Snippet 139

Seeping out of the Cracks

Part 4 to Cracks in the Mirror

Gerne: Angst/Drama/Dark

Pairs: Past one-sided Arkos, Cold Colours (Whitley/Neon), Black Sun (Blake/Sun), Pink Lotus (Ren/Nora), Emerald/Mercury (Jaded)

Parody: RWBY

AU-Type: Canon-esque AU (Post Fall of Beacon)

Tags: Character exploration, TW: Alcoholism, TW: Death, Dealing with Loss, Internal Strife, Deconstruction, Mental Issues, Guilt Eats You Alive, Camp Camp Cameo

Note: With how canon has come along, I can stay this miniseries has fell into a full AU. A few minor OCs will be shown for a bit of worldbuilding, nothing drastic.

Red. All Yang could see was red. Her vision was fuzzy and hazy, and all she heard was white noise slowly fading before could she could hear a voice.

"Yang! Yang! You need to stop!"

Her vision cleared up and she could see clearly once again. What she saw was blood and bodies scattered on the ground. The memories were coming back. The service station, the skeezy bandit, getting him to lead her to the camp, seeing her mother talk to some rando bitch like she was her daughter, Weiss, and then blank. She looked down to see she was about to punch a terrified Raven's face in. Weiss was holding her arm in vain to stop her from killing her.

"Yang, please! You don't have to kill her…she already agreed to help us!" Weiss said as Yang relaxed her arms.

Yang rose up panting and asked Weiss what happened.

"You just snapped, went mad while tearing apart the bandits. You were screaming stuff I'd rather not repeat, and then you used that bandit Raven was talking to as a ragdoll. You used her to beat up Raven before breaking her leg. You were about to kill her, and I stopped you. I couldn't let you kill your mother, even if she abandoned you." Weiss said as Raven groaned in pain.

"She's not my mother. Any piece of trash can give birth. Summer Rose raised me and made me who I am." Yang said panting before spitting in her mother's face. "That's who my mother is. Not this bitch."

Yang walked away silent as Weiss simply followed. Weiss could not help but flinch at the sight of her partner looking like a slasher movie villain. Yang drove them both away without looking back, and Weiss was inwardly awash with fear.

"Like mother like daughter…I guess." Weiss thought.

-o-

[A Few Days Later]

The city of Mistral was well…a hellhole. Thanks to Lionheart being a sell out giving Salem free reign for her goons to murder huntsmen. Lionheart, himself, did not expect Team RWYJNRQ to show up or to even tell him that Tyrian was dead. Lionheart had a rotten feeling they were hiding something, but he had no idea what to do now. Only now, he was thrown out for a loop. With one of Salem's major forces dead, things were more evened out and he was caught in the middle. He was not the only one feeling this as Oscar had just arrived into Mistral, ready but apprehensive.

"I'm glad that June girl give you a pleasant memory." Ozpin remarked.

"Oh glad, you were watching that." Oscar said horrified.

"And technically, I felt that." Ozpin said apologetic.

"This is going to take time to get used to. So, I have to find this Qrow guy and get your staff back. Don't you know his scroll number?" Oscar asked.

He swore he could hear Ozpin facepalm within his head as he was told the number. Oscar went and called only to get voicemail.

"Well, that's just dandy! Now I got to find this Qrow guy in this kingdom on foot!" Oscar said annoyed before walking off frustrated.

"You know my uncle?" Yang said riding up next to him with Weiss.

Contrivances could still happen in a world like this. The team, except for Blake, was all gathered up to meet. To say that the sight of blood on Yang gave all a scare especially after Weiss explained what happened while Yang was cleaning up.

"You think Raven's going to come after us?" Weiss asked.

"If what you said was true, then no. I think Raven likes living." Qrow said as Yang came out cleaned up. "I didn't think you had in it you, Yang."

"Regradless, I believe I have some explaining to do." Ozpin said taking over Oscar's body causing the eyes to glow. "And trust me when I say…this isn't going to be easy to swallow."

Ozpin had simply explained his curse and a bit of insight into the enemy they were fighting in Salem.

"Salem and I are the remnants of the old world where magic was prevalent. She and I were close at one point, but a dip in Grimm pool corrupted her. I could have ended it there, but I made a mistake with her that's haunted me after since. Now, it is my curse for her and me to eternally fight basically dragging the world to fight with us." Ozpin said bitterly. "The Grimm were always going to be a problem…but Salem makes it all worse."

They did not know how to take this new information. Qrow had known most of it but was surprised to hear that Ozpin and Salem were close at one point. He had never mentioned it before.

"So, there is a way to defeat her?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, and no. For one, like me, she's immortal, but she keeps her body. She was cursed by the gods as well. She'll die when she learns the value of life and death, but seeing that she's well…a sociopath, there's near impossible. I had a plan to consider draining her magic and locking her somewhere…but I believe Jaune screwed that up by not calling for her backup." Ozpin said sourly glaring at him.

"Don't remind me." Jaune said.

"So basically, we're flying blind." Yang said annoyed.

"As long as she doesn't get the relics or the Maidens, Remnant can rest easily. But we would have kill Cinder Fall." Ozpin said bluntly before letting Oscar take back control.

"For once, I agree." Jaune said with a dark grin.

"But we can't just take a life…" Ruby said only for Nora to point out that she killed Tyrian. "I wasn't…myself."

"Whoa, hold up, Ruby killed a guy? This I need details for." Yang said interested.

-o-

As far as Mercury knew, he was in deep. He could not go to Vale to hide out, and Mistral was not an option given Lionheart was in Salem's pocket. It left him with few options, but then he realized he had one left. Menagerie. Everyone forgets about the place and no one would be looking for a human in Faunus Land. As the boat pulled in, he walked off with Emerald. While she had somewhat recovered from her breakdown, she was still talking to Mr. Monty as if it was real. Mercury just hopped he could find a therapist here. As they entered town, a few faunus were giving them funny looks, but Mercury kept his head down. Too bad, he bumped into someone.

"YOU!" Blake said with her gun at his face.

"Fuck me." Mercury groaned.

(A/N: Poor Mercury, he could not completely get away from the plot. This one is a bit rushed, but it's out of pragmatism. For one, Ozpin is being a bit more open about his deal with Salem. This is because unlike his canon self, he had a plan to attempt to at the bare minimum de-power Salem. This would allow Jaune to have some actual angst in realization he botched up royally. Either way, see you all next time!)