Another day, another chapter. Thank you to everyone who followed and added this story to their favourite's, I hope I can continue to please. But first, review responses. TheEnderLugia; glad you liked it! Z.L.C. genesmith; I will try and actually keep to the schedule and will let all of you know if something comes up. And finally, Shadowwolf 1997; yes, yes it did. And now, on with the show!
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Chapter 2- Heart to Heart
Blake continued to flex her hand, her knuckles red and sore from where she'd hit Sun. She was currently leant against one of the railings of the Skyfire, watching the tranquil waves splash against the hull of the ship, the sun casting an eerie orange light upon the surface as it began to disappear beyond the horizon. She'd done some research in the ships library after the battle, trying to identify whatever that thing that had attacked them was.
She knew she'd never find anything in most of the books, but had found something in some of the older texts. Apparently it was a creature that was known as 'Ahune', a so called Frost Lord so to speak. A servant of a more powerful being that called itself 'Neptulon', which was supposedly meant to be some ancient water god.
But what was it doing here? It was meant to be banished in a so called dimension called the Abyssal Maw, not the very real world. She'd heard of Cultists summoning beings from other dimensions on the mainland, was this possibly related.
Laughter caught her attention, ripping her away from her thoughts. She turned to face it, and saw Sun talking to a pair of passengers, both of them Faunus. He appeared to be in conversation with the pair, or the end of one at the very least as the two Faunus walked away, waving goodbye as Sun returned the gesture, before he began to head towards her.
Which is what she was afraid of.
"Man, Blake, I gotta give it to you. You can swing a real mean right hook." Sun complimented as he rubbed where Blake had punched him, despite the lack of any visible injury. "You did a good job out there too. Not many Huntresses can say they helped defend a ship against a giant ice mon-"
"What are you doing here?" Blake simply asked, preferring to cut straight to the point. Sun was here for a reason, and she had a good incline as to why. She just wanted to hear him say it.
"Me? Oh you know me. I see a ship going off to the middle of nowhere and I just wanna get on it. You know what I'm saying?" Sun replied, in his usual care free manner, a goofy grin plastered on his face.
"And your team-mates?" Blake asked, more intensely this time.
"Oh please, you really think Neptune would wanna go anywhere near water? Especially after what just happened on this boat?" Sun replied matter of factly. "To get him on a boat you'd have to like, tie him up and put him in a burlap sack, which would make him even more panicked cos' he'd think you were gonna throw him overboard or something."
"So you just abandoned your team-mates, right after an event like the Battle of Beacon, just because you felt like it?" Blake responded, her tone judgemental and harsh.
"Like you're one to talk?" Sun quite rightly replied, his tone replaced by a rare but nonetheless sincere one. "You disappeared after Beacon fell, just vanished like you were never there. You hurt a lot of people Blake, your team-mates most of all."
Blake's ears flattened, opting instead to turn away from Sun rather than look him in the eye. She knew he was right. She knew that her team-mates, especially Yang, would hate her for what she had done. For turning her back on them. But she always justified her decision, she always knew she was doing the right thing. Even if they didn't understand.
"I didn't have a choice." Blake weakly retorted.
"You always have a choice Blake." Sun countered, leaning against the railing next to her. "When I first realised you were gone, I thought at first that you were going to fight back. That you were going after the White Fang, going to make them pay for everything that had happened to you because of them. But then I found out where this boat was headed and I realised that you were just running away again."
"I'm not running, I'm going home." Blake snapped back, a glare on her face which quickly vanished with a sigh. "You wouldn't understand..."
"Then help me understand." Sun retorted, awaiting a response from Blake. When none came, he spoke again. "Look, I know you probably think that by running away, you're protecting the people you care about, but they don't know that. Especially when you just get up and go without saying anything. Besides, the longer you run, the more pissed off the thing you're running from will be when it finally catches you."
"Adam wouldn't dare try and attack me on Menagerie." Blake stated adamantly, though the quiver in her voice betrayed her words.
"Yeah, he seemed to be a real upstanding citizen of the law when he was burning down the school." Sun stated sarcastically. "Look, you may think that by running away you're protecting your friends, but that's what friends are for, right? To help you up when you fall down, to stand by your side when you're on your own. Maybe even tag along when you decide to run."
Blake let out a silent gasp when she felt Sun's hand rest on her own, looking down to see his fingers interlocking with hers. She didn't pull away, instead letting the motion continue, wondering perhaps what could have been had she perhaps paid more attention.
"But whatever happens, you shouldn't blame yourself if they get hurt along the way." Sun finished, giving the Huntress a reassuring smile. Slowly, she returned the smile, a sense of relief washing over her face. Then, just as suddenly as it happened, Sun seemed to return to his usual self, letting go of Blake's hand and stepping back, the usual carefree grin on his face returning. "So, Menagerie is you're home? Never actually been myself. Is it as exotic as everyone says it is?"
"I think you may be slightly disappointed then, if that's what you've heard." Blake couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh please, if there's excitement, I'll find it." Sun dismissed with a wave of his hand. "So, a journey to the east...I like it, got a ring to it."
Blake laughed to herself as she watched Sun leave, continuing to talk as he went off on his own. She looked back at her hand, flexing it as she recalled the feelings that she had experienced when they had locked together. She turned back to Sun, who was slowly getting smaller as he walked along the deck of the ship. She knew that he most likely didn't have a cabin, and that he'd stowed away as he had before back when they first met.
She thought of calling back to him, offering to share her cabin for the journey. She though it, but never did. Instead she watched the sun slowly disappear beyond the horizon, Remnant's semi shattered moon slowly becoming visible in the night sky.
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Menagerie, unknown location
Night settled upon the island of Menagerie, the nocturnal beasts of the wild letting out their calls and shrieks. A pack of Ravasaurs feasted upon the carcass of a beached sea creature, a bloody trail leading from the beach and into the jungle where it had been dragged away by the hunters. The predators snapped and hissed at one another as they tore away chunks of the carcass, blood coating their green scales and blue feathers.
Suddenly, a shrill horn tore through the air, sending birds and beasts alike scattering. The Ravasaurs were quick to scatter, running away into the undergrowth as a column of figures marched through the clearing. They wore what at first appeared to be the garb of Menagerie's law enforcement, though it was noticeable different, their garb a purple colour instead of black, and with silver masks that hid their faces. In one hand was a halberd that seemed to also function as some form of blaster, and in the other a large shield that was shaped in the same fashion as the symbol of their order. The Twilight's Hammer.
The group continued their patrol, continuing along a near invisible path towards a large building. A number of guards patrolled the courtyard and walls of the building, the banner of the Cult flying high in the sky. Another shriek filled the night sky as a Twilight Grimm flew overhead, the Draconic Grimm landing upon the roof and letting out a challenging roar, almost as if goading the native fliers to face it.
Upon the balcony of the building stood a woman wearing an elegant sleeveless robe and shoulder length shawl, both covered in runes of unknown origin. Black bandages were wrapped around her forearms, and the silver veil that usually covered her face instead hung around her slender neck, showing off her beautiful features. There was a knock on the door, the woman shifting her gaze ever so slightly to address it.
"Enter." she commanded, her voice sultry and commanding.
The door opened and through stepped one of the guards, his shield on his back and a scimitar at his side.
"High Priestess Lorthuna, your guests have arrived." the guard addressed formally, the woman flashing a smile, showing a pair of retracted viper like teeth in the process.
"Send them in." Lorthuna requested, the guard nodding as he disappeared out the door.
The door soon reopened, the guard re-entering the room, along with two others. The two newcomers both wore large bulky red cloaks, no doubt in an attempt to hide their appearance. The door closed definitively behind them, the two looking at the door before turning to face Lorthuna.
"Why you both look absolutely ravishing in those cloaks. I can only imagine how hot and steamy you must be in them though." Lorthuna flirted as she approached the pair, pulling slightly at the cloak of the nearest. "Please, let me help you take them off."
"We insist on keeping them, thank you." one of them demanded, their muffled voice suggesting that they wore scarf's around their mouth as well, clearly showing they didn't want to be identified. Not that she didn't know who they were of course.
"Shame." Lorthuna tutted as she stepped back. "I trust you understand why you were called forth. You're whispers and rumours were indeed beneficial to our cause, but it is time for the next step."
"You really expect us to abandon our brothers and sisters to instead fight and die for your suicidal cause?" the other figure angrily demanded, stepping forward slightly, only to be stopped by the other.
"I believe what my accomplice meant to say was that we need proof that you are indeed better than the White Fang." the first figure rephrased in much calmer manner, the second figure noticeably more tense than the other.
"What more proof do we need?" Lorthuna questioned rhetorically. "Sienna Kahn was murdered by her own prodigy Adam, who disappeared under unknown circumstances shortly afterwards. The cells in Vacuo and Vale are dismantled, the Mistral cell is scattered and the Military is cracking down on the Atlas cell. Your cell on this backwater continent are all that remain, and what have you managed to achieve in the last five years, exactly? An embassy that's only recognized by a primitive government. Besides, you wouldn't be here if you weren't serious about joining our cause."
The two figures looked at one another, knowing full well that the High Priestess spoke the truth. The second figure seemed to visibly slacken as he stepped forward, calmer than before.
"Before I commit, I ask only one thing." the figure asked, Lorthuna gesturing for him to continue. "In your missive to us, you claimed that the city would soon be under siege. How exactly do you intend to do that?"
Lorthuna laughed at the question, brushing away one of her ebony locks of hair. She made her way to a wine cabinet, taking out three wine glasses along with a bottle of red, filling the three cups swiftly. She offered the two emissaries a glass each, saving the third for herself.
"Let us just say we have some allies who are more than willing to help us in that regard..." she replied as she took a sip of the wine, a lustful smile on her face as she spoke.
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Mata groaned slightly, his vision blurred and his head light. What had happened? He remembered walking home with a friend, a girl from the Nocturnal District, when she suddenly vanished into thin air. He remembered looking for her when all of a sudden a hand clamped over his mouth with a weird smelling rag. He tried to stand, but to his horror realised that his hands and feet were bound. He struggled to break free, but the rope was too strong. He looked down, finding himself tied to some strange altar with candles and incense around him. And a large pool of blood in front of him.
He tried to scream for help, but found his mouth was gagged, silencing him. He heard a murmur to his right and he turned his head. Right next to him was the girl he had been talking to, also bound and gagged with her bat wings clipped behind her. She too was bound to some strange altar, that appeared to be shaped to look like a feathered serpent with an open maw, where she appeared to be displayed.
He tried to break free again, and that was when he suddenly noticed something else. They weren't the only ones here. All around the pool were other Faunus, bound to other altars. He recognised some from missing posters up around the city, but that isn't what horrified him. What horrified him was that all of them were dead.
He heard a cry of pain, snapping him back to the present. The bat Faunus was screaming through her gag, her limbs twitching futilely as a large figure approached, hooded and cloaked. He couldn't make out anything, save that they were unnaturally tall, and that they had a bloodied dagger in their hand. He tried to break free in an attempt to save his friend, but it was too late.
The dagger tore through her, cutting into her stomach in a horizontal pattern. She screamed and convulsed, blood spluttering through her gag as the figure forced their hand into the wound, pulling out her intestines and stomach. The smell was rancid, and nearly made him throw up. And then with a sharp tug he pulled out her heart, the organ still pumping blood before stopping. Mata tore his gaze away from the figure, looking for any sign of life from his friend.
She was dead, just like the others.
A shadow was cast over him, and he turned to find the figure leering over him, bloody dagger in hand. He tried to plead futilely through the gag, trying his best to wiggle out of his bindings. The figure seemed to laugh at his attempts, before he plunged the dagger into his stomach. Mata felt his body contort as the blade cleaved through him, as organs were pulled away from their proper place, and a hand clamp itself around his heart.
And then he was gone.
The figure stood back as he held the last heart in his hand, turning to face the offering pool before him. He whispered a dark prayer to his benefactor as he squeezed the blood out of the heart, letting it trickle down into pool. Once it was empty, he threw the organ into the pool as well, and dropped to his knees. Slowly he began to chant as he looked to face the moon. It was usually shattered, but tonight it would appear full.
In some cultures it was a symbol, in others it was used as an excuse to celebrate, whilst others would simply admire its natural beauty. He cared not for any of these things. He only needed the moon to be full for his ritual. He continued to chant, his voice becoming louder with each word he spoke, and his pace faster as well.
As the full moon finally came to be, the blood filled basin began to glow an eerie red light. Then the sacrifices his helpers had kidnapped from the Faunus began to writhe as what little blood was left in them, even that which had since dried up and hardened, was siphoned out of them and sent into the pool. The figure continued to chant as the last droplets of blood entered the pool, and the entire area was illuminated a blood red. And then, as he finished the chant, the pool ignited into crimson flames, black smoke rising up into the air.
The figure smiled as a figure appeared from the smoke, like a serpent but with wings. The apparition then let out a haunting hiss, as the wind then suddenly blew through, blowing the phantom away to its destination. The figure cackled to himself as he watched the black spirit fly away, ready to fulfil its purpose. He had done his part, now all he had to do was wait…
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And done! Liked it? Feel free to leave a review and constructive criticism is welcomed. Any questions? Either leave in your review or PM me directly. Next update should be around July 6th.
Raging Archon out.