The Darkness
-XIX-
"Hammerspace!?" The students replied all at once.
"What on Remnant is that?" A confused Weiss replied, also peeved because she didn't have the slightest clue.
"Sounds like something I'd like!~" Nora added, hugging her beloved Magnihild.
"Wait, wait. Just gimme a sec, it's coming back to me..."
Indeed it was. Davin's memories proved to be like a large drawer full of locked cabinets, but upon the internal suggestion it was as if he had yanked one of said cabinets open, spilling their contents and wealth of information all at once. But it'd be incredibly difficult to explain.
"It's- It's like an extradimensional storage area..."
Eleven deadpanned stares indicated he would need to try harder.
"Um... well, Ruby, you guys watch that show where the guy travels through time in a blue telephone booth, right?"
The four girls ecstatically responded in the affirmative.
"Well, aren't there times when he has pulled out impossibly large things from said booth? And Jaune, you guys play that game where the red guys blow up the blue guys, right?"
Most of team JNPR smiled in agreement. Except Ren. Even Sun and Neptune replied in the affirmative with a high-five.
"Aw yeah!"
That game seemed to be the one thing where Ren simply could NOT beat Jaune. Even Pyrrha had gotten a better handle on it than he.
"Well don't those little guys seem to pull out giant grenade-launchers and rifles out of thin air?"
"Ohh..." now all the students nodded in understanding.
"Same principle. Even with energy."
"So... that's your semblance?" Blake wondered out loud.
"I don't think so," Davin began thoughtfully, "Had it been linked to my aura, I would've felt it already, right? I think it's more like a device that I didn't remember I had. Besides, it's impossible for me to have a semblance right now..."
A few raised eyebrows.
"...my aura is locked. That's why there were never any physical manifestations of it in my matches."
The students all began exclaiming in surprise at the impossible feat, considering what the young man had done so far. All except Yang, who presently walked up to Davin, hair suddenly burning.
"It's locked!?" She exclaimed with a flare of heat.
"Yea..." he replied, taken aback at the sudden outburst.
"So you mean to tell me that all this time, you've been incapable of manifesting your aura, making it damn near impossible to heal yourself fast enough if you ever got injured in a battle!?" The brawler was livid, shoving Davin at every stressed word.
"Yang, he's done pretty well without it so far..." Blake meekly tried to reason with the furious blonde as she flared even hotter.
"They could've killed you, Davin!" She motioned to the large mounds of disintegrating dead Grimm littering the clearing behind her.
"We could've killed you!" She shoved Davin again at the stressed word, then yanked him by the shirt towards her with one arm, the other gauntlet up and threatening to strike.
Instead, she dropped both arms as she dropped her head down as well, looking at the ground.
"I... could've killed you..." ver voice was broken, barely a whisper at the last part.
Each word was like a stab at Davin's heart, all he wanted to to was hug her and apologize as he held her tight against him, assuring her that he would be okay, that he'd be more careful.
But as he held his arms up to embrace her, she shoved him one last time before looking at him and then storming off to the forest. Tears were welling in her eyes.
Davin stood cold, frozen to the spot, as he blankly looked at her sister who looked as if she had felt every sensation of what her sister had just gone through. The crimsonette, with watery eyes, simply looked at the young man and nodded her head in the direction her sister had gone.
"You should go after her."
Nodding once at the wise suggestion, Davin left the rest of the students to contemplate on what had just happened as he too disappeared into the woods.
"Yang!... Yaaang!"
The young man had been searching for several minutes through the woods already, trying to remember what Blake had taught him about tracking over the past few weeks. Though in this case, it wasn't too difficult... all he had to do was follow the charred wood.
He finally found her in a small enclave in the woods, a tiny clearing with only a single log strewn across. She sat on it, sobbing quietly.
"Yang!" he exclaimed, happy to have found her. But the wave of heat that came in response forced him to slow his advance. He didn't care, continuing to walk forward.
"Yang..." his voice was soft and warm as the weight of what had happened hit him again. The heat finally subsided as he took a seat next to the brawler.
"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before..." he put his arm around her as he said this. She turned in response, burying her head into his shoulder and continuing to sob softly into it.
After a little while she picked her head up and, wiping her tears as best she could, steadied her breath as she looked at the small space before them.
"Do... do you know what this place is?"
The young man looked around quizzically.
"No..."
"This is the spot where I landed in the forest on my initiation, it was a long time ago... I had come to this school, confident in my future and thinking I knew exactly what I wanted. And honestly, aside from my team, I didn't really think I'd need anyone else to help me get there. Sure I have friends, but the thing is, other than my sister, I've never let anyone close enough to actually know that what I'm really trying to avoid is hurting those I care about..."
A knot began to form in the young man's throat as he realized that her ever-present humor had been a mask to such a pained heart all along. The release of these pent-up emotions from the usually positive girl spurred a sudden spontaneous combustion, causing Davin to retract his hand in pain.
"Ugh, see!?" she shouted in half anger and half pain as she stood up to avoid injuring the young man any further, fists clenched at her sides, "I can't let anyone close to me! I can't control it!" tears were welling up in her eyes again, "And I thought I was cursed to living my life without ever being close to anyone!... But then I met you, Vin..."
The anguished young man looked up at the girl he cared so much for as the heat wave subsided for just a moment. She was looking at the ground with her head down, completely broken down as tears fell freely.
"You made it easy to get close to you... you were different... you were my friend. The first guy I can remember in a while who liked me for me, not for what I look like, and who stuck with me even if I can be a little... aggressive... sometimes, heh." She chuckled nervously, her smile quickly fading again.
"...And all this time I was just a careless punch away from killing you. It hurts, Vin... and the way I realize I feel about you now... I just don't know what I'd do with myself if that ever happened to you. And these are feelings I don't think I can control-"
She didn't get a chance to continue, as she was suddenly locked in an embrace. Davin winced through the pain as the sudden burst of heat surged from the emotional blonde. His unprotected arms were surely singed by this time. But he needed to do this, he needed to do this for her now.
The heat finally subsided as she grabbed him tightly, the pair remaining in the close embrace, words now wholly unnecessary in confessing what they truly felt for each other.
After what seemed an undefinable amount of time, she finally pulled back from him, a flash of joy in her eyes as she looked into his after being struck with an idea.
"I may not ever be able to be as close to you as I'd like, but there is one thing I can still do..." she said with a warm smile as she now stood an arm's distance apart from the young man, lifting an arm to touch the side of his head.
"Wha-?"
"Shh. Close your eyes and concentrate." She placed her other hand on Davin's chest, whose heart skipped a beat on contact as he obeyed her command.
"Uhh... okay."
Yang began to glow a soft shade of yellow as Davin began glowing a brilliant orchid. She then began to speak with a voice that almost didn't seem her own in a chant immemorial.
For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death... I release your Aura, and by my shoulder protect thee.
When she finished speaking, a huge wave of energy blasted out from their momentarily combined auras, leveling several trees around the enclave as the intensity of the process winded down to a close. Finally, Yang stopped glowing and collapsed, falling into Davin's arms.
"Yang?... Yang!"
"H-Huh?"
She recovered slowly, and as she stood up on her own she looked at how Davin continued glowing, and then pointed at his arms.
"Look."
As the young man looked down, he gasped in surprise as the burns on his glowing arms healed in front of his very eyes. The brawler watched with a wide grin, filled with mirth.
"I used my aura to unlock yours, but the energy around you now is your own!"
And boy did he feel it. It swirled around within him, becoming keener as the thrill of it increased with every deep breath.
Power. Pure, unrestricted power. It was nearly intoxicating him on the spot as he even felt his aura swirling around his eyes and-
"Whoa, Vin! Your eyes just turned grey!"
That remark snapped him out of it. His irises had just changed color? That was unheard of.
"What?"
"Loo-WHOA!"
Her legs still weak, Yang barely took another step before tumbling forward and finding herself comfortably in Davin's arms again. She looked up at him with a goofy grin as his glowing orchid aura cascaded over her lilac eyes.
"Okay, so I confess that tripping may not have been a total accident..."
They both laughed, but as she straightened out in his embrace, the young man and the brawler found themselves utterly defenseless against the electricity coursing between them. Leaning into each other, they were each letting their eyelids fall shut until Yang suddenly pushed herself back in worry.
"D-Davin, I can't! I'll h-hurt you!"
He already knew he was way past able to contain her now. She could see the confidence and warmth in his expressive grey eyes.
"Yang. I can control it."
That was all she needed. Letting herself fall completely into him with trust, she let her emotions run freely. If this was gonna be her first kiss, she was gonna give it her all.
This, of course, caused another massive heat surge. Which Davin expected. With one hand around her waist and the other caressing the side of her head against her soft skin, his aura pulsed as hers slowly dimmed, making her otherwise scalding proximity harmless.
She felt the movement of power and immediately knew it had worked, and with bright eyes desperately longing to fulfill her sweetest desire, she leaned into him again.
The moment her lips brushed against his, everything else ceased to exist. Her legs having gone numb, she clung to him as she released all the affection she was capable of harboring into him through their kiss, the wave of heat now relentlessly surging within herself.
And for one tantalizingly breath-taking moment, Davin felt the sheer weight of love this blonde brawler had been holding back from him, promising himself that'd he'd always be there for her no matter what. But then he stopped, ending the moment as quickly as it started.
Something was wrong. Something was VERY wrong.
"Yang..."
She pulled back slowly, passion having left her in a dreamy state.
"W-Wha-?" She let out through half-closed lips with a sadness that opened cracks which threatened to break the young man's heart.
"Yang, you need to step back. Right now."
Deeply hurt and fearing she may have done something wrong, she was about to say something before her eyes shot wide open as she suddenly understood his warning.
His aura, which had been cascading beautiful wisps of orchid energy, was now turning black, as if tainted by some dark contaminant. The darkness seeped into his eyes, which became black orbs as he retreated from the terrorized blonde.
"Yang, you need to get awa-AAAAARGH!"
The young man fell on all fours screaming in agony, and Yang watched in horror as the green grass around the young man began to quickly wither and die, the circle of decay spreading out from around him. Suddenly feeling sick, she looked down at her scroll to see that her aura was dropping through the yellow, fast.
"Vin?" she yelped, choked up by fear.
"AAAGH! -Get out, Yang!"
"...NO!" Steeling her nerves, the brawler was determined to get the young man she cared about out of this. "I'm NOT leaving you here!"
Thinking fast, the blonde used what strength she had left to pick up the first thing she could grab, the log, and swung it down on the young man as hard as she could. The spread of death stopped.
He was out like a light.
With her acute hearing, the worried Blake was the first to hear her teammate coming out from the forest.
"Yang! Did you guys see that huge explosion in the fores-what happened?" the faunus was shocked to see her collapse to the floor under the weight she carried.
The students surrounded the weakened blonde to give her a hand in carrying the limp young man she had carried out.
"The airship is coming, I'm hailing it over!" Jaune yelled as he frantically entered a message into his scroll as the group could hear an airship in the distance. A minute later, it landed in the meadow, and to the student's further surprise they were met by their Headmaster at the entrance of the lift as it fell to the floor. He didn't have his cane.
"What happen-? Oh dear."
Rushing the students into the airship, the worried Professor had him laid out on a side bench and then turned to the panicked students.
"What happened to him?"
Yang was the first to speak, still panting while trying to recover from the ordeal.
"I-It was his aura..."
Seeing her weakened state, he already knew. She must've been incredibly durable to survive the process.
"You unlocked it." He turned back to the young man, suddenly fearing the worst.
"Miss Scarlatina, would you mind checking what's wrong with Mr. Rosfield. I believe you may need to connect with his aura to find it."
"I-I already tried, P-Professor! I can't connect with it... I-I can't even find it!"
Holding his breath, the silver-haired man reached to open an eyelid, his stomach dropping as he saw the black orb underneath.
"Dear dust."
He turned quickly to the heiress, not wasting a single moment.
"Miss Schnee, your dust cartridges, if you will. All of them, please."
Recognizing the volatility that dust was known for when exposed to air, the young heiress protested.
"But Professor-"
"Now, please." His stern response was met with six cartridges in his hand only a moment later.
Crushing the cartridges in his hand, to the student's surprise, and infusing the dangerous mixture with his own aura to keep it stable a little longer, he had the young man's armor and shirt removed.
"I am sorry about this, Davin. This is going to hurt."
With an uncharacteristic yell, the Headmaster slammed the mixture into Davin's chest. The young man sat up with a pained gasp on impact and lolled back into his seat unconscious, the darkess in his eyes dissipating as they slowly shut again.
Davin woke up some time later in the flight, gathering his surroundings as he noticed his head was laying on something too soft to be a seat. Yang's lap. She sat next to the window, an earbud playing music in her ear as she kept her hand on Davin's chest to make sure he was stable.
He looked up at her from her lap as she stared at the window, and couldn't help admiring her beauty as he momentarily let his thoughts run freely in his mind.
'What would you be thinking right now? Why did you risk yourself to save me?...'
The questions replayed themselves over and over again in his mind until he finally remembered their kiss just before he lost control and blacked out.
'Pretty ironic. I ask you to trust me to control your semblance only to end up losing control of mine...'
But as his thoughts continued to ebb and flow, one thing became clear: he would never forget that moment in the forest between them, the sensation of her warm lips against his. And watching her now as the reddening afternoon sun danced across the soft skin of her face, her head lightly bobbing to the music, he knew he wouldn't forget this moment either.
"Hey... how's my Little Sun Dragon holding up?" He smiled weakly as she turned her gaze to look down at her precious friend.
She sighed in relief. And possibly exhaustion. "You scared the crap out of us, Vin. But we're fine... and I'm glad you're okay." She smiled as she began running her hand through his hair. He had been letting it grow a bit longer as of late.
"That was a heck of a second date though, right?"
They each let out a quiet laugh at his statement.
"Don't worry, we can always try again another time." Her smile was warm as she spoke softly so that only them two could hear.
Davin adjusted himself a bit on her lap, confused because he was pretty sure she wasn't talking about sparring.
"Seriously? After what just happen-"
He was interrupted as she bent down to kiss him on his temple, her heat surrounding the two for only a moment before gently dying back down. She was still weak. He looked at her bright lilac eyes as they focused on him once more.
"Yes. You came around to find me, didn't you? You can bet your pretty grey eyes that I won't let you go so easily either!" She grinned as he reached up to caress her cheek.
"Kay. We'll learn to control it together."
The young man had to admit, she was a very good persuader.
He now looked at her earbud, beginning to hold his hand out for the other one. But without even needing him to ask for it, she already had it ready, lightly placing it on his ear. Of the playlist that they had built together, she was listening to their favorite song to enjoy together when normal words weren't enough in the day.
Catch your breath in your sleep now
don't whisper it's too loud.
live every beat per moment
"You know, there's still a lot we need to talk about, right? Those Grimm were there for a reason..." the always pensive young man asked the blonde brawler. She looked down at him again with another smile, as if letting their song speak for her.
So hard, when it's so far, and you're lost, divided.
then the hands break
are you scared now?
don't be scared now, there's still time
"Don't worry, Vin, we'll talk about it later..." She reached for his hand and held it tightly, keeping their fingers interlocked as she looked on into the afternoon sky. He rested his head and slowly drifted off to sleep again on her lap.
It's not hard when it's not far,
you're not lost.
you'll find it, there's still time
The muted bass line for the dubstep mix played on as the airship hummed softly, making its way back to Beacon.
"Are you sure?" the enchantress asked into her long distance communicator.
'Yes. Both of them are of the Unbalanced. We'll need to plan accordingly.'
"Well I'll be damned. I guess you were right," The moderately surprised young woman hadn't even noticed that the line had already gone dead. Only moderately surprised, being that genuine surprise was just not in her nature.
"We'll move into position tomorrow." She stated matter-of-factly to her faunus colleague.
The large beast of a Faunus grinned behind his Grimm mask.
A/N: For those who asked, the song is The Machinimist remix of the Satellite Empire cover of Time by Hans Zimmer, made famous in the movie Inception ^.^ the cover and the remix are both good, I just think Davin and Yang would lean to the dubsep remix just a tad more ;)
The Valean War
TPS (c) 2014