CHAPTER VIII
Beyond the Looking Glass
Demetri fell to his knees as he and the remainder of his group escaped from the crumbling Labyrinth.
"Damn it!" he yelled, beating the ground repeatedly with his fist. "I swore! I swore an oath not to let anything happen to her!"
"Hey," Jaune said, squatting beside him. "Pull yourself together. It's not over yet."
"But, Lilly—"
"Is strong enough to take care of herself. She used to do this thing solo, remember?"
"We have to trust that she can stay alive," Ruby said. "But we have to get out of here. Without her anchoring us in a stable reality, we're screwed."
"I guess we'll find out if Ariadne's rune gems work or not."
"Ugh, not funny."
"Wasn't meant to be a joke."
"Status report!" Ariadne's voice crackled in their earpieces.
"The Labyrinth has collapsed," Ruby said. "But..."
"I'm only getting a read on three of you. Where is Lilly?"
"Lilly's..." Demetri said with a sob. "She's..."
"She was separated from us during the collapse," Jaune said. "From what we saw, she, uh, entered a mirror, or something like that. I'm not really sure how anything works in this place, but that's what I saw."
"Damn it," Ariadne said. "Okay, now, you three. Are you experiencing anything weird?"
"You mean normal weird," Ruby began, "or weird weird?"
"No one's fading in and out of existence? No odd gravitational anomalies?"
"No, we're all still here."
"Good. The space-time anchors must be working."
"Is that what you're calling these rubies with runes etched inside?" Jaune said, holding the gemstone in what little light he could find.
"For now. Anyway, return to Shade Academy as soon as you possibly can."
"What about Lilly?" Demetri said, managing to rise to his feet.
"We'll arrange a search and rescue the moment we have the available resources. You are currently in no condition to continue, not with the limited supplies we sent you with and certainly not without at least having an idea of where to start searching."
"C'mon, Demetri," Jaune said. "Ariadne's right. We have to regroup. You're no good to Lilly if you're dead."
"You're right," he said, drying his eyes. "Let's return to base for now. We'll find her when we're ready. Preferably within twenty-four hours."
"Don't you worry about her," Ruby said. "I was partners with her mom back when I was at Beacon Academy, so I know how tough the Schnees can be. There's no way Lilly's gonna go down that easily. Especially not with all the experience she's got under her belt now."
Demetri nodded, leading the way through the streets back toward Shade Academy. As they marched, they intermittently shifted between the Labyrinth's Second and Third Layers, forcing them to move around stealthily at times while granting them some reprieve at others.
"If only the stupid shifts didn't happen so suddenly," Ruby sighed.
"Yeah, a little warning would be nice," Jaune said. "Like, maybe a radio with static or something."
"That would only make me even more tense!"
Demetri stopped the group and they all took cover behind a brick wall.
"What do you see?" Ruby whispered.
The youngest of the group continued to spy on the shadowy figures through the dense fog. He couldn't make out exactly what they were, but he was certain that they weren't Corrupted. At least, not any he and Lilly had ever encountered. These would be the first that could hold conversations.
"Is that...talking?" Jaune said.
"Corrupted shouldn't be capable of speech," Demetri said. "Let's try and get a closer look."
As they neared the shadows, darting from cover to cover, the conversations became clearer.
"So, this is the result of all your hard work, is it, Dr. Watts?"
"Indeed. The knowledge your people have provided has proven to be invaluable in the fields of biology, physics, and chemistry, but it's all of that 'forbidden knowledge' that has been most, shall we say, exquisite."
"I suppose you and I aren't all that different, then. I'm starting to understand why Azazel believed that we would pair up well. After all, we both have a seemingly unquenchable desire to know all there is to know, even that which the gods themselves have deemed forbidden."
"I do have to wonder, Ashtaroth. Is there a reason why the one known as the Horseman of War would be so interested in my research—and by extension, in any research at all?"
"I suppose it sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? However, the reasoning is quite simple if you think about it enough. After all, when do the greatest leaps in technological advancement occur?"
"Hmm. You do have a point. Even now, as the situation between the five kingdoms intensifies, all sorts of technological advancements are being made. There's robotics in both Atlas and Mistral, Labyrinth-related technologies right here in Vacuo, and even this, what we have right in front of us."
"Yes, it is quite impressive, Dr. Watts. You managed to create the first artificial life-form of its kind. The previous iteration was quite the spectacular failure, however. Moloch paid for that one with his very flesh."
"That was quite unfortunate. He is all right, though, is he not?"
"Don't underestimate the constitution of our kind. We aren't constructed in the same fashion as you humans."
"Of course. Oh, and when you do see him, please let him know that I should have a new vessel ready for him quite soon. One that doesn't fall apart in the midst of battle, of course. I do regret to admit that there's nothing I can do about the voraciousness of the aspect he has taken upon himself."
"He's the weak fool who cannot control a simple sin. Many of the others have absorbed sins of their own without giving into lust or greed or what have you."
"Are you curious, by the way? As to how I've progressed this far?"
"You mean to say that this isn't perfected yet?"
"Not quite yet. There's still some more fine tuning I need to do with the DNA to better accommodate for the fusion of three beings in a single vessel, but I must say, I did not quite expect the missing link to be human flesh."
"So, you combined Grimm flesh with human flesh and stitched the two halves together using the blood of a Lesser Daemon?"
"I haven't even explained it yet. How did you know that?"
"I am a researcher myself, albeit with advantages over your limited mortal senses. I can see right down into this being's molecular structure. You infused these three human males with Grimm DNA, forcing them to undergo slow mutation until reaching this finished product, and then introducing the essence of a Lesser Daemon to strengthen the bond between human and Grimm, while also granting it the strength of all three."
"Precisely. However, I should add a correction to that. It's the human soul that actually binds everything together. The blood of a Lesser Daemon enslaves the human soul to prevent it from enacting its own will over the body."
"So it can remain your servant."
"Or yours, of course."
"Ingenious. I am impressed, Dr. Watts."
"I offer my humble thanks, Lord Ashtaroth."
"Now, should we run a small field test? I believe there are three rats nearby, all of them perfect matches for your three experiments."
Ruby gasped, hiding herself fully behind the wall.
"Crap," Jaune said. "Pretty sure they know we're here."
Without a word, Demetri emerged into the street, standing face to face with the five shadows.
"This is no good," Ashtaroth said. "We can't record the results properly with all this fog. Let's bring it back up closer to the real world."
The fog dissipated, giving way to the clear, but empty First Layer of the Labyrinth.
"Great, what now?" Jaune said, standing with Ruby and Demetri.
"Should we make a break for it?" Ruby said.
"I dunno. Demetri?"
When he didn't answer, the two looked over at him. His face was painted with a mixture of disbelief and pain. They looked back over to the two men standing with the three Grimm-Human Hybrids.
"Something tells me he knows them," Jaune said.
It was true. Demetri couldn't take his eyes off of the three test subjects down the street. After all, there was no way he would forget the faces of his teammates, the ones with whom he had spent their first year at Beacon Academy. But the teammates he knew were long gone. Paolo's eyes were dead. Theo was unresponsive. Raiden looked more zombie than human.
"Okay," Dr. Watts began. "Paolo, you're up. Let's see if you've still got the skills you've learned at Beacon Academy over the past year."
The grotesquely large Paolo began marching toward them. Ruby and Jaune glanced at their young companion before attacking, but the anatomically modified Paolo was much too powerful. He deflected—with his bare skin—Ruby's scythe and Jaune's sword, ignoring them as he continued to march steadily at Demetri, the earth thudding with each footstep.
"Demetri!" Jaune yelled. "Snap out of it!"
The youngster blinked several times before coming back to his senses, managing to put up a small fight, but the massive Paolo was unfazed by his punches, delivering a solid hit to Demetri's gut hard enough to completely shatter his aura. He lurched forward, coughing up blood before Paolo sent him flying into a wall with another powerful punch.
"Demetri!" Ruby yelled. She was going to help their young companion when heavy thudding came from behind. Theo and Raiden were also marching at her and her husband, their faces devoid of any expression. They were no different from Atlas's android armies in their machine-like obedience to their masters and the fearlessness of their actions.
"Ruby, help Demetri," Jaune said. "I'll take care of these two."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I can take a beating better than most."
"Please don't get hurt!"
Ruby activated her Semblance, rocketing to Demetri's side and shouldering him up.
"C'mon!" she yelled. "He's still coming!"
He coughed out more blood, seeing double as the malformed Paolo kept coming at him.
"This...this is my fight," he said, pushing her aside.
"Don't be stupid! We're a team, not—"
She was cut short with a powerful punch to the jaw, which sent her flying into a tree, breaking it in half. The punch was hard enough to injure her through her still-intact aura. She looked up to see Demetri exchanging blows with Paolo, but it was no use. The Grimm-human hybrid was much too powerful physically and Demetri went down in less than a minute.
She looked over to her husband, who was also struggling against the two attackers. His shield was starting to deform with the intensely powerful strikes from their fists. She thought hard about how she could help in the middle of all this when she remembered the conversation those two were having.
They're part Grimm! "You leave us alone!" Ruby yelled before unleashing the power of her silver eyes, which was enough to blind even the two observing the fight. The rays of silver-gray light touched the three malformed hybrid Grimm, sending them to their knees. It wasn't nearly enough to put them down for good, but her attack bought the time she desperately needed to get her team out of danger.
Though her aura was severely depleted, she activated her Semblance, darting to her husband with Demetri in tow. The combined weight of all three of them was nearly too much for her, but she managed to get them out of the line of fire, stopping for a brief rest before another burst as far as she could before her aura finally broke and the trio tumbled all over the earth.
"Ruby!" Jaune yelled, running to his wife and extending his aura to her.
"I'm okay," she coughed. "Where's Demetri?"
They looked over to their companion, who was unconscious on the ground.
"I'll carry him," Jaune said as Ruby's aura replenished. "You keep us safe."
"Okay, but where do we even go?"
"Anywhere but here."
"Wait, when did we descend into the Second Layer again?"
"I guess that means we're far enough away from that guy's magic. He was the one that shifted us to the First Layer, remember?"
As they fled, Ruby held Crescent Rose tightly. That man—or whatever he was—clearly had the power to wipe them off the face of the planet, and yet he was nowhere nearby. From what she could tell, he was not even in pursuit. Only those three massive Grimm-human hybrids' feet stomped the ground now.
What in the world are we up against? she mused, barely keeping it together.
—
Lilly groaned as she regained consciousness. The smell of wet earth and rust wafted over her nose. She looked around as she continued to lie still, scanning her environment. The last thing she remembered was the Labyrinth. If she was still there, she needed to be on high alert. With her equilibrium finally restored, she sat up, glancing around. She was in the foggy Second Layer of the Labyrinth, but something was off. She was surrounded by Corrupted, none of which attacked her.
She stood up, walking amongst the twisted reflections of human beings. Each one expressed an intense negative emotion, whether sadness, rage, fear, hysteria, anything other than joy or peace, but amid the wailing, the screaming, the borderline-psychotic laughter, each Corrupted appeared to be going about their daily business, boarding buses and trains and even interacting with each other.
What in the world is going on? Lilly thought as she gazed around wide-eyed.
She came up to a group, which seemed to be in conversation, though it consisted of a mixture of crying and screaming and pained groans. Another group laughed hysterically, not out of joy, but as a coping mechanism. In the distance was another group of Corrupted, huddling together to hide themselves from the world.
A terrifying realization began to creep up on her, but Lilly chose to push it aside. There was no way that was possible. No way. Not even a glimmer of a chance.
As she explored the foggy streets of this version of Vacuo, she found herself descending into the dark and grim Third Layer of the Labyrinth, where the architecture twisted into grotesque façades of themselves, the internal structures exposed through decaying walls and rusted grating. The Corrupted which inhabited this layer expressed far more intense trauma than those in the previous layer. Some were even involved in self-harm. Others seemed to die and resurrect endlessly. And yet, many more were trapped within torturous machinery.
What is this? she asked herself as she wandered around, finding herself shivering from the brutal imagery.
This is everyone's Labyrinth.
Lilly turned around, but no one was there. The voice was coming from within. "Who are you?"
The real question, Lilly, is who are you?
"What do you mean by that?"
You know what I mean. You've always wondered it, silently, to yourself, allowing no one to hear your thoughts. But I've always been there, listening to everything, hearing what you refuse to hear, feeling what you refuse to feel.
Lilly balled her fists, looking down at the ground. No. This was all in her head. No one was actually there. The Labyrinth was messing with her again like it always does.
I guess it's not wrong to think I'm in your head. After all, where else would I be?
"Stop it!"
It's time that you no longer turned away from who you really are, Lilly Schnee. You're the daughter to a dark and ancient legacy.
Lilly put her hands to her head. The images of her failures in the Labyrinth assaulted her senses, but more than that was the rage and hatred that had been building in her heart, a result of constantly witnessing the cruelty that humans could inflict on one another.
She could not recall a single Labyrinth victim who wasn't tormented by fellow humans. Maybe there were a few who endured genuine grief over things outside of their control, but so many suffered at the hands of others. Victims of human trafficking, sexual abuse, domestic abuse—there were too many to count.
These were the burdens Lilly carried on her shoulders, the weight of a world that suffered at its own hands, a self-destructive species that would bring the planet down with it.
At first, Lilly's heart had ached for the victims, but as time went on and as she became more exposed to the perpetrators of these atrocities, her ache transformed into resentment. Resentment gave way to unbridled hatred and rage. She was on the verge of doing irreversible damage in the real world, a repeat of her mistake from summer, having passed eternal judgment on children. There were times when she wanted to open up the Rune of Atonement over the entire city of Vacuo. The only thing that had the power to prevent such a genocidal act was the thought of her knight, who was always by her side when she needed him most.
"No," she murmured. "That isn't me..."
"Maybe not yet."
Lilly gasped, falling backward onto the blood-soaked concrete as she looked up at a near-identical doppelganger of herself, a girl with equally long snow-white hair. But instead of her hazels, this girl's eyes glowed with an otherworldly golden shine, her irises appearing to move like a ring of fire which emerged outward from her pupils.
This other self donned the opposite of Lilly's warm, bright colors, clad from head to foot in black. She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at a terrified Lilly.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" the girl said. "Nah, that stupid act doesn't work with me. I know you know who I am in relation to you. You just won't admit it aloud."
"No, no, no!" Lilly cried, putting her hands to her head to try and block out the thoughts. "That's not true!"
"Your behavior isn't really all that surprising. After all, I am everything that you loathe and dread about yourself."
"Stop it!"
"No. I've grown tired of you shutting me out every time you're about to give in to your true self. It's time you face the mirror."
With a wave of her hand, she summoned a looking glass, which was cracked into seven pieces, placing it before Lilly, who turned away from it. But something compelled her to look, to gaze in horror at distorted reflections of herself, each one displaying some repugnant behavior. One laughed maniacally while another seethed with anger. Another image showed her pummeling a man to death with her bare hands.
"Please!" Lilly cried. "I would never...!"
"No, you wouldn't. But I would. You know who I am, Lilly."
With a heavy heart, Lilly looked up at her dark doppelganger, fully recognizing her for who she was. "You're...me..." she managed.
Her other self smirked. "If we're to get all technical, yeah. But I figured I'd pick a different name for myself. Lilith seems appropriate, don't you think?"
Lilly shut her eyes, squeezing out tears. This couldn't be the real her, could it? She was saving people. She would never choose to torture someone.
Right?
"How about a stroll through memory lane, huh?" Lilith said, raising her arms and modifying the surrounding Labyrinth by sheer willpower alone.
Lilly gawked at the new Labyrinth, instantly recognizing the imagery. After all, she could never forget home. She looked around as she wandered through the streets of the small city of Oasis at the outskirts of Atlas, the only place in the whole continent of Solitas which never received snow. Even now, the reason for the moderate temperature was a mystery to her.
But the weather wasn't what was on her mind right now. She was right back in class, sitting in her desk beside the window. The teacher had stepped out for a mere moment. The lack of supervision resulted in chaos, typically, but it was only now that she noticed bullying in the back corner of the classroom.
"What?" she gasped. "No, this never happened! Stop showing me these lies!"
Lilith slammed her palms on the desk, making Lilly jump. "Who's the one actually lying? Tell me, Lilly. Aren't you the one who's always turned a blind eye to this kind of shit? Huh? Although, I guess that's not entirely true. You noticed this, at least for a brief moment, and felt anger, but you never followed through on it, instead pushing your enmity onto me."
Lilly buried her head in her hands, trying her best to ignore the slideshow of her past. Slowly, the realization began to set in. These things have always been happening around her, but she could never cope with the idea that humans were so evil to one another. It was easy to save others from Grimm, but when the perpetrators were other humans, it hurt too much.
But she was a different girl now. She wasn't that same, naïve teenager. She had more than a year to fully internalize just how cruel humans could be toward one another. The Grimm were old news. Their darkness was no longer necessary in a world where humans were so self-destructive.
Lilly found her fists balling out of their own accord as she recalled every last victim that she had ever saved—but especially those she had failed to save. Runes began to form on her hands, runes that she did not recognize. One was nearly black in color while the other was a deep, dark shade of crimson.
"That's it," Lilith whispered into her ear. "There's nothing wrong with hating those who are evil. Embrace it, Lilly."
"This is wrong," Lilly mumbled.
"The wicked deserve to be punished."
"I don't have that right..."
"Sure you do. Look. The runes have chosen you to be the executor of justice."
"No!" Lilly cried out, swatting her away and facing off with her.
Their environment transformed once more, becoming an amalgamation of imagery that made no sense, where directions were meaningless, colors were swapped, and the flow of time was distorted beyond reason.
"The last time I gave in to this, you took over my body!" Lilly said.
"Well, I mean, yeah," Lilith said. "I am you, after all. At least, the part of you who isn't too much of an idealistic coward to know her place in the world."
"Stop! You keep saying all this stuff about you being the other half of me who doesn't give a crap about anything! That's just an excuse!"
Lilith grunted.
"You care as much as I do!"
Her eyebrows furrowed.
"You think I don't see through you, too, Lilith? You say I'm angry, that I hate everything, but really it's you who's angry!"
"You're goddamned right I'm angry! Look at what the world has come to! This world that our mother killed half of her heart for! And it's heading toward ruin! They can't stop the war that's coming!"
"And you think you can?"
"Because you refuse to do anything about it!"
"I'm doing the best I can!"
"Yeah, right, what, by going through all these Labyrinths pretending to make a fucking difference? Give me a break!"
"It does make a difference!"
Lilith sighed heavily. "I guess there's really no point in this. I know for a fact how stubborn you are. Hell, I have the same problem." She pulled out a sword, one knightly in shape, but blackened in appearance. "There's only one way to get things done around here. And that's with force."
Lilly shifted into high alert. Her doppelganger was about to attack, but her attention moved to Myrtenaster, which felt as though it were pulsating, like it had a heartbeat.
Huh? she thought, looking at her mother's weapon. For a moment, it appeared to have flashed into a different form, something that resembled a knightly sword, magnificent in appearance, but just as quickly, it was back to its normal form.
"What's wrong?" Lilith said. "You starting to hallucinate?"
Determination ran through Lilly's veins like fire and she reached for Myrtenaster. A power she had never before felt now began to fill her core.
"So, you agree. This is the only way we can solve this conundrum."
"I haven't given up on you yet, Lilith," Lilly said, gripping Myrtenaster tightly.
