//------------------------------// // Chapter 54. // Story: Embrace of Light and Dark // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Cassiel POV I really want to be wrong sometimes. Every time I'm right, it's always something bad, and that irritates me more every day! Recap: Salem was once human. She and Ozma/ Ozpin became lovers. Ozma died to sickness. Salem went to the God of Light in hopes of being reunited, but the bastard couldn't even bend the rules a little for her. Salem went to the God of Darkness and was reunited with Ozma, only to have him taken away again as they acted like children throwing a tantrum for being in the other's room and be cursed with immortality for the crime of withholding information from Darkness. Salem out of hate and spite, tricked humanity into betraying the Gods, but only managed to enrage Darkness enough that he wiped humanity off the planet. Having nothing to live for and nothing left to lose, Salem threw herself into the Pools of Destruction in hopes of ending her immortal life, but was instead transformed into what can be best described as a human/ Grimm hybrid. Ozma was given the opportunity to return to life with the mission of redeeming humanity, summoning the Gods back to be judged, and was warned about Salem. The lovers were reunited, established themselves as the higher power, established a kingdom, and even had a family, gifted with the magic the Gods took away. Ozma revealed his mission and told Salem about the Relics. Salem didn't care initially, proposing that they replace humanity instead of redeem it. Ozma did the stupidest thing he possibly could and tried to take the kids in the middle of the night, gut ohly managed to get himself and his kids killed during the fight with Salem. Once he finally got himself back together, he asked Jinn his questions. The locations of the Relics, their powers, anc how he can destroy Salem. She told him he couldn't destroy her. "Salem can't be killed... You all heard her too, right?" Yang asked. Probably the only reason she isn't beating Ozpin right now is because she doesn't want to hurt Oscar, though the same doesn't look like it'll apply to Qrow judging by his expression. Ozpin looked up at everyone, crying. "I-" He tried to speak. "There was so much you hadn't told us! How could you think that was okay?" Yang interrupted. "Professor?" He looked up at Ruby. "What is your plan to defeat Salem?" She asked. "I-... I don't have one." I resummoned Exile and channelled Darkness again, ignoring the pain. Just before I could do anything though, Qrow punched him hard enough to send him flying into a tree about 20ft away. After he hit the tree though, I dashed toward him, grabbing him by the neck and pinning him to the tree with Exile just inches away from his heart. "Liar." I started. "Manipulater. Hypocrite. Coward. Murderer! Child killer! Traitor!!!" I listed. "Can you feel your sins crawling on your back yet?" "I-" "Shut up! The ONLY reason you're still alive is because I have no ill intent towards Oscar! Salem and I are so alike that I can't even bring myself to hate her right now! Up until the end, I would've done EVERYTHING she did!!! Try to revive a loved one, deceive the Gods, and turn humanity against Them after They instigated it. Up until the truth was revealed, I would have done EVERYTHING the same as her!" I interrupted. "You would've-" "But you? You had ONE job, everything you needed, and everything you could've wanted! Power, wealth, family, a future worth looking forward to! Did the thought never occur to you that Salem was also meant to be redeemed? If They didn't want that, why did they leave her? You should've tried to convince her to your side! You should've tried to convince her to work with you to end your curses! Instead, you betrayed her, chose the childish, beyond-arrogant Gods over your own wife, and got your own children killed!!!" I shouted, pressing Exile into his chest, but not doing anything beyond that. "Cassiel, stop!" I ignored Blake this time. "And that was just the start... How many people died for YOUR war? You asked Jinn the wrong question, so all you can think to do is lock away the Relics and send armies of children to die for your sins? All you can think to do is try to beat Salem with brute force alone. Is that all everyone is to you? Cannonfodder? WHAT PART OF 'STRENGTH WILL NOT BRING VICTORY' DO YOU NOT UNDER-FUCKING-STAND???!!! HOW MANY HAVE DIED FOR YOU???!!! AT LEAST SALEM DOESN'T PRETEND TO BE GOOD!!! HOW CAN YOU HOPE TO REDEEM HUMANITY WHEN YOU'RE JUST AS IRREDEEMABLE AS SALEM AND THE GOD'S THAT CURSED BOTH OF YOU???!!!" I threw him to the side. "STOP!!!" Blake grabbed my shoulders, I desummoned Exile and quickly turned to face her. I didn't even look at Ozpin and looked down at Blake's hands as I held them. "It's said that the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. Not only are you living proof of that, but you are truly the world's greatest traitor, I'd even compare you to Judas. When this is over, I'm taking the Relics and if possible, the Maiden powers with me." "No one wanted me." Qrow started. "I was cursed, I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world. I thought I was finally doin' some good!" "But you are!" Ozpin tried to tell him, tears running down his face. "Meeting you was the worst luck of my life." If anyone else but the walking bad luck charm said that, that would hardly mean anything. Ozpin let that sink in for a few moments before responding. "Yes... I suppose you're right." Ozpin relented before giving control back to Oscar, who immed put his hand to the cheek Qrow punched. "What happened?" Ruby asked. "He's... Gone." He answered, this answer only angered Yang. "That bastard!!! Tell him we're not done yet!!!" She shouted. "No! This is different... It's like he's locked himself deep inside my head... Our head?" He grabbed his head. "Gggrrr I hate this! I want it to stop!" "He just left us?" Weiss asked in disbelief. "What're we gonna do now?" Blake asked, uncertain of how to proceed. "Well we can either continue to Atlas, or I can take us all to the place I call home and let Salem be Remnant's problem. I know none of you can just bring yourselves to leave and my business with Her is too personal for me to just leave. Now let's get a move on. It'll be night before long and we're just going to be attracting more Grimm with all this negativity. We can either follow the tracks and endure the coming blizzard or follow the trail and maybe find shelter. I'm choosing the trail, so I'd recommend quickly grabbing what you need, then we'll head off." I told everyone. "I couldn't have said that better myself!" Maria said as she helped Oscar back to his feet. I got Weiss's help to find some unrefined Dust to experiment with later while the others grabbed some ammo and Dust themselves. We started following the trail for some time as Maria rode on Yang's motorcycle. Eventually we heard a loud noise, one you'd hear from an old metal door or something opening and closing. Brunswick Farms was the name at the gate. "Well, at least one good thing happened today." Blake said. "It looks abandoned." Weiss noted. "Still better than this." Ruby agreed with Blake. "Come on, I'm sure we could all use some rest." Qrow held the gate open for us. "There's something wrong with this place... It being abandoned aside, it feels off, like there's something here." I said, cautiously. "Well it's our only option right now, so we'll just have to make it work somehow." Maria said. "Doesn't make me feel any less paranoid." I responded. "It wasn't supposed to." She said as she hopped off Yang's motorcycle. (Inside the main house) The storm really started to pick up as we neared the main house. It got so bad as we approached the door that I couldn't see further than maybe 20ft clearly. "I don't get it." Ruby said, confused as we reached the porch. "The empty towns I passed through were all damaged or unfinished, but this place looks fine." "Maybe they left in a hurry, before things took a turn?" Weiss said, shivering as she leaned against the porch. Qrow reached for the door and tried to open it, but it was either locked or frozen. "Stay on guard." As he was about to kick the door open, I stopped him. "Wait." I opened the SR. "I'll only be a minute." I entered the home and did a quick scan of the main floor. I unlocked the door and opened it from the inside, allowing the others in. "There's nothing on this floor, I didn't check upstairs or the basement. I'll check the basement if there is one, you all do whatever." I held Blizzard in my hand as I looked around for an entry point. The basement was probably through the door next to the stairs, but I wanted to check everywhere else first. As I was about to reach for a door in the kitchen, I heard a scream from upstairs and rushed up through the SR. I saw Weiss and Yang on the floor with horrified expressions as they breathed rapidly, staring at the bed. Two bodies occupied it, both have been dead for a long time, died in their sleep. We got everyone downstairs into the living room and I lit the fire that Weis was currently sitting close to. I decided to humor Qrow and stay here as Weiss and Yang are jumpy right now. Shortly after Blake put a blanket on Weiss and sar down next to Yang, Qrow re-entered the house. He brushed the snow off his clothes and looked down towards the ground with an unsettled look on his face. "It's the same in every house." He said, shocking everyone and making me feel even more uneasy about this place. "What?" Yang said. "Bodies. In every bed in every home." He clarified. "It's the whole estate went to sleep and never woke up." He said as he knelt by the fire. "We're not staying here, right?" Weiss asked, looking towards Qrow. "We don't exactly have a choice. I'm sure even Grimm are taking shelter in this storm and it'll only get worse as dark comes." I told her. "Welp! Might as well get comfortable!" Maria said as she walked towards the bookcase for something to read. "Yeah, fat chance!" Yang said, less than pleased about the whole situation. "Okay then, let's do something." Ruby started. "If this place wasn't abandoned, it might still have supplies we could use." "Fair enough." I commented. "Hey yeah, maybe even a car." Oscar joined with Ruby on this train of thought. "I'll do another sweep of the grounds." Qrow said as he started walking towards the door, stopping about halfway and turning to face us. "No one else goes anywhere alone!" He said before leaving. I waited until after he left before speaking again. "There's something I want to check, I'm going to see if I can find a mirror or something like Jinn said." I stopped for a moment, half expecting that to summon her, but nothing happened. "See what you all can find and meet back here in 10 minutes. After I'm done, I'm pulling the bodies through the Corridors and cremating them." I said before heading up stairs. It took me a few minutes, but I found a small, hand held mirror. There was so much dust that I couldn't even see the glass. I spent about a minute using Blizzard and Fire to try and make removing the dust easier with water. Once I had a clear enough view, I removed my mask and looked at myself. Just as quickly as I saw my face did I drop the mirror and stumble backwards as the mirror shattered on the floor. A few seconds passed and Ruby, Oscar, Weiss, and Neo all came running up. "What happened?" Weiss asked, concerned. I didn't turn to look at them yet. "Ruby, Weiss, can I ask you something?" I asked. "Cassiel, what's wrong?" Ruby asked. "I have two blue eyes, right?" I asked. "Uumm, what?" I turned to face her, shock found it's way on everyone's faces. "I remember having two blue eyes, why is one of them silver now?" I asked her, then it finally hit me. "I have something to give you, though it might hurt you as well." Summer Rose said back then. Oooohhhh that's what she meant! Fuck???