"So which direction do we go now?" Carla asked her leader as she looked around at the six way split in the tunnels, some going down and some going up.
"Hell if I know, anybody got any ideas?" Nobody said anything as they all considered possibilities.
"If we split up it will be more dangerous and there are probably Grimm down here now that it's been a few minutes since the battle so whichever direction has the most Grimm I guess. Under normal circumstances I'd suggest we track it but Blake was the only one of us with and training in that."
"Nadia was our tracker so that definitely gets rid of that option. Tiph, any ideas?"
"I'm glad you asked because I don't actually."
"Yang, Weiss?"
"Nope."
"Sorry, I don't know a whole lot about situations like this."
"Damn, I guess we just guess and hope we find it."
"Eeny, meeny, miny, mo!" Carla pointed to the third tunnel on the left that sloped steeply down into the volcano.
"That one it is, let's move out."
After the brief stop the six hunters started their search down the steep tunnel. About a hundred feet in it began to grow hotter and large indentations started showing up in the walls and ceiling of the tunnel.
"What d'you think these holes are?" Carla asked Tiphany who had been examining a particularly deep one.
"Bubbles of lava maybe that popped once it cooled leaving this open area that was bored through by another lava flow later on."
"Nope, well not all of them," Ruby corrected.
"Then what are they?" Carla asked, curious.
"Dens. Traps specifically. They're dug by the Tsuchigumo a spider Grimm native to Vacuo, Mistral, and Menagerie, specifically the more tropical areas. They're big hairy spiders but their bodies are more mammal than arachnid and doesn't have any shell and their head is a mix of a spiders and a tigers," Ruby explained remembering the Grimm from the guide she'd bought.
"Ugh, I hate spiders," Weiss exclaimed avoiding as many of the holes as she could from then on.
"They're just bugs Weiss," Yang teased.
"They're arachnids and they're not gross, just disturbing. Too many legs."
"If those Grimm dug these holes then where are they?" Alton asked.
"I dunno, probably went to the surface during the battle or went somewhere else before we got here I guess?" Ruby answered.
"Maybe."
The continued walking for a few more minutes and it continued to grow hotter and the tunnel continued sloping downward. Suddenly Tiphany stopped walking.
"What's up Tiph?" Carla asked.
"I don't know, I hear something but I can't tell what it is or where it's coming from, it's like a scratching at the back of my mind."
"I hear it too," Alton said straining his hearing to try and get a direction on the strange noise.
"Yeah now that you mention it so do I," Carla realized.
"And none of us do so it must either be really far off or really quiet," Weiss commented.
"It's getting louder, and it's coming from behind us."
Carla looked up into the darkness where Tiphany said the noise was coming from her night vision giving her an extra few hundred feet of clear vision on everyone else.
"Holy shit," Carla whispered realizing that the darkness behind them was squirming and pulsing with limbs.
"What do you see?" Tiphany asked looking back up the tunnel where Carla was looking.
"Grimm," Carla answered.
"Let's shed some light on the subject," Yang fired a flare from Ember Celica that flew into the darkness before lighting everything in an eery red glow revealing hundreds of tsuchigumo crowding the passage all of their crimson eyes snapping open at the sudden light.
"Holy shit!" Alton shouted in surprise drawing Abbysus Ignis and firing into the wall of spider Grimm behind them as they surged forward.
"Fuck fuck fuck! Run!" Carla turned and shouted to Ruby and Weiss who were ahead of them.
"Time to go Ruby!" Weiss shouted drawing Myrtenaster and grabbing her partners hand pulling her leader along with her.
All six hunters ran screaming down the tunnel pursued by hundreds sets of eight scrabbling feet and hundreds of pairs of salivating mandibles. Down the tunnel an orange glow slowly grew in brightness until they reached a massive cavern with streams of lava flowing from cracks in the high walls and gaps in the floor. Turning Alton fired Abbysus Ignis's heavy form into the swarm but every tsuchigumo he killed was replaced by two more.
"Weiss! We need a wall!" Weiss looked at Alton and nodded running forward to make a wall of ice with dust.
A few Grimm slipped through but the rest were trapped by a wall of ice created by the heiress the survivors being killed by Carla and Yang. Taking time to examine the new area Tiphany noticed that they were on a table of stone above a massive pool of lava and the cavern continued for an unseeable distance in the darkness.
"Hey guys, this goes on quiet a ways."
"Then we'd best put some distance between those things before they break through," Carla pointed back to where a few clawed legs were scratching and breaking their way through the barricade
They continued on in the dim light of the molten rock around them until they reached a drop off into a circular chamber that went dozens of feet down into a rising pool of lava and upwards hundreds to the top of the volcano covered in a thin coating of obsidian. Shadows shrouded the massive chamber but around them similar sounds to those before were heard.
"Fuck it," Yang said and fired another flare into the vent the flash revealing thousands of tsuchigumo covering the walls and across from them on the far wall was a giant tsuchigumo next to the roach from earlier.
"Now that I've got a better view of it that pit beast is a Tougo and that giant tsuchigumo is a Broodmother, they lay eggs that hatch into various insect Grimm particularly tsuchigumo," Ruby claimed.
"That's great but now we've gotta kill them both, preferably before their backup arrives," Alton said casually as he fired into the swarm behind them that had broken through Weiss's barricade.
"Back up I've got an idea," Weiss stepped past Alton purposefully, switching the dust type chambered in Myrtenaster as she walked.
Pointing the tip of her rapier to the swarm of Grimm Weiss activated the dust chamber just as they reached her sending them all flying backwards into the lava on either side of the stone platform. Turning around Weiss made a giant summoning glyph that drew the attention of the Grimm in the vent but they were too late to stop Weiss from summoning back the dozens of spider Grimm she'd just killed. Ice summons swarmed the walls around them and fought the normal Grimm, each one killed was summoned back to fight its former brethren.
"Alright let's go the summons will keep their attention!" Alton shouted and began to climb the vent towards the surface.
"Give me a second," Weiss gasped releasing her summoning glyph which cleft her out of breath and exhausted.
"It's fine Weiss I've got you," Ruby offered scooping Weiss off her feet and using her semblance to get them both to a small ledge near the top of the vent.
"Ah! What the hell Ruby? Since when can you use your semblance on other people?"
Ruby scratched the back of her head, "Aha, well around the time I got to Mistral, me and Nora did some cool stuff combining our semblances. I guess it's a bit embarrassing because it feels weird when I take someone with me plus our auras kind of meld a bit, I almost electrocuted myself when I did it with Nora."
"We've all changed, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. It did feel a bit odd however."
"Yeah," Ruby looked down towards the other hunters who had almost made it to the top, "Hey you guys doing okay?"
"Yep, we're good sis! Weiss those summons of yours are doing work, the normal Grimm are almost all gone!"
"Yeah but my summons are almost gone too, there's only twenty left."
"And we still have to deal with the broodmother and the tougo," Alton added.
"I've got a plan for that!" Carla giggled in excitement.
"Is it explosive?" Tiphany asked.
"Maaaybeee."
"You're going to make the volcano erupt."
"That's the plan."
"Oh. Wonderful."
"Best way to squash a bug is with fire and a few pounds of high explosives will send all that lava up to them."
"I realize that but we're up here too."
"We'll get out first then."
"The roof is rock."
"I've got spare explosives don't you worry."
Once everyone was in place all the Grimm and all the summons had died and only the broodmother and the tougo remained clinging to the wall. Carla quickly placed a small breaching charge on the foot thick obsidian curling and blew a hole bi enough for them to climb out of.
"How are you going to place the other charges?" Alton asked.
"Already did. Threw em around while we were at the bottom now we've just got to get to a safe distance. Get moving everybody unless you want your ass to be barbecue, even if it's your only chance to be as hot as me."
Everybody set off at a light jog down the active volcano to conserve energy in case they needed to run once it blew its top.
"The hell do you mean 'little sister'?" Nadia roared at the fall maiden who shook her head at her own realization.
"I mean you are my younger sister who I though was dead when I burned and slaughtered every other person in our tribes. I killed them all but still to this day some of them persist and try to fight me. It's my own fault in a way, my own fault for not understanding my semblance."
"What are you talking about Cinder?"
"My semblance lets me absorb peoples souls and auras, every single one of our family members and tribe mates except for you is stuck in my head, some of them gave up and now I have full control over their memories, semblances, and their auras have been added to my own. You survived only because I realized what had happened just as I'd put my knife to your throat, you were an infant then and I was only five years old. A five year old commuting genocide, it's so absurd but it's exactly what I did," Cinder chuckled, "But then Salem took me in. I became her vessel, and her servant, I've never done anything more fulfilling but the one thought that's always plagued my mind is where might my sister be, I knew you survived but where you might be was the biggest issue and now on my search for the spring maiden here you are!" Raven stayed stoic despite Cinders mention of the spring maiden.
"What does any of this have to do with you coming here Cinder?" Raven spoke up.
"Nothing, nothing at all, merely a pleasant surpise along the way. As I said, I'm here for the spring maiden, I know you have her, and either you let Salem 'borrow' her or she sends more Grimm than you could possibly fend off to destroy your whole damned tribe and I will take her from you."
"We don't have the maiden," Raven insisted.
"Oh but you do, and I know for a fact that she's on this very ship."
"We don't have the maiden!"
"Tsk, tsk Raven, don't you know that lying is bad? No matter, you have a week to give her up willingly and the only reason I'm sparing you is because my mistress has other plans for this tribe of yours. Now why don't you leave me and my sister here to catch up, I promise I won't mess up your ship, you can leave your pet to watch us if you really need to."
"Fine, but I want you gone in an hour," Raven stormed back into the bridge.
"So is there anything you'd like to know about our tribe before I slaughtered them?" Cinder chided.
Nadia sat down on the rail bordering he edge of the deck, "What were our parents like?"
"Sora Cobalt was our dad and Kasai Fall was our mother, I took her last name and you took his as was tradition for inter tribe children. Father was the chieftain of the Burūsukēru tribe and our mother was the storyteller and historian of the Akai Hebi tribe. The two tribes had always been rivals but after a bloody conflict before our parents were born they resolved their differences and held a yearly peace meeting of games and feasting. At one of these meetings our parents met and fell in love as if such a thing would happen any other way. Eventually we were born but as was law they could not marry between tribes so we were split and switched every year at the meetings, and it was your first switch since being born a few months before. That night I snapped. The first ones I killed were mother and father and they were the first souls to give in, I still have their memories and semblances including fathers fire and mothers dust manipulation."
"Give in?" Nadia asked unfazed by the gruesome description.
"Their souls live on inside my mind, speaking to me, trying to make their voices heard. The stronger the soul the longer they last, once they give up they're gone as if they'd died normally and I have full reign of their semblance and memories otherwise they usually fight me and make it difficult to use their semblance or access their memories. No one is left of our tribe but others have lasted longer, the oldest souls are a pair, a huntress and her husband."
"How many are left right now?"
"I've killed hundreds in my lifetime but most didn't even have unlocked auras and gave in early, right now I have twenty that still fight, two of them strongest of all, some of my more difficult foes. Occasionally they overpower me when they work together, I lose control despite that they haven't made an attempt to kill me with that time, only impede my missions or speak their minds."
"Sounds difficult though I'd do the same seeing as you're a terrorist hellbent on the downfall of society at the hands of your Grimm controlling mistress."
"What would you know of Salem?"
"She's trying to find all the maidens so she can get all the relics and use them to destroy Remnant."
"She's trying to make a new world order, those who help her have a place in the new word she will create, and I will be right by her side when she does it."
"You're making a mistake with this. I don't know you very well but as your sister I still care about what you do."
"It's my choice and I don't plan on changing my mind, not after all Salem has done for me. Speaking of which what's your choice? What do you do?"
"I'm a huntress, what else? Slaying the creatures of Grimm is all I've known since being raised in Atlas by the military."
"I wonder how you ended up in Atlas? After the massacre I left and wandered until Salem found me."
"I don't know, I was an infant most likely found amidst the ashes and bodies."
"No bodies, my semblance doesn't leave bodies behind, blood maybe, no bodies."
"Well the ashes and blood then."
"Most likely."
The two sisters sat in silence staring at the hellish landscape around the fleet. Lava flowed sluggishly across the charred ground and lone Grimm wandered sparsely.
Emerald slid open the door of their bullhead with a rash of metal on metal, "Cinder, the seer is acting weird, I think we need to return."
"You're right, thank you Emerald," the pickpocket blushed at her superiors praise, "Go ahead and tell Mercury to start up the engines I'll be aboard in a moment."
"Got it. Hey Mercury-"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard her," the bullheads engines revved up and it began to hover just above the deck.
"Well, until we meet again Nadia. Please consider joining Salem's new order, I'd rather not lose my last family in the coming purge."
"Sure, I'll consider it. Get out of here before I start to think about arresting you to keep you from ditching me again," Nadia joked with a small level of seriousness.
Cinder laughed in her raspy voice, "You wouldn't stand a chance, you aren't just my sister and a huntress you're younger and less experienced whereas I'm a maiden who's been fighting since I could walk."
"You'd be surprised Cinder, now get out of here, my team will be back soon and I'd rather not explain this while you're here."
"Oh a team? You'll have to introduce me sometime."
"Sure sis, now seriously scram."
"If you insist. Remind Raven that I'll be back in a weeks time."
"I will."
Cinder turned and waved before boarding her bullhead and looked back on the ship she left her newly discovered younger sister on. A sigh escaped her lips and she pulled the door closed as she turned to where her subordinate sat across from her.
"You have a sister?" Emerald asked before she could stop herself.
"Yes apparently, I didn't think she had survived but I guess I'm not the last of our clans after all. It's ironic that then my only goal was getting away but now that I've finally returned I've found the thing I left waiting for me."
"Maybe," Emerald paused before continuing, "I just got a call from our contact, he has a deal for us."
"Good, the next step is in motion."
"What the hell was that!" Qrow roared once Nadia had come back inside the ship where he waited.
"Cinders my fucking sister!"
"The hell?"
"I come from a mix of two tribes that were wiped out almost seventeen years ago and Cinder, my older sister was the one who did it and she only spared me!"
"H-holy shit. I know what tribes you're talking about, I was sent to investigate it by Ozpin because only a maiden or someone with equivalent power could have done it but when I got there a bunch of Atlesian soldiers and a specialist were leaving with a pair of body bags and a bunch of evidence leaving me there with no leads and a bunch of blood and smoke, no bodies, nothing."
"That's because of her semblance."
"What is it?"
"She absorbs people's souls and auras when she kills them, their memories and semblances can be used by her once their soul dies and gives up, a side effect is the body disintegrates afterwards."
"Fuck, that explains a lot. Did you learn anything else?"
"Nothing new that's related to our mission."
"Damn, well at least you distracted her for long enough for me to get Raven to promise she won't help Salem and help us if we need it, she knows that now more than ever."
"Still no spring maiden?"
"She's admitted she knows where she is but it's not the same girl it was before which means the poor kid died, it's a damn shame she was only a kid."
"A kid?"
"No more than twelve. Had her whole life ahead of her."
Qrow sighed and took a sip of his flask.
"You mind if I have a drink of that?" Nadia asked.
"Go ahead kid, knock yourself out, actually don't do that you're our ride home, have a little bit, gods know you need it more than me," Nadia graciously accepted the flask and took a large gulp from it before handing it back to the grizzled hunter, "So what's it like being the sister to one of the most infamous terrorists and murderers on Remnant, actually don't answer that I already know, my sister held that title until yours showed up at Beacon."
"She's my sister but she sure as hell isn't family, not until she earns it after what she's done."
"I know that feeling all too well but once someone becomes family they are forever."
"You've been through some shit haven't you Qrow?" Nadia asked the veteran with a grim smile.
Qrow chuckled lightly before answering, "You know it, first I find out my semblance is bad luck, get kicked out of the tribe to learn how to be a hunter so I can fight them, grow too attached to the gig and my team, hide my semblance the entire time despite terrible things happening to them and to top it all off our leader goes missing presumed dead after my sister ditches us with her newborn daughter and that's not even touching all the messed up stuff I've seen Salem and her minions do."
"Hit me, what's the worst you've seen?"
"Ever seen a fat guy get turned inside out by a gravity dust slug?"
"I can only imagine, those are used to distort and destroy heavy armor."
"Yeah well I'll just say that some of my outfit hasn't always been red but it has since."
"Gross, you ever seen a bone miser?"
"Yeah kid, what kind of amateur do you think I am? I've seen just about every Grimm on land and air, the ones I'm not used to are the aquatic ones."
"Speaking of aquatic did you see the leviathan we took down in the ocean the other day?"
"Hard not to miss it, Ruby tells me that green flash that vaporized it was Penny rebuilt."
"That's true, I'm guessing you didn't know about her until her temporary death either."
"It was news to me and Ozpin both James has done some crazy stuff in the sake of military progression but that's probably the craziest and the closest to breaking multiple international treaties."
"Not even us?" Nadia asked gesturing to herself.
"Not even your team."
"It's not just our team or didn't Winter tell you? There are four teams, the only physically capable survivors of the experiments, there were a total of twenty four survivors over all though but that's out of a hundred test subjects, more than a seventy five percent mortality rate. Good thing we were all orphans, Faunus, and willingly volunteered infants for large sums of money or there would have been a massive social outcry if it were publicized."
"But it wasn't?"
"Hell no, the first civilians to find out since it happened are none, the only people who know outside the Atlas Military are you, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, plus Jaune, Nora, and Ren, but they don't know as much they just know we get stronger with every Grimm we kill not about the experiment aspect of it."
"I remember when James first revealed the first handheld plasma cannons to the military, there were riots about how it was overkill for foot soldiers to have warship grade weapons even though the technology was seriously downsized and underpowered compared to the airship mounted guns everyone is used to."
"I was actually considering using that as part of my weapon until I came across some of the research and development department's cluster missile documents."
Their conversation was cut off by the blaring of klaxons. Instantly the corridors of the airship were crowded with crew and Qrow and Nadia were rushing to the bridge to see what was going on.
"All crew to battle stations! Prepare all weapons to fire!" Vernal shouted orders as Raven stood glaring at the side of the volcano out of the view screen.
"Raven what's going on?" Qrow asked.
"Those kids of yours sure did their damn job, they've gone through the lava tubes and come out of the main vent with the Tougo in tow along with a broodmother according to the scouts we sent down to meet them, they're planning to make a stand on the ground but according to them that whole mountain's about to blow so we're getting ready in case this goes south and they survive."
"Damn it, they'd better not die doing this, I'm going to pick them up if they get overwhelmed. Those idiots are going to be the death of me!" Nadia raged and stormed off the bridge towards the hangars.
"Where do you find these kids Qrow?" Raven sighed.
"Well that ones part of a secret soldier program from Atlas so I really don't know most of the time, they just show up."
"I don't envy you."
"You never were good with kids, even when you were one you could barely deal with yourself."
"I couldn't stand anyone then," Raven snorted.
"Except Tai."
"Except Tai," Raven admitted reluctantly.
"Ma'am we've got massive vibrations coming from the volcano!" One of the officers at an information station on bridge reported.
"Here they come!" Vernal warned.
The explosion was underwhelming at first the thin stone shell covering the top crumbling and getting launched into the air by a rush of hot air and gas. Soon after however before anyone could comment a wave of fire spilled out all of the flammable gases igniting the air surrounding the volcano at once and burning out immediately causing the surrounding air to move inwards to fill the vacuum pulling the fleet with it towards the volcano that was now spewing chunks of rock and lava at high speeds in almost any direction. Secondary detonations went off as lava reached exposed fire dust pockets and the last of the explosives blew holes in the sides of the volcano launching lava and rubble in more directions. Pyroclastic flow roared down the mountainside at the speed of a rocket quickly gaining on the two massive Grimm that had taken chase after the six hunters after the initial explosion.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck, shiiiiiiiit!" Alton screamed as he ran just behind everyone else to make sure nobody fell behind.
"This is what happens when we let Carla use the explosives!" Tiphany shouted.
"Last time I used explosives it went well, remember the Terrortuga?"
"You and Alton both almost died!"
"But we looked badass doing it," Alton snarked.
"That doesn't mean you didn't almost die!"
"Could we focus on the task at hand? You three are so dysfunctional," Weiss shook her head at the bickering teammates.
"We're not much different Weiss," Yang muttered under her breath.
"Incoming!" Ruby warned just in time for everyone to duck out of the way of an incoming chunk of mountain.
Carla turned so that she was running backwards so she could face the Grimm bearing down on them, "You big fucks don't know when to give up do you? Eat this!" Carla threw the last of her explosives on the ground and pulled the detonator trigger once the Grimm reached it the resulting explosion sending the broodmother flying back into the wave of molten rock and solid ash the Tougo stumbling as it's rear two legs were burned off by the encroaching pyroclastic flow.
"Nice job!" Alton praised his teammate.
"We should fight this thing now that it's crippled," Yang suggested.
"Did you forget about the fucking wave of fire behind it?" Tiphany asked sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, nevermind."
The six continued running just out of the pit Grimm's reach which was just barely faster than the flow of burning hot ash and dust roaring down the still erupting volcano. The fleet of bandit airships had moved out of the way of burning projectiles and thick ash and smoke but one small ship weaves through the airborne obstacles to reach the stranded hunters. Unleashing a salvo of rockets the Adder flies straight into the chaotic firestorm. Rockets slam into the Tougo knocking it off its feet leaving it to be devoured by the flow of the volcano one final screech of anguish from its mandibles escapes before it gets buried in hyper dense ash. The Adder makes a steep turn to catch back up with the group running from the wrath of nature and once it levels off just ahead of them the rear door lowers to reveal Nadia in the hold with a handful of rappelling cords.
"Grab on!" the snake Faunus shouted hooking the ropes to the hull and throwing them down to her friends.
Each taking hold of a rope they clambered up onto the ship to escape the roaring hellfire behind them. Nadia silently counted to make sure everyone was aboard before closing the door and jumping back into the cockpit to accelerate out of harms way. Once on a straight course to reunite with the fleet Nadia stepped back into the hold to see how everyone was recovering from their near escape from a fiery death.
"What the hell were you all thinking?" Nadia scolded glaring at her team especially her partner and leader.
"We were hoping they'd get caught up in the initial eruption but that didn't work so we ended up having to make a run for it after we escaped from a swarm of tsuchigumo but once Weiss launched half of them into the lava she summoned them all back and they wiped each other out leaving just the two big ones," Alton rapidly explained.
"Speaking of summoning a few hundred Grimm I'm wiped out, wake me when we're back in Mistral," Weiss yawned before passing out in her seat.
"Weiss?" Ruby anxiously checked her partners pulse before being reassured by the steady beat of her heart.
"We're all tired, just get us back to the the ship so we can finish what we came here for," Alton pleaded.
"Sure thing Chief, but you're not off the hook just yet, there's some stuff I've got to tell you about once we're back," Nadia smiled fondly at her partner as she turned back to the cockpit to guide the Adder into the hangar.
"I blew up a broodmother," Carla realized with a gasp.
"Yeah, you did. I'm proud of you," Tiphany said kissing her on the cheek.
Carla blushed profusely, "It wasn't that great, just a broodmother."
"Stop selling yourself short babe, you did good today, those new eyes are doing good too."
"Yeah they are, I've barely noticed the difference."
"I have, they look a lot better on you," this left Carla blushing even more as she settled into her seat beside Tiphany.
"Since when can Weiss summon?" Yang asked her sister quietly as the heiress slept between them.
"I don't know, she summoned a couple of times when we first ran into her at the White Fang fortress but I didn't really register it until later but just now she summoned hundreds of those Grimm even though they were kind of small and I think size is the only defining factor."
"Apparently she was on the news fighting Adam with a giant summon during the riots, what I wouldn't give to have been there so I could get him back for this," Yang clutches her prosthetic.
Ruby put a hand on her sisters shoulder, "Hey, you'll get your chance Yang, we'll find him eventually."
"Yeah I know, sooner rather than later hopefully."
"Yeah."
"I've got the same reason to fight him too, bastard blew me up and I'll get him for that!" Carla shouted from across the ship.
"He probably didn't do it directly but you do have a good point. Those bombs killed hundreds during the riots and that won't be the last time Mistral comes directly under fire until either us or Salem has the relic," Tiphany agreed.
"Then that gives us even more reason to find the spring maiden," Ruby exclaimed determinedly.
"I don't have the maiden and I don't know where she is. She left us just after we found her," Raven admitted.
"You'd better not be lying Raven!" Qrow snarled.
"Calm your tits bro, I wouldn't lie about something like this. After Cinder showed up and you told me about her working with Salem there isn't a way in this world I'd still work with her, I'm on your side now, or at least as close to that as I've been in a while it may still take some convincing for the rest of the tribe though but after today you're definitely on our good side."
"Wait, Cinder?" Ruby interrupted.
"Yeah, Cinder showed up with her two goons while you guys were in the tunnels," Nadia spoke up, "That's part of what I was going to tell you about, Cinder's my older sister apparently," the room went silent, shocked looks on everyone's faces except for Raven and Qrow who'd been present for the reveal.
"How? When?" Alton asked bewildered.
"I'm going to keep this simple, she's the one that wiped out our tribe, killed our own parents too, left me alive at the scene of the crime, wandered around after that and was picked up by Salem at some point. Apparently her semblance takes people's souls and auras when she kills them and allows her to use their semblances which explains the lack of bodies as they disintegrate like Grimm afterwards, however their souls sometimes survive if they're strong enough."
"Oh no, we shouldn't tell Jaune about that part," Ruby sighed.
"Why not?" Nadia asked.
"Cinder killed Jaunes girlfriend? Partner? I don't know what they were at that point but they had feelings for each other when she died holding Cinder off and I got there just in time to see her disintegrate just like you said. It would be best not to give him false hope."
"She did say that one of the four intact and fighting souls left was from Beacon so it might actually be her, was she strong?"
"Hell yeah she was, she was a pro!" Yang exclaimed.
"Let me rephrase, was she mentally strong?"
"After dealing with Jaunes incompetence to her pining for that long there's no way she wasn't."
"Then there's a very good chance it's her, but we'd still best not tell Jaune his mental state is bad enough as is."
"Wait, I've got one thing to say," Qrow interjected taking a swig if his flask, "I was at the place your tribe was wiped out just after the cops and Atlesian investigators left and they had two body bags with them leaving the scene and if that's where they found you why would there be bodies in the first place? Also where were you at this point?"
"Two body bags, her semblance doesn't leave bodies unless they died some other way, indirectly maybe?"
"That doesn't explain where you were, I saw all of their gear and loads, no infant to be found."
"This was top secret, if they had planned for me to be a subject they'd keep me hidden. I was in one of the body bags!"
"What about the other one?" Carla asked.
"Hell if I know? Maybe somebody died in a fire afterwards?"
"Maybe."
"What's this talk about body bags?" Weiss stumbled into the room drowsily.
"Cinders her sister and they're trying to figure out some of the intricacies of the situation of Cinder committing partial genocide of their tribes," Ruby said bluntly.
"What. The. Fuck?!"
"Yeah it's crazy I'll let her explain," Ruby threw her hands in the air.
Once Nadia explained once again Weiss had her hand on her chin comprehending the story she'd just been told.
"So, there was a project before oh guys right? Some girl who was just a bit older?"
"Yeah, Project Ash, why do you ask?" Alton answered.
"That was Cinder."
"What?"
"It explains the second body bag, why she has two souls that she's had for about sixteen years, Alton's parents obviously, and it makes sense linguistically Ash and Cinder are two very similar things. Do you guys know what Project Ash looked like?"
"No but we can ask Professor Polendina when we get back," Tiphany answered.
"Actually we do, you guys remember that dream we kee having? That was Project Ash, that was how my parents died, it also explains the level of powers she had despite not being a maiden. She had black hair and orange eyes, weird tattoo on her back."
"That's definitely Cinder," Yang confirmed.
"So Cinder wasn't wandering around for a few years she was experimented on and raised by my parents until she was possessed? That's what it sounded like in the dream. But once that happenes she disappeared so maybe that's actually when Salem found her?" Alton suggested.
"I wouldn't put it past her. But what about the third soul that's still fighting, who could that be?" Nadia asked, "She said she killed that person about eleven years ago when she was training, they were her hardest opponent yet."
"A maiden? The second to last summer maiden died around that time I remember Ozpin throwing a fit about it before he got word of where the next one was," Qrow guessed.
"Maybe."
"All these hypotheticals are annoying and this discussion has nothing to do with me so now that our business is decided I'd like you to leave my ship. Yang I'd like to speak with you before you go. Please," Raven interrupted.
"Why should I?" Yang growled at her birth mother.
"Please, Yang. I need to tell you something."
"Fine, but make it quick," Yang reluctantly followed the chieftain into the hall.
After Raven cleared the hall with a few curses at the crew she cleared her throat and directed her attention to her daughter.
"You're so much like your father."
"So I've been told."
"But there's definitely some of me in you too, that's the problem. I don't want you turning out like me, seeing you with your teammates and friends out there? It made me realize what I missed, what I left behind. It was painfully obvious, even more so than before that I made the wrong choice in leaving even though I had a greater responsibility to fulfill here there were others that could do it instead and I'm sorry for that."
"Why should you be? It's too late now, too late to fix all the damage you've done to me and to dad. It's better off if you just leave us alone now."
"No it's not Yang, I know when to fix something that's broken, and you, you definitely need some fixing and not just from me, I can see that. Just remember that if you need a mom, I'm here again."
"I'll remember but I'm not going to need you. I've learned to live without you I don't need you now."
"I see that, I'm proud of you for it. Even without me you've grown strong, stronger than I was at your age."
"I did have Summer though, and she was more my mom than you ever will be."
"Summer always was the team mom, I almost decided I wanted her to be my partner but Tai blundered onto her before I could make a move so I got stuck with my idiot brother. It's ironic she ended up being a better mom to my own daughter than I was."
"Yeah it is. I'll see you around, Raven."
"Yes, you will."
Yang turned around and left for the hangar so that they could leave but Raven stood there her eyes lingering on Yang as she left. Shaking her head to clear her watering eyes she turned away and marched to the bridge to begin the rebuilding process of her fleet and camps after the attacks of the day.
"This is weird," Ruby decided a while after they'd started on their way back to the city of Mistral.
"What? The fact that a friend of yours is the six years younger sister of notorious criminal and terrorist Cinder Fall who helped orchestrate the attack that wiped out your home kingdom and school as well as kill one of your best friends and steal the maidens powers for Salem?" Alton said sarcastically.
"Yeah pretty much."
"I'm a bit shocked too but I know that Nadia won't let her feelings get the better of her, we've seen what she can do first hand."
"The attack that killed your parents?"
"Yeah, plus a couple of other things. She's not afraid of sacrificing things for her own gain."
"Let's just hope I can figure out these silver eyes before she starts making a move on Mistral, just the fact that she's here is worrying."
"She needs the spring maiden to even get to the relic, so we've got until she finds the maiden and she said she's going after Raven in a week which means we've got about that long if she thinks Raven has her."
"I'm still not so sure Raven doesn't know where the maiden is."
"Me neither," Alton thought for a moment, "Say, our semblances are pretty similar d'you want to spar when we get back?"
"Sure, Vytal rule set?"
"Weapons and semblances allowed, match ends when one persons aura drops?"
"Yep."
"Sure thing, I'll meet you on the patio Red."
"Bring me Sal," Adam ordered one of the guards that stood in his tent.
"Yes sir."
A few moments later a burly Faunus with thick grey skin covering his body pushed aside the tent flap and entered the dark abode, eyes glinting in the lamplight from behind large flaps of scarred flesh covering his head.
"Sal Acajou?"
"That's me, Supreme Leader."
"Good, you remember those explosives we had you use during the riots, yes?"
"Yes I do, some of my finest work given the lack of materials."
"Well, we're planning another attack in a weeks time, I need you to make some new bombs like those but more powerful, but don't worry about materials we've been raiding supply shipments and there's more than enough for what we have in mind given your talents."
"That's good, how many do we need?"
"Enough to leave a crater where the CCT stands."
The rhino Faunus grunted excitedly, "That won't take much at all but I'll make some extra in case there's anything else we need to get rid of."
"That will do, I will have you personally plant the bombs on the CCT once the city is in chaos to cover our plans. You'll be escorted by a squadron of your choice."
"Thank you, Supreme Leader Taurus, for this opportunity to strike back against the humans. For the freedom of our people!"
"And the glory of the White Fang," Adam finished the customary phrase and dismissed the explosives expert so he could begin his work.
"Soon enough we will control Mistral as well, how goes your search for the spring maiden?" Adam directed his question at a dull red glow in an unlit corner of the tent.
A seer emerged from the darkness showing an image of Cinders, "Raven assures me she didn't know the whereabouts of the maiden but the seer says that she is with them so I'm afraid we may have to destroy them despite your attacks and the Grimm our mistress sent."
"Your mistress, not ours. She commands you, I am merely cooperating with her for the good of the Faunus. On the matter of the maiden, I will supply more troops to aid in your attack so that we can reach the relic but once you have her you are on your own."
"Salem wishes to inform you that during the attack the Grimm do not discriminate between human and Faunus so if you wish to protect your kin, keep them out of their way."
"I found that out at Beacon when they attacked my men from inside the bullheads we brought them in on."
"I wouldn't know."
"No, you wouldn't."
"I have more pressing things to deal with right now Adam, the next time you see me it will be at Haven."
"Until then, Fall Maiden."
"Until then, Bull."
The connection cut off and the seer floated back into the corner where it was hidden. Adam looked back to his desk where a map of Mistral was laid out detailing their attack, grinning he picked up a red marker and drew three diagonal lines across Haven in the center of the city-state.
"Soon, soon Haven will fall."
The sun was setting on the Scarlet Sea as the Adder landed and everyone disembarked ready to get back to the house so they could rest after the days events.
"Weiss, you're too heavy," Ruby groaned under half the weight of her partner who was draped halfway over her shoulders.
"That's your own fault, you offered to help carry me to the house."
"Ugh, I didn't realize you'd gained weight since we left Beacon."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You've been working out?" Ruby said tentatively realizing she was on thin ice.
"Actually I have," Ruby released a deep breath she'd taken just in case.
"After today I really need to take a shower, so I'll see you guys there!" Alton shouted as he ran ahead before disappearing in a flash of heated air as he sued his semblance to run to the house ahead of them.
"Good, I don't want him stinking when we spar," Ruby muttered.
"I'd like to see that, two speed semblances fighting it out," Yang commented.
"Yeah I would too," Nadia agreed more because she just enjoyed watching her partner fight without the stress of an actual battle.
"Me and Carla are heading out for a bit, we'll be back in a few hours."
"Don't get too drunk, make it home alive!" Nadia called as the couple split off and went down another street towards the more urban parts of the city.
"You're back," Oscar said nonchalantly from the couch where he was poring over the latest news on tv.
"Is that Ozpin in control right now?" Alton asked as he stepped through the front door.
"It was Ozpin that said that, I'm back now, we were doing a bit of internal conversation about some recent events," the boys voice shifted suddenly, "It's a shame that Farrah Calamansi died so recently in an attempt to protect the summer maiden who was under her care, she was also killed in the attack."
"Who's Farrah Calamansi?"
"The headmistress of Shade Academy in Vacuo, an old friend of mine and a close confidant, I'll have to make contact with her successor to explain the situation and start a discreet search for the new summer maiden. Supposedly the assassination was carried out by White Fang sympathizers."
"We fought a bunch of White Fang today, they were attacking bandit controlled towns and in the process of helping them we got free passage to see Raven."
"Oh, how did it go? Did she know where the maiden is?"
"No, they found her at first but she escaped them and hasn't been seen since. Cinder showed up too looking for her."
"Indeed? Then the situation is more dire than I suspected. Did you get any information from her?"
"Nadia did, I'll let her explain it though, I just want to shower."
"Go ahead, rest. You've done well today. I'll have everyone recount the events later," his side of the conversation over Ozpin relented the reigns back over to Oscar.
"Did you kill any cool Grimm today?" The young boy asked.
"We killed a ton of tsuchigumo, plus a Tougo and a broodmother."
"Wow, a broodmother, one of our neighbors had a tsuchigumo infestation because of one of those a few years back they had to call in a bunch of hunters to clear them out."
"Well we did it with a few high explosives and a volcano."
"Awesome, so when do I get to come with you guys on a mission, Ozpin's been teaching me more about how to fight Grimm so that I can protect myself if I have to."
"Soon, but right now it's a bit dangerous, they're very active."
"That's what I've been telling him," Ozpin interjected.
"Yeah but it gets so boring stuck here in town."
"How's this, next mission we get we'll take you along, as long as it's easy enough."
"That sounds good, I just want to get some actual experience with it so I don't have to rely on Oz taking over."
"Smart. Seriously though I stink off to the shower now, talk more later," Alton walked upstairs and started taking a shower in one of the shared bathrooms a few minutes before everyone else arrived.
"Alton already fill you in?" Qrow slurred when he saw Oscar.
"Yeah, Ozpin wants you to tell him a bit more about what happened with your sister but otherwise he's satisfied."
"Great."
"Where's Jaune, Ren, and Nora?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Jaune is out looking for the Nikosi clan house so he can talk to Pyrrha's parents. He needs to do it to gain some closure. Nora and Ren are out back sparring."
"They're gonna have to clear the area for me and Alton, I've been looking forward to fighting him since I saw his semblance!"
"Speaking of Alton I'm gonna see what's taking him," Nadia said going up the stairs to their room.
Opening the door Nadia found herself looking at her partners toned back as he dressed from just coming out of the steaming shower. Pulling his shirt on he turned to put on his armor and saw her standing in the doorway.
"Hey," Alton said blushing realizing she'd seen him.
"Hey, you need help with those?"
"Sure," Alton handed her the shoulder pads he'd been about to put on.
Nadia fumbled with the straps for a moment before she managed to calm down enough to stop her hands shaking. Once the shoulder pads were on he held his chestplate on and allowed her to tighten the straps in the back and arrange the smaller rear plates.
"Good luck in the sparring match, I'll be rooting for you," Nadia gave Alton a quick peck on the cheek before pulling away.
"I've got a question."
"Hmm?"
"What are we? This isn't an existential crisis it's just that I don't really understand what our relationship is, is it just partners with underlying sexual tension? Is it something more? Or are we just horny teenagers?"
"There's definitely something more, what it is? Who knows. Only time will tell but for now I say we just enjoy it."
"That's a good answer. You can go ahead and shower I'll be down on the patio waiting."
"Ok. I'll be quick."
On the paved patio Alton was greeted by Yang and Weiss relaxing on a pair of lawn chairs against the wall, Weiss wearing her "nice as ice" t-shirt and bleached jeans, Yang wearing her tank top and pants.
"You guys look comfortable."
"We've had a stressful day, now it's time to relax and watch you and Ruby go at it," Yang chuckled.
"We've definitely had a taxing day, I never knew I could summon that many Grimm at once," Weiss groaned.
"Hey Alton, you ready to do this?" Ruby asked from the doorway behind him.
"Yeah just give Nadia a minute to get out here, she wants to see this too."
"Sure thing, gives me more time to think of a strategy, how exactly does your semblance work again?"
"I transform kinetic energy into speed, at this point the fastest I can go is barely fast enough to turn sand to glass."
"Hmm, that makes things tricky, it'll be like fighting Yang but a lot faster. Mine just makes me go about ten times faster than normal but if I concentrate I can turn my whole body into a cloud of rose petals and move even faster and go through stuff."
"So you're definitely harder to hit, but I'm faster in general and can take more hits."
"That sounds about right, let's put on these aura monitors, they'll help make sure our auras don't get too low."
"Sure," Alton took the small metal band from the younger huntress and slipped it onto his wrist activating the readout on Ruby's scroll.
"Jeez, you've got a crazy strong aura! It's off the charts. I actually think you broke it."
"Damn, this isn't going to be fair at all. That's what happens when every Grimm you kill strengthens your aura."
"Just put on a dampener, you can scale the level that it restricts your aura so that you're equal," Nadia suggested when she arrived and heard the issue.
"That could work, let's try it," Alton slipped on the aura dampening bracelet and turned the scale down to half which halved his aura rather than removing it entirely which left his aura level almost equal to the cloaked huntress's.
"Alright let's do this then," Alton stepped onto the cleared area of the patio designated for sparring by the cliffs edge.
"Yeah, you're going down," Ruby set herself up across from him.
"Best out of three?" Alton asked.
"Sure."
They both took up combat stances hands on their sheathed weapons, Alton's dual wielding form of Abbysus Ignis at his hips and Ruby's folded Crescent Rose on her back. Nadia took position as the referee between them and on her cue the fight started. Alton pressed the release button on the dual blade submachine guns letting the blades slide out of their housing with a click and Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose with the clacking and whirring of gears and springs. Circling each other the two speedsters looked for openings in the others defenses. Before Ruby could react the thump of flash heated air being sucked into a vacuum was heard and she found the blades of Abbysus Ignis against her throat and her aura in the red.
"Score one for Alton," Nadia said.
"Come on sis you can get the next one!" Yang exclaimed.
"Yeah, go Ruby!" Weiss shouted.
"You did great Alton, keep it up!" Nadia urged.
The two fighters moved back to their positions and resheathed their weapons before Nadia marked the start of the next round. Both weapons were opened simultaneously and the fighters rushed each other and in the blink of an eye Alton had shifted his weapon to its double naginata form and the two were locked in a struggle for dominance. Alton pushed forward releasing his weapon from the blade lock they'd been stuck in and both of them transformed into seeming balls of whirling blades and semblance effects. Rose petals burst aflame as their semblances overlapped and conflicted and sparks flew as blades clashed at a speed faster than any of the spectators had seen before. Suddenly Ruby backed off and stabilized herself with the blade of Crescent Rose in the ground before firing a high impact gravity dust round into Alton's gut as he pursued her sending him flying into the wall just over Nadia's head. Picking himself up Alton checked and saw his aura was almost in the red but he had one more trump card, activating his semblance he turned the force of the impact into speed and launched himself at the red reaper who barely managed to dodge the attack that grazed her side. Grunting Ruby managed to turn around despite her velocity and put another round into Alton's back sending him sprawling to the ground and knocking his aura into the red.
"Yeah, go Rubes!" Yang cheered.
"Ha! You didn't stand a chance Goldenrod!" Weiss taunted.
"There's still one final deciding match," Nadia said as she gestured for the two to begin again only to see the two end up with blades at each other's necks within the blink of an eye, "And that's a tie, whoever wins this one wins it all, which is really only bragging rights."
"Those bragging rights are mine," Alton snarled switching Abbysus Ignis back to its dual wield mode.
"Nope, they're mine," Ruby defied him.
The match started and both of them pushed themselves to the limit, bursts of gunfire echoing from inside of a whirlwind of blades and fire each indescribably mixing to the point that nothing could be seen inside it from outside but the only thing that anyone knew once it was over was that Alton came out on top by delivering a spinning kick backwards into Ruby's stomach knocking her to the ground and smashing most of her aura in a single blow.
"Ah, crap. You win man, you win," Ruby lamented good naturedly.
"You almost got me," Alton gestured to his aura which was barely above the red.
"Oum, that was brutal," Nadia gasped as she embraced Alton in a congratulatory hug, "Now you need to rest, that fight must have taken a lot out of you after today."
"Hell yeah it did, good match though Red."
"You need to rest too Ruby, you just got beaten three times in a row and there's no way you're doing anything else today," Weiss scolded.
"Yeah, I'm tired. Too tired to even have dinner."
"Come on Alton, I'll help you get out of that armor," Nadia led him inside and up to their room.
"So what was that you said about us just being 'horny teenagers'?" Nadia asked as she helped Alton remove his armor and put his weapon away.
"Why do you ask?" Alton asked giving his partner a sideways glance as she pulled his sweat stained shirt over his head and threw it on the floor.
"Because that's exactly what I feel like right now."
"Seriously?"
"No joke."
"I mean, I guess we could."
"Then let me start," Nadia dropped to her knees in front of Alton and unzipped his pants leaving his dick standing at attention.
"Fuck, we really are about to do this."
"Oh you don't know how long I've wanted to do this," Nadia said wrapping her tongue around his shaft earning her a small gasp from him as he clutched the bed sheets he sat on.
"Fuck I'm too horny to deal with this, I'm riding this thing," Nadia pushed Alton back onto the bed and quickly stripped.
"You're hot," Alton said breathlessly.
"You didn't notice before?" Nadia sarcastically said as she struck an alluring pose before settling herself above him.
"I did, it's just really obvious n-oooooooow," Alton lost control of his own speech as Nadia slid her dripping wet cunt around his member.
Now firmly atop him Nadia girated a bit to get a feel for the cock inside her moaning a bit in the process.
"This will do nicely, it definitely feels a lot bigger inside, not that it needed to be any bigger than it looks."
"Thanks," Alton squeaked trying not to cum just from the sheer pressure his partners muscular body was putting on him.
"Now we can really get started," Nadia lowered herself into a better position only an inch from his face breasts pressing against his chest tightly between them.
Ever so slowly she began to rise and fall on top of him picking up the pace and taking it deeper each time to reach the best parts of herself. Alton gasped in surprise as she picked up the speed quickly pumping herself up and down so fast he had to take hold of her hips to stop her flying off. Moans filled the small bedroom as the two fucked like they'd never get the chance to do so again. Sucking in deep breaths whenever they could the two Faunus kissed for minutes on end getting shorter each time as the grew close to the breaking point. Nadia reached around to Alton's back holding onto him as if for dear life digging her nails into his back. They came in unison and absolute bliss, the pleasure so intense Alton almost didn't notice the blood on his shoulder until almost a minute had passed after they reached orgasm.
"Nadia, why am I bleeding?"
"Oh shit. I just bit you."
"That's kinky but okay."
"No like, I really bit you."
"Oh. Oh shit. Fuck, we need to get the antivenom!" Alton flopped off of the bed already feeling slightly sluggish.
"In my bag!" Nadia raced to her bed and began to dig through her belongings to find the vial and accompanying needle for the antivenom derived directly for her own unique venom.
"Found it!" Nadia shouted turning to see that Alton had already lost consciousness.
"Shit!" Nadia jumped across the room filled syringe in hand she jabbed it into his arm and injected the substance.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
"What the hell just happened?" Tiphany slammed the door open to find Nadia on the floor naked checking Alton's pulse while he was also naked.
"I accidentally hit him, like with my fangs!"
"Son of a bitch! Did you give him the antivenom?"
"What do you think?" Nadia shouted pointing at the empty syringe in her hand.
"Oh thank Oum you did, we should still get him to a hospital."
"Yeah, we should. Help me pick him up. We'll get him on the Adder."
"Let's put some clothes on both of you first."
"Good idea."
Authors notes:
I prefer splitting the chapter with different povs than just one the whole time, it helps diversify and lengthen the whole thing a bit better.
Tons of giant spider Grimm in a bunch of dark tunnels? Yay nightmare fuel!
Cursing while running away from something will always be funny.
Yay, sibling bonding?
Explanations of unanswered questions abound.
Plotting.
Back to the action.
Explosions galore!
Blood and gore!
Yay!
They're making a bunch of assumptions. Some right, some wrong.
Home again, home again, fiddle de di.
Fighting builds strength.
Sparring builds honor.
Such is the way of men.
Warriormale
That's all I've got to say on the sparring, it was fun to write though.
Post sparring sex.
Accidental sex injury.
That's what you get for having a girlfriend with deadly fangs.
Off to the hospital, next time on Dragon Ball Z!
Nah, it's next time on Strangers: a RWBY oc story
Thanks for reading and as always follows, favorites and reviews are greatly appreciated and any feedback no matter how small makes my day.