The world rumbled furiously each time the creature moved. It would lift a mechanical leg up slowly and slam it down to the ground in an attempt to move towards the two men.
James and Arthur were rattled each time the creature slammed the earth. They both jumped out of the way before they could be crushed by a giant steel arm.
"What do we do?" Arthur said while panicking. Whatever Other Watts had turned into looked determined to kill the two of them. "This machine will be the death of us!"
Ironwood on the other hand was stricken by fear and panic. Not again. It's all falling apart again!
Arthur looked at the general with the expectation he'd do something. James was, even without his weapons, a better fighter than Watts. But he was frozen up in terror, unable to formulate a plan to survive. All he saw was Salem again and again, taunting him.
"James!" Arthur yelled again. "What do we do James?" Ironwood didn't respond. Watts saw another one of the arms flying towards James. He rushed forwards and tackled Ironwood to the ground. Both men narrowly avoided the oncoming strike.
"Dammit! You're my only ticket to survive! I'm in no condition to fight!" Arthur snapped at James and grabbed him by the collar and shook him until he was pushed off. "James you're a soldier dammit!" Watts looked back towards Other Watts and grit his teeth. He took Due Process and stood over James.
Dammit! Watts thought, thinking of a way to fight this thing. His injuries left him mostly incapable of serious fighting. His aura had done wonders to patch up most of his wounds but there was still some serious damage. Watts tried to swing the butt of Due Process and dodge the next time the creature swung one of its arms. Shit! This thing is too fast! The giant mechanical arm slammed into Watts and sent him flying and then crashing into the ground.
Other Watts laughed. It was a twisted laugh that came out sounding far too robotic and digital than human. "Weak! You really are weak! No wonder Cinder and Salem betrayed you!"
Arthur groaned in pain, blood coming from his mouth. Weakly, he tried to stand back up. He fell back to the ground. Slowly, he started crawling back towards the general. "James! Stand up! Stand up and fight!"
'Stand up and fight!' Ironwood heard. It was close by. It cut through the fear and paranoia. That which had chained him down and led him astray. No. I cannot die here. I may fall! But not today! Not this way!
Ironwood pulled himself up from the ground. If Team RWBY is dead, then I'm the only one left. Bring it on!
The desire to survive swelled within him once more. Other Watts turned and swung his metal apparatus down. Ironwood's pupils dilated and lost their shine. There was only one course of action.
Mettle was active. Rather than being crushed, James hyper-focused and lifted his own metal arms to catch the incoming attack. He was straining, slowly being pushed back, but he was holding the creature.
"I'm… not… done… YET!" Ironwood shoved Other Watts back. It was extremely painful for him, but he did not balk away. His resolve intensified tenfold. This. This is what Mettle was meant to do!
Watts found himself breaking into a cheer. One he never thought he'd be doing for his long time enemy. The man who'd disgraced him. Perhaps… perhaps they had both misjudged one another.
Other Watts drove a fist from the right but Ironwood anticipated it. He dodged forwards and let the fist overextend behind him. James spun around and brought both his arms up. Then both came crashing down to crush right through the metal and pulverize it.
Two to the right, one faster than the other.
Ironwood ducked and rolled backwards. He used the momentum to jump into the air and bring a heavy metal fist into one of the arms. The second one came to strike him but he held it back through his strength and sheer determination.
"I.. have sacrificed everything! My kingdom! My people! My humanity! My daughter!" he said with a strained voice. "I will not let a shadow erase the things I've done! Everyone I sacrificed!"
The creature had learned its lesson this time. From behind one of its steel legs slammed into James from behind. That knocked him off balance and destroyed his momentum. "Agh!" he cried out in pain as the giant claw that served as its feet grabbed James and smashed him into the ground over and over again. His aura cracked and broke.
Their survival was turning to dust before his eyes.
Watts didn't know what to do. For once it seemed like he had no plan, no confidence and no idea on how to survive.
Shit.. Get up! Get up and help him! he told himself. Show this lump of magic he's just a cheap imitation of my genius!
Arthur tried crawling over to James and saw him get hit again and again. The general spun onto his back and lifted his arms to hold the claw back, desperately trying to stave off death.
Useless! I'm completely useless! Get up! Get up! Arthur desperately clawed to his knees, huffing in pain as he did so. I can't just die here. If I do… I'll die a puppet on Salem's string… as a slave with nothing but endless blood on my hands!
So, you have finally accepted the truth?
His good eye shot open. A deep pain welled up inside him. Worse than anything he'd ever experienced, more than even the fires that had burned him and glass that destroyed his face.
He fell back down to the ground and squirmed in agony. "Ahhh… ARGHHH!" Arthur screamed. Wh… what's happening to me?
Will you take responsibility for your crimes?
"I… I can't atone… for the blood…"
You accept the nature of your charge? Of your unforgivable deeds?
Something was welling up from deep inside of him. His… his aura? It was flowing through him like never before. Again he howled in torment. He was unforgivable. All the crimes he had committed in the name of Salem, to sate his own deep insecurities. The evil he had wrought. Yes. He was guilty of it all. Redemption was impossible, but revenge… revenge still was!
Very well. Then, we are in unity.
Rising from the ground, he stumbled and then kept himself stable. "I… I feel it…."
His green aura shone all around him. The power was unlike anything he had felt before. This… this was… his semblance? He'd never known that one could unlock it this way? Was it this realm?
"Come to me… SYMPHONY!"
A massive blast of energy shot out from him. Standing tall, Arthur Watts flicked his wrist downwards and started down his other self. The creature and James both were dumbstruck, their gaze drawn to him. Blood dripped down from under the makeshift gauze that covered half his face. He narrowed his eye and focused his semblance on Other Watts.
At once the creature weakened. It's grasp on James broke down as its very will to fight felt sapped. It was assailed by a ringing from within. "You scum. You murderous scum! You're nothing!" it wailed and turned on Arthur.
"Get up James! Take it down!"
Ironwood didn't waste his chance and rose from the ground to deliver a heavy punch to the bottom of Other Watts, forcing it off of him. James delivered a side kick into claw-leg that was keeping him down. It shattered into a thousand parts and caused it to stumble onto its side."Arthur!" he called out.
Arthur, with his new found energy and semblance, ran into battle with the butt of Due Process. Arthur jumped up and drove the pistol down onto the screen that displayed the panicked digital face of Other Watts. It groaned, sputtered incomprehensible robotic chirps before breaking apart. Like a Grimm, the darkness began to slowly disappear. The rest of what was Other Watts soon followed. The battle was over.
Arthur jumped down to where James was. Both men were heavily panting and extremely tired. Arthur felt weak and drained of energy. The power of his semblance burned through his aura and left him exhausted.
James put his arm beneath his and began to carry Watts. They didn't get far before collapsing. Watts rolled over and laid flat on his back while James chose to just sit down.
"What… what was that Arthur…" Ironwood asked. He'd never seen a semblance activate in such a fashion.
"I think… I think it was semblance. But… did your semblance activate the same way when you discovered yours?"
Ironwood shook his head. This was new to him as well. It looked to be another mystery that neither man had any answer for. Regardless, both were happy to have survived another fight.
The fog was slowly beginning to disappear too. It was apparently tied to the presence of Other Watts. The real Arthur pulled himself back up and sat next to Ironwood. "Maybe it has something to do with the vault?" James wondered out loud. "Ozpin… he never told us much about these vaults. This fog. Your other self. The way your semblance was unlocked. None of these seem natural."
Watts wondered what could be the underlying cause. "I think there's much less we know about magic than we both thought…. This place… it must be tied to the soul and the mind."
Ironwood agreed as he stood up. "Yea." Hesitantly, he extended a hand to Arthur. The doctor accepted and stood up too. "I don't know how much of what that thing said was true…. but thank you for fighting with me. I don't think I can forgive you but…"
Arthur nodded in understanding. "Whatever it was, it knew the things I was too afraid to admit… why I did the things I did. I just wanted someone who thought I was worthy. Someone who appreciates me more than anything else. I put so much blood on my hands for her. I was nothing but a slave."
James looked at Arthur as he admitted the deepest parts of his heart.
"Arthur I…"
"But that doesn't mean I want your forgiveness James. I don't want yours or anyone's redemption! I will choose my own path from now on. I am no longer anyone's slave."
Ironwood did not have more words for Arthur. Watts had confronted his crimes. His other self, and discovered his semblance, the true will of his soul.
Were they bitter enemies anymore?
He could not say. But for now, their truce was more like an alliance. He was against Cinder and from what he'd heard, free from Salem.
"Then let's not waste any time. We still have to get out of here" Ironwood said firmly. His mission was still unfulfilled. Remnant still had to be saved. The things he had done in the name of Atlas were still unpaid. Those lives he burned would have meaning. He swore it.
"I'm afraid that might be a bit more difficult than we expected James…."
Arthur was looking out from where they were standing, pointing directly at what he saw. James followed his gaze and was stunned at what he saw.
With the fog gone, the men were standing at the edge of a massive cliffside. In front of them was an island, tropical in appearance and surrounded by a massive ocean that had nothing else in sight. They could feel the breeze blowing against them.
Sitting in the center of the island was a magnificent tree, large, with its leaves glowing bright and greenish blue.
A/N: the plot continues. foreshadowing and what not. Watts' semblance works as an inverse to Mettle. It allows him to focus on a target and destory their will and resolve, be it fighting, choices or what have you not.
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