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RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 19: Souls, A Complicated Subject
Now, I'm sure you can probably imagine how the girls would feel in this situation. Mostly confused. However, before I learned of the situation. I had a meeting with an old acquaintance. Spoilers, it was Ozpin.
"We have met more times in the past few months than before your daughter began attending my academy." Ozpin stated as I entered his office.
"Believe me, I didn't plan for this." I replied.
"I know." Ozpin responded. "What can I do for you this time?"
"You can help me. I recently learned of your maiden problem." I answered.
"My maiden problem?" Oz questioned.
"Indeed." I answered, while placing the original picture on his desk. "It would surprise me greatly if you were unaware of the situation."
"How did you get this?" Ozpin asked.
"Apparently, it was taken by my sister." I answered.
"I'm surprised you didn't already know of this." Ozpin said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I seem to remember a certain someone once telling me that they could sense violations of their domain. Especially in regards to unnatural soul magic." Ozpin replied with a pointed look at me. "Or were you just lying and that's why you can't find your mysterious soul thief?"
"Firstly, soul thieves are a natural soul magic. Just incredibly rare, and usually evil. Secondly, I can sense the violations of the soul, like you said. However, what appears to be taken, unnaturally, isn't her soul but the fifth of your soul that was passed into her." I explained. "A fifth of your soul that I helped you to split amongst yourself and the four maidens."
"You are never going to let me live that one down, are you?" Ozpin questioned.
"No. I won't. Even worse is the fact that you had me do the dirty work." I replied.
"You didn't have to agree to my deal." Oz countered.
"Oh, believe me, I did." I responded.
Ozpin just raised an eyebrow.
"However, that is neither here nor there." I continued. "I'd like to see the maiden."
"You can't help her." Ozpin stated. "But, follow me."
I thought about that for a moment. Why would I not be able to help the maiden? The soul, life and death are my specialties, after all.
The headmaster and I entered the elevator and began our descent into the bowels of Beacon academy. When we reached the vault in the depths below the school, I saw Amber, Maiden of Autumn. And what I saw was concerning. The comatose maiden was in a metal pod of some sort. The machine appeared to be providing her everything she needed to stay alive, even while comatose. Connected to that pod by a series of tubes and wires was another empty pod. The machine itself wasn't what concerned me. No, the concerning part was the state of the girl's soul.
"General Ironwood had the idea to force a transfer of the power into a different girl." Ozpin stated.
"That will not happen." I stated.
"The general won't like that." Oz said.
"Tough luck. I'm not going to allow a forcible soul transfer like that." I replied. "Besides, even if I did allow that, it would never work."
"Is it because of the state of her soul?" Oz questioned.
"Yes." I simply responded.
"If I may, what is the state of her soul?" Ozpin asked.
"It's difficult to describe." I answered. "For one, her soul, her soul is actually damaged. For another, the portion of your soul that resides in her was not completely removed."
"Like I said, you can't help." Ozpin said.
"A bold assumption, but mostly wrong." I countered. "I know what you may believe, but if it were only the fact that the part of your soul was damaged, I could help. However, it's the damage to her soul that makes things difficult."
"How so? I know you can work with damaged souls; your daughter is a prime example of that." Ozpin queried.
"Indeed, but it's not the same. The best way to think of this is…" I trailed off trying to think of an analogy. "Imagine each soul is like a piece of paper."
"Really?" Oz questioned.
"Just roll with me here. Without actually seeing her soul, you'd never understand it, except by analogy." I explained. "Now, with souls being like paper, they can be damaged. There are weapons and powers that can directly attack the soul, soul thieves, and so on. You follow?"
"Yes." Ozpin responded.
"Good. Now, a weapon or power that attacks the soul would be like taking that paper and piercing it or cutting it. Depends on the type of weapon. Soul Thieves would just be stealing the paper." I explained.
"And this?" Ozpin gestured to Amber.
"I'm getting there. Now, Ruby, my daughter, is a special case in terms of soul thieves. The incomplete drain would be like ripping the paper in two. So far, all of these ways to damage the soul have two things in common. I've seen them before, and there are viable workarounds. In these cases, the paper can be repaired." I explained. "Not so with Amber here."
"So, how can the paper not be repaired in this case?" Ozpin asked.
"In this case, the way her soul is reacting… it's akin to setting the paper on fire then blowing out the flames. It's still smoldering; it's still burning up. There are just no active flames." I explained. "I've never encountered this before."
"Well, if that picture you showed me is any indication, this should be a case similar to Ruby, should it not?" Ozpin asked.
"In theory, possibly." I replied. "But Ruby didn't have a portion of your soul attached to hers. If Amber's case were like Ruby's, then the Maiden of Autumn should still be relatively ok. But her attackers didn't target her soul."
"They targeted mine." Ozpin finished.
"Exactly. And the transfer was incomplete. I'd wager that if they had completed the transfer, Amber wouldn't be in the state she is now. The portion of your soul that was removed appears to be what is actively damaging her soul." I continued.
"Like a lit candle being held underneath the paper?" Oz guessed.
"Exactly. In this case, the part of your soul still in her is that lit candle." I spoke.
"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Ozpin asked.
I sighed. "There are two options for her. The first, and the one I am already sort of working on, find her attacker and the method used to drain your soul from Amber, then reverse the process. I am unsure if it would work or not."
"And the other?" Ozpin asked.
"Let me take her soul." I said.
"Out of the question." Ozpin said, immediately.
"Ozpin, she is slowly dying! Suffering unimaginable pain because her soul is literally burning up! That is a fate that is supposed to be reserved for the worst souls sent to Punishment!" I retorted.
"I can't let the full power of the maiden fall into the hands of her attackers!" Ozpin countered.
I glared at the wizard. He glared back. With a deep sigh, and a leveling of my anger, I responded.
"Alright, here's the deal." I said. "I will allow no more than this week."
"This week for what?" Ozpin asked.
"For her attacker to be found or a solution to be offered. At the end of this week, you can either willingly end her suffering, or I will end it for you." I stated.
"That's only three days, and-" Ozpin began.
"I don't care about the maiden's power. I will not allow an innocent soul to suffer like she is for much longer." I growled. "You should be thankful that her soul is still recognizable as the soul it once was. The only reason for that is the fragment of your soul that still exists within her."
"So, you're not even going to try?" Ozpin asked.
"NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY!?" I roared. "There is nothing that can be done for her! I'll give you Ozark to work on it, but it would be a longshot for him to do anything. I…"
I paused and looked back at the maiden. I glared at Ozpin.
"You know what, screw it. I told you there's nothing that can be done for her. I'll even let you see to prove it." I growled.
I released my anger and turned my gaze to the Maiden of Autumn. For once, I allowed the visions of Ultimate Fate to play in my mind. Calling upon my power I spread my arms and little illusions began to appear throughout the room. Before Ozpin's eyes, there existed every possible fate of the maiden in front of us.
Breathing deeply, I looked around and confirmed my thoughts.
"Behold. Ultimate Fate." I stated. "What you see before you is what I see when I look upon living souls. Every possible death that she could face. Every possibility you see is based on what has happened. Things might have been different if I had known about this months ago."
Ozpin looked at each illusion in dismay. Each one depicted Amber dying in various ways. All of them involved her being in a comatose state, down in the vault below Beacon. According to Ultimate Fate, a power I had never known to be fallible, Amber was destined to die in this vault. Some of the illusions depicted Amber being shot by a strange arrow, some showed Ozpin pulling the plug, others showed me doing it. But the end was always the same. Amber, Maiden of Autumn is destined to die in that vault. It was only a question of when.
"There's no hope for her to come out of this alive." I said.
"So…" The headmaster sighed.
"So, I'm taking this out of your hands. I will give you one hour to discuss with the rest of your group of guardians how you should move forward. But I will save what is left of her soul." I said.
As I spoke, the illusions depicting Amber's ultimate fate blinked out of existence until only one remained. An image of me laying her on the ground and cutting her mortal coil.
"One hour." I repeated.
Ozpin nodded and left the room. The elevator rose up to his office. I approached the machine keeping Amber alive. With a sad sigh. I looked around the machine. The last illusion of Amber's ultimate fate still hung in the air. I swiped my hand through it and allowed it to vanish as well.
"It's not often that I take the soul from one who still lives." I whispered to the comatose girl. "I usually only do it for immortals who have violated the balance of life and death. It will hurt, and for that I am sorry. But the pain will last but a moment. I won't allow you to suffer more than you have."
I waited. One hour. As I promised Ozpin. When the hour was up, I turned to the machine. A ding behind me signified Ozpin had returned.
"They don't like it, but they have accepted the situation." Ozpin stated.
I nodded and turned the machine off. The lights on the machine blinked red, before turning off. I opened the pod Amber was in. Her body slumped over, no longer supported. Her body lived for a few more seconds before she breathed her last. Gently, I lay the body on the ground. With but a motion, I commanded her soul to come forth.
Seeing her soul in the sorry state it was, it hurt. Even though I am not the judge, I can tell that she didn't deserve what was happening to her. Her face was contorted in agony. The fragments of Ozpin's soul that clung to her mortal coil were still hurting her. I summoned Thine End and raised the ethereal blade.
"I'm sorry." I whispered to the soul once more.
I brought the blade down and clean through Amber's mortal coil. I could see the excruciating pain on her face. It was only a moment, but it was a moment longer than she deserved. A yellow orb, the fragments of Ozpin's soul, left as I severed Amber's mortal coil. It flew up and out of the room.
"This isn't good." Oz muttered to himself.
"There was nothing more that could be done for her." I replied. "You may leave."
Recognizing the dismissal for what it was, Ozpin left the vault. With the headmaster gone, I called for one of my reapers. A portal opened on the wall.
"My lord." The reaper greeted as he stepped through the hole.
"Take this one to judgement." I commanded. "Be gentle, she's suffered enough already."
"Sir?" The reaper asked as he looked at Amber's soul. "Ah, I see."
The damage was obvious. The reaper nodded. He opened another portal and escorted Amber's soul through it. I suppose it was rather unfair for me to get so angry with Ozpin. But I should have felt the damage to Amber's soul. It bothered me that I hadn't. Unfortunately, that would have to wait. You see, I believed it to be the work of our mysterious soul thief, Erebus Grimshaw.
With all that said and done. I decided that the best way to clear my head was to maintain my mortal disguise and go for a walk around the city of Vale. I could not have been more wrong. You see while walking around the city, I noticed something off. There was a girl following me. Now, that's concerning to me for a myriad of reasons. Chief amongst them, the living should have largely ignored me.
The only interaction I should have gotten from the people of Vale was them moving to the side as I walked past. Simply for no other reason than to avoid bumping into each other. I should have been just another face in the crowd.
So, knowing I had a tail, I ducked into a side alley. She followed. I lead her away from the busiest streets and into the slums of the city. She followed. I ducked into another alley, and waited just around the corner. As expected, she followed. As she walked by me, I grabbed her arm, and twisted us so she was against the wall, her arm pinned behind her back.
Then things got weirder. Ultimate Fate gave me nothing. Absolutely nothing. That should not have happened. I could feel a soul in this girl. But to not get ANY possibility for how she was to die? I wish Ultimate Fate wasn't infallible.
She was saying something, I wasn't listening. I studied her a moment longer, then I realized what it was. Why she had no Ultimate Fate. She wasn't alive. It was the same feeling I got from my daughter, Keira. Being that isn't alive, but does have a soul. The difference though, is that Keira's soul was natural. This girl's soul didn't feel natural. It was an artificial soul. Oddly enough, it also didn't feel like a violation of life or death.
"You are not human, are you?" I asked, cutting off whatever it was she was saying.
"Of course, I'm human." She replied, with a hiccup.
"No. I can feel it. You aren't human. How do you have an artificial soul? It still feels like a soul, but I can tell it's not…" I muttered to myself.
The girl heard me, and stiffened in my grip. I had hit the nail on the head.
"Please don't tell anyone." She pleaded. "It's supposed to be a secret."
"If you tell me why you were following me." I offered.
"I detected no signs of life in you." She replied, further confirming what I knew.
"You shouldn't have noticed me to begin with. Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Penny Polendina." She answered. "And you?"
I chuckled. "Someone who knows someone who would be very interested in you."
"That's a strange name." Penny commented.
I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, still I barked out a harsh laugh.
"Oh, this will not do." I said.
"What won't do?" Penny asked.
"I can't have an artificial soul just wandering around the world of the living." I answered. "You'll be coming with me. I need to know how this happened."
"I can't go with you." Penny stated.
"You can and you will." I replied.
"On whose authority?" She asked, definitely.
"I suppose there's no harm in telling you. If needed we can just erase your memory." I muttered to myself.
"Hey." Penny protested.
"Very well. You will come with me on my authority as Death, the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse." I intoned, while letting my disguise drop. "It would not do to have an artificial soul wandering about the world of the living."
Penny looked shocked at me. I smiled and opened a portal on the wall next to us.
"After you." I gestured to the portal.
Penny just glanced at the hole uneasily. She gulped and entered. I smiled and followed. My portal deposited us just outside the abode of Ozark. I was fortunate to see that he was just leaving his abode as we strode up.
"Ozark." I called.
I noted that Penny looked at the dead soul with curiosity, and a small amount of glee.
"Ah, Death. I was just on my way to see you." Ozark greeted.
"Really?" I replied.
"Indeed. I think I found the answer to the puzzle of Raven Branwen." Ozark replied.
"Not the puzzle I hoped we'd have answers for. How was the investigation into the family of Grimshaw's victims?" I asked.
"Fruitless." Ozark replied. "As far as I can tell, there is no rhyme or reason to the choice of Grimshaw's victims. It is just as likely to be a lone huntsman in the middle of the woods as it is to be the kindly old man selling noodles on a busy street. However, this file appears to answer the question of Raven Branwen. I think you'll find it quite interesting."
"I don't suppose you could tell me your thoughts on it." I prodded.
"Probably not. I don't quite know what to make of it." Ozark replied, handing me the files.
Penny cleared her throat. Ozark turned to her, surprised to see that there was more than one person at his door.
"Adopting another one?" He asked with a smile.
"No. I thought you'd find this one interesting." I said. "Penny Polendina, meet Dr. Joseph Ozark."
"This is so exciting!" Penny exclaimed. "You are one of my father's idols!"
"Really?" Ozark questioned.
"Dr. Ozark, meet Penny Polendina. An artificial girl with an artificial soul." I finished.
Ozark's gaze narrowed on Penny in interest.
"Really now. That is fascinating. I take it, you want to know how?" Ozark asked.
"Indeed. I leave her in your capable hands." I said.
"It is an honor to meet you." Penny gushed as I left.
I chuckled and returned to the Necropolis. Once there I made my way to my office and set the files down. As I opened the first file to see the info on Raven's doppelganger, my door opened.
"Bianca?" I asked as my wife entered the room.
"Hey honey, we have a slight problem." Bianca said as she sat down.
"Isn't there always a problem?" I asked rhetorically, as I opened the second file.
Whatever was going through my mind stopped at that moment. There in the second file, I figured out why Ozark didn't know what to make of the situation. It was a soul file for me. It had all the same errors as the file for Raven's doppelganger. I don't have a soul!
"Honey?" Bianca asked.
She looked at the file I was inspecting and froze as well. had stopped responding.
"What?" She asked finally.
"Exactly." I replied. "I have no clue what's going on."
"You have a soul?" Bianca asked, looking at me.
"I do now… apparently." I joked.
I don't have a soul. But this file was confusing. Bianca looked over it more, she squinted at the date of aura unlocking.
"That's strange." She said.
"What?" I asked.
"Apparently, you unlocked your aura about nine months before Keira was born." Bianca stated.
I looked at the date. Bianca was right. According to this, I had unlocked my aura when my daughter was conceived.
I unlocked my aura when my daughter was conceived. I know how this slipped through the cracks, but still… HOW IN THE MULTIVERSE DID THIS SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS!?
But it did provide an answer. If my suspicion was correct, then that would mean that I was an uncle. One of my sisters had a child. I decided to hold off on that thought for a minute.
"What was the problem?" I asked, turning to my wife.
"Well, it would seem that someone, somehow, teleported our daughter and her team into The Arena." Bianca answered. "And your dearest sister didn't even try to keep our existence secret."
I inhaled, deeply. I silently cursed my sister. And then I slammed my head into my desk. Three times.
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Data Log DoD-019
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Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.
End Log S.T.K.