Chương 169: 71
Chapter 71 - What Dreams Might Come
The remnants of the elevator exploded into fragments of super-heated metal and slag, which rained about the entranceway of Beacon Academy and sparked small flames against wood and plaster. From the hole that remained, a figure cloaked in lightning and with eyes that burned like fire arose. "Blake…" he whispered, and the sound was enough to cause bitter wind to sweep through the halls.
He could feel her, yet he couldn't. The sensation grew weaker with every passing moment, and despite never having experienced it before he knew with unnatural certainty that she was fading. It was like a thousand needles in his heart, and with every moment the tortured organ stuttered and stopped. Jaune's feet never touched the ground as he propelled himself forward with a blast of air, and exploded out into the main courtyard of Beacon.
It was a scene straight from a nightmare.
Fire raged all across Beacon, as the night air was swept with flares of light from Atlas battleships that mixed with black, winged Grimm. Small pockets of resistance stood against towering machines and a hail of deadly fire. What had once been green trees and well-kept lawns was now nothing more than blackened and charred mires, with still bodies that lay amongst the ash.
The smell hit him first, thick and cloying, with the scent of ozone and soot, mixed with sweat and some indiscernible stench. It made his eyes water, or that might have just been the bright lights.
A great roar sounded above, and he looked up in time to see a gargantuan shape land atop the tallest tower of Beacon. Green light flared and it staggered back, but not enough to halt it. He would have spared more time for whomever fought the beast, but his eyes searched for her alone. It was Ruby he saw first. Her red cloak stood out more than anything Blake wore in the blackened wasteland the school had fast become.
Ruby screamed as she was launched back, the shrill sound cut off as she slammed into one of Beacon's walls and slumped to the bottom. The tiny girl dug her weapon into the ground and struggled to stand, but it was clear her energy was as good as spent.
From whence she'd come, he could see a yellow shape slumped in the grass, a white one crouched protectively beside her, but with shoulders that heaved and a red stain down the right side of her dress.
And he saw himself too… or what was closer to how he looked than the body he currently occupied. The not-Jaune clutched Crocea Mors between two hands, and used it to push back a long, red blade. At the same time, large robots clunked and strode in from either side – while in the distance, Team Lavender and a few others struggled against their own.
But it was the person who lay behind his own body that caught his eyes. Blake was still, unnaturally so, and he could see the red that pooled beneath her.
Something snapped within him. Rage like fire burst to life and all his exhaustion seemed to wash away as his eyes flared with light.
The crimson blade twirled through the air once more, and not-Jaune was forced to turn to one side in order to block a hail of bullets on one arm, as the katana swung in towards his back. Green eyes narrowed as they saw it coming, but with their attention split between the two threats, there was nothing that could be done but to take it.
A fist closed around the blade instead. Blood ran down the steel, as both the White Fang fighter and non-Jaune froze.
The pain in his hand felt distant, muddied. Even though his blood flowed and he could feel something there, it was nothing compared to the anger that burned inside him. Almost on instinct, that anger manifested in the palm of his hand. Flames surged from between his fingers, and they both cauterized the wound and warped the weapon where he gripped it.
The enemy leapt back, and Jaune opened his hand to let him go. The masked man lifted his weapon up and inspected it. There was a small warp towards the tip, with grooves from fingers imprinted into the steel.
Jaune couldn't take his eyes off the man, as his shoulders heaved and he let out a long breath. "Did he do this to her?"
"To friend-Blake?" his body asked, though with an introduction like that, it wasn't hard to figure out who it was. He'd have been relieved to see her alive, if his teeth weren't already grinding together. "He did. Current leader of the White Fang at Beacon, Adam Taurus. Individually strong, but with Team RWBY's assistance we could have defeated him if the battle had not been complicated by the need to defend Blake from the compromised Atlesian Paladins."
"Penny… it's me, Jaune." He noticed the girl's green eyes widen, but she smiled and nodded nonetheless. "If I keep him busy… can you do anything about the Paladins?"
"I can, friend-Jaune. Father… father's sense of humour was involved in everything he created. My sensors show your robotic body has the capability to influence and control other electrical apparatus."
"In layman's terms, Penny…"
"I can possess other robots," she said. "If you can distract him, then I can re-write the programming on the Paladins and bring them to our side. I will then be able to offer support."
He nodded and stepped towards the masked man, the staff from before clenched in one hand. "Do it then," he whispered, "But don't worry about helping me." His eyes narrowed. "I'll kill this one myself."
Penny nodded and leapt towards the closest Paladin's cockpit. The machine reared back, but a metallic string span from Penny's wrist and drew her in towards it. She landed with both feet on the side of it and slammed her palm into the glass. Strange light glowed from beneath her palm, and the Paladin stumbled to the side, before it slowly stood straight and turned away from them – and towards where Team Lavender struggled to survive.
Jaune nodded and turned back to his own foe. The one that had dared to hurt Blake.
Adam Taurus finished checking his weapon and swung it to the side. Blood flicked from it and down onto concrete, as the faunus cracked his neck from side to side. "Another pathetic human come to the slaughter," he said, in a tone that was more bored than frustrated. "You call us animals, yet you're like rats."
"You hurt Blake."
"I hurt Blake?" he scoffed, "Don't make me laugh. The pain she feels is nothing compared to what she put me through. This is simply my way of returning the favour. This is the world she dreamed of, after all."
It wasn't… this death and carnage wasn't even close to what Blake would have wanted. What she would ever have wanted. The fact that he dared suggest that? It made his body shake and a low growl slip from his lips.
"Or do you think she wished to change the minds of people in some other way?" Adam laughed. "Do you think she wasn't aware? That she just never realised this is what we did? She accepted this life."
"She left it behind."
Adam spread his arms wide and smiled cruelly. "That's what she does," he said, "She runs away from every person who's ever cared for her. Her family, her comrades, the man she claimed to love. She'll leave you too, if you're foolish enough to think she even cares in the first place." A staff slammed down into him, but Adam caught it on the flat of his blade and smirked up into Jaune's face. "Oh? Did I hit a sore spot?"
Muscles burned as he tried to break through the faunus' guard. Jaune pushed off a second later and pushed a hand forward, expelling a gust of wind into the man's face. "She's not like that!" he yelled.
The crimson blade cut through it with ease, the shockwaves created from the slash knocking ash back. "She's good at making people love her," he taunted, "But she will grow bored of you in time as well. You're a fool to think otherwise."
"Shut up!"
Flames erupted on the spot the swordsman had stood on, but he dashed forward and beneath them. Those eyes, hidden behind a mask fused unto flesh, seemed to sparkle with glee. He flickered to one side, to avoid a stave that would have crushed his skull, and lashed out.
Agony coursed down the left side of Jaune's face as the tip cut through aura and left a line of blood down his cheek. Jaune's eyes widened as the faunus elbowed his arms to the side, driving his guard open. The sword pulled back, before it flew forward and towards his throat.
A fist knocked it aside at the last second, though the blade still cut through the flesh on the side of his neck. A haymaker followed, and slammed into the jar of the redhead. He fell back with a curse as a blonde figure appeared between them.
"Calm down," Yang panted in exhaustion. "I don't know who you are, but don't get angry. He's trying to rile you up… make you clumsy."
And he'd walked straight into it. Jaune nodded and clasped one hand to his neck, to feel the cut there. It was shallow, though blood lazily oozed from it. He fought to push his anger back under control, but it was so hard. Blake lay nearby, still and unmoving – and the one who had done it…
"Do it for Blake if you can't do it for yourself," Yang snapped.
For Blake… Jaune clamped down on his emotions and stood back up. He sent a quick nod to Yang, who took a stance against Adam. His own stave flew back into his hand, and his eyes glowed as he summoned the winds behind him.
Adam scoffed and held his weapon before him – eyes narrowed.
Yang was the first to move, as the blonde dashed forward but feinted to the right. Adam followed her with one eye, but seemed to decide Jaune, or Amber as he no doubt knew her, was the bigger threat. That allowed Yang to get behind him, and he turned sideways to keep the two of them in sight. Even then, he looked anything but unconfident.
With a snarl, he dashed in and thrust his staff towards Adam's mask.
The faunus deflected it with the flat of his sword, yet the moment's distraction was invitation enough for Yang to lunge in for her own attack. She stomped a foot onto his knee, only for him to shift his leg aside and kick her own. At the same time, he forced Jaune back with a slash – and drew his katana back so that the pommel struck Yang in the throat. She would have been beheaded a second later, except that Adam had to draw his blade back to parry another heavy strike.
He was so strong and skilled, it was unreal. Cinder had been too, but he'd brute-forced his way through that with Amber's powers, most of which were spent now. They fed off aura, and his was already dangerously low. It can't get any lower. I've no idea what it will do to Blake if I run out of aura and start to leech off her.
Adam's eyes narrowed, and it was the only warning he got before the swordsman planted a foot into his stomach and pushed him back. The redhead spun on the spot, to deliver a devastating strike that would have killed Yang if she didn't back away. She did, but that gave him the opening he needed to sheathe his blade and turn towards Jaune once more.
Heat gathered and washed across his face as he felt the energy gather, and with a great yell the blade was drawn, and a coruscating wall of red light was sent hurtling towards him. He made to move to the side, only to freeze and glance behind. Blake lay there still, unaware of the world around her, and sure to die should the attack land. "Damn it," he gasped, and crossed his arms before his chest as the wave overtook him. A scream tore itself from his throat as it hit, and the world was taken away in an explosion of crimson energy.
When it passed, all that was left was tattered cloth that hung from his frame, and a staff that slammed into the ground as he fell to his knees.
"Done so soon?" Adam taunted, as he stepped forward to finish the job.
Jaune growled and struggled to stand, but the energy was as good as gone now. His staff fell to the side and it was on hands and knees that he faced the approaching monster. "You won't hurt Blake," he gasped. "I love her."
"Then you're a fool," Adam scoffed. "I loved her too, and this was the life she left me… after I dedicated my own to completing the dream she wished for. This is what I receive? To be hated and abandoned by her? How is that fair? She betrayed me!"
A distant memory invaded Jaune's mind… of a time when he'd possessed Blake to fight against Cardin and seek revenge. Of a time where she'd been unable to stop him, and he'd delved briefly into her feelings. The pain, the sadness and the longing she felt. "No, Adam," he whispered. "You changed. You changed into something unrecognisable. It wasn't Blake who betrayed you. You betrayed yourself."
The man's face twisted in rage and he swung his sword above his head, prepared to bring it down and sever him in two. "Then you can die with her!" he roared.
A bullet forced him back.
Jaune's eyes widened, past the blood and the tears as a red streak shot over his shoulder, and with a shrill scream slammed into the faunus. "Leave them alone!" Ruby roared, and her voice was louder than even the explosions around them.
She wasn't the only one. Adam somersaulted in the air and landed on his feet, but a white glyph appeared beneath him and he was forced to dodge further back as a pillar of ice erupted from the ground. He made to cut it in two, but it shattered before he could, as Yang punched through it and sent chips of sharp ice raining down on him. He howled in pain and covered his eyes.
"Not so easy now, is it?" Weiss gasped. "All so high and mighty when you had all those Paladins helping you, yet now you're alone. How does it feel, monster?"
"A Schnee… I'd say I've dreamed of killing your kind, but that would be a lie. I've claimed so many the act has become tiresome. They all begged in the end."
Weiss snarled but didn't fall for his trick. She fell back slowly, to stand with Ruby and Yang. "You won't take our teammate," she said, "Whatever you feel, whatever you claim, Blake is ours now. Accept it."
A huge roar sounded from behind them as she said that, and Jaune looked back in time to see the black shape of the dragon fall from atop the tower, its great wings spread wide as it slowly began to dissolve in the air.
"Oops," Yang grinned, "Looks like time's running out for you too. Not so tough without Grimm to back you up, eh?"
Adam's shoulders shook, and his lips peeled back to reveal teeth grit in a furious snarl. "Beacon was her objective," he hissed, "Never mine." He sheathed his blade and drew it in one fluid motion, and the girls were forced to dodge the devastating attack.
Jaune's eyes widened when the faunus rushed forward, however – and in that moment, he knew what the true motive was. Adam no longer cared about his goal, about the faunus or the White Fang. Everything was for the chance to get revenge on the one who had hurt him.
Jaune's hands scrambled for a weapon, anything he could use, and his fingers closed around the soft handle of one both familiar and unfamiliar to him. Gambol Shroud rose before him, it's dark blade flashing through the air as he swung it up to deflect the downward strike.
Steel met steel, and in a great clash of metal, the crimson blade broke in two – snapping at the point he had warped and weakened earlier. Adam roared in rage but chambered his strike and pulled the remnants of the proud weapon into his shoulder.
Gambol Shroud was knocked aside at the same time, but as a flash of red lit the night sky, Jaune's hand reached out to grasp it between his fingers, even if that action cut into his flesh and caused blood to run down his wrist. With his own grunt, he slammed the broken blade down.
As Adam lunged forward.
Heat like fire pooled in his stomach as something struck, grated, pierced and forced his insides to give way. The jagged edge lodged somewhere in his gut, and Jaune swallowed his scream as his own hand forced the foot-long tip of Adam's sword into the man's right shoulder.
The faunus grunted in pain but didn't relent. With a savage twist, he pulled the blade out of Jaune's stomach and stepped back with a grim smile. "Time to die," he laughed, uncaring of the metal that dug only shallowly into his shoulder.
Strength left Jaune as he clutched the wound in his stomach and sagged forward. Even so, he caught himself on one hand and looked up towards the bastard. Through blood-stained teeth, Jaune's smile was visible.
"Die?" he chuckled. "Already been there… above you, by the way."
The faunus' face tilted up, and Jaune could imagine those eyes going wide as he saw the unnatural storm clouds that gathered fifty metres above him, and him only. With a great surge of energy, Jaune threw one hand into the air and then dragged it down as his eyes flashed with golden fire.
A flash of light blinded him, followed by an explosion.
Adam's body hit the floor and didn't move.
Jaune's was soon to follow, as the last vestiges of strength left him. Even so, he forced himself to fall on his side so that he faced Blake, as he heard the frantic footfalls of her team.
She looked so quiet and still, and so close, he could see that the warmth had fled her face. Weiss' knees hit the ground beside her, as pale hands roamed over Blake's wound. A pair touched him as well, but he shrugged them off. "Help her," he gasped. "I'll be fine."
"You're wounded as well," Yang hissed, and pushed his hands aside. "I'll be damned if you die after helping us save our teammate."
"Blake's aura is too low," Weiss whispered, and despite the quiet tone she tried to adopt, he heard her fully. "It's… there's barely anything left, and even that's leaving her. I don't understand."
Leaving her…? He groaned as the pain from his stomach came back, but he could also feel his aura react to it. It started to knit at flesh, to protect and improve his recovery. If Blake had more aura… it might be enough to save her. His eyes clenched shut as he concentrated. There was a connection between them… the doctor had said it, so there had to be. It was what allowed him to exist, what gave him the ability to take spiritual form and move on his own.
But it also took from Blake at every moment. It drew from her and relied on her for his continued existence. Right now… was that going to kill her?
He wouldn't let it.
With a gasp, he found it… small and weak, yet between them still. It was only possible thanks to Amber's intense training, her sharp instincts and grasp over her own powers. Inside his own mind, he considered it, the thin and tentative link. Would he fade without it? Would he cease to exist, even though he now had a body of his own? Even so, would Amber's body die without the aura he leeched from Blake?
Heh…
As though that mattered…
He cut the link in two… and let the darkness claim him.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực