//------------------------------// // Chapter 56. // Story: Embrace of Light and Dark // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Cassiel POV Maria explained her story. Turns out she was called "The Grimm Reaper" a long time ago and was targeted by assassins because of her eyes. They died obviously, but not before she lost her eyes. After the attack, she stayed under the radar and hid herself well enough that she was thought to be dead. Now it looks like she's staying with us if not because of how personal this is, then because of me and Ruby having silver eyes and needing someone to tell us how to use them. Though, if Summer really is the reason why I have one now, then she might be able to use it for me. On the topic of silver eyes, there's one thing that bothers me. I remember Hazel saying Tyrian was supposed to capture me as well. The only other person of interest to Salem would've been Ruby, I doubt she would've wanted either of us just because of Cinder, she doesn't strike me as the kind of person to put others before herself unless she has a lot to gain from it. In my case, she was probably interested in the keyblade and that I can use magic unlike Summer. Ruby? Therapy for Cinder was definitely not it judging by how she was at Haven. That leaves her eyes, though why Salem would want probably the most effective weapon against Darkness besides the keyblade confuses me. Unless she found a way to turn the eyes to Darkness, I see no reason for that. I was broken out of my thoughts by Ruby getting a call from Jaune, telling us Argus was close. We reached the city and met back up with JNR who were crashing at Jaune's sister's home. I half paid attention to everything, putting a pin on getting to Atlas and stayed close to Blake. It was helping to keep me calm after almost losing her and everyone else to the Apathy. I almost lost everything again! I could barely do anything when they needed me most! I'm letting myself get worked up over something that won't happen again. We made our way to the Atlas base here in an attempt to gain passage to Atlas, but two really annoying guards were denying us passage until we mentioned that we brought Weiss. They left to retrieve their commanding officer and Maria brought up that she might know said officer. Whether it was a joke or not, I don't care, I couldn't help but laugh when she said "we shouldn't give up hope yet, maybe she's dead?". "We are keeping her! Just for that, we are keeping her! Eyes be damned!" I said as I continued laughing. The gate opened a short while later to reveal the CO, I'm not impressed. (Caroline Cordovin) She stepped towards Maria as they glared at each other. After they insulted each other a little, Ruby interrupted to explain why we're here. She interrupted Ruby and officially established herself as a bitch. "You civilians are clearly incapable of comprehending our mission here in Argus! So allow me to say this slowly, with smaller words. This base. That relay tower. The very safety of Argus are all gifts from the glorious kingdom of Atlas, and it is my duty to uphold them as only I have the wit and tenacity for such a task!" Every second I haven't shot her is miracle. Hello Pride!!! "Or maybe Atlas just wanted to get you as far away from the kingdom as possible?" It took everything I had to not laugh at what Maria said, Cordovin was angered by that. "Ggggrrrr you're just like the rest of these Argus ingrates! This city wouldn't even be here if it weren't for our Atlesian ancestors, and what do we get in return? The entire world is ready to put a knife to our throats!" "Please? We know your kingdom had nothing to do with the Fall of Beacon, we were there!" Ruby said. "Though maybe if the General did as I recommended with the drones and Torchwick, casualties could have at least been reduced." I commented. "What would a civilian know about military defenses??!!" She snapped her head towards me. "I know The Fall happened the same way I would've planned it if I had the same resources as the enemy. I also know that unless you're in direct control, no form of defense is safe from being turned against you like all those drones I told him to get rid of. I know that if he did what I recommended with Torchwick, or even let me have a crack at him that he wouldn't have hijacked an Atlas ship and turned it's guns against everything with a pulse! Civilian or not,-" I opened a Corridor. "I was still recruited to help with security, and NO ONE heeded my warnings! So forgive me for trusting my personal experience dealing with military and terrorists over someone who had plenty of chances to stop The Fall and did NOTHING until it was too late!" "Cassiel." I ignored Ruby for a moment as I lifted Yang's arm. "You see this? This arm was commissioned by your 'General', this is just one case of someone being hurt because no one fucking listened! How many of the people he swore to protect were hurt or killed? By Grimm? White Fang? Hacked drones? Hijacked ships? Back where I'm from, he would've been lucky if he just got the biggest demotion in history! He owes the world a lot more than he's giving, and I'm-" Blake grabbed my shoulder, stopping me before I brought up holding a gun to his head twice. Cordovin was about to respond, but Weiss spoke up before she could. "No one's happy about the Atlas borders or the embargo, but I know the General is just worried. It's why we need to talk-" "The General is no coward!-" "No one said he was a coward, though if you associate 'caution' with 'cowardice', then not only are you calling him a coward, but you're telling me the very existence of Atlas is either a miracle or a country built by cowards, and all that does is tell me you're as cowardly as you are arrogant." I interrupted and used her own words against her. "You will regret those words one day! Atlas is strong! And if the kingdoms plan to make Atlas their enemy, then so be it! Atlas will prevail!" She claimed. "You mean like how you won the Great War, right? Because I seem to recall Vale joining in the defense of Vacuo and wiping the floor with you so badly that all three kingdoms bent the knee to Vale. Or do you mean like how you stopped the Fall? Because I also seem to recall you failing miserably in keeping the kingdom safe and keeping the world together." I countered. "We were caught off gua-" "That's not an excuse. All that matters in the military is results and Atlas provided nothing good. If you couldn't defeat Vale or Vacuo when you were backed by Mistral during the Great War, do you honestly think that you'll win against all 3 kingdoms after your humiliating defeat in Vale? Fun fact; it took seven people to destroy Beacon. Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, Torchwick, Adam, I can't remember Torchwick's partner,-" I lied for Neo. "and whoever hacked the drones. Seven people crippled an entire kingdom and brought global communications to a halt. What makes you think you'll win? Even the strongest fall, and you're definitely not that." "The kid has a point there!" Maria said. "Now we didn't come to argue, we came to seek passage to Atlas as we were tasked by Professor Lionheart before he tragically lost his life in the defense of Haven, to personally deliver that-" I pointed to the Lamp. "to the General and enroll in the academy there." I lied, shocking the others. "I can guarantee you the General will recognize almost everyone here as well as that Lamp. 50,000 lien says otherwise!" I don't have that much, but it's a winning bet anyway. "The answer is no and that is final! Though if miss Schnee wishes to be reunited with her family, then we will oblige, but we will not be responsible for any of you!" And like that, she slammed the gates on us. "..." "..." "..." "Okay! Plan C! Weiss, you're getting on that ship tomorrow. Either we'll stow away with my Corridors, or we'll wait until you land before I open a portal." I told everyone. "We had a plan B?" Blake asked, confused. "I don't remember discussing any plans if this failed." Qrow added. "Plan B was we steal an airship. Though I literally just thought of a better plan with fewer headaches and screaming midgets with egos almost as bad as Xerxes. We'll deal with that tomorrow though." I responded. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy as we made our way back. "You were planning to steal an airship??!!" Yang asked, shocked. "I don't see why you're so surprised, I've done worse. And let's be real here, what part of that is out of character for me?" "He has a point." Ruby commented. We went back to Jaune's sister's house and brought JNR up to speed since the train ride. Let's just say they didn't react much better to the truth than we did. It was decided that everyone needed some time to themselves, but before I could leave to find a Dust shop for more unrefined Dust to experiment with, Ruby called me to get me in on Maria teaching us about silver eyes. There's not a lot of information about them, I can see why if Maria's experience is anything to go by. According to her, they only work around Grimm and the eyes are best thought not as weapons to destroy them, but tools to preserve life. With that said, the only practice to we'll get is a "trial by fire". I think I'll just stick with the keyblade when possible then. Her reasoning is that "preservation is an extension of Creation, or at least an enemy of Destruction", though it does make me wonder about if my eye has a different effect when I'm using Darkness. We were called inside by Yang as that thought crossed my mind. Apparently Oscar went missing, can't exactly blame him all things considered. I decided to let the others do the searching for a while, he can handle himself, though I had to tell them where I'd be looking to make them think I was doing something. After some time, something caught my attention. It was a statue of Pyrrha, her weapon on her back, her head down, and her shield held low by both her hands. IN HONOR OF PYRRHA NIKOS ONE OF THE MANY STUDENTS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY AT THE FALL OF BEACON "Foolishly is more like it." I mumbled as I turned to walk away. "It's really beautiful, isn't it?" A voice asked. I turned to see a woman who looked so close to Pyrrha that she had to be her mother. Same hair and eye colors, I'd say shorten the hair, make her look older, and Pyrrha would be her spitting image. "It's accurate." I answered. "Why here?" "She trained here. Sanctum Academy. Everyone was crushed when she chose Beacon over Haven, no one wanted to see her go, but it's where she wanted to be. I'm just glad she was surrounded by such amazing people." "She deserved better." I commented. "She understood that she had a responsibility; to try. I don't think she would regret her choice because a Huntress would understand that there wasn't really a choice to make. And a Huntress is what she always wanted to be." She sounds like she's saying this more to herself than me. "There was no 'responsibility'! There was a choice! I can't understand why she did it and it irritates me to no end! Her killer, Cinder, she was admiring the destruction, but she wasn't threatening anyone. She wasn't a threat! Cinder killed Ozpin, and she looked just fine when I reached her. Pyrrha had to have known she couldn't win, especially with that Dragon around! Yet, she still ignored me telling her to stay out of the fight!" "She did what she believed was expected of her, and I'm sure she wouldn't regret her sacrifice." "Her 'sacrifice' accomplished nothing. She couldn't beat me, yet she thought she could beat Cinder with that Dragon around when I was holding my own against her. Had she not stepped in, Cinder would've died by my hand and Pyrrha would be here instead of this statue! She had to have known there was no hope of victory, she had no business up there, but she went anyway! She had nothing to gain and everything to lose! I can't understand why she would do the equivalent of betting everything on a losing hand!" "If I knew my daughter well enough, I don't think doing nothing would've sat well with her." "She had everything, and out of all the students in Beacon, she had the most potential. I only beat her because I was just stronger and had a few ways around her Semblance. In a fair fight, she would've won. She was talented, smart, honorable, and just, but she couldn't back down. She had everything it took to become a Huntress except survival instincts, she would be a Huntress now if she could've just left well enough alone." I took some unrefined fire Dust out of my pocket and tried pouring light into it. "Maybe she didn't want to leave you to face the fight on your own?" "It doesn't matter anymore. She's gone, but she can rest easy now that Cinder is dead. She reduced Pyrrha to nothing, it only fit Cinder to be frozen and fall into a bottomless pit. I doubt Pyrrha or anyone in your family cared much for revenge, but I don't share that mentality,-" I pulled out the Dust and saw it was glowing, it's colors changing between red and white. I left it at the statue's feet before turning to walk away. "and I won't stop until those responsible lie dead at me feet." I opened the SR and left before she could say anything. I went back to the others to find out that Oscar just went shopping for clothes. After dinner, I pulled Qrow, Yang, and Ruby upstairs to finally have that talk with them. Before I started explaining anything though, I borrowed a pencil and paper to set it up. It didn't take long to draw Summer's keyblade as best I could. Yang and Ruby didn't recognize it, but Qrow went from shocked to angry in an instant. "I thought you said you never met her." He clenched his fist. "I wasn't lying." I looked at Ruby. "Your life is now more important than you know." "You mind explaining what's going on?" Yang asked. "... Back at Haven, when Ruby's eyes activated, I met her, your mother." I answered. Qrow looked like he thought I was joking, but Ruby and Yang were more confused than anything. "My mother...?" Ruby said just loud enough for me to hear. "How would you know our mom when you weren't even on Remnant when she died??!!" Yang asked, almost accusingly. "I didn't, I just said I met her when Ruby's eyes activated at Haven. She's the reason why one of my eyes are silver now, and she had a message for the three of you. If you don't believe me, she referred to you two as her little 'firecracker' and 'petal'." If their faces are anything to go by, they believe me now. "Only team STRQ knew those nicknames... What did she say?" Qrow asked, shaking. "She said 'short-stack doesn't blame you for what happened'. As for you two?" I looked between the sisters. "She said she couldn't be more proud of you, and that she's sorry for not being there for you." They both looked ready to cry, but Ruby had something to ask first. "What did you mean when you said my life is more important now?" "Summer Rose's heart, her soul as you would say is inside you, Ruby." They looked at me in disbelief. "So long as the heart remains, it might be possible to bring her back. If a vessel can be created and her heart safely removed from your body, she could be resurrected in a sense. She could at least become like Penny." I clarified. They both latched on to me, crying. "Can yo-ou do it? Ca-an we see our mo-mother again?" Yang asked as she tightly gripped my arm. "I'm not going to make a promise if there's a good chance I won't be able to keep it. I said it might be possible, but that doesn't mean I won't try." I tried to answer. "I wouldn't bring up something like this unless I thought it might be possible." I would bring up the Staff of Creation, but knowing the Gods that created the Relics, there's a price or condition of some kind. If Knowledge can only answer three questions every century, then what's the catch with the Staff and the others? I let them get this out of their systems. I've kept this promise at least, now to see if I can keep the others.