Chapter 3
Drained
On the Train…
Hiroki was struggling to keep the energy he gained from the negative emotions restricted.
It wasn't helping that the energy he gained was also amplified by Jaune's semblance.
Ren and Jaune noticed this.
"We need to stop. I'm not sure how much he can take at this point."
Jaune said, backing away.
Ren backed away as well.
Several Grimm began heading straight towards them.
Erika had joined them on the roof and got her spear ready/
Only for Hiroki to stand in front of her, his semblance had covered his entire body.
He picked up his sword and with a mighty scream he swung his blade twice and an X of negative energy sliced through the Grimm at once.
As well as part of the mountain.
Hiroki was breathing heavily from the large amount of energy he had expended in order to launch the attack.
Hiroki nearly fell but Erika kept him standing.
"Never again"
He said slightly angry.
"Yeah I think the others will agree to that."
She looked at Team JNR.
"No complaints here."
Nora said.
"You've already done enough."
Jaune stated.
Ren just nodded.
Erika helped Hiroki back into the train and they sat across from each other.
"So how did all that energy feel?"
She asked slightly curious and slightly concerned.
"Not great."
He responded without much reaction.
Erika sighed.
"We don't talk much do we."
"The team was separated for months."
"I mean before that, you never were much of a talker."
Hiroki looked out the window.
"Since I can remember I've been trained to fight."
He looked at Erika.
"All for revenge."
Erika looked down for a second.
"To kill Adam right?"
Hiroki simply nods.
"My brother was with Adam, would you kill him?"
Erika looked up at Hiroki.
She saw the hesitation in his eyes.
"I guess that's just who you are."
Erika walked away from Hiroki.
"Wait-"
"You don't have to respond, that hesitation confirms what I thought."
She left the area and left Hiroki alone with his thoughts as he slowly recovers from his last attack.
With Shade and co…
"Salem cant be killed"
Yang said as the story of Ozma and Salem was finished and time had resumed.
Ozpin was on the ground with Dawn behind him and everyone else in front of him.
Circa stayed near Shade.
She sensed emotions were tense but Shade was currently calmer than the others.
Dawn was stunned in silence.
Ozpin looked up.
"I-"
"There was so much you hadn't told us! How could you think that was okay?"
Ozpin just looked broken at this point.
Shade felt sorry for him.
'Did really do anything wrong?'
He thought to himself.
"Professor"
Ruby said
"What is your plan to defeat Salem?"
Ozpin looked up with tears in his eyes.
"I dont have one."
He looked down again.
Qrow ran at him and attempted to punch him.
Before he could though Shade went in front of him and grabbed Qrow's fist.
"Let me go, Shade."
Qrow said angrily.
"Currently we have a lot to process, we were just given a lot of information and I for one would not like to start resulting to violence so soon."
Circa watched this struggle.
'That shadow.'
She thought to herself.
'Its like that dragon.'
Qrow backed off.
"No one wanted me. I was cursed. I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world."
Qrow said to Ozpin.
He looked betrayed.
"I thought I was finally doing some good."
"You are."
Ozpin responded.
"Meeting you was the worst luck of my life."
This made Ozpin become lost in thought for a moment.
"Maybe you're right."
Ozpin switched back to Oscar.
Shade noticed this.
"You alright?"
"He's gone."
Yang aggressively approached Oscar.
Dawn quickly moved in front of Oscar with Shade.
"Back off Yang."
Shade said calmly.
Yang took a deep breath but still looked ready to kill someone.
Shade knew that look.
"This is different."
Oscar said as he began to stand up.
"He's gone, it's like he's locked himself deep inside my head. Our head? I hate this."
Oscar held his head in pain.
"I want it to stop!"
This caused a cluster for most of the Team RWBY members.
"Enough!"
Before Shade said anything Maria spoke up.
"We need to get a move on."
She began to move to the front of the group.
"It'll be dark before we know it and every one of you is spewing negativity!"
Maria then turned to Circa.
"Some more than others."
She then turned to Shade.
"But not you, very strange."
Maria examined Shade.
"There's a trail over there."
She pointed in a direction with her staff.
"Trails usually lead somewhere."
Yang still had some aggression.
"Lady, i don't know who you think you are but-"
"Shut up!"
Circa shouted.
Energy inside her flared and Yang's pupils' shrank and she held her head in pain for a second.
Circa's energy faded and she started to fall.
Shade quickly caught her.
"Hey kid, are you ok?"
Circa fell unconscious.
Yang looked at Circa with a bit of fear.
"What is she?"
She asked.
"I don't know but I agree with her."
Shade adjusted himself and put his cloak over Circa and put her on his back.
"Yang i know you're upset but at this point you need to take a moment and think for a second if Salem wins everyone dies, do you want that?"
Shade asked as he began walking past his friend.
Dawn sighed and followed him.
The two grabbed a bag each.
"So what do you think about all this?"
Shade asked his teammate.
"Honestly it's a lot to take in, but you made a good point, it's just going to take a bit of time to get used to."
"Everything."
Shade looked back at Circa.
"Shade she was looking for you."
"Yes and I don't know why."
The two of them started walking back to the group.
"Maria said you weren't emitting negative energy and that she was emitting more energy."
Dawn stated.
"My powers are getting weird."
He responded.
"All I know is that this world just got a whole lot stranger."
"Indeed."
Dawn said looking ahead as the two began down the trail.
At Salem's castle…
The Haven attack group had just arrived back at the castle.
Monika had her hand sewed back on, very poorly as she walked out of the ship.
Yuki was very angry as she was aggressively sharpening her dagger on the ship.
Kiryu was just meditating, he knew his allies were not exactly in the best spirits and decided not to add to this.
One by one the rest of them walked off the ship looking defeated and angrily.
Tyrian was waiting for them.
"Welcome back, welcome back, I do hope you missed us as much as we missed you."
Monika was very tempted to send her scythe through Tyrian's neck.
She knew how annoying he was going to be.
Yuki just glared at Tyrian as she spinned her dagger.
"Let's go."
Hazel said.
They walked past Tyrian.
"Speaking of which,where is our Fall Maiden?"
This made Emerald think back to when Shade came out of the Vault with his blade stained with blood.
Tyrian started chuckling.
"Emerald cmon."
Mercury said.
Yuki and Kiryu walked into the castle while Monika immediately went to find Watts.
After about thirty minutes and a medical examination that fixed Monika's hand before it was rendered useless.
Everyone was gathered in Salem's council chamber.
Only Tyrian and Watts were seated while everyone else was in front of the table.
"I would like you to explain to me how it is that you've all failed so spectacularly."
She glared at her council.
Kiryu stood up
"The Shadow Manipulator awakened his Possession my queen."
Salem's eyes widened for a second before returning to normal.
"This is an interesting development but I believe there is more to this failure than just the Shadow Manipulator."
She looked at Hazel.
"The Faunus militia split our forces-"
"Stop. Let me rephrase the question. Who is responsible for your defeat?"
Monika spoke up angrily.
"It was that damn Shadow Manipulator, as soon as I find him I'm going to take his hand!"
A Grimm arm restricted Monika to a nearby wall.
"I'll only repeat this once, Who is responsible for your defeat?"
Hazel stood up.
"I take full responsibility."
Salem flipped the table making Tyrian fall and walked towards the group.
"But that wouldn't be fair now, would it?"
Kiryu and Yuki moved to the side near Monika as Salem went to Hazel.
"We all know who's truly to blame."
Grimm arms grabbed Hazel and pulled him onto the ground
Hazel was forced to bow to Salem.
Salem turned to Emerald.
"I want you to tell me whose fault this was."
She slowly walked towards Emerald.
"Now."
"Cinder!"
Emerald yelled in fear.
"We failed because of Cinder."
Salem told Emerald she was right and told her to understand the failure and why Cinder must be left in isolation.
"She's alive?"
Kiryu questioned.
"Are you questioning our divine savior?"
Tyrian glared at Kiryu.
Kiryu floated towards Tyrian.
"I'm questioning the logic in all this, I'm pretty sure the Shadow Manipulator killed her."
"She got lucky."
Salem stated.
"It's important not to lose sight of what drives us.Love,Justice,Reverence."
She glanced at Salem.
"But the moment you put your desires before my own they will be lost to you."
Salem walked back to her seat as the arms let go of Hazel.
"This isn't a threat. This is simply the truth. The path to your desires is only found through me."
Monika fell to the ground as the arms dropped her.
Salem glanced out the window.
"And so we must press on."
She turned to her underlings.
"The sword under Vacuo's academy"
"Ma'am."
Hazel interrupted her.
"I have more to report."
The arms under Hazel started to appear again.
"Qrow and the children are taking the lamp to Atlas."
Tyrian laughed.
"Not if I can help it."
"And they are being led by Ozpin."
Windows started to crack.
Salem's council noticed this and immediately left the room as the room basically exploded due to Salem's dark magic.
A loud scream was heard throughout the castle.
Back at the Shade's group…
Circa began to move a bit before she opened her eyes and looked around and noticed she was on Shade's back.
"What happened?"
"You passed out after using that semblance of your's."
Shade said to her.
"I lost my calm didn't i?"
"Yeah you did."
Dawn said while she was walking next to the two.
"Kid, what is that semblance of your's?"
"That's complicated."
"Everyone,quiet."
Ruby said, causing the whole group to stop.
"Do you hear that?"
Some metallic squeaking was heard.
The group approached an abandoned town called Brunswick Farms.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Circa said as she jumped down from Shade's back.
"Yeah I don't like it either."
Shade started keeping his guard up.
"It's still better than this."
Ruby said.
"Come on, I think we could all use some rest."
Qrow stated.
Everyone went towards the big house.
AN:Ok so yes this took a while, long story short i was busy and i was exhausted mentally. But the good news is I'm back and I'm working on getting a couple chapters out this month in order to make up for the lost time. Until next time.