Arc III - Light At The End

Chapter 22: The Dark Path Forward

Rebooting...

Systems: 100%

GPS Location Unknown

Warning: Transmissions Jammed

"Ugh..." What the hell is with us and getting ourselves into problems instead of out? And better yet, what happened?

That question bothered me for a while, as I kept my eyes on the HUD before me, my systems rebooted to the best of their ability, and my strength seemed to be returning from whatever toxic gases were released from inside the shipment crate. But now, I just looked up at the evening sky, as the sound of seagulls and the peaceful swishing sound of the ocean filled my ears with peace, however, that was far from a good thing.

Let's sum up my day. Woke up, thinking one last special mission wouldn't be so bad, then BOOM! Crazy stuff from the past shows up, lots of Grimm, we go back to Mountain Glenn, lots of Grimm, completely destroy a tower, take care of a bomb, dead. Then we traversed Forever Fall, lots of Grimm, found a ship, only to knocked out by sleeping gas, and now I'm here. More accurate, all of us were. Another thing-

"Yang, I love having the barrel of a gun in my face as much as the next person, but," I groaned, seeing all of them atop my body, with Yang's Ember Celica pointed straight at my nose. "Please, my organs are going north soon, so get off..."

They eventually woke up completely and removed themselves from my body, allowing me to breathe heavily in relief. "Oh! Sorry about that!" Yang chuckled, as she removed the gauntlet from my face, with a bend at my knees and rolled and jumped to my feet again, waiting for a moment for the blood to cease rushing to my head

"Sorry," Weiss apologized, then nodded to herself. "Your armor is surprisingly comfortable?"

"I...don't know if that's a good thing," I muttered, but then I turned to face the ocean, as I raised my left arm to try and get any sort of signal, sadly, nothing. "Well...something's blocking communications, so a rescue is out."

"Are we on some kind of island?" Ruby wondered as I looked above us, and up at the sandy stone walls, it was almost like the Grand Canyon

"If you're done sight-seeing, Cognitum picked up multiple signals on the island, they might be the cause of the interference." Thanks, Iota. "Its what I do."

"Iota just informed me of several signals that may be the cause of the interference, and right now, they seem to be our only options," I suggested, as the rest thought about it, all while I looked at the ship again, seeing the containers with the Merlot Industries logo on the side. If this was his island then maybe more of those Grimm could be here too

Something I found strange when we fought some of the Mutant Grimm back in Forever Fall and on Mountain Glenn when I attacked them they seemed to completely recoil from me as if I were an antibody to their skin. It could have something to do with Cognitum's replication ability, but that doesn't seem likely.

"Well, there's no use in waiting around for something to happen, we should keep moving." Blake agreed

"It does seem like the only option, and besides, I doubt there's many Grimm on an island." Weiss pointed out, not before Ruby jumped ahead with glee

"Ok, team! Lets move out!" She cheered, yet I pulled her back as my eyes narrowed ahead of us. "Ack, S-sky, what's wrong?"

"Oh, right, uhh...targets ahead of us." Thanks, Eric, really committed to the team. "I'm a lover, not a fighter." ...no comment

I stepped ahead of them for a moment, looking down at the coast and to a large arch ahead of us, there, wandering around the rock wall were three machines. They looked like old models of Atlas, but none I've seen before, the three held a dual-bladed polearm, and their colors were blacks and reds.

"Weiss, are those Atlas?" Ruby asked curiously, making my sister tilt her head at their odd designs

"No...or, not anymore. They share similar builds to prototypes I've seen but nothing remotely close to these proxies." Interesting, so Merlot's a tech-wiz and a biologist. With a shrug I channeled two elements into my palms, not wanting to waste our time with a few bots

"Heads up." I chuckled, sliding down the sand as the three bots took notice and ran towards me in a group. Pushing up with my legs I sprung into the air above them, holding my arms together with fire and ice. "Fire-Ice Dragon's Brillant Flame!"

The whole island shook around me as the dome of fire and ice collided, scorching the ground as the bots in place as their bodies were thrown into the steep cliff face, shattering or melting once struck by the blasts frozen burns. Landing I dusted my hands off and noticed that...nothing happened? No signal or alarm, just...silence.

"Hmm...?"

It was far too quiet, even for a mysterious facility on an island, not a single Grimm or person in sight. So, being as paranoid as we are, we kept to the shadows, moving towards the towers ahead of us. So far, we saw three of them, and we were currently walking up to the first one, as the sun drove down on us like rays of fire. Damn it was hot!

"How...are you not sweating?" I heard Blake asked me, as I looked at her, then pointed to my armored chest, the thin layer of frost that I applied with my ice dust. With that, I held out my hand a released a cloud of cool mist, hitting Blake directly in the face as she sighed. "Ahh...thank you."

"Not a problem." I replied before Ruby rested her head in my right hand, humming softly as the cold air struck her face, making her hair dance in the sky as Weiss looked fine on her own alongside Yang

"Soooo cooold!" She groaned as I noticed that my H.U.D picked up a strange signal imitating from the console above us

"Look at you, Sky! Girls all over you now!" Wow, thanks to Yang I now felt awkward with my crush and friend literally in the palms of my hands. But judging from Blake's oblivousness, she didn't care, but Ruby when from being cold, to down right hotter than the sun, judging by her face, then she quickly pointed ahead

"Oh look! The console!"

"Really? Never could have guessed." I retorted, as she gave me a roll of her eyes, then we all stopped to look at the strange device on the console. It was a black box, with wires feeding into the circuits of the system, and judging by the layout, someone reeeally didn't want anyone to tamper with this

"Yang, smash it." Ruby asked bluntly as Weiss tried to stop her, but with one punch, the box shattered into scrap, leaving the whole system intact, which was honestly surprising as the signal began to warp in frequency

"I...saw that playing out differently?" I muttered while Weiss procured her scroll and watched as the scrambled message from Oobleck came through in pieces

"Students! Whatever...at it, and...alone on that island...careful!" It was spotty, but I'm guessing the other towers had the same problem, and from the tower, we could see another ahead of us, and the tip of the other over a massive arch of sandstone

"Well, that was...helpful?" Oh, nice of you to join us again, Eric. "...I get the feeling that was sarcastic, but hi!" Sorry, just tense; where's iota? "He's having a bit of time to himself, so i'll be your support for a while!"

"Ok, so what now?" Blake looked to us for any confirmation on what to do next, so Weiss spoke up, cutting Ruby off completely without noticing

"Our best course of action would be to split up, and head of each of the towers, our short-range-communicators should still work, so we'll have to be alert for anything out of the ordinary." Weiss explained, but I saw Ruby deflate as she muttered to herself

"That's my job..." She frowned, as she poked her index fingers together in front of her face. So being the best friend I am, I whispered something to her, causing her to pipe-up. "Ok then, Me, Weiss, and Sky will go for the farthest tower, Blake and Yang you get the second."

"Alright, more breaking other people's stuff!" Yang grinned evilly and Blake nodded. Then they leaped from the tower and made their way in the direction of the next tower, but before Ruby could get us moving, I quickly grabbed them both and pulled them down

Before they knew it, I flipped onto my back and fired a blast of ice, sending the red chassis back a few feet. We then scrambled to our feet, facing our new opponent. Another of those robots stood tall as it lunged at me, as I constructed by blades, and made an 'X' to block its thrust. But I was left to nearly fall flat on my face. This bot had some muscle. "Girls, little help here!"

At my distress, Weiss flew forward from a glyph, as her rapier struck the side of the robot's arm, causing it to spasm. Then I pushed the blade off my gauntlets, before swiping in a cyclone, slashing the robot's chest. Then Ruby leaped over me, aiming the barrel of Crescent Rose in the bot's face before a blast of orange and gold burnt through the machine, turning it to molten slag, then another came from behind the corpse, slicing at my chest as I was pushed back again.

"Ice-Calibur!" Ruby yelled. Weiss made a few motions with her left hand, to my gaze I saw the small glyphs along my right arm, so with a swing, my blade extended to be as large as my body, an arctic extension added to my form. Lunging to my right I avoided the bot's swipe, pushing my feet off the horizontal girder of the tower and thrusting down with the ice blade, smashing through its head and straight through the grated platform in a heap of frozen scrap, with a shake I swung the ice off my arm, turning to face the girls again

My small victory was put on hold, however, seeing the fearful expressions on Weiss and Ruby's faces, it didn't take much to figure out why as my head slumped forwards, my thumb pointing behind my back.

"There's...a whole platoon behind me, isn't there?" One nod and I ran off the edge of the tower, falling straight into the sand with a heap. "Don't need to outrun the bear, just outrun your friends!"

"Hey, cheater, get back!" Ruby yelled after me with Weiss tailing the small army of machines with us

"Ruby, get down!" I yelled, the girl dropped to her knees as I blasted another bot in the face, knocking it back into the crowd that thrust their blades in my direction, striking me but doing literally nothing to my armor, aside from the multitude of electrified hits striking my aura

"Sky, you okay!?" Weiss called back, creating several protrusions before me to throw off the machines' aim as I caught up with them, the three of us near an overpass

"Like a hundred tasers struck my body at once." I grimaced, seeing Yang and Blake ahead of us. "Hey, there they are!"

My body was sent flying down the now uneven slope on all fours, gravity was threating to throw me headfirst into the ground, but I pushed up and turned to see the group surrounding me, completely ignoring Ruby and Weiss who continued to run without realizing I was pinned, good. As the gang slashed and poked me with their weapons I quickly slid under their legs.

Hitting a command on Cognitum, Yin/Yang was replaced with Echo, with an arm to the ground I blasted myself into the wall on the other side of the small valley, stepping aside as the polearms struck the stone. I had the armor, but these electrical weapons would knock me out eventually, I needed to go, now!

I didn't have a plan to attack so this would be a painful landing, say for the shadow looming over me, forcing me to lurch back, pushing up painfully to launch me haphazardly off the ground with a sonic blast, avoiding the lunges of the machines, some crashing into the ground. But my legs felt like jelly from that painful way I landed as my left leg bent at an odd angle, even as I scrambled back to my feet I felt my right leg shoot with a fiery discomfort.

I spent no time in focusing on my leg since those polearms attempted to pin me, I jumped to my right, skating a blade away from my side as I grabbed another, thrusting it through the neck of its ally. With a clap of my hands, I ruptured the air, forcing them away from me, but also causing something to break my aura as my leg flared again from the pressure applied. Not wanting to tempt fate anymore, I turned and ran for the rest that rained covering fire down for me, while I raised both my arms and fired two short bursts of sound into the rock above, causing the cracks to widen and the boulders to fall apart.

I grunted, pushing myself into a roll so that the bot luckily crashed right into another, and like any simple-minded machine, the two stuck each other by mistake, allowing me to continue running towards the closing gap between the valley. With a yell I jumped straight through the gap, a blade narrowly clipping my boot as the boulder collapsed behind me with a rattling crash, myself tumbling away from the now-closed pathway, leaving the remaining robots in the dust.

[Ruby's POV]

At the last second, I watched Sky fly past me in a heap of metal, as we all ran to his aid, ignoring our small victory. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. And judging by his groaning, he was and I found myself sighing with relief.

"Oww..." He moaned, before lifting his body off the rocks, his armor gone and his body slumping against the rock with a pop of his joints. "That...was the worst escape ever...of all time."

"You ok?" I asked, but seeing him wince made my eyes linger on the blood running down the left side of his head, but he didn't seem to mind my own concern as he grinned like an idiot. "Your head."

"No aura sucks, don't know how you can tell the difference between energy effects and aura depletion?" He muttered yet I didn't care as I procured a bandage from my pouch, moving to sit beside him as Yang fired a single shot from Ember Celica, liting a fire before us as night approached, I guess we're kind of tired after all that happened today. "Rubes, really, I'm okay."

"You don't need to be tough all the time, Sky, let me help you," I sternly replied as his cheeks turned red while I wrapped the fabric around his head and through his black locks of hair allowing me to tightly wrap the wound up. With my sleeve, I carefully wiped the blood from his face as he seemed to mouth 'Bite me' back to my sister who watched us with a coy smile. I just smiled thoughtfully as I sat back down. "Now you're fine!" I told him happily

"Thank you, Ruby," I bowed my head childly at him as he chuckled with me, before pointing to Yang who sat looking at the flames. "So, is that signal gone?"

"Yep! And now we've got full communications with Beacon, you're welcome." My sister boasted before Weiss approached us, holding her scroll out for us to listen to on speaker

"I hate to burst Yang's ego-" Weiss began

"I don't." Sky added beside me

"Hey!" Yang protested but Weiss continued

"-But someone's trying to contact us, and it's not the Professor, its...strange." She worded with a confused look, I then pulled my scroll up, and saw the same line appear on my dashboard, strange, only Sky has this sort of ability to forcibly link with frequencies

~Ahh, that's better, I was wondering when you would pick up, I just wanted to make sure you were enjoying your stay since the reception is always bad out here. I mean you are the first visitors ive had since...well, you are the first~ At the new voice, we looked to each other with shrugs as another, more familiar voice came through the line, and I could feel the air around Sky darken

~You seem to forget that I'm here too, but he's right, you are the first, but it's not like I haven't met you before~ It was Mars again! He's here!

"Mars. Of course, you're here since this place would suit a lonely coward like you." Sky spat with a callous tone, yet Mars merely chuckled

~Good to see your humor is intact, but do save it for the main attraction, I have my own motives too you know, and seeing you perish would be more annoying than fruitful. You have the floor, Doctor~

~Right well, where are my manners, my names Doctor Merlot. You don't know me, but I certainly know who you are. Nevertheless, I', thrilled you're here, you might just be what I require for a very important...experiment~ He explained, as I remembered all the sabotages and crates from before

"Wait, as in that guy from Mountain Glenn?" Yang mumbled, as I saw Sky shudder at that memory, then he spoke up again, or he was about to, but then someone else came onto the call

~So, we meet again, Merlot~ I smiled a little as Professor Ozpin came on, I guess that does mean that we can get help

~Ozpin? Or should I call you Oz for-~ He began to sarcastically reply until Mars came back on

~While I enjoy monologues, if we don't cease wasting time, Salem will have your head for wasting her time~ He snapped, as Merlot muttered to himself, yet I spoke aloud at the question we all seemed to share among us under the flames

"Salem? Who's that?" I asked, as I heard Ozpin take over

~Team, I need you to find out what Merlot is planning, it will take some time for a rescue team to arrive, but I also do not wish for any of Merlot's 'mistakes' to make it off this island~ Ozpin ordered us, but then Merlot chuckled cynically

~How could you Ozpin? Sending your students on an excursion like this~ He mocked, as Yang snapped

"Oh yeah, maybe its because we're a lot stronger than we look!" Yang replied smugly, as Mars spoke next with a laugh

~Yes, because you really are strong enough to prevent Roman from almost destroying Vale, and like how it took only one of us Horsemen to defeat your most powerful contender and liar, Kai. Yes, I really am shaking in my boots~ He taunted as I held my hand on Sky's shoulder to calm him down, he knew it wasn't his fault, he was scared at the time. Suddenly, we all jumped at the loud buzzer, and the gate lifting ahead of us

~You may proceed. As Merlot said, a very important experiment is in need of rats, and I can't really think of anyone else to play the part, whether Ozpin realizes it, Merlot's plans for Salem's game are far from trivial. and with my aid, we'll change this world~ Mars explained with a sickening voice that it actually made me shiver

~They are more than a match for your mindless robots. What you 'both' are doing here is wrong~ Ozpin pointed out, as Sky clicked his fingers with my gaze following his index finger to above the gateway noticing the camera, its lens looking right at us

~Trying to make the world a better place is wrong? Say what you will about me, it won't change the fact that you are powerless to stop me~ Merlot challenged boastfully

~You'll botch this somehow, you always do~ I didn't know they knew each other this well, it still bothers me that we don't know what's going on, all I know is that we need to stop him, and we will, yet I can't help but worry about how Sky was taking this, he was more on edge than the rest of us, and that made me grow with worry

~Well, let's agree to disagree. I tell you Oz, its been truly a pleasure in catching up, but I really have to go, farewell old chum!~ And with that, Merlot we silent again, leaving only one other person to taunt us, great

~I won't lie, I don't doubt your capabilities, and I most certainly wouldn't have opened the gate if I wasn't prepared. You won't hear much from me, so I'll say this once. The 3rd test of Project Eclipse as begun, and I hope you are 'all' ready for what I have in store, as I promise you...~ He then stopped, his voice growling from beyond the line, making a chill run along my spine at the change in pitch. ~You won't be able to tell who's your ally when I'm done!~ Then he went dark, leaving us in the sunset of today, all frozen in fear and confusion

"So...what do we do?" I heard Blake ask the burning question, and suddenly their eyes were on me again, awaiting my answer, even Sky looked up from the ground to nod reassuringly towards me, Just that action alone made my heart skip, just his smile made me so...happy. Clearing me throat, I sat up straight as the fire burned before us

"We'll fight. We might not have all the answers, and we might not ever find out everything we want, but if we sit by and do nothing, think about all the people those green Grimm could hurt. So I say we go along with this test, and find a way to stop Mars and Merlot's plans, here and now!" I answered with as much hope as I could muster

"And I thought today would be relaxing..." Weiss smirked with a sigh

"Alright! Let's show them what we can do!" Yang punched the air with Blake nodding in agreement, pushing Yang's loaded arms down from our faces

"He may have seen us fight, but he doesn't know how powerful we are as a team." Then Sky huffed and my eyes turned to him curiously, his own eyes closed in deep thought

"I don't know what he's planning...that frightens me more than anything Merlot has planned, but..." He opened his eyes, standing up. "I need to go think about this, but whenever you're ready, Rubes, I'll follow your lead as always."

"You got it!" I agreed, watching as Sky walked away and up a small slope into the upper layers of the island above us. Turning back around, I clapped my hands with a hesitant smile. "Soooo! Any ideas...?"

[Sky's POV]

I left my team to rest and prep for the mission ahead, since I doubt we could just leave Merlot's island now given his machines and the fact he's been experimenting on Grimm for a while, he even has control over them? Strange. I place a hand on my chin in thought, not noticing something peaking in the shadows ahead of me until now.

"I wouldn't recommend firing off your weapons, although that would be more of a waste for you." I had already raised my palms to the figure, yet my focus hesitated upon seeing the silver eyes of the mask staring back at me, along with the arms of the girl wrapped around her chest. "Rule One, never hesitate to kill the enemy."

"Yet I'm still standing." I boasted, the air growing thick under our presence, then she snorted

"Ain't that the truth," She raised a hand and rubbed the back of her head tenderly. "One heck of a shockwave you pulled back then, didn't realize your world has some crazy concepts, Kai."

"Quit saying the name of a bad memory." I spat, not wanting to care for the name tied to a life of horrible memories since 'That Day', just the thought makes my insides turn. With her hands lowered, she continued to walk within about ten five meters from me

"You should leave while you can," I paused, seeing her look towards the pipes leading to the complex ahead. "What you'll find won't be pleasant, and I can guarantee one of you will die."

I scoffed, motioning with a hand. "And who might that be? Me? How original."

I didn't realize what I had asked for, an answer I didn't wish to understand.

"Someone will die by your own blood-stained hands," Tabus spoke clearly as if she spoke with the night, and my heart completely fell into my stomach, the mere notion made my skin crawl irritably. All I could do was play dumb and deny it. "I, unlike my brother, don't lie, only bend my words, so take this as you will, but you will kill someone if you proceed."

"I-I don't-"

"-Believe me? I didn't say you had to, I just offered you a hint," My mouth clamped shut, all while her hand rested against my armored chest, causing my body to freeze at her touch. "Rule Two, never take your eyes off your opponent."

For the longest time, we said nothing to each other, and the tension between her and myself grew to a level that would rival myself and Ruby if we were alone in the same room, it had happened often if it were just us, we could be like I am now with Tabus. Silent, awkwardly doing nothing, not even able to look into each other's eyes.

" "

"What was that?" I asked calmly, seeing her hand slip from my chest with a sharp scrape of her nails, the glove straining against her fist

"I said, 'Take off your helmet, please'. I'm not going to kill you," She replied in a softer tone than before, even with a mechanical voice, I immediately went to shove her aside, yet I...didn't feel right doing it? What? Why not? "Please...just this once."

...Am I really considering this? She tried to kill me and nearly did so!? Why am I...why do I want to? Do I really...? I sighed, feeling the girls screaming in the back of my head as I rested my hands on the cheeks and twisted, feeling the locks snap open before I felt the warm air hit my face when I lower it off my head, careful to refocus my aura again.

Slowly, she raised a hand to me, but I didn't move, even as my body shook at what she was planning. Yet I realize something, her knives were gone? Did she come unarmed? Well, she has claws that can cut flesh down to the bone so I guess there's that. Slowly, I felt a cold touch skate across my cheek, alongside a leather glove.

Her hand rested on my right cheek, not moving as I heard a tiny sigh leave her when she pulled it away, turning back around to just leave me in the dark of what she had just done, even as my own hand grazed the area she touched, it was still cold, yet something...kindred lingered like a pulsating sensation.

"Who are you?" I whispered in utter bewilderment, she didn't turn around, only looking down at her feet

"I don't know anymore...am I a Grimm...or...someone who isn't here anymore?" With that last phrase, she left me alone in the dark, only the remnants of a crackling fire that gleamed in the night sky

To Be Continued...

While I liked the short game, the start isn't really necessary, so let's get to the good stuff! Now Tabus' warning and strange behavior weighing on Sky, just what is planned for him next? Hope you enjoyed, seeya in the next chapter!

Next Chapter: Winds of Madness

Now at Merlot's doorstep, the Team find themselves dealing with the ever taunting Mars, yet his actions speak far louder as he revealing something that may finally send Sky over the deep end of his own fractured mind.