Act IV - Linked Horizons

Chapter 34 - Inevitable

I was too late. Had I have known sooner I might have... done something to help, even so...

"I wasn't asking for permission into my own room." Was all I gave as a warning, my armored hand crushing the head of a robot, followed by an ice shard through the second, clearing my doorway of the supposed 'guards'. Disabling my gauntlets my hand froze over the door handle

I heard what happened to Yang, but... with everything I know, of what's coming and about myself I haven't had alot of time to mull it over, even with the short break between my unexpected talk with Mars. Sighing heavily, I twisted the nob and entered the room, finding Ironwood, Qrow, and my team all discussing something, most likely what happened with the fight, something I needed Ironwood to understand before anything was taken further.

"Yang doesn't deserve this," My raised voice cut off their argument, as they noticed the disabled machines behind me, then the fact I was staring back with probably the sternest expression I could muster. "This wasn't Yang's fault - And before you say it, you have plenty of drones to replace the ones I broke, but I wanted to see my best friend."

That made Yang perk up a bit, while Ironwood stared back at me. "Go on..."

"I'll be blunt, Mercury couldn't have been injured, he has cybernetic enhancements, while I don't understand why Yang attacked him or why she claims she didn't, my only guess is that someone has illusions for a semblance - So maybe look into the facts before you jump to conclusions, like say, every militaristic decision you've made since getting to Vale?" I explained slash mocked the General dully, having little time myself to track down Cinder, but if I had a guess...

"More than likely, Mercury or his friend, Emerald would be the first suspects." Iota pondered

"What about Torchwick or Neo?" Good idea, Eric, the problem is we have no idea where they are. "Probably wherever Cinder is - Seems... 'logical'... is that right?"

"*Sigh*Yes... yes it is." Iota grumbled while I focused on everyone's shocked or angered expressions

"Have you any evidence to support this?" Ironwood pressed, stepping closer while looking stressed but I remained stoic

"Says the man who brought an ARMADA to Vale, you're just inviting unease based on what was 'Necessary' last I checked, whereas I have firsthand experience fighting Mercury and know he has those implants, so don't talk down to me like some child!" I jabbed my finger against his chest. "You're the one that's playing into Salem's hands!"

"Salem? Didn't Mars say that before...?" Blake murmured with a hand on her chin. Hearing her reply had Qrow and Ironwood in quite a state, having not realized we know her name

"Y-You told them?" Qrow asked me, while I shook my head

"Mars said her name, and for the record, unlike Ozpin I don't hide secrets from my friends," I crossed my arms dismissively at the two of them. "Face the facts, while I understand you want to protect the world, do you honestly think being secretive is going to stop her from tearing the Kingdoms down? Sooner or later she'll make everyone question who to trust, themselves or the men and women they trusted to protect them from what they believed was 'Only Grimm'."

"Sky, did something happen when you were in Vale?" Ruby asked curiously, and I almost froze up. Despite every fiber of my body screaming for me to tell her about Specter's real identity, I... had to make sure she was ready herself, and something this big can't be dropped on them, not right now when there was something far more important at stake

"Alot actually, most of which I don't have time to explain, but Ironwood?" He looked to me again, still angry with me of course. "I don't care what you think of me, but I need you to be ready for what's coming next - That includes all of us."

"Why, is something going on, something only the three of you know about?" Weiss inquired as Qrow chuckled once

"Alot more than you know, kid," Qrow answered vaguely, crossing his arms while against the windowsill. "So, she's finally making her move? How'd you find this out?"

"Implying any of it wasn't a misdirection from your source." Ironwood held the grain of salt as I did, that was fair

I smiled warily. "If I told you I doubt anyone here would believe me, but... I need to find a woman called 'Cinder', she's the one behind everything, the shipments of stolen Dust, the Breach, and even Yang's rigged match." I had no time for details only the important information I could provide. "I'm no leader or tactician, I can't... give you a real reason in such a small amount of time, but I-"

"That's okay," Yang spoke up, walking over to me with a brighter expression of confidence. "I think being part of a team means everyone helps out, right? And you've done alot of it, makes me feel like a jerk for moping about over a stupid match."

"Yang..." She just grabbed my shoulder, pulling me in to pat me on the back gingerly

"Thanks, Bluey, I really needed to hear that," Letting go after a soft form of gratitude, she clicked her fingers toward Ruby. "What's the plan, sis?"

Caught off guard for a moment, Ruby cleared her throat, hand on her own chin. "Well... if this 'Cinder' is behind all of this, the best thing we can do I try and match her to the woman I fought before I came to Beacon, she helped Roman escape and during the Dance when I fought her again - Well, I'm assuming it was her - So someone with raven hair and can manipulate glassy-fire-"

"It's her," Qrow gaped, hands on his lap. "She's the one that attacked Autumn - I also saw your fight, that brat was there with her that day too."

"Then this makes it easier to find her... if a transport didn't already take the two biggest suspects away..." Ironwood's news brought the hope we've built to a crashing halt if they were no longer here...

"If they're working for the enemy then my guess is that's what they want us to think," Weiss interjected. "If anything, Yang apparently 'injuring' him would be the perfect cover story for them both to remain undetected for the remainder of the Vytal Festival."

"Weiss saves the case..." I smiled with a sigh, looking back to Ruby. "Continue."

"Right, so if we take this into account, we find either Mercury or Emerald, we can force them to tell us where Cinder is!" Ruby grinned, but this pumped-up attitude of hers slowly dwindled. "I mean... I really thought they were our friends... but this is..."

"That woman they were with, she might actually be Cinder, but we don't know for sure," Blake added, while I put my hand on Ruby's shoulder supportively

"Take it from me, Ruby, the first time you see a friend's true colors, that's when you're given a choice. You either accept who they are and move on, with or without them," I hugged her side, her hand squeezing around my own. "Or you'll never truly trust anyone again."

"I know, thanks." Without missing a beat her smile had returned, ending with Yang cooing

"So cute~" Just had to ruin it. Shaking my embarrassed head I clapped my hands twice

"Alright, so assuming all of this is correct, we need to find and detain Mercury and Emerald before the next match. Is that fine, Ironwood?" If anything, he'd be the one to make this easier or harder. While his expression only retained to stress, he slowly closed his eyes, breathing softly

"...Okay, since this isn't a direct attack we can't do anything noticeable to the public, that would cause a panic, for now, stick to isolating the suspects and act as you please from then on," Ironwood ordered firmly, taking his leave. "I will see to the security and cameras, hopefully, that will narrow down our search - Keep in touch, all of you."

"We will, General," Weiss answered for us, satisfied, he finally left us to our own devices

"What a pain in the ass."

"He scares me..."

"Thank you for your input guys, riveting," I cleared my throat, looking finally to Qrow. "You want to fill them in or should we go?"

"On what, exactly?" Yang shrugged, clearly still confused by the small outburst from before

Qrow took a drink from his flask beforehand, staring back at the flask with a sour expression. "Honestly, Yang, there's too much to say right now, and I honestly doubt you kids want me to just leave without saying anything, so... Salem and the Horsemen are the ones pulling the strings, she can control Grimm, and to make it sound like a cliche, she's trying to bring down everything humanity has built. To what end, well, only Oz knows that answer."

"And if we don't stop Cinder... Vale might be her target?" Ruby asked warily, with Qrow chuckling once, looking tired

"She's planned it for months, if there's anyone that's a threat to her, its Ozpin. If she destroys Beacon and finds what we've been hiding, then... well, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that," Standing tall he lifted his greatsword and strolled for the door. Looking over his shoulder he smirked. "Well then, kiddo, what will you do?"

Ruby took a moment to collect her thoughts, all of us waiting to hear what she had to say as time in the back of my head ticked away, so did the questions I wanted now more than ever. I needed to find Erika... but... could I tell her? Can I tell them? What if there's more to me than I know? Who were my - Gah, stop it! Focus!

"Weiss and Blake, head for the festival grounds, search for any signs of the three of them," The duo nodded, Ruby then looked to Yang and Qrow. "Yang, go with Qrow, search the school and dorms - I'll try to contact Jaune and the others and see if they can help us," Ruby then turned to me. "Sky and I will search the most likely place they'll be."

"Amity Colosseum, I'll also need to access the systems internally for any encrypted backdoors, something tells me 'Cinder' wasn't in CCT that night for a chat," Answering my role for her, the girls and Qrow took their leave. After the others left, myself and Ruby turned to each other, both myself and her face saying we were unsure how to start.

"Hey Ruby-"

"Hey Sky-"

We stopped, then tried again.

"Sorry, you – hehehe."

"Sorry, you – hehehe."

Laughing for a second, I motioned first this time. "First time that's ever happened, heh, still, Gun-nuts first."

"Ahem, right… Sky, are you… okay? After you being gone for a whole day and coming back you… looked worried?" Ruby's keen eye had caught me, worry crossing her features as I sat down on the edge of Weiss' bed, hand on my forehead

"Honestly… I've been given a lot to think about and… it's been hard trying to piece it all together," I replied softly, trying not to look her in the eye as she sat down next to me. "I know that finding Cinder is important, Iota and Eric know this too, but… I can't stop thinking about everything that's happened in the space of only a number of hours."

"You can't talk about, can you?" Now I turned to her, seeing a knowing smile on her face with a small wink. Although I watched out the corner of my eye as she fumbled with her hands sheepishly. "I-I'm… new to this… being with someone… but I know you, and I know you're trying not to tell me something."

I hung my head a bit. "I don't want to hide this from you, from any of you, it's a lot, more than the fact I've traveled between realities."

"I know, you've always hidden secrets from us, out of paranoia or for our safety, you've never done it without a good reason to," Her hands held onto mine, as we looked directly at one another, my face filled with uncertainty, hers with hopefulness. "I'll be here when you're ready to tell me, you don't need to worry, I promise."

I could never be upset for long around her, how, how is it that the first person I've ever trusted in so long would always find a way to make me smile, even in the face of certain collapse? "You always find some way to make me feel alright, Ruby, how the hell do you do it? It's like brainwashing or something."

She shrugged bashfully. "Because I'm an awesome leader?" Her forehead rested against mine, both of our eyes closed

"Sure… let's go with that," I whispered back, the two of us content to sit like this for a moment, myself let out a tiny laugh with Ruby giggling cutely with me. People always say affection is shown in many different ways, and this, this was enough for me to let the worries that've pilled up slip away for the time being

Pulling back, her left hand and my right locked between us, our relaxed smiles turning to focus. "Ready to put an end to this game, Ruby?"

"Aww yeah, let's do it, together!" She pulled me to my feet, the two of us locking hands as I was blown into her burst of roses, now tinted blue as we gained as much ground as we could toward the Bulkhead landing pads

Time was running short, and as the night drew closer, my heart kept beating faster. Me and Ruby ran for the stadium but heading through the maintenance tunnel to reach the system's interface grid, if we found that, it would shut down the mechanism controlling the arena, I had to stop this, otherwise... God knows what will happen. I quickly ran ahead, kicking the door open, before checking for any security, thankfully, I found nothing.

"Come on!" I called to Ruby, as she ran in, and I quickly followed, keeping a steady pace for me to monitor the map on Cognitum. The blue lines of electrical outputs danced in my eyes, tracing to many other sources but none to or from the arena yet, was Amity built with the system running separately on other maintenance sub-levels? "This is bad, Ruby, I've got nothing connected to the arena, and I'm too far from it to test otherwise."

"How much farther do you think you need to be?" Ruby asked me, as I looked at the map, then I cursed

"Dammit, we're running out of time... but... if I can get to just the outer ring, that might wo-." My voice caught in my throat, seeing Ruby's face drop as the speakers came to life. Were we too late? No... there had to be a way to stop this!

~Alright, its now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!~ Oobleck began and the shivering sensation grew in my stomach

"Come on, even if we can't stop it internally, I'll just drop in a stop the fight... even if that ends badly for me," While not the best plan, it was all I had left. Ruby slowly tapped my arm, but not to comfort me, instead, I saw her stare ahead with shock

But before we could turn down the path ahead, someone stepped out of the corner, and my eyes glared daggers at the man himself. Mercury wore a smug expression. Ruby stood close to me, realizing she didn't bring her weapon, so I was our best chance, perfect.

"I don't know what your game is, but if you play nice and tell me where Cinder is I'll not have to break more than your legs..." I hissed, but he wasn't phased, merely lowering his arms for a fight. I obliged, cracking my knuckles. "I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face for good."

"Right back atcha." He returned coolly

~It looks like our first contender is...Penny Polendina from Atlas!~ Port announced. ~And her opponent will be... Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!~

My heart sunk. My fists balled up tightly as Yin/Yang slithered over my body, enveloping my furious expression while his smirk grew with excitement, Ruby herself finally caught on, horror striking her face.

"No!"

"Oooh, polarity versus metal. That could be bad." He replied with a click of his tongue before he raised his arms in a stance. Then I narrowed my eyes dangerously

"Ruby, get to the ring, now," I growled, claws sprouting from my fingertips

"Sky..." She went to speak, but I just kept my gaze to Mercury

"Do it... stop this fight in any way you can... you don't want to see what happens next..." I wasn't bluffing, I'm going to kill this man, or at the very least, make sure he never walks again.

"Oh? Now you sound serious, let's go," Mercury mused, then he cracked his neck. "Showtime."

"Ruby! Go!" The second the words left my mouth I fired a blast from my palm, but he simply knocked it aside

I quickly blocked his ax-kick, before I tried to grab his coat, but he simply leapt back, firing a round from his leg, stopping Ruby from leaving. Mercury gunned for her, slamming her against the wall with a kick to the back. Ruby ducked, burst into roses to slip through his roundhouse which I caught, throwing him against the adjacent wall, firing two more blasts that sunk into metal but he somehow managed to avoid it.

With another frontflip, he brought his leg down again, but I learned from him too, with a backflip my right foot struck up with a sharp rise, propelling Mercury into the ceiling, a dent in his leg while his winced, pushing down with both feet to bring down several gunshots of wind dust, the gusts pushing me down, followed by a sudden crack to the back of my neck, slamming me into the floor. I recovered, swiping with my claws, only for a pair of hands to cover my eyes, his feet pressed to my back with a rattling blast following closely behind. He was nimble, and I lacked anything to compensate for that. and sending him over me, then he placed both feet against my back, before he fired two shots off, knocking me flying. He was nimble.

"But we're better." Right

Stomping down I activated my semblance, feeling the waves of our auras crashing into another with the shimmering force coating my armor. Another kick hooked itself around my abdomen, swinging my around with several slugs as I was embedded in the nearby wall. Through the dust I saw Mercury come at me with a similar roundhouse kick again, this time I moved faster, sinking my left claws through his shin, seeing scrap peel away with his smirk.

Since he was locked, he continuously raised his right leg, slamming it against my head with flashes of wind and bullets distorting my senses, but I had him locked, which meant he had nowhere to hide. Reaching out I grabbed his right through the blinding flashes, feeling the strain as metal plating groaned under his pants. With him clearly held tightly, I twisted with my left, a sharp shard of metal splitting, followed by my right arm spraying a continuous burst of flames to eat away at the leg, seeing as it wasn't made to withstand so much punishment his aura was starting to flash over his legs. With a final tug, I spun up around, deactivating my claws and smacking him headfirst into the wall, seeing his body slump with his aura now shattered.

"Sweet dreams, asshole." Kicking him once to ensure he wasn't dead I took off for the exit, seeing the swaying maintenance door ajar with... silence? Picking up speed I burst through the door. Ruby was still there, lying on her knees, tears slipping down her cheek

"Ruby! What's-!" I froze, my body was soon struck by a wave of horror that I haven't felt since Frenzy, but it was back, as my hands shook at the mere sight before me. In the center of the ring, Pyrrha stood with her hands over her mouth, and before her, Penny was... my God...!

"No..." Iota sounded... defeated

"P-P-Penny...?" Eric muttered to himself

She was... in pieces, her body was torn in two, her chest split, arm torn from its torso, her blades had all but clattered to the ground, the light fading away.

~No!~ I heard the faint sound of Professor Port gasp as I continued to stare ahead

"Penny... no..." I heard Ruby mutter while I slowly walked up to her, resting on my knee as I held her, to which she buried her face in my chest as she cried. It wasn't supposed to end like this! But then, the screens turned red, a black Queen piece from chess appearing before everyone... Salem? ... no...

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality... nothing more than men." That voice... Cinder...

"Our academies headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another star pupil."

"What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference." Grimm... oh no! All this fear! Its gunna attract everything from as far as Mountain Glenn! "And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a violent Huntsmen with a split-personality disorder? Another violently attacking a student, and now this?" You bitch...!

WARNING: System Error

Amity Backdoor Access Denied

"Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor, and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect the people of Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets."

WARNING: System Error

Amity Backdoor Access Denied

"Or perhaps, this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspected kingdom with armed forces. Honestly? I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right, and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile." Dammit, only Mars can even remotely access Cognitum - Wait, what he said back then

We Horsemen have a curse, so to speak, when we were created by Salem, we lack a soul, say for Tabus' unique case, and so our instinct to kill humanity remain and have grown with our power and intellect. Morana embraces it, Una has Tabus as a source of focus, and myself... I falter, and so I cannot stay long unless I risk my plans going down in flames."

I shut my eyes for a brief moment, my hands trembling with hatred. Mars was acting on his Grimm instincts again, I should have thought ahead, I could have done something if I had taken that into account!

"The leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you, the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our kingdoms are on the brink of war, and we, the citizens are left in the dark."

"So I ask you, when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?" And like that, she was silent again, all was silent. The clock inside me finally came to a stop

We ran out of time.

To Be Continued...

A cliffhanger for the big finale of this arc and volume! So close yet so far. I hope you enjoyed, seeya in the next chapter!

Next Chapter: Battle for Beacon Act 2 - All as One

Vale is under siege, with machines turned against humanity and White Fang on the hunt, the battle for Beacon has begun. The defining chapter has begun.