Hi loves! Starting tomorrow I'm having a thoughtform event - this time for Ostara Sproutlings!
Come join us!! https://discord.gg/sVKZ7EpPus?event=1344773982460711056
~Mod Lilac
Sproutlings are magical thoughtforms crafted to embody the spirit of renewal, growth, and the vibrant energy of Ostara. Born from the essence of spring—light, warmth, water, and fertile earth—each sproutling carries a unique purpose tied to this season of transformation.
[ Part 1: Pyrrha ] [ Part 2: Jaune ] [ Epilogue: Oscar ]
// As usual, this AU haunts me like an evil spectre. So have some of the aftermath of Jaune ends up killing Cinder at Haven AU and the descent of Remnant's third goddess.
Note this was written pre-vol 8.
---
Disconnect:
Fighting Neo who had obtained the Summer Maiden's powers required her to pull out all the stops and more.
She drew the Maiden away from Vacuo while the rest of her team dealt with the hoard of Grimm that Salem attracted over.
And then she fought for her life.
Never had she needed to use her Semblance so many times and in such quick succession before. In hindsight, the brief moments of clarity she received when not being completely corporeal allowed her to see past Neo's lies without her knowing it.
The fight ended when she feigned going for Neo's decoy, only to shoot the real one through the leg and leaving her at her mercy. By that point, she was completely spent - hollow. As if not all of her came back after she used her Semblance so many times.
She had Crescent Rose pointed right at Neo's chest, her finger resting on the trigger.
All she needed to do was pull it. Put an end to the Summer Maiden on Salem's side - and Neo knew it too. But the woman showed no fear. Still defiant. Wasn't going to grovel for her life. She knew the price for losing coming in.
She would've been in the right if she chose to kill her.
...And yet there was a difference between killing someone in the heat of battle and killing someone that was no longer a threat. And as stupid as that thought was - a Maiden without aura is still dangerous, especially one dead set on killing her...
...she couldn't bring herself to take that next step.
She just stared straight into Neo's eyes - feeling the grief, the anger, the rage, the loneliness...
And just walked away.
Walked back in the direction towards Vacuo.
Hoping the choice she made wouldn't come back to bite her.
---
Her team naturally didn’t like her decision.
Uncle Qrow was particularly vocal about it, given that he didn't like the idea of a murderous Maiden nearly killing both his nieces.
But what's done is done.
They didn't like it, but they accepted it.
---
When she woke up the next day, she found a familiar bowler hat on top of her chest.
And the Relic of Destruction stabbed right next to her head.
---
Question:
"So what exactly is a god then?" Ruby asked, "I mean what makes them different from a Hunter with an overpowered semblance or even a Maiden?"
Oscar pondered the question before he grimaced and closed his eyes. It didn't take a genius to know he was conversing with Ozpin. Ozpin was still not particularly trusted, but their relationship was on the mend after that disastrous revelation involving the Relic of Knowledge.
"...A Maiden. A powerful Hunter. They're all still mortal in the end. Limited by Aura. Limited by the Physical. Limited by Death. A god no longer worries about any of those things, " Oscar said - except not quite. The boy's pose was straighter, though a slight gloom lingered on his face, "There is many a tale about the gods and about becoming one, but Remnant has only ever had two gods."
"The Gods of Darkness and Light, the Brothers Grimm," Ruby replied, "But it's not like they didn't come from nowhere, right? They created Remnant, but who created them?"
"Who knows? Maybe they existed from the very start," Oscar leaned back onto the chair he sat on, "Their powers transcend logic. Maybe their origins do too."
Oscar hummed a bit.
"But it is interesting though," Oscar continued, "in Remnant's history, all myths about creating a god always have three common points: Aspect, Worship, and Sacrifice."
Ruby mouthed the words silently - curiously.
"Aspect would be the god's specialty. Worship would be the faith directed towards them. And a Sacrifice to allow them to shed their body. The ingredients to create a god."
"Many sought godhood throughout history," Oscar lectured, "Committed atrocities against their fellow man for just the chance."
"All have failed except for one," Oscar sighed.
"And that one hasn't failed yet simply because she is immortal."
---
Return:
Ruby quietly placed the last of the white knight pieces onto the shrine, glancing at the rest of her team and the remnants of Jaune’s team.
It’s funny how life is sometimes. After traveling through Remnant in search of the relics, it was oddly fitting that all of them would return to the beginning, the Emerald Forest, when life was more simpler back then. More innocent times when the titles of Hunter and Huntress were synonymous with hero and not of responsibility and painful decisions.
Normally, she wouldn’t think about such sentimental things - she’d always been the type to strike first and plan later - but time was all she had during the long flight from Vacuo to Vale. Just her and her thoughts.
Her hand gently pulled out the Black Bishop pieces from her satchel and placed them onto the checkerboard-shaped dais, the empty starting spots nearly filled. Ruby glanced over at Cardin and gave the matured Hunter a nod. Like the rest of them, he too changed after the Fall of Beacon, more empathetic to others and able to trust his life to those he once considered lesser than him. The fact those he hurt could trust him now spoke of his growth as a person.
Perhaps it was a lesson that team CRDL could’ve only learned in Vacuo, the continent where if one could survive there, they were welcome there. Jaune probably would've been happy to know that his once tormentor matured into someone he could respect.
She pulled out the Black Queen piece from her satchel. Her gaze turned to Emerald, the Fall Maiden, and Mercury who hovered close beside her like a bodyguard. The small knowing smile she made was something she couldn’t help - and something that the illusionist noticed, for she scowled and turned her head, pushing the boy away.
Ehehe. Even someone as dense as herself could tell Mercury’s feelings for Emerald, though what would come of it was a different story. Hopefully, their ending would be happy. They risked a lot to steal this piece from Salem’s clutches. It’s only right they’d have a good ending.
Ruby turned her away from the pair, drawing the last piece from her Satchel. The White King piece. Her gaze turned to Oscar who only nodded his head quietly, his presence filled with a wizened air. Hard to believe that this boy was, a year and a half ago, just a farmer - now he fought like the best of them, gave them advice like Professor Ozpin did.
With him and the rest - Weiss, Yang, Blake, Nora, and Ren....her best friends, her family, the ones she could leave her back to - she could find the courage to walk towards the future.
Was it Destiny that allowed them to return here?
The ground she stood on glowed with a brilliant light.
----
A darkness surrounded her, speckled with orbs of light.
She was alone.
“Welcome. I have been waiting a long time for you," said a voice directly ahead of her. A familiar young-sounding voice.
“...Who are you?”
“I am the instant where Will becomes Action. I am the progenitor of both Regret and Satisfaction. You know who I am."
“The Relic of Choice. Do you have a name?”
“Choice does not exist without the Will, just as I cannot exist without you. My name is yours.”
“Ruby?”
The darkness and light in the room seemed to meld into one shadowed figure, a silhouette barely visible in the dim light of the Shrine. It was her - back when she was fourteen and begging Ozpin to enter Beacon - maybe even a little younger than that. The only difference was a shining crown on her head - the Relic of Choice.
“Correct. Why have you come?”
“I wish to obtain the Relic of Choice, reunite the four relics, and defeat Salem once and for all.”
“That’s possible. But first...” her figure said hesitantly, “May I hold her?” Her hands pointed towards Crescent Rose. The question shocked her for a moment; Crescent Rose was her most trusted companion, something more than just a weapon to her. She instinctively wanted to say no.
But the look in the Relic's eyes...they were familiar. Like a kindred spirit.
With a bit of reluctance, she held the top of Crescent Rose's folded form and allowed the Relic to grab onto the grip.
The relic smiled as she hugged and nuzzled her weapon with her cheek. A moment later, she sighed before giggling, “Thank you. Though I am not you, I still feel your sentiments. For us, Crescent Rose is like...”
“An old friend,” she understood. Not the whole having a weird clone thing, but she couldn’t really be wary of someone who clearly loved Crescent Rose so much.
“I can allow you to have the Relic of Choice, the heart of the Relics,” the relic said, “It can lead you to victory, but you should know the consequence of using it.”
“I know. I asked Jinn of what I can do to defeat Salem. I know the cost of the relics’ power is my life,” Ruby quietly said, “I’m willing to do it.”
“You shouldn’t sacrifice your life so readily," the Relic said sadly.
"But I will respect it," continued the Relic, "I sense the day that the future will be decided.”
“You can defeat Salem at the price of your life but everyone around you will die. Or you can save everyone at the cost of your life but you will no longer be able to kill Salem with the Relics.”
What?
“I...”
“You don’t have to make a decision now. I just wanted to inform you of the choice you will need to make,” the shadowed figure said as she flickered and appeared in front of her. Taking off the crown from her head, the child that looked like a younger her placed it upon her head.
It was heavier than it looked, shining with a white glow.
“You look good with it,” she said with a sad smile, “Now go. All that’s left for you is the Staff of Creation.”
She felt the world turned dark around her, the young girl in front of her was slowly moving further and further away as if she were being repulsed.
“Wait! What about you!?” she screamed.
The young girl smiled, “Do not worry about me. I’ve been waiting here for a long time. Now I’ll finally get to rest.”
“Come with me!” she yelled out.
“Sorry, Ruby Rose.”
She reached out to the younger girl's fading form.
“But if I may give some advice...”
“I hope you’ll allow yourself to follow your heart this time around.”
“Goodbye.”
----
“Ruby, are you okay?’
“Huh?” Ruby managed to exclaim as she shook her head. She was back at the Abandoned Shrine, surrounded by worried faces both new and old.
“Are we missing something? No, all the pieces are here.”
“Hey, Oscar. Was something supposed to happen?”
Several teams started whispering in confusion.
“...I have it,” Ruby interrupted the growing commotion and closing her eyes.
The Relic of Choice appeared over her head, its heavy weight settling down onto her.
Her gaze slowly glanced in the direction of Atlas, feeling the pulse of the final piece needed for the Relics to be complete.
Ozma and Salem reincarnate into a single person AU / fic ::
An AU where Salem is forced to do the reincarnation thing as punishment instead of immortality, and Ozma gets punished all the same. Events unfold where they still wage their secret wars on each other except it’s through their reincarnations and proxies than in person.
After hundreds of thousands of years, they finally meet each other on the greatest battlefield yet: Penny's brain. - mod lilac
The first thing Salem saw when she reincarnated was boundless wildflowers as far as the eye can see. A small paved road gently rose into the hillside with the end proudly displaying a stately mansion built with sturdy stone. It was beautiful in a tranquil scenic way: butterflies flapping, grass swaying, birds chirping...
It was all wrong.
Everything should be dark and black and empty just like every other reincarnation she had since the Gods began to punish her. She was supposed to be stuck in the dreariness that was the unconscious mind, waiting for the moment where her reincarnation would awaken to her existence - and then they would bargain and argue and compromise and test the waters of their newfound relationship. She would get more control and autonomy and a means to fulfill her goals of uniting the world under her banner, and in turn she would offer her new vessel knowledge and power and a path to their desires.
The fact she’s seeing this bright vibrant world instead was strange and unusual.
Was she already controlling the vessel? Or did she somehow reincarnate into an empty vessel and this was the real world she was seeing? Her hand reached for her face, familiar strands of blond hair falling over her eyes.
No. That can’t be it.
She still looked like herself - or at least what her mental avatar looked like. She could feel that she was still inside a mind, though obviously an unusual one.
“What’s going on?” Salem muttered to herself.
She wasn’t expecting to be answered with a half-choked gasp.
Immediately, she turned around to find a figure she hadn’t seen in hundreds of thousands of years. A familiar mess of brown hair and silver armor with green cape.
Impossible.
“Ozma,” she let out in surprise before her face contorted into a snarl, “Bastard!”
Those words were the man’s only warning before she blasted him with a bright beam of magic that sent him hurling towards the mansion on the hill.
----
An hour later::
The hillside was leveled. The flowers became ash. The mansion turned into rubble. Fire and debris littered the ground as a result of their battle.
“Why! Won’t! You! Die!” Salem screamed as she straddled Ozma’s chest, her hands around the man’s neck. She’d thrown everything lethal she had in her arsenal magic-wise and, having failed to kill him, was forced to demean herself by trying to throttle the man to death.
Thud thud thud. Ozma’s head bounced against the rock she was bashing it against. Unable to move or speak, Ozma just resorted to smugly taunting her with his gaze as if telling her to try harder.
It had been difficult to get him this way. Ozma was her eternal enemy after all. For every blow she got in, he got in one of his own.
It could’ve been just because they were in someone else’s mind, but the pain she felt from the man’s blows was muted. Getting slashed through the neck with his sword, which she thought would’ve ended everything, didn’t do much except cause her discomfort. That and being impaled didn’t even do any lasting damage to her body either. And whatever protected her from dismemberment and pain seemed to have protected Ozma as well.
But as soon as she landed her last blow, Ozma crumpled like a house of cards as if his mental avatar reached some sort of critical threshold. But he didn’t die.
She spent the past forty-five minutes trying to permanently get rid of him but to no avail. Getting tired, she let the man’s neck go for just a moment, which was a mistake because it allowed Ozma to open his mouth.
“Are you done yet?” he smugly said, which only made Salem see red.
“You! I’m done with this farce!” Salem screamed, “There's no way I’m sharing a mind with you of all people!”
Screw it. As interesting as whoever this person was, it was not worth being with this man. She didn’t care if it could be hundreds of years in the future before she saw the real world again. She didn’t want to be near this infuriating bastard for a moment more.
A ball of iridescent magic, glowing with all the colors of the rainbow, emerged from the space above her upraised hands. It grew and grew - from the size of a tangerine to a cantaloupe to a watermelon...
“Wait! We can discuss th-” Ozma said nervously and somewhat regretfully - not for himself since he was in the same boat she was in, but likely for the poor bag of flesh that was about to mind-wiped.
“There’s nothing to discuss!” Salem retorted angrily as the rainbow-colored ball quickly grew into the size of a small tree. And then she tossed it down into Ozma’s stupid face.
The ground detonated right in front of her, sending her and Ozma flying in opposite directions. The flatlands they once fought on and the rest of the visible land somehow shattered like glass against the force of her magic.
But nothing else happened.
The familiar sensation of reincarnation, of being funneled into a new darkness, does not occur. Instead all she sees is Ozma on the edge of the giant crater she made upside-down and crumpled against a tree. Meanwhile, the crater itself seemed to contain an endless darkness that light didn’t touch, occasionally interrupted by flickering crimson trails of 1′s and 0′s. Before she could even begin to process that strangeness, Ozma unhelpfully spoke up once more.
“Did you miss?!” he said incredulously.
Wha- How could she miss?! She was aiming for his damn head and by proxy the ground! Before she could angrily retort, she saw the world suddenly get dark around her, which prompted her to look up.
What she saw made her eyes widen in fear.
A giant hand as tall as her descended from the skies. Before she could even think about retaliating, it suddenly yanked her by the scruff of her robes and pulled her above the clouds in an instant.
What awaited her was a pair of glowing red eyes which belonged to a giant freckle-faced girl with long voluminous red hair.
She had wanted to retaliate with magic - prove to her assailant that she wasn’t someone to be manhandled - but all she could do was make a bunch of harmless sparks in front of this godlike being instead.
The giant girl stared at her for quite some time, her lips pursed in annoyance
Before she could even find the words to speak, the girl finally spoke her decree.
“Stop that.”
Piece said, the girl vanished, which left Salem falling several kilometers straight down.
Huh. The flower fields and mansion were back to normal again.
Crunch.
“Ow.” she reflexively said, even if the pain she felt was more like bumping into a piece of furniture rather than falling at terminal velocity.
“Hahaha!”
She could hear Ozma’s laughter some distance over, and she wanted to retaliate by throwing magic at him...but she couldn’t move at all. That fall seemed to have rendered her immobile as Ozma.
“Hahaha!”
Ugh. This lifetime's going to suck all kinds of awful, isn’t it?
