P a treon: p a Treon.(c om) (backslash) themaster4444
Beta-ed by NoXIV
"This is shameful! A knight walks on their own two feet, not lumped over someone's back like a sack of potatoes!"
"Now Mor-Mor, we don't know how much prana you can use when we're still so far away from Jaune, so we can't have you wasting it willy-nilly when we don't have to."
"Then why is he carrying you, my lady?"
"Because silly, Ren loves giving me piggy-back rides! Don't you, Renny?"
Ren sighed, but he couldn't prevent the pleased smirk that came to his lips. "I have become accustomed to the practice."
"Exactly! Also, I can't feel my legs."
"I can feel mine!"
Blake shook her head at Mordred and Nora's banter. Both women were carried on the backs of the boys of the party, Nora gleefully atop Ren while Mordred was reluctantly shouldered by Sun, both piggyback style. Mordred was convinced into the matter for the sake of conserving as much prana as possible, both by avoiding the admittedly minor strain of walking and by remaining in her civilian ensemble, capped off by Yang's brown duster. She had offered to go into spirit form, but they were unsure what would happen so far away from Jaune.
And with Raven and Adam still out there, they couldn't take the risk.
Nora had been all for carrying Mordred herself, but she had collapsed a bit later. With the adrenaline out of her system, her muscles were buckling under the strain from Mordred's lightning. A human body, even one augmented by aura, simply wasn't meant to wield Servant level strength. The Valkyrie's tissue was torn in multiple places, and though her aura could heal it in a few days, she still needed time to rest. Time which they did not have, so Ren offered to carry her.
Nora didn't seem too broken up about the situation.
The group trotted down the fog-ridden path forward, the landscape around them barren and the few trees within their sight bare and spindly.
The entire area put Blake on guard. Something wasn't right. Before they hit Shion, the towns of Anima had been, while not thriving, a relatively stable presence. Afterward, it was like stepping into another world, a lifeless hellscape. Not counting the participants of the fight at Oniyuri, the group hadn't seen another person for ages.
Something had wiped out the towns they should have been finding. The Grimm Ren mentioned at Oniyuri was certainly a possibility, but this close to Mistral, huntsmen would certainly have been sent to defeat the creature. Which meant they had failed to find it…
Or it had wiped them out.
For all their sakes, Blake hoped it was the former.
"Hey" Sun called back as Nora and Ren went ahead. "You okay? I know the stuff with Adam didn't go as well as you'd hoped."
"That bull guy? What were you hoping to get from him, steak?" Mordred taunted with a grin.
Blake sighed. She'd wanted so badly to think that Adam was back to himself, that he had finally returned to the boy she'd grown up with. He had put aside his bloodlust and saved her at Beacon. Lancer and Ilia both believed in his wish for the grail. She had wanted so badly to have been seeing the wrong things, just like she had with Yang at the Vytal Festival.
Instead, she was reminded that not all monsters were surrounded by black smoke. Some knew how to smile so they could slide in the knife.
"Forget about him" she growled. "I made myself see what I wanted to see. He's no better than he was when I left."
"Are you sure?"
Blake raised an eyebrow. "You aren't? You spent the entire time arguing with him."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, he is definitely not someone I would trust. I spent two minutes with the guy and I know that" Sun defended. "It's just… well…"
"Consider your next words carefully before you praise the fool who nearly had me murdered, monkey" Mordred snarled, her grip tightening on Sun's shoulder.
The boy winced. "He's a terrible person. I am not objecting to that in any way. The world would be a whole lot safer if he was locked up in some high-tech Atlas prison. But…"
"Stop stalling" Blake growled.
"He's still a person, alright. I know that's like saying the Beowolf only ate your leg instead of killing you but look at the rest of our enemies. Yang's bandit leader mom who was willing to kill her own brother. A psycho priest who works for the most dangerous hero ever. And the Mother of Grimm. I wouldn't want to be within a hundred miles of Adam on his best day, but compared to them, he's a saint. And if Saber and Archer's last fights are any indication, we need all the help we can get."
Mordred smacked over the back of his head, thankfully not at full power or he would have died. "I was fighting with a strained prana link!"
"And who says you won't be next time we get attacked" Sun countered. "No smart enemy is going to hit you when you're strong, and all of ours seem to be geniuses."
He had a point. After all, Adam had been willing to back off when she'd made her demands. She somehow doubted Raven would have done so if Qrow or Yang had done the same. Maybe if they could get him to believe them about Salem…
No. He already knew about Gilgamesh, and if that didn't convince him, she doubted much else could.
But Lancer believed in him…
Argh! What was wrong with her? She needed to focus.
"We'll keep our ears open" Blake declared. "If Adam wants an alliance, a real alliance, with us, we'll make our decision then. But we can't afford to waste any more effort reaching out to him. Not until we get to Mistral, at least, and even then, Ruby and Jaune should get the final say."
"Bah," Mordred spat. "We should just behead the bastard and be done with it. One less knife aimed at our backs. And I'll show Lancer that I'm greater than my father ever was."
Blake closed a fist at the threat to Lancer, but quickly shook herself free. She needed to find out what was doing this to her. She didn't even know the Servant's name, and yet every time he was mentioned she got weak in the knees. And not the embarrassed weak in the knees like when Mordred mentioned what she thought Merlin would be doing around Ruby. No, this was the wet weak in the knees, the kind she got when she was reading Ninjas of Love or had one of her dreams about Sun, old Adam, and sometimes Yang. Except this felt ten times more potent and it only got worse whenever she saw his face.
If she didn't fix this, she would be a liability when the group finally did confront Adam's party, either by being far too lenient in negotiations or paralyzed in combat. Or worse, what if her obsession became more important than her friends.
She shuttered at the thought of that hell.
"Woe, my faithful Ren" Nora called. "We have arrived at a… crossroads."
Blake and the others ran up to join Ren and Nora, finding the two gazing at a signpost with arrows pointing to various towns along two dirt roads. Nora looked down at Ren, her eyes wet with worry. Ren himself glared hard at the signpost, his hands visibly tightening as they held up his partner.
Sun, not noticing the two's turmoil, smiled at the path to the right. "That's the route to Mistral. We're almost there."
"It doesn't say how close we are" Ren pointed out. "And that path takes us through the mountains."
Blake frowned, glancing at the others' piggyback situation. "That climb might be difficult for you guys."
"We'll manage."
"If Ozpin gets the spell working while we're up there, the others might be teleported of a cliff."
"What about this place?" Mordred inquired, gesturing to a sign leading to the left. "Kuroyuri. What about there?"
Ren looked away. "That village was destroyed years ago."
Sun raised an eyebrow. "But if it takes us around the mountains, isn't it safer?"
"We can get over them before the spell begins and be closer to Mistral."
"But isn't it more important to be safe—"
"We just need to press on!"
Blake took a step back at Ren's outburst. She'd barely ever seen him speak more than one sentence at a time, let alone yell. What could cause him to lash out like that?
"Listen you" Mordred growled. "I don't know what you're thinking, but you're not—"
"Mordred" Nora cut in. "Don't."
The Knight of Treachery immediately shut up.
Blake couldn't blame her. She'd seen Nora pancake crazy, driven to delusion by hot peppers, and even emotionally destroyed by Pyrrha's death. She had never seen her solemn.
It was the most frightened she'd ever been of the girl.
"We can split up" Nora suggested. "Ren and I can manage our way through the mountains while you guys go through Kuroyuri. The link for the spell is Avalon, so it should still work fine."
"Splitting up is what got us into this mess in the first place" Sun argued. "We can't risk it."
"Ren has climbed a King Taijitu while it was trying to eat him. He can handle a mountain, even with me" Nora assured them. "We'll be fine."
"Yeah, you will be" Mordred agreed, a hard gleam in her eyes. "Because we're not splitting up."
"Mordred—"
"Monkey, send a message to my master. Tell them to hold off activating the spell until we give the word. That should give us time to get over the mountains."
Nora blinked in shock. "Wait, you mean…"
"Master gave me orders to protect you two" Mordred declared. "And a knight does not abandon their charge."
She glanced suspiciously down the Kuroyuri route. "No matter what the difficulties."
Nora's eyes became wet with unshed tears. "Mor-Mor…"
"Thank you" Ren nodded in gratitude.
"Don't mention it, boy" Mordred replied. She turned to Blake. "You up for this, Belladonna?"
"Don't I get I say?" Sun protested.
"You're my mount. So, no."
Blake couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips. "I can handle it. I'll watch you guys to make sure none of you fall."
Mordred nodded. "Good. Move out."
"Yes sir, King Mor-Mor!"
Mordred's face went flush immediately. "Wha- What?"
"What? You're giving orders like one, so I might as well call you one" Nora cheered. "Race you to the top! Run Renny!"
"What? Monkey! We cannot be beaten!"
"My name is Sun, not 'monkey'."
"Just charge! Why is my Riding Skill not working?"
"Because I'm not an animal!"
Blake laughed as the pairs dashed off into the distance. She'd keep an eye on them. She wouldn't let any of them fall.
She couldn't.
RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFATEFATEFATEFATE
"You sure about this, kiddo?" Qrow asked warily.
"I've got to learn how to control them some time, Uncle Qrow" Ruby reminded him. "Ozpin is resting and when he's ready to go, he'll need to focus on the spell, so we can join the others before something else happens. Archer is the only one who can teach me about this trigger phrase stuff."
"Summer told me a little about it."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "A little isn't enough right now and you know it. We're on the back foot as it is. If I can't figure out how to use my eyes without killing myself, we lose our best weapon against the other Servants."
Qrow grumbled, but she knew he was convinced, as much as he wished otherwise. "I get to be there whenever you're training, got it?"
Ruby nodded. "Got it."
She closed her eyes and reached out. 'Archer, can you—'
"Already here, master."
Ruby smiled as her Servant appeared in physical form, a slight frown on his face. "Alright. You ease dropped on my talk with Ozpin, right?"
"I may have heard a little" he confessed. "Though even if your power truly does come from Alaya, whatever assistance I can offer will be limited at best."
"Fan-freaking-tastic" Qrow muttered.
"At this point, I'll take what I can get" Ruby stated.
Archer nodded. "Very well. First, it's crucial for you to understand the concept. When a mage uses an aria, they do so to prompt their body into activating their magic circuits in a certain pattern. Sending prana following through the system is not natural, so this memorization aids in the function. Often, the words themselves mean less than the feeling attached to them. A feeling radiating from the heart of your very being. Your soul itself."
"My soul?" Ruby mumbled putting a hand to her heart.
She knew that souls were real, her aura and semblance came from them obviously, but she didn't usually think of it in such an ethereal manner. The idea that she was not her body, but something else, something invisible and untouchable seemed a lot more spiritual than her average thoughts. That high concept stuff was Blake and Weiss' territory.
"How do I know what words I'm looking for? Can I just pick any random poem and use that?" she inquired.
"You're not listening. The words don't matter" Archer reminded her. "The feeling is what's important, and even then, it will usually layer itself with more than just words. When I first began tracing, I had to say, 'Trace On' every time I projected for maximum results, but as I became more experienced I only had to imagine the firing of the hammer of a gun."
"I thought you sucked at making guns?"
"It's magic. It doesn't always make sense" Archer refuted. "Nonetheless, we at least have a starting point to work off of."
"What do you mean?" Qrow asked suspiciously. "What starting point?"
"She's already used her eyes three times before, hasn't she?" Archer pointed out. He turned to Ruby. "You need to relive those moments when your powers activated. Look past the events that triggered them and try to discern what happened within you when it happened. I'll monitor your mystical output, so you don't accidentally hurt yourself, or me."
Qrow growled in discontent, but in the end looked to Ruby worriedly. "You sure about this, pipsqueak?"
Ruby paused for a moment and then nodded. "We need this power. And I need to know I can control it, that I won't kill anyone else I care about." She couldn't let anyone else die like Arturia.
Qrow sighed. "Alright then. Be careful."
"Sit down and close your eyes" Archer instructed. "When you feel my hands on your head, think about what you were feeling when the eyes activated."
Ruby nodded and sat cross-legged on the soft grass. When she felt Archer's callused palms on her skull, she began.
Archer threw her aside.
Berserker's charge blasted her with a typhoon.
Archer was smashed through a dozen tree trunks, cast helplessly on the ground.
Berserker loomed over him, his massive stone sword raised.
Archer was helpless.
He was going to die.
She had to save him.
CHI-CHUN!
Crescent Rose unfurled.
Silver light shined.
Was that it? The feeling of having to try to save him? Could the need of her Silver Eyes trigger their powers?
No. She and her friends had been in danger plenty of times without them going off.
She needed more.
Maybe the first time would provide clues.
Chaos.
Chaos everywhere.
People screamed and yelled in terror. Crowds desperately rushed to escape the stadium.
Pyrrha knelt in horror on the arena floor, catatonic in the face of what she'd done.
The scrap that was once Penny was strewn across the field.
A Griffon smashed through the dome of the coliseum. The winged demon charged down below, its talons primed to tear the young huntress apart.
Jaune shouted.
Pyrrha did not move.
Ruby did.
She slashed the Grimm's face.
Pyrrha did not move.
She was helpless.
She was going to die.
Ruby had to save her.
CHI-CHUN!
Crescent Rose unfurled.
#%*&% *%&$#
Silver light shined.
"Master." Archer's voice was like a far-off shout, barely hearable in her meditation. "I've got something. Whatever you're doing, it's working."
"Your eyes are shining! Keep it up, kiddo!"
There was only one place left to look.
Her failure.
Her shame.
Beacon Tower stood deceptively tall as hell raged all around it.
Grimm marauded through the halls of the school, the monsters finally within their enemy's stronghold.
Smoke billowed into the air, her weary body barely rising from the decimated courtyard.
Weiss and Uncle Qrow limped among the rubble, their bodies sagging with exhaustion. The man in the black robes, Kirei, flew at them, magic coursing through his fists.
By the stairs, the King of Knights embraced her son, desperately shielding him from the other.
The King.
He had other titles, but that was his truest adornment. Within his entire world, there was none that stood mightier than him.
It must have been a lonely peak.
Was there another, a friend who stood with him once?
Gold burst into being in the air behind him, wondrous weapons slowly edging themselves out of each. All aimed at those she loved.
They were helpless.
They were going to die.
Ruby had to save them.
CHI-CHUN!
Crescent Rose unfurled.
#$*%! %l#$%
"RUBY STOP!"
Something madly shook Ruby. She instantly opened her eyes.
Uncle Qrow gripped her shoulders, desperately pushing her back and forth. His eyes were wide with terror.
"Ugh…" she groaned. "What is it?"
Qrow sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Don't scare me like that, pipsqueak. Thought you were going to tear this whole place apart."
"What do you mean—"
Ruby's voice trailed off as she saw her surroundings, her jaw dropping to the ground. The trees surrounding the clearing had been annihilated. Not cut down or smashed like Berserker had done but flattened. The massive trunks that had once stood proudly had been crushed to splinters, with even the stumps reduced to rubble. She and Uncle Qrow sat in the middle of a crater.
"Did I—wait. Where's Archer?"
"Right here, master. Don't worry."
Ruby whirled around. Archer knelt at the edge of what was once the clearing, his arm raised before him as five layers of cracked pink energy faded away. The Servant dusted himself up and rose to his feet.
"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting nearly that much power" he admitted. "If I had stayed any closer, I don't know if Rho Aias could have held."
Ruby sighed in relief but was internally terrified at his words. She'd lost control, again. If Uncle Qrow hadn't snapped her out of it, she could have killed Archer. And judging by the crater she'd left, maybe Qrow too.
She couldn't be this powerful.
She shouldn't be this powerful.
No person should be.
"It's not your fault, kiddo" Qrow comforted her. "You were doing fine until the end there."
Archer nodded. "Indeed. The flow of magic within you was consistent and stable. Your eyes were glowing, but something triggered a surge."
"It was a word" Ruby declared. "There was some word running through my head. Or maybe two words. I'm not sure. I couldn't really make it out. But it was… powerful."
That seemed to be insufficient. The word wasn't just powerful, it was an awakening, a genesis of creation and destruction tearing apart her mind and the world around her. She hadn't completely believed Ozpin when he said her powers could kill her but now… killing her was the least it could do.
"Stay away from that word" Qrow suggested. "At least for now, until we get a better handle on this. Hell knows Summer's never did anything like this."
"What happened before the word?" Archer inquired. "Were there any sounds, any images?"
"No, not that I can—"
Ruby's eyes widened. She leaped to her feet and snatched her weapon off her belt. She hit the trigger for it to change forms.
CHI-CHUN!
Crescent Rose unfurled.
Ruby smiled. Of course, it was her baby. The sound of her weapon, the scythe-sniper rifle she made, unleashing itself to do what must be done. Students at Signal Academy all made their own weapons, and despite her many prototypes, it was Crescent Rose that she labored away for hundreds of hours to forge.
The sound of its mecha shift was the proof that it was with her. To save as many people as it could.
The sound of rising to the call of heroism.
What else could it have been?
Soft silver light illuminated the edge of Ruby's vision. It lanced away and coated the scythe blade in a brilliant ethereal shine. Her head didn't hurt a bit.
Archer smirked. "Alright then. That's a start."
And so everyone moves forward towards their fate.
Blake struggles with her emotions and Lancer's curse while Mordred keeps the party together as the Nuckelavee draws near.
Meanwhile, Ruby learns more about her silver eyes as hints of what's to come take shape. Some of you may take issue with Ruby somehow being the most powerful silver eyed warrior ever, but I assure you there is a reason for that. Just, like a few other subtle changes, the reason won't be revealed until the end of Act 2- Beginning of Act Three.
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!