DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCs
IMPORTANT NOTE:
As of 05/14/2017, the rewrite is still in progress! If you want to read the next chapters, that's fine. But I'll be doing quite some changes to it, especially with Weiss and Cinder's dynamic.
It might take two weeks to properly finish up everything. I'm not just rewriting chapters. I'm also adding new ones to connect the story better.
Trails of the Sun
CHAPTER 1
A New Player Enters The Game
- 07:00PM -
- CITY OF VALE -
Sophia Solis was born, raised, and leads the island town of Nivage as it's mayor. She had raven black hair which she usually kept messy, but this time brushed it straight and tied it into a ponytail. As for her attire, she usually had verdant green eyes that hid behind her half-frame glasses with thin metal frame, and her usual lab coat, slack pants and white long sleeves. All of which were nowhere to be found. Instead, she wore contact lens for her eyes, a pencil skirt, white blouse, and deep blue cardigan.
As to why she wasn't in her usual attire, it's simply because she wasn't behind her desk in either her husbands office or her lab. She was sitting in a private table in a restaurant that valued its patrons privacy. As well as their main course dishes which was, sadly, turning cold by the second as the other woman infront of her was trying to shoot lasers out of her eyes.
She wasn't far off either. Smoke was literally coming out of her eyes.
"What do you want you thieving cat?" The woman all but spat with her arms crossed. She had ashen-black hair and bright amber eyes, while her fingernails are painted dark red. She currently wore a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck minidress with yellow designs. There is a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.
"Good to see you too, Cinder." Sophia said as she went for her drink, a red wine that went along with her steak. She was trying to swallow how nervous she felt. She hoped she was doing a good enough job at it. This was the next crucial part in her plan and it all hinged on whether Cinder would listen to her or not. Considering she had a very good reason to just kill her on the spot, hopes weren't high. Still, she had an ace up her sleeve. "You've managed to look youthful for 17 years. What's your secret?"
"Cut the crap, Sophia." Cinder said her name like a curse. The room's temperature was rapidly increasing as Cinder's temper rose. "We both know we can't stand each other. And what is she doing here?" Cinder pointed to the last member of their table.
Glynda Goodwitch sat cautiously as she watched the two. She had light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes are bright green and she wears thin ovular glasses.
She wears a white long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body is covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings.
"Referee? Witness? Here to stop you from bathing in my blood?" Sophia supplied.
"Please." Cinder scoffed. "Even with Artem dead, I wouldn't-"
"Artem Solis is not dead." Sophia interrupted Cinder, putting her wine glass back down. Her ace was out. It was the one thing, the one person Cinder Fall truly desired. Artem Solis, Sophia's husband, and the lover Sophia stole from Cinder, 17 years ago.
The effect was immediate. Cinder's eyes widened, her mouth open mid breath, shock and disbelief plainly evident on her face. And she wasn't the only one shocked as Glynda also bore the same expression. But Glynda recovered quicker.
"Come now, Sophia." Glynda said softly, worry for her friend showed clearly in her eyes. "Surely it's time you've moved on from your husband's death? Your sons must have-"
"I know." Sophia said,raising a hand to stop her. "I know what I sound like. But it is what Artem's sons insist. That their father is alive."
Glynda furrowed her brows. "But that's impossible! Surely if he's alive he would have come straight back towards you. And even if he doesn't go to you for whatever reason, if someone saw that the heroic Dust Prism is alive and well, news agencies around the world wouldn't be silent about it. I mean, his Semblance isn't exactly subtle!
"That is true Glynda. If he left on his own will that is..." Sophia said.
"You're not implying he was kidnapped are you?" Glynda scoffed at the implications. Artem Solis, a man revered as a hero for stopping a war while he was little more than the age of 12, fought off countless tides of grimm, and erected towns and cities for the common people be restrained? Mankind would sooner go to the moon!
"I am not implying it. I'm plainly declaring it to you now."
"Then why now? After eight years, why tell us he was kidnapped now?"
"To keep my children safe." Sophia said as Glynda scoffed, but Sophia continued. "Think about it Glynda. Whoever was able to restrain my husband eight years ago, must surely have some power behind them. In fact, I would never have believed it myself. The only reason why I have hope, is because Dante and Angel insist that the people that told us Artem was dead was lying through their teeth."
"But surely you should have-"
Sophia stopped Glynda again. "I will tell you everything. But it would take time. If you would humor me, I would like to know if both of you are willing to help us first." She then looked towards Cinder who hadn't said a word.
Cinder was silent from the very moment she was told Artem was alive. She was still silent, turning all the new information over her head. When she came and sat down at the table, her arms had been crossed, holding back the urge to throttle the woman in front of her. The woman that stole her beloved Artem. Who she believed dead.
But here was her most hated enemy, telling her that he was alive. She uncrossed her arms, placed her elbows on the table and clasped her fingers together in thought. If he was found, the most likely scenario is for him to go back to Sophia's arms.
On the other hand... He would be alive.
He would be breathing, speaking, and doing whatever that pleased him. He would be watching the same world, walking on the same planet and breathing same air as Cinder. A small part of Cinder screamed that wasn't enough.
But most of her? She just wanted to see him at least one more time.
"Say I believe you..." Cinder finally said. "What is it that you want me to do?"
"Cinder, you can't possibly mean to entertain-" Glynda started but was cut off when Cinder raised her hand own hand, wanting to hear Sophia's request.
Sophia smiled. "I want you to help find the boys good partners. After all, Beacon places quite the importance in teamwork."
At that, Cinder raised a brow. "Oh? I was under the impression that you wanted me to go and wreck havoc on the Schnee family mansion. Did you not want to find your husband at your most likely suspect's home?"
Sophia shook her head. "There are more than the Schnee's who I am wary of. The Schnee's were simply the first to make a move, thus the first target of my grief eight years ago. After a while, other people were making attacks on our town, albeit a lot more subtly. And when I noticed, I kept my mouth shut.
"But I digress. We as the Solis family have already made plans. And will take responsibility for their consequences on our own heads."
Glynda gasped, putting two and two together. "Your going to let your sons do something illegal!"
"No need to make it sound so seedy, Glynda." Sophia joked, trying to alleviate her worries, but also dreaded admitting to them that her boys were going to commit crime. "Think of it as... Simply trying to look up for the correct information... In a restricted section of a library. Nothing more."
Glynda glared at her, ever the law abiding and upright woman she is. "And you promise you won't use that information as blackmail or other such nefarious deeds?"
"No promises. If making war and drawing blood are what it takes to get Artem, then so be it. Let alone blackmail and threats." Sophia said with a finality.
"I can respect that."
"Cinder Fall!" Glynda shouted, indignant.
"Oh stop it Glynda." Sophia said, and prepared the bait to get Glynda to join her plans. "If it was your husband missing you would do the same."
Glynda sighed as she placed a hand on her temple. Sophia now had Glynda hooked, lined, and sinkered. That was the reason her trust extended to these two. One was the woman that had the same love for Artem as her. The other was a fellow wife and mother. If Glynda's husband was kidnapped, she'd raise hell and her children would bring down the heavens. "Fine... I'll at least hear you out. However, I still don't get why I'm here and why is it important for your children to get good partners."
Cinder was wondering that too. "Don't tell me the boys aren't skilled enough to survive Beacon."
Sophia shook her head. "Of course not. If anything, the boys are too skilled. You can thank Artem's training for that." Sophia took a deep breathe and sighed, her entire demeanor turning a bit more solemn. "No, the reason why I want your help in this is because I'm a logical person by nature. And despite what I've just told, there is no guarantee that Artem WOULD be alive when this all ends. After all, he was kidnapped without any demand or ransom for eight years. Those type of cases tend to not have a happy ending.
"What would that do to Artem's sons? From the age of eight, the boys have stopped at nothing but to try and prepare themselves to go make war against whoever took Artem and bring him home.
"Or even if they do find him alive, what then? They haven't truly made dreams or set goals for themselves, let alone find companionship with other children their age. Just a single minded determination to their current mission."
Cinder grimaced when Sophia described Artem's sons. "Ugh, they sound so much like their father." She massaged her temples, remembering how hard it was to persuade Artem from doing something completely reckless. "So... you want them to have maximum compatibility, personality wise, with their partners? Then I'll need their bio with a psych profile."
"Of course." Sophia said, trying to keep her relief from her voice. She handed Cinder a flash drive, prompting the other woman to raise a brow.
"You've been preparing for this."
Sophia shrugged. "We've had eight years to plan. Anyone could make a plan to take over a city with that kind of time."
Cinder thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded to Sophia's comment. For whatever reason, Glynda felt shivers go down her spine when she saw Cinder's smile. She was suddenly glad she had Cinder as a colleague.
"I'd like to see the list of people you've chosen if you don't mind." Sophia added.
"Fine." Cinder agreed. "Then the only problem left is Ozpin." Then she and Sophia turned to Glynda.
"W-what?" She asked, surprised that their attention was on her now.
"We need your help to convince Ozpin." Cinder stated. Glynda shot her a "You can't be serious" look in reply. "Oh, don't give me that look. All three of us know how secretive Ozpin is. It's likely that he already knows who's entering Beacon this coming year and which teams are going to form. I have no doubt that he already engineered the 'random' encounter at the Initiates Exam to his most desired outcome."
Glynda sighed. "Fine, I'll help." I suppose you want me to 'engineer' as you put it, where the boys would launch and who they're going to have as partners?" Sophia nodded in confirmation. Using her Semblance to subtly change 8 examinees' trajectory wouldn't be too difficult, even with Ozpin right next to her. "Very well. On the condition you tell us exactly why you haven't told anyone this for eight years. And I mean everything."
Sophia nodded, then looked to her wine glass. "I'm going to need more wine..."
- TWO WEEKS LATER -
- CAFE GATEAUX -
- 07:00 PM -
Cinder fall was enjoying the last week of her summer break in cafe Gateaux. It wasn't a famous cafe by any stretch. It was situated in one of the less crowded streets in Vale, and was really of no significant importance. They simply served her favorite combination of red velvet and red eye coffee. She took another bite out of her cake and she could feel its rich moist texture slide down her throat.
Her meeting with Sophia was two weeks ago and she managed to narrowed her list of candidates to just a few girls.
In the beginning, she had thought about using boys as well. But once she took a glance at them, they all just seemed... lackluster. The problem actually lay in that the Solis boys.
According to the data she received from Sophia, all four of the boys had excellent combat abilities, which might cause other young men to feel inferior or jealous. Not that they couldn't probably spin that around if they were team leaders, but that would just increase her search to 12 boys that would at least keep up with the Solis'.
She scrapped that idea entirely and was left looking through all the female candidates she could use. She found her first potential candidate a week after she started. She was the Faunus representative of Menagerie's Oasis Capital City. She was their top student with exceptional scores in both physical and mental exams. However, Cinder focused more on her character and personality. She was reticent, had a love of books, a strong sense of fairness, and a history of speaking up against bullies to defend the weak.
She found her second potential candidate a few days after that. A legacy child from a family of Hunters. Though her father was no longer in active duty and her mother disappeared off the grid, both of them are still well regarded in Hunter circles. Though, this girls academic scores was just average, it seemed it was her conduct that left a great many things to be desired. In fact, they listed her off as; uncontrollable, unpredictable, lack of respect to authority, and extremely provocative.
If Cinder wasn't looking at the girls picture, she would swear Signal Academy was describing her. Especially at the last word, which could mean the girl was either very annoying, or very sexually arousing. Cinder added her to the list without a second thought.
And now Cinder was presently at the cafe. She kept scrolling through her list, took a few bites of her cake, and took sips at her coffee, and scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled even further down the list.
Until finally... She was at the end of the list. She cursed inwardly. Two girls. Thats all she could come up with. Well, there were a few candidates like that Nikos girl and there was the one Sophia might get angry at...
'Sophia might get angry at. Hmm...' Cinder mused. 'Well, it wasn't like there was an abundance of very unique girls, and there was the added bonus of possibly ticking off Sophia. The girls attitude however... she definitely wouldn't be easy to handle.' Cinder knew the girls parents. Having met both of them when they were 12, and having the mother the closest thing she could of have had as a sister. 'They matured quite well as they grew up... Maybe pairing the daughter with one of the boys would also make her mature faster.'
'Now all that left was a fourth-'
- CRASH - CRACKLE - BANG -
Cinder and everyone in the cafe looked outside the cafe's window. Grunting, cursing and gunshots could be easily heard. It was evident that a fight had broken out. However, all everyone saw was a rain of roses with the sound of gunshots replacing thunder. Except for Cinder. She could clearly see a young girl wearing a red hood with an intimidating looking scythe twirling around a group faunus who were wearing the uniform of the Red Fang*. She was clearly beating them with hardly any trouble and she wielded her scythe masterfully.
'Hmm... Interesting... I might have just found the fourth girl...' Cinder thought.
- STREETS OF VALE -
- A FEW MINUTES LATER -
Cinder took out her scroll and dialed a number. It was the Zone Alarm program. Usable by any citizen in Vale, it allowed people in an area to be alerted of any possible danger, allowing normal people to evacuate and alerting both the police and any Hunter in the area to come as quickly as possible. As she finished, she turned to watch the little red reaper as she wielded her over sized Scythe, mowing down her opponents at unbelievable speed.
Each time the girl moved, she left behind a trail of roses. At first, one might think the trail of roses did nothing. But as Red kept going circles around the Fang's, they finally realized the roses also served as a distraction and cover, blending the scythe wielder in the sea of red. They then started grouping together, trying to use a formation but they were complete amateurs. They got beaten quite easily.
But it didn't seem like they were backing down. A faunus that seemed to be their leader took out a flare gun and fired it into the sky. At the signal, all the Red Fangs got back on their feet for one last struggle, but it was still ultimately useless.
Cinder was then getting bored of watching. Evidently, the little grim reaper was just too much to handle for the Red Fangs.
That is, until Red Ridding Hood was suddenly lit up by a spot light.
Cinder was alarmed and looked up to see Drop-Ship! It was armed with mini guns and what looked like several rounds of ammo. Cinder had to wonder what the heck Vale's air defense was doing to let a military grade Drop-Ship just fly around civilian air space.
The Red Fang then all used their race's special trait of increased physique and jumped up as the drop-ship opened its doors to allow them in. It would have been fine if they just flew up and left at that point, but the ship's guns started rotating, aiming everything they had at the girl.
It was then that Cinder decided to step in.
Ciner dashed towards the girl and pulled her behind her. "Get behind me." She said tersley, then activated her aura and formed a forcefield in front of her and the girl at the nick of time. The Drop-Ship's gun's open fired and Cinder's forcefield was pelted with high caliber round.
The guns fired for a full minute, threatening to crack Cinder's defense wide open. But the shield held and the machine guns eventually overheated.
Not letting the chance slip by, Cinder raised her hand and activated her Semblance. A large fireball hovered above her palm. She tossed it upwards and it hanged above her. Then the fire ball duplicated itself. And again. And again. Two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen and it continued until dozens of fireballs surrounded Cinder like a multitude of stars.
She smirked, and with a flick of her wrist, all the fireballs launched themselves at Drop-Ship. Each exploding like a tiny rocket. Her bombardment didn't last long and in the next instance, it was already over.
The Drop-Ship came crashing down to the street, most of it was melted and threatening to explode in any second. Cinder then snapped her fingers, and all fire extinguished itself, preventing any explosion from happening.
Cinder sent a pulse with her aura, and she was able to confirm she was able to avoid any deaths... Though they might be suffering burns. Oh well, it's part and parcel with being a terrorist group.
"Oh my gosh your a huntress!" Cinder heard the girl behind her say then she turned around to meet a star struck gaze. "Can I have your autograph?"
Cinder smiled. "I-
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"
Before Cinder could say anything, Glynda appeared out of nowhere behind them. And she looked very, very peeved. She was giving Cinder the look she gave her students whenever they were in big trouble. The kind that got you expelled from Beacon before you could even blink. Well, not like Cinder was a student. She ranked higher than Glynda as a Huntress too.
Oh wait, Glynda had a higher position than her in Beacon... Damn it!
Cinder sighed. This was going to be a long night.
- VALE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT -
- 08:00 PM -
"Do you have any idea how reckless you were being!?"
Cinder suppress the urge to roll her eyes. She was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and watched as Glynda paced to and fro in front of her. They were now in Vale Police Department, just outside one of the interrogation rooms which held the red hooded girl from earlier.
"You put yourself in front of an armed Drop-Ship! They had miniguns Cinder! With high caliber rounds!" Glynda rebuked.
"Hey, I stopped them didn't I? I'm pretty sure that comes with being a Huntress."
Glynda scoffed. "And destroyed half a block! You're lucky no one died and that Drop-Ship merely crashed into the street!"
"All part of my calculations." Cinder smirked. Which was true, since she did alert the whole neighborhood and killed the fire herself. "And the collateral damage wasn't my fault. Go tell the Red Fang goonies that."
"We can't! They're in the ICU. All of them have second to third degree burns." "And it's all your fault." Glynda glared the unsaid remark.
Cinder rolled her eyes. It was natural to get injuries in a fight. So some buildings have holes in their wall. The street has a massive crater. The area around it was glassed like a mini sun dropped in for a second. Big deal! No one died. Artem would have asked for a high five for it.
"I'll take it from here Glynda."
The two women turned, just as Ozpin casually walked towards them with a plate of cookies and a mug of coffee, causing eyebrows to be raised. The mug of coffee was normal. But the plate of cookies?
"For Ruby Rose. To calm her down." Ozpin answered the unasked question. "Glynda, please go inside with Ms. Rose while I have a brief chat with Cinder."
"... Of course, headmaster." Glynda nodded then gave Cinder a look that said "Don't screw Sophia's plan up."
'Of course I won't. I wouldn't have gone all the trouble of tonight if I planned too.' Cinder thought but then stood up straight and looked towards Ozpin. "Good evening, headmaster."
"Professor Fall." Ozpin nodded and smiled his greeting. "Enjoyed your evening?"
"I did. Up until Glynda acted... well, like Glynda."
"She means well."
"Of course. Was there anything you needed headmaster?" Cinder asked, wanting to get straight to the point.
"Just a question. What made you go out of your way and get in between a fight?" Ozpin asked. "Usually, you just let your students deal with the consequences of their action. What made this one different?"
Cinder smiled as she put on a mask. In her years as a teacher in Beacon, she got to know Ozpin's character very well. He was a very cunning man. He might show care, but only when it suits him. He's the type of man that believes the ends justify the means, and he would place students in danger to achieve that. Which was why Cinder was brutal to her own students. They needed to be prepared for whatever Ozpin threw at them.
"I saw potential." Cinder said in a shrug, then placed one hand on her hip, Making sure not to cross her arms as she tells her story. "But she lacked the skill to deal with the problem. She's young and a little rough around the edges but given time, she could be a very prominent Huntress in her generation. But it was just not now. So I had to intervene before that potential was snuffed out."
Ozpin nodded and kept his calm smile. "Indeed. Considering Ms. Rose is only 15 years old, the situation was a little over her head."
That caught Cinder by surprise. She was hoping Ruby was the fourth candidate she would have. But now it looks like she'll have to consider Nik-
"Which is why I'm thinking of inviting her to Beacon this year. But as the person that watched her fight personally, do you think we should give her the chance?"
Oh. Well... it seems the situation resolved itself. "I stand by what I said. I believe she is a little young." Cinder said, trying to show that she wasn't too eager to have the girl. "However, if she has already mastered her control over her weapon, then I see no reason why she can't enter the Entrance Exam and have her try her luck."
Ozpin stared at her for a moment, making Cinder wonder if there was something wrong with what she said. But Ozpin nodded again and smiled in approval. "Quite right Cinder. I'll take care of the paperwork for the skirmish awhile ago. You can have the rest of your night off."
Cinder smiled and nodded her thanks. "Then if you'll excuse me headmaster." She then turned to the exit and was going to enjoy the rest of her night off by giving Sophia her list.
- NIVAGE -
- MAYOR'S OFFICE -
- 09:00 PM -
- BEEP -
Sophia was sitting on her desk as she was finishing up the paperwork to hire mercenaries when she got an email from Cinder.
She immediately opened it, expecting the list of candidates for the boys. She was surprise to find it was all girls and there was only four of them. 'Was Cinder confident with the abilities of the four, or was there really just a lack of interesting people that could keep up with her sons?' Sophia wondered. Then she spotted the third girls name, making her pause. Then she smiled at where Cinder was going with that one. Or at least she thinks so.
'Cinder, are you trying to play matchmaker with my husbands sons and your dear friends daughter?' Sophia thought.
She only needed the third girls name to believe it.
'Schnee... They have quite the good history between Cinder and Artem. Artem had to save them to stop a war from erupting after all.' Sophia met them too of course. However, she holds a grudge against the Schnee's. They were the first to betray their family when Artem went missing.
'Or maybe Cinder simply added the girl, thinking it would rub me the wrong way? Ah well, no matter. If the girl was going to Beacon, the boys would definitely seek her out. Better to just have her near from the start.
'Although... if she ever finds out what the boys would be doing... Things could get messy...
'Oh well, whatever. The boys should be able to handle it.'
So she ignored Cinders attempt at ruining her night and forwarded the list to Glynda and went back to finishing her paperwork for the mercenaries. After that, she would need to start looking for people she could hire for her R&D department. After all, you need to arm your army with the best possible weapons you can have.
- ONE WEEK LATER -
- BEACON ACADEMY/VALE CITY-
- DAY OF THE ENTRANCE EXAM -
- 07:00 AM -
The Entrance Exam of Beacon always took two days to complete. The first day was spent doing three things. The arrival of the students, the orientation, and a tour of the campus with the students needing to sleep over for the night. The second day was simply the preparation for the exam and the exam itself.
As for why not all students arrived on the first day was simply because other students lived in other countries or in remote settlements that have no easy access to Vale. The island town of Nivage was the latter of these things. The Solis boys will simply have to arrive on the second day
So when morning came, Glynda and Cinder started their day as usual. Cinder woke up alone in her dimly lit, professor's room in Beacon. While Glynda woke up in her home, with a kiss from her husband as he greeted her with a "good morning, love". They started their day as normal, preparing for breakfast, sipping tea or coffee, and grabbing their scroll to make sure everything was normal as they slept.
They weren't expecting anything about the airship from Nivage, flight call VC 512. They expected it to have arrived with the boys with no incident, and that they were already on their merry way to Beacon. Just in time for breakfast and have a quick run down of the Academy's lay out.
Instead, the first thing they see in the news was that VC 512 was attacked by aeronaut pirates and have gone completely off grid.
The two professors spewed/dropped their coffee/cup of tea and immediately forgot about breakfast. They ran to their respective desktop, and made a video call to Sophia. Sophia answered their call quickly and neither was surprise to see that it had become a conference video between the three of them.
" "Sophia, have you seen the news!?" " The two professors said simultaneously.
"Of the airship? Of course I've seen it. Now stop yelling so early in the morning." Sophia said irritably. She was already wearing her lab coat and had dark bags underneath her eyes, evidence she hasn't had any sleep.
"So what do we do? Your plan is now..." Glynda started but Sophia raised her hand and stopped her.
"The plan continues. It'll take more than just a few aeronaut pirates to stop Artem's sons. They'll get to Vale, even if they have to ride grimm to do it." Sophia said as tried to cover a yawn. "I can speculate the boys will arrive in Vale in time for the exam, but I still don't expect them to make it."
Confused, Glynda furrowed her brows. "What makes you say that?"
"Cinder, have you met Vale's police chief?" Sophia asked.
Cinder scoffed. "Which Hunter hasn't? He's a pain in the ass and one of the most vocal for calling down Hunters. I just dodged meeting him last week. Why do you ask?"
"It's not that he hates Hunters per-se." Sophia typed something on her console and an old news article of Vale popped up in front of the two professors. The headline read "Chief calls for local hero's imprisonment." "It's just that the chief hates vigilantes and people doing the police's job. What do you think the chief would do if the boys arrived with airship and the pirates bound and tied?"
Cinder groaned. "Ugh... He'll do everything he can to delay and inconvenience the boys., preventing them from getting to the exam in time... Fine, I'll take care of it."
"Wait, why do you know about Vale's chief of police and his polices towards vigilantism?" Glynda asked.
"Considering the activities of the boys are going to be... less than legal, I endeavored to looked up if the chain of command of Vale's police force could be bought to look the other way." Sophia answered.
"Ugh... Why am I going along with this..." Glynda said, feeling a headache coming, she massaged her temples. "... Fine. As my husband says, in for a sickle, in for a gringott. Since the plan continues, my job is to still convince Ozpin to have the boys partnered with the girls. Oh, and just so you know, I discovered that the jump pad of the girls are set so that their most likely encounter is to meet one another before anyone else. I don't know what his plans are but it's obvious he wants the girls together."
Sophia thought about it for a moment, then nodded. Though she has no way of knowing what it was that Ozpin is planning. And with the Schnee heiress gaining Ozpin's interest, there would be no way to untangle her sons from his sights. Even if she wasn't planning on having her sons mixed with the girls, she had no doubt her eldest would go and seek the Schnee out. Partner or not.
Now whether he was just going to use her or actually get along with the girl was up in the air at the moment.
"In any case, trying to convince Ozpin shouldn't be too difficult. He has a bad habit of placing all his eggs in one basket. If there's nothing else, I would like to get some sleep now."
"I'm curious though Sophia." Cinder stopped her, wanting to ask a question. "If you have been up all night, and it wasn't because you were worried about... your sons." She paused, not liking the words. She just now noticed that Sophia had been careful with all their conversation. Referring to the boys as Artem's sons. Not her own. Likely done to not rub her in the wrong way. Damn the woman. "What have you been doing?"
"Paperwork..." Sophia said, covering a yawn. "I looked for some engineers and sent them an invitation to work here in Nivage."
"And why, pray tell, are you in need of engineers? Specifically those you had to search for? If I recall, you're quite the brilliant inventor."
Sophia shrugged. "I simply need the extra hands. Ones that can place their loyalty to Nivage. If that's all, I really need to get some sleep. The boys would be calling soon. Good night ladies." And with that, Sophia cut off her connection and left the two professors.
"I don't like it." Glynda said. "Sending her sons to Vale to play detective? Giving us secure channels to talk privately? And now she's hiring engineers in an agricultural and mining town? She's up to something... More than just looking for Artem."
"No... That's not quite right..." Cinder said in thought, shaking her head. "Looking for Artem IS their objective, but they're being... Overkill... I would say. But if you're right about Ozpin purposefully wanting the girls in a team, and considering the Red Fang's actively as of late... I feel as if we just stepped into a bigger game than just a family looking for their patriarch."
Glynda groaned. "And to think the term hasn't even started yet..."
- AT THE SAME TIME -
- 30,000 FEET ABOVE THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER OF SANUS* -
"YOU IDIOTS!" A young teenage male yelled. He had vermilion red hair that reached his shoulder and he wore half frame spectacles just like his mother. "YOU DESTROYED THE NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS! HOW IN REMNANT DO YOU THINK WE GET OURSELVES TO BEACON NOW!?"
"It wasn't my fault!" said another vermilion haired boy. He wore a sleeveless vest and loose white shirt.
"Oh it so totally was! The radar has huge gash on it see?" Another youth piped in. His hair sprouted from his helmet and his entire body was covered in plate armor.
"And the radio has a fist sized hole that fits YOUR arm!" The second youth countered.
"Both of you shut up, I'm trying to think!" A fourth boy yelled over them, his vermilion hair swept back and spiky. For a moment everyone was stilled, and then his verdant green eyes sparkled with mischief. He locked gazes with the spectacled youth. "I've got an idea... and I don't think your going to like it."
SANUS - The largest continet in the world of Remnant, where the city-nation of Vale is situated. Just an FYI, since it's a little tidbit of lore that can be easily forgotten. Yes, the name is totally canon.
A/N: Alright, let's try this again!
If it still isn't obvious enough, THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE fanfiction. The only thing I want to hear is "Out of Character" to most characters as I actually do like the characers pre-time skip. So please, no "THEY'RE CALLED WHITE FANG, YOU ELETROCUTED PLEB!".
I've changed things. A LOT of things.
Don't worry, I will reveal them all in good time! (Except Glynda's husband. That's actually a fic idea I have which would be a RWBY x Harry Potter crossover. I added it in only for shit and giggles. Anyone care to guess which character?)
If you've noticed, this fic used to be titled "Trails of the Comet", but as I kept thinking of the future chapters, I realized I lacked solid "history".
For example I previously had no idea why Artem WAS a hero. Only that he was. So I had to imagine the whole thing from the ground up! How he met Cinder, how he is now considered a hero, why the Faunus now have a capital city and why White Fang is now Red Fang.
I'm really excited about this because I've now laid down a good foundation as well as set up a time line of events. Most of Year 1, Parts of Year 2, and a little bit of Year 3 and beyond.
- IMPORTANT - IMPORTANT - IMPORTANT -
Do you guys want me to write a codex of sorts? Strictly for OC characters. The problem with that though is that it could have spoilers. Let me know in the reviews! See you next time!