A/N: Well here is Chapter 38: Accursed Sight.
Chapter 38: Accursed Sight
Weiss ran and ran into the cold snow, she had done it, and she was a monster beyond repair now, able to kill just by looking at someone. A power so monstrous her master a man who was a close friend, no, a father to her, attempted to kill her, and it pitted Ruby against him. This scared her more than anything as they looked like they would have killed each other if they had not been stopped by Imperious. Add in the fact that Holocron did something to her Aura, making very unstable and hard to use at the moment, as it felt like it was tied to the force now. Weiss was scared, confused, and broken and the tears flowing from her eyes as she ran into the blizzard showed this. She didn't want to go near Ruby for her own safety, she didn't want to expose her to such a horrific and painful exposure to her gaze. Along with that, she was scared of Malserik, as he just tried to strike her down. For the first time in a long time, she was afraid.
As she ran through the ensuing blizzard, her body was numb to the cold. though after a few steps after entering the forests, she tripped on something in the snow, falling face-first into the dense heavy snow, she recomposed herself and investigated what it was that made her trip, What it was shocked her as it was a half of Rose De Sang. Picking up the saber, she felt a warmth in her heart, as she held the cold phrik saber hilt close. Weiss was shocked more that Ruby had lost it than the fact of that she found it. At least she had a weapon As she did the thundersnow above morphed into a horrific storm and Weiss heard raspy mechanical breathing all around her. Scared, the twenty-year-old Weiss activated the crossguard saber, and the odd saber flared to life in Weiss's hand.
"You hold the saber of my charge, you are her love, yet you run from her embrace. Why?" A booming voice asked from the darkness around Weiss, as a looming figure walked out of the blizzard his cape flowing in the wind.
"You are not Exar Kun!?" Weiss stated shocked at the tall armored figure whose breathing had Weiss uneasy and fearful.
"You hold Fleurnoire's lightsaber, therefore you get to speak to me, " the Darth said to the weary girl, his voice roaring and deep. "I am the one who gave her her arm, and today she understands what it means to be Sith, though her final trial still awaits her."
"So what does this have to do with me!?" Weiss retaliated her odd eye vision driving her mad as this vision was seemingly unaffected by it.
"I sense your anger and fear Glatteis, do not be ashamed of such a gift, it wasn't given to be a burden, it was given as a gift, to give you power, the ability to cause agony at a glance, most Sith would be giddy at the thought of such a power, yet you run," The Darth boomed now towering over Weiss as a drop-ship flew over getting pelted with heavy turbolaser fire. After a few hits, the dropship exploded in the air. Weiss held De Sang up to towering Darth, who took his saber and swatted it out of the way, "You are weak, not even worthy of being called a Sith, you are a scared child while Fleurnoire, Noxcaedis, and Svarttrost, are becoming true Sith, disciples of death and destruction! You have such great potential!" Next to the Darth came a figure Weiss saw as herself, though older and much, much darker. Her hair was even more white, somehow that was possible. The Iris in her right eye was blood red, her skin was pale to white, and her left eye was covered in a gradient of darkness, the eye itself had a glowing red iris with a red vein coated, black sclera. The dark image ignited her saber, it was a brilliant crimson. Though, Weiss took offense to this perversion of who she was, yelling a battle cry as she struck her twisted duplicate of herself with the half Rose De Sang.
"That will not be me, I can control myself, I won't let myself become that!" Weiss roared handling the half of De Sang like Ruby would, with furious grace. She lopped through the doppelganger slicing it as it faded into shadows. Then she turned De Sang towards Vader, the blade's deep humming as the blade pulsed with life with each word Weiss spoke, "if I have to kill using this damned eye I will, I will do what needs to be done to fight you and defeat you!" Though, as she said the last words and began her charge, her body ignited with pain. It was not physical pain. No, it felt like her soul was tearing, being stretched to its limits.
"And you just went past two kilometers. Glatteis you cannot defeat me like this, you are too weak, though, let the hate, pain, and anger fuel you so that this may be a lesson to you!" The masked Darth boomed at Weiss as De Sang pulsed and Weiss blasted lightning into the blade.
"Fuel me, huh?" Weiss said chuckling as the pain, morphed into fuel as her aura withered. She stood, "My fuel will be your death!" Weiss roared as she engaged the Sith fueled by pain and anger as the modification to her aura showed through. Her semblances were enhanced by the white, red, and shadowy aura that engulfed her, her Aura and the force were feeding one another even though she was separated from Ruby. Each strike the dark lord countered back with counters and parries.
The waves of pain from being past the safe aura merge distance made Weiss fight like an insane killer rather than the precise duelist she normally was. Flailing the blade around wildly, in form seven like attacks, her body was using the raw power of the Darkside as she pressed her attack on the Lord who was on the defensive. Though, Vader faded with each strike slipping away from Weiss.
"I am not the one you must defeat, now go back to Fleurnoire." the dark lord said as the vision faded. And the pain of her soul being stretched to its limit she walked back towards the flaming wreckage of Waldstahl and the pain stopped.
While Weiss was running Ruby was going through the process of clearing Waldstahl Imperious had followed her former apprentice as she struck down anyone who dare bare a weapon against her. Imperious was shocked at how cold Ruby was at the moment. She cut down the troops like a child doing a chore, no passion, no ferocity, no fun. She knew Ruby was angry and distraught, she wanted to go find Weiss, but Weiss couldn't run away, and she would have to come back. Eventually, they got the all-clear message and they returned to Malserik's office.
though en route Ruby collapsed in a fit of pain. Imperious was concerned thinking the burns were finally getting to her. Though Ruby told her it wasn't physical pain, it was sincere and very concerning. As her still drained Aura was seemingly sapped away by this event. After a second she realized she couldn't feel Weiss anymore. This made Ruby lock up, though as she realized that the pain stopped and She could feel Weiss's Aura again. Standing back up Ruby shrugged off Imperious's concern and continued to Malserik's office. Inside Malserik was looking out of the window Ruby could feel his shame, and sadness. Despite her pain and Injuries, she insisted on facing Malserik, to which she engaged the fist strike of the verbal altercation.
"Now, Malserik you owe me a fucking explanation," Ruby spoke firmly to the troubled Sith, wanting an answer for what happened earlier, even taking a trick from Roman's book and accenting her question with some potent unused vulgarity to make her point, as she felt the pain in her burns.
"Yes I am quite interested in this as well, Viridian," Imperious spoke affirming she did not understand what had occurred in the archive as well.
"Weiss activated the Holocron of Darth Nihilus, as I said," Malserik explained, his voice solemn with shame, "and that Holocron is the one that gave me my cursed eye, it kills all who I gaze upon with it as I explained," Malserik explained as the two women looked at him with vicious eyes, as he took a seat at his desk, he then continued with, "that Holocron is a secret I kept and hid even further than my eye, and feeling being opened was so enraging as I wanted no one else to bear my curse I lashed out at Weiss in anger, for that I apologize,"
"If I hadn't intervened you would have killed Ruby, Malserik thus I would have had to kill you," Imperious spoke her voice angry and disappointed as Malserik hung his head in shame before slamming his head into the desk, "and why did you never tell me you had the Holocron!?"
"I wanted no one else to suffer my curse, especially you," Malserik said looking up at Imperious, glad she was merciful to his recent failure, at least he thought she was.
"Well someone is suffering that curse now and it is my Weiss, Malserik!" Ruby yelled at Malserik trying to release her anger upon him. Her eyes glowed as she yelled though Imperious stopped her with an arm across her chest, making sure not to touch her burned skin.
"Ruby, vent your anger in a productive way, not like this, you can sense Malserik is just as troubled as you are, can you not?" Imperious asked as she stopped Ruby, she knew Malserik was at his limit and he needed support right now, "two of his best friends just stabbed him in the back, our home was destroyed, the last thing he needed was someone to open that Holocron, one that caused the curse that killed a friend of ours" Imperious spoke, knowing Malserik he was extremely torn, and she could understand why he snapped, though she was not happy with him by any stretch of the imagination, but she could forgive him.
"Well, that doesn't mean he should have threatened Weiss," Ruby yelled her darkened force-infused Aura flaring in such a way that made both Imperious and Malserik shut up. They felt the raw power she held and it terrified them. Ruby then violently force pushed the door to Malserik's study open and walked out through the ripped open door. As Imperious and Malserik looked at each other, they heard the hallway outside the study being torn apart as Ruby sulked through. Imperious looked at Malserik with a look that said, 'if you turned her against us, I will let her kill you.'
It was this look that made Malserik hand Imperious SturmKreig as he walked out of the room following Ruby's trail of destruction. His face was one of stoic determination to repair his mistakes.
On the Star Forge, Revan received an unexpected transmission from HK-47 that Waldstahl fell under attack. HK sent him images and video footage of the fortress in flames. This sight made Revan's heart sink as he saw the burning fortress, considering that was the home of his daughter. Though that's when HK sent the duel of Ruby against the two Jedi. Watching this made Revan proud of the girl he knew was his daughter but he had no part in her life. She was elegant yet devastatingly brutal with her attacks against the Jedi she faced, though he could tell she was holding back on them he suspected that would be a problem from what Yang told him of her. He shut the clip down before Yang could enter and see it. Though, Revan was smirking fiercely, as he saw Ruby was becoming a force that could potentially defeat his enemies.
As Ruby was walking up to the courtyard, alone she heard footsteps behind her, then a voice spoke, it was a voice that she did not recognize, so she quickly turned and ignited Mitternacht at the person trailing her. Turning around she saw a man that looked like no one she had seen before, she could sense the darkness he carried through what he said, concerned Ruby,
"Greetings Fleurnoire," the person said as an icy cored blade of Mitternacht was lined up with his throat, "I am Exar Kun,"
"Oh, so your the Sith that gave that Amulet to Weiss?" Ruby asked of Exar as he stood there, and replied.
"You hold her lightsaber, therefore you get to speak to me," Exar spoke as Ruby glared at him, but what he continued with made Ruby want to flay him alive. "Never have I seen a Sith spare someone for a betrayal like that, you should have killed Malserik for threatening Weiss and Imperious for interfering," Exar explained as Ruby responded to his comment by impaling the apparitions body on the half of Rose De Sang and Mitternacht. "No Sith would ever spare traitors like that, especially one as powerful as yourself, you could have ended them both!" Exar continued with the lightsabers in his chest. This time, Ruby replied with words though they came out like a growl
"Well I don't want to" Ruby growled as she removed the two blades from Exar's chest, She did want to kill Malserik originally, though she could tell he messed up legitimately, though she wanted to see how Weiss responds to his apology before she decided on what she was going to do to him. As she said that, Exar gave his response.
"And that choice could get you killed," Exar Kun spoke as he faded away and Ruby walked down the corridor even more angered than she was.
As Ruby was walking through Waldstahl, Weiss was returning to the front courtyard of Waldstahl as the clouds cleared and the sun shone through, bringing light to the destroyed fortress that was Waldstahl. Outside surrounding the burned-out rubble of battle, where Hiskal guardsmen from the city along with loads of Civilians were gathering, Weiss unsure of the affiliation of these people covered her eye rapidly so as to not harm anyone.
"Lady Schnee! Lady Schnee!" A voice behind her called out coming up to her was a Hiskal Guardsman that was waving at her as he bolted up his helmet was off and his rank pips showed the ranks of a warrant officer. He was obviously the leader of this contingent people.
"Yes warrant officer?" Weiss asked as the Warrant officer came to a stop in front of her the air started to warm as the sun shined brighter through the clouds.
"Ma'am, I am Warrant Officer Suzak Kutamori and I bring about two thousand citizens and guardsmen willing to assist!" The officer said huffing as he Saluted the under-clad Weiss, it was obvious he was looking for instructions on how to proceed. "We are at your command, my lady!" The young warrant officer spoke loudly and sharply.
"Report to Roman Torchwick with the guards, and tell the people to go home the situation is under control," Weiss responded quickly holding her hand firmly to her eye.
"Yes My Lady!" the officer said as he handed Weiss a first aid kit and said, "for your eye Ma'am." and walked off. Weiss quickly took the bandages out of it after he was out of sight and the crowd was dispersing and wrapped her eye in the course bandages.
Standing up she felt a force of malice and anger coming her way from Waldstahl's main hall coming her way figuring it was Malserik coming to finish the job, Weiss readied the half of De Sang. Though that darkness fell away as the door opened and Weiss saw a figure that looked like Ruby emerge. She looked different but Weiss deactivated the lightsaber and ran up to Ruby, though she stopped mid-stride as she saw how badly she was burned. The entire right side of her body was a disturbing sight, her right leg and what remained of her right arm were potentially the worst. Then came her body it seemed the burns were a third of the way across her torso at her hip, decreasing gradually as it went further up her body, her upper torso was burned but it wasn't as bad, until the collar bone, where the right side of her neck was torched along with her face. The facial burn was more focused around her right eye and cheek. Seeing this Weiss could only mutter
"Ruby,"
Ruby said nothing, as she walked up and hugged Weiss, Weiss embraced her wounded lover back, being cautious to not squeeze down to hard on her burns. They both had tears flowing from their eyes in streams as they began sobbing with joy and sadness as they were both changed from today. As the sun beamed light down on the duo, they felt each other's warmth as they hugged the other, a mix of joy and sadness filled them.
Though, behind them, Malserik was watching over them as he dismissed the nervous warrant officer. As he approached the hugging girls he walked with hands behind his back. Though as he drew closer, they broke their embrace and snapped around, Ruby igniting Mitternacht at Malserik and Weiss ignited the half of De Sang that was in her hand. It was at this moment that Malserik saw the anger they both had towards him for his earlier actions and saw how they were inches away from killing him. He made a mistake, an error, one that he regretted deeply, he had betrayed them, and their trust and he would accept their decision to end his life if that is what they demanded, though he felt they wouldn't, though he still said it.
"Ruby, Weiss, If you feel my death will solve your pain, Kill me now for I am unarmed," Malserik spoke as he showed his empty yet gloved hands to them, this got Weiss to lower her saber as Ruby inched the blade closer and her muscles readied to strikeout. "Before I am cut down, I would like to say one thing, I acted purely out of emotion and my desire to keep that cursed Holocron a secret. I never wanted anyone to find out the power of my eye, so no one had to cope with my curse" Malserik said as he looked Ruby in the eyes, She was acting off baser emotions, like a true Sith. With this Weiss put her hand on Ruby's metal saber hand, lowering it and telling her to stand down.
"So this is your curse Malserik?" Weiss asked to Malserik, who in response, nodded back to her. Weiss lowered her head as she can imagine how he felt learning this power. "I am sorry, Malserik. The Jedi were into the vault of the Holocron-"
"And it called out to you?" Malserik interrupted, remembering his past as a Jedi and the day when he became an acolyte of darkness. Weiss nodded to say what he was saying was the case "I fully understand now, that Holocron can tempt even the strongest of Darkside users, that is why hid it so it doesn't afflict a massive amount of Sith, seeing you already understand the implications of this curse makes me regret my earlier actions," Malserik explained it was this explanation that made Ruby relax and deactivate Mitternacht and hand it over to Weiss. "Also, Ruby?"
"Yes?" Ruby replied taking a deep breath, containing her anger, and pain, she was still not through with Malserik but she was going to relent on him as she could sense his apology was genuine, she felt he made a genuine error, letting his emotions get the better of him and Weiss knew this as well.
"After we get things cleaned up, and you get medical treatment, I have a special task for you to take your anger out on," Malserik smirked knowing how Ruby was feeling he knew she was going to love what he had in store for her.
"What would that be?" Ruby inquired calmly, sensing Malserik was being snide with this.
"We captured a Jedi, Balakor, and Dornettz, and I need to know what they gave the Jedi information-wise, and your ability can be quite painful from what I heard, so please interrogate them along with the captured Jedi," This task made Ruby's face light up with a sadistic smile. "But first you need to get patched up, the last thing we need is you dying from an infection, so I will have the medical staff prepare the bacta tank for you"
After staying for about to talk with Yang, better known as Revan's Apprentice by this point, along with Revan who had offered Ozpin a place in his organization after he had returned, with little to no success. Ozpin verbosely and quickly refused, he just needed to locate his students and staff. He wanted to avoid all forms of politics in this galaxy, though he figured this would turn into an inevitability. He could feel the darkness was looming and he wanted nothing to do with this as he knew Remnant needed help. He knew disaster would strike his home if he took any longer, he needed to get back with at least half of those lost in the 'incident.' Revan understanding the man's plight gave him a ship and a lead. Taiyang and Raven had encountered some Remnants on Nar Shaddaa during their Travels to unite the Revanists.
Ozpin was preparing to set out as Revan had some droids preparing his ship just as Yang came to speak with him one last time.
"Hey, Professor-"
"Please Yang, call me Ozpin," the former headmaster spoke interrupting Yang calmly, looking Yang in her now Heterochromatic eyes, as the Dark side decided to leave its mark on the former brawler, as one had locked to red while the left eye had returned to purple. As he explained his request to Yang Ozpin removed his sporty sunglasses to look her eye to eye.
"Sure thing Ozpin," Yang replied with a cheery smile and a playful salute, which seemed to be a facade, that was cracking as she began to speak again "I wanted to ask a favor of you."
"Yes, Miss Xiao Long?" Ozpin asked, curious about what her request was going to be.
"Well, I want you to contact me if you find Ruby, okay?" Yang asked calmly, "There is a comm line I keep open just in case my dad or mom wants to talk, so if you find her Ozpin, let me know and tell her I miss her," Yang said breaking down, tears flowing from her eyes Ozpin could see the damage done by the lack of Ruby in her life had done to the normally brash girl.
"I can do that Miss Xiao Long if I find Miss Rose I will contact you and tell her your message." Ozpin spoke calmly as he rested on of his hand on her shoulder. "if you want you can accompany me to Nar Shaddaa?" Ozpin asked the girl, mainly so he could have someone who could keep him company.
"I have to finish my training Revan says I am almost done, so I am going to stay here, Sorry Ozpin," Yang spoke quietly as she very much wanted to go with Ozpin.
"It is okay Miss Xiao Long, I wish you luck with your training as I must go now," Ozpin said calmly as he smiled lightly at Yang as he walked into his ship. The ship was a blacked-out BT-7 Thunder Clap, stocked with enough supplies to reach the other side of the galaxy. though walking on the ship he sensed he was not alone. He could sense some life around him, and the voice he heard confirmed this.
"Sup Oz," a familiar voice spoke to him, turning around Ozpin saw Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen. he knew at that moment he was among friends who wanted to help.
A/N: Well this chapter was a barely changed as I felt it was good enough, I changed some elements to fit it into the continuity of the story. I really don't have much to say for this chapter. So right on to the responses.
Amerdism: I personally feel that could be considered par for the course in Star Wars, considering the depressing tale that is Darth Vader and his struggles, after he was put in suit besides I have my reasons as to why I decided to do this. Besides, she may end up with a few more lightsaber scars, but nothing as severe as this.
Firesa: Thank you!
Toxic Gentleman: Thank you for the suggestions, though The one-way eyepatch would not work, as the ability works by what Weiss sees, as whoever she looks at with that eye will die after ten seconds, eye contact is not required for the ability to work. As for the Ruby Vader idea, I do not intend to go that far with her, as I mentioned in my Response to Amerdism, besides I don't think the Old Republic era could even make anything close to Darth Vader's cybernetics. Also, there is one thing I don't care for with the Jedi, it is seemingly how they rarely show fear when fear is a common emotion.
Now with all of that out of the way, feel free to ask any questions if you have them, or give suggestions or corrections once again if you have any please give them or leave a review. Alright everyone, be safe, have fun, and may the force be with you!
Blitzing Raptor
