Chapter Text
Maria Calavera gently patted her grief stricken friend on the back as he continued to sob quietly, hunched over Amity’s controls. Penny hadn’t responded, and her signal had cut out after she had fallen out of range and back to the surface of Remnant. She didn’t want to say it, but it was likely that the poor girl had burned up.
Maria glanced back at Pietro; she didn’t have to say it, he already knew.
Now that Amity had transmitted Ruby’s message there wasn’t much for them to do except fall back down. Just like Penny. No, not like Penny. Amity still had a couple of functioning stabilisers. Their fall would be quite graceful, all things considered.
Unless the other stabilisers burned up.
Really though, it was very lucky that they had begun falling. If they had actually achieved orbit with that huge hole melted all the way through thanks to that crazy Cinder girl... Maria shuddered. It didn’t bear thinking about. She sighed and turned away to give Pietro some privacy-
Her vision went white.
“Oh, what the-!” She planted her walking stick in front of her and leaned on it, fighting the sudden vertigo. Damned technology! Pietro had fixed her eyes not long ago, there hadn’t been a single malfunction or warning sign that something was wrong before now. Maria considered asking him for help, but decided to hold her tongue. He was grieving; he wasn’t in the right mind to fiddle with her eyes. She’d just wait and see -ha!- if her vision would return on its own.
She discretely slapped them a few times, that usually did the trick, and blinked them. It sounded like they blinked, she heard the familiar clink of the shutter mechanism, but no picture was being transmitted. She squinted as if she was trying to focus on something. Slapped them again. Still nothing. Ugh, well... she’d have to say something.
“Pietro, I know this isn’t the best time but my eyes have stopped working again.”
There was complete silence.
“Pietro?” She hadn’t heard him leave and she was damned sure she’d have heard that chair scampering away; she couldn’t even hear the sounds of his grief. “Pietro!” No response.
Had their attackers returned? Her pulse quickened as she strained to hear something, anything that could be happening around her. She hefted her walking stick, deploying the scythe blade within. Though her semblance gave no indications of imminent attack, she cautiously turned-
Suddenly she could see again.
“What the-?” She froze, eye shutters retracting as she stared around herself.
White painted walls surrounded her, a plush plum coloured shaggy carpet covered the floor and a variety of seats filled the space, white with plum cushions, all facing a large screen which dominated one of the walls. It seemed to be made to comfortably seat a dozen or so people, though it was a very impersonal space, clearly more of a showroom set than an actually lived in room.
There was no overhead light, instead there seemed to be square window sections in a vertical line down each wall about a foot or two from every corner of the room, all emitting a bright white glow. She frowned and tapped her eyes, then held a hand out in front of her. No shadows. At all. She looked up. There were no light sections in the roof. Those wall lights couldn’t actually be creating this much illumination; they weren’t emitting a strong enough glow. In fact the light seemed to be coming from every direction all at once.
Glancing around, she noticed that there were no doors on any of the walls. No possible way in or out, yet here she was.
It didn’t make any sense.
Nothing made sense.
How had she arrived here? Where was Pietro? How had she left Amity?
Wait. Had she actually left?
That small pink and brown girl had made herself look like Ruby, could she affect a large area? The green haired girl could also affect her perceptions, if what she’d been told was true. Could all of this be some sort of illusion?
She grimaced and swiftly struck out at the nearest wall. Her scythe impacted with a jarring clang. So there really was a wall there. She withdrew her weapon and inspected the wall. It wasn’t marked at all. No groove from the blade, no chip in the paint. Not even a scratch. She quickly inspected her weapon; no damage.
She methodically subjected each piece of furniture to the same test and received the same result. Everything was actually there, but it was completely impervious to damage. The chairs were even a comfortable material, but no amount of pressure from her blade could even dent the cushions.
“What in the world?” she wondered aloud.
A sudden warning from her semblance had her dodging to the side as a bright light flashed where she had been standing and a dark blob began to emerge. Maria growled to herself and once again tapped her eyes, attempting to force them to focus.
“Ah!” A familiar shout of surprise echoed around the room as her eyes finally focussed, and the blobby form that pitched forward onto the carpet turned out to be none other than young Oscar Pine.
“Oscar! I don’t know how we got here or where here is, but I sure am glad to see a familiar face.” Maria said, walking forward to help the boy to his feet. He looked around wide eyed and confused and then at her. Her breath caught as she got a clearer look at him. He was black and blue. Purpling bruises littered his face, one eye was swollen and his lip had a wide split which had tried to scab over.
“Huh? Where?” He looked around, seemingly bewildered. “Is this the pathway?”
“Come again?” She asked faintly. Who’s decided to strike the boy, now? She wondered, silently promising retribution. What’s been happening down there?
“Ambrosius made-” he paused and sighed, probably realising she had no idea who he was talking about, and shook his head. “Oh, I’m sorry Miss Calavera. Erm... Ambrosius is the spirit of the Relic of Creation, we asked him to make a pathway from Atlas and Mantle to Vacuo so we could evacuate everyone. I’d just stepped through the doorway and” he looked around, gesturing uselessly “ended up here.”
“Well... putting all that aside,” a door to Vacuo? What in the world? “I was on Amity and I didn’t see any kind of doorway.” She shrugged. “My eyes stopped working and then I was here.”
“This can’t be right, unless... what if they didn’t word it correctly?” He reached out to the nearest wall and then shook his head. “No, you’re right. We’d still be in Vacuo regardless.”
“I didn’t say anything about Vacuo.” She said, confused and then realised who he must be talking to. “Ah.”
“Yeah, he... came back.”
“Well has he seen anything like this before?”
“No, never... well... actually. Maybe?” Oscar looked around. He held his hand out like Maria had done, seemingly making the same observation she had. “Not this room, but a space lit from seemingly every direction at once.” He turned to look at her, his young eyes wide. “When he was given his mission from the God of Light.”
“Hmph, doesn’t explain why I’m here.”
“Er, no...I guess not.” He deflated and hung his head.
“What happened to you?” she asked him, unable to keep silent with that black eye standing out so starkly on his brightly lit face. He startled and looked away.
“I-” He cut off gratefully as another bright flash briefly lit the room, this time in the centre, and a white coffee table appeared. “Huh?” He swiftly moved towards it, latching onto the distraction with the desperation of a drowning man, and picked up a plum coloured envelope off its surface. “Someone’s sent us a letter.”
“Someone’s going overboard with the colour coordination.” Maria muttered mutinously, briefly glaring up at the ceiling as the beaten young man busied himself with the letter. “Alright then, Oscar. What does it say?” She asked, moving to stand beside him. He released the letter from the envelope and angled it so they could both read it. Such a thoughtful child.
There were only two sentences, the first in a bright, sparkly gold and the second in a dark plum purple.
Reviewing the past will aid you in planning the future.
This is a gift, use it wisely.
“Reviewing the past?” Oscar read aloud, frowning in confusion. “What does that mean?”
“Well, I guess you were right about this space being from the Gods.” Maria shook her head and shrugged. “Now we know how we got here and why.” That must be why there are no doors.
“Is this Judgement Day?” he whispered to himself, and then sighed heatedly. “But the relics aren’t gathered together... it doesn’t make sense!”
“Oscar.” Maria took the letter from him and placed it back on the coffee table. “From the moment I met you kids in that train crash and had a floating blue woman show me visions of Humanities extinction and second evolution, I’ve known one thing.”She took his hands gently in hers and looked him in the eye. “None of this makes sense.” He blinked slowly. “So why not enjoy the crazy ride while we’re still alive, huh?”
“Yeah... while we’re alive.” He trailed off dejectedly and seemed to stare into the middle distance.
Maria sighed. Damn, that wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for. Boy, it sure would be nice to have a little Divine Intervention right about now!
A bright flash again lit up the area and another person fell through, followed closely by another. They tumbled together, a mass of flailing limbs. Maria recognised them both, though she was only pleased to see one of them.
She swiftly hefted her scythe and dashed forwards, holding the blade above the throat of the green haired girl. Wide red eyes stared up at her, shocked before turning resigned. The girl sighed.
“Be careful young man, we seem to have picked up a stray.” Maria warned him as he extracted himself from the tangle.
“Jaune! Emerald!” Oscar’s voice brightened as he called out their names.
“Oscar? Miss Calavera?” Jaune asked, confused. “Wait! Don’t hurt her, she’s on our side!”
“Seriously? Just what the hell has been happening down there?” she grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the green girl, who just stared back passively. Since when was she on their side? She’d just attacked Penny. She’d only withdrawn when that Cinder girl was knocked out. Maria had seen her running off carrying her unconscious body, crying her eyes out that it wasn’t going her way.
“It’s a long story.” Jaune said, as if that excused him from explaining. “Wait, this isn’t the pathway, where are we?” He asked, taking his first look around the room.
“Miss Calavera, please. Let her up.” Oscar asked gently.
“What happened to Penny?” Maria asked, unmoved. Her blade remained poised over the girl’s neck.
“Penny is fine.” He soothed, but she snorted in disbelief.
“She fell from Amity, she can’t be fine.” She said, the recent memory of Pietro’s sobbing in the back of her mind.
“She is, trust me. She’s made from very robust materials, she was damaged in the fall but she survived.”
“It’s true. She’s with Ruby right now.” Jaune piped up.
“Miss Calavera, Emerald saved my life.” Oscar said.
“When? She just left Amity with her tail between her legs.” She sneered down at the girl, who scowled and looked away.
“That was hours ago- Oh.” He trailed off, sounding like he’d had an epiphany. “We didn’t put a doorway on Amity; they must have taken you at a different point in time.”
“Who took her? Where are we?” Jaune asked, now sounding quite worried.
“The Gods have brought us here to... review our past.” Oscar said, hesitating over saying something so odd aloud.
“...What?” Jaune asked after a moment of complete silence.
“I know it sounds crazy” Oscar said, “but is it anymore unbelievable than what the relics themselves can do?” He stepped into Maria’s line of sight. “Please Miss Calavera; at the very least believe that the Gods brought her here for a reason.”
“I thought you said it was for judgement or something, maybe this is why she’s here.”
“No, I was wrong. The note said to review the past so we can plan the future. Besides, Judgement day isn’t a gift.” Oscar- no. Ozpin said wryly. Maria looked at him, noting the difference between the man and the poor boy he was inhabiting. He stood taller, managing the pain from his injuries much easier than Oscar could. He also chose his words far more effectively.
“Alright, but I’ll be watching her closely.” Maria relented, withdrawing her scythe and allowing Emerald to quickly roll to her feet.
“So... we’re reviewing something?” The green haired girl asked, moving to stand beside Oscar and pointedly avoiding looking at Maria.
“It seems so.”
“Hmm... I can’t see anywhere to input a data storage device.” Jaune said, drawing their attention to the large screen dominating the far wall. “I can’t get it to interface with my Scroll either.” He looked back at Ozpin. “How are we supposed to ‘review’ anything?”
“I-”
A bright burst of light interrupted them and with a brief flash of pink another person began to emerge into the room.
Maria sighed and gestured around at all of the seats. “I guess we’re waiting for more people to join us.”
Thank you for reading!
You know, I'm not sure if I want Team RWBY to be there or not. Nearly every other watching the series story has them and its quite repetative to read.
Who do you think should join them for the viewing and why? I really need some suggestions because I'm just not sure!
The idea behind this one is that the ones in the viewing room will be the ones to remember everything they see and act on what they know when they leave the room.
Leaving the room will only be done when they have a good plan in place that has the approval of the Brother Gods.
At what point in their timeline will they emerge? Good question. ;)