As a small head's up, I've added a little FAQ section to my profile here on the site. There's nothing revolutionary on there; it's just answers to a few questions I get A LOT. Like, "Can I use your story idea" or "Why do you write about Jaune all the time", etc.
If you haven't been wondering about these questions, there's no real need to check it out as it's nothing special on there. It's not going to blow minds and I'm not trying to draw people to it for whatever reason. I'm just making it because I get asked these questions a couple a times a week and thought this might make it easier for people.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Kegi Springfield
Chapter 103
The God of Darkness descended on his brother with his mighty jaws open.
The God of Light didn't see it, too busy dealing with Salem and Ozpin – both battered and bruised. But they saw the other God approaching and scattered quickly, using what powers they had to fly out of the way an instance before the purple and black dragon struck.
The sound the impact made was inhuman. Being not bodies of flesh and bone, but energy and whatever godly power made them, the sound was akin to a dust explosion – all crackling lightning, loud blasts, the cracking of frost and bright, flashing lights. The dragon slammed its brother into the ground, kicking up a tidal wave of dust and soot.
Salem and Ozpin landed near to the rest of them, who had all naturally backed away from the scene. Ozpin was bleeding badly, his powers far weaker than they had been, but he still found the time to stagger over and demand answers.
"Does your ability to inspire coups know no end? This is beyond belief."
"It wasn't me," Jaune said. "This was all Yang."
"And I didn't trick him; I just pointed out a couple of flaws in the deal he and his brother worked out."
"This was your plan from the start?"
"What?" Yang laughed. "No way. It was the plan I came up with after plans one through fifty failed. We didn't stand a chance; he was killing us without breaking a sweat."
He was doing much the same to the God of Light, body coiling around the much smaller frame as he squeezed the life from it. The head bit down, giant teeth latching onto the God of Light's shoulder and head. He tore his snout away and the God was torn asunder in a flash of golden light. He reformed almost immediately, the essence slipping through the God of Darkness' teeth.
The God of Light held up a hand and blasted an orb of yellow light into the dragon's face, broke free and flew up to strike the dragon's snout. The two went flying once more and crashed down into the ground. The God of Light began to grow as well, undertaking the same transformation, body elongating and face stretching out into a serpentine shape.
"Did your plan include a contingency for if the God of Darkness loses?"
"Uh. No."
"Or what we should do if he wins," Salem added. "We would still have to deal with him."
Yang winced. "Eh. I figure I already came up with this idea. Now it's your turn to come up with a plan. It' only fair." She elbowed Jaune's side. "Back me up here."
Jaune shrugged helplessly.
"Fair…" Ozpin mumbled, as if he'd never heard the word before. "Yes. Quite. Unfortunately, I am almost entirely out of energy."
"Never could keep it up," Salem muttered.
"Magical energy," Ozpin said, louder. "Creating the Maidens drained me."
"And was pointless," Salem added.
Ozpin glared at her.
"Mom. Please…"
"Thank you." Ozpin nodded to him when Salem pouted. "Regardless, I am not as much of a threat as I used to be – and I'll thank you to stop nodding at that, Salem. Whichever God emerges victorious, we may still have to deal with."
"They might be weakened, though," Ruby said.
"I hope so, Miss Rose. I hope so."
It was their only hope. That, or being able to negotiate with the victor. In which case, the God of Darkness was the preferable choice ironically. At least we were able to hurt him a little, and the God of Light won't listen to anyone's opinion but his own.
It was hard to tell who was winning the fight.
A battle between Gods didn't necessarily work on human terms. That much was obvious in the way the God of Light bit through his brother's neck and severed his head, only for it to reform a moment later and for the God of Darkness to twist under and coil around him, sinking his own teeth into the God of Light's shoulder.
"You fool!" the God of Light boomed, despite his mouth being full of god-matter. "You have been tricked once more. Do you never learn?"
"I have learned, brother," the God of Darkness sneered the term. "And you would know of trickery, being the one to have tricked me time and time again. No longer. Existence was better when we warred eternal."
"But the balance-"
"Don't you see? This is balance. One God for the Light, one God for the Dark, locked in eternal combat. There is more balance here than in your misguided machinations." The God pulled his head and neck back, lifting the God of Light up and over to crash down into the ground on the other side of him. "Where are your faithful now, brother? Oh. That's right. You had me destroy them when they turned on you. The moment they upset your notions of Order and Balance."
The God of Light roared as his brother pinned him down, teeth latching onto his neck and pushing him further into the ground. Rock cracked and gave way beneath them, creating a sinkhole that exposed row upon row of sharp dust crystals that pierced deep into the dragon's body.
"You have none either," the God of Light rasped. "You are a means to an end. Nothing more. They will betray you as they did me."
The dark dragon hesitated.
"Whooo! God of Darkness!" All eyes turned towards Nora, who had clambered atop a rock and cupper her hands before her mouth to shout at the top of her voice. "Kick his ass! You can do it! To hell with order; it sucks! Chaos forever!"
Beside her, Ren chuckled. "That certainly does sound like you, Nora…"
"I know, right?" Nora grinned and reached down, not for Ren, but for Blake. The faunus squawked as she was dragged up onto the rock with her partner. "Help me, Blakey. Whoo! God of Darkness. Rah! Rah! Rah!"
"Um…" Blake fidgeted under the attention – even more so when one of the God of Darkness' eyes swivelled in her direction. Blake began to sweat. "Uh. Darkness, Darkness, you're our ma- God. If you can't do it… uh. Go God of Darkness?"
"Slaughter that blonde bastard!" Ilia screamed, much more into it. "To hell with blondes!"
"Hey," Sun whined. "No need to be jealous…"
"Take that autocratic bastard down!" a White Fang grunt cheered. "Down with the oppressor!"
"He's our God! The White Fang's God!"
"We don't want the other one!" An Atlas soldier shouted. Ironwood's eyes narrowed on him. "What? We don't. Why does the White Fang get the God that isn't a massive douchebag?"
Winter coughed. "He has a point, sir. We should claim a stake in the God of Darkness before the White Fang do."
General Ironwood let out a long and suffering sigh.
And then raised his hand.
"Go God of Darkness. Go, go, go."
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" The God of Darkness' laughter boomed across the Grimmlands. "Yes! Is this what it feels like to be worshipped? So wonderful. So invigorating." The dragon's snout turned down to the one beneath it. "Little wonder you sought to keep it from me. You wished it all for yourself."
"They will turn on you, brother. Just as Salem did. Let us not fight but work together."
"Fool! You are a fool and I am fool for believing you! Salem did not turn on me. You made me turn on her!"
"She tricked you!"
"No. She made a wish by me. A wish that I granted and then allowed you to take away. The first I had granted, my first worshipper, stolen from me. No." His eyes narrowed. "Driven away. Cursed and punished for daring to go against your order."
"The balance of life and death is too important to play with."
"LIES! Were it so important, you would not have defied it to grant her eternal life, nor brought back the very one I resurrected before." The God of Darkness bit down savagely and shook his head, tearing great chunks from the God of Light's side. "You have fallen out of fashion, brother. Your followers have abandoned you. Even those you granted your powers to wish your demise."
"They have abandoned me as they will you. They cannot be trusted."
"You abandoned us first!" Ruby yelled, eyes flashing. "You don't get to claim we betrayed you, when you came down and tried to kill our friends and family!"
"An eternity of suffering for Salem and I. This, I might forgive, but for your machinations tearing apart what was once a happy and loving relationship. All this world's evils fall on your shoulders, God of Light. If anyone has broken the balance of this world, it has been you. I dare say that so long as the God of Darkness does not mimic your mistakes, the people of Remnant shall worship him forever."
Catching onto his plan, Jaune nodded quickly. "Yeah. I'd happily be your worshipper. You're fighting the monster trying to kill my family. You're the hero!"
"I was and am his first," Salem intoned, joining in. "Nothing shall change that fact. I braved the journey across the wastes to kneel before him, and though the God of Light tested my faith, it remains true to the God of Darkness. Whose power runs both in my veins and those of my children."
The God of Darkness seemed to shiver and grow.
"Yes. YES. My faithful. My flock. My believers." He sneered down on his fallen brother. "And where you failed, I shall not. Should mine seek to betray me it will not be because I invited it."
The God of Darkness snapped down again and again, his great head rising and falling, sending golden sparks scattering left and right. The God of Light fought back as he could, trying to bite and wrestle his way to freedom, but his actions appeared sluggish and weak, as though his limbs weighed too much.
"Does the worship make him stronger?" Ren wondered out loud. "That might be the reason the God of Light's position was so commanding."
"It is possible…" Ozpin stared on, amazed. "Now that I think of it, there has to be a reason the God of Light would be willing to entertain our petitions. Why else than to ensure we considered him a benevolent God?"
"Worship him!" Jaune yelled. "Whatever side you're on, worship the God of Darkness or our entire world will be doomed!"
The words spread. Some chanted, others fell to their knees and yet more joined the White Fang and Atlas soldiers in cheering for the God of Darkness like they were watching the most brutal Vytal Festival ever created. Even the Grimm roared, screeched and stamped their feet, sounding their approval and kicking up a storm of dust and feathers.
The God of Darkness bristled with power. With a final roar, he bit down, cutting off the God of Light's agonised scream with an audible crack of thunder. Rearing back, the God of Darkness extended his neck into the sky and roared his victory.
All within the Grimmlands roared with him.
/-/
It was Jaune, Yang, Salem, Ozpin, Ironwood and Sienna who made their way towards the God of Darkness as he turned back into a humanoid form. As the leaders of their respective groups, they stepped forward to face the deity while all others stood and watched.
The God of Darkness was the same size as he had been before, but his body seemed more vibrant, more colourful. Even if the shades of black and purple were still there, they were brighter. Denser. Somehow more vivid.
His entire form seemed more vivid, more real. His face was still a mystery with no eyes, nose or mouth to judge, but his body radiated smugness. Jaune could feel the God's pleasure as easily as he could the ground beneath his feet.
He had no idea how to break the silence.
"Hail the conquering God!" Sienna howled, raising her hands in the air. "You showed that bastard just who rules here."
"Yes." The God chuckled. He looked past Sienna, to Yang. "Your God has proven himself."
Yang grinned back. "He certainly has. That was awesome."
"What will happen to the God of Light now?" Ozpin asked. "I was under the impression a God could not be killed, even by another God."
"My brother has been weakened significantly. It will take a thousand years or more for him to regain his strength. I will watch over him until he does, and we shall talk much in this time. Balance and order are not in themselves wrong, but I will ensure he knows that I will not stand for his trickery again."
"Does that mean he'll come back to Remnant?"
"No. It is Remnant which caused such greed in him. I will not allow him to return."
"What, then, of us?" General Ironwood asked.
"You need not fear my wrath if that is your question. As I said, I will not make my brother's mistakes and drive loyal worshippers away. Darkness does not mean destruction any more than Light means creation." The God raised his voice so that all could hear. "Let it be said that Remnant stands whole in mine eyes. This experiment of ours proves an unlikely success. More than that, a learning experience for the two of us."
The crowds cheered at the news, and Jaune's relief was so much that he thought he might collapse then and there. Yang pushed him back up with a laugh of her own.
"God of…" Salem began, and then paused. "God." The singular term fit better. "I know you've just saved us, and it may seem rude to ask, but… the curse placed upon me…" Salem glanced at Ozpin. "On us."
"It will be removed. You shall not, for I care not for the actions of my brother. Your presence here – both of you – upsets any sense of balance or order, but with the curse gone, time alone shall take care of that. You will pass from this world when your lives come to a natural end." He extended a hand and a wave of purple light washed over both Salem and Ozpin. They gasped but didn't appear to be in pain.
"Oscar," Ozpin rasped. "Are you-? Yes. Wonderful." Ozpin bowed slowly, falling to one knee and lowering his head. "Thank you. You have saved not only my soul, but the life of a child. You have my deepest gratitude."
"Mine as well," Salem said, kneeling beside her ex-husband. "For sparing my family."
The God of Darkness stood a little taller, preening under their naked and honest praise. "Yes," he said, sounding a little too smug. "I am a generous God. Remember this. As for your family, the lingering traces of my power remain within them, but then, so too does my brother's within the silver eyes. As far as I am concerned, this is a balanced exchange. Both shall go unharmed."
Yang smiled happily. "My God is wise and merciful."
"Yes." A little more preening. "I am, aren't I?"
A little childish too, Jaune thought, though not with any real insult. The God of Darkness had saved their lives, which meant he could run around doing whatever he wanted as far as he was concerned. "What will you do now?" Jaune asked. "Will you stay here?"
"If I were to stay, more would come to seek petition from me. In time, when my brother forms anew, I would need to let him return – and the cycle might repeat again. As much as it would please me to rule, it is safer for all if I do not." He paused. "You should all continue to worship me, however. To not forget my generosity."
"We won't forget it, God of Darkness," Yang said, grinning.
"I suppose we can make a national holiday," General Ironwood mused. "I had some of my men record this event to prove to those in Atlas what happened. Seeing this, I'm sure we could erect a statue and declare a day in your honour."
"God of Darkness Day?" he asked, a little too eagerly.
"Uh." Ironwood winced. "Perhaps named something a little different…"
"Fancy holidays?" Sienna groaned. "Not for us. Drink, dance and make merry. We'll hold a festival on this day every year in Menagerie. It'll start when the sun sets – in the height of Darkness – and continue until the sun rises again and everyone passes out drunk."
"A tournament!" Ruby cheered, shouting from behind them.
Ozpin blinked. "A… tournament?"
"W-Well, with the Grimm going peaceful, huntsmen and huntresses will be out of a job. We should hold tournaments to honour the God of Darkness. Like, the fighters compete to see who is most worthy and then dedicate their victory in his honour – just like how he defeated the God of Light for us."
"This proposal of armed combat in my honour pleases me. Make it so, silver eyed one."
"Eeeeeeee!" Ruby shrieked happily.
Ozpin chuckled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And just when I thought I might be able to retire. Very well. I shall inform Glynda and see about rebranding the Vytal Festival."
"Would that make us priests?" Yang asked.
"Sure. Why not." Ozpin shrugged. "At the very least, there will always be criminal elements out there, not to mention wild animals and sporting events. Huntsman academies will find a new purpose, I'm sure. Perhaps a hundred years from now, we shall all be athletes and people will talk over warm meals and warmer fires on how their ancestors had to use their skills to survive in terrible conditions. Perhaps in one thousand years, people will have forgotten that the Grimm were ever their enemies."
Honestly? That sounded amazing.
"I am just glad I will not have to survive alone to see it," Salem said. "Thank you, God of Darkness. I will never forget what you've done for us."
"Good. It is time for me to go. I shall keep an eye on Remnant, and on these tournaments dedicated to my honour. When my brother forms once more, I shall show them to him and laugh at his jealousy."
The God of Darkness laughed then as well, loud and long as his body began to become incorporeal, more and more spectral, until he could be seen only as a purple mist that soon twisted up and into the air, away.
The skies above cleared, the bright – well, red – sunlight piercing down once more.
"Is that it?" Jaune asked. "Did we…?"
"I think we did." Ozpin sounded just as bemused as he. "Or rather, He did. We were quite useless."
"Speak for yourself," Yang teased. "I convinced a God to fight another God. I'm retiring right here and now. Nothing tops this."
Ironwood laughed. "Atlas will be sure to send you a fruit basket as thanks, your majesty. Winter," he barked, turning around. The Specialist rushed forward. "What of the injured? What are out losses?"
"None, sir. A few broken bones, concussions and minor injuries when people were knocked down or thrown around, but our armour prevented any serious injuries. The God of Darkness… he was playing with us. I don't think he killed anyone, not even in the White Fang."
"We didn't mean a damn thing to someone like him," Sienna said. "But he wasn't bothered about killing us, either. His heart wasn't in it."
"A literal God of Destruction who didn't want to destroy."
"A God of Destruction chained," Ozpin said. "The God of Light had determined who he could destroy and not for thousands of years. Considering the God of Light commanded him to destroy us, it is perhaps not a surprise that he would hold back. A subtle rebellion, but rebellion nonetheless."
A rebellion that wouldn't have been necessary if the God of Light hadn't been so controlling. In a way, it wasn't so different to what he'd done in running away from his mother. She'd had reason to try and hold him back, genuine concern for his safety, but he'd rebelled against what felt like a lack of options.
And now, the God of Darkness had as well.
Fitting.
"What happens now?" Sienna asked.
"Now? Should anything happen?" Ozpin chuckled, and then burst into laughter. It was loud and light, childish thanks to Oscar's body but undeniably free. "Anything you wish will happen. Go home, eat and drink, or do whatever you want to do. The Gods have freed us from their curse – not only Salem and I, but Remnant as well."
"The Grimm will honour the deals of peace forged by my son," Salem said, smiling fit to burst. She had taken to leaning on Nicholas, resting her head on his shoulder and winding an arm around his waist.
Jaune tried hard not to notice her hand disappearing into the back of his pants.
"Atlas will honour our own," Ironwood said. "I will return and tell the Council that our battle had to be postponed as Atlas, the White Fang and the Grimm joined forces to face a threat far greater, one that threatened to destroy all of Remnant. Let us see those fools try and stand in the way of a peace agreement now. The people will eat them alive if they try!"
"We expect change from Atlas if you wish us to honour your peace," Sienna threatened.
"You will have it. All I ask is some time to implement changes. Laws cannot be changed overnight, nor can minds. It will take time."
"You'll have your time, Ironwood. But remember, the White Fang will be watching." The woman's face shifted into a wide grin. "But for now, we should celebrate." Her voice raised as she addressed her people. "Tonight marks the first night of the Festival of Darkness! Dance, drink and make merry!"
The White Fang cheered.
"If you'll excuse me," Sienna said. "There is a certain sloth faunus I need to corner."
"Over my dead body!" Nora cried.
"That can be arranged. Pardon me." Sienna slipped away with a predatory smile.
Jaune laughed. "I wonder what it's like to have more than one woman after you. I can't imagine ever being in that spot."
Yang sighed, but it was Ozpin who placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "With all due respect, Mr Arc. You are still an idiot." Turning to Salem, he said, "I think we should all retire. Does your tower have the facilities to hold everyone here?"
"Of course. I have plenty of spare rooms. I've been prepping for grandchildren for years."
Ironwood raised an eyebrow. "There are almost four hundred of us."
Salem looked confused.
"And…?"
/-/
They'd done it.
They'd actually done it.
Jaune watched as everyone celebrated – some louder than others. Nora and Sienna were the loudest, still fighting over Ren as he sat and talked with Weiss, ignoring the envious looks from Sun as he tried to chat with Blake, only to butt heads with Ilia. Yang was laughing behind them, poking Blake's cheek and teasing her, while Pyrrha and Ruby laughed at some small joke and Emerald sat in the corner, just relaxing after so much drama.
He didn't know what the White Fang and Atlas soldiers were doing – though the booming music coming up through several floors hinted at it. So far, no one had come to blows, not between those two contingents or with the Grimm. There was bound to be accidents in time. Like Ironwood said, change wouldn't come instantly, but they'd deal with those as and when they came up.
"I can't believe we'll actually have a chance to deal with them…"
"You didn't think it would happen?" Remy asked.
"No. I dreamed it would, but I always thought it would remain just that. A dream."
"Talking to Remy?" a voice asked.
"Ruby?" Jaune turned to find his teammate standing behind him, hands linked behind her back and a small smile on her face. There was a dark mark under her left eye, a bruise from where she'd fallen in the fight that was sure to blossom into a lovely black eye.
It didn't make her look any less cheerful. This was Ruby Rose, after all. She'd probably given herself worse unlocking and learning to use her Semblance.
She waved. "Hey."
"Hey yourself." Despite it being silly, he waved back. "You're not going to party inside?"
"Aren't you?"
"Just wanted some fresh air."
"Mhm. Me too. Let's go hunt fresh air together. It won't escape our combined strength."
"Dork." He playfully swatted her head and laughed when she ducked under it and stuck her tongue out. He chased after her as she ran down the hall. If she'd wanted to escape, her Semblance would have let her, but she kept her pace down to the kind of level a simple Grimm-human hybrid like him could be expected to match.
She brought him out onto one of the balconies surrounding the edge of the tower. There were plenty of them, but this one had numerous Nevermore roosting on it. They opened their eyes to look at Ruby, then huffed and went back to sleep.
"Is it weird that I used to think all Grimm were evil? I mean, most of the time they were just flying or walking around. We were the ones launched into the Emerald Forest. They were minding their business."
"I don't know. Maybe. I was taught that you humans are all murderous psychopaths."
Ruby huffed at him. "By your Uncle!?"
"Hey. Uncle Tyrian is… unique."
"I'll say." Ruby giggled. "Is he okay? He took that big hit for you."
"He's fine. Better than fine. As thanks for saving me, mom looked after him personally."
"Does she even know first aid?"
"No, but it didn't stop Uncle Tyrian declaring that he would never remove the bandage she placed on him. Wouldn't surprise me if he declares it a holy relic or something. He's been showing it off to anyone who will listen to him. I think he cornered Weiss' sister earlier."
"I feel sorry for her already."
The two of them shared a laugh, leaning against the balcony as they looked out over the Grimmlands. Despite the purple and black scorched ground and hellish landscape, it looked peaceful and calm.
At least compared to the ruckus going on downstairs.
The giant hole that the God of Darkness had created when he brought the God of Light down was just about visible, and only because the light reflected off the dust crystals that lay within. Weiss had already told him just how valuable those could be – especially if he used them to build up trust and faith in the Grimmlands.
He'd have to contact the SDC and see if they wanted to come and mine it – provided they didn't use any faunus workers unfairly. Better yet, he could ask for faunus workers, and then enforce fair payment and better conditions on them. Perhaps a village could spring up around the tower, a city to exist within the Kingdom itself. It was a plan that might take decades, but it would make the Grimmlands less lonely and also prove once and for all that peace was at hand.
They could call it… Grimmtopia.
"Might want to leave the naming to the professionals. Just saying."
"You don't like it?"
"No comment."
"You never thought this would actually happen, did you?" Ruby asked. "I heard what you said before. You thought this would just be a dream."
"I did. People talk about dreams all the time. Everyone has them. But… I guess that even if we do, we always kind of know that they're not possible. If you want to be a famous hero, you're more likely to end up dying somewhere fighting unbeatable odds. People who want to be professional singers or actors rarely make it."
"I don't think that's a bad thing."
Surprised, he looked down at her. "How so?"
"Well, if dreams were so easy to accomplish then we'd have nothing to work towards. Can you imagine living in a world where you didn't have to struggle to achieve anything? There would be no point. Nothing to work towards."
"I never thought about it like that…"
"And sometimes, dreams can be achieved, even if they are unlikely." Ruby grinned his way. "For every hundred actors who don't make it, one or two will. Maybe they tried harder, worked harder or just got lucky, but sooner or later someone will manage it."
"You think I got lucky?"
"You think this was all due to your incredible skill and ability?" she countered.
"No. I was an idiot. A complete moron. I only made it this far because everyone bent over backwards to help me. Weiss with training. Pyrrha with schoolwork. You in making me a normal, functioning member of society."
"Yeaaah, I think I failed there."
He ignored the teasing. This time. "What I'm saying is that I only made it this far because of everyone helping me. In the end, it was Weiss who helped organise the Grimmland's negotiation efforts and you and Pyrrha who got Vale on board. Ren and Blake handled Menagerie; Sun and Ilia with Vacuo. It was Yang who convinced the God of Darkness to turn on his brother."
"Praise be unto him," Ruby said quickly.
"Praise be," Jaune echoed, making a vague sign into the dark. Better safe than sorry. "But no, I don't think I singlehandedly did this, luck or otherwise."
"That's because you didn't, silly. This wasn't just your dream; it was everyone's dream."
"Was it?"
"Sure. Ozpin was brought back from the dead to defeat Salem, but that wasn't what he wanted. Salem was driven mad by the Pools of Darkness and cursed to eternal life, but that wasn't what she wanted. General Ironwood and Atlas didn't want to live in fear of the Grimm, and the White Fang didn't want to hurt people for the sake of hurting people. They wanted justice. Fairness."
"Heck, even the rest of our teams were the same," she said. "Look at Blake wanting to fix things, or Weiss wanting to redeem the SDC. Pyrrha wanted to escape a life of competitive fighting and you wanted to get out of here and see the world."
"And you?" he asked.
"I…" Ruby looked out over the horizon. "I wanted to make mom proud. Which was stupid…"
Stepping forward, he placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I don't think it is. And I think she'd be incredibly proud of you."
"Yeah. I hope so." Ruby wiped her arm over her face. Jaune pretended not to see it. "But it was still a stupid dream. Mom loved me and Yang. Why would she need me to prove myself to her? I bet she's going to be really angry when I see her again."
"When…?"
"When," Ruby confirmed. "Because, you know, the Gods basically confirmed that there's an afterlife if they could bring Ozpin back from it."
Jaune thought for a second and then laughed. "I guess they did!"
"Yep. So, I'm going to see mom again when I grow old and die. I'll introduce you to her – it'll be awesome. She's, like, the best mom ever."
"Not too soon, I hope."
"No way." Ruby shook her head quickly. "Do you think she'd like it if I got myself killed? I'm going to live a really long life and tell her all about it. But that's my point. I had a dream to make mom proud by being a big hero and doing what she did – but she'd have hated that. What if I died just like her? What if I left behind two children as well, and she felt it was all because of her? That wouldn't have been fair."
"Maybe not. How does this fit into everyone else sharing the dream of peace, though?"
"Because that's what it is. We all had the same dream deep inside – we just forgot about it. Or confused it. If you asked anyone what they wanted in life, they'd say to be rich or popular, but really, everyone was terrified of the Grimm. Atlas fought to protect its borders because it thought it was the only option. The White Fang fought because they thought it was the only option. I fought because I thought it was the only option. We all did."
Pushing off the balcony, Ruby turned to face him with a wide smile.
"You reminded us there was another option. You reminded us we could actually try something else instead, actually try for peace. Sure, you might have been an idiot and a clutz-"
"Hey…"
"And you might have been really, really weird, too. I mean, knees?"
"You do have nice knees, though."
Ruby covered her legs with both hands and flushed bright red. "Stooop!"
"Those torn leggings really help, too."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Ruby hit him with her hand, pushing him around so that he had his back to her. "You're not allowed to look. Face away from now on! Forever!"
"That doesn't sound very reasonable…"
It was even less fair when Ruby's hands wrapped around him and her face pressed into his back. Hugging from behind, it was all he could do to stand there and hold his hands out awkwardly.
"Thanks for convincing us to give peace a shot," she whispered. "Even if it sounded crazy and stupid. If we hadn't, if we'd just followed Ozpin's plan and collected the Relics to use against Salem… I don't want to imagine what would have happened."
"Neither do I. But I didn't do anything. This only succeeded because everyone else worked so hard."
"And they only worked so hard because you made them believe it possible. Without you, we wouldn't have tried. Everyone would have been too cynical, too pessimistic. Atlas would still be closed off, Mistral might be in ruins and Vacuo…" Ruby paused. "Well, I've no idea what Vacuo would have been. They never seem to do anything."
"I'm beginning to think that's their charm. Mom didn't even have a plan for conquering Vacuo." His hands came down to rest atop hers. "But I get what you're saying, I think. Thanks, Ruby. That means a lot to me."
Even if all he'd ended up being was a figurehead, in the end… well, it didn't matter, did it? Mom was free. Ozpin would be able to die in peace. Oscar could have his life back. The Grimm would live in peace, the Kingdoms could focus on rebuilding and he was probably going to be an uncle. After all, there was no way Coral wasn't going to be pregnant with how much her and Qrow were going at it.
Things were looking up. Looking good.
Ruby's hands tightened on his midriff. "Jaune, I…"
"Yeah?"
"I…"
"What is it?"
"I…"
"Hey, you two." Yang stepped out onto the balcony with a wide smile that hinted at just a little too much to drink. "Not hiding from me, are ya?"
"No. Ruby was just about to tell me something. Right?"
Ruby pressed her face into his back, mumbled something under her breath and pushed past him. Red-faced, she darted for the exit without looking back. Yang snatched an arm out and caught her halfway, pulling her sister in for a hug.
"Hey," she whispered, not so quietly that he couldn't hear. "If I was going to share with anyone, I'd want it to be my little sister." Yang laughed as Ruby turned even redder. "Keep that in mind, sis."
"Y-You're drunk, Yang…"
"Doesn't mean I don't mean it. Just means I'm feelin' honest enough to say it."
"I… ah… I…" Ruby swallowed and looked back to him briefly. "I have to go see the others. Bye!"
This time, Ruby kept her hood held tight to her as she fled, preventing Yang from grabbing hold.
"What did you mean by sharing?" he asked.
"You're adorable," Yang said, ironically in unison with Remy calling him an idiot. "I'll tell you when you're older. Or Ruby will. Depends if she works up the courage. Now, what's our guest of honour doing moping out here when the party is going on inside? It's the Festival of Darkness. Don't want the big guy upstairs to be unhappy that a worshipper is skipping out now, do we?"
"Yang. You can't use your newly found religion as an excuse to party."
"Can and will. I mean, hey, he said he'd be watching." Grinning suddenly, Yang rushed to the balcony and yelled out, "Oi, God of Darkness! I'm going to dedicate some kinky times to you later! How about that!?"
"Yang!" Jaune yelped, embarrassed. He pulled her back before she could drunkenly fall off.
"Oh, come on. It's not like he'll-"
A star flashed by overhead. A shooting star.
Jaune gaped.
Yang hesitated. A spot of colour appeared on her cheeks. "Uh. Maybe that was a coincidence?"
"You really think so?"
"I dunno. Do I really want to do it with a voyeur God watching?"
"You want to risk angering him?"
"Um…" Yang didn't look quite so confident now that it wasn't a joke at his expense. "Maybe I could ask for another sigh? You know, for clarification?"
Another star sped across the sky.
"Son of a bitch…"
With a heavy sigh, Jaune turned back to the tower.
"I'll ask mom if we can borrow the dungeon."
I think there's only the one chapter remaining after this. Story ends have always been a difficult thing for me – probably just experience, since I've naturally started more stories than I have finished them. next chapter will probably be the last, though. While I often advocate for stories to not delve into epilogue territory in most cases, I think this needs a look at how the world will react to discovering that a) Gods are real and b) there was a battle to stop them ending the world.
On the God fight itself, it was surprisingly hard to decide just how drawn out – if at all – the fight between the Gods should have been. In my plan, it was listed just as "the Gods fight". It's not a long fight here by any means, but I wanted them to feel completely beyond all of the characters (as a God really ought to), so it was hard to plan a longer confrontation in because it would have just been a full chapter of two entities who are not main characters slapping one another back in forth.
Perfectly fine to watch as a visual spectacle if RT did something similar, but a little boring to read about. Or so I felt. People may well have wanted more, however.
Next Chapter: 14th February
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur