The dusky, desert sun had already begun to dip below the horizon when Fu Hua finally arrived at her destination.
Securing transportation to this section of the Sanus landmass had been a difficult ordeal. The region was largely uninhabited and saw little traffic—air or otherwise. It took a week of negotiating amongst the traders in Vale's outermost settlements, but she had finally managed to convince an outbound freighter to make a detour through the Greater Aurum Desert—though only after parting with a sizable amount of lien.
Now that she stood upon the dusty, windswept barrens, the reason why few shippers opted to take this route became clear: There was nothing but dunes and sand for miles in any direction. The route through the desert was more direct, true, but the sheer hostility of the region meant that any potential mishaps along the way had a very real possibility of ending tragically. As such, most opted to take the longer, circuitous path around the vast expanse of sand.
The now-defunct Redd Quarry and Mine lay along Vale's western border, toeing the line between it and its neighbor, Vacuo. While Atlas may be the largest and most prolific dust exporter on Remnant, several smaller-scale outfits still popped up from time to time. Such operations were, strictly speaking, not sanctioned and often had to operate with the threat of bureaucratic consequence looming constantly over their shoulders. They rose, seemingly overnight, in response to the discovery of lucrative, dust-rich deposits, and worked just as quickly. The urgency was warranted, as, in the modern world, dust was a commodity of the highest priority. Should a vein of the precious resource be discovered, the site would be immediately seized and any potential profits lost..
Such was the illicit nature of the facility which Fu Hua sought.
The site stood in an obvious state of disrepair. Not much of value had been left, but the various bits of machinery that the previous owners had not seen fit to bring along lay in disarray, half-submerged beneath hillocks of sand. Most of the buildings had similarly succumbed to the harsh conditions and collapsed.
The entrance to the mine itself lay sheltered amongst a monolithic, rocky outcrop, secured from the winds and sand. Warily stepping foot into the cavern, Fu Hua noted that the interior had fared about as well as the exterior. It seemed less like a proper mine and more a shoddily excavated tunnel. The roughly-hewn walls were cramped and narrow, with barely enough height to allow an adult man to stand up straight, and discarded stones and pebbles lay scattered along the floor.
The sloppy architecture and sparse safeguards spoke volumes of the overseer's priorities. The tunnel bracings were few and far between, and they had clearly been crafted from inferior lumber. It could have not been more than a few decades since the facility had been abandoned, but the wooden scaffolding had already deteriorated to an unsafe degree, showing clear signs of rot despite the arid conditions. As it was, the tunnels were just barely kept from collapsing in on themselves.
The ground was loose and uneven; the skittering of stone and the sounds of stumbling reminded Fu Hua that she was not alone. Upon learning that she had possibly discovered Roman's location, Neo had adamantly insisted on accompanying her. Perhaps it was out of her blatant distrust of the woman, or her heightened, anxious worry, but the girl simply would not take "no" for an answer. Fu Hua had eventually acceded, on the condition that the girl not cause any trouble.
Their surroundings had been steadily blackening the further they descended, and by now they were traversing in utter darkness. Unfortunately, Fu Hua had neglected to pack a light-source, as she had not been expecting the lack of visibility to be a hindrance, at least for herself. Another stumble from behind corrected that assumption.
It was after several minutes of walking—or in Neo's case—blindly groping along, that the path ahead began to take on a dim glow, and visibility began to return, albeit slowly. A great cavern seemed to lie ahead, illuminated by the artificial, yellow illumination of manmade lighting.
Cautiously, Fu Hua signalled for Neo to stop, bidding her to conceal herself. If this was, as she expected, an ambush, then it would do to have some element of surprise on her side. Warily, the girl nodded and, like light refracting off of shattered glass, her figure distorted before being entirely wiped from view.
Slowly, Fu Hua crept towards the aperture that opened up to the larger room. It was a cavernous clearing within the earth, with walls and a ceiling that rose several dozens of feet overhead. The space itself was bare, save for the floodlights set up all along the perimeter which shone overbearingly upon the center of the room. Their subject: a lone man who sat slumped, bound to a wooden chair. Roman.
He was bruised and bloodied, but clearly still alive. It was a fact that set off waves of relief from Fu Hua's tag-along, easily overriding any sense of danger or animosity. She could sense the younger girl's presence diminish as she dashed off towards her compatriot, still concealed beneath the veil of her semblance. Sighing, Fu Hua stepped into the open, if only to distract their watchers as Neo frantically worked to undo Roman's restraints.
She had detected two other presences within the cavern even before it had come into view and was prepared for an attack at any time. They were fairly foreign entities; Fu Hua had made enough of an acquaintance with all of the big players of Salem's inner circle to recognize any of them, and neither of the two lying in wait conformed to those. It was not Cinder.
She strode up to the bound man, finding his restraints already undone. Neo worked quickly. She pulled him to his feet and he stumbled slightly, staggering and swaying, but ultimately remaining upright. She tore the gag from his mouth. "Can you walk?" she asked curtly.
"Long time no see, Roman. How are you doing, Roman?" The thief wheezed sarcastically, his time spent experiencing the not-so-tender ministrations of Cinder and her lackeys doing little to dull the sharpness of his tongue. "I'm fine, thanks for asking." He flinched as a caustic glare was sent his way. "Y-yes ma'am."
"Good. Let's go." Fu Hua's gaze flickered in the direction of their unseen observers. They had yet to take any action. Perhaps conflict would not be neces—
"Didn't think the big, bad Phoenix would be just a girl."
Or perhaps not.
A grey-haired teen emerged from the shadows, brazenly approaching the pair and the invisible Neo.
"Oh look who it is! It's flunky number one!" Roman called out in a half-manic state. "Thanks for the hospitality, brat, I'll be sure to repay you later."
Mercury rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored the injured man. "I always expected such an infamous criminal to be someone a lot more intimidating, but you're not much older than me."
Fu Hua did not rise to the unspoken challenge. "Are you going to stop us?" She merely asked instead.
"Yeah. No shit," he responded. "You know, Cinder told us not to cross you, that even that bastard Tyrian knew better. I never really understood that."
Fu Hua no longer answered, merely adopting her familiar stance. Her eyes followed the cocksure crook as he paced about the breadth of the cavern, making a spectacle of their imminent clash.
"But you don't look like much. From where I'm standing, you're just another goon that thinks she's hot shit."
In the shadows, safely cloistered from the blistering lights, Emerald made her move. Mercury had begun running his mouth. That was her cue. They had been tasked by Cinder to keep the Phoenix busy while she "finished making preparations," whatever that meant. Emerald hadn't even thought to ask.
Her partner's tone was starting to become more belligerent, indicating that he had the woman's full attention. Just like they planned. Emerald activated her semblance, and began weaving a lie. She shuddered involuntarily as her aura brushed against Phoenix's mind. It felt alien and odd, as if she were viewing an image of some monstrosity that only wore the facade of humanity. More than that, it felt old, unimaginably so.
Feeling her lucidity beginning to slip, plunging into the depths of this alien mind, she refocused. Chastising herself for getting jumpy she began to work her semblance, molding a scenario in which Mercury actually managed to hold his own, if only for a time. She would draw the Phoenix into an illusion and while she was preoccupied with nothing, they would make their escape. The bombs that Cinder had set up throughout the mine should finish the job. Emerald shuddered as a glint of blue scanned over her huddled form in the darkness, though it seemed to have not seen her cowering behind the glare.
She only hoped their preparations would be enough.
"What, got nothing to say? Just going to stare at me?"
Even as Mercury slung the mocking words he could feel anxious perspiration condensing on his brow. His heart pounded an erratic staccato into his chest, his muscles primed, straining, ready to surge into action. He had been expecting a ferocious battle the moment he had made his presence known, for the Phoenix to live up to her reputation, but had instead only been met with expectant silence. He had been fully prepared to hold her off however he could until Emerald's preparations were ready, but it seemed that would not be necessary. Somehow, the lack of aggression only served to heighten his paranoia—something he covered up with a smattering of bold bravado.
"Come on, try me. I think I could probably ta—"
She was gone.
In one moment, Mercury had been egging her on, and in the next, she had vanished.
In the following instant, a flash of red signaled a shattered aura, and a hard fist to the sternum drove the breath from his chest, along with slight dribbles of blood.
"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry," a voice coldly informed him. "We will be taking Torchwick now,"
Mercury fell to his knees, heaving great gasps in a vain attempt to fill his lungs. Weakly, he raised his head to find the woman staring dispassionately down, mere feet in front of him. She had somehow managed to cross the distance in less than a blink of an eye.
"Ugh...you really...are...a monster," he choked out between deep, agonized breaths.
"Where is Cinder?" She asked, ignoring his words.
Despite his unfavorable position, he did his best to put on an obnoxious grin. "Like...I'd tell...you." Throwing his head back, he managed to heave out, "Em...that should be long enough…Get us out of here."
A moment passed, and nothing happened. The monster in front of him raised a single eyebrow.
"Em?" He painfully craned his neck only to find, horrified, that his partner had collapsed. She had barely made it a few paces from where she had started. "Dammit, Em, what happened? Wake up!"
A low rumbling overhead, followed by a series of explosions seized the entirety of Mercury's attention.
"What?" He exclaimed, alarmed. "No, no, no, no!" Desperately, the teen grappled with the ground, trying to muster the strength to stagger to his feet, to no avail. Exhausted, he let his limbs go limp, flopping impotently on the stone floor and howling in unbridled despair, "Cinder, you bi—"
One final, cataclysmic rumble cut him off, and the ceiling collapsed.
Emerald opened her eyes to a void. Nothing but blackness surrounded her, inky and impenetrable. It wasn't that it was dark—she could still clearly see her own form—but this place simply consisted of only herself and nothingness.
At least, that's what she thought, though the steady sound of tapping seemed to indicate otherwise.
Turning slowly, Emerald found a simple chair, standing out bizarrely in the blackness. Upon it, sat the woman that should have been beating the daylights out of her partner right about now, lounging lazily, head slightly askew and propped up on her knuckles. A finger impatiently beat a steady rhythm into the armrest.
Something was off, Emerald realized immediately. It was the Phoenix, but not. Something had changed in the woman, something primal, but Emerald found herself hard-pressed to describe what exactly it was. The way she eyed her reminded her of the way that buyers would sometimes eye her stolen goods when she still lived on the streets. Curiously, appraisingly and, ultimately, disdainfully, as if the wares they examined had been found wanting in some way. She had spent many a hungry night because of that look.
No one had dared leveled those eyes at her since she had begun working with Cinder. Now, the looks she usually received were that of fear or loathing. Yet here, in this unknown place, that hateful look was being levied against her once more, by the person who had been a constant thorn in her savior's side. Somehow, despite this surreal situation, this single reminder of an unhappier time caused anger to bubble up within her, overriding her fear and common sense.
"Who are you?" she growled, raising her hands and adopting a boxing stance—her weapons had disappeared. Emerald wasn't a brawler by choice, but she could hold her own. "What is this place?"
The woman seemed amused at the show of aggression, but made no motion to rise from her seat. "You went through all the trouble of trying to break into our mind," she responded, "so I'm returning the favor."
Her tone lacked the curt, clipped notes and cold detachment that it usually held. Instead, thinly-concealed mirth seemed to bubble beneath each word, as if she found something about Emerald deeply amusing.
"This is...my mind?" Emerald scanned warily around, but nothing had changed—her surroundings remained as hopelessly inscrutable as when she had awoken.
"Yeah. Boring, isn't it?"
"Why is it so dark?"
"I don't know. It's your mind, isn't it?" The woman leered mockingly at her. "Maybe your head's just a lot emptier than you care to admit."
"Shut up," Emerald snarled, the denigrating tone chafing at her frazzled nerves. "Why am I here? Why are you here?"
"Don't feel like chatting, huh?" The smirk promptly fell from the woman's face, unveiled irritation now radiating from her features. "Good, I'm not really in the mood for some tea and talk anyway. It's been a long time since anyone's been stupid enough to try and break into our head. I am here to inform you of how much trouble your little stunt's caused and," a look of displeased distaste contorted her features, "see if you would consider a shift in alliance."
"I'm not betraying Cinder," Emerald responded automatically, tightening her stance. "Do what you need to do, but don't think for a second I won't fight back."
The woman scoffed. "Yeah, because that worked so well the last time, right? Open your eyes, brat. You were thrown away."
Seeing the defiant expression on the teen's face harden, Hua dropped all attempts at negotiation, in favor of a more direct approach. Cajoling the stubborn was something she had never been fond of doing. It was tedious work and her patience was fraying.
"You know, I've been requested to not turn you into a vegetable," she stated irritably. "A request that I've reluctantly agreed to despite the fact that you and your partner are the reason for the situation we're currently in. The least you can do is seriously consider what I'm telling you."
Emerald chose to ignore the threat, instead asking, "Cinder saved me, I owe her everything. How could I possibly believe anything you say?"
"Because she just tried to have you blown to kingdom come," Hua stated flatly. "I guarantee she's certainly not coming back to dig you out."
"There has to be a reason why; she wouldn't just do that," Emerald insisted stubbornly.
"Yeah. You stopped being useful. You screwed up your job. She got tired of you. Take your pick." Hua grunted, exasperated, "I will never understand how humans can manage to have so much blind faith in anything, let alone other humans."
"I can't believe it. I won't believe it."
"Then you are a fool," Hua snorted dismissively. "Fine. Wake up and see for yourself, then."
"I will!" Emerald exclaimed defiantly. She stalked away from the seated woman for a few paces before stopping awkwardly. "Uhm," she hesitated. "How exactly do I do that?"
The woman in the chair huffed, rolling her eyes before lazily snapping her fingers.
Emerald opened her eyes, this time to a more normal blackness—one that was merely due to the absence of light. The sounds of tumbling pebbles and settling rock clattered noisily in every direction.
"What happened?" She groaned, groggily sitting up. Her head ached.
"Oh, now you wake up. Great," a voice, Mercury's, groused some ways off to her right. "I hope you had a good dream, Em, because we're all probably going to die down here."
An ice cold pit formed in Emerald's gut. Surely, Cinder wouldn't have?
"The plan…?" She asked, trailing off, dreading the answer.
"Went off without a hitch," her partner's disembodied voice shot back sarcastically. "Except for one minor detail: We're still down here."
"No," Emerald denied, horrified. "She couldn't have."
"Brothers damned, Em!" Mercury hissed, torn between disbelief and anger. "You cannot be this stupid! Cinder threw us away. We got in the way and she left us down here. And now we're going to die underground in the middle of nowhere."
"That need not be the case,"a third voice, that of the woman they had been assigned to bury, finally spoke up.
"What," Mercury snorted, "you saying you can dig through a mile of rock out of here before we die of starvation?"
"Yes," she answered simply. "Though, depletion of oxygen would kill you far sooner than starvation."
"Great. Then do it," Mercury called dully.
"First, a few questions."
"Is this really the time for an interrogation?" Mercury snapped. "Besides, why should we believe anything you say? In case you don't remember, we were just trying to kill each other"
"You tried to kill me. I merely ended the conflict," Fu Hua corrected, unphased. "Is there any reason for me to seek information if I believed we would meet our ends here?" She paused and, in lieu of a response, asked, "what is the purpose of the dust you've stolen? What were you three planning in Vale?"
"It's a bomb." The voice, dull and despondent, came from Emerald. "From Mountain Glenn to Vale, there are emergency railway lines that lead straight underneath the city. The plan was to lure a bunch of grimm there and blow a hole in the middle of town."
"For what reason?"
"Cinder expected all able bodies would come to fight off the grimm, including those at Beacon," Mercury supplied grudgingly. "We were supposed to attack the school while it was empty and steal the rest of the maiden's power."
"That is...worrying," Fu Hua murmured. "I imagine losing you two would do little to hinder her original plans. She has probably already adjusted for that fact. When was the plan scheduled to begin?"
"Tomorrow afternoon," Mercury answered, discarding any remaining facade of defiance. The cat was already out of the bag, anyway. "Just enough time for her to return to the city from here."
"Very well. In that case, it is time we made our exit."
The sound of rustling cloth and shifting limbs echoed in the shadowed space. Instinctively, the assembled criminals tensed, senses straining for hints of an attack in the darkness. What came instead was a faint, pulsing glow, growing brighter by the moment. In seconds, the light had grown enough for the group to make out their surroundings.
Scuffed, bleeding and exhausted, but still alive, the four criminals had each staked out a section of the space to call their own. The cavern itself had been diminished to a quarter of its initial size and any lingering hopes of an easy egress were quickly dashed when faced with the mountains of rubble where an exit should be.
At the center of the space, Fu Hua stood. The source of the warm light, flickering as if it were a flame, was a pair of gauntlets encasing her fists. She gazed down, unclenching a hand.
The Tenth Divine Key: the Keys of Domination. For each of the thousand cores of the original Herrscher of Domination, a weapon had been forged. Though their individual powers paled in comparison to their brethren, they were still formidable in their own right. Some had been swords, and some had been spears. Some hadn't even been weapons at all, but trinkets or tools. This particular key manifested as a pair of black gloves, gilded in gold and trimmed with vibrant red fashioned in the image of crimson feathers.
Of the thousand armaments of the Domination Series, all had long since been destroyed. This key that adorned the warrior's fists was the last of its lineage—a final precursor from a time long lost, in a place so impossibly far away. Here, in this land, the radiant luster that they had once borne had dwindled—they looked more the product of man than an object forged from divinity.
Fu Hua shut her eyes, drawing upon the power of the Tenth Divine Key. Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed, only converted from one form to another. For all of its world-altering properties, even Honkai energy bowed to this fundamental principle. Not even a herrscher core could provide limitless power, though in a system in which Honkai radiation permeated every space, this mattered little.
But Remnant was not one such system.
Deprived of that crucial energy source, the key had become starved of that which empowered it, falling into a state of dormancy. As it was, it amounted to nothing more than a pair of particularly sturdy, ornate gauntlets.
Here and now, it, too, would finally face the fate of its siblings.
Before the eyes of all assembled, the beautiful, gilded bracers began to wither, their glamorous sheen dimming by the moment until what once was shining metal had become tarnished and dull. Slowly, they lost their very form, crumbling to ash and drifting into a pile on the windless cavern floor. Something small and round glimmered in the warrior's palm for a moment before it, too, shriveled away to nothingness.
Fu Hua breathed a deep sigh, feeling a thrill of power fluttering excitedly at her fingertips. Energy could only be converted from one form to another. She had subsumed the dormant core, leaching out what little power it still held and taking it for herself. It did not amount to much, but it would at least be enough to break them from this stone tomb.
She glanced at her entourage. "I suggest you stand back," she stated simply. She then shot an apologetic look at Roman, "Sorry, Torchwick, but this is going to hurt."
"What are you—UGH!" Roman doubled over, clutching his shoulder, which had begun to throb violently. He felt his skin burst out in heavy perspiration and bile rising in his gullet, as if his body were aggressively attempting to purge some perilous pathogen. Distantly, he noticed his form suffused by ebbing, pulsing light as his aura flickered erratically, vainly attempting to ward off whatever had reduced him to this state. Forcing his head up from his hunched position, he could see the woman's fist had begun to glow, pulsing in time with his pain.
Fu Hua widened her stance, right arm chambered in preparation and taking careful aim. Anywhere would do. This land was entirely devoid of humanity; she need not worry for any denizens of the surface.
Besides the immediate destruction it could cause, Honkai radiation was volatile. It tended to readily dissipate into the surroundings, soaking into the earth and leaching into any organic matter. A large enough concentration of the energy would leave a land tainted and uninhabitable for generations to come. Perhaps it was for the best that this region was already so inhospitable.
The power felt good, intoxicating. After interminable lengths of time subsisting only on what little seeped slowly into Remnant's ecosystem, the sudden influx of honkai energy, as meager as it was, was a soothing balm to a starved system.
"Careful, old-timer," whispered the voice of her partner. "It's not enough power. We still need to get back to Vale."
"I am aware," she murmured back, "I shall bolster it with my own reserves. I will likely be incapacitated for some time after this. I trust you know what must be done?"
"Of course."
"Very well, I shall leave it to you."
Fu Hua swung her fist. It was a movement that carried the weight of an eternity of repetition. A strike executed with utmost perfection, backed by a raging inferno. Energy, in its purest, most chaotic form bellowed forth from her strike in angry, violent torrents, eradicating all that stood before it. Dirt, stone, rock, all was reduced to less than dust.
Roman buckled, falling flat on his face as agony consumed him. His arm was being vivisected by invisible scalpels, each lancing, burning stroke cutting straight to the bone with careless cruelty. He grasped frantically at the afflicted limb, clawing and ripping in a desperate bid to get it off. He tore his vocal chords screaming and his yells, flecked with traces of red sputum, rose into the air and melded with the clamor of shrieking winds.
The noise was incredible. A roaring rumble, like a great beast awakening from within the earth echoed all around them, threatening to deafen them with its immensity. The weathered stone held for but a moment, before succumbing to the belligerent tide of energy.
And then, just as suddenly, it ended. Not even pebbles had survived the onslaught, and the largest of boulders had been vaporized to ash. The noise faded to nothing and all that could be heard was labored, terrified breathing.
When the group finally dared raise their heads, they were astonished to find the Vacuan sun glaring down at them. A gargantuan hole had been punched through the ceiling, piercing through several layers of solid stone and erupting out onto the sandy, desert surface.
Dumbfounded, three heads swiveled to face the perpetrator of this destruction, only to find her fallen to her knees, slumped listlessly forward.
"Is she dead?" Emerald asked nervously into the still air.
"As if."
The group jolted as the despondent body jerked back into motion. The words had been spoken with a casual flippancy—a far cry from the demeanor the woman had displayed moments earlier.
"Still, the Old-Timer really did outdo herself this time, didn't she? Guess it's up to me to clean up the mess."
"You were the one in my head!" Emerald accused, easily recognizing the cadence and careless tone of the voice. A baleful, crimson stare only served to cement her certainty.
"Indeed I was. And what a dreadfully boring head it was," the stranger replied without a hint of interest. "Well then, I'm off."
She rose to her feet, an irritated, uncomfortable expression flashing across her face. "I hate this uniform, too uncomfortable," she griped.
As if in response, tides of deep shadow crawled up her limbs, bathing her entire being in an umbral veil before receding, taking the simple robes with it. In its place, a dark, single-sleeved dress garbed her form, hanging precariously from the shoulder. Ornately detailed with gold stitching, it looked like something that would be commonplace in Mistral, though altered in an asymmetric, chaotic manner. Myriads of cords and belts crossed haphazardly across the garment, some binding it in place, while others seemingly held no discernible purpose beside decoration. Upon her forehead sat a scarlet gem, secured in place by a golden half-crown.
"Much better," the woman sighed, flexing her fingers and thrusting her arm out to the side commandingly. Energy seemed to gather, warping and flexing the light around it until a massive object manifested at her side. It was ostensibly a sheathe, but one that stood taller and wider than the woman who had summoned it. And it was floating.
She hopped atop the weapon like a surfer with her board, frowning. "That took a lot. I can probably still get back to Vale, but it's going to be tight."
Hearing this, Emerald shouted, "Wait, you're going back to Vale? Are you just leaving us here?"
Hua stopped, cocking her head to glance behind. "Yeah?" She asked, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I'm sure you can take care of yourselves and I've got some business to attend to. Your boss has really gone and made a mess of things."
"Take care of ourselves!?" Mercury finally snapped. "Are you crazy, lady? We're in the middle of the Aurum! There's not a single town for miles around!"
"Hm. That does pose quite the conundrum, doesn't it?" She shrugged, her attention then snapping to Neo, crouching protectively in front of an unconscious Roman. "You. Pastel brat."
Neo's head shot up, a savage snarl adorning her features. She reacted swiftly as an object was thrown at her, deftly snatching it out of the air.
"Our deal with you two has officially been fulfilled, but the Old-Timer told me to give you that. You can contact us with it, should the need arise."
Neo stared in disbelief.
"I would consider it if I were you," Hua noted carelessly, her gaze flickering momentarily to the downed man. "That's all."
"Well what are we supposed to do out here in the middle of nowhere?" Mercury pressed, even as the massive sheathe began to rise higher into the air.
Hua glared dully at them from atop her blade. "
Walk." She intoned imperiously, and then she was gone. The weapon rocketed off, becoming a speck in the cloudless sky, and then disappearing altogether, leaving the group stranded in the Vacuan heat.
At three-thirty four in the afternoon, an explosion ripped through Central Vale, gouging a great chasm across several city blocks. The twisted, metal remains of a freight train lay scattered across the scene, indicating the cause of the disaster.
The immediate loss of life was catastrophic. It was midday on a weekend in one of the busiest sections of the city; the area had been filled to capacity. Those that survived found themselves beset by black tides of grimm cascading through the scarred earth. Those that could still run did so in vain as they, too, were easily overtaken, their life snuffed and their carcasses discarded without a care.
Such was the scene that greeted team RWBY as they hastily approached to render what aid they could. Horrified, they had frozen upon discovering the first mauled corpse—that of a young man with a chunk carved from his midsection—but had stolidly hurried on. As the team approached the epicenter of the carnage and passed more and more bodies in increasingly gruesome states of disarray, their steps faltered, their hearts numbing to the tragedy that surrounded them.
At last, they reached the font of the devastation.
They had frequented this place quite often and would not be hard-pressed to recall it in their mind's eye. Now, however, that familiar space seemed more a blasphemous depiction of the netherworld than anything of the living. There, across the street, had been an ice-cream parlor which Ruby had favored. A distorted mass of a train carriage now protruded from the storefront in twisted, ruined heaps. The far-too-expensive boutique that Weiss had always insisted they visit lay collapsed, its owners surely having perished within the inferno. The same was true for the restaurants, the thrift stores, the residences—all of it was gone, reduced to wreckage.
Crimson ichor soaked every inch of the pavement, draining into the gutters in heavy, thick streams. Various viscera lay strewn about the square, identifiable only by the presence of their owners slowly cooling nearby. Even amidst the crackling of flame and growls of grimm, the forlorn, terrified wails of the dying rose with singular intensity, a hadean hymn of the damned and doomed. The nauseatingly sweet, acrid scent of copper and burning flesh stung at their nostrils, inciting Ruby's innards to rebellion. She hunched over, expelling the contents of her stomach with sobbing, heaving cries.
And still, grimm poured from the shattered earth, cascading onto the streets and spreading across the city like a plague.
"It's too much," Ruby whimpered, shakily wiping her mouth with a sleeve. "We can't fight them all."
Perhaps it was the thick layer of bitter desperation permeating the city at the moment, but the team had gone largely unnoticed by the unending deluge of grimm until the present moment. Now however, the beasts turned as one to the despond waves being emitted by the small girl in scarlet, crimson eyes narrowing in something that could have been mistaken for glee. A pack of beowolves howled in unison, marking the group for death. Zealously, frantically, the horde surged, an overwhelming torrent of loathsome, black bodies baying for blood, eager to sunder the fleshy, helpless creatures.
Weiss was the first to regain her senses. Plunging her rapier into the ground, she conjured a towering sheet of ice, sheltering them from the advancing swarm. It would hold, if only for a short time.
"Ruby! Snap out of it!" The heiress yelled, grasping her partner's shoulders and roughly shaking. The girl's head flopped listlessly, but Weiss was relieved to find the dazed cloudiness in Ruby's eyes abate incrementally. "Focus! You're a huntress in training, aren't you?" She screamed into her leader's vacant, expressionless face. "Then don't just stand there and tell us what to do, leader."
That seemed to jar Ruby from her despairing daze.
"Right…" She shook her head before repeating more solidly, "Right. We need to do something." Her gaze scanned across the scene, analyzing the hopeless scenario. "Weiss, Blake, you two are the most agile, find any survivors and get them out of here."
White and Black nodded, not wasting a moment and darting off into the breach at their leader's command.
"Yang, VPD should be here soon. Until then, do your best to keep the grimm contained." Silver eyes flickered to the rushing mass of bodies, and she appended apologetically, "It's a lot to ask, but do what you can. I'll try to call for backup, then I'll come help."
Yellow smashed gauntleted fists together, smirking in assurance. "No problem, sis," and she, too, departed.
Ruby extracted her scroll with shaking fingers. There was no way they would be able to save everyone, but they had to try. She dialed a number.
"Ruby? What's going on?"
Jaune's scroll had sounded at the same moment an urgent advisory began playing on all channels, and he had answered, distracted by the events unfolding on the television.
"Explosion in Vale!" The girl's voice sounded haggard and short, "There's grimm everywhere! We need backup!"
"Explosion?" Jaune sat bolt upright in alarm, his attention now focused. He switched his scroll to speaker mode and placed it upon the lounge's table. "How? What happened? Why are there grimm?"
"Can't talk, fighting," a pause and a grunt of exertion, "Central Vale, by the plaza with the huntsman-statue fountain. Come quick. Bring whoever you can."
A howl of what was presumably grimm, followed by fluttering curses and the line was cut. Jaune and his team sat stunned for a moment, staring at the silent device and absorbing what they had learned.
"We're going to help them, right?" Ren finally asked.
Numbly Jaune nodded, before regaining his wits and asserting more forcefully, "Let's go."
Urgently, they made their way to the launchpads, but upon arriving, found the area inundated with students. Interspersed among the crowd, instructors were desperately trying to shepherd the masses into some semblance of order.
"Well, anyone got a backup plan?" Nora asked, disappointedly hefting Magnhild off of her shoulder.
"Wait in line?" Jaune offered weakly.
"Miss Nikos."
A voice, neutral but laced with undertones of stress, captured the group's attention. They swiveled to find Headmaster Ozpin standing behind them, solemn, yet strangely expectant.
A look of uncomfortable understanding flashed across Pyrrha's face, and she nodded resolutely.
"I'm sorry everyone, but there's somewhere I need to be," she apologized, stepping towards the headmaster. She had barely trod forward a handful of paces before a low, firm voice rang out behind her.
"No."
Startled, all eyes turned to their leader. Jaune stood, unperturbed by the attention as he glared fiercely, directly into Pyrrha's eyes.
"Jaune…" The girl murmured hesitantly.
"No, Pyrrha. You've been keeping things from us, ever since the initiation. Now you're going off somewhere while Vale's in danger? What's going on with you?"
It hurt. Jaune knew he wasn't exactly the most reliable person, but Pyrrha had been different. She chose to see the potential in him where others only saw failings. He had hoped that, at the very least, she would be able to confide her worries in him, her partner.
But he had been mistaken. If anything, his partner seemed to grow more reclusive as time went on. She had begun withdrawing into herself, her performance had been faltering and a faint look of weary worry seemed permanently etched upon her face. He could never figure out why; whenever pressed, she would simply offer vague reassurances.
Desperately, he stepped forward and grasped her shoulders, not missing the twinge of discomfort that flashed across her features. "I may not know what's going on, but something's wrong and you're not telling us. Let us help. Let me help."
"You can't," she sadly shook her head, shrugging off his hands and turning away. "Jaune, this is something I have to do." The words echoed hollow, rote. It was something she needed to do, but did she want to do it? Truly?
"Is it? Or is it something you've told yourself that you need to do? Why you? Why alone?" Jaune insisted, providing her inner turmoil a voice.
"It just is!" She chanced a glance at Ozpin, who had been passively observing the exchange. "I just...I need to go and you can't come with me."
"Then stop me." He grabbed her wrist.
She paused, taken aback by the dire seriousness in the boy's tone. "...What?"
"If you really don't want me to follow you, then knock me out. Do something to keep me away, because if you don't, I'm going to follow you."
"Jaune, you can't…"
"I know! I know better than anyone that I can't win against you, against anyone here, but I'm still going to try." For the first time his strong facade wavered, revealing frustration beneath. "I'm tired of being left in the dark, Pyrrha. I don't want you to do whatever this is alone. Not when you don't even look like you want it."
"It's fine."
"With all due respect, Headmaster…" Jaune blinked, broken from his tirade. "Uh, what?"
"It's fine," Ozpin repeated. "You may accompany us You are her team leader, and you have a right to know what is going on." His countenance grew stony and stern. "But be warned, once you've seen what I have to show you, there is no longer any turning back."
"Jaune, please."
"No, Pyrrha. Lead the way, headmaster."
Ozpin raised a brow, an amused smirk just barely tugging at his lips.
Jaune flushed, "Uh...please?"
"Very well. Come along then, you two. Time is of the essence." Ozpin turned his attention briefly to the final remaining members of team JNPR. "Mister Ren and Miss Valkyrie, I shall arrange to grant you priority transit to Vale, if you so wish."
"Sorry, Ren, Nora," Jaune apologized to the other half of his team.
"No worries leader! Go get her!" Nora cheered, prompting crimson to flood the pair's faces.
"Best of luck, Jaune, Pyrrha," Ren nodded with a gentle smile. "Nora and I will find Ruby and help keep things under control, don't worry about us."
Gratefully, Jaune smiled at them before turning to follow Ozpin and Pyrrha back into the building.
Headmaster Ozpin led them to the depths of the school, further down than Jaune had ever expected the structure to extend. The descent was a long one, and when the elevator finally shuddered to a halt, Jaune gratefully fell out of the claustrophobic container into a massive, underground cavern.
Gathering his bearings, he panned across his surroundings in amazement, "What is this place?"
"A sanctuary," the headmaster stated simply. "A place to store things which one wishes not to be found."
The man strode forward, and Pyrrha followed close behind, seemingly unsurprised at the existence of such a gargantuan space beneath the school.
At the center of the cave lay an array of complex machinery. What appeared to be a control panel stood in the center, flanked by two pods of glass and metal. Their contents remained indiscernible due to the vibrant, blue reflections cast by assorted monitors.
Keeping a respectable distance from the expensive-looking machinery, lest he accidentally break something, Jaune curiously squinted, peering through the reflection of the glass.
Suddenly, he yelped, stumbling backwards. "There's someone in there!" He yelled. "Who is that!?"
The headmaster stopped at the boy's side, gazing forlornly at the pod. "Her name is Amber," he announced. "She was once the Fall Maiden."
"The Fall..Maiden?" Jaune asked haltingly. "Like...from the fairy tale?"
"The Story of the Seasons, yes," Ozpin confirmed. "Those stories you know of as 'fairy tales' may sometimes carry a seed of truth at their core. Amber is one of them."
Jaune did his best impression of a fish, lips flapping uselessly, his mind unable to provide words to properly express his incredulity. "What happened to her," he finally managed to force out.
"She was attacked," Ozpin replied simply. "Her assailant bested her and attempted to extract the maidens power for herself, leaving Amber comatose." He finished bluntly, "She is dying."
Something in the headmaster's tone, something that had gone unspoken, roused Jaune's suspicion.
"Why are we here?" He asked after a pregnant pause. His gaze frantically fell on his partner, who had stepped into the vacant pod. "Why is Pyrrha here?"
Strangely, the headmaster refused to meet his gaze, instead staring stolidly at his hands clasped tightly atop his cane.
"Pyrrha?"
"I…"
"Miss Nikos has decided to inherit the remainder of the Fall Maidens power," Ozpin finally supplied in a low voice.
"What!? Pyrrha, you can't."
"Mister Arc," the headmaster quietly interrupted. "This is something that Miss Nikos has chosen to undertake herself." The barest traces of self-deprecating bitterness laced his tone, imperceptible to the young man. "She understands the dangers and responsibilities that would be associated with such a role, yet she has opted to bear that weight of her own free will. Would you deny her even that?"
"I'm sorry for not telling you, Jaune," the girl in question apologized from her seat in the vessel.
Jaune gaped at both of them. "She," he furiously pointed at the other pod, "was attacked, right?"
"That is correct."
"And you've been hiding her down here because you're afraid that whoever attacked her is coming to finish the job. That means if Pyrrha inherits her power, they'll be coming after her next?"
"It is a very...feasible danger," the headmaster admitted reluctantly.
"And you're fine with this!?" He desperately asked Pyrrha.
She nodded. "It's just something that I have to do."
"But why?"
"I don't know," the girl admitted. "It might be destiny, it might not. It's just...something inside of me keeps telling me that this is the right choice, that this is something that I absolutely must do."
"Even if it means you'll be in danger from now on?" Jaune pressed. "Even if it means you can't live normally like you used to?"
A small smile graced Pyrrha's features, the first she had made since their descent. "We're training to be huntsmen and huntresses, Jaune. We were always going to be living a life of danger." She inhaled deeply before letting the breath out in a long, steady stream, centering herself. "I understand what you mean. I really do. But even so, I need to do this. Please don't stop me."
The boy struggled internally, before seemingly crumpling in on himself, backing away numbly. "Why did it have to be Pyrrha?" He finally murmured in hollow resignation. "Is it really destiny?"
The line of Ozpin's mouth only tightened in response. "Because it is necessary," he stated simply. "For humanity, for the world. Mankind needs its miracles, and that is something that Miss Nikos can provide." In the absence of any further protests, Ozpin announced somberly, "I am beginning the transfer now."
A weary finger depressed the button which was to begin the process, prompting the face of Pyrrha's pod to shut with a hushed hiss.
From within the container, she jolted in surprise as the link between her and Amber was established, and a condensed energy began suffusing into her body. It was an odd feeling, exhilarating, but almost uncomfortable. A microcosm of sparks danced across her flesh, pricking lightly at her skin, each shining brilliantly for the merest moment before sinking into her body, into her very essence. For each spark her soul hungrily consumed, Pyrrha felt her own vitality bolster.
Something within her relished the influx of power, even as her logical mind comprehended the dire consequences of receiving it. The girl in the other pod would die; Pyrrha had been very explicitly informed of that fact. The girl's aura, her very life, was being passed on, bestowed unto her like a torch being passed. She was essentially siphoning away Amber's life-force, just as the girl's assailant had done many months prior.
Even so, a part of her—the piece that whispered awful temptations and itched and squirmed in the recesses of her mind—greedily imbibed the life-essence, relishing its warm richness even as the body in the neighboring pod grew colder still.
Pyrrha felt good. She felt better than she had in a long, long time. The whisperings within her brain had ceased their cacophonous chorus, seemingly sated, at least for the time being. The delicate sensation of touch returned to deadened limbs without the ever-present burning of the unseen malady of which she had grown accustomed.
And then, all at once, the flow of energy halted, and the capsule door slowly lifted with another hiss, signifying the end of the procedure. Slightly disappointed, Pyrrha rose to her feet. She felt only half-full, deeply craving the remainder of the power that rightly belonged to her.
"How are you feeling, Miss Nikos?" Ozpin asked expectantly as she stepped from the pod
"...Empty," she admitted, curiously flexing newly responsive digits. Though, functionally, they had returned to normal, her limbs remained stained with an unnatural, pallid hue. "But powerful," she noted, experimentally snapping her fingers, effortlessly producing a small flame, no larger than a lighter.
Ozpin's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "It would appear that you have a particular affinity with the maiden's power," he murmured, "that is a very, very good thing."
The small glow flickered out of existence before being replaced with a torrid tongue of flame that leapt wildly several feet in the air, burgeoning in size and intensity before being abruptly extinguished as well. Pyrrha could not help but smirk in satisfaction.
"Quite the affinity," the headmaster repeated, almost dazed at the display.
In all his years, he had never seen a maiden attune to the power so readily, so immediately. Magic may have been prevalent in the old times, but to the people of modern-day Remnant, it was something entirely foreign. Strict and rigorous training was usually required before a maiden was able to wield their power with any reasonable proficiency, yet Pyrrha Nikos had clearly taken to it quite easily. Astounding.
Ozpin at least retained enough presence of mind to recognize the urgency of the situation, rousing himself from excited, meandering thoughts. "I am glad that all has gone well, but we must act with haste. There is still much left to do." He shifted one final, remorseful look at the corpse in the opposing pod. "Arrangements for a proper burial for Amber must be made, but our immediate concern is the situation in Vale."
Reentering the elevator, the group waited as they were lifted back to the surface, a nervous tension permeating the air of the cramped cubicle. Jaune sullenly fidgeted in the corner, feeling distinctly out of place while Pyrrha played, enraptured, with a small spark of flame, and Ozpin sternly perused his scroll.
"Reports indicate that a sizable breach has been made in Vale, via a network of forgotten, underground railways," the Headmaster relayed, skimming through the urgent briefings that had come flooding in since the beginning of the incident. "All manner of grimm have gained access to Central Vale, and the ensuing panic and fear are drawing even more. Active combat personnel have not been able to staunch the flow, and are being slowly pushed back."
Jaune paled and Pyrrha snapped to attention. "How bad is it, sir?" the girl asked.
"In short, very, very bad," the headmaster sighed, shutting off his scroll and allowing his arm to fall limply to his side. "The initial explosion seems to have encompassed several city blocks, with innumerable casualties. The subsequent grimm invasion has only added to the death toll. I know you have only had the maiden's power for a few minutes, but do you think you will be able to lend your assistance, Miss Nikos?"
"Of course, si—"
The moment the doors to the lobby slid open, the words were torn from Pyrrha's mouth.
A terrible glow illuminated their field of vision, their surroundings bleaching to impenetrable whiteness for the briefest flash. Moments later, a wall of heat and wind and force impacted the trio, accompanied by a thunderous, all-encompassing roar. Stone crumbled and steel warped. Fractures webbing out from the epicenter of the blast and up the walls threatened the stability of the vaulted ceiling overhead.
It was only after an incalculable—for Jaune's addled mind—stretch of time that the rumblings and rubble finally ceased, the hall falling oppressively silent. A false calm settled over the surroundings, pregnant with expectation and anticipation, a mirror pool that would shatter at the slightest disturbance.
In the aftermath of the explosion, lying amidst sharp stone fragments and twisted steel, Jaune weakly raised himself from the ground, hissing when a jolt of pain lanced through him with sobering clarity. Glancing downwards, he found his left arm pinned beneath a sizable slab of granite, clearly broken.
Whimpering through the pain, he craned his neck back and forth, desperately trying to see through the veil of dust and smoke. Against the east wall, he could see the headmaster lying slumped, thick rivulets of blood running down his face. The rich ichor matted his hair into even wilder disarray and soaked into his clothes, staining the emerald garments nearly black. The erratic rise and fall of his chest indicated that the man still lived, at least.
Pyrrha fared the best of them all. At the merest hint of something gone awry, a mystical wreath of flames had sprung up, almost instinctively, to ward off the blast. Even so, Jaune could still make out several lacerations where her defenses had failed to react in time to the shrapnel.
The girl's spear and shield were drawn, and she glared fiercely into the obscurant gloom.
Tack. Tack. Tack.
The steady click of heels upon marble tile echoed steadily throughout the ruined foyer. Parting the curtain of smoke, a luxuriant beauty, garbed in sumptuous, silken cloth of the richest reds, strode forth confidently. Raven locks swayed beckoningly with each step, and inlaid upon a pale, porcelain face were eyes of burnished gold, leering imperiously down at the crouching warrior.
"Well, well, I thought I might be able to find a way down if I were to wait here." Poisoned honey dripped from her tongue, every word layered with casual cruelty.
"To think that you would take the trouble to bring my prize right to me. How sweet."
Early chapters are nice. Chapter's a wee bit shorter than the usual. I had a bit more that I wanted to add, but on a second read-through, this seemed like an appropriate place to stop. Editing is a pain.
I intend for the (early) fall of Beacon to be the conclusion of this arc, after which our people get to explore more of Remnant. Maybe two or three more chapters until then?
It probably doesn't need to be said, but from this point I plan to diverge heavily from RWBY canon. Fair warning there, I suppose. I really need to update the summary and tags.
I am better now, thank you to all for the well-wishes.
