RWBY: Dark/Relationships

Jaune sighed and leaned back against the wall. His arm still ached from the other day. The bandage wrapped around it was itchy, but necessary. After the fight at the tower, the two Huntsmen, two Huntresses all went in for medical attention; they had to do it before Lord Ozpin was informed of their failures, otherwise they would not have gotten any at all. Now, as punishment for failing to even capture the rebels, the four of them had to spend a week in solitary confinement. Jaune was not sure what Lord Ozpin would do to Weiss, as if he cared.

Solitary confinement, to anyone outside of Ozpin's forces, would seem like sheer torture. And the first time he was put in, Jaune did think of it as that. The concrete box he was kept in was only six feet high and maybe as long and wide. The room was always pitch-black; Jaune could not even see his hand in front of his face. After a few days, he would begin to choke as he ran out of breathable air. The only opening was a pipe about as big around as a drinking straw in the right corner of the cell, which provided just enough air to keep him conscious and miserable for the entire ordeal. The only food provided was a scrap of bread that was pre-placed in the cell, leading to it being stale and stinking. It was up to the prisoner to regulate how much of it they ate a day, and Jaune had learned to skip eating every other day in order to best save it.

Yes, anyone who had never been in one of these cells before may consider this torment. But Jaune was accustomed to the pain; he had been in here many times. And when one has been in solitary confinement enough, one learns tricks to make the week a little less horrible. Tricks that Lord Ozpin did not know about, and could never know about.

As thick as the concrete walls were, a strong, muscular person like Jaune could knock on it hard enough so that the person in the adjacent cell could hear it. He had communicated with his neighbors like this until they found that the air pipe ran through at least two cells. Pyrrha had found a way to sneak in and pierce small holes in the pipes, small enough that no one would notice, but just large enough so that someone in one cell could hear someone talking in the other.

Jaune sighed again, then slowly sat up, favoring his arm, and crawled over to the pipe. He leaned his head down to it, and whispered, which was the loudest voice that he dared. "Pyrrha, are you awake?"

The cell was silent for a moment, but soon the pipe rattled slightly and his beloved's voice could faintly be heard. "Unfortunately," Pyrrha replied, her voice also a hushed whisper.

"How are you feeling?" Jaune asked.

"Not good," Pyrrha replied. "My neck is absolutely killing me. I'm pretty sure they had to pull out one of that maniac's teeth from it. It stings like hell and the bandage itches." She sighed. "So how about you?"

"Been better," Jaune whispered. "What is this, day three?"

"I don't know," Pyrrha huffed. "I rarely keep track. Helps me keep my sanity."

"How much bread do you have left?"

"Just enough to keep me alive for the next few days. I found a maggot in mine this time. Almost made me not want to eat it." Even through the pipe, Jaune heard Pyrrha gag slightly.

"Keep it," Jaune remarked. "Might be a little protein."

"You're disgusting," Pyrrha replied coldly. "Besides, it's already gone."

The two sat quietly for a moment, then Pyrrha spoke up.

"Who do you think that maniac was?"

"I don't know," Jaune replied, shaking his head. "When I first saw her, the Reaper had her on a chain and she looked like the weakest, most frail thing I had ever seen. But after she let her loose… I've seen some f*cked up sh*t out there, but that was something else."

Jaune heard Pyrrha inhale sharply on the other side. "I wish I were over there or you were over here."

"I do too,"

"I want you to hold me in your arms… I want to lay on your shoulder… like that day in the countryside. Do you remember?"

Jaune nodded. "How could I forget?"

Pyrrha huffed. "In that one moment, there was nothing but us. There was no Rebellion, no Lord Ozpin, no Grimm, no war… it was just… magical."

Jaune moved his hand closer to the pipe. "And that moment will come again, my love. One day Lord Ozpin will have no more need for us. After the Resistance is destroyed, you and I will be able to escape wherever we want to. And every day will be like that moment: just the two of us. Now and forever."

Jaune heard Pyrrha giggle slightly. "Until we decide to have the baby."

Jaune smiled. "Of course, my dearest. And you, I, and our child will spend the rest of our days… in peace."

Unknown to Jaune, Pyrrha placed her hand on the wall separating them. "No matter what, I'll make this promise to you: I will cling, I will clutch; I'll hold onto you; I won't turn away. I won't leave, I won't go; I will stay with you all our days."

Jaune's smile grew. Even in the torture of this imprisonment, Pyrrha could still make him happy. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," Pyrrha whispered back.

Jaune sat up and kissed the wall between them. Little did he know Pyrrha did it too.

Cinder sat quietly. She ran the edge of her sword over the whetstone, the blade making loud metallic noises as it scraped against the stone. She was careful to be even and straight when sharpening her blades.

Emerald was sitting on the cot across from her, her arms crossed over her lap and watching Cinder work. She too was silent, but she finally decided to speak.

"Cinder, if there's something bothering you, please talk to me." Emerald said.

Cinder exhaled loudly through her nose. "Nothing's bothering me."

"Bullsh*t," Emerald said. Cinder was surprised. Emerald usually did not use that kind of language. "There's something bothering all of us. But you seem to be even more bothered. What is it?"

Cinder scoffed at her friend's question. "Fine. Everything's bothering me. Lord Ozpin's forces are bothering me. The Reaper is bothering me. Salem's health is bothering me. Our chance at survival is bothering me. My mental state is bothering me!" she said, her voice growing louder and harsher with each sentence. Then she turned her head to look to Emerald, her eye's glare cutting at her friend. "And right now, you're bothering me."

Emerald gasped softly, then quickly averted her eyes from Cinder. "Fine," she huffed. She stood up. "I guess I'll leave you alone then." She began to walk out of the room.

Cinder saw Emerald begin to walk away and came to her senses. "Wait!" she called.

Emerald froze, but did not turn back around to face Cinder.

Cinder sighed and closed her eye. "I'm sorry. I have no right to speak to you that way. Come back, please."

Emerald stood still for a moment, then turned on her heel and marched back to her cot. She sat down again, her arms folded, her head lowered, and her eyes shut.

Cinder sighed again. "I said I'm sorry. But I wasn't lying. Everything is bothering me. The entire world is out to get us, and what do we have to stop them? Some sharp metal, a handful of guns, and a few bits of Dust. Our chances aren't good." Cinder relaxed and set the whetstone down, holding her blade limply in her hand. "We need to face it. We're no Resistance. That would imply we have a chance of winning. No, we're survivors. Survivors that are getting closer and closer to losing that title every day. And I just made it worse. Now they'll hit us hard."

Emerald opened her eyes and relaxed her muscles, though her arms remained crossed and her head remained down.

"Cinder," she said, "weren't we founded to take Remnant back? If we don't have a chance, why are we still together?"

"We had a chance when we had Salem," Cinder replied. "But we're losing her more and more every day. Gods, if I only knew what that monster did to her! Then I could fix it."

Emerald sighed. "Cinder, I know you care about Salem. I really do. I care about her too. But… she's not the Salem we knew anymore. It may be time…" she trailed off.

Cinder's eye flashed back up towards Emerald. "It may be time to what?" she asked in a deep, serious tone of angry anticipation.

Emerald inhaled, shutting her eyes again, then opened them as she replied. "It may be time to let her go. We can barely gather enough supplies, and if her mind continues to go at the rate it has been, she'll be brain-dead in a matter of months."

Cinder stared at Emerald in silence, her mouth slightly open and her glare dark, darker than Emerald had ever seen it.

"How dare you suggest such a thing," Cinder growled. "She is the whole reason we're here. She is the one who brought us together, who trained us, who educated us. She is the reason you are alive."

Emerald adjusted her head so she could look into Cinder's eye. "I know you feel strongly about her, Cinder. But we need to start thinking long term. I don't want to hurt her anymore than you do. But like you said, we're survivors, and it's going to get harder to provide for her. I could have helped you back at the tower. But I had to be here watching her. Roman could have saved Neo, Cinder, if they were both allowed to leave the base. But we're constantly short on food, and pretty soon we won't even have the means to get medicine for her anymore."

Cinder's rage was building. She was wishing she had just let Emerald leave. "What are you suggesting?" she asked through her gritted teeth.

Emerald shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know, Cinder." Tears began to form in her eyes. "Every solution I think of hurts my heart. I don't want her to suffer, Cinder. I don't want her to hurt. And above all, I don't want her to die." She sniffled and turned her head away. "The most humane thing I can think of would be just sending her off in the wasteland, but even then I ache at the thought of her out there, cold and afraid and alone… I just can't do it."

Cinder saw the tears and softened, relaxing her tense muscles and jaw. She shifted on the cot.

"You figure she has a few months, right?"

Emerald sniffled. "Yes."

Cinder looked at her boots. "Then we'll make sure those last few months are comfortable for her. But when she goes brain-dead, we'll have to leave her."

Emerald sniffled again. "I know it's not what you want to do. I know I don't. Mercury and Roman don't either. But if we're going to survive, we'll have to leave her."

Tears began to form in Cinder's eye. She shut it to hold them back. "I know."

She whispered to herself, "I know."

Weiss walked along the hallway. Lord Ozpin had called her to a special meeting in an area of the fortress she had never been before. She was nervous to say the least; she had already seen what he had done to his own forces for failing him, so she knew this was likely related. Of course, he would not dare lock her up or hurt her; the SDC would not stand for it. There would be chaos. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she feared the man.

As she approached the large marble door at the end of the hallway, it opened before her. She liked it when doors were opened for her. It was a symbol of her status. She walked into the room, her boots sending echoing footsteps in the massive chamber.

In the center of the massive room, Lord Ozpin stood. He rested on his cane, which he held with both hands in front of him. His frightening eyes stared grimly at her from behind his spectacles. Next to him was something covered in a white sheet. It was almost as tall as her and stood vertically upright, but its shape and texture were hidden by the milky shroud.

Weiss kneeled down, bowing her head. "You summoned me, my Lord?"

Lord Ozpin nodded. "Indeed, Schnee." he hissed. "You may rise."

Weiss stood up, attempting to stand as tall and as straight as she possibly could. She hoped her knees were not shaking.

Lord Ozpin eyed her, then continued. "You have recently failed me. My Huntsmen and Huntresses' report said that you engaged in combat with both the leader of the White Fang and the serial killer Ruby 'The Reaper' Rose."

That was her name? Weiss just assumed she did not have one.

"However, you failed to end their lives, and also failed to kill or capture any of the Resistance, which I specifically commanded you to do."

He turned and faced the object covered in the sheet. "Now, there must be consequences. But I know better than to punish you like I do my Huntsmen and Huntresses. So my blow will be to your pride."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. She did not know where this was going, nor how the mysterious object factored into it all.

"Effective immediately, I am replacing you." Lord Ozpin's words were cold and serious. "You will be removed from the task I have appointed you; a disgrace upon the Schnee family name."

Weiss gasped. Images of Winter and her father flashed before her eyes.

"Please, my Lord," Weiss pleaded, "I will not fail you again. I assure you."

"I know," Lord Ozpin spat back. "But in order for me to trust in your abilities and your family name again, you must prove yourself to me."

Weiss bowed her head in respect. "What must I do, my Lord? How shall I gain back your favor?"

Lord Ozpin turned his head towards her with a look of displeasure on his face. "The weapon concealed under this cloth runs on a supply of Dust. Though it takes very little to fuel, I am planning to keep it active twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Your company is going to supply it with said Dust free of charge and without question. Consider it reimbursing me for my wasted time and resources."

Weiss kneeled. "Of course. It shall be done, my Lord." She stood back up. She hesitated a moment, then decided to risk a question. "My Lord? May I ask what the weapon is?"

Lord Ozpin's gaze turned somehow even colder and more sour. However, despite his blackened gaze, he swiftly reached over and yanked the sheet off of the object, pulling the cloth to the ground.

Weiss could not believe her eyes. Before her stood what she could only describe as a metal skeleton: a chrome skull with jaws full of sharp teeth settled upon a silver-colored torso, with a ribcage full of pointed ribs housing a mess of red and orange wires and cables. The arms and legs were thin, and they ended in hands and feet with long, sharp digits. But what frightened Weiss the most were the eyes: two dim red lightbulb-like machines that rested in each thin eye socket. It looked angry and menacing.

Lord Ozpin broke her stunned silence. "Built by my personal mechanic Glynda Goodwitch with a little help from Atlas' own General Ironwood. I trust you are familiar with him?"

Weiss nodded. She had worked closely with the general and the Atlas military in the past, supplying them with Dust in exchange for POWs to use in her mine and factories.

Lord Ozpin placed one of his icy hands on the machine's shoulder. "The Prototype Endothermic Neurological Networked Youth." His voice sounded unimpressed despite him showing off. "It will be used for infiltration and assassination. A mechanical terminator." He looked down at the machine. "It will succeed where you and the others failed: it will locate, infiltrate, and eradicate the Resistance."

He turned to face Weiss. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fire Dust crystal. "Shall we boot it up?"

Weiss was afraid enough of Lord Ozpin, but him asking a rhetorical question while standing next to that mechanical… monstrosity was almost too much for her nerves to handle. She hoped that she would never feel fear like this again.

Without a word, Lord Ozpin whirled around and rammed the crystal into the machine's ribcage. The Dust began to rumble and glow as it was heated up inside the monster's innards. Once the crystal was steadily glowing, Weiss was horrified as its previously dim eyes began to glow a bright, terrifying red. Its fingers and toes wiggled, its mechanical joints whirring and clinking as they moved. Its head shifted back and forth, and its jaw suddenly swung open, then slammed back closed with a clang. It shifted its shoulders and its hips, then stood still. As if it were not terrifying enough, Weiss jumped when it spoke.

"System check complete," it said in a feminine, but distorted and tinny voice. "All systems online. Power at 100 percent capacity." Its skull-like brow lowered.

Lord Ozpin turned back to Weiss, who did her best to hide her fear.

"Admittedly impressive, I would say." Hearing him give a word of praise just added to the dread Weiss was feeling. "But there is one more thing. On top of the Dust you will be supplying, I have a bit of a… challenge for you."

Weiss noticeably jumped as there was a loud clanging on the other end of the room, and stared in awe as one of the walls opened to reveal another large room. However, it was pitch-black and Weiss could not see inside. Suddenly she saw something move forward inside, stepping into the light. She gasped and took a step back as she took in what she was seeing.

A massive suit of armor, easily eleven feet tall and holding a sword longer than she was in one of its hands. It was colored a dark silver, reflective enough to be noticeably metal, but dark and matte enough to blend in with the shadows. Beneath its helmet was… nothing. It was an abyss of empty black.

"This is a man-made Grimm," Lord Ozpin explained. "It is an amalgam of several possession-type Grimm that we have captured and combined, then forced into this object. It is one of my personal Grimm… a pet, if you will. A pet that is mine to torture and torment as I please. But I've grown bored of this pet. So, to prove yourself to me and restore my faith in your family name, you will fight it, and you will kill it. Only then will you have proven yourself to me."

With that, Lord Ozpin began walking past her, the chilling robot following close behind. He walked past her, but stopped once he was behind her. The robot continued and exited the room.

"And if it kills you," Lord Ozpin hissed, "then my suspicions will have been confirmed." Then he continued walking. Weiss drew her rapier and stepped forward, her monstrous foe doing so as well.

Lord Ozpin stepped out of the room, the door closing behind him. The machine was waiting. He looked into its red eyes. "Are you ready for deployment?"

The machine stared back at him. "Affirmative, my Lord." Its metal brow dropped again, giving it a look of anger and determination.

"I am combat ready."

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