A.N. Chapter 11 here we go. Stat Chart:
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We're getting to the finale of Vol 5. Excitement!
Lucem sat on the armrest on the couch left of Qrow. She soon left to get the others while Ruby talked with Ozpin and Qrow.
As Lucem returned she ran into the Red Clad girl, who delivered the message of a raiding party being potentially made. Also that they would be meeting Professor Lionheart tomorrow night. After getting the message Lucem returned to the adults.
"Things aren't looking good, Oz." Lucem hears Qrow say, rounding the corner.
"I know."
"Ole Lionheart is acting strange. Maybe I should talk to him." Lucem states, returning to her 'seat'.
"No. When we meet him, we should do it enforce." Ozpin states.
Lucem nods her head. After a minute the rest of the party arrived, and Oz and Qrow filled them in on the situation. Everyone left to refill dust, sharpen their blades, and prepare.
Lucem finds her mother sharpening her spear, with magazines of Dust Rounds nearby on the end table.
"Lucem, come on in. Did you need something?" Hanna asks.
"Just wondering if you could spare some sharpening stone."
Hanna nods and tosses her daughter a medium sized block. Lucem takes a seat next to her mother and the two sharpen their respective blades.
"Mom, what can you tell me about dad?" Lucem asks.
Hanna stops sharpening midway and fixes a puzzled look at Lucem.
"He was strong, kind hearted, and very handsome. We led a modest life before the Grimm attacked. Why?"
"I don't know. I thought with everything going on I should ask before I don't have the chance."
Hanna props her spear against the wall and rests a hand on Lucem's shoulder.
"Well, I know that your father would be proud of you. If he were here he'd tell you."
Lucem puts her gauntlets down and hugs her mother. For the rest of the day Lucem check her medical supplies. This included bandages, antidotes, and stitching string. She hoped she wouldn't have to use any of it.
[Raven & Tenebris]
The day after Raven left to Mistral, Tenebris and Ziya relocated themselves to her position. They would wait in Lionheart's Office for the day. This unnerved the professor a bit as he sat in his chair and did his paperwork.
Tenebris sat on the ground meditating while Raven drank some tea on the couch. Ziya was filling some darts with her fang venom.
Tenebris suddenly stood up and practiced some katas. This unnerved Lionheart for a moment, and Raven looked on with slight interest. Ziya was too busy filling the darts to notice.
"Left foot a tad more forwards Tenebris." Raven comments.
Tenebris nods once and shifts his position.
"Much better."
Lionheart sighs and says, "Must you wait here? Couldn't you stay in an inn or somewhere?"
Tenebris looks at his wrist watch and shrugs.
"I guess I could explore the area more. That alright Raven?" Tenebris asks.
Raven adopts a thinking pose before nodding her head yes. Tenebris immediately sank into the ground and appeared in front of Lucem's House's front door. He slipped off his mask and stuck it into his pouch. Luckily his mask was able to collapse. He knocked on the door and a short boy opened it.
"Oh, hey there. Is Lucem there?"
"Uhh, wh-whats your name?"
"Tenebris."
The boy nods and closes the door. Tenebris stays outside standing completely still. Eventually the door opens and an out of breath looking Lucem answers the door with an older woman behind her.
"Tenebris! Hey, uh, good to see you. How goes things?"
"I'm...ok. Are you alright? You seem...out of breath."
"Oh no I'm good. We should go. Like now."
Lucem exits the house and shuts the door behind her. Hanna got a good look at that boy while they were talking. He looked familiar but she couldn't place it. Nearby the rage filled cries of a Nora rang loud.
Back with the two, Lucem revealed why she was out of breath.
"So let me get this straight, you took the last pancake from the plate which caused one of your friends to go berserk."
"Yeah...she likes pancakes."
"I guess so."
The two took to walking through the streets. Lucem had a smile plastered on her face, whereas Tenebris...well, the tips of his lips were curved upwards so I guess he was smiling too.
Twilight struck as the color orange erupted into the sky. Lucem and Tenebris sat on a cliff and watched it.
"It's majestic isn't it?" Tenebris remarks, and sad glow in his eyes.
"Yeah. Pretty." Lucem says, a more bright glow emanating from her eyes.
They spend a few more minutes like that before Lucem stands up.
"Well, this has been fun, but I need to go back to my friends. We're going on a nightly outing."
"Sounds fun. I'll see you around." Tenebris says, standing up and starting to walk off.
Lucem suddenly shouts his name, causing him to stop. Behind them the orange sky started to fade, their silhouettes covering the ground.
Lucem grasps her left arm and looks to the ground, saying, "Sorry for yelling. Uh, you know. If you want, you could join us. You'd be doing good and you'd have a lot of friends around."
Tenebris still had his back turned. Lucem takes a step forwards.
"Stop being so damn tough, and answer me. The tribe isn't you life, and they won't fall apart if you aren't there. Just..."
Tenebris turns his head to the right, and says, "I'm sorry."
He then sinks into the ground. Lucem lets out a huff, and quickly wipes her eyes.
After a few more hours had passed Lucem found herself walking with the others to the Academy again. Everyone was armed, and her mother even tagged along for this one. Once they all entered the main entrance they were greeted by Leo. He was standing on the second floors above a statue of a woman.
"Why hello." Leo greets, "Thank you for, uh, coming. There seem to be more of you than last time."
"You know the saying, the more the merrier. So what's going on with the council."
As they talked Tenebris and Ziya hid behind two columns while Raven watched from her bird form. Lucem let her eyes wander and noticed the bird. It seemed like Yang also noticed.
"Mom?"
Qrow shoots the wooden railing, and the bird immediately flew off. It went behind Leo and turned into a woman with a Grimm Mask.
"Raven." Ruby comments.
"They really are magic." Nora says.
Raven removes her mask with an amused expression on her face.
"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting."
"What are you doing here?" Qrow asks.
"I could ask you the same thing," Raven says, walking down the staircase, "You've been scheming little brother. Planning to attack your own sister."
"Leo," Qrow snarls, "What have you done!"
"I-"
"Leo did what any sane person would in his position. He looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice. And it seems you all have too."
"You have the Spring Maiden."
"I do."
"Then hand her over and let's work together. We can beat Salem."
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem."
"You're wrong." Ruby interjects.
"Ruby, please tread carefully." Lucem thinks.
"We've done things most people would call impossible, and I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn't do it alone. We had people to teach us. People to help us. We had each other. Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we work together. Please."
Tenebris shares a look with Ziya.
"What an innocent girl." Tenebris thinks.
"You sound, just like your mother."
Raven lets out a whistle, and Tenebris and Ziya jump to her side. The others took up cautious positions, all but Lucem, who looked at the masked man with interest.
"I'll need to converse with my lieutenants." Raven states.
"I don't care, as long as I get to eat." Ziya says, a low hiss coming through.
Raven looks to Tenebris, who is looking at Lucem.
"Take off that mask." Lucem says with a confident voice.
Tenebris obliges and removes it, placing it on his pouch.
"Hey, Lucem."
"Hey...you know, you can still make the right decision."
Lucem still clung on to some semblance of hope that Tenebris would join them. His answer proved otherwise.
"I have to do what's good for the tribe."
The words tasted like dirt, and Tenebris couldn't stand to look at Lucem as he turned his head in shame and put his mask back on. He then moved to Ziya's side, who gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, as Raven opened a portal. A ball of fire flew from it and hit Ruby. Out stepped Cinder's entourage along with Vernal.
"Hello boys and girls." Cinder greets.
"Cinder." Ruby says, the dislike evident in her voice.
"Come on guys, is that any way to greet your old friends?" Mercury asks.
"Everybody stay calm." Qrow says, trying not to escalate the situation.
The entrance door opens, and a very large man steps in and closes it.
"The White fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds. No one's getting in, and no one's getting out." Hazel says.
"This was all just a trap?" Weiss questions.
"It appears so." Ren answers.
Tenebris ignored everyone, besides Lucem, who looked at him with such spite and sadness he could barely continue looking.
Luckily for him a blonde man ran at Cinder. Both blades collided, and everyone had their weapons ready.
Everyone broke off and started fighting. Tenebris was barely able to block the attack aimed at him with one of his kukri.
"Why Tenebris? Why!?" Lucem shouts, small sparks flying from the blades scraping against each other.
Tenebris responds by pushing her away, sheathing the blade, and pulling out his spear.
Hanna watch the two fight, and then set her sights on the snake faunus.
"So. Who're you?" Hanna asks.
"Name's Ziya," She says, unsheathing a semi-twisted dagger.
"Hanna." She replies, pulling out her spear.
Hanna and Ziya jumped onto the second floor before rushing into action and clashing blades. Hanna tried to keep Ziya at a distance, which was proving semi-difficult with her Snake Style (Kung Fu). After slithering her way past Hanna's grip Ziya was able to land a cut on her arm.
"Don't worry, only my darts are poison, it's no fun if you get a scratch and can't keep fighting." Ziya says, licking the blood.
Hanna was too distracted with the wound to notice the realization on Ziya's face.
"Your blood." Ziya says, taking a step back in shock, eyes widening.
"What?"
"You..." Ziya suddenly glares at her and snarls, "I'll bury the truth with your body."
Ziya tosses her dagger to the side and lunges forwards, grappling Hanna. She drops the spear and keeps the snake woman from strangling her.
"What're you talking about you crazy bitch?"
Hanna throws Ziya away and grabs her spear again.
"Tenebris can't know." Ziya says, curling her body up.
Hanna could see the desperate look in her eyes.
"He'll leave. He can't leave. Not again, not again." Ziya stammers to herself.
Hanna raises her spear cautiously and says, "Calm down, what is it?"
Ziya looked at Hanna with insanity clearly evident in her eyes. Hanna could tell this would be a difficult battle.
A.N. Poor Ziya. She's...an interesting individual. She could use a hug...just be careful to make sure she doesn't bite you. Anywho, that's it for the chapter
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Anyways stay awesome guys and gals of the world, and I'll see you next chapter