Location: White Fang Storage
Zinex POV
"Really, again!? Aura! Not again…" I called out to him as he bolted of extremely quickly into the large vehicle storage area. I tried to chase after him but his sudden movement had caught me off guard. He ran for a second then went through a set of door leading away from the garage and deeper into the base. I reached the doorway but immediately a huge metal door slammed shut, locking me out. I looked around the black metal door, looking for any sign of electricity to power the door like I had on the door leading to this base but found nothing. It was locked by mechanics and gears, which meant there was nothing I could do. I growled in annoyance as I looked behind me only to be met with an explosion that temporarily blinded and defended me. I only heard loud ringing sounds for a few second and felt extreme amounts of heat, what the hell had happened. After a minute my vision came back to me and I saw hell.
In front of me was a huge gap in the ground, reaching into pure darkness filled with fire going up the sides of the huge gap. I lifted my vision higher up to where the rest of my friends had been before I took off and most of them seemed to be completely unconscious on the other side of the huge gap. Yato and Rain were crawling closer to each other as a large fire cracked around them, trapping them. Train was completely unconscious and lying under a piece of a car, obviously hurt. Cypher was struggling out from under some debris that had covered him. He finally managed to get up and turn to me.
"What happened!?" Cypher yelled across the gap as he tried to dust himself off. I groaned as I tried to look across the gap, looking for any way to reach them but I couldn't find any way.
"Don't worry about it! Help the others out I'll go for Aura!" I yelled back as Cypher then looked around and saw the state everyone was in, he clenched his fists and silently cursed, as if someone wouldn't hear him.
"Okay I'll handle it!" He yelled back as he bolted for Yato and Rain, who were inching closer and closer together. The fire was beginning to enclose them. I looked back towards the door, irritated at this situation. Every time it had to be a trap. I looked around the door and noticed they had made a vital mistake in their design. I activated the railgun feature of my weapon and pushed the two separated blades into a small slit in the top of the door and pushed the sword nearly all the way through to the mechanics. I then loaded an Ice Dust crystal into the ammo slot at the bottom of the hilt and pulled the trigger.
I was flung to the ground by the shear force of the blast along with my sword but my theory had worked. I looked up and saw the door tilt and fall inward, no longer supported by the mechanics. I quickly bolted into the long hallway, noticing it looked pretty dark. Dread filled my head, I hated dark hallways. Dark hallways always represented something painful, like running to the enemy.
"Who, him? Did someone come to get their parents?" I heard a insane sounding male voice speak. I ran into a large storage room that seemed to go on forever as the edges weren't lit at all. I looked at the insane man and saw he looked rather vagabondish in his black traveling clothes. He looked nothing like a White Fang leader or member to me. He looked to me with a grin on his face as I switched my rally in back into a sword. "Nice of you to join us Zeno, I see the trap didn't slow you down as it did the others. I expected as much."
"If you know what's good for you, step off him." I said with a growl. His trap had nearly killed me and the people I cared about, anger consumed my body. I knew I couldn't make any rash decisions however, those always led to unnecessary pain in my life. I took a deep breath then looked the red eyed faunus in the eye. "Step off, and walk away. This doesn't need to happen. You won't like the ending Kenny."
"Okay." He said letting go of what I assumed to be Aura's dad. A bad feeling began to rise in my mind and it was warranted. With a speed that surprised me, the smiling form of Aura's dad turned into pure fear when Ken's sword went right through the man. Aura's dad quickly dropped and passed into death, infuriating me. The insane Ken obviously found this hilarious and began to bust out in laughter. "Oh, the look on your faces are just PRICELESS!"
"Asshole!" I yelled point my sword at Ken and nearly blasting him to death, but I quickly remembered this sword couldn't take that kind of power throwing me off my attention.
"Cat caught your tongue?" He asked with a grin of pure insanity. He then shot forward at Aura, murder in his body language. Faster than he could get to Aura though, I slid in front of him and blocked his sword strike. A loud clang sounded through the storage area.
"Aura, move!" I yelled to my friend as I held Ken back, only to see him motionless on his knees. It pained me to see him like this, the one person that I opened up to the most was completely devoid of any emotion, it was depressing; yet at the same time maddening. I could tell he wasn't connected to reality at this point, which pissed me off even more. I felt the fake aura I kept up increase in power rapidly, making my body glow very slightly as It broke into the realm of vision as I turned to Ken, glaring into his red eyes. "You monstrous piece of garbage!"
"I'm the monster here?! What about you Mister Zeno!?" Ken asked laughing crazily, blocking a sword strike I carelessly let out. He was really starting to make me mad, I sliced out again but he easily dodged me… How was he moving so fast? "How can you say that if you-"
"Fuck off!" I yelled kicking him so hard he flung back into an empty storage crate. I heard a grunt then he slid down the crate onto the floor. I ran straight to Aura and found he was still in that zombie-like state. I heard Ken getting up so I quickly wrapped my hands under Aura's arms and dragged him near the hallway I had entered through. He made no sound or any movements, just looking into nothingness with those glazed over eyes.
"You'll have to try harder than that Zeno." I heard Ken say behind me, putting an emphasis on my name.
"Stay. Right. Here." I said with a growl to him but Aura gave me no indication he had heard me. I turned around the face Ken and saw he was fully healed, how the hell? "Your healed? Impressive, you heal a bit faster than the rest."
"Yes, it appears I do Zeno. Confused?" He asked opening his arms wide, he really didn't know what was about hit him.
"I'm done with this." I said in anger then lifted my hand up and let loose a powerful bolt of lightning. Anger clouded my thought process and the control I put on the volume of the bolt was not longer there causing a loud boom to reverberate through the room. I blinked then looked towards what I thought was going to be a very injured Ken, but he was merely standing in place holding the lightning I had just fired in a ball. "How in tarn-"
"It seems you don't know as much as you think Zeno. We know quite a lot about you, we've learned a lot. Like the fact you don't have an aura, and your very ignorant to history. Raises a lot of questions Zeno." He laughed as the lightning bolt evaporated, its energy depleted. I was completely bewildered on how he had done that. "Obviously Zeno you haven't studied us as well as you thought. I assumed little Celestia would have told you everything, then again you are a bit special."
"Just spit it out so I can hurry up and kick your ass." I said putting as much guard in between Ken and Aura, it was obvious he really wanted to kill him.
"He… blocks… semblances from… working." I heard Aura croak out in a very broken voice, I could hear every ounce of pain he was feeling. This only made me grip my sword harder, then I laughed realizing what this all meant.
"Oh right, I'm a special case because you can't negate my powers." I taunted which caused his smile to waver a bit. "Look man, sometimes your thing just doesn't work out. Don't get overloaded now."
"I won't." He said swinging his hand out as I fired a lightning bolt at him. It ricocheted and slammed into one of the walls causing a loud pop sound. I ran forward firing yet another bolt, which he blocked, but he wasn't ready for my sword strike. I slammed the hilt of my blade into his chest, causing him to hit the floor immediately.
"And I though black panthers were supposed to be cool." I taunted straightening my trench coat but I was surprised to see a blade flying at my face. I shot my blade up and managed to block it but a sharp pain hit me in my leg. I stumbled back and glanced down, he had stabbed my leg with a tiny knife. I pulled it out and threw it at his stomach but he dodged out of the way. He laughed as he looked at me and down to my leg as the wound began to close.
"I didn't believe it when Iris told me but it's true, you don't have an aura. Nor can I stop your semblance from working. Just what are you Zeno?" He asked spinning his sword then lashing out. I barely managed to block his strikes but then he shot behind me, sword out… He was going for Aura. I quickly dropped my weapon and grabbed the blade of his sword, pain immediately jolting through my hands as they began to bleed. The sword did move an inch further and I looked into Ken's crazy eyes.
"Just a regular guy trying to do right." I said, then my blood fully covered a part of the sword giving me exactly what I wanted. I gripped the sword a bit harder then forced lightning from inside my body right into the sword causing it to buzz rapidly, he tried to jerk his hand from the sword to no avail. I had a tight grip on the sword which led to its demise. Within a second the sword began to crack, the metal not being able to withstand the sheer vibration the electricity was causing. I quickly let go of the sword then kicked him back while he was distracted, I saw him slide under a few crates that were suspended by some wires.
"Stupid prick!" I heard his insane voice boom as he stood up. I saw his red eyes were bright and his expression screamed murder. "You won't leave here alive! Unlike that boys mom, you won't escape the White Fang. Iris was very unhappy when she escaped so many years ago."
"We're getting out of here whether you like it or not Ken." I said grabbing my sword off the ground. He then glanced up above me and grinned. He moved over to one of the wires that went up into the rafters.
"That's what you think Zeno, sword may not kill you but this will." He said cutting the wire, but he had made a vital error. With a quickness, the crate above him, filled with pieces of steel and iron by the looks of it, fell down. The last sound Ken made was a helping sound as the crate engulfed him with a sickening crack, I seriously couldn't believe my eyes. For a moment I couldn't move, I was in pure disbelief. After a moment though, I turned around to get Aura and get the hell out of this place.
"Talk about a crushing defeat…" A woman said as I turned around. In front of me was someone with dark, blood red eyes. They glowed in a way that unsettled me. She had jet black hair and a wide smile on her face that seemed rather fake. She had tanned skin and two fanged teeth that were very prominent. She wore a black a black hoodie that was open to reveal a graphic tee of a red sky with a black circle in it, her pants were almost as black as her hair, her wore sneakers as red as her eyes.
"Noris." I said, speaking her name in pure fear. There weren't many things in Existence that scared me, but she was one of them.
"So much for your promise, hm Zinex?" She said looking at the blood that was now seeping from under the crate.
"That wasn't my fault, the idiot killed himself." I said looking away from her and turning to see Aura, who was looking in my direction but seemed to be staring through me. As if he wasn't seeing me.
"Aren't hero's supposed to save people from death?" She asked sarcastically. She then walked over to the crate. "This man is very dead to me."
"There was nothing I could do Noris, just go away." I growled and walked over to Aura. I bent down and took a good look at him, he didn't seem to have any sort of injuries.
"And what happens when he does something you don't like." I heard Noris say behind me. It was a question that seriously made me stop. I got up and looked at her, she was no longer smiling but had an incredible emotionless look on her face. "What happens when they do something you don't approve of? Will you let them die too?"
"I wouldn-" I started to say but anger began filling her face as she moved slightly away from the crate.
"You wouldn't? You wouldn't?" She asked incredulously, anger building in her voice. I gripped my sword tighter, I was seriously afraid. "What about Dawn? Monica? Did they just magically die!"
"I- I-" I tried to say but words wouldn't come to me. Guilt, along with fear, was consuming me. Pain began building within me, I quickly raised my sword… fearful of what she might do.
"Jeremy! Alana! Chelsa! How many more will die because of you Zinex!" She bellowed shaking me to the very fabric of my being. I stepped back and faltered with my sword, just as I had at the docks. "Will it be Blake next? You've killed all the people who cared for you most!"
"I…" I tried to speak, tears flowing down my face. I couldn't face this… what I had done was terrible.
"They might have been able to leave you, cursing you from behind the scenes, but I won't. You betrayed me when I need you most!" She yelled, piercing my ears. Noris then bolted into me, quicker than my mind could comprehend, and smashed me into the wall. The wall behind me cracked and shook, my insides searing with pain. My face was to the ground, I could see blood dripping down from me. Pain, guilt, hate, fear, and depression all flew within me, consuming me like they had before. I looked up at Noris, she had hate in her eyes and tears of rage. I lifted my hand up, yellow lightning building in my hand. I wanted her to go away, to leave me alone, to just die. "Do it then! Prove who you really are Zinex! Your bloodthirsty! Hateful! Hypocritical! Your nothing more than an evil scum of Existence! Kill me then, like you did!"
"No. Never again. I won't be the monster you think me to be." I said standing up slowly, clarity reaching my broken mind. I was injured, I could feel my bones healing but extremely slowly… I was drained. I picked up Aura, pain hitting my body in an almost unbearable way as I slung him over my shoulder. I began limping down the hallway, no clue of any type of plan of getting across the crevice. I heard footsteps behind me, which made me move faster, pushing my body to its limit.
"Maybe you aren't… but that might not matter soon." I heard Noris's voice say as I reached the trench. I looked around and I knew I couldn't do this alone. My injuries, power depletion, and lack of the strength to make a bridge across the huge gap.
"C'mon buddy, I could really use your help." I said, looking to Aura, who was still lost in thought.
"Dad…" He mumbled, completely incapacitated. I sighed in annoyance but suddenly the bits of rubble began to fly past me. Twisted pieces of metal and rock then floated in the air above the trench creating a small foothold for me to stand. I looked around and didn't see anyone else.
"Really Aura...did it have to be small?" I muttered in slight confusion as I stepped onto the foothold and it began slowly moving. It took about 5 minutes to reach the other side, due to the extremely slow movement from the foothold. I stepped off onto the blackened metallic floor of the other side and the rubble behind me immediately fell. I grimaced as I started walking again, my body beginning to feel numb from the amount of pain pushing through me. "You owe me one for this…"
Aura's POV
Loss. That's all I felt. I was vaguely aware of Zinex talking to me and carrying me along but I wasn't listening at all. I couldn't feel, at least not in the way one normally felt. Pain filled my body and mind, disconnecting me from any sense of reality I had… I was lost. I wanted to move, show emotion, or anything that would help me at all, but nothing. My body wasn't listening to me, my mind was scattered, and my heart in pieces, I was beyond broken. An unknown amount of time passed for me and I thought I heard Zinex arguing with someone, then nothingness.
Next thing I knew, sunlight painfully hit my eyes as we exited the base through the main doorway we had entered through. The outside air felt the same to me as it did inside as the same scene repeated in my mind over and over again. Why did this have to happen to me… why...
"There they are!" I heard Yato cry from somewhere, I couldn't tell because my eyes were locked into the ground. For the next few seconds everything was nothing but muffled voices, nothing that they said mattered to me anyways, the world didn't matter. The chance to find out why my family was separated like this, once again, gone again…
"A...a, Au…, A...r…" I heard a voice call out, but was still muffled to the point of non-recognition. Then I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders, and shake me back and forth firmly. That's when the voice started to become clearer. "Aur… ura… AURA!"
My vision finally cleared and I got a good look at who was shanking me. It was Rain, various burns and tears in her clothes, and eyes full of tears, as if she were about to cry; but that wasn't the only thing I saw in her eyes. In them I saw a reflection of myself, someone who lost those they cared about and just had their hopes and dreams to themselves going. Someone like me.
"Aura, what happened? What's wrong?!" Rain asked worryingly, sounding like she was about to breakout crying. Her simple question finally broke down the wall of tears that my own body had been holding back. Without a second thought I buried my face into her shoulder, and cried loudly, letting out the sadness that I had harbored in my heart for all this time. I felt her hesitate at first, but she eventually wrapped her arms around me and started slowly rub my back, trying to make me feel better. I wrapped my arms tighter around her as I started to calm down. Her hands were holding my head and rubbing my fox ears, and I was clutching onto her for dear life, as if she was going to disappear the second I let go. Everyone close to me left, and I couldn't imagine the people here leaving or being killed, it would kill me...
Later on my crying started to reduce to light sobs and sniffles as I started to calm down. The more time I spent in her arms, the more relaxed I started to feel, as if I were being held by my mother, I felt loved. It wasn't long before I eventually slipped into darkness fell asleep, with a warm feeling embedded deep in my chest.
Zinex POV
For a moment, everyone watched in silence as Aura cried, however Rain led him slightly away from the group and began to calm him down. Since Aura was incapacitated and hopefully hadn't seen what happened I took up the task of explaining what had happened. They all got a shocked expression on their faces throughout the entire story, hell even though I had left out the part about Noris… it still sounded insane. Rain seemed the most affected by what happened, developing a sort of serious face.
"The White Fang… They did this to my family too. Especially that man you described. I am glad he's dead." She said, revenge filling her voice.
"Can't believe it…" Cypher said in a tone of pure bewilderment as I saw him look to us. I could tell he was tired, his body had tons of cuts from the rubble of the explosion. By my math, he had been nearly at the epicenter… that was probably the only reason the others hadn't died.
"Stupid White Fang." Yato said in a rather angry tone of voice. He was obviously both physically and emotionally hurt. He too had scraps all over him, along with burn marks on his now exposed right calf.
"Don't worry we will heal." Train said, appearing to try and muster up courage. He looked the worst out of all, he had huge gashes in his body covered with large amount of bandages. He looked like he was in serious pain. "They won't get away with this. We will stop them."
"We will try." I said pessimistically as I looked down at the ring I worse. I began to play with it absentmindedly as I thought. They knew where we were, they knew where we were going, they were tracking us. No matter how hard we tried to hide, it seemed they were always a step ahead. I pulled out my scroll and looked at it, was this why?
"Aura? Aura!?" I heard Rain cry out as she caught Aura before he fell. Everyone quickly shot their heads to Aura, and due to his limp state I assumed they thought he was dead. I could see the outline of his nerve cells producing an electrical signal quite strongly and knew better.
"He's asleep, not dead." I said walked over to Rain then lugged Aura over my shoulder once again. I knew we had to keep moving, all this despair and death in one place was probably great for attracting grimm. "Come on, let's head back."
"Where?" Rain asked worryingly, standing up as she tightened her grip on her trident. She seemed terrified, probably of what was going to come next.
"Back to Vale." I said simply and Train nodded as well, standing up with a grimace then looking to all of us
"We've done what we came here to do, my associates will come here to clean up this place and demolish it, we've got nothing else to do here. We should leave while we can." Train said. "You all have done an amazing job, I will make sure Ozpin hears of your bravery."
"But what abou-" Rain began, only to get interupted.
"And you should come along with us" Cypher said suddenly. I was rather surprised by his sudden reaction to her, he normally wasn't one to show this much emotion. "You can't stay here in this place. I can't imagine the Grimm getting you. What do you say, Rain? Vale would be a nice place for you."
"Wow… I…" Rain started to speak, I could tell was shocked at Cypher's proposal. In a lot of ways Rain reminded me of myself, back so long ago. Lost, alone, in need of friendship or any form of communication. I could see the fear in her eyes, she wasn't sure what to do.
"Look Rain. Don't question it. Just take the chance and come with us, trust me I know how scary it is but…" I said as looked her in the eyes, her ocean blue eyes intriguing me. "You can't hang on to the past, it will be to your demise… trust me."
"Okay, I'll go" She said after about a minute of thinking. Her face then broke out into a smile.
"Call Jack, Zinex so we can all go home!" Yato exclaimed, obviously tired as all can be. I could see the bags under his eyes. I pulled out my scroll and dialed Jack but it just kept on ringing, he never picked up.
"There's nothing on the other end guys." I told them and they all seemed surprised. Train however quickly pulled out his scroll and I heard ringing noises coming from his scroll as well but there was no pick up either.
"Ozpin isn't answering. I need you guys to get to Vale, quickly. Follow me." Train said walking away from us quickly. We began following him quickly, me being slowed down by Aura's weight. I could still hear him fast asleep, man he was a heavy sleeper.
"Where are we going?" Cypher asked his brother catching up to him.
"The edge of the city, I have a transport stashed there just in case this mission went bad." He said simply as we walked down the street. As I glanced around, I noticed this path seemed familiar… It had been the same path I had walked when I had just gotten to this world. We walked in further silence, for a good long time until we reached the edge of the city where the path was that lead to the outskirts of Vale. Train walked over to a large set of bushes and disappeared in them, a few moments later a car starting noise sounding. Driving out from the bushes was a large military troop truck that looked like pictures I had seen in history class about Atlus. It was mainly white with a black accent color but it was covered in dirt and leaves.
"Wow what a piece of garbage." I said with an exasperated laugh but no one else laughed, the mood was definitely not good. Train parked next to us then got out.
"Who can drive?" He asked quickly, a new intensity in his eyes. No one in our group responded except I.
"Yeah I can." I said raising my only open hand and he tossed me the keys.
"Ozpin told me you know how to get back, I trust you can do that." He said. I nodded but Cypher immediately burst out.
"What do you mean, aren't you coming?" Cypher asked, raising his tone of voice. Train looked at him with an extremely seriously look, I could tell he really wanted to come with us.
"No Cy, I'm not. Our missions break from here. It's important to get back to Vale and figure out what's going on. I have other things I need to do before I leave this area." He said and I saw Cypher about to complain but Train held his hand up. "This is an order from me Cypher, if you don't do it I'll have to get you kicked out of Beacon. Listen to your superiors and leave."
"Fine." Cypher huffed then got in the transport van and went all the way in the back. The other followed suit, all not really into this anymore. I set the sleeping form of Aura on one of the frontmost seats then closed the sliding door. I turned to Train and he had a grim look on his face.
"Thanks Train, I appreciate you being here. Good luck." I said and he nodded.
"Look that was all you Zinex, I spent most of the time under a car. Without you and Aura, we wouldn't have found the base." Trained said the patted my shoulder. "Get them there safely and tell Ozpin to contact me. There's a lot I have to do."
"Got it." I said then walked around the van and got in, I slipped the keys into the slot then started the old van. The engine booted up then I took off, punching the accelerator. "Ah, I love cars."
Location: White Fang Camp Near Vale
Time skip: Later that Night
"They what!?" Lady Iris roared in anger as she crushed her glass full of champagne. The place she was in was much different than the places she had been. After what happened during her ambush on Team AYZC, she had needed to recover from her wounds, but she insisted on still working...she was bent on demolishing the team that had played her like a fool. She was sitting in the briefing room, her knee and various parts of her body bandaged, getting a briefing on what happened at Mount Glenn.
"Ye- Yes mam…" A White Fang lieutenant that kneeled in front of her said. They were extremely fearful for their lives as Lady Iris had a reputation for being brutal. "Train Ignus along with the Team AYZC. Not only that, Ken was killed in the process. Fires spread throughout the base… we salvaged what we could b-
"Damn it!" Lady Iris roared at White Fang lieutenant throwing a candle holder straight through his head, killing him instantly. The other White Fang member shook in fear, terrified the same fate might befall him but Lady Iris glared into a book she had been reading. She had experienced nothing but failure and annoyances the past few months, whether it be Gerald failing her constantly, the base being destroyed, or her own failure at killing Team AYZC, resulting in her knee injury. She tried to stand up from the chair she was standing in, only to have a sharp pain run through her left knee, causing her to sit back down. She banged her hands on the table in front of her, and roared loudly in anger as she mentally cursed at herself. "Idiots! I'm surrounded by nothing but idiots! Why must everyone be so incompetent!?"
"And why must you be so loud?" A familiar voice said calmly. She looked at the entrance to the room to see Adam Taurus, who did not look happy either. "So I take it that things aren't to your liking right now…"
"You better have some good news for me bull. I need something good." She said to Adam but his grim look told her otherwise.
"Team students of Beacon have been giving me a lot of annoyances. Breach was a failure, Team RWBY ruined the plan. I'm losing faith in Roman Torchwick." Adam said with a low growl. He too hated the fact that he had to work with a human, much less one like Roman who co distantly annoyed him at every turn. "I would hope our leader would recognize his incompetence and sever ties with him."
"You know as well as I that we cannot stop working with him, Salem wouldn't allow us to betray her like that." Lady Iris said looking back to her book. "We are in luck that she is forgiving, not to mention our other plan is going exactly as it should. Gerald may be out running his use but my other informant will not fail. His information has been spot on, Ken was weaker than I expected."
"His semblance was powerful, he wasn't much of anything." Adam said taking a seat. "What is next?"
"The fall of Beacon Adam, it is closely approaching." Lady Iris said with an evil grin appearing on her face. "With Cinder in her place, and her mission, combined with what I have done. We will secure Beacon. This plan will not fail, I have made sure of it."
"Have you secured Mrs. Sharp?" Adam asked in a serious tone as he flipped through some papers. Lady Iris grinned broadly, as if she found this funny.
"I am not 100 percent sure but I have heard rumors that she may be in Atlus, funny isn't it that she looks for her family there but they had already left?" Lady Iris said chuckling at herself. "But it is alright, the Sharp family being in Vale is something that is necessary to our plan."
"Speaking of which, the coils. Are they installed?" Adam asked quickly, Iris's grin grew even wider.
"Soon they will be, with the tournament coming soon many repairs will be rushed for Beacon, it will be easy to install in that section." Lady Iris stated. "You better be working on your sword skill Adam, my informant tells me Zinex is very skilled."
"Is he now?" Adam asked with a sense of bewilderment. Looking down at his own blade, he chuckled at the thought of someone besting him. "He will be nothing more than another stain on my blade Iris."