Chapter 16: The Genius and his Ice Queen.
Ironwood slammed the thick document papers down on Ozpin's desk with a furrowed brow. The headmaster of Beacon merely glanced at the stack before taking a sip from his coffee mug as the General continued his ramblings to him.
"I don't know what these kids…these…whatever the hell those people are playing at." Ironwood grumbled as he paced back and forth. "Do they really need to be bossing us around like we're nothing but ants to them?"
Glynda shot Ozpin a questioning look, making the headmaster sigh in response to his assistant.
"James, with all due respect, the children only want what's best for both of our worlds. If they, along with their council of higher deities, truly did not wish to see eye-to-eye with us, they would not have made this a two way street."
"Two way street or not Professor," Glynda spoke up. "Some of these items are…particularly concerning if she also has access to them."
"Emeralds that can slow down time for the holder, flowers giving one access to elemental powers, and various different magical spells. All sorts of nonsense that we weren't prepared to combat." Ironwood crossed his arms. "Even worse, in order for that two way street to flow, we need to give them details on exactly what we'd want returned to us in the event they get ahold of our own technology."
"And what exactly would they do with it?" Ozpin asked calmly, giving Ironwood a frown. "The handcuffs we expected to work did not, have you considered just giving them the blueprints to the experimental ones and cutting out details you think would be red flags to them? We trained you to be resistant to Moon's telepathy for this exact reason."
"You act like it's that simple." Ironwood huffed. "I swear those kids can see through the lies regardless of what we say to them. When I talked to the four of them about Mount Glenn, they seemed relatively skeptical of what I had to say, even though I was telling the truth, the looks they gave made me feel like I was a liar. It's super creepy."
"What did you honestly expect from three children carrying the half mind of a psychotic evil alien?" Ozpin shook his head. "We're lucky to have had so many years to prepare for an event like this, and we're lucky that one of them is down for the count. It gives hope that the others can be too."
"Still, the hiccup with the handcuffs is concerning." Glynda continued. "If that didn't work, what else have we been working on that will flop?"
"KA-BOOM!" The three adults flinched in shock as an explosion rattled into the building. Ozpin quickly turned around on his chair where he spied a hole from a boarded up wall from an old attempted train station to Mount Glenn, a bit of smoke was rising from somewhere.
Before any of them could react, the scroll Ozpin had started dinging from Professor Oobleck.
"Emergency Professor Ozpin! Team RWBY and I ran into Team MESS in the underground section of Mount Glenn. The White Fang just blew a hole into the wall, and uh…well…I'm certain you know what's about to happen."
It did not take long for screams and loud growls, followed by a giant bird grimm swooping up above the City.
"We will have to talk about this later," Ozpin said, quickly turning back to his allies. "Ironwood, ring up your current military and send them down. The Grimm will likely spread quickly with only nine people there. Glynda, you go with the Atlassian Military, we need you to get down to the area and fix the wall with your semblance to reinforce it." Both adults nodded their heads in response as they rushed to the elevator.
Once it had gone down, the headmaster sighed as he pulled out a picture of a blond-haired woman. He merely shook his head before sending an alert to the Beacon students.
Moon's hand flashed yellowish brown as the metallic dome around his team, and team RWBY lowered down. It didn't take long for all of them to spot several beowulf Grimm charging towards civilian buildings.
"Goddammit." he muttered, he turned to Team RWBY and his own team, who were each recovering from the blast. He could see the massive hole with more Grimm coming, he could try to seal the hole with his Geokinesis, but that wouldn't work very well since he could feel pain from that. The prickly pain started in his head as Dark Moon snickered.
"Looks like we've got a situation! Do you need a hand? I can think of three friends who co-"
"Shut it." Moon hissed, he shook his head to regain his thoughts.
"Professor Oobleck. Contact Professor Ozpin, tell him what's going on, we need as many people on this as we can!" The professor nodded his head before slipping off to probably get better service.
"Team RWBY? How's your aura doing?" he asked, turning back to the four girls as his own team brushed themselves off. "Are you four still able to fight?"
"Of course!" Ruby jumped up.
"Good, because until other people arrive, the eight of us are Vale's only defense." Moon unsheathed Saphria before kicking off the ground.
Weiss shivered a little as Ruby took Blake and Yang in her cloak to go after three Beowolves in a park area. Sarah and Sapphire followed in Moon's general direction as she felt herself get held back by Erick. The black haired genius shivered as well.
"Uh…" Erick blushed a little. "Let's just stick together."
Weiss blinked a little. "What…what is going on?"
"Look, we just need to get through this, and you and I can't get hurt without…" Erick felt his face flush red. "Just…stay close to me okay. I'll…tell you later."
The ice queen gave him a little bit of nervous stare before simply sighing and nodding her head.
Erick then quickly pulled out Gaia and shot a laser beam past her ear into a Beowulf that tried to jump onto her. Weiss looked over at the eviscerating Grimm and just blushed.
Moon quickly slashed a beam of light into two Grimm, before quickly blasting two hydro blasts of Water to attack a diving Raven.
Ruby's rose semblance quickly brushed past him as he heard a growl. The slash of Crescent Rose into a falling grimm feather down. The silver eyed huntress gave him a wink as she dashed back down.
Sarah quickly shot a PK Fire across the landscape, shielding Sapphire from a massive Beowolf nearly jumping on top of him. Or…she reckoned Yang since that's who they'd really be after.
Her hair blew in the wind a little as Moon landed next to her. She watched as he just sort of scanned around. By now, other hunters had come in to help as Grimm continued ravaging on. Though, thankfully, it looked as though things would calm down.
Moon quickly jumped down, taking Sarah with him as he slashed through another Grimm getting ready to bash into a clothing shop.
Sapphire quickly aided them as a boulder flew over their head and smashed through another raven Grimm.
Yang and Blake also shot two different Beowolves from the park as cover fire. Yang then charged up and punched through another one inside yet another shop.
Sapphire quickly raised Stalwart-Terra above his head before smashing the ground, two sharp boulders stabbed through the sky into Raven Grimm.
"Sarah, I need a Thunder!" Moon whispered. His wife nodded her head as she put her hands together.
He raised Saphria up as four lightning strikes committed to channeling into the sword. Saphira's blade flashed brightly as he quickly casted the sword like a wand.
Four Lightning bolts struck down from the sky and completely trashed the Grimm in the area.
"HEADS UP!" Sarah quickly ducked as Erick's massive freeze later and Weiss' mural flash to blast yet another Grimm into pieces.
"Great." she looked over at Moon who simply looked over at Erick and Weiss. "Is…something wrong?"
Moon simply shrugged. "Yeah…just…a little concerned…about Erick."
Sarah bit down at her lip, this was kind of a bad time, even though Glynda had sealed up the hole by now. All they needed to do was round up the remaining Grimm inside of the town. It was good enough for everyone to be safe at that point.
"What's so problematic?" she asked.
Moon just shrugged his shoulders. "It's alright, we'll worry about it later. I uh…I don't want to think about it right now."
Sarah just nodded her head. Her eyes traveled around the whole town, by now, many teams had come along and subdued the problem, very quickly. She spotted Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury looking over, Moon and Sapphire had also noticed the three of them.
Cinder also noticed the three of them and gave them a semi sarcastic wave before she walked over to them, followed by her two little henchmen.
"Well, that certainly got out of hand quickly." Mercury put his hands behind his head of gray hair. "Lucky we were all on alert."
"Uh huh." Moon looked at Cinder's golden bow that seemed to remind him of Pit's bow. "Interesting little weapon you've got." He said. "Is it…splittable?"
"Actually, something I do myself." Cinder snickered a little. "My semblance allows me to manifest dust into weapons."
Moon nodded before his head flashed into the painful recollection, this time however, he watched Nightmare basically choke Sarah, while not lethal, he could hear her screams and it didn't help as Nightmare licked her cheek slightly.
He hissed as he slapped his head, stumbling backwards as he snapped out of his trance, falling back onto the sidewalk, startling his teammates.
"Are uh…are you okay?" Emerald asked as Sapphire helped him up.
"Yeah…I'm fine…" Moon muttered. "See you around."
He grabbed Sarah's hand and motioned for Sapphire to follow after him as they walked over to Team RWBY and Erick.
"The fuck keeps causing this shit." He hissed as Sarah gripped his hand.
"Nicely done," Moon extended his hand out to Ruby. "I'm glad we were able to solve this conundrum. No casualties either."
Ruby blushed a little as she shook his hand. "I agree," her silver eyes then lit up as she turned around and pulled the Corgi dog out. "This is Zwei!"
Moon withdrew his hand and shivered a little as the flashing image of his dog King entered his brain. Which immediately blew up in flames. King may not have been a corgi, but still.
"Right…" he said, trying to hide his discomfort. "I'd imagine we have some stuff to do back at Beacon now that we've both finished our missions, correct?" The team of four girls nodded as the eight of them set off back towards Beacon Academy.
"Nobody knows you came out here?" Weiss stopped as her heels tapped against the outside balcony. Erick had finally dropped into her the area after the two had shared an uncomfortable looks at the feast dinner that Erick had tried to bounce around. Thankfully for him, something had caught Moon off balance for him and Sarah to leave quickly.
She simply shook her head, no one on her own team really questioned why she'd leave. But with the pain of the Dark Sides, and MESS' close family like team system, she assumed Erick would be different.
The genius had a simple smile, though she could see he still looked very uncomfortable and very nervous.
"So…what was that whole speal in the subway system back there?" Weiss asked. "You panicked really badly…if it's about having to explain a sudden nightmares. I…I am sorry."
"It's not the nightmares I'm concerned about." The genius whispered. "What…what exactly did Dark Erick make you say before you kissed me?"
The Ice queen blinked as she blushed. "Well, I told you that then, your dark side told me about your dreams. I must admit, I'm…quite flattered. He said he just wanted me to make a scene to torture your dreams about me."
"And, he made you say?!" Erick's voice cracked a little as his blush intensified.
"I, Weiss Schnee, Formerly accept you, Erick Andonuts, as my Eternal Lover." She replied. "I don't exactly understand how painful Dark Erick will make that dream…but…" her voice trailed off as the genius' blush intensified and he shook heavily. Looking at Weiss with his hazel brown eyes. He looked ready to collapse.
"So…I uh…" Erick whispered. "I…I don't know how to…really explain this to you…but…my Dark Side didn't…do that for a nightmare."
She blinked, her icey blue eyes narrowed. "If…if he didn't do it for that? Then what for?"
Erick's hazel brown eyes fidgeted a little. Then he stepped up to closer to her and handed her something, it was a little bit of a gadget, it looked a bit like a ring, it was silver and had a bit of a jade and quartz mixture to it.
"If I could get you to put this on your finger, then take my two hands." Erick placed the ring in her right hand and held out his two hands.
She simply blinked in confusion, but sighed and slipped the ring over her finger before taking both of his hands.
Immediately she felt a stinging pain in her chest, it felt a little acidic, a bit like the pain Ruby and Yang had described to her when Moon broke their auras for the first time. She went to fidget, but, rather impressively, Erick's grip on her hands was firm. She shivered a little before letting out a yelp, which was immediately met with Erick's slips capturing hers. The pain only got worse but she couldn't exactly break away. And, despite the pain, the Genius' kiss felt very relaxing.
Erick eventually separated and she felt the pain in chest settle a little. She blinked open as she found a bright light emitting from her and Erick's chest, white and green, like the ring on her finger. The two lights had conjoined in the center to another mixture of a heart, half of it was white, the other was jaded green.
"So…my darkside, made you accept Heartbound." Erick explained. "Bascially, despite not having dark side. There's this thing from my world with Giygas' species of aliens, you know, the things that created us. Now, according to our friend Dyson, this thing was created by ancient PSI users to try and increase the power of their PSI abilities, that was because they found out that love made PSI stronger, that's why Moon and Sarah's darksides did it, they wanted to try it to make them monsters."
Weiss blinked in shock. "So…wait…what advantage does this have to you? And…why would your darkside want a HeartBound?"
"That's…uh…kind of the problem. Remember how I said that Moon and Sarah can be in pain if they are separated, that's what HeartBound does as a payback. Every Power has a downside you know. So…yeah…I guess since I technically have PSI blood in me because of Giygas' soul tranfusion, I can apply a HeartBound myself…which…my dark side did…to you."
The realization seemed to kick in as her eyes widened in horror.
"S-So…y-you…"
Erick simply nodded his head. "Yep…it looks like you and I…are stuck together."
"I can't do this!" she snapped at him. "Surely there is a way to break the HeartBound contract! Right?! I didn't consent to this."
Erick's forehead developed a bit more sweat as he adjusted his glasses. "Technically, you did consent…when you formerly accepted me as your eternal lover. You know…classic fine print?"
"THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR JOKES!" She shouted at him. "Surely you can break this contract, right?!"
"Well…technically you can…" Erick replied sweating even more. Weiss noticed his hand reach towards Gaia's holster. "Un-Unfortunately, I…can't let you. Because the only way to break a HeartBound…would be for one of us to die."
Of course, it was, Weiss felt herself ready to explode at the thought.
"L-Look…" she shook herself back as she watched a few tear drops start streaming down the genius' face. "I-I'm sorry we didn't tell you about that whole thing, Moon…I mean…all of us…never really accounted for the idea that my dark side would try something like that. We didn't think it'd have any benefit. I ended things quietly with my original girlfriend back at home when I moved out of the Winters boarding school to go live with Moon and Sarah. It was just easier that way."
She took a deep breath gathering her thoughts. She couldn't pin the blame fully on him of course, as much as it had infuriated her. She was one the one who rashly brought his dark side out in blind panic during the Subway fight. And, much like Dark Moon had shown her, the dark sides did indeed all play dirty to get what they wanted.
"Look, Erick…" she said, biting her lip to avoid letting anger course out. "Maybe…maybe we can work this out." Granted, she wasn't sure HOW they would work this out, especially since there was so much happening so quickly. "If we can just…get this whole thing figured out, maybe your team can help us get out of thi-"
"There is no getting out of this!" She flinched as Erick just wildly snapped at her. "I can't just tell Moon that my darkside locked the two of us into a HeartBound relationship. He'd blow a fuse! Not just with me, but with you as well! Especially if he were to find out that you brought my darkside out to cause this problem after he and Sarah spent so long trying to avoid this EXACT thing happening!"
She blinked as the genius continued rambling at this point, she assumed he had lost it and forgot she was there.
"Fuck me!" he rubbed his already Black hair frantically making spiral. "How am I supposed to tell them this? How am I supposed to fix this exact problem. There's too many variables and unintended consequences to account for. I can't exactly, figure out how I can account for the future when we're done here…and Pokey and Rhea…if they find out…and she can't utilize her semblance to the fullest extent. I mean…she's a good Rapier fighter, but there's only so much that can do to a Dragon and mech fighting immortal zombie."
Well, he was a genius, in both social and physical sense, he really was overthinking things again. So focused on everything that would cause everything. He was truly concerned about her and her team.
He was right as well, how was she exactly supposed to explain this to the people in her life? Her teammates would likely be mad at Team MESS. Her sister Winter would be arriving soon, and she knew Ironwood had a weird disliking for Team MESS as well so it wouldn't surprise her if Winter would share a similar disdain for them.
She guess…HE…would approve of Erick, the boy was a certified genius, he wasn't a faunus, and, since he was an inventor, Jacques would likely approve of him maybe contributing to the Dust Company's monopoly. Though, that was about where the positive things would end about a relationship with him.
Or…was it? Thinking about it a bit more. Her team and Erick's team still had a bit of rocky relationship. Maybe if she and Erick worked there way into something things could calm down? Of course, Erick could also maybe help her with her semblance? She could only imagine how furious Winter would be to find out she hadn't been practicing since she left.
There was still the issue of Erick's team and this whole debacle. She did not have any trouble believing his concerns about Moon, Sarah, and Sapphire reacting to this. And keeping it secret from them would definitely have very bad results. It probably wouldn't help Moon's sanity either, it wasn't hard for her to notice his uncomfortability towards Sarah at dinner when she hugged him. If she played her cards correctly, perhaps she could make this work.
She nodded her head, as if to satisfy herself, completely forgetting about the genius. Who was now looking at her questioningly.
"Why uh? Why are you…smirking?" he asked, she could hear the nervousness in his voice so easily she bet she could cut it.
"I was uh…just thinking a little bit about something." She said, she stepped up to him and let her icey blue eyes twinkle. "I know this might sound weird, but I think we can work something out, one that might lessen the blow to Moon, and help both of us learn a bit more about each other. You know…now that we're basically forced to be together."
The genius raised his eyebrow, giving her a skeptical look. "You're uh…taking this…surprisingly better than I would've expected." He shuttered a little. "Kind of…freaking me out. Is…is this you Dark Erick?!"
She just gave him a chuckle before taking his hand with her ring hand. "Here's what we can do Erick. How about, you tell your team that your dark side has been giving you visions and nightmares about you doing bad things to me? You did say that, because of the HeartBound, your dark side can't hurt me right?" The genius simply nodded his head, though evidently, he was still struggling to see her logic.
"Well, maybe if you spook Moon enough, you can get him to panic enough into convincing him that a HeartBound with me would be necessary for relationships with our team? Then you can make a whole speal about going on "Test dates." with me, culminating up to a final one where I accept. That way, the whole thing seems like it is your teams idea."
Erick seemed to bite down on his lip in understanding. "I uh…I'm not sure that's a good idea." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "The…the only thing I can think of that might scare the three of them enough to agree to this…might cause damage to Moon and Sarah emotionally."
"But could it work?" she pestered, placing her hands on her hips.
"I'm not saying it wouldn't work, in fact, that plan is so good I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it…but still. Moon and Sarah…they're my…my family at this point. Sarah has been working really hard to get Moon set straight. If I were to come in with this…it'd be hard for her."
"Well…it's either that…or we tell them what really happened. I don't want to try and keep this a secret, both of us might be off at the worst possible moment, and Moon could get suspicious and read my mind to find out at any time."
"Well…yeah…" Erick said. "But like…there's a lot more than that. What about your teammates? Your own family? A HeartBound from my team would likely lead to us having to get an arranged marriage you know? Moon doesn't take chances like this. Would you family be okay with me? Would your teammates be okay? Would you be alright with potentially having to leave Remnat once my team and I…you know…deal with Pokey and Rhea?"
"Well…"
"Then there's you as well. I get that those fake practice dates we'd schedule together would likely give us time to bond, but…I don't want you to feel like you're roped into a relationship where you don't have affection for me. The only reason Sarah was so comfortable with this when she and Moon first found out was because they had already been dating and knew they wanted to be with each other. They already showed affection."
Weiss could only blush at that thought. "Truth be told, you are quite the good kisser." she said calmly. "I'm not comfortable yet, since we're both still strangers to each other. But I think, given enough time, we can be in an okay spot together. Like your leader said, life isn't a fairytale story book. Sometimes it takes longer for feelings to bloom."
At those words, Erick's own face blushed heavily as well. "I uh…I suppose you're right." he said. "Are you…are you really okay with this though? I mean, Moon and Sarah's whole thing, I can understand, they had the time to be sure that this is what they would want, even before the HeartBound was told to them. I know I've said you don't really get a choice. But I could probably try and-"
Weiss sighed and simply stepped up to him. "Just shut it and kiss me again you dolt." as she pressed their lips together, she felt his body loosen a little, before feeling his arms wrap around back, as if to hold her a bit closer. She felt a bit of warmness in her heart before separating from the genius as a whole. Though, she didn't break out of his hug.
"So, what do you say Erick? Can this be our little secret plan?" she asked.
The genius simply blushed and gave her a sigh. "I…I suppose if you're okay with it." he said.
"Good, so you can get started on part one tomorrow then." Weiss gave him a wink as she turned to lead him back inside.
What neither of them noticed however, in the balcony above, Cinder had been listening to them, her amber eye flashes orange as she let out a little smirk.
"My my," she chuckled evilly. "I'm certain Salem will be quite interested to hear about this little development with you." Her finger flipped up the scroll, marking it with a queen piece as she began typing what she heard to her master.
Going to be really honest with ya'll right now, I REALLY hate writing Grimm fights with characters. Like, I cannot emphasize how much I hate writing massive Grimm horde fights. Doing battles with people? Completely okay! But I cannot for the life of me write a Grimm fight.
I remember having a discussion with some people about the Grimm's role in RWBY. Essentially, I don't think it's a generally unpopular opinion to say that the Grimm feel like nothing more than fight fodder whenever the writers feel like there haven't been enough action scenes. And very few Grimm have really been shown as established terrifying threats, the Apathy and Leviathan are the only ones I can think of. I guess that Grimm that destroyed Ren and Nora's hometown was pretty creepy. Honestly, I can't write these random creatures of nothingness doing bites and scratches.
Anyway, my shitty excuse for making the fight of Vale short after Torchwick blows a hole in the center of downtown aside, I am focusing a bit more on college as of now, I'm hoping I can still find time to write and stuff. It's great.
Ah, you're probably wondering about HeartBound? Well, it's been a while since I've ever really utilized the idea. Considering Moon and Sarah's heartbound still needs to be further explored, Sapphire is doing his work, and Erick is just...working with Weiss now.
To be fair, I did always want one character on team RWBY and MESS to share interconnectional ideas. But I'll do it with this, I was going to work some stuff out. That'll be fine. I hope you enjoy looking for this.
Thanks again for reading this chapter. If you have any thoughts, you're welcome to let me know.
See you all, next time.