Chapter 14
(AN: The events of this chapter starts at the beginning of Volume 2, with the new semester at Beacon kicking off. Updates will be relatively tame, probably around the same consistency as before. However, things in the future are liable to change.)
Utter chaos was all I could see. Destruction was everywhere. People screamed and ducked as noise blasted at everybody's eardrums. Explosions of debris tore through the air around me. However, all I could do was remain on my knees, paralyzed by indecision and fear. How did things come to this?
How could I have possibly missed this? Forgot this? I was soaked in red as I watched in horror at the sights before me. It was mind-blowing just how calm I seemed, but I was outright terrified. "Markus!" Liya wailed, pinned down and unable to move as something stomped towards her menacingly. "Markus...help me!" This something cackled evilly as it raised something above its head, ready to bash Liya into the floor.
No...no! I won't stand by anymore! This time, I will step up and make a real difference! For my friends suffering around me! I clutched my weapon and roared as I rushed the enemy, to save my partner from the mad queen.
So I chucked the garlic bread as hard as I could. Nora was sent flying back as I rushed over and pried the table off of Liya's legs. "Take cover!" I yelled.
The two of us ducked behind a pile of tables as a bombardment of fruits and vegetables that pelted our cover like the Lazy Dogs of the Vietnam War. "What do we do? RWBY and JNPR are destroying everything they touch!" Liya cried as we huddled together from the multi-colored artillery barrage around us.
"I dunno, but we have to stop them!" I said, before grunting as a baguette pierced our table and shot right between our heads. "Or we're all dead!"
"C'mere, you!" Nora roared as Yang destroyed her "castle" of cafeteria furniture. The battle hadn't started between JNPR and RWBY like in the original events that took place in show. Someone else accidentally tripped and dropped their lunch over Yang's head. And beef stew was extremely thick and inconvenient for hair.
You could imagine she wasn't very happy.
Maybe me being here was changing inconvenient things here and there. But that's besides the point. The cafeteria was just like World War II, broken furniture flying everywhere between two teams of four students all locked in combat with each other. I always thought I'd join in when I saw this battle on Youtube, but now I was doing a complete 180 degree turn in that regard.
"Should we fight? Who are we supposed to help?" Liya whispered, panic in her voice as she ducked to quickly avoid more debris before it could end her.
"Nope!" I hissed back. "Everyone else ran, we have to run too. It's all pure chaos!" The two of us were blown out of cover by an armor piercing vending machine that shattered the tables we hid against. As we tried to slip to the door, Liya was sent flying by one of the table benches. I reached out for her before I was almost immediately yanked in the opposite direction.
"There you are, hot stuff!" Yang said as she grabbed me by the collar of my Beacon uniform jacket and yanked me to my feet before I could reach out for my combat partner. "Come on, we're fighting Nora!"
"We?!" I cried before Nora tackled me across the floor screaming 'Kitty!' all the while. "Get off me, Nora!"
"As queen of the castle, I hereby claim this kitty as my concubine!" Nora cackled, one hand on my head with the other holding a pole with a watermelon one on hand as a hammerhead, like she was armed with in the food fight that happened before.
"Your WHAT?" I cried, simultaneously flattered, offended, amused, and terrified all at once.
"Get your syrupy mitts off my boyfriend!" Yang shouted before attacking Nora barefisted. All while scrambling out of the way, Nora and Yang collided with each other in a flurry of hammer and fists. Getting to my feet, I looked around to see where my partner was before getting slammed into the floor.
"What the-" I cried before seeing a body sized red bullet flying towards me. I had no chance of dodging it.
"Traitor!" Ruby yelled angrily as she slammed into me once again at high speeds. Sliding back, I had just about enough. Throwing all caution to the wind, I grabbed a plate and immediately hurled it at the little red reaper like a discus - or a frisbee if we were being accurate.
It shattered upon impact to her head, stunning her, before I grabbed more plates and threw them each like a discus as hard as I could. Thanks to all the training I was doing, I had actually caught up with most of my friends in terms of combat and aura skills. And Jaune was doing much better now than in the show, he and Ren were facing off against Weiss and Blake respectively like two separate sword fighting duels.
Pyrrha and Liya were fighting with semblances alone. Pyrrha would levitate soda cans or trays at Liya as ammunition, only for Liya to deflect each blow with her semblance. Even with as many Pyrrha were throwing at an extraordinary rate of fire, Liya was constantly flipping backwards, deflecting with a tray of her own and using her semblance all the while.
For a moment, I realized just how incredible those two were. Is this what you get if you were born in Mistral? My thoughts were interrupted when Ruby slammed into me a third time, shooting by my crashing body and making ready to hit me a fourth time. "Ruby..." I grunted once I'd finished tumbling back, pointing my hand at her as she accelerated towards me. "Stop!"
I immediately flicked my fingers in the direction of the sky, and the massive red swirling bullet yelped and did a complete 90 degree turn up, flying through the ceiling and shattering the roof in a hole at least four meters in diameter, shards of shattered wood and metal raining down the middle of the cafeteria.
I stared at the hole in the ceiling and winced as her scream faded. "OK...stop may not have been the best word," I said before a hand grabbed me by the face and lobbed me at my partner, both of us crashing into the remnants of Nora's "castle" and sending all of the tables crumbling.
"It's all complete chaos!" Liya cried as tables rained down around us, smashing food and snapping off legs as splinters broke all over the cafeteria.
"Sorry!" Pyrrha cried apologetically as she quickly ran off to help Jaune deal with Weiss. Nora and Yang were still slugging it out, and Ren was busy being pinned down by Blake with sausage links wrapping around him from head to foot.
Then came the worst part. The door crashed open, and Professor Goodwitch stormed into the cafeteria. The nine of us froze in place, Nora completely still in midair atop Yang. Without warning, we were all hurled up into the air as all the tables were pulled into a floating tornado. While the professor gracefully repaired and reset all the tables, dishes, and silverware into their proper places, the rest of us were dropped in an unceremonious pile of clothes, flesh, and bones on the ground.
As the last table rolled into place, Goodwitch sighed and looked at the nine of us with a glowering look of disappointment. "Children, please. Do not play with your food," she stated sternly as we withered under her angered gaze. We were silent for about a minute as Goodwitch waited for us to say something. There was even no burping this time around. Before any of us could however, we heard what sounded much like a faint scream in the sky. For a second, it was all of us confused and worried at what that incoming sound was.
When the scream got louder, I began to sweat as I managed to piece together what or who that sound belonged to. "Oh..." I muttered. That was all anyone could register before Ruby came crashing back down through the hole in the ceiling, forming a crater that reduced every single table into splinter, every single stone column and concrete slab into pebbles, and every absolute millimeter of glass windows into nothingness.
After the smoke from the near orbital kinetic strike that was Ruby cleared minutes later, we were treated to a barren cafeteria littered in tiny particles. Professor Goodwitch, covered in dust with shattered glasses, was glaring daggers at us as Ruby groaned in the crater.
"We're fucked," Yang mumbled fearfully. None of us could say a thing to compliment or go against that statement.
Indeed we were. Despite Ozpin coming in with his own shattered glasses and coffee mug and attempting to placate Goodwitch, she still assigned us a week of simultaneous detentions and lectures, as well as promising to make combat training for the MONTH absolute hell. And with that, she dismissed us.
As we walked by, Ozpin reached over and patted my shoulder. "Mister Onissa, I'd like you to come with me."
Blinking, I told the others I'd catch up later before Ozpin led me away from the mess, Goodwitch grumbling to herself in the background as she reassembled one stone piece at a time. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
"I'll explain in private," Ozpin said as we turned the corner, revealing that we were headed to the tower. I noticed the Atlesian Airships hovered outside near the large docks, as well as one near the tower. "Don't worry, you aren't in trouble."
We entered the tower and the elevator inside, riding it for a few minutes up to the very top where his office was. When the doors opened, I was greeted to the sight of General Ironwood waiting patiently near his desk.
"James," Ozpin said cordially.
"Ah, Ozpin," General Ironwood said, both in a friendly and ticked off tone. "When I was told to wait for you, I didn't know how long it would take."
"You know how rowdy students can be. Goodwitch and I had to settle a...culinary confrontation," Ozpin said as we walked inside. I had to snort at that little pun; it could go against Yang's own skills.
Ironwood smiled before seeing me. The smile dropped to a professional mask and he nodded towards me. "Markus Onissa. I read your student report, as well as the police report on you while I was waiting. You seemingly appeared on the face of Remnant, with a belt of highly volatile Neural Dust," the general said.
"Y-yeah?" I said nervously.
"I was about to take you in and grill you for details myself, but Ozpin claims there is something else," Ironwood continued, giving Ozpin his chance to speak.
"What are your opinions on time, Mister Onissa? Mainly, changing the course of time and creating new events..." Ozpin asked. I felt my heart clench at that question, and at once I figured it out.
"You know," I muttered. Ironwood looked to Ozpin in mild - or well concealed - surprise, and Ozpin nodded.
"I know why you were sent. I know what happens in my course of events, when you weren't brought here yet. I was brought back in time, and forced by the gods to live through my thousands of mistakes all over again for the sake of bringing you to change the ending, in which Salem wins over all of Remnant, dooming us all," Ozpin said. "I tried making changes, differences in which Salem could be turned, in which she could not become who she is today but-"
"It didn't work," I finished, piecing together the situation in my head. That begged the question, how did they lose?
"Correct. It didn't. But the gods told me another thing before sending me back millennia. They would bring someone that would know everything about the future, one that would guide me to the correct choices without compromising me."
"But...the gods gave you this task," I said, completely baffled. Why would they do all this? Why not do it themselves?
"Which is why I'm asking you to help," Ozpin said. "Despite me reliving every single event of my tens of thousands of years, I was forced to forget most of my former life by the gods. Perhaps I could've changed Salem, but the gods believed I was incapable of it after failing to defeat Salem in the past timeline."
"What did they do?" I said, but I already had a basic idea of what happened.
"They wiped most of my memory when I started over, only letting me keep the previous outcome, and the instructions I was given, as well as my memories as Ozma before Salem turned into..." Ozpin said, looking down.
"I see," I said, clearly seeing how disturbed Ozpin is. "And now the only chance of change is me?"
"I'm afraid so," Ozpin stated. "General Ironwood is hosting security for this year's Vytal Festival. Is there-"
"Don't use automation," I said immediately, stunning Ironwood. "The White Fang deploys hacking attacks that turned most of Atlas's garrison against Beacon in the sh - previous timeline."
"I doubt anything the White Fang has could possibly deter the programming of Atlas's machinery," Ironwood said without any sense of haughty or overconfident attitude.
"It's not the White Fang who deploys it, it's someone from Salem's circle," I said. I didn't feel it right to drop Arthur Watt's name just yet; Ironwood might send for a manhunt and potentially create other worse effects. "Trust me, more soldiers than actual androids."
"I'll keep that in mind," Ironwood said reluctantly.
"And that includes Paladins," I said, once again silencing Ironwood. "If you need to use them, have them guarding the outskirts of Beacon. But be ready to gun them down if they get hacked."
Ironwood nodded slowly. Judging by the look on his face, I could tell he was thinking something along the lines of "I can't believe I'm taking orders from a kid."
We spent a few minutes sharing things such as the attack on the CCT in the dance, White Fang movements in Mountain Glenn, as well as possible actions regarding this. Ironwood was furious when I told them to let the Breach happen, only asking to evacuate civilians for a "military drill" in the city square.
"You're asking us to LET the White Fang unleash Grimm into the city?" Ironwood asked.
"Yes. Because it screws with the original plans to attack Beacon, as well as forms bad rep for the White Fang, and better rep for Atlas. Not only that, it will give you more legal ground to send more manpower and ruin any possible chance of the festival attack screwing up more kingdom relations in the future."
"I...I don't understand any of it," Ironwood said, sounding very tired and rubbing his forehead with his gloved metal arm.
"Just trust me. I have a plan," I said. I knew how little this would reassure him, but it convinced Ozpin enough.
"James. His idea has merit," Ozpin said.
"...fine," Ironwood sighed. "But consider any and all trust thrown out the window if this plan of yours goes south. This isn't some game, boy. Lives are on the line here." I knew he wasn't being rude on purpose, simply taking his job seriously.
"I understand," I said before turning to Ozpin. "Do I go back?"
"Of course," Ozpin said.
"Thank you sir," I said before remembering something and pulling out my scroll. "Wait, can I send you something, general?"
"What is it?" Ironwood said.
"An idea," I said. "A weapon from my world before the gods yanked me here." Ironwood narrowed his eyes before taking out his own scroll and linking our networks. I sent him a few files, letting him open and read one.
"What is this?" Ironwood asked.
"A V-14 Stiletto Light Railgun. Accelerates 0.75 ton projectiles at several hundred kilometers a second. Just something useful against massive Grimm at a distance," I said, all while thinking to myself: "Forgive me North Front Studios for plagiarizing your design, even if we're literal dimensions apart."
Ironwood pondered the hand drawn images and typed stats and workings of the railgun, which I based off of information I knew about railguns that were being tested in the present day before I was pulled out of my world.
"Interesting. You've done a lot of research on this. I'm guessing this is some sort of mainstay weapon in your world?" Ironwood said, his earlier attitude somewhat cooled off.
"You could say that," I said. I wasn't about to introduce Ironwood to the wonder that was the Donnager Class Battleship, or something more outlandish like the Omega Class Destroyer from Babylon 5. But something like railguns wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
"I see," Ironwood said. I dismissed myself quickly before Ironwood could ask any more questions. After about ten minutes of elevator waiting and walking throughout campus, I made my way to the dormitories, wanting to go to bed and mentally prepare myself for detention starting tomorrow.
As I reached the hall, I saw Jaune and Pyrrha in the hallway, leaned against each other with their faces practically mashed together. I had to literally prevent myself from screaming in joy. Arkos was officially canon! They were still filthy from all the earlier combat, and despite that: they couldn't look any more perfect together.
Instead of blowing up over it, I cleared my throat and walked up. "So, joining the dating world?" I said in an attempt at joking. Pyrrha blushed and covered her face while Jaune decided the ceiling was the most interesting thing in the building at the moment. "Congrats, you two are perfect for each other."
"You think?" Jaune asked nervously. I just grinned and patted his head as if to say "Duh."
"So, who made the first move?" I asked. "Jaune?"
"Pyrrha," Jaune said as Pyrrha just giggled nervously. "Came up to me and practically dragged me into training by the lips last night." Pyrrha just squealed, and I could hardly blame her. She looked like she was on Cloud 9. Is this how finally confessing feels?
"Ooh, training?" I said, teasing them as I leaned on the wall. "Oh, do go on."
"Maybe later," Pyrrha giggled. "I'm tired. Jaune and I are going to clean up and nap." I raised an eyebrow, and she blushed before bidding me a goodbye and quickly leaving. Sighing, I just kept walking to my dorm room.
I opened the door and walked inside, oblivious to Liya changing out of her dirtied school uniform and into something a bit more comfortable. I ditched my school clothes in the laundry basket, which we'd gotten last week, and flopped on my bed in nothing but underwear. "I'm so tired..." I mumbled.
"Same," Liya moaned and dropped on her bed as well. She had put on a pair of shorts and a tank top with a strap hanging over one shoulder. "I just wanna sleep like the dead for eternity..."
"Dark," I said as I rolled over, curling up part way under the blankets. "I wish Yang were here..."
"She's smelly and heavy," Liya shot back. "And she has so much food in her hair."
"Fair," I said. I heard Liya go on her scroll and I slowly began to feel myself drift off to sleep, yawning as I shifted on the bed. Despite what TV shows and movies portrayed, food fights were annoying as hell. But...it was fun to participate.
A sharp and sudden gasp shook me out of my sleepiness, and I turned to Liya. "What happened?" I asked. My drowsiness went away completely when I saw her face. Hands over an open mouth and horrified eyes was an instant red alarm.
"T-Tukson's dead. Murdered...earlier," Liya whispered in horror. My heart dropped, and I immediately paled. In everything that was happening, I'd completely forgotten about Tukson. About Emerald and Mercury.
"D-did you know him?" I asked quietly.
"I visit him often...just to have somewhere quiet to relax. We used to talk," Liya said. She seemed very distracted. "I saw him the other day...how could he..."
I immediately felt horrible. While Tukson wasn't important to the timeline as a whole, he was important to my partner. My friend. "I'm so sorry," I said, and I meant it. I was guilty for his death simply by forgetting about him.
Liya didn't say anything. She simply put down her scroll and lay down on her bed. "Can you...can you come here?" she croaked feebly. I obliged at once, coming over to her bed and sitting on it, despite me being in nothing but underwear. She pulled me down next to her, and started to rub my ears.
Despite it feeling great, I was too upset to even purr or register that good feeling. Liya needed comfort, she needed a way to work off her grief. And I needed a way to make up for my sheer negligence on my part.
"We were kinda close," Liya whispered. I didn't need to look to know she was struggling not to cry right now. And all that did was proceed to make me feel like absolute shit. In the end, I turned around and hugged her: which she returned immediately.
"It's OK..." I said. Normally in a situation, I'd think about how awkward hugging someone in barely any clothes was, but all I could think about was Liya. "Just cry. Let it all out."
And she did. Her body wracked with sobs for several minutes, and I felt myself about to do the same. In the middle of her crying, my partner spoke up again. "What about you?" she asked, amidst shaky sniffles. "You...didn't ask who he was. Does that mean you knew him?"
I winced before remembering my first arrival on Remnant. "I did...I met him once before I got into Beacon," I whispered to her. "I remember the name. Tukson...Tukson's Book Trade. I asked him about the semesters at Beacon out of curiosity. I only met him once."
Liya nodded before falling silent again, save for more sniffles. As she fell asleep in my arms, I felt a hard feeling come over me. At once, my sorrow was replaced with anger. Anger at myself for ever letting this happen.
I had to step up my planning, and quickly. As Liya slept, I lost myself thinking about all the ways I could prevent even more death in the future. How I could try and stop Torchwick, Neo, how I could focus on saving those that couldn't be saved before, how I could try and maybe eliminate a key player early, maybe extrapolate possible favorable outcomes in each scenario.