24
Jax Asturias was not happy. That was to say that he very much did not like being summoned away from The Mirage. But Gillian had asked him to come, said it was urgent in her letter. As he stepped out of the vehicle and into the compound he could immediately tell that something was off, his guards flanking him. Those already in the bunker, ones not under his semblance, watched him with nervous gazes. There was a sense of unease in the air but he ignored it, knowing that if there was something wrong then his sister would inform him. He grumbled to himself that a messenger could have been sent to inform him of any setbacks and that bringing him in was unnecessary.
The only reason he had acquiesced was because of a particular statement in her message. She talked vaguely of an extremely powerful woman, a woman who could potentially be an asset. But also that this woman was unwilling to cooperate. The fact that she had summoned him meant that she intended him to make this person docile.
Why had she not just shipped the woman to him, he hated being dragged all the way to the bunker for something that could be accomplished so easily. He would need to have a word with her afterwards.
"Gillian." Jax did not shout but instead spoke in his regal and commanding tone, voice carrying across the throne room as he entered it. He glanced to see a woman he was unfamiliar with standing next to the throne. The woman was beautiful, he had to admit. Not his type as she was not Vacuan enough for him, but even he could admire her beauty. Blonde hair like spun gold, flawless and pale skin with a long, white dress that was not of Vacuan make. In her delicate grip was a strange staff that glittered like it was made of glass. She piqued his interest.
"Brother." Gillian welcomed him and stood from her throne with a tight smile. He could see the tension on her face, "This is the person I wanted you to meet. Her name is Alba and she has some unique abilities."
Strange, he thought. If this woman was the kind of problem that Gillian had outlined, why did she not just drain her aura and wait for him? Why was this woman roaming freely around the bunker? Well she could explain herself later, instead he approached the two of them. The woman, who looked to be about their age, maybe a little older but it was always hard to tell with Huntresses. She regarded him with an unreadable expression, her blue eyes seeming staring into him. It made him uncomfortable.
"I am Jax Asturias, no doubt my sister has spoken of me." He gave her his best winning smile, he had had lessons from Gillian on putting on heirs. Jax didn't think it was usually necessary but had learned the skill nonetheless. He held out his hand in greeting, waiting for her to take it. Normally he would be disgusted being touched by a foreigner but he could make an exception to make one his thrall.
"She had spoken highly of you." The woman said brightly, a smile blossoming on her face. It was charming, he could admit. She extended her hand and took his and that was when he struck. Of course it wasn't physically, but with his semblance.
Jax reached through the contact they made, his mind invading hers. It would be easy enough to tweak a few things, make her subservient to him. He was looking forward to seeing just how powerful she was if it had his sister in a hurry. He felt his mind touch hers and it was then that he knew something was wrong. As he pushed against her thoughts, for the first time since he obtained his semblance, someone pushed back.
Oh you greedy fool. He heard her thoughts as clear as a bell, ringing through his mind and echoing in the darkest corners of his soul. You touch my mind, fumbling like a child. Let this be a lesson to you.
For the first time in his life since unlocking his semblance, Jax panicked. He tried to let go, to recoil, but she did not let him. Looking into her eyes he saw not anger but apathy. She did not look at him like he was a foe, or an obstacle. He was a child. A child who had stuck their hand in a fire.
His back hit the wall, some dozen feet away and he tumbled to the ground, a slight daze as his aura protected him from the worst of the impact. He was stunned by the fact that it didn't work and in that split second afterwards is when he felt it, the pain. Like his hand had been dipped in molten metal he cried out and clutched it.
Only to clutch nothing.
It was with dawning horror that he saw nothing but a stump shortly after his elbow, the blood being quickly stymied by his own aura as it worked in a futile attempt to repair the damage done. Jax choked as he curled up around the wound, nearly passing out but remaining conscious as he glared hatefully at Alba.
"Kill her!" He roared.
His guards sprung into action one raising a bow and firing an arrow at her and the other rushing in with twin longswords. The arrow struck true and he was left confused as it thumped into her chest right before the other reached her and, with a squick swing, decapitated her. As the body crumpled lifelessly to the floor he stood back up, sweat pouring out of him, his body trembling, but he crowed in victory.
"You gave me quite the surprise but you cannot kill a rightful-"
The words died on his lips as her head disappeared in a gold glow, disintegrating. The same glow enveloped her body and he watched in horror as her head reformed in seconds, her lifeless body starting to move once more as she got back up, pulling the arrow out and dropping it on the ground. The only evidence of her wounds being the bloodstain on her pure white dress. The bodyguards leapt into action once more, acting on his last order. However they did not make it far. Even as the arrow was nocked, they both were gone as the woman stretched out her hand and a torrent of bright light poured off of it, incinerating them both, aura and all. The far wall was scored several feet deep in the solid rock with a smoking hole that was perfectly round.
Jax looked to Gillian and yet she stood rooted to the floor, staring wide-eyed and pale at him. Movement caught his eye and his gaze whipped back to the woman, no, the monster as she approached him and it became clear why she had looked at him the way she had. Alba appeared to almost glide across the floor, no one daring to move as she approached the injured Jax.
She crouched down, the tip of her nails touching the underside of his chin as she tilted his head up to make him look at her. Her eyes were cold as she held him with the same hand that had punched through his aura like it was tissue paper. This strange, impossible woman who had destroyed his guards and cowed his sister. The same woman who had come back from being shot and decapitated. He must have been dreaming, having some sort of nightmare.
The pain said otherwise.
As he whimpered at her touch she spoke softly. Gone was that warm sound in her voice, replaced with a cold and powerful tone.
"Jax Asturias. There are some things you are not meant to behold. Some things you are not meant to grasp. You are a child swallowed up by your delusions and have tricked yourself into believing you are royalty. Royalty is not born, it is made. Forged."
"What are you?" He whispered.
She leaned in to whisper in return, "I am the immortal queen of Remnant."
Alba took a step back from him, rising to her full height and she raised her hand towards him. He knew his fate at this point, there was no force that could stop this woman from killing him and he closed his eyes.
"Wait!" The voice rang out as he waited for oblivion, his sister urging her to stop. When oblivion did not find him, he opened his eyes to find his sister there. She was not standing between them but was next to Alba. His sister was not suicidal enough to grab the woman but she had stopped, waiting to see what Gillian had to say, "Please don't kill him, he's- he's learned his lesson, hasn't he?"
Alba gave him a smile, but it too was devoid of warmth. It sent a chill through his already trembling body, "It looks like he has. I care not for your objective or your kingdom. Help me and I will help you, but remember this. The moment you put your needs before my own, it will be lost to you."
-SY-
It had been days.
Days since Blake had last talked to Carmine. In fact, for over a week, the woman constantly avoided her, telling her she was busy, or giving attention to other students. Well it wasn't like Blake was in a hurry to talk to her, either. What could she possibly say? What should she say?
Her, don't worry about having a crush on me.
Absolutely not. She was still coming to grips with the fact her leader might have a thing for her, she'd never shown it. But they had also only known each other for a few months now, whereas Carmine had known her for almost a decade. It was entirely possible something like that wouldn't develop for years or not at all. And now she had to live with that knowledge
She needed to talk to Carmine, corner her somehow and get the full story. If the cat was already out of the bag, it couldn't hurt, right?
"Professor, I need to talk to you."
Carmine froze at her desk as she burst into the office, her pen stopping for a moment. She looked like Ruby caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Miss Belladonna, now's not really a good time."
Blake crossed her arms, refusing to budge, "I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me Ruby."
She caught the way she flinched and made a slow look back at her, "I know what you want to talk about but it's not a good idea."
She turned around and closed the door, stepping into the room to sit down on the chair across from Carmine, "I need to talk to you about what you said."
"And I don't!" Carmine snapped at her, a soft glare leveled her way that faded a fraction of a moment later.
"Please." She pleaded, "I need to know more. Not out of curiosity but because it's driving me crazy. Every time I look at Ruby I think about what you said and I can't get it out of my head."
"How would spilling my guts help?"
"I don't want to be looking over my shoulder at my leader for… for forever."
Carmine grimaced, staring her down but she stayed strong in the face of the glower. She needed this. Blake had never before felt so helpless about something that should have been so trivial, not that Ruby's feelings were trivial, but worrying about if someone liked you felt far too mundane for her. She was an ex-terrorist! She had bigger problems, like her parents. It was Carmine who broke first, a sigh as she reached down and took out a bottle filled with amber liquid. She didn't offer any as she took a drink and set it down on the desk.
Wait, since when does she drink? Blake thought to herself, eyeing the half empty bottle.
"What do you want to know?" Carmine asked simply, and it reminded Blake that she couldn't get distracted.
"I want to hear how you fell for…. Her."
"I didn't take you for the gossiping type." She leaned back in her chair, giving her a long considering look, "Alright. There's not much to it. You can probably tell but I was a late bloomer. Took me years to develop feelings for her."
"Years?"
"Yeah." She shook her head, a sort of soft, gentle smile on her face, "After Beacon we all sort travelled all over as the world went to shit. We stuck together. I dunno if it was just being close to someone for so long in life or death situations or what but before long, around the time I was what, eighteen? Something like that. I caught the bug, accept no substitutes."
"Then what happened? Did you ask her out?"
Carmine barked out a laugh "Gods no. By the time I realized what I wanted, it was beyond my reach."
"Because she died?"
"Because she was with someone else."
Her heart sank as she saw the bitter look on the older woman's face. It sounded like it had been unrequited, she had read quite a few books with that as a theme. They never ended well.
"Who?" Gods damn her curiosity for that question.
Another swig of the bottle and Carmine paused, thinking, "I shouldn't tell you."
"Why not?" She protested.
"I've already screwed everything up already. If I tell you who you were with, what then? It'll be more of the same. How will you know your feelings are yours and not just what you think should happen based on my past?"
It was enough to make her slump back in her chair. It was a good question and not one she had an answer to. If she knew who she dated in some other future how would she feel? Would it influence her? Of course it would, it was impossible to say in what way but she knew that it would.
"There wasn't anyone else? Like Weiss?"
"She was my partner, Blake, but that doesn't make us partners. I couldn't help how I felt and it wasn't like I was meeting people or going on dates."
"How did you deal with it then? It can't have been easy seeing the person you liked with another person."
"Well I spent a lot of time bed surfing, that was for sure. Just kind of buried myself in other women."
That can't be healthy. But then again, not much about her is. It was hard to remember that despite her easy confidence Carmine was a very hurt person. She'd seen, of course, those rare cracks in her facade. She guarded herself with the wisecracks and innuendos. The teasing. Sometimes it felt like she was talking to Yang. But that was probably the point. She came to a sudden and sorrowful realization.
What happens to Ruby if it becomes too painful to be Ruby?
Carmine must have been so lonely, it made her heart ache just thinking about it. But once Carmine got going, it was hard to stop her. As the time went on and she forgot to keep track of the hours she began to hear stories that grew more animated as that bottle of alcohol grew more empty. Blake was seeing it more and more, those glimmers of the old Ruby that shone through when she thought no one was looking. She spoke of their team and the adventures they had. Her trek across Anima with, of all people, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. Or how they had met back up in Mistral, Blake herself rousing a militia from Menagerie to stop the White Fang.
It sounded grand and hopeful. Carmine told jokes and spoke fondly of the people she had met from Vale to Mistral to Atlas and Vacuo. She spoke of some boy named Oscar as well as Penny. There were times when she grew sorrowful, her tone dropping as she remembered the deaths of her friends. She never talked about those, but she could always hazard a guess at who it was. But even through the sadness she recalled her friends fondly.
"And then we find Coco, as unhappy as can be because, and I quote, 'My shoes aren't meant for deserts.'"
Blake snorted, it did sound like something Coco would say, "And then what happened?"
"Yang told her to just take her shoes off if it was such a problem."
That elicited a bark of laughter from the usually taciturn girl, but to be fair she could imagine the fashionable girl's reaction to that particular suggestion, "I can't imagine that went well."
"Had to pry them apart with a crowbar, and not in the fun way."
She simply shook her head in amazement. It was all so much to take in and she waited as Carmine picked up the bottle, looking at it in surprise. She put her one eye to the opening, peering into the now empty bottle of whiskey.
"Well damn, that went by fast." Carmine checked the time on her scroll and her eye widened, "Oh shit, it's almost curfew!"
Blake blinked and looked at the time herself, balking at the late hour, "I should get back to my dorm."
"Yeah." Carmine got up and stumbled, catching herself on the desk, "Woah, I drank more than I thought."
"Here let me help you." She moved to keep the older woman upright. Carmine wasn't so sloshed that she couldn't stand without assistance so Blake just lent her a steadying hand to keep her from tripping as they walked to the door, "Perhaps I should make sure you get to your room and don't pass out in the hallway? Miss Goodwitch would probably blow a gasket if she found you."
Carmine giggled, leaning a little heavily on her friend, "She's pretty hot when she's mad though."
Blake rolled her eyes, she had heard no end to comments like that, Carmine had talked at length about some of the 'stunning women' she'd met in her travels. Apparently Vacuo was quite casual in that regard and she stated she had once shared a bunk with an entire team. Not at once but over a few days, some team named NDGO if she remembered correctly. Had even made a pass at Coco once but the woman was a lot more serious in her pursuits than she let on.
"Yeah, yeah, let's get you in bed."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you,"
She froze, partly down the hallways and turned to Carmine but the woman hadn't seemed to notice she had said anything aloud. She chose, carefully, not to say anything about that comment and instead made sure to take her to her private room. It wasn't far, being that all the teachers lived in a wing close to the offices. It helped them when they graded late at night.
Carmine fumbled for her scroll, the automatic lock on the door beeping and she swung it open, and promptly slammed it shut again, face going still. Blake had to blink a few times, processing what she had seen, a small girl laying on Carmine's bed, dressed only in her underwear. She looked familiar and she furrowed her brows as she tried to remember.
When she finally did remember she slammed the door open again, pointing an accusatory finger, "You!"
The brown and pink haired girl, who had refused to move, pointed at herself silently.
"You're with Torchwick!"
The girl feigned surprise.
"What are you doing here?!" She really wished she had Gambol Shroud at hand as Carmine tried to placate her and pull her out of the room.
The girl simply looked at her confused, slowly gesturing to her body.
"I can see you're laying there but why half-naked in a Professor's room?"
The girl looked at her like she was an idiot, making a V with her fingers and sticking her tongue through it. She wasn't too naive to not know what that meant.
"Neo!" Carmine barked, "No! Blake, come here."
The older woman dragged her out of the room, shutting the door. It looked like the shock had sobered her up some but her face was beet red.
"Carmine!" Blake hissed, "What the hell is she doing in your room?"
"Welllll…" She hedged, trying to delay answering as her eye skated around the hallways, "You saw her answer."
"Are you banging a criminal?!" She shouted.
"Sshhhhh!" Carmine put her finger to Blake's mouth, "Probably best not to shout that out but…. Yes?"
The finger was removed before she could bite it, "How could you! Why?"
"Oh, well you see, I invited her for a spar, we held a tie-breaker in my room. I had reach but, " She winked, "She had flexibility."
She didn't like that, she didn't like that at all.
"You can't trust her? Or them! She works with Roman!"
"I'm well aware of that, kitten, but it's just some fun. It's not like I'm letting her use my bank card."
She couldn't articulate her frustration, merely stomping away. She got a few feet before a hand touched her shoulder, spinning her around to face Carmine who was suddenly very close. She smelled of the whiskey she was drinking and it wrankled her nose.
"What?" She snapped, annoyed, "I need to get back to the dorm, and you need to get back to… that."
"Don't misunderstand me Blake, I had no idea she was there."
"It's none of my business who you entangle with." She sniffed.
"I don't want you getting the wrong idea."
Blake paused, eyes flicking to the silver eye of the older woman, "Why?"
"You know why."
"I wouldn't ask if I did."
"I care about what you think of me."
Carmine was close and it felt like a small jolt ran through her. There was an intensity in here eyes, a dangerous gleam and it quickened her pulse. This was not good.
"You're not thinking straight because you're drunk."
"And what if I wasn't drunk?"
It was too much and Blake did what she did best; leaving a clone behind and hurrying down the hallway. She fled and didn't look back, didn't stop until she was back in her team's dorm and underneath her covers. Her head was spinning, she had gotten the answers she wanted but now new questions had taken their place.
She wasn't herself. Blake thought to herself, she wouldn't have done that if she wasn't. Wouldn't have gotten so close.
What had she been about to do? What was that look in her eye? It had been a look of hunger, and she had, for a moment, been the prey.