Metalhearts, ancients and forgotten beasts from the history books, seen by many as simply a collection of children's stories.
The concept of a Metalheart had remained true to its name, staying that – an idea. The premise was simple – a creature made up entirely of Metal, or a creature with a Metal Heart.
There was a short written tale, perhaps during the Black Hour, spoken by the former soldiers of the Metalheart Cavalry.
A crane flies in from the West. Its call rings out as its wings flap through the night.
A black bear, hibernating late, wanders down from the North.
A wolf pack runs up the side of the mountain from the East.
In the center, at the apex, sits the South. The Southern Desert. Home to the greatest Metalhearts the world has ever known.
One could say that this was the closest ever that we had got to understanding Metalhearts. Some saw the Metalhearts as being a story created by the people of the South, some believe that they exist and could be encountered but have simply not been proven to be as destructive as others might believe.
Some thought...they could create their own Metalheart.
The Crane came in with its powerful Metal talons - capable of breaking apart anything it could land on.
The Bear held an earthy Metal skull. As such, the skull was solid and unmovable, granting the beast infinite strength and power.
The wolves formed from the eastern wind, so it was said. Their legs were long and thin, built with agility and a lightning quick reflex.
The Apex of Metalheart; the living mountain that would not stop climbing into the clouds.
"Where was this last part? How did the story end?" A young woman's voice said to me.
"End? The story was never finished. One thing's for certain though - any Metalheart ends with blood. Whether that is the creature's or man's fault, nobody's quite sure."
She looked at me with a puzzled glance.
"Something wrong, Alice?" I asked.
She rubbed her thumb over the faded drawing, clearly trying to think. "What if... What if these Metalhearts weren't made, but were just always there?"
I shook my head at the absurdity that I'd just heard, "Don't tell anyone here you believe that, you won't be very popular."
"What? Why? Aren't you the one who is planning on joining the same military that your father once was in? His generation tried to see if the Metalhearts were—"
"I've told you all of this in confidence, Alice. I'm trying to think less about... the past, and more-so focusing on what's next, you know? The Metalhearts were exterminated anyway, but it's simply now the Amalgamates that have risen recently. And these things, they can't be brought back, you know?"
I hoped Alice would end it, there was a deep silence, only the scratching of the pen filling the air before her words could interrupt it. "Not impossible."
"Huh?" Since when was she so curious about Metalhearts, or maybe even my father?
She continued, "Just because it happened a hundred or so years ago doesn't mean it won't happen again. Say there were survivors; what if someone could study the remains, what if the Metalhearts still lurked, hiding in the shadows, waiting to rise again to anarchy?"
What is she talking about...? She's never spoken like this before.
I know...
"H-hah?!"
Embracing her, I kissed her on the head and pulled back. She felt clammy and hot against the morning's breeze.
She spoke again, "Am I sounding a little odd?"
"No. Just keep thinking like you do, you'll get in somewhere, trust me," I reassured her.
What do I think? Why would she...why does it make my heart beat this loudly?
My father's notes; his ideas, his death, his tragedy...
How did... no, I won't even contemplate the idea that... No, this is my decision, my choice.
For crying out loud, look at myself, thinking this stupidly. Alice... you're the only one who has ever stayed with me like you have done. Even on our bad days, even after hearing our parent's stories, no matter how painful, you just push through.
It's one of the reasons that...
That I love you so much.
"Hm? Did you say something?" She asked, bringing me out of my trance.
"No...it's... Just that I love you."
Her face became more of a vibrant rose color than before as the wind swayed around us both.
Did I say something wrong? Was the timing not right? Should I say something to try and explain further? Or would that make it worse...
A sudden laughter. The sweetest of voices. I'm making a mistake... right? No, Alice laughs in awkward situations and this must have just been... one of those. "You're so funny when you're concerned! If only you could see the look on your face, Dofro! You look so precious!"
Wait a minute.
"Are you making fun of me?!" I pouted.
"Pft—No!" Alice stifles her laughing before managing to return to me with a smile. "I love you too, doofus," she responded as she snuggled up closer to me. "But there's nothing I can say to convince you to reconsider your enlistment, huh?" She asked with a forlorn look.
She must be on this again...
"Not gonna happen," I answered, with little emotion. It felt like the hundredth time. "What is it exactly that doesn't agree with you?"
"Well, why join a military? We don't even know if the Metalhearts even exist..." Her tone was like that of a whining puppy, almost. "Can't you just work the same shop as you do? That seems to make more money than being another footsoldier to boot."
She was right. I should've agreed at that moment, but I couldn't bring myself to lie. My eyes flicked left as my voice wavered.
I had met Alice in a blurry memory where the snowfall came fast, I was sitting on a bench, and she was sitting opposite me, also watching the snowfall as if time itself were coming to a slow stop. I remember the heat that emulated from her hands; I could feel myself falling for her long before our first embrace. She had been with me from the very beginning – when the very foundations of my resolve started to crumble.
Was I to tell her at that point in time? I could not comprehend my own decision. She always helped, I definitely couldn't bring myself to doubt her and her words now, but it was my whole life that I'd been told over and over...
"Your father was a great hero... maybe that is where your ambition will be as well."
"Are you the son of the Metalheart Killer? Gotta show 'em we can carry on the family legacy!"
"Is it true?! Did your father die during the Black Hour in pursuit of the last Metalheart?!"
"You have big boots to fill! Make a man out of yourself!"
"For a guy named after a mountain you're so scrawny."
"Carry your father's—"
Sickening.
Even as I hear Alice's voice, I am overwhelmed by the memories of all of the comments from the ignorant people, trying to make me out to be a character in their storybooks, just the same as my father... I truly feel I would go insane without her and her kind words and compassion towards me. If not for Alice, I would never be able to comprehend what it means to actually love a person and the level to which I love her is absolutely immense.
Yet...
She is absolutely wrong about joining the army. Not because of Metalhearts not existing or the possibility of them hiding, not because my father supposedly slayed one, no – but because of her very next words.
"Your life... it doesn't have to end like your father—"
To even hear of it... Coming from my joy and love... how was it so incredibly cruel that Alice would believe my dreams and aspirations to be worthless?
"Yes. He's already dead, but I am not my father, and I would never try to be him." My words felt dry and forced, I spoke like a total stranger. "He believed in trying to end the Metalhearts and died doing it. To stand with him, to not pick up where he fell would be a true shame. What type of man would I be then? After his death, even with the stories that have reached here, no one has the idea as clear as he did..."
"I see," she answered, the sullenness of the wind returned again, as did the thick silence that now sat between us. "But... Dofro..." I noticed, perhaps too late, that she was beginning to tear up. "You know I love you, yes? And not because you do what you want, it's not so arbitrary as that." I stayed quiet, not wanting to further upset her. "I would much rather have a family and future than the next hero be born... I just... Want to have you, not an idea." Her face was a shade of red, tears were sliding off her cheeks and into the sheets below, her hands trembled and her lips shook, she truly loved me... Didn't she?
So this was her idea of an ultimatum, huh? What... she would leave if I continue as I intended? How could I accept her idea... even with her showing so much emotion? I could feel a tingle of pain at the thought of abandoning this long-term goal; yet I could feel my heart veering towards Alice. My emotions were swelling to new, terrifying levels and I knew my next decision would forever seal my fate with Alice.
The sweet, beautiful, loving, kind Alice.
Why... would the idea of you thinking less of me hurt me so much?
...Right.
It's because I love you.
To the point where the possibility of my goal being achieved without her seems too vast for the two of us to fully comprehend. The gap of the gap I want to make between myself and others. I feel... it wouldn't matter unless I share it with her.
"I'm sorry, Alice," Her face contorts into one of utter anguish and hurt. Her expression changes dramatically into the saddest gaze I'd seen, though I appear to have spoken too slowly, "I didn't mean to have upset you like this, you're right... We can start a family. Maybe have the store taken over. We could spend every night just watching the fire until the coal has burned down into nothing more than ashes, then make new ones each night after."
I leaned closer to her and caressed her head before putting my lips against hers; her kiss felt warmer. The fabricated and tight relationship I thought had formed out of nothing more than misunderstandings. A sign that the dream is now more real and important than ever. I would miss it, for sure; the years spent dreaming with her, both under the stars or under the blankets were a long and memorable stretch of the journey, one I cannot bear to lose. It's for the best, my mind seemed to yell at me...
I cannot deny how much I would be letting Alice down if I were not to abandon my dreams for our lives.
There was no hesitation in Alice, "Really? But what of your dreams? Do they mean so little in comparison? After so long?" She stared into my eyes.
There was no denying this woman was completely different to anyone else that I knew – for she cared not the same of most about what the other thought about her or what society meant in the long run. No, to her, she only had a set-point in the journey and there was no longer the fear that she would turn around and head for something different; I trusted her more than anything. She would love me regardless and love our family in kind. There was little left to argue when it came down to it. The true meaning behind the stories we'd grown up hearing about, about my own father who had sacrificed his own life – not once, but many times over for his goal, would be tainted if I went through with my plan. I could not allow that to happen, not with my failures blaring around in my skull at this moment and feeling as though I should continue the path laid out by the former heroes of the day.
"You matter more than my dream, Alice. You are far greater than it or any other." It's difficult, so incredibly difficult to turn a blind eye to a goal. It's hard to realize the many flaws to something you thought was solid, especially when you had built the support in place and constructed the foundation around the very idea. "I promise I will strive and become the best I can possibly be for you and our children... No more Metalhearts for me."
She dashes around the sheets to embrace me, pressing her wet face into mine, we fell onto the blankets and sunk together.
"Thank you so much, thank you...!" Alice mumbled.
Somehow, I felt there wasn't anything to forgive. Perhaps... the both of us were happy — things could finally start as they had always meant to go, and I could forget any niggling thoughts that would make me second-guess what was truly meant for me.
We embraced tightly in bed until the morning air had seeped into the home.
'From one thing comes a million.'
This phrase is as old as time, and an easy one that seems to fall from the tongue whenever change is nearby. Change isn't good, change is bad, change is unnecessary. That phrase still held up, and with my father gone, I believed my chance at reaching my full potential would dwindle down and my life would calm down, settle and just drift into a more placid form, like sand trickling away in an hourglass.
Change.
It was one of the more unfortunate concepts, along with a lot of the concepts, a bit of a renegade's philosophy, the old saying of 'we are our choices' and some would go even further and say that we are defined by them, that a life should be looked back upon and felt to be successful through the merits of the number of decisions made in life.
A phone rang in the corner, as it has been all week ─ Alice's ringtone played in a sweet melody.
She went to pick it up, quickly realizing its caller was someone she knew. "Hi! Hah, no, no – no need to apologize! I know, things were rough, right? Anyway, me and Dofro will be seeing you very soon!"
She looked to me, I instantly knew who it was, and how busy we would be for the next few hours.
God... It's sunday, can't you let me stay at home for one single sunday? Why today?!
She jumped around excitedly, laughing. "Now?! Yeah, we'll be coming right over!" She hung up and walked over to me, looking to give me a great big smile, her hand reaching for my shoulder before leaning in to kiss me on the forehead.
"Come on, Doffy, we have to go over to Ozpin and Velvet's now." She didn't even give me the chance to answer her or ask how Ozpin was, or when they got the time to be allowed together again. "They're celebrating their third year anniversary, the others are meeting there, so it'll be a lot of fun!"
Ah... Right, Ozpin and Velvet aren't even that old, or am I wrong? Whatever, not the point - three years is such a milestone ─ A happy, meaningful day.
"There's really a huge celebration over their three-year anniversary? How could they be having a gathering?" I asked.
"Yeah, can you believe it? They must have had something planned," Alice responded with glee. "Maybe they're having a baby..." Her tone was low and quickened, hurried and happy. She was clearly expecting to be part of this hypothetical scenario.
"Hmmm," I thought for a moment, "I don't think Ozpin was the one who wanted to have children. You do know they had a big row over it not too long ago."
"Well, who cares?! Their babies will be so cute, especially the girls..."
Weird thing to say, Alice, weird...
"Okay... fine, I guess I will be ready in a minute."
Alice continued to talk about the details as we both prepared ourselves. I let her ramble, enjoying her excitement ─ There was no question, Ozpin and Velvet deserved what they had now, though the things I'd heard and experienced had not sat particularly well with my gut.
"Wasn't the entire purpose of the anniversaries to be a time for couples to be alone together though? Why are they throwing a party and breaking tradition? That is not the feeling I got from their romance stories." Rightfully, I was questioning how true the couples' love would be when they hosted a get-together, that they didn't follow the typical pattern, even when it was supposed to be one of the highest forms of affection for a couple.
"Hey, who cares! They probably didn't want to get caught out this year ─ Last year it was canceled due to the storm," Alice interjected. "Maybe they just have too many friends and thought that the best way to spend such a special occasion was to bond with everybody!" Her optimistic nature shone as always and she looked at me, making the same weird smile from earlier.
It felt like she wanted to eat me at times. Devour me.
Oh yeah.
"That smile," I turned away to try and hide my slightly rosey cheeks, "you know it's cute when it's small, but it gets a bit too weird when it's that large."
Alice ignored my comment and was now fully dressed in her standard black and white suit, I gave a chuckle. She was eager and looked happier than normal ─ was she really so excited by her friend's three-year-anniversary? I noticed that she was smiling quite a bit more, though this would be difficult, almost like trying to find an impossible puzzle. Alice had so many smiles that it was becoming hard to figure which was which.
I was similarly wearing a dark outfit ─ though I preferred to go against tradition and wear green rather than black. Green reminds people of forests ─ to be hidden away or forgotten, in the minds and hearts of people; It is difficult not to associate color with anything or someone when you see it.
Colors give the human species a chance to see what's there without effort, and one cannot tell which type of human is there with only just a look. To say, a 'human', though, sounds generic. However, there is a certain level of confusion in these humans. Though that does not necessarily make it bad.
No.
That is what makes it better.
To be confused, to know there's more, or not to be able to explain yourself or give an idea of why a person thinks the way that he or she does, is a human trait, something so natural yet so interesting it would take lifetimes to grasp its complete meaning. The study of such a concept seems an exciting task in a world where there's always more to learn ─ something to grow to better the idea or knowledge in a general sense.
In the meanwhile that I was thinking about color and being lost in the mix of Alice's smiles, we ended up getting into the car and I began driving.
"Can you put your belt on, please? Thanks, love you." As I pulled up to the road's end, she answered without hesitation.
"If it helps you focus more, then yes, my belt's already fastened." I could feel a jolt of heat, and an equal jolt in my heart at the words Alice had said to me, and we traveled towards the mountain, its spires cutting through the clouds.
For what reason would they go to the eastern mountain? Nobody really goes there, something irks me. What could Ozpin want with that area? The odd smell that hung from the air was beginning to become unpleasant.
It was metallic, pungent, and made my skin feel bristled as a fine fog made it difficult for me to focus ─ Was it blood? Or maybe sweat, oil and gasoline, too? Or was it a combination of all?
"Traffic—What's that...? Is there something ahead?" Alice pointed toward the street. I couldn't make out exactly what was happening at the far end. The headlamps of the cars in front cut through the fog, but not enough for us to properly see anything.
The smell only worsened and I heard a car alarm blare. Was there a robbery or an assault in the street? Something strange was going on.
"Stay inside. Alice, are you okay? If the car starts spinning, keep hold of something." I don't know why, but I felt I had to get out and investigate.
I got out of the car and something whirred past me through the air—That disgusting, abhorrent smell was directly in my nose now.
What...?
There were strips of rotten flesh on my cheeks ─ drooping down slowly off the front and side of my face ─ sticking like honey to fingers.
Something was wrong, everything was wrong here.
There was a really loud sound coming from the right side, a blaring alarm? A car crash? I didn't think the robbery would be constituted by a vehicle. It was really worrying me.
I cracked my head to the right for an unexplainable reason, the strips of flesh having now fallen to my chin and hands.
"Ooh...Aaaaah...?" Alice.
Ah, there you are Alice.
But, why are you making that noise? Why is a bone impaling your throat? I didn't even realize it till then, but Alice had a bone in her throat.
Wait, did her throat always have that hole on the side?
The fog cleared up as I heard a weird shriek that wasn't made by her.
What is that?
Why can't I think properly? Why am I frozen by fear and worry?
The only thing I could see what Alice and a four legged creature made of flesh — it had short tendrils sprouting from all over its body, and a shell on its face above where the mouth lay.
Huh?
How could it have a skull for a face? The bone looked jagged. No... That isn't the issue here.
I forced my body to move towards Alice. She was suffering, coughing and retching in the car seat.
But my body...
...feels so... light?
I fell down to the road, trying to push forward.
The car was only 2 steps away.
There is a creature in-front of Alice and-
Is she dead?
No way.
Her body moved, she turned her head a little. There, it was on her face. That weird smile that spoke of cannibalism.
She wants to eat me, I know that.
What the fuck? What the actual fuck?
I screamed aloud, a horrid yell. I had never shouted this loud in my life before, not a single second.
It came out of me like an echo in an empty cave, and yet Alice smiled still — She somehow managed to sound out two words, "Ha-Hu-huff... It's... Okay..." Before her body stopped. The thing beside her had sunk its claws through her neck, and then pulled them away.
This fucking... THIS FUCKING MONSTER!!
I shakily stood up, tears running down my eyes and anger surging in my veins, rushing to her to put my arms around her and look into her eyes, but I was quickly put down to the ground by this... Amalgamation of flesh.
It then spoke... It's tongue lolling out and onto the floor, "What... You... Are..." It's voice came out as nothing more than a breath, a low breathing thing... Pauses between every word as if it was short of breath... as if the simple act of breathing took all its might. "You... Not... Same..."
Regardless of what I wanted, my body hated me and didn't want to comply. I would watch Alice die as I couldn't do anything about it, like it was supposed to be. My rage would only marinate with the growing smell.
"Uf..." I coughed and tried to speak to this thing, "You... Killed Alice... Why? WHY?" My cries were met with nothing more than a quiet mutter.
"Unreality... She... Like... Others..." The thing seemed to understand me, though its movements were alien... The way it spoke sounded like the wind passing over a hot surface, it didn't have a distinguishable language or accent.
It moved its claws off of me and then started running off, it killed frozen passerby's and people driving the cars. It was so fast that my perception could barely keep up with it.
I was so useless.
I didn't... Why did I... no. It wasn't my fault, I'm not crazy, I didn't kill Alice, I...
Why couldn't I protect Alice?! Why would the creature spare me, and just leave me with nothing more than the flesh on my face?!
Nothing made sense anymore...
Nothing, I was... nothing.
Nothing without Alice, so worthless that I couldn't do anything in my state and did not save my soulmate.
I laid there on the ground, doing nothing to move.
I gave in to the cries and screams that echoed inside of me, my voice ran as loud and hoarse as it could, though it was drowned in the agony that overcame my heart.
Alice was gone, taken away, killed, left as meat to bleed out.
And what could I have done? Nothing.
A wasted man, a waste of a man.
All I wanted at that moment was the death of the creature. To kill that which had slaughtered my love. To repay in full measure the pain and torment given by the being that left the city in such a manner.
Haha... I laughed hysterically to myself a little about the irony of it all.
Maybe my fate after all was to join the Amalgamate Defense Force... Metalhearts and Amalgamates... Right.
That's what it was, an Amalgamate.
My thoughts raced a million miles an hour. My body didn't seem to be feeling itself anymore. I stood up and walked. I left behind the corpse of Alice which I couldn't fathom to have left and drove on ─ there was a yellow trail that lined the floor, just like my mind which went wild.
I would find that monster no matter what, it did not belong in my city and therefore would not have my complacency.
That... Amalgamate would never breathe a good day here in Oersted.
...
After a long while of brain fog, my focus came back to a giant white building that reeked of stale coffee — a big blue symbol and the name 'Amalgamate Defense Force' was etched along the entrance, just as I thought, and the inside looked... All white, polished to a tee and reflective, spotless.
My mind was racing with everything I had. All of my thoughts were lined out in one neat line to the next and,
I noticed a tall, probably 6'4 figure... a black skinned man with blue eyes and a thin smile, blonde hair that covered his ears. He didn't look natural. Probably dyed.
I was constantly chuckling to myself consistently over the joke of dying. I didn't even realize how crazy I must've looked with a clawed suit and flesh on my face; a killer would fit this scenario, that's what he'd definitely think.
"Hey, are you alright?!" He rushed to my aid and gestured wildly.
"...Yeah..." The fog wasn't going away in my mind, there wasn't any way I could have possibly formed sentences properly. The figure of the man seemed to sway and move as if he had ten drinks at once, that's how I saw it.
"Hey man, let's get you sitting somewhere!" I'm not sure why or how, but I found myself in the next moment sitting inside the building on a chair, he had a worried look on his face, those glaring blue eyes of his though, they spoke of suspicion.
"Would you care to tell me who you are?" He asked and I almost lost my senses when I realized the man was speaking to me.
"Ah... I... Yeah I'm... I'm Dofro Stero." I turned to my face towards the left of me. "I came here... Because my wife was... My wife. That amalgamate... That fucking Amalgamate killed her... She didn't deserve to..." Tears welled up in my eyes again at the mere thought and sight of Alice, who had been brutalized and murdered. My thoughts went wild. "I could have done something... But someone here can, right? Right? You guys specialize in dealing with these monsters. Someone will come for it, right?" My voice was crazed and delirious, pleading, I needed to know they were going to try their best.
The man, despite having an oddly stoic and neutral expression, was confused to high hell and could tell instantly, as was anyone. "You say that, yes, the ADF takes action against dangerous Amalgamates or regular criminals," he explained. "However, you're expecting me to believe that you saw that sort of violence in the city and survived? With no injuries? Nothing is broken? If you want to keep spouting nonsense then—"
"I don't know either, it told me something about not being the same! It was like its intent was to scare me, and scare me it did, okay!? I'm fucking scared and confused too I don't know what's going on and—"
I didn't finish my rambling before he cut in, the tone of his voice, and expression he made was sharp, "I'm going to assume that this is true, though I am not certain, the state you were in looks genuinely concerning, and, were it not for the fact that my eyes see with clarity you would already be dead."
This... Was not what I expected. "Really? The ADF itself, and you're threatening a mourning civilian? What a fucking joke."
He shook his head, a few golden strings falling around his eyes. He exhaled and his fingers gently tapped upon his chin. "Not at all... Listen, I get it man, you're distraught that the Amalgamate did something terrible to your wife. Tell you what, we'll take you in, I'll train you well. You want revenge on them bitches, right? Good! I'll show you all sorts of shit. Then, when that's done... How about I introduce you to one, up close." He went on and on, "First thing's first though, you need to help the process go by. But before that, rest up and get your mental all well, if you can. You ain't the first to survive, but tis the first for someone to come to us because of it. Odd!"
...
After that, he rambled on for a little longer about irrelevant details that I was too hazy to remember.
I rested up for what was probably two weeks.
I cried.
I barely ate.
The nightmares I had kept getting worse.
It was never-ending and every waking second, I felt worse for living.
Even thinking about the possibility that Alice was dead was causing my body to not function. I needed rest.
After those two weeks, I finally ended up feeling the slightest bit better. It wasn't going to last too long but the 'healing process' was supposed to be rough.
I made my way back to the Amalgamate Defense Force building and stood outside of it with this horrible weight in my throat. I wondered to myself just how well would my body handle being inside.
Well, no matter. If I wanted to kill that thing, I'd have to do this.
With a determining step I took into the entrance, that was filled with the noise of buzzing activity. Many people were here, and they didn't seem to care for the amount of noise they were making.
The whole of the place buzzed so much with activity I could hardly recognize some of the things taking place.
I was ready now...
I was more determined than ever to learn and train. The power in me wouldn't be wasted by living as a cripple. As I am now.
Right. I felt nothing. Nothing more than this need for vengeance.