Chapter 6: Patchwork
Before I parted ways with Djura, he gave me a small badge. He told me that a compatriot of his was guarding the way down into the valley where the prize I sought was entombed, preventing the beasts from wandering down and being devoured. Upon showing this badge to him, I would be allowed to pass.
I did so, and descended deeper into the depths of Old Yharnam, fending off humanoid beasts and massive werewolves alike (thank the stars that these poor souls still retained the primal fear of fire common to us all). After some time, I reached a church in a valley. Inside?
Here the handwriting becomes a bit thinner and more jagged.
I don't know what
that beast was, but it was after my blood in earnest. The damned thing looked to be starving, and its back was flayed down its very spine.
It wore its skin like a funeral shroud. Perhaps it was meant for my
funeral. That thing 'killed' me more than a dozen times...
A few lines seem to have been written after this, but subsequently blotted out with ink. The next line is written very lightly, as though the author could barely muster the energy to drag the pen across the page.
When does it end?
Gods, I'm so tired.
I feel so…
The remainder of the words on the page are written so lightly and shakily that they are completely illegible.
Journal of Cadfan Lloyd, The Good Hunter, Vol I
Circa 0 M.F.
(10000 Years prior to the Awakening)
-x-x-x-
"You've grown up, Little Gem."
The moment Ruby heard these words, the moment she heard that voice, she knew. Wherever she'd been for all these years, Summer Rose had come home. She felt like she had just been hit by a truck that she had walked through like a ghost. This was a miracle, a wonder, a dream come true! No, it was a dream and nothing more, an illusion, a lie. The hope, the denial, the shock, the joy swirled within her heart, forming a self-negating storm that clashed against itself, cancelling itself out until she was left … empty. Ruby sank slowly to her knees, arms limp at her sides and facial expression flat.
"No, you can't be her," she mumbled, grasping for the one thing she knew for certain. "My mom's
dead." But even to her own ears the denial sounded hollow, a protest rendered false by the proof standing before her. Then she felt something once more, a glimmer of light within the darkness.
Fear.
Ruby wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered. Little Gem? How could she have forgotten what Mom used to call her, back when they had been four, back when she had been small, back when she had been safe. ? No. How could she have remembered the perfect years, now that they were buried in the past? But they weren't buried, not anymore. They were standing in front of her in her kitchen in a white cloak.
And if … if Mom was back, then that meant … that meant that Ruby could lose her all over again.
Summer saw her daughter's pain, just like she always could, and she crossed the space between them in a blur, enfolding Ruby in her arms, just like she always did.
For a moment, Ruby let herself be held, and for that moment it was like Mom had never left. She opened her mouth to speak, to say, "You won't leave me again, will you? You'll still be here when I wake up?" But it came out as a wail, and she threw her arms around her mother and buried her head in Summers's shoulder, sobbing loud enough to raise the dead.
Summer, for her part, simply cradled her daughter in her arms and began to hum gently to her, just like she used to.
It was this scene that Taiyang and Yang Xiao-Long were treated to when the pair of blond brawlers careened into the room. Yang, upon seeing the white-cloaked cloaked figure holding onto her sister, took a step forward, but froze when she saw Summer's face.
A myriad of emotions flashed across the her face as she found herself wanting to laugh and scream and cry all at once. Her eyes flickered red as she tried to take refuge, as she always did, in her own anger, but she couldn't hold onto it. Not now. Not with Summer Rose, baker of cookies and slayer of monsters back from the freakin' dead.
Taiyang, by contrast, had swept the room for hostiles with a practiced gaze, his blue eyes taking in the two men standing outside of his home, quietly watching the reunion from a distance. He recognized one of the men as Professor Ozpin almost instantly, and relaxed. Taiyang trusted Beacon's Headmaster, and if the stranger was with Ozpin, he'd give the oddly-garbed man the benefit of the doubt.
Finally, Taiyang slowly turned his gaze to the sight before him. To the vision that he almost dared not believe true. His wife, seemingly back from the dead, embracing their daughter. He swallowed thickly, then rasped, "S-Summer? Am I...are you really here?"
A pale hand rose and tossed back a white hood, revealing the previously shadowed face in full. Revealing Summer's closed, concave eye sockets. Ruby and Yang gasped almost in unison, while Taiyang's only reaction was a slight widening of the eyes.
"I'm home, Tai," Summer said quietly, rising and disentangling herself from her daughter, before walking slowly over to her husband and placing a hand on his cheek. "You're getting fuzzy," Summer commented absently, brushing her thumb over the small tuft of blond hair adorning Taiyang's chin.
Summer then turned to Yang. "And
you. You've gotten so beautiful, Sparky." The white-cloaked Huntress held out her arms and pulled both father and daughter into a hug. While Taiyang reciprocated immediately, Summer felt Yang stiffen, then relax marginally and return the embrace. As she embraced the blonds, she felt another pair of arms wrap around her from behind and a face press into her back.
"I'm home
," Summer repeated quietly, tears threatening to fall once more.
"I'm home."
-x-x-x-
Cadfan glanced away from the heartwarming reunion before him, meeting Ser Ozpin's eyes. "I don't suppose," the Hunter wondered, "that we can leave them in peace, now can we?"
The Headmaster shook his head. "Indeed not. As much as I would like to give them time to settle in and relax, I need to debrief Summer, to say nothing of the relative
certainty that they'll be curious about you." Ser Ozpin let out a weary sigh. "Hopefully we can get this over with swiftly, so they may have some time to themselves." Left unsaid was the fact that the Headmaster was just as weary as Summer from the day's events.
Cadfan's hand came up to cup his masked chin as he hummed in thought. "The question then becomes, what do we tell her family, and what do we hide? While I find the act distasteful, I understand the necessity of deception when it comes for things like this. I presume your nature is a secret you don't divulge to many, and the fewer who know about Great Ones, the less likely someone will stumble upon another entrance to the labyrinths and end up killing themselves."
Cadfan let his hand drop and extend outward, palm up and fingers upturned as though beseeching some higher power. "That said...it would sit ill with me to withhold from my Queen the opportunity to meet her other descendants, and I know that telling them nothing will not endear them to us in the slightest."
The Good Hunter turned to regard Ser Ozpin. "What say you? These are your people, after all. I do not know the particulars of their relationship with you and yours well enough to accurately judge what should be done, and I am nominally your subordinate besides."
Ser Ozpin narrowed his eyes fractionally in thought. "Hmm. In most circumstances I'd choose to tell them as little as possible; 'three may keep a secret if two are dead' and all that. But…"
The Headmaster leaned on his cane. "That's simply not feasible in this case. Summer already knows about my 'nature' due to her Semblance. Taiyang doesn't, but their other two teammates do, since I bestowed a bit of it upon them. As for
your nature…"
Ser Ozpin's eyes widened as a thought struck him. "As I mentioned earlier, the things you've told me about your Queen make me think of vampires. Perhaps we can play to that angle?"
Cadfan sighed as he stared into the house, eyeing the four embracing family members with not a small amount of wistful envy. "As good an idea as any I could hope to conceive on such short notice. Indeed, I have a thought as to how I might prove the 'truth' of my words, though it is gruesome indeed, not to mention quite disconcerting."
The Headmaster eyed the Hunter warily. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
One corner of Cadfan's mouth quirked up, though his slight smirk was hidden by his mask.
Before Ser Ozpin could press for details, a male voice, hoarse with emotion, called out to them. "Oz! You and your...
friend? Friend, colleague, whatever he is; the both of you can come in. I'm sure we've got a
lot to talk about."
The immortal duo promptly did as they were bid, and quickly found themselves arrayed around a small table.
Ser Ozpin took a seat opposite the burly blond man who had to be Taiyang, while Summer sat immediately adjacent to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Had anyone looked beneath the table at that time, they'd have seen the reunited couple's hands entwined between them.
The two teenage girls who Cadfan presumed to be Summer's daughters sat to either side of their parents; the older of the two beside Taiyang and the younger of the two beside Summer. While Taiyang had briefly brought up the idea of sending them to bed, he was overruled. Summer made her position clear: they had the right to know what had happened to their mother. Ser Ozpin refrained from speaking, though Cadfan suspected that the Headmaster would've supported Taiyang's suggestion had the circumstances been different.
A determined Summer Rose was a powerful thing, it seemed.
Cadfan, his hat and mask now removed and set to the side on a countertop, leaned against a wall behind Ser Ozpin, taking a moment to study Summer's daughters.
The most striking thing about the eldest was easily her hair. A veritable
mane of blonde locks cascaded down her shoulders, framing rounded facial features and drawing contrast to her lilac irises. The second thing Cadfan noted was her muscles. Her orange, sleeveless shirt allowed her to proudly display her toned, lean arms, and while her baggy grey pants offered no such insight into what her lower body looked like, the Hunter didn't doubt that her legs were just as toned and strong.
This girl was either a warrior or a fitness fanatic, and based on her family, Cadfan was inclined to assume the former.
The younger daughter was the spitting image of her mother. Red-tipped brunette hair, a slender frame, and a cherubic, hopeful face? Were it not for the obvious age difference, Cadfan would've thought her Summer's
twin. Though her arms weren't nearly as toned as her sister's, the weapon that now leaned against her chair—a scythe like his own, despite the countless gears in its design—told him all that he needed to know about her choice of careers.
She too was intent on following the path of the warrior.
As Cadfan finished mentally cataloguing his impressions of Summer's daughters, Taiyang spoke. "Well, Oz? As overjoyed as I am to have my wife returned to me, I can't help but wonder what the
hells is going on." While his tone started amicably, it gained an edge to it as his eyes narrowed. "I'm not stupid, Ozpin. I know there are things you've shared with Qrow, with Summer, with–with
Raven, that you haven't shared with me. I don't know what they are, and I don't really care –
unless they put my family in danger." Taiyang slammed the table with his unoccupied hand, and stared straight into Ser Ozpin's eyes, his own blue orbs seeming to glimmer even as his voice became unnaturally raspy.
"Can you swear to me that they don't?!"
It was only visible for a moment, but as focused on the scene before him as Cadfan was, he couldn't have missed it; the brief instant during which Taiyang's pupils shifted from spherical to slits.
'Interesting…'
Ser Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed wearily. "I cannot swear that to you. However, most of that information is not relevant to Summer's situation, and can be tabled for the moment." The Headmaster's fingers drummed the table idly. "Now. I think it'd be best to start at the beginning. Summer, can you recall who attacked you? I have my suspicions, of course, but you
were the one who was attacked."
Summer lifted her head off of Taiyang's shoulder as she considered the question. "It's all a bit hazy, to be honest, but I
do remember a rather large young man. He must've had some kind of pain-numbing or berserker Semblance, because he just shoved raw Dust crystals into his forearms."
Ser Ozpin paled. "Hazel," he breathed. "Hazel Reinart. I see." The Headmaster shut his eyes for a moment, then exhaled. "Continue."
"Well, he was
definitely inexperienced," Summer said, "but he made up for it with brute strength and a truly excessive amount of Dust, though I'm sure Glynda would've been
horrified at how little what he did resembled proper Dust Sorcery.
"Even so, he wasn't a match for me...on his own." Summer rubbed her shoulder, a motion Cadfan recognized all to well. Feeling the phantom pain of wounds long-healed was something the Hunter was
quite familiar with. "I suppose that's why he brought a backup."
Summer shuddered. "The first man–Hazel, you said?—he was fairly calm until he used his Dust, but the second? He was as mad as they came, screaming that he'd 'pluck out my eyes and offer them to his Goddess.' As you can see—" Summer gestured to her face, "—he managed to follow through with that threat."
All throughout Summer's story, Cadfan had been keeping one eye on her daughters. Both of them had
very different reactions to their mother's ordeal. The younger had turned slightly green, a look of mounting horror on her face, while the elder's fists were clenched tight enough that they were trembling with the force of it.
"After that," Summer continued, "I assume they left me to die. That's where you come in, since I assume you can explain
her better than I can." She waved her hand at Cadfan, who cleared his throat.
"Indeed. However, I seem to have taken leave of my manners; I've not introduced myself to you all." Cadfan placed his right hand over the left side of his chest, and bowed lightly. "My name is Cadfan Lloyd. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances."
"Taiyang Xiao-Long."
"Summer Rose – but you already knew that."
"The name's Yang Xiao-Long," the now-named blonde said with a toothy grin.
"I-I'm Ruby Rose." The words practically tumbled out of the youngest girl's mouth, her cheeks tinting slightly pink at suddenly being put on the spot.
Cadfan nodded. "As I said, it is a pleasure. Now, to begin
my part in this story – or rather, my
Queen's part. You see—"
-x-x-x-
"—and then I brought Lady Rose here," Cadfan finished.
There was a beat of silence, then Taiyang and Yang started talking loudly at once. Cadfan raised a hand, and when this was met with no regard, snapped his fingers, a spark of Arcane energy making noise
far louder than it had any right to be.
After everyone else's ears ceased ringing, the Good Hunter cleared his throat. "One question at a time, if you please."
He waved to Yang, who promptly asked, "What in the nine hells have you been drinking?! You expect us to believe that Mom was rescued by the ghost knights of her
immortal vampire grandma, and that the reason she didn't come back was because she was in a coma from losing her eyes? The same eyes that are somehow linked to
Mom's vampire magic, because apparently that's a thing?!"
"I understand your scepticism," Cadfan replied, "but I am prepared to offer proof that, if nothing else, I am immortal. Would that suffice to convince you that I am not simply lying through my teeth, as it were?"
Before Yang could reply, Taiyang spoke up. "I'll be honest: I'm sceptical. But Summer hasn't contradicted you once, and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." The burly man scratched his chin. "'Course, if you've got proof, that'd help too."
Ruby just nodded, seemingly content to let her father and sister's words speak for her.
Cadfan nodded seriously. "Very well then. I warn you, this display is not for the faint of heart. After all, there are few
clean ways to prove immortality. If you have a weak stomach, I advise you leave the room or turn away."
After looking each of the three in the eyes, Cadfan exhaled. "So be it." The Good Hunter extended his hand to one side and beckoned a Messenger with a thought. The familiar curve of a wooden haft pressed into his gauntleted hand, Taiyang, Yang, and Ruby looking on in amazement as he withdrew a wickedly curved scythe from thin air.
Their shocked amazement then swiftly turned to shocked horror as, with a single yank, the Burial Blade passed through Cadfan's neck like a hot knife through butter.
There was a beat of silence.
Then the screaming started.
AN: So, this came out much later than anticipated. The reason for this is simple: I found out my aunt died last weekend, and that made me feel rather off-kilter for the next few days. I'm sure you all understand. As always, I'd like to thank Teninshigen and Slavok for their assistance in making this chapter all pretty, and TheLonelyWillow for her everpresent enthusiasm regarding this story. I hope you all enjoy!
