Alrighty, welcome back to this shit show, my name is Narsauce and I'm back, bringing you another part to this story that I enjoy writing. As for the wait, I'm sorry, I was in Mexico when this chapter finished and I didn't have a damn computer to actually post this thing on, so it's a bit later than I wanted. Now, onto reviews.

jmccalmont11: For your first review, I have no idea what you mean. I looked through the entire chapter and I couldn't find what you were referencing. For your second review, I will sarcastically say: Why did I not think of that?

Disclaimers: RWBY is RT and Xcom is Firaxis and now you can all feast on a story! Have a good one!

Also, read to the end for a very important authors note containing an explanation and exposition dump as this chapter will be somewhat confusing.


Vytal Festival fairgrounds…

The Vytal festival was getting underway, it's first few rounds already done. Emerald's team had passed the first round with flying colours, beating their competition black and blue, with both her and Mercury advancing to the next round of the fight. Team RWBY had just finished their own fight against Team ABRN, winning with a triple knockout made by a team combo of sorts. Of course, Alpha squad had seen all of it watching and cheering on the teams from Beacon. Of course, Gabriel and Angela cheered on Emerald during her fight as well, seeing as how the two had taken a liking to the greenette. After the morning fights, the four had gone their separate ways, Darren and Anne heading to a meeting with Port and Oobleck, seeing as how Anne wanted to see some of the tech that the flying coliseum employed.

Gabriel and Angela had decided to have a walk around the fairgrounds, touring around the booths and such. They walked and laughed, Gabriel, buying the pair some ice cream, chocolate for Angela and mint chocolate chip for himself. As they walked, they saw Emerald smiling and laughing with Team RWBY, being generally friendly towards the four other girls.

"We should go over and congratulate them," Angela said, smiling, "They did amazing in the festival today."

"That they did," Gabriel nodded as they began to walk over to the five girls, "I mean, that triple knockout that Yang managed to pull out of thin air was fucking beautiful."

"And that combo Emerald and Mercury got off was pretty good as well if I'm honest," Angela commented, "But that kid is going feeling that for a few days."

"I'm pretty sure anyone who got hit the way he did would be feeling that for a while. He flew at least ten meters from that kick."

It was around this time that Ruby noticed them walking up. She raised her hand and waved, "Hey professors! How are you? Did you see us? Did ya? Didya?"

"Yes, Ruby. We did," Angela nodded, "And I must say, you all did great."

"Thanks, professor," Yang laughed.

Gabriel smiled, "So's who's going on to the second round? You all could if I'm honest."

"Well… Merc and I are moving up to the doubles round," Emerald said, "Dunno about you guys. Actually, I was just gonna ask that. Who is moving up for you?"

"Well, as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard…"

"We put it to a vote."

Ruby nervously scratched her head, "And I decided to put it to a vote."

"Weiss and Yang are moving on," Blake elaborated, barely looking up from her book.

"Well congrats you guys," Gabriel said, "How 'bout this. As a treat, Angela and I will get you some lunch. On us."

"Really?! We were just going to get some!" Ruby exclaimed, "Thanks, professor!"

"Hey, no problem," Angela replied, "You guys all did great today."

As Gabriel, Angela and Team RWBY began to walk off, Gabriel noticed that Emerald was hanging back, nervous.

"You guys go on ahead," he whispered to Angela, "I'm gonna go see what's up with Emerald. She seems… out of it."

"You do that, I'll get us some seats at the nearest place," Angela replied, "Call me if you guys get lost."

"Sure thing," he nodded, sauntering over to Emerald, "Em, you look scared. What's up? Moving on to the doubles round got you spooked?"

"Sorta…" Emerald replied, shuffling her feet a bit.

Gabriel laughed, putting a comforting hand on her, "Hey, don't worry. You'll do fine, Em. You did amazing in the first round. You'll do great this time around too."

Emerald's face changed into a smile, however, it still had a small amount of sadness lingering on it. Gabriel himself smiled as well, "Come on, let's go get you some lunch. You can even bring Mercury over there. I won't object."

Emerald nodded and went over to Mercury. She whispered something into his ear, he nodded and whispered back. Gabriel couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, nor did he really care. Emerald smiled and in a flash, Mercury was gone, leaving her and Gabriel in his wake.

"Mercury not coming?"

Emerald shook her head, "No, he said he has something to do back in the room. Something about practice."

"Practice never hurts," Gabriel remarked as the two walked off, "Despite the fact that I don't really think you actually need it."

"Thanks for the compliment, Gabriel."

Gabriel stopped, turning to Emerald with a smirk as he playfully remarked, "Since when did I say you could call me that?"

Emerald was taken aback, sputtering out denials and apologizing profusely. Gabriel laughed and patted her head, "I'm joking, Em. You can call me Gabriel. Believe me, the only time I want people to be overly formal with me is either when I'm teaching something to a class or you are my subordinate in the military. Of which neither are happening right now."

Emerald nodded, "So I can call you Gabriel, right?"

"Only outside of class," Gabriel confirmed as he pulled out his scroll, "Now, where exactly did you take those kids, Angela…"

"Gabe, we're at the noodle stand. An old guy owns it. JNPR is also here, we're impossible to miss."

"Apparently they're impossible to miss," Gabriel remarked as he looked back at Emerald, "And they're at a noodle stand and if I'm not mistaken, it's that way."

"I remember seeing one there, yeah."

"Anything I should tell her to order for us?"

Emerald put her hand to her chin, "Any vegetarian options?"

Gabriel's scroll pinged, "And yes, there are vegetarian options. I ordered the Regular for Em and the Half-Half for you."

"She says there are vegetarian options and got you the Regular," Gabriel confirmed as he began to walk off, "I wonder what this Half-Half thing is… sounds good, all things considered."

The two walked off in the direction of the noodle stand, laughing and joking along the way. Gabriel had even asked the thief how much she liked the members of Team RWBY. Emerald tried to be honest, saying that Ruby was slightly (Read: always) to happy. Weiss, to Emerald, was a bit stuck up, but she understood that's just how she was raised. When Gabriel asked if she didn't like Weiss based on her childhood life, and surprisingly Emerald shook her head sadly.

"I don't envy Weiss even a bit, actually," Emerald sighed, "I mean, sure. She had everything in her life practically fall from the sky for her, but from why I've heard, Jacques Schnee is anything but caring for any of his kids."

"Don't you think it would have been better than what you had?"

She shrugged, "From what I've heard, Jacques is a control freak, an asshole who's an all-around racist piece of shit. Sure, a house would be nice, but living with that trash would probably make me like the streets more. Even despite the warm bed in the house."

"So you'd prefer to live on the streets compared to living as Weiss?"

"That's…" Emerald scratched her chin, "I mean… I'd love to have the life Weiss had. But the thing is, if I live in a family, I at least want a good family not plagued with the biggest narcissistic asshole on Remnant."

"Fair point," Gabriel had to agree. From what he's seen, and heard from Weiss herself, about Jacques, the man, the myth, the complete shit lord. From what he read, he was a sociopathic slave trader who decided to use and abuse Faunus just because the laws in Atlas were less strict than basically anywhere else. And because of his monopoly on Dust, he couldn't be targeted for these crimes because the entire market would collapse (Taking an economics course in grade eleven helps, apparently).

"So I think we're on Blake or Yang," Gabriel continued, "Whaddya think about them?"

Emerald stopped, "Well… Blake's quiet… and a book person… I mean, she's nice and all… but she's just a bit… disconnected. Out of it, if you get what I mean."

"Oh, I totally do," Gabriel laughed, "She's a good kid and she means well, but if I'm honest, she reads to much smut."

"SMUT?!"

Gabriel nodded, "I know smut when I see it, Emerald. Back home there was a lot of smut. Probably more than she'll ever have a chance to read."

"And you know this why?"

"Simply put, some idiots made an entire movie based on one of the best sellers, called Fifty Shades of Grey or something like that. This book was an absolute piece of trash in my mind. No story, just kinks."

"That does sound like something Blake would read," Emerald joked, "Anyway, Yang is… funny… I guess. Too many puns, though."

"I can second that, kid," Gabriel commented, "But they say a person who is fluent in the making of puns is good at wordplay."

"And that hair!"

Gabriel nodded, "She does have a lot of hair. Honestly, I think that she should cut it because of how cumbersome it is in a fight, but she does do well enough so it should be fine to keep."

"And the boobs!"

"No comment," Gabriel shuddered, "I need not be arrested for pedophilia, thanks."

"Maybe that's why she has the hair," Emerald snickered, "Balance."

"Emerald, why did you have to…" Gabriel put his hand against his face, "Dear god, that was good, but again, I don't need that image in my head, not now, not ever."

Emerald shrugged as they walked into view of the noodle stand, seeing team RWBY, JNPR, and Angela lounging around the stand, with two empty seats, next to Angela. They sat next to her, as everyone chowed down on their food.

"So, how's your day? Anything cool happen?" Gabriel asked, gesturing towards JNPR.

Ren shook his head, "Nothing yet, but we are scheduled to fight later."

"Right," Angela said, "Isn't that happening soon? Like in the next hour or so?"

"Yes, but we have time," Pyrrha said, "So we decided to come and congratulate everyone on their wins."

"Well that's nice of you," Gabriel replied, "Want anything?"

Just as Nora was about to answer, Jaune piped up, "Ah… no, I think we're good. I think I might puke during the fight if I eat now."

"Awe…" Nora sulked, "But I want lunch…"

"We'll get you guys some food after your fight," Gabriel promised, placating Nora's hyperactive food frenzy.

"OK!"


Amity Colosseum…

"That stuff is surprisingly high tech," Anne remarked as she and Darren left from Amity's control booth, "How did they make it?"

"Well…" Darren mused, "I have absolutely no idea."

"And they've had it for almost sixty years!?"

"To be fair, we've been to the moon in that time, they haven't."

Anne gave a puzzled look, "Didn't they try and their shuttle blew up?"

"Yeah," Darren shrugged, "Dust doesn't work outside of the atmosphere. It's really funny how they haven't found a different energy source."

"Probably because they didn't need to. They're fighting for survival and Dust is easy to use and come by."

"If it ain't broke don't fix it?"

Anne nodded, "My thoughts exactly."

The two continued to walk to the Bullhead platform, chatting along the way about small things, like what they would name their kid, the matches in the Vytal festival, what they thought of the festival itself, how stupid Ironwood is, was and will forever be (Which has become one of their favourite, if not their favourite activity since they met him). On top of that, they were making plans for what to do once the school year was over, or more once the Vytal festival itself, was over.

You see, they (they being Alpha squadron), had made a deal with Ozpin to commission a set of houses to be built on the island of Patch, one for each of the married couples. And Anne was already planning what was to go inside, where the bedrooms would be, etc, etc. Ozpin had originally asked if they wanted to have their houses in Vale proper, but that offer had been declined.

After living in the middle of nowhere for the better part of two decades, they had gotten used to not living in big cities. In fact, that was one of the main reasons that none of them actually wanted to live on Patch. Simply put, the outdoors was a big thing for them. Being able to move around a bit more than they would if they were in Vale.

And the property taxes weren't sky high. That too is an issue.

The fact that they all wanted a bit of freedom to explore the area around where they lived also compounded the incentive to live on Patch. They already picked out the lots and construction was well underway at this point, so just before the Vytal festival finished, both their houses would be completed. To be fair, the construction had only started a week or so after they got here, and how far along the builders were was quite impressive.

Both the houses were being built as two-story, single-family detached houses, near enough to walk to in five or so minutes. While they weren't the largest houses, they were big enough, at around 2,400 square feet each (give or take). Angela had seemed to do up the house's floor plan the second she got the chance, citing many things, primarily a surprise for a few someones who she neglected to name, for whatever reason.

Apparently, Angela wanted to keep it a secret, even from Gabriel. Why she kept it a secret wasn't completely at odds with her personality, however, it was strange of her to do over something so trivial as the floorplan of a house. But, knowing Angela, her keeping it a surprise usually meant something special for everyone involved.

As Darren and Anne rounded the bend to the bullhead landing platform of the stadium, they saw Gabriel, Angela, Emerald, as well as Teams RWBY and JNPR exiting one of the landing bullheads. Almost as soon as they could, Emerald and team RWBY sprinted off in the direction of the stands, while JNPR ran off to the change rooms.

"Hey!" Darren shouted, waving at the remaining two of the group, "Where are you guys going?! Thought you were out at lunch!"

"We were," Angela called back, hoisting up a bag, "We got you some."

"Whatcha get for us?"

Angela rifled through the bag and pulled out a relatively large soup bowl with a lid, "Well… Anne, I got you a Regular with bacon… and Darren…"

She pulled out another large bowl and Gabriel commented, "Half 'n half for you, bud. I loved that thing, so we assumed you would to."

"Oh really now?" Darren smirked, "What's in it?"

"Some fish, some beef and noodles," Gabriel mimicked a stereotypical Italian chef, "Most beautiful collection of proteins one could ever collect and put in a bowl."

"Sounds delicious," Anne muttered as she took her own bowl from Angela, "So… why'd the kids rush off?"

"JNPR's match is in twenty. They wanted good seats," Angela replied as the four sat down at one of the benches nearby.

"Are we going to watch?"

"Probably," Gabriel remarked, "Unless something horrible were to happen in the next few minutes."

Anne slurped up some noodles, "How horrible are we talking?"

"Ozpin calling us," Angela shrugged, "Vale being invaded, that sort of stuff. Y'know, just a regular old Tuesday."

"Fair enough," Darren smiled, chomping on a slice of beef, "Speaking of a regular and old, what're we gonna do once the houses are finished?"

"I'd say move we in," Gabriel said, "And you still haven't told me what you're doing with the house yet, Angela."

Angela smirked, "Cause I wanna keep it a secret."

"What could possibly be so important about the house that you need to keep it a secret?!"

Angela smiled innocently, "Something…"

"SOMETHING WHAT!?"

"Guess you'll just have to find out, honey," Angela kissed Gabriel on the cheek.


Tygan's journal: Entry 213

Work is well underway on the Rift. As of now, it has been confirmed that we have been accurately been able to predict the location of an object in a Rift field projection with 99.999% accuracy. Tests for cross-world transit are almost underway.

I must say, Dr. Vahlen has been most helpful in this endeavour. As it turns out, she had many things on her mind during the twenty or so years she was out of commission. I was quite fascinated by her discoveries regarding AI. Not that they were uncommon during the Advent regime, however, those AI had little to no personality to them. On top of that, they were purely weapons of war.

In regards to the topic at hand, I've discovered that these Rifts enable FTL travel of a sort, as our tests showed the transport of matter through the Rifts is instantaneous and the object hasn't aged even slightly. Of the tested objects this far, apples and small rodents have been our test subjects. Of the tested rodents, in numbers that are upwards of 1000 thus far, only a few have suffered from any noticeable side effects.

The first of the few were reported with hair loss to an extreme extent, however, both myself and Vahlen believe this to be a one-time occurrence. This is possibly due to the extremely high amount of psionic radiation emitted by the Rift. It is also important to note that this was our first test involving the rodents test subjects, and as such, the Rift system was in an earlier developmental stage. As we have progressed, psionic radiation has been reduced down to acceptable levels and because of that, it was deemed safe enough.

However, one common trait that seemed to occur because of the radiation. Each of the few rats that did suffer any of the side effects also seemed to experience an overall increase in brain activity as well as slightly above average increase in muscle mass. This also came with a corresponding increase in intelligence. The rodents that displayed these symptoms seemed to form gangs with those that weren't affected and became a leader of sorts.

While the effects of the psionic radiation is quite interesting for sure, the main focus of the past few days has still been on the Rift. As of now, our prototype "Warp Rift Generator," as it has been dubbed, works at optimal efficiency and as of now only requires two Elerium generators to achieve full power. Vahlen recently calculated a potential requirement for jumping across our star system, a Light year, 10 Light years, as well as around 100 Light years from Earth. The numbers she calculated out weren't all that far off my initial prediction in the range of a full 24 Elerium generators to make a jump of around 100 Light years.

On that note, the search for Alpha squadron has still been going on quite vigorously. Some of the Templar have agreed to have themselves hooked up to the Shadow Chamber to help them amplify their psionics in a hope to locate Alpha. So far no success has been had, however possibly having the Commander hooked up might increase our success, as Geist pointed out, she does have a more interpersonal connection, which might allow her to locate them easier. However, collectively, we decided that to be the last resort.

Other than that, this has been a productive week. Our tests with the Rift will continue, and the Commander us volunteered as our first human trial. I only hope we can use these advances for the betterment of all.

Dr. Tygan.


Chicago Warp Rift Testing Facility…

"Power it up, let's see where we're at."

The Elerium power generators flared as energy spiked, sending ludicrous amounts of energy spilling into the latest prototype model of the Warp Rift Generator. The Generator shot out a purple psionic beam, forming a tear in space-time, coloured similarly to the beam that was used in its creation.

The Commander breathed a sigh of relief as the rift began to change into a circle around the size of a double door, as it was supposed to be, "Tygan, Vahlen, Shen, how are we looking?"

"Generators are keeping up with the Rift's demands," Shen said as she flicked through some screens, "Temperature levels are maintaining. We're in the green."

"The Rift is stable as well, Commander," Vahlen continued from a console, "We have confirmation at the testing sight in Toronto, they are getting the Rift's readings as well."

Tygan nodded, "Then I guess we are ready to proceed with live trials, Commander. Are you ready?"

She returned the nod, "Definitely. Let's do this."

Tygan swiped on his datapad, "Clear AOA (Area Of Arrival). Checking one."

"AOA clear, ready to receive Commander."

The thumbs up came and The Commander took off in a sprint, running right towards the purple anomaly that was floating in the air. She leapt at the Rift, feeling a strange sensation come over her body.

If she had to describe it, the sensation felt like an ocean current, but more directed, more focused but just as violent. Actually, it felt like she was on a water slide, directed by a torrent of controlled psionic waves that washed over her. Space warped around her, falling away and being created by the whim of whatever dimension that she was in.

And then it was over.

She fell out of the Rift, rolling out of the fall and standing up on her feet. Around her, a dozen or so XCom scientists were scribbling notes, doing calculations, recording the events that had transpired. Her knees weakened as her eyes adjusted to the light. She stood up, her mind was still somewhat disjointed from the trip through the Rift. The psionic energy was almost intoxicating at the amounts it was found in during the trip. She'd have to get Tygan and Vahlen to look over it later.

She quickly picked the datapad from her waist, "Tygan, how were the test results?"

"Amazing, as always, Commander," Tygan said, "If I may ask, how was the trip? Any strange feelings?"

"Like a psionic waterslide, if I'm completely honest," she replied as one of the scientists came up to her with a datapad, scanning her for radiation, "It felt weird, but not a bad weird."

"How did you feel immediately post exiting the Rift?" Vahlen's voice came through.

"A bit disoriented," she admitted, "But all things considered, not all that bad. I mean, my knees felt a bit weak, but that's passed now."

"I expected the weak knees. Especially when you are traversing between two different dimensions."

Tygan chose this moment to speak, "Commander, a skyranger is ready to pick you up and bring you back to the Chicago testing facility. I would like to run some tests on you once you return, just to confirm some theories, if I may."

The Commander began to walk towards the landing pad, "Sure, I've got no problem with that," she replied.

She walked onto the landing deck, looking at the skyranger that had landed there. She went up the ramp and sat down in the closest seat to the cockpit. She pulled up a tab on her datapad and took a look at the rebuilding progress of various cities. London was at fourteen percent, Shanghai was twenty-two, Munich and Paris were at forty-six, Washington and New York were both almost finished while Toronto, Chicago, Berlin, Moscow and Sydney were all finished completely.

Her mind began to drift slowly, as she unconsciously clipped her datapad back to her waist. Her eyes became heavy, her breathing calmed, her body went limp in the chair as she drifted slowly off into a calm sleep.


Her eyes shot open and she began to look around her. She noted that she was still in the skyranger but at the same time… not… in a way. The skyranger was the same, the pilot was the same, she was still sleeping on the seat.

Wait. She was still sleeping on the seat… and she was standing up… at the same time.

"Is this a dream?" She muttered, turning and noticing that she was actually floating.

She entered the cockpit of the skyranger and looked outside at the sky. She noticed that everything was moving in slow motion, the panels on the skyranger, the clouds themselves, everything about the world was slowed to a stop.

"Beautiful, is it not?" A voice from behind her spoke, "Truly splendid."

She turned, looking for the source of the voice, and what she found standing there shook her to her very core.

"An Elder?" She stammered, "But… But we killed you all. How are you still here?!"

The Elder seemed to laugh, "You did. You destroyed us so utterly. And for that, we are thankful."

"Wait, what…"

"For eternities, we have searched the universe for those capable of wielding the Gift. We used our knowledge of the genetic workings of the Gift to attempt to create a species capable and worthy of succeeding where we did not. And it worked."

At a loss for words, The Commander opened her mouth, "Again, What?"

"Over the eons and eons of our lifespan, we have purged life from the galaxy and seeded it back into existence. Both the people of your home and those of this world exist because of this fact," the Elder explained, it's four hands extending out, "And both are our greatest successes. You won. Unlike every other race with the gift that we fought, you beat us. Despite your loss in the first invasion, you all continued to fight. And of that, we are proud."

"Of course we would fight hard, you slaughtered us in droves," The Commander retorted.

"But not all did," the Elder countered, "Many willingly laid down their arms in submission."

"I doubt any human on Earth would willing give into your regime without a gun pointed at their head every day of their life."

"You still have a fire in your heart. I am impressed," the Elder commented, "Good. You will need it. The universe is a dangerous place, one that you will soon venture into. However, as of now, focus not on the sky and what lies beyond, but on the ground of your home. Take it back from your enemies."

"We aren't focusing on the sky, whatever that means," She replied, "We're looking for our friends."

"Ah, our gambit, our greatest risk," the Elder said, "The Healer, The Defender, The Sharp-eyed, The Orphan. Our greatest success."

"The Orphan?" The Commander quizzically muttered, "Are you talking about Gabriel? He had a family here. He couldn't be an orphan."

"Yet it is the truth, young Commander. The Ranger's family perished, and he was thus orphaned."

"But all of their families died," she countered, "Why's he so different?"

"Because his life is defined by that fact," the Elder explained, "He never knew his birth family, a fact that I am truly ashamed to admit was our own fault, for it was us that separated them. The family that took him in perished at our hands. You ask what makes Gabriel Owen so different, young Commander? Because we, unlike the rest, engineered his life to a point. While we did influence the decisions of the other's families, we had a much more… hands on… impact with him. We took him from his home as but a small child and gave him to a family that wasn't his own. And then we broke him. We broke all of them."

The Commander shook in furious silence. Her eyes glowed with psionic rage as silver psionic flames licked her body. Her fists were clenched at her sides, unable to comprehend what these… monsters had done. All she could do was ask…

"Why?"

"Because he was to be a catalyst for human evolution. Like you, like the ones called Angela, like Darren, like Anne," it responded, "This War was to prove humanities worth, both the ones on this world and the ones of Remnant, as your people call it. It was to prove that humanity was capable of becoming something more, something greater than us. Everything that happened, happened because we willed it to. You are alive because of us. During your years with them, you didn't evade our detection, we always knew where you were, and we set up tests to ensure you were worthy."

"So all this… ALL THIS MURDER WAS JUST SOME SICK FUCKING TEST TO YOU?!" The Commander screamed. She was furious, being told that all this war, this destruction, this bloodshed, everything that happened in the past twenty years was just a test. Just a fucking test, "WHAT ARE WE TO YOU? LAB RATS? IS THAT IT?"

"In a way, yes. Humanity needed to be united," The Elder glared, "Look at your past. On your home, two massive wars took your world by storm, burned through countless lives. But you were reminded of your true enemies. So you turned your weapons on those that would seek your destruction, not your own kind. Here, even more, blood has been shed at the altar of war, claiming even more lives and with no common enemy, we did what we had to. So we gave you a common enemy, and you fought together as one against us."

"You're a monster…" the Commander sobbed, "You murdered millions… to test our will… as a people."

"And you succeed. And because of that success, I will give you some advice."

"What?"

"You want to find your brother, no?"

The Commander was stunned. She looked directly into the eyes of the Elder, boring deep into its soul, "And what do you know about my brother?"

"Oh, many things. That you've been looking to hard for him. You looked up to the sky in hopes of finding a treasure that doesn't exist when upon the chest you stood. You failed to recognize when the thing you were looking for was right in front of you."

"So you're saying I lost him again?"

"No, not at all, young Commander. Not even a bit."

"Then do you know where he is?"

"Home. Your brother has finally returned home. And you have fulfilled your promise."


Gabriel, Angela, Darren and Anne sat down in Amity Colosseum with Team RWBY and Emerald just as team JNPR was about to begin their match. As they did Gabriel felt a sharp, cold sting running down his back, the feeling of which made him cringe in annoyance.

"Honey, is something wrong?"

Gabriel blinked, "It's nothing. Just a weird tingle. That's all."


Alright, now time to clarify things that I said in this chapter because even I know that it doesn't entirely make sense unless you know my plans for the future.

Firstly, the bit with the Elder. Some of you might be asking, "Why the heck was was it happy about losing?" Allow me to explain.

In this story, The Elders once were a part of a race had total dominance over the entire Milky Way galaxy a really long time ago. Really long ago as in, they ruled in a time before the first life on Earth, which, for reference, is approximately 3.5 billion years ago. The empire was massive and using their psionics coupled with their hyper-advanced tech, they effectively keep the galaxy in a perpetual state of theirs.

Now here comes the issue. Somehow, the entire species caught this disease that caused rapid and irreversible neurodegeneration which lead to the inability to reproduce and ultimately death, which killed 99.9999% of their entire population, leaving only a few hundred of them left alive. Now, the ones who were left alive weren't immune, they would eventually die because of old age, and those who were left eventually came to the consensus that they had been judged unworthy to keep their position as the rulers of the galaxy. Thus, they decided to rescind control to another species with The Gift, as they believed that only a species with The Gift as strong or stronger then themselves were worthy of ruling.

Basically, they constructed giant machines to seed the galaxy with life that had the potential to be Psionic, and whenever one arose as a possible candidate, the Elders would test them against their own creations to see if they were worthy. Now, in this cycle, a glitch occurred, a mistake was made and Humanity was seeded twice, once in Remnant and once on Earth, which is why there are two humanities, on different worlds.

Now, as to why the Elder who spoke with the Commander was so happy about Humanity's victory? Simply put, no other species had the will that humanity did, nore the raw psionic potential. Most other species that the Elders fought caved in the second they saw the tech that the Elders employed. Humanity didn't, and rather, humanity fought and they fought hard. Heck, even after they "lost" they still fought, still stood in defiance of their conquerors. And they proved themselves stronger than the Elders by destroying them all.

As for why this is important? I had an idea a while back, and this connects to it in great length. As for what it is, I guess we'll just have to wait until this thing is done. Believe me, I have a lot of ideas for this story, more than I ever think I could reasonably ever write. Now onto the second thing that I wanted to dump on you all.

While this isn't the chapter for the Faunus, I thought it a good idea to explain here, because I am taking some liberties with lore. Unlike the show, when a Faunus and a human have a child, it is a fifty/fifty chance that the child will be Faunus or fully human. As for how they came to be? It was just how both humanities were seeded, with that dormant trait in their genome. The trait itself is either dormant or active, and can only exist in one of those two states. Genetically, this means that if the trait is expressed, all germ cells (Sperm and Egg cells) will only possess that version of the trait. If a human and a Faunus have a child and the child is human, the child's germ cells will only express the human version of the gene.

Sorry for the massive exposition dump at the end, if you have any questions, concerns, anything at all, just lemme know in PMs or a review. Other than that, have a good one, and all see you all next time.

Narsauce, signing off.