Current Energy: 12
[Root Access] has budded for 5 Omake Points.
Age of Heroes II has been activated for 5 Omake Points! (This actually happened several updates ago but I forgot to make note of it)
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
Beacon Academy, Remnant
"So…" Taylor mused aloud. She was bored. She was overwhelmingly, incredibly, bored - but she tolerated it, because as she had come to understand from regularly interacting with Emily Piggot, authority figures did not typically react well to having their authority flouted.
Even when there was nothing they could conceivably do to stop you besides withholding their personal approval.
"You seem to be in a hurry." Ozpin noted, sipping from a mug Goodwitch had brought him once the evening had begun to drag on.
Taylor was aware of why people here had freaky fairytale names, but that didn't make them any less freaky. She was also aware of why Ironwood - a General who really had better places to be - was still sitting in the office with her and everyone else, despite multiple hours passing since her arrival. Mostly she got the impression that he thought he could stop or subdue her if he had to, and that he was leery of leaving her alone with Ozpin. It was a nice thought, and she supposed that he might be with the belief that the one big attack was her main form of attack, and that she could be fought in melee but well...
She doubted it.
'Is that pompous? I feel like I've started taking being the most dangerous person in any room for granted.' She mused to her mental roommate.
'It could be considered such. Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, my world does not see such wild swings in power from person to person as your own does. An individual like yourself is basically unheard of here.' Ozma - brain Ozma - returned to her.
"I have a pretty strict bed time. I mean, not that strict, obviously, but I'm generally pretty busy and I like waking up early." She answered the real physical version of Ozpin with an off handed shrug that jostled the younger girl sitting in her lap. Taylor could have made a second magical seat for her erstwhile sort of daughter, but she could she preferred hugging her - so that was what she did, leaning forward to plunk her chin atop Long Memories head as she spoke.
"Grand Mother does insist we leave the castle grounds by eight pm." The white haired shikigami noted absently.
"That's because if Danny's busy watching us she can't drag him off to-" Mun - still a bird, though now standing astride Taylors hat, cawed.
"Please don't talk about my Dad doing… that… while I'm in the room." Taylor jumped in swiftly to cut her off.
"I do not understand." Mem grumbled with a frown. Well. Taylor described it as grumbling. In reality it was the same monotone she always spoke in, with just the slightest downturn at the end to signify her feelings at any given moment. It had taken her a while to notice, and even longer to fully grasp, but she had gotten it down eventually.
Actually, she used her magic glasses and cheated until she could figure it out without them, but no one in the world could prove it except Emmy - and Emmy wasn't a narc.
""You'll understand when you're older."" She said automatically, ignoring Mun's snickering in favour of lifting an eyebrow in the direction of the other person who had spoken - Ozpin.
"...I am an educator." He lied blandly, reaching for his mug and taking a sip from it, which was a weirdly obvious tell for a supposedly immortal wizard.
'I should like to note that I am not in fact an immortal wizard. My memories and will are inherited, but the person that possesses them remains distinct. It is not at all the same.' Ozma quickly defended his other self.
'I'm fifteen. It's an obvious tell.' She countered mentally.
"Suuuure…" Taylor drawled, before eyeing Mem.
"I don't see the purpose of just waiting here like this." Ironwood finally ground out.
"I'm not making you stay." She returned without looking at him.
"But you are being very obstinate about not moving. If you would just let me take you to Atlas we can protect you from-"
"Hey chief, take a hint. Get fucked." Mun cut him off, flapping her wings on top of Taylor's head and puffing herself up. Taylor sighed, stretched a hand up to stroke the bird's head - which she leaned into appreciatively - then flicked her in the side of the head.
"Hey!" she squawked.
"Language." She returned evenly before turning her gaze to Ozpin.
"I thought you were an educator?" She asked him dryly. Predictably, he just smiled enigmatically at her and took another sip of his hot chocolate. Sherolled her eyes at him. She was sure he thought he was being mysterious instead of just bluffing poorly.
Whatever. She still had some time left before she had to move on to the next stage of things. She'd let Mem have this. The girl was clearly enjoying just quietly being in the presence of her progenitor, neither particularly interested in making conversation or asking questions - which made sense. From a certain perspective she was actually older than Ozpin. While he changed and 'reset' with every incarnation, Mem was always the constant. Always the same. She knew the mans entire life just as well as he himself did, probably better - so she felt no need to question him on anything.
Which was not to say she couldn't be prodded into making conversation.
But first…
"Emmy? How are we doing?" She asked her friend, unable to keep a hint of worry from seeping into her tone. It was rare that she was the more powerful of the two of them - it had only happened a few times thus far, and even though she was aware of the combat prowess of Emmy's current guise, she was also aware that the level of combat he was familiar with was patently different to what he would face here or on her own world. And as much as he was 'immortal' she still didn't like it when he got hurt - not that it stopped the ass from willingly going to his death when he thought it would be useful.
"Fine. One Moment." He responded succinctly to her, and such was her worry that she immediately switched her field of view to his own.
"Why are you doing this?" a terrified faunus asked, staring up at him from within the brutalized cockpit of a damaged mech of some kind.
"I was asked to." was Emmy's blunt response.
"B-but-" The faunus pleaded as his hand clamped around the mans head and squeezed. There was an immediate flicker of aura from him, the the sound of cracking glass, and then cries of pain.
"Also, you are genocidal monsters. It would seem I have a type." he added, before the pain of his grip caused the other man to black out.
Taylor winced but didn't comment on the sight. She knew Emmy could tell when she spied on him that way, and as much as he clearly didn't care, she did, so she tried not to let her instinctual need to keep tabs on him push her to invade his privacy constantly. Even if she had gotten accustomed to him ranging far and away from her, she still never quite got to liking it. Significant distance between the two of them left her feeling… uncomfortable.
"I have finished with this location." Emmy finally sent to her, rattling off an address to her that she dutifully proffered to Goodwitch, who noted it down and directed the authorities appropriately.
She would literally kill to bring this woman home with her.
"And how are you even finding them? How do you know these aren't just innocent people?" Ironwood pushed after the thirtieth repetition of this particular pattern.
She chose to ignore him in favour of something more important to her.
"Mem, was there anything you wanted to say to Ozpin, now that you've gotten to see him again?" She asked gently, grinding her chin into the top of the girl's head in order to scratch it.
Mem took a moment to consider that while Ironwood continued to rant - something everyone else had simply started ignoring when it became obvious how futile it was. She felt bad because he was obviously trying to be a good man. It wasn't like he was just kidnapping her for her own protection - which he absolutely could… attempt. He genuinely wanted to try and understand and keep her safe.
He was just too militant about it for her tastes.
"Ah." She noted before nodding once and sticking her hand out, palm up towards the headmaster - who hesitantly glanced at it before extending his own hand to place in the tiny palm.
Mem stared at the point where they were touching skin to skin for a moment, then spoke.
"Grand Mother once told me…" She pauses, as though trying to remember something.
"Ah. 'If this Ozpin guy is so great, he can pay for your lunch'". Mem finally finished. There was a pregnant pause as everyone in the room absorbed that for a second.
Ozpin slowly removed his hand from Mems - which remained out palm up - and looked genuinely distressed for a moment before his expression evened out again.
"My apologies but if you would like you can eat in the cafeteria?" He tried.
"Nah Ma says don't take food from strange men. Cash or nothing! Child Support! Child Support!" She cackled, taking off from atop Taylors head to avoid the inevitable smack for being such a brat to fly circles around the spacious office, chanting the worlds.
"Child Support, Child Support!" She cried out with malicious glee.
It was at precisely this moment that the elevator opened, disgorging a haggard looking Qrow.
"Okay so, Yang wasn't super happy that you exist but-"
"Child Support, Child Support!"
The haggard man stopped at that, staring up at the talking bird, then back down at Taylor with a distressed look, before sighing and removing his wallet from his pants.
"Okay look, don't tell Yang about this." He said, withdrawing several bills.
"Aren't you going to correct this misunderstanding?" her inner Ozma asked pointedly.
"Why would I? Raven sucks and he's kind of cute when he thinks the world is ending." She responded with a shrug.
"Has it occurred to you that finding pleasure in haggard looking, overworked men might indicate your interest in men is remarkably similar to your father?" Ozma returned to her.
"Please don't ever deconstruct my tastes ever again." She responded with a wince - though she did accept the bundle of local currency from the man.
"Why? Unlike my usual situation, I do not appear to be fading over time - I have nothing to do but critique you." Ozma answered honestly, obviously in a good mood as a result of her well… being here in the first place.
"I liked you better when you were more like that guy." She grumbled at him, indicating the physical version of Ozpin with a quick flick of her eyes in the mans direction.
"And I liked when teenage girls were not capable of casually obliterating cities. Perhaps we can compromise?" He responded dryly.
Taylor snrked unexpectedly at the joke, then waved away the concerned looks from all present as she contained her laughter.
"All right Emmy, I'm gonna bring you back." She told her friend once she had gotten herself fully under control.
"Hey, bird brain, get down here. It's time to go home." She called up to Mun, who squawked a few more times before descending to land on her hat, even as Mem nodded and stood up, flickering until she was once more a free standing cane in the middle of the room that Taylor swiftly snatched up and sheathed at her back.
"Leaving so soon? We have several free dorms here if you would prefer. I'm sure using your semblance so frequently must be tiring." Goodwitch immediately offered.
Taylor almost tried to convince her to come with her before recalling how much of a hassle it would be to keep her permanently anchored to Earth Bet properly. Normal gaps barely took her any effort anymore, but as she had noted the first time Emmy had tried to come here, the ones she had to use in order to keep people stable in other realities were more… conceptual… almost. She couldn't have put it into words if asked, but it was just different. Different enough that she wasn't keen to test her ability to keep on open permanently.
"Thanks but I'm good. I'll be back in a week or two - hopefully nothing crazy will happen while I'm gone." She said good naturedly and with a glint in her eyes as she opened a new Gap and stepped through it before Ironwood could argue the point with her.
Emmy was already hovering in the immaterial space between all things, waiting for her.
"Bed time?" He asked her blandly, despite being covered in minor injuries and more blood than could possibly have come from himself alone. Wordlessly, she held a hand up to send a wave of healing light over him before answering.
"Just one more thing. Wait here." She informed him before stepping out of a gap she had secretly been guiding through the castle the entire time she had been sitting in that little office.
People assumed that because she was nice, and friendly about her status as a very dangerous person, that she must inevitably be very stupid. This was an image that was only reinforced when she chose to prioritize things that interested her over… well everything else. She couldn't help it. The first man she had ever respected cared about one thing, and one thing only. She wasn't quite that bad, but she was definitely just a bit more self interested than the classic example of a hero should be.
And much like Zaraki Kenpachi, when she really wanted something, she wasn't above being an absolute bitch to get it.
--
Cinder Fall was having a very bad evening. Things had started out well enough. She had managed to make enough of a showing during the breach to avoid suspicion - no one was going to look to deeply at just another huntress in training helping fight off the Grimm - and despite the abject failure that the entire fiasco had been, she was nowhere near stupid enough to put all her eggs in one basket. The breach… that had just been a test. A first attempt. So long as the White Fang's resources existed, she would succeed. Already she was sure her virus would have infected Ironwood's scroll, and would be spreading to every one of those robotic soldiers the fool brought with him. With an entire army behind her, there was no way she could fail - because she was always one step ahead of the naive fools who seemed to run the world.
Or so she thought.
Barely an hour after getting back to their room, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury had begun to receive desperate requests for assistance from the White Fang. Apparently - somehow - Ironwood had sussed out where all the cells of the organization in the city were and shut them down with brutal efficiency.
She had, ofcourse, tried to get up and leave. Not to help. That would be foolish. But to escape. If he knew that much then he probably also knew about the virus. And that meant it was only a matter of time until they started investigating where it could have come from - and she didn't want to be anywhere in Beacon when that happened.
Only… when she opened the door - it didn't lead to the familiar hallway outside of their temporary abode. It lead to… nothing. Literally. It was like looking into the primordial abyss from whence the Grimm came but somehow… worse. She gazed into the nothingness and countless bloodshot eyes gazed back.
She was so stunned that she stopped moving for a full second before it dawned on her how precarious the situation was.
"Cinder?!" Emerald, yelped as she backed into her to escape the maddening gaze, slamming the door and whirling towards the window… that was already blocked by the same nightmarish void.
"I- through the walls!" She ordered with a growl, immediately turning to blast a hole in the wall to escape through with a gout of fire from her left hand. When the smoke cleared, she was not facing a hole into another room.
She was yet again, staring into the Abyss.
It was at that moment, feeling absolutely instantly helpless, that Cinder Fall snapped. With a fury, she began to raze the room itself. The floor, the ceiling, the beds - everything went. She burned it all, and only managed to avoid hurting her underlings by sheer happenstance - as they were smart enough to stand behind her while she rampaged.
Eventually it dawned on her that she was no longer standing in a room. She was hovering in a void. There was nothing else left to distinguish where they were. There was nothing around to even tell her which way was up and which was down. She just… hovered in the nothingness, under the gaze of an infinite number of eyes.
Her underlings were speaking to her at that point - seeking her guidance, sure that she knew what to do.
But she didn't. And she knew it. And eventually, they figured it out too.
She had no idea how long the three of them… drifted. Tried to attack the eyes - that were simultaneously too close and infinitely far away at once.
Nothing seemed to work.
Until finally, there was a whisper in her ear, and the softest graze of something against the back of her neck.
"Hello, Cinder Fall." It whispered, at once too loud and entirely too quiet. Cinder whirled around at that, only to find herself staring at… nothing. Infinite, unending, nothing.
There was another brush against the back of her neck, and she whirled around, realizing that her underlings were nowhere in sight.
"Who- Where are Emerald and Mercury?!" she demanded instantly, not because she cared for their well being - she just didn't want to be alone here.
"I let them go. Do you want to see?" The voice asked, and without prompting part of the… nothing... dislodged itself from the rest, elongating into a creamy white hand that pinched lightly at the air, and pulled downward, like it was unzipping something.
Instantly, Cinder was relieved by the presence of something in this vast expanse of nothing, as a window of sorts appeared in the space with her, opening onto a raging blizzard. Faintly, she saw her two underlings stumbling through the cold winds and biting snow.
She moved to reach for the window, to try to climb through it, even knowing the hell that would await her on the other side, but it vanished from sight, like an illusion.
"No wait-" She called out to it forlornly.
At this point, it would be accurate to say that she was experiencing something not unlike sanity slippage, which, a clinical, cruel, part of her mind, recognized was probably the point.
"Sssh. I'm nearly done. This is more difficult than I thought it would be." The voice - she thought it was vaguely feminine though she wouldn't put money on that - hushed her, and once again she felt that… light touch… on the back of her neck.
All at once, fear and despondency became anger in the face of helplessness. How dare this thing, this monster imprison her? HER?!
"Who are you!? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" She cried into the void, perhaps more fearfully than she initially had wanted to.
"In my world, I'm called Nexus. People call me lots of things. But to you, I'm Death." The voice said, sounding almost… bored.
"Then just kill me!" She screeched, all sense of decorum, dignity, or self respect already having been stripped from her by the endless void.
"I don't actually like killing though, you see. I'm compromising here. Look in a mirror when you get back. I left three little marks on your neck. Three tiny, insignificant runes, charged with all the power I could muster. You've worked with Salem, so I'm sure you're aware of Ozma's curse - to walk the world helping humans. Well I'm a bit more selfish than that. My primary concern is the kids. So here's the deal. If anyone from Beacon Academy dies, so will you. If you try to contact Salem - you will die. If you try to hurt any of my kids - you will die. Go ahead. Try it. Think about hurting one of them. Think about Ruby." The voice ordered her, and she - reluctantly - contemplated strangling the annoying little pissant that-
A chill ran down her spine. Her heart… just briefly… had stopped beating. She thought it was a trick at first, but the minute she had the same thought she… she felt it. Her heart just… stopped. The vital lifeblood it pumped went absolutely still in her veins.
Terrified, she gazed up into the face of god, and watched as it carefully removed it's hat to fan itself.
"See? Nothing so complicated as 'unite all humanity'. Look after my kids for me. If you don't, I won't be the one killing you. You will be. Now piss off." It ordered her.
And suddenly… she was back in her room again, sans any furniture, or sign that anything at all had been in the room.
And she wept.
Taylor skipped into her castle light as a feather. She liked fighting. But more than that - she liked getting her way at the expense of people who really deserved it.