(Author's Note: Hey y'all, took a few days to FULLY reread all of the previous chapters I've made. In that time I realized wow there was quite a few inconsistencies in my story but I chalk that up to just me being an actual child/teenager juggling high school homework at the same time when I started. I may one day go back and rewrite some of my earlier chapters to streamline everything as viewing my first chapter ever of the Chronicle to my most recent one there's a very clear difference between how I write a scene. Furthermore, I didn't really have a set plan when I started I just thought 'hey wouldn't it be really cool if NOCTIS from FFXV was in RWBY???' which is quite different to how I write now. Regardless, I also took some time to really sit down and plan out some things for the upcoming chapters and next few volumes and I do genuinely believe y'all will like some of the stuff I've got in store. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter.)

RWBY (Volume 6) Chapter 7: Flickering Flames/ A Difficult Conversation

You and Ruby seemed to have held each other for nearly that whole night, but now you're sitting on the edge of your bed. You rub your tired eyes as it's pretty clear you've gotten some rough looking dark circles underneath them. You glance back to Ruby who's still sleeping soundly on the bed you share, part of you just wants to crawl back into bed to snuggle up with her but you've been utterly restless this whole night. While Ruby reassured you that she'd love you regardless of what you tell her, you don't really know where to start when you do tell your team. So here you are, staring into an empty corner of one of the guest rooms Terra and Saphron provided to your team, your knee bouncing anxiously on the ground as you NEED to know what's been happening inside of your Soul.

You(Subconsciously): "Screw it." You close your eyes and focus as your mind enters into the depths of your Soul. You open your eyes to see your Soul is completely dark. It isn't its typical deep blue color, nor is it completely gold or even lavender from the influences of Luna and Solar. It's just pitch black...you try to call out "Cole!?" You yell as you stare into the abyss for what feels like an eternity, you feel unnerved as even from the first moments you knew you could access your Soul you never felt alone. But that certainly feels like the case now. "Cole, where are you!?"

You close your eyes and focus with all of your might to try to find any traces of well, ANYTHING in your Soul. For a split moment you feel something stirring along the deepest portions of your Soul as you appear in front of it. You see what looks like...a lock of some sort? You attempt to reach out and touch it only for violent sparks of electricity to blast away your hand as you flinch in pain and hold your hand. You look back at the lock to see that an ever expanding barrier pulsing with electricity appears around the entirety of your Soul.

You: "What...the hell is this?" You say while glancing around completely astounded as you hear electricity crackle behind you.

Cole: "I was wondering when you'd become curious enough to arrive back here..." You quickly turn back with a relieved look on your face as you see Cole standing there, his arms behind his back.

You: "Cole!" You say while running over to him but before you could actually approach him you see that he's actually behind that enormous barrier. You look at him through the sparks of electricity that prevent you from getting any closer "What the hell is going on, Cole!?"

Cole: "This...is the last line of defense, Chronicle." You look at him with concern riddled across your face as the worn out man sighs. "You would've become Solar's puppet if I hadn't intervened...while Miss Rose helped with her unlocking the power of her Silver Eyes...it simply wasn't enough."

You: "What are you talking about? Is this barrier the reason why I haven't heard from you at all lately?"

Cole: "Give me a moment to explain, Chronicle. As you likely have concluded by now, being in that village violently and rapidly surged Solar's foothold into your Soul. The barrier you see before you is the only thing keeping you from being under complete control of Solar's influence." You look downwards for a moment "And as you can guess, this barrier was put up by yours truly."

You: "Wouldn't that be...extremely draining for you?"  He nods as he continues

Cole: "Indeed...a barrier large enough to encompass the entirety of your extraordinarily vast Soul and powerful enough to keep her at bay is..." He puts his arms in front of him as you narrow your eyes in horror as one of his hands has completely disintegrated, his other hand is ever slowly beginning to be turned into embers. Other various parts of his body have slight flakes of ash coming off of him. Your feel your heart plummet...you know exactly where this is going, your eyes lock back with his as you feel a deep sense of dread. "Draining...to say the least."

You: "Cole, be honest...how long do we have?" The tired king looks down.

Cole: "It's hard to say, while I'm certainly not Luna in terms of power, I still have gained a tremendous amount of strength myself to combat this very threat...however, as you can see this barrier is chipping away at whatever dormant energy I have left in your Soul." He scratches his scruffy beard as his tired eyes now mimic your own "If left alone you could be be safe from her for months, potentially even years...but that can very quickly change depending on what YOU do."

You: "What do you mean?" Cole looks at his ever slowly decaying hand for a few moments before speaking

Cole: "It's my fault, Chronicle...do you recall what I told you during the battle against Shiro at the battle of Haven? I told you to use your own power when Luna sacrificed herself and for a time that's exactly what you did...for a while at least." The tired man sighs as he uses his remaining hand to rub his sunken in eyes in frustration "I should've noticed it before but perhaps I truly didn't think it were possible...While I'm unsure of when it started happening, you've been subconsciously starting to use Solar's power instead of your own." Your eyes widen in disbelief as you shake your head

You: "WHAT!?"

Cole: "At one point or another, it seems she's learned how to mimic the feeling of Luna's power...and so your mind just naturally started to rely on her power just like you used to with Luna not so long ago...how she managed to do this I'm not sure...perhaps it stems from the fact they were once the same entity but none of that matters now." Cole stops as he struggles to find the right words to say "Every single time you've conjured something, warped and phased you've been unknowingly been inching closer to Solar's fangs...now...I believe it wouldn't be a wise to try to use Luna's abilities." You can't believe what you're hearing, that's QUITE a difficult thing to ask.

You: "Wait, wait, wait... You're telling me now I can't even use my Semblance? How the hell am I going to do that???  I've LIVED with her abilities my whole life! The first time I heard Raiden's voice was through my link with him through Luna, I warped before I could even form a full sentence and I've conjured SO. MANY. things from the first instance I learned I could do it...now I just... can't?"

Cole: "I'm well aware of the repercussions of what I'm asking of you...but what other alternatives are there, Chronicle? At this point even attempting to conjure your weapon could be of great risk to you..." He looks at you with a great sadness in his eyes, it's clear this is something he would not ask of you unless he truly meant it. You feel an overwhelming sense of anger rising within you for this whole situation you're in.

You: "DAMN IT ALL! So what now I just need to be a defenseless liability to my team???" You say as you begin to pace back and forth, Cole simply watches as you grip your head as that mind-numbing feeling seems to just make your ears ring as dread fills you.

Cole: "I wouldn't go that far, you'll need to learn how to fight without relying on Luna's abilities but you still have access to mine, so long as you don't overdo it at least. You can understand that I've got my hands full here." You hold your face in your hands as you sit down roughly, your mind is endlessly processing what he's telling you. You've lived your entire life with Luna's power...and now... " Chronicle, you need to calm dow-"

You: "Don't you DARE tell me to calm down!  Every. Single. DAY it's more BULLSHIT I have to deal with!" You shout at him, your head throbbing violently as outside of the barrier surrounding your Soul flares with a lavender color.

Cole: "If you keep letting that rage overwhelm you, it will only expedite the process!" He says as you begin to let out a laugh

You: "Oh and now I can't even get too mad, cool cool cooooool." You say before continuing to laugh in a frightfully concerning manner. There's an extremely unnerving silence between you two as you take a slow breath and close your eyes. "Just in the past few years, being the Chronicle has only gotten me hurt. It's only gotten me stabbed, bruised, and slashed, I have an ENTIRE GROUP of people who would like nothing better than for me to be either under their control or dead in a ditch somewhere and I've put everyone's lives in danger so many times...I don't want to be the Chronicle anymore, Cole..."

Cole: "(F)...I-"

You: "I'll see you around..." You say while abruptly exiting your Soul. Once again staring at the empty corner of the dark room you're in, you feel like shouting at the top of your lungs but for now...For now you just lay back down as Ruby in her sleep softly grumbles, she readjusts to place her head on your shoulder as she's still deep in sleep. You wrap your arm around her waist, looking into her gentle sleeping face as you softly whisper "...What am I gonna do Ruby..." You close your eyes to try to escape the bombardment of terribleness you seem to be consistently in the middle of.

(The Next Day)

You and the rest of the group are all beginning to walk up to the Atlesian Military base off the coast of Argus. You're looking extremely tired and just about everyone in the group has noticed, you promised Ruby you'd tell everyone but that feels like it's gonna be a bit harder now in light of what you learned in your Soul last night...you need to apologize to Cole, sure you're right to be mad but you didn't need to snap at him. You'd rather not worry anybody more so you're trying to force yourself to act like how you used to be, though who knows how long you can hold up THAT façade. Anyways, moving forward you're just about to get to the gates.

You: "Hey look at that the gates are open, maybe we can-" Annnnd as soon as you get close enough the gates slam shut on you...can't say you're that surprised, at this point you're genuinely wondering if Qrow's bad luck has started to rub off on you. Why were they even open in the first place? Dramatic effect? Regardless now you're just annoyed and confused. "Well...that's juuuust peachy."

Yang walks up to the gates before putting her hands on the bars, attempting to speak to the two twin guards standing right behind the gates who...seem a bit uptight.

Yang: "Come on! You didn't even hear us out!" You see this would be a great time for you to just warp in...too bad NOW YOU FREAKIN' CAN'T. Technically Raiden could too, eh, even if either of you did what would be the next step? Maybe it's best for you to at least listen to what they say first.

Guard 1: "Our orders are clear: The -Atlas border is closed!" The guard on the right yells

Guard 2: "Please!" You glance over at the guard on the left as he yells now too

Guard 1: "Have a good day!" Wait are they finishing each other's sentenc-

Yang: "But--"

Both Guards: "A good day!!" They both shout out at the same time...well that certainly answers your question.

Qrow: "Hey, if you don't wanna believe that I'm friends with Ironwood- "

Both Guards: "General Ironwood!" They both yell, there's a slight awkward pause as you and Ruby glance at each other with your eyes slightly widened, you both share the same thought of these guys are REALLY weird. They're doing the same exact movements and voices.

Qrow: "Yeah, General Ironwood, then fine. But look, we have Weiss Schnee with us and we're trying to get her home safely." Oooh yeah, that's a pretty decent plan, you glance over at Weiss to see that she's looking down reluctantly...yeah maybe mentioning her home wasn't the best idea after all. Both guards then look to each other before turning their attention back to you guys.

Both Guards: "Approach!"

Weiss looks back at the group as Blake shrugs as you give a thumbs up with a forced smile. Weiss then walks up to the gate the two guards step up, both walking exactly the same as well as they just bend down to inspect her... through their hats? Weiss seems pretty uncomfortable as they 'stare' at her...There's no way they can actually see her through their hats ri-

Both Guards: "Very well!" Oh- okay, didn't want to finish that thought in the first place you guess...

Guard 2: "You may speak with our commanding officer!" Now you're getting slightly convinced that maybe it's their semblances to be perfectly in sync with one another? You feel like you're hyper focusing on two people you're likely never going to interact with again.

Guard 1: "We will fetch her at once!" They then turn around exactly in sync and doing the utter goofiest synchronized run you've EVER seen. The whole time they're chanting "Hup, Hup, Hup, Hup, Hup" before one of them starts chanting "Atlas, Atlas, Atlas, Atlas" This place is weird, you're all just kind of standing there, dumbfounded.

Blake: "They were... kind of-"

You: "Goofballs?"

Raiden: "Wingnuts?" Raiden adds in, standing over by Yang

Sophie: "Knucklehead McSpazzatrons???" Sophie ALSO adds in, currently in a piggyback ride on Raiden's back.

Ruby: "I...was gonna say super weird? But uh, yeah those work too."

Maria: "Hmm..." Maria looks down in thought, bringing her finger up to her chin as you all glance at her.

Oscar: "What's wrong?"

Maria: "Well, I... may know this commanding officer..." Ah, well that seems like a good thing, ri-

Ruby: "That's good, isn't it? If she's your friend, then maybe she'd be more willing to help us." She says while slightly shrugging. Okay is everyone going to interrupt your thoughts today?

Maria: "I wouldn't exactly call us... 'friends'."  Oh so like more than friends or-

Weiss: "Acquaintances?" You're going to LOSE IT if someone else interrupts your thoughts today.

Maria: "Not quite."

Blake: "Colleagues?" Blake says while tilting her head as her cat ears flop to the side.

Maria: Warmer.

You: "....Lovers?" Everyone looks over at you VERY confused. You glance around not really knowing why as Maria walks up to you.

Maria: "GODS NO!" She yells before whacking your head with her walking cane. You collapse to you knees in so much pain as a big ol' bump on your head forms as you hold your head in agony  "Why I oughta-!" She begins to try to strangle you, pinch your cheek painfully and throttling you back and forth as now you're left trying not to die as Ruby desperately tries to stop this frightfully strong old lady from trying to murder you.

Yang: "Enemies?" Yang says unsure of herself, Maria glances back from trying to make Solar's job much easier for her as she lets go of you, you fall to the ground holding your cheek in pain as it's all red now, Ruby now kneeling down next to you making sure her boyfriend wasn't killed by some old lady.

Maria: "That's the one!" She yells while holding up her finger, acting as if she didn't just leave you with a crippling fear of small old women. Sophie hops on over as she and Ruby help you off of the ground.

Oscar: "Wait, what?"  Now both Ruby and Sophie are holding you back by your jacket's hood as you're now FUMING, vainly trying to exact revenge on this old lady with your arms outstretched making strangling motions to Maria from several feet away.

Maria: "Oh, yes. I come through here about once every ten years to get my eyes checked up in Atlas. You bring outside cashews on one flight, and suddenly you're placed on the additional screening list for life!" Yeah no wonder she's on additional screening, she's a little demon!

Qrow: "You've gotta be kidding me..."

Maria: "Now, now, let's not give up hope yet....Maybe she's dead!" She says as everyone including yourself seem VERY unamused. Not long afterwards the gates open up quickly, as the same two guards return.

Guard 1: "Introducing!"

Guard 2: "Special operativeee!"

Both Guards: "CAROLINE CORDOVIN!" 

You hear footsteps approaching but you can't see anyone, you take a few moments to then look down and realize...OH NO IT'S ANOTHER OLD SHORT WOMAN. She's wearing an Atlesian officer uniform as she walks up to Maria, both of them glaring at each other, there's a bit of a pause as these two extremely menacing women look onwards.

Cordovin: Witch."

Maria: "She-devil."

Cordovin: "Hm. I've seen you've chosen larger contraband to smuggle this time."

Maria: "Oh, Cordo. You know they say time changes people, but I see you've still got that stick right up your--" Your eyes widen as you try to cover up both sets of Sophie's ears, not really succeeding. Maria raises her hand before Ruby quickly speeds over, grabbing her hand and lowering it. Awkwardly smiling as she tries to save this conversation

Ruby: "H-hello! Miss, uh, Cordovin. My name is Ruby Rose, and I was wondering if you would hear us out about-"

Cordovin: "I've already heard what your other little friends had to say, Miss Rose." She She says, interrupting Ruby before looking behind her  you all glance back to see that she's looking at Nora, Ren, and Jaune who are all standing a noticeably further distance away from your team "What are you doing back here?! I thought I told you to leave!"

Nora: "And I told you we wouldn't rest until you let us through!!!" She yells while trying to rush forwards, now being held back by Ren and Jaune as she throws her head back.

Ren: "Nice to see you again as well!" Ren says while nervously waving at Cordovin.

Cordovin: "You civilians are clearly incapable of comprehending the importance of our mission here in Argus. So allow me to say this slowly, with smaller words: This base, that relay tower" She gestures and points to both of them "The very safety of Argus are all gifts from the glorious Kingdom of Atlas!" She says while outstretching her arms...wait a second, are you the only one noticing that a giant Atlesian flag is waving behind her? How did that get th- "And it is my duty to uphold them, as only I have the wit and tenacity for such a task."

Guard 1: "Such wit!" The guard on the right side slides in

Guard 2: "Such tenacity!" And now the guard on the left slides in too, now you're just wondering if they rehearse this.

Maria: "Or maybe Atlas just wanted to get you as far from the kingdom as possible." DAMN okay, nevermind you can't strangle Maria and rob the world of a master in the art of roasting. Cordovin then growls and points at Maria.

Cordovin: "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!"

Ruby: "Please, we know your kingdom had nothing to do with the Fall of Beacon. We were there."

You: "It was not a fun time, believe us."

Weiss: "No one's happy about the Atlas borders or embargo, but I know General Ironwood is just worried. It's why we need to talk to-"

Cordovin: "The General is no coward! Atlas is strong. If all the kingdoms plan to make us their enemy, then so be it! Atlas will prevail!"

Both Guards: Atlas will prevail!

Yang: "Do you guys seriously have to do that?" Yang says with her arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face.

Raiden: "Meh, it's actually starting to grow on me." Yang fires off a quick red-eyed glare at Raiden as he quickly shuts his mouth. Cordovin takes a deep breath.

Cordovin: "If Miss Schnee has truly come to her senses and wishes to return to her family, then, of course, the Atlas military will escort her home. But the kingdom will not be responsible for her 'friends' of... questionable character." She glances at Blake and then looks over at Sophie specifically upon saying that. Ooooh now you've got a NEW old lady you want to strangle...which is a sentence you've never thought you'd have to think about yet here you are.

Weiss (Aggravated): "What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss says while glaring at Cordovin.

Cordovin: "It means we're done here." 

The gates to the base are then slammed shut in front of you all, leaving everyone outside once again riiiight back where you started. Wonderful.

Nora: "Oh yeah? Well, your face looks... like a big dumb boot!" You slide up next to Nora as you give her a high five.

You: "YEAH YOU TELL 'EM NORA!"

Jaune:  "Way to show her, Nora..." Jaune says with a blank, uncaring expression. All of Team RWBY, including you and Raiden look over to Weiss.

Weiss: "I don't-" She looks like she was contemplating for a moment before Ruby interjects.

Ruby: "Weiss. I told you we wouldn't leave your side for a second. We'll find a way to Atlas. Together." Ruby then places a hand on Weiss' shoulder as you give Weiss a soft smirk with a nod. She smiles back and nods, your eyes are drawn away from Weiss as you notice Qrow is starting to walk away.

Ruby: "So... where are we going now?"

Nora: "Yeah, what's the plan?"

Qrow(Annoyed): "The plan? The plan just got shut on our face three times over. I'm going for a drink." You look at Qrow with narrowed eyes, you feel rather worried about him, you know he's always drinking but this feels different. But honestly after the past few days YOU want a drink at this point so you can't really blame him. Ruby frowns and runs off to catch up with her uncle, attempting to walk by his side as he keeps walking.

Ruby: "Uncle Qrow, I really think we should try and come up with something..." Qrow just ignores her and walks away before she could even finish as you sigh "...together." You walk up next to Ruby as she looks to Qrow still walking away with a sad expression

You: "He'll be okay...he just needs some time to bounce back." You say attempting to alleviate some of the worry she has, placing your hand on her shoulder as she doesn't look away.

Ruby: "I want to believe you, (F). But I know my uncle, this isn't normal for him, for all our sakes I hope you're right..."

Jaune: "What's his problem? It's not your fault we can't go on."

Nora: "If he's gonna be a jerk then we'll just come up with something without him. I mean, we've got Ozpin with us! He usually knows what to do." Ooooh that's not good. You bite your lip, avoiding eye contact when hearing Nora as Oscar looks down sadly, as the rest of Team RWBY just look at each other with troubled looks on their faces.

Ren: "What is it?"

(Later That Day)

You've all gone back to Saphron's home, Ruby and the others have just finished explaining all that had occurred with Jinn and the truth behind Oz and Salem. There was an long pause of silence upon Ruby finishing . You're sitting next to her as Ren looks down with his arms crossed, Nora's sitting down with her face buried in her hands. Jaune gets up before proceeding to punch a wall, leaving a very large crack in it. Sophie's sensitive ears twitch as she quickly hides behind Raiden standing next to Yang

Ruby: "Jaune!" Ruby yells, getting off the couch as your knee bounces off of the ground anxiously...is this the right time to tell everyone? You need to rip the band-aid off at some point...and waiting any longer will likely end up being a worse reaction than this

Jaune: "Everything we did was for nothing!" He says walking away from the wall as Ruby looks on worried.

Blake: "That's not true."

Nora: "Really? Cuz it sure does sound like it." Nora says with an angered look on her face as she looks up.

Blake: "I, um..."

Ren: "If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?" ...Everyone remains silent as Jaune walks over by Ren.

Jaune(sarcastic): "Wow... Great plan everyone!" Well...if there wasn't any better timing for more bad news, it'd be now right? You feel a lump in your throat as you breathe before taking the courage to speak.

You: "That's not all." Everyone now looks to you with confused looks on their face. Weiss and Blake exchange glances at one another, Raiden is looking right at you with a serious expression as Sophie peaks her face behind him. You breathe out shakily, your heart is pounding as you know the moment you start speaking you can't go back. You glance upwards to look at Ruby, she looks at you with clear worry in her silver eyes but she gently nods in remembrance of what was said last night. "I don't know the best way to say this." You say scratching the back your head.

Raiden: "Whatever it is, you can tell us (F)..." Raiden looks at you with his arms crossed. 

You: "I think it's better if I just...show you." You take a moment to breathe in, really focusing on only letting the bare minimum flow through you as your eye ignites with flames. It's a weaker flame but with just one glance all can see that although it's still primarily its typical sapphire hue, it's made quickly apparent to everyone that at the center of those flames, traces of Solar's signature amethyst color is peering through.

 Yang: "Wait isn't that-" Yang's eyes narrow looking at the flames escaping from your eyes, Jaune is looking at you belligerently angry as the sad expression on Ruby's face is crushing you.

Weiss: "That's the same color that both Ardyn and Raiden had before, right?" You nod as Raiden looks down, his eyes closed. As Nora covers her mouth, shocked.

Blake: "But wait, how is Solar even able to be within you?" You look down, unsure of how to actually respond as Raiden quickly speaks up.

Raiden: "Every person in our bloodline has almost undetectable traces of Solar in us...Salem drew it out of me years ago. Problem is that you've never met Salem before and the Leviathan should've kept Solar's energy at bay, ESPECIALLY given your status of being Chronicle. So the question still stands, how?"

You: "That's the real kicker huh...Luna's gone." Raiden's eyes widen as he stands up, the rest of your team looking at you with a mixture of shock and confusion on their faces.

Raiden: "That's impossible!"

Ruby: "But-wait, we saw Luna and Solar in the vision that Jinn showed us, right? They've lived for like millions of years, shouldn't they be immortal?"

You: "Not exactly...she can't die from aging. Her Soul however is another case entirely, she sacrificed a large amount of her Soul's power to fuse with our bloodline in the first place, then powering and protecting several millennia of our ancestors whittled her down till...she got to me. I pushed her past her breaking point and now..." You trail off, not wanting to remember such harsh memories that flood your mind. Your flames trailing off your eye unknowingly flicker with more amethyst color than sapphire for a moment when you do.

Raiden: "And now Solar can enter through where Luna used to reside in your Soul...I should've known it before." You look over at Raiden with a confused look on your face

You: "How could you have seen this coming?"

Raiden: "Because I'm still Doragon, (F). And the reason why I'm still myself and not back with Salem and listening to that doing whatever that damn snake wants is because of two things. The first being that Yang certainly helped me fight back against the grip of Solar's influence on me." He says nodding over at Yang who nods back "And second, even with Salem's...experiment on me, I still can't fully access the entirety of Solar's being so who better to latch onto than the Chronicle himself so now she's focusing ALL of her efforts on you." You look down, placing your face in your hands as you lean back against the couch. 

You: "...So...now I only really have a few years, maybe months, possibly even less than that before Solar completely takes over me. If I use her power, even subconsciously it'll dramatically tighten her hold over me..." Ruby's eyes are welling up with tears as she looks at you, you can't bare to look her in the eyes as Weiss pinches the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed. Blake's ears have dropped down sadly, as Yang's eyes became a soft crimson color as she closes her eyes. Nora holds her head, a blank expression on her normally cheerful face and Ren who has closed his eyes, unable to read what he's feeling right now. The weight of what you told them has really begun to hit. The room is completely silent as Jaune is now slightly pacing back and forth. "This is a fine mess."

Jaune: "That's an understatement (F)! As if learning that Salem's immortal and that Oz has done nothing but LIE to us isn't bad enough now we have to worry about you!?" He yells, just about ready to punch another hole in the wall. Your eyes trail down as you reflect on his words.

Oscar: "Look, none of this is great, we know. But we're not the bad guys here."

Jaune: "...Are we sure about that?" Jaune says with a low tone, glancing back at Oscar with a menacing stare.

Oscar: "What?" The farm boy looks at him with some fear in his eyes

Jaune: "He's in your head, isn't he? Did you already know about this?" Jaune begins to angrily walk over to Oscar

Weiss: "He didn't know any of it!" Weiss says attempting to walk forwards but Jaune quickly moves past her.

Jaune: Jaune stomps over to Oscar before grabbing him by his collar and shoving him against the wall "How much longer can we even trust him?!" Raiden frowns, his fist curling up as Sophie gasps before quickly making her way next to Oscar

Sophie: "Oscar!" She yells as Oscar looks around frantically, terrified.

Yang: "Jaune!"

Jaune: "How do we even know it's really him?! What if we have been talking to that liar this whole time?!"

You: "Take your hands off of him, now!" You yell while getting up, walking up to Jaune as he glares at you, you've NEVER seen him this angry.

Jaune: "Don't even get me STARTED with you, you're more of a threat to us than HE is. How long will it take, huh!? Until you just lose control and try to kill us! YOU'RE JUST A TICKING TIME BOMB THAT NO ONE KNOWS WHEN IT'LL GO OFF!" His words tear right through you as your expression slowly turns from pure rage to a mixture of grief and turmoil...he's right.

Ruby: "Jaune! " Ruby angrily shouts at Jaune, her eyes could pierce through even the toughest of exteriors as Jaune glares back at her.  He looks back over to you, and then looks to Oscar, which the poor kid is cowering in fear. Jaune's expression softens just a bit when he realized what he's done. He lets go of Oscar with an apologetic look on his face. He begins to walk upstairs as you hear a door being heard opened before harshly slamming shut, Sophie's bunny ears twitching violently due to it as she flinches.

Yang: "Is he... gonna be okay?"

Nora: "I don't know!" Nora says quite annoyed, this is the first time you've seen her like this. She begins to get up before walking up the stairs.

Ren: "I think it would be best if we had some time to ourselves." Ren follows suit and heads upstairs as well as you all look at them as they go out of your view.

You all remain silent for a few moments. Ruby's gaze resting on you as you all process everything that has just occurred. 

Blake: "Maybe we could all use some space." Once again it remains silent, You can't help but feel like all you did was add fuel to the fire. Now everyone knows, you thought it would help alleviate some of the weight on your shoulders, but for now all it seems like it did was bring everyone down just a bit further.

Ruby: "(F)...I-" You walk past your team and Oscar before opening the door to the outside "W-wait where are you going?" You stop as you glance back to see everyone is looking at you, worried

You: "I...I just need some time to think, I'll be back." You say as you close the door behind you. Not knowing what direction you're walking you just know you have to get away to just think.

(Later) (Ruby's POV)

These past few days have just been the worst. I hold my Scroll up to my ear, trying to contact Uncle Qrow AGAIN. He hasn't picked up, I even tried calling (F) as well, but no luck on that end either. I head outside onto the backyard porch, I should've said SOMETHING before (F) left...but what am I supposed to say in response to news like that?

Ruby: "Come on, please..." I takes away my Scroll from my ear, looking at the screen as ONCE AGAIN those infuriating red letters saying 'NO ANSWER' pop up again! "Where are you?!" I yell while throwing my Scroll into the yard. This is NOT the time to be out drowning in alcohol Qrow!

Maria: "You know, I came out here to avoid the yelling." I look to my right to see that Maria is sitting down, here cane lying against a small table that has a plate of fruit on it. I glance down, I feel bad for disturbing her

Ruby: "Sorry. The others went to get food for tonight." I My voice feels weak, I did my best to not cry in front of (F) when he told us about his Soul being corrupted but after he left but now I'm just tired of trying to suppress it all. I jump off the porch onto the grass

Maria: "Why not go with them?" Maria sits up and looks at me

Ruby: "I don't know..." I sit down on the porch, taking a moment before speaking again "I don't know anything... What do I tell Jaune and his team when we don't even have a plan? Qrow's out drinking, (F) is being corrupted by Solar as we speak, Ozpin hasn't come back and even if he did, I don't know if I could trust him. And there's always Jinn, but... we only have one more question we can ask her. I feel like I'm letting everyone down..." I say as my eyes tiredly glance down, I should've said something to him, damn it.

Maria: "You know, you don't give yourself enough credit."

Ruby: "Oh..."I chuckle, I lean my hands back against the porch, sitting back slightly "Thanks."

Maria: "That wasn't a compliment."

Ruby: "Uh..." I quickly snap out of being slightly relaxed, sitting up quickly "What?" I say quickly scratching my head nervously with a forced smile

Maria: "If I have to explain it to you, it will just defeat the purpose. But if you're tired of not knowing anything, how about we discuss those eyes of yours?" Oh, right! my laser-beam eyes! At least there's one thing that isn't horrible news.

Ruby: "Oh!" I say while I quickly stand up "Yes, ma'am, I would be honored!" I say with a slight nod, placing my hands infront of me.

Maria: "Sit back down, for Pete's sake." Oh uh, right...why did I stand up? I glance down at the ground before sitting on my knees, looking up at Maria

Maria: "Let's start with what you do know. Tell me." That is a great question that I uh...do not have the answer to.

Ruby: "Uh... Silver-Eyed people are supposed to be legendary warriors. Or something... Annnd at the Fall of Beacon, I turned a giant Wyvern into stone." Maria looks like she's about to facepalm and shakes her head.

Maria: "Oh, boy." Okay attitude is the LAST thing I need to hear right now...

Ruby: "Look, if I already knew everything I wouldn't be asking for help!" I say while crossing my arms, looking away from her as I huff.

Maria: "Yelling..." She says while narrowing her eyes at me. I look back up at her, some slight shock mixed sorrow on my face.

Maria: "It's not your fault. I had my father to teach me, and even he didn't have all the answers. But what he told me makes sense, given what I've seen."

Ruby: "Was he a Huntsman too?"

Maria: "It wasn't really an official title back in his day. I only knew him as an old soldier and an excellent teacher. I never attended one of those fancy academies of yours, but I scored higher on the license exam than any other Huntsman or Huntress that day." I smile softly at her

Ruby: "You must've been proud."

Maria: "Heh, he would've scolded me for showing off." Gaaah this old lady is so cool, wish I could've seen her in her prime "He'd never been able to find much information about our abilities. He searched high and low, which is how I learnt of the story of the Chronicle which if I speculate correctly, that little boyfriend of yours could be be more connected to you than you might think." I look at her confused, how would we be connected? "But that's more of a theory I'd like to speak with him present as well. To get back on track, my father only found legends of warriors whose eyes shone like mirrors, reflecting the light of the world onto darkness. He found so little, in fact, that it made him cautious. How could such powerful bloodlines be so rare? Unless something was actively seeking to destroy them."

Ruby: "Salem..." I look down sadly, seems like just about every negative thing in my life has been affected by her...strange considering I've never even met her

Maria: "I tried to keep my powers a secret, but as you know, it wasn't enough. I owe my life to my training, and my Semblance. At the end of the day, those are still your most powerful tools."

Ruby: "What is your Semblance?" I glance upwards as I see a lemon is falling from the tree Maria is next too, my eyes widen slightly as Maria catches it from the air before it even hit the plate of fruit underneath.

Maria: "'Preflexes'! A silly name I came up with. Hard to explain, but I can sense everything better than most and react to attacks almost before they happen. Combine that with my training and secret ability to turn Grimm to stone, or blind them, or vaporize them." She clears throat before she gets carried away  "And that's how you become the Grimm Reaper!"She smiles at me as I stare at her in awe. Now I NEED to know.

Ruby: "So..." I pause for a moment and clasp my hands together "how do I laser beam monsters with my eyeballs?" Suddenly Maria gets up and smacks me right on the head of her cane OW. Now I understand why (F) was so upset when she did that to him earlier, man that thing stings, I grab my head in pain

Maria: "First, you stop thinking like that! I want you to think of all the times you've triggered your powers. What did those moments have in common?" My head is split between thinking about the previous times I used my powers and the throbbing pain on my noggin. I think back to each time I've used them, granted they aren't that many times but they all share a familiar feeling

Ruby: "I... was scared, and stressed. Is it emotional? Like unlocking a Semblance?"

Maria: "It's emotional but more focused than that. Think, what is it you wanted?" I clench my hands together as I look up at her

Ruby: "I wanted to protect my friends."

Maria: "Precisely!" Maria says as her eyes narrow "It is the desire to preserve life which fuels the light inside you. And to make no mistake, it is light. Preservation is an extension of creation, or, at the very least, an enemy of destruction. The Creatures of Grimm were made by the God of Darkness, but your light comes from his brother." That's...really cool, actually.

Ruby: "How do you know that?" I say tilting my head at her.

Maria: "I always knew how to use the light, but never why it only worked on the Grimm. Then, Jinn showed us her vision. Were you paying attention?" I close my eyes and think back to when the God of Light destroyed all the Grimm in the Land of Darkness. Solar shivering in pain as even Luna screeched out in pain. The God of Light transformed into his own dragon form, revealing his own pair of Silver Eyes.

Ruby: "The God of Light... His eyes!" I smirk before I stand up "Okay, where do we start?" I say looking at her with a determined look on my face

Maria: "Well, not here. The light will only work in the presence of Grimm. Meaning the only practice you'll get will be a trial by fire. But, what you can do is focus on creating a state of mind that you can tap into when you need it." I stare at her, my mouth slightly open as Maria holds up a blue-colored butterfly with silver dots on it "Don't think about your light as a means of destroying evil, but as a way to protect the people of Remnant."

Ruby: "But, that can't be right."

Maria: "Hm?"

Ruby: "You said the light only reacts to Grimm, but... I used it during our battle at Haven. It reacted to Cinder." I cross my arms, thinking to myself

Maria: "Interesting... Perhaps there was something that you just weren't seeing?"

Yang: Ruby! I look back surprised to see Yang by the door. I look at her confused before I walk back into the house and see that Weiss and Blake are here as well with Raiden carrying Sophie on his back behind them. 

Ruby: "Oh, hey guys." I glance to my left and see that Jaune is walking over with Ren and Nora behind him

Jaune: "What's going on?"

Blake: "It's Oscar. He's missing...we can't find (F) anywhere either." Blake says with a sad look on her face. My eyes widen in shock, like I said these past few days have been just the worst...