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If you want your name on the lists of my stories and videos, head over to P a t. R e . o n and search for the Temple Walkers. Just let us know you're from Fanfiction, alright? There's a thousand of you, so a dollar a piece would really add up and help me a lot! Once I reach five hundred Supporters of any value over a dollar, I will make a concerted effort to put out a chapter of something once every three days at the very slowest.
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"That isn't why any of us are here." Six cut in, interrupting them with his low, deep voice. Raven turned to look at him, scowling angrily, and Six added, "We are only here to ascertain the location of a Maiden. Nothing else is of concern to anyone here, right now at least. If you have information that could be important, but which falls out of that topic, it is best saved for later."
"And why do you get to make that decision?" Raven asked after a moment, gesturing at the other two who had fallen silent as Six spoke. "Do neither of them get any input in this decision?"
"I-I agree with Six." Ruby queaked, eeping and scrunching in on herself when every eye - and visor, in the Spartan's case - turned on her at once. Swallowing, she forced herself to sit straighter, "I-I agree with Six. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say later. After we deal with… Our stuff." She turned to look at Qrow, the man smiling in a mildly impressed way, "R-Right, Uncle Qrow?"
"Yeah, kiddo. Yeah." The man turned to look at his sister, face lazy and smug at the same time, eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face, his head at a mocking angle. "Now, Rae, you ready to get to the nitty gritty we came here for? Pr you got a few more distractions?"
"Distractions?" Raven scoffed, shaking her head and sighing where she sat before finally letting out a suffering breath. "Fine then, fine. You want the Spring Maiden? She isn't yours to take, nor is she yours to protect. She is mine. Her power is mine. And she will, and is, serving a tribe you turned your back on, dear brother. Worse, one that you have just attacked."
"In fairness, we did ask nicely to be let in." Qrow argued with a shrug. "And we, well me and Ruby, left most of our opponents breathin'. Six isn't… usually big on it, if he's in a fight. And he was gettin' kinda pressed hard there. Probably didn't have a choice in the matter."
"I was trained in primarily lethal combat styles." The Spartan agreed, shrugging, "I won't get myself killed trying to change it against someone like that man I fought." Or he'd quite literally get burned… "I'm sorry for your loss, however."
"Why do you say that?" Raven asked curiously.
"Isn't that what you're supposed to say?" He responded, equally as honest before turning to look at Ruby, "Isn't it?"
"I-I think you're not supposed to when you're the one that killed them…" She sighed, shaking her head good naturedly at him. When the Spartan continued to look at her, she forced a small smile, "But… You're trying, I guess, so... Yay?"
"Anyway," Qrow interrupted, sighing irritatedly and fishing for his flask in his jacket as he spoke, "We need to know where the Maiden is, and keep her safe until Oz gets back up to full power."
"Ozpin is really died?" Raven asked, blinking in genuine surprise for a moment as her gaze shifted to Vernal. Her mouth worked for a few moments, as though thinking hard about what to say next, and she sighed. "Fine. Vernal is the Spring Maiden. I keep her close by, nice and safe, so no one can hurt her."
"And I am loyal." Vernal added from behind them, Six turning and stepping back towards the edge of the tent, where the cloth was pinned to the ground so he could watch them both well enough. He had no idea what a Maiden could do, not really. "So don't bother trying to convince me against staying with Raven."
"Exactly." Raven said quickly, "So sorry that you wasted the trip, but-" A loud thud sounded as a man slammed into the wooden platform the tent was on, his head sliding under the tent's entrance, "Oh, what now?"
"Mom! Get out here, before I mess up some more of your goons!" A voice called angrily from outside, "You got five seconds before I break another face! I am not in the mood for this shit!"
"Yang?" Ruby called, shooting out the tent's entrance after a second. "Yang! Why are you here? I can't believe it!"
"Firecracker?" Qrow muttered in disbelief, Raven's jaw working soundlessly before the man turned back to her, "We'll finish this in a minute. But you should know, Salem is coming for the Maidens. Actively."
"I have eliminated one already." Six confirmed, Raven's eyebrows shooting up at the assertion. "I also bested Leonardo Lionheart in combat and turned him in, an ally of mine wounding another of Salem's men in the process." That he hadn't actually needed to fight Lionheart wasn't important, and the lie was useful enough. "We are offering to take their eyes off you, because we have dealt with them and come out on top."
"My tribe can handle itself." She argued, Vernal moving past the Spartan to stand next to her. She spared the younger, smaller woman a glance, nodding at her, "Vernal is well-trained and we are more than prepared for them. But that can wait."
"Six!" Ruby squeaked when the four of them stepped out of the tent, flashing to stand in front of him so suddenly he flinched back as the rose petals flew past him, "Come meet my sister! My sister's here!" Turning, Ruby looked at a blonde woman and waved, the woman waving back with a robotic arm, "Yang, this is Six!"
"Ruby? Is that you I hear out there?" A voice called from behind several tents as the Spartan and Qrow stepped down from the tent's platform, the wood creaking and splintering slightly with each step. "I'm locked in a cage over here! Was that you making all that racket earlier? I heard gunshots!"
"Weiss?" Ruby called out, head tilting as Yang rounded on Raven.
"Did you lock up my friend?!" She demanded hotly, Raven sighing tiredly and pinching the bridge of her nose. Yang took it as a confirmation, throwing her hands up in the air as her eyes flashed to a dark red, "Seriously? Mom, let her out!"
"Vernal, please go release the Schnee. Preferably before my daughter loses her cool and breaks something." She spared a glance for the unconscious man on her platform, sighing, "Again." The woman nodded, sighing as she walked off to do as she was told. Raven took the moment to turn to her daughter, "So, Yang, I assume you came for something else other than your friend?"
"I wanted to find my sister, and I did. Now, I want to leave with them." Yang said simply, crossing her arms and drumming her robotic fingers on her other arm. "I don't want anything to do with you, so you don't have to worry about that."
"Yang, you came all this way, and you won't even ask me anything?" Raven asked in mild surprise, "You don't have anything you want to know? I have a lot I could tell you, about Ozpin, myself, even Qrow and your sister. I was merely waiting for you to come here to find these things out yourself. To prove you had the strength for it."
"My strength?" Yang scoffed, laughing at the idea for a moment and shaking her head, "I was strong enough to lose my fucking arm! Don't bullshit me, if you wanted me to come here you could have just told me where you were. Not much of a test if you don't tell me what the test is. Now is it?"
"Strength is more than just physical prowess." Raven explained simply, gesturing at the camp around her. "We have among our number people who serve as our builders, out doctors and more. Knowledge is strength. The ability to find your own way, to solve problems, that is strength as well." She gestured at Yang with a proud smile and a wave of her hand, "And you have proven yourself to be strong. Smart enough to find your way here, strong enough to fight my people, and willful enough to lose a limb and still take what you want."
"And all of that is going to help my sister. My family." She scoffed, looking Raven up and down, "Not that you know much about standing by your family, Mom."
"Yang, you don't want to get wrapped up in this. I left you and your father because… Because I was scared for you. Summer didn't and she died for it." Raven said quietly and lowly, watching her daughter closely with a tight hand on the hilt of her sword, squeezing tight enough that he could practically hear the metal creak. "Believe me, the things they want you to fight-"
"She'll hear about from someone who didn't abandon protecting the world for a bunch of rapists and killers." Qrow cut in hotly with a scowl for Raven, stepping forward gently as his face softened and he reached out towards Yang's human side with a hand, "How ya doin' Firecracker?"
"I'm… Okay, I guess. Better." She answered the man standing in front of her, leaning to her right to see around him, holding up her golden arm, "I lost my arm, by the way. So you know, since you didn't show up to check on me after my school was attacked by terrorists and Grimm. I guess you were too busy."
Raven grimaced, looking at the tribe members standing around the clearing and leaning on crates, boxes and tent-poles. They scowled at them, Six in particular, and the Spartan moved between the bulk of them and Yang and Qrow protectively, his back to the them while he watched the tribesmen. He turned when he saw a couple of pips on his radar, watching Ruby and a white-clothed young woman he presumed to be Weiss approach, the brunette clinging to her almost comically while she put on a tired looking front and tried to ignore it.
The two stopped on Qrow's other side and the Spartan turned back to the majority of the tribe, watching them closely, and Qrow spoke first when Vernal joined Raven on the platform, "Raven, Vernal has to come with us. She isn't safe here, and you know that. You should-"
"Qrow." Six interrupted, looking up at the sky and raising his rifle as a moderately small ship passed over the camp, "What's that?"
"That, Six is a problem." Qrow answered simply, watching the ship tilt and come in for a landing somewhere out of sight in the forest. He turned back to Raven tucking his hands into his pockets, "Not us, so were you expectin' a delivery or somethin'?" Raven shook her head and he sighed, "Yeah, thought now. Probably Salem's people then, so what do you wanna do?"
"What can I do?" She asked simply.
"Come with us." Six offered simply, only barely turning his head to regard her where she stood. "To Haven. It is more defensible as a location than here is, that is for certain. And it has the benefit of not having an enemy ship with unknown numbers of combatants onboard." He turned on his heel to look at Qrow, "Regardless, I require orders."
"We're leaving." Qrow said after a long second, looking at Raven and sighing, "Rae, send Vernal with us. We can-"
"Vernal stays." Raven dismissed immediately, turning to the young woman and nodding towards her tent. "My Mask, Vernal." The young woman ducked into her tent and Raven continued, "This is Tribe business, in regards to Salem's goons and their demands. So if you aren't willing to fight me for the power of the Spring Maiden, then you can leave."
Qrow paused for a few long, tense seconds, and Six prepared for a fight or a flight both. The children caught on to that quickly, Vernal tossing Weiss' rapier to her as they fell into lace in a circle, Ruby and Yang's shoulders close to his with Weiss at his back and Qrow a couple feet away. Rave's sword came an inch out of her sheath, and the tribesman around them reached for weapons, pushed off crates and poles and barrels, waiting for a word from their chief.
"Nah." Qrow shrugged with his eyes closed, letting out a long breath and turning with a hunch in his step, "Can't take on your little group and Salem's flunkies. C'mon, kids, we're leaving."
"Qrow-"
"No, Six." Qrow cut him off, talking over his shoulder as the girls looked between themselves and made to follow te drunk. "We start this fight, you and I are the only ones who might walk out of it without the need for a shovel and an eight foot long hole in the ground. I ain't willin' to pay that price."
"I concur." Dot chimed in his ear quietly, "If you engage, most of the others will perish. Weiss appears weak and tired, and both she and Yang are unknowns. I can build no plans based with them. Raven, however, possesses a weapon I don't know of. It scratched your armor. Retreat is advised."
Sighing, Six nodded and made to follow them while Yang buffeted Ruby with questions, and Ruby buffeted her and Weiss with stories. It was going to be an interesting walk back, for sure.
"Ruby." Raven called as they reached the entrance to the camp, the woman standing on her platform still, on the edge and within sight. "If you want to know the truth about your lineage, come to me. You will always have family and a home among the Tribe."
After an hour of walking, Ruby finally spoke from the back of their group, "Uncle Qrow… What did she mean?"
Qrow stiffened and sighed, fishing out his flask and taking a swig, "Shit, Red, let's… Make a camp somewhere, and I'll tell you all a story." Ruby gave him a curious look, her head tilting slightly to the side when Qrow turned to look at her, and he sighed and smiled. "It's… a sad one, though. But it's important."
"O-Okay, uncle Qrow." Six heard him say as they came to a stop in a small area off the side of a large enough, paved road cutting through the forest. Big enough for a couple full size cars and a few tents, so they had more than enough space.
Qrow vanished into the forest to their wood for a fire, and his thoughts, and Six stood by the road as a guard, watching both directions warily and occasionally turning and pinging the forest around him with his VISR, looking for shapes that weren't trees. Or new shapes that had appeared since he'd last looked as well.
"Six?" The Spartan turned and looked don at Ruby, girl nervously poking at the edge of the pavement idly with her hands held behind her back, "What do you think Raven meant by… All that?"
That you and her are related, he thought. Instead of that, he shrugged, "I don't know for sure, Ruby. What do you think she meant?" Ruby didn't answer and Six added, "Just have patience, Ruby. Qrow will tell you everything soon enough."
"That's what I'm scared of, Six." She answered, turning and walking towards where Weiss and Yang were sitting, the blonde leaning against a large oak next to the road and Weiss sitting beside her with her legs folded under her.
"Dot, advise me on what to do." He ordered, feeling like he should do something about what she'd said. The AI didn't respond for a moment and Six said, "Dot?"
"I have no data." She said simply, almost sadly. "But I… Feel like you should go and sit with them. Ruby would probably appreciate the company."
Six took two steps before his attention snapped to his radar, a pip shooting across the road towards the women, too fast and soon and from the wrong direction to be Qrow. Which made it a threat as far as he was concerned.
He launched from his spot as fast as he could move, slamming his fist into the tree to use as a braking mechanism and firing his rifle indiscriminately at the small figure, bracing his arm on his hip only a couple inches from where Ruby sat, the trio scrabbling up and away from him in utter surprise.
The small woman hit the ground, rolled and leapt over his lines of fire, spinning in the air as a heeled boot slammed into the side of his helmet with all the force of a Brute fist, shattering the boot itself on his mask and jerking his head to the side before using her other foot to push off his chest and shove the stunned Spartan, landing in the center of the road with a rapier in her right hand and a… parasol, of all things in her other. A small, dirty woman in stained white and black clothing and mismatched brown nd pink hair glared at him from her spot in the road.
No, she wasn't looking at Six, even as he slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle and slid to a better position with the weapon shouldered. No, those mismatched eyes, marred by what looked like water stains set in dark rings under her eyes, they were looking past him.
At Ruby.
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Kalomin :
I am merely using it for this story. I like the premise, but I won't say beyond that. I am adopting a stance going forward of not backing any theories I use in stories. I apologize for that.
War Panda II :
Yosh!
Spartan 3909 :
Welcome~
Scrub Lord 97 :
You'll see~ Also, things are slowly improving as Supporters join and help with morale and money alike.
Armor Guest :
I haven't really had him being flung around like a rag doll by any humans, though, have I? He's being moved, sure, but people on Remnant are legit stronger than normal people. In the most recent fight, he was lifted a couple inches in the air by a brawler, like Yang is.
Yang punched an Atlesian assault robot into pieces. I think lifting a Spartan a couple inches is reasonable. I mean no offence! It's just my opinion. Apologies if it bothers you, though.