~~AAAND START!~~ (Stranger in the Hollow)
She shivered and shoved her hands into her pockets. The sun was rising at a gentle pace on the horizon, blanketing the courtyard in a soft, reddish glow. So, this where they tried to bury her memory… of course, it could never accomplish its job or do her justice, but it was the only place to her name now. Dawn's thin mist circled the gravestones as if it were the final breath of the dead.
Cinder Fall: False royalty, treason.
Executed in battle.
She smiled and exhaled, her own chilled air joining with the corpses' clouded tendrils. It was a stone that held far more glory than most. Not "Hanged," not "Scattered," not "Assassinated," not "Decapitated," but "Executed in battle." She deserved nothing less… for a title she wasn't to keep, that is. Beside Cinder's grave lay another.
Neopolitan: Massacre, treason.
Executed in battle.
Fresh flowers adorned this grave—tiger lillies from outside of Vale. She picked up a few and smelled them before setting them down in front of Cinder's stone instead. "I'll see you soon… Cinder," she whispered. The name was sweet and heavy on her tongue. Soon could never be quick enough, but she needed to have patience. It was her duty to do this correctly, methodically… no matter how unbearable the task. She belonged to Cinder, and she would have her back.
Emerald would have her back.
/-/-/-/
The watchman pursed his lips and fought a yawn. He had the misfortune of quite literally being assigned the graveyard shift. It was not a task he was intent to keep. Every guard started out on watch; even his mother, his inspiration, was first assigned to patrolling pig farms. She was never able to rid her clothes of the scent, and he was never able to rid his conscience of the eerie. Just now, he saw an unfamiliar figure walking through the mist. Even when he rubbed his eyes, it still continued towards the lake and stopped. Then, a red stare trailed back to him. Then, nothing.
He turned his chair towards the lake to watch for more signs of the intruder… It was a still night, but the torches along the dirt path flickered and threatened to extinguish. A blackowl hooted nervously, sending a shiver down his spine. Whipping out a sheet of scratch paper from his desk, he hastily scrawled out a very persuasive letter on having his assignment changed.
Just after he tucked the letter in his pocket, he was killed.
/-/-/-/
King Neptune sat in his office, looking over reports and general grievances. Being king had more to do with signing and sealing things than anything else. Of course, there were the occasional meetings and balls, and there were the couple of hours he spent on the throne each day, but all of his free time was buried under stacks of paper. Nonetheless, Neptune was determined to finish before the end of the day. A diplomatic friend from Atlas had sent him a sci-fi book, and he was dying to open it.
A tentative knock at the door roused him from his work.
"Your Majesty, a word."
"Come in."
"Right." The guard entered. "We've received a report of paranormal activity that may have something to do with this aura you've spoken of at the meetings."
"Really?" These reports weren't unusual. After the rebellion, people were far more willing to call anything mysterious an act of aura. It was to blame for every cold and stubbed toe, and the topic was a crowd favorite during every public interview. Neptune made it his personal goal to change the public's opinion, but that was proving difficult to say the least. People had long forgotten that there was a difference between fact and fiction when it came to aura.
The guard cleared his throat. "Your Majesty?"
"Sorry, please continue."
"Of course. The aura usage, if there was any, occurred in Traitor's Hollow."
"Uh-huh…"
"It would be better if you looked at the evidence yourself, Your Majesty."
Neptune took the letter handed to him and unfolded it. It was soaked in blood, making many of the words illegible.
My family is respectable and my word is true. I see a witch of the lake… she walks without caution but treads lightly… eyes… the time is… perhaps… my imagination… change my duty to something more sensible. I send this… region captain… beg of you… I feel as if I am a member of the dead here.
The rest was lost.
Neptune flipped the letter over, but found nothing of note on the back. "I take it he's deceased?" he asked, flipping it back over and rereading it.
"He was confirmed dead soon after dawn by the relieving watch, yes."
"Uh-huh… It certainly makes a murder case."
"We found footprints near the lake that presumably belong to a woman. They lead directly to his position, which could be taken to mean that the killer was an experienced assassin capable of hiding herself. The wound that killed the guard did not seem otherworldly… I would not suspect aura in a case such as this."
"Based on the evidence, I would agree. The victim was probably too afraid to think rationally." Neptune sat back in his chair and puffed out a breath. "Well, what are the other guards saying?"
"Most of them suspect aura. This is likely because of the sign-in chart. The last person to sign out that night was Yang Xiao Long."
Neptune's eyebrows shot up. "What? Yang?" He stole the chart from the guard's hands and read it himself. Sure enough, Yang's name was the last one on it. "What was she doing there?" he mumbled, deep in thought. She and Blake had just gotten back from a quest outside the kingdom. It was possible they'd accepted a new quest before they arrived in town, but the time window was too short. The visit had to have been personal, not work-related. And why would she go so late at night? Alone, no less?
"Most of the investigative team thinks murder. Ms. Xiao Long's eyes have been known to change color… She's our top suspect at the moment. There's a patrol lined up to take her into custody for questioning later this evening."
Neptune stared at the guard for a moment before tossing down the sheet. "Okay," he sighed. "I want both the guard and Intelligence out of this."
"But—"
"What? Asking her questions was a good idea. I want to ask her about that night myself, but taking her into custody? Do you think it's okay if you look at some evidence, make a few hasty conclusions, and bam, an innocent person winds up in jail for the second time?"
The guard shifted uncomfortably. His eyes flicked to the sign-in sheet. "I assure you, we followed protocol—"
"Did you? Or did your team just wanther to be guilty?" Neptune realized that the only reason the guard was here today was to get his permission to arrest Yang. His blood began to boil. The guard would have executed their suspect already if that plan didn't involve a certain adventurer.
Neptune scowled.
"Just how many investigations do you run like this? I can prove to you right now that Yang didn't do it, and I've only seen two pieces of evidence." He shook the papers in his hand. "Two!" Taking a breath, he tabled his anger and continued.
"First of all, Yang signed in while the guard was on shift, so why didn't he just refer to her by name in his letter? Why did he even write the letter at all? He was obviously distressed by someone he hadn't seen before. And, Yang fights with her fists, not blades."
"She could have snuck up on him with a dagger," the guard defended.
"Then why would she sign in in the first place? And what reason would she have for killing him? What's her motive?"
Realizing he'd stepped on a rapier wasp's nest, the guard conceded. "I… It seems there was a lapse in protocol on our part. We were wrong to charge her with murder without sufficient answers. On behalf of the entire investigative team, I apologize, Your Majesty."
Neptune nodded. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Of course. I will notify Intelligence and the team immediately."
"Thank you. If that's everything, you may leave the file and go."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The guard set the case file down on the desk, and made sure to close the door softly as he exited the room.
/-/-/-/
Sun staggered into the king's dining room. His legs were wobbling, and he looked sick. Even his tail was drooping; he almost sat on it when he collapsed into a chair. "'Sup, Neptune," he huffed. "How's it going?"
"Dude, what happened to you? You look like you're about to be sick," Neptune frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, you know… I just finished a pancake-eating competition over at Nora's." Sun's eyes lit up and his tail flicked excitedly. "You'll never guess who won!"
"Uh… I don't know, who?"
"C'mon, guess!"
"You?"
"Pfft. I wish."
"Okay, then who?"
"Blake! She ate thirty pancakes!"
"What? No way!"
"I know! She pulled that out of nowhere. It was super awesome—you should come to the next one."
"I would, but I'm pretty sure my schedule's booked for the next fifteen years," Neptune sighed. His dreams of reading something entertaining had been shattered when three more stacks of paper were delivered to his office. If he didn't hire someone to help him out, he'd never live to see the end. That said, he didn't trust anyone but himself to do the job.
"Sucks, man… Well, speaking of schedules, what did you do today?" Sun inquired.
"The usual. Paperwork, yelling at the guards for social injustices, demanding change we don't have the proper support for…" Neptune sank into silence for a second, then snapped himself out of it. "Oh, by the way, will you give this to Yang and Blake?" He slid the case file across the table. "This murder case just came in. A guard was killed in Traitor's Hollow… it might be related to aura, so I'd prefer they look into it."
"Ugh, but I just saw them! Now I have to go all the way back to their region?" Sun moaned in distress. "These pancakes feel like a bunch of rocks in my stomach. I think I'm gonna burst." Taking a big breath, he picked up the file, lazily leafing through it. "This looks interesting. Maybe I could help out?"
That struck an unhappy chord. "You know, if you'd decided to join Intelligence, you would have been the first person I asked… but you didn't," Neptune stated pointedly.
"Neptune," Sun sighed. He put down the file. "You know why I didn't join. And, besides, I like where I'm at."
"Dude, do you know how bad it looks for me when my best friend is a thief?"
"Well, I can't help how other people feel about me!"
"No, but you could get a real job."
Sun frowned. "No offense, Neptune, but I don't need you telling me how to live my life. Just say I'm your informant or something if you're worried about it, but I'm not changing anything."
"You want me to lie?"
"No, I want you to stop bringing this up every time we see each other, which isn't very often these days. And, I tell you tons of things about the Faunus!"
"Yeah, but you don't need to be a thief to learn them."
"Actually, yeah, I kind of do need to. You think a lot of Faunus are out there wearing business casual?" Sun dropped it and sank back into his chair. "I just want us to have fun, not sit around arguing about stupid stuff. I feel like that's all we ever do these days."
"This isn't stupid, Sun. I'm serious." Neptune exhaled through his nose. "But, whatever. You're not going to listen to me, so I guess you're right. We should try to have fun."
Sun grinned. "See? I knew you'd see it my way."
Neptune was unimpressed. "Sure, dude." He cleared his throat. "So, what else did you do today?"
"Let's… not talk about that."
/-/-/-/
Yang and Blake retired to the library, excited to look over the murder case Sun brought them. Between writing reports on Faunus equality outside the city, overseeing trade shipments, and other investigative matters, Neptune was proving to be a very reliable source of employment.
Yang flipped through the file, which was spread onto both of their laps. "It looks like they cleaned up the crime scene yesterday… but I wonder if they missed some things."
"Knowing the guard, they probably did," Blake remarked.
Yang nodded. "We should check it out tomorrow morning."
Humming in agreement, Blake examined the evidence before her. The sign-in sheet caught her eye, and she picked it up. When she read the last name listed, her eyebrows raised in surprise. Yang went out on her own every so often, but Blake wasn't expecting her destination to be a graveyard. "Why were you in Traitor's Hollow?" she asked.
"Oh, that?" Yang laughed nervously. As it died down, her eyes glazed over with pain and guilt. "I… was visiting Neopolitan's grave. I guess it still bothers me…"
"That's understandable." Blake still thought about Adam more often than she would care to admit. The way he just… slumped over after he died. The way her blade cut through him as though he weren't made of anything strong enough to torment her. The burning guilt she felt, even though she knew she had no choice.
She wondered what Yang was going through. After all, Yang couldn't even remember killing Neopolitan. Sometimes, Blake thought that gap in memory could be counted as a good thing, but she knew it came with its own demons.
She wished she could make Yang feel better. Take those demons away. Without Yang, she couldn't make it through all the sleepless nights and haunted days. She hoped she could return a fraction of that comfort. "The next time you go to the hollow, you should tell me. I'll go with you."
"Thanks, Blake," Yang smiled.
Blake smiled back, and they moved on. Refocusing on the case file, she examined the evidence. "The guard didn't seem to know his attacker, so it probably wasn't personal."
"Could she have been a hired assassin?"
"I doubt it. If she was, she wouldn't waste time walking around the lake. If he saw her and called for help, she would risk getting caught."
"True… So, she was probably there for another reason." Yang flipped back through the evidence. "It says here his throat was cut cleanly open… She probably knew how to use a blade. Maybe she was looking for something in the lake?" She thought about it, then shook her head. "No, there's nothing out there. She was definitely there to visit a grave."
"If she didn't sign in, she also didn't want anyone to know her name or that she was there. A fugitive?" Blake suggested.
"Or a grave robber… Or both." Yang picked up the letter. "But then why did she leave this? I mean, if I didn't want anyone to know about me, I'd destroy all the evidence."
"I'm not sure. The case file just says it was found on his person."
"Wow, that's super specific," Yang grumbled. "But, the letter definitely seems off. I think we should visit the crime scene before we draw any more conclusions."
"I agree."
Yang closed the case file. "It's been a while since we've taken a quest in the city. I'm sure Ruby will be happy to know we'll be staying for a while."
"We should thank Neptune for the job," Blake said.
"Yeah! Either he's pulling strings to get us these quests, or nobody wants to take them."
"I'm sure no one wanted to fight a nest full of giant Nevermores."
"Well, you never know," Yang shrugged. "But, I'm sure he's got our best interest in mind. I guess you could say I have unquestioning faith in him."
Blake smirked and rolled her eyes at the pun. "You set that one up."
"You know I did, Blakey," Yang winked. "And I'd do it again!"
Blake raised an eyebrow. They shared a look for a moment, then broke into laughter.
/-/-/-/
Virtually no one visited Traitor's Hollow. It was dark and damp in all the wrong ways, it was plagued with low visibility, and the graves always seemed seconds from revealing an undead army. It was only natural for a guard to be suspicious of anyone who visited for a purpose beyond maintenance. Blake wished this guard would hurry up and get rid of his suspicions, though.
"The famous witch adventurers. Mind telling me why you're here?"
Blake was about to answer when Yang took a breath and managed an apologetic smile. "Truth is, we're here on important business. I was actually hoping you could help us out with that…" she said, holding his gaze for a millisecond too long.
Noticing the cues, Blake realized with some discontent that Yang was flirting with him. It wasn't the first time this had happened, but it always caught her off guard. It was surprising how many people Yang could charm. Blake doubted there was a single person on the planet immune to her when she was determined to get what she wanted. And, even if it resulted in free food, or loosened informative lips, having to witness Yang's seduction always put her in a bad mood.
The guard's eyes wandered for a split second. "Business? What kind of business?"
Yang smirked, knowing she had him.
Blake folded her arms.
Yang approached him, her feminine body language becoming more assertive with every step. "We heard about that murdered guard…" Without the guard knowing it, she was slowly taking control of the encounter.
"Oh, him?"
By now, Yang was close enough that the torchlight danced in her hair. "We want to catch the killer. If you have any information, I would find that helpful," she simpered.
Blake suppressed a wave of nausea.
"Hmm… well... I found him. It was… I trained with him. Good guy. Found him right where I'm standing, sitting in his chair… He had bad feet. Needed to sit."
Yang nodded understandingly.
The guard continued, encouraged. "Anyways, he had his throat cut open and he was facing the lake… There was blood everywhere… Found a letter sticking out of his pocket. The killer must of missed it… Probably a damned witch. If not, he would have noticed someone approaching him." After a second, he glanced at Yang. "Oh. No offense, but most of you guys aren't so pleasant… I was supposed to relieve him of his watch, but all that was left of him when I got there was the letter... That help?" He paused. "Hey. What's got you so interested in this, anyway?"
"Let's just say… we don't appreciate others giving aura users a bad name," Yang replied.
"I get it. You're definitely friends of the king."
Yang smiled warmly. "We definitely are."
He nodded.
Blake cleared her throat.
Yang shot her a look, warning her not to throw the conversation off-balance. It would be hard to get his guard down again. "Would you mind letting us sign in?" she asked.
"Sure…" He handed them the sheet. "Hey," he realized. "That night, on the sign in chart…"
Yang froze. The last thing they needed was for him to get suspicious.
"If you could find who signed out last, you might get a lead."
Exhaling in relief, Yang nodded. "We'll be sure to look into it. Thanks," she said sweetly.
"Mhm. Go on through. I'll be here when you leave."
At that, Yang and Blake finally entered the hollow.
"That was easy," Yang remarked.
Blake narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, but Yang wasn't looking. The conversation moved on to the victim. "The killer's footprints led right to him, but he never left his chair," Blake noted.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Yang asked.
"That the killer used aura to conceal their location?"
"Yep! I'm also thinking that could explain her eyes." They arrived at the lake. "So, she was probably standing here and looking back." Yang faced the outpost. "I can't see that much. It's still too dark. Maybe we came too early."
Blake shrugged; she could see just fine. A moment later, that observation struck a chord. "What if the killer was a Faunus?"
"Mm." Yang surveyed the hollow. Hundreds of markers stretched into the shadows. "Well, then the dark wouldn't have bothered her…" She looked thoughtfully at Blake. "And, your eyes do glint in the dark. I see your point, Blakey," she said with a sly smile.
Blake managed a breath of laughter at the pun, then moved on. "A Faunus would also be more likely to have aura."
"True. So, which grave do you think she was visiting?"
"There's no way to know."
"Yeah, I… hate to say this, but we might have to check them all," Yang winced. They both sighed. "I'll go this way, you go that way?"
"Okay."
"I'll let you know if I find anything." A few minutes into her search, Yang ran over to Blake. "Hey, I found something!" They hurried to graves with familiar names. Cinder Fall… that wretched queen had flowers in front of her grave. "I put these same flowers in front of Neopolitan's grave the day of the murder."
Blake's stomach sank. They stood there, running through all the gut-wrenching implications in their minds.
Eventually, Yang spoke. "It's… not over, is it?"
~~AAAND STOP!~~
AN: Hey! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter... It's going to be a fun ride! Just so you all know, this story is already complete. All that's left is to edit and post!
If you want to read the prequel to this story, check out The Witch of Vale, which is also on my account.
Please review, follow, and favorite... Staying connected with my readers is very important to me, so I'll also answer any questions you may have throughout the course of the story :)
One-time disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, and I will continue to not own it even after this story is finished.
See you next chapter!
NEXT: Search and Termination