A/N: First time I've ever really done this review thing, I feel this works better than just PMs. Also, I may have gotten a little excited and... wrote the rest of the story without taking a break hehehe =^_^=
To Eeveeobsesser, I really was anxious about adding Summer back into the story as some have executed it well and others not and received flak for it. I'm glad you really liked it!
If you want to ask something or just reply feel free, enjoy!
Chapter 61 - Divide
Act VII - Memories
The Four Horsemen. A group of strange Grimm chosen by Salem to be the height of evolution of the Grimm, Mars, Una, Tabus, Morana. One, in particular, was driven and manipulated by a powerful abomination locked away, a Vex, a title given to failed creations of the Gods that were sealed away. Charron manipulated Mars into creating a device and procuring a catalyst for his return to Remnant, me. He forced Mars' hand, resurrected Morana so many times he became nothing more than a mindless, frenzied beast, Una had all but vanished without a trace, and Tabus remained lost between complete control and under subordination under Charron.
If I fail then Remnant and countless other worlds would perish under his sadistic ideology of balance. No matter the cost, he had to be stopped.
Even if it kills me.
[Mistral Heliport]
The large open space stretched across the cliffside of Mistral, the station in constant flux with shipping and passengers leaving for Argus. I sat atop a crate while overlooking my Dust reserves stashed both in Cognitum and in my coat's pockets, adjusting my crimson gloves to sit comfortably against my fingers as the rest did the same, prepping for what may or may not be our final journey.
"Okay, everything checks out," Albatross made his way down the rampart with Summer, who no longer wore her mask. "Fuel's prepped, supplies loaded, and morale..." He winced, "Erm, slightly less."
"Can you blame us?" Yang shrugged beside me, adjusting Ember Celica with a click. "If you were told you'd be going up against a crazy strong being hellbent on eradicating Remnant I doubt you could hold a smile."
Albatross did in fact hold a smile, chuckling at her words with a curious expression. "Aye, I suppose you're right, asking just about anyone how'd they feel would result in a looming sense of dread," Summer then nudged his arm
"Take it from me, having to remember bits and pieces of my memory on top of fending off Salem and her Horsemen was always stressful," Summer sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm proud though, all of you have taken it in stride and are working toward a solution, sure, the odds aren't ever in our favor but that hasn't stopped you."
Yang cracked a small smile. "Thanks... Mom," Even for them both it would take time to adjust to that again, however, Summer seemed to take it warmly while stifling a giggle to herself behind her hand
"Look who returns..." Iota murmured behind me, his back pressed to mine
I did, spotting my awesome girlfriend trying desperately to balance a number of boxes that obscured her line of sight. Erika was trying to keep her steady with her own hands full of bags. All while Ren handled his with ease, shaking his head at the girls' constant attempt to walk straight.
"W-we made i-it back!" Ruby wobbled forward and I quickly latched onto half of the supplies before they could tumble, seeing her silver eyes ease with a slump. "Thanks, Sky."
"Anytime, love," Setting them down beside Yang and Iota I saw the feed on Cognitum update with the list of supplies. Food, water, thick clothing, Dust, spare parts for repairs. If anything we were beyond prepared for Charron and whatever he threw our way. "Is that everything?"
"Just about," Erika breathed, setting her stuff down for Albatross to take from her hands, herself nodding graciously at the man. "I'm surprised we had enough Lien for all that Dust, especially since the prices have gone up over the last couple of weeks."
"Albatross is resourceful," Amber pipped up from her spot atop a few boxes, her eye peeking down the sights of her rifle with careful consideration. "I haven't the foggiest idea where he acquired so much income but we would certainly be in a bind without him."
"Happy to help!" His hand waved from the airship
"Hey, kid, got the map of the surrounding wilderness," Qrow waved his Scroll while making his way down the ramp. Our eyes were drawn to the holographic display of Anima's terrain, Cognitum doing a self-scan for Penny to interpret while she sat on my shoulder. "Place is practically all mountains and snow toward Argus, not many roads lead to where we need to go."
"Hence the airship." Weiss hummed
Qrow nodded, "Yeah, Summer's never been wrong when it came to scouting, place is in the middle of nowhere, and any old reports from Huntsmen in the area all said the air felt 'distorted', like the world wasn't completely stable."
"That would be the point I arrived in this world," Albatross cut in abruptly. "The Corridors of Time," Sensing our bafflement his head tilted to the skies above. "Endless worlds across countless moments in time, parallels and neighboring realities in constant fluctuation, all obtainable through the Corridors."
"These 'Corridors', is that what Charron wants to reach?" Blake inquired but was met with a shake of Albatross' head
"They're a step toward his goal, what he's after is a place with the exact name of that city North of here, the Argus, a place with the sole purpose to navigate the Corridors as well as posing as the prison for Charron's darker half," Albatross lost his look of confidence for a stern gaze. "If he can awaken, he'll tear apart enough of that sacred place to annihilate a fraction of the Multiverse in a second."
"My God..." Erika gasped, myself swallowing a lump in my throat
"I guess we don't have a choice, do we?" Oscar spoke up, clutching his cane tightly. "If we fail to prevent Charron's rebirth then what will be left? Who would be around to stop him?"
"In the end, we either give it our all or it's over for the whole world." Iota summarized, crossing his arms while eyeing Ruby next to me, her hand having locked with mine prior to our small chat
"Iota right, there's no one else to help us, and we're out of time as it is, but he's not unbeatable, Eric proved that already," That comment brought my eyes to her, watching her smile assuringly at myself and Iota, him too mulling over her words. "If someone as amazing as Eric can force something so powerful to a standstill then together we can do this!"
"A way with words, Red," Iota hummed, chuffing. "...I appreciate it."
"What are friends for?" Her smile and a handful of others glossed over Iota, himself unable to hold in a smirk though he was still flustered by it
"S-sure, whatever you say."
"Alright!" Summer clapped, startling the lot of us with a cheeky grin. "Enough moping about, I only had enough to rent this ship for an hour, and I have no intention on bringing it back in one piece given our track record, so, lets go before they realize!" Summer soon zipped off in a burst of petals back into the hull of the airship, leaving us perplexed
"Huh, so that explains where Ruby gets her childish antics from." Weiss jabbed the first arrow into the red-clad girl's back
"They do seem awfully similar in attitudes, they also share a peculiar affinity for spur-of-the-moment ideas." Blake jabbed another that had her hunch over with a whine, myself patting her back
"They're also quite short," Erika just teased and now Ruby was tearing up cartoonishly
"There-there," I soothed with a wary smile at how easily they broke Ruby's confidence
"...why me...~?"
The world passed by far below so peacefully. Given the recent events of Morana and the Battle of Haven, there wasn't much time to rest in between, what little we were offered was spent contemplating questions and fears. It still hadn't sunk in, that this was the end, everything that surrounded Cognitum, Project Eclipse, and Mars would come to a close sooner or later. I don't know why, but that feels sad.
"Hey, Sky?" Looking away from the window I spotted Ruby descending the ladder leading to the cockpit, it was only myself in the cargo bay, say for Penny running background checks. She spun herself around and hopped down beside me, hands clutching something behind her back. "I got something for you."
I held a raised brow while she fidgeted on the spot. "Y-you got me that promise ring before a-and I wanted to give you something too, t-though it's not much, I thought that since you wear a short jacket now, and with the cold weather, I got you 'this' to help you stay warm."
Ruby then presented me with a deep red scarf, a black splash-effect across the fabric too. Taking it from her, I carefully unraveled it, coiling it around my neck loosely, but tight enough to prevent it from coming undone, it even matched my gloves made by Ruby back at Beacon, even now it felt warmer, didn't notice how cool it was. Ruby remained silent, nervously awaiting my reply.
"I like it, really suits the red and blue scheme well," I told her, then my arm snatched her closer with a small squeak. Alone, I pressed my lips to hers gently for a quick kiss, observing how her pale skin slowly turned red in a matter of seconds, yet she smiled. "If it weren't for the fact you wear red I'd totally be decked out in the color with black and white thrown in."
Slowly, Ruby eased herself onto the seat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder as I scooted closer, wrapping my arm around her back tightly. I don't know how long we remained this way, embracing one another in the hull of the airship alone, no one ever came to bother us and that was fine.
"Kai?" She called me by my actual name. I hummed and she continued. "If we were still at Beacon, if the school didn't need to be repaired and we were all together at the school... would you have still left on your own?"
I haven't actually thought of that. When we all went out separate ways, Blake out of fear, Weiss by force, Yang due to her injury, and Ruby who was devoted to ensuring Haven didn't suffer the same fate, that gave me the motive to head out on my own with Summer, more importantly, to find answers that Vale couldn't provide. To answer...
"Probably, though the idea of leaving any of you would have been painful, even now I regret it, yet if I hadn't had gone out to discover the truth I might not have been able to uncover the reason I was here, who I really am, Charron, and so much more," I held onto Ruby tightly. "No matter the reason, I'd keep my promise, I'd find you no matter what."
Her posture shifted, allowing her lips to peck my cheek gingerly, that alone giving me a buzz of energy to my heart. "I thought so, it's okay, I don't know why I asked that anyway."
"It's fine, no matter the reason," I leaned down to press my forehead to her own. "I'll still love you, Ruby."
Her eyes closed with a cute giggle. "I love you too, Sky."
"Sky, hey Sky?" The touching moment broke under Penny's apologetic eye. "I am sorry to interrupt but I must inform you of a startling development."
"It's okay, Penny." Ruby smiled while I got up and stretched
"What's up, Penny?" She disappeared, her sprite flashing on Cognitum
"There is a serious problem with the hull's integrity," Penny analyzed as I turned to where she directed us. When I poked my head out the edge of the window I could make out the faint puff of vapor from thin holes in the side of the airship, almost as if something climbed up the side of the airship
I stepped back, immediately dawning Iron Regalia while Ruby procured Crescent Rose from a nearby rack. "Someone else is here."
"Sky, six o'clock!" Sensing the alert sound in my head I drew myself to guard Ruby as she raised her weapon under my arm, the smoldering knives clattering to the floor
"I've waited so long to do that again, what about you?" It was her again... Tabus, standing there spinning a knife with reckless accuracy. "You should have died back at Haven, hell, as far back as the Breach, then maybe things could be different," Her fingers scratched at her neck bitterly, poising a knife toward us. "Dammit, just die and make it easier than it has to be!"
She paused when I lowered my guard. "Please, I don't want to fight you, and... I'm sorry I had to end their lives, but Mars begged me to save you. Morana was constantly brought back to life, he was barely even recognizable. No matter what, I'm going to help you if you'll let me,"
She didn't say anything for a moment, the wind brushing past me from where she tore her way inside.
"Tabus... I don't expect you to like me, not after what I did, and I know Charron's messing with your head," I clenched my fists, poking a finger back for Ruby to take the hint to alert the others. "Fight it, please."
"Guys!" Our head spun to Ruby, her Scroll out as she threw herself behind a crate. "Tabus is here in the hull, we need-" A knife quickly skewered her Scroll to the wall, followed by a growl from the masked Horseman as she lunged for Ruby
"Screw it, first I'm going to tear your guts out!" With her weapons drawn I ran to intercept, fanning out my right-wing to slice across Tabus' chest, throwing her back while several blades pierced my radiant wing, another almost piercing my shoulder as I fired two ice blasts that were evaporated almost instantly under another two knives, Ruby's own rifle shots unable to phase Tabus while the wounds hissed with black smog
I coughed, quickly leaping back as Tabus lunged forward with several knives piercing the ground and objects surrounding us. The strength behind each throw was impressive.
Using my blades, I defected them, tackling Tabus against the edge of the wall nearest a window, thrusting my blade through her shoulder, and clean out the other end. The sickening crack of her bones rang true yet she twisted and broke the blade with her bare hands, head-butting me. A drop-kick followed soon after while Tabus twisted her neck sharply to evade another round from Ruby while Qrow slid down the ladder, drawing Harbinger's buckshot. Yet Tabus was faster, flicking a knife to lodge itself inside the mechanism.
Ruby drew out her scythe, thrashing high to keep the agile Horseman at bay while Qrow worked on repairing his weapon. I recovered and struck Tabus with two spheres of ice, neither seeming to slow her down at all, even as her skin broke apart. Taking this opportunity, Tabus spun in the air, throwing a circle of knives around her to prevent us from advancing as she straddled my waist.
She forced two knives toward my throat as my hands pressed back against her wrists shakily, I even used my right knee to wedge the gap between her chest and mine. "Why can't you just die like every other huntsman in history?" She spat until I threw her arms aside and cracked my head against her nose, filling her mask with an arctic chill that threw her backward and into the waiting slug from Harbinger and an upward slash from Crescent Rose, flinging the Horseman into the cargo hold's ramp door.
"Like I haven't heard that before!" Sky's retort caused her to lash out again
Pushing forward, I tackled Tabus back, my sole thrusters twisting me around to crack Tabus across the side with a powerful gust of wind. Her feet pressed against the far left wall, the windows cracked and her broken ribs snapping back into place under her skin. I charged with both arms backward, swiping across in a horizontal twirl.
Tabus reacted with an inhuman spin, striking back with two horizontal slashes from either side of my chest, three knives dug into my chestplate, erupting into flames as I slid backward, Ruby and Qrow standing by with their weapons pointed to the Grimm as she chuckled, plucking a bullet from her neck and flicking it aside.
"Don't you get it now? You may have won countless times, but in terms of experience you have nothing against me." She was cocky and arrogant, but that wouldn't help me. She could regenerate faster than any Grimm alive, and her ability was hauntingly annoying. Tabus then clicked her fingers. "My skill is simple, call it-"
[Null]
"To keep it brief I can nullify any pain much like Hazel only I can discharge this ability to others like Morana," Her fingers danced with many new knives, all with different colored edges. "Compared to him however you're severely outclassed."
Tabus cracked her neck then broke across the hull with uncanny speed, a murderous, silver contrail following her eyes. I ducked, two rounds striking Tabus who dove over me and slashed at Qrow's scythe, both their weapons drawn down as Tabus sunk her claws around the shaft, striking the huntsman across the jaw with her boot, followed by two electrified knives crackling against his aura. Then she somehow lost her grip on his scythe, falling headfirst in Ruby's line of sight as the high-caliber bullet lodged itself in her thigh, then her stomach and chest, the punch behind the bullets forcing her into my reach.
Swinging my right arm back the blade split in the middle, the chain wrapping around her waist and left arm as I yanked her away from Ruby, my left blade parried the second I honed in for a thrust. Tabus pulled herself away in my chain, drawing five crimson-tipped knives to skewer the hull as I was given a faceful of flames, rejuvenating me as I slammed into the hull's rampart.
From the smoke, a knife found its home deep within Tabus' right eye, melting through her skull and out the back like butter against a hot knife, literally. What was left was a black wisp of smoke, and a silver, jagged light, narrowing toward me. A dozen knives taut within her hands.
Retracting my broken chain the blade reconstructed in time to block some of the projectiles as the flames blotted out my view. All I could feel was a cold slice across my cheek as something knocked me down. Tabus emerged, straddling my waist again with her knives rose above my head. A number of wounds across her form smoked, her now restored silver eye leering down at me.
"Ah, crap, you're a silver-eye warrior," I grunted, holding back her weapons again as her boots kicked behind us, eventually slumping my head against the right wall as I tried in vain to overpower her. All she had to do was flash me with that eye of hers and I'd be a goner, not unless. "You can't use it," She flinched for a second
"Much as I've enjoyed being on top," Her eye came within an inch of my helmet's. "Time for the climax." Ugh...
Her hand snapped right just before Ruby and Qrow could intercept, a blade finding its home in the console for the cargo door, the wall beside us slowly coming down with a massive gust of wind. Just at the last second, two glyphs appeared under Qrow and Ruby, holding them steady while Weiss wrapped her arm around the ladder.
"Sky, you have to close the door!" I'd love to act on my sister's wish but I was kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place
Tabus growled, pushing down on my chest while procuring a new knife that hissed in the chilling wind. My hand reached up to try and free her arm but the other snapped around and pinned it by piercing her hand on the tip of the blade.
"Dammit, think-think-think..." I stole a glance at Ruby, herself unable to hold steady as she tried to brush her hair from her face. Qrow was doing what he could to try and get a clear shot but it was pointless. Twisting my head back to Tabus I knew there was only one way. Bending my arm I pushed forward against Tabus' impaled hand, watching her struggle as I did to gain enough space to snag her throat with my left, herself losing the knife. "Not this time,"
"Ruby!" She managed to look back at me. "I'll leave the rest to you, whatever happens, you have to stop Charron or else there won't be a next time, got it!?"
"Sky, don't!" Weiss I think commanded or begged me to reconsider but my mind was made up
"Sky!" Ruby cried out, firmly latching Crescent Rose through the airship, using it to keep herself stable when she reached out for my hand. Sadly I couldn't take it this time, pulling myself forward while Tabus continued to struggle, even as her fists connected with my vital points.
"...no... no-no-no, I won't-" Ruby didn't have time to finish, much to my relief as Qrow had pulled her back from behind, her cries of defiance near silenced by the wind. With a thumbs up I propelled myself and Tabus with a large torrent of flames, throwing us into the open air as she lost her hold on me entirely
While my wings failed to thresh themselves I struggled to adjust myself through the air, however, my eye caught something no far below. The clouds seemed to twist, faint snowfall jittering within the frame of... something, the light was smudged and broken under gold cracks that stained the sky, twisting time within the region. "A rift? When did-"
Whatever it was swallowed Tabus whole, while something forced gravity to cease its pull on my body as a hand snaked around my throat, radiant and brimming with light. "C-Char-ron." I croaked as his fingers bent and split the metallic fiber, eyes slit at my presence
"I told you, believing you had beaten me was a mistake, Eric delayed my escape but what's a little longer toward my goal, to a point you and I have not been fated to clash?" His dark matter arm flicked my counterattack away, shattering the gauntlet with ease under my wince. "That's right, everything past Haven has yet to be told, out of all the timelines this one is new, unforeseen, implying either one of us could prevail," His head leaned closer. "I will not allow you to interfere again, in the end, you will keep losing."
My right reached high, clasping his forearm tightly while my eyes narrowed sharply. "I... won't ever stop trying."
Charron looked to consider my words a moment, while the roar of the airship grew faint in the distance. Then, he let me go. "Then you will die." I hadn't the time to regrow my wings before I became locked by the distortion of the rift, the gravity pushing and pulling me in every direction as light slowly filled my eyes with an array of colors
"This is... really, really bad..." Whatever strength was left soon dissolved inside the tunnel of light as Remnant vanished from my eyes
Where was I? Wherever here was I couldn't quite see, I was laying on grass I think? Through the black spots, I could spot the fuzzy outline of trees, a distant chirp of birds that were certainly not present before. I could barely move an inch say for my hand flopping to the earth in a pitiful attempt to crawl, my fingers could barely form a fist.
Even though my conscience was fading again my ears twitched at the muffled footsteps approaching from the left, if it were Tabus I was as good as dead, yet nothing happened, not a knife to my back or a snarky comment to be heard. All I could see was a pair of boots stepping into view, and the glare of an orange eye peering down at me.
To Be Continued...
The end draws near, and Sky is taken out of the picture thanks to Tabus and Charron, but where has he ended up? And can he find his way back to join the fight? I hope you enjoyed, appreciate the support as always, seeya in the next chapter!
Next Chapter: Part of the Problem
Sky wasn't dead, which was reassuring, however, he's in a familiar place with unfamiliar faces there to greet him. The issue is, where exactly was he and where was Tabus?