Chapter 8: Truths Revealed
All around was a sea of darkness, engulfing and never-ending. I just seemed to float in it, neither here nor there. It was serene and peaceful at first, then the sea began to churn and create waves. The waves were small at first, then they became bigger and more frequent. Eventually it was a raging storm, a constant pounding of water that I couldn't see. It was like an invisible wall was smashing into me from every direction. The chaos was consuming me, dragging me deeper and deeper until I felt powerless against everything that was happening. Just when I felt like I was completely defeated, a light appeared in the distance of the darkness. Inside was four silhouettes plastered against the light. I struggled to free myself from the darkness, I shouted at the people to wait for me, but the surrounding darkness clung to me like it was welded to me. The light began to fade, but the silhouettes stayed. I broke from the clutches of the wretched blackness and ran forward to the shadowed people. Suddenly the darkness was banished by a blinding light. I fought to see through it and found that I was alone. However, despite the loneliness, I felt at peace, like all of my commitments had been resolved and I was free to do what I wanted. Then, the light cleared and I found myself coming back to reality.
"Do you think he'll ever wake up?"
"Don't worry Ruby, he's a fighter and you know it. He'll just keep fighting."
"But what if it's not enough Yang? What if no matter how hard he fights he can't win? I don't want to lose a friend."
My vision cleared slowly, revealing a room full of monitors and other equipment. It was clear that I was in some sort of medical area due to the fact that I could see my blood pressure, beats per minute and other vital signs displayed on the equipment. I looked around and saw Ruby and Yang standing near the door in front of the bed that I laid in. They both had worried expressions across their faces. 'I would too if my friend had their side ripped into by a king taijitu.' But, to resolve their worrying, I spoke up to announce my arrival to reality, "Well, that's not happening today, not by a long shot." They both looked at me with sighs of relief; I'm pretty sure they were happy to see me alive.
"We were worried that you wouldn't make it," Yang told me, "The doctors said it would be a miracle if you were to survive."
"Well, I'm not going to give up so quickly. If I'm going down I'm going down with a fight."
"Yeah, that' apparent," Yang said jokingly, "You could've been a lot worse with that hole in your side."
Just to see for myself I sat up and looked on my left side to check the damage. It did look bad, an indent in my left hip showing where the teeth had sunk through. It was also ringed by black marks, obviously a side effect from the poison, but it would go away eventually. "Well, that's not too bad, considering all that had happened."
"Ozpin was really impressed," Ruby interjected, "he said he watched the whole thing. He told us how you were caught in its jaws but you still fought back without giving in. He also said he thought he saw you hallucinating when you were walking back to the cliff."
"Yeah, the poison is not a fun thing to experience. I'm lucky I didn't black out sooner, all things considered."
"Well, the doctors say that you can be out by tonight and will be able to go to classes tomorrow," Yang told me bringing a rain onto my parade.
"Yang, why did you have to tell me? I could've feigned ignorance and said I didn't know." They both laughed at the joke, which came as a surprise as I hadn't made jokes in a long time. It came with general happiness, to them and to me. It felt good to be with them. 'They're so kind for only knowing me for a few days.'
"Well, we had better leave. David, when you're ready the doctors said you could leave." I nodded in acknowledgement. They said their goodbyes and left me in the bed. But rather than feeling lonely I felt happy. They cared for me and my well being. They were genuine friends, as far as I could tell. But, friends none the less.
After several minutes of lying in the bed I got out and stood up. Instantly I felt the pain in my side; it wasn't severe, but it was a constant reminder of what had happened. But, like all the other wounds, it showed my determination to not back down. So, I walked forward down the halls of the medical area and came to one conclusion. 'I'm finally somewhere that I belong. I can now be someone who matters to others, be helpful to others and support those who need the help. Now, I can be useful. Before this I was useful to others, but I wasn't doing it for my own reasons. I was so blinded with sorrow and couldn't think of anything else. How much of an idiot was I, thinking that I was making a difference. I was hurting others' lives, dragging them down into the same sorrow as myself. Now, I'll have to face someone I could've destroyed. But she doesn't know, she doesn't need to know what happened then.'
It was dark and stormy, the moon was blocked out by the clouds which lead to a cloak of darkness over the estate. There were a few unlucky souls who had to patrol the area, but most were under the protection of overhead cover to block the rain. The majority of the area was covered with security cameras. It seemed simple enough, sneak in undetected, put the barrel of my gun to the man's forehead and pull the trigger. Then, with a little help from my partner, escape the area. But, a plan can't foresee the future; it can just make contingency plans for when it does. That's exactly what happened, however, no one thinks of a contingency for those original plans. That night everything became clear, my sense of truth crumbled and I had nothing to look for. That's what led me here. But, my past is my past and I can't just keep turning my back to it. Eventually I'll have to face it and when that happens I won't know what to do. But, whatever happens, I'll face it head-on.
I was walking through the courtyard, letting the pain in my side seep out of my system when I felt something off. 'Oh for dust's sake, how come every five seconds something else is following me,' I found myself getting rather annoyed at all this unwanted attention. There was the sound of light footsteps from behind, however they weren't very quiet in my head. I turned around to see the stocky body of a certain Cardin Winchester. Sighing I began to talk to my follower, "You do know that you aren't very stealthy do you?"
He looked at me bewildered, "How did you -"
"Know you were behind me? It honestly isn't that difficult for me. I have a certain skill set for it. So, why were you trying to sneak up behind me?"
"I don't know who you are but here's the thing. I'm the kind of guy you don't want to get mad. And you want to know something?"
"Why yes I would; enlighten me with whatever this conversation is about."
"I'm the kind of guy you don't want to get mad."
With that he went to grab my throat. What he wasn't expecting was for me to stop it; not just attempt to stop his attack, but completely stop his hand midway. "Now, I have something to tell you, Cardin," his expression went from smug to fearful surprise, "I'm the kind of guy who you don't want to be mad at," I said with little emotion in my voice. I twisted his hand to the breaking point; not completely breaking it, but just enough so that he winced in pain. "Because if you are stupid enough to try to take me on, I promise you that I will break every bone in your body. Then, as you beg for death to come, I'll deliver it, but it will be painful beyond your imagination." Then, I released his hand, delivered a solid punch to the gut and walked away.
As I walked from him he managed to sputter out, "You're a lunatic. You're crazy."
"You haven't even seen the worst of me. Now, if you tell anyone about this, I will keep my promise." So, with that I left him to pick himself back up. 'None of them have been through what I have, none of them will ever understand.'
I made it back to my dorm without another incident. Once I closed the door I sat on my bed and looked back at what I had just done. 'Why did I act that way? That is no longer me, I left all that behind. Can I escape from my past self when it still lingers inside me? I won't act that way again, I have too much at stake now. I have a future and I can't let that be thrown away, not now. Tomorrow I start on my new life and I can't let this linger inside me forever. This is so complicated, why can't it all just be put in the past? I still have a string to my past that needs to be cut, one way or another. I just hope it can be cut before everything goes wrong. I just need to take this one step at a time and the first step is figuring out this new school tomorrow. So, I should get some rest.'
I got up and reached for my nightwear. I took off my combat vest and was about to put on my shirt when I heard the door to my dorm open behind me. Then came a familiar voice, "Hey David, I just came to see how -" then the voice trailed off. I knew exactly why and I cursed myself for the timing.
I tuned to see Yang, standing in the doorway, a look of shock and horror across her face. 'Well, I can't say I blame her, I would be shocked too.' So I said to her, "If you're going to ask, close the door first." She looked at me, realized what I was saying and closed the door. I then sat on my bed and beckoned her to sit beside me. She sat beside me with a face of worry and I could tell that she was trying to think what to ask, so I helped her, "You must be wondering how all of that got there. Why my back is criss-crossed with various scratches, cuts, burn marks and other various injuries. Well, that shows my entire past in a complete fashion. Everything on there is exactly why I don't want to talk about my past. Well, that is all behind me, that is not who I am anymore. So if that explains everything you can leave. But if there is anything else you want to ask I'll answer it as best I can."
After a while she finally asked, "How come you don't want to talk about your past?"
Now that was a difficult question, but I knew I could trust her. So I answered openly, "Because in my past I was a monster. I had no idea why I did what I did, but now I don't want to be that any more. I don't want to be looked upon as a monster, as a psychopath who doesn't know what the hell he's doing or why he does it. I ruined other's lives because my life was in shambles. Now I have to face what I've done and I don't want others to be collateral damage in it. So, promise me you won't tell anyone else."
"Okay, but whatever you go through, we'll be right beside you to face it."
Somehow, that brought me great comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone in this. But I wouldn't let them be hurt because of me. So I told her, "Thanks, now it's time for us to get ready for tomorrow. So, I'll see you then." With that, she got up and walked out of my room. I finished getting ready for bed and then began to focus. It was difficult with the new wound in my side, but I pushed through it and managed to listen in to team RWBY's dorm room.
"He said he was fine," Yang' voice suddenly echoed in my head.
"What aren't you telling us, you seem so secretive," Weiss said accusingly. 'Wow, she really doesn't trust me.'
"If she says that's all he said, then let's leave it at that," Blake said, breaking up the oncoming argument, "He wouldn't want us talking behind his back" Always the logical thinker, she probably had the same thing with her own past. No other person would know that. But, that means she must know why I don't want to talk about my past.
But, after that they all stopped their conversation and went to sleep. After some time I did the same thing, because tomorrow I knew would be an important day as my new life would begin. With that I sunk into sleep.
Now the story really begins to unfold. I hope all of you are enjoying what you are doing. Also, Volume 2 is one month away and continues to approach us. That is exciting because it will give more character exposition and information. That will give writers like you or myself more to work with and allow us to make better stories. So, until next time, have fun.
-TheInnerPeace signing off (I've recently started watching anime. It's a really good form of media because there's so many different ones for every person's preference.)