CHAPTER X
Darkness and Light
"Demetri!" Ariadne yelled into her microphone. "Ruby! Jaune! Can any of you hear me?"
"We're ready to go in whenever," Dionysus said.
She turned to her brothers and Shade Academy's Headmaster Neptune Vasilias.
"None of you have any experience in the Labyrinth!" she said to them.
"Yeah, but there's two damsels-in-distress in there," Neptune said. "Can't just ignore that. Especially since one's the daughter of a girl I went out with once."
"I will never understand that reasoning," Orion said. "All I know is that the three of us have enough combat experience to handle ourselves in there."
"The Labyrinth is nothing like battling Grimm!" Ariadne said. "You're not only up against the monsters. The very environment wants to kill you!"
"Your rune gems should be good, right?" Dionysus said.
Ariadne sighed heavily. "It seems as though they've managed to stabilize space-time enough to keep the others from being separated, but still. They're prototypes at best and I will not be the one to experiment on live humans!"
"This isn't an experiment," Orion said. "This is a rescue mission."
"And the three of us are the only ones qualified," Neptune said. "Besides. I'm headmaster of Shade. The hell would I look like failing to save people from that world?"
"For one, I think it would be perfectly rational not to walk into hell itself," Orion said. "In your defense."
"I appreciate that, but I also have a duty. Like all of you."
Ariadne let out another heavy sigh, pacing this way and that way as she brainstormed. They certainly did have some other rune gems and the like that would permit them to survive much longer in the Labyrinth, but it was still far too much of a risk without someone with real magic like Lilly leading the way.
"Damn it," Ariadne muttered under her breath. "If only Lilly were here."
"Ariadne!"
The youngest child of the Jupiter family spun around quickly before running to Lilly and embracing with her.
"Oh, thank god you're here!" they both said at the same time.
"Wait, what?" Lilly said.
"Yes! What!" Ariadne said. "Wait, no time to explain. I'm glad you're safe and uninjured. Can you conduct a rescue operation right now?"
"Rescue who?"
She's talking about your boyfriend.
"W-What? B-Boyfriend?"
"Huh?" Ariadne said.
"Oh, u-um, just, talking to myself!"
Literally.
"Quiet!" Lilly whispered.
"I must be missing something," Ariadne said.
Oh, hey, I've missed her. Let me say hi. Please?
"Anyway," Lilly said.
Hey! Don't ignore me!
"Yes, I can conduct a rescue right now."
Lilly.
"Good," Ariadne said, sitting at a console as Orion handed Lilly a rucksack.
Lilly!
"Awesome!" Lilly said. "Right now?"
"Yes," Orion said. He said something else, but Lilly didn't quite pick up on it.
I know you can hear me!
Lilly scratched her head hard. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
Orion and Ariadne looked at each other.
"Are you sure you're okay to go in?" Ariadne said.
"Yes!" Lilly said, scratching harder. "I'm just, I caught something, I think, while I was in there!"
I'm not a fucking disease, you dick!
"You seem a bit distracted," Neptune said.
"Nope!" Lilly said, running into the rift chamber. "Let's go!"
The rest of the group exchanged glances and shrugs before proceeding with the operation.
—
Demetri grunted in pain as the mutated Paolo's punch sent him crashing into a pile of debris. His aura had already failed him long ago and each strike damaged his body directly. There was little hope of him surviving this encounter if he fought head-on. His vision was blurry, but he could clearly hear his two companions struggling against the other hybrids, monsters that were created out of the remains of his former comrades.
The rhythmic thuds of Paolo's footsteps grew louder and louder before they were right on top of him. Something lifted him into the air. He looked up. Paolo's face was blurry, but he could sense something off about him.
"D...Demetri..."
The voice snapped him back to lucidity. "Paolo?" he all but yelled.
"H...Help...Demetri..."
He punched his old friend in the face with enough strength to break himself free, scampering away and getting up into a squat. His aura had just reformed and he remained low to the ground. His opponent seemed to waver somewhat, as though the real Paolo were fighting for control over the abominable body.
"Paolo!" he cried out. "Fight it!"
"Can't...it's...too strong...the Daemon..."
"Tell me how to get you out of there!"
"Kill...me..."
For some reason, the words were still a surprise, even though Demetri had already figured out that that would be the only way out for his old friend. After all, he wasn't ignorant of basic biology. If what that Dr. Watts explained was true, then there truly was nothing he could do for his old teammates. His final duty was to put them to rest.
Of course, that was a task easier said than done.
Demetri barely managed to dodge a powerful swing from his old team leader and partner, whose movements had since grown somewhat sluggish. He no longer spoke, but from his grimace and the degrading technique, Demetri knew that he continued to struggle within his own body.
"Forgive me," Demetri said before launching a flurry of attacks, but Paolo's new body was simply too tough for him to cause any meaningful damage. His Semblance would be all but useless as well, perhaps even detrimental. Lowering their inhibitions might be akin to activating a berserk mode that would spell disaster for himself and his two companions.
"C'mon!" Ruby yelled as she and Jaune arrived at his location. "We can't fight like this forever!"
"My shield is about to break," Jaune said. "We have to put some distance between us and them."
"I can't just abandon them," Demetri said.
"Take a good look!" Ruby said. "They're not your friends anymore! That, that, dumb Dr. Watts and his people have turned them into monsters!"
"They're still in there. I know it. I have to set them free somehow."
His three mutated friends attacked, scattering them, but Ruby was quick to utilize her silver eye powers again, striking them with a debilitating ray of light, which gave them another avenue of escape. Instead of fleeing, however, Demetri attacked, intent on killing at least Paolo and freeing him from the hellish prison of his own body. Nevertheless, he lacked the physical strength to harm him at all, especially with the amount of fatigue stacking on him.
"Damn it," he panted. "Am I really this powerless?"
"Even if you are," a familiar voice said from beside him, "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
He turned to face Lilly, who was holding Myrtenaster out at their opponents, who marched steadily toward her.
"We'll catch up later," she said. "I'll take care of these three."
"Be careful!" Ruby yelled. "They're a lot tougher than they look!"
Lilly glanced at her and Jaune, whose shield was at its breaking point. If these two seasoned Huntsmen were pushed to the brink like this, these new monsters she didn't recognize were definitely not to be underestimated.
As Orion, Dionysus, and Neptune tended to the three beleaguered warriors, Lilly began her assault, launching every manner of Dust and magic attack at the three monsters, all of which failed to even scratch her enemies.
Hey.
"Not now, Lilith."
I was gonna say to let me take over.
"Huh?"
You're worn out from our fight earlier.
"What, and you're not?"
Not nearly as much as you, dude. C'mon, lemme take the wheel.
Lilly didn't respond, tightening her grip on Myrtenaster.
I get that you don't trust me yet. Hell, I don't trust me either. But if we're gonna survive this, you should let me handle this shit.
She let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, then."
Cool.
They both waited for several seconds.
Uh, what's supposed to happen now?
"How should I know?" Lilly yelled. "I thought you knew!"
Hey! Wait! Look out!
Lilly found herself beset from all directions by the three mutated Beacon Academy students.
How the hell did you get surrounded?
"Because you're distracting me!"
In the next instant, Lilly and Lilith switched places and the latter was in full control over their body. She stumbled for a moment, but as soon as she gained her bearing, she engaged the enemy trio. As she had said, Lilith was much less fatigued than Lilly and she managed to defend against all three at once while simultaneously delivering punches and kicks that sent each target stumbling backward.
Whoa! That was cool!
"Shut up! Oh, gods, now I know how that feels!"
But, like, you're doing so good!
"Lilly, be quiet! I'm trying to concentrate!"
Oh! Sorry!
Lilith held Myrtenaster upright in front of her face, closing her eyes as she summoned a magical power from deep within. A burst of blackened light pulsed from deep within her core as Myrtenaster transformed into that ancient sword of magic, the sword of the Once and Future King, the sword which bore the name Caliburn.
In the meantime, Jaune and Ruby were in a near-panic. They recognized the black light of the darkened Caliburn. After all, they had fought against it almost twenty years ago.
"What's wrong?" Orion asked them. "Are you two all right?"
"Most definitely not," Jaune said, his voice quavering.
"Why is Caliburn completely black?" Ruby whispered. "And more importantly, why is Lilly surrounded with that darkness?"
"Hey, Demetri!" Lilith called out. "You wanted me to put your old buddies out of their misery, yeah?"
Something about her manner of speaking was odd, but Demetri ignored it for now. "Yes, please," he said. "I do not have the power to do it myself, but I beg of you, free them from this nightmare."
"Sure thing, buddy!" She turned to the trio, who were marching at her mindlessly. "I promise this'll be quick, but it's also gonna be fucking painful. Can't do anything about that, so, mah bad!"
What are you waiting for!
"Shh! Caliburn! Let's do this! Geschwärzte Flamme!"
Caliburn unleashed a massive wave of black flame, which swallowed all three of Demetri's old friends completely, vaporizing them from existence. As they vanished, Lilly connected with their minds ever so briefly. Each one of them thanked her for releasing them from their suffering.
I'm sorry. I should have done more for you guys. I'm so sorry.
"Hey," Lilith said, resting Caliburn on her shoulder. "You did all you could. It's not like you coulda gone and figured out where the hell they were all this time."
But, I didn't even try to search for them.
"Look, you woulda just been wasting your time anyway. You never woulda found them."
I still can't help but—
Lilith fell to her knees.
Hey! Are you okay?
"I guess I'm a lot more tired than I thought," she panted. "Shit, this sucks—"
In a split second, Lilly was in control once more.
"Lilith!" she yelled. "Are you all right?"
Stop yelling, Lilly, please.
"Oh, sorry!"
Stop...yelling...
"Crap," she whispered.
Why are you so worried about me anyway? It's not like we've been BFFs for the last year or some shit.
"That doesn't matter to me. I wasn't lying when I said that I would trade places with you so you could live in the light. No one deserves eternal darkness like this."
I wish I could be as naïve as you.
"I prefer the word 'optimistic'!"
My god, please, can you turn the volume down? Is that possible for you?
"Oh!" She lowered her voice to a whisper again. "Sorry!"
Your friends are coming. You should probably stop talking to yourself now.
Lilly gasped before turning around to face her friends.
"Hi!" she said excitedly.
Lilly! The fucking volume!
"Hey," Neptune said. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Yup! I'm doing great!"
"Are you sure?" Ruby asked.
"Mm-hmm!"
My head...is gonna explode...
"We just wanted to make sure," Jaune said, eyeing Myrtenaster at her side. "You, uh, it seems you've mastered your mom's weapon."
"Yeah it's pretty cool huh I didn't even know it could transform like that into a super awesome sword and stuff and it's like wha-pow and whoosh and bzzzzt!" She drew Myrtenaster and swung it around, but it didn't transform for her. "Aww, it's not doing it anymore!"
Lilly, your energy is exhausting, do you know that?
She giggled nervously.
"In any case," Orion said, "let's head back to the real world. Our business here is done."
—
Ariadne sighed heavily as she leaned back in her chair. She rested her forearms over her eyes, trying to sort out all the information in her head.
"Orange juice?" Demetri said as he walked up to her.
"Thank you," she said, sitting upright and putting her glasses back on. "How are you doing?"
"A lot better knowing that Lilly is safe and my old teammates are no longer suffering. But my body is still quite sore. Paolo was never a slouch as a Beacon student, but with those augmentations, he was unstoppable for the most part."
"I must offer my condolences once more. I know they were your friends."
"Thank you."
"Have you had time to grieve at least?"
"To be honest, I grieved for them long ago, when Lilly pulled me out of the Labyrinth. It's just that now I at least have closure." He glanced at the monitors. "Have you made any progress?"
She nodded. "The life waveform scanning technology Dr. Hillphire developed years ago has been vital to all of our Labyrinth operations. I thought it required calibration earlier, but now I know for certain."
"That something is wrong with Lilly."
"She's...changed."
"I saw for myself her behavior in the Labyrinth. It reminded me somewhat of how she acted a few months ago, just after that disaster at Mount Horeb High School. What exactly did your scanner say about her?"
"Her waveform has changed slightly. It's...I can't quite put my finger on it. She's mostly herself, but there are slight fluctuations with her soul. And there's another thing. At first, I attributed it to a glitch in the machine or something, but after recalibrating and reconfiguring, I can't get the anomaly to go away."
"Anomaly?"
"Yes. The machine keeps swapping back and forth and attempting to overlay two waveforms together. It's as though...as though there are two beings in Lilly's body."
"Another Lilly?"
She nodded. "Given everything we've seen, anything is possible. Be careful around her, Demetri. I know you've vowed to protect her, but we don't know what to expect, especially with that massive space-time distortion that she created when she killed your old teammates."
"I had a feeling your equipment would detect all that."
"What exactly happened in there?"
—
"Orion should have submitted his report by now," Ruby said into the transmitter. "We left out a lot of stuff, though. Don't wanna cause any undue panic."
"You made the right choice," Tai replied. "I'll bring this up with Ozpin. If Caliburn really has returned to our world, and it's not the good Caliburn, it really is a cause for alarm."
"Have you heard from Yang's team?"
"Yeah. They're starting to screw around with the Labyrinth over in Mistral, too. Apparently, that boy Yuan has a Wraith-Knight or something in him."
"This is dark magic we're playing with here," Jaune said. "I don't like the way things are going."
"Neither do I, but from what I hear, they've been making serious progress. Team LILY and APEX have liberated three Labyrinths already."
Ruby sighed. "It feels like we're playing with fire. Fighting against the Grimm is one thing, but messing around with forces we don't understand is just asking for trouble."
"Unfortunately," Tai began, "we're the 'privileged few' who know exactly what it means to deal with that kind of crap."
"Which is why it makes no sense," Jaune said. "Hillphire and them, they all went through the same crap. So why would they sanction it?"
"Maybe they feel cornered. It's true that the Labyrinth is a threat. There's a reason the Coalition is still active, even today."
"We're gonna continue with what we're doing here," Ruby said. "Love you, dad."
"I love you, too, Ruby. Jaune, you two take care of each other."
"We always do," Jaune said before the call terminated.
Ruby let out a heavy sigh. "What should we do about Lilly?"
"I don't know about you, but whatever's going on with her, it screams out Wraith to me."
She shivered at the thought of that malicious entity. It had nearly brought about their total ruin so many years ago. It took all of them just to resist it. In the end, only Weiss and the powers afforded by the sacred sword Durandal managed to stand up to it and even then, it required Bedivere sacrificing his life to rid the world of it forever.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Ruby turned to Jaune with blurry vision. She wiped away the tears. "Sorry. I didn't even realize I was crying."
He reached over and wrapped his arms around her.
"Why did he even die? That thing is back! What did he die for?"
"I ask myself the same thing these days," Jaune said. "I watch the news and see the threat of war between Vacuo and Atlas and I wonder what the hell he even died for."
"What do we do, Jaune?"
"We'll deal with it one day at a time. Just like before. If it really was as much of a threat as it was back then, we'd already be in a nightmare world, right?"
"I guess."
"We can make it. We did it once. We can do it again. As long as we stick together."
