Long may they rest, the gravestone read. For duties served and honour earned. Myrka hung his head back and closed his eyes. What honour? he thought. What duty? We were children… only children. Tears welled in his eyes and threatened to spill down his face. He dashed them away. This was no time for tears; he still had a job to do.
A hand came down on his shoulder, gentle and reassuring.
"Myrka?" Ao's voice was sombre, pensive. Visiting their graves was just as painful for her, yet she still worried about him.
Myrka turned towards her, squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw. He couldn't afford any weakness, not now of all times. Tears brimmed her eyelids—the only outwards sign of the sadness that she felt. Even she fought for the strength to do what needed to be done.
Why do we keep coming back here? Why put ourselves through this? Myrka took a deep breath and nodded. Because they are why we fight.
"What's the situation?"
They walked up the small hill before them, leaving the gravestone behind. They passed rows of other graves, walking along a small path that wove through the graveyard. Grass grew all around the path, lush and green. There were flowers sprouting here and there, their colours vibrant and beautiful. It had always felt odd to Myrka that nature should flourish so in the place where two of the people he'd loved most lay dead.
"The officials in Vacuo have agreed to meet us," Ao said as they crested the hill. "Apparently our allies in Mistral have been in contact with them, convincing them to side with us. They agree our goals are aligned, though they may not like our plan."
Myrka snorted in laughter. "They don't have to like it. They just have to help us. We're the ones who will enact it all. They get to sit there and do nothing but wait while we deliver them the world."
"The world is a big target," Ao said, her voice filled with scepticism. "Are you sure we can make promises like that?"
Myrka gave her a reassuring smile. "Everything in time. It will take us a while—years, probably—but yes, we will have the world. Besides, I haven't been sitting around doing nothing while you were in Vacuo. I've had a busy few months."
The sun peeked out from behind a cloud and Myrka raised a hand to shield his eyes. Once his eyes had adjusted to the light, he lowered the hand and pointed forwards.
Directly below them was a small village, surrounded by high walls; the village where Myrka and Ao had been born—where their friends had returned in death. Beyond the village was empty fields, the grass swaying gently in the breeze. And further still, was the edge of the Emerald Forest. The spires of Beacon were visible, jutting above the forest, as beautiful as the day he'd first seen them. The village's proximity to Vale was the only reason it hadn't been overtaken by the Grimm over the years.
Myrka reached out—not with his hands, but his mind—sending grasping tendrils of thought towards the Emerald Forest. He could feel them all, just out of sight. The army he'd spent the last few months building. The Grimm. They were hiding within the outer reaches of the forest, as close as he could get them to Vale without them being sighted.
Sometimes Myrka was surprised by his level of control over them. Months of nearly constant control over such a large number of them had proved exhausting—both physically and mentally—but had also come with unexpected benefits: his reach had grown longer; his hold on them was firmer, even at a distance; and he'd learnt to control more of them at once.
He grasped them now, calling them out. The edge of the Emerald Forest blurred and the brown of the tree trunks mixed with black. There was a sharp intake of breath from Ao as she saw the Grimm begin to emerge. They stopped at the edge of the forest—there was no need to expose them entirely—but he gave Ao a glimpse at the work he'd done since they'd last met.
"How many?" she asked.
"So far? Almost ten thousand. By the time we're ready to strike? At least thirty."
"Gods… They'll never know what hit them."
"That's the idea. This time we make sure."
Anger flared to life in Myrka's chest as he remembered their last failure. Ruby Rose… The only one of those four whose name he knew. It was a starting point. They had time. Time to play their games out, time to let the pieces fall into place, time to find the other three. They would pay for their interference, along with Ozpin. The world needed liberation, and those who stood in the way would be cast down.
"What now?" Ao asked. "You can't let all these run free while we go to Vacuo; there'll be nothing left of the village when we return."
Myrka gave her an amused smile. "Give me some credit. Do you really think I'd leave them here?"
Ao smirked back. "No, you're usually smarter than that. Sometimes I just feel like I need to make sure."
Myrka laughed and Ao's smile grew wider. Their eyes met and they laughed together. On an impulse, Myrka reached out and wrapped his fingers around hers. She squeezed his hand for an instant, then jerked away.
"Myrka," she said quietly, holding her hand to her chest. "Not here."
Myrka glanced back, towards the grave now hidden from view. It angered him how well the grave was hidden; tucked away in a corner of the small graveyard. Even in death, they went unnoticed. But even if the gravestone was out of sight, Ao still shied away. She always did when they were in the cemetery. It would be an insult to his memory if she didn't, she claimed.
He met her gaze and smiled apologetically. She smiled again and let her arm fall to her side. They looked back at the Emerald Forest and Myrka sent the Grimm back into the darkness of the forest.
"It might take a while," he continued. "A week or two at most, but I'll move them to one of the forest farther south. They can wait there, away from any settlements. Being this close to Vale is probably a needless risk anyway."
"Then why did you gather them here in the first place?" Ao asked. A hint of a smirk tugged at her cheeks once again.
"There were more of them here, alright?" Myrka replied in mock frustration. "It seemed like a good starting point. Gods, get off my back, woman."
Ao let out a peal of bright laughter and punched Myrka playfully in the ribs. Myrka smiled at her renewed humour.
"So where do we go from here?" Ao asked, returning to more serious matters. "Have you gotten any news from Atlas?"
Myrka gazed towards the horizon thoughtfully. "Atlas is ours. It has been for months. The men we got from Cinder are keeping things under control as quietly as they can—though the Schnee family is presenting a problem. I'd like to check in on them soon, to make sure things are running as smoothly as their reports say. If they are, we can move them out of Atlas. We're going to need them elsewhere soon enough.
"In regards to where we go from here: once I move all of the Grimm to the south, we'll head to Vacuo. We need to work our way into the system there. Let's hope these new contacts of ours are cooperative."
"I get the feeling they will be," Ao said.
Myrka nodded. "Good. Once we have the rest of the kingdoms in our pockets, we can come back for Vale. We won't be able to act covertly here, we're too well known."
Ao nodded. "So we work our way into the politics elsewhere, take those kingdoms over…"
"And come back and crush Vale once we have the rest of world in hand. Then we get our revenge, and our new world—free from the tyranny of the Huntsmen and Huntresses."
Ao nodded, saying nothing. Myrka sent a pulse of thought outwards, towards the forest. Unseen to either of them, and anyone watching from Vale, the Grimm began to move south. They would migrate to the southern-most edge of the forest, and from there Myrka would let them trickle out in small groups. A horde of Grimm, ten thousand strong, all crossing the plains at once would alarm Vale, no matter how far away it was.
Myrka looked up as the sun drifted behind another cloud as it sank towards the horizon. The sun was setting on another day; one of the last days of peace Vale had left. Revenge could wait—would have to wait, to give him time to implement all of his plans—but it not forever. The flame of his anger, once burning brightly, had turned into a block of ice in his chest. Cold and calculated, this revenge would be. No brash actions this time. This time, there was no room for error.
Cold, calculated, and unstoppable.
"Soon," Myrka said, turning to smile at Ao. "Soon we'll begin again. And this time there's nothing they can do to stop us."