Chapter 7

(I've given up on making up names)


"Disappointing, Bakugo. Very disappointing." Raven said.

Bakugo looked at the ground in shame.

"I trusted you. I put you in a high position even though you were only in the tribe for how many months? Maybe two?"

Bakugo nodded.

Weiss looked back and forth between Raven and her student. Also, why was Qrow there? Was he with Raven again?

"So tell me, my pupil. Why did you do what you did?"

Bakugo looked at his teacher with anger in eyes. However, there was something else in them. Something Weiss couldn't quite name.

"You should know that I respect you, ma'am, and that I'm grateful you took under your wing as a student. However, I cannot overlook you taking an innocent life. I may not be what most would call a hero, buy I'm not a villain."

Raven sighed. "Look Bakugo. You knew this was a bandit tribe. I told you we might do something like this."

Bakugo nodded. "And I thought I could handle it. But I couldn't. That's why I'm leaving."

Raven frowned. "Shame. I really liked you kid."

Qrow butted in. "Hold on, you took a kid as your pupil? Raven what is wrong with you? You're a bandit tribe!'

"We were kids, Qrow, when we joined the tribe officially." Raven said.

Bakugo frowned. "I'm sorry, Raven. But I can't stay with you."

Raven nodded. "I'll miss you, you know."

I'll miss you? Did Weiss hear that come out of the mouth of an f-ing murderer? This place was weird. At least Izumi and Sig are — frick, they're gathering food. Qrow? She couldn't really trust him all that much, especially after seeing him with Raven.

"I'll miss you too, Raven."

"Anyway, Raven," Qrow interrupted. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take Weiss back to her friends, now."

Weiss's eyes widened. "What?"

"Your friends." Qrow said. "Y'know, Ruby? Yang?"

"You can take me to them?"

Raven glanced at the heiress, taking her attention off of Bakugo. "Yes. I can even give Bakugo a lift as well."

Weiss nodded vigorously. "That would be wonderful! So long as you're not trying to use me as a sacrifice anymore."

Qrow glared at Raven again. "A sacrifice? What rituals are you getting into, Raven?!"

Raven sighed. "I'm just making things worse, aren't I? Let's just get this thing over with, please.

Bakugo cut back into the conversation. "Wait, you're willing to take me along with them?"

Raven frowned at him. "Well, you're no use to me anymore. I don't see why not."

Bakugo bowed his head. "Thank you, Raven. You really are the best."

Smiling, Raven whipped out her sword, and swung it around, creating a portal.

"Hop on in, losers."


Despite the fact that Reize spent a lot of time traveling between worlds, he had never expected to find such an important and dangerous man in Gravity Falls of all places.

"It's been a while, Reize." Bradley said. "How have you been? Training… children, apparently?"

The two simply stared at each other.

Bradley had short, slicked back, black hair, and an eyepatch covering his left eye. He had a thin mustache, and wore his deep blue military uniform. Hanging from his belt were four swords. Only Desh knew how he used them all at once. Desh is the god from Reize's world, just for clarification.

"What do you want, Bradley?"

Bradley chuckled. "No time to catch up, huh, old friend?"

More staring. "We aren't friends. Now answer my question."

Bradley sighed. "You remember Raven, right? Raven Branwen?"

Reize nodded. "Unfortunately. Why, what is she doing now?"

"Word has it that she's looking to summon a demon. One from this very world. He's got just one eye. Also he's a triangle. Pretty recognizable, if you ask me."

"Bill Cipher." Reize said. "Yes, I know who he is. But he's gone now. These kids made sure of that a couple of summers ago."

Bradley laughed. "Surely, you don't believe he's gone for good. He's a full blown demon, not some mortal."

"Raven knows this as well, and she intends to bring him back, and make him bend to her will. No idea how she's going to accomplish that, though.

"What's your point?" Reize said. "Why are you here?"

"Supposedly, Stanford Pines is the only one who knows how to bring the old demon back."

"So?"

"If I find him before Raven, I won't have to deal with Bill. If you help me find him—"

"He's not here, sorry. He's out on the ocean somewhere." Reize turned to go back inside. "At least, he was a year and a half ago. Good luck, old man."

"What will you do here, Reize? Train children? What could that amount to, if Bill is, in fact, revived."

Reize looked back at him. "I doubt Raven will succeed. Stanford's not that much of a fool. He probably know that people want to find out what's in his head. Besides, Mabel and Dipper defeated Bill before, who's to say the can't do it again?"

Bradley frowned. "Fine. I'll go look for Stanford myself. But if Bill is revived, then there's going to be hell to pay."

Reize sighed. "Look, Bradley. If you're so worried about this, then just go kill Raven yourself."

"You think it's that easy? She just recruited a young man from another world, supposedly Earth, but with some kind of magic." Bradley said. "I'm not stupid enough to fight her on my own. Besides, she's got one of the Maidens with her."

Reize widened his eyes. "What!" He said.

"You heard me. A Maiden. Both you and I stand no chance. The only option is to find Stanford, and kill him."

Reize slumped his shoulders. "A… a Maiden. How did Raven get her hands on someone so powerful?"

Bradley shrugged. "Beats me. Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you helped me out here."

Reize continued his glare, and shook his head. "I'm not killing Stanford. These kids have lost too much already."

Bradley glared back. "You really disappoint me, Reize. But if that's your decision, then I really have no choice but to accept." he said. "I won't get in your way if you don't get in mine."

Reize nodded, huffing.

Bradley held Reize's gaze a little longer before finally turning and pulling out a small device. He pressed a few buttons and pointed it at the ground. A small, blue beam shot out, and opened a portal in the grass. Bradley jumped through.

Dang it. Reize thought. That was probably my only way out of here. Whatever. I need to help these kids anyway.

Reize turned to walk back towards the shack.

A Maiden. One of the four, f-ing Maidens. Reize had only met the fall maiden, and that was a few years ago. To think that that biscuit Raven had one on her side? Reize shuddered at the thought.

He really hoped he wouldn't have to fight one.

"Reize!" Dipper called running from the porch. "Who was that? What were you talking about?"

Reize hesitated. How much could he tell them about Bill? Raven? Stanford?

The Maidens?

Reize looked to the side. "Don't worry about it." he said. "Just an old friend."

Dipper cocked his head to the side. "Really? Why was he here? Did he need help?"

Reize shook his head. "I said don't worry about it, Dipper. Please, don't test my patience. It's really none of your business." he lied.

Dipper paused staring into Reize's eyes. He hated it when people did that. He was too easy to read. "Alright. I'm sorry." he finally said.


Brandoi glanced at Neo's scroll. She had decided to hold their conversations like this, him talking, her typing whatever she needed to into her scroll, then showing him.

Did you ever attend one of the four academies? she asked. Y'know, have a team and stuff?

Brandoi nodded, situating himself on the plush, Schnee couch. "Yeah. Haven actually. Of course, I didn't stay for long. I left often to go back home and continue my bounties."

Who were your teammates?

Brandoi stared at the scroll. "I was part of team BURN." he said. "I was the leader of the group. Next was Uliana. She's a faunus. She was our healer. That was her semblance. She didn't do all that much fighting. I didn't really talk to her much. Heck, I don't think she ever figured out I was actually from Alikar — my home world."

Did you like her?

Brandoi shrugged. "Yeah, she was nice I guess. Never got very close to her. Pretty sure she had a thing for Reize."

Reize?

"The third member. He was pretty cold. Didn't talk much. Kind of like me, I guess."

You're talking a lot now.

Brandoi gave her a flat stare.

Continue.

"Reize was probably the smartest one out of all of us. Aced all the quizzes, should have been the leader, y'know?"

Who's the fourth member?

Brandoi smiled. "Nova. That guy was… really f-ing cool. He looked like a normal person, but his skin glowed a light blue. He's a moon spore, from some moon of my planet. Also, he dressed like a freakin' cowboy, and the glow from his skin made it look like the sun was blue, turned into a person, wielded guns, and was a bad-a."

Neo simply stared at Brandoi. You lost me.

Brandoi chuckled. "Yeah I'm not surprised. Nova — again, I don't know how Uliana didn't figure this out — is from my world. Or, at least, one of its moons. Fallision. Moon spores — people birthed from a Moon Spirit and an Alikarian — are pretty dang rare. I really don't know much about them, even after spending a couple years with Nova."

Neo smiled. She enjoyed watching Brandoi rant. She could see a side of him that was normally locked behind and emotionless bounty hunter. She might even be able to seduce him like this.

Brandoi paused when he noticed Neo smiling warmly at him, gazing into his eyes. "What?"

Neo shrugged. You're just cute when you get into a subject. she wrote.

Brandoi frowned. "Thank you?"

Dang it, he was supposed to blush! Why did Brandoi never blush? Even when he was "off duty," he was still emotionless. Neo puffed her cheeks in anger and turned away.

"What?" Brandoi said. "What did I say?"

Neo simply shook her head. Nevermind.

Brandoi shrugged. "Whatever, weirdo."

The two sat in silence Neo still staring into Brandoi's cold, lonely eyes. The liked to stare into them, watch the colors swirl. She had no idea as to what made them do that. Something with his heritage of course.

Brandoi stared at the ground, thinking.

Neo could never guess what he was thinking about. His head was too… secret. She really wanted to pry into his private life, find out what makes him click. However, fear of losing him kept her from asking. She couldn't say she loved him. Not yet at least. But she did like him. She couldn't deny that. She didn't know why, or when it had started, but she was sure of it.

Judging form Cinder's opinion of him, she really shouldn't be as into the huntsman as she was. Last time Neo saw her, Cinder was… pissed. Brandoi had interfered with her plans of taking over Beacon Academy.

Brandoi looked up from the ground as footsteps approached, a figure appearing in the entryway.

"Hello, Winter. What brings you here?" he asked.

The woman glanced at the two sitting on the couch, and raised a brow in question. "What are you two doing?"

Brandoi shrugged. "Just talk—communicating." he said, pointing to Neo's scroll in her small hands.

Winter shrugged. "Whatever. Weiss is back, so the others are leaving in the morning. Just thought I'd let you know." She turned and walked out of the room, back towards the mess hall. The group had decided to have a meal while waiting for the heiress.

Neo glanced at Brandoi, and found him with a grin that only she should have. She nudged his arm, grabbing his attention. He turned his multi-coloured eyes on her. She couldn't stop staring into that swirling mix of colour, watching the folds of red overlap the many layers of blue.

"I have something to do real quick." Brandoi said, standing from his seat, and making his way towards the exit. Neo stood, and followed him down the long, polished hallways, all the way to the mess hall.

Brandoi kicked open the large, wooden doors, silencing everyone in the room. With his dramatic entrance achieved, he looked around the large dining area.

Ruby, Yang, and the entirety of team JNPR were sitting at one of the long, sizeable tables, and had probably been chatting it up with the newly found Weiss. The two must have missed their reunion. Not that Neo minded. She didn't really care for any of them. Neo noticed another blonde boy in a super weird outfit standing sitting next to Weiss, trapped between her and Yang.

Raven and Qrow were leaning on the far wall, quietly conversing with Winter and Ironwood.

"Raven," he finally said, barely sparing the huntress a glance. "Come with me. You too, heiress."

Raven cocked her head. "Who are you?"

Weiss nodded, standing. "Yeah, I don't know you."

Ironwood interjected. "His name is Brandoi. He's a trusted huntsman. Don't worry. Go with him."
Either Weiss didn't recognize her, or she just didn't care, because she didn't point out Neo to anyone. Raven, however hesitated when she saw her. Laying her hand on the hilt of her blade, the bandit proceeded past her, and followed Brandoi and Weiss outside the room.

Neo was left alone to stare at the room full of people. They stared back. Nervousness washed over her, chilling her body. Now that Brandoi wasn't here to defend for her, she was absolutely screwed if they decided they didn't trust her.

She decided to play it safe, and sit at the farthest table by herself, pulling out her scroll and pretending to distract herself. Conversation then resumed throughout the room.

What exactly was Brandoi planning with Weiss and Raven? Did Ironwood know? Did anyone but Brandoi? She felt she should be worried, but couldn't find herself being stressed in the slightest. At least, not about that. She could still feel multiple pairs of eyes on her from the others.

"Hey." A kind, soft voice said.

Uh-oh. Neo thought. Not the nice one!

Pyrrha stood in front of her, on the opposite side of the table. How Neo didn't notice her approach was beyond her. Neo looked into the girl's bright green eyes.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked, gesturing to the wooden bench before her.

Neo gave a careless shrug, so Pyrrha sat.

"You don't want to sit with the others?" Pyrrha asked. Obviously, she didn't think Neo to be as old as she was. They never did.

Neo simply shook her head, and glanced back at her scroll. She knew it was rude to disregard a conversation and play on your scroll, but that was why she did it. The less conversing with others, the better.

Pyrrha didn't notice or didn't care, because she carried on anyway. Neo noticed it was hard to hold a conversation with her, seeing as she never talked back, and usually gave shrugs or nods as responses.

"Hey, I need your advice." Pyrrha said, leaning in closer. "You're the only girl I can really talk to who's into a guy at the moment. Weiss and Ruby haven't really gotten to the point where they care about that, at least, I know Ruby hasn't. Nora doesn't stay on topic long enough to have a conversation with, and I don't intend to talk to Yang about romance."

Neo frowned, raising a brow. She held her scroll in front of her. What makes you think I'd be any better? I'm no good with romance. They closest I've ever gotten is sitting next to Brandoi on the couch.

Pyrrha laughed.

Had Neo actually made someone laugh? She couldn't tell if that was an achievement or not after spending the past few hours with an emotionless assassin.

"I guess you have a point there. I don't really know why, but I just want to talk to you. Get to know you better. I mean, I might as well. It can't hurt, right?"
Neo shrugged. What did you need advice on? she typed.

Pyrrha gave a genuine smile, which she probably did all the time. Her cheeks filled with pink. "It's… It's about Jaune."

Neo raised a brow.

"The blonde guy in the white armor."

Neo smirked. Him? Isn't he a loser?

Pyrrha furrowed her brow. "He may be a bit clumsy at times, but he's sweet. He's got more resolve and determination than anyone I have seen."

Neo gave her a flat stare. I doubt that's it.

Pyrrha sighed. "He… sees me for me. My whole life, I've been put on a pedestal, high above all others. To the point where everyone thought that I was… so far ahead in skill as a huntress… that I was unobtainable. More of a trophy that anything. But Jaune didn't see me that way. He didn't care that I was the strongest huntress in training to graduate from any of the smaller schools. He didn't care how far apart our places in this world were. He just treated me the way I've always wanted to be treated."

Neo sat in silence. I don't see what the problem is here. Don't you two make out and stuff?

Pyrrha's blush madened. "Wha— No! No, we haven't made out or anything. We haven't even kissed since that first time at the Fall of Beacon."

Neo smiled. And that's the problem for you? Perv.

Pyrrha's face just kept getting brighter. "That's not— Ugh! You are surprisingly difficult to talk to, despite not being able to talk."

Neo's smile only widened.

"I just need help to get him to notice me." Pyrrha said, trying to calm herself. "Do you think you can help me with that?"

Neo thought for a second. Shaking her head, she typed into the scroll. I don't think Brandoi and I will be going with you guys. Sorry.

Pyrrha's face fell. "Oh. Well, that's alright. Thanks for listening, though. It helps to just get that out."

Neo nodded in agreement. Of course, she never really knew what that was like. She couldn't talk, which made venting pretty hard, and she had been stuck with Cinder and Roman, who weren't very good at conversations, let alone talk to each other about feelings.

Roman would be considered as one of the "bad guys," but he wasn't a bad guy. For the most part he was pretty nice, and didn't get angry until something in his plans went wrong. Though, after his plans did fail… well… let's just say he didn't take it too well. He was like a completely different person. A person that Neo wasn't very fond. However, that person is what made Neo into what she was now.

She wasn't particularly fond of who she had become.

"I can't believe you, Whitley!" Weiss yelled as she entered the room. "How could you do that?'

Whitley walked in behind her, followed by Brandoi, and then Raven. "It's not what you think! I didn't tell her to kill you!"

Weiss turned on her heels. Her face was flushed, and her brow was furrowed.

Very furrowed.

She looked to Raven for clarification, who did not look comfortable in this position at all.

"He told me to keep you from coming back here for a while. I was gonna take you at the airport before you left, but obviously that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped."

"So you hijak my plane, and take down my father with it!"

"What about father?" Whitley said.

Raven shook her head. "That wasn't my doing. Just a stroke of luck for me, that you happened to land near our campsite in Vale."

"Weiss." Whitley said. "I was told father was missing? Do you know what happened to him?"

She frowned. "Not exactly. But he was missing from the plane when I woke up." Weiss looked at the ground, as if realizing this for the first time herself. "If I'm being completely honest, I… don't think he made it."

Whitley froze. "But… father…"

Ironwood interrupted their argument. "What! Qrow, you told me she was in Minstral, not Vale!"

Qrow walked up as well, hands in his pockets. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Raven, the tribe forbid spreading out into Foreign territory."

Raven smirked. "You forget, Qrow. I am now the leader of our tribe. I can go wherever I want."

"That doesn't matter right now, you two." Ironwood said. "I'll send a team along the shore line where the plane was last heard from. Maybe we'll find something."

Qrow nodded, along with Winter who had followed Ironwood to the small circle or arguments.

"Whitley!" Ironwood said. "Come with me. If something happened to your father, then you'll be next in line, seeing as Weiss is leaving again. I'll be showing you the…" The general trailed off, noticing Whitley's distracted eyes, staring into the ground. Tears were trailing down his cheeks. He looked up at Ironwood.

"Oh, Whitley." Ironwood. He knelt down to eye level with the young heir. "I'm sorry, but you need to come to terms with reality. You can mourn when we confirm his death. He could still be out there, somewhere, and if we act quickly, we could save him." He set a hand on Whitley's shoulders, staring into his blue eyes.

Whitley slowly nodded, standing. "Y-yes. You're right. He might still be alive." he said hopefully.

Ironwood hesitated, then lead Whitley out of the room. Good enough for him, apparently.

Neo stood from her seat by Pyrrha, and sauntered over to Brandoi. She set her chin on his shoulder, and just kind of went limp, using his shoulder to keep herself up. Brandoi immediately slumped his shoulder, leaning to one side, her head sliding off as she lost her balance. She caught herself, then glared at Brandoi.

He smirked. He did have a sense of humor, despite what he always said. Neo was constantly pulling little stunts like that, seeing what he responded to, trying to make him snap.

"Weiss!" Ruby called, standing up from her table and running over. "What happened with your brother? Why were you yelling at him so much?"

Weiss turned to Ruby as the young huntress-in-training closed their distance. "Whitley somehow managed to contact Raven, and hired her to kidnap me temporarily so that Whitley could find and rescue me, hoping father would respect him more and make him heir. Of course, I don't want to be the heiress, so there was no real reason for it."

"Didn't she destroy your plane or something?" Ruby asked, cocking her head.

Weiss sighed. "Weren't you listening? Apparently, Raven wasn't behind that. We just happened to crash near her camp site."

Raven nodded. "We only found Weiss in the wrek."

"Well… then who took out your ship?" Yang asked, joining the conversation.

Weiss glared at the ground. "Some douchebag named Envy," Brandoi perked up. "And another dude who looked like you." she said, pointing at him. "I think he said his name was Larrykath, or something."

Brandoi rushed forward, grabbing her shoulders. "You've met him? Where? What did he do to you other than destroy your ship? He always comes back!"

Weiss took a step back. "Holy crap, Brandoi!" Yang said. "Cool your shiz. She's fine!"

Neo stepped up next her partner, and slapped his arm off Weiss.

Brandoi hesitated, but let it slide. He took a deep breathe. "What did he do to you Weiss?" he asked slowly.

Weiss frowned, but answered. She pointed to the wrappings around her waist. They were new, so they weren't all bloody. Just a few speckles. "He stabbed me. I only lived because sig…" She slowly turned to look at Bakugo, who was standing just a few feet away. He had taken his mask off, probably because Nora kept making fun of him for it.

His eyes widened. "Aw Shi—"

"We forgot Sig and Izumi!" Weiss yelled. She looked at Raven. "We have to go back, they were taking care of us back at the cave you found us in! They must think we were taken, or killed or eaten! Raven, please—"

"Quiet, girl. You don't know how my semblance works, do you? I can only go to people I have a strong connection with. Had I left Bakugo, I would be able to go back just fine."

Bakugo frowned. "Oh, is that how you found me so easily? I thought we were just really bad at hiding."

Raven sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, but there's really nothing I can do now. You should've remembered them when we were leaving."

"Yeah…" Weiss said.

"Weiss." Brandoi said, re entering the conversation. "Do you have any idea where he could be?"

Weiss shook her head. "As far as I know, he could be in two places at once. There were two of him."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's his semblance. Duplication. Super annoying to fight and to track down. He can see and hear through all of them at the same time. He's got to have incredible selective hearing."

Ruby zoomed up to Brandoi's side. "What kind of weapons does he have?" Neo sensed an odd… lust… emanating from Ruby, her face flushed. The others must have sensed it as well, seeing as they stepped back.

Brandoi frowned. "He's got gun swords."

Ruby blinked, waiting for more, probably.

"What?"

Her face fell, cheeks returning to their normal color. "That's it?"

Brandoi shrugged. "I don't see them too often. Especially now that he's been avoiding me. He usually just uses his hands and his semblance. Or a knife. Just those alone are more deadly than all of you."

Ruby let out a huff of disappointment, and went to go sit back down.

Brandoi leaned over to Yang once Ruby was out of ear shot. "Is she usually this… horny with weapons?"

Yang's face was a distorted mix of disgust and horror.

"Yang?"

"Wh… When did Ruby lose her innocence?" Yang asked, eyes still wide in shock.

Brandoi paused. "Probably Jerry." he said casually. "Yeah. Let's blame Jerry for her loss of youthful innocence."

Neo smacked Brandoi's shoulder, holding up her scroll. Look what you did to the poor girl's mind, putting unclean and erotic thoughts into it. She shook her head condescendingly.

Brandoi glared at her. "That wasn't me! Yang was saying all the inappropriate stuff!"

Neo smiled mischievously.

"Alright, losers!" Qrow shouted, alerting everyone to his presence. "It's getting late, and we want to good head start tomorrow. Go pack your crap so we can leave early."

The group of teens groaned as they began to file out of the dining quarters. When Weiss passed Brandoi, she stopped. "Hey." she said. "How did you know Whitley payed Raven?"

"He's a bad liar." was all he said.

Weiss shrugged and followed the group.

Qrow glanced at Neo and her partner, and walked over, Raven next to him.

"You two staying here?" He said.

Brandoi shrugged. "Maybe for a bit, but we'll be heading our own way in a day or two. Dunno where the heck we'll be going, but it doesn't really matter to me."

Qrow nodded. "Yeah. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you guys around. Or not. You might die."

Brandoi frowned. "I doubt it. I'm pretty kick-a."

"Sure thing kid." Qrow said, chuckling. "Sure thing."

So that's the end of this chapter. Hopefully now I can actually start getting into the more interesting parts.

Also, I've been reading way more Brandon Sanderson books, and I'm totally adding some more in here. If you don't know, Brandon Sanderson's universe is called the Cosmere. I'm planning to include that in this fic. I've already implemented some of his Mistborn series (My favorite book series of all time), and I'm planning on adding in the Stormlight archive, maybe Warbreaker, and probably some Elantris too.

Also, I hope my writing has improved a little bit, seeing as I've been taking a Creative Writing class.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Please feel free to leave a review, but don't be a dick. Or, do. I honestly don't care.