Ruby clutched Jet's reassuringly warm body as she shuddered. What was he thinking?
If he died, Ruby wouldn't be far behind him. He meant that much to her. She loved him that much.
She felt some of the power he'd gained herself, being bonded to him. A surge of strength and speed from the darkness. It felt good, but it left a bittersweet taste in her mouth.
"Ruby, I'm okay." Jet reassured her, lifting her off him as he stood up. Ruby stood up too, mentally promising herself that she would stay close to him from now on. "But we need to speak to the rest of your team. About what we are."
Ruby was taken aback. If they found out, then-
"Blake found out, and I don't think Yang will simply forget what just happened." Jet explained with a sad smile. "Weiss isn't far from figuring it out either, based on the looks she's been giving me recently. The way I see it, they'll all know eventually. All that remains is whether we accept it, or push them away."
"Wait, how did Blake find out?" Ruby asked. At this, Jet turned his gaze to his feet.
"She quizzed me after our little show." Jet admitted. "I let it slip that I was practically immortal, and she caught on. It didn't take long for her to work out the truth, and there was me thinking that this phenomenon wasn't known. I'm sorry, Ruby."
Ruby put her hand under his chin and lifted so that his gaze met hers. It was a good thing they were the same height. She legitimately didn't know how serious their predicament was.
"What's going to happen, Jet? How do you think they'll take it?" Ruby asked.
Jet seemed to think for a moment, his eyes shifting to the sky, before returning to Ruby's.
"Yang, I think she'll be fine. Weiss will probably be the problem." Jet replied, moving backwards a little. "There's one thing I have to do though, before we confront them."
Without another word, he surrounded his hand in cyan flames, before swirling it in a circle and pointing at Ruby. She then felt those same flames surrounding her, but they didn't burn. Instead, they darkened until they matched the same hue as the flames now dancing around Jet. Ruby looked quickly at her body, and it wasn't burning or blackening as she thought it would.
"I've activated your powers." Jet explained as Ruby shot him a confused look. "To activate them and deactivate them, say the word 'Transcend' out loud."
"Transcend?" Ruby repeated, and the flames vanished. "Transcend." Ruby said again, and the flames re-emerged.
"While in that state, your strength and speed increase, and you're invulnerable, like I am. But you can only sustain that for about three minutes. You'll know when it's about to run out." Jet continued.
"That would have been useful before. Transcend." Ruby muttered, and her own aura-flames vanished.
Jet did not pass comment, but instead crouched and offered her his back. Ruby studied him dubiously, not wanting him to suffer any more pain after what happened before.
"Will it be okay? You carrying me, I mean." Ruby asked. "You feeling the most pain in your life and everything."
"I'll be fine." he replied insistently. "We have to settle this quickly."
Ruby was sure he was lying, but decided not to press him. She swore she could hear a hiss as she climbed onto his back, and another as he took off.
He was still hurting, but Ruby knew better than to question it. She'd seen that look of a man on a mission in his eyes. That… purpose or whatever had definitely returned.
He was clearly determined to get this right.
Yang was waiting for Jet and Ruby to return. Lying on her back in bed, she reflected briefly on what she'd seen in the arena. Jet still seemed as powerful as ever. There again, there was that scene on the roof.
Yang closed her eyes as she thought. He'd burst into those purple flames and actually screamed in pain. He'd been clutching his head and had curled up, indicating a migraine as well. The flames had spread, forcing her to hold Ruby back. She'd tried to touch the flames herself, but they'd burned her with a white hot lick.
Then Jet had yelled those words.
'Ultimate power… I have… POWER!'
Despite suffering that much, was he getting stronger? Even as she'd restrained a panicked Ruby, he had stood up, reabsorbing the flames, and it had been then that she'd let go of Ruby.
What was he?
Yang was still trying to find a way to beat him, but everything turned a blank. Her punches had no effect, the shots from Ember Cecilia were merely being absorbed the same way her own fire was.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Weiss and Blake, who had chosen that moment to walk inside. Yang didn't bother listening to their conversation, until an outburst from Weiss caught her attention.
"Do you honestly think it will be that easy?!" Weiss practically yelled.
CRASH!
Yang's eyes shot open to see Jet roll sideways along the floor before his momentum flung Ruby on his back into the section of wall next to the door, which she hit with an 'ow!' before sliding down it.
"Told you it was shut." Jet groaned as he got up, surrounded by white shards. "And unlike Theyl, that actually hurt."
"Sorry, Jet." Ruby mumbled sheepishly as she looked at Jet, whose back was to Yang. "Jet, you're bleeding!"
"Am I?" Jet asked, and Yang put the pieces together just as Weiss shouted for her.
"What on Remnant made you two think that going through a window was a good idea?!" Weiss asked loudly as Jet turned around, revealing two cuts under his left eye.
"Can't exactly see when you're flying as fast as me, and Ruby left the window open when she left." Jet responded, as Weiss used a glyph to reconstruct the window. Ruby had a sheepish look as Yang caught her eye.
"Well, that's a way to make an entrance." Yang deadpanned as she leapt down from her bed and grabbed Jet's shoulders to get him to look at her. "Let me see." she instructed.
"Sorry, seriously Jet, I'm sorry!" Ruby said quickly as she circled around to see the damage.
The two cuts were clean, but Yang could clearly see two shards of glass in each. The slivers of light signalled their presence.
"Jet, you might need to head to the nurse for this one." Yang admitted, hearing a guilt stricken "oh no" from Ruby. "You've got shards in your cuts."
"Aqua Heal won't work for this one then." Jet muttered as Yang let go. He raised his hand, and Yang saw the light flash from his palm. He was summoning Izzet.
"Oh right, Izzet." Yang said. "I forgot she was a medic."
As soon as she said it, the girl herself appeared behind him. Izzet said nothing, merely beckoning Jet towards her and examining him. She then pointed at the window, and Jet nodded, hissing a little as the shards moved inside the cuts.
"Check Ruby for cuts." Jet instructed as Izzet pushed him down onto Weiss' bed. She briefly heard Weiss say something, but was cut off. Yang assumed Izzet had said something using her telepathy.
"You've got glass in your wings too." Blake commented as Yang spun Ruby around, checking her neck, arms, legs, face. It seemed that she was okay. Jet must have taken the brunt of the impact.
"You're fine." she reassured Ruby, then turned to see Izzet pull out a glass shard using a small pair of tweezers from Jet's cheek. She put it next to four other shards on a small silver plate, then gave Jet the nod. He raised his finger to his cuts and traced each, leaving a blue liquid that intermingled with the blood. After a couple of seconds, he wiped the blood off, and his cuts had been completely healed without a trace.
"Can you get the rest of LIJN?" Jet asked. Izzet nodded and vanished.
"So what was the purpose of crashing through our window?" Blake asked.
"Beyond the smashing experience?" Jet asked, causing Yang to smile in spite of herself and Ruby to groan a little. "I'm going to tell them what I told you."
"Very well." Blake said, after a pause. Yang looked at her, and knew Weiss and Ruby were doing the same.
"What did he tell you?" Weiss asked.
"Keep an open mind." was all Blake said. What did that mean?
Yang shifted her gaze to Jet, who paused. Yang wondered why, until Izzet, Nouvelle, and Lilac appeared out of thin air next to her, causing her to jump.
"Ve are here, Jet." Nouvelle announced to her leader, a stern look. "What is ze matter?"
"What information do you have for us?" Lilac asked, a softer, more kind expression on her face. Izzet said nothing, instead locking eyes with Jet. After a brief silence, Jet nodded, then addressed the rest of them.
"To my side, Ruby." Jet commanded, and Yang watched Ruby walk up next to him, then turn to face them. "Time to show them the meaning of these, and the source of my power."
In unison, Jet and Ruby held up the hands with their rings. Yang felt her heart skip a beat.
"I think we should show them first." Jet said, with a grin, which Ruby unnervingly mirrored.
"Transcend!" Ruby called, and both of them went up in purple flames. Wait, BOTH of them?!
Ruby clasped her hands together as she and Jet were surrounded by the same flame-aura Yang had seen on Jet. Now she was confused. How did Ruby have the same semblance as Jet? Gasps came from both Lilac and Izzet.
"Ruby?" Weiss called out. "Why do you have those powers too?"
"These powers come from our bond." Jet replied. "The one that we made."
"Our enemy is Flux, but you guys know that already." Ruby continued. "We can't beat her with normal weapons or fighting styles."
"So we became something… abnormal." Jet explained. "Before I continue, I want to warn you all. None of you must speak a word of this to anyone else. If you cannot follow this, then leave now."
A silence followed his words. Yang knew none of them would go. His word choice unnerved her, though. He and Ruby were abnormal? How? What had they done?
"Well…" Ruby said, pausing a little, Yang knew, out of nerves. "We have joined with the Grimm."
Now a fire lit in Yang's heart. Joined with their enemy? The Grimm, who kill and slaughter countless innocents every day, the creatures that nearly drove them to extinction?
"That's not necessarily correct." Jet intervened. "I have embraced my Grimm side, and become what is known as an Angel of Darkness." Yang heard Weiss almost growl at his words. "Ruby is what is known as my Fulcrum. She is my bonding partner, if you like. That's why she's like me."
"Did you force her into this?" Weiss asked, in a very dangerous voice. Yang's temper was mirroring Weiss' right now; if Jet had made her do it, she would-
"No, I made my own choice." Ruby replied. "I chose to join Jet, as a Fulcrum."
What?
"With her nearby, I become invulnerable." Jet continued. "That talk of a new semblance was a lie, merely a cover story for my power. This power protects us from damage from any normal origin when my flames are lit. We're also stronger, faster, and can endure combat for much, much longer thanks to it."
"That's not all." Ruby took over from Jet. "Show them your weapons."
Jet obeyed, and Yang saw the lance and shield weapons take shape. They looked exactly as they did before. Waves of energy rippled through the air, making her shudder a little in spite of herself. What were they?
Ruby put her flaming hands on the lance and raised it for everyone to see, though Jet was still holding it.
"This lance is called Doomsayer." Ruby said, and Yang recognised the analytical tone in her sister's voice, the tone only present when weapons were involved. "Jet uses his own unlimited aura to shoot lasers with it, and it is capable of taking someone out in one hit. When Jet crouches, he charges the laser, and the size of the laser depends on how long he charges."
"The point of all this," Jet interrupted as Ruby released his lance, "is that all of that was achieved with our new powers. We're completely invincible against normal human beings."
"Why haven't other people gained this power, if it's so good?" Blake asked. Jet's grin became a grimace, and even Ruby turned to look at him.
"First, you need to be a half Grimm to even attempt it." Jet answered. "But the second reason is the heavy drawback of being an Angel of Darkness. Ruby won't be affected, but I will be." He sighed. "My body is linked with Deus, the dark god, and while I do get insane strength and power, my mind is slowly being corrupted."
"Corrupted?!" Nouvelle, Lilac and Ruby all shouted out at the same time. Jet's eyes seemed to grow almost watery at this outburst.
"That episode that you saw on the roof was what I'll refer to as a Reversion." Jet continued. "You see, my mind is now on the clock. Slowly, my mind will change. I don't know what will happen over time, but the end result is… insanity. Once in a while, I'll experience this Reversion. It is extremely painful, both to body and soul, but if I can resist it, then I'll get stronger for only a small acceleration of the process. The reverse happens if I fail; a small boost in strength and a larger increase in acceleration."
Yang leaned against a bedpost, trying to take it all in. So Jet was definitely going to become insane in the future, but how long he had depended on his inner strength and will to resist. But why was he sacrificing so much and enduring all of this?
"Which brings me back to why I'm doing this, and what I need you all to do for me." Jet said, after a pause.