Akame blocked the strike from Kurome and pushed it to her left guiding her sister in the same direction, swinging out her leg as she did so she sent Qrow to the ground, quickly getting up he continued to try and interrupt them, locking blades with Kurome he caught her wrist preventing Murasame from cutting him
"Cant you two just get along?" he questioned as they pressured him
"Stop interrupting." Kurome growled looking him dead in the eyes "I thought you cared for us." she added
"I do, and this is only going to get rid of one of you and force the other to spend the rest of their life in regret." he explained as he heard a hammer of a gun cock back, before he could react he was sent flying, and Akame and Kurome went back to fighting, slowly standing he watched as the two began to dance around each other slashing at each other every attack was perfectly dodged and replied to with great haste
"Dammit..." Qrow growled as he used Harbinger to stand, slowly making his way towards them he felt his aura was extremely low already, but he needed to stop this
"Stop this both of you!" Qrow shouted stepping between them as they separated, Kurome rolled her eyes and lowered he blade a bit, while Akame glared at him
"Father, this is your last chance. Leave us to this, or be treated as an enemy." Akame ordered aiming her blade at him
"Neither of you can come back from this." Qrow said "Raven may have taken a step off the deep end to allow this to happen but I still have some amount of morals. Please, you both can stop this. And help us protect the relic." Qrow tried to reason
"This is a family matter 'father' step aside or be treated like a foe." Kurome echoed causing him to sigh
"You don't know what this'll do to you." he said turning to Kurome "You could kill a thousand people but at the end of the day killing a family member will scar you." he tried again taking a step towards her "Please, I want both of you to stop suffering and just live."
"I suffer regardless." Kurome denied neutrally "Each second that passes I feel my body scream for release, my sister is the one that I want to free me from this pain. Now step aside and let us finish this." she informed, Qrow now saw what she meant, she was no longer clean and orderly, her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was disheveled, the bags under her eyes were dark and she seemed like she could barely focus anything
"Fine..." Qrow finally said stepping back "You're in pain and suffering... but you're also tired, and if I know raven she ran you through more drills then you could count, right? Get some rest first... I wont interfere if you do." Qrow bargained, looking over to Akame who was still aiming her blade at him, Akame and Kurome shared looks then both moved in sync as they sheathed their blades, Qrow then let out a sigh and turned back towards the building and rushed to help leaving Kurome and Akame alone
(o)
entering the building Qrow watched Oscar back flipped over a blast from Leonardo, spinning around he guided Hazels' fist out of the way causing the man to stumble, spinning back the other way he knocked Hazel upside the head causing him to fall, rushing over to Qrow he spoke
"Good of you to join us Qrow." He said in a refined tone signaling that it was Ozpin this time
"Sorry... had to deal with a family matter." Qrow commented drawing Harbinger and shifting it into the scythe
"I hope it ended well." Ozpin commented as he rushed towards Hazel soon followed by Qrow
(o)
"Father trusts us not to continue." Akame said looking her sister dead in the eyes
"He is a trusting man. Unlike your last 'father'." Kurome commented as she redrew her blade soon followed by Akame
"He is... perhaps we should have listened." Akame said her tone held no emotion in it
"I disagree." Kurome said as she rushed to attack again, Akame stepped back and raised her blade to defend
(o)
Yang leaned back avoiding a kick sent for her jaw, dropping to her knees she swung her leg knocking Mercury down then rolled away avoiding an ax kick from the man, holding down his leg she rolled over and slammed her foot into his jaw knocking him down
"BOOM!" Yang laughed as she rolled to a standing position, Mercury slowly stood and shook his head
"Something changed with you." he growled causing Yang to let out a dry laugh
"Really? You think getting my arm lopped off had anything to do with that? Or was it spending a little under a year working for Esdeath, you just might be onto something with that." she snarked throwing a few attacks at him which he attempted to block but found the attacks to be far too strong to be block, her eyes turning red with each strike
(o)
Locking blades again, Akame let Kuromes' blade slide down Murasames' edge as her sister stumbled off balance she drew Due Process and fired, but the gun was knocked off course by her sisters hand as she swept her legs out from under her, both slammed into the ground and rolled away from each other standing on their knees they began to attack each other again while standing, locking blades Akame tried to break Kuromes' guard again but suffered a strike from the pommel of her blade, dropping back she kicked her leg at Kurome as she rushed to stab her knocking her to the ground and forcing all the air out of her lungs.
Akame stood and looked around from Due process which was lying in the dirt a few feet away from her, walking over to it she notice a red haired man and a group of six men all dressed in white fang uniforms, they were watching their battle
"Leave or die." Akame ordered pulling the gun from the ground and popped the cylinder out it had four shots left
"You were present at the docks in Vale, and at Beacon. You slew hundreds of our comrades." the man said drawing his blade "We would be foolish to waste this opportunity." he growled as he rushed her Akame side stepped the strike and he suffered a strike by Kurome
"You are interrupting. Leave or die." she repeated coldly aiming her blade at him
"You two were just battling to the death, what does it matter who kills her?" he questioned as he stood and readied his blade again
"My sister will die at my hands, or I will die at hers. You will die at both our hands if you don't leave us." Kurome growled causing him to step back a little, as her killing intent exploded off of her, it felt sad, she didn't want to do this but it was the only thing that brought any amount of solidarity, she had to believe that Akame wanted to end this just as much as she did
Rushing forward Adam swung at Kurome but his blade was blocked by Akame and countered by Kurome who sent him to the ground again, rolling back he fired Blush which was easily dodged by the two, after dodging the attacks the girls weaved their way through the Pure Fang soldiers ending all their lives before aiming their weapons at Adam who began to flicker red
"You will pay for that." he growled at them, Kurome rushed him as he swung his blade, Akame rushed in to attack as well, but her instincts were faster than Kuromes' ducking under the attack she kicked Adams' knee in and went to stab him, moving his blade in the way it flashed red and sent her sliding back, sliding to a stop she raised an eyebrow, with a smirk he rushed in to attack her, with each strike she blocked he flashed red and each attack she landed he flashed red, leaping back he sheathed his blade causing red energy to dance around him, red flames burning off his body
"DIE!" He shouted sending a wave of energy at Akame, who threw Murasame at the attack then leapt out of the way dodging the attack, the blade flew through the attack unfazed by it and struck Adam causing his aura to shatter and him to drop to the ground, quickly reaching for Murasame Akame rushed him, his fingers closed around the grip and he slashed at her, diving over the attack she grabbed his wrist and slammed it into the ground, but suffered a strike to the jaw from him, again she slammed his wrist into the ground causing him to growl in pain then strike her again, ignoring the pain she slammed his wrist into the ground again causing a sickening snap to resound around them, taking the blade from the ground she aimed it at his throat
"Eliminate." she growled and began to lower the blade the sound of a shot ringing out sent her off of him, quickly standing he aimed Blush at her and fired again, barely tilting her head out of the way she watched him retreat into the woods, quickly standing she ran over to her sister who was struggling to sit up
"Kurome, are you okay?" Akame asked helping her sit up, her aura stuttered a bit then shattered into an orange hue
"I'm fine." she answered through gritted teeth, she was clearly in pain
"No you're not. Once you recover we'll fight again... I guess we'll be listening to father regardless of what we wanted." Akame said again hearing footsteps behind her, looking over her shoulder she saw Blake and Sun, along with many other Faunas, the one that caught her eye was a woman who looked extremely dangerous
"Where did that bastard go?" the woman asked looking around at the corpses, she had a whip wrapped around her wrist made of chain, leaning in front of Kurome a bit she watched the woman closely
"Akame, did you kill a man with black and red clothes?" Blake asked walking up to her
"He retreated." she answered causing Blake to sigh in relief "Your team is in the main building, can I trust your people to protect Kurome?" Akame added causing Blake to look past her at the girl who had her eyes closed
"You can, but wouldn't you rather stay with her?"
"I want to, but more people are counting on us than just her." Akame reasoned as she stood and held her little sister out to Sun, taking the girl from her arms Kurome quickly reopened her eyes and stared her sister dead in the eyes
"We will finish this later." was all she said and Akame nodded before turning away and moving towards the main hall alongside Blake
"You smell like the sea." she commented looking up at Sun
"Well we did spend a lot of time sailing here."
"You remind me of an old friend... he probably thinks I'm a coward now... and a traitor." she said her voice shook with the word traitor, she was nothing like her sister... she was loyal and she knew that the more obedient she was to the empire the safer everyone would be... but she wasn't in the empire anymore and from what Raven said it fell to the evil that her sister claimed to be good... and now the people she should consider foes' were helping her... maybe she misjudged them.
That thought was quickly whipped from her mind as she thought back to the great things the empire did for her, she had a purpose from her childhood to now, and she met such great people, many of them were torn from her due to the anarchist that Akame aligned with... she will resolved herself once again that what she is doing is for the best, in the end she seemed to end up being the final soldier on the battlefield standing for order... she just wished that Esdeath were here... it would be a little less lonely, and she would probably have a higher chance of success with her here
"So... what's your relationship with Akame?"
"She's my older sister." she answered staring off into space
"Then why were you two fighting?"
"Neither of us can move forward in our lives until the other lies dead." Kurome answered causing Sun to falter a bit
"All siblings argue... but that seems a little extreme." he said earning a hum from the girl
"No... it is a fact... one of us will lie dead... and the other will grow." she said closing her eyes and falling into the darkness that followed it
(o)
Entering the main hall it was completely wrecked, Qrow and Oscar were battling out against the older opponents, rushing to Qrows' side Akame drew Murasame
"Good of you two to finally join us." he said then looked over seeing Akame and Blake, after registering that it wasn't Kurome he paled a bit
"She is currently recovering with the faunas that Blake brought with her." Akame said aiming her blade at the traitor who stepped back and aimed Stalwart at her "Eliminate." Akame said dashing towards him as he fired a wave of fire at her
(o)
Ruby let out a whistle as she watched Cinder plummet into the darkness below them ice covering her body
"Wow, I thought I was gonna have to do that... oh well." Ruby said casually as she began towards Raven who jumped a bit then sent a wave of fire in Rubys' direction, raising her hand and summoned a shield of ice blocking the flames and let out a sigh "Come on Rae, you should already know that you cant win, your Aura is out, and you're tired." Ruby said as the flames died and Raven drew her blade and began to attack attacked, Ruby continued to use her shield to block Ravens' attacks, she was right that Raven couldn't beat her but she was just as tired due to the fighting upstairs, her main advantage being her aura which was pretty low due to the strike she suffered upstairs
"Oh yes, keep draining yourself against the wall that I currently am acting as." Ruby casually said as Raven tried to break the shield slowly tiring herself out, taking a step back she began to pant heavily
"What did you say about watching your back again?" Ruby asked when she looked over her shoulder at the massive amount of ice spears aimed at her "Now then, why don't you open the vault." Ruby ordered causing Raven to raise an eyebrow
"Why-"
"Because I don't trust you not to come back and take it... so; open says me." Ruby explained letting the shield vanish but the number of spears grew in size
"What if I refu-"
"Then I'll kill you and take the maiden powers and leave." Ruby answered coldly "So you know... clock is ticking." Ruby added with a smug grin growing on her face, Raven was in checkmate. With a growl Raven turned and began to walk towards the large golden doors "So... did you get the powers from Vernal, or did you get them from the previous maiden?" Ruby asked as they reached the door
"I don't answer to you." Raven growled as her eyes began to burn with red flames
"You do right now." Ruby commented as she watched Raven slowly reach out to the door and touch it causing it to click and begin to react, in front of Raven a wall of ice formed blocking her from entering, turning to Ruby she looked her dead in the eyes
"I want you to give a message to Yang for me..." Raven finally said after a few seconds of staring, Ruby raised an eyebrow as the woman began to speak
"Tell her; I never wanted to leave her alone." she said as she opened a portal and vanished into it, it closed behind her and Ruby scoffed
"If you didn't want to leave her you would have stayed." was all she said as the ice around her shattered into a cold mist
Walking into the vault there was pure darkness, the ground beneath her wasn't there, it felt like she was walking on the surface of water, it felt that she would fall through at any moment, step by step the sounds of whispers filled her head as she got closer to the relic, it was a golden and blue lamp, but the colors themselves were wrong, they seemed to eat the darkness around them and each other, as her hand got closer the whispers became louder and louder closing her fingers around it a loud laughter entered her mind
(/_\)
Looking around she had no idea what was going on, the snow around her seemed to dance in reverse, rising from the ground and floating upwards into the sky, spinning around she watched as Atlas plummeted from it's place in the sky onto the city of Mantle below-
In the blink of an eye she found herself standing in a dark city, looking up she saw the bottom of Atlas, it wasn't falling this time but floating, looking around she saw civilians running in fear as waves of darkness engulfed the streets stopping them from screaming, the black smoke engulfed her-
another scene played out again what looked to be a distorted voices played in her head, they were too altered to make out what they were saying but she recognized the voices themselves, she recognized Esdeath, Qrow, Reichsmarschall Ironwood, Oscar and Ozpin, but they all seem to be having different conversations given their tones'
(o)
Dropping the lamp Ruby stepped back and looked around, from a perspective behind herself she felt so confused by her bodies movements
"Poor little Rose..." she heard herself say turning towards her, her silver eyes had become pits of pure darkness "You should know that knowledge is all corrupting." she laughed out as she walked towards herself, as she drew closer it became harder and harder to breath summoning blades of ice she was surprised to see them appear over the beast in front of her
"Do you honestly think a human soul is strong enough to resist?" she asked, her movements were slow and relaxed, trying to move away from this... thing she found a wall of ice blocking her way "In the end you wanted to know everything, but now you know nothing."
"I don't want to know everything." Ruby said giving the beast pause, they were inches from each other
"Are you sure? You could know EVERYTHING, you could have power that puts the creatures blood that flows through your veins to shame, knowledge on what is to come, what you saw is a future that is very possible. All you have to do is accept that you, much like every other creature in reality. Is evil and corrupt." it said showing a toothy grin "You could know just how to make Esdeath obey your every word, and the same could be said to her with you. Or you could find a way to bring your mother back here." it added causing Ruby to freeze and the entity to chuckle "Ah... your mother yet lives, a world that your 'cousin' and 'uncle' are familiar with. Bringing her back here is a simple matter... all you have to do... is accept the truth and your place in this... 'reality'." It had said causing Rubys' brain to go into maximum overdrive trying to figure out why it was saying these things
"What will it cost me to gain this power?" Ruby asked causing the entity to chuckle darkly and extend a hand to her
"Everything." It answered, Ruby looked down at the limb for a few moments then sighed
"that is too much for one lifetime." was all she said causing the entity to growl
"Aren't you the girl who wants to save everyone?" It asked clearly desperate to get agreement from Ruby
"I want to save everyone yes. But I will do so with my own power, not yours." Ruby answered causing the being to laugh sarcastically at her words
"YOUR POWER!? YOU HAVE NO POWER! YOU ARENT EVEN IN CONTROL OF YOUR OWN BODY!" It shouted waving its hand in front of her eye' causing its fingers to pass through what she thought was her eyes "I control you. And until we come to an agreement... you. Will. Never. Have a body."
"You still need me to consent to your power, and I don't. So leave my body, I have more work to do." Ruby ordered causing the being to growl as darkness engulfed her again
(/_\)
looking around Ruby watched as fire rained from the sky, she saw one of her greatest fears before her, Yang was lying atop a spike blood leaking from her nose and mouth her eyes were staring blankly at the blackened sky, turning around she saw Weiss, blood leaking from the holes where her eyes once were, Myrtenaster stabbed through her throat, another turn she found Blake hung by Gambol Shroud her arms and legs were brutalized and the bones were showing in certain spots, covering her mouth Ruby felt bile rise, vomiting on the ground she looked around again for some form of comfort something that told her that this was fake
Akame was lying on the ground her throat was cut and she had a peaceful look on her face almost a smile, in one hand she held a shattered Murasame and in the other Due Process, next to her was Neo who had a scared look on her face but was also holding onto the shattered Murasame. A few feet away from them was Qrow, much like his daughter he looked a peace but he had multiple stab wounds scattered all over his chest, many of them had the ground visible on the other side, next to him was a blond woman in a similar state, she was gripping his hand as tightly as a corpse could with a smile on her face
turning again she was dreading what she or Esdeath looked like, but instead of seeing anything like that darkness over took her
(/_\)
she was in a building it looked like a palace, walking along the hallway she found many guards looked battle hardened but they seemed to have their spirits broken none of them had the light of huntsman in their eyes nor the look of soldiers, the just looked dead inside, the sounds of laughter caught her attention reaching the end of the hall she attempted to push the door open but her arm phased right through it, entering the room she was surprised by the sight, there was a large table with two individuals sitting at it, one was Esdeath she looked older and had the same uniform on, she had her feet propped up on the table and was laughing
the other occupant was a girl with long black and red hair, her silver eyes were were following Esdeath watching her laugh with a bright smile, looking closer at the girl she felt disgust, on her neck was a orange scarf that belonged to Yang, in her hair was Weiss' hair pin, over the red gauntlets that she stole from Akame were black ribbons that she robbed from Blake, a set of rings adorned her right hand, that she recognized as Qrows' instead of Crescent Rose being on her person she had Harbinger resting next to her, she was wearing a pair of brown boots that had looked like they were taken from the woman next to Qrow, around her neck were beads that were taken from Neo
this woman who stole her face had- the persons eyes darted to her position and stared her dead in the eyes
"I remember this... huh... today of all days." her own voice came, it sounded mature and confident
"What do you remember?" Esdeath asked leaning on the table taking a drink from the glass of wine next to her
"Long ago, after I touched the Relic of Knowledge I was greeted with a vision, of my future." she said standing up and walking around to one side of the table, she placed Harbinger on her belt as she did so "It was a vision of the future. I saw all my friends dead with the exception of you. I knew that they would all eventually leave me alone. With nothing, so I cut them from my life, and made room only for you, my love." she said grabbing Esdeaths' hand and planted a kiss on it, spinning around to the other side of Esdeath chair she walked up to the younger version of herself and smiled
"Now it is time for you to do the same." she said with a smile "Forget the fools that are too weak to keep you strong." she said to the air in front of her "Esdeath is strong, and that is all you will ever need. After all; the future is an inescapable truth that can't be resisted, once you know that is to come, it can not be changed." she explained her smile becoming one of sadism "If it makes you feel any better there are no more kingdoms, and no more conflict."
"As unfortunate as that may be." Esdeaths' voice came from behind them causing the woman in front of her to nod
"We are the ones in charge of this world and the weak masses obey or die." she added as Esdeath stood and walked up next to her
"While I cant see this reunion, I think you should tell her about Ozpin, before we head off to bed." Esdeath said with a smile she snapped her fingers and from one of the dark corners of the room a person walked out, she recognized the eyes, but they looked dead inside, just like everyone else with the exception of these two
"Oh, Ozpin has lied to you, time and time again. Soon you'll know what I mean, and if that's not incentive enough, Cinder lost her mind after I took her other arm and her tongue. Sadly no one has made me as mad in a long time, so she is one of the only pets that I have." she said as Cinder sadly trudged after her "Esdeath here had Qrow but after he, Leone, Akame, and Neo tried killing her... again. She decided that they weren't worth the trouble." she added as they reached the door "So, little Rose, if you ask me; this is the only life that is worth living. And I know we can agree on that." she added as the three walked out of the room and the vision faded into darkness
(o)
staring at the lamp Ruby placed it on her belt and walked over to the lift, she had a lot to think about than, her whole life she thought that all her choices mattered... but with the events she had just witnessed it made her doubt the possibility of any different futures... staring up she let out a sigh and covered her eyes, she felt sick, she just wanted to reach the top already, and she just wanted today to end like it never happened, it felt that the cold from inside the vault was still inside her, it was an annoying itch at the back of her mind
(o)
Flying back Emerald rolled to a stop and banged her head on the steps, struggling to sit up she watched as Mercury was sent flying past her into the wall, dropping to his knees he let out a groan as Yang laughed
"Hows it feel to get your asses kicked by the people you played for fools?" she laughed out "I mean, how does an ambush work out so poorly?" she taunted as Hazel panted, the dust he injected went dull a little while ago and weakened him, before he could use anymore Weiss froze the pouches on his hips preventing him from pulling more, at that point the fight started moving in their favor, Leonardo tried to set fire to the building itself but Yang prevented him doing so by shattering his Aura and his weapon causing him to flee, and after Akame joined the fray the battle became so much easier
"Now then, surrender." Weiss ordered aiming Myrtenaster at them, with a growl Mercury slowly stood and prepared to fight again as they heard the lift, every few seconds they heard a loud click, again and again until it was revealed to be Ruby who had dark circles under her eyes and broken smile on her face
"I'm giving you all an opportunity. Leave now... or end up as statues in my own personal gallery." Ruby growled in an empty tone but it had the desired effect causing fear from the three below her, Yang opened her mouth to argue but was cut off by a glare from Ruby, closing her mouth she stepped back, but Akame spoke up
"I will kill them, if you will not." she said drawing her blade and aimed it at Hazel
"Akame, that is an order, not a request." Ruby growled staring her dead in the eyes, the two stared at each other before Akame finally relented seeing something in Rubys' eyes
"If this comes back to bite us. All the deaths that follow are on you then." Akame finally said sheathing Murasame and walked out of the way, walking over to Qrow she crossed her arms and waited
"You okay kid?" Qrow asked as he helped Ozpin stand, while they were winning Ozpin took the most damage, rising to his feet he paled when he looked at Ruby, quickly moving towards the stairs he dropped to his knees then pulled his cane from his belt and used it to stand, making his way up the stairs he grabbed Ruby and turned her towards him
"What did you see?" he asked Ruby stared into his eyes then looked away, unable to trust the man even with her gaze "WHAT DID YOU SEE!?" He shouted as their enemies ran towards the exit
"Let her go Ozpin." Akame ordered, she didn't like that he was being so forceful with anyone given his abilities
"ANSWER ME!" He roared shaking Ruby getting her attention again
"I saw... the future." she answered "And you aren't a part of it." she said coldly as she pushed him and turned towards the stairs
"What you saw is a possibility not a reality!" he said chasing after her "It doesn't have to be the future that becomes a reality." he quickly explained catching up to her
"Take it." Ruby ordered holding the object out to him but he didn't reach for it, instead he stepped back
"I... cant." he said earning a scoff from Ruby
"Then don't lecture me on reality."
"But Oscar can." he finished as they swapped back, dropping to his knees he gasped out apologizes to her, Ruby didn't respond she just released the item and walked away, it was left floating where she released it, reaching up Oscar grabbed onto the relic and it dropped into his hand, it burned but with his Aura it felt like a warm piece of metal
(o)
Finally reaching the camp, Akame started asking for Kuromes' location, upon reaching her she placed the red blade next to her
"I'm sorry." Akame said placing her hand on Kuromes' head causing the girl to instantly latch onto her hand holding it closer to her, she rubbed her face against Akames' hand mimicking a cat in some way, Ruby watched this then looked at Yang
"Why aren't we like that?"
"Because you could kick my ass every way to Sunday." Yang answered earning a scoff from Ruby
"They plan to fight to the death... we have no excuse." Ruby reasoned causing Yang to wrap her arm around Rubys neck and pull her close, it felt nice, like she was herself again, for the first time in a long time
Ruby on the other hand felt empty inside still, Yangs' touch brought her nothing but the memories of her corpse atop a spike
"Happy?" Yang asked smiling properly for the first time sense she arrived in Mistral, Ruby nodded it was the only way she could keep the bile down, but if it made Yang happy it made her happy... Ozpins' words seemed to echo through her head, he said that the future that she saw wasn't sent in stone... but the her from the vision said otherwise
A/N Another one done, I have altered how the relics work (Obviously) with how they work, the Lamp works in a way that a person could ask three questions then you gotta wait a hundred years before you can ask any more AKA you get three questions per lifetime, how does that bring knowledge to humanity? Answer; it brings knowledge to Salem and Ozma and no one else. It's just dumb, anyways the Lamp in my AU gives almost answers and half truths with the exception of 3 possible answers that can change due to ones own actions.