RWBY is property of Roosterteeth! I only own my characters.
CHAPTER 48
Chess jolted upright as he sensed a disturbance in the air around him, waking Melody, who had been sleeping on his shoulder as usual. Amber was standing at the ready, since she had been on watch, as Cherri quickly pushed herself onto her feet. A foul presence assaulted their senses, devoid of all charisma or charm, replaced by only raw killing intent.
Chess braced himself as a blur of white skin and hair came careening out from between the thick trees around them, tearing up dirt at her feet. The Bloodline rose a trio of his bladed tendrils from the ground beneath him, placing them between him and the charging Shiro. The sharpened shadows were paid no mind as the pale woman simply ran through them, ignoring the large chunk of skin that came flying off her shoulder. A powerful kick smashed into Chess' gut, denting his armor, knocking the wind from his lungs, and sending him tumbling across the grass of the dimly lit clearing his group had slept in. He rolled to his feet, regaining his balance.
A crazed grin was painted across Shiro's face. She licked her lips hungrily at the four individuals around her, deciding which one she wanted first. A solid wall of light appeared in front of the pale woman to block a blast of lightning from Amber, and another materialized beneath her feet to protect her from a collection of spear-headed plants created by Cherri. Suddenly, the pale woman vanished from sight, just as the Maidens prepared another round of attacks.
Chess activated his Secondary Ability to warp to Melody's side, pulling her away as Shiro reappeared and grabbed at the air where the young Maiden had been standing. Melody responded with a blast of water that hardened into a spray of razor-like shards. Shiro's face lit up in eager glee as she created another wall between herself and the attack.
"Oh!" she squealed like a little girl. "This is so much fun! I haven't had this good a time in forever!" She warped again using her copy of Chess' ability, having gained much more precise control over it in the time since she had first discovered it. She reappeared right in Chess' face. "I guess you're kind of the weakest link now, aren't you?" Shiro bent herself backwards to avoid a wide slash from the Bloodline. Chess' other two blades arced upwards, stabbing the pale woman through her back. "Don't you know that doesn't work?" Effortlessly, Shiro pulled herself off the pair of shadows impaling her, and her wounds closed in the blink of an eye. Chess was sent flying once again, this time by a blast of wind.
"Chess!" Melody yelled. "Are you okay?" The boy in question materialized in the air beside the young Maiden, grabbing her arm and warping away from Shiro's hungry grip.
"I'm fine," Chess answered, "just keep your eyes on her."
"I really don't know why all of you are putting up such a fuss," Shiro smiled and shrugged. "After all, I plan on changing the world for the better once I get your Semblances. No more fighting, no more pain. Sounds great right? I just have to get the power to keep everyone in line." A box of hardened light flashed into existence to deflect another volley of attacks from the Maidens and Chess.
"If you were really concerned about the greater good," Cherri stated with narrowed eyes, "you'd help the people of Remnant instead of trying to conquer them."
"I'm not going to conquer them," Shiro laughed, "I just plan on taking care all those nasty little undesirable parts that make people treat different people like dirt. Once they're all dead, people like me will finally find somewhere to call our own."
"'People like you'?" Amber inquired, charging another bolt of lightning in her hand.
"That's a secret, Miss Fall Maiden," Shiro winked. "How have you been by the way? Those scars look like they didn't heal too well-" Amber's charged blast of electricity seared the ground where Shiro stood, but only hit empty air. "You know," Shiro continued as she reappeared in a nearby tree, "no man would ever marry a girl with an attitude like that." The tree she was standing in attempted to crush her in its branches, but once again, Shiro warped out of its grasp. The pale woman's gaze fell on Chess. "You were putting out all sorts of scary energy last time we met, Cutie. What happened to that?"
"None of your business," Chess growled. His instincts were screaming for him to flare his Bloodline, but he knew that doing so might risk releasing his mother from her confinement once more. Mini, can we do it?
I'm unsure, Mini's voice answered. If we were to defeat her quickly, we might be able to keep mother imprisoned, but- Watch out! Chess felt the air leave his chest once more as Shiro kneed him in the stomach with enough force to crack his already-dented armor. The Maidens made another vain attempt to hit Shiro with their attacks.
"Damn it," Chess breathed, "I guess there's no other choice..." He closed his eyes, carefully tapping into the power Mini had granted him access to. His shadows stabbed into his arms, darkening his veins and forming the pair of clawed gloves on his hands. Chess looked around for the pale woman, his crimson eyes darting between the trees.
"Oh, you've decided to fight me for real?" Shiro's voice called. "Okay, then!" Chess flinched as a trio of solid boxes of light appeared around his Maiden companions. Shiro dropped down from the canopy of a nearby tree, thudding lightly against the ground. Chess snarled angrily and warped forward, taking a vicious slash at the pale woman with one of his gloves. The swipe bounced off another solid wall that popped into the air between them with a noticeable soft clang. "Hey, I'm not done explaining the rules of this fun game I've set up."
"I'm not playing your damn game!" Chess yelled. "Let them out!"
"Well, it's a bit late for you to back out now," Shiro smiled sweetly. "You see those boxes your girlfriends are in? Here's how this works..." The boxes of light shifted inside, creating chains and shackles that coiled themselves around each confined Maiden. "Okay, see those restraints? For every hit you land on me, a random restraint will loosen and eventually fall off, eventually letting the Maiden get out of her box."
"And what happens when-" Chess was cut off as Shiro's fist collided with his face, knocking him flat onto the ground. Amber released a cry of pain as a shackle on her right forearm dug into her skin with a series of small blades. "You..." Chess snarled furiously.
"Got the rules down now?" Shiro leaned over him and winked. "Good, think fast." Chess grunted in pain as Shiro's foot swung forward into his gut, cracking his ribs underneath through his battered armor. Cherri fell down inside her box as a shackle stabbed into her leg. Amber and Melody both pounded away at the sides of their boxes with their powers. Melody's was filling up with water from her own attack. "Just so you know, those things don't drain," Shiro called as she dodged a slash from Chess. "The restraints won't kill you, but I can't stop you from drowning. I need you three alive so I can take your powers, after all."
Chess felt a small twinge of pain somewhere in the back on his mind, but he paid it no mind for the moment. He trusted that Mini would be able to- Mini? The small boy's voice did not reply. In his moment of distraction, Shiro unleashed an explosion of flame that enveloped the Bloodline. All three Maidens writhed in agony as Chess was hit countless times. The young Bloodline felt as if his entire body was falling apart at the seams. Too many conflicting thoughts and emotions filled his head. Mini. Melody. Cherri. Amber. Melody. Melody!
Chess snarled and warped forward, summoning as many blades to his side as he could muster. He swung his right arm forward to- The young Bloodline suddenly became aware of the sheer pain coursing through his body from the bloody stump at his elbow. Shiro cocked her head at him in confusion.
You idiotic brat. I told you this would happen. His mother sneered. You've become so weak that I can exert influence over your ability from beyond the grave. Chess suddenly felt his right leg leave his body a one of his own shadows cleanly sliced through his flesh, cutting sinew and bone as easily as a butcher's knife. The young Bloodline's eyes widened in horror as he fell forward and Shiro's feet.
"Chess!" Melody's scream was muffled from within the confines of her box. The Maiden of Winter slammed her restrained fists into the walls of her cage repeatedly as she stood waist-deep in water. Amber continued to fire lightning into the side of her own enclosure, as Cherri bashed her shoulder painfully against hers.
"Well, this is fortunate for me," Shiro smiled. "After that embarrassment that you put me through the last time, I've been wanting some sweet revenge." The pale woman placed her foot in the middle of the Bloodline's back, and began to stomp against what was left of his blackened plate armor. The imprisoned Maidens screamed in pain, the water around Melody slowly turning crimson with her blood. Chess frantically tried to regain control of his ability, but found himself unable to gain even the most remote foothold.
Maybe Shiro will make better use of the power you have wasted.
Chess felt his blood freeze at his mother's words. Shiro's powerful onslaught ceased, leaving the Bloodline to wheeze and snarl at her in defiance. The pale woman knelt down beside the ex-Lord with an arrogant grin on her face.
"Okay, that's enough playing around, I think," she whispered sweetly.
"CHESS!" Melody screamed as loud as she could. Her own blood was pouring down her arms and legs. "CHESS, GET UP! RUN AWAY!" Vaguely, Chess' mind tried to do as the Maiden said, but was unable to access even the most basic parts of his powers as exhaustion and blood loss sapped him of his energy to fight. Shiro flipped the Bloodline over onto his back, and she caressed his cheek with her frigid hand. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
"Don't worry," Shiro smiled as she leaned in, licking her lips. "It won't hurt."
"NO! CHESS!" Melody screeched in horror as the pale woman kissed the young Bloodline. His remaining arm reached up to try to push Shiro off of him, but with each passing moment, his struggling grew weaker. Melody continued to shout his name, as Amber and Cherri redoubled their efforts to break out from their cages. The light faded from the boy's crimson eyes, and his arm fell limply to the ground. Shiro pushed herself up onto her feet, leaving Chess' form unmoving and lifeless in the blood-soaked grass, a final look of desperation and fear frozen on his features. The pale woman licked her lips in a satisfied manner, shivering with some kind of malicious delight as energy coursed through her body. Melody fell to her knees and let out a scream of anguish that echoed through the surrounding forest. Amber and Cherri froze in silent horror.
The young Maiden of Winter suddenly fell extremely quiet, shaking as she sat in the water that had filled up her cube of confinement. Shiro paid her captives no mind for a moment, confident that her restraints would hold. With a flick of her hand, a single bladed tendril of shadow rose from the shaded ground at her feet, curling and twisting into a distorted spiral. It was nowhere near as precise or cohesive as Chess' ability, but it was, without a doubt, his power. Shiro giggled eerily, filled with a frightening sense of jubilation.
Cherri shivered as a wave of frigid cold passed over her through the walls of Shiro's box. The Maiden of Spring looked up as a loud shattering sound rung out across the clearing they were in. Amber's gaze was also drawn to the source of the sound. Melody's cage. The walls of her enclosure were cracked, and the Maiden of Winter had a look of complete and utter rage in her eyes. Her normally bright blue irises had grown even more vivid, glowing with an unnatural light. Small wisps of frost hovered around her cheeks. Water leaked from the spiderweb of small breaches in her enclosure, slowly draining onto the grass.
Shiro flinched at the murderous energy that had suddenly sprung to life, and quickly used her now-fully drained version of Chess' warping ability to evade a shower of jagged splinters from Melody's box as it exploded violently. Upon being released from her entrapment, Melody's power began to affect the nearby terrain, causing frost to cover the surrounding trees and grass. Cherri looked up as her own restraints began to buckle under the force of Melody's influence. The cubes of hardened light shattered away as they froze, becoming too brittle to support themselves.
Shiro reappeared in a tree covered in dense icicles and frost. The surrounding forest had suddenly been plunged into what looked like the dead of a terrible winter. Strong gusts of winter bent the trees, causing the icicles upon them to clink lightly against each other. Flakes of snow began to fall in great number, coating the ground in a thick white sheet of frozen water, with the exception of a small circle around Chess' body. The pale woman shivered with an eager smirk as Melody's eyes met hers.
A pair of tears fell from the corner of the young Maiden's eyes, freezing solid before they had even fallen from her cheeks. "You," Melody's voice shook with rage, "I'll never forgive you!"
Chess shifted, finding himself laid out on the bottom of a giant brass birdcage. Outside of the enclosure was a peaceful rolling landscape of flower-covered hills. The Bloodline sat up to get a better look.
"You're awake," a woman's voice stated, tinged with an unfamiliar European brogue. Chess rolled onto his feet, and for a moment, readied himself for a fight as he saw the woman's face. It took him a moment to realize that while she looked somewhat similar, the unfamiliar person was not his mother. She was shorter, thinner, and had a stark-white set of carefully trimmed shoulder-length hair that curled slightly around her neck. A beaten-looking Mini rested on the woman's lap, breathing shallowly. "He tried his best to protect you, you know." The woman looked up at Chess with her own pair of crimson eyes. "Though, I suppose that might just have been a sort of self-preservation."
"What am I doing here?" Chess demanded urgently. "Where is this place?"
"Do you honestly not remember how you got here?" the woman asked. "Think carefully, what is the most recent event you can recall?" Chess fell silent and did as he was told. The last thing he remembered... hadn't he been fighting Shiro? The images of his missing arm and leg suddenly flooded into his mind. The only problem was, he still all had four of his limbs...
Maybe Shiro will make better use of the power you have wasted.
His mother's words echoed in his thoughts, and suddenly Chess felt the memories of what had happened coming flooding back. The Bloodline held his head in pain, and the world around him went black. Images of Shiro leaning in towards him. Melody frantically screaming his name. All the information came back in a single, agonizing moment.
Chess opened his eyes again, this time looking up into the eyes of the strange woman that shared many features with him. He flinched and jolted up from where his head had been lying on her lap beside Mini, who now appeared unharmed, but was sleeping silently.
"Am..." Chess trailed off. "Am I dead?"
"In a way," the woman replied matter-of-factly.
"I don't have time for riddles!" Chess yelled suddenly, causing his shadows to lash out at the woman. "Every moment I waste, Melody could be-" The young Bloodline froze as the woman touched her hand against one of his dark blades, and the tendril of shadow burst into wisps of black mist.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you to respect your elders?" the woman asked.
"I don't even know who you are!" Chess replied heatedly. "Why don't you start with that?"
"Well," she shrugged, "right now, I'm just acting as a sort of representative. But, me personally? I'll give you the short version, you know how the Bloodlines have always been the silent protectors of Earth?" Chess shook his head. "What the hell have they been teaching you young ones these days?"
"The Earth I came from was a war-ridden planet, with Bloodlines as its figureheads," Chess answered, quickly becoming frustrated at the lack of a clear answer from the odd woman.
"That's... distressing..." the woman sighed. "This is what I get for going to sleep and leaving you kids to your own devices..."
"Who are you!?" Chess demanded.
"I'll get to that, just shut up and listen," the woman said exasperatedly. "Like you, I was an Inheritor of Chaos, but my life got a four thousand year lead on yours, give or take a century or two. Ancient folk back then liked to confuse Bloodlines as miracle workers or deities. Stories tended to get really muddled and exaggerated back then, so they aren't exactly the most accurate. Still, I was always a fan of the name the people in Athens came up with for me. 'Eris' has a better ring to it than the name I was born with anyway."
"'Eris'?" Chess quirked an eyebrow, "As in the-"
"Goddess of chaos, strife, and discord," Eris finished. "What can I say? I was a brat when I was young. Can't really say that you're much better, though..."
"How are you speaking English?" Chess inquired, mentally kicking himself as he realized they were getting sidetracked.
"It's not really that we're talking in a traditional sense," Eris explained, patting Mini's sleeping head idly, "it's more that our connection through our Bloodline allows us to communicate in a way that we can both understand."
"That's great and everything," Chess turned towards the edge of the birdcage, "but unless you can tell me how to get out of here so I can save Melody, I think we're done 'communicating'."
"Did you try the latch?" Eris asked nonchalantly.
"There is no latch!" Chess shouted irritably. In his frustration, the young Bloodline called forth his shadows to slash at the cage bars, but the bladed tendrils left nothing but tiny scuffs on the brass.
"What are you doing?" Eris asked, resting a hand annoyedly against her cheek. "Do you really think you stand a chance against that 'Shiro' woman as you are now? In case I need to state it bluntly, you're dead. Get that through your head, Chess. Your soul was taken by Shiro." Chess froze for few seconds before returning to vainly slashing at the sides of the cage.
"If that's the case," the young Bloodline stated, "then it's even more important that I get out of here." He paused for a moment, running his hand against the tiny scratches in the brass bars of their enclosure. "Melody, Cherri, and Amber... They're in danger if Shiro has access to our Bloodline."
"I thought you had learned to have faith in others," Eris said. "What makes you think that your friends won't win?"
"Even if they do, it won't be without them getting hurt, possibly even dying... and if Shiro managed to drain one of them as well..." Chess trailed off, gritting his teeth. "And besides... Do you expect me to just sit here and do nothing?" He gripped his palm tightly around a damaged bar. "Like hell I'll leave them to fight on their own while I've still got energy. This is Shiro's mind, right? So why not cause a little chaos?" Chess felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to find Eris standing behind him with a wide grin on her face. She reached out to take the young Inheritor's hand, and slowly began to fade as her energy fused with Chess.
"Good answer." And with that, the strange woman vanished, leaving Chess standing alone aside from Mini's sleeping form on the bottom of the cage. The small version of Chess suddenly awoke with a frantic gasp.
"Chess! Mother's-" the small boy froze in horror as he took in his surroundings. "No... this can't be happening..."
"I know," Chess said, walking over to place a reassuring hand on Mini's head, "but we're not out of this fight yet. There's still time for us to stop Shiro and save Melody and the others..." Chess stood and turned back towards the side of the cage, beginning to gather his strength. He missed the mixture of pride and sadness that crossed Mini's face. "Think you're ready to-" Chess turned to find the cage completely empty aside from a small scrap of paper on the floor of the cage where Mini had been sitting a moment before. "Mini?" The Bloodline knelt to pick up the tiny paper, a worn and wrinkled thing cover in printed text and what looked like the corner of a picture.
A sudden memory came to Chess' mind, one he had never recalled before, but had seen. The day his father died, Chess had been learning to read a book about a raven that dreamed about singing, but encountered many challenges as other birds told him he could do nothing but caw. Along the way, the raven met a sparrow, who despite the larger bird's intimidating stature, agreed to teach him to sing. The raven eventually accomplished his dream, but the sparrow, a shorter-lived creature, passed away. The raven dedicated his songs to the truest friend he had ever had. Time ticked on, and eventually, the raven too began to feel the effects of time.
And then, the raven crowed out one last song and closed his eyes. His heart was filled with not fear, but peace, as he readied himself to meet his dear sparrow friend once more.
Chess closed his hand tightly around the scrap of the book page, closing his eyes. A pair of small droplets dripped down the Bloodline's cheeks. Chess took a deep breath and flared his ability, calling as much power to himself as he could manage. The small scrap of paper disintegrated in his hand.
"Thank you, Mini... and good bye..."
Chess walked towards the top of the tallest hill he could find, a steely-eyed expression on his face. Now that he was outside the cage, he felt acutely aware of the events unfolding outside of the bizarre spirit world he was in. The three Maidens were currently engaged in a destructive battle with their adversary, reducing the surrounding forest to little more than a pit of mud, ice, and wood splinters. Still, Shiro's seemingly limitless energy and her lack of existing injuries had kept her at a slight advantage.
Shiro might have somehow gained control of his powers in the real world, but within the strange limbo of her mind, the Bloodline was still the proper Inheritor. He had a sneaking suspicion as to why the pale woman was able to use his ability.
As he came to the peak of the large hill, Chess felt his heart twinge with disgust. In the midst of the fields of flowers and grass sat dozens of cages of various types. Giant, gilded things with tightly-packed small dots moving around within them. Chess closed his eyes, warping closer to the cages for a closer look.
"H-hey!"
"Please! Let me out!"
"You there! Open this thing, please!"
"Over here!"
A cacophony of voices assaulted Chess as soon as he reappeared, all begging for release from their confinement.
"Shiro has quite the fascinating collection," a familiar voice stated. Chess pivoted on his heel to face his mother, who was walking freely about the field of cages. "Unlike you, she shows genuine interest in our power. I think she'll put it to better use than you." Chess turned away, ignoring the woman as he scanned the occupants of the enclosures. His eyes caught sight of a specific person with tanned skin and a scarred face. "I'll let you enjoy your freedom for a while, it's not like you have enough strength to-" Chess' mother's eyes bulged in shock as the young Bloodline made a slashing motion with his hand, and the bars of the cage he had been observing split open. The crimson-eyed boy turned back around.
"You were saying?"
"Melody! Don't run in alone!" Amber shouted, grabbing the rage-filled girl's upper arm to stop her from blindly rushing towards Shiro again.
"Let me go!" Melody yelled back desperately. "I have- Chess- I have to-" Tears of fury and anguish rained down the Maiden of Winter's face.
"Chess wouldn't have wanted you to get yourself killed!" Amber stated.
"Stop it, both of you," Cherri said forcefully. "This is literally the worst time to turn against each other."
"No, keep in-fighting, by all means," Shiro giggled, consistently warping away from the Maidens' attacks. "You know, your boyfriend had quite the ability on him. It's not quite a Maiden power, but it's seriously fun! Too bad he wasn't actually anything more than a cute face."
"SHUT UP!" Melody screamed. "DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT CHESS THAT WAY!"
"Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Shiro placed her hand over her mouth in mock horror. "You know, maybe I should try to get the final blow on each of you with his powers... Wouldn't that be funny?" She twirled one of Chess' shadowy blades around in the air beside herself for good measure.
"We'll see who's laughing when you're lying in the dirt," Amber snarled at the pale woman.
"Why don't you come over here and say that, Miss Fall Maiden? Oh wait, you won't, because all three of you know you don't stand a chance without-" Shiro stopped, her eyes widening as she doubled over in pain. A horrible gagging sound escaped her lips, as a thin haze of shifting hues leaked from her mouth. Shiro held her head as he body released a powerful explosion of energy, throwing the three Maidens back through the air. A fiery orange blob rushed forward and hit Amber in the chest, knocking the Maiden of Fall unconscious, while other bubbles of mist floated away into the sky. Shiro was the first to stand, her hands shaking. "Wha- What? What is this? What's happening?"
"You filthy brat! Who do you think you are!?" Chess' mother screeched as she and her son exchanged rapid strikes with their shadowy blades. Chess was smiling calmly, as any attack that was missed or deflected would often strike and weaken any of the surrounding cages. Another one of the enclosures was split wide open, allowing the trapped spirits to escape to freedom. The landscape of Shiro's mind quaked angrily as the pale woman was struck with agonizing pain.
"My name is Chess," the Bloodline answered, "and... I'm just a person fighting to protect the people he loves." Chess deflected a sharp blow from his mother as she growled at him.
"How sentimental," she replied through clenched teeth, "just like your god damned father."
"I think I'd rather be more like him than you," Chess smirked, stabbing forward with dark blades, slicing open another cage as his mother dodged. The occupants still trapped in their enclosures cheered the white-haired boy on. "I told you before, Mother... No has-been hag is going to control me anymore."
"Yes, perhaps you're right..." the woman mumbled irritably. "You can't be threatened or reasoned with anymore... that makes you less than useless. Shiro! Make sure to kill that silver-haired bitch! I want this brat to watch her die!" Chess' mother's face split into a wide grin as the smirk evaporated off her son's expression. Outside the strange realm of Shiro's mind, the pale woman made a beeline for Melody. Chess rushed towards his mother.
The young Bloodline didn't feel any pain, and he doubted souls could actually feel any sort of physical injury, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered what equated to a stabbing sensation in his chest. His mother smiled as her son hung impaled on the trio of blades she had summoned to intercept his charge. Drops of Chess' "blood" fell onto the flower-covered terrain beneath them. The young Bloodline grinned.
"Sorry, Mother. I don't really have much to lose at this point, beyond Melody, but you, on the other hand..." Chess called upon every once of power at his disposal as he hung limply in the air. He could feel his very soul straining to control the massive amount of energy, like every fiber of his being was being torn apart and reassembled every second. He flared the power that Mini had unlocked for him, adorning the dark clawed gloves and staining the images of his veins black. This time, a pair of wings sprouted from his back as well. A set of mismatched appendages that somehow managed to appear strange yet regal. The wing of a raven spread itself out on his right, while a sparrow's flapped haphazardly on the boy's left. "Well, let's see what happens when there are none of us left."
"Wha-" Chess' mother did not manage to utter the rest of sentence as her son's spirit quite literally exploded. A blast of darkness spread across the flower-covered hills, consuming the old Chaos as well as many of the nearby cages.
Chess' voice echoed across the landscape, uttering one last sentence, "Go to hell, old hag..."
The Melody continued her fight against Shiro as the pale woman quickly grew more desperate and deranged. Many times, she would fall and scream in pain, releasing massive blasts of energy from her body. A large crater was all that remained of the clearing they had slept in, a sole spire of earth left standing unnaturally where Melody continued to protect Chess' body. Cherri had pulled the unconscious Amber out of the direct line of fire, and was protecting the downed Maiden.
Shiro emitted another ear-splitting shriek, shaking the ground around her as another blast ripped outward from her body. In particular, a large red mass of energy shot out of her mouth and into the sky. Chess' blade faded from the air beside her.
"No! How!? How am I losing powers!?" Shiro screamed, her face contorting into a mixture of shock and anger. "It's that boy! But, how could he have managed to-" Another blast of energy shook the surrounding mud, knocking Melody, Amber, and Cherri onto their rears once more. Suddenly, the quaking subsided, and Shiro spat out a glob of blood onto the ground at her feet. The pale woman began to laugh once more. "Oh, that's...hilarious! Your boyfriend just killed himself! It took some of my powers with it, but still..."
Melody, unable to maintain her rage any longer, fell to her knees in exhaustion. "Chess..." she muttered longingly. If what Shiro had said was true, then the boy the young Maiden loved was gone forever. The powerful blue light faded from her eyes. Shiro saw her opportunity, and raced forward, kicking thick mud up into the air behind her. The pale woman dodged through a wall of brambles that Cherri had summoned from afar, tackling the dazed and weakened Melody.
The young Maiden found herself pinned underneath the larger woman's weight. Shiro grinned hungrily, creating a wall of solid light around herself and Melody to block out Cherri. The Maiden of Spring's cry of anger was muffled behind the barrier.
Shiro gripped Melody's neck tightly in her hands, not even concentrating on draining the girl's life-force. Much to the pale woman's confusion, the young Maiden did not scream in fear or desperation. Instead, Melody's eyes remained locked on the tower of dirt she had been protecting so religiously.
"Chess..." Melody croaked out, tears streaming down her face. "Chess, wait... for me..."
I didn't die so you could just give up.
Shiro and Melody's eyes widened as Chess' voice echoed in their minds. The pale woman forced herself off the girl beneath her as dozens of bladed tendrils of shadow shot forth from the ground. Shiro coughed on her own blood as the sharpened extensions stabbed into her torso in countless locations. The shadows withdrew, stopping to hover protectively around Melody. Crimson fluid gushed forth from Shiro's wounds, leaving a rapidly increasing puddle at the woman's feet. Melody blinked twice to process what had just happened, and took a step towards Shiro. The pale woman frantically snapped her fingers and waved her hand around, trying to call upon any power she could think of in her arsenal. Melody unleashed a shower of razor-edged icicles, slicing and stabbing the pale woman as she continued to hastily try to use any power she could.
Shiro backed away as Melody grew closer and closer, scrambling backwards on her rear. Suddenly, the woman had a thought. There was a slim chance she still had a way out, thanks to one power and the absence of another. Melody stopped just out of the woman's reach, summoning an icy dagger into her hands.
"Shiro," the Maiden of Winter spat, "for the deaths of countless people, as especially Chess, I hope you enjoy your time in hell!" The knife dug into the pale woman's heart, causing her to flinch and twitch in pain before suddenly falling very still. Melody backed away, holding her head in her hands. Cherri moved to comfort her, gently embracing the younger Maiden and lightly rocking her back and forth.
"It's okay," Cherri said softly, stroking the sobbing Melody's hair, "it's over."
Melody fell into a horrified silence as she sat beside Cherri waiting for Amber to wake up. Shiro's limp and bloody form lay on the ground, the youngest Maiden's dagger still stuck in her chest. Minutes continued to tick by, slowly becoming hours. Suddenly a howl drifted through the trees nearby, causing the two women to flinch in surprise. A lone Beowolf, perhaps chased off from its pack, emerged from the forest and sniffed at Shiro's body. Then, it silently picked up the woman in its jaws and retreated back into the trees.
"She deserves worse," Melody stated furiously as tears still trickled down her cheeks. Chess' body lay next to her. Cherri had helped her retrieve the boy to keep him safe from scavengers. Shiro had not received the same treatment.
Melody's sobs began anew once more, and she buried her face in the fallen boy's chest. Cherri helplessly watched, unable to figure out what to say to the younger Maiden. Chess' eyes were closed, making him look as if he were only sleeping.
"I suppose that's it, then," Cherri said softly. "Let the monsters eat the other monsters..." Gingerly, the Maiden of Spring laid a hand on Melody's back. "Let's take him home..."
The Beowolf crouched down far away from any other creature in the forest. A freshly removed right arm rested in its mouth, as it devoured its newly acquired meal. It did not notice the rest of its meal pull the tiny icy dagger from their chest and stand up with a maddened grin. The Grimm did not even realize that its life had been ended.
Shiro stared down at the stump of her arm and the numerous other injuries that she had acquired. They were a necessary step to ensure that she was far away from the Maidens. She was back at square one, after years of work. It took all the pale woman's self-control to keep herself from screaming.
No, she'd have to wait. To slowly build up her powers once again. Shiro smiled to herself. The next time she and the Maidens met, it would be their last.
"Hey, wake up."
Chess groaned, opening his eyes to find himself floating in a pure-white void. Eris stood next to him with her arms crossed. The young Bloodline looked around in confusion.
"What's going on?" he asked in befuddlement. "Why are we still here?"
"We're not still in Shiro's head, if that's what you're asking," Eris shrugged.
"You know very well what I mean," Chess narrowed his eyes.
"Well, I guess you could call this the waiting room for Bloodlines. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes we end up here."
"'Waiting room'?" Chess asked incredulously, "For what? Didn't I destroy the entirety of our Bloodline with that last attack?"
"Well..." Eris replied shrugged her shoulders again, this time adding a nonchalant shake of her head, "not really. You destroyed the Inheritor before you, and beat yourself up pretty badly, but honestly, you didn't even come close to destroying the Bloodline."
"What. Do. You. Mean," Chess said exasperatedly.
"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" Eris asked tiredly. A moment of silence passed, where the old Inheritor observed the ex-Lord's face. "I guess so. Here, let me try leading you to the answer, get those brain cells of yours working. We haven't faded into the abyss yet, which means the Bloodline is still alive and well, what does this mean?"
"There's... another Inheritor..." Chess said slowly. Suddenly he looked up at Eris in shock. "Wait, is Melody-"
"Mhmm," Eris nodded uninterestedly. "Congratulations, don't make the same idiotic mistakes your mother did." Chess suddenly looked down at his feet. "Oh, what the hell's the problem now?"
"I'm... not sure... I'm the best choice... to interact with the next Inheritor of Chaos," the young Bloodline stated uneasily.
"Well, too bad," Eris stated idly, beginning to float around the void in boredom. "The only people the fledgling Inheritor can contact early on are their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents. Beyond that is something that can't be done until later or unless they get pushed into a really rough corner like you did. And... you erased you mother."
"What about my grandparent, then?" Chess asked.
"He's not here," Eris shook her head. "Which means he's still floating around somewhere, probably prolonging his life with cryostasis or something... Yeah, he wasn't exactly a brave one." Chess' uncomfortable look had still not faded. "Look at it this way, you know about the horrible trials you went through, you can keep the next-in-line from suffering through that. You can start the Bloodline down a legacy that actually means something again. Plus... who knows, you might get to talk with Melody again once the kid's power awakens." For several long moments, Eris hovered upside down in the void, staring expectantly at Chess. The young Bloodline closed his eyes with a sigh.
"I'm going to have so much to try and explain to them... both Melody and the child..."
"Well, you got a lot of time to figure out what to say..."
A/N:Well, there it is. After 12 straight hours of work and sleep-deprivation. Honestly, I feel like the chapter turned out a little lackluster, but that might be the lack of sleep talking. Let me know what you guys think.
As of now, I think that I liked how Legends Scatter turned out a bit better than this story, and the main issue was how massive the cast got. I'm planning on attempting to fix this a bit in future stories.
The epilogue should be up in 2 to 3 days if everything goes according to plan. After that, I will be conducting a Q&A like I did at the end of Legends Scatter.
EDIT: Just to clear something up for you guys, since it was brought to my attention, Melody is over eighteen years of age. Depending on where you live, that may or may not make things less awkward for you, but I want to clarify that, at least by the standards of where I live, both Chess and Melody are consenting adults.
Reviews, Follows, and Favorites are always appreciated! Let me know what you think! Got a question for me? Go ahead and leave one in a review, or if you don't want to share the answer, send me a PM. I will answer as quickly as I am able.
REVIEW REPLIES
Thanks to Stevealio163, Cipher96, and Skaana for leaving reviews for last chapter.