Arc 2 - Chapter 25 - Forgive Yourself
The inharmonious footfalls of the hunter party was the only thing to deny the world of complete silence. Which, paradoxically, served only to remind Ruby more and more of this world's soul. Or the lack of a soul. Or the rotting, withering carcass that might have once been called a soul. A consistent theme, at least, but no less disturbing than it had been at the very beginning of this epic adventure. Only now as they pushed on toward the supposed end, Ruby started to feel like the whale's mouth had opened wide, and they were walking directly into its black hole of a mouth. Knowingly. Stupidly, even.
There was a weight on Ruby's head and shoulders now, as though she was carrying a tree trunk on her back, and she dragged her feet as though weights were chained to her ankles. Her stomach twisted, the blood thumped in her head, her heart was somewhere between a steady beat and rapid panic, as though the silly thing was unsure of whether to be scared or not. Ruby herself was not confused about that particular choice.
"The Despair is heavy here, everyone." warned Peach from the front of the group. "Be strong. We're close."
Close. Not usually a scary word, but then context mattered a lot. Close to finding Uncle Qrow's Alter, close to defeating it and saving him from years of self-torment, or being murdered by some secret society. Close to failure, too. To being killed by the Alter instead, their long struggle made entirely pointless. Peach had said plenty of times before how strong Qrow's Alter was likely to be, while the Princess claimed that he was the only warrior powerful enough to venture these hellish Shadowlands alone. All those Grimm they'd faced? They were exercise for this legendary warrior. And that did not bode well for the fight ahead.
Ruby hadn't thought about it until now that she could very well be killed by something that looked like her uncle. Was her uncle. Or at least represented the deepest reaches of his being. And that idea ensured her anxiety never wavered.
Still, she wouldn't be fighting. Neptune and her were explicitly ordered to hide, while Peach, Cinder, and Princess did the real work. Not a very in-depth plan, but there was no need to overcomplicate things at this point. Peach had assured her that when an Alter was defeated, it would pull itself from the resulting emergence of Despair to save its own life, and therefore save her uncle. And their three main fighters were strong, even without the Wolf. They could do it. For certain. Hopefully.
The empty road went on for a while longer, looking very much the same all the time, until something caught Ruby's eye that was poking out of the concrete. Neptune beat her to pointing it out, though.
"What's this?" he said, pulling ahead. Ruby saw now that the strange stone was on the edge of the road, poking out like a passerby waiting to cross. Dark gray, worn, and chalky, looked like words had been engraved on it, and the weather had wiped the writing beyond comprehension.
"A headstone," hummed Cinder with a trace of unease. Her arms were crossed, but she pointed one red-nailed finger down the road. "And not just the one."
It was as she said. All throughout the road, and placed about without method or reason, was a field of graves. It almost made Ruby think of a flower patch, only there was nothing growing here. Just wasting away. A garden made of the dead and made for the dead, so the living had better damn well stay away, the idiots.
Ruby couldn't help looking at them as they made their way through, all caution just in case something insane happened. Many of the headstones were crumbly and withered like the first one, their engravings dusted out of recognition, a kind of strange harmony to it. Hundreds of people laid beneath this concrete, supposedly, all different people, having lived vastly different lives. Such things no longer applied. In death, their histories, their accomplishments, their sins, none of it mattered anymore. This here was the pure, unbiased, unquestionable equality. Or maybe Ruby was just in a morbid mood. She could make out some names, but most were lost on her. And that made her wonder what these stones could represent if not only the dead, since she liked to think her uncle hadn't killed this many people, at least. Were these all people her uncle had met or known personally? Perhaps, but then there were hundreds, and Uncle Qrow didn't have many friends besides mom and dad.
People he'd hurt, then. That was sadly more likely. From when he'd run with that horrible Branwen gang with his sister, maybe. Ruby looked at the graves now and thought about how many of them her uncle had seen get killed, or how many he'd killed himself, about if some deserved it or some didn't. There was no way to know. Even this deep in her uncle's heart, so close to the personification of his innermost horrors and insecurities, there was still so much she did not know.
That's when she noticed Peach had stopped at one particular grave. It had not only enticed her curiosity, but the others as well, all gathering around except the Princess, who showed zero interest in their business. It certainly saved them from a lot of explaining. Ruby joined up with the others as they looked down on that headstone which demanded so much attention. Like the others, the scrawl was weathered, but this one still readable, and in the beautiful cursive script that Ruby recognized as her uncle's handwriting.
Summer Rose. Mother, Wife, Friend… Lover.
Ruby almost chuckled at the obviousness of it. Of course she'd be here. One of her uncle's biggest regrets and the event that had finally pushed him over the edge. It had not started his drinking problem, and it had always been doomed to get worse with all the cases he worked, but Summer's death had been his death. What hope and joy he could have had vanished with her. Because he loved her so much as a close friend? Or something closer? Ruby looked nervously down at that last word on the headstone. Lover.
"Miss Peach," Ruby asked without looking up at her, "You're friends with my uncle, right?"
Miss Peach nodded. "Nearly thirty years now."
"Then, you would know things about him that I wouldn't?"
"Oh yes. More than I'd like, honestly. We've known each other since we were ten, so I've seen him through most of his life. The good, the bad. At his best. At his worst. All of it."
Ruby swallowed, wanting not to, but dreading to live in fear of the ideas in her head. "Was there… anything going on between him and my mom?"
Peach glanced at her, blue eyes shining through her lenses. "Going on?"
Ruby looked down guiltily at the grave, fearing her mother might hear her somehow. "Like… if they were doing things that just friends wouldn't do?" Or at least shouldn't, she thought.
Peach stared at her for a moment, then the grave for a while, as if she too was sorry for what she was about to say. "Qrow loved Summer, but you know that. They met in high school and grew close quickly. Very quickly. I think she was one of the only people to see the good in him when no one else would, and never gave up on him. Despite trying to keep some distance, set on being mysterious and alone, your young uncle couldn't resist her. They only grew closer from there. In their highest highs, in their lowest lows, they saw each other through. They dated for a while, but it didn't last."
"My mom told me about that. She said they felt they weren't ready… at the time."
"Yes. I remember Qrow talking to me about it the day before. He was tearing his hair out not worrying about breaking your mother's heart. Still, having Summer in his life pushed Qrow to leave the gang he ran with, to graduate high school, and to pursue a good career. It wasn't the only reason he did it, but it was a big one. He wanted to be better for her sake, to be a man she could be proud of. One of the only people whose opinion he cared about. Of course, by then, your mother and father had met and gotten together, and that…" Peach sighed. "That was a little hard for your uncle."
Ruby nodded. It only made sense, as painful as it was to hear. To work to be better for a person you love so much, to become that better person, and to find that you were too late to rekindle the love you once had. It stung just imagining it.
"Your mother and father married young. So even Summer, at the time, had doubts about her relationship with Tai. Love is not perfect, and often is not always enough. Of course, Summer and Qrow talked about everything, and kept no secrets from one another. Some parts of them still loved each other as they had when they were young," Peach gave a smile that looked both times proud and envious, as if she respected their control, and wished she'd had the same conviction. "But never once did they cross that line. Over time, Qrow was able to move on and stay close. Your uncle and mother loved Tai and you and your sister too much to ever betray you."
Ruby felt herself tear up with equal parts immeasurable relief and guilt. Relief that her uncle and mother, despite their flaws and regrets, had not done the things she'd so easily worried about. Guilt for even thinking such a scenario could have happened, for doubting her uncle's and mother's integrity and love. How could she face her uncle now, having thought these things?
"Ruby, what's this coming from? What made you ask that?" asked Peach.
Ruby glanced up at Cinder briefly, but decided not to say anything. The blame hardly mattered at this point. "I was scared that I'd see something I didn't want to. I guess I was always afraid that it might be true. I feel horrible now. I should've had more faith in Uncle Qrow."
Neptune tapped Ruby's shoulder and gave her an understanding smile. "My dad will never be able to forgive my mom for what she did. He loved her a lot, but they had problems, and my mom stepped out on him. Both of us, being honest. I don't think I can forgive her for that, either. But… she's my mom, you know? And my dad was awful for a while… but he's still my dad. The only ones I'll have."
Ruby thought about that. Was he saying that even if Qrow and Summer had cheated together, that it would not have changed her love for them? It would have made Ruby angry, and maybe not want to speak to them for a long time. But perhaps love could not just be dismissed even with such awful things. It was more complicated than that. You don't just stop loving someone. And love was rife with fears and doubts and worries. It couldn't be love otherwise.
"Forgive yourself, honey." said Peach. "You're human and flawed and sometimes weak. We all are. Forgive yourself. That's the very lesson your uncle needs to learn. That's a lesson even I had to learn. You understand?"
Ruby wiped her face, but otherwise nodded. Maybe it was time to let those negative feelings and thoughts go. She knew the truth now.
Her thoughts needed to be on saving her uncle.
It was a long walk, hours of cold silence, stern frowns, committed determinations, but the road did finally come to an end.
It was like they'd done a circuit of Qrow's heart world, for the black concrete broke off a few strides onward, and gave way to the empty, weatherless, withered dunes of the ashen desert. It was picked with buried architecture, same as before, black blocks dotting the gray dust. The sky was a heavy fog of black clouds and crimson sky, same as the very entrance of the heart, like a grim sunset painted with the ancient blood of some eldritch beast. The silvery moon looked overhead, looking almost photoshopped in the sky, big and unnatural, and having at last reached its half-full phase. A perfect divide - one side blacker than hell, the other whiter than heaven. It seemed almost to radiate a mist, and Ruby swore she heard a faint hum as if the moon was speaking to her, eliciting a silent scream. They made their way across the dusty plain, looking around for anything notable, and for a while nothing stood out. Until something did.
On top of a round hill, almost spotlighted by the moonlight, was a pitched up cross. Old and thick, twice taller than a full-grown man, and it would have to be, since there was a man hanging from it.
He was dressed in a gentleman's clothes. A long open black coat over a red scarf, which hung low and long, slithering in the sand. A tight vest over a dirty white shirt, tucked into black trousers and dress shoes like he was attending a funeral. His own funeral, maybe. And all such clothes of his were beaten and torn in various places, making him look like something between a high class aristocrat and a hunter from the wild, as savage as the animals themselves. Finally, there was a black hunter's cap on his head, and since his head was hanging down, it obscured his face, tangles of dark hair hanging limp. His hands were raised above his head and nailed to the cross, spread-eagled, like he was about to take flight at any moment.
"At last," huffed the Princess.
There could be no doubt who this spectacle was, and Ruby found herself thinking this presentation so fitting that it was almost irritating. The Princess was already making her way toward the hanging man, and the rest of them followed behind, making sure to not to stand too close, but not too far away, either.
The Princess stopped before the hanged man and craned her head back to look up at him, somehow still managing to look like the one in charge. Ruby wondered a bit humorously if she was actually Weiss's Alter in disguise. "What are you doing, uncle?"
No response. Dead silence. Maybe he was dead, but if so, the Princess did not believe it.
"Uncle!" she snapped.
Alter-Qrow stirred, his head twitching like he was coming out of sleep, or from death. He lifted his head and gazed upon his visitors. He definitely had Uncle Qrow's face, as expected, but there were more extravagant features to him. The dark circles beneath his red eyes were nothing new, but the stitches across his face were. Under his eye, across his lips, up his nostril and out the other way. All looking as if his face had been ripped open and someone had hired the world's worst surgeon to just barely sew him back together. There were things poking out of the stitchings - little thistles of hay or grass.
"What's this now?" he grunted in a disturbingly deep, grating voice. It made Ruby's guts churn.
"What are you doing up there?" The Princess said, peeved. "You look foolish."
He squinted down at his royal niece, and his mouth twisted into a wood-toothed grin like he'd heard nothing funnier. "What's it look like? I'm in the middle of paying for my sins."
"This is your means of repentance?"
"One way is as good as another, to my mind."
"Get down from there, uncle."
"Right y'are."
There was a tearing that sounded like pulling a torn cloth apart, and Alter Qrows hands were free, the halves of his hands flopping, bleeding out shredded straw and dust rather than blood. He frowned at his hands like he was waiting for something to happen, then a moment later the straw bindings began to tie back together, leaving fresh stitches where the tears had been. He flexed his dirty fingers. "That's got it," he muttered. "Now, what in the Queen-Mother's tits is all this?"
He looked upon his niece with weary eyes, looking like a man already on the verge of defeat. Like a man lamenting being late to his own funeral. Those red eyes glanced around at everyone for a while, lingered on Peach for a moment as if he recognized her somehow, then flickered over to Ruby with a curious raise of the eyebrows. "Don't remember these from back home. Made some new friends, eh? Had yourselves a grand old adventure coming to see your uncle? Must be quite a story."
"I will tell you about it on the way," said the Princess, taking him by the arm in the way a parent might her misbehaving child. "Your banishment has been lifted. Our kingdom needs you. I order you home, uncle."
That made the sad smirk in his face wilt entirely. His voice grew noticeably deeper. "Well, well, the scrawny little princess-brat has grown some fangs. I'll have to say no, though. You know, for murdering the Queen-Mother and all."
The Princess's face twisted with anger. "Don't be ridiculous. You did not murder Mother. Stop taking fault where there is none! I order you home this instant, uncle!"
Seeing her outside her usual calmness was not something Ruby was used to, but it reflected her own feelings perfectly. She imagined that was sort of how it worked. Her Alter said the things that Ruby knew in her heart she wished desperately to say, but not wanting to send her uncle into an even deeper abyss of self-pity and self-hatred. It frustrated her to no end how he managed to find reasons to hate himself. Reasons to not be happy. Maybe that was what the deadly combination of drink and depression was. A sinkhole of despair.
"Failure to protect is no different than putting the blade to her myself." said Alter-Qrow resolutely, snatching his arm away, drunkenly ambling off. "Sorry, kid. You wasted your time. Run on home or you'll miss your bedtime."
The Princess roared at his back. "I don't know you for such cowardice, uncle!"
"Now you do." And he stopped at the crest of the hill, just as the moonlight began to stretch across the great desert, shadows shifting. "It was good to see ya, but you'd better turn back. Let me live out my last days here and rot. It's a proper place for cowards, traitors, and killers. Perhaps I will find absolution. Perhaps. Turn back, little queen. Leave, while you still live."
Ruby couldn't see the Princess's face, but didn't think it was necessary. Just listening to this was exactly like listening to her real uncle in his drunken states, just more eloquently said. Some awful combination of anger and apologies and trying not to cry. Sounding tragic and pathetic at the same time. Worthy of pity and embarrassment both. And not a thing Ruby could do about it but sit there and listen and cry, since talking never did anything. It seemed even deep inside his own heart, her uncle truly upon fathom his own ridiculousness.
Finally, the Princess responded, and she did it through action. Summoning a scythe into her hands. The exact same one Ruby had, and saying simply, "I did not come to ask your permission, uncle. You will see reason. Even if I must break every bone in your body and drag you back by your hair, you will come home!"
Alter-Qrow held her glare for a long moment, trying to will her down maybe, but there was no chance of that. Then, he turned to the others. "You too? This ain't your fight. I warn you, spare yourselves a fight you cannot win."
It was Peach who answered that warning. "You don't know us, Black Blade. But this is more our fight than you may think. If there's nothing else I can do for you, my friend, let me show you the folly of your self-hatred."
It was like she'd pressed just the right button to set him off, the Alter adopted a toothy snarl like a dog trying to scare off intruders. "This is where I belong!" He pointed down at the ground. "Here! In this hell! I deserve nothing less! I wish only to rot away in peace. To be forgotten." The Alter held out his hand and in a burst of black flames, a massive scythe materialized. The huge blade was black as night, silver at the handle, darkness made liquid dripping off the keen edge and onto the ground like a salivating predator. His red eyes took on a brighter hue. "You cannot know the pain I have wrought on those around me. The king, the queen, my nieces, the good people of my kingdom, all ruined by my hand. Mine and no other!" He damn near sounded possessive of the blame, as if it was the only thing that sustained his sense of self anymore. "There is no salvation for me. If you choose to fight, niece, I will turn you into a corpse, as I did your mother. I am made of death. Walk away. This is your last chance."
The Princess did not back down a step, and in fact raised her head in that way Weiss might when she met a challenge. Peach and Cinder answered by summoning their weapons, as did Neptune, though he and Ruby would have to find somewhere to hide shortly. Ruby wished she didn't have to, but knew her limits and could not help here. She simply had to have faith in Peach and the Princess. And Cinder too, as strange as that was to rely on. They would defeat this twisted Alter and save her uncle. If they together were strong enough.
Alter-Qrow lowered his head, and let out what Ruby at first thought were whimpers. Then, she realized he was chuckling. Then, so instantly that it startled her heart, the Alter burst into peals of hacking, heaving, haggard laughter. A smoker's laugh. A smoker gone completely insane. His eyes had grown feverish, wet with disbelief, looking upon the team of defiant challengers like he had seen the result of this battle long ago, fairly warned them off, and now had to make true the foretold prophecy. He cut his laugh off suddenly and began to expertly spin his scythe around himself, twirling like a baton with a deadly weight at the end. It seemed to shift the very air. Made it recede in fear. Then, it came to a stop as he slung it over his shoulder, the blade curling around his neck like the tongue of a monster, like the edge of a guillotine above the head of the penitent as he tipped his head forward. Shadows fell over the top half of his face so that only his skeleton grin and his glowing red eyes broke the dark.
"I'd ask you to apologize to your mother for me," hissed Alter-Qrow, the Black Blade. "But nothing that dies here goes to heaven."
The battle began with a bang. Or a screech, more like.
Either way, Peach felt it coming. The air had grown hot, her skin tingled with sudden sweat, and her mind latched onto old, familiar memories of battles in her youth. Alter-Qrow swung his scythe so fast that it was like a streak of black paint across a canvas, only the splash was a million times more deadly. A searing black blade beam burning tipped with colors of red and gold ripped through the sand and came at her fast. It took no effort to step smoothly out of the way, the wind flicking back her hair, particles of black, gold, and red left floating in the air. But this was a type of power which did not need to touch you to have an effect. Her body had an instant reaction just from the proximity. Something trickled out of her nose, and she wiped it away with her free hand. Blood.
A Curse-type semblance. A rare element, indeed. Nothing she hadn't fought before, of course, but those battles were among the toughest she'd ever fought, and not solely because of Curse's advantage against her Psychokinesis type semblance. Peach had suspected this battle would not be easy, but damn it if she didn't wish her hunches sometimes turned out wrong.
"He's a Curse type!" Peach called out, as the Alter sent its cursed blade beam her old apprentice's way. "Don't get hit by those beams!"
She avoided it quickly enough, managing to stay out of range of its thankfully small area of effect. Even the sand was not immune to the effect of the curse, yellow sand rotting black where the blade cut. That was what Curse did. Opened the skin, caused light hemorrhaging, made flesh and bones rot slowly. Small damages, but over time, and especially in drawn out fights - that was where the true potential of Cursed power lay. You either defeated a Curse-type quickly… or you got defeated yourself. And killed, more than likely. Natural healing could resist the effects, but only Blessing types could deflect and reverse the power of Curse, and the only type Peach had close to hand was her nephew. The irony of it. To try so hard to keep him out of this battle, only to discover that he was their ticket to survival.
Cinder adopted an evil grin like this was exactly the type of fight she'd been anticipating all her life. "How interesting." she cooed, before charging straight at Atler-Qrow, the Princess close behind her.
Peach turned to the children. The two, when there should have been three. "Find cover! Don't let yourselves be hit by those black waves!"
They nodded and scurried off to the east, likely toward a chain of half buried shacks a fair ways off, and hopefully would be safe there. Truthfully, there was no telling the range this Alter could have. She sensed his power, surely. Uncannily equal to hers, but that far from evened the scales. True power came in how creatively the power was used, and Qrow had never been short of cleverness. Peach would not expect any less from his Alter. Nonetheless, she had to win, and at any cost. Damn it all. Why could things never be easy?
Peach crossed the distance, leaving a gush of dust behind her, and coming at the Black Blade fast, her scalpel winded back. She slashed wide just as he jumped back, rippling the air, the edge of her scalpel scraping against the shaft of the scythe. She pulled back, metal scraping. Then stabbed again, this time edging the tooth of the scythe as he sent it cutting at her chest. Peach summoned a small buckler shield in her other hand, felt the scythe blade scrape away as she brought it up, sparks flying. Alter-Qrow threw his foot up in a kick, and Peach raised her scalpel-wielding arm to defend against it. A mistake she paid for. His strength was not to be challenged, and his kick followed through, sending her sprawling in the dust.
It was too early to be down for long, so she sprang back up and pointed her blade at the ground beneath the Alter's feet, intoning, "Sever."
The ground cracked, split, lurched, and broke off in a disc shape, lifting Alter-Qrow onto it. Once that was accomplished, she released her psychic hold on the slab of earth. "Suture." Then tethered it to ground beneath herself, pulling with her left hand like she held a fistfull of string, yanking earth slab and Alter toward her. She stabbed at him, but the Alter changed shape, shifted into a shadow-like form and slithered away, leaving Peach to punch through the slab of earth, debris spraying her in the face. Strong, fast, and slippery. This was going to get very annoying very fast.
The Black Blade was now engaged with his niece, scythes whirling, battering against one another with vicious aggression. Far from weak, the Princess, but the difference in skill and power was apparent. It wasn't fully necessary for her to push the advantage, though, as Cinder was there to back her up. Dual swords joined the scythe work, clashes that filled the air with the song of violence. The Princess slashed low, Alter-Qrow danced away fast as a shadow, Cinder came down from above, but her glass swords dug into dirt as her target darted back once more, floating over the glowing explosive eye Cinder conjured. The air screamed as a mighty explosion ripped through the air, fire and dust going everywhere. Still too slow for the Alter, who'd swerved out of the way, then flung another Cursed Blade Beam at Cinder.
"Suture!" Peach tethered the beam to a spot far away, sent it spinning off to die far away. She felt a sting on her finger and looked at it. A cut had formed there and blood was already pouring out. That was the unfortunate thing about this match-up. Curse worked like a disease, infecting its target by any means, even through their own internal energies. She could protect others from it with her semblance, but Curse ruined whatever it touched, and her semblance was a part of her. Peach sutured the wound closed. She had to end this fight, and soon.
It seemed all involved decided to up the tempo of this deadly dance now. The Princess came as a stalwart whirlwind, Cinder a laughing inferno, Alter-Qrow a maelstrom of cursed magic. Their respective elements at war with one another like they too had grudges to settle. The world rang as a fireball exploded where the Alter had once been, a Cursed Blade flying through the cloud of smoke and unto Cinder. Peach sutured it off, giving her old apprentice the chance to close in and assault fo with a chain of sword strikes. Black glass on black steel. The two of them locked in a sequence of cuts and slashes and high speed movement that would have made them nigh untraceable to the untrained eye. Alter-Qrow's scythe brimmed with cursed energy as he slashed down on Cinder. Fearless as usual, Cinder parried the cut with a hard backhand of her sword, the flames of the curse burning her hand and exciting the smile on her face. The Princess flew over her, drilling down on her uncle, who was just fast enough to back up. And land exactly where Peach wanted him.
"Suture," The two slabs of rock that she'd severed from the ground were tethered together and closed in fast with the Alter in the middle. He used that irritating shadow movement again, leaving the slabs to crash into each other and burst into thousands of pieces. Fine enough. Peach sutured those pieces midair and drew them toward herself, the Alter between them and not fast enough to get away, they pelted him without mercy, like a hail of gunfire, having barely got his sword up to ward some off.
Cinder was on him again, eager for more action. Stab, stab, cut, stab. Unrelenting. The Alter's positioning was upset now, with Cinder barely giving him time to swing. His scythe burned with cursed power, but the Princess began to harass his left side, preventing him from using it. He swung at her, but did not release the cursed energy at her for some reason. With a roar, Alter-Qrow spun himself around, scythe cutting a wide berth and forcing Cinder to hop away like they were dancing partners in the middle of their grand performance.
The Black Blade jumped straight into the air, spinning like a corkscrew, black flames swirling around him. Then, at the apex of his leap, he split the air with a savage slash, turning the black flames into a falling wave, spreading wide and consuming everything it touched, a high wall of black and gold.
Dodging that would be either impossible or ridiculously hard, so Peach opted to do neither. "Cinder! Divide it!"
As if already thinking the same thing, Cinder slapped her hands together as the flames fell over her, then threw them out wide, a pillar of red flames bursting out in front of her, then flying outward, splitting the black wave and sending the flames scattering away like roaches fleeing from poison spray. By then, Peach had sutured the black flames and drawn them to the area surrounding the Alter. It wouldn't do him any harm, but the point was to cut off his vision.
Peach cast Sever then, cutting right through the wall of fire, which gave her the perfect view to see her attack through and open a wound in the Alter's arm. No blood spilled, just a spattering of rotten straw, and it reminded her of the old bird-scarer on her father's farm that was never replaced. Probably was still there now. Dying more slowly than its worthless owner. Been a long time since Peach thought about her father. She tried not to give him the pleasure of occupying a space in her mind.
Alter-Qrow whistled like he was impressed, but his eyes narrowed out of annoyance. "You're a crafty bunch," he said. He beckoned them with a gesture of his arm. "Well? I'm waiting. Make this fun for me, at least."
Peach, Cinder, and the Princess rushed Alter-Qrow together, making him give ground first. Cinder cut at his midriff, missed. The Princess at his chest, missed. Peach came from above, stabbing only air. Cinder caught the Alter hopping back and slashed him across the belly, earning a belch of straw that Peach was quite glad weren't intestines. The Alter doubled back, stomach I'm the process of healing, but by then the wind was roaring and the Princess rushed him like a cheetah that saw its prey. Hee scythe cut wide, leaving a streak of red behind. Missed. The accompanying wind had lifted her uncle off his feet and sent him spinning away, tumbling head over heels in the dust.
Peach called another order. "Cinder, shower him!"
"Bossy today!" Again, Cinder palmed her hands together again, closing her eyes like she was doing a prayer, then throwing her arms into the air, fingers spread. From the ground, black particles rose up, up, high into that air, swirling and coalescing together into solid shapes. Spears. Hundreds of them, blotched with spots of heat like they'd been pulled fresh from the forge. All floating above the Alter's head in hungry anticipation. No point in making them wait.
"Suture!" Peach tethered the blades to the wide circumference around their opponent, and they dropped just as he was beginning to stand. He could not be fast enough to escape. They had him.
They did not.
The Alter jumped toward the falling spears, hopping from them like a spider, snaking around and along them like some ethereal snake. He took normal shape in mid-air to fling Cursed Blades at them, even from so far away. It was them now who were pelted with a deadly shower. Giant bullets of death ripping the earth, leaving flaming maws and gaps, shooting plumes of ash in the air, which rained back down like a flipped over sandbox. The beams were focused primarily on Peach and her old apprentice, very few assaulting the Princess, and even then were spread so far apart that they were easily avoided. That gave Peach pause. Was he —
Peach was forced to leap back as the Alter appeared suddenly in front of her, his scythe glowing with curse. The blade dug into the ground instead of her head, but that was not the end of his pursuit. A shadow split off the Alter's body and bore down on her in the shape of its master, slashing with a giant sword. Thankfully, the shadow wasn't curse afflicted, but it still caught Peach across the shoulder, drawing blood. It attacked again, but this time she cut off its head and was able to pedal back and make space.
Cinder conjured exploding eyes about the battlefield, forcing the Alter to respect them and dodge around like a cricket in a minefield. Explosions everywhere. Peach's ears rang in protest. Had a damn headache now. She'd known Qrow's Alter would be strong. But this strong? Were she fighting alone, she would have more freedom to use stronger techniques. But she wasn't and that was that. There were more lives at stake than just hers.
Again, three converged on one. The Princess screaming with rage, Cinder guffawing with battle-joy, Peach huffing with eagerness to see this business done, and the Alter roaring his undeserved fury. Fire and wind, death and psychic power, steel and flesh. Everything clashed, giving birth to an orchestra of madness. In the chaos, a cut had made its way across the Princess's cheek, and a stab had made it into Cinder's shoulder. Black and red flames crashed into each other. The former quickly overtook the latter. The Princess summoned upon the winds again, stirring the dust around her, causing her uncle to fly back. Peach came stabbing at him with great speed and fury. A thousand wasps on a single enemy. He danced away again and again, but she pushed herself to keep pace, even as it made her body hurt. Even as the toll of the Curse was starting to weigh on her.
He cut at her, but she parried with her scalpel. She sutured the sand behind him and dragged it toward herself so it fell onto the Alter's head. She stabbed at him and managed to dig into his shoulder, dragged it out the other way and took some dust with her. The Princess closed in, the back of her scythe scoring hard into her uncle's back, sending him tumbling across the dunes. Cinder was on him then, and this time he was not fast enough. He sent a discouraging swing, but she ducked underneath and slashed him across the chest with a glass dagger, then palmed him with her free hand, releasing a fiery explosion that launched him wholly back, limbs flailing and flames eating at his body, hissing out when he landed in the dirt.
"Stay on him!" Peach called, and thankfully the Princess and Cinder were way ahead of her. From three directions they converged. Ready to deal the deciding blow and bring it all to an end.
As they fell upon him, Peach saw the Black Blade rise. Straw and ash falling out of his many wounds, but his eyes resolute and hard. One bloody tear escaped a red eye. Collectively, they all stabbed down on him. He clasped his stitched hands together.
"O Death," he whispered, but it was as if the whole world could hear it, booming like thunder. "Garden of the Dead."
Something burst out of the ground from under him. Big, rectangular, and black that closed around Alter-Qrow, then dragged him deep beneath the ground, ash filling the hole it left in seconds. He was gone. Needless to say, his three pursuers landed with more confusion than frustration.
Peach looked around, inwardly cursing herself for not being fast enough to stop him, wondering where in the hell he could have disappeared to. It would be just their luck that he'd escaped somewhere after seeing where the fight was going, which would render this journey entirely pointless. All was quiet for a while, with little else but three of them looking around, breathing and sweating, guards up. Cinder gave Peach a grim look, and Peach was certain that look reflected her own. She doubted the Alter had run. Which could only mean that what was coming could not be good.
Their cynicism was soon justified.
Something burst out of the ground a few strides off. So fast it was like a ticket popping out of a slot machine. Tall and rectangular, made of smooth dark wood. Peach didn't wonder what it was for long. A coffin, of that there could be no doubt. The same coffin that had pulled Alter-Qrow from their grasp.
Then, as if following its example, more appeared. Without reason or pattern, both near and far, coffins sprang out of the desert floor like flowers sprouting in a field. One at a time, then five, ten, and more within seconds of each other. It seemed to go on for an eternity, that creeping feeling Peach had felt now swelling up into her throat. Then, they stopped. Silence returned, only now it was in the face of a graveyard of hundreds. Thousands.
Then, as Peach had started to suspect by now, the coffins slid open as a collective, crowns falling away. Darkness oozed out of them, showing nothing but pitch black. From inside one of them, a hand reached out and latched onto the edge of the coffin, fingers thin and emaciated from what looked like savage burns. Then another hand came, a bare foot, a fleshy head with empty eye sockets. A corpse. For what else could it be? Its body looked like it suffered being cooked in a furnace for hours, twisted white tendons poking out of red and purple meat, dashed with bubbling black splotches like they were infected with poison on top of it all. But that wasn't enough, apparently. The cursed flame burned all over the corpse's body. To be even touched by that thing would mean certain death,
So it only made sense, of course, that the rest of the coffins brought more of the same.
And so they emerged. Multiple from single coffins. Shambling forward on bony legs, moaning their hellish torture, reaching toward the three of them like they were desperate for hugs. Peach had a feeling hugs were not what they were after, though. All this, until the number of burning undead was twice that of the coffins, and an army was born.
Peach's heart was in her throat now. She saw Alter-Qrow come up, passing through the curtain of soldiers he'd summoned. Still wounded, thankfully, but wearing a sad face as if he knew just how very fucked they were, and it was far too late to change course.
"When you wake the dead, they cannot rest again until their hunger has been sated. The belly of death is empty and she must eat," He pointed his scythe at them. "Fear not. What remains of you will be picked by the crows."
"Master, can you Overshadow?" whispered Cinder, still smirking, but lips twitching with a hint of nervousness.
Peach shook her head. There was no way to be absolutely sure. Perhaps she edged out Qrow's base power slightly, but that was not enough to make a difference. She turned to the Princess. Cinder had mentioned her using the Silver Eyes, and Peach still had no idea whether to believe it. Still, Cinder wouldn't lie about such a thing, and while the implications of Ruby having access to this power brought on a whole new set of worries, those were best saved for later. "Your Highness, can you use your eyes on these?"
She shook her head. "My eyes will not cleanse such as these. These are my uncle's blessings. There is nothing my power can do."
Peach cursed. Then they would have to struggle on. The wounds inflicted by the cursed attacks, even if not direct hits, were starting to wear her down now. Why the hell had she not considered the need of a proper healer? They existed for these exact situations, and lives hinged on such things. Too late now, though. They had no choice but to fight. No choice but to win.
It went without saying what would happen if they didn't.
Ruby looked upon it all with unspeakable dread. It had seemed like things were going well, at first. Peach and the others hounded the Alter with all their strength, and had come incredibly close to ending the fight right away. But like Uncle Qrow in real life, his Alter was frustratingly unpredictable. You could never know what he'd do until it blew up in your face.
Cinder and the Princess were fighting together, and no doubt they had to, as the army of burning monsters converged on them, their collective moans like that of spirits disturbed from damnation. Fire spun, flashed, exploded, and the wind whistled, roared, slashed at everything it contacted. Peach had intercepted Alter-Qrow, and now the two of them warred among the coffins and the undead, slowly straying from the others. Blade beams flew and were diverted away, turning whatever they hit into rotten heaps of ash, Peach's invisible cuts cleaving through dozens of undead in pursuit of their true opponent.
Again, Ruby felt so small. So helpless. Even if this time knew it was not her place to fight.
And yet she wanted so badly to help. To tip the scales somehow. Was there nothing she could do? Ruby's fists bunched, even with Neptune's hand to hold, the tears slipped out of her burning eyes. Her head thumped, blood pounding in her brain, something screaming inside her. Demanding her to make a meat shield out of herself if it came to it.
She blinked. Hold on…
Ruby had been watching the Princess fight, same as the others. But only now did she put together a couple of odd things. A moment where the Alter-Qrow could have slashed his niece with that strange power, but didn't. When he sent that volley of flame upon the field and most of it had fallen on Peach and Cinder. Even now, while Cinder was keeping distance fighting the undead afflicted with that same power, the Princess had no such inhibition and fought on like they were simple Grimm. It all made Ruby think. It made her wonder.
It made her move.
She let go of Neptune's hand. Then a moment later heard him screaming for her to come back, too far away to stop her now. Her eyes burned hotter than ever before. No longer painful.
Her mind was clear.
It was out of her control. She could only think about everything she knew. Everything she loved. Her sister, who she'd felt so distant from and now was reforming that sisterhood they once shared. Her dad, who'd been so broken as to seem unfixable, but had found that strength she'd known him to have and been ready to make things better again. Uncle Qrow and Mom, for all the pain they put the family through, still were irreplaceable pieces in the puzzle that was her heart. Her friends, too. Even if she hated that they were only her friends because of Yang, that didn't mean she didn't care about them. How could she not?
And she thought about Jaune. That friend that she'd needed at exactly the right time. Who'd been there for her like no one else had. So cold and so distant, and yet so warm too. So much better than he thought he was. At every point, he'd been there, even for this short time they'd known one another.
And in Ruby's heart, all she knew was that she loved them all more than anything. The world, even. So it stood to reason, that even should the entire world attempt to do them harm…
She would fight it.
Had it been her sister, the last time she'd fought this hard? Probably. Joy had always been a trial and a half, perhaps more so than her Alter had been.
Peach spun out of the way as a flurry of cross shaped cursed blades razed the ground, one shaving a lock of her hair, making it fizzle off like the wick of a firecracker. The particles of lingering death warping in the lens of her broken eyeglass.
Peach sprang toward Alter-Qrow, pushing herself harder, feet peppering across the desert like the speed of a woodpecker at tree bark. There was a brutal clang as scalpel met scythe, but his strength was greater. He wrenched her aside hard enough to make her roll in the sand, stabbed at her once, twice, three times, the first two barely parried with her buckler, and just narrowly back-stepping the third. Peach came lunging at him and barely missed as he floated back, tails of his ragged coat flapping. He turned his scythe upside down, the blade dropping to his foot. He kicked it upward to cut her as she approached, catching her shallow in the collarbone. What a time to envy those with strong healing properties, like her sister and nephew. Damn lucky fools. Peach went after the Alter in a fury, attacking with everything, trying to maintain control of her breathing.
It was not exactly the appropriate time to start regretting things, but when was there ever a proper time? Such moments came on you all of a sudden and persisted like a dog chasing its own tail.
It happened a lot at her age - that age in which she was definitely still young and beautiful - but at a certain age no less. The regrets came in hard when half your life was behind you. The mistakes weighed harder, the sufferings grew more bitter, the losses were more painful. A woman like her had made mistakes, perhaps more than anyone she knew. More than Qrow too, probably. Qrow may have taken on too much responsibility and blamed himself for things that weren't always his fault. But Victarine Peach was the exact opposite.
It was only in the last few years that she took on more responsibility, or at least the ones she'd neglected and now wished to do right by. And when it came to putting the blame where it belonged, she was the very best at pointing the finger at everyone except herself. Had she been there for Qrow, instead of wallowing in her own misfortunes, she could have helped him far earlier on. But time passed so much faster in her older age, and two years had flown away like birds going south for winter.
Peach flipped out of the way so the blade beam zipped past her, and again, sending another careening with a suture spell.
So two years had gone by, and before she knew it, her brother-in-law called her in tears, begging for help, even after everything that had happened already. A second chance of sorts. And how eager she'd been for it. Maybe she could finally set herself to being a better teacher, a better parent, a better sister. Maybe it wasn't too late for Victarine Peach to be a decent human being.
She was on the run now. The Alter flinging cursed blade beams at her one after another, streams of black slashing through the ground and chasing her across the dunes. She jumped and rolled as they fell on her, cartwheeled and flipped as they battered her escape route, she spun in the air so that the blades edged past her, she reversed their trajectory and sent them flying back, over and over until her head was spinning. Lost control of her breath. Amateurish. It really had been a long time since she'd fought this hard.
And now what? Save Qrow and then what? Oh, her poor boy. Her beloved. When he'd come to her door, she'd so readily expected a young man, full of life and energy and excitement. Plagued by his past traumas and unused to city life, but ready to move on with her help. Instead, she got that same tortured, haunted, broken eight year old boy who had seen his worst nightmare realized and had been trapped there ever since. Her fault, that. Her fault that he ended up that way.
Would this Wolf character really save him? Would he be saved in time? Nothing was promised. And that tortured her mind even now as she fought for her life and Qrow's and everyone else's. Jaune was precious to her, more precious than anything, but he was at this world's mercy. He could very well be dead already. And she'd spent her last few moments with him being angry, justified or not.
Every day, she told him how much she loved him, even if he never said so back. Had she told him recently? Or had she been too focused on the mission, too focused on Qrow to pay mind to him? Was it her fault again that her nephew had gotten into danger? Was it her selfishness and negligence once more to blame?
Peach let out a shriek as the curse blade hit her directly in the back, so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed it. The cursed fires leaked into her body and burned. Burned like a thousand needles pricking at her insides. She fell to her knees, one hand reaching to her back to claw at it, but she only felt the softened flesh peel. She was crying now. Because of the pain? No. This was just pain. And her father had taught her very well how to endure such as that. Physical pain was nothing.
But a wounded heart hurt like nothing else, and for Victarine that had been the key to her downfall all these years. Following your heart was not always a good thing, no matter how appealing it sounded. How she wished her sister was here to tell her the right thing to do, to share that wisdom that Peach lacked even all these years later. But then how could Peach face her, now that she'd lost Jaune? She'd failed. For all her promises after the fact, for all the things Peach said she'd do, she'd lost Jaune. Maybe for good.
She was just so tired. Felt so weak not knowing what she was here fighting for anymore. Cinder was right about one thing - she had never given half a damn about most people. Family of her friends dying? She would act sad and empathetic, then go about her day like it was nothing. Pets and animals? Annoyances and extra work. Even people in her direct care had not gone without facing her indifference one time or another. Certainly, she had not shown her nieces or even Joseph so much attention or affection. And not even because she had no love to share. But because she was stingy with it. Peach only had one sister and she'd loved her with all her heart for all her life, or at least when she hadn't been busy hating and envying her.
And besides her, the only person she'd ever loved, without any reason or benefit for herself was…
She lashed wide and shredded the Alter's face, straw pouring out. Advanced, stinging and snarling at him, all while the cuts and burns on her body begged her to stop. Had to win. To save the others at least. Had to win. So tired though. All around, the dead were closing in. Leaping at her by the hundreds, bodies alight with dark flame.
Peach dropped to her knees and dug the fingers of both hands in the ground, squeezing, squeezing as she willed her power into the very earth, fastening her will to it. Not a technique she used often, mostly because of the damage it could cause. Would cause. But she was far enough away from the others now. It should be safe to use. Hopefully.
The rule of her Suture ability was that she could not reattach the things that she'd Severed. Cut a rock and half and they won't stick back together. Even cutting a bit of water separated from a lake by her Sever would only jump back to solid land. But it was still possible to press those things against one another. To knock them into one another. The logic was simple then. She learned how to do it to stones first, then boulders.
Then, tectonic plates.
Thousands of miles beneath her, the plates shifted and groaned, supported by oceans of sun-hot magma. She felt their resistance, their weight, their power. She wrestled them to her command, muscles straining, back breaking, letting out a roar that was both agony and rage.
There was a dull thoom. The ground trembled, the air vibrated.
With the freedom of Peach's hands came a rolling tsunami of earth and ash, a towering wave hundreds of miles high, obscuring the moon itself. Its deity of a shadow fell upon the world, everything beneath it but ants at its express lack of mercy. It surged upon the land with a sound like the roar of the great ocean. It swept away the undead and the flames they conjured, the ground at Peach's feet rumbling and upsetting her balance. Over and over the waves went, earth pillars taller than houses bursting out of the ground and sending dirt, rock, and ash everywhere. Peach, for all the pain she was in, just managed to Sever a smaller wave that came her way, as not even she was exempt from the earth's path of destruction. She leapt through, managing to land on a thick column of stone that was dragged with the desert current, floating to the top like it was a dinghy stranded in the wild ocean.
There, she clutched one quivering arm with her other hand, breathing slow and hard, casting about for the safety of the others. Far away, she saw a spray of flames, promising that Cinder was alive, even while the land down that way was suffering the effect of the miniature earthquake. Then she looked for the Alter. Had that been enough to finish him? Was it finally all over?
Of course not. The Alter sprang out of the rolling dust, landing on the long pillar at the other end of Peach, so coated in ash that his skin was gray.
"Your strength is extraordinary," he muttered. "Who are you, woman?"
Peach looked back evenly, even though her eyes were drifting. "I'm your friend, Qrow."
"I do not remember you."
Peach smiled weakly. "That's probably one account of me not being the greatest friend these last few years. I hope you can forgive me for that. You were there for me, in my darkest hours. There to see the worst of me. The worst of my family. There's no way I can thank you for that. Except to bring you to your senses, so you can save yourself."
He scoffed, sent another cursed blade at her, and Peach sutured it away. How much longer could she keep this up, dispirited as she was? Cinder and the Princess were still fighting hard far away, even in this new ruined landscape, still intent on victory. At least they would all die with comrades.
Peach just… she didn't have any hope to hold on to. That was what kept her strong. That was what kept her from falling back into that vat of misery and self-pity that Qrow was in. When her beloved… nephew… was put in her care, she'd found another purpose. She found a reason to love herself again through loving him.
Now, he was gone. Gone just like his mother, her sister. Taken from her. Lost by her. Did it even matter how? She was empty again. Had nothing.
Nothing…
She saw the cursed blade being charged from the scythe and readied to latch on to it and send it flying back, summoning another utterance of strength, done fighting, and yet far from done.
Then, a flash of light, brighter than the sun. Brighter even. The world suddenly swallowed in white, which somehow took away sight and sound both for an excruciatingly long second. The silence was broken by Alter-Qrow's gurgling scream. Peach wondered for a moment if she'd been struck by the beam and hadn't noticed, but no, someone else had.
Ruby stood between them now, the dark flames having hit her directly, but instead of burning her alive, instead they began to slide off her as if her skin was lathered in oil. Not even her clothes were damaged by the fire, for they abandoned Ruby's body and burned the ash at her feet, withering to gray smoke. Ruby's back was to her, so Peach could not see her face.
But she knew what this was.
Ruby Rose knew the cosmos. She knew the swirling constellations and the vast nebulae, she knew the comets and their cold trails, and the burning stars, and the circling moons. She knew the power of heaven itself. It was within her. It wanted to be out.
It felt like part of being was in the other half of her mind. As though she was in the passenger seat of a car driven by another, but was pointing out where to go. What to do. So, Ruby Rose pointed.
And the Silver Eyes took aim.
The Alter stared out of pure disbelief. "That should have killed you, girl."
He didn;t get back fast enough to avoid Ruby's high-speed cut, burling into his side, digging deep, then tearing out the same side, spraying straw like confetti. He recovered well, grassy guts sewing themselves back together in seconds, allowing him to find a fighting stance again. Ruby sensed something in him. A great darkness. The cruel Despair writhing and snaking inside him and all throughout this ruined world. Now, she would bring such Despair to a permanent end.
Ruby spoke, and a thousand voices spoke with her. With the voice of the very universe. She spoke to the Despair directly, even as it hissed its wrathful, yet no less frightened defiance.
"Get out of my uncle." she commanded.
Peach had never known what the Silver Eyes could do, or why the Superior had wanted them. But from that small interaction, she was starting to get an idea.
Ruby's eyes flashed, and the beam of light cast over the Alter and made him howl in agony. The black coils of Despair wriggled out of his body, quite as if they were parasites being burned out of the host. She had never seen such a thing in her life. Not once. But by the Brother Gods, there could not have been a more perfect time to see it.
Ruby went after her uncle's Alter with all her might, but this new power had not suddenly awakened more battle prowess. You couldn't have everything. Still, if this was not salvation staring them in the face, then Peach had no idea what the hell else it could be. Peach swallowed her pain and regret and hurried to Ruby's side, discouraging Alter-Qrow's stab and forcing him to give them space.
She called Cinder and the Princess, but they were well on the way by now, even with the shambling dead crawling out of their new burial site. No need to focus on them. They had to defeat the Alter now.
As if perfectly in tune with the unspoken plan, the Princess flashed into existence. Ripped off her blindfold, eyes already burning with white fire. The flash sent Alter-Qrow reeling, staggering back like he'd opened the door and been hit with the afternoon sun straight on. Cinder rushed him then, ever the pursuer, double chains coated with red flames and spinning in massive arcs, rending the air and ground and the approaching undead. Alter-Qrow was able to stay out of range, unleashing three cursed blades at her, but the real Ruby threw herself in front of them as she'd done before. The flames evaporated off her body as if they feared even to touch her. Of course! How had she not recalled it sooner? Curse could not harm those he loved, even if he did not know this Ruby.
Peach used Sever and the world rumbled once again, flipping a dwarfing slab of earth from the ground. She sutured it to the space behind the Alter, and the shadow fell over him as it flew. The Black Blade roared and swung his scythe, cleaving straight through the house thick rock in one swing. Peach was ready by then though. She linked the two slabs the moment they were cut and watched them shatter into each other with explosive force. Alter-Qrow had managed to roll forward, but the explosive force was more than enough to send him tumbling away, debris falling on the world like rain.
Peach did not need to bark any orders. The others already had him.
It was a sequence of trades. The Alter swung his cruel scythe round and round, swings much too heavy for the Princess and Ruby to contest, but not for Cinder. She brought on the aggression despite her wounds, or perhaps because of them, having always been that type to fight harder when she was cornered, just as Peach had taught her. Cinder harried him with hurricanes of steel and tornadoes of flame, no longer laughing, meaning she well and truly realized the severity of victory now.
Cinder made openings, and the twins took them. They were perfectly in sync. How could they not be? Ruby's scythe cut low, and the Princess's cut high. The Alter dodged both, but that was his mistake. Ruby sent him reeling him with another flash of her silver eyes, pulling a cord of Despair from his straw-man body. Turning the corruption to dust. The Alter attacked back without thought, but Ruby had backed away by then, giving the Princess an opening so wide it was practically an invitation. Her eyes flashed even more powerfully than her other, so strong it seemed to lift her uncle in the air, and Peach saw the Despair spray out of Qrow like he was a popped balloon.
There was no better time than now to finish things. But the army of undead were up again, smaller in number, yet still greater than theirs by a great margin. The Alter was close to defeat now, Peach could feel it, but it would not come to fruition if the dead intervened. Peach would have to leave Qrow to the others.
"Cinder, I'll push back his army! Pin him down and end this!" She barked her final order.
With a nod, Cinder leapt above the Alter, upside down in the air like a gymnast flipping off a springboard, she loosed a chain at him, who'd been too preoccupied with Ruby and the Princess to notice. The chain hooked him around the neck, and as Cinder descended, brought him down flat on his back. Cinder used her flames to punch through the ground, vanishing into the depths of hell. She burst out the ground not far off, the old chain likely struck through the solid ground below, and now brandished another chain, which looped around the Alter's weapon hand a moment later.
Alter-Qrow tried to fight back, but Ruby and the Princess prevented him with their blessed power, allowing Cinder to continue binding him in chains until all his limbs were secured. Cinder popped out of the ground one final time and called to Peach and the twins. "Now!"
The undead leapt with all haste to save their master, burning with the flames of death, hundreds surrounding Ruby and her Alter as they unleashed the full power of their eyes together upon the downed Alter-Qrow. Intent to take their master's enemies to hell with them.
Hell, unfortunately, would have to wait a while longer.
It had been a long time since she'd used this technique, but now was the time for it. Peach got between her allies and enemies and willed her power to obedience in an instant, squared her legs to steady herself. A mountain against the gale. Then she reared her right arm above her left shoulder. Fist clenched so tight that her nails drew blood. A fist fit to sink a continent. But this little patch of land would have to suffice.
She swung her fist out wide, and felt it crunch against the air as if it were a solid object, cracks forming in the very fabric of space.
Destruction did not do it justice.
All around them, save for the small circumference of ground on which Peach and the others stood, the earth ripped, bent, rumbled, and shattered like glass. Towering boulders and stalagmites burst from the ground like devils freed from hell, throwing the pitiful undead into the air, shredding them to pieces, crushing them flat. Even those that had jumped into the air were blown back by a wind so vicious that Cinder had to stab her swords into the ground to keep herself taut. The destruction spread like a plague, stretching far as the eye could see and likely even further beyond, gouging up a fog of ash, making the world rumble and cry in protest.
It took five minutes for the end of the world to cease, returning all to a state of death silence.
Peach was just about ready to slump to her knees, utterly drained, but she was just able to summon a cane to lean on and amble toward the others, making her way through the dust. It didn't take long to find them. No longer burning their uncle with their eyes, but kneeling over him, the Princess holding his tattered hand. Cinder emerged from the dust on the opposite side, passing Peach a nod and something close to an approving smirk. There was nothing she needed to say, nor Peach herself. This was a moment for the family.
Alter-Qrow laid there, full of holes and tears, looking very much like a doll ruined over years of abuse. His eyes were glassy and tired, as if this whole struggle had simply been another day at the bottle. Another haze of drunken misery.
"Dear uncle," said the Princess. "It is time for you to take your place back with us. With your family."
His words came out weak and choked, like a man who just found out he'd contracted cancer. "What family?"
"Those who still remain. You damned us all to suffer alone, and for only the Queen-Mother's passing. In our time of weakness, your place was to be with us. You were a fool to banish yourself. If there is a sin you must answer for, it is that. And that alone."
He blinked as if he knew this all the time, but only now understood the full extent of his mistake. "It is so hard..."
"Yes," The Princess said understandingly, wrapping both her hands around his. "Yes, I know. But it is time to forgive yourself. It is time, uncle."
The Alter's eyes swiveled over to her, wet and gaining their red color again. "When did you become so much like your mother?"
The Princess shed a tear for him. "Gone she may be, but her blessings are still with us. She is still with us."
It took him a moment, but eventually he nodded. "That they are. Help me up, would you? Not as young as I used to be, you know."
The Princess and Ruby helped him stand. Strangely, the process of Despair that Alters were meant to pull themselves out of did not occur. Peach guessed that had to do with the Silver Eyes having essentially purged it from his body. Sparking the idea that an Alter could have an almost guaranteed chance of survival if the Silver Eyes were used on it, rather than the simple chance of survival. Such a thing could change how Heart Hunting was done entirely…
Such a thing would be an absolute necessity in saving her nephew's heart.
Peach looked at Ruby. So young. Too young to understand what this power meant to a lot of people in very high places. No matter what, the Superior could not find out about her. That would be tricky to manage, but that was a worry for later.
Alter-Qrow stood tall now, his niece clutched to his side, both looking battered and beaten, but smiling at one another. He turned to Peach. "I suppose I should thank you, woman. I could not have done much to earn this friendship you speak of."
Peach smiled weakly. "Can I count on you to behave from now on? I don't want to have to come back here and put sense into you again."
"The future is uncertain." He looked down at his niece. "But moving forward, that at least I can promise. Let us go home. I reckon I'll have a lot of apologies to make."
So loud and fast that it made Peach startle, wings sprouted from Alter-Qrow's back, big and black, like an angel of hell. The Princess paid a final look at her counterpart. "You have my thanks, Ruby."
Ruby, who looked so tired that one might assume she had fought the whole time, got out a haggard, weak chuckle. "No… no problem. I think."
The Princess held her eye for a moment. "It is strange. The holy eyes are a power exclusive to me and my mother. No other can wield it. None even of my own blood. And then, how odd it is that we look so similar." She paused. "Who are you, Ruby?"
She shrugged weakly, having to lean on Peach. "I'm not you from another universe, if that's what you're thinking."
The Princess grinned a wise grin. "Let us meet again, then. Soon."
Ruby smiled back. "How about a little later than soon? I need a break after all of this."
Alter-Qrow carried the Princess with him into the air, rising and rising until, with a loud flap of his wings, they flew off southward, over the ruined land, into the darkening distance, together at last. At the same time, Neptune's head popped up over the border of the crumbled wasteland, and he began picking his way through the destruction, gawking up at the flying uncle and niece.
Once he'd caught up with them, covered in dust but uninjured, he let out a huff. "I have so many questions."
"Me too," groaned Ruby, putting a hand to her head, eyes squeezed shut with pain.
Cinder came up with her arms crossed, had a bit of a limp to her now, pale skin now almost entirely gray from the ash. "Me three. I suggest we save the fond retelling of our grand adventure for another time. We saved one life, but dear Jaune's fate is still uncertain."
That rather small moment of achievement quickly withered amongst everyone. Ruby looked up, her face beaded with sweat, eyes squinting up at Peach. After emitting godlike beams so consecutively like that, a bit of squinting seemed a generous toll. "Is there anything we can do?"
Peach wasn't in a condition for more searching, even if it was her nephew who needed finding. She looked up at the sky, and at the moon in particular. "I suppose we'll wait and have faith in our friend up there. For now let's…" Peach squinted. "What in the world?"
It had appeared out of the sky, as if just entering the atmosphere. A bright white dot, like a star, falling toward the earth. At first, she thought it was a meteorite, but as it got closer it didn't seem to grow that much bigger. No flames from friction, no dusty trail. It wasn't even shaped like a rock.
"The hell?" said Neptune, now seeing it himself.
The object fell faster as it approached the ground, hard to tell what it was since it was so bright. It crashed with a muted thump thirty or so strides off, and it was Cinder who jogged off to investigate. Peach didn't bother pushing her knees any further and stumbled after her, while Neptune helped Ruby walk close behind.
Over the dusty ridge, Cinder had kneeled down to search for the mysterious object. And it didn't take long to realize what, or rather who, it was. Cinder's back hid his upper body, but the dark steel greaves and heavy fur cloak were indication enough. The Wolf. And more important than that, the Wolf without her promised nephew.
Newfound fear made Peach struggle toward him, aggravating her wounds, but needing desperately to know what happened. Had he been too late? Had this young master killed her baby? She prayed and prayed for any other possibility. Anything but to never see his face again.
And she, sort of, got what she wanted.
Peach circled to the Wolf's other side, expecting to see his helmeted head cradled in Cinder's arms. Indeed, it was in Cinder's arms, and it was his head. But for some reason, the helmet was off.
And he looked exactly like…
"Jaune?" whispered Ruby, clutched to Neptune's side for support, eyes wide with shock, an expression well replicated by everyone else. But they all knew it wasn't Jaune. It couldn't be.
The Wolf's eyes snapped open, bright and blue, his momentarily unconscious face setting into that hard frown Peach was so used to seeing on the real Jaune. He rose out of Cinder's arms, reclaiming that looming presence he'd had with his helmet on. He looked around.
Peach got to her question first, voice high with panic. "Where's the Shield Knight? You swore to bring him back alive. Please, where is he? Where's my boy?"
The Wolf's face - Jaune's face - was cut from stone. He looked up at the sky almost as if he was disappointed in it. "He will arrive shortly. Get away from here. Far away. None of you are in a condition to fight."
"Fight?" questioned Neptune incredulously. "Fight Jau - the Shield Knight? Why would we fight him? Why would you?"
The sky was growing dark now. And the pressure Peach had once felt from the power of Qrow's Alter was back… and stronger. Like elephants on her shoulders, feet solidified in concrete, lungs so tight it was like she was at the bottom of the ocean. She felt every drop of sweat ooze out every gland, as the world took on a cold so epic it was like the genesis of a nuclear winter.
Peach looked up, and the moon was glowing even brighter, light pulsing like a heartbeat as if that celestial body was alive somehow. It had expanded too, definitely past half phase, but not quite three-quarters either.
Not fifty percent of its shape. Not seventy, either.
Cinder was standing now, looking both confused and strangely thrilled at the same time, like she'd gotten a gift she hadn't known she wanted. "What's happened? Why must you fight him, Wolf?"
The Wolf's cold eyes sharpened, staring up at the moon as if it was his mortal enemy finally coming to settle the score once and for all. "If I do not fight him, if I do not defeat him. He will slaughter us all."
Lord almighty, this was one bastard of a chapter.
Some addendums that were thankfully brought to my attention. The rule that a Hunter being in another heart world reduces his power by twenty percent is now no longer true. It was an oversight on my part, implying that someone at forty percent max would only be fighting with twenty in another heart world, which is pretty stupid.
Also, to Overshadow, the user does not need to have significantly more power than the host, it's just easier if you have a lot more.
I'll make these changes in the proper chapters soon.
Otherwise, I hope you all enjoyed this titan of a chapter and I'll see you in the next one.
ISA