A Series Of Unfortunate Circumstances [RWBY SI] [AHOIAC AU]
- Location
- America
I wonder if Salem is going to learn that Shade can destroy the gods creations. Also he is absorbing the grim as he turn them into his own unique white gooey essence so does that mean the grim can become a source of magic for Shade to munch on? The are technically magical monster created by the dark god.
Chapter Sixty-One
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Sixty-One
I never had Salem's true attention until that moment. The difference was jarring; it was as if a blind and dead man could finally see and hear, and decided to stare and listen very carefully to what another person was saying, taking in every word, welcoming every sight, smiling at every minuscule gesture and feeling blessed by the simple acknowledgement of their presence in a room.
It was also incredibly hard not to shy away from her touch.
She had forcefully, yet gently guided me from the entrance to her castle to a room, one with a small sofa on which I had been guided to sit while she took a seat by my side.
Her hand was gently, and affectionately, caressing my hair like a grandmother would a small child. Though she had the strength to crush my skull with ease, she moved with the tender care of a mother bear knowing that too much strength might indeed spell the cub's doom.
"I was so consumed by wrath and sorrow that I never stopped to think, or even realize," Salem whispered, "That any of my daughters might have survived," she stared into my eyes. "I wonder which one it was." Sadness marred her face, "We could have had much more time together," she whispered. "I could have taught her so much more...guided her descendants, made us rulers, even new gods of Remnant."
"I-I don't know that," I said. "I don't even know how-"
"The how is inconsequential," Salem mused. "It was bound to happen. That it happened later is due, in no small part, to the merging of the bloodline of the true humanity with the inferior copy." Here she sneered, only for the hatred within her eyes to quickly disappear not a second later.
"But you awoke to magic, which means-which means that my blood was stronger. Which means that you were, are, stronger. I should have seen it," she smiled, "Your temperament, your determination-even the strength of your love-" she chuckled, but it was a bitter, angry chuckle. "We should celebrate. A great feast would be the norm, but where to find a good enough chef? You will need better rooms, better clothes-there are so many things you need to be taught, so much potential in you that still remains untapped-"
There was excitement in her voice. Excitement and a hint of happiness.
"There's-" I spoke, interrupting her, and she grew quiet. It was unnerving to watch her entire, fully-focused attention on the likes of me, because it showed just how differently she had been listening before. "Cinder. I-I will do as you wish, but..."
"Of course, of course," Salem said, nodding slowly. "And you do not need to do as I wish anymore. We are family," she said, her arms moving to gently embrace my head, pulling it to rest against her chest like a mother would a tearful kid. "There are many, many things I need to teach you," she whispered, "Many things we need to do, many things-but first, we will stop seeking the relics out."
I blinked at that. "Why? Wasn't that what you wanted?"
"I no longer have a need for them," Salem said. "No, if anything, it would be counter-productive now." Her fingers gently caressed my hair, giving me a slow, but loving head-pat. "Cinder has served me well. No, she has served me admirably, for being...human. Though the power she possesses isn't truly hers, I'll allow her to join my family." Her voice was starting to feel like a lullaby, a gentle, pleasant humming of peace and serenity. It was strange.
It made no sense for me to relax, and yet I was starting to. It was as if a massive weight had just left my shoulders, as if I wasn't a grown man but just a little child, seeking out his grandmother for the daily hug.
"My family," Salem whispered, more to herself than to me. "Ozma tried to take you away from me, he tried, and he failed." Her fingers stopped caressing my hair. "And he will not do so again."
My eyelids felt heavy, and as a yawn escaped my lips, Salem giggled. "It must have been tiring, coming back here while fighting the Grimm. I will make it so it doesn't happen again, but for now rest...and when you wake up tomorrow, I can start teaching you everything you know."
My eyes closed. My body sagged in relief, and palpable tiredness. Sleep welcomed me, and it was a dreamless one. When I woke, I was in a different room from my usual one. It was larger, it was cleaner, and it was apparent that someone had pulled all the stops in order to make it shine as brilliantly as possible.
It was as if some kind of veil had lifted, and I winced as I stepped into the hallways that were apparently spotless now. Someone had cleaned them with the efficient ruthlessness of a serial killer seeking to rout out the dirt; nothing remained but pristine, flawless marbles, carpets that shone as if new, and even the windows had been repaired.
Outside, though the weather was still purplish, the ever-present dark clouds were somewhat tamer.
I carefully crept around the strangely redecorated and renovated castle, and pondered how it had all happened during the night.
"You have your new orders," Salem's voice caught my attention as I actively sought her out for once, and I found her into the meeting room where only a Seer Grimm floated lazily by, Salem staring right into it. "You are to leave Atlas and return. New developments have arisen."
"We understand, goddess," Tyrian's voice came through the Grimm, "We will do as you command."
"As you wish," Watts' voice came next.
Salem's gaze moved from the Seer Grimm towards me, and a smile blossomed on her face. The dark veins that normally marred it were gone, and though her eyes were still bottomless pits of darkness and crimson hatred, there was a certain calmness to her body.
The Seer Grimm floated away, and Salem had an actual skip in her step as she neared me, the smile on her face blossoming fully as she rested a hand on my cheek. "It is time then," she said amiably. "Follow me, and we will see what you can do."
Her face now truthfully radiated a sense of serene contentment, which remained fixed even as I found myself in a circular hall, one which gave me nothing but bad memories.
"I understand," Salem's voice was calm, her eyes finding mine. "This is the room where I had the Grimm train you." Sadness marred her face now. "If I had known back then-nothing of the sort would have happened." Her fists clenched, "But blame Ozma for that. Many things would not have happened if that fool had but listened to me!" she bared her teeth in an angry scowl, small black veins starting to spread from her eyes only to then simmer away.
"I...I understand," I said, "What do you want me to do?"
Salem smiled, "Show me what you can do."
I gave her a hesitant nod, and lightning arched across my right arm by my will. It sparked into my other hand, fire soon forming and burning off in mid-air amidst the lightning. A gust of wind sent the sphere of fire and lightning to fly up and down in the air, before gravity crushed it downwards. A small column of water spread from the ground, my right hand rising gently upwards as a pillar of earth formed, from which the water source gurgled and formed a basin.
As the tip of my fingers touched the water, it turned to ice.
"I-"
"Marvelous," Salem whispered. "Truly marvelous."
She had not asked, not once, what had happened to Hazel, or to the Relic of Knowledge.
She would remember, perhaps, and ask me later.
But as things were, she did not care.
The radiant smile on her face was something that could be found only on the most flawless of paintings. The joy that radiated from her entire being was palpable, even more so when she clasped both of my hands, forming a cup out of them.
"I will teach you how to control each element more carefully now. There are many things you could improve-after elemental magic, we will move on to more sophisticated forms. There is so much that you can do, so much that you can become," she was far, far more excited than I was, that much was clear. "You will become like a God," she said with a chuckle, "And your children will become Gods of their own right-all of them, all those that know magic-they will..." she turned thoughtful. "You must have had parents. Could they too be awakened to magic?" she looked at me. "I need to find them. Whoever they are-I will have Mistral scoured up and down for them."
She smiled, water forming in the palm of my hands by her magic rather than mine. "But that will come later, for now feel the magic, how I use it to create water..."
Salem was a kind, benevolent teacher.
She would have terrified me to the depths of my soul, if I wasn't so busy trying my hardest to understand and come to terms with her jarring and abrupt change of plans.
Now came the hardest part...
...convincing her I didn't want to rule the world as a God.
I never had Salem's true attention until that moment. The difference was jarring; it was as if a blind and dead man could finally see and hear, and decided to stare and listen very carefully to what another person was saying, taking in every word, welcoming every sight, smiling at every minuscule gesture and feeling blessed by the simple acknowledgement of their presence in a room.
It was also incredibly hard not to shy away from her touch.
She had forcefully, yet gently guided me from the entrance to her castle to a room, one with a small sofa on which I had been guided to sit while she took a seat by my side.
Her hand was gently, and affectionately, caressing my hair like a grandmother would a small child. Though she had the strength to crush my skull with ease, she moved with the tender care of a mother bear knowing that too much strength might indeed spell the cub's doom.
"I was so consumed by wrath and sorrow that I never stopped to think, or even realize," Salem whispered, "That any of my daughters might have survived," she stared into my eyes. "I wonder which one it was." Sadness marred her face, "We could have had much more time together," she whispered. "I could have taught her so much more...guided her descendants, made us rulers, even new gods of Remnant."
"I-I don't know that," I said. "I don't even know how-"
"The how is inconsequential," Salem mused. "It was bound to happen. That it happened later is due, in no small part, to the merging of the bloodline of the true humanity with the inferior copy." Here she sneered, only for the hatred within her eyes to quickly disappear not a second later.
"But you awoke to magic, which means-which means that my blood was stronger. Which means that you were, are, stronger. I should have seen it," she smiled, "Your temperament, your determination-even the strength of your love-" she chuckled, but it was a bitter, angry chuckle. "We should celebrate. A great feast would be the norm, but where to find a good enough chef? You will need better rooms, better clothes-there are so many things you need to be taught, so much potential in you that still remains untapped-"
There was excitement in her voice. Excitement and a hint of happiness.
"There's-" I spoke, interrupting her, and she grew quiet. It was unnerving to watch her entire, fully-focused attention on the likes of me, because it showed just how differently she had been listening before. "Cinder. I-I will do as you wish, but..."
"Of course, of course," Salem said, nodding slowly. "And you do not need to do as I wish anymore. We are family," she said, her arms moving to gently embrace my head, pulling it to rest against her chest like a mother would a tearful kid. "There are many, many things I need to teach you," she whispered, "Many things we need to do, many things-but first, we will stop seeking the relics out."
I blinked at that. "Why? Wasn't that what you wanted?"
"I no longer have a need for them," Salem said. "No, if anything, it would be counter-productive now." Her fingers gently caressed my hair, giving me a slow, but loving head-pat. "Cinder has served me well. No, she has served me admirably, for being...human. Though the power she possesses isn't truly hers, I'll allow her to join my family." Her voice was starting to feel like a lullaby, a gentle, pleasant humming of peace and serenity. It was strange.
It made no sense for me to relax, and yet I was starting to. It was as if a massive weight had just left my shoulders, as if I wasn't a grown man but just a little child, seeking out his grandmother for the daily hug.
"My family," Salem whispered, more to herself than to me. "Ozma tried to take you away from me, he tried, and he failed." Her fingers stopped caressing my hair. "And he will not do so again."
My eyelids felt heavy, and as a yawn escaped my lips, Salem giggled. "It must have been tiring, coming back here while fighting the Grimm. I will make it so it doesn't happen again, but for now rest...and when you wake up tomorrow, I can start teaching you everything you know."
My eyes closed. My body sagged in relief, and palpable tiredness. Sleep welcomed me, and it was a dreamless one. When I woke, I was in a different room from my usual one. It was larger, it was cleaner, and it was apparent that someone had pulled all the stops in order to make it shine as brilliantly as possible.
It was as if some kind of veil had lifted, and I winced as I stepped into the hallways that were apparently spotless now. Someone had cleaned them with the efficient ruthlessness of a serial killer seeking to rout out the dirt; nothing remained but pristine, flawless marbles, carpets that shone as if new, and even the windows had been repaired.
Outside, though the weather was still purplish, the ever-present dark clouds were somewhat tamer.
I carefully crept around the strangely redecorated and renovated castle, and pondered how it had all happened during the night.
"You have your new orders," Salem's voice caught my attention as I actively sought her out for once, and I found her into the meeting room where only a Seer Grimm floated lazily by, Salem staring right into it. "You are to leave Atlas and return. New developments have arisen."
"We understand, goddess," Tyrian's voice came through the Grimm, "We will do as you command."
"As you wish," Watts' voice came next.
Salem's gaze moved from the Seer Grimm towards me, and a smile blossomed on her face. The dark veins that normally marred it were gone, and though her eyes were still bottomless pits of darkness and crimson hatred, there was a certain calmness to her body.
The Seer Grimm floated away, and Salem had an actual skip in her step as she neared me, the smile on her face blossoming fully as she rested a hand on my cheek. "It is time then," she said amiably. "Follow me, and we will see what you can do."
Her face now truthfully radiated a sense of serene contentment, which remained fixed even as I found myself in a circular hall, one which gave me nothing but bad memories.
"I understand," Salem's voice was calm, her eyes finding mine. "This is the room where I had the Grimm train you." Sadness marred her face now. "If I had known back then-nothing of the sort would have happened." Her fists clenched, "But blame Ozma for that. Many things would not have happened if that fool had but listened to me!" she bared her teeth in an angry scowl, small black veins starting to spread from her eyes only to then simmer away.
"I...I understand," I said, "What do you want me to do?"
Salem smiled, "Show me what you can do."
I gave her a hesitant nod, and lightning arched across my right arm by my will. It sparked into my other hand, fire soon forming and burning off in mid-air amidst the lightning. A gust of wind sent the sphere of fire and lightning to fly up and down in the air, before gravity crushed it downwards. A small column of water spread from the ground, my right hand rising gently upwards as a pillar of earth formed, from which the water source gurgled and formed a basin.
As the tip of my fingers touched the water, it turned to ice.
"I-"
"Marvelous," Salem whispered. "Truly marvelous."
She had not asked, not once, what had happened to Hazel, or to the Relic of Knowledge.
She would remember, perhaps, and ask me later.
But as things were, she did not care.
The radiant smile on her face was something that could be found only on the most flawless of paintings. The joy that radiated from her entire being was palpable, even more so when she clasped both of my hands, forming a cup out of them.
"I will teach you how to control each element more carefully now. There are many things you could improve-after elemental magic, we will move on to more sophisticated forms. There is so much that you can do, so much that you can become," she was far, far more excited than I was, that much was clear. "You will become like a God," she said with a chuckle, "And your children will become Gods of their own right-all of them, all those that know magic-they will..." she turned thoughtful. "You must have had parents. Could they too be awakened to magic?" she looked at me. "I need to find them. Whoever they are-I will have Mistral scoured up and down for them."
She smiled, water forming in the palm of my hands by her magic rather than mine. "But that will come later, for now feel the magic, how I use it to create water..."
Salem was a kind, benevolent teacher.
She would have terrified me to the depths of my soul, if I wasn't so busy trying my hardest to understand and come to terms with her jarring and abrupt change of plans.
Now came the hardest part...
...convincing her I didn't want to rule the world as a God.
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
A Shade update hours apart? Don't. Don't give me hope. This speed is the stuff of legends.
LordOfPears12
Cat girl headpatter
- Location
- Land of pizza,pasta and lasagna.
Hah! good luck tho
I fell bad for Weiss and Winter. Let me guess Wren is gonna say no and Pissed off Salem will try to kill him
Shut up, and praise the muse! She is coursing through him!
And then the schnee learned that they were decendants of Magic.
That their semblance that allowed them to bind defeated Grimm to their cause was just them taking their birth right
That their semblance that allowed them to bind defeated Grimm to their cause was just them taking their birth right
GamingPizza1998
(Verified Pizza) (Verified Cape) (Verified Case53)
- Location
- Earth
Plot Twist: You thought it was Darkest Timeline but it was really me Fluffy family timeline.
GamingPizza1998
(Verified Pizza) (Verified Cape) (Verified Case53)
- Location
- Earth
Not to mention that Shade was a Prince in disguise.
Just imagine comming home from working for the Queen of evil, whom you sold your soul to, just to find that you no longer have to worry about that since you are married to the litteral prince of darkness.
JBcristal
Bring Me All The Puppies!
- Location
- Somewhere that doesn't have enough puppies.
Oh god, this truly is the yandere route. Cinder, Winter, Phyrra, and now Salem? Somebody help this poor man.
...
It's 12 o'clock, little 'ella, and yet the dream has but started. Just make sure it turns not into nightmare, hm?
...
It's 12 o'clock, little 'ella, and yet the dream has but started. Just make sure it turns not into nightmare, hm?
Interlude - What Tangled Webs We Weave
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Interlude - What Tangled Webs We Weave
Haven had fallen. They had been defeated. Everything that had made sense now no longer made sense. it was easy to consider an enemy a monster, but harder still to realize they weren't that evil to begin with.
Pyrrha didn't know whether to feel sad or angry, sorrowful or vengeful, and thus she didn't feel. It was the better, easier option. Frustration and doubts, those were the two things she felt plenty however.
"U-Uncle Qrow!" Ruby's voice caught her attention, and she lifted her gaze from the gashes on Haven's floor, and from the body that was covered by a thick white sheet. Mistral's security forces had arrived in the end, and after questioning them and finding the remains both on the ground floor and in the cavern below had come to their own conclusions.
As Ruby's form barreled into her uncle's, she sighed in relief. The man was alive, and he was holding on to the Relic of Knowledge. The Relic that-
"How did you get that?" Pyrrha asked, drawing closer to the man.
"This?" Qrow replied, even as his eyes took the state of everyone else in, and realized something was wrong, deeply wrong, with his other niece. Yang had found her mother's corpse after all, and while there was no love lost, it had affected her too. "Stole it right back from them and then ran as fast as I could. Not my most glorified moment, but life seldom is."
Pyrrha's brows furrowed, "Won't they be coming back for it?"
"Wounded them pretty badly," Qrow said. "Might take them some time. We should scram from here though, go into the city. You all could use some proper rest."
"I don't know what hurts most, my body or my pride," Jaune mumbled, wincing as he massaged the back of his neck.
"Why not both?" Nora replied, held up by Ren. "There's fighting a tough enemy, and then there's being annihilated. And we got annihilated," she sighed.
"That...that thing at the end," Blake muttered, "When he spoke-did you hear what he said?"
"Can you even believe that? I wasn't awake for it, but if you told me magic was real, I'd tell you to go get checked in a mental hospital," Yang replied, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Probably has a very malleable semblance. Like, hallucinations."
"Could be," Pyrrha acquiesced. "Then, you think it was all a lie he told us?"
"Just to get into our heads, and screw with us," Yang acquiesced.
"Let's just get out of here for now, guys," Ruby said, glancing then up at Qrow who was trying his hardest to hide his face from the nearby police officers. "We can think about what to do next together at an inn or something. With food in front of us."
"I am starving," Ren pointed out helpfully, "and we should go."
They did find an inn that would welcome their numbers. A few hours later, they even found out that Ozpin hadn't really died, but was in truth a reincarnating individual which, in the end, put into question everything they had thought about magic being real or not.
"Oz," Qrow said. "There are some things I need to ask."
They were all gathered around a table, the sofa and the armchairs filled, the figure of the young boy that went by the name of Oscar standing with Ozpin's cane in his hands, the posture identical to that of the headmaster.
"I understand," Oscar's voice was different from Ozpin's, but even so, there were similarities. "I will try to answer what I can."
As it turned out, his attempts at trying turned to not even be attempts.
"There are things best left unmentioned," Ozpin said, shaking his head. "I do not know how this Shade came to find out so much about the past, perhaps Salem saw fit to inform him of that much, to try to drive wedges amidst ourselves, but-"
"But what!?" it took a moment for Pyrrha to realize it had been her voice that had come through. She was shocked herself, a hand clasped over her mouth. "I-No," she slowly moved the hand down, away from her lips. "Why is it that we find out more from an enemy than from an ally? Why is it that you refuse to speak, but Shade doesn't? If it's something bad, shouldn't we know it beforehand? Shouldn't you tell us what it is, so that we can prepare for it? Why are you being so difficult!?"
"Because certain aspects of the past are best left buried where they stand!" Ozpin's voice came through clearly, "I am the combination of countless men who spent their lives trying to protect the people of Remnant. This curse was bestowed upon me by the gods because I failed to stop Salem in the past, but now more than ever she must be stopped, and the doubts that the knowledge you seek would bring-they will not aid us."
"Do you even trust us?" Pyrrha shot back.
"It is not that I expect you to betray me," Ozpin murmured, "It is that my actions are backed by experience, there are reasons for the things I do, the secrets I keep-"
Pyrrha's hands tensed.
But it was Qrow's laughter that shook her. "Oz, you know I've followed you through thick and thin, trusted you and whatnot," he shook his head. "But if I'm alive right now, it's either a sign that my semblance decided to stop being a bitch," he grimaced, "Or that there's something even worst waiting for me because of it."
He glanced at the Relic of Knowledge. "You kids came all this way, and I think you, and I, deserve some answers." He grabbed hold of the Relic and threw it in Pyrrha's hands, much to Oscar's -no, Ozpin's- surprise. "At least someone in this room has both the answers and the desire to answer them-"
"Miss Nikos, do not use the Relic," Ozpin said, alarmed. "If only one question remains in it, it must be used with wisdom, and-"
"I want to know," Pyrrha murmured, clutching the relic with both hands. "I want to know what you're hiding, what Shade's hiding, what our enemies are hiding-how can we know what to do if we don't know what's going on!?"
She tightened the grip on the Relic. "Djinn! I have a question!" she yelled.
"NO!" Ozpin's scream was accompanied by Oscar's body lunging for the relic.
"Show us what they're hiding! Ozpin, Salem, and Shade!"
The room disappeared.
In its place stood a vast field of grain upon which the figure of Djinn, a massive blue woman clad in golden accessories, was with her arms crossed in front of her.
"As you wish," Djinn spoke.
Then the form of Salem, blonde and staring at her reflection in a mirror atop a tall tower, appeared in Pyrrha's sight. She knew she wasn't alone staring at it.
She knew that everyone else was by her side.
She thought she had seen everything, that she could no longer be shocked, but when the creeping realization dawned of what had happened to humanity, of what Ozpin truly was, of how utterly he lacked a plan...that was when she felt that nothing else could ever shock her further.
She was wrong.
Salem's motivations, her plans to destroy mankind, had been just a part of her desire for revenge against Ozma and the Gods. Yet now there was something different.
The form of Shade appeared by her side, spirals of fire leaving the palm of his hand as he transformed the flames into a bird, which flew around the room before exploding in a shower of golden sparks.
And to that show, Salem's pearly laughter echoed. The woman appeared to be in a strange state of serene bliss. It was...utterly different from the past they had witnessed until then.
"That is excellent, Shade," Salem spoke. "Your skill and abilities grow by leaps and bounds-perhaps one day you might even surpass me," she coyly added.
"I doubt that will ever happen," he answered back, shaking his head. "But...I'm glad you changed your mind on Atlas."
"There is no longer a need for it," Salem said easily enough. "More of my descendants might be amidst humanity. I need to find them, try to see how their magic can awaken once more-perhaps proximity to magic would work by itself? I will need to attempt that." The last part wasn't spoken, but yet the thoughts came through clearly.
"And finally," Djinn spoke, "That which the man known as Shade hides."
Reality shifted around them and disappeared.
They weren't on Remnant any longer, judging by the massively armored green hulks snarling and roaring around them. On the opposite side stood battalions of soldiers with strange rifles and armors.
"WAAAGGH!" a figure screamed amidst the sea of green, rushing through them with the familiar face of Shade, and fear on his face even as he literally jumped into the rows of humans.
"Waaaaggh!?" the armored orks screamed in turn, looking at one another with perplexity. "Green humie cannot-"
The reality shifted.
"My darling little Lulu~" an older Shade was hugging the living daylights out of a pink-haired girl.
"B-Big brother! Let me down!" the girl yelled back, embarrassed.
It shifted again.
"Do or do not, there is no try," he was wearing a robe now, a strange, alien creature by his side. "That is what Master Yoda would tell you, but since he's not here, I will."
"If you say so, master," the alien answered back.
Again, reality shifted.
"Shiro!" he was a student at a local school now, grinning and smiling. A hazel-haired girl stood by his side, "Everything all right?"
"Yes, brother," the girl known as Shiro answered. "I have archery lessons-" she hesitated, "Will you come watch?"
"Eh, maybe, depends," he shrugged. "You want me to cheer you on?"
"Please don't," Shiro said hastily.
Shade looked crestfallen, "Umu~"
"Don't make strange sounds!" Shiro snapped back at him, red in the face.
In a second, he was laughing. "It's fine, it's fine. I'll be on my best behavior."
Reality shifted once more as Djinn appeared, arms crossed. "The man you know as Shade is...not a man. He is so much more."
Pyrrha's eyes widened as she saw reality move across countless scenes, and pictures, and words-
"Peace is a lie. There is only passion." "Five rounds per minute, your grace?" "Time is a river. Dam it and alter it." "I will hold the weight! For Helm!" "FULGUR PERCUTIENS!" "Bell, you're just too pure for this world." "KYNARETH! Kyynaareeethhh!" "I have endured torment, to face the end of my journey." "Go, Whiskers!"
Battered and bruised. Weak or strong.
Yet always, he stood.
"The man known as Shade, has had many names. Kagayaku Emiya, Henry Valliere, Shade Umbrus Dumbledore and many, many others," Djinn spoke in the end. "And he hides all that he has been, and all that he is, for no other reason than to stand by the side of the people he loves and cherishes. Always."
"Headpats are justice!" "Friendship is magic. Weaponize it." "Everything's going to be all right, fizzy-hair." "The Emperor protects!"
And then reality came crashing back down upon them.
Silence settled in the room. Not a pin dropped. Not a word, not a breath, nor even a single gasp echoed.
Then the silence was broken by the clearest, ever-audible curse-word ever to be spoken by a human being.
"Fuck."
Everyone's head turned sharply towards the source of the exclamation.
Pyrrha dimly realized it had been her voice.
She realized everyone was staring at her.
She ignored it.
Shade...
...was an alien all along!?
Haven had fallen. They had been defeated. Everything that had made sense now no longer made sense. it was easy to consider an enemy a monster, but harder still to realize they weren't that evil to begin with.
Pyrrha didn't know whether to feel sad or angry, sorrowful or vengeful, and thus she didn't feel. It was the better, easier option. Frustration and doubts, those were the two things she felt plenty however.
"U-Uncle Qrow!" Ruby's voice caught her attention, and she lifted her gaze from the gashes on Haven's floor, and from the body that was covered by a thick white sheet. Mistral's security forces had arrived in the end, and after questioning them and finding the remains both on the ground floor and in the cavern below had come to their own conclusions.
As Ruby's form barreled into her uncle's, she sighed in relief. The man was alive, and he was holding on to the Relic of Knowledge. The Relic that-
"How did you get that?" Pyrrha asked, drawing closer to the man.
"This?" Qrow replied, even as his eyes took the state of everyone else in, and realized something was wrong, deeply wrong, with his other niece. Yang had found her mother's corpse after all, and while there was no love lost, it had affected her too. "Stole it right back from them and then ran as fast as I could. Not my most glorified moment, but life seldom is."
Pyrrha's brows furrowed, "Won't they be coming back for it?"
"Wounded them pretty badly," Qrow said. "Might take them some time. We should scram from here though, go into the city. You all could use some proper rest."
"I don't know what hurts most, my body or my pride," Jaune mumbled, wincing as he massaged the back of his neck.
"Why not both?" Nora replied, held up by Ren. "There's fighting a tough enemy, and then there's being annihilated. And we got annihilated," she sighed.
"That...that thing at the end," Blake muttered, "When he spoke-did you hear what he said?"
"Can you even believe that? I wasn't awake for it, but if you told me magic was real, I'd tell you to go get checked in a mental hospital," Yang replied, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Probably has a very malleable semblance. Like, hallucinations."
"Could be," Pyrrha acquiesced. "Then, you think it was all a lie he told us?"
"Just to get into our heads, and screw with us," Yang acquiesced.
"Let's just get out of here for now, guys," Ruby said, glancing then up at Qrow who was trying his hardest to hide his face from the nearby police officers. "We can think about what to do next together at an inn or something. With food in front of us."
"I am starving," Ren pointed out helpfully, "and we should go."
They did find an inn that would welcome their numbers. A few hours later, they even found out that Ozpin hadn't really died, but was in truth a reincarnating individual which, in the end, put into question everything they had thought about magic being real or not.
"Oz," Qrow said. "There are some things I need to ask."
They were all gathered around a table, the sofa and the armchairs filled, the figure of the young boy that went by the name of Oscar standing with Ozpin's cane in his hands, the posture identical to that of the headmaster.
"I understand," Oscar's voice was different from Ozpin's, but even so, there were similarities. "I will try to answer what I can."
As it turned out, his attempts at trying turned to not even be attempts.
"There are things best left unmentioned," Ozpin said, shaking his head. "I do not know how this Shade came to find out so much about the past, perhaps Salem saw fit to inform him of that much, to try to drive wedges amidst ourselves, but-"
"But what!?" it took a moment for Pyrrha to realize it had been her voice that had come through. She was shocked herself, a hand clasped over her mouth. "I-No," she slowly moved the hand down, away from her lips. "Why is it that we find out more from an enemy than from an ally? Why is it that you refuse to speak, but Shade doesn't? If it's something bad, shouldn't we know it beforehand? Shouldn't you tell us what it is, so that we can prepare for it? Why are you being so difficult!?"
"Because certain aspects of the past are best left buried where they stand!" Ozpin's voice came through clearly, "I am the combination of countless men who spent their lives trying to protect the people of Remnant. This curse was bestowed upon me by the gods because I failed to stop Salem in the past, but now more than ever she must be stopped, and the doubts that the knowledge you seek would bring-they will not aid us."
"Do you even trust us?" Pyrrha shot back.
"It is not that I expect you to betray me," Ozpin murmured, "It is that my actions are backed by experience, there are reasons for the things I do, the secrets I keep-"
Pyrrha's hands tensed.
But it was Qrow's laughter that shook her. "Oz, you know I've followed you through thick and thin, trusted you and whatnot," he shook his head. "But if I'm alive right now, it's either a sign that my semblance decided to stop being a bitch," he grimaced, "Or that there's something even worst waiting for me because of it."
He glanced at the Relic of Knowledge. "You kids came all this way, and I think you, and I, deserve some answers." He grabbed hold of the Relic and threw it in Pyrrha's hands, much to Oscar's -no, Ozpin's- surprise. "At least someone in this room has both the answers and the desire to answer them-"
"Miss Nikos, do not use the Relic," Ozpin said, alarmed. "If only one question remains in it, it must be used with wisdom, and-"
"I want to know," Pyrrha murmured, clutching the relic with both hands. "I want to know what you're hiding, what Shade's hiding, what our enemies are hiding-how can we know what to do if we don't know what's going on!?"
She tightened the grip on the Relic. "Djinn! I have a question!" she yelled.
"NO!" Ozpin's scream was accompanied by Oscar's body lunging for the relic.
"Show us what they're hiding! Ozpin, Salem, and Shade!"
The room disappeared.
In its place stood a vast field of grain upon which the figure of Djinn, a massive blue woman clad in golden accessories, was with her arms crossed in front of her.
"As you wish," Djinn spoke.
Then the form of Salem, blonde and staring at her reflection in a mirror atop a tall tower, appeared in Pyrrha's sight. She knew she wasn't alone staring at it.
She knew that everyone else was by her side.
She thought she had seen everything, that she could no longer be shocked, but when the creeping realization dawned of what had happened to humanity, of what Ozpin truly was, of how utterly he lacked a plan...that was when she felt that nothing else could ever shock her further.
She was wrong.
Salem's motivations, her plans to destroy mankind, had been just a part of her desire for revenge against Ozma and the Gods. Yet now there was something different.
The form of Shade appeared by her side, spirals of fire leaving the palm of his hand as he transformed the flames into a bird, which flew around the room before exploding in a shower of golden sparks.
And to that show, Salem's pearly laughter echoed. The woman appeared to be in a strange state of serene bliss. It was...utterly different from the past they had witnessed until then.
"That is excellent, Shade," Salem spoke. "Your skill and abilities grow by leaps and bounds-perhaps one day you might even surpass me," she coyly added.
"I doubt that will ever happen," he answered back, shaking his head. "But...I'm glad you changed your mind on Atlas."
"There is no longer a need for it," Salem said easily enough. "More of my descendants might be amidst humanity. I need to find them, try to see how their magic can awaken once more-perhaps proximity to magic would work by itself? I will need to attempt that." The last part wasn't spoken, but yet the thoughts came through clearly.
"And finally," Djinn spoke, "That which the man known as Shade hides."
Reality shifted around them and disappeared.
They weren't on Remnant any longer, judging by the massively armored green hulks snarling and roaring around them. On the opposite side stood battalions of soldiers with strange rifles and armors.
"WAAAGGH!" a figure screamed amidst the sea of green, rushing through them with the familiar face of Shade, and fear on his face even as he literally jumped into the rows of humans.
"Waaaaggh!?" the armored orks screamed in turn, looking at one another with perplexity. "Green humie cannot-"
The reality shifted.
"My darling little Lulu~" an older Shade was hugging the living daylights out of a pink-haired girl.
"B-Big brother! Let me down!" the girl yelled back, embarrassed.
It shifted again.
"Do or do not, there is no try," he was wearing a robe now, a strange, alien creature by his side. "That is what Master Yoda would tell you, but since he's not here, I will."
"If you say so, master," the alien answered back.
Again, reality shifted.
"Shiro!" he was a student at a local school now, grinning and smiling. A hazel-haired girl stood by his side, "Everything all right?"
"Yes, brother," the girl known as Shiro answered. "I have archery lessons-" she hesitated, "Will you come watch?"
"Eh, maybe, depends," he shrugged. "You want me to cheer you on?"
"Please don't," Shiro said hastily.
Shade looked crestfallen, "Umu~"
"Don't make strange sounds!" Shiro snapped back at him, red in the face.
In a second, he was laughing. "It's fine, it's fine. I'll be on my best behavior."
Reality shifted once more as Djinn appeared, arms crossed. "The man you know as Shade is...not a man. He is so much more."
Pyrrha's eyes widened as she saw reality move across countless scenes, and pictures, and words-
"Peace is a lie. There is only passion." "Five rounds per minute, your grace?" "Time is a river. Dam it and alter it." "I will hold the weight! For Helm!" "FULGUR PERCUTIENS!" "Bell, you're just too pure for this world." "KYNARETH! Kyynaareeethhh!" "I have endured torment, to face the end of my journey." "Go, Whiskers!"
Battered and bruised. Weak or strong.
Yet always, he stood.
"The man known as Shade, has had many names. Kagayaku Emiya, Henry Valliere, Shade Umbrus Dumbledore and many, many others," Djinn spoke in the end. "And he hides all that he has been, and all that he is, for no other reason than to stand by the side of the people he loves and cherishes. Always."
"Headpats are justice!" "Friendship is magic. Weaponize it." "Everything's going to be all right, fizzy-hair." "The Emperor protects!"
And then reality came crashing back down upon them.
Silence settled in the room. Not a pin dropped. Not a word, not a breath, nor even a single gasp echoed.
Then the silence was broken by the clearest, ever-audible curse-word ever to be spoken by a human being.
"Fuck."
Everyone's head turned sharply towards the source of the exclamation.
Pyrrha dimly realized it had been her voice.
She realized everyone was staring at her.
She ignored it.
Shade...
...was an alien all along!?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Heh. Shade miscalculated.
Jerry Finch
Stupid but lucky.
- Location
- Slightly closer than you would be comfortable with
This is the most appropriate response.
GamingPizza1998
(Verified Pizza) (Verified Cape) (Verified Case53)
- Location
- Earth
Wait Shade has a 40k fic!? Where do I find this?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's not 40k, rather it's part of a fic where he jumps between a LOT of worlds. A multi crossover. But his time in 40k is pretty strong in how he holds it close to his heart.
GamingPizza1998
(Verified Pizza) (Verified Cape) (Verified Case53)
- Location
- Earth
Um can you link it plz