Chapter 92

Chrome found himself wandering through a sea of his memories. Opening the door to one, Chrome saw himself as a child, playing Hide-And-Seek with his big sister. The one after that was of the Beacon dance. Each door held a memory behind it.

But when he reached for the next door, a sudden chill flooded over Chrome.

Hesitantly, he opened the door, which showed Chrome the fall of Beacon.

Civilians ripped to shreds by Grimm. Buildings engulfed in flames. A bright white light atop Beacon Tower.

Suddenly, everything froze in place. The Grimm, the Civilians, even the leaves blowing in the air.

Wandering around, Chrome came across the scene of himself, Blake and Adam inside the burning building where Yang lost her arm. Chrome blinked and found himself back on the ground in front of Adam's raised blade. Everything resumed and Adam began to stalk towards Chrome.

Raising his blade, Adam brought it down, separating Chrome's head from his shoulders. Blinking, Chrome found himself back in one piece, staring up at Adam.

As the process of Adam killing Chrome repeated again and again, Chrome heard faint laughing each time he was killed in a new and more brutal way.

EverAfter

The Cat kept attacking the portal out of the EverAfter. But, for whatever reason, it was knocked back down each time by an invisible force.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The Cat shouted in annoyance. "He has a purpose outside of this forsaken place! Why. Can't. I. LEAVE?!!!"

The Cat used Chrome's fists to punch the portal out of anger.

A sudden snap behind it caught the Cat's attention as Yang, Blake, Jaune and Neo, surprisingly, arrived.

"Oh, hey, you made it." The Cat stated sarcastically as it rolled on it's back.

"Guess your little plan to get out of here isn't working?" Jaune asked.

The Cat sighed as it rose up.

"You've always been just the worst."

"So Chrome can't go through the door…"

"No." The Cat hissed. "I don't understand! He has attachments to that world. Why?! Ugh! He's failed me! Just like Alyx."

"Like… Alyx?"

Chrome's Subconscious

After dying to Adam for the hundredth time, Chrome was finally able to break the loop. Turning his own blade on himself, Chrome thrusted it into his chest before Adam could. Dying by his own hand, Chrome blinked and found himself in a void of black.

Suddenly, skyscrapers, cars, apartment complexes, people, cats, dogs, everything began to bypass Chrome all around him at the speed of sound.

Losing his balance for a moment, the scenery stopped, showing Menagerie and Chrome's childhood home.

"Chrome!" Blake's horrified voice echoed around him, causing Chrome to search for the source. "Chrome!" Her voice echoed again, closer this time. "Chrome."

Looking back, a young Blake, around seven years old, pulled Chrome by the hand.

"Come on, come on!" Blake said, excitedly.

Following her through a bush, the scenery suddenly changed to the inside a Beacon airship, heading for Mountain Glenn.

"What the hell is going on?"

EverAfter

The Cat was putting up a challenge for the others. However, Neo, utilizing her new semblance, was proving to be quite the trump card.

Blocking a strike from Neo, the Cat easily swiped her away. Coming to a brief standstill, the Cat began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Yang growled, ready to deliver another punch.

The Cat spread its arms out to its sides, welcoming the next time.

"You hurt me, you hurt your friend." The Cat stated with a maniacal laugh.

Mid laugh, Blake struck the Cat across its face, knocking it down.

"Blake?!" Yang shouted.

"I know my brother better than anyone." Blake pointed Chrome's sword at the Cat's neck. "I know how much he can take."

Going for a strike, Blake silently pleaded for her brother's forgiveness.

Chrome's Subconscious

Wandering the streets, Chrome found everything around him was frozen in place. Finding Ruby and Zwei, frozen whilst wandering around, Chrome walked over.

The two suddenly began moving, heading down the street until the ground beneath them began to give. Liam rushed over to try and help, but the ground gave, plummeting Ruby, Liam and Chrome into a dark abyss.

Landing with a hard thud, Chrome sat up to find himself in a void of nothingness.

"Chrome!" Blake's voice echoed around him as a screen suddenly displayed the current fight between the Cat, Neo, Jaune and the two members of RWBY. "I know you're in there! Fight it!"

"He can't hear you." The Cat taunted as it used Chrome's arms to attack Blake. "He's in-" the Cat was suddenly cut off as the screen began looking left and right frantically. "No. You're supposed to be asleep!"

The group looked at one another as the Cat began to panic.

"What's happening?" Yang asked.

The Cat grabbed both sides of its head as it fell to its knees, no longer moving. Cautiously, Blake approached her brother.

Inside Chrome's head, the Cat appeared before him, still as big as before.

"You!" The Cat hissed. "You're supposed to be asleep! Why are you awake?!"

Chrome was just as surprised as the Cat. Looking down at his hands, Chrome smiled.

"You're gonna have to work harder than that to take my body." Chrome answered, his twin blades appearing in his hands as he willed it. "You're in my head…" Chrome stated as he realized he was on home turf. "Which means we play by my rules."

The Cat hissed as it pounced, only for a wall of ice to slam upwards into its gut, sending it sky bound.

EverAfter

Blake placed a hand on Chrome's shoulder as he began to shake violently.

"What's happening?" Yang asked as she rushed to his side.

"I don't know!"

Chrome's Subconscious

Fighting the Cat, Chrome was using his own imagination to his advantage, creating weapon and barriers to use against, and to defend himself, from the Cat.

As the fight continued, Chrome found himself getting more and more angry. Pushing forward, Chrome cut one of the Cat's paws off before violently grabbing it by the throat and slamming it into the ground.

"Leave. Now!" Chrome shouted into the Cat's face before repeating the words as he slammed the Cat into the ground again and again. "Leave!"

EverAfter

"What can we do to help?" Blake asked, watching as her brother shook violently.

"The leaves!" Jaune pointed up at the leaves of the tree. "We can burn them and get the Cat to evacuate his body."

"It's worth a shot." Yang agreed before shooting a branch of the tree off. Moving it next to Chrome, Yang ignited it with Dragon's Breath, the smoke flowing around Chrome and entering his lungs.

Chrome's Subconscious

The Cat began to writhe as the smoke began to affect Chrome, causing him to hallucinate and bring up emotions he thought he'd buried.

EverAfter

Ejected from Chrome's body, the Cat heaved as it caught it's breath, glaring at Chrome.

Brandishing his one blade, Chrome rushed the Cat, fighting it out of the smoke and into the view of everyone.

"Chrome!" Blake said, relieved.

Too focused on the Cat, Chrome didn't hear his sister call for him. Instead, Chrome's gaze was directly focused on hurting this timeless creature.

Hitting it in the face, the Cat reeled back, preparing to swipe with it's claw. Ducking, Chrome was about to strike again just as the Cat went for a second swing. Just before being hit, Chrome was surprised to see Neo jump in the way of the attack, blocking the Cat's claw for Chrome.

Using her semblance, Neo created a dozen clones of herself, Chrome, and Roman. Swarming the Cat, Chrome stabbed the tip of his weapon into the ground, summoning a half dozen Jabberwalkers alongside Neo's clones.

Outnumbered 20 to 1, the Cat began to cower as everything closed in in it.

"No! This isn't how it was supposed to ha-!" The Cat began screaming as the Jabberwalkers and clones started in on it.

Once there was nothing left of the Cat, everyone glanced back just in time to see Ruby emerge from her cocoon.

Upon noticing her, Jaune, Yang and Blake rushed to their friend, welcoming her with open arms. As for Neo, she rubbed her arm as Roman approached Neo from the side.

"To have what they have." Roman said softly. "What a thing, huh?"

Neo looks down, walks away and towards the edge of the tree trunk-like platform. She looks down at the multi-colored leaves on the branches in the deep dark part of the Tree.

"So, that's it then?" Roman asked, looking at Neo with unsure sadness in his eyes.

Neo turns around to Roman with a sad look on her face. She places her hand on Roman's face. He sadly smiles.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not real."

Roman begins to dissipate as Neo watches on. Once he was gone, Neo saw Chrome standing just beyond where Roman once was.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be, y'know." Chrome stated. "Having what they have." Chrome gestured back towards Ruby and the others. "Sometimes, it's better to either be on your own, or with someone you can truly trust." Chrome looked at the others with an unsure expression.

Neo listened to Chrome, glancing down at the colored smoke before returning her gaze to Chrome. Looking back, Chrome saw the others heading for the portal. They all stopped to look at Chrome.

Ruby only paused for a moment before stepping through the portal, followed by Jaune, then Yang. Blake watched her brother with hopeful eyes before finally joining the others.

Left alone, Neo and Chrome looked at each other.

"Guess we have a choice on our hands." Chrome stated, walking over to the edge of the cliff and looking down at the smoke far below. "Either leave and rejoin the fight for Remnant. Or find out for ourselves who we really are." Chrome stared down at the smoke for what felt like forever. "Maybe… a clean slate is what we both need. A restart sounds…" Chrome took a deep breath.

Neo walked up beside Chrome, placing a hand on his shoulder before sliding her hand down to gently squeeze his. Meeting her gaze, Neo gestured to the smoke.

"A restart, huh?" Chrome said softly.

"Whichever we choose..." Blake's voice came from behind as Neo summoned a clone of Chrome's sister to speak with him. "At least neither of us is alone."

"Yeah." Chrome said softly before he and Neo took one more step and let themselves descend into the smoke, Neo using her parasol and Chrome using his glyphs.

Taking a deep breath of the smoke, the duo waited.

"What do you wish to be?" A voice echoed around Chrome before a younger version of himself emerged from the smoke, wearing his Beacon attire. "An animal, or a human? A civilian, or a Huntsman? A Hero... or a Villain?"

End of Chapter 92