"Y-You died!" Yang sobbed. "I was alone again. I've been a-alone for so long then you came and then I w-wasn't. You left me. Just like e-everyone else. I was alone again, a-abandoned again, u-unloved again. I hate that I hate you, but I do. I…I loathe you! I love you and you left me!"
"Arc."
"When we're older, do you think we'll still be friends?"
"We'll be more than that. Do you think I could truly be happy married to one of those simpering fools or scheming snakes? No, we'll be husband and wife."
"How would that work?"
"It just would. You may be a dolt Arc but you're my dolt."
"Arc!"
"I don't think this is a good idea."
"What? Weiss, we've been planning this for months now. If we don't do it now, your father might go through with the plan to marry you off to Nikos."
"His supposed plan to marry off. It was only a rumour, and I doubt my father is so foolish as to neglect his own defences against espionage to the extent his own daughter has agents listening in on his meetings. It could be a trap to make us act out rashly."
"Or it might not be. Don't…Don't you want me? Have I done something wrong?"
"No! Jaune…you're many things but undesirable isn't one of them. To me at least. I…I just think we need to be cautious, for the good of ourselves as well as the realm."
"The realm. The realm this, the realm that. Sometimes I wonder if you care about the realm more than you do me."
"That's unfair."
"So is using me like a pawn, which is what it feels like you're doing. You've done it before after all, why not again?."
"When I was a child and didn't know any better! If all you have to say is slander to try and hurt my feelings then I'd have you leave me in peace Arc."
"Weiss, I-"
"I said leave! Don't forget who is truly the royal, even if the blood of former kings runs in your veins. Don't make me order Klein to remove you. Please. Just go."
"For the love of-Arc! We need to move!"
"Dragon!"
"Who?! What?! Where?!"
"Dragon?"
"Huh?"
"The-There was a dragon. I-Wha-Did it, did you kill it?"
"Oh! I uh well didn't but I'm gonna. With you!"
"Huh?"
"Oh. I-Weiss said er never mind. I'm Ruby!"
"Whouah?"
"I'm Ruby. Ruby of the House Rose. I uhm saved you from the dragon but I also kind of maybe putyouinamagicinducedcomaforaweekormaybetwo!"
"Butwha?"
"Silver eyes! Dragon gone! Saved you!"
"Oh.T-Thanks for all that."
"Yeah uhm thanks! You were really cool yourself, all throwy spear and everything."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"So…"
"Well…"
"I'm sorry…!"
"Sorry for…!"
They started to laugh.
"Arc? Boy!"
"Please!" He yelled, pounding on the door with his right arm, the other other propping up Ruby. "My friend, she's really cold! I think she has hyperthermia!"
Nothing.
"Please! We won't take your supplies or anything, we just need shelter!"
The amber glow continued to tantalisingly dance at the edges of the door.
"We'll give you our supplies if you want!"
A flicker of a shadow danced against the bottom of the door. Then it disapeared.
"I promise! I swear it on my name as an Arc we'll give you our supplies so long you let us enter! Please!"
The amber was blocked again by something, the someone on the other side of the door. There was a wonderful click as the door unlocked and a whoosh as it was pulled open and the wind forced itself inside like a hungry wolf finding it's way into a sheepfold.
"In!" Hissed a voice. A girl. "Bring the horses or they'll freeze."
"Thank you!" Jaune gasped, relief flooding his system and making him feel giddy as he gently handed Ruby over to the girl. "Thank youthankyouthankyou!"
"Hurry!" The girl snapped, dragging Ruby indoors hastily. Jaune turned and grabbed the reins of their horses, quickly guiding them inside and pushing the door shut. It burst open once more, the wind too strong to be held back by it.
"Now you can see why I had to lock and block it." A feminine voice said, and Jaune turned to see the girl tending to Ruby. She was taller than Ruby, with raven black hair and bright amber eyes. Two black, furry cat ears poked out from the top of her raven tresses.
"A Faunus." Jaune realised, eyes widening with shock.
"Problem?" The girl asked, looking up and cocking her head with the exasperated grace of someone used to it being so.
"No! I-I'm not...I don't!" He stammered, eyes widening as he realised what she meant.
"Close the door." The girl ordered, rolling her eyes and her tensed shoulders relaxing as she turned to Ruby.
Jaune nodded despite the fact she couldn't see him do so. He pushed the door shut with all his strength, barely managing to heave it shut before he locked it. The door rattled ominously as the howling wind tried it's hardest to break in once again.
"The horses." The girl barked, dragging her own over to the door. "They can help block the door."
Jaune glanced toward the fire. Ruby laid before it, and the wind had smothered much of its flame.
"Won't they freeze?" He asked worriedly, as the girl tied the reins of her horse onto the leg of a chair she'd dragged in front of the door, along with an assortment of the spartan furniture gracing the inside of the resting lodge.
"They'll be fine, the fire should keep going for most of the night and if worse comes to worst then they'll have their body heat to share." The girl replied, dragging over and tying his and Ruby's horse to the log, which she had piled a chair and some other logs around to make more secure. "It's the girl we should worry about. Her fingers and ears are a little frostbitten."
Jaune spun around and strode over to Ruby, ignoring the girl huffing something under her breath as concern overwhelmed him. He fell to his knees beside her, gently turning her slightly and clutching her cold hands in his own.
The fingertips were blue but not dangerously so. Luckily for Ruby they wouldn't need to be cut off. Her ears were the same, just a little blue around the bottom of her earlobes. He gently tucked a stray strand of red tipped hair behind the back of her ear when he finally noticed something he hadn't seen in his haste to be by her side.
Ruby was pretty much naked. Her armoured corset had been ripped off and thrown into the corner alongside her cotton chemise. Her skirt and garter had also been removed, and the only thing keeping her decent were a thin layer of cloth wrapped around her chest and her...other area.
Jaune immediately recoiled, face as red as the tips of Ruby's hair and twisted into mortified shock.
"Whahefik?" He questioned and a quiet laugh shook him from his shocked stupor.
"Her clothes were soaked through." The Faunus girl explained, wiping a tear from her golden eyes. "She'd have frozen in them. Best to take them off and get her some other clothes."
"Buu?"
"Yes I took off her clothes. I recommend you do the same and put some dry ones on. No matter how warm the fire is, you'd be freezing cold."
Jaune nodded, waving vaguely in Ruby's direction. The girl rolled her eyes.
"I'll get her dressed if you give me some of her clothes." The girl promised, shooing at him. "Now fetch. Don't want her waking up to you looming over her whilst she only has her damp underwear protecting her dignity do we?"
Jaune stammered and spluttered, but obliged the request. He walked over to Petal Burst, untying Ruby's travel bag of clothes and tossing it at the girl, who caught it and began rooting through it.
"Why does she have a dozen of the same outfits?" The girl asked, pulling out a skirt and armoured corset. Jaune shrugged, petting Petal Burst reassuringly as the horse nudged her head towards him.
The girl simply sighed and chuckled when Jaune turned to face the door and she dressed Ruby.
"It's nothing you haven't already seen." The girl teased, and Jaune just shook his head as he listened to the howling wind, the soft crackling of the fire and the gentle rustling of clothes.
"Is she okay?" He asked and the girl hummed.
"Exhausted and cold but she'll live. With all her limbs too." She replied and Jaune nodded, exhaling a little sigh of relief as he did so.
"Thank you. I still don't know your name by the way."
"It's because I haven't told you."
"Oh. I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. Who are you?"
"A girl."
"A girl who's named…?"
"Just stop."
"I'm sorry if I'm annoying you but I'm in your debt. I want to know the name of the person I owe my life to."
"You owe your life to me. You don't need to know my name."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"Come on, I know you want to."
"Not even in the deepest, darkest depths of my heart."
"I won't give up until I know you know. I have seven sisters so I have learned how to be beyond supremely stubborn."
"Seven?! Are your parents part Rabbit Faunus or something?"
"No! Just because my family supports the chuffing Faunus doesn't mean we sleep with them!"
"Oh. So you're the type that just say you support Faunus."
"No! I just mean my parents are loyal to each other and haven't slept with anyone else."
"Really? You sounded pretty angry a few seconds ago."
"I'm sorry. I'm just used to people insulting my family because of our support for the Faunus. It doesn't exactly make us popular with the human supremacist types nor those who would have benefitted from King Jacques' laws."
'Oh. I didn't mean to suggest…"
"I know. I'm sorry for swearing. It was unbecoming of a gentleman."
The girl snorted.
"Your inner nobleness is showing." She teased.
"Sorry."
"Don't be."
They fell into a simple and unawkward silence. It was broken by Ruby's soft snores.
"She's dressed." The girl said and Jaune turned around. The only sign of their earlier predicament was the pile of wet clothes slowly drying near the fire.
"I'll put her to bed." Jaune said and the girl shook her head.
"It would be better to move a bed closer to the fire first. She'll warm up quicker that way."
He nodded, helping the girl push one of the beds closer to the fire. It was hard at first due to a general lack of coordination between the two of them, but they quickly began to work together and the bed was just before the fire. Gently, as if lifting a baby, Jaune picked up Ruby and tucked her into the bed, who curled up and mumbled adorably.
"You seem used to doing that." The girl pointed out and Jaune nodded.
"Seven sisters, remember? Some of them are younger than me." He whispered and a small smile crept onto her face.
"That's good. Some nobles would have just foisted that responsibility on maids and other servants." The girl nodded her head to Ruby, who mumbled something about eating all the sweet rolls. "We don't have to whisper by the way. She's out for the count."
Jaune nodded but moved away from Ruby anyway, not wanting to disturb her. He shivered as he moved away from the warmth of the fire, and the girl noticed, shooting him a worried expression.
"Did you change too?" She asked, noticing his damp clothing. "I told you to whilst I dressed her."
"I forgot. I was too busy…" Jaune trailed off, waving vaguely in the direction of the horses and the door. The girl rolled her eyes, sitting down on a bed surrounded by what he assumed, and hoped, were her own supplies.
"The water won't evaporate in this weather. Get changed. Now."
Jaune nodded, the feeling of being chastised by his mother filling him. He walked over to his horse, pulling off the travel bag filled with the clothing Klein had given him. He winced when he thought of the knight. Although his conversations with Ruby had alleviated some of the guilt and made him forget some of it, it still hurt to think of the knight he'd betrayed.
"Well?" The girl asked, breaking him from his train of thought.
"Oh I um…" Jaune stammered, turning to face the girl, who was lounging on her bed and staring at him with passive golden eyes. "Aren't you gonna...you know...look away?"
The girl tapped a finger to her chin for a few moments, staring at the ceiling with a considerate expression.
"Nope." She said, shrugging and looking him dead in the eye.
"P-Please?" He stammered, face flushed and staring at the floor to escape the intensity of her gaze. The girl laughed, sitting up before putting her hands over her eyes.
"You're peeking aren't you?" Jaune asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer.
"Maybe." The girl replied, her voice muffled and echoey. Jaune sighed, turning around to face the door. He peeked around quietly, and saw the girl hadn't moved. He sighed again.
"What's taking so long? Get the show on the road. Not like I'm peeking or anything." The girl complained dryly, and Jaune rolled his eyes.
"I don't like stripping in front of strangers." He replied sarcastically, and there was a moment of silence before the girl spoke.
"Blake."
"What?"
"My name. My name is Blake."
Jaune stared at the girl. Even with her voice muffled, it seemed like the girl had been pained to tell him her name.
"Thank you for telling me Blake. It's nice to meet you."
"Are you broken? Could humans break like those machines? Stupid brother and stupid plans and stupid mortals! Arc, hear me and obey!"
'This is how I'm going to die.' He couldn't help but think, turning around to face the dragon that blocked his path. The tentative trust he'd felt was broken, and he could only hope it ended him quickly.
It didn't. It began to glow. Then creak and crack and shrink.
He could only watch, spellbound, even as its light burned his eyes, as what was once a dragon shrunk into a glowing, orange and vaguely humanoid thing.
Then the light faded, making him blink as orange spots danced around his vision. He closed his eyes for a few moments, then opened them. Then he blinked.
Then he blinked again.
Then he blinked one more time for good measure.
He stared in shock. Instead of a massive, fire breathing monster there was a girl, a woman, a her! She was lounging on a rock, hip cocked and one hand resting on it. She had long, luscious hair the same colour as her scales and lilac eyes that were filled with emotion, mirth chief among them. Her body was littered with small scars and she had muscles and a stomach so defined he was absolutely certain it could cut steel. There was also a very noticeable lack of clothing protecting her body, and Jaune quickly diverted his eyes so he saw nothing but her eyes, where her own lilac ones met his, glimmering with mischievous humour.
Had he died and gone to the Otherworld? Was this a reward or a punishment?
"Hello Jaune Arc." The dragon, the woman, the being said, voice hoarse with lack of use but clearly filled with humour and confidence as it smirked at him. "I'm Yang. Yang Xiao Long."
"Jaune? Jaune!"
Jaune Arc.
He blinked and looked around. It was dark, the mountain top was empty and he was so cold he thankfully couldn't feel cold. That probably wasn't a good thing.
He looked around him, seeing nothing and not just thanks to the dim light. There was no-one around. No-one near. He was alone.
"Arc!"
Or maybe not.
He pushed himself to his feet, blinking tiredly. His eyes felt sleepy and his limbs were limp, and he barely summoned the strength to follow the sound of the voice. He was just…tired.
"About time." The floating sword carrying a much diminished God of Darkness said contemptuously. "You've been mourning the loss of our ride for hours now. We need to move. Find another dragon to get to Vale before Salem."
"What does it matter?" Jaune asked, and the sword bobbed, as if it was recoiling in shock or disgust. "This…Salem, can we even stop her?"
"Of course we can!" The sword barked. "I'm one of the Brother Gods that made your damnable world!"
"Then kill her then." Jaune snapped, anger filling the empty hole inside him. "You're saying you're a God? Act like one. Create something, some dragon, something that can fly. Better yet, smite Salem. Disintegrate her. Turn her into a chicken or a rat or whatever it is you Gods do."
"Where are you going?" The sword demanded as he turned on his heels.
"Away, somewhere, anywhere...nowhere." Jaune answered, because it was the only answer he could give. He did not know where to go, what to do. He couldn't remain in Atlas because of Nikos, he couldn't go home because he would endanger his family. He couldn't go to Mistral because the Inquisition was there and the less said about Vacuo the better. Menagerie was a dead island again and there was a newly awakened monster wandering the world.
By the Gods, by whatever higher power truly existed he had gone and done it hadn't he? The boy who wanted to be a hero had become the key to unlocking evil.
Regardless of whether the sword was a deity, fallen or otherwise, there was no questioning Salem's power. She had fought off a dragon with witchcraft and magic he hadn't seen before, had created a monster out of thin air and flown off with it, as if the battle that had seen him die and also nearly died with Ya-…with his old travelling companion.
She'd shrugged it off like nothing, Salem had taken what that had been thrown at her and taken it. She was a monster, her laugh had echoed in his ears as he bled to death. She had even been able to reduce the founders of Remnant to an over-powerful sword and shield if the sword was telling the truth.
"You dare!" The sword thunder, and the sky darkened as thunder clouds writhed overhead, appearing from nowhere. "I may be diminished, I accept that willingly, but that was only because I went along with my brother's plan to save your foolish species! You may believe yourself to be strong enough to survive my wrath, pride has always been the fall of you mortals, but even diminished I am twice as powerful as you could hope to be. Do not dare turn your back on me as if I'm a mere relic to be put aside and forgotten so you can go play with your toys or whatever it is sulking mortals do."
"Or what?" Jaune scoffed, whirling around once more. "You'll smite me?"
"If I have to."
"Then good luck getting to Vale." Jaune said, turning around and storming off. For a moment nothing happened, but a crack of thunder rent through the air and lightning scorched the ground ahead of him. "You missed."
"By design." The sword sighed. "You hurt. That's always been a mortal weakness, a mortal curse I admit I had a part in. You sink to dark lows, to misery and despair. That's the curse of mortality. But the beauty of it lies in the highest of the highs, of love and joy and above all-satisfaction. I do not feel, boy. I merely am. You are lucky that you can feel at all."
"Am I?" Jaune snorted, shoulders shaking. His body felt weak and his tiredness seemed all consuming. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, and despite the shame he felt at such weakness he also felt relief. Why should he force them down when all he wanted to do was weep and waste away until he could weep no more?
"You are." The sword said, voice soft and almost soothing. "You may not feel that way because you are experiencing the lowest of your lows. But that only means everything can get higher -better- from there. There will be bumps and twists and turns on your journey upwards, on your journey to joy, but you will get there. That has always been a special curse for mortals, but especially so for you Arc's. You fall lower than many, but when you rise again the world will take notice."
"Aren't you the God of Darkness?" Jaune sniffled. "Why are you comforting me?"
"Because I need to." The sword answered, speaking again after a moment's hesitation. "Because I want to. I am loath to admit it…but humanity has left its mark on me. It's easy to forget I played a part in your creation, even if it was minimal and only to the extent I created your misery. My brother tricked me into it you know? We supposed to create something together so that we would share equal good and equal bad. Life is a balancing act. Without good it is worthless and without bad it is pointless. I resented the fact my brother took all the good that embodies humans, whilst I took all the bad. I took my anger out on life, on humanity, and it was your ancestors who made me realise that I was unfair in doing so, to both themselves and the Grimm who will only ever live for a singular purpose, an embodiment of my foolish rage. I…Yes. Perhaps it is time I changed. For good this time."
"What?" Jaune asked quietly, wiping his eyes. It felt like the sword was talking to itself, rather to him, and whilst he didn't want to interrupt whatever was happening he also wanted to know what was happening.
"Evolution is something that embodies everything. From life to technology to the universe. Everything changes, though the more things change the more they stay the same. Legends, heroes, even gods. Even me. It's time I evolve." The sword mused, before sighing heavily. "My brother will be insufferable, but I cannot deny times have changed. Humanity has lost much of its strength, and I'm willing to bet my entire being that is through Salem's machinations somehow. The dragons aren't the protectors they were supposed to be and the silver-eyes likely suffered the same fate. Yes. Change. Creation. And destruction. Destruction to protect creation. A balance like life, a balance like death and bound by a singular purpose...unity. Two Gods into...something else."
Jaune said nothing, though he found himself wandering over towards the sword, the storm clouds dispelled.
"I am not a God, not anymore, not on this world at least. Soon I will not be a brother. I am merely part of a tool, a weapon. Something that can destroy and protect." The sword paused, purple flames burning brightly around the sharp steel of the silvery blade. "I am Crocea Mors, and you are my wielder, so wield me and guarantee the permanent peace your ancestor dreamed of."
His hand wrapped around the blue hilt of the blade, and a foreign but familiar energy swirled around his chest. His Aura glowed, casting a white light across the emptiness of the mountain top, and the purple flames seemed to burn ever hotter because of it.
"What are you then?" Jaune asked quietly, and when the voice answered it had changed, sounding softer and less commanding but not less authoritative.
"I am Crocea Mors." The sword answered. "Though it would be more accurate to say I'm Mors specifically."
"Nice to meet you." Jaune said lightly, and the flames burned bright but not hot.
"Likewise." Mors replied. "No shall we get a move on? The world won't save itself."
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The descent down the mountain was a slow and arduous one. Darkness rapidly set in, so he found a shelter in a small cave halfway down the mountain and hastily assembled fuel for a fire. His stomach rumbled, but he had nothing to eat and it was too dark to go foraging, let alone on a mountain with sharp drops he could easily stumble down to his death, though that thought did little to frighten him. He was not scared of death anymore, for better or worse. He'd died after all, even if he technically hadn't as the God of Darkness' intervention saved him. Still, there was no longer a twinge of fear as he thought of what may lurk in the darkness beyond his fire, no fear as he thought of a long plummet to his death, no fear as he thought of steel once more cutting through his flesh and tearing at his body. Just an odd, certain emptiness.
"What's the plan then?" Jaune asked, staring at the weak flames that cast an amber glow around the cave. "How do we stop Salem?"
"First we find my other half, Crocea." Mors answered. "Then we need to find the Four Relics he created to aid Humanity, the Relics of Knowledge, Creation, Destruction and Choice."
"The Relics?" Jaune wondered, prodding the fire with a thin branch. "What are those?"
"Things the God of Light created to aid Humanity when the Brother Gods departed from Remnant for the first time." Mors replied, voice echoing slightly in the cave and into the dark night outside. "The Relic of Knowledge will give you the answer to any of your questions, but the question must be specific and there are only three that can be answered every hundred years. The Relic of Creation will create anything, so long as you provide the blueprints for whatever you wish to construct and it can only create and sustain one thing at a time. Creating something else will destroy the former creation, hence why people seem to be adverse to travelling to Mantle's ruins. It's strange how the names of Kingdoms can remain the same yet the stories of their origins can be forgotten in time."
"You know about what happened to Mantle?" Jaune gasped, remembering tall tales of the dark ruins even the bravest warriors like Klein had been reluctant to speak of or travel near. "What happened? Was it giants? Sin? Monsters? The Great Collapse?"
"In many ways all of them." Mors mused. "Mantle was once two cities, Atlas in the sky and Mantle below it. Atlas was led by a great warrior, a General, and he did what he could to protect it. In doing so Mantle suffered, but his army provided it with protection so many allowed the status quo to remain in place. Political divisions arose however, and a local of Mantle who once was tutored under the General's wing tried becoming its leader to provide it with resources the General was depriving it from, but only because he needed to reunite the world and so needed to funnel the necessary resources into a secret project that could do so. Salem came with an army of Grimm, and her arrival, along with poorly timed revelations of the actions and lies told by those he trusted, caused the General to lose heart. The General, who had fought for so long and for so hard, tried to take Atlas and flee. His plans were thwarted, and the General eventually was brought low with Atlas, which fell from the sky burning due to the actions of one of Salem's followers. Mantle was covered in dust, and then by water as the tremors of Atlas' fall broke glaciers that unleashed an ocean over the region. Hundreds of thousands drowned, and many more died elsewhere after their escape led them into a sandstorm, but that is another tale."
"There's no ocean there now." Jaune said quietly, saddened by the morbid tale. Floating cities? Was Humanity really capable of such a thing? Even the Great Collapse, an oft mocked theory that Humanity had once had steel steeds and other great feats of magic and engineering, didn't argue such a thing was possible. "Just ruins and snow and ice."
"Time changes many things." Mors supplied simply. "Myself included."
"Was Atlas created by the Relic then? Is that why it fell?"
"That's why it fell from the sky. It fell because people did not trust one another, and too many burdens were placed on a good man's shoulders. Fate is a cruel thing." Mors paused. "We've gotten off track however. The Relics, yes that's what we were talking about...but the last two. The Relic of Destruction is…volatile. It is more likely to destroy its wielder than whatever its wielder wants to destroy. Due to the nature of its work it's quite unstable, and has changed the most compared to the other Relics. Unlike the others it grew beyond its original meaning and task. I would not be surprised if it is causing havoc somewhere on Remnant of its own accord. The Relic of Choice…I cannot say much, otherwise it would not work. It is volatile in its own way, but only in that it is picky over who can use it. If I tell you too much, it may not reveal itself to you. It always had the most agency over itself compared to its fellow Relics in that way."
"Alright then." Jaune mumbled, feeling a little uncomfortable with the fact half of the four Relics that were supposed to help Humanity were odd in some way shape or form, especially if they were as powerful as the other Relics. Floating cities… "So we find your other half, we find the Relics, then what?"
"We unite them into one entity." Mors said. "They will create the path to the Forgeway, a place in the realm known as Ever After. There Crocea Mors will be melted down into a weapon capable of killing Salem. The Gods of Light and Darkness will be free from Remnant, but the world will be free to live on without them, so long as you succeed in killing Salem."
"Right." Jaune nodded, sighing heavily. "That sounds simple enough. Once I figure out where we are I'll head to Vale. I don't want to stay there for too long though. I have people hunting me and I don't want them going after my family."
"The Inquisition." Mors hummed. "And before you complain I'm not reading your mind. I'm using information I gathered before I promised not to read your mind. They are intriguing, but worrying. I fear they worship Salem."
"How?" Jaune wondered, not doubting for a moment the bloody Goddess worshipped by the Mistrali may be the monster he'd been lucky to survive meeting. "How can she have such influence if she didn't even have a body, if you and your brother or other half or whatever you call it were still on Remnant?"
"We were confined in our physical bodies, myself in the sword at Salem's greatest temple, where it was deemed the most likely point of return if she ever did come back. My brother watched over your family to the best of his ability. Meanwhile Salem was incorporeal but powerful, and her strength was always in her words. She could have whispered to people, swayed their hearts and minds and guided the hand of history so that wars were waged and blood spilled. She is powered by negativity, hence her preference for betrayal in rituals. Nothing brings negativity more than being betrayed by one you love or care about or trust."
"So you were stuck in some temple underground, your brother is who knows where and Salem had free reign over Remnant." Jaune sighed. "I'm starting to think she was the one who won that time you beat her."
"That was a our victory, albeit a blatantly pyrrhic one." Mors retorted, though without anger at the accusation. "We stopped her, delayed her by thousands of years. That won't be the case this time. We will win or lose, something I fear that Fate has decreed be so."
"Decreed? Why do you speak of Fate as if it is something rather than a thing."
"Fate is a fickle thing, but is a universal constant. Where there is life there must also be death. Where there is light there must also be dark. Those are universal constants. So is Fate. It cannot be reasoned with, bargained with or swayed. Fate makes its mind and everyone else becomes toys to its will. Even Gods."
"My head feels like it's about to explode again." Jaune sighed, slumping against the cave wall. "When did everything get so complicated?"
"Life has to get worse before it gets better." Mors said. "You cannot enjoy the better if you do not understand how much worse it can be. You've fallen far Jaune. The only way now is to go up."
"Right." Jaune said, shrugging off the heavier pieces of his armour and the parts that were easier to take off and on. "Can you keep watch or do you need to sleep?"
"I will keep watch, as sleep is something that eludes even a magical sword." Mors teased. "Sleep Jaune. You'll need your strength."
It was like a spell had been cast over him. His body slumped, his eyes drooped and his arms fell to his sides. Before he knew it his head lolled and his eyes were shut, the sweet embrace of sleep taking him.
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A temple of stone, surrounded by a wall of ice. Cold, lonely, isolated. A place of malice and evil. A place where cruelty reigned. A place where betrayal thrived.
Golden eyes, flickering in the dark. The eyes of a friend, of a traitor. The eyes of someone lost, someone too far gone. Eyes that were beautiful, eyes that were kind. Eyes that hid a deceptive malice capable of murdering a friend out of misplaced hope.
A silver sword. A sword of legend. A sword of heroes. A sword with a blue hilt and a long history. A sword that would make its mark on history. A sword that called to its wielder and found him.
Fire. A village aflame. A shadow loomed overhead, a monster with red eyes and charcoal scales. Flames spilled from its open maw, a triumphant roar bellowing from it as the sounds of screaming and burning echoed in the air. The monster soared low so that it hit the ground, taking the moment to bask in the destruction it had unleashed. Unaware of the boy it had landed in front of. Unaware of the boy whose parents it had murdered. Unaware of the path it set the boy on, from father and friend and husband to zealot and alone and dead.
Blood. Blonde hair stained red. A heart broken scream echoing through the air, only to be met by cruel laughter and the sound of monsters devouring flesh. The scream changed, becoming a fearsome roar. The blood continued to spill, the hair the colour of harvested wheat turned crimson as a monster and a Goddess clashed nearby.
Death. Bodies stacked in piles. A baby screaming in its cradle as a burning roof fell inwards, the sounds of battle and death echoing inside. A roar of fury tore through the air, a roar of grief and pain and anger. A soldier made of iron stumbled past the burning house, covered in blood and ignorant of the babes wails as it stumbled onwards, seeking enemies, seeking death.
A great battle. An age of heroes and legends. An age of monsters and terrors.
"Jaune Arc." The Abyss rumbled. "Welcome. It's been a while hasn't it?"
"I saw you the other day Salem." Jaune retorted. "Flying away with your tail in between your legs."
"Feisty aren't we?" Salem chuckled, and Jaune tried peering through the piercing dark he was floating in. "Don't bother. This is my realm, my home. You will only see what I allow you to."
"Lies then." Jaune said, remembering what he'd seen.
"Do you truly believe that?" Salem asked, voice as smooth as silk. "Everything I showed you has come true. I showed you my temple, I showed you the betrayal that awaited you if you continued to cavort with Belladonna, I even showed you Crocea Mors and the reasons why your little friend turned to the Inquisition. I showed you your death and the death of your home Kingdom."
"Atlas-Vale stands." Jaune retorted, earning a delighted, mocking chuckle.
"Does it? Soon your Queen will be gone. Soon your Kingdom's greatest defenders will be gone, your father has been driven to madness and Ironwood will soon follow. Atlas will fall, I orchestrated its demise once before and I can, will and am doing it again. It's always fun playing with mortals, but once I'm done humanity will be my equals once more, so I might as well get as much fun out of it as I can whilst you are all still weak."
"What have you done?" Jaune demanded. "Don't you dare touch my family! I'll kill you!"
"That fire!" Salem giggled. "Oh I can't wait to see more of it before I extinguish it. Or perhaps you'll snuff yourself out before we can meet again? You always were the weakest of all your friends Arc."
"You know nothing." Jaune spat. "I may be weak and mortal and whatever insults you throw at me. I was naïve too. I was stupid and trusting. I've learned now. I know better than to listen to you, but know this Salem. I'm going to kill you. Not today, not tomorrow and maybe not for a good while, but I will kill you. That I promise on my name as an Arc."
"We will see Jaune." Salem replied, voice clear in her tone. "We will see."
A/N: Next update 15/05/2023