START OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE


Two weeks later, winter vacation...

"Blake! Come on!" Ruby called back, as if the faunus wasn't using crutches, and that it wasn't snowing. Beacon was absolutely covered in snow, and even more was on the way. She was grateful that they'd be heading for a sunny beach in Patch.

While she had been using her Aura to heal her leg, it was slow going. Now that she was on break, she could heal it faster and for longer periods of time, considering that classes were over with. Hopefully she'd have it healed within the week-

"So, you going with the sisters?" Weiss inquired, drawing the cat girl's attention. The chill barely affected her; she was wearing her signature bolero jacket and skirt combo, but was also wearing a pair of black leggings to cover her legs. Blake on the otherhand had on a marshmallow jacket, colored purple, and her legs were covered by a pair of black denim jeans. The sisters wore color-coordinated jackets, matching their respective colors.

"I don't think it was really an option." The faunus replied with a small smile.

"It's not!" Yang retorted.

"Come on sis! We're going to miss the flight to Patch!"

"No you're not." Ariad stated, tossing Ruby a set of keys. "Because all of you are going to stay here in Vale, at my winter home."

"Are you sure about that?" Weiss asked, to Ariad shrugged.

"No one's going to be around to watch it, so, I figured why not."

"Really?" Ruby asked, her leg muscles tightening.

"No, I was joking."

"Wha-? Aw..." Ariad smiled as the brunette practically deflated.

"I was being serious. Get over here and give your elder a hug!" Ruby practically pounced into her arms, hugging her waist. "Thanks Rubelz. As always, I have rules. Rule number one, you wash your bedsheets after sex. Rule number two, use protection. Rule number three, that's it. So, have fun! I already gave your pilot instructions, so climb aboard that Bullhead and you'll be off to casa de Ariad!"

"Ariad!" Weiss exclaimed, only to be met with a pair of gleaming grey eyes.

"What?" The lynx inquired, a devilish smirk on her face.

"You...nothing. Nothing at all."

"Great! Now go!" Ariad stated, pushing all of team RWBY into the Bullhead that would take them to her winter home. She smiled as it took off, turning around to see Brafez, Pandora and Olivia walking towards her. "Howdy y'all! You ready to go to Menagerie?"

"Wherever you are is where I wanna be." Brafez replied, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her on the lips.

"Say, has anyone seen Xeñ?"


On the other side of Beacon...

"Snow! SNOW! Oh how I love snow!" I chorused, frolicking in the silky white powder like a puppy.

"You and your damn snow." Iota muttered, a beautiful smile on her beautiful face.

"I don't see anything wrong with loving snow." I replied, taking an armful and flinging it into the stratosphere. "There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with snow! It's so beautiful-"

I spun around, tackling my dearest into the blanket of white. "Just like you."

"You're such a gentleman," She chortled, squirming underneath me to get comfortable. Once she had, I lied my head down on her chest, accepting her warmth as my own and smiling as she giggled.

"Something wrong?"

"Not at all. But, sitting-"

"Lying."

"Lying like this reminds me of way back when. You remember."

"Indeed I do. I wouldn't change a thing, because, with how long you've been gone, my love for you has grown three times that number."

"Only sixty-thousand times?"

"There is no measurement for how much I love you and everything about you."

"It's refreshing to see such youthfulness amongst our elders." I heard Ozpin say, sitting down on a bench, enjoying a steaming cup of coffee.

"Why thank you, Ozzy. Care to join us?" I inquired, looking up at the headmaster.

"As much as I'd love to, this old man's days of playing in the snow are long gone. You enjoy yourselves. Monty knows you've earned it."

"Thank you, Professor. But I've got a feeling-"

"Woo, hoo?" Iota muttered, looking downwards as I looked at her.

"Did you just really make that joke?" I asked, an incredulous smile on my face.

"Mayhaps. Mayhaps not." She meekly replied, before brushing aside that attitude and grabbing my ass. "Why don't we go somewhere..."

"More private? You have yourself a deal." I whispered, the scent of vanilla already overtaking my senses.


Back on the other side of Beacon...

Nielsen watched the stowaway climb out of the cargo aircraft undetected, his yellow tail swishing in the breeze. After a few minutes of loitering, the monkey faunus walked over to him, a briefcase at his side.

"Sun." Nielsen said, smiled as the rouge passed him the briefcase.

"Niel. Here's everything you asked for; blue eye contacts, a baggy yellow trench coat, the dummies guide to internal monologuing, a pack of chocolate cigars, a worn fedora, and a blonde wig. Say, what are you going to do with all this stuff anyway?"

"If everything goes according to plan, you'll hear about in next week's paper." Niel replied, taking the briefcase and magnetically locking it to his hip. "So, did security give you any trouble?"

"Well, they don't call me 'The greatest stowaway in the world' for nothing. Whoa! Who's the hotty in grey over there?" Nielsen followed his gaze, only to find himself staring at his sister's ass. And while a great one it may be, he wasn't about that life.

"That's my sister. And the guy in blue next to her is her boyfriend. I don't think you've heard of him; goes by the name of Brafez Rasputin?" He smirked as Sun's eyes lit up.

"No. Way. The Brafez Rasputin? As in 'the greatest soldier in the world' Rasputin? The guy who killed two Diaskijút Grimm when he was seven years old?" Sun excitedly inquired, practically bouncing in his boots.

"Yes, that's me. Why do you ask?" Brafez asked aloud, only for Sun to turn to him with star-shaped pupils.

"Dude! You're like, my idol! I'm pretty sure that if you didn't exist, the world would be overtaken by Grimm!"

"I...ahem. Well, it's not just me doing the killing, there are other Hunters and Huntresses who do their part as well. In fact, I was only an active member of the Sect since eight years ago."

"Wait...eight years? That means you were eleven when you went AWOL. No, that doesn't make sense. The Brafez I know was kicking ass and taking names since he was six years old!" Sun exclaimed, folding his arms over his bare chest.

"Oh, you're talking about the 'other' me. I'm a clone of Big Boss- I mean, the original Brafez Rasputin. Well, throw in some Grimm biology and a few strands of jellyfish DNA, but that's besides the point." Brafez explained, losing Sun's interest by the second.

"You know, that sounds great and all, but I gotta go. Later crazy people!" And with that, the monkey boy jumped off the edge of Beacon's cargo dock.

"He usually like that?"

"Yeah." Niel replied, shrugging.

"How'd you two meet? I can't imagine you meeting him at a library."

"He tried stealing from me."

"Oh. Ouch." Brafez knew how that often ended. (Hint; with pain)

"Yeah, I didn't take to kindly to it."

"I can imagine. So, you going back home for the break?" The bluenette inquired, looking back at his team.

"Yeah. I'd join you, but I have some business to take care of back home." Nielsen replied with a forlorn tone.

"Fair enough. I hope everything works out for you." Brafez nodded his head, patting Niel's shoulder and walking away.

"Thanks. I wish you the same." The cyborg muttered, looking off into the distance before looking at the briefcase, patting it reassuringly. Then, oddly enough, he started talking to himself with a harsh Irish accent. "Well owdda you do, lassie?' No, that's not right. I'll ask Indy."

"You'll ask Indy what?" Indiana inquired, leaning over his shoulder.

"Would this voice fool seven dumb broads?" Nielsen asked, switching to his Irish accent.

"What? Where's that voice coming from?" Indiana asked aloud, looking everywhere with sarcasm dripping from her lips.

"Har har har. So, would it?"

"Dunno, depends on how dumb they are."

"Well, it's not that they're dumb, it's more like...they're smart, dumb broads."

"Oh, yeah. Now I know what you're talking about. People...called me that once, back in Atlas."

"Well, they were wrong." Nielsen stated harshly, before becoming confused as she laughed sadly.

"No. No, they weren't. Back then I was...well, a whore. It took a few pregnancy scares for Nat to get me to turn my life around. Our parents only cared about her when she brought home Lhu. Then..." She trailed off, tears in her eyes. Nielsen looked at her, taking his hand and interlocking his fingers with hers. "...I knew you'd do that. Niel, I don't deserve your kindness. Even after all of what I did-"

"Shut. Up." He growled, pulling her against him. "You ever think that maybe it's not about you? That maybe I derserve you? You are the one person in my life that I trust sleeping in the same room with. We have something, and while I'm not sure what that something is, I know not to let a good thing go."

"Niel-"

"Please don't do this. Not to yourself. Not to me. I showed you the truth, so why can't you trust yourself?"

"C-Can we talk about this later? I need to say my goodbyes and-" She muttered, trying to pull away. He shook his head, but let her go.

"We are talking about this, understand? Go ahead. You should probably start packing." Indiana stopped, turning around and looking at him.

"What do you mean?" She shrank back as his eyes softened and he seemed to shrink into himself. Finally, with the weakest voice he could muster up, he asked her a question.

"I need your help. It...won't be pretty."

Indy turned, looking back at Beacon. She sighed and turned back to Nielsen, embracing him.

"I might not deserve you, but I'm your friend. What do you need?"

"I need you to come home with me."


Menagerie...

Broken glass lined the floor of the Greyhound residence, obviously signs of a struggle. In the middle of the room sat a leathery mass of flesh, parting slightly in the middle. As the scroll in front of the mass started to ring, the parting pulled further apart, revealing themselves to be wings. A broad-shouldered man, standing nine feet tall, reached over to the scroll and declined the call, his bat wings stretching to their full length of forty feet.

He glanced behind him, at the unconscious forms of Cynthia and Marlene Greyhound, and Gerald Devucari, Cynthia's fiance. His emerald eyes were tight and cunning, having seen thousands of years crawl by. Bushy eyebrows furled above the aforementioned eyes, perfectly symmetrical as they observed the unconscious quartet.

"Soon, Xinhua." He muttered, looking at the night sky. "Soon."


With team ABXO...

"Something's wrong." Ariad stated, putting her scroll away. Brafez looked at her, nodding his head.

"How can you tell?" Pandora asked, smoothing out her dress.

"Cynthia always picks up her scroll. It's like the damn thing's attached to her. Once, she even picked up while having sex with her fiance. So when she doesn't answer, I know that something's wrong. Come on, let's hop aboard." She ordered, climbing aboard the Bullhead that would take them to Menagerie. They'd all said their goodbye beforehand. "Let's get moving. Pilot, to Menagerie!"

"Aye, Ma'am!"

Ariad turned to the window, staring at the moon.

"I just hope I'm not too late."


With Ozzy-do-Fozzi...

"So, this CCT, there's a glaring issue with it." I stated, gesturing to the tower beneath Ozpin's office.

"And that is?" Ozpin asked, taking a sip from his cup.

"If one of them goes down, all the others go with it!"

"That was intended."

"I mean, I know dust won't get you to space, but this failsafe seems kinda dumb. What happens if the CCT goes down suddenly, and people are trying to communicate with their families? Mass panic ensues, the Creatures of Grimm are attracted, and suddenly you have humanity ripe for the plunder. Just...listen to me for once."

"Go on."

"Okay. What I'm about to tell you is, quite possibly, the biggest secret known by this universe. Currently, that is. I've already gotten clearance to share it with you, so, here it goes," I stopped, snapping my fingers and stopping time from passing in a small sphere around us. Then, I leaned over his desk and told him everything. After I had finished, he nodded his head, stood up, grabbed his cane, and left the room, all the while stating, "I'm going to need more coffee."


With team (L)IN(N)...

"Thanks, Indy." Nielsen stated, looking out the Bullhead window. The aforementioned girl nodded her head, staring at him.

"What?" He asked, her face void of emotion.

"Why did you want me to come with you?" Indiana retorted, resting her head against the metal door.

"I... You like me, right?" Indiana gave him a deadpan glare. "Right, isn't that obvious? Well, I'm...I'm...I'm a father."

She had difficulty picking her jaw up from the floor.

"E-Excuse me?"

"I'm a dad."

"You mean they delivered?"

"Yes. They were their children. I wasn't about to stop them-"

"Are these women still alive?" He turned his head to the side, nodding his head. "Why?!"

"I wasn't able to walk after what they did to me, much less fight. In fact, it was only since last year that I was able to train again. Look, you don't understand what I went through. I hope that you never do. Hang on," Nielsen stood up and walked over to the cockpit, closing the door and turning off the recorders. "I have a plan. I want you to be the surrogate mother of my children. You can say no-"

"I'll do it." Indiana stated, standing up and leaning on the back wall of the airship, next to him.

"No. It doesn't work like that. You need to seriously think this through, not take a second to make up your mind. I'll ask you again once this is all over." He replied, shaking his head.

"Fine," Indy muttered, pouting, her cheeks puffed out. "Wait, when what's over? And how am I going to be their surrogate mother when their old mothers are still...alive..."

"You're a brilliant girl Indy. Figure it out." Nielsen returned to his seat, hanging his head.

After a few minutes, she spoke up, noticing that he had a small katana hanging from his hip.

"W-What are you going to do with that sword?"

"I have some rodents to kill." Niel replied, smiling as he took out the sword and inspected the blade near the hilt.

"You must have some big rats." Indy muttered, an airyness to her voice. He glanced at her, snapping the blade back into its scabbard.

"Huge."


Back at Beacon...

"So, what do you think Nielsen wanted with your sister?" Lhu asked Natalie, the greenette shrugging and polishing her guns.

"She never tells me anything. For all I know, they're getting married."

"With Niel, I have a hard time believing that theory." Lhu replied, chuckling.

"Yeah. Oh, hang on. Someone's calling," Natalie pulled out her scroll, stopping as she saw the ID. Mom. She declined the call and shoved her phone in her pocket, sighing. "It's my family. Sorry."

"You're going to have to answer them eventually."

"I know. But I didn't want to live the way they wanted me to. I needed to leave."

"What you needed was to make them understand."

"Lhu-"

"Nat. You know I'm right." He said. The elder Diclomedes sister sighed and nodded her head. If Lhu said he was right, he was right. It wasn't pride or vanity speaking, it was the truth.

"I...I. Whether you're right or not, I can't forgive what they did to you. That was the only time they cared about me. When I wanted something that didn't conform to their ideals."

"I was just trying to help-"

"And it ended up with you getting hurt. Please, can we just drop it?"

"I just want what's best-"

"What's best for me is that I never have to see my parents again. End. Of. Discussion."

Lhu groaned and shook his head; this was getting out of hand. Natalie hadn't heard her mother's voice in three years, yet she still refused to answer them.

"Fine."

It wasn't that she hated her parents, Natalie just cared more about living her own life than living her parent's lives for them. She remembered when it started, when she finally left.


Four years before...

"He was just trying to help!" Natalie exclaimed, blinking back tears as acrid fumes assailed her eyes. The burning wreck of a house, her house, lay behind her, and an unconscious Cthu Lhu lied to her left, blackened by smoke. Indiana sat beside him, coughing harshly as her lungs recovered from the burning wood and asbestos.

"I don't want excuses young lady! Where did that filth come from?!" Her father roared, , stomping towards the faunus before a loud and long click resounded, coming from the hammer of a large black revolver.

"Leave. Him. Alone." Natalie stated, hands shaking as she levelled her revolver at her own father. Her mother stood behind him, speechless. "He pulled my sister out of a burning building, while all you did was watch. No. You don't get to talk about him like that. You wouldn't have cared if she lived or died in that house, just that your perfect child would remain yours. Get out of my sight."

"You..."

"Come on Indy. Let's get Lhu and leave."

"Okay." Indiana gently helped stand Lhu up, Natalie taking his other arm and walking with her sister away from her "family".

"Wait! Natalie! Get back here!"

"Goodbye, father. I hope we never meet again." Nat uttered bitterly, rightfully so.


After Lhu had been admitted to the hospital, Natalie had started looking after her sister as more like a mother, taking a job at the local mall in order to pay the bills. After a few months, she joined the Atlas military, while Lhu looked after Indiana. Two years later, the three friends put together their funds and traveled to Vytal, gaining admittance to Beacon through a recommendation from General Ironwood himself. Well, at least that was what she had forged.

It turned out that she was a natural at it, and while Ozpin did ask about the youth during one of his trips to Atlas, she and her friends went to Beacon, hand in hand.


Menagerie...

"We're on final approach! I suggest you guys and gals get ready to go!" The pilot called back, rousing the group from their slumber.

"W-What? Where are we? Pan?" Olivia asked aloud, groggily shaking her hair as the Grimm girl stirred next to her.

"I believe that we're at Menagerie."

"Yep! Man, I haven't actually seen this place before, so this'll be as much a surprise to me as it is to you." Ariad stated, throwing open the side door.

"Ahh! Light! Close it! Close the door!" Olive cried, shielding her eyes from the blinding light.

"Well...hot damn." The lynx faunus whispered, her eyes feasting on the expansive city beneath them. Skyscrapers dotted the city, glittering in the afternoon sun. A series of canals divided the city into seven subsections, and a wall ran the outskirts of Menagerie, stopping at the ocean. Beyond the wall lay miles and miles of desert, dragging on until it reached the mountains far up north.

"It's beautiful. Why would anyone want to leave here?"

"Well, it's only looked like this since, oh, say, twenty or less years back. Before that, it was all ramshackle huts and a few castles from a few thousand years ago." The pilot replied, looking around for a landing pad.

"Oh. That makes sense." Ariad murmured, taking a deep breath.

She could smell the salt of the ocean and the richness in the winds; truly, this was a beautiful city. She saw the sun cresting over the mountains, it's golden wings outstretched and flapping, flying towards her with utmost lethality.

And then she realised that they were wings, and Xinhua was barking in her ears to jump and then the sound of metal tearing and alarm klaxons were all she heard as darkness overtook her.


Kanasia Estate...

"We're here." Nielsen stated, grabbing the hilt of his zanbato and placing the gigantic sword on his back. Indiana reached for her bags before Nielsen took them in hand, flashing her a smile.

"Thank you."

"I should be thanking you." He replied, opening the door and watching the processions below. Seven women twirled flaming sticks in circles, a rythym to their madness slowly unfurling.

"They always do this?" Indy asked, watchng with him.

"Pretty much." Niel answered, the Bullhead slowly lowering to the ground. As the landing gear touched the snowy ground, the women clapped their sticks against the ground, exstinguishing the fires as sweat beaded ther faces. They all had soft features and thin lips, their eyes on their master.

"Master Kanasia," They echoed in unison, folding their arms behind their backs.

"Girls," He responded, taking a step out of the aircraft.

"We did not realise that we would be having company." The woman at the head of the procession, Areal Atawami, stated, a harsh glare directed at Indiana.

"I did not realize I had to inform my staff." Nielsen replied, a threat in his voice. Indiana immediately felt the harsh glare dissapear, an emptiness left in its wake.

"Of course. Forgive me, master."

"You are indeed forgiven. How are my children?" At the back of the group, one Kitomi Karakutzi giggled, while Areal swallowed with guilt.

"They are behaving,"

"Really now? I hadn't realised you had grown a sense of humor in my absense, Areal. Kitomi, how are my children?"

"They are still the rascals they've always been. A shame they don't take after their father." The white haired woman muttered, an apparent sense of humor tracing her lips.

"I would find it a shame if they did. Areal, Kitomi, Caedo, Sacobi, Sadako, Hizumi, Kiari, meet Indiana Diclomedes. She'll be our guest during my stay. Treat her with respect. Dismissed."


END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

A.n. Holy. Fucking. Jump-cuts. Batman. Wowzers. I didn't even notice it.