Chapter 16
After Menagerie accepted to disown the white fang, the Jedi padawan Rosa Reidan was thrown from an airship. During the week she was lost, she had fallen to the dark side of the force. She was defeated by all of her friends and her master, and she has no recollection of the events…
Teams RWBY and JNPR gathered to discuss what they should do. Rosa was still in the bacta tank, having been given a drug that would keep her in slumber until she was determined to be safe.
"She's, our friend." Weiss said.
"She also tried to kill us." Nora said.
"We don't know what happened out there." Ruby said.
The discussion was going nowhere. The Jedi were summoned to stand before the Jedi council and did so. All the padawans stood before the council, waiting for someone to start the meeting. Mace Windu started.
"As you know, we have been discussing the incident with Rosa. First, we would like to congratulate you for helping put a stop to the rampage. Second, we'd like to say that we are confident that Rosa has returned to normal. Master Maku has blocked her memories and her connection to the dark side. We will reinstate Rosa under heavy supervision. We also have decided it is time, all of you who have not created your lightsaber, you are now offered the chance to start that trial." Mace Windu said.
The padawans bowed and left, except for Ruby. Mace Windu rose an eyebrow at her.
"Masters… I have a question. Somehow, Rosa got a tattoo, and I can feel a dark presence in it. How won't this affect her?" Ruby asked.
"Your concern for your teammate is appreciated. We don't know what the mark means yet, but the presence that you felt is fading slowly." Shaak Ti said.
"Thank you, masters." Ruby said. "How can we help Rosa?"
"At this point, we believe she just needs people to stand with her." Kit Fisto said. Ruby nodded and left.
Rosa bobbed in the tank, feeling groggy. She opened her eyes and felt perfectly fine. She tried to reach out with the force, but she couldn't. She couldn't focus on anything. She saw a blur of black in front of her.
"Here you are little Jedi. So close, yet so far from my reach. Don't worry, we haven't forgotten you, though you may have forgotten us. You are still known to our lady. Here, your reward." The figure placed something on a desk close to her. She tried to look at it but couldn't focus. She closed her eyes again.
Maku finished recreating his lightsaber and held his new lightsaber in his hand. He looked where his arm used to be and remembered how much of a threat Rosa was. She would have killed him if Sun hadn't appeared. He needed to finally replace his arm. He could never get that close to losing to her.
If he couldn't kill her, then he would have failed.
Nora got out of the cave with a smile on her face. She held out the crystal in her hand while Plo Koon stood outside. The other Jedi masters were there, with Pyrrha and Weiss.
"What did you experience?" Plo Koon asked.
"It was hard. I must have climbed for half an hour." Nora said.
"So it was more physical?" Plo asked.
"Yeah, but there was this one point where I had to listen carefully to the force. Six different paths appeared in front of me, so I listened to the force. It led me to a massive gap between one side and the other. It was too far for me to jump, but the force pushed me to keep going, so I took a step, and found that the path existed, it was just invisible." Nora said.
"A leap of faith, well done. Let's see the crystal." Plo said. Nora showed him an orange crystal.
"Amazing that it matches my hair, right?" Nora said. Plo put his hand on Nora's shoulder.
"This is a great thing you have." Plo said.
"I know." Nora said, holding her crystal.
Jaune and Blake left the cave at the same time. Jaune seemed shocked to see Blake, and Blake just laughed.
"Did you see something in there Jaune?" Kit Fisto asked.
"I saw a shadow going after everyone. That's why I was shocked to see Blake. I thought she was the shadow for a second." Jaune said.
"A shadow?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah. It tried to show me some strange things, like this woman with a deathly white face, someone wearing a white mask with red markings, and hundreds of small shadows." Jaune said.
"You may have had a vision of the past. In fact, that sounds like the Jedi civil war and purge." Kit Fisto said.
"When was that?" Jaune asked.
"About four thousand years ago." Kit said.
"How long ago? How old is the order?" Jaune asked.
"Depends on if you mean before or after the great schism, but I would say about twenty-five thousand years old." Kit Fisto said.
"…What? That's impossibly old." Jaune said.
"Nothing is impossible with the force. What about you Blake, what did you see?" Kit said.
"I saw a ghost of my past. It looked like a Sith to me and took the form of my old mentor… who leads the white fang. He was a Sith and tried to get me to join him."
"Perhaps that is a result of seeing Rosa like she was recently. We can feel that you resisted that pull. Well done." Mace Windu said.
"Thank you masters." She held out the green crystal.
"We have the same color." Jaune said. They looked at each other's crystals and saw the bright green. Kit gave them a smile.
"Your connection to the living force must be strong. We only have three more in there now." Kit said.
"It's been a long time since I took a group of Padawans to get their crystals. Thankfully this time, it's nowhere near as cold." Shaak Ti said with a smile. "I wonder what has happened to Illum now with the Jedi gone."
"May the force watch over it. But we must assume the new order took it from us." Plo Koon said.
Ren exited the cave, using the force to make a hole in the ground five meters from the exit. He used the force to jump out of the cave, holding two yellow crystals.
"Yellow?" Nora asked.
"Does yellow stand for something?" Ren asked the masters.
"It does. Those who use them most of the time choose a balance between scholarly and physical aspects of being a Jedi. Other times the crystal represents the overcoming of great challenges. Most yellow crystals are old." Plo Koon said.
"And orange?" Nora asked.
"For you Nora, I believe it represents compassion, diplomacy, and full allegiance to the light side of the Force. I wielded one during the stark hyperspace war about two decades ago." Plo said.
"We're waiting on Ruby and Yang now." Weiss said meditating.
Yang continued to walk down the cave hallway. She ran her hand along the wall, feeling a call to her. She heard a crow from a raven.
"Mom." She said. She saw her birth in a vision on the wall. She also saw the people her mother was around. Bandits, killers, and dark Jedi. She knew they were anti-Jedi and anti-Sith. Her mother looked at her and sighed.
"I can't give you the life you need here." She rubbed the blonde hair on her baby's head. "These people aren't good people. I'm not a good person. But your father is."
Yang finished breastfeeding and sat asleep in Raven's arms. Raven put her finger on Yang's head and created a spot on it. It looked like Raven's emblem.
"Now, I can help you whenever you need it." Raven held her child in her arms. "This isn't going to be easy on either of us. Your father must hate me. Your uncle does. But you need stability, and I can't give you that. Tai can."
She saw her mother drop her off at her home.
She felt that vision fade. A shadow stood in front of her. It changed forms to look like Rosa. It took out a red lightsaber.
"Not one step closer." It said. It sounded just like Rosa. Yang felt her eyes change, and her anger rise.
"Don't." She said. The shadow flourishes with the lightsaber smirking at Yang. Yang stepped forward. It laughed and the shadow grabbed at itself. It groped itself. Yang felt the rage in her increase tenfold. It smirked at Yang, knowing this pissed her off. It would see how far it could push this.
"Don't violate her image." Yang said.
"This annoys you. Oh, the things I can do in this form." The shadow said. Yang rushed forward, throwing a punch at the shadow. Her fist went through the shadow, and she landed on the opposite wall. She rose up her hand, sending out a massive force push, throwing the shadow back.
"Good." The shadow said.
"Go to hell," Yang said. She sent out another force push, which was stopped by the shadow. It smirked as the red light shot out of its fingers hitting Yang. She felt that pull on her again. Like her soul was being ripped out of her.
"It's not real." She heard a voice she recognized.
"Mom?" She heard Summer's voice.
"That's right Yang. This isn't real."
Yang wanted to tell her it was, but she still felt pain.
"Open your eyes." Summer's voice said. She did but didn't see the red light. She looked up and saw the shadow wasn't there. She did see a white rose in the wall.
"Mom? Was that you?" Yang asked. She didn't hear anything. She looked around her and felt the pull again.
Ruby ended her recent meditation. The shadow faded from view. She felt the light in her. The emblem on the wall was her mother's. The darkness that was tugging on her ever since she entered the cave was gone. It was as if a flash of the light side banished the shadow. She used her semblance to move up in the air, getting to a ledge she couldn't see before. The crystals were calling her.
Yang was the first one out of the cave.
"It was so easy to get. It was just…right there all along." Yang said. Everyone turned to her. She held out her crystal, and the light hit the purple crystal. Mace Windu smiled seeing the crystal.
"I'm impressed Padawan." He took out his newly forged lightsaber. It was based of the design of his old one, but with more humble materials used. The purple light shown.
"You rebuilt your lightsaber." Shaak Ti said.
"Yes, and now, I won't be alone with the amethyst color." Windu said.
Ruby was the last one out of the cave. She looked around and saw everyone else there.
"Did anyone else see a shadow in there?" Ruby asked.
"It seems shadows are popular tests in there." Plo said.
"Ruby, did you hear mom's voice?" Yang asked. Ruby was shocked, then shook her head. The masters all shifted, looking at one another. Kit didn't have a smile for once.
"Your mother is dead is she not?" Mace asked.
"She is… but I heard her when the shadow was about to overtake me." Yang said.
"And I felt her light in me. Then saw her emblem on the wall." Ruby said.
"This test is known for the force giving illusions. Some have said to see the dead." Shaak Ti said.
"This is a discussion for the council. For now, we have congratulations to give to six padawans. You all passed this trial. As such, you can now build lightsabers. And in accordance to this planet's traditions, this is when you chose your Jedi apparel and can receive a Jedi tattoo." Mace said.
"By the way, what is you crystal's color Ruby?" Weiss asked.
"Crystals actually, and they're Silver, like my eyes." She held out the two silver crystals.
"Do they have a meaning?" Pyrrha asked.
"Silver is extremely rare. They are different from the crystals normally used here, or in the temple. They normally come from the desert planet of Tatooine. The Halcyon family is most known for them. But it was known to be used by the Jedi Exile, or some of the legends say." Plo Koon said.
"What do they stand for?" Ruby asked.
"Nejaa Halcyon, one of the Jedi who died early on in the war, told me they represent the purity of heart. He also said a silver lightsaber blade may connote neutrality, elegance, calm, and balance." Plo said.
"Nejaa, a good man." Shaak Ti said.
"Now, it is time to return to school." Kit said.
They went back to Beacon. Ruby went to Rosa. She was still bobbing in the tank unconscious. Ruby went over to the tank and put her hand on it.
"We all passed our trail to get a lightsaber crystal. We'll all be getting those tattoos soon. I just want you here with us. I don't know what happened to you, but it wasn't right. You weren't you. That tattoo on your back shows that. That dark woman we saw wasn't the teammate we'd all come to love. It took your face, your body, but it wasn't you." Ruby said.
Rosa opened her eyes and saw Ruby. She placed her hand on the tank. The blurriness faded from her eyes, and she was able to open the tank. She coughed as she got out of the tank. Her body felt weak, and Ruby had to help her out of the tank with the force. Rosa laid on a bed, dripping as the strength slowly came back to her limbs.
"What happened? Weren't we on our way to Blake's home?" Rosa said.
"We already did that. You fell out of the airship and nearly died." Ruby said. It wasn't truly a lie, but she didn't need to know how far she had fallen.
"Oh…" Rosa tried to lift her hand to the light, but it fell back down. She felt a massive wave of exhaustion crash over her.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know. I can barely feel anything right now. I don't know if I even feel my face." Ruby poked it, and Rosa looked at her.
"I can't feel that," Rosa said. "I mean I know you're doing it, but I can't feel it. Was I drugged?"
"You were in a vat of the wonder drug." Ruby said.
"That's not what I mean." Rosa said. "It feels like I was given a muscle relaxant."
"Does that mean I'm going to need to dress you?" Ruby asked.
"I'd rather not be naked," Rosa said. "I mean this bacta underwear isn't naked, but you know what I mean."
"How are those comfortable?" Ruby said.
"They aren't." Rosa said. Ruby sighed and locked the door.
"If we weren't such good friends, I would never do this." Ruby got Rosa out of her bacta suit and helped her get on her own clothes.
"How many of my teammates will I see naked?" Ruby asked.
"I think you have just Blake left." Rosa said with a smile, helping where she could, but moving was a challenge for her.
"When you get back to the dorm, you may find it rather busy. Everyone, besides you three that already have a lightsaber, have earned our crystals." Ruby said. Rosa smiled and tried to hug Ruby, but her back dropped back.
"Those drugs must have been strong. Why was I given them anyway?" Rosa asked as she got pants on with Ruby's help.
"To stop a poison that ran through you if I remember correctly. A sith poison, that took all of us to stop you from killing yourself. Master Maku gave you the drug to keep you asleep to heal you completely. But I'm surprised he isn't here." Ruby said.
"Why does my back hurt?" Rosa said.
"Somehow, when you were on the ground, you got a tattoo from somewhere." Ruby brought her hand to the spot of the tattoo. Rosa felt around it with a questioning look.
"Somehow? Someone just came and gave me a tattoo?" Rosa asked.
"We have no idea what it means." Ruby said. Ruby grabbed Rosa's hair and wrapped it in a towel.
"I may need help getting back to the dorm." Rosa said.
"At this point I guessed that." Ruby said. "Let's hope this wears off before you need to take a shower."
"Let's."
Weiss tried to open the door to see Rosa, but it was locked. Immediately she got worried. Rosa was defenseless. She held out her hand and used the force to flip the switch. She opened the door and saw Ruby helping get Rosa dressed. Her cheeks flushed.
"I thought I locked the door." Ruby said.
"You did… I unlocked it with the force." Weiss said.
"Good thing you didn't open it up when we took off her clothes. That would have been embarrassing." Ruby said.
"It's still kind of embarrassing having my tits out for the world to see." Rosa said. Ruby and Weiss hurried up to finish dressing Rosa.
"Are the drugs still working?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah. I can't even use the force to grab my lightsaber over there. Who brought it in anyway?" Rosa asked.
They looked at the lightsaber on the table, then looked at each other. They picked up the lightsaber and looked back at Rosa.
"This isn't your lightsaber, though it looks a lot like yours." Ruby turned it on, and a red blade shot out. She dropped the lightsaber and went to Rosa's side. She tried to move, but she couldn't because of the drug.
"Why is this here?" Weiss asked. She shot Ruby a look, and she shook her head.
"What is it?" Rosa asked.
"We think you are being followed by a Sith." Ruby said. Rosa fell back into bed. All her strength left her.
"Why?" She asked.
"We don't know." Weiss grabbed the sith lightsaber and Ruby grabbed onto Rosa.
"Hate to leave a mess, but you're both coming with me." She said. Weiss turned around before she felt Ruby's arm catch her and Rosa. They moved slower than when she was alone, but still really fast. Soon, they were standing in front of their dorm. Ruby opened the door and put Rosa down on her bed. Weiss took a second to get her balance.
"That was awful." Weiss said as she fell. Yang and Blake turned to the others.
"Weiss, can you take this to the masters?" Ruby asked.
"Why me?" She asked.
"Because you already have your lightsaber." Ruby said. Weiss was about to argue when Rosa gave her a smile.
"And tell them I'm out of the tank."
"Fine." Weiss said and went towards the temple. Blake and Yang looked at Rosa who tried to wave but couldn't.
"How are you doing?" Blake asked cautiously.
"Fine, besides the drugs. Still can't feel my limbs." Rosa said.
"Do you remember anything?" Yang asked.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? Did that dark side poison make me do things?" Rosa asked.
"It did." Ruby said. Rosa couldn't feel the worry in her. The others agreed with it.
"It made you attack Maku." Yang said.
"I attacked Maku? That must have been embarrassing. How could I manage against him? Even if I was in my right mind. I'm glad I don't remember any of this." Rosa said.
Blake and Yang looked toward Ruby. They all knew the story they agreed on telling Rosa. She was poisoned with a dark side toxin that made her a puppet, and she was defeated by Maku. All the truth from a certain point of view.
Rosa laid back, looking at the ceiling.
"Everything is numb. It takes everything out of me to just turn my head." She turned her head to watch them constructing lightsabers.
"Are you okay?" Blake asked.
"Just frustrated that my limbs aren't working. By the way, what colors did everyone get? Let me guess… Yang you got yellow, Blake you got Cyan, and Ruby got a reddish pink." Rosa said. They looked confused, looked at each other, then back at her.
"Cyan? Pinkish red? Are those even colors the crystals can be?" Yang asked.
"So that's a no. Did I get yours right Yang?" Rosa asked.
"No." Yang held out the purple crystal.
"Oh, that makes sense now. Blake…" Blake held the green lightsaber.
"I didn't see that coming… but when I think about it, it does make sense." Rosa said.
Rosa watched as they continued to build the lightsabers. Weiss returned with Maku in toe. He looked at Rosa and gave her a sigh of relief. The others looked at the master.
"Master? I'm sorry for the trouble I'm causing." Rosa said.
"How are you?" Maku asked. He came over to her putting his hand on her head.
"I can't really move yet." Rosa said.
"Strange… The drug should have exited your system." Maku said. "We gave you the last dose when you entered the Bacta tank."
Rosa took a few deep breaths. She tried moving something with the force, but nothing happened.
"I can't feel anything right now." Rosa said.
"Maybe the drug was administered one additional time. It should leave your system by the night. Be careful." Maku said. He got up and left. The padawans continued to work on building their lightsabers.
The white fang assembled at the city of Oniyuri, a city in ruins. Adam gathered together his forces. The white fang stood in front of him, listening to his speech.
"My Brothers and Sisters, we are about to enter into an age of power our people have never held before. Not only do we have the Sith and their forces on our side, but the greatest covert army ever created." Adam said.
"We'll go where we need to go." One of the captains shouted.
"I know, and I thank you all for your readiness. We are fighting an army that wishes to murder all of our kind. Look at the ruins of Vettom. They massacred us like animals. Look at the crimes of Hellio, Gradeous, Bordo, and countless others." The names cities had Faunus lynchings, rapes, murders, and hate crimes. Most of the latest recruits have been from those places.
"Fuck Hellio!" Shouted one of the new recruits. She was a victim of the humans there. Adam found her himself, violated. He found the ten humans who raped her and killed them violently. She joined his army, and sadly, it wasn't a unique story.
"Our enemy is fighting with a group of people who were cloned. The Sith master has given us this gift." He stepped to the side, and four of the same figures stood there. While the first objective of the attack on the Atlas academy failed. This secondary objective was a success. Salem had used the body of the dead clone and used DNA from unknown sources to Adam. The clones were the children of the original clone in a way. They had many of the features of the clone, but they were different from the other set of DNA. They turned out to be faunas.
"This is the first batch of new Clones. They were created to fight with us. We are creating thousands of them at the moment. They take one year to be completed. The long-forgotten art of cloning was lost to all but the Sith! Now, the humans will face our fierce new warriors. Where shall we attack first?" Adam asked.
The shouts of many cities rang out. Adam looked at the woman who shouted and smiled at her.
"Our target will be Hellio." Adam said with a smile.
Cyan walked towards the Jedi's dorm. He needed to check in on her. It had been a week since she woke up, and when his gift for her was discovered. He knocked on the dorm for team RRWBY, and Rosa opened the door.
"Cyan? What are you doing here?" Rosa asked.
"Just checking in on you. It's been a while since I saw you." Cyan said with a smile.
"I'm sorry." She left the room, letting her teammates finish their lightsabers. She walked with Cyan.
"I heard you were in the middle of one of the attacks. The white fang are stronger than anyone thought." Cyan said.
"They got help." Rosa said.
"I guess they do." Cyan said.
They walked to the balcony. Cyan walked to the edge. He overlooked the dorm grounds, looking at the people walking.
"Something's changed with the white fang. They got bolder. They got more numbers. I can't even argue that their cause isn't a good one." Cyan said.
"What do you mean? They're terrorists." Rosa said.
"I know. But they're fighting now because the leaders didn't listen to them. Did you hear what happened in Gradeous?" Cyan asked.
"No." Rosa said.
"A group of people lynched Faunas. Dozens of innocent faunas were hanging from streetlamps. The Jedi have power, and they say they stand for justice, but they haven't lifted a single finger to help them. And that's the start. The local officials shut down all faunus businesses. How can the Jedi just stand aside and let this happen? Are the Sith really so evil that we can just ignore these injustices? And what about the reports of rape?" Cyan said.
"What?" Rosa said.
"Gradeous isn't the only city like this. Look at Atlas. Faunus murder has skyrocketed, but the Jedi are out there killing Faunus on the front lines. It's hardly safe to be a female Faunus right now. They're killing the men, then raping the women. Sometimes they go to a home with a married couple and rape the wife in front of the husband, then murder both of them. But that just gets swept under the fucking rug. It disgusts me to the core that sick fucks like that are the first ones to volunteer to fight the white fang." Cyan said.
"Why is this happening?" Rosa asked.
"Because no one is stopping it, Rosa." Cyan said.
"I'll take this information to the Jedi council." Rosa said.
"Do you think that will help? The Jedi must know this is happening." Cyan let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. That was out of line for me. No one knows how many Jedi there are. But I still hate those raping fuckers." Cyan said.
"How long have you wanted to talk about this?" Rosa put her hand on Cyan's shoulder. He turned to her and smiled.
"Ever since you came back from Atlas… but you've been busy." His smile faded. "I'm putting too much on you."
"Hey, don't ever feel like you can't talk to me." Rosa said.
"We've entered into some dark times." Cyan said. He hugged Rosa. She felt awkward about it at first, then hugged him back. She couldn't feel the smile on Cyan's face. She can't see the Jedi as all benevolent anymore, or the white fang as evil. He just needed to muddy everything for her, then show her the truth she's forgotten.
As night fell, Maku ended his meditation. He felt no deception from Rosa's report of the atrocities in Mistral and Atlas. He sent a squad of clones to find out about the atrocities and waited on them. Until they got back, Maku got back to learning how to use his new arm. He also worked on his lightsaber combat.
The images of Rosa flashed through his mind. She wondered if he ever touched her. The idea made him sick, but if she found out about his special force ability, he could understand that. She fell so fast and became so powerful. Without the intervention of the others, he would be dead. He wondered if that would have been better. He lost all faith in his apprentice. And she was good with the lightsaber.
She hurt him and the others. The Zabrak in him surged, and he felt anger flooding his system. He had to stop himself. Sweat rushed down his face, and he dropped his lightsaber. He knew he shouldn't feel angry about what Rosa did. He didn't know what happened to her. He knows that if she found out about what he's done to her, she would probably fall, but he can't let himself feel anger.
He put his lightsaber away and went to sleep. He needed rest. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep, sleeping a dreamless night away. He let his guard down.
Cinder appeared from one of the shadows and went over to the sleeping Jedi master. She smiled as he couldn't detect her. She reached a hand out and started sifting through his memories. She smiled as she found everything. Including the most important thing of all. He planned on killing Rosa when he was about to die. She sat on his chest and put her hands on his head. He still couldn't feel her.
She put her hand to his throat, but he still couldn't feel her. She was glad they dampened this room before. She thought about killing him here. She was so tempted. She could do it so easily. Instead, she wanted to haunt him. She bent down and planted a kiss on Maku's lips.
She smirked as he didn't move. She opened Maku's robes and looked at his chest. She took out a knife and used the dark side to force Maku to stay asleep. The knife danced along Maku's skin, surfing in a river of blood with every slice. Blood slowly fell down his body. She put her finger on the blood and licked it. She smiled as she returned to her work.
LIAR
KILLER
The blood dripped of her knife, and Maku was still asleep. She cut the message on his chest and stomach. She brought the knife above his eye and smirked. The dark side radiated off her now, but she didn't care. She dropped the spell that kept Maku asleep a second before she cut his eye.
She jumped off him and vanished. Jedi rushed into Maku's room to him holding his eye. Blood ran down his hand. He fell out of his bed, covered in his own blood.
Maku was immediately rushed to the medical wing of the temple. The Jedi doctors used the force to close all the wounds, but it left scars. They all knew the eye was destroyed. They immediately went into surgery to replace the eye.
Rosa was screaming in her bed, feeling every cut. Her own skin reddened with the message. Her teammates tried to calm her down, but they couldn't do anything. She ripped of her clothing and saw the words on her chest and stomach.
Then she felt it in her eye. The most painful of all. Her hands ran up to her eye, clutching at it as team JNPR rushed in. Rosa hadn't stopped screaming as she felt the surgery take place. Whatever Maku felt, she felt, except she didn't have the luxury of the force dampening the pain.
Jaune tried to help her when she stood up, only wearing the bottom half of her clothing. He saw what was causing this.
"Liar?" Jaune said.
"Killer?" Ren said.
Then they quickly realized what they were seeing and turned away. She fell on her back, holding her eye.
"It hurts!" She screamed. Jaune knew the basics of force healing, but she smacked him away when he tried to help.
"Don't take my eye!" She yelled.
"Rosa, it's me, Jaune. I'm not going to take your eye."
Rosa's every nerve seemed to be activated, and she flailed every way. It was a terrifying sight to see. Some others came to the door, but Yang and Nora stopped anyone from entering.
"What's going on? Goodwitch yelled.
"Professor! We need you!" Yang yelled. The students got out of the way for her as she entered. She looked at Rosa and turned back to the students.
"Get back to your dorms!" Goodwitch shouted. Everyone went back to their dorms, leaving team JNPR and RRWBY alone.
Rosa stopped screaming, laying down on the floor. She took deep breaths trying to calm down. Her voice was hoarse.
"Help me." She said. She was covered in sweat. The marks on her slowly faded, then she started convulsing.
Maku felt the pain rush through him. He was poisoned by the kiss Cinder gave him without him knowing. He felt his organs were on fire, and he began to scream. The Jedi tried to calm him down, but the poison attacked his nerves.
"Poison!" he yelled. He felt his organs burning. He knew he was getting close to death. He wondered if they were going to get the poison before he died.
Rosa started screaming again. Jaune rushed to her side and held out his hands. They started glowing with the force.
"Work dammit!" He yelled. She kept thrashing and screaming.
"What's causing this?" Goodwitch asked.
"We don't know." Yang said.
"Blake, Pyrrha, get over here!" Jaune yelled. "Put your hands next to mine!"
They did as he asked and he started drawing strength from the others, but it wasn't helping. She was still screaming.
"I won't fail you!" Jaune said.
The others came over and started giving Jaune energy, but even all they were giving wasn't stopping her.
Maku's heartbeat slowed down, and he knew he couldn't fight it for much longer. Then Rosa's image flashed in his mind. He felt a sudden surge of energy. He wasn't going to leave her alone. He fought for her.
But he couldn't hold off forever, even in this state. He hoped the healers were finding an antidote for him. One of them called out something. It may have been a name, but he couldn't understand. He couldn't hear anything right now. The pain drowned everything out.
He was about to reach out with the force to cut his bond with Rosa, but before he did, he collapsed. In his arm, there was a vaccine. He could feel the cells in his body being restored. The fire was slowly fading. He closed his eyes, fading away.
Jaune's aura glowed in the dark. His semblance was activated. He was healing Rosa. She finally stopped thrashing and took deep breaths. Jaune took his hands away, wiped away the sweat, and gave a smile to the others.
"Water." Rosa's hoarse voice croaked out.
Everyone was tripping over themselves to help her. Ruby quickly put a towel over her chest. She looked at Jaune and Ren.
"You saw nothing." Ruby said. They just shook their heads. She took deep breaths, taking small sips of water. Her throat was on fire now.
"How are you feeling?" Weiss asked.
"Pain." She said. She brought her hand to her chest and felt the bumps across her chest. She knew what it said already, but she needed to confirm it. She felt the letters and sighed. Her hand dropped to her side.
"When your ready, come to the headmaster's tower." Goodwitch said as she left. Team JNPR left soon after. Ruby tried to help Rosa, but she pushed her away.
"I'm not the one hurt." She managed, but she coughed more. She took more sips of her water. The liquid cooled her throat.
"How about we get you in a shirt?" Yang asked.
"Take me to a mirror." More coughs, more sips of water. "I have to see."
Yang and Weiss helped bring Weiss to the bathroom where she saw the fading words. Tears filled her eyes. The pain filled her. She couldn't hold it in anymore.
"It hurts." She said.
She could barely move. She couldn't do anything else except exist. Each puff of air entering her lungs stayed there instead of rushing out immediately. She started to shake. Words may have escaped her mouth, but none were heard.
Cyan met with his team, anger rushing through him. She almost killed her. He opened the door, and the other three on his 'team' turned to him.
"That bitch almost killed Rosa." Cyan said. Cyan felt his face slam into the wall. He turned around to see Cinder standing there.
"What did you say?" Cinder asked.
"You heard me! Rosa's bond with her master grew stronger! Whatever you did to Maku affected her! Did you even take a second to think about that before going through with this?" Cinder smacked Cyan, but he got back up.
"Our mission is to secure and train the new vessel. How the fuck are we supposed to do that without the fucking vessel? Do you know of any other spare force user here that has that strong a connection to the dark side? Because I don't." Cyan said.
"What happened?" Cinder asked.
"We all heard her screaming, and I had to check that it wasn't someone trying to destroy everything we've been working for. Then there she was, screaming her lungs out. And the words Liar and Killer were on her." Cyan said.
"How could you see that?" Cinder asked.
"Half the dorm saw her tits tonight. Then she grabbed at her eye. I felt for her in the force, and I felt the pain she was feeling for a second. Not even her master felt what she did. What the fuck did you do?" Cyan said.
"Interesting. And frustrating. We can't kill Maku outright until he cuts off the bond with Rosa. Now we have to change plans." Cinder said. "I'm going back to Lady Salem. Keep her safe for now."
Cinder opened up a portal in the darkness of the room and stepped through it.
"You saw her tits?" Mercury asked.
"Pig." Emerald hit him. "How much did you see?"
"You're just as bad." Cyan said.
Neo smirked, nudging Emerald. She sighed and turned her into the image of Rosa, covering her breasts. She winked at Cyan, which only made him angrier. Emerald dropped the illusion. Neo turned to her and stuck her tongue out.
"Is the other plan still on track?" Cyan asked.
"From our last report, the white fang is ready to attack Hellio. Oh, and a certain document just so happened to end up in the hands of the council." Emerald said.
"At least there can be some good from this." Cyan said.
The masters gathered together. Mace looked at the newly revealed Jedi masters of Remnant. The idea of concealment was surrendered. But there were pockets of Jedi who refused to go public. Still, with the thousand that have, it was more than enough to stop the threat of the white fang. Mace saw the wounded Maku being rolled in by force healers. The masters looked at Maku with regret that the temple wasn't enough to stop the Sith from attacking.
"How did this happen?" Mace asked. One of the masters stood up.
"Master Windu, we have no recording of the Sith getting past all the defenses. But we do have a report from the Beacon dorms that we have found… disturbing." The screen in the council room lit up. They watched Rosa thrashing around, with the same markings that scarred Maku. Maku watched the video, clenching his fists. His one remaining eye filled with tears. He understood exactly what was happening.
"It is the power of the force bond. Anything Maku felt, Rosa felt." The master explained. Maku couldn't watch any more of it.
"Have we made any progress on the tattoo on her back?" Shaak Ti asked.
"I have found what it means." Ozpin said, walking into the council room with all the Jedi masters in there. About fifty in total. Ozpin walked forward, grimacing having to watch the video play on.
"What does it mean then?" Plo Koon asked.
"She is a target of the leader of the Sith." Ozpin said. He held in his hand an ancient book. He placed the book down on the table in the council chamber and opened to the page on the emblems.
"The darkness?" One of the masters asked.
"Her name is Salem. She's a threat to all life on Remnant, as you all know. She wants to steal Rosa's body for her own. Rosa will never be safe again." Ozpin said. He glanced down at Maku. "You almost killed her with you tonight."
"How is she now?" Maku asked. Ozpin gave a sigh.
"She's as safe as she can hope for. But she is the target of the Sith." Ozpin said. "We need more Jedi here, in and around Beacon. The Sith will try to take her. If Salem gets her new vessel, it will be centuries before we get a chance this good again to finally kill her."
"Kill her? How are we planning on killing the darkness?" One of the masters asked.
"I assume you know the history of the Sith Emperor Vitiate?" Ozpin said. The Jedi nodded their heads.
"Salem is an ancient entity. She absorbed all life on Remnant thousands of years ago. At the point she committed the ritual, she was a Sith of note, but not like those you can think of. She was no Ajunta Pall, Tulak Hord, or Naga Sadow, but what she lacked in strength then, she made up for in her ability to create hellish monstrosities. She was a witch even back then. The dark magics she wielded enslaved all life to her. Heroes rose to fight her, but even though many of them were stronger, she was a seductive bitch. Many fell for her or lowered their defenses. She usually ripped out the souls of the heroes and made the early Grimm with them. Some she kept as slaves. Some of the bravest were turned into her sex slaves and were slowly broken. Then she would make them thoughtless monsters. Once all life on Remnant turned against her. She used an ancient ritual to make herself immortal. Only those who had strong connection to the force survived. Then the Sith arrived…" Ozpin said.
"How do you know this?"
"I was there, though not in this body." Ozpin said. The Jedi looked at each other.
"I was cursed for my failure to defeat her by some entity of unbelievable power. For centuries to this world, but moments to my own understanding, I was held back. I returned in the body of one of my blood. Any who shared blood with me, even a drop, were able to become my new host. The more families I had, the more lives I affected. But I didn't learn that until a few lives ago." Ozpin said.
"Why are you telling us this now?" Mace asked.
"Salem plans on leaving this world. She has grown strong enough and has the knowledge to kill the galaxy. I refuse to let this happen. Once she is dead, my curse will be lifted." Ozpin said.
"How does she plan on leaving the planet?" Mace asked.
"The force nexus keeps us from escaping the planet, so she plans on absorbing it, and all life on Remnant as well. She will drain all life if given the chance."
"Rosa…" Maku said.
"Yes, that freakish ability she has is what Salem wants. Why she's targeting Rosa. I refuse to let her take Rosa." Ozpin said.
"I won't let her." Maku said. The new eye moved over to Ozpin. The machine eye worked perfectly.
"But we also need to focus on the white fang. The connection between Sith and terrorist is strong. She's forcing us to divide our attention." Ozpin said.
Rosa closed her eyes. Exhaustion filled her. She finally started regaining some of her strength. Her teammates surrounded her. It finally didn't hurt for her to wear a shirt; the pain had started leaving her.
She slowly drifted off to sleep. She felt herself back on Naboo. Her home world. She was at one of the lake countryside. She knew this was her home world, and she knew she always wanted to come back here.
She realized this was her first memory. Rosa saw herself as a little child sleeping on a bed. She heard voices from somewhere, but they were muffled. She opened her eyes. She knew her name was Rosa Reidan, she knew she was eight, and she knew she was something called a Jedi.
"Hello?" Rosa asked. She was so little and innocent. She tried getting up, but she didn't have any strength. The people stopped talking and entered the room she was laying down in. She saw Maku, and a little Jedi master named Yoda. She smiled at seeing him, but she didn't know why, or who Maku or Yoda really were. She almost fell again as her head started throbbing.
"Careful." Maku said.
"Just awoken you have. More strength need you." Yoda said.
"My head hurts." Rosa said.
"Rest you must." Yoda said.
Rosa did what he said. She went back to sleep. The image changed and it was a few weeks later. Rosa was meeting with Yoda.
"Chosen you have?" Yoda asked.
"I have master. I will stay in the Jedi order." Rosa said.
She remembered that she struggled with this, but she didn't know why.
"Maybe you knew even back then." Salem said. Rosa turned around and she was back in the hallway.
"What is this?" Rosa asked.
"This is our bond. But unlike the bond with your master, this one won't kill you." Salem said. Rosa walked down the hallway. On the sides of the hallway, her recent defeats played. Then she saw what she was doing the night before. She blushed when she realized how many people saw her. She brought her hands over her chest, trying to hide them.
"Is that what you're so concerned about? Not the pain you had to endure. It almost killed you." Salem said.
"I've almost died before." Rosa said.
"I can tell." Salem said sarcastically.
"I don't want to talk to you." Rosa said.
"But you will. And when you do, just call out my name, and I will answer." Salem said.
Rosa opened her eyes when the morning beams hit them. She noticed the others were getting ready for the day. She turned to look at the clock, to see it was almost lunch.
"You're awake." Blake said. Rosa just nodded her head.
"What's wrong?" Weiss asked.
"How many people saw my boobs?" She asked. Her face became bright read.
"That's what you're worried about?" yang asked.
"A lot of people." Blake said.
"Fuck."
The girls couldn't hold it back, even Rosa started joining them laughing. She felt a bond so strong with her team. Pyrrha knocked on the door, with the rest of her team behind her.
"Just checking in." She said. Rosa noticed she had a new tattoo on her arm, and she got her Jedi outfit in her arms.
"You just picked those up?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah… The new armor needed to show up first." Pyrrha said. That caught team RRWBY off guard.
"What's wrong with what you have?" Ruby asked.
"I just wanted an update. But we're not here to talk about me. How are you, Rosa?" Pyrrha said. She and her team stepped in.
"Better. But still embarrassed." Rosa said.
"What do you have to be embarrassed about?" Nora asked.
"Half the school must have seen what happened with me, and how I was dressed… or not in this case." Rosa said.
"Forget them." Nora said waving her hand.
"Trying." Rosa said. "Pyrrha, did I ever see your lightsaber?"
"I don't believe you did." She pulled out her weapon, turned it to its lance form, and Pyrrha took the bottom of it off. She showed it to Rosa. It matched the material of her spear. She noticed the button was small. She pressed it, and a bronze blade came out. She looked at it, then turned the blade off. The grip was comfortable. She noticed magnetic clips at the end of the lance. The hilt was made from the same material as her shield she noticed. It had a flat bottom and was easy to hold one or two-handed. She gave the blade back to Pyrrha and nodded her approval of it.
"How'd you come up with the idea of the clamp?" Rosa asked.
"I read about a force user who used two lightsabers and used a small metallic clamp to connect them." Pyrrha said.
"And my soon-to-be lightsaber is inspired by that very same process." Nora said. Rosa noticed the Jedi tattoo on her arm. It was bigger than Pyrrha's. Nora was proud to hold the symbol of the order on her.
Rosa nodded. She was excited to see the lightsabers everyone would create. They heard another knocking at the open door. Rosa turned and felt her heart drop. She nearly collapsed when she saw Maku. His eye was gone… replaced with an obvious mechanical one. Then She noticed the open robe he wore. She could see the top of the word Liar. Her heart stopped.
"Master…" Rosa said.
"I'm sorry Rosa, and to all of you. I have resigned as a professor. I just wanted to tell you personally. And show you why Rosa was hurt last night."
Salem sat back.
"Bonds… the connections that make up every relationship." Salem said. "Bonds… are so easy to manipulate."
Salem looked at the image of Rosa, smiling with all her friends. She was out of her reach, for now.
"The bonds you have built will be used against you. I will have my body."
Rosa, the vessel. Salem could see all her bonds. Without them, she is nothing. A blank slate. Emotionless. She doesn't even know it yet. The vessel, the thief, the parasite. So strong with that ability that she can't help but use it, even in this weak form. Salem smiled.
"Vessel, right now, you are a child. Go, grow stronger. But in the end, no matter how hard you try, your master will use his bond to weaken you. Only when you destroy the bond will you become the woman you are always meant to be. You will find yourself at my side. Soon."
Author's Notes: Chapter done. The rest of the gang has their Kyber crystals. This arc is coming to its close soon. The white fang are on the move. With Maku hurting Rosa with the bond, We know force bonds when strong enough, the other can feel it. The SWTOR book, Deceived focuses on this.
A lot of the main characters will get a new outfit. If anyone could recommend reference pictures, that would help.
Thank you for reading. Please leave a review, follow, and favorite.
May the Force be With You
-DragonZlayerx12