Chapter 16: A Much Needed Discussion
Once the final credits of volume 8 started rolling, the lights came back up. There were about 4 intermissions through out, all involved walking, bathroom breaks and refills for anything they wanted. It was an altogether enjoyable time but right now no one was enjoying themselves. The entire room was silent, everyone lost in thought about what they had seen. The deaths of so many innocent people, Penny, Pyrrha, Ozpin, Penny again, destruction of Atlas, and the apparent deaths of Team Rwby made for a pretty uncomfortable environment. Ryler let them all sit and absorb the information they had seen. During the first intermission, after the fall, there were a few questions about what happened and why and who commited those terrible acts. But now, there were no questions. Everyone was clear about what happened. Salem and her underlings were responsible for tearing their friendshps apart and taking so many lives. He heard a few of them sniffling and holding back tears. He hadn't even heard from Tetra, that was a first as far as he knew.
Suddenly, without notice, Yang got up, ran into the bathroom and locked herself inside. Weiss also got up soon after and walked over to her bed, she sat down facing away from everyone. Blake stayed in her seat but was looking away from everyone. He walked over to her and sat beside her, in the seat Yang had been in just moments ago.
"If you need a moment, I can give you your own little room to be alone." Ryler said, Blake turned to look at Ryler after wiping away a few tears from her eyes. She had a defeated look on her face and just nodded slightly. Ryler made a door appear at the end of the aisle. She stood and without looking back, gave a quick, "Thanks" before she entered.
After Blake was taken care of, he made his way to the other four in the room. They had moving down closer to the screen to have a little more privacy themselves. They were discussing what they had seen and trying to figure out what they should do next.
"Look I know you want to say something Tetra but now isn't a good time so keep it to yourself for once." Terra said to her alter. The agressive tone seemed to work as there was no interuptions from her.
"Master..." Lance said, he was the first to notoce him walking towards them. Upon hearing Lance speak, the others looked up to also see him coming. They remained quiet letting Ryler talk first.
"I know that was a lot to take in, but I need to know that you are still with me on all of this." Ryler waited for their responses. They all simultaneously looked to their leader for the answer.
Now that she was on the spot, Terra felt even more nervous about it all. "I don't want to do things if I'm the only one that wants to do them." She said. "I think we need to talk this over some more."
Ryler nodded and created another door behind them. They thanked him as well and entered their own little meeting room.
Finally Ryler walked over to the beds. He sat on the bed next to where Weiss sat. It was Blake's bed, he hoped that she wouldn't mind that he was sitting on it for the time being. He looked at Weiss and saw something that slightly surprised him. Everyone had been in a pretty bad shape when the show ended. He supposed that seeing your future self basically fail at the most important job in the world and die because of it would shake anyone to their core. Ryler was expecting her to be in an intense state of distress but what surprised Ryler was that she was smiling.
She wasn't crying like the others were but he could tell she was still pretty upset. So why was it that she had a smile on her face? He felt like she should have been the one most affected by all that had happened. It was her home that was destroyed afterall.
"How are you feeling Weiss? Is there anything I can do to help?" Ryler asked her. She glanced up at him and he saw a single tear fall down her cheek, that was when it became clear to him why she was smiling. Ryler moved from Blake's bed and sat beside Weiss on her bed. Once he did, she wrapped her arms around him and rested her face in crook of his neck and let the tears flow free.
Ryler could feel her shudder and shake from her sobs as he wrapped his own arms around her. She buried herself further into Ryler's embrace and he could do nothing but hold her as she let it all out. They both sat there for a few minutes before she calmed down enough to speak, "You can change it, right?"
Ryler thought about it for a second. There really was no way to say for sure if things would be better. Abilities like Time Sight, Sarah's name for it not his, were still not something he could do. Eventually he would be able to but at the moment he couldn't see the future, only guess at it based on what he had seen from the show. This world wasn't even moving exactly along the same path as the show was, so now things were even more uncertain. The only thing he could be sure of was that he would do everything to keep things from being as bad or worse than before. But how could he? Could he use his powers and endanger everyone? Omega was still looking for him. He could also feel that things weren't as simple as can or can't but rather should or shouldn't. Damn you Jeff Goldblum.
"I will not let you or anyone get hurt like you just saw, I will give my life before I let that happen." Ryler said. It seemed like it worked because Weiss snuggled closer to Ryler and let out a sigh. It was at that point that Ryler saw the position that he was in, a pretty girl resting incredibly close to him, her head on his shoulder. He couldn't stop himself from having a mini freak out inside his mind. He prayed that she didn't notice.
At that point, both Yang and Blake exited their own respective rooms. They both saw them on Weiss's bed holding onto each other. Without a second thought, they both sat on either side of the two joined them in their embrace. Now Ryler was really starting to panic. It was a beautiful sight of a team of Hunters coming together in each other's time of need. With one, their leader, on the verge of passing out. After a minute or so, they moved apart and Ryler felt his heart rate going back to normal. Then it nearly exploded when Weiss leaned back into him and planted a quick peck on his cheek.
Yang and Blake chuckled when they saw him go bright red and and began sputtering and stumbling over his words. He looked over at his partner and saw her looking down to try and hide her own blush. Before he could ask her why she did that he was pulled to his feet by Yang and brought into a bear hug. She congratulated him on getting a grilfriend, he wasn't entirely sure if she was being serious or not. He decided to leave it be for now and just have them go back to the other team in the enlarged room. Team Astl had not yet returned from their meeting.
Ryler made the entire room change again making sure to not trap Astl by removing their door. The room changed again, this time it was a larger room than it was before. The theater and beds were gone and there was pretty large round table in the center of the room. Seeing as King Arthur was basically in the group with them, it seemed appropriate to have a round table. The table was made of polished stone with chairs being made of the same material. There were twelve seats in total around the table, enough for all of them to have a place in the group.
Each person took their place around the table. Ryler sat down immediatly and watched as the others took the time to inspect the new setting they were in, along with the stone table. Weiss noted that the seats were made of stone but they didn't feel like it. Yang was tapping on the table to test how strong it was and Blake was just feeling the texture.
When he saw their reactions he spoke up. "Yeah, the seats are made to be incredibly comfortable despite the material, the material is way stronger that you may think Yang and it's so smooth you wouldn't believe." He answered all of their questions before they could be asked.
"So, before we begin there is something I would like to tell you all. In order to do that though, I need to know how each of you feel about going forward with this plan. Does anyone want to leave the group?" Ryler asked them all. Sakura met his eyes and she slowly stood up.
Terra, Charlotte and Lance all looked at her, wondering why she stood. The conflicting feelings within her was now showing to everyone in the room.
"I... have been feeling... unsure about this whole thing. I came to Beacon to fight against evil, that's exactly what we're going to be doing now. But something tells me that this is more than what I, WE, all signed up for. I wanted to fight Grimm but now we have the White Fang, agents of evil and the queen of the Grimm herself. This is too much, I want to go back to the way things were before we met you! I just want to be a Huntress, not... whatever we are now." Sakura's outburst drove everyone into silence, it was far more talking than what she had done so far. But now they all knew how she felt.
She sat back in her seat and just stared at her hands which were now resting in her lap. Her team was having a tough time gathering themselves enough to speak but Charlotte was next to stand up.
"I agree with Saki, I didn't sign up for any of this. I wanted to prove to my parents that I could become a Huntress. I wanted to show that I'm more than what they expect of me. I think Weiss has some idea of what I mean. Our families have been corporate partners of a long time now so we're pretty much in the same boat. I don't think becoming a part of some kind of secret resistance is going to prove anything especially if no one knows about what we do. That might sound a little selfish but it's how I feel."
Charlotte retook her seat. Since she was sitting beside Sakura, she put a hand on her shoulder to silently let her know she wasn't alone. Now the others were getting more and more nervous, was this how they fell apart? Before they even started planning their next move?
Lance took this chance to share his feelings with everyone.
"I have made my position clear to all. I owe Ryler, my master, a life debt for saving my sister. I will follow you to whatever end you choose, any path that you go down I will be behind you. That being said, I don't expect to be forced to give my life for nothing, I ask that you think carefully about what we should do to solve our problems, so that we will be successful in our operation. My sister is the only family I have left, I will do anything to protect her, and if that means fighting you to do it, I won't hesitate. As of this moment, I will serve you in any way I can."
Now it was Terra's turn to speak up.
"I don't really know what to say, I didn't know you two felt that way." She addressed Sakura and Charlotte directly. "If you want, I will ask that we be let free from that responsibility. I care about you guys, you are my friends and I want to do what is best for you all. Ryler, if there is a way for us, for you, to move forward without my team, I ask that you make it happen."
After hearing all of their positions, Ryler stood.
"I want to say thank you to you four. I understand how each of you feel now. As for your request, that's something that needs more discussing, and I think we're all worn out for today." Ryler said. "Now I have to tell you all something as well. I told you about my origin, how I got here, where I came from, and all about my powers." Ryler saw them nod and give varying signs of confirmation. "Well, I lied about some of that, specifically about my powers. I made it out to be like I can do everything you can think of, like I'm basically a god. I'm not."
The intense stares he got from everyone put him on edge. What were they going to say about this. He knew that there was a good chance that they were going to be confused. Maybe even a little angry that he kept a secret after he said he told them everything.
"Before you ask any questions, let me get everything out in the open first. I said that I told you everything but I didn't. There is one thing about myself that I didn't tell you. My powers, they are going to disappear or they will kill me. In order to keep my powers, without dying, I need to find someone else to have them as well."
"So what, you need a partner to share the load of your abilities? Like in that aweful robot movie?" Weiss asked. Yang was quick to respond.
"Hey, Anima Rim was not aweful. It had action, romance and a great story."
"That's not exactly the same as my powers but for this moment it'll work. There are two aspects to my powers..."
"Like the left and right brain from Anima Rim." Yang interrupted.
"Yang, please, just let him talk so we can all understand what's going on." Blake's admonishment worked and Yang kept quiet from then on.
"Yes and no. Are you all familiar with the concept of Space and Time being interconnected?"
Ryler asked the room but no one responded. They all just looked around the room to see if anyone knew what he was talking about. "No, of course not, a society based on combat for survival must not have a lot scientific inovations aside from the most crucial things. Theoretical Physics, not very useful in that regard." Ryler thought to himself.
"Okay... Hmm... So on my world there are tons of really smart people, two of them, Hermann Minkowski, and his student, Albert Einstein, thought that Space, our physical world, and Time, literal Time, were intertwined. They called it Space-Time, yeah, pretty imaginative naming right? Basically, through gravity, if you change one you affect the other. That's the really simplified version, it's a lot more complicated than that but for now just know, Space and Time are connected." Ryler paused and checked if they were all following along. They were, as much as they could follow along with theoretical physics.
"Anyway, these powers, a curse or a gift, were created when the universe was created. When Time and Space were brought into existance so was I, or rather a past version of myself, someone who had my powers before me. And as I've said before, Space and Time are one. When the one with the power over Space was made, so was the one to control Time." Ryler again waited to make sure they were with him.
Weiss spoke up, "I think I understand a little of what you mean. Basically, you control one aspect of Space-Time but still have access to the other. You said that you need another to have these powers too. So that means that there isn't someone to have said power. Which means that the universe only has one wielder of the power. That would in turn mean that all the power, both sides, are going to either go into two new worthy hosts or all into you, killing you in the process."
Ryler was stunned that she was able to figure it all out. It wasn't hard to put together but it was still remarkable that she was able to do it. There was a collective of gasps around the room as they heard what Weiss said.
"Yeah, that's pretty much right on the money. I need to find someone to inherit the power of Time. Now for the problem, I wasn't taught how to give the power to anyone." Ryler remembered when he was saved and when he first met Sarah. He felt someone grab hold of his hand. He didn't need to look to know that it was Weiss holding his hand. He could only guess that it was because he had a sad look on his face from the memory.
"How do we help you?" She asked.
"You can't" Ryler didn't want them to feel like he had given up before he even tried. "I need to find a way to give someone Time but the only one who can show me is my master, Sarah."
Terra decided to ask the question that they were all thinking about, "So this Sarah isn't someone you can talk to... did she..." She didn't finish as it was pretty clear what she wanted to know.
Instead of answering the question directly he chose to tell them just a bit more. "This power of mine, it's something that can change the entire world and how people live. There was a group of people who learned about it and wanted it for themselves. They were called the Omega Corporation. Sarah and I spent so long trying to stay off there radar and one way to do that was by traveling to different times and places."
Ryler grew more and more distant as he recalled they time he lost his friend. "We had been able to live in one place for quite awhile. There was a war and we decided to fight in it to maintain our cover. We fought, we lived, made friends and created new lives. There was an incident and I lost control of myself, attacked an enemy outpost." Ryler could see each of the people he had slaughtered, their cries were seared into his mind. Like a record reminding him that he was to blame for everything that happened.
"Did you kill her?" Weiss asked outright. Her face was painted with fear and worry.
After hearing that particular question out loud, the sudden weight of what he had done came flooding back to his mind. He lowered his head and could feel tears running down his face. "She tried to stop me, but I couldn't stop. I wanted revenge... I wanted them to feel terror and pain... and I killed her, it's my fault that this is happening to me."
Everyone stayed where they were, silent and contemplative. It wasn't until Weiss stood and walked around the table to Ryler that the silence was broken. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around him. Ryler felt the warm embrace and could hear her speaking softly into his ear.
Next was Yang and Blake who knelt beside him and also wrapped their arms around him. Team Astl all stood and joined the group hug as well, though with a little less enthusiasm.
Ryler had no idea how long they stayed in that position but it wasn't until he had calmed down that they all returned to their seats.
"Thank you all for that, I've been holding onto that for so long and it feels good to get it off of my chest." Ryler said. He decided that they had spent enough time lingering on his past trauma, now it was time to get the important things out of the way.
"Okay, there is one last thing I need to tell you. After what happened with Sarah, I took a vow to never use my power in a way that endangers other people. I'll fight Grimm and Grimm Beings but I will not fight against people. For spars, I'll only use the single power that I've chosen as my Semblance. Do you know what that means?"
Lance was the one who chose to speak. "With all that we saw before, it means that you will not engage in our battle against the White Fang, Salem's non Grimm forces or, if things go that far, Ironwood and the Ace Ops."
"Wait!" Yang almost shouted, "That's so much of the fighting we're going to have to do. Are you saying that you won't help at all when things start going down?"
"That's not what I'm saying. I will not risk losing control and hurting anyone ever again. In order to do that I have to limit myself. That means no universe changing power. I'm sorry but you all will have to take charge from here on out. This is why I needed to form this secret order, this is for everyone's safety." Ryler said, there was nothing they could say to change his mind.
No one knew what to say. One moment they were confident that they could change everything and now they were told they had to be the ones to save the world. Having seen how that turned out the first time, that confidence was quickly fading. Things were not as bright as they were just moments ago but now they had a better understanding of the reasons why Ryler did the things he did.
Ruby's team would definitely be joining them soon, that was unavoidable. So what could they do to make things better?
"We have to start planing now," Blake said, everyone focused on her and knew she was right. They needed to form a plan. "The first major thing that happened in the show was the fight at the warehouse. Finding Torchwick is the first thing we need to do, once he's out of the way the White Fang will be weakened."
Terra agreed with her and added, "She's right but we need to do more. We need to save Amber. Finding her and keeping Cinder from getting her power will change a lot of things."
Ryler knew it wouldn't be as easy as that. "Yeah that would help out a lot but it's not that simple. There was never a clear timeline established for the show. Everything was always so vague, dealing in weeks and months without anyone saying exactly how much time had passed between each event."
Terra realized how difficult it would be afterall. They didn't even know where she was at the moment. "Well then we track her down!" Tetra said as she once again came forth. "That Qrow bloke is supposed to be keeping an eye on her, right? Well then we go ask Ozzy boy where he is and kill Cinder before the bitch has time to bukake her face. It's not that hard ya fucking re..."
"TETRA! ENOUGH!" Lance scolded his sisters other. Tetra just gave a quick "Hmph" before returning control back to Terra, who had to apologize for her once again.
Weiss was holding her chin in thought. "She does have a point. Ozpin would have a lot of vital information we'd need. Just based on what we saw in the show, Amber would have been put into that pod at most a few days after she was attacked. If Ryler asks to see the vault, he can see if amber is down there. If she is we focus on the White Fang, if not we have a chance to stop Cinder."
Ryler listened to what they were saying, it wasn't much but it was a start. He stood up to give his thoughts. "That part will be hard but I think we can manage to pull that off. I will go ask Ozpin about Amber then when I learn where she is I can take us to her and defend her. Emerald's semblance only works on a single person at a time so we'll have the advantage." The others all thought about it for a few seconds before they agreed on the current plan of action.
No one had anything more to say. He took that as a sign to end the meeting. They all stood from their seats and watched as the room went back to normal. Now that the room was at it's original size, Ryler could see just how cramped it was with everyone there.
"I think that we should head back to our own dorm. We'll start getting ready in case we have to move out." Terra said as her team made to leave the room. Lance was the first to reach the door and opened it. He stopped in his tracks when he saw what was waiting out there for them. Specifically a certain silver eyed huntress in training. She was currently frozen in place just beyond the doorway. She looked like she was leaning against the door with her ear pressed on it to listen in on their conversation. It was then that Ryler remembered that time was moving differently for them inside the room.
Yang was the one to mention her sister's presence. "Yeah, this makes sense, she absolutely would do something like this." She walked over to Ruby and looked closely at her frozen state, she didn't know if it was safe to touch her so she just crouched down and inspected her.
"Hey Ryler?" Weiss asked. She stood beside him ask the others went to see the frozen Huntress. He looked down at her and waited to hear what she had to ask.
"You told us that your power didn't let you control Time, so how is this possible?"
Ryler nodded and smirked at the question as he watched Yang start poking her sister's forehead with a pencil. "I also said that the two powers were linked. Light moves at a constant speed no matter how fast you move." Ryler looked back down to see that Weiss was confused by his statement. He was right when he made the assumption that they did't much, if anything at all, about theoretical physics.
"Imagine you and a car are traveling down a length of road and an airship passes over head. All three of you are going the same direction. The airship flies at 80 miles an hour, the car at 35 miles and you at only 5 miles an hour...
A/N: If you want this full explanation, go watch MatPat's video about Sonic's ability to time travel.
Weiss looked like her head was about to explode. At some point the others had joined in on the sudden lecture, all equally as likely to have exploding head syndrome.
"Long story short, I'm moving the room and everything in it at such high speeds that time moves drastically more slowly out there than in here." Ryler finished as he waited for their brains to reboot.
Ryler found it amusing how they tried to wrap their minds around such complex, confounding concepts that cause contemplation. "Nice." He thought to himself.
While they were picking up their blown minds, Ryler walked over to the door and with a tap to Ruby's forehead, he restarted the outside world. The world unfreezing immediately caused Ruby to stumble forward with a sudden yelp. She fell into Ryler's waiting arms as he kept her from falling flat on her face.
"Fancy seeing you here Red." Ryler said as he did his best Torchwick impression.
"EEP!" Ruby jumped back up to her feet. "Sorry! I was just coming over to ask if your team would like to join us for breakfast!"
Glancing around Ryler, Ruby saw the different reactions of his team. Blake had a smile on her face, Weiss was scowling and Yang had a wide grin on her face with two thumbs up.
"Sure, that sounds like fun, what about you guys? Want to get something to eat?" Ryler asked the other team in the room. It was only at that point that Ruby noticed the room was much more filled than she first thought.
"Yeah, I think we could use some food after all that..." came Terra's slightly monotone reply. Ruby was confused by her demeanor, and upon a second look, the entirety of the second team look troubled by something. Just what were they talking about to cause them all to be like this? Before Ruby could even try to find out the answer she wanted, Terra and her team moved toward the door to leave.
Ruby quickly shuffled out of the way. "Oi! We're gonna have a chat later, so don't think that this is over... boss." Tetra said with an obvious glare as she walked out the door. Again, Ruby was very much confused by... everything.
Ryler glanced away and took a quick breath. "Yeah." was Ryler's quiet reply. Looking behind her, Ruby saw that the rest of his team was in the same state as the rest. Something serioius was being discussed in this room and now she was curious and a little nervous to find out.
If only she knew...