It was raining in Mistral.
"So," Qrow said, looking between the young girl with two-toned hair and his former team leader. "I don't know how you're not dead."
"It's actually a really funny story," Summer said from underneath the umbrella. At a nudge from the short girl, Summer added, "This is Neo, by the way."
"And the first thing you want to do is get breakfast," Qrow said. "Typical."
"How about this," Summer said. "We get breakfast. I tell you all about what happened. Then, you listen. And that way, I don't have to sit in some boring place relaying this story to you. We both win!"
The small diner was at the heart of town. It wasn't quite done up like the restaurants in Vale, and it still held onto Mistralian roots, but it felt like neither and both at once. It was early enough that it hadn't yet become too busy. A small plaque said to "please seat yourself" and so Neo and Summer happily obliged, sitting at a booth in the corner.
"I haven't had a proper breakfast in a while," Qrow grumbled, sliding in across from her. He picked up the menu.
The waitress slid up. "May I take your order?"
"The, uh, Valean Omelette," Qrow said. "Extra peppers and a coffee."
"I'll take a, hmm, one of these deeeeluxe waffle platters," Summer said. "With coffee and an extra side of bacon, if you don't mind. Neo, the Atlesian Toast?" At Neo's nod, Summer nodded to the waitress. "And two orange juices."
The waitress finished writing out their order. She gave a quick thumbs up and stepped away.
"So given where you were drinking...I assume you're looking for your sister?"
"Something like that," Qrow said, looking down for a second.. "How are you so chipper in the morning?"
"It's a special sort of magic," Summer said. "Now, as to the specifics. You're likely wondering how I'm alive. You're probably also wondering who this girl is, and you're also wondering why I've been missing for what is probably a long time. Well, it all begins on that day long ago."
The Patch docks were nearly empty. A small ferry waited at the end of the dock for its regular trip into Vale.
"It's just a normal mission," Summer said. "And this time I mean it. It'll be a couple weeks at worst. I'll be out of CCT range for the first couple days, but I'll check in at the village. There's a copy of the mission route on my desk, you know the drill."
"I'm not worried," Taiyang grumbled. "I'd just rather you told me further in advance."
Summer poked Taiyang in the shoulder. "I can tell when you're worried, you know. It's my Semblance."
"Very funny," Taiyang grumbled.
Summer kissed him on the lips. "It's just a couple of weeks."
"Love you."
Summer smiled. "Love you too."
"Matter of fact, that's my last memory," Summer said, sipping her cup of coffee. She frowned at it and poured a bit more cream in. "I don't remember any bit of the mission. Something about, uh, the Realm of Darkness erodes your memory."
At that moment, the waitress came back with three plates, piled high with food.
Qrow quirked an eyebrow. "Realm of Darkness?"
"It's a bit complicated," Summer said. "We're in what they call the Realm of Light now. There's a bit more, but we need to talk about, ah, other worlds."
Qrow gave a sharp bark of a laugh. He cut a chunk out of his omelette, put it in his mouth, chewed for a long moment, and swallowed. "I don't know how to respond to that."
"I understand." Summer sighed, reaching for the syrup. She poured it generously over her waffles until it created a small pool on her plate. She passed it to Neo, who did the same to her toast. "Every world's got its own troubles, and for the most part, people who know about other worlds really don't interfere. It's when something goes beyond one world..." She splayed her hands out.
Qrow grimaced. "What sort of threat are we looking at?"
"They call them the Heartless," Summer said. "In a way, they're like the Grimm — they're creatures, made of the darkness in people's hearts. Up until last year, they were spreading through the Realm of Light." Summer grimaced. "Despite everything, they're still out there. Ah, where was I?"
"The Realm of Darkness," Qrow supplied.
"That's my next memory," Summer said. "But that's misleading. My memories of that place are scattered. Time doesn't operate there. I couldn't tell you exactly how long I was there. You don't need to eat, or sleep. And before you ask, no, I don't understand how it works."
"Neat," Qrow growled between bites.
Summer leaned back and looked down. "The Realm of Darkness is like being buried alive. No, it's like being tossed into a well. There's something about it where, well, your mind begins to work against itself. You're alone there with nothing but your thoughts. After a while, what you think begins to color the world around you." Summer looked far away. "And not always in a figurative way, either."
Qrow sipped his own coffee. "So how did you escape?"
"It was luck," Summer said. "I happened to be at the right place at the right time, and I happened to have just the thing to escape."
She was in a desert, littered with massive rocks. It was about as bright as a moonlit night. Summer frowned. There was something amiss in the air. Those creatures were moving away from her.
No, they were moving toward something.
She drew her sword and ran through the rocks. She leapt over a ridge to find a long stretch of beach, and more importantly, dozens of the creatures surrounding a girl with two-toned hair holding what looked like a parasol. Instantly, Summer crushed one with an overhead swing. It gave a sickening crunch and she moved on, smashing two aside with a horizontal slash.
The girl leapt in, pulling a thin sword from the handle of her parasol and skewering one of them.
"That's the way," Summer growled, smirking.
Unfortunately —
— the creatures did not stop coming.
The pair found themselves with the beach at their back. In an instant, a group of them leapt forward, pouncing at the girl. Summer jumped towards them, tearing the creatures away from the girl. As she did so, the creatures swarmed her, pinning her to the ground.
Summer yelled. She didn't know the exact composition of rage and agony.
The beach was flooded immediately in light. The creatures disintegrated like rapidly burning film.
Summer shakily stood and threw up all over the sand. She stumbled a few steps away and fell back down. The girl approached, shambling slightly. She offered her hand.
Summer looked up at the girl and nodded, taking her hand. She rose to her feet and walked over to grab her sword.
That was when she saw the tear. It was a couple meters offshore, and it looked like someone had taken a dull knife to a curtain and tore open a hole. It shone with a brilliant light.
She looked back at the girl. "Are you seeing this?" The girl nodded. Summer turned back to the tear. She hesitantly approached. From behind she heard the girl following slightly.
Summer peeked around it. It seemed to be completely flat, and looking at it from behind revealed nothing amiss.
Summer looked at the girl again. "Do we go through?" At the girl's nod, Summer offered her hand.
They leapt through the tear together.
After what felt like an eternity of nothing, Summer realized she was falling toward a plaza of red brick.
Summer's eyes widened and she instinctively brought the girl close before taking out her sidearm. It was a curious revolver, bulky and long with a dark wooden grip and two triggers. Summer narrowed her eyes and aimed straight for the ground, her finger extending out to the second trigger and pulling it back.
A deafening explosion cut through the air; Summer's descent slowed immensely.
That was not to say it was terribly slow.
She landed roughly on the ground, her body serving to cushion the girl's own landing. Summer groaned in pain.
The girl gingerly got up and dusted herself off.
Summer stood up and stumbled over to an open air cafe. She slid a metal chair across the brick and sat down. The girl followed her over and sat next to her.
Summer slid her Scroll out of a pocket, flicking it open to her status screen. "Just as I suspected," Summer sighed, looking at her Aura. "Almost out." To her surprise, the girl pulled her own Scroll out and did the same.
Summer leaned in. "Who are you?"
The girl looked up, quickly opening up a simple note taking application that Summer didn't recognize. She typed out a bit before flipping her Scroll around so Summer could read it.
My name is Neo. I can't speak, but I can hear just fine.
"Interesting name," Summer said. "I'm Summer Rose, I'm a Huntress."
Neo gave a thumbs up.
Summer looked around. "Where are we, anyway?"
Neo shrugged, pointing at a nearby store whose lights were still on.
"Locals," Summer said, nodding. "Just give me a second." She shakily rose to her feet, walking across the lamp-lit plaza and up a set of brick stairs before shoving open the door.
It looked initially like a jeweler, with a handful of cases around the room displaying baubles and bracelets, but a couple of well-armored bangles had Summer reconsider exactly what the store was. Behind the counter was a gruff blonde with a pair of goggles wrapped around his head, and standing in front of the counter was a dark-haired man in leather, a massive sword with a handle in the shape of a gun resting against the counter next to him.
"Something's happening," the dark-haired man said as Summer entered. "The Heartless are growing restless. And that visitor from the other day..."
"Leon," the man behind the counter said, smacking his opposite number's arm. "Sit down and drink some goddamn tea, I've got customers." He paused, turning to Summer and Neo and straightening his back. "Welcome to the Accessory Shop, we have all manner of accessories to suit your every needs, my name is Cid, what can I do for you today?"
"You've been practicing that," Leon said, using a small kettle in the corner of the store to brew a cup of tea. He sat on one of the long couches.
Cid looked from Leon over to Summer. "I didn't rush it, did I?"
"A tad," Summer said. "Uh, I'm actually here because I'm not exactly sure where I am!"
Leon looked over at Cid, eyebrows raised. Cid gave him the finger and then turned back to Summer. "This here is Traverse Town. It's sort of a...lost world, made up of all the people whose worlds have been lost over the years."
"And it keeps getting bigger," Leon chimed in.
"That's Leon," Cid grumbled. "He does the legwork in fighting the Heartless here in the First District. Yuffie, who you'll no doubt run into, handles the Second District. And in the Third District, uh..."
"Cloud's not there any more, and his replacement twisted his ankle. But the Heartless problem over there isn't so bad, Merlin usually handles it. Yuffie and I pitch in as well, of course," Leon said.
"So," Summer said. "Other worlds?"
Summer pushed away her clean plate. "They put me up in a hotel room. Nice place, better than some of the others I've stayed at. I spent three days in Traverse Town. On the second day, there was a new kid in town. His name was Sora. He was from the Destiny Islands, and he had two friends that had gone missing after his home has succumbed to the Heartless."
"This better not be leading up to his tragic demise," Qrow grumbled.
"As a matter of fact, no," Summer said. "He was wielding something. An unusual sword, blade about a meter, give or take. Magical, too. Shaped like a giant key."
"A sword shaped like a key," Qrow said, sighing.
"A Keyblade," Summer continued. "Rather strange weapon. I held it, just once. Read a lot about it when I got to Hollow Bastion — I'll explain what that is in a bit — and it is a dangerous piece of work. Lots of stories out there. It's either a great savior or a fearsome opponent who wields it."
"And this kid just happens to have one," Qrow said.
"The Heartless don't like the Keyblade." Summer polished off her coffee and leaned back. "They went after this kid relentlessly. He'd just stumbled across a pair of royal retainers to a distant king who had been looking for a Keyblade to set things right." She looked distant for a moment.
Qrow quirked an eyebrow. "And then?"
"The armor," Summer said plainly.
Summer was running, sprinting, clambering over rooftops and leaping over thin alleys.
Her rifle was reloaded, five shots at the ready. Her revolver was just about loaded, central chamber packed with her last charge of Fire Dust. As she ran, she loaded the three final shots into her revolver.
She slammed through a window and ran through an empty apartment, nearly dislodging the balcony door.
It was a thin wooden balcony overlooking the Third District. Summer could see the Heartless that Leon had mentioned: a massive empty set of armor, attacking the kid and his newfound friends.
The fall wouldn't be too bad, she surmised.
Summer leapt, her body twisting around to bring her rifle to bear on the armor. She landed two shots, missed the third, began to convert it to sword form, and landed.
She rose from her landing stance, moving into defensive.
The armor had stopped, its arms flipping about aimlessly in the air. She slowly positioned herself to be between the kid and the armor.
It began to walk toward her, its massive boots shaking the pavement.
Summer slashed at the giant suit of armor and it rebuffed her attack. She stepped back, drawing her revolver and peppering the front of it. It ceased moving, choosing to block its chest with arms in an "X".
This was genuine armor. She'd dealt with armor.
Vytal Festival semi-finals, senior year. Break the armor, expose the insides.
She holstered her revolver on the back of her belt. Her sword expanded out into a rifle, her off hand catching the front end and stabilizing it, and she fired, cycling the bolt and firing two more times. The higher caliber rounds caused larger dents, but no penetration.
Summer ran to the right, the armor's helmet tracking her before the rest of the armor swung around to face her. It lumbered forward toward her. She grabbed a fresh clip from her pouch and slid it into place, sliding the bolt forward and loading the first round.
She began to fire again, retreating slightly after each shot. The armor walked steadily toward her. After three shots, she was up against the wall. She reached back with her off hand to find concrete.
She flicked her rifle back into sword form.
She unholstered her revolver, leaping forward from the wall and firing the charge of Fire Dust at point blank range into the armor. It recoiled, a gash running from top left to bottom right of it.
Its left hand swooped forward and smashed Summer in her midsection, sending her flying across the pavement. She rolled to a stop, her Aura giving out.
The armor was already upon her before she could stand. Summer turned, face up, her legs pointed towards the armor, her revolver still in her grip.
And then it turned quickly, and as it turned Summer saw the silver and gold key that hadn't been there a second ago. The key vanished in a shimmer of light.
And then Summer was being dragged.
Neo had grabbed her by the armpits and was currently doing a good job of getting her out.
"I can stand," Summer said, raising a hand to stop Neo and rising to her feet. She holstered her revolver and picked up her sword, clipping it to her belt.
As they watched, the armor slumped and fell to the keybearer's blade.
"The next day, I bought a gummi ship," Summer said. "Interworld transportation. Cid practically gave us the thing. We set off from there." She paused as the waitress stepped over and gave her a refill of coffee. "Thank you. Anyway, so after we left Traverse Town, we had no heading, which was unfortunate, so...we just flew, asking people."
"How successful was that?"
"Not very," Summer said, laughing. "We thought we had a lead over in Port Royal, but there wasn't much. We sat in on a few matches at Olympus Coliseum, but nobody'd ever heard of Remnant. We were flying out past Halloween Town when, uh, we got captured."
"You got captured," Qrow said plainly.
"By pirates," Summer added.
"Well, well," the Captain muttered. "What are you two?"
"Summer Rose, Huntress," Summer stated. A second later, she added, "And this is Neo."
"Well, Miss Rose and Miss Neo," the Captain said, raising his left arm to reveal a menacing looking hook. "This is my ship."
Summer looked around the wooden ship, sails and rigging straight out of a fairy tale. "Really," she said.
"Really," the Captain said.
"Lovely bilges," Summer said.
"Thank you," the Captain said.
Neo made a couple short signs. "Neo also likes your ship," Summer added.
The Captain nodded. "Well, my crew is pulling out anything of worth in your ship. They should be finished any second now. Then, we'll take you before," and here the Captain coughed roughly and laid the sarcastic tone on thick, "the great witch Maleficent, and then we'll send you on your way."
"Fine by me," Summer said. "You wouldn't happen to have heard of a world named Remnant out there?"
"No," the Captain said.
"Captain Hook," one of the crewmates yelled. "We're...done?"
Captain Hook turned. "What'd ya get?"
"A lot of rubbish," the crewmate called back. "Not much coin at all."
"Don't touch the umbrella," another one called out, a thin line of blood trickling down his forehead.
"Well, that's that," Summer said.
"Put them below deck," Captain Hook yelled out. "Raise the anchor, set the sails for Hollow Bastion!"
They had company, as a matter of fact.
The girl was named Wendy. She was from a place called London, and she was here thanks to a impish boy named Peter Pan.
The small porthole revealed that they were still moving between worlds. But the sailors still kept to a schedule, and every morning and evening a meal was delivered to them.
Less than a week passed before they arrived at Hollow Bastion.
It looked like early evening when they arrived. Hook navigated them through a great lake toward the castle, and they eventually came to a stop, the anchor holding them fast to the ground.
"You two will be going before Maleficent," Hook said as they rowed toward a tiny stone platform in the middle of the lake. "She wants to see anyone navigating between worlds. If all goes well, you'll be on your way."
Summer quirked an eyebrow. "If all doesn't go well?"
"You'll wish I had you walk the plank," Hook said flatly.
The Bastion was certainly impressive, but ease of getting around was troublesome.
"Blast these lifts," Hook said, stepping onto one of the metal platforms. "We're almost to her meeting room."
"I'm not a fan of the walking either," Summer grumbled. She looked to Neo and nodded. Neo gave a nod back before holding up the ropes binding her wrists together. She clicked her heels together.
They stepped off onto a stone platform.
The door before them was an imposing piece of work. "Right through there," Hook said, nudging them toward the darkness.
Summer walked in.
The chapel was dimly lit and grimly decorated. No altar stood at the end, but a woman clad in black robes loomed ominously before a large table.
"Hook," she said.
"Maleficent," he replied, laying the pair's weapons onto the table. "These two were found out between Halloween Town and Neverland."
"Wonderful," Maleficent said, disregarding the two. "Hook, prepare your ship. The boy is about to arrive in Halloween Town, and you need to capture him as soon as you can."
"I'll get him," Hook replied, a tad sullen.
"And two passengers," Maleficent said.
"Of course," Hook growled. "And these two?"
"Throw them into the sea," Maleficent said, turning and stepping away from the table's front.
"If you wanted me to do that, then you shouldn't have told me to bring in any prisoners," Hook snapped, following her.
"Neo," Summer said quietly.
Maleficent and Hook had continued to talk, moving around the table to its far side. At this stage the conversation had devolved to petty jabs with only a thin veneer of a discussion.
Hook turned at last back to the pair of prisoners.
"Now," Summer yelled, raising her bound hands above her head. With a twist and a pull she snapped the ropes in two, reaching out and catching her sword as it passed above her head.
The Neo standing next to her shattered as another appeared, standing on the table and twirling an umbrella. In her off hand rested Summer's bulky revolver.
"Fools," Maleficent spat, reaching out. A massive staff materialized in her open hand, and she clasped it, a mass of energy billowing through the room and sending Neo billowing across the room.
Summer, eyes wide, grabbed Neo's hand and ran out of the room onto the massive stone lift stop.
The lifts were moving haphazardly below. Neo leapt down with Summer following, landing on a platform two floors below, which jerked to life and began to descend.
Summer looked up to see the Heartless descending along the walls. One leapt out onto the platform and she punted it off, before turning and smashing another off the lift with the wrong side of her sword. "There," she said, pointing at the ornate door to the entrance hall. She leapt, sword in hand, and managed to grab the ledge with her upper body, swinging the rest of her up onto the stone.
Neo, meanwhile, leapt and gently descended with her parasol opened, gracefully landing.
"Cheeky," Summer spat out, before gesturing to the door with her head. "After you, madame."
The pair ran through the entrance hall and through the massive doors at the opposite end to reach the night air.
"Shit," Summer said, looking out over the drop. "We're gonna have to go down." She crouched, picking a cartridge labelled "grav" in blocky letters out of one of her pouches and loading it into the second barrel of her revolver.
Neo gave a thumbs up and Summer took her hand, leaping off the ledge.
Summer groaned. Her entire body had gone into revolt after that last stunt. She was laying on what felt like ice — well, unusually warm ice. She flopped over onto her back and groaned again. She finally opened her eyes. It was still night. Summer sat up shakily.
Neo was a few meters away, sitting at what looked like a small entrance into the lower levels of the castle. She looked up when Summer groaned and then got to her feet after a moment.
Summer sighed. "Into the castle again, huh?"
Neo rolled her eyes and nodded, signing out "cold" and "outdoors".
"You're right," Summer said, wrapping her cloak around herself and trudging into the castle's undercroft.
It was poorly lit and rather wet; Summer kept walking into shallow puddles and the walls were thinly coated with water. Aside from the occasional drip and the distant grinding of gears, it was silent.
"I haven't told you much about myself," Summer said, glancing back at Neo. "I dunno. I don't really consider myself that interesting." Summer looked back. "But I'm gonna talk. Otherwise I'm going to go insane, 'cause it's too quiet."
Summer squinted, trying to look into the dark passage ahead. "I was an only child. My mother worked as a seamstress. She specialized in making clothes for Hunters, and so I met a lot of Hunters, and that rubbed off on me. I got a scholarship to a small combat school and eventually I worked my way into Beacon."
Neo tapped the side of her hand to Summer's shoulder to get her attention. In the dim light, she pointed at her mismatched eyes. With a blink, they changed color to a gleaming silver.
"Ah," Summer said. "Now that? That's a longer story. I was sworn to secrecy on it, too, but...given the sorts of shit we've seen, it's not exactly going to make a difference. So I'll tell you."
It was the twilight hours, and Summer Rose didn't know why Professor Ozpin had called her into his office. So she was fidgeting nervously in the elevator.
The doors slid open audibly and Summer stepped into a large office with a distinct clockwork motif. The man himself, Professor Ozpin, was standing at a massive window that appeared to be the face of a clock. He gave a halfway glance back to Summer and returned to looking out the window. "Miss Rose," he said simply. "Over here, if you wouldn't mind?"
"Right," Summer said, walking around the desk to stand next to Ozpin at the window.
"I'm usually working during this hour," Ozpin said, "so I miss the sunset. Today is a rare day I get to enjoy it. Besides, nobody enjoys stuffy meetings, and me sitting at my desk and you sitting across from me is the definition of a stuffy meeting." He looked at Summer. "How's your team?"
"They're a handful, but they're fine," Summer said. "Qrow's hellbent on bugging Raven at all hours of the day, and combined with Tai's constant romantic overtures, she's been fighting a two-front war." Summer grinned. "Of course, the Rose Brigade is always nearby to knock some sense into the boys."
"Well, that's good to hear," Ozpin said. A faint smile crept across his face. "Being a team leader is a heavy responsibility, and I'm glad that you've taken to it well." With his left hand he gestured back to the window. "What do you think of when you look at the sunset?"
"Home, mostly," Summer said. "I used to watch the sunset from a nearby clock tower. Some of the other kids joined in, too. Every so often we'd pool together our money and buy some ice cream bars and eat them. It always melted too quickly and our fingers would get sticky."
"I think of people I've lost," Ozpin said. "An old legend says that dusk is the time when the spirits of the dead are closest to our world."
"I've never heard that one."
"It's a bit of an old bit of folklore. I've always been fascinated with things like that," Ozpin said. "What's your favorite fairy tale?"
"That's a tough one," Summer said. "I don't have a real favorite, but if I had to pick, I'd have to say the Witch of the Red Mountain."
Ozpin's eyebrows rose. "That's a rather gloomy one. Then again, a lot of old Atlesian stories are. Ah, I do have something else that might interest you. It's another fairy tale." He drew in a deep breath, preparing his voice. "When I was reviewing your application, your eyes fascinated me. Silver eyes are an extraordinarily rare trait, as a matter of fact, and there was actually a legend that I dug up concerning a tribe of warriors with silver eyes."
Summer scoffed slightly. "Did it end with them all dying?"
Ozpin laughed. "Well, actually, the saga does end with the dissolvement of the tribe. But it is strange that you should have silver eyes and that you would choose to become a Huntress, because these silver-eyed warriors are where we get the term for Hunters."
"Funny coincidence."
"The thing is," Ozpin said, his tone going directly from playful to serious immediately. He paused and stepped away from the window, picking up a mug off of his desk and drinking deeply. "There's another thing about these silver-eyed warriors you should know." He looked Summer in the eye. "Silver eyes are an indication of an incredible power. The ancient warriors could kill a Grimm with magic. Not Aura, not Semblances, not Dust. Outright magic."
Summer folded her arms. "You're pulling my leg," she said.
"Not in the slightest," Ozpin said. "The world you know conceals another one. I would like to initiate you into a select group: those who work in the shadows to serve the world." He paused. "There are those who would seek the destruction of all we hold dear. Their machinations have borne fruit, most recently at Mountain Glenn."
"The Grimm attack was from a poorly designed and constructed segment of the defensive perimeter," Summer recited. "Investigations into the defenses turned up a shocking amount of negligence due to a lack of funding."
"A plausible cover-up," Ozpin said. "The Grimm, in fact, emerged from within the city. Specifically, the Merlot Industries complex. The investigation into their largest shareholders and parent company turned up little more than fake names and an empty warehouse, respectively." Ozpin slid a hand under his desk and flicked a small hidden switch. A segment of the wall slid open to reveal a barebones elevator, with a steel grate door. Ozpin strode across the room, beckoning Summer to follow. Ozpin slid open the grate and they entered, Summer taking care to shut it behind her.
Ozpin threw a large switch and the elevator lurched and began to descend.
Summer quirked an eyebrow. "Where does this go?"
"Beneath Beacon," Ozpin said.
"And what's beneath Beacon?"
"An old friend described it as hell," Ozpin said.
"And you're the ferryman," Summer said dryly.
"He was actually referring to how cold it was," Ozpin said. "I was just trying to scare you. I apologize for the wait, by the way. This old elevator can't be modified as easily and openly as the others, so it has a particular...pace."
"I noticed how slow it was going," Summer observed.
Ozpin sighed. "Seen any good films recently?" But before Summer could respond, the elevator ground to a stop.
The girl folded her arms. "We're here?"
"We're here." Ozpin slid the door open and they stepped into a large, dimly lit antechamber with a massive door facing them. "This is the Beacon Vault. Completely and totally secure. If a high-grade Dust bomb like the ones used on the edges of Mountain Glenn were to be used on the campus right this moment, then we would be safe. If someone wanted the contents of this vault, they would need to contend with a fiendishly designed vault door, custom built by the finest vault maker in all of Atlas. And before you ask, there are seismic sensors to inform us of any tunnels made nearby."
"What's inside?"
"Artifacts," Ozpin said, dialing in a combination to the first of what looked like three locks. "Most of them are relatively harmless."
"Most of them?"
"Don't touch anything before I tell you to," Ozpin clarified. He spun the massive central handle and opened the vault. "We're going to do a little test."
Summer wasn't quite sure what she had expected. It was a massive room, with probably hundreds of different plain wooden boxes stacked neatly on shelves, and each had a distinct designation.
"Grab that crowbar," Ozpin directed, motioning toward a workbench with a variety of tools. Summer did so and then Ozpin beckoned her to continue following him down one of the aisles. "We're here for sword, to be specific a particular blade used by the first Silver-Eyed Warrior."
"And what do you think it will do?"
"React," Ozpin said, stopping at a massive box. He fished a key out of his pocket and undid the massive padlock. Summer passed him the crowbar and he roughly took out four nails from the box.
He opened the box. There, laying in a sea of packing peanuts, was a longsword still in its worn leather sheath.
Ozpin gingerly lifted the sword out of the box and drew it, showing it to Summer. It was a plain longsword, with little embellishment and, from what she could tell, no Dust or built-in gun giving it anything aside from a cutting edge.
"This sword's name has been lost to the ages," Ozpin said. "In truth, it belongs in a museum. The issue is, it has a peculiar reaction to people with silver eyes." He held it out for Summer to take. "Try it."
Summer took the sword in hand. As she did so, a faint chill went up her spine and the blade, very faintly, began to glow.
"This is no trick," Ozpin said.
Summer exhaled a couple times. "What does this mean?"
"You have silver eyes," Ozpin said, grimly. "And that power will lead you through endless conflict. That is the curse of the silver eyes."
"It was true," Summer said, gravely.
She had, after a while, stopped walking. They had come to an intersection in a slightly better lit area of the catacombs. "I didn't know why I tended to encounter more Grimm than my classmates, even from initiation. And I became extraordinarily good at Grimm extermination, even without my eyes."
Neo frowned. With parasol in hand, she signed out both "family" and "love" before repeatedly signing a question mark.
"My father died not long after I graduated," Summer said, sighing. "My mother followed a few years later. I guess I have a husband? Had? I don't even know how long it's been."
Footsteps sounded around the corner.
Summer's eyes widened, and she ducked behind a large pipe running into the ground.
She glanced out. A young boy approached. Summer guessed he was about the age of the boy with the Keyblade back in Traverse Town.
Summer saw Neo hiding behind a different hunk of machinery. They exchanged nods.
As the boy passed, he suddenly found two blades directed at his body. From the look of him, Summer guessed he wasn't very fashion forward, from his weird massive shoes and waders to his odd, two-tone sleeveless shirt with what looked like a pair of straps crossing his chest.
"Don't move," Summer said.
The boy remained still, looking at Summer. Her own blade was against his throat, while Neo's was jabbing into his back just enough where it hadn't broken through, but he could likely feel it.
"Put your hands where my eyes can see," Summer barked. The boy slowly complied, raising his hands to the level of his head.
The boy slowly turned his head to look at Summer. "Who are you?"
"You're not exactly in a position to be asking questions," Summer said. "Where's our ship?"
The boy carefully shifted his body around, looking between Summer and Neo. He looked back at Summer with a glare set firmly on his face.
Summer's eyes widened. She leapt somewhat clumsily backwards as a black sword shaped like a bat's wing materialized in the boy's hand, its blade stretching out to where her head had been. The boy pivoted and redirected his sword to slam the tip of Neo's parasol away.
The boy barely turned around in time to block Summer's slash. Their blades locked.
The boy struggled to keep his footing. Summer pressed on, both hands on her sword, pushing the boy backward. She stepped forward, giving his blade a push to send him off balance. As she did so, she slid her leg around his and threw him to the ground, his sword clattering uselessly to the side.
As his hand searched for his blade, Neo placed a foot on his wrist. Summer kicked the sword well out of reach.
"Wrong move," Summer said. "That was a neat trick summoning it like that, but your form is sloppy."
Neo slid her full blade out of her parasol for the boy to see. She twirled it a couple times before holding it right above the boy's heart.
He sagged.
"I'll ask again," Summer said. "Our ship."
"The postern," the boy ground out.
"Directions," Summer said.
"It's the right hallway," he said, gesturing toward the intersection.
"If we meet again, you won't be lucky," Summer said. She looked up at Neo, who merely rolled her eyes and took the blade off the boy's chest. "Come on."
The took off down the right hallway. After a long while and a couple bends, they finally saw daylight.
There on the postern was their ship, looking somewhat the worse for wear. It was open and the pair quickly climbed aboard, rushing to the cockpit.
"Get her ready for takeoff," Summer said, leaping into the co-pilot's seat. She began to flick switches. "Engines nominal. Flight computer online. Just getting destination coordinates for the nearest world."
Neo grabbed the controls and they took off, immediately ascending.
"We've got Heartless," Summer said, checking the primitive radar screen. She clambored out of her seat and down a ladder into the ball turret.
Behind them, several dragon-like Heartless had taken flight and were quickly pursuing.
Summer plucked the radio headset from its resting place and roughly set it on her head. "We've got about a dozen Heartless," Summer called out. "Weapon systems hot, opening fire!"
The turret let out a stream of projectiles into the flock, breaking it apart and sending a few back to the surface.
"Engage the boosters," Summer called out. Almost immediately, she was shoved forward against her controls. She righted herself and began to fire again, picking off as many Heartless as she could.
Eventually, the last pursuing Heartless peeled off back toward their roost. Soon, the familiar glow of the lanes between worlds surrounded her.
"We're clear," Summer said, exhausted. "Neo, set the autopilot for the nearest world and turn on the automatic defense system. I think we both need some sleep."
"So," Qrow said lowly. "Where did you end up next?"
"A delightful place," Summer said. "Well, actually, we had set the autopilot for any world, and the nearest world reading actually didn't look that, uh...inviting."
Neo signed out something that looked like a whirlpool.
"Yeah, sort of like a vortex or or something." Summer leaned forward, hands clasped. "We wound up deciding not to land, and a few hours later its reading disappeared completely. Some sort of space oddity, or something."
"And then where did you go?"
"Castle Oblivion," Summer said.
"Now," Summer observed, "that is a big door."
It was true: the massive double doors to the twisted-looking castle dwarfed the pair. Summer folded one arm across her chest, touching her chin with her other hand.
"Push, I suppose," Summer said, walking up to it and settling in for a struggle.
The door gave remarkably easy, and swung open enough for the pair to enter.
"That is some entrance," Summer said, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the blindingly white room. "Do you think they knew how to paint a room?"
Neo shook her head.
The hall was massive but sparse. At the opposite end of the room was a short set of stairs leading up to a landing with a fairly oversized set of double doors leading into the castle.
Summer drew in a deep breath and called out, "Anybody home?!"
Nobody responded.
Summer strode through the white central "path" that seemed to be designed on the floor up to the set of stairs at the far end of the room. But as soon as her foot landed on the first step, the door slammed open.
A man clad in a dark cloak stepped out. He had bright red hair drawn into borderline dangerous looking spikes. He paused to look at the pair, his face blank.
"Well, well," he said dryly. "Now you're unexpected."
Summer sighed. "Where exactly are we?"
"Castle Oblivion," the man responded. "The second...well, former secondary headquarters for the Organization." He barked out a laugh that could have easily passed for a real one. "I'm not sure who you are, however."
Summer looked up at the ceiling. "Well, I suppose you can call us travellers," she answered.
"There's not much here," the man said. "I was actually just leaving." He began to step down the stairs.
Summer frowned slightly. From his tone, it sounded like he expected her to say, "Ah, us too." She turned away, giving a hidden short hand sign to Neo to prepare her weapon.
"Well, I don't suppose it would hurt to take a look around," Summer said, finally stepping up onto the landing. She reached out toward the door.
"As a matter of fact," the man began, "It would." At once he was back on the landing with her. In his hand was a massive metal chakram with several spikes jutting out, one against her neck. Summer glanced over to see the other half of the pair in his other hand.
"So," Summer grumbled. "Neat trick. They're much too large to be hidden in your coat. Are they collapsible?"
"It's basic summoning magic," the man said.
Neo suddenly appeared beside the pair, her thin parasol blade extended from the tip and poking into the man's own neck.
"We have reached an impasse," Summer declared, resting her left hand on her hip and shifting her stance slightly.
In one motion with her left hand, she drew her revolver from the holster on her back and fired behind her back at the man, her right hand reaching out and unsheathing her sword in such a manner to slash at the man.
He was incredibly quick, leaping backwards down the stairs and nailing the landing.
Summer ran down the stairs. Her sword unfurled into its rifle configuration and she began pushing him backwards until he was taking cover behind one of the large pillars flanking the room.
At once, Summer felt a disturbance in the air above her. She leapt out of the way as the man descended from what seemed to be a splotch of pure darkness. As he landed, he tossed his chakrams in each direction.
Neo's parasol opened to shield her from his attack. Summer narrowly dived under his attack, before firing into his shin.
She heard a sharp hiss before the man dashed back into cover.
She ran, loading her rifle. As the man came into view, she saw him disappear into another dark portal.
And then from behind her, someone clapped slowly.
"Well done," another man said. This one had a deeper, heavier voice. At Summer's tense look, he merely said, "I can assure you, you are quite safe now. I mean you no harm, and that man has already departed for sanctuary."
The man was tall and wrapped in shrouds, robes, and belts. Summer wondered if he had any sort of fashion sense.
"I am known as DiZ," the man proclaimed.
Summer sheathed her sword. "So, did your parents hate you?"
The man laughed. "No, I'm afraid it's a name of my own choosing."
"So you hate yourself," Summer concluded. "Who was that man?"
DiZ nodded. "He was a member of the Organization, a group that held power until very recently. Several hours ago, to be precise."
"And who are they?"
"A loathsome group," DiZ said. "A coalition of 'Nobodies'. They lack hearts. Until very recently, there were thirteen among their number. Thanks to the interference of a Keyblade wielder, they have been reduced to a mere eight."
"Well," Summer said. "What exactly do they do?"
"They farm hearts," DiZ replied, carefully. "They go to worlds and release Heartless, spreading and harvesting them. Untold lives have been lost to their machinations. They lack sympathy or empathy, and they are single-mindedly devoted to this task."
Summer grimaced, a sick feeling rising in her stomach at the offhanded mention of genocide. She swallowed and spoke. "I assume they're pretty powerful."
"You assume correctly. They are all capable fighters. You have seen this yourself. Axel, the man you chased off, is not the most dangerous among their number."
Summer smirked. "So, how can we help? What's the plan?"
"We wait," DiZ said. "The Keyblade's wielder is slumbering. It will take a year for him to awaken. But in that time we must prepare to crush the Organization in one fell swoop."
Summer Rose smirked. "I know a few who could help. If you'd help me find my home, then perhaps we could bolster our forces."
"It can be done," DiZ said. "There is a King in this castle, and no, it is not his castle. But I happen to remember that he has a pair of talented navigators in his employ."
Summer flipped her hood up. "Let's ride," she declared. After a moment she muttered, "I thought that would be cooler than it was."
"And here we are," Summer said. "I need Hunters to help us defeat the Organization. To be specific, I'd like to reassemble the team."
"Why start with me?"
"Gotta get the hard ones first," Summer said, leaning back and finishing her juice. "And you're out here in search of your sister."
"It's not just that," Qrow said. "I'm here for a lot of reasons."
"The question is, will you join me," Summer said. "I'm getting the band back together, man!"
"I have unfinished business," Qrow said.
"Then let's finish it," Summer said. "We have ten months. First, we're going to deal with whatever it is you have to deal with here. Second, we're going to grab Raven and Tai. Third, we're going to set the universe right."
"Wonderful plan," Qrow said sarcastically. "Waitress? Check, please."