So… I'm late. I had this "done" for the past several days actually, but have been tweaking it nonstop since then. It was pushing 15k words, but I finally decided to split it up into two parts like the last time. Only this time, I'll just give you the part that everyone has been waiting for.
Not going to lie, this week in general has been tough for me. Going back to school, while not bad, just compounds things. And I just wanted to give you guys the absolute best product that I could since this is it. I just could not fathom any way to improve it unless I tore the last several chapters down and started from scratch… which I might still do, pending what you all think.
I realize that some of you were obviously confused by the exchange between Yin and Yang Kurama (And yes, that's who's talking. Which brings up the question: which one has been the narrator? Notice now that neither is there, currently). That's okay. It's supposed to be a little confusing, and will probably get a LOT more confusing by next chapter. I want questions to remain just as it does for our characters.
All art is a reflection of life, and you, my readers, are my greatest work. Thanks for everything (so far!).
"Just say it already."
Waging a casual conversation as they carried on genocide with their blades.
"Say what?"
With exasperation more than concern, she rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, letting loose a blizzard against the surge of assorted Grimm. First ranks froze in the waist-high berm but were instantly surpassed by the never-ending flood of hatred which uncaringly scrambled over their brethren.
"You know what I mean. Let's just get it over with."
Dashing in front of his reluctant partner, he swept across the length of her construct with his own salvo of fire-Dust which erupted as soon as they came into contact. The quick freeze and subsequent expansion sent frozen shrapnel every which way, cutting Grimm down like a lawnmower but also hurtling towards the two of them. Standing straight to face the woman, he moved his great sword along the length of his back to deflect the icy splinters to either side.
"I admit," Standing close with his roughhewn form nearly pressed up against her, his voice came breathy and hot from the recent exertion. "I have loved you unconditionally from afar. Since first you graced me with your munificent blade and slew me with your unforgiving beauty-"
"-I don't believe this! You're even more insufferable than when you're drunk!" Winter screamed disbelief, even though she was currently close enough to confirm the lack of any alcohol on his breath.
"Well then," Wisely distancing himself from the irritated woman, Qrow chose the drastically less menacing Alpha Ursa lumbering towards them, so large its back was scraping the arching transept and the ground shook as it ambled. "I really am at a loss as to what you want out of me."
Twirling his blade once, when it came around it was in a similar shape to the weapon his niece used to tote around on a daily basis. He leaned back casually, avoiding the brutish beast's claws at it swiped at him. Disarming easily and literally, he smirked in the face of its enraged cry as Winter leapt over him to finish the beast in a single well-placed blow.
"Quit messing around." Shrugging off her glare, they both turned around to see a squad of Atlesian Knights armed with reinforced riot shields forming a phalanx in the hallway. "Just say it already."
"What?" More growl than playfulness in his question, he and his ally charged straight at the enemy lines, one going high the other low. "I really have no idea what you're talking about."
Qrow's scythe snuck underneath the ballistic plexiglass wall, toppling the preprogrammed soldiers just in time for them to let loose a salvo which impacted uselessly against the ceiling. As they fell though, additional machines were revealed moving in to take up ranks. They barely had time to get a bead on the grizzled huntsman before a white shadow descended and cut them down like raw recruits.
"Ugh! You are so petty." Shaking her head disappointedly, Winter crossed her arms and glowered at the huntsman. "Hurry up and say: 'I told you so', already."
"Really? That's what you think?" It was Qrow's turn to roll his eyes, and as he turned away to disguise this action he kicked an android's severed head like a can. "And I'm the petty one…" He mumbled to himself.
His whisper, however, could be heard clearly echoing in the empty room. Already at wit's end, Winter turned on her heel and marched straight to him, stepping over the dismembered remains of the windup soldiers once under her command.
Before she could reach him though, the entryway burst open in an orange ball of flame and hailstorm of razor-sharp debris. The hand stretching out to accost him instead latched onto his shoulder, then threw both flat against the stone floor.
Now thoroughly deaf from the concussive blast, they lifted their heads up cautiously to see just what had interrupted their 'friendly' argument this time.
In the gaping maw which used to be Beacon's front entrance stood no less than five Paladin Anti-Armor Mechs, crowded shoulder to shoulder but rapidly filing in to occupy the grand hallway. Forcing Winter once again to suffer under the humiliation of irony.
"Now?" All but begging.
"Nope." Everything but teasing.
Without pausing to grumble, Winter leapt to her feet and instantly used her Semblance to summon a champion in her stead. Appropriately enough, another Paladin trudged its way out of the glyph, stepping carefully over its mistress.
"Uh, I think you might have miscounted." Qrow received a stink eye in return for his observation
"Not another peep out of you until you say it."
While Qrow threw his hands up in surrender, Winter threw hers up as if commanding a great performance, Paladins of both allegiances arming their weapons.
The chaos confined in that space lasted all of about twenty seconds but felt as long as the entire night thus far. High-energy lasers ripped through stone and metal, echoing shrieks throughout the entire school. A temporary masterpiece was painted with vibrant blues and greens, angry reds tearing it all up again in a single moment of fury.
Somewhere in the midst of all the dizzying crossfire Winter's summon succumbed to the fusillade. But even as its swiss-cheese form faded away, the other automata never paused in their unrelenting assault.
The shooting did peter out after a while, and only when it had, did its summoner realize that she had been forcibly torn from the line of fire and hidden behind a barely-standing pillar, the spot she once occupied a charred and smoking crater.
"Why do you have to be so damned childish?"
Not bothering to remove her hand from the one that dragged her to safety, she sighed wearily as the three remaining mechs turned their guns on them.
"I was wrong, and I just don't want you to be able to lord that over me."
Looking down at her with his oddly sober gaze she felt every bit her foolishness.
"Do you really want those to be the last words you hear?"
Only smirking in response.
"Kinda."
Shame though it was, considering they had just reached a point of understanding. They looked at one another as the guns hummed a crescendo, unearthly glow at the end of that tunnel.
"Nah."
As one they turned, brandishing their respective weapons and charged.
Over their shoulders whizzed three daggers which flew down the barrels of the charging cannons. Once again, the huntsman and huntress found themselves thrown to the ground from a confined detonation which rocked the school's footing.
"What now?"
One adversary after another popping up, keeping them from making their way to the underground chamber where the Fall Maiden lay dangerously asleep. With all the abuse they had suffered in the past hours, Qrow wondered if the ringing in his ears would become permanent tinnitus and planned to sue whomever he could for the damages.
Also, wondering if his brain wasn't damaged as well. For even though he was dry as a desert, looking through the chalky clouds of dust was a sight he couldn't have dreamed of in the deepest drunken haze. Ruby with her scythe poised above one of the felled Paladins, its hydraulics moaning, begging for it to be spared.
The blow was both graceful and merciless. Executed perfectly, the grizzled old huntsman would know that technique anywhere.
"Who the heck are you?" Winter asked for him, his mouth refusing to cooperate. "And what are you doing here? All students should be evacuating!"
It was a stupid thing to say, as they both knew that every last one was fighting for their lives. Looking as if he knew this too, the newcomer spared Winter a passing glance before turning to Qrow.
"Where is she?"
"I-I don't know." Surprised only that he answered, not that he knew whom the blond was asking about. "The students were taking care of civilian evac when we separated. The General supported our retreat from the stadium and ordered Winter to help secure the underground chamber. I tagged along, thinking they were going to escape to Vale."
"Did they?" Qrow shook his head woefully.
"Neither group made it. Vale's already been overrun. The militia's been called up, but it's slow because someone took down the communications. Meanwhile, we've been having a hell of a hard time trying to get underground." Nervous for some unfathomable reason under that baleful stare, he fidgeted and looked away. "I'm- I'm sorry."
Winter's face was priceless, and any other time he would have loved to snap a pic for later blackmail. But he was too much expectant for the strike which would take off his head to even move- a blow which never came.
"Don't worry about it."
"But- the Maiden-!"
"Don't worry." He repeated, addressing Winter this time. "I've taken care of it."
"What do you mean you've-?" A hand gesture cut her off.
In another time and another place, Qrow never would have silenced the ferocious woman so disrespectfully for fear of life and limb. But the expression he wore declared resolutely that these were extenuating circumstance.
"If I know my nieces, Yang's not going anywhere without her sis. So she's around, without a doubt." Unvoiced suspicions about who this young man was were confirmed the moment their eyes met, and the crow soared high on foreign horizons. "Find Yang, and you'll find Ruby."
"Got it."
In a flash he was gone, leaving only the perfect destruction to let the two know he'd ever been there.
"Hey, Winter?"
"W-what?"
Smirking, Qrow continued to look out through the gaping hole and into the open night.
"I told you so."
"I told you from the beginning." Again with the disappointment, a most grating tone from someone she could honestly confess she hated. "You knew it, too. I could see it in your eyes- your every action was committed knowing that it could be your last. Yet you fought on anyway. As a human you are predictable."
It was a first time for her- not that impotent feeling of helplessness, but the crackling, churning of fiery rage deep within that threatened to burn its way out of her chest. There was no outlet for it though, as she lay face-down in a soiled puddle unable to move. Boxing in that anger was a fat layer of numbness, her body nothing but a useless vessel for her unrestrainable will. Much like Penny who hung there inert at the end of his blade, a lifeless doll with her strings cut.
"Still, I must admit that I am a tad surprised." Inspecting the cold husk with infuriating detachment, the man called Tobi brought the android close until he could look into her ridged face as her neck hung limply. "For having just met, you two worked in concert rather well. I'd still like to know if it was you or the machine who realized the weaknesses of the Sharingan in this universe. No matter now, eh?"
Lowering his sword, he allowed Penny's limbless body to slide off his blade and roll across the ground. Coming to a rest, her hollow green eyes stared up at the cloudy night sky which lent her its tears. Crying seemed to be all Ruby could do at that point, but she wasn't about to shed any for herself, even as Tobi calmly approached her prone form.
"It is something to note, however. Whereas the Elemental Nations have the Five Great Shinobi Villages, numerous minor ones and those to the east, this world only has the Four Kingdoms. Weaker beings working together more cohesively, perhaps? Forced to rely on one another for survival. It furthers my own theory that the greater strength possessed by individuals, the more freedom of choice, and the more likely they are to assert their will on others. Hence, a world of peace is one in which no one has any choices and the only will is that of the entire population, working towards sustaining one, singular goal: the continuation of life."
Her weapon lay not far from her hand, and if she could but muster enough strength to twitch towards it, she might lash out and strike him as he came to crouch over her. That one, condescending red eye nailed her to the ground at the same time it prickled her to action.
"Having seen this world, now I wonder: Could you imagine a universe where no human possessed extra powers beyond their hands and minds? How close to perfection must a place like that be? Millions of weaklings like ants all toiling together in harmony, afraid to step out of line because everyone is just as powerful as the next. Why, I bet a place like that could even reach the stars if they so desired."
Relaxed in his monologuing, Tobi tilted his mask towards the sky. But all that he could see even with the Mangekyō Sharingan was a curtain of gray.
"Hm? What was that?" Heedlessly he leaned an ear towards the girl with her mouth towards the ground.
"…I said," she mumbled, trying not to bite her own tongue. "That you're full of crap." Somehow, she managed to maneuver her chin so that she could glare up at the man with eyes like liquid mercury. "First off, people aren't like that. There's going to be mean and nice people no matter how powerful they are. Secondly, speculating about that kind of thing is pointless because we're talking about your world and mine. And third, you're the one enforcing his will on others, so nothing you say actually means anything!"
Resting after the painful but necessary exertion, Ruby allowed her head to drop again as she waited for his reply. It felt like a lifetime while she could feel his scrutinizing gaze on the back of her head, and she tried to drown out the sensation with the pitter-patter of rain slowly fading away as the dawn drew closer and closer.
Sopping shoulders shrugged.
"Heh, heh! You might be right." He stooped again to pat her soaked head, and more than ever she wished she could move but an inch to bite off his wrist- futile though it was. "However, just because I'm a hypocrite doesn't mean I'm wrong. In fact, it's because I have this power and have been given this opportunity that I must see things right. Believe it or not, I was like you once."
"You were never like me!"
So surprised was he by the outburst that he couldn't react when the blunt tip slammed straight into his mask. More than just sending him stumbling back, it actually succeeded in inciting a mean crack like frozen lightning to spread across its surface. And, if the trickle of blood leaking out were any indication, managed to strike a profound blow.
"I'm tired of everyone thinking they know me." On unsteady legs she stood- but standing she was, arms limp but grip tight on that bludgeon. "Tired of being told what I am, like they can just read me like a chart. Humans aren't that simple!" The next step was no sturdier than the first, but at least it was in the right direction.
"Somebody programmed Penny, I know." Shaded by somber tresses, she glanced at her fallen comrade. "-But I doubt even they knew how she'd turn out. What she'd do with the life they gave her." Life now pitilessly extinguished, earthly remnants all that were left. "Whoever they were, they wanted it that way. Someone out there loved her and created her from that love. I know because I loved her too, even if I just met her."
Having recovered, Tobi stood and watched the girl curiously, uncaring for the chips gradually falling away from his façade.
"That's what love is, ya know?" Desperately she smiled, wearily after having done it far too much and still far too little. "It's unpredictable."
Much like the strike at his head which he ducked under, millennia of evolution forcing that action rather than his other abilities. But what sort of logic and chemistry defined this girl who stood up again and again after being finished?
"And everyone out there who's alive is filled with it. Trying to make it rational or put it into words is useless- no script or story can contain what it is!"
Uncontained, unrestrained she accelerated at Tobi who was ready this time with annoyance and sword held in defense.
"If you were ever human," While letting the blow pass through him, he readied his counter raising his arm high overhead. "-You've forgotten that!"
Tobi's strike was disregarded just the same as it passed straight through the crimson steak. Behind the mask his eye widened as a second Ruby appeared in the wake of the first, lashing out and shattering his wrist. Ignoring the afterimage, he shot his other hand out to try and grab the speedy girl only to be foiled yet again.
"Enough!"
Erupting with this word along with a wooden lattice that sprouted up around him, Tobi took a deep breath to curtail his rising anger now that he was temporarily protected by that annoying gnat.
"It's never enough!"
Having to evacuate his own hidey-hole when it turned to pulp in front of him, even the chakra-reinforced wood shattering like a castle of sand. In fact, the chakra imbued in the technique seemed to respond to whatever stimulus Ruby gave it, a chain reaction forcing him to retreat into the stage before he was pulverized.
Intangible though he was, he was not immune to shock as the ground opened up around him as the twiggy girl unloaded a full compliment of Dust-rounds at him. The chase not ending there, solid objects fell away as easily as the motes of sleep underneath her hammering blows, never giving him a chance to retaliate.
"You know, I really ought to just kill you."
Passing through her, he spun on his heel and unleashed several elemental attacks in succession, emulating the technological feats of the coliseum as he reshaped the landscape. When he finished, all that remained was a newborn planet still going through an identity crisis.
"Then do it." Walking out from behind an icy mound that was partially melted from a lava flow. "Because it'll never get easier. I'm always going to be myself, but every minute, every second of life I'm gonna get stronger." The glow from molten rock lit up her marred face and highlighted the knowing smirk. "By being the girl who trusts people too easily and gets hurt because of it, the one who rushes headlong into things because I know it'll come out alright in the end. Not to mention, the person who's going to keep getting up time and again to defy idiots like you who just want to see a dream or nightmare and never the world for what it is."
"Hmm… y'know, I don't think I will." Something else had survived the tectonic shift of the field, and Tobi revealed it now, holding it up like a rag-doll from the scruff of a shredded dress. "Instead I'm going to take everyone else from around you one by one until you wish you were dead. Until you see that the only kind of peaceful world is one of fantasy, of dreams. My dream."
Once again, he examined Penny's remains closely. In the time only for a passing thought, Ruby though she looked over to see a spark behind those glassy green eyes. Even if she had only imagined it, there was no making up the flicker of life felt by all.
"Do robots dream? Assuming of course that there is anything left alive in there, I wonder what she is thinking about? Probably about how dark and lonely it is. Or maybe just at what point death will come. I suppose it depends on how long her batteries last… or how nice I feel."
Ruby resisted the urge to shout something trite like 'let her go!', knowing that kind of banter was worse than useless. Instead, she settled for the far greater possibility of striking him down with her venomous gaze.
"When you die, can it even be considered death?" Two hollow shells face to face, almost touching, orange and porcelain. "Where will that supposed soul of yours go? If you should get there and see Rin… what a silly thought. Machines can no more go to heaven than cats or dogs."
"This dog will!"
The mechanical torso was ripped form his grip before he could avoid the furry projectile that had been rocketed his way. Without the Chakra normally associated with humans and even ninken, Tobi had failed to notice the beast before it had already snatched up his prize in its amazingly strong jaws and rebounded to its master.
"Good fetch, Zwei."
With oblivious joy only a dog can convey, the tiny little corgi deposited what remained of the android at his master's feet and eagerly awaited his next assignment. The blond huntsman, however, looked not at his faithful hound or even the obvious antagonist, but at a face he remorsefully admitted he hardly recognized anymore.
"Hey, Ruby."
There was never any chance of forgetting though. For either of them, the identity was less a face twisted in guilt, and more a mixed bag of memories both good and ill.
"Dad…" The biggest surprise of all was how much she longed to see him, and hadn't realized it until she did. "What are you doing here?"
"What, a father can't come to see his daughters once in a while?" Morose, and with bitter irony he uttered the line which had existed only in his fantasies. "I… wanted to see you. I was evacuating with everyone else when I ran into Ironwood. He let slip that you weren't with the others, and so I stayed to look for you."
Trying to keep up that smile on his face only made it more tragic, at home with his haggard and slovenly looks which probably didn't benefit from fighting his way through the stadium. With no one at home, he had stopped trying to keep his stubble at bay and let it grow into a bushy, unkempt beard which obviously hadn't been washed in days like the rest of him. Wrinkled, baggy clothes effortlessly applied and hiding a hint of a paunch on his once flat stomach. It would have been nice to compare his outwards appearance to her internal struggles the past several years, if not for the fact that she was sure underneath this surface was a sight far worse.
"But…" Not now. Oh, how she longed for this moment but never planned for it in her wildest dreams. Such was life, never doing quite what we expect.
"I'm sorry it took me so long." At his feet, Zwei cocked his head at the clenched and shaking fist. "Those White Fang guys… no. It was me all along. I was never strong enough to face you…"
"Dad!"
"How touching." Sleepless eyes widened as the voice crawled over his shoulder, and the loyal guard dog was frustrated snapping at the heels of a ghost. "Not to mention convenient. For me."
But death wasn't to toll for Taiyang that day- not yet at least. The ringing as metal met metal was the sound of his salvation.
"I'm amazed…" Taiyang was amazed too, that he could have dropped his guard so easily, that such speed existed. "… One would have thought that you resented him for what he has done."
Not just the speed with which the orange-masked man moved behind him, but how quickly she came to his defense.
"Who knows… maybe I do?" Like flying across the arena to catch the sword before it could do its damage, she hadn't really thought about it. "I guess I still love him, and that's why it hurts." Even with the enemy's weapon caught in the hooked rod of the revolving chamber, she was struggling against the blow that was meant to kill. Had Tobi been holding back against her the entire time? "But…" Looking back was risky, but a chance she had to take. "...he's still my dad, ya know?"
"Not very wise admitting that."
Tai bit his tongue when the foot kicked him in the chest. With so little Aura there, it hurt- but far less, he was sure, than what 'Tobi' would have done should his daughter not have knocked him back in time.
"Go, Dad!" Shouting back over her shoulder while she kept the masked man at bay now with both hands, Tobi cocked his head in a parody of amazement.
"How is this possible?"
The blonde huntsman found himself improbably agreeing with the villain in this circumstance, everything that had happened since seeing his daughter again had been the same kind of insanity as before. The kind that he just had no idea how to deal with. He felt lost and helpless all over again.
"Quit sitting there, grab Penny and go!"
If her father could only know that she was just as blind as he was, doing whatever came naturally like taking one breath after the next. Catching Tobi's wrist had been the idea, but not part of the plan, she never expected it to succeed. There was never a part two, and just another choice to make.
"No! I-I can't just leave you with this-this-!" Making his own decision at last and standing up. A choice made with his heart, but the wrong one. "I can't, not again!"
"That's why you're the only one who can!"
The shock of having the girl grab him through his phasing ability lasted only long enough for Tobi to realize that he could just break her grip with strength. With a simple twist of his wrist so the sword broke free from the kabutowari's stranglehold, he aimed a strike that would scalp the girl if she hadn't ducked underneath it. The foot he was about to lash out with was batted off to the side with the handle of the weapon before she shot out one of her own. Blocking with his knee, bringing his raised blade back down only to have it parried again- a jarring blow that met his own with all the weight carried behind that solid weapon.
"Please! If you still love me..."
Her opponent more jarred than herself, Ruby aimed a kick at the man's supporting leg which predictably passed right through and dangerously exposed her side to the man. Being socked in the jaw was preferable to the razor edge which passed within a hairsbreadth of her spine, but it still stung viciously and sent her staggering on her back foot, not to mention left her susceptible to the following lunge aimed to pierce her kidney. Not thinking, just doing, grabbing the plunging blade with her bare hand and yanking the man into her strike.
"Take Penny and go!"
It was true, he could no longer recognize this girl- no, huntress fighting for her life in front of him. Just as he was sure that he wouldn't recognize the shaggy, wretched man in the mirror. In the time spent apart he had grown weaker, and her stronger than he could have ever imagined- then he or his late wife ever could have dreamed of. He would have said that she looked like her mother, save for that she really didn't.
"You've really grown." He whispered, wiping the last tear from his eye.
She had blossomed into her own person that he would never be able to reconcile with the bite-sized image of his baby girl. To ignore her request would to be to disrespect that growth, mistakenly cling to that false idol until it dragged him down to the bottom- of the gutter, of the bottle, of the sea.
But could he do it? It would be painful, to walk away again after so long building up that courage. It would remind him how useless and pathetic he really was- a problem if he weren't so immured to that concept already.
"Take care of the dolly, Zwei." Unfettered bark in confirmation, Tai readied the package he had been prepared to deliver when first finding his daughter. "Daddy's got one more thing to do."
Exerting his body more than he had in years, the father of Ruby and Yang dashed towards where the duel had migrated, blasting away at a lackadaisical Tobi who didn't even try to dodge his shots. Skidding to a halt in front of his daughter he endured her admonishment.
"What are you doing?!" Enjoying the flash of concern across her face, he smiled. Another first in a long time.
"Your friend'll be fine. It's this dog that's got to earn his ticket back into heaven."
"You can't fight him!" Facing the man- the monster who was lazily looking their way, totally unencumbered by these distractions which simply delayed the inevitable.
"Did that stop you?" Even bruised and bloody, the sight of his daughter biting her lips in worry brought back fond memories. Also, pain, of reminding him what he had missed. Compared to that, agony of death was nothing.
"I'm sorry dad." So delicate, so painful, the hand she placed on his shoulder, still so tiny enveloped by his own.
"What're you sorry for?" He tried giving a gentle squeeze which came out anxious, reminding him that this might be the last time. "You're the one who has to put up with her selfish old man."
"For this." Leaving his soul behind as he was accelerated out of the arena, launched by a careful application of her semblance up and over the walls. His ballistic trajectory was tracked by the merry pup, dragging his new favorite toy as his short legs bounded to catch up.
"Don't worry about me, dad…." Nostalgically watching as he flew like a shooting star, she had every confidence her father would be fine. She only asked the same of him.
"…Backup's already on the way."
"I still don't believe it."
"I think we've established that it doesn't matter if you do or not." With a victorious smile, Yang placed a heavy hand on Weiss's shoulder as the girl who'd long since slipped off wit's end continued to stand and watch as the newcomer and their resident lightning-rod decimated the enemy forces tirelessly. "It's happening."
"I just feel-" She shook her head, not entirely sure what she was. Upset, happy, guilty, tired. "-so confused."
"I just feel useless." Jaune confided, prompting a glance from the white-haired girl he had long since forgotten about. "At least Nora's doing something." Mainly giggling like a loon as she knocked Grimm into the air for the dark-skinned man's amusement.
"If you ask me, that guy's the real monster." The others milling about listlessly agreed with these opinions. "It doesn't even look like he's getting tired!"
It was plain to see that the newcomer was doing all the heavy lifting, which made their idleness both easier and more difficult. Practically toying with the Grimm, he was dutifully indulging the younger girl and even feeding her addiction with his apparently limitless reserves. Jaune had even noted that during an occasional lull, the bigger man would try to instruct the student in her technique by miming the movements.
"See? That's just why this just feels so surreal." When Weiss looked around the battlefield suspiciously, this time she had others doing it with her. "An endless enemy and tireless ally? It's like something's just keeping us occupied. Away from the real fight."
"Actually," Seldom though they were, Ren's words never failed to draw attention and, in this case, preempted another argument between the two teammates. "I think she may be on to something."
Clarifying for those staring at him in disbelief, Ren pointed to the sky and then to the forest. "As you can see, the hordes, though they seem limitless, are concentrated around certain points."
Unnoticed when fighting for their lives, now the gaggle of students squinted into the imperceptibly lightening darkness to see that their comrade was correct, and that two concentrations like whirlpools stood out among the chaos. One in a remote location of the Emerald Forest, and the other drawing the airborne Grimm to the still-floating Amity coliseum. In fact, the Grimm stacked shoulder to shoulder were practically ignoring them in favor of these epicenters of darkness.
"What do you think's there?"
"I don't know." Yang declared, staring at the whirlwind of blackness around the flying arena. "But I intend to find out."
"We should probably head to the forest." Pyrrha pointed out, keen to further this initiative before it petered out in favor of staying safe. "It's closer, and we don't have any aerial transport."
"Then let's find some." Regaining some of that ruddy tinge to her eyes, Yang attracted the investigations of a few weakling Grimm. "Whatever else is with her, Ruby's up there."
"Regardless, we have to get past those guys first." Seeing an opportunity to alleviate his own problem, Jaune joined the growing conspiracy and pointed a finger at the ring of blackness still surrounding them.
"Shouldn't we ask those two for a hand?" Heads turned to the lightshow behind them, some nodding and others dismissing the idea.
"I doubt we could make them understand if we wanted to." Jaune shook his head as a deranged cackle from the being that was once Nora rang out over the courtyard. "Besides, this is our fight. Our friend is still out there."
"Yeah, and we're bone dry on ammo." Chiming in, the second-year student hoped to imbue some sense on her juniors.
"Then fight with everything you have left!" Eyes widening behind her glasses, Coco did not expect to be snapped at. "Tooth and nail, we're huntsmen and huntresses. Not some fair-weather fighters."
"Hmph. Not with these nails." This said, upon inspecting her digits, the stylish woman issued a sound of annoyance and stood up with her allies anyway.
"So, what's the plan, O-fearless leader?"
Never questioning the sarcasm, never doubting his own purpose in mounting a counterattack, Jaune began to think. Scanning the battlefield just coming out of the darkest hour, he came up with a plan.
"Pyrrha, do you think you could move a barricade around us if we give you the metal?"
"Possibly…" Surveying the faces of all those eager to join this foolish endeavor she came to a realization. "That would be a lot of metal. I'd have to drag it to keep it together, and even then…"
The ground was muddy and pockmarked from the various attacks and explosions throughout the battle, making for a treacherous trudge.
"What if it slid on ice?" Expecting the incredulous looks, Weiss was able to meet them with her prepared prudishness and a huff. "I can do it if you can."
This, she understood, was not an acceptable answer. Especially not enough to alleviate the accusatory stare of her teammate.
"I'm not just joining the winning side, it's just that… you were right." Uncrossing her arms, she sighed and bowed her head to her teammate. "Maybe you were always right. At least, about being able to believe in something. When I can't seem to trust in our teachers, can't trust in my family, can't even trust in my own abilities… maybe I'm finally ready to trust in something more than myself."
Did those now looking at her with acceptance truly understand her plight? Probably not, and neither would she understand what led them to this point in time. That was alright, though. And that was the only thing to understand.
"Okay." Either blonde agreed- which didn't matter as they began functioning as single unit. "Gather up every pinch of Dust we have left and give it to Weiss. You girls prep yourselves, the rest of us are going to dismantle one of these scrapheaps and drag it over here."
In what seemed like a blink of an eye in comparison to waiting around, the motley group manhandled one of the chopped-up Paladins left in the wake of the two lightning-user's destruction.
"You ready Pyrrha?"
For her part, the former champion was more than ready, eager to feel like she was contributing after so long. Being marginalized was novel at first, invigorating being out of the limelight for once in her life and free of the obligations associated with it. Eventually she came to realize the other extreme was the same, either one denying her choice while decisions were made in the background- actually, it was her who was in the background, a minor character bound by the context of the play acted out around her.
"Yes."
Ready to write her own part, if not as a Maiden, she would become something more. That ideal of strength that her crush lusted after.
Raising her arms, solidifying the stacked diamond around them in a screech of metal that was music to her ears. Ankle-height at first, she closed her eyes trying to lift that second layer into place. In doing so she could feel the presence of her comrades backing in all around her, a human wall inside the metal one, protecting her while she protected them.
"Alright. Weiss?" A solemn nod felt from another player logging in at last. "Then let's-"
Their tower of Babel was never to be a part of that overarching story. A storm kicked up at that moment, a god's fury blew against them and tried to sweep them off the drawing board.
"Hang on!"
She did, changing from trying to restrain the superstructure together to trying to restrain themselves, latching on to whatever metal was on their bodies with her Semblance and binding them tight to the ground.
An odd storm, the torrential gust abruptly stopped. Collectively they rubbed the dust out of their eyes and looked up to the vengeful heavens.
"No way…"
There was always a way, and if the sight of all the Grimm in the area tossed up into the sky was incredible to anyone, they hadn't been paying attention.
Not just the naturally airborne creatures, but the stocky Boarbatusks and hefty Ursae could be found aloft, swimming, falling in a sky that was every bit as dark as they.
Then came the lightning.
A series of flashes which never reached the ground but lit up the night and forced them to look away from the scene and cover their eyes.
And it was good that they did, for closing off this odd weather pattern was a fierce and heavy rain which sublimated as soon as it touched a solid surface.
"Black?" Finding her hand out in front of her, the Amazon looked with incredulity at the drenched but barren landscape before discovery hit. "All the Grimm…" All that was solid dissolving into thin air, and then from out of thin air-
"Someone's coming."
Still miraculously acting as one cohesive unit, what remained of Beacon's best and brightest leapt into formation at the call, focused on that someone coming out of the midnight rain.
In their alertness no one noticed that other someone, the yet-unnamed person who had saved their bacon initially, move up silently behind with an overdosed Nora draped over his shoulder and smirk on his lips.
"Show off…"
Fat drops drowned out their heavy breaths, the sound of footsteps- if there were even any to begin with, for each student noticed that the figure almost seemed to glide over the scarred terrane. Black as the night, as Grimm, as a specter of death, they were a shadow among shadows only known by a velvety ripple in that suffocating curtain.
"It's stopped raining."
Few noticed this meek comment from the rabbit Faunus, and fewer still recognized that the perpetual melancholy which had persisted since the start of the final match had finally alleviated. Clouds finally parting to reveal only the last gasp of a fractured moon.
"Is that…" Yang blinked away the last dissolving droplets. "Qrow?"
With the silhouette of a scythe propped on his shoulder, Yang might have been forgiven this mistake which soon became obvious as he stepped out of the night. Shedding the blackness from his blonde hair if not his shoulders.
"Identify yourself!" Lowering her spear at the stranger, Pyrrha issued the ultimatum with the ire of having been carelessly brushed aside yet again.
"Hang on,"
Staying the redhead with a gentle hand, Yang moved several steps ahead of the group against the whispers in protest. Though it was clearly not her uncle, something about the blond young man screamed familiar in the back of her mind, and she would not be denied the reason why.
-Except by herself as she stood without words in front of the stranger, suddenly stricken with her sister's shy affliction.
"Hey," Cringing while she croaked this and forced herself to give him a small wave.
"Hey." Responding in an easy frequency, a laugh at the silliness of the situation.
Which still left them in silence as the other students sized the newcomer up.
"Hey, hey, see you made it alright." Killer B had no such misgivings. "Still plenty of goons left to fight."
"Is that so?" He placed an arm behind his head in clear embarrassment. "Sorry for taking so long. You at least having fun?"
Giving an unencumbered grin and shrugging his shoulders (still with the delirious girl posed there like a sack of rice), B answered.
"Man, you did no wrong. But gotta be honest, these guys don't seem that strong. Guess to keep B entertained, you needa find something insane."
Nodding to his comrade in understanding, Yang turned back to him once they had finished conversing in the foreign tongue.
"I-uh, take it the big guy's with you?"
"You might say he's a tag-along."
Just as the light banter had been established it was relegated to the wayside.
"So, does that mean you're here to help?" Not much in this question, but the expression she gave him revealed so much more.
"Yeah." Squaring up, he once again became that fearful presence despite his less than impressive size just a hair underneath her.
Yang nodded somberly. "We don't have a lot of ammo left, even with your friend helping us I'm not sure if we could make it very far."
"Injuries?"
"Nothing major." Glancing back to confirm this was true. "But…"
"But?"
"…Blake- my partner's gone. We think she went off to settle some old scores with the White Fang. And Ru- our captain…"
Nodding with an equally severe expression, he looked over his shoulder to the sky where the nightmarish avian still circled like buzzards around the limping stadium.
What she was unable to discern in those eyes like fathomless horizons, she could read in this gesture as his stare crossed leagues and penetrated solid stone. "She's there, isn't she?"
"Yeah."
No questions remained for either of them- no hesitation either as he asserted his will.
"You leave it to me." Before anyone could question this usurpation, a few unintelligible words were spoken to the large man before they were returned. "This is Killer B, by the way. He'll stick with you guys and assist you. I've briefed him on the situation. Just point him in the right direction. Is that alright?"
To Yang, if not the others outside his direct line of sight, it was clear this was not a question.
"That's fine."
"Well then…" Giving his fellow blonde a parting smile. "Best get going then. You take care of everything down here then, huh?"
"Wait!"
Before he could disappear again like the fever-dream they feared he was, he was recalled by someone desperately wanting to cling to that fantasy. He turned to see a hand outstretched, recalled slightly as if hesitant to touch him and ruin a wonderful illusion.
"I-" Words upon words in a train wreck in her throat. "You- you're coming back, right?" Where through fear and pain and frustration she held herself strong, now for some reason tears could not be held back any more. "Promise? You'll bring her back, so we can all-"
Clouds fled from the blue sky as surely as they did for the black, and he smiled at her, birthing a new sun to the pregnant day.
"'Course. I'm looking forward to it. -And, thanks for everything, Yang."
Arriving in darkness, leaving in light.
This flash did not bring illumination to everyone though, and fourteen faces stared at the spot of the magical incident in varying degrees of wonderment.
"What was that?"
Whereas team JNPR had enough insight to sense something of significance and even CRDL had enough sense to know when to keep their mouths shut, the brash leader of CVFY was more uncomfortable around the extra-ordinary than she would like others to believe, and thus was the first to break the trance.
"And why are you crying?"
Several questioning looks were sent the way of the Schnee heiress who returned them with equal puzzlement.
"Wha- me! I'm not-." Only to rub her irritated eyes to discover that she was. "B-but why? I'm not sad, I'm just- it's just tha- I'm just- I- I can't-" Her knees sunk deep into the muddy ground but she was too far gone to care, unable to even steady her breath which came in rapid fire fits and spurts. "Wh-w-wha-wh-what's-?"
"Shh, it's okay." Redirecting that pent-up sisterly instinct, Yang took the hyperventilating girl under her arm and whispered sweet nothings while kissing the top of her head and nuzzling her nose into her frazzled white hair. "It's gonna be alright, remember? We're a team, we're going to get through this."
"Is she going to be okay?"
"Yeah," Speaking in place of Yang who had her hands full, Jaune was the only one qualified to comprehend but an inkling of the girl's plight. "She just had her world-view kicked in the balls. She'll be fine."
Just as the light dawned on the rest of his team's faces (bar Nora who had gone back to resting when the interesting guy went away) they were reminded that they were in fact still on a battlefield, when a very twitchy and large Deathstalker ambled over to them.
"Great. This guy again?"
"Yeah, can't he see we're having a moment here?"
Sarcasm aside, they knew that they weren't in the best of positions which they slowly and carefully began to rectify, starting by moving the shell-shocked Weiss out of danger. A few finally seemed to remember Killer B's presence among them, but the odd individual was content to stand out of the way with a smile on his face and a finger in his ear.
Remaining so, as if he knew the exact moment when the Grimm was frozen and bifurcated anticlimactically, its killers entering the scene nonchalantly.
"Ho, ho, ho, what's up kiddos?" Slinging his massive sack down and spilling its contents of assorted ammunition and weapons, Qrow waltzed over to them with slight hitch in his step. "We come bearing gifts for all the naughty little children who were supposed to evac with the rest of the school. Straight from the little elves over at Beacon's armory."
"Weiss!"
Only now did he notice the ragged state of the students as the elder Schnee elbowed him out of the way in her beeline to her sister.
"What'd I miss?" He inquired of his niece when she too was shoved aside for the alarmed woman and came to stand by him. "And what's up with her?"
Instead of answering, she glanced with a suspecting eye at her uncle to see if he shared the same touch of derangement.
"Did you see him?"
The mention of the unreality caused him to stiffen, then respond in as few words as possible.
"Yeah."
"…"
While the sight of Winter chewing the heads off a bunch of greenhorns would have been endlessly entertaining, Qrow found that he couldn't much enjoy the spectacle as the lingering presence confirmed itself like a persistent cold. He rubbed his nose and reached into his shirt pocket for something to alleviate it.
"Uncle Qrow…" Knowing of his unspoken vow, Yang looked disapprovingly at the flask.
"Not for me."
To her shock, after unscrewing the cap he handed her the polished container. With a disconnect she took it, watched the comedy continue to play out without her. On autopilot taking a swig - wasn't a good idea as she descended into a coughing fit.
"Easy there." Gently patting her back, he took back the flask and knocked one back himself for various reasons.
Controlling herself after a while- unlike Weiss who was still shaking lightly in her sister's arms- Yang looked around at her motely group of friends and comrades in their various states, wondering just when and how things came to be like this.
"…"
"Think she could use one?" He jabbed a finger at Weiss who was insisting she was alright standing by herself and failing.
"…Yeah."
"Mm. They both probably could."
"…"
"Who's the big guy?"
"Killer B. A friend, apparently."
"Mm."
"I think Nora's just exhausted."
"Mm."
"…"
"Want another slug?"
"…Yeah."
Repeating the same mistakes over and over, Qrow found himself once again patting his lightweight niece on the back and muttering the same timeless platitudes.
"Easy there… everything's gonna be alright.
"Everything's gonna be just fine."
…The same story, over and over. Lying exhausted and spent on her back, staring up at the first instance of stars who even then were shying away from the coming dawn.
"This ends one way, you know."
"Yup."
Night fades to day, gives way to night again.
She got up, in spite of the blade poised at her neck. Took a step forward, allowing that point to penetrate her non-existent Aura, rivulet of blood trickling down her throat and past her collar, pooling somewhere near her heart.
"It would be the simplest thing to end you."
"Yup."
She grabbed the blade, shattered it as nothing but sugar glass.
Tobi let the empty hilt fall by his side. Stared down at the girl who was against all odds on her feet.
"Why?" Catching the sluggish punch aimed at his head. "When you know this is just foreplay and yourself nothing but a pawn in the grand scheme?"
"Yup."
Bringing up her weapon only to have it knocked out of her hand for the nth time that night, following through on the strike with her bare fist to have it caught the same way as the other. Breaking out of both simultaneously, lunging forward on unsteady feet as her insignificant fists crashed against the shore time and again. Rise and fall of the moon controlling the surging tide, retreating only to return with full force.
Impressive taijutsu for such a weakling, he easily directed a strike and placed the arm in a hold behind her back.
"That's not an answer."
"Frustrating, isn't it?" Painfully looking over her shoulder with that insufferable smirk. "When people don't listen."
"Yes." Tobi admitted with a sigh, lamenting. "You know, if only you were born in our world. If only you were stronger…"
"I'm exactly who I need to be."
Letting gravity take over, breaking from his hold and kicking her legs out in a fruitless attempt to trip the man up. Not minding her failure, rolling over her shoulder where she lashed out blindly with a three-point kick, making the man step casually around and try to stomp her back down. But she had already reached the discarded steel, twisting around to harshly bat the leg out of the way before bracing herself on a knee and lunging at his crumbling mask. Casually moving his head, Tobi caught her wrist and dragged her up onto her tippy toes.
"Even if it turns out I'm just a side character," Fighting to keep the steel in hand, to keep her eyes locked on his. "even if I'm just the moon to his sun, that doesn't make me any less important, to him, to my friends, to myself."
"If you're so important, where is he?"
"Getting impatient?" Snickering while suppressing a wince at the iron grip on her wrist. "-Or just afraid I'll finish you before he gets here?"
"If he doesn't show soon, I'll be the one finishing you." Tightening his clutch to illustrate, she refused to cry out even as she felt bones creak and crackle under the pressure.
A snap, a crack, something shattered.
Ruby felt the force holding her up suddenly let go and she dropped against the cold, hackly ground.
Only she didn't. Reality stopped. Or maybe that was what had shattered, and she floated there weightlessly, warm, secure.
"Are you alright?"
Blinking, the stars disappeared from her eyes in place of the glorious sun.
"Sorry I took so long getting here." The grip around her tightened- not uncomfortably, if a little awkward. "It took me a little while to find this." She allowed the fingers to fish into her torn shirt and extract the miniature kunai, blood and barely-legible seals covering every face of that dipyramid.
"I'm here now, though." Feebly, her hand met his. "There's no reason to worry."
How she wanted to believe this, to trust in the sensation enveloping her as something more than real. Yet, the feeling, the sight, none of that made it anything more than the truth she already believed. No less wonderful.
"…Can't stop me from worrying."
"I know." Smiling, one half kindness and the other bearing retribution. "That's what I love about you."
"That's all?" A smile for both halves as they lifted her to her feet so she could stand on her own.
"Well, you're not quite as good-looking as I imagined." She laughed, genuinely if not with some discomfort, brushing back a strand of hair and feeling the bumps and nicks, the broken and reset nose.
"To be fair, you don't look so hot yourself." His smile strained against a fresh burn on the side of his face that was for some reason not healing. Winced against her gentle touch feeling the puckered surface.
"Quite the pair, aren't we?"
Hand that was supporting her now lingering in hers, still unsure of what to do with itself. Desire had lead him here, and now instinct told him to hold -to protect -to touch -to kiss -to caress -to what? Saying something, expressing something that had not yet been expressed through a lifetime. It was finally here, finally happening, yet it wasn't real- or maybe just not his to claim. The sublime catching in his throat.
"Yeah." Serenity staring back at him from silver eyes, having none of these misgivings. "We are."
"Ah, Naruto-kun. At last, the fun can begin!" Giggling with glee, Tobi wasn't perturbed by having to physically hold the two halves of his mask together after the blow which sent him staggering back.
Concurrent growls as the pair moved defensively closer to one another, hand in hand and both hands on weapons of destruction.
"What's with all these assholes being so damn familiar?" Naruto bore his sharp canines in a snarl before his words played back through his head. "Oh- whoops, sorry, I meant-"
"Bastard?" Ruby ventured, wry smirk as even then the word felt dirty. "Inconsiderate jerk? Yeah, he's all of that and more."
"Maa… so mean. It's not like I killed her, you know."
"You shut your mouth." Red hot anger boiling to the surface, curtailed only by that gentle touch. Not insulating, but molding, directing, the temper for his blade.
"In fact, one might say we brought you two together."
Himself letting his hand fall to the side and the shattered remains of that mask go with it to reveal the grotesque smile it concealed. A corpse sprouting from a plant- no part of it human in its intentions.
"Don't listen to him." Telling this to himself more than the other half who wordlessly pressed closer as if she could hide behind his iron resolution like old times. "It was Kurama. He connected us."
"Is that what he told you? And you believed him? For someone so strong, it is hard to believe just how gullible you are."
"Eno-"
"Hardly!"
Both were taken aback by the sheer magnitude of hatred conveyed with that single word, the girl balking as she was confronted with the true malevolence she had been unknowingly facing all along. Grimm who had been clashing between fear and hunger stopped circling and fell on Tobi with ear-splitting squeals, whereupon they were impaled on giant thorns emerging and withering in a manifestation of his rage.
"It's never enough, isn't that right? Not enough that you see fit to undermine our determination- deny our sense of justice with your naïve self-righteousness. Not enough that you wish to raze this organization and its accomplishments to the ground in the name of your own selfish ideals. You, who preach understanding and fairness dare not even listen to what we have to say before smiting us as evil men. I may be a hypocrite, but you- you are a traitor to yourself. A traitor to her as well, leading her into believing that you are the sole fountain of truth in this wretched life. Is it because you fear that we may be right? That if your fragile mind is exposed to veracity it will contaminate and spoil your conviction? Or is it that you have so little faith in your own chosen path that you don't believe it could weather but a whisper of what really is?"
High in the air Nevermore cried and Gryphons yowled in ravenous anticipation, stirred by this bloodletting.
"Are you done?"
Tobi barked another of his not- laughs, made more unnatural by the sight of his almost-human face.
"Oh no, we are far from done. First you and then the Eight-Tails. Perhaps your lover as well since I admittedly find her fascinating. And whatever comes next, another decade- another century we can bear it. This is a fight of generations for the fate of humanity. What can one little brat do who isn't even half the man his father was?"
"It's not just one." Ruby asserted, for the one next to her as much as the one in front.
"How touching." The man drawled. "And is the poor, misunderstood Fox too considered part of this 'sacred bond'? Even though it killed your parents? Although, I suppose it wasn't entirely his fault. After all, I was controlling it at the time."
"What?" Clear that it was fresh news to both, our antagonist gave his first genuine smile at his victory.
"Oh, dear, did he forget to mention that little detail? I suppose it must have been horribly embarrassing for such a haughty- I mean mighty beast to be controlled by a 'pathetic little human'. Still, didn't keep him from kneeling like a dog and following my…every…single… whim. Even tricks he didn't know he could do himself!"
"You wanted to be heard." With animosity she never could have fathomed being exuded from her Other, Naruto menaced the deathly scythe and stared into the cold depths of the man's dark revelries. "So speak. Quit babbling and talk plainly- unless you don't really have a point, in which case let's just cut to the part where I remove your tongue."
"Such hostility," Patronizing, clearly enjoying every second of the negative attention as it excited the already agitated creatures above their heads and nourished the ever-growing dread in the hopeful girl's face. Tobi spread his arms wide, in openness if not surrender. "Why can't we get along? There doesn't have to be a black and white with points of view. We can both be liars and hypocrites, truth can be venerated and feared, I can be both the savior and the villain, and you can be both strong and my obedient little puppet…"
"Bullshit."
"Maybe the Fox did inadvertently tweak things, and maybe I wanted him to. Maybe I am still controlling him and this was all part of the plan to lure you away with the hope of seeing your loved one…"
"Liar!"
"That's not a lie… or is it? Is she not everything you always dreamed of? Are there doubts as to her feelings?"
"How dare-!"
Each moment endured next to Naruto's anger was like another anvil stacked atop her shoulders, every second another turn of the vice as his arm clutched her tighter and tighter with both compassion and fear. Who was this person, this dark stranger brandishing the Grim Reaper's blade? Ready to become a martyr, a crusader in her name when all she wanted to do was spread with him the gospel of acceptance. What was the truth of this thing between them?
"So help me, I will kill you! I will destroy-!"
Crushing her, so very painful.
"-There're always doubts. Those nightmares you live when you are awake, in them you wonder: 'Could someone so pure love a monster like me?'"
"Yes!"
All was quiet. All was bright. All was still.
Metal rang with a clatter and fell silent. Tolling victory, defeat, hope and desolation. The last of the weapons laid down on that eternal battlefield, and the rain returned to rejuvenate the vanquished earth.
"Ruby…"
Tears soaked his chest as she dug her head into him, trying to revive what lay buried. As hard as he had unknowingly squeezed, she gripped back harder, her claws digging past trappings, armor, and calluses meant to protect him from heartbreak.
Radiant Thorn joined the discarded arms as he searched for something- anything to alleviate this tragedy he had caused. Collapsing in armistice as his strength could no longer support the two of them.
"I-I'm sorry…" Was he? What did that word even mean to him? "I'm so sorry…" Enough to do what? "Please, forgive me. I just- I lo-"
What had he learned- if anything? Love excuses a great many things, justifies death because it dictates life. Or so he once believed.
Love was immensely painful, like fingers digging into his flesh.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so scared of losing you."
"I know." The smile she gave was eclipsed by tear-soaked blackness. "I'm frightened of losing you, too." Clutching him even tighter, holding tight to his existence even as his lifeblood slipped through her fingers. "It's scary, isn't it? But nothing would make me stop- nothing you could do to make me. I will keep loving you, up until the time you are no longer you."
And on that day, those claws desperately holding him together would rip him to shreds, and the remains would go on to fertilize new fields.
"And… just who am I?"
The lesser, the sacrificial lamb, bastard, anti-hero, demon incarnate, lost…
"Silly. You're my other half." With tears still shimmering in her silver eyes, she looked up and removed one arm from the embrace so that she could rap him on the head. "Isn't that enough?"
"Yeah." Voice shaky, but soul never more undestructable. "More than enough."
Enjoying the silence, the time they had been deprived of for so long. Not thinking, not doing, not remembering, simply watching and reveling in the feeling of absolute contentment. If this were the end of the world and the beginning of Purgatory's eternal wait, neither would want to get any closer to heaven.
But nothing is eternal.
After a lifetime of anticipation, it felt like only seconds before the sun's first rays streaked through the sky above them, winking off the bent and crooked monument to human arrogance and making them realize that time forever marched on. What they heard was not the shrill cries of a Nevermore limping in circles, but the gay trills of a lark searching for its nest.
"No, It's just an owl." Ruby giggled at his silly lie.
"It's totally a lark. Don't you remember the ones outside the window in Patch?"
"I remember the big horned owl which stole Mr. Corduroy."
"Ah! I forgot about him! That stupid bird tore off his arm and dad had to try and reattach it."
"… Only we couldn't find it and he replaced it with a 'robotic arm'."
"-From the action figure someone left in the lost-and-found at school. I think Uncle was the one whose stuff ended up in there the most."
"Say, what was that annoying bird that kept mocking us the day we tried to see under Kakashi-sempai's mask?"
"I think it was a crow."
"Are you sure it wasn't an owl?"
With a laugh she checked him in the shoulder, realizing that it was only the second time they had ever touched. Both were wonderful.
"Qrow!" With that verbal cypher the enigma was cracked, and information once discombobulated rearranged in a panic. "Did you see him? How was he? What about the others- the Grimm- Ozpin- that Woman- us?!"
Not bothering grabbing their weapons, both shot to their feet in a fighting stance, mirror images of one another. Including their dumbfounded expressions.
"Uh…"
Bottom half of his face displaying that distasteful, mocking expression frozen in a living rigor mortis along with the rest of him, Tobi stood in the same position as before. No indication that he recognized their presence- or even that he was alive.
Then they realized why they could hear the bird's unconcerned singing throughout the vastness of the arena. The storm of Grimm had fallen silent- becalmed by that same unfathomable force which locked their mortal enemy in his stone-like state.
"What do you think happened?"
"I don't kn…ow…"
Midway through the expression Ruby felt the borrowed energy be sucked out of her. Blackness hit like Nora's hammer and she knew she was going to pass out. The same way she had known sleep's beckon for the last 15 years and knew that Naruto would catch her before she fell.
"Hey! Are you alright? No, no, no- this can't be happening!"
"Issalright. Justmm… sleepy…" The glow which had been part of what made the scene so perfect and surreal faded from her eyes as she reached up and traced his whiskers. "Gonna take a nap now. Your turn, k?"
"Yeah, that's just fine." Tenderly he placed a kiss on her bloodied forehead, hoping it was the first of many to come. "See you when you wake."
But she didn't hear him as she was already snoring away- rather loudly. He found it endearing- like all her imperfections.
And as for the one who tried to remove those…
Looking between the stacked weapons and the idol of his frustrations. He tried remaining calm whilst Ruby slept away in his arms, oblivious, trusting. Slowly he got up.
"Let's finish this."
"To …save me?"
"As you did for me, dragging me out of the belly of the Shinigami. So shall I take you away from this place-in-between. I have seen the darkest pits of hell, and this… place, is so much worse."
"Is it? If you have seen a darker place than the mind of man, then you will know this is not worse. There is nothing here to be a target of my anger, nothing to scorn or condemn me."
"Exactly. There is nothing, which might seem like a release from suffering because it is. A release from everything, from joy, from goodness, from your every thought. A place where not even hope can survive."
"What use do I have for hope? There is peace in certainty, relief in ignorance. Here I have both."
"You cannot think like that. It is this not-place, already starting to affect you. Making you rationalize, making you forget."
"No. I remember. Everything. And I know that coming here was my choice. If I should leave, there would be no more use for this place and it would cease to exist, isn't that right? And without it, what would become of them? Naruto and Ruby could… No, best not to speculate. For once, I wish to be content with what I have done and leave no more room for mistakes."
"And what have you done? In this not-space, the actions you took in life are meaningless. Without a future there can be no past. Everything might exist on either side of this nothingness you created. But in here, every decision is just waiting to happen, and not even the shadow exists."
"Then so be it. I never asked the Old Man to give me life. I am weary of contemplating my purpose, the justice of my actions. I no longer care if I was a monster to many or a friend to a few. I am tired of this feeling of guilt they bequeathed me. Let the plate be swept clean and leave me to slumber in this space I do not deserve. A cage without boundaries."
"It is not a cage without boundaries, but a bridge without destinations."
"Then let the river of time flowing underneath carry you away if you wish. As for me, I wish to sleep."