CHAPTER VI

Heiress to an Ancient Legacy

"Okay, do you all understand the mission?" Ariadne said to Lilly and her team.

"Our objective is simple," Demetri began, "which is to enter and eliminate the source of the distortion, the manifestation of the internal trauma present at the core of the Labyrinth, before severing the bonds that tie the victim to their Labyrinth."

"Thank you, Demetri," Ariadne began, "but I was hoping to hear from the new members of your team."

"Oh. I apologize."

Ruby giggled. "It's okay, this won't be our first gig. We're professional Huntsmen, after all."

"Yeah, and this isn't our first Labyrinth either," Jaune said.

"Well then," Ariadne said. "If there aren't any questions, all your equipment is on the table. We've prepared light packs for you this time since we do not anticipate you being in there longer than four hours, maximum."

"This could be a good time to test out those new rune gems you developed," Jaune said, pulling out the gemstone from his pack which contained a rune inside of it.

"H-Hey!" Ruby said. "I think we should just stay close to Lilly, just in case!"

"I agree with that," Ariadne said. "If my theory is correct, that rune should anchor your existence well enough to prevent the Labyrinth from completely overcoming your souls, but it's still experimental at best. And I'm not willing to throw random test subjects to see if it actually works."

"Yeah, but I wanna know it works before I rely on it, you know?" Jaune said.

"Stop suggesting dumb things!" Ruby said. "Ugh! Now I know where Leon gets it from!"

"That's not very nice!"

"Okay," Lilly said. "Let's do this."

The others looked at her. The smile was gone, replaced by a fierce scowl.

"I'm getting Weiss vibes right now," Ruby said.

"Yeah, me, too," Jaune said.

"Ivory vibes for me," Demetri said, following after his team leader.

The quartet marched all the way down to the center of the massive chamber below as the Rift Generators began to hum, destabilizing space-time in the center of the circle. They all stood closely around Lilly as she focused on the rift. In a flash, their surroundings morphed, the world emptying of any sentient souls aside from their own.

"Testing," Ariadne's voice sounded in their headsets.

"We read you," Demetri said.

"Excellent. All dials are reading nominal values. We have visual confirmation that you are no longer in real space. The LabNav is picking you up in the Labyrinth's First Layer."

"It's not as dark as I remember it," Ruby said.

"You must be referring to the Third Layer," Ariadne said. "The farther down you go, the darker things get and the stronger the distortion becomes."

"Also the further from true reality we travel," Demetri said, "which is one of the reasons odd things start to happen like the time discrepancy, difficulty communicating, and unpredictable phenomena."

"The deeper you go in the Third Layer, the more unstable reality itself becomes."

"Because the Labyrinth is a physical manifestation of the human subconscious, right?" Jaune said.

"Correct."

"The most twisted Labyrinths we'll encounter are those with severe depression and psychosis," Lilly said, leading the way out of the Rift Hall. "You'll wanna keep an eye out on the actual environment if we ever find ourselves in one of those."

"What do you mean?" Ruby said.

"It's not uncommon for spatial shifts," Demetri said. "Lilly and I were once nearly separated during a space-time instability event, but her magic was able to force stability in a bubble of space-time."

"That is theoretically what those rune gems should do for you," Ariadne said. "It replicates Lilly's magic to an extent, anchoring reality around you in a stable form."

"If it works as intended," Jaune said.

"We've run some tests with unmanned drones in the past and they seem to work fine, but you're right, field testing is still limited to no more than that."

"Okay, we're out in Shade Academy's courtyard," Lilly said into her headset. "We're still in the First Layer."

"You're getting a lot better at keeping yourself from descending prematurely," Ariadne said.

"I've had a lot of practice. Anyway, the next target is close to the outer wall, isn't it?"

"Just outside of the wall, actually, in the extended city just before the desert."

"Yeah, I've got it on my map. Okay, team, let's move."

As they trekked through the abandoned First Layer of the Labyrinth, Ruby couldn't help but notice how different Lilly was. She was almost identical to Weiss in her seriousness, maybe even more so.

"Where are all the monsters?" Jaune said. "I remember the last time we got sucked into a Labyrinth, there were nasty monsters everywhere."

"I think that's the whole layer thing," Ruby said. "Remember what Ariadne ran through with us before?"

"Yeah. The First Layer is just below the surface world, an exact copy of the real world, but without any people. The Second Layer is all foggy, meant to represent the less-known collective unconscious. The Third Layer is supposed to be all the repressed stuff, right?"

"That's why it's the darkest," Demetri said. "But there is a Fourth Layer, which is really a misnomer because it exists across all layers, permeating every corner and threatening to invade without any advance notice. This manifestation of a personal Labyrinth represents trauma. The Labyrinth Navigator picks it up as a sudden distortion wave that can propagate at extreme speeds in all directions."

"We usually know beforehand where one might be located," Ariadne said, "based on previously gathered information about our current targets."

"So we theoretically shouldn't get caught off-guard when we head into our destination," Jaune said.

"Theoretically," Ruby mimed.

"Nothing is certain in the Labyrinth," Lilly said. "Perhaps the same could be said about the real world as well."

The rest of the team was quiet as they crossed through the city's outer wall, marching through deserted streets toward their next target. As they ventured out, the sky became overcast, their vision obscured by a thick blanket of fog.

"This must be the Second Layer," Jaune said.

"The closer we get to a powerful distortion like a personal Labyrinth," Lilly began, "the harder it is for me to keep us in the upper layers. It's why we took the route we did."

"You mean we were actively avoiding other distortions around the city?" Ruby said.

Lilly nodded. "Some of those, we've already taken care of, Demetri and me, so those are totally gone. Others were..."

"Others are a work in progress," Demetri finished.

"You're nearing the target," Ariadne said. "We'll most likely lose contact once you cross the threshold. The distortion for this one is massively unstable."

"Hang on a minute," Jaune began, "if time is distorted down here, too, does that mean that we could travel in all sorts of directions in time?"

"As of yet, we've only confirmed temporal speed variations. Lilly and Demetri and our observation equipment have yet to experience outright backwards time travel."

"Oh. Th-That's good to know."

"Perhaps it's some kind of cosmic failsafe system designed to minimize causality issues."

"...What?" Ruby said. "Wait, never mind. I'll just ask Professor Ozpin about that later. I think I see our target right in front of us."

"What the heck is this...?" Jaune said.

Before the quartet stood a building, if it could be called that. Unlike any of the other structures around, this one was no more than a big block of gray concrete which covered a tiny portion of the street, no larger than a small house. There were no windows to speak of, nor any doors or other features.

"This is a Labyrinth?" Jaune said.

"According to the readings," Ariadne said, "you're standing right in front of a severe distortion."

"How the heck do we get in?" Ruby said.

Lilly walked forward until she was inches away from the block of concrete. She looked upward, measuring the structure with her eyes. She reached out, placing her palm on the building. Right before them, a door materialized, connecting the inside of this plain structure to the outside.

"Oh, wow, how did you do that?" Jaune said.

"Perhaps the owner of this Labyrinth accepts her," Demetri said. "Let us proceed."

The quartet stepped through the newly formed doorway, which disappeared behind them as they crossed through.

"Now what?" Ruby said, glancing back briefly before joining her husband in awe at their surroundings. The internal space of this building certainly did not match its external appearance. The room they were now in was easily several city blocks, the opposite of the tiny space it occupied outside.

"So," Jaune began, "this is a Labyrinth."

"Stick close," Lilly said before pushing forward.

Ariadne let out a heavy sigh before leaning back in her chair.

"Tired?" Orion said from behind her.

She gave him a glance before yawning. "We just lost contact with them."

"Another deep Labyrinth, hmm?"

"Yes. The distortion this time is much worse than any we've encountered in the past. It is entirely possible for them to re-establish communications with us ten seconds from now while a day has passed for them. Or vice versa."

"I brought you some coffee. I notice you haven't been getting any sleep."

"I could say the same to you," she said as she accepted the paper cup. "How is progress with the Vacuo Council?"

"They're listening to father and me, fortunately. Unfortunately, I think they're too slow to act. Our intelligence reports that Atlas is preparing for something big. Their likely targets are our northern border and possibly Menagerie."

"Has Queen Belladonna requested any aid?"

"Not at all. She says that the population of Menagerie is quite against the idea of participating in a war. The Faunus aren't exactly a large population to begin with, and given how much they've suffered over the years, it's not surprising that they are hardly itching to send more of their young men and women to die."

"I certainly don't blame them."

The computer beeped and Ariadne looked at the lower right hand corner of her monitor. There was a message from Mistral.

"Oh, perfect," Ariadne said, setting down her coffee and typing away.

"Hmm?" Orion said.

"Dr. Hillphire just replied to the message I sent last week."

"Regarding the Rift system you developed?"

"Yes." She scanned the message. "It looks like they've got someone else there who can use the same magic Lilly uses, but on a much smaller scale."

"Really? Another rune user?"

"Not quite. They still don't know the extent of his powers. They only manifested a few weeks ago and haven't been able to explore it at all. But if they can replicate the rune-based technology we've been developing..."

"Then they could also start their own counter-Labyrinth program."

"Precisely."

"This is what the five kingdoms should be working on together, not war over limited natural resources and perceived territorial disputes."

"We're all counting on you, big brother. Vacuo has historically had zero centralized leadership, but you might be it."

"I only hope I can make a positive difference. I'll be heading back up. Do you want me to pass on the word to Dr. Cherenkov? About the message from Dr. Hillphire?"

"No need to bother. I'll text him."

"Very well, then." He stopped at the exit. "Ariadne, I hope you know that what you are doing is not going unappreciated. It might not be public knowledge, but those of us who do know of what's going on down here understand the difference you make."

"I thank you, Orion. Although it doesn't bother me one bit that people don't know what we're doing down here, hearing you say that means much to me."

"Carry on, little sister."

The group pressed up against a corner as Lilly peeked around, spying on a cluster of Corrupted. These were all humanoid in appearance with grotesque features as always, deformities of all manner covering their bodies. One had what appeared to be boils which periodically popped, splattering caustic fluids everywhere.

"We have no other way to go," Demetri said, scanning for alternate routes. "I think we have no choice this time but to fight."

"Yeah," Lilly said, readying Myrtenaster. "I guess break time's over. Everybody ready?"

Each one gave her a single nod.

"We shouldn't need any boosts right now, so we're going in without any Earth Rune spells. Follow my lead!"

Lilly was the first to round the corner into the hallway, engaging the Corrupted, which turned to attack her. One spat out what she could only guess was acid, but she had a Shield Rune between herself and the caustic splatter in a split second. In the next moment, she had Myrtenaster driven right through her enemy's skull. She looked to her right. Demetri had just pummeled his opponent to death with his gauntlets, moving on to the next target, firing his grappling hooks to reel his opponent in.

"There's more coming from this way!" Ruby yelled. "What the heck is going on? This hallway wasn't here before!"

"This area must be really unstable," Jaune said. "Don't stray too far from Lilly. We don't wanna get separated in time and space."

"Stop saying scary things like that!"

Lilly dashed between them, first to engage the monsters. Ruby couldn't believe the ferocity with which this girl fought. The Lilly Schnee they had met last year during the Vytal Festival was the sweetest person on the planet, but that girl did not exist at this moment. The Lilly they now accompanied was vicious, merciless toward the Corrupted.

As she drove Myrtenaster into the skull of a fallen enemy, she gave the other Corrupted a hateful gaze, drawing a rune in the air with Myrtenaster as a makeshift wand.

"Fire Rune!" she yelled. "Hitzewelle!"

The monsters in the path of the red-orange runic projection were hit by a blast of hot air. With nowhere to run, they all burst into flames, writhing on the ground before being reduced to ash.

"We've probably alerted every Corrupted in the area," Lilly said. "Let's keep moving before they all converge on us."

The physical environment continued to morph around them as they ran, with the hallways twisting around like a spiral. And yet, gravity continued to pull them "down," wherever "down" was at this point.

"I'm getting dizzy," Ruby said.

"As long as we haven't been separated," Demetri said.

"Has that ever happened to you two?" Jaune asked.

"No. Since I became Lilly's support, she has yet to fail in maintaining her assertion over the reality immediately around us. I also make sure never to stray too far from her."

"It works perfectly with your gauntlets, too, since you have those grappling hooks you can use to pull enemies to you."

Their environment morphed more severely this time, giving way to a factory of some sort with catwalks and conveyor belts going in senseless directions.

"Are those stairs upside down?" Jaune said.

"I'm getting really dizzy now," Ruby said.

They watched in awe as Lilly jumped up to a set of upside down stairs, the distorted gravity pulling her upwards. To the other three, she was upside down.

"Huh," Jaune said. "You don't see that every day."

"Let's join her," Demetri said.

"Any idea where we're supposed to go?" Ruby said, looking around at the puzzling environment.

"I'm getting a faint feeling of the core of the Labyrinth this way," Lilly said, as she "climbed" the stairs downward.

"Ugh, I feel like we're stuck in an Escher painting."

"Better than a surreal painting," Jaune said.

"Or a Lovecraft novel," Demetri said.

"Oh, heck no!" Ruby said. "Ugh! Tentacles everywhere!"

"You spoke too soon!" Jaune said, pointing toward a mass of tentacles that reached out of a doorway they were headed to.

"Back!" Lilly said as the monstrosity came at them. "Get back!"

The tentacles attacked, forcing the team to scatter, each one landing on their own separate region of gravitational normalcy.

"Oh, this is really confusing!" Ruby yelled as she looked over at Jaune, who was "above" her on his own upside down platform. Across from him was Demetri, who stood on a sideways catwalk. Meanwhile, Lilly fended against the tentacles with Myrtenaster, darting from landing to landing, completely unfazed by the otherwise disorienting space. Fighting upside down and sideways was no problem for her.

"Look at that," Jaune said, making his way to her alongside Demetri. "She's really inherited her dad's skills."

"Even though she's never met him," Ruby said.

"I presume from this conversation that the both of you knew him," Demetri said.

"It's...a long story."

"Well," Jaune said, "you know what, I was once his squire. I'll be danged if I didn't live up to it!"

"Hey, wait!"

Jaune flailed as he nearly lost his balance on a sideways platform. "I'm okay!" He leaped to another platform, this one upside down. "Hey, this is actually pretty fun!"

"Oh, gosh. I guess we shouldn't just hang around down here. Let's go, Demetri!"

The trio joined Lilly on the assault, mostly trying to keep from floating away from all the gravitational and spatial distortions surrounding them. The tentacles grew in size to accommodate the larger number of attackers, but after enough damage to the flesh, the monster fully emerged from its shelter, obliterating the structure ahead and exposing its jellyfish-like body.

"Watch out!" Jaune said, leaping back. "That thing breathes out noxious gas!"

"Frostatem!" Lilly yelled as she projected a Water Rune, which launched a blast of frosty air. The attack did little and Lilly decided to amp up the power levels. "Schneesturm!"

The Water Rune generated a blizzard, which left the gigantic jellyfish monster in a semi-frozen state.

"Now's our chance!" Ruby yelled, transforming Crescent Rose into its gun form and firing away with shell after shell of explosive dust. Demetri joined in on the attack, transforming his gauntlets into gun mode and barraging the monster with Dust attacks as well. Jaune, too, began slashing away with his sword, projecting damaging aura waves at the monster.

In spite of the fusillade of Dust and magic attacks, the massive jellyfish-like monster didn't show any severe damage. Jaune noticed Lilly holding Myrtenaster with two hands. The last time he had seen this was years ago, back when this weapon was still in Weiss's possession. To his astonishment, Myrtenaster began to pulsate, each beat increasing with intensity until Myrtenaster's shape changed with a blinding flash of light.

"Now!" Lilly yelled, holding the knightly sword up above her head. "Begone!"

With a swing of her sword, she unleashed a wave of golden light that obliterated the monster, sending chunks of it flying in every direction. Myrtenaster was back to its original form and from what Jaune could tell, Lilly didn't seem to be aware of what had just happened.

"Did you see that, too?" Ruby said quietly.

Jaune glanced at her. "Yeah. There's no doubt about it."

"But, that wasn't Durandal. Weiss used it to seal Salem away all those years ago, and according to the tomb guards, it's still there."

"I know."

Of course Jaune knew what sword that was. After all, he had been entrusted with its safekeeping for a time while its true owner could not bear it. It was the sword that had simultaneously been their salvation and their near-damnation.

"How does Lilly have that sword?" Ruby whispered.

"I don't know," Jaune answered, "but honestly, it's no surprise given who her dad is."

"Whew," Lilly sighed, wiping sweat off her forehead as she kicked a severed tentacle off of the catwalk. "Okay, let's go. The core should be through that big hole it made."

The others followed her into a chamber which resembled a bedroom, though the furniture was oppressive in construction, to say the least. The only chair in the room was misshapen, creating a lot of pressure points for whoever might sit in it. The bed was far too short, even for a child, and with exposed springs that would most definitely serve only to torment.

"The heck kind of bedroom is this?" Jaune muttered.

"The kind that appears in the nightmares of those with severe depression," Lilly answered. Her gaze was fixed on a young boy in the corner of the room, curled up into a ball. From his back extended those same, red, vein-like tendrils which pulsated with light. They disappeared into the wall.

"Leave this to her," Demetri said.

"Have you ever freed anyone from this?" Jaune asked him.

He shook his head. "In the months I've been working with her, she has been the only one to do so. I sense that perhaps she feels most responsible for their release. And I do not wish to deprive her of the fulfillment of her duty."

Ruby walked over to the boy with Lilly, who knelt down in front of the child.

"Hey," Ruby said, stooping over.

The boy said nothing, continuing to sob endlessly.

"This is really bad," Lilly said. "I've never seen someone so lost."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Normally, when a person passes a certain threshold, they disappear completely, absorbed into the Labyrinth itself as their despair takes them over to their very core. In the real world, this results in suicide or loss of all will to live. It's the point of no return, so to speak."

From the way she spoke, Ruby could tell that she had experience in the matter. Perhaps that was the cause of the all-too-stoic Lilly before her now.

"I've never seen anything like this before, though. He's still here, but unresponsive."

"Does your magic work on them? Maybe something can help."

She shook her head. "There may be one thing, but I have to be careful. One wrong move and it might destabilize his whole mental state. Also, haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed?"

"You don't remember the briefing before we entered the Labyrinth?"

"You mean about the heavy distortions?"

Lilly shook her head. "Look at him. Is he supposed to look like this?"

Ruby looked back down at the boy, realizing what Lilly was referring to. "He's supposed to be in his twenties."

"This only happens in the most extreme of cases, where a person's own self-image is distorted. I doubt if there's anyone in the world who knows why he's taken on the form of his younger self. It may be regression or perhaps projection. Or maybe this was the source of it all."

"What did you do in the past when you came upon something like this?"

Without answering, Lilly reached out to the young boy, who recoiled, but acquiesced at her gentle touch. A rune pure and white appeared on the back of her hand and began to glow softly. This rune allowed Lilly's mind to connect with his. Normally, a telepathic connection was not necessary; she would usually talk to the inner self projected in the Labyrinth, but this person was so regressed that she couldn't even communicate with him the normal way.

As she dove into his mental landscape, Lilly found herself in the midst of mundane life. At least, it would have been mundane had the office and home life not been saturated with feelings of utter emptiness and hopelessness. She fought against the depression as she continued to press further, finally reaching the young man she had been searching for.

"You're...that girl...in my room," he said.

Lilly nodded. "Yeah. I figured you could hear me. I'm sorry for intruding on you like this, but I didn't know how else to reach you."

The man began to sob.

"My name is Lilly. What's yours?"

"I don't deserve a name."

His anxiety and lack of self-worth was beginning to weigh heavily on her. "That's not true. You absolutely do deserve a name. That's why your parents gave you one."

"No," he wept. "I'm nothing but a failure. I can't keep anything together. Not a job, not a wife, nothing. I've even pushed all my friends away."

Lilly found herself sobbing with the young man. It wasn't just the psychic link flooding her heart with his emotions. It was pure empathy that released the floodgates. She stepped forward, looking the young man in the eye before giving him the warmest embrace she could muster. It seemed to work. She continued to hold him in her arms as his sobbing became full-blown wailing.

She closed her eyes, cradling him as she gave him her full support. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, his crying died down somewhat.

"How...how did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" Lilly said.

"I feel...like a weight has been lifted..."

She smiled. "Maybe sometimes just a little human touch can go a long way."

He chuckled before wiping away another tear. "My name is Edward."

"Nice to meet you."

"I...I don't know how to thank you."

"Go back. To the real you. It'll take some time to heal, but you will. I promise. The sun always rises every morning. Nights do come to an end."

"I think...for the first time in, maybe ever, I can believe that."

Lilly looked around as Edward and the environment around her began to fade away. She was back in the bedroom with her team, who looked around as the whole room reverted to a less nightmarish version, with normal proportions. The boy had also returned to his adult self, who smiled at Lilly as she reached up to the red tendrils, which dissipated with her touch.

"Thank you," Edward said as he faded away. "For everything. I promise to live, just as you said."

"Make sure to see your family," Lilly said. "They miss you, you know."

"I will..."

"All right," Lilly said, turning to her team, "we've gotta move. The collapse should be starting soon."

The ground rumbled.

"Lilly, can you hear me?" Ariadne's voice sounded in the team's headsets.

"No time!" Lilly said. "The collapse is already starting!"

"I can confirm on my end. Get out of there!"

The group dashed through a mash-up of office rooms and apartment complexes. Nothing was in any way, shape, or form the same as it was when they first entered.

"How the heck are we supposed to know where to go?" Ruby yelled. "This is a totally different place than earlier!"

"Make a left!" Ariadne said. "Now turn right! The exit should be less than a hundred yards ahead of you!"

Demetri was the first to realize that Lilly was no longer behind them. He ground to a halt before looking back in a panic, spotting Lilly standing in front of a mirror.

"Lilly!" he yelled.

She didn't seem to hear him. He ran in her direction, but stared in terror at the reflection in the glass. It was a near-identical copy of Lilly, with the major differences being their clothes and the golden, otherworldly glow coming from her eyes.

In a daze, Lilly fell into the mirror, shattering it, but to Demetri's horror, it reconstructed itself as she disappeared. He ran to the glass, banging on it to no avail.

"Lilly!" he cried out.