RWBY is property of Roosterteeth, I only own my characters.
Chapter 53
A man with black hair and green eyes walked down a road among tall buildings. In his arms he carried the groceries he had bought at his wife's bequest. While his current lifestyle lacked the excitement that his youth had contained, marauding about with Charles and the others, Lem Cadellin would not trade it for the world. He loved hearing his daughter's voice every time he came back from work or an errand. Without fail, Anise was always waiting behind the door.
The brief thoughts about his childhood home reminded Lem of something. Didn't Charles have a son and daughter around the same age as his Anise? She would probably enjoy meeting them and making some new friends. He hadn't actually been back to the town since his mother had passed away. That was something he should correct. Lem smiled to himself, remembering good times spent with them.
Life in the city was more difficult than Lem had expected originally, but it was still relatively easy to manage. He had to be cautious and keep his ability under wraps at all times. The last thing he needed was for his normal neighbors to mistake him for a member of the Order. The organization had been stirring up a lot of trouble for the last few years, and people who were suspected of being members were treated more than harshly by normal humans.
Lem entered through the door of the apartment complex he had called home for the last six years. He and his wife had moved into the building right before Anise had been born. He pressed the button for the elevator, to which there was no response. He shrugged, assuming the contraption had broken again. He turned towards the stairs and began his trek up to the fifth floor on foot.
As he neared the door to his home, Lem pulled his keys from his pocket. He stopped as he noticed the door was slightly ajar. He returned the keys to their original place, and gently pushed the door inward. His home was a mess. Papers and broken glass littered the floor.
"Anise? Val?" Lem called into the apartment. A foreboding feeling settled itself in his stomach. Then he saw it, Anise's favorite doll, laying abandoned on the floor. A drop of blood stained the stuffed toy's face, and more specks of the liquid led out the door. Lem dropped his grocery bags and followed the trail as best he could. The steady intervals of spots traveled down the building's second flight of stairs, and out of a maintenance exit into an alleyway. Lem continued to follow the path through the interwoven alleys of the city. The trail stopped abruptly outside an abandoned structure several blocks from his home. The wooden panels used to board up the condemned structure had been pried from their proper places and lay thrown to the ground.
Lem took a deep breath and pushed his way in through the door, letting some of his power collect in his hands. The building was dimly lit by light filtering in from the afternoon sun, causing Lem to eye the waving shadows around him warily. He followed the winding hallways of the building, looking for any open doors his wife and little girl could be in. He spotted a pair of doors, both unlocked. The one of Lem's left was slightly open, and he saw a woman's hand laying limp on the ground. Any sense of caution was thrown to the wind as he burst through the door. Val, his wife, lay unmoving on the ground. She was bruised, looking like she had put up a fight before having her throat cut. Lem tried futilely to find any sign of a pulse from his wife. Then he saw the second form lying on her side on the floor.
"A-Anise?" He shook his daughter's limp form. "Honey, wake up." She fell onto her back like a puppet with its strings cut. Lem's heart broke at that very moment. A wide, gaping, bloody hole had been blown in his little girl's chest. The mix of pain and shock was still frozen on her face. "Anise, no. No!" He picked her form up in arms and rocked back and forth gently, sobbing as he did. It was all a bad dream. It had to be.
"Knew if we made it obvious we'd catch the big one." A voice said from behind him. Lem weakly looked towards the form of a trio of large men standing in the door. He recognized them. They were his neighbors, people he had lived alongside for half a decade peacefully.
"W-why? Why would you do this?" The Bloodline felt tears streaming down his face.
"We weren't happy to learn that a couple of freaks and their spawn were livin' right next door. We did what any proper person would do, and we removed the monsters." One of the men shrugged. Lem's rage broke. He gently set Anise on the ground, rose, and turned around.
"SHE WAS A CHILD! I SEE NO MONSTERS EXCEPT THOSE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!" He rushed forward and attacked. He made sure to leave nothing left.
Lem had given his family a proper burial as best he could. He gathered his belongings and wandered aimlessly. Every time he saw a normal person, his blood boiled angrily. Eventually, he had decided to join the Order. Lem had briefly returned to his hometown to bid his last goodbyes to Charles and Marie. He'd have liked to say his farewell to Aiko and Kyle as well, but Aiko had moved to Japan with her husband, and he had not heard from Kyle in years.
After trying for months to contact the Order, Lem succeeded, and found himself standing before the High Lord of the organization, Esprit, the Bloodline of the Soul. He learned that as the Bloodline of Wind, he would be granted a position as a Lord himself, given enough leeway to pursue vengeance against the humans that had taken everything from him. He had agreed without hesitation.
"Then today, Lem Cadellin has died." Esprit had said, "And in his place shall rise Vortex, Bloodline of Wind, Lord of the Order. I welcome you to the fold, and the new world we will create."
Vortex cradled Anise in his arms. She looked exactly the same as when she had died. Her dark hair was still the messy mop it had always been. The green eyes she had inherited from him gazed back into his own.
"...Daddy?" She asked.
"Yes, Anise...it's Daddy." He nodded weakly.
"W-where are we? Where's Mommy?" She looked around the unfamiliar room around her. "Do the bad men still have her?"
"...Anise...Honey, I'm so sorry..." Vortex held her close. "I failed to keep you and Mommy safe..."
"Don't cry, Daddy..." the little girl replied. She noticed the other people in the room, staring at her and her father. "Who are they? Are they with the bad men?"
"No...they won't hurt you..." Vortex slowly removed his sidearm and sword from his belt and placed them on the floor of the chamber. He slid them towards his old friend and the EDC. "Charles...I surrender."
Charles stepped over the weapons on the floor, walking towards the downed Lord. He extended a hand for him to take.
"Is it over?"
"...Yes..." Vortex appreciatively took the offer of help to his feet. "...It is finished..."
"You going to be alright?"
"The temple drained me...I am not sure how badly..."
"Take it easy, then."
"I realize...I have much to answer for...but...Anise...this is your Uncle Charles...he is an old friend of mine."
"H-hello, U-Uncle Charles." The little girl greeted from behind Vortex's leg.
"Hello, Anise. It's nice to meet you."
While Charles dealt with the weakened Vortex and his child, Alex pressed his radio to alert the combined force outside of their victory.
"Arthur, we got it. It's done." Only static answered the Major, "Arthur? Entrance team, come in." Silence.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about them." A voice normally laced with eerie joy said, only now, it was filled with malice. Alex and the others turned and immediately raised their weapons at the figure that had quietly entered through the doors into the altar chamber. Chaos grinned madly, dropping Mac's lifeless corpse to the ground. The twin doors of the chamber closed behind him. "I'd worry more about yourselves. Oh, your Guardian pal managed to get the other two away from me, in case you were wondering. I'd have liked to bring all four of them with me, but I had to settle for just this one idiot that though he could hold me off alone." Alex saw blood begin to seep from cleanly pierced wounds in Mac's body.
"You've lost, Chaos. There's not enough Void Dust left for you to make a wish with."
"Yeah, I'm real broken up about that...but, you see...I never really put much stock into legends anyway. I am a bit miffed that Vortex wasted a wish for anything on bringing back a little girl." Chaos shrugged, "Doesn't really matter...you're all going to die here anyway, Vortex included."
"You insane bas-" Vortex started.
"Ah, ah! No swearing in front of your kid." Chaos looked at Charles, who moved to the front of the group. "Terror. I've been looking forward to fighting you again. Do you have any idea how exciting it is to get to kill the same person twice?" Charles leveled his shortsword at the Lord and entered a readied stance. "No chatting this time, huh? Then let's play."
Alex had a moment to react, grabbing Luna and Ruby and pulling them to the side as Chaos unleashed his shadowy blades upon them. Charles' ability flared, and the shadows were quickly incinerated by a blast of violet flames. Alex jumped to his feet and dragged the two girls behind the altar for cover. The other occupants of the room had the same idea, taking up position beside the Major.
Unlike the last time they had fought in the White Fang base, Charles was giving Chaos no openings to warp away, made easier with the assistance of Weiss' glyphs to close the distance on the rival Bloodline. A constant barrage of slashes and blasts kept the Lord on the defensive, but Charles could not seem to gain the advantage either.
Alex took shots of opportunity as he saw them, peppering Chaos with bullets in an attempt to either wound to distract him. Dimitri set his machine gun up, keeping the weapon trained on the two combatants. As Charles jumped to the side of one of Chaos' blades, the Russian poured the weapon's hundred round belt of ammunition at the Lord. The younger Bloodline flinched for a moment before encasing himself in a sphere of his shadows to protect himself. Seeing the opportunity, the others opened fire with their own weapons. Carbon's plasma rifle poured its entire charge into the dark shield, smoking and overheating in the man's hands. Firo, Luna, and Ryland introduced the barrier to their conventional rifles, bullet's ricocheting off the spherical entity upon impact. Weiss continued to concentrate on increasing Charles' combat effectiveness with her semblance, while Winter guarded her in case Chaos teleported. Ruby planted Crescent Rose in the ground and rapidly squeezed off shot after shot. Blake and Yang contributed by emptying their weapons as well.
The shadows could not withstand the cascade of attacks. They crumbled and cracked under the assault. Chaos leaped back out of the sphere as it shattered like glass, raising four smaller blades in its place.
"Alright, it's been fun, everyone..." the Lord panted, "...but it's time to say goodbye." The four blades he had summoned began to spin and detach from their wielder. With a flick of his hand, the shadows spiraled through the air like spears. Charles deflected the two that had sailed towards him, but was unable to stop the other pair from impaling the crystal upon the altar. Alex tackled Luna and Ruby to the floor and covered them with his body as the crystal shattered into pieces. The voice of the temple died without uttering a word to any of them, but Alex could swear he heard the word "free" whispered as the shards scattered around them.
In the moment of confusion, Chaos summoned yet another blade. Alex saw the Lord's form morph as he prepared an illusion. Where Chaos had stood, now was the image of Charles' son, Jerloh.
As Charles whirled to strike, he froze. The illusion of his son laughed.
"You know, this is how I killed you last time too." The blade shot forward.
"CHARLES!" The Bloodline of Fear was knocked to the ground. Chaos' blade planted itself firmly in the gut of the man who had pushed his friend to the ground.
"Wow, Vortex. Trying to make amends all of a sudden?" the young Bloodline chuckled gleefully. "Going soft will cost yo-" Chaos jumped as he felt cold steel stab into his own abdomen. He looked down to see Vortex's blade thrust into his stomach. "You bastard!" The Lord twisted and wrenched the shadowy blade from his opponent's chest. The older man hit the floor with a sickening thud.
"Lem!" Charles yelled as his friend dropped beside him.
"Dammit!" Chaos screeched angrily, "WHY WON'T YOU ALL JUST DIE!?" Charles pulled Vortex with him as he rolled to avoid a downward stab of a shadow. Alex leveled his rifle at the crazed Aura's head. It clicked empty. He had only a short window to potentially kill the psychopath, and made a decision.
"Chaos. Why won't we die?" Alex tossed his rifle aside and charged at the Bloodline, "Because we have something to fight for!" The Major grabbed Vortex's blade and pushed forward. Chaos screamed as the sword was pushed all the way through his body. "Now, do me a favor and keel over yourself." Alex primed his armor's shock gauntlets and released the electrical charge into the blade. One of Chaos' shadows slashed across the soldier's chest, leaving a deep gash in his armor and sending him flying. The Lord staggered back, blood coming from both the wound in his gut and his mouth as he coughed.
"No. NO! I WILL NOT DIE HERE LIKE THIS! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED BY SUCH WORTHLESS CREATURES! I AM CHAOS! I CANNOT BE EXTINGUISHED!" He screamed hysterically.
"Just shut up already!" Dimitri yelled back, firing at the crazed Lord. His bullets whistled through the air...only to strike nothing as Chaos vanished from sight. Vortex's blade hung in the air for a second before clattering loudly to the ground. The bleeding Bloodline's voice sounded from the other side of the closed chamber doors.
"MARK MY WORDS, I WILL DESTROY EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! AND WHEN I DO, IT WILL BE AGONIZING!"
Ryland and Carbon ran for the doors and kicked them open, only to be greeted by an empty hallway. The younger of the two lowered his weapon with a huff of frustration and yelled out into the vacant corridor.
"I hope you bleed out, you bastard!"
"Daddy?" Anise sat by her father's side with Charles. "Daddy, wake up, please." Tears rolled down her cheeks as Lem's body remained motionless. Despite the amount of pain he had suffered, the Bloodline had passed with a calm smile on his face. "Uncle Charles, what do we do?" Anise asked desperately.
"...Go with the others for now...they'll look after you."
"I wanna stay here with Daddy!" She cried.
"Anise..." Charles looked at the tear-streaked face before him. "...Alright, we'll stay with him until you're ready..." Dammit, Lem, you could at least have had the decency to not die as my friend...
Several hours later, after being patched up by an Atlesian medic and Luna, Alex walked down the halls of the Corvette. The slash across his chest had gone cleanly through the armor, creating a long, jagged gash that traveled diagonally upward from his waist to his left clavicle. It still ached dully.
Still, pain wasn't going to keep him from what needed to be done. Luna and Ruby were both walking beside him in case he needed help. The three of them entered onto the bridge. Alex counted the heads present, feeling pangs of heartache as he noted the missing face of Mac. Among the forces from Earth, he had been their only loss, but the Atlesians and the army of Vale were both hurting badly. Grimm and Shades had easily picked off over half of their number, and the other half was filled with countless wounded.
He had managed to keep his promise to Ruby...the twelve that had entered the temple had all returned alive. Anika, Arthur, and Emerald were still being patched up in the medbay from their encounter with Chaos, but they would live. He had seen Vio and Adam in the medbay as well, and the two Faunus assured him that their group was unharmed for the most part, thanks to Zephyr.
Alex hobbled up to Barnes, who was waiting patiently. He banished further thoughts of the injured and fallen. The General turned to him.
"Good work as always, Alex."
"Not sure I'd say that, Sir. Chaos got away..."
"That's true, but overall this was a win...a costly win...but a win." Barnes nodded. "Chaos will run and hide to go lick his wounds and gather his strength. He's on his own now."
"The Order is gone?"
"A good chunk of them. Most are dead or have surrendered. A handful managed to scatter, but I doubt many of them would be willing to work with that maniac."
"Is it too much to hope he'll just die from his injuries?" Alex tried to joke.
"Unfortunately, Alex, we both know Bloodlines are sturdy bastards."
"Yeah..." Alex stared out the window at the temple below. "We're sure it's harmless now?"
"Fairly...but James and I agree it's better to be safe than sorry. We've primed high explosives inside the structure itself. Without the crystal you described, it seems the building is no longer indestructible. Actually, the bombs should be going off right about- Oh, there they go." Alex moved closer to the glass to watch the temple as it caved inward on itself. The golden lights running along its sides flickered and died. The beacon shooting into the air wavered and dispersed. In a few short moments, the once grand structure was reduced to an unrecognizable pile of debris.
"What do we do now?" Luna asked from Alex's side, joining him to watch the dust in the air settle to the ground.
"Chaos is still out there. He could lay low for months, even years. Until he's dead, our job's not done."
"And when he does show up again?" Ruby joined the pair. Alex patted the girl's head.
"Then we'll be waiting...and we'll be ready."
A/N: It's far from perfect, but damn it felt good to write this at long last. Only the epilogue remains, at which time I will announce the plans for this AU and more. Thanks to all of you that have stuck with me for this long.
As I said, Legends Scatter has now run all but one last chapter of its course. Fear not though, for after I post the epilogue and take a break for a while, we'll get right back into the adventures of the characters you've come to know.
Reviews, Follows, and Favorites are always appreciated! Let me know what you think with one of those if you want. Also, got a question for me? Go ahead and leave one in a review, or if you don't want to share the question, send me a PM. As long as its not overly personal, I'll answer it.
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Holy crap, eleven reviews for a single chapter. You guys are awesome. A big thank you to: Vostok4142, Skaana, Corey, Arukune, Hn117, Zachshadrack, Waterlord369, AnalPoptarts, Welcometodalolz, and the one unnamed guest. Thank you again for the words of support and encouragement. It may sound cliche, but what makes this worth it is for people to enjoy what I produce.
