Remnant of Dreams

AN: Here are the next chapter of Remnant of Dreams. This chapter will fire off a key plot regarding Ruby. You can speculate, you can ask, you can review. However I will not give out spoiler or request to change the plot or the story. As I said, the story is near completion in written format, I just need to type faster.

Chapter 6 – Fragments part 2

It was during the afternoon that Dr Watts returned with his report. He sat down along with another man name Hazel, a large muscular man with short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes. Opposite of him sat Tyrian, whom was glaring at some imaginary foe, if not for his aura the enrage man would've bitten through his thumb.

Hazel voice boomed deeply. "Pathetic, losing to a little girl."

Tyrian snarled. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Tyrian was obviously agitated, then he broke out in manic laughter. One filled with promises of pain and suffering. "She will pay! She won't fool me again... never again... I will cut out those pretty eyes of her..."

Hazel was unimpressed as he watch the derange man before him in silence. Dr Watts added his own opinion. "Hmph. Try to control yourself. This is most unbecoming for an elite such as yourself."

Before Tyrian could snap at Watts, the door opened loudly. The woman known as the queen of Grimm walked in majestically. The woman known as Salem. She said nonchalantly. "Do not fault poor Tyrian... for his failure. None of us here had any idea how powerful the anomaly really is."

Hazel said while glaring at the cowering Tyrian. "It does not excuse failure of this magnitude. We have fought and taken down the maidens. None save for us should be more powerful then them."

Salem sat down onto her seat at the head of the table. "Yes, none should be as powerful as a maiden. None could compare to their power or rival us... until now." Salem turned to Dr Watts. "What have you found out about this girl. Mami Tomoe."

Dr Watts placed his scroll onto the table and enable a function to display a massive holographic screen for all to see. "Mami Tomoe was one of four girls found at the shore of Patch. Official papers indicated they were survivors of an accident at sea. Beyond this point there are no papers, birth certificates or even their origins. Their entire existence began at the town of Patch."

Tyrian visibly tried to control himself at the picture of Mami Tomoe on display. Hazel said what was on everyone's mind. "Who are the other three?"

"Beside Mami Tomoe. There are..." The picture changed to a girl with blue hair. "Sayaka Miki..." A girl with fiery red hair appeared. "Kyoko Sakura..." A girl with pink hair appeared. "And finally Madoka Kaname."

Salem leaned forward and looked at the four girls on the display. "Four anomalies... four maidens. If I did not know better. I would have thought fate or Ozpin had played a trick on me. Do we know where they are at this moment."

Dr Watts grimaced. "Unfortunately we cannot track down the location of Mami Tomoe, Sayaka Miki and Kyoko Sakura. All three left the town of Patch around four years ago. Papers showed they were with a travelling caravan, but that eventually led to a dead end. However Madoka Kaname never left the town of Patch and she has recently transferred to the city of Vale as an apprentice nurse to a medical clinic called Black Mountain."

Tyrian jumped up in excitement. "Please my queen! Let me kill this girl! I will send her pretty little head to that..."

"Silence!" Salem said while glaring at Tyrian. He shrank back in fear. Salem turned to Dr Watts. "This girl Madoka Kaname, is she special in anyway?"

"No. She attended a normal school, her aura reading never rose above that of an average civilian. I cannot say for certain, if she really is just a normal girl or exceptionally good at hiding her power." Dr Watts said while scrolling through various papers on Madoka Kaname.

"Dear Cinder is in Vale at this moment. Have her observe Madoka Kaname." Salem said while leaning back onto her chair.

Dr Watts arc an eyebrow. "Ma'am. Won't it be more prudent to eliminate a possible threat."

"No. If she is an anomaly. She could potentially upset our plans in Vale as a whole. Observation for now. Action can come later when we ascertain her threat level. Dear Cinder need to complete her task and I will not jeopardize our entire project due to reckless impatience." Salem turned to the cowering Tyrian. "Once we have certainty. Then Tyrian can deal with this girl by himself or with Cinder and her group, if she is an anomaly."

"Of course Ma'am. That would be the most prudent choice." Watts bowed to Salem. While Tyrian was visibly shaking with joy.

Salem stood before them all. "Watts, send everything you have to Cinder at once and relay the new order. That will be all."

(Line break)

At a small cafe in Vale, a sullen Ruby Rose sat with Penny. Both girls had chose to hide here from the soldiers that was pursuing them. Ruby still don't know why they gone after them. Penny said with concern. "Friend Ruby. Are you well? Is there something wrong?"

Ruby wanted to say no, nothing was wrong. But the truth was, she was scared. The unexplained power that she unintentionally used scared her. Ruby thought it might be better to share her concern. "Penny... is it normal for a person to possess two or more semblance?"

Penny thought this through for a moment, her computerized brain processed vast amount of information at light speed. "No. There are no recorded incidence of any individual with more then one semblance."

"Great... I'm a freak..." Ruby said with a dejected tone.

Penny felt a surge of... anger? "NO! You are not a freak! Friend Ruby!" Ruby almost jumped out of her skin when Penny yelled at her angrily. Penny held Ruby's hand. She said softly. "You are my friend. You are Ruby Rose, a huntress in training. Please don't ever call yourself that."

Ruby nodded then smiled. "Ok. I'm sorry for being down and all. It was quite a shock to activate that second semblance. I mean it was really weird and scary when time stops all of the sudden."

'That explain a great deal.' Penny thought. Penny's eyes were one of the most high end technology from Atlas, her eyes could process a hundred thousand frames a second, thus it was more then baffling when Ruby suddenly appeared from one place then another with only a single frame between them.

Time travel, time stop. There was no semblance on record that match power like that in either exoticness or pure scale of power. It was truly baffling that Ruby had such power so suddenly.

Before Penny could ask any more question, her scroll rang. It was from her father. Penny answer the scroll, a quick message from her father then he hanged up.

"Friend Ruby. I need to go, that was my father." Penny said as she put her scroll away.

"Is everything ok?" Ruby said with concern.

"Yes. But general Ironwood is not happy with me running away from my body guard. But I shall be fine." Penny then hugged Ruby. "Take care, friend Ruby. I promise I will see you again soon." Penny said her farewell.

Ruby was left alone with her hot chocolate that has gone cold, she didn't know how long she had sat there thinking. A familiar voice brought her back to reality. "Ruby? Are you okay?"

It was Madoka. Ruby came out of her daze. "Madoka?" The haze cleared from Ruby's head in an instant. "M-Madoka! W-Why are you here?!"

Madoka said with embarrassment. "Haha, well you see, Doctor Iris told me to take some time off. She said I worked none stop since I joined the practice, she literally ordered me to take a holiday today."

Ruby smiled. "You always like to work and keep active, but she's right you know. You need to relax more."

Madoka must had seen something on her expression. "Ruby. Is something wrong? You can always talk to me if something bothers you." Madoka said with concern.

The dream Ruby had briefly flash in her mind, then follow by her ability to stop time itself. Ruby said with a tone of fear. "Something really scary happened today... I... I don't know how to deal with it. It all seem so crazy and frightening... I don't know what to do... I..."

Ruby was interrupted when Madoka hugged her, Ruby didn't notice she herself started crying when she vented her fear and frustration. Madoka said with a soothing tone. "It's all right. I'm here for you. You don't have to be afraid any more."

Madoka pulled away slightly and looked Ruby in the eyes, she took out a handkerchief and wiped away Ruby's tears. "Ruby... Do you remember the first time you activated your semblance when you were eight. Remember how excited you were." Ruby nodded. "Remember that time when you gave me a piggy back ride when you activated your semblance..."

"Yes. You were so scared, you passed out half way through. Mami and Uncle Qrow was really angry at us. We both got grounded for a week." Ruby laughed, her mood improving.

"Ruby... No matter what it is, I'm sure you will over come them. You are the bravest person I ever knew. So please, believe in yourself. Have faith."

Madoka gave her the brightest and most reassuring smile. Ruby felt her worries and fear melt away as she enjoy Madoka's warm embrace. Their peaceful moment were interrupted when Ruby's scroll went off. Both girl blushed as Ruby answered the call.

"Giant robot! It's big! Really BIG!" A male voice shouted out of Ruby's scroll.

"I'm so not missing this!" Ruby said with excitement and joy. Ruby quickly turned to Madoka. "I'm sorry. I have to go, I promise I will catch up later! Gotta go!"

"Wait! Ruby, What this about giant..." Ruby was already long gone before Madoka could finish her sentence. "Robot." Madoka sighed at that. Kyubey watched the whole event with curious eyes.

(Line break)

Ruby along with her teammates Weiss, Blake and Yang managed to lure the Atlesian Paladin to an area void of civilians. An open space below multitude of highways, supported by towering pillars. Ruby guided her team with superb skill for someone her age. She used various battle manoeuvrers to confuse the Atlesian Paladin and it's pilot.

Ruby had put countless hours of team practice into those move. 'Checkmate' had Weiss and Blake working together against the Paladin. 'Ladybug' had herself and Blake taking on the Paladin, they managed to take out one of it's arm. Afterwards Yang took out it's other arm with her rage infused semblance. In the end it was the combination of 'Bumblebee' and 'Ice flower' that had finally destroyed the Atlesian Paladin that was being piloted by none other then Torchwick himself.

Just as Yang rushed forward trying to punch his face in, a blue bolt of energy blasted Yang straight into the clearing. Ruby screamed in panic. "YANG!"

The sound of shattering glass could be heard as another Atlesian Paladin appeared out of nowhere, with a girl with triple colour hair riding on it's shoulder. The girl had brown hair on one side and pink hair with white streaks on the other, she wore a white jacket with pink interior, a brown pants, also a white high heel boots with black buttons on the side. Her brown and pink eyes seemed to switch place with each other as she smiled maliciously at Ruby.

Roman groused. "Took you long enough to get here."

The Paladin's audio system blared. "Silence human trash! You should be grateful I even came at all."

The girl jumped from the Paladin's shoulder while Weiss ran towards the down and unconscious Yang. The Paladin's pilot saw her. "A Schnee. I always wanted to kill a Schnee."

Roman coughed into his own hand to get the Paladin's attention. "I won't worry about ice cream there. It's red you want to take out first."

"Do not presume to treat me like those runts at the rally, scum. I will kill whoever I want." The Paladin aimed it's cannon straight for the down Yang and fired.

Weiss quick thinking saved them both as she formed a massive ice wall to block the shot, but not without it's price. The blast threw both Weiss and Yang further back. Blake rushed to help her down team mate while Ruby charged straight for the Paladin.

"Leave them ALONE!" Ruby yelled in anger.

The Paladin lashed out with a right hook at Ruby. She easily evaded the attack with a jump and shot at the Paladin, her bullets bounced off the Paladin with no effect. Ruby evaded once again in mid air as the Paladin attack with a left jab, but she was caught out when the Paladin suddenly spun and slammed into Ruby with it's back.

The blow send Ruby flying, her aura dropped dangerously low from the massive blow, before she could even stand up, the Paladin was already pointing it's cannon at her, Ruby looked up at the barrel of death itself as it fire... and missed.

A pink arrow made of light suddenly sprouted on the arm of the Paladin. Roman was just as bewildered as the pilot of the Atlesian Paladin. He swore out loud. "What the f..."

In the space of that sentence being uttered, two dozen arrows suddenly sprouted all over the Paladin, the blow was enough to send it to it's knee.

During those small seconds of respite that followed. Roman and Ruby looked towards where the arrow came from. A bright pink light in the distant grew bright and bright as the second went by. Roman Torchwick felt his hairs stand on ends, then he shouted in panic. "NEO!"

The girl jumped in front of Roman with her pink umbrella open, ready to intercept the attack. A massive meteor of pink light slammed into the down Paladin, blasting it into pieces. It's Faunus pilot flew out rather singed and unconscious.

It was then a yellow shot gun bolt slammed into Neo's umbrella. A rather beat up and enraged Yang limped toward Ruby. Roman sighed. "Time to go Neo." Another shot gun blast flew straight at them again, except this time, it shattered the duplicate image of Roman and Neo like glass.

Roman, now in his Bullhead shouted from a safe distance. "You got lucky! Red! Next time..." Roman was interrupted when a pink arrow embedded itself next to his head. Roman realised that was a warning shot. He turned to the pilot. "Get us out of here. NOW!"

As Roman's Bullhead flew away into the distance. Ruby looked toward where the arrows came from. She could see a figure in pink and white standing on the highway, she was too far away for Ruby to make out what she looked like. Then in a blink on an eye, the mysterious figure vanished.

Blake walked up next to Ruby. "Did you see who it was that shot those arrows?"

"No. She was too far away." What Ruby didn't say was, that she felt a strong sense of nostalgia.

Weiss examined the destroyed Paladin, along with it's unconscious Faunus pilot. "I've never seen weapon like those before, those arrow looked like it was made of pure energy, some sort of hard light projectile, it tore the most advance Atlesian Paladin apart like paper."

Yang groaned. "Big deal, ice queen. We tore one of those apart as well..."

Weiss interrupted with annoyance. "We did, after a lot of effort and hard work! Whomever did this, done it in less then ten seconds. It's unreal. It has to be a semblance, there are no weapon on record that could produce hard light projectile."

Yang put up both her hands. "OK, I get it. Can we go now? This hurts so bad I can't even think of a good pun."

All three girls had the same thought. If pain could stop Yang and her horrible pun, maybe they should inflict more of it.

(Line break)

Kuroyuri

Booze, the best booze money could buy, along with a nice long vacation. Also pay bonus, danger money, payment for emotional trauma. Qrow was going to demand all of them and more from Ozpin, for all the hell he was going through at this moment.

Qrow was a shadow of his former self, he has been deprive of his booze once again. Mami managed to confiscate his booze without him even noticing it. He had glared, threatened, begged for his booze to be returned. However Mami was adamant in stopping him from drinking during the day. He was close to his breaking point... he... was... sober. He NEVER wanted to be sober, it's just not him!

Qrow was about to pull out his weapon when the sun finally set. Mami threw his booze back with a sigh. Qrow almost cried in joy as he drank from his confiscated flask.

Mami sighed again. "Can you really not function without alcohol... and how much is in that flask anyway? You never seem to run out."

Qrow growled angrily. "Kid. I can function fine without booze. I can quit any time I like." Qrow was confused when Mami gave him a look of pity, as if she was looking at something pitiful that just died in the middle of the road. Qrow decided to change the subject. "So what you need in this ghost town? Look like no one lived here for years."

Mami walked toward the largest building in town and pushed open the rotten door. "Information. Everything on the local Grimm."

"That's it? You can find pretty much anything and everything in Beacon." Qrow complained as Mami examined the directories on the wall.

"I am looking for information not available to the wider public. The library is on the left wing, you search there. I'm going to the Mayor's office to see if anything has been left behind there." Mami said as she began to move toward the right wing of the building.

Qrow stopped her. "Kid. I would like to get you to my employer asap. Is this really that important?"

Mami looked back at him. "Yes Qrow, it is. The sooner we get this done. The sooner I will meet your employer. You have my word."

Qrow sighed. "Fine. Will I even know what I'm looking for?"

"You will know when you see a Grimm that's interesting." Mami said with a smile as Qrow gave up and did as she asked.

Mami parted ways with Qrow, she walked towards the Mayor's office, then walked right past it and went into the census office. Mami searched for a solid ten minutes before finding what she was looking for.

Mami sighed as she opened the file she found. 'Another one. I really should not be surprise by this any more.' Mami thought. She was glad she had misled Qrow from this place, she had no idea how he would react if he saw this.

Within the folder that Mami held in her hand were a picture of an eight year old girl that looked identical to Ruby Rose with the exception of her hair and eyes colour. The folder soon joins others like it within Mami's backpack.

AN: And there you have it. The first key plot from Mami. Of course the conclusion to this plot is still some way away, maybe ten to fifteen chapters away. Which with the rate of release might be in three or four weeks time weeks time. Now onto the review.

Echo0100: Not gonna spoil you mate. But I will say one thing for certain. Homura is NOT forgotten, she is absolute key in this story. I even went through the trouble of psycho analyse her in great depth to understand her character and even the motive that drove her to what she had done in Rebellion. I will say this, you will be doubly surprise in four weeks time.

ultimate-owner: I assume you're talking about Salem. That is one hard individual to pin down on personality. It's hard to gauge the depth on her at the moment. As for Tyrian, I tried to project the psychopath feel of his character. Hope I didn't do too good a job on him.