Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!
I will keep it simple this time. I was delayed for a day since I needed time to wrap up the second chapter, but here is the double chapter I promised. As always, I wish you enjoy it!
I will hold any thanks and thoughts I have for the 31st where I will upload the epilogue, so bear with me ten more days if you may. Until then, as always, I wish you all to be well and have tons of fun!
Safira struggled to move, amassing all power she could, but her magic failed her as much as her pinned muscles. She stared right into Yang's eyes and saw determination as well as a complete lack of sympathy.
As they stood in standstill, wisps of green energy licked the maiden's body, inflicting stings of pain on her skin as they bit off pieces of her magical power and transferred them to Yang, augmenting her might.
She had lost. The girl had defeated her in her domain while using half her magical power, without any sort of preparations and with an amateur level of understanding about the situation they were now in.
She wasn't going to beg for her life, of course. "Do what you must" she resigned to her fate, but still had some dignity as a living being. "Not till you tell me how to stop the Mad King's advance" Yang squeezed tight.
Ah, yes. There was that too. "You can't, as I said" she firmly replied. "As I told you the Mad King is the dimension; the will of Netherworld itself. How are you going to stop a force of nature?" she shook her head.
"Salem sealed it by erecting the barrier. The moment she died it started to wither. All it took was for the people of Clayhorn to be used as the catalyst and that's it. There's no stopping a formless being like that; its essence has already began corrupting the world, spreading like plague."
"We can at least restrain all that hasn't escaped yet!" Yang pressed her face on Safira's. "Even half the Mad King is better than whole of it!" in a display of her rather simplistic nature, she once more urged her to help.
"As I said" the former maiden averted her gaze "you can try sealing the Netherworld back by using Salem's laylines- the monoliths. But even in that attempt, the possibility is low given your lack of magical expertise."
"Understood, thanks" Yang threw Safira back. A confused yelp left the faunus' lips as she quickly stood on her knees, watching as the blonde girl turned her back and started walking away. "What the heck are y-"
"Now that you have been weakened, I can sense the portal back. You said you need to consume one's energy to breach the barrier and get back" she raised her fist and it shone in a dark green hue. "Thankfully I have lots to spare, even though I think Grand Bitch won't like it."
"Why the heck?" Yellow neon eyes blinked in shock. "It should be far easier to just kill me and be done with it!" Yang stopped but didn't turn around "maybe; but I don't feel like becoming a cannibal for your sake."
"Yang, wait!" she reached out. "You can't be seriously telling me this is your reason! I am your enemy! I am the one who-" "I am tired of seeing all this blood; and frankly I have more important things to do right now than tending to your megalomania." She turned her head and sighed.
"Farewell, Safira. I hope you wither away slowly, as you deserve" she narrowed her eyes at the faunus and then vanished into the grey mist.
-o—
The world had stopped shaking and the pillar of light cast by the skies had stabilized. Ruby and Weiss were on edge, observing the beacon of magical energy in silent anxiety and anticipation.
The alabaster girl rubbed her blackened fingertips to ease the pain. A pang of horror had engulfed her; the fear that she had led Yang to her demise. She felt cold and numb as she kept watching- and praying.
Sun and Jaune were helping each other stand. Adrenaline rush having worn off, the knight was exhausted to the edge of his mind. The faunus was filled in wounds and burns from the corrupting energy as well.
Blake was standing a few meters away, over the lifeless body of Prof. Goldenrod. As a last act of kindness, the world had let him die before he had crashed down, his soul completely sucked dry by the ritual.
She gently knelt and closed his eyes, shaking her head in sadness. "I am going to apologize in advance, but I hope your sacrifice was in vain. Rest in peace" she sent him a quick prayer. How are you holding, Eidolon?
The sword's shadow manifested around her. I am severely weakened, but this has to do more with your exhausted state and waning aura, my master, it replied in the same monotonous tone. She mentally nodded.
"Something's happening!" Ruby suddenly shouted, grasping her scythe. Everyone tensed and raised their weapons. They hoped they would see Yang emerge victorious out of the ritual but caution never hurt anyone.
The air softened, much to their surprise. The pillar began thinning and reverting, its magical energy withering away and returning to the stars gazing from the corrupted heavens.
In a shocking display of intellect, one after the other the stars vanished as if they had decided there was nothing more to be seen in that place. The skies darkened and the all-familiar ancient stone ceiling returned.
The runes crafted by Goldenrod started shutting off. The magic circles began losing their light and reverting to their primal state of ceremonial glyphs. The power fueling the ritual of awakening stopped circulating.
The pillar of light completely vanished. It faded, leaving back only the traces of a powerful crater and a tall, proud figure standing in its wake.
Weiss' heart skipped a beat as she saw who the figure was, but Ruby's enthusiasm beat her to it. "Yang!" the brunette took a step forward but still kept her weapon. "Is that really you?" she called out to her sister.
Yang's body was filled to the brim with humongous scars and bruises. A large trail of black lines marred her nape and ran across her left arm. A giant puddle of caked blood had dried up on her torn clothes and chest.
She held Safira's lifeless doll in her arms. The mannequin's limbs were hanging over Yang's hold, dancing up and down with every bit of heavy breath the blonde was taking in considerably creepy, macabre manner.
Thin green wisps of Grimm presence outlined the black lines, forming a large twisted network of sorts that resembled an alien tree growing just right under her skin. However, despite all these-
"You are back to your human form" Weiss whispered after all of them had run towards her. "Is it over?" Jaune asked in confusion and hope.
"I wish it was, but nah" she replied. "I just overused its magic and it was forced to hide deeper. But I call still feel it creeping out on me from the deep" she explained to her friends, striking them a restrained smile.
"Is that so?" Blake immediately opened a blue vial and splashed it on her partner's face. A miniscule surprise made everyone turn at the cat girl, but the tall woman simply chuckled and licked her lips in mirth.
"I kinda expected that" she joked. The black-haired girl nodded and let Weiss jump at her girl, sniffing in her shoulder as her lithe body was pressed on the doll's wooden torso. "What happened sis?" Ruby asked.
Yang didn't reply at once. She gently shoved Weiss away, took a couple steps and calmly placed Safira's effigy next to Goldenrod's lifeless body. I hope you can at last find some peace, pal. You two deserve each other.
She turned around and stared at her worn and exhausted friends filled in scars, wounds, cuts and burns. "I had a bit of a crazy experience but I will explain later. We haven't sealed the Mad King yet, after all."
"Easy for you to say" Weiss replied. "We still have nothing but a faint idea about its location and how-" "I have an idea. It's a bit of a long and risky shot, but I need you guys to trust me on that" Yang cut her off.
"What is it?" Ruby asked again, skeptical about her sister's words. "I do believe the monoliths are the key. Salem used them as focus to create the barrier and, if we are lucky enough, we may be able to do so too."
Five sets of eyebrows narrowed at her. Weiss leveled her fiancée with a piercing stare "ok, out with it; who told you that?" she asked. The taller woman scratched her nape in embarrassment "Safira did, actually."
"I won't even ask" Sun sighed. "We don't have time, guys! Every single fucking moment, Mad King is pouring into Remnant! It's our best shot unless you found out something or have a better idea!" she pleaded.
"I trust Yang" Ruby stated and winked at her sister "she is crazy enough to pull something like this off." "Same here" Jaune added. Sun smiled and stared at Blake who had a puzzled, hesitant expression on her face.
The cat girl's eyes danced between Yang and the others for a few tense moments, until they ended on her alabaster, frowning friend. "Weiss; are you in shape to perform the ritual?" she asked the petite woman.
A pair of thin fingers rubbed across each other. The burning sensation of her charred flesh stung Weiss a bit, but she had no trouble moving them, much to her relief. She nodded in determination at her leader.
"We still have to get to them" Ruby took a good look at her ammo and vials. "And, unless I am mistaken, there is a horde of Grimm standing in between us and them" she pointed at the sealed entrance.
As if cast by a spell noise came by from the other side. Footsteps, heavy and ominous, echoed across the stone. Growls and howls, snorts and snarls now reached the humans' ears, overrunning the previous silence.
"Consider it done" Yang took a step forward, but Blake raised her hand to stop her. "No solo mode anymore; you can barely stand and we need you and Sun to protect Jaune and Weiss while we move" she told her.
"What?" "She is right" as the magical circle began to vanish and Grimm howls came closer, Ruby whirled her scythe and moved to the front just before the slowly corroding stone door they had used not too long ago.
"Leave the Grimm to us two" the cat girl walked next to the reaper and shot her a glance of approval. "You four must move and help Weiss to reach the monoliths in order for the ritual to be activated" she added.
"That's too risky!" Yang protested just before a violent slam shook the door. The protective barrier had almost vanished by now. "Yes; for you that is" her partner scoffed "you will have to carry Jaune with you."
Yang opened her mouth to protest again, but Weiss gently patted her back, sending her one of those god damned pleading faces she could not for the life of her to say no to. She sighed and armed her bracers.
The circle vanished completely and the walls began to crack. A loud banging almost made the door collapse. "We will catch up with you later" Blake unfurled Nightfall.
"Oh, and stop holding back, ok?" Ruby blinked as if she was reminded of something. "After that entire ridiculous story we lived through, I am not going to keep even one set of ammo in store" she cocked her rifle.
The door was pushed ajar. A hungry growl reached them as a pair of long, clawed arms tried to reach in. Blake's falcon sword severed them in half, earning a loud, cacophonous howl of pain as a response.
"Let's go!" she urged her team. "Time to go back home; together!"
-o—
"Give me a moment" Yang pleaded as she sipped a bit of her lukewarm coffee. The bitterness was enough to stimulate her exhausted brain a bit more, despite the horrible taste. "Take your time" a voice replied.
She nodded to the three men who were seated by her side in the small hospital room. Apparently, they had arrived a bit earlier and had been waiting for her to get up. They were patient; she had to give them that.
Headmaster Theodore was looking at her in a mix of worry and a good amount of disbelief. She wouldn't blame him, to be fair. At some point, her story had turned so damn ridiculous she barely believed it herself.
Next to him was some Richard guy who apparently was representative for the Vacuo Council and Garcia the boss of the Mercenary Guild that had first investigated the Clayhorn affair. Both stood in deep silence.
She ran her metal arm through her golden locks; they were sticky and messier than normal. She had to ask Weiss to comb them at some point later. She was a mess- literally. She sipped some more coffee.
"The rest are a hazy jumble in my mind" Yang continued. "We fought a lot, especially Rubes and Blake. I remember running and crawling and climbing and jumping. A wall of moving flesh surrounded us, full of red eyes and white claws. They were growling and screaming like crazy."
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?" Richard asked, more confused than condescending. She didn't react the way she wanted to. Instead, she just shook her head "believing my words is your issue, pal, not mine."
"Don't you remember anything else, Yang?" Theodore pressed a tad more. She closed her eyes- her eyelids were so damn heavy.
"I remember Ruby screaming inside the chaos that she ran out of bullets as if it was the best thing that had happened to her" the gold-haired woman whispered, allowing a faint smile to form in her lips.
"I remember Blake hacking and slashing through that wall of enemies. The girl is a literal one-woman army now. She carried us through so many things. She will continue to grow stronger and I can't wait."
She rested her cheek on her metal arm "I remember Jaune crying in my back, apologizing for being useless. Can you imagine?" she snarled. "He saved Rubes' and Blake's lives and he still feels useless, that guy."
"That is not what we-" "Let her finish, Mr. Pickle" Garcia reprimanded the council guy. Yang forced herself to not snort at his name.
"I remember Sun kicking enemies away and shoving Grimm out of our faces all the time. I wish I had half his willpower" she reminisced.
"Weiss…" Yang opened her eyes. "I remember her standing on top of the monolith and chanting. I- I have never seen her like this. The world shook as Grimm were trying to reach us, but she stood there, still…"
The image of Weiss' features being twisted under the strain of magic and the anxiety of claws reaching up to her was burnt on Yang's mind.
Chaos erupted as an ocean of Grimm swarmed the pulsating monolith. Lightning crackled from above. Weiss chanted and fueled her glyphs to link the monoliths all together as her hexagonal runes tried to restore the barrier. She looked thin, ethereal; as if she were a pale phantom.
Yang, Ruby, Blake, Sun and Jaune were fighting like mad around the pale girl's form. The brawler remembered she sang a lot- and that she started laughing when she couldn't sing anymore. Chaos… danced.
"I don't remember a thing after that. We somehow managed to escape till your forces found us in the desert a few meters away from Clayhorn Professor" she made sure to respectfully address the headmaster.
"That won't do" Richard turned his back at her and stared at Theodore. "I can't tell such a crazy story to the Council even if we are talking about the famous team RWBY, headmaster" he respectfully added as well.
"I do believe her" Garcia, having experienced the horrors of the village on his own, gave Yang a nod of understanding. "It doesn't matter what you do, Mr. Martinez" the man explained in a slightly irritated tone.
"We mobilized an entire platoon of troops for that operation and the only thing we got was a void, empty village and six unconscious people" Pickle continued.
"Not to mention her story is full of holes; the timeline is off. There is no way they could have pulled off all these exploits in the one single day they have been missing, not even by a long shot. Not to say her story of Prof. Rumpole's and CERS' demise who are extremely alive and well."
"There are things in this world not defined by logic" Theodore replied. "Excuse me, Professor, can I ask something?" Yang interrupted and all three men turned around to look at her in anticipation.
She had a sad, almost confused look in her eyes and held her left wrist as she spoke "is it true that you found no single Grimm around the area of Clayhorn?" she asked in a pleading voice. Theodore simply nodded.
"I see…" she whispered; her heart and stomach heavy in angst. "Can I be left alone for now? I feel exhausted."
-o—
A few days later
"That was quite the weird tale" Blake stood over the edge as her cat eyes took in the colorful palette of the Vacuan Market spreading right before the small balcony of their rental apartment. "In the end, we got nothing out of this whole ordeal; besides stopping an Elder, of course."
It was a beautiful morning, with the crisp wind breaking through the stifling hot sun of summer. The sound of Sun and Jaune packing their bags was coming out of the open window, reaching her sensitive ears.
Her friends were standing next to her, all of them watching the bustling scenery while sporting various degrees of concern. Weiss adjusted her new set of gloves before she answered "it still could have been worse."
Yang narrowed her eyes at the girl's leather-covered fingers. She knew a set of corrupted marks and burns was being hidden underneath. "And it could have been much better" she looked at her own left palm.
"I don't think so" Ruby shook her head and took a peek at Jaune who had somehow managed to overstuff his bag to impossible proportions. "We are all alive and that's what matters the most, right" Yang smiled.
"I still wish Theodore had helped us a bit more" the reaper complained at her leader. "Can you truly blame him? Nothing we said matches the time, the place or the events they monitored from their own side."
"The most outrageous part is that Xanthe and CERS who were supposed to be half dead were alive and kicking" Yang shook her head. "I even tried the concoction on them- nothing happened" her partner added.
"At least you seem a lot better" Weiss smiled at her fiancée. "Yeah, and you are a lot worse" the blonde growled. The pale girl averted her gaze.
"Ok, I will be the one to address the issue, then" Blake cut them off. "What are we going to do now? After we return back to Vale, I mean. I may have few work waiting for me on my desk" she explained.
"I want to rest for a bit" Yang rubbed the back of her head. "Same here; I am thinking of taking a week off to Jaune's family" Ruby added. Weiss didn't reply; she only lowered her chin between her elbows, thinking.
"We need some time off" she finally said. "Take a few breaths and see what happens. No matter what Garcia and Theodore say, I am not so convinced that no Grimm escaped the Netherworld alive" she finished.
"I agree; and I am not so convinced that Yang and you are out of the woods as well. We have to calm down, yet remain vigilant" the cat girl underlined. "But yes, rest sounds so appealing at this moment of time."
"So" Sun stepped out of the window and smiled at the girls with his signature bright grin. "We are almost done here. What have you girls decided?" All four of them shared a quick look and turned at the boy.
"It's time to go home."
-o—
There was no warning, no signal and no prior notice. The only thing she felt was a strangely elated sensation and her instincts warning her that something had changed in the world. Something was moving, skulking now in the deepest shadows of Remnant, enjoying its time of freedom.
But that was the only thing she managed to process. A sharp sting on her neck indicated that someone of the guards had activated her collar.
Her eyes dilated and numbness spread inside her body. She tried to use her semblance and blast it away, but it was impossible. She felt the vile liquid burning her veins as it passed through them. She cried in agony.
Heat engulfed her. Had the guards activated the magma pit as well? A boiling pool of lava raged below her, climbing up to devour her flailing body. Her cell shook and smoke rose from the overheated rock floor.
She tried to run towards the door- the ceiling broke into pieces. Large pieces of granite showered upon her like an apocalyptic meteor rain.
Debris hit her body. She must have broken a leg or more, but her nerves had already been fried by the poison working its way on her. A last attempt to escape failed her and she dropped on the searing floor.
As the world around her collapsed, Cherry sent her last prayer to the Gods. She took a small breath and steeled herself, resigning her soul to the afterlife.