Chapter 30: Truths, Lies, and Family Ties
Pokey and Rhea both stood in Salem's throne room, neither of them knew exactly why they were called, and while neither were concerned, both were not going to let it go. Especially when none of the rest of their underlings were with them.
Before either of them could get into an argument, the door behind them slammed shut as they both flinched slightly. Though Salem's footsteps were quiet, they could still hear the hissing of a Seer Grimm that would follow her. Alongside the more pressurized feel as the normally dark clouds and red sky that surrounded her hideaway in the far lands of Remnant struck powerful red lightning.
Salem simply brushed past both of them as the Seer Grimm followed her. This one was much bigger than an average one, with its glassy top looking the size of a computer monitor. The Seer stopped floating in front of the two of them as Salem stepped to her throne. Pausing for a moment, before sitting down to face the two of them.
Her beady black eyes with red colored pupils leered at the two of them in silence, almost as if she dared either one of them to try and challenge whatever they were called here for. Her fingers tapped against the arm of her throne in a silent way, yet still produced a small echo between the two. After a moment, she tilted her head in a firm way.
"Firstly…" She said sternly. Directing her glare at Rhea. "Both you and Tyrian very clearly did not do the one simple task I asked of you. I explicitly told both of you to NOT worry about our little children. Just the girl with Silver Eyes."
"You should've known that those little freaks weren't going to just let you have Ruby." Pokey sneered back. "I'd hardly fight Seiros and Tyrian on that…regardless of their failure, you should've known that our freaks wouldn't let you take her."
Salem's red pupils flared at the two of them. She twirled her finger as a bit of dark energy surrounded her, the arms of four apathy grimm developed around her as Pokey and Rhea both took a step back. Once again, Salem's beady black eyes narrowed.
"You know…all you really had to do was just grab the silver eyed girl and get out of there, Seiros. Yet, you instead decided it would be a fine idea to reveal your hand to Qrow that you are still capable of transforming into the Immaculate One. Granted…I'm sure the children would've expected it…but I was secretly hoping they'd think you were incapable."
"Would you rather me being cut to pieces by that girl's scythe?" Rhea hissed.
Salem hissed as she motioned the Seer Grimm closer to the two of them. "Irregardless of you and Tyrian's failure to capture the Silver Eyed girl. I'm much more irritated with the two of you not mentioning THIS!" she snapped her fingers as the Seer Glass glowed.
The image developed showing Hegemon Moon with Sapphire and Sarah. Pokey and Rhea both looked at each other as Salem's glare peered over the glass they were watching. Almost as if she dared either of them speak.
"What is this?" She asked sternly. "Why does our child look like a fucking grimm? What did the two of you do to him while I, and Master Giygas, were away?"
Pokey just looked slyly at Rhea. "Looks like one of those demonic creatures from your homeworld, Seiros…would you care to explain?"
Rhea looked over at Pokey with an irritated stare. But one that quickly faded as she caught Salem's even more vicious eyes, with the Apathy arms inching closer to her.
"Well…it looks like a Hegemon…" She replied. "Remember those…freaks…that you all helped me and my people kill."
"Yes, the Agarthans." Salem replied, still withholding her glare. "We banished them underground and left with the understanding that you and the remaining Nabateans would finish them off. Clearly…you didn't do that!"
"Look, we ran into some…problems…" Rhea hissed. "I did call you to come and help. Maybe if you did we could've crushed those traitors and prevented this."
"I did not ask for deflection and excuses…Seiros." Salem replied. She pointed her pale white finger as two Apathy arms attached to Rhea. "I know the Grimm don't affect you like they do with the natives of my world. But I know they can still put you in pain."
The former saint stuttered as she hissed at Salem. Clearly starting to feel the effects of the Apathy as Salem directed her attention to Pokey.
"You sound pretty knowledgeable of the Hegemon…I'd advise you to start speaking too." She spoke more aggressively to Pokey.
Pokey rubbed the back of his rotting neck. "Well…uh…it's the manifestation of his deepest desires…caused him to transform into-"
"I know what the Hegemon represents." Salem hissed, her normally calm and easy tone now much sharper. "Why is my…sorry…our creation able to transform into one!"
"I uh…well…" Pokey shuffled. "If I had to raise a guess…I suppose maybe the Agarthans caught wind of a boy with powers similar to master Giygas hiding out with Seiros. So they may have tried running tests when he aligned himself with Edelgard…who was working alongside them."
Two bolts of black lightning struck outside the tower, though he was unbothered and didn't flinch. Pokey could feel the immense presence Salem's grimm energy left behind. Not helped by Rhea's constant hisses in pain, which only seemed to get louder as the seconds passed.
"Now then…Pokey…" Salem continued, after a moment. "We designed our children here with the explicit purpose that they would be unstoppable. Qrow is under the belief that the girl's silver eyes might be capable of stopping them…or…just Moon thanks to the Hegemon now being present in his body."
"I mean…" Pokey continued. "I know he looks like a Grimm…but I-" He was cut off as the Apathy Grimm attached to his body. The pain that came from it was indescribable…to him at least…centuries of hopping dimensions as an organic lifeform had made him immortal…but he could still be hurt…though the description of pain was lost to him long ago.
"It is susceptible to the Silver Eyes you ignorant dumbass." Salem hissed. "I've been watching our sweet children. Moon is a bit concerned about Ruby's silver eyes that even Master Giygas' soul didn't want anything to do with them. We know from experience he is not susceptible to the eyes…we tested that immediately after we created them. But now…he is!"
"W-Well…" Pokey hissed, the tingly feeling of pain from the Apathy arm was really starting to get worse. "W-What the h-hell d-do you want m-me t-to do a-about it?!"
Salem's eyes flashed as a wave of dark energy shot through both him and Rhea. "I'll deal with you two later…I don't think the message has gotten through…you know what I'm asking of you, so once my pets decide you're done. You can get back to it. I have to go tend to Tyrian."
"D-Don't…b-bother…" Rhea hissed after a moment. "His tail got rammed into by a Mr. Saturn, those tail bones he has in the tail and stinger might as well have disintegrated."
While neither of them could see Salem, as the Apathy held them down, a few cackling bits of dark energy cued them in that she was still displeased.
"I see," Salem sighed. "I must inspect the damages and determine what to do then…thank you for not withholding that from me…unlike with this Hegemon thorn."
"We didn't know any better!" Pokey hissed, but that response was met with dead silence as the giant door slammed shut, and the massive Seer Grimm in front of them eviscerated into nothing.
Yang, alongside Blake both look down at the now opened package. Which contained a prosthetic robot arm. Painted gold and black, around the length of her right arm. She wasn't exactly as into weapon design as Ruby was, but she could see traces of what looked like modeling for Ember Celica. As the right gauntlet had been lost after Adam sliced her arm off.
"What'd you think?" Taiyang asked, giving Yang a very satisfied, yet proud dad feel.
"Um…I…I don't really know." she replied. "You know, we can't exactly afford something like this."
"Oh no," her father responded. "This was a gift from General Ironwood, specifically made by his two scientists, Pietro Polendina, and Doctor Andonuts."
"But…why?" Blake asked. "What exactly would make Ironwood want to take resources out of Atlas to help her?" Spying Yang's look she quickly added. "Not that you don't deserve it Yang, but…with the state of Remnant…it just feels not very like Ironwood…I mean…you remember what he said with your Vytal Festival controversy."
Yang just nodded her head glumly.
"Well, Ironwood says that your bravery during the fall of Beacon is prime huntress material." Taiyang replied. "He's opened up Atlas Academy to you, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss should you all want to continue your hunters training. Qrow has already gone ahead to let Ruby know."
Blake watched her former teammate frown in a very not normal way. "Is something wrong, Yang? Isn't this exactly what you'd want? You can resume being a huntress!"
"It is…" Yang replied, after a moment of silence. "I just…I'm not sure if I really want too…"
Blake felt her own cat ears hold as her face heated up. Though she hadn't known Yang as long as she'd like to admit, that felt horrifically different from what one would think her natural response would be…and, frankly, Blake felt she had no one to blame but herself after how she had told her teammate what she did was wrong.
However, what caught the cat faunus' yellow eyes was Taiyang's facial expression to his daughter. Her father looked relatively unsurprised, the man caught her own eyes and just gave her a smile, followed by a wink Yang couldn't see due to her eyes still being locked on the prosthetic.
"I know what happened to you must be hard to accept, sweetie." he said, placing a hand on Yang's shoulder as the girl looked up at him. "I know that I haven't exactly been the best caretaker to you, and you sheltered Ruby into a mindset for a hunter I could never imagine. Yet, I can still see that, the life of a hunter you raised your baby sister into so she would be unphased by disaster, isn't the world you like to imagine. Deep down, I think Ruby knows it too."
Blake could see Yang biting on her lower lip.
"You know, sometimes, I do regret giving up being a hunter myself." Taiyang continued. "Much like Qrow and Summer, I had wanted to be one since I was your age too. But I gave up, because I couldn't take more losses, instead of trying to make a difference in the world. You know who else did that?"
"Yes…" Yang mumbled. "It was mom…wasn't it?"
Blake raised her eyebrows. She'd known that Ruby and Yang had different mothers, but Yang only ever talked about Ruby's mother, Summer. Never once about her own.
Taiyang simply nodded his head. "Your mother, Raven, Yang. She was a good person when I first met her during my time on the team Summer, Qrow, her, and I were on. And I loved her, to an extent…I still do. She did give birth to you after all, and I wouldn't change that for anything. But, I think it's time that you hear what I say about her. I think you're old enough to understand."
Yang nodded her head, which Blake could see was full of nervousness in what her father would say. Perhaps she was wrong to assume Yang just never talked about her actual mother due to just not liking her, instead, maybe she never knew much about her. Considering she was two years older than Ruby, she supposed knowing next to anything about Raven would be a hard stretch unless she specifically asked.
"I know that your mother is still alive." Taiyang replied. "I'm sure you know that as well. Her semblance is interesting…it allows her to make portals to those she has a strong, emotional attachment to…due to her rather cold, and shut in behavior, she's only linked to three people. There's one for me, one for Qrow…and one for you."
"So…that means…"
"Your mother does care about you…" Taiyang replied. "Her semblance wouldn't have connected her with you otherwise, and I know it's not just about being related to her that gets you an automatic way into her semblance. Until she died…Summer had one too."
"Why…why exactly are you telling me this?" Yang asked.
"Because…" Her father replied. "Your mother and I gave up on protecting people as hunters. I don't know what exactly caused Raven to abandon us and turn heel into "The Uninhabitables" but, I do know that we failed the people we could've protected. Even if you choose not to continue your hunteress training, I encourage you, and your friend here, to at least consider it. After what happened to Beacon, Ironwood most certainly means that you exemplify what a true huntress should be. He's not saying it because the world would need you. But because he trusts that you'll make the choice a huntress would make."
Blake could see her golden-haired teammate's eyes develop some tears, as Yang rubbed her eyes with her left arm.
"Also, give the arm a try." Taiyang continued, even if you aren't going to be a huntress, you'd be a fool to pass up on this prosthetic. Try it out, I'm sure Blake here would be happy to help." When the two looked in her general direction, the cat faunus nodded her head.
"Well then, I've got some gardening to get back too, if you want to catch up with Ruby, Qrow called and let me know that he knows Raven is still in "The Uninhabitables." around our house. You and Blake should be able to track her down."
"Um…how exactly would we do that?" Yang asked.
"Your teammate is an orphaned Faunus…is she not?" her dad replied. "I mean…she's been here this whole time and she's said she's got nowhere else to go…I'd imagine she's a White Fang Defector…so she has to have experience in "The Uninhabitables." Most White Fang members do." After that, her father closed the door, leaving her to turn to her teammate. Feeling an embarrassed blush come across as Blake had a more unreadable face.
"Isn't that…you know…racist thinking?" She asked her teammate. "I uh…"
"It would if he didn't know if it wasn't true…" Blake also now looked equally embarrassed. "Your dad and I have had a few conversations while you were…uh…you know."
"I…I suppose…" Yang looked back at the arm. "So uh…I guess it wouldn't hurt to test the arm out before we go then."
She looked up at Blake, who looked very hopeful, Yang didn't really see her Faunus Teammate smile much…so, while it was weirdly off putting, it did look quite nice. "You sure?" she asked.
"I might as well." Yang replied. "I've been given a second chance, no point in wasting it. Especially when I finally have the opportunity to find my mother."
From outside of the home, just next to the open window, a dark-skinned female faunus with red hair appeared from her chameleon camouflage, though she knew it was likely nobody would poke their head outside and see her, there was no point in playing risky.
"Very interesting…" she whispered. "I must report this to Adam…it should help make our job a bit easier."
"Something wrong? Blake?" The girl froze as she heard the voice from the blonde-haired girl, quickly reactivating her camouflage as she waited in silence. Blake poked her head outside of the open window and looked, but her eyes never locked into her camouflaged area. Though, the cat faunus did squint her yellow eyes, as if trying to find her.
"No…" Blake said, pulling her head back inside after a moment. "I just thought I heard something, but there's no one there…"
Weiss awoke suddenly to the sound of ratched clanking. She silently grumbled to herself as she turned over and found her soon to be husband not next to her. She could see from her balcony window in her room that the shattered moon was still in the early night, and she was not about to check the clock and see how far along.
She pushed herself up, rubbing her tired icey blue eyes as she looked around her bedroom. She did see Erick, who was fiddling with a few machine parts over near the table in the corner. Frankly, she didn't know what exactly he'd be working on…but after two nights of being awoken like this, only to try and drag him back to bed, enough was enough, especially since tomorrow was the charity wedding.
She pushed herself out of bed and slipped her feet into her white slippers as she walked over to Erick. Just like the last two nights, she had to wonder how the boy could concentrate so hard. Though she wasn't making a lot of noise, the dead silence and length of her room made her footsteps, even in soft slippers, louder than his tinkering.
Once she got to him, she simply set her hand on his shoulder. Erick flinched at her touch as his head jolted towards her. The hazel-brown eyes relaxed a little as they made contact with hers, before he simply turned his attention back to his gadget. Which Weiss noticed looked an awful lot like a radar she had seen her company use when shipping Dust to track Grimm, or, in more recent time, the White Fang.
"I'm getting there, I'll be in bed in a couple of minutes." The boy said, Weiss could hear that his voice sounded exhausted.
"You said that the last two nights…" She replied calmly. "You know I've had my hand in a place where, if you did come, you'd move it so you didn't crush it. So unless you've been falling asleep at the table, you haven't slept in the last 48 hours."
Erick simply looked up at her.
"You know you're supposed to marry me tomorrow, right?" She asked. "I know you may not think it's a big old formal thing, but Jacques will be less than thrilled if you show up looking like this."
Erick simply shook his head. "It's far better for me to stay awake since the two of us are alone."
The heiress rolled her eyes as she sat down next to him. Pushing his gadget out of the way so he'd look at her.
"My father won't be coming in to hurt me while you're asleep, he needs to sleep too. You said your dark side won't hurt me, and if he somehow found a loophole, any pain couldn't be permanent, or make me think any less of you, and our manor has the tightest security in Atlas, even more than General Ironwood's, not a single member of the White Fang will get in."
Erick simply bit down on his bottom lip as he looked around her moonlit room. "Your uh…your dad doesn't have cameras here…does he?"
The heiress blinked. "He may abuse me…but he's not that insane…" she replied.
"O-Okay…" Erick replied. "I'm going to tell you something that…might horrify you, but you can't tell anyone…It took a ton of persuading from Moon to allow me to say something."
Weiss simply raised an eyebrow. "What…what else could you have possibly not told me?"
"So…you know the gist by now, we're videogame characters from another world. Moon, Sarah, and I were created by Giygas, as well as Pokey and Rhea. They intended for us to be like these…weaponized vessels that would allow them to conquer all of existence…you know…standard villain shit."
"Yes…you've done a fine enough job explaining that…" Weiss replied.
"So uh…well…Moon believes that the reason Pokey took refuge here when running from the Smash council is…well…another person was involved in our creation…and that she happens to come from your world."
Weiss simply blinked in confusion. "I thought Moon said that our world in the Multiverse had been lost to time and only recently discovered…for that to be possible…Pokey and Rhea would've had to have been here…possibly over a thousand years ago…whoever that person is should be long dead."
"Well…she isn't…" Erick replied. "Rhea and Pokey themselves are well over a thousand…time is inconsistent between the Mutliverses that's why the Ness you see Moon talk to still looks like a thirteen year old."
"Well…what exactly do you know about this…fourth creator of yours?" Weiss asked.
"Literally just her name…" Erick replied. "She goes by Salem…other than that…we know basically nothing else…though…if we go by what Giygas tends to let close into his inner circle, she has to be either incredibly powerful or smart…and potentially a goddess of some sorts. But uh…your world doesn't believe in any type of religious gods."
"How…how can you be sure they aren't sending you on a wild goose chase, and just recruiting random people along the way to make you nervous?"
"Not their style." Erick replied. "Moon mentioned to me that Rhea was given orders to take Ruby instead of them. They're working with someone they clearly trust if they actually are going to take orders from them."
Weiss twiddled her thumbs as she bit down on her lip. What she was being told sounded absolutely absurd. Granted, had you told her nearly a year ago that four video game characters would suddenly appear in Remnant and she'd end up forced into a magical romantic relationship with one of them that would result in her needing to abandon her old life, she wouldn't have believed that either.
But that was different in her eyes. Sure, what had been happening to her in regards to her now destined fate with Erick was the quintessential definition of what one would not consider realistically possible. However, in that instance, it had to do with something she was always going to be unfamiliar with as it came from magical worlds outside of Remnant, it was never something to do with her to begin with.
In the instance of a potentially millennial years old evil goddess who's worship was lost to time in Remnant's own history…opened a whole other can of worms to what she, and anyone else, would know about their own world.
Erick's hazel brown eyes, while soft, she could feel studied her face as she had processed that. After a moment, the genius spoke to her.
"You don't believe me…do you?" He asked.
"I mean…" Weiss paused to consider the potential consequences of an answer. Though she knew very well the boy couldn't read minds…he was still smart. "Truthfully, it is hard for me to believe that…you're essentially telling me about a conspiracy that is allegedly covered up spanning who only knows how long…are you sure there is nothing else you can say about this…woman?"
"Nothing concrete I can really say…most of what my team and I can infer about her is just baseless guessing going off past experiences we've had with Giygas and his minions. As they all seem to share a similar train of pattern."
"Which would be…" At that moment, she almost regretted asking that.
"Well…she's likely either an alien or a goddess…or both. She has access to some type of magic and immense power, but usually conceals herself using an army of somesorts, either the Grimm or the White Fang. And, while not mandatory, her bitter hatred towards humanity is likely stemmed from a lack of love from others."
Weiss bit down on her lip again. She wasn't exactly getting a satisfactory answer from the boy. However, in his defense, she hadn't gotten the impression he was the type to lie to her. As the two locked eyes, she did put a hand on his arm.
Immediately, she was hit with the acidic pain she had first felt when Erick was training her on her semblance formation. She did remember what he had said, and the pain hadn't been present since he had been more aware from making physical contact with her. She assumed this was coming from his lack of awareness from a lack of sleep. She went to retract her arm before his fiance's darkside began to hiss at her.
"You want answers, no?" She blinked in shock as Dark Erick's voice rang to her ears. "You aren't going to get a straight answer from your sweetheart. He may be a genius, but only in what he knows."
"I…I would like to know." she replied. Remembering that her last attempt to talk to him was cut short by Erick, and that the boy had no recollection of what she said to the Darkside.
"I can make arrangements for that. Part of the reason your sweetheart won't go to sleep near you is because, if he's making contact with you while you're both asleep, I can talk to you with free reign without his presence in the mindscape…assuming I just don't feel like torturing both of you together. But, for this instance…I'm willing to make an exception for you princess."
"And what do I need to do for you?" she asked. Her question was met with some cackling.
"Oh? You're serious?" Dark Erick hissed. "We'll get back to that, just get him to go to sleep without the knowledge I've talked to you. I don't know when he'll-" The voice was cut off as Weiss felt her fiance's arm move.
Her icy blue eyes were still locked with him, and she blinked momentarily into the boy's nervous look. Quickly she spoke, remembering what Erick had last said.
"I see…so you don't have much…" She said, "Do…do the Smash Brothers know?"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure they do," Erick replied, looking relieved from her response and lack of recoil from pain. "Such news would've been revealed to them before even me or Sarah if Moon was the sole discoverer."
She simply nodded her head, making her eyes twinkle in a way she'd seen fluster him before. "Well…if that's it…could you just humor me and go to sleep? I know you haven't been sleeping at the table. You'll need sleep, if our wedding charity event is a disaster, father will throw both of us out…or worse…just you."
That seemed to do the trick as Erick's eyes twitched at the thought, she assumed his darkside had seized the opportunity to try and coerce him as well.
After a moment, her soon to be husband simply nodded his head. "You…you're right." He pushed his chair up as Weiss simply smiled to herself. She followed him over to her bed as the two laid down.
Weiss was initially concerned it'd take him longer to pass out, or maybe assumed he'd be waiting to listen for her to drift away. However, he did eventually pass out as she heard his quiet breath. Remembering how it worked, she simply turned over to his side and wrapped her own arm around him before drifting herself to sleep.
She eventually blinked her way into the voided landscape, with no sign of Erick she simply sighed in relief, but her relief was short lived as the flash of black light made her flinch as Erick's darkside appeared in front of her.
She'd think she'd be used to the idea, but Erick's evil looking bloody red eyes just gave her a few goosebumps. Especially when the darkside just seemed to observe her as its head looked up and down at her. As she shuffled a little, she realized she was wearing the dress Erick had seen her in the past few days instead of her nightgown.
She simply sighed and snapped her finger as the darkside's head snapped to her. "So, what exactly do I need to do for you to get the information you say Erick doesn't know? Do you want to do some magic nonsense to give me a darkside?"
Dark Erick simply chuckled as he floated over to her. Weiss simply retracted her hands as he stopped in front of her.
"I guess it wasn't really obvious," the darkside hissed at her. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to know that you essentially will never need to do anything for me now that you're stuck with my host here for the rest of your miserable existence."
"But…do you not want another?" Weiss tilted her head. "You and your allies created four didn't you? One is dead…wouldn't it stand to reason you, Pokey, Rhea…and…Salem…would want one more as a replacement?"
Erick's darkside seemed to ponder the thought for a moment before simply shaking his head. "I guess it was never made explicitly clear to you…but I'm not some magical manifestation of your host's dark and evil thoughts. I'm Giygas, a separate soul from a separate entity infused into your host, and his friends that make them my children. I may not view myself as Giygas, but I am still Giygas nonetheless."
"So…you can't make a dark version of me…because one doesn't exist?" Weiss asked.
"Oh, one exists within you…" Dark Erick replied. Seeing her very doubtful look the darkside simply waved his hand as a bit of glowing light developed into another model of her.
It looked basically the same as her in terms of body, except that she lacked a scar on her left eye, and wore her ponytail center with paler skin.
Her outfit was the most different. She wore an Atlas Military uniform similar to Winter, that consisted of a skin-fitted short sleeveless white dress that fastened on the right side, with a hexagonal cut out on the bust alongside several black straps. She had a white short cape that was attached to the dress. She also wore a gray mesh top underneath that had a black snowflake styled design visible through the dress' cutout and the mesh sleeves that were mostly covered with white sleeves that had a black strap on the trim. She also sported a flowing white trench coat cape decorated with various black thorn-like and snowflake designs which she wore draped over her shoulders, light gray tights, and white high-heel pumps. In addition, she carried around sky blue sunglasses and wore a white kepi with black visor on her head.
"Pretty neat, eh?" Dark Erick asked, giving her a sneery smile as she looked at the model in awe. "Though, I must admit, I still think you'd be much hotter if you looked as you do now, but with my color scheme."
Weiss simply rolled her eyes, as did her other appearance. When she took note and looked puzzled, she then asked. "So…what is this?"
"This, princess," Dark Erick floated and placed an arm around her, which started a small tingly feeling in her body. "Is your nightmare side, or, what inspired me to and Salem to try and create the darksides."
When Weiss blinked again in confusion, the darkside continued.
"You see, back when I, Pokey, and Seiros first came across your world, princess. We were entranced by the Grimm, such vicious looking creatures that your people feared. With no living soul, heart, or brain. All they know is they must hunt human fear to survive and feed."
"I can see why…" Weiss deadpanned. "I'd imagine it was quite hard for you all to find people actually willing to fight for you…I assume this Salem is some type of intelligent Grimm Queen?"
"Oh she's a bit more than that…" Dark Erick hissed. "But it's not my job to reveal that to you…and don't demand that of me too, you may have authority over me, but it gets overruled if what I'd tell you could put you in danger. Since you need to actually be sane before you and my host marry, it's not something I'm revealing to you…don't need you having an existential crisis about Salem on the altar now."
"So…what exactly did Salem show you to give you this…idea?" Weiss asked.
"There exists a rare type of Grimm called Nightmare Grimm." Dark Erick replied as his eyes flashed red. "You won't find any books on them in your academies, because of what they do."
A Grimm so absolutely terrifying that they wouldn't even teach hunters of any year about? Surely he had to be yanking her leg.
"Nightmare Grimm are possession Grimm." Dark Erick continued. "They latch onto those with high emotions and aura and cascade them into a coma."
Alright, now this was getting into video game levels of lunacy. "And, let me guess," Weiss replied. "That coma is a nightmare that the victim cannot wake from until they're aura is fully drained and then they are subsequently killed?"
"You catch on fast, but not quite." Dark Erick replied. "In your eternal dream state, you take the form of your nightmare. In your case, you'd look like this." He motioned his hand towards the model of her that stood in front of them. "The negative traits of your personality, the desires you choose to not act on, the flaws you think you have. Those are what make up the world of your negative dream. The people you know are the more physical embodiment of your beliefs, the worst thing you see them as. For example…"
Weiss watched as a model of Blake developed next to her. Only, to her shock, her cat Faunus teammate was dressed more in line with Adam, having the Grimm mask of a normal white fang leader, and slim attire showing high authority within the White Fang.
"Now, I know you don't see your little teammate here as a member of the White Fang anymore." Dark Erick continued as he floated over to her other side. "However, it doesn't change the fact that, until you were convinced otherwise, this was your lowest opinion about her. As such, the Nightmare Grimm would feed on that, but instead of haunting and scaring you, in your negative version, you simply see them as their true self."
Dark Erick then waved his shadowy hand as the two negative versions disappeared. "When Salem told us about the Nightmare Grimm, Pokey suggested an idea to her. What if we tried to merge the negative form one obtained from their Nightmare Grimm with a human's actual soul, and have them work for us like a mindless little puppet."
"We did a few experiments on humans…of course…and, while we were typically successful in merging the soul…we had an issue of them simply acting like a Grimm. Which wasn't exactly what we were looking for."
"But you did get the idea to split your soul then…" Weiss replied. "And fuse it with people to make your own little cult. But you didn't just want…anyone…you wanted it to be your mortal enemies. Which was Moon, Sarah, and Erick."
"You really catch on quickly." Dark Erick hissed. "If I may be honest, I only tricked you into this HeartBound in the hopes that it'd put both your friends and my children on edge with one another. However, looking into those lovely icy eyes of yours…I can tell I succeeded in my goal. When I eventually gain permanent control of your lover and get my true body back…maybe I will infuse part of my soul into you. I'll have to keep you in check otherwise."
"You talk like you've already won…yet your results seem to be lacking." Weiss replied.
Dark Erick simply cackled coldly as he grabbed her arm and yanked her close to him. The red eyes hidden behind the glasses flashed a very out of character menacing smile.
"Even if all my allies, from Pokey, to Seiros, to Salem, fail. It won't change the fact that my soul remains forever a part of the person you're stuck too for eternity. Even if I never do gain control of Erick's body, you'll still be stuck by his side. Because I am permanent…without me…Moon, Sarah, and Erick die…and if Erick dies…well…you'll be in for a very miserable few days as the pain of the HeartBound slowly eats away at your entire body until you're nothing but a shriveled up corpse. With nothing your friends or family could do to stop it. Welcome to your new life in hell princess, you only have yourself to blame. Because like it or not…I always come back!"
Still shivering from the acidic grip Dark Erick held, she eventually found the courage to kick at the darkside with her heel, which caused him to recoil back, letting go of her arm. She blinked as Myrtenaster developed in her hand, which she wasted no time pointing at the dark side.
"If you expect me to break down, cry, and beg for you like a little girl who can't accept the consequences of her actions. You won't find it here." She replied, narrowing her eyes. "I had an idea of how dangerous you were, and I knew Moon and Sarah would never want you out, and I still chose to force you out of Erick anyway."
Despite her rapier being one good move away from going through where a heart would be, Dark Erick still cackled evilly at her.
"You knew I was dangerous, you knew letting me out could've had bad consequences, but you didn't know letting me out would ruin your whole life. My host certainly knew, but he never warned you. Don't you think maybe-"
"Don't bring Erick into this." She replied angrily. "Even if he did warn me you'd want to try and trick me into this whole thing, I probably wouldn't have listened to him anyway. Because at that moment, I wanted to protect innocent people. It's not entirely on me, but I do intend to live with the consequences of my actions. It's what a true huntress would do."
Behind those shaded black glasses that just showed the Darkside's beady red eyes, she saw a glinty sparkle followed by a flashy smile. Dark Erick simply floated around her, and while her eyes trailed him, she didn't turn her head as he went behind her. Simply waiting as the darkside just floated back in front of her. With a weirdly satisfied look.
"I'll admit princess, you're very mature for someone of your status and age." The Darkside hissed at her. "Salem and I both knew the ancestors of your family long as they've lived…so believe me when I say, you'll be a difficult one to crack." When she didn't respond, he continued.
"Well princess, you're wrapped up in a conspiracy that dates back millenia's before your birth. But I encourage you to look forward to tomorrow, it's the start of a new, miserable, life for you."
Another month, another chapter, couple things to talk about, so I won't waste your time here.
Firstly, the Hegemon having some ties to the Grimm was an intended weakness. Since everyone has been beaten over the head with the idea that Giygas, Pokey, Seiros, and Salem would've designed Moon, Sarah, and Erick to be basically unstoppable to anyone, people logically would question the idea that the Darkside's, Giygas' own soul, would be weak to the Silver Eyes.
I'm well aware that most of you who found my story through RWBY likely only know EarthBound as that one game the two annoying kids from Smash Bros are from. So you may not be entirely familiar with how Giygas is defeated. To oversimplify, he's defeated by love. He's essentially unkillable otherwise. So while the darkside's may make the Grimm unable to track Team MESS believing them to be one of them. They aren't weak to the silver eyes. It's why I made it clear that Salem wanted that tested immediately after their experiment went through to clarify why she'd be angry about a sudden thorn from her own world being a problem.
Next, I want to touch more on Yang and Blake, while they are going to be looking for Raven together, I am going to just kind of skip over that training she does with her father for the Robot Arm Ironwood gave to her. Frankly, due to reason's you've probably guessed from my portrayal of Adam and how I've written Yang after losing the arm. You've probably picked up on the fact that she won't have much trauma from this moment. I know some people might draw criticism to that decision, but frankly, since the show kind of just forgot after a while, I can't see why anyone would be mad.
I also caught wind that someone didn't like the idea of Illia being Adam's sort of second in command who's working with him on the mainland rather than the Faunus Island. And while I have said I wouldn't really touch on side characters I deemed unnecessary, not giving the White Fang grunt who'd be doing spy work for Adam a name just felt wrong to me. Since the show already had a chameleon Faunus, I just figured I'd use her instead.
Frankly, it's not like the show did much I'd be using in this story with Illia anyway, and repurposing her for a more minor role, even if temporarily and unimportant to the story I want to tell with Adam, finding something for her was far easier than the other teams we met at Beacon.
Lastly, I did see some speculation that I'd tie the Darkside's to the Nightmare Grimm of RWBY Ice Queendom. Someone specifically asked if Weiss herself would get a dark side simply to bounce of Erick's darkside, even directly saying I had an easy design in the show using her Nightmare design from Ice Queendom.
I just want to say, that's a very cute idea, and, as Dark Erick acknowledged to Weiss, if the dark sides weren't directly souls to Giygas, I likely would've. However, you did give me a cute idea that was the basis for the conversation Weiss had with Dark Erick this chapter.
I did assume I had made it clear off their first interaction on the train that Dark Erick wasn't after Weiss for any ulterior motive to the cause of Salem. It was specifically just to fuck with Team MESS and RWBY.
The Dark Sides, while birthed from the soul of Giygas, don't actually view themselves as Giygas, they view themselves as their hosts. They share his memories and stuff, but they don't view themselves as Giygas. So, in a weird, fucked up sense, you could say that Erick's darkside has genuine romantic interest in Weiss. Much like Moon and Sarah's darksides have in each other.
It's why I have the darksides use those cringey pet names, like Dark Erick calling Weiss princess, Or Dark Moon calling Sarah sweetheart, or Dark Sarah calling Moon darling. It's like a double-edged sword that gets under their skin, so in Weiss' case, she isn't just marrying Erick, she's marrying his darkside as well.
Speaking of marriage, the wedding charity event is next chapter! I hope you all are excited for it! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know! I'll always respond to them!
See you all, Next time!