Chapter eighteen
In the end.
Salem paced back and forth around the room, she had been doing this all day and numerous people had told her to sit down, but she was so nervous, how could you not be so nervous in a situation like this?
Today was a day that will be remembered for a millennia to come, a momentous day in the history of Valkyrie, the entire journey her father had been smiling like an idiot, spouting such joyous and happy expressions it was honestly tiring and Salem longed to get back out into battle or maybe to a sanctum to commune with Robyn for a little while, perhaps even head to Remnant while everyone in the palace was busy. Salem did not understand the reasons why her mo-
The door opened and there was her father, a large smile showing beneath his red beard, his eyes filled with tears. Salem often joked that maybe he wasn't her father because of how different they were, his skin was simply pale, whereas hers was white as bone, his hair (he didn't have any on his head) was a strong red and hers was white as snow, his eyes were blue and she had red, he was always so happy and kind, she was sullen and moody at the best of times.
Yes they were as different as night and day, but for one thing; their Magic was connected in the rawest sense, an unbroken bond they shared.
"Salem! Come quick!" So she did, walking through she saw the handmaidens all around the bed, they parted quickly when the two approached, allow Salem to see her mother, sat up and an uncharacteristically soft look on her usual warrior face. She had fought many battles at her mother's side, been raised by her and yet it was a look she either never saw or did not remember, certainly not one she had given in the last 500 years.
"Mother?"
The woman in question fixed her red eye on Salem, her long red hair braided down her side, the bundle in her arms cooing slightly. "Salem, I want you to meet your little sister."
She handed the bundle over to her, gazing up at her were a pair of the most brilliant blue eyes she had ever seen, with the most adorable tuff of red hair on her head. "Say hello to Nora."
Salem turned and paced sideways as she observed the sight in-front of her for a second that stretched on for an eternity.
Dust was hanging heavy in the air around the two figures, dancing in the wind as the Grimm growled behind her. The smell of ozone was so present that all the dark Goddess could so was enjoy the breath of it again, after so many lifetimes of never having smelt it, many more having not felt it either. Even the sight of someone who had grown so much, changed so much from when Salem first held her in her arms, the sight was almost enough to cause a slight bit of feeling in her heart… almost, but the darkness had seen to that.
"Look what has become of you."
"Leave my friends alone."
Looking the newcomer up and down, Salem gave her a glistening smile, hands folding in-front of her dress, her black nails contrasting with her white skin, especially since the nails seemed to extend a slight bit, like they were claws on a tiger. "You have grown so much dear Nora, but do you truly think you have grown enough to beat me? To even hurt me?"
Hefting both the Hammer and the Axe on her shoulders, Nora took a glance to confirm that Jaune and Pyrrha were both okay, then facing Ren who stood behind her, giving him a meaningful look before facing this new figure. "I don't need you to hurt, I just need you to go down."
"You have no idea what you face do you?" Salem had thought Nora would know who she was going to challenge, but it would seem that even now those 'parents' still play their games.
"I face someone who tried to take the soul of the closest person to me." Her voice was even, not hard with anger, not light with her usual joy, instead she stood relaxed. It was as though this was exactly where she was supposed to be and Ren could only smile, before she left Nora was a ball of energy, constantly twitching. Now looking at her, she was like a star, bright and solid, ready to shine on her own terms.
"The closest person to you? Hmmm, has it been so long that I have been replaced?" Seeing the blank look on her face, Salem had her suspicions confirmed. "Even after all this time they do not tell you the truth, parents am I right?"
Nora narrowed her eyes, was this an old enemy of her parents? Another of Roman's plots to over throw them? "You speak like you know them."
"I do, I know their darkest secret, what they covered up behind golden walls, what they swapped with someone bright enough to light up the sky." Her voice had turned into a whisper, yet it still carried over the distance between them, louder than the thunder that cried in the air.
"I hate riddles."
"I know, little sister, I know." Nora's eyes went wide at that moment, complete disbelief written across her face, but also some other things were piecing together as well; the sad looks her father always had when he would glance around the table at dinner, the way her mother would often stare at one particular piece of tapestry on the ceiling, Roman always saying about 'her', it made sense, but it couldn't be possible. "Oh starting to piece somethings together are you, but you still aren't sure are you? Throw the Hammer… go on, it had a master before you."
No, it was a gift for her, made for her, a daughter of Valkyrie. "The dwarves made it for me." Nora was so certain, the tear in her mother's eye when she handed it over was because she was proud of her being worthy for it, not because it was the second daughter she was giving it to.
"No. No they didn't, they made it for a daughter of Valkyrie, a worthy one at least… you know when it was mine – before it was stolen from me. I never had a crisis of identity with it, so tell me little sister; did you find out who you are? Did you get your head on straight? Or did you learn that you are every bit the monster that all the other Realms know you are, know that our family is. The apple does not fall far from the tree you know."
She clearly knew of the travels that Nora had gone on, her journey to recover her worth that she felt she had lost, only to discover something great. "I know who I am."
"Oh? Do tell, I'm dying to know." The eye roll that accompanied that statement gave some doubt to her mind, but Nora didn't mind; if she wanted an answer then she was going to get one.
Nora had journeyed from Valkyrie to the lost Realm by herself, with nobody to guide her, she had seen a primordial born on that journey, she had been forced to sacrifice her soul to a God to save a species from going extinct only to receive it right back, she had seen the end of the universe and what lay beyond it, she had fought in a war that lasted for what felt like an eternity only to discover it was a minute long, she had faced judgement before the Brothers, she had ridden the lightning and lost the storm, she had seen it all, so her answer was as easy to say as ever because through it all she knew who she was.
"I'm Nora."
"… that's it? You travelled across the Realms, to the end of the universe and back, through trials that have driven other Gods mad, suffered pain and scars just to arrive at the conclusion you are your name?"
"Yeah, I mean maybe I don't have a lot of happy points in my story, I've made a lot of mistakes as well, like a lot of them, and you know I've lost a lot, but the benefit of always losing is that you get to learn from your mistakes and scars fade don't they? So I'm Nora, and I'm the Goddess of Thunder, here to protect those who need it or can't protect themselves." The bit that she kept to herself was that through it all, the memory of those closest to her helped her through the toughest moments in her life, the reassuring thought that Ren would be there to greet her with a smile and a disgusting smoothie.
Giving a sneer and for the first time looking like she was the aggressor in the situation, Salem finally dropped her carefree expression to replace it with one of anger. "I thought you would remind me of mum, but now you remind me too much of dad."
"I wish I had known." Nora said wistfully.
Something then about her entire expression changed in that moment, almost like it was longing. "You did; a long time ago, clearly they removed that knowledge."
"Why are you doing all of this? Come back with me, we can-" Nora started but was cut off swiftly by a burst of dark energy.
"No. They ruined everything, YOU ruined everything when you were born. Before you came mother and I were on the hunt for the Relics, we almost had them all… when suddenly you were made, and they decided to give up, the Realms would not be shaped in our image anymore, it was left to grow just like you. All the life I had led up to that moment was interrupted by you. I hated you from the moment you were born, and I despise them for casting me out and in to the very hell that I have been in ever since."
Silence stretched between the two of them, sure the Grimm charged past and tried to leave the island, and the sounds of Beacon forces fighting them as well as the four figures that Nora didn't know were also their fighting on the ground while a boy with wings and a ginger with green energy flew through the air all made a considerable amount of noise, but she couldn't hear any of that right now, she didn't even really hear the breathing of Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha who had all stood next to her.
"I'm sorry that happened to you, I really am. This doesn't have to end in a fight, we can still make this right; I don't even know your name."
"You are several years too late for that, little sister."
"I always wanted a sister, Roman is a great brother… sometimes, but I always wanted a sister."
"I never wanted you."
"Shame." Nora then threw her Hammer right at Salem who simply caught it in an out stretched hand, a small smile taking over her face as she held the Hammer once again in her grasp.
"I've waited a long time to feel you return to my grasp." Salem then tossed it into the sky where it turned into a streak of red as it was rocketing away from Remnant, Nora had an astonished look upon her face, her hand reached out to recall it when she was punched clean across the face. "Unlike you, I never needed the Hammer, I never needed to prove myself worthy; that weapon had to prove worthy to me!"
Wiping the blood from her nose, the hit having caused it to start bleeding, Nora hefted her Axe and twirled it around like it weighed of nothing, striking at her sisters shoulder, or at least she would have if the dark Goddess didn't move backwards and dodge out of the way, a wave of energy knocking her back to where her friends helped her to her feet. "My name is Salem, and when you die, tell mum and dad I sent you."
Slamming her back against the wall, Yang shook the dust out of her hair and then bounded forward to strike back at the half man half Grimm thing that this Salem woman had sent to stop them, it wouldn't work, but the damn thing was really going for it. It had Blake trapped under one of its feet and Yang was not gonna let that thing keep her kitty cat down for much longer, as she struck with a beautiful right cross which got blocked, then a left, then she gave a wide swinging haymaker which the beasty ducked under, while it might be avoiding her it had also needed to step back, so Blake was able to get to her feet.
She then dashed in with a claw swipe to try to remove a Grimm limb if she could, yet all she was met with was air, the beasty thing was quick, Yang would give it that, but nobody was that quick for so long.
Although they were scary, as right when she moved to strike again, the half man half Grimm spoke to her, with a scratched throaty laugh. "Haa-ha… ha, I seeee your mind."
Yang shared a quick look out the corner of her eye, Blake looked similarly disturbed as she did, never mind that she had a mask on, Yang knew now that those hips did not lie, her girl was mightily disturbed and honestly Yang could not blame her, so she did something she did best, she played with words. "Oh yeah, then what number am I thinking of?"
In truth she was actually thinking of her middle finger, but if this thing knew that then good, because that is what she was thinking for it, those attacks before didn't work, and if it could see into her head then maybe she needed to tighten up the attacks, sure this thing could dodge, but nobody could do that all the time, eventually you needed to block something.
First swing was a miss, as was the second, third and fourth, the fifth got close and then the sixth it had to raise its paw/arm thing to block the strike, while it moved at the same time out the way, meaning Yang only got a glancing blow on a block, however it was close, and Yang could do close, because now all she needed to do was another thing she did really well. She might not have a lot of tricks in the tool box, but the ones she did have, she was an expert with, her dad once told her that sometimes there were other paths to take, you cannot always power right through someone, he was right in certain situations, but at this moment, Yang knew her fists were itching to drive right through this bastard.
"Blake flash him!" She understood what that meant as a blast of purple light filled the beasts vision for a moment and then Yang got right in its face once more and this time she didn't swing wide, she kept her strikes tight and fast, randomly going at different heights and then when the beast raised its paw/arm to block she felt the contact, grabbed it and then struck downwards with her right, caching it on the face and sending it stumbling back in to Blake who slashed across it's back, then Yang charged forward and double fist punched it into a wall, shoulder checking it with all her strength, going through the wall as well.
As she rolled over the half man half Grimm she grabbed its leg and swung it around just like a hammer over her head, smashing it into the ground, while it was still dazed like this Blake pounced herself and sunk her claws into the monster.
"AGhhhHHHH!"
Lining it up like a football, Yang kicked the thing with enough force to send it flying back towards the main battle field, right at the same moment that Blake jumped from it. The two then took a moment to watch together as it sailed through the air.
"I doubt it will come back." Blake observed as she was at Yang's side, her eyes watching it crash into the ground where it crushed a few smaller Grimm.
"If it does then we just send it back – oh hey, Nora's back, now the guys have a lot more of a chance." Yang pointed out, seeing the strikes of lightning hit the ground, the pink figure in the distance do battle with some Grimm and what looked to be Salem.
"Did you not hear the thunder earlier?"
"Was a bit busy fighting that thing to notice, also looks like Salem did come through the other portal, we need to hurry." The two the turned to head back, but Blake had one more thing to say before they met with the others.
"Flash him? Really?"
"You knew what I meant."
"Sadly yes, just don't say something like that to Ruby, Penny or Pyrrha, they are to innocent for your tricks."
"Please, have you seen the looks cereal girl shoots at Jaune? That girl is far from innocent… don't blame her, that is Vale's ass." Blake remained silent at that remark and Yang gave her a grin. "Course it's got nothing on Menagerie's ass." This one was ended with a wink and finger guns, needless to say Blake was going to need headache medicine after rolling her eyes all these times.
Concentrating in this fight was going a lot less smooth than when she had taken the hits from that metal dude, it would seem that her new older sister hit far harder than that guy did, even when he was amped up by the Hammer's metal, but Nora could feel the tug in her heart and she knew it was coming back to her, she was not going to make the same mistake as to throw it like that again, which was why she was not throwing her new Axe around.
Instead she was very valiantly using it to slash through the many rocks and other blasts of Magical dark energy that her sister was throwing at her, occasionally having to jump in-front of one to take the blast before Ren or Jaune had to, while that shield of his might have been tough, that energy would eviscerate him, and she did not want to think about what might happen to her Ren.
You might think that she wasn't showing to much care to her other friend and awesome teammate Pyrrha, but Nora didn't have to worry about her, she was far from being squishy like the other two, she was tough, and the way she moved through the air was impressive to say the least, if Salem could actually hit her then it might hurt a little, however Nora still had ever confidence that she would be alright.
Cleaving a Deathstalker in half with one swing, Jaune-Jaune rolled up next to her and blocked a Ursa head on in a charge, and not just one of the more easily breakable ones, an Alpha to boot, an Alpha that she swiftly decapitated because he gave her such an opening. "I know she is your sister Nora, but we need to stop her."
There was a beat of silence as Nora watched said sister then hurl a orb of dark energy toward Pyrrha who rocketed out of the way, allowing an explosive arrow to harmlessly blow up in her face, turning to where it came from, only unable to find Ren as he had leapt back into combat and was sliding under then diving and rolling around other Grimm that hid him from view. "I know, so what's the plan fearless leader?"
"Ruby says she and Weiss are working on something, so we just need time." At that moment Nora instinctively looked up to see a distant gleam way up in space moving towards them, a large grin breaking out over her face.
"I can work with that." Then she ran forward, sliding under a blast of dark Magic, then leaping into a lovely downwards swing of her Axe, an explosion of lighting hitting out of the impact area, cracking the ground. Sure her big sis might have moved, but not even she could pretend the lightning didn't hurt her as she went tumbling across the ground, standing up in a mess of shadows-
-Right as Pyrrha smashed into her from behind, with the full force of Jaune's shield, the man in question having thrown it to her when Nora charged off to attack, it was a basic strategy; Nora was the one with the heavy blows, Pyrrha was fast enough, Jaune was clever enough and Ren was tricky and unpredictable unless you knew him, which the others did very well.
The four of them then stood together next to each other, brothers and sisters in arms, a true group of warriors dedicated to the defeat of the evil before them, Nora knew in her heart that while her sister was certainly not the most benevolent of people, she could not bring herself to call her a villain.
As Salem rose from the dirt, she sent the Grimm around them, leaving just the four of them to face her. "Still you fight little sister? What do you hope to gain? You will die."
Nora's eyes very quickly looked up to the sky, the feeling in her heart that the Hammer was getting closer gave her cause to smile slightly as she answered. "I'm Nora Valkyrie, and I've never lost a fight to beast nor to Fate… and dying has never frightened me."
The glare that she received from Salem would have been enough to send an army running scared, but right now it only hardened the resolve of the four that stood in-front of her. "And what of your mortals? There is always time for you to learn how scary it truly is to die."
Ren couldn't stop the snort that left him, drawing the shocked eyes of Pyrrha, the approving nod of Jaune and the large grin of Nora. "Don't need to learn, been close enough, what about you Cap?"
"I've always been a slow learner; how about you Pyr? You want to show her your fear?" Jaune's eyes didn't leave the threat ahead of him, yet he knew exactly what expression and the thoughts that were going through Pyrrha's head, it was a line from a movie they had all watched together a few days ago.
A grand smile on her face, Pyrrha gave Jaune a smile she knew he would get from the corner of his eyes and then at the top of her lungs she yelled out. "WE HAVE NO FEAR!"
Pyrrha and Jaune then charged forward at different speeds, Ren shot several arrows, and Nora launched herself into the air as all four of them made an attack, Salem caught Jaune's shield bash in one hand and made to strike with her other only to have Pyrrha sweep him away and so she struck air, not before she needed to catch a whole load of arrows, tossing them up at Nora where they all hit her with a large cloud, she even sent a Magic blast directly at the annoying archer, only for that pesky shield to block it, Salem was starting to get very angry at how often these mortals jumped into help each other whenever they could.
BOOOOOOM
The rumble of thunder above her made her look up, to which she then had a fist planted in her stomach from the redhead with apparently no fear, a shield hit her in the bridge of her nose and she glared at the offending figure who had thrown it, watching as he tucked it back on his arms. The Red head clearly geared up for several more strikes, all of the blows being blocked by Salem, right before she had to jump away to avoid and Axe attempting to split her in half. "My dear little sister, I didn't thin-"
An arrow hit her in the mouth and ice spread from it silencing her in a split second, right as that cursed Hammer returned into Nora's hands, a large swing of it smashing into the side of Salem's head and sending her crashing across the battlefield and through more than a few of her Grimm that were still charging the mortals behind her.
"Nice shot Ren!" Nora cheered out as she celebrated her dear friends accuracy, a wide smile stretching over her face, only to be taken off when Salem suddenly came back on a swirl of dark energy, pouncing and taking Nora down to the ground, the Hammer being knocked from her grasp, but she still had the Axe, and so she swung that with all her might missing her target, but she could just-
BAM
OOkay that punch hurt far more than it should of, but Pyrrha was flying over to assist her, the moment she impacted with Salem however Nora was helpless to watch as her friend was blasted by more dark magic that it would seem she could handle, the invincible warrior was dropped to the floor.
"PYRRHA!" Screamed Jaune as he ran over to her side, leaping over Grimm in his path to check on her, Nora then focused her eyes back on Salem as another punch came and knocked her vision for a ride, and the Axe was now out of her grasp, but she could recall it with her-
"Such a lovely weapon, I shall remember you with it when I use it to slice the head off your friends!" Salem grunted out as she snatched it from the air and swung it down at Nora's chest, meaning to cleave her clean in two, had she not grabbed against the Axe and now the two were locked in a battle of strength, one that Nora was starting to lose, her eyes found Ren who was shooting Salem with arrows, bullets, he even threw bomb, but it did nothing so she watched as he ran over to where Jaune and Pyrrha were… if this was to be Nora's last act, her final battle then she was alright with it; it had been a good one, she had bought the others time.
Just as the edge of the Axe pressed against her shirt, Nora poured her strength into resisting the push, just for a second longer to get the image of Ren and her friends burned into her mind.
SMASH
The Hammer knocked Salem off of her, but Nora had not summoned it, instead it was sent to her.
Looking at where it had come from she noticed all three of her friend, teammates, warriors in arms, her family all with one hand of theirs out stretched in her direction, they looked all worse for wear; Pyrrha was bruised, Jaune was tired and Ren was so filled with worry, even as the Hammer then flew back and landed in the grip of all three of them.
The sight of it was enough for Nora to shed a tear of beauty at the thought of them saving her, so often had she been the person that the army's called on to save everyone, to be saved for once… this must be what complete unconditional love must be like.
"I believe this belongs to you." Ren said to her as the three of them then tossed the Hammer back to her, a smile going across her face when she caught it. Something that she had discovered about the Hammer a couple of hundred years ago, it carried with it some of the best qualities of those who had held it, and right now she could feel Jaune's willpower, Pyrrha's spirit and Ren's wisdom. She had never felt better about herself than in this moment, she might have found out who she was, but that learning and development would continue for the rest of her days, and here she learned that her friends were a very strong source of her strength.
"Alright then missy, round two-or is it three? Doesn't matter, let's go again!" Nora jested as she held her Hammer with one hand, summoning the Axe back with the other, a large smile on her face while her friends had her back.
Her foe in question stared at them with barely concealed hatred, the look of fury on her face unquestionable. "I will-"
She was cut off as her eyes flew to the place where Ruby and the others had gone, Jaune's own eye widened in panic and he launched his shield to distract her, but Salem was already in the air and flying away.
"Pyrrha!"
"On it!" The red head took off into the air, yet as she reached Salem the witch in question simply chocked her with one hand, then a might punch sent her crashing back down to Remnant, Nora came in the air from the other side, but it was almost like she expected this and moved out of her way, a powerful blast of dark Magic sending her rocketing to the ground next to Pyrrha, as Jaune and Ren ran over to their friends, the two of them threw and shot their shield and arrows to maybe get her attention again.
Only to have them be grabbed and thrown to the ground by a massive pincer on the largest Deathstalker that Jaune had ever seen, it's stinger was the size of a tank, its legs about three Blake's long and those red eyes were locked right on them with fury.
Nora struggled to her feet and threw her Axe at it, only to have it barely crack the bone-y armour, the Axe then spiralling off into the horde that was moving around it, Ren helped Pyrrha up from the ground as she winced in slight pain, meanwhile Jaune backed up slightly with the rest of his friends.
"Cap?" Ren asked as the four of them looked up at the monstrosity.
Taking in stock how beaten up Pyrrha and Nora looked, also how neither him nor Ren had an option to get there quickly enough, they needed to focus more on what was right in-front of them, if they could help here it would mean all the others needed to deal with was Salem, and if Nora and Pyrrha could make her move with their hit, then Yang can knock her around for a minute if needed. "We can't let this thing get to the Beacon forces, we brought Ruby all the time we could, be we need to focus on saving lives here as well." He pressed his communicator. "Ruby; you got incoming, whatever you're doing, we all believe in you."
Glancing at his team, Jaune raised his shield high and was about to give a battle plan only for Nora to cut in. "GO TEAM JNPR!"
"YES!" Pyrrha cried as she charged alongside her towards the massive Deathstalker, Ren then ran past Jaune peppering it with bullets.
"Guys! Wait for me!"
"Ruby; you got incoming, whatever you're doing, we all believe in you." The words came in on her display and echoed in her ears, even after they went she could still hear them, she looked left at Yang and Blake, both of them looked nervous at her idea, but they seemed resigned to the idea that they would not be able to stop her, and also that this was the best option that they had.
Turning her head to the right she nodded at Weiss as she began her chanting, while Yang and Blake had been fighting that half man half Grimm thing, she and Weiss had been laying out the materials Weiss needed. The Relics as Weiss called them were all placed at different points of the snowflake that Weiss had placed down on the ground, the fifth and final point was where Ruby would be needed to stand.
Putting the Relics on the points was actually a lot easier than what Weiss thought it would be, she expected them to be resistant to what the goals were, or at the very least she expected them to suck either her or Ruby into their plane of existence and test them, but it would seem like they decided not to? Or they couldn't, either way they were all placed, Weiss had the spell book out and ready, she waved Mynaster in a few more symbols to give more access to the Lines around Remnant, this would allow the energy of the universe to flow more easily through her, although she still had some reservations about the conduit she would be using.
A dear friend, a good leader, a genius, Weiss knew that this was what Ruby wished for, but at the same time she had her conflicting thoughts about potentially harming one of those who she had grown so close to, but what choice did they have? They could not use Penny, even though the girl in question had suggested it, for the simple thing, while she might be mechanical in nature and could be described as something… she was someone, capable of thought, of feeling.
They could not use Nora's Hammer, from what she had told Weiss of it, and also her own studies of it as well, the Hammer had some sentience, it had its own method of choosing those that were Worthy.
This left the Arc reactor as the only available source, its power was great, revealing that of the Hammer.
Her Silver energy of her helmets eyes might have stood in-front of her actual eyes, but Weiss could see, and they stood there with passion and determination hidden behind them, but Weiss could see it clear as anything, you just needed to know what to look for. "Ruby, are you ready?"
She nodded. "Hit me."
"Actually I just need you to stand still right there." She gestured at the fifth point with her sword, as she flicked through the book for the appropriate incantation.
"Okay." Ruby said, a slight bit of disappointment sinking into her voice, like she thought she was somehow going to be able to wave her hands around in complicated movements to conduct the spells that only a try master could achieve.
"Do not move, no matter what happens." The unspoken threat of Salem heading towards them was left from her mouth, the fate of all life hung on Ruby and her ability to stay still… oh maidens they were screwed, was it too late for Weiss to pledge loyalty to the other side?
"I can manage that."
Said the poster woman for ADHD, Weiss remembered when she left Ruby alone with a plate of cookies while she was writing a letter to her sister, only to turn and find Ruby was trying to fit one of them up her nose, while she was juggling the others, after having taken apart the oven. "…"
"I don't like the silent judgement." Ruby announced to her friend as Weiss then rolled her eyes, choosing to then float in the air with her legs crossed and ready to begin the spell, Ruby then moved to step into the point when Yang grabbed her by the shoulder, a look of pride and yet sorrow mixed together, right before she gave her a tight hug.
"GAH!"
Blake then joined the hug.
"AGH!"
"You are the greatest of all Humans Ruby Rose, I shall make sure you are remembered." Blake promised as she brushed against Ruby's helmet, her palm patting the side before she pulled away.
Yang then placed both her hands on the sides of her helmet, and Ruby retracted it to look her deep into her own eyes. "Dad and Mum would be so proud of you."
Shutting her helmet again to conceal her tears Ruby was about to step up to the point when the wall broke down and there was the person they were all desperately trying to stop, her blood red eyes scanned the area and focused in on Weiss who while floating there had not yet entered into her trance to start the spell, Salem made to do something but a repulsor beam of Silver power hit her in the face.
"Ruby I need you on that point!"
"Bu-"
"NOW! Trust them to handle it!" Weiss commanded as she noticed the torn looks that Ruby was giving between choosing to complete the spell or help the others out. "Ruby, this is the fate of the universe at stake here." Weiss pleaded with her, and much to her relief the smartest woman on Remnant understood and moved to take her position, a deep breath echoing around her helmet as she stood straight.
"Let's do this bestie."
"I will allow it this one time."
Salem had just picked herself up from the blast of Silver, she had forgotten what pain felt like after all these years, and that power was great, far greater than any she remembered, even her own mothers strength had not been at that level when she was banished, it had the sting of her father's meddling behind it, he did so love his tinkering and his creations, and these mortals were always a fascination of his.
No doubt he would have put some stock into this one, while she could not feel any of his magical essence in the power, it does not mean he did not set this mortal on this path somehow, his meek figure and attitude betrayed a genius underneath that always had a plan… unfortunately he always had a plan to negotiate, to teach, to help, it was never anything nefarious of evil like she would have chosen to enact. Although due to her exile she had taken notes from 'dear old dad', she had waited, she had watched and she had planned, he was about to learn that he shouldn't of taught her much… perhaps she could tell him as such when she removed him from the universe.
"Alright, you want to get to my sister, then you're going to have to go through us." Salem had her eyes drawn over to what was possibly the most mismatched pair of individuals that she has ever laid eyes on, one was blond with long luscious hair, the other had no hair visible, only two dark cat ears on their head. The blond had her face open, showing off a grin that bordered on cocky, her partner was masked, no emotion visible, not a hint, her stance showed someone who was reserved at best. They looked to be the exact opposite of each other in all aspects of personalities, this probably proved to be abilities as well, such division would be easy to make between them; the blond had spoken for the both of them and her silent partner offered no addition to back her up, not coming to her aid at all.
"I shall tear through you, you will be lucky that I am ripping this universe down to its last essence so that nobody will need to miss you for long."
The blond one cocked an eyebrow at this, meanwhile her partner showed no such expression, other than flicking some claws. "Nope."
They met in a clash of colour, Salem's blast of dark Magical energy that had sent the red head one flying and the Captain unable to keep his footing even behind his shield, failed against the charge of the blond, but it allowed Salem to get a grasp of the power she held, her very being was that of completely incomprehensible energy, the stuff should have killed her long ago, yet it saved her… she could feel more beneath the surface, an anger, a pain, that fury she too had felt once before, perhaps bringing this to the surface would be useful right now.
SLASH
"What?!" The energy faltered as her limb dropped to her side, Salem caught the dark one crouched down to her side, those ears on her head twitching, her claws stained with her own dark essence. Further observation of her suit and those claws meant that she was covered in the same Material as the Captain's shield was made from. "You dare?"
Her vision was then taken away from her as it was suddenly filled with the blond from before with the incredible energy, she struck her hard around the face, then again. This forced the two of them further away from where that Sorcerer was conducting the spell, so regaining her focus Salem ducked the next strike and exploded a sphere of energy around her to blast the strong one away.
As Blake watched this she was very quick to dive towards Yang, catching her with her legs then using her new whip attachment that the laboratory had designed for her she launched it back to the ground and using it to catapult the both of them back down towards Salem, Yang giving her a grin right as she twisted to strike.
BAM
Her fist connected in an almighty crash, sending out a shockwave of energy, much like that time Nora convinced Jaune to try a team attack and she swung at his shield, the poor guy was sent flying the first time, but at least Ren told her she needed to signal him for the second.
Speaking of signals, Blake got hers and quickly flipped over Salem's body, slashing at her back quickly to turn her attention there for a split second as Yang then grabbed her around the waist and leapt with her, trying to get her far away from where Ruby and Weiss would be, but while they were in the air Salem kept striking at her where ever she could, and they crashed into the outskirts of the ruined castle, rocks tumbling down upon them as they fell, then once they finally landed the two of them rolled across the ground and away from each other.
Sparing a quick look Yang got to her feet first and flexed her arms, looking back up she could see the black outline that was Blake, she had not realised how much of a tumble the two of them had just taken, however she was glad that Salem had indeed landed on the bottom of the pair, taking the brunt of the damage – even if she was some unkillable god witch thing, she still had to feel a hit like that.
"Ugh, you really think this will stop me?"
Or not. "Oh I'm not gonna be the one to stop you, your gonna have to spend the rest of your existence knowing that the most pompous, woman in the history of Remnant beat you, aided by the smartest woman that has ever lived." Yang quipped before Salem seemed to remember what the actual issue for her was and made to try and fly back up or jump, Yang had no idea what the witch was going to do, but she knew what she was going to do.
Wrapping both hands on her ankles she swung her down like a hammer would to a nail, smashing her into the ground, feeling a nice build of pleasure spring up in her heart as she watched it all happen, it was like a pro-wrestling move, something Yang had always wanted to do.
Not taking this lying down, even though she totally was lying down right now, Yang had to dive roll out of the way as a powerful beam of dark energy flew at her, from a description you would think it is the same as what lovely old Pyrrha shoots out, but actually they were very different. Pyrrha's beam was just that, a straight beam, no flickering or bolts shooting off of it… Salem's was twisted, it has a grove to it, it waved through the air, it had little tails across it that flickered out and dissipated, not to mention from what Yang could tell when she dodged the second one and glance to where the energy had managed to hit they had different results.
This one ruined the area it hit, shattering everything around the impact point, a miniature temper tantrum. Which Yang did acknowledge as a bit rich coming from her where her ultimate move was essentially loosing herself in her great anger she had and letting it take over to control her actions… but she had gotten better at it.
Case and point; she was moving around, not tanking the hits because she could, but avoiding because what if someone was stronger? Not that many were, but there were always exceptions after all.
And the big plus to all this moving-
"I WILL EVICERATE ALL OF YOU!"
-It really pissed off those that she was fighting, she could see now why Blake did this type of fighting.
WHAM
Yang had now gotten close enough to give Salem a strong right around the jaw, and with the two of them being within striking distance again, Yang kept the pressure up; two nice low strikes with her left then right, while the guard was dropped come in with a left roundhouse to the head, moment the foot touched the floor a strong left side kick, bound after and give a flying punch to the nose.
Was she strong? Yes. Powerful? Without question, she commanded an army of monsters and had some magical death beam thing-y. Could she fight? Maybe, but she wasn't a hand-to-hand badass like Yang, in-fact she was willing to bet if her, P-money and the old man got the run of her with either Ren or Blake to back up and provide some distraction then she would be finis-
"AGH!"
A massive concussive blast of that dark magical energy exploded from Salem in a perfect sphere, since Yang was then caught in it she was forced backwards a few feet, sliding across the stoney ground, making twin grooves as she went, she then watched as Salem suddenly flew from the ground into the air.
Unlike before where Yang had managed to catch her in time, she was just too far out of her reach, and the moment that she landed she turned and begun running and jumping to try and get to her before she got to Ruby and Weiss. She could spot Blake as she got closer, she was currently throwing several different purple laced daggers at Salem in an attempt to slow her down, however it didn't look like it was working as she blasted right in, gripping Blake by the throat while she punched her out of the opening to fall the distance.
"BLAKE!" Leaping from where she had grabbed on to Yang caught up and snatched her out of the air, taking the impact on her knees. "Blake say something, please!"
Very groggily the cat queen shook her head and then her amber eyes focused behind her mask on Yang's face. "Ow."
"Good you're okay, come on we have to get back up there." Yang then let Blake take a few wobbly steps, before she seemed to shake herself out of it and was ready again.
Blinking the rest of the pain away, that was for later to deal with, the trap that she set up wouldn't hold Salem for very long. "I wouldn't say I'm okay, but I'm with you."
"Perfect, you can ride me." Yang said without thinking as she scooped Blake up and placed her on her back, already bounding over to the wall and leaping back up it to reach the opening.
"Uh huh." Blake was very thankful for the mask hiding her blush, why did Yang always have to say these things?
As the two of them entered they saw that Blake's trap was on its last leg, she had placed a small pressure box that would secure whoever inside of it, meaning they couldn't escape as it projected a force field of the sacred Material, this did not seem to hinder Salem as it looked like she had been punching at the edges of it as hard as she could and with her monstrous strength it would seem that she had managed to damage it enough to almost escape.
SHATTER
The force field shattered and Blake and Yang were right on Salem, Blake pounced in quickly with a double dropkick across the face, enough to twist her around as Yang came up and hit her in the stomach, wrapping her other hand in Salem's hair to punch with the same hand, this naturally didn't work out so well as Salem opened her mouth to let out a blast of dark magical energy thing-y, Yang really needed a better name for it, she thought absentmindedly as she was flung backwards and smacked into the wall.
In the meantime, Blake dash forward to slash at Salem's eyes, hoping that maybe blinding her would prove to be the best solution, then Yang could pin her down while Weiss could do what she needed to. What she was unprepared for was when she cut right through Salem's eye and was faced with a very damaged skull… that then knitted itself back together again before her, showing now both of her blood red eyes locked on to her.
Without a word Blake had to back flip out of the way of a magic missile, then as Salem was distracted by her, she watched as Yang then tried to come to her aid, only to have black tendrils pull from the ground and hold her in place, Blake barely managed to avoid the ones coming after her but failed the third time.
"Finding my footing in this Realm took longer than I would have liked." She said to herself as she walked away from the two of them, Yang then trying to call out to get her attention.
"You won't win! You can't!"
Salem did not even turn around as she left the two of them behind without a second thought, their attempts to try and manipulate her had amounted to less than nothing.
Taking in the sight ahead of her, Salem let out a scream of rage, managing to draw the eyes of Ruby to her. While the smartest woman in the universe was about to step forward to protect her friend a voice managed to speak into her mind before she could move.
"Ruby stay where you are, I'm almost finished, please!"
The voice of Weiss was begging her in her mind while the real voice continued with its powerful chant, energy flowing around her like something out of a really cool movie, the power that her helmet was ready did not have a number to quantify it alongside.
This did mean that Ruby was also powerless in contrast to all of this energy, as she could only watch and observe as Salem made her way around the back of Weiss, one of her arms becoming a horrible length of pure white, bone-y spear thing, her red eyes were completely locked onto Weiss and Ruby felt her heart skip several beats, if she could get her attention onto her, then it wouldn't matter if she died because the Arc reactor would still be a conduit, but she could not let Weiss die.
"Ruby please, if I have to die… it is okay, the spell will finish, don't save me and not the universe!"
Thinking as hard as she could back at her friend, Ruby hoped it got through to her. "Don't worry, I have a plan."
"Ruby!"
"It's a good plan!"
"HEY! Leave her alone! Unless you want another helping of this!" Ruby yelled out as she raised her hand, the energy crackling at the edge of her palm.
"Ruby Rose, you cannot shoot me, or you will break the spell, you can do nothing to stop me, or you will break the spell, all you can do… is watch as I kill your friend and destroy your only hope of stopping me." Salem responded as she had moved completely behind Weiss' floating form, raising her spear arm and making to thrust it through her. "You have a choice to make here now; which is more important to you? The Fate of Remnant? Or your friend?"
"Ruby it is okay, so long as my friends are okay I don't care what happens to me."
"Well I care about what happens to my friends."
"Ruby please don't make this any harder than it needs to be, a few more seconds is all I need! Think about which you would choose if you were me!"
Thinking quickly, Ruby gave her response to both people asking the question. "You already know which."
"Ruby no!"
Salem had an incomprehensible look upon her face. "I know… but I want to hear you say it, say that your friend should die."
Ruby retracted her mask slowly so she could drag the moment out for a second longer, then she let a small smile go over her face as she looked at Weiss, then locked eyes with Salem. "I choose my friend."
The sudden look of shock on Salem's face was enough of a reward as Salem then realised that moment of shock was what Ruby had been going for all along, before she could even properly do anything about it though, the entire area was overcome with a scream from the throat of Salem as she desperately thrust forward only to be met with a blinding light of Silver energy.
The last thought that Ruby had amidst the entire noise of the situation was that she finally made sure that her life was not wasted.
Her eyes opened to an overwhelmingly bright space, it wasn't completely white it was just very bright, an almost Silver glow to the whole area. Safe to say Ruby was a little bit confused about why she was here in the first place, but then she thought back; the blast of energy, her armour exploding off of her, her Arc reactor shooting that massive Silver beam of energy at Salem, Weiss yelling about her eyes-
-HER FRIENDS!
Scanning the area Ruby could confirm that she was completely alone right now, there was no Yang, no Weiss and no Blake, none of her other teammates were here. If they were not here and she was then that lead Ruby to the only conclusion she could think of.
"I'm dead… and I failed." She sobbed out as the tears fell from her eyes, along with her falling to her knees. If this was to be her afterlife, trapped in the endless nothing then it was a fitting punishment for her as she had failed everyone back home, she had let her family down, all of them.
"Oh and what makes you so sure of either of those things?" Came a voice, Ruby instantly shot up to her feet in fright and searched around the area to find where the voice came from. "Hehe."
"W-who's there?"
This time the voice seemed to echo all around Ruby, instead of just coming as a whisper from behind her, this caused her to turn frantically to find the source of the voice. "I mean you don't know where you are right now, but that doesn't mean you can't make a good guess as to what happened out there; and be honest about it as well, do you really think that the others would 'fail' as you put it?"
Taking deep, long breathes, Ruby closed her eyes and thought to the events in a much clearer light, right before her vision was over taken with Silver brightness; she could see Salem, then the energy struck her… then she was turned into the Silver energy… and then she was gone?
Ruby could remember the screams of Yang, Weiss yelling about her eyes, Blake standing over her and shaking her, the sight of all their faces.
Then nothing.
Just all of their faces in worry, the fear and despair etched clearly onto their features, right then the voice spoke up again as Ruby kept her eyes closed, trying to burn the picture of her friends faces into her mind, if it was her last memory of life, even if it was not a happy one she would at least remember those who mattered the most to her. "So tell me this, now that you have had a good thought about it; did your friends fail?"
Through a small tear rolling down her cheek Ruby allowed her voice to whisper out her answer. "No."
The reply seemed to take an eternity to answer and yet at the same time it came instantly. "And if your friends did not fail, does that mean that you as well succeeded after all?"
Again Ruby kept the picture in her mind of them, studying all the detail she could manage to get from them, the clear blue of Weiss's eye showing her love and the grey of her other showing her endless wisdom, Yang's lilac with the red coming in on the edges showing how strong she always is, Blake's beautiful amber eyes always filled with care for everyone… she even went as far to think of the others, Jaune and his eyes which were such strong, determined sapphire, Nora who had powerful blue like lightning shaped as hearts, Pyrrha's emerald eyes that were out of this world and Ren who had a deep pink that was as stoic and grounded as he was.
"Yes." She finally answered, then she opened them in shock as Ruby felt a hand fall onto her shoulder, her heart sounding loudly in her ears as she saw for the first time since she could ever remember, her mother.
"Hello my little Rose, look how much you've grown." Her hand ran through Ruby's short hair, her fingers dancing around the dyed red ends for a moment. "You've grown so beautiful, I'm so proud of you."
"M-mum?"
"I don't have much tim-oof!" Summer Rose was cut off as her daughter cannonballed right into her, wrapping her in the tightest of all hugs she could manage, a hug she was more than happy to return with full force. "I have missed you so much my child."
Ruby could barely speak though the tears, yet she brought her eyes to open to look at her, Silver meeting Silver. "M-me too mum."
"I am sorry to have left you in such a short time Ruby, I tried everything I could to fight that sickness, but time waits for no-one, and it was my time." The sliver space around them turned gold very briefly as Summer looked around it and then sighed. "And it seems someone is running out of patience's as we speak right now."
Cupping her daughters face in both hands, Summer gave her a big smile, one which Ruby couldn't help to return with her own smile. "Ruby, listen to me very carefully; I have made a lot of things over the years, inventions, mistakes, tons upon tons of both put together, but through it all, my greatest creation has always been and will always be, you."
"Mum-"
"You have not failed my little Rose, you still have one more challenge ahead of you, one I know you can complete."
"Mum am I dead?"
"You tell me."
There was a moment of silence as Ruby then thought about all of what she had seen, all that was happening right now. "Mum, will I ever see you again?"
"One day soon, we will be together forever, you, me, Tai and Yang. A proper family."
That sounded like the day Ruby had been waiting for, but what about her other family? Almost like she could hear her very thoughts, her mum smiled and it was a radiant thing to see. "I knew it."
Now Ruby was slightly confused. "Knew what? Mu-"
"Say hello to Yang my little Rose; now just be yourself."
All of the Silver around the space suddenly turned a brilliant golden colour forcing Ruby to have to close her eyes in shock, she wasn't so sure if she could get blinded by what was happening around her, but she was pretty sure that it hurt her eyes, when she opened them she was not looking at her mum this time, instead she was stood in a simple room; it looked like a kitchen with nice cream coloured walls, a hardwood floor and a little island in the middle of it.
There was a large glass door that led out to a wooden patio, along with some small steps that went to a grassy garden, all of that seemed to be quite unusual, however that paled in comparison to the figure that was stood in the middle of the garden. He looked to be around two Jaune's and half a Weiss high, and then he was about three Pyrrha's wide, maybe add a Blake on the end of it.
He was a big dude.
Also he had antlers on his head, and he was surrounded by four glowing blue people, who when they saw Ruby all disappeared in an instant, there was no fade out of existences, no portal that opened.
One moment they were there and the next gone.
"Ruby Rose, a pleasure to meet you." The golden man spoke with a soft but deep voice, it felt like when her old headteacher from the school she went to talked to her, although come to think of it he looked a lot like Ozpin with a full white beard.
Swallowing the lump in her throat and raising a hand awkwardly, as she was unsure what to do, the golden guy didn't even turn around to address her, he just kept staring at the sky. "Um hi?" A sky that Ruby now observed to be completely dark space, yet it had planets, stars, comets all flying around, a super nova, a black hole, it was filled with everything an astronomer could love.
A warm chuckle entered her ears as Ruby then shot her eyes to the golden guy, away from the sky, although it was mesmerising beyond belief. "Hehe, exactly as your father said you would be."
"Dad? Is he-" Ruby had then instantly started to search the area for her dad, excited to see him again, unfortunately the golden guy cut her off before she could continue the question.
Still not facing Ruby, yet a hand was raised which cut off her speech before she knew it, from some instinct within her, she could sense the smile on the face of the antler dude. "He is where he is, with your mother, they both wait for you."
Stepping closer, waiting to see if she would eventually get to see the face that went with the gold and the antlers. "Where do they wait?" Her voice came out a little fainter than she would have liked and she decided to clear her throat, hopefully to sound more confident; seriously how did Blake, Weiss, Jaune and Ren do it?
Finally the golden antler person turned to Ruby, and she saw that there was no face. "Young Rose, always looking to the horizon, so focused on the path ahead of you, would you like to go to them right now instead of being where you are?" The faceless golden god waved his hand to the space out there and Ruby was almost taken back in by the sights, but brought her focus right back to them instead.
"Where am I?" She looked where she imagined the eyes to be, and for a moment they just stared at each other in silence, until the golden guy broke it.
"A very good question."
More silence followed the non-answer, causing Ruby to then ask another question to see if she can get a straight answer out of this being. "…Are you going to answer it?"
If the eyes of a faceless being could widen, then Ruby was pretty sure that she had seen this golden one attempt to do so, until they just turned around, to give the answer, which left Ruby even more confused with him than before. "I was hoping you would tell me where you are, and also what you plan to do."
She took a moment to respond, and then the thoughts of despair entered her mind. "What can I do, my friends succeeded, the plan worked, I'm… gone, but so is Salem I think-"
"You think?"
"-I know." She suddenly confirmed as she thought upon the events, seeing Salem turned into pure Silver light energy, Ruby just knew that deep down in her heart she was gone.
"Yes, the danger has been averted this time, but what about the next?"
"The next?" Ruby was stiff as she processed the idea that there would be more danger to come, this fight with all the Grimm, that half Grimm half man thing, the brief fight with Salem, that seemed like the end all be all of battles, but there was another? More danger to come? But what could she do?
"Yes, a heroes work is never done after all, but I'm sure those others can handle it right?"
Silence was the answer to that question, as the golden guy turned away from Ruby, leaving her to just look at his back, then her eyes fell to the floor as she processed the thoughts going around in her head.
"Anyway, your parents are this way, so simply follow and you can have the day you've waited for-"
"Nope."
One word uttered with such certainty, such power in her voice. What Ruby was unable to perceive at this moment was the pride that Light was feeling in her at this moment. "Nope?" There was no edge to his voice, no test there, just wanting to confirm that he had heard the answer.
The small human looked up at the golden guy, Ruby squared her shoulders as she then spoke. "If there is more danger to come, then I will be with my family."
"Which is exactly what I am offering."
Shaking her head Ruby cast a glance to where the offering hand was pointed out, her eyes blinking in that direction for a moment before returning to gold. "Not all of my family, and not the family that needs me the most… I want to, I want to more than anything, but I can't."
"Why not? Why not do something for yourself for once? Why help people out all the time?"
She understood now why Jaune got a little annoyed why people would always ask him why he would always choose to fight for others, because she can remember being asked this question a few times by interviewers; why sink so much money and time into projects when weapons would make her more money, why use what little time you have left on Remnant to fly around in a metal suit and play hero? The answer was so simple it was honestly mind boggling that anyone would question her about it.
"Would you rather I didn't? Would you rather I only did things only for myself? Leave everyone to fend for themselves as I selfishly got the wish I thought… I always wanted? That I THOUGHT I wanted." Ruby whispers the last part out again to herself. "I want to help people, and I want to do it with my team, with my friends, with the people I love the most, with my family, I want to do it together with them."
"That is what your mother said you would choose to do."
There was a loud click and all of a sudden the scenery changed as Ruby felt her eyes roll back in her head, then she felt a lot of pain, more than when that explosion had shot shrapnel into her chest, more than when she had crashed after her first flight, more than when she had almost blown herself up by testing her first repulsor.
"-Y! Ruby wake up please!" Yelled a voice that sounded exactly like her sister, and as her eyes came around to the sight she could just about make out the yellow of her hair and the lilac of her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks as she gently held Ruby in her arms.
"Yang she's alive!" Blake cried out beside her, Yang then focusing close on her face and even more tears coming through, this time in happiness as she gave a cheerful sob.
Weiss and Blake then came into view as they too also wrapped her up in a big hug, which normally would have been brilliant, however Ruby struggled to breathe, and then she panicked when that struggle became a lot harder, along with the sudden struggle to remain conscious, something that Weiss instantly noticed.
"Yang let her go, she is dying!"
Instantly doing as Weiss said she placed down her sister on the ground and Weiss got to work, sounding into her communicator as she tried to make a portal to the Bullhead, yet the look of horror on her face when it didn't work quickly changed in to desperation until Blake tapped her communicator. "Penny, Pyrrha I need you both at the main structure now, Ruby is dying!"
Within seconds both of them were flying through the open roof, a look of grim determination going across Pyrrha's face while Penny had one of laser focus, her eyes scanning and lighting up with intensity. "I have downloaded everything there is to know about surgery, I am medical ready!"
Shoving aside the thought that her magic might not be working for her right now as she had expended a lot of energy to shut down the portal and complete the spell, Weiss still had her mind, a far more powerful source "Pyrrha bring the Bullhead over to us now, and then push us back to the manor, while I know it was in the back of Ruby's mind, she had stuff there to save herself." The red head gave a nod, she was then off like a rocket and then the Bullhead was moving quickly through the air towards her. "Blake I need that material, Penny you are my eyes and hands, I can't anymore, you just have my knowledge."
Yang looked worried beyond belief, but she still placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder while the other held Ruby's hand. "It will be enough."