Eclipse - Act 4 - Cycle's End

Chapter 10 - Twisted By Madness

The Deacon

His Airship soared across Vale, heading for the Legion's Headquarters.

He was sitting in the cockpit as he flew with Eryka, sat in the back seat, twiddling an arrowhead in her hand, staring at it as she thought about what she was doing. She sighed, closing her eyes as she continued to ponder.

What're you doing Eryka?

These are your friends... Winter doesn't even know what you're doing right now... is this really worth it?

Hell, is the Deacon just lying to me? Wanting to use me? We know next to nothing about the dude and all of a sudden I'm supposed to believe he's one of them?

But... what if he's Neptune? Or at the very least knows if he's dead or not?

... I can't keep living like this... the not knowing?

It's killing me.

She opened her eyes and looked out the window of the Airship, staring across Vale in all its glory, seeing the ruins of Beacon Academy still standing, mostly shrouded with vegetation and woodland, but it still stuck out like a sore thumb, even after all these years. And in one area she could spot the rusted remnants of the Black Gallows Dreadnaught that was crashed into the ground a few miles away from Vale's border.

"You can speak your mind, Eryka." The Deacon said to her as they made their approach. She glanced at him and scoffed.

"What do you even want me to say? That I don't wanna hurt my friends? I don't wanna ruin a happy family?" Eryka replied, sliding her arrow back into her quiver.

"If all goes well, nobody is going to get hurt." The Deacon said.

"You seem pretty prepared for the opposite outcome." Eryka stated, narrowing her blue eyes.

"I have to be. After Salem... there were so many after-effects. The Grimm, the Followers of Salem, the Feral Ones? They were the expected ones... it was all the other factors that we struggled with." The Deacon explained.

"Rebuilding society?" Eryka assumed, making him chuckle.

"More like building a whole new one from the ground up. We were in a new world with no established government, with the U.G.R gone. And the world was divided between their loyalties. Fear was everywhere. Employment was shattered, economy tanking and crime skyrocketing. At first, all I did was focus on the obvious things, the ones that were killing people. But when I started the Legion... and it grew even larger? I learned a lot about planning for any potential outcomes. We've come a long way and accomplished a lot, but I'd hardly say we're even halfway there yet." The Deacon explained.

Eryka nodded her head. "Politics..." She sighed.

"Politics..." He agreed with a similar sigh. "So yes, Eryka. I'm prepared for things to become violent, but in no way do I want things to go down like that. I'd rather just arrest Jaune and be done with it. But Dutch won't give me his address. He keeps that very close to the chest. I've even seen footage of their daughter's friend on her way to theirs for a sleepover in the past, hoping to track her movements? Then... poof... nothing. He leaves no stone unturned. So we have to do it the hard way..." The Deacon explained.

"And you really do just want him to be arrested? You just want to talk to him... right?" Eryka asked in a very serious tone.

"Yes. That's all I want." He promised.

Eryka sighed. If anything, she kinda wished he would just say no and admit he wanted to kill Jaune. At least then she knew who the real enemy was. But the situation... it was so grey and confusing. She never handled the grey area of morality very well, even at the best of times.