Chapter 12
The human brain is an intricate and mysterious organ responsible for every decision and action we take. It is a maze of folds and crevices housing our memories, instincts, and desires. Some people devote their entire lives to understanding and studying the mind, striving to unlock its full potential. Shion is one such person with a particular fascination for dreams and the way the brain creates them. His extraordinary abilities have made him a leading expert on the subject.
Shion's talent and knowledge have awed some. However, the reality is that he cheats, easily entering and manipulating the dreams of others. And ending people to another's mind only required a little effort than entering himself.
Shion teams SPYR and BRNS and led them to chairs placed in a circle around Shirou's bed. Shion stood between the headboard and the wall, placing his hands on Shirou's face and almost caressing his skin as he rested his thumbs over each closed eyelid with care.
"I cannot guarantee that all of you will make it into your friend's mind. However, if you do, it will be in an 'active' portion of your friend's subconscious."
Ruby raised her hand and asked, "What do you mean by active?"
"I mean into a memory that the Nightmare is forcing your friend to relive. It might be a good time for anyone to share their knowledge of Shirou and any horrors he has endured. You can prepare each other for that."
Yang shifted uncomfortably and debated before deciding that speaking up couldn't hurt based on what they were about to do.
"Shirou told me he lost his parents in a fire and his adopted parents a few years after."
Blake spoke up after Yang finished, offering what little Shirou had shared with her.
"I don't think we have to worry about his adopted father. Shirou mentioned he died peacefully, looking up at the moon, and he seems to have accepted it."
Shion nodded and waited to see if anyone else had anything to say, looking over to Ozpin and Goodwitch, only for them to shake their heads.
"Very well, it's a start, if nothing else. But, be aware, for Shirou to be in the state he's in, his traumas must be many and severe. Also, while the Nightmare will use any memory it deems useful, its favorites will be those embroiled in conflict and pain."
It was a grim reminder, but it must be in Shion's opinion, so they fully understood their choice.
"I'll give you all one final chance to pull away. Do not forget that everything you are about to experience is true of what Shirou remembers. You will see your friend at his worst, with the Nightmare controlling the brutal aspects of his history. There is no shame in admitting something is outside your capability to endure."
None of the students flinched at Shion's offer, and he nodded, accepting their choice.
"Very well."
As Shion finished speaking, his aura spread along Shirow's body to the point of contact the students had with him, linking them through the power of his soul.
Yang was the first to form a connection, Shion's aura crawling up her arm and crackling around her head. Yang fell forward to rest her upper body on Shirou's bed, unconscious. Ruby and Pyrrha were next, eyes rolling into the back of their heads as they collapsed into a deep sleep. Blake was the last, Shion's aura stuttering along her hand before finally forming a connection and she drifted off, leaving Ren, Nora, and Weiss sitting there looking at their friends in distress.
"Renny," Nora said, sadly tears forming as she pressed her hand more firmly into Shirou's arm.
Weiss signed and stood up, pulling her chair away to make some room.
"It makes sense. We never really had the chance to get to know Shirou well. Not like Blake and his team."
Though Weiss tried to play it off with logic, her hurt was still apparent to Ozpin and Goodwitch.
"Ms. Schnee," Ozpin said, stepping forward. "I understand your distress, but please bear in mind this doesn't mean that Shirou considers you a bad person or friend. If fact, I'm slightly surprised this plan succeeded to the extent it did. It is that rare for someone to form a deep enough bond for Shion's semblance to work within a few short weeks."
Weiss nodded at Ozpin's words, but her shoulders remained slumped while Ren leaned back and ran a hand through his hair.
"Maybe it would be best for you three to go and get some rest. It's been a long day." Goodwitch said because it had been.
The day had started with smiles and excitement for their first field trip, only to turn into a horror show, with one deadly new Grimm, terrorists, and the potential to lose a friend.
Nora shot that idea down immediately, and for the first time since Weiss met her, she sounded deadly serious.
"He wouldn't leave, and even if I can't help him in his head, I can at least hold his hand and be here for him."
Nora's green eyes found Weiss, and she nodded her head to the chair Weiss had abandoned.
"Nora—"
"No."
Weiss looks at Nora a while longer before nodding and sitting down. If Nora wanted to stay, then Weiss as her leader would support that decision.
"We'll be here until it ends, one way or the other."
Ozpin's lips twitched in the smallest of smiles before he walked back to stand beside Goodwitch again.
"Let's settle in. It's going to be a long night."
It was quiet and dark, with the only light coming from street lamps spaced regularly along the sidewalk that separated the green lawn and led up to a building. Yang looked around in confusion. She had been ready to land in a more intense place, but it looked like a regular school.
"Yang."
Recognizing her sister's voice, Yang whirled and saw that she, Pyrrha, and Blake had appeared seemingly from nowhere.
"So, this is Shirou's mind," Pyrrha said, looking around dubiously.
Yang could sympathize, flexing her fists noting Ember Celica's comforting weight.
"The other must not have made it."
Blake nodded as she spun in place, amber eyes gleaming in the low light.
"Not surprisingly, they interact with Shirou the least, and Shion said there had to be a deep bond for this to work. You three live with him, and he's helped me a lot since coming to Beacon."
Ruby hummed and moved over to stand beside her sister.
"Where do you think we are? I was expecting a Grimm invasion or something. This place seems too peaceful from what Shion and Ozpin were talking about."
Peace did not fit the state of mind Ozpin and Shion prepared the girls to walk into, and they began scrutinizing their surroundings more closely.
"Hey, what's with the moon?"
Looking up at Ruby's question, Yang blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked again. The moon shone bright, clear, and, most importantly, whole in the night sky.
"I don't..."
That shouldn't be possible. Shion had been clear as crystal. These were Shirou's memories, unaltered by fantasy, which would mean that Shirou remembered an unbroken moon.
"Something must have gone wrong," Pyrrha said, pulling her eyes away from the beautiful, if worrying, sight.
"Like what, though? Semblances have a particular function. Shion couldn't have sent us anywhere but Shirou's mind. And this is what he remembers." Blake said, a furrow appearing between her brows.
Before they could continue discussing what an unbroken moon could mean, the moment's tranquility shattered as the clash of steel echoed unnaturally through the air. Not a moment later, the door they were standing beside crashed open.
A younger Shirou bolted out of the school building, sprinting down the sidewalk toward the sound of fighting.
"Shirou," Yang said, jumping forward and attempting to grab him by the shoulders, only to find her hand passed straight through him.
"What—" Yang didn't have time to be shocked as Ruby interrupted and began to follow Shirou.
"After him! Maybe he'll lead us to the Nightmare."
Yang quickly followed, but they ran no more than twenty yards before he skidded to a stop, barely able to stay on his feet as he stumbled and pressed himself up against a high wall before carefully peeking around the corner.
None of the girls hesitated to follow suit and could only stare in wide-eyed confusion.
In the distance, on an athletic field, two people were fighting. Their weapon's slammed together with such power that great gusts of air formed, kicking up dust and debris with every swing. The speed the two fighters moved with, and the dust made it impossible to determine what the two fighters looked like, appearing as only red and blue blurs. The girls only watched for a second, but in that time, at least a dozen strikes were made by both parties before they disengaged and leaped back.
At that moment, Shirou stepped out from his hiding place, his sneakers scuffing the ground as he did.
It was a faint sound, so much so that Yang doubted she would have heard it if she wasn't standing right by Shirou. However, it was enough to catch one of the men's attention, causing him to spin around and glower at Shirou with terrible red eyes.
Deep down in a primal place, Yang knew that those eyes were those of a predator, and though he didn't seem to be able to see her, they were terrifying all the same.
Shirou must have felt the same way. As soon as he felt the weight of the man's stare, Shirou turned and bolted the way he had come, like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels.
This time there was no conscious decision made on Yang's part to follow. Instead, her legs moved automatically, fleeing the monster that had set its sites on her and this dream version of her partner.
Running into the building, barely aware of Ruby, Pyrrha, and Blake following on her heels, Yang was sure it was a school. Shirou's shoes squeaked against the linoleum floor as he bounced on a plane beige wall.
What Yang didn't understand was why her partner moved so slowly. Shirou was sprinting far slower than she knew him capable of, almost like he didn't know how to use his aura properly.
As Shirou turned and began to run up a set of stairs, Yang finally shook off the feeling of fear that plagued her long enough to try to grab him again.
"Come one, Shirou, you know better than to go upstairs when someone is chasing you!"
But like last time, her hand phased through his body like mist.
Cursing, Yang could only continue to follow and watch how things played out.
Once Shirou arrived on the third floor, he finally slowed down, panting hard, and faced the way he had come from, looking for any sign that the man had followed him.
"What the heck was that, guys?" Ruby asked, looking shaken. Pyrrha and Blake didn't look any better, and both had their hands clenched around their weapons as they focused on where they had just come from seconds before.
"'I have no idea," Pyrrha said, "But that feeling when he looked at us, I've never felt something like that."
"It's the Nightmare. It has to be." Blake said tersely. "We better get ready to fight."
But even as Blake spoke, Shirou seemed to relax and stand up straight before turning around and quickly making his way further from the staircase, hopefully, to hide if he had any sense. However, he only made it a couple of steps before the air hissed, and a wet squelch sounded out, followed by a wheezing gasp from Shirou.
Whirling around, the girls could only stare in horror as the tip of a glistening blood-red spear emerged out of Shirou's back, where it must have passed right through his heart.
As they watched in stupefaction, a man wearing dark blue leather armor slowly began to materialize, his hand outstretched and clasped around the shaft of the spear that had killed Shirou, He ripped it out with a twist, and Shirou collapsed like a puppet without a master, his lifeblood spilling out on the white tile floor.
"Sorry, kid," The man said, his voice mocking. "But normies aren't allowed to know about the existence of magic. Those are the rules."
As Shirou drew a few more gasping breaths, the man's bestial eye's shifted, and for the first time, Yang felt the total weight of his gaze settle on her like they had been invisible until that moment.
"You aren't part of this memory; you don't belong here." The man said as black veils began to spread from his eyes and down his face like rotting roots, marring his sharp, predatory features.
"The boy is mine!"
Unlike before, the man no longer sounded human, and combined with his face; the girls were now sure it was the Nightmare speaking to them.
"Get out!"
The Nightmare was in front of Yang, and before she understood what had happened, he kicked her in the chest so hard there was a low-sounding boom of displaced air.
Yang found herself flying backward, and only the adrenaline made her aware enough to comprehend that the Nightmare had covered the distance between it and her; she never even saw it move.
Yang flew back at least twenty meters before hitting the ground and rolling across the floor in a tangle of limbs.
Yang had never been hit that hard in her life. She had lost at least a quarter of her aura from a kick.
Scrabbling to her feet, Yang made to rejoin the fight as Blake, Pyrrha, and Ruby tried to engage the Grimm, with no success. It moved faster than anyone Yang had ever seen. Its spear spun in a dizzying array of circles, deflecting bullets from Blake, and effortlessly catching Pyrrha and Ruby's strikes before slamming its fist into Pyrthe's hastily raised shield. Even though it didn't strike Pyrrha directly, the power behind the blow still managed to throw Pyrrha through a wooden door into a classroom.
Even through the adrenaline, a shiver crawled up Yang's spine. It should be impossible for a creature to be as fast and strong as the Nightmare. But instead, it was tossing around some of the strongest people Yang knew like they were ragdolls, and they hadn't even scratched it.
Yang activated her semblance with a roar, her hair and eye's burning with energy. She struck out, aiming for the Nightmare's sallow face. Instead knocking its head off, the Nightmare spun around her blow and used footwork beyond flawless to slip behind her and slam the crimson spear into her head. Yang hit the ground face first with a boom, cracking the ground.
"Yang!"
Yang's head was fuzzy, but she still heard Ruby's voice over the ringing in her ears.
Rolling to the side, Yang watched Ruby dart to and fro while Blake bounced on the walls and ceiling, trying to find an opening while continuously firing her weapon. The Nightmare blocked the shots with a contemptuous flick of its spear and caught Crescent Rose by the shaft in its off-hand. Then, flexing powerfully, the Nightmare swung Crescent Rose around with Ruby still attached to the shaft to slam her into Blake, knocking both girls into the wall.
"This boy." The Grimm said. "His nightmares, the monsters in his head, they will destroy you and him."
The Grimm's words were terrifying, and not because of its horrid tone of voice. Yang had never been in a fight where an opponent so casually dismantled her. None of them stood a chance against whoever the Nightmare possessed from Shirou's memory.
Even as Pyrrha came hurtling from the classroom, spear held high and ready; Yang knew the attack wouldn't land.
The Nightmare casually spun the spear and lashed upward without looking to bat Pyrrha into the ceiling like she was nothing but a gnat to be swatted.
Dimly, Yang heard her scroll chime, letting her know her aura had dropped to ten percent capacity. She had the biggest pool in the group; if her aura had fallen so low, none of the others would be any better. Yang grit her teeth and push herself painfully to her feet, legs shaking like leaves in a hurricane, but she refuses to give up. The Nightmare watched, its lips quirking upward in a superior smirk before sinking into a low crouch. It gripped the spear in its hands; tip pointed down as it began to glow with ominous red light.
"Stab and pierce. Gae Bolg!"
Yang had a moment where everything froze, and the color seemed to seep from the world. She could feel her death in the air, pure and unavoidable. Then, time resumed, and the spear leaped at her like crimson lightning, tearing through her chest and out of her back like her muscle and bone were nothing but wet paper.
"Yang!"
Yang stood there wide-eyed as her sister screamed. Yang tried to open her mouth to say something; she didn't know what, maybe a goodbye or final word of encouragement. But before any sound emerged, the Nightmare whipped its spear around, and Yang experienced a new kind of agony as she landed at Ruby and Blake's feet.
Ruby collapsed, sobs already tearing their way out of her chest.
The Nightmare stalked forward, a cruel smile forming on his lips as it fed on Ruby's despair and its spear once again began to glow crimson.
"Don't feel bad, little huntress. It would have taken a miracle to save you in this place." The Nightmare raised its spear high. "And here is this mind mired in horror and pain; there is no salvation or miracle—only death."
Ruby threw herself on top of her sister and closed her eyes. But no pain came.
Trembling, Ruby looked up and saw nothing but shimmering, radiant gold.
Officially entered Shirou's head. Nice. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Also, I want to share my New Years resolution here, as a way to keep myself honest and motivated.
My resolution is to write and digitally publish an original story on Kindle. I've already fleshed out a loose outline and plan to sit down and begin to workout a basic draft to figure out if it works. Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading!