//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Embrace of Light and Dark // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Cassiel POV I didn't expect this for a little while to be honest, Raven entering the picture the same day as Faust I mean. Looking at her form I can say it fits her status as Dark Goddess. Enough does come quickly though so I decided to stop examining her so we could speak. "I'm going to come flat out and say it, you have more of my respect than Faust right now." Need to start this somehow. "She certainly could have done a better job, the fool." She said, barely making an attempt to not say it with hatred. "So let's get to the point. Why?" I asked. "Why what specifically?" She asked, already knowing why. "The interest in me, the subtlety, and the attack to name a few?" I just want to hear it from her, any of the reasons I can think of could be right or wrong. "In order: You interest me because you're the first keyblade wielder in a very long time, wielding Way to Dawn and Path towards Nightfall, your heart is darker than my previous students King Sombra and the necromancer Grogar, and despite having a heart as dark as yours you still haven't fallen to it." Was the first reason and the details behind it. "What's so special about these keyblades, why does my heart interest you?" I asked. "They are siblings, polar opposites. Way to Dawn will normally choose a wielder who sought darkness and after falling to it will walk the Lane Between until they return to light. Path towards Nightfall will normally choose a wielder who sought light, but was rejected or betrayed in their eyes and after walking the Lane Between chose darkness. Only one other pony has used both, they always chose wielders who eventually try to kill the other." I'll admit that is interesting, especially since I'm fairly certain I never met the implied requirements for both, Nightfall maybe, but not both. "And my heart?" Why mine specifically I wonder. "I wasn't finished. They are 2 of a select few keyblades with I guess you could say an evolved state. Keyblades are already capable of changing shape even become different weapons entirely, but those 2 can become so much more. Price of Exile and Mark of Ascension are their names." She showed me a projection of both, the names not exactly fitting which keyblade turns into it. Dawn becomes Exile. It becomes much more skeletal in appearance. The eye becomes purple, the wing near the tip almost looks like a bone claw, the guard looks like skeletal wings, and the chain looks like a skull with 1 purple eye. Night becomes Ascension. It looks more angelic to say the least. The blade turned white with a golden wing blade, the closed eye is now open and you can almost see stars in it. The wing near the tip turned into half of one of those golden rings with 3 wings like how some angels have, the guard also has white wings, that thing where the pommel would be is shaped like an alicorn, and the chain now looks like a complete version of the ring near the tip. "I'll ask what's so special about those keyblades later. Now about my heart?" I asked a little impatiently. "I had to mold Sombra and Grogar into what they became, without my guidance they would've fallen into their darkness and become powerful Heartless. You on the other hand have more than both of them and the closest you've done to falling to it is when it seeped out of you after we saved the filly and even that didn't last long." She said with I think some amount of concern. "And this means what exactly?" "In many cases it means you're close to falling, but in your case it meant your darkness was a sort of projection of your intent. It was surprising to say the least." "Why does this matter to you?" Your answers are only adding more questions. "You are the first in a very long time to defy my sister, the second to ever wield Dawn and Nightfall, and your outlook on life is refreshing to say the least. Especially since that outlook helped you figure out for the most part how this war began." She leaned back in her chair. "Let me guess, she refused to punish her worshippers for bullshit reasons like 'they know not what they do', 'they would lose faith in us', or one of my personal favorite, 'you need to stop taking justice into your own hands'?" I asked and no later did she grip the chair hard enough to break half the arm rest. She let out a breath like how one would if they were suppressing their rage. "And there you have it, by not doing her job she started everything. Rather than so much as scold them she instead let them do as they pleased, and as a result, well you can look up thestral and possibly umbrum history to give you an idea of what happened to those born of my domain." She said angrily. "Now about the attacks?" I asked changing the subject. "You already figured out the reasons for the first attack which showed you could be what ends this war one way or another. The second attack had several purposes. Consume hearts that were dark enough, make yourself known, test you, show how poorly equipped the guards are, and to send a message to my sister." I already have a few ideas of what the message was. "For what were you testing me?" I want to hear this. She smiled. "I wanted to try to gauge your potential as my first student in over a thousand years. You may not care, but I don't want to see you become another Heartless, as a sign of good will I have gifts for you." She's not telling me something, I know it. "What are these gifts?" I just have nothing but questions today don't I? "If you choose to become my student I can give you quite a few things. Use of the Dark Corridors will allow you to quickly travel anywhere you like including the Realm of Darkness as well as eavesdrop on others. I could teach you how to use your keyblades to their full potential in their current forms, last for now would be armor that would offer protection against light and dark." Sounds like a good offer. "What's the catch? With all that on the table there's no way it's free." Better safe than sorry. "Oh there is no catch, I just want to see how you impact this world with the occasional Heartless attack and my offer will help prolong your life so you may do so." She said, I still have that feeling she's not telling me something though. "Fuck it, it's not like I have anything to lose, I'll take you up on that offer." Sometimes you have to spring the trap to learn what it is. "Perfect! Now to do this you'll have to remove your mask for a moment." Not what I expected. "Why?" I asked. "It's nothing I haven't already seen, I already know what you look like." I would ask how, but I'm sure her answer is the Heartless. With a sigh I removed my mask and closed my eyes as I waited for her to do whatever. I felt something smooth wiping my cheeks and opened my eyes to see she's wiping the blood off with her wings. It took her only a few seconds to clean my face before she moved closer to the bed and pressed her lips to my cheek. "I fail to see why that was necessary." I said as she pulled away. "It wasn't, I just wanted to do it that way." She said with a smile. "So what ha-" I started until I heard the sisters in the hallway. Raven quickly fixed the chair and became Nevermore again as I unlocked the door and chose to leave the mask off in case there was trouble. If letting them see my face means I can fight or escape easier I'll take it. They walked into the room and the first thing they did was stare at me. After taking a few minutes to process what they were seeing they finally said something. "Cassiel, I would like-" Celestia started. "Don't bother thanking me or apologizing. I didn't do it for you and your apology won't change the fact I'm a murderer in half the town's eyes, especially to those who would try to avenge Spoiled Rich. I did all that for my own reasons." "What were those reasons then?" Luna asked. "You should already know the answer. I was bored and wanted mercy, but they were unable to provide on the mercy part." She mouthed mercy before her eyes widened in realization. "You wanted to die???!!!" She yelled, Celestia's eyes widened as well. "What's the point in living when every waking moment is a never ending nightmare and you have nothing to live for and nothing to lose. If I live I live it's that simple, if I die I return to Nothingness, I win either way." They both had tears running down their cheeks again, Celestia came up to me and slapped me hard enough that it felt like she almost snapped my neck doing so. "Why? WHY WON'T YOU LET US HELP YOU? WHY WON'T YOU GIVE US A CHANCE?" She shouted. "What makes you think I'm worth the effort? That I can be helped? You're all no different from humans, Spoiled Rich proved that, Faust too regardless of whether or not her offer and motives were genuine. What is it I have to look forward to in a world that doesn't want me?" I said plainly, my face still facing the wall. "How can you say such things so calmly??" She asked in a raised tone. I looked back at her with a straight face and removed my cloak so they could see all my scars. Their crying intensified. "How much do you think I'm worth to anyone? A life is only equal to how much it has going for it. What is it my life is worth when the most valuable things I have are two giant fucking keys and pity from others? Now after today my only value to anyone else is I can kill Heartless better than anyone else, if it weren't for that my life would be worth less than the makeshift bed in the cell you wanted to put me in. Tell me I'm wrong, that I'm mistaken!" Try me, you know it's true no matter how much you deny it. "Nothing... None of what you just said is true... I refuse to let it be true!" Luna said moving closer to the bed. "Then what value is there in my life hm? That I'm alive? Or that I'm a child legally speaking? Let me guess, my life has value because I have 'so much potential' or there is 'hope' for me? For being a thousand years old you two are incredibly naive, so much so it makes me sick just looking at you." She and Celestia both wrapped their arms around me. "Please, trust us. You won't have to suffer anymore!" Celestia practically begged of me. I looked to Nevermore and she nodded her head. "*sigh* Fine. But I want you to remember this, most if not all my suffering after the deaths of my family came from betrayal, people who I was supposed to be able to trust. If you break that trust, a swarm of Heartless will be the least of your worries." I warned. "We assure you that trust isn't misplaced!" Celestia said. "See that it isn't." "Princess?" Nevermore spoke up. "Yes? May I help you?" Celestia asked. Nevermore smiled "I would like to be stationed here from now on. Cassiel will need somepony to train him if we're to stand a chance against these monsters and we'll need better training and equipment ourselves to deal with them as well." She said. "We will not have a child fight our battles for us!" Luna said. "Need I remind I'm not a child? Need I also remind you that I kill them they stay dead, when you kill them they come back later? It took 3 of your guards to kill 1 lowly Shadow, it took one of me to kill that giant one and all the Shadows it spawned. If it weren't for me this entire town would have been consumed by darkness, this 'child' is clearly better equipped to fight them than several squads of guards combined." I said. "Enough!" Celestia said before turning to Nevermore. "Effective immediately you will be stationed in Ponyville and take command of the guards we will be sending here, you will also personally train Cassiel to combat this threat! Understood?" She said. "Yes Princess!" Nevermore said with that same wicked smile as when we first met. "Sister, you can't be-" Luna started. "I wish I didn't have to be." She turned to me. "We will be calling you two to Canterlot after school this Friday." She said before leaving with Luna. I turned to Nevermore after casting Cure on myself which healed all my injuries. "So when do we start?" I asked. "Tomorrow." She answered. Shit.