Chapter Thirteen
Holiday
Roman strolled around his little Plain of existence, a place between the between of Realms and then it was even in-between those as well, essentially it was a place that not even his 'mother' could see him or find him, a place that only he knew about.
A loud slash made him turn his attention to Neo as she wondered into the area, a hole breached because of her umbrella and a radiant smile on her face which Roman returned with a grin of his own, okay well maybe one other person knew about this place, the only person in this universe that he trusted with everything and that was his daughter, he had created her out of the purest ice he could find and she was as tough as diamonds and brighter than the gold his 'father' had used to decorate the throne room.
The umbrella was a recent addition and also a gift for her to have, he had discovered it on a little travel that he took while his sister was busy with the Collective and so to was that new Sorceress, the Sanctum had all kinds of mystic toys and treasures hidden away that the so called users of magic had incorrectly placed around, they seemed to think that a normal vase was more important than the ability to travel through the Realms and, granted it could only go through the Realms and could not actually travel great distances but it was still a powerful weapon and as such Roman was happy to give it to Neo.
He had gotten the information and location of things far more valuable for what he wished to happen.
"I take it they are already?" He asked of his most favourite and trusted companion who gave him a wink and a thumbs up to which he twirled his top hat around and placed it on his head in a stylish fashion as his daughter clapped at the display.
"Well, let us not keep them waiting, they do after all have their uses." And then Roman strolled through the tear and appeared in Dr Merlots laboratory where he was met with a group of deadly villains that most of which he knew very well, they had all preformed the parts of his plan perfectly and now it was the penultimate part of his plan.
"This again?" Cardin asked as he slumped in his chair slightly, disappointment flashing across his face as he looked around to see if anyone shared his sentiment, unfortunately nobody else did.
"More chaos and anarchy? Oh yes, some people live to see the world burn." Cinder drawled as she brushed the back of her hand down Cardin's face, he would have enjoyed it as she was a gorgeous woman but the look in her eyes was crazy, and he had seen the power she put out, he was terrified she could turn him to ash just for a laugh.
"So long as Arc dies I'm in for the long run." Mercury growled out, playing with a dagger that he planned on driving through the man's heart, taking joy in watching the life drain out from his eyes.
"A leg joke is too easy here." Emerald responded, she herself hung near the edge of the group, she was not to thrilled to be here, she had a cause of her own after all and it mattered to her. Maybe the original Deathstalkers had all been about some long forgotten monsters and profit from war, she was more concerned with the advancement of technology so that she could build a new home for herself, a place where she could govern without corruption and if she needed to fight and defend it with mechanical monsters of her own then so be it.
Dr Merlot watched on with curiosity, he knew now that it was his time to play in the plan that his benefactor had, he wasn't to bothered, because of Roman he had been able to live longer and accomplish more than any other scientist ever had on the planet and he was ecstatic to be able to do even more, he had extended the life of Mr Black and he could not wait to try the process again once he had further samples to test on; Romans sister, the Dragon that destroyed Atlas, Arc and Nikos, their biology would be most beautiful to take apart and figure out how it ticked.
Furthermore he could be confident of many test subjects thanks to his trade partner here as well, he would surely like to ride his kingdom of any traitors once he took back the throne from Belladonna.
As though he heard someone think of her name Adam snorted and glared around at the humans, although he wasn't really sure about the top hat man or the little girl with him, they seemed different, but they were not faunus so they were lesser, that much he was certain.
"Welcome my friends, how have you been? Okay enough small talk; up until now each of you has performed… as well as I have expected you all to, not you though Merlot, you have been great." The aforementioned scientist beamed at the praise, showing off his missing teeth. "But that is all in the past, I have carefully planned everything over for the last 200 years and it has all gone very well, you all could have put in more of a hurt on the heroes but that is by the by now, I expected us to lose all those encounters with them."
"You what?!" Mercury yelled. "You set us up to lose?"
"You ever played chess my little killer? Sometimes you need to lose a few pieces to win the match, and the match is drawing to an end, and I need you all to play your part and then you can have what you so wish." Roman then turned to address them all individually. "Ms Fall a planet to burn, Muscles you get people to listen to you, My Emerald you get a chance to build something for yourself, Killer you get to prove yourself the toughest, Lord of Doom you will rule make no mistake of that and my friend, well doctor you get to add some heat to your experiments… so ready to play your parts to achieve your goals?"
His words spoke deep to them and he knew it, he used every ounce of his power and charisma to charm them to his side, he choose his words carefully and particularly to tailor it for their overall wants and needs and he knew he had them on a hook when they all stood a little straighter, they tried to hide it, but what can you hide from the god of Lies?
They were in.
Ruby looked over at the monitor as she turned her music down a bit, taking the screwdriver out from behind her ear she twirled it nervously in her fingers as she bit her lip in worry; Jaune was once again back in Pyrrha's room.
She asked Penny to let her know every time someone went in their just so she could be ready to get them if things didn't work out, everyone went in their ready for the fight, everyone but Jaune, who just wore a normal t-shirt and shorts, his shield not anywhere in sight as he was so optimistic that she was not going to try and fight him, and he trusted that Weiss' 'magic' would be enough to hold her down for the conversation when she woke up.
Currently it had been 2 weeks since the big alien invasion and Beacon had taken over the clean-up with the occasional help form them to move some of the heavier equipment, Ruby had opened the STRQ bunkers around the city for people to stay in and was also paying for the food and provisions for all the people staying there.
The debris had mostly fallen in the living section of the kingdom, but Ruby had already presented her designs earlier in the year for a better set of buildings and a cleaner source of energy to power the blocks, her Arc Reactor that powered her building and also her mansion were good and since discovering her own new element it had increased the power output tenfold, so she could potentially power the whole kingdom for the next 50 years without having to update the design, and you know she was going to make some updates.
This was the plan; a better tomorrow and peace in our time. Part of the reason she was now building the Rose squad of machines, robots that Penny could command to help with crowd control, rescue and defence, a suit of armour around Remnant to help with defence, this could save them all and she was certain it would work.
Glancing back at the screen and moving her goggles on to her forehead she watched as Jaune took up his usual chair and sat down and just waited, he didn't even bring in one of her tablets to read or play games on! Outrageous! Sitting still like that? Could never be Ruby, she would be designing and tinkering, even as she turned her head to look at the screen she was still tightening the screws with one hand and getting ready to solder the wires with the other, busy hands help a busy mind is what her dad told her once.
She missed dad… she wished she knew mum as well, Yang often said she was super-mum and the recordings Penny had showed that she was a great person, the photos as well, but Ruby never met her and she really wanted to, just hear her voice properly and listen to whatever advice she might have to give her.
She especially could use some of that advice right now considering what she had learnt yesterday after Weiss gave her a fully body exam, something she had sworn the other woman to secrecy, she could not tell the others, that was something for Ruby to do, she just hoped that she was strong enough to tell them.
Glancing at the screen one more time Ruby sighed and then minimised it, no use thinking about the past, she had the tomorrow to worry about, she needed to look to the future to prepare them for the next time something like this happened; maybe she should focus on making one android that Penny could command? Something strong, something able to go anywhere and shoot lasers like her?
Ruby clicked her fingers and pushed the desk away from her and then brought up a blank slate and began pulling in designs from her previous armours, while her current one was being built right now she still had time before she needed to do the finishing touches and besides, she had a vision.
Jaune watched and waited, watched and waited as Pyrrha lay there taking slow and measured breathes while she was asleep, she had been like this for the last 2 weeks but Jaune figured it was because this might have been the only time that she had ever properly been able to rest without the threat of being made into a weapon.
Weiss and Ruby had said that she had no further tampering with her head, no magical or technical ways anyway, Ren then brought up the point that it could have all been an act and she could have been playing them from the start, but she would have had to have been a great actor for that to work. So Ren then pulled every video and report he could about any encounter Pyrrha had ever had and delved deep into her record to see if he could spot any slip ups, and if anyone could see it he could, Blake then said she would help him and then Nora and Yang tagged along, because of course they did.
That was something Jaune noticed about the team, they all seemed to instinctively partner themselves up with each other, Ruby and Weiss might argue and snipe at each other but they always had the same point, something which mostly left them speechless at each other, Ren and Nora just… worked? They communicated in a way he had never seen before, sometimes in loud Nora rambles, sometimes Ren only needed to look and Nora understood. Blake teased Yang and Yang teased Blake, they were comfortable with each other and seemed to just get on with it all, no arguments, no unease, just got on with it.
Then there was him, the man out of time, always the loner, but at least they listened to him when push came to shove, Ruby was the leader but when they needed a plan they all looked to him and he… liked that, it was nice to feel like he was needed even after all these years. If it was up to him though he would of gotten rid of the stupid statue in-front of Beacon long before Yang kicked someone through it, you want to make a monument of someone then do it of all the brave men and women, not just of him.
He visited the graves again the other day and paid some more respects to the other people around the area, he memorised every single name he could find, all those who died in wars he wasn't there for as well, wars he should have been there for, those men and women were braver than he would ever be and they deserved the utmost respect and the highest honours, it broke his heart to think sometimes that some still saw violence as an option when there was communication, a chance to talk to people.
Speaking of talking to people he also paid a visit to that centre that Oscar worked at, the younger man was… he was everything Jaune wished he could be, he spoke right to peoples hearts, to their very souls, he understood them with kindness and love. Jaune wished he had that young mans heart, so would just do his very best to act how Oscar does in the world, to pay it all forward.
"Ung." Pyrrha groaned out as Jaune then leaned forward and placed a hand over hers in anticipation, this was the most promising sign of life other than the heart monitor beside the table and Yang's and Weiss assuring him that she was doing well physically.
"Pyrrha? Can you hear me? Its Jaune." He tried in an attempt to get through to her, he spoke in a calm and friendly tone, how Ren had approached him when he woke up. Granted this was only 2 weeks not anywhere near the time he spent under, but it was still the nice thing to do.
Her eyes fluttered and then opened slowly, adjusting to the light a few times while she groaned and moaned, then her head turned to face in his direction and she locked her beautiful green eyes on his own equally beautiful blue ones. "Hey, you have been out for a while, don't try to move, just relax, you are safe."
Pyrrha breathed heavily and then squinted around the room as though trying to piece together if she was in a cell or not. "You're at Ruby's mansion, we brought you back here to heal after the fight was over, you didn't hurt anyone."
She seemed to tense and then relax at the same time. "What's the last thing you can remember?"
"I… I was trying to hit you." She admitted as she looked at him with a little bit of shame, to which Jaune then gave her an easy smile, a reassuring smile.
"It's okay, that's behind us now, I know you would never do that if you were in control of yourself, you're a good woman Pyrrha." Jaune said as he smiled over her, rubbing comforting circles on the back of her hand.
"Am I?" there were tears building behind her eyes as she asked this and she sounded so broken. "I don't even know who I am anymore; am I a soldier? Am I a human? Am I an alien? Am I a villain? I don't know who I am – why can't I move?"
Jaune didn't have any easy answers to those first few questions but he had an answer for that one. "Weiss made it so that you would not be able to in the event you would not be free of the collective programming."
"So I'm… I'm paralysed?" She whispered out and a few tears fell and then she almost had a look of relief over her face as she stared down at her body, the same body that was forged as a weapon, that had destroyed so much. "Good, that's – I'm not able to do anything, and if I can't do anything then I can't hurt anyone, that's okay, its better this way… all I've been used for since I can remember joining the collective is hurting people, but now; I can't hurt anyone and I can't hurt you."
Jaune stared in shock and he gripped her hand a bit tighter as he moved closer to her. "Don't say stuff like that, maybe once you were used for that but now the choice is yours Pyrrha, and you can do anything you want to do, the spell Weiss made is only temporary and it won't last forever and then you can do what you want to, and I will be there to help you, we all will."
"Why? I hurt you, I hurt Yang, I hurt so many people."
"No you didn't, well yeah one of your hits got through but I got over it and Yang could probably barely feel them or some other macho thing she says, and you didn't hurt a single military or Beacon person, Ren and Blake checked, and they don't miss stuff, you still have everything ahead of you Pyrrha." Jaune stated as he looked deep into her eyes, while she stared back at them. "So right now, at this exact moment; what do you want more than anything?"
Tears fell down her cheeks as she looked at him with quiet hope and then just about audible to his ears he managed to hear her breath out 2 words. "Chocolate please." And Jaune then gave her a big smile and nodded, not leaving her side.
"Then when you are ready I will go get Weiss, she will break the spell and then you and I will go out and we will get some chocolate, then the next thing is up to you; do you need me to do anything else for you?"
"You're already doing it." She said through the tears as they smiled at each other with many emotions passing through them right now, Jaune stayed sitting there as she then slowly dozed off again and he quickly made his way out of the room and got something to eat and drink, while checking in on his team.
He found Yang and Blake with ease, he could hear Yang talking loudly in the room with the large TV that turned into a wall; look it was still strange to him was all.
"JAUNE!"
What did he do?
10 minutes earlier.
"Okay but say like you didn't have to be a queen and all that; what would your dream job be?" Yang asked as she hung one leg off the sofa arm, meanwhile Blake lay on the floor stretching out and twisting into some relaxing yoga positions, eyes closed just taking in the background sounds of the program Yang was half watching while she wrote stuff down in her journal.
"Libarian." She responded after a few seconds and swiftly changing to another position, this time viewing Yang upside down, their eyes meeting as Blake gazed at her with a little bit of curiosity wondering why the question was asked.
"Yeah I could picture that, you'd look good dressed like one." Yang agreed nodding her head, to which she then turned so her body was upside down off the sofa, meaning they were both right to each other even if it was odd to the rest of the world. "See me I would have loved to be – and don't you dare tell anyone else about this, but I would have loved to be a teacher, I helped raise Ruby and I like to think I half gave her the love of science and taught her some things, never had time to get the degree though."
"I have a teaching degree, all kings and queens are required to so we can be called to teach the young ones should we need to."
Yang rolled her eyes and gave Blake a big grin to which the queen barely so much as twitched her lip. "Of course you do, is there anything you don't have?"
"My own brand of shampoo." The deadpan way she said it made Yang chuckle and Blake felt the slight tug at the corner of her mouth, but she didn't want to ruin the little game they had, had to save it for when it mattered.
"Hehe, okay well it's always nice to learn about royalty, so when do you have to take a king-or a queen, certainly no judgement here." Yang held her hands up, or rather pointed them down but it was up to Blake.
"It is not required, so long as I am strong in my rule it does not matter, besides there might come a time when someone defeats me in combat and they claim the throne and they rule." Blake admits, eyes still looking into Yangs, they were the most unusual shade of purple, much like the herb that gave her, her abilities, a beautiful purple mind you and it was the colour of royalty after all.
Yang is still looking into her eyes as well, although she can see from her angle Blake's toned stomach as well from this angle, as well as how tensed her legs are from holding the position and but that was the first glance and now it is very difficult to take her eyes off of Blake's, the yellow was unlike any she had seen before, brighter than the sun and even her own hair. "Okay but let's say you had to take someone then; what's your type?"
"My type?"
"Yeah, who catches the eyes of a queen, are they tall? Handsome? Maybe you like a rugged look? A nerdy look? A plain look with personality?" Blake raised an eyebrow at Yang but to anyone else it would be lowering one. "Or maybe you prefer the fairer sex; would she be beautiful? More than you?"
"Hmmm." Blake pondered the thought and then in her mind she gave a large Cheshire grin but her face remained the stoic front of pacifism. "Well I would prefer them to be strong."
Yang smiled 'check'. "Okay."
"Um they would have to be well liked."
Yang nodded 'people like me, I'm Yang'. "Anything else?"
"Maybe a fellow hero would be best, someone who has had a similar experience to myself." She rotated and was now facing the TV where the news was playing something about the Monkey-King of Vacuo.
Yang was in complete agreement and also mentally giving herself another check, 'We are on the same team and we do a lot together, similar experience is a check'. "That's a short list."
"Well to make it shorter; I don't mind blonds."
'CHECK'. "Oh yeah."
"Not just strong but muscles as well, some nice abs and arms."
'DOUBLE CHECK, this is why core is way better than leg day'. "I can think of someone who fits this list."
"Me too, but I don't know if it would work, there would be a lot of talking involved."
"I'm sure they could manage it."
And now the cat goes for the kill as Blake then faced the TV not even looking back at Yang for fear that the game is given away. "You know how Jaune gets though, what if he starts going off on to an awkward tangent."
"…"
"I guess we could make it work though, don't need to talk much to make an heir to the throne."
"….."
Blake then finished the stretch and turned her head slightly with a little half smile on her face. "So was that the answer you were hoping for?"
Yang could not hold it anymore.
"JAUNE!" She yelled out loud and then promptly fell from the sofa in shock as he rounded the corner looking confused but then when finding the 2 of them he paused, this was something he did not want to know he was sure of it, from the way Blake was grinning slyly at him and her eyes shooting over to Yang, to how Yang was staring in horror at Blake and then at him with fury then disbelief and then all over again in a cycle.
"I'll go and look elsewhere for Weiss." He finally said as Yang looked about ready to throw him out a window and Blake, well he didn't know what she wanted to do but was probably something where he would get embarrassed by speaking any further, and with how Yang looked like she was plotting his murder he quickly turned to see if he could find Weiss.
"Now that is Vale's ass." Blake muttered to herself, but loud enough for Yang to hear, and her eyes then turned red as she got to her feet and huffed out, eyes digging into Jaune's back as he walked away.
"Stupid blond, stupid muscles, stupid ass, stupid Jaune." She grunted to herself as Blake then smiled while Yang was looking all flustered and irritated, it felt good to know that she could have this effect on her.
Just as Weiss then turned up into the room and she had a funny look on her face, she looked very stressed and as she noticed the others she just winced and then asked. "Can either of you feel that?"
Jaune upon hearing her voice then turned and entered the room again as Weiss then gestured around her. "Nothing? None of you it's so uncomfortable."
"Weiss?" Blake spoke up first while Yang and her shared a quick look, under all the teasing and all the jokes that Yang tried, they both cared and knew exactly when it was time to get serious and right now if one of their teammates, particularly one that controlled the forces of the mystic arts, was saying something was not right then they were all focus, well Yang was still a bit miffed and would most certainly hold it against Blake later with a prank of her own design.
"It's so loud as well, like a ringing going through the air." The 3 others all shook their heads and then Nora burst through the front doors with Ren on her heels.
"WEISS! DO YOU FEEL THAT?!"
"Oh thank Mynaster you feel it too, it's so loud and uncomfortable."
"And weird, not good weird at all, it is bad weird, like mixing ice cream with pizza is a kind of good weird but this is like adding in that sauce Jaune likes, ketchup or whatever it is."
"It's a good sauce for burgers." Jaune tried but was shut down by Blake and Yang.
"It's basic." They both said together and then Blake realised her little slip up and then Yang shot her an eyebrow wiggle and knowing look in her eye as the queen forced a smile on her face even though she had just given away the game back to Yang in a rare victory for the blond woman and her stupid gorgeous purple eyes and sexy looking muscles.
"I can cast a spell over a map of Remnant to locate the objects that our disturbing the balance right now, because frankly I cannot continue like this, it is unacceptable." Weiss said with her hands over her ears and then she conjures up some ear muffs to cover them and gives everyone in the room a blank look, then gives Nora the same pair and she looks a little more relaxed as well.
"THANKS WEISS!"
"I BEG YOUR PARDON? I CAN'T QUITE HEAR YOU!"
"NO YOU ARE A DEAR ONE!"
"YES IT HAS GONE OVER YOUR EARS, UM HUN?!"
"YOU REALLY ARE THE BEST!"
"I think we should find Ruby and get this sorted out quickly so that we don't have to keep them like this for too long." Ren said in a deadpan voice while Nora and Weiss still yelled at each other in the background, looking pointedly at Blake who was covering her more sensitive ears atop her head and glaring lightly at the 2.
"Agreed." Jaune answered immediately and then started up to Ruby's workshop with the rest of them following after him quickly as the magician and goddess still yell at each other, Blake looks particularly bothered by this and Ren has a tired look in his eyes as though he is resigning himself to this fate for the future.
Ruby looks up as her door opens and she wheels away from the desk in her chair and then spins around to face them all and gives a funny look at the earmuffs on 2 of her teammates and then looks at Jaune and asks him a question. "What's a happening here?"
"Apparently there is a mystical disturbance and it is really bothering these 2, um you know anything about this? Um the big things up in space telling you anything? The uh, sundials?"
"Satellites."
"I'm sorry the satellites then?"
"I will give it a science."
"IS SHE TALKING ABOUT SCIENCE? MAGIC IS WHAT IS GOING TO HELP HERE NOT SCIENCE!"
"Huh, loud Weiss is still annoying." Ruby muttered as she brought up the holo map and then spun it around the room and focused the range and then there were 8 different points focused in on the map in various different locations, slight energy pulses were being detected from each of them, Ruby having calibrated the scanners to look for signatures that were similar to what Nora and Weiss were giving off.
"Found it." Ruby said, shooting Weiss a smug look and a smile to the rest of the group. "So anything specific about the energy? Is it going to destroy the planet?"
Weiss said nothing as she was still looking at the map and could not hear Ruby, neither could Nora as she quickly then began to play with Ren's hair because she was not needed in the conversation yet. Ruby sighed and then brought up a screen and typed out on it for a few moments and then a new screen popped up and the words she had said then appeared in Weiss' face and she read them before speaking.
"IT IS TRYING TO TEAR A WHOLE BETWEEN OUR WORLD AND SEVERAL OTHERS, IF WE DON'T STOP IT IN TIME THEN IT WILL KILL US ALL!"
"The yelling is quite off putting, but it tracks with what has been happening to us over the last few days, hope you enjoyed the last little bits of freedom because the break time is over, let's get suited up and we can work on a plan."
Weiss and Nora nodded at the writing that was put on screen and one of then simply twirled and was suited up while the other summoned her hammer and was already in her battle armour in a second. Jaune then asked if Weiss could come with him to get Pyrrha out of the spell so he could tell her what is going on and so she could possible get something to eat and if need to shower, she had been in bed for 2 whole week so she might want to get cleaned and refreshed on her own at least, Blake and Weiss had made sure to bathe her and Jaune had been there as well for support, on the other side of the door obviously, he had also tended to her hair, it was nice to do so again after not having to for his 7 sisters.
"Hey Pyrrha." Jaune whispered as he shook her slightly awake and after a little moment of slight shock she then blushed at him being so close and then focused more on him. "Weiss is going to dispel the magic and you will be free to move around the mansion, if you need anything just ask Penny, um she is the house as it talks to you… uh it's a little strange, but she knows everything."
"W-where are you going?" Pyrrha asks as she can start to feel a little wiggle coming back into her toes and her fingers, while also noting that Jaune has changed quickly and his shield is on his back.
"There has been a few mystical disturbances around Remnant and we need to investigate them, then when we all come back I promise that we will go and get that chocolate you want." Jaune said with a large smile on his face as she slowly sat up with the feeling coming back into her body.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Stay here and rest up?"
"That didn't sound like much of an order."
"I don't give orders unless in a battle."
"Then I guess I am coming with you."
"You need your rest though Pyrrha."
"I've been asleep for a while as you put it, and I had a little power nap just then, I'm good."
"I meant for your mind, for your emotions, you can't just jump right back into it right away."
"… This coming from the man that after getting out of the ice joined a superhero team?"
"Um, okay so maybe it's a chance to learn from my mistakes-"
"I'm joining you, then we are getting chocolate, then we will see where the chips fall… unless you think you can stop me?"
Jaune gave her a look of surprise and then a small smile. "I wouldn't dream of it." And he gave her a hand to stand up and then to walk over to the bathroom, Ruby had taken off the armour she was originally wearing, it had a lot of the same shades that the collective were using, all the blues and blacks, they were not that appealing to the eyes and she had decided to regrade it and then she just remade the armour into a more streamlined suit. The collective treated her like a tank but Ruby knew she was a runner, a flyer, a swimmer, she was someone who was in constant motion and so she had made a light material that was similar to Yangs outfit, but this had some more warrior elements to it, the legs were armoured as was the torso and her left arm, and she had kept the circlet that Pyrrha wore just giving it a golden tint instead of the black she was wearing before.
As she looked at herself in the mirror after suiting up she smiled at her own reflection, she didn't look like another piece for them to put on the board, she looked like she was just herself, the colours were what she would have chosen, clearly whoever made it for her had seen the emblem she picked for her fighter jet when she had first arrived on Remnant and been ordered to infiltrate the Mistral military.
Leaving her room she was met by Jaune in his full suit, before she had just seen him in the under armour and now she was looking at the full outfit with the armoured chest-plate and the rest of it covering him as well, he looked exactly like a knight, maybe with less of the armour but the way he stood gave off the impression. "Ah the suit fits, Ruby was sure it would, you have her to thank for it. I will be honest and say I told her not to make you one but the others all said you would want one."
Pyrrha cocked her head as she leant on him, while her legs gained the strength back for a moment and asked the question on her head. "Why didn't you want me to have a suit?"
"In-case you didn't want to fight anymore, I would not have blamed you if you didn't."
"Do you ever not want to fight?"
"Everyday." Jaune said firmly. "I know a lot of people are not cut out to fight and sometimes I think I might be one of them, but I know it's not that simple; you know there is another out there, a young man, I've been reading more about him after I met him, if I can I will introduce you to him and you would understand, you spend some time reading and you spend a bit of time with him and in between the swinging and the jokes… well you would understand. It's people like him and like you that make me want to fight and push myself to do more."
Pyrrha nodded along, she got where he was coming from. "You know, I've heard a lot of inspirational people but I think you might just be one of the best."
"That's our Captain, always handy with a speech." Yang called out as the 2 of them entered into the meeting room where the map of Remnant was currently up on the holo screen, with the locations all highlighted, but everyone was now turning their attention to Pyrrha and Jaune as they had entered the room.
"Hello again." Pyrrha waved nervously at the group unsure how the rest would feel about her, noting that Nora and Weiss seemed to be reading off of a screen and then looking back towards her, Nora giving a cheerful wave and Weiss giving a little nod. (Ren told them they were being too loud, Nora was not embarrassed but Weiss was.)
"See told you the suit would fit." Ruby exclaimed as Yang then elbowed her in the armoured ribs, much to the discomfort of the Iron Reaper who winced, Blake had her mask on so she was hard to read and Ren simply gave Jaune and Pyrrha a little tilt of his head in greeting; which coming from him was basically a wave like Nora's.
Yang walked right over and stuck out her hand to Pyrrha with a curious look on her face, eyes briefly dancing over to Jaune who gave her a look of 'please trust me'. "Okay, welcome to the team Cereal girl, you ever want a rematch let me know, be fun to wrestle you to the ground again."
Pyrrha grew quite the blush across her cheeks and once Weiss had read the text she made a very disgusted face similar to Ruby, Nora just gave a shout of outrage as she was Yangs wrestling partner and now she was being replaced? This was unacceptable!
Blakes ears twitched a little and Jaune quickly moved her past Yang and sat her down in the chair next to his while Ruby minimised the map so they could all see each other. "So we know the locations and we know what we have to do, these communicators are the longest of long range and should allow us to talk across the planet."
"Can we talk to other planets?" Yang asked as she palmed the device and held it up for a closer inspection.
"Not yet but I am working on making them longer range." Ruby said firmly, like she was somehow disappointed with how bad they were right now.
"Is this not good enough?" Jaune asked in disbelief staring at the small thing, he assumed it went in his ear and looked around to see Ren and Blake putting it in theirs and he quickly followed while Pyrrha allowed herself a little smile at his confusion.
"I'm an inventor Jaune, making what I have already made better is how I have become the smartest person on the planet."
"And the most humble as well." Yang quickly said as she held up a hand for Blake to high five, to which the queen simply looked at her and gave a small shake of her head, hiding the little smile behind her mask.
"Back when my armour was first made it barely allowed for much movement other than running and some basic fighting, now it can support my body in the most flexible of movements, constant improvement and advancement is crucial in all aspects. You have adapted your fighting style over time to allow for you to toss your shield around, this is no different." Blake then explained as Jaune then nodded in agreement as he considered the point.
"Getting back to it; according to Nora and Weiss yelling, we now know these items are Realm travel stones that if left in this state will eventually bring the other Realms crashing into ours, so we need to destroy the stones, but we need to do so at the exact same time." Ruby explained. "There are 8 of them and 8 of us, they lead to a different Realm and thanks to Nora and Weiss we know which is which; we have an ice Realm, a fire Realm, one with elves, one with dwarfs, Nora's home Realm, a Realm with giants, one with 'magic' users and then the Realm of the dead. Nora says there is a chance that people of those Realms might be protecting the stones so take your picks I guess."
Yang spoke up first. "Well fire doesn't mean anything to me so I can take that one."
"I shall take my home, I know it best." Nora actually didn't yell it out… the first time, then she did again when everyone nodded more fiercely to say they had heard her.
Weiss made a spell that just said the word magic, her cheeks were slightly pink as she was still not so happy to have found out she was yelling the entire time.
"I wonder if the Elves are as good an archers as the stories say they are." Ren mused as Nora then yelled out how he was the best, drawing a smile on his face, well a Ren smile at the very least.
"I have travelled through the cold of space so Ice is not a problem for me." Pyrrha said raising her hand as the others all gave her a look and Jaune put his hand over hers in support with a reassuring smile.
"Dwarfs don't sound too bad, I'll just jump over their heads." Blake said with a small shrug.
Ruby and Jaune then shared a look as they were the last to pick when Jaune sighed. "I will take the land of the dead, I've seen more than enough in my time and I would spare you that burden." Ruby gave him a nod of thanks and then looked at the remaining one on the list.
"Probably for the best anyway, I don't think the giants would be amused by your little shield, my rockets on the other hand will be a better challenge for them. Now we have a plan, Weiss if you could open up the little pocket dimension to get us their quicker."
…
"Uh Weiss?" The great magician had her arms crossed and was pointedly not looking at Ruby, like she was waiting for something to be said and then Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes with her helmet snapping shut.
"Milk and cookies; oh great and powerful sorceress, mistress of the magical arts will you please do us the honour of opening the impossible portal of unbelievably magical, uh stuff with your all… all seeing and knowledgeable self, um please?"
"THANK YOU!" Weiss yelled as she stood from her seat and 8 different portals opened up and a different sign appeared over the top of them, with all of the Hunters then moving around to a different one, and then when they were stood there and ready Jaune looked over to Pyrrha and gave her a final smile, Yang punched Blakes shoulder and the queen rolled her eyes with a small smile on under her mask, Ren and Nora shared a short look and Ruby gave a huffy Weiss a big thumbs up.
Then they all stepped through the portals into their chosen destination.
The first thing Blake noticed was that the portal she stepped through instantly closed up behind her with a small pop and she was cut off from heading back to the mansion, the very next thing she noticed was the environment that she was in and she was very certain it was a strange correlation. From what little she knew about Dwarfs were that they built things, Nora once said they had made her hammer in their deep caves with the heart of a dying star, right now though Blake was not in a cave, she was on top of a very tall mountain that looked out across the South of the Mistral kingdom, she could just about see it in the distance even so right now she knew that she was in the wrong area with no way back.
Which then begged the question; would it be dwarfs that she encountered out here or would it be something else?
"Great I get the anime cat girl, just great." Came a disgruntled voice from her right as she then turned and spotted Mercury Black sitting upon a rock formation, he currently had the high ground and was looking down at her with distaste. "I was hoping for Arc but you will do at the least, maybe if I give your body to Tarus he will give me a nice home in your kingdom when he conquers it."
Blake said nothing as she continued to observe around and then spotted the Realm stone, it looked no bigger than an egg and was currently stood at the assassins feet. "Oh you after this? Well sorry sweet cheeks, it's not catnip so you can't play with it."
It looked sturdy and solid but one of her blades should be able to cut through it, once she hears the countdown from Ruby then she will make her move to focus on the stone, although she doubts Black will simply stand aside.
"You know maybe after I've kicked you about I can get to work on your other teammates, Arc obviously, that Archer guy is spoken for by the boss as is Hammer girl, but Blondie on the other hand-"
"No." Blake said firmly, a gravity coming into her voice and a fury taking root in her body that she knew all too well, the desire to protect being strong in her, it also took Mercury back quite strongly as he then covered up the shock with a light chuckle.
"Oh my the kitten has claws doesn't she? Touched a nerve did I?"
Blake eyed him and then the stone, while she had stepped forward he too had stepped past it, from his body language it was clear he cared not for the stone and was more focused on his revenge, she could work with that; pride always came before the fall and in moments like this anger was of no use if it was not harnessed like hers was.
He might have rage, but she had fury and that was more concentrated.
Mercury jumped down from the rock and landed with a thud. "Well you're not the type of girl I would have asked to the dance but we should probably make the most of it right?"
Blake sent the stone one last look, it was stable where it sat and neither of the 2 of them possessed the strength to affect the mountain in any way that could cause a rock slide or natural disaster, this was simply going to be a slug fest between the 2, or maybe more of a dance.
Blake flicked her wrist and extended her claws, fixing her yellow eyes on the grey ones he had, it probably wouldn't be that heroic to scratch his eyes out, maybe give his tongue a quick cut.
'Cat got your tongue?' she could hear the joke Yang would try to say loud and clear in her head when she lunged for Mercury and he ran at her.
Pyrrha felt the sweet air of nature on her face as she stepped through the portal and then heard it close with a pop behind her and she turned in surprise to try and go back through it, but there was nothing there for her to go through so she could only take in her surroundings. It was a beautiful forest, lush greenery and the sounds of birds chirping through the trees. The Mistral forests back home had a more distinctive environment to them that she knew very well having done a lot of combat exercises in them in her years of deception, this was clearly near the kingdom of Vale, most likely the eastern coast of Vale as it was slightly warmer and that was the side that was closest to Vaccuo, and this was no the cold that she expected the stone for the ice Realm to be near.
Perhaps they juxtaposed the stone and the Realm so that anyone trying to invade were then ill prepared? It would be a clever tactic that was sure, but why would they travel through Remnant then?
Or maybe Weiss had gotten the spell wrong? But if she was able to remove programming and energy from her head and bind her so she could not move then she was clearly a very powerful magician so something like this would be easy for her right? Something else had to have been going on that Pyrrha simply did not consider.
WHAM
A heavy and forceful punch sent Pyrrha side stepping as a tree had seemingly moved and struck her across the face. Turning back to it she had to dive roll out the way as a large bolder was then flung at her, this proved to be a mistake as she was whipped with the same tree branch and flung into the mud, covering her new armour and dirtying her outfit and worst of all getting in her hair, that was going to be a struggle to get out later on.
"Well, well, well look at the 'Invincible girl' now." She knew that voice, she knew that tone of mockery.
"Cardin! Show yourself!" She yelled into the forest, he was never this good at blending into the background, sure he could take on the properties of the thing he touched but the shape and size? This was different, this was not something she had known he could do.
"Hehe, is the star pupil stumped!" He yelled as Pyrrha instinctively made to dive and fly away from the location but was caught and smashed into a tree trunk and then thrown into the dirt again. "Look at you? Finally taking the defeat you needed, it's all anyone ever wanted to do to you, you know this right? Put you in your place and beat the shit out of you! Thinking you were so high and mighty, that you were better than everyone, that you were the most powerful, the most important!"
Her eyes widened as she saw a large figure move towards her and noticed he must be about 8 feet tall now, and he was about the size of the tree trunk she had smacked into as well; what had he done to himself? "See you're not the only one who can improve themselves, a new friend gave me a little concoction, I can take on multiple substances now, and I'm bigger." He snorted at the dirty joke and Pyrrha stared in disgust and blasted him in the face quickly with one of her beams and then flew forward into a rising kick right between his legs making contact and lifting him briefly off the ground and sending him into the mud when he landed.
"Felt small the first time I kicked you there, feels like it still is the hundredth time." Pyrrha said, that kick had hurt her foot, clearly he had turned it to stone when she had made contact with it, but she could certainly tell that he was in-fact not… bigger.
"Guh, you bitch." He growled out as he got to his feet and towered over her, she raised her fists and eyes darted around the place to look for the stone.
"Oh, looking for this." He pulled his chest opened and Pyrrha gasped in horror at the sight, it was an empty hollow wood with the stone in the middle of it.
"Cardin… what have you done to yourself?" She breathed out as the former man in question looked at her with rage.
"I am what I was always meant to be, the person that will knock you off your pedestal, that will make you know what defeat tastes like."
"Cardin I know what it is like-"
"NO! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT IT IS LIKE!"
Pyrrha swallowed and took a step back, now was not the time to fight, get the stone then find a way to help Cardin, Ruby would know.
"Cardin I will help, even if you won't help yourself." No more would she fight without a cause, now she would endure to help where she could.
Sometimes the reminder of the past is a deadly thing and Yang was experiencing that right now as she stood in the frozen tundra of the Atlas summer, the harsh cold winds flew by her face, the snow catching in her hair, her nose turning slightly red and the tips of her fingers turning red as well. She could not feel the cold, it wouldn't have mattered even if she could feel it she still would of stood there and stared right ahead trying to control her breathing, her right arm starting to shake from the memories.
The Bunker was right ahead of her, frozen over, metal doors torn apart, but it was still there.
Not even hearing the pop of the portal closing behind her Yang looked to the left and noticed the frozen over but still visible remains of some metal shrapnel of a few tanks and a few fighter jets, to her right she could see the start of the crater she had made when she had landed the first time after her escape, she didn't know what drew her to the edge but there she now stood, her feet moving her of her own accord.
She could picture it now; the needles, the blades, the screams, the blood, the dust, the anger that bubbled inside her. She didn't know how many came after her that day she broke free and left the facility but she knew it was a few bodies that she had left in her wake, and speaking of bodies there was one right now stood in the centre of the crater twirling her little umbrella and moving back and forth. It was the little imp Neo that Nora had told her about, the one her brother had made out of the toughest of materials he could find around the Realms, she was stood in the place that Yang had realised she was nothing more than a monster, a place where she had cried, a place where she had all but been ripped of her humanity and had spent every day since trying to claim it back.
And the little woman was smiling.
Yang jumped and landed in-front of Neo and the tundra shook.
The stone was in-between the 2 of them and Yang reached down for it and then placed it on the edge, Neo did nothing to stop her and also did nothing when Yang walked back in-front of her.
"You might not know how much this place means to me, but I want you to know this, after this day the only time I am coming back here it to make sure that all those scientists who did this to me are thrown into a cell for the rest of their lives."
Neo cocked her head.
"Do you know what it is like to be a monster?"
Neo's smile disappeared and after a beat she nodded.
"Then may the best monster win." And with that Yang let the Dragon take over and she swung down at Neo's face, the grin returning the moment the punch landed on her perfect cheek.
Most people would assume that the first thing that an expert marksman and sharpshooter with pinpoint accuracy would do when going to a new area would be to get a long and detailed look around before they moved on. However the first thing that Ren did when he went into a new place was listen, his eyes might see more but he knew that Emerald was an expert in illusion tech and she held a grudge against him, but there was very little you could fool sensitive ears, especially combined with eyes and if the sight and sound didn't match up.
Right now Ren was positive that while the area he was in was not an illusion, it was without a doubt the wrong area as he stood in the hot sands of Vaccuo, the sun beating down upon him and the heat almost too much for people to bear, he was fortunate that he meditated enough so that he could handle the heat and keep a clear head in these types of situations. One thing that Vaccuo was indeed also known for was its magma river that flowed near the centre of the continent, far from the kingdom so as not to bother them, although as Ren looked upon the river he was slightly awestruck.
Fire was a beautiful thing, dangerous but a beautiful thing; it symbolised life and death at the same time and was the only one of the elements that was truly alive, although Nora did bring life to a thunder storm in a way he had never witnessed before.
Now properly scanning the area Ren could confirm that this was not a place where he could expect to find any elves, not that he claimed to know much about the Realms and Magic, although he could imagine that Weiss was not a woman that made many mistakes and a simple thing that was to transport people places, something she had explained to him before on a day off, seemed very trivial to her.
So this mistake was not of her doing, Ren was confident to assume. This could only lead him to think that an outside source had interfered and changed where everyone was going to end up.
"I assume you realise I can see you Dr Merlot." Ren spoke to the man doing an adequate job of hiding, but to his trained eyes he had spotted him shortly after hearing a sharp intake of breath when he stepped through the portal.
"Ah, Agent Lie Ren; a sharp fall from your Beacon tenure is this not?" Said the former good doctor, he was once a firm ally of Director Ozpin, advising him on several experiments and technological advancements until they grew too… unethical and they cut ties with him, personally Ren would have locked the man up and thrown away the key, but Ozpin said he would handle it and yet here he stood.
"If you want to talk about a fall, you are the one that flew into the sun Doctor. Your experiments proved that you cared so little for life, the very life every member of Beacon swore to protect." Ren said as he nocked an arrow, not raising the bow but holding it in a relaxed way, the Doctor had no visible weapons on him and he appeared to be alone at the moment.
"Sometimes you have to fly high Agent Ren; you see some people believe us to be at the apex of human evolution but not I! We can go further! Look at the faunus, animal traits that give them certain advantages; wings, tails, camouflage, warmth, gills, enhanced senses and night vision. Yet why stop there?"
"Because if we start picking and choosing where does it end?"
"It ends with us being gods!"
"And losing the very things that make us human? That make us people?"
"Don't pretend you care for those animals."
"That's the difference between you and me Merlot, I do care for them, they are people and I made a promise to protect all people and that includes them… and it can include you as well, come with me peacefully we can get you help, you can talk these issues out and we can move forward, you have always been so fixed on physical enhancement but you have forgotten to grow mentally and emotionally, I can help." Ren pleaded as he held an outstretched hand to Merlot.
He looked at it and then turned his back to Ren. "As I said to your father all those years ago Lie; I'm too far gone."
Ren released the arrow at the lava monster before it even had a chance to move, he didn't even look in its direction, he had heard the river stop flowing when he and Merlot started talking and it exploded the monster in a simple blast, this shocked Merlot as he was certain he had caught the young man off guard and at least distracted him.
"My father should have told you; he made sure I was even more perceptive than he was." Ren allowed himself the smile that over took his face, even as another monster rose up and another and another, this was just target practice after all and he knew where the Realm stone was so he just needed to buy a little more time until Ruby gave the signal, now all he had to do was figure out how to curve his arrow around the corner of the boulder Merlot was hiding behind, maybe an impossible shot but he remembered what Nora told him when outside yesterday and everyone was doubting that he could hit the apple blindfolded off her head.
"I haven't seen you miss yet, and I don't think you're going to start now Renny."
Unfortunately Jaune was in the right place, he could tell instantly when he noticed the many gravestones that were around him, they were all old and crumbling and had more green growing around them than they did stone but it was unmistakeable as to what they really were.
An old forgotten cemetery, most likely in the very south of Vale's continent, tall trees and a little mountain range were the vision that lay around him. He had taken the burden to go to the land of the dead because he did not want any of his teammates to feel uncomfortable, he knew that the memories of the dead were often a catalyst for sorrow, but he was a soldier and far too many of his friends were among the dead and if he had the chance to say goodbye one more time then it was fortunate for him.
At the centre of the graveyard Jaune saw 2 things, the Realm stone that stood atop a pedestal and then the other was the man that had taken over Blake's kingdom and then been subsequently defeated by her when she reclaimed her throne; Adam Taraus.
"Human." He spat out, grinding his sword on the edge of one of the graves, it was a blood red blade that made Jaune feel a little bit uneasy but at the same time he felt comforted that this guy was using something so simple, nobody appreciated the classics these days.
"Hello." He kept his shield on his arm, not making a move to attack, seeing if maybe on the off chance he could perhaps talk to him and they could reach reason.
"I was expecting my beloved." He must mean Blake, well Jaune could certainly fault her love life if this was an ex of hers, he did suspect that perhaps their battle was more personal than most usually are but he assumed it was just the anger this man had and the passion Blake had for her people.
"Sorry to let you down, she has other work to do." Not trying to let him in on what they are doing but if he is here, then this must mean the rest of his friends have encountered similar villains, he hoped that Pyrrha was alright and then the thoughts drifted to the rest of his team.
"Your head will be my message to her." No it will not, Jaune would not die while there was still a mission to do.
"Have you not thought that maybe you just need to accept that she is not into you, believe me every girl I have ever asked has said no so I know a thing or 2 about rejection if you want to talk about it."
"You dare to think yourself at the level of me? I am a king, you are just-"
"Yeah I'm just a guy from Ansel, but I'm here to save everyone." Jaune blocked the swing of his sword lifted up off the shield and then kicked him away before blocking several more swings and then rolling out of the way of a large slash with a lot of energy behind it. "And an Arc always keeps his promise."
If she was going to be going to a primordial Realm of magical beings then she would at least expect it to be something perhaps a bit more enchanting; a reflecting pool hidden beneath the surface, a mountain top that could see for miles around it and was above the clouds, maybe even one of the sanctums around Remnant that she had visited, she could however count herself fortunate that the annoying ringing had stopped and as she tentatively dropped the speel protecting her ears she was relieved that it was no longer causing any pain, since this spell did not work over long distances she did not feel too bad that she could not protect Nora this way, but now it did not matter.
A good glance around and it seemed like she was in a road, and she did not expect to be stood in the busy streets of downtown Mistral, with the Haven academy looming in the background as she glanced around at the people milling through the streets, several had stopped and stared at her as she had exited the portal and now more were curious as to the floating sword that hung next to her. Turning her head to said sword she could just imagine it shrugging at her as though it could not fathom a reason as to why they were here either.
Weiss was certain that she had gotten the spell correct, both the tracking and the transportation, although if she was at the wrong location there was a very strong possibility that she must have maybe either swapped with someone else or that every one of her teammates and friends were at a different location, perhaps it would be best to get them all back so that they could regroup as the first stage of the plan had become undone and they should replan to-
BOOM
A fireball exploded in-front of her and she just about managed to summon a quick shield to block the explosion and then grip her sword to fly above the smoke and slash through the next fireball and then using another spell catch and spread the third one in to little flickers that died around her, turning her head and scouting the area she saw a woman flying with jets of fire shooting out from her heels, a red dress around her figure and long dark hair flowing down her back, she was very attractive, but what really put Weiss off was the evil and downright predatory grin that stretched across her face.
"Aw, the little magician had her spell messed with, so sad." She said in a husky seductive drawl.
"You must be Cinder Fall." Weiss stated as she gave her another once over. "A fire witch, you do realise the first element we are taught in the sanctum to control is fire right?"
"Does the little ice queen mean to melt me?" She questioned with that grin managing to grow even larger if that were possible.
"More like extinguish you, I know the pain you have caused my friends, the pain you have caused people as well, I cannot believe that one person can be so heartless."
"Oh spare me, in this world it is all about number 1, and that is me, I'm a survivor and nothing is going to keep me down… those who have tried get burned." The flames flared at that around her and Weiss noticed something different about her, using her damaged eye to see the energy around her, it was similar to Yang, the dust affecting her soul in an interesting way. This was not normal fire that her fellow magicians and her could produce and control, this was more primal in a way, like she herself was a force of nature.
It was so similar to Yang, to the thing that Ruby used to keep the shrapnel out of her heart and to the material Blake had consumed that gave her, her abilities. "Those who have tried were not Weiss Schnee."
"Pah, you are nothing mortal, simply here for this stone." Cinder held in her left hand the Realm stone and Weiss took note of this, she couldn't destroy it yet as Ruby had yet to give the signal, but Cinder had made a mistake and shown Weiss her goal, and Weiss always got her goal.
Steadying her breathing and closing her eyes to try and calm down her heart, Ruby almost felt herself fall to her knees in a bit of pain and the palpitations, her armours systems blinked red for a moment and numerous emergency things popped up, but she pushed them away, now was not the time for all of this.
Ruby instantly activated her thrusters and flew into the air only to bang her head on the roof of the cavern she was currently in. several warnings flared up on her screen and she then brought up a model of the surrounding area that she was in, noticing that it was a vastly underground cave, it spanned in numerous different directions and was very deep under Remnant, in-fact it was very far below Atlas, something she realised she probably could have figure out given the mining equipment and the broken dust crystals that surrounded the area.
Oh and the ice.
Like a lot of ice.
Ruby doubted she would be as warm if it were not for her armour, also she wondered if perhaps her systems might freeze over if she was in this cavern for too long, but then she realised that she had solved the icing problem ages ago on her third armour set, currently she was on her Mark XII so it was a lot more advanced, quicker suit up, faster systems, able to handle large surges of power, and a fantastic close range option that she was dying to use.
First things first however, Ruby wanted to check up on her friends, because this cavern right now was only about 2 Weiss high and Nora had told her once that giants were at the smallest 7 Jaune's high, which was indeed quite high. The measurement system worked until Weiss heard them speaking about it and mentioned that it was complete nonsense, and then Ren had said he followed it, he even had a chart as to document the differences and that had promptly caused Weiss to freeze up, she had to go make a cup of tea to calm herself down.
Another quick scan around and Ruby had a lock on the Realm stone so that was her mission complete. "You guys all good? Found the stone yet?" She asked into her communicator hoping that she was not too far underground that the connection would be muffled or disrupted.
"I've been better, got the sword guy Adam here at a cemetery and eyes on the stone, ready for a count down." Jaune responded instantly as he then chimed off and Ren was next to respond.
"I can make the shot." Was all he said and that was good enough for Ruby as Blake then came through next.
"Tangling with your old friend here Jaune, but I can see the stone, just give the word Ruby; Yang you okay?"
There was a silence as her sister didn't respond and when the communicator picked up it was Weiss calling through instead. "I'm in the city with Cinder Fall, but I know where the stone is, let me know when I need to make my move."
"Um hello again, sorry I might need a few more moments to collect the stone, it is inside Cardin… uh I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called in.
"That's okay, we are still waiting on Yang and Nora; you there sis? What about you Nora?" Ruby calmly asked over the communicator, hopefully they would hear soon from the 2 heavy hitters of the group.
"Yeah I'm here, see the stone, I've got the little pipsqueak with the umbrella, tell me when to smash." Yang growled through the communication and Ruby started to get a little worried, it sounded much like the voice she used when she was up against Hazel, the deep roar that wanted to be let loose.
"Okay, Pyrrha let me know when you are good, Nora you there?" Then came a very loud silence.
"Nora?"
CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG.
As a hail of bullets hit her armour and then Emerald stood there next to the stone, Ruby had turned away from it while she was talking to the others, assessing the area as Ren had told her to do whenever she went somewhere different, as they were the 2 with the most versatile ranged weapons he explained it was important that they do this everywhere they go.
"Thought that would get your attention rich girl." Emerald snarled at her, although for some reason she seemed to lack a level of fire that she had previously, she looked resigned to this fate and Ruby had to know why.
"Emerald, these stones are about to tear apart Remnant, you have to let me destroy them or there will be nothing left." Ruby tried reasoning.
"I've never had anything, why should I care if others don't have stuff?" She asked the question and Ruby was a bit torn on the answer; on the one hand it sounded like a typical villain giving their rhetorical question speech before an attack, but the look in her eyes, her slight shift of body, this was no front, no illusion. Ruby's scans and sensors all said that right now this was Emerald and she was asking this question for a reason.
"Because this is a chance for you to have something."
"You know he promised me much the same, said I could 'have the chance to build something for myself'. You know that's all I've ever wanted, a home, a family, that's why I take because why should others get that when I don't!" She yelled and Ruby could see a tear building up on the edge of her eyes.
"Emerald if you let this happen and you let these stones be destroyed, then yes there will be nothing and building something will be easy, but a home is made of the people you surround yourself with, not the bricks you put around yourself." Ruby retracted her armoured mask and looked across at her eyes, silver meeting ruby. "I've lived in a big mansion, what most people dream of, but I've lived there alone all my life… then I had 3 friends move in, then 4, 5, 6 and now I have a 7th and it feels like everything I have ever wanted. This Roman, he doesn't care about you, none of them do, they are not your friends."
Her hands holding her guns were slightly shaky now, they might have been pointing at her head before but they had dropped down to her chest now, her most armoured part. "Y-yeah, well you still never had to fight for anything, you never had to crawl your way up from nothing, never had to worry about dying in a hole knowing that nobody cared for you!"
Ruby then stepped out of her armour, letting it open up fully and Emerald took a fearful step back, thinking she had angered Ruby and was now about to be blasted. Ruby was not going to blast her, they were talking and also the cavern looked like it would collapse in on them if there was a sudden force slammed into the walls, and that was if she missed. Lifting up her t-shirt that she was wearing Ruby then pointedly looked at Emerald, who looked slightly confused and a little bit red cheeked but then her eyes locked onto it.
Right on her sternum was her Arc reactor, and around the Arc reactor were the visible scars, one that went up and stopped shy of her collar bone, another that snaked down her belly button, one did start to strike out on her left breast but her bra covered it up, although it actually only went that far anyway, a few centimetres more and it would be going to her heart.
"I was kidnapped for 3 months by the terrorists in Vaccuo, I spent 3 months in a cave slowly starving as they had me building weapons for them, I spent 3 months slowly dying as the shrapnel that they had blown up my transport with made its way to my heart, I spent 3 months getting tortured when I made a weapon faulty, I had to crawl my way out of that hole because I was so afraid that not only I would die in that hole, but that people would still use what I made to kill each other, that they would remember me only as someone who sold Death and Destruction."
Ruby let her t-shirt go and smoothed it back down, a single tear falling down her own cheek, but still she looked into Emerald eyes, praying that this was enough to get through to her. "I had to rebuild everything about myself, up from less than nothing, I had to build it up from a reputation as someone who's weapons had been taken by those terrorists and used to kill children, I had to do something I promised to a dying doctor who saved my life in an act of kindness and helped me escape; I had to not waste my life... a life that is coming to an end very quickly, I'm dying even as we speak right now, I don't know how much more time I have left, But I will not make any more mistakes."
She stepped back into her armour and left the mask open as she watched Emerald, who still had her guns raised. "Please Emerald, help me save everyone and then we can help you, together."
The master thief didn't say anything, in fact she wasn't even looking at Ruby anymore, she just turned and walked away, fading into the shadows. Ruby knew it would not be the last that she would be hearing of her but she knew that the next time they met Emerald would have changed; either into a more ruthless villain or a woman doing her best to make amends Ruby could not say yet, all she knew was that Emerald had a lot to think about now.
Locking onto the stone she wiped her eyes and dropped her mask checking in once more on her team status. "Everyone still good, eyes on the stones?"
"Copy."
"I can make the shot."
"Yes."
A grunt came over the radio and Ruby took that as Yang was ready.
"Let me know before the countdown, need a second for the spell."
With those 5 resounding yes's Ruby was about to ask if their newest addition was ready this time when Pyrrha's voice came over the communication decidedly more chipper than before. "I-I have the stone now, although can I suggest that we are quick, I'm sorry it's just Cardin is getting back up again."
"Got it; Nora? Are you ready?"
Nora could hear them calling for her but she knew that she couldn't let anything distract her right now, she had ended up in a castle, a very, very old castle but it was still a castle none the less and the Realm stone for Valkyrie was right there in-front of her, also the ringing noise had stopped the closer that she had gotten to the source of it, fortunate as she knew Weiss would not be able to keep the muffling spell up over a long distance, hopefully she was not feeling to guilty about that.
The stone itself was raised on an old pedestal and had a layer of dust surrounding it, no footsteps leading to it or away from it so it was clear it had been there for a very long time, although this could be a trick as she heard that her friends encountered their enemies and this could be a plan of her brothers, well he would not expect them to be so thoroughly defeated and the stone broken, once they were destroyed the only travel between the Realms was through the bridge, and even then her brother was banished form Valkyrie, with no way she knew to break the curse.
"Okay, Pyrrha let me know when you are good, Nora you there?" She was right there but she was just unsure, she heard that some of the others sounded strained and in combat, so who was she going to face?
"Nora?"
She was still looking around when she heard something and then turned back to face the throne and…
Nothing.
Nora was actually a little disappointed, she expected her brother, a chance to talk to Roman, to see if she could reason with him once more, to see if she could make him see sense. She missed him, his jokes, his style, he was one of the few people that managed to understand her and get her. She knew that she rambled on about everything that was strange and he was so good at understanding her, true Ren was good at it but there would come a day soon when he would not be around, but her brother still would be.
She really thought that they would be together for all time, side by side, bringing Valkyrie into a new age together, yes maybe she would have been made ruler instead of him but his advisement would be the one she listened to the closest above anyone else in all the Realms, blood was supposed to be thicker than anything and yet she had never felt further form him.
Stepping towards the Realm stone she felt the subtle recognition she got from it, the power that flowed from it was friendly to her and so similar to where she had grown up and then her communicator beeped in her ear and brought her out of her musing.
"Got it; Nora? Are you ready?"
"Yes I am, start the countdown Ruby." She responded as she raised her hammer high over her head.
"Alright, here we go; 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 SMASH!"
It was like Nora could see them all happen at the same time as she connected her hammer to the stone; she saw Yangs fist smash it against the ground, she saw Pyrrha's black energy blast through it, saw an arrow explode in contact with the stone, saw a shield cleave it in half, saw purple knife stab through the middle, saw a million strings pull it apart and saw a bright silver beam disintegrate it.
The last thing that Nora saw before it all turned white was her hammer meeting the floor and the ruins of the stone turning to dust, then the bright white over took her vision.
When it cleared she felt tired, more tired than she had ever felt in her entire existence and it was a sound of armour crashing about that really got her attention, blinking a few times to get her sight back she looked up to see one of her mother's most well trained guards fall ahead of her and another be thrown across the room.
Nora tried to stand but that was when she noticed that she was bound, shackled to the ground, her hands held in an metallic bar near her head with chains that kept her on the ground, she was bound and captured and whoever had done this was taking out some of her kingdoms best.
"Ah sister finally, you always did like your sleep didn't you?" Came Roman's voice as he smiled and then swung his cane knocking out the last of the guards in the throne room. "I was about to do some redecorating before you woke up but I got caught in a meeting, so please excuse me as I finish up with the concerned citizens – oh never mind, I'm all done and my schedule is all clear for you; what's on your mind then?"
"Ho-"
"How indeed; well it's all very simple and I shall explain it to you in a way you can understand, I wanted you to destroy the stones, they kept me from traveling to Valkyrie, however since you destroyed them I am free to travel where I please to now, and I have more than enough power to do so, look I even have mum's staff!" It was true, in one hand he had his cane and in the other he had her staff, the one that she used to protect the Realms.
"Now I know you are properly wondering why neither mum or dad stopped me well it's simple; mum needed her sleep and well dad's never been a fighter had he? So long as I agree not to hurt mum he will stay in the cell with her and they would not try anything, he did mention that you would stop me but you won't get that chance, oh and don't count on your friends to help you, you yourself know how un-rule-y the other Realms are, and that the 'peace' we have with them is more of a non-aggression pact, they will be plenty occupied and unable to help you save anyone, much less stop me."
Nora was stunned into silence and then an angry look took over her face. "Roman, this plan of yours won't last, it won't work, I have no idea what your endgame is but you need to let me go, let me get my friends safe and-"
"My endgame is simple to understand; lie, cheat and steal to make sure I stay on top, and if that means that you are all beneath me, so be it. Now have fun inside your own brain my dear sister, you might learn something about yourself."
Nora held out her hand hoping that her hammer would come to her, to free her from her bonds, but that was when she noticed it lying there on the floor, a bubble of yellow magic surrounding it, she was cut off from it, she could not save herself.
And then her eyes rolled back and everything went black.
What hope was there?