Ruby felt like she was traveling for miles. She kept her eyes on the soaring figure of Jet. He was headed for a castle in the distance of the snowy field. Ruby had no idea how far they'd travelled.
She was taken out of her thoughts by Jet, who had landed in the courtyard of the castle. Giving pursuit, Ruby sped up a staircase within the castle and hid within a parapet, only just now catching her breath.
Jet stood in the castle courtyard. He knew where this was. He'd been here before.
"Who enters?" a dull and gravely voice sounded from the dark pit that was in the center of the stony ground.
"I am Jet, a half human, half Grimm hybrid." Jet called.
"Only those who know our true name may discourse with us. Speak now, or die." the voice sounded.
Ruby prepared to jump from her hiding place to aid Jet. She had no idea what this place was, but if her lover was in danger, she'd save him. She was halted by Jet's response.
"Deus! Come forth!" Jet named the voice.
There was a sharp intake of breath at his words. Then, the very air of the castle seemed to darken as the creature emerged from the pit. It was unlike anything Ruby had ever seen before. A wizened and giant torso with gleaming red eyes emerged, with withered arms that were as long as she was tall. Tentacles begun to emerge from every direction from within the dark pit.
The Grimm gazed upon Jet, seemingly unaware of Ruby's presence. It was the source of the voice.
"Greetings… Angel." it growled.
"Deus. I assume you know why I am here." Jet sad, maintaining his composure at the sight of the ancient Grimm.
"You wish for the power that is your inheritance, correct?" Deus slowly intoned.
"Power? I was only made aware of your existence should I require aid." Jet answered in surprise.
"Then you are most definitely not ready to receive it. Come back when you are… knowledgeable, and your Fulcrum is present." the Grimm replied, before starting to retreat back into the pit.
Jet stood there briefly, as though deep in thought, before leaping up into the air and summoning the flight armour again. Ruby watched him shoot off, before following him. If she was determined to find out what the problem was now, she was now fully obsessed with the job.
Jet flew across the snowy-bound blur that was the ground below him. His last suit of Dharc Armour, Burning Jet Venom, was his speed based armour. Put simply, it was like a humanoid version of Bumblebee on steroids. Even so, there was only one thing that he knew could even outmatch his manifestation.
Ruby. He thought about all the changes she'd brought into his life. From the very moment they were together, they'd endured all sorts together, fought, and loved in equal measure. He regretted keeping her in the dark about this, but it was for her own good. He wouldn't make the same mistakes he'd made last time.
Without warning, something latched onto his left wing, hooking him downwards. Something heavy, pulling him to the ground. Jet immediately disengaged his suit and landed, planting his feet in the snowy ground. He watched the figure opposite him skid to a halt, and noticed the familiar rose petals. Groaning in disbelief, he watched as Ruby Rose stared him down, Crescent Rose aloft.
"Jet." she said, angrily. "You're either going to TELL me what is going on, or I'll force the truth out of you!"
This was bad. Jet never wanted to turn his weapon on his girlfriend ever again in a serious fight. But what he was protecting was too precious. If Ruby went down this path, she would fall with him. He would die upon her scythe before he let that happen!
"Ruby, this is one of the few times when I have a good reason to push you away!" Jet yelled back, readying Midnight Rose. "Be it by blade or spell, you will NOT follow me down this path!"
"Oh, like that's a big surprise!" Ruby retorted, blushing furiously now. "You always keep hiding from me! Always when it's important, you insist that I 'leave you alone'. Well guess what? As you are one of the most important people in my life, I will not!"
"Then, I am sorry! But I will use my true power to stop you before it's too late!" Jet roared.
"Too late for what?" Ruby yelled the question.
The answer never came.
Jet immediately zipped from his spot towards her, black rose petals flying behind him as he engulfed himself in blue flames. Ruby swivelled around the charging meteorite, and cracked him in the back with the blunt end of her scythe. Rather than faze him, Jet's flames exploded outwards in a burst of brilliant light, blasting Ruby off her feet and causing her to land in a bush. Rising, she saw Jet outstretching his palm, an icy aura surrounding it. Ruby dived out of the way as a bright blue laser blasted outwards, the size of it similar to the size of a football, and froze the bush where Ruby was a moment ago.
Sweeping the laser in an attempt to hit Ruby, who dived and ducked under and over it, he followed by punching the ground, shaking it and causing her to topple. Luckily, he'd stopped firing his freeze-ray, but rather than stop, he fired again, once again barely missing Ruby, who dodged before closing with Jet at her highest speed, colliding with his aura and smashing straight through it, the familiar flash which meant it had been broken. A spatter of blood had also been drawn.
Skidding and leaving two divots in the snow behind her, she watched as Jet turned and poured some kind of blue substance emanating from his palm over the deep gash in his other arm. Realizing that he was healing himself, she charged again, but before she could make contact, two Jets blocked and repelled her! Realising that they were shadow clones, Ruby hacked and slashed at the two apparitions, desperate to get to the real one before he healed completely.
Plunging her scythe blade into one of them and being rewarded with the disintegration into darkness that was the clone's demise, she sped past the other one and straight to the real Jet. He had succeeded in healing himself completely, however, and absorbed the other clone before teleporting away.
Spinning on the spot to find him, Ruby finally sighted him roughly 20 meters away. He was drawing a complex glyph in mid-air. He started to glow with blue light and chanting could be heard.
"By the blessed power of Asmo, end this fight now!" Jet yelled, as his wings extended and the light grew to a harsh beam. "Cyclone Blizzard!"
The glyph exploded, and Jet began to spin on the spot himself, like a top, but ice shards, snow, and grass was swept up in the building tornado. Ruby watched as it grew larger and larger before, with a scream from Jet, it exploded outwards like his flames had done before. She had no way to escape the fierce gust that lifted her up into the air before slamming her into the ground. She was visibly winded as Jet approached her.
Ruby felt her aura, which lay in pieces from the last hit she had taken. That was not a normal semblance, she realized, as she watched helplessly as Jet pinned her arms with Midnight Rose, the touch of cold steel alone sending quivers of fear up her spine even as he raised an icy fist. Jet looked just as furious as when Yang had accused him of taking her virginity.
"Either we do this your way, and I freeze you before taking you back," Jet growled, no trace of pity for her, "or you submit, and I tell you what I can tell you." Ruby looked at Jet, trying desperately to discern whether his voice had changed at all or not, and whether he or Flux was the one in control. It was so hard to tell these days.
"O… ok, Jet." Ruby said after a brief pause, relaxing her muscles and tilting her head back as a sign of defeat. Jet immediately released her, and with an outstretched hand, was hauled to her feet.
Jet was glad Ruby submitted. He never wanted to do that ever again. Raising his full powers against Ruby took a tremendous amount of willpower to maintain his abilities. Tears threatened to reach his eyes even as he gazed upon her. Ruby had her arms crossed, and was watching Jet with a serious expression. She looked as if she was three years older in that moment.
"You told me you would tell me what you could tell me. As someone would say, 'out with it'." Ruby demanded, not ceasing her glare. Jet's heart sunk, realising that some of the truth would be coming out.
"Ruby…" Jet said, before he paused. "We have a new enemy besides the White Fang."
"Who?" Ruby immediately pressed.