A short time later - Skyreach Mountains, Spotlight Citadel, Inner Chambers
"So," I murmured, glancing around the grand hallway that Winter was leading me down. There were busts and statues and portraits placed upon the inner wall to my left while the outer one offered enrapturing views of Atlas' countryside via wide, crystal clear windows. It was dark outside, but that was alright, the ambient lighting put off by the very walls themselves was sufficient enough to see by. "Do you guys live up here?"
"The Schnee family does not live in Spotlight Citadel," the girl intoned without bothering to glance back at me, her voice neutral. "We reside in our ancestral manor, located just outside Atlas City proper."
Atlas City, formerly known as Mantle City. It was a port town on the southern side of the continent, toward the western end. Spotlight Citadel was located on the northeastern most part of Atlas, in the mountain range that generally marked the start of land too harsh to live in to the north.
"Ah," I grunted, taking care to scuff my shoe on the ground and watching as the girl's knuckles tightened in response. Her hands were held, rigid and immobile until now, at the small of her back. "Makes sense, I guess. This place is more vulnerable anyway."
"The Schnee family keeps a compliment of robotic guards on hand to defend Spotlight Citadel. We are safe here."
"Oh, I don't know," I returned, glancing at a floor length mirror on the inner wall as I passed it and grinning when I caught the minute purple glow emanating from within my fingers. My Aura was holding steady still and, so long as that remained true, I would continue to hold onto the volatile energy taken from Emerald's very forehead. "All it takes is one lucky hostile – you've certainly got plenty of enemies too… the faunus chief among them."
"The faunus are a menace to society," the girl stated. There was no detectable emotion in her voice – she spoke with a finality that indicated absolute confidence in her words. "They thrive on lies and slander. They extend the hand of peace with one arm but commit murder and participate in thievery with the other. Schnee Dust Company will not live in fear of criminal threats."
I blinked, more shocked than I was angry. It startled me to learn she viewed the faunus even more negatively than Weiss once did. On the other hand, I expected her opinion to be negatively colored first because she was a Schnee and, second, because my white haired teammate warned me about it. Thus, I was caught somewhere between surprise and rage. Most of all, though, I was resigned; it made sense that Hagel Schnee would stamp out any sign of weakness in Winter that he inadvertently inspired in Weiss. Where the elder Schnee daughter feared the faunus, the younger one only appeared to despise them.
'And that makes this so much harder...'
Weiss asked me to help Winter, after all. I did not know what she meant when she asked it of me on the airship but… now I knew. She feared that her younger sibling would be conditioned to hate the faunus on principle, and rightfully so. The girl was already so far gone…
"I see," I murmured as I exhaled through my nose. "What do you think of the White Fang?"
"A façade to hide the faunus' depravity. Only recently have they shown their true colors."
At least on that we could agree. The White Fang was once a force of peace that I fully welcomed in my family's community. They supported my family with an open-mindedness that I found attractive. They did not care that I was a human, they only cared that my family was faunus and suffering for it. Their food pantry had certainly made life easier for mom when I was younger, of that I was certain… The years directly following Phoebe's birth were hard on her.
And it was because of those years that I would forever be grateful to the White Fang.
But that gratefulness did not translate into blind support. I saw their turn from peaceful to violent. I saw their members turn from kindly caregivers to fanatical criminals. I saw their emblem, the wolf's head on a blue background, go from a universally accepted symbol of hope for the future to a foreboding warning of inclement violence. When that symbol changed to a wolf's head overlaid on a three-claw mark, so too did the organization that used it.
I saw their fall, maybe not as intimately as Blake, but I saw it all the same.
Winter hesitated, then, which caused my attention to return to her. She glanced back at me briefly, her bottom lip between her teeth in what I realized was her first show of uncertainty for the night. Her feet paused and, with a precise motion punctuated by a turn of only her heel, she turned to face me. The ambient light given off by the dust and the faint light of the moon combined to create a luminescence that lit up her pale skin and her almost equally pale dress in an impressively glowing manner.
"I am speaking freely because you are my elder sister's teammate and father respected you enough to invite you to his ball," she said, making and thereafter maintaining eye contact with me. Her eyes were much darker than Weiss'. "You understand that these things cannot be spoken of freely, lest a sympathizer start trouble."
"Of course," I responded promptly, stopping alongside the girl. "Weiss has told me much of her childhood. The crimes the fa- the White Fang committed against your family are… shocking, to say the very least."
Her lips tightened and I thought I saw a frown begin to form but the expression was stamped out before it could show itself. Still, the fact that I could detect the expression at all was telling – Weiss, if she so desired, never would have let me see even the skin around her eyes begin to tighten, much less any indicator of a frown in her lips.
"She was right to educate her team on the dangers the faunus pose to civilized society," the girl said, nodding. I only just stopped myself from correcting her. The White Fang was the dangerous party. The faunus as a whole? Not even close.
'Baby steps, Enten.'
"Hmm," I intoned instead.
"Already they seek to undermine my family's business with the very dust they have stolen from us. The faunus are beneath even the Grimm, for they have free will and they only use it to cause misery. Savages."
"Selling back what they stole, didn't know that," I murmured, breathing deeply. The volatile power held prisoner in my hand lashed out and seared my skin. My eye twitched even as my Aura surged up and suppressed the annoyance – I almost forgot it was there.
"You would be wise not to mention it in front of father," the girl offered, turning in the same precise manner that only she and Weiss could. She began walking down the hallway once more. "He is not pleased. And rightfully so."
"Noted," I murmured, half of my attention still on the energy in my palm. My purple Aura was as strong as ever and I definitely had enough of it to last at least another few minutes. I hadn't lost so much blood tonight that I needed to worry about lightheadedness or, even worse, falling unconscious. So long as the meeting with Weiss' father didn't run any longer than a half hour… I would probably be alright to hold onto the energy.
'I hope,' I thought. I did not like to act without a plan but… the opportunity to study this red power presented itself and passing on that opportunity was more distasteful to me than capturing it without any foresight. Replenishing my purple Aura without being seen wasn't the issue – I could just keep my hands behind my back while I did it and take care to not let any glow be seen – but the unknown variable of just how long I would need to keep that energy replenished worried me.
A sigh escaped me and I shoved the issue from my mind. There was nothing I could do about it in the here and now except keep the power contained without anyone noticing anyway. Besides, Winter just provided me with a very interesting piece of information. One that demanded my attention more urgently than the energy in my palm.
The White Fang was trying to move in on the Schnee family's dust business. I did not know if their robberies extended outside of Vale but I was fairly certain that would be a necessity if the faunus organization hoped to even stand a chance at competing with SDC's output. The company owned mines, canyons and mountain ranges around the world, after all.
Almost anywhere dust could be found, so too could Schnee Dust Company.
Still, it made sense for the White Fang to want to tear down their de facto archenemy. Shrinking SDC's influence would also shrink support for the people who opposed the faunus gaining rights. Moving in on their business with their ill-gotten goods was a win-win situation for them.
Of course, finding a buyer willing to purchase their stolen merchandise was another matter entirely…
But no, I could see the sense in going after the Schnee family. They were not well liked even among my family's community, easy-going as it was – they were the bogeyman to the faunus just as the faunus were to Weiss.
That part made sense to me. What I could not understand was why Roman Torchwick and his allies went along with it.
What did they stand to gain? Were they employed by a rival of SDC? Were they employed at all? Did they only wish to stir up the pot and cause chaos?
No, no because Ruby fought Torchwick when the man wasn't working with the White Fang. He was still trying to obtain dust but he was using some thugs from a local gang to do it. That suggested that he, too, needed dust. But why?
Dust was power, of course. It fueled our airships and our vehicles. It served as ammunition for our weapons. It powered our lights and our Scrolls and our communication systems and everything but why? Why did they need that power?
Perhaps they were employed by a rival company and found a common goal in the White Fang? A friend of a mutual enemy? Both sought Schnee Dust Company's product…
A frustrated grunt escaped me – Winter nearly stumbled – because I did not have enough information to determine their motives. All I knew was that Torchwick, Neo and whoever else worked with them needed dust.
Or perhaps they needed the White Fang?
'That has potential,' I noted. Perhaps they needed the White Fang and because of that they needed dust? Were they trying to court the White Fang when Ruby ran into Torchwick? …Yes, that made sense. The time of occurrences lined up… Torchwick and his allies needed the White Fang, not dust!
But then why did they need the White Fang? And, more importantly, what could I do to disrupt their relationship?
I was hesitant still to throw myself into the middle of this conflict because it was certainly bigger than both myself and team RWEBY but Blake and Weiss were determined to put an end to the White Fang's activities for their own reasons and I was determined to keep them safe. It followed, then, that I was determined to put an end to the White Fang too.
'So be it,' I concluded. 'Disrupting this relationship between the White Fang and Torchwick takes priority. Divide and conquer.'
"We are here," Winter stated as she turned a corner. The long hallway she was leading me down opened up into a parlor, complete with a massive rug on the floor, intricate armchairs, numerous end tables and plenty of decoration spread about its furnishings. I saw delicate glassware, ornate lamps and embroidered weapons of all kinds. There was even a Grimm skull!
'Must be fake, they dissolve when they die,' I noted even as my eyes continued their journey around the room.
Along one wall, there were double doors that were pitch black in color and managed, somehow, to contrast nicely with the dull white colorings of the dust walls around it. Other than that, there wasn't much to note except for the fact that the clear windows extended into the foyer as well.
"You will find my father – and your team – through those doors," the younger girl said, glancing in my direction even as she indicated the black doors with a graceful gesture of her arm. "If you require anything else, a servant is on hand through the door behind you."
I glanced over my shoulder to find a more plain-looking door along the wall at my back. It too was made of dust, of course, though its color matched that of the walls around it.
The sound of heeled shoes – not as loud or as sharp as those of my teammates but noticeable still – drew my attention back to the younger of the two Schnee daughters. She was pacing toward the hallway, now.
"Winter," I called even as I stepped up to the double black doors.
The girl stopped abruptly and spun on her heel to face me. "Yes?"
"I have a soft spot for romance novels too," I admitted, watching as her eyes widened. "Happy endings are such a rarity in this world… It's nice to forget about all the conflict and misery and lose myself in a light-hearted fantasy from time to time."
Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly once, then twice, before she clenched her eyes shut and cleared her throat, hiding the gesture behind one of her fists. "I am… pleased that you enjoy, uh, enjoy literature too!"
That said, the girl excused herself with a nod and retreated down the long hallway, her pace quicker than before. I watched her go, silent, until she disappeared completely around the corner. I then listened to the fading rhythm of her shoes until I could no longer hear them.
"If you can help her," Weiss muttered, turning to stare out of the airship's window. "Then please, do so. I fear father will have gotten even more tenacious given my… rebellion."
I turned to face the black doors with a sigh on my lips. They were foreboding and quite intimidating against the soft white colorings of the walls. Add to that the fact that they led to the office of a man for whom I held no respect and I ended up very tempted to simply wait outside. I wanted to spare myself the experience of being in his presence.
"You know it's not your fault," I whispered, placing my hand on her upper arm. "Don't beat yourself up for leaving. It isn't your fault your father is even more strict with Winter. It's his. His fault and his alone."
Were this man not the patriarch of the Schnee family, were he not the richest man on Remnant, were his connections not so invaluable to team RWEBY… I would have words for him. Even now, my temper boiled and the energy in my right fist pushed its boundaries once more. My eyes clenched shut and my free hand coiled into a fist. My breath came sharply from my nose and I felt my skin heat.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout. I wanted to rage at the man that instilled in a girl of five a fear of the faunus so powerful that it occasionally woke her in the middle of the night even now. Twelve years later. Twelve! I wanted to wring his neck and toss him from this stupid testament to his empire of fear and discrimination!
…But I could not.
My eyes slowly opened and I swallowed once. My Aura rushed to my command and snuffed out any hint of protest from the tiny red orb held within my right hand. And, just as my Aura suppressed the volatile ball, I clamped down on my anger.
My fist unclenched. My breathing slowed. My shoulders slackened and my jaw loosened.
I wanted to be angry. But I could not.
I could not because this man was useful to team RWEBY and, like it or not, he must be played nice with. Putting political power ahead of Weiss' suffering did not sit well with me at all because it went against everything I stood for. Everything I worked for. It was anathema to me.
But we were in a war, now. A shadow war filled with secretive meetings, subterfuge and clandestine missions that Beacon could not know of. And if team RWEBY was to fight in a war, then we would need help. We would need help to beat back this entity to which Torchwick and Neo belonged. We would need help to face down the White Fang.
So I would place nice.
The first casualty of war was innocence, after all.
She turned to me, a frown on her lips. "You'll need to control yourself if we meet with him. I appreciate your anger on my behalf… I appreciate it more than words can describe… I never thought I'd have a friend like-" She shook her head. "But you cannot make my father an enemy. Our team needs help more than I need retribution."
One last breath was pushed from my lungs, escaping through my nose and ruffling the pristine collar of my dress shirt. I straightened my tie as best I could one-handed and, after lifting my chin up, raised a fist to the door.
'Here goes nothing.'
My knuckles rapped dully on the black surface. The doors sounded heavy. Thick. Strong. It made for a startling contrast to the soft, lighthearted music I could only just hear through the inner wall of the room.
"Enter," a masculine voice called from behind the doors.
So I did.
My left hand pushed on the pitch black dust even as my right hand drifted behind my back, the red orb dormant for the time being. The door opened slower than I expected, its weight surprising me, but it drifted inward without a single sound at my urging.
A dark room greeted me. A room filled with long shadows, darkened corners and ominous shapes. The walls were made of the same dark dust and shed little to no light by which one might see. The far wall, however, was unique in that it featured panels of clear dust. A floor-length, room-wide window that outdid its glass look-alikes easily - the wall allowed the glow of the moon to enter the room unhindered.
And, as the door drifted shut behind me, I realized that it was also the only source of light.
In front of the window and outlined by the moonlight was a large desk, also made of a dark material – the dust, I thought. There was a tall chair behind it and, given the lack of light, its occupant was hidden in the shadows.
But that was alright, for this man needed no introduction. His presence was felt easily despite the lack of sight. The atmosphere in the room was stifling and I knew the figure in the chair was responsible for it.
Hagel Schnee.
I could only see the outline of his jaw, part of his exquisite looking tuxedo, and the hand that rested flat upon his desk. It was weathered, not gnarled. Aged, not ancient.
"Enten Melkweg," the man intoned, gesturing with his free hand to my team. "Please, join us."
The girls were arrayed in front of the man's desk, all standing. Ruby Rose was just in front of the other three, her shoulders and spine stiff, chest thrust outward and chin raised. She glanced over her shoulder at me even as I closed the door behind me, offering me a wink and a half grin, a gesture that I returned.
'Nothing can put a damper on that girl's spirit,' I noted even as my leader turned back to the Schnee patriarch and I paced forward.
Weiss Schnee was standing behind Ruby's right shoulder, her hands held behind her back in the very same way Winter Schnee held hers. Her gown, glowing down to the tips of her toes but never touching the floor, shown luminously in the dark room. Every shift of her body – of which there were few – caused moonlight to splash about the room and reflect off of the tiny dust crystals embedded into the silken garment.
A stark contrast to our Schnee teammate, Blake Belladonna stood just to the left of Ruby. The dark purple dress she chose for the evening reached down to her knees and served to absorb the light more than it did reflect it. Were it not for the window on the other side of her form and the pale color of her skin, I very much doubted I would be able to see her at all. I would have to suggest more dark tones in her combat uniform next time I had the chance – some dark greens or purples.
At the end of the line stood Yang Xiao Long. Her bright hair and dull white evening gown stood out almost as much as Weiss' did. But where the Schnee heiress was clearly visible because of her attire and her appearance, my blonde teammate stood out simply because she wanted to.
It was her presence, a presence she carried with her everywhere and exerted on everyone she met. Yang drew people to her with her grins – there was one on her face even now, as she arched an eyebrow at me over her shoulder – and her demeanor. She, more than anyone, was team RWEBY's heart and soul. A comforting presence, resolute and everlasting and infinite.
Even now, I felt the edge of my lips creep upward into a smile. Any latent anger I harbored within me still fled. My mind cleared and gooseflesh announced its presence on my arms with a rush of adrenaline.
I took my place between Weiss and Blake, my chin held high.
We were team RWEBY. When we stood together, nothing could stop us.
Hagel Schnee cleared his throat, one hand still laid flat upon his desk, and stroked his chin. I thought I could see a goatee there – perhaps salt-and-pepper in its coloration.
"I hope you found my daughter to your liking," he intoned, his voice a mixture of deep baritones and scratchy undercurrents that suggested a long life.
My eyes narrowed minutely in confusion because the man was still looking at Ruby, as best I could tell. She did not respond, though, so I opened my mouth instead.
"Yes sir," I said, my voice clear and louder than it normally was. I punctuated my statement with a nod.
Another moment of silence fell over us then, like he expected me to continue, but I did not. The energy encased in the hand behind my back stirred.
"Very well," the man said at length. "May I interest you with something to drink?"
"No thank you."
I would not lose the clarity that was settled still over my mind. As much as I would enjoy a little whiskey or even some rum, I did not want to risk it. That was, of course, assuming he was offering me alcohol…
'Too late now,' I conceded idly, pushing the thought from my mind.
"All the same," Hagel Schnee responded, placing his free hand atop the one on his desk. His head was still aligned with my leader's position. "Now that your last member is here, Ruby, let us move onto the reason I summoned you."
"That would be acceptable," the girl said and I could hear the care she put into pronouncing each syllable of each word. She almost sounded like Professor Goodwitch, now, rather than the girl I knew as team RWEBY's leader. "We are very curious, Hagel."
The man chuckled – a low, rumbling sound – and rapped his knuckles once on the surface of his desk. It was a far hollower sound than what my knuckles made on the door.
"When I offered you the chance to call me by name, I must admit, I did not expect you to accept the invitation," he said. "But that is what your team does, is it not? You defy stereotypes and expectations placed upon your shoulders brazenly. Carelessly. Like a Grimm in the clothing of a faunus, you exist on a level above that of your peers."
The man paused, breathing in deeply. Next to me, Blake shifted her weight to her other foot and, on the fuanus' other side, Yang crossed her arms.
"We are not a normal team," Ruby noted.
My mind stirred and my eyes widened minutely, honing in on my leader. Her shoulders were tense and her spine was rigid. Her chin remained elevated and her posture stiff but I could sense the uncertainty in her demeanor. Her tell was a familiar one: her fingers were playing with the fabric of her dress behind her back.
That last statement confused me and I was willing to bet it was also the reason Ruby was nervous. It would have been better to let the man speak, given he was heaping praise upon us.
Despite my concern, I held my tongue. She was our leader and undermining her here was unacceptable. She must have had a reason to make the statement and so, I trusted. I remained silent even as Blake scratched at her neck beside me. Weiss, in contrast, remained perfectly still.
"Indeed," the man agreed at length. "A normal team you are not. But I wonder… are you aware of the implications that come with that statement? With abnormality?"
"If by implications you mean attention, then yes, I am fully aware."
'Smart girl,' I acknowledged even as another one of the volatile orb's attacks was rebuffed by my Aura.
The man hummed low in his throat. "Pardon me," he said, his voice measured and slow. "I will not humor you any longer. I did not realize I was to speak with an adult here, Ruby."
"I find that hard to believe," the girl responded even as Weiss shifted minutely at my side. Light reflected off of the girl's dress danced across the room. "Your presence would encourage even a faunus to elevate itself."
My eyes widened and I clenched them shut as soon as I realized it – surprise was detrimental. Subtle queues like that would be seen and read by the Schnee patriarch. Surprise suggested a lack of foresight. A lack of foresight suggested a lack of planning. A lack of planning suggested a lack of interest. None of it was spoken but it would certainly be understood. One of many subtle conversational nuances in which Hagel Schnee was certainly well versed.
Still, I could not blame Blake for her sharp intake of breath or Yang for her grunt. Only Weiss did not react but she was also the sole member of RWEBY with actual social training. No, I could not fault Yang or Blake for I was caught off guard too. We all knew that Ruby had nothing against the faunus but to see her use them so eloquently as a talking point was…
Well done. It was incredibly well done, in fact. The insight, the ability to read people and work those observations into the conversation on the fly was something Weiss and I tried to instill in the girl on many occasions. Clearly, she was learning. Quickly.
'I think this is pride I'm feeling right now.'
"You give them too much credit," the man stated, his head still just as unmoving as the hand upon his desk. It was starting to register as odd. "But I do not wish to speak of the faunus, that topic will only weigh this discussion down and tonight is a night for celebration."
"Right… I did not mean to offend."
"You did not," the man said indifferently, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "In fact, you will find it difficult to offend me after what I observed of your team tonight, Ruby."
The younger girl's shoulders slackened ever so slightly. In the moonlight, I could see her lick her lips. Yang stirred, but stayed where she was even as her younger sister lifted her chin.
"We wanted to present ourselves at our best for your ball, Hagel. I hope we did not disappoint you."
"Quite the contrary," the man stated. "You impressed. You impressed many people, in fact, with your ploy to remove Coco Adel from attendance tonight."
Ruby twitched and her shoulders slumped entirely even as Blake shifted her weight again. Beside me, I heard Weiss inhale. Her gown shifted minutely, the dust within its silks again shining in an eye-catching fashion.
"Do not be surprised," Hagel Schnee continued, his face still shrouded in shadows – a fact that made him all but impossible to read. "Your plan was well crafted and well executed and, certainly, most of my guests played their part without ever knowing they were helping you dispose of an unwanted parasite. An exquisite performance that ended in a final act filled with chaos… Chaos that revealed team RWEBY as its sole benefactor."
I swallowed heavily and my eyes focused, futilely trying to make out the man's expression. Dread slowly began to claw at my mind for if this man knew of our plan then he might just know why we put it into action. Given I could not see his face, I had no way of knowing; precautions would have to be taken either way.
I widened my stance minutely and rubbed my knuckles over Blake's, the action hidden behind Ruby's body. Immediately, the faunus stilled and I thought I saw Yang nudge the girl's foot with her own.
'Gotta keep Blake calm,' I acknowledged. Ruby and Weiss would have to deal with Hagel Schnee for the time being. Yang and I would be necessary to make sure our faunus teammate did not act out. This was one of her greatest fears, after all… being a faunus in the middle of Schnee territory was dangerous enough but being outed as a faunus after her team lied to protect her?
Even more so.
Her name would be known everywhere and if there was anything the girl feared more than the White Fang's ambitions, it could only be recognition.
"W-we had our reasons to remove Coco Adel," Ruby said, her voice smoothing out after she cleared her throat. "I hope you did not find the brief disruption of the night's festivities upsetting."
"Oh, I did," the man admitted and, as one, my team stilled. I nudged Blake's hand again and entwined my fingers with hers even as Yang shifted closer on her other side.
"A young girl offended one of my most valuable business partners by brazenly bringing up his disgrace of a son in the middle of my ball. My ball. A Schnee ball. The insolence necessary to do such a thing is… immense," he said, his voice low enough to cause the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. "I was incensed, certainly, and had her removed at once."
The man drew in a breath even as I traced my thumb over Blake's knuckles. The girl was shaking slightly and I wasn't far behind her. The air felt colder now and the room itself seemed smaller. More menacing. Darker.
The red orb – something I admittedly forgot about – lashed out and inadvertently caused me to tighten my grip on the faunus' hand as I fought off its advance. My purple Aura was still there in enough force to shut it down but should the volatile energy keep trying to escape…
Blake squeezed my hand and I breathed in slowly through my nose, purging my mind of any and all worries until only a soothing calm was left. I would need to be careful, now. More than ever, I needed to stay calm.
"I apologize," Ruby intoned, bowing her head slightly. "If you wish for us to leave-"
"Hardly," the man declared in his loudest voice yet. It silenced my leader and served to bring any and all attention back to him. His was an authoritative tone, now. Deep and booming, respect was not so much expected as it was a given. "I was incensed. But then, Alrmady Alssulb mentioned my very own daughter bringing up a rumor that Griffel Tavla was, in fact, pleased with his son. My daughter knows better than that. Do you not?"
"Of course, father," Weiss replied promptly.
"Of course," the man parroted. "Of course… Admittedly, I wrote it off as a mistake. A coincidence. The product of my daughter spending too much time at Beacon Academy, amongst students without a single clue how to interact with the powers that be in this world… how very foolish I was. How cleverly you played even me."
I squeezed Blake's hand once more and then loosened my fingers. The girl imitated me and, in short order, my left hand was free once more. Immediately, I brought it over to my other hand, behind my back.
"You see," Hagel Schnee continued. "Yagaan Sarnai then approached me a short time later and spoke of how Ye'lo Malamig and my very own daughter told her of new found wealth in the form of a mine on Tavla's land. A falsification, I knew. But still, I grew curious. Twice, now, my own flesh and blood had spread lies – why?"
Slowly, carefully, even as the man spoke, I tightened my grip on the orb and pressed my palms inward. My Aura quashed the tiny thing's protests even as its prison grew ever more suffocating. But as its space evaporated, its protests grew more and more fervent. Gradually, I felt heat start to build up in between my fingers.
In front of me, Ruby visibly swallowed and raised her chin ever so slightly. She squared herself and, even as I stared at her moonlit form, a new found respect overtook my mind. This was the girl that, not even three months ago, bumbled into getting our team into a bad hierarchy. The girl whose spontaneous heroics nearly led to my death when we went after Jaune. The girl who worried and fretted and wanted so badly for her team to be friends and for everything to be right in the world. This world that tried her time and time again so brutally and so repetitively. So mercilessly.
But she did not crumble. Ruby Rose did not retreat or wilt under the pressure placed upon her shoulders. She adapted. She evolved. She grew.
She overcame being two years younger than her classmates. She overcame her social awkwardness. She overcame her nagging doubts over being team RWEBY's leader. She overcame her penchant to make rash decisions. She overcame. She surpassed every test put before her and she improved herself and her team by leaps and bounds simply by being herself.
And, now, she even proved capable of standing before what was possibly the most powerful man on the planet without flinching. She could treat him as an equal. Something that I knew I could not manage, not after what he put Weiss through. Not after the discord his company stirred up amongst my family's community.
No, I was not strong enough to face this man, not without lashing out. Not without being affected by his demeanor. His presence.
But Ruby?
'She's stronger than me,' I realized, my shoulder slackening. Gooseflesh developed on my arms even as I watched her. 'Is this how she feels when she watches me reason through problems?'
Time and time again, Remnant tried to tear her down.
Time and time again, Ruby Rose beat it back.
"I think you know why she lied, Hagel," my leader said. "You know why we spread that information. You know why Coco Adel approached Griffel Tavla. You even know why we had to do all of that in the first place."
The red orb struggled mightly even as the Schnee patriarch chuckled lowly in his throat but adrenaline was flooding my body now because when we stood as a team, no one could beat us. Not Schnee. Not Torchwick. Not the White Fang and certainly not some stupid orb! Ruby would have my support in everything she did!
Emboldened by the girl's presence between myself and Schnee, my palms collapsed on the energy and it immediately dug into my skin, cutting away at my flesh and burning my hands in the same way it had twice before. But I was ready for it. My jaw tightened ever so slightly but I made certain to stamp out any other indicator that I was in pain before it appeared.
No one would beat us.
"Oh, you are an old soul," the man intoned as his chortling faded, his free hand falling atop the one placed on the surface of his desk. "Then, Ruby, you must know what a scandal would follow if your plot was revealed?"
Blake tensed next to me even as a flash of purple escaped my hands and briefly illuminated her wide-eyed look of anticipation. On my other side, Weiss carefully picked up her feet and moved backward a step, toward me, until she was just behind my right shoulder.
"Yeah," Ruby conceded. "But I also know you have nothing to gain by outing Blake."
The man did not respond and the room immediately fell into a delicate silence because of that fact.
Weiss moved again, placing herself close enough to my side that our elbows were touching. That oddity caught my attention; the girl's focus remained on her father and Ruby, though-
Another flash of purple escaped my fingers even as I started to pull my hands apart. It illuminated Blake, to my left, again but any hint of light was snuffed out by the Schnee heiress' presence just behind me on my right.
'Smart girl,' I realized belatedly even as the man in front of team RWEBY leaned forward, just enough to reveal his chin in the moon's light.
"Indeed, I have nothing to gain," Schnee intoned slowly before he paused and inhaled audibly through his nose. "I remain impressed, Ruby Rose. You and your team have exceeded any other that I have seen before you, even those in Atlas… Perhaps… Perhaps I will send your younger sibling to Beacon Academy, daughter."
"I would find that most pleasing," Weiss stated, her voice taking on a breathy quality. Together with the fact that her eyes slightly widened told me that Winter's potential presence at Beacon meant a lot to her. Never mind the fact that I knew how much she cared for her younger sister.
"I am sure you would," the man responded, his head never even budging from its focus upon Ruby. "But that is a matter for another day. Today, in the here and now, I believe I have an offer that you will find most beneficial, team RWEBY."
The man leaned back, out of the moonlight and into the confines of his chair once more.
"We like diamonds – they're a girl's best friend, but I think explosions are better," Yang muttered, nudging Blake with her elbow. The faunus shifted with the impact and leaned into my side even as I returned my left hand to my front pocket. In my right one, behind my back, the orb remained contained and my purple Aura, replenished.
"I am afraid explosions are in very short supply within Spotlight Citadel," the head of Schnee Dust Company responded, monotone.
Weiss – who had tensed so much when Yang spoke that she hit my right arm and nearly made me lose control of the red energy – returned to her 'heiress pose' beside me. Shoulders back. Spine straight. The whole nine yards. I, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered with assuming a more dignified posture. Not now, anyway… the fact that the man hadn't responded negatively to my blonde teammate was telling. He was comfortable enough with the conversation that some humor could be inserted without any penalty.
Trust Yang Xiao Long to test her limits with the head of Schnee Dust Company.
Schnee sighed suddenly and I thought I saw his shoulders slacken. "Daughter," he stated, causing Weiss to lift her chin ever so slightly. "Why are you so close to Mr. Melkweg right now? No arrangements have been made between the two of you and I have not heard of any interest from either party in pursuing a lasting agreement. Thus, personal space must be respected. I taught you better."
"Of course, father," the girl demurred, shuffling away from me with her head bowed. "I was only-"
"My apologies, Hagel," Ruby cut in softly. "I told Weiss to stay close to Enten tonight. I did not mean to offend you."
The man stilled for a moment, then: "I see," he said slowly. "And your reason?"
"Is my own."
The man hummed low in his throat. "That may be, but that is my daughter, Ruby Rose."
"Your daughter, yes, but she is also my ser- companion. A member of team RWEBY. She is mine to command."
Silence fell over the room because holy shit Ruby what were you doing? I caught a flash of yellow in the corner of my eye and glanced toward Yang as best I could without moving my head. The girl arched her eyebrows and glanced at her younger sister, a grin on her face.
"You play a dangerous game, Ruby Rose."
"With all due respect, Hagel Schnee, danger is my profession."
The man swallowed and his fingers shifted upon the surface of his desk. His free hand disappeared into his lap.
Ruby, in front of me, remained silent with her hands held behind her back. The pantyhose on her legs and the dark heels made her look far more elegant, far more regal and refined than did her normal tights and boots. Add to that the simple yet beautiful blood-red and black dress and she looked every bit the formidable leader she was playing-
'Not playing, certainly not playing.'
Ruby was a formidable leader. I could ask for no one better to head our team.
"Your team," Hagel Schnee wondered, leaning forward slightly. "Team RWEBY… you will go far. This I know."
"Thank you H-"
"But take care," the man continued, his voice nothing more than a growl. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. "You are young. Vulnerable. Prone to missteps and susceptible to the consequences that follow them.
"You see, Ruby, you have me in something of a tight spot," the man admitted, returning to the shadowed embrace of his high-backed chair. "My daughter will succeed and so your team will succeed. The Schnee family demands no less."
Weiss froze next to me, statuesque in her motionless appearance and glowing in her beauty. Ruby, as if she meant to purposefully contrast her pale partner, crossed her arms then. The folds her dress swayed minutely and the dark cloth on her legs shown in the moonlight as she brought her feet together.
"Already, though, my blood has failed to lead a team. She has failed to live up to her name. She stands among her peers, rather than above them," the man continued, either ignorant to Weiss' slumping shoulders or callously disregarding them entirely. "But you, Ruby, you… "
My lips drifted downward into a scowl even as the energy in my hand stirred. Beside me, Blake exhaled sharply from her nose and Yang released a rumbling growl, low and barely audible, from her throat.
This situation was distasteful, now, and the resentment I felt for the man was only growing by the second. Hearing him tear down Weiss even as she stood next to me was infuriating enough that it almost drove me to speak up. And if I was so close to protesting then I could only imagine what was going through both Yang and Ruby's minds.
Still, none of us spoke. None of us, I thought, wanted to risk offending the man.
'The first causality of war,' I noted grimly. 'Perhaps our innocence isn't first... Maybe it's our integrity.'
"Schnee Dust Company achieved what it has by making smart decisions. Intelligent decisions… Supporting team RWEBY is one of those decisions. I am willing-"
"No thank you, Mr. Schnee."
Silence, once more, fell over the room. It swooped in suddenly and abruptly and brought with it a hush, expectant in nature. The room's occupants, as one, seemed to hold their collective breath.
It felt good to hear Ruby say that. So, so, so good. But I could not deny the chill creeping up my spine.
Refusing Schnee Dust Company was… well, it could be social suicide. It could be crippling to team RWEBY. It could be our deathblow. Satisfying though it may be, now, it was not wise. It was not wise at all.
"I'm sorry?" Schnee asked quietly.
Ruby cleared her throat and lifted her chin. "I said: No thank you, Mr. Schnee."
My breath left me in a whoosh and I was quite certain that was Weiss gasping on my right.
Slowly, the man in front of us placed his free hand atop the one still on his desk. For several seconds, the only sounds in the room were those of Weiss trying futilely to get her breathing under control and Ruby's fingers fiddling with the hem of her dress.
"Then we have nothing more to speak of," Schnee said at length.
I emerged from the study first and I welcomed the colder temperature of Spotlight Citadel's halls with immense gratitude. Toward the end of the meeting, the atmosphere had become absolutely suffocating in the Schnee patriarch's personal office.
I heard heels hit the ground behind me and turned to find Weiss stumbling from the room's darkened embrace next.
"Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no," she muttered, moving forward, a blank look in her eyes. "No. No…"
"Weiss," I asked quietly, grasping her shoulder with my free hand. When she did not respond, I continued: "Come on, let's get you back downstairs."
"Downstairs," the girl repeated even as Blake and Yang exited the study side-by-side. "Downstairs. Yes. Downstairs… to the ball."
"Right," I said slowly, tossing a helpless glance toward my partners. "We'll get you something to eat, alright?"
"Yeah. Yes," she said, blinking slowly. Her eyes were wider than they normally were.
"What's up," Yang asked, eyeing the shorter, white haired girl.
I shrugged even as Ruby paced out of the study. Silently, the doors closed behind her and she made her way over to us.
"Woooooooo," the girl breathed, her shoulders slumping. "That was super tense huh?"
"It was… something," Blake agreed even as I urged Weiss to move toward the hallway with a hand placed between her shoulder blades. The material of which her dress was made felt soft and smooth to the touch.
"Something… that's a good way to describe it," I muttered as the five of us left the foyer. The long hall stretched out before us, filled with softly glowing walls and attractive, clear dust windows that brought with them a serene atmosphere. "We might've just pissed off the man that knows about your you-know-what."
The faunus' eyes widened and Yang growled low in her throat, her hands curling into fists.
"If he tells anyone, I'll-"
"Do nothing," Weiss snapped, abruptly straightening. I stepped back, startled, even as she turned to face the taller girl. "Nothing. We can't- We never should have refused him. That was… It-"
"Weiss," Ruby muttered, her eyes widening and her eyebrows arching. She put a hand on the girl's upper arm. "You aren't really saying we shoulda worked with him after he said all that nasty stuff-"
"That's exactly what I'm saying!"
"Okay," I muttered, turning toward the inner wall to try the handle of a nearby door. The girls were not moving any longer and it looked like they planned to stay that way for quite some time.
"I'm not gonna work together with someone like that," Ruby decided, her arm retreating.
"Yeah," Yang growled. "He was totally out of line. You're worth more-"
"This team would have benefited from his support," Weiss argued, her voice quiet but shrill.
"Girls," I inserted, pushing slightly on the door. It gave.
"We don't need support if it means working with someone like that," Ruby returned even as Blake nodded beside her.
"What," the Schnee heiress said, widened eyes glancing from Ruby to Yang to Blake. "Am I the only one who sees how much we stand to gain? Schnee Dust Company is a worldwide empire-"
"Polarizing," Blake muttered, a frown on her lips. One of her hands fisted in the purple silks that covered her form. "Schnee support means picking sides."
"Girls," I tried again, leaning into the room. It looked to be a simple meeting room, a parlor of sorts. The first one down the hallway, actually, which would put it adjacent to the foyer we were just in.
"I am a Schnee," Weiss reminded the faunus. "Unless you want me off the team then we are already on a side!"
"No one wants you to leave," Ruby stated emphatically, her arms waving in front of her. "And no one's saying that your dad wouldn't've helped us! I just think-"
"You're making decisions with your gut again-"
"Hey," Yang interjected, placing one of her arms in between her sister and the Schnee heiress. "She didn't make any kind of bad decision."
"Girls," I spat, loud as I dared, opening my right hand briefly and illuminating the four of them in purple, ethereal light. It drew their attention to me as a whole, all of them wide eyed. The only exception was Blake – the faunus was instead staring through narrowed eyes at the red orb contained within my Aura.
"Inside," I snapped. "Now."
"Someone's cranky," Yang muttered lowly. The girl she moved passed me all the same, her heels clicking delicately on the floor.
"I have a right to be frustrated when you four choose the middle of a hallway to air our dirty laundry to the world."
Ruby sighed as she stepped into the room behind Weiss. "We weren't gonna-"
"What was that," Blake asked suddenly, the sole member of team RWEBY still in the hallway.
"What was what?"
"The ball inside that energy," the faunus said, her arms crossing and her feet set.
"Nothing," I grunted, stepping aside so she could enter.
The faunus didn't move, though. "Enten-"
"Nothing I'm going to speak of out here."
She huffed but, finally, strode forward, into the room and out of the hallway. The open hallway where anyone and their mother – or in this case, any couple that decided to find some privacy – could hear us.
The moonlight intruding into our makeshift meeting room was abruptly snuffed out when I closed the door behind the faunus. She stalked over to the far side of the room and leaned up against a bookcase even as Yang and Ruby settled into easy chairs placed in the center of the area. They were facing a large video screen used for what looked to be communication, if the camera resting atop it were any indicator. It was just under that object that team RWEBY's last member chose to rest, upon a less ornate chair that was shoved up against the wall.
In addition to providing Weiss with a backrest, though I knew she wouldn't use it, the walls also supplied the room with its light, just like they did the rest of Spotlight Citadel. There were no windows in this space, only two bookcases, the screen, a small table between the two easy chairs and three simpler chairs placed around the outside edge of the room.
I sighed heavily, slowly wandering across the length of the room and placing myself on the wall next to Weiss. I had a feeling she would find herself at odds with the other members of our team very soon – at the very least, I could offer her my support.
'Shoulda heard Schnee out, at the very least,' I thought.
"Some night, huh," Yang asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over us and shaking her head. "Your family sure knows how to party, Weiss."
The white haired girl smiled. "Welcome to my life."
"Don't sound too happy now," I chided, rubbing my eyes.
"Least Enten got some action," my blonde partner quipped. She offered me a thumbs up. "Emerald was all over you. Like. All. Over. You."
"She's clearly infatuated with you," Weiss muttered, one her hands fisting in her dress.
"You sound like you have a problem with that," I acknowledged slowly, my face heating. Yang was making slurping noises, now, and Ruby was trying futilely to stifle her giggling behind her fist.
The white haired girl glanced up at me out of the corner of her eye. "I don't like her. She…" The girl shook her head. "I don't like her."
"Smells weird," Blake added, nodding at Weiss. "Like… Like a lot of the smells I used to encounter in the White Fang."
"She and Mercury are fighting them," I reminded her. "They're Ironwood's version of Ozpin's team RWEBY."
The faunus shrugged and declined to say anything further, instead adjusting one of the straps of her dress.
"Well, at least someone had fun," Yang said at length, one eyebrow arched as she crossed her legs at the knee.
"With as much leg as you're showing, I'm surprised you didn't enjoy yourself too," Weiss observed.
The blonde glanced down at herself. "Am I?"
"Am I," I parroted. "As if she doesn't know exactly what she's doing."
The girl grinned and looked back up at me, adjusting the length of dress that had fallen away from her thigh as she did so. "Can't keep this much awesome contained with so little cloth."
In the chair next to her, Ruby sighed. "I need a leg slit, too," she bemoaned, picking glumly at her own, simpler dress as she did so.
A grimace overtook my face as memories of various men approaching Yang throughout the night came to me. I was quite certain that some of them were twice her age.
"No you don't."
"No you don't."
Yang grinned at me and I returned the expression even as Ruby groaned.
"Great. Now there's two of them."
"It's… not usually attention that I enjoy," Weiss admitted, breathing in deeply and sending an array of glittering lights across the room as she did so. "Next time, we can trade dresses, Ruby."
The younger girl blinked once, then twice as her eyebrows rose. "But… I'm not your size…"
Weiss' eye twitched. "It was a figurative offer, Ruby."
"Pretty sure she just called you fat," I offered as an aside.
My leader gasped. "No! I wasn't calling Weiss fat! She's super thin and graceful and elegant! And she's definitely not fat. Enten."
"Your words," I responded, my hands out in front of me and my shoulders raised in a shrug. "Not mine."
Yang sighed dramatically, throwing herself over the side of her armchair in the process. "Children."
Weiss released a laugh behind her hand and Ruby chortled alongside her. A smirk grew on my face and I saw the expression mirrored on Blake's even as our blonde partner returned to her upright position in the chair. The five of us lapsed into silence then and, slowly, I saw the levity leave the girls' faces. Smiles and grins and smirks turned into frowns and grimaces. Shoulders drooped and eyes narrowed.
"So…" Yang started.
"So," Ruby responded. "We need to talk about Schnee Dust Company and Weiss' father."
I swallowed once even as an image of the man himself flashed through my mind. His face, darkened and hidden by shadow. His hand, stationary on his desk. His focus, unmoving. Rigid.
A grimace pulled at my lips even as the red ball of energy reminded me of its presence in my hand.
"And… that," Ruby finished, nodding toward my right hand as my Aura rebuffed the energy's escape attempt. A flash of purple light briefly emanated from within my fingers.
My focus turned from Ruby to Blake, then to Yang and, finally, to Weiss. In each girl's face I saw varying amounts of interest and all of them were studying the purple glow from within my hand intently.
Slowly, I lifted the limb and uncurled my fingers, dowsing the room in ethereal purple light.
"This," I muttered, watching the red energy lash out at the purple containing it. "…I found it in Emerald's forehead, she said-"
"Woah, woah, woah, woah," Yang inserting, waving her hands in front of her face. "You don't get to just skim over that detail, big guy. Either you and greeny invented a new way to do the nasty or-"
"Yang," Ruby scolded, her voice shrill and her cheeks flushed.
The blonde shrugged. "You never know with Enten. Maybe his old man skills had her yelling his-"
"Would you please control yourself," Weiss said, her voice far louder than usual.
"Maybe you can expand on that, Enten," Blake asked even as Yang blew a raspberry at Schnee heiress. The white haired girl shuddered, muttering something about Ye'lo under her breath.
I cleared my throat. "Sure – I was out on the balcony, enjoying the weather and generally-"
"Grandpa Cold," Yang muttered to her sister, causing the girl to break out into a giggling fit.
"Generally," I said loudly, eying my blonde partner. She only winked at me and, with a sigh, I continued: "Generally secluding myself away from all the people who didn't need to see me. Emerald found me, we talked- Yang. Please."
"What," the girl blurted, her eyes wide even as she stopped putting her pointer finger through a ring formed by her other fingers. "I was listening!"
"Sometimes… How did your dad put up with you?"
"With a lot of patience," Ruby inserted, a smirk on her face.
"And tolerance," Blake added. The girl tossed her head, removing the strand of hair that was between her eyes.
Yang scoffed and slouched back into her chair. "Dad loves me. I tell him he's a fungi every chance I get!"
"Wow," I muttered even as silence overtook us. I saw Ruby mouth 'fungi' and then immediately roll her eyes after she was done.
"Huh? Huh? Get it? 'Cause fungi sounds like fun guy?!"
"We got it," Weiss assured her, sniffing once. "We certainly feel his pain."
"Good," Yang nodded, a wide grin on her face.
I rubbed at my eyes with my free hand even as a lapse in the conversation took over the room again. Ruby and Blake both sported unimpressed looks and Weiss was examining her finger nails.
So of course Yang would look incredibly pleased with herself.
"Anyway," I said, my voice displaying the exasperation I felt better than I could perceive it mentally. I glanced at my blonde partner and arched an eyebrow; the girl gave me two thumbs up. I licked my lips and resisted the urge to sigh.
"So this power. It was in Emerald's forehead. It was hurting her and when I touched it- thank you Yang – it burned so hot it dissolved the Aura on my hand in less than a few seconds."
"Dissolved," Ruby asked even as her sister's shoulders slumped.
"Burned away, maybe? I don't know for certain, all I know is that my Aura either vanished when it got near this thing," I continued, holding the red energy aloft, "or it got itself away from it as fast as it could."
"Then the purple energy," Blake asked, striding forward until she was mere inches from the contained sphere. The purples and reds splashed across her face in vivid waves, painting her skin and lighting up her slit pupils. She looked otherworldly. Inhuman. Or… in-faunus, as it were.
"Mine," I said slowly, taking the orb away from her face. "I… I think I found out something new about my Semblance today."
I brought my hands together in front of my torso and gradually tightened them until the purple glow had vanished from the room entirely. My fingers coiled inwards further, though and the heat began to build again. Measuredly, I pressed my palms inward.
"Hey! That burns you," Ruby protested, rising from her easy chair and hurrying over. The girl grasped at my hands and abruptly pulled them back again. "Hot!"
"Don't touch," I grunted. My Aura was all but obliterated now. The orb was starting to lash out at my skin. "Just watch."
"But it's hurting you!"
"Trust me," I returned, attempting a smile but ending up with a grimace instead. A drop of blood managed to escape my fingers and-
And promptly evaporated into raw, ethereal purple energy. Seeing it happen again, this time with more clarity than I'd ever seen it happen before, made it real for me. It solidified the fact that my blood could… transform into this purple Aura.
Blake gasped, her mouth behind her hand. On my other side, Weiss' eyes narrowed.
"What," the heiress asked the faunus even as Ruby glanced between. The clicking of heels signaled Yang's approach.
"His blood," the black haired girl muttered, her eyes wide. "It- There!"
I glanced down at my hands just in time to see another spot of red make it through my fingers. I squeezed the digits together and the liquid started to pool between them-
Weiss gasped, this time. "It- It's gone!"
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, her face mere inches from my fingers. "Into the purple stuff. Is that Aura?"
I shrugged and began to pull my hands apart. Purple energy seeped out between my loosening fingers and I promptly took control of it; it rushed inward, between my palms, and wrapped the red energy in a suffocating embrace once more. The excess lingered around my hands, resting idly upon my skin until it needed to be used.
"I think so," I verbalized as I separated my limbs completely. My eyes glanced up to find the rest of team RWEBY huddled around me, all of them focused on my hands and the volatile energy contained within my Aura.
Blake's eyes were locked on the tiny ball and showed no sign of moving any time soon. She wasn't even blinking – it reminded me terribly of a cat when its attention was focused. Yang was less intense than our faunus partner but she was still observing the proceedings, a hand resting on her hip. At my side, Weiss leaned back and glanced up at the ceiling while Ruby looked up at my face, her mouth opened ever so slightly.
"Emerald said she got it from a Grimm," I verbalized quietly. "A glowing Grimm."
My leader sucked in a breath even as the other three members of team RWEBY fell into a hushed silence.
"Like… Like the one we saw in that forest," Ruby noted. She extended a finger toward the red orb, this time stopping her hand a safe distance away. "So… that was in a Grimm?"
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Or so she claims, anyway. The Beowulf we saw was yellow, remember?"
"I remember."
"Who couldn't," Weiss inserted, a shudder racking her body. She shook her head. "That thing was… nightmarish."
I couldn't help but agree. The very idea of a Grimm infused with Aura – or whatever this red energy was – terrified me. The fact that the beast in question was of the same type that slaughtered my father-
-another howl, dual toned, cruel and enraged split the night and a shiver ran down my spine even as Ultimatum-
An exhalation through my nose and a quick shake of my shoulders dispelled the memory from my mind and eased the tension creeping up my back. Slowly, I opened my eyes – 'When did I shut them?' – to find my team still in various states of introspection.
An elbow impacted my side and I turned to find Yang offering me a small smile. I returned the gesture and nudged her shoulder with mine, feeling a great deal lighter. More at ease.
"So… what do we do," Weiss asked slowly, her brow furrowed.
"We get rid of it," Blake said at once. "Who knows what this thing can do?"
I frowned and opened my mouth to speak but Ruby beat me to it.
"How long have you had that, Enten?"
"Uhh," I stammered, blinking. "Maybe… fifteen minutes? Twenty?"
The younger girl nodded even as team RWEBY's faunus glanced her way.
"You can't honestly be thinking about keeping it?"
"How often do you have to, uhh, replenish your purple Aura?"
Blake scoffed but I, like Ruby, ignored her.
"I've done it… four times? So every five minutes or so."
The girl's eyes narrowed even as Weiss straightened, her eyebrows arched. Next to me, Yang grunted in what I thought was surprise.
"Are you light-headed," Ruby asked. "Woozy? Dizzy?"
"No, no and no."
"That's a lot of blood to lose," Yang muttered even as Blake folded her arms across her chest.
"I'm fine," I assured her. "I can hold onto it."
"But you shouldn't," Blake protested, her eyes narrowed as she got in my face. "Who knows what the White Fang have done to that Aura!? Just get rid of it!"
"What they did to it before doesn't matter now. It's not being used by a hostile and without a master, power is just power. It's neutral. Only dangerous if uncontrolled."
"You don't know that. It clearly hurts you to keep it contained - it might be a slow acting poison or an explosive… I don't know what! Keeping it around is dangerous and you know it."
"Don't tell me what I know," I shot back, scowling. "I know next to nothing about this power and that's what I'm trying to change. The White Fang is using it. We need to study it!"
"It hurts," Blake growled. "Isn't that enough? What more do you need?"
"No! No it's not enough," I spat. "Because when this gets used against us out in the field, I want to know what it does."
"Enten," Ruby stated, eying the red ball in my hand even as she held her Scroll aloft in front of her. The device's red light – its indicator that it was recording – was lit up. "Dump it."
"Wha-"
"Enten," the younger girl said again. "Please. Dump it. It's not worth keeping around. We'll tell Headmaster Ozpin about it and see what he has to say but you are not holding onto that thing, got it?"
I grunted, a frown on my face. Telling Ozpin was a given but holding onto the power itself was worth so much more… I could control it and if the White Fang were using it in their Grimm – the fact that they even had Grimm in the first place was a scary enough prospect – then I wanted time to dissect it. I wanted to know why it was caustic and what made my purple Aura able to resist it. I wanted to learn. To know!
"Enten," Ruby repeated, grabbing my chin and forcing me to meet her gaze. "Understand?"
"Yes," I said shortly, clenching my eyes shut. "I'll get rid of it once we're done here."
"Once we're done with this conversation," the girl specified.
"Yes, mother."
"Good," she grinned, twirling around to face the easy chairs again. She immediately started to flounce over to the nearest one. "Now, I believe we have one more pressing matter before we can go back to the par-tay! Not that your purple Aura isn't super cool Enten, but I'm pretty fed up with this room already."
"Someone got in trouble," Yang sang under her breath even as Blake and Weiss followed our leader over to the chairs. The three of them sounded like a tap-dancing team.
"Shut it," I growled under my breath.
The blonde scoffed and abruptly reached down to touch the red orb. I started to jerk my hand away from her but she caught it with her other one.
'She was always a little faster than I was,' I noted, relaxing my arm. 'If she wants to get burnt then that's her prerogative.'
But, to my eternal surprise, when the blonde put her hand near the red orb, she didn't immediately pull her arm away.
"Huh," she grunted, her lips curling into a smirk. "Not impressed. It's like a little space heat- Ouch!"
She abruptly jerked away from my hand and the energy contained therein, her smirk now transformed into a grimaced.
"Someone got burned," I sang under my breath even as she shook her hand.
"Can it," she growled. "It got hot faster than I thought it would."
"Guess you just can't keep up with me."
"You know this reminds me of the time you thought you could beat me before I kicked your ass… When was that again? Oh! Right! Every time we've fought!"
"Not every time," I protested weakly. She did have a lead…
"Right," the blonde agreed, arching her eyebrows. "I forgot. The record's only 162-58, in my favor, of course!"
"59."
"Ties don't count, dork."
"Then stop counting it in your-"
"Hey," Ruby called from across the room. "Should we find you guys a separate room?! Get over here!"
I blinked once, then twice. A glance at Yang showed me her mouth had dropped open. Her eyes, like mine, were widened. Her cheeks, like mine, were flushed again.
"You know," I noted as we started toward the rest of our team. "I don't think I like assertive Ruby anymore."
"She's a monster you helped create."
"You're not blameless, either."
"Well," Yang said loudly, tossing a smile my way as we reached the chairs. "I for one am proud of my widdle baby sister!"
The blonde promptly threw herself over the chair that Ruby was sitting in, wrapping her arms around the girl's shoulders and planting herself in the younger girl's lap.
"Ach," the dark haired girl spat. "Yang! Off!"
"But I wuve my baby s-"
"Yang," Ruby protested. "Sit in your chair! Go! …Sit!"
"I just want to show you how much I appreciate you," Yang pleaded, rubbing her face against Ruby's as best she could. Given how much the younger girl was struggling, it looked more painful than it did comforting.
"Off," the younger girl grunted as she finally got her arms in between herself and her elder sister. The blonde went tumbling to the ground even as Blake put a hand over her eyes.
"Ow," Yang grunted as her backside impacted the floor with a jolt. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open. She glanced up at me and then at her sister, only to find the girl pointing to the other chair.
"Go."
"But-"
"Yang. Go."
The blonde's shoulders slumped and she crossed her legs, grumbling under her breath even as Weiss released a massive sigh.
"Not so proud now that you're the target huh," I sniped at my partner as she shuffled around on the ground.
"You think you're so high and mighty," she said, glancing up at me, a mischievous smirk on her face. Quickly, she reached out and grabbed my leg before I could pull it away from her. "Let's see how you like it down here!"
She tugged and I promptly lost my balance. My instincts kicked in immediately and I curled inward to try and better absorb the fall. My backside hit the ground first but it was at an angle, given the fact that Yang was holding onto one of my legs. Thus, my right arm was thrown out to further absorb the-
"No," Weiss shrieked suddenly, jumping to her feet.
I jerked the hand away from the ground, surprised and startled because the Schnee heiress never screamed. Instead I ended up half curled into a ball and my shoulder landed on the floor first. My breath left me forcefully even as my right hand was crushed between solid dust and my torso.
"Ah! Shit," I hissed, uncurling myself as quickly as possible to get away from the burning energy. Glancing down at myself, I found that the red energy never touched the ground but the same could not be said for my shirt.
I shot an unimpressed look at Yang even as the blonde inspected the burn on my shirt. Weiss, on the other hand, was eying the floor.
"Sorry," the girl said emphatically. "I totally didn't mean to burn you or… or, you know, almost get all of us killed…"
"I hope not," I scoffed even as Ruby's shoulders slumped.
"Close one," the girl muttered.
Next to her, Weiss straightened. "Indeed. But the floor looks to be fine. All it takes is one instant, one mistake, and Spotlight Citadel is gone."
"Maybe you should just get rid of that now," Blake suggested, eying the red energy currently cradled in my palm.
I grunted and pushed myself to my feet, offering Yang a hand once I was standing again. "Yeah, if I'm going to get rid of it anyway… Might as well-"
My sentence ended abruptly there, however, because a knock sounded from our door.
A/N: Here we go… Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! We're about to throw some shit at the fan folks! Queue up a plot twist – ETA: two weeks from now!
That infuriating half-spolier aside, I lied – there'll be more than 4 or 5 chapters to this fic after all. I thought of something fun to do and since it was completely in character and made the plot infinitely more interesting, I did it. Thus, my new estimate on Reiteration's remaining chapters is 6 or 7!
In other news, that's also why I usually only answer your questions vaguely – the plot to this story often develops as I write it. It's nothing personal, I swear!
As for that red ball of energy, it has a role to play and it's certainly not Aura – Enten figured that out fairly quickly. Emerald indicated that it came from a Grimm, a glowing one, even. Whether or not you believe her is up to you!
And on Winter being younger than Weiss: that was a chance brought about back at the beginning of the fic. When I was writing this earlier, we didn't know if she was younger or older so I made the call to have her be younger here. Some plot points revolve around her age, thus, the change stayed!
Lastly, I have an announcement to make: two authors started a death battle fic of sorts for RWBY OCs on this site. The authors' names are: MeteoriteCreature and Sora. The story's name: RWBY – Battles Between Two. The reason I'm telling you this: MeteoriteCreature contacted me about using Enten in the fic and I gave them the green light. Didn't tell them about the purple Aura bit but… I have to keep some secrets to myself! At any rate, give it a look, as of today it only has one fight but I love the concept!
XenotheWise135: Pyrrha has a time of death, just like Ruby, Weiss, Enten, Blake and Yang! Now whether or not those times will occur within this story or its sequel is another matter… Thanks for your review!
Nemrut: I like the idea of Yang recording Enten when he monologues, if only she wasn't emotionally invested the points he argues! Winter is younger, yes, and their mother is not Elsa haha! Thanks for your thoughts!
MrtheratedG: Enten doesn't regret much – call it a flaw or a strength, it's generally true all the same. The wine glass conversation was referring to something else… Thanks for your review!
DarkLord98: You may be right, though you'll know for certain next chapter! Thanks for your thoughts!
Glenloc: On the pairings: that is a very good guess! Enten is more than willing to try things other people might shy away from, his sense of right and wrong has always been more vague than that of the girls on team RWEBY. Thanks for your review!
Umbrardor: I think you've got his Semblance pegged. I couldn't have said it better myself with only one exception: he tries so very hard to survive, so he uses every single bit of himself to do it. Thanks for your kind words!
Name-Change: I didn't want to mention you specifically hah – at any rate, Emerald's motives are always shrouded in secrecy, both in the show and in this fic. She operates in a similar way that Enten does… who knows what she thinks in reality? Who knows if she's telling the truth or being genuine? Methinks she can't be trusted! Thanks for your support!
Victore chez: What is it indeed about a glowing Grimm? RWEBY 'encountered' one when they sabotaged that White Fang facility but otherwise they've only seen normal ones. Thanks for your review!
Xelguru: Thanks for the heads up – I didn't know there was a RWBY subreddit, much less a fanfic thread. I'll start heading over there more often! Thanks for your review!
Guest Numero Dos: The wine glass conversation was more about a certain second year that he feels failed in her duties. All his opinion, though, nothing serious! Honest! As for the purple Aura – it wasn't born out of chance, his Semblance is a little more static than that. It's similar in practice to Cinder's glove though it doesn't automatically implant power into the user (obviously). Thanks for your thoughts!
Isodrink: He never intended to inject it into himself, he just wanted to hold onto it until he could put it in something to study it. As for the brashness of the decision… Yeah, hah, it was pretty brash but he saw a chance and took it. Unfortunately, his team disagrees with his thoughts. Bah. Thanks for your review!
Riero: No embarrassment necessary – this was the first I'd heard of those sites. I think I'll finish Reiteration first but once that's done, I'll check them out! Thanks for the heads up!
Smithrooks: Emerald? Manipulative? Never! Our Lord and Savior Wine Glass would not allow it! Thanks for your thoughts!
Enigma infinite: His notes were handwritten up until he was 8 (when he got the Scroll), at which point he just started to take them directly in his Scroll. As for the notes pre-8, he took pictures of them and destroyed the paper copies. Thanks for your thoughts!
To my reviewers as a whole: Thank you for your reviews, your thoughts, your input, your opinions and the time it took you to leave them! I appreciate each review and read through all of them! Thank you!
Till next time…
-Phailen