Man, one would think that a quarantine would mean that I have more time to write. It sucks that my job counts as essential workers and while it's good that I am getting more hours because they can't do shit without me for some reason, it gets really draining sometimes. Oh well, the plan continues and I am to wrap up this story soon. The end is so near I can taste it. If all goes according to plan, this story should be over by or in chapter 40. Which isn't too far from the original plan I mentally made when I first started the story.

Also, I just noticed that I put two chapter 32's in the beginnings of the previous chapters. Which is fine, it doesn't really mess anything up since the chapters are two different written chapters. I just felt like pointing that out before I continue on with chapter 34.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 34

In the end, nothing really changed for the better. I turned myself in, went through the motions, but for the most part, I just sat there. Obeying, listening, until the right moment came. I wish I could say it was when Summer's kid walked in…

"That's about it, really," Marcus said as he let out a deep breath. The part of the seat against his back was now warm and slightly wet with sweat because of the amount of time he'd just spent leaning against it. Over time, the straps all over his body began to get less and less annoying and restricting. Most likely that was the case because blood had stopped circulating and his sweat as loosened the grip friction had on the leather against his skin. "Nothing much else to say unless you want me to get more in detail."

"So you did use to go to Beacon," Ruby said a second later. "But then Mountain Glenn… Blake told us that was where she thought some of the White Fang was hiding. What did you do after that?"

"I did what I just told you already. I left." Marcus rolled his eyes. He started getting bored telling the same story over and over again. "Your mom and her teammates visited me a couple of times while I was recovering from losing my legs, but then my dad came in and well…" He clinked his metal toes against the ground. "I got these."

"You said that you left a note before you left." Ruby pointed out.

"I did." Marcus nodded.

"What did it say?"

"I told Summer and them that I was an assassin the entire time," Marcus easily explained. There wasn't any real point in hiding it anymore. Qrow knew it, Tai knew it, Ozpin knew it and he could bet that Ironwood and all of his Specialists knew it too. It wasn't much of a secret anymore. "I don't remember it word for word, but apparently it was enough for your mom to think that there was still hope for me."

"I'm not sure about that…" Ruby muttered. "And she ended up finding you."

"After about a decade or so, yeah," Marcus said. Choosing to ignore her earlier snapback. "I still don't know how she managed it. I had the best technology in the world that basically made me a ghost to any radar equipment and scroll signals. I was in the asshole of Vale near the outskirts deep beyond a dense forest that made it even harder for signals to breakthrough, and I was in a town that was basically all assassins." He scoffed. "If she weren't a huntress, she probably wouldn't have even been let into the town."

"She died after finding you…" Ruby said, ignoring the latter half of his answer as she delved into the darker morbid thoughts in her mind. She was angry, vengeful. Marcus was able to see it written all over her face. Like her mother before her, she wasn't very subtle with emotions and with his training, he could tell what a person was feeling just by looking at their face. Ruby, was trying very hard to not pull the trigger of her weapon. Depending on the caliber, it would just bounce off his aura. But with him strapped down unable to move or defend himself, she could easily just keep firing her gun until his aura broke and kill him.

"She went on to find her friend who did so many evil things and tried to make him good again despite everything that happened. The world called for your head and she went to try and help you." Her voice cracked as tears started to fall from her eyes. Marcus remained silent. One wrong word or one wrong phrase, and he was dead. "Why does that sound just like her? She was always so cool…" She laughed sadly. "Always helping us no matter what when she was home, always playing with us. She had enough energy for both me and Yang together when dad couldn't and she loved us. When I told her I wanted to be a huntress, she immediately got Qrow to help teach me since he became a teacher at Signal. She was so nice… funny… good-hearted… I hate to say it, but it makes sense."

She would have done the same thing, she didn't say.

"When she was dying, what did she say?" Ruby asked him at last. "Did she curse you for letting her die? Did she try and see if you were okay? Did she ask you to go after the man that killed her? Well, tell me!"

Marcus hesitated for a moment. Ruby paused when she looked into his eyes. So dark, so tired. Just like before, but now they were full of emotion. It was barely noticeable and if she wasn't looking for it she wouldn't have found it. But he looked sad.

"She told me that she loved me and that I was her best friend," Marcus said slowly. "Then she made me promise to one day become good again. Before she died, she gave me her semblance," Only visible to Marcus, he took a side-long glance to the one-way mirror. The specter of Summer was visible, standing at the side of the table between him and Ruby and looking down at her daughter. She was smiling, proud of what her little girl had become. "I didn't steal it," Marcus continued quickly after seeing Ruby's glare. "She offered it to me since she was going to die anyway, and I took it because I had no real reason to deny it. But… now she lives within me."

Ruby's eyes widened with shock. "W-What?"

Marcus waited for a moment, almost like he was waiting for someone else to pipe up.

"She wants you to know that she loves you and that she is so proud of the girl you have become."

"S-stop it…" Ruby begged.

"She wants you to take care of your sister Yang, and help her find her birth mother one day because you know that she is going to look for her one day. She also keeps flooding these memories in my head, memories of when she held you in her arms while she played with you. Somewhere around when you were three or four years old." Marcus smiled fondly as if he was remembering something that he was actually there for. In this case, he was hundreds of miles away when this happened. "You always used to wrap your pinky finger around hers. Your first words were actually 'Pinky Promise!' because Summer always made one every time she went out on a mission, you caught onto it like the excitable little girl you were."

"Stop it!" Ruby shrieked, standing up from her seat so violently that she sent it flying back into the door behind her and picked up Crescent Rose and transformed it into its scythe form. Threateningly, she placed the blade on the back of Marcus' neck. "H-how do you know that? Shut up! Stop talking, o-or else I'll kill you like you did Blake!"

Marcus grinned at her and leaned into the blade behind his neck. Ruby widened her eyes and instinctively pushed it away from his vital point as to not actually cut him. She realized her mistake immediately but her hands shook as she tried to bring the blade back up.

"Nope," Marcus replied. "You're like your mother. Too much like your mother honestly. Which means that you're not going to kill me. You don't have the guts for it, and somewhere deep inside that little head of yours, you still want to hold up hope for people, don't you? Because there's good in everybody… also because you're starting to believe that your mom really is a part of me and you don't want to lose it for the life of you."

"You're lying… you're lying… you have to be." Ruby trembled.

Marcus looked at her with a pitying gaze. "I haven't lied since I got here, Little Rose. I made a promise and I aim to keep it. My only regret is that it took this long for me to actually start caring again."

The blade pushed up against his neck again. "You killed Blake." Ruby's eyes flared. "Did you start caring before or after you shot her in the heart?"

"After," Marcus answered honestly. "I was having second thoughts before, but I really only started after the train crash and ambush."

"Do you regret that?" Ruby asked dangerously. "Do you regret killing her? She was my teammate, my friend, I might have not known her as well as I wanted to, but she was still my friend. Why?" She asked brokenly, her hands began to shake again as the adrenaline began to fade. "Why did you do that?"

Marcus closed his eyes and sighed. "It was on instinct." He said. "I was going to let her live, I really was. I kept hearing voices screaming at me to stop and for once I actually listened to them. I stole her semblance, her aura was broken, and she was defeated and could barely lift herself off the ground. I was walking away with a gunshot wound in my shoulder after letting my guard down once. I didn't let it down again."

"She shot me in the back of my head but I kept my aura up so all it did was rock me a little. After that… her fate was sealed. Before I knew it, my body moved and I turned around and shot her." Marcus explained. "I… all that training… all the torture just abused my muscle memory."

"You… didn't mean to?" Ruby asked, eyes shaking.

"I didn't mean too." Marcus looked into her eyes and nodded his head. "And… I'm sorry, for taking her from you. If I could go back, I would have tried to shoot her hands or jump out the window instead but… I am sorry."

Ruby finally broke down after trying her best to death glare him for the next thirty seconds or so. She shifted Crescent Rose down into its holstered state and dropped down at her knees right in front of him. Marcus looked down at her, and the Summer part of him screamed at him to hug her, but he couldn't do that while strapped to a chair and probably wouldn't even if he wasn't. All he could do was look down at her. Very rarely did her apologize for anything, this was the first time in decades the words even came out of his mouth. But he did mean it.

Blake's voice was one of the loudest in his head ever since he killed and stole her semblance. But now she was quiet. Not forgiving him, but understanding. She went through similar yet not nearly as brutal training as he did. But after being in his mind for weeks now she was able to see his memories once he opened them back up to them again. After this moment, she was the most silent he's ever recounted. It was the closest to forgiveness he was going to get, and he would take it while he could.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ruby asked as she cried in front of him. "Why did you make me want to help you at first, then make me afraid of you, then hate you, only for me to start feeling bad for you? Why are you making me want to forgive you when I came here with the intention to kill you? I don't understand this at all… I don't understand… Why…?"

Marcus snickered. "Yeah… I have that effect on people. Sorry about that."

Ruby laughed hysterically as she used the table to help her get back up on her feet. She did her best to wipe her eyes and nose of the fluids that leaked from them but she couldn't get all of it. Her tearstained face pulled at his heartstrings, and for some reason, he recounted one of the first times he saw her all those months ago. Roman and a few of his goons went to go rob a store, things went to shit, and he had a chance to severely injure her when Roman through that dust crystal at her.

That was when it all really started. Right there in that moment when Marcus made the decision to shoot the crystal earlier than he could have and spare Ruby and himself the pain. Everything started with her. Well, both of them. Summer and Ruby. Without them and Roman and Neo, none of this would have been possible and he'd still be helping Cinder and Emerald takedown Beacon.

"I'm not going to forgive you," Ruby said as she wiped at her eyes and placed Crescent Rose behind her back again. "But… I also can't hate you. Not after you apologized for Blake, helped us, and avenged my mother's death. I just can't bring myself to hate you anymore."

"But you're still scared of me?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope," Ruby surprised him with her answer. "How can I be afraid of you when I know you won't hurt me?" She smugly asked.

"Hah," Marcus shut his eyes and laughed. "You really are just like your mother."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ruby said as she turned away from him and awkwardly picked up the chair she threw back earlier and stood it back up on its feet. Then she made her way back to the exit of the room. "Keep helping us, please. Don't make me regret this."

"Pinky promise," Marcus replied and just barely managed to get his pinky up high enough to make what he was trying to do noticeable.

Ruby shook her head and stepped out of the room. Making sure to lock it behind her and run away as fast as she could the moment she heard footsteps coming from behind her.

Marcus relaxed and slumped his head against the table. Damn his stupid semblance, making ghosts come out and making him remember things. How is it that he was so tortured by those voices constantly telling him to kill himself or lose a fight and now he was just being annoyed by how most of them were silent or now cheering for him? Ugh, he hated his semblance sometimes. He didn't care how useful it was or how many times it saved his ass. He didn't want it anymore. Was it possible for him to steal his own semblance and lock it away? Probably not.

Not that he'd have a choice, or that he'd give it away if he had the chance. He still needed it now, and soon. He didn't know what it was, but he could feel it.

Something big as coming, and he was going to have to use it again soon.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up." He said out loud as he shut his eyes and sighed through his nose again. He might as well get some sleep while he could. He doubted that he had a lot of time, Ozpin and his possie were going to wake up early and come back soon.

That, or Cinder. Last he checked the Vytal Festival was just getting into its doubles round. Which means it should just be ending or getting into the finals.

And well… he would cooperate as long as he needs to. But he was a master assassin for many good reasons, it wasn't like silly leather straps and a metal chair would hold him down forever.

"You did what!?" Weiss and Yang shrieked at the same time as Ruby hung her head more tightly to her chest in shame. "Please tell me I didn't just hear what I heard," Yang begged. "Please?"

"No…" Ruby whimpered out. "I went to go see him… I couldn't just not! I had to get some closure, something!" She tried to explain.

"So you snuck out to go see the man that tore apart our team? Killed Blake?" Yang's eyes went red with anger. "What the fuck Ruby? And you didn't even bother to tell us about this little stunt of yours. What were you thinking? What if you got hurt!?"

"He was strapped in a chair!" Ruby wailed.

"He is a master assassin Ruby!" Weiss pointed out. "How long do you think that chair is going to be able to hold him!? Seriously, I can't believe that you'd go out and do this. Without telling us was one thing, actually going through with it and putting yourself alone in a room with that man for who knows how long is another. This is serious Ruby, I am going to tell the headmaster about this."

"Wait, no!" Ruby lunged out and grabbed Weiss' hand. "Please Weiss, just listen to me. I found out how his semblance worked! I heard him talking about it with Ozpin and General Ironwood!"

"Well?" Yang raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Silently demanding for her to let go of Weiss and sit back down. The big sister rank pull was effective, making Ruby sit back down on Weiss' bed with a sad indignant pout on her face. Now that Ruby got this far she didn't know how to say it. It was incredible and unbelievable and she wouldn't have believed him if it weren't for the lie detector dictating that he was telling the truth the entire time. Some way somehow, her mother Summer Rose lived on within him, as did Blake and countless others that he stole the semblance of over the course of his life. It was like magic, but then again, if she was able to move at the speed of sound, whos the say someone wouldn't be able to wield a semblance that could steal others or take a part of their soul and live on with it? It was confusing, but it was the truth. The real truth.

"He said that his semblance doesn't just take away other people's semblances, it also takes away a part of their soul. Think about it, if other people's soul lives within him, then Blake lives on with him too!"

Weiss and Yang were shocked at the revelation, but it quickly faded and they closed their eyes and sighed. The initial shock by no means meant that they believed her. "Ruby…" Yang said quietly and shook her head.

"It's true!" Ruby stamped the carpet with her boot.

"How could you possibly know that?" Weiss countered.

"Ozpin and the General put him on a lie detector, while I was listening in it didn't go off at all!"

"Lie detectors aren't perfect, Ruby." Yang pointed out. "He was probably trained to talk through them somehow. Remember, this guy is tough shit and smart too. He could probably say that he's a woman and it wouldn't have gone off."

"He said his name was Samantha and it went off." Ruby crossed her arms and frowned at her two teammates. She knew that they'd be upset with her over this. Honestly, she was too. But she knows its the truth, only her mother would know what he told her! It was their little secret after all. Unless she told him right before she was going to die, it would have been impossible. "I didn't believe it at first, but I guess you had to be there."

"Was Dad and Uncle Qrow there?" Yang asked.

Ruby nodded her head.

"If I asked them, would they tell me?"

"I don't know." Ruby shrugged her shoulders helplessly and did her best to answer honestly. "Probably not, I doubt that the headmaster would be okay with it and everything that happened between us and he wouldn't give them any reason to let us in on what's happening. They had to send your sister away," She told Weiss, who widened her eyes with shock. "She was angry because of what happened to you, and that guy Clover whos the leader of the Ace Ops was barely able to stay himself. They need him to be alive and cooperative, and right now he is doing just that."

"I can't deal with this right now…" Yang said as she rubbed her temples. "We just got back from watching Pyrrha and Nora destroy the other team in the doubles, and its always something."

"We can talk about it later," Weiss offered. "We all just woke up and the Vytal Festival is just getting into its finals now. Let's just enjoy today and talk about it after dinner, please."

"Fine," Yang said, snarling quietly underneath her breath. "But when we do I want Dad and Uncle Qrow to be here with us. That's my condition if we don't let Weiss tell the headmaster and place a damn curfew on you so you don't go out and talk with world-class wanted criminals."

"Fine," Ruby scowled at her sister and turned her chin up at her.

Weiss looked at the two of them and pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed. Just when things started to get better things just started to get out of control all over again. Its been like a roller coaster that constantly had its ups and downs. At the beginning of the semester, they were at the highest point in their lives. They just got into Beacon, passed initiation, flying colors in almost every class as a team. Then Blake had her episode and ran off to the docks, Ruby lost her semblance, she lost her weapon and Yang got a concussion. Once things started to get better again, Blake was killed on the night of the dance and everything went downhill again. Then as things started getting better again and Marcus Black, the man that had started all of the first downhill drops, surrendered. Only for him to be a lot more complicated than they all originally thought.

If she had it her way she'd go straight to Ozpin and tell him about her leader's very unprofessional and reckless move. But out of respect for her teammates, she was going to hold off on that for now. The sisters seemed to both be willing to talk this over, and she was as well in all honesty. She truly was curious about what information Ruby managed to acquire, even if it was a very risky and reckless way of getting it.

She sighed mentally. Oh well, she never thought her first year at Beacon would turn out like this. But there wasn't much she could do about it anymore. All she could do was ride it out and hope that next year would turn out better.

"Find anything else out?" Ironwood asked the moment Ozpin entered his office.

"Nothing that we don't already know," Ozpin said with a sigh as he took the seat across Ironwoods. "He says that Cinder is working with Adam Taurus and the White Fang and using the Valean gangs to fulfill her own wishes. All of that we already knew after some minor investigation done by star detective Seth, Mackie, and Verdant of the Vale Police and Defence Force."

"Promote that man once this is all over with," Ironwood suggested.

"Believe me, he is guaranteed to be the captain of his own unit away from the precinct itself. I might even give him a huntsman license whether he accepts it or not." Ozpin said with a slight chuckle. "But no, despite our desperate efforts to capture him, it seems he only knows just a little more than we do. I was only able to get him to go into detail about how he and Cinder and Emerald defeated Amber and stole part of her power, and warned us that we should put her under tighter wraps."

"We should transfer her power to one of your students already," Ironwood said with a low growl. "Any day now Cinder is going to make her move and right now Amber is completely vulnerable. It is safe to suspect that Cinder may already know of her location, and so she knows where to strike and also knows when to ensure that she gets the best possible outcome. Has this Nikos girl gotten back to you yet?"

"Short conversations and questions here and there…"

"Then it is time to make the hard decision." Ironwood looked down as he said it, clearly slapping himself mentally. But he stayed strong. It was one of the major reasons why Ozpin eagerly recruited him as an ally. When the time came, James Ironwood was number one on the list to make difficult choices. "We have two options. Force Nikos into the machine and give her the power, or choose a different girl and tell them to make the decision immediately."

"Neither are particularly ideal options…"

"We are out of time Ozpin!" Ironwood screamed as she slammed his robotic fist into his desk, shattering it into pieces. "Cinder is coming and if we don't act today then we are going to have to deal with another fallen maiden! Do you remember how difficult it was to defeat the last fall maiden that turned against us and worked for Salem? Do you?"

Ozpin narrowed his eyes at the General. "More so than you may think, James. I remember all of the names of the fallen."

"Remembering them is not enough. My entire unit, Ozpin. You and I were the only survivors and only just barely!" Forcing himself to calm down, James took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

"It is quite alright," Ozpin said with a dismissive wave. "I understand your pain, James. Time and time again I lived and fought alongside friends and loved ones. Mistake after mistake, I am forced to remember each and every one of them for the rest of time until Salem is defeated."

James' eyes took a pitying take on the old headmaster. He never forgot it, but it always was unbelievable to think about. Thousands of years of constant mistakes and constantly failed strategies put against Salem and hundreds of failures. James couldn't imagine it, the man before him was more willed and determined than he ever could be. He didn't know if he could do the same if he were put in Ozpin's position. And he never wants to even test it.

"I sometimes forget that," Ironwood admitted. "Well, I am sorry about that again. But my statement stands. We cannot afford another enemy maiden."

"We do have someone capable of defeating a maiden…" Ozpin put the idea out there and it lingered uncomfortably in the back of Ironwood's mind. Drawing forth a winced grin on Ironwood's face.

"Ozpin… no, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Who else but him?" Ozpin asked. "He has proven cooperative and hasn't told a single lie since he got here. And if anyone would be able to defeat a maiden on their own it would be Marcus Black."

"Yes but you are asking me to allow a known master assassin to go back out there into the world and hunt down young women. After reading his report, I doubt he'd ever accept it. It'd be like trading one master for another and he keeps going on about his freedom." Ironwood shook his head. "We shall save that conversation for another time. For right now, we must decide who will become the new fall maiden."

"Allow me to talk to Miss Nikos," Ozpin said finally. "After this next fight in the tournament, I will do my best to convince her into becoming the maiden. If she says no, then I shall take the best of the second-year students. Velvet Scarlatina. She is a rabbit faunus and she will do what she thinks is best if it means protecting her friends and innocents."

"There we have it then," Ironwood nodded his head and quietly let out a sigh of relief. "I'll try and get my Ace Ops back in action in the meantime. I have a feeling that we are going to need them again soon, and it is not good for public opinion if the best of the best huntsmen and huntresses in Atlas are incapacitated for an extended unknown period of time."

"I trust that your doctors will see to that well enough. I hear you already have a new arm being built for Elm. Is that true?"

"Off the record? Yes. Officially? She never lost it."

"Hah," Ozpin chuckled. "Well, how about that."

Penny stretched her limbs out to her sides and made it sound like she actually needed to stretch. In reality, nothing inside her body moved and she was just swinging her arms around in what might look like a ballistic stretch. Her partner, Ciel, looked absolutely aghast at the sight.

"You don't need to stretch, you do know that, right?" Ciel asked her.

"Of course I do partner Ciel," Penny replied happily and flexed one of her arms. "I am simply doing so for the purpose of putting on the perfect guise that I am in fact a perfectly normal girl."

"I… okay." Taking a step away from her, Ciel sighed and her face flushed ever so slightly. She was clearly not entirely comfortable standing next to her. "Just be sure that you don't lose, it would be an embarrassment to Atlas."

"Of course, partner." Penny put up a thumbs-up gesture. "No need to worry, for I am combat ready!"

Ciel shut her eyes and sighed silently and chose to ignore the entire second half of that sentence.

Penny went on to continue her stretching. She was severely damaged after her battle with Marcus Black during that ambush, so it took quite some time for her to be repaired enough to be sent out into the world. It was quite the task, she heard. She was missing an arm, her core was damaged, and her cerebral cortex frame was loose. But she was still functional, amazingly enough.

She was taken out of the list of operatives to partake in any more actions against Marcus Black after that, which was fine for her. She didn't feel any pain, but she did not like losing limbs. So she was okay with it. And now she got to the final round of the tournament! Truly, it was the most sensational experience of her life. Once she wins this final round, all she had to do was show up to a reward ceremony and that was it!

All she had to do was win, that was easy!

She was combat-ready after all!

Yeah… easy. We'll see about that cute ginger robot girl.

P a treon . com (slash) Genatools

T w itter . com (slash) genatools