Note: Hello, everyone.
We first are going to apologize for this very long note we are going to leave at the start of this chapter. Author's notes are long and stupid and we don't know why we leave them but we feel it's important to be honest. This past week or so has been a long process of us reevaluating our writing. For those who took time out of their day to comment on the previous chapter, we cannot thank you enough. We read through every word of them multiple times, and we appreciate everything that was said, good and bad. We said previously that the main reason we are writing this is because we are lucky enough to have amassed however small of a following we have, and we take this admittedly dumb task of writing fanfictions far more seriously than we probably should, because we want everyone to enjoy them.
So with that said, we have decided that after the conclusion of this arc, we are going to be finishing LUBYP... maybe. We don't know. We started this story because we wanted to create an alternate version of RWBY Vol. 1, and quite frankly, we are now two years and 300,000 words in, so that goal is kind of a distant memory. It's too damn long to be a single Volume, ain't it? Ultimately, while we do have another two arcs planned out, we have never wanted our story to get to the point where it lingered on past the point of it being enjoyable. We'd always rather just cut our losses if people don't want to see anymore.
Here's the deal: we said last time that we were going to finish this arc in one last chapter. We were planning on doing that, but it became apparent that fitting the remainder of the arc in a single chapter would be way too long. This chapter is already the longest we ever published, and it only contains about 40% of what we were planning on writing. Additionally, we have, like, three midterms this next week, and they are all terrible and we are likely to fail all of them. Our choice was either keep you all in the dark for another few weeks, or release the last chapter in chunks. We chose the latter. All-in-all, expect another one or two chapters plus an epilogue to close out the arc, and then after that... well, it's all up to you. If, when this is all over, you found it satisfying, then we'll write more (and to those wondering where the story can go after fighting literal gods, don't worry. We have two other major stories that we've been developing that we need to wrap up that won't get nearly as dark, violent or plot-heavy). If not, it's been fun.
Lastly, in case you jumped directly to this chapter and didn't read the previous chapter's new author's note: we are keeping the Winter change. We regret doing it, and if we could go and take it all back, we could. However, the deed has been done, and it's already a part of the story now. We feel that it would be wrong to just pretend that it didn't happen because we changed our minds. This is not us being stubborn or combative; this is us setting a boundary for ourselves so we don't start retconning everything we suddenly retroactively hate. Which, based on the past week, would probably be around half of this story.
Again, we are sorry to every single person that we disappointed, and we especially sorry to those who will never read this because they have (rightly) decided that they were fed up with our bullshit. None of you should ever feel like you should have to keep reading this if you are unhappy. You owe us nothing. Thank you so much for your patience.
There was darkness surrounding her. Thick and suffocating. Where was she?
Her body didn't hurt anymore. The bad memories were gone.
She just drifted, peacefully, lost in the calm sea forever.
And then, all at once like a baptism, she was pulled free from the dark, and she took a deep breath as the world around her suddenly returned. Her senses, the pain—the flooded back in less than an instant. What happened? Why was she taken away?
She was on her knees again, cognizant of the world around her. Someone… someone had freed her from the abyss. It was that girl—the one with faded red hair and silver eyes, kneeling in front of her, back scarred and damaged.
"Weiss. Get up."
She was being shaken. Is that what did it? Awoke her from the dead? Was she even dead to begin with? There was something warm on her lips? A kiss, or was that the fresh red stuff running down her face. Her face, her face… did she even have a face anymore? Yes, she felt it, but there was also the other, stabbing presence there. Like her skull was split in two.
"Come on, Weiss, please. You have to get up."
Ruby—that was right. Ruby Rose. Huntress-in-training. Weiss thought she had left her on the bed, but she was up again. Or whatever constituted that. She was on her knees too, in front of her, kneeling, breathing heavy. Her back. How much pain was she in after what the Reveler did to her? How did she manage to get up? Was it the sight of Weiss falling that did it? No. Couldn't be. Falling. Falling…
Weiss fell forward, but Ruby caught her in a hug, pulling her head into her shoulder. The world blinked like starlight, in and out. Ruby was nearly hyperventilating, trying to keep her hands tender on Weiss's cheeks as she whispered to her.
"Weiss. You can't die here. Not like this. You have to finish the Trial."
Ruby tried her best to keep Weiss upright, even as gravity kept pulling her ever downward. The word that was carved into her back drew fresh blood, but Ruby tried to push the pain away as much as she could. Weiss was the important one. Weiss was the one that needed to keep fighting. Only Ruby's efforts were suddenly halted, as Weiss, with blood dripping from her torn lips, found the remnants of strength to utter a single word.
"Why?"
Ruby stammered, appalled by the comment, and gasped at the girl nestled into her neck. "W-What… why would you…"
A dull smile crept across Weiss's lips. "This… this is all my fault," she wheezed. "Everything. The others are dead because of me. Everyone's dead because of me. I brought them here. Winter was mutilated because of me. Because I was never good enough…"
"That's not true!" Ruby said forcefully, grasping Weiss by the shoulders.
"Yes, it is," Weiss said, choking on her own words. "I was so stupid, thinking I deserved any of this. That I could ever be a Huntress, that I ever meant anything. I couldn't finish this Trial, not even two right answers because I'm so stupid. My life is a fucking joke. Every goddamn waking moment is a fucking joke. My birth was an insult to my entire family. Why shouldn't I just rot and die?"
"Don't say things like that!" Ruby pleaded. "You don't deserve to die! No one does!"
"Ruby, look at me…"
"No! You have to get up! You have to finish this—"
"Look at me."
Weiss's voice broke, and Ruby was stunned into silence. The bloody girl lifted her head from the crook of Ruby's neck, and Ruby could make out the wound on her face far more clearly. A single, near-vertical cut, from chin to forehead, just along the edge of her nose, slightly off-center. Yet, more than the cut and the torn lip and the blood, Ruby's gaze was drawn to Weiss's eye. There were many times where she had looked into those eyes—moments of rage, of frustration and laughter and all the emotions in-between. But it was only really then, in the darkness of Weiss's bedroom, surrounded by the masks of her friends, covered in blood and tears, that Ruby noticed one of her eyes was ever so slightly lighter than the other. Weiss's smile grew, and the words came out with a relieved sincerity Ruby had never heard from her before.
"Ruby," she asked gently, "what part of me is even alive anymore?"
Weiss started to laugh. Slow and breathless. Ruby stared, tragically, as the ex-heiress finally broke down in front of her. It was impossible to tell where the laughter and the tears truly blended together, but they merged in a tragic, miserable symphony as every fear and insecurity and bitter memory all flooded out as one. She had fully relinquished herself to the oblivion, and even that wasn't enough. She was denied a place in Atlas, a place in her own home, her own family, and now, she was denied even an honorable death. Every time that she thought that fate could not be more vicious to her, she was surprised to see that destiny could cut her legs out from under her yet again. There was not a single thing it could not do ruin her, and that… that was just funny to her. Hysterical even. It was everything the Reveler ever could have wanted: The Great Tragedy of Weiss Schnee, A Failure to the Bitterest of Ends.
And it was watching that—Weiss finally give into her darkness—when Ruby realized she had enough.
So, she pursed her lips, and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
The words had the bite of a shark, and a jolt of energy spiked through Weiss's core. It was as if they reached into her mind and pulled it back to reality. The world came back into focus, albeit very still. Time itself seemed to pause as Weiss righted herself, almost in disbelief of what she was hearing. But when she looked back at Ruby, a terrible fear overtook her. The girl's face was that of stone, her teary eyes wide and staring daggers through her, her entire body trembling with fury and contempt. And when she spoke, though it was in a whisper, it carried with it sixteen years' worth of hatred.
Weiss started to speak, but the words became caught in her throat. "What…" she stammered. "… what did you say?"
Ruby's hands balled into fists. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed. "You're giving up? After everything… you've been through. After you've fought against toads and monsters, and all of this bullshit… you're willing to give up and die now? Blake and Yang fought Grimm, with no weapons and no Semblances, and they didn't give up. I have a literal fucking word carved into my spine, and I haven't given up. But you're willing to take all of your hard work, everything you've ever dreamed of, your entire life, and you are honestly going to throw it away because of this? Is this really what you think you deserve?"
What she deserved. Weiss hesitated. "I…"
Before she could continue, Ruby reached forward, digging her fingers into Weiss's collar. She fished around just above her skin, until her fingers hooked onto something hard and metal, and she pulled out the two necklaces that Weiss always kept on her person. Two pendants: a sword and a book. Without any explanation, Ruby took the latter and held it up to Weiss's face, forcing her to gaze upon it.
"What does this mean?" Ruby asked. Weiss could not answer, and Ruby forced it closer to her. "What does this mean, Weiss? Tell me!"
"It's… it's the symbol of the Banker," Weiss stated clumsily.
"And?" Ruby asked intensely.
"It means… I don't—"
Ruby's knuckles turned white. "This means you are watched over by the Banker. This means you can buy me, my belongings, and everyone I've ever loved without putting so much as a dent in your credit score. That is what you told me that this means. Do you remember that?"
Remember? How could Weiss ever forget? It was their very first meeting. She was stumbling through the hallway, lost in despair. She was so caught up on being in an enemy nation, worrying about what would become of Winter, trying her hardest not to cry. She bumped into Ruby because she wasn't paying attention—but she acted like it was Ruby's doing. Like it was her fault. Weiss was so mean on that day… so horribly cruel. Ruby probably never should have forgiven her for that. She wouldn't have forgiven her. But Ruby did. Why?
"Hey, focus!" Ruby screamed, bringing Weiss back to the present. She held up the other pendant, the thin metal nearly slipping from her shaking fingers. "This is the symbol of the Knight. This means you're a Huntress. This means that you can pick up a sword—your powerful, incredible, badass sword, and plunge it deep into my stupid, scrawny chest without even a second thought. Do you remember that? When I first met you, I hated you. I hated you… so, so much, for every awful thing you said to me. But do you know why else I hated you?" Ruby grimaced, but she pushed through, determined to be strong. "I hated you… because even though you were awful, and heartless, and bigoted, and just the absolute worst… I hated you because every time I looked at you, I couldn't help but think: that… that is what a real Huntress is. That is what I will never be as good as."
Ruby never admitted that to anyone before. Not even to herself. But it was true, every damn word of it. Weiss couldn't believe it. She refused to believe it. She shook her head. "But Ruby, that... that was a lie. I-I'm not—"
Ruby stood up and growled. "Oh, bullshit!" Every step burned her back like wildfire, but she didn't care enough to restrain herself. "What part of that is a lie? The part about the Banker? You are rich and powerful, Weiss, and do you know what you did with that wealth and power? You didn't spend it on your own clothes, you didn't spend it on jewelry, or anything that would ever help yourself. You took that money and that power, and you gave thousands of it to a Faunus shelter that you couldn't stand to be in, because even though your racist, and stupid, and insufferable, you still have a better sense of right and wrong than the teammate whose politics I actually agree with! That sword? You've fought your way through Grimm, through giant frogs and vicious gangsters and whatever the hell sort of crazy, chaotic beasts that the Miner threw at you. You—a girl with no Semblance, no Aura, whose body is stitched together with nuts and bolts—you managed to fight your way onto the very best team in this whole freaking school, to the point where someone can look at you standing next to Pyrrha 'Greatest Huntress Ever' Nikos, and think, 'Yes, those two belong on the same team together'! You walked into this school calling yourself the best, and every step of the way you've proved it, so what the hell are you supposed to be lying about?"
Weiss listened. She listened carefully. Her face was wet with blood, and she was hurting badly—but Ruby had to be hurting even worse. And yet, she was standing proud, fighting through her tears and venom. So, Weiss listened.
"I… I don't know what happened with Winter," Ruby confessed. "But whatever it was, it wasn't your fault. Just like it's not your fault that you had to run these stupid Trials and it's not your fault that anything happened to us. They are the ones who forced you in here. They forced this on you. Whether it's your father, or your Kingdom, or this stupid God… they are the ones you should be mad at, because they are the ones who are looking at you, watching you give up everything, and laughing because you are giving them everything they want. And you don't do that. The Weiss I know wouldn't take that shit. She would look at the people trying to make her fail, and she would verbally tear them a new one, and then she would come back stronger than ever just to spite them, because she knew that she was better than them. You are better than them, aren't you?"
Weiss said nothing. Ruby stepped forward and screamed. "Aren't you?"
Better? Such a subjective, relative term. Such a dumb thing for Ruby to appeal to. Seriously, did Ruby have to be such a complete dolt that she thought she could spur Weiss on with a weak argument like that? That girl. Ugh. She couldn't do anything right…
"Well, you better be!" Ruby demanded. "Because somehow, despite every horrible, awful thing you've done, all of the months and years of you antagonizing everyone you've ever met, somehow… you have people who care about you."
Of course, Ruby would care. Someone as sickly sweet as she would always care. How childish…
"There are people who believe in you. I believe in you."
How overly cliché…
"So, I'm not ordering you as a leader," Ruby shouted, pointing at the mannequins. "I am demanding you, as your friend!"
Weiss never agreed to those terms.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself!"
Stop it.
"Get off your ass!"
Get up.
Ruby's voice broke. "And beat that damn thing already!"
Ruby panted, desperately trying to catch her breath. She had blown out her throat screaming so loudly, and her back ached so badly that her legs were in danger of collapsing beneath her. But she stood there, almost frozen in time, finger outstretched towards the mannequins, and her eyes shooting holes through Weiss, bleeding and crying on the floor. She stood there for only a few seconds, but between the agony and the silence, it felt like a thousand lifetimes.
Weiss's mind processed the words carefully. Then, her laughter returned, but it was different to the ear. A dismayed, disbelieving chuckle, just under her breath.
"Gods… I must be even dumber than I thought," she muttered, "to let myself get inspired by that horrible fucking speech."
She didn't know how she pushed herself back onto her feet. She would never know what power caused her to get up. It was like she was raised by a force more powerful than herself, something that overcame her muscles screaming at her, something forced the energy back into her body after it drained away with her blood. She stumbled and faltered, but she planted one foot firmly beneath her, and then the other, and though she leaned forward so that her face was nothing but a mix of her own hair and blood, she snickered again to herself.
"Like, seriously," she stated, "I think having to listen to that… might be the worst thing that happened to me today."
Ruby couldn't help but faintly smile. "For what it's worth… I don't have a lot of practice making speeches."
"No shit," Weiss said, lifting her head back, straightening out her spine. "When this is all over, I'm going to have to teach you how to be a proper leader."
Ruby jokingly scoffed. "As if you have any experience being a leader."
"Yeah… good point…"
Everything still hurt. Of course, it still hurt. How the fuck could it not hurt? Her face was thinly sliced open and spilling out whatever raw flesh was beneath, her stomach was sick, her arm felt like it was going to fall off, her calves were still sizzling—but she felt alive. The fog had lifted, and her mind could finally focus again, first on that blisteringly stupid, immature, wonderful Ruby Rose in front of her, and then to the seven mannequins and the masks of her dead friends.
Dead? No. That wasn't true. Not yet. She could still save them. They were lost, but not to her. That God thought it could kill her, break her down. It treated Ruby like she belonged to it, tortured her, lied to their faces. It thought that it could do whatever the fuck it wanted with the lives of the people she cared about just because of the God's Arm. That damned Aspect of Decum Luna? Like hell it could; it was not even one of great renown, but the fucking artist. She would never forgive herself if she couldn't beat something as worthless as that. She clenched her fist and steadied herself, cracking her neck as the panic subsided. If the Reveler ripped off her face, she would stand. If it broke every bone in her body, she would stand. If it ripped off her legs, she would staple them to her body and she would fucking stand. She couldn't give up. She couldn't fall. She wouldn't. Not again. She had a Trial to finish.
And that voice spoke—that damned voice.
"Dost thou still rise?" Its voice dripped with delight. "A riveting performance, my love. But why dost thou not die? It is over. Thy fate is sealed. Thou hast failed thy Trial and shall face eternal punishment."
She felt its invisible eyes leering at her. Ruby immediately tensed, but Weiss held her ground. Her throat was sour, but despite the trickle of red coming from her lips, her voice came out pure.
"Let me guess again," Weiss requested bluntly. The Reveler instantly laughed.
"Again? Thou begs for my mercy?"
"I'm not begging for anything," Weiss stated coldly. "In the God's Arm, a Trial is only failed when the person dies. I'm not dead. Let me go again."
"Thou art in no position to bargain. I control all here in my domain. Thy life is forfeit to the Reveler. So sayeth God. Thou cannot—"
Weiss stamped her foot down. "Oh, just shut the hell up already!" The voice vanished. "You are not in control here! You brought us here because you said we violated the rules of the Trial, yet here you are doing the exact same thing! You claim I disrespected you, but if you don't even care about the ceremony in the first place, then why did you put me through this if not to satisfy your own ego? If you care about the God's Arm as much as you pretend to, you'll let me guess again! Right. Fucking. Now!"
The room went quiet until Weiss could only hear her own heartbeat. Ruby looked around nervously, waiting for the inevitable attack. She expected chains to burst forth from the walls and stake Weiss through the heart. But instead, after a very long pause, the Reveler merely laughed again, different than before. Quieter. Restrained. Like it came from the back of its throat.
Weiss recognized the tone of it instantly. It was annoyed.
"Thou may proceed," it announced. Weiss took a step forward, but it interrupted her. "But know this… I shall enjoy watching thy failures again… and again… and again…"
The voice left. She allowed herself room to breathe. She had her shot. Just one. But she had it.
"Ruby," Weiss said calmly, "you should go lie down. You don't look good."
"No, I'm… I'm fine," Ruby winced, but Weiss placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Seriously. Lie down," Weiss stated. "I don't think it will let you help me anyway."
Ruby hesitated to answer, but Weiss gently squeezed her shoulder, and her resolve was no more. Besides, Weiss was entirely correct: her back felt like it was on fire. Those hideous wounds needed to be rested. She gradually stepped back and sat onto the bed, lowering herself to her side. Weiss turned her attention back to the mannequins. Back to the Trial. Each step took more out of her than the last, but she was still upright when she stepped into the middle of the circle. Those masks were so lifelike. She only hoped she could see the genuine articles soon enough. She studied her original answers carefully.
Beast of two minds. Hast let Evil kindle within their Soul and nurtured it—Pyrrha.
Bound by Jealousy. Hast sabotaged their Love's desires to maintain a fruitless bond—Nora.
Projects false honor. Hast slain and tortured those they sWear to protect—Ren.
Failure in all regards. Hast believed that thou are Superior to them—Jaune.
Poisoned with contempt. Hast let strength pervert into disgust for the weak—Yang.
Holds tradition as sin. Hast engaged in heresy against their family's Legacy—Velvet.
Parasitic yet alone. Hast deceived in an attempt to claim the Dragon's glory—Blake.
Only one was right. That was what the Reveler told her. Only one. The first problem was that she was confident that three were correct. Blake. Jaune. Nora. Those fit far too well, yet simple arithmetic told her that couldn't be true. She was also semi-confident on her choice for Velvet, if only for a lack of other choices. Then again, she barely knew enough about JNPR to say that for certain. Therefore, she only had one logical option: She immediately took every mask and threw them to the floor, wiping the slate clean. She had made her first choices in linear order, never stopping to reconsider her previous decisions, and she could not afford that again.
With the fog clear, she quickly realized what other major mistake she had committed. The Reveler had selected secrets, but along the way, amid her struggles, she had forgotten the purpose of the test. She was selecting the mannequins based on a person's history and personality, but that was a red herring. She needed to think of the things a person would be ashamed of. That was the trick. Why would Velvet, for example, ever keep a secret her disrespect toward her family. She had told Weiss plainly that her family treated the Faunus terribly and that she was rebelling against it. Heresy wasn't Velvet's secret; it was her goddamn mission statement.
No. There was something else that could be Velvet's secret. Something that stuck out clear as day. And when Weiss picked the innocent-looking mask off the ground and glanced back at the corresponding answer, she couldn't help but let out a dejected sigh.
"Velvet… what the hell did you do?"
Run. Run faster.
It was becoming increasingly hard to do so. Pyrrha had the brilliant idea to climb up onto the walls of the maze, going over instead of through. On some level, Blake understood that. Think outside the box. Avoid getting cornered. Over not through. It was a bit like cheating, and Blake was deeply familiar with that idea. But that idea was dependent on the idea that they could outrun the toads and wouldn't die more easily. Pyrrha was talented. One of the most talented Huntresses Blake had ever seen, without question. But that talent brought with it a biased, tainted perspective that couldn't see past the fault in others, particularly those on her own team.
Getting the others to scale the wall while in imminent threat of death was a challenge in an of itself. Aura-powered jumps and careful ledge grabs got most of them up hastily enough, but Pyrrha had to wrap Gambol Shroud's cord around Jaune's waist and nearly carry him up on her back. They were nearly gobbled by a toad lunging at their legs, but Pyrrha, even hanging on the side of a crystal wall and carrying one hundred and forty pounds of human waste on her shoulders, still carried enough skill and bore enough forethought to maneuver out of its way. By the time she reached the top of the wall, a bitter sneer was etched onto her mouth, and she practically tossed Jaune onto the platform as she crawled up to safety.
That was the first problem they had faced. The second was that the walls, while thick enough to serve as successful barriers within the maze itself, were too thin to effectively move across more than two at a time, which meant many of them had to lag behind in more dangerous positions than they would have preferred. It was also smoothed so much that it was almost impossible to find their footing, which meant they had to slow their pace even further. The third problem, and their most serious, was that despite their new leverage over the maze, their destination was very much the same: nowhere.
Blake glanced down at the toads she sprinted past, wondering what was going on through their heads as they watched their prey race by them, high in the air and out of reach. A few of them lashed out their tongues, only to fall just short and stick their jagged ends against the crystal walls several feet beneath them. Others spit acid at them, and Blake had to be careful to dance past them while not slipping and falling to her untimely death. Most of the frogs just watched, however, too stupid to come up with a way to reach their dinner.
"Pyrrha, do you have a plan aside from running forever?" Jaune asked worriedly. Pyrrha did not respond. "Pyrrha, do you—"
"I heard you!" Pyrrha screamed at him from behind. He gulped and focused his attention back on running. She was usually very kind to him, more than she should have been on most occasions, but having to take care of him like a baby weathered her patience.
The truth was she had no strategy past that point. She scanned in every direction, but the maze truly was endless, stretching out into distant horizons like a vast purple sea. If she was just taking care of herself, it would be significantly easier, but looking after the others put a harsh limit on her abilities. She needed to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate—
The ground beneath them suddenly shifted from under their feet. A toad, tired of waiting for its food to come to its level, jumped headfirst into the wall, sending ripples and cracks down its face. The entire structure trembled, and while some of them could regain their footing, Nora, Velvet, and Jaune were blown off their feet. Jaune happened to stumble backward into Pyrrha, who caught him with a dissatisfied grunt, but Nora and Velvet were less lucky, slipping and tumbling toward the edge of the structure. Ren, sticking by her, barely managed to wrap his hand around her wrist, and though he fell to one knee, he managed to stabilize her before she went over the edge. With his free hand, he reached out to Velvet before she helplessly stumbled away.
He missed. She fell.
Velvet's world seemed to freeze as the ground was suddenly removed from under her feet. She felt a rush of air on her back, and her stomach churned in her gut as she fell back towards the hard ground below. Though she could not see it, a group of three toads waited beneath her, their mouths agape as they waited for their meal to arrive, freshly delivered. She swatted the air around her as if something tangible would magically appear so she could save herself. She never believed in the adage that a person's life flashed before their eyes when they died, but a few sparse memories did jump into the forefront of her mind was she plummeted like a stone. Awful memories. Regrets. Lies. The people that she hurt when she was younger she wished she could make it up to. Their faces flashed in her mind in a matter of milliseconds, but the details were clearer than if they were there right in front of her face.
She fell—but not as far as she thought. Not far enough that Pyrrha, after discarding Jaune, couldn't throw the edge of Gambol Shroud after her. The cord wrapped around Velvet's arm and went taught, and the girl came to a screeching halt as Pyrrha dug her heels and pulled back on the weapon. Velvet's arm shot above her head, and when her momentum stopped, she felt something pop within her shoulder. She cried out as her arm went numb above her head, but Pyrrha ignored her cries and she began to drag the girl's body back up the wall. She had stopped her from falling. That was what mattered.
"I've got you!" Pyrrha cried. "Hang on—"
But then another crash came from behind, and the whole of the wall fragmented. A fissure erupted in its center, and the top half of the structure began to turn and fall in on itself. The ground sloped beneath them, and Pyrrha lost her footing as she began to slide down the newly angled surface. Velvet jerked down, and like her savior, began to descend further by the strength of the cord, swinging helplessly along the angle.
Because of her position at the front of the pack, when the wall began to collapse, Blake found herself at the upper end of the slope. She had more time than the rest to save herself, and more experience in the matter at hand to instinctively know what to do. She slid her hand quickly down her leg until she reached her boot, and from a strap buried inside, she pulled forth a knife. It had served no purpose against the toads, but at present, it was the only hope she had. She quickly reached up behind her and jammed it as hard as she could into the hard surface; though it was too dense to break the crystal itself, the scratching of the blade's end generated enough friction to grind her to a halt, giving her a perfect vantage point to watch her companions fall like dominoes. Nora fell face first and began to slide on her belly, and even as Ren tried to secure her by grabbing onto her ankle, he found nothing to secure himself, so he fell as well. Yang tried to secure her footing, wobbling about before toppling over as well, and Jaune stood no chance as he tumbled on his side toward the bottom.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Nora shouted. "Ren, do not let go of me!"
"I got you!" he screamed, though his grip was slipping. Blake's attention as split between them and Velvet, dangling off the edge. She was hardly the only one; the three toads watching her from beneath were dumb creatures, but even they had the intelligence to notice the snack being graciously offered to them. Their legs shifted slightly so that they could build power within them, and Velvet noticed too how eagerly they eyed her. She tried to pump her legs, thinking maybe she could swing herself just out of the way of them, but the moment she moved she felt the tear in her arm travel down her spine and she gasped again, helpless as the toads prepared to lunge.
Pyrrha tried to pull her out of the way, but could not. A toad lunged up into the air, and though the tip of the wall was still too great to reach, its mouth sprung open as it closed in on the delicious Faunus Activist.
"Back off!"
Yang didn't know how she found her footing, but she blasted off the roof like a rocket, and before the toad could reach Velvet, she slammed into its head in a ball of fire, sending it hurtling to the floor. It landed between the other toads with a mighty crash, cracking its legs on impacts as well as cracking the crystal floor itself, breaking patterns like veins deep into the rock. Yang fell with it, falling straight down and crashing on her own, the impact immediately being absorbed back into her Semblance. A voice scoffed in her mind.
"Oh, so now you finally give in to it?"
"Do me a favor," Yang sneered. "Shut up while I kill these frogs, okay?"
"You know, toads and frogs are completely different species. Not interchangeable in the slightest."
"Zip it."
"Fine. Whatever," Yin sighed. "Let's kill some frogs."
She took a step forward, and then the world fell apart around her. The wall behind her could no longer stand under the pressure, and the top half finally spilled off the bottom, and those on top came tumbling down in a clattering of Dust and smoke. Yang wasn't looking when it fell, only hearing a sound like an avalanche, and by the time she glanced behind her, the massive chunks of Trichon Dust kicked up so much powder that it coated the world around her in grey. The small particles of Dust entered her nose and throat and she coughed them out, and by the time her coughs subsided, the world stopped trembling, and the echoes of the others came back to her.
The wall had crumbled into a giant, immovable pile, and though the rubble blocked the toads from getting at them from behind, that was the only good news it gave her. She saw Velvet first; unlike the others, the wall had collapsed almost entirely on the poor thing, and the only reason why she wasn't dead was that the impact that broke it also caused the wall to break into smaller—if not massive in unto themselves—chunks of rock. The large heap of crystal landed firmly on her legs and she stuck out from underneath it, whimpering and sobbing as she tried to suck down the pain of her crushed lower half. Pyrrha was holding Jaune; in the final moments before the fall, Velvet slipped from her grasp, and she was able to recover just enough to catch Jaune and roll with him to the floor, saving his life but taking a harsh blow to the spine in the process. She struggled to rise to her feet as she watched over him, clearly fighting back against the urges her body was telling her. Nora and Ren were lying in much the same fate, broken bones aplenty. Blake was nowhere to be seen in the cloud.
Yang was on her own as the toads drew nearer. The fog obscured her vision, and she was unable to see the large tongue flying toward her. It struck her square in the chest, and she was forcefully yanked forward by the very toad whose skull she nearly bashed in. She tried to stop her movement, stamping her foot hard into the ground to lock herself into place. Her foot slammed into one of the recently-spawned fissures, and she was so busy struggling to fight that she didn't notice the ground break apart more beneath her. She flailed at the tongue, but its pull was stronger than she could have imagined, and she found herself torn faster away from her friends.
"Let go of her!" A cry from behind and Pyrrha swooped in out of nowhere, slicing the tongue in two just before Yang could be pulled into the creature's mouth.
"Thanks, Pyr—"
"What is with you people and almost dying?" Pyrrha screamed, getting up in Yang's face. Her nostrils flared with her temper, and by turning her back, she blinded herself to the toads staring down on them.
"Pyrrha, shouldn't you—"
Yang tried to intervene, but Pyrrha cut her off, jabbing her finger into Yang's chest. "These things aren't that hard to kill, but I have to keep looking after all of you worthless—"
She sneered and quickly turned around, slashing at the air. Yang didn't see it coming, but a tongue just managed to break through the fog before it was split down the middle by her blade and retreated into the distance.
"Pyrrha, now isn't the time!" Yang told her firmly.
"Oh, now is definitely the time."
"You need to focus," Yang growled.
"Focus? I'm the only one who's—" Pyrrha grabbed onto Yang's shoulders and sidestepped suddenly, dodging a wad of acid sailing toward their heads. "—focused. You need to get out of my way before you screw anything else up."
"I'm trying to help, dumbass," Yang stated, shoving Pyrrha off of her. The ground shifted slightly beneath them.
"Then try harder!" Pyrrha shoved back. "Just because you let your teammates die doesn't mean you have to kill mine!"
Let them die? Let them die? That… that sent Yang over the edge. Yin snickered inside of her mind as she snarled, drawing back her fist and then spontaneously launching it forward. She didn't aim for the toads.
It was Blake that interfered next, jumping in and tackling Yang before she could make another stupid mistake. She straddled the Xiao Long before Yang could protest the assault, and pinned the girl's arms up above her head as she insulted her.
"Hey! Can you not try to kill each other right now?" Blake pleaded. She looked into Yang's eyes, but only saw a fury the color of blood within them. It was only a minute since she was sane, but she was completely lost to her other self, and Blake realized there was nothing she could do to talk sense into her—except maybe for saving her life.
Then it hit her: The Dust. Didn't Weiss say it was a Semblance enhancer? If Yang was surrounded by the substance and was breathing it in… Blake's mind reached the logical conclusion of that idea, and by the time the terrible revelation hit her, Yang was already smiling and threw Blake off of her effortlessly. She kipped up to her feet, and locked eyes with Pyrrha, knuckles clenched so tightly that they turned white.
"No, fuck it," she grinned. "Let's kill each other right now."
Pyrrha was not necessarily against that sentiment. While her mind was single-handedly focused on studying the toads, her heart was telling her that Yang was quickly becoming more trouble than she was worth. That was one of the problems with Super Focus—when the mind was preoccupied, other things tended to take over her judgment when they should not have. She could reprogram her thoughts in the span of fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds. She could easily take out Yang before the toads came after them again, and then return her focus to saving the people that actually mattered to her. It would be easy, so absurdly easy to take down that dumb, boisterous blonde. For all of that lip she was giving her, it may have even been slightly satisfying.
Their dreams of combat were interrupted by the toad falling out of the sky. Pyrrha heard it coming before the rest of them, her head snapping up to the air as her eyes went wide looking at something unseen through the fog. All Yang noticed was the opportunity to lunge at a person she had a new, overwhelming urge to punch in the face. She dashed forward, and Pyrrha sprinted back at her. Pyrrha hit her first, placing two open Aura-laced palms on her shoulders and forcefully shoving the dragon back. The blow was strong enough to knock Yang back several feet, and Yang almost jumped back and recharged, only to realize at the last possible moment that Pyrrha was saving her stupid, selfish life.
The toad landed hard on the ground where they were standing, and while Pyrrha was barely able to move out of the way herself, she could not react fast enough. The tongue shot out of its mouth like a spring, and she was not far away enough that she could get back on her feet and dodge its attack. It stuck to her leg, and the impact forced her to drop Gambol Shroud before the toad pulled her into its mouth. She screamed, reaching out for someone to grab onto her, but no one was able to reach her as she was pulled deep into the toad's throat. The light from the world started to fade as she was dragged back further, constricted by its tightening, viscous mass, unable to do anything as the toad made the most out of what would certainly be its first of many meals that evening.
But then she felt a hand on hers, and the toad groaned. The light suddenly returned, and Pyrrha was detached from the tongue by her savior: Blake, knife in hand, standing on the edge of the toad's mouth.
Pyrrha looked up at her in awe. "What… how did you—"
"I don't like owing people shit," Blake answered. "So, now we're even."
Pyrrha did not understand the logic, nor did she understand how that answered her question. She was nevertheless thankful when Blake took her by the arm and casually tossed her out of the toad's mouth and onto the fragmented crystal floor. Blake took one step out of the toad's gaping jaw and groaned.
"Now, can we finally—"
And then, time itself seemed to freeze as a loud crack echoed around them. Blake looked down at the floor, confused.
Then, the toad's mouth slammed shut, trapping her within its mouth.
Pyrrha and Yang watched together in terror as the ground beneath the toad folded and shattered completely, and the mighty beast fell down into a black abyss.
sWear.
Weiss always thought that was weird. On her first attempt, she made nothing of it. Perhaps a misspelling by the God of Lust. But it was trying to lead her somewhere. It meant to emphasize not the "W", but the latter part of the word. To wear those they were trying to protect. Adorning oneself with the symbol of the people they victimized. That was what the clue was referring to, and who else could match that description but the girl who walked around wearing bunny ears. Velvet grew up in a family that practically owned Faunus, and Weiss was familiar enough with the treatment of that species to know what happened when they disobeyed. It was unfortunate and mean, and something she herself never should have encouraged. Velvet was young and alone; of course, it would stand to reason that her beliefs weren't always formed, that she would have treated her family's behavior like normal, that she would go along with whatever they asked of her, too young to refuse no matter what it was. Memories like that could weigh heavily on the mind.
The sweet, spirited girl who could do no wrong—a Faunus killer. That was a secret if Weiss ever heard of one.
"Art thou trying thy best?" the Reveler taunted her. "What dost thou expect to accomplish? Thy mind is broken. Thou cannot win."
Ignore it. Just complete the Trial. That was all that mattered.
Next clue. Holds tradition as sin. Weiss struggled with that one. It would have needed to be someone who wanted people to believe they respected their family when they didn't. Possibly religion too. It ruled out Blake and Yang. Those two never hid their qualms about either of those things. Weiss pondered for another moment, and then hesitantly picked up Pyrrha's mask. She definitely could have fitted the mold. The proud warrior of Mistral loved by everyone. The woman who would bring glory back to Huntsmen everywhere. If she wasn't fond of the attention, if she maybe wanted something else from her life… could it be her? It was her closest guess, but something nagged her in the back of her mind. That word, Legacy… capitalized. More than that, it was a family Legacy. It was a crucial element, and while Pyrrha was accomplishing many things by becoming a Huntress, and while she would ruin a great many things by rebelling against that, her family didn't have a legacy to begin with. Weiss had heard the story of Pyrrha Nikos enough to know that her parents were nobodies who happened to conceive a daughter of remarkable talent. If that was the case, and there was no legacy to begin with, what would be the heresy?
She rested Pyrrha's mask comfortably at the feet of the mannequin. A placeholder. Skip it and move on.
"Thou hast let thy friends perish. The masks art the remnants of their bones. All of them dead, because of thee. Thou hast let thy ally, my dark harlot, fall victim to my blade. Thou cannot save anything. Thy flesh is tainted. Unloved. Worthless."
Hast sabotaged their Love… Nora. Weiss nodded. That had to be the one she guessed correctly. It was too perfect. The girl crushed hard on Lie Ren, even if she never said it aloud, and if she was ever to keep a secret, it would be that she did anything to hurt him. She considered for a moment that the clue might also refer to Yang. She did quite a lot of sabotage, that one. But the clue specifically referred to a fruitless bond, and while Weiss couldn't confirm it, she had her suspicions that Yang and Blake's relationship had borne fruit at some point in the last month. Ren never returned her affection, at least not openly. It had to be her. She placed Nora's mask on the mannequin. Two, maybe three down.
"And dost thou think victory will bring thee? Even if thou wins… what then? I shall simply tear thy body apart further. Thy life is mine, eternally. Thou will never escape."
Weiss scowled, more determined than ever. She thought she had heard it the first time it spoke, but after placing Nora's mask, it became more obvious: the slight note of concern in its voice. It wanted her to fail, she assumed for its own satisfaction. But something else scratched the back of her mind. A cool disparate thought floating about that she snatched out of the air. It pushed her forward.
Beast of two minds… maybe that was Pyrrha. Who else even came close to fitting that category? But if that was true, then Nora had to be wrong, and if that was the case? Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. No, she was confident about Nora. Maybe Blake and Jaune were right, too, but of all the options, she was certain that it couldn't be Pyrrha. Looking at the options left: Blake, Jaune, Ren, and Yang. Jaune and Ren would be interesting choices, to say the least. There wasn't an evil bone in their bodies, though that would make them perfect candidates. Blake would definitely never admit that she would have done anything immoral, even if she had. And Yang—well, what the hell did Yang even do that would be considered secretive. That woman was a mystery despite screaming her opinions of everything out in the open every twenty seconds.
Hast let Evil kindle within their Soul and nurtured it. Nurture. Kindle. Wait. Those had to be important. Kindle as in kindling? Fire? Flame? And nurture, as in to care for and protect another. Like Winter nurtured her. A sister. Whenever Yang turned on her Semblance, she did seem to change almost into a different person. Maybe it actually was referring to her. Weiss placed the blonde's mask on the floor. A tentative choice, something she was running out of.
Three left. Failure. Parasitic. Poisoned with contempt. They were—
Wait, wait, wait. The last one. Poisoned with contempt. Hast let strength pervert into disgust for the weak. It was referring to someone strong. Their strength could only be perverted if they had it, right? And a person who would be unwilling to show that they felt disgusted by anything. It was undoubtedly talking about Pyrrha. She was so polite that revealing she hated anyone would be akin to murder. And while Yang was the strongest of the group, Weiss already knew it wasn't her, so the next best available choice would be the Mistran. If that was true then the other one… Tradition as sin. The only person left who could even remotely fit those characteristics was Ren, and she placed his mask onto the mannequin, followed by and then examined her options, and then felt her heart sink.
She was back to where she started. Five mannequins selected, but when she looked at the options she had left, she realized that somewhere along the way, she screwed up. Blake and Jaune were all that was left, but she couldn't fathom which of their secrets were supposed to be different than what she already assumed. Jaune was the failure with an embarrassing crush on her. Blake was a loner who used Yang for pleasure. That was that. It was perfect. But it wasn't.
"Ruby, I'm stuck," Weiss said worriedly. From her position on the bed, Ruby strained to sit up, but she put herself through it to talk to Weiss more easily.
"It's okay, it's okay," Ruby promised. "Just take your time and think it through."
"I have thought it through. That's the problem," Weiss said, frustrated. She held the two masks in her hands, eyes shifting back and forth between them. Could she have made a mistake earlier? Her choices seemed logical enough, but she thought that the first time. She was wrong then, too. What if she was wrong again? The Reveler would punish her, worse than before. It would start cutting off her limbs. Peel her skin from her muscle. Torment her for a decade, dissecting her piece by piece like she was its belongings. It would do even worse to Ruby, all because she couldn't figure out that stupid, goddamn Trial. She wished she fighting a dozen royal toads, a hundred even, a thousand.
She needed to calm down. Breathe. Just breathe. It wasn't over. Not by a long shot. She was close, she could feel it. The truth was just beyond her fingertips. She just had to concentrate. Think, think.
Parasitic.
Alone.
Deceive.
Dragon.
Why Dragon?
Wait a second, was it talking about—
A sharp pain flew into Weiss's leg, and she suddenly screamed out in pain. She fell to one knee, gasping in horror, and she slowly turned her head to discover what was causing her suffering.
A golden, spiked chain, bursting out from the floor. Directly through her calf. That son of a bitch…
"Weiss!" Ruby screamed, throwing herself back onto her feet. She did not last long; her back gave out the moment she touched the floor, and she fell much the same, struggling to hold herself up even on her arms. The voice returned, its richness gone and replaced with something gargled and vicious.
"Thy Trial is over. Thou hast failed."
"Failed?" Weiss growled. "You didn't even let me finish, you cheating bastard!"
"Cheating? Cheating?" it snarled. The room began to shake, and Weiss and Ruby looked around in fear as the walls began to crumble. The plaster peeled off them like hangnails torn from the skin, and their foundations cracked and buckled as the shaking continued to grow. The bed's legs snapped and it fell in on itself. The mirror cracked and splintered into fragments, and like a whirlwind, the ceiling was suddenly ripped from the walls and thrown up into the air, revealing an endless dark void in the sky. The mannequins trembled but remained rooted as the walls themselves separated and broke off in chunks, flying out into the ether, and then they fall backward altogether, falling over and crashing into the dark void with a thunderous slam. They were alone, unprotected, on the platform floating in the endless dark, and they stared up in the void as a figure came down slowly, gracing them with its presence. Its hands were wrapped over its chest like a corpse, its hair stretched outward toward the sky and purple sashes lifted off its chest, a dozen spiked chains floating around it like spider legs, fluttering in the beauty of their master. It was twice their size and looked down upon them with disdain.
"You… you monster," Ruby sneered. "You were never going to let her win."
"Art thou truly still blinded by thy foolish goals?" it questioned harshly. "Why let the façade linger? Thy Trial was always to end in failure. So sayeth the will of God."
"So, you were just leading her on this whole time?" Ruby cried. "Why? Why would do that to her? Why even pretend that she could win if you were just going to betray her? How sick are you?"
The Reveler's composure faltered. "Sick? Thou still calls me sick, even after eons hast passed, my love? Thou wast the sick one! All of thee are sick of the mind? Thou called my ambitions foolhardy! Called me the Fable of Fools! If thou had loved me, had followed my will, thou wouldst not been consumed by the Dark Things. Our lives would be one of dominance over this world! I am not the Fable of Fools. Thou, my love… and all Aspects of Decum Luna art the Fables of Fools!"
Weiss grimaced, falling onto her face as the chain shifted in her leg. "What the hell… are you talking about?"
The God roared. "Dost thou know the suffering I endure? Those fools of Decum Luna hast disrespected me, rank me amongst the lowest of their kind. Only that wretched Miner lies beneath me, and why? While my genius rots, they suffocate themselves in their moronic laws. They can rule over this world with abandon, yet they sleep, shackled to the Souls your brood, never letting their powers become unchained. Art they afraid of themselves? They must be. Only the truest of fools would be ashamed of their might. They host the God's Arm—a worthless, pitiful, horrendous display to their own uselessness, and then return to slumber. They art toxin to creativity and freedom. I hast spend too long under their spell, chained to their law. Brainwashed."
It's dark eyes suddenly shifted to Ruby, and it began to cackle with mad delight. It whispered hoarsely. "But then… I saw thee, my love. And my mind returned to me. My dreams of a conquered world. My dreams of thy torment. And whilst the God's Arm may have been useless as a Trial for the Schnee, it served adequately as a Trial of my own. A test of my strength, my prowess after millennia of slumber. Thou wast but a test of my abilities, and it is apparent now that my ambitions could be achieved. Thou hast served thy purpose deliciously."
It leaned forward, stark-raving mad, lapping up the fear on Ruby's face like wine. It laughed chaotically to itself, soaking up the moment it had been fantasizing about for time longer than could be conceived of. But its laughter was cut short by the smiles of another. Its eyes traced to Weiss, and its pride diminished as it saw her grin. She forced herself to stand, overcoming the pain one more time, and when she found that she couldn't, she grabbed onto the chain buried deep in her calf, and she yanked it out of her, casting her aside.
"You want to know something funny?" Weiss said, rising from the floor. "I thought that all of this punishment, all of this suffering… that there was this holy purpose behind it. That I suffered for a reason greater than myself. But it turns out I was wrong." She scowled, wiping the blood from her lips. "It turns out you're just another controlling, condescending asshole with an ego too big for its mouth."
That comment—as it turned out—was enough to send the God spiraling over the edge.
"Thou thinks thou can insult me? Me!" The Reveler extended its arms, basking in its own glory, and the chains the surrounded it danced and curved around the sky, encasing it a sphere of gold opulence as it screeched out in untapped fury. "I am the Reveler, the One True God of this Pathetic World! My voice cracks the earth and parts the sea! All life on this planet is subservient to my whims! Thou art a cripple! Nothing but an insect gleaming at my magnificence! Thou will suffer an eternity of punishment for thy transgressions against me! Thou will kneel, helpless and screaming! God's Will is Absolute!" It drew back its arms, and the chains suddenly straightened, each of their sharpened tips pointed towards the ex-heiress. The God bellowed. "Now let thy fate serve as an example of the ultimate hell—"
And then the sky cracked open, and bright rays of light suddenly flooded into the world. Ruby and Weiss shielded their eyes, but only for a moment, as the light was consumed by a colossal shadow falling down into the void like a meteor. The God looked up too in surprise, and together they witnessed the body of a toad—one where they had no earthly idea where the hell it came from or why it was there—descending rapidly to their level. Fifty feet. Forty. Thirty. Tumbling through the air, its body nearly limp as it plummeted uncontrollably. And it was perhaps right around that time, that Weiss figured out the trajectory of the beast's fall, and she realized that its path led directly to the Reveler floating just beyond them. And it was around the twenty feet mark where the Reveler realized that—perhaps out of shock, or confusion, or maybe even out of fear itself—that it was paralyzed in place, and had not moved out of the way of the massive creature falling toward it.
And it was at the ten feet mark where it threw up its hand, pitifully attempting to block its own monster from crushing it.
Except... Weiss's calculations, and the assumptions of the God, were off. It was an expected side effect of bleeding out on multiple fronts. The toad came very nearly close, but it missed the Reveler by a hair, landing behind it by a few feet. It crashed tremendously on an invisible plane parallel to the floor Ruby and Weiss stood upon. The toad died on impact, its tongue popping out of its mouth as it went numb on the ground. The Reveler recoiled, though upon seeing the threat safely pass it by, it cracked its neck and grinned.
"O, what a sudden interruption," it murmured. It hesitated a long moment, gazing back and forth between the girls and the frog, but eventually, its curiosity and amusement got the better of it. Temporarily leaving the helpless girls to gander at its greatness, it floated down to the toad, leaning in and peering at the dead creature. "To believe I was nearly flattened by such an ugly thing."
It peered into the toad's eyes, marveling at its deadness. It wandered its gaze down to its stuck-open mouth and the soft, fleshy bits that were visible inside. A trail of sticky saliva and blood pooled out of the orifice, and the meat around the lips was torn and—there was a sac. A bulbous, near-translucent sac—normally resting beneath the beast's tongue—that lied detached from the rest of its mouth, loosened from the impact of the fall. And on that sac, a slit—an unnatural cut along its face, smooth and short like that from a knife allowing the green, noxious substance to leak through. And then it noticed the clenched human hand grabbing onto its end, the chewed remnants of its last meal and the Reveler, perplexed and intrigued, gently lifted up the toad's top lip.
And that was when Blake lunged forward out of the mouth with a scream and whipped the fluid sac forward as hard as she could, throwing a wave of acid directly into the Reveler's face.
