Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 14, Ch. 15; Book 7: Ch. 15; Book 9: Ch. 18]

When he fell, Cinder was behind him, crouched down with something new in her hands. I had a second to gasp before she thrust up, and the sword we'd found in Vacuo – Watts' sword – pierced through my armour, my chest, my ribcage and then then my skin again. It erupted from my back with a sickening squelch.

[...]

I… I… No… Everything hurt.

[...]

Before my hand could touch her, it was knocked aside with contemptuous ease, Cinder almost being gentle as she did so. Not that it mattered. My body sagged and fell, slumped forwards onto her. Cinder adjusted her footing to bear my weight. I couldn't stand on my own feet anymore.

Slowly, I was lowered down. First to my knees, and then walked back so that I lay flat on my back. I felt the sword that transfixed me grate as the ground pushed it back into me. It remained inside my body, lodged somewhere in my organs.

Cinder stroked a hand over my face as she laid me down, kneeling at my shoulder. I tried to do something, anything, but I could no longer feel my hands, let alone move them.

[...]

My hand, still clutched around Watts' sword in a death grip, tightened imperceptibly.

My cracked lips moved.

"S-Stoke… the Forge…"

Pale blue light flickered fitfully behind my eyes.

[...]

It was the sound which alerted her, a sound like steam pouring from a boiling pot. A hissing that heralded something far hotter than even her brightest flames burning on contact with naked air. Cinder turned, eyes growing wide as she watched the man – the boy – place one hand down onto the ground and push himself up onto one knee.

Steam poured from him. It obscured him. His skin shimmered and sweat ran down exposed flesh. The gaping wound in his chest, the one she had imposed, was gone. So, too, was the sword. In its place, an expanse of pulsing silver remained. Living metal.

"How?" Cinder asked. "How are you still alive?"

There was no answer. The Revenant reached down and picked up its sword once more, pale, glowing eyes flickering through the steam.

—Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 14]



Worse, my chest felt like it was on fire. Right across the wound Cinder caused. It hurt less when I was in my Blacksmith form, but progressively got worse when I was out of it. If this continued for much longer, I'd be in trouble.

—Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 15]



"Cinder killed me." My heart beat against the palm of my hand. "Cinder killed me during the attack. My heart stopped. I died trying to save Vale. I died a hero."

And then, I'd come back.

But I had died.

—Forged Destiny [Book 7: Ch. 15]



With no regard for her fingers, she pushed into the open cavity of Jaune's armour and his chest, peeling back the blood-soaked clothing and skin. Muscle and ribs poked through, blood pooling, but as she forced the blood away, she gasped.

Her own face stared back at her, reflected in glimmering metal.

"What is… I… I don't…" Ruby's voice trailed off.

There was no faulting her. Shining metal twisted its way through the inside of Jaune's left breast, sticking to parts of his ribs like a spider's web. It coalesced in a singular spot, coiled and wrapped around what could only be his heart. Or what remained of it. There were bits of flesh that peeked through, but the metal was worked into it, moulding to the organ and filling in blanks and gaps, forming a clumsy and outright hideous approximation of a human heart. Small symbols flickered and glowed upon it. It didn't move but the metal of the locket had rattled against it. Why?

Blake touched two fingers to the smooth and hard surface. It was warm.

Vibrating.

"Is that…? Is he…?"

"I don't know." Her own heart was racing. "I have no idea. The metal is burnt but it's all forward facing. It took the brunt of Salem's spell. How did it last when his armour folded like paper?"

"It's like a shield over his heart…"

It wasn't. A shield was something you held in front to protect you. From her angle, she could see that the metal made up a portion of his heart. It was twisted and melded into it.

[...]

"C-Cinder…"

"You died then. Or maybe we both died – it's still hard to know what's real right now. The real me died soon after, slain by your hand. I don't think she – or I – blamed you, however. We were both just fighting for what we believed in." Cinder chuckled. "You stole my sword, you know. Or his sword."

The weapon implanted in my chest began to glow. Red light radiated out from my hand, turning the steel orange and then white, slowly melting it down until it drew into my body. I gasped, watching it sink into my chest with wide and frightened eyes. This… I remembered this. The refusal to die. The agony. The desperate grip of my hand around the blade, of drifting away but having the time to whisper.

"Stoke the Forge…"

"You forged your destiny, and in doing so forged so much more." Cinder laughed.

[...]

My eyes snapped open.

[...]

"Killed you," Blake said. "Or tried. How you survived. I don't believe it. Your heart is literally made of metal. How? Did you forge yourself from steel just to withstand her?"

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 18]