Yo!

Here's a bonus chapter for the New Year! Crazy that 2024 is already here. Feels like it was just becoming 2023 Yesterday. Eh. Guess that's just life.

Anyways, here's this chapter! Probably... eight or nine more until the end? I'm writing 65 now, and I'm thinking the ending will end up being a bit longer than I'd initially planned. I'm sure no one will mind more content!

Start Chapter 61

Cinder keys into the fact that she's not dead with some surprise.

That's not to say she'd not hoped they'd survive the God of Light's opening attack, but given her preconceptions about just what a God is, she'd sort of assumed that if he had wanted them dead, he'd have simply made such happen.

And yet… no, Cinder is alive.

She's alive, but…

Something's wrong.

She feels it immediately, even as she stands on her feet, and looks around at the building she now finds herself within.

It's a humble abode, really. Immediately, Cinder catalogues it as a building that would be built upon a coastline, given that the walls are built of what seems to be limestone, with some granite here and there. Materials that had been created primarily to survive freeze-thaw cycles.

It's a random piece of information that Cinder doesn't think too hard about. Instead, she tries to get a lay of the land; of exactly where it is she is now. Obviously, she's been thrown from the odd astral dimension they'd found themselves within whilst trying to speak to the God of Light, but–

"Cinder?"

She knows that voice; she'd know it anywhere. Suddenly, thoughts of where she is and what she's doing fade away, and she turns back to see Jaune smiling over at her with confusion evident within his eyes.

"Jaune? What's going on, where are we, what happened?"

"What are you–" His eyes widen suddenly, and he closes the distance between them and wraps his arms around her. "You're okay. We're at home. You're not fighting anyone."

"What are you–"

"You're having a traumatic episode. You feel like you're in danger because of what's happened to you, but right now, you're safe. You're here, and I'm here, and no one else is. Breathe with me, okay?"

The words feel familiar; so much so that her brain connects the dots within a couple of seconds.

"You're okay. Focus on your breathing. L-Look at me, I… breath with me, okay?"

She remembers it; their first meeting. Back when she'd woken within Beacon's infirmary, being kept alive by Ironwood's machines. She'd awoken down an arm and an eye and nearly had a panic attack.

And Jaune had guided her through it, as he always seemed to.

She lets herself calm down within those ever-familiar arms. They're soft, despite their muscle, and kind, despite their callouses. She could let herself melt within them ever-so-easy.

She almost does.

But…

"Jaune, I…" She shakes her head against his shoulder, pushing away from him. "I know it's… we weren't relaxing at home – Jaune, we don't have a home. We were fighting the God of Light in his dimension, and–"

"Cinder, that was three years ago." Jaune shakes his head, a worried look on his face. "We won, darling. It's over. It's been over."

"Wha…" She breathes out, not quite able to believe the words coming out of the mouth of the person she trusted more than anyone, anything. "That's not… I was just there, it–"

"You woke up screaming from the couch, Cinder." Jaune says, and his expression is ever-gentle. "I heard you and came running. It's… you're okay. You have these episodes from time to time. You took a bad hit during the fight with the God of Light. The doctors said you might have acute amnesia on occasion whenever you suffered an episode. I explain all of this to you every time. Afterwards you always say it helps."

Cinder shakes her head – there's no way. Just no way.

"That… it just…"

"It's okay, darling." Jaune urges her, holding her as tightly as he can. "You're okay. You're safe; I'm safe. Nothing bad is going to happen. We're fine. We have been a long time. It's over. You can rest."

"I… what?" Cinder is shaking, she finds. Shaking in place as she reaches up towards Jaune's face and cradles it within her hands. To her shock, it feels real. How can it… "You're… you have to be lying… you have to be. It can't have just…"

But the more she tries to speak, the more she feels the fight leaving her. in the end… there are very few things Cinder is certain of in the world. All things will die. There is no innate justice.

And that Jaune would never lie to her.

So, she lets her guard down. She allows herself to lean into her beloved's embrace, and she lets out a horrible, aching sigh.

"It's… it's over?"

Jaune nods with a gentle hum. "It's over."

"Oh… that's… that's good." She whispers, somehow barely able to siphon up the strength to speak. "I… I guess I just… it feels like–"

An intense searing pain strikes her directly between the third and fourth ribs on her left side, and Cinder gasps both out of surprise and sheer, raw agony.

That… this can't…

She looks down, her eye and mouth agape, and sees the blade of Crocea Mors embedded within her.

Her face pales somehow further. She looks up into Jaune's eyes and sees amusement there.

That… he could never… he would never–

"You fool." He speaks, and it is a voice so laced with venom, and evil, and all that's wrong with the world, that instantly, Cinder knows Jaune could never – would never, never – produce such a noise. "It's funny. And here I thought you'd be one of the more difficult to break. All it took was a few minutes time. Hmph… How delightful."

Cinder tries to speak, but nothing comes out. She tries to gasp, or to summon the Maiden's flames, but she has nothing. She feels like she's a little girl again, with her collar strapped back onto her neck, with lightning coursing through her veins, and she's panicking, that she knows, but she can't help it, no matter how much she wants to writhe within her own skin, she can't–

"Don't worry." The thing taking on her beloved's face speaks. "I'll make it hurt all the worse for him. Because I think deep down inside, he still feels like you could be capable of doing something like this to him. Did you know that?"

The words break some ethereal part of Cinder that she'd not known existed.

"Oh? You didn't know? That within your beloved's heart there's still a piece that's so horribly scared of you? That there's still a piece always on guard around you? Oh, you sorry fool. I almost feel bad."

Cinder's hyperventilating – worser than she's ever been before. She can't seem to catch a breath, can't seem to make herself breathe in, but somehow, she won't pass out. It's like every time the pain feels like it can't get worse, that she can't stay awake any longer, something comes in and forcibly keeps her there, on the very cusp of consciousness.

It's torturous; more torturous than her days at the Madame's hand had ever been.

"He's still scared of you. And he always will be. No matter how much time passes; no matter how much you try to do, he'll always believe in some corner of his heart that you're still capable of turning on him. no matter how deep in the throes of passion the two of you find yourselves in, he'll still believe that you might one day wrap your hands around his neck and strangle the life out of him."

Cinder shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. It can't – this can't – she's never had anything. Nothing. She's only ever had–

"He'd have been better off with someone else, you know. Oh, poor little Pyrrha. She deserved to be his soulmate, didn't she? She was always there for him; always perfect. She was never a murderer, or a slave, or a dirty little beggar child sleeping in a supply closet, now, was she? No… a champion, and a beautiful one at that. And she loved him so. You took that from her, you know? That chance."

She… Cinder won't… this…

Hell. She's in hell. Somehow… somehow, she must've died fighting the God of Light, after all, and for her sins she'd been banished to the furthest reaches, the lowest plains. She almost wished the demons here would just set her ablaze and be done with it.

She's oh so used to fire. Even as it burned her, it might at least feel fondly familiar.

"P…Please–" She begs, for the first time in so, so long. "I don't… please–"

"Oh, no. I don't think. I think you need to learn your lesson, don't you?"

"For daring try and stand up to me."

"For daring to approach me with anything but reverence in your gazes!"

"You will be punished until I set your world ablaze, and only then will you be freed from eternal to–"

And then, the illusion shatters.

Cinder lets out a breath alike to having emerged from underwater a millisecond before she might drown. She takes great, heaving breaths as she tries to remember her training, to remember that which she had had drilled into her for her entire life.

She can't.

She is panicking, even still. Even having been freed from whatever horrible vision had plagued her mind, she still feels trapped within it. Those words the God of Light had said – and she knows now it had been him, somehow having trapped her within a dream with a single flick of his wrist – are still rolling about her brain like they're within a pinball machine, covered in spines and striking at everything they can find.

Gods, she hurts. She hurts more than she has ever hurt.

Arms wrap around her, and she knows them, but gods help her; she fears them. She feels herself struggling within that embrace, even as Jaune only wraps his arms tighter around her.

"It's okay, Cinder!" Jaune tries to reassure her, but how does she know this isn't just another illusion, another way to torture and to hurt her. It makes more sense than the illusion suddenly coming undone, doesn't it? "It's me. I… Gods, I don't know how to prove it to you. I was under an illusion, too. I… I saw things that hurt, too."

Cinder bites down on her bottom lip hard enough that her aura strains to keep herself from bleeding.

"But for right now, you need to breathe with me, okay?"

Again. Again. She feels so wronged. She can't… why can't she manage to take a breath? Why can't she manage to–

And then… just as had been the case so many months ago, in Beacon's infirmary, together as Cinder had faced the demons within herself, Jaune's semblance washes over her.

It is warm, and soft, and kind, just as he is. It envelops her, and she melts into it just as she had back then; the same way she had within the first illusion. If this is another, then… then she might just break. Another blade to her gut, and she's not sure she'd survive.

And yet, instead, she receives only a gentle press of lips to her forehead, and she looks up to see Jaune peering down at her with tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I don't… I don't know what happened in your vision, but if it was anything like mine, I…"

Cinder shakes her head. She doesn't really want to talk about it. Not at all.

"I… he said that you… that you were afraid of me."

Jaune's eyes widen, and he shakes his head with fervor.

"No. I would never doubt you, Cinder. I love you. Unequivocally. Unconditionally."

The words don't shock her as much as they probably should, even if for some reason she wants to find every fault within them, every little thing that could go wrong. She's always been the type.

"That's… but what if I– if I regressed, and started hurting people again, I–"

He shakes his head. "You wouldn't. I know you wouldn't. But even if you did, even if you slipped, or fell… I'd still love you. I could never stop."

"…That… that doesn't seem healthy." Cinder comments idly, sort of in a daze.

And Jaune just laughs. "Eh, maybe not. But I don't really think I care."

"…I love you so much."

"I love you too." Jaune says, and he says it with such tenderness that Cinder just wants to press her lips against his own, but…

No. Not now.

They… they have a job to do.

But first, they have to figure out why they're not still being tortured within the God of Light's visions.

It seems their entire group is still recovering from whatever it is they'd been put under. Many a soldier is still standing up, getting their bearings. Cinder sees Summer Rose with her daughters, holding them against her. She sees Raven and Qrow, each with haunted expressions, nodding towards one another. She sees Ironwood with Mettle activated, evidently to block out the emotions he might otherwise be forced to endure, and for once, she agrees with the man's choice to activate his semblance.

If she had such a power right now, she's fairly certain she'd do the same.

Lie Ren has cloaked both he and Nora in his semblance, and has taken ahold of his soulmates hand. Pyrrha Nikos stands alongside Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee. Sienna Khan, Winter Schnee, and Penny Polendina group up together. Mercury and Emerald, alongside Ilia and Watts, seem to be formulating some kind of plan. Cinder's not sure how much help that's going to be.

And at the front of the vanguard, Salem and Ozma still stand.

But the looks on their faces are…

They look stunned; well and truly.

And Cinder learns why a moment later.

"You… You bastard!"

"Oh, brother, you truly thought I'd simply sit back and do nothing? It seems you are the fool, not these beings."

Cinder's eyes widen as a black shape, glowing with dark energy, rises from the beyond. It seems to somehow eclipse the light the God of Light has been giving off, muting it until it is almost as nothing.

"Ah, my brother truly does love to showboat, I'm afraid. Instead of killing you all he intended to mentally torture you a while beforehand. Truly, a wonder how someone so impeccably stupid could still be in existence. I suppose immortality and world-ending power will do that."

The God of Darkness is here. His form as enhanced as his brothers had been, only…

He is clearly at an advantage, what with the horrid wound on the God of Light's body. A black gash that shows no signs of healing, stretching from the God of Light's shoulder down towards his heart – or, Cinder supposes, stretching towards where such a thing would be, if the God of Light possesses such a thing.

"God of Darkness…" Salem's voice is shaking. "What are you… How did you–"

"Oh, my brother thought he was so careful. So hidden away. How asinine. Allow me to enlighten you, beings of Remnant. The one who led you to the base of those who carried my brother's power? Who translated their goals for you to see? Who pushed every single article you needed to acquire the Relic of Creation into place? Who removed the locks on sweet little Ambrosius' abilities to allow you to so much as enter into my brother's domain?"

If it is possible for a blank face to smile, then the God of Darkness is doing such right now.

"It was none other… than I."

Cinder feels the hairs on her back standing up, and she realizes her hands are shaking; such is the power within the God of Darkness' voice, in his every action.

"I needed a distraction, you see. Someone to momentarily lower my brother's guard. I couldn't be too overt, of course, but a little nudge here and there proved enough for you all to serve your purposes wonderfully. And lo and behold, you gave me everything I needed and more. Soon, I shall envelop my brother's power, and then I will ascend. Ah… truly, I've looked forward to this for nearly seventy-five thousand years."

"So, brother…"

The God of Darkness rounds back on his godly sibling.

"Shall our battle commence?"

"Co…Coward!"

"Oh, how very rich, coming from the one who intended to raise an army to face me. But if you wish to think of me as a coward, then go ahead. It will not matter what I am to you when you are naught but my power."

And then…

And then the heavens seem to shake as the God of Darkness flexes his hand, and the God of Light does the same.

And Cinder and Jaune are blown backwards.

To say that the power shown in that singular attack eclipses anything that Cinder has seen on Remnant is an understatement. Never before in her life has the residual effect of an attack sent her spiraling backwards, having to use the Maiden's flames to keep herself from colliding with the 'ground' at speed.

Many of the soldiers of Atlas and members of the White Fang are not so lucky. Some collide at harsh angles, and Cinder hears the cracking of bone filling the air. She bites down on her bottom lip, and forces herself not to think on such.

They simply can't afford to.

"What kind of power…" Taiyang Xiao-Long shakes his head. "What are they!?"

"They are Gods." Salem speaks as she stands from the ground; even she having been battered back. "They are above us, and they know it. All we were to them was what they said; a distraction. The God of Darkness has been using us from the very beginning in order to get an edge on his brother. We've played directly into his hands."

"And it seems like the God of Darkness wants the same thing the God of Light does; to ascend to some higher plane of existence." Ozma shakes his head. "Which means we can't simply sit back and let him win, either."

"Are you certain we cannot simply kill them, mistress?" Tyrian asks, and Cinder feels a wave of disgust hit her that Tyrian is even here at all.

Maybe, if Cinder's lucky, Tyrian will get hit with a stray spell somewhere along the way and get wiped from existence. That would be nice.

"I am certain." Salem nods. "Even so, we have no other choice. It is their deaths, or ours."

"But how are we supposed to kill them!?" Raven Branwen yells out. "Frankly, I don't think a fully-powered Maiden would be able to do a single thing to them!"

"They wouldn't, no." Ozma states, and it is the raw certainty there that has Cinder listening. "A few hundred thousand years ago, Salem raised an army of mages to try and battle back against the Gods. They stood no chance at all. It is from that magic that the Maidens were derived. It is, by its nature, derivative of something that has already failed."

"Then… what can we do?"

It is, ultimately, Jaune who decides to make a move. He walks over to Ozma, holds out his hand, and asks, "Can I talk to Jinn?"

Ozma cocks an eyebrow, but nods his head. "There are no questions left."

"I know. I… I have an idea."

Jaune summons the Genie just as another blast wave strikes them all, forcing them to their knees as the distant figures of the Gods of Light and Darkness clash for the fate of the Universe. They are entirely unaffected by Jinn's ability to freeze time, and seem ultimately not to even notice.

"Everyone." Jinn speaks, and she does so with a pained expression. "I see you are within the God's domain."

"Jinn, I need to ask you a question!" Jaune shouts out. "What can kill a God?"

It is a question that makes sense; only there are so many things about it that mean it cannot possibly be answered.

"I do not have any questions remaining in this century." Jinn speaks, shaking her head. "And even if I did, I could not answer such a question. I am a machine programmed by the Gods. I cannot go against my–"

"But you like us!" Jaune says, disagreeing with Jinn. "You and Ambrosius both have wished us luck; you've aided us in ways that you didn't have to! It's clear that you want us to win here, don't you!?"

Jinn actually hesitates. Her lip quivers. "I… I cannot answer that."

Jaune shakes his head wildly, raising his hands as if to try and grasp some ethereal truth.

"Ozma said it himself; that you are all more than just machines; you were his friends! His constant companions through a thousand lifetimes!"

"That…"

"So… I think you're capable of more than you think you are!" Jaune stresses, leaning forward and placing a hand on his breast. "I think you're capable of helping us if you wish to! I think you can break your programming. You're not just a machine; you're an intelligent being with thoughts, and emotions! And you can be more than you were made to be!"

It's the kind of speech that Jaune has already given so many times on this adventure. To Cinder, to Sienna, to Raven, to Salem. And now to Jinn, albeit in a different way. Even so, Cinder finds herself smiling.

Jaune never changes, it seems. Unwilling to accept that anyone can't be saved.

It's why Cinder loves him so.

"That…" Jinn, the Spirit of Knowledge, is clearly caught as she stares at them all. "I…"

She takes a breath, which is odd, given that Cinder's fairly certain she doesn't have to breathe, and then…

Then she closes her eyes. She closes her eyes and focuses. She holds her hands in front of her face and tries to grasp something there.

And then, with a bit of the Gods strength herself, Jinn reaches towards both wrists with her opposite hands, and breaks the cuffs that bind them. She looks up at them, at each of them, and smiles gently, like she's breaking bad news to them.

"…Only the powers of a God can possibly slay another."

Jaune smiles; Ozma does, too, even if both are weakened by what exactly it is they've been told.

"Thank you, Jinn." Jaune says. "You've… given us something to go off of."

"I…" Jinn smiles after a moment. "I wish you luck. Win the day, heroes of Remnant."

And that seems like enough. Jinn retreats back into her lantern, even as Jaune hands the Relic back over to Ozma, who slots it onto his belt. He looks over at the Gods, still trading vicious blows, and he seems to come to some sort of conclusion.

"I…" Jaune's voice is shaky, but even so, beneath that fear, beneath that terror…

There is a will never to give up.

"I have a plan."

They will simply have to hope it is enough.

End Chapter 61

Alright, that's that!

Next chapter; Jaune's plan. Will it work? Will it not? Well, you'll probably find out.