Chapter 53: Unknown Complications
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Weiss Schnee's escape was… less eventful than she expected it to be. She thought something had to go wrong eventually, but thankfully, it was proven to be the opposite. She was on an smuggler's airship, having traveled far away from Atlas by now where no one could chase after her.
Hopefully.
The unfortunate thing about being smuggled out of Atlas was that she had nothing much to do. So she practiced her summoning. More specifically, she practiced summoning a specific shade.
Taking a deep breath, Weiss raised Myrtenaster in front of her, allowing her white glyphs to form on the metal ground of the cargo bay as her summon rose up.
She was always taken aback by this specific shade. The reason why was because… it looked like Dante.
Or at least it used to.
This shade of Dante had changed drastically numerous times over the course of months she was in Atlas. First the summon appeared as a normal Dante, then a week or two later, it appeared in that form of his that he donned, his Shadow Skin if she remembered the name correctly, only in white and the stripes on his body having turned an ice blue. Then two months later, it changed once more, only now it donned twisted segmented armor and two long horns on the sides of its head that bent outwards slightly before bending inwards a small amount and curving outwards.
As the newer white shade of Dante rose up, it held its sword upside down before it let the point down into the ground with an echoing "zing", resting its hands on top of the butt of then handle. Now that Weiss looked it over once more, it changed again. Previously it was only a little bit taller than she was, but now, it was much taller to the point where it towered over her.
"He has to be at least 6 feet now…" the heiress commented, moving around to further inspect her summon for any other changes.
And she certainly found it. His sword was different now. Very different. It had a more.. elegant design to it that Weiss found more appealing.
"Maybe it's changing because he is?" Weiss pondered as she stepped back, "He must have changed a lot in this past year. Especially if he's that tall now…"
She had begun to wonder now how Dante was doing. After that night…
…
"He has to be fine. He's always fine. And I guess you're the proof, aren't you?" Weiss said, resting a hand on the armored chest of her summon.
When she looked up at it, she immediately jumped back when it nodded its head at her.
The heiress took a few cautious steps forward, glancing quizzically at the armored shade.
"Can you… understand me?"
Once again it nodded in response to her, maintaining its pose all the while.
It's autonomous?!
Weiss used her thoughts to transmit a command, and the summon kneeled before her, bowing its head.
It can think for itself… But it still follows my commands…
"Incredible…" Weiss mouthed out as the summon stood up, resuming its pose.
There was only one question on her mind however…
When did she ever manage to defeat Dante?!
In all of their sparring sessions, not once did Weiss ever manage to defeat Dante. Was there some sort of loophole to Summoning that she didn't know of?
…
Regardless of the case, this was good. From what Weiss managed to test using her Summon of Dante, it still had his rather demonic physicality and his abilities, but from what she observed, the shade's copy of Dante's powers were weaker than the original. The last thing the heiress noticed was that summoning this shade of Dante was significantly easier than all the others in her arsenal, but it also cost a larger portion of her Aura.
This summon had to be her most powerful yet… Even so, she couldn't get arrogant now that she had a very powerful tool in her arsenal. She had to use this shade intelligently if she was going to overwhelm her foes, especially with its various abilities.
Letting out a sigh, Weiss swiped her hand, and the summon gave her a small nod before vanishing out of sight.
…
She was wondering about if she used this summon of Dante for those ships from earlier… She could have certainly dealt with the threat.
Looking out the window, Weiss suddenly noticed a series of landmasses floating in the partly cloudy sky that had black crystals jutting out from the bottom of the rock formations.
"Where are we?" The heiress asked as she walked up to the cockpit.
"Nowhere good…" The pilot answered, "Passing by some of Lake Matsu's floating islands. The gravity Dust that forms in these things is giving us a little turbulence. Nothing I can't handle, but the islands sometimes hide some nasty Grimm. I'm just betting on our friends in distress keeping them preoccupied."
From the corner of her eye, Weiss spotted an airship barreling at them from the right, shouting "Look out!"
The pilot pulled upward to avoid the doomed craft, a ship bearing a white symbol from Mistral on its sail, which crashed into one of the floating islands.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
The pilot flicked his fingers over a switch to turn the radio back on, listening in for nearby transmissions.
"By the gods, we've lost Percy! Help!"
Another Mistralian airship was being pursued by a swarm of wasp-like Grimm, Which was suddenly hooked from multiple directions by their extendable stingers, leaving them trapped and unable to move.
"We're hooked! We're hooked!"
As the pilot shouted on the radio, the wood on the ship's exterior began to crack, the insects grappling the ship pulling very tightly. Capitalizing on their fear, one of the Grimm somersaulted into the air and dive-bombed into the top of the ship, the pilot and everyone on board perishing in the ensuing explosion.
To Weiss and the pilots horror, the rest of the Grimm turned their attention to their airship.
"Lancers, freaking Lancers! Alright buckle up and... Huh?"
He turned to Weiss, only to see her jump down a hatch into the cargo hold.
She had come too far to let a mere flock of insects kill her now.
"What are you doing?!"
"What we should've done in the first place! You're carrying Dust, right?!"
"Officially, no. Actually, yes."
Weiss opened one of the large containers of Dust and loaded her weapon with six cartridges, spinning the chamber once as she stepped up to the door.
"When I tell you, open the rear door!"
"Better make it quick!"
The pilot made multiple evasive maneuvers to the best of his ability, but the Lancers gained on the ship and began to shoot their stingers at it.
"Kid, we're cutting it close!"
Weiss summoned a black glyph underneath her to keep herself stuck to the ship as she readied her sword in front of her.
"Ready!"
The cargo doors opened, and the battle had begun.
Using her glyphs and Dust, Weiss succeeded in eliminating one of the pack with ease, and while the pilot continued to maneuver defensively, she managed to eliminate five more. Suddenly, she was knocked off balance when the cargo ship rocked with a heavy jolt.
"What was that?!"
Once she looked up, she saw the upper level of the cargo ship had been impaled with Lancer stingers that stuck through the ceiling.
"We're hooked! But I got an idea! Hold on! Literally!"
The pilot pressed the throttle forward as the ship accelerated towards one of the floating islands, waiting until the last possible moment before suddenly diving and using the remaining forward momentum to throw the Lancers on the ship off into the sides of a nearby rock formation.
"Can you find a pair of islands we can fit between?"
"Kid, you are reading my mind!"
The cargo ship narrowly avoided one of the closer islands wall and the attacking Lancers, Weiss firing off three fireballs from her glyphs to destroy an overhanging rock formation. The debris had indeed fallen and killed the attacking Grimm, but it also had its repercussions.
A Queen Lancer.
"It's a Queen Lancer!" Weiss called out to notify the pilot.
"What?!"
The Queen Lancer attacked first, preventing Weiss from countering it at that moment. Looking off to her side, the heiress saw the crates of Dust and immediately knew what to do.
It was a crude plan, but she had no time for anything else.
Weiss unlatched most of the hooks tying down some of the Dust crates, allowing them to slide out of the cargo bay doors and into the creature, setting off a large series of explosions. The heiress kept her eyes focused on the smoke and clouds of various elemental explosions, and as she figured, the Queen Lancer emerged with barely and damage to its hide.
"I can see the shoreline! Gods, we're not gonna make it!"
It was now or never.
"Come forth!"
Upon her command, her demonically armored shade of Dante appeared from her summon glyph, brandishing its sword as it lowered itself defensively near the girl.
"Pull up, now!"
Upon Weiss' command, the pilot pulled back on the steering wheel to make ship to pull up and ascend further into the air, maneuvering to have the vehicle upside down.
As this happened, the armored shade of Dante bolted out of the cargo bay, diving towards the Queen Lancer. The summon, with input from Weiss, brought its sword to its side, and when it came close enough to the creature, it vanished.
Appearing behind the Grimm and using a glyph, it propelled itself forward onto the Lancer's back and sunk its blade deep between the area of its thorax and abdomen. Then, the summon began to twist and pull back and forth, churning the large creatures body with sickening crunches a few dozen times before it stomped its feet into its back and kicked off.
Sensing its impending doom, the Queen Lancer shot one of its stingers at the ship, hoping to bring it down. The shade of Dante teleported towards the airship and swung its sword to deflect the projectile, but unfortunately, it managed to clip the tail of the ship. Without a second to spare, the summon shot itself forward with another glyph and swung down on the creature of Grimm, perfectly bisecting the beast as it and the shade disappeared together.
With the threat of the Grimm gone, Weiss' last problem was now to find a way to slow down the crashing ship. She used her Semblance, making black gravity glyphs appear in front of the airship to slow down its trajectory.
But despite the seven glyphs she used… it wasn't enough to prevent the ship from crashing into the land past the shoreline.
"Did he age backwards?!" Nora asked.
"He's possessed!" Jaune answered.
"Or reincarnated!" Ren offered.
"Oh! Isn't it weird?" Ruby asked
"It is very weird, yes." Oscar answered.
Ruby, and the others looked to Ciel and Leonard soon after.
"Hey, don't look at us. He's the expert." Ciel said as she pointed her thumb towards Dante, causing everyone in the room to look to Dante.
"Oh, it's my turn?" The teen asked as he shifted his body to look at them all, "To be honest, it's kind of reincarnation and possession."
"How can it be both?" Jaune asked.
"Well for starters…" Dante began as he took up his crutches and walked over to the farm boy, "Oscar here still has his sense of self. Secondly, from what I understand, Ozpin actually died. Instead of having another body on standby, his soul crept its way into Oscar here, allowing him to reincarnate through him, I guess. This is all just a guess really until the big man actually talks to us."
"Okay, okay." Qrow said as he emerged from the kitchen holding a cup in his hand, "Let's all just take a second and remember that this is very overwhelming for everyone."
Qrow moved past them all, taking a seat on the couch next to Oscar. Everyone save Dante, Ren and Jaune sat down around Oscar, who looked nervously around them.
"Sorry! It's just I've… never really met Huntsmen and Huntresses before."
"Well, uh... we've never met a person with two souls! Sort of! So, first times all around."
"Not to break up the whole 'getting-to-know-you' game, but we need to have a talk. Mind showing us your little parlor trick, kid?" Qrow asked.
"Yeah, okay. Just so you know, I'll still be here."
Everyone watched Oscar lower his head and close his eyes, when suddenly, a green and white aura shined from his body for a moment, Oscar opening up his eyes, which were now glowing, as he smiled. When he spoke, they all heard a familiar voice overlapping with Oscar's.
"It is so very good to see you again, students."
Silence ensued throughout the room, until Jaune spoke up first.
"Wait, what just happened?"
"Professor... Ozpin?"
"Correct." He answered for Ren, "And though I may be the one speaking, Oscar is still present mentally. He's merely handed over the control, so to speak. I'm afraid this all must be very perplexing."
"And alarming, and bizarre, and just really kind of hard to believe overall!" Nora said.
"It's good to see you children still have your sense of humor." He said before frowning, I know you've all been through tremendous hardship already."
His gaze wandered off to Dante, noticing the thin layers of Inuba's cast around his right arm and leg, and a few more of the bandages around his body that remained.
"You look no worse for wear, Mr. Dante."
"It's Aetherveil now." The teen sighed, "And meh." He said with a shrug.
"Regardless, I'm… sorry."
Dante scoffed at the comment, "Not really your fault you know."
"It's all my fault." he said as, Qrow getting up to back to the kitchen, "I told you once that I made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet, and I wasn't exaggerating. I'm... cursed. For thousands of years, I've walked the surface of Remnant, living, dying, and reincarnating in the body of a like-minded soul. The Professor Ozpin you all met was not my first form, and clearly wasn't my last. It's... an extraordinarily strenuous process on everyone involved."
"So who... or… what are you?" Jaune asked.
"I am the combination of countless men who've spent their lives trying to protect the people of Remnant. With every rebirth, my soul is eventually merged with another and I am changed, but my memories stay with me. This curse was bestowed upon me by the gods because I failed to stop Salem in the past. But we must stop her now."
So Ozpin was connected to the mastermind somehow… But they're on opposing ends… Dante thought to himself.
"And how exactly do we go about doing that?" The once immortal asked.
"We start... by ensuring the safety of the Relic of Knowledge."
"This is perfect! We were stuck at a dead end, but now, we can just take little cute boy Ozpin to Lionheart and have him set things straight!" Nora cheerfully stated.
"Please don't call me that."
"We're not sure that's the best idea." Qrow said, making Nora pout as she groaned and sat down next to Ruby and Ren.
"But I thought the headmasters all took their orders from you." Ren stated.
"That was the intention. Four lieutenants that I can trust, especially during times of reincarnation. But Qrow told me about your meeting with Leonardo. He isn't just behaving irrationally, he's disobeying specific instructions I had left him. Something's wrong. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I don't want to rule out any possibilities, either. No one outside of this room knows that I've paired with Oscar, and I think it may be best to keep it that way."
Guess you were right Eclypse… Something was off with him.
Naturally.
"We play things close to the chest until we get a better hand."
"Precisely." Ozpin said, agreeing with Qrow, "Now, we have two steps ahead of us. The first is enlisting the aid of more Huntsmen."
"But the Mistral council-"
"Doesn't own every Huntsman in the Kingdom, and I've been here enough times to know where we can find some more." Qrow said
"So long as they're trustworthy." Ozpin added.
"You can trust them to put up a good fight. I'll throw together a list tonight."
As he said this, Qrow put his foot on the table, but his Semblance caused one of the legs to break and spill his cup of tea.
"Good luck with that." Nora said, Qrow groaning as he cleaned up his mess.
"To be fair, aren't we enough?" Ciel said, causing the others to look at her, "We've got the four of you guys who are pretty solid as is, and will be even better after you get polished up a little." She said looking to RNJR, "Then you've got us four freaks of nature siblings fighting for you guys, and our absolutely lovely lovelies!" She finished as she tightly cuddled with Musashi, causing the dragon Faunus to blush.
"She makes a fair a point." Leonard said from his couch with Alice and Bailey, "We have a good numbers advantage, and we're all powerful fighters."
"That's good and all, but we still could use a few more numbers." Dante said as he sat back down next to Ozpin, "We have to assume our opponent has her own army of human and Faunus slaves bent to her will, aside from her Grimm. Grimm aren't so much of a problem really, but people are. And people can be a bit more dangerous, depending on who they are. Which is why we could use a few fighters more used to… dealing with people." The teen said, looking to his siblings, "And the three of us aren't exactly in top condition, and won't be for a while, save for Dawn. We can't go at this winging it like we usually do."
"Mr. Dante has a point. Sorry, Mr. Aetherveil does." Ozpin quickly corrected himself, "Qrow will go out to gather more forces to assist us. After that, we can move on to step two."
"What's step two?" Nora asked.
Suddenly, Ozpin's cane was extended in his hand.
"Getting you four into fighting shape." He said before looking to Dante and his siblings, "And if possible, getting the three of you back into the fray sooner."
"But, uh… we already know how to fight." Ruby pointed out.
"You can only fight so long as you have Crescent Rose, but you're still lacking in hand-to-hand combat."
"Well, uh, yeah…" Ruby meekly stated.
Ozpin wasn't wrong, Ruby was still lacking in hand-to-hand combat skills. Now that he thought about it, Dante just realized what that infuriating thought he had about forgetting something. He had forgotten to teach Ruby his ways in hand-to-hand fighting.
He would fix that problem.
"Mr. Arc, I'm glad to hear you've improved, but sorry to say, you've yet to unlock your Semblance. All of you still have a-ways to go before you're ready to pose any real threat against Salem and her forces. And though Oscar can give me temporary control, he'll need to strengthen his body and his Aura. He'll inherit my muscle memory in time, but practice will expedite the process."
"But if Qrow's out looking for Huntsmen, then who's going to teach us?" Ruby asked.
Ozpin then propelled himself into the air with his cane, spinning counterclockwise into a barrel roll before landing onto the seat of the armchair, twirling his cane.
"Well, I believe I was the headmaster of Beacon Academy. And who better to assist me than those who are experts in the field?" He said, casting his glance over to Dante and his siblings.
Guess I've got nothing better to do...
"We have approximately one month before classes resume at Haven. If Salem were to plan an attack, it would make sense that it would occur prior to students' return. It's not much time, but it's better than nothing. Just don't expect me to go easy on you."
Just as he said this, his body glowed green and white again, switching control back to Oscar, who had a hard time keeping his balance on the armchair before falling backwards.
"You've gotta be kidding me…"
"Sadly, no, he isn't kidding." Dante said as he stood up again, "You've all got great skills and abilities, and you even have those fancy upgrades Eclypse was kind of to provide for you four. But all of that won't be enough until you know how to really put everything to good use. So I guess me and mine will help out, making you really use your brains and your skills. After we get back into shape ourselves."
"Yay, more work." Ciel sarcastically cheered, laying her head down in Musashi's lap.
"Do we really have to? Can't we just do our own training?" Leo asked.
…
Dante forgot that his younger brother had a lazier side to him.
"Yes, you have to. And no, you can't. The three of you and your sister Dawn need to focus on reworking your entire skill set and fighting styles." Blaire spoke up, "Ruby and the others need stronger opponents to go up against if they're to get any better, so we need to help out. That being said..." she said looking to Dante and Oscar, "We'll figure that out between us. You two will work together, with Dante helping you getting into fighting shape without your ghost friend."
"M-Me?!"
"Yes, you. And I'll gladly take over working with you." Dante said with an almost devious smile.
Oscar would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified now.
"Sooo… We gonna do this now?" Nora asked.
"Considering we just settled in today, no. We'll start early tomorrow after breakfast."
"How early?" Ciel asked.
"Seven in the morning early."
Practically everyone let out an audible groan.
"It's for your own damn good so stop complaining! Geez…"
They all heard the front doors unlocking, seeing Dawn and Inuba stepping inside and jolting up when they saw everyone gathered together.
"Y-You're back! So soon!" Inuba said freezing up entirely.
"Yeah…" Dante said, quizzically staring at the kitsune and his sister, "Where've you two been?"
"W-Well…" Dawn began as she nervously pressed her fingers together, "We… found something today… Rather, someone. Before you get… antsy-"
"Oh for crying out loud, let me through already!" The huskier voice of a woman called out, forcing herself through the doorway.
Her heels loudly clacked onto the hardwood floors as she stepped inside and moved past Dawn and Inuba, letting everyone in the living room to get a good look at her. The first thing about the older woman they all noticed was how seemingly radiant her beauty was, but when they looked closer… they were in awe.
She looked as if she were an older sister of the Aetherveil siblings with her pure white hair and bright sky blue eyes.
The woman simply stood there, grinning at them all.
"You may not quite believe this you three… but..." Dawn said looking out toward Dante, Ciel and Leonard, "This is our mother. She's… returned."
Everyone looked at the woman in shock, while Ciel and Leonard looked as though they were trying to hold themselves back. The sight of her made them remember her forgotten form, and with it, the very few memories of her they had before they were separated from one another.
Dawn and Inuba were pretty pleased with the reaction, but when they looked to Dante, their pleased espresso changed into concern. The woman saw this too, and dropped her smile once she saw her eldest child's reaction.
Frustration.
Uncomfortable silence.
That's what sat between the Aetherveil siblings and their supposed mother as the five sat alone at a table, everyone else respecting their privacy and giving them the room.
Ciel, Dawn and Leonard sat in their chairs, awkwardly looking back and forth between their older brother and their mother, the eldest keeping a harsh glare on the woman without so much as blinking, tapping his fingers on his arm.
"So… I'm guessing you all have questions."
"Plenty." Dante immediately answered.
…
He was right to be angry, with what he was probably thinking. But the woman knew she had to change that misconception of his if he was going to listen to her, much less trust her.
"Okay… Where should I start then?" The woman asked.
"From the top is probably the best idea." The eldest spoke sharply.
"What is your deal?"
"My deal is that you've been alive all this time and didn't so much as-!"
"Except I wasn't alive." The woman interrupted quickly, "Technically speaking, at least."
"What the hell does that even mean?! You're either dead or you're not!" The teen shouted.
"If you'd stop shouting and listen, idiot son of mine, then I might be able to get an answer out."
Dante let out a small huff of breath and leaned back further in his chair, waiting to see what possible explanation there could have been.
"For the last thirteen years… I've been somewhat dead. I… can't remember all the specifics from back then, but there is something I'm certain of. And it's the fact that I was attacked."
"Attacked?" Dawn spoke up.
"Yes. Whoever decided to attack me wanted me dead, and they almost managed. Just before they destroyed me, I ejected my soul out of my body and managed to save myself. But that left me without a body." The woman explained with a shrug, "And as you know, Higher Plane beings can't just simply slip into any old body, or just have a fresh one made out of thin air. There's compatibility, time, and a bunch of other nonsense I won't bother boring you with."
Dante wanted to refute that statement. Anything would have done it for him, but he knew she was stating correct facts, facts that were irrefutable.
"So contrary to your severely misguided belief, no, I didn't just up and leave you all. I only… well, managed to pull myself together two nights ago so I could walk around."
"You just said your body was destroyed."
"Deatomized on a molecular level, technically speaking. You should know how hard it is to kill Higher Plane beings with how they can quickly put themselves back together. So what happened, from what I was told, was that after my body was deatomized, all of my molecules were spread out far and wide across different Worlds and Realities. A certain helper of mine managed to gather a few of those molecules up over the years. You might know him as H."
H?! He-?!
"He might not have told you this, Dante, but H is my brother. Technically." The woman said with another shrug, "He just insisted that I be his older sister so I just went with it. Anyway, a year after I had the holy hell smote out of me, H began gathering up chunks of my scattered particles to rebuild my body. Also… he did a very good job of sending you out."
"What do you mean..?"
"Did you really think you were going to different worlds just to slay bad guys and impress the ladies? No, my idiot son, not only did you defeat Foreign Evils to those Worlds and Realities, but each time you traveled and came back, you brought back huge chunks of me with you. Remember when he had to perform a sort of 'decontamination process' every time you came back?"
That was the first thing H did everytime Dante came back without so much as speaking a word. It was only until after he gave his usual 'good job kid' speech and a pat on the back.
"That was total nonsense." The woman waved off, "Everytime, he was just ripping my particles off of you, since a person closely related was needed in order to draw in those molecules. And bit by bit over the course of the year or so, you put me back together little by little."
He couldn't believe it… All those times… He never even imagined…
"So… What was I doing as a ghost then?" The woman asked, "Well… Watching all of you, of course."
"Of course?!" Dante said with a raised voice.
"Hey hey, calm down! It's not like I could do anything or interact with you."
"You could've done something, anything to let us know someone was out there for us!" The teen, jumping up from his chair, "Do you have an idea how it's been for us?! Living alone in some hell, not knowing who you are or if you've got a home to go back to?! I don't give much of a damn about my shitty situation, but what about them?!" Dante said waving over to his siblings, "Any idea the kind of messed up shit they've been through?!"
Without warning, the woman slammed her hand down on the table, emitting an echo that seemingly traversed throughout the whole world. The ground quaked slightly and the lights flickered on and off, stilling only seconds after.
"Do you have any idea what it's like just sitting there and watching your kids suffer, not being able to do a single damn thing to help them? I know it was torture for you guys these last few years… I was watching the whole time, and it was… so frustrating not being able to step in and kick people's asses… I wanted to do something each time. I wanted to kill the bastards that hurt you all myself. But geez kiddo…"
Dante looked up, noticing his mother's facing scrunched up a little as she narrowed her eyes as best she could without closing them.
"Cut me some slack will you? It's not as if wanted to leave all of you alone…"
The once immortal felt something welling up in him suddenly that… he hadn't quite felt in a while. And it wasn't anger.
He slowly sat back down in his seat, crossing his arms as he looked away, while Dawn placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it a few times.
Their mother let out a sigh as she slowly sat back down in her chair, flicking her bright sky blue eyes across her children.
"What are your plans, since you've… well… returned to the world now?" Dawn asked.
"Nothing really. Only plan I've got right now is to stay here with all of you and... be the mother I should have been thirteen years ago." She said leaning forward on the table, "I know I wasn't there for you all because I died, but… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you all behind, and-"
"Just shut up already…"
Everyone went silent as they looked to Dante, who still kept his face turned away from the rest of them.
"Don't apologize… for stupid shit that isn't your fault…" the teen said his voice shuddering a little.
The woman looked up in shock for a brief moment, and then smiled as she got up from her seat, walking over to her eldest. She stood in front of him, and he turned his head further away to avoid looking at her.
All she did next was kneel down next to him and give the teen a hug, wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"Come on you degenerates, get in here." The woman waved to her other children, prompting them to get out of their seats and join in on the hug, "I'm not gonna leave you guys ever, even if I get killed again."
…
…
He didn't want to cry really. But he couldn't help it at the moment.
It was… awkward sitting across from her.
It was awkward for the seven girls, who sat across the table from the mother of their respective lovers.
Inuba's nine tails didn't even so much as flick about.
"Alright ladies, listen up. My name is Athyra Aetherveil. You may not have known this by now, but I'm the mother of the four lovely, kick ass children outside in the living room out there." Athyra pointed towards the door, "So now… I only have one question for you all." She said, folding her hands together as she leaned forward, "How were my children?"
…
What?! All seven of them thought.
"W-We don't quite know what you mean…" Inuba managed to squeak out.
"Oh you know what I mean." Athyra said with a smile, "Alright then, I'll be blunt. Did my two sons and daughter please their respective partners the last few nights?"
All seven of the girls jolted up at the question, save for Eclypse, who sat there calmly as if she were just asked a normal question.
"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Inuba quickly stated.
"Can't lie to me girls. I was young once to you know? Still am if I'm being honest…" Athyra said, smirking to herself, "Anyway, do you guys realize how you're all glowing? I mean really glowing. Not to mention, I see all of you eyeing up my babies all hungry and everything. Especially this one." She said nodding towards Eclypse, who only replied with a proud huff.
They… had no idea what to say. She was just so…
"Alright then… If I remember, you four are with my idiot son, right?" The older woman waved over Inuba, Ruby, Eclypse and Blaire, "And you two are with Leonard?" She said looking to Alice and Bailey, "And if I remember right, you're with Little Ciel right? I guess she did always have a thing for the taller ones. Anyway, you're fine, so you don't need to pay attention really."
"W-What do you mean fine?" Ruby meekly asked.
"Well, we Aetherveil's aren't exactly pushovers when it comes to anything. Talking, arguing, fighting, sex." She said with a shrug, most of the girls taken aback by her manner-of-fact speaking, "Especially those last two. In any case, I have good news for the six of you. Regardless of the copious amounts of lovemaking you might have done in the last two or so days, you'll be happy to know neither of you are pregnant or anything."
Again, they all jumped, except for Eclypse. In fact, she seemed more disappointed than anything.
"You might be wondering 'Is something wrong with them', and to answer, no. I already went over this with them, so I'm going over it with all of you now." Athyra said, drawing in their attention, "My boys can't get anyone pregnant, and my girls can't get pregnant until they all turn twenty three. Special something something I blessed them with, just in case. I mean, you're all young, and youngsters these days can get pretty frisky with each other, so I kinda gave them, and technically anyone else who wants to get involved with them, a sort of safety net. So… all Mama Aetherveil has to say is to have fun while you can."
All of them just stared awkwardly between each other, unsure of what to say until Alice spoke.
"T-That's it?"
"That's it. Well, there is one other thing I guess." Athyra said as she leaned forward again, eyeing the girls seriously now, "If you're gonna be with my kids, you've gotta be serious about them, not all willy nilly like most of your hormonal, jumped up generation. These kids of my mine? Especially my idiot son? They've been through the wringer worse than anyone who's ever had it. Don't hurt them by being frivolous."
"W-We aren't! We're really serious!" Ruby said standing up.
"T-That's right!" Inuba said standing with the little reaper, "E-Even if our relationships are… uh… illicit to an extent, that doesn't mean we're frivolous about them!l"
"Correct! We aren't leaving them for any reason!" Bailey affirmed.
"And we'll break anyone who tries to hurt them!" Musashi eagerly stated.
She was… slightly shocked with such firm responses. But Athyra was pleased nonetheless.
"You two have been quiet." The older woman said looking towards Eclypse and Blaire, "Care to throw your two cents in?"
"Hmph… Need I even say anything of my love or loyalty?" Eclypse said, crossing her arms.
"I'm kinda with her on this one. I don't think I've got to say anything about how much I love him." The red haired woman stated, "That and… well… they pretty much said everything that needed to be said." She said nodding to all the girls on their side of the table.
"Good to hear." Athyra said with a smile as she stood up, "Well… That's all I had to say really. Thanks for listening to a problematic mother. Now go on, you kids go have fun. But not too much fun." She said with a smile and a wink as they all filtered out the room.
She remained behind, letting out a sigh as she closed her eyes.
Athyra had been back for two days, but there was something off about her. Her memories to be more specific. She thought H tampered with them, and was about ready to strangle him right there and then, but when he couldn't remember either, she knew something was off and that he wasn't responsible.
So then… Why exactly couldn't she and everyone else remember her husband or his name?
Weiss eyes slowly cracked open, finding herself trapped in a cage and her wrists bound by rope. She looked around and noticed she was completely surrounded by the bandits from earlier that took her. One of them was sitting down drinking, while the other noticed her waking up.
"Well, well, well, look who's awake."
"Where am I?"
"You know…" a woman spoke as she emerged from her tent, "I never thought I'd see a Schnee in this camp."
"Vernal!?"
The two bandits suddenly stood at attention as the woman known as Vernal walked over to Weiss' cage holding Myrtenaster in her hand, making the heiress stand up while her captor admired her weapon.
"What do you want?"
Straight to the point. I like it." The bandit woman said with a wicked smile, "We don't normally deal in trafficking people, not really worth our time. But, once we realized we had a Schnee…" she said pointing Myrtenaster at Weiss, "that changed."
"You're going to ransom me back to my father, is that it?"
"It's a shame you're a Schnee. You'd probably do quite well around here.
"I would never sink to your level." Weiss spat back.
Vernal's expression quickly changed to a frown, "If you keep quiet and cooperate, you'll be back in your mansion before you know it. Don't make this complicated." She warned as she walked away.
"What's going to make this complicated is when my sister finds out I didn't make it to Mistral. You know my sister, don't you? Winter Schnee? Special Operative of the Atlas Military? She's in Mistral now, and when she hears I'm missing, it won't take her long to find me. And you.
Suddenly, the bandits start laughing, much to Weiss' surprise.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, I don't know if it's more funny or sad, but you're clearly out of the loop. Your sister isn't in Mistral anymore." Cernal stated, laughing as she did. "No Atlas personnel are in Mistral anymore. General Ironwood closed the borders and recalled all his little troops and tin cans. No one is coming to rescue you."
Weiss could hear them laughing at her, but all she did was close her eyes and sit back, their laughter slowly drowning out.
A memory came to mind.
Weiss landed on her back and bounced a little, managing to find her footing as she looked up at her opponent. Dante stood across from, sword slung over his shoulder as he looked back briefly and let out an amused hum.
"Score for Dante." The teen commented, "I'm up three."
"Where did you learn to count?!" Weiss commented, breathing heavily as she stood up.
She sword she had him that time. He not only escaped the small array of gravity glyphs meant to slow him down, but he also escaped and broke free from her ice several times.
"At home and with my fingers." The immortal jokingly replied.
"How?"
"I just told you how."
"How do you keep escaping?" Weiss asked.
"Didn't you know? I'm an escape artist. Houdini reincarnated."
"Who?"
"Uh… Nevermind, you wouldn't know him." Dante waved off, "In any case, I'm just good at getting out of sticky situations."
"Yes, I understand that, but how did you get good at it?"
"Practice I guess. And using this thing in skull called a brain." The teen said poking at his temples, "I mainly just use my normal methodology of fighting, which is that anything and everything around you could be of use. But if you know a counter, or have seen something before, it's all the easier."
"I… understand, I suppose." Weiss commented, scrunching up her face in confusion before looking back at the immortal, "Exactly how many times have you been frozen in ice?"
"Uh… I've lost count honestly speaking. Anyway… take a helpful tip from your elder."
"We're the same age."
"Yeah, but I'm taller, and more mature looking, therefore I'm older."
Weiss rolled her eyes at the comment, but smiled at the joke nonetheless, "Let's hear it then."
"Say you get captured one day Weiss. What do you do?"
"Escape, obviously."
"Okay, but how would you escape? Say you're in some sort of cage and you've lost that fancy toothpick of yours. What then?"
"I-It's not a toothpick!"
"You're missing the point. What next? What do you have to your advantage?"
"My Semblance of course."
"Good. So then… when would the most opportune time of escape be?"
She had to take a moment to think about it.
"At night…"
"Bingo. At nighttime, visibility is reduced. Some people might even take a nap on guard duty when they shouldn't. So if you've got the means and the tools, try to escape at night. It'll always be your best bet."
She opened her eyes up after resting and collecting herself mentally, seeing the two bandits guarding her having fallen asleep.
It was time.
The heiress brought her hands together side by side and raised them up a little, staring at her palms as a small glyph silently appeared. From it, a miniature shade of Dante appeared, no bigger than a toy, standing at attention. When it was fully summoned, the shade's sword disappeared as it crushed its fist into its glowing white palm with a tiny clink.
Smiling at this Weiss began to formulate her plan, and set her miniature summon to work.
"Gonna… give up yet?!" Ciel asked in a strained voice as she continued doing her push ups.
"Not a… chance… in hell..!" Dante replied, using only his left arm to do his set of pushups.
The two siblings were in competition for the most push ups without stopping as part of their training, both reaching close to three hundred by now. Only, they had a strange set of rules to them.
Musashi sat cross legged on Ciel's back reading a book, while Inuba and Eclypse sat on Dante's. The dragon faunus seemed immensely pleased that her lover was able to do as many as she could with her sitting atop her given she was... bigger. Inuba seemed more focused on Dante's condition, carefully keeping watch of him despite her better judgement to let him partake in this "competition", while Eclypse was preoccupied with the once immortal's HoloScroll, seemingly playing a game.
Blaire had gone off to somewhere more remote to train her abilities considering they were… potent, with Bailey accompanying her as a sparring partner.
Alice was currently helping with keeping Leonard's feet on the ground as he did sit ups, each sit up almost ending with their faces getting closer.
Dawn was over with Ruby and the others, helping them with their training.
Dante peeked over at his little sister, seeing her struggle a little, but Dante wasn't doing any better himself now that they were far into their set. The outcome, however, was inevitable.
"Three hundred!" Ciel called out as she dropped to the ground, breathing heavily as she raised up her hands, "I… win! And still am… officially… the physically strongest… sibling!"
Dante himself dropped as soon as he reached one hundred, waving his sister off as he took deep breaths, Inuba removing herself off of him as she knelt next to him.
"Are you well?"
"Yeah… Just… need a minute…"
"I-I'll go get us all some snacks then, if you'd like."
"That'd be nice…"
"I'll accompany you as well." Musashi said as she walked up to Inuba.
"We'll be back soon then!" The kitsune said as both she and the dragon Faunus walked off together.
Dante gave her a thumbs off, looking behind him at Eclypse to see her playing her game still.
"Sitting comfortable?" The teen sarcastically asked.
Without taking her eyes off the screen, the girl smiled as one hand let go of the screen, Dante suddenly feeling his rear being thoroughly groped.
"Very comfortable, thanks to you."
Shaking his head, Dante plopped back down, both he and Ciel moving their eyes up to Alice and Leo, who were still working together.
"Kiss kiss kiss!" Both siblings jokingly remarked, causing the couple a distance away from them to freeze up and glare at them.
"Shut up!" they said in unison, making the two tired siblings smirk and laugh.
"You know… I never figured we'd need to do actual exercise, seeing as we don't get fat."
"Yeah, but… It's therapeutic and helpful at least for strengthening. Even if it's by a small amount."
"Hey… Are you still mad?"
"About what?"
"Well…"
"No." Dante quickly answered, "To be honest, I jumped to conclusions too quickly. I got mad because, I thought that if she was alive all this time, then she deliberately avoided us until now because the guilt finally got to her."
"Why think that?"
"I've seen a lot of messed up adults, Ciel, and unfortunately, I've seen a lot of screwed up parents too many times to count. I'm not really a fan of putting my trust in adults as a result. They're likely to lie to you to protect their pride or their selfish interests to avoid trouble. But… Mom really couldn't do anything for us. And I accept that now. It's just… gonna be strange having our real parent in the picture again after this long."
"I get the feeling…" his sister replied, resting her chin in her palms, "I can only remember a little about her now that I've seen her again, but… what about..?"
"I've got nothing for you. I tried asking her, and she doesn't remember either for some reason." Dante explained, "Apparently, no one else knows either… who our father is…"
"Think he's been a ghost too, like Mom?"
"Don't know." the teen said with a sigh, "But something is seriously up if no one can remember who our dad is."
"No use thinking about it now, right?" the sister said, patting her brother's back, "I'm gonna go bother Foxy and my lovely dragon lady. See if I can mooch some snacks early."
"You do that." Dante said as Ciel walked off, "You gonna get off anytime soon?" the teen asked Eclypse.
"Aren't you happy that a beautiful woman such as me is even gracing you with her rear?"
"I am oh so happy that you're using me as a chair, mistress. Now can you please get off?"
"Aw… But I thought you loved my butt. You seemed to thoroughly enjoy it last night."
"Will you stop that?!" Dante silently pleaded with a blush on his face.
"Nope." she said with a smirk on her face, "But since you asked so nicely, I'll limit myself to an extent." Eclypse stated as she got up, lowering a hand to help the teen up and form crutches for him.
They both looked over to Dante's brother, seeing him struggling a little with how close he was getting to Alice's face.
"Just kiss already!" Dante called over.
"Will you shut up already?!" They both responded to him, sharing embarrassed glances between each other.
Giving them a small smirk, the teen moved over towards Jaune and the others, watching Ruby spar with Oscar, where Ozpin was currently in control. The little reaper was doing a good enough job keeping her hands up, but she wasn't taking too many opportunities to counter or strike back, especially with how Ozpin didn't give her too many options before he knocked her down.
"How is this so exhausting?!" Oscar said, now back in control as he breathed heavily.
"Your body isn't used to this kind of training, not to mention generating a defensive Aura on your own. It takes intense concentration at first, but in time it will become second nature, allowing you to deflect attacks and gradually heal your wounds. After that, you can begin focusing on your Semblance, whatever that may be." Ren explained.
"Semblance?"
"You know! Like your very own superpower!" Nora explained excitedly, "Everybody's got one. It's just a matter of finding it and mastering it. Ruby moves super fast, electricity makes me stronger, Ren can mask emotions, Dante can explode people with his Aura-"
"No I can't." Dante confirmed as he approached them, taking a brief moment to think about his answer, "Maybe."
Oscar gulped when he heard that.
"Jaune can... Uh, um... Hmm..."
Dante knew what Nora was trying to say, but Jaune did have a Semblance, at least, Dante thought he did. He wasn't sure about what he saw, so he didn't say anything to not get the blonde's hopes up too high in case the once immortal was wrong.
"I can't do anyth-"
"Jaune's like you!" Ruby pointed out to Oscar, guiding him towards their group, "He hasn't found his Semblance yet, but we all know he will. And you will, too. We all just have to try and help each other get stronger."
"A common philosophy is that a warrior's Semblance is a part of who they are. Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that it is the other way around. Of course, there are still many who don't see a connection at all."
"It's hard to know when you know sometimes. Ren's Semblance was unlocked from intense stress." Nora added
"And mine kicked in during training one day."
"And what about you?" Oscar asked.
"Oh, struck by lightning. Didn't die. Craaaazy Thursday."
Oscar looked to Dante, "Mine just happened randomly. To be honest, I had it, lost it, then got it again, but new and improved."
"I just don't understand what's wrong with me." Jaune started as his eyes trailed the ground, "I train. I meditate…"
Oscar's eyes glow momentarily, showing that Ozpin had taken control once again.
"Don't worry, Mr. Arc. Your journey is far from over. And the same might be said for all of you. Unlocking your Semblance isn't the end. It can still grow and evolve. Providing you're willing to put in the work, who knows what could happen."
…
It was hard for Dante to imagine his Semblance evolving. His new one was vastly differently than his old one, and vastly more versatile. Since then, it hasn't so much evolved as it just… added new abilities, some of which were similar to his old abilities.
But Ozpin would know a lot more about Semblances than Dante did.
"Brother?" Dawn spoke up as she looked to Dante, "Are you unwell?"
"No… Just thinking about how my Semblance would be like if it actually evolved more. Might be more destructive." The teen said, quirking his eyebrows.
"The last thing anyone needs is for you to have more destructive power added to your arsenal…"
"Exactly the point. The more destructive power, the better to blow up the enemy's asses."
"I suppose…" the sibling shrugged.
"Hey Dawn!" Ruby called over, "Can you fill us up again? We'd like to go another round!"
The girl extended her hand towards Ruby and the others, white Aura flashing across her fingertips before it outlined Ruby and Oscar briefly, their respective Aura Reserves filling back up to max while healing their minor injuries from sparring.
"Healing and Aura restoration… You play the support role really well." Dante commented.
"My skills and Semblance are more suited for support, since my class is mainly that of a Mage. However, I am highly adept with a blade as well as to not leave me defenseless."
"Smart. But you do realize that since you're a mix of a Mage and Swordsman, you'll likely be targeted first, right?"
"Perhaps. But it won't matter all too much."
"Right. Because we're the ass kicking Aetherveils, right?" Dante said raising up his fist as both he and Dawn fist bumped each other.
"Of course." she affirmed with a nod.
Dante let out a small chuckle as he looked at the group, "Alright guys, how 'bout you take a crack at me?"
Weiss' plan didn't go as well as she thought it did at first. The summon of Dante only made minor progress at first until she warped his sword to make it have jagged, sawed teeth. With that, the shade was able to cut at the bars a bit more easily, but even so, daybreak had arrived. No one was in sight, currently occupied with something else in camp, so she had more time to concentrate.
It helped though that her summon was autonomous.
"Come on little Dante, you can do it!" She whispered, still keeping an eye out for anyone.
Almost as if it were inspired, the summon moved at a faster pace while it cut the bars.
"That's enough!" Weiss heard someone shout, "You watch your mouth in front of our leader!"
"Make me."
Weiss' head perked up, "Is that..?"
The next thing she heard was a thunderous crack, and the tent that blocked her falling down, allowing her to see exactly who she thought it was.
"Yang?!"
"Weiss?!"
Everyone stared in brief shock, but Weiss simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Alright, well, subtlety is out." Weiss turned to her miniature armored Dante, "Go forth!"
Upon her command, the summon grew back to its normal size, its sword returning to its original shape as well. It then rapidly sliced in all directions around it, leaving Weiss completely unharmed and turning the metal cage into what was the equivalent of shredded paper.
Free from her cage, the heiress made her way to Yang, standing back to back with her as her shade of Dante menacingly looked at crowd of bandits.
"What is that?!"
"Don't worry about it! What are you doing here?!" Weiss asked.
"Well, that's my mom and she can take us to Ruby." Yang gestured to a raven haired woman in red armor.
"Your mom kidnapped me?!" The heiress asked.
"You kidnapped her?!" The blonde angrily asked Raven Branwen.
Yang, Weiss and Weiss' summon turned to go after the bandits first, but a lightning bolt appeared out of nowhere, stopping the fight before it started.
"Enough!"
"Thank you." Raven replied to Vernal, "If you people don't keep it together this place will be crawling with Grimm." She spoke out, looking to her lieutenant once more, "Give the girl her weapon back.
She look surprised at the command, but didn't dare question Raven, tossing Myrtenaster to Weiss.
"You two. In my tent. Now."
"Why?" Yang asked,
"If you're really going after your sister, then you need to know the truth." Raven spoke before she entered her tent, the bandits go back to their own businesses.
It was at this point Weiss placed her hand on her chest and let out a breath of relief.
"Sorry about-"
Before Yang had the chance to say anything else, Weiss dropped her weapon and literally pounced on the blonde with a strong hug.
"I missed you so much..!"
"I've missed you, too." Yang said, putting her hand on the back of Weiss' head and hugging her back.
The summon seemingly let out a small huff before plunging its blade into the ground and resting its hands upon the butt of the handle, soon vanishing out of sight to give the girls their moment of peace.
Well well... It seems Weiss gained a summon of Dante. I wonder how and when that happened? FYI, you'll know soon enough.
Looks like the Aetherveil siblings are getting back into the swing of things, and what's even better... Athrya Aetherveil is back in the picture after 13 years. Ill say this much now. Imagine if Godzilla was a super protective mother. That's basically Athyra Aetherveil in a nutshell. A badass mama with a mean as Hell temper when it comes to her kids and protecting them.
I hope you enjoy seeing her from now on.
That's all I've got to say, so with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story Rogue Huntsman written by Xera Stark. The story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story. Plus, I'm working on it with him as a co-author, and my characters are in it too. So if you want to see a sort of alternate story and such with my characters in it, go on over and give Rogue Huntsman a read.
And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and tells Rogue Huntsman's story from his characters' perspective, like how Knights of White and Black (my alternate story) tells the tale from my character's perspectives.
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!
