"Unlike the souls of Remnant, yours functions akin to a battery." Ruby meandered to and fro, swaying faintly into every twisted turn; directionless, but never straying too far away. "As does all in your realm. Therefore what determines individuality, instead of sitting in some fashion of spirit, lies within the body itself."
Souls, the cornerstones of faith and imagination... Here Jay was, being lectured face to face with a god on spiritual biology, and being told it means next to nothing. The power of the soul, that which supposedly makes each and every person unique, meant nothing. Souls animated the living, and that was all.
Ruby snaked up from behind, arms cast to bind him in place in what often could be considered a playful gesture. The dark truths whispered into his ear stripped him of that ignorance.
"I know you're not downtrodden." It was right, but Jay wouldn't say it. "But I know it is quite the shock to take in."
"Is that all we are?" Breaking the silence should have instilled a darker fear, and yet Jay felt nothing. His head lifted just enough to see the darkness ahead, a darkness leading nowhere. "We live, we die, and our energy is recycled as we are erased and forgotten?"
"Human spirit is the dew of a fresh downpour." faux silver irises burrowed themselves into him. "When free of the body, it evaporates to join the conglomerate anew." A dainty finger pressed into his chest. "What defines every human of your realm is their body; their experiences; their memories. But of course..." It backed away to land. "Memories only count for a little part of that, and are easily erased upon any damage to their home. They may help shape you, but you are more so defined by your physical parts. Your individuality is easily tampered with and lost upon any change."
Jay collapsed once again; tired of holding himself up. Unlike in Remnant, where souls themselves could carry recollections of the past, human souls from earth could not.
"Then I have even less of a chance than before."
"Not at all." Ruby's voice felt so bitterly cold, even as it tried to mimic comfort. "I have made you better."
"I can't even foster a semblance." Semblances, being the unique expression of the soul, meant that a soul without uniqueness would bear nothing. Ironically, the notion also destroyed the idea of religion as well. How could one have an afterlife if your very life was locked to your body? "How am I supposed to do anything?"
"Semblances are unique to Remnant; they can never interact with you." Jay lifted his head, puzzled, and Ruby strolled over humanly, kneeling before him and cupping both cheeks in its hands. "Nothing unique to Remnant can hinder nor help you. A steel blade may pierce your heart, but a dust borne inferno will pass unnoticed. If it does not exist on Earth, neither you nor any others from your reality will ever use or fear it."
.
.
"Huh." Josh blinked, tossing the stone up and down a few times. "Feels like quartz."
Neo reached out, and he handed the Fire Dust Crystal back to her. She stared at the gem for a second before shoving it back in her coat. When he'd explained their situation with Garanite and Raspberry, Junior took off to - in his own words - "remedy" the situation. Josh figured he'd be able to root out the spy in their midst, and while that was a distinct positive, it didn't get rid of the dark feeling in his gut.
Jay had yet to die again, but something about the hour-long stretch of silence and peace didn't vibe right, and Neo's arrival only made things more confusing.
"It seems normal," Raspberry said, handing him a small violet crystal. "Here. Try pushing some aura into this."
"Sorry. Don't have it unlocked."
"Then smash it on the ground."
"Why?"
"It's Gravity Dust, and this should be enough to lift us for a few seconds."
Shrugging, Josh followed through, nearly losing himself when his body dislodged from the tethers of gravity. Disoriented and flailing, he soon dropped back down on his back, however the soft descent did nothing to harm him. Staring from the floor, he noticed Neo lean over him with a curious expression. She'd been like that since her arrival; dropping from the ceiling right after their talk with Junior concluded. He didn't know how she got up there, but it surprised him less this time.
If anything, it proved a good distraction from himself.
"Here." Yang reached down, and he took her arm. She pulled him up effortlessly, and once more Josh had to catch himself from tripping up from the sudden yank. "There we are."
"Thanks." Yang gave him a smirk and wink, however Neo injected herself between them and reached up his way. Josh sighed, ready to accept another Dust Crystal for whatever test she had in mind, but it never came. Instead, her hand landed on his chest, and she froze up, eyes clenched in what appeared to be a focused state.
Lost for a moment, Josh's eyes quickly spread when he recognised the tiny glow encompassing her. But before he could warn her, she shot back, stumbling to fall on Jay's bed. A head shake and a silent huff later had her back up and looking at him weirdly. Josh sighed, shoulders slumped and feeling a bit like a douche for not saying anything earlier; granted, he couldn't predict Neo would try something like this, but still.
"Milly tried that earlier. Apparently, I can't unlock my aura."
.
.
Neo hummed silently in place; her mind teeming with interesting thoughts. Outwardly she shrugged and fell back on the bed to watch as the man ahead apologised for not speaking up about his semblance kerfuffle.
It surprised her initially, the absence of any big players when she first stepped into the club. She had news of Garanite and wanted to share, but based on the discussion she listened in on, it came a little late. As only Josh carried the capacity to see through her semblance, Neo opted to focus on explicitly avoiding his gaze as she situated herself into the spot above the meeting; his immersion in the chat made it easy.
And so, with Garanite already known, she'd focused more on the news this "Raspberry" woman had for them.
Neo took a gander at her hand. No signs of physical damage, but echoes of the haunting pull lingered in her chest. Unlike Jay, Josh apparently could interact with dust... partially. When Junior fled, the blonde got right into questioning, reigniting a discussion that Neo herself had missed out on, and one she so wished to listen to. From how it sounded, Josh's ability to interact with dust depended on his physical distance to Jay.
If nearby: no dust interaction. If gone: dust interaction.
While not as extreme as Jay, it made their relationship all the more questionable, because if Neo didn't know any better, she'd say Josh was leeching off of his friend - if that little spat with trying to unleash his semblance was anything to go off of. At least now she knew why he didn't have it unlocked.
Before she got the chance, her scroll rumbled against her leg, and upon whipping it out, a sinister grin overtook her face.
"We've got the kid over in Glenn. If you're planning on grabbing him, now's the time. Cindy's elsewhere, and I've got her duo distracted."
"What's so funny?" Melanie just had to spoil the surprise, didn't she? Neo wouldn't fault them; they'd been silent the entire time, letting Josh and his new duo perform their little experiments.
Neo, maybe a bit too intensely, allowed the pair of sisters to peek at the message, and savored their wide eyes.
"Jay's somewhere in Mountain Glenn!" Miltia's shout sent Josh into a fritz.
"What?!"
"Shut it!" Melanie thus came in with the save - spoilsport. "Screaming won't get him back any faster." Her eyes narrowed, and Neo prepared for the inevitable. "Do you know where? Glenn's huge."
Neo rolled her eyes and gave a short nod.
"I'll call the others." Yang fumbled with her scroll momentarily. "Hey guys, we have Jay's location!" Her face went through a crazy 180, flickering between confused and worried. "What? No, we don't have him here... What do you mean?! Huh? No he's not here? HE WHAT?!"
Neo sort of zoned out during most of the verbal clash, only to pop back in when Yang spit out a hard growl.
"Just get down here. Right." Following the beep, she breathed heavily. "So... he hurt Ruby this time."
"He what?" Josh, lost like the rest of them, went on to mutter, "no, something's wrong. He doesn't last out physically... When did he do that?"
"Apparently earlier today." Yang shook her head, posture stiff and scowl rugged. "They ran into him first, along with two others who were on their way here."
"Considering we've gotten no visitors of note besides you." Melanie crossed her arms, and a snarl ripped across her lips. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're with Cinder."
"Who exactly is Cinder?" Josh may have asked the question, but Neo could spot that sentiment shared between both Yang and Raspberry too. Rather than answer herself, Miltia stepped up to bat.
"She showed up a little while back before leaving. According to Junior, she's been spotted in White Fang company. If they have Jay and all Roman can do is tell us, I'd wager Cinder has taken an interest in him."
"Hold on, Roman?" Yang had so many funny faces, and Neo put on her best smile to greet them. Melanie then broke the news.
"She's his partner."
"She's what?!"
"Calm down." Melanie retained a level voice, unlike the whining woman.
"How can I calm down when one of Vale's most wanted is right here!" Yang's dismay made for perfect nighttime theater; too bad Neo didn't have any snacks to kick back with. "And why hasn't she gotten any posters like him? How come I haven't heard of her?"
"Roman takes the media heat so Neo can handle anonymous jobs." Melanie's single-sentence explanation made Neo smile; she liked it when people were smart enough to see the obvious. "From what I hear, it lets them double their hauls; although that's probably Roman just puffing up his chest."
Yang clearly wanted to stay on the topic of Roman, but thankfully dropped it, and as a reward, Neo dismantled some of her own cockyness - couldn't push the kids' buttons too far.
Plans were made, ideas cast around along with thoughts of maybe leaving Josh out, which ruffled his feathers in another winding storm.
"You can't..." But like Yang, he didn't have any ammo to support his views. "He's my best friend."
Miltia clicked into mom mode, reassuring him it was for his own good. Poor guy; Neo nearly felt bad seeing the kicked puppy just sitting there all alone on the bed, slumped in place and lost as they took off. He really shouldn't feel so bad, because like Jay, Josh was plenty useful in their eyes; she'd have a little chat with Roman when she got the chance, because oh boy, the versatility of these goobers seemed to grow by the day.
.
.
Hazy empty eyes; the same as when they first met, only less... alive.
"You ready?" Blake laid a hand on her shoulder, and Ruby nodded.
Immediately after Yang's call, Weiss spent a good few seconds fuming. Ruby didn't blame her; they all thought he'd be fine and on his way home. Nobody could have guessed he'd be dragged off into danger again. It made her worry that something might have happened to Mercury and Emerald.
Being quick to recover, Weiss took a few calming breaths which lined up with the caws of the crow outside their window. Ruby's eyes drifted over to it: that odd little bird who'd show up every few nights and just watch them talk, always vanishing the second they begin getting ready for bed.
She liked that crow; it reminded her that there were lives beyond their own out in the world.
Down on the streets, they met up with the others, however Ruby noticed that someone seemed to be missing.
"Where's Josh?" Considering they were off to rescue his friend, she expected him to be leading the charge.
"Back at the club," said Miltia, her face draped with remorse. "Like Jay, he doesn't have his aura unlocked."
"Then why not unlock it?" Blake asked the question, but Weiss seemed just as interested. Ruby found it weird too.
"We tried." Melanie scoffed, her face and tone in sync with her foul mood. "For some stupid reason, nobody can get through.
"That's impossible." Weiss frowned, and it doubled when Melanie challenged it with one of her own. "Everyone's aura can be unlocked. Are you sure you weren't just tired? Large auras tend to wear out the-"
"It wasn't large." The icy chill on Miltia's breath seemed to freeze even Weiss, who usually cast that same frost herself when she got angry. Weiss clamped her mouth shut as Miltia grumbled and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry. It- his aura isn't normal. I know how it feels to unlock someone's aura, but Josh was different. I... When I tried, I didn't feel my aura coaxing his out, I felt his sucking mine in."
Ruby hadn't heard that before, and clearly, neither had the rest of her team, especially Blake.
"It sounds like his soul was trying to steal yours."
"Please don't say it like that." Miltia shrunk a little, and Blake moved quickly to apologize.
"I'm sorry. I just didn't know it was possible for souls to resist unlocking."
"It isn't." Weiss crossed her arms as her eyes narrowed. "At least, it shouldn't be. Auras are the energy of the soul, and like semblances, they represent their owner. Even the worst of the worst people have auras that behave normally during unlocking; usually paired with semblances whose sole design defends the user. Unlocking someone's aura is always a physical benefit. Never has there been a recorded case of someone's soul trying to syphon away an unlocker's own aura, or even resisting at all for that matter."
"There's a first time for everything," Melanie said, her spit layered with enough venom to kill a bird.
"He didn't mean to." Miltia immediately fell to Josh's defence and leaned towards her sister, only to be pushed back.
"I get that. No need to rub it in. I'm frustrated, that's all."
Weren't they all?
Ruby's mind fell back to Jay and that empty look he put on as his eyes dilated during the choke-out, only to constrict seconds later before the color drained from his face. Maybe the others were right and she'd been too lenient again, but Jay never acted that way before, and with how weird things had become since crossing paths, she didn't feel comfortable calling it coincidence.
Something happened to him- with him- whatever! And she needed to get to the bottom of it. Huntresses were heroes, and a hero doesn't give up just because things get dangerous. If no one else had the strength to see what she saw, then who could make things right besides herself?
Ruby refused to let anyone else die when she had a chance to save them.
.
.
Qrow bit back the urge to hop down and put a stop to the kids below. Instead, he stood straight and got Ozpin on the line.
"Oz," he said once the call went through. "I think they're making their move."
"Good. Keep an eye on them, but don't interfere unless absolutely necessary. It's best Jay doesn't know we're watching; he may run if he spots you. His relationship with your nieces' team may have steadied his nerves around them, but you share no such attachment."
"I know I know; don't spook him into hiding after the kids have spent so much time tracking him down. Do me a favor later, will ya."
"What is it?"
"Tell Gar I think he's a dick."
"I believe he's taken it to heart the past several times you made that note clear."
"Make it eight." With that, Qrow cut the call and moved to shadow the kids from the sky.
Back in his crow form, he traced them all the way to the edge of the city, hopping on the airship Ice-Queen-Mini's flash of cash bought for them. A small part of him leapt for joy knowing that even the newest Schnee still knew how to trade; although, Ruby's face bore some solid confliction.
Sport would get over it; she had to if she wanted to become a truly great huntress. As sad as it sounded, knowing when to bend the rules separated champions from soldiers; both equally important and respected, but one with a stronger sense of purpose... although it wasn't always just.
The airship began to slow around an hour later, and boy did Qrow not like where it landed.
What in the name of the Brothers are you doing in Mountain Glenn?
Already Qrow could tell his patience would be put through the ringer.
Author's note
…
Alright, so we're on our way to rescue Jay… again.
In the meantime, he seems to be facing a bit of a dilemma from "Ruby." Along with that, Josh is given a few tests to run through, and Neo even tries her hand at his aura; a bit spontaneous of a reaction, but who can tell what she's thinking?
On the side, RWBY's together for the event, with Qrow tagging along to watch. Everyone but Josh is ready for action - a little cruel on their part, but he has no aura, so what can he do? He's got a gun, sure, but not nearly enough bullets. On the bright side, he can use dust… kind of.
That's all for now.
Until next chapter.