Chapter 8
Dark Days
With a grunt, I pull myself over the wall that surrounds Haven Academy. I can see patrols of White Fang around the grounds. The sound of fighting emanates from the school itself. There's a thunderous explosion from the front of the school. A large man flies out of the wall in an explosion of stone. I can see dust crystals jammed into his flesh. Crackling yellow lightning courses through his veins. I stay crouched behind tree as I wait for the distraction.
The man stands up and there's a short conversation between him and Adam. I grip my arm to ease the trembling and take slow measured breaths. The man pulls out two more crystals and shove them into his flesh. Red energy mixes with the yellow lightning. As the man turns to go back into the building, a shout from the entrance catches his attention. Adam and the Fang members whirl to face the shout. Blake stands atop the entrance wall staring down at the group.
There's a shouting match that I ignore as I creep towards the school. I make it to the wall as the rest of the Haven defense force from Menagerie arrives. The White Fang is severely outnumbered. Adam starts giving a speech, but is interrupted by the arrival of the Mistral police force's airships. Adam turns to shout at the man.
"This is your business," The man replies and wipes loose rubble from his sleeves, "Not mine. Fix it."
With a shout from Adam, the White Fang opens fire on the other faunus. Adam swings on Blake but she dodges out of the way with ease. My attention is pulled away as a spectral Lancer tail pierces through the strange mans ribs and pulls him violently back into the school.
Using the distraction I sprint as quietly as I can towards the broken wall. No one notices me. I enter the building and take measure the situation. The room itself is a grand entrance hall. A mirror staircase is built into the back of the room leading to a full balcony that stretches around the circumference of the room. The walls are painted green and decorated with banners of the schools symbol. A large hole is in front of the staircase itself.
On the far side of the room, Weiss is standing in front of the staircase with a spectral Lancer type Grimm behind her. Jaune is standing up from the ground on the left side of the room. In the middle of the massive entry way, Dad and Ruby are facing off against Emerald and Mercury. On the right side of the room Nora stands in front of an exhausted Ren. Uncle Qrow and a strange boy are kneeling down and looking exhausted as well. The man is slowly climbing to his feet near the center of the space.
Weiss notices me first with a small gasp. I offer a small wave and a smirk. I hear footsteps at my side and Blake appears next to me. Ruby and Dad turn to face us and shock is written across their faces.
"Yang!" Dad exclaims.
Ruby is the first to regain her senses. She points at the hole and shouts, "Dad, go!"
I don't hesitate and break into a sprint. Emerald tries to dive in front of Dad as he takes off sprinting, but she's too slow. Mercury gets a hand on his arm, but dad grabs the boy's shirt and flips him over onto his back. There's a short thud as he hits the ground and dad keeps sprinting. Emerald tries to stop him again, but Weiss blocks her path with a wall of ice.
As I sprint the large man swings out at me with a burst of lightning and fire coming out of his fist. I leap over him with a shot from my gauntlet and arm. I somersault through the air and Mercury tries to catch me in mid-air. Gambol Shroud's ribbon wraps around his leg and Blake pulls him out of the air, slamming him into the ground. I land on the edge of the hole. Ruby rushes to my side.
"What's up Rubes? Care to fill me in?" I ask as the others battle against the group of enemies. Weiss's summon is doing a good job of distracting them.
"Cinder and Raven came with these people." Rifle shot. "There's a super ancient relic down this shaft that they're trying to steal for an even older evil lady named Salem." Rifle shot. "There's a woman who has magic powers the can open the door to the relic." Reload. "Also, that boy has Ozpin's soul reincarnated in him. They're like a two in one package." Ruby's rapid fire explanation leaves me stunned.
I don't even know how to begin to process the information. The fight ahead of us isn't going too great and Weiss's summon is destroyed by an explosive blast of fire from the large man. As it dissipates, Blake flies through its vanishing form. She lands on the dust fueled guy taking him to the ground. She leaps off of him and lands at my side. Weiss skids to a stop on the other side of Ruby. The team is officially back together.
"Are you hurt Weiss," Blake asks and I take note of the bloodstained hole in the heiress's dress.
"N-No." the shocked Schnee stutters. "I just remember you being more of the quiet one."
Blake flips out the blade on Gambol Shroud as the enemy group approaches.
"Not today," She states.
"Alright. What's the plan Ruby?"
Suddenly a noise from behind catches my ear, but before I can move Ruby has already fired a round at the top of the stairs. I look back to see what she shot. A man I hadn't even noticed has his aura shattered. Terror fills his face and he sprints off deeper into the school. I return my attention to the enemies ahead.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Mercury groans.
The man loaded on dust lets out a distorted roar. Its time to fight.
"Checkmate!" Ruby shouts and the team launches into action. Blake and Weiss charge forward and alternate rapid attacks between Emerald and Mercury. Ruby starts firing her sniper at the large man, his aura shimmering with each bullet. He throws out an arc of fire at us. Ruby and I both leap over it. I grab her hand and she extends out her scythe. With a blast from my gauntlet, I send Ruby flying into the man. She spins through the air and brings the back of her scythe into his head. The blow bounces off of his aura and Ruby lands sliding from the momentum. The man is sent stumbling forward.
I kick off the staircase and launch toward him myself. I prepare for a punch, and he swings in to meet my fist. I activate my semblance and absorb the kinetic energy of his blow. I'm sent flying and crash into the wall on the second floor. A grunt of pain escapes my lips as I connect. I pick myself up from the floor where I land and grin. Power flows through my aura and the man is distracted by a shot from Ruby's scythe. I sprint forward and leap over the railing. I land with a loud thud and walk towards the man. He growls and swings at my head. I dodge under the punch and launch a fist up into his chin. It connects and I release the pent up energy. There's an burst of air and he's sent flying into the left wall with a shout of pain.
He stumbles to his feet with a roar. I catch the sight of Blake being knocked over by Mercury. He starts walking toward the fallen faunus. "Hey Mercury! Did you miss me?" I dash towards him. He whirls on me with his signature kicks. I manage to dodge or block most. Only a few good connections.
"Easy there Blondie. I let you win last time." His boot connects with my face. The aura blocks it, and I chuckle. He growls and his kicks become more aggressive. I do my best to dodge around. I can see the frustration growing on his face. "Will you fight me already?"
I wink and block his leg with my prosthetic hand. "And here I thought you just wanted to dance. With all that fancy footwork." His attacks become more savage. Each blow that I block pushes me backwards. I activate my semblance absorbing every angry connection. After he seems to tire, and I can feel my aura dangerously low, I finally make a move. I glance at Blake and she nods. Out from behind him, her weapon comes flying towards me. I catch it and toss it back. The ribbon catches his waist and pulls him stumbling backward. I use the moment of weakness to throw a fist at him. He catches the blow with a foot, but I release the stored energy. A wave of power sends him crashing into the wall.
Cracks split and form in the wall behind his body. He hits the ground panting. His aura fades. Emerald and the big guy make it to him as the rest of the group forms up in a face off.
"That's enough!" Ruby shouts at the exhausted enemies. "Just give up!"
Mercury shouts out in anger and slams his fist into the floor. The dust fueled man stands to the side breathing heavily.
"Its not over!" Emerald retorts with a wave of her gun. "Cinder will come back! She'll have the relic and she'll stop all of you! She won't let us down."
The sound of gears and scraping rocks comes from the hole in front of the staircase. There's a long moment of bated breath as the room watches to see who comes out. It's Dad. He has a sad expression as the elevator stops at the second level. There's a strange looking lantern hanging from his fingers. A beautiful statue of a woman with golden chains fills the void that was the elevator shaft. I meet Dad's eyes and smile. The sad expression is replaced with a lukewarm smile of his own.
Emerald drops her weapons and falls to the ground with tears streaming down her dark skinned face. Her partners start to back away slowly.
"Emerald." Mercury warns. "Get up. We have to go. Now!"
A scream fills the room and suddenly we're surrounded by darkness. The only lighting being blood red orbs around the edge of the chamber. A shadow gathers and brings forth a form straight out of nightmares. A woman, shrouded in thick darkness rises to the ceiling. Her pale skin is threaded with inky black veins. Her eyes are pitch black with blood red irises. Her arms and body contort in unnatural ways, the sound of snapping bone and flesh tearing fills my ears. With a piercing scream the ghastly form dives towards our group. I instinctively bring my arms up to defend my face, but there's no connection.
I lower my arms and the vision has faded. The others around me have expressions of pure horror. I know I wasn't the only one to see it.
"What... was that?!" Blake exclaims in shock.
"An illusion." The strange boy steps forward. "but an accurate one. That... was Salem."
The boy has a sad expression on his face. Blake looks at me with confusion, I shrug. Footsteps sound off from the busted wall and Blake's parents rush in, followed by Sun. Ghira pulls his daughter into an embrace, joined by Kali. I watch with a smile,
I leave her to her family and join Qrow's side as my dad descends the stairs. He hands off the weird artifact to Qrow.
"What happened down there?" Qrow asks resting a hand on Dad's shoulder.
"I'm not exactly sure," Dad shrugs, "Cinder was missing when I got down there. Vernal was dead and Raven... Well, Raven ran off."
"Sounds like Mom," I state with a sigh. Of course she would. The one chance I get and she's just gone. Dad steps down and hugs me tightly.
"I'm so glad you're safe my little Dragon."
"That's right Firecracker." Qrow adds patting me on the back. I pull him into the hug as well. The tears gathering in my eyes are hard to fend off.
"Are you okay?" Weiss voice is filled with concern. I look over and Ruby has collapsed into a heap. She lets out an exhausted sigh.
"I feel like that's what I should be asking you guys."
Blake wanders up to the couple, and I leave the hug to join her. When we get close, I kneel down and rest a hand on Ruby's shoulder with a smile. Tears begin to well up in her eyes.
"So Blake, Yang, what are you guys doing here?" Ruby questions, trying to brush away the tears with a chuckle.
"Well." Blake reaches across her chest and grabs her arm. " I was going to ask you the same thing."
"That's... a long story."
"Well Rubes..." I start looking at Blake. "We're not going anywhere."
"That's all that matters," Ruby replies softly and she meets my eyes, "We're all here together, right?"
I pull her into a hug, joined by both other girls. We hold each other, pressing our heads together.
"I missed you guys so much." My tears drop onto the marbled floor beneath us.
"Me too." Weiss sniffles as tears roll down her face. "I missed you both so much."
"I love you guys! I'm so happy you're here." Ruby's grip on me tightens.
"It's wonderful to be back Ruby." Blake replies. "I missed our little family."
The whole crew is gathered around a large square table in the dining room. We're in the rental house that the others have been using for the duration of their stay in Mistral. The table is laden down with ramen and other food. Ren and Nora sit at the right side of the table. Weiss, Jaune and Dad are sitting across from me. Oscar and Qrow are seated to my left. Blake is directly to my left and holding my hand under the table. Ruby is on my right, packing away cookies.
"Hold on," Dad interjects, pointing a fork as he talks. "You're telling me. That you fought a Deathstalker. By yourself?"
"No," I reply with a smirk, and lean back with my arms behind my head."I killed a Deathstalker. By myself. Emphasis on killed. But that's not half as impressive as some of the stuff you guys have fought. I mean you and Weiss took on Mom's whole bandit clan before she sent you away because she was sick of you beating them up."
Weiss's cheeks turn a warm red at the compliment. "I wouldn't say it was the whole clan, just, most of them."
"Team RNJR here even took out that Nuckelavee. That sounded like it must've been nightmarish." Blake states, taking a sip from her tea, "I think you guys still win the flexing contest here."
Qrow takes a long swig from his flask before saying, "I mean, I fought that Tyrian guy on the way here."
"Yeah, but he kicked your butt Uncle Qrow," Ruby adds through a mouthful of cookies.
"Only because you kept getting in the way Pipsqueak." He retorts, sticking his tongue out.
Laughter fills the room and Ruby blows a raspberry in response.
"You guys remember that fight with the Petra Gigas," Ren questions, looking from Jaune to Ruby.
"I remember," Nora snorts from behind her ramen bowl. "Jaune got his butt kicked!"
An indignant Jaune slaps the table, "Only because you guys brought me along without my weapons! You'll be fine without a weapon, you said. You're the strategist, you said. I was sore for days afterward."
Another round of laughter fills the air. Jaune crosses his arms and lifts his nose in the air. Oscar leans forward looking around the table.
"I have to say. I've only dreamed about this. I mean... I've been with you guys for almost a month. But to be surrounded by so many Huntsman and Huntresses, it's amazing." The young farm boy has a bright twinkle in his eye.
"If what I've heard is true, you'll be in proper fighting shape yourself soon," I say with an encouraging grin, "I'm told you held your own at Haven yesterday."
"I tried my best, well... before Ozpin took over the fight," the twinkle fades a bit from his eye.
"Yeah, well, lets just enjoy the meal for now," Blake says warmly, patting the boy's arm. "There will be time to discuss the serious stuff later. Let's just enjoy the celebrations."
"Ooh! I have an idea!" Nora shouts and she lifts up her tea cup, "A toast!"
"Hey now, I can get behind that," I agree lifting my cup. "To victories won!"
"To joyful reunions!" Ruby adds.
"And to a future bright with hope!" Jaune finishes.
The gathered parties lift their drinks to the toast and there's a round of cheers across the table. We spend the next couple of hours hanging out and having a good time. It's nice to finally reconnect with all of my friends. By the time everyone is winding down from the dinner, Qrow has passed out on the living room couch. Dad has gone out for a while to stretch his legs. Ren, Nora, Jaune and Oscar all leave to go do some training. Ruby and Weiss go out to do some shopping. Blake and I find our way to the bedroom that we'd be sharing while we stayed in Mistral.
I sit on one of the beds and watch Blake unpack. "You know, I like boat rides and all." She places her luggage on the other bed and starts pulling out clothes. I stretch out and lay down on my side, resting my head in my hand. "But, it's nice to not have the bed moving beneath me." She smiles at me as she finishes stacking her books.
"I can agree with that. It's nice to be back with everyone again." She pads across the floor and sits at the edge of my bed. She pulls off her shoes and jacket, sitting the jacket on my nightstand. I sit up and do the same, tossing the clothes to the floor. I slide up to the front of the bed and pull her between my legs, her back resting against me. She giggles and nestles into me, opening her book.
Satisfied, I tuck her head under my chin, the dark fur of her ears brush against my jaw. I wrap my arms lightly around her shoulders. As we relax, I watch the other team training outside. Nora is running the others ragged with an intense workout. Oscar looks like he's ready to faint and Ren and Jaune look breathless. I chuckle softly at the sight.
"What's funny," Blake questions softly, resting her book across bent knees. She draws lazy shapes on my left arm and uses her other hand to hold the book pages flat.
"Just watching Nora give these boys the run around," I reply with another soft chuckle.
Blake makes a soft noise of acknowledgment. The sound of a turning pages fills the comfortable silence that follows. A warm blanket of afternoon sun drifts ever slowly through the sky. My mind wanders back to everything we had learned earlier in the day.
"Salem," My voice is a whisper, "The maidens, magic, oscar and ozpin sharing a body..."
"It's all hard to believe," Blake adds in a low voice. She reaches back placing her hand on my cheek. I brush a light kiss against her palm as my heart skips a beat.
"I know... But what do we make of it?" I question softly.
A thoughtful look darkens her face, and she seems to look through me.
"Make of what? The ancient evil that controls the Grimm and seeks to destroy all life? The magical maidens of the seasons and the sacred relics that they protect?" Blake's book snaps shut, "The fact that the professor has reincarnated for a millennia in a never ending war? What about the part where Ozpin turned your uncle and mom into birds?"
Stress fills her voice and she grabs my arms, pulling them tighter around her. "I don't know Yang... It's all so much to take in."
"Yeah, I know. I think the worst part though, is that I believe it all." I look back out the window. "And it scares me."
Silence returns to the room as we retreat into our own thoughts.
Time passes and the air in the room loses it's tension. The shadows of the window drift across the room in slow arc. I can see the first few star begin to appear in the ever darkening sky. Blake is back to reading her book. There's a light tapping at the door.
"Come in," I say loudly unable to pull my eyes off of the sky. Blake doesn't seem to take notice as she turns another page.
The door opens slowly and the clack of hard soles against the wooden floor fills the room. I look over and see Weiss standing in the doorway. Her ice blue eyes study us with mild surprise. A smug glint is quick to replace the shock.
"I see you two seem to be on good terms," She says in a soft voice. She strides purposefully across the room towards the other bed. Her gray skirt swishes lightly with every step. She sits on the bed facing us.
"Is there any reason we shouldn't be," Blake questions as she shuts her book gently.
"Well, I don't have one," Weiss replies, smoothing out her skirt, "But Taiyang had a lot to say about how she was doing. He said you were struggling pretty bad, that you were really upset with Blake."
"To be honest," I say meeting Weiss's piercing eyes, "I was, and it's still kind of hard to deal with sometimes. On the ship ride here, Blake kept trying to do everything for me. I didn't appreciate being babied."
"That's a mild way to put it," Blake huffs with annoyance. "You gave me the cold shoulder for days."
I chuckle and scratch lightly behind her cat ears. A shiver passes through the woman stretched out in my lap.
A fond feeling in my chest is reflected in a smile on my face, "We're working things out. But I'd say that we're going to be just fine."
"I'm glad," The heiress pauses. She suddenly seems to find something interesting in her lap. She refuses to look at us.
"What's wrong Weiss?" I ask. There's a quiet moment where Blake and I both stare at the white haired huntress. Tension falls from her shoulders with a sigh and she meets our eyes.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't there, for you both. I feel like I let you down. I know I should've done more. I could have-"
Blake cuts off Weiss's words, "Don't."
"But-"
"Listen... Weiss," Blake sits up, pulling out of my arms. "We all have regrets. We all wish we could've done more. The fact is, we couldn't. We gave everything we had and it wasn't enough."
"Yeah," I add, looking at my prosthetic, "But, now we're all together again. We can't change the past Weiss. But we can do better in the future."
Weiss has tears in her eyes and I open my arms. She crosses the room and I pull her into an embrace. Blake joins in on the group hug.
"You guys." Weiss speaks through streaming tears. "You guys are more family to me than my brother, or even my own father. I would do anything for you three."
"That goes for us too," I state, meeting Blake's golden eyes. She has a small smile.
"Exactly," The faunus adds, "And nothing is ever going to tear us apart again."
Weiss smiles at us and wipes away her tears. There's a knock on the door and it opens slowly. Ruby steps into the room. She takes in the sight of our group hug.
"Is... everything okay?" My little sis asks with some trepidation.
I nod with a smile on my face, "Yeah. It is."