Chapter 2

A Fractured Future

Several days passed after Ruby returned, and developments were proceeding well for the monsters. The counsel agreed to construct a small town on the outskirts of Vale for a number of monsters to settle in. The Vytal Festival Tournament was delayed due to the construction, but the huntsmen had no issues with this, as it gave them extra time to train for the matches. And with Ruby's absence, the extra practice was much needed.

As well, the time let the team start coordinating better with Ruby's upgrade, coming up with new team attacks in the process. Though, aura management was rather difficult for Ruby to keep up with, even as they neared the tournament. The sword's power source was simply too inefficient for it to be used consistently.

However, since this was a friendly competition, they just went forward with the mindset that they won't need a lethal mode for now. Plus, she can switch back to the scythe form if needed.

On the day before the tournament began though, Ruby didn't show up for their afternoon training. "It's not like her to just forget about a training session." Yang said, a bit worried about her sister.

"Maybe she got caught up in trying to upgrade the sword form? She has been a bit focused on that lately." Blake mentioned.

"I'll go get her. She's probably in the forge." Yang said, running off to the forge to get Ruby. Sure enough, Ruby was there looking at a schematic of the sword. "Yo, Rubes, what's the hold up?"

Ruby seemed to then look at the clock and scrambled to get her weapon. "Shoot! Sorry, I totally got caught up on something!"

With that kind of response, Yang became quickly curious as to what held her up. "What were you looking at?"

Ruby paused for a second before taking her scroll out and pulling up the sword's schematics once again. "I discovered something. Some hidden function Alphys didn't tell me about." She then enhanced the schematics to the hilt. More specifically, the small reactor at the center where the sword and hilt met.

"Not really sure what I'm supposed to be looking at." Yang said, scratching her head with confusion.

"Look at the reactor closely. There's this odd looking aura emitter that's connected differently than all the other emitters." As Ruby said that, Yang finally saw what she was pointing at.

"Alright, what's so special about it?"

"The emitter itself isn't too special. It's how it's connected. The other emitters are linked through a series of electronics and a lot of complex wiring. But this one is linked directly to the reactor. In my own personal theories, if it were activated, it would have more piercing power than all the other emitters combined." Ruby's theory was a tad wild, but then again, in her defense, pretty much everything that's happened in the past month was a wild ride, so all things considered, this was pretty tame.

"Okay, then why did she complete that mode?" Yang asked, still a bit sceptical about this whole thing.

"That can also have a number of reasons. The power output could simply be too great for the reactor to compensate. The device could simply have not worked in practice. Or maybe she just had another idea on how Crescent Rose could work, and by the time she came up with it the device was impossible to take off." Ruby said, her reasoning being a bit more logical this time around.

"Well, we'll just work through those kinks once the tournament wraps up. For now, let's try and get those finishing touches on our team attacks!" Yang's eager call to arms snapped Ruby back into reality.

"Oh, yeah! Forgot about that! Let's get to it then!" And with that, the two sisters got back to their teammates, spending most of the day putting the final touches on their ultimate attacks.

Before long, evening finally arrived, the once blue sky now being bathed in orange. Most of the teams there were taking some much needed rest to make sure they were in perfect shape for the first battles that would take place the next morning. The anticipation of the up and coming battles was unbearable, everyone eager to scratch that very irritable itch.

From what she heard, Ruby learned that the monsters would at least be able to have the tournament be broadcast to them, with a few representatives being present at the stadium to watch it firsthand.

"Yo, Ruby!" And speak of the devil, Undyne decided to find Ruby herself, but Ruby was a bit surprised to see Undyne's change of wardrobe. Instead of her heavy full-body armor, or her tank top and jeans, she was wearing an Atlas uniform with bits of armor strapped here and there.

"Undyne! What's… with the get-up?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, this? I could've sworn I texted you about it. Atlas offered to take a monster representative for their army, and I volunteered. Since, y'know, the royal guard ain't exactly a thing anymore. Plus, Asgore thought it would be a good chance to get into your guys's good graces," Undyne explained, stretching out her arms, "Though, I wish the uniform was a bit more mobile. No idea how those special ops guys move around in these!"

"So… is there, y'know, something you wanted to talk about, or..?" Ruby asked, Undyne's eyes lighting up suddenly.

"Oh yeah! I wanted to show you something neat! Come on, I want to show you before nighttime!" Undyne grabbed Ruby's arm suddenly and dragged her outside, the rest of team RWBY just wondering what just happened.

Thanks to a quick airship ride, Ruby and Undyne were back at Mount Ebott before the sun set. But instead of going into the mountain, they instead went up toward the peak. An odd sparkle shone from the top of the mountain the entire flight, and it wouldn't be long before Ruby discovered the source.

Once they reached the summit, Ruby saw a silver single-edged sword planted in the highest point of the mountain, a strange light emitting from it. As they got closer, she noticed a large fracture in the blade's center, which poured out a rainbow-colored energy, as if the sword was brimming with sunlight. "This is it." Undyne said, walking around to the other side of the sword, the silver object now separating Ruby and Undyne.

"Okay, what's so special about this sword?" Ruby asked, secretly excited to find out what made this sword fantastical.

"There's an old tale we monsters had about a weapon called the Aster Sword. Made of a metal not of this reality, that shines of celestial light and carries the power of a trillion masters, it's believed that this sword is the true reason the monsters were sealed within the mountain. It's told that whoever can pull the sword from the mountain would have unparalleled power, even having the power to fell gods." Undyne's hand traced over the hilt, which was black as night.

Ruby became fascinated with the sword, and without her even knowing, she was slowly approaching the sword. Undyne said something, but she didn't hear her. She came under some form of trance, Undyne even trying to hold her back, but from what she wondered. Then, without intending to, she tapped the hilt of the sword with her finger.

A blinding light burst out from the sword, but somehow the light didn't affect Ruby at all. It was almost like it wasn't even there for her. The longer she held it, the more intense the light got. Then, the light transferred over to her silver eyes, and everything for her became white.

Then something came to her. She saw a figure cloaked in fire in battle with someone wrapped in a veil of white light, the two of them fighting at speeds faster than light, but somehow she could barely keep up with it. Then the vision flashed, and suddenly she was at the grounds of Haven, with a gigantic orb of black energy crashing towards her. She could feel her every atom in sheer agony before the vision shifted again, this time a golden light racing with a black flame, red lightning streaking across the blackened sky and ripping apart a dark wasteland.

Then the vision shifted several more times, each one significantly different. A green haired boy facing off against a white mech, a blue-and-purple haired girl fighting against a man with energy of black and red, a rainbow of colors following their each clash. Then lastly, a strange symbol flashed across her mind several times before she was brought back to reality. For some reason, she felt like she just got done running a 10k. Her muscles were weak, and she was having trouble catching her breath.

"Ruby! Are you alright?!" Undyne frantically rushed to her, her words finally clear.

"Y-Yeah." Ruby managed those words before collapsing into Undyne's arms.

"Hey, don't push yourself! If you need help, just say so!" Undyne's concern was touching to Ruby, but she was more concerned about those visions. What did they mean? Was that the future? Or were they events of the former masters of the sword?

"Hey, Undyne? Did you touch the Aster Sword before?" Ruby asked weakly.

"Yeah, why?" Undyne was now more confused at the question than she was concerned about Ruby.

"Did you… see anything?"

"Not really. It was nothing like what just happened. If I knew that would happen, I wouldn't have made you come right before your match tomorrow." Undyne's ignorance of the Aster Sword's true abilities told Ruby everything, yet at the same time left her with no answers. She could only hope that those events were things of the past, but she couldn't shake that lingering sense of dread. Something inside her told her that death was closing in on them.