Author's Notes:
-Greetings my dear readers. Looks like we're back to the season of spooks and scares! Of tricks and treats. And... well, you get the idea. Happy Halloween my readers! Here's to candy, pranks and all things horror! And for once there actually is horror, even if only a little, for this chapter.
Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!
Ruby stood before her superior and cohort. Her friends and teammates stood on the opposite side of the civilian crowd.
"So let me see if I have this right;" Captain Odell began. "You lied to me, to my nephew Chrysaor, and by extension the other crew mates, by saying that you had a year's worth of nautical experience. You stayed up late for countless nights losing sleep trying to learn the ropes, vocabulary and functions of the ship, among other things, worked yourself to the bone, and created a false resume, just so that you and your teammates could have a place on the ship?"
"That's exactly it. I..." Ruby faltered. "I wanted to help my friends. I didn't want them to be worried about me. I wanted them to secure the last room. I won't lie, sometimes I've felt like the fifth wheel during our travels. I know now that's not true. I knew it wasn't true when Nora tried to raise my spirits before we departed. I wasn't clearly thinking back then." Some of the civilians gave her skeptical looks. "I wasn't trying to be a freeloader. I really wasn't. I just thought that there wasn't any room for me, and then Matte Skye got terribly sick and... I panicked. I thought I could help everyone. I thought I could handle it. I knew I wasn't ready or even worthy of the job, but all I could think about was helping everyone out. I realize now that not only am I not the right person for this job, I don't deserve the position that I was given.
"Not to mention that this ship was recently attacked by a Grimm. And not just any Grimm. A creature called the Sea Feilong. I remembered hearing stories about this creature from my mother, history books and many others. All of them said the same thing; that the Feilong had gone extinct. And yet, somehow, it had made a reappearance for the first time in over a hundred years. Maybe even longer, and... I fear that it attacked this ship because of me. I lied and hid my emotions for weeks on end, and I've put everyone in terrible danger because of it. I don't deserve the honor I've been given." With tears stinging her eyes, she took the Honorary First Mate badge off her shirt and held it out to her boss before putting it into his hand. "I resign."
Chrysaor looked at Ruby. "You're... you're quitting?"
"I am. I suppose I should also pack my things and move to the floor of my team's suite."
Ruby put her hood up, hoping to hide her tears. She was about to walk away, before the captain called out, "Ruby, wait!" She turned around to him. "You don't have to do that."
She sniffed. "I don't?"
"She doesn't?" Chrysaor asked.
"No, she doesn't." the captain affirmed.
A woman scoffed at this notion. "Don't you believe she deserves some kind of punishment?"
"Normally yes, but the way she has treated herself over the past few weeks and her resignation is more of a punishment than anything I could ever give her." Odell reasoned. "Not to mention I want to help heal her emotional wounds to prevent another occurrence like this from happening again. I don't know if there are any more of those sea snakes or other great beasts lurking within these waters, but I'm not taking any chances."
Chrysaor then asked, "But if Ruby is resigning, then who will take the mantle of First Mate?"
"You are, if you're willing."
He blinked, not as terrified as he was before, but still nervous. "Me? But I haven't finished my training yet."
"That may be true, but I am aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a sailor and can help you to address them. We only have two weeks left in our trip. Not to mention that with the damage done to the ship, the return trip to Omega will be delayed by weeks, if not months. Furthermore, you and Ruby saved us all. Ruby weakened the beast enough to get the heavy cannon fired at it, and you took the helm after my fall while also firing one of the finishing blows to the beast. I know you haven't been on this ship long, and that you've been trying to find yourself while here, but I'd say that you have done more than enough to prove yourself." He handed his nephew the badge Ruby had given him. "Will you accept?"
Chrysaor nodded. "I accept." He pinned the badge to his black and yellow shirt. "Thank you, Uncle."
"You're welcome." He shivered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get into some dry clothes before I catch a cold."
Realizing he was getting colder, Ren quickly said, "I should probably do the same."
Ren and Odell left to their respective rooms to change into warm clothes and perhaps even a warm shower. Chrysaor left to man the wheel and get back on course. Most of the civilians went back down below deck. Some went to the tiki bar for drinks to soothe their nerves. Ruby stared out into the open sea.
Pyrrha placed her hand on her teammate's shoulder. "You alright?"
"How is this possible? The Sea Feilong being in existence?" Ruby questioned. "Even though I defeated it with some assistance from my friends, I still can't help but think that something is horribly wrong. At one point it was believed that there were ten of them. At one point, that number had been reduced to five. There were thought to be none left, but at least one showed up and nearly destroyed us. And if that one came to us, then... are there others that lurk within the water? If so, where are they?"
"Well, if there are others, hopefully they're far enough away that they won't attack again." she answered.
"No one knows where the Grimm come from. But that amulet... that Tyrian possessed." An image of the artifact came to mind. "Is it... possible that someone or something is making them?"
Pyrrha gave her a sad look. "Honestly, I don't know. That is a possibility. A very frightening one, but I don't believe dwelling on it very long will do us any good. Perhaps a virgin drink or mocktail Pina Colada will soothe your nerves? I know you really like those kinds of drinks."
"Maybe." The silver-eyed girl raised an eyebrow. "Wait, how do you know about that?"
"Ren told us everything." Jaune confessed.
Ruby gave a resigned smile. "Of course he did. Still, it would be nice."
The trio went to the bar, Ruby breathing in and out a few times to soothe herself. And with that, the image of Ruby faded from Salem's sight.
"Well, it was fun while it lasted." Salem said. "At least a few good things have happened today."
Meanwhile, the spy she kidnapped earlier started to awake from her slumber. She soon found that she was tied by her ankles, her wrists and her arms. She tried to escape, but to no avail.
"Struggle all you want, but your efforts are futile." Salem told her.
"Where am I?! Who are you?!" she asked in a panic. "And how did I get here?"
The witch laughed. "You'll learn soon enough."
The spy turned her head and looked out the window, seeing the eternal red and black sky. She then saw several Beowolves emerging from a pool of Grimm essence. She turned to her captor in dread. She then asked her question, horrified by the answer she was about to receive. "Is this... where the Grimm come from?"
"Indeed it is, my little spy. This is the Land of Darkness, a domain I have ruled over long before your birth."
She shivered. "Are you... going to feed me to them?"
The Grimm goddess was displeased with her response. "If I wanted to feed you to the Grimm, I would have left you somewhere else. No Spider, I have plans for you."
'Spider' as she was now christened, looked horrified. The witch lifted her hand, causing her to be lifted up from the ground. Using her telekinesis, she opened the door and let the new prisoner trail behind her.
Within her room, Cinder smirked.
The duo traveled down the stairs to the very bottom floor of Evernight Castle. After traveling down several floors of stairs, they reached a room lit by blue torches and dark walls. There were several cells in the room each with thick metal bars. The prisoner looked into the cells; some had piles of ash and dust. Some had skeletons. Some all sorts of horrifying things.
Spider felt her blood turn cold. She was levitated and slammed into a cell. The door was forced shut with magic and metal pieces attached to the door as the bindings around the prisoner disappeared.
"I will admit, I'm looking forward to this experimentation. But I know another individual who will be quite pleased. She likely already knows, but just in case she doesn't..." Salem conjured a pen and paper, levitating it to write a message. Once the message was written, she telekinetically folded it into an airplane and sent it away. The witch turned back to her prisoner with a smirk on her face. "This is going to be fun..."
Spider was on the verge of crying and throwing up. "Oh no..."
Minutes later, Cinder walked through the halls, pondering to herself. Well, I finished chapter 43 of that stupid book Slave to the Sword. Only seven more to go. Hopefully whatever Salem called me for is more entertaining. Hopefully it involves the new prisoner.
She descended down and stood within the dungeon, Spider chained to the wall. Cinder smirked.
"Oh no no no no no..."
The camera cut out as a high-pitched scream was heard.
Back at the Xiao-Long/Rose home, Yang continued her training.
Taiyang Xiao Long took a swing at Yang with his left hand, but she easily blocked it with her robotic wrist, pushing his hand away from her. The interplay repeated with his right and her left, only this time Yang used the momentum to turn and come back at her father with a roundhouse kick. Taiyang bent backwards to dodge it, his legs in a lunge. Yang advanced, trying to knock him down, only for him to jump back and regain his footing. Once he had done so, he gave his daughter a solid punch, pushing her back a few feet.
Zwei watched the two spar, panting happily. Beside him was a low stool with two white towels. His head changes angles, oscillating to the sounds of grunts and contact. Abruptly he held his head straight and made a noise of surprise.
Taiyang stood alone, moving forward with his own roundhouse kick. Yang joined both hands atop each other to block Tai's landing foot. With a loud cry, she pushed it up and back away from her. Taiyang regained his footing in a flip as Yang waited for his landing. Using her robotic arm, she knocked him back with a single hit.
Holding onto his right bicep, Tai slid through the dirt, his feet flat on the ground until he came to a stop. "Whoa, that thing packs a punch!"
"We've been at this for quite a while. I get it, you wanna make sure I can still fight." She bumped her fists. "I think I'm doing just fine."
"You're close, but you're still off balance."
He stood upright, no longer nursing his arm. Walking around his daughter in a circle, he assessed her progress.
"What?! No I'm not!" Yang retorted.
Taiyang chuckled before his daughter continued, "Honestly, I'm kind of surprised." She lifted her robotic arm, looking down at it with a smile. "I thought it would be just this huge weight, but it feels... natural. They did a great job with this thing and I can't thank Ironwood enough for giving it to me."
Tai came in, delivering a left hook right into her face. Yang's upper body was knocked back both from impact and surprise. But she was ready to block his right hook, and used the turning momentum to deliver an elbow jab. Grinning the entire time, Tai blocked it and then dodged every kick she followed through with. Yang switched to punches, but Tai was too on point for her. She used her left hand to block an elbow thrust, and countered, grasping her robotic arm and pulling it forward.
The position put Yang in the position of having to rely on her left leg to keep her balance.
"I wasn't talking about your actual balance." Taiyang told her. He swept her forward leg, sending her onto the ground on her back. He left her there, walking over to Zwei, who happily got the top towel for him. "Although, that could use some work too."
Taiyang took the towel and gave Zwei a rub on the top of his head. Zwei hummed happily to himself. Her arms spread on the ground, Yang took a breath before speaking.
"In the words of Weiss Schnee, 'What's that supposed to mean?'"
Taiyang wiped off his sweat with the towel. "I saw your tournament fights. During the Vytal Festival."
Yang gave an indignant frown. "Let me guess." She mocked his accent. "'I was sloppy.'"
"No, you were predictable. And... stubborn. And... maybe a little boneheaded." Yang sat up and spun herself around to stare at her father. "Do you realize that you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?"
Yang spun herself to turn her back to him. "So what? How is me using my Semblance any different than someone else using theirs?"
Tossing the towel on the ground, Taiyang moved towards her.
"Because not everyone else's is basically a temper tantrum." He crouched by her side. "Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard, but that doesn't make you invincible! It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens if you miss? What happens if they're stronger? What then? Now you're just weak and tired! You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or, well, I remember your first haircut."
He playfully tugged the hair on the back of her head. Smiling, Yang batted him away. He chuckled and got up, walking away a few paces with Zwei just behind him.
"But you gotta keep your emotions in check." Her father reminded her. "Keep a level head, and think before you act. Your Semblance is a great fallback, but you can't let yourself rely on it. It won't always save you." He lowered his head, sadness creeping into his tone. "Obviously. You definitely have your mom's stubbornness.
Taiyang faced one of the trees, not looking at Yang. Between the two of them, Zwei moved his head back and forth as each person spoke.
Yang asked, "So what do you know about her? I know I've been told bits and pieces, but I've never gotten the whole story."
Taiyang sighed, not speaking for a moment. "Your mother was... a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore our team apart. It did a real number on our family. Then again, she warned me that she was not 'marriage material'. Nor did she think herself suitable to be a mom. I wanted so badly to believe we could make it work, but I realize now that I was a fool."
The blonde brawler rising looked sad at this revelation. "If... Raven never wanted me, then... why did she have me? Why didn't she..."
"Have an abortion?" Tai finished. Yang sadly nodded. "I know it may seem hard to believe, but Raven did have some morals. She had a respect for life. She was conflicted, being raised as a member of the Branwen Tribe. But I wouldn't know the truth about where she and Qrow came from until after she left. She never fully explained her reasons for leaving, only saying that something had happened, forcing her to come back. She was here for thirteen days after your birth, and then... she vanished. Never to be seen again."
She toweled off her sweat. "Well, I... I saw her... Once."
Her father blinked. "You did? When?"
Yang told her father about the brief encounter with her; the courtyard of Beacon Academy in the dead of night.
"She told me if I want answers, that I would have to seek her out myself."
Taiyang faltered. "Do you... want those answers?"
Yang was conflicted. "I do. But I also want to find my sister."
"I think I know a way that might help you to achieve both."
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Come inside and I'll tell you."
The two stepped inside and Yang got herself some water as her father spoke, "Her semblance is Kindred Link. It allows her to form portals to those she has emotionally bonded herself with. In some cases, she has forged connections to those she has little attachment to, but it costs her more aura. She has at least a few bonds that I know of; me, Qrow, Summer and you. It does not matter if the person has been emotionally distant to her, or vice-versa or even if she hates the target in question. As long as they're alive, she can teleport to them. By this point, Qrow should have caught up to Ruby and her friends, and if you can convince her to take you to Qrow, you should be able to find Ruby."
Yang blinked as she finished her water. "Wow, that sounds like a really handy semblance to have."
"Indeed, but like most semblances, it has its downsides."
The blonde brawler rising again turned away, thinking of how she previously misused her semblance against Mercury and Adam.
I guess you're right...
A messenger was shown running through the forests as the sun set over the land. She was wearing the same outfit she wore while she was previously in Mistral; ivy green jeans, forest green turtleneck and lime green tennis shoes. Her blue headband, backpack and ponytail were also present, as well as the green satchel she had acquired on her journeys.
Well, I've been all over the world. the emotionless messenger thought to herself. Almost. I've been through Vale, to Mistral, to Atlas and now I am back to Mistral again. The only places I haven't been are Vacuo and Menagerie, but the former might be too dangerous, even for me. Menagerie could be a really good opportunity for me. I may not feel any emotion, but I know the Mistralian council members are not going to like hearing of Brianna Braith's death. And if it weren't for the fact that I have no emotion, I would find her rotting corpse and death to be disturbing. It is somewhat unfortunate that I had to see that on my way to Mistral to deliver those other letters.
Emerald Arc slowed to a stop, breathing as she went forward.
126 days I have been doing this. While there have been a few times my semblance hasn't been activated (such as when I am in a city or other Grimm-free area), I have been noticing numerous effects when my semblance is activated and used for long periods of time. I feel as though I am becoming smarter, but after using it for weeks at a time on end, I notice that it is becoming more difficult at times to reactivate my emotions, taking anywhere from thirty seconds to a minute after extended periods of emotionlessness. The longest record so far has been 55 days. Nearly two months.
I will admit, having all these bank accounts that send the money to my home after certain periods of time works well. My family gets the money they need bit by bit, and I don't have a huge rich-person target on my bank. Albeit now that I think about them, I am curious as to how my parents and siblings are doing. They are likely doing well. I would hope so anyway. At least, that's what my emotion-filled self would say. For now however, I have a mission. Get to Mistral as fast as you can.
As night had fallen over Mistral, Oscar found himself wearing a small pair of grey pajama shorts and a thin orange top. He looked beaten and worn out.
Dang it's been a long day. Oscar thought to himself. At least I finally found where my pajamas had gone.
Oscar...
You're not real. Oscar thought. I'm just insane.
The farmhand climbed into bed and threw the covers over himself, ignoring Ozpin. Or as he called him, the voice in his head.
Ozpin sighed quietly, with Oscar paying little attention.
I didn't want to have to do this, but it seems I may not have a choice. Ozpin thought.
Oscar felt a small buzzing in his head. He tried to ignore it, turning on his side.
He breathed in, thinking, It's just stress. It's just a hallucination. The voice has no power over you.
Keeping his eyes closed, he grabbed another blanket and threw it around himself. A montage was shown of him tossing and turning. A soft groan was heard as sleep finally came to him. There was a flash of green around him before everything faded to black.