RWBY: Dual Eclipse
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Scene Change
Chapter 31: Acceleration
Back at the Yoshitsuna, repairs had been completed on the ship. The breach points the ramsleds had forced open were properly sealed and reinforced.
"Everything looks great, dood." York was looking over the repaired sectors, feeling rather impressed by the work. "These TDF folks know their stuff."
"I'd certainly hope so, considering how far technological advancements have come since the merger." Mita reminded him. "Either way, we're just waiting on Aika to contact us with the departure time."
Further inside the Drydock, Raphael, Hilde and Zotia had finished giving their testimony regarding the cell of Kurosugi's fanatics about two hours ago, and as such split up to pass the time until the repairs had finished.
While Hilde went to browse some extra wares, Zotia found herself looking over a recent report about efforts to cross-breed new species of plantlife from various planets across the cosmos. One such report concerned the plantlife of Blood Parch - with little to no natural water on this Netherworld, the plantlife had to adapt to absorbing blood from wayward demons that fell prey to its thorns, which were easily capable of impaling someone.
'Hm... Anthea would be interested in this.'
Raphael was headed towards the dock to check in on the ship's progress, when something caught his notice.
Sitting at a table and looking bored out of her mind was a Netherworld Fox-clan demon, one with dark red fur and hair to her and a slightly pale skin complexion. However, he could only count five tails on her - four behind her and the last one being used to recline back on.
On the table she was manning were multiple flyers - missing peoples' reports.
"Coulda just listened to Vie, but no, just had to take a shuttle to the ass-end of existence itself..." She grumbled, not yet noticing the angel regarding her with a wary gaze. "Now I'm stuck out here with this crappy part-time gig and nobody's even bothered to take a look and I-" She froze, getting the feeling of something or someone watching her. Apricot-colored eyes flicked over, sighting Raphael.
"...if this is a bad time I can come back later."
"Oh, nononononono! Just... ah..."
One of Raphael's eyebrows rose.
"Ugh, fine, you got me... been kicking myself for not taking my older sister's advice. Now I'm stuck out here until I can get at least half of these passed out."
"That due to the job contract, or needing to afford a ticket back?"
"Bit of column A, bit of column B."
Raphael took a second look at the flyer. Apparently seven months or so had passed since the disappearance of a demon child with dark brown hair and sharp yellow eyes.
"Let's see here..." Picking up one of the flyers, he read it over - and his eyes widened a bit. "...pardon me for asking, but how recent is this information?"
"Newly updated about a week ago. Why do you ask?"
The Base
4:59 P.M. Vale Time
[MY NAME IS VIVEK]
"Vivek?" Nelius looked over to Epsilon, whom shared his equally confused expression. "Haven't heard of that name before."
"Nor have I." Epsilon piped up. She took a moment to connect with Nelius's Scroll, to do a name search for Vivek. "...and the CCT has nothing on a person with that name - no records or anything."
"Hm..." He turned his attention back to the Diver. "So then, Vivek... what do you remember?"
[I AWOKE ON ANOTHER CONTINENT, FAR ACROSS ONE OF THE LARGEST BODIES OF WATER I HAVE EVER SEEN. I MUST ASK, HOWEVER... WHEN DID HUMANS GAIN ANIMALISTIC FEATURES?]
Nelius blinked at that statement.
"Wait, you've not heard of the Faunus?"
[WHAT ARE FAUNUS?]
"...I don't believe this." Epsilon's confusion grew. "How does this person not know about the Faunus?"
Nelius was silent for a moment, but then something began to click.
"..maybe this one predates them." At that, Epsilon whipped her virtual head around to look at Nelius, as if he had just grown three new heads out the sides of his neck and began speaking in six different languages at the same time.
"Wut."
"I know, bit of a stretch, but think back to Ozpin's memories, of the life he lived prior." It took Epsilon about a minute to process that idea.
"Waitwaitwait a minute... you're saying this one, this Vivek is from way back then? How?"
An uncomfortable stretch of seven seconds passed before Nelius spoke again.
"Might be related to what Summer told us, about Remnant breaking down... normally there's supposed to be a defined barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead. And given what we learned from Ozpin's memories..."
Epsilon had to take a moment to fully absorb the implications of that statement.
"But if those walls have been breaking down this whole time... then-"
"Yeah, Remnant's gonna be screwed two separate ways, maybe even more."
Beacon Academy Dorms
5:04 P.M.
Weiss Schnee found herself stunned beyond any kind of belief. More than once she had blinked and rubbed her eyes, to ensure that what she was seeing wasn't any kind of hallucination.
"Weiss?" Yang had walked up to the heiress, seeing her rooted to the spot, staring into their shared dorm room. Yang poked her on the cheek, waved a hand in front of her face, even gently shook her by the shoulder.
No response. As soon as Yang looked into the dorm, though, she soon understood why Weiss looked mentally stunned.
Ruby Rose was studying - and no, that wasn't a euphemism for how she normally found ways to put off doing her coursework. She was taking notes, answering questions, and making preparations for future assignments.
"Wha..." Yang was quickly understanding why Weiss was confused. Ruby had been called back to Ozpin's Office earlier today... did he make mention of how her coursework was lacking? Then again, Ruby had been skipped ahead two years, so maybe she was having to catch up and he knew an upperclassman that was willing to share notes?
Bit of a stretch, to be certain...
So engrossed in this mental skiprope situation was Yang that neither Weiss nor she had noticed the last member of their team, Blake, come walking up behind them, having finished her customary reading session in the school library. Peeking around to look at whatever these two were gawking at, she caught sight of Ruby actively doing studywork.
Part of Blake wanted to feel some amount of joy that Ruby had broken out of her less than stellar habits, but another part unknowingly resonated with her other two teammates... a change like this was far too sudden to develop in mere hours. Did Ozpin give her an ultimatum concerning her coursework?
Ultimately, Blake had to decide - take the direct approach and simply ask Ruby about what had happened up at Ozpin's Office, or do a little sleuthing of her own to figure out what was going on?
While all of that had been going on, Jaune was returning from a personal errand when he noticed the trio standing outside their dorm room with the door open and staring into it. Thanks to being nearly half a foot taller than Yang he was easily able to peek over them and see what had them nearly locked into a stupor.
To see his fellow team leader willingly hitting the books... and judging from her pace, Ruby was flying through the assignments with ease. Something lit a fire under her... but what?
TDF Drydock 19
Unknown Time
Hilde and Zotia had returned to the ship, and were now waiting on Raphael to return.
"He's taking a bit..." Hilde noted.
"Perhaps he got called back to elaborate on some details?" Zotia offered an idea.
"If that were the case-" Whatever Hilde's retort was, it died on her lips as the angel in question came into view, entering the bridge. "Oh, there he is."
"Apologies for the tardiness."
"Hm?" Hilde had noticed something tucked under his right arm. "What do you have there?"
"Flyer for a missing persons' report - found something quite interesting in this."
"How so?" In response, Raphael handed it over to her, whom opened it up and began reading. "...this isn't some kind of prank, is it?"
"That's the reason I brought it back with me. The dates and images provided don't match up with what we know."
"What do you mean?" Zotia was out of the loop, right up until Hilde showed her the flyer, depicting a brown-haired demon child with yellow eyes.
Date showed he went missing around seven months ago, there were contacts for a Tyrios, Eoria, Anesha and Monica, but the child's name stood out the most - Nelius.
"...isn't that-"
"Perhaps. I know an old friend of mine once said everyone in the cosmos has a doppelganger somewhere, but this..."
"Only one way to know for certain. We should be ready to go whenever."
Back in Communications, Zio and York were working on better configuring the frequency to pick up on Nelius's message.
"C'mon... almost..." There was a fair amount of static and squealing interfering with the broadcast.
"Ugh, cosmic background radiation... what a pain, dood."
"A true assault on the senses." Zio continued tinkering with the frequency, trying to get a cleaner signal.
The Base
5:06 P.M.
"So then, Vivek, anything else you remember?" Nelius turned his attention back to the spirit.
[A DISTANT MEMORY... A REBELLION OF MY OWN ACCORD]
"Rebellion, eh? Against what or whom?"
[MY FORMER MASTER - AFTER THE LOSS OF HIS WIFE, HE TURNED MANIACAL, LASHING OUT AT STAFF AND FAMILY]
"You didn't simply leave?"
[I COULD NOT LEAVE]
[NOT WITH THOSE WHOM I CARED FOR STILL UNDER HIS THUMB]
[BUT I KNEW HE HAD EARS IN MANY PLACES, SO ASKING FOR ASSISTANCE WAS NOT POSSIBLE]
[I HAD TO BE-]
"Had to be what?" Silence followed as the Dual Diver's screen suddenly began to fill with static. "Vivek?"
The whole screen filled with static and interference, and just as suddenly as it appeared it died off, leaving the screen clear.
"Vivek? You there?"
More silence. The main screen booted back up to the selection menu after about three seconds.
"...think we lost contact." Epsilon finally spoke up after a tense minute. "I dunno how ghosts here in Remnant work, but I bet she ran outta gas, so to speak..." About six seconds passed, and as she was about to ask something, an idea then hit. "Weird change of topic, but do you think if we got ahold of the Lantern, it could point us in a direction as to how to solve this?"
"Possible, but first we'd need the cooperation of the corresponding Maiden, and if they're being hunted like how Amber was I'd bet they're in seclusion... not to mention they'd be less than receptive to someone like myself walking up and displaying knowledge of their powers."
"...good point. Y'think we could get Azura on the same page?"
"Interesting idea, but they'd also likely freak out Mistral's Maiden, unless they also have a civvie life. Not to mention the fact that we'd need to get Azura up to speed on what kind of miserable situation Remnant is currently in right now."
"Speaking of, back during the interrogation, Ozpin and Ironwood did make mention of Mistral's Headmaster being potentially involved in this whole deal. Could Azura be able to keep an eye on things over there?"
"I'm not certain how much info they could obtain, but it's worth a try. We'll get in touch with Azura early tomorrow morning."
That night...
As Nelius settled off to sleep and Epsilon took this time to wind down, neither had noticed the Dual Diver silently activating of its own accord once more.
A wayward mind found itself unwittingly calling to the machine, one that felt alone despite being surrounded by many.
One that was a stranger to their current predicament...
Tuesday, September 27
8:21 A.M. Vale Time
With the house secure and all items safely tucked away, Nelius let his wings spread forth as he lifted into the air and began his flight over towards Mistral.
Upon reaching Anima's air-space in around ten minutes, he decided on taking a slightly more roundabout path, dipping south of Shion and Higanbana, mostly to involve as few witnesses as possible.
Landing at a relatively open path, he retracted his wings before taking a quick look around.
The dirt path had no other people taking it, and a signpost pointed to Higanbana. There was another direction mentioning another town, but it was crossed out, with the word "bandits" written overtop it.
"OK, relatively open spot, no other signatures around. Couldn't we have just called Azura ahead of time?" Epsilon had seen a possible hole in the plan.
"While your firewall has been keeping that unknown coding from spreading, and Azura was able to use their Scroll to chat with us, I'd rather not take the risk of it finding a way out until we know how to properly neutralize it." With that, Nelius slightly flared his demonic power, banking on Azura's use of the Unlosing Ranger's suit to track his signature. He needed to be careful not to flare too much, lest he attract any nearby Grimm before the meeting could get underway.
It took about six minutes of waiting around before he got a reaction... he could feel something headed his way, but if his maps were accurate the signal was coming from the direction of Kuchinashi.
About a minute later, a figured leapt out of the tree lines. Landing before him was the Unlosing Ranger, known to them as Azura.
As they went to tap the side of their helm, Nelius held up a hand.
"Apologies, but I'd rather not use text messaging. Found a nasty code string in my Scroll, and I'd rather not have it spread to Mistral's CCT through either your Scroll or suit. My partner's been working on containing it as best she can so it can be properly studied."
Nelius couldn't see Azura's face through the helm, but he could imagine the latter looking a bit confused.
"As for why I'm here... long story short, my partner and I stumbled on a plot to cripple Vale from within. According to some info we got, some of the people behind it came to Vale with the good graces of Haven Academy's Headmaster backing them."
To that, Azura crossed their arms, with a slight headtilt... which lasted for about seven seconds before they ended up tapping a different part of their helm.
-How did you acquire such information?- A mechanical, androgynous voice came from Azura.
'Vocal disguising... or could it be a kind of text to speech function?' Epsilon found herself curious as to which method was being used.
"I was brought in for questioning following the capture of Roman Torchwick. The Headmasters of Beacon and Atlas Academies were among those asking me what I knew, so I felt no need to hold back any details."
-And they implied that Leonardo Lionheart might be compromised?-
"Highly possible. I've not met the guy, so I can't say for certain, and of course I'm still parsing out the situation over in Vale, so constant travel over here isn't entirely feasible right now."
-And that is why you came to me... you want me to investigate for clues.-
"Pretty much. Hate to put something like this on you so soon, but right now we might have the element of surprise. If there's a way to defuse the situation before it can even start..."
-Clever. However, do we know who or what we're up against?-
"That's proving to be the tricky part. Current bet is that someone coerced Lionheart to send the Vale saboteurs - through him we might get a better idea of who'd be insane enough to want to collapse an entire kingdom, what with the discount smoke monsters lurking outside and waiting for what is essentially the dinner bell."
-...truly an oddity.-
"Story of my life. Ultimately, it's your call if you're up for this."
Azura was silent for a minute or two, reviewing information that had been compiled over the last few months.
-...I'm in. I've been noticing an unusually high number of Mistral's Hunters being moved to areas where they'd be unable to defend Mistral proper if something happened... movements happening under Lionheart's suggestions. If he is under someone's thumb, as you have suggested...-
"We'd get one hell of a domino effect with the Vytal Festival kicking off at the beginning of November. While I'm doing what I can to defuse any potential issues, if something does slip by me and tensions start flaring, and said tensions get broadcast across Remnant..."
-The Grimm would go into a frenzy, and while the world tries to find someone to point the finger at, the true saboteur would enact any other plans they had drawn up... this reminds me far too much of the machinations of Asagi Kurosugi.-
Nelius internally debated for a moment if he should inform Azura about Kurosugi's involvement in the previous world.
'Kurosugi might've gotten vaporized, but I dunno if there's been an official announcement back home about her demise.'
'Fair point. Best to not jump the gun just yet.'
"Well, if there's nothing else we need to discuss, I'd say Meeting Adjourned, though there is the issue of information sharing. I don't want that code string getting loose."
-I would lend you one of the communication units I have, but I only managed to hang onto two of them, and the other is in the hands of my ward.-
"Any schematics?"
-Sadly, no. WHS was notoriously tight-lipped about how they were made and how they work... something about preventing another series of prank calls.-
"...so much for that idea."
Azura made to say something else, but a new alert blipped across their visor.
-Apologies, but a small batch of info just lit up. Seems Lionheart's giving out new patrol routes... there must be a reason beyond keeping them far from Mistral. I'm going to take a look for myself.-
"All right. Won't be easy, but I'll find a way to get in touch should I learn anything new on my end."
-Kindly do.- And with that, Azura dashed back off. Nelius waited for about two minutes before heading back to Vale.
'Die's cast now. Hopefully Azura can find out something more.'
It was as Nelius was entering Vale's air-space that Epsilon had an idea.
'Say, about that coding packet... I know Ironwood's getting people ready to find and neutralize it, but a thought occurs... maybe we could reverse-engineer it?'
'Care to elaborate?'
'I might be getting ahead of myself, but I seriously doubt Cinder and her two lackeys are the only ones looking to collapse Vale. Even with the 80 years of relative peace since the Great War's conclusion, there's easily bound to be underlying tension... tension that would erupt into a full-on storm if Cinder's plan goes off without a hitch.'
Nelius quickly landed back at their hideaway on the edge of Mountain Glenn.
'...another thought occurs... Atlas is the leading nation as far as technological process on Remnant goes. Could someone from Atlas also be part of this?'
'Took the words right out of my processor. If we can get the packet to work for us, we might get more than just a link back to any other members of Salem's Cabal... we could full-on expose the entire scheme in a single sweep.'
'Definitely worth looking into, though we're going to need something that we can use to study the code. Unfortunately, I doubt Vale's market has anything sophisticated enough for that.'
'When we next meet with Ironwood, might be the best time to offer the idea. Given how he brought his entire fleet, I doubt subterfuge is his forte - might as well make it ours, then.'
Chapter 31- Complete