Chapter 29: The Scorpion and Nabatean.
Moon sighed as he and his group continued through "The Unihabitables." Despite the relatively painless journey, he still managed to keep a sense of security. Ruby had been insistent on taking shifts as they camped each night to watch for Grimm. Now, while Erick's research had been pretty conclusive that the Grimm for whatever reason were not attracted to them, despite the immense amount of Negative Emotions they'd let off. Sarah and Sapphire had been pretty clear that it was for the best to not reveal that to Ruby out of concern.
Thankfully, their walks through the day had been rather smooth, they had encountered a few Beowolf grimm, but they were made pretty quick worth of. Weirdly, despite the fact that the areas outside of the four kingdom's walls were pretty much danger zones, there were still pathways that lead between Vale and Mistral. Ruby told them it was likely still here from back before technology advanced enough for trades to be more protected with ships and planes.
Eventually, the four of them ended up halting as they crossed into a very abandoned village. They were reminded heavily of the Mount Glenn settlement, with all the destroyed buildings, torn up cobble roads, and weeds growing in places that once could've been gardens.
"So this is what Professor Oobleck talked about when he mentioned ruined villages." Ruby said, the silver-eyed girl tilted her head to the side. "I've been told there are tons more just like this in between Vale and Mistral from way before even my parents were born. I remember my dad said that, when he was student at Beacon, there had been talks by Ozpin and the former headmaster of Haven to try and reconstruct all these villages along the paths and make some type of built wall path for trading and exporting without the fear of Grimm."
"I assume that idea was abandoned when the Glenn settlement collapsed." Sapphire asked. Ruby simply nodded her head, though Moon could sense her uncertainty in that statement.
Looking around the settlement more, his energy detection slowly began detecting signs of…something? It felt very small, and insignificant, however, it grew steadily stronger, and bigger, and then…
DANGER!
He quickly unsheathed Saphira and turned to his side as he blocked a strike from a thin, pale Faunus. The male wore a modest amount of white that covered up most parts of his body, save for the large black scorpion tail that stuck out of him. He had a brown ponytail that he braided to resemble his scorpion tail. And, Moon was quick to pick up the malicious, insane look in his amber eyes that he knew all too well from Pokey. His sword was struck against two folding blades attached to some bracers that made the man's hands resemble scorpion pincers.
The scorpion faunus chuckled, as Moon heard his teammates recoil as they pulled out their own weapons. The deranged laugh the man had was unsettling, almost like his and Sarah's darksides when they were having a bad day…and speaking of bad days, his head flashed a vision that made him aware that today was about to get even worse.
He quickly jumped back as an explosive fireball shot down near him and the Scorpion Faunus, and it didn't take long for Rhea to swoop down at him. The saint's mild attack was short-lived as a dust bullet shot into her side and exploded, knocking her against the ground. The scorpion Faunus backflipped over as Sarah shot multiple blasts of Fire at him, perching himself on his scorpion stinger as Rhea pushed herself up.
"Did you decide to go solo?" Moon asked boredly, looking at Rhea. "Did you finally realize Pokey doesn't care for you. Had to go dig up an insane Faunus to help you out?" He looked over at the Scorpion. "What about you? Huh? What'd she promise you?"
The scorpion's deranged laughter echoed through the area. "Tsk tsk!" he said, even his tone of voice sounded fucking insane, like the man had been locked solitary confinement for a decade. "You and Pokey were right, always thinking it's about them?"
"I know Tyrian," Rhea hissed. Moon had to give Rhea credit, when put against this insane lunatic, she almost didn't sound so sadistic.
"Then what is this about?" Ruby asked. "If you aren't here for them, then…" The girl paused as her Silver eyes narrowed. "Cinder…she put you up to this!"
Both Rhea and Tyrian looked at each other for a moment, before they both howled in laughter.
"Tyrian, I can understand your naivety," Rhea hissed. "But me?! Sweet child…I'm far more powerful than that bitchy little maiden ever could be. I'd sooner die before you catch me taking orders from her."
"You want to make extra sure about that claim?" Sapphire asked, "Because Stalwart-Terra here would LOVE to help make that claim the truth."
Tyrian just laughed maniacally before he shook his head, still perched on his scorpion stinger, he folded his arms at the four of them. "Listen, you three DO interest me, just like you interest my mistress." He said, directing his eyesight between Moon, Sarah, and Sapphire. "But my mistress is a fair lady. Just hand over the silver eyed freak, and we'll be on our way."
Well, that certainly wasn't a great sign. However, Moon felt some relief knowing now that he had proof Salem did exist out there somewhere if Rhea and this scorpion psychopath were out here looking for others.
"What does your mistress take us for?!" Sarah asked, rather annoyed in her tone. "Surely if you're working with Pokey and Rhea you should know we aren't idiots! If we give you Ruby, you'll still just come back for us."
"Not if you were to leave…" Tyrian sneered, that psychotic look in his amber eyes grew more unsettling by the minute.
"Not quite an option either." Moon snarled. "I assume you don't exactly care, and neither would your mistress, but now that we know you're working with Seiros and Pokey, I'm sure my council would be quite happy to hunt down some more accomplices. But, I'm a fair man, you could give us Seiros and I might be willing to cut you, and your mistress, a deal."
Ironically, Tyrian's head snapped sadistically over at Rhea, with a crack to go with it. Rhea looked less than amused by that type of response.
Moon concentrated a bit as he whispered telepathically to Sarah and Sapphire.
"Looks like Salem caught onto us needing Ruby for protection, sounds like Tyrian and Seiros may have been given direct orders to only take her. Make sure one of us is always next to her to ensure that doesn't happen, and be on alert, Pokey could very well be lurking nearby too."
He heard a faint movement of understanding from his teammates. With his telepathic communication not taking as long, he quickly shook himself back and channeled some of his power through Saphria, which he then swiped in the air, launching a beam of light at the two.
Rhea quickly jumped off the ground using her wings to keep her steady, as Tyrian bounced above the beam of light using his Scorpion stinger.
The scorpion faunus dove in a pouncing position towards Ruby, who braced herself, with Crescent rose, before Sapphire moved in front of her and summoned a large rock that he launched with his axe. Tyrian placed both his hands on the launched rock and used them to quickly leap a bit higher. Before he was quickly shot down with a retaliated bullet strike from Crescent Rose.
"PK Fire!" Sarah launched a blast of fire that flew past the silver-eyed girl's cloak and hit Rhea's clear relic shield. The saint's sword glowed as she summoned an arrow of pearly white light from the sky. Before pushing herself back into the air through the fire to avoid any severe damage.
Moon quickly casted a shield of blue light above Sarah and Ruby as the Agena's Arrow made contact, the arrow burst into 8 streaks that shot in multiple different directions, blowing up, and destroying even more of the already ruined buildings.
He then scraped Saphria as he turned and collided the blade with one of Tyrian's blade bracers. The sadistic look in the scorpion's eyes was enough before he quickly retreated as the man's stinger went to make a jab.
As he fell back, Sapphire covered him by blasting the Faunus with a ball of dark magic that hurled the psycho scorpion into the air.
"Duck!"
Both boys ducked as another blast of fire, and a few fire dust bullets from Crescent Rose soared over them, before combining and exploding as they made contact with Rhea. Who was very quick to cast her own healing spell on herself and fix the burn damage.
Tyrian once again came down with a very aggressive pounce, the Faunus landed near both Ruby and Sarah and began slashing at both girls with his bracers. His blades made contact with Ruby, and her Aura glowed to signal her protection. While his other blade collided with Freya's face scraping the golden face. He then jabbed his Scorpion stinger into Sarah's chest, before tossing her back.
The scorpion Faunus then turned his full attention to Ruby as he simply pushed his blades past Crescent Rose. However, before he could strike her with his stinger, a rocked wall went in between them. He grunted as he looked up, before Sapphire slammed down on his body with Stalwart Terra.
The blue-haired boy then quickly pivoted out of the way as Rhea's own Fireball launched towards him, moving just enough so that Tyrian would be its direct contact.
Moon then outstretched his left arm as it extended out a watery hand, he grabbed onto Rhea's leg and simply recalled her back as Sarah quickly ran up and, channeling some electricity through Freya, smashed the Saint backwards with an unreasonable amount of force.
Ruby watched as Rhea was sent in the direction above her, and with Sapphire preoccupying Tyrian behind the wall he put between them, she decided it was best to switch course. She enveloped herself in her cloak, and, using her semblance, flew towards the skybound saint, she twirled around Rhea, leaving a rather showy style of rose petals before she made her attempted strike.
From below, after he had cast a heal spell on Sarah, Moon turned just in time to see Ruby flying towards Rhea, and he quickly spotted her body glowing bright green as his eyes widened in horror.
Tyrian also seemed to have noticed, because, he instantly dropped his guard against Sapphire, which, while allowing the boy hit his side hard with the ax and send him through the stone barrier, did give the psycho just enough time to point his blade guns at Moon, where he fired two ice dust bullets to freeze first the boy's legs, and then his arms.
"RUBY WAIT!"
In the blink of an eye, Rhea's whole body flashed a bright green, and she transformed into her Immaculate One form. Only…and it horrified both Moon and Sapphire to see, her dragon form looked a lot much more sinister. Which, given the last time the two had seen her like this, was quite a statement.
The once pearly white scales now looked faded, with some scars of green ooze covering areas where she'd taken the most damage from battles. Each of its four horns were chipped and sliced in different directions and variations. Its sharp teeth and claws, while not as chipped, still looked ready to kill. Its wings, probably from the result of now being permanently fused to Rhea's human form, looked a lot more disheveled. And, the once normal but elegant tail, now sliced off and replaced with what looked like a spearhead.
The blast of energy that came off from the transformation was enough to knock Ruby out of her semblance. However, The Immaculate One took one extra step and slammed the girl with the force of its tail. Spiking the silver-eyed huntress into the concrete. And, as Ruby pushed herself up, Tyrian then began his trek towards her. The scorpion Faunus readied his stinger, with the three children too far away to get to him first, before.
A burst swept through the wall of a building as Qrow quickly appeared in front of his niece, blocking the stab the psycho faunus scorpion made with his stinger. The girl's uncle then grabbed onto her and swept out of line as a breath of Fire from the Immaculate One above nearly missed both of them.
By now, the ice had shattered on Moon's body as he saw Rhea get ready for another blast as her head circled Qrow's movement, though Ruby's uncle was surprisingly fast, even with his niece being carried, he did note that it seemed like Rhea's intention was to get him to move close in an area with him, Sarah, and Sapphire, with Tyrian, remaining out of the blast.
"Shoot her down!"
Sarah nodded her head as she summoned a Starstorm with meteors crashing from above. The Immaculate one halted her charge to dodge the barrage of meteors that continuously rained down. The Starstorm meteors also did a good job at keeping Tyrian preoccupied.
"Sapphire! GO!" Moon pointed his hand towards the blue-haired boy, it flashed yellowish brown as the concrete began to shift into makeshift diamond stairs. Sapphire quickly took his cue and hopped on, Moon quickly shifted his hand, using telekinesis to launch the blue haired boy at the Immaculate One.
Sapphire flipped through the air as Stalwart-Terra began to glow bright red. He then raised the axe above his head and slammed it against the dragon skull. The Immaculate One let out a painful roar as bright green light flashed through the area. Rhea returned to her human self, and began to fall to the ground.
Sapphire also fell alongside her. However, Moon quickly propelled himself up, catching his friend before too much velocity would knock him out of his levitation as well.
Rhea landed on the ground with a thud, however, she did manage to push herself up. She was now breathing heavily, her red eyes glared up at both boys with a look they both knew well. The same exact sinister, yet psychotically gleeful glare she'd given Moon before he had diamondized her.
"Got you!" Rhea hissed.
Both boy's looked in horror as Tyrian had taken their moment and rushed towards Sarah, who had also been watching them. The psycho scorpion slashed the girl across her face, before stabbing her chest once again with his stinger.
As both boys landed on the ground, Tyrian then quickly turned to them, holding Sarah close enough with his blade, his stinger once again positioned near her cheek. There was no sign of Ruby, or Qrow either. Tyrian left both boys paralyzed with his psychotic glare as Rhea flew over and landed next to him.
"Well well then…" Tyrian's psychotic glare looked at Sarah's struggling face. "Salem told us not to worry about the necessity of capturing you. However…we may not have gotten the silver eyed girl…but…we most certainly have you."
Sapphire could feel Moon's rage building. Though he knew Moon would know better than anyone that Salem would have given Rhea and Tyrian direct orders not to kill Sarah. He could see it plain and clear. Though Moon knew better than to let his dark side out, that wasn't exactly something he would have control over if they played their cards right.
"Interesting…" Tyrian observed Sarah more closely, those amber eyes, fueled with a similarly hungry desire Moon had seen with Pokey. By now, the pain of the man's stinger was starting to set in as tears began to flow down her face. Which made the psycho scorpion's sadistic grin spread even wider than what should've been humanly possible.
"The mistress made you all out to be ruthless, Seiros here made you out to be strong. And Pokey…well…he made you out to be difficult. But looking into those sweet eyes her daughter has shows me a completely different side. Oh…and those sweet looking tears of pain! She's just a magnificent creation!"
Sapphire did not even need to look to know his leader's visible blue eye was twitching. Which Rhea also took notice of, as she looked over at Tyrian with an even more sinister, yet realizing smile.
"Keep talking, Tyrian." The saint hissed. "What makes our created weaponized daughter so magnificent!" There was a pause as Sarah's tears really started to flow. "Take your stinger out though…we don't want any long term damage!"
"I can't quite put my finger on it…" Tyrian chuckled, as he withdrew his stinger. Yet, kept the point still close in case anyone tried to make a move. "But your intentions…I can see it all through this little girl's eyes. Behind that sweet…innocent looking face. I can see a flaming candle of hatred. Such Trauma is all bottled up inside…she's so desperate to remain calm. She has so much humanity she tries to hold onto…but she'll be the last to break…we'll just need to reawaken all that pai-"
"NO!"
Sapphire ducked as a gigantic blast of dark energy swept through the area, and Moon's body glowed black. His body grew twenty feet tall as his legs shrunk into him. Red markings etched their way into his now pitch black body and arms. Black wings emerged on his sides that leaked blood. His face became marked with ancient looking red symbols as a silver crown emerged on his head. His head went limp as his body cracked, a large amount of black ooze began to pour out of his nose and mouth like a waterfall. With blood leaking from the eye covered by his now pitch black hair.
When Sapphire looked over at Rhea, he was unsurprised to see the Saint looked horrified. However, Tyrian himself actually also looked uncharacteristically horrified at the sight as well. Taking his opportunity, Sapphire quickly used Stalwart Terra's powers to wrap the earth around Sarah's legs.
Hegemon Moon flapped his black wings once, and the powerful gust of wind that he blew towards both of them was enough to send them both flying, thankfully, Tyrian's horrified state had actually managed to make him drop his blade held up to Sarah's neck. The rocks held Sarah in place. However, Astro also flew out of her backpack.
Sapphire looked on, but his relief was settled as Astro simply bounced off Tyrian's scorpion tail, which had an echoed snap like a twig making the psycho scorpion howl in pain as the Mr. Saturn bounced along the ground, landing by Sapphire with a puff fart.
"ZOOM! WEEEE! AGAIN!" Astro Cooed, Sapphire just quickly picked the creature up and placed him in his own traveling bag before it could get a good look at what was going on.
"We need to go…now!" Rhea hissed. Sapphire watched Hegemon Moon's eyes begin to glow.
"But…the children…the girl!"
"Salem will understand! Your tail just got destroyed by a Mr. Saturn!" Rhea simply grunted as she grabbed onto the scorpion and took to the air, fleeing from sight.
As Sapphire moved over to Sarah, the rocks lowered, letting the girl down. Both of them stared up at their transformed leader. Who's ooze leaking eyes looked down at them, stopping from glowing. However, he didn't transform out. Puzzled, Sapphire looked around, there was nothing here, and, while Moon may have had control keeping the form in, it should disappear if his desires that brought it out were met.
"P̸̮͕͙̆̓̈͠͝r̴͍̋͊̉̃̾̂̈̚ơ̷̱͔̥͉͗̅́̔t̶̠̤͎̿́e̸̪̘͉̪̻̫̝͆̀̉͌͛͝c̸̦͓̻̏̋̋̽͂͒ṫ̷̫̳̯̝̲̗"
The black arms reached down and grabbed onto both of them. Though, despite the massive size, it didn't crush them. As it lifted both of them up to the oozing pupiless eye. Sapphire could hear Sarah's own rapid breathing.
Once the hand had both of them at eye level, it simply opened its palm, allowing them to space apart. When the blue haired boy looked over at Moon's lover, he found that Sarah looked frozen in fear as she looked at it.
"It's okay…Moon." Sapphire said. Looking at the Hegemon's eye calmly. "Sarah is okay. I'm okay. Astro is okay. Seiros and Tyrian are gone."
The Hegemon's face cracked as more ooze leaked out.
"̸̙͉̩͈̍̀͂N̶̥̠͓̺̰̄͑̉͂̋o̷̼̦͚̐͝t̷̢̝̣̩͓͂ ̵̼̝̙̑͒̍͝ó̵̥̮̈́̈́̕k̸͉̈́͝a̴̭͋̅̐y̴̪̲̬̖̒͗̋͜,̸͙̬̣̯͆̈̄̓͠ ̶̰̯̔S̵̛͉͚̹͋̂̌͝a̵̘̟̠̝͌ͅr̷͇̼͕̍͝a̸̹̯̠̍̈́h̶͕̱̞̏ ̸̧͓̻̅̾n̵͚̲̝̩̓̈̃͊̑ǒ̶͇͚̠͍̇̅t̸̖̏ ̴̨͖̥̘̿̅h̸̟͌̃͗̍̃ă̴̛͉̹̓̌̓p̵̧̌͋̓͘p̴̨̼͑y̵̭̓̑̆́̏.̸͍̤̫̙͓͒͒"̵̫̃̌̂̌̕
Sapphire looked over at Sarah, who still looked frozen in concern as she looked into Hegemon Moon's one visible blue eye. Her face looked incredibly void of color, so pale you'd think she was about to vanish like a ghost.
After a moment, she finally spoke, though, Sapphire could hear her lack of confidence.
"It-It's okay…M-Moon." She breathed out. "I-I'm o-okay."
The blank, pupiless blue eye blinked, spitting out more black goo.
N̵̛̳̦͍̆͋̄͛͝ō̸͈̥̔̓̒̐͊̃̽́͒͒̋͗͠ṭ̴̛̛͇͔͍͐̋̐͋̍́͐̌͊̆ ̵͈̰̣͙̝̱͈͚̹͈̙̯̍͂̆̄̈̐̇͒̋͆̈̕̕͜ḩ̴̤͓̰̠̜͗̂̑̔̒͝à̵͕̗͐̈́̐̑̽̈́͊̕p̴̱͕͇̬͇͉̼̲͉̠̹̀͑̈̈̏͛͑͆̋͝͝p̶͖̗͙͖̗̍̒͜ͅỳ̶̯͖͉̱̣̮̱̣͒͌̊̄̑͛͊̈́̓͒̉͜!̴̡̪͔̀̍̎̐ ̴͓̻̝͔͓̠̙̫̠͍̅̾̓̿́̍͊̌̋̂̾̓̈̋S̷̨̧̡̻̥̹̜̦͔͔̰̟͒̐͆̿̍̈́͘͝t̷̼̱̘̬͎̯͚̘̳̼̩̦͆̚͜͜ą̴̠̗̗̼͎͔̦͉͎͍̝͈́͜͝ỷ̸̧̻͓̣̹̺̩̮̻͖̗̖͗̽̏̌̒͋ͅ ̶̧̢͇̟̘͙̙̻̃́w̷̡̙͕̳͍̣̠͇̰͂͑̒͌͂̍̂̽͋̀̚͝͠͝ì̵̡̪͈̱͓̜͚̳̗̈̒͗́̄t̵̜̟̯̙̝̖̞͇͈͊͂̀͌̇͌h̵͎͍͇̟͈̣̼͍̞̽̆̿̈́̅̈͌̚͜ ̷̬̘̲͋m̸̢̢̦͓͈̑̌̉̈́̀̊̓̉͛͒̽̔̚͝ě̷͕̫͊̋͆͆͗̌̓͘ ̸̛͔̫̱̆͗̂̆̈́S̷̮̖̟͕͍͖̤̺͖̝̩̰̄̈́̾̈́͗́̈́̀̎͘͝͠a̸̼͒̐͗̌͌̀̀̚͝ͅr̸̡̨̨̪͕̹̥͔̟͚͗̾̓͒̒͐́͑́̇́̃͋͜͝a̴̡̬̦̫̲̺͙̝̫̖̥̮̜̅͒͆̈́̊̎̿̽́̾͘͝ͅh̶͎̻̦̝̮̙̠̩͒͌̾̍̅̿͂͒̓͆͑̚.̶̡̧̧̼͎̤̫̟̺̻͇̻̭̃̈́̉̍̈́͆͗͐͛͆̔̈́̕̚
By now, the girl's body was beginning to shake, Sapphire could see the terror in her eyes as she struggled. She looked over at him. Seemingly pleading for help, help that, he really couldn't really give since the Hegemon had made its desire clear.
"The Hegemon is feeding on his desires." The boy said, looking at her. "As long as it senses you are afraid…it's not going to consider its job done. It believes you are still in danger."
"But…But I'm not afraid!" she protested. "I'm not in any danger!"
"Maybe not physically." Sapphire replied. "The immediate danger that caused Moon's desires to go berserk and make him transform may be gone. But he doesn't know that. All he sees is that his desire hasn't been fulfilled for some reason."
I̸͔̖̭̎'̸̬̖̟̜͎̰͚̠͋͌̂̑͛̃̈́͘m̵̗͍̲̣̗̱͖̤̅͊̓͒̆͆̎ ̴̡̡̡̦̩̜̖̭͒͑́̎̄͌̒̕n̴͙̪̳̭̏̉͑̋̊̿͘o̷̧̲͔͙͑̑͑͐͘͠͝t̵̹͍́͌ ̴̧̜͒͊̽̃̚͝͝ḩ̴̡̩͕͕̲͖̇a̴͉͙̗̰͝p̶̝͍͂̆p̴͖̟̪͛̌͆͜y̵̜͊̽̌̒̈́ ̸͔̯͍̤̱̦̯͇͑̾͋̑̈́̓̔S̴̭̻̦͚̺͋̓͌̍̍͜ä̶̢̨̳̙̳͍̟́̾͐͒r̵͓͈̱̼̐͌͊͛̓ạ̵̝̼̟͙̙͈͛̂h̴̗̞̣̿̑!̴̧̛̰̔͑̈́͘ ̵̯͓̝͈͍̺̘̓́̄̀̊͝M̴͖̀u̴̲̭͇̼̩̫̙͛́̄͗͋͂̇s̸̛͚͔̣̭͍̖͗̒̒́͘͝t̶̢̢͙̝̩͔̅͋̓̿̈́̂ ̴̡̩̦̞̖̓̓̄̐ṁ̴̢̨̨̤̥͇̯̙a̸̲̮͂̅͘k̵̨̢̘̳͈̦̬̀̆̍̔͗̈́ẹ̴̦̯̃̂ ̵͔̬̥͈̹̰̫̓̔͊̄̃͘h̴͓̉ḛ̴̭̘̫͌r̸͎͖̟͇̎͂̒͂̾͘͝ ̴̝̮͕̣͈̀̄̕͠ͅĥ̴̛͕̼̪̬͚̫̏̍̈́à̷͈̟̦̯̗̯̪̽̆͊͝p̷̩̑̚p̸̞̓̅y̸̯̜͒̓̀͆͘̚͝!̶͚̑̃
"I am happy!" Sarah pleaded. Sapphire could begin to see the tears forming in her eyes. "Moon, you know I'm happy! Please get out of this!"
S̸̛̺̫͔̈̽̒̒̕̕͠a̴̡̬̝͌͛̊ͅr̸̢̘̰͐̿̾a̷͇̘͕͖̓͋̆́̏̔̃̆ȟ̶̢͈͚̞̰̤̬̅̽͝.̴̤̜̮͓̣̬̅͂ͅ.̷̢̫̄̊͊̍͝.̸̟͝S̶̢̨͇̗͖̺̘̾͗̈́͐̅̕͘͠ͅa̷̹͌ŗ̸̙̳̠̖́̄͊̀͋̕̚͜a̸̛͎͔̍ḧ̷͚̼̲̦́͑̓́̋̂͘.̸͎͎̭̤͖͗͗́̓́͝.̶̺͓͊̐̐̿.̵̪̖͙̞͎͔̠̇̑̍́͘S̸̼͕͙̦͑̽̾̓̆̅a̸̪͗͛̊ŗ̶̝̯͓̪̖̱͇̔͌̐̒̀͂͝a̷̹̝̱̖͎͎̥̐̚͜h̴̩̙̗̘̿̌͗̉͝͝͠ͅ.̶̯̬̗̺͖̻͚͋̄̔̍̔̀̕͜.̴͕̠̏̎̅́̅̿.̴̛͎̹͚̝̠̠̗̃͗̈͒̾͌͜Ș̷̦̘̩͔͆̃̀͛͘a̶̬̠̗͖͎̻̎̾̂̊̀ŕ̸̲̐̕ḁ̴͔͒h̸̛͔̞̰͙̬̺̩̊̅͑̉̿.̴̲͙̥̩̩̤͉̹̌͐̅͊͠.̵̢̯͇͓̫͒͗̔
"Moon, you know I still love you! Nothing will ever change that! I'm okay!" She pleaded. "Please! Tell me what's wrong! Why don't you believe me?!"
The Hegemon just floated in place. Sapphire just bit down on his lip as he felt Astro fidgeting around in his bag. He hated just standing here and doing nothing…but there really wasn't much he could do. Edelgard had taught him how to calm it down…but…the Hegemon wasn't brought out for him…it was brought out for her.
S̵̻̜̭̖̠͑̓̋̈́̔̐a̸̦̘̻̗͒ͅr̵̮̣͎̺̿̇͑́a̸̗͕̿̀h̶̖͆̽͊́͊͘.̴͉̰̩̄̒͝.̶̩̩̹̭̦̦̀̃͘.̶̻͈̗͗̎̌̍͘a̴̧̠̱̋̈f̵̨̭̓͌̇̓̎̕ř̷̻͖̬̣̖̯͒̂͒́͐̕ȁ̸̪̩͙̥͑̃̆̂͜ͅį̵͈̳̦̩̠̭̍͌̉̑̿̋͌̕ḏ̷̢̖̽͆̊̒͛̈́̈́̕.̴̭͎͚̙̠̳̽.̴̩̘̦̭̤͌̕.̷͓̦̹̟̩̳̫͌͋̑͋̔͋͘ǒ̴͇̦̣̟̈́̕͠f̶̱̥̱̳͙͍̩̟̀̉̓ ̵̡̡͔̭̟̰͚̖̑͑̋͐m̷̬͈̃̅̅̎̅̈̕ė̴͇͓̻͉̗͛͑̈́̓.̴̥̱̙̯̪̼͚͇͐̅̾̐͠.̴̡̡̬̪́̈́͗̔.̷͙͑
"I'm not afraid! I'm NOT! I am not afraid of you!" Sarah protested. Sapphire watched as her foot stomped against the palm of the black hand. As he expected, the Hegemon didn't recoil, but it didn't really do anything except stare at the two of them blankly. Sarah looked ready to really just collapse and cry.
"Sarah…" He said, after a moment. "You might not be afraid of Moon…but…do you happen to be afraid of The Hegemon?"
The girl swallowed, but that was more than enough for Sapphire to understand.
S̴̨̹̻̹̳̗̽̾̽͑̑͝t̸̝͎̮͋̋̎͒͜a̵̤͈͐̄̆͗y̷̪͍̣͙̦͂͑̎̇̇̉͝͠ ̸̲̱̫̘͆͝w̷͙̓͆̒̊͋̓i̷̹̝͗̓̍̂̓ţ̸̨̙̥̻̲͐h̴̨̛̞̗̭̔̿̂̚͝ ̶̝͈̩̠̌̒̂̚m̴̛͈̦̙̹̽͛̾̐͜e̸̲̫̗͒͗̀͋̔̅͛,̵̤̅ ̴̧͕̯̰̝͖̯̥͗̑̌S̸̤̦̺̱̈́͌͂̏̍͆̏̂͜á̶͙̺̬̬̠͍̫̎̒̉͜͝r̴̢͉̱̻͓͖͈̀͂̆̎̀ͅḁ̸̧́̿͐̑́͋̈́̚h̸̢͓̞̹̠̀́̆̚,̵̺͚͙̊ ̴̢̗̻̰̰̒̉̔w̷̲̩̳̅̂͊̓̎̃̚ë̸͎̪̖̙̗́͊̆̈́͝͠ ̴̢̣͔̣̜̗̪̏̿̓̓͐̃̅͠c̴̨̢̲̮̟̻͍̜͐̄͂͆̈́̎̕a̸̫͆̊̓̓̚͝n̵͔̅̇̍͠ͅ ̴̧͚̤̯͖̹̪̖̆̇̋̔͘ḃ̶̲̥̗͖͕͉̝̙ę̸̫͚̮̰̩̣͍̅̅ ̴̜͕͔̾̀̚͜s̸͇̘͎̭͕͔̙̆̀̓̒̍͒͝ơ̷̢͇̓̄͊͑̿̕͝.̶̥̜̩̺͓̂̈̈́̓̾͆͠.̸̢̫̘͚͐̎͑̄̄̇͝.̵̱͚̙͍̣̃h̴̳͍̺́̉͝a̵̛̻̾̈́̒̈́p̴̨̯͕̻̝̳̲̓͑̅̽͜p̷͚̽͆͑͆̎͂͝y̵̡̹̟̹̯̒͒͌̚!̷̬̹̜̱̅͂̐͆͘
"I um…" the girl looked at Sapphire.
"The Hegemon sees that you're afraid of it…which it associates as being a part of Moon." Sapphire replied. "You need to show that you aren't afraid…"
As she turned her head back to face Hegemon Moon's pupil-less eye, still leaking more of the black ooze from its slits. After her relentless nightmares of seeing it…she wasn't sure what she could do.
Į̸̛̛̻͓̲̱̰̖̹̲̰̳̗̈̃̈́͂̅͑͊̔͆͐̎ͅţ̴̱̭̯̬̬̦̦̄̃̅͜ͅ ̷̮̉̇̈́́h̸̢͖̹̘̫̞͚̲͎̳̯̉̅̓͛͜͠͝u̶̧̞͎̥̣̮͍̙͓͈͐̓́̀̃̎̽͜͠r̶̨̢̼̲̦̺͈̪̼̩̞͆̋̋̈́̏̔͋͗ͅͅt̷̗̪̽̒̃̕͝s̸̢̹̱̎̎̊̊̔̇͒̆.̸̋̒̋̇̄̽̊͒͂͜͝.̸̠̙̓̃͂͑̈́.̶̧̗͔͗̀̒̈̇̾͋͋͌́̿̕͝͝Ş̵̟̣͆́ͅḁ̴̡̞̬̻́̍̄̓̇̾̚͝͠ͅͅr̵͓̰̜̼̦͖̲̖̈́̅̄͑́̅͗͂͛̂̀͆̚ả̵͓̮̣̹̲̐͝͝͠h̷̢͙̭̗̼̣̞̮̫̥̟͌̎̈́̑̄͗̎̿̎͘͝.̷̤̯̄͆̄̽̑̉̕.̷̡̧̛͖̫͙͚̞̥͎̣͍̩͉͆͜.̷͔̣͍͙͇͕̬̒̋ͅḏ̵͕̼̞̩̪̜͚͐̆̃̎́̄̌̚͜o̸̩͇̱̼̝̭̜̝̺̼͋̓͛͘͜͜͝͝e̷̺̟̬̼̩̻̭͐̈́̾̌̔͛̌̈́̊̄̚ş̷̢͙̻̝̈́͑͒̾͋̚n̷̨̲̲̻̻̳͔̚'̶̛̩̠̞̽̀͜ţ̵̨̖͖͇̲̝̳̫͈̥̩̘̑̒͗̃́ ̷̧̩̱̬̪̞̲̍̎̀̽͂̀̿̂͑͗į̸̧̡̹͎͍̩͙̹̭̯͇̹͗̂̑͆̅̚ṯ̵̱̹̖͗?̷̧̡̢̧̛̯̩̖̻͚͈̲̔́͂̇̄͗͝͠
She struggled, yes, she could feel the pain, not nearly as bad as when Moon first transformed into the Hegemon. "Yes…it does…" She replied. "But it's hurting you more…isn't it?"
The wings of Hegemon Moon had flapped a bit as his head twitched, sending more black ooze in different directions (Though, thankfully not on her and Sapphire).
S̴̨̹̻̹̳̗̽̾̽͑̑͝t̸̝͎̮͋̋̎͒͜a̵̤͈͐̄̆͗y̷̪͍̣͙̦͂͑̎̇̇̉͝͠ ̸̲̱̫̘͆͝w̷͙̓͆̒̊͋̓i̷̹̝͗̓̍̂̓ţ̸̨̙̥̻̲͐h̴̨̛̞̗̭̔̿̂̚͝ ̶̝͈̩̠̌̒̂̚m̴̛͈̦̙̹̽͛̾̐͜e̸̲̫̗͒͗̀͋̔̅͛,̵̤̅ ̴̧͕̯̰̝͖̯̥͗̑̌S̸̤̦̺̱̈́͌͂̏̍͆̏̂͜á̶͙̺̬̬̠͍̫̎̒̉͜͝r̴̢͉̱̻͓͖͈̀͂̆̎̀ͅḁ̸̧́̿͐̑́͋̈́̚h̸̢͓̞̹̠̀́̆̚,̵̺͚͙̊ ̴̢̗̻̰̰̒̉̔w̷̲̩̳̅̂͊̓̎̃̚ë̸͎̪̖̙̗́͊̆̈́͝͠ ̴̢̣͔̣̜̗̪̏̿̓̓͐̃̅͠c̴̨̢̲̮̟̻͍̜͐̄͂͆̈́̎̕a̸̫͆̊̓̓̚͝n̵͔̅̇̍͠ͅ ̴̧͚̤̯͖̹̪̖̆̇̋̔͘ḃ̶̲̥̗͖͕͉̝̙ę̸̫͚̮̰̩̣͍̅̅ ̴̜͕͔̾̀̚͜s̸͇̘͎̭͕͔̙̆̀̓̒̍͒͝ơ̷̢͇̓̄͊͑̿̕͝.̶̥̜̩̺͓̂̈̈́̓̾͆͠.̸̢̫̘͚͐̎͑̄̄̇͝.̵̱͚̙͍̣̃h̴̳͍̺́̉͝a̵̛̻̾̈́̒̈́p̴̨̯͕̻̝̳̲̓͑̅̽͜p̷͚̽͆͑͆̎͂͝y̵̡̹̟̹̯̒͒͌̚!̷̬̹̜̱̅͂̐͆͘
"I will…" She replied. "You know I'll stay with you…even if you're…stuck like this…"
The twitchy head made her grow more concerned…normally it was very easy to show Moon she wasn't afraid…even if she was absolutely scared out of her mind. But…nothing seemed to get to the Hegemon.
Ņ̶̱̝͖̯͇̲̺͆̏͆͊́̊̇̈̾̏̚̕͘͠o̵̯̟̱̗̯̟̻͗͗̔͌͐͝t̶̼̠͇̾̃͛̌̓̓͒̀̄̕.̷͓̍̋͋̍̌̓̕͠.̷̡̗̩̯̺̝͔̥̭̩̺͍̽̍̈́̓̚͘͜͜ͅ.̴̢̢̧̭̳̻̗͈̤̪̝̘͙̯͛̈́̄̍͑h̴͚̗̭̠̪̦̟̣͓̜͓̦͛͛̈́̌ä̶̛̩͍͙͈́̎̄ͅp̶̢̺̞͙̙̐̇̈́͐͑̐̈́̎͝͝ͅp̶̥̭̣̈́̉̎͊͋̆͛̈́̈́̀̌͘ͅÿ̴̦̱͙̹̠̜̱̘͔͖́͂̄́͂̀͗͘͜͜͝͝͠ͅ.̶̧̛̣̺̖̝̺̫͖̦͓̼̤̈́́̃͑̀̀̅̿̋̌̇͘ͅͅ.̵̧̲͓͙͙͙̩̬̩̦̼͐̆͊́́͌̍ͅ.̵͎͚̰̹͈̩̯̣̮̫͈́͊̈́̔͛̂́̑͑͆̎͛S̴̡͈̩̰̮̒́̇̿͋̋̾͌́͗ą̸̳̗̰͚͇͕̝͔̻͚͂͆̂̇̃͗͘r̵̼̭͇͛̌̊́̇̽̒͗̋̿͘̚ḁ̵̼̔̄̀̊͗͒̎́͌͌̚͘̚͘͘ͅḥ̷̬͇̏̿.̶̢̡̗̯̹̗̦̪͐͂̋́̊͜
"Don't you remember what I promised you?" she asked, Sapphire could now hear her tone was calming down. "Your mother said to me that she hadn't seen you look so happy since you were a baby. I know how hard life has been for you…for me…Erick, Sapphire…and Dyson…"
Š̸̼̫̄̎̈́ţ̵̠̪̩̺͐͑͐̓͐͘͜a̷̢͚̤̪̠̥̽y̷̡̪̦̑̽̅̎͐̆͜ ̴̧̜̊̓̏̚w̸̘͚̼͆͠i̶̖͒͋̍͊͝t̶͎̬̯͚̦͔͊ḫ̷̲̒͛̂̄͝ ̷̺̼́̈̒̇͜͠ͅm̴̨̰̤̺̭̼̓e̴̱͖̙̾͛̐̈́̂.̴̝̥̐͠.̷̮͉͂́͠͝͝.̸͔̖̔S̵̼͂̉̿̑ͅä̷̛͖̀͂́̀ř̸̯̄̍͐a̸̺̒͒̇̿h̷̢̛͖͇̘̘̠͌̾̑̃͘
"I promised you I would…" She replied. "I don't intend on breaking that promise ever. I know I repeat that to you…and I know that…deep inside…you'll never truly accept me saying that I wouldn't have had a better life without you. But…in your heart…you know that's still just a what if. What you do know is that I love you, and I'll stay by your side. Whatever it is, wherever it is, whenever it is. I'll be there with you. So will Sapphire…and so will Erick."
There was a pause as Sapphire watched her nervously stare into Hegemon Moon's giant, pupiless blue eye. Then, the horrid transformation lowered its shadowy black claw holding the two of them to the ground, placing them down. The grounded brick roads around them now covered in the ooze leaked out by the Hegemon.
"Did…did it work?!" Sarah's voice cracked as she looked over at Sapphire.
Before the boy could answer, both of them flinched as a demonic screech let through. Quickly, Sapphire held up Stalwart Terra as a dome of Earth surrounded him and Sarah. There was a pause, before an explosion, and gooey splat hit the dome. Followed a few seconds later by a very hard thud.
As Stalwart-Terra glowed, the rock dome lowered, showing that the black ooze had been splattered across the now destroyed buildings and gardens. And, in the mess, Moon layed unconsciously.
"It's safe to walk through the ooze." Sapphire said, as he noted Sarah's hesitant to even step on it and run to Moon. "I just covered us so we wouldn't get filthy." The girl nodded as she then rushed to her husband, picking him up as her hands started to glow bright green.
The blue haired boy simply let out a sigh of relief. But, his sigh was very shortly lived as he heard a twig, he turned, bracing Stalwart-Terra, just to find Qrow. Ruby's disheveled Uncle just held up his hands. Yet, there was no sign of Ruby.
"Damn Semblance…" He heard the man mutter under his breath. "Ironically I should count myself lucky he's not trigger happy."
"How much did you see?" The boy asked, narrowing his eyes. "More importantly…where the hell did you go?! We could've used you and Ruby here to prevent exactly what you did see."
"Calm down ya brat." Qrow muttered. "You clearly had that…whatever the hell that was…under control." The man's red eyes then narrowed. "If anything, I should be asking you the questions. Oz and Ironwood would've blown a fuse with ya if they had seen this, more importantly, you did LIE to them."
"Number one, we didn't lie, we just never mentioned it because we figured you all would be scared shitless if you did know about it." Sapphire crossed his arms. "Secondly, the creature you saw is called a Hegemon. It was a transformation forced onto Moon thanks to some meddling by some Agarthans in my world. Now, it simply exists as a manifestation of his darkest desires, I had to train him to keep the form under control. Unlike the dark sides you're nieces are familiar with, the Hegemon doesn't exactly…have boundaries. Matter of fact, we all did want to tell you and Ozpin about it when his dark side was first revealed. However, the Smash Brothers, with some help from my former classmates, discovered that the Hegemon felt more in line with an actual Grimm. So…you know…we kind of figured the idea one of us could transform into a Grimm wouldn't fly well with you."
"That would explain why those creatures didn't seem interested…I've been following you four to make sure Ruby was taken care of…"
"And…why would you just keep your distance then?" Sapphire replied. "You know we have orders to keep things from you under the Smash Brothers to ensure your world's Grimm don't get stronger. And, I'd imagine we've been quite trustworthy and open to listening and following your orders under Ozpin."
The man stumbled for a second that made the boy's blue eyes narrow. "It's nothing like trust." he replied. "My semblance…it brings misfortune. It's a passive semblance that I can't activate at will…I've been told that it should operate under a basis that something will go wrong if it's a possibility, so long as it wouldn't mean my own specific life comes to an end. The people around me, like friends and family on the other hand…"
Sapphire simply shrugged his shoulders…the mere idea of someone's special power being bad luck was comical. But, he wasn't exactly in the mood to be judging or laughing. Especially since Qrow's eyes didn't look like they were joking.
"So…let me ask you again." The boy replied. "Where did you and Ruby go?"
"I went to get her out of here." Qrow grunted. "That freaky dragon and psycho scorpion would've killed her. I just took her to the outskirts of town to hide her. I was going to come back and help you all out…but it looks like you took care of that for me."
"So…you're the only one who saw the Hegemon?" Sapphire asked. "Ruby didn't."
"Nope, wouldn't want her too either…I'll keep that between me and Oz's buddy's when we get to Mistral…I've been needing to talk to Lionheart. So, I'll accompany you and my niece…from a distance. Just incase your little freaks come back for yo-"
"Yeah…they weren't here for us this time." Sapphire replied, completely stopping the man. "They came specifically for Ruby. Seiros and that Scorpion guy mentioned working under some type of Mistress…which uh…let's just say when Moon recovers…you're in for a very terrible time…you know…considering he specifically asked you all about someone Pokey and Seiros would be interested in working with. Up until now, we had assumed they were using Cinder. But that very clearly isn't the case."
He could sense that Qrow looked frustrated, maybe even a hint of worry about what he in particular would do if the guy answered something shady. After a moment, the man simply sighed, seemingly frustrated, as if he had exhausted any way of trying to avoid answering the question.
"Alright, I'll tell your leader and friends about it. However, I must request that you at least wait until we're at Mistral…seeing as how their…mistress…also wants my niece."
"I'll hold you to that…" Sapphire replied curtly. "Just go get Ruby so we can continue."
The man simply nodded as he watched the blue-haired boy turn and move towards Moon and Sarah, he backed up just a bit, ensuring that none of them would see, before he darted behind one of the ruined buildings where Ruby was hiding.
Looking at Ruby, he could see the same nervous expression that reminded him of her mother long ago. Especially with her Silver eyes.
"U-Uncle Qrow?!" She asked.
"I know what you just saw and heard is a lot to take in." He replied to her. "But Ruby, you have to listen to me when I tell you, those…freaks…are dangerous. Just be yourself until we get to Mistral and I'll sort this whole thing out…I don't want those…things catching wind that you know anything. Especially with your silver eyes."
"But…why?! What's so special about me!"
"I'll tell you later, just not now." Her uncle grunted. "I really don't want them catching wind of this. You'll understand later. Just promise me you'll keep a facade up long enough to where I can get this to you normally. Do you remember that thing I taught you and Yang to do as kids?"
When his niece stood with a silently puzzled look in her silver eyes the man simply gave an annoyed glare. "With your brain! The actual important thing I taught you, about distorting your memories in life."
The realization of her silver eyes, followed by a swift, yet cheerful salute. "Don't worry about that! I've been doing it since you taught me!"
He felt a rare bit of smile form. "Good, because you might be our one chance at putting an end to this catastrophe once and for all."
As the connection of the Seer grimm faded into a static buzz. Salem's beady eyes flashed irritably at Qrow's words.
"Those stupid lying fucking little…" She hissed. Making Cinder, along with Emerald and Mercury back up as a bit of black magic flared around her. The three of them flinched as she turned her pale face, which looked horrifyingly angry as a pulse of energy tightened the whole air.
"Cinder…" Salem floated over to the three of them, getting seriously close to the maiden's face. The woman's tone was deathly cold, in such a way that they'd never heard. "I'm going to ask you this once…you did make sure that Oz was dead before taking the rest of those powers, RIGHT?!" As she finished, a bolt of black lightning struck outside of the tower.
The still recovering Fall Maiden nodded her head rapidly.
"I hope you are not lying…" Salem hissed at her. The grimm leader's beady eyes then shot towards Emerald and Mercury. "You two, get Pokey and tell him to warp Seiros and Tyrian back here. Then, tell just Pokey and Seiros to report to me. INSTANTLY!"
Cinder's raspy voice had Emerald lean in. When she stopped, the green haired minion looked at Salem. Who simply waved her arm to motion the three of them out of her chambers.
"Save it for later, you go too Cinder, trust me, this talk I'm about to have with Pokey and Seiros could get quite VIOLENT!"
Another month, another chapter, and though we just did one thing, a lot was still going on. First things first, I should probably let you all know while reading this that FFN is being a pain about notifications now. Luckily for you guys, this story only updates at the name time each month. It's always the first, and if it doesn't update then, it probably isn't getting a chapter that month for one reason or another. Hopefully it gets sorted, but if it doesn't just check your followed stories every now and again, a lot of my followed stories are like this.
Ordinarily, I don't like to touch on behind the scenes when it comes to me developing these chapters. A lot of these go through rewrites and revisions before I am satisfied with what I have in regard to progressing the story forward. This chapter ended up being put under scrutiny and was subjected to an entire rewrite of the entire chapter. Because my dumbass somehow forgot that Qrow was supposed to show up in this fight. The Hegemon and Immaculate one forms for Moon and Rhea, alongside Tyrian's hostaging of Sarah were all added in from the original chapter to try and work around how Qrow would act in this instance. Which would be getting Ruby out of there when Seiros is here.
Oh yeah, much like Rhea's updated design that sort of bridged the gap between her human and beastly side, I did update the design of the Immaculate one. I was sort of going for this...creepy disheartening idea that Rhea has completely gone off the deep end. So the Immaculate one needed to reflect the damage, both psychically and emotionally, that Rhea has endured from Moon and Sapphire, alongside being tortured for an insane amount of time being diamondized. Because remember, when Diamondized, you're still fully conscious of the world around you. Just unable to speak or do anything. Not even being cut to pieces would kill you. Seriously...what a fucked-up status condition from EarthBound's own lore.
Also, you finally got your first glimpse of Hegemon Moon. Bet you forgot all about it huh? It was a bit hard for me to continue writing those nightmare scenes for Sarah after a while that gave you glimpses of the pain she endured from the only time Moon transformed into it. And, with Team MESS being stuck at Beacon with all the other shit and characters running around, I couldn't exactly be having scenes dedicated to Moon transforming into this thing.
There is a lot more information about the Hegemon that you'll be getting in the next chapter. As you could probably guess from that ending, Salem is less than thrilled to see Moon transform into such a thing.
I did receive a comment through my private messaging that said the Hegemon's regular speech using glitchy text was annoying. And I want to let you know that I don't really have a workaround present. I like the glitchy text usage because it fits with the fact that the Hegemon isn't exactly human like the darksides. It's supposed to look rather intimidating and unnerving, and I felt the glitchy text emphasized it best. I tried experimenting with having letters and words switch between Italics, Underline, Bolding, and regular, but I came to the conclusion that would be way more obnoxious than just a bit of glitchy text and bolding, I did lower the craziness level on the generator I used to make sure it was legible.
Anyway, Qrow's finally got to talk about Salem. But we'll get to that a bit later, I've still got a few more stories to put between.
If you have any thoughts or criticism, feel free to let me know, hopefully when this goes up, the site will stop being a pain and work.
See you all, next month.