Imu Chapter 11: Wearing a Mask, a rwby fanfic

…

5 years earlier

Pharos Academy served the Kingdom of Mistral as a primary school in every manner, as they'd been doing for quite a number of years. Every student who needed education and guidance into their futures passed through the doors of Pharos at some point or another, but not all of these would go on to become Huntsman. The fact of the matter is that not everyone is cut out for a life of war and combat. As a result Pharos, much like Signal and every other primary school on Remnant, offered classes that fell outside the realm of fighting. They were recommended but never required; any student who wanted to try them out was free to do so.

13-year-old Adrian started his career in Pharos Academy by taking their theater class. His teacher was a man called Bill Spears.

"I will give them knowledge of themselves and their world," said Adrian. He kept his voice low, raspy and with a hint of laughter. He also made sure to move with a slight twitch of his neck. "So they can comprehend life and death, and thus they will also know fear."

His partner in the act, another young man whose name he'd since forgotten, replied with his best attempt at a voice of authority, brow held high, "And I will give them free will, the power to decide what to do with that knowledge and choose their own place in the world."

And so it went, Adrian and the other boy acting out the story of The Two Brothers for the rest of the class. Mr Spears played the role of the narrator, but often he had to remind himself to pay attention; the acting of one of the two boys was hard to ignore. Later, after class that same day, he pulled Adrian aside and said, "Young man, have you ever considered going into a full-time acting career?"

Adrian shook his head, "I'm going to become a Huntsman."

Mr Spears replied with a nod, "And more power to you. It's just… I've been doing this job for two decades and I've never seen anyone your age slip into a role like that. You seem to have an instinct for method acting that I've only ever seen in experienced stage actors. I'm honestly impressed."

"Method acting?"

"It's a term that means when… uh… when you basically become the role you're playing. You slip into the characters mindset so entirely that you almost forget who you were before."

Adrian scratched his neck, "…I call that 'wearing a mask.' I do it all the time, usually when the stress gets to me and I don't wanna freak out."

"Ah," said Mr Spears. The older man patted him on the shoulder and said, "Well I can safely say it is an impressive gift. You played the God of Darkness as though you were channeling His spirit directly. Even the other students backed away from you when you started saying His lines."

Adrian gave an awkward smile, "Thank you, sir."

"Now then, I wouldn't dream of telling you to abandon your chosen path, but please keep my words in mind: I genuinely believe you have a brilliant future in stage performance if you ever wish to pursue it. Don't be too quick to throw it aside."

His smile faded. "I'll… try."

…

Present

The very first thing he did was run away.

The creature that answered to the name Rusty seemed okay with him leaving, as their meeting wasn't all that vital. Apparently. Misty was the only one who seemed annoyed. At least she agreed to keep an eye on Laz, although the poor thing really didn't want him to let her go.

Granted, he had the perfect excuse; he needed Doc to get these stupid casts off. Of course Adrian wanted his hands back for day-to-day living… and for going to the men's room by himself for the love of the gods… but BOYdid he have a new reason to want his primary weapons ready to go again.

Doc seemed curious about what was bothering him while cutting into the plaster, but the man could also tell when not to pry. Adrian was clearly tense, a fact made all the more clear when the casts finally peeled away to reveal his fully-restored hands uncontrollably shaking.

"What in the world…?" said Doc as he looked at them. "Those weren't there before, were they?"

As Adrian looked down at his wrinkled hands, a new detail did, indeed, stand out to him… although he had to hold them down on a table to get a good look with all the shaking. All 10 of his knuckles, thumb included, now bore patches of calloused skin that appeared… clear. Almost like they were made of glass, but embedded into his skin. A quick tap revealed that they still registered the sensation of touch, but they were also thick. Not to the level of armor plating, but still. At least he couldn't see any bones.

On a whim, Adrian pushed a bit of his Aura into his hands as per his normal method of using his Semblance. The glass-like spots began to glow from the inside with a pale, blue-gray light. He put a bit more into them and the light grew brighter. It was honestly pretty cool. "Whoa…"

"Now that's new," said Doc with a clear note of amazement. "I never thought I'd see the day when someone's Aura manifested as a visible light. At least not without pushing it to their maximum output." He held Adrian's hands close, studying the clear spots. "You seem to enjoy doing the impossible, don't you?"

Adrian gave as nonchalant of a shrug as he could manage, "As long as they do the job, I don't usually worry about the why or the how." In the back of his mind, he was quite curious how these spots would look when he used his new power again. They only sparked before… what would happen now?

Doctor Ren let his hands go and returned to Adrian's paperwork to fill in the rest of it. As he wrote, he said, "Any thoughts on what you want to call this new ability of yours?"

"Not really no. I, uh… I've had other things on my mind."

"I see," Doc paused, then said, "Is it something I may be able to help with?"

"No."

The tall man looked into Adrian's eyes, his own filled with worry. "You're sure?"

Adrian looked right back. "Yes."

"Very well," Doc nodded as he put away Adrian's files. He went back into a more professional mood as he finished giving Adrian a rundown of the usual medical stuff – don't fight for at least 24 hours to make sure you're fully healed, keep your Aura at a healthy level, get a good sleep, yada yada. If he held any concern for what was worrying Adrian, he hid it quite well.

Or he already knows that I know and just wants to watch me to suffer-

Adrian sighed internally. Doc was one of the good guys. He didn't deserve this kind of doubt.

…Is he, though? Is anybody really good anymore?

After finishing up, Adrian stood outside the clinic and fought with his own mind for a few minutes. He went back and forth many times, and almost all his thoughts centered around the new, horrifying truth of the world he'd uncovered last night.

The Imu were replacing humanity. And if this morning was any indication, they were DAMN good at it.

Everything about Rusty's behavior, his movements, his manner of speaking, it was all perfectly the same as before. Good enough that a small part of Adrian's mind rebelled at the truth of his memories, insisting that he was going crazy and that nothing was wrong.

The rest of him knew exactly what that line on Rusty's back represented. He also understood what happened the James the Dead Waiter now, especially taking into consideration what the man himself had said in the cafe a few days later to him and Ashens; his own Imu had just died right before Adrian and Opal found the body.

The line on James' back told a very different story now. It was James that actually died; his Imu was fine.

And probably walking around in broad daylight even now, wearing the dead man's skin like a goddamn onesie.

"You okay bud?"

The voice that belonged to Rusty pulled him out of his thoughts with a jolt. He didn't even notice how long he'd been standing in the road thinking to himself, but it must've been a while. Adrian immediately knew that if he started shaking around the man who was not a man anymore, he'd be found out.

As the imposing figure approached, Adrian quickly created a new mask… of himself.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said in a relaxed voice. He yawned and scratched his head, "Didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Just tired." Against all reason, his hands did not betray his nerves, but he kept them in his pockets anyway to distract from his shiny new knuckles.

Rusty grinned and gave his belly a rub. "Sleep is important for someone yer age, I say. Can't have yer girl jacking you off into the wee hours all the time, can ya?"

Adrian scoffed, "I could take that as a challenge, you know."

Rusty paused for half a second before laughing uproariously. If Adrian hadn't been looking for that pause, he'd have missed it. The old Rusty would have been laughing before Adrian's sentence was even complete. Even Jimmy the Waiter paused like that, now that he thought about it. Was that an Imu thing?

The big man took a moment to get his breath back before saying, "By the way… your Imu…"

Adrian felt himself tense up, but he pushed it back down. "Laz? What about her?"

"I think she mighta been runnin loose last night. I heard barkin outside my window and I'm pretty sure it was her, though a bit too dark to tell."

That drove away the last of his doubts. The real Rusty was dead long before Laz made any noise. The only creature that knew she'd been out there at all… was Ebb.

Adrian rubbed the back of his neck with both hands and looked up, groaning lightly. "If Misty finds out Laz got loose, I'm the one who's gonna pay for it. Listen, let's keep that between us, okay?"

Rusty chuckled and put both hands up, "Hey, no worries. S'just a bit weird for an Imu to get away from her owner like that. They usually wanna stay as close as possible all the time-"

"I'm not her owner," Adrian replied a bit too quickly.

Rusty paused again, this time for noticeably longer. Finally he said, "If you say so. Just take care of her, will ya? These darlins don't last forever."

Adrian crossed his arms, trying to look serious. "The way I hear it, nothing lasts forever."

Another half-second pause. Rusty smiled in a way that made Adrian's skin crawl, "Fair enough." He said nothing more as he turned to leave, that line on his back proudly standing out in the morning sunlight.

No… the scar on his back. That's what it really was.

The place where a demon ripped him out of his own skin, then crawled inside it and somehow closed up the hole afterwards. Adrian didn't need to see that part. He didn't want to see that part. It was enough to look at the man with the Grimm tattoos on his arms and to know that what lurked beneath was as far from human as you could get.

Eventually the rest of team MOCA found him standing there, Laz sitting comfortably in Misty's arms right where he left her. The blue-eyed Imu didn't seem as agitated as she was when they first approached Rusty. As far as Adrian was concerned, that was a clear indicator that Misty was alright. That she wasn't one of them.

Why the hell are you judging people based on how one of those monsters reacts? For all you know she could be playing their game, trying to get you to trust the wrong person-

Not Laz. Every single thing the tiny creature had done until now had carried no trace of malice. Neither Laz nor Misty was a monster in disguise. He had to believe that.

If not for his scar, you'd say the same thing about Rusty.

Rusty was dead. Adrian had seen him die with his own eyes.

Did you really, though?

Without a word, Misty walked up and put Laz up against Adrian's chest; he grabbed hold of her almost by instinct, finally able to feel her fur with his own skin. It wasn't the softest in the world, but it also wasn't too rough. In fact, it felt a lot like short, human hair that needed a good shampooing. Laz looked up at him and made a pleased sound in her throat before licking his digits.

If this was a monster hell-bent on replacing Adrian, then the entire world was doomed.

Isn't it, though?

His mental back-and-forth continued until Misty dragged him back to their shared room at the Inn, looking worried about how he was acting. It was there, holding Laz in his arms and still seeing that horrifying image of Ebb when he closed his eyes, Adrian Arc made the most important decision of his life:

He lied.

He simply said that dream from last night was still bothering him, but that he'd be alright. He couldn't tell her the truth. He couldn't bear to see her take on the horrible burden he'd unwittingly taken upon his own shoulders.

He could have told her everything, it was true. If she really was human inside and out, if she was truly on his side, then her support would be vital in surviving whatever happened next. If she wasn't, then he was as good as dead. There was no halfway. Even so… he still couldn't do it. Let the enemy come at him with everything it had, but not her too.

Not to mention that Ebb clearly suspected someone was out there last night, so he'd be on the lookout for anyone acting suspicious. Adrian knew he could pull it off, but Misty was the kind of girl who wore her heart on her sleeve; knowing what Rusty really was, understanding it, would be a death sentence for someone like her, no matter how skilled she was with her gun.

A week ago, he'd have told her the truth just to see the worst happen. Now he wouldn't dare.

When she hugged him after the lies were over, he also knew he'd likely never forgive himself. He'd broken her trust less than two days after finally earning it. She was safer this way.

Nothing was worth the risk.

…

Saturday afternoon…

Jaune and Ashens reached Oyl City without much incident, but they still needed a motel room for a day or two – it was a large city, and tracking down a single girl with nothing but Ashens' untrained Semblance was going to take some time. It didn't help that reaching the city came with absolutely zero fanfare – if this was the location of the newest Huntsman Academy, it should have been blindingly obvious. Beacon had its towers, Haven sat atop a towering mountain, Shade was a literal pyramid and Atlas was a goddamn floating city, so the idea of a Huntsman Academy that just blended into its city was borderline absurd. Yet there was nothing.

Ashens didn't seem surprised, although Jaune maintained his optimism. He quickly decided that this Academy must have been built entirely underground. Like a cave. Or a bunker.

Half a day after arriving, the pair found themselves at the gates of an industrial complex near the southern border of the city. Three large factories lay before them, as well as three massive warehouses, all surrounded by a high barbed-wire fence with guarded entrypoints. Both of them could see security cameras on every corner.

"She's in there. And she's not underground, so don't ask," said Ashens. The silver locket of Amy Currant sat in her open hand, faintly glowing.

Jaune sighed, "In there? Why would she-"

"Sarge, one of these days you're going to have to admit it," Ashens snapped. "Elysium is a lie."

"I'll only admit it when I see the evidence with my own eyes," said Jaune. He gazed out over the facility, wondering what Amy was really doing here. And how they were going to get inside to make sure she was alright. "If we'd come here a few days earlier, I could've used my rank to get us in. Now…"

"Now we are mere civilians," Ashens finished for him. "Without any clearance."

"I don't suppose your Magic Scroll Program could get us through that gate…?"

"That's not what it's built for."

"Well do you have any ideas?"

"No… but now that we're this close, I can tell we don't have a lot of time to waste." She held the locket close to her chest and said, "Her life force is weak. I don't think she's doing very well."

"You could just need more training-"

"Or she could be a legitimate prisoner in there! Sarge, do you really want to take that chance and get in there too late to save her life?"

"… … …Well when you put it like that…"

"We need to get inside. Today. Tonight at the latest."

"That might be impossible. Look at this place… it's practically a prison."

"At least you admit it now…"

Rather than hang around and draw the attention of security, they elected to head back to their motel room and start planning a way to break in. Jaune still didn't want to believe that Ruby was lying to everybody, but after coming this far he also couldn't just back down. Especially not after what he'd said to Ashens only a few nights ago. They'd come too far to quit now. They needed to find Amy Currant. Maybe it was time to call in a favor or two.

As they left, he glanced at the sign outside the warehouse and felt his gut twist:

South OYL ENTerprises
Manufacturing & Distribution Center
Proud Makers of "Kup O' Kibble" Dog Food

…

Saturday Night…

At Adrian's request, the rest of his team left him alone for a few hours. He needed time by himself to think.

And there was a lot to think about.

The first thing he realized was that the Imu as a whole were doing the same thing as Ebb, they were just more discrete about it. He remembered the words of the old Shopkeep from Vale about how customers who'd lost their Imu seemed to just walk away from their old lives. Now he understood why; Imu didn't have any reason to come back to an Imu store, even if they were playing the parts of their former owners.

Ashens' words also came to mind; '…they're so attached to 'em that they have a meltdown when it dies off.' In other words, the replaced human has to make it clear that the supposed death affects them badly enough that they can justify changing their lifestyles. Makes it easier to blend in that way.

In that regard, how the hell can they mimic humans so perfectly? How can a mere Grimm be smart enough to pull this shit off? That mist… the weird-looking thing that happened to Rusty right before Ebb started to expand… that had to be the answer. It was like the thing was sucking his soul out. The very idea was enough to get Adrian shivering.

But then came a thought that nearly made him stand up and punch a hole in the wall: Anyone who had owned an Imu at any point in time was, by definition, suspect. If the Imu had died, it was almost certain the owner had been taken.

Which meant that one of his own moms… had also been taken. Had been killed, eaten, and replaced.

The idea was maddening, but undeniable; both Terra Cotta and Saphron Arc had been in close contact with their Imu for the entirety of their time with it. Adrian had been gone when it died. His mother had vanished right after. While he didn't remember seeing any scars on either woman, that didn't negate the fact that Saphron had suddenly and inexplicably changed her mind about their marriage. It was all but guaranteed that one of them had been taken, leaving the other to pick up the pieces of a broken relationship. Was Saphron taken, forcing Terra to abandon their home and her son for her own safety? Or was Terra taken, forcing Saphron to cut it off and kick her out before she did any real damage?

Adrian beat his hands against his head to pull his attention back to reality. Dwelling on that problem would drive him legitimately insane.

Anybody who had owned an Imu had to be considered the enemy, even without visible proof. It wasn't as though he could just go around and start pulling down shirt collars or yanking up blouses to check for that line, and even if he did, scars have an annoying tendency to heal. The Imu had been around for quite a few years by this point. Gods alone knew how far they'd spread. Or who he could trust.

Misty. If there was one person he desperately wanted to trust, it was her.

Doc and his wife certainly struck him as real, but he had no idea if either of them had owned an Imu. He couldn't rule them out yet.

Desi and the rest of Valley Glenn was out of the question. They were too heavily invested in the Imu to consider as allies in any way, shape or form. Desi herself might not have been taken, but that didn't redeem her in his eyes.

As far as Adrian was concerned, nobody in Beacon could be trusted either… except Ruby Rose. She was not an enemy. She couldn't be. Ruby was the one thing all Grimm hated, the sworn enemy of darkness itself. One of the last bearers of the legendary silver eyes.

It was also a safe bet that most of the more experienced Huntsman in the world were probably alright; there was no way someone with years of combat training would be caught unaware like Rusty had been. If they were, they didn't deserve their damn licenses.

On that note…

…
…

[… … … *click* Yeah? Whaddya want?]

Audio only. Probably safer that way. "Mister Qrow? Sorry for bothering you so late, it's Adrian-"

[Told you not to fucking call me that… ah, whatever. I figured it was you. Well it's too soon to expect any results about yer mom, so… I'm guessing you have another question?]

"Uhh…" Crap, he didn't expect to get this far yet. How does this guy keep catching him when he's not ready? "Kind of. I actually learned something right after our meeting you might wanna know about…"

[Hold on a sec… … …]

The line clicked loudly, followed by a sharp note and a low buzzing. Eventually the buzzing faded into quiet static that lasted the rest of the call.

[There we go. Line's secured. Nobody without a military-grade decoder can hear us. Now spit it out, kid.]

Adrian gave him a summarized version of what he'd seen. He left out the details of how Laz came to his rescue, but he included all the important bits, as well as how he observed Rusty behaving differently this morning. It wasn't easy to remember the event without breaking into a cold sweat, but he held firm.

[I'll be honest with you, kid… coming from anybody else, I'd say you were on more drugs than I've ever seen in one place. But I know you wouldn't shit on me like that, so… FUCK!]

The line devolved into a string of curses that would make Opal bust a gut laughing.

"I know it's bad, but…" Adrian spoke during a lull in the storm, "…at least that answers the question about those lines."

[BAD?! Kid, you don't have the slightest fucking clue how bad this is! If what you just told me is accurate, every kingdom on the fucking planet is in for it! You know why? I'll tell ya why- I checked on those lines about an hour ago and discovered every Council on Remnant has at least one of these freaks on it!]

It was at this point in his life that Adrian needed a stronger word than fuck.

But then another thought occurred to him, "Um… in an effort to keep this conversation from derailing, I meant to ask you… and I know this isn't important anymore, but… what actually happened to the founders of the Crimson Cult? I should've brought this up last night, but… ya know."

[Goliath balls, are you still worried about that?]

"It's a lot easier to focus on a smaller problem than a giant, unwinnable one."

[Fine. In that case, I'll give you the names and you can get… the fuck… ohhhhh hell…]

"What? What's wrong?"

[…]

"Mister Qrow?"

[I just realized something. There's three founders of the cult: Elon Dusk, a name I assume you know, Sandy Baker and Bill Solo.]

"Am I supposed to know who those last two are?"

[Not by those names, no. After the incident 6 years ago, they both went and created new identities in order to get out from under the shadow of the cult. You might know their new names, though… … … Robin Rook and Jackson Knight.]

"…Are you shitting me right now?"

[Nope. And here's the fun part – not only are two-thirds of the Vale Council responsible for the single biggest religious fuck-up of the last decade, they're also both confirmed owners of deceased Imu!]

"We are so boned."

[You're being optimistic.]

In a short amount of time, no more than a few seconds, information clicked into place that didn't fit before. All at once, a new image formed in Adrian's head that seemed to provide a common link between everything that was happening around him. And it wasn't promising. "I think… I think the cult is pursuing a grudge after all."

[…Oh this oughta be good.]

"Look at it this way… you just said two of the three Council members are founders of a cult that worships Ruby… but they're also not even human anymore, but Grimm disguised as humans…"

[That remains to be proven, but go on.]

"We know the Imu have only been around for 4-5 years, meaning they came after the cult was destroyed… and now the cult seems to be moving again, if things around here are anything to go by… so what if the cult itself is being run by the Imu? By the Creatures of Grimm?"

[I think I see where you're going with this…]

"Up until now, I thought they were targeting me… apparently they all know my name… but now I think Ruby's been the real target all along. She brought down the organization when it was at its peak, so… I think they're planning to return the favor. The Grimm all hate and fear Ruby to begin with, but when you add to that the Cult's hatred of their 'goddess' taking away their power, then… it all makes sense. They're after her. It's more likely that I'm just collateral in this whole affair; they've been after Ruby, the enemy of all Grimm, and I'm standing in the way of that."

[But if they've infiltrated Beacon, why go through the trouble of getting Oscar kicked out? Both Knight and Rook approved his resignation less than an hour after it was brought forward. Councilman Bishop was the only one who disagreed, but they convinced him to sign over anyway to make it unanimous. He's the only one of the three who did not own an Imu, by the way.]

"Because… they're returning the favor."

[…?]

"Think about it – the church was at the height of its power when Ruby destroyed them. Now that they're mostly Grimm, I think they're trying to do the exact same thing as revenge, putting Ruby herself as high as possible before tearing her down. They're aiming to destroy her name and legacy. Normal humans wouldn't go that far."

[By the gods… you might be right.]

"I don't want to be right. I'd rather wake up in a mental hospital and realize this was all some crazy hallucination."

[Well here's the thing that'll blow your mind, kid… Councilman Bishop, the only sane member of the group, was found dead this morning. Murdered. And guess who the remaining Council members have already hand-picked to take his place?]

"Does it start with an 'R'…?"

[Does an Ursai shit in the woods?]

"Son of a bitch… we need to warn Ruby. She's walking into a trap!"

[Hey, settle down kid. We may be looking at a conspiracy to end all conspiracies, but this is still THE Ruby Rose we're talking about. How many traps do you think would actually work on her?]

"How exactly did she lose her legs again?"

[You sonuva- look, my point is that there's really nothing you can do right now, and raising the alarm will only bring more trouble. I'll go see her myself and tell her. I'm her uncle, she'll listen to me.]

"My team and I are heading back tomorrow morning-"

[And I'm in Vale right now. Or at least right on the border of the city. I'll get in there tonight and tell her what's up.]

"Thank you, sir."

['Sir'? Fucking hell, that's almost as bad as Mister. Just sit tight and let me handle this, kid. And… thanks for trusting me. Not a lot of folks nowadays that will.]

Adrian let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "I'm just glad I can help."

[Well, get some rest tonight and be ready for anything when you get back to school. And… keep your eyes open, kid. This is far from over.]

"Will do. Bye."

[Later. *click*]

…
…

Sunday morning…

Adrian wore his mask through the night and into the following morning. Misty didn't quite believe it, but everyone else who spoke with him seemed to think he was fine. The creature who answered to 'Rusty' organized a big breakfast for the team before they left, so they all had another excuse to party.

The people of Valley Glenn appeared happy and carefree, but Adrian saw the truth now. He saw the lines.

He saw the monsters hiding in plain sight.

His mask held firm through everybody coming to wish them good luck, to say goodbye, to give them random gifts and well-wishes, everything. Each and every hand he shook made his stomach flop. Every eye he looked into came with a stab of fear, the sensation that what he was gazing into was the eye of a creature that lacked a soul of its own.

But it was in the moment when they climbed onto the Bullhead to go home that Adrian had his worst shock. He finally remembered the words of Opal from only a few days ago:

("…a few years back I got in trouble for allegedly drawing a line down Crim's back while he was asleep. It looked a lot like one of those. No one could prove I did it, but Mama still punished me for it. And I know it must have been a marker or something, cuz after a month it was just gone…")

Opal and Crimson had once owned an Imu. They'd spoken about it many times. And if he remembered the dates right, a few years back lined up with the time their Imu was supposed to have died.

Adrian sat in his seat, firmly buckled in with Misty to his right and Laz comfortably in his lap, with the twins sitting across from them both. He tried to look at everything but them.

Because now he knew… he knew one of them had been taken. Before they'd ever become a team, one of the monsters had come into his life. Shared in friendly banter. Tried to become his friend when no one else would. Shared a mug of hot chocolate with him late in the night. It was enough to make him physically sick.

As they flew over the wilderness of Vale, finally heading home, the creature wearing Crimson's skin turned to give Adrian a smile.

…

… … … … …

This world is doomed. I've known that for a long time now.

Knowing that I've found someone to love, somebody worth protecting, is the only thing that makes me worried about the future. My own well-being is a much lower priority than theirs. But is that person… real? Are they on my side, or will they stab me in the back? I want to believe in them, to trust that the one person I've come to depend on won't betray me. I have to believe, or I'm already lost. I want to believe that I'm not alone in my struggle.

But that doubt continues to haunt me; I mean, who really knows everything about another person? Who can say, with absolute certainty, that they understand every nuance, every random thought and desire, and every facet of a human being? Not me, I'll tell you that much.

I'm afraid. I'm afraid that my friend, my love, the one person in the world who holds my heart in the palm of their hand, will stand against me. I'm afraid that I'll have to take up arms against the one person on the planet I can't bear to see get hurt. I don't care how far apart we are in age, and I don't care how different our stations in life have become… the idea terrifies me like nothing else.

They might try to stop me. And I'm scared to death that I'll have to kill them.

Because I know I can.

… … … … …

…

Sunday night…

The Cock & Bulls Tavern sat empty and quiet.

Or at least, mostly empty.

Desi Currant nursed a beer at the bar, staring into the middle distance. Poxy Boggard, the bartender, finished cleaning the last of his glasses for the night then poured himself a small cup of whiskey and joined her at the bar, taking a seat on the stool next to her. The cup was paper, by the way. No sense in making more dirty dishes after cleaning them all.

Neither of them spoke right away. Both took a swig of their drinks at the same time.

"It's not like you to go after a kid half your age," said Poxy.

"It's not like you to give out free drinks," said Desi.

"Hey, Rusty likes the kid. I figured if I get on his good side, I get on the good side of the boss. And besides, he bought a few more afterwards. Double win."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about Rusty anymore."

"Whaddya mean?"

"…Nothing important."

"…"

"…What?"

"Sorry, I'm just… I'm still not used to you holding the same look for so long. Or talking, for that matter. You've been like that for almost a year straight."

Desi grinned. "Impressed?"

"Not really, no. After you figured out how to mimic a working voicebox, nothing impresses me anymore."

"Sourpuss. Would you rather I go back to the way I used to look?"

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it," Poxy finished his drink with a hard gulp, then crumpled his cup and threw it, direction be damned. "It's too bad you had to dispose of the body; a murder investigation would've at least brought some life to the town. This quiet is turning out to be rather boring."

"Oh, you~" Desi stood up, then draped her toned arms around Poxy's graying ginger head and leaned against his back. "I happen to like it here. It helps that nobody suspects a thing about us."

"…I suppose you have a point."

"And while I know you get jealous, you'll never have to worry about who I tease and who I flirt with. After all…"

Desi ran a finger along the man's cheek and blinked – her purple eyes instantly turned heterochromatic, one brown and one pink.

"I may not be your Smol anymore, but you'll always be my Dum-Dum.~"

…

Author's Note: Just as a reminder, Ren did say that Semblances are always evolving. ;)

This chapter might feel rushed, but that's mainly because I treated it as more of a transition than an actual piece of the narrative; there's a lot coming up and I wanna get going on it before I lose too much momentum. Now that we know what the Imu really are, the tone is gonna be a lot darker from here on out. Wish me luck…

=^..^=