"What just happened?" Yang asked as all the Atlas soldiers were now away from her group and the building.
"Do… do you think Ruby and Neptune… did it?" Jaune asked as Blake helped him back on his feet.
"Don't know, but how are we supposed to, anyway?" Ren then asked while cleaning his clothes.
After a moment of silence, their answer came in the form of thirteen people landing in front of them. Confused at first, they then panicked when they saw Ruby and Neptune being carried by Qrow and Sub Zero respectively. Yang and the other members of RWBY ran to see Ruby while JNR headed towards Neptune.
"We are ok, guys. Everything turned out great!" Neptune assured them before looking at Ozpin, Ironwood, and Fujin discussing something. "I think…".
Yang, on her end, pushed Raven away to get to her sister. Noticing her daughter was this close, but thankfully distracted, Raven then decided to get away; but before she could run, she was stopped by Glynda. Raven then rolled her eyes before whispering to the blonde woman. "I am not escaping. I just don't want to be here!".
Glynda then quickly looked at Yang before sighing. "You can't run away from her forever… but… I guess this is not the best moment for her to know you are here. Leave for the day, I'll talk with Ozpin".
"If you did anything to my sister, I swear I'll break your pathetic little… uncle Qrow!?" Yang asked as she saw it was her uncle holding her sister.
"Gotta admit I want to see you try kid" he answered with a hint of humor before looking at three talking men. "Still, can't believe the amount of trouble you girls get yourselves in".
All RWBY members were looking at their common friend. Weiss, however, was taken out of it when she felt someone grabbing her shoulder. She then turned and found herself in front of her sister wearing a tattered uniform and showing signs of physical bruises, though that was second to the frowning expression Winter had on her face.
"Winter… I… you see…" Weiss tried to explain but then stopped when her sister gave her a hug.
"I don't know what is going on exactly, but I'm just glad you had nothing to do with that code". Weiss' brain was not sure how to respond. It took her some time before giving back a hug as well.
In due time, every conversation was cut short once all attention was now on the three men talking. All they could see, however, was them looking at something on Ozpin's scroll. Curious about it, they began to march towards them.
"We need to move now!" Fujin insisted.
"Not yet…" Ozpin answered. "First I must make sure of something". All cameras had suddenly died and it showed nothing but static; Ozpin himself was playing the recording back trying to find what happened, fearing someone entered the vault while they were distracted. In due time, he finally found the footage he was looking for. In it, Amber's life support machine shared its power generator with Raiden's while the man's bed rested next to the machine. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Raiden's body began to shake and glow before a lightning bolt emerged from his abdomen and eventually shocked the camera, killing it.
"By the Elder Gods, no!" Fujin yelled, making everyone realize now that things were bad. Ozpin then switched to the last camera to die, and the extra footage showed three lightning bolts hitting Amber's chamber before a fourth one killed that camera.
"What happened!? Why is he doing that!?" Ironwood asked with panic.
"Raiden's body is dying… and because this world is alien to his essence, it is trying to find a new host in whatever is inside that machine, and if it doesn't find it soon, then something bad is going to happen…".
"What do you mean something bad!?" Nora screamed and making the three men realize they had an audience now.
"And what is this about 'essence'? You are talking as if he is a spirit or something". Fujin didn't answer; he just gave Qrow a stern and serious look. "Wait… are you serious?".
"How bad will it be!?" Ozpin asked, returning the conversation to the matter at hand.
Before Fujin could answer, however, they all saw as the tower that housed Ozpin's office began to shake. "Only the tower will be affected. Is it empty?" the wind god asked.
"No" Ironwood then told him.
"Then evacuate!" Fujin ordered.
"We can't…" Ironwood insisted, not wanting to give the reason as to why. "There has to be another way!".
"There WAS!" Fujin said with emphasis and a scolding tone.
Ironwood himself understood the message but insisted. "Are you sure there is no other way!?".
"There seems to be something alive inside that machine. It could happen that-" Fujin tried to explain but was quickly silenced by both headmasters.
"Out of the question!" Ozpin told him while whispering.
"Can we do something to replace that blue liquid?" Ironwood asked.
Fujin thought more about it until an idea popped in his head. "Maybe… but… it would require a lot". The glow of hope in everyone's eyes told him enough, they were willing to give it a shot. "First, we would need for Raiden's essence to return to his body, force it into a constant loop as if to not lose any more into his surroundings".
"Closing an open wound as if to not lose more blood, got it!" Yang said, oversimplifying the matter at hand.
"Well… yes… but then we would need to restore his lost energy with a new one".
"The generator should work then?" Winter thought out loud.
"It would not work" Ermac answered in his many voices, creeping all others who had not grown used to it. "Artificially produced electricity serves no purpose for Raiden other than a momentarily boost to his powers".
"I have raw crystal dust! That is natural enough, right?" Neptune proposed excitedly.
Fujin, however, rejected his offer. "That could be too much, overcharging the essence and potentially destroying the body".
"How could it be too much!? Isn't he like a god!?" Neptune screamed.
Fujin himself then marched in front of the boy, looking at him with unfiltered rage. "You need air to live! Would you like me to fill your lungs with all the air in this yard!? Maybe then you won't need to breathe for an entire month!?".
All looked in shock at the outburst. It wasn't until Smoke approached Fujin that the god then took a deep breath to calm himself. "I apologize…".
"Yeah… I'm sorry too…" Neptune said back. "Then I assume a shock from Tri-hard is out of the question as well?".
"The natural electric energy of the dust is lost at your weapon's mechanisms. It is no different from connecting him to a generator" Hanzo answered.
A new proposition, however, came from an unexpected source. "But… what if it was the other way?" Nora asked.
"What are you talking about Nora?" Jaune asked, not sure what the shorter girl was talking about.
"NO!" Ren then yelled at her. "You are not-!".
"What else can we do then!?" she snapped back.
"Miss Valkyrie, you can't be possibly suggesting what I think you are!?" Glynda then said, placing herself in that conversation.
"First of all: We don't have that much time, and second: I am the perfect candidate! Two for one! I can close the circuit AND can serve as a filter for the new electricity we need!".
The girls of RWBY were confused as to what was happening and turned to Jaune who looked at the conversation with fear; and when he noticed their questioning looks, he went on to give answers. "Nora's semblance allows her to absorb and channel electricity in her muscles. In short, she can absorb and redirect whatever is happening to the guy while also being able to filter and channel the electricity as a natural source".
"But even Miss Valkyrie has her limits!" Glynda mentioned out loud and making known she heard them.
"Okay, fine, if it is not me, then what!?" Nora then said, challenging all.
No one had time to propose something else as the lamp posts next to them suddenly blew up. "No, no, no, we are running out of time!".
With no other alternative in hand, Ren then hugged Nora with as much strength as he could. "Please come back," he asked her on the brink of tears.
"You know you can't get rid of me that easily" she answered back trying to lift the mood, but they both knew she was way beyond terrified. "Nep! Get your Tri-hard!".
"Right! Right!" the blue-haired boy said remembering his mission; but before he could start running, Hanzo grabbed him by the shoulder and engulfed them both in flames before disappearing. A couple of seconds then passed before both men reappeared with Neptune hugging his weapon tightly. "That… was worse… than portal…" he managed to say before following Nora, Ozpin, and Fujin.
As the others also tried to follow, they were stopped by Glynda, Qrow, Ironwood, and Winter. "No!" was all Glynda said.
Before anyone could then complain, they were interrupted by Qrow. "The fewer people are down there, the better" Qrow told them half truthfully; the other part was him hiding all others from seeing who was really down there and for what reason.
To say the ride wasn't awkward would be a lie. Stressful could be the better word to describe it though. After a short time, the crackling from the bolts of lightning became louder, but thankfully they didn't seem to be an obstacle for them; yet.
The doors then opened, and almost instinctively, Fujin and Ozpin created shields as a lightning bolt came out of Raiden's body and headed towards them. both Neptune and Nora backed away slightly shocked by what just happened and now understanding well the risks at hand.
"We can only get you a few feet away from him!" they then heard Fujin scream at them. "I don't know how much electricity you can take, but the sooner we get out of this the better. Rady!?".
Neptune placed his goggles over his eyes and turned Tri-hard into its Kuan Dao form. Nora just took a deep breath and cracked her knuckles. "Let's go!" she yelled confidently, but terrified, nonetheless.
The road towards Raiden was not easy. With every step they took forwards it was noticeable that the amount of lighting and the power with which they landed was only getting stronger. For a moment, both teens were distracted by the room itself, dark and empty except for that strange machine. Their thoughts stopped, however, once both Fujin and Ozpin were forced to their knees.
"This is as far as we can go!" Ozpin yelled at them. "Please be quick Miss Valkyrie!".
Thankfully, Nora's hesitation passed quickly as she only took one deep breath before stepping out of the shields. As expected, one of the lightning bolts stroke her as her body began to glow pink. Thankfully, the power of the bolt was not enough to take her down, but she did look as if the air had been punched out of her. It took a few seconds, but she was finally able to walk towards Raiden.
As if the electricity had senses of its own, more and more began to strike Nora, slowing her down but never stopping her. Once she was basically next to the dying body, it looked as if she was ready to pass out. In fact, she had fallen on one knee and began to gasp for air.
"Come on, come on…" Neptune whispered to himself.
"Be strong child…" Fujin said softly.
With a powerful roar, Nora then stood up and placed one hand over Raiden's forehead while the other landed on the open wound leading to his organs. It might have been disgusting, but Nora was also reaching her breaking point.
Almost as if it were a miracle, the lightning stopped swarming the room and only the pink glow emanating from Nora remained.
"Now!" both Ozpin and Fujin yelled at Neptune; and as soon as their shields were down, the boy ran towards Nora while charging his weapon with as much power as possible. Neptune then slammed the flat part of his blade against Nora's back; the girl was clearly in pain as the blue electric shocks became pink and those then began to cover Raiden's body.
"It's working!" Fujin said with both happiness and relief.
"Uh… it is it supposed to look like that though?" Neptune asked with fear as the pink energy that surrounded Raiden was now becoming a blinding white light.
"Mr. Vasillas, stop now!" Ozpin commanded.
Neptune did and Nora then immediately fell unconscious on his arms. But before anyone else could say anything, the light that surrounded Raiden grew brighter until it consumed the entire room.
Unconsciousness was a funny thing. Lights go out in an instant and then you wake up feeling as if no time has passed at all. Indeed, Raiden's eye shot open, and he instantly looked around but found… nothing. He was surrounded by nothing but white. He did feel as if he was laying on something, but when he turned his head, he saw he was… levitating? There was nothing behind him, but it felt like it. An idea then occurred to him and he gave a step forwards; and suddenly, his feet connected with a 'floor'. While looking around, he also noticed his clothes. They looked normal. "This is wrong… last time…" he began to say as flashbacks came to him.
His experience in Orderrealm, his arrival on Remnant, his journey, and fights until finally seeing Beacon; and then… nothing. "What happened to me?" He wondered loudly.
"Interesting…" a voice from somewhere behind him said. Raiden quickly looked behind and found another living thing in the distance. "You feel like them… yet you are… different". Raiden then noticed the characteristic of this new arrival: A golden man, seemingly naked and with deer antlers on his head and no features on his face.
Raiden could have done a lot of things. Demand answers, threaten the man, run away; but for some unexplainable reason, he didn't feel like he shouldn't confront him or rather that he was friendly and… good. "I do not know of what you speak" was all Raiden felt like he could say for the moment.
"I can feel it inside of you…" the man said as he began to walk to the left and now Raiden saw there was something strange with him or this world, as the man was no longer in the distance, but a tiny person, walking in the air and arriving on Raiden's shoulder. "You can use magic! Now it is I who should be concerned with you, stranger… How did you arrive here?".
Raiden looked away from the man and consulted his memories once again to try and come up with a logical answer. "I don't know…". He then looked around once again before asking a question himself. "And what is this place?".
"You are in a world between worlds" the man answered.
"A world between worlds… like the Nexus" Raiden concluded. He then looked around and reconsidered some parts of his conclusion. "Although it is much less chaotic…" he then looked at the man walking away while holding his chin yet never really getting smaller. "How would someone arrive at this place?".
The man stopped and then looked at Raiden once again. He then turned around and walked towards the thunder god again, this time getting bigger until he arrived next to Raiden having both the same size now. "No one can" he answered without any doubt. "Once the lifespan of a living being is over, they immediately arrive in the world of the dead. The last mortal to be here, arrived only because I summoned him… and I doubt my brother has something to do with this. Those are not the rules we set".
"Rules you've set… then… are you a god?" Raiden asked surprised.
The man, in turn, stopped for a moment before looking back at the other. "Huh… I've not heard that title in a long time. But I guess you could be right".
With that information and looking at the golden man and the aura of life and virtue he emanated; like Cetrion did. Raiden continued. "Then you must be… a God of light". The man then nodded, and Raiden bowed in return. "Please, forgive our intrusion in your world. A long-gone source of evil from our universe has returned and it aims to harm your people".
The Light God in turn considered what Raiden said. "Funny you should say that. I don't think humans know about me or my brother anymore. Maybe the day we return".
"You left them? Why?".
The other god, in turn, explained briefly to Raiden the Salem incident while also mentioning Ozma and their deal, never really knowing the whereabouts of the spirit's next incarnation. Raiden told the other about the Elder Gods and the One Being.
"So, humanity was created in this universe as a balance of light and darkness" Raiden concluded while also fascinated by the differences between this universe and his. The God of Light nodded, but then Raiden concurred something. "As I told you, there is also a deity of Light from where I come from".
"Yes, Cetrion I believe you called her. Never considered myself so much of a female in that regard, I suppose".
"But there was also a god of darkness… he betrayed the other Elder Gods for his own selfish needs. Don't you fear your brother will do the same?".
"He is many things Raiden; but just as I believe life must end, he also believes that it has to begin. Don't you?".
"I also believe in balance. For a long time, I thought both needed to live apart from each other. But recently, I've come to know that light does not mean good" he said remembering Grava's betrayal for what was, in the end, a good cause by the wrong means. "Just as I now know darkness does not carry evil with it," he said while remembering the demon Sareena and even Smoke.
There was no mouth in the God of Light's face, but Raiden was sure he felt as if the celestial being was smiling. "You and could have been very good friends Raiden".
The thunder god welcomed that idea, but then saw something that wasn't in this void before: a black hole far away behind the God of Light.
When the other deity saw Raiden's confused face, he turned around and saw the black hole in the distance. "It seems your body is out of time Raiden".
As he said that, Raiden felt how invisible strings began to pull him. "So be it then". Not offering any kind of opposition, Raiden began to walk towards to black hole until he felt something else pulling him back with greater strength.
"Interesting" the God of Light said. Raiden then turned and saw another hole, this one golden. "It seems you now have a chance to return as well. What will you do, thunder god?".
Logic dictated that the God of Light would be the equivalent to an Elder God, and Raiden vowed to follow their commands and rule. But at the same time, he knew that he would do more good back among the living. He then bowed a final time before addressing who he saw as his superior. "I respect the rules upon the living that you and your brother have set, but I must also answer to the orders of my pantheon above all". The other god said nothing and just nodded in approval.
As Raiden walked towards the golden spot, he then felt as if his entire body was now surging with new energy. Moments later, he noticed how his body was now being surrounded by white light; and before he could leave through the portal, the God of Light appeared next to him as well. "I will not try to stop you, Raiden. But I feel like the presence of the invaders from your reality will somehow affect the outcome of the trial I set upon my humans. Find Ozma, tell him what we discussed, and he will be sure to help you!".
With a final nod, Raiden kept walking until his entire body was consumed by the golden light, then came the blinding light, and finally darkness.
"I can see why you wouldn't like strangers to come here, headmaster. Or why you didn't want it destroyed" Fujin said while looking at Amber's face through the small window on the machine holding her.
Ozpin, in the meanwhile, was looking at the sleeping bodies of Neptune and Nora; the latter who was snoring loudly. If anything, it showed they were exhausted, but not within the risk of death. "Just like you, I and my close circle have secrets of our own. I can assure, however, that none of them put your world at risk" Ozpin said.
"Apologies, headmaster. It was not my intention to sound self-righteous" Fujin excused himself.
"You have your wars to fight, we have wars of our own. If it eases your mind, that machine is not hurting her; it is keeping her alive. I only ask that you tell of her to no one".
Before Fujin could answer, he looked at the Raiden's glowing body. It had been a few minutes since the once-dead body became the glowing entity before them; not changing in the slightest. "I promise, as soon as we are done with the Orderrealmers, we are gone".
Ozpin analyzed what the other said for a moment. "Orderrealmers?" he then asked.
"Right… we will brief you when we are done here" Fujin answered as he realized Ozpin had nothing to do with the other eight teens.
Their conversation was cut short, however, once the light began to suddenly glow stronger by the moment. Both men then shielded their eyes until they felt a small shockwave push them accompanied by a soft booming noise. Once they felt like the light had died, they opened their eyes, shocked at what they were now seeing.
Shortly after the darkness took over him did Raiden feel the need to open his eyelids. His body was suddenly overcome with tiredness and his head pounding. He opened his eyes slowly, thankful that there were little light sources that could hurt his blurry vision. When that came back fully, he then turned his head sideways and found Fujin standing next to a strange man; both looking at him with mouths wide open.
"Fujin?" Raiden asked, concerned by the other man's attitude.
"Raiden? Is that you!?" his fellow god asked in disbelief.
A feeling of confusion was all Raiden felt by that question. "Of course. Who else would it be, brother?".
Ozpin's shocked expression was quickly supplanted by a raised eyebrow as he turned to look at Fujin as if he were asking for an explanation for what the other said. The other in turn gave him a look saying he would explain later.
"Well… you don't look like… like yourself" Fujin then said to the other god.
Concerned by that answer, Raiden quickly raised from the bed; his muscles quickly recuperating. He then noticed he was not wearing his normal robes - or what was left of them – but rather a patient gown. He then saw as the metallic surface of the strange machine next to him seemed reflective enough, so he headed towards it; and once close enough, he was able to see why Fujin seemed shocked.
After birth at the hands of the Elder Gods, Raiden's mortal form took the shape of an older humanoid with long silver hair and a muscled body which he hid under his somewhat baggy robes. But the man in front of him was much younger; not older than nineteen, a much slimmer but athletic body with his hair already braided and going over his back. His face also changed from old and wise to young yet calm and confident. After noticing those changes, however, he also felt something else, an unfamiliar aura in the room. He looked back and looked at the other men before fixating himself on Ozpin, knowing there was something strange with the man, something that wasn't present on the children on the floor.
Raiden then levitated towards the headmaster. Once in front of the other man, he moved his open hand over the headmaster's face and seemed to understand what it was. "You can use magic!" Raiden said as if it was an epiphany.
Ozpin was shocked, of course, but instead of deflecting what the other said, he just pressed for answers. "Who… How did you know that!?".
Raiden ignored that question and then looked at the children on the floor. He was now able to see their auras as bright lights with a few black clouds here and there. Nothing new, No one was truly fully evil or fully good. But as much as he was fascinated by his new senses, Raiden also felt like he had an obligation with Ozpin. "I am Raiden. God of thunder and protector of Earthrealm".
Before any of the other two could add anything else, Nora suddenly rose from her sleeping state and shaking her head. "Brbrbrbr… wow! That one takes the record!" she then looked at the three men looking at her before focusing on the stranger. "Who's that!?".