Chapter 35 – The Traveller's Journey – Pt. 3

Oscar

Red...

...Or Blue?

He looks at the two options before him, fluorescent substances of both colours inside of the vials. His hazel tinted oculus gazes at them both as he runs the options through his mind. He could give the Nikos girl what she wants, but it would mean betraying Ruby, his first love who is still alive. Or he could trick her with the blue potion, make her believe that it all happened, but it never did, and he stays loyal to her. But what could the consequences of such a betrayal mean? What if she finds out the truth?

Oscar looks at Vir Nominis Umbra with scared eyes; he has not changed his expression as he stares at the boy. His eyes are a threatening brown that make him extremely nervous from his true, hidden intentions. The smirk never changing on his face, the light reflecting off his bald head. These are some of the hardest choices he has ever made, for both could have extremely dire consequences on both sides of the coin that he has no idea of. But despite of these consequences, he finally makes a decision. He reaches his hand outwards and grasps onto the vial.

The glowing blue substance trapped in the glass flask hidden behind his hand. He holds it up and looks at the potion. Seeing his own reflection on the glass, seeing the shock in those large hazel coloured eyes, his voice stammering as he looks upon it. He then lowers the potion and looks directly at the being that stands there. His smirk extends and a chilling laugh emerges from Vir Nominis Umbra as he stares at the boy. "Cold...you choose to trick a girl into helping you? Letting her believe her dream has become a reality? I never expected such cruelty from someone like you, Oscar Pine." Vir Nominis Umbra states with admiration in his voice. Oscar can see that he likes the cruelty in the choice, and it seems to reveal something in the Soothsayer. He is a man that enjoys seeing people crumble from cruel decisions. Oscar glares at him.

"The decision is decided, time has been fixed in place. Your decision is now – history." He states with cold eyes, walking back from him.

Vir Nominis Umbra is an ally, but a cruel one.

He begins to step away, pulling the red vial away from the boy as he walks backwards from him. The only chance he had to use that other vial has just vanished.

The decision has been made.

Now he must do the duty of his choice to make it a reality. Vir Nominis Umbra walks back, and when Oscar blinks, he hears the sound of him snapping his fingers and when he opens his eyes. Vir Nominis Umbra has completely vanished from his view, making him stagger backwards with fear of what this thing is. He is – very clearly – not human. Or maybe he was, and has transcended into something more. Time is continuing and Cynthia is still getting dressed behind him, but he is frozen with fear.

There is something about Vir Nominis Umbra that he cannot shake.

He has experienced multiple emotions around him. Ones he has grown to know all too well. He has felt fear around him when he speaks, anger from the lies, and sorrow for the consequences of the choice he has made. He looks back at where she is and the tankards set down beside her bottle of wine she has prepared for him. He closes his eyes to prepare himself for what he must do. He walks towards the wine tankards and he listens to her humming to herself. He holds the vial close, hiding it from her when she comes out of the dressing room, looking undeniably beautiful. Hoping to woo him.

She wears a stunning black and red dress that connects together around her neck and above her breast, showing her collarbone. The dress also conceals her legs until she shows her leg sensually to him with a smile. She walks over to him and he acts the part to get her to sit down. "Shall we have dinner, my hero?" Cynthia asks him with a bright smile. She approaches the table and sits down, constantly looking at Oscar. He smiles and approaches the wine. He takes the wine and begins to pour it into the tankard; she looks away for a moment, playing with one of her black crystal-like earrings. In that moment, he looks at the vial and his eyes look at the glowing substance. He takes the cork and pops it off, and pours it into her wine, letting it mix into the wine. The blue essence fades into the red wine perfectly and cannot be seen at all as it swirls into the red. Like poisoning the wine of a lord, he does not feel comfortable with this at all. He then pours his own, he shall not drink it, because she will drink hers first before he does. He takes the two tankards and walks over to her and sets her tankard down to her. She smiles, picking it up and toasting him and he sits down, smiling back.

"What shall we toast?" Oscar asks curiously with a kind smile. She turns her head, wondering what her answer could be. A smile reappears on her face and then she answers, her silver coloured eyes gazing into his. She then smiles and answers his question.

"To you – my hero." She says, she takes a drink and he copies her, drinking his. The taste of the wine to him is extremely repulsive, but she seems to like it. The fruity taste of the alcohol is hidden to the boy as the alcohol completely repulses him. But he hides it from her to keep her from worrying. She drinks more of it than he does and she sets her tankard down on the table, not even tasting the potion that has been put in her wine. Oscar swallows the wine, despite his body trying to spit the vile stuff out and she exhales.

Oscar looks at her and she begins to feel light-headed as she sits there, the potion is taking its affect. She starts to moan with exhaustion, hand on her head, and when she sits there, she stands up, looking around as she wonders about what is going on with her. She staggers around, her head dazed and becoming tired, her eyes getting weaker and weaker. Oscar reaches out for her and catches her before she falls and clatters her head on the ground. He still needs her help on getting aboard that vessel. He holds her there and she looks at him, trying to keep her eyes open as she looks at him. "I'm...very...tired." She whispers.

"I'll take you to bed." He assures to her. Her eyes roll back into the back of her head and she rests her head onto his arm. She may not be dead, but it seems like she just did in his arms. Despite knowing she is asleep, guilt overcomes him. The guilt of manipulating this girl's beliefs, her love...is not something he would ever want to do. But as he already wished for, he never would want to betray his true love. He picks the light girl up and carries her over to the bed and he lays her down in it, covering her body with the sheets, letting her sleep there. A week-long sleep. He takes a few steps back, looking down at her.

The potion worked.

I'm no cheat, Oscar Pine...

As he thinks of this, he turns and sees Vir Nominis Umbra stood outside with a smile on his face, walking away with his sinister grin, a black dust shard in the palm of his hand. His eyes glow red as he walks, the sclera turns black as well along with one terrifying laugh emerging. One so chilling that it goes straight through anyone that passes him.

Oscar walks outside and looks around for the Soothsayer. And just like before he has completely vanished once again. The cold air surrounds him and he senses that something is coming. His eyes move up to the full moon in the sky, and for a brief second, he sees it completely shattered. Arkhonex encased in ice, and stood before him in this place in that swift moment, is the Soothsayer, smiling as he stares at him. He says nothing, just stands in the frozen environment with his hands held together.

Then the surroundings return to normal. The ice is gone and time is not frozen in place, it is all normal. He sighs, closing his eyes as he thinks. He kneels down on his feet and he waits. He is learning more and more on how to use his powers. As he closes his eyes, the moon speeds up, darting across the sky. The stars zooming across and then the sun rises up, people dashing past up, not even noticing his presence as they walk. The sun then falls behind the horizon, the people enter their homes and the moon rises back up. This repeats around seven times as he waits the entire week, using his semblance to do so. He feels his hands twitch as he stays there, the glass like fragments of time bouncing off his skin as he uses it. He cannot abuse his power, for his body seems to become more and more unstable as he does it. Like a glass mirror, that could shatter from the simplest impact.

He opens his eyes, a week later and he sees the sun is in the sky, and the Dauntless is in the docks. It worked, he is able to wait through time just by closing his eyes and letting time pass by like the wind itself. It was much easier than he expected, which also scares him. His semblance is so powerful that it scares him, who knows what he is capable of? He stands there, feeling the warm air of Arkhonex on his skin as he stands here, looking at the people who pass him. Every time he looks at them all, it hits him every single time. They are all dead; perhaps most of these people have been buried in unmarked graves. That is if they have even been buried, nobody has found Arkhonex. Kragen has reason to believe that it is near the charred edges of the world, where Salem's Sanctum is...and if he is right, then that must mean that Grimm patrol those lands like guardians.

Oscar shakes the thought off from his mind, and he turns to where Cynthia should be waking up if the Potion did the trick. To make a girl believe that he helped her experience what she has always dreamed of – to rob her of that excitement and then ask her for help is a cruel thing to do. But if it saves Ruby? Then he will do anything in his power for her, even sacrificing someone's happiness in the process. He walks towards it and he opens the door, turning to see her sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She looks at him with a smile, still wearing the dress and looking upon him. "You got me dressed...you really are a gentleman." She coos with a smile.

The Potion worked...she really believes it all happened.

Vir Nominis Umbra is one cruel Soothsayer to sacrifice all that from her. Oscar needs to play the part to make her believe it, however. So he acts as if he is her partner, smiling as he walks over to the bed and sitting beside her. "Anything for you." He assures, and she touches his hand with a smile.

"Thank you...for everything." She thanks kindly. He smiles and she kisses him, something he expected her to do. So he is not overly surprised, but she seems to notice that he does not kiss her back. She looks at him curiously, and it opens up an opportunity for him to ask her for assistance on getting aboard that Vessel. "What's wrong? Is something on your mind?" She asks him inquisitively. He sighs, pushing his hand through his hair as he sits there. He then looks at her and she looks into his hazel eyes.

"I need your help with something." He admits and she does not let go of his hand.

"I will do anything." She admits, it pains him to see her so smitten towards him, so devoted. And yet he only sees her as a tool to get him onboard that ship. All he needs to find is the map of the way to that Island Chain, that's all he needs. But it pains him to ask her for this when he never granted her wishes. No doubt, Vir Nominis Umbra is probably listening in on everything that he says right now. Oscar has become pretty used to that already, whoever he truly is.

"There is a ship docked right now, called the Dauntless. I need to get aboard it, stow myself away in the lower deck with the cargo. If you can get me aboard, I will grant anything you want for you." Oscar bribes with a smile, and an offer that Cynthia cannot seem to deny. She smiles and she looks through the closed blinds at the huge Vessel, the sails extending outwards as it prepares to depart.

She looks into his eyes, and despite wanting to be with him forever, she knows he means to go alone. "Where will you go?" She asks him. She puts Oscar on the spot, but he comes up with an answer that will encourage her further.

"I've got this job back at the Trebuxian Farmlands, it pays well...really well – enough for me to own a patch of land of my own. When I get it, you can come with me." He offers to her, and she gasps with a smile. She wraps her arms around him, desperate to leave this godforsaken place once and for all.

"I will! I want to be with you till I grow old!" She squeaks. He closes his eyes with grief, feeling worse with every lie that he tells her to get her to help him. "What do you need me to do?" She asks him.

"I need you to keep the place cleared so then I can sneak into the Cargo Hold of the ship." He explains. She smiles and looks around.

"I can handle that." She assures. They both hear the sound of the Dock's Bells resounding from the ships as they prepare to disembark.

"We have to go now." He says to her and she nods, getting out of her bed and she follows him outside. They both walk towards the docks where the large vessel is. The Captain of the ship has one impressive ship at his disposal, armed to the teeth and armoured to all hell as well. A ship that is not to be trifled with on those seas. They both walk towards it and he sees the area of which the crew are loading supplies in. From food crates to wine crates and boxes of ammunition for the weapons that they are carrying. But when they are walking towards it, Oscar holds out his arm to stop her, their eyes widen and they gasp with amazement at the machine that walks past them.

It stands nearly ten metres high, made out of metal all the way through. Steel grey and with glowing orange optics that glow down at them. It does not seem aggressive, but it is dangerous if challenged. It has four huge sharp legs that stab down into the mud as it walks, creating thunderous horn blares at it moves around. It has Dust Laser cannons fused to the chassis of its body and shielding as well. It is a weapon that he has never seen before, making the Atlesian Knight look like chump change in comparison. It then moves on, stomping down with mechanical thrums as moves the limbs it is attached to. The torso is comprised of a large triangular shaped body. It approaches the docks, taking strides across each dock and then onto the Dauntless. As it stands there, the legs connect together and it lowers itself down into a deactivated position. Oscar stands there, amazed. "What was that thing?" Oscar asks out of amazement.

"That was a Warden, I've heard of them but never seen one. They accompany Vanguards sometimes on dangerous journeys...are you sure that's the right ship?" She asks him with a nervous look.

"I'm sure, maybe they are going somewhere else at Trebux." He suggests, and she sighs, nodding with agreement. They both approach the ship and he sees that there are still two crewmates loading things aboard the ship. She points to a crate and Oscar quickly darts behind it, taking cover. He can use his semblance but they could spot him when looking in there.

Cynthia looks at him and then at the men. She screams and then falls onto the muddy floor, her scream gets the men's attention and they run over to her aid. She acts all distressed, and she eyes the opening for Oscar. He smiles and mouths the words thank you to her. He stops time and sprints towards the opening as they pass him, and he jumps into the opening, looking at her when he continues time. "Are you okay, ma'am?" One of the men asks her as they help her up to her feet, wiping some of the mud off her dress.

"Thank you, I'm okay. Silly me, more clumsy than a drunkard." She giggles. She looks at Oscar and smiles.

He smiles back and he hides back behind the crates as they continue to load things away on the ship. He hides there as he waits, unable to get her face out of his mind. How she really thought that that was why he wanted to get aboard. It worked, yes...but not without the potential consequence of ruining that girl's life. The men load and load things away, and he decides to pass the time again. He closes his eyes and he waits a little bit of time. He waits around five hours which passes in literally a second. He is still getting used to the time of which it takes to use those powers correctly. He looks around and he feels the weight of the ship bouncing around as it moves.

They are at sea.

He is far away from her now, she has no idea of where he is actually going. And that hopefully once he knows where to go, he will be able to return back to his own time. He peers around the dark cellars of the ship, hearing the clinks of men's tankards above as they sing songs. He walks around the lower deck, nobody is down here. He needs to find the map...the map in the captain's cabin.

The sound of a slow clap appears behind him, making Oscar jump and he turns to see the man reappearing once again to converse with him. He smiles as he emerges from the shadows, looking at him as he walks towards him. He claps one last time, three times overall, and he keeps his hands held together. "Impressive, Oscar...for a boy who seems to say that he would never want to lie to Ruby...you did a masterful job of lying to poor Cynthia back there." He explains with a smirk on his face as he speaks. It continuously angers Oscar as he talks to him like that.

"Screw you, Umbra." Oscar snarls, sitting down on a crate, looking away from the Soothsayer. Vir Nominis Umbra chuckles as he walks around the area where he hides beneath the other men, the sun still up.

"It's the truth...the way you handled it...I could have not offered you those potions and you could have lied to Ruby and she would have never guessed it. Come to think of it...maybe I should have given you a potion that made you be more confident with your skills in the bedroom. I'm sure Ruby would appreciate it." Vir Nominis Umbra eggs on with a sinister smile, which disgusts Oscar even more to the point of retaliation.

"What is with you? Always trying to make me sleep with Cynthia and now you're saying the same things about Ruby? Talking about lying to her?" He lists with horror as he stammers, he then glares at the Soothsayer as he stands there. "I don't care who you claim you are, Umbra...there is more to you...what are you?" Oscar questions. The Clairvoyant remains silent for a couple seconds, looking down at the little Huntsman.

"Do you really wish to know?" Vir Nominis Umbra asks him curiously.

"Yes." Oscar answers honestly, and then the Soothsayer responds, just as honestly.

"I am what I have told you...I reflect on everyone's wants and wishes. I just show them in a – how should I put it? A different light." He explains with that smile never leaving his face. Oscar tilts his head with confusion, trying to place what he means.

"What the hell does that mean?" Oscar inquires.

"You love Ruby...Love is beautiful thing. By definition it is the affection one has to both the physical beauty of someone and that of their personality. A longing to be with them, to support them, to never leave their side. Partnership...In my eyes, I show it in the opposite end of the spectrum...do you know what I am getting at?" He asks.

"Lust." Oscar answers.

Vir Nominis Umbra snaps his fingers with a laugh, but time does not seem to pause when he does it. "Exactly. I show the darker side of love, the wanting for sex, pleasure, gazing at one's body. And I must admit, few actually stay strong against the things I offer them with my gifts, many give in to lust for perhaps an hour or more of pleasure. But you did not give in, you stayed loyal. That is admirable." He admits, nodding his head up and down.

"And for those who have lust in their lives..."

"I show them love. I like to help individuals experience as many variations of things as they can. As a merchant, it is my service to do so." He explains.

"You're clearly not human, so what are you exactly?" Oscar inquires.

"Well, until you buy me a drink I shan't tell you all my secrets, Oscar Pine." He explains. He then clasps his hands together as he walks around again, picking up a glass of wine and he looks at it. "However, I can tell that there was a part of you, that wanted to give it a try." He admits with a smirk on his face.

"What? No – No I didn't..." He stammers.

"Oscar, stop denying it, I'm a Soothsayer. I am able to read people's minds as well as see their futures. I could sense your pheromones and they were just like hers, there was attraction to you both. She however did fall for you through lust, she found your body attractive and when you rescued her, she chose you as her partner for life. Wishing for you to plant your seed within her body for the future." He explains with a smile, drinking the wine fresh from the bottle. He exhales with appreciation for the fermented drink. He sets the bottle down on the table as he looks at the boy.

Oscar looks down at the floor shyly. "Nothing to be ashamed of, dear boy, all men have experiences such as that in their lifetimes. Ruby cannot be mad at you for having those sexual desires around one beauty such as that." He says, he then looks at him again after looking out one of the windows. "She is lucky to have you, though – despite her injury and everything she has done, you still remain loyal. You are definitely a keeper to her in my eyes when you return." He explains, walking past her. He then looks at her with wide eyes, realising that he might have just hinted at something.

"Does she feel the same way?" he asks. He stands there and looks at him.

"Damn, kid...I thought the Arc Boy was blind, but you seem to be as blind as a mole." He chuckles as he looks at him.

"Just answer the question." He requests.

"I thought it was obvious that she does. You've both been through so much together...who else was she gonna start developing feelings for?" He scoffs. He walks around Oscar some more and he sets the bottle back down on the floor.

"I need to know how to get to those Islands, Umbra...how do I do it?" Oscar asks him. Umbra stops and he chuckles when he turns and looks at him with those mysterious eyes. He holds his hands out where he stands.

"I thought it was obvious." He says with a smile, walking away from him. Oscar blinks...

...and he is gone.

Just like that. Oscar sighs, really beginning to dislike that guy. He keeps on appearing out of nowhere. But it makes sense that he was acting like that, showing people the opposite emotion of what they feel at the time. Showing Oscar Lust instead of Love, perhaps he does the same with other emotions. Sadness for Happiness and vice versa.

Oscar thinks and thinks...and then he comes up with an answer.

He can stop time, shimmy right past the crew without any of them noticing. He will have to hold the stutter as long as he can, however. He walks up the steps and he prepares to engage the ability, until he sees who is stood at the top of the stares, looking directly at him. His yellow eyes meeting his hazel coloured ones.

Rylen Vazquez.

He starts to walk down towards him and he closes the door behind him as he enters the cellars. He watches his every move, keeping both eyes on the boy as he stands there. He chuckles, his spear attached to his armour and the loops on the back, along with a crossbow. "Oscar Pine...guess I should've expected it. Once a Stowaway, always a Stowaway, right?" He asks as he walks around. He sits down on one of the benches, keeping his eyes on the boy, and Oscar still feels his hairs standing on end. Despite him not being the Knight of Fear right now, he still is afraid of the man, and who he will later become. "You want to go to the Volcanic Chain Isles, huh? Why?" Rylen asks him, and Oscar keeps his eyes on him, making sure that he does not try anything.

But he needs to answer, so he does so. "I'm looking for someone." He answers, keeping it brief and ambiguous. Rylen leans back, eyebrows rising as he looks at him after his brief answer to his question.

"Someone, huh?" He asks him. "Someone close to you?" He asks, and Oscar just nods as his answer. Rylen nods his head as well, reaching into a crate and taking out a bottle of fresh mead. He takes a swig from the bottle, having no reaction to the stuff, clearly his type of drink. Perhaps a connoisseur of the brand of drink, respiring after his swig, offering it to him, but he declines. "Yeah, I know what that's like. My daughter was stolen from me a couple years ago, I got her back and all...but she was five when I got her back." He explains, and Oscar begins to see a more humane side to the Knight of Fear that he never expected. He had a daughter once.

"What happened?" He asks him, and Rylen looks over at him.

"Her mother died in childbirth, so I have been looking after the infant ever since. Until one night, I lost sight of her, she was right there in her bed...and the next second, she wasn't." He explains, and a part of Oscar feels nervous from how he is describing it. "I felt so much anger and fear at the same time, took me five years to find her kidnappers. Turned out it was a bunch of Fanatics of the Congregation of Dawn, had technology that made them invisible. They were gonna raise her and slaughter her like a pig for their sick ideals." He snarls with anger at the very thought of the subject, his hand clenches into a fist with anger when thinking about it.

"What did you do to them?" Oscar asks him. Rylen looks at him, right into his eyes before he answers.

"I killed every last one of them." He answers. "My baby girl doesn't know about it, she is twelve now and she doesn't know. I'd like to keep it that way, she was afraid of me for years because she didn't know me for that long...we're getting better now...I just hope she can recover." He sighs after explaining what happened with his daughter. The Congregation of Dawn, they have been mentioned in the past. A rogue fanatical group of religious nuts that started slaughtering innocents for their god. They worshiped the Grimm, fed people to them of any ages. Horrible to think that they could have done that to his daughter.

"So why do you do performance arts in the meantime?" Oscar asks him.

"People need to be entertained, I have always been able to get into character easily. And I can play monsters pretty well, if I can scare my audience then I am doing the right thing." He explains with a smile. The more he explains, the more Oscar sees the irony.

He played as monsters in plays, and now he has become a monster. The irony in such a fate is almost...poetic. And cruel at the exact same time. Oscar continues to look at him the same way, tense and ready to defend himself if he must. Despite that Rylen does not intend on doing anything of the sort to him. Rylen notices the look that Oscar is giving him and he cannot help but comment on it. "Ooh...the way you look at me...what is that? I'm struggling to find a better word than...fear." He explains, and the further irony from his statement there nearly makes Oscar explode. Without even realising, Rylen just named his future alias from what will happen to him.

Oscar finds the response to not sound insane to him, but he still needs to give him some kind of warning. "Be careful who you deal with, Rylen." He says, walking away from him. He stops time and leaves, but when Rylen looks for Oscar, he has completely vanished, leaving Rylen alone in the cellars, with that message, that warning, left in his mind.

That was a dangerous gamble that he just played with that, for Time warned him about Paradoxes.

Hopefully he did not just create one.

Oscar walks in the stutter, past the frozen individuals on the deck of the ship that sails across the seas. He walks up the wooden steps, and many of them have flagons of mead in their grasp with alcohol spilling from the brim as they sing. They voices are stretched out through the paused moment in time as he walks past them. He looks around, the huge Warden is still deactivated, remaining in its station. He then looks at the head of the ship and there stands the Captain. Captain Wymerus, with his Mace in his grasp and beside him is Krekras Blackridge with his sword sheathed as well. Starla is perched up on the ratlines with her bow in one hand, her long white hair blows majestically in the ocean wind. She looks beautiful there where she hangs. He continues to look around, and there is a Silver Eyed Warrior here as well. He is a young man here, but what he does not realise is that this individual...

Is Kragen Nox.

When he was much younger, and he was a charming looking young man back then, his staff in his hand as he speaks with the other crewmates. Perhaps they need him to get through that Storm Barrier that they face right now, he was younger back then. And now they need Ruby for the same purpose to open the storms. For she is the strongest Silver Eyed Warrior to be born in thousands of years.

Oscar looks directly ahead and he sees the Captain's Cabin ahead and he pushes the doors open, walking inside, looking down at the table in the centre of the room. He ignores everything else inside and he looks directly at the map. It shows the area of which that they are at and where they were. A model of the ship on the ocean is currently between where Vale is and where Mistral is. The Volcanic Chain Islands and located on the very far right side of the map, circled in red pen. His eyes widen when he sees it, they can easily get there. He gasps with amazement.

Suddenly a cold metal hand grabs his wrist and pulls it away from the map. Oscar looks up and he is more shocked to not see Vir Nominis Umbra. The person is Time, his body made of Cogs stares directly at him, the cold cogs seeming to burn into his skin from how tight he holds him. His distorted voice appears as well. "Time is up, Oscar." Time coldly growls, the land around him cracks and erodes, and Oscar quickly takes one last glance at the map, keeping that in his mind, the paint of the world around him peels and cracks away until the bright white light consumes them both and pulls them away from this time era.

As if he woke up from a dream...

He gasps, seeing Blake and Sun in front of him again, nearly forgetting that he was speaking to them in the first place earlier. Blake jumps from is sudden gasp, as for her he was there the whole time, Sun looks at him curiously at what just happened. "Oscar?" Blake questions. He then grabs her by her shoulders with wide eyes.

"I know where to find Ruby!"

Yang

Yang and Kassius ride across the roads of Mistral, past the huge trees that stand around them. They both cheer with excitement as they enjoy their ride together. Unaware of all the chaotic moments that have happened since Kragen and the others left to go to the Library. Oscar being taken by Time and learning of her sister's location. So much has happened that they have missed.

They continue to drive and drive.

Until suddenly, a man jumps down from the trees in front of Yang and Kassius. He slams his metal hook hand into the wheel of Bumblebee and rips it from Yang's grasp, sending her flying off the seat and crashing into the road. The man also spins round and roundhouse kicks Kassius in the head, knocking him off the bike as well. He grunts as he bike scrapes across the road. The man throws Bumblebee with his cybernetic hook hand and it crashes into a tree, chips of yellow and gold paint coming off, sparks erupting out from the impact.

Yang presses her hand to her head and she looks at her attacker, her eyes widening when she recognises him.

The captain that attacked them before, the one that Jaune cut the arm off. He rises up, yellow paint on his hook hand as he glares at her, a helmet covering his face but it peels back, made up of thousands of intricate pieces of metal and a pair of red visors for his eyes to look through and a respirator to breathe through as well. He stares at them, his brown hair slicked back and scars on his face. He winks at Yang with that smile on his face. "Hello, there, Blondie." He greets. He steps aside from the bike and he looks at Kassius as he stands back up with Lash Equinox at the ready. Yang pumps Ember Celica to fight and then she hears movement behind her, and she looks over her shoulder.

The Onyx Phantom is stood behind her, two swords out, one with the blade pointed backwards and the other pointed towards her. She walks slowly, keeping her orange eyes on Yang with little emotion shown on her face. She then looks at the Spectre again as he smirks.

"Remember Me?" He asks her.

Author Note: The choice was decided, all went blue (except for one, but it was outvoted), Oscar has stayed loyal. But what could the consequences of that decision be?

Tell me, who do you really think Time and Vir Nominis Umbra are, do you think they are new characters or do you think they are characters already in the show who have transformed into something more? Or do you think that they are both the same being?

And now Yang has to face the Spectre and the Onyx Phantom at once...

Please review and tell me what you think of these things and let me know of how you feel the story is going so far. Goods and Bads, improvements, stuff like that! I will always listen to feedback and ideas by my readers.

Loving all the support I have been getting so far with this story, thank you all so much!

Stay tuned for the next chapter - The Spectre and the Phantom

Enjoy the story!

- Onyx Phantom