RWBYond Home: Mayhem in Mistral

AN: How long has it been since I've had my computer? This nonsense has been pissing me off. The next three chapters are all single-parters. So they should be easier to get through.

Review Response: Kyrogue- Yeah I'm getting a little tired of two-parters as well. I was really proud of last chapter as well. Team SPRA isn't a team of childhood friends. That makes their dynamic way more interesting than CTEN or PNGC. Justsomeguy- I'm glad people caught the connection. The main difference is which way the swords go. Abraham was vertically and Argent is horizontally. Silver-eyed-knight- I don't think he's going to get that powerful. At least not by the time this story ends. But he will get pretty strong. Black Lightning- Void (assuming you're talking about the Grimoire) is going to be a major part of next arc. Anything else is a major spoiler.

Setting a Date

Winter arrived in the Blackwater Labs at dawn. The facility was one of the leading labs in the world. The brilliant minds behind these doors were responsible for some of the greatest innovations of the last hundred years. She made it a point to check on certain projects personally and regularly. It was here that Donald Blackwater was investigating the random Black Gates that had been springing up throughout the world.

"Donald." She called.

"General Schnee." The handsome man gave a half-hearted salute.

"Any progress on the breaches?" Winter asked.

"Well, we know that Avis Bran tore the veil to shreds." Donald said. "Twenty years ago your sister was hoping to use these portals to find renewable energy sources. Now everyone is looking to seal them up nice and tight."

"And what about you, Donald?" Winter threatened.

"I think it's a cycle. I think that's what Cipher was trying to tell us all those years ago. We take their resources they take ours."

"They?" Winter asked.

"It's just a theory." Donald said. "But what if what we've seen of Oblivion is their equivalent to our ocean?"

"That would be hard to believe." Winter scoffed. "Oblivion is the land of Grimm."

"Well, you see….we've had numerous breaches."

"Breaches?"

"Someone or something is coming through the Black Gate that rips open near the lab at random intervals. Everytime the Gate opens, stuff disappears."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Sometimes files get accessed from our computers when nobody is there. Sometimes weapons go missing. Sometimes it's medicine. Sometimes it's clothing. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason."

At that moment, the lights went red. The sirens started blaring. Winter gave Donald a look. He started running towards one of the sub basements. This was Donald's facility and if there was trouble, she'd be smart to follow him.

"Where are we heading?" Winter asked.

"Sub basement three." Donald said. "My com link is telling me there's an intruder."

"What's in sub basement three?"

"A highly volatile black dust." Donald said.

They reached the bulkhead door. Donald slid his ID over the scanner and registered his retinas. The door began to open. For just a few seconds, Winter saw the intruder. He wore a dark cloak and a mask.

"Winter Schnee….without the Winter Maiden." He hummed. Winter dashed towards him but he vanished behind a Black Gate before she could reach him. An instant later, the entire floor exploded. A dark hand smashed through the floor and tore its way through every level of the facility until it burst through the ceiling.

"What….is this?" Winter's eyes went wide. The giant was unlike anything she had seen before. It stood three-hundred feet tall. It carried a club the size of a lookout tower. It stood there for several minutes.

Her first priority was simple, she had to get as many people to safety as she could. Then she had to get backup and kill this thing before it reaches a city. The evacuation orders were already being blared. Emergency aid was being sent to Atlas.

While the Grimm composed itself, Winter loaded as many people onto transports as she could. Hundreds of scientists and guards escaped thanks to the underground railroad. Winter loaded up people into her ship.

As she started to take off, she sent a message to one of the few huntresses who could deal with something like this. She didn't get far. The Giant shrugged off it's sleepiness and through a chunk of the building at Winter's ship. It tore through one of her engines, sending them crashing to the ground.

Eiess felt like a great burden had been lifted on her chest. Something that had been holding her back for years was finally going away. She was finally cementing her place in history. She was going to tell the world that she was not going to just be another heir to the Schneider legacy. She was going to be Eisenhertz Rose. She was going to live her life out in the field with Citrine.

"Ladies and gentlemen." She addressed the press. "I, Eisenhertz Schnee, being of sound mind and body, announce that from this day forth I will no longer be the heir to the Schnee Dust Company."

The crowd started conversing in hushed whispers. Someone said "told you so," before receiving some lien from a colleague. The fact no one was surprised was a massive weight dropped from Eiess' shoulders.

"This decision was a long time coming. I've had little desire to run the company. My brother Nicholas, is much more determined and capable at keeping this all-too important industry on the right path. The path that will take us forward."

"You're doing good." Citrine whispered into her earpiece.

"I will also be getting married, in the not too distant future, to the love of my life, Citrine Rose. And we will remain in the huntsman profession for as long as we are able. Because even though I have little skill in business, I have considerable skill as a huntress. And I will use that skill to keep the world at peace."

After that, she introduced her brother and walked off in dignity. She had rehearsed that small speech for weeks before getting up the nerve to say it in front of the crowd. Nobody seemed to have any questions that Nick couldn't answer.

"I'm proud of you." Weiss said as she embraced her daughter. " The life of a business runner isn't the kind of work for someone as….soft….as you." She gave a lazy wink to make Eiess smile.

"Things are looking up." Flint said. "Now you can actually...you know….live your own life."

"She doesn't have her own life." Citrine's voice cut through the gathering. In a cloud of orange petals, she embraced the former heiress. "It's our life." She leaned against Eiess' back and kissed her cheek. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some….wedding plans to discuss."

Citrine and Eiess returned to the penthouse in a lip-lock. Citrine's hands ghosted all over Eiess' olive body. Citrine helped Eiess out of her jacket as the socialite untied the Argentware's cape.

"I'm going to get us some champagne." Eiess whispered. "We need to finalize the guest list before we do anything else tonight."

""Well, obviously, our families and team, Team JANS, Team PNGC, anyone else?"

"Hmm." Eiess frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just realizing that we don't have a lot of friends here."

"Well, we're always doing things together and going on hunts and stuff. So all of our friends work all the time too."

"I'm also worried about picking a date. I want to make sure everyone can make it."

"Well, only our family and team really needs to be there. Everyone else will make it if they can. It's really the thought that counts." Citrine shrugged.

"Even then, with everything that's going on in Mistral, I want to hold off on a specific date. I want to wait until we at least have some kind of handle on the situation."

"Or we can just make Oscar and Leo let them all take a brief break on the day of our wedding. I'm sure Oscar would allow it."

"It's not Oscar I'm worried about." Eiess said. "Leo has a lot on his plate and….unlike Oscar he was kinda forced into it without knowing a lot about how the academies are run."

"We'll talk to him later. It's the middle of the night there." Citrine said.

"Yeah." She leaned on her fiance's shoulder. "I'm glad I had all the paper and legal work done before the announcement."

"How come?"

"All that paperwork to make Nick the heir. I can't imagine trying to do all that with the media hounding me." She chuckled.

"Well, is that more time for us now or less time for us before?" Citrine rocked back and forth.

"Both?"

"Well either way, maybe we can take advantage of that time?" Citrine suggested.

"We are. We're working. On our wedding plans." Eiess shot her advances down.

"How hard can planning for a wedding be?" Citrine huffed.

"Oh you really want to know?" Eiess threatened. Citrine gave pause.

"Yes?"

"Here's an itemized list of all the services that go into a wedding." She handed Citrine a list. "We have to find people to cover all of this, negotiate the time and place, pick out literally everything and put it all together."

"Sweet savior." Citrine sighed. "You're taking this seriously, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. If for no other reason I want it to be worth the wait. It's the most important night of our lives."

"Yeah, I know." Citrine kissed Eiess on the cheek. "But would it kill you to hire someone to do this."

"No! I have it all in my head already and I want to bring that vision to life. We'll both be wearing beautiful dresses. I figure Topaz and Nephrite can be our Maids of Honor. We dance and sing and it's going to be a magical day of activities."

"You really do have this all figured out. I didn't think you were taking the aesthetic details so seriously. I figured you'd be fine with anything so long as it happens."

"Maybe if you would have proposed right out of Beacon instead of making me wait a few years after that."

"Oh so now it's my fault?" Citrine started laughing.

"You're far too carefree to deal with these intricate details. I'd probably do fine on my own but I still want your input"

"Make everything orange and it's a party." She said.

Before she could continue, Citrine's scroll started ringing.

Winter brushed the blood from her face. The smoldering wreckage provided ample cover and enough heat for her and the survivors. She had shielded everyone with her glyphs. Thanks to that, they were alive. Now, they were stranded in the great wide north with precious few resources and a giant Grimm looming in the distance.

"General Schnee?" A scientist named Vados asked. "Is it coming this way?"

"No." Winter said. "It looks to be heading towards Atlas."

"But if that thing reaches Atlas, surely the city's defenses can take care of it."

"Probably." Winter said. "Not only that but the Maiden is overlooking the academy in my absence. But I'm more worried about the handful of settlements that are in between."

"I'm more worried about us." Vados said. "Grimm don't tend to come around here because of the extreme cold but that's the point. If it's too cold for us it's too cold for the Grimm."

"We need to send for help." Winter said. "There's no way we can make it across on our own. Especially with the true culprit still out there."

Winter was thinking about The Masked Man. He attacked Blackwater Labs for a reason. It was the same as in Mistral. Only when he popped up in Mistral he summoned Panic. Did that mean he hadn't aligned himself with any other Grimoire? Or did he already free all the Grimoire?

"Do we have any kind of communication yet?" Winter asked.

"I think I can send a feint signal to Atlas." Vados said. "But I'll have to bounce it around a bit. So it'll have to be short."

"Okay." Winter thought about who she should send the message to and what she should say.

"General, we only have enough power to send one message."

"Send one to my niece." Winter said.

"Your niece? Eiess? What for?"

"Because….I believe there are only two people in all of Mantle who can take down that giant and rescue us before someone gets hurt. One of them is the Winter Maiden, but she has a school to watch over. The other is the Argentware, Citrine Rose."

"Eiess' fiance." Vados nodded.

"Do you really think the two of them together can save you?" A hollow voice echoed. Winter turned around. The Masked Man stood on the smoking engine of the crashed ship.

"What is it you want?" Winter drew her sword.

"This thing, this Argentware….it has sparked my curiosity. I'd very much like to see it in action."

"You're going to pay for this curiosity." Winter lunged with her blade. Dark energy came from The Masked Man's shoulder, forming a shield to block the blade.

"I will not pursue your destruction on this day." The Masked Man said. "I merely wanted something from the lab."

Winter summoned a blast glyph to take out his feet. She bound him in glyphs and blasted him with lightning. He crashed into the snow face first. She summoned a trio of beowolves to swarm him.

"Interesting." He said. A Black Gate appeared behind him. "I can see a battle with you would require more energy than it's worth. I'll come for you...later."

"Coward!" Winter cursed. He was gone but everyone was still safe. "Vados send that message. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Eiess looked at the message on her scroll. It was a call for help and a location. The location was out in the frozen tundra. She thought it could be a trap. She tried getting a response to no avail. Then she contacted Atlas Academy to see what they could make of this.

"Ms. Winter is out for the weekend." Ebony said. "She was inspecting Blackwater Labs."

"Have you heard anything back from her?" Eiess asked.

"No, but that's normal." Ebony said. "Communications to such remote areas are always a crap shoot."

"I see." Eiess said.

"This location is on the way to Blackwater Labs." Ebony said.

"Then why send a message to me? Why not contact the lab? Or better yet, Atlas Academy?" Eiess asked.

"Figure it out Ms. Eiess." Ebony said.

"I'll ask Citrine what she thinks when she gets back." Eiess said.

"We'll stay in touch if we hear anything." Ebony ended the call.

"Honey, I'm home." Citrine said as she opened the door. "I bought those samples just as you asked."

"Never mind that now." Eiess said as she opened her scroll. "What do you think of this?"

"What am I looking at?" Citrine asked.

"I got this message a little while ago."

"Sounds like we have an adventure getting in the way of our wedding planning. Yippee!" She cheered. "Oh, I mean, what a shame." She said sarcastically.

"Well, if you quickly pack up your stuff we can be there in about two hours."

"Sounds like a plan." Citrine said.

"Okay, I'll tell Ebony just in case something happens and we need backup." Eiess called up Ebony. She took a minute to answer.

"Ms. Eiess, I was just getting ready to call you." Ebony's voice was panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Blackwater Labs was attacked. Most of the people made it back but Winter's ship is still unaccounted for. I'm sending some people to investigate."

"That must be who sent the signal." Eiess said.

"We're leaving immediately." Citrine said now that she knew the situation.

"Stay safe." Ebony said.

"We'll stay as safe as we can." Citrine responded as she ended the call. "Who would do such a thing?"

"The better question is, who could?" Eiess asked.

"You thinking it's Cinder?"

"She's the only one with the resources and motives to pull something like this off."

"What about the Grimoire?" Citrine asked. "If Panic is running around Mistral it's only a matter of time before the rest come around."

"That's another worry." Eiess said. "I wish we weren't going alone."

"Between your semblance and my eyes, we can take down any monster."

"Once again I find myself envious of your optimism." Eiess noted. "We should be on guard the entire way."

"That's a good idea." Citrine said. "But our first priority is rescuing your aunt and the people with her."

Winter looked into the distance. The giant had stopped. It now stood between Winter's group and any aid that might come for them. It wasn't far either. Winter could see it clearly. It was close enough that when reinforcements came, she could join the fray.

An airship burst from the clouds. The giant tried swinging at it. The ship pulled off an evasive maneuver. Two huntsmen dropped from the ship. A soldier manned the side gun and started blasting the giant.

Winter summoned a griffon for a steed to join the fray. Eiess and Citrine had arrived with a few soldiers. As the gunship distracted the giant, another ship slipped through and headed towards the wreckage.

Eiess rode on a griffon and fired bolts around the monster's head. The giant tried slamming a fist down on Eiess. The summon flew around and ran up its arm. Eiess flipped off of her steed. The spirit slammed into the monster's face. Eiess slashed at the monster's neck to no avail.

The monster buckled and Eiess fell off. Winter caught Eiess from her fall. Citrine scattered up to the monster's face. Both Schnees cast time dilation on Citrine. She unleashed the full power of the Argentware. The monster gave pause. The ship unleashed a barrage of missiles into the beast's head.

"This thing is too strong." Eiess said. "Nothing is working."

Despite taking numerous blows to the head, the giant stayed standing. The light in Citrine's eyes faded. The monster became mobile again. It opened up its jaw and screamed. The roar sent sonic waves that blasted the three girls into the snow. It turned its attention onto the ship.

"We just have to distract it a little longer." Winter said. The transport ship was loaded up with the survivors.

"We have to take this thing out now." Citrine said. "We can't let this thing reach a settlement."

"Citrine, we may have to retreat. We'll evacuate the area and let the railgun in Atlas deal with it."

"And if that doesn't work?" Citrine asked.

"Then nothing we can do here will work." Winter said. "You're just like your parents. Sometimes it's better to fall back and pick a wiser battle."

"We have to at least try." Citrine said. "Go for the legs!" She scattered off.

Despite the impulsiveness she inherited from her mother, this was the opposite of Ruby's line of thinking back during the Grimm War. They had fought an impossibly large Grimm back then and Ruby had used herself as bait to lure it to Crete Fortress.

"Winter, I'm going to melt the ice underneath its feet." Eiess said.

"I'll focus on one of its knees." Citrine was slashing away at one of its knees so Winter focused on the other one.

The gunship kept distracting it from a safe distance. Eiess channeled fire dust through her sword. Winter summoned the arms of the Hecatonchires, largest of all Grimm to bind the other leg. The ice began to crack and give way. The giant fell through. Citrine unfurled her scythe and slashed up at the monster. She used the giant's massive weight, gravity and momentum, to do all the work. She cleaved through its head as it crashed into the sloshy pit.

Winter and Eiess worked together to freeze the ground again. The monster became trapped in the ground. It was too covered in ice and too immobile to to break out. Citrine stood on the monster's chest. She stared it down. White light returned to her eyes as she tried freezing it.

"Citrine it's too big!" Eiess said.

"I have to try." Citrine said. "My mom was able to freeze a dragon without any training."

"Your mother was also the Spring Maiden and a dragon is far smaller than a giant!" Winter said.

The light enveloped the area. By the time it faded, the giant was gone. Winter and Eiess looked around. Citrine stood confused on the frozen tundra. The airship landed nearby and ushered them to leave.

"I don't get it." Citrine said. "Did I do it."

"Not exactly." A grave voice said. Standing atop a sheet of ice that had spiked up from the giant's fall, was The Masked Man.

The Masked Man had been watching the proceedings the entire time. There was something about his presence that created a pit in Citrine's stomach. Her instincts were telling her to kill him. Every fiber in her body was warning her to kill him before he kills her.

"So, that was the Light of Abraham." The Masked Man said. "I've heard so much about it that I had to see for myself."

"Who are you?" Citrine asked.

"I am Remnant's reckoning." The Masked Man said. "I have everything I came for. You won, the day is saved. The civilians are safe. You can go home."

"Not until you answer me." Citrine dashed forward.

"Citrine wait!" Winter warned.

Citrine slammed The Masked Man off the pedestal. They flew through the air but when they landed they were in a deadlock. The Masked Man was equaling her strength.

"What do you want?" Citrine asked.

"Would you believe me if I said I was saving the world?"

"No one who uses Grimm wants to save the world." Citrine countered.

"Well, I never said it was your world I was saving." Masked Man said. His arm began to glow with red runed. A dark shadowy figure appeared behind him and slapped Citrine away. Before she could gain her footing, The Masked Man had a grip on her cloak. He used a Black Gate to teleport her to a volcanic plain where he slammed her into the molten ground. Her aura took the blow but then he teleported the both of them to a mountain side. Citrine's lungs hitched at the abrupt shift in atmosphere. A second later she was back in Mantle, face first in the snow.

"Citrine!" Eiess screamed. She fired a glyph that bound The Masked Man's hands. He easily snapped out of the cuffs.

"I gave you a chance to walk away." The Masked Man said. Citrine threw her shield at him. It bounced off his wrist and back to her hand. She unfurled it into its scythe form.

"You're not laying a hand on anybody anymore." Citrine said.

"And who's going to stop me? You? The only one that can match me is The Guardian of Remnant."

"Prim?"

"So, that's her name."

"What do you want with Prim? What is it you want?"

"It is as I said. Now, Argentware, the time for talking has ended." The Masked Man summoned a black sword. "By the power of the gods of the twin worlds, I unbind thee. Vita Noctis." The blade screamed as it sliced through the air. Citrine blocked it with her scythe.

"Watch out!" Eiess warned. The attack was an illusion. The real attack hit Citrine in her blind spot. The blade passed through her and took way more aura than a strike of that power should have.

Citrine tried scattering away. The Masked Man grabbed a handful of petals. His arm glowed. A wave of aura traced the trail of petals and caught Citrine in a small explosion. Eiess swung at his head but was pushed away by his sword.

"Why do people of this world use such impractical weapons?" The Masked Man said. His hand snapped to catch Winter's saber before it landed a blow to his chest. "I think this is where we part ways. I am not strong enough to fight all three of you at once."

A dark wave of energy shot out from his body, knocking all three of them down. He quickly retreated into a Black Gate and disappeared.

"Citrine?" Eiess ran to her fiance's side.

"I'm okay." Citrine said. "What the hell was up with that guy."

"I think that conversation is best saved for when we return to Atlas." Winter said coldly.

Eiess drank some warm coffee while Winter and Ebony explained the situation. Only the headmasters, maidens, Johnny and Prim knew that Panic did not just randomly show up in Mistral. She was brought there. It was The Masked Man's doing.

"And his target is Prim?" Citrine asked.

"We still don't know." Winter said. "It's possible that whatever power Prim is tapping into, is the only thing that can stop him."

"This is what my mom was so worried about. This is what Abraham and all the others warned her about the night I was kidnapped."

"It would appear that way." Winter said. "Avarice said that something else was coming. Something that was going to make Avis Bran and Cipher look like the junior leagues in comparison. Until now, I just thought he was referring to a return of the other Grimoire."

"General….your slices are strong enough to give a Grimoire pause. You once even fought against the sturdiest of their kind. Yet this Masked Man was able to catch your blade in his hand."

"Not only that but he was able to outpace me." Citrine said.

"We have to tell Prim what she's up against." Eiess said.

"And what is she up against?" Ebony asked. "We still know nothing about this Masked Man that she doesn't already know."

"Still we have to consider the distinct possibility that Panic is no longer in Mistral." Winter said. "I will notify the other headmasters at once." Winter said.

"What about the others?" Eiess asked. "The people from Blackwater Labs?"

"Those who did not perish in the initial attack survived." Winter said. "They're being reassigned to other labs until we can recover the facility or build another one."

"Still, why Blackwater Labs?" Citrine asked. "There's no way he came there just for us. There's no way he knew I'd come."

"I spoke with Donald Blackwater about that." Ebony said. "According to him, the lab he popped up in was perfecting a new weapon that uses black flames."

"That's it?" Citrine asked.

"This weapon was designed to counter the power of the Maidens." Ebony said. "We should consider the possibility that he is also targeting Cinder and the other Maidens."

"Why Cinder?" Citrine asked.

"I don't know. But when he showed up in Mistral, Emerald was engaging him in combat alongside the vigilante known as Nightshade." Winter said.

"The two of you shouldn't worry about that though." Ebony said in a chipper voice. "The two of you have the rest of your lives to be looking out for."

"We'll stay in touch when something important happens." Winter said. "Until then, you're dismissed."

"Yes Aunt Winter." Eiess said.

"And thank you Eiess and Citrine. You two saved a lot of lives today, including mine."

Citrine and Eiess cuddled together in their bed. They were both exhausted from the battle and the cold. Eiess tried to take her mind off of The Masked Man and the Grimoire. Citrine was definitely a worthy distraction.

"You know, there is a silver lining." Citrine said.

"What's that?" Eiess' voice was smothered by Citrine's chest. Citrine ran her fingers through Eiess' hair. Their bodies flushed against themselves. Eiess slid one of her legs between Citrine's.

"With how The Masked Man teleports, he could be anywhere at anytime." Citrine said.

"You thinking that your aunt can track them with the Arbiters?" Eiess guessed.

"Well, that too." Citrine said. "They do have the ability to track Redstone. But I was actually thinking that there isn't a direct need for Prim and the others to stay in Mistral all the time."

"You mean we can have our wedding at any time and Leo would let her and her team go to attend?"

"Yeah, especially if we decide to have it in Mistral...but I don't think I want to have the wedding that far from home."

"So, what day are you thinking?" Eiess asked.

"I'm thinking…. June something. Something innocuous. Something that can just be our anniversary in the future. And also a summer day when all our teacher friends will be off work."

"June first." Eiess said. "Start off the month right."

"Sounds like a plan." Citrine pushed herself closer to Eiess and stole a kiss from her lips.

"I love you." Eiess whispered. "Always and forever."

"I love you too. And when we're together….there's nothing to fear."

Panic kicked her feet up on a moss covered bench. It had been a few weeks since she had first made her nest here. It had been a while since The Masked Man had left her to her own devices. She was getting hungry and bored. That was a deadly combination for anyone that crossed her path.

She quickly spun around and elbowed a boulder. The stone split in two, right down the middle. A grin crossed Panic's lips. A few quick strikes later, the boulder had been pulverized. It was reduced to dust.

"I'm strong. I'm far stronger than I should be at this point." The strength of a Grimm increased with their age. Grimoire were no different. With each return to Remnant they started powerful. Their power would continue to increase the more time they spent on Remnant and the more they fed off human emotions.

Yet for some reason, after a few short weeks and barely any interaction with humans, she was already twice as strong as she had been at this point in any of her other lifetimes. She wondered if it was the convergence. She could feel it in her bones. The barrier between Remnant and Oblivion was thin. Thinner than it had ever been. Was that why her strength was increasing at a much faster rate.

She held back laughter. By the time all six of them-she refused to count Avarice among them-were united they'd be unstoppable. Plus, there was this mysterious Masked Man. Salem was too well known of an entity. She dragged out war to summon the Grimoire. Sure, with her devices, she made them stronger than ever. But her war had prepared the huntsmen. The Grimoire were summoned into a slaughter, a losing battle.

But now things were different. Panic was determined to see just how different they were. She was going to go for a walk. She was going to see just how powerful she had become.

AN: Just a little bit of development for Citrine and Eiess and some much needed development for the villain. His role in this chapter is what turned it from a skippable filler chapter in my outline to what it is now. Now that I'm out of school for the summer, expect chapters to come out a bit more frequently

Next Time: Fear and tension rises. Nickel makes a dangerous decision. A little bit of silver shines in Glade's royal blues.