Welcome back. Before we start, I'd like to dedicate this chapter of this story to an author on this site by the name of Ptabs. Ptabs was, for those who don't know, the author behind "Remnant of a Rose" and "Remnant of an Iron Rose", and who commissioned the re-writing of the second of the two. On May 8, Fireteam Nero, the group of writers behind the re-write, announced that Ptabs had died. For a more in-depth explanation, go check their chapter most recent chapter. Ptabs was and will forever be one of my inspiration, who gave me the confidence boost I needed to write the stories I do. So, please, in Ptabs' honour, go Fave and Follow Fireteam Nero's re-write of Remnant of an Iron Rose. May he rest in peace.

Anyway, see the end for another AN. Firaxis owns X-Com and RT owns RWBY. Let's go.

Cinder's group's dorm, Two days before the Fall…

Cinder looked on her scroll after she received some schematics from Dr. Watts, who was currently incognito in Atlas. Apparently, the dual purpose of the bug worked perfectly, allowing the disgraced Atlassian scientist to slip in and out of Atlas' military database quite quietly. Then again, hacking the mainframe was easy and quite doable, especially for the man who invented them.

The schematic she received was probably some of the best news she could have gotten from the old man. It was the design for a small, robotic girl with a synthetic aura, a prototype designed by Dr. Geppetto Polendina, which was known as Penny Polendina, as the robotic girl had been taken up as the scientist's daughter.

Which made her the perfect target for having their plans move forward.

Not only was Pyrrha Nikos present and competing in the festival, but her Semblance of Polarity would make quick work of Penny, regardless of aura, synthetic or not.

She chuckled, "Well, well, well… This will be fun."

Emerald looked up at Cinder from the floor, while she was playing a game on her scroll, "Umm, Mistress? What so going on?"

"Well, some new… the information has revealed itself to us," Cinder explained, "We're going to make some changes to the plan."

"And that means?" Mercury asked.

"That this is going to be so, so much easier than we first it first was," Cinder smiled.

Emerald looked over at Mercury, worry dotting her eyes. What was she planning?

Ozpin's tower…

Ozpin sat on his gear laden chair, overlooking Beacon's ground as he has done so many times before. He looked on, both in fear and in curiosity.

Fear was obvious, simply because it was very likely close to losing everything he had built up over the past decades, as he had many times before. Possibly losing a relic to Salem. If they were really unlucky, they might lose an entire generation of hunters and huntresses along with countless more. And if their luck had shit the bed and smeared it on their faces, well… they might not have any Vale left to fight for.

Curiosity because he was intrigued. This was an interesting path, one relatively similar to the paths his past, but different enough to the roads that he had tread to make him question the outcome. Usually, he knew that it was possible to rebuild from his falls, but this. This infiltration was different and could spell doom for all he had worked for. Which made him curious to see the possible outcome.

The elevator door opened, revealing Gabriel and Qrow standing inside, both with a somewhat wary look on their faces, both drinking coffee, the lifeblood of the tired. They walked over to Ozpin's desk, Gabriel seemingly making an effort not the make eye contact with Qrow, probably because he just wanted to leave the other man to come to his senses before trying to spark up a conversation again.

"You know he's making you look like an idiot, right?" Qrow asked as he and Gabriel stopped at the desk.

Ozpin rolled his eyes. He knew Qrow didn't like Ironwood for how the General handles things but this was going a little too far. Ozpin countered, "His heart is in the right place, Qrow."

"Sometimes I'm not even sure he has one…" Qrow sipped his coffee.

"So, made your decision yet, Ozzy?" Gabriel asked, "Who are you making the next Maiden?"

Ozpin turned his chair, "You know Maidens choose themselves, Gabriel. I just believe we've found the right one to take up the mantle."

"Sooo… choice one," Gabriel said, another sip of his coffee.

Ozpin nodded, "Ever since the day I laid my eyes on her, I had a distinct feeling that she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, compassionate, caring. But most importantly, she is ready for this. You would have to agree, right Gabriel?"

"No."

Ozpin cocked his head to the side, "But you've even said she was our best choice, Gabriel."

"She's our best choice," Gabriel conceded, "But that doesn't mean she's prepared. No one can ever be ready for this burden. She'll be hunted, her friends will be hunted, her family will be hunted. She will never be happy again. The fact of the matter is, Oz, she can't be ready. This is new waters for her, with new powers, new enemies."

Gabriel took another sip of his coffee, "She's gonna need guidance, more than we could ever provide for her. But even more than that she's going to be on her own."

Ozpin sighed, "I understand your concern, Gabriel and I have taken it to heart. Believe me…"

The elevator dinged, "She's here. Please, give us a few minutes."

The two men looked at each other, then Ozpin, then each other again and nodded understandingly. As the elevator doors opened, they had already moved to the side of the room, as Pyrrha Nikos exited.

"Ah, Ms. Nikos, please sit," Ozpin smiled, "We have a lot to discuss."

"Well, thank you, Professor," Pyrrha replied with her own cheerful smile.

Pyrrha sat down at the chair and Ozpin asked, "So, Ms. Nikos, how has the Vytal Festival been treating you? A bit stressed maybe?"

"Well, yes actually," Pyrrha replied, Gabriel softly chuckling, "I was chosen to move on to the next round."

"Well, your performance has been exemplary, hasn't it?"

Pyrrha smiled in response, "Well, I couldn't have done it without my team."

"From what I've seen, it's the other way around."

Pyrrha looked back at Qrow, stood up and politely replied, "I'm… I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met before. Could I get your name?"

"Qrow."

Ozpin sighed, "Qrow here is a good friend and a trusted colleague of mine. He has been for a while."

"Professor," Pyrrha meekly turned around, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you call me here?"

"Pyrrha, please, do take a seat."

Pyrrha returned back to her seat, her eyes drifting ever so slightly around the room. She was nervous, worried about why she was here, what she could have done to be sent here. She was…

"What is your favourite fairy tale?"

"Ok… not what I was expecting…" Pyrrha thought to herself, surprised by Ozpin's sudden shift, "I'm… sorry, I must've misheard. You said…"

"Fairy tales. Stories from your childhood," Ozpin affirmed, "Surely you must remember some of them."

Gabriel looked over at Pyrrha and Ozpin, "He's about to start this whole thing up, isn't he…"

"Well…" Pyrrha contemplated, reaching into her mind, "The tale of the Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the tower…"

"What about the Tale of the Seasons, Ms. Nikos?"

Gabriel inwardly sighed, "Hook, line and sinker. He's got her attention now."

"Of course…"

"Now… story time…" Gabriel thought. He glanced out the window, staring at the orange sky. He remembered back to the first night they had spent here when they had joined Ozpin's group.

When he told them about the Maidens.

The Maidens themselves were quite a mystery, confusing the ever-living shit out of all four of them when the story was first heard. The concept of powers passing from one to another was not foreign to them, however. Absorbing psionic power had been documented before, example one being the four members of Alpha, mainly the Temple ship incident and any subsequent killing of Elders. But in the way that it was presented with Maidens, it was quite confusing.

You see, the "Psionic absorption" experienced by Alpha squad wasn't unique, not even in the slightest. After making a kill on a strong enough psionic opponent, a person with a set of activated psionics tends to… drain a small amount of their target's psionics from them. This results in empowerment for the individual who absorbed the psionics.

However, the Maidens were… different wouldn't even be the right word. Heck, Anne had to come up with an entirely new category for this type of power, which she dubbed as "Parasitic."

In essence, a power that falls under Parasitic is attached to a host with an extra "consciousness." This consciousness can exist without a host, however, it can only function and use its power while attached to a host. The "Parasite" will attach itself to the next most suited (or in the case of the Maidens, the last person in the thoughts of the Maiden), and continue the cycle until the host dies and the "Parasite" moves on. If it's next host doesn't meet its criteria, then the "Parasite" moves on again.

"... The four season. My mother loved that story," Pyrrha finished retelling the story, causing Gabriel to snap out of his thoughts and look back over at the Headmaster and the Invisible Girl.

Ozpin laughed, "Would you believe me if I said that the story has been around since I was a boy?"

"Professor, you aren't that old!"

Ozpin's face suddenly became stern, his face hardening, "Would you believe me if I told you it was true?"

Silence drifted on the room as Pyrrha got a nervous look on her face, "I… I beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you that there did exist four maidens in this world, who could wield such tremendous power without Dust."

"You mean like a semblance?"

"Like magic," Gabriel said, from across the room, "Sorta like me. Like Angela. Like Darren and Anne."

"Professor?" Pyrrha looked back at Gabriel, obviously confused.

Qrow was the next to speak, "Yup… first time hearing it can be a doozy. Believe me, I should know."

Pyrrha was astonished, "You've got to be joking… Please tell me you're joking."

Ozpin's face hardened further, "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No…" Pyrrha meekly replied, "Why… Why are you telling me this?"

Ozpin stole a glance at the two other men in the room, nodding at both in confirmation. He received a nod from both Qrow and Gabriel, signalling for him to continue on.

"We are telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are the next in line to inherit the Fall Maiden's power."

Pyrrha continued to maintain the astonished look on her face, while also staying quiet nervous in her demeanour, "We, Professor?"

The elevator opened and Gabriel looked over at its contents, Glynda and Ironwood, "Well, your timing is almost impeccable. We were literally just going to talk about you."

Pyrrha turned to Ozpin, fear in her eyes, "What… what is this? What's going on here? Who are you?"

Glynda was the first to speak, "Well Pyrrha, we're still the same Headmasters and professors that you got to know when you first came here."

Qrow continued, "But we have a part-time job."

"We are the protectors of this world."

"And we need your help," Ozpin finished.

"So, Pyrrha," Gabriel asked, "Will you help us?"

Pyrrha couldn't answer, all she did was nod yes. Gabriel smiled and gestured to the elevator "Then let's go. We have a lot to get through and not a lot of time to do it."

As it was, six people does a crowded elevator make, squishing the group in like a can of sardines, only with a slightly larger amount of breathing room. As the elevator slowly descended to the bottom most floor of the line, tensions ran high. Mainly, Pyrrha was the cause of the anxiety that permeated the air. She was surrounded by two headmasters, two teachers and a huntsman, all of whom believed her to be the next Fall Maiden.

"Um… Professors?" Pyrrha meekly asked, "Where exactly are we going?"

Ozpin looked over to her, "The Vault. Below the school."

The elevator dinged, the door opened and the professors walked out, leaving Pyrrha standing behind, alone. Gabriel looked back, noticing her hesitation, and motioned her to move with the group. Pyrrha complied and walked up to him, the two starting to walk with Glynda as the other members of the group went forward.

Gabriel looked down to Pyrrha. "Scared?" he asked to which she nodded.

"Don't be," Gabriel patted her shoulder with his left hand, "We're right here with you."

Pyrrha smiled, however, concern still lingered in her eyes, "If I may ask, you said I was next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers. What do you mean?"

"The Maiden's have existed for thousands of years, Pyrrha," Glynda explained, "And much like the seasons that come and go every year, no to Maidens are ever truly the same."

"When a Maiden dies, the power she had leaves and seeks out a new host. Anne dubbed it a form of Parasitic power if you would," Gabriel continued. Pyrrha obviously didn't like that the power she would receive would be sort of like a parasite and her face reflected it, so Gabriel tried to placate her worries, "Hey, some parasites benefit the host. It's just that the Maiden's power only functions in a host."

"This way, no one holds onto a maiden's power forever," Glynda concluded, a glare shot at Gabriel. He threw his hands up defeated in a sense.

"So… if that's the case, how do the powers choose?"

"Through a series of convoluted, stupid and frankly quite bullshit rules," Qrow interjected.

"Qrow…"

"Don't get mad cause I'm right, Glynda," Qrow smugly replied, "You know I am."

Gabriel sighed, "I'll try to summarize the rules quickly, considering how many of them there are. The first thing that was know was who they went too. Young women, your age, Pyrrha. You could receive the power and keep it for your entire life, so long as you don't die. However, it was later found out that the process by which the powers are passed down was quite a bit more… Glynda, would you call it intimate?"

"Definitely. You see, Pyrrha, as time went on and more was learned about the maidens by keeping close eyes on them, it was discovered that the person last in the thoughts of the Maiden at the time of her death is the first candidate for the power to go to."

"But if the person is a dude or an old hag, that's a no go," Gabriel continued, "At that point, it's just a roll of the dice as to who gets the power."

"In other words, it makes our lives a whole fucking lot harder," Qrow spat.

"Why are you all telling me this now?" Pyrrha nervously asked, "Why not tell me after I've graduated?"

"To put it bluntly, we've run out of time," Qrow replied, "I dunno if you've seen it, but things have gotten a lot scarier out there. Tensions are running high, people are losing faith in their protectors, the Grimm are getting stronger and the stronger ones are getting more common. And if there's one thing we can all agree on here, it's only a matter of time before this oh so lovely peace that we've all been enjoying goes flying headfirst out the window."

Pyrrha was now simply terrified, "You… you're not talking about war, are you?"

"Not a war between nations," Ironwood commented.

"It would be a war for the survival of all peoples of Remnant," Gabriel said, "Fanaus, Human and everything in between would all be in danger."

"We can fill you in on everything once we know you're with us in this," Qrow continued, "For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maidens, Fall to be specific, was attacked, and for the first time in history, a part of her power was stolen."

The group had finally reached their destination. A rudimentary stasis chamber which had nothing on one that the Elders had created. Whereas an Elder stasis pod would've been self-contained and smaller, barely larger than the human it contained, the man-made variety on Remnant was quite a bit larger, requiring an external power source. Also, it was hooked up to a second pod, unlike the Elder's design.

"Who… who's that? Is she the..." Pyrrha nervously asked, pointing to the one inhabited capsule, within which a brown-haired girl with a massive scar on her face resided.

"The current Fall Maiden, yes," Ozpin sighed, "Amber Autumn."

"She's… she's still alive in there, right?"

Gabriel shrugged, "Somewhat. She's alive, but barely. Atlas has done everything that they can to make sure that her heart stays beating, but there's nothing that anyone can do to help her wake up. On top of that, this is new territory, uncharted waters that are deeper and more complex than they seem from the outside."

"Primarily, what happens if and when she passes," Ironwood solemnly continued.

Pyrrha pondered that for a second, "Wouldn't the power just go onto the next host?"

"WELL, WELL, WELL, look who's been listening," Qrow commented sarcastically, before turning to Ozpin and whispering, "You guys were right, she is smart."

"Under normal circumstances, yes, they would," Gabriel explained as he placed a comforting hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, "But these are anything but normal circumstances. From what I've read and what these guys have told us, Maiden's powers don't just split like this. This is the first time in recorded history when they have."

"The most damning thing is the power might just go and seek out its other half," Ironwood continued.

"Her assailant…" Pyrrha muttered.

"And that wouldn't bode well for any of us in any sense of the imagination," Ozpin agreed.

Pyrrha looked down, whether it was a look of sadness or defeatism, no one could reasonably tell. She approached the capsule and placed her hand on the glass separating her from the wounded woman. Her anger welled up inside her, ready to burst. How could these people, whom she trusts with her life, her education and more, do this? How could they hide this away from the world?

"If… if all of this is true… Why keep it a secret?" She began, her voice calm at first, with only a small amount of wavering, "If this… these people are so important, these Maidens are so important, why is this all hidden?"

"If we're truly on the brink of collapse, why doesn't everyone know?!"

Gabriel sighed. Time to go old sage mode again, "We'll answer your questions one at a time, Pyrrha. First, why keep it a secret? According to Ozpin, it wasn't always like that. There were times when people knew about the Maidens, knew that they existed and that they were powerful."

"Where do you think fairy tales come from?" Qrow asked, a swig of alcohol going down the hatch, "Every one of them has a bit of truth that starts the legend. Even the craziest ones come from somewhere."

"Our group was founded in order to protect the Maidens and mankind," Glynda explained, "When the Maiden's existence was common knowledge, people hunted them, sought them out in order to kill them and steal their power for themselves."

"And as you can probably imagine from all the hunting and killing," Gabriel continued, "These people weren't the kind of people you would want with demigod levels of power at their fingertips. And the ones that succeeded?"

"Let's just say they did a LOT of bad things," Qrow continued, "You know that massacre that you learned about with Oobleck? The one in that Vacuo tavern about two hundred years back? That was one of the people who stole a Maiden's powers."

Ironwood nodded, "And so, we chose to remove the Maiden's from the public eye and history, letting them fade into a mere fairytale."

"What we've told you goes against nearly everything you've known," Glynda said, "Hundreds of years of Human history, religion, everything."

"If any of this got out to the public, it would cause an uproar."

"It would cause mass panic," Ozpin corrected Ironwood, "Which is why we…"

"I'll do it."

Ozpin's group went silent in shock. They hadn't been expecting for her to be so easily convinced that doing this would be a good idea. Heck, they weren't even sure if she could have been convinced.

"If it's for the good of humanity and everyone on Remnant, then I will become your Fall Maiden," Pyrrha said again, the rest of the group still in silent shock, "That is what you wanted me to say, right?"

Gabriel was the first person to break the silence, "Well, yes, it is. But Pyrrha, you have to understand, we cannot force you into this role, nore do I ever want you to be forced into this role. You have a choice…"

"And I made my choice, professor," Pyrrha rebutted, "I'll do it."

"You made a spur of the moment decision, Pyrrha. That's not the same as a choice," Gabriel countered.

"And besides, gaining the power isn't going to be as simple as just saying the magic words of agreement," Ozpin interjected, his words calming the red-haired champion, "Because of her condition, inheriting the power naturally is… unfortunately, it is impossible. However, General Ironwood may have a solution to that dilemma."

"You see, for the past few years, Scientists in Atlas have been looking into Aura from a more…" Ironwood paused, contemplating his next words carefully, "Scientific approach. How it works, what its made of, that sort of thing. And, I believe we found a way to capture it."

"Capture it and stuff it into something else, you mean," Qrow interjected, "Or in your case…"

Pyrrha blinked, before the shock set in and she realized what exactly Qrow meant, "That's…"

"Classified."

"Wrong!" Pyrrha said, "How could you think that's okay?!"

"Pyrrha, look at me," Gabriel said, again trying to placate the girl, "No one here thinks that it's even remotely humane, but right now, humane is the least of our concerns. We're fighting for survival. We don't have a choice as to how far we go, we just have to go as far as our enemy pushes, and push they have."

"While we can't directly give Amber's powers to you, we can give you what her powers are tied to."

"Her Aura…" Pyrrha said, coming to that horrifying conclusion on her own. The possibilities were… just as terrifying as the thought of what could practically be considered eating someone's soul.

"Exactly as depressing as it sounds, right?" Gabriel muttered just loud enough for Pyrrha and the rest of the group to hear it, before shifting to a more obvious tone, "We don't know what exactly would happen if you were to have her Aura infused with your own. Anne did some theorizing and couldn't really come to any solid conclusions, but we do know this. After the procedure, you will not be the same person who entered the pod."

"From what Anne mentioned to us," Ozpin continued, "There are three distinct possibilities should the procedure work correctly and Amber's aura becomes one with yours. Firstly, you could enter with no changes whatsoever. Alternatively, you could leave with two people in one mind, both Amber and yourself vying for a sort of control over your body. Finally, you and Amber could merge into a singular being, you getting all her memories and powers and her being able to communicate through them to you."

Ozpin paused, contemplating his next words, "The gravity of the situation is immense, and we all understand that you will need some time to think on the matter. But know this, before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

"Our enemy has made their first move," Ozpin finished, "And there's next to nothing to let us know when they will make their next."

Outside the Tower…

Gabriel walked calmly away from the Tower, a little annoyed with Ozpin. While he did realize the importance of gifting the Maiden's powers to Pyrrha, forcing this onto her was completely unfounded. He hated it, everything about it. But there was little he or any of Alpha could do, other than help Ozpin go through with the process and ensure success.

"Professor!"

Pyrrha's voice called out from behind him, as the girl ran up to him, her red ponytail flying behind her. Gabriel's face brightened a small bit, "Hey Pyrrha, how are you feeling?"

"I… I don't really know how to feel about this. It's all so… foreign," Pyrrha said, "I want to help everyone but… if what you all said was true, I might not be me any more…"

"Pyrrha, look at me, please," Gabriel placed his hand on her shoulder, "I'll be here for you, Angela, Anne, Darren, Oz, Glynda, James. We'll all be here when you need the guidance of any sort."

"Professor… I'm not sure what to do…" Pyrrha continued, "I want to help… but it feels like I don't have a choice."

"Pyrrha…" Gabriel began, "Look, I don't know if there is anything that I can say to make you feel better. But please, believe me when I say that I never wanted this to be your fate, even if the world was at stake. I never wanted to force you into this position. Hell, I never wanted to force anyone into this position."

"But I still want to help!" Pyrrha retorted, "You told me about the truth, you put your trust in me and if I don't help you, I feel like I'm betraying that trust!"

Gabriel shook his head, "You aren't betraying anything, Pyrrha. We made a choice to tell you about them. It's our fault for even bringing you into this fight."

"Professor…"

"Pyrrha, I want you to be happy," Gabriel cut Pyrrha off, "We all do. And if that conflicts with becoming the damn Fall Maiden, so be it. One Maiden gone from our reach isn't a massive deal. Sure, nothing good can come out of it, but we have three others for a reason."

"Even if you don't want to be the Maiden, it's fine. We did give you a choice, after all," Gabriel smiled. Pyrrha began to tear up, and she tackled Gabriel in a deep hug, who was surprised but did return it.

"Professor…" She began, "When I was thirteen, just after I won my first tournament, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. My father and I used every piece of lien we had to get her medicine, and she's been like that ever since."

"I'm… I don't really know what to say to that, Pyrrha…"

"She used to ask me if I believed in destiny, that we've all got a path laid out for us from the beginning, on that we can't change. Professor, do you believe in destiny? Do you think it's my destiny to become the Fall Maiden?"

"That, kid, is one difficult question to answer," Gabriel replied, as he broke the embrace that Pyrrha had on him and gestured to a bench, "Come on, let's sit down."

The two sat and Gabriel asked, "Pyrrha, what does destiny mean to you?"

"Well… my mother always described it as… an unseen hand that guides events," she responded, "A force that guides the future down a set path."

Gabriel sighed and clasped his hands, "Then no, Pyrrha, I don't believe in destiny. You know what's funny about that question that your mother asked you? I was asked the same thing by a mentor of mine when I was your age."

Pyrrha's looked surprised, "Really?"

Gabriel lounged back on the bench, "Yup, good ol' Commander Reyes. He asked me that just after he picked us up from our home town. Guess what he said."

"He didn't…?"

"Exactly," Gabriel nodded, "He said that destiny is not something innate, there is no one singular set path. It's all circumstance and choice that forages our future."

"See Pyrrha, crying out that destiny is the reason something happened isn't a good way to live your life. You'll never take responsibility for your missteps, and you'll refuse to acknowledge your successes. So Pyrrha, lemme ask you this, do you want your destiny to be living life as a Maiden? Or do you want something different for yourself?"

Pyrrha looked down, a tear in her eye, "I… I don't know, Professor…"

"I know you don't, kid, and I would never expect you to figure your life out at your age," Gabriel smiled, "At your age, I sure as hell didn't want to be making decisions that would direct my life down a path I had no idea about. And I know why you have hesitations, you've even told me."

"You mean…"

Gabriel nodded, "Yeah, I know. Jaune. You're worried, aren't you? About losing him."

Pyrrha could only nod, giving Gabriel confirmation of her fear, "Don't worry about that, Pyrrha. We both know Jaune. He's gonna be the type of guy who'll stick through thick and thin with the people he cares about."

"But what if he doesn't? What if things get too hard?"

Gabriel shrugged, "I guess you'll find out. But trust me, Jaune cares about you, more than you think. Your stunt with the dance made him see something he was blind to before. Now, aren't you going up to the next round of the festival?"

"Yes… I am."

"Don't you have to go do something for the final rounds?"

Pyrrha's eyes opened wide with surprise, "Oh… damn it, I'm going to be late, aren't I?"

"Nah, you still have an hour. But we should get going, or else you might be later than you want to be."

The Avenger… The same time…

When Summer has time to herself, she tends to like to go to her quarters and look over mission reports. Today, however, Summer opted to go down memory lane, pulling out her old white cloak her mother and father made her for her thirteenth birthday.

They had spent the entire year prior to her big day shaping, cutting and embroidering the masterpiece. For the past ten, Summer had not only repaired it, using some spare white cloth (enough to make an entirely new one, if necessary) she had packed with her on that fateful mission, but she had also started making one for Ruby, as was the tradition.

The Rose family was ancient, going back hundreds, possibly thousands, of years and with the years came many a tradition. Every time a member of the family reached four, the parents of the child would make that child a red coloured cloak, which lasts until the person reaches their thirteenth birthday. On that day, the person is given a white coloured cloak, which to their family often symbolizes maturity, coming of age as well as purity. As well, to them, the cloak was to symbolize safety and despite how strange it sounded, Summer's cloak had saved her life more times than she would ever want to admit. Such as the time she used it to kill an Ursa Major by breaking its neck with the fabric.

The embroidery was also a key part of the cloak. There was a very specific design, one very specific pattern that was always made on the cloak's inside. The pattern was a large rose in the center and smaller roses on the outer edges. Summer had gotten her parents to teach her how to actually make the embroidery at a young age, considering it was quite a difficult skill to learn. Not that she was even close to being a master at it like her father, but she was getting there.

(An: The actual shape of the rose is that of Ruby's symbol, which is a familiar symbol of the Rose family in this story. Secondly, the reason Summer's father is better than her mother simply comes down to the fact that her mother married into the Rose family and her father was born into it, thus he learned the skill at a relatively young age.)

Despite the ten years she had put into the cloak, Summer still didn't know if it was up to her standards, which were quite high. Considering that the cloak was overdue by two years, she wanted to make it special, more so than any other present, she had given to Ruby.

She had already gotten the actual cloak's fabric laid out, the design drawn on a sheet of paper, all her materials once again brought out to continue the near decade long project. While the making of the cloak had only begun just under a year ago, the design and everything else dates back for to the time she arrived.

"Time to start the embroidery… shit, how did I want to do it again…?" she thought, "Hoop, scissors, needle… thread…"

She looked over to the two types of thread she had on the table, white and red. White or red, which to choose. Ruby would probably be more partial to the red coloured rose, seeing as how she liked the red cloak when Summer made it for her. Also, red was just a pretty colour it also matched Ruby's hair.

Summer picked up the red coloured thread, putting it through the needle's eye. She looked back at her design plan she had drawn out a little over four years ago, looking over the exact position of the main rose and the smaller, secondary roses, of which there were eight. The main rose connected to the smaller roses with a series of thorny vines, which snaked out from the primary rose.

She began by embroidering the outline portion of the rose's shape. Slowly, but definitely surely, the weaving became more natural and the shape of the red rose came into being. It was, if Summer was being completely honest, a gruelling and unforgiving task. Three times, she had to redo at least half of the petals she made, practically having to start over again for every screw up she did.

As she worked, Summer began to hum out a tune that her mother would sing to her and that she sang to Ruby every night. She loved it, and she would often sing herself to sleep with the quiet rhythm of the song.

(An: The song that I speak of is We All Lift Together, specifically the Freya Catherine version. You don't have to listen to it, but I do enjoy it a lot.)

An hour or two passed and she was well on the way to finishing the outline of the large center rose. The shape came together well and overall, Summer thought that the cloak's look and shape made it feel right like it was made to be.

She continued humming away, repeating the song on loop, the ups and downs of the tune intertwining with the movement of the needle and the string. The humming continued on until it became full-blown singing, which lasted for about twenty minutes of intense singing.

Until she heard a knock at her door.

Sighing, Summer put down the needle and thread and called out, "Come in!"

The door opened, revealing Merek Jenkins standing at the door with a smug grin on his face, "Well, Commander. I didn't know you could sing that well. Shoulda asked you to sing my kids to sleep way back when. Annette isn't all that bad, but you're definitely better."

"Well, maybe I could, Merek," Summer smiled, "How's Tisha?"

Merek shrugged, "She's back on her feet and Tygan is helping her get used to the new prosthetic and it's capabilities. But I'll be damned if we had those things the first time around… we wouldn't have lost so many people."

He sat and noticed the cloak, "Making another one? Who's it for?"

"It's for my daughter," Summer replied, "Sort of a tradition in my family."

"So in other words, you can't make me one," Merek laughed, "Darn, it looks cool."

Merek came into the room and pulled up one of the spare chairs, "So, any plans once we get a read on where Alpha is?"

"Find them and bring them home," is all Summer could reply, "You know the plan, Merek, why are you asking?"

"Because I know this means more to you than just a simple search and rescue mission, Commander, that's why," Merek replied, "I know where we're going."

Summer froze and Merek continued, "To an extent, at least."

"To what extent?"

"Well, I may or may not have accidentally walked into the Shadow chamber while it was running some calculations…" Merek slyly scratched the back of his head, "And I may or may not have noticed that it was comparing DNA strands… and I may or may not have been there when it finished and showed the names of the people it was comparing…"

"Get to the point please."

"Fine, fine," Merek relented, "I know Gabriel is your brother."

"Well… Ummm…" Summer muttered, "Well, you aren't wrong. But do you actually know where we are going?"

"Not entirely, no," Merek shrugged, "But I can guess. You wanna go home, dontcha?"

Summer's eyes widened, "I… umm… Don't know what you're talking about, Merek…"

"Don't lie to me, Commander," Merek jokingly remarked, "We both know that would be a complete piece of bullshit, and we both know you're not the kind of person to try to pull that bullshit with me. So spill, what's on your mind?"

"It…" Summer began, before reneging and thinking on her words, "It's been a decade… and I'm sort of worried about what my kid will think, how they'll feel about me coming back."

"They'll probably love you for it, Commander."

Summer sighed, "I hope. But I still wonder how they would feel about getting some new family."

"Cause Angela's pregnant with their kid?"

"There is that, but also the fact that the kids have never actually known that I had a brother," Summer said, "... or the fact that she might hate me for lying."

"Lying?" Merek questioned, "Why would you lie to your kids? Or, even more, what would there be to lie about?"

"Her family," Summer replied, before catching her words, "I've… I've said too much… I'm sorry, but I can't say any more."

"Alrighty Commander, you don't have to tell me anything," Merek complied, "Family secret and all. But there's one thing Tygan wanted me to mention to you."

"And that is?"

"He said testing is done for that weird warp thing," Merek said as he got up, "But he said gathering the resources for a full sized one for The Avenger will take time. Approximately six to eight months, if we take into account screwups."

Summer smiled softly, "Thank you, Merek."

"Eh, no problem, Commander," Merek returned the gesture, "Just doing my job."

Merek left the room shortly thereafter, closing the door and giving Summer back her privacy. Of all the people she had met here, Merek had to be one of her favourites, discounting everyone in Alpha squad as well as the command structure of X-Com. He was a respectful man, who spoke somewhat eloquently, and who always had respect for those in command.

Major Merek Jenkins was a veteran from Australia, who moved to the USA and enlisted in the military around 8 months prior to the initial invasion. He was promoted to the rank of Captain a week before the actual fighting broke out. Two weeks after the invasion, he was told by his own commanding officer that he would be shifted to another assignment in the Rocky Mountains, which was the old X-Com base location. By the time he got there, Alpha had already been formed and Jenkins had met the younger versions of the squad.

Though inexperienced at the time, Jenkins and Strike-Commander Reyes, along with most of the higher ranking officers that had been enlisted, saw a lot of potential in the group and one of the first missions was the six of them evacuating London after a terror attack took place against the city. Surprisingly, Merek was actually the one who patched Gabriel up after that Chryssalid stabbed his arm, while Anne helped.

After the Temple ship went down, however, Merek took a leave of absence with his lover, Annette Durand, to start a family. Annette herself didn't rejoin the fighting, as she had said she was definitely no fit to actually fight. Her initial recruitment was a very big mistake, after all.

Summer looked at the closed door and smiled once again to herself. It was only a few more days till she would know where home was, and only just under a year till she could get there.

"I've waited this long," she thought, "I can wait a little while longer."

But the nagging in her mind didn't seem to cease. What if she did return home and Ruby did hate her? What if Yang did? She, Taiyang, Qrow, they all lied to the girls in an attempt to keep them as safe as they could be. They promised each other if one of them did leave, and by that, they meant to die, the others would tell the kids the truth.

But honestly, she didn't know if either of them held up on their end of the bargain. In some ways, she hoped they didn't, so Ruby wouldn't feel lied to because she would never know the lie took place. But the truth always comes out, regardless of anything that is done to contain it.

She knew that first hand and her family was a prime example of it.

Maybe Qrow and Tai kept up the lie for the decade she'd been gone, maybe they hadn't. At this point, it was up in the air. All she could do was hope and pray to whatever god existed if one did, that neither of the girls she raised as her own would hate her for lying and breaking their family apart.

Summer looked back at the cloak, the outline of the big red center rose completed. She sighed, folded up the cloak and put her supplies back into the drawer where they were stored. After everything was put away, she got up and left the room.

She needed a drink. Water, wine or otherwise.

The Grimmlands…

Salem looked over the dark, broken landscape of her eternal home, dotted with pools of dark miasma, energy of a sort. It was where she was reborn, where she became the Queen of the Dark Beasts, where she became the Grimm Witch. It was in these pools where her greatest weapon was reborn. Not her Grimm, but another.

Something much, much worse.

Approximately two decades ago, she found a man, burnt and broken, lying on the ground and on the brink of death. She had thought to kill him, but she sensed within him pain and loss, and a great amount of each.

But most importantly, she saw anger. Rage. Fury.

She took the broken man and walked into the deepest pool of black miasma and submerged him in the dark liquid. When he came out, the man was changed.

Unlike her, when she emerged from the pool of corrupted energy, he didn't emerge nearly as white. Pale to be sure, but not bleached white.

His veins were black, his hair was darker and misty, almost like one of her children when they perished. His skin became similarly misty, the dark energy surrounding him, coating him in a veil of black-purple fog.

The man stayed unconscious for the better part of a week after the Grimm transformation. When he woke from his slumber, he couldn't remember anything about himself. Not his name, his family, nothing from his past.

All he knew was that he would have died if not for the Grimm Witch's intervention and of his own free will, he pledged loyalty to her. Salem had subsequently taken him under her wing, so to speak and taught him of his new power, while he discovered a power that he had apparently had prior to the transformation. He became her most trusted ally, her confidant. In a way, he became her most secretive advisor, her ace in the hole, as it were. He devised the Grimm beetle that would steal the Maiden's power, he trained Cinder in the art of combat.

But still, to all save her, nothing was known of who was behind the mask. No one knew anything except the name Salem had given him all those years ago.

To the rest of her council, the man in the black trench-coat who stood in shadows during most of the meetings was known as Wraith. To them, he was Salem's assassin, her blade. Should she want something dead, it would die.

Salem cruelly grinned as she looked out over her territory. Her plan to destroy humanity was falling in place perfectly. Cinder would execute the plan tomorrow and with it, Vale would fall. Of course, the relic that Beacon held would be difficult to find, Ozpin was too smart to have the relic in the vault under the academy.

"You miss me?"

Salem turned around as black mist coalesced into Wraith's form, a six and a half foot tall man. He wore on him a bone white mask, like one of Grimm, which his eyes shone through with a bloody ferocity. He wore a black trench-coat with a hood that covered his dark black hair. Attached on his hips were two sickle blades, wicked sharp and made of deep black metal.

"Of course I did, oh spectre mine," Salem said in a very seductive manner, "I'm assuming your scouting was a success?"

"Yes, I did, oh queen of mine," Wraith spoke, "The Dragon has almost awakened. We have Vale in our grasp."

"Oh I know, Wraith," Salem smiled, "Any news on the girl with Silver eyes?"

"She's still at Beacon, my queen," he said, "Do you wish her dead? Any more of those people could give us trouble in our mission."

Salem thought about it for a second, her hand on her chin, "I think not, Wraith," she said, "She is young, idealistic. It would serve us better to destroy her ideals one by one. Tear down her world and burn it to ash."

"Psychological warfare, then," Wraith replied, kneeling before Salem, "I trust your judgement, my queen. Shall I begin?"

"We won't start yet, Wraith," Salem smirked, "Now, the Atlesian military. What have you learned?"

"You know. The same brash and impulsive bastards that they always have been," Wraith responded, rising to his feet, "What would you have me do?"

Salem gave a knowing glance and she spoke only four words, "Shred them to pieces."

"The General? Do you wish him dead as well?"

"No. Let him live, but tear his precious fleets apart," Salem smiled, "I want him to know that he is nothing compared to what we are."

"Of course, oh master mine," Wraith replied, "So this is the endgame you have planned so long for?"

"And together, oh lover mine," Salem slyly said, "We will rule this world. And all will submit to us."

And that's that. I'd like to ask that everyone rates and reviews this story, fave and follow if you really like. PM me if you wanna talk about the story. And please, do go follow Fireteam Nero's re-boot of Remnant of an Iron Rose. I think that Ptabs would like that.

Also, don't expect any updates for July. If I can, I will, but exams exist and that's gonna give me a hell of a hard time.

Anyway, that's me for the day. Hope you have a lovely day. Narsauce out.