Act IV - Linked Horizons

Chapter 37 - Horizons

You've done well, little one...

Your power has grown but only has it now manifested...

Don't be afraid of it, it will be startling and hard to understand...

Now wake up, you must move forward...

I will watch you closely, I, , promise...

The first thing I felt was comfort, I know I'm somewhere, but it wasn't Beacon or Vale, but familiar. I could feel the sheets beneath me, and around me, it was warm, safe - well, my definition of 'safe' is really about residing in Cognitum, but this was safe too. It also felt strange, something was with me...

When I did open my eye, my left was still black, meaning that I was blind on my left side indefinitely. But from the angle I awoke to, I could see the ceiling of brown, certainly not like last time, but I could see the sun piercing through into the room. So when I turned fully to my left, I saw the window, the trees in the distance, and the bright, blue sky again. Definitely better than fire.

But I also met black and red. To my blinking eye, Ruby was sleeping beside me, and if I was correct with my location, I was in Patch, more specifically, her home. That means there's a mad man who wants me dead if he saw us like this! Out of the pan, and into the fire, again.

"Geez, I guess my luck has finally returned..." I dryly muttered as I saw Ruby's eyes begin to stir, and before long, her silver eyes opened, looking up at me lazily, those same eyes I met before, and the same ones that saved me from Cinder, and the Wyvern. While she yawned I sat up. "Morning, love."

"Morning... Sky?!" She blurted out, wrapping her arms around my neck like a python, burying her face into my chest again, but I could already feel it, tears. Then she looked up at me. "You're ok!"

"If I've learned anything, it's that I somehow do, especially because of you." I pointed out, as she smiled, wiping tears from her face, but then I held her tightly. "Are you ok?"

"Y-yeah, I just... I was worried, you've been asleep for days, and you kept muttering in your sleep, and..." She trailed off, as I held her close, I can't forget what she saw, Pyrrha... wait-

"Pyrrha! Is she okay!? What happened to her, Beacon, everything!?" I interrupted, my heart pounding away after I shook her slight, but with a small sigh she smiled

"Pyrrha's... okay, sort of," Oh thank God... but that wasn't reassuring. With a hurt expression, Ruby looked to the window. "Pyrrha was shot in her lower back and... now... she can't walk anymore."

My expression of relief quickly fell, as I put a hand to my mouth. If not for Ruby she and I would be dead, but at the cost she couldn't walk? Iota? Eric? You there?

"...Nothing, they're probably still asleep or something," With a sigh I turned Ruby's head to face me, pulling her into a soft hug, hearing her sniffle a bit while I wiped a tear from my eye

"Atleast she's okay, even if just a bit, I'm sorry you had to see all of that too," I whispered. With a nod she pulled away, looking a little brighter

"But we did it, you did it!" Huh? Tilting my head, Ruby pulled her scroll from the bedside table, pulling up a news report with a few images. "After I passed out, Uncle Qrow found us, but somehow... I killed the giant Grimm... then a strange broadcast that sounded like a Grimm traveled across Vale and the other Grimm... fled."

"Really?" It worked, but a Grimm sound? I just tuned it to Cognitum in hopes it would trick them into believing something far worse was at Beacon. Was it the sound of this Vex? Did it mimic its sound instead? With a shake of my head, I pointed to her. "Hold on, other than my plan to rid Vale of the Grimm surprisingly working, what did you do atop the tower? I saw a flash of white light from your end then the remains of the Wyvern fading away."

Now it was Ruby's turn to look confused, slash, bashful. "Ehehehe, well, I sort of... used my eyes to kill it?" Huh? She waved her hands frantically. "Uncle Qrow told me, I don't know! My mom had silver eyes and this strange power was what Mars meant when he said she would have been better off without them - I'm still mulling it over - It's very confusing and I just-"

I softly planted my lips on hers, seeing her both relax as we held the kiss for a couple more seconds. After our brief lapse of silence, I pulled away, offering a warm smile to her red face. "I think we've alot to mull over later... right now, all we need to know is that we won, Vale is safe, even if Beacon is going to need some serious repairs, we have all the time in the world until then."

Ruby soon fell for that idea, resting her body against mine, head resting under my chin as I held onto her tightly. "Sure... that sounds nice."

"Hey, Ruby? You aw-" This sweet moment was all but paused as Erika entered the room, jaw frozen as sweat trickled down her face nervously. With a single blink, she rigidly stood straight. "Oh-Sorry-Don't-Mind-Me-Ok-Bye!" Then she slammed the door, and I saw Ruby's face was burning even brighter, even I scratched my own tinted cheek too

"Welp, she's seen worse..." I sighed, putting a hand to my now bandaged left eye, it was still there, a little numb too, but I guess now I can wear an eyepatch for a reason. As for my right hand, it was still wrapped up, the fingers twitching every-now-and-then, guess that's not too bad but still annoying. "Half-blind and a twitchy hand, and a strange voice I've never heard before, great."

"What?" She asked me with confusion, so I quickly coughed and waved her off

"Nothing, just a voice I heard before I wake up, the usual." Not surprising in the slightest, Ruby said 'Ah' and sat comfortably against me. This day was bitter-sweet, we had won, Vale was safe and the Grimm surrounding the school were gone, but at what cost? How many died? Pyrrha was now unable to walk and Salem, she'll try something again someday, but when and where? It was all unsatisfying but we couldn't do much else other than recover and rest

Ruby then booped my nose, smiling up at me. "You don't need to worry, whatever comes next we'll do it together, right?" It was hard to argue with her there. Resting my head on hers I sighed softly

"I know... thank you, Rubes."

Again, while we relaxed the door creaking open caught our attention, seeing Erika's charcoal eyes staring at us nervously, before her body fell into the room

"Am I safe?" She asked, as I rolled my eyes

"Jesus, you make Facebook's privacy algorithm look good," I answered bluntly, Ruby moving off me so that Erika could move into the room, quickly making haste toward me to embrace me too, squeezing me tightly. Letting out a shaky breath I closed my eyes. "Sorry to worry you, sis."

"If you do that again, I will kill you, I will kill you, bring you back, and kill you again!" She mumbled as I chuckled a little into her shirt. I could feel her playing with my hair too, messing it up slightly. "You were pretty awesome though..."

"Yang...?" I called, as I slowly opened the door, my usual get-up on, bar my jacket. When I entered her room, I saw her staring towards the outdoors, a frown etched onto her face, but when she turned to look at me, her eyes were broken, lost even. "..."

I slowly walked up to her, as she kept as still as a statue, I couldn't think of anything to say, which was never the case with Yang, I could always say something, she was the girl who always burned bright, she was always there if I needed to just blow off steam. But this time, everything was now in reverse, it wasn't right. Her arm... it was gone, bandaged up just above where her elbow once was.

I stopped just in front of her, as we stared for God knows how long, then I wrapped my arms around her, as she buried her face in my shoulder, her remaining arm resting on my back.

"They're gone..." Yang muttered as I let go to face her, I didn't say anything, just like she did for me, well except one thing

"Hit me," I stated sternly, and off she went

"Everything is gone, Vale is under control, and what you did made sure almost all the Grimm at Beacon fled too. But... Weiss was taken back to Atlas, and Blake... she ran! As soon as we were dropped off, she ran off; didn't even look back." Yang looked angry now, and I can understand why I knew how she felt

"Yang. We lost despite saving Beacon and Vale," I started, as she looked at me. "I had it all... the truth of all of this and yet I was too late to stop any of it, I couldn't stop Penny from being torn apart, I couldn't stop Cinder from paralyzing Pyrrha or however many deaths added up." With a slight hiccup in my voice, I looked away for a second. "I failed..." My right hand, despite twitching, balled up. "Which is why I have to make it up to them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" But I just gave her a comforting smile, then I made my way towards the door

"Yang... what I believe isn't for you to ponder, what you should do, is learn how you're going to make it through this, you always do. You're this Golden Dragon, you never back down from a fight, your will is near unbreakable, and yet, you're the nicest girl I know, even trumping Ruby at times." I answered, giving her a small thumbs up. "I know you'll be stronger in no time, you're my best friend after all."

"Wait!" That made me freeze, my head keeping my eyes trained ahead of me as I let the silence carry Yang's voice for me. "How can you keep going? Even after all of this, how can you still smile at a time like this?"

. . . .

I smiled. "Isn't it you who taught me to stand my ground? To never back down even if it all seems impossible? You changed my life, Yang, I won't let that go to waste ever again." I answered before I closed the door between us

"Iota. Eric. Specter. I have something we need to talk about later." I spoke softly, before I made my way towards the spare room again, Ruby and Erika chatting amongst themselves

A Few Months Later...

It was beginning to turn winter, snow was beginning to cover Patch with a white sheet. But inside of Ruby's home, I finally slipped Cognitum on my left arm, its lights coming on once more, I clenched my fist, preparing for one last thing. It was very early in the morning, so I had to make this quick, but every notion in my head was screaming at me to either stay or go.

I slowly entered through the door, spotting Ruby sleeping peacefully, just like back at Beacon, when we could go days without the thought of war, of Salem, any of it, the time I spent with her even before being in a relationship, it was precious to me, every moment of it. But now, now I had a choice, and I have made it. I carefully lowered my head, brushing her hair aside, before I gently kissed Ruby on the head, thankfully she didn't wake. Then I moved to her ear, saying it for what will be the last time for a while.

"I love you, Ruby," I whispered softly, careful to pull the cover over her more while she melted into the bed with a smile, hugging Zwei closer. With a final look cast her way I turned and closed the door gently

"You're leaving, aren't you?" I knew it. At my sigh, I turned to smirk at my sister, who was sitting idly on the couch, but she didn't look phased, but she was 'off', that was certain, so I walked over to her, as she reached up and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, resting her head on my chest

"I need you to keep Ruby from doing anything stupid, can you do that for me?" I asked as Erika looked up at me with a determined smile, her eyes narrowed like it was a challenge

"You forget? 'I' took care of you from years, what's one girl gunna do to stop me, eh?" Ha! She spoke in a Canadian accent again, then her eyes widened at the realization. "Don't you do it you-"

"Don't worry sis, I know you're 'Sorry' for the slip-up." I held back a laugh as she smacked me on the back of the head, pouting at my obvious remark

"Asshole..." She muttered before I ruffled her crimson hair softly. With an anxious expression, her fist rose for me to bump. "Catch you later, dummy."

"Takes one to know one, but sure." I agreed. Even if we were apart, and though she isn't related by blood, when did that stop me from being Weiss' non-blood relative too? Erika is my sister, that will never change

I now watched as the sun flowed into the clear sky, radiating with the only warmth the world gave to me this time of year, the island growing smaller with each wave passed. I didn't want to leave them behind but this was something I had to do, for all of them, someday I hope we'd be able to walk toward Beacon together again, childish as that sounds.

"Are you sure about this?" Iota asked me but I honestly wasn't sure

"No, but that Vex isn't going to wait for us to just decide when we want to stop its return, right?" I argued with a casual shrug

"The journey won't be easy, we're bound to run into more dangerous foes, then again, why else are we here?" Thank you for pointing that out. "Your welcome!" ... "Oh, right, sarcasm."

"How are you adjusting?" Turning to my right, Summer stepped in beside me, hood up tightly to cover her maskless face. With a shrug, I swayed my hand from side-to-side

"Not good not terrible I've had worse," She giggled at that, resting her arms on the railing. Meanwhile, something important came to mind, as I felt my chest tighten. "First thing though we need new equipment and... I need to go back to Beacon."

"Hmm, something you need, right?" I nodded once. "Okay then, once we've made a prep list and gather what we need we'll head off for Anima - There you will meet two others I've been working with, they'll also aid us greatly for what lies ahead."

"Sounds like a plan!" I yawned, tapping my hands in a rhythm against the railing. With a snort, I peered up at the clouds overhead. "It's going to snow again, isn't it?"

"The average temperature is around four degrees with around ten percent change of snowfall, though there is also a twenty percent chance of rain too," Thank you for the forecast... Penny. "Happy to help, friend!"

"You...doing ok, Penny?" I asked slowly. My gauntlet flashed green, and a small sprite form of Penny appeared as a projection

"Oh I most certainly am, it's still strange though... when I awoke, why were we in Patch? I swore we were still in Amity Colosseum last I checked?"

"It's nothing to be concerned with Penny; I'm sure it will come back to you. It's just... I guess recovering your memories is gonna take some time." I assured the dumbfounded A.I

"When is it ever on our side?"Amen to that, Iota. "Irony won't save us from this, or your awful puns..."

"Onwards to Amina then." Summer smiled, patting my back as she left to go back inside the ship while I continued to stare off toward the sunrise

When all hope in humanity is crushed, it can leave those with nothing, filling them with despair, and grief. We may lose those close to us, or we may lose the battles we were trained to face. Even if we are pushed to the brink of defeat, all it takes is one person. It may be small, fragile, scared, but the flame that burns within all of humanity can never die, as I have seen its power, the peace it can bring, and the light that radiates from it.

So Salem can send her Grimm, bring forth her horsemen and acolytes but I won't stop, not until everyone I know can live in peace again, even if I'm beaten, if my strength runs out I will gladly give it all to see them safe, just as they would do for me. My team, my friends, my family, they fixed me, something I never thought was possible. In turn, I'll do the same, I'll gather up the fragments of this world and I'll piece them back together in time too.

No matter how long it takes, I'll be sure to find you again, Ruby. To the ends of the earth.

To Be Continued In Act V...

And like that, the end of Act IV and next month, we move on to the largest act. Following the team of Sky, Summer, Eric, Iota, and Penny! So stayed tuned for the next crazy adventure in RWBY: Fragments! And thank you all for reading! Seeya in the next chapter!

Next Act: Act V - Life's Pieces

Several months have passed since the Battle for Beacon, and as the kingdom and the world heals Sky moves on with his next quest, to stop a powerful creation of the Gods that threatens more than just the world of Remnant. Tied to this approaching fate, Sky will have to push through all his limits to achieve the future he desires most. Good thing he's not alone.