When the general call to retreat had been disseminated across the disparate search parties, everyone else had assumed it was another party that had found the missing "errand boy" as Vincent had come to be known across Beacon Academy. That the automated messages with the allotted school credits had been successfully distributed amongst the participants, meant no-one felt the need to dig any deeper since the check Ozpin wrote hadn't bounced. While there had been a brace of Bullheads seen overhead flying into the very heart of the Emerald Forest, well past where Beacon's vetting process well and truly ended, everyone assumed it was to rescue whatever party had actually found the target.
It wasn't until medevac and bodies started returning to Beacon that anyone began to truly realize "something" had happened.
Since no-one had a semblance that allowed for communion with the dead, and the wounded were in no shape to host water cooler parties, the only ones to interview were the Hunters that had hauled ass back to Beacon on foot from whatever it was that'd killed so many, the "Deputy Headmistress" Glynda Goodwitch, and the Headmaster himself. That he had come back covered in blood, cuts, and bruises meant whatever ancient horror had been waiting for them in there, had been quite the monster.
Of course, in descending order of importance, Ozpin was unavailable for comment as he tended to the wounded and then vanished entirely into his clocktower, as was Glynda who hadn't left the side of her "child" who came back practically dead. As for the Hunters that finally returned to Beacon, they'd been scared as bone-pale as a Beowolf's face, and their mutterings were largely unintelligible. Nonsense about "Demons" and "Monster Trees" and "Revival Magic" and somesuch.
Then again, none of the above was truly of any concern for Blake Belladonna. Her only focus was on the young man she'd developed unresolved feelings towards. And maybe it was the awkward send-off that Weiss had given Jack, but she couldn't get the idea out of her head that the last time she really saw Vincent would be "the last time".
Of course, just because Blake had come out of the Emerald Forest empty-handed, didn't mean everyone on her Team felt the same.
*NEW WORLD*
"I can't believe you kept that thing…" Weiss deadpanned as they walked towards the campus hospital.
"What was I supposed to do? Leave it completely defenseless?" Yang asked back as she protectively cradled an egg larger than an ostrich's to her stomach; it was yellow in color, accentuated by all-natural orange and red flame-like patterns. All in all, it looked quite fantastical.
"Well, that aside, that must've come out of one big butt," Ruby hummed aloud.
"Technically, eggs don't come out of a bird's butt, they come out of their-"
"NERRRRRRRD!" the heiress was cut off by Yang's heckling.
"Being knowledgeable about ornithology does not make me a 'nerd'!" Weiss pouted heatedly.
Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Blake could only roll her eyes at the byplay, remembering how Yang had become a teenage mother.
On the way back to Beacon, Team RWBY had happened upon a bunch of Grimm harassing a large nest up a tree. When the egg fell, it was Yang who shot herself off with Ember Celica while Ruby covered her, the busty brawler catching the thing before it could make the world's biggest omelet. And because whatever had kicked up such a ruckus deeper into the forest had set the Grimm into a frenzy, they couldn't very well put the thing back, so before they even realized what had happened, they returned to Beacon with one more than they had departed.
"What's even in that thing, anyway?" Weiss asked aloud.
If Ruby could bring back a "stray", and she and Jack could bring in robotic hired help after aforementioned stray brought home an entire Chocobo, she supposed it was only fair Yang could keep the darned thing.
Hopefully it didn't smell.
"Obviously, it's a dragon, and I'm gonna hatch it; and then, I'm gonna ride it!" Yang grinned.
"How do you know it isn't just a Chocobo egg?" Weiss blinked.
"Yeah, aren't they the size of a ping pong ball when they hatch?" Ruby continued.
"I really hope Jack's having an easier time of things than me," Blake sighed as she continued on.
Spoiler Warning: He was not.
*NEW WORLD*
After much shenanigans, Team RWBY finally arrived at the hospital, brows quirking as they encountered a familiar head of green hair waiting outside for them.
"Chachamaru?" Weiss blinked.
"Ms. Schnee," the gynoid bowed slightly.
"Where's Codsworth?"
"He is tending the garden," the greenette maid replied.
"Okay then… Why are you out here?"
"They will not let 'robots' inside unsupervised," the gynoid answered with 'air bunnies', and while her look was largely deadpan, even Ruby could tell she was upset by that.
"Well, you aren't unsupervised now!" Yang grinned as she looped an arm around the gynoid's elbow. "Come on, let's go visit that boy you're sweet on!"
Blake bristled a little off to the side, but said little else to that effect.
*NEW WORLD*
"Geez, whatever was in the woods out there gave them a hell of a thrashing…" Yang hummed as they made their way through the hospital, finding doctors scurrying around, moving people around on gurneys, or finding those with less-critical injuries waiting on treatment. Doctors and nurses were being dispatched this way and that over the PA system, and overall there was an energy in the air that left the girls feeling very uncomfortable with what this much activity in a hospital represented.
"I mean, this is a dangerous line of work…" Weiss admitted as she drank everything in.
Back home, the press was rarely allowed near the infirmary on active military bases. After large-scale incidents, efforts to keep the press away from the injured were even more stringent. And while it didn't behoove the Council to let negativity fester by allowing people to see their guardians in an injured state, at the same time, pretending their "Boys in White" were all invulnerable heroes couldn't be healthy for society in the long-term.
"I still can't believe waving our Student IDs let us get this far in…" Ruby hummed, feeling a bit awkward for snubbing the harried front desk lady.
"I mean, we are HITs, we do have the right to be here," Yang rationalized. "So where are we going?"
"What? I thought you knew!" Weiss gasped.
"And I was following her," Yang said facing Chachamaru.
"No, you were leading me in by the elbow, so I was following your lead," the robot maid replied with a straight face.
"Oh crapbaskets, it's like the county fair all over again…" Ruby wilted.
*NEW WORLD*
After a few more minutes of making fools of themselves, Weiss returned to the front desk and inquired, conciliatorily, where Vincent was being treated. In addition to being told which room he was being kept in, Team RWBY was also made aware that while he was "uninjured", he wasn't necessarily "unharmed".
Before Weiss could inquire further, Blake had already run off into the ICU, forcing the rest of the heiress' team after her.
Compared to the rest of the hospital, the intensive care unit was far calmer, given everyone here had already had their wounds tended to.
What was not calming about the normally-tranquil, if not somewhat mentally exhausting place, was the presence of the enormous spider-like woman attempting to make her way through a door too-small for her, her enormous arthropod-like hindquarters eating up a great deal of hallway real estate.
"Hi there!" Ruby greeted, wholly unconcerned by something that made Weiss' neck-hairs stand on end.
"Hm? Oh, hey," the giant spider-like woman waved lazily over her shoulder. "If you're here for Vee, you might wanna wait a minute."
"Why?"
"Goodwitch's still grilling his roommates."
"ROOMMATES?!" Blake hissed before running over for the door.
*NEW WORLD*
"Look, lady, I don't know how many times I have to tell you this before it gets through to that thick head of yours!" the belly dancer who transformed into a bird person growled irritably as Blake stood in the doorway. "After he freed me from servitude, Vincent said I could stay in his room with him until I decided what I wanted to do with my life. Asking me over and over again won't change my answer!"
"I'm just there for the sardines and free belly rubs~" the witch-like girl with the pumpkins said as she took off her had to groom her ears, her long tail swishing behind her.
'Wait a second… It's that cat-girl I saw in the NUDE!' Blake cried out to herself as the epiphany suddenly struck her.
On the one hand, she was happy she wasn't in the process of losing her mind, but on the other…!
"Yeah, sure, just ignore me, why don't ya. Not like I want to get in there or anything," the giant Spider Faunus huffed brusquely over Blake's shoulder as she drummed her claws on the doorframe.
"Glynda! Is your baby boy okay?" Yang grinned poking in her head, only for the tension in the room to wash over her. As did Glynda's stink-eye glare. "Oof. Tough crowd."
"Ms. Goodwitch, apologies for the intrusion," Weiss announced, feeling like the only one with a shred of manners.
" . . . I'm just trying to wrap my head around this… Shantae… When did Vincent free you from this… 'servitude'?" the deputy headmistress inquired.
"The last time he went into town," the now-named 'Shantae' sighed in an exhausted tone. "And anyway, I've got just as much right to be here as you do!"
"Debatable," Glynda huffed, not liking the look of the girl and how she was apparently cohabitating with her child; who apparently never saw fit to tell her about said cohabitation
"Ahem. If you all wouldn't mind, I'd like to get a look at the patient."
"EYAAAAUGH!" Ruby squealed as Dr. Stein made his presence known, Marie trailing in behind him as everyone parted in the man's wake like he had the plague.
"Doctor Stein, Marie, how are Peter and Bartholomew doing?" Glynda inquired.
"Peter's through the absolute worst of it, though if he'll ever be able to fight at full power ever again is… debatable. Honestly, he'll probably have to retire to a teaching position full-time and get by with a cane," Marie answered somberly. "Bartholomew is significantly better, though his seeming addiction to caffeine seems to be of a… more immediate concern."
"Why? What happened to Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck?" Weiss inquired.
"Let's just say it'll be a while before Port is able to take visitors," Marie answered. "Oobleck is in a full-body cast, but he's so hopped-up on painkillers he's barely lucid."
"Just what happened out there?" Ruby asked worriedly.
"None of your concern," Doctor Stein waved off. "Now… Let's see what I'm working with here."
The mad doctor took a knee next to the futon Vincent was lying on; something that had confused Blake and the others significantly. The man opening up the teen's eyelids and shining a light into them, while his indigo-colored eye remained wholly unresponsive, when his crimson eye was opened, Blake and the others realized it had completely clouded over, pupil and all.
"Hmmmmmmmm… Not good, not good at all."
"Doctor Stein, Marie," Gylnda greeted with a strained tone as they all gave room for Dr. Stein to work. "Anything you'd like to share now that you have a free moment?"
"Well, as for my prognosis," the bolt-headed doctor said as he reached into his coat and pulled out an apple. "This, is a Human soul."
"Noooo. That's an apple~" Yang quipped like she were talking to a stupid person.
" . . . "
*NEW WORLD*
From her position outside, Rachnera could only wince as the busty blond was electrocuted by Doctor Stein's Soul Menace, the room flickering like a triggered bug-zapper.
*NEW WORLD*
"As, I, was, saying," Dr. Stein said composing himself while Yang spasmed, her face buried into the corner of the patient's futon while Ruby panted at having just-recovered her 'dragon egg' from the fall. "This, is a Human soul. Or rather, what a soul should look like," he said gesticulating to the apple before ripping a chunk out of it with his bare hand. "This, is what it looks like right now. Had his soul then-already been 'insulated' by an activated Aura, the damage would've been far less severe."
"Would activating his Aura now help?" Ruby inquired.
"No. In all likelihood, activating the Aura of a damaged soul would kill him immediately," Marie stated, causing the little red-head to wince. "Like lighting a torch made of paper mâché."
"I see, I see," she hummed rubbing her chin in a way that Yang would've found adorable if she were even remotely lucid. "Follow-up question."
"Yes, Ruby?"
"How come he's on a futon instead of an actual hospital bed?"
"Yeah, is it some 'new age' thing?" Shantae inquired with a tilt of her head.
"Tell me… How much do you think he weighs right now?" Dr. Stein offered.
"One-sixty, one-seventy?" Blair offered in turn.
"Two-thousand and fifty pounds," he replied, Yang suddenly shooting up and blurting out-
"Are you saying Blake's a chubby-chaser?!"
-with absolutely zero filter, the raven-haired girl blushing to the tips of her ears at the implication.
"Um… Are you sure your scale wasn't just busted?" Weiss offered in alternative.
"Try lifting his hand," the doctor gestured, Weiss walking over and taking a knee at the teen's side before wrapping a hand around his wrist. With a grunt of effort, Weiss attempted to rise, only for his limb to remain where it was. Planting both feet, the heiress was able to get it to budge, but let out a gasp as she fell back.
"What the hell…?! It's like trying to lift a car!" she gasped in shock, Yang going over and taking his hand with her own, a similar grunt of exertion allowing her to raise his hand above his bedside, before letting it drop to the floor with a *thud*.
"Okay I've hit some heavy guys before, but this… This, takes the cake."
"How can he get so-heavy without getting so fat?" Ruby questioned.
"I believe I can answer that."
"Mr. Trussardi?" Weiss blinked as the familiar chef came into the room, brow beaded with sweat, but otherwise immaculate. "I take it you've been preparing your Revitalizing Cooking for everyone that got hurt today?"
"Yes, which is why I was consulted when Vincent's disproportionate weight was taken note of," the man answered. "Tell me, how much do you know about Gourmet Cells?"
"Jack told us about them. Gave us a bit of a preachy lecture, actually," Blake answered. "Does this have something to do with Appetite Energy?"
"That, exactly. You see, there is a secret technique among those who practice Food Honor, something to which I am versed in to some degree," Tonio began. "Master Chin of the Shokurin Temple, describes Food Immersion, or' Food's End', as 'when one respects and appreciates the food they have eaten, even after it enters the body and becomes part of their flesh and blood'. The Ingredients absorbed by the body are themselves thankful for being eaten, and pour all the nutrients they have into one's body almost limitlessly. This in turn causes the user to gain an increment in his weight without getting fat, resulting in a surplus of available caloric energy."
"Okay, so the thing about nutrients, it sounds like he's simply more energy-efficient in terms of energy expenditure and storage; but the other half makes the food sound like it's… alive…" Weiss hummed skeptically.
"People believe in far stranger things, and yet the evidence of Food Immersion is right here before you," Tonio said gesturing to the body.
"So then he's… some kind of Buddha?" Shantae inquired thoughtfully.
"Just the opposite, actually. The 'desire for nothingness' and 'gratitude' are-in-fact, mutually exclusive to one another. And though 'Acacism' -the vernacular for the 'Gourmet Religion' that 'Gourmet God' Acacia inspired- in of itself can grant tangible forms of 'enlightenment', obviously, those of the Buddhist faith consider such practices a heresy. Though then again, what religion out there doesn't consider everything else abhorrent?"
"Is that why there's no IV?" Ruby questioned, noticing it was only him on a futon with a heart monitor and breathing mask, but no other equipment.
"That, exactly," Dr. Stein nodded. "Still…" he hummed bringing his hand to his chin. "Food Immersion is the epitome of Food Honor, the sect's 'Ultimate Technique', if you will. For him to be a practitioner, despite being so young, is quite phenomenal. His ability to learn new techniques must be incredibly frightening."
Blake thought so too, until she remembered "at what cost".
" . . . Does Food Honor grant the user superhuman ability, by any chance?" she inquired after a moment. "I kind of glossed over this when we first met, but when he prepared ramen for me the night we met, he did so… stupidly fast."
"It does, in fact," Tonio answered. "While using Food Honor, the body will auto-correct its movements, removing all actions deemed 'unnecessary' and increase concentration. Not only does this allow for more-efficient use of calories, granting greater stamina, speed, and power-"
At this, Yang nudged Blake with her elbow, the closet Faunus girl slapping the offending limb away with a blush while the blond waggled her eyebrows.
"-, but it also increases the delicacy of their movements, and it allows chefs to handle Ingredients so carefully, that the Ingredients themselves are unaware that they have been handled at all."
"In what way?" Ruby asked.
"Hmmm… Have any of you eaten Puffer Whale, by any chance?" he asked.
Though his eyes had invariably fallen on Weiss, he was at-the-least trying to be polite about it .
"I have. My father took me with him to one of the highest-ranked sushi restaurants in Atlas, because a man he was trying to close a deal with was a fan of my music," Weiss answered, remembering how much her father had been able to squeeze out of the man by merit of her presence alone. "When a Puffer Whale is improperly handled, its body turns a dotted dark purple, making it illegal to serve because of the 99.99% fatality rate. When the poison sack is successfully removed however, its body turns into a bright golden color; the mark of a master chef, as the chances of removing the poison sack without breaking it is only about 0.1%."
"Hold up," Yang interrupted. "If the chance of successfully removing the poison sack is so-low, why do people still buy the stuff?" she asked, assuming 'one of the highest-ranked sushi restaurants in Atlas' came with an equally-exclusive price tag.
"Because even when poisoned, the actual taste of the Puffer Whale remains unchanged. Puffer Whale Sashimi is described as being so delicious that it has an endless deliciousness factor, with an enormous taste and an endless bliss that remains even after consuming the meat," Blake explained with an enthused gleam in her eye. "A whole Puffer Whale with the poison sack intact nets a value of around 100,000,000 yen, a whole Puffer Whale with the poison sack removed a value of 300,000,000 yen, while the whole Puffer Whale in its poisoned state, still nets a price of 8,000,000 yen, although only on the black market."
"Yow! That much?!" Yang gawped. "Man, I am in the wrong line of work…"
"But what does some fancy fish have to do with Food Honor?" Ruby inquired as she finally passed the giant egg back over.
"Well, imagine Vincent were preparing Puffer Whale, only upon successful completion, there was a time delay between the flesh turning gold, he could turn it into a lovely sashimi platter while it was still alive, and it remained completely unaware the entire time," Tonio answered, Weiss' eyes going wide with shock. "Not only this, but adequate proficiency in Food Honor also raises the success rate far above the conventional 0.1% threshold. In fact, any restaurant that serves Puffer Whale will spare no expense in versing their sushi chefs in Food Honor, due to how-profitable it is to have a chef on retainer with superhuman speed and dexterity."
"So then…" Ruby hummed. "If a surgeon were able to use Food Honor, they could open somebody up, take out their appendix, and stitch them back up all without them ever realizing?"
"On paper, yes. In practice, no," Tonio replied with a head-shake. "Because the foundation of Food Honor is the 'expression of gratitude', unless one is a cannibal, it's almost completely impossible to use Food Honor while operating on a Human or Faunus," he elaborated. "Allegedly, Atashino of the IGO can do so, but that's largely an unsubstantiated rumor."
"Oh…" Ruby hummed. "Sooo… thanks to this Food Honor stuff, he won't need to eat anything for a long time?"
"In theory, yes, though because of the damage to his Soul, his body may start to deteriorate regardless of his current caloric stockpile," Tonio answered before his watch went off. "Break's over. I'll see you all soon."
"So… what can be done for him then?" Blake asked as the Revitalizing Chef departed.
"There's only one thing that can be done…" Dr. Stein said cracking his neck. "We'll need to perform a Soul Graft."
"So like, a Skin Graft… but with souls?" Yang blinked, before she and the others realized its significance.
"In essence," the man shrugged. "Since we don't have to worry about pathogens, we don't even need to move him to a clean room, though the operation will require multiple donors. Using only one would not only kill any singular donor, but it'd run the risk of permanently 'tainting' the recipient's personality. We also can't use complete strangers for this, because his 'heart' would reject them."
"His 'heart', as in the metaphorical kind?" Weiss asked.
"In as such," Marie stated. "Though really, in this case, 'heart' is just another form of vernacular for 'soul'."
"You know, Plasmology would make a lot more sense if there weren't so many damn metaphors…" the blond grumbled.
Sure, apart from the wacky professor who almost dissected her sister, the coursework was easy, but all the quizzes were fill-in-the-blank; there was never any multiple choice. It was almost like taking a Philosophy minor, according to her uncle who used it to pick up chicks…
"If we could get back to the point," Glynda cut in. "I'll do it. If I'd activated his Aura as soon as he arrived at Beacon…"
"Why didn't you?" Ruby asked, assuming that almost everyone coming to Beacon would've had their Aura activated by then.
" . . . I didn't want him putting his life in danger just because his Aura gives him a 'green card'. Too many civilians who get their Aura activated by careless Hunters thinking they're doing someone a favor, almost immediately get themselves killed thinking their 'force field' makes them invincible, superhuman warriors," she answered. "I wanted him to recover his faculties in safety… but I guess trouble found him anyway…"
"Your Soul Wavelengths are compatible," Dr. Stein said as he appraised Glynda's soul, the woman rubbing her arms as a chill went up her spine. "I'll put out a notice, though it may be difficult to find enough donors willing to literally give a piece of their Souls to him."
"Why would it be difficult?" Blake questioned.
"Because becoming a recipient of a Soul Graft will permanently alter his Soul Wavelength, creating a connection bordering physical intimacy between him and the donor, which more often than not requires a level of commitment most aren't willing to submit to," the man answered. "If you want to talk philosophically, it's the same as becoming a 'soulmate', like Ruby and Arthur are."
At this, Ruby blushed cutely.
"Only in this case it's far more tangible."
"In what way?" Glynda asked, a little worried.
"On the upside, the forced 'tuning' of his Soul Wavelength would allow the donors increased ease of performing Soul Resonance with the recipient and vice versa, though as a consequence, the donors would experience a proportional difficulty performing that same Soul Resonance with anyone else," Dr. Stein began. "The major downside, at least as far as the donor is concerned, is that in close-enough proximity, the 'quantum entanglement' would essentially allow him to 'think your thoughts', 'feel your feelings'. You would become largely incapable of truly concealing anything from him if he got the idea into his head to inquire anything specific, as your thoughts would essentially 'bleed into' him through the piece of your Soul grafted onto his own. Like water-based paint spreading from one piece of paper to another."
"So then he'd… basically have a 'back door' to all your darkest secrets?" Blake asked worriedly, it beginning to dawn on her just what it would mean if she literally 'gave her soul' to him.
"Well, I can see how this level of intimacy might be intimidating to most," Weiss hummed, recalling how… close she felt to Jack just in the attempt of performing Soul Resonance. "To have that kind of connection on a permanent basis…"
"Why, what's the worst that can happen? Vincent finding out what kind of porn Blake likes?" Yang asked throwing a hand over her partner's shoulder.
'That isn't what I want to hide from him!' Blake thought in a panic, a part of her doubting he'd ever look at her 'the same way' were he to find out she were an ex-terrorist. Sure, she did what she did as part of the White Fang for a good cause… But then again so did every other villain throughout history…
"OH! It's like breakfast!" Yang suddenly blurted out.
"Hey Stein, I think you fried one too many brain cells," Rachnera snarked from the doorway.
"No, no, see, I think I get what he's talking about!" Yang said hyping herself up now that some of the Plasmology lectures began to make sense. "Soul Resonance is like steak and eggs; you can lay the eggs on top of the steak, but then you can slide it off again. Soul Grafting on the other hand is like making an omelet; you can still separate the steak from the egg, but the egg won't be in very good shape afterward."
"Please don't compare my master to food," Shantae pouted, Blake and Glynda shooting the girl heated looks before the latter composed herself and stepped forward.
"Everyone already sees us as mother and child…" Glynda admitted, a little embarrassed, if not resigned to the fact. "Might as well make it official," she conceded. "As for him having a backdoor into my thoughts… I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. His welfare is too important to leave to anyone else."
"Well, there's one donor out of the way. Any other takers in this room, or should I start penning that notice?" Stein questioned.
"I will!" Shantae announced eagerly.
"You will?!" Blake gawped.
"Of course I will, he is my master!" she nodded energetically. "My heart and soul… Those already belong to him…~" she said demurely as a blush came to her cheeks, her knife-like ears flicking.
"I'm sorry, how -exactly did you come to that conclusion?" Weiss asked, a little intimidated by the sheer… devotion washing off the scantily-clad girl.
As someone who was used to seeing loyalty-through-fear or loyalty-for-pay all her life, the expression of such devotion was a little unnerving.
"He… He gave me my freedom," she said with a beatific smile, Weiss, Blake, and Yang's shoulders noticeably stiffening at the proclamation while Glynda reassessed the girl before her. "Before I met him, every other master I had just… bossed me around, made me do all sorts of humiliating, demeaning things. But Vincent… he set me free. Made my life my own for the first time in… in a long time."
"And this happened the last time he was in town?" Yang blinked, figuring it lined up with their 'epic loot party'.
"Yes, it did," Shantae nodded.
"Huh. Sounds like we just missed out on all the fun, then," the blond pouted, her mind immediately filling in the vagueness of Shantae's origin story with images of Vincent crashing a modern-day slave auction like something from a darker manga on the way to taking his then-new oil lamp back to Beacon.
"Aw what the hell, I've got enough soul to go around," the witch-like cat offered.
"Yeah, no, don't mind me. I'll just wait out here. Alone," Rachnera said brusquely from the doorway.
"And what exactly is your relationship to him?" Glynda asked turning her attention to Blair.
"Oh, he feeds me sardines, gives me belly rubs, and lets me sit on his face~"
"Say what?!" Blake and Glynda cried in shock, the others save Ruby looking almost equally scandalized.
"Blair…" Dr. Stein sighed as he spun a cigarette in his hand. "I think they're misconstruing something. It'd help if you stopped leading them on."
" . . . Oh fine. Party pooper."
The next moment there was a puff of pink-colored smoke. When it cleared, in Blair's place was a familiar purple-haired cat with a long curly tail, an appropriately-sized witch's hat atop her head, silver bauble dangling from her neck.
"Holy cats! You can turn into a… a… a cat!" Ruby squawked.
"It's actually the other way around~ I'm a cat who can turn into a person~" Blair said scratching the underside of her chin with her left hindleg.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" Glynda demanded, picking her up by the scruff of her neck and leering at her.
"She's actually telling the truth. Blair is more-or-less a first-generation Spirit Beast with a ridiculous amount of magical power," Stein spoke up.
"Hmmmmmm…" Yang hummed as she eyed Blair, then Vincent, and then imagined Blair in her humanoid form. "Hey, would it be wrong if she and Vincent-"
"Yang Xiao Long, don't you dare finish that sentence!" Glynda growled.
"And what of you? How do you know him? Why are you willing to give a part of yourself for him?" Dr. Stein asked turning to Rachnera, who everyone in the hallway shied away from.
" . . . He's my friend. Do I need any other reason?" she offered after a pregnant pause, posturing in an attempt to look intimidating, only for it to be undercut by the worry in her tone.
"No, I suppose not," Dr. Stein said as he appraised the three's souls.
Shantae's was the same bright red as her sheer harem pants, a happy expression on its anthropomorphized face and in the shape of an old oil lamp. Dangling from a dark-purple-bordering-black manacle was a large steel ball connected to it by two chains, the third broken in the middle with its ends floating about. With just a cursory glance, he was able to tell that Shantae was a happy sort of soul even in her present state of waning captivity, and that she had a deep care for those who were precious to her.
Blair's Soul was purple, capped by a witch's hat much like her physical body wore, a cat-like expression on its anthropomorphized face. Floating inside of it was a number 8, showing how-many "Lives" she had left after the first time she got "killed". As always, her soul was characterized by her playful and fun-lowing nature, and even though some of her friends had "left", part of him was happy to see that she was out and about making friends again.
Even if in all likelihood she was using her shapeshifting to mind-fuck people when Vincent wasn't looking.
Rachnera's Soul was dark lavender, its anthropomorphized face bearing six eyes and capped with a down-sized hairstyle matching that of her physical body. Protruding from it were eight black-colored spider legs, the rear of the soul bearing the same skull-like marking on Rachnera's abdomen, albeit much smaller. Most of her soul was characterized by her bad experiences with Humans and Faunus alike, largely cynical with a deep-rooted hate of dishonesty in any shape or form; something, which, Vincent's own soul was completely devoid of, even before the Relic Blade had ripped a less-than-healthily-sized chunk out of it.
Glynda's, last but not least, was colored a royal purple and sporting a matching cape, its anthropomorphized face bearing matching glasses. Stern and sharp, her soul was the epitome of a disciplined woman, though Vincent's presence in her life had become the 'salve' over the wounds that her past mistakes had wrought upon herself. Out of the four of them, Vincent's presence would do her soul the most amount of good.
Though their Soul Wavelengths were all wildly varied, they were still within acceptable parameters for Vincent Valentine's Soul Graft.
"Four willing Souls…" Dr. Stein hummed. "This should be plenty to work with, though a fifth as an 'understudy' would be appreciated for when I begin the procedure," he said pulling a silver scalpel from his coat. "Any takers?"
"I'll…" Blake said stepping forward. "I'll be the 'understudy' if four isn't enough."
"Hmmmmmm…" Dr. Stein hummed, Blake growing self-conscious as he eyed her soul.
A beautiful shade of black gradating to purple, her anthropomorphized soul complete with cat ears shared many qualities with Blair's, though was undoubtedly "human" in the same way that Humans were separated from their primate ancestors. Bearing a cool, reserved, and serious personality, nonetheless, her soul was a roiling cauldron of conflicting thoughts, worries, and emotions. At-the-moment, she was feeling "intimidated" by the women present who had literally laid their souls on the chopping block for Vincent's benefit.
Deeper down still, he could see she was hesitant to be part of the Soul Graft, and was only offering herself up because one part thought it was "expected of her" with so many witnesses around, the other because she really wanted to "give of herself" to someone again after whatever had prompted her to run away to Beacon in the first place.
"Well, all things considered, getting so many donors on such short notice was easier than I thought," Dr. Stein said twirling his scalpel in his fingers. "The sooner we get started, the sooner Vincent can regain his faculties. Everyone else, out."
"What, you don't want us to watch?" Yang asked.
"The fewer distractions, the better. One wrong move, and whoever I'm working on at the time will find themselves crippled in the next life."
" . . . Wait, does that mean there definitively is an afterli-"
"You three, out," Glynda ordered bringing out her riding crop, the three yelping as they were ushered from the room with a fit of [Telekinesis], leaving enough room for Rachnera to squeeze into the doorway, albeit sideways so she could get her arthropod-body through.
"Now, hmhmhmhmhmhm…~" Dr. Stein said as he closed the room's blackout curtains and dimmed the lights, Marie sitting on Vinent's right while Dr. Stein took position on his left. "Let's go practice medicine~"
*NEW WORLD*
"Well that was rude," Yang pouted after the door was slammed in their faces.
"I mean, they are about to perform surgery in there…" Ruby offered conciliatorily.
"Perhaps, though this does offer a rare opportunity to observe applied Plasmology," Weiss hummed as she stood before the thin window above the doorknob, Ruby cutely wriggling up beneath her chin and peeking her eyes above the sill while Yang rested her chin atop the heiress' head.
"Hey, hold on a second… Where's Chachamaru?" Ruby blinked after doing a quick headcount.
*NEW WORLD*
What Chachamaru had noticed through her travels whenever her master left the comfort of the citadel and traveled about in the open, was that by merit of being "a robot", she tended to fade into the backdrop almost instantly as soon as she stopped doing "human things" like talking or even moving. In general, people tended to pay her as much attention as a table or a chair whenever she wasn't doing "maid things".
With the exception of her mistress and Jack, the only other person to ever not act that way with her… was Vincent. Even though she was little more than a mechanical doll with what was essentially an artificial soul inside of her, he still treated her like any other Human or Faunus he encountered. Opening the door for her, initiating conversation, asking if she needed anything. He'd even once offered her a blanket one night before bed when he spied her sitting in the corner looking prim and proper.
Sure, he also treated Codsworth that way, but the Mr. Handy robot was designed to be personable; always moving his articulated limbs and bobbing in the air like a balloon, nattering like the hired help you'd find in any upscale residence.
Honestly, she'd become fairly comfortable living with him, so to learn what had become of him after-the-fact, it'd made her abandon her then-present duties in an attempt to ascertain his wellbeing once he'd been repatriated.
She hadn't been allowed in, as she'd said, and she honestly should've expected as such. But any facsimile of hurt she might've felt at the dismissal paled in comparison to seeing the one that'd allowed her into his abode laying so-lifelessly on that futon.
When Doctor Franken Stein asked for volunteers for the Soul Graft, she'd almost offered herself up, but abstained for two reasons.
The first, she wasn't "a real girl"; not in the way that mattered at that exact moment. The second, whatever measure of a Soul she did have, wasn't hers to offer out piecemeal; she was the property of her mistress, a hybrid of ancient Doll Magic and modern Robotics. One of many in fact, in service to the Dark Evangel.
As she watched Doctor Stein work, a part of her wondered, why was she here?
More specifically, why was she at Beacon?
Her mistress, among many things, was a woman of means even in the modern world. It would be a trifling matter for her to arrange lodging remotely for during the Vytal Festival Tournament; especially so-far in advance. And even if it was her intention to have Jack make those arrangements as some sort of test, or errand, why send her to deliver the message when an email would've worked just as well?
Given a lack of any overarching instructions beyond observing Jack and ensuring her own upkeep, with her temporary master departed from Beacon proper and the only other person she trusted to wind her key incapacitated, Chachamaru simply stood by and observed, mitigating her energy expenditure.
*NEW WORLD*
What Blake thusly witnessed from her place in the corner invoked the sort of hair-raising sensation one got using an Ouija Board in an area reputed for its supernatural activity.
While she had no way of seeing what Dr. Stein saw, down in her Soul, she knew that what she was present for, was something many would frown upon, a power that some would consider… "unnatural".
Marie's part in the operation was by and far one of the most-surreal things she'd ever seen. In a flash of light, the woman's body folded and twisted upon itself before snaking itself into Vincent's left hand, re-emerging as a large, octagonal tonfa with a thunder insignia on the end, a gold ring encircling the hammer near its tip and extending into the handle. A fit of yellow-colored sparks arcing off the weapon, moments later the dim room was suffused with a soft golden glow that spread across Vincent's body like a layer of gold dust, actually soothing her even though she wasn't on the chopping block.
Speaking of which, Vincent's "donors" formed an orderly line before Dr. Stein, starting with Glynda, Shantae and Blair following, with Rachnera at the end, and her sitting pretty in the corner as "understudy".
Glynda stepped forward so that Dr. Stein was between her and Vincent, before, with immaculate poise, she laid herself out on the linoleum tiles. It looked far from comfortable, but given what was at stake, it was obvious she would endure any small measure of discomfort for the sake of her adopted child.
The mad doctor taking a knee beside her prone form, he extended the scalpel in his hand toward her, a harrowing sight in of itself; doubly so when a flicker of eldritch energy danced across the blade and doubled its length before it vanished back into the aether.
Extending the reach of the blade to a hair's width from her blouse, he then proceeded to make an incision in the air on something only he could see, the invisible energy blade making a triangular incision upon something within her bosom.
With incisions completed, eldritch energy crackled upon his fingertips before he reached forward and "peeled" something invisible away by the corner, a shudder running up the woman's back and a cold sweat suddenly drenching her as he turned on his heel and pressed the invisible Soul Graft in his hand to Vincent's chest. Once he had smoothed that invisible something out, he pressed his palm down and released a pulse of energy, the unconscious teen's body arcing like he'd been hit by a defibrillator, a black line interspersed with suture-like markings suddenly shooting down the eyelid of his milk-colored eye, not all that dissimilar to Dr. Stein's own suture-like markings.
"First graft complete," Dr. Stein said wiping his brow. "Marie?"
"Your Soul Thread Sutures are firmly in place, and my Healing Wavelength is successfully preventing any sort of rejection," the woman's voice spoke from the tonfa, like from a high-quality speaker behind a thin pane of glass. "However, if you could bind him to the ground a little more firmly…"
"Right… I suppose all that jostling won't help. It'll probably get much worse as the procedure goes on," Stein hummed as he placed his hands upon Vincent's arm. "Sutures."
The next moment, countless threads of light protruded from the outline of Vincent's body, "sewing him" firmly to the floor and binding him in place. Blake for her part was amazed at how versatile the crazed doctor's Semblance was, what with its ability to influence the material and immaterial worlds both.
"Glynda, you need to get up, now," Stein instructed.
"R… Right…" Glynda replied, wiping her brow for how much good it did her, before she rolled onto her stomach and crawled away, looking the worst Blake had ever seen the stoic professor.
"Next."
With Shantae, the process repeated itself, though whereas Glynda broke out into a cold sweat and could barely get up afterward, Shantae merely squirmed on the floor with a light flush on her face, her knife-shaped ears flicking every few seconds. As Dr. Stein turned from her to apply the second Soul Graft, Shantae sat up and watched, though Blake had no way of knowing if Shantae's sight in the matter was any better than her own as Vincent's body fought against the Sutures, a second line of suture-like markings zipping across Vincent's face from the upper eyelid of his milk-colored eye and into his hairline.
Seeing this particular placement repeat itself, Blake figured that the whole "the eyes are the windows to the Soul" thing might've been quite literal in the field of Plasmology.
"Shantae," she whispered.
"Hm?" the belly dancer replied making room for Blair.
"Can you… actually see what's going on?" she inquired as the witch-like cat laid out on her back like any other feline.
"Maybe a little~" she replied with a blush, her ears flicking cutely as Dr. Stein got to work on extracting the third graft, Blair letting out an annoyed yowl before he stitched her to the floor with his Sutures and carried out his task.
"Um, excuse me. Isn't there a problem in using an animal Soul for this?" Blake found herself asking, assuming the whole 'Spirit Beast' comment from earlier was just the vernacular for an animal with an especially-potent Soul.
"You forget, Ms. Belladonna; Humans are 'animals' too. Of course in Blair's case, it helps that her Soul is so-incredibly developed. Plus, there are many animals out there that are smarter than Humans, who in of themselves often set the bar very, very low," Dr. Stein answered before he laid the third Soul Graft into its proper place, the third line of Sutures running down the outer corner of Vincent's eye and down his jaw like a runaway tear.
"Hm. Fair," she replied as the insane professor got to work on Rachnera.
In her case, the more "demi-human-like" Spider Faunus had to lay on her stomach, curling her arachnid legs in on themselves, a shudder running up Blake's spine as she beheld the skull-like pattern on the rather "leggy" woman's abdomen.
"How's our patient doing?" Dr. Stein inquired as the fourth band of suture-like markings spread itself across Vincent's face, down the inner corner of his eye and down his face ghosting past his lip, Rachnera drunkenly skittering away.
"The Soul Graft is complete," Marie answered. "Anything further would simply complicate the recovery process," she elaborated, Blake letting out a sigh of relief as Dr. Stein put down his scalpel.
"Excellent. Though it certainly helps I had so many high-quality souls… surrender themselves to my ministrations~" the mad scientist replied as he ratchetted the bolt through his head. "One final application of Soul Thread Sutures should keep everything in place until the Soul Assimilation process is complete," he said placing his hand upon Vincent's face. "Sutures!"
At this next application of [Soul Thread Sutures], Vincent's back arched, his vitals spiking as he actually broke the Sutures binding him to the floor, the snapping sound of cables muffling whatever cry left the comatose boy's lips before he slumped down onto the futon in an inert heap. In the low light, Blake was able to notice that many lines of suture-like markings had spread themselves across his body, coiling across his visible limbs and chest like he were the victim of a mad slasher.
"So… what happens now?" Blake inquired, relieved that the entirety of the ordeal had passed without her worst possible outcome manifesting.
"Now…" Marie said as her tonfa-shaped body uncoiled itself to her original kneeling position, the motherly blond fluffing the boy's pillow and brushing his hangs out of his face. "Now the rest is in god's hands."
"So then… is there an actual god, and not just a bunch of pretenders?" Blake inquired, remembering how Pyrrha's friend from Mistral was the 'Apostle' of a god-like figure that many on the continent worshipped.
"Would any answer I give without or even with sufficient proof, be adequate?" Dr. Stein inquired.
" . . . I suppose not," Blake realized.
Sure, Aura was something tangible that could be repeatedly demonstrated in a laboratory setting, but even then, there were still people out there who chose to be Atheists…
"I'm… just going to lay down for a while," Rachnera groaned slumping into a heap on the floor.
"I need a cat nap…" Blair groaned.
"If I'm still alive in the morning… kill me…" Glynda groaned.
"Hey um… Are they going to be alright?" Shantae asked, the least-exhausted of the four.
If anything, it seemed like she enjoyed having a piece of herself stitched into her "master".
'How the hell are you still alright?' Blake thought.
"Given time, they will recover with adequate rest," Dr. Stein answered the spoken and unspoken questions. "It was only Vincent who was at any risk of never being able to recover."
"Hold on, what's different about Vincent having a chunk of his Soul ripped out, compared to the four of them who had pieces of theirs removed surgically?" Blake asked.
"Well, people might treat the Soul as this sacred, untouchable thing that should never be tampered with… but from a purely mechanical standpoint, people scatter little bits and pieces of their Soul everywhere they go," Dr. Stein answered.
"Anything from a hug, to holding hands, to a kiss can leave little bits and pieces of your Soul on another person. More intimate acts of physical joining, also leave sizeable portions of one's Soul 'imprinted' upon their partner, though in that case it's more of an equal 'exchange', hence why sex has such a potent binding effect between two people who really love one another," Marie elaborated, Blake and Shantae flushing at that little tidbit. "Something precious you keep on you at all times, or something you repeatedly handle like a beloved book or a photograph, can also convey parts of one's Soul, which is why when such an object is handled by a loved one, they feel the presence of the original owner, even after they have passed on."
"In those cases, however, the parting of one's Soul is voluntary. It's a 'clean break' that the Soul can replenish itself from, like how a fallen leaf from a tree will regrow at a later date," Dr. Stein continued. "Vincent's parting, however, was far more violent, and in a far greater volume than a Soul is usually meant to sustain in such a short timeframe."
"Couldn't you just… retrieve that piece of his Soul from whatever caused it?" Blake asked.
"No. That Relic Blade he found in the Emerald Forest… It's incredibly ancient and holds onto its secrets quite fervently. In all likelihood, it was an ancient superweapon forged with potent magics, a double-edged sword in the most literal sense at the toll it exacted on the user," Marie answered, a shudder running through her the first time she'd seen the Relic Blade; or at least its picture. "For all intents and purposes, that chunk of his Soul is just… gone. A price paid to wield ancient power."
"It also doesn't help that no-one could retrieve the damn thing," Stein added as he ratcheted his head-bolt. "Then again, if just anyone could've absconded with the thing, they would've centuries earlier."
"Wait, are you saying he'll lose even more memories?" Glynda asked.
"Not in this case. The Soul is the 'soil' from which the spirit 'grows', meaning whatever caused his initial memory loss was a consequence to damage on his spirit, not his Soul wholesale," Dr. Stein answered. "Of course, with how-interchangeably people use words like 'soul' and 'spirit', the technical differences between the two, can become quite muddled."
"Ah, I see…" Glynda said breathing a sigh of relief, gratified that Vincent wouldn't be losing anything else. "I'm… going to go to sleep now-" *snoooooore*
*Purrrrrrrr~*
"Can someone get me a cup of coffee…? I am way too sober for this shit…" Rachnera groaned pitifully.
"How would coffee make her less sober?" Blake blinked.
"Oh, arachnids have what we like to call 'Caffeine Intolerance'," Shantae answered. "Basically, spiders and Spider Faunus become intoxicated when they ingest caffeine. On the inverse side of things, spiders and Spider Faunus are immune to the effects of alcohol."
"That's quite the little tidbit you have there. Where did you learn that?" Stein asked.
"Ah, well… in my previous living arrangements, I didn't exactly get out all that much, so reading was all I really could do," she answered, leaving Blake to wonder-
'How did he sneak a literal slave girl onto campus without anyone noticing?'
The sheer harem pants, bra, and gold jewelry combined with her olive/tan skin, striking blue eyes, flowing purple hair, and long knife-like ears were impossible to miss…
*NEW WORLD*
"Well, that was certainly… something," Weiss admitted as she, Ruby, and Yang pulled away from the tiny window of the door.
"Yeah. It'd probably have looked way cooler if I had that Soul Perception thing from the textbook," Ruby added.
"Seriously, though. If he and Blair did it, would it count as-"
Yang's words were cut off as Weiss literally slapped a Glyph over her mouth, stopping her inquiry dead.
"Thank you, Weiss. I did not need that image haunting my dreams tonight," Ruby sighed gratefully.
"Let me guess. Her mouth signed a check she couldn't cash?" a short bookish girl inquired in a monotone.
"More like it was rejected outright," Weiss stated.
"Hey there, Yue," Ruby greeted as her sister's friends from Signal also arrived.
"So, what got Yang into a bind this time?" Haruna grinned as she idly scribbled on her sketchpad.
"Something about a cat who can turn into a person," Weiss sighed, realizing that the idea sounded less-ludicrous now than it would've at the start of her time at Beacon.
" . . . Go oooon~" the greenette grinned lecherously.
"Vincent… Is he okay?" Nodoka asked worriedly.
"It's in god's hands now," the heiress conceded. "You'll probably be free to visit once Glynda is lucid again."
"I see, that's... That's good to hear," the quiet girl nodded as Dr. Stein and Marie stepped out into the hall, dabbing sweat from their brows. "Dr. Stein, um, Mrs. Stein... Do you... have any idea on when he'll recover?"
"I'd need a larger sample size for any amount of certainty," Dr. Stein said ratchetting his head-bolt. "With as-many datapoints as I have now... It could honestly be anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, or maybe a year in the worst case. Honestly, there are too many variables to count, but it's why I take such a personal interest in cases like this," he said as he drew a journal from his pocket and began scribbling into it. "Knowledge is a potent weapon against Ignorance; Choice a potent weapon against Tyranny; Creation a potent weapon against Entropy; and Destruction a potent weapon against Stagnation. Without Knowledge nor Choice, any plans for the future are doomed to failure. A life that lives without doing anything is the same as a slow death."
"That's some heavy stuff, Doc," Yang shuddered.
"Wait, shouldn't 'Creation' and 'Destruction' be opposites?" Ruby blinked innocently.
"In a world as transactional as ours, Creation 'isn't always good', just like how Destruction 'isn't always bad'. In the back-when times, the cost of maintaining 'Order' was having a stranglehold on the hearts and minds of the people, causing culture and science to stagnate, which eventually culminated in the end of the Dark Ages. The period after was undeniably chaotic as people and nations scrambled for power and influence, but it gave rise to a better world, so ultimately, the revolution that saw to the end of the old ruling class, was ultimately seen as 'a good thing' by us, the next generation," Dr. Stein hummed philosophically.
"Vincent... He said something to me once," Nodoka spoke up as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Tomorrow may be worse than today. However, mankind always looks for a brighter future, no matter the hardship. Therefore, I'm certain your world will change for the better."
"Well, I guess our nutty professor isn't the only one who gets philosophical around here," Yang hummed.
"We should probably clear out. I think we're causing a disturbance," Weiss offered as the orderlies started shooting them looks as they blocked the hallway like a clogged arterie.
*NEW WORLD*
There we go, another double-update for Giant-Slayer. I'm personally pretty proud of being able to step away from Beacon proper and incorporate more crossovers; especially for the wider World of Remnant in the "Slayerverse". Make sure to tell me what you think in the Reviews section, and I'll see you all next time on Vigorous Vitality!
P.S.
My Beta, Spaceman, has a new story out; Nemo - SMW II: Ghost Stories & Fairy Tails, sequel to our other collaborative work Nemo of the Myriad Worlds 1 - MHA Marvels. Be sure to give his work a read, every Review (that isn't mindless Flaming) helps refine the creative process, and every scrap of motivation is appreciated.