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RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, Salt and Sanctuary belongs to SKA studios.

Chapter 30: The Aftermath


"AGAIN!" Spectre's voice shouted.

Ruby groaned as she opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the pain. Intense pain rang throughout her entire body. Most of it was centered around her left eye. She reached up and rubbed it a bit. The relief was small, but fleeting. The second thing she noticed was the sound of metal cracking against metal.

She looked around to see where she was. She was in her room. Back in her home on Patch. She noticed so many things about the room. A small crack in the wall next to the window. Scratches on the wood flooring next to the door. There was a small dent in another board.

"What?" Ruby asked to the empty room as she kept taking in minute details.

She sat up in her bed and looked around. Sure enough, it was her room. Her precious was leaning against the wall at the foot of her bed.

"AGAIN!" Spectre shouted.

Ruby looked out the window. In the yard, she saw Weiss and Spectre, sparring. Spectre appeared to be winning. He swept Weiss's legs out from under her. She fell and was on alert as Spectre pressed his dagger to her throat. She assumed Spectre was saying something, but she couldn't hear him from her room.

She heard a gasp from the other end of her room. She turned just in time to see Taiyang rush over and pull her into a strong embrace.

"You're awake!" He proclaimed. "SHE'S AWAKE!"

"Dad, what happened? How long have I been out?" Ruby asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"It's been two weeks." Spectre said as he entered the room.

Weiss followed him in. Taiyang looked at the two before nodding.

"Two… weeks?" Ruby choked out.

Her dad nodded.

"Yang?" Ruby asked.

"She's alive." Taiyang said. "She'll be fine… soon."

"Dad?" Ruby asked.

"Yang's in a medically induced coma." Weiss spoke up. "Whatever that monster did to her, nearly killed her. She'll be fine, but she has to heal. She won't wake up for another month, at best."

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where's everyone else?" She asked.

"No clue." Spectre stated. "I have theories, but that hardly counts for anything. Blake, Pyrrha and Jaune all said they were returning home. Blake left by sea. Pyrrha and Jaune left in with a refugee caravan."

"We have no idea what happened to Ren and Nora." Weiss stated.

"I'll go make some food." Taiyang said as he got up to leave.

Spectre nodded in gratitude.

"Refugee caravans?" Ruby asked.

"In a move that completely baffles me-" Spectre began.

"Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas offered safety to the citizens of Vale." Weiss interrupted. "The other kingdoms have severely weakened their own defenses to protect the civilians as they travel to safety. General Ironwood took a large group with him on his airship. The Atlesian army that remains, and many Huntsmen and Huntresses are escorting whatever people didn't go to Atlas to Vacuo and Mistral instead."

"Still baffles me." Spectre repeated. "I'm used to nations constantly being at war with each other."

"That may be true for you, but we have a common enemy." Weiss stated.

"True." Spectre replied.

"What about you two?" Ruby asked.

Weiss looked to the ground, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Spectre pat her on the back.

"I'm going to hunt down Azredak. Weiss wanted to join me." He spoke. "Her sister was killed in the attack. One of the victims of a Tree. She told her dad what happened and that she was going to find the monster that caused this. Mr. Schnee seemed all for this idea."

"Why haven't you left then?" Ruby inquired confused.

"You weren't ok." Spectre said. "The Salt did something different to you. What do you remember of the battle for Vale?"

"I remember everything up until the tower. I remember shooting you then… just agony." Ruby shuddered. "I remember the Salt rushing up Crescent Rose, then there was nothing but pain. I remember experiencing your memories, but I can't remember specifics. Why?"

"Whatever the Salt did to you allowed you to kill Skourzh." Spectre said. "Is there anything else you remember?"

Ruby thought back. The memories of what happened danced through her mind. Always at the edge of clarity. There was one memory though.

"There was a voice." Ruby said. "I didn't recognize it and it was barely audible, but it apologized for making me see your life."

"Interesting." Spectre muttered. "Do you remember what exactly it said?"

"Not really." Ruby replied. "I remember it said our life, though. Why?"

"Not relevant right now." Spectre muttered, as he scratched his head.

"What happened to Vale?" Ruby asked. "Did we save it?"

"If it weren't for Skourzh, we could answer yes." Weiss stated, looking out the window.

"What?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Vale is little more than a smoking pile of rubble now. The only thing still standing in, relatively, one piece is Beacon. Without the unfortunate arrival of Kraekan Dragon Skourzh, Vale proper would have been able to recover in a short time. Unfortunately, the dragon leveled most of the city. Given ten or twenty years of peace, Vale might recover." Spectre explained. "But we have to get rid of Azredak first, and even then, there's no guarantee that the Darkborn will leave with him, or if the Grimm will return."

"So, we failed?" Ruby queried.

"In a manner, yes. In another, no." Spectre answered. "The destruction was broadcast to the entire nation. Even now, all media is stuck on a single image."

"It was broadcast?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, the entire world was already watching the tournament. When the arena was brought down, Azredak's army began marching into the city, and someone had managed to hack into the airways and Vale's CCTV cameras. The destruction was broadcast to the entire planet." Weiss explained, pulling out her scroll.

"People are scared." Spectre continued. "The refugees are terrified. Azredak has finally shown his existence. People are realizing that the Darkborn are organized. The destroyed Vale."

"The city may be destroyed, but we managed to save most of the people." Weiss interjected. "Most of them…"

Ruby attempted to hug the heiress, but a sharp spike of pain from her head discouraged that idea.

"Still hurts?" Spectre asked.

"Yes." Ruby sighed. "It hurts. Why does it hurt so badly?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, you were subjected to many years' worth of pain in a few seconds, I'd be more surprised if it didn't hurt." Spectre said. "For now, we'll leave you to rest. We have a god to hunt."

"Don't." Ruby pleaded. "Don't leave without me."

"Are you sure you want to come?" Spectre asked.

Ruby nodded with a determined look on her face.

"Very well, we'll leave you to rest. Hopefully, you'll be well enough to travel tomorrow." Spectre said.

The Saltborn and the Heiress left the room. Taiyang passed them in the hall taking a plate of hot food to his daughter. Spectre and Weiss continued on outside.

"Why didn't you say anything about her eye?" Weiss asked.

"It didn't come up in the conversation." Spectre answered. "Besides, she'll find out soon enough."

"Spectre, her left eye was white… like yours." Weiss said.

"Weiss, if I knew how to explain it, I'd tell you." Spectre said. "I don't know what it means, or how it will affect her. I don't know what's going to happen. I presumed that she'd be affected the same way Jaune was. Apparently, I was wrong. That doesn't matter so much now. I'm more interested in the voice she heard."

"What about it?" Weiss asked.

"She mentioned that it apologized for making her see 'our life'. Why would it say our? The only things on that tower were her, me, Yang and Skourzh. None of us have shared a life." Spectre answered.

"Could she have been making it up?" Weiss asked.

"It could have been a hallucination, but then I'd have to doubt what I saw." Spectre replied.

"What did you see?" Weiss queried, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I saw a figure in the Salt. When I came back to life, I saw what appeared to be a storm of Salt emanating from Ruby's eyes. For a brief second, I thought I saw it take the form of some kind of warrior." Spectre said. "But the second was so brief that I blinked, and it had disappeared."

"You think the Salt was talking to Ruby?" Weiss asked. "That sounds kind of ridiculous."

"Maybe, but it is possible. After all, not much is really known about the Salt. I wouldn't say the Salt being sentient is entirely impossible." Spectre theorized. "It might also explain how Ruby and Jaune had different experiences with it."

"Does it feel alive now?" Weiss asked.

"No. It feels the same as it always has." Spectre said. "I have no idea what the Salt did."

Spectre sighed in frustration and leaned back.

"I've been meaning to ask, but do you even know how to kill Azredak? Or even stop him?" Weiss inquired.

Spectre sighed and sat down on the porch. Weiss sat next to him.

"No." He admitted. "I have no clue how to stop Azredak. The only lead I have to go on is Jaret. Before he left, he told me of an old library in the city of Aurum."

"Aurum?" Weiss inquired.

"Yep, Jaret described it as a coastal city known for gold and fishing exports." Spectre replied. "No clue where it is though."

"The city was destroyed years ago. Back before the great war." Weiss said. "At one point, it was the center of power in Remnant."

"What happened?" Spectre asked.

"No one really knows. Tradition says the gold mines dried up. Some historians think the city was overrun by Grimm. Others claim it fell apart from the inside. No one really knows. The only thing that's really known about the city was that it was located somewhere along the southern coast of Sanus." Weiss explained.

"At least we have a general direction." Spectre said.

"That's a lot of land to cover. Why would Jaret send us there?" Weiss asked.

"Because he's too lazy to do it himself. He said that the library might contain history relating to the gods of this world and how they were killed." Spectre said.

"The gods were killed?" Weiss said. "I'd always heard that they had elected to leave."

"I don't know. I've never really heard the legends." Spectre stated. "I'm just telling you what Jaret believes."

They lapsed into silence for a moment. Spectre elected to just enjoy the setting sun.

"What happened to Jaret?" Weiss asked suddenly.

"He's joining The Sodden Knight and Amber as a protection detail." Spectre answered. "The three of them are following up another lead that Jaret might have. He wouldn't say more than that. For now, we just wait."

Weiss nodded and back into the house. Spectre leaned back and sighed. It was going to be a long journey.

…/…

Azredak smiled as he walked through the ruin of the city. The attack had proceeded about as well as he could have hoped. The city had been razed. While they had suffered minor losses, the destruction of Vale was largely relegated to the physical city itself. They had taken the lives of thousands, but the thousands that had died was the minority of people in the kingdom.

The Betrayer walked up to the massive body of Skourzh. His death had been the most surprising. Finding out the Salt was somewhat sentient was a revelation unto itself. However, that wasn't what he was most interested in. What was more interesting was the girl that had utilized it.

He assumed that she had killed Spectre. That would explain how she had access to the Salt. The figure in the Salt. That was strange. The last sight Skourzh saw before death. It was most interesting.

"Lord Azredak?"

Azredak turned to address the speaker. Cinder Fall was walking up to him.

"It has survived." Spectre stated. "Excellent."

"Did Kaira survive?" Cinder asked.

"No, however she will soon be joining us in life once more." Azredak said. "I am curious as to how it survived though."

"I took refuge with the civilians in the arena. They were decently protected by the Huntresses and Huntsmen in the coliseum." Cinder replied.

"Interesting." Azredak responded.

"What do we do now?" Cinder asked.

"You will wait. Kaira will return and you will continue training with her. We move to take Mistral next. Cyclopes are targeting the refugees." Azredak said. "This ruin will serve as a base of operations for the time being. Now, begone I have a dragon to resurrect."

"As you command, Lord Azredak." Cinder said before walking off.

Azredak turned back to the corpse of Skourzh. While he marched on Mistral, the dragon would fly to Vacuo. Soon, Remnant would be his.

The sound of shifting rubble caught his attention. He turned towards the source of the noise. A small tuft of hair peaked out from behind a collapsed wall. The Betrayer walked towards the rubble. He commanded the darkness to obey him. A strangled cry of panic reached his ear.

From the rubble, two figures emerged. A boy and a girl. He recognized the two. They had brought down one of the Trees of Men with the help of seven other Huntsmen and Huntresses. In the end, they had failed.

The girl had orange hair, a pink skirt, and a hammer on her back. The boy wore green and had a pink streak in his hair.

"Well, well, well. It seems I missed some." the Betrayer said.

He grinned to himself as he turned and walked away. The two looked at each other worried. Azredak chuckled at their fear. Remnant would indeed soon be his.


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Data Log BOS030

Information – Please leave constructive criticism. Updates to the archives take it into account, and it is greatly appreciated. Shorter chapter this time. Been busy getting ready to return home tomorrow. Hope everyone enjoys the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving.

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