#Alyx and Lewis | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

c-jay-s-text-posts-only · 1 year

Text

A Rusted Redemption

Written with permission from @jboy44

Jaune felt heavy and groggy when he opened his eyes.

Pushing himself up with a start, he shook himself and looked around. The calm and lush of the dark, colourful forest seemed to thrum, like the heart of another beating in time with his own.

He was alone now.

Alone again.

'Naturally.' He supposed.

Jaune shook his head and grunted, rising up straight to stand up.

'What happened?'

He remembered . . . Juniper . . . Alyx . . . and Lewis . . . Sitting around the bonfire . . . The Cat.

It was all coming back to him.

Jaune had been worried. Those few thoughts he'd had before the memory faded into the deceptive, greying abyss of forgetfulness.

"Come on . . ." He urged himself, "It's not that hard. It's not that hard, REMEMBER!"

‐---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Herbalist had clearly told or showed Alyx something. Likely something important. But he didn't know what.

He wouldn't know what.

Because he hadn't heard.

Whatever Herb did, all Jaune knew was that Alyx had changed. She hadn't trusted anyone after seeing the Herbalist. Not him, not the other Afterans.

Not even her own brother.

Jaune tried to keep out of Herb's cloud, but to no avail. The smoke enveloped the little back room and choked him when he dared to breathe; when he recovered enough to raise his head, he saw nothing.

Just a dark, empty, smokey space.

He didn't know what that was supposed to mean.

'How could nothing mean something?' He would have asked.

He never got the chance.

The clouds faded, and before they knew it, they were in the little back room again. Jaune figured that had something to do with finding himself.

But how could he find himself if he was being someone else?

Growing up, the Rusted Knight was a favourite character of his and his sisters. A selfless, righteous hero whose actions were an inspiration to millions across the whole of Remnant.

Of course, it had been years since he'd last touched the book, and a few details were a little fuzzy. But he remembered the best parts well; his favourite character was in them, after all.

But now that Jaune knew who the Rusted Knight truly was, he began to feel . . . Fake.

How could it be him?

Yes, he'd accepted it.

In fact, he'd been so excited when he realised it.

He knew he was the Rusted Knight.

He knew from the story how he was meant to act.

How the Rusted Knight was meant to be.

But was that right?

Did he really understand what it all meant?

. . .

He did.

. . .

And it was stifling.

Like playing a never-ending game of pretend, with children whose boundless energy syphoned him of any strength. He could never be himself, not as long as the game was on; but when it finally came to an end, as it inevitably had to, who would he be then?

Would he go back to being Jaune Arc?

Would he remain the Rusted Knight?

Or would he simply . . . not be either?

Had he truly been the Rusted Knight?

Had he upheld the image of his favourite hero?

Had he done him justice?

Or had he ruined it all?

Had he changed the story completely?

Jaune had done his best to keep it going the way he remembered. And it had all come terribly apart.

‐---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaune sighed. Deep thoughts like this took a lot out of him. He laid back on the log and steadied himself, just like he used to practice so long ago.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

More of his memory slowly filtred back to him.

The soup . . . having the soup . . . And then . . .

Nothing . . .

Again . . . nothing.

Only . . . waking up here.

The fire had gone out, and he was all alone.

'That was mean.' He thought, 'Why would they just leave me here? Especially after eating?'

They had stopped along the path to the tree. They were tired and hungry, so Jaune and Alyx set about foraging while Lewis and the Cat made up their campsite. Within the hour, a hearty soup had been prepared.

Something about it tasted wrong though, as if some unnecessary ingredient had been thrown in for a laugh. But who would do that? And why?

It hadn't been him.

Then he realised.

Alyx prepared the bowl of soup he ate, and now, neither she nor Lewis, nor the Cat were anywhere to be seen. A line from the story popped into mind.

"The Rusted Knight drank the poison in her stead."

The pieces came together like a splintered plank of wood, securely clamped down and smeared with a globule of glue to dry it in place.

Panic sunk its hooks into Jaune, and he bolted upright at once.

"I will get out of this place." Alyx said firmly, "I don't care how, but I will. One way or another. I won't let anyone get in my way."

Jaune had heard her say that, but he didn't remember when it happened.

So . . .

Alyx had poisoned him.

She must have.

And, of course, Jaune understood why. This was the EverAfter. He knew it better than them, and he was desperate to leave, too. But he had to wait there, for his friends.

But if Alyx was so desperate to leave, why would anyone else want to stay here?

Then, a terrifying thought struck him.

'If Alyx was willing to go this far, then what else would she do?'

Would Lewis be okay?

What about the Cat?

Or anyone else she happened upon along the way . . .

Did he dare think about Juniper?

He remembered her part in the story as well. Alyx rode a big Jackalope to the tree, and it her there left to find the Rusted Knight again.

He dreaded to think.

But if Alyx had rode Juniper then-

The pounding of cloven paws drew nearer and nearer, until a worried Jackalope bounded into view.

"Juniper!" Jaune was pleased to see her again.

But the previous issue remained, Lewis, the Cat, and many other Afterans might be in serious danger.

"I've got to stop her!" Jaune wasted no time.

He quickly picked up Crocea Mors, slung it across his back, jumped up on Juniper, and together, they started looking for footprints.

The chase was on.

‐---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the Tree, Alyx, Lewis, and the cat found the door. The frames creaked, groaned, and glowed as the panels swung open.

'Beautiful . . .' They thought.

The Cat appeared unamused, as if it'd seen this sort of thing too many times before, and wasn't keen to watch it happen anymore.

"I'm ready." Lewis took a deep breath,

"As am I!" The Cat trilled, suddenly excited,

Alyx, however, felt hesitant. An unwelcome, unfamiliar feeling had been tugging at her for quite a while now. Perhaps, for longer than she wished to admit.

She felt . . . bad.

Bad for stealing from the Jinxy Peddler.

Bad for cheating in that game against the Red King. Even though it had technically been Lewis' idea.

Bad for being so rude to the Lively Carpenter.

And even worse about how she treated the Rusted Knight.

The Jinxy Peddler was a thief as far as she was concerned. He'd stole from her first, so Alyx didn't feel too bad for him.

The Red King hadn't been too bad, but both Alyx and Lewis quietly agreed he seemed very skittish. Like he was worried something might jump out from the abstract shadows and end his reign then and there.

He'd even executed two guards who got too close to him.

But the Lively Carpenter was a different story. He was so sweet and had only wanted to help them. The Rusted Knight was the same, though much more personal.

He was from Remnant, the same as her and her brother.

He hadn't introduced himself by name to them, so both Alyx and Lewis called him Rusty - it suited him, considering the state of his armour and sword, and he didn't seem to mind.

Secretly, Alyx had to admit, she did think he was very handsome. Lewis thought so too, which rubbed her the wrong way for some reason.

Naturally, she never said a word about it.

Alyx set foot on the steps leading up to the door, but she didn't take another. Something stopped her. Her desire to leave faded, like a shadow when clouds blocked the light of the sun.

Overpowered by a force unseen; by something she was completely blind to.

Lewis hadn't noticed at first and made it to the top of the steps before Alyx realised she wasn't moving.

"You coming, 'Lyx?" Asked Lewis.

Alyx blinked and looked up. She wanted to go, oh how desperately she wished to return home, see her mother and father again. But now, she didn’t want to.

'Why?' Wondered Alyx, 'What's stopping me?'

The realisation hit her harder than she expected.

She felt guilty.

. . .

This was entirely new for her.

Why should she feel guilty?

The EverAfter wasn't real. Nothing made any sense here. No one here was really real! So why follow the rules? It was all just a dream! Who could figure those out?! She couldn't, so why bother trying to understand?

There was nothing to worry about!

. . .

. . . Right?

The Cat noticed Alyx and turned to face her.

"Alyx?" One of their ears wilted.

Alyx kept silent. She knelt down and touched the tree's root. Tightening her grip around it, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I'll be there, Lew." She finally said, "Just- . . . you go on ahead."

"Are you sure?" Lewis didn't like the sound of that,

"Uh-huh." Alyx nodded mutely and stood back up, "I'm sure."

Lewis knew his sister, and this didn't sound like something she would do. He came back down the steps.

"What's going on?" He asked, coming face to face with her.

Alyx sighed.

". . . We did a lot here, Lewis." She began carefully, "And I'm . . . I'm kinda worrying if we may have messed things up too much."

Lewis raised an eyebrow.

"Messed up how?" He needed to know,

"Well-" Alyx gestured to everything around them, "Look how far we went! With everyone! I mean, don't you think we've ruined some parts of this place now?"

"That's a rich spin on it." Lewis knitted his brows together and crossed his arms,

"What?" Alyx was taken aback,

"Alyx, you know everything we did just as well as I do." He frowned and patted the leather book hanging off his shoulder, "You don't think I didn’t know what you wanted us to do?"

"But- then why didn't you stop me?!" Alyx felt betrayed,

"How could I have?" Lewis threw his arms up, "You never listen to half the stuff I tell you!"

"Well-! D- Eh- Hmph!" Alyx huffed and put her hands on her hips, "I just wanted to get out of here!"

"So did I!" Lewis reminded her, "I've been stuck here with you this entire time, don't you think I've had enough too?!"

"Listen, I don't wanna argue with you, Lewis." Alyx quickly shut him up, "I get it, you know better, you're the eldest, so I have to listen to you."

She took a breath and looked her brother in the eye.

"At least now, I know why Momma and Pop-pop'd always tell me to." Alyx shook her head, "Now I'm seeing it all from overhead, I don't like any of it. Anything I've done . . ."

Lewis calmed down a little.

"Okay," He conceded, "So what now then? You're just going to stay behind and . . . 'Fix' everything?"

"I have to." Alyx nodded, "A lot of this is my fault, I can see that now. I have to make it right."

The Curious Cat didn't like the sound of this at all, but remembering Alyx's promise to them was secret, they said nothing.

Lewis nodded back.

"Alright then." He paused, "What'll you do first?"

". . . I've got to get to Rusty." She decided, "We know he knows this place better than either of us. Maybe he can help me-"

"Even after-, y'know . . .?" Lewis raised an eyebrow and rolled his hand,

"I said I want to make things right!" Alyx reminded him, "That means getting him back and waking him up."

"And then what?" Lewis prodded.

Now it was Alyx's turn to pause.

"I guess we'll travel around and see what went wrong wherever we went." She considered.

Lewis nodded one more time. He didn't like this one bit, but his sister didn't seem to want him there for this stage of her journey. It hurt a little, but deep down, Lewis knew this was a step Alyx needed to take.

". . . Fine . . ." He relented, "I'll see you on the other side, 'Lyx."

"You can count on it, Lew." She smiled.

Lewis looked his sister in the eye, and threw his arms around her.

"You'd better be back home soon." He said quietly.

Alyx smiled and hugged her brother tightly back.

"I will." She promised, "Don't worry."

The two separated, looking into each other's eyes one last time, and let go. Lewis turned and jogged up the steps, the cover and pages of his journal flapping open and shut at the corners with every bounce.

Lewis was glad he locked his journal.

Reaching the top, he paused. Then cast one last glance into the EverAfter's forest, and with a wave, he disappeared into the glow.

Alyx took another deep breath.

"Alyx . . ." The Cat sounded very anxious, "What are you doing?"

Alyx winced, she had forgotten her promise. She tried to be gentle.

"I'm sorry, Cat." She said earnestly, "But I have to stay here just a little bit longer."

"NO!" Cried the Cat, "No-no-no! You promised me Alyx, you promised you'd take me back to Remnant!"

Alyx was caught off-guard; the Cat had never acted like this before.

"Uh-" She tried, "I- I'll-"

"You remember, don't you?!" The Cat pleaded,

"O- Of course I do!" Alyx recovered,

"Then what are you doing?!" The Cat demanded, "Why are you staying here!?"

Alyx felt terrible now. If the guilt from before hadn't been enough, then this certainly made it worse.

She had always intended to bring the cat back with her as something to remember the fun by. And even better, she would convince her parents that she and Lewis had actually gone somewhere.

And coming back home with a real-live, talking cat?

That was the cherry on top!

No one had one of those!

As an added bonus, she might turn them into a fat, contented house cat who'd sleep in the sun and chase mice around the yard. That's what cats were meant to do anyway.

But from how they were talking now, they didn't feel like the cat she always wanted to take. For a brief moment, Alyx wondered if this was how her parents often felt about her.

"Come on," She tried again, "We won't take too long. I can't leave everything the way I did."

By now, the cat had lost patience.

"You lied to me, Alyx." They snarled,

"No I didn't." Alyx looked hurt, "I still want to take-"

The Cat lashed out angrily.

"Ah- bad kitty!" Alyx batted them wildly back.

The Cat didn't take very kindly to that, and with a hiss, they knocked Alyx's knife away, badly cutting up the back of her hand with their claws.

"Ouch!" She gasped and staggered away.

She looked at her hand. A few layers of skin had been sliced through, and her warm blood swelled from the slits, trickling down her wrist.

. . .

The pain was real.

. . .

The PAIN was REAL.

. . .

Alyx's heart turned cold, and a weight promptly sank with it. For the first time since she arrived, she truly felt afraid. The Curious Cat stalked angrily towards her on their hind legs.

They had grown well over ten times their old size, their forelimbs were thick as tree branches, and their beautiful checkered fur rippled with every step closer, like the water of the pond where Alyx and Lewis used to skip stones.

From a sugary-sweet light blue and lilac to a starkly picked-out black and white pelt. The Cat snarled again, and its bent whiskers twitched.

Alyx was more frightened now than she could ever remember being. She scrambled to her feet and tried to back away, but something kept her rooted in place.

Alyx had frozen.

"You lied to me." Growled the Cat, "You lied. You're lying just like my creators did!"

Alyx wanted to speak, but her voice did not come out.

"I can see you now for what you are!" Continued the Cat, looming over her like an unscaleable cliffside, "You're broken!"

The Cat swatted her head, Alyx fell to her knees.

"You'll break everything you touch!" Another, harder swat, and Alyx was on her face, "You humans are weak! Lost! Confused! Incomplete!!"

They punctuated each word with every swipe of their paws. Alyx curled into a ball, trying to protect herself as much as she could. The Cat suddenly stopped hitting her.

"But that's alright." They sounded much kinder now than they did before and gently stroked her hair, "It'll be okay, little explorer . . . I can help you . . ."

The Cat forcibly straightened Alyx out and dug their paws into her chest.

"AGH!" She cried.

"I can help you find yourself." The Cat pushed deeper, and deeper, and deeper, "And if I can't do that, then I can mend you . . . Or better yet, I can be you, instead!"

Alyx was in tears; the Cat hadn't pierced through her chest, and she wasn't bleeding from there, but it was getting harder to breathe the deeper the cat's paws went. Like she was sinking in water and had no way to keep her head above the surface.

'Is this . . . the end?' Alyx dared herself to think.

But then suddenly the Cat roared and hissed in pain, wrenching their paws out of her. Alyx coughed and hacked as she came back to reality and scuttled backwards, away from the beast.

Then she saw it. Sticking out from the Cats' hind leg was the worn, brass hilt of a sword, wrapped in old, dirty blue leather. Alyx knew who that sword belonged to.

'Rusty!'

He had arrived with his helmet on; he flew into view and charged the Curious Cat with only his shield. A wide, deep purple wave shoved the Cat hard forward, sending them sprawling into a limp off the platform. The Knight's sword fell from the wound and clattered on the ground.

"Get away from her!" He barked fiercely, and he scooped up his broken blade.

Alyx was out of the way, and most grateful for that. Had she not moved a moment ago, the Cat might have crushed her underfoot when they stumbled.

The Knight spotted Alyx's knife not too far away and quickly snatched it up as well before chasing the Cat into the surrounding woods.

"Drat!" The Cat hated being interrupted, "Bother you, Rusted Knight! You'd dare stand in MY way? I'm surprised you're standing at all!"

The Knight readied both blades and his shield.

"You've told enough lies." He said bluntly, "Her mind isn't a ball of yarn for you to play with!"

The Cat, by now, was blindly furious and swung with every ounce of strength as they could bring down on their adversary. The Rusted Knight didn't even flinch, and tanking the blow with ease, he knocked them away.

Alyx watched with bated breath as the two battled within the trees.

'Rusty' was pulling every trick he knew: grip switches, head-butts, and high kicks, anything he could remember from his training to keep the Cat at bay.

He smacked his shield against the Cat's nose. And in an unexpected flash of light, their fight ended.

‐---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When it faded, everyone realised they were no longer by the tree but somewhere else entirely. Jaune and Alyx looked around. It was early in the morning, and this didn't look like any place they'd gone before.

The Cat was still angry, but it wasn't as bad as before. They were back to their original, small size, but their light blue checkered fur had faded, blending in with the rest of their violet fur.

"Lousy meddling knight." They mewled, ruefully nursing their nose, "She made a promise to me. I merely wanted her to keep it."

Jaune knew how important it was to keep the promises you made. It was his family's creed, after all. But he knew that forcing others to do so wasn't always the best idea.

"She'll go back to Remnant when she's ready." He told them, "Not when you want."

The Cat wrinkled their snout and sneered, but Jaune just kept his guard up and glared.

"Leave her alone." He demanded, "Like I said, you've already told enough lies."

The hairs on the Cat's back stood up as they hissed at him one last time, then they calmed down and licked their forelimb.

"Fine." Grunted the Cat, "I can see it's no use."

They got up with a grunt and limped feebly away.

"At least I now know what not to do." They sighed, "Thank you for this lesson, Alyx. Caroll. Explorer. I'll be on my way now. I hope you find what you're looking for."

And taking a few more steps away, the Cat disappeared from view. Now it was Jaune's turn to sigh, he was relieved. He trudged back over to Alyx and knelt down to properly look at her face.

She was still very shaken up by everything that just happened.

"Are you hurt at all?" He asked, trying to sound as kind as he possibly could.

Alyx didn't answer at first. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed too afraid to even speak.

"Here, let me see that." Jaune very carefully took her hand in his.

Tears welled in Alyx's eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening; she tried to kill the Rusted Knight, but here he was, still treating her kindly and gently.

"I'm-" Her voice finally returned to her, "I'm sorry . . ."

Her lip trembled, and her tears began to spill.

Jaune's stern expression didn't falter. He wanted to be upset. He wanted to be angry. But as much as he wished he could blurt his anger out for all to hear, he didn't.

He knew deep down that wouldn't help Alyx whatsoever. And so instead, he simply sighed and scooped her up in his arms.

"Rusty?" Alyx felt more nervous now,

"Your hand will be fine," Jaune said thoughtfully, "but you need more help than I can give right now. There must be a place we can get you patched up."

Alyx couldn't argue. She just clung to 'Rusty' as tightly as she could and properly began to cry.

"I'm sorry, Mister Knight . . ." She sobbed quietly, "I'm sorry!"

Jaune shook his head.

"Alyx, it's-" He wanted to wave her off,

"Don't tell me it's okay, I know it's really not!" But Alyx wouldn't let him, "I shouldn't've been so mean, I get it now!"

"Do you, really?" Jaune asked reflexively,

"Yes!" Alyx sobbed,

"If you knew it was wrong, then why didn't you do anything about it earlier?" Jaune wasn't as upset now.

He just wanted to know.

"I was scared!" Alyx didn't hesitate, "I just wanted to go home and- and see Momma and Pop-pop again! I didn't mean to hurt anyone, I mean it!"

Jaune could tell she was being sincere, and did what he could to pat her head. But he was still perplexed.

"Alright, I believe you . . . then why didn't you go back through the door?" He had to ask.

Alyx sniffled.

"I have to fix-" She insisted, "I have to fix all of it."

"All of it?" Jaune was even more perplexed,

"I know I did a lot of bad things since I got here." Alyx admitted sheepishly through her tears, "When I was leaving with Lewis, I- . . . I just . . ."

And she trailed off; Jaune found he really didn't have it in him to be angry at her anymore.

Not now.

Because he understood what she was trying to say.

And realised, had he been in her shoes, he might have acted the same way she did. Obviously not as he was now, but as a twelve-year-old in an unknown land where nothing made any real sense.

Without his parents there to guide him along.

Or the siblings he always wanted to be around.

Or the friends he'd made what felt like a lifetime ago.

How much of his younger self did he see in Alyx?

What about her reminded Jaune of his younger sisters?

. . .

There was so much. And yet somehow so little.

. . .

Jaune shook the thoughts from his head. And saw that Alyx was still crying.

"I'm sorry." She murmured again.

"Don't worry." He soothed, "It'll be alright now."

Jaune glanced around. The ground was white. Not because of snow, there was none around, and it was actually quite warm out. He took a step forward, but this time, he properly heard the sound from under his boots.

'It's paper.' By now, Jaune was even more puzzled.

Juniper trotted up to them, and Jaune carefully helped Alyx up her leg.

"Alright . . ." He put a hand to his chin, "You need bandages, and I need- uh, something for whatever I ate . . . So where can we go for that?"

Alyx wiped the rest of her tears with her uninjured hand and gazed ahead.

"Maybe that little star-thing can help us?" She suggested.

Jaune blinked.

"What star-thing?" He raised an eyebrow.

Then he looked the same direction she was, and he saw it. Waddling happily up to them was a little red star.

Jaune blinked in surprise. It was made of folded paper, and had little pink overlapping bubbles dotting its wings and legs. He'd never seen anything like this before.

"Hello!" The Star chirped with an elegant pirouette, "Welcome to our village! We hope that it pleases you. Would you be so kind as to tell me what you are so that I may serve you?"

Jaune and Alyx exchanged glances.

"Serve us?" Jaune asked carefully,

"But of course!" The Star answered earnestly, "As a Paper-Pleaser, it is my duty to serve all who come to our village!"

"Paper-Pleaser?" Alyx tilted her head,

"Indeed!" The Star chirped again, "Come with me, our village is only down the hill from here."

Seeing no other choice, Jaune guided Juniper after the little red Paper-Pleaser. But he couldn't really focus just then. His mind wandered back to those vicious thoughts he'd had before chasing after Alyx.

Growing up, the Rusted Knight was a favourite character of his and his sisters. A selfless, righteous hero whose actions were an inspiration to millions across the whole of Remnant.

For a moment, he felt bad for thinking she would do anything so horrible. Despite how reasonable it had been to do so.

Jaune knew who he was here in the EverAfter. He accepted it, but now he didn't feel as stifled.

Yes, there came an enormous pressure with being the Rusted Knight. And yes, that pressure had been thrust on him.

But the story hadn't played out the way he'd read in the book.

Maybe that had been his fault.

Or maybe, when Alyx wrote the book, she would change some things.

Anything was possible.

But with that in mind, he realised now he'd done more than what had been written about the Rusted Knight. And more than that, he'd been truly able to help in the end.

He'd been more than just a guide. He'd been more than just a shield. Sure, Alyx was hurt when he wasn't looking, but she was still safe from harm.

Although Jaune was sure he could've done more, he found he was glad to have done anything at all.

Perhaps in the end, he had done the Rusted Knight some small justice after all.

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #jaune arc #the rusted knight #alyx and lewis #the curious cat #get that motherfucker #redemption

125 notes · View notes