I'n sorry this is short, but I needed to get something out to attempt to force myself back into writing. Feel free to consider it an interlude.
- X Sun X-
Sun let loose an explosive sigh, ignoring the dirty looks from the others in the crowd as an old woman wearing a mask of a wolf on her face and a lamb on the back of her head pranced on stage, clutching a bow. Blake tugged him back, letting him rest his head in her lap, "It'll be over soon."
"I can't believe you dragged us to a play," Sun complained under his breath.
"It's something different," Blake defended, "We'll do your vacation next week."
"Good," Sun muttered, "Mine'll be something we'll all enjoy."
"Why's the lamb named Wolf and the Wolf named Lamb?" Ruby asked as a long roll of red fabric was thrown by the actress as the black lamb mask lunged forward, pantomiming a tearing move at the throat.
"Duality," Blake said, as if that explained anything.
"No!" an actor said, rushing to the woman Wolf had just finished killing, clutching her hand, "My love, what has befallen you? What poison has taken your life?"
Sun rolled his eyes even as Blake and Ruby leaned forward. The man picked up the apple, lifting it to his nose in a pantomimed breath, "Carronshade! If only I had been here to hold you through your final moments! I shall join you, to be your bulwark against the Void, to keep you from being dragged away by the Black Mist of the Shadow Isles."
"Then allow me to ease your flight to her side," Lamb said as the lead, who Sun was no closer to remembering the name of then he had been three hours ago, drew his sword and looked up, eyes wide, as if he hadn't known she was there.
"No!" Wolf snarled, the actress's entire demeanor changing, becoming twisted, almost playful as her dance like steps became loping strides, "fight, struggle, run Lorenzo-thing!"
"Do not be greedy, dear Wolf," Lamb said, their actress shifting to a dancing movement again, "There are many things for you to hunt, but he isn't one of them."
"All things are mine to hunt, little Lamb," Wolf snarled, "is that not what you say?"
"Then let us ask him," Lamb said, turning to Lorenzo, "Which is it you wish? Will you accept my arrow? Or will you attempt to outrace Wolf's fangs?"
"Where was she during the rest of this?" Sun asked, sitting up, "They got the best actress to play a bit character?"
Up on the stage, Lorenzo lifted his sword, drawing a deep, jittering laugh from Wolf, who took a long, loping step towards the lead, before he brought the sword to his own throat. Wolf gave a confused growl as Lamb nocked an arrow, drawing the bowstring back.
It flew as Lorenzo pulled the sword across his neck, several ribbons flying in a recreation of arterial spray. Lorenzo fell backwards, giving a half decent death rattle as Wolf gave a whimper.
"Are you sad, dear Wolf?" Lamb asked.
"I am," Wolf said.
"What does it feel like?" Lamb asked, voice still devoid of emotion.
"A long hunt with no kill," Wolf said, "like this one."
"Do not fret dear Wolf," Lamb said, "These two are of families who despise each other, there will be many to hunt come dawn."
"Good," Wolf laughed, lopping off stage for a minute before every actor began to come on stage and a thunderous applause started. When the actress who played Wolf and Lamb, Magga, came on stage, Sun joined in, jumping from his seat as she gave a curtsey.
Sun blinked as a glimmer of blue flew through the air, striking Magga in the chest as she looked up.
Sun looked behind them, catching sight of the black mask of a wolf in the rafters, attached to a white body, before it vanished into the moonlight, "Come on!"
Ruby rushed along with Sun and Blake, following the white blur even as the question of 'why?' burned in her head. Why had an assassin killed an actress?
Ruby watched the blur disappear into the forest, drawing Crescent Rose and throwing Ryu Jingu Bang to Sun as Blake grabbed Gambol Shroud from her shadow. The three Planeswalkers rushed into the the woods, weapons prepared as they looked around.
"Hello, World Striders," Ruby's eyes jumped up as she wheeled around, squeezing one eye shut and putting Crescent Rose's scope to the other as Blake and Sun prepared their own weapons. Seated on the tree was a white furred creature, a bow in hand and a black wolf mask on her face, "It has been long since we last saw your kind on Runeterra."
"And it was good without you here," Ruby froze at the guttural voice growled from the shade, only to give a relieved sigh as Sun and Blake shifted so they were in a triangle, Sun splitting Ryu into two shotgun so he could keep them leveled on each target while Blake summoned a Doom Blade into her left hand while she shifted Gambol Shroud to gun form. Prowling through the trees was a mass of smoke vaguely in the shape of a wolf, a white lamb mask on his face.
"So," Sun muttered, "this is either the most elaborate, and shitty, gaslighting experience since Baral tried to fuck with Chandra's head… or that play was telling the truth."
"Odds?" Blake asked.
"I'll give it a sixty-forty split," Sun said, "with the sixty being that this is real."
"Great," Ruby said, "Do we need the sword?"
"You don't," Lamb said, "We aren't here to take any of you, merely to talk."
"About what?" Ruby asked.
"First, we would appreciate it if you reminded Liliana Vess that if she returns here, we will kill her."
"They're rooting around in our head?" Sun growled, preparing his gun.
"Not so," Lamb said, "we can merely see the weft and weave of fate."
"I will commend you," Wolf growled, "To kill two things that anyone else would view as unkillable, that is a hunt even I can appreciate, Sun-Hunter, Ruby-Hunter."
"Thanks," Ruby smiled, "Anything else?"
"Yes," Lamb said, "advice for each of you, in return for you never returning here?"
"You don't want us coming back?" Ruby asked.
"It's nothing personal," Lamb said, "but the fate you would bring with you is not one we wish inflicted upon our world."
"Alright," Sun shrugged.
"For you, Sun, do not fear the dark, when the time comes… also, have some of your seed frozen."
All three Planeswalkers gave a blink and took a disgusted step back as one, bumping into each other, "Uh…"
"It will make sense, one day," Lamb said, "though it will hopefully not be needed. Next Blake… know that walking in the dark to serve the light is not an evil thing, and to trust the king who owns no throne."
"O...k?" Blake said.
"These will all make sense, one day. Ruby, fear not the one eyed one, and drink as deeply as possible, no matter how disgusting the drought may seem."
Ruby shared a confused look with the others, "Ok…?"
"Good," Wolf growled, "Now leave and don't come back, before I decide to hunt you!"
"Right…" Ruby drawled, before giving Blake and Sun a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you on Remnant?"
"Yep," Sun nodded.
"You sure you don't want us with you?" Blake asked
"No reason for you to bore yourselves," Ruby said, before whirling and stepping into the Blind Eternities.
The minute she stepped out, she smiled at the partially repaired ship sitting on a beach, women and men working on it.
Ruby walked towards the tent where she could see Jhoira working, ready to begin another lesson.
- X Winter X-
Winter blurred backward, deflecting two bullets before her opponent appeared in a blur in front of her, their sword angled for her throat before a glyph appeared in front of it, bouncing the sword back as Winter lept onto the side of the house, summoning a small flock of Nevermores to harass the other combatant.
Thalia dispersed them in a single slash, ethereal flames lashing out in a ring around her as Winter launched herself from the wall, aiming for Thalia's head. The Planeswalker dodged out of the way of the attack, her saber clashing with Mohnblume.
Winter jettisoned her main gauche as a ghostly arm came swinging from Thalia, a black sword grinding against the metal. Driving a foot into Thalia's gut, Winter hissed as Traft's other hand burst from it, wrapping around her ankle and stopping her retreat as Thalia leveled her revolver at Winter's head, cocking the hammer back.
Victory.
Winter glanced over at the forest at the heavy crunch of feet, seeing Varian walking into the trees with a new mech following him. Winter stifled a sigh as the boy who was slowly becoming gaunt disappeared, before checking the time, "I need to go."
"I'll see you around," Thalia said with a nod as Sun and Blake popped out of the forest.
"Hey!" Sun grinned, jogging along, "We late?"
"No," Winter said, grabbing her coat, "I was just getting ready to get her now. Do you want to come?"
"Nah," Sun said, "Your family doesn't got the best history with Faunus, we'll be popping in and out, there's a Plane I want to check out with Rubes and Blake."
"Ok, then," Winter said, hiding the wince at her father's corrupting influence on the Schnee name.
"Catch ya around, Win," Sun said with a wave, "C'mon Blake, I wanna go get ready-"
"I'm going to go with Winter," Blake said, "Meet me, Ruby and Elspeth at my Mom and Dad's apartment?"
"Yeah," Sun nodded with a sigh, kissing her briefly.
-X Varian X-
Varian stepped into the abandoned house he had found and repurposed. Behind him, Orin sat down in the corner, dropping the bag of supplies.
"Alright," Varian muttered, picking up the bag and walking towards the work table. Dumping the pieces of metal across the table, Varian grabbed Orin's axe, grunting at the weight, "You couldn't have picked a lighter weapon?"
Orin, predictably, didn't respond. The skeletal wight merely kept the ghastly leer that had taken to his face since his death.
Varian grabbed the ball peen hammer, using it to remove the head of the axe and setting it aside for another project down the line. Picking up the haft, Varian began to slowly bolt the new head onto it.
"Alright," Varian muttered, "Let's see if this-"
The motorized head gave a loud roar as Varian turned it on, causing him to jump back with a yelp, the axe sinking into the rotten wood and sending up a spew of wooden shards.
Behind him, Orin gave a chittering laugh, rising and drawing the axe from the wood with one hand, turning off the head. Varian felt a shiver go through his body as the other hand brushed through his hair, ironically not because of the dead body touching him, he had come to terms with that.
It was because, not for the first time, he was left wondering how much of Orin was left in the wight. Was he trapped in his body, capable of feeling everything, as Varian replaced parts with metal?
Was that was what it was like for Quirin, trapped in stone because Rapunzel didn't help?
Varian let out a growl, moving on to the next project. He grabbed the gnarled tree branch he had picked out, taking out the chain attached to a ball and nailing it into the branch.
Taking out several vials of white Dust, Varian closed his eyes, pushing Black mana into the powder. After a minute, he opened his eyes, giving a grim smile at the purple-black Dust in his hand, flicking open the ball in front of him and pouring the Dust into it.
Varian span the Dust empowered flail around as a Grimm without arms came prowling into the house. Purple flames rose off the flail as he stepped forward, Orin following behind him with a whirling of his axe.
Now, it was time to practice fighting…
- X AN X-
Thoughts and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh? I need opinions, I'm freaking out...