RWBY: Dual Eclipse
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Scene Change
Chapter 19: Closing a Chapter
Over in another Netherworld, Cordelia was looking through a wide selection of RosenQueen goods. There was no telling how long this trip would take, so they'd need to grab some food and other items that would last for a long while. While Mita had taken a little time to gather up some other supplies, it was generally better to have and not need, rather than need and not have.
'Perhaps these... ooh, those are nice... maybe York would like these, too...' The Netherworld Gunslinger took this opportunity make her selection, grabbing several items that would last for a long time. However, as she left an aisle to head towards the checkout, she narrowly avoided colliding with someone whom had been walking perpendicular to the aisle.
"Whoa, careful there now~" A female voice that practically dripped with flirtatious intent rang out to the Gunslinger, catching her attention.
This new demon woman looked to stand around 5'7", with blood red hair and a skin tone that implied plenty of time beneath the human-world sun. Due to the somewhat more comfortable climate in this Netherworld, she was clad in a dark green spaghetti-strap top and hip-hugging black short-shorts, showing off a toned figure that more than suggested a fair amount of athleticism. It took Cordelia a fair amount of self-control to keep her eyes from wandering too much and instead focusing on this woman's face, sighting a pair of bright orange eyes.
"You OK there?" The redhead asked after a moment, snapping Cordelia back to a sense of normality.
"Oh, uh, yeah... you're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm quite all right. That's a fair amount you got there - going on a trip?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Gotta go pick up an ally of ours." Cordelia sighted a bunch of flyers under the redhead's arm. "What're those for?"
"Oh, these? My sister's kid disappeared about three to four months back, so I'm lending her a hand in finding him. Kinda quiet kid for being a demon and all, and I know he can look after himself, but man was she pissed at the Overlord being so negligent."
"Oh my."
"Real pisser is that said Overlord used to be really damn good, too, the kind that wouldn't ask of her vassals anything she wouldn't do herself... calling it a fall from grace is an understatement."
"Well, may success be yours, miss..."
"Anesha." The redhead shot Cordelia a wink.
"Anesha, then. I'm Cordelia - perhaps our paths will cross again?"
"I certainly hope so." With that, Cordelia headed up to the checkout as Anesha headed over to an old notice board.
The cashier on duty, a Male Warrior, looked as though he was only barely keeping awake. After a bit of prodding to snap him to attention, Cordelia paid for the supplies and packed them up to go. She headed for the local Dimensional Guide to get a trip over to Mita's ship.
Anesha, in the meanwhile, had stapled two of her flyers onto a notice board, depicting the last known appearance of a young child with light brown hair and yellow eyes. There were numbers on the bottom of the flyer to contact one of four people - herself, Tyrios, Eoria, and Monica.
'Hope you're giving that Overlord what she's got coming, sis.' Her tail unfurled from around her waist and twitched at the thought.
Other Netherworld, Farris's Ranch
Unknown Netherworld Time
"Holy balls it feels like forever since I was home." Farris opened the front doors of the ranch and stepped in, welcoming Stonewall and Blindfire in with her. "Hey, Sonin! I'm back!"
It was quiet... honestly, a little too quiet for this place, considering her work.
"Sonin?" She called out again, and got no response in turn. Now suspecting something was up, she drew her spear as she silently signaled for her two allies to keep an eye out. She went to the various areas of her ranch to look through the various rooms.
Side kitchen? Clean as could be, and it even looked freshly stocked.
Living Room? It pretty much looked untouched.
Personal Quarters? Door was locked, and upon unlocking it and opening up, she could see that nothing was out of place.
"Boss?" A new female's voice could be heard coming from behind her, and Farris immediately turned on the spot.
Standing there was a woman whom almost looked like a carbon copy of Farris, yet there were several differences, namely her hair being a dark green, her skin tone being a few shades darker, and her eyes being a bright blue. Of course, her garb had its own share of differences and she stood about three inches shorter than Farris, but that was for another time.
"Sonin! Sorry I was gone so long."
"The heck kept you away all this time?"
"Come on - I'll explain what I can." Leading Sonin to the Living Room, Farris told her what she could about what had happened in the other world... of how its God created the intentional balance, of how one desired to stop it, and the consequences therein. Stonewall and Blindfire, in the meantime, had opted to head into the back areas to get reacquainted with whatever wild demons decided to show up on occasion.
"...sounds like it was one wild ride, boss."
"That's putting it lightly. Anything of interest go down while we were out?"
If one were to look out the window, which had a small view of the ranch's side area, Blindfire could be seen tossing spare bricks into the air and rapid-firing to break them apart. Stonewall, by contrast, appeared to have found a Wood Golem and was having a silent exchange with it.
"Mostly business as usual. Did get this one demon that wanted to try and buy the place out - left their card on the front desk."
"I'll take a look at it here in a bit. For now, I gotta find someone."
"Huh? Didn't you just get back, boss?"
"Mita, the demon whom helped us get back, is planning another trip to find our last group member. I told her I'd try and find someone to fill my spot, given that I've got a lot to catch up on here."
"Ah... well, I dunno if she's around anymore, but there was this Nekomata I met a few hours ago whom was in the area for business. Assuming she hasn't left already, she might be interested in taking your spot, or might know someone else that could."
"Sounds like a lead. Any identifying features?"
"Lemme remember..." Sonin closed her eyes to help herself get a better mental picture of the Nekomata in question. "Blonde hair, kinda beige-red fur and her eyes were different colors. One was brown and the other was a silvery-grey. She was also pretty tall for a Nekomata as well... I'd say maybe about four to five inches taller than you, boss?"
"All right. I'll get this stuff put away and we can go take a look."
Vale, The Base
Wednesday, September 21, 8:46 A.M.
Nelius got up from his cot, taking a moment to stretch and get his usual jacket on. With all of yesterday's events, it had given him plenty to think about.
Ozpin being stuck in a crappy situation, Cinder acting on behalf of Salem, the Gods outright abandoning Remnant, but leaving behind a method to summon them back...
He looked over at Maximov, the decoration turned deadly weapon. For being a mere display of an old vampire clan's power, he had managed to turn it into a fearsome item all its own, but he knew that if he wanted to make it even stronger he'd need to go far beyond the usual depths in its Item World. Of course, he could take the practical route and use the Item World to find himself a new axe.
At the same time, that could've easily applied to Shatterpact and Croixshot. They had served him faithfully thus far, but eventually they'd hit a plateau of personal growth and slow down considerably.
Whatever question he had as to today's plans was put on hold as his Scroll gave a chirp, indicating a new message coming in. While he was wary of this, due to Epsilon's warning about the data packet, he opened his Scroll up to see what was new.
Sender: Belderiver
Topic: One Last Message
"Last message... what's this about?"
He opened the new message.
I understand if this seems a touch sudden, but after the events with your doppelganger, there has been a little soul-searching that went on.
Enter your heart once more, so we may have our discussion.
'Soul-searching, eh?'
With the die cast, Nelius powered the Dual Diver on and set it to Soul Diving. Once the orange gate opened up and stabilized, he got his gear in order and strolled through.
Other Netherworld
Unknown Time
Farris and Sonin had stopped by the closest of the local towns. Wasting no time, the pair set off asking around about a blonde Nekomata.
"Blonde Nekomata, eh?" A Jack O`Lantern monster responded back. "Don't get too many of 'em around these parts, much less blonde ones."
"Sounds familiar..." An Alraune had a slightly better lead as she pointed off in a direction with a vine. "Think I saw her headed towards the old Post Office some time ago. She had a whole bunch of papers with her."
Heading over to the old Netherworld Post, the two of them asked the clerk on duty about her.
"Blonde Nekomata with mismatched eyes?" The clerk, a violet-haired Archer, flipped through a few files. "Yeah, we had one stop by. You missed her by about an hour or so - she stopped in, dropped off some flyers, paid for their distribution, and headed out towards Gorgeous."
"Damn." Farris snapped her fingers in disappointment.
"Flyers? What about?" Sonin was curious as to what was dropped off. In response, the Archer slid her one, depicting a missing persons alert about a young brunette child with yellow eyes. It appeared as though the child had gone missing from a different Netherworld around three to four months ago, and if any information about him came up, there were a small series of numbers to call in.
"Huh... kid looks familiar, but I can't place my finger on it." Farris had taken a look at it over her apprentice's shoulder. "Well, thanks for the info."
The two chose to depart, Sonin hanging onto the flyer. They would need to look elsewhere to find that replacement.
Nelius Raoul's Netherheart
8:55 A.M.
Entering into his heart, Nelius stepped into the facsimile of the Netherworld that was once his home. His surroundings looked pretty much indistinguishable from the real deal.
"Belderiver? You here?" He called out, and after a moment the shadowy being emerged, but looked... off, transparent. "What the... what's going on?"
"My time is running short. This way." Belderiver motioned for its soul-host to follow.
"The merging, right?" The pair exited the town and passed right by the town of Midnight, heading for the old Dimensional Port that lay beyond it.
"Indeed. There are two pieces of information I wanted to personally tell you of before I fade away into your subconscious for good."
When the two of them were about halfway between the town and the port, Belderiver stopped, and reached down to pick up something that lay hidden within the grass.
"What's that?" The item Belderiver had picked up looked like a broken manacle, one akin to what the old Sinners and the Male Healers wore as penance for their crimes. However, across what metal remained of it were old Netherworld characters.
"A piece of the seal your former employer used, which birthed my existence. While you were dealing with matters out there, I had been trying to study this... whatever that seal was, it's nothing of recent Netherworld advancement."
"So it's an old spell, then? Like, Zenon-levels of old?" As Nelius thought on this, a particular thought crossed his mind. 'And pieces of it still remained, even after I managed to erase the old mark on my hand?'
"That, I am uncertain of. Even with fragments like this one to study, it seems to be beyond my current knowledge."
"Even so, I'd rather have 'em destroyed. Even if the chance of me running into Sirea is slim, I'd rather not risk the chance of that bitch reforming it again." To that, Belderiver nodded.
"Then it is time to replicate your actions when you escaped your home Netherworld. You broke the outer layer, so it's only fitting the inner layer also vanishes by your hand."
"Ain't gotta tell me twice." Taking the old manacle, Nelius tossed it into the air with his right hand... and used his left hand to launch a Giga Fire spell at it, incinerating the manacle and ending its existence. "Any more of 'em I gotta terminate?"
Belderiver lead the way.
Other Netherworld
Unknown Time
"Ugh, dammit..." Farris had stopped off at a local eatery to grab some food. "It's been hours and we can't find a replacement for the trip." Grumbling about the current lack of success, she bit into a fried Cockatrice leg, tearing the flesh from the bone with ease.
"Well, telling 'em 'Hey, we need someone to dive into the great unknown to extract a guy' isn't exactly the most compelling recruitment story." Sonin countered before taking a bite out of some sauteed Eryngi. "Besides, of everyone who's going, what kinda person would they need to round off the group?"
"Let's see... Mita and York can handle keeping the ship stable, and I know she was going to get more mechanics for that, so presumably two... Brutus and Zio have been working with her for a while, so they're on without a doubt. Cordelia was out getting stuff, and I know Hilde's tagging along. Assuming Raphael is also on-board, that'd be nine occupants... I'd guess either a Healer or another spell-caster, maybe someone whom can dip into both to bring the total up to ten."
"Well, it's a start. Let's see who fits the bill, then narrow things down from there. Someone has to have an open schedule."
The two Beastmasters finished their food and headed off to find that certain person, not yet realizing that they were being tailed...
The being tailing the two of them was but a spirit, but after managing to overhear Raphael's preparations to find their lost ally, it had come down to the Netherworld to hear more about this. Now knowing that Farris was among those who were seeking to reclaim the lost one, especially once it laid eyes on the flyer Sonin had brought with her, it resolved itself to follow them and hear more.
Yoshitsuna Landing Area
Unknown Time
"Farris is taking her sweet time with that replacement." Mita, having finished all preliminary checks on the warship's systems, groused a bit as she had little else to do while she waited.
"In fairness, Mita..." Zio responded, "..finding someone whom is willing to embark on a possible inter-dimensional journey just to locate one demon is the classical 'needle in a haystack' dilemma, to borrow a human-world term. Add to that the general selfish nature of most demons..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." However, she had a feeling that something had been forgotten...
Meanwhile, in another area of the ship, York was showing the various systems of the ship to Tarma and Tia, getting the new hires up to speed in what to look out for when it came to making repairs and general upkeep.
"Man..." Tarma was beside himself in a mixture of glee and awe. "How long were you working on this thing?"
"Lost count of the years, dood. Mostly I'm chomping at the bits to finally reincarnate... maybe I'll be able to do that once this mission's done and over with, dood." York responded. "It'd be nice to be able to work on things like this without worrying about going up like a nuclear bomb just from getting tipped over, dood."
Tia, however, was checking out another part of the machinery, taking note of a generator that went towards the front end of the ship.
'Hmm...'
Nelius Raoul's Netherheart
10:37 A.M.
"And here's the last one." With a prompt incineration, the old seal was erased. Notably, the air around them seemed to lighten just enough to be nearly unnoticed.
"Finally." Nelius then turned to regard Belderiver. "Assuming that was the first piece of information, what's the second?"
"I'll take over for this one." A familiar voice rang clear, which got Nelius to immediately click his gauntlets into place as a certain draconic-looking being landed nearby.
"You again!" Staring the beast down, he was ready to-
"Calm yourself... I'm not here for a fight." Nelius blinked at that, not looking convinced by its words. "I'd prefer to not take another Big Bang to the gullet."
"So why are you here?" His stance relaxed slightly, though he kept at the ready to move if need be.
"Deliverance."
"...what."
"As Belderiver likely no doubt told you, soon he will disappear back into your conscious, given the means of his creation. As you have asserted your strength over me, I will follow suit, despite my origin."
"And what does that have to do with you being here?"
"This." The draconic-looking being began to turn translucent as a wispy, orange-white mote of condensed smoke appeared in its place, looking to be roughly the size of Nelius's own torso.
"The hell is this?"
"The curse that was meant to erase you from existence... the curse that allowed me to rise... if you are adamant on defying the rules, then I want to see you take this curse and transform it into something that none other have ever imagined!"
'That energy reading Mita made note of after we fought those Chaos Gods...'
The wispy mote floated over to Nelius, whom outstretched his hand to take it, though a small part of his mind was being wary for any tricks this thing might pull.
The moment it touched his hand, the mote disappeared into it.
"Seems like it's time, then... though we may fade from this space, we are always at your side, Nelius Raoul." At that, Belderiver walked over to its soul-host, and laid a hand upon his shoulder, fading away for good.
"Should we ever be needed, call upon us freely."
"I can't wait to see how you flip the script!"
Beacon Academy, Ozpin's Office
10:58 A.M.
'Qrow hasn't responded since the other day...' Ozpin was trying to throw his concentration into doing his duties as Headmaster, but ever since yesterday's inadvertant trip into his heart, it felt more like he was merely going through the motions.
The message he had begun typing up the other night was still saved to a document he had yet to send. All he had to do was send it out to its intended recipient, yet... the same hesitation from before wracked his mind, causing a relentless tide of second-guessing himself.
In an attempt to get his mind off the subject, he got up from his desk and took to staring out the office window, which gave him a generous view of the Academy. A moment to stretch and get the blood flowing would do him some good-
"Isn't it time to quit hesitating?" His reflection suddenly snapped at him, giving the Headmaster a small jolt of adrenaline as he focused his attention onto said reflection. He blinked, but his reflection did not, instead choosing to stare him down.
"..did-"
"Ozpin, you've been shouldering this entire operation by yourself..." His reflection suddenly changed, becoming Ozma, "...no man is an island, as you've often told James."
"...I know, yet..."
"Continue down this path, and your fears will come to pass by your own hand." Another reflection showed up, another of Ozpin's former lives - the incarnation that had come to rule alongside Salem. "You have an opportunity here, something that can advance your goals whilst stifling hers."
"I'm more than aware, but every risk I've taken has always ended in disaster. How do I keep this from repeating itself?"
"Perhaps it is time to end the reactive response and start becoming proactive." Another reflection showed up, the incarnation that had used the Relic of Knowledge. "You've been on the defensive end of this whole ordeal for practically every life you've lived, just waiting to try and parse out Salem's next plan. A defensive fortification is only as solid as its planning and infrastructure, and all it takes is one opening, no matter how small, for that wall to come crumbling down, and undo all of the work you've put in place."
There wasn't much Ozpin could say in his own defense. His prior life held a fair point - for everything he had put in place to safeguard the Relics from Salem and find trustworthy allies in this nigh-endless battle, not only had one of her subordinates been trying to sow strife and discord through the criminal element in Vale, that same subordinate was now inside Beacon doing Brothers-knows-what. Add to this the fact that Leonardo appeared to have thrown in his lot with Salem, putting Haven and much of Mistral in the crossfire as well... even James had been unusually quiet since the other day.
'Perhaps they're onto something. Maybe a new approach is what is needed.' He looked up, only to see that the reflections of his past lives were gone, leaving only his own to stare back at him.
Turning around, he brought up the document that contained the message he was going to send, and immediately began to rewrite it.
The Base
11:04 A.M.
Nelius stepped back into reality, exiting through the orange gate.
'So that's it... maybe it's just the cynic in me, but I thought that would've gone on longer...' He headed around to shut the Dual Diver down. It was now that he noticed that Epsilon hadn't spoken up at all yet. 'She still snoozing?'
He closed his eyes, and made an attempt to open up the mental link the two had established.
'Hey, you OK?'
'Mmmm?'
'Did I wake you up? Sorry if I did.' He shut the Dual Diver down, extracting the Electric Dust Crystal for good measure.
'Not really... just been trying to process the recent events. No matter how I run the numbers, Ozpin's got the short end of the stick with this whole situation.'
'More than likely Creation was thinking that Salem would eventually accept the whole life/death deal... but if she's had all that time to dwell on it since then, and she's still warring with Ozpin, then I honestly don't see her ever making an honest attempt to learn.'
He headed over to the stairs, heading up to exit out the side door and get a feel for the weather.
'...y'don't imagine she's deliberately choosing to refuse, do you?' He paused for a moment.
'At this point, I wouldn't be surprised. Being locked up for her entire life by a shitty parent effectively chopped off any ability for her to learn or properly grow. And then the moment she does taste freedom, her rescuer dies, her request to revive him is denied, and then she runs to the other Brother..'
'Just like a kid running to the other parent when the first one declines... it really is like she never grew up.'
Now outside, Nelius took this moment to allow his wings to stretch. One of the perks of living remotely - nobody to catch you in a compromising moment.
'Still, kinda wonder what would've happened if Ozpin had heeded that warning.'
'To not seek Salem out? I'm no psychologist, but I'd bet she'd either still be isolating herself, or she'd get crazy jealous at seeing other people get what she had been denied... in the latter case, I'd wager she'd still be doing things like what Ozma showed us, just far less discriminatory.' It was then that an idea crossed her mind. 'Say, could we use the Dual Diver to go into her heart?'
'Only way that'd happen is if she willingly allowed others in. The Soul Diver's based off the old Heart Vaults from Evil Academy - only those the heart's owner allows in will get to accompany them.'
'Nuts...'
'There used to be a case where anyone could walk in, but after it was used to make a high-profile Overlord go off the deep end and incite a galactic-level incident, measures began getting added to avoid that kind of catastrophe happening again.'
It was about ten seconds later that Epsilon spoke up again as Nelius retracted his wings.
'...now I see why. The idea of an unknown party rooting around in my soul is all kinds of yikes.'
'The Diver could be used to help treat a wide variety of issues, but it'd only be as effective as the person being examined. Even the best psychologists in the universe can't help someone whom refuses to change.'
Other Netherworld
Unknown Time
"...thinking we ought to call it a day, boss." Sonin had taken a seat on a log, mostly so she could remove her shoes and rid herself of some debris that had gotten in during their travels. The edge of the woods that they had decided to shortcut through was right before them.
"Looks like it. I'll have to contact Mita and tell her to either head off without me or have Hilde try and find that replacement." Farris shook her mane of hair, tossing out some rocks and twigs from it.
Sonin was about to respond, but then felt something was off as Farris turned back towards the foest, hand already reaching for her spear.
"We've got a guest." Farris warned.
"Where from?"
"Over there." She drew and leveled her spear in a direction leading back towards the way they had come. Sonin was immediately on alert, drawing her bow and getting an arrow ready.
"Calm yourselves." A woman's voice echoed back to them. "I didn't mean to startle you, but hearing someone come close to my personal getaway spot did catch my interest."
"Picked a hell of a spot, that's for certain..." Farris lowered her spear, but kept wary of this new presence. "Treants, Wood Golems, Alraune... even get a couple of Fae on occasion."
"Exactly the reason why." The voice replied as someone emerged through the trees.
It was indeed a female, standing about maybe half an inch taller than Farris. She was clad in a white dress that had a layer of blue fabric beneath it, with matching detached sleeves on her arm. Said sleeves were lined with a green trim that was patterned after leaves, and a pair of demon wings came to rest around her hips. Dark blue hair flowed from her head, and though a ponytail holder was used to keep it at bay, it split off into multiple strands behind her. Green eyes regarded the pair of Beast Tamers.
"How long were you tracking us?" Farris was on guard - this demon seemed friendly enough, but it was a kind she'd not met before.
"About the time you passed my little hideaway further in... roughly twenty minutes ago. My kind is able to hear the voices of plant-life, so what they hear tends to get passed to me."
"Aha. Well, sorry if we spooked you, but we gotta get moving."
"To find that 'replacement', as you had said before? What of it, if you don't mind indulging my curiosity?"
"Cliff-notes version - we were on another world, jerkass god decided to try and kill us, we killed him in turn, one of our own got separated from us due to a dimensional disturbance. Mita's the one heading this search, and I got a lot of paperwork to catch up on back home, so I was trying to find someone to take my spot."
"Ah." She took a moment to digest this... and a thought crossed her mind. 'My sisters mean well with everything they've taught me, and Veil has been more than capable of filling any gaps, but this... this might just be the experience I needed.' She focused back on Farris. "I take it the expedition has yet to take off?"
"Yeah... what, you offering to basically fling yourself into the great unknown?"
"Assuming you need or want that extra set of hands."
"Eh, that's up to Mita - I'm just the one who'd be pointing you in her direction."
"Then let us go meet with her."
To that end, Farris and Sonin lead their potential candidate back towards the nearby town, where they could use the Dimensional Gete to travel to Mita's landing area.
"Oh, right... introductions. I'm Farris, and this is my apprentice, Sonin. Who might you be?"
"My name is Zotia."
The three demons headed back towards town, none of them realizing they had picked up a follower...
Chapter 19 - Complete