Akashic

"He's killing himself, that's what!" Coco answered as she tried to take a step forward, but found that she couldn't get closer as a strange force pushed her back causing her stumble backwards.

"What!?" the members of RWBY screamed, turning their heads back to Arthur, seeing the amount of particles coming from his back increase as more of the black liquid entered his body. That was when Ruby realized she had seen such a scene before, back when she had first signed the Sperata contract she had seen Arthur save Ashe in such a manner before.

"Oh, no…" she muttered and tried to break through the field of light in panic, her body refusing to be pushed back "Arthur! Stop! Please!" she pleaded, her face going red from the exertion of trying to keep herself steady as the light pushed her back.

Arthur slightly looked up at Ruby and gave her a light smile, but quickly closed his eyes as he forced his ability to work even harder, it now bathing Fairy in its light and causing a gust of wind to blow through her hair and dress as the black sludge rapidly began to exit her body.

"Ms. Goodwitch!? Can you do anything!? Please!?" Ruby pleaded turning to look at Glynda, who currently had her riding crop out with a purple glow surrounded her body using her riding crop as a focus for her semblance as she attempted to deal with the black blaze of flames that had engulfed the entire orphanage.

"She's busy!" Yang responded, running up behind Ruby in an attempt to push her forward, but just causing the force to get stronger the closer they got to Arthur. "Goddammit!" Yang roared, digging her feet into the ground, her hair bursting into a blaze as she took one laboured step forward after the other, the steps seemingly getting easier and easier the stronger the light became. Realizing this Yang had a wild grin on her face as she muttered "God, I love this semblance", her words seemingly resonating through and infuriating the light as it began to shine even brighter, it's force doubling and tripling until it overpowered Yang's semblance and threw both her and Ruby backwards, skidding on the ground.

"Ruby! Yang!" Weiss and Blake shouted as the ran up to their respective partners to check on them.

"You two okay?" Coco asked running up to their sides as they sat up.

"What do you think!?" Yang snapped, beating her hand against the ground as she stared helplessly at Arthur.

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"Tell me Arthur, do you know what I love most about the legend of Pandora's Box?" a man clad in dark red and black robes questioned a young boy barely even twelve years in age who was strapped to a metallic table, a blank gaze on his face.

"It is hope, the one thing that can create miracles, hope… for where hope can bring miracles, it can also bring danger, yes, you could inspire the hopeless masses tired of their leaders greed, you could bring prosperity to a nation through wealth or the fertility of its lands, but what does that do?" he asked not getting a response from Arthur

"You create an army of the hopeful to wage war and destroy nations, leaving people without the infrastructure to live. Riots would happen once people realized there was no one to stop them from taking what they want, other nations would target the one you helped for now your lands are worth more than all the gold within the treasury's of all the lands combined. All you have done in giving them hope and providing them with miracles is sacrifice their futures, their lands would be pillaged, families killed, kingdoms toppled, and all because a single child, brought them hope in their darkest times"

"That Arthur, is what I love about Pandora's Box, just a single, minute spark can set off a fire of hope so intense it can burn down the lands it helped, the people it raised, it can destroy the fields and bring about plague." The man said his voice getting more and more excited as he spoke.

"But tell me, what would happen if you condensed 'hope' into a single being, a single person, you grant them hope, and them alone, you bring them back from the verge of death, right as their light is snuffed out, will they still be able to hope? Will a miracle prevail and raise them from the dead? That Arthur, is what I want to know, what do I have to sacrifice to bring someone back from deaths door, and you Arthur, are the key, these last two years, I have conducted numerous experiments on you, all have failed, tomorrow shall be our last… yes… our last…" he muttered sadly, his figure beginning to meld into the black ocean.

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Arthur let out a chuckle at the vision he knew of as a memory of his past "Course you have to show up and give me a lecture" he muttered his eyes locking back onto the body of Fairy, her body now enswathed in a blanket of light with a constant stream black water oozing from her body and into that of Arthur.

"So that is your hopelessness, Fairy" Arthur muttered as he watched the stream of black water, turning his eyes to the sky he said "Well, I've got an ocean where it can stay…" causing the speed at which the liquid entered his body to rapidly increase as he also said "And if it's hope you want, well, I've got a sky filled with it" the amount of particles coming from his back began to increase in speed, yet a change happened as they didn't disappear into the sky and instead began to float around Arthur, filling the field of light with snow of light.

"And if it's a miracle you need…" he closed his eyes "Well, you're looking at one" his eyes burst open causing all the collected particles in the air around him to freeze in the air before quickly rushing towards him, circling his body before coming to a stop at his back, each particle connecting and interweaving creating wings of light coming out of Arthurs back and sending a burst of blinding light through the surroundings, causing everyone to cover their eyes in response to it.

Amongst the group of Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Coco and Velvet, Weiss was the first to have her vision clear up enough as she had already had them covered before the light suddenly shot out of Arthur, her eyes first turned to her team as well as Coco and Velvet, seeing them all rubbing their eyes and rapidly blinking in an effort to clear up their flash blindness. Turning her eyes to the epicentre of the flash she saw Arthur still sitting on top of his knees, except his head was now slumped forward and his arms falling limply to his side, the wings slowly returning back into particulates of light starting from the tip of the wings and slowly disintegrating until they had completely vanished.

Arthur looked down at the unconscious body of Fairy with a light and weak smile, her face had regained its regular rosy tint as well as her breathing becoming steady as her eyes slowly scrunched up and opened revealing her mahogany coloured eyes which were full of life you wouldn't expect from someone who had been on the verge of death just moments earlier.

Her eyes first portraying surprise to the fact she was alive as she weakly lifted her hands up to her face, still seeing the same scars and wounds across them that she had grown accustomed to since she got them, except something was different, they blended back into her regular skin, they were still noticeable if you looked, but less so now. She then looked to the side and saw numerous people covering their eyes while some others were looking in her direction, some with their mouths hanging agape while others were seemingly bowing in reverence at something.

So she turned her head to the side, her eyes widening as tears began to well up in her eyes when she saw Arthur looking down at her with a light smile.

"Told you I'd be there for… you…" he said just as his eyes rolled up and his body collapsed onto its side, yet before he could hit the ground a girl clad in white ran up to him and caught his body before he hit the ground, the girl letting out a groan as she suddenly was holding up the entire weight of Arthur.

Seeing this Fairy quickly pushed her weak body up, her arms feeling like jelly at first as she slipped as she tried to lifter herself onto her legs, or she thought she had slipped as she looked to her legs as realization hit her that she was missing one of them, yet she put this to the back of her mind as she turned her body using her hands and began to crawl to Arthur, her fingers digging into the ground as she pulled herself along the ground until she was right next to Arthur her hands going to his body as she lightly shoved him trying to wake him up.

And when he didn't awaken she began to shove him even harder in panic as her tears now began to stream from her eyes "Mmmm! Mmmm!" she hummed in panic, as he didn't react to anything of her shoving.

"He's just unconscious, he's still breathing" Weiss said, putting the back of her hand in front of Arthur feeling his breath lightly blowing against her skin, she let out a sigh of relief "He'll be fine" she said while also groaning and shouting "I on the other hand, won't be… Can I get a little help here!? He's a lot heavier than he looks!" to the rest of her team that were finally getting some semblance of colour back to their vision.

Seeing them finally beginning to run towards her Weiss turned to get a better look at the child who was now smiling as she wiped her eyes using the palms of her hands, Weiss tilting her head as she thought 'She looks familiar…' but her distraction proved to be a hindrance as she lost her balance and ended up falling backwards with a 'thump' Arthur falling directly on top of her, causing Fairy to begin to giggle at her misfortune "It's not funny…" Weiss g.r.o.a.n.e.d as Yang and Coco immediately began to pry Arthur off of her.

"Thank you…" she w.h.i.n.ed as she just lay on the ground, letting air return to her lungs after having her body crushed by the surprisingly heavy Arthur.

"He's not that heavy, y'know?" Yang added, hoisting Arthur over her shoulder with seemingly little effort.

"Says the brawler…" Weiss said as she was helped up by Blake who held her hand out to her.

"Don't worry Rubes he'll be fine, ain't his first time getting injured" Yang said, in an effort to calm her sister who was chewing on her thumb while staring at Arthur in worry.

Ruby wanted so badly to retort to that, but she just couldn't as she knew it was true, Arthur had this inexplicable ability of attracting danger and harm upon himself, so instead, she decided to go for the second thing that was on her mind.

"Who are you?" she asked squatting on the ground in front of Fairy.

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"What are you, Arthur Fielder?" Glynda muttered, her eyes sharp as she stared between Arthur, Fairy and the still blazing flames, which were unhindered by hers and the fire-fighters attempts at quenching them.

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Alternate Chapter names: [Angel Wings] [Lessons of the Past]

And the 'Fairy' arc is 'complete' now for a chapter or two of an epilogue to this part of the story.

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