The Fall
Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum
As they approached the guard, he visibly stiffened, rolling his shoulders and shifting his grip on the spear in his hand. "Ah... Princess Salem? You know the Queen does not allow visitors in the upper areas of the Tower..."
"And yet she's been called away due to the current crisis. In the absence of her and my elder sister, the state of the city is left up to me – and I require the assistance of my advisors and allies. They have... expertise that I do not." Salem crossed her arms, continuing to approach the guard as he reflexively took a step back.
"I... this is extraordinarily unusual, Your Highness. In good conscience, I can't –"
"You are in a position to deny me nothing, guardsman," Salem spat as the guard flinched. "If you are so concerned for me or the Tower, then speak to mother and Veve when they return. But I will not have you interfere with what I must do. Do you understand me?"
"I..." His eyes flicked from the princess to the faces of the others. After a moment, he bowed his head and stepped aside.
Salem spared not a glance for him as she stormed up the stairs. Blake closed the distance as they ascended, murmuring quietly.
"Are you certain that was wise, Salem? We could have..."
"No. I could, perhaps, have found a way to sneak one of you in unnoticed – but we haven't the time. I know not how long mother and Veve will be distracted by whatever incident took their attention away from the Tower. We may never get another opportunity to investigate. All of us will search for the answer, and if we fail..." Salem shook her head. "Then it may be too late regardless. So I shall risk all on this one chance. What mother has done will be undone, or..."
She didn't finish the thought, but Blake reached out and gently touched her shoulder. "We'll be here for you, no matter what happens."
"...I know. Thank you, Blake. Here; this is Mother's chambers. We should begin our search here." Salem reached out to the door, and a glowing pattern briefly sputtered across it as some spell failed to activate. After a moment, the princess simply pushed the door open.
Blake paused. "If we're not aiming for stealth... do you want us to spend time making our search subtle? I know a few tricks –"
Salem shook her head as she strode into the room. "No. There's no point. If we succeed in freeing Veve, mother will know regardless."
Yang cracked her knuckles. "Ransacking it is, then."
Without verbally planning, they spread out and began to search.
Most of the common places to hide things turned up nothing. There were no false bottoms in drawers, no hidden compartments tucked away. No shadows Blake could sense in places they shouldn't be. Nothing.
No, in the end, they found the leatherbound journal simply sitting on a desk, so nondescript and plain it went overlooked for several tense minutes before Yang flicked it open on a whim.
I guess with all the security, magical and otherwise, she wouldn't really need more mundane methods. Still... how easily Salem exploited something like that.
"What does it say?" Salem hesitated, making aborted half-motions to step forward. When Yang glanced at Blake, she reached out to grasp the book and bit her lip as her eyes flicked over the text.
"This is in the middle, so it's hard to..." she trailed off.
"Blake?" Ruby reached out to lay a hand on the Faunus' arm, watching the way her ears flicked back and forth.
After a moment, Blake began to read. Her voice was slow and halting... but as she continued, no one was surprised.
Ozma believes that he is close to a breakthough. Indeed, our latest efforts have borne much fruit – many roads have been opened, since my latest attempts. We have successfully bestowed a new Nature on a living subject, proving that it is indeed possible to modify the shape of an existing soul.
The end result was unstable, but that is the nature of a prototype. The concept has proven sound, and so work shall continue. Additional material will be necessary, and steps have been taken to ensure supply. It is unfortunate... but, of course, necessary. Should Ozma's theories about the longevity of my own soul prove false (test? how?), then our temporary solution will fail and the burden of the city will fall upon my daughters. They are not ready
There are already signs. Each ritual staves it off for less time before degrading, and neither of us have been able to determine the cause. Is it a limitation of the ritual design? Did our experiments using other subjects damage the foundation (examine)? Reverting my modifications only reduced the lifetime even further.
My deepest fear is that my own soul is at fault. That I am becoming less stable. If that is the case, then our time is even shorter than I feared.
A solution mustbe found.
Discuss:
-Stabilize my soul
-Modify human (not Wilder) subject? (Risky)
-Recruit Salem? (A heavy burden. Only if needed.)
-Perfect Nature modification (Sxtxmtest extensively, last resort)
As five pairs of eyes turned to Salem, she shook her head, brows furrowed. "Something's... no, we do not have time to comb through the entire book. If I want to know more, it can wait until after. The end, Blake. If there is any mention of Veve at all, that is most likely to help us, is it not?"
Blake nodded, flipping pages quickly until she could scan the most recent entries. Finally, she paused, brow furrowing as yellow eyes flicked rapidly across the page. "What is it? Blake, what did you find?"
The Faunus took a shaky breath before she continued.
I am concerned.
I used my Nature upon my daughter. Something that this journal proves I once thought unthinkable. Yet I have sat here and pored over my reasoning from every angle I can conceive of, and each time I am convinced that I was correct.
Have I gone mad? Have I degraded so far?
Or is the world so cruel that it was my only option?
She intended to reveal all to the people of the city. To beg for the forgiveness of the Wilder.
She would ruin the city and its legacy forever. Sacrifice all who depend upon us on the altar of her heart. Is she correct to do so?
I do not know. Perhaps I cannot know.
I wish If only Why couldn't
I can only act according to what I see to be right. To do anything else would remove any doubt that I am mad.
Until a solution can be found, I shall have Veve keep watch over her sister. Salem has been... different, of late, and I am concerned. She has always been brilliant, but unmotivated, yet now it seems she has found a cause.
After seeing my eldest daughter's reaction, I am no longer sure if bringing Salem into the fold is the correct choice. Her mind may see solutions where Ozma and I are blinded, but I fear that she cannot bear this weight.
For now, we shall continue on. Ozma's latest revisions have been applied to the Heart, and I can only hope that it bolsters the ritual's effectiveness.
We need more time.
For a long moment, nobody said anything. Several eyes glanced toward where Salem stood, motionless, hands gripping the folds of her dress.
Eventually, she simply nodded. "I see."
When she didn't elaborate, Blake closed the book with a soft-yet-deafening thud. "You see?"
Salem tilted her head in acknowledgement. "Ah. Of course, you wouldn't – I apologize. Let me explain." She raised her shaking hands in front of her, gesturing in the same way she always had when lecturing Blake on one thing or another. "Mother's Nature is to... merge her soul with an object, allowing her to understand it and manipulate it as if it were part of her. Or... it was. So far as I know, her Nature cannot be used on a person."
"Then..." Ruby blinked. "Oh no."
"She modified herself," Blake said softly. "She mentioned that the first time they tried it, their... subject became unstable. So if she can use her Nature on people, then..."
Salem nodded. "It explains much."
Penny's eyes were downcast. "I cannot imagine what that must... I am sorry, Salem."
The princess released a small sigh. "It... thank you." She shook her head. "Now. Let us ascend. She mentioned the Heart... that could only mean the very apex of the Tower."
"Ascend...?" Weiss frowned. "I was under the impression we were here to learn what happened to princess Veve. Should we not...?"
Salem shook her head. "We may never have another opportunity to examine it, and I wish to learn as much as I can about this ritual. Besides... the guard will surely inform mother and Veve both. A confrontation is inevitable, and there is no reason to flee it. Best to take advantage while we can." She glanced at Blake. "Or am I incorrect, teacher?"
Blake leaned back against the desk, chewing on her bottom lip. "... No, you're not. If it's going to be trouble one way or another, then... I'd rather know what's going on. Wouldn't you?" She cast her eyes around.
"... Shit, when you put it like that." Yang shrugged. "Lead the way, then."
Salem nodded, and turned back to the still-opened door. For just a moment, at the threshold, she hesitated... but then swept up the stairs.
After sharing a glance with her teammates, Black closed the distance between them even as the rest followed behind. "Salem...? Are you certain you're all right?"
For several seconds, the princess was silent. "No. I am not. I find myself wishing that my mother was... a villain from some fairy tale, instead of what she so clearly is."
Blake blinked. "Wh- what?"
"It would be easier to hate her than it is to pity her. I do not know the details, but it seems clear that she has done something that makes her broken. Yet even so, the things she has done... to the Wilder, let alone to Veve..." Salem shook her head as they reached the summit of the staircase, staring at the runic circle at the apex of the tower. "What possible justification could there be?"
"... I can only imagine how difficult this is, Salem. I... you don't have to -"
"Thank you, Blake." Salem reached out and touched her shoulder lightly. "I appreciate the sentiment. But, no, I do. I must know. I will not have you face every hardship for me. And fear not. I will not break under the strain, not until we have done what needs to be... whatever it is." She strode confidently to the center of the circle before pitching her voice to reach the rest of the group. "Now come. This should take us the rest of the way."
The group assembled, and Salem spoke... and after a few moments of travel, they found themselves at the highest point in Ciel.
A grand circular chamber, lined with empty suits of armor clutching decorative weapons. What a strange choice for such a private room, Blake found herself thinking. I wonder what they represent?
More importantly, however, was the magical array that consumed the entirety of the floor. Tiny, intricate symbols flowed in patterns that almost hurt to follow. Individually, they made no sense even filtered through Blake's ability to translate, but... there was something about the whole array...
Salem frowned. "This is... far more complex than I had envisioned."
"Will you be able to decipher it in time?" Weiss' fingers worried at the hilt of Myrtenaster. It was the most visible sign of her tension, but... Blake could see the tightness around her eyes as she glanced about the room, and the way her shoulders were set to enable a quick draw.
Salem shook her head. "There is no way of knowing. I know not when mother and Veve will return. So... I will simply do what I can. If they are too swift, I shall ask mother of the purpose herself. If not... then we will be armed with knowledge, when the time to confront her comes."
"Well. We'll keep on edge for that, just in case." Yang cracked her neck once, rolling her shoulders. "I know I'm no good for this sort of thing. The others might be able to help if you need something specific, but... I'm just going to stay out of the way for now, yeah?" Upon receiving a nod in response, Yang wandered towards the edge of the room to examine the armor. As Ruby followed, as Weiss and Penny began to patrol the room in apparent aimlessness.
Salem simply strode to the center and bent down, eyes tracing along the designs and lips moving as she muttered to herself. Blake could only follow and compare insight.
A sparkling light flew over the trees, casting swirling shadows on the canopy beneath it.
And far away, a man with slitted eyes nodded once. "That's the signal, Teacher. They have attracted attention, just as you said they would."
Ozpin nodded once, shifting his grip on his cane. "So it seems. Good."
Selina strode up next to him, one hand on each of her axes. They were crude weapons, by his standards – but certainly effective. "So. You promised us a way into the city, Teacher – one fast enough to strike while they are open. Not once have you failed me or my people, yet I find myself curious how you intend to deliver today."
He smiled, beckoning them forward as they continued on towards the coast. And there, just before them, was a relatively small structure. A dome of gleaming white soulstone, containing within one of the great wonders of Ciel. Something he hadn't seen in millenia.
How nostalgic.
"What... is that?" Selina's brow furrowed. "That's no Watchtower."
"You are correct," he said. "That is our way in. Come."
She blinked, then turned to glance at him. "You... you know how to wield their mysteries."
It wasn't a question, but he answered regardless. "I do."
The way her eyes lit up as she comprehended the implications... It is unfortunate, that I must resort to this. But what must be will be. "There should be enough room for everyone to stand upon the platform. After that... steel yourselves. We shall be carried to the city itself."
"And we shall have our vengeance, then."
In lieu of an answer, he inclined his head, striding to the center of the Waystation. He paid little attention to the warriors as they arranged themselves around him, his mind turning forward – and backward, to the last time he had seen the city. His memories of it began bubbling to the surface, almost eager to be considered after being so long forgotten.
After all this time. After everything... I never imagined I could turn things back.
"- so ready yourselves! Men and women, Red-Claws and Black-Skies and All-Breakers! They will never forget this day, just as we will never forget what brought us here and now!"
The crowd roared as they raised their weapons. Some of them were the Wilder's own designs, while some he'd... assisted with.
They will be enough. Then... it can finally be finished.
As Selina turned to him, he nodded once, and placed his cane upon the ground. He let his mind drift into old, familiar patterns. He felt the strings of connection that had bound him to this place for all the years of his lives, and felt the magic as it wound through the structure all around him.
Within his soul, the wheel turned.
"Bridge to Waystation One."
And the Bridge hummed to life once again.
"I don't like those looks," Yang said as they reconvened near the center. "You figured something out."
Blake glanced at Salem and received a nod in response. "It's... not good."
"How 'not good' is 'not good'?"
Salem's shoulders sunk. "This is... the Heart of the Tower. The magical energy that fuels the city – it springs forth from this place. The false star-lights above the city, the network of Bridges and Watchtowers, the heat of the soul-forges – all of it passes through this place."
Ruby frowned. "I... can think of a few ways that could be bad news. Tell me it isn't what I'm thinking, Blake." When Blake simply closed her eyes, Ruby's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped.
Weiss' face twisted. "As we've heard before, 'the soul is merely energy,' is it?"
The princess gestured weakly at the circle. "I can see evidence of the modifications mother wrote of. Based on what I can see here, and what was written... I assume that the original ritual was intended to be fueled by only one or two. Now, though... I see many places where a source could be placed."
Penny shut her eyes, turning towards one of the walls and folding her arms in front of her. "That is... to do something like that...!"
"And all the people down there have no idea. No idea at all..." Ember Celica creaked as her fists tightened at her sides. "That's what Veve figured out. That's why..."
"Yes," a voice cut through the room like a knife, "that is why."
Each of them whipped around to the entrance of the room as the light of the runic elevator faded. Veve stood there, pale face set in a neutral frown, and beside her...
"Mother," Salem breathed.
Pale skin, golden hair only barely less vibrant than Yang's own. Tall enough to tower over all of them, but far more slim than her height would suggest.
And a silver crown around her brow.
"Salem," the queen of Ciel spoke in a sharp, quiet voice. "I am incredibly proud of you."
Blake blinked, momentarily taken aback.
"I - what?" Salem's hands had begun to raise, but they immediately dropped bonelessly back to her sides.
"Do you know how many years it took me to decipher the nature of Omen and Aradia's ritual here at the Heart? How long I spent, toiling over these unfamiliar designs, for even a scrap of understanding? Yet here you stand, now, so quickly absorbing the information in front of you. You are, truly, beyond even me." With slow, deliberate steps, the queen approached them. Yang and Penny both shifted slightly, drawing closer to the others in the group.
"I -"
"Of course, you had a place to begin. Some notes already left. Yet even so... you aren't simply parroting knowledge you read. You understand what lies before you." The queen smiled.
Blake's eyes narrowed. There's something - that smile. She reminds me of the old guard in the Fang, the ones that had been fighting for so long... they'd lost themselves somewhere along the way. Like Adam was.
"Mother. Tell me that this is not what it appears to be." Salem gestured at the circle all around them.
"And what does it appear to be, daughter of mine?"
"That you are burning souls to fuel the city! That everything we do here is built on suffering and death!"
The queen sighed, as though she'd been asked a simple question by a child. Out of the corner of her eye, Blake could see Weiss visibly bristle in response. "Jumping to conclusions on incomplete information... that is unlike you, Salem. Tell me, what do you think would happen should the Heart fall still?"
Ruby's face flicked back and forth between the two royals, her face twisting as she listened and visibly restrained herself from butting in.
Salem only scowled. "Losing our luxury is not a price worthy of consuming souls, mother! Can you not see that?"
"Luxury!" The queen laughed. "My foolish girl, do you consider light and food to be luxuries that we can do without?"
"What? But -"
"The days when the city could sustain itself without the Bridges to extend our reach are long over, Salem. Our hunters bring game from all across the continents, and our farmland relies upon the Heart to provide the heat and light needed to grow. If the Heart fails, then each and every citizen of Ciel will be trapped where they stand. Here in the mountain or out in the Wilds, they will be stuck. And mistake me not, they will starve."
"That... How can you say that, as though it excuses this? Do you think I missed the way the ritual restrains those placed within it? You take innocent, unwilling people, mother! You murder them because you will not find another way?"
The queen's hand swept out in a grand gesture. "There is no other way, you naive girl! You think I have not tried? I fed the ritual from my own soul for as long as I possibly could, but each repetition it remains stable for less time. I took the guilty, the dying, the exiled, as I searched. I have pored over the ritual and the Heart time and time again. There is no other solution. The Heart must be fed, or Ciel will collapse. Every person who looks to the Tower for support, who looks to our family for support, will be left wanting. I want you to consider every other denizen you have ever met, Salem. Every guardsman, every scholar, every laborer. Picture them and tell me you are willing to kill them, to spare those who have always been cruel neighbors at best and enemies at worst."
Salem took a step back, one hand raising defensively in front of her chest. "I... that's..."
"That's a false dichotomy," Blake said, stepping forward until their shoulders were almost touching. When the intensity of the queen's gaze – and the unnatural blankness in Veve's – turned to her, she didn't flinch. "I've heard that kind of argument before. There are other ways – you could be searching for an alternative to the Heart. Spread the population of the city out so that you aren't as reliant upon the Bridges and Waystations, or find a different way to power them. One that doesn't tear people's souls apart to function."
The queen hummed, her gaze narrow. "If you read my notes, as I know you did, you are already aware we are researching alternative methods of stabilizing the Heart. But I cannot leave my people alone while we search for a solution. Nor would your people offer us such courtesy, were our positions reversed, Wilder."
"This has nothing to do with Wilder or Cielans, mother. It has to do with good and evil. I did see your alternatives. What did you intend? To twist the nature of your victims so that their souls could power the Heart for yet longer? You think that is a better way?"
"I will not be here to carry the city forever, Salem!" The queen's shout bounced off the walls, making both Blake and Ruby wince. "Nor, clearly, would it accept me even if I could! And if I will not have you or Veve be sacrificed to the Heart, there must be a substitute! Or do you want to feed yourself to the city, daughter mine? To protect our enemies for another day?"
"What I want is for us to live without feeding off of death! Do you think this is the kind of city Omen and Aradia wanted to build, mother!? That this is the kind of city our people want to call home!?"
The queen took a deep breath... and then shook her head. "What you want and what is are two very different things, Salem. I see that I have been lax in teaching you and Veve both. You, both of you, are convinced that the world can be made kind, but it cannot. There is no power that can overcome the Nature of the world."
Salem's hands shook as she stepped back once again. "So what will you do, mother? Distort me, as you did Veve?"
Blake stepped in front of her, partially blocking the view between them even as the rest of the team arrayed around her... but the queen merely shook her head.
"My clever daughter. You hope that your Nature will backlash my own. No, there is no need for that. You will be confined to the Tower until your lessons are complete, Salem. Until you understand the truth of things."
Blake's stance shifted, her shoulders drawing forward as her hands drifted towards Shroud and Veil. "We won't let you do that."
The queen smiled. "I believe you'll find you will." Her eyes flickered into a shifting, prismatic array of colors, and something brushed against Blake's Aura.
"Blake!?" Salem's voice was distant, almost inaudible. It took Blake a moment to realize she'd stumbled backwards as something dug deeper and deeper...
It was...
So very...
...
Irritating.
Her shadow writhed beneath her, exploding out along the floor in every direction before collapsing back into its vaguely human shape. The fangs that had sunk into her snapped, and the queen stumbled backwards with wide eyes.
"You – what manner of beast comes to corrupt my children!? That is no Wilder soul!"
The queen raised her right hand, sweeping it across her body almost the same way Cinder had many times in the future-past. Sparks of electricity trailed and chained behind and between her fingers.
"NO!" Ruby's scream was immediate, and Blake's vision was suddenly obscured by a swarm of rose petals as her ears were assaulted with the crash of thunder and unique growl of continuous lightning. She blinked away the spots in her eyes to see her leader, both hands twisted into grasping claws as they shook with effort, cascading electricity jumping back and forth between them and across her forearms.
But not a single wayward spark found a way past her to the rest of the team.
"Never..." Ruby's voice was small.
"Never...!" It was quiet.
"NEVER AGAIN!" Until it was not, as she threw her arms apart and split the storm in twain, sending two disparate bolts to crash into the armor and walls to either side of them.
For a moment, Blake couldn't tear her eyes from her leader's back. The slight shaking of her shoulders, the small twitches of her fingers that betrayed just how painful that must have been. How the leftover scars from Cinder's own lightning must have ached... but she stared down the queen, nonetheless.
"... Impressive, for an outsider. In that case..."
The queen raised her hand – and as one, Blake and Yang surged past their leader into the vanguard. Veve stepped forward, her longsword sliding out of her sheath and into both hands. I've seen Veve fight. She's not a match for Yang and I, so –
The queen smiled, just a bit.
Blake's heart hammered in her chest, and she spun in place, Shroud and Veil already shifting closer to her body. Metal struck metal, again and again and again, as a storm of blades and spears and halberds swept past her body, barely deflected away from her Aura. The armor... it wasn't a decoration at all...! The moment the storm had passed she spun again, her charge paused as she reconsidered their approach.
A ring of weapons slowly orbited the queen, each blade unerringly pointed at one of them. That small smile never left the queen's face as her hand rose again in a lazy gesture that sent a wave of frost sweeping at them.
Blake went one way and Yang another, circling around to either side and closing it at the same time. Four swords spread around her as Blake closed in, baiting her with empty space before lunging at her. The attacks were staggered; a blade would attack from each direction, then pull back as the other pair repeated the attack. With Shroud and Veil in hand, it wasn't hard to deflect the attacks – but it was hard to advance when each attack shook her arms just from the force of parrying them.
Blake's eyes narrowed. These aren't for offense. They're just a screen. It's the magic-! Her hair stood on end, and her shadow burst forth to curl protectively around her as another bolt of lightning flashed out. The crash of thunder left her ears briefly ringing, and in the instant after the lightning burned away her black shield all four blades struck as one to send her skidding backwards.
Further away from the queen.
She grit her teeth and pushed off her shadow, lunging back into the fight.
Yang pivoted, using a twist of her waist to bring Ember Celica down on the flat of a longsword and send it momentarily skidding to the floor. It was back up in a moment, but it didn't matter – the energy from that motion fed into another wide swing to send a halberd spinning a few yards to the side, which fed into a similar parry of another thrusting blade. As she continued advancing, four weapons became six became eight, each step slowing her that much more – but also freeing up more space for the others.
That was fine. That was exactly how it should be.
She stood her ground, body twisting as she knocked aside attack after attack. The moment the queen's attention shifted to send a lightning bolt crashing into her partner, Yang seized her opportunity and lunged.
And made it two steps before the weapons doubled down on her even as the queen's back was turned. She hissed a breath out from clenched teeth, planting her stance and refusing to be pushed back even as small cuts began to scrape across her Aura. God damn it, she shouldn't be able to pay attention to this many things at once! Her Semblance is fucking absurd!
The queen spun in place, sending her dress flaring out around her. Her hand swept across like a dancer, and the air ignited. The heat washed over her skin, and Yang took a deep breath.
She smiled, and clicked her heel against the ground. Her own flames washed out from her Aura as she kicked off the stone floor, bursting out of the inferno like a furious comet. She enjoyed the moment of shock she saw in the queen before every unoccupied weapon layered itself in a shield between them.
In the moment before impact, she centered herself.
Then she screamed as she hit the crossed blades with a resounding crash of metal-on-metal, pushing her soul out in an explosive burst of superheated air that sent both her and the weapons scattering in different directions. The backblast sent the queen careening backwards, shocked and off-balance. Yang wasn't in a position to capitalize as she scrambled to get her own feet solidly beneath herself again.
But she watched a glyph blossom underneath Penny's feet, and she couldn't help but laugh.
Penny stepped forward onto the spinning white sigil and let it push her forward. It was a sensation like falling, but reoriented sideways – like gravity had been twisted for just a moment. She'd had a great deal of training for falling from heights.
It was much the same. Her focus was poured into the array of blades around her as she twirled, bringing each weapon to bear in a pirouetting attack only to be intercepted by a dizzying array of weaponry. She twirled and danced, hands and cables guiding the blades in complex patterns through the air.
Up. Down. Thrust. Slash.
Push further. Pull closer.
She scraped her own arsenal across the Cielan armory, never allowing them to lock blades – whatever force the queen imparted, it seemed superior to her own methods. Stronger. More precise.
But also slower. She exploited that, weaving attacks around the opposing defense and forcing them to reorient into new angles. When her body was threatened, she contorted and danced around attacks rather than take them head-on.
She stepped closer. She twirled underneath a scissoring twin-cut and hopped over a low sweep.
The queen stepped back.
She stepped closer. She –
Lightning crashed across her Aura faster than she could respond. She threw her blades into the floor to ground herself – and the tips scraped across the stone without penetrating.
Ah, she thought as the spell redoubled its intensity and sent her crashing backwards. That is not ideal. New countermeasures necessary.
There was an explosive crack that was not thunder, and the queen's own Aura rippled around her before she spun to where Ruby Rose stood staring down the sight of her rifle.
Penny slowly rose to her feet, rolling her shoulders and feeling at her damaged Aura.
...I remain combat ready.
With heavy steps, she charged once again.
For a moment, Ruby's eyes met the queen's. She saw surprise, there. The kind of stunned not-yet-anger of someone who was only just beginning to realize they had been hit.
Then her eyes narrowed, and Ruby pulled the trigger again. This time, a blade flew into her line of fire at the last moment, and her bullet deflected off to strike the queen in the shoulder instead of center mass. Ruby chambered another round, taking aim.
The queen's fist clenched, and then released.
It burned. It burned it burned it burned it burned –
Ruby blinked tears and afterimages from her eyes, a hand pressing at her torso before pulling away at the heat radiating from that spot. Was that... was that a directed energy beam? That's possible!? She couldn't deny the dissipating haze of heat in the air between them or the momentary line seared into her vision.
The queen's fist clenched, and Ruby threw herself to the side with her Semblance an instant before a bright white line boiled through the air, splashing against the stones and leaving a small circle of white-hot slag on the wall behind her.
Okay. New plan. Don't let that hit you. It's just... it's just a high-caliber rifle, Ruby. Yeah. Stay out of the line of fire. Easy. We've done this a thousand times.
Blake catapulted herself past multiple weapons, overextending for a moment in a bid to take the heat off of her. It was frustrating, how much of a relief that was to Ruby.
She vented her frustration by pulling Crescent Rose's trigger again.
Blake spun to the side to dodge another attack, and lashed out with her mind. Spears of shadow lunged forward, knocking weapons aside and grinding against the queen's Aura as they shoved her back and towards Penny.
Then the queen waved her hand, leaving a gleaming white wake behind. The light magic, for there was nothing else it could be, burned her shadows away like nothing and she was forced to pull them back to avoid losing more than she could afford.
The momentary distraction bought her and Yang enough time to close the distance. She batted away a weak defense, and managed to score a long slash across the queen's torso.
At the same moment, Yang slammed into her from behind, launching a quick series of jabs before winding back – then ducking out of the way as the entire storm of floating weapons converged on them from all sides.
Blake parried and spun and deflected and dodged, but even so she felt several stinging pains as the edges of blades skirted across her Aura. For a second, she hesitated, taking an extra hit but not wanting to give up the distance that they had finally gained.
When a sword curved around behind her guard and almost bit into her neck, she spat out a curse and fell back.
This isn't working...! We need something...
Weiss eased Myrtenaster to one side, pushing Veve's longsword out of the way. Her eyes flicked into the fight and her free hand clasped empty air, spinning a glyph up between Blake and the blade about to strike her from behind. The shield shattered instantly on contact, but only after bouncing the blade away. Blake slid sideways out of the way of another attack, and Weiss nodded to herself.
Then she rotated her wrist to bring Myrtenaster's guard around in a sideways blow to Veve's cheek, sending the princess momentarily reeling back even as her expression refused to change.
Obsidian? Any progress?
Gradual. The entangling of souls is fundamental. Time is required.
We only have so much.
She took a moment to breathe as Salem stepped in at the side, her two-sectioned staff battering at Veve's defenses. Somehow, it seemed like the ensorcelled princess was reluctant to fight her sister – her skills certainly seemed more limited than when she was attacking Weiss. A sign she was resisting whatever commands the queen had given her, or just an oversight in the structuring of those commands?
It didn't matter. As she closed back in, Weiss spun another glyph to push Yang further into the combat zone.
She could take the heat.
Blake scowled, shifting backwards slowly as Penny and Yang both advanced. Splitting her attention isn't working. All it does it make – she winced as lightning crashed against a hurried parry from Ember Celica, sending Yang skidding out of range. To her credit, Yang fired off several shells – but they were slower than Crescent Rose's rounds, and the queen swatted them out of the air without a second glance.
So Blake weaved back and forth, twirling around intercepting blades, until she and Yang were on the same side.
At the same moment, she watched Ruby's petals swirl around to Penny's side, and Crescent Rose hooked a blade out of the redhead's way to allow her to dance closer.
She didn't look at Yang.
She didn't need to.
They dashed in. Shroud parried a longsword to the left while Yang knocked aside a spear on the right.
Veil hooked underneath an axe.
A shell from Ember Celica sent a broadsword skittering across the floor for precious seconds.
Blake swung around Yang's back as blades began to close in from behind. She parried what she could, and allowed what she couldn't to skid across her Aura.
Yang hooked a foot underneath hers and they twirled, switching places so Blake's shadow could burst forth and absorb another burst of lightning.
Then Blake's eyes widened as another crack of thunder sounded, and what was left of her barrier disintegrated. She pulled more from her shadow to parry the next cast –
She and Yang split, each rolling in a different direction, as a beam of white heat pierced through her shield like it wasn't even there.
If I couldn't see through my own shadows, that would have...
She shook herself mentally as she rolled to her feet and deflected three simultaneous thrusts.
When heat washed over her, she cringed – but the target wasn't her.
She watched Penny step in front of Ruby as flames washed over them, and rushed forward. As always, the distraction was almost useless, and the queen's eyes never even turned in her direction. Once again, the queen clenched her fist, and the beam lashed out towards Penny's chest.
Only to suddenly terminate as Salem slid into the way, arms wide and face set in a furious gaze that was achingly familiar to Blake.
"No! I will not let you do this, mother! Please, listen to reason! This is not the way!"
"My brilliant, foolish daughter. How blind you can be, for all your genius." The queen shook her head.
Salem's eyes flicked to Blake.
Then she lunged forward. Blake blinked at the force behind her dash, faster than she'd ever seen her once-student move. She braced herself to move forward in support –
Blake. Preparations to free Veve have been completed. You must make physical contact with her Aura.
– and frowned. Yang surged past her without a word, but she understood the intent all the same.
... All right. Direct me.
The details will be handled. You must maintain contact until it is completed.
She kicked herself backwards, watching as Weiss immediately backed off with a grateful nod.
Veve's blade arced around, straight for her neck. It was a killing blow... if she were slow or beaten down.
Veve knew that she was not.
In one motion, Blake knocked the blade aside and sheathed her own sword. Her shadow whipped up and around the blade, trapping it. Veve's face contorted and magic began to run down the length of the weapon – then Blake's black hand wrapped around her neck.
An immense pressure surged out from deep within Blake's soul, and Veve began to writhe and convulse in her grip. She wrapped her free arm around the princess, and it was all she could do to keep them still and maintain her grip.
Long have you possessed the ability to manipulate the soul directly. It is something you have only very rarely utilized, preferring instead to make use of your understanding. To comprehend the shape of an individual soul. To bear witness to their uniqueness.
To learn. To grow.
These same skills guide you. A direct bridge, from Blake's so-familiar soul to the barely-recognizable one of Veve. You pour your energy through the connection, boiling through the grooves in Veve's own spirit. It isn't a dance, like it was with your mortals. You lack the connection for that. You lack the time and delicacy required.
You get only the briefest and broadest of pictures of Veve's nature. Something that gives itself to others. A Semblance that is, perhaps, superficially similar to the one possessed by her mother, but so fundamentally different as to be unrecognizable in contrast.
And the rotted, poisoned sections that are twisting her. Commanding her.
Removing her ability to choose.
You are disgusted. What an abhorrent thing it is, to force a a thing to be what it is not.
You burn it to nothing.
You boil it away.
You crush it in your wake.
You consume it until nothing remains but unblemished, if not undamaged, soul.
And as you allow your awareness to pull away, back into your mortals...
You are satisfied.
Salem refused to think about the sound of Veve's aborted screaming or pained groans.
She refused to think about the emotions she saw in her mother's face.
She refused to think about what would come next.
These things were easy to do, because queen Athame was far more skilled than she. No matter how excellent a teacher Blake was, she only had so long to absorb those lessons.
Even while fighting off the others.
Even while deflecting bolts of light from Penny's odd weaponry.
The simple fact was that a mere two weapons were enough to halt Salem in her tracks. It bristled. It burned.
But it was the truth. She was weak, even now.
Her mother's hand raised and she felt the magic coalesce in the air, and she knew she would never make it –
– a silver sigil burned itself into the air in front of her.
She recognized it.
She stepped forward, and shot sideways, catching her footing only at the last moment to see her mother split the air with heat once more. And once more, the heat disappeared the moment it touched her cursed soul.
Her soul swelled, her breath caught in her throat for a moment, and she shook herself against the heady energized feeling.
She blinked.
"Salem," her mother breathed even as the battle continued all around them. "You... ha. Ha ha ha ha! All this time, and we never knew."
No. That couldn't be. We tested! We tried!
"You truly are the ritual child," her mother said. "To think it was possible to reverse it, all along. To fuel the soul with magic...! The greatest discovery since the founding of the city! Salem! Will you not work together with me, even now, daughter mine?"
She opened her mouth to answer, only for Ruby's weapon to fire again and send her mother stumbling backwards. When she straightened, hand raising... Salem recognized the look in her eye, and surged forward with renewed speed. She dodged under the weapons that weren't yet prepared for her increased speed, as her soul blazed with new energy. "No! Leave them alone!"
Yet no magic poured from her mother's soul.
Instead, the rocks of the floor shifted, as Salem realized she stood in the spot of a sacrifice.
Chains snaked across her legs and she stumbled, crashing to her knees painfully.
They twirled around her arms, pulling them further and further back as she lost more and more leverage. "No. No! Mother!"
The stones of the Tower shifted beneath them, and Salem's eyes widened as she watched the ritual circle shift and mutate.
No. No, this is how she and Ozma modified the ritual!? If it's all her Nature, then...!
"Blake! You must –"
The queen threw her arms wide, and magic poured through the stones and the grooves within them. It curled around Salem, never touching her, and no matter how she struggled she couldn't shift enough to interrupt the conduit.
Then the Heart of the Tower began to beat, and the air was filled with light and screaming.
The floor shifted underneath her, and for a moment Yang's footing slipped. She grit her teeth, batting aside a half-hearted attack from a stray sword, and straightened her back.
It's going to take more than some moving terrain to throw us off –
"Blake! You must –"
It was the desperation that made her pause. It was a sound she recognized.
It was the sound of watching someone die. For just a second, Yang hesitated.
Then the floor exploded into golden light, and time stopped meaning anything.
It hurt. It hurt.
It hurt. It hurt.
It was being pulled apart. It was being sliced to pieces.
It was stretching to cover the whole of the city. It was contorting her soul into shapes it was never meant to be in.
Nothing had ever hurt like this. Being impaled by Cinder hadn't even registered compared to this.
It was like her entire soul was being ground away, all at once.
Her throat seized, and she realized she'd been screaming. She forced herself to stop, straining her jaw and throat, but the sound didn't cease.
Of course. She wasn't the only one. Even if all she could see was her own hands, bracing against the glowing light, arms shaking with the effort of holding her up, she wasn't the only one.
Her team. Her team. Her team.
Slowly, so slowly, she raised her head. She could just barely see Blake's shadow squirming in the corner of her eye, but she couldn't bring herself to turn her head that way.
Her team.
She could see Penny, almost motionless if not for the shaking.
Her team.
She could see Weiss, hands seizing at the air as she tried to wield her Semblance to any effect.
Her team.
She could see Ruby, eyes boiling silver, sprawled on the ground. Staring at her.
Her team.
She could see golden streams of light being torn from each of them, greedily drank by the designs built into the stones beneath them.
Slowly. Shakingly. Weakly... Ruby reached out for her.
She remembered a Dream.
She saw a little red wagon.
She saw two little girls, with black and golden hair.
She saw a pack of Beowolves, circling and snarling.
Her fingernails scraped at the stone.
"Fine! If Ioka weak, then Ayla be strong! Ayla fight and win! Ioka live!"
The edge of her vision was white as she pushed to her knees.
It was hard.
It would be so easy to lie down. She knew, she knew, that the pain would end if she just lay down.
"I missed you, Yang. It-it felt like you were going farther and farther away, and I couldn't-couldn't doanythingaboutit, and-"
She stared into her sister's eyes, and raised her hands above her head.
There was so very, very little of her Aura left. The last few drops that hadn't yet bled away.
But that was fine.
No matter how little was left;
no matter how damaged she was;
as long as she was alive, Yang could fight.
Her hands came down.
Her magic ignited.
Her Semblance fired.
And the world burned.
Ozpin's cane twirled once, striking the outside of the soldier's wrist. His grip broke and his weapon clattered to the floor. For a split second, neither of them moved.
Then the Wilder saber in his right hand flashed and the soldier slumped against the stones behind him. As he stepped past the body, Ozpin found himself frowning. There were far too few guards posted around the Tower. There was next to no chance that the diversion was working so well.
Which meant there was something else.
Did the queen anticipate this somehow? If they've moved elsewhere, then... I can think of a few places they might hide. Still, actually finding which one will not be simple.
He felt the magic ripple through the air first, but only barely. Only enough time to crane his neck up towards the top of the Tower.
In time to see the side of it buckle outwards in a gout of white fire a hundred feet long, sending chunks of soulstone raining down into the city.
For a moment, Ozpin found himself simply staring. The amount of force and heat needed to break the soulstone of the Tower itself was... not insignificant.
Then, without further reaction, he surged forward. Whatever was happening... the Heart was at the center of it.
He would get his answers.
"You..." the queen hissed, slowly standing from where the wave of fire had scattered her. Her eyes glanced around, taking in the ruined walls – and then she grit her teeth as she looked at the burned out crater of slag surrounding Yang's kneeling, panting form.
The crater where no traces of the ritual circle remained.
"What have you done?"
Yang's head slowly lolled up. Her eyes swept across where the rest of her team still knelt or lay, each of them recovering in their own way.
She smirked as her Aura crackled broken and spent across her body. "Fucked your plans." She heaved a breath. "... Am I right?"
The queen screamed, and her weapons swirled through the air in a spiral. Reflexively, Yang stumbled to dodge.
She made it two feet before her legs gave out again.
"Hah... haha...!"
Sorry, Rubes.
She blinked her tears away at the sound of rending metal, and then blinked again at the quivering tip of a sword just in front of her face.
The sword that had only stopped because it was pressed up to the hilt in Penny's abdomen where the girl stood in front of her, along with many others.
"P... Penny?" Yang breathed.
"You will not," Penny forced out. As the weapons began to pull back for another attack, Yang heard a familiar straining sound. The sound of cables pulled taut. Penny clutched her arms tighter to her chest, and Yang realized she could see the tiny strings that normally connected Penny to her weapons wrapped around the queen's blades instead.
"You will not," the girl reiterated, "hurt my friends again. I refuse you."
"You... what are you...?" For just a moment, the queen was distracted, peering at the girl who did not bleed.
Then the world was consumed by darkness.
Blake held her hand out, pouring her frustration and anger and pain into her shadow as it cascaded across the floor in ribbons of razor-sharp blades. Shroud and Veil thrummed together in her hand in time with the pulsing darkness all around her.
Even as the queen burned it away in light, more poured forth from every direction as Blake's own shadow expanded and unfolded, supplying her with all that she'd collected over all the days she'd known magic.
She couldn't look at where Penny stood, holding the queen's still-quivering weapons in place with her own body. She needed focus.
Which is why she lunged forward under the cover of her own consuming shadows. When the queen turned away from her, parrying more shadows with magic, Blake burst out of the darkness and drew the entire length of her sword across the queen's back.
Then she vanished back into the shadow, narrowly avoiding another bright swath of burning light. A moment later and she surged forth again, striking from yet another angle.
She danced with the queen, always one step ahead... but her shadows were running out.
They grew thinner, and thinner, until the queen almost caught her with a blast and she went tumbling to the ground.
"I am impressed! I see why my daughter was fooled by you so –" the queen's arm raised.
Blake couldn't help but smile.
Got you. You're powerful... but you've never fought like this, have you?
Crescent Rose hooked around the queen's neck and sent her stumbling as Ruby blew by in a spiral of petals.
Then she crashed into a glyph and bounced straight back to knock the queen in the other direction.
Again.
And again.
Blake pulled her shadows tight again, folding them back into hers – and when the queen finally got her balance and clenched her fist again, used her condensed shadow to shoot forward. A slash to the wrist as she skid by, and the light-laser was knocked off course.
Ruby bounced by again, and the queen stumbled. Her Aura crackled silver across her body, and Blake yelled in triumph.
Ruby came back, Crescent Rose hooked for a final blow –
The queen's crown glinted in the light.
– and scraped across the queen's Aura.
...What? No, that can't be – I saw it break!
The queen's hand raised again, and Blake exploded out, pushing her exhausted body. Once again, she knocked the retaliation off course.
This time, there was a glyph waiting for her on the other side. She kicked off of it, letting it multiply her momentum.
She trusted Weiss, and followed the pattern.
She struck. Ruby struck. She struck. Ruby struck. Again and again and again.
But the glyphs were slowing. Weiss could only keep this up for so long, especially after...
Blake winced and pushed the memory away, not wanting to consider how low her own Aura was.
The queen's Aura crackled gold across her body, and Blake's eyes widened.
No way. Nobody has two...
The crown glimmered just before Ruby's next hit scraped across her Aura, and something clicked.
There was no more glyph waiting for her, but that was fine. Dredging up more magic from her connection, Blake caught herself in her own shadow and leapt back into the fray.
Ruby screamed as the queen, face furious and hateful, poured lightning into the air between them. Her leader stood her ground, just barely preventing the tempest from consuming her for just a few seconds.
Silver eyes met Blake's own.
This is it. Please be right.
She drew Shroud forth, letting all the shadows it had built up pour out. It struck the queen in her temple and sent her reeling.
But the shadows around the blade did not cut. They weren't sharp. They reached out and grasped, and as Blake pulled the blade back...
The crown came with it.
"NO!" There was more emotion in that scream than anything the queen had said the entire time, and Blake immediately knew she'd been correct.
When the queen spun on her heel, sending an indiscriminate wave of light in her direction, she curled her shadows around herself and hoped.
They burned away, and the light seared her skin as it sent her careening back to skid across the burned-out stones.
Worse, the shadows that had held the crown boiled to nothing, and her eyes traced it as it bounced across the floor... far away from any of them.
The queen chased it as Blake struggled to her feet, glancing around for Ruby or Weiss and hoping that one of them had recovered enough –
Somehow, the click of metal on stone was deafening. She glanced towards it –
"Ah!" The queen gasped. Her eyes flickered. "You must help me! You will-!"
– where an impossible figure stood face to face with the queen.
Ozpin's cane pinned the crown against the stone of the Tower as he stared into the queen's eyes.
No...! If she -
She shook off her confusion. "Ozpin! Her Semblance! If she –"
His cane flicked to the side, and the crown slid across the stones... and out the hole in the side of the Tower, where it fell to the city below.
"No! NO!" The queen chased after it like a child.
One step.
Two steps.
Ozpin blurred into so many green images that it hurt to watch, and the blade in his hand could no longer be seen.
The queen's Aura flickered gold across her body.
The queen's Aura flickered silver across her body.
The queen's Aura flickered white across her body.
And then the queen fell to the floor, cut in twain.
"M... mother..." Salem's words were soft and horrified. The chains around her body relaxed, no longer held in place by the queen... but as she crawled forward, they simply pulled taut against whatever mechanism held them normally.
Ozpin took a deep breath, and released it as he turned to face the princess.
And though she couldn't explain why,
Blake felt goosebumps crawl across her skin.