ushernet 'Sins are sins…”
'Sins are sins…”
It took me a while to calm down, and when I did, I could still feel the joy and happiness coursing through my body.
It was somewhat subconscious, but it seemed like my resentment, so to speak, towards the moon had grown more than I had realized; after all, just a simple sight of a shattered moon was enough to make me laugh hysterically.
Funny... This wasn't even Terraria's moon; I knew that, but it didn't matter to me at that moment...
"Thank you..." I thanked the silver-eyed girl, a sincere gratitude. I don't think even she knows how much that sight cheered me up... Relieved me...
I would eventually see the moon myself in this month I'd spend in Remnant, but knowing that she cared enough was already enough for me...
Ruby, who had been silent until then, smiled cheerfully.
"It was nothing." She smiled carelessly.
I was the first to look away, glancing one last time at the night sky before turning to look at the distant forest.
"It's late, don't you have early classes tomorrow?" The stream clock read almost midnight. I knew it was the weekend, but whether it was Saturday or Sunday, I wasn't sure.
"We do, but it won't be the first time we've stayed up late." Yang shrugged, a visible curiosity shining in her amethyst-colored eyes. "Want to talk about it?" She asked.
"About what?..." It was obvious. "...The moon, my reaction?" She nodded. I understood her curiosity, from everyone, including (CHAT).
It wasn't a secret at this point that I harbored some sort of resentment towards the moon; to be fair, it was more like an open secret—I didn't comment on it, but anyone observant enough could notice.
The why was another story; none of them knew for sure, and if it were up to me, it would remain that way for as long as possible.
"It's nothing, just got happier than I expected." I changed the subject. "It was a surprise too, I can say it's the first time I've seen a shattered moon in real life." I had seen movies or anime with a broken moon, even two or more moons, but seeing it in reality was another story.
"For us too." Weiss spoke. "I mean, seeing a whole moon. For Remnant, the moon has always been like that, shattered, seeing one that wasn't was surprising." She explained.
The HOTD moon was the first moon I showed on the stream...
I chatted a few more minutes with the girls, Ruby leading much of the conversation when Houtengeki was mentioned.
"Can I try lifting it?" She asked eagerly.
"No." I replied without hesitation. "Crescent Rose weighs what? Twenty kilograms?..."
"Twenty-two kilograms and three hundred and four grams." Ruby spoke between my words.
"...Well, Houtengeki weighs twenty times more than that, you'll end up hurting yourself if you try to lift it." I didn't lose pace with the extremely specific number and continued.
I didn't want to be forced to spend part of a potion because she, or Yang, who I knew would try to lift the halberd like a bench press, strained a muscle or worse.
As much as I could feel Aura aiding in the body's basic regeneration, I didn't know how much, especially comparing my own regeneration to others', breaking an arm was at this point a mild injury like a scratch.
We continued talking until we reached their dormitory, the bunk beds still existed, I thought it had been a hallucination...
"Are you going to come in to sleep with us?~" Yang spoke provocatively.
The four, including Yang, blushed at the double entendre in the sentence, some more than others.
"You know I'm still streaming, right?" I asked looking at her. The way she blushed even more when she seemed to remember this fact made me laugh.
"I'll pass, still have some things to do." Ozpin had asked me to talk to him earlier. I also had to go talk to James about Tyrian. "Before I forget... Here, for when I turn off the stream." I handed the Radio Thing to Ruby.
I'll leave Lucy with her, the two had gotten along well.
"Yay! We have the radio, Lucy!" Ruby showed the Radio Thing to the axe.
("We have the radio, friend Ruby!") The axe didn't waste time responding.
"Should I be worried?" Yang asked with her cheeks still slightly red.
"Turn off the radio if Ruby doesn't want to go to sleep." I spoke calmly.
"That's not very reassuring..." Blake murmured. She had the best hearing, right?... Four ears and all... That was still kind of confusing to be honest.
I shook my head amusedly.
"Just don't throw it against the wall or something, and it should be fine." The durability of the Radio Thing was high, but it was better not to risk it.
After curiously receiving four goodnight hugs instead of just one, which surprised me a bit, the girls went into their dormitory.
"Goodnight..." I said one last time, a murmur, before continuing to walk.
I walked through the dark corridors of the school for a few minutes, listening to whispers in the distance, students' conversations, the sound of the wind drifting in the distance...
I walked until I returned to Beacon's rooftop, going to the edge to sit, watching the forest in the distance and the moon above, the night sky.
I must have been there for a few minutes, mostly in silence, just speaking a few words here and there with (CHAT), which included team RWBY that hadn't gone to sleep yet to have company.
After some time, the green dot I had been following on the minimap for a while approached, and the door leading to the rooftop opened behind me.
"You could've sent a message." Ozpin spoke as he walked, his steps echoing in the night's silence, along with the slight noise his cane made as it hit the ground.
"I'm pretty sure I did." I said without turning.
"Looking at a random camera and then pointing upwards isn't exactly a message." He said with a sigh, but I could hear the amusement in his voice.
"You still found me, didn't you?" I asked.
"Not because of the camera, but because Miss Winter was watching the stream and alerted us of your actions." He replied, sitting beside me on the rooftop.
"You still found me, didn't you?" I repeated the words before laughing for a moment. My mood was good, too bad I felt like it wouldn't last long...
"Touche." He laughed too and fell silent.
We must have stayed like that for a few minutes, just looking at the night sky and the forest in the distance, in silence, before Ozpin resumed the conversation.
"You truly are from another world, aren't you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"I am..." My voice came out in a low tone. In every world, I would be someone from another world... "Have you watched some old videos from the stream?" I also already knew the answer to that question.
"Yes. It was enlightening in many ways." Ozpin spoke, slowly moving the cane that was in his lap with his fingers. "To say the least, a surprise, even for me..." He looked up, not directly at the moon, but at the stars dotting the sky. "Thank you..."
"For what?" I asked somewhat confused, but having an idea of why he was thanking me.
"A confirmation of an old question of mine..." As I thought...
"If we are alone?" I don't think there's a human being who hasn't thought about that at least once in their life. "You, in this case." I wasn't from Remnant.
"Yes..." He nodded. "As I said, it was quite a surprise."
"I imagine so. How was everyone's reaction?" I asked after a moment. Damn, I should've stayed there to watch the reaction, at least Qrow's, it must have been funny.
"Various degrees of shock, denial, and finally, acceptance." He chuckled. "Qrow was the first to leave the room, saying he needed a drink." Ozpin explained. "The second to leave after him was James, he gave the excuse that he was going to take Tyrian back to his cell, but I'm sure it was to sort out his own thoughts." He paused before continuing.
"Miss Winter followed James, she seemed the most shocked of all, I can't blame her, especially since she said she was talking to her (CHAT)." He shook his head with a amused smile.
"(CHAT)'s people are friendly, don't worry." I replied with a smile. A group of diverse and welcoming crazies, in a way.
I had seen her messages, replied to some, but mostly left it for (CHAT) to have fun replying. Funny how she became a member of the stream in just a few minutes without hesitation, it seems Weiss's family was really rich.
"I'll take your word for it." He nodded without doubt. "Glynda was the last to leave, and the most skeptical too, but when she was finally convinced, she took some headache medicine and went to bed, but I wouldn't be surprised if I find one or two empty wine bottles in her office trash tomorrow."
They were taking everything quite calmly, that was good.
"And you?" I asked. He hadn't said anything about his own reaction.
"I've seen many things in my life, as surprising as your situation may be, it's not something that will shake me easily." Was his response, and I believed him, he seemed calm... His eyes were old, they seemed to have seen a lot...
I was slightly tempted to say that this world was a TV show in my original world to see what his reaction would be, but I restrained myself, too many surprises in a single day couldn't be too good for the heart, and Ozpin seemed to be of a certain age already.
"Tell me, Ozpin, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked. I don't think he came here just to make small talk.
"Many things... But I don't think it's the right time for that conversation, as much as I've said I wasn't shaken, my thoughts are full at the moment," he explained, looking up.
"In fact, I came here not only because you were here, but because I have an old habit of looking at the stars when I want to organize my mind, something ancient, which I've carried since childhood..." The way his voice sounded as if it had been a long time ago than it seemed.
"I can't say I've acquired that same habit over the years, but I can understand." I've never been one to look at the night much, but I liked to be alone whenever I had a lot on my mind, so I could understand.
Minutes passed in silence as the moon rose higher in the sky, before I finally decided to end the stream, it was already late.
"Well, that's it for today, a busy day, isn't it?" I said to the camera. More than busy, tumultuous was the right word. "Go to sleep, regular programming tomorrow."
I let (CHAT) send their goodnight emotes before waving and turning off the stream.
"Curious, I thought you'd leave the stream on twenty-four hours, at least on normal days," Ozpin asked beside me, getting up when I did.
"I know my viewers, I know well that many would try to stay awake with me, no matter how many days the stream lasts, and that's not good for them." Whether I liked it or not, I influenced all my viewers.
Just as I had policed my swearing, reducing it, out loud at least, I knew that sleep deprivation would eventually mess with the minds and bodies of many people, even if mine didn't.
I could stay awake for weeks at this point, months probably, my body didn't tire and my mind grew stronger every day, but I knew others didn't have that disposition.
"Responsible of you, even if it's not your responsibility," Ozpin said with a certain respect in his voice.
"There are crazies in every world and somehow they seem to be drawn to the stream." Peculiarities were not lacking in (CHAT), especially in (CHAT - FATES). "Many of them have become my friends, I don't want them to sleep badly because of me if I can avoid it," I said amused.
Some I knew would try to stay awake with me, for one reason or another, were Ruby, Stark, Percy, Harry, Ainz, even though the latter didn't need to sleep and would watch me out of curiosity and boredom.
"Speaking of crazies, James told me that Tyrian woke up some time ago, but they couldn't get anything out of him," Ozpin informed me. "Thought you'd like to know."
"I figured it would be like that." Tyrian was the perfect mold of a psychopath, if he didn't want to talk, he wouldn't, even if they tortured him...
Tyrian realized the moment he was thrown into the center of the clearing that his heart was racing, as fast as if he were in the middle of a hunt, behind his delicious prey at the behest of his Goddess... But his feelings didn't mirror those moments...
It was as if his instincts were heightened for a different reason... He could feel every single blade of grass touching his skin, hear every whisper... With each movement the human made, his eyes instinctively turned to see what he was doing, as if taking him out of his sight were more than a mistake...
What is this? Tyrian wondered. Why was his body acting like this? Was it because of the blood loss? No, he had lost more before and none of this had happened.
Because of the headache? The whispers?... Perhaps. The faun thought. Those voices... What were they?... Was this the human's Semblance?...
"No, this isn't my Semblance," the human replied, as if he were reading his thoughts. "I'm not reading your thoughts either, Tyrian... You're muttering the words..." The human explained, pausing in his words deliberately slowly.
"The voices are unpleasant, aren't they?" the human approached slowly, Tyrian watched every move, every step, every ripple of the human's muscles attentively, his heightened senses, his vision...
Tyrian widened his eyes when he realized... Everything was dark... It wasn't supposed to be dark... He was a faun, his night vision was excellent, he was supposed to see the night as if it were day!
"Are your thoughts confused?..." The human spoke in a low tone. "Forgot you could see in the dark?..." He came even closer. "Forgot your own kind?... Madness, isn't it?..." He laughed in a low, hoarse tone, a sound that seemed to intensify the whispers and voices...
"You..." Tyrian struggled to speak the word, his throat was dry, his vocal cords felt more like sandpaper than anything else...
"Me?..." The human took another step. When had he put on that deer mask?... "What about me, Tyrian?..." Another step... No...
"Don't come any closer." His voice was meant to be a shout, a threat, but it sounded more like a weak, fragile plea, just as his prey always did when he played with them... And just as he ignored them, the human ignored him... Moving closer one step at a time...
Tyrian jerked his head quickly when he felt a hand grip his shoulder... A dark hand... He recognized that hand, it was one of those hands the human controlled when he saved the silver-eyed girl and the blonde fool from his clutches...
When his other shoulder was gripped by another hand, Tyrian's head turned once again, making his neck ache with the speed... And then another hand appeared, this time holding his right arm... When had the chains disappeared?...
This was the moment to rise, to fight... To flee, a small voice whispered in the back of Tyrian's head, swallowed by the endless whispers, muffled and drowned by the sea of voices echoing from all sides...
Tyrian didn't move as a fourth hand held his left arm, his body seemed not to listen... He didn't even react when two more hands held his legs, pinning him to the ground...
When the seventh hand held his head in place, making him look up, at the full moon, bright and round in the sky, he tried to speak... Hindered when an eighth and final hand covered his mouth...
"You know... Do me a favor..." The human's voice echoed from all sides, even though he was next to Tyrian, looking down at him. "... If what I'm about to do hurts... Scream, I won't stop, but I'll know what to improve next time I do it..." The voice echoed, increasing the shiver Tyrian felt down his spine.
Tyrian's widened eyes glanced at the holes in the human's mask, two terror-filled eyes staring at two emotionless white spheres... Then the human stooped down, placing a hand on his face, and everything went dark...
Tyrian didn't remember screaming, but his throat ached as if he had; he didn't remember moving, but he woke up on a beach alone...
"What?..." The faun looked around. This... Was this real?
Tyrian almost instantly noticed his tail swinging behind him, a tail he had lamented for a few moments had been cut... What?
"Was all that some kind of... Hallucination?" Had he eaten something poisoned without realizing it? Some kind of medicine Hazel had tested on him without him noticing?
"No, Tyrian, what happened wasn't a hallucination..." A childlike voice echoed behind Tyrian.
A shiver ran down Tyrian's spine again when he heard the voice; when he was about to turn to fight, he was stopped, again by the eight hands holding his body tightly.
"You would attack a child?... I should have expected as much..." The voice drew closer, the owner walking deliberately slowly to his front... Tyrian recognized him.
Though he was much younger, in a body of seven, maybe eight years, or more, Tyrian couldn't discern children's ages, the human still had the same features... Still wore the same deer mask...
Two white holes stared at the faun trapped by the black hands, below him, a playful smile on the human child's face.
"It took a few tries, but it seems possible..." The human murmured without removing the smile from his face. "Come, let's take a walk." The human inhabiting his child self spoke, turning around and starting to walk.
Tyrian felt the hands holding him lift him off the ground, and drag him through the air behind, following the human like eight puppies vying for their owner's attention.
Tyrian tried to struggle, to tear the hands that held him, but nothing worked...
Even when he instinctively used his tail that had been ripped off this morning, the most he managed was to make the hand covering his mouth move to grip the tail tightly, preventing it from moving.
"Don't struggle, I don't want to accidentally drop you in the sea." The childlike voice sounded again in front of him. Drop in the sea?
Tyrian stopped moving, looking around, it was then that he realized he was no longer on the beach, but rather on top of a bridge connecting the beach to somewhere else, spanning over the ocean.
"Where are we?..." Tyrian managed to say with a hoarse voice, ignoring the pain in his throat. "What the hell did you do... Where have you brought me!" The faun shouted, before coughing, saliva and blood mixing every time air was expelled from his lungs.
"Don't bleed on my bridge, it was a hell of a job to build it." The human child looked at the blood with a disgusted look before shaking his head and turning away, ignoring the faun's question.
Tyrian didn't ask any more questions, as much as he wanted to, he knew the human wouldn't answer; it would only make his throat bleed more.
The human child and the scorpion faun walked for some time on the bridge, the former taking short steps with his short legs, while the latter floated, dragged by black hands that swayed as if they weren't really real...
Tyrian noticed that the sea around them began to change after a while, the clear waters becoming increasingly darker, in a sickly purple hue, before turning into a thick sludge as the two approached what seemed to be an island on the other side of the bridge.
The ground was purple, the earth seeming dry and wet at the same time, as if poisoned, rotten; the same happened with the thick roots that seemed like veins running through the ground, coming from trees so dry they seemed dead, but were alive.
The whole island was like a rotten and poisoned swamp, with thorny shrubs next to small puddles as black as tar that pulsed, releasing bubbles that smelled so horrible Tyrian's nose wrinkled even from a distance.
It was like a distorted version of the Grimm Lands, Tyrian realized, the environment as malicious as it, but seemingly serving the human child in front of him as the Grimm Lands served his Goddess.
"It took me some time to separate this thing from the main island, but it was worth it... I don't think I'll ever get used to this smell..." The human child murmured, taking short steps through the swamp.
With each step the human child took, the roots on the ground intertwined, one by one, until they formed a wooden path for him to walk on smoothly, it was as if the whole place wanted to serve him with its best.
It didn't take long for the human child to stop his steps, reaching where he wanted to go, in front of what seemed to be a huge lake of black mud that bubbled as if boiling, releasing bubbles that created waves in the thick liquid.
"A Grimm Pool?!" Tyrian ignored the pain and blood as he shouted. What was this doing here? How was it here?!
That question, the human child answered.
"I don't know what a Grimm Pool is, but this isn't one," the human child replied. "It's just my nightmare energy in its most... Primitive form, so to speak." Nightmare energy? What... What was that?
Tyrian received no answer to his question before being lifted even higher into the air, just above the large pool of black mud.
"Last chance, something you shouldn't have, speak and I'll kill you. Don't speak and you'll have a nice dive." The human child's voice echoed, the entire island rejoicing at his words.
"You... Think that scares me?" Tyrian spat the words with blood dripping into the mud below and disappearing. "I will never betray my Goddess, throw me, I'll just become a Grimm and continue serving." The madness in his voice was not like his usual madness... It was darker... Truly insane...
The human child neither smiled nor showed emotion, as if waiting for the faun's response, and murmured, more to themselves than for Tyrian to hear.
"Sins are sins... I'll accept mine... No matter what they are..." The human child's voice was serene... Calm...
Tyrian didn't have time to speak when the hands holding him in the air opened, letting him fall into the mud lake.
Tyrian didn't have time to react when he felt his body and perhaps something more burn and corrode upon falling into the mud.
Tyrian didn't have time to struggle when dozens of hands as black as pitch emerged from the mud and dragged him down.
The human child looked at the spot where the faun's body had been swallowed by the mud without showing emotion.
"Sins are sins..." He murmured.
... Not even reacting when a clearly human, or in this case, faun hand, appeared in that same spot...
The black hand dragged itself out of the mud lake, the body to which it belonged rising slowly... Tyrian... But the human child knew it wasn't him anymore.
Both the skin and clothes of the ex-faun were an unnatural black color, like the Grimm he had killed that morning... Like the hallucinations that plagued WinterHord...
His eyes were of a ghostly white hue, like two soulless, empty voids, concealed much like his face, behind a mask crafted from bones, resembling that of the Grimms... Identical to the one the human child wore... A deer mask...
As the former faunus and the human child locked eyes, for a moment Tyrian's eyes, his irises, gleamed in a sickly purple hue... His Semblance...
The human child looked at the ex-faun with a certain regret before his voice sounded throughout the island.
"Tell me, Tyrian... What do you know about the Queen of the Grimm... What's her name?" The human child asked...
"Salem, my master, her name is Salem..." Tyrian didn't hesitate for even a moment.
... And like a loyal servant, Tyrian replied...
The human opened his eyes after having all the answers and information he wanted from Tyrian, 'waking up' again in the Emerald Forest, with his hand above the faun's body, who had wide and empty eyes, even though his chest moved.
"Perhaps torturing him would have been more humane than this..." The human murmured.
Tyrian's mind was dead, ripped away... Even though his body wasn't, his consciousness taken and twisted by madness, ready to serve as a servant... Even part of his soul torn away... A small part, but still, a part of his soul...
Even if reincarnation existed in this world beyond Ozpin's, which Tyrian had told the human about, the next life of the faun could not truly be counted as a next life, but as a restart...
Everything that made this soul 'Tyrian' had been taken, his memories, emotions, thoughts... Even his Semblance... Tyrian, for all intents and purposes, had been forcibly purged from Remnant... Trapped in forced servitude, a punishment for all the crimes he committed...
"Sins are sins..." The human murmured one last time... "I'll carry yours too..." It was the least he could do after everything...
The human tore off the head of Tyrian's vegetative state body with a simple swing of his halberd and stowed them both inside the VoidBag before the head even rolled, and then began walking back to Beacon...
Upon a shattered moon... The human walked... It was lucky that there were no Grimm nearby... Lucky for them...
... With dozens of red eyes in his shadow, looking in all directions, ready to defend their master if anything was foolish enough to attack.
[...]---[...]
I'll be brief here, as it's 5 in the morning and I have to wake up early... My brain is melting...
Well, I liked how this chapter turned out, the interactions between Devas and Ozpin, I think I managed to convey what I wanted to, even with Ironwood and his suspicion.
As for Tyrian... Well, nightmare energy affects the mind... Why not try to use it to pull someone else's mind, with no defense against such an attack, into your own mind?...
Devas is accompanied now... His shadow has been moving in the last few chapters... Hasn't it moved?...
Well, I'll explain why everything happened in the next chapter and how Devas did what he did, meanwhile, I'll leave it at that...
As always, good night to everyone and happy reading!
PS: Chapter with nearly 7k words for you all!
PSS: I didn't miss in the description when Tyrian saw the moon...