Chapter nine: Hidden blade

Italics= character thoughts


Herald began to stir and opened her eyes. She was in a tight, dim room. Looking around, she tried to move her arms and found her non-mech ones were handcuffed together. She floated up and tried to float straight but found that the room was too short and hit her mech head. She fell to her knees and looked at the cuffs.

This wouldn't stop me... she thought as she nearly broke the chain connecting them with simply pulling her arms apart.

Herald leaned forward and knocked on the door with her mech fist. The sound of scrambling feet and one or two muffled yells reached her, with one especially loud yell calling for an AMR. She heard more shifting around until someone shouted an order and everyone went silent. Then the door opened and General Ironwood walked in, a grim expression on his face. Herald knew exactly why. The door closed and stronger light turned on.

"You know, we had to turn you on your side and slide you in to get you through that." he motioned towards the door.

Herald stayed silent.

"Anyway, Herald...what happened? When we got there, there was a destroyed Paladin, you were fighting teenagers, Perun was there as well. KOS-MOS won't let us speak to her by the way, 'too unstable', so, please explain." he said in calm but commanding tone.

"I...we...I had left the corridor outside the sleeping quarters for a minute and when I returned, Perun wished to chase after Penny-" Ironwood stopped her.

"I know that much, what happened with the Paladin."

"That...myself and Perun heard explosions and chased after them, coming to long road filled with vehicles. The Paladin was chasing two teenagers and throwing the vehicles everywhere. Perun jumped off to rescue people from the wrecks. The mech was forced off the road and engaged us all in combat. During it, I was badly injured, the man controlling it ripped me out of my frame. The pain...was maddening. By the time I was able to fight again, they had destroyed it. My anger, hatred, pain...boiled over and I just lashed out. After he and his accomplice fled, I realised that my power was spiraling out of control. Then they all fought me on Perun's order to attempt to wear me out." Herald explained.

"I see."

"It could have been worse." Ironwood raised an eyebrow "KOS-MOS mentioned it before, how there isn't ether in the air, only traces this dust you use. Blade's cores process ether for energy, both for arts and weapons as well as for ourselves. This dust is...inefficient. Too thinly spread, heavy, specialised. In my rampage I consumed the majority of the dust in the air of that area. I believe that is why I weakened to the point I could control myself again."

"Hmm, most likely the dust comes from how dust is used for so many things, there is an invisible mist in the air in cities and populated areas. But that means that out in the wilds, outside towns and cities, it probably thins to non-existence. So, Herald, I have an order for you."

Herald looked at him before nodding.

"If this ever happens again, before you completely lose control, run, fly, just escape to somewhere far away from civilization. Go to a place devoid of dust, and run rampant. Blast trees, scorch the ground, destroy all Grimm most likely attracted to you until you run out of power, regain control, then return. When Morag is conscious, I'm going to say this to her too. I believe it is an acceptable plan of action." Ironwood suggested.

Herald nodded and held up her hands.

"I must ask, did you think these would stop me?"

"Not really, it was more a case of this was all we could do."

Ironwood opened the door and stepped out.

"I'll go get a key, try and maneuver yourself out."

As he walked away, Herald attempted just that, turning sideways and floating on her side, trying to get through the door. Her frame's shoulder scratched the ground as she squeezed out, in the process also pulling her arms apart and snapping the chain of the handcuffs with easy. Herald straightened herself as Ironwood returned, sighing at the broken cuffs.

"Fantastic…"


The low sound of someone moving around and failing at hiding their footsteps roused Morag from her hazy sleep. She barely opened her eyes and found that her vision was blurred. She then heard a door close. Blinking a few times, Morag's vision cleared and she was met with a white ceiling. She presumed she was lying in a bed.

Wh...What happened? Her thoughts came slower then she'd like.

Her memory of what happened when she was last awake seemed to deteriorate to a mess of foggy images when she tried to remember beyond exiting the Atlas flying ship. Why was she on that ship again?

"Eugh...why does my stomach feel...cold?" she whispered, noticing her voice was muffled by something on her mouth.

Morag lifted her heavy arm and saw that both a needle was stabbed into her wrist and a clip was on her thumb. Lowering it, Morag just lay there, unmoving, as she collected her thoughts.

We were there to stop something...someone? The General, Poppi, Perun...was Herald there?...She was...she was...fighting... Morag's eyes widened as her mind cleared slightly Herald...we were fighting her! Berserk, she was...berserk.

As her thoughts began to catch up with her, what had happened rose out of fog as her mind sped back up. Morag glanced around the room. It appeared to be a medical room, her bed had bars on its side and there were two other empty beds. A table with bottles on it was in her lower vision, barely in view from her position. Morag grabbed the side bar and used it to help her sit up, a pain in her stomach worsening before returning to a more manageable level. Morag shifted back and propped herself against the back rail of the bed, holding the side for balance.

"Now then, were am I?" she asked herself.

Looking around only reaffirmed what she saw lying down. Two more beds, a table with medical supplies and a door. Looking to her left and right though showed new sights. Her right had a metal stand with a near empty bag of blood hanging from it, a tube going to her wrist. The clip was attached to a wire that lead to a machine that beeped every second or so. On her left was a similar stand that had a clear liquid in a bag going into her other wrist and a metal canister connected to what was over her mouth and nose. Finally, she looked down at her body. A white medical gown covered her down to her lower thigh.

I believe my wound was...here. Morag very slowly touched her lower stomach, a tender pain shot out of it, joining the constant dull pain.

Morag barely touched around the area, attempting to find out how large it was but stopped as she touched something cool. Through both her gown and the bandages she knew she had, a cool, almost cold, object was at the center of the wound. She gingerly tapped it twice, confused and saw a brief, sudden glow before it faded instantly.

"What was that?" Morag asked herself, confused and a bit concerned.

Morag looked around, unsure of how to contact anyone.

"Hey, hello!? Is anyone out there?" she yelled at the door lifting up the face mask.

After a few seconds, the door opened and an Atlas soldier looked in.

"Oh god, you're already awake!? Umm, I-I'll go get the doctor." he closed the door.

Morag sighed and leaned back.


Nero opened her eyes to find a line of sunlight across her face. She looked back and saw that light was struggling to get through the curtains of the room. She glanced left and right and saw everyone was still asleep. Nero quietly slipped out of her blanket and walked over to the bookshelf under the window. Weiss' Scroll was sitting on top of it.

We need to go see Mr Ozpin before Miss Schnee's classes at...11 I believe. She thought picking up the Scroll.

Nero didn't know how they worked, but she saw Weiss press the side to make it extend and touch the screen to make things appear. She pushed a button on the side, the metallic sides shooting out and pressed the screen. 'Enter password' appeared on the screen, but Nero was more interested in the time on the top of it, 9am. Nero put it down and walked over to her Driver.

"Miss Schnee?" She whispered and shook her.

Weiss only muttered nonsense and dug deeper into the covers. Nero shook harder and pulled down the blanket, her core and markings shining on Weiss' closed eyes. Weiss lazily opened her eyes and was met with Nero's face. Weiss let out a sharp yelp.

"What?!...Nero! What are you doing?" Weiss asked, irritated.

"Sorry Miss Schnee, but it's 9 in the morning. Everyone needs to get up and ready for the meeting with Mr Ozpin." Nero remained her.

"Uhh, I'd forgotten about that…" Yang moaned sitting up.

"Miss Xion Long, your hair is a bit messy."

"Damn it, not again!" Yang jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom.

"Welp, looks like we have to go to the gym's showers again…" Ruby sighed.

"Why, surely Miss Xion Long just needs to quickly wash it to untangle it." Nero suggested.

"Ha ha ha!...Your so naive." Ruby laughed.

"Ruby, you can't talk about being naive." Weiss deadpanned.

The three remaining team RWBY members collectively crawled out of their beds and gathered up towels and a uniform each. Ruby ran out the door with Blake walking after her. Weiss turned to Nero.

"When Yang eventually comes out of there, tell her to meet us at the cafeteria. Afterwards, before the meeting, I'll come get you." Weiss asked.

"Of course Miss Schnee."

Weiss followed her team out the door, leaving Nero alone except for the occasional disgruntled groan from Yang. After a minute of looking around the room standing still, Nero began to wander. She walked over to the window and opened the curtain and then crouched down to the line of books. A few caught her eye. She grabbed one and looked at the cover.

"Basically Dust, a beginner's guide to dust…" Nero red out.

If they have books like this, why does Miss Rose need help with her homework?

Nero sat on Weiss' bed and began reading the book, which quickly resulted in her flicking through the pages due to the knowledge of all the basics coming to her as soon as she red the chapter title. Nero frowned.

"I...know all this...how?" she asked herself.

Nero walked over the line again and grabbed the next one. The cover had 'History of Dust' on it. Nero opened the book and found that she knew bits and pieces of the beginning of the book on how dust was supposedly discovered, but stopped at the third chapter, 'The rise of the Schnee company.'

Nero sat and stared at the page, a feeling of unease growing despite not knowing anything about what the chapter was about to say.

"Schnee…" Nero whispered as she heard a door slam, making her jump.

Yang walked out of the bathroom, rubbing her hair.

"Okay, who's next…" Yang stopped and looked around "Hey, where is everyone?" she asked.

"Everyone went to have a shower and get dressed in the 'gym'. Miss Schnee asked me to tell you to go to the cafeteria then." Nero explained.

"Huh? I wasn't that long, only...30 minutes. Wait, 30 minutes." Yang rechecked her Scroll after reading out the time.

30 minutes? But I only just flipped through a book and a half... Nero thought looking down and realising the books pages had imprints from her gripping the same place of a while.

"Well, let's go." Yang grabbed Nero's arm.

"Wait, Miss Xion Long, I was asked to stay here."

"Come on, sometimes you gotta go with the flow." Yang smiled.

"Miss Xion Long, p-please…!" Nero attempted to state again.


RWB sat at a table with a tray each eating, although Blake was only really poking at it. Weiss glanced around as team JNPR began to walk over to them. Then she turned and saw Yang march into room, dragging a worried looking Nero behind her. Weiss nearly choked and jumped up and ran over, Jaune and Pyrrha looking on in confusion at Weiss' sudden movement.

"Yang, what are you doing?!" Weiss stifled an angry yell trying to not attract attention.

"What, you want her to rot in the room?"

"No, just, ehh, go get something to eat, I've had enough." Weiss grabbed Nero and lead her away.

They rounded the corner away from everyone as Weiss zipped up Nero's jacket, covering her core and stomach markings.

"I'm sorry Miss Schnee, she didn't listen and was surprisingly strong." Nero apologised.

"It's okay, Yang can be...overpowering, in both mind and body."

"Miss Schnee, can I ask about your family company?" Nero asked hesitantly.

"Yes, why so suddenly? What's wrong?"

"While waiting for Miss Xion Long, I red through a dust book and found that I knew the all the basics, but on a history of dust, upon reaching a part about Schnee company, a feeling of...unease, one completely unknown to me surfaced. I...cannot explain it, I know nothing of it and yet…" Nero stopped as she dwelled on the recent memory.

"My family, no...my father has done and still attempts to operate in an area of moral grey. I'll tell you more later...this isn't the best place for this conversation…"Weiss whispered, clearly deeply uncomfortable.

"Of course Miss Schnee, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologise Nero."

The conversation completely died after that, Nero regretting bring up the clearly painful subject. After waiting for ten minutes in silence, Weiss' Scroll began to ring. Not answering, Weiss looked around the corner and then fully went around, Nero following. The rest of RWBY were standing in front of cafeteria.

"So, you ready?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, let's get this over with." Blake stated, an air of annoyance around her.

The group of five began to walk over to Professor Ozpin's elevator.


Atop Beacon's spire, Professor Ozpin looked down over the school as the lift door opened, Ironwood walking out. He was alone this time.

"Ah James, I was wondering if you were going to be late for your own meeting."

"Sorry, things where a bit hectic. I had to talk to Herald and get her out of her containment, then I couldn't find Poppi, and then on the way over I got a message that Morag woke up so after this I need to go check on her. My list of worries seems to be growing out of control." Ironwood explained.

"I see, so, do you have your story straight?"

"Oz, you're making it sound like I'm trying to lie to get away with misbehaving."

Ozpin chuckled as the lift behind him closed, the LED screen showing it descend to the ground floor. After a minute, the door reopened as team RWBY and Nero walked in.

Well, showtime...Ironwood thought.

The group all stood and looked at Ironwood and Ozpin.

"Thank you for coming team RWBY. I'm going to start by thanking you for neutralizing the stolen Atlesian Paladin before it caused too much damage. I can assure you that the Atlas military will find any other missing equipment before it becomes an issue." Ironwood thanked with a slight bow.

"Oh, it was no problem. I just wish my bad guy catching record wasn't a double negative…" Ruby commented.

"Sis, that implies that it makes a positive one."

"That's in math Yang." Weiss added.

"Now, to the new problem." everyone looked at Nero, who waved nervously "You are probably all wondering who or want Nero and Herald are and well…" Ironwood paused for a second before sighing.

"They are a new, experimental method of dealing with the Grimm that Atlas are attempting to make. But as you saw, some early ones are, unstable. Another problem as well as that is their special synthetically created dust gems that we call core crystals become imprinted with the DNA of whoever touches them, making them unfortunately bound to them." Ironwood explained.

This doesn't sound convincing at all... Weiss muttered in her head.

"What, so, these blade things or whatever Nero called herself are weird gem people Atlas are making to kill Grimm?" Yang questioned.

Ironwood put his hands together and pointed at Yang, "Yes."

"That sounds both equal levels of cool and stupid." Yang replied.

"So, besides that, I would like you to keep this a secret from everyone. The world isn't ready for them to be revealed yet."

"But what are we going to do with her?" Blake asked "She can't just sleep and live in our dorm."

"I have a solution to that."

Ironwood lifted up a bag he had brought with him. He pulled out an Atlas school uniform.

"Nero is a student from Atlas whos team hasn't arrived yet."

"And I believe I can find her a single bed dorm in the exchange student side of the dorms." Ozpin added.

"What about her, umm, flowy hair and blue tattoos?" Ruby asked.

"Only her facial ones will be visible in this uniform and as for them and her hair…" Ironwood trailed off, having forgotten about her waving hair.

"If I may, I believe that I have a solution." Ozpin interrupted "Infusing dust into one's body can have a multitude of side-effects. Nero got tattoos infused with dust, believing it would make her look 'cool', but the untested formula had this effect on her, causing the practice to die out before it fully began." Ozpin suggested with a smile.

"I believe that." Yang said with a shrug.

"Well, there we go, Nero is completely explained, we should get to class." Weiss said, wishing to leave before anyone doubted General Ironwood's story.

"Weiss is right! We only have 30 minutes to get to Professor Oobleck's class!" Ruby yelled looking at her Scroll.

The group ran over to the elevator as Nero grabbed the uniform and joined them.

"Miss Schnee, can you help me with this?" she asked as the door opened.

"There's a restroom on the ground floor, I'll help you there." Ironwood and Ozpin heard as the door's closed.

Ozpin began to sign Nero up to all of the same classes as team RWBY and glanced over at Ironwood.

"Can I be honest with you James?"

"Yes?"

"That was terrible." he stated shaking his head slightly.

"Shut up Oz…"


Morag stood in front of a mirror, her gown pulled as a doctor examined her bandages.

"I'll need to remove them to check on the wound, but the way it looked last night has me curious on what it will look like now." she stated getting a pair of scissors.

"That is fine, I've seen many different wounds from many different beasts, monsters and weapons." Morag replied.

The doctor nodded and began to cut off the dressing's back and slowly peeled the bandage off the front wound. Morag looked over it. A slightly raised, red scar sat on her stomach, that had somehow closed after only around 15 hours. Then Morag almost took a step back after seeing something she'd never had expected. Black veins ran to just off the side of the scar, a shard of a core crystal growing a bit bright then darkening.

H-How...? Who...? Morag thought, stunned.


AN: I'm done tests.

So, this chapter was written yesterday and I was going to go through it today at around 4 were I live, and then I found out about the new DLC quests for Xenoblade 2 and that one involved Herald. So I went "Well, time to Xenoblade again to see if there's anything important for her." It requires you to be in chapter 10. My NG+ file was in chapter 7, I bloody had to rush through three chapters and then the quest had you either fight 3 uniques, which I would been fighting for a while because my team is not optimised at all, or do merc missions, one requiring level 5 leaping aka Zenobia. Her leaping was level one...I don't use her!
Then after all that rushing around, turns out after the scene were the three monsters appears, there isn't anymore blade dialogue.
But all in all, I did learn something about Herald's rampage, so yeah, long and annoying, but useful.

Also, Ironwood's story...that was bad, partially on purpose and partially because I forgot the original version. My story is hellbent on just making him miserable. Because he's so happy and stable in RWBY normally...

So, next chapter, I've a fun plan for some blade action...also edging closer to that dance...which is going to fun, I hope at least.
(I genuinely couldn't think of a better chapter name, I tried...the chapter has too many elements to pin down a name, help)
Review, PM, stuff, yes.

Anyway, enjoy.