Qrow
The howling wind whistles against his ear as he steps out from the swirling blue doorway opened by the Architect. It closes behind the tall mechanical man who looks around; rifle wielded in one hand as his glowing optic scans the fallen city.
The silence...
It is unnerving...
Only a day ago this place was once crawling with people all conversing and fighting with each other over the smallest things. Now it is nothing more than a ghostly reminder of what it is that they are up against, something unbelievably powerful, something that managed to take control of three Kingdoms in just thirty minutes. Hazel stands beside Qrow, towering above him with his fists clenched and the dagger he always carries tightly gripped in one fist. Their auras are up, and they can actually feel the Horridus Morbus plague against them, slowly eating away at the aura so then it can infect them.
The only one here that is safe is the Architect because he is a machine, and Penny is still too damaged from the crash to go on any more missions at the moment. Qrow takes his scroll out and he checks his and Hazel's aura level.
They are still in the green, but they have already lost a sliver of their aura just standing here in the city. "Let's make this quick...find Team B.R.N.Z and get them back home." Qrow tells the two of them, drawing his sword as he takes the first step. The sand seems to have turned grey from the plague that floats in the air, the atmosphere is in fact thick with the plague...it is horrifying to know that there are still people unconscious in this city right now.
Hazel looks round a corner as he walks beside his allies, seeing that there are bodies of people lying on the ground. It is hard to tell if they are even alive anymore, but there is a stench in the air. Like the scent of rotting bodies everywhere...it is a terrible thing to experience. The Architect walks towards a building and he presses his titanium body against the adobe wall of the building, holding his rifle upwards so then he does not accidentally discharge it into either Qrow or Hazel. They cannot afford to take any damage from anything in here; they need as much aura as they can before the plague can get through and infect them.
The Architect peers round into the long street, there is a thick blackish mist in the air, and it must be the Horridus Morbus plague. The fog actually looks like a cloud of smoke – a lot like the smoke that the Grimm are made from. The stuff that they disintegrate away into...in fact it looks identical too it. "Hazel...did Salem ever mention this in her plans?" Qrow inquires as he stands beside him, not meaning the question in an insulting way – just in a curious way. But he can tell from the look on Hazel's face...that this was never in her long term plan.
"She never said anything about a plague..." Hazel states with a shaken voice from what surrounds him. The wind screams as it blows past their heads, not only is the plague present but it appears that a storm is brewing around them too. The picking up winds and the amount of sand that is being blown into the city, looks like a Sandstorm is about to hit them soon.
The Architect lowers his rifle after aiming into the street; there is no sign of any Grimm or even Acolytes of Lien activity in the city. "It looks clear, come on." The Architect whispers as he walks forward, and Qrow and Hazel stay close to him as well. The fog just gets thicker and thicker the further that they get. Distant howls of the Grimm echo in the distance of the abandoned city.
"This is really unnerving..." The Architect points out, which surprises them considering he is an Artificial Intelligence from a dead civilisation.
"Would've thought you'd be used to silent cities." Qrow points out, not disagreeing with him, just surprised by that fact.
"I'm used to destroyed cities...not fully intact ones that are this silent." The Architect states, moving slowly and carefully through the abandoned streets. Qrow can sense the ghostly memories of what this city was like before, scum and thieves everywhere scrambling for food everywhere. The city was already suffering from Famine and Disease, now a disease has completely claimed every single life here. That is if they are alive and not dead, they've not checked any of them.
All they need is to find the Team, unfortunately the rest of the people in this city are a lost cause.
Hazel moves round a corner in the street and his eyes widen with shock from what he sees, three Beowulves are hunched over a dead body, gnawing their bony teeth into the flesh of the poor victim which was taken by the plague. Claret covers their claws and jaws, dripping from their teeth as they rip flesh from the dead body's bones. One of then slowly pushes its teeth into the head of the dead man, squeezing to crush his head.
Until the three Beowulves lift their heads with a growl, glaring directly at the trespassers that have arrived here. They snarl through their bloodied teeth, slowly stepping away from the remains of the body as they stare at their enemies. Hazel grits his teeth with rage when they charge towards them. Hazel grunts, catching one of the mutated wolves by the throat and lifting the Lycan off the ground to plunge his dagger deep into its sternum. Black smoke pours from the wound and the Beowulf eventually ceases to struggle, whereas Qrow slashes the creature's head from its shoulders in one swing. The Architect stamps down onto the skull of the Beowulf as it lunges at him, crushing the bone and sending its body into a cloud of smoke.
The three Hunters approach the corpse which lies on the floor, blood everywhere; they cannot even identify the face anymore from the amount of damage done to his body. "This is wrong..." Hazel growls with anger, walking away from the corpse on the ground, and the two of them look at each other before to Hazel.
"What do you mean?" Qrow inquires.
"All of this...it doesn't make any sense...it is not in her style." Hazel states, remembering Salem and the forms of missions and objectives that they had. But Qrow scoffs, despite not knowing what Hazel means by that.
"I dunno, Hazel. Salem seemed pretty intent on killing all life on Remnant back on the Volcanic Chain Isles." Qrow points out as he scratches the back of his head.
"No, you don't understand." Hazel says as he turns to face them both. "Salem believes in using people, people are a resource was always one of her strongest beliefs. If that was the case then why the hell did she let an entire kingdom full of resources be discarded like that?" Hazel questions with confusion in his voice as he looks around. All three of them jolt when they hear a horrifying screech in the distance. They've never heard a Grimm make a noise like that before, it sounded almost human but as if someone was in immense agony.
"What the hell was that?" Qrow inquires with concern.
The Architect stares at the direction that the sound came from, he slowly tightens his hand into a fist. "Maybe they are still a use to her." The Architect states, walking ahead of them. Qrow stares at the Architect as he watches him walk ahead of them with his rifle in his hand.
He knows something...
The Architect turns yet another corner, expecting another horror to await them. Something scuttled from their vision just as they entered this place, neither of them noticed it. There is something here, something that they have not faced before. Like whispers in the air, it is like they are being watched from the buildings that surround them. Screeches of Giant Nevermores echo above their heads, but it does not seem like the monsters can see them through the fog at the moment.
For now they are safe from detection.
But as they start to walk across the street, suddenly there is an almighty bang right in front of them and a bright flash of light. "Get to cover..." The Architect orders with a sharp whisper, taking cover behind a building. Hazel and Qrow do the same, ducking down behind some buildings to not get spotted. The Architect slowly peers round the wall and his metal flaps over his optics lift up with shock.
"Oh crap..." Qrow whispers.
"The Knights' Bannermen are here." The Architect says, staring at a squad of skeletal entities slowly walking through the street. Metal armour plating around the bones and glowing red flames in the sockets of where their eyes should be. Like the Grimm they seem to have a fiery red glow from within their bodies as they walk, like a heart or whatever it is that controls these soldiers. Two of them wield Arkhoni Swords, very clearly from their craftsmanship; no blacksmith from this era can make blades quite like the ones that they are holding. Then there are others that are holding rifles that are clearly Atlesian.
It is clear...
These things are people...
Corrupted into monsters.
Then the leader of the squad turns and points to the others, speaking in a tongue that only one of them recognises. Its voice is harsh and almost metallic as it shouts at them, stood tall and ready for anything. "Scitor de szakasz! Elhelyez der tosaitheoiri!" The Knights' Bannerman soldier bellows aggressively, and the others turn and they walk away from that one. It turns and walks ahead, slowly with the sword held tight in its hand. It walks down the path that they have made, and Qrow goes to kill it stealthily.
Until the Architect points at him and shakes his metal head. Qrow's eyes widen, and he quickly does as the Arkhoni A.I tells him, staying low and in cover. The Bannerman stands there; the unnatural breath leaves the bony jaws of the skeleton as it looks around. The three of them are ready to strike the Bannerman if he spots them...
But then it continues to walk onwards, leaving them behind as it enters a different pathway to search the area. They stand up, lucky that the being did not sense their presence. "Good job not attacking it." The Architect says to him, but Qrow does not look as convinced.
"Yeah? How so?" Qrow asks him.
"The Knights Bannermen is essentially a hive intelligence of broken souls. Kill one, they will get more aggressive and will go to where they felt one of their bodies being destroyed." The Architect explains, shocking them to their core from hearing what they are.
"That's barbaric." Hazel says with disgust of how something that evil could possibly exist.
"That's Vir Nominis Umbra for you." The Architect scoffs, but Qrow speeds up to touch his shoulder in order to get his attention.
"Hang on...do you know what he said? I've never heard any tongue like that." Qrow says to him, and Hazel agrees with a firm nod of his head.
"What you heard was High Arkhoni." The Architect tells them. "He told the other Bannermen to – Search the area, locate the trespassers." He translates for them, High Arkhoni is clearly a very elaborate language, and clearly only certain people – even back when the Arkhoni Empire was still in power – spoke that language fully.
"I guess they know we are here." Hazel sighs.
"Killing those Beowulves wasn't a good idea; they are all still forms of Grimm. So kill any Grimm and they will investigate the area. It would be best for us to maintain a low profile and not attack anything that we see here." The Architect advises, he is their best source of knowledge on these things after all. Hazel and Qrow follow him through the Fallen City of Vacuo, carefully taking their steps and keeping their emotions in check to not alert the Grimm and Knights' Bannerman presence here.
They all duck down as a Grimm Wyvern flies overhead, roaring stridently as its long jet black wings are stretched out, smaller than the Grimm Dragon but just as dangerous. It moves fast, much faster than a Nevermore and vanishes into the thick layer of black fog over their heads. "I can barely see in here." Qrow whispers.
"How's your aura doing?" The Architect asks them.
Qrow and Hazel both check their scrolls, and they look at their levels, and it is not good. They are nearly down in the orange already from how long they have been inside of this plagued city. "We're running out of time...I'm starting to feel it too." Hazel says, having to shake his head to stay conscious from how hard he has been maintaining his field of aura. His aura is much larger than Qrow's and even he is struggling.
But when they are walking, they notice the fog starts to thin slightly for a moment and their eyes widen with shock from what they see. Stood at the stairs of the Headmaster's School, Shade Academy, are the Knights of Grimm. All four of them stand there with their weapons in hand, and they appear to know. Fury's flames are burning hot and he looks around quickly with gritted molten teeth.
Then Death roars. "Knights' Bannermen! There are Huntsmen in the city! Search the streets! Find them!" The Knight of Death bellows as he slams his fist against the adobe wall, before suddenly transforming into the giant jet black Nevermore that is his secondary form. The huge Nevermore takes off and screeches as it flies over head, Loss remains there before transforming into a Mourning Dove, Fear into the huge Bat and Fury into the flaming Wyvern. The Four Knights all take off and fly off in the same direction.
Their mission?
Unknown...
But they can be sure to find out soon enough.
"Yeah, good to see you too, Krekras." The Architect scoffs sarcastically as he walks forward, holding his rifle in one hand as he keeps his body low to the ground. Passing by unconscious civilians...
The plague has hit them much harder than it has hit Yang, Weiss, Sun and Neptune.
Perhaps the amount of time left in the fog makes it worse?
But as they keep searching, they finally spot their unconscious bodies on the ground. "There!" Qrow whispers, remembering their faces from the Vytal Festival. They approach them and press their fingers to their necks.
They have a pulse...
But it is faint, for all four of them. And it appears that their blood vessels are discoloured in a bad way, they have had longer to take in the plague than the others did.
They are in dire need for medical assistance.
"We need to get them to Beacon as fast as we can." The Architect tells them, hearing the deafening and terrifying pounds and beats of the drumming...but the drumming is the sound of marching bony footsteps headed their way. Something must have seen them...
But then...Qrow realises...
He hears the sound of the clicking and he turns his head.
There is a Seer here, watching them with its tentacles dragging across the floor and scraping through the stone as it hisses, getting closer as it approaches. Qrow stands up as he stares at the Seer and the black ball that is its head swirls from its glowing gold light...
To something else...
From the darkness of the Seer's head, Salem's face forms inside as he glares right into the eyes of Qrow. Of all the people he expected to speak to today, Salem was not one of them. Seeing her actually looking at him like that is a first for him, in fact he has not ever had a single conversation with her before. So he starts the conversation the only way he can. "Salem." He greets with his cold and stark voice. Salem cracks a smirk as she looks at Qrow.
"Qrow Branwen..." She greets in return, Hazel stares at his former superior and stands up, whereas the Architect is keeping his eyes focused on everything around them. "Funny, how five years ago Tyrian told me that he killed you." Salem laughs softly looking directly at her foe.
Qrow scoffs as he plants his hand on his hip. "With a stinger? Even you should know that I am harder to beat than that." He scoffs as he looks right back at her.
"Indeed, and there you were – at Mistral, at the Volcanic Chain Isles...and now here. It seems that Ozpin's little eyes are more resilient than I imagined." She speaks with a laugh, and Qrow chuckles.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Qrow says, then the Seer turns so then Hazel is in her view. She looks at him and she sighs, almost sadly when she sees Hazel on their side of the table now.
"Hazel..." She sighs.
"Ma'am." He greets in return, still referring to her as ma'am despite no longer being in her service anymore – perhaps just from habit of consigning to her as that.
"I am sad to see you with them, Hazel. Of all the people who served me in my Small Council, you were the one I actually respected the most. Your reasons were understandable, Ozpin took your baby from you and you wanted revenge." Salem explains, Qrow cannot help but feel a little on edge with the topic of Ozpin coming up around Hazel. He is still revenge driven and if he learns that he is in fact at Beacon right now...
I just hope he does not betray us...
He snaps out of that train of thought when Hazel speaks to her. "I can assure you that my objective has not changed...just my allegiances have." Hazel states.
"But why, Hazel? They defend him." Salem inquires curiously, so he steps back and shows her the bodies around Vacuo.
"This...this is not what we wanted." Hazel states, and he can see the pain in her eyes. "You always told me that you wanted to save the world, not destroy it." Hazel states as he stares at her.
"I am not the one in charge anymore, Hazel. You know who was responsible for all of this destruction – I too am not overly fond of the current course of events...but he wants this." Salem explains, and hearing her speak like that really hits Hazel deep. He always remembered Salem being this confident powerful leader, someone who is extremely powerful and not to be messed with.
Now...
"What have you become?" Hazel mutters with disbelief. "You were always the leader...nobody would dare challenge you, and now you are taking orders from a Merchant?" He scoffs.
"He is no merchant." Salem promises, she even looks back slightly to make sure that he is not listening to her words. Seeing her so scared is really unnerving...
If she is this scared...
What are we really up against?
"I do not even know what he really is...but he is more powerful than anything we have ever known." Salem states which gives them all a chill.
"So you just blindly follow his rules? Help him carry out these mass genocides?" Hazel questions, but then Salem stares at him and she smirks.
"And you are not?" He asks him, which confuses Hazel, and then the Seer turns to look at Qrow.
"What are you talking about?" Hazel questions, and Qrow stares directly at the Seer, through it and into the red eyes of Salem as she stares straight back. Then Salem catches on, smirking and laughing quite sinisterly.
"Oh...you haven't told him, have you, Qrow?" Salem presumes with a smirk.
"Told me what?" Hazel questions.
Don't do this...
"Well, as an act of good faith to you Hazel, I will do his job for him." Salem assures as she sits forward and stares directly at Hazel.
Then she tells him.
"Professor Ozpin – is at Beacon Academy." She reveals and his hazel eyes slowly widen with shock and disbelief. "On their journey to find the Spring Maiden, they uncovered his body and took it back to Beacon before you ever returned. He has been in a Comatose State ever since...and they never told you." Salem explains, and the shock slowly transforms into rage in Hazel as he clenches his hands into tight fists. Qrow's eyes turn to his fists with concern.
"Because they fear you." She tells him.
Suddenly the Seer explodes, black smoke and whispery howls rise from the shattered globe like skull of the creature floats away from the tentacles as they float down to the ground. They both turn to see the Architect aiming his rifle at where the Seer once was floating with smoke trailing from the rifle's barrel. "Hurry up! We need to get them back to Beacon!" The Architect advises, and the marching is getting closer.
The Knights' Bannermen must be right round the corner.
Qrow runs to pick up May whilst the Architect opens a portal after picking up Brawnz. But then they stop to stare at Hazel.
He is tense, gritted teeth with anger.
"Hazel..." Qrow softly says...
Ruby
Ruby is stood inside of the Amphitheatre with Blake as they are with their friends, and Ruby's sister. She is sat down next to her sister's bed as she looks at her. "Hey, sis..." She softly says to her with a smile, and Yang smiles, gently caressing her cheek with her thumb. With her aura up she is protected from the plague that could infect them. They have taken smart measures to keep the plague inside the Amphitheatre, such as using isolating tape around the walls of the building and even finding a shielding device to keep it all inside.
"I missed you little sis..." Yang softly says as she gently touches her long black and red hair. "I never did say how much long hair suits you, did I?" Yang sweetly asks her with a smile on her face. Ruby giggles shyly as she sits beside her closest friend.
"Well, I did have a good role model." She kindly says, looking at Yang's long locks of hair that caresses across her face on the pillow. Kassius is in the room as well with his arms crossed, letting Ruby have a moment with her sister. Blake is sat with Sun, holding his hand as she sits next to him.
"How many times am I gonna have to set next to you as you recover, Sun?" She sarcastically sighs, making Sun chuckle.
"Yeah, it's becoming a bit of a thing now, isn't it?" He points out with a chuckle. "First Ilia, then there was the Fear Toxin from Fear and now this." Sun lists with a chuckle, thinking on the times he has taken a bullet for her. "I'd do it all again though." He assures, and Blake smiles as she looks at him.
Then there is an audible groan from Weiss. "Alright love-birds, Nep and I are right here." She reminds, making the two of them laugh.
"Yeah..." Neptune agrees. "Rather not watch Sun procreate."
"Wow, I'm hurt Neptune." Sun comments, making Neptune laugh. Kassius stands there and he chuckles, in awe of their ability to make each other laugh even in the darkest of times.
"You guys will never cease to amaze me with that." Kassius says to them as he stands there, now with a new shirt and his other trench coat he has in his room. It seems he just has a whole tonne of these clothes just stored away somewhere.
"With what?" Ruby asks him, turning to face him.
"Your ability to shrug off the worst things in the world and just make everything happy." Kassius points off.
"I don't know if we do that, per say." Weiss states as she looks at him from the bed that Hazel and the others brought down from the Dorms to them.
"You guys are all on the chopping block and making jokes, I don't know if I'd be able to do that." Kassius states.
"Wow, did you have to say it like that?" Neptune asks with a scoff.
"Eh, you know me. Never have been great and being fancy with my words. I say what I think." Kassius states.
"Or Hyde does." Yang adds.
"Or he does." Kassius chuckles.
"He-he...yeah I do..." Hyde subconsciously agrees.
They all sit there, then Weiss sits up weakly, coughing as she does that. The four of them clearly are in a better condition than the people of Vacuo right now if Weiss is able to sit up. She presses her hand to her head as she sits there, wearing a patient's gown over her body, since her dress as he been cleaned and washed so then it does not spread it anywhere. "Weiss?" Ruby says, standing up as she walks over to her B.F.F.
"I just want to sit up, I've been in this bed for a day now...I just want to do something..." She sighs.
"I know, but you can't. Not until we get this thing out of you." Ruby tells her.
"Just a bit of sunshine?" She asks her sadly.
"I mean I could open the curtains." Ruby sarcastically asks, understanding fully what Weiss meant by all of that.
"I meant –"
"I know what you meant, but we have to follow the rules. If you go out there, the infection could spread." She explains, and Weiss sighs, knowing that she is right.
"Why are you always right?" She asks, like she is having a tantrum.
"Trust me, I'm not always right." Ruby states, looking a little sad when she thinks on that statement as well.
I've made plenty of mistakes in my life...
Weiss sighs. "Well, when you're right...you're right." She says with a sad look on her face. Weiss pushes her long white hair from her eyes, she has undone the bun and is long and wavy again, and just like how it was when she was on the run in Mistral nearly six years ago now. Feels like an age past now.
Then Blake speaks, and her soft and nervous voice gets their attention. "Guys?" Blake nervously asks, so they all look at her. Kassius with his crossed arms looks at her as well, he and Ruby can guess what she is about to bring up.
"Yeah, Blake?" Yang responds curiously. Blake looks at them, holding her forearm with her hand. Sun can practically sense the trepidation in her, so he sits up and he grunts as he does so.
"Are you okay, Blake?" He asks her.
"Yeah...I just..." She sighs, closing her eyes then she finally asks them. "Do you believe me? With what happened to Sienna? You believe that I didn't do it, right?" She asks them nervously, anticipating some sort of heartbreaking betrayal. But these people are her family, and they will always have her back.
"Of course not." Neptune states.
"You're unpredictable at times but not a traitor. You would never betray your own people like that, or even the human race either." Weiss states as well.
"Yeah, you know what the stakes are. And you know that we have bigger problems." Ruby agrees.
"But...there are others here that don't believe me, like your uncle and your mom." Blake says, looking at Yang.
"Blake...you heard what Jaune told us about what Vir Nominis Umbra is capable of. He said that he can shape-shift...if he can do that then it is not that crazy that he would use you as a disguise to turn the White Fang against us." Ruby states, not only defending one of her best friends, but also using her undeniable logic there as well.
"Yeah, that damn Soothsayer bastard is playing the White Fang for fools." Kassius states with a shrug. Blake looks at them all, and her trepidation lifts, and a warm feeling returns to her body.
She sighs with relief, knowing that her friends...
Her family...
Trust her.
"Thank you." Blake softly says with a smile.
A knock on the door gets their attention and Kassius turns to it, reaching his cybernetic hand out to open it up. Blake and Ruby are not too shocked and neither is Kassius, but the others...it is the first time they have seen her face since the Fall of Beacon. Pyrrha slowly and shyly enters the Amphitheatre, still with her hair down and wavy but she has finally had a shower and is not wearing her armour. She is wearing a shirt that she found and some jeans and a pair of trainers. Her eyes focus on them, and the four are shocked with widened eyes.
Only one phrase comes to Pyrrha's head.
"Hello again." She timidly speaks with a tiny wave of her hand. They all sit up with shock on their faces with wide eyes.
"P-Pyrrha?" Yang stammers with confusion. Hearing that Pyrrha is alive is one thing, but actually seeing her standing before you after knowing that she was killed...is something else entirely.
"I...I wanted to see you...I heard you were hurt." She says, as Kassius gently closes the door, remaining where he is stood.
They are all still speechless of seeing her there, so Ruby speaks for them. "Nothing they can't handle." She assures, stepping over to them. Pyrrha may know about why Ruby has one eye missing, but it is still incredibly heartbreaking to see her without it. Her eye patch covering the eye with the rose engraved onto it.
Weiss is the first to ask the obvious question. "How are you...how are you here? Ruby told us that..." She stammers with confusion, of all the crazy stuff that has happened, this is the only thing that truly confuses her. Pyrrha nods her head as she stands there, holding her forearm in the same way that Blake did from her nervousness.
"I...I don't really know...that part of my memory is still quite hazy. But...I think I have a good idea." Pyrrha tells them.
"How?" Kassius asks as he uncrosses his arms.
"I was talking to Jaune about what I remember, and one of my first memories of being the Onyx Phantom was when I attacked you in the Emerald Forest from the darkness. I hurt Nora and Ren..." Pyrrha explains to them, trying to find her memories as she speaks. They can remember that very well, because that whole battle was what lead to the revelation of Kassius' relation to Cinder and a bunch of them got quite injured as well. And Fear used their nightmares with Loss and their saddest memories against them. When also finding one of the first Visionary Books as well.
"Wait...what about before that?" Sun asks.
"That was Neo, there were two Onyx Phantoms. We figured it out, because the last we saw of the silent Phantom was when Jaune stabbed her shoulder with that hook in Vacuo after we fought all those Acolytes." Kassius explains.
"And where we first met the Architect." Yang remembers as she sits there.
"Salem had the Relic of Creation at that time, didn't she?" Blake adds.
"My point exactly...I think it was after Mistral fell that I was brought back. I don't think Vir Nominis Umbra is capable of creating life without it." Pyrrha explains. "Big mistake on his part I guess." She laughs softly, and it makes them happy to see her again. This is the Pyrrha that they remember, she may have always been very shy but she was funny as well.
She stands there, looking at them all shyly, then Blake walks over to her and wraps her arms around her tight. Pyrrha's eyes widen with shock from that, then she slowly puts her arms around Blake. "We all missed you, Pyrrha..." Blake says to her softly, and tears begin to stream from her green eyes.
"I missed you all too..." She says with a smile. She walks over to each of the plagued and gives them all touching hugs. Finally after so long they have ultimately been reunited together, and things finally feel like they have hope again.
Hazel
The blue portal opens, and Hazel storms out, setting Roy and Nolan on the ground, then storming towards Beacon Tower with his fists clenched and eyes narrowed with rage. His teeth are gritted and he snarls with rage. The Architect and Qrow step out from the portal and they both set the plagued members down on the ground. The Architect looks at Qrow. "Go, stop him!" He orders, and Qrow stares at Hazel as he keeps on moving.
He runs after the huge man whilst the Architect calls in help with the team to get them into the Quarantined Zone. "Hazel! Wait!" He begs as he chases after him, but he shakes his head.
"I'm done waiting." Hazel growls with anger, not stopping on his track towards the tower.
Qrow runs in front of him, holding out his hands and not drawing his sword. All he wants is to reason with Hazel, they are not just allies but they have become friends with him. Well, except for a few people here in Beacon. "Please, just hear me out! We never found the right time to tell you!" Qrow begs, walking backwards since he is not stopping, but Hazel is just looking over his head at the tower, fists clenched so tight that they could draw blood soon.
"Never found the right time? I told you that if we ever found him I would kill him!" He roars.
"I know, but we need him!" Qrow defends.
"Need him? So then he can just wait for a moment to kill our children again? I don't think so." He snarls, letting his mind be plagued with ideas of revenge. Qrow has to jog to get back in front of him, desperate to calm him down.
"Wouldn't you rather hear him out? Understand what happened?" Qrow asks him.
"What is there to understand, Qrow? Huh? He forced that power on my daughter as he was going to do the same to Pyrrha! She became a target because of his actions and now she is dead!" Hazel roars with rage.
Suddenly Hazel grabs Qrow by his shoulder with his massive hand and throws him out of the way, Qrow crashes into the ground, sliding and rolling to a stop. "I'm done with talking...you hid this from me...now it is time for me to avenge my baby girl." He snarls with tears in his eyes.
He kicks the doors to the Amphitheatre open and everyone inside gasps as they turn, seeing the huge man stood there, his shadow cast over them all. Pyrrha stands there with widened eyes and Kassius steps in front of him. "Now, now...Hazel...how much have you had to dri-" Hazel grabs Kassius and throws him against the wall with force, so hard that the wall cracks upwards. He lands on his knees and he feels the heat building in his head, eyes flickering between amber and fiery orange at times.
"Hazel! What are you doing?" Ruby screams, stood in front of him.
"Ozpin is up there...he has to pay for what he did." Hazel snarls through gritted teeth.
Blake draws Gambol Shroud, they do not want to fight him but they also cannot let him kill Ozpin. "No! You can't, we need him! He has information on things that we need!" Ruby shouts, but Hazel snarls with even more rage, clenching his hand into fist and fighting the rage in his heart which commands him to hit her. But he doesn't, he just pushes her out of his way and walks forward.
But then...
Sun stands up...
And stands right between him and the door. Sun is in no condition to fight, he can barely even stand let alone use Ruyi Jingu Bang. Sweat trickles down his face as he stands there with a gritted scowl, staring right up at his face. Seeing Sun standing there strikes something in Hazel, seeing the pain on his parents' faces again when he murdered them in cold blood. It still haunts him to this day, the things that Salem ordered him to do...will never cease to haunt him.
He does not want to hurt Sun...
"Sun...Get out of my way." He quietly says, they all stare at Sun and Hazel fearfully.
"No..." Sun winces, feeling the agony in his infected body that the virus eats away at. Hazel's eyes are focused on him and he grits his teeth, staring down at him.
"Move..." He demands again, holding the dagger in his shaking hand. Sun's next statement stabs him even deeper than the last.
"The only way you're gonna get to Ozpin...is by killing me." He sternly states, which makes Hazel's eyes widen. "You want him? Then you'll have to kill me, just as you killed my mom and dad." He snarls, and the flashing images appear in his eyes yet again. Like bullets hitting him in the chest over and over again as he sees her silver eyes close and the sound of breaking his father's neck with just the movement of his wrist. "Go on then! Finish the job!" Sun roars, his voice echoes through the Amphitheatre.
They all stand there...
Hands at their weapons...
Ready to fight if they must.
Until...
"Hazel!" The voice of Cinder screams out, like an arrow through him he stops and slowly turns round. Pyrrha's eyes are wide with shock and disbelief, not only because it is Cinder...but Cinder is defending Ozpin.
She...
She really has changed...
What happened to you, Cinder?
Hazel stares at her amber eye and she stares at his hazel ones as he stands in the middle of the Amphitheatre. She stands at the entrance, slamming the door shut behind her, as Kassius stands up, looking at his twin sister. "Cinder...he's up there..." He stammers, pointing up at the tower with his shaking hand. His agony is shown in his body, his emotions linked to them.
"I know." Cinder tells him.
"Then you know why I must do this." Hazel states with a growling voice.
"No, because he was not the one that killed your daughter, Hazel." She says, walking towards him, and he turns to her. He knows about what happened, he was part of the Small Council, he knew about the plan.
"Cinder..." He softly says.
"I killed Amber, Hazel. I did, shot an arrow right through her heart." She tells him, and the memory of finding her body in the ruins of Beacon are still fresh to this day. Picking her up and burying her in the fields where she always wanted to be buried. The tears that ran down his face.
"Salem made you do it...you didn't have a choice." Hazel states.
"Didn't I? I could have just taken the powers and left, but I wanted to kill her, Hazel." She states, and they know what she is doing. She is falsifying the past to make herself look like a monster so then he will take out his anger on her instead of Ozpin. She really has become quite heroic now, Pyrrha is...
...stunned.
The Cinder Fall they knew was never like this.
Kassius stands beside his sister, ready to fight him if he must defend his sister. Hazel glares at her when she says that. "I let my lust for killing take over and I killed her right then and there, killed Pyrrha afterwards to get what remained of her power." Cinder states, and Pyrrha looks away when she says that.
Cinder walks towards him slowly.
"I'm a monster, Hazel. No matter how hard I hide it, it is what I am." She states, walking closer and closer to him.
"If you want blood for her, Hazel..." She says, holding her arms out to him, defenceless. "Take it from me, man..." She says, and Hazel's eyes widen when he sees her walk towards him like that. "Come on..." She says as she stands there, and silence fills the room.
Hazel stares at her as her arms are out...
And he hears a little voice in his memory.
"Okay! I did it!" Amber shouts with frustration, as Hazel remembers back to when she was alive years ago...she was only eight years old at the time. A tiny little girl with brown hair and brown eyes like her mother's. She has a bruise on her cheek and she sighs, looking down at the floor as she stands before her father. He was still as tall and muscular then as he is now, but he does not have the beard and lacks the scars. This must be long before she ever went to Beacon, before Ozpin.
Before Salem...
"You admit you did wrong?" Hazel asks her as he wipes the dirt from her cheek.
"Yes...and I accept the punishment." She sighs.
"What was it you did?" He asks her, sitting down and looking at her as she holds out her tiny arms.
"I punched him, I started the fight because he was being mean to me." She explains, looking at her father. Despite the fact that some mean bully was annoying her, she wants to take the blame for defending herself.
Hazel chuckles as he looks at her. "You're just like your mother, you know that?" He asks her with a smile, she looks at him with a sad expression. Clearly her mother and his wife died some years ago.
In fact, Amber never knew her mother, because she died during Childbirth.
Amber was all he had.
It is no surprise that he ended up with Salem after what Ozpin did to her. "How?" Amber curiously asks her father.
"You always are happy to take the blame for something you are not at fault for." Hazel says to her.
"But I hit him." She states.
"Yes, you did. But why did you do it?" He asks her.
"Because...he upset me?" Amber presumes with confusion on her little face. Hazel smiles and he holds out his arms.
"Come here, little leaf." He whispers to her, so she waddles over to him and wraps her arms onto him, unable to reach his back from how broad his body is. "It's okay to defend yourself, but it is better to accept responsibility when needed." He says to her.
"I love you daddy." She says to him, and he smiles.
"I love you too..." He replies, kissing the top of her head affectionately.
He stares at Cinder after remembering that, seeing how she is taking the blame for it, even making it out to be worse than it was so then he does not make a big mistake. He stands there, holding the knife in his hand with a shaking wrist.
He sighs, sliding the blade back into the scabbard, walking away from the elevator and leaving the Amphitheatre, passing by Qrow. They all look at Qrow with confusion.
"How did he know?" Ruby asks.
"Salem...she used one of those Seer things to talk to us..." He tells them.
Pyrrha stares at Cinder, seeing the pain on her face after she did all that to stop him. She was ready to die to protect Ozpin, to protect all of them.
Cinder turns and leaves, walking outside and Pyrrha is left with that question in her mind.
What happened to Cinder?
After she learned Kassius was alive?