Chapter 8: Solaris and Weiss VS Hatred

It was the day after, and Blake had not returned.

Ruby decided to spend the day looking for her, trying to get her to come back, but there was no such luck in actually locating her. Ruby and Yang seemed in no way concerned by Blake's possibly involvement in a terrorist group, something Solaris doubted they would do with him upon learning he was part of an ancient apocalyptic cult of madmen.

Eventually, after hours of fruitless searching, the team branched out into individuals, and Solaris decided now would be a great time to find this warehouse and see what was there for him to see. He had the utmost faith in his fellow teammates to find Blake, and knew they would be better in convincing her to comeback then he would be. As he was wandering the streets of lower Vale, he found the lane where this mystery warehouse should be located, and proceeded to walk down in the direction he supposed it would be. He had Desert Wind with him, armed and loaded, with spare explosive dust rounds on his belt bandolier. His knife was sheathed on his right side and his brown trench coat was wrapped around him, trailing behind in the wet puddles every now and then as its edges fell slightly lose and scraped the road. He pulled out his golden watch and checked the time, relieved to see that he had plenty of time to spare before returning to Beacon.

Running a hand through his blonde hair and absent-mindedly combing a few stray strands out of his eyes and behind his ear, he pulled out the paper note Ms. Dutch had given him, and began comparing the address to the ones he was walking by. He had almost reached the end of the lane, with greet steel warehouses pressed in on either side of him, two storeys high each, a brick wall with barbed wire in front, trashcans and litter all around, broken, soggy pallets piled up in the corners of the lane and wall. Each warehouse was of the same, universal, depressing grey steel frame, corrugated plating, rusty, creaky dust filled window variety that you see in every derelict business area in every part of every city in every world.

Solaris compared the address listed to the one of the particularly depressing, rusted, dust filled, rain sodden warehouses in front of him. It matched.

"Perfect" He muttered, and entered, completely unaware someone was following him.

Solaris opened one of the fire escape doors, and walked inside, to be greeted with the musty, dead air of a building left unoccupied for years. He walked up the staircase that greeted him, its peeling paintwork rubbing off on his hands as he gripped the supports on the way up. He reached the first floor and looked down upon the grey concrete ground floor of the warehouse.

Nothing was there, aside from a few dried green crates and some shipping containers, long devoid of use. Whatever business, and people, that had been here had left long ago. Yet the address definitely said here. Hurling himself over the railing and onto the cold floor of the warehouse.

"…so he comes at last, does he? Welcome to this…unfitting abode…Solaris…"

Hatred.

Solaris knew that deep, gravelly voice, even in its ethereal telepathic form.

"Show yourself!" He shouted to the empty room, the silence mocking him with echoes and the creak of the walls in the wind.

"As you wish, old friend" Came the reply, menace coating every syllable.

Solaris heard someone land behind him with a thud, and there, at the opposite end of the warehouse, some eighty meters away, stood Hatred.

Clad in his black robed armour, his white mask was hiding his face, the symbols of a raging serpent marking out the eye slits as he held his massive two handed blackwood staff in one hand. His jewel shined with the light of a thousand fires, and the warehouse glowed in its presence as ethereal lightning shot at from it, arcing over Hatreds form and causing the air to waver in his presence as a faint steam rose from the ground beneath him.

"So this was nothing but a simple trap to get me killed, correct?" Solaris asked, knowing Hatred would want all questions out of the way before a fight. All the important ones, that is.

"Indeed. Or, if you survive, a warning" He said haughtily in reply.

Solaris nodded sagely. Hatred would only be trying to severely wound him, then. They needed him alive, it seemed. Mostly.

"And I assume this is no personal vendetta but because this jewel of mine is needed by Death?" He challenged, to which Hatred nodded in reply.

"Alright. All I needed to know…" He finished, and unslung Desert Wind. His hand was over the trigger, about to fire, when the most unexpected interruption came.

"Solaris!" Shouted the voice of Weiss, breaking the tense atmosphere. Solaris, startled, looked up to the fire escape, as did Hatred, to see Weiss standing there, Mrytenaster in hand, pointing at Hatred.

"He means to kill you!" She shouted defiantly. Solaris sighed.

"I kind of figured that, Weiss, thank you" He said sarcastically. Weiss leapt down and joined him in facing Hatred on the ground floor.

"I can't have you doing this alone" She said. Solaris motioned for Hate to stay still whilst he talked to Weiss.

Hate seemed to frown underneath his mask and then stood stoically still. Honour got in the way a bit here, he grumbled to himself as he watched his would be prey deal with this interloper.

"Weiss, this fight is mine, and mine alone. It is not for you. You don't need to risk yourself against him. Trust me. He is far too dangerous for someone who has no idea what they are up against to be beaten. Besides, aren't you meant to be looking for Blake?" He added, as an afterthought, remembering what the rest of the team was doing.

Weiss shook her head. "I came here following you, you dolt! Your always so secretive, I thought I had to uncover what it was you did in your spare time. It's bad enough to have Blake, but this? What do you do? I can't help Blake until I find her, but I can help you. So there will be no argument here, alright?" She looked up at him in the eye defiantly. Solaris knew she would not back down.

"Just…just don't do anything stupid" He said, and faced Hate once more, and aimed Desert Wind.

"Ready?" He called out, and Hatred nodded, levelled his staff, and the fight begun.

(A/N: The Witcher 3 Track: Hail to Caranthir is perfect for this moment)

Hatred drove forward, his staff slicing through the air in a series of rapid spins to fast to make out any individual swing, the air filling with his swipes. Solaris opened fire with Desert Wind, each round exploding in the air around Hate as his staff detonated them all early, before any made it past his guard. He then brought his staff onto the ground in one massive overhead blow, one that shattered the concrete at the point of impact and sent a focussed blast of concussive energy the width of the staff racing along the ground towards Solaris and Weiss, who deftly side stepped the strike.

Solaris reloaded and fired more shots at Hate, who swivelled on the spot and used his staff to ricochet bullets into the wall, ceiling, and floor. Weiss, meanwhile, moved to his exposed left side, and tried to dive in with a quick strike with the tip of her rapier, but she underestimated the speed of Hate, who, for all his massive bulk, was no ponderous combatant, and easily parried the blade and turned it aside, before swinging the staff around to Weiss, hitting her in the ribs and throwing her aside. Solaris exploited the gap in his guard and fired off the remainder of the clip into his open right flank, the rounds exploding on impact, each one staggering him back just a bit, yet not enough to disable him. He regained his footing and then brought down another overhead crushing blow, to unleash another focused shockwave blast at Solaris, while Weiss came from behind.

Yet Hate displayed preternatural senses, and stepped aside at the last moment, making Weiss go too far forward, standing ahead of him now. Hate smiled beneath his mask and then delivered a flat horizontal blow, which Weiss rolled under and Solaris jumped past, but he was not finished, for he turned the horizontal swipe into yet another downwards blow, one that hit the ground and sent out shockwaves to the sides, rather than directly ahead of him, which threw both Weiss and Solaris off balance. This did not deter Solaris, who raised an open palm, out extended, and threw Hate against one of the shipping containers with his semblance. Weiss dived in, creating a glyph before diving forward again, to exploit this advantage. This time, she was successful, and the rapier hit its mark. She then followed through with a series of successive blows across his chests, arms and legs. Hate weathered the battering long enough to slam the tip of his staff into the ground, which sent out a small blast in all directions, throwing Weiss back. This gap in the fight allowed Solaris too open fire again, Desert Wind unleashing its remarkable firestorm, the charged dust rounds exploding against the staff Hate was extending. However, this time, something changed. The staff no longer swirled about in an impressive feat of coordination and skill, it merely stayed there, held at arms-length vertically at eye level to Hate, and all the rounds exploded in the air, the faint shimmer of what appeared to be a shield visible in the air. Solaris cursed and dove to one side as he knew what was to follow. Hate raised the staff above his head in one hand and it glowed, the entire length shining with an inner yellow light as it absorbed the elemental dust Solaris just used, and then charged its own length with that same element. Hate barrelled forward at the two fighters challenging him, and swung the staff in a frenzy of backhands, spinning swipes, uppercuts, low cuts, parries and jabs, each swing releasing a trail of superheated air in its wake, each time it impacted a person (or the ground) creating a small explosion. Solaris felt his Aura deplete heavily after taking a few supercharged ultra-blows from the staff, but Weiss, being more agile, managed to avoid more, yet the few that did connect clearly hurt far more.

"How does he do that?" Weiss asked as Hate paused his offensive as the staffs fire died down. He circled the two warily, no doubt tired from swinging that heavy staff so hard and so long.

"Simple, dormant dust runs along the length of the staffs inner core, when it gains the properties of the dust used against it, and then becomes charged by the elemental powers of his opponent, provided they strike his staff and not him. It runs out very fast, depending on how much was used on him, though" Solaris summarised as Weiss levelled her rapier. Solaris put away Desert Wind to draw his knife, the Edge of Suffering. Dust would only empower his opponent at this point.

However, Hate had also changed combat tactics, and was now holding his staff downwards, tip touching the concrete, as he raised his arm, bent at the elbow, clenched fist facing inwards…oh…shit.

Not that.

Solaris realised what Hate was doing and tried warning Weiss to stay away from him, but it was too late, and she charged forward, after leaping off a glyph and into the air. Hate looked up and opened his hand, palm facing Weiss, arm outstretched, emitting a dark red light directly into her path. She got struck by this light and immediately fell from the air. Hate closed his palm and watched Weiss look up at him, her expression broken, her shoulders shaking, eyes wild. She looked up at him in defiance, yet Hate showed no signs of mercy, and unleashed the baleful light upon her once more. Weiss screamed out in something indescribable, shouting wordlessly at some unguessed emotion, her eyes shut tight, body shaking, arms wobbling and fists clenched. She collapsed to the ground and looked like she was about to faint before Solaris drove forward and slashed at Hate with the Edge of Suffering, landing a blow across his arm. His aura took the blades wrath, but the force made him stagger and the light skew to one side before cutting out. Solaris landed upright after his aerial attack and then unleashed the full force of his semblance on Hate, flinging him so hard against a shipping container that it, and possibly some bones in Hates body, shattered on impact. Hatreds Aura broke when this happened, yet still he rose, apparently unphased, dusting off his cloak and balancing on his staff, before charging forward with a roar.

"Not this time, you bastard!" Solaris shouted and urged Hatred into the ground, the full force of Gravity pushing him into the concrete. Solaris didn't stop there. He extended both his arms and turned his palms into clawed hands, curling his fingers and pointing downwards. Suddenly, Hated felt something constricting inside him and realised Solaris was going to crush his internal organs. Hates mask cracked and splintered as Solaris tore it off, revealing the face below to be a scarred and bruised face of a brutish looking teenager, with a few strands of blonde hair falling into view. He tried saying something, no doubt an insult to Solaris or Weiss, but Solaris would have none of it. And then he begun constricting his throat. Blood was coughed from Hatred as his lungs became compressed, his eyes bulged and his body flattened to the ground. Yet still he glared in titular hatred at them both, his life fading as Solaris crushed it out of him, pushing him to within an inch of his life, and possibly beyond, where it not for Weiss, who had managed to rise, and tackled Solaris to the ground. Solaris punched Weiss in the jaw. He would not see anyone escape, damn it. Not this time.

No ONE! NOT. ONE. SOUL!

Solaris looked up and saw Hated rising, his hand on his jewel in his chest plate.

No no no no no no! Not now! He means to escape still!

Solaris rose, and extended his arm once more in the direction of Hate, but Weiss, still able to stand by some remarkable happenstance, grabbed his arm and tried to hold him back.
"Let him go! Solaris! Let him go! Don't kill him! You've let someone go before! You can do it again! Please!" She shouted, tears in her eyes. She would not let Solaris kill this man, no matter what he may have done, without capturing him first and putting him to trial for whatever crimes he had committed. Hunters were just, and here Solaris was, about to execute this man without a verdict! Even if he had tried to kill them, they had to be better than that!

Solaris had silver lightning branching of his own armour, the jewel in his chest plate glowing brightly as his power filled it. He had blood running from his nose, and his gaze was fixed solely on Hate, who was on to feet, and his jewel in one hand, staff in the other.

"I CAN'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" Solaris shouted in pain and anger, looking at his age old foe as Aaron materialised next to him in a blast of decaying leaves, who then looked at Solaris with pity in his eyes, before grabbing Hate by the arm and pulling him with him into a whirlwind of autumn leaves before vanishing into thin air. He had gone. Hate would return to Beacon and his mind altering illusion would return. Weiss would lose memory of all that happened here, and Solaris would never see him again until their next fight.

Suddenly, he had remembered what he did to Weiss, and what Hate had also done. He spun around, his heart in his mouth, guilt overwhelming him.

"Oh…oh gods Weiss I am so…I am so, so sorry." He cried, and fell to his knees, his head in his hands, tears running down his cheeks. He had failed to stop Hate here, and Weiss had been exposed to his powers. He had failed at restraining himself in the heat of battle. And he had failed to protect his team member. He had failed at everything, it seemed.

"Weiss…I've…I've failed! At everything! I…I…I…" He couldn't find the right words, but Weiss could. She knelt down and embraced him, hugging him tightly as he wept softly. She was no Yang when it came to hugging, but at this point, Solaris did not care. She patted him on the back, and soon his weeping subsided from quiet sobbing to merely teary eyes. She let go when she felt him calm down sufficiently, and pulled back, sitting on her knees, looking him in the eye. Solaris' eyes had turned silver, and seemed to glow as if they were luminous mercury, but eventually this died down and his normal blue eyes returned.

"When Hate…when he…used his powers…what did you see?" He asked eventually, and Weiss looked away. She understood now why this opponent was so rightly feared and loathed by Solaris. His semblance was thought projection. He made other people see in their minds what he wanted them to see, and this appeared to be coupled by an innate understanding of the targets memories. He knew what you hated most, what you feared most, what you cherished most. He could fabricate visions of these things…terrible visions.

"I saw…I saw my family lying dead. My father, dead, my sister…lying in a pool of blood. I saw our home burn in fire, the Schnee company collapse. I saw our team…our team dead as well. You, impaled through the heart by a blade, lying dead in a field of black grass, Yang, the life snuffed from her, Blake, consumed by shadows and…and Ruby…alone and dying on a bed of roses. And in the vision…I saw Beacon burn from within, and I knew…somehow, it was all my fault. It was like a nightmare, but…but way more intense, as if I could see every detail of it in absolute clarity and precision. It was…visceral and painful. It was all that I feared made flesh" She wiped a tear from her eye.

"But it wasn't real, was it? Was any of it?" She asked slowly, her eyes closing.

Solaris shook his head, holding her head in hand as she begun to fade from consciousness. Solaris felt himself begin to slip as well, no doubt that accursed Hates work. His mind altering semblance continued to plague them. Fumbling in his pocket, he pulled out his scroll and sent a desperate message to Yang.

"Please help. Weiss and I injured in fight with assailant. Weiss unconscious. Please help." He put in the address and then hit send, before the effort of holding his eyes open became too much. He saw Weiss slowly close her eyes as she faded away into blackness and Solaris lost grip on consciousness himself.

The two lay on the cold concrete floor of the warehouse, alone, tired and wounded, awaiting Yang to come and rescue them. Night began to fall and darkness enveloped them before Yang finally arrived, running in to the warehouse to find them both flat on the floor, Solaris lying in a small puddle of his own blood, and Weiss laying beaten and bruised. She picked the two up, her throat closing up and tears staining her eyes and cheeks at the sight of Solaris so wounded and helpless, holding Weiss over her shoulder and dragging Solaris by his coat behind her outside of the warehouse to a waiting medical craft. She watched the paramedics take them both and rush them off down the lane, and Yang quietly vowed to kill whoever, or whatever, had done this.

As she got onto her bike, she received a message from Ruby.

"Found Blake at the docks. Bring the team"

A/N: Double upload as a treat.

Yeah. So that also happened. This is partly why I rated it M. This and an upcoming chapter with Solaris and Yang (If you people can guess what that is *Suggestive nudge*)

Also Hate is both referred to as Hate and Hatred, if you're a good observer you'll probably have realised Hate is using his title like a name whereas Hatred is referring to him in his full title. The same way Ms. Dutch is called Ms. Dutch instead of Agony. It's just that Hate really does not like using his name anymore, hence Hate as a shortened version of Hatred.

And, as always, reviews would be appreciated!