Chapter 51
Aldric couldn't fucking sleep, and it was for one of the strangest reasons he could think of.
It wasn't for the bodycount he'd been racking up, it wasn't for fear that he'd made a mistake during his fight with Thor that would have outed his identity to Ozpin, and it wasn't for thought of how easily he fell back into Goud despite having literally run off in the dead of night for a few days to go and almost die, so he could give a quarter of God's power to a madwoman.
No, it was because, as he laid here for what he knew would be his last day here - damn what the Doctors said, he was leaving tomorrow - he realized he'd damned Neo to a chair without so much as a second thought.
I mean... How many different kinds of fucking stupid is that? Aldric wondered, rolling his head in the ice cream psycho's direction, the barest of glances with his radar showing him how strangely contorted parts of her musculoskeletal system were by her sleeping in a chair - or, at least, trying to. She hid it well, but even though it had been twenty minutes, her heart and breathing rates weren't slow and steady enough to make him think she was sleeping. For chrissakes, I'm constantly going on about how fucking terrible and worrying it is that she keeps saying she's into me... And I've killed enough people to be considered a mass fucking murderer! Anyone else did what I'm doing and they'd be war criminals! You'd think that would imply I wouldn't goddamn care about how comfortable the assassin who isn't letting me say 'no' is when she's trying to fall asleep.
And yet, as he pulled his tablet out of his utility belt and grew it back to size, Aldric found himself sliding as far over to one side of the bed as he could. His Radar clued him into Neo just barely cracking her eyes open, then opening them fully as she stiffly sit upright, first stretching her back, then tilting her head, silently questioning his intentions.
As he powered on the tablet and dropped the brightness settings down to their lowest possible, Aldric grunted, "let me let you in on a little secret: I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since we maimed the Fall Maiden, and I'm pretty sure human necks aren't meant to bend that way -" He nodded to her, "for more than a few seconds at a time." Neo arced an eyebrow and gave Aldric a teasing look, realizing where he was going with this. "Yeah yeah, shut up, get up here, and get some sleep."
Neo huffed, rolled her eyes, and did as she was told, sliding her scroll out of her pocket and leaving Aldric with one message before she settled in, pressed right up against him, and dropped her head onto their pillow: "And here I thought getting into bed with you would require a lot more effort and a knife in an uncomfortable place. Be lucky I'm tired, Mister Aldric - next time I might not be."
Aldric pursed his lips and repressed a shudder.
For the Record:
Something occurs to me, thinking about my fight with Thor, and the exact how of my little Dragonball Z stunt:
Might I be overthinking the whole 'How Ozpin Copied Semblances' thing?
Like, all I had to do to open up the floodgates was... Think about it. Really, really hard - it really wasn't any different from anything else I do with magic.
Could it really have been that easy all along?
And it also goes back to my whole joke about me being an Ork. I was only half kidding, realize. My powers work a lot like the reality warping properties of the Orks from 40K. So is it really just a matter of pulsing my magic, thinking 'Barry Allen, Barry Allen, Barry Allen', tapping my heels, and then drawing on the Speed Force?
I'll have to look into this more when I have the free time.
And I may or may not have a lot, coming up soon - we're all getting out of the hospital imminently, which means I'm going to be exposed to the Postwar Remnant as both Watchman and Student.
Not much else, really, aside from the fact that I think Neo's beginning to wear me down, and that I'm fully cognizant of the fact: I found myself feeling bad for her tonight, making her sleep in a chair, so I gave the fuck in and now she's wrapped around me like I'm a giant teddy bear.
How'd that guy say it in Wonder Woman?
I am both terrified and aroused?
Yeah, that sums it up pretty well.
Speaking of superhero movies, I've got more than a few I still need to catch up on. I have everything released up to Infinity War, but I prioritized more RWBY's fifth volume over that. One can argue how smart that is, considering my track record with RWBY versus my track record with more pop culture stuff, but I digress.
"Oh... Look at them! They're adorable!"
Huh? Aldric let out a barely audible groan, radar slowly spreading out to find himself and Neo still in bed, and his team standing in the doorway leading in, trying to quietly debate whether or not they should wake them up or let them sleep.
Aldric, however, was trying to figure out when he'd fallen asleep in the first place - one moment he'd been watching Black Panther and being royally pissed he'd cheated himself out of a self-assembling vibranium suit, the next it was midmorning and -
Oh fuck me. Aldric groaned again, as it dawned on him that not only had he not realized he'd fallen asleep, but this morning had been the first time in months where he didn't wake up feeling tired. The bags under his eyes felt less pronounced, the drag at the back of his mind was much fainter, and he actually felt like he'd gotten a good night's sleep. No. This is not the precedent I'm setting. I'm drawing the fucking line here. He was not going to go any further than this, he was not going to make the connection between his first good night of sleep and the fact that he was sharing the bed with a woman, and he certainly wasn't going to make any conclusions based off of those two facts.
He took in a deep breath and began to stir, as did the disguised assassin, whom Aldric honestly wondered hadn't just been laying there, fully awake, and only pretending to be asleep. Planting her hand on his chest, she leaned up first, stretching her back and yawning, and giving him a knowing grin. He didn't have to say anything, and she didn't have to sign anything - they both knew how close to the inevitable things were becoming.
Instead, Neo slid out of his bed, and Aldric off of the other side, with Ecru taking that as her cue to come in. "Oh, did we wake you up? Interrupt the post-coital nap?"
Aldric grunted, holding his head in his good hand and wagging a robotic finger in the smugly grinning Ecru's direction. "Don't... Don't joke like that." He cleared his throat. "We're breaking out, now?"
Ecru grew her customary, toothy grin, planted one hand on her hips, and used the other to hang her Lovely Lady off of her shoulder. "Yup! Get dressed, lover boy - your girlfrend can come too!"
To Aldric's surprise, however, Neo shook her head, making a chopping motion with her hand; this attracted curious looks from everyone, even him. Her response came after a few seconds on her phone, "I heard they've got the international trips going again. I've got people I need to check on back home." She said, sauntering around the bed and approaching Aldric. "As much as I'd love to stay -" She gave Aldric a peck on the cheek. "I must go."
Ecru, ever the energetic core of the team, was the first to cry out in dismay. "Awww!" She thundered through the room, throwing her arms around Neo. "I wanted to get to know you! I wanted to figure out how to piss off our leader! Stay another day, c'mon!" She and Neo both laughed, as Srebro guided Myrtle into the room, and Aldric got to his feet.
"I didn't know the airships were working again..." Srebro murmured, eyes landing on Aldric, who shrugged.
"Hey - she's the one who's been out the last few days. She'd know more than all of us."
"And not airships, rather boats." Neo corrected, as she extricated herself from Ecru, who was busy grabbing Aldric's things out of the corner and thrusting them into his unprepared arms. "I look forward to meeting you all again." Squawked her scroll, as she gave Aldric a wink.
Get me to let you into my bed and then run off. I'm wise to your act, lady. Aldric smiled back and nodded.
"Well - we've got to see her off, right?" Ecru whipped back around to Aldric, who shook his head.
"She's the 'never say goodbye' type, Ecru." Aldric said, as he stepped into his bathroom, leaving the door cracked open so the three of them could still talk. "So Myrtle - how's it feel to have a giant amazonian seeing-eye dog?"
"Like I'm two inches away from accidentally copping a feel." Said the diminutive faunus, whose hand was lightly pressed to the small of Srebro's back.
"Are you complaining?" Aldric heard Ecru tease.
"Yes." Though the blush on the blue-haired rookie's face made Aldric question her answer.
So of course he took that and ran with it, as he slid a pair of pants over his vibranium suit. "Just wait until you get your new eyes, lady! They have X-ray vision - it's great! You can finally drop the pretense and get your eyefull of Ecru!"
The giantess gasped, hands covering her face, as Ecru fell over backwards laughing. Myrtle didn't dignify it with a response, and Aldric let the subject drop as he slid on his gauntlets and his boots. Once in full regalia, minus his coat - as he'd spent his last one in futility, trying to save Mercury from bleeding out in front of Thor - Aldric rolled his baggy sleeves down his arms, them bunching up behind his gauntlets. He stepped out of the bathroom, dropping his shield on the weapon mount on his back, clipping his lightsaber and his gun to his utility belt, and retrieving his white cane, which he gave to Myrtle.
"To our newest cripple, with warm regards." Aldric chuckled, as Myrtle ran her hands over the cane, recognized it, and accepted it with a nod. "You'll get used to it faster than you think."
"I'll start up when school gets back into it. Until then, I'm keeping the giant."
"Isn't that supposed to be soon?" Ecru wondered, as she ushered everyone outside of the hospital room, and took the lead to get them out of the building. "I heard from one of the teachers laid up in here that Professor Ozpin's going to be dividing our time up between classes and helping with the rebuilding." She paused, "oh, by the way, Ash - you're buying!"
Aldric blinked. "Buying what?"
"Breakfast!" The three of them shouted in unison.
Twenty minutes later, Aldric found himself in a restaurant down in what had once been behind the Green Line, as such it appearing as though it had escaped a great deal of the terran's mad-dash for Beacon. His team was doing its damnedest to drain his wallet, not at all aware that the money Mercury had dropped for him on the first day alone would probably be enough to buy this restaurant and still go Bruster's Millions for a few years afterwards; funds which, Aldric realized, may only go up, now that the assassin's son was dead and both his bank account and his coin stash were unclaimed. Granted, Aldric wasn't guilt-free in this, either: He'd been running on IV's, hospital food, US Military rations, and magic beans for longer than he cared to admit, so he was starving for some real food, proving to even rival Myrtle's legendary appetite.
Aldric decided to point this out as he tore into his second entree, "so, Myrtle - " He pointed at her two salads, three cheesburgers, and steak. "- how the fuck do you pack on that much food, and how the fuck are you cleaning your plate while blind!?"
Myrtle's response as a simple, "how are you paying for all of this?"
"Ah! But!" Aldric held up a finger, "I actually have an answer for that, bitch!" He grinned, as the other two looked back and forth from the shaggy-haired spy to the blind, blue-haired thief. "I had a sugar mama during my summer vacation, and she owes me, now! Paying for Beacon, my arm, my eyes, all that shit." He waved his hand at her, before digging back into his food. "So I've got money... Least until she sees the bill for today, and the medical bills I racked up over this last month, then Miss Ember's going to stab me." He shivered, "but you? You're four and a half feet tall, skinnier than me, and you probably eat your weight in food every meal."
Srebro arced an eyebrow, "Ash, I thought your new eyes were supposed to help your sight, not make you blinder than you used to be." She smiled thinly.
"Oh please, Wonder Woman." Aldric waved Srebro away, "don't mock the sight. Just because I mention something, doesn't mean I'm not aware of other things. Example: I'm well aware of the fact that Ecru's been eying our waitress, and said waitress took her ring off before she came to our table."
Ecru blinked, "Wait -" She twisted around and leaned up in her seat, looking back in the direction their waitress had retreated to, "she's married?" She turned to Aldric, "she looks as old as me!"
Aldric leaned back, closing his eyes, searching the restaurant for the waitress in question. "ID says she's thirty." He grinned at Ecru, "you got something you want to say, Ecru?"
"Yeah - where's your coat?"
"I think Myrtle ate the last one." Aldric turned back to the thief, "bringing it back full circle."
"I'm a bird faunus." Myrtle deadpanned, an eyebrow arced.
"I see no feathers, I call bullshit."
"I see your feathers and raise brittle bones." Myrtle grinned, "genetic lottery kind of bit me in the rear end, there." She inspected an arm with a dramatic sigh, "would've much rather some wings. Even with my chosen specialty, I think I could rock that look."
Aldric gaped at her, "lady - you have brittle bones and you decided to be a huntress?!" He snorted.
"You were blind and you became a huntsman." Myrtle brushed her blue hair out of her face. "Difference is my semblance and my aura let me get away with more than I should. Enemy can't hurt what they can't see, and if they do, my aura takes the hit anyways."
"All I'm hearing is 'break my legs, Ash!'."
"Her hips, more likely." Ecru sniped, elbowing Srebro and causing Aldric to choke on his food and Myrtle to roll her eyes.
"Ecru!" Srebro gasped, a scandalized look on her face. "We're in public!" She was trying to mask a slowly growing grin with an 'o' of surprise.
Aldric slugged down some soda, "you realize if any of RWBY were to walk in here, she and I would just get worse?" He asked, "you do realize that?" He gave Srebro a wild-eyed grin, and her eyes dropped as she realized he was right. "And you!" He turned to Ecru, pointing at her with a knife-hand. "No!" He pursed his lips. "No!"
But Myrtle's evil grin widened, "is our suicidal leader saying he doesn't like faunus?" She asked, knowing damn well and good she was giving him a loaded question.
Aldric knew what his best defense was: Attack.
So he used his semblance to slide around the table so he could lean his head against Srebro, who's gasp was drowned out by Ecru's guffaws and Myrtle's snort. Aldric grinned and slid back to his plate, "sorry sorry, Srebro, I saw my opportunity and had to take it." She nodded, it not being lost on Aldric that there was a rosy tinge to her face, as she buried herself in her food.
Aldric didn't say anything, and after a moment, Myrtle spoke up. "So what did you do to that 'Ember' chick that she's funding... You."
"Well..." Aldric gave a sheepish shrug, "when a horde of Grimm shows up and kills your caravan... You tend to be grateful to the little combat-school kid who spends an arm and two eyes to kill them." He said, "and then that same guy makes a name for himself at a Huntsman academy, and then is... Apparently a war hero, now?" He shrugged, "not sure of the nomenclature - but the point is she thinks I'm a good investment."
"Clearly she has no idea how suicidal you are." Myrtle deadpanned.
Aldric chuckled, "right?" He yawned, "nah, she's played the whole huntsman game longer than I have, knows all the ins and outs, knows how good it is to be known as 'an associate of' so and so."
And as he predicted, Ecru leaned forward, "so when do we get to meet her, eh? You've been doing any networking for us?" She grinned, her eyes wide.
"Well - probably not anytime soon, lady! We were kind of... At war!" He actually did have a plan if ever the 'will we meet her?' question came up, as well as a few ideas of what he could offer Torchwick to borrow Neo for the day or two.
As they continued chit-chatting over their growing pile of dishes, Aldric noticed, out of the corner of his eye, a small, winged creature landing on one of the tables outside, and began eying him specifically. Realizing that it looked familiar, and that there was only one reason for a random wild animal to give him an evil eye, Aldric stretched out his radar, and confirmed that it was, indeed, the Qrow crow. The transformed man gave a few caws to get Aldric's attention, no doubt trying to let him know that Ozpin was summoning him, and while Aldric wondered if he was summoning just him, or all of the Watchmen, he nodded in the crow's direction. The crow's head twitched in a responding nod, and it took off.
Ah, it never fuckin' ends. Aldric downed a glass of water, "so I hear tell that there are rumors the terrans were from another war."
The rest of the day went by too quickly for Aldric's tastes, but the good news was, he didn't have to find an excuse to sneak away from his team - who would probably have lynched him if he'd tried. No, instead, the excuse came to him, as GEMS made their triumphant return to Beacon, in the form of Glynda Goodwitch, riding crop hanging loosely from her belt, approaching the group.
"Oh, Professor!" Aldric called out, causing his team to stop dead, Myrtle slyly hiding behind Srebro, such that her still ill-repaired eyes wouldn't be noticed by the telekinetic professor. "How goes it?"
The exhausted-looking woman nodded once, "just fine, young man." She said, "have you a moment? Professor Ozpin wishes to speak with you."
Aldric arced an eyebrow, eyes briefly raising to Beacon Tower, looming above and beyond all of them. "All of us?"
"Just you."
"Can it wait?" Ecru asked, draping an arm over Aldric's shoulders. "I'm pretty sure we can convince the dorms to throw a party now that Fear and Dead Men is back!" She grinned, grinding her fist into Aldric's head.
Goodwitch shook her head, "I'm afraid not, Miss Lemarac. He needs to come with me, preferably now."
His team found themselves unable to put up anything more than a passing resistance, and soon, Aldric found himself following Goodwitch, and wondering if Ozpin having sent her was an omen that she was in the loop, or just a coincidence. Regardless, she led Aldric into the trashed Beacon Tower, and to an elevator, whose doors were slightly ajar.
Aldric, able to sense that one of the cables were snapped, looked to Goodwitch, "ah... The power on in here?"
"Not quite." Goodwitch responded, as she was enveloped in a purple glow, and the doors opened all the way."
"Oh." Aldric stepped onto the elevator, "I've been meaning to ask you about that, Professor. You got any tricks of the trade you can teach?" He asked, "I figured out how to fill up a glass of water." Take hydrogen, add oxygen, burn, or, failing that, take the ambient H2O already in the atmosphere and condense it all together. "But the more fun stuff eludes me."
Goodwitch frowned, humming. "If what you say is true, I must admit you have already eclipsed my own abilities. I found myself taxed to capacity, rearranging the atoms in the air just to fill half of a glass."
Aldric blinked, "uh, ma'am? The air around us is filled with water vapor. It's why the sky's blue. Why bother recombining atoms when you can just do like the clouds?"
"And if you find yourself in an arid desert?" Goodwitch countered.
"Good point." Aldric shrugged.
"When we formally restart classes, come see me after your civil service. We will see exactly how far along you are, and if I can help you go any further." Said the Professor, apparently reconsidering exactly how far along he was, in light of his argument.
"Uh... Civil service?" Aldric asked, as he sensed them coming up on Ozpin's office.
She nodded, "lessons and classes, combat training, and then civil service are to be expected out of every student until Vale is in a far better state than it is now. You will be assisting with the rebuilding process."
"Oh." Aldric nodded, letting out a yawn. "Fun." Aldric just couldn't shake the dissonance he felt, hearing Agent Texas' voice come out of this school teacher's mouth.
Regardless, the two of them reached Ozpin's office a few moments later. It looked, appropriately, like it had survived a bomb blast - the floor was scorched and covered in debris, most of the windows were shattered, allowing the whistling, high-altitude air to fill their ears. The professor guided Aldric through the office, to where Ozpin stood, at its furthest edge, standing at the threshold of a shattered window, the wind leaking inside and causing his suit and his hair to billow in the breeze.
Oh... Alone with Ozpin at the high-ass edge of a building. Ozpin either outright knew Aldric was guilty of something, or suspected it on some level, and was about to Batman 'the fall won't kill you, but that's the point' him. Or I'm overthinking it, but given my track record, I'm probably not.
"Thank you, Glynda." Ozpin nodded, without turning around, as Goodwitch and Aldric reached him. "You may leave."
Goodwitch nodded, sparing a brief glance to Aldric as she said, "goodnight, sir." Was that fear Aldric saw in her eyes? Or concern?
Either way, Aldric approached Ozpin as Goodwitch retreated. He looked out to Vale, seeing the sporadic areas that had power back, which only served to illuminate the areas that didn't, or the areas that had been wrecked by the terrans.
"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall wield the power of Thor." Ozpin recited.
Aldric blinked, "uh -"
"I found that inscribed upon a hammer I found next to a severed hand, in a quarry outside of Mountain Glenn." Ozpin continued, "immediately following an encounter with two terrans who had awoken their abilities... One a man, whose mask had been scorched by lightning and mangled by impact, and another, garbed in wastelandish cloth... I think who were there to kill one of Salem's Masters."
There is no fucking way I'm getting out of this scot-free. "The fuck were a bunch of Masters doing in Mountain Glenn?"
Ozpin frowned, eyes still not leaving the city. "In order to receive help from your people in the rebuilding process... They demanded either the name and location of the Fall Maiden, or, failing that, the Relic only she can access." He explained, "and since I couldn't give them the former... I had to give them the latter. Only... Someone knew. Initially I thought it had been the Master and the Maiden I had encountered, but after I destroyed the... Machine, they used to distract myself and my allies, and investigated the battlefield, I realized that they had gotten there after the first Master." He sighed, "I believe biblical is a proper adjective to describe their battle. I saw, with my own eyes, a ray of light so bright and so large that it shot off of the surface of the earth, its aftermath appearing as though someone had taken a shovel and dug out a trench through to the horizon. I concluded that this first Master to appear, the man whose hand had been left behind, must have worked for Salem, Mister Aldric. And that the two to follow were an independent party.
"And to be truthful, there is no simple way of putting this." He sighed, "we've lost the relic."
"Oh." Aldric grunted, lowering himself to the ground. "Fu -" Ozpin's hand was around his throat and in the blink of an eye, their scenery changed.
The cloudy night sky instantly cleared, suddenly being filled with more stars than Aldric had ever seen before. Ozpin's office vanished, replaced by a wide expanse of light, and off in the distance, blindingly bright -
JESUSCHRISTTHISMADMANTELEPORTEDUSTOTHEMOON! Aldric grasped at Ozpin's hand, clawing at it as the livid Master glared at his younger captive.
"One chance, Aldric!" Ozpin roared, his voice somehow penetrating the void of space - confusing Aldric, until he realized that Ozpin's mouth hadn't budged an inch. "Qrow told me he had drank too much and informed you!" And as he roared, Aldric realized they weren't even on the moon - they were on one of the fragments that had been torn out of the moon, as evidenced by the fact that its rotation was rapidly making the sun set in front of them, and bringing the rest of the moon up behind them. "And then I see a Master -" He tore Aldric's shield off of his back, "with a shield, scorched black but of this exact size and shape! I see a weapon that exists only in your fiction! I see a gigantic metal beast and a ship that can reach space!" Aldric's lungs felt like they were literally going to explode - and with the iron grip Ozpin had on his throat, he couldn't try to buy himself more time and let the air out into the vacuum. "Hallmarks of your magic!" Now with the sun having set, Aldric could feel the temperature around them dropping rapidly, it going from boiling hot to freezing cold in seconds, as the sky above was filled with the white of the moon's surface. "Your calling cards, Aldric!" The shield vanished from Ozpin's grip, and Ozpin suddenly found himself hurtling through the vacuum - his trip lasting only but a second before he slammed into the moon, and Ozpin followed, smashing his foot into Aldric's stomach and driving all of the air out of his crying lungs. "I want to trust your alibi - I want to trust the fact that everyone, Qrow included, saw you these last few days at the hospital! That your doctor swears up and down your sudden silence was a mistake of surgery!" The edges of Aldric's vision were going dark, "but then I remember that you outright told me you have won the romantic favor of a woman who can make herself mimic the appearance of anyone alive!"
And suddenly, they were back in Ozpin's office - Aldric choked, gasping for air, coughing and wheezing as he rolled over to his hands and knees.
"I want to believe it, Aldric, to the point that I very nearly do! But it is that one, minuscule, sliver of doubt that demands I ask you! So tell me, Aldric!" Ozpin scathed, "and do not even presume to fucking lie to me!" Aldric was rolled back onto his back, and found Ozpin's cane hovering inches above his nose. "Did you do it?! Was it you and Cinder?!"
Aldric coughed, "fuck, Ozpin!" He said, barely able to fill his lungs fast enough to meet demand and speak. "And run the risk of sparking another war between Earth and Remnant - or, if what you say is true, murder my father, who, I'll remind you, could very well be one of Salem's goddamn Masters!" He pushed Ozpin's cane away and unsteadily hauled himself to his feet. "No, Oz." He looked the man in the eye, "no, I didn't fucking take the relic. I'm stupid, Ozpin - clearly! But giving an infinity stone to the one dude who would use it to kill half of everything would be just fucking retarded." He grunted, voice hoarse. "I thought the point of our Vytal plan was to avoid exactly that?"
"Yes - and how well that plan shall hold up now." Ozpin growled, "tell me again you didn't do it, and I will believe you."
Aldric coughed again, leaning against one of the metal poles that would have separated two windows, had there been any there. "I didn't do it, Ozpin." He said, "I'll... I'll admit I wasn't in the hospital, but I had nothing to do with the Relic." He raised a hand, pre-empting Ozpin's response. "I was on Earth." Ozpin paused, "I was telling my mother I was alive." The steam seemed to slowly fade away from Ozpin. "I... I gave her something, such that if she ever needed it, it would protect her."
Ozpin let out a long breath, "what did you give her?"
Aldric shook his head, "that would be telling, Ozpin. I'm not telling anyone what she has - even she doesn't know, and she won't, unless she needs it." Aldric clenched his chest. "Jesus, man... Were we just on the moon?" He looked up to the white crescent disk in the sky, trying to identify which chunk of debris they'd been on. "How the fuck do you lose to her?" And how did Aldric, who, by all accounts, should statistically be more powerful than Ozpin, still feel like he was losing out on raw power?
Ozpin sighed again, loosening his stance and standing up straight. "That was but a parlor trick, Aldric. Transporting us, even such a distance... It is but a mere drop in the bucket." A beat, "the power of the Maidens is constant, Aldric, because it seeks out fresh souls with which to be revitalized. Think of a parched traveler seeking an oasis in a desert. I, however, am an old soul, endlessly being brought back to life as is. I do not merely impregnate souls with my power, I cohabitate the body. Such a thing ages me... Weakens me, in a way you cannot understand." He shook his head, and helped Aldric to his feet, the younger Master feeling a soothing heat flowing through his pained body, no doubt some sort of healing trick Ozpin had learned. "Cinder, despite possessing merely twenty percent of my power, is and always will be stronger than I am now, and being taught by our mutual enemy means she will know how to use it in ways I never thought of."
Aldric nodded, "and how am I supposed to kill the both of them?"
To which, Ozpin shrugged. "First, you will need to learn to access your everything, not merely the coldest embers as you have been doing, but that is besides the point." He gave Aldric a pat on the shoulder. "Having lost the Relic... Earth is not happy."
"I would assume." Aldric nodded, as the two looked back out to the distance. "Got any plans?"
Ozpin nodded, "I know of some local Dust mines, as well as a few oil wells out at sea. I can sell those things to your people... Give their scientific sectors a shot in the arm and perhaps stave off their resource shortages for a time."
"That could only produce more rogue Masters, Oz." Aldric warned, "and even if it didn't... I shit you not, we're probably closer than people would like to admit to real-life Captain Americas. Real life Master Chiefs... Space Marines, for chrissakes. Any way you slice it, you give them a decade, they'll take a century, and then the only advantage you have in a conflict is gone." He said, "and conflict is coming. That is literally Salem's plan."
Ozpin nodded, "my... Former contact there, as well as my new one, both say they believe the same." He explained. "They intend to do whatever they can for us. A few platoons get their commanders changed. Some equipment gets erased from the books... But when another war starts, we will not get an entire planet's assistance, as we would hope." He ran his hand through his hair, before resting it atop his cane. "We are approaching the endgame, Mister Aldric. As we tear eachother apart in the highest-stakes performance act in history... The months after Vytal may very well determine the outcome of both our species."
Aldric grunted, "no pressure."
Ozpin shook his head. "I must apologize, Mister Aldric, for my anger. I am..." A sigh, "more stressed, in these months, than I have been in centuries. Not thinking as well as I should be."
"Oh, I get it, dude. Trust me." Aldric nodded. "So... You're going to sell trillions of dollars of resources for Louisiana Purchase money... And just... What, pray they'll take it as fair exchange?"
"Such is all I can do."
Aldric shook his head. "Ain't that the truth." He looked up, frowned, then looked around. "Where's my shield?"
"Here." Ozpin pulled it out of nowhere, handing it to Aldric.
Aldric nodded, holding it in both hands, and looking back to the city. "I like this thing... It's gonna be a shame to give it up."
Ozpin frowned, "oh?"
"Goud's gonna have to die, Ozpin. No better proof of his death than him leaving behind the one fucking thing he never goes without." Aldric couldn't remember if they'd spoken about this before.
Ozpin nodded, "we will need to summon our... Mutual allies, soon enough. Not imminently - as the time is not right - but soon."
Aldric agreed, "looks like our plan's kind of been shot, along with everything else." He indicated the city. "For which I do apologize."
Ozpin shook his head, "don't. It bought us time. Sometimes that is all we can ask for." He said, lowering his gaze to the damaged and bombed grounds of Beacon. "Sometimes that is all we have." He hummed, "I have a request, Aldric."
"Lay it on me."
Ozpin was silent a moment, as he thought his words through. "Due to the events of these last few months, many of my counterparts and allies in other countries fear we have lost control of the situation. I am, subsequently, in a position where I must make a drastic choice in order to appear as though we have not." He explained.
Aldric had been afraid of this; he nodded. "How drastic, exactly?"
"As much as I feel it would assuage many to know we've a man on the inside, Mister Aldric, I know the dangers outweigh the benefits of such a thing." Ozpin assured him. "No, the choice I must make is one of another matter, and is one I feel is best explained through one request."
What the fuck is with the point of these theatrics? Aldric nodded.
"As I have noticed you 'making the rounds', as it were, and reconnecting and checking on the friends and allies Goud has made during his time here, I must request you refrain from making contact with one of the last upon your list." A beat, "in short, please allow Miss Nikos to approach you, and not the other way around."
Now that caught his attention. "You're telling her now?" He asked, turning to Ozpin. "What for? If it's to calm down Ironwood and the others, to what end? His aura machine won't be done for a while - if it ever will be, with how trashed Atlas is. They got into a grudge match with America, Oz - you don't survive that without a black eye, a few dozen broken bones, your oil being stolen, and your government being replaced by a Democracy." He chuckled, "so to what end?" He asked.
"Beyond the simple - the fact that I've found someone and have made my choice resultantly assuaging many worries - there is another facet to it." He looked down to Aldric, grinning. "You are a smart man, care to take a guess?"
Aldric blew out a breath of air, turning back to the city and letting the night air cool him down. "How many other countries gave up their relics?"
Ozpin's grim remained, "none."
"So you're telling them that you've chosen Pyrrha now, to convince them that the terrans accepted it, and didn't demand your relic, to disguise the fact that Tweedledee and Tweedledum made off with the Relic in the first place." He nodded, "close?"
"Enough." Ozpin nodded. "Shield a lie in the truth of a different lie."
"Then a different question: How do you expect them to believe that when the terrans come in and start pillaging your lands for Vale's Dust?" Aldric asked, "when they set up an oil rig and start bleeding Remnant dry?"
"I believe Goud says it best, Mister Aldric. Hope." He said, "a symbol. If they have something to believe in - the idea that soon we will have a Maiden dedicated not just to our cause but to fighting for it - will buy us the time we need to reach the endgame."
"And what happens when we reach said endgame?" Aldric asked. "Where once we thought we'd have two planets, now it looks like it would require no small amount of divine luck just to get us a few tens of thousands of soldiers." Aldric was firmly convinced that, with Earth and Remnant at eachothers' throats as they seemed to be poised to pretend to be, their primary ground forces for the 'Endgame' would come from the White Fang, supplemented by Huntsmen and terran commandos. "I played a lot of XCOM back home, Ozpin. Circumstances in that game were a lot like here, but if you fuck up and things get as bad as it looks like they're going to unavoidably have to be here, countries started pulling out and refusing to help." Aldric hoped he could use his position as an ally to the terrans to finagle more soldiers out of the deal, but it still wouldn't be anywhere near the numbers he'd initially thought he'd have.
Ozpin nodded, "yes..." He said, "I know... But I've a plan for that."
Aldric turned to Ozpin, "oh?"
"I again want to see your intelligence, Mister Aldric. If I were to say the word 'symbol', could you ascertain my intentions?"
Were Aldric any more cynical, he'd say Ozpin had no fucking clue what he was doing, and was instead pulling off the mother of all Jack Sparrow impressions by making people think he did, by mooching off of the plans of everyone else around him; case in point: He didn't know what to do here, and was hoping Aldric could come up with something good.
Aldric looked down at the shield in his hands, frowning at the moonlight hitting its multicolored surface and diffusing into the dirt, scratches, handprints, and scorchmarks, and realized he might already know what Ozpin was implying. "Ruby... Pyrrha, or both?" He asked, balling up the end of one of his sleeves and rubbing at the star in the center.
"Both, hm?" Ozpin parroted back. "Why not one or the other?"
"I asked you first."
"I've led this war for thousands of years, Mister Aldric. I feel the key may be in the thoughts of someone who hasn't been involved with it for nearly so long." Ozpin remarked, as Aldric brought his hand away, now just able to see his outline reflected in the still dirty shield.
Aldric sighed, spinning the shield on his fingers, enjoying the low, almost arcane humming noise the vibranium made as it span. "It's like you said. Symbol. A person can be strong, but symbols are powerful, because as much strength one person can have, symbols have the collective power of everyone who believes in them... Pyrrha is the woman who would be a Maiden. The Invincible Girl. Already legendary in Mistral, famous in Atlas and Vacuo, and rapidly becoming human in Vale. She's basically Wonder Woman - she even has a tiara." He said, "Ruby, on the other hand, is a silver-eyed warrior. They in and of themselves are legends, the greatest fighters in history had silver eyes... And if you take, shall we call it, 'fate' into account, she's the only one who ever left a lasting injury on the Lady In Red. You pair them together..." A pause, as the final piece clicked. "And give them something that connects the two." He swiped his hand over the shield. "And the world will rally with them." Ozpin wanted Aldric to pass the shield onto one of them - logically, the only one of them that used a shield.
Ozpin nodded, "a decent summary." He said, "and yes. It is my belief that a powerful enough rallying cry will serve to buy us just enough time and unity for our first and last stand against Salem."
Aldric hummed, "a fifteen and a seventeen year old girl, with a dead eighteen year old idiot's shield." He jerked his head, "what a fantastic team."
Ozpin nodded his head to the side, "perhaps, when put like that... But also realize that with them will be, at the least, two of the three top teams in their year. Should Goud's team elect to accompany them instead of fighting in the war, that would make three. And united by the shield of their fallen comrade, itself already possessing a mystique about it... It would take but one major event to thrust them into the global eye."
Ah. Aldric nodded, the very last piece of the puzzle falling into place. "I'd almost forgotten about all that, to be honest."
Ozpin nodded, "two thirds of the groundwork has already been done for us. Goud's 'legend', so to speak, was cemented by his..." Ozpin sneered, "ostentatious stunt on the docks." Aldric rolled his eyes. "Miss Nikos' 'legend' needs no further cementation... All that remains is Miss Rose's, and we are uniquely positioned to give her the push she would need to realign herself with fate. We need only contact Torchwick to lay the ground rules of her investigation into him, and her success there will cement her as well."
"Then I martyr myself in their eyes and the world's, they take up my cause and my ideals, and through sheer force of will, keep the worlds united and on the same page just long enough for me to do whatever it is the White Witch wants me to before she'll take me home." Aldric grunted, "I hope you know the way I'm selling, among other things, us not killing them whenever we encounter eachother, to Cinder is predicated on the mental trauma figuring out who I am and who I 'work' for."
To which, Ozpin nodded, with a deep sigh. "I figured." He said, "but I've my own way of dealing with that eventuality. One I hope will service your desire to leave this life of intrigue behind, should victory grace us in the end."
Aldric chuckled, "holy fuck, I almost wish I could be there to see you unfuck that." He said, mounting the shield on his back and turning around. "Wait for Pyrrha."
Ozpin nodded, "wait for Pyrrha. Goodnight, Mister Aldric."
Leaving Beacon Tower with a head full of thoughts, Aldric almost didn't realize he'd let his radar shrink, and that he wasn't alone, until he was right on top of her.
Head popping up, Aldric blinked, "Weiss." He grunted, deep voice breaking the night silence. "You're usually asleep around this time. Team's back in action, now?" He spared a glance past Weiss and to the dorms, sensing the rest of RWBY, sound asleep, inside.
Weiss was standing, examining one of the missile craters dotting Beacon's grounds, the pale moonlight making her already milky countenance almost ghastly. Clutched in her hand was a sheet of paper, and staining her face were streaks of water.
"You okay?" He asked, approaching.
"Ah..." Weiss breathed, "no." She shook her head. "With sea-travel restored to the other kingdoms, that means news can travel again. Written news. Not very fast, but..." She rested her head in her hand, tightly clenching her jaw, as she brandished the sheet of paper. "Fast enough, if you've money."
Aldric frowned, and planted a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "What happened?" He asked, looking down and seeing an official-looking seal at the bottom of the letter.
"It's a letter of condolences." Weiss took in a deep breath, looking up at the sky. "I found it on my bed when we got back to the dorms. Came out here to read it."
Wait, condolences? Who the fuck - Oh. Aldric felt his heart sink. "Who died?" He whispered, realizing he knew damn well who. If the tone of this day changes any more, I'm going to break my neck from the fuckin' whiplash.
"My sister."
"Well..." Aldric grunted. "Fuck."
"Quite right." Weiss nodded, "and my father... Instead of asking I return home for the funeral, requested I remain in Vale, to act as ambassador for the SDC, in these 'trying times'."
"What a dick." Aldric scoffed. "I'd offer to kill him - jokingly, of course - but that seems inappropriate."
Weiss cracked a grin, and lowered her gaze to him. "I must admit I like that about you, Ash. One moment you're a paragon of justice... The next you can say it like it is, and neither image can compromise the other."
"Anything I can do?" Aldric asked.
Weiss shook her head, "just be there, Ash." She nodded back in the direction of the dorms. "You would be surprised how different things seem when you're there. Like your shield, things just seem brighter."
Aldric nodded, bading her follow, which she did. "Wise man once said happiness can be found even in the darkest of times... I'm sure your sister died fighting for what she believed in." On complete accident, because he'd called in a bunker buster without consideration for collateral damage! "And... Whether or not you believe in afterlives, at the very least she's not in pain and she doesn't have to struggle anymore." A beat, "you know... I didn't know your sister... But let me tell you a conclusion I've reached about death, I feel it applies more widely than just myself.
"See... I always said that when I up and kicked the bucket, I wanted people not to mourn my death, but celebrate my life. Remember the good times and the bad, but don't get bent out of shape 'cause I'm not here." He explained, "so... Your sister, she's not around anymore. But... I don't think she'd want you to mourn her like it looks like you're doing." A beat, "and your father's an asshole. And like all assholes, he's only good for the shit he spews out." Weiss scoffed, trying not to laugh. "And considering this is some Grade-A bullshit, that asshole ain't quite doing its job properly." A beat, "on account of the different species' feces."
The snow-haired huntress smacked Aldric's metal arm, "how long can you go, I wonder?"
"Uh, apparently - a week." He chuckled, indicating the area on his face where he'd been muzzled.
"That's not funny."
"We lived, didn't we?"
Weiss looked like she had something to say, based on her parted lips and the glazed look in her eyes, but she shook her head. "I suppose we did." She said, as they reached the dorms, and began climbing the stairs. "Just... Do me - do us all a favor, Ash."
"Hm?"
"Stop... Almost dying." She said, looking him in the eyes. "Okay?"
Aldric's response was to roll his head, let out a long, exaggerated sigh, and nod. "I've got no intention to die anytime soon, my lady Schnee. I still gotta beat Pyrrha's ass, at the very least. Then yours, because of the whole 'you are what they grow beyond' thing, then Yang's, because I want to go Two-and-Oh on her and piss her off... And Jaune's, because the sword may be magic, but the main ain't." He shrugged, "too many things to do, people to fight, decks to upper, to die now."
Weiss frowned, face contorted in confusion. "Decks to upper?"
Aldric's own face scrunched up in a desperate attempt to not smile, as that would only lead to him bursting out laughing late at night in the dorms. "Ask Yang when you wake up, tomorrow."
For the Record
I wonder if I have cancer.
Ozpin tried to intimidate me into letting out that I was responsible for the Relic by teleporting me to the moon.
You now - where there's no Ozone, atmosphere, or magnetic field to protect me from cosmic goddamn radiation.
I mean, I was probably only up there for... Like... A minute? Maybe two? But seriously, getting unfiltered sunlight is how people's cancer's cancer gets cancer.
I want to say that Ozpin used magic to make sure none of the really bad stuff hit me, only the 'let's scare the hell out of you!' stuff, but he was also pretty fucking pissed. It wouldn't surprised me if he let that slip.
So...
Maybe I should start calling myself Heisenberg?
I'll keep that name on reserve. I've already used Nathan Drake, Ash (Williams), and Andrew Ryan.
And I honestly don't even fucking remember if I've used any others.
Anyways - apparently Ozpin's solution for the 'Holy fuck, Earth may think I pulled a fast one on 'em' is to sell them frankly obscene amounts of resources for pennies on the dollar.
So... You know. Bright side: Gas will probably be cheaper!
Ugh.
I wonder how things will go, now? The war's over, Salem probably won't want to rock the boat too terribly much... Will things really calm down for a while? I almost don't want to believe it.
And Ozpin says he's going to let Pyrrha in on the whole 'make a Ma(ide)n, out of you' plan, because everyone in the Justice League is accusing him of losing control of the whole Salem situation, in the face of the terrans invading on her behalf.
It took a few days for the Academy to get itself back up and running and, much like Goodwitch had warned him, the schedule was one of study hard, train hard, work harder. Because Vale had a gigantic stock of superhuman workers, and a lot of rebuilding to do, they took advantage of Beacon's students and faculty, using them as heavy lifters. The byproduct of this was cutting their class and training time by a few hours to make room for all of it, though Aldric wouldn't complain, he had an ever-growing fondness for the physical side of his new life.
The single most important goal for Vale was initially to repair the CCT tower, to the point where almost anyone with a hammer made the trip up to the tower to help out. Aldric, Goodwitch, Pyrrha, and many of the Beacon staff and students with abilities similar to telekinesis were put to work the most in this regard, doing some of the literal heavy lifting, with Goodwitch even using it as teaching moments, showing Aldric and some of the other TK's how she was able to repair things with an effortless ease. Aldric found some humor in the fact that the method often boiled down to heating up two broken halves of something until they were almost liquid, sticking them together, and then cooling them down again - essentially gluing everything together and hoping it would stick. It made him feel like Bill and Ted, using chewing gum to fix their time machine.
It was after one of these days in the tower, as it was nearing completion, that Aldric found himself sitting on one of the construction beams lining the outside of the tower like vines, enjoying the wind blowing in his hair and itching at his face, idly wondering if he'd ever grow out of the patches and make a full beard, and thinking out ways to approach the whole 'let yourself get caught by Ruby' thing with Torchwick, for a meeting they had coming up that night. Looking out to Vale, legs swinging back and forth, Aldric sensed someone approaching, sliding through the as-yet-unwalled inside and weaving through the support beams, making a bee-line for him.
Aldric grinned, and just as the red headed warrior got close, he shoved off of the support beam. But, instead of free-falling through the air, he made a full revolution and stuck himself to the beam, now standing upside down, in his best batman impression. The fun came when Pyrrha, never having been privy to this particular trick, was, for a moment, completely gobsmacked by how casually Aldric had just jumped off the bridge. Aldric, for a moment, was confused when she didn't freak out, and instead approached the girder to look over the edge, only to realize that while he hadn't ever done the 'jump off a bridge' trick on her, he had flown in front of her.
So instead, he popped back up right in front of her, "ooga-booga!"
Pyrrha's smile was warm, "hello to you too, Ash." She said, reaching a hand out to the inverted spy.
Aldric snorted, "you're no fun."
"I'm used to you."
"My statement stands." Aldric responded, accepting her hand and bringing himself back upright. "What's up?"
Pyrrha nodded, and the two sat down. "I was wondering if you could help me... Or, more specifically, help me to help Jaune."
Aldric blinked, "oh shit, you two finally dating?"
"Ah -" Pyrrha flushed, shaking her head. "That's... I meant with his training."
"You're no fun." Aldric leaned back against the window behind them, "I dunno about you, Pyrrha, but I think of the two of us, you're clearly the better swordfighter."
Pyrrha nodded, not even arguing that, and likely glad to be off that topic. "Perhaps... But of the two of us, one has a far greater mastery over his shield." She explained, "ever since he was discharged, Jaune has been taking to his training a bit more heavily than before... But he still has bad habits he doesn't seem to be able to break."
Aldric nodded, his mind going to how often Jaune cowered behind his shield, even his newer one, allowing his opponents to whittle down his aura through sheer attrition. "You're thinking that it might behoove him to turn his defense into an offense."
"Another skill you uniquely excel in." Pyrrha responded, "I can tell him everything I can about how to use a sword... But the truth is his combat style and mine are almost incompatible." She explained, joining him in leaning against the glass, and looking out to Vale; where all of the reconstruction efforts were, for the moment, focused on Beacon Tower and the CCT, cleanup efforts were well underway in the city, to pave the way for the construction crews' inevitable descent, to the point where the No Man's Land and the docks were already looking less like a war-torn wasteland than they were just run-down ghettos. "I use my abilities to move my enemies out of the way, to dodge them. You, however, do the same, but also excel in finding those attacks that, if taken, would leave your enemy open to a much better counterattack... A skill I think Jaune would much more heavily benefit from."
Aldric hummed, "alright. But I got a condition for you." He said, grinning. "See - it hasn't escaped me, the fact that we just haven't fucking talked since before Yang and I's abduction." He pointed out, noticing how she looked away at this, frowning. "Nor have I forgotten the fact that, before all of that -" He indicated Vale, cast in orange light by the setting sun. "- got really bad, I made you a dumb little promise." Now, was that hope he saw in her eyes, or just reflected sunlight? "And would you look at that - we just spent the whole day fixing the most advanced piece of technology on the planet, and I didn't bring any food." Aldric telekinetically pushed his lunchbox, sitting several feet away and around a corner, off of the girder - letting it plummet to the ground. "So I'm hungry, and I bet you are too - I can see the sweat you worked up. So how about we go get food? Discuss how we'll get Jaune up to snuff, and... I dunno - see why you've been so quiet, last few days?"
"I..." Pyrrha hummed, "I don't think going on a... A date, with me, would be appropriate, considering Yuno -"
"Lady." Aldric cut Pyrrha off, "I don't know what you think's going on between me and Yuno, but a steady 'let's get married at some point' relationship is the furthest thing from it." He explained. "What we got is... Difficult to explain, so to the people who ask I just tell them we're together. To summarize a long and, at times, painful, and working relationship, I'm far more convinced she likes to fuck with me than she likes to be with me." He explained, "she and I, we're..." He shrugged, "you could call us friends, I suppose. Our relationship is built on teasing and messing with eachother... But there's no 'romance' anywhere in there." He explained, remembering what Ozpin had said earlier about Goud, Ruby, and Pyrrha; Aldric's interpretation was to double down on his idea to ingratiate himself in their lives, and ironically his best idea in that vein was to first tell the truth about him and Neo, basing it off of his suspicion that Pyrrha might have something a bit more than 'my first friend' for him.
Pyyrha was silent for a few moments, before, unbidden, her hand fell into Aldric's. "Could we just... Stay up here, instead?"
Aldric arced an eyebrow, grin falling for a moment, as he heard the weakness in her voice. "Now I know something's eating you." He said, letting her hand stay where it was. "What's up?"
Pyrrha remained silent for a long time, the only sounds between them being that of the lightly blowing breeze.
"How do you stay smiling?" She finally asked, "throughout the entire conflict with the terrans... I do not think I ever saw you succumb to the terror they created. They tore through Vale, and you smiled. They killed us by the scores, and you smiled. They maimed you, Jaune, and so many others, and you still smiled. They imprisoned and beat you... And the first thing you did was smile." She turned to him, "how do you do it?"
Aldric's brow furrowed, as he peered deep into Pyrrha's eyes. "I'll be fuckin' honest with you, Pyrrha." He sighed,looking back out to Vale. "Sometimes it's hard. Harder than anything else... But, to borrow a quote, you see me and everyone else getting beaten and bloodied, and think of the agony we must be feeling... But I see the courage it takes to get back up." He said, "if you want to look at it another way... Some people see the fact that every single star in the universe will burn out, and say that darkness is inevitable. But others remind them that it takes only a single ember to hold that darkness at bay. So it may hurt - it does hurt. It does suck. It's just fucking awful... But I smile because it also takes just one ember to light a fire, one that, oftentimes, can't be put out." He nodded, "sometimes, something to believe in as all you need to get you through the day, Pyrrha. But why don't you ask me what's really been biting you?"
Pyrrha looked despondant. "Ash... Have you..." She looked away, then back to him, appearing on the verge of tears. "Have you ever heard of the tale of the Four Maidens?"
Aldric blinked. Welp... Here we go. He nodded, "yeah, the uh..." He rotated his finger in a circle, "four women, met a wizard, got him to come back to the world, he made 'em goddesses, or somethin'." One was also dying a mile below them, another was in the city in front of them, and another was a bandit chief, and his goal was to ostensibly kill all of them. "Why?"
She hesitated again, now looking down at the ground below them. "I... Professor... Professor Ozpin pulled me aside today." She said, "I... I can't properly explain everything he said to me. But... He said that the Maidens really existed. That the rumors were true, that the terrans really were from another world, and their being here was because of someone who was hunting them - the Maidens. That the terrans are being manipulated into making the four kingdoms reveal them, so she can find them and steal their abilities."
Aldric frowned, "okay." He said, with a nod. "What does this have to do with you?"
"One of the Maidens is dying... Ozpin showed me her... He said that - that half of her powers had been stolen by someone else. Ozpin, and... Some others, they're worried that if she dies, her power will seek its other half... So they want to transfer it to me." She said, voice weak and wavering.
"They can do that?" Aldric asked, playing the part.
She nodded, "Atlas... They're almost done with something that will let them. Professor Ozpin said that they will be bringing it with them for the Vytal Festival."
"Why you?"
A tear fell from Pyrrha's face, and she smiled somberly. "Because he thinks I, more than Ruby, or Weiss, or Ecru... Or anyone else... Can smile."
Oh. Well... I didn't help at all, now did I? Now look at what he'd gone and done. "And what do you think, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha looked back out to the city, nodding to it. "Ozpin says that the person who is doing all of this... That she knows how to defeat this... Earth, the terrans come from, and Remnant as well. I think... If he is right, then what right do I have to refuse him?"
"Pyrrha, you have every right." He insisted, "it's your life, lady. Your right to choose how to live it is literally what we fight for." Aldric closed his hand around hers, "don't let the way I think influence how you do, Pyrrha."
She shook her head, "it isn't that, Ash... I've... Made the decision." She said, turning to look into his eyes, lip quivering. "I'm just afraid of what would happen, if he, if the world - both worlds - put their faith in me and I fail. If I do not live up to what they want, what they need."
Oh. Aldric nodded, realizing where this was coming from: This was the Invincible Girl once again imposing on Pyrrha, but unlike her life in Mistral, there wouldn't be anywhere to run to for a 'fresh start', with this. "No one will blame you if you do this and fail, Pyrrha. You'll have tried your hardest - I know you too well to think you wouldn't." He said, "but what I want you to realize is that..." He paused, and let out a light breath of air, humming. "Think of it like this. Things aren't beautiful because they exist forever, they're beautiful because they don't." He said, "the absolute best we can do, is the absolute best we're capable of. Nothing more, nothing less. So if you make this choice, make it because you want to, not because you feel you need to. And if, somehow, you still manage to fail?" He shrugged, "fuck it! You'll have failed fighting. Have died standing on your feet. If it's mankind's fate to die... Our nature will ensure we won't go down easy. So if you fail, and we fall - we'll fall swinging...
"And besides..." He leaned over to her, "you, with magic-ass powers..." He pointed to her, "me, with my magic-ass shield." He pointed to himself, "Johnny-boy with his magic-ass sword... Ruby with her... Uh..." He shrugged. "Ruby. All of us, all of our teams? Not a single ass we can't kick, lady." He patted her hand. "Now, I told you once before - depression doesn't suit you!" He said, taking the conversation back. "And what do you do? You go and get told you're going to get turned into a god - with a little 'G' - and get all depressed again. Lady, you need to learn to roll with the punches... So you know what?" Aldric held his free hand out in front of him, "we're going to do something stupid. Have you ever jumped off of a building before?"
Pyrrha blinked, "uh - no!" Her vivid green eyes went from him, to his hand, then back to his him. "What -" But her attention was again captured when, up from the dorms, Aldric's shield burst out from one of the many holes in the wall.
It flew up through the air and settled in his hand. "I accidentally tested this once before, and in hindsight, it was really fun."
She blinked at him, not believing his implications, but a disbelieving smile slowly growing across her face regardless. "Oh... kay..." She chuckled, airily. "Tested what, exactly?"
"Simple!" Aldric grinned, "tell me - that shit you've got all over you." Aldric indicated the various metal plates he could see on her legs and arms. "I would assume they're some kind of magnetic, yeah?" To which, Pyrrha nodded, thin, confused smile still on her face. "And would I also be correct in thinking that you use that to your advantage in battle? To move yourself just a bit faster than you would be able, otherwise?" Another nod. "Then the conclusion is simple!" And Aldric lunged backwards off of the building, catching himself with his semblance and holding himself aloft. "You're gonna fuckin' fly, lady!" It was what he called the 'Magneto Principal' - she could control magnetism, and she had a bunch of metal on her. Two and two meant that her four was she could fly.
"Ah..." Pyrrha's gaze broke away, shaking her head. "No, I don't think -" She stuttered, "that would be... Dreadfully dangerous."
"Yeah!" Aldric called out, before chucking the shield at her, which she caught, and held almost reverently. "That's what this is for!" Pyrrha examined the shield, running her hand over it, then looking up to the floating Aldric, questioningly. "See, first time I did this, I - WHOA!" He plummeted thirty feet, then lazily floated back up. "Did something like that! But that shield there, it kept me good and three-dimensional when I hit the ground! Took the whole impact for me! And besides lady, I'll be out here with you - so if you somehow -" He drawled, "- can't do what you already damn well know you can! Then I can catch you and we'll try again!
"And you're gonna do this, by the way! Not much else in the world more exciting than leaving it! No, the question is whether or not you'll jump yourself, or..." Aldric placed a telekinetic hand on her back and gave her the lightest of pushes which, when accompanied with his grin, none-too-subtly told her he was fully prepared to push her out of spite.
Pyrrha shook her head, lips pursed and jaw clenched to suppress a frown. She leaned forward and looked down, -
"Don't think! Just do!" Aldric rested his hands behind his head. "C'mon! Your audience is -" She leapt, "holy shit!" Aldric laughed uproariously, as he saw her enveloped in a black aura, focused mostly around the sparse armor plates around her body.
Her arms and legs flailed wildly as she floated through through the air, hopping and bucking up and down almost like a cartoon character trying to maintain its altitude. She called out, laughing in equal parts fear and euphoria, a smile, big and genuine, stretching across her face while the one arm without any metal plating clutched Aldric's shield with a white-knuckled grip, like one would hold onto a flotation device in the ocean.
Still laughing in uproar, Aldric nodded, "alright! Lady's got it!" He called out, holding his hands out as she unsteadily approached, one brief start where she fell a few feet being all that separated the two before contact.
She held onto him with the tightest grip he'd ever felt, to the point where Aldric felt the fingers in both his organic and his mechanical arm groaning under the force of her grip. "Ash!" She gasped, "I - I never knew I could -"
"Of course you didn't!" He smiled, able to tell that she was struggling to keep herself aloft, their grip on eachother feeling like holding someone up in a pool of water. "Pyrrha, first thing you've gotta learn is creative applications. Everyone in this damn school - on this world - has powers that, if they only got creative in their use, would take them from little lowly huntsman to a powerhouse stronger than Yang!" He called out, spinning the two around and lightly pushing Pyrrha away. "Literally everyone with a semblance, I gaurantee you, can do things they never dreamed of... But don't, because they fail to look past the immediate utility! You! For instance!" He shouted, as she pirouetted away, trying to regain control of herself. "You have control of magnetism! One of the fundamental forces of nature! You know how stupid strong that makes you, before Ozpin gives you magic powers?"
Pyrrha tilted her head to the side, as she twirled around to face Aldric. "Is that how you-"
"Certainly not!" Aldric grinned, as a ball of ice appeared in one of his hands. "I have no clue what you're talking about!" The ice evaporated. "Now... comes the next part!"
Pyrrha frowned, slowly gaining the confidence to lower her arms to a more natural position. "Oh?" She called out.
"You see - my first flight, I fell, then I up and flew a few dozen miles to and from my destination at the time, and that was with no idea how to even hold myself steady!" He grinned, "you, on the other hand, you already had the theory! So that means you should be ready for a little fun!" He pointed out to the mountains behind Beacon. "I want to see you there before me!" He called out, before zooming past Pyrrha, laughing.
He would admit he felt kind of good, seeing the smile on her face as he shot past her, and she followed.