The Bird and the Garden 3: The Final Adventure

Chapter 42: The Hot Wind, Part One

Yin nearly slammed right into Sasha, almost unable to stop himself when they burst through the burning trees, their clothes singed and smoking. Ozpin dropped his sword, sprinting towards them.

"Is everyone okay!?"

He was on edge. Salem could see it in his eyes - he had been expecting the worst. She couldn't blame him for thinking that way. "... We're fine," she mumbled distantly. She was having a hard time thinking straight; even in a quiet, secluded forest, they had been tracked. Or were they tracked from the moment they fell into the river? At this point, she wasn't sure. "Just... P-peachy..."

Violet blinked, her eyebrows knitted together. She was looking back and forth between the Second Yin and her uncle. "... Did I eat something I wasn't supposed to?"

The Second Yin shook his head, heaving a disgruntled sigh. "No... I'm here for a reason," he muttered. "Couldn't have picked a better time... Any longer and... Well, this Timeline would be S-O-L: shit outta luck."

He was correct. If he hadn't arrived when he did, Ruby would have killed them. The Second Yin sighed, crossing his arms and leaning back on one foot. His eyes held a dark shadow, and his voice lowered to almost a whisper. "... Listen. Things are looking really, really bad."

"We could tell," Ozpin muttered. "That maniac came back... This couldn't get any worse-"

"Except it can, and it did," the Second Yin growled. "The First Vao - his blood - isn't anything to mess with. It's... Different than Salem's Blood. Somehow, it's worse than hers."

Ozpin fell silent. The other adventurers didn't say anything. They waited for him to continue. Salem was the only one who replied. "Worse? But how? He got that Blood from me...?"

The Second Yin shook his head. "None of us know. But Verde - the Second Verde, that is - she managed to get a sample. He left some behind when he attacked us in Aldia. You remember that, Salem?"

Salem nodded silently. She had a sense of impending doom growing in her stomach. "I... Do..."

"Someone's been pumping him up on it," the Second Yin continued. "We've talked about this. We just didn't know how bad it was."

"And how bad is it?" Chuck asked quietly. The Second Yin looked up at him, his eyes clouded with thought. And yet they had a hint of fear.

"... Light won't work. It's not enough anymore."

Silence. Dead silence. They almost didn't believe his words. Light had always been the key. The Second Yin stood up straight, letting out a deep, dark sigh.

"... When you escaped from his Cult, the First Yin tried to dive into his Reality. He didn't believe the Second Verde's examinations," he explained. "And when he tried to do it, he was rejected. Other me, whatever I should call you, if you tried to save Ruby on your own, she'd have killed you."

"But we saved Jasper," Yin said immediately. "If Light doesn't work, then how did we-"

"Because you had Darkness."

The Second Yin paced back and forth, staring at the grass. "As much as we didn't want to, we needed... Human experiments. We used our Vao, the Second Vao, to run the tests. The First Vao's Blood is so strong that you need Light and Darkness."

Ozpin was thinking. And finally, he looked up. "... How did it get this strong? Salem's Blood was never that potent."

The Second Yin looked at him quietly. His gaze was unreadable. "... We don't know. That's the problem; we can't figure out who gave him the Blood or how. He was always with the First Yin unless he needed to eat. Whatever was giving him Blood, the Second Verde's absolutely positive it isn't human."