The Lifted Curse
Winter and Jupiter caught Hyperion in a dead end. He then turned around in a calm manner. But he isn't raising his weapon. "It's over Hyperion. Kya!" Jupiter slashes his De Nile at him while at the same time, Winter have lunge her sword at him. "Hah!"
But to their dismay, he was reduced to water. "What?!" Winter gasped. Jupiter took a closer look at the puddle and realized he's a fake. "Hyperion got us good. So that's his semblance. He can create clones out of water. Where's the real one?"
"We have to find him. I have a feeling he's going to do worse." The both nodded in agreement and went back to head for the chambers.
Neptune and Weiss hugged each other, it felt like forever to them since they have parted ways in a short time. Sun and Ruby shook their heads and went to greet their teammates. Neptune and Weiss have parted to turn to their friends. "Dude!" Sun chirped as his arms flew out. Neptune did the same. "Sun!" they happily laughed. But then Sun's expression changed by holding out his palm. "Wait, wait, wait! Just need to see something first." Sun then punches him in the face. "Ow, dude!" Neptune whined.
"He's back. Glad to have you back, man!" Sun then pulls him into an embrace. They jumped for joy.
"You doing okay, Weiss?" Ruby asked. Weiss then turned to Ruby and nodded. "I'm fine, Ruby. I'm just glad he's okay." She then hugged Ruby. They then looked at two members of Team SSSNN. Neptune then notices the wound inflicted on Weiss, he then walks closer to her and inspect the wound. He was not being able to control his body in Mountain Ren, but he can see through his eyes that the last thing he remembers is that Jupiter have unintentionally shot Weiss in an attempt to stop Hyperion. But it went wrong. "I may not be able to stop what I was doing. But the last thing I remembered is seeing you hurt. I'm sorry, I couldn't stop this from happening." Neptune softly apologizes, but Weiss shook her head.
"Stop blaming yourself. None of this was your fault, you were possessed. Jupiter didn't mean it either. Besides, it wasn't a big deal." Weiss then rubs her wound to assure him. And Neptune does the same, giving her the warm feeling of his soft hands. He couldn't believe that after he hurt her to keep her away from the danger she have already faced, she still did it to fight for him, as a means to be free from his nightmares. "Wait a minute, where's Jupiter?" Asked Neptune. Sun then turned to him in response. "He went with Winter to catch Hyperion. Now that you're back, we might have to place the moon stones back into place, and since you still have them, that's a good thing." He explains. Neptune then takes a look at the satchel hanging on his belt, and the moon stones glowed from inside. "What about Dad? My brothers and sisters?" He asked.
"Not sure, we have to take the stones to where they belong. Come on!" Ruby gestures to follow back to the caves. But Weiss stops at a sting of pain in the abdomen. Neptune looks back to see her holding on to the wound. "I'll be fine. It's just stings." Weiss assure him.
The rest of the huntsmen have been completely surrounded by the water warriors. Still under the control of the curse. Even with Cascade gone, the moon stones still need to be placed into the Ocean's Chambers. "I don't understand. With Neptune regaining possession of his body, why are they still under control?!" Shouted Jaune after Ren sensed Cascade's presence vanished.
"Because Jaune, we have to wait until the moon stones are put back into their rightful position. We have to hold them off as long as we can!" Said Ren holding out his archery bow.
"Sun better be back with the others! Otherwise, he'll be the death of us!" Yelled Scarlet.
Sun, Ruby, Weiss and Neptune have arrived at the Moon Chamber. Where the moon stones are guarded to be shined with moonlight. They looked up in amazement that the full moon is shown at the ceiling. Neptune reads the runes on the panel he found for the moon stones to be set.
"The stones of the four seasons shall bring the calmness in the rides with all four united to reverse the curse." Read Neptune.
"This is it. The moment we've been waiting for to finally break the curse." Said Ruby. "Got the moon stones?" She turned to him and Neptune took the Winter stone out of the bag. The first season before Spring. But before he could place them into the panel, they heard a scream from behind.
Hyperion is in sight, holding Weiss by her neck. "You! You ruined everything!" Lifted from the floor. "No!" Then the three raised their weapons. Only for Hyperion to use her as a shield. "Drop the Ice Queen, you maniac!" Sun warned.
"Not unless you give me the moon stones, Neptune. Or I promise you the heiress dies." He said maliciously. But Weiss oppose this. "No, don't! If you do, then everyone else will be turned into..." She was cut off as Hyperion choked her harder. She wheezed as the air is leaving her. "Shut up!" He then dangled her off the edge of the circular floor to reveal another Grimm called the Cetux swimming underneath. Weiss looks down, and then at Hyperion again.
Neptune is stuck between two choices. Give Hyperion the stones to let Weiss live. Or do not give them to him and let him feed her to the Cetux. Another serpent Grimm that is bad news aside from the Kraken, it also devours anyone with Aura. If he give the moon stones to Hyperion, then the whole world will flood. But if he doesn't, then Weiss will get eaten.
"Well, what's it going to be, children. It's either her, or the stones." Weiss is running out of air and nearly lost conscious. Until her arms limp down. Sun uses his tail to tap Neptune to gesture an idea. By secretly replacing the stones with fake mold ones. The Neptune lowers his weapon to walk towards his uncle for a trade. "You win, Hyperion. Just let her go." But Hyperion still has his eyes glow like he knows something isn't right.
"Do you all take me for a fool? I know these are fake. Then I guess the second option would do." After holding his palm to the chin and then drops Weiss into the pit of water. Neptune didn't stand to watch her and dove down, while Sun and Ruby hold off Hyperion as he tries to take the stones from him as he saw it is in Sun's hands.
Meanwhile, Neptune swims deep to find her wrapped by the body of the Cetux. Due to the lack of oxygen, Weiss runs out of air. Neptune the pierced his spear on the back of the Cetux. It released it's grip on Weiss and shrieks. Neptune pulls her, and swims back into the surface. He then held her by the shoulders as she is still distorted. "Are you okay?" Neptune asked. As Weiss recovers, she nodded.
Ruby shoots bullets at Hyperion, but blocks them with a wall of water. Sun uses his Via Sun to use blunt force on him. But once again Hyperion uses water to hit the Sun clones until they disappear. "Quick, get the moon stones back into the panel. We'll hold him off." Weiss told him and Neptune nodded. Weiss joins Ruby and Sun to hold Hyperion back from stopping them.
Neptune rushed to the panel and places the moon stones on each of the keyholes. Weiss slides her finger to form flame and dashes at Hyperion. Then Ruby spun her scythe across Hyperion's upper body in a vertical position.
Hyperion spiral his spear to deflect Ruby meter away. The it was Sun's turn to split his staff into gunchucks, Hyperion still isn't giving up. But is overwhelmed by three against one match. As Neptune rest the final key into the panel, the stones shined under the moonlight.
The storms of crashing thunder and lightning have ceased. The rides have lowered as the clouds have fly away from the moon. The light of the night sky have cleared. It was all earthquakes inside the temple have shaken. Jaune screamed like a girl. While the fight between the huntsmen and Sea warriors have stopped. "What the heck is that?!" Said Nolan.
"It's an earthquake!" Screamed Jaune. He had forgotten his fear of earthquakes when he was a child. The Sage points to the Sea Civilians. "Hey, look into their eyes. They're returning to normal." Their eyes return to their original color. They don't have any recollection of what they've been doing. And Neither does Juno, Pluto, or Ceres.
"That could mean only one thing. The curse is lifted." Said Mi.
"What just happened?" Asked Pluto.
"Can someone explain to us how we got here?" Added Juno.
"It appears they do not have any memory of what happened." Said Ren. He then turned to the Vasilias siblings. "We can explain later. Right now we have to get out of here. Can you lead these people to safety?" Asked Jaune. They both nodded. But then Juno stops Jaune. "Hold on, I saw you on the news. You're one of those heroes in Atlas and Mantle." Chimed Juno. "You really lived up to the Arc family name." She complimented. Making the blonde huntsman blush in embarrassment by his fame.
"That I'll tell you about later. Let's get going." Jaune said while they all went to the exit.
The curse is lifted. And Neptune breathes repeatedly as he was exhausted from the aura used under Cascade's control. Much to Hyperion's fury. "No, you have ruined it! I will have my revenge!" He yelled at him. Then a voiced booked from the hall exit. It was coming from Saturn. Glaring with rage. "Enough, bother!"
"Dad, you're back." Said Neptune.
"Oh, hey Mr. V. Glad to have you back!" Chirped Sun.
"Good to be back indeed. You four have to run. The others are waiting outside." But they all grew hesitant at first. As if he was to sacrifice himself to buy them time to escape. "But what about you?" Asked Ruby, not wanting any more huntsmen to risk their own lives. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. This is between me and Hyperion."
They all ran out of the Moon Chamber. But not before having the last words to Neptune. "Neptune." Neptune stopped to look back at his father. And gave him a proud smile of that of a father. "You made me proud, son." Neptune smiled in returned. "Now go, I'll meet you all when I'm done."
"First you used my eldest son as a vessel to trigger the curse. And now you have used my youngest to flood Remnant. I never thought my own brother would stoop this low. And to think you were dead, did regret the day I have talked you into taking Dad's boat. And as a result, you hated me, didn't you?"
Then Hyperion ticked at his brother's words of condolence. Saturn did feel sorry for putting Hyperion in this state. But he will not forgive him for putting his sons at risk of possession of the curse. "However. What you did to my children is unforgivable, all in the name of revenge. And now it's time we settle this. Brother against brother. My sons and daughters will bring the new era of huntsmen and huntresses. One thing is for sure, the land and seas are one, and the same. Therefore they can never be apart!"
Saturn then burst his aura, and so did Hyperion. "To all the new generations of hunters, our legacies shall not be in vain at the hands of evil. Be strong, all of you!" Then they collided the streams of water. Causing a cyclone to form around Poseidon Island where everyone has ran out the exit. They all stopped in awe for the strong wavelengths of the aura.
"What was that?!" Jolted Winter.
"That was my old man settling the score. If he can take on Hyperion, he can take on anybody." Said Jupiter.
As they finished the collision of battle. Saturn and Hyperion stared at each other in the eye. "I'll admit that I'm impressed of how strong you grown, little brother. You could've been a great mentor to the younger generation. But you have become an opposite of that."
"Barely. Children these days are nothing but spawns to that of a parent. Just like your sons here. When are you going to understand that we're doing this for the sake of our family?" Hyperion then feels pain in his arms, it grew black wounds that matches the Grimm. Saturn is shocked to see that his brother have taken the Grimm vaccine. "Hyperion?! Hyperion?! What's wrong?!" Said Saturn frantically. Taking steps closer to his brother and holds him by the shoulder. Then he pushes his elder brother away from him and gripped his left arm in agony. "Hyperion, you didn't?"
"This is the reason why I instigated the curse.You don't understand, Salem is...Salem...Ahh!" He hunched down and then arose to have red and black eyes. He then chuckled maniacally. And then sprints out of the ceiling when he got away. "Hyperion!" Cried Saturn, in despair that his brother is gone. A Grimm-hybrid. Leaving his older brother in the pit of sadness. He wished there was some way to save his brother from himself.
The team is outside the temple. Saturn made it out alive and well. He saw his eldest son, Jupiter, like he was unrecognizable. But he knew all along it was him. So he walked up to him to be sure. "Jupiter?" He inquired.
Jupiter stared at him. He have yearned to reunite with the father he had not seen in a long time after a decade or so. He still look the same he was. He then smiled at his father. "Long time no see, old man." He chuckled. They then hugged it out for this reunion. Juno, Pluto, Ceres and Neptune did the same.
The whole group looked melted by the family reunion. The Neptune came across the group to thank them for their aid. Winter too is happy to see the family reunion. But she kept her word to let Jupiter go from arrest this time. But another time they meet, they'll be battling in the future to let their siblings live their happy lives.
Weiss then notices Winter gone. She wanted to have a talk with her to settle things peacefully. But it was her sister's way to leave her at peace. All she was doing was depriving her of her decisions. But was glad her younger sister have fought for what she actually wanted for life. Then Jupiter disappeared as well without a goodbye. But Saturn assures Neptune that Jupiter did it to protect their family. Neptune is also reunited with Team SSSNN, and have a lot of catching up to do as the sun rises to this day. The ferry got there, and it was crowded to have fit in the ship.
Weiss and Neptune sat next to each other. There was a bit of silence at first. But then Weiss' cheeks flustered as Neptune slide his fingers to his. She then glances at him and gave him an affectionate smile and leans to his shoulder. Closure have spread in the daylight. Water and ice have proven that love wins in the end. No matter the cost.