RWBY is property of Roosterteeth! I only own my characters.

CHAPTER 16

Chaos shifted and yawned on the floor of yet another cave he and Melody had taken shelter in for a night. A slight wave of his hand revealed that his ability had still not yet returned. For some reason, the fact that he remained powerless did not irk him. In fact, he felt... calm. The Bloodline allowed his eyes to adjust to the light filtering in through the cave's entrance. Cold morning air slowly pushed its way in, causing the vines at the tunnel's mouth to sway gently.

Melody's powers were certainly odd. In the time since she had started following Chaos, they had seen barely any Grimm wandering the woods. Even in a rare case where they had stood less than twenty feet from a Beowolf pack, the creatures had ignored them. But no matter how he tried to work it out, Chaos could still not explain how she had somehow disabled his abilities. He shrugged to himself, finding that his oddly relaxed state made him not worry too much about-

Why is that girl still alive!?

Never mind. There it goes. Chaos thought irritatedly, his calm state evaporating as the voice in his head wound up for another day of screeching. He attempted to sit up from where he lay on the cave floor. The ex-Lord became aware of an arm draped over his waist. He tossed a look at the limb's owner.

Melody lay curled up next to him, likely seeking warmth because of the frigid air outside. Chaos grunted idly to himself, carefully moving the girl's arm with one of his bony hands, holding her appendage like it was a container of a particularly caustic substance. He rose to his feet and exited the cave's mouth, leaving Melody to shiver uncomfortably in her sleep as her body registered the cold.

Their refuge for the night stood atop a small rocky mountain, just high enough to allow the Lord to see over the vast expanse of verdant forestation and into the distance. The skeletal outlines of once-proud skyscrapers appeared as tiny blips on the horizon. "Mountain Glenn", if Chaos recalled correctly. He'd made a short stop in the ruined city once when he'd been tracking Greene and his allies two years earlier. Hopefully his powers would return by the time he arrived at the structures' edge.

Kill that girl this instant! I taught you better than this!

"If you haven't noticed, I still don't have access to any of my abilities," Chaos replied shortly. He'd have usually yelled back at the woman's voice in his mind, but perhaps his relaxed state had not been completely eradicated.

Then find another way, you imbecile! Get a rock and smash her skull in, for all I care! Just get it done! As long as she still breathes, she is a loose end we cannot risk! Or have you reverted to being a worthless excuse for an Inheritor of Chaos?

"Shut up!" Chaos yelled suddenly, his anger boiling over. "I'm sick and tired of doing things your way!"

You really HAVE lost your way, child. Did you forget that doing things my way made you STRONG!? My way allowed you to destroy hundreds of obstacles that stood in your path! My way was what allowed you to kill the old Terror and that weakling Vortex! MY WAY is the reason you are still alive! What has brought on the return of this sniveling, infantile weakness!?

"Get the hell out of my head!" Chaos screamed, causing small Nevermores to scatter from the trees at the foot of the mountain. The Bloodline felt the presence silently withdraw from the forefront of his mind, leaving him with a sweet, blessed quiet to think. Unfortunately, his relaxed state no longer seemed to be an option. Chaos sat down hard on the ground, the voice's last sentence echoing constantly in his ears.

What had changed? What was wrong with him? Just two weeks earlier, he had been consumed with exacting his revenge on Greene and the other members of the EDC. Chaos had planned on making his old enemies watch as he ripped their friends apart one by one with an honest-to-God smile on his face. Now, though? He was picking his way towards Mountain Glenn, yes, but he actually hadn't given all that much thought to revenge ever since meeting Melody. Had meeting her changed, or perhaps... awoken... something in him? He shook his head, conceding that he could not understand what he was experiencing.

The silence let the Bloodline's thoughts wander, and an unbidden image flashed in front of his eyes. Two years earlier, there had been a family. A man, his wife, and a child. The parents had begged for their lives and the life of their son, and Chaos, with a grin, had delighted in ignoring them. For some reason, the child's face came back to haunt him. As Chaos had reached out to end the boy's life, the youth had adopted a defiant look for the last few seconds. No, not defiance... hate. Unbridled, seething hatred was what had been painted in his eyes.

Chaos looked at his hands, swearing for a moment that they were slick and reddened with the blood of the countless people he had slaughtered. He could hear their voices, all cursing him. Men and women. Young and old.

"Why!? Why is this happening!?" Chaos yelled, placing his hands over his ears as the cacophony of voices threatened to deafen him. The young boy's face reappeared, his hair and eyes flashing for an instant to white and red. Then, like that, the child was gone. The voices subsided.

Chaos opened his eyes, not realizing that he had shut them from the pain he had experienced. A pair of gentle arms had wrapped themselves around his chest, a warm sensation washing over the Bloodline from the contact. A head of silver hair and a pair of sapphire-blue eyes studied him worriedly.

"Are you alright? I woke up and you were yelling..." Melody asked, loosening her hold on Chaos. He nodded stiffly. "Are you... sure? Because..." She reached across with a hand, wiping streaks of water from the Bloodline's face.

"Don't... concern yourself with it..." Chaos choked out, taking shaky deep breaths in an attempt to slow his heart rate. Melody kept her hold on him for several minutes while the ex-Lord calmed himself. Once she seemed sure he wasn't in any pain, the worry disappeared from the silver-haired girl's face, quickly being replaced with her normal cheer.

"So," she said, "I gave it some thought about what you said a while ago..."

"About what?"

"Your name. You know, that you didn't have one?" Melody answered. Chaos nodded, recalling his short reply to her inquiry about his identity. "I figured that I need something else to call you besides 'Chaos', so I came up with a name for you. What do you think of the name 'Chess'?"

"'Chess'?" Chaos asked, "You mean like the board game?"

"Yup! I thought it suited you, y'know, because of the black armor and white hair," Melody pointed to each feature in question as she named them. "So, it's kinda like the color of the tiles on a chessboard." Chaos remained silent for several moments. "Do you not like it?" Another handful of seconds ticked by.

"You could've come up with far worse," the Bloodline replied, standing to look out towards Mountain Glenn. "I'm going to pack up and start moving. Don't expect me to wait for you." He moved back into the cave to retrieve his few belongings.

"I'm going to take that as a 'yes, I love it'!" Melody called after him. Despite his threat of leaving her behind, the silver-haired girl could swear the ex-Lord was moving packing slower than usual on purpose. She hefted her small leather pouch over her right shoulder and stood near the cave's mouth. "Ready to go, Chess?" Chaos grunted and walked past her, though not with quite the same flair of hostility as usual. Melody smiled to herself once his back was to her. It looked like she was making some progress.

The pair picked their way down the mountain and into the emerald trees, setting their heading for the distant skyscrapers on the horizon. Chaos could not hear it, but the voice in his head seethed to herself within the deep recesses of his mind.

Take pleasure from your insignificant rebellion, worthless child. Soon, you'll see that you need my help to survive. After all... Mother knows best.

Peleus coughed and wheezed as he leaned against a tree, taking a moment to catch his breath and better observe his rescuer. The woman who had saved him would have fit in well in Mistral. She had an athletic build and carried herself with a sort of liquid grace, a warrior's bearing.

Still, something bothered Peleus about this woman, Eve, she had called herself. Shades of red hair and green eyes were not uncommon in Mistral, but both Eve and Agony possessed an uncanny hue of bloody crimson locks as opposed to the more common Autumn or cherry reds that sat atop a good portion of heads on the continent. Furthermore, the gauntlets and boots she used were identical in color scheme to Agony's forces.

Still, Peleus couldn't deny that she had saved him from being dragged back to Agony. That had to count for something. He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves. What would his wife have done in this situation? Thetis had always been the optimist among the two of them. She would have tried to see the best in Eve, to trust the odd woman until she had reason not to. But Peleus was not his wife, and such optimistic reasoning is what allowed Agony to gain a foothold in their Kingdom.

But was it not your pessimistic thoughts that resulted in your capture in the first place? Peleus' conscience whispered, You didn't have to follow Agony. You could have voiced your suspicions in a different way. And if you had never been caught, Thetis would still be alive.

Peleus shook his head. Brooding on such thoughts would only slow him down at the moment. Thankfully, further distraction from his wandering mind came in the form of a canteen of water. Eve held it out to him in her left hand. The Senator managed to croak out a "thank you", accepting the container of refreshing liquid.

"Once you feel ready, we should keep moving," Eve stated, her emerald eyes scanning the nearby trees for any pursuers. "I assume you know this area well?"

"Yes..." Peleus breathed, lowering the canteen from his lips. "I grew up here. We're about twelve miles South of Pike's Bluff." The Senator noticed no recognition of the landmark cross Eve's face.

"Good. Can I ask to rely on you as a guide? In exchange, I can try to keep the Order off your back."

"'Order'?"

"The group chasing you. That's what they're call... ed..." Eve trailed off as she seemed to realize something. "Where is this?"

"You're on the continent of Mistral," Peleus answered. He narrowed his eyes slightly, not sure what to make of this exchange.

"No, I mean... the planet."

"Remnant." Eve remained silent for several long moments as if she were having trouble processing.

"I... see..." she muttered before quickly regaining her composure. "Nevermind. That doesn't matter right now. I have people I need to find. I just need someone to help me find my way."

"While I'm thankful for you saving me," Peleus said, standing straighter and preparing his aura in case he wound up provoking the strange woman, "I think I need you to answer something first. Do you know a man named Godfrey Evrain?" Eve didn't need to answer the Senator, he saw a mixture of raw negative emotions pass across her face, hate the chiefest among them. "Alright. That'll do. Peleus Nikos." He extended a hand to her.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Nikos," Eve nodded, taking his hand carefully.

"Now that that's out of the way... let me get my bearings. We should be able to see the Kingdom if we get high enough... Ah, perfect! There's a hill there that should do nicely." Peleus led the way up the side of the tall incline, Eve trailing a short distance behind him. The Senator looked to the North, hoping to spot his home in the distance. He very quickly wished he hadn't.

Eve stood beside Peleus as he saw the fires in the distance. The proud Mistral stonework that had stood for thousands of years had come crumbling down in a matter of days. In the skies above, five ships made of blackened metal hovered menacingly. The Order had taken over the Kingdom.

A/N: Progress! I actually really liked writing Chaos' portion of this chapter, and am really happy with how it turned out.

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