O00000O00000O
Chapter 26: Strength
O00000O00000O
Big thank you to everybody who sent in OC submissions! Now, to the lucky person who won, your OC won't be making their first grand appearance in this chapter, but I will include a special little something for you at the end of the chapter.
Now, on with the show!
O00000O00000O
The next several days were packed. The families of the comatose students and teachers poured in. Ozpin managed to get word to Alex's parents on the island of Vytal, but his mother and older sister were the only ones who made the trip.
Fortunately, Beacon Academy had been spared the destruction. However, Ozpin was taking no more chances than he had to. Any students not on extremely critical missions or out of reach of communications were recalled immediately.
The Valean Council released an official statement within a few hours of The Blast. While claiming no knowledge of the specifics, they pointed fingers at the White Fang as the perpetrators of the attack. Curiously though, the statement said nothing about Conduits or anything of the sort. Delsin couldn't help but wonder if they didn't say anything because Ozpin never told them about Conduits to begin with.
The news never released an official casualty count. No one blamed them; it was hard to know how many people were gone when there were no bodies left behind. Estimates had the death toll in the mid hundreds and from what Delsin knew of the Empire City Blast, he knew they weren't too far off. On the outer edge of the Blast's radius, beyond the initial energy wave, hundreds more were found dead and wounded. Field hospitals had been set up in various locations to deal with the overflow after regular hospitals began to fill up.
It was safe to say that that day would live on in the minds of Vale's citizens for a very long time.
O00000O00000O
Delsin walked back to Coco's bedside, carrying two cups of coffee. Fox was asleep sitting next to her. Velvet was sitting next to him, fighting to keep her eyes open. Delsin tapped her on the shoulder and held one of the coffee cups out to her. She smiled and took it, taking a long drink.
"Mmm," she said, "Thanks for that."
Delsin smirked.
"No problem," he said, sitting down, "You ok?"
Velvet put her cup down and looked at her friend's unconscious body.
"It just...it doesn't feel real," she said, "Two of my best friends are in comas. Hundreds of people are dead, maybe more. And on top of all that..."
She opened her hand. Nothing appeared, but Delsin could hear her Sound power activate ever so slightly. Delsin smiled sadly.
"Yeah, it takes a while to get used to," he said.
He looked at Fox, sleeping in a chair.
"How's he holding up?" Delsin asked.
Velvet shrugged.
"I think he's ok. Well, not okay, but I don't think he's in danger of falling apart. Not yet at least."
Delsin sighed.
"I'm not surprised. You should have seen me after my brother died; I was a wreck."
Velvet looked at him.
"And how are you holding up?" she asked.
Delsin looked down at his hands. For a split second, he saw them covered in blood. It had been happening on and off since the Blast. But then, the image was gone from his eyes, even if it wasn't gone from his mind.
"Let's just say it'll be a while before I can say I'm ok," Delsin told her, "But I'll live."
Velvet pulled him into a gentle side-hug. The two of them sat there like that and watched their friends sleep. After a while, Delsin noticed his coffee cup was empty. He looked over to find that Velvet
had fallen asleep in her chair. So, he gently moved her hand off his shoulder and placed it in her lap as he stood to get more coffee.
He made his way to the coffee maker that Ozpin had generously set up near the door. He poured himself the last of the pot into his cup and took a long swig. He shook violently as the caffeine entered his system.
Next to him, Ozpin appeared and noticeably cleared his throat.
"Ah-hum," he said.
Delsin looked at him over his shoulder as he started making a new pot.
"Mr. Rowe, can I speak to you for a moment?"
Delsin set the pot down, hearing Oz's serious tone. Oz motioned for Delsin to follow him outside. The two of them left the ballroom and sat down on the front steps. Some of the destruction was visible even from where they sat. To Delsin's mild surprise, Ozpin pulled a flask out of his pocket and took a swig. He offered it to Delsin, and the Conduit took it and did the same then handed it back.
Ozpin sighed.
"You know, having lived in this world as long as I have, I'd come to believe I was getting good at dealing with tragedies," he said, "But when one strikes I realize again that that is impossible."
Ozpin shook his head.
"I won't ask how you are feeling. I feel the answer to that is obvious."
"Thanks," Delsin said, "So what did you want to talk about, Oz?"
Oz took another drink from his flask.
"I wanted to check in and take stock of the situation. I find a semblance of routine helps in situations like these. Have you... taken inventory as it were?"
It took a moment for Delsin to understand what Ozpin was talking about. When he did, he nodded.
"Yeah. When we got here, Eugene and I had them drain their reserves so they wouldn't hurt anyone by accident."
"I see. A good bit of foresight on your part," Oz commented, "And? What did you determine?"
"Well, we know Yang is some kind of Metal, if I had to guess, I'd say iron. Professor Goodwitch is definitely ice. We're pretty sure Jaune is telekinetic, which apparently comes with a whole bunch of other problems."
"Other problems?" Ozpin asked.
"I dunno, something Eugene said," Delsin said, "Ask him."
"I will. Please, continue."
"Ok, well, Velvet is a Sound Conduit."
"Hmm. I can't imagine a power like that would go well with a Faunus's historically sharp hearing."
"Actually it works just fine. When we had them unload on a destroyed building, Velvet's powers didn't phase her at all," Delsin said.
Oz raised an intrigued eyebrow.
"Interesting. And Mr. Halbridge?"
"According to Eugene: Masonry. He can manipulate bricks and mortar and stuff."
"Well, that would certainly help with the reconstruction effort. And what about Mr. Alistair and Ms. Rose? How did they come away from all of this?"
Delsin shrugged.
"Once we were clear, I got my powers back from them, but the Blast fused a bit into them. They have a little bit of the powers I loaned them, but I don't know how much. We'll get to that eventually, I guess."
"True. We do have more pressing concerns."
Ozpin pulled a file out of his coat pocket.
"I had my personal physician test the condition of the comatose students," he said, handing it to Delsin, "Most of it isn't really important, but if you read his summation on the last page..."
Delsin opened it up and flipped to the last page. At the bottom, there was a short paragraph.
'While the patients' bodies remain largely intact, the electricity levels in their nervous systems have fallen to extremely low levels. That being said, it's not that they are comatose as much as they don't have the levels of bio-electricity required for even the most basic levels of consciousness. The fact that they are alive at all is a miracle.
'Additionally, for reasons I cannot discern, their bodies seem unable to regenerate the bio-electricity they have lost and attempts to amplify what remains with Dust have failed. As such, it is uncertain as to whether or not they will ever regain consciousness.'
When he finished reading it, Delsin put the file down next to him. Under normal circumstances, he would be screaming in anger and frustration, but after the events of the last few days he was too exhausted for "angry." The best he could manage was a blank stare at the road in front of him.
"It is a bit hard to read, I understand," Oz said, "But we will find a way to help them."
Delsin stood up.
"I... I need to take a walk," he said.
Oz nodded. Delsin began to walk away, but one last question crossed Ozpin's mind before he got far.
"One last thing Mr. Rowe?"
Delsin managed to stop himself and turn back.
"How in the world did Ms. Valkyrie survive?"
Delsin shrugged.
"She's Nora?"
Ozpin mulled that over, then nodded as if the answer was perfectly plausible.
O00000O00000O
Yang sat next to her sister as she rested next to the beds of her teammates. Much like the rest, neither Weiss nor Blake had shown any kind of improvement, and that combined with everything else that had happened over the last few days often proved to be too much for the Rose Reaper.
Yang hadn't told her, but there were a couple ground up sleeping pills in the decaf coffee she had gotten her. That was probably the only reason the young girl was asleep at the moment. They weren't anything too strong, just enough to make sure Ruby got the rest she needed.
Once her sister fell asleep, Yang stood up to check on everyone. She never said it, but she often felt like she was everyone's big sister, and in a situation like this, that meant she had a whole lot of people to take care of. She checked on Team CFVY first. Velvet and Coco were both asleep fast asleep, which she kind of expected. For a moment she wondered where Delsin was, figuring he wouldn't leave Velvet's side, but then she remembered seeing him walk outside with Professor Ozpin a few minutes ago.
Then there was Glynda. Yang looked for her, but the professor was nowhere to be found. Yang suspected she was off training or something. Anything she could come up with in order to not be here. Yang understood the feeling.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw George Halbridge sitting at his husband's bedside. She found him to be the most worrying. As far as she had seen, he hadn't moved an inch since he sat down in that chair. Not for coffee, not for food, or anything else as far as she could tell.
She stopped by Nora and Jaune next. Jaune didn't say much. Most questions were met with one or two-word answers and he rarely left Pyrrha's side. Nora, however, was just fine. She was her normal bubbly self. Sure, she was sad that Ren was in a coma, but the sadness didn't seem to phase her even a little. It was incredible, especially since by any explanation she should be in a coma right along with him. Not so much as a whisper of Conduit power and the Valkyrie was perfectly fine.
She saw General Ironwood talking to Eugene near the front of the room. She was about to check on him but she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
Alex's mom was sitting next to her comatose son's bed. She was crying.
Yang walked over quietly and placed her arms around the woman. Maria leaned into the embrace and her quiet tears began to soak Yang's shirt. Yang didn't mind. She looked at Alex's unconscious body. He was pale. Looking at him, she couldn't help but wonder how she would feel if she were sitting here looking at her own son.
What made it worse, Yang really was sad to see Alex just laying there. Perhaps in part due to his persistence, but also due to his unyielding reliability and generally being a nice guy, Yang had actually started to care about him.
After a while, Alex's mom stopped managed to stop crying. As she wiped her eyes clear, she looked up at Yang.
"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, trying to laugh herself back to a neutral emotional state, "It's just-"
"It's a lot. I get it," Yang said.
She sat down and looked at Alex again.
"You know, I was afraid this would happen," Maria said.
Yang looked at her.
"I didn't want him to go to Beacon. I wanted him to stay home with his family," she continued, "But once he sets his mind to something, it takes a miracle to get him off it."
Yang smirked.
"I noticed that," she said.
"I'm sure," Maria replied.
Maria placed a hand on her son's arm.
"He was so strong. Even when he was little, he's always been strong," she said, "Seeing him like this... I wish I'd never let him come here."
She sighed.
"Too little too late, I suppose," she said.
"Don't beat yourself up too hard," Yang said gently, "He would have come here anyway, we both know that."
Maria nodded, a sad smile on her face.
"And honestly, I'm kind of glad he did," Yang continued.
Maria looked at her with an expression halfway between anger and confusion.
"Despite how he looks right now, he's helped us a lot. He stopped Roman Torchwick from escaping a few months ago, he put a stop to pretty much all of the Faunus bullying here, and he's always at the ready whenever anyone needs him. Honestly, I don't want to think about what Beacon would be without him."
Yang almost didn't catch the sly smile that formed on Maria's face as she said that last part. The older woman nodded.
"Thank you for that. I appreciate it," she said, "But nothing will ever stop a mother from worrying."
Yang smiled ruefully.
"If only," she thought, thinking about a certain absentee parent of her own.
At that moment, Alex's sister walked back over to them.
"Hey mom, coffee's ready," she said.
"Oh, thank you, Terra," Maria said, rocketing to her feet.
Maria quickly left.
"In her words, it's her only vice," Terra said as she watched her mom leave.
Yang smiled and stood up to go.
"Hey," Terra said gently.
"Hm?"
"I heard what you said to her," she said, "Thank you for that."
Yang smiled again.
"Any time."
O00000O00000O
Eugene was sitting at the front of the room, right next to the door. At the moment, he had over thirty Wingmen out in the city clearing debris and helping wherever possible, as well as another fifteen guarding the building. Normally if he tried to summon that many he wouldn't be able to move, but the Ray-Sphere Blast had increased his abilities substantially. Even still, he didn't move much from his spot. He didn't see much need too.
He sat there for hours, simply watching as people milled about the room. After a while, a gloved hand appeared in front of his face, holding out a cup of coffee. Eugene turned to see General Ironwood taking a sip from his own coffee cup.
Silently, Eugene accepted the cup and took a long drink. The General sat down next to him, placing his cup down on the ground beside him.
"In case you were wondering," the General said, "It does get easier."
"I wasn't," Eugene replied, his voice lacking much emotion.
General Ironwood looked at him. Eugene's eyes were locked onto the far wall, and almost entirely vacant. The General recognized that look. He'd seen it on several of his men after major Grimm attacks had wiped out their units.
For a while, the General just sat with him silently. Eventually, it was Eugene who broke the silence.
"May I ask you a question, General Ironwood," he said, maintaining his monotone.
The General nodded.
"Go ahead," he said gently.
"As a soldier, I would assume you have lost fellow soldiers before."
James wasn't expecting him to be that blunt about it, but life had taught him to roll with the punches so to speak.
"Yes, I have."
"And continuing from that assumption, one can similarly assume that you have lost civilians as well."
James gulped. There were several bad memories floating around his head related to that very subject. Many of them were...overwhelming.
"Yes. I have."
"So then allow me to ask: How do you deal with it when you know that the people who died ended up as nothing more than fuel to make you stronger? Whether you wanted that or not?" Eugene asked. James could faintly hear a crack form in his emotionless mask.
He turned to the boy.
"One day, you'll find yourself with a list of everyone whose death you've witnessed, no matter what the circumstances are behind how they did. It won't be a list you've written down, you won't have to. Those names will stay with you for a long while. But that list will have a weight to it. And that weight will only get bigger. So, you can either let it crush you, or you can keep moving forward.
"That's what most people would have you believe."
Eugene turned.
"You see, no one can truly help you carry that weight. They can try, and it can work for a while too, but eventually, it will fall back to you and you alone. However, that doesn't have to be the case. You wanted to know how I deal with the pain? The weight?"
Ironwood smiled.
"I live for them all. I learn about the people I've lost and I add their lives to mine. I care for the ones they've left behind. I find something they loved to do and I do it. Do that, and I promise, the people on your list will end up helping you carry it. And they will never leave."
Eugene looked at him thoughtfully. Slowly, a smile formed on his face.
"Thank you, General."
"Any time," James replied.
Slowly, Eugene got up.
"Before you go," James said, "I have something I need to show you."
Eugene turned again. General Ironwood revealed that a large case had been sitting in the chair next to him. Eugene had, understandably, not noticed it. Either way, the General picked it up and moved it to a nearby table. Eugene followed him.
"I had intended to show this to both you and Delsin together, but given the circumstances..." General Ironwood said, trailing off at the end.
The Atlesian General opened the container. Inside was a strange looking device. It was a primarily a rectangular prism reminiscent of a camera, with two additional handles on the sides as if it were a go-kart steering wheel. There was a screen on the center of the face of the prism facing him, further adding to the camera aspect of the device, but instead of some kind of photo image on the display, there was only a single line, much like that of a medical heart monitor.
"Ok... what is it?" Eugene asked.
"My scientists developed it to identify the energy given off by Blast Shards and Cores, to use your words. We don't know exactly how far it's range is, but all you have to do is point it in a certain direction and it will tell you if there is a Ray Energy response in that direction and how far away it is. We call it the Ray-Scanner."
The General smiled as he turned back to Eugene. The smile quickly evaporated when he saw the look on Eugene's face.
"So, you made a device to track us," Eugene said, barely concealing his anger. His blue Video energy began to swirl around his now-closed fist, "Just like every other military asshole we've ever seen."
General Ironwood gulped. He may have been an accomplished soldier but he did not want to fight a Conduit, especially one with years of practice using his powers.
"And here I thought you might be better than that," Eugene said.
He raised a glowing hand.
"You have three seconds to leave the building," he continued harshly.
General Ironwood raised two hands in surrender.
"If you want me to go, I will. Just let me say one last thing."
Eugene narrowed his eyes and stood unmoving.
"The device needs an active sample of Ray Energy in order to function."
Eugene raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it needs a Conduit in order to run. In fact, only a Conduit can use it."
Eugene lowered his hand and the energy in it died down.
"Explain."
The General cleared his throat.
"No matter what we do, we can't replicate Ray Energy or it's effects in our labs. We can't even keep accurate readings of it electronically because it changes so much that by the time we've recorded one of its states it would already have shifted to an entirely new and completely random one. So instead, we built a device that can receive energy from external sources and then detect similar energies. And since Conduits generate Ray Energy-"
"The device picks up on it and starts searching for similar energy signatures," Eugene said, finishing for the General.
Ironwood nodded.
"In theory at least. We don't have any viable test subjects and the Blast Shards we had burnt out weeks ago," The General said.
Eugene gave him a quizzical look.
"A side effect of their transmutation," Ironwood explained, "We did manage to test it on electricity though, and that worked well enough, so it should be fully functional. Care to try it out? It will beep when it gets a reading."
Eugene turned back to the device, sitting idle in its case. Gingerly, he reached out and picked it up.
O00000O00000O
Jaune was sitting at Pyrrha's bedside when he felt something. He didn't know what it was, but it felt like someone was poking him in the shoulder, over and over.
"What is that?" he whispered.
He tried to ignore it, but the feeling persisted. Somehow, he could feel where it was coming from. He poked his head around the privacy screen surrounding Pyrrha's bed. At the front of the room, he saw Eugene holding a strange box-like device and staring right at him.
"Hey, Eugene," Jaune said, confused, "Help you with something?"
Eugene shook his head and turned away. The second he did, Jaune felt the sensation subside. The Knight shook his head and dismissed it, then returned to his friend's bedside.
No one knew yet, but he had actually asked her out the day before the Breach. Their first date would have been the day after they got back. He had even bought a new Tuxedo for the occasion. By his count, that was three days ago.
Three, very agonizing days.
"Don't worry Pyrrha. We'll fix you up. I promise."
O00000O00000O
"Well, it works," Eugene said.
"Interesting. I didn't think Ray Fields could create that kind of connection," General Ironwood said.
"Neither did I," Eugene said, "But no one really understands them and the research in our world never got that far. Or far at all, really."
"Hm. Well, either way," the General said.
Eugene set the Ray-Scanner down on the table, facing away from everybody. He didn't hear it, but the device beeped softly as he set it down.
O00000O00000O
Far away, a man with a scar over his eye and a shaved head perked up. He felt the same sensation that Jaune had felt.
"What the hell?" he said, a southern accent coloring his voice.
Just as it came, the feeling was gone. The man shook his head.
O00000O00000O
"I know what this device means for you and people like you," The General said, gesturing to the other occupants of the room, "Which is why I'm leaving you with the only prototype."
Eugene raised an eyebrow.
"I've also instructed my researchers to destroy all of their data pertaining to its creation. No one but you will ever have it," General Ironwood continued, "I know that you don't have much reason to trust me and that your previous experience with military types leaves a lot to be desired. So, let me make this first step towards earning your trust."
General Ironwood held out a hand. Eugene was understandably skeptical, but he nodded and decided to give the man a fair chance. He extended his hand and the two shook. The General smiled but felt the Scroll in his pocket buzz. He took it out to check it.
"A general's work is never done," he said with a sigh, "If you will excuse me."
Eugene smiled and nodded. The general turned to leave. Eugene picked up the Ray-Scanner to put it away. But, the moment his fingers gripped the handles, the device started beeping. The General turned back quickly.
"What is it?" he said.
Eugene shook his head. He was facing away from the rest of the people in the room, so the device couldn't have been responding to them, but it was clearly responding to something.
O00000O00000O
Once again, the man with the scar felt the sensation. It nagged at him, so much so that on a hunch he closed his eyes and tried to focus in on where the sensation was coming from. To his utter dismay, he felt something electronic on the other end.
"Oh, baby," he said in excitement, "Come on, let's do this!"
He shut his eyes even tighter, focusing as hard as he could.
O00000O00000O
All of a sudden, the Ray-Scanner began beeping loudly, so loudly Eugene almost dropped it.
"What's happening?!" Velvet shouted, her hands covering her ears.
"I don't know!" Eugene shouted.
Eugene quickly put the thing down and the beeping stopped abruptly. Several of the other people gathered in the room began to gather around them, including Ozpin who came in form outside.
"What in the world was that?" Maria Roman asked.
"I have no idea," Eugene said.
"Nor do I," The General said, "There must be a bug in it. I'll take it back and have it fixed, then return it to you when it's repaired."
Eugene nodded. General Ironwood placed the device back in its case and picked it up. As he was leaving, something about the beeping was eating at him. As he thought about it, he could have sworn it was almost...
His eyes widened as realization dawned.
"Wait!" he exclaimed.
The General stopped.
"Bring that back here and get me something to write with," Eugene said.
"Mr. Sims, what is it?" Ozpin asked.
"The beeping," he said, "It had a pattern."
Ruby appeared next to him, holding a pen and paper.
"Here," she said, holding it out to Eugene.
"Thanks."
Without touching the handles, Eugene took the Ray-Scanner from its case and turned to face the same direction he'd been facing when the beeping started.
"Jaune?"
"Yeah?" the blonde Knight asked.
"Come here," Eugene said.
Jaune came over. Eugene placed the Ray-Scanner in his hands.
"Take this, and hold it right here," he said, maneuvering the device. The beeping started again, though much quieter than the first time.
"Don't move, not even a little," Eugene continued as he began to translate the beeps.
The beeps kept repeating, over and over again. Some beeps were long and some short. After a minute Eugene stopped.
"Somebody get Delsin back here," Eugene said.
"Mr. Sims, what is going on?"
"The beeps did have a pattern. Morse Code."
When he saw the blank looks people were giving him, he kept going.
"On my world, Morse code was developed as a tool to send messages over long distances by a series of long and short beeps. Every group of beeps forms a letter and by putting them together we could spell out words."
"So someone was using this thing to send you a message?" Jaune said.
"Exactly," Eugene said with a nod.
"And?" Ozpin asked, "What was the message?"
Eugene held up the paper. The message was only one word.
"Conduit."
CHAPTER END
I can't find the right words to express it in dialogue so let me just say it plainly: I'm really excited. Next chapter, we get to a big reveal that I have been waiting for since I started this project and that you guys have been asking about for a looooong time.
A hint? The title of the next chapter: "Thunderstorm."
Oh, and just because I don't want to waste dialogue on the issue, No, Nora is not Cole's mystery daughter (though I admit that if I had thought of that earlier, it would be the case). Nora survived the Blast simply because she has about five times the average amount of neuroelectricity in her body and the Ray Sphere takes the same amount of neuroelectricity from each person, at least in my personal canon. So, to paraphrase what I said in the chapter: Nora survived because Nora is Nora.
Now, I want to thank everyone who submitted characters for our little contest. Truly, if I could put more than one of them in, I would. Unfortunately, I simply don't have the room. As for who the winner is... well, read on.
I did promise a special something for them.
O00000O00000O
After the Blast, a young woman was lying among the ruins. Even after a week, no one had found her. It was no wonder really; she was small, only barely over 5'4", and had been hiding in what was once a back alley. Not an uncommon place for this particular Faunus to be found, as she typically tricked most of her targets into coming to places like this.
As she lay there, passed out on the cold ground, something happened. A powerful feeling pulsed through her entire body. She woke with a start, hyperventilating like waking from a nightmare. Her heart was racing but she had no idea why.
After a minute, she managed to calm herself down a bit. Slowly, the girl stood up, brushing her pale blonde hair out of her eyes. She limped to the end of the alley and made her way out.
She nearly fell over again when she saw the city.
The girl rubbed her neck, horrible awe overwhelming her senses.
"What the hell happened here?" she asked.
Just then, the same sensation that woke her up wracked her body. Fire began to spring from her hands. The heat was intense, not like that of a fire used to survive. This was the fire that burned down buildings, wiped out forests.
Dorado Arachne looked down at her hands in fear.
"What's happening to me?"
O00000O00000O
A very special thanks again to everyone who entered, Subject ZeroOne, Ninetails the Nine Tailed Fox, Sif the Great, and congratulations to TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere: You won the contest.
Now as I said, this was really a hard decision to make, and if at some later date I can add in more of your OC's I will try. Now, Stranger, please keep an eye on your inbox, I should be in touch within a couple of days so we can discuss moving forward.
See you next time!
