Chapter 24: Winter Visions
"Atlas has a Kamen Rider?"
James nodded, scanning his palm against a security reader to open the next set of doors. Glynda had been looking at Kaito with a mixture of shock and disbelief, while the Chief Technician seemed to regard her with a mixture of barely hidden amusement. Winter, of course, took all of this is stride as she had been briefed the moment she had entered the Specialist program. He had known about Kenzaki since the beginning of Ozpin's tenure as Headmaster, though the shadowed partnership between Beacon Academy and the Rider had existed since well before that. Taking all of that into account, it seemed amazing, to him at least, that Glynda hadn't fathomed the idea of there being other Kamen Riders out there that had survived the countless centuries relatively unscathed. From conversations with the Headmistress of Haven, he knew that the Undead Rider known as Chalice was helping them but had recently left due to personal matters. Mentally shaking his head, he knew he had an advantage over Senji as he knew where her wayward Kamen Rider had gone – a strange energy burst from an area Kaito had designated as JPN-YGD had matched what had previously been recorded as the transport signal of the Undead.
"Yes." He answered, pausing slightly for another retinal scan. "As stated earlier, Vale has Kenzaki, and the power contained in the Rider Graveyard. Mistral is under the guidance of Kamen Rider Chalice and the Huntsman Academy of Vacuo, Shade, is under the protection of the resurrected Kamen Rider Eternal. Out of all the Kingdoms of Remnant, Vale is the strongest."
"Vale also has the on-and-off protection of Kouta Kazuraba," Kaito said with a tired smirk. "Even off-world, he can't help but poke his nose into things and set off massive chain reactions. James, the energy scan that completed after the second battle of Team RWBY in the Vytal Tourney came back. There's concrete evidence that Kazuraba gave the Belts to those four girls."
As Ironwood blinked in shock, Kaito nodded slowly. Although he had been brought back to life in a fashion during the ZZZ Megahex incident, his spirit had been still bonded to the Shrine Tree in Zawame City and it had kept the majority of his personality intact. Over the millennia, his connection with the Rider Grid had strengthened to the point where he was able to break away from the Shrine Tree and gain a relatively physical body. Unfortunately, this had he added effect of reuniting him with his Overlord Powers and fusing the monstrous form of Overlord Baron onto him for a few decades. That wouldn't have been much of an issue if he hadn't been captured by the Kougami Foundation for their research into the kaijin of the past. Due to overdrawing blood and several calming exercises taught to him by Kenzaki, he had regressed back into his human form and regained control of his Sengoku and Genesis Drivers, as well as the Lock Seeds that had been entrusted to him. When the Shattering had taken place, he had been, rather ironically, at the Rider Graveyard in the Mausoleum and had been spared the full brunt of what the blast had done. He had emerged into a world that was no longer familiar and one that was populated with the creatures of Grimm. He had only intervened in the following years once – wrenching open a door of a Vault that had become stuck.
The humans that came out of the Vaults had spread over the world again and, after one or two minor battles, formed Kingdoms on four continents. The Great War had happened soon after and, though it wasn't as devastating to the environment as the Neo Korea War; the repercussions were still being felt up to the present day. One of those families in particular, the Schnees, was proving to be a very irritating thorn in his side due to their complete control over the Dust mines. The only good points were the daughters – Winter and Weiss. Winter, of course, was the best Specialist under the command of the General and Weiss was now in possession of one of the Designed Systems. Muttering a quick prayer of thanks to her ancestor, Kira, Kaito ran a hand through his hair as he thought of the images that had plagued his sleep the night before. While he technically didn't need to sleep, he had found it prudent to rest his body every few decades to allow the Rider Grid to cleanse his body and mind. Unfortunately, the mind cleanses involved flashes of things that would happen in the near future. He saw Atlas overrun by Grimm and things that almost looked like Undead/human hybrids – much like the thing he had destroyed several centuries ago. The thought of another one loose to menace the world was almost too much for him to bear and he fervently hoped it was just a flash from the past.
"So, Gaim has made his move." Ironwood recovered from his surprise and began slowly stroking his chin. "Does this mean that the combined threat of Salem, Cinder, and Auric is reaching Hellheim levels?"
"I wouldn't know." Kaito shrugged his shoulders. "I'd ask him myself but I can't exactly leave the Earth."
The quartet passed through the final set of blast doors leading into the private sanctum of the General and, as the doors closed with a reverberating clang, Glynda finally saw Ironwood's shoulders slump a small amount. The man took off his jacket, draping it over a nearby chair and shook his head as he looked out of the window at the snowstorm outside – one that had just started.
"It's happening, isn't it?" His voice sounded more tired than she had ever heard him before. "What we tried to stave away with the Maiden Plan; was it all for nothing?"
"It's not all for nothing, James." Kaito began haltingly. "The Maiden Plan was something we all thought would carry us. All four Maidens working together would be a strength no one could ever take away from us. Even if the Belts were found, they would be locked away again as we thought that she would never unleash that monster on the world again. However, now is not the time for failing thoughts and loose words. Blaze, Gauntlet, Frostbite, Fatalis, and Arkos are active and they have been to the Rider Graveyard to learn their lineages. My contact there also informed me that the RAPTOR has also bequeathed Ms Nikos with one of his old weapons."
Winter shook her head in disbelief once more. Weiss was the 'prim and proper' sister and wouldn't be caught dead, if one excused the term, in a Graveyard where everything was dirty. She had mellowed a small amount during her time at Beacon but there would always be a large part of her little sister that was spoiled and who demanded the best quality from everything around her. Closing her eyes, she willed the magic inside her body to show her images of the recent past to confirm what she had heard. Electricity crackled around her fingers as the blackness behind her eyelids was pushed aside to show a deep quarry lined to the teeth with gravestones. Strange symbols popped out around her and she could hear the faint sounds of battle somewhere. Allowing her time-displaced self to move towards the sounds, her 'eyes' widened in surprise as she saw Weiss taking up an unfamiliar stance against a young Asian man with shaggy hair. Two round blades were in her hands and a thin sheen of sweat was already on her face.
"Faster, Weiss, you can do it faster. Remember what I told you – these weapons need to be extensions of yourself."
Her sister nodded once before throwing herself at the man with a growl. The weapons were raised up over her head and, to her horror, she saw Weiss' back seize up as the muscles protested the unfamiliar movement. Even as the weapons were falling onto the ground, the man was at her side with his palm over her back. Winter would have scoffed at the useless help if she couldn't sense the energy flowing between the two individuals. After a few moments, her sister stopped grunting in pain and nodded in appreciation. Stiffly crawling to her feet, she picked up the weapons and held them in a lower stance that was met with a nod of approval from the mystery man. Moving her field of vision outward, Winter marvelled at the amount of deeply intense training she could see the other Huntsmen and Huntresses involved in. The girl she had met with her sister, Ruby, was using her Semblance to speed to several points in the blink of an eye – even up to several points in the same eye-blink. The man teaching her, someone with long, shaggy hair with an animalistic tint in his eyes, nodded in approval and began speaking to Ruby in a strange language before seemingly catching himself.
"Sorry, I forgot you can't understand Japanese. Those speed bursts can be done faster. You may have to strike at an enemy several times in the span of a single second. Hopefully, we'll have the time to train your strengthened Semblance."
Ruby nodded once, before settling into another stance with her arms held out in front of her as if she was preparing for an attack. Red petals filled the air as the tiny girl rocketed away…only for her flight to end in a bone-rattling crunch as she collapsed at the base of a sturdy tree. The man chuckled to himself before jogging over, subtly turning to seemingly look directly at her and nod once. The Elder Schnee blinked in surprise and moved her focus to another part of the area to where the sister of Ruby was training hard with the Faunus girl. The way they traded blows was spectacular, even if it did seem as if they were holding back against each other. Her mental brow furrowed in confusion at that as their Auras would be strong enough to deflect and heal them so why…? The answer came soon enough with yet another Asiatic-looking man coming up to them, head shaking in frustration and exasperation. Looking closer to the waist of the newcomer, Winter's eyes widened as she recognised the familiar shape of the belt as something the Chief Technician always wore.
"Yang, Blake, you need to be more forceful with each other. The Grimm Monsters aren't going to hold back their attacks and there may be undefeated monsters from our time lurking around."
Thinking that she had been lurking in the mists of the past too long, Winter moved to pull her mind back to the present when a powerful flash from outside her 'screen' of vision caught her eye. Moving closer to the source, her mouth slowly dropped open as she saw the Champion of Mistral crossing blades with a man clad in orange. No, wait, that wasn't quite right as the redheaded girl was swinging her weapons at an unarmed opponent. He seemed to be doing a rather remarkable job with deflecting her blows unarmed – even catching a series of descending slashes with his bare hands. Sparks of energy and fire crackled around the two combatants as they danced around each other until a woman with orange hair stepped in the middle. Bowing to each other, she watched the other man roll his shoulders to relax the muscles before taking up a wooden practice sword to face off against a Hunter with blonde hair. Without a word, both men settled into sparring stances while the redheaded girl lifted her left hand up. Shaking her head at the rather strange move, her mouth dropped open even further when a bright orange ball of flame exploded into existence. Peering closer, she could hear the voice of the woman encouraging her.
"That's it, you're doing exceptionally well. Now, just concentrate on that flame. See it burning brightly inside the void."
A clattering sound brought her mind violently back to the present moment. Blinking a few times, she looked around to see that almost everyone was staring at her with varying degrees of interest and amusement. Rubbing her shoulders a few times, she glanced down to see her data pad on the tiled floor. Picking it up and checking for any new dings or scratches, she looked at Baron and nodded slowly. As the Japanese man cursed under his breath, she cleared her throat and spoke in a low tone.
"I saw her, Weiss, I mean." Her arms shook slightly as the shock over what she had seen finally sunk into her mind. "And the others, her friends and team mates in a graveyard with other people and what they were doing…I've never once seen my sister accept the help of a man before. Not even Whitley was able to garner that much from her when he tried to help with her bags. And the champion of Mistral was creating fire from her hands. And that man who was with them in the orange shirt was…his power…"
She looked up at Ironwood suddenly, her eyes brimming with every emotion she had felt during that short time in the past: pride, fear, amazement, excitement, and joy. Opening and closing her mouth a few times, she shook her head as she recalled the orange clad man and the sheer amount of power he had felt from him. Whoever he was, the power inside him dwarfed her own capacity as a Maiden and if he could be coaxed into using it for Remnant…and why was Kaito shaking his head?
"The man you saw in the graveyard," the Kamen Rider began slowly, "is not amongst the living anymore. He is one of the most powerful warriors in this dimension, if not the Multiverse. Unfortunately, this is not his story and he is aware that he will have to fade into the background until the time is right. Knowing him, though, that time will be soon but he knows not to keep the spotlight on himself."
Glynda shook her head in disbelief. If the man Winter had seen in whatever vision she had had wasn't alive, then how could he possibly help the students? It seemed almost preposterous to her that someone dead would willingly return to a world filled with violence to better the future of the world they had left behind. And there was absolutely no such thing as a 'Multiverse' as all research and science pointed to theirs being the one and only world out there that could sustain proper forms of life. Sure, there had been talk in Haven about breaching the wall at the edge of the Universe but it would take centuries of planning for such a trip to happen. On the other hand, stranger things had happened and the world, such as it was, was continuing to surprise her with long buried secrets and mysteries finally coming to the light. It certainly explained why Ozpin was so adamant against the field trip to the Forever Fall Forest, relenting only when she had explained her reasoning and the location they were headed in. It had seemed rather odd both then and now but, well, it wasn't her to wonder about the actions of her former superior.
"Winter," James began slowly as he heard the chime that signalled the room was totally secure, "what you are about to hear will shake the foundations of your family to the core. The Schnee Family has always prided themselves on being the strongest lineage in all of Remnant and have shown that strength in the Glyphs passed down from their daughters. The males have been strong-willed individuals who possess great mental and physical fortitude and their Semblances are shrouded in secrecy. A fortnight ago, before the CCT System fell, this was turned upside down. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of us, a stronger and much more powerful bloodline existed in the world from a time just before The Shattering. This bloodline did not come from Remnant. It did not come from Earth – not our version of Earth anyway. It is stronger than the Minami bloodline, stronger than the Branwens, Roses, Somas, and even the long-lost Arcanus'."
He paused and walked to a small two-drawer desk in one of the corners. The secure data pad on it was vibrating wildly, just as it had probably been doing since the Fall of Beacon and he sighed. Making use of archaic communication methods was a pain but insisting it be done to the other Academy Headmasters had been downright psychosis inducing. And, yet, he could see that his impassioned speeches had worked as information was still being shared on a slightly less stable network. Salem wasn't the only threat to the Huntresses and it was time Winter knew the exact reason why her father had shown up at Beacon.
"And your father will stop at nothing to possess it."
TBC…