would deliver that final blow. He just needed to get in close so he could finish this, once and for all.
Fall was giving him all the opportunity he needed.
Flames blazed a clear path through the darkness, directly towards the worm's exposed body, which had been rapidly decaying from the sheer damage it had already taken.
The worm's attention was directed everywhere and nowhere now: its mind had been lost to primal rage as it let loose its fury upon anything and everything it could see. At the center of its rampage was Fall, its cloak of flames burning brilliantly as it dodged everything being sent at it, returning every attack with an equally deadly one of its own.
The way was clear now, and the worm had no idea what was coming: Fall was seeing to that quite well.
He had the perfect opening.
It took all but a second for him to close the distance, the worm's massive form a towering, rotting mass of writhing flesh and bone, driven by nothing but rage and hatred by this point. It was falling apart at the seams: massive holes had been burned clean through its armor, entire chunks of its flesh had been severed off, and what little remained of it was practically withering and dying right in front of him.
The body wasn't his target however: he was aiming for something that was far more exposed, something that would be the final nail in this monster's rapidly shutting coffin.
Its brain.
The maimed flesh and bone that covered its nerve center had rotted away by now, nothing but nothing protecting the sensitive organ underneath. A red glow was emanating from the exposed organ, pulsing angrily with every shout of fury that the worm let loose.
He had a clear shot, and all he had to do was take it.
Pouring all his focus into this final attack, he formed a solid spear of burning light, the weapon expanding in his hands to the point that it was easily several times his size. The massive spear of light shined with a white glow, and he let it fly, aimed directly towards the worm's exposed brain.
The glow emanating from the worm's nerve center had turned even angrier, a clear sign that it had noticed the attack from its blind spot. A roaring shout burst from its maw, the very ground trembling beneath the sheer force.
Noticing the attack and stopping it were two very different things, however.
All it had left was its stubborn defiance as the spear struck true, a blinding white glow flashing not a moment after it hit. The light tore away at the exposed organ, ripping it apart in a flash of wrathful white.
Not long after, brilliant beams of white light escaped from the holes in the worm's head, the light tearing it apart from the inside shining ever brighter as the King poured everything he could into his attack. Nothing but a scream of raw hatred and agony was coming from the worm now; it was utterly helpless before the King's fury.
Continuing to grow in intensity for a few more seconds, the light then began to fade, the blinding white glow disappearing just as the worm's agonized howls ceased. Its body slumped backwards, uprooted from the ground as the last vestiges of life left it. The body crashed to the ground in such a way that the worm's remaining eye was directly in front of him.
Miraculously, it was still open, staring directly at him with nothing but raw, primal hatred. He could hear it speaking to him, if only in a pained whisper.
"This…isn't…over…"
A ragged cough interrupted its words; a sign that death was coming fast.
"Mother will find you…and she will end you…"
A harsh laugh escaped its devastated throat, continuing on for a moment until it was struck by another set of hacking coughs.
"This world…will burn….before her fury…"
With one titanic burst of effort, it lifted itself off the ground ever so slightly, its eye glowing brighter than before. The next words came out with more force, like it had gained a second wind through nothing but sheer willpower.
"REJOICE! REJOICE IN THE COMING OF THE END!"
Just as quickly as it appeared, however, the worm's sudden surge in strength gave away, the body crumpling to the ground again. The words were growing fainter with every syllable.
"My death…is only the beginning…"
The eye began to lose its light, the red glow fading as the eye slowly slid shut.
Anger flashed within him.
He would not let it have the last word. Not after all it had done.
"Before you die, monster, I have one final thing to say to you."
The eye stopped closing, freezing in its place as it made its response.
"Oh…?"
"You are wrong. This world will live on. There is not a thing in all of existence that will change that."
He growled hatefully, his expression contorting in rage.
"Not you. Not your mother. Not anything."
He raised a hand, the worm looking up to follow the gesture.
The eye widened at what it saw.
Hundreds of spears of light had formed above it, each just as big as the fatal one that had pierced its brain. All were pointed directly at it.
"Not while I still draw breath."
He spat one final word out with pure venom in his voice.
"Begone."
He brought his hand down in a quick sweeping motion, each of the spears coming down upon the broken body in an instant, mercilessly tearing their way through rotting flesh and bone.
The eye drifted, the eyelid sliding over it as the glow faded to nothing.
The eye was shut entirely by the time all the spears were done impaling it.
It was dead.
The body was more akin to a pincushion now, riddled with bright white spears as it slowly evaporated into nothing.
He sighed tiredly.
It was over.
She was safe, for now, anyways.
He would have to keep an eye out for this "mother" that the worm had mentioned. He was certain that whoever she was, he would have to deal with her in the near future.
That would come later, of course. He could prepare for it at another time.
Right now, he had other things to settle.
Fall had watched their verbal battle from afar, including the King's rather…pointed closing. It almost looked like it was in awe at the sight.
He walked over to where Fall was, each step tired, but firm.
"Now then, on to the two of us...do you still plan to fight me?"
Fall took a moment to consider its answer. It shook its head.
"No. Not anymore."
There was no fear in the voice, unwavering in its firm tone as it continued.
"Cinder is what matters now. She will be the one to decide this. Until then…"
It offered him a hand.
"…I have no quarrel with you."
He took the hand, relief visible in his features; a battle between them would only serve to put more stress on Cinder's weakening mind, and he didn't want that, not after everything she had already been through.
"Good."
Now there was the matter of undoing everything the worm had done to her.
Her memories had been corrupted in ever so subtle degrees, marginal enough that they would be near impossible to notice, yet great enough that what had once been truth had been twisted into utter lies.
Richard Fall had returned to her memories, implanted directly into her head by the worm. The memories had been distorted, a monster becoming a much more fatherly figure, a completely sickening lie that utterly disgusted him as he wiped it clean from her head.
She thought that he had taken her father from her, that he had taken her from a warm, loving home into one filled with nothing but pain and suffering. She hated him for that, and she defied him at every turn she could. She would take back everything he stole from her, take her vengeance against him for robbing her of her life.
Her determination in pursuit of such a monumental task was practically limitless: the iron will that she had inherited from her mother had been put to good use. A pity that it was being manipulated by nothing but a few well-placed lies.
He would have to fix that, just like he did all those years ago.
Restoring her mind would be a difficult task this time, however, and a very gradual one, at that. The worm's corruption had sunken deep into her psyche, and removing it all at once was entirely out of the question.
Whatever her father had done to her back then paled in comparison to this.
Her mind would heal in time, no doubt, but the scars would likely never fade, not even long after she had recovered from the experience.
All he could do now was start the process: the rest would be up to her to fix. His light repaired what little it could, but her recovery would be a long and difficult affair, one that he could only hope she was strong enough to endure.
No. He knew she was strong enough. He raised her better than that.
At least he knew that she wasn't going to be alone in the matter, either. He would make sure of that.
He turned to Fall.
"Whatever she thinks of me once she wakes up, I have one request of you."
It looked pensive for a moment before responding.
"And what would that be?"
His expression hardened.
"Keep her safe."
Fall nodded resolutely.
"I will. Always."
He smiled warmly.
"Thank you."
With that, he left her mind; he had done all he could for her, at least for now.
He was back in the same room now, Cinder still laid out on the table, unconscious and entirely oblivious to the great battle that had gone on in her head.
He eyed her steadily breathing form with a solemn gaze.
This was his fault, after all. He should have noticed that something was wrong with her earlier. Maybe then, all of this could have been avoided. Instead, his mistake had festered, grown into something far worse than he thought possible. At least he was able to correct it before it grew out of control.
She may have been justified in hating him for what he had done, regardless of the worm's manipulations. If he hadn't failed her, then she wouldn't be stuck in a long recovery as her mind healed itself. If he hadn't failed all those years ago, she might not have even been born into the world of Remnant with a complete monster for a father. Her very existence was a result of the mistakes he made with Richard.
That didn't make her a mistake, however.
She was the legacy Richard had left behind, whether she knew it or not, and if any traces of the good man that was once Richard Fall still remained after all these years, he would likely have been proud to call Cinder his daughter.
She was not a failure. She belonged as much as anyone else.
The only who had failed here was the King.
Another mistake among countless others. Few of them cut as deep as this one, however.
He spoke with a quiet whisper, the words directed to no one in particular.
"I'm sorry."
The words just came out, really. He didn't need her forgiveness. It wasn't like he deserved it anyways.
When he looked at her again, he could've sworn he saw her lips curling ever so slightly upwards.
Somehow, even after all of this, he could've sworn that she was smiling at him.
He could have been seeing things, but he didn't care.
He smiled despite himself, an invisible weight lifting off his shoulders.
Maybe he had done something right after all.
It felt good to think like that. He wished he could do that more often.
A long life like his had a tendency to dull one's happiness, after all.
He sighed; no need for any of that here.
Taking his leave from the room, he found the same hooded figure, the man's face still masked behind that same glowing orange eye. A scroll tablet was in his hands, various pieces of information displayed across the screen. Taking notice of the King as he approached, the figure gave an acknowledging nod.
"I presume that you were successful, sir?"
"Yes, but I'll need you to keep watch over her until she wakes up. Once that happens, she is free to do as she pleases."
The glowing eye blinked before responding.
"And if she tries to resist?"
"I doubt that she will, but if she does, you know what to do."
The figure nodded.
"Of course, sir."
"Good. That is all, for now."
The hooded figure bowed his head respectfully, making his way into the room behind him afterwards.
With that matter settled, the King made his way through the corridors, not particularly concerned with where he was going.
There was more work to be done, of that he was certain.
He had to organize the reconstruction of Vale. He had to find the "mother" the worm had mentioned. He had so many other tasks that demanded his attention.
He didn't really care at this point.
Right now, he just wanted to rest.
He came upon the door to his personal quarters.
Sleep had never felt so good.
Robert Thalon
The doctor was making his way through the base's corridors, heading towards the holding cells where the Presence had taken everyone but Cinder to.
He needed to find one Roman Torchwick before making any decisions regarding his adoptive daughter, after all.
He stepped into the security room overseeing the holding cells, two others present in the room as he walked in.
The first was the Presence, its distinctive pitch black silhouette quite visible against the room's rather dull metallic grey walls. Why it was still here and not back at its home was a mystery, though he could address that issue later.
The other was sitting in the chair in front of the monitors, all of which showed the feeds from the various cameras dotted throughout the cell block. The figure's attention was not focused on the monitors, however, instead focused on reading the rather bulky looking book in his hands.
Taking notice of the doctor's approach, the figure looked up from his reading, shutting the book not long after. A slight smirk grew on his face.
"Hello there, Robert. What are you doing here?"
"Important business, James. You don't look all that busy yourself, either."
He shrugged.
"Just got back, actually. Saw the Presence as I was walking around and figured I'd tag along."
"Speaking of which," Robert turned his attention to the black figure, whose red eyes had been focused intently on a particular set of monitors, "what are you still doing here?"
The Presence replied simply.
"I am waiting for the master to give me leave so I can go home."
Of course it was waiting for him. It rarely did anything without getting the King's approval, after all. On the other hand, that meant that the Presence wouldn't be going anywhere for quite some time; Dust knew how long it would take before he was finished with Cinder.
"Is that so? Well, then you should probably know that he's…indisposed right now. I don't believe he'll be done anytime soon."
It shook its head, almost looking annoyed, if the way its eyes twitched ever so slightly was any indication.
"Then it appears that I will be here for a while yet. A pity, really. I promised them I'd be home right around now…"
It was probably referring to its children, those…energetic (yes, that was the word he was looking for) bundles of formless shadows. Always so excitable, especially when they were allowed to fight. It was a real shame that they had to be cooped up at home away from their father while he worked.
It was all for safety reasons, of course, as they had a tendency to get a little too excited whenever their father took them into a fight, and keeping more than a few of them around at any given time was a rather dangerous situation to ask for. How the Presence kept a family like that in line was beyond him.
Regardless, given the circumstances, he figured that an exception could be made here.
"Just go home already. And say hi to the kids for me, would you?"
He gave a slight smirk as the black figure took its eyes off the monitors it had been watching, looking at him warily.
"Are you certain of this, Dr. Thalon?"
"Sure am. Go on, I'll cover for you if the boss asks anything. Don't worry about it one bit."
It nodded its head slowly, and he could have sworn he saw relief flash across its features (what little of them there may have been, anyways) for a split second.
"Thank you, doctor."
With that, its body started to evaporate, going away entirely within seconds. It probably got home in the same amount of time, Dust knew how fast it could go places if it was in a hurry, especially when the children were involved.
James had returned to reading his book, though he was still paying a degree of attention to what was going on in the room around him.
"Makes you wonder, doesn't it, Robert?"
"About what, James?"
"How something like that is a better family man than either of us."
The man meant no insult by that, of course.
It was all in good fun, in truth; they had worked together long enough for the occasional bout of banter here and there.
At least, that's how Robert interpreted his words, giving a small chuckle in response.
"Once I figure out the answer, you'll be the first one to know, I promise."
Taking a moment to look at the monitors that the Presence had been carefully observing before it left, he found that it had been watching both parts of the Torchwick family, both of whom were still sound asleep. If he didn't know any better, then he would have figured that it saw a little bit of itself in the adoptive father, both of them loving parents to their children.
Regardless of that, he still needed to have a…discussion with Roman before he could make his decision, and the lighthearted atmosphere that had permeated the room had all but disappeared as James picked up on Robert's nervous tension.
"I know that look. You're thinking real hard on something, aren't you, Robert?"
The doctor sighed.
"Nothing much, I just need to have a little talk with Mr. Torchwick on a rather…important matter concerning his daughter."
James' expression hardened, his face taking a grim expression as he almost subconsciously figured out the hidden meaning behind Robert's words. He shut his book tightly and turned his gaze to the doctor, who was still overlooking the monitors with great interest.
"Sounds real serious, honestly. You need anything from me?"
Considering the offer, he recalled that the Torchwicks weren't the only ones that he needed to evaluate for possible recruitment. Adam, Mercury, and Emerald all needed it as well, and if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he could've sworn that he saw one General Ironwood locked away in a holding cell too.
All of that would have to be sorted out by someone, and that someone just so happened to be him right now.
With all his attention currently focused on determining whether or not one Ms. Neopolitan would live, however, he seriously doubted that he'd have the time to deal with the rest of them.
"Actually, I do need a bit of help with something."
"Oh? What is it?"
He pulled out the files that he had compiled for everyone else, handing them over to James.
"These ones need evaluating, and I'll be a bit busy with the others for a while."
The man nodded, an understanding look on his face.
"So you're just dumping your work on me because you can't do it yourself."
The smirk on the his face only made the doctor want to punch it right off of him, but he restrained himself before he did anything that both of them would regret (or alternatively, laugh off entirely just a few minutes later; that was a much more likely outcome).
"Pretty much. Have fun."
James made a show of taking an exasperated sigh.
"Oh, joy."
The doctor only laughed in response, waving back at him as he made his way into the cell block, looking for the place where Roman was being held.
He found the cell with relatively little difficulty, and as he stood just in front of the door, he looked over the notes he had written down on his papers, most of which showed the written down parts of his own internal doubts regarding the whole situation.
His disgraced understudy was a rather sore point for him, after all, and he had been very thorough in systematically annihilating just about everything that had ever been connected to him.
Of course, there were a handful of exceptions to that, the most notable of them being one Cinder Fall. Now, he would see if he was going to be adding one Ms. Neopolitan to the list of those exceptions.
As he reached for the door handle, his hand shook ever so slightly.
He really wanted to add her to the list.
No parent should be forced to bury their child, after all.
Roman Torchwick
When Roman came to, he found himself in a largely non-descript holding cell, dull gray walls that were remarkably well maintained (practically spotless in comparison to the dirty hovel that Vale liked to call a jail cell, a place that he was no stranger to) and a fairly large door being the only real things of note about the room. Aside from the chair that he had been tied up in and the relatively normal looking table in front of him, anyways.
He was tied quite firmly to the sturdy metal chair that had been bolted to the ground. Whoever had done this sure knew their way around a knot, far better than those hapless twits that the Vale Police Department hired, anyways.
He liked to think that no prison could hold him, but he was certainly having that claim tested right now, given the difficulty he was having in just freeing his hands.
He struggled fruitlessly against the bindings on his wrists; no way he was getting out of this one, at least not on his own.
Neo.
He had been rather preoccupied in taking in his unfamiliar surroundings that he had forgotten all about her.
Where is she?
The last time he could remember seeing her, he was in some sort of dream, one where Cinder was nothing more than a bad memory. Everything had gone back to normal, back to the way it should have been.
No more convoluted schemes.
No more shadowy conspiracies.
No more risking his neck for a cause that he couldn't care less about.
It was just him and Neo, living out the quiet life that he always dreamed about.
They were together, and that was all he wanted.
He didn't have any illusions about that actually happening, of course. A dream was a dream, and he learned a very long time ago that dreams were only meant to be broken.
Regardless of what their future held for them, it wouldn't matter all that much if he couldn't find her.
He didn't doubt that, wherever she was, she knew how to take care of herself. He had raised her for only three years of her life, admittedly, but he was certain that he'd taught her enough in that time. She had come so far from when he first found her, going from a scared little girl to a strong young woman. He told her that he couldn't be any prouder of how she turned out, and he meant it.
She would be fine; he had made sure of that. Right now, he needed to worry about himself.
Clearly, he wasn't being locked up in a cell like this just for the thrill of it. That left the question of what his captors might have wanted out of him.
Money, information, favors, and all sorts of other things came to mind almost instantly. He was no stranger to having demands made of him from all sorts of thugs and lowlifes. Vale's criminal underworld was a cutthroat business, after all, and he was quick to learn the ins and outs of surviving in it when he first started out.
Whatever it was that they wanted, he wasn't going to give it to them. Rule number one in the world of thieves and murderers was to never look weak in front of your enemies, after all, and he was never one to break that particular rule.
Just as he finished that thought, he heard the door to the cell opening with a slightly audible creak, and in walked a veritable giant of a man, easily bigger than even that huge White Fang lieutenant with the chainsaw whose name was escaping him right now.
His eyes were a dark shade of red, not unlike Emerald's, and he wore a rather simple white coat over his relatively mundane dress shirt and slacks. In his hands was a scroll tablet, along with a file containing a handful of papers in it.
He had absolutely no idea who this was, and that was not a very good sign.
"Roman Torchwick. Wanted for over a hundred accounts of theft, even more cases of property damage, over a dozen instances of murder..."
As the unfamiliar man rattled off the various crimes he had committed, Roman took the time to study what he could from the man's movements.
His steps were firm, yet carefully taken. His body language spoke of confidence, and given the man's truly ridiculous size, there was probably a good reason for that.
He'd have to tread carefully if he wanted to walk out of here with his head still attached; giants like him were often just as strong as their size suggested.
Diplomatic approach, then.
"In my defense, the murders were done entirely out of self-defense."
He wasn't exactly lying, per se. Vale's criminal underworld was a dangerous place, and while he kept his hands relatively clean, there were still those occasional times where his hand had been forced. Like that one time where some two bit thugs thought that they could take Neo from him and get away with it. He was fairly certain that the police had yet to find the bodies. Ashes were a very hard thing to track down.
The man looked almost amused by Roman's response.
"Whatever you say, Torchwick. That's not why I'm here, anyways."
"Really now? So then what are you here for?"
Roman kept his voice steady, tone betraying nothing but confidence; no need to look weak and give him any opportunities to exploit.
"I have questions, and you have answers."
He was looking for information, then. Not exactly an uncommon thing, in Roman's experience, though he always preferred a simple ransom to that. No need to fabricate lies on the spot, after all.
"And why would I want to give them to you?"
A slight smile played across the doctor's lips.
"Perhaps you aren't familiar with the project that made your daughter what she is."
He froze entirely at the mention of Neo. The man continued on, not taking notice (or possibly not caring).
"This file," he patted the largely nondescript manila folder in his hands, "contains just about everything you'd need to know about her. What do you say we make a trade, yes?"
Roman wasn't quite sure how he would play this out now. Granted, the man could have been lying to him, though his body language showed none of the usual signs of deception. He hated people that were like that; they were always so hard to read.
He tested the waters, so to speak, with a simple question.
"What exactly do you need out of me?"
"Like I said, just a few answers. I'll even sweeten the deal by giving you some answers of my own up front."
The man reached into the folder and pulled a few papers out, laying them out in front of him.
"What do you say?"
Roman nodded, silently accepting the proposition.
"Good. Here, then."
He slid the papers over to Roman, turning them over so he could read them. He also released the restraints holding Roman's arms to the chair, though the dark look in his red eyes already told him that he shouldn't try anything.
Instead, he used his newly freed hands to take a better look at the papers that had been given to him.
Much of what was on the first paper was technical jargon that he didn't understand. The only particularly noticeable thing that he could somewhat recognize was the heading at the top of the paper reading The Ascension Initiative. Presumably, that was the name of the project that made Neo into what she was.
The rest of the papers were similarly riddled with quite a few words he couldn't understand, and he could only glean a very small amount of information from them regarding Neo.
The handful of readable parts on the papers all made mention of Dust augmentation, not exactly an uncommon thing, given that this was Atlas, though he certainly took issue with the fact that it was being done to his daughter. From what little she told him back when they were on Blue Two, it was fairly obvious that they hadn't exactly been gentle with her.
The man was eying him carefully, writing down something on his scroll tablet as Roman put the papers down, finished with his reading. He spoke with a measured tone.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way, what do you want…sorry, I don't believe I ever caught your name?"
The man responded simply.
"Doctor Robert Thalon."
"Well, then, Dr. Thalon, I believe you have some questions for me to answer?"
The doctor nodded, a question coming not long after.
"How exactly did you meet her?"
An interesting question; not exactly one he was used to, either.
"Found her on the streets in Vale. Took her in about three years ago."
"Hm. Then I suppose that makes you her father, in a fashion?"
Why was he asking these questions, again? He had never had anyone try to pry into his relationship with his adoptive daughter, and he didn't like it.
"Sorry, but exactly what are you getting at here?"
The doctor gave a slight chuckle in response.
"Ah…straight to the point, I see. No more holding it off, I guess…"
He reached for another paper in the folder, a single sheet that had Neo's picture attached in the upper left corner.
Several paragraphs worth of words were on the paper, written in black ink and with rather neat handwriting, but there was only one particular section that he was paying any attention to at that point.
It made his blood run cold.
Neopolitan- Recommend Immediate Termination
Signed,
Dr. Robert Thalon
What exactly was it that he was feeling right now?
Anger? Worry? Hatred? Fear?
A bit of everything?
He didn't care. That was his daughter right there, and no one was going to take her from him. Not if he had anything to say about it. He turned to the doctor that had signed the report, speaking in a dangerously low tone.
"I swear, if you put a single finger on her, you are going to regret it for the rest of your life."
The man's expression was unreadable as he responded.
"I'm sure you will, Torchwick. That's why I'm here to see if I need to go through with it."
"Why are you doing this? What has she done to deserve any of this!?"
The doctor's eyes drifted away for a second, like he was carefully considering his next words.
"I'm not exactly at liberty to tell you everything, but I will say that it has to do with the name that is circled right there on the paper."
Turning to where the doctor had indicated, Roman saw that there was indeed a name being circled, one that had another name written right next to it in dark black ink.
"Onyx Blackwell?"
An odd name, but definitely nothing that he would've recognized. He moved on to the second one.
"Richard…" His eyes widened. "…Fall!?"
The former he didn't recognize in the slightest, but the latter set off several alarms in his head.
Dr. Thalon nodded slowly, a grave expression across his face.
"Doctor Richard Fall, a very, very hated name, to say the least. Not that anyone would know of it, anyways." The doctor chuckled. "We were very thorough when we destroyed everything ever connected to him. Well, almost everything."
Roman was already connecting the dots in his head.
"You're talking about Cinder, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am. To make a long story short, she was just about the only thing left in this world that has any connection to one Dr. Fall. Was being the key word here." His expression hardened. "That brings us to the matter of-"
Roman already knew where he was getting at.
"Neo."
The doctor sighed tiredly.
"Very good, Torchwick. Your daughter is yet another thing that carries on Dr. Fall's legacy, and I am certain that you can figure out what that means, given what we have done to everything else that had such a distinction."
He did, and he didn't like what it meant.
"I don't give a damn about whatever her connection to this Dr. Fall is! You already kept Cinder alive, why not Neo!?"
The doctor held up his hands in a placating gesture.
"Now, now. I didn't say that we were going through with it, and to be perfectly frank here, this isn't exactly something I enjoy doing, either."
Roman sighed dejectedly.
"So what's going to happen now?"
"Right now? Right now, I'm trying to determine if we really need to go through with this, and to be honest, I'm just about sitting on the fence on the issue."
If there was chance that he could keep Neo safe, then he'd take it, no matter what.
"Look, I don't even care what you do to me anymore, but leave her out of this!"
The doctor replied, his voice sounding rather tired and his eyes closed like he was going over old memories in his head.
"Sorry to tell you this, Torchwick, but that's not how things work. If you had any idea of the things Richard has done, then you might think twice about letting his memory live on, too."
"If it's really that bad, then why'd you keep Cinder alive?"
The doctor replied in a harsh tone.
"You don't even want to know what he did to her." His eyes looked even more tired than before. "Why did we keep her, you ask? It's because we took her out of that and gave her a better life than he would have ever given her, right at the same time we put him down for good."
Roman could've sworn that the man muttered something under his breath after he said that. Regardless, he wasn't particularly satisfied with that justification.
"And what makes Neo any different!? Do you have any idea how she was when I first found her!?"
He would never forget the way her eyes widened in fear when he first approached her, how she would flinch every time he reached for her. It took the better part of a month for her to feel anywhere near comfortable around him, and he was most definitely not blind to the nightmares that had given her many sleepless nights back then.
Dr. Thalon was taken aback for a split second before the surprise disappeared from his face. Roman didn't particularly care, continuing onwards with his enraged outburst, each word laced with cold fury.
"I raised her for almost three years. In that time, she's become my daughter in almost every way except blood. If you think that I'm going to just sit around while you threaten her, then you're sadly mistaken."
He didn't have Melodic Cudgel in hand right now, but if he did, then the doctor would most likely be looking at a hole in his head right now. The man's eyes were unfazed, regarding him with unnatural calm as he wrote something into his scroll tablet.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I make my decision, Torchwick."
With that, he got up from his seat and made his way for the door. Just before he left, the man turned his head back to face him.
"Just between the two of us, I don't really want to be doing this either. Oh, and you're free to go now."
Just as he said that, he felt the restraints on his legs coming off, getting up from the chair not a moment after.
Just before he could try to make a break for it, the doctor stopped him.
"I wouldn't try anything like that if I were you."
"Oh, really? What's stopping me?"
The doctor merely raised a hand back over his shoulder, like he was telling him something he didn't know.
"Well, one, we also happen to have Ms. Neo locked away in one of these cells, and you attempting to escape now would certainly not influence my decision in the way you want."
Of course they had her. Fate just wasn't being kind today.
"Then that just means I'll have to get her out of here, too."
"I do like your spunk, Torchwick, really, I do, but that's entirely out of the question here. You wouldn't even make it out of here alive if we wanted it that way."
Was that a threat? It sounded rather sincere, like he was trying to dissuade him from a stupid course of action. Then again, Roman had already done plenty of stupid things before, and doing it again really didn't seem all that bad anymore. Especially not when Neo was involved.
"Try me."
The doctor sighed.
"How about this? Follow me, and I'll lead you right to where we're keeping her. Take as much time as you need, you may or may not be getting any more of it soon."
Was he joking? That was a downright stupid thing to offer in his eyes.
"And what's to stop me from taking you down when you're not looking and getting out of here?"
The doctor laughed heartily.
"Good luck with that, Torchwick. You'll find that I'm just full of surprises."
There was a very slight edge of threat behind those words; the man wasn't playing around in the slightest.
Roman didn't like his odds in this situation. Even if he managed to get past the giant of a man that called himself Dr. Thalon, which seemed very unlikely since he didn't have a weapon on hand, he was still in a very unfamiliar place, one that he didn't know in and out like the various prisons in Vale. Trying to get out of here was a very risky gamble, and there were some bets that you just don't take.
Still, this would probably be his best shot at finding Neo, and right now, she was the only thing that mattered to him. He'd play along, but just for her sake.
"Fine. I'll tag along, for now. No promises, though."
The man only smiled in response.
"Sure thing. Come on, then."
He motioned for Roman to follow, walking out of the cell and into the connecting cell block.
Only one thing was going through his mind right now.
'I'm coming, Neo. Just you wait…'
Robert Thalon
Somehow, he had convinced Roman to follow him, if only so he could see his daughter.
That was good enough for him; every parent had a right to see their child, as far as he was concerned.
He was fairly certain that the criminal would try something soon, especially once they got closer to their destination.
They had stopped by the security room for a very brief moment so he could take his cane and bowler hat. The latter wasn't exactly a cause for concern, though the former was most certainly a risk that he'd have to keep an eye out for.
Well, if he was concerned about Roman actually having a chance at breaking out, anyways.
How long had it been since he had been forced to perform a more…physical task? He couldn't even remember, and that was worrying him. He'd have to go out Grimm hunting at this rate; no need to let himself get out of practice.
Pushing that issue to the side, his thoughts returned to the matter at hand.
He had a choice to make, and he was having a very hard time choosing.
On one hand, Richard Fall was a very special kind of evil, and evil like that needed to buried and forgotten.
On the other hand, Roman had made it very clear to him that she was easily the thing he held dearest above all others, and that he was absolutely not going to let them take her from him.
He would hate to break up such a loving father and daughter. Truly, he would.
He was getting a very strange feeling of déjà vu here, and he knew exactly why that was happening.
They had already done this before with Cinder.
The King and Robert had both agreed that she deserved a chance at life back then, and neither of them ever regretted making that decision.
So why was he doubting what they were doing now? Hadn't they already settled the issue back then?
Roman had brought up a very good point earlier, and the question that came from it plagued his thoughts the entire way through.
If they had allowed Cinder to live, then why not Neo?
He couldn't even come up with an answer to that, not even when they arrived at the door leading to her cell.
Neopolitan
Neo woke up from her sleep in a completely empty room, nothing but nothing being her companion as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.
The walls were a dull gray, completely solid without any windows for her to climb out of. The only other thing in the room was a door, one that had been shut tight, no doubt.
She was trapped, at least for the moment.
Prison wasn't exactly the kind of place that could keep her for long, after all. She would just have to watch and wait for an opportunity to present itself.
Then she could break out and find Roman, wherever he was. He probably needed her help like he always did.
She smiled, not that anyone was seeing it. Roman had always been a loving father to her, and she loved him right back, but he always found himself in need of her help. How he was able to consistently both annoy and amuse her like that was a mystery, but she enjoyed it anyways.
Regardless, she could figure out how to help her idiot (she meant that in the nicest manner possible) of a father out of whatever trouble he had gotten himself into later. Right now, she needed to wait for her chance to escape.
And so she sat down, leaning back against the wall as she slowly let sleep return to her.
Just before her eyes shut completely, she heard a buzzing in her ears.
If she didn't hear that accursed sound ever again, it would be too soon.
There was no mistaking that voice.
"Hiya, Neo! I was looking all over for you! You sure get around, don't you?"
She opened her eyes, and she could see that the same white suited man had appeared out of nowhere in front of her. His crooked smile was just as unnerving as she remembered.
"You have no idea how hard it was to get in here! Tearing tiny holes in the walls for me to slip in through takes a lot of work, you know?"
She stood up, an angry scowl forming over her face. The white man appeared hurt by the expression, though she was fairly certain he was faking it.
"Aw…what? Was it something I did?"
She didn't have her parasol right now, but that didn't mean she was harmless. No, it only meant that she had one less thing to clean once she was done.
"Are we seriously at that stage right now? You don't even want to talk for just a little bit, Neo?"
She only shook her head as her eyes turned pink and brown, ready for a fight.
"If that's how you want to play it, then…"
He snapped his fingers, and his entire body simply vanished, replaced by a rather hungry looking Beowolf.
It snarled angrily at her, its red eyes focused squarely on her as it made to lunge, only to be stopped by some invisible force mid-lunge.
"Oh, right. I need to make it fair or else it's no fun. Thanks for the advice, daddy!"
Just as the words finished, she heard a slight thud on the floor next to her. Sparing a short glance in the general direction she heard it coming from, she saw that her parasol (though it was pitch black in color) had appeared out of nowhere right next to her feet.
"Hurry up, Neo! My little friend here is just dying to have some fun with you!"
The Beowolf was rapidly regaining control over its body, its eyes glowing red with rage.
Not wasting a moment, she took the parasol, finding that it felt practically identical to her own, and pulled out the blade in the handle just as the Beowolf lunged again.
Gracefully evading the attack, she stabbed the blade clean into its head as it crashed into the wall behind her, its body evaporating not a moment later.
"Not bad. Here! Let's mix things up a little!"
A dark black puddle formed on the ground in front of her, four Beowolves emerging from it mere seconds after it appeared.
"Have fun, boys!"
Each of the Beowolves roared angrily, two of them swinging their claws at her while the other two stepped back to give them room.
She avoided each swing with a practiced ease, both their attacks hitting nothing but air as she slashed at them with her sword, taking advantage of any openings she found in their assault. Both fell over in moments, evaporating entirely.
The remaining two had joined the fray, neither of them concerned with how she wasn't moving at all. Just as one of them tried to sink its teeth into her, the illusion she created shattered into glass, both of them yelping in surprise just before she slammed one into the wall and stabbed the other through the head.
Pulling her sword out, she quickly put an end to the other one, both of the bodies evaporating in the span of a few seconds.
"That's a nice trick, Neo! Let me show you one of mine!"
The puddles had formed again, though this time, no Grimm had come out of them.
At least, she didn't think that those shapeless blobs of thick black tar were Grimm.
All told, there were three of them in total, each with a single red eye, the rest of their bodies a writhing mass of black.
One of them surged forwards with surprising speed, parts of its body extended out into thick black spikes aimed directly at her. She cut the extended pieces off of the main body with relative ease, the severed parts rapidly dissolving into more of that black tar.
The thing didn't seem fazed in the slightest, merely repeating its attack again, which she ended in the same fashion as before.
With a shout of rage, the thing tried a different tactic, charging forwards with its entire body.
She found herself hard pressed to evade the black mass, relentless in its assault, and she certainly had no intention of letting it get anywhere on her body. The matter was further complicated by her slashes seemingly doing nothing to stop it.
Taking advantage of a split second opening, she ran her sword into its eye, eliciting a roar of pain as it backed off, its eye blinking rapidly to heal the damage she had done.
She pressed her attack, now aiming for the eye. A few more well placed stabs, and it was dead, the red eye shattering and sending the rest of the body crashing to the ground, fading away to nothing not long after.
The remaining two had watched the fight intently, joining in right after she killed it. They were more cautious in their approach, clearly having learned from the mistakes of their recently deceased friend. Their attacks covered each other, keeping her on the defensive as they pushed her back.
Such a situation really emphasized her glaring lack of ranged attacks, something Roman had been very insistent that she work on before it came back to haunt her. She wished she had listened to him back then, as she was quickly running out of ideas while they backed her into a corner.
The best she could do was throw her sword, and that was most definitely out of the question, as she'd be left without a weapon if she missed.
An idea flashed in her head, and not a moment too soon. Just as the two black masses engulfed her, all they heard was the telltale sound of shattering glass.
She appeared behind them, their backs (and their eyes) exposed as they focused on untangling themselves from each other, too busy to notice her jamming her sword into one of the eyes, which shattered after she pulled the blade out.
The other eye managed to evade her strikes, scrambling away as the other body faded to nothing.
She made use of this opportunity to put some distance between them. She doubted that it would fall for the same trick with her semblance, so that wasn't an option.
It looked positively livid, the eye glowing an angry red and its body trembling with rage.
It surged forwards, all sense of self-preservation entirely lost to it as it relentlessly pursued her, forcing her to retreat lest it devour her whole.
She was backed up against the wall now. It had left a part of itself behind in case she tried to use her semblance to get behind it. The eye was glaring at her, shifting left and right, probably assuming that she was using her semblance and that the one in front of it was another illusion.
Perhaps she could make use of that mistaken assumption.
It lunged at her, its eye directed elsewhere, trying to find the "real" her. By the time it realized its mistake, it was already too late.
Her sword went directly into its eye, a series of cracks spider webbing their way across as she heard a howling roar of pain. With one final burst of effort, she pushed the blade in deeper, the cracks growing larger and the roars more agonized as the eye shattered completely.
Unlike with the others, however, the body didn't simply collapse to the ground. Instead, it puffed up like a balloon, bursting directly in front of her, the thick black tar splashing all over her.
"Aw…I think they were really starting to like you, Neo. Oh well. I hope you liked their parting gift."
She could feel her aura burning, strained to its absolute limits as it held the corrosive fluid at bay. It was all she could do to keep from screaming in pain as she collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to keep standing.
The white man loomed over her, his twisted smile wide across his face.
"Does that mean you like it? I think that means you liked it."
She looked up at him, mustering what little strength she could and giving him the most hateful look she had ever given anyone in her life.
"Why the long face? Aren't you having fun, Neo?"
He put a hand on her shoulder, the touch sending a white hot spike of pain coursing through her. At this point, she couldn't hold it in, an agonized scream escaping her lips as he let go.
"That's what I like to hear…Keep it up, if you would be so kind."
He moved to put a hand on her again, but just before he could reach her, she could vaguely hear a door opening. Not a moment after, she heard a sharp bang followed by the familiar whistle of a shot sailing through the air.
An explosion went off behind the white man, his body sent flying by the force of the blast and disappearing once he was slammed into the wall. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Roman, smoke still billowing out of Melodic Cudgel's barrel. Next to him was another man, one wearing a white coat.
"Aw…You guys are no fun."
He reappeared in front of her, entirely unscathed by the shot that Roman had fired into him a few seconds ago.
"Looks like I need to get going…See you later, Neo."
He started to melt, his body fading away into the ground, but before he could disappear entirely, he was grabbed bodily by the other man in the white coat and slammed directly into the wall. He didn't disappear this time.
"I don't know what you are, but you are not leaving this place alive."
"Ah…not bad. I think I actually felt that one."
He melted into a puddle, slipping out of the man's hands and reforming a short distance away.
"See you around, boys."
He snapped his fingers, his body vanishing entirely.
Roman and the unfamiliar man looked over where he had been for a few seconds before turning their attention to her.
Roman was over her in an instant, nothing but pure concern in his voice.
"Neo! You alright?"
The black tar that had splashed over her disappeared when the white man did, but the damage it had done was still there.
Her aura had been completely drained, though it had done its job in keeping her from getting any significant burns across her body. For the most part, she was unharmed, save for some minor cuts and bruises here and there, along with the occasional burn.
Still, she was completely exhausted, and she felt an overwhelming need to close her eyes right now.
She kept them open long enough to assure Roman that she was fine.
"I'll be fine, Roman. I just need…a little rest…"
Her words trailed off as she let unconsciousness take her.
Robert Thalon
'What the hell was that?'
He had never seen anything like that thing before, and that was saying something.
Stark white in just about every way imaginable, right down to the clothes, the eyes, the hair, everything.
A horrific maw of teeth twisted into a complete mockery of a smile.
Complete sadism combined with childlike glee.
He'd have to write all this down so he didn't forget to look into it later. He'd probably need to get the King involved, too, if he was going to make any headway.
That would come later, though. Right now, there was the matter of cleaning up the mess it left behind.
She was unconscious, probably a result of aura exhaustion. That black tar had eaten right through her aura, and if it hadn't disappeared when it did, it probably would have eaten through much more than just that. Thankfully, it hadn't come to that, and she would need just a bit of rest so her aura could regenerate. After that, she would be as good as new.
Roman had yet to take her out of his arms, holding her close to him as she breathed softly, her chest rising ever so slightly with each breath.
"She just needs her rest, Torchwick."
The man looked back at him, his eyes wary.
"I know that, Dr. Thalon. Right now, the thing I'm keeping her safe from is you."
The doctor was taken aback, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
Even now, he was still protecting her. Just like any good father should.
Granted, if the doctor really wanted her dead right now, then absolutely nothing he did would be able to stop that.
Of course, that wasn't the case, as he had already made his decision the moment he saw the two of them together again.
"Don't worry. She'll live."
As Roman took in what those words meant, relief visibly crossed his features. He returned his attention to the daughter in his arms, a warm smile on his face.
The doctor watched the two of them closely, taking in everything he was seeing.
One part in him wanted nothing more than to end her right now, put her out of her misery and all that.
He would have to get that part of him fixed, as the other part utterly refused to separate such a loving family.
Whatever hell Richard (and, from the looks of it, that thing from earlier) had put her through, she wasn't alone in working her way through it, moving past it, even.
She had a loving father, after all, and he flat out refused to leave her alone in this world.
Even in unconsciousness, she nestled into his arms, a pleasant smile growing across her face.
She wasn't going to leave him alone, either.
They had each other, and that was all they needed.
There was no way he was going to be the one to end something as beautiful as that.
She would live, protocol and all that be damned.
He smiled despite himself.
He was more than certain that he was making the right choice here.
He took out the old report that he had written earlier, crossing out a certain section of it that was no longer relevant and writing something else in its place.
Neopolitan- Termination Cancelled
Signed,
Dr. Robert Thalon
Raven Branwen
She came upon the entrance to a large mausoleum, one that had no doubt been buried for centuries, based off of the sheer age the rock it had been carved out of showed.
Just as she was about to make her way in, she could feel something approaching, her hand moving to the hilt of her sword on pure instinct.
In front of the entrance was a rather large, winged man. A Faunus, most likely, though she had rarely seen any with animal traits like his.
The horns were the easiest part to take in; curved upwards and towards the back of his head. Nothing too out of the ordinary, really.
A bit more difficult to take in was his tail, which ended with a very dangerous looking bladed tip. Admittedly, tails weren't an uncommon feature among Faunus by any means, though she had rarely seen any that were as potentially useful as a weapon as his.
The wings, however, were a first for her. Certainly, she knew of a handful of Avian Faunus that had wings capable of flight, but she most definitely had not heard of a Faunus with wings like his. Pitch black with deep red membranes, the appendages looked more than strong enough to take him into the air. They weren't covered in feathers, either, instead being leathery like those of a bat.
What sort of Faunus he was escaped her, though she had no doubt that he was going to bar her way.
She approached him carefully, a hand readied to draw her blade if the situation called for it.
Stealth would be out of the question; his perfect night vision would completely nullify the low-light advantage the cave provided. Instead, she opted to simply walk directly towards him, and he took notice of her almost immediately, probably having already sniffed her out long before he saw her.
Flames danced across his fingertips as he addressed her.
"Hold it right there. I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
She didn't respond, merely continuing forwards.
"I'll give you one final warning; turn around and don't come back. Otherwise, things will get rather…messy down here."
She wasn't deterred in the slightest, continuing forwards like she didn't have a care in the world.
The man grinned darkly in response.
"I was hoping it would end like this. Let's have some fun, shall we?"
A gout of flame escaped his mouth right after he said that, aimed directly at her. She evaded the attack with ease, though she certainly hadn't expected something like that.
Not easing up on his assault, he charged forwards at her, both hands flaming as he had them poised to strike.
She responded by drawing her sword just as he reached her, the blade leaving the sheathe in the blink of an eye.
Her eyes widened behind her mask when he caught the blade mid-swing with his hands. They lit up brightly with fire not a moment afterwards, snapping her blade in two, one end now being held in his hand and the other still in the hilt of her sword.
Her surprise lasting only for a moment, she leaped back to put some distance between the two of them, further helped by the fact that he seemed more interested in the blade in his hand than her. Taking only a second to withdraw the broken blade from the hilt, she put her sword back into its sheathe, a new blade attaching itself to the hilt.
She eyed him warily. No one should have been able to see an attack that fast coming, let alone stop it entirely.
"Hm…this blade looks so familiar…" He turned his gaze back over at her, his eyes staring directly at her own. "Wait a second…"
He charged again, this time with the broken edge of her sword in one of his hands. She tried to swing at him again, but he once again intercepted her blade, this time with the sword piece in his hands. His eyes were staring right into her own past her mask.
"Those eyes…I'd recognize them anywhere."
He broke their blade lock, leaping back as he laughed heartily.
"Tell me, how is your father doing, Raven?"
She was taken completely off guard by his question. How did he know her father? He had certainly made no mention of a winged Faunus like the one in front of her before he passed away. She responded with a cautious tone.
"He's passed on now. Killed after single handedly holding off a Grimm invasion for almost a full day. We buried his body almost twenty years ago."
The Faunus looked almost saddened by what she told him.
"What a pity. Truly, I am sorry to hear that." He sighed. "Your father and I go very far back, I'll tell you that much, Raven. You were just a little baby when I last saw him." He chuckled. "You were always his favorite, you know."
She didn't remember her father, one Stark Branwen, ever being friends with a Faunus like him.
"Who are you?"
He looked genuinely surprised to hear such a question.
"You don't remember me? I'm-"
He was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. They both turned their heads to where it was coming from, and they saw a black robed woman with stark white skin tone and deep red eyes. There was no mistaking it; this was the woman that Raven was looking for.
"What exactly are you doing? I believe you have a battle to be carrying on with, do you not?"
The man nodded in compliance.
"Apologies, Salem. I just wasn't expecting you to be followed by the daughter of an old friend of mine, is all."
So that was her name. She pointed her sword at the robed woman.
"Salem, was it? My masters are requesting an audience with you. I would advise that you come quietly; they don't like being kept waiting."
The woman merely chuckled in response.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm more than looking forward to meeting them. Right now, however, I believe the two of you have battle to finish."
The Faunus man laughed heartily.
"Indeed we do, Raven! We can catch up on old times later." He pointed the broken tip of her sword at her. "Right now, I want you to show me just how much of your father you have in you!" His eyes held nothing but joy in them, and an eager grin was clear on his face.
She sighed internally. If that was what it took to finish her mission, then it appeared that she had no choice.
She put her sword back into its sheathe, switching the Red Dust blade with a blue one.
With a swing, she sent a wave of ice at him, to which he responded by breathing a stream of flames from his mouth, the approaching ice rapidly melting as it drew closer.
Of course, that was all just a distraction from her real attack. As he busied himself with spewing fire from his mouth, she slipped into his blind spot, hand poised to draw her blade when she was close enough.
Just as she closed in and readied to swing at him, he flapped his wings, launching himself into the air and circling over her.
"Using your father's old tricks isn't going to work on me, you know!"
His tone was joyous, like he was well and truly having the time of his life right now.
She, on the other hand, was feeling quite exasperated at the situation. This was taking too long, and she was certain that her masters were growing impatient.
She sent wave after wave of ice at him with numerous swings of her sword, all of them either being deftly evaded or melted completely. Switching back to a Red Dust blade, she leaped into the air to meet him head on, both of their swords clashing with a resounding clang of metal against metal.
Both of them landed on the ground a fair distance from each other, neither of them taking their eyes off the other.
"Not bad, Raven! Not bad at all! You wield your father's blades like a natural."
Her swords were the old blades of her father, the ones that he had used in his career as a huntsman. When he had passed on, she inherited his weapon, and she had trained long and hard to match his skill with it. In many respects, she had long since become better than he ever was.
"Thank you for the praise, but I can assure you that I haven't even gotten started."
"Then by all means! Show me more!"
He was laughing as he charged at her again, sword readied in one hand while his free hand had a stream of flame erupting from it.
She readied to meet his attack head on, drawing into her semblance.
Several of the blades in her sheathe shot out into the air, floating ponderously as they pointed at the rapidly approaching Faunus.
With a swing of her sword, each of them moved to swing at him from various angles. He wasn't deterred at the minor cuts they had given him, still charging forwards directly at her. She met this attack head on, all of her blades joining in with the one attached to her sword, over a dozen blades in total straining to hold back just one.
Neither side gave an inch to the other, both of them pushing with as much force as they could in an attempt to overpower each other.
Just as it looked like the man was about to get the upper hand on her, a dark black portal opened between them, a burst of black flame erupting not a moment later.
Both of them evaded the sudden attack with ease, despite their initial surprise. Both turned their heads to face Salem, who was holding a hand up, a dark black aura swirling around it.
"Apologies, but it would appear that I had to step in before you two killed each other."
"Nonsense, Salem! This was merely a test for both of us! Isn't that right, Raven?"
She could only nod her head slowly, not entirely sure of how she should respond.
"Regardless, I will have to cut your little reunion short, as unfortunate as that may be."
The man huffed in annoyance, though he deferred to her words.
"If you say so, Salem."
The robed woman turned to Raven expectantly.
"I believe it is time for us to go, Raven. I assume you can make a portal to take us all back?"
She nodded, swinging her sword and visualizing her destination to create the portal, the swirling vortex of red and black forming not too long afterwards.
She gestured for Salem to go first, the pale skinned woman nodding and stepping through the portal without a word.
The man was the next to go in.
"See you on the other side, Raven. I'm sure we'll have more time to catch up soon enough."
Somehow, she wasn't doubting his words.
Taking one last look at the cave (which had been devastated as a result of their battle), she stepped through the portal, closing it behind her.
She failed to notice the glowing pair of eyes that were watching the entire thing with great interest.
The ram had been watching from the shadows, entirely hidden from their view as they entered the portal taking them out of his cave.
Where they were going, he didn't know for sure, though he had a fairly good idea.
The other primals were playing a very dangerous game by letting Salem get close to them. He would've warned them, though he was already certain that they would just brush his counsel off like they always did.
It wasn't his fault that every one of his fellow primals saw him as an odd one for his rather…unique perspective on the way the world of Remnant worked, and it most certainly wasn't his fault that no-one listened to him as a result of his…unfortunate reputation.
He had his own plans to attend to, anyways.
Just before he could turn his attention to the various other ploys he had already set in motion, he could feel a certain someone in the cave with him.
"I'm home, daddy!"
The familiar voice in his head brought a smile to his face.
"Welcome home, John. Did you have fun on your playdate with…ah…who was it again?"
"Her name was Neo, and yes, I had a lot of fun with her before I had to leave."
Right, one Ms. Neopolitan. He had misplaced the name in his old age.
John was always so fond of her. How long ago was it when he first started playing with her? Ten years, almost? Something like that, if his memory wasn't going senile like he was.
Then he remembered that John wasn't supposed to be home for at least a few more hours.
"Oh? Did something happen? You don't usually come home this early…"
"Nothing much, really. Neo's friends were just being mean and I just didn't feel like staying with them around."
He suppressed the anger he was feeling. No one harmed a hair on John's head without paying tenfold for their foolishness.
"Well, then…do you want to do anything else, John?"
He could put his plans on hold for the moments. He had been working on them for at least a few decades by now; he could spare a couple of hours for his son.
"Well, uh…do you think we could get some ice cream? I think Neo would've loved it, but I'm fine with sharing it with you too, daddy."
The ram smiled warmly.
"Of course, John. Whatever you want."
John was excited.
"Thank you, daddy! You're the best! Oh! Can we bring mommy too?"
Oh dear. John's mother was a rather sore issue that he had yet to properly break to him. He held it off for some time now, and he still felt that John just wasn't ready.
"I'm sorry, dear, but your mother is busy right now…"
John's lip's twisted into that accursed pout that never failed to tug at his heart.
"Aw… but she's always busy!"
The ram interjected as quickly as he could before the child could say any more.
"But she did want me to tell you that she loves you!"
John was quickly placated by the words, an expression of sheer joy clear across his features.
"Does she? Tell her that I love her too!"
"Of course, John. I'll tell her that as soon as she gets back."
The child nodded energetically, frantically waving his father off towards the cave exit as a way to get him to hurry.
"Come on, daddy! Let's get us some ice cream!"
The ram chuckled heartily.
"I'm coming, John!"
Whatever plans he had to deal with later, he could worry about them another time.
Right now, he had just made his son very happy, and that was what really mattered.
AN: John. Short and sweet. Rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? Ha…No.
In all seriousness, however, that's his name, and I'm sticking with it. As for the ram being his father, that part was always planned out, though the exact nature of their relationship as such was much darker in my original plans than it was here (well, it's still pretty dark: "ice cream" is being used as a euphemism here). Furthermore, John's mother was meant to both be present and also be the parent he inherited his complete sadism from, but in this version, she's not around, and his rather…unique personality is coming from his father. That should really set off some warning bells regarding the ram, right?
Regardless, it looks like things have just wrapped up pretty nicely. The worm is out of Cinder's head, Neo's safe, and Raven has just taken Salem to the primals.
As for what happens next, well, you guys will just have to wait for the next chapter to find out.
Thank you very much for reading, hopefully you guys enjoyed it. If you are so inclined, please don't hesitate to leave a review stating what you thought or to send any questions you have my way. Thanks again, and stay safe.