Akashic

The room turned silent, as the only sound that filled the room was the thunder like crackling of the black flames and the regular 'Snap' and 'Crash' of the structure collapsing around them.

"We just wanted a family…" Arthur muttered "We just wanted to be happy, for once…" the flames surrounding them began to intensify and seemed to curve in towards Arthur as if attracted to his mere presence wanting to envelope him.

"Why!? Why can't we just be happy!? All we did was exist! And that's enough to damn us!?" he roared still facing the ground, his hair now falling into the dark mist that came from his body the mist also now shifting until it was falling from his body instead of rising, collecting at his feet.

"But you know what?" Arthur said as he leaned backwards his head falling to the side causing one of his eyes to peak through his hair, now pitch-black with a small white circle outlining his iris. The flames surrounding him began to coil together like pitch-black cyclones that curved towards the ground where Arthur was, yet not getting near the ground, all the cyclone keeping away from Arthur, as if waiting for something.

"I'm tired of remembering you…" as Arthur finished speaking the cyclones all converged and rushed to him, all crashing together as they hit him, sending an almost liquid like wave of black flames rushing through the orphanage, through the hallways and bedrooms, crashing through walls and shattering what remained of the still whole windows. And yet, these flames didn't affect either Coco or Fairy as they seemed to circle around them, as well as over them, leaving the two in a pitch black orb of flames that was slowly getting thinner that lacked any heat that you would normally associate with fire.

"How interesting, a semblance controlled by rage is it?" the man said as the wave of flames began to dissipate, the man having protected himself from the flames with a shield created from his aura, seemingly effortlessly defending himself from them.

"In all my years, I have come across two people with similar semblance's, semblances that require a form of negative emotion to use, you are the second. And I do certainly hope you are as entertaining as he was" Throughout his speech he was watching the form of Arthur, whose skin was now cracked revealing writhing black flames underneath his skin, while the white cross on the back of his innocence was also releasing the dark flames, his hair now having gotten longer and continuing to fall into fire.

"It seems you are prepared" the man said grabbing his cane by its crystalline handle and pointing it at Arthur, "But, as much as I would love to fight you till my heart's content, but I have other tasks to accomplish and I am already behind schedual" the man said as he looked to the watch on his right hand "Hmm, I can afford five more minutes" he muttered.

The moment the man got distracted Arthur charged forward, flames bursting from his body, engulfing him into a wave of flames that rapidly crawled across the ground leaving blackened and molten ground in it's path.

Once the wave got close to the man a black claw burst from it slashing downwards at the man, who was wearing a wide and insane grin as he quickly brought up his can and used it to block the claw while also converging his aura into another bullet which he fired into the flames, which then proceeded to disappear from the path of the bullet creating a hole in the centre of the flames that quickly collapsed and refilled itself.

The claw just as quickly returned to the flames which separated into two parts and crawled to the side of the man, where from either side of the man claws burst from the flames, on his right a black claw made entirely from flames which slashed at him from the side while from the right a black, metallic claw burst up into a rising strike.

The man's grin got even wider as he once again used his cane to block the claw of flames while he held his palm up to the metallic claw, a grey aura enveloped his hand which he then threw forward into the flames causing the claw to halt in its path before it and the flames were launched backwards as if blown away in the wind.

At the same time that the flame was pushed back the one on his right also faded away, the flames getting weaker the further Arthur got from it, except for one part of the flame, that being the flames that now engulfed the man's cane and was slowly eating away at the metal of it.

The man let out an even wider slasher smile than any he had before "Amazing! You can control these flames like the maidens! But it seems your control is quite limited in its range, and these flames, how strange, they are so close to my hand, and yet give off no heat" the man said as he looked to the flames that were crawling up his now dissolved cane and were nearing his hand which he quickly threw to the side.

"And such a persistent fire, I wonder if it would be possible to replicate this with dust?" he murmured to himself as he looked to the disappearing cane in contemplation. "I'm sure master would humour me for this experiment" he muttered as he also felt a slight vibration in his pocket.

"Ah, speak of the devil and he shall appear" he said, pulling out a scroll from his pocket and put it up to his ear "Hello master, I do apologize for my absence-" he said pausing as he listened to the voice on the other side.

"Yes, I see, I shall return post-haste" he said as he hung up the call and returned his scroll to his pocket and turned to Arthur who was picking himself off of the ground his eyes locked with the man with a feral scowl on his face full of rage.

"I do apologize, it seems my estimation was wrong" the man said "The master requires my assistance post-haste, so once again I do apologize, but I shall be taking my leave for now, I am sure we shall meet again" he said pointing both his palms to the ground, his grey aura enveloping both his arms and legs, converging to the centre of his palms and feet. Giving Arthur one last smile the man said "Goodbye, boy" and the grey aura burst from his hands and feet launching him into the air like a rocket.

Arthur seeing this let out a guttural roar causing all the flames surrounding him to once again converge and encompass his body before he launched himself into the air, the flames creating a dark swirling pillar of flames that chased after the man, getting mere feet away from him when Arthur's innocence burst from it, entirely encompassed in the flames that also formed the maw of a dragon like figure that let out a roar as it attacked.

Yet it fell short as the man looked down at the flames with a wide and wild grin as he set off another burst of grey aura from his hands and feet speeding him up even further and out of Arthur's grasp as his claw whizzed past where he had just been, the flames of the pillar now sputtering out near the ground and disappearing, causing a chain reaction as the pillar broke down leaving Arthur staring up at the man in contempt, his face and body breaking through the top of the flames, but was quickly reingulfed by them as he began to fall to the ground.

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"We should have followed him Yang!" Ruby screamed as she paced around the empty airsh.i.p.s interior, Yang, Weiss and Blake all standing to the side, staring out the window at the blazing orange flames and billowing smoke in the distance.

Yang kept quiet as she chewed on her thumb, completely agreeing with Ruby, as they had simply watched Arthur leave with Coco and Velvet in the morning but had to return back to their dorm as they had already agreed earlier in the week that they would have a study day to catch up on any subjects they were behind in.

This lasted all of a few hours as when they were about to break up and begin preparing for dinner that they got a message on their scrolls alerting them to an emergency mission and to head to the airdock immediately, where they then learnt that Arthur and Coco had charged into a burning down orphanage in search of a child and they were tasked with assisting with controlling the blaze while also to help deal with the public.

Just then Yang, Blake's and Weiss's eyes went wide as a sudden change happened with the fire "Ruby" Yang said, unable to take her eyes off the fire.

"No, Yang! I knew I felt something was wrong! I knew it!" Ruby screamed,

"Ruby! Shut up and look outside!" Weiss shouted turning to Ruby grabbing her arm and dragging her in front of the window, forcing her to look outside, and when she did her mouth hung open in shock as she saw the fire had turned pitch-black and had stopped releasing smoke into the sky.

And yet it didn't end there as the flames all began to converge into four swirling cyclones that curved into the centre of the orphanage which moments later rapidly crashed into the orphanage causing a wave of the black flames through the structure.

"What, the, hell" Yang muttered, stumbling and almost falling backwards a the airship suddenly increased it's speed, Weiss, Blake and Ruby also almost falling from the sudden acceleration.

"Students! Get ready! We'll arrive in five minutes!" Glynda said as she came out of the c.o.c.kpit area, and walked over to the four members, her eyes constantly locked on the dark flames. Both hers and team RWBY's eyes opening once again as they saw a small grey silhouette shoot out of the building into the air, this figure being chased by another pillar of fire which rapidly approached him, the fire seemingly transforming into the figure of a dragon ready to snap down on the figure with a guttural roar, yet missing as the figure shot off even faster than before leaving a grey shockwave where it once was as it quickly disappeared over the skyline of Vale, leaving the flames to quickly dissipate into a ball of black flames that hurtled back into the structure that once was the orphanage.

"What the hell is going on!?" Yang screamed as the airship hovered over the field in front of the orphanage, underneath them a crowd had gathered and were all staring up at the fire in shock and awe, with fear also mixed in as they had just seen what to them looked like a grimm, breakthrough the flames.

"Let's go!" Glynda shouted as the door to the airship opened and Glynda quickly jumped out, landing on the ground using her semblance to slow her decent, the other's quickly following behind them.

Once they had landed Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss's heads darted left and right searching the crowds, still a slight hope that Arthur didn't charge into the fire as they had been told.

"Ruby! Yang!" they heard their names screamed causing them to collectively turn their heads towards Velvet, who was huddled up near the children trying her best to comfort them as the care takers slowly began to lead those they could further away from the burning structure to keep them safe.

"Velvet!" Ruby ran up to her "Where is he!? Please tell me you were lying!?" she pleaded, but seeing her shake her head and look to the fire in worry, tears welling up in her eyes after the explosion caused by the flames.

"Nononono" Ruby chanted as she turned to the flames, about to charge into them and search for Arthur, but was stopped as Yang quickly grabbed her, lifting her from the ground, her struggling halting as she stared into the fire as she saw the flames part, creating a pathway into the orphanage, down which two figures could be seen walking towards them.

The first being that of Coco who was staring up at Arthur, unsure of what to say or do after everything she had just seen him do. The other figure being the unmistakeable form of Arthur, except his hair was now completely black with white highlights, the same for his eyes, in his arms he carried the body of a young girl, her arms hanging limply over her body.

"Arthur!" Ruby shouted running up to him followed by the rest of her team along with Velvet who quickly ran into giving Coco a hug crying due to how worried she was.

Just as Ruby was about to do the same with Arthur, she stopped when she saw the state that the child in his arms was in, her body covered in scars that peaked through her scorched dress and over the right side of her body and over her face, she was also missing her left leg as the stump of it was covered with a makeshift tourniquet and bandage over it, her c.h.e.s.t very weakly rising and falling and slowly getting weaker and weaker over time.

Ruby gasped at the sight in horror, her eyes quickly darting back to Arthur where she muttered "Arthur?" in worry as she saw him staring down at the child with a frown on his face and black tears running down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry" he muttered weakly falling to his knees his eyes briefly glancing at the golden glow in front of him

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Oath of the Fa~~~

-I, Arth~~~~

Cu~~~

Current Tho~~~~

Current L~~~~

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The sight only causing the tears to pour out even faster as he hugged her body to his c.h.e.s.t, his eyes turning resolute as he lay her on the ground in front of him. His hands hovering over her body.

"I'm not breaking our promise" he muttered in determination.

Coco and Velvet's eyes widened as they remembered something they had learnt earlier in the day about one of Arthur's abilities, the ability to save those from death but sacrificing themselves in the process. "Arthur! Stop!" they shouted, quickly trying to run to his side to stop him, but were stopped as the flames behind Arthur quickly intercepted them and blocked their paths.

"Sorry, girls… but I made a promise" he said, his body bursting into a pure white light, causing all the surrounding flames to waver and dissipate, leaving Arthur kneeling within a field of light, his eyes now turning back to their regular white along with his eyes. From his hands the light the fell onto Fairy's body entered it, and was replaced with a black liquid that broke out from her pores, the liquid beginning to raise itself into the air until it contacted with Arthur's hands, digging itself into his skin and causing the veins in his hands to turn a light grey, which slowly got darker and darker as more of the liquid entered him, the dark veins also crawling their way up Arthur's body until they covered his cheeks and surrounded his eyes.

"Arthur!?" Ruby shouted, blocking the light from her eyes along with the others who were standing awestruck at the sight. "Velvet! What is he doing!?" she shouted running up to the side of Velvet who was about to answer but stopped as a change happened with Arthur, as particles of light began break off from his back, floating into the air and disappearing.

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Alternate Chapter names: [Not so Iron Man] [Wrath of the Dragon] [Cliff-kun strikes Again!... again]

I am seriously not intentionally doing this to you guys, it's just I'm trying to keep chapters between 2,000 – 2,500 words each, so yeah, another cliffhanger… yeah… this'll be the last one for this whole 'Fairy' arc of the story, I'll see if I can get the next chapter out before 12.

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