#and nai is already past redemption I fear | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ansheofthevalley · 5 years ago

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Would you ever ship reylo romantically after 9 m, given the right situation/scenes/interactions? If so, what would you need to see?

Hi nonny!

I’ve talked about Reylo here, but I’ll try to expand on it.

As of right now, I don’t ship Reylo. I can see the appeal of it (hero x villain, death x maiden imagery, dark and light coming together, etc.) but, as I see it, their relationship is really complicated as to just say “yay or nay” to them as a pair.

In TFA, they were clearly on opposite sides, but you could sense the ever-growing tension between them, especially after Kylo “accidentally” bonded with Rey through the Force, creating a link between the two. They’re linked, but they’re still enemies.

This changes in TLJ. Rey starts the movie seeing him as a monster, but through the Force Bond, she starts to connect with him. She sees that behind a terrible man that kills and tortures, is a man utterly afraid and lonely, just like she’s feeling in that moment. It’s interesting how their relationship shifts in Ep. VIII, because they could see each other as partners (not romantically speaking -at least) in bringing balance to the galaxy, but they don’t agree on what that balance is or must be. So ultimately, they fight. They’re still enemies. But now, they have a better understanding of each other, not as the last jedi or the supreme leader, but as people.

Having said this, there’s one thing about their relationship that stands out for me (and not in a good way)

This is classic gaslighting. That’s a very common thing abusers say to make their partners stay with them. It’s a tactic that plays right into the fears of the abused person (being alone, feeling worthless) and the sad thing is that it works (if the victim has no one outside the relationship). He says to her that she has no meaning, unless she’s by his side. He says that by his side (and by his side only) she will have meaning, purpose. We know this is a load of BS. Rey (for all her issues) knows this is a load of BS. Especially since her last scene in TLJ is this:

She’s not nothing. She’s not alone. She has purpose and people she can call family, people that will be there for her and cares for her just as she will be there for them and cares for them.

For all the “potential” (IDK what other word I can use) I see in them, the abusive undertones in their relationship is something that I just cannot look past.

Now, you asked me what would I need to see in The Rise of Skywalker to make me ship Reylo. I truly don’t know. Because for me, I have to see things first, analize them, see what they make me feel, and then decide. Especially in SW, since TFA, TLJ and TROS are all part of a chapter of the Skywalker saga.

I’d like to see the redemption of Ben Solo. After all, Star Wars is about forgiveness and finding your way to the light. Star Wars is about hope: hoping that good will prevail, hoping that better times will come, hoping that no matter how hopeless something may seem, it can all work out in the end. If Vader could be redeemed at the end of ROTJ, so can Kylo Ren in TROS. How it will happen? My guess is as good as yours, nonny. I’d like it very much though if they abstained from the “redemption through death” trope. It’s been done with Anakin already and I’m really tired of seeing characters (from the ones that fucked up that one time to straight-up villains) go this route.

Kylo Ren is a complex villain. He knows what he’s doing is bad, but in his mind he’s just too far gone for any kind of salvation. He thinks the best solution for the galaxy is to burn it all down; the jedi, the sith, the republic, the first order. All these things are what brings chaos to the galaxy, so he wants to get rid of them (the thing is that to “get rid” of all those things he’ll have to commit mass murder, so... yeah). He’s also a victim; he was groomed by Snoke since before he was born, he had to live with his voice inside his head all his life. He’s both tortured and torturer. He’s willingly on a path of darkness but at the same time he wants it to stop. He’s alone and hurting and yet he does things that keep people away. He kills Han in TFA but spares Leia in TLJ. He’s a rich character, full of dichotomies and extremes.

What I’d like to see in IX is for him to find balance on his own, get rid of the extremes he’s always measured his life in. I don’t want him to end being the Supreme Leader, I don’t want him to turn into a Jedi. I want him to find himself, to finally be Ben Solo. But I also want him to repent, to go through some sort of penance for the terrible things that he has done, especially since he knows and acknowledges it. To find forgiveness through owning up to what he’s done.

As for Rey... TBH I don’t see a romantic endgame for her. So far it just hasn’t been part of her arc. Her arc is driven by her sense of identity and belonging. Since TFA, she wants to knows who she is, she craves for family, for people that would truly care for her. She also has this huge identity issue. Growing up alone in Jakku, where people work every single day until they die, she truly believes she’s no one, a figure in the background watching life pass by, day by day. By the end TLJ she has found the family she’s been waiting for in Finn, Leia and the Resistance. But she’s also found a sense of self: she’s a jedi, the last jedi, she’s a fighter, she’s a valuable member of the Resistance. After a life of believing she didn’t matter, she ended up being one of the most important people in the whole galaxy. All on her own, all because of her and her power.

She’s a restless hero, always willing to help and do the right thing. She’s incredibly powerful. But she’s also a young girl, with her own fears and insecurities. But she’s strong as hell because of those fears and insecurities, because she manages to rise up above them and keep on fighting and doing the right thing. She’s very compassionate but she’s also extremely fierce when she has to, especially when it comes to fight for the people she loves and the right thing.

I can see Rey offering compassion to Kylo Ren, one that wants redemption and works for it. I can see this happening only if KR is truly commited to move forward in leaving the FO behind and start working in repairing the damage he’s done to the galaxy.

Other than that, I don’t have any other expectations regarding Reylo. I’m trying to go into IX with no expectations, headcanons or theories (or the less amount my good ol’ brain can manage to reduce them to), not because I have low expectations, but so I can be properly surprised. It’s the final chapter of the Skywalker saga, so I don’t want to be spoiled (since I guessed a lot of things when it came to TLJ). When it comes to SW, it’s like a huge easter egg hunt for me: I search for hidden meanings, symbolisms, nods to other movies/materials in rewatching the movies. Rewatching the movies is what makes the whole experience fun!

To give you a short answer, nonny. I have to see IX before I can decide or am inclined to ship Reylo. As for now, I’m fascinated by their dynamic, but I don’t ship it romantically. Maybe come back after TROS comes out and I can give you a proper response?

Thanks for the ask!

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azurblau · 7 years ago

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@soulofshiva | Ysayle. BELOVED.

Mayhap it was due to his very own FOOLISHNESS of not keeping his very own promises that it had come so far; seeing her return to their provisional camp consisting of naught more but a steady fire and their goods and chattels piled up against some tree with a SCRATCH on her cheek. Truthfully, some moons ago he would have been less w o r r i e d than he was right now, in this very moment –having seen so many different shades of this world, more bad than good fragments of what these lands had to offer, that he was aware that one could not avoid the inevitable. None of them had ever run away from their RESPONSIBILITIES; and even now, without a clear cause, they were far from being peaceful. War still found them – haunted them. Those who had once stained their hands with blood, whether it was for the sake of the many others they saved with their actions or merely for their selfish selves, could not erase those marks. The guilt did not easily fade away to oblivion like the memories of those who had f o u g h t and d i e d – and the regret of the many wrongs would stay with one for all eternity. Estinien did not have to ask her to know that she felt very similar; which was the very reason why she had joined him at the end of the war. The shackles were gone, but what remained were TOOLS of war which no longer had any purpose. Vessels only bearing sin – even if they had achieved what they had hoped for. Nay, he had always been prepared to trade his very own REDEMPTION for the sake of Ishgard and anyone else; staring at the reaper’s eye. But he was not as empty as he had always pretended to be; and albeit he had vowed to be honest towards those he considered his dear friends, the man had been so very silent lately. And because of his silence, of his ignorance, she had returned w o u n d e d.

Suffice to say he indeed had a reason for such silence – mayhap since he feared if he stayed too close to her she might notice his EMOTIONS; emotions he had been hiding deep within for so long that he could barely contain them any longer. Not only for once in his entire lifetime had he ever felt this way – a warm emotion which slowly grew even stronger over time, becoming more powerful than one wyrm’s d e a d l y breath – being absolutely certain that such emotion had to be called LOVE. He realized this long ago, whilst he was still recovering from his fatigue and almost lethal wounds just by noticing how strong the heartbeat of a man at the brink of death could become just by looking upon the face of the person one l o v e d. Her face. And knowing her by his side, waiting for him to awake from his slumber, had certainly helped him more than the loud sniveling of Alphinaud. As grateful as he was for the boy’s SYMPATHY, there had been no reason for him to welcome the living with tears. By now he enjoyed every moment to be with her; even if they did not talk and even if she scarcely ever saw into his direction. The man had been content with this, grateful of even seeing those little smiles she sometimes wore on her lips even after all that had happened – always watching her from a fair distance albeit being so very c l o s e. But by now it had become so much more difficult to ignore his feelings; to ignore the instinct dwelling deep within.

C a l l o u s e d FINGERTIPS reached for the thin red line on her cheek, naught more but a painless scratch mayhap, yet proof of what she had faced all by herself. Her skin was so very soft beneath his fingers, albeit he had already lost almost all sensation in them after the many years of war. Never for once had he doubted in her abilities, not after witnessing her fine usage of MAGIC far more s u p e r i o r to what he was used to see for so long albeit he was by far no expert to presume as much – but the WORRY inside the reflection of grey blue eyes did not fade as easily. The sheer thought of sharpened steel brushing her skin was almost unbearable as of now; as he was fully aware of it that she had become his greatest weakness by now – the meaning of loss itself. For years he had ignored any dull emotion caused by fading voices and faces, brave men and women he once knew and called his comrades. Such TRAGEDY had been inevitable for too long – long enough for him to become used to a certain numbness, forgetting the fear of losing another dear person like the burned corpses of his parents or the crushed body of his brother. Nevertheless the FEAR had started to crawl back into his heart, replacing the many scattered wounds inside his very soul caused by the sharp claws of the wyrm. The nightmares had not ended; not even moons after the end of the dragonsong war – and instead of listening to the malicious deep tone of Nidhogg he only listened to hers, s c r e a m i n g in AGONY. Often enough his very slumbers had become an symphony of despair, the many voices of those he loved all yelling for help, reaching out to him whilst his body was drenched in pitchblack, falling deeper into the abyss. For the past two decades he had not wasted one single breath for praying to a GODDESS who never listened to him, not when he sought to see her mercy the m o s t – but mayhap he would start it again to speak these senseless words once used in their past. What kind of fool he had become.

‘Pray t e l l me that you had never been in true danger, YSAYLE. Need I remind you that I shall sting anyone with my lance who is foolish enough to stand against u s? You are the strongest woman I know but we all have our moments of weakness. ‘Twas f o o l i s h to leave on your own. There are still many spies, waiting for their mindless PREY. I shall doubt that you want to be among them.’

His words were in contradiction to what he felt deep inside; but the TONE of his lecture was so very soft to how it would have sounded only some time ago. His thoughts were long distracted – noticing that his fingertips still moved upon her cheeks, r e f u s i n g to move elsewhere. Away from her. Estinien’s gaze softened beneath his long lashes, pairs of greyblue still staring into her ice ones whilst his lips parted to say something else. Words he did not know how to say them; words he was still u n c e r t a i n about. But the emotion he felt inside, the warmth he had once known as boy, remained. How long could he withstand such pure gaze of the woman he loved without having to withdraw? Mayhap it was a FIGHT he could not win as his invincible mask had long crumbled to dust. Ere she even had the opportunity to avoid his faint touches upon her skin, his second arm pulled her body closer to his own in the moment when he pressed his LIPS on hers. Her lips were as soft and warm as he had imagined them to be – fitting so very well with his own softly brushing against hers with slow movements as he enjoyed it to taste her on his tongue. To notice her already lovely SCENT intensifying upon his touches – whether she would push him away or not. N a y, he did not want to think about it. All he wanted right now was her – to make her realize why he had been a v o i d i n g her for the past days. Because he l o v e d her.

#( I make up for this extremely crappy written kiss with my next reply )#( aaaaah writing while being half asleep is sooo bad askjf )#soulofshiva #| A ʟᴏɴɢ Jᴏᴜʀɴᴇʏ ʙᴇɴᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴀɴ ᴀᴢᴜʀᴇ sᴋʏ | ( IC. )#stormblood au tag tbt

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nezzfiction · 6 years ago

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ENMY Chapter 84 - Crownless War God

Series Synopsis:

Team RWBY is disbanded, and Yang must find herself new allies. For her, that might very well be yesterday’s enemies. Joining up with the likes of Emerald, Mercury, and Neo, the four will comprise Team Enemy(ENMY).

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below

Narrated by Emerald Sustrai

(Previously on ENMY)

Okay, where to begin?

Well, Salem declared war on Vacuo, sending Cuckoos, a type of parasitic Grimm, to infiltrate the Kingdom’s capital.

At the same time, the Witch took a crack at splitting my team apart—and succeeded.

Yang thinks Neo killed a kid, which was actually impersonated by a Grimm. The two get into some real relationship problems (the kind that takes more than a few couple therapy sessions to fix). Merc’s deep-seated daddy issues catch up to him. Oh, yeah. I also killed a couple of Cuckoos pretending to be my parents. But, hey. I dealt with my family/abandonment issues like—what, two, three arcs ago? So whatevs.

Some more dramatic shit happens when Temujin gives us a job to bring back Professor Oobleck from the Tower. We run into a creepy-ass Grimm who likes riddles (in the form of spouting gibberish and mindfucking, apparently). Neo and Mercury don’t pass Giza’s test, and head back to Vacuo without us.

After me and Yang reach the Tower of Alexandria, we learn about the true history of Remnant. That, and the end of the world via the Tree of Balance’s reset mechanism (good going, Masa), and by extension, the Last Fairy Tale.

While we’re using the Tower’s resources to read intel on Salem’s side, Vacuo’s capital comes under attack. The first battle between the Grimm army and the Kingdom’s warriors is ended prematurely when Glynda Goodwitch forces the enemy commander to retreat tactical, magic-nuclear styles.

But we learn later the battle was only a distraction to let assassins infiltrate the city. Attacks are carried throughout the Kingdom. Taking advantage of us not around, Neo and Mercury also become targets.

After some (short)deliberation, me and Yang decide to use an experimental, top-secret thing we can only call the “Bridge Project”. Cause of that, we were able to warp-drive from the Tower to the city in time to save our partners. I got to shiv some cold-steel irony between ribs nine and ten of Mercury’s douchebag of a cousin, Jupiter. And Yang got to save Neo from Adam and Blake (very dramatic, parallels stuff). Finally, some checks in the win column.

After the couple’s reunion, and having read Summer’s romance biography with Raven, Yang decides to pop the question to Neo.

To which, our resident psychopath says, “yEs”.

They both get married (blegh). Yes, it was very touching. Apparently, they also exchanged Auras, which I have no idea what that means yet.

Blakes goes a little bit more crazy after hearing about their marriage (just a little bit), and it actually gets her to shake off Salem’s influence. Deciding that her future vessel isn’t quite up to the task yet, the Witch decides to see to the war personally. (i.e. the big bad herself arrives in Vacuo…)

Meanwhile, after letting the bosses know what we learned at the Tower, Vacuo and Atlas officially enter an alliance. Cinder and the Snow Queen send a fleet of airships, due to arrive somewhere in a week’s time. Truly, nothing brings people together more than an approaching apocalypse, headed by some crazy bitch everyone hates.

And then, and then, and then—

Seeing as we made such good pals with Vacuo, I decided to take some liberties with that. Needed to have a private chat with the boss, so I had my team create a (little)distraction. It really wasn’t that bad, they just fought a few palace guards and Chain Nai.

We got arrested, cause that’s somehow fair.

Good times.

And now, the Vacuo Arc continues!

So excited…

Crownless War God

I am the bone of my sword.

Steel is my body and fire is my blood.

I have created over a thousand blades.

Unknown to death

Nor known to life.

Having withstood pain to create many weapons.

Yet these hands will never hold anything.

My life is an Unlimited Blade Works.

“…I wonder how long they plan to keep us here,” Yang muttered, while staring at the ceiling. She must have counted the number of bricks a hundred times by now. “I mean, no one even got hurt…badly.”

“Yeah,” Mercury replied. “I bet you anything Temujin just wants to mess with us.”

“If we broke out, and saw her the next morning, she’d probably act like nothing even happened.”

In her team’s dank prison cell, Yang lied restlessly on her cot with Neo snuggled under her arm. Mercury was sitting with his back against the wall, staring out the window into the night sky. And Emerald sat cross-legged in deep mediation.

“I just wish there was some way to past the time,” Yang complained.

There is, Neo looked at her suggestively.

“Definitely, not into exhibitionism.”

“Please, don’t,” Mercury added. “I’d rather run a death simulation marathon before sitting through that.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

“I was kidding.”

“Hey, Em!” Yang shouted to their leader in the corner. “How about you run us a hallucination, already? I’m thinkin’ my mom, Cinder, Pyrrha, and Victoria. Or maybe, some Nightmare-Class Grimm? We could practice for when Salem’s army shows up.”

Emerald remained silent.

“…Helloooo?”

Emerald’s temple creased with a vein.

“I’m getting bored heeerreeee~”

“Would you shut up?!” Emerald finally snapped. “I’m trying to concentrate!”

“You’ve been doing that since forever. What are you trying to do, anyway?”

“Yes, Yang. By all means, I’ll tell you exactly what I’m doing, out loud—while the prison guards listen on every word of our conversation.”

“Soooo, what are you doing?”

“Kay. Not listening anymore. La la la la la~”

“Em~!”

“LA LA LA LA~!!”

X X X X X

…

I was dead.

I’m sure I was well and truly dead.

…

My body and soul sunk into the deepest depths. I don’t know what it was, but I swear, to this day—I grasped something at the core of our world. Some form of enlightenment, perhaps?

And then, I felt the very hells of Vacuo spit me back out.

*Cough!*

When I woke, I tasted nothing but ash and sand in my mouth. I could feel the sun roasting my skin. There was no way to know how long I had been out there.

As soon as I could get my bearings straight, I immediately wished I hadn’t.

It was a pit of corpses. The naked dead piled on more naked dead. All dignity stripped away. Their souls gone, leaving only dry husks. They were mutilated, they were burned, they were cruelly disected into even segments.

I remembered what happened.

They experimented on us. They sought the secret to eternal life, forced us to take toxic amounts of Dust and Bane.

We were nothing but lab animals to them, and they killed us by the thousands without batting an eye.

And when we were no longer of use, they discarded us out in the middle of the desert—like common refuse.

I was in a panic. My memories were becoming clearer. Our parents were with me.

My hands searched the bodies around. I can still remember that feeling to this day, the sensation forever carved in my memories. Tender flesh and hollow bones. The final moments of countless lives, recorded in every corpse’s face.

Anguish, fear, despair.

The loss of hope.

…

And then, I found them.

I don’t know how I could possibly have known. My experience with death had undoubtedly changed my senses.

There was nothing left of our mother and father, save for a pair of charred black ribs.

I could feel Vacuo suffocating me, or was that the grief?

I cried at the heavens through a throat that no longer worked.

My mind ceased to function. I became something base, primal. I could only feel.

…

And all I was became Rage.

…

The concentration of negativity drew the Grimm. Monstrosities circled me, the lone survivor. A girl who could not fathom what was happening.

And it was that moment, I digressed further. I was no longer something I would call sentient.

Not a living thing.

Not an organism.

Lesser, simpler.

An element.

My baptism—the Awakening of my Semblance was performed by none other than the Heart of Vacuo itself.

I was its nature.

I was its storm.

My Aura merged with my surroundings, and I felt the Kingdom answer my call.

The bones of my parents would be the very first weapons I would ever forge.

They made the finest of blades.

I struck down my first foes with them.

Once they were spent, I sough my next set of “weapons”,

And I realized everything became a weapon to my touch.

The fallen corpses of Vacuo became my next blades.

And the next.

And the next…

Until all my enemies were nothing but dust in the wind.

…

What returned was no longer a nameless slave.

It had devolved—

I became a Fang.

The Fang of Vacuo.

X X X X X

As soon as I reached the city, I was able to find my brother.

Shepherd had avoided the mass abductions for the experiments. He was lucky.

As lucky as one can be, having his parents and only sibling go missing for several months.

He could see the change in me… the violence I could control at my fingertips.

Sometimes, I look back and wonder…

Did he embark on his pacifist crusade to save Vacuo’s soul—or mine.

…

Or maybe, he tried to save Vacuo from me.

How ironic, but so very fitting.

If they never took his life through their Third Crusade, they would never have seen one light of my wrath.

He was so foolish.

I warned him. I knew the world would turn on him and others like him.

The corrupt always justify themselves to the righteous through strength.

No. While my brother tried to offer redemption for those crooked souls, I took my time finding those who would rise with me, when his ambitions failed.

Chain Nai was a champion of the Gladiator Arenas. He had “won” his freedom, but the ones controlling the games propagated the backstory, he stayed to fight for the thrill and honor.

Peh! What nonsense. Still, their foolishness would ultimately work to my favor.

Nai was the only one to ever defeat me during my time as a gladiator, and I was the only one to ever face him in a fair match, and live.

He would become my first general, my first Khan. The Fist of Vacuo, many would later proclaim him.

…

My friendship with Minerva was unexpected, to say the least.

By then, I was forming the first vestiges of the Red Fang, when I heard about a single Faunus massacring a small army of Human aristocrats.

I sought her out eagerly, entertaining the idea I had found one similar to myself.

But Minerva could not be more different.

She was originally an attendant to a young noble. A Human who researched Magic and even managed to learn a few tricks himself.

Minerva and the man fell in love. He taught her what he learned, and surprising them both, found she had a gift for Magic.

Rumor spread. A romantic relationship between Human and Faunus was forbidden. They were inevitably caught.

…

They lynched the poor man, and hung his body from the roof of his house.

Minerva joined me the moment I asked her.

She became my second Khan.

The Sorceress of Vacuo.

X X X X X

I…

I do not look back as fondly on our first meeting as Raven probably does.

When I first found her, she hid behind a miner’s mask. The shovel in her hands was covered in blood. A tiny thing, but she held onto it like a sword made to smite all those who would do her and her brother harm.

I didn’t think much of her at first. I had seen countless children like her in my travels.

But when she removed her mask, I found myself captivated.

The way she stared at me through her tears. A fire of defiance, but at the same time, a purity—an innocence.

I lost myself in that moment.

Raven looked to me like a little goddess of death. So precious and deadly. I don’t believe in a god or a heaven, but if such things ever existed, I could only think they sent her to me.

I embraced her without thought, and she wept openly in my arms. I didn’t know little goddesses could cry.

In time, I believed she would one day become my third Khan. The greatest of my generals and a stronger warrior than myself or Nai.

But she needed time.

…

And in that time, Raven would become someone I would care for deeply as a daughter. Less than the weapon I wanted her to be at our first meeting. The compassion I thought I lost, was returned to me by her, and her alone.

My brother and I sent her and Qrow to Vale, hoping they would find a better life.

I’d never seen Raven as furious as the day we saw her off for Beacon Academy. But I was fine with it. Even if she grew hating me for the rest of her life, I was content.

I would wage my war without Raven. I was satisfied with that thought.

…

For a moment, I may have believed in my brother’s campaign of nonviolence. After all, what did I have to lose should he succeed?

I would satiate my bloodlust some other way, I was sure.

When he inevitably failed, I promised I would be there. I would protect him, nurse his wounds and ego— give him the older sibling’s “I told you so”.

…

They killed Shepherd, and I practically let them.

I let my own brother fall.

And like all things, I turned him and the very memory of him into a weapon.

His death caused an outrage.

And I used it to wage the war I always wanted, the war I waited every day for.

…

Nai was more than ready. Minerva was at my side.

…

Raven had returned to Vacuo a few years before. She left her child behind for me. And I foolishly welcomed back my goddess of death as the Third Khan I always dreamt she would be.

I sent the younger generation like Blake, Ilia, and Adam to fight my battles. Be it to die on the frontlines or execute the defenseless in the rear, it did not matter.

My war was waged.

The three Khans, as well as their Great Khan, laid ruin to countless Crusaders.

In time, I won my Vacuo.

And when I finally sat on that cursed throne in the Hanging Gardens, I felt something I hadn’t felt since before I died—since before my rebirth in that desert all those years ago.

I was afraid.

X X X X X

The moment we won Vacuo, I saw a room filled with the faces of those I loved.

Every life I touched, turned into a weapon before my very eyes.

And I was overcome.

…

One word, and they would march.

A single command, and a Kingdom of blades would have ravaged the world of Remnant without mercy.

I doubt even Salem would have been able to stop that.

…

I had made weapons of everyone I had ever cared for.

And when I held the crown made of the blood and souls I had sacrificed to, I learned I did not want it.

But I couldn’t let anyone else have it either.

Who knows what insanity someone else could do with what I built.

Vacuo would be ruler-less. And I would play the guard dog until someone suitable could claim the throne. Someone who would not lead our people down a path of destruction.

Minerva would have proven adequate, but she wanted to help create a brighter future through its children. Perhaps, inspired by her lost love, she decided to become an educator for eager minds. And the Headmaster of Shade Academy came to be.

For a time, I also believed Blake could take the throne. But she held no desire to play such a role. Guilt-ridden by the things she did under my order, she wanted the life of a Huntress to atone. She wanted to do good, not rule. The least I could do was support her.

…

And then, I finally found them.

A pair of siblings, Mouse and Knives Rakis. Their mother gave birth to them, while suffering the symptoms of Dust Poisoning. They were born with a few health complications, but more importantly, their capricious circumstances allowed them to develop Silver Eyes. I can only assume the large consumption of Dust and Bane awakened some ancestry connected to the Fairies.

Both were absolutely gifted— young, malleable, bright. They could share the throne of Vacuo and lead our people to prosperity.

What greater rulers could there be than those with a Semblance to predict the future?

They were young and ready to be groomed. But as their abilities developed, they revealed to me the fates to befall not only our Kingdom, but all of Remnant.

A world where every living being was wiped out.

We worked to make sure such a future never came to be, but all efforts so far have failed.

Until a slight deviation occurred in the prediction. The timeline corrected itself almost immediately, but more of these “alterations” appeared as time went on.

It was only recently, we were able to match the deviations with certain events happening outside our Kingdom…

A war over some Grimm-infested isles.

Rumors of a young team of mercenaries waging battle at Tower trapped in a storm.

A newly christened Spring Maiden.

The resurrection of the Fall Maiden.

The usurping of the Atlas Kingdom.

…

“Sound familiar?”

In the open desert, watching a swirling storm of floating debris, two figures stood. The dreamscape showed the fluttering pages in the hurricane to be the host’s memories. Like Yang’s and Neo’s before, Emerald found herself traversing Temujin’s “Soul”.

“Sound familiar?” Temujin repeated her question.

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious,” she rubbed her arm uncertainly. “Guess, it’s too late to say sorry for making you dream about your past.”

“Eh,” the other simply shrugged.

Though she tried to play it off lightly, Emerald could see the forlorn sentiment lingering in Temujin’s heart. Emotions were amplified in the host’s dreams. The mint-haired girl saw the deepest contents, and was taken back by what she found there.

There was something else after Temujin’s recollections. Something she didn’t say aloud. A secret she kept from everyone, including Minerva and especially Raven.

Before the end of Remnant, there was an event preceding it that the Rakis siblings foretold and feared.

The Death of Vacuo.

…

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Emerald spoke.

“You’re pretty critical of yourself,” she said passively.

“Oh? I’ve said nothing but the truth.”

“In my experience, people always make their pasts worse than they actually were. But thanks for the story.”

“Hm. Is that all you have to say?”

Emerald looked down for a moment.

“…You’re too arrogant,” she finally said. “The people who followed you chose to follow you. You didn’t turn them into weapons. They decided to fight for themselves. Thinking you had any actual control over them is nothing but arrogance.”

“Hmmm… Maybe, so. Is that what your team is to you?”

“Obviously. I can’t make my idiots care about me. And they do it anyway, even if I don’t want them to.”

Temujin gave a dry chuckle.

“If only you were born earlier, and had been raised in Vacuo. You would have made a fine Khan.”

“Not even in your dreams, lady.”

“Current topics aside, you are rather talented.”

“Just a little bit.” Emerald rubbed her nails on her chest, and breathed a huff. “I’ve hallucinated dreams before, but this was some new level shit.”

“Heh heh heh,” Temujin gave another hollow chuckle, and grasped the younger woman’s arm in a firm grip.

“This talent of yours gives me an idea.”

NOTES

Q: Schedule?

A: Nope. Can’t make one. Tried. Chapters comes out when they’re finished.

Q: CinderxNeo (sinnamon spice/spicecream) fic?

A: Ugh. Kind of, maybe, interested, but I don’t see the romance aspect? But I do think they could make one of the best partnerships in RWBY in general. Maybe a platonic sidequest in the future during the hiatus? No promises.

But, yes. I’d love to write something about the two of them. That would be fun. (Message suggestions?)_

Q: Ever think of writing a lemon(smut fic?)?

A: No. Not interested in writing pure smut.

Q: Ever think of writing a romance fic?

A: No. I don’t have that ability. It would end up being too short.

Q: Kingdom Hearts fic?

A: Maybe. Not immediately, if ever. Have a rough idea of a party consisting of Aqua, Lightning, (young)Tadashi, (and Balthier or Fran?). One of the worlds they visit is Atlantis or Treasure Planet.

Q: What do you think of toxic wasps and bumbley shippers/drama?

A: …What?

(Googles)

Oh. I had no idea there was stuff like that happening in the RWBY community.

…

I got nothin’. I barely pay attention to stuff outside the show as it is. Feels like a lot of noise I just don’t understand. Welp, time to write the next chapter.

As always, thank you for reading.

See you, when I see you.

-Nezz

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #rwby au #yang xiao long #emerald sustrai #enmy

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