The Games We Play

Chapter 33: Return

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Return

"You're unharmed, sir?" Faraj asked, waiting for me as I glided into the White Whale. I'd taken a quick trip through the town to make sure no one was being left behind before swinging into the Dust Warehouse to rob it blind. I felt a little bad about that, theft and all, but as it had been mined with what amounted to slavery and well, the feeling passed pretty quickly. Was that a justification to make myself feel like I had the right to take it? Maybe, but whether for the return trip or once the refugees reached Vale, I was sure it'd come in handy.

I glanced at Faraj and then closed my eyes for a moment, smiling confidently. I still had my mask on, but my cloak was now around my waist, my upper body and tail 'revealed.' Faraj was the only one nearby, which made me wonder whether that meant the others were scared of me or if they were busy getting passengers in order. I could sense others nearby through Crocea Mors, drawing just close enough to peak glimpses at me, but the majority had withdrawn into the various seating areas in the dark bowels of the ship.

I didn't answer the question, partially because I didn't want to invent a response and partially because casual arrogance portrayed a more reassuring picture of strength. Being under the wing of someone who'd won effortlessly and thought nothing of it looked better than being under one who'd been thrown around, nearly got crushed, and only won thanks to bullshit and cheating, even if the latter was true. The funny thing about imageit was a powerful thing even if it was built out of lies. I was reminded of that just by looking into Faraj's eyes and seeing the awe there.

"We saw your fight," He said, following me as I walked past. "Against the Hunter. At least bits of it, when buildings weren't in the way. All of that and not a scratchand when you won"

"Is everyone in place?" I asked easily, smoothly interrupting him. A part of me, a big part, felt uncomfortable that they'd seen me tear Penny limb from limb. As far away as they had been, even Faunus probably hadn't been able to make out details which would hopefully preserve Penny's secret, butI wondered what the people I was saving thought of me, having seen that fight. Were they uplifted by the image of a powerful protector or terrified that they'd climbed aboard a monsters ship.

I felt Crocea Mors hum through the ship, reminding me of where I stoodof broken windows and scarred metal, of barren steel and torn carpets and cloth. And the White Fang with them, bearing witness as I dismembered one of their enemiesit was hard to imagine a savior flying this monster of a ship.

"Um," Faraj said, stiffening as he got control of himself. "Yes, sir, or just about. I sent the others ahead to make sure everyone was seated. We're, uh, ready"

He trailed off, sounding nervous, so I gave him my attention.

"Um, sir," He almost stuttered under my gaze. "II don't know if anyone else has noticed or how many, butthe ship"

He gestured vaguely.

"It'sdamaged, sir," He finished lamely. "I'm a pilot myself and, uhI saw some damage so I checked andit won't"

He trailed off as I continued to look at him, swallowing slightly. I tilted my head, understanding what he meant, and then snapped my fingers.

The ship rumbled to life. After a moment, I felt it begin to move, systems shifting and aligning to lift the ship and slowly withdraw the landing gear. I waited patiently as my Elementals went through the well-practiced motions, power slowly draining to fuel their actions. I'd like to materialize them as soon as possible, but first things first.

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"There is no need to concern yourself with the ship," I said simply and he nodded quickly, eyes wide. One of the things I had I admit I was going to miss when this was over? Not having to explain myself. As a dark, mysterious, dangerous figure, no one asked me any questionsof course I knew how to fly a ship, fight, heal, and any other skill I happened to require, however unlikely; no, there was no need to wonder how. I mean, what was I, a normal person?

Supervillainsor superheroes or criminal masterminds or whatever it was I qualified as nowdidn't need stuff like logical explanations. If a sixteen year old boy had snapped his fingers and made a massive, lifeless ship fly, there would have been questions, shock, confusion, demands for an explanation. But when the man in a Nevermore mask did it?

Faraj just accepted it.

"Return to the others and make sure that everything remains in order," I commanded calmly. "It's about time we left."

"Sir," The Faunus bowed, taking a step away before lifting his head and turning away.

I continued the rest of the way to the cockpit alone, drawing my Elementals around me as I closed the door. With a moment's effort and few things from my Inventory I'd given them form as well and felt the burden of the ship shift, settling on many shoulders instead of just my own. I cast one last look out the window, glancing over the town. With sharp eyes I spotted a small figure prone on the ground, Penny slowly beginning to move her limbs with quick twitches and jerks before going still. Even as she did, she looked up at me, green eyes bright.

Without another word, we were off.

XxXXxX

The beginning of my voyage home was thankfully lesseventful then my trip away from it. We left before any new pursuers had arrived and flown full speed out of Atlas. I'd kept an eye out for trouble and done my best to make it as hard to follow me as possible, but for once it seemed I was lucky and I hadn't spotted anyone else in the skiesno one I hadn't left quickly behind, at least. Maybe it was just chance, maybe they were leery of devoting more resources to me than necessary with the potential threat of Ziz still on the horizon, I didn't know; no one attacked me, though, and I was fine with that.

It had been a long day.

I sat in the Captain's seat, eyes closed beneath my mask. I wasn't sleeping, of coursetoo wasteful and I couldn't afford it nowbut I was unwinding within a trance, trusting my Elementals to keep us flying straight and trusting myself to notice if something arose. Meditating aboard a moving airship was a strange and beautiful experience, like watching the world turn from far above. The patterns of energy that made up the world changed as we flew across the sea, colors of energy rising and falling, spreading across the surface and gathering in the deep. Being able to just watch it wasrelaxing.

So was the fact that the mission was almost done. For the better part of a month, every hour of every day had been devoted to somehow getting to Atlas, somehow saving them, being strong enough, being ready, fighting the unknown and the uncertainty with constant effort. But now that wasnot quite done, butsoon

I was going home, now.

I'd actually saved them.

It was almost hard to believe, after everything. Again and again, my attention would return to them, to the many tiny lights held in the sky by a cage of steel and thunder, wind and fire. I'd counted their numbers five times now, making sure they were all still there. Weiss and the White Whale, the chase and Ziz, Pennyall of that and somehow, I'd still done it. Though my mind's eye was cast out to the world, inevitably I'd find it wandering back to them, watching to make sure they really were all safe. I saw some lights darken and others brighten, some go still and others pace, each tiny light a life I'd saved, changing with every moment as they lived.

And I

I drew myself back out of my trance and opened my eyes. I sat in a circle with my Elementals, one of five points with Crocea Mors at once in my hands and all around me, and looked at their faces before quietly leaving. I felt minds touch my own as I moved through the ship and touched them back gently, reassuring them as I made my way to the people above.

Conversations died as I entered the passenger section, eyes turning towards me. Other voices continued in low whispers, confused by the sudden quiet, until they noticed me as well, and the process continued, spreading like a plague until it was silent but for scattered whispers. I saw Faraj rise from a seat and then hesitate as the room hushed at my mere presence, casting glances at me that seemed uncertain, almost worried.

I looked over them for a moment, glancing from face to face before speaking.

"You must be hungry," I said, drawing food from my Inventory, the meals I'd emptied the White Wave of to prevent spoiling. Since food going bad wasn't a concern with my power, I'd heated them while training with Suryasta and then stored them again.

All at once, the looks changed and I almost chuckled before quirking a finger at Faraj, gesturing him to the front. In minutes, I was watching people move down the aisles, passing out food to hungry Faunus who'd probably eaten far too little for far too long. They seemed to enjoy the airplane food, which really said all you need to know, and I saw spirits lift as stomachs were filled. I watched, looking at the faces as watching as friends and families spoke to one another, filling the dead ship with lively chatter that faded into background noise. I leaned against the wall up front, drifting in and out of focus as I made sure nothing went wrong, inside or outside of the ship. When necessary, I withdrew more food, smiling at the looks I received and more so at thanks and kind words, but otherwise justwatched.

It was nice. Just seeing them act hopeful and enthusiastic, even happy, because of something I was doingit was nice. I'd seen them in horrible pictures, in the midst of exhausting labor, but now I was watching them just be people. This was the reason behind everything I'd done and if sothat's okay, I think. Maybe.

Kind of fragile though, I noted. It hadn't really been a priority when I noticed before, but there were a fair number who seemed sick, more who bore various injuries. The nature of the mines, I supposed. The boy in the fourth row had coughed thirty-eight times since I'd sat down; the young woman on the left side of the seventh was eating with a broken arm. I saw cuts and bruises, scratches and scars, crude bandages, various men and women I states of illness and malnutrition and worse.

It was a reminder that I was, hopefully, giving them better lives. I trusted Adam and Blake to see it through, once I'd delivered them to their destination. StillI wanted to do everything I could. I just wasn't sure if I should.

I could heal them, of coursewould heal them. But there was one other thing I might have been able to do, maybe. I'd never done it before, but I knew the basics and I could probably do it easy enough, but the issue wasn't 'could,' it was 'should.' If I did, there was no way of knowing what they might do but I could still guess where a few of them were probably headed, just statistically speaking. Even so, should I withhold the opprotunity for a potential risk? Even knowing what could happen, wouldn't it be worth it for those that it could keep that much safer? And even if I didn't, they could find someone else if they wanted it enough, and I was sure a lot of the White Fang would be happy to help. Before that, shouldn't I give them a chance with no strings attachedat better, safer lives?

I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded to myself, rising. I made my way to the coughing boy, people moving out of the way as I did.

"That's quite a cold you have there," I said to him. "What's your name?"

"Fieval," He told me, though I'd already known, looking up at me with wide brown eyes as small ears twitched. His mother swallowed, putting a hand over her son's and holding tight. I smiled at her reassuringlyor as reassuringly as I could in a Nevermore maskand placed a finger on his head. I felt my power shift and flow as the boy coughed loudly one more time and then seemed to breathe easily.

"There you go, Fieval," I said kindly. "That should be better. Now you're not sick anymore."

His hand went to his lips as seconds passed and nothing happened, his mother and those around us turning to stare in awe.

"How?" He asked.

"Do you know what Aura is?" I answered his question with another, kneeling to look him in the eye as he shook his head. Around us, I saw understanding on some faces, confusion on others, and smiled slightly, remembering. I closed my eyes for a moment, not that he could see beneath my mask, and found what I was looking for. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality"

We took a winding course back to Vytal. With my Aura-supported fuel economy, taking a little longer wasn't an issue and there was no point in taking any chances. I flew us down between the continents and then around the unpopulated coast of Vytal, keeping far out to sea. We didn't have any major issues, my luck finally seeming to take a turn for the betterthere were the occasional Grimm, of course, but nothing truly nightmarish. With my Elemental's assistance, I generally spotted them first and just flew widely around anything I didn't like the look of. So what if it added a few dozen kilometers to how far we needed to go when fuel wasn't an issue? It was a lot better than risking any of my passengers.

But besides the occasional change in direction and a few minor incidents with persistent Grimm that needed a hint, it was smooth sailing. Once everything in the cockpit was set up, it was mainly a matter of sticking to the course, beyond the occasional adjustments. Barring very rare exceptions or a screw up, there wasn't anything but Grimm to run into in the sky and the route I was taking wasn't near anything; even the relatively rare inter-Kingdom flights wouldn't so much as cross my path, much less at such a time that it might realistically endanger anything. With the amount of practice I had with the ship, it wasn't too difficult to fly the plane even outside the cockpit.

So as I brought the White Whale around the underside of Vytal, avoiding any paths common to man and treading carefully around the Grimm, I did it among the people I had saved, drawing out the lights of their souls.

Throughout history, there were a lot of different ideas and opinions about awakening Aura, many schools of thoughts, and countless different methods stemming back as far anyone could rememberto say nothing of the myths about where it came fromand the commonality of it varied throughout history. At times, powerful users of Aura had lorded its use over others, rising to power on the protection they could provide people from the Grimm and demanding payment in return, while in several cultures, one's Aura could literally decide their role in life very early on. The nature of Semblances had further resulted in many traditions believed to influence them, some quite barbaric if arguably historically successful.

Depending on how far back you go in Remnant's history, you could find children being taken away from their families at a young age to be trained, marriages between peasants and kings based on the nature of Aura, physical and mental brutality meant to influence the development of Semblances in what were deemed useful ways, and countless experiments and forms of governance all surrounding it. No matter what age, however, the size and quality of ones Aura was important and it had been a power sought and wielded by countless heroes and villains, shaping the world into what we knew today.

There were dozens of ways to awaken one's own Aura and countless more suspensions and myths about the process. The Ice Lords of ancient Mantle had used done it through a shockingly well documented process involving careful administration of medicines, areas that were later found to be above Dust deposits, now worn machinery believed to be a primitive ways of channeling the trace energy below, and horrifyingly specific forms of sacrifice to cause a reaction using the dormant Aura within living thingsand maintain it for several hours for the sake of Mantle's oldest confirmed Aura users. There were the monks that trained themselves for years to achieve it, grasping the power within through enlightenment. The oldest records of Mistral told of ritual battles being fought to awaken the participants Aura as well as of the greatest libraries of the ancient world, with warrior sages fighting their ways across the continent to receive it. Vacuo had stories of the King of Forty Flames; supposedly an exile stripped bare and sent into the desert to fend for himself, yet who returned with great power.

They'd found the King's tomb several decades ago, with carvings to match the stories and his honor guard all in place, proving the truth of his existence, if not necessarily the truth of his story. Remnant's history was often like that, with it being neigh impossibly to separate fact and fiction because a nation had succumbed to the Grimm or war or countless other things. There was no way of confirming if the Ice Lords had based their experiments on earlier methods because the documents they referencedthe cities they referencedhad been destroyed. There was no real way of saying if the Prometheans had merely stolen the art from another society, because both were dust. And whether it had come to Vytal in one of the Freeing Queen's thousand and one storieswell, only about three dozen had definitively survived.

Every kingdom and culture had its history and legends and tales, butthe reason we called our world Remnant was because it was all that remained. We couldn't even say where Dust had come from or if the simultaneous emergence of different methods had been the result of independent study or somehow related.

But there was one thing that was agreed no matter where you werethe easiest way of awakening your Aura was to have someone else do it for you. We didn't know where that method came from, either, but what few records we had seemed to imply that there had been a wide-spread shift to the method somewhere between one and three thousand years and knew for sure that it was considered the common method in Anserini's texts five hundred years ago. At some point, pretty much everyone had shifted to the method and for good reason; it removed the complexity of the experience and just made it difficult.

There was a process to it, of course, some tricks and methods and even a few risks, but if done properly, anyone can have their Aura awokenbecause everyone had soul and that's all you truly needed for the ability. Certainly, the quality and quantity of Aura could vary tremendously based on God only knows what; Semblances, the expression of who you are as a person, even more so. But the basic act of using Aura was within the grasp of anyone who had a soul, given a proper push.

Well. It was a bit more complicated than that, granted. But mainly because you had to push really hard. But in the end

Awaken Aura (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 2000

A skill to draw out the potential of others, enflaming one soul with another. Through the granting of great power, sweep away the lies that hide the light within, releasing a soul kept bound by mortal flesh.

Effect: Awakens the Aura of another living being.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality; through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." I spoke again, power rising as my soul shined through base matter, burning brightly in the dark room. I felt it touch another, completely different in nature and shape yet undeniably like my own. It seemed trapped within something, blinded and deafened and bound. Alone, it struggled futilely.

But I set it free with a warm touch and bright power, breaking chains and giving light to unseeing eyes.

In the end, Aura was one of those things that was easier given then grasped on one's own. A lot of important things were like that; faith, love, happiness. The process was exhausting even after it had started leveling, my most expensive skill by far in terms of MP even if it was a one-time expenditure, and yet

I happily cast it again and again. I could afford to, thanks to the Dust I'd taken from the townand though it was costly in terms of the crystals, somehow this seemed like the most fitting use for them and though there was a part of me saddened by the loss of resources I could have used in other ways, there was a much larger part that was simplypleased. As I saw lights rise up in countless colors and intensities, I felt quiet doubts dwindle away, felt more sure that they'd be safe when they left. If this was it, if the only impact I'd have on their lives was to save them once and bring out their own power, I thought I'd be content with having given them a chance.

"Done," I said kindly as the navy blue Aura receded into his skin. "Be sure to take care of Zora, Bosko. Next."

"Lord Jian," He returned, bowing lowly as he withdrew, something that had started early on. Even as he did, I saw him looking down at his hands in wonder and could remember the rush of power I'd felt such a short time ago. He retreated to his Daughter's side, a small girl with dirt-smudged cheeks who I'd healed first and then enlightened. Many of the miners had minor wounds or illnesses of one type or another and in-between consuming crystals I generally had a moment to fix them. With any luck, it'd fix some of the damage and avoid later complications.

As he did, he passed Faraj, who stood with the other White Fang members and just watched me in muted disbelief as I'd enlightened five people in a rowand gone on to ten, a hundred, and now nearly a thousand times, something that should have beenwas, honestlytoo exhausting for anyone to do. With only someone powerful and experienced capable of it in the first place, given the costwell, it wasn't something that could be done casually. Generally, there was about a month or so at the Academies like Signal where Hunters gathered from volunteered and worked in shifts to pass it on to the new crop of students.

To be able to do it this quicklyeven I was amazed and I was the guy blatantly cheating to do it.

"Raisa," I said, turning to the woman next in line before pausing and raising a finger. I followed the touch on my mind outwards, images flitting across my vision. "Ah, it seems we've made good time."

I rose smoothly and looked over the remainderless than a hundred Faunus, now, perhaps another hour and a half of work or a bit more.

"I apologize, but I'll need to speak with my companions below," I said, honestly sorry. "We'll continue after, however, as I'm sure it will take quite some time to get everything organized. Please forgive this delay."

As I spoke, I heard mutters go through the crowd as people pressed up against windows, eager to catch a glimpse of what was outside. I kept my eyes focused on Raisa and the men and women behind, and saw her eyes widen as she realized I was actually asking for her forgiveness.

"Yes," She blurted and then flushed slightly in embarrassment. "I mean, of course, Lord Jian. I, uhwe understand and, uh"

I inclined my head at her slightly smiling.

"Don't leave until we get another chance to speak, okay?" I asked.

"Sir!" She nearly stuttered. "Yes, sir."

I was already walking away, moving towards the nearest broken window and sliding out into the open air. I fell for a minute and then felt the air catch me, letting me float my way slowly to the ground below. As I did, my smile widened and at once became something simpler.

"Hey," I said as I floated close enough for them to hear. "Long time no see. Do anything fun while I was away?"

Adam and Blake watched me as I descended.