Chapter Thirteen: Escape

Oberon was feeling rather elated at the situation that he was in, for it seemed that the Emperors had finally taken notice of him. Two of the twin-headed, king cobra-esque Grimm were slithering towards him, the other Grimm retreating at their approach. Spinning his blade in his hand, he waited for them to come to him. The way they moved was so strange, with their two heads not always working in conjunction, causing their slithering to be disjointed and arrhythmic. Strange though they might be, they were nothing to laugh at, surprisingly fast for their massive size. The first Taijitu reached him with its black head at the fore. It lashed out, snapping at him. It hit him full force, causing him to burst into a cloud of shadows, swarming around and up its head, reforming at the top of its head. He raised his blade, intending to stab down through the Grimm's skull, but before he could deliver the blow, he sensed the white head whipping towards him. In order not to get hit, he had to shift again, slipping away so that he could examine the situation. The second Emperor had joined the fight now, so he had four giant, snake-monster heads to deal with. Swinging his blade in small circles, he looked around, wondering how he was gonna make it out of this one.

The girls, meanwhile, were beginning to tire. The two long ranged fighters could feel their auras depleting, starting to flag under the constant use, while Corona was feeling a more physical exhaustion. Their reactions were slowing down, they were getting sloppy, and it was only a matter of time before someone slipped up, badly. They needed to end this fight quickly, or someone might get hurt. Corona looked around at their surroundings, trying to find something to aid them in their predicament, when she noted that the walls were softly shining. Intrigued, she shut down the glow of her armor, plunging the cave into darkness. It was as she thought; a soft red glow leaked out of the walls. It only took a moment to put everything together. This wasn't just a cave, it was a mine, a dust mine. And if that was dust, then...

"Oberon," Corona shouted, her lights coming back to life.

"Yes," he replied, suddenly appearing by her side.

"The walls."

Oberon examined the wall, pressing his hand to an exposed dust vein. He nodded. "It will take a little while to build up a charge, but it'll work. I suggest you run."

Corona nodded, grabbing the faunus pair's hands and leading them back to the cave entrance. Oberon, meanwhile, started pouring aura into the dust, priming the explosive mineral to blow. He could hear the crystalline material resonating, building up to the explosion.

The others were running as fast as they can, trying to outrun the inevitable explosion. They were only halfway up the tunnel when they heard a thunderous roar, the ore was igniting behind them. Goddammit, Obi, couldn't have given us a little more time. Corona pushed the others ahead of her, legs pumping, straining with effort. The fireball was bad enough, but worse was that, similar to a spark igniting a trail of black powder, the dust was reacting to Oberon's impulse, a cascade of explosive power, racing ever closer. At least she didn't have to worry about being able to see, as the approaching fireball provided more than enough illumination. Rin was in the lead, shifting gravity so that it was pulling her upwards and forwards, Viper was right behind her, straining from the effort, with Corona in the rear, the weight of her armor slowing her down. The fireball was coming closer, nipping at her heels, but then she saw it, a glimmer of daylight. Pouring as much strength as she could into her legs, she sprinted forward, bursting out of the mouth of the cave and diving to the side, just as a great gout of flame shot out behind her, like a mighty dragon belching fire. Impressive as the explosion was, they do not tend to last long, and in moments the blast scattered to the winds, leaving scorched earth and glassed sand behind. The three women sat in the sand, trying to collect their breath. All seemed fine, until the ground began to crack and splinter, rumbling beneath them.

Viper was the first to realize what was going on. "SINKHOLE!" she shouted, pushing the others to their feet. The explosion had destabilized the cavern, and now the roof was caving in, causing the ground beneath their feet to sink into the hole. The desperate sprint began again, trying to make it to the edge of the danger zone. The ground became steeper and steeper as they went, creating a crater with vertical edges. The sand was pouring down into the center of the hole, making it feel like they were trying to run up a water fall. Viper leapt up to the edge, pulling herself over, but Rin, realizing that Corona wouldn't be able to make it, jumped on her back, held on tight, and redirected her personal gravity, essentially making herself a negative weight on Corona, lightening her enough to make the jump. Corona made it to the edge, gripping on with all her strength, and Viper turned, gripping her by the wrists and heaving her upwards. To make sure they didn't get trapped again, they made sure to get at least twenty yards from the edge of the hole before collapsing in exhaustion. They lay, there, panting and sweating, when a wisp of shadow slipped up through the sand, condensing into the form of Oberon.

Walking up, he looked down at the exhausted warriors, chuckling. "Have a good run, did we?"

"Bastard," Viper grumbled, "couldn't a waited?"

"Hey, I've never brought an underground cave network down on top of myself before, sorry I couldn't finesse it more."

Viper rolled her eyes, hissing in his general direction. Oberon chuckled, sitting down to wait while the others rested from their run. Eventually, when everyone had gotten their breath back, the exhausted adventurers made their way back towards the town. It quickly grew dark, however, and the four decided to make camp for the night. Corona and Rin set up their tent on one side of the fire, while Viper made hers on the opposite edge, then they all sat around the campfire, chatting about nothing while Oberon entertained them with anatomically impossible shadow puppets. They all laughed quietly in the darkness, basking in the glow of victory and friendly company.

"You know what I just realized?" Oberon said, suddenly.

"What's that, Obi?" Corona replied.

"That entire fight was completely pointless. We could have just blew the mine from the get-go."

The others sat silently for a moment, dumbfounded, then burst out laughing. Rin was the first to reply. "You're the one that jumped in first, idiot. Did you even look for a different solution?"

"Umm..."

"I swear, what has the boss been teaching you all these years?"

Viper looked up at that. "That reminds me, Obi, how long have you been with the old bird?"

"One, might want to be a little more careful about what you call Raven, you never know who might be listening, and two, I don't really know. I've been with her at least as long as I can remember. I was here when Corona got recruited."

"Oh, yeah," Corona chimed in. "Back when Adam was still with us..." she trailed off, looking at Oberon, who had almost reflexively brought a hand up to his throat.

"Who's Adam?" the two junior members of the team asked in unison.

Oberon growled, low in his throat. "A fucking asshole, that's who."

The others could sense that this was something of a sensitive topic, and so they wisely dropped it and left him to his brooding.

Later when the others had both gone to bed, and the fire was burning low, Corona looked up at Oberon, who was keeping watch, as he ever did.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked.

"No, it doesn't," he replied with a sigh. "You know, sometimes I wish it did. Sometimes I wish I could still feel pain, just to know that I could feel anything at all."

"Show me," Corona said, an imperative but not an order.

Oberon did not have to ask what she meant. He put out his hands, palms facing up. Then slowly, shakily, he touched his index finger to his thumb, then back to straight. He repeated the motion for each of his fingers. The movements were stiff and clumsy, and his hands threatened to fall apart more than once, but it was progress. It was easier for him in a fight. In a fight nobody questioned why you had turned to smoke, nobody noticed if your muscles didn't quite move the right way. As long as you did what needed doing, people couldn't care less. But when the fight ended, when everyone calmed down, that's when they start to notice the little things. And those times were far the more terrifying.