RWBY: Dual Eclipse
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Scene Change
Chapter 18: Resolutions
"That..." Ozpin stated as the memory faded away and everyone found themselves back in the colorwashed town square, "..that is what I've had to carry across these thousands of years, across countless incarnations. My greatest and most foolish mistake, one that is now condemning humanity as we know it."
"Talk about one hell of a shit deal." Nelius spoke up. "Having to bring all of humanity together whilst that basket-case is opposing you without any kind of reprieve, and under the threat of complete erasure if you're not up to whatever ridiculous standard the Gods have in mind."
"This is some 'Sins of the Ancestors' bullshit." Epsilon groused. "Why the hell should you be held responsible for someone else's decisions? The humans that rebelled are already dead at their hands, and barely any of those alive now have a connection."
"All the more reason why we meet behind closed doors, to try and find a solution to this." Ozpin grimly mentioned. "If the existence of something like her got out there, the amount of panic it'd generate would make the Grimm go crazy, if not potentially lead people to willingly join her in the hopes of survival."
Nelius had to think on this. Ozpin was not only set against his former lover, but she was made immortal, meaning no amount of regular strength would put her to rest. Adding to that was her dip into the Grimm Pool, infecting her with the ideology of Destruction. At the same time, this answered a number of questions about not just Remnant, but also what he had experienced since his landing here nearly a year ago.
At the same time, Qrow now began to realize why a certain falling out transpired all that time ago. One part of his mind was becoming increasingly furious with the Headmaster for keeping this effectively unwinnable situation a secret. At the same time, another part sympathized with Ozpin, noting how going through so many incarnations would wear down even the hardiest of souls and minds, especially having few to no people to rely upon between those lives.
Glynda and Ironwood had been working with Ozpin the longest, so to see the normally unflappable Headmaster sounding so... defeated, exhausted...
After about two to three minutes of digesting this information, Nelius looked up towards Ozpin.
"Might there be a way to break Salem's control over the Grimm?" That caught the Headmaster's attention, whom gave him a quizzical look in turn.
"What do you mean?"
"I was thinking about that insect Cinder tried to use against Amber... from what your memories showed and what your first incarnation explained," Nelius had briefly turned his head to regard Ozma before focusing back on Ozpin, "Destruction made the Grimm and said that it gifted humanity magic back during those times. Assuming I'm not missing any details, Salem could be using her control of the Grimm to allow Cinder to steal Amber's magic, since they draw from the same source. If there's a way to rob her of that control, make it so that the Grimm won't heed her beck and call, it'd help tilt things back in your favor."
"While a novel idea, unfortunately I've not heard of anything that could do so, even across my multiple incarnations." Ozpin softly lamented. "One of the only things I know of related to quelling the Grimm would be the Silver-Eyed people, and even then it was merely heresay."
"How so?"
"Silver-Eyed people were said to be natural-born warriors, able to slay Grimm with a single glance." Qrow explained. "One of my teammates, Summer Rose, had silver eyes, but she disappeared on a mission years ago." There was a small pause, as if Qrow was internally weighing the idea of elaborating further about her. "All that we know about 'em comes mostly from old anecdotes related to legends and similar stories, without anything really concrete to go upon."
"Hmm..." Inwardly, Nelius began thinking on this. Normally, legends at least had some kernel of truth behind them, so there had to be something concrete upon which to build such a story.
"Uh, Mister Ozma..." Epsilon had that look on her face of realizing something as she spoke up.
"Yes?" Ozpin's first incarnation looked towards her.
"That memory of when you were revived the first time, when the Grimm tried to attack the God of Creation... I know it ain't pretty, but could you show some of that again? I want to double-check something I thought I saw."
It was an odd request, but Ozma granted it. Once again, they were in the Realm of Destruction, watching the Grimm leap towards Creation once again, and with that same flash of light the Grimm dissipated into nothing as Creation assumed its draconic form. Epsilon had been watching carefully-
"That's it!"
"What's it?"
"Look at Creation's own eyes!" She pointed toward the God's eyes, and for a brief moment it was hard to tell due to the brightness, but when it died down...
"...my word."
The Creation God had Silver-colored eyes focused on its younger brother.
"So is that where the eyes came from?" Nelius had deduced a possibility. 'But do they even hold the same potential power, or is this mere coincidence?'
"A moment, though.." Glynda had begun to wonder. "For legends to be so scarce about them..."
"It'd have to be Salem and whatever followers she'd obtained over the centuries." Ozpin concluded. "If evidence got out about people with the power to slay Grimm with a glance..."
"But now I begin to wonder who else this Salem has at her beck and call right now." Nelius pointed out. "So far we only know that Cinder's got a likely allegiance due to that glove we saw her use, which calls into question the relation of her two subordinates in all of this. There could be more agents lurking elsewhere."
"All a fair point to make, but I believe we've spent enough time in here." Ironwood brought up a fair concern of his own. "More than likely the other Professors and my crew are busy trying to figure out why we've gone silent." A few seconds passed before a realization hit. "Say, since part of our original reason for this meeting related to discussing plans going forward, could your machine be used to create another space such as this?"
"James?" Ozpin was curious as to what Ironwood was planning.
"It can, yes. Betting it's to ensure information doesn't leak out?"
"Precisely. Given what all we've experienced today, we... may have to rethink our strategy and outlook. Having a newly secured location to freely speak our minds without fear of it getting into the wrong hands would go a long way towards that goal."
Ozpin was floored. It was as if the General Ironwood he'd known of for such a long time had been replaced by a body double. In all the time he had known Atlas's Headmaster, the man was usually always ready for a head-on solution, one where he got to display the military's might.
"Don't get me wrong... admittedly, I am more than a little disappointed that you would keep a revelation like this hidden from us, Ozpin." At that, Ozpin did look rather guilty. "But we can cross that bridge when we arrive at it. For now, stopping whatever plans Cinder has in store for Vale should be our priority. Once she has been apprehended and the populace is safe and sound, that will hopefully begin to draw out whomever else Salem has on her side. The fewer subordinates she has to command, the better our odds will become."
"How do we leave, though?" Glynda asked.
"Our way out is over there." Nelius pointed to a swirling orange vortex that opened up a few seconds prior. Everyone began to filter out, minus Ozpin, whom remained behind.
Beacon's Headmaster was deep in contemplative thought, thoughts that Ozma was privvy to.
In all of the man's years of dealing with his ex-lover turned genocidal maniac, to think that events would come to end up like this... one part of his mind was exceedingly wary, fearing that even this opportunity would turn out to be for naught. Another part, though much smaller, was trying to rearrange these details into something far more tangible to work with, believing this chance couldn't be passed up.
'After years of having my plans backfire, suddenly this drops into my lap. I know the Gods are long gone, so this couldn't have been their will, else they'd have come back of their own volition...'
This was one hell of a crossroads to be at: take the chance, or dismiss it.
Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy
2:31 P.M.
Stepping back into the real world, Ozpin's Inner Circle was left to ponder what they had learned, and what path they could take towards solving the current issue. The Dual Diver's orange gate was still open, and they were missing someone.
'What's taking Ozpin so long?' Epsilon piped up.
'Well, we did just get his whole history and why he's doing what he's doing. Baring one's own soul out like that ain't easy for anyone, especially someone with his kind of baggage.' Nelius pointed out.
Glynda's Scroll pinged as it began to reconnect to the CCT, and she opened it up to find a few messages from Oobleck, Port and Peach, each trying to ask where she had gone. She had to carefully choose her words as to why her Scroll was suddenly cut off from the CCT, ultimately settling on stating that their meeting had run a little longer than anticipated.
It was a few minutes more before Ozpin stepped through the gate and back into the office, and hardly two seconds later the swirling orange vortex faded from existence. Almost immediately Nelius began looking over the Dual Diver, and much as he had suspected, the machine simply refused to operate without its power source hooked up to it.
At the same time, Ozpin had headed over to his desk, checking the time and seeing a small flood of messages that had come in during their unwitting excursion into his soul. Less than three seconds later a new message would ping on Ironwood's Scroll as well, coming from his personal transport ship.
Packing the Dual Diver back into its case, Nelius stood up as both Headmasters got to answering the missed calls and other messages.
"Well, not exactly how I planned on demonstrating this thing, so I gotta apologize for that. I'm going to take this home and give it another look-over, see if there was anything I might've missed."
"Very well. Safe travels, Mr. Raoul - we'll be in touch."
With the meeting wrapped up, Nelius excused himself to head back to the base, taking the elevator back down to the ground floor. A few minutes later the elevator came back up so Glynda could head down to teach her next scheduled class.
"Well now." Ironwood had walked over to the silver-haired man, showing him the contents of his most recent message. "Probably for the best we address this before disbanding for the day."
Ozpin took a moment to look over the message.
"Miss Amber wishes to continue her travels?"
"Seems her wanderlust is getting the better of her. Yet, we've still to consider how we're going to keep her safe, considering last year's troubles."
"Indeed. For now, James, this will have to be under your discretion, given that she is a guest of Atlas."
Several floors down, Cinder tapped into the virus's functions, letting her eavesdrop into the conversation in Ozpin's office as the signals finally returned. She wasn't all too certain as to why the signals suddenly cut out, but she wasn't going to question it too much.
'Interesting... most interesting.' Seems her chance at redemption would fall into her lap sooner than expected. If the Fall Maiden was to continue her travels, then eventually she might cross paths with the magic-wielding woman before long.
However, knowing Ironwood, he was going to push for her to have guards. Regardless, Emerald's Semblance wasn't known to them, so seperating them should be easy enough. Neo would be quite useful in tailing the Maiden, thanks to her penchant for disguises.
At the same time, it seemed that this new character, the one that had unwittingly helped out her plan by apprehending Torchwick, had pulled out some kind of machine that caused a localized blackout effect, cutting off the Scrolls' access to the CCT... if word of this got to one of her co-workers he'd likely ask for her to obtain it so he could tinker with it.
That could stay on the backburner. For now, obtaining the Maiden's magic and crippling Vale were her top priorities. Shutting the virus's functions down for the moment, she had to get moving to the next class if she were to keep up appearances.
"So, Ozpin..." James looked the Headmaster of Beacon right in the eyes. "Do you plan on telling that one about the reason why the Maidens exist?"
"When I know beyond any doubt he can be completely trusted." At the questioning look he received from James, he continued. "Perhaps it's my own less than stellar experiences talking in such a case, and I am aware of his honesty, but something in the back of my mind is constantly saying this is too good to be true. I can only hope I'm wrong in that scenario."
Qrow, on the other hand, had been thinking about what they had learned in Ozpin's heart. Never in his life would he have imagined the Headmaster to be carrying that kind of baggage. He turned to exit the office.
"Qrow?" Ozpin had noted him being unusually quiet.
"I gotta go confirm something real quick. I'll be in touch."
The Base
4:11 P.M.
Having stopped at a local restaurant to grab some food to go, Nelius stepped back into the small house and immediately headed downstairs. Placing his food on one of the tables, he began unpacking the Dual Diver.
"Gotta say, this is one hell of a mess we're in." Epsilon said, still processing what they had just witnessed.
"That's an understatement. Somedays I begin to wonder if I'm cursed to land in places where poor godly decisions screwed over the population as a whole."
With the Dual Diver now unpacked and set up on the worktable, Nelius tried running several tests to try and figure out how Ozma had managed to make it work without a power source. As his hands were occupied with checking the machine's assembly, his wings formed a second set of hands to get his food ready to consume.
"Ozma's memories showed that the Two Brothers left Remnant after that whole fiasco. Kinda wonder where they are now."
"Optimistically speaking, they're learning from that mess and making plans for when they return. Pessimistically speaking, they're screwing up more lives out somewhere in the cosmos 'cause they don't or won't learn."
Once again, the Dual Diver refused to power on without its source, and nothing internally suggested the creation of a mini-battery or similar power source. Installing the Dust Crystal, he powered the machine on and began to look for an error log, assuming the machine had compiled one during the inadvertant trip.
"...no errors found at all. We are gonna have to ask Ozma how he did that." Powering the machine down, he turned to eat his food, a trio of grilled chicken wraps. He was about halfway through the first wrap when he noticed his ally being awfully quiet. "...Epsilon? You all right?"
"I went to go add this to our Scroll's notes, and something tried getting into my systems through the link."
"Did we pick up something during our excursion?" He turned to regard his Scroll, putting his half-eaten wrap back into the box.
"That's what I'm looking at right now..." It was about ten seconds later that she responded, "..looks like it snuck in during our trip up to Ozpin's Office. It's embedded within one of the critical programs that govern data transfer between Scrolls and the CCT, so one wrong move and this thing might brick the entire system."
"Any way we can safely work around it?"
"I'm not quite certain yet. Whomever coded this thing likely knows Scrolls inside and out, so trying to figure it out is gonna take a while. For the time being, I'd say we should use our Scroll as little as possible, and maybe offload the relevant info onto something else while I analyze this thing."
"Hm... idea." Packing his food up, he headed over to his other supplies and grabbed a notebook with some pencils.
"What're you doing?"
"Well, if we need to minimize details from our Scroll, and give you the best chances of working on this thing without the owner knowing..."
Several Universes Away, Celestia
Unknown Time
Raphael finished packing his equipment and other essentials for the trip. He did a quick double-check, just to be certain he wasn't missing anything vital.
"That appears to be everything. Time to meet up with the others." Hoisting his bag over his shoulder, he headed for the Celestial Gate. Michael and Hale were there to see him off.
"Please, be careful out there." Hale was the first to speak up.
"Trust me, I have no intentions of getting locked away in another world again. Trust in Mita's skill with the ship - we'll be back."
"Give Farris and Hilde my regards." Michael was the next to speak up.
"Certainly... where's Aliya?"
"One of the Archangels had need of her skills, so she regretfully couldn't make it."
"Well, things happen. Take care, you two." With a flash of light, the Gate opened, and Raphael strode through. Once he had gone through and the Gate closed, Michael and Hale began to head back.
As the two went their seperates ways, Michael headed back to the abode he was sharing with Aliya whilst he recovered from the events of the previous world. He had gotten only a third of the way there when he felt something akin to a chill brush across the front of his face.
Ahead of him was what looked like a figure, albeit one not in the usual garb of the Celestial Host. In the time it took for him to blink, the figure was long gone.
'Perhaps I still need more rest and proper food.' Brushing it off as a trick of the mind, the Holy Dragon continued on towards home.
Yoshitsuna Landing Site
Unknown Time
Raphael soon appeared at the Yoshitsuna's landing area in a soft burst of light. Immediately, he could see York and Brutus doing double-checks over the outer armaments. He approached, and the pair recognized him.
"Hey Raphael, dood." York waved a flipper. "How'd things go?"
"Well enough. Michael's in good hands with Aliya keeping tabs on him, and I also ran into an old friend of ours that ought to help him even more. How're things going here?"
"Right now we're mostly waiting on Mita's new hires to arrive." Brutus updated the angel. "An extra set of hands keeping the ship in top condition will make this operation much less of an issue."
"A fair point. Who all is coming with us?"
"Aside from York, Mita, Zio and myself, we have Cordelia and Hilde joining this operation. Farris was going to also join, but recent events in her corner of the cosmos have her hands full. She did say she'd try to find someone to send our way."
"Good to know. Let me get this stuff dropped off and I'll help out where I can." With that, Raphael headed into the interdimensional vessel to claim a room and drop off his baggage.
Nelius Raoul's Netherheart
4:26 P.M.
"Won't lie, this is a great idea. We're cut off from the CCT in here."
As Nelius took this time to copy down his notes from his Scroll to the notebook and enjoy his meal, Epsilon was more than free to work on figuring out the mysterious addition to the Scroll, and how best to handle it.
The venue they had chosen to work on these notes was one of the spires of the Overlord's Castle, now more or less restored to pristine condition. From up here, one could see a fair lay of the land. In the small moments between copying his notes and finishing his food, he took a quick out outwards, seeing if he could recognize any of the surrounding areas from memory.
"Only issue is ensuring we don't get compromised while we're in here. There is an emergency function to toss us out if the Diver loses power or gets damaged, but I'd rather not have it go off."
"Fair enough." It was a few minutes more before Epsilon thought on something. "Say, about this strange data packet... if it came from us connecting to the CCT at Beacon, then even if we get a solution in place to deal with this, it's likely already spread to anyone else that's connected, and I'm willing to bet nobody else even knows about this right now."
"Questions right now are who uploaded this, and for what purpose?"
"Those I don't know at the moment, but if I can get this understood and possibly turned around in our favor we might be able to use it to out our mystery hacker... and maybe a bit more."
Having finished copying his notes, Nelius put the notebook and pencils into one of his wings. As he waited for Epsilon to give the go-ahead to return to the outside, he began thinking on Salem's actions.
'Pitiable woman, indeed... locked up for her entire life by a crappy parent, and when she finally is set free the one whom did so died of a horrendous virus. Little wonder she's a basket-case... yet it hardly excuses the Two Brothers from being complete assholes about it.'
His mind then turned to Qrow and Ozpin's statements about the Silver-Eyed Warriors, of how they were said to have powers able to slay Grimm with a glance, and of how it seemed Salem was trying to erase them from existence.
'Still, if these Silver-Eyed people do have a power similar to the Creation God, and Salem doesn't want it anywhere near her... what would such a power do to her in the first place, considering she's infected with that Destruction ichor, yet is also immortal? Would that power be enough to cleanse it from her, or would it do something completely different?'
He ultimately decided to put those thoughts on the backburner for the time being.
'I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, we ought to focus on tossing a wrench into Cinder's plans for Vale. If she is allied with Salem, then her going down would put an end to that plot, and hopefully force the other sycophants to emerge... besides, it's not like one of these Silver-Eyed people would be out in the open, if they were being hunted down.'
"Hey, how're things on your end?"
"Right now, I'm trying to finagle a firewall based on one within my systems, but it's mostly a stopgap solution for when we head back out into public."
"Gotcha. Just lemme know when we're good to phase back into the outside."
With his Scroll tightly in hand, he dropped down from the spire and began heading towards the Skill Shop. While he was here, he might as well fine-tune a few things.
White Fang HQ
Unknown Time Zone
One of the White Fang grunts waved down a few Bullheads, each one piloted by a few of the higher-up members. As they landed, the side-doors opened, and the stolen Dust and other supplies were extracted. A few other Bullheads served as transportation, those aboard disembarking.
"Brother Taurus?" One of the pilots looked over, seeing the aforementioned member seemingly in thought.
"Hm?" Adam looked up from his Scroll at the pilot.
"We're here."
"Hm." Without another word, Adam got off the Bullhead and headed into the Headquarters.
Watching his approach was someone wearing a white-trimmed red hood which doubled as a cloak, made of two pieces held together by yellow buttons and matching string. However, this one had a pair of holes cut into his hood, allowing his large fox ears to go free. He was clad in a black tunic with white trim, which were matched with white pleated pants. Detatched white sleeves, bound at the bicep and at his wrists by black gloves completed his ensemble.
"Welcome back, Brother Taurus." Adam took a look at whomever it was that had addressed him.
"It's rare that I see you without your brother, Fennec."
"He is merely busy. Nothing extreme, if that is your concern." Fennec replied in turn.
With nothing more to say, Adam headed into the HQ. Beneath his mask, an eyebrow had gone up at the High Leader's Throne being completely empty.
'Odd... nothing implied that the High Leader headed out prior.' Shrugging, he ultimately decided to head back to his personal quarters. It'd be a little while before it was time to return to Vale... might as well take this time to do a little upkeep on his weaponry.
Around the same time, Fennec had waited for Adam to disappear from sight, then withdrew his Scroll. A new message has come in from his brother.
{Has Brother Taurus returned?}
{Indeed he has. And what of the High Leader's excursion to Menagerie?}
{Almost complete. We'll be returning by tomorrow.}
Nelius Raoul's Netherheart
5:42 P.M.
With his purchases at the Skill Shop complete, Nelius spent some time re-reviewing what he had available to work with as Epsilon continued her work on trying to decipher this weird data packet. He had headed out of the town and towards one of the other areas, mostly for a change of scenery.
"Hopefully my firewall and its extra modifications will hold long enough once we depart." Epsilon said. "While I was able to figure out a bit more about that thing, for right now I'm planning on taking it cautiously."
"I'd say we're in no rush, but that would be lying. Still, whatever you find out will only aid us in the long run."
They walked into the fascimile of the Midnight Town, seeing that the damage done during his duel with his doppelganger had been long repaired.
"Say... if that Cinder chick is working for Salem and trying to burn Vale down, there has to be a purpose besides simply spiting Ozpin."
"So a motive beyond just the Destruction ichor's influence or her hatred against the Two Brothers? That is a fair question.." As Nelius thought back on what they had learned today, an idea popped into his mind, "...one which I believe may have already been answered."
"Wait, what?" Epsilon gave him a look of confusion.
"The four Relics that Creation left behind."
"The Relics-" As the scene replayed in her mind, it then clicked for Epsilon. "...oh balls."
"My thoughts exactly. If Salem is gunning for them, then she likely believes that Ozpin knows their locations, and anyone else that he's affiliated with would likely be in the know as well. With what his memories showed, he was able to use the Relic of Knowledge to learn of the others' locations, so she's got a solid idea right there."
"But wasn't it stated that they'd summon the Brothers back when brought together?"
"I'm willing to bet she's got a plan in store for that, assuming the Relics need to be in a close-enough proximity. Still, we saw what the Relic of Knowledge was able to do, given that it answered Ozma's questions without any strings attached, so imagine what the others could pull off in the wrong hands."
They knew the Relic of Knowledge was the latern-like lamp, so that left three others. Assuming they had been introduced with their respective shape, there was a solid basis for what the other Relics could be. A Staff governing creation, a Sword govering destruction, and a Crown of choice.
"Perhaps. Though what would that have to do with Cinder being here and trying to grab Amber's magic?"
"Added muscle, without a doubt. If Amber is among the only people aside from Ozpin and Salem that could use magic in any form, then having that kind of power on Salem's side would generously tip things in her favor even further. We both saw what Amber could do on her own, with it taking Cinder and her two lackeys to subdue her."
"True... though I find it a little odd that Amber is able to use magic, considering that the Brothers vaporized everyone else that had the ability before reviving humanity. Ozpin's got his since he directly reincarnates, and Salem's is due to her inability to die. How and where did she gain such?"
"Hm, another thing we'll need to ask Ozpin once we meet up with him again... speaking of, when are we good to head back?"
"One last touch and... this is about as secure as I can make this data vault without completely compromising the Scroll's systems. If you got all the relevant stuff copied down we can head on back now."
Heading back into the fascimile of town, the gate opened up upon proximity to it, and the pair prepared to exit back to Remnant.
Yoshitsuna Landing Zone
Unknown Time
A Dimensional Gate swirled into existence near the ship. Out of it walked Hilde with two extra people behind her.
The first of the two new arrivals was a male demon clad in beige pants and heatproof black shoes. A pair of straps looped over his shoulders to hold up a metallic apron around his stomach. Matching the metal apron was a pair of gloves work overtop black cloth to prevent chafing. A welding mask was flipped up to reveal his face as he took in the sight.
"Damn... and here I thought that thing detonated centuries ago."
"Clearly it's a replica, albeit a very good one." The other member of the team spoke up. She was a blonde whose immensely long hair was only kept in check by a large red hair tie. Her outfit consisted of a button-up sleeveless black jacket that was undone partially around her belly button, parting enough to show her short red miniskirt which was held up by a belt. Large black gloves were bound to her wrists by semi-oversized straps, and she had matching boots worn overtop blacks stockings.
"This way." Hilde spoke up, motioning for the other two to follow her into the ship. She lead them towards the bridge. "Mita, I'm back."
"Ah, so these are the ones that answered?" Mita looked the other two demons over, getting a nod from Hilde in return.
"Mita, these are Tarma-" She gestured to the man, " -and Tia." And then to the woman.
"Excellent." She then opened up a communications channel. "Hey York, our new hires are here."
"On my way, dood." About a minute later, York entered the bridge of the ship, and wasted no time in looking the two new arrivals over. "Well, no time like the present to check out what they can do, dood. Follow me."
As the green Prinny lead the two other demons down the hall to put their skills to the test, Hilde looked back over to Mita.
"Fair guess to say we're waiting on Cordelia and Farris's replacement now?"
"That we are. Once they get settled in we're off."
With an understanding nod, Hilde headed back towards the room she had claimed for this trip, leaving Mita to do some more checking over the ship's systems.
Vale, Ozpin's Office
8:04 P.M.
With the day beginning to wind down, Ozpin took to staring out his office window, his mind still abuzz with the recent developments. The mission that he had to carry on his own was now much clearly out in the open to his allies, though the pessimistic side of his soul still believed that it was merely a matter of time before even they would leave him, forcing him to start from square one once again.
It was now that his mind returned to an old question, one that had silently plagued him on and off during his many lives.
'Where would Remnant be if I had simply heeded Creation's warning...would the world be in a better position, or would nothing have changed?'
He shook the thoughts from his mind, knowing the futility of trying to seek an answer from a question that would never come to pass. The only thing he could do now was try and prepare for the future, and for whatever else Salem would be planning. Still, the thought that Cinder was just one of Salem's new subordinates for this generation got him thinking again.
'For Cinder to be here, and have made an attempt to steal the Autumn Maiden's powers.. it would seem that possibility has come to be, much as I had hoped it wouldn't. Combine this with Leonardo being pressured...'
He headed back over to his desk, and brought up his screen. Despite his earlier misgivings, he knew now that taking no action would result in his fears coming to pass.
Chapter 18: Complete