AN: In no way am I connected to Rooster Teeth

It had been six weeks since he was last in here.

This time when Tai went to Ozpin's office, it was because of something his daughters did. This hadn't happened last year, so they had clearly gone a little more overboard than usual. Given the main reasons that Qrow had been meeting with Ozpin recently, it was a relief for it to be something like this.

"They did what?!"

Maybe not so much of a relief.

"I am satisfied it was an accident and the lead up was innocent enough. The exception is that Emerald may have possibly used her Semblance to show the target was about five feet to the left than it was. No one is certain of that or if Honey really is that bad of a shot."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"They were not."

That was very good to hear, but not a surprise. Tai put his head in his hands. "So what's the damage?"

"The window they were using as a target is remarkably intact. Part of Ren's detention is to put similar runes of whatever we assume Mercury did on all the windows. The brickwork around it they used for a scoreboard requires much more work. So do the gym and swimming pool."

Those three weren't getting pocket money for two months. "Where are they now?"

"I believe they are currently in separate detentions with Barty, Peter and Glynda."

"Then they're coming home with me tonight and will be staying until Monday morning." It wasn't unusual for them to come home on the weekends, but this time they were going to be doing chores unless they were eating or sleeping and Yang's bike was staying the garage for another three months.

Still, Tai couldn't deny he was very relieved about their behaviour.

That did not change the fact they were going to be in trouble for it.

So far, the human Grimm had only been attacking during the night and their victims were fairly easy to track.

Ozpin had received an SOS from a nearby village about monsters from a Huntsman. As Qrow was the only one available close by with a silver Dust weapon, he passed it on to him.

He ran into one on the way. It actually attacked the airship. Unfortunately for it, the pilot spun the airship around to smash it off the wing and Qrow leapt out to finish it off.

That really doesn't bode well.

When Qrow finally got to his destination, he was in for a surprise.

There were no less than four Huntsmen here. Another two were already dead. There was no sign of the civilians, so they had gone into hiding. As long as he avoided the huts, he shouldn't need to worry about harming them.

However, he needed to work fast. These Grimm could easily get into the huts as well.

At first glance, he counted twelve Grimm hybrids, with five circling like Nevermores would. There could be more; the village was a decent size despite the fact it was only a few years old. They didn't have strong defences, but they were close to Vale so they could call for backup quickly.

Two Grimm hybrids had been slashing away at the top of a hut. They looked up when they heard him, snarled and charged.

One had wings. The other did not.

It was the claws Qrow was most worried about. All his scythe would do was annoy them. It might tire them, but with so many in the village, Qrow needed to finish his battles quickly.

The main problem was that it was a knife. That was a short range weapon, which meant he had to put himself in range of those claws. These things also had little sense of self-preservation. They just attacked without mercy in a flurry of slashes.

Qrow ducked. A third one had dived down aiming for his head. It had missed, but the first one had just caught his arm. His aura held, but it was still a bad hit.

In the corner of his vision, he saw another Huntsman fall. Even then, the Grimm hybrids pounced on their downed prey. He could only see two people now. The other one had vanished. The two then disappeared deeper into the village.

One down. These two to go before I can even get there.

The hybrids payed no attention to their fallen comrade. They paid no attention to the knife that was responsible. Their attack patterns remained unchanged, but then they were already attacking randomly.

On top of that, Qrow was very sure the non-winged one had some combat experience before she was converted. Her movements were far too graceful. She was also aiming for his centre of mass rather than anything she could reach.

It was also using the other one for cover, so Qrow's sword couldn't stun her. That now shield couldn't have been much older than Ruby.

The knife went into his heart. It stopped moving and collapsed.

Qrow rolled onto his back and spun to the side to avoid the next stab from the one that stood between him and the village. This wasn't going to be as…Well the last ones hadn't been easy but they had acted in ways that Qrow was coming to learn.

This one was adapting.

That was worrying. It normally took decades for Grimm to learn and adapt.

It didn't matter how strong the blow was. Its body was too powerful to be pierced. It stumbled, but didn't fall. It didn't lose limbs and it didn't slow down. It seemed to be analysing him now; a blitz attack hadn't worked.

It chose mimicry.

An easy opening in comparison to the last tactic. The knife went through the shoulder first. The sword smacked it down to the ground fully and a strike to the heart ended it.

Qrow panted. Even so, he took off.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if the winged ones were once Faunus and the non-winged ones were once human.

Honestly, Qrow didn't really care.

Three down. At least nine still to go. The ones circling had vanished.

Yet there were none to greet him when he passed the first hut; the one that had been ripped apart. A glance in there showed that the family inside were already dead, including the small baby only a few weeks old.

Is everyone in this village already dead?

Qrow left that hut and noticed the forest line a few hundred metres to his side.

No other Grimm. Only the hybrids. Wouldn't the attack have brought others here? I know there are Grimm in there.

The next hut had a young male, slashed into pieces.

The tension in his body increased. He didn't turn around.

"Raven."

"Brother."

Qrow ignored her. He headed back outside.

The final two Huntsmen were already dead. The five Grimm hybrids responsible looked up in unison. Three charged forward a second before the other two. None of these had wings.

"How did you kill these?" Raven had followed him. "I have lost many to them."

Slash.

That didn't surprise Qrow.

Still, he ignored her. He had far more to worry about than them.

Qrow's aura was running dangerously low. Fighting savage humanoid creatures with only a knife that could be fatal was not easy. His Semblance was almost certainly the only thing keeping him alive right now. With nothing in the village still standing and many dead bodies on the ground, the Grimm were finding obstacles that Qrow was not. Those few precious seconds were the only thing between Qrow and death.

The knife remained in his hand, unused for at least five minutes. There had never been a chance.

Qrow's aura shattered.

He hissed. That blow may have done the most damage, but it was the only way to avoid the strike to his right that would have killed him. He couldn't keep fighting; he needed to retreat.

The Grimm were all around him. Qrow had no way to retreat.

All five hit the ground.

Qrow moved. The knife flashed, catching the sun with no drop of blood on it no matter how many Grimm it cut through.

Raven sheathed her sword. "Why does the knife work and nothing else does?" She took off the mask. "I have information on the silver dragon you would be interested in."

That certainly caught Qrow's attention. He wanted no part in the tribe, but if Raven knew something about the aura animal that Qrow didn't…

"Silver Dust," Qrow responded. "That is the only Dust that works. What do you know?"

Raven glanced at her sheath. "That is not something I currently have access to."

"What a pity," Qrow deadpanned. "What do you know?"

Another slice and the attacking hybrid hit the ground. Qrow followed Raven's swing, ending its life instantly.

"It only attacks those that attack it first. Normally, it leaves a village alone unless they engage it in battle. Then they always die."

That was the reason? The reason why some villages were spared and others weren't?

"Are you sure?" Mercury…He did only properly pick fights with people who had wronged him in some way and they always threw the first punch. That could be the reason.

Silver Dust weapons…

I know where I can find more.

"Very sure."

Raven said nothing else and Qrow made no attempt to talk to her. With his aura now shattered, Raven took the lead to make sure the Grimm hybrids had slowed and were separated enough for him to make a quick kill.

The pair stopped at the last one.

Something was wrong, even if it took them a few moments to realise what it was.

"Raven…Is that who I think it is?"

For once, Raven was solemn. "That was Gyro."

Gyro.

The last time Qrow had seen Gyro was a week ago when he sent him to Mistral. He hadn't been heard from since, something that wasn't unusual.

What the hell happened?

Gyro was fast. He even responded to Raven's style, expertly dodging out of the way. He didn't have wings, but that was only a minor setback. He squirmed out of strikes by inches, but it was very clearly planned.

Qrow stayed out of the fight.

The sole reason Raven was struggling was because she was used to Gyro's style being very different, while she hadn't changed a bit since Beacon. 'He' knew her but she didn't know 'him'.

Grimm human hybrids did not have aura.

One wrong step was all Qrow needed.

The knife went into his heart.

Gyro hit the ground and didn't move.

I'm sorry. For everything.

…

Raven took a final glance around. Qrow didn't need to. He knew there weren't any more. He pressed his hand against his side; he was bleeding but not much. A few bandages would get him back home easily enough.

Not sparing Raven another look, Qrow started the long walk home.

"Qrow."

Qrow stopped. He didn't glance back. "What now?"

"That is an aura animal. A very devastating one. Whose is it?"

You would like him.

Qrow continued walking. "Never you mind."

You've made your choice.

Raven did not attract his attention again.

When he was far enough away from the bloodbath, he would call for an airship.

He now had a disturbing task for Emerald.

Amber received Qrow's message.

But it was already too late.

She had arrived at her village in the morning. The recent reports stated that the aura Grimm was heading that way and it was nothing short of a miracle Amber arrived just before it. It should just pass them by if they didn't bother it.

Even a glance told Amber the truth: it had no interest in the village at all.

At least, it didn't until the group of typical trouble making teenagers decided to fire a few arrows at it in jest when it was almost out of range.

To their terror, it turned around and dropped into a dive.

Amber leapt up and grabbed the youngest one's shoulder, pushing him to the edge. "Get down and run!" She would lecture them later. "Get everyone away!"

The boy flung himself to the floor, before scuttling to his feet and running.

The eldest, Darrel, hesitated. "It was only a joke Amber. We-"

"Your joke could get everyone killed!" Amber hissed back. She shoved the boy off the tower and leapt down herself just in time to avoid still being on it when it came down. "Nowhere survived when they drew this thing's attention. Go!"

White as a sheet, the boy ran.

"Amber," Maylene stopped as the elders ferried the younger away. "Come on."

In previous areas, the aura Grimm had attacked buildings when the damage could injure the people attacking it. There was some element of intelligence there, even if it wasn't fully controlled.

Mercury liked a challenge. That was the main reason he attacked Amber with Cinder that day. So Amber hoped his aura animal had that same quality and she would qualify as more of a challenge than everyone else.

Amber shook her head. "I'm staying. Take the fighters and go. There'll be a lot of Grimm following you."

Maylene's already old face seemed to age further. "You can't take that on your own."

"I'll be fine." Amber kept her eyes on it. It was currently preoccupied by catapults. They wouldn't last long. "I mean it. Get everyone away. I'll call you later."

One of the other teenagers that grabbed its attention in the first place was running towards it with a spear and a battle cry. Amber knew he didn't even have his aura unlocked, so she very quickly intercepted him. Her grab threw him completely off balance and she easily dragged him over to Maylene.

"And make sure these idiots know exactly what they have done."

One catapult left. The head twisted and crashed into it. The rubble must have scattered for miles.

The boy in her grip, Augustus, finally went still with his eyes wide.

Maylene hesitated.

Finally, she sighed and nodded, gripping Augustus by the arm. "Be careful Amber and get away as soon as you can. I don't think you can kill that thing."

Maylene didn't know Amber was a Maiden. They only knew her as a Huntress and Amber didn't think a Huntress could kill that thing. But she was more than that and it wasn't going to hurt anyone while she was around.

"I know. Go!"

Augustus took off. After a moment, Maylene followed.

Try to chase it off first.

It ignored her, heading for the boys who triggered the fight in the first place.

Looks like I'll have to kill it.

Amber didn't want to; the next one that was created would likely be even more powerful.

But she wasn't going to let this one destroy her home and kill her friends.

Twirling the staff, she aimed the red Dust at the aura Grimm dragon and allowed the flame to stream towards it.

Come on. Focus on me.

The flame would have scattered a normal Grimm. A snarl and its turned head told Amber she had gotten this thing's attention. But it stared, growling. It was almost a dare. After all, Amber hadn't been the one of the ones who first attacked it.

Does it recognise me?

The head turned away, looking back towards the route where the teens had fled.

Why them? Why is it ignoring me?

For some reason, it considered the teens the greater threat than Amber.

Then Amber remembered Mercury's anger at most of the magical teens…and their arrogance and utter lack of self-preservation. It was likely confusing these teens with those.

Okay. Only one thing left.

Maiden power.

That fire grabbed its attention fully. After all, Maiden power is a very big threat and he had retreated once before. It spun around and lifted its body up, its jaws wide. Only then did it fully register with Amber just how big it was. It rivalled Amity Colosseum; it could fit everyone in the village in its jaw and it wouldn't even be half full.

No Grimm had ever made Amber this afraid.

She hadn't even been this afraid when she was attacked on that road what felt like forever ago.

This had destroyed towns and villages that had withstood over a hundred Grimm attacks. The one before had wiped out nearly half of the Atlas fleet. It did all this out of instinct and self-defence, not out of malice or planning.

The eyes were not easy to see. They were the same colour as the rest of the body.

If Salem found a way to actually control this, Remnant wouldn't stand a chance.

For a moment, it didn't move.

Then its wing smashed into one of the houses nearby. Bricks and other debris were caught on the wing. With a flick, that was hurtling towards Amber.

Even as she moved to dodge, she noticed the aura Grimm spin around.

Only one brick came near to hitting her, but it wasn't a close thing. The tail was another matter entirely; nearly hitting her neck. That was a very worrying target.

How subconsciously ingrained is Mercury's killing knowledge?

No one had fought this thing on the ground and lived. Even General Ironwood only had the upper hand because of numbers and practiced tactics. He still lost a lot of people.

In a way, Amber had an advantage. She had a large target while there wasn't much of her for the dragon to hit. It had also been in previous fights, so it wasn't at full strength. However, it could attack over a wide range with its wings, jaw and tail. Also, because of its previous fights and instinctive adaption to fighting, it was remarkably dangerous to any who incurred its wrath.

But it wasn't used to only fighting one opponent. Every previously attacked area had far more people defending it, so wide strikes might miss its target but would hit someone else.

Even so, Amber was quickly becoming exhausted.

Amber had already figured this out from their previous fight: Mercury could take a lot of damage by sheer willpower. Willpower and instinct was exactly what this aura Grimm animal essentially was.

The flames from the Dust didn't bother it at all. It had also started to realise a difference between the staff and Maiden flames. It completely ignored wind attacks or manipulation; it didn't knock it off track and there was no damage.

Amber crouched down, hand on the ground, and focused.

It flew low, angled slightly. It would likely attack with its wing or tail, but predict wrong and there would be very high damage to whoever was struck. How many had perished to that?

Amber studied it. It wasn't changing its path.

Now.

Two spikes of rock shot out of the ground, both crashing into different wings.

Completely off balance, it crashed into the ground and rolled a few metres before stopping on its feet. Its wings stretched again, once more taking it into the sky.

Is it retreating?

Amber certainly hoped so. She was tiring fast and running out of aura even faster.

It didn't retreat.

Oddly, it dropped down and flew along very low to the ground, repeating the same thing.

This might not be a true creature, but Amber had seen enough to know that was wrong.

Amber didn't do the exact same thing. Rather than time it, she focused on aiming three spikes at the head alone. Noticing the starting rain, she willed it into slightly larger hail 'arrows' and aimed them at its back.

It continued its path.

Nothing hit.

It went straight through everything as if it didn't exist.

CRASH

Amber struggled to push herself up. Everything ached. Aura shattered.

His Semblance…

When fighting the General's army, the Semblance hadn't been used.

That miscalculation could cost her life.

The tycoon took nearly all of her energy to summon, but the change caused it to change direction. The follow-up attack would have killed her. The tail had still caught her.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A fair Maiden?"

Amber shoved herself back to her feet. She was wavering slightly and could barely see. It was a man in a coat, but that was all she could tell.

She was in no condition for a fight.

I made a mistake. A mistake where I should have known better.

Before she knew it, Amber was back on the ground again.

"Now then-"

Thud. Crunch.

Despite hearing it constantly for the past few minutes, it took a moment for those noises to register with Amber.

That…is the sound of someone crashing into something.

A few seconds past.

Grunts and crashes followed, but Amber was left alone.

Okay. Try again. Slowly.

Amber was wobbly…but she was up.

She could see the man better. A man with a tail of some kind. Scorpion she realised. The aura Grimm was now focused on him. Not Amber. Not her people.

She couldn't see her scroll properly…but it didn't matter. She wasn't going anywhere on her own and whoever his man was, he knew about the Maidens. She needed to leave.

Well, at least it's not going to attack my people…

Time passed.

Amber watched the fight, her vision clearing slowly.

The man was a scorpion Faunus. He was really struggling. The aura Grimm was also attacking him with far more ferocity than it had Amber.

Does he work for Salem?

If he did, Amber was running out of time.

The Faunus jumped onto its back and attacked with blades on his wrists. It responded with the obvious thing: rolling over. He tried to run along its side so he could continue on the stomach, but it twisted and the jaw struck forward like a snake.

The man was knocked off and smashed into the wall, his aura shattered.

Actually, Amber thought his aura shattered before he went through the wall. She wouldn't bet on it though. She was still quite shaky.

The Grimm aura animal turned its head to look at her, standing back up on its feet again.

Come on Mercury. Surely you've learned not to attack when you have nothing to gain.

Amber could in theory keep pushing her Maiden power, but she honestly didn't want to. She had been warned of the repercussions and one time experimenting on her own resulted in extreme agony for her. She did not want to go through that again.

It stared at her.

Its jaw was open and it was hissing.

Then it took to the wing and crashed into an airship Amber hadn't even noticed. It ripped in two effortlessly.

"Amber."

Amber jolted and spun around. Professor Ozpin caught up to her quickly enough. She let out a sigh of relief, before glancing back.

Only to see the Grimm aura animal now fighting with four human Grimm hybrids.

"…Should we help it?"

Professor Ozpin seemed to consider. "I honestly don't know how Mercury would instinctively respond to his fights being interrupted. It may return its attention to us or it could leave us alone. For now, we need to leave."

True, Amber was too tired to help it anyway.

Professor Ozpin had come on an airship too, but had landed a little back to ensure it wouldn't be smacked out of the sky. Amber nearly collapsed in one of the seats, gratefully accepting a bottle of water.

"What happened Amber?"

Smoothly, the ship returned to the air.

She took a long gulp. Her muscles were protesting every movement. "A bunch of immature teenagers."

He did not need elaboration. He did run a school for teenagers after all. "Did they manage to evacuate in time? Do they need aid?"

"Yes to the first, no to the second." At some point, Amber needed to call Maylene and talk to her properly. "It hasn't gone to the east, has it?"

Amber had made a mistake. At first, she had treated Mercury as an immature teenager and wasted energy being flashy as well as damaging. She shouldn't have done that. It was the damage that attracted its attention, not the display. Even she knew Mercury didn't care about flashy, but competence and threat. She shouldn't have wasted time and power like that.

"No…It appears to have followed us. Excuse me." Ozpin vanished into the cockpit.

Within seconds, the ship banked hard to her left. It climbed steeply.

You have got to be kidding.

Out the window, she just caught the tip of its wing. For some reason, it was following them. More importantly, that swipe meant it was attacking.

It wasn't a difficult decision for Amber. One small airship against a huge Grimm aura animal that was now very used to air battle. It was obvious how it would end.

Deep breath.

Focus.

A crack of thunder was the last thing Amber remembered. She collapsed in her seat, her vision and pain fading.

The aura animal had taken on the Fall Maiden and had come close to winning. In different circumstances, it would have done.

Different circumstances.

The hallways of LiaGuard prison had become very familiar to Cinder. She had made a point to never be here other than for business reasons, but that had become at least once a week. More so after Pepper's death until she straightened Basil out. If Cinder had known at the time what a hassle the triplets would be, she would have had quite a few second thoughts about hiring them.

Recently though, she had been spending more time than normal in the prison, even if she wasn't needed.

The building itself wasn't too bad so long as she avoided the lower levels where the cells were. Those inmates that had chosen to stay, played around down there. It had only taken one incinerated to make the others fall in line.

It helped that Cinder left them to themselves, provided they didn't actually kill their main attraction. He wasn't just here for their personal amusement after all.

For the moment, Cinder was waiting for the message that the aura machine was ready for use. It should be, but everything was checked over immediately before use to be certain. They only had the one and it was a decade old.

That train of thought took Cinder to one of the main offices on third from top floor. That was where she should find Venus, who hadn't left the building since they acquired it over four months ago.

Venus wasn't there.

Heading down into the control room in the exact centre of the building had much better results.

Venus barely glanced up from a console. "Ms Fall."

"Ms Solgale," Cinder acknowledged. "Anything to report?" If there was an issue, she wanted it dealt with as soon as possible.

"Nothing of interest, which is odd. I don't remember the General being this quiet or patient." Venus continued to tap the screen. "I had expected several ships to try to attack by now."

"Atlas were the main ones in charge," Cinder reminded her. "They would know most of the security protocols." Unless Ironwood hadn't been interested in the prison and had left the maintenance of it to someone else. One certain discovery showed there were likely to be some secrets between the previous warden and the General. "He also has something else to preoccupy his time."

"True." Whitely Schnee's disappearance would have his father furious and Ironwood would be the one he would target. "I was told he was put in the simulator on Friday."

Which meant that Mercury should still be in the time cell. She should probably go check on his condition before they ripped his aura out again. Watts may be confident in his serum to keep him alive, but Cinder wasn't.

A smile still came to her face when she remembered Watts' fury with Mercury when they questioned him in Salem's fortress. They may have received no information from him, but it was still one of her favourite recent memories.

I've never seen Watts so infuriated, before or since.

"How is his rehabilitation going?" Whitely could be very useful as the favourite son. From their reports at Beacon, RNBW had been certain it was a matter of time before Weiss was disinherited. Basil still stood by that.

Venus shrugged. "I haven't had any complaints so far. It's just a tricky process and even trickier balance. Humans aren't designed to be reprogrammed."

Cinder dipped her head in agreement. She wasn't fond of relying on puppets, but Whitely Schnee had had the right attitude before his capture. A few tweaks and they could send him back to his father.

With the information she wanted, Cinder headed to the lowest floor. Ginger and Basil were in Anima, but they had only left an hour ago when Tyrian reported the aura animal was destroyed. She had yet to find the time to check on him.

Zephyr was leaning outside the door, checking his watch.

Cinder sighed. "Were they overzealous again?"

"One way to put it. When are they not? He should be coherent soon enough." Zephyr glanced up at her. "Why? Do you need his aura again?"

The dial showed that eight hours had been set inside the cell. That was a decent rest. Normally, this time gap still took ten minutes to pass in reality. "How long ago did you set it?"

"Nine minutes."

Cinder would give it another three. There was no point in trying the door as, until those ten minutes outside and therefore whatever time inside had passed, it wouldn't open.

"And his condition?"

Zephyr shrugged. "Very bad but not life threatening from what I can see. For him anyway. Can I talk to him first?"

Until the clearance was passed on to Cinder, she had no problem with that. "Certainly, though I don't imagine there is more he can tell you."

Cinder was well aware of the change in Zephyr. While he wasn't interested in taking orders, his single minded determination to find out who was responsible for his siblings' deaths meant she didn't have much to worry about. He wasn't interested in the war between Salem and Ozpin, so he wasn't much of a factor.

Even so, she was quite sure that Zephyr had been responsible for Pepper's death and not Qrow Branwen like Basil assumed. She had no opinion of that; Pepper had served her purpose and a baby would make her very unpredictable. Her death was, in a way, a relief.

Pepper had known that Zephyr's problem had always been with Marcus Black and, honestly, should have known better than deliberately carrying his grandchild. Zephyr's possible response could have been predicted.

Of course, I didn't learn of her pregnancy until after she was dead.

Zephyr folded his arms and stared at the ceiling stubbornly.

Cinder suspected part of Zephyr's problem was that he didn't have any leads. It was never easy finding an assassin's client and he had very few people he could question. There had been a fallout between him and his mother some weeks ago, but Cinder had kept a close eye on him and none of his behaviour had been suspicious (possible murder of Pepper not included).

Zephyr may not know anything important to them, but he could tell Ozpin a few things (not many but a few) that could set their plans back a bit. Nothing ground breaking though, so other than monitoring him in case he went somewhere he shouldn't, no one had paid him much attention.

The dial by the door had turned from red to green.

"Go on then," Cinder purred, gesturing to the door.

Zephyr glanced at it, narrowed his eyes and vanished inside.

It was a little annoying that Mercury had no problems being helpful to Zephyr's search, but refused point blank to answer any questions for them. He knew who had the rest of the Spring Maiden's power or had a very good guess, but nothing was getting that information out of him. Cinder had given up and accepted that Mercury won that topic. Others still asked, but all knew the truth: he wasn't talking.

Five minutes passed when Cinder received the notification the aura machine had been checked and was fully operational. Even so, she decided to wait until Zephyr came out. She was in no hurry and she would prefer his help.

A warning from Salem was not something one ignored.

Especially when there was so much that Mercury had managed to protect from her, including his Semblance. It was odd that he didn't even try with an Animin bond that explained so much about his and Emerald's actions and arguments when they worked for Cinder, but then aura searching was a battlefield he had no idea how to fight on. He had picked his battles.

Salem herself acknowledged it worked. The Grimm dragon in his soul had kept a lot of important information and they would have to kill him to kill the dragon. However, there was nothing to be gained from a corpse.

And he knew it.

To this day, Cinder was angry that fate and his choices had removed such a powerful individual.

But she would respect those choices.

Zephyr rubbed his eyes as he stepped out.

"Anything useful?" Cinder asked. She was curious as to where he was heading next.

"Yes and no," he responded. "I don't think it's just exhaustion though. I think they've damaged his spine."

If they had, Cinder was having words at least. It wasn't difficult to damage someone's spine, but it was very easy for a fatality to occur as a result. Mercury may have been 'given' to them and the other inmates if they wished to keep them in line, but Cinder had no problem taking him away if they were going to jeopardise the true plans for him.

"Very well. I'm taking him up Zephyr. I wish for your help."

Zephyr sighed. "Yeah. Sure."

Cinder herself stepped inside the time cell, with Zephyr close behind.

It was always a pity to see a strong warrior chained and brutalised.

Mercury didn't move when Cinder touched his shoulder, carefully searching with the Spring Maiden's power to sense everything that was wrong with him. What little of his aura had managed to regenerate always helped with that, almost guiding her to where his most fatal, not most painful, injuries were. After all the healing she had done for him, Mercury was very receptive to the power now. Or perhaps it was due to his iron will to live.

As it was, there was a big problem with his spine. It wasn't easy for her to fix, but it was a very specific injury.

"What did they do there Mercury?" Cinder knew he was conscious. That injury could very easily have killed him and she was going to make sure they didn't do it again.

"…Screws and drill…" was his rusty murmur. It took all his strength just to move his lips. But he knew how close he was to death. If he wanted to die, he would do the job himself. Cinder was his main way to survive and things like this had to be prevented, not healed because there might not be a 'next time'.

Perhaps they had been trying to kill him. That would have been fatal to nearly anyone else.

"Both of them?" It did seem odd that Ginger wanted to kill her pet though…

"…No…"

Basil then.

There were many, many other injuries but none were anywhere near fatal on their own and stacking them had never been a problem on this victim.

He just endured.

Healing Mercury never took long. Cinder suspected that was what his aura was most used to doing throughout all his life. There was a reason he originally thought ignoring pain and injury was his Semblance. At the time, she had no reason to think otherwise.

She was curious as to what it really was though.

His remaining grey eye opened and met hers. It went from her to Zephyr and back again. No fear or hope there. Just solid determination and extreme exhaustion.

It is a pity what has been done to you. But you've made your choice and stood by it with conviction, against your best interests. I will respect it and our deal.

Cinder retrieved a syringe from her pocket. No doubt Mercury recognised it, but he was in no condition to do anything about it. Even if he was, he had nowhere to go. It was so easy to inject it into his neck. He didn't respond to any of her movements.

Three seconds and his eye slid shut.

Her power confirmed he was unconscious.

Cinder studied her once subordinate.

She wasn't happy with what had been done to him and the fact that the treatment would continue for as long as he was alive. He was far too dangerous to allow to be free again.

She had originally promised him so much.

When Cinder made deals, she stuck to the wording unless it was very beneficial for her to go beyond that.

For Mercury, she would stick to the spirit of their current deal as much as the wording. He had more than earned that much.

AN: Some chapters just don't want to be written. This was one of them.

Thanks for reading.