Blake
"After that, he taught me what his father taught him." Blake concludes to Sun as he sits beside her, listening to every word that she has told him. His large blue eyes gazing into her amber ones. Across the room from them is Adam, resting from his wounds he suffered from Kassius – or Mr Hyde – in the emergency room. He is currently hooked up to Life Support; the constant beeping of the heart monitor can be heard from over there. Sun holds her hand, supporting her through those traumatic memories that she has just told him about. "We worked together and as I grew older...I started to see that I was on the wrong side. I wanted equality, even after what happened. Just because a few humans attacked us, it doesn't mean the entire species is just like them." Blake explains, like she is reliving a discussion she had with Adam years ago. "But he never saw it that way, every human he has ever met has only brought back the painful memories of what he lost that day." Blake says to Sun.
The Wukong boy exhales as he looks down at the table, thinking all of this information over. "The men that attacked Menagerie...they were the Acolytes of Lien?" Sun presumes, remarking on what she mentioned, about the tattoos on their necks. Blake nods as she looks at him.
"Now that I know who they are, it makes sense. Thinking about it, this could have been part of this master plan of theirs." Blake says with a laugh containing awe at the enemy's tactics.
"What do you mean?" Sun asks, tilting his head at her.
"Well think about it: they show up and slaughter a bunch of innocent Faunus, kill Adam's parents, aimed to kill my parents, his hunger for revenge makes him change the White Fang into a band of monsters that are hell-bent on killing humanity as a whole. It would make sense, turn them into monsters so then they help Cinder destroy Beacon." Blake theorizes as she sits there, thinking all the facts through her head. And as she thinks about it, her theory does make a whole lot of sense; even Sun can see it now.
The Acolytes of Lien have been a piece in this game for a very long time; it's almost scary from how long they have been a part of it. Salem's plan has been thought out for a very long time, longer than the birth of the teams themselves. "We're outmatched in all of this." Sun sighs as he scratches his cheek. Blake looks at him with confused eyes.
"What do you mean?" Blake asks.
"If Salem has had this plan going on this long? Then she must have contingencies." Sun says, using his logic, which cannot be argued.
"She has the upper hand, but we're not giving up." Blake tells him.
"Oh I'm not giving up, I just prefer it when the odds are in our favour a little more, you know?" Sun states, and even she cannot argue with that. She nods and she sits tight, like a cat with her legs bent back on the sofa.
"I know...we just have to keep on fighting...it's what you and I do." She says to him, clutching his hand as she sits next to him and she rests against his chest, closing her eyes as she wraps her arm around him. Sun smiles, leaning back and lying down on the sofa as she snuggles into him, his arm bent behind his head. She has finally become comfortable with the idea of being with him in this way, no more beating around the bush. Something about the Knights of Grimm and an impending doom has really put things in perspective for them all, to take the chances to be together while they still can. Because the Knights are nothing like anything they have faced before, other enemies have been able to show some form of mercy that they could survive from. Luck has always been on their side.
But not with these guys, they will tear them apart and walk away without regretting one second of it. Sun wraps his arm around the feline girl that he loves so much and he kisses the top of her head. "Yeah we do, and I won't be going anywhere, not any time soon." He promises. A smile forms on her face as she holds him.
"But...yeah...that's everything you didn't know about me." She concludes as she looks up at him. Sun smirks and snorts.
"With you I doubt that that's everything." He says with a smile, and that makes Blake giggle. Sun's tail grabs onto a mug and he takes a quick sip from the warm coffee inside. "But you don't owe me any explanation." He says to her. But Blake sighs with a firm shake of her head as she sits up from him again.
"No, I treated you terribly back at Menagerie, I lied and I tried to push you away." She moans as she buries her head in her hands. Sun sighs when he sees her acting this way again.
"You're not seriously still mad about all of that are you?" Sun asks her.
"You were only trying to help and I was being a nasty brat..." She sighs, but she doesn't expect to hear what Sun says next.
"That's why I stayed, hell that's why I liked you in the first place." Sun confesses as he characteristically shrugs his shoulders casually. Blake's ears rise up and she looks at him.
"Huh?" Blake asks with a sweet increase in the pitch of her tone, butterflies flying around in her sternum.
"You're hard to get, and I like that about you." He says to her. Sun sits up next to her, still looking at her large amber coloured irises. "When I first met you, you always stood out amongst the rest of Team R.W.B.Y. Yeah there was Yang and Weiss, Ruby's a little young for my taste." He says with a jokey smirk which makes Blake giggle. "But I always felt something about you, and it wasn't just because of your looks or even that I guessed that you were really a Faunus without the silly bow. It was the look in your eyes, like you have seen similar things as I did. I only just left Vacuo when I got to Vale, after..." Sun explains before pausing, his parents coming to mind and Blake gently touches his cheek.
"I know." She tenderly says as she touches his cheek. Sun takes the opportunity in the moment that they are sharing, reaching forward to hold the back of her neck and she pulls herself in as she and he share an affectionate kiss. They close their eyes as they kiss, embracing the loving moment together. Sun gently moves his fingers through the black hair of the Belladonna and Blake holds onto him tight. They break their kiss, noses touching and they press their foreheads against one another warmly. Blake titters into his mouth as they kiss once more, wanting their time together to last forever.
While they share their moment, Nora is about to walk into the room and she sees them together. A smile forms on her face, feeling happy for the two as they can be comfortable around each other. Ren is stood behind her and she looks back at him with a smile. "About time, the tension was killing me." Nora whispers as they turn and walk away from the room.
The love birds, or love Faunus, break the kiss, looking into one another's eyes. But when they sit there, they both turn to the monitor that is beeping in the other room where Adam is. Blake looks at him; she can see him where the door is partially open. He is stable still, bruised and hurt from what Kassius managed to do to him when Mr Hyde took over. "We, uh...don't have anything to worry about with him, right?" Sun asks her. Blake smiles when she looks at him.
"Oh no, there is no longer anything romantic between us...but I do worry about him...I don't know why he is here." Blake says to Sun, her arms still around him as they both look at him.
"Maybe he's had a change of heart?" Sun suggests.
"Maybe...I don't know...whatever the reasons are...he will tell us when he wakes up." Blake says. But she turns to him and turns his face back to her. "Until then...I'm keeping you right where I want you." She whispers with a smile. Sun smirks.
"I won't argue." He says, kissing her once again.
Yang
Yang walks through the halls of the Tribe Fortress in the mountains of Mistral, and she turns when she hears the sound of someone speaking to themselves. She pauses and looks into one of the rooms, seeing Kassius there with his cybernetic fingers pinching his brow. She can't really make out what it is that he is saying under his breath, but it sounds something along the lines of, get out of my head, get out of my head. Over and over again.
Yang quietly approaches the door and she knocks it to get his attention. He gasps, turning to look at her, he still has bags under his eyes and she asked him to get some rest. Clearly that has not gone according to plan. There is a faint flicker of red in his blue irises but as soon as he looks at her, the red light stops flickering and the discomfort seems to go away. "Yang?" Kassius says. "Can I help you?" He asks her, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"I thought you were asleep." Yang presumed. Kassius groans.
"I wasn't joking when I was talking about my inability to sleep." He says with a sigh.
"Why don't I talk to the medics? Prescribe you some sleeping pills? They must have them." Yang assumes.
"No, no...it's not that simple. The medication that I had was called Mycocrone, designed for cases like mine. It essentially blocks off most of my mind so then I cannot be affected. It does have effects, like the inability to remember certain things at times or my sense of smell is affected. Hell...some days I can go blind." Kassius explains his extremely flawed drug. "But it's better than risking Hyde taking over my mind." Kassius sighs. He sits there and Yang sits down beside him, placing her hand on his knee as she smiles.
He looks at her with afraid eyes. "Yang..." He starts and she listens. "How many people got hurt when he –"
"Don't." Yang sharply dismisses as she presses her finger to his lips. "Don't start thinking that way, Kas. This is Mr Hyde, this is his messed up mind and nothing you could have done to stop him." Yang explains.
"Not exactly, I still would have kicked his arse for what he did to you. He just agreed and took it one step further...and then Ilia." Kassius growls in anger when he thinks of her. She holds him by the cheek so then he is looking into her eyes.
"Listen to me – you do not need to blame yourself. The others are coming to terms with it, believe me." Yang promises.
Kassius sighs as he looks at the floor. "Stupid Semblance, couldn't be as simple as what I used to lie about, huh?" He chuckles. He once lied about his semblance by saying that his semblance was that he had enhanced senses, but that was all a smokescreen to hide the truth so people wouldn't abandon him from fear.
Yang looks down at the floor with him.
Yang's attention turns to a drawing on his bedside table and it looks like a pair of legs, most of the drawing is covered up by the piles of files that are stacked atop it. For whatever reason. "What's this?" Yang asks him as she takes it out, and she looks at it as she removes it. It is a very good drawing; it seems Kassius is a skilled artist as well.
"It's Mr Hyde...in my nightmares I have seen what he looks like." Kassius explains as she looks at it.
Mr Hyde is very different to what Yang was expecting; she was expecting some sort of Diablo looking thing. But it is nothing of the sort; it looks like some sort of trickster. He wears a black top hat that has red stripes through the middle of it. He has glowing red eyes and a cunning smirk on his face. He holds the hat off his head theatrically like he is politely taking it off to someone. The sketch also reveals that he is quite a skinny man but is very tall with long arms, one and holds a cane, similar to Melodic Cudgel that Roman Torchwick once used before being swallowed whole by a Griffin. He wears a large black and red suit with a black tie and white shirt underneath it, buttoned up. He also has black and red dress trousers and black dress shoes. The sketch shows him in an animation like he is skipping along, performing to people.
It's like he is a magician or a Jester.
The smirk however shows the cunning and evil side to him along with the glowing red eyes under the shadow of the top hat that covers his eyes.
He is truly scary looking, and this is the physical body of the thing that attacked Adam earlier. The voice that came out of Kassius' mouth when under his control also looks like it belongs to this sketch, this terrifying looking being. "Well...at least we have a face to the thing that is haunting you." Yang sighs as she sets it down on the table.
"He's such a prick." Kassius chuckles as he sits back on his bed and lies back down, head on his pillow and he rubs his eye with his human hand.
"Still trying to get control?" Yang asks him, sitting by his feet.
"Not so much get control...he just won't quit talking." He says.
"Talking?" Yang asks.
"Yep. He won't just shut up." Kassius groans.
"Is he talking right now?" Yang asks him curiously.
"Yep." He responds again.
"What's he saying?" Yang asks him with a smile. The eagerness of Yang surprises Kassius and causes him to give her a confused look. Yang looks back at him with the same look, mirroring the exact expression. "What?" Yang asks with a nervous laugh.
"You are taking this extraordinarily well." Kassius states.
"I care, and if there are two minds in there..." Yang says, gently tapping the side of his head with her finger. "Then I would like to know what they are both thinking." Yang says. Kassius groans when he listens to what the voice inside his head is saying to him.
"He is – paying some compliments towards you." Kassius says, and he is clearly being more modest than anything.
"Really?" Yang asks with a suspicious tone.
"Not joking." Kassius immediately responds, before revealing something about Hyde. "He was never like that around Vetra, he was always...accusing." Kassius reveals as he looks at her. Yang looks at him with a surprised expression.
"What do you mean...accusing?" Yang asks. He closes his eyes and he listens to whatever it is that Mr Hyde is saying to him in his head.
"He says...that he has always admired you...and felt that she was taking me from you." Kassius translates and Yang gasps in shock.
"Are you saying that...he was trying to keep you from leaving?" Yang asks him. Kassius pauses and he sighs, nodding his head up and down. "Mr Hyde is strange, he will be aggressive and put the worst thoughts possible in my head...but he will always look out for my betterment. I guess maybe because we are part of the same body, he wants to retain his existence?" Kassius presumes.
"But what does that have to do with me?" Yang asks.
"I don't know, but I have never heard him say anything negative about you. Strange stuff, but never negative. Most of the time it's just him being...well...a little perverted if I'm gonna be honest." Kassius admits with a chuckle, which also makes Yang giggle a little bit. "Come to think of it...he has never done anything like that around any of you, Ruby and your dad included." He explains.
"But not Qrow?" Yang asks.
"Well, I haven't seen that much of him. So neither has Hyde." Kassius answers with a shrug. He starts to shudder a little, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck go ridged. "Hold on..." He whispers, and Yang becomes concerned, looking at him on the bed as he touches the back of his neck on the pillow.
"Kas? Are you okay?" Yang asks him.
"He's trying to get control again..." He winces.
But when he is talking, suddenly his body becomes ridged and he creates a strange groaning sound. His eyes close and his body bolts upright, twitching as he moves. Yang gasps, stepping off his bed, looking at Kassius as he seems possessed. He slowly opens his eyes up, and they are glowing red, intensely bright as well. His veins are glowing faintly red, not as aggressively as before. Kassius' body stretches his arms out and he hops off from his bed with energy he did not seem to have before. He kicks the door shut and spins on his toes to face the intimidated Yang Xiao Long.
Kassius smirks, the same smirk that the drawing had. "Well...we finally get to meet in person Yang." Mr Hyde greets, acting like he takes his hat off and bows forward to her. His voice is exactly the same as it was the last time they met; his voice is unnatural with multiple different voices combined in one tongue as he speaks. His voice sounds like he is either growling or hissing as he speaks. Yang immediately stands up, readying her cybernetically built Ember Celica to fight him if he must. But Mr Hyde makes Kassius hold his hands up defensively as he walks around his bedroom that he has claimed. "No threat here, at least not to you." Mr Hyde promises as he makes him walk around, screeching like metal fatigue in his tone.
"Why?" Yang questions as she glares at him.
"Why I have seen how he feels about you, and those feelings have never changed." Mr Hyde promises as he walks around, kicking his feet up in the air as he walks like a theatrical actor. Yang stares at him.
"Why me? Why did you not trust Vetra?" Yang interrogates.
"I am always here for his betterment; she was getting in the way of what you and him can possibly have." Mr Hyde explains, holding his hands out to her like it was obvious. "She would have ruined that for you both, so I aimed to – guide him where necessary." Mr Hyde adds.
"That was not for you to decide." Yang opposes, shaking her head at him as he makes Kassius walk around the room. Mr Hyde looks at her with an astounded visage when he stops walking.
"You're defending the girl that could have taken this from you?" Mr Hyde chuckles as he gestures to his own body.
"If he chose her over me then I would have been fine with it, we all make our choices." Yang says, showing how kind she is, and also how much she loves Kassius since she would happily give up her own happiness if he was happy. Yet he would do the exact same thing for Yang if it had the same outcome. Mr Hyde chuckles as he walks again, flicking Kassius' finger around like he has a cane in his finger, looping it through.
"You truly do have a heart of gold, don't you? Both of you do." Mr Hyde says to her. Yang looks at Hyde curiously. "You and your sister, I have always admired how much you have been there for him; the same goes for your father. You have always looked after both of us." Mr Hyde says to her.
"So that is why you haven't caused him any issues when I we were around him?" Yang inquires.
"Indeed." Mr Hyde answers.
"Then why did you attack the others? I get why you took over when you both saw Adam but why did you attack Sun and Winter?" Yang asks him.
"They attacked first, I gave them ample warning." Mr Hyde states.
"Yes, but you didn't attack me." Yang points out.
"You see, I have not had much time to figure out if I can trust them. He is too trusting, I am not. I will punish him if I must to make him realise, place my own thoughts into his mind to make him figure out the truth. The world is not as nice as you may believe." Mr Hyde explains.
"Oh, trust me I know that." Yang promises.
"That's easy for you to say." Mr Hyde says. "I have been a part of him since he was a baby, and he has been treated differently for years." Mr Hyde continues.
He stands there, and Yang is surprised by how much reason Mr Hyde is showing her, but as they have both said. He is honest to her because he trusts her. He looks through the window and then back at Yang. "Allow me to teach you – ever heard of the Crooked Man?" Mr Hyde asks her, tilting Kassius' head as he approaches.
"I've heard the song." Yang answers.
Mr Hyde chuckles, and he begins to sing it in his creepy voice.
"There was once a Crooked Man, and he walked a crooked mile..." Mr Hyde sings as he walks, his version sounds far more sinister than the gentle children's merry-go-rhyme. Yang knows that Mr Hyde is cunning, and that he must be acting all nice towards her for his own evil purposes. His eyes and actions have already shown that he is not a good soul. Even if he does care and even if he is looking out for Kassius' health. "...he found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile..." He continues as he walks around. "He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse." Mr Hyde continues to sing, walking around Yang as she stands there, never feeling so afraid of the man she loves until now. "And they all lived together in a little crooked house." He concludes as he stops by the bed, looking at her.
Yang looks at Mr Hyde with confused lilac eyes. "What? What is your point?" Yang asks, confused of what that song was supposed to represent. Until he continues the song, despite that the Rhyme is supposed to end right there. He looks out at the land outside as he carries on, his eyes rising up to the Fractured Moon.
"But the Crooked Man grew sad...and cold...and once, he had a thought." Mr Hyde speaks, his finger rising up which makes Yang jump as sharply as he does it. He slowly turns to face her, still speaking the rhyme. "Why should he be crooked, when others – they were not?" Mr Hyde snarls as he turns and stares her in the eyes as he speaks, the crooked smirk still on his face. "And so...the Crooked Man set out to make himself a Crooked Remnant, Crooked Humans and Faunus, Men and Women, Children and Dogs, Cats and Mice." He lists as he approaches Yang slowly. His eyes glow bright red and his veins begin to glow red, brighter and brighter as he becomes more aggressive, revealing the true sadistic and cunning nature of Mr Hyde. He is charming, and his mistrust around everyone but Yang, Ruby and Tai is so strong that he will make Kassius suffer from his own paranoia. "Buried in dirt..." He growls. "And the Crooked Man stepped forth and rang the crooked bell – and thus his crooked soul – Spiralled – into a crooked hell!" Mr Hyde exclaimed, his bipolar voice becoming deep and monstrous when he says the word spiralled and his eyes glow bright red upon saying the word as well. Yang's breath pants harder and harder. "Murdered his crooked family and laughed a crooked laugh!" Mr Hyde laughs maniacally as he gets closer to Yang, pinning her against the bedside table, staring straight into her eyes as he speaks. "You pitiful people all must suffer – my crooked wrath." He growls with sinister intent. He reaches towards her cheek to kiss her but Yang pushes him away, scared of what Mr Hyde could have done if she didn't.
Kassius' body staggers away from Yang and Mr Hyde looks at her with a confused expression. Yang now understands the point he is making.
Because his semblance is different to most, because Mr Hyde is an enigma to all of Remnant, they are all treated like monsters. So why bother hiding what you are? And slaughter all that would bring torment upon you?
The thinking of a monster in the body of a person who is anything but. Yang points at him. "Enough!" She shouts, gritting her teeth and Mr Hyde looks at her with a confused expression, he is born to be evil and he does not understand anything other than that. Only Yang makes him feel something other than what he is. "Get out of his head! He needs to get sleep! If you really care about him, you will get out of his head and give him a full night's sleep! If you truly feel the same way as he does...then do as I say and leave him alone." Yang demands as she glares at him.
Mr Hyde sighs as he looks at her, looking down at the floor. "As you wish." He huffs as he jumps onto the bed, nearly breaking it from the landing, squeaking the joints, bouncing it up and down. He crosses one leg over the other.
Yang waits and it feels like it is an eternity.
Until Kassius gasps, his eyes bursting open when he is released by Mr Hyde, holding the side of his head. He turns and looks at Yang who is still in the corner where Mr Hyde pinned her when using the rhyme of the Crooked Man to convey his point. Kassius stammers when he looks at the golden girl in the corner. "What did I do?" He asks her with a scared voice.
"Nothing...he just took over to talk to me." Yang promises as she walks over to him, holding his hands. He calms his breathing down as he looks at her.
"He let me go...I can't hear him..." Kassius stammers.
"Well, I did shout at him." Yang admits with a little laugh.
"And he listened?" Kassius questions with awe.
"Yeah, he was going on about the Crooked Man...I think I understand Hyde a little better now." Yang says with a sarcastic chuckle.
"He did, huh? He does like that Rhyme." He sighs as he wipes the sweat from his forehead.
"Yeah...he does." Yang shudders as she thinks about what he was gonna force Kassius to do.
He really puts his welfare first alright.
Qrow
Qrow walks over to Raven who is stood on the balcony with her Odachi leant against the railing. Her long black hair blows in the wind. She turns when she senses that he is near and she looks at him. "Hello, brother." She greets. Qrow sighs as he presses the sword against the railing, standing beside his sister.
"Some night." He sighs, thinking about what happened with Mr Hyde and Kassius, attacking Adam like that.
"Some night." She agrees. "I never knew that Kassius was like that." She says with surprise.
"Neither did I." Qrow agrees.
"Do you think Yang is safe with him?" Raven asks him, but Qrow nods upon looking at his sister.
"When Hyde was in control, he never touched Yang. He couldn't." Qrow assures and that does fill his sister with some hope that her baby girl is safe with that boy.
"I can't imagine what that must be like." Raven says.
"Well, we kind of can. You were luckier than most." Qrow says, looking at her. Raven looks at him and she scoffs, rolling her eyes as she rises back up.
"It's not the same...our semblances aren't the same as his curse, we don't have to suffer with an evil alternate personality all the time. One that could just take control whenever he gets angry, or perhaps whenever he feels like it." Raven says as she crosses her arms, looking at Qrow. Qrow huffs as he stands there, pressing his hands upon the cold concrete railing.
"Any hints on where to find Ruby?" Qrow asks.
"None." Raven answers.
"Goddammit." He growls in anger, hitting the railing with his palm.
"The Architect is our best bet. When he comes back we will go with him and see what he can tell us. From what you guys told me, he wants to help find Ruby anyway." Raven states.
"I know, but we need you there. With having me there on my own puts them at risk, we need to both be there to balance the odds." He says. Raven looks at him with conflicted eyes, but she knows that he is right. A sigh of frustration escapes her lungs.
"We need to talk to Sienna, she will be waking up soon." She says to him.
"What about the Spring Maiden?" He asks her. She shakes her head.
"She's not dead is she?" Qrow asks with a worried tone of voice.
"I don't know, she went missing when we were extracting Khan." Raven reports, turning to her brother, her hand gently touching her sword. "Do you think the Knights will kill her?" Raven asks.
"No...Death is smarter than that, so's Fear. They know that if they kill her, the soul of the Maiden will go somewhere else. Unless they have someone in line like Cinder, then they won't kill her just yet." Qrow explains to her.
"This is all such a mess." Raven sighs as she scratches her hair.
"When isn't it?" Qrow questions.
They both stand there, looking out at the land of Mistral, the smoke has started to disappear from the ruins of Mistral and the Grimm have left. Meaning that there is no one left to kill.
All they can do now is wait for someone to tell them Sienna is up.
Or for the Architectto return.