Having just seen the finale of season 7…ugh. Something needs to be done.
Other than that, I just wanted to thank everyone who takes the time to review, whether it's to gush, speculate or criticize, it allows me to work on my writing and guide the story to its best. So, thanks and keep it up.
Saint-14 descends the steps with Lisbon tailing him. He stops once he reached the floor and takes off his casque. His upper faceplates rearrange into something like a raised eyebrow as he spots Qrow leaning back on a chair, legs propped up on a drawer used as a barricade and a glass bottle in hand. The Huntsman is staring out the window next to the front door and mumbling incomprehensible things to himself.
"What are you doing?" Saint asks as he walks up to the man. He gets a small grunt as an answer.
"Nothin' much, just enjoying the…great weather," Qrow slurs the end of his words. "We're gonna get out of this place by sunrise…get some rest, I'll…wake you guys up just before."
Qrow takes another gulp of his drink.
"Are you sure you would be able to do that?" Saint points to the bottle with his index finger.
"I'll be fine…Ruby was lookin' for you, go talk to her…" Qrow puts the bottle down on the floor next to him. "Check the living room or something."
Saint shakes his head and sighs, turning away from the drunk. He peeks his head into the living room, where the rest of the group are preparing to sleep. Yang and Blake are already tucked in while Weiss sits under a blanket, her face in thought. Ruby still hasn't made preparations, instead just sitting on the floor. Oscar is passed out on the couch and Maria is reading a book in an armchair.
Ruby jumps to her feet when she notices the Titan. "Oh, Saint, I wanted to ask you something, it's about the Relic, or whatever you called it earlier."
"What is it, Ruby? Do you want me to carry it?" Saint crosses his arms. She shakes her head.
"No, but I wanted to ask if it was normal for it to be whispering to me? I hear Jinn saying something whenever things get quiet," Ruby says, looking down at the Relic on her hip.
"There's an entire Ahamkara living in there, the beasts have a tendency to whisper quite a bit. Even carrying a single bone of one you could hear them." Saint stares at the Relic. "I had a friend, he had slain one and mounted its entire skull on top of his station, I swear it would be screaming sometimes. Shaxx could regularly overpower it, though." He chuckles.
"So…what do I do? Can I make it stop?" Ruby asks, holding the Lamp in her two hands.
"No, but I will tell you one thing: Don't listen to whatever it says," Saint says his voice coming out lower than he expected. "I can hold it for you while you sleep. It would be the best for both of us."
Ruby hesitates and clutches the artifact to herself. "I'll keep it, thanks for offering, though."
"It's fine. I'll keep watch outside…and keep an eye on Qrow, will you? He's drinking himself to death," Saint says, turning to face the exit. "I haven't seen someone drink that much since Wei Ning celebrated the Dawning that one day."
"Is that the person who 'killed' Jinn?"
"Yes. She's another old friend from Tower."
"Well…alright then, I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you too."
Now, where did Lisbon go? Saint thinks as he leaves the living room and looks around. Qrow has passed out and the door has a crack open in it, just enough for a Hunter around the size of Lisbon to pass through.
"Oh, you better not be…" He mumbles as he pulls the door open and steps outside, into the soft winter snow. The wind on the other hand isn't as gentle, blowing to the side and smacking pellets of white into whatever is in its way.
There are footprints in the ground, leading to the burnt-out crash site of the Atlas ship, just outside of the farm. Saint squints to make out Lisbon's form and barely notices the edge of his fluttering cloak protruding from the ship. The Hunter is standing still, facing the ship.
"Lisbon, what are you doing out there?" Saint calls out as he steps into the snow and starts walking in it, his ankles sinking downwards after the first few steps.
Lisbon doesn't respond and only turns around when Saint is a few feet away from him.
"Huh?" The Hunter's eyes shine a dull pink as he stares back, looking unfocused. "Oh…Saint, hey."
"It's cold out here, come back inside," Saint says, nodding his head to the house.
"I…was thinking about Atlas." Lisbon coughs. "I don't think they would be happy with me returning after I got a ship of theirs shot down."
"Atlas…do you know who kept you exactly? We can pay them a visit when we get there," Saint says.
"It was Ironwood, Atlas' supposed army general, but more like dictator of the entire kingdom," Lisbon says, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "He has a bounty to bring me back alive, if I remember correctly."
"I won't let anyone collect on that, I can assure you," Saint says, nodding once.
Lisbon shakes his head. "No, we're supposed to be on their side, right? Maybe they'll be more forgiving when faced with…these children." He snorts.
"Do you think they will?"
"Yeah, and I think I know some places I can hit that would hurt them hard."
"Don't get too violent now, it has been quite some time since I've visited the Tower but I do know your kind's tendencies for mischief."
"Don't get your hopes up that I won't do something Ironwood won't like." Lisbon pauses. "Because I sure as Hell know there is something you want to take from him."
"So you know, too? Why didn't you act any sooner?"
"The Amity Colosseum is positioned right above a civilian sector. If I took out the Mind, the entire region would be levelled without any survivors," Lisbon says. "Although I have heard reports of using it as an orbital communications tower, so that could open up a possibility."
"We will discuss the plan to destroy it later on, for now, come back inside and rest for tomorrow."
"Right-o."
/
The next day.
~ WAKE UP. Free me, oh bearer mine. ~
A clink of glass. Ruby's back snaps up straight and she gasps the Relic's whisper steals from her sleep. Her eyes are wide and her breaths are heavy as she reorients herself.
Through a crack in the curtains, the sun shines through. The Huntress sighs and stands up, pushing her side of the blanket away. She makes her way to the window and pulls the curtains apart, letting the sunlight come in.
"Ugh…close the window…" Weiss mumbles, rolling her body in the other direction. She pulls the blanket over her head.
~ You hear me, right? Let me out of here, break the lamp. ~
Ruby shakes her head as she hears the Relic whisper to her again. Saint said to ignore it, and that's what she will do.
~ Really? You're going to trust him, with how secretive he's being? ~
Shut up shut up shut up! Ruby yells back in her brain. She exits the living room and sees Qrow still lounging on his chair with another bottle beside him. The door is opened a bit, letting in some freezing-cold air. Her foot accidentally kicks a fallen-over yellow bottle, and she picks it up before it could roll away.
"Uncle Qrow, come on, get up!"
~ He's no use, leave him here. Let him wallow in his misery. You'll be better off without- ~
"Get up!" Ruby shakes Qrow's shoulder.
"L-leave me alone…" he mutters.
"We overslept!" Ruby pleads.
Qrow shoves Ruby away with one hand. Ruby stares at the bottle and her hand starts shaking. Her knuckles go white as her grip tightens. She growls and looks up at her uncle. Her anger spikes. The bottle shatters into a million pieces in her hand.
~ That's it, get angry. ~
Qrow wakes up and his head snaps side-to-side. "W-what?" He takes a deep breath, looks around. "Oh…right. Sunrise."
Ruby's expression softens and she closes her eyes for a second. She feels a slow trickle at her palm and wipes the warm liquid away on her leggings before wrapping Qrow in a hug.
"You know, you can talk to me about stuff. Yang too."
A hand pats her back lightly. "Let's just get outta here," Qrow mutters, getting up from his chair. "I'll get the others up, go outside and check on Saint."
Ruby nods and slips through the door with her Semblance, stopping in front of the stairs at the porch. Saint and that other robot guy are pushing a flatbed towards Yang's motorcycle.
"Hey Saint, good morning." She smiles with her usual pep and waves at the two. The one with the cloak over his head waves back.
"Sorry for shooting at you guys yesterday, I was on edge," he says, flicking his head back and taking off his hood. "I'm Lisbon-Thirteen, you can call me Lisbon."
"Good to meet you Lisbon!" Ruby hops once in excitement, covering the three steps from the porch to the ground and landing in the snow. "Are we ready to go?"
Lisbon chuckles. "If you own this bike, then let me know when I can melt the flatbed together with the mount."
Ruby giggles. "You'll have to ask Yang that."
Speaking of which, her sister stands next to her.
"Hi sis!" Ruby says.
"Hey, Ruby," Yang replies. Her shoulders are hunched and her expression is blank. "Everything ready?"
Lisbon grunts as he lifts the flatbed to roll it over to Bumblebee. He slips and a tire pops.
"Ah, damn, that's unfortunate," he says, catching himself from falling. "Anyone got a machine before I start blowing into the thing?" His prism appears and shoots some white rays from its eye into the tire.
"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" Maria says from the porch. Qrow growls and re-enters the house.
Yang sits on the ground, leaning against the well's rim at the small town's square.
"What has gotten into you all?" Saint exclaims.
"I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas," Yang says, dejected.
"It's just a flat tire, we can fix it in a minute!" He replies, somewhat dismayed by her attitude.
"I'm sure there's a spare," Ruby says, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters…I'm so tired…"
Saint laughs once, dry and subdued. "Really now?"
"She's right, it feels like we're always having to fight to get by," Blake says, burying her face in her hands. "It's too much, we're struggling while the enemy is probably just waiting for us."
"Isn't that always the case? We knew what we signed up for when we got in that train." Ruby glances down at the Relic, a small, pulsating chill coursing through her.
~ Go on…the well, throw me down there. ~
She shakes her head and looks back up.
"We signed up to try and save the world, not delay the inevitable…" Oscar leans his head on the porch railing.
Saint sighs. "This is pissing me off, I didn't agree to accompany a group of cowards! Why are you all so suddenly surrendering?"
"Don't you get it, Saint? There is no killing Salem! We're done for either way..." Blake says, sighing. "And what happens after that? What if, by impossible chances that we do end up beating her? Wouldn't Oryx come?"
Lisbon raises a metallic eyebrow. "Oryx?"
"Don't get into this, Lisbon, you weren't there." Ruby turns to him.
He raises his hands and backs away one step. "Okay," he says, his voice barely audible.
Yang stands up. "Ruby, we can just get this done with now. Just…throw the Relic in the well, right here." She gestures to the raised hole in the ground.
"W-what? Are you crazy? We have to get it to Atlas." Ruby holds the Relic against herself defensively. Yang stares at her with a blank, expressionless gaze. Her entire team stands at her sides with that same stare.
"Why, Ruby? We get it to Atlas, and Salem would just come for it. If we throw it down here, it'll take her years to find it, hell, I don't think it'll happen in our lifetimes," Yang says.
~ She's right, you know. Save yourself, oh bearer mine. Save yourself from this terrible, terrible threat. ~
The Lamp's whisper makes something click in her head.
It is…right, in a way. She could just…be done with it. The hand holding the Relic hovers over the water well and the darkness inside beckons her to drop it.
~ Yes, yes! Do it! Get me out of here! ~
"Ruby, don't." Saint's voice is imposing but drowns in the background. "This is selfish, you're about to doom humanity on Remnant!"
"Let her make her own decisions, Saint," Blake chides.
Heavy footsteps to her left. "Ruby, this is madness." The cocking of weapons to her right.
"Saint, back off," Yang says, her arm shotguns raised. Blake has her sword out and Weiss has a rune spinning underneath Saint's feet.
The massive robot grumbles and Ruby can hear what sounds like a sword being unsheathed. Her grip on the Relic weakens.
~ You're getting weaker…drop me! ~
"I am…really tired," she mumbles. Her hand shakes and her eyes start to close.
"Ruby!" Saint's feet pick up and his footfalls get closer to her.
A pair of red eyes come out from the dark well. She squeals, jumps and drops the Relic. It clinks down as it smacks the cinderblock walls before splooshing in unseen water.
"What have you done!?" Saint says as he looks down the well.
"Oh, no! I didn't mean to!" Ruby exclaims as she places her elbows on the edge and buries her face in her palms.
~ Thank yoooooouuu! ~ The whispers get progressively quieter.
"Ruby it's-"
"No, no there's something down there, I saw it! It was looking at me!"
Someone hops over and falls in. "I'll meet you guys below!" Lisbon calls out as he plunges into the dark below.
Yang puts a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "We'll wait for him to get it, come on, I'll go get Qrow."
She pushes her sister away. "What's wrong with you!? We have to-"
"Hey—guys! I found it but there are things down here-oh shit!" An echoing voice calls out.
The sound of six gunshots comes from the well. Everyone seems to snap out of their trances and turn their heads to the hole.
Team RWBY all hop down and land on shallow water that barely reaches the soles of their shoes. Ruby manages to get an idea of whatever this place is before an ear-piercing screech makes her wince and slam her eyes shut.
Everything feels…heavy. She has trouble grabbing Crescent Rose from her waist and it gets harder to raise it at whatever is chasing Lisbon.
Speaking of which, the cloaked robot has his little cube floating over his shoulder acting as a flashlight and screaming in its innocent-sounding voice.
"Come on, let's go!" Lisbon screams as he runs the opposite direction, going past the circle of light from above. All of a sudden that short old woman, Maria, is with them too.
"Listen to him!" She screams.
"Go, go!" Ruby says as she turns and follows Lisbon. Another screech sends out another wave of exhaustion. She perseveres and manages to keep track of the current Relic-holder. Her team takes a turn through a broken wall, then runs down a tunnel.
A thin, skeletal Grimm stumbles out of a hole and tries to grab at Ruby's feet. She hops over and turns around, firing Crescent Rose three times. All bullets land on their intended target but the creatures only flinch and then continue to advance.
Another turn takes the team to what looks like a wine cellar and even more of these things. Ruby freezes as she looks at the hordes of them coming out of the darkness with the red digits in the eye sockets of their hideous skulls piercing her very soul.
"There's an exit over here, come on-" Another screech interrupts Lisbon, making him hunch forward and clench his hands. He has the Relic at his waist.
Ruby is forced onto her knees. Her entire team is, too. She sees the exit Lisbon mentioned and crawls forward to Weiss, putting a hand on her back.
"Come on—get up!" She shakes her friend's shoulder.
"An exit!" Maria calls out, holding herself on the handrail of wooden steps.
Something clinking on the floor makes Ruby turn. Blake is lying down with her weapon, Gambol Shroud, in front of her. She's leaning on her side, her pupils dilated and faded.
"Blake!"
"It's fine…" Blake mumbles as she slumps and a long, indifferent sigh escapes her lips. A beast's elongated, twisted claw descend on the Faunus and something inside Ruby clicks together.
"Ruby, get back, I'll-"
"BLAKE!" An empowering feeling surge inside her. Stills of another reality, an image of a shattered white orb. She feels the universe commune with her soul and unlocks something within. Her eyes flash a pure, white light and her entire body turns electric. A deity speaks an intuitively understood language to her; she doesn't know what it's saying but she knows what it needs of her.
A scythe of pure energy materializes in her hands. It crackles a bright white and blue, the power inside supplied only by herself. Connections of electricity snap in the corners of her vision and her entire body feels intense, like an unlocked potential that's been hidden forever ready to lash out whatever would stand in her way. She feels connected to some other-worldly being, one that has blessed her with this power, or rather allowed her to access it.
The conjured weapon feels like it's made for her hands. With all her might, she swings the scythe horizontally, sending a wide arc of energy towards the Grimm. It impacts the first wave, making them flinch and back away one step. The ones behind pile over and take over. She twirls the long weapon, transforming it into a staff and slamming it against the floor, causing a shockwave that pushes back everything in a few meters radius. Dust kicks up to her eyes but is zapped and disintegrated by the sparks.
The power leaves her just as quickly as she received it. She stumbles forward and Blake catches her from falling. A metal hand grabs them both and pulls their bodies back, away from the monsters.
Ruby shakes her head and the Relic is roughly shoved into her hands.
"Hold it for me, will ya?" Lisbon nods, cracks a smile before reaching into the air, a flaming revolver materializing inside his hand. He fires all six shots in quick succession, holding the weapon at his waist and using his other hand to fan the hammer like a cowboy in a video game. Six Grimm disintegrate but are replaced by more, appearing as if they were made of the dark.
Weiss is pushing on the exit hatch at the top of the stairs with frantic force without success. Something rattles on the other side.
"It's-it's locked!"
Another debilitating screech. Ruby falls to her back. The Relic hits the ground beside her, bouncing once.
Her vision grows darker. Someone scrambles over to her. A blurry silhouette of Maria's face overtakes her vision.
"What color are your eyes?" The woman asks, her blue visors staring deep into Ruby.
"They're…silver," Ruby manages to squeak out.
Maria gasps and her hands press on Ruby's shoulders.
"You have a family? Friends?"
"What?" Ruby tries to raise her head, to see what's making that dull moan. Her head is kept back and her ears are covered.
"Don't think about them, think about the people who love you. Focus on the thought of them, the way they make you feel. Focus!"
Ruby shuts her eyes and she pools whatever's left of her willpower into concentrating.
"Life is beautiful. It is precious, and it must be protected."
Lisbon yells something in the background. Ruby doesn't hear it.
That same powerful feeling from earlier comes back to her. It courses through her body and that same glowing sphere appears again in a brief visionary flash.
With renewed vigor, Ruby sits up and she channels her newfound power into her eyes. A blinding glow emanates from them and her vision is cut off for half a second. A deathly scream consumes her hearing before all is silent.
She has to blink a few times to understand what just happened. Black dust whistles away, where the Grimm monsters used to be.
Something metal slams open and a hammer hits an anvil.
Saint comes running down the stairs, his entire body in flames and holding an also flaming hammer.
"I heard the shooting, where are-" His head snaps side-to-side then his shoulders slacken. "Oh, they're gone." His fire disappears.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" Yang says, from the other side of the hatch door.
/
Lisbon rushes up the stairs, going through a doorway that leads to some kind of bar. It's well-stocked, with multiple shelves of bottles that vary in color and size.
"H-Hey, what are you doing here!?" The drunkard, Qrow, slurs, his body slumped over the bar stand. He struggles to stand up, his legs wobbling as they try to support themselves. Ruby helps the man by stabilizing him by the shoulder.
"We're leaving you idiot, come on!" Maria says as she smacks her cane on the floor once.
"Not yet," a girl in a white skirt says. She makes her way to a shelf and grabs several bottles, throwing them at the hatch, spilling the contents.
"H-Hey, what are you doing!?" Qrow yells, reaching out an arm to stop her.
"Qrow, move," Saint-14 says as he wraps one arm around Qrow's chest and drags him away. "We don't have time for this!"
The girl stands in the doorway, holding her rapier parallel to her body, before swiping once and sending out fire that lights up the alcohol. A blaze starts to burn.
Lisbon throws an incendiary grenade for good measure.
"Now we can leave," she says, turning and heading to the exit.
"I didn't catch your name," Lisbon says as he follows her out.
"Weiss, we'll get to know each other later, for now, let's just get out of this place."
The cool air is a refreshing contrast to the humidity of the underground. Lisbon waits for everyone to embark on a flatbed attached to a yellow-orange motorcycle before getting on himself. He slaps it twice and rubber screeches as it drives away.
Embers and ash are blown by the wind, rushing past his face as the house crumbles to the fire. After a few minutes, it turns into a small dot in the distance, before disappearing entirely.
. . .
"The Apathy, they're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. The estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. Bartleby, the owner, wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm…always." Maria encapsulates the story she's been reading while at the farm.
The farm boy, Oscar, is reading an extract from a thick, leather-bound book.
"Managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired."
"Doesn't sound like he sealed it off…" Lisbon says dryly. "Probably lost all motivation to do it."
"The next pages proved that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home," Maria corrects.
"I stand corrected," Lisbon mumbles. "Go on, sorry."
"My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. His plan worked." She takes the book from Oscar. "No one was angry, or sad, or scared. No one was anything, and then…no one was left." She throws it away, into the snow.
The blonde-haired puncher, Yang, stops driving. "Ruby…I'm sorry for what I said earlier. We have to get the lamp safe."
"It's not your fault, it was those…things," Blake, the cat-eared one says.
"I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be." Maria's fist tightens and drops to her palm.
"Reminds me of my own experience," Saint mumbles, most likely to himself. "These creatures are horrid, they must be exterminated."
"That's what we're all trying to do," Ruby says, a soft smile appearing on her face.
"By the way Ruby…" Lisbon pauses. "Erm…never mind actually."
I'll just say that there are Guardian-less Ghosts on Remnant, or Ghosts that have been long separated from their Guardian. ;)