Hello there, I am alive. It's been… what? Four months? Yeah, sorry it took that long. I try to write a chapter a month, but I got my apartment back on November 1st, so I needed to focus on moving back, give the place a good cleaning, and place my stuff, etc… That, along with the legal process and meetings about the case against my landlady (who refuses to pay up btw, who would have thought?), and building my own custom PC for the first time… It's been an eventful four months that kept me pretty busy, which slowed down how much time I had to write. New PC runs like a charm, though.
Oh, and also I discovered modded Skyrim and got lost in the game for a good two weeks. That one's on me. You'd have this chapter two weeks ago if it wasn't for me falling back in love with that game. Sorry.
I'm gonna do it again!
Later. For now, it's time to answer the reviews.
avocadoman (sorry, for some reason ffn deletes your username if I include the mr part): Whether Gemini would be able to use Ruby's semblance or not is an excellent question.
Ilia: "... And? Are you going to answer it?"
Are you crazy? That'd be spoiling. Sorry, but readers will have to wait to find out.
That aside, Gemini and Ruby switching who's in control of Gemini's body is an idea I did consider and play around with while planning the fic, but in the end decided not to. Good guess, though.
Singular Ash: Uh, I see. Well thanks for the info. I do hope your gripe with chapter 27 won't stop you from enjoying the rest of the story.
vastoisshin: Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in Jaune's position right now. It's a rather awkward one. What I would want even less, however, is being in Gemini's position. Kid is cooked and has no out of his problems that doesn't require making outrageous moves.
In fact, I expect a particular action of his in this chapter to be rather controversial and the source of protests amongst readers. I'm probably going to need to explain myself in the next chapter's author notes.
Yog-sothsoth: Thanks. Coming up with chapter names has been increasingly difficult, but I try my best to make good ones. Lowkey kind of regret basing my chapter names on a theme,
I think this chapter is about as bad as things will get from now on. It'll start getting better soon, when Gemini will be able to get his own ball rolling instead of just playing damage control. To be fair, I threw a lot of damage at him to control.
Sadly, no Team JASY this chapter.
Mattysteel: Eh, I also haven't read a fic's chapter in… a while. I don't even remember how long ago the last time I read something on ffn was. Either way, welcome back!
Ilia: "Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of VIZ Media. Yu-Gi-Oh is the legal property of Shueisha."
And trigger warning: An act of self-harm is done in this chapter. Like I said earlier, this chapter is about as dark as it can get.
Ilia: "That's what you call a trigger warning? Here's the real trigger warning: Philosophy ahead."
Oh come one, philosophy? Really, Ilia?
Ilia: "With all due respect, which is none, have you seen how the internet reacts to differences of opinion?"
… Is this a trick question?
I stood watch over the train rails, hidden under the red leaves of Forever Fall.
"Just half an hour before the train gets here." Augur noted, standing right next to me. "I've already had Creeps dig underneath the rails. When the train passes through, the ground below will crumble and crash it. Take this."
He handed me an earpiece, which I fixed on the side of my head. The plan was that after the train crashed, Cinder, who was standing watch from the cliff above alongside my father, would come down and melt the doors, allowing us to enter. I'll use the earpiece to speak orders to the Grimm, and Augur, having the other piece, will make the Grimm obey them, and their intent was for Ironwood to get footage of me commanding Grimm and working alongside Salem's maiden.
I didn't like it, but there was nothing I could do to get out of this mission. I only hoped the train was fully automated, and not crew manned. Especially since Cinder decided my sister wouldn't take part in this operation… Probably so that Neo's semblance couldn't be used to pull a fast one on them.
And yes. I totally would have plotted with Neo to show the cameras something completely different from what Cinder wanted them to see. Put her illusion right in front of the cameras so that Ozpin and Ironwood would see Augur instead of me. That way I'd ruin Salem's plan to incriminate me and reveal to Ozpin's side that Augur was still a problem.
Sadly, Salem decided to be smart and not give me that opportunity, so it was just me, my father, Cinder, and Augur on this mission.
"Until the train arrives, I guess all we have is small talk. This is the first time we get to speak one on one, isn't it?" Augur said, with a grin, and a glint of malicious mischief in his eyes.
"Because we have something to talk about?'' I snarked, not even bothering to look at him.
"Don't we? You've been a busy guy these past few years. I'd say that's plenty of material to talk about. You've involved yourself with many of the show's characters, pushing them to become stronger. Jaune and Yang in particular were the ones in which I noted a difference during the fight at the initiation. Such a shame that with Ruby's death, you've lost your best asset against Salem, and the others you've been nurturing have turned against you." Augur said, listing some of the things I had been doing before Tyrian's attack.
That he knew I was behind Jaune and Yang being stronger than their canon selves was annoying, but changed nothing to the current circumstances, so what point was he trying to make?
I turned my head toward him, only to find his face an inch from mine. Fu- I hadn't even heard him move.
"But what I am most curious about is…" Augur continued, speaking slowly as if he reveled in every word. "How did you get your hands on the Lamp?"
I felt a cold chill as I listened to him. No, he couldn't know. How?
"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, keeping my voice calmer than I felt. "The Lamp is in the possession of the strangers who interfered with your attack on Beacon. I only ever had the Staff, and I already told Cinder what I did with it."
Augur chuckled, and reached into his chest's crystal. His hand disappeared into it, and came out with a throwing knife. My throwing knife.
"You dropped this." Augur said, handing the knife over. "It is yours, right? Unless I'm mistaken, this is one of the throwing knives Neo gave you on your… Which birthday was it again? The 9th or the 10th?"
Shit! Fuck! I couldn't believe that after all the efforts put into making sure neither side could identify the Happy Huntresses, I had such an oversight. Even if I didn't use my knives all that often and they weren't exactly rare or iconic weapons, Augur shared my memories from before my aura was unlocked. It made unfortunate sense that he'd be able to recognize knives I had with me for years.
If Augur knew, then he must have told Salem, which meant my plans were ruined. She knew I had the Lamp, and would no doubt demand I hand it over. What few allies I had were now exposed, and any hope I had of acting in secrecy were crushed.
I tried to think of a way out of this. Any course of action that could savage my plans to save Ruby, but Salem knowing about my interference in Augur's attack and that I had the Lamp ruined everything. Damn it. Damn it!
My breathing accelerated, and feeling my head get dizzy, I fell to my knees. I could feel my heart beating faster in my chest, my hands turning moist as panic preyed on my mind. Fuck!
"Gem! Get a hold of yourself." Ruby said, her voice snapping me out of my current state. "Think about it. It doesn't make sense for you to be wasting time on an assignment like this if Salem knows about you having the Lamp.''
Wait. Ruby was right. Salem would prioritize one of the four relics over some Atlesian mechs. It wouldn't make sense to do otherwise.
I took a deep breath, and calmed my nerves before getting up and staring Augur in the eyes.
"You didn't tell Salem about me having the Lamp." I accused him, and he cocked his head to the side, not saying a word. Convinced I was right, I continued. "If you had told her, or anyone on her side, they would have demanded the Lamp from me without wasting time doing anything else first, and I highly doubt Salem would have taken no for an answer. So you kept the information to yourself. Why?"
Augur remained silent, staring back at me.
"Isn't Salem trying to obtain more of my soul fragments, too? Yet despite her orders of bringing Penny back, you weren't trying to kidnap her. To do that you would have had to coerce her into following you by doing something along the lines of taking Dr. Polendina hostage." I kept talking, poking at the holes in Augur's behavior. "Instead, you attacked her with intent to kill. No, it's not just that you were trying to kill her, you were dead set on touching her. You wanted to take her soul fragment for yourself!"
"... And?" Augur said, a hint of irritation in his voice.
"In canon, Salem wanted to capture silver-eyed warriors alive. So why did she change her mind and order to kill Maria Cavalera?" I asked, not expecting Augur to answer. "She didn't, did she? I don't know why Salem wanted a silver-eyed warrior without her eyes, but she wanted her alive. And you killed her anyway. You aren't loyal to Salem at all!"
A moment of suspense followed the accusation, after which Augur slowly clapped.
"Congratulations. Be it through reasoning or intuition, you're the first being on Remnant to figure that one out." He said. Behind the sarcasm, his eyes were looking at me in a calculating manner, sizing me up. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was resizing me up? "You're right. I'm not loyal to Salem. I'm forced to officially stay on her side and pretend to obey her, but my real objective is to bring her down too. In truth, we are on the same side."
"I can't believe the guy who tried to murder my sister. And Penny. And everyone he's come across… Is seriously saying he's on our side." An incredulous Ruby said in my head, not buying any of it.
Yeah, me neither.
"I call bullshit." I scoffed. "You're a homicidal maniac who's been trying to kill everyone you've met. You are so not an ally, nor anything remotely close to one."
"Such harsh words. Don't you realize I have to sell it so Salem doesn't suspect a thing?" Augur said. "I've held back when fighting the main cast just enough so that they'd survive."
"If you're going to lie, at least make it a believable one." I snorted. "You can't claim you've only been 'pretending' to try and kill people to trick Salem that you're loyal to her, when you've been going against her orders by trying to kill others. Besides, if you genuinely didn't want to murder people, you wouldn't have slaughtered Alesians during your assault on Atlas either. You would have spared them, like Sibyl did."
"Eh eh eh… Fair enough." Augur chuckled, seemingly not caring that his obvious lie was seen through. "Although, since you're mentioning Sibyl… Do you really think her support will be of any help to you?"
"He knows about that too?!'' Ruby exclaimed as I tensed.
"Why so surprised?" Augur grinned again. "Did you think I wouldn't know that Sibyl would seek you out and form an alliance with you? My intelligence comes from you, and so do hers. I know how both of you think, thus it was beyond obvious to me, so much so that I didn't even need to confirm it to know."
"And that, too, you haven't told Salem." I said confidently. There was no way Salem would tolerate a conspiracy against her from within her own ranks.
"See? We just get each other." The Grimm laughed.
"Do we? I may know you're not loyal to Salem, but I have no idea what your goal is." I said. Augur was against Salem, and against… everyone else? ''What the hell do you want?"
"Why, I want the same thing as everyone else: to be happy."
"... You're against everyone because you want to be happy. Really?." I deadpanned, unimpressed by Augur's answer.
"Tell me, what's the difference between a beast and a person?" The Grimm asked as he started walking, circling around me.
"Is that a rhetorical question, or are you actually expecting an answer?" I asked back.
"Animals are led by instinct rather than reason, yet humans have their own instincts, and those lead them as well, more than many like to recognize. Sapience? There are animals, like the elephant, who might not quite be sapient, but whose intelligence isn't that far below humans. A mere difference of degree, rather than kind. Tool use? Crows use tools as well, as do chimps. Why, the latter even occasionally use tools to make slightly better tools. Language? Dolphins actually have a more complex language than humans. Culture? Whale pods each have their own culture, sets of learned behavior they teach their group to have and act by. Metacognition? Even that, orangutans, capuchin monkeys, and again, chimps, have shown to be able to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own thinking process and decisions. They might even be capable of moral reasoning."
"I'm not accepting the idea that chimps, of all things, care about morality when they normalized ripping off their opponent's balls with their teeth as an acceptable combat tactic." I said, interrupting Augur's monologue.
"Excuse me, chimpanzees do what?!" Ruby asked, her voice full of shock and disgust.
Augur gave me an annoyed look. "I said chimps might be capable of moral reasoning. I never said they were good at it." He said, before continuing. "Where was I? Oh, right. Intelligence, tool use, culture, language, etc… If every characteristic of humans can be found in animals, then what difference is there between man and beast? The difference is in their needs."
I raised an eyebrow. That was an… interesting answer that Augur had. "Their needs? And what do you mean by that?"
Obviously, both needed food, water and sleep, but if his point was just about that, then it wasn't worth bringing up to begin with.
"Animals are happy just by having their material needs satisfied. Food, water, sleep, reproduction, even community for social species. As long as they have that, life is good as far as they're concerned. But people? Beyond the material needs, people have spiritual needs as well." Augur affirmed with confidence. "To a person, it isn't enough to have their basic needs satisfied. No, even when they have everything they need, humans feel the ache of unfulfilled purpose. Their souls cry out for meaning, for something greater than mere survival or themselves."
"And all this relates to you how?" I asked Augur, growing impatient for him to just get to the point.
Augur smiled, and spread his arms open as he stopped walking in circles around me. "It's quite simple, really. Unlike Sibyl who was made purely from one of your soul fragments as her core, I was made by Salem encrusting the fragment into an already existing Grimm. I was a beast, and when I was a beast, I knew only following my instinct and had no further thought beyond obeying them, which included following the command of Grimm with higher authority, Salem standing at the top of that hierarchy. But now I am a person, and I have gained a heart that can only know happiness through spiritual meaning; by fulfilling the purpose I was created for."
What Augur was saying finally dawned on me, and my eyes grew wide.
"As a Grimm, you were created to kill. To destroy." I said.
"Yes!" Augur exclaimed with sudden zeal. "I can only be happy when destroying life. This is what I exist for, by divine decree! To kill humans and eradicate life wherever I can!"
"… Well, I guess I know for certain what you're about now." I deadpanned. "Except for whatever your issue with Salem is. Uniting the 4 relics would lead to the Brother Gods wiping out humanity again, so why are you against Salem if she'd give you what you want?"
"Aye, but Salem is no Grimm, and has no business leading them. She's nothing more than a human witch who usurped power that never belonged to human hands." Augur sneered in disgust. "I have no choice but to pretend to be loyal to her until I find a way to neutralize her and take back the throne. Only then, when I will have become the true and only legitimate King of the Grimm, will the world be set right once more for the Grimm."
"I see… And what's your plan to get rid of Salem?" I asked. Was it anything that would impact this era's fight against Salem, or something more long term? I needed to know that to determine how concerned about Augur's ambitions I should be.
Actually, maybe Augur replacing Salem could be a good thing. Sure, he'd be more intensely aggressive than her, but if he wanted to wage open warfare against humanity instead of operations in secret, and wouldn't make use of human agents like Salem either… He'd actually be easier to handle, wouldn't he?
Eh, whatever. Both Salem and Augur are a problem either way, and problems were to be dealt with. Which one would be worse was a detail.
"Dunno." Augur shrugged. "I'm kinda just trying to get more cards in my hands and hope I'll be able to figure out something along the way. I have plenty of time to find a way to get rid of her. I'm open to suggestions, though. What was your plan?"
"I'm not fucking telling you that. Why would I?" I scoffed.
"Really? You're going to be like that?" Augur said with an annoyed tone that told me I did well to not tell him. "I have been open with you. More than enough to show I don't intend to repeat anything you'll say to someone else, as you would be able to expose me in return. All I want is for my curiosity to be satiated."
"And? It remains that just because Salem is your enemy, it doesn't mean you're an ally. Sometimes the enemy of my enemy is just another enemy." I said, not interested in telling him anything he could use against me. "Which you've just openly admitted to be, by the way. So no, I'm not trusting you with anything. Have a go at Salem if you want, I don't care, but I'm not going to work with you on that or anything else."
"But you think working with Sibyl is a good idea?" Augur scoffed. "You haven't realized it yet? She's been playing you since the start."
"Sure, and I'll just take your word for it." I said in a sarcastic tone. "Unlike you, Sibyl has actually held back from killing people, and has yet to give me any reason to suspect foul play from her."
"Oh… Interesting." Augur smirked. "But if you can trust her so, then why did she keep Qrow's death from you when you met in Atlas?"
My eyes widened in shock at Augur's words, and I heard Ruby gasp in my mind.
"Uncle Qrow… Uncle Qrow is dead? No, that can't be true. It can't!" Ruby said, trying to deny it before she started crying, unheard by anyone but me.
"Ah, so I'm right. She really didn't tell you." Augur's smirk grew wider. "I wonder why that could be. Did she give you the whole 'daughter' spiel, too? She did the same with Salem. I'm pretty sure it's her way of feeling her - and you - out and see if there's at least some heartstrings to pull on."
I faltered backward, just barely stopping myself from falling on the ground, suffering from vertigo at the news.
"Mr. Branwen is… How? When?" I asked, failing to keep my hands from trembling.
"Pfft! 'Mr. Branwen'?" Augur guffawed at how I referred to Mr. Branwen. "Don't tell me you respected that monster?"
My hands snapped forward and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak. "Don't you dare…" I said with a snarl.
"Don't dare what? Tell the truth? Qrow was a bandit. Before coming to Beacon, he lived by stealing from and murdering people." Augur said, not bothering to push my hands off him. His grin was mocking. "Why, rape was also common in the Branwen tribe, who only stopped such actions when Raven took over as chieftain. I wonder if he raped enough women to lose count, like he did with his murders?"
"Wha- My uncle's not like that! You have no right to speak about him like this!" Ruby shouted in anger through her tears. "He's not anything like what Augur's describing. He's just not."
Staring him in the eyes, I spoke in cold rage. "Mr. Branwen might have been raised by bandits to know no better back in his teenage days, but when he left for Beacon, he was able to think by himself, and to live as himself, for the first time in his life, and he proved that his nature was better than the only nurture he had receive until then. He changed his ways, and became a different man."
"And when did he pay penance? When was he given a pardon from a court of law? Who died on a cross to wash away his evil deeds?" Augur said, maintaining his grin. It was obvious he didn't actually care what Mr. Branwen might or might not have done, but enjoyed throwing it at my face. "Face it, your dear 'Mr. Branwen' isn't some redeemed man. Nobody in their right mind would argue that a murderer shouldn't go to prison because he's saved someone else's life on a different and unrelated occasion, and just like how the people he's murdered don't take away from the goodness of saving the people he later did, neither do the people he's saved take away from those he killed. The unyielding hand of Justice demands her due for the years of banditry, regardless of the years of huntsman work. Qrow is nothing more than a criminal who got away scot-free."
"There might be some truth to your words, but humans simply don't live that way. Unlike Lady Justice, people are nuanced, and capable of forgiving, because what is 'good' takes priority over what is 'just', and there's good in an evildoer changing his ways." I snapped back at Augur, unwilling to let him just deride Mr. Branwen. "And I don't care about Lady Justice. I fight not for her, but for the people I care about. I fight because I want happy and peaceful days spent alongside family and friends. I don't care whether the rest of the world brands me good or bad. If it must call me a villain for protecting the people I love, then let it."
Augur's grin widened further. "And there you have it. That is indeed a great showcase of how humans are. That is: completely and utterly lacking in justice. Mankind is an unjust and evil species. No wonder the God of Destruction created the Grimm to wipe you all out, it's entirely deserved."
"But you don't care about whether killing people is justified or not. You kill because you enjoy it, and all the philosophical talk is just post-rationalization. You're saying all that not because you care to be in the right either, but to sow doubt and make us doubt ourselves." I accused Augur, who laughed in my face before letting go of me.
"That's entirely correct, yes. 'Morality' is entirely superfluous to the Grimm, but humans care so much about it, it's an effective path to poison their heart." With that, Augur stepped away, fading into the woods. "The train will be here soon. Make sure you're ready." He said right before getting out of sight.
"..." I said nothing, only feeling disheartened as I listened to Ruby's sobs.
Fuck…
/-/
The rails trembled in a steady rumble as the train and its cargo approached, a massive steel body dragged forward by its massive engine and churning pistons. This was a force of industry, an unyielding machine which pushed forward a ferocity only found within nature from its catastrophes.
Then the ground beneath it crumbled under its weight, the iron of the rails bending with a tortured scream as it yielded to the empty air of the underground tunnels Augur had his Creeps dig, and all hell broke loose. For a moment, the locomotive almost looked like it was gliding in the air, as if it was trying to resist its fate through sheer momentum alone, but then it tilted downward, dragging cart after cart into the maw of the earth. As the iron horse smashed into the hollowed earth, the Dust it ran on exploded in flames so intense I could feel their searing heat from my position, despite being very much at a safe distance that guaranteed no risk of harm from the crash, and some of the carts were even blown out of the giant pit trap. In the end, the hole Augur made was filled with damaged carts, and a few were laid out in flames in the surroundings, and it was likely only thanks to the trees and leaves of the eternally autumnal forest being humid that the fire didn't spread.
Alongside the debris of the carts were several broken Atlesian Knights and charred bodies of soldiers and train operators strewn all over the area. I reflexively covered my mouth with my hand as the smell of the burnt bodies reached me, and a wave of nausea made my stomach churn, bile rising in my throat.
"This is… This is horrible." Ruby squeaked out, equally as uncomfortable as I was despite only experiencing the scene through sight. I could only agree.
"I take back what I thought earlier. Augur's ruthlessness absolutely makes him a bigger threat than Salem is." I thought to myself. If he was free to do as he pleased, then there was nothing stopping him from gathering a larger amount of Creeps and doing the same thing he did here, but on the scale of a whole city.
Given enough time, which he had in spare, he would have no problem crumbling Vale by digging underneath it, or doing so to any other city, and there was nothing that could be done to his underground army. Unshackled from Salem's rule, Augur would be free to bring calamities after calamities against Mankind, and could genocide our entire species before the four relics were even brought together.
Change of priorities, Augur needed to be dealt with permanently and Salem was moved to being a secondary problem.
But for now, I had a mission to complete. I stepped forward toward the caboose and the other two remaining carts that had stopped just short of falling with the rest of the train, only because it was long enough that they had enough room to lose their momentum. It was in those that we would find the paladins we came for.
Cinder flew down on one of the intact carts, and melted its door. As soon as it was open, bullets came right at her from the inside and she pulled away before giving me an expectant look.
I approached the opened cart as Atlesian Knights stepped out of it with weapons deployed. They were AK-130, and thus only equipped with melee weapons, so where did the bullets come from?
I had my answer when I spotted a few Atlesian soldiers shoot at Cinder from the entrance of the cart, hiding inside for cover. Cinder effortlessly parried their bullets, and threw me a commanding look, wanting me to play my part.
I nodded, as Beowolves stepped out of the surrounding woods.
"Destroy the robots, but capture the soldiers alive." I ordered, and got a frustrated click on the tongue in my earpiece.
Yes, I knew Augur wouldn't like me ordering the Grimm to not kill, but he had no choice except to go along with it or the ruse would be ruined by the Grimm not obeying my orders, so fuck him.
The Beowolves quickly pounced on and wiped out the machines, and then moved on inside the cart and seized it by immobilizing the men inside. Of course, between the AK-130 and the soldiers' covering fire, the Beowolf pack lost about half of its members, but they were Grimm.
Expendable might as well be the Grimm's second name, especially when it came to Beowolves, so nobody cared. Not even the Beowolves themselves.
Cinder entered the cart before I could, although not before giving me an annoyed glare, and right after she went in, I heard the screams of the soldier and rushed in to see her killing them.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" I exclaimed in outrage. My father entered the cart behind me, having finally come down from the cliff. Unlike Cinder, he couldn't just fly.
Cinder ignored me, and focused on quickly driving her glass sword in the neck of the last few soldiers. Only then did she deign to look back at me. "That's my line. Why are you sparing enemy soldiers?" Cinder snapped back.
Because I didn't want to kill random strangers?
"Why wouldn't I let them live? Wasn't the whole point of this to make Ozpin aware that we're working together? We need these men to live to report what they saw." I tried to argue.
"Ah, so that's what you had in mind." Cinder said, with an amused smirk on her lips. "No, we don't need these soldiers. In fact, it's better they die so that they can't spread the information around. As it is, Ozpin will watch the cameras' recording and keep it to his circle's eyes only, and we'll avoid the issue of the council hearing about it and seizing your properties and capital, which would render you near useless to us."
''I see. Keep the shadow war in the shadows.'' I nodded in understanding, while cursing internally.
I mustn't have kept my displeasure as well as I thought, because Cinder chuckled as she saw the face I was making.
''How curious. Don't tell me you bothered to care about the lives of your enemies?'' She said, amused, before placing a hand on my shoulder. ''Here's a piece of advice: only power, not mercy, can keep you safe in this world. Mercy is not rewarded, kindnesses are punished, and benevolence is only a weakness which will see you be taken advantage of. Take as much as you can, and crush those standing in your way; everything else will betray you."
"… You sound like you learned that from experience." I said, observing her reaction closely. I'd never really stopped to think about it, but now that I did, I realized I didn't actually know anything about the megalomaniacal woman's past.
Cinder lost her smile and her face turned cold. She let go of my shoulder as orange flames flickered around her eyes.
That's when my father stepped in. "Hey, hey. We're running on a timer here. Can we please focus on doing our job and then pull out of here as soon as possible?" He said, bringing Cinder's focus back on the mission.
"I'll take care of opening the next cart. Gemini, you and the Grimm will clean it of all hostiles, with lethal force, while I take care of the last one. Roman, take the Paladins in this cart, and then rejoin us for the ones in the other two. We're taking as many as we can." She ordered, before turning around and stepping out as I followed.
The maiden went over the next cart, which was already surrounded by Grimm, and melted the door open.
"... K-Kill them." I forced the command out, feeling a lump in my throat as I spoke.
The Beowolves charged into the cart, pushing their way through the soldiers' fire.
I stood in the middle of the carnage as the Grimm slaughtered the men inside, looking down in shame at my part in this. I closed my fists in anger, hard enough that my knuckles turned white. A few of the soldiers took potshots at me, before being clawed down by the beasts assaulting them, and I let my aura tank the bullets. It hurt, but the pain was just not on my mind right now.
Once the fighting died down, and I was the only alive thing inside the cart, I took in the scene of the soldiers' bodies around, feeling disconnected from it. Until I wasn't.
"Get out." I breathed out, as my head started spinning. "I said: Get out!" I repeated, when the Grimm didn't move. That got the message across to Augur that I meant this as an order to the Beowolves, and they left me alone.
Once alone, I stumbled and leaned a hand on the nearby wall. For a moment, the soldiers' dead bodies were replaced by images of Ruby's own, bleeding out on the ground with her throat ripped open.
"Gem? Are you… Are you okay?" Ruby asked in concern, right before I emptied my stomach on the floor. "Oh gods. Yeah, that was a dumb question! Of course you're not okay. Sorry."
"Aww… Wittle baby can't take a few corpses?" Augur mocked me through the earpiece, having heard me vomit from the other side of the connection.
With an angry snarl, I snatched the earpiece off my ear and brought it in front of my mouth. "Go fuck yourself!" I growled, before crushing the device in my hand.
Falling on my knees, I stared at the bodies.
"It's not your fault. Salem and her agents are the ones who force you to be here, and they're the ones who killed these men, not you. Being present against your will when they were killed doesn't make you the culprit." Ruby said. She was right, and as much as I hated the situation, I knew it. Her words helped, but…
"You'd be blaming yourself for not being able to save them, too, if you were in my current shoes." A small smile lifted the corners of my lips as I said that, knowing her too well.
"... That's true, and you'd be the one telling me what I just said if you were in mine." Ruby argued.
Ah! Fair enough.
"Thanks, Rubes." I said, and picked myself back up. What would I do without that girl.
I raised my fist, and repeatedly struck the wall. Three quick hits, followed by three more spaced out ones, and then three quick ones again. That would do.
Right after that, my father walked in, and took in the sight of me. "... We'll talk about this later. Right now we need to finish the job. Are you fit to keep going?" He said.
I nodded. "Yes. I'm fit to finish this, because I have to." I answered, determined.
"Right, well I finished grabbing the mechs in the first cart, so I'll just take the ones here." My father nodded back, before moving toward the Paladins.
While he absorbed the war machines in his semblance, I drew Gambol Shroud, and took a deep breath before pointing it toward my left eyes. This was going to suck.
"I still do not like this part of the plan. At all." Ruby said. "Why couldn't you find something other than hurting yourself? Again."
Oh, if there was another way, I'd have taken it. But when I told Augur earlier that I would do anything to protect those I cared about, I meant it. There wasn't a single thing I wouldn't do to save Ruby.
I dug the blade into my own face, bleeding profusely as I cut and blinded my left eye.
"Argh, fuck!" I swore as I felt the throbbing pain in my face, tears rising in my remaining eye.
My father turned around at the noise I made, looking shocked as he saw what I did to myself. "Gemini" What the fuck?!" He shouted. He usually avoided swearing in the presence of kids, viewing it as unclassy behavior, and this was the first time I heard him swear in my presence.
… Yeah, given what I just did, his reaction made sense.
"Sorry father, but I don't do things without a reason." I gasped out as I cleaned my blood off Gambol Shroud's blade. "It will make sense soon. For now, just tell Cinder that I was already injured when you entered."
"I-I… No. I'm not taking an "it will make sense later". Answers, now!" My father insisted, pissed.
I flinched, and blurted out a summary of the plan. "I'm going to transplant Ruby's eyes in place of my destroyed one as a trump card against Augur. Salem and her agents can't know."
"..." My father pinched his nose, and took a deep breath. "Alright. You're seeing a therapist once we're back."
"What? But-" I tried to argue, but he cut me off on the spot.
"No buts." He said. "I don't care what your rationale is for this, cutting your own eye out is not something a normal, sane person would even consider."
"Yeah… I'm sorta with your dad on this, Gem." I heard Ruby say, and gasped at the surprise betrayal. "I might have agreed to let you take my eye, but that's because against Augur, it'd make the difference between life and death and we don't have tons of options. That doesn't mean I like any of this or haven't noticed that… You're not well."
"I'm perfectly fine." I argued.
"Are you? Because you've been pushing yourself really hard and it's obvious you're under a lot of stress." Ruby said. "I know Salem and her cronies aren't leaving us much of a choice but to keep going, but at least seeing a therapist to make sure you're okay can't hurt. Please, just accept…"
"... Tch! Fine." I ended up conceding, even if I wasn't happy about it.
My father raised an eyebrow at my sudden turn around. "Did you… Was your girlfriend the one who just convinced you?" He asked in reaction to my sudden turnaround.
"Yeah."
"Uh… Well, thanks red." He said, somewhat hesitantly.
Outside, the sounds of battle died down, signaling that Cinder was finished killing the men in the last cart.
"The zone has been cleared of any opposition. Roman, I expect you to quickly take the remaining Paladins so we can leave." Cinder said as she entered the cart, our mission here all but finished. Then she saw the state I was in and stared blankly at me. "... I- How?! I let you out of my sight for less than 5 minutes. How did you manage to lose an eye?" She asked, flabbergasted and with naked confusion. "You have enough aura that even if you had let these soldiers beat you up, your aura still wouldn't have broken."
I hesitated a bit before giving my excuse, hoping it wouldn't sound as fake to Cinder as it did to me. "... I neglected to keep my aura up." I said lamely.
"You can't be serious. That's how you decided you'd sell it to Cinder?" Ruby said. "Gem, I love you, but I'm seriously regretting giving my okay to this. There's no way this is going to work out."
"You lowered your aura down… while surrounded by hostiles… in the middle of an active fight… " Cinder said slowly, as if struggling to register the stupidity of what she was hearing.
"The Beowolves looked like they had things handled and I relaxed my guard too much, without expecting one of the soldiers to manage getting out of a Beowolf's claws to get a strike at me." I said, letting my irritation show in my tone. "Yes, I messed up massively. And I'm the one who lost an eye over the mistake."
Cinder gave my father a questioning look.
"What? I don't know what you want me to say, he was already injured when I got here." Roman returned her look with a glare. It spoke volume as to how thrown off Cinder was by the situation that she didn't take exception to it. "Can we just wrap things up here so I can get my son the medical help he needs for his missing eye?"
"I…" Cinder started, before rubbing the bridge of her nose and getting a hold of herself. "Fine. Quickly snatch the Paladins in the last carts, and we'll bail out. Then you can fuss over your incompetent moron of a son all you want." She then turned around and stepped out of the cart.
"No way. Did she really buy this?" Ruby asked, shocked that Cinder didn't press things further.
"Of course she did. What else is she supposed to believe, that the real reason I lost my eye is because I did it to myself? That's so off the wall that the idea wouldn't even cross anyone's mind, forcing her to accept a lie less ridiculous than the truth." I said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, well it crossed your mind, apparently." My father grumbled, still mad about what I did. "Don't think you're off the hook just because I kept the secret and our current priority is leaving before Atlesian forces come to investigate the attack."
"Wait, so you predicted how Cinder would react?" Ruby asked me as I returned outside, while my father went to take the remaining mechs.
"I took a calculated risk, hoping I wouldn't be wrong." I said quietly, muttering to avoid being heard by Cinder, who wasn't so far away that I could just talk to Ruby freely. "It was indeed a risk, but if I only do safe things, we'll just lie in wait while everyone else runs circles around us, until we're left with only bad ends. Of course, I doubt it'll actually keep me from Cinder and Augur's suspicion forever. In fact, Augur will probably not buy the excuse for a second. What really matters is that he doesn't figure out why I lost my eye."
I put my hand over my damaged eye, wincing from the pain, before adding. "No choice but to press onward."
/-/
In Ozpin's office, the headmasters of Beacon, Atlas, and Shade Academy were in a meeting, along with Taiyang and Glynda present. Albeit, Headmaster Theodore not physically present, being there through scroll video call instead.
Ozpin sat with his hands clasped in front of him, his face grave as the list of names scrolled in front of them. "It can't be… They're all dead?" He said, his mind running through the implications.
Next to him, Ironwood snarled in anger. "There's no way this is a coincidence. This was planned." The General said. "Salem specifically targeted the suitable candidates to succeed Lionheart from amongst Mistral's huntsmen so that we would struggle to find a replacement if his treachery was ever found out."
"Hmm… We're running out of time to select a new headmaster for Haven." Theodore said without his usual good cheer. His eyes stared at the only name that wasn't crossed out, and the accompanying picture of a middle-aged woman with long orange hair tied in a side ponytail. "And this is the only one left? I suppose we should count ourselves lucky Lionheart's betrayal was stopped just in time for this one to be left."
"No. This isn't luck. Nor is it that Lionheart was stopped 'in time'." Ozpin said, glaring tensely at the remaining name. "Perhaps if it was a few, but a single one? I suspect Salem left this one alive on purpose, precisely so that she'd be our only option."
"You think she works for Salem, too?" Ironwood asked in alarm.
Ozpin shook his head. "No. Replacing a turncoat headmaster with another one, back to back? In the same academy? That's too direct and uninspired from Salem. More likely, this… Nessarose Vermilion must have some kind of flaw that makes her a less than ideal choice for Salem to want to roadrail us into picking her."
"Nessarose.." Glynda repeats, a spark of recognition in her eyes.
"You know the woman?" Taiyang asked her.
"Only briefly. Her team beat mine during our time's Vytal Tournament. I took note of her because she seemed to have an axe to grind with Vale." Glynda answered, before raising an eyebrow at the blond man. "How do you not recognize her? Summer and you beat her and her teammate in the second rounds."
"Oh! Wait, is she teleport girl? The one who teleported by clicking her heels?" Taiyang mused, trying to recall how things went down.
"Yes." Glynda's eye ticked in annoyance. "Yes, she is 'teleport girl'."
"Uh… Yeah' I'm replacing her. Her semblance was a pain to deal with, but we won because it turned into a 2 versus 1 fight almost as soon as it started. Her teammate was kinda weak." He said, recalling that old fight.
"According to the file we have on her, she's an accomplished huntress and has experience teaching, having served as a substitute teacher in several of Mistral's preparatory schools. And was apparently quite good at it." Theodore commented. "On paper, she seems like a good pick to replace Lionheart, but what was that 'axe to grind with Vale' you spoke of, Glynda?"
"Well, I didn't exactly have an in-depth talk with her, but from the little I've heard from the woman, she seemed of the opinion that the new world order the King of Vale imposed on the four kingdoms crippled Mistral." Glynda said, and the men in the room frowned.
"The international treaties and the huntsmen schools were indeed made with the intention of hampering the kingdoms' ability to war against each other and to focus their efforts on fighting the Grimm together." Ozpin nodded. "The result is an era of unprecedented peace in which most citizens haven't even seen a Grimm in their life. But I understand that the partial loss of sovereignty ruffled some people the wrong way."
Between the four huntsmen academies holding a seat on their respective kingdom's council, and the position of headmaster being determined by a vote from the other three academies, Beacon, Shade, Atlas, and Haven essentially formed an international group holding executive and legislative power over all four kingdoms. Not to mention that, with the kingdoms having traded their military for freelance huntsmen (Atlas being the exception), the four academies also held the largest share of hard power around (again, Atlas being the exception).
"Ah, I knew the name seemed familiar." Ironwood said, finding the file he was searching for. "Nessarose Vermilion. She's been a vocal critic of Atlas extending its military protection to various Mistrali cities."
"Sheesh, I wonder why…" Taiyang muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes.
"Maybe it's because of your army muscling their way into their cities and all but officially taking them over?" Theodore told Ironwood, who just scoffed at the idea.
"Oh, please. Securizing areas that Mistral all but abandoned is hardly 'muscling in'.'' The General said. ''It's a fact that death by Grimm and Crime rates are at an 80 year record low in all regions I've had my men stationed in. Atlas has the power to protect the world, and I won't have that power wasted by leaving my men to sit and do nothing."
"How heroic of you." Theodore said in sarcasm. "And of course taking over the tax collection is something Atlas also does out of selfless altruism. I'm sure that's how Mistral's council sees it too."
Ironwood's eyes narrowed at Shade's headmaster. "And what Mistral's council thinks is a concern why, exactly? We all know how comically corrupt Mistral's elite is. I fail to see why I should care how they see Atlas' actions."
Hell, as far as he cared, if Mistral was too busy wallowing in decadence to bother policing their cities and let them fall into dens of crime, then those were better off under Atlas anyway.
Ozpin brought his fist to his face and cleared his throat, cutting the current direction the conversation was going in.
"There is plenty of tension between the four kingdoms, for various reasons, but that isn't the matter at hand today." He said calmly, as he considered the complications Nessarose brought as the candidate to replace Lionheart. "At the very least, I believe we've managed to shed light on Salem's reason to spare Ms. Vermilion."
"We did?" Taiyang asked, blinking. He supposed Ozpin did know Salem better than anyone else in the room, so it made sense the old wizard was the first to catch on..
"Yes." Ozpin nodded. "Due to her pro-sovereignty stance and opinions, it is unlikely Ms. Vermilion would view our group in a positive light. She might make for a good headmistress for the students of Haven to learn under, and might be willing to cooperate in general when it come to fighting the Grimm, but if she learned that the four academies were purposefully made to take power away from their respective kingdom to place it into the hands of what she would call a secret cabal? She would never accept to join our circle."
"You think Salem left her as our only option to split Haven from our fight against her. Like a mild application of divide and conquer." Glynda said.
"Okay, I'm lost." Taiyang said, giving Ozpin a confused look. "If Salem meant to weaken the huntsmen academies as a cohesive group, wouldn't leaving us with no candidate at all do more damage to Haven? This feels like she held back."
"She did. You are right that Salem could have easily made this worse for us by killing Ms. Vermilion as well, but Haven remaining leaderless would have also made things more unpredictable for her, and the less things she can predict, the more her plans too are likely to go awry." Ozpin explained. "Salem tends to prefer keeping control of the situation, to make careful and deliberate moves rather than do things that could spiral into unintended consequences."
Ironwood held his chin as he tried to think of a way to ruin Salem's plans. "We're limited to that woman because we only looked at Mistrali huntsmen. All we need to do to prevent Salem from gaining the advantage she seeks is to expand our horizon." He said, his eyes steeled. "I know of a few Atlesian huntsmen and huntresses who may be fit to be in charge of Haven."
"Trying to put your own men at the head of other academies now, James?" Theodore cocked his head to the side as he spoke. "Do you have a replacement for me when I retire as well? How thoughtful of you."
The General bristled at the comment. "Hardly. Not every huntsman in Atlas is part of the military." He said defensively. "It'd be like Ozpin. In this life he came from a small city right on the edge of Vacuo before coming to Beacon, and Vale has accepted him and his leadership of their school."
"Yes, but in Mistral's case, their willingness to tolerate more foreign influence has already been stretched. They will see it as the other three kingdoms encroaching on their autonomy even more, and I won't have us provoke another war between the kingdoms if we can help it." Ozpin said, giving Ironwood a pointed look. Before the latter could take exception to Ozpin's words, the headmaster of Beacon continued. "Many of the cities Atlas took charge of in Anima would have fallen to the Grimm without its military protection. You and your men ought to be commended for this, James. But all the same, we must recognize that in the current political climate, we cannot pick a non-Mistrali headmaster for Haven."
"Well, I think we've discussed the issue enough as it is." Theodore said. His image on the screen joined his hands together and leaned forward. "If you ask me, we should just go straight to the vote. Mine is in favor of Miss Vermilion becoming headmistress of Haven Academy. Mistral must be able to defend itself from the Grimm, or the kingdom will be a weak ally for Salem to target."
"I vote against. It's foolish to give such influence to someone we can't trust." Ironwood said firmly, closing and tightening a fist. Then he sighed, and relaxed his hand. "But I expect that's not how it's going to be, isn't it?"
Ozpin gave him an apologetic smile. "Indeed. While I would rather someone we could initiate into our group, Mistral needs its huntsmen to regain their strength, and a competent leader for Haven is necessary for that. My vote goes for it." He said. "However, although our votes as headmasters of one of the four huntsman academies are what legally determines who gets elected as our new peer… Behind the scenes, everyone here is a member of our circle. I'd rather not proceed with making Miss Vermilion Haven's new headmistress without hearing your own voice on the matter."
Taiyang immediately shook his head. "Nope!" He said, popping the word as he refused. "I appreciate the sentiment, Oz, but I've been out of the game for over a decade. While I'd lean in favor of giving this Nessarose a shot, you'll forgive me if I leave my 'vote' as neutral."
Glynda, on the other hand, took longer to decide. "... Quite frankly, I am wary of Miss Vermilion. But as much as I share James' skepticism of the woman, ultimately the students of Haven need their training." The woman said, before releasing a sigh. "I would vote in favor of making her headmistress, although it is with hesitation."
She really, really hoped Nessarose and James wouldn't butt heads too much…
"So be it." Ironwood sighed in surrender to the expected outcome, even if it was one he wasn't happy with. "Oz, I suppose we will be contacting Miss Vermilion later to give her the offer?"
Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. For now, I believe we have another business matter to address today?" He asked, giving Ironwood a knowing look.
The general nodded, before taking out a video chip and inserting it in Ozpin's desk. Its holographic screen activated, and Taiyang tensed with anger in his eyes as it relayed a train's security footage.
"A military convoy was supposed to arrive in Vale this morning. It didn't." Ironwood began. "I sent the Aceops to investigate, and they found the wreckage in the Forever Fall woods, along with the security footage that could be recovered."
"So Gemini is working with Salem now. That wasn't the case before." Taiyang said. He glared at the boy as he vomited. Watching him act as if killing disturbed him. After the odious murder of Ruby? Yeah right, he wasn't buying it.
"And he's giving the Grimm orders? Since when could Salem give her human agents such power?" Theodore asked.
Before, Salem could at best restrain the Grimm from attacking her followers while they were around her, and otherwise expected them to be stronger than her Grimm so that they could operate around them without being killed by them.
"Since now, apparently." Ozpin said. "Salem has always been seeking new ways of empowering her agents. Giving her human followers the ability to control her Grimm, in particular, has been a project of hers for longer than the four kingdoms have existed. Sadly, it seems she has succeeded at last." The real question was, why show off that card instead of keeping it in her sleeve?
Then the people in the room, bar Ironwood who had already reviewed the footage, watched as Gemini cut into his own eye, for seemingly no reason.
"... What the fuck?" Taiyang said, breaking the confounded silence that followed.
Ozpin rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I admit, I'm not quite sure what to make of this. The only people I've ever seen harm themselves in such a manner were either insane, or under the influence of hard drugs."
Yeah, well after what Gemini did to his daughter, Taiyang could certainly believe he was completely insane. That wasn't going to make him kill him less.
"I couldn't care less about Gemini's mental state." Ironwood said coldly. "What I want to know is why bother robbing this convoy? The new weapon it transported, the Atlesian Paladin, was developed and produced by a subsidiary of the SDC. Gemini could just have had his factories in Vale construct his own."
Really now? Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the information. That… was strange indeed. "Perhaps they have an operation coming that requires the Paladins now instead of waiting for new ones to be built?" He thought out loud, and then something on the replay caught his attention. "Hang on…"
Ozpin rewinded the footage, and watched closely as Gemini hit the wall inside the wagon. There was a pattern to it, one that was well known and easily recognizable. Three fast ones, three slower ones, and another three short ones.
"You are all seeing this?" Ozpin asked his allies present, who nodded as they stared at the boy's action.
"S.O.S." Glynda breathed out. "He's… asking for help?"
General Ironwood scoffed at that. "Help for what? He and Salem's maiden killed all my men in the convoy. Seems like everything is going just fine for him." His voice was bitter as he spoke, the man was far from pleased at his soldiers' death.
"True. Unless…" Ozpin's eyes widened as a sudden epiphany hit him. "I see. It might be possible that Gemini is trying to send us the message that he isn't here willingly. He didn't join Salem's side willingly, but has been coerced against his wishes." Perhaps the point of this train heist was even just for Salem to tell him Gemini was part of her forces? It wouldn't be the first time she did so to ensure a piece stayed on her side despite lacking loyalty to her. An old trick of hers.
"So what? Does he expect us to help him out of Salem's control?" Taiyang said with crossed arms, glaring hatefully at Gemini's image on the screen. "He's still the monster who murdered my daughter. Whether he's loyal to Salem or not makes no difference to me."
"Agreed. It remains that Gemini is our enemy and must be eliminated. Still, it is a good thing that our enemies' attempt at undermining each other is giving us a more thorough picture of the situation." Ozpin told Taiyang, before turning to the general. "James, I believe you had a mission in the work for your Ace-Ops?"
"Indeed. Gemini himself has constantly stayed on the move in Vale to avoid having his location pinpointed, but my men have scouted the locations of the factories he bought in the city. I will be sending the Ace-Ops to raid them one by one. At best, it will give us leads on his plans and overall activities. At worst, we'll sabotage his combat android production and whatever plans he's making them for." Ironwood said.
"Then I suppose we shall leave you to it." Ozpin said, relieved. It was difficult to act against an hidden enemy, but at least they had something to go after and make some progress with. "Hopefully your men will unearth intel we can use to determine our next move."
"Actually Oz, I'd like to take part in that operation." Taiyang said. "I know James' men are well oiled and used to working with each other, and I have no intention of messing up their teamwork by imposing myself in their team dynamic, but I could go to another factory to help us cover ground faster."
Ozpin rubbed his chin in thought. "That could work, but I hesitate in sending you alone. You need at least backup to help you get out of there if things turn south. There aren't many huntsmen I can call upon who are aware of our shadow war."
"That's fine. I'll take whoever I can get." Taiyang said. He's had to work with several people he barely knew in his career, so this was no trouble.
"There's Glynda." Ozpin simply gestured to the woman, who sighed.
"I'm quite busy with my responsibilities in Beacon, but I suppose I can make a hole in my schedule." She said with a nod, agreeing to it.
"Aside from you two, I do know of two Haven graduates who live in Vale and have an axe to grind against Gemini's father. If we tell them we're verifying the place because we suspect Torchwick's son is using his property to aid his father in his criminal activities, I'm sure they won't pass up the opportunity to lend a hand." Ozpin added. One of those two was a disgraced huntsman and had his license revoked, but since this was an off the books mission anyway…
"I suppose they'll do." Taiyang said. That'd make them a team of four for this mission. A full huntsman team.
"Glad to see you all have things under control. Man, it's moments like these that makes me wish you hadn't made me Headmaster of Shade, that way I could come and help with my own hands instead of being busy with my school." Theodore chuckled.
Ozpin chuckled back. "Your sacrifice is appreciated, dear friend." With that said, he stood up from his chair, and closed the train's security footage. "Now, with that, I believe we are done here. Let's return to our respective duties, gentlemen. We do have students to train after all."
/-/
The room is quiet, except for the regular beeping of the heart monitor. The surgery… It sucked. It sucked hard. Mostly because of my semblance making it impossible to put me to sleep. Thank God the anaesthetics still dulled the pain. It also made me a bit loopy, but I was strapped on the operation table to prevent me from moving and the effect on my mind meant the whole experience remained a vague blur of discomfort I barely remembered. Something I was more than happy with.
"Your eyes are starting to refocus. Are you back with us?" A man in a white coat asked me, holding a writing pad.
It took me a moment, but I ended up recognizing him as one of the SDC doctors I hired for the transplant. Okay, I didn't actually recognize the man, but he was a guy wearing a white coat in a medical room, so a doctor is what he got to be, right?
I opened my mouth to answer the man, but all that came out was a dry groan.
"There's a glass of water to your right." The doctor said.
I turned to my left, trying to ignore the terrible headache I felt when moving my head, along with the throbbing pain in my left eye. Then I realized I looked the wrong way, and turned to the right, where I saw the glass of water. With a trembling hand I carefully grabbed the glass and drank from it, parching my thirst.
"That's better." I breathed out after emptying the glass. "Yeah, I'm alert. Somewhat. My head hurts and I'm having trouble staying focused."
He nodded, and double-checked something on his medical pad. "The transplant went well, and no unplanned issue happened nor is expected. We'll keep you in observation for the next four days to make sure. We've bandaged your new eye, and- Hey! No, don't touch it!" He interrupted himself and grabbed my wrist as I was about to touch the bandages on my face.
"... Oh, right. No touching. Got it." My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. I had moved my hand reflexively, without thinking. That was dumb. Of course I shouldn't touch it.
With an exasperated sigh, the doctor continued. "As I was saying, you'll have to keep your eyes bandaged for a week. Then we'll try to take it off and see if your sight works fine. You also have a set of six immunosuppressant pills to take daily, around the same time of the day if possible. Keep in mind that while the immunosuppressants prevent your immune system from attacking the transplanted eye, it also weakens your body's response to bacteria and viruses. So the usual hygiene rules go double for you from now on. Make sure to wash your hands multiple times a day, brush our teeth properly, and avoid contact with pets and sick people. Especially sick people. You understood all that?"
The doctor had his answers when he looked at my face and saw the blank look on my face, as I had zoned out somewhere around the middle of his instructions.
"You know what? I'll just leave you written instructions. For now, lay down and rest."
/-/
A few days later, I was judged fit to leave, although I had to return when it was time to undo the bandages.
It felt great to take a few days off. Being bedridden had the benefit of Cinder and Augur being forced to leave me alone, both because if they wanted me to do something, I couldn't do it anyway, but also because they couldn't enter a SDC private building without exposing themselves to a bunch of people.
"Gem… I'm sorry. For leaving during the surgery…" Ruby said, her voice dripping with guilt. "I- I wanted to stay to support you, but…"
"But it was too hard to stomach." I cut her off, preferring to nip this in the bud before she kept going. "Yeah, that's normal Ruby. There are reasons why only the surgeons are with the patient in the room during surgery, and the friends and family wait outside the room, and it's not just to not distract the surgeons. You weren't supposed to stay during the surgery, and I do not feel that you retreating elsewhere within my soulscape was somehow 'failing to support me'. In fact, I prefer that you haven't gone through the experience with me."
There was, after all, no point to it. I wasn't in a state to understand any vocal reassurance she could have said, anyway.
"Oh. Okay… I'm glad it went well."
"You and me both, Rubes, you and me both." I said with a small smile.
"So, how are you feeling about the visit to the psychiatrist?" Ruby suddenly asked.
I immediately looked at the psychiatrist's office, from where I was sitting in the waiting room.
"Well, a bit late to want to get out of it, at this point." I deadpanned. "But I'm… more amiable to it than I was a few days ago." Having a few days to look back and consider things… Yeah, I did need to make sure I was mentally healthy. Especially since I had a nagging suspicion I wasn't entirely so.
"What about you? Are you holding up? After what Augur said about Mr. Branwen…" I asked Ruby, concerned. It wasn't the first time I tried to breach the subject since the train's heist, but she always clammed up and refused to talk about it.
"... It hurts." Ruby said, sharing more than she said on the subject than she had in the previous days. "I'm sorry, I… I don't want to talk about it."
I sighed, unsurprised. "Alright, then I won't press you. Just… If you ever feel ready to talk about it, remember I'm here for you, okay?"
"..." For a while, Ruby said nothing, and I started to think she wouldn't respond at all. "Yeah, okay. I'll remember. Thanks Gem."
Soon after, the door of the psychiatrist's office opened, and a tall man with a wide and muscular frame, a thick beard, and a large scar running across his right cheek from his ear to his chin walked out.
"Gemini Torchwick? It's your turn, kid." He called for me by name, and gestured for me to enter.
… Okay. He didn't look like I expected a psychiatrist to, but whatever. That didn't matter. I followed the psychiatrist inside, and laid on the couch he offered me.
"So…" I searched for my words, not sure what to say. "What do you want to ask first?"
"That's up to you. If you're not comfortable talking about heavy things, we can keep that for a later visit and just talk about more casual subjects." The psychiatrist said.
"... Nah, screw that. I have work to get done, so I'd rather just get this over with today." I said with a shrug. "It started when my best friend, the person closest to me, was brutally killed by a maniacal serial killer in front of me and I was forced to shove her soul into my semblance to try and keep her alive until I can find a replacement for her original body, all the while both the serial killer's allies and their enemies, because I ended up framed for the assassination, are breathing on my neck."
The psychiatrist froze in shock at my words, his hand hovering above a notepad, unsure what to write down with his pencil. "Oh…"
"And if you're going to ask whether I have nightmares about it, the answer is no, but that's because I literally am not able to due to my semblance. I do, however, get anxious whenever P- whenever the location where it happened is mentioned." I continued, and the man started scribbling quickly on his notepad.
"I see. Do you have like, flashbacks, or something similar? Any episode of anguish when thinking back on the event?" He asked.
My body locked up at the question, visibly tensing, and he noted my reaction down.
"I- The image of her… her dead body stayed with me. I see it again whenever I'm exposed to the sight of blood." Or of someone else's dead body. "Or sometimes when looking at myself in the mirror."
The psychiatrist continued to ask me questions, both about Ruby's death and other, related things. All the while noting down everything relevant for my diagnosis.
I was 100% getting a PTSD diagnosis, was I? I had been a mess since Tyrian's attack. I'd be far worse off if sticking Ruby's soul in mine hadn't worked.
/-/
After spending an hour and a half talking with the tough-looking psychiatrist, we stepped out of his office to meet my father and sister waiting for me.
"How did it go?" My father asked.
"That depends, Roman." The psychiatrist said. "If it had been a few months ago, I'd have written your son off as delusional. After the whole god business in Atlas, however, I'm not sure. How legit is all the stuff about Maidens, divine relics, and human Grimm?"
"Oh, super legit. I saw them myself." My father raised a questioning eyebrow at me.
"Patient confidentiality. If he breaks it I'm suing him beyond any hope of financial recovery." I said, answering the unspoken question of why I was willing to share that much.
"Which will thankfully never come to pass because I am a professional man." He coughed, before crossing out something on his notepad. "Now, back to business… Alright, so I'll assume your son isn't delusional. That still leaves us with a case of PTSD, is generally under high stress, and I almost gave him a depersonalization diagnosis."
I blinked at that last part. "Depersonalization? What's that?"
"A dissociative disorder where an individual feels detached from their own body, seeing it as something external to them, like a tool of sorts, rather than an integral part of themselves. It also includes feelings of being an observer rather than being in control of your own actions, a belief that your memories aren't your own, and emotional numbness to the world around you, neither of which you have. That's why I ended up dismissing that possibility." The psychiatrist explained calmly.
Uh… Yeah, that made sense. I supposed.
"But the body actually isn't an integral part of someone. That's the soul, for which a body is only a temporary vessel to interact with the physical world through." I said.
"Yeah, and since you lack the harmful symptoms of depersonalization disorder, that makes what you just said a philosophical outlook, rather than a mental issue."
"Are you saying that my son cutting his eye out was a sane choice to make?!" My father exclaimed, flabbergasted.
The psychiatrist bristled at the notion. "That is… not how I would put it. No, that was a rather worrying act for Gemini to do. But given the circumstances your son is in, and I'm saying this under the assumption that the stuff about the silver eyes and this Augur Grimm are true: His decision, while a worrying show of extreme pragmatism or stoicism, was not the result of mental issues. At worst there might be some unhealthy guilt underlying his motivations, but there's too much extenuating circumstances to put a diagnosis on it, so apart from the PTSD, he's pretty much in the clear."
Guilt? I was well aware that Ruby's death was the fault of who killed her. The guilt was on Tyrian.
But I also knew what this world would have looked like if I wasn't in it. What it should look like. Every variation from the original timeline was the result of me existing, and being reincarnated on Remnant was a choice I made. So at the very least, I at least bore some responsibility for the changes me being here caused. What I felt wasn't guilt for sins others have committed, but a duty to fix the situation.
If that duty required sacrifices from me, then that was only fair.
"So my decision was rational then?" I asked the man for confirmation, my opinion on my mental state and my decisions already made up.
"Oh no, not at all!" The psychiatrist immediately rebuked me. "If the situation is so bad cutting your eyes out was a legitimate tactical option, the rational thing would be to run away and get out of the conflict and never get involved again. You're not being rational by getting even more involved, but you have heavy personal stakes in the situation that push you to not pick the rational route. I'm just saying that doesn't make you crazy either."
… I'd argue that if stepping out of the situation wasn't an option, that'd make it not the rational thing to do, but the man was probably just trying not to glorify self-harm in front of the kid who mutilated himself. Protesting the use of a word because it wasn't used accurately would just be arguing semantics at this point.
"Eh, fair enough. Either way, am I good to go?" I asked after a shrug, feeling like there wasn't much else to say..
"Yes, but if you notice the stress of the situation is starting to degrade your mind's wellbeing, don't hesitate to come back for a consultation." The psychiatrist said.
"That's it? What about the PTSD diagnosis? My son needs treatment." My father insisted, frowning at how the other man seemingly ignored that part.
I raised a finger. "I'm not taking medication because they can dull the mind as a side effect and I need all of my mental faculties to deal with Cinder and her boss." I raised a second finger. "I'm not taking therapy because that'd give a regular place to find me for Ironwood's Specialist squad." I raised a third finger. "Maintaining a healthy routine with proper sleep schedule and correct nutrition can help by improving general mental health, but my semblance literally takes care of those basic needs for me." I raised a fourth finger. "Similar to the third point, maintaining a healthy social circle can also help recover from PTSD, but my social bonds pretty much burned to the ground and I can only get them back once Ruby is."
My father glared at me, his frown and posture radiating annoyance.
"The doctor and I talked about this before walking out of his office." I added for clarification's sake.
His eye twitched. "Whatever. Let's… let's just go."
/-/
In the car, while my father was driving, my scroll suddenly buzzed. I opened it, wondering what the alert was for, and was met with absolute mayhem as one of my factories relayed its security footage. What the fuck was I watching?
"Whoa! What's happening?" Ruby asked, echoing my own thoughts as we beheld my security androids, the White Fang, and Atlesian Specialists fighting it out inside my factory.
My shoulders slumped, and I let out a deep breath.
"Damnit, Blake."
So yeah, giving you a little teaser of the next chapter at the end here. For once I know what I'm going to call the next chapter before I start on it. I'm going to call it "Harassment Tactic", a reference to rts games, in which it's a strategy where you go attack the opponent's resource structures or units to set them back.
You can see the logic.
I really wanted to put several diagnoses on Gemini, and nearly gave him the Depersonalization one before further reading up about it and concluding that no, it just doesn't fit. Sadly, PTSD was the only one I could stick on him.
Anyway, I'll be waiting for your reviews, dear readers, so don't hesitate to make me know what you think of the chapter.