A Destiny Burned Away
Pt. II
Cinder looked up at the remains of the Ancient One. The Grimm's stone head laying on its side on the ground, its maw wide open at the moment of death by the hand of that girl. Just thinking of what Ruby had done here made her eye itch, it took everything in her power to not pry the mask off her face and scratch the back of her eye socket. After everything, she still remembered waking up in a pool of her own blood screaming in pain.
Forcing herself to look away from the stone corpse, Cinder continued to tread through the knee-deep water towards her goal, the Relic hidden in the Academy. Behind her, Vernal kept close, her constant whimpering at every sudden sound kept to a minimum while Adam Taurus followed them with four White Fang grunts in his retinue. Despite the loss of the Ancient One, Adam and his White Fang played their part beautifully.
As promised, Mistral had fallen. The city was known for its prejudice towards Faunus in its lower sections despite how much work people tried to eradicate it. It was Human nature to hate what was different. Bodies floated in the flooded streets, Cinder was struggling to ignore the smell that surrounded them. The water had taken a pink tinge to it with all the blood that was being mixed in. The group had to watch their steps as entire blocks had sunken into the depths below them, and there was no telling just how deep the water went.
That's how they lost three members of the White Fang already.
It was a long trip up to the Academy, thankfully for Cinder, the path up the side of the twin mountains remained intact, and they could finally get out of the water. From above, the carnage was even worse to look at. Entire chunks of the city were lost, and she could see packs of roaming Grimm sniffing for survivors. Cinder was glad for the silence in the group; she did grow tired of the constant questions coming from Adam's men, so she made it perfectly clear what would happen to the next one who spoke up.
Reaching the top of the path, the Fall Maiden silently rejoiced that her goal was so close at hand, but something tickled at the back of her mind. On the way up to the Academy, the dead were everywhere, but here, in front of the academy grounds, not a single body could be seen. This was the most heavily fortified position since this location would have housed most, if not all of the high command of whatever was left of Mistral's government. Pushing the thought from her mind, Cinder walked past the gates and into a war zone.
Despite the relative unharmed exterior of the ground walls, the inside was all but destroyed. Massive craters and scorched walls were everywhere she looked. Whatever fight took place inside the grounds was large. If Cinder did not know better, an entire building was cleaved in half by what could only be described as a massive sword. The White Fang soldiers looked around in awe, this was probably their first time being so high up in Mistral, where the rich and famous looked down on everyone else.
Walking through the battlefield, she pushed open the doors of the CCT tower and stopped at the scene in front of her.
Laying on the ground in the middle of the room was Lionheart, the headmaster of Haven Academy. His arms and legs spread out, and an entire skeleton mirroring his form on the ground above his head. Cinder would have guessed someone took time to harvest the bones from the myriad of bodies that lined the walls of the room if Lionheart did not look like a deflated balloon on the ground already.
Lining the walls were eleven corpses. All pinned by their hands, all burned to a crisp except for three that were hanging just behind the statue that stood at the base of a raised platform. Carved into their foreheads were numbers; two, three and five who were in the middle. She felt her anger rise and the itch grow in intensity seeing the display in front of her. The sibling's particular brand of cruelty was starting to grate on her nerves.
Who they were, did not matter to Cinder. What pissed her off was they obviously targeted someone that looked like Cinder when she was younger, even going so far to cut her hair and pluck an eye out of her face to mock her even more. She could hear murmurs from the grunts behind her, dismayed by the sheer display of brutality before them. Ignoring them, Cinder walked towards the deflated corpse of Lionheart and saw a pocket watch in the palm of his skeleton.
Picking it up, she walked up to the statue and placed it in the corresponding hand. The siblings even went so far as to paint the hand red with blood to help her figure out this simple puzzle. When she placed the pocket watch in its home, she felt the statue vibrate and the plate it was one start to move. Everyone quickly raced to not be left behind in a room filled with death, and they descended into the bowels the tower.
It took far too long for them to reach the Vault, but a smile crossed her face when the shaft opened up into the cave. The platform was resting over a pitch-black drop surrounded by sheer stone walls. High above, a tree with glowing orange petals falling slowly to the ground littered the pathway. In front of it was a large smooth stone with a massive doorframe.
But the door was missing.
The smile was wiped off her face as she stared in disbelief at the scene in front of her. This was impossible. As soon as the platform landed, Cinder ran forward to where the door that led to the Relic was supposed to be. Touching the stone, she tried to find a seam or clue to enter the Vault, but it was just gone.
Someone had gotten here before her.
Laughter filled the chamber and Cinder felt her blood boil.
Turning to see who it was, she saw Vernal staring at her, tears running down her one eye while she struggled to stay standing. "I can't fucking believe this!" She shouted out while gesturing towards Cinder. "I can't believe you trusted them!"
"Where is it," Cinder demanded. "Where is the Relic?!"
"I don't fucking know what you're talking about!" Vernal shouted at her. "I don't know anything about Relics or Maidens or anything you people are talking about! Vernal isn't even my name!"
No, no, this was all a lie, it had to be.
"I was just someone they grabbed, they told me to say the things I needed to say. Ripped the bones out of my arm one at a time while telling me my name was Vernal. Ripped my eye out, telling me that I'm going to be your maiden. Everything they did to me, everything the said to me, was to hurt you."
Cinder's hand shook as she grabbed Vernal by her shirt and threw her across the platform. Her body smacked the doorframe, and she fell to the ground in a scream. "They fucking lied to me! You lied to me!" The land around her began to glow from heat pouring out of her body. Vernal laughed again, blood seeping from her mouth.
"You're pathetic," She said as she spat a bloody wad in Cinder's direction. "Compared to them, you're nothing!"
Cinder had heard enough from this woman. Turning in place, she crafted a spear on black glass and threw it right at the false maiden. It streaked through the air and impaled her, pinning her to the stone. She gasped and struggled to grip the spear, trying to dislodge it. "YOU WILL BE SILENT!" Cinder screamed at her. Her breath was quick and heavy. Her mind racing, picturing how Ash and Ember would be laughing when they find out Cinder had played her part perfectly.
"Everything was planned from the start, bitch!" Even impaled, the woman still spoke. "They told me everything, every little detail from what you wear to how you speak. Hell, even what path you took up here, they knew everything before you did! They even told me what to say when you spoke to me. Like a child!"
"SHUT UP!"
"What's wrong?" She asked, a bloody smile on her face. "Upset you got outsmarted by them again, number five?"
Cinder raised her hand, and the spear ignited. Vernal began to scream as her flesh began to cook her from the inside. Her clothing was burned away, spreading the fire across her body as Cinder continued to increase the heat further and further until her flesh combusted around her weapon. She watched the scene with a sense of catharsis until her screams turned to laughter.
"Everything burns, number five!" She screamed like a lunatic. "Everyone burns!"
The laughter quickly faded away as Vernal's blood boiled, and her brain was cooked inside her skull. Her last words echoing in the void as her fury increased with every second. She was right, if Vernal had tried to pull this stunt with Ash and Ember, her life would have been stretched for as long as it could while they tortured her for the rest of her life, making every breath she took a living hell. Cinder granted her mercy compared to them.
"So, what do-" Cinder turned and gave the White Fang member who dared to speak in her presence a backhand so powerful his body combusted immediately, and he was sent flying into the void below them screaming. Taking deep breaths, she slowly began to raign her anger back in, while staring down at where she sent the grunt. The itch in her eye hole receding slowly.
"So, what do we do now?" Asked Adam. Everyone except the man flinched when her attention was drawn to him. With deep breaths, Cinder remembered that without Adam, the White Fang would not follow her plans. But he raised a good point, what was she supposed to do now? She had failed her task to bring the Relic back to Salem. She could not return empty-handed again, not after she did the same thing at Beacon.
The thought of Beacon made her eye itch, and she was reminded of when everything went to shit for her.
"Ready your forces," Cinder finally said as she composed herself. "We're pushing the timeline ahead," She walked past the White Fang and stood on the platform. They gave her as much room as they could on the platform, except for Adam, who stood next to her, waiting for the order. There was only one place that the survivours of Mistral would go, the last bastion of hope in this godless world. The only place she knew where everyone who vexed her would be.
"Atlas will fall,"
People rushed back and forth down the crowded corridors of the Mantle of Responsibility. Ozpin was not sure what to think of the name of such a massive ship, but he gave credit where credit was due for honouring Mantle in such a way. He wondered if more ships were in the works with similar a naming scheme for the other kingdoms. Perhaps Ozpin would suggest that to James the next chance he gets.
Speaking of. Ozpin watched as James Ironwood walked up to him with a sigh. "Sorry about that," James began as they resumed their walk through the corridors before the general was pulled away by a passing officer. "Three more members of my senior staff had been put in the brig for their connection to Watts. After everything that's happened tonight, I'm stretched a little thin,"
"Hm, Yes." Ozpin hummed as he brought his mug up to his mouth. "It's hard work ruling the world," the heavy sigh from James brought a slight smile to Ozpin's face. He really should not be teasing his friend like this, but it was hard not to.
"Please don't to phrase it like that, I never intended to hold such a position,"
"Neither did I. And, speaking from experience, you're not doing a terrible job," Ozpin then leaned in to speak quietly to the general. "And you didn't even have to use a magical, all-destroying sword to do so,"
"Ozpin!" James snapped while he quickly looked around to see if anyone overheard him. Ozpin could not help the little laugh coming from his lips as they continued their way through the dreadnaught. "Could you not?!"
"I'm sorry, my friend. We should continue that conversation in private, shouldn't we,"
"Yes, we should," James opened the door to his office on the ship and closed the door behind them. For as much as a technological marvel, the dreadnaught was, the office of the commanding officer was quite traditional. A large wooden desk sitting on top of a vibrant blue rug baring the symbol that had come to represent Atlas as a kingdom. Wooden bookshelves lined a wall with a map of Remnant on the other wall with a series of markings and lines are drawn across it. It was apparent James did not decorate it himself, there was far too much stuff for the general.
"So," James said as he sat down in his seat behind the large desk. "Where have you been for the last five years?" Ozpin took the chair across from him and collected his thoughts while taking another sip.
"I've been staying in an old cabin I used to live in a very long time ago," There was no point in lying to the man about such a trivial point. "Which reminds me, you'll need to send a Bullhead out there to collect Ceil Soleil,"
"She's alive?"
"Yes, I'm sorry for taking her from you, but without Glynda, I needed someone of her skill to help me manage my resources behind the scenes," At the mention of her name, the weight of the broken spectacles in his pocket grew with his guilt. He chose to remember her as she was; A stern look and quick to correct others and not the half corpse he found on the city street.
A silence broke out between the two of them. That woman meant so much to them, she could quickly broker a sense of peace when they started arguing about the correct course of action. "I'll make sure to send a Bullhead the next chance we get." James let out a breath and leaned back in his chair and just stared at Ozpin for a few moments. "What's happening, Ozpin,"
"Salem is-"
"Not with the world, we can work through that," James interrupted him. "I meant, what's happening with you, you don't make jokes, let alone jokes like that," he pointed to the door where they had just come from. "I may not know you very well, but I like to think I know you enough to know a few tells when you're stressed out or worried, but wasn't either. What's wrong?"
Ozpin leaned forward and set his mug down onto the desk. "I'm stressed because this is the second global war I've had to end, albeit from the shadows, using proxies and gentle nudges here and there. And I'm worried because Raven Brawen still hasn't come back yet with the Relic of Knowledge."
"Do you think she took it and ran?"
"Even if she did, at least the Relic would be out of Salem's hands, and she would keep it safe." Ozpin slipped his tinted glasses off his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. It had been a very long night, and not even the contents of his drink were helping him anymore with the sun already risen. He could tell James was about to say something when an announcement came over the intercoms, requesting General Ironwood to go somewhere. "Duty calls," Ozpin smiled.
"We can talk more about what to do next after some rest," James got out of his seat and began to make his way towards the door. "You can rest in my quarters, the room I would give to you is still being cleaned, blood is impossible to get out of rugs."
"I think that room might be more suited for your newest Specialists to share," Ozpin said as he looked out the window that took up the entire wall behind the desk overlooking Mistral's smoke trails as it grew distant. "The three of them will need the space."
"How do you do that?" James asked as he turned to face him.
"Do what?"
"That," He pointed at Ozpin, "Knowing exactly what's going to happen and already having a four-step plan ahead of time, you brought Winter a cure while we were still struggling to figure out what it was and now this,"
"Patterns, James," Was Ozpin's simple answer. "When you've been alive for as long as I have, you'll find that patterns tend to repeat, no matter how long it's been," the most natural lie to tell was one that was a half-truth. Another announcement stopped any reply James had on his lips, so he just nodded and headed out the door. Ozpin had waited a couple of seconds before letting a deep breath out and leaning his elbows on his knees. Rubbing his face, he tried to centre his thoughts and have a clear mind.
James was right, Ozpin was not stressed or worried.
He was terrified.
The more he looked into the Tides of Calamity to find answers to impossible questions for himself, the more worlds he found were devoid of life. A red sandstorm in one. Another was filled with red water as far as the eye could see. Whatever was happening, it was spreading across the Tides, and he had no idea what causes it. It was not even that all that lived was now dead, it felt like all of creation had been eradicated from those Tides he had walked.
Slowly but surely, the Tides of Calamity were running red like roses.
"We write songs about it and poetry, and sweet stories,
But people hurting each other will never become pretty.
Every time a heart breaks and repairs, there are scars."
― Nikita Gill, Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul
A/N: The angst train is pulling into the final station, please remain seated until the train as come to a complete stop.
The Mistral arc is over and the Recovery arc is just beginning
This chapter is edited by myself so please forgive any major mistakes and such.
So, confession time. My original prediction when I first started this story was maybe 50 chapters, when I hot roughly 40, I realized that was never going to happen so I decided to break it into a second part that became "You Will Be My Enemy" As I wrote part 2, around chapter 40ish again, I realize that my plans were not going to match up again to make two even parts so I decided to break it into another part.
So my original prediction of this story has tripled in length. We're not even at my envisioned part 2 so I will be rebranding this as Volume 1: Part 1,2 and 3. I realize that this is because of how I structured my chapters with each protagonist getting a chapter dedicated to themselves with a fifth for world building and stuff. Which meant my chapter count skyrocketed with the need to fill chapters to keep the pattern going.
On the plus side, I will be able to explore things I would have skimmed over and compressed into the story so I can let it naturally breathe and grow which is nice and will make for a much better overall narrative.
I would just like to thank everyone who has been with me from the very beginning, I know I lost a bunch of people when the Neo/Yang/Blake thing starts ramping up and people took sides. While I am a little upset, I get it and I won't let that get me down. It also makes me really happy when I get comments on part 1 and comments saying they binged the whole thing, I am so proud of myself for that achievement. I know I haven't really kept track of milestones on this story but it's still really impressive and could only happen thanks to you guys.
So with that, I thank you all for making this story one of the most popular stores on this website and I hope to see you guys back for part 3 where we get to explore the Recovery arc.
That being said, it's not going to happen for a while. I am in school for the next two months or so and I will need to concentrate on my studies. I do hope to get some short stories out while I'm in school just to keep my writing mind sharp, I've already started a few of them and if you want to see them as they come out, keep your eyes open for "The RWBY Crack House" on AO3 and Tumblr.
To make sure you don't miss when part 3 comes out, I will be using chapter 50 as a preview for it so make sure you're subscribed to this story or myself to get the title of it.
If you enjoyed, leave a Favourite! If you already have, leave a comment! I love reading them and I love replying to them. This story is also posted on AO3 under the same name. So if you read there as well, come show your support!
And as always, thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of madness!