The Breaking of the Fellowship
AN: I'm back, and school is not kind.
Luckily I have found time to write this chapter in between classes, when I'm not studying.
Anyway, on to the next chapter!
The sea between Anima and Menagerie was vast, nothing but pure Blue Ocean as far as the eye can see. High between the clouds flew a small Nevermore flew, its head turned repeatedly, as if it was looking for something.
As the Nevermore flew, its eyes caught something in the water, a little speck. It flew in closer and saw it to be a boat. It flew close enough to the point that its eyes could see the occupants onboard; it was the Fellowship.
At the same time in Haven Academy, Saruman had his hand on the Palantir with his eyes closed. Just then he removed his hand and turned to Locus with a grin, "I found them."
Beneath Haven Academy, in the tomb of Isengard, Saruman ordered a lot of Uruk Hai to be armed. Alpha was one of the ones chosen for this 'hunt.'
As the Uruks were lining up, some of them had different physical characteristics that matched most Grimm. Like Alpha, some had long snouts, clawed fingers and dog like feet, like Beowulves. Some had tusks on their mouths and had hooves for feet, like Boarbatsuks. There were a few that dome heads and spine spikes, like Creeps.
Goblin workers had been working weeks, day and night, forging armor plates, chainmail and weapons for these monsters. They slapped the armor plates on the Uruks, mostly on the parts of their body that don't already have natural Grimm armor. They were then given weapons from simple melee to Dust types.
Broadswords and shields weren't the only weapons they were giving them. Some of htem were given m16s with bayonet knife attachments. Locus had managed to "procure" them form old Atlas and Vale vaults that were long forgotten by their generals. There were a few Uruks that were given staffs with dust crystals at the top of them; the types were that of fire, water or wind.
Locus walked Saruman thought the line up of Uruks, as they were walking, Locus labeled the three types of Uruk soldiers that he categorized. "The ones with blades and hammers are called 'Marauders', those with rifles are 'Marksman', and those that use Dust are 'Warlocks.'"
"Good choice in names." Saruman says with a smirk. Locus nodded a 'thank you'.
Saruman and Locus then walked up to a high balcony to look over the small hoard of Uruk Hai. "You will go with Locus to hunt down a small group of humans and a Faunus. You will hunt them down and kill them. You do not know fear. You do not know pain. YOU WILL TASTE MAN FLESH!"
The Uruks howled and cheered at Saruman's words. Some of them even clashed their weapons together as if they were cymbals.
Saruman then turned to Locus and Alpha and showed them an old picture of Team RWBY. "As far as I know, one of these four girls has the Ring. Bring them all here, alive and unharmed." Alpha bowed his head and Locus nodded, "Kill the others."
As Alpha left them, Saruman stopped Locus before they walked down to the hoard, "Before you go, I have something that will give you more of an edge in this hunt."
Saruman then held out his hand for Locus to catch a black bullet. "What is it?" Locus asked as he held it up and looked closer, "It's not metal…"
"It's obsidian." Saruman says, "Another question I asked the Knowledge Relic if there was a way to bypass Star Knight aura without having to break it down… Obsidian is a rare material that has deep magical properties… older than most of the world."
Locus looked at it and recognized the bullet to be a similar shape that he uses for his sniper rifle. Locus looks down to see a full magazine of sniper bullets, a full clip for his glock pistol and a small knife. He pulled open the knife and saw that the blade was completely made of Obsidian. "And this will cut though Star Knight Aura?"
"Like it was never there." Saruman says with a slight joyful tone.
"Good." Locus smirks as he sheathes the blade and straps it to his belt. "When I get back, I have a few ideas on how to repay Atlas for all that it has done to me. But for now, I'll settle for killing their Star Knight."
From overhead, the once beautiful school looked like a wasteland, from the inside of the school grounds to about a mile outside the walls. It was a truly depressing sight.
Locus and some of the Uruks climbed into trucks that were being driven by Locus' mercenaries. Overall, there were at least 50 warriors that were apart of this hunt, Uruks and Mercenaries alike. They rode out of the dirt path of Haven Academy. As Locus was following the coordinates that lead to the Fellowship's possible landing area, Locus drove with the intent to kill, along with everyone else in his platoon of monsters.
Like John Smith said before, the Fellowship's ferry made landfall of Anima within two days.
As they were sailing, Jaune was looking over the details of "Project Marauder" and the file it had on Locus. Looking at the psych-profile was not helpful because it was whipped, almost as if someone erased it before it was given to him. Jaune knew it wasn't Ironwood; it was most likely Locus' doing.
As Jaune read more into the file, he saw some details about Locus' mechanical enhancements. Evidently he had his arms from the shoulder down replaced with military-grade prosthetics, along with his legs form the knees down.
His armor was another story entirely. The suit could strengthen his body and provide life support if necessary. Most of the suit was made of intense plate metal that could rival Mithril, and the back was set up to have thrusters powerful enough for him to fly short distances if needed.
Jaune noticed something in the 'faulty systems' of Locus' body. One most notable was his left shoulder. The joint on it appeared to have a gap that exposed some of the nerve connections to his arm. If they were cut, he'd lose control of the arm entirely.
"What ever he was meant for… was not worth his humanity. I can only hope that a Star Knight could hold up against such a design." Jaune thought to himself as he closed the file. He didn't bother showing it to Boromir, because he already knew about the whole thing. At the end of the file, Jaune saw Boromir's family sigil as a 'stamp of approval' for this procedure.
The day came when the boat made landfall, Jaune had the group land and set up camp on the beach, this way everyone could regain their land legs after being at sea for the past two days.
One the second night of their camping on the shore, Jaune and Boromir spotted something in the water. It looked like a small log was floating ashore and dragged up the beach. Then they saw something crawl up the beach and into the forest nearby.
Jaune recognized the creature, "Gollum." Jaune and Boromir had to speak softly as everyone else was getting some well-needed sleep.
"I didn't think he could survive going across the ocean." Boromir said with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't think he followed us to Menagerie… he probably swam here from Vale. Corrupted Faunus or not, he is determined to get the Ring back." Jaune said with a bit of admiration for Gollum's persistence.
Boromir could just barely see his green eyes hiding in the bushes in the distance, "If he keeps following us, Grimm will follow his hostile intent like a beacon…"
"On the bright side, they'll be after him more than they'll be after us." Jaune said with a slight hope for the best.
Ruby could hear them both as she tucked herself into her sleeping bag, but she couldn't find any sleep this night. Not with the thought of that green creature watching htem from afar.
Yang lied next to Ruby, "You ok?"
Ruby looked up, "Not really. I'm still trying to get over the sea-lag." She lied. She didn't want her sister to worry about her too much. The ring alone is enough stress on everyone's minds.
"I know this is all starting to take its toll on you, but I want you to know I'm always here for you." Yang said, as she looked her sister in the eye. Ruby didn't look back; she just had her eyes looking down at the bag, as if she was trying to hide something.
"I wish that were true…" Ruby then rolled over to the other side, "Get some sleep."
Back with the two knights, Boromir walked up to Jaune, as he was sharpening his sword. Boromir looked at him with a determined look. "We need to get to Minas Tirith. It's safer, it's quicker and at the very least we can get an army to back us on the way to Mordor."
"There is no backing of any army that can help us on this quest, Boromir." Jaune said as he continued to sharpen his blade with a wet stone. "Least of all, Atlas."
"You were quick enough to accept the help from the Faunus. Why would you deny help from your own species?!" Boromir hissed in the darkness. "Have you so little faith in our people? Yes there is frailty and bitterness in men, but there is strength and courage also."
Jaune stopped sharpening and tried to turn away. Boromir grabbed his shoulder and gripped tightly, "You are afraid, aren't you?! You have been burying your head into the sand hoping to forget what you were, and so you deny what you could be for our people!" Boromir gripped tighter using his semblance; he almost made a dent in Jaune's armor.
Jaune kneed Boromir in the gut to both quiet him and get him to let go. As he was breathing in heavily, Jaune lowered his head to Boromir's ear, "I will not let that ring go within a hundred miles of any Kingdom's capital again. Least of all the kingdom that was the poster-child for abuse of power and cruelty." As Jaune rose up, he ended the conversation with one last statement, "I don't want to hear this topic again. If I do, then you'll find the outcome less pleasing than this one."
Ruby almost didn't recognize either of them in that conversation, as she laid in her sleeping bag. It was like someone replaced Jaune with a steadfast solder. She couldn't tell if that was either Jaune maturing as a leader… or it was the Ring's influence on him.
Boromir caught his breath back and looked at Jaune with an angry glare, "If you will not do what is demanded of you as a Star Knight of your kingdom, then I will."
It was Ren and Weiss' turn for night watch duty. Jaune passed by them and said good night to them before walking over to Pyrrha.
As Jaune walked over to Pyrrha, she was laying in her large sleeping bag, big enough for two. She looked up at him and saw that he looked frustrated. "What's wrong?"
Jaune removed his boots and climbed into the bag, "Ah, Boromir suggested to go to Atlas for help. Despite us telling him 'no' before."
As Jaune was fully in the bag, Pyrrha rolled onto him and put her arm over his belly and rested her head on his chest, listening to his steady breath and heartbeat. "Well, he isn't entirely wrong…"
"You think we should go to Atlas for help?" Jaune asked with confusion.
"No, but I'm sure Carol could help us by sparing a few of her men. Strength in numbers always helps." Pyrrha says with a more optimistic voice.
Jaune sighs, "Our mission is to maintain secrecy, not a full military operation."
Jaune didn't hear Pyrrha respond, he looks down to see that she is sound asleep already. He couldn't help but smile at her sleeping face. Even when asleep, she was still beautiful.
As Jaune started to fall into sleep, he started to feel his mind drift away from his body. Much like his mirror vision.
Before he had time to think, Jaune wasn't in Mistral, instead he was in an ashy field, surrounded by soldiers, Grimm and Orcs.
He then heard a familiar voice speak out through the smoke and carnage of battle. "Isildur, HURRY!"
Jaune looked to see his grandmother standing above Isildur Numenor. In his hands was the Ring of Power. "It's not like before. I'm not here as someone, I'm a witness."
"Follow me!" Joan said as she led Isildur up the volcano of Mt. Doom.
Jaune followed as best he could; the old tales of Mordor proved to be true to Jaune at this point. Toxic fumes surrounded him, scorched lands as far as the eye could see and the air began to get hotter as he climbed up the mountain.
Jaune followed them both right into the entrance of Mt Doom, said to be the location where Salem received the Ring form her Father, centuries ago.
Joan walked furthest form the large platform over the fire, motioning Isildur to follow. As they reached the middle of the platform, Isildur stopped dead in his tracks, staring intensely at the Ring.
Jaune walked up to Isildur and walked around to get a good look at his face. He was looking into the ring with great intent. "It's already corrupting him…"
"Cast it into the fire!" Joan shouted over the loud explosions of the volcano. Isildur didn't say or do anything, just stare at the ring.
"DESTROY IT!" Joan shouted with anger and confusion in her tone.
Isildur looked to her, "No…" he said as he turned towards the exit to the mountain.
Joan ran at him and grabbed onto the shoulder that held the Ring, hoping to take it right out of his hand and throw it over the side. But before she could pull on him, he pulled his shoulder out from her grasp and turned.
Joan didn't notice until he was already turned towards her, but when he turned, he also drew her sword from its sheath and was now pointing it at her in a 'plow' position. Joan only had her shield to work with, if this was going to escalate into a fight.
Joan stood at the ready, to fight if need be, "Don't do this, brother… you are our Zenith. You are the only one that can stop all this before the darkness can plant any more roots in our world… Destroy it, NOW!"
Isildur only looked at her with a dark glare, "The Ring is mine now…" He then threw her sword into the ground, "If you make another attempt like this again, consider our alliance and union today forfeit. Now go home, I never want to see you again." He finished as he turned away from her for the last time.
"ISILDUR!" Joan shouted over the explosions in anger and sadness. Joan fell to her knees in both defeat and grief. She couldn't go after him now, if she did she would risk shattering the dream, the dream that both she and Themistocles fought so hard for, and Themistocles brother, Leonidas, sacrificed his life for: a truly United Remnant.
Jaune wanted to go after Isildur, almost forgetting that this wasn't real. Everything started to fade to black in an instant.
Jaune jolted up out of his sleeping bag to look around and see everyone awake and preparing for the continuation. Pyrrha looked down to Jaune, "You okay?"
"Yeah… Just a… bad dream." Jaune said as he climbed out of the sleeping bag. Pyrrha helped him to stand.
"I had a bad dream too." Nora said with a sad tone.
"Was it about the talking pancake again?" Ren asked with a slight grin.
"Actually, this time it was waffles." Nora said with a bit of a sad look, "My stomach was hurting when I ate it."
Boromir rolled his eyes to Nora's description of her dream. "To think someone of her strength and power has the mind of a child…"
As they boarded the ferry again, they continued their journey along the coast. Little did they know that there was another group chasing them on the other side of the forest.
Locus ran the Uruks along the trees to hide them, and was pleasantly surprised at how well they could keep up with him. Normaly he was the fastest runner because of the prosthetic implants in his legs; but with this new breed of monsters, they matched his speed almost perfectly. His men had to use vehicles outside of the tree line just to keep up.
On the ferry, both Jaune and Boromir felt a hint of darkness trailing them along the coast. As far as they can guess, they are just Grimm hunting. They had no clue what was coming for them. Ren felt it as well. It was the same feeling he got when the Grimm was hunting him after the Nuckelavee destroyed his home.
Their worries were cut short when they came across a beach that had two large statues standing side by side. "Marathon…" Pyrrha said with a bit of a smile, "The statues here are of King Leonidas and his brother, Themistocles, the Star Knight of Mistral."
"The Spartan Knight… I've heard of him." Boromir said with a bit of awe as he looked up at the statues. "It's said that he lead the counter attack on Salem's fleet during the Great War… He was the one who broke the blockade."
"And the other knights arrived in time to help bring an end to the war." Jaune finished. He looked to see both Boromir and Weiss look at him with a bit of surprise in their eyes, "What? I know my history…"
The tanks on the boat started to run low. Jaune knew that they had to stop anyway so that the others could get their land legs back, but they are down to their last tank of fuel. Ruby and Weiss walked up to Jaune, he sighed in frustration, "We only have enough for about a hundred miles up the coast. Which would get us to northern mountains of Anima, after that, we'd have to walk to the nearest port that has a boat capable of getting us to the 'Dragon-shaped continent'."
"We might be able to cut some of that time if we buy an airship… No?" Weiss asked.
"Well…" Jaune pulled up a holo-map of Anima, and zoomed in on their current location, "If we move thought the forest here and go straight for Himawari, they should have an airship we can buy off them."
Ruby and Jaune looked to Weiss, to which she groaned, "Fine… I'll pay."
All three would then join the others on the beach as they set up a campfire. "We're leaving the boats here, moving inland and make for the village of Himawari. From there we'll buy an airship and fly to the next continent. After that, it's a walk to Mordor."
"I still don't see why we can't just fly all the way there." Blake said with a bit of irritation. "I mean, if we have the airship, why not do a fly-by and drop the ring over the volcano?"
"Salem would expect that. Rourke would probably have all the skies of Mordor surrounded by swarms of Nevermores and other flying Grimm." Jaune stated, he had thought of all of this before, and he was faced with the same difficulties that he is stating now. "And even worse, the airships of Mistral, or any airship for that matter, can't handle a flight though thick ash. The engines would burn out almost instantly, and we'd never even get close."
Nora raised her hand, "I'd like to go with option B."
Ren was watching the forest the whole time; he felt something dark and powerful coming their way as he began to grow restless. He quickly turned to Jaune and walked up to him, "We need to leave this place."
"We can't. Grimm packs run though these forests, we have to wait until dark before we cross." Jaune said as he was setting his bag down on a rock.
"I feel something coming… and I am sure it isn't a Grimm pack." Ren said with more than caution in his tone, more like worry.
Nora opened a bag of bread and was about to share with Ruby but couldn't see her in the camp, "Where's Ruby?"
Jaune looked around for her, as did everyone else. Jaune's search stopped the moment he saw that Boromir was gone; evident by the fact that his weapons and bag were missing from the pile.
Ruby was taking a stroll in the forest, trying to get her mind off the sad thoughts that had been hanging over her head since they left Amazonia. She found herself near some old ruins and broken statue pieces. Most likely from some of the forgotten kingdom of old that fell to the Grimm.
"None of us should wander alone." Ruby turned quickly to see who spoke to her, to her shock it was Boromir, collecting firewood.
"You least of all. You are the important one, eh?" Boromir said with a slight grin; he looked at the way she stared at him; it made his grin go away. "What is it?"
She wouldn't answer, she tried to turn her head away but she didn't want him to be out of her sight. Boromir took it as shame or shyness, "I understand why you want to be alone… You're suffering from your own pain and shame; I see it on you day by day. You don't have to let that suffering consume you, Ruby."
"I know what you're trying to say, Boromir." Ruby said as she tried to continue walking.
"We're all scared, Ruby." Boromir said as he followed. "But to let that fear force us to destroy what could possibly be the last hope for our world would be equivalent to madness."
"It has to be done, Boromir. There is no way around it for ANY of us!" Ruby said as she started to walk faster though the forest.
Boromir dropped the wood and moved fast enough to catch up to Ruby and grab her left arm and turn her towards him, "I only ask that you help me gain the strength to save my people!"
He wasn't squeezing her arm to hurt, but this did make Ruby uncomfortable, "Let me go." She shook her arm and he released his grip.
"Why do you treat me as if I was a thief? I am your friend!" Boromir said in anger and frustration.
"You aren't yourself." Ruby said with a serious glare.
"If you think you would be better off without me you are wrong… They will find you and take the Ring…" Boromir's eyes started to show a glare of red; Ruby saw this before, on Jaune when he held the Arkenstone. Boromir didn't even touch the Ring and it was already corrupting him this far.
"When they catch you, they will do so many things to you that you will be BEGGING for death before the end!" Boromir said with anger.
Ruby walked away, back towards the camp in the hope that one of the others would stop him or talk him back to his senses. She could hear him ranting behind her as he followed.
"That ring doesn't belong to you. It could have been mine. It should be mine! GIVE IT TO ME!" He grabbed her by her hood and pulled her back hard. Ruby tried to break his grip but he grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to pull her.
Then they both lost their footing on the hill and rolled on top of each other with Boromir over Ruby. He was grabbing at her, trying to get the ring from her, "GIVE IT TO ME, YOU SELFISH BITCH!"
Ruby kept kicking him off but he proved to be too heavy for her to get him off completely. She managed to get the ring out from under her shirt, just as Boromir was attempting to grab it off her neck. Ruby quickly put her finger through the ring and disappeared in front of Boromir.
With nothing to see, he didn't have a chance to block Ruby's boot from hitting him in the crotch and then kicking him in the face to get him off. He rolled over groaning as he saw the leaves get stepped on and pushed by the now invisible girl.
Boromir quickly tried to stand, holding one hand over his sore area between his legs, "Damn it…" He hissed. He then started to rant like a lunatic, "You traitor! YOU WILL TAKE THE RING TO SALEM! You betrayed us all! GODS DAMN YOU, YOU SELFISH BITCH! DAMN YOU!"
The last rant was interrupted when he fell over and hit his head against the tree he was standing next to. In that instant, his mind was knocked out of the darkness. Boromir looked around and started to feel regret and fear hit him all at once. "Ruby…"
His voice cracked as he spoke, "Ruby… What have I done?" He kept looking around as he shouted, "RUBY I'M SORRY! RUBY!"
Ruby ran, she didn't know where, she just ran. Being in the shadow world she couldn't tell where she was going. She ran to one of the nearby ruins she passed before, hoping to find a landmark that could lead her back to the group. She walked up some stairs, hoping to see the camp, but instead she saw something else in the distance.
In the distance she saw the Eye of Sauron again, and in the center of the iris, she saw HER. Ruby backed up and tried to remove the Ring. Once she did she ended up falling off the top level of the ruin and flat on her back.
She groaned to the pain and looked around to see that she was back in the real world. She heard footsteps nearby and turned to see Jaune standing there, "Ruby, you ok?"
"It has him… It took Boromir." Ruby said with fear and worry.
"Do you still have it?" Jaune asked as he walked towards her.
Ruby took this as him wanting to take it now so she sprung up to her feet and drew her scythe, "STAY AWAY!"
"Ruby?" Jaune said as he stopped just short of the scythes' blade. "I promised you I'd keep you safe… no please, lower the scythe…"
She didn't lower the weapon, "Could you keep me safe from yourself?"
Jaune felt a bit of pain from that, but it was an accurate question. One that he asked him self before this mission started.
Ruby could see the sadness in his eyes, so she knew that he was still himself. She lowered her weapon, collapsed it into its holster mode and placed it on her belt. She then held out the Ring to him, "Could you destroy it? I mean… you broke free from the Arkenstone, you could do it again."
Jaune slowly walked up to Ruby, looking at the Ring the whole time. As he drew closer his hand reached out to it, and when he did he heard Salem's voice all out his name from it. Jaune closed his hand into a fist, he took a deep breath and then used both of his hands to close Ruby's.
"I would have gone with you all the way to the mountain of fire… I would have died to get you there if I had to…" Jaune was on the brink of tears.
Ruby was too, as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, one that he returned in kind. "I know." She said into his ear. They held together for a few seconds until they both let go. "I know you can take care of the others… But keep Yang with you too. She wont' understand."
Jaune nodded in understanding. He then gave Ruby one more hug and they let go. Just then, Jaune heard a noise, it almost sounded like a snarl from an animal. "Go Ruby."
They both then heard the howling of animals, but they didn't sound like any they've ever heard. Ruby looked nervously at Jaune, she didn't want to leave him to deal with them alone, but he kept telling her to go. "Get going… NOW!"
Ruby sprinted into the forest, leaving Jaune behind to fight for her escape. While Jaune stood there, drawing his sword and shield and turned to see a pack of monsters that almost looked human. "Well, this is new."
AN: I know this one is short and I'm sorry, but I was overdue for a chapter to share with you guys.
The next chapter will be the conclusion of the Fellowship Arc, see you then!