AN: Sorry for the delay, I'm in Uni and the end-of-year projects are taking a toll on my time to write. Chapters might drop down to once every two days for a little while before bouncing back up to daily. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Eventually they found the rest of the Cecaelia in their abodes around a large open square with what looked like food stalls. They were devoid of products and drew blocky shadows across the dim water, but also created a much more 'live' feeling. A few of the grimm drifted in between the stalls lazily while others were in groups of two or three mumbling in their musical voices.

Blake found that it was actually quite easy to tell which of the aquatic beings was older and which was younger. Simply, those who were tall and lean like Gige (and as such much more humanoid) were older and seemed to lead the younger and more 'octupus-like' ones around, being the ones speaking while the others were mostly silent. It was like a small mentor-student relation from what the Faunus could see.

The older grimm would move their attention from their flock to the team and look perplexed before changing their attention to Gige at which point they would dismiss the appearance of the humans. The younger ones were much more interested in the newcomers.

But was it interest or thirst? Gige had expanded on what had been explained to them by saying that a grimm usually needs to be around humans to develop their soul. They could create one by developing habits, culture, occupations etc. away from the temptations of humans. It usually requires a particularly intelligent grimm to teach the others in the first place though, and from what she said the four were particularly sure that she had been the one to teach these grimm. But young grimm, as they learn restraint and intrigue through what their guide called 'legends of Sacred Fire', were supposedly only a few steps ahead of your average beowolf. So was it interest, or hunger?

Regardless they were safe within their bubble, Yang had joked. "If the one who groped me can't get in neither can they."

Of course that raised brows and questioning glances but the elder sister just chuckled and pretended she hadn't said anything.

"Uh, would we refer to these grimm as 'shes'?" Ruby asked as they approached a larger group. She had been pondering the answer for a minute or so and decided to finally speak up. Her question caused Gige to actually pause for a moment to think.

"Yes." She said after a moment, nodding to herself. "It's unnecessary for any grimm as they are beings without sex. The cecaelia, however, are mirrors to the people they emulate, consciously or not."

"Y'know, you've been sounding like Jo." Weiss complained bringing her hands back behind her head and stretching her shoulders. She had been irked by the sudden seriousness of the woman ever since she came back from the water, and she was going to get an answer sooner than later. "What's got you all ruffled up?"

/

Ozpin was starting to get used to his rearranged office. Not because he had much of a choice, of course. It was because there was no way to dismantle the contraption over his head. Mythical weapon to slay gods or not, it was proving incredibly resilient to everything they threw at it. Engineers from the Atlesian mechanical corps were forced to shrug and say they didn't even know what the device was made of in the first place to know how to dismantle it.

He did like the clock motif, so there was that going for it even if it wasn't much.

He was staring at the call duration of the discussion that had taken place between himself, Ironwood, and the Council. The tournament was starting soon and after the recent… events there were questions being asked about whether or not holding the event made any sense. The office of one of the most powerful intellectuals on the planet had been destroyed by, as determined after hours of research, a Garuda. The event had been seen from quite a distance meaning that there was no way to spin the story off of the cliff. Not that they could have explained away the giant clockwork tower that spawned not too long after that. They were lucky nobody else was hurt, though Ozpin was a bit worried that the casualties were only delayed with the chance the tournament was the greater target.

It would be foolish for a human to attack. He took a sip from his mug before standing and walking to the newly-installed window. These Grimm… They are far beyond the strength that they are supposed to be. Oobleck only had legends of 'the Western Night', grimm that were gods in prehistory. That theory has been disproved indirectly countless times so it must be something else.

He clenched his fist and found that he still missed the feeling of his cane in his hand. And they knew about his semblance, meaning that they somehow had access to information very few had. His secret was incredibly well-kept since it unsettled students and other hunters alike so the number of places one could find information about it… Even he didn't know. What the woman had used to unsettle him… That was deliberate.

The campus and forest bathed in fire, grimm flying in from the air, driving in through the ground, pouncing from the shadows. Their numbers were immense, the students and teachers overwhelmed as Atlesian airships were torn from the sky by nevermores. Death. Their only salvation was a creeping dark from which beasts like myths emerge and tear the sun from the sky, blotting out life and death while they destroy the husks of existence.

An image that passed by in an instant but held hours of futility. It was deliberate, thought out, procedural like some premonition made by an ancient oracle. It was all sorts of uncomfortable but the past two months had been uncomfortable since the Breach. He was starting to become comfortable with the situation, and that made him more worried than anything else. When someone gets used to calamity, that is when they have lost.

He hadn't confided that fear in anyone yet, not even Glynda and she was the one who he considered an important confidant. He would have to do something soon though, he knew that if he didn't he would be risking the entire city.

Too late for today. He thought solemnly as he walked to the corner of his office he could see the preliminary matches occurring down below so the first years could get used to the rules and regulations. Without explaining himself he had asked Qrow and Taiyang to come out. Usually they did, but this time Ozpin felt the need to personally make the request. Both of them agreed, obviously surprised at the fact the headmaster had contacted them of his own volition. On his own volition and without obscure warnings of future threats.

With the hunters at the school and those coming from Patch they would have significant security, much more than usual given the issues in the news. It should be the most secure event in its history but the headmaster had the unsettling feeling that this wasn't a question of 'should be better'. The thing about premonitions and warnings is that one was a fool to anything but over prepare for them.

He was being given a choice, but he didn't know what the options were.

/

Pyrrha Nikos was concerned.

And this time it had nothing to do with either A) Jaune or B) Nora. Her team had gotten confirmation from Glynda that morning that team RWBY had disappeared… Well, no, disappearing would have made more sense then what they were told. The huntress told them straight that they had 'escaped on a giant bird'. That giant bird could have only been the gargantuan grimm that everyone saw flying up the spire of the main tower before flying off over Vale.

Rubbing her fingers against her temple she looked up from the floor at her feet down across the bleachers to see if the current sparring partnership was done their bout. A lot of people had come by to try out the new detection software so there had been quite the line up by the time team JNPR got out of their classes. Everyone was only allowed three rounds before they had to turn in until the preliminary to sort the tourney rankings. Who got passes, who had to wait on others to continue, so on.

When they finished she walked down to the raised square dais and registered herself as one of the contestants. She did so distractedly, not noticing that she wasn't matched up with anyone since there were no more students in the bleachers. When the 'match ready' sound didn't play she actually looked up and saw that she was alone aside from a police officer watching curiously.

"Nobody left to train against?" She asked, smiling warmly as she approached the arena. "That's the problem with odd numbers I guess."

"Yeah." Pyrrha said distractedly as she looked for the option to unregister, only half-listening to the bald woman. "When your friends disappear on you it starts to seem like everything is going wrong at once."

"Maybe I can help." The officer said, and Pyrrha looked up to see that the woman had pulled out a scroll. Through the transparent back she could see "applicant code". "I'm part of security detail so I'm stuck watching the fights as opposed to actually being able to take part in them. I am legally allowed to participate in preliminaries."

"Oh, ah, you don't have to." The gladiator said, waving it off with a hand though she was quietly touched by the offer. "I just thought I'd spar a quick few rounds, but I appreciate the offer."

"Alright." The woman closed her scroll and placed it back into her VPD vest in an internal pocket. "Don't say I didn't offer." Zipping up the compartment she placed a hand on her hip and waved with the other one. "I hope you find your friends soon, I know what It's like to feel stuck like that."

With that she exited.

/

"G-baby!"

"I really wish you wouldn't say that." Ghato said as he hopped out of the transport van, spinning the keys on the end of his ring finger. His boss was standing with his finger tapping on an imaginary watch threateningly. Ghato was starting to feel like he just did this stuff to annoy his employees, though he had to admit that the boss was a good guy. Even if he was surprisingly mushy for a beefcake. "And I'm on time. Nowhere in the application did it say that I would go along with your admittedly admirable work ethic."

There was some distant chastising as the Grimm opened up the back of the truck and pulled out the ramp so he could get at the materials on the inside. It was all arena stuff for the arena, mostly heavy tech for analysing the contestants' auras and streaming the fights in 3D holograms to the other kingdoms. The Vale transport company was hired to drag the stuff up to Beacon for the festivities.

"Do you require any assistance?" A voice asked from behind him.

Ghato almost waved it off but decided it was easier to get some help from the locals than try and drag all the stuff out solo. He turned and saw that there were four guys, a red haired one that looked like a chick, a blue haired one who looked the most presentable of the four, a green haired one and a blonde one who looked like they had something against buttons.

"Mistral." He said after a moment. "That hair," he pointed to each of them in turn. "screams Mistral." He dropped his hand. "Ah, sorry. Haven't been there in a while and I miss it. Sure, as long as you don't drop anything. I'll set up the devices, you just move them and we should be great."

"Awesome." The blonde said, grinning and dashing up the ramp to grab a console and heft it into the air. "Where are they going?"

"Ah…" After calling over to his supervisor Ghato got an answer. "Eastern Bloc, near the dorms. They have the raised platforms installed near the arches there."

The four nodded and grabbed the first set of devices marked 'RED' and wandered off. But they took a detour which Ghato didn't recognize based off of the map he had in his head. He was about to make chase to ask what they were doing when he heard faintly the blonde saying 'ladies' and making up bullshit about being hired for the event. Ghato had to roll his eyes, but let the four of them do what they will. They'd need to get the devices to their destination at some point unless they planned on dragging them around for the next few hours.

He returned to his task and started to pull out the 'GREEN' set of machines for the second ring. As he did so he checked the sky for its weather. While yes, he would need to tarp the devices if they weren't set up, the more pressing question was whether the sky was off. Air carried with it the scent and sound of distant threats. He had been sent a text by Njala that there was potential for 'Darker Problems' and had requested to be on the Beacon job because of it. She rarely was vague like that unless she wasn't sure herself. Something wasn't right, but he hadn't gotten a chance to find her and ask the specifics.

Ah, fuck it. NJ and I are here, unless a bomb needs defusing we're fine.

/

"How's the bomb coming?" A white fang lieutenant asked a tech.

"Should be impossible to defuse." She replied.

/

"What do you mean?" Yang asked, rushing forward to grab Gige. She gripped the Cecaelia by her shoulders and attempted to shake her, but the woman was unmoving. "They're in danger?"

"Not exactly." Gige said, not attempting to pull Yang off of her. "I'm just worried about Njala, she can be reckless."

"It remains that you didn't tell us the real reason for bringing us here." Blake said coolly.

"That was secondary." Gige replied curtly.

Yang growled quietly before stepping back.

So something was happening at Beacon? Well, no, maybe. Gige said that there might be something dangerous going on at the cliff tonight. Not that there would be. Njala wouldn't raise a fuss over nothing to break her cover that she had spent so long cultivating, or so she said. There was something in the air, something that had come through the central command of the police and was put on her desk.

A threat. One from a wire tap. The preliminaries would be struck. The details were shifting since they spoke in code, but there was a threat. That was enough to make the police put their SWAT teams on standby and allocate a few more officers to the location in case something happened. That's what the guarantee was, that the police would be on scene along with the military.

That would have inspired some confidence in the team a long time ago… But now?

Blake felt some responsibility suddenly settle into her chest. Torchwick and the White Fang. She had demanded her team take action but they still had loose ends. They didn't know who the woman was that broke into the communications tower, nor who the girl with the pink and brown hair was. Where they went… So the Fang was still on the move.

"Torchwick wasn't the end of things." The faunus looked to each member of her team before turning her eyes to Gige. "We need to be there."

"Or is it that serious?" Weiss asked, sighing. When her team looked to her she shrugged, struggling to find the right words. "What I mean is… Things are getting really dangerous. On the train all of us struggled and two of us pretty much lost our fights. If this is their push then we might be more people to save, instead of saving other people."