Episode Evan: Chapter 4: Everything Stays

Chapter 4 of Evan's Story

            Emerald launched herself towards Evan pulling out two small green blades that resembled sickles with guns near the curve of the blade, and fired a few shots trying to get him to flinch.  But rather than flinching and changing his position, Evan stabbed his spear into the ground and used it as a makeshift springboard to launch himself at Emerald.  Twisting his body through the air to avoid the slew of bullets headed his way, he landed a punch square on Emerald’s jaw and knocked her back into the cavern wall.  The force of the punch also knocked Evan back a bit, but he grabbed his spear and broke his fall by letting the momentum of the attack spin him around the spear like a top until he landed on his feet and pulled the spear back out of the ground and ran towards Emerald.  Emerald had to hold her weapons like an X to block Evan’s attempted stab attack, and was pressed up against the wall.

            “Kind of surprised” Evan said struggling to break through Emerald’s defenses, “reports said you were sycophantic for Cinder back during the attack on Vale, but you disappeared off the face of Remnant for years.  Most people thought you would have been the one to try to break her out.”

            “You think I didn’t try?” Emerald shouted at the top of her lungs as she used her weapons to guide Evan’s spear into the wall and escape.  “I tried everything I possibly could, but that stupid Ozpin decided to treat her as the top prisoner in the history of Remnant and put her in the most secure vault in the history of the world.  I couldn’t get to her!  After a full year of planning and I had thought I had finally found a surefire way of getting inside, she was killed!  Now I have no one!”

            “So why this village?  Why this artifact?”

            “I don’t know, and I don’t care!  All that matters, is that people are paying me to steal things from the top. And the crown of Vale?  An artifact that I know Ozpin would love to have his grubby little mitts on?  How could I refuse?!  A chance to hurt him for taking Cinder away from me even if indirectly is something that I will thoroughly enjoy.”

            “You still need to steal it first.”

            “You almost ruined everything.  This stupid small town is so uptight that I almost had them giving me the crown on a silver platter.  But you just had to be the nosy neighbor, didn’t you?”

            “Can you blame me?” Evan said with a smirk.  “I enjoy learning about other cultures here on Remnant rather than stealing from them.”  Emerald screamed at the top of her lungs yet again and the two of them continued to clash.  Emerald would land some smaller blows with her blades, while Evan would attempt to lull her into a false sense of security by lowering his visible defense causing her to attack wildly, giving him the chance to land crushing blows on her body, drastically reducing her aura.  But as Emerald started to skid back across the floor, she started waving her hands and she vanished from Evan’s sight.  And in her place, several Grimm started appearing out of thin air from the walls.  Evan took a deep breath and spun in a circle, creating a thin line of paint that hovered around his body.  From there, he snapped his fingers and the ring went flying across the room.  It passed through the Grimm without a second thought, but as it approached the walls, it seemed to hit something in the gut, and Emerald keeled over in pain, her Grimm illusions disappearing in the process.  Emerald felt her aura continuing to slip as Evan slowly walked towards her, spear in hand ready to disarm her.

            “Yield” he said with a stern tone.

            “Never” Emerald responded slowly getting back up on her feet.  Evan prepared to strike to completely destroy Emerald’s aura, but then something struck him in the back of the head causing him to fall to his knees.  Trying his hardest to keep consciousness, he saw the Emerald that was standing in front of him begin to dissipate, and then another Emerald stepping out from behind him.

            “I’ve come too far to have some has-been stop me” Emerald said getting down on one knee.  “This will hurt, you’re aware of that by now.  And given the sheer amount of power in this room alone, I’m sure you’ll die in just a matter of moments.”  Having said that, Emerald ripped off Evan’s scarf, reached into his ears, and pulled out his makeshift earplugs.  The screams came back the moment the plugs left his ear canals, and even stronger than before.  Evan clasped his hands over his ears to try and muffle the sound, but it only grew more and more powerful.  The voices returned in full force as well, but this time there was something else.  The room around him seemed to change.  The walls and ceiling became like a starry night sky, and the floor below him a reflective surface like water.  Emerald was there as well for a brief moment, but like dust in the wind, she vanished into thin air.  The voices were extremely loud, and the floor seemed like it was rushing up to the ceiling.  And as soon as it reached the ceiling, instead of crushing him, Evan felt like he was coming up from under water, and getting some fresh air.  As soon as he did so, the voices seemed to miraculously stop and he was left with the serenity of the space he was now in.  It was just like the starry room he was in a moment ago, but now it felt more expansive and open.  The stars in the sky would have beams of light seemingly travel between them.  Looking down, instead of just the reflective water, he could see the crystal room and his unconscious body lying on the ground beneath his feet.  Emerald stood over his body, preparing to strike.  But as she raised her arm to attack, her body seemed to keel over in pain.  She tried to run the blade through is body, and managed to slowly stab him in the back before begin making her way out of the cave.  Evan tried to jump down, but found himself held back by the water that made up the floor.  He punched the ground trying to break through, but to no avail.

            “How did you get here?” a new voice spoke up.  Evan got back up and turned around to see a figure in a black coat wearing a hood standing a few feet away from him.

            “Who are you?” Evan asked walking towards him?

            “Me?  I know who the flip I am, but that’s not what I asked.  How’d you break through the barrier?”

            “What barrier?”

            “Wait, you seriously don’t know?”

            “Know what?  I’d like some answers please.”

            “Well, the person who was supposed to break the seal is an idiot, but at the same time this wasn’t supposed to happen until after….wait.”  The hooded figure pushed his way past Evan and looked down into the room that Evan’s body was unconscious in.  “Oh!  Now I get it!”

            “What do you get?”

            “Sorry, that’s for me to know, not you.  Besides, from the looks of things, that stupid friend of yours is still not ready.  So having you stick around here for much longer might end up changing too many things.  So off you go!”  And with a push from the stranger down into the ground, Evan felt himself being pulled back under the water as if by many hands.  The hooded figure simply walked away while Evan continued to sink.

 

 

            Evan’s eyes shot open as the pain of the voices in the crystal room returned with a vengeance along with the new pain of his stab wound thanks to Emerald.  He quickly ripped off more of his sleeves and put them in his ears and quieted the voices.  He then checked his body which thankfully Emerald in her pained state missed most of his vital organs and his aura was already making up the difference.  Standing up, he looked around and saw that Emerald was long gone.  From there, he quickly grabbed his spear and ran out of the room and towards the mouth of the cave.  The moment he was clear of the crystals, he ripped out his earplugs and saw Emerald standing at the entrance arguing on her Scroll.  He didn’t stop and wait for her to see him, he just swung his spear with all his might, and knocked out what little aura she had left and knocked her unconscious.  She didn’t even see him coming.  Quickly picking up her Scroll, he yelled,

“Who is this?” but whoever was on the other line hung up immediately.  Evan sighed, pocketed her Scroll and pulled out his own and pressed a few quick buttons.  He then picked Emerald up and carried her all the way back to Nix.  By this point the snowstorm had died down, so Evan just had to deal with trudging through the snow instead of fighting the winds as well.  Which was good because despite his aura helping, his injury did not make the process easy.  As soon as he returned to the village, the Sheriff and his officers ran up to him, and Evan placed Emerald’s unconscious body at their feet.

            “Hold her for the time being” Evan said fighting for breath.  “I’ll have an escort to take her back to Mistral to be arrested for her crimes.”

            “I can’t let you do that” the Sheriff said pulling his gun out and pointing it at Evan.  “We can’t afford for people to know that the crown is in our possession.  It has protected us for countless years, and we won’t let you take it away from us.”  Evan simply stared down the barrel of the gun and sighed.

            “Kill me, and your problems will only multiply.  I’ve already called for an escort and they’ll be here within the day.  And what would you say if they found my dead body lying here?”  The Sheriff started to shake a little bit.

            “You’re bluffing.  You said so yourself, you haven’t had any contact with the major Huntsman networks. You work mostly alone.”

            “Who said I called one of the Huntsman alliances?”  Evan then slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his medal from the Battle of Vytal and showed it to the sheriff.  The sheriff saw it, his eyes widening when he recognized it, and slowly lowered his gun.  Evan then walked past him and his officers and took a seat on the steps of the town hall, and just enjoyed the quiet.

 

 

 

Two Days Later

Haven Academy

The Office of Headmistress Pyrrha

 

 

            Evan looked out the window of Pyrrha’s office at the warm kingdom below.  The town was abuzz as with Emerald’s arrest there was going to be a big trial within a few days time.  And given her history in the region, people were excited.  As Evan enjoyed the quiet, the office door opened and Professor Ozpin walked in.

            “I understand you’ve had quite an adventure” Ozpin said with a smile.

            “To put it mildly.” Evan said taking a seat in one of the guest chairs that Pyrrha had in her office.  Ozpin followed suit and sat across from Evan.

            “Nix is a unique town to be sure.  But I never would have guessed it would have popped up on the radar of someone like Emerald.”

            “It’s because someone found out about that town’s secret and told her to steal it.  I wanted to tell you first since you were the one who lost it, but your crown…”

            “Ah, she was after my old crown” Ozpin said with realization.  “And here I thought I had quelled all the rumors about its location.”

            “You know that Nix has your crown?”

            “Oh yes.  You see, the crown was a gift from my father, the wizard, so many eons ago.  It wasn’t much, but he imbued it with protective magic.  In the event the humans tried to attack either myself, my sister, or him, he said the crown would shield whoever wore it without having to drain our own magic.  And when my sister and I had our falling out, I used the crown for myself, as it proved effective against the creatures of Grimm that she sent out to assail this world.  And as time went on, it proved useful against my enemies of this world.  I used it during the great war to push back my foes, but then the battle of Nix happened.  The Atlesian forces set up an ambush, things went wrong fast, and the town paid the price.”      

            “But they attacked you” Evan said confused.  “They attacked you and stole your crown.”

            “How do you know about that?  Nobody was around to record it.”

            “I saw it in the crystal chamber.  That cave just outside of the town.”

            “I see, so that place still has some lingering magic.”

            “What do you mean?  How is that place magical?”

            “A story for another time.  But yes, they attacked me and took the crown.  I was so distraught, I ran away and left it there.  I continued and finished the war without it.  Afterwards, I decided to return to Nix and hopefully reclaim it as it meant a lot to me.  But when I returned, I saw that the crown had done something I had never realized it could do.  It’s magic expanded to shield the town from the Grimm.  There were so many negative emotions in that town following the battle.  There were more herds of Grimm in that region than I have seen in most of my years.  But whenever they reached the perimeter of the town, they would dissipate and be destroyed.  The town was being protected by my crown.  So, I decided to let them keep it.  They could rebuild and keep their loved ones safe.  Through them taking the crown, my mistakes would not come to harm them further than I already had.”

            “If the crown had that kind of power, why not replicate it for all the kingdoms and towns in Remnant?”

            “Like I said, it was a gift from my father.  His magic was far superior to mine.  I can replicate his magic in small fractions but not to the level he could.  So, I do what I can by moving forward.”

            “I see.  I suppose that makes sense.”

            “Now then, I am curious, did you see or hear anything while you were in the cavern?”

            “Why do you ask?”

            “That cave is an old place.  I have had agents do work for me there in the past.  Did you hear anything?”

            “Well, I initially heard voices, then I saw visions before putting earplugs in my ears to drown it out.  Then I fought Emerald, and she got the jump on me.  She took out my earplugs and I guess I collapsed.  She must have thought I was dead, but then I woke up because of the voices and exited the cave and captured her.”

            “I see.  Most interesting.”  Ozpin stood up and made his way for the door.  “Well, it’s good to know nothing harmful happened to the town of Nix.  And they will be pleased to know that nobody will be bothering them for some time going forward.”

            “Professor Ozpin, might I ask a question?”

            “Of course.”

            “Out of all the people in this world that you have potentially hurt, why did Nix get this gift from you despite them attacking you?”

            “Because that was the first time in eons that reminded me that my actions have consequences.  For a time, I believed the best way to unite the world was through force.  To bring people together, I must impose my will.  I had tried to do so through peace eons before the war, and it ended up in something I will not speak of here.  And then when the Four Kingdoms came to power and the Great War began to brew, I believed the only way I could stop what happened eons ago from happening again was to force the world to bend the knee.  But when I saw Nix burning because of my failure, I realized the error of my ways.  I was becoming my sister.  I realized that the stories of others are vast and different, and not all the same.  And it is not my place to try and give them all one voice.  So, I re-focused my efforts on winning the war so that it may finally end.  And when I was victorious, I made an effort to make amends for my mistakes.  I started the Academies so that the world might be able to learn about these other voices.  To protect and understand them, not silence them.  This world is full of so many people.  I believe it is best that we hear every possible story in this world so others can seek out new stories so we may continue to grow and evolve.”  Ozpin left the room, leaving Evan to continue to ponder everything that he had just heard.

 

 

 

Three Years Later

Beacon Academy

 

            The students leapt up out of their seats as soon as the bell rang.  Evan placed his paintbrush on his desk and yelled out,

            “I expect the reports on the regions of Northern Vacuo not connected to the Great Graveyard on my desk by Monday.  And don’t forget, there will be a test on Southern Anima next Wednesday.”  The students didn’t pay him much heed, but one student did walk over to Evan with some paperwork in her hand.

            “Professor Hahn, I’m kind of stumped on a report to write for Northern Vacuo.  Is there anywhere else that I could do a report on?”

            “Now Opal, what have I always said in regards to this class?”

            “There’s always a story somewhere.  You just have to be open to finding it.”

            “Exactly.  Now, I suggest looking for something unique.  The west wing of the library has some interesting books.  Why not start there?”

            “All right.  Just don’t blame me if this report isn’t all that great.”

            “I trust you will find something.  Just be open to the unexpected.”  Opal left the classroom and Evan just took in the silence.  He then packed up his stuff and returned to his office and started typing up the next weeks lesson plan.  He would take breaks now and then to pull up articles and books about different places so that he didn’t miss a thing when preparing the lesson plan.  As he was pouring through articles, he saw an interesting one from a few days ago pop up on his feed.  It read, “Small town of Nix in Northern Anima Showcases Towns Secrets, Gives Tour to Vale’s Professor Ozpin” Evan smiled as he continued to read through the article describing how the town opened up and apologized to Vale revealing they stole the crown, and Ozpin demanding they keep it.  Evan chuckled and leaned back in his seat a little bit looking out at the setting sun.

            “Build a better world with several different voices I suppose.”

 

 

Everything Stays

Right Where You Left It

But It Still Changes

Ever So Slightly

Daily and Nightly

In Little Ways.

 

 

Episode: Evan

END

 

 

Author’s Note:

 

            I’ll freely admit, I had a difficult time figuring out the storyline I wanted to do for Evan.  In real life, he is a very quiet soul, somebody who takes the world in stride without saying too much.  Usually whenever our group would hang out, he would usually go with the flow without saying too much.  Which is an interesting contrast compared to a good many of our group who are quite talkative.  I suppose every group needs some form of balance.  However, I have not really spoken or seen Evan in a few years after some difficult moments within our group took shape.  If you have read the original story of Order of Seasons, you may have noticed that Evan and Christy were a couple and then randomly broken up in the epilogue.  That is because when I was originally writing Order, the two of them were dating and had been for some time.  But as I was wrapping up the story, they both decided they should go their separate ways.  I had thought about touching upon that subject for this story, but I decided that should not be the focus.  It should be about the adventures of an individual coming into their own, not about dredging up old wounds for the sake of conflict and tension.  For War, I took some liberties in regards to the emotional baggage because I was going through pain related to Nathan, but that was a huge emotional strain on me, and I decided that I should not do that for this story.  Especially since if I did tackle the subject of the breakup, I would be doing so as an outside observer of two people who have their own lives and interactions that was between them as opposed to my internal emotions about my fallout with a former friend.  Instead, I decided to focus on the idea that Evan discovers more about the world and comes across a story that shows him how important it is to not just be alone and keep things to yourself, but to open up and share stories with the world, which drives him to be a teacher in this world.  I’ll be honest, I’m not completely sure what he’s doing right now, but from everyone I’ve heard from, he is doing well.  And I can only hope I did justice to him as a character by showcasing his kind yet quiet soul in this story.

Author's Note

Please read/review/enjoy!