Welcome back everyone! Thank you for letting me have that well needed break! I got plenty of nice reviews and comments about last chapter, and I thank you all for that. But something I am going to point out just one more time just in case, is that the lemon last chapter is going to be the only lemon of the story. A long time ago I put up a poll to see if you guys wanted a lemon in the story, and surprise surprise, 66% of you selected yes, so I finally held up my end of the deal last chapter. All future sex moments are just going to be implied and not written, and if I do decide to hit the fuck it button and write another one for this story, it is going to be mostly non-explicit.

It's good to be back! I have a lot of reviews to catch up on!


Zeldawolffang: Lots of things will happen this chapter, trust me.

Matrixmachine: I'm glad you're excited! Thank you for liking my story!

Guest 1: if you want to be exact about it, I'd say that I write about 300-400 words each AN? So yeah it technically won't be a million story words, but the future chapters after that will make it so.

Empress Astra: It's good to have you back my Queen! I believe I responded to you in a PM now that is an availability to me, I'll be doing that from now on because of how many words it takes for the story itself here. Welcome back again!

Tigervolcano5000: I got that charm, turning characters who were evil to the good side, I try my best anyways. ATLA was and still is one of my favourite shows of all time, I just wish they created a sequel show that continued the story of Aang. We'll see what happens between Yang and Hector, it might surprise you more than anything else really. The relic of choice is the most powerful when combined with the other relics, the relic of destruction is the most dangerous when it's on it's own compared to the others. I mean, I would think that the relic would be the most destructive physically anyway, the other relics are Knowledge, choice, and Creation. None of them really sound like they would be killing a lot of people.

Guest 2: That's exactly what I was thinking about before. Thank you for the compliment as well!

Travisck: Why thank you my good sir. Blake would enjoy any smut section of any story. She is just like that.


And there we go! If you are curious or just wanna see it, I drew a picture of Hector from this story myself, the version of him that only had one eye. I did my best, it's not perfect and it is pretty basic, but go ahead and take a look at it on my twitter whenever you want. I tried making it the cover art, but for some reason I am not able to, if you know how I can fix that, please let me know.

Now let's get straight to the story!


Chapter 51- That Effect You Have

After yet another long training session between the Spring Maiden and the blue eyed Hero of the kingdoms. They both collapsed to the ground into a sitting position not even three feet away from each other. Hector Rivers has reclaimed his old clothing from when he actually knew what the future was going to hold, pine green combat pants, black boots, sadly he wasn't able to get a shirt because a certain little red riding hood stole that from him after a night of funzies, so he is left with a spare dark red leather jacket that he forgot that he had until today.

His red flames died out as he leaned back on his hands, looking into the equally excited and amused eyes of one such as Yang, who bursted out laughing along with him as they recall their recent sparring match.

Unlike the other matches they had from before, they were actually able to go all out this time. The training room didn't really survive, burn marks, patches of ice, shattered glass and destroyed pieces of the walls and ceilings were scattered all around them.

To his surprise, Hector wasn't able to beat her with Kaioken times twenty. The match lasted too long, and Yang's semblance caught up to him, forcing him to go beyond. Not so far that he rendered himself unconscious in a coma, but enough to give his aura patches of blue as he fought at a thirty times multiplier. He was barely able to come out on top at the end after landing one of his signature knees into her stomach, while at the same time she landed a devastating right hook into his face. The shockwaves of both of these attacks cracked the tiles around them, and both of their auras failed at the same time.

Yet another draw.

"That… was epic, even though it was another draw." Hector said between pants as he held out a thumbs up and a wide smile.

"Yeah, you definitely got the blood flowing there Hex, good job." Yang smiled back, and they bumped fists together. "Just promise me one thing please, I know it's probably stupid to ask of you… but, you and my sister, I can tell that she loves you, and I know you love her back, right?" Her eyes flamed up and she glared at him with a sudden dark intensity.

"Yes, of course, you are in the correct." Hector said a little frantically. His smile got smaller but softer, and not at all less happy than before. He understood her concerns, she's told him about the times where she had to deal with hormonal angsty teenagers that only liked her for her looks and big titts rather then her personality.

"I'm no teacher, but I don't think that's how you say that." Yang said as they both shared yet another chuckle. "Anyways, you're my best friend Hex, you get me, and I would like to think that I get you."

Hector felt a warmth building up from inside him from her words. "Yeah, well you know, I got that effect on people."

Yang chuckled again. "See? You always know what to say to a girl, you're gonna be good for Ruby. I just need you to promise me something." She stood up slowly, and Hector followed suit. She held out her hand, and he grabbed it with little hesitation and neither of them winced when they squeezed the other's hands with tremendous strength. "Take care of her, she's a sensitive girl."

"I promise-"

"Hey, I'm not done yet." Yang interrupted, playfully punching him in the shoulder with more force then was really necessary. Hector tried to play it tough, but ended up having to rub the spot where she punched with a muted 'Ouch'.

"You need to take care of yourself to you know, you got a really strong semblance, be it just a magical ability or not, problem is that you can end up killing yourself with it, we both know that. If you died… Ruby would be devastated, Ozpin would be set free again into a random person somewhere in the world, and I would have lost a great friend. I don't think I can handle any more loss." Yang said with a choked gasp, she was getting emotional. The tears building up in the corners of her eyes said so. "We lost a lot of family Hector. Summer, I am still trying to come to terms with her, we all thought she died, and now I find out that she has not only been alive all these years, but apparently didn't care about us enough to see us again… then there's Raven, m-my mother." The tears began to spill, and Hector pulled her into a gentle embrace. She leaned her head on his shoulder and cried into it.

"The moment my actual mother started loving me again, she died, and the only thing I have left to remember her is this power she gave me. My dad is crippled, and my uncle is a depressed mess that thinks we can't tell he's thinking about offing himself." She said into his shoulder.

Hector hummed softly, he couldn't say he understood exactly how she felt, but after last night Ruby got him to open up a bit. He pretty much lost everyone he knew, family or otherwise when he woke up in this world. He was just keeping it under wraps this whole time.

"If we lose you next?" She laugh bitterly. "I don't think even Ruby would be able to bounce back from that one, I don't think I would be able to either." She looked up at him, Hector being just a few inches taller than she was. "Whether you like it or not, we're family now, you did sorta seal the deal when you took my sister's V-card."

Hector couldn't help but laugh at that, even as she was now she was able to crack a joke like that. "Yeah, it sucks but I think I can handle it."

"You better… so, do you promise?" She asked, leaning away and stepping back from him, her red eyes locked with his.

"I… I promise to do my best Yang." She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's the best I can give you, I can't guarantee that we are all going to make it out of this one alive or unhurt. I may have to take risks in order to protect you all, because like I know you would, I would give my life to keep Ruby safe and alive. I promise that I will do my best to come out of all of this alive, but I can't promise that I won't give it in order to save one of you guys."

"I… think I'm okay with that. Damn you Hex, everytime I think I get you, you surprise me with something else." Yang sighed. "I'll take it. Now c'mere you big lug, I am in a hugging mood now." She said as she held her arms out to her sides to offer herself to the temptations of a hug.

Hector rolled his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her once again, and rested his chin on her shoulder just as she did to his. They tightened their arms around each other for a few seconds before breaking apart, each in a much better mood then before.

"You know… if you and Ruby didn't get together, I might have had to claim you for myself.~" She said with a wink, and a light blush sprinkled over her cheeks.

Hector widened his eyes slightly, that one got to him. "I- wow, uh- shit… thanks?" He ended up saying after a few seconds of stuttering.

"Ha! It's been a while since I managed to make you blush!" Yang cheered, throwing a fist up into the air before wincing when that side of her stinged with pain climbing up from where hector punched her there before. "I still got it!"

Hector facepalmed, and turned away from her to head back to the dreaded room that they were stuck in for a good few months prior to the battle of Haven. "I am going to go back, you coming?"

"Yeah, sure. You should go see Rhea first thing though, she wanted to talk to you about something earlier this morning but, you know… Mister Exposing himself over here." Yang said with stifled snicker.

"Ha ha, yeah, laugh it up." He sarcastically laughed. "Yeah, I'll go talk to my stepdaughter, try to see if I can undo some of the scarring done to her mind after seeing me naked before we start getting ready for the trip to Vale… Though I am a bit more concerned about Nora just in case she actually tried asking Ruby for a play by play of what happened last night." Hector and Yang both widened their eyes in perfect sync as the realized that it was Nora that they were talking about here.

They both looked to each other as they walked side by side, ignoring the looks and murmuring of the students around them commenting on how strong they were to have destroyed the training room so viciously.

"I think we should start running." Hector suggested.

Yang was already way ahead of him before he could even finish that sentence.


When it came to Ruby, there was no ends to the possibilities of how red she can get. As of right now, she was still stuck wearing the clothes of her lover after the night they shared together. His oversized shirt and boxers comfortable, but only added to her embarrassment when Nora kept on asking how it was for her.

"Was it big? How big was it? Was he rough? Did you like it rough?" Nora asked about thirty seven more similar questions of the same topic that just kept making Ruby redder and redder as she was forced to remember every little detail about the night before. She wanted to get get back into her usual clothing, but she didn't realize that they got a little… bitey, last night, and there were several red hickeys on her body. She only noticed them when she looked into the mirror that morning, and couldn't bring herself to try to defend her lover even as he was being dragged out in his old clothing by her sister just because of how embarrassed she was.

"So!? Tell me, tell me!" Nora exclaimed, her arm draped out around her shoulders.

"Please don't talk about D- RJ's sex life around me, I don't need to hear it." Rhea begged as she tried to cover all four of her ears. She doesn't need any more imagery of her guardian naked in her head anymore, she has had enough of that to last a couple of lifetimes already.

"I'm not. I'm just as uncomfortable as you are." Ruby mumbled just loud enough for the faunus maiden to hear her.

"Nora, I think enough is enough. Leave the poor girl alone." Ren finally faced his fears and came to their rescue, much to the happiness of Ruby and Rhea and to the dismay of Nora Valkyrie as she stuck her tongue out at him, before looking back at Ruby and making a V with her hands, and then proceed to make a suggestive gesture with her tongue at that V formation.

"No! He didn't do that!" Ruby shrieked, even more red now.

"Phooey, next time you guys bang tell him to do that, trust me, you'll love it." Nora said as she was dragged away by Ren, and a passing Jaune when he overheard the last part.

"The ginger is gone, am I able to take these things out of my ears now?" Adam asked from the corner of the room, his voice a little too loud and sudden that it startled Ruby.

"Yeah, you're good now." Rhea said with a nod of her head.

"I'm gonna go get dressed." Ruby said as she disappeared into a cyclone of red and rose petals, the next thing they heard was the room where the deed was done to be slammed shut.

Neo appeared as the door was shut, stood on the other side of the door with a bowl of ice cream in her hands. Her favourite of course, Neapolitan flavored. She had a smudge of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice creamed all around her lips, but that didn't stop her from waving at Adam and Rhea as she went over and bopped Adam on the head with her bowl. Putting him back into his very pink and colorful ice cream disguise.

"Why am I in this again?" Adam groaned as his red sword he was sharpening turned into a bright pink suddenly.

Yang and Hector barged through the doors not a second later.

"Nora! Stop talking!" Yang exclaimed even when Nora was nowhere to be found. Hector was about to do the same but he was able to figure out that Nora wasn't actually there when they barged in.

"Oh gosh, I think we're too late." Hector said with a shudder and a nervous smile.

"RJ, please zip up your jacket, I've seen enough of your skin to last the rest of my life." Rhea said with a shudder, and a bit of gagging mixed into it.

"Wow, thanks Rhea, you really made your old man happy with that one. What's wrong with my manly scars?" Hector teased as he zipped up his jacket, and just in case tightened the glove on his left hand covering Salem's symbol.

"I still don't see why I need to be in this wretched disguise." Adam groaned as he tried to convince Neo to change him back to his beautiful red and black color scheme.

"That is because we are leaving soon." Hector told him over his shoulder. "Neo, please tell everyone that we are departing to Vale today, please?" He asked in a softer voice.

Neo was happy to oblige him, throwing her bowl of ice cream over her shoulder and transforming from her pajamas to her usual get up, Roman Torchwik's old bowler hat on her head as she skipped away to let the others know about what is happening.

"Thanks Neo!" Hector exclaimed before she could get out of hearing range.

She simply held out a thumbs up as her form shattered into a few hundred shards of glass.

"In the meantime, I am going to get my other clothes from a little thief of mine." Hector said next as he walked toward the door to his own room, only to frown when he found it locked.

"I'll be out in a minute!" Ruby told him, somehow she already knew that it was him and nobody else, and Hector was already over it in a matter of seconds.

"Of course, so Rhea." Hector swapped topics on a dime, spinning around on his heel and dashing to take the open seat beside her in the span of a second. "Heard you wanted to talk to me."

Rhea's eyes lit up. "You remembered!" She exclaimed, beaming when Hector pulled her into a one armed hug.

"Yup, how could I forget my favorite stepdaughter?" He asked, amused as Rhea rubbed one of her ears against his chest.

Rhea rolled her eyes and pushed herself off of him. "I'm your only stepdaughter." She corrected as she leaned back into the couch. "And yeah… I was hoping I could ask you to look into something for me."

"Sure, what is it?" Hector agreed easily, focusing more of his attention on her as he listened out carefully for what she had to ask of him.

"After what we found out about Ruby's mom… It got me thinking." She twiddled with her thumbs, and Hector found himself listening extra carefully on what she had to ask of him. He had an idea on where this was going already though. "I ended up thinking about what could have happened to my parents, I haven't seen or heard from them in like… ever. The only thing I was able to get anything on them was from that General guy back in Atlas getting some footage of a hooded woman leaving me in front of that orphanage in the village where you found me in."

"Yeah, I can see where this is going." Hector said softly, nodding his head as he leaned toward her with his elbows on his knees. "You want me to ask Knolly where they are? If they're still alive and all that?"

Rhea shifted in her seat, her golden eyes looking anywhere but into his eyes as she played with her raven black hair. "If it's okay… I'm not asking for us to go find them or anything, I just want to know what happened to them, and… yeah, pretty much what you said."

"Rhea I don't mind doing this for you." Hector told her. "You're my daughter, if you want something from me you just need to ask, it's not like I am going to get mad at you or anything. You don't need to sound like you think this is a whole burden you are putting on me."

Rhea's eyes lit up slightly. "Are you sure?"

Hector smiled one of his signature smiles as he sat up straight and brushed his shoulder against hers. "Of course I am, now do you wanna let me get the whole visions thing or do you want to join me on it."

Rhea smiled. "Yeah, I'll look at them with you."

"Great, because it gets lonely in there sometimes. I'm going to let you know now though that while we are looking at these visions, time is going to feel like it is going really fast or slow as we skip days, months, and years, but in reality, all we'll be doing is sitting here with glowing blue eyes for a few seconds… and." Hector sighed. "I don't know what happened, but just in case anything really bad happened to them, I need you to be ready to see them happen. I won't be able to kick you out once we start, but I'll be able to force close the vision in the case it becomes too much for you. Do you understand?"

Rhea nodded immediately, determined. "Yes, I've already seen my fair share of violence, I think I'll be fine.."

"Sadly, I can't really fault you for that… Alright, Knolly?" He called out to the rng on his finger.

The ring glowed brightly, and a trail of blue mist shot out of the ring as Jinn appeared in front of the both of them, her glowing blue figure decorated in golden jewelry and a hand in front of her mouth as she yawned.

"Ah, master! It's only been a few hours but it feels like I've been asleep for weeks." She said with a grin as she crossed her arms and sat on nothing but air.

"Strangely enough, I understand what you mean in a way." Hector said with a chuckle. "I have to ask you for some knowledge Knolly, do you have enough energy to answer a question Rhea has for you?"

"If she wishes to use her question now, then I will be happy to oblige." Jinn said with a smile. "What knowledge do you seek young maiden?"

Rhea sat up straight as she looked up at the deity, she pursed her lips and tried to look like a figure of authority as her eyes flamed up with orange for just a few seconds before she gave up and just smiled back at her. It was very adorable to see.

"I want to know what happened to my parents… What happened to them? Start at the beginning please." Rhea requested.

"Hmm… yes, I do remember that tale." Jinn frowned. "Steel yourself young one, for this is not a pleasant tale."

A bright flash of blue occured, and both Hector and Rhea were sent into a trance, seeing nothing but the visions that Jinn is showing them.


"Ashlynn! I'm home." A man looking somewhere between his mid twenties and mid thirties exclaimed. A man with dark brown hair and green eyes, along with a pair of wolf ears atop his head.

"This is your father young one, his name is…"

"Hello Coal, how was your day?" A saccharine voice asked as a woman with a completely blacked out face appeared in front of the man, her hands over her swelling belly where a baby is being developed within her womb.

"Eh, same crap over, and over. Except that today may have been a little less boring of a day." Coal said with a smile as he leaned down to kiss the pregnant woman.

"Why is her face blacked out?" Hector asked.

"All will be revealed in time master, for now, just let the tale run its course." Jinn said with an echoing voice.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Rhea commented.

"Yeah… me too."

"The fields were kicking my ass today, but I managed to get a decent pay out of it." Coal continued as he threw a pouch of lien on the counter, putting his tools up against the table as he sat down on the chair. "How's the baby?"

"The child is fine my dear… I've actually resumed by huntress training today." Ashlynn said as she sauntered over to the kitchen to lift the plates of food off of the stove.

Coal frowned. "Ashlynn, we've talked about this. I know you really like being all powerful, but you are putting our daughter at risk every time you go out to train or do any huntress work. You're already skilled enough to become a huntress by taking the licensed exam, it won't hurt anyone to just relax until you give birth."

"And, I see that your memory is failing you yet again dear, that I am not a woman to be denied what I want. The child will be fine, I will be be taking precautions in order that will remain to be so. I do not wish to bring this topic up again, my love." Ashlynn said, she sounded angry for a second, but calmed down as she set the plates down on the table in front of her lover.

"...Very well, just be careful." Coal sighed, but couldn't talk back to his wife about this. They have been arguing about her rather late pursuit of strength, they met in a rather unusual place, while Coal was working. Ashlynn was training with her unique semblance to control the temperature of glass and mold it into whatever she wishes it to be. Coal found her when she was destroying the part of the fields that he was working on in order to create space for her training, and after a rather tense yelling match between the two, one where Coal didn't back down against the clearly much stronger woman, they hit it off from there. It was a slow agonizing process to win over her heart, but after about three years of taking her out on what he thought were dates when it was really just her taking advantage of his feelings, she finally started returning some of those feelings.

They shared a night of love together, and a few days later. Ashlynn was showing signs of pregnancy, they married not a week later. Now it was a matter of getting back into the civilian life after a long time of being a fighter. She wasn't an easy woman to be around, but once your get through her bubble and defences, she could be a very warm and loving woman. One that is going to be a mother in just a few short months.

A few months later…

"C-Coal…"

"Hmm? What are you doing here Ashlynn- Oh Gods." Coal dropped his tools, and sprinted toward his wife before she could collapse, the insides of her legs were wet with a mixture of blood, and the fluids of her entering labor. "You silly woman why didn't you call me!?" He asked frantically as he carried her to the nearest local hospital.

"T-The child… she's coming." Ashlynn cried out as she buried her face into Coal's shoulder. "This pain is unbearable."

"I know love, I know, just stay with me right now, just uh, just keep breathing?" Coal offered what little advice of what he knew about the process of pregnancy.

"I AM BREATHING YOU FOOL!" Ashlyn screamed at him as she clawed at his face. "YOU DID THIS TO ME! AAAAGGGHH!"

"THIS IS SERIOUSLY NOT THE TIME ASH." Coal yelled back as he kicked down the door to the hospital, and demanded that his wife be prepared and treated for her labor.

After many, many… many hours of labor and preparation that lead into the immediate birth of a beautiful baby girl, taking after her mother in almost every way possible and with two tiny wolf ears atop her head in the mop of black hair. Coal fainted and nearly dropped his daughter when he looked down at her, luckily the doctors and nurses were able to catch both of and the girl.

"What is her name Miss? I am sorry to disturb you in your time of recovery, but I am afraid that your husband has fainted." The doctor hesitantly asked under the absolute death glare that he was getting from the woman, even with her face blacked out, it was still enough to make Hector and Rhea uncomfortable, and only one of them existed at the time!

"Rhea Annani, she will be taking my last name. I won't allow her to have the surname of such a weak man." She said harshly as she shut her eyes tightly, trying to will her body to go to sleep so she doesn't have to feel the lingering pain that was in her entire lower half.

"U-understood mam, Rhea Annani it is."

"I just watched myself be born… oh God." Rhea gagged and was about to throw up.

"Whoa! No, no, no, no Rhea do not throw up in here, I don't even want to know where it would go." Hector said as he tried his best to calm her down and stop her from puking while in her trance.

"This was the moment you were born young one, the time of which you were most innocent and pure. Sadly, you would not be able to last even a year with your parents."

Three months later…

Coal sits beside his daughters crib, his wife at this point was more worried about getting stronger and gaining more power then taking care of their own daughter, which led to a falling out where Coal was the one who had to take care of their daughter mostly on his own. Ashlynn was too busy to care about them, and Coal has noticed that she has been heading out of town more and more ever since she got out of recovery.

He thought life was going to get better when she returned to the village, but no, it has taken a drastic turn for the worst. He sits beside Rhea's crib with a double barrelled shotgun in his hands, doing his best to ignore the screams of pain and slaughter that was happening just outside his house. His hands were shaking, but he was going to do his best against this threat with every last ounce of will he had left.

The things attacking, weren't Grimm.

"Ashlynn… why are you doing this?" Coal asked as tears fell from his face, the weapon aimed at his wife as he thinks about the choices that he has left. "Why do this? Why kill everyone!? Who is that person you have been speaking to? What the hell happened to the woman I fell for!?" He asked as he turned the safety off, and placed his finger on the trigger.

Rhea began crying in her crib, her small arms and legs waving around under the covers. She wasn't even old enough to walk on her own yet.

"Oh Coal… you always were a weak spirited man. Never able to do what needed to be done, always afraid to get your hands dirty." Ashlynn said with a cruel smile.

This time it was different, her orange eyes were more than just visible through the black shadows that still covered the rest of her features. She flourished her dual glass swords in each hand, flicking away the blood to the side as she pointed them both at her husband, and then dropped them both. They shattered against the floor in hundreds of pieces before fading away into ash.

"Go on, shoot me. I might change my mind about killing you if you do, I'd let you wander this world without a purpose until you killed yourself out of grief… it was a mistake ever letting you get close to me, my new master said as such. I can see better than ever before that she was correct."

Coal tensed up, and squeezed the trigger without hesitation.

Each and every pellet fell to the ground, Ashlynn's amber colored aura absorbing the entire shot with nothing but her hand. Even through the shadows covering her face, you could see the smile she had on her lips.

"Impressive, maybe you aren't as pathetic as I previously thought." She said as she took a step forward.

With a defiant scream, Coal shot the other shell into her, yielding the same result.

"Stubborn too, I can see how to previous me could have fallen for you." Ashlynn disappeared from his sight.

He couldn't keep up with her, she was just way too fast for his untrained eyes to keep up with, and before he knew it the gun was torn out of his hands and he looked down to see two glass swords stabbed into his chest. He coughed out blood and groaned in pain as he was lifted into the air by the swords, the blood dripping out from his mouth and his wounds onto the woman. She stuck her tongue out and licked the blood the dripped on the corner of her lips, and with a wink, tore her swords out of his chest. She then kicked his body away and out a window, where he very quickly died of his fatal injuries.

She then turned to the crib, and started walking toward it to deal with her-

Hector forcibly ended the vision here


Rhea couldn't watch it anymore, and she hid her eyes in Hector's chest as he watched the whole thing unfold with widened eyes. Something went terribly wrong with the mental health of her mother, that much was obvious, she was manipulated into slaughtering the entire village that she and her husband lived in. But something stuck out to him, the girl clinging on to him right now was still alive, so obviously, something happened and Rhea was left alive.

Coal, Rhea's biological father, was dead. Her mother, this Ashlynn person with an almost familiar semblance, and the same color eyes of Rhea. Which was expected since they were told that Rhea took after her mother much, much more than her father. Had murdered him and the occupants of the village they lived in.

"Hey, hey, it's okay Ray, I'm here." Hector soothed the crying faunus as he wrapped her up in his arms and placed her in his lap. "I'm so sorry you had to see that, If I had known…"

"It's…" Rhea sniffled. "Not your fault… I wanted to see it… I just thought that maybe… maybe." She broke down into tears, and couldn't speak anymore without extreme effort that is far out of her reach with the way she is feeling.

"What happened?" Adam asked, the only one who stayed behind with him showed a slight bit of concern. To them it was about an hour, but to him it lasted about a two seconds of their eyes glowing a faint blue.

"What happened!?" Adam was not the only one who stayed behind.

Yang ran up to Hector and Rhea, and knelt down in front of her. "I heard what you guys were doing, but how could that have lead to this?" She asked Hector.

"We… saw some disturbing things, her dad's dead, and her mother was the one who killed him." Hector revealed. Rhea whined and hugged against him just a little tighter, she needed his support, and he was more then willing to give it as he rubbed her wolf ears in the way he knew she loved it.

"Oh… shit." Yang shook her head and shut her eyes. "What can I do?"

"There isn't much you can do, Yang, the damage is already done." Hector said solemnly. "Can you go make sure the Bullhead is ready or something?" He asked, it might have been rude if the situation was any other then what it was now. Yang understood what he meant though, this was something they would have to handle on their own, as family.

"Sure, I'll see what I can do." She said as she stood up, rubbing Rhea's shoulder one more time before walking away. She stopped herself when she spotted Adam in his disguise, sitting patiently in the corner of the room with his silver eyes looking right back into hers. Yang wanted to say something to him, she wanted to just destroy him with her powers that she now had, but with an emotionally weak Rhea it would be doing more damage then it would good, at least in her book. She restrained herself, and kept on walking, tearing her eyes away from his.

Hector stood up with Rhea in his arms shortly after, and carried her to his room. The door was still locked, but he fixed that with a swift kick that was gentle enough so that he wouldn't knock the door's off of it's hinges, but did rip the lock out of the doorframe. Ruby was startled and yelped at the surprise entry, but she used her semblance to get dressed long before so it saved both of them from an awkward moment. The moment she saw Rhea as she was she sped up to do what she can to make her feel better, offering her own soft words of comfort as she welcomed them both into the room.

The door was haphazardly placed back after they entered the room.

An hour later, and Rhea finally passed out into a slumber. Her head on Hector's lap as her chest rises with every breath she takes in. Ruby sat beside them and had her hand on his shoulder, they didn't talk about what happened yet. One of the first things Hector explained to Ruby was what caused this, and it was a tough pill to swallow for her, but in the end she didn't push on the topic.

"That's terrible, what her mother did. Why would she do such a thing?" Ruby asked, a rare vibe of anger coming off of her as she slightly tightened her grip on Hector's shoulder.

Hector simply sighed, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "I have no idea, I saw the whole thing happen, there was blood everywhere." He held his head up higher, and looked Ruby in the eye. "There's something else you should know, her mom, Ashlynn was her name, she didn't kill Rhea, that much is obvious. Whatever that drove her to kill her husband and pretty much the rest of the village apparently was not strong enough for her to kill her own daughter. I don't know how to explain this to her, but I think she wanted Rhea to survive that night."

"I don't know, it just seems like everytime we are onto something good, something terrible comes up." She said with a frown. "We have to be there for her, I know what it's like to feel the pain of losing a parent. I'm not even close to a mother yet, but I'll try."

Hector smiled and leaned his head against hers. "Thank you, I'm not much of a Dad myself, but I'll do what I can for my fourteen year old daughter."

"Don't sell yourself short, you've done a good job so far." Ruby said with a kind smile. "I mean, it's a little weird that you're not even twenty and you already have a fourteen year old daughter, but hey, you're doing good!"

"Yeah, I guess I'm doing alright." Hector agreed with a chuckle, resisting the urge to point out that Ruby is also only seventeen and is technically already a mother. "I… I'm going to see the rest of the vision later on while we're on the Bullhead, I have to see for myself what happened after Ashlynn killed her husband."

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I know I'm sure." Hector nodded. "I have a feeling that there's something I am missing, and I need to know what it is."


Mercury, Qrow, and Winter all found a cave to camp out in to wait out a snow storm. They were barely able to find said cave, and it was only thanks to Mercury's new ability to turn into smoke that he used to get himself and carry both of their tired bodies to the cavern. This particular part of the mountains are the coldest, and have never been inhabited by humans, not even Grimm can survive out here, the cold was fierce enough that it could make even a Grimm freeze to death.

"Ice Queen, looking a little pale there." Qrow pointed out. "You alright?"

"I'll be fine." Winter half-lied, even her naturally built in resistance to the cold in which her body developed over the course of her life in Atlas wasn't enough to save her from the beginning stages of hypothermia. They were all suffering this tragic fate, the healthiest one of them all being Mercury. One of the new upgrades Ruby gave his legs was a heater for his body.

I am so glad I let that weapons nut work on my legs. Mercury thought as he put the heaters of to full blast, not only keeping himself warm but also radiating a wave of heat to his other two allies for this mission.

"Yeah, I get it. Why don't you scoot a bit closer to peg legs over there." Qrow suggested, and even though it could have been mistaken for a tease that he so desperately loves to do to the former heiress of the SDC, it was mostly genuine. Winter couldn't deny his logic, the ex-assassin she was being forced to work with had bionic legs that radiated heat for harsh temperatures such as this.

Without responding, she scooted just a bit closer to Mercury as Qrow tended to the flames with what little dry wood they had left. The fire wasn't going to last the night, they all knew that, which puts pressure on Mercury to keep them warm throughout the night, which is going to take a lot of willpower to keep himself awake to do something like that, but he had little choice. If he didn't, at least one of them wouldn't make it through the night, and any amount of losses would be unacceptable.

If it's up to me, then it's up to me. I won't let either of you die. Mercury promised himself as he drank some water out of his canteen. The water was more ice then actually water, but the fraction of it that melted from the flames was welcomed as it flowed down his parched throat.

"We aren't all going to make it through the night." Qrow said with a flat voice as he begun to zip down his winter jacket.

"Qrow what do you think you're doing?" Winter asked loudly, she tried to sound authoritative, but her voice stuttered in sync with her shivers.

"I'm going to make sure you two make it." He said simply as he threw his jacket over Winter.

"No." Mercury defiantly rebelled against him. "I'm not going to let you do this Qrow."

"Black, you're smart enough to know that this snowstorm isn't going to end anytime soon. It's better if you two go on instead of me, I can't even fly in this weather, and my semblance is just going to make it even worse for you both." Qrow explained as his shivering worsened the second he took off his jacket.

"What are you talking about? Of course we can all make it, as long as I keep my legs acting as a mobile heater, we'll make it. Don't give up yet!" Mercury exclaimed, reaching toward Qrow and grabbing him by his sleeve before he could go too far. "The Hell do you think you're doing?"

"Kid… I am more a burden then I am something good for you all right now. My very presence is going to somehow screw us all over, I'd rather go out alone then to bring any more friends down with me." Qrow said with little emotion as he pulled his arm away, standing up slowly and faced the entrance of the cave.

"Qrow, listen, I get that you've been depressed recently." Mercury started.

"Oh how'd you get that idea?" Qrow sarcastically asked, turning back around to see Mercury standing up, and Winter too frozen to stand up with him trying to keep the the flames alive with dire dust. "No one needs me here Black, I'm literally a walking bad luck charm, why would you want me around?"

"Listen Dipshit, maybe it's because of the crazy reason that I don't want you to freeze to death out there?" Mercury said as he walked up to Qrow, not close enough to touch him, but close enough to catch him in case he decided to make a bolt for it anyway.

"I might not even die out there, who knows, maybe the Gods really do have a plan for me and it won't be my time to die." Qrow joked as he gripped the angled cross on his necklace. "No one needs me here kid, no one needs me around anymore, maybe it's time I get out of their way." He said with his usual smug smile as he started walking backward toward the entrance.

"I need you." Mercury shouted suddenly, sprinting up to him and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, and throwing him back toward the fire. He skid to a stop just before he hit the flames, and Winter tried to move to help him up but was too late. Mercury already caught up and picked Qrow up off the ground by his collar and stared daggers into his red eyes. "I need you, I care about you. Sure, maybe your nieces grew up a little and don't need you to protect them anymore, but that doesn't mean that they don't give a shit about you!" He yelled, getting into his face until their noses were only about three inches away from touching.

"Black-"

"Don't Black me, that's my father's last name, and I am not him. My name is Mercury, just Mercury, I've disowned that piece of shit a while ago. Partially redeemed ex-assassin and criminal, and I did not work my ass off to get a pardon just so I can let you kill yourself you jackass." Mercury said as he shoved Qrow even further back into the cave. "So sit there, put on your damn jacket." He picked up his jacket off of Winter, and threw it back to him. "And let's all of a nice cuddle session, that sounds like a much better idea."

"W-what?" Qrow said with a light gasp as he was pulled in between Mercury and Winter, and they both wrapped their arms around him.

"Y-You i-idiot, you may g-get on m-m-my nerves, but I don't hate you." Winter said through her shivers as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Mercury gripped them both tighter to his body, since he was the warmest, he still kept Qrow in the middle just in case he decided to do anything stupid.

"Fucking, idiot. Didn't you ever think that maybe I might have started seeing you as more then just my mentor?" He asked, peeping through his fingers to look at Qrow. "You're… honestly the closest thing I have to family left Qrow, you trained me, you took me in, you stood up for me before, we fought Grimm together, bled together, fought my crazy Dad together, and I even started saving lives instead of taking them like I was trained to do. I mean, how long has it been since I even thought about doing something good like that?"

"Kid…"

"And here you are, trying to off yourself and pretending like we all wanted you to die or some stupid shit like that."

"Black…"

"Do you really think that you're the only one with a fucked up life? I mean, do any of you guys actually have normal lives!? Like seriously, is there anyone in our whole group that actually has an alive or even sane mother? I sure as Hell don't, neither does Miss Perfect soldier over here."

"H-Hey!"

"I made a promise to the most important person to me, myself. And I am not going to let you die! Not you either Winter."

"Mercury!"

"What!?" Mercury snapped, looking Qrow in the eyes only to see that the man was actually chuckling so hard that his face went red.

"I get it, you care about me, I got that effect on people. I still think you should be the one to sit in the middle so you can keep us both warm, and… I need room to put my jacket back on." He said with a shake of his head. "Yeah, I guess I'll stay around just a bit longer."

Mercury huffed through his nose, and adjusted his position so that he was in the middle, while also allowing room to let Qrow put his jacket on.

Nothing was said in the following minutes that came by, instead all that happened or was heard was the light snores of Winter Schnee, who thought she of all people was a snorer? And Mercury's chin resting on his chest as he himself also fell asleep after his little outburst.

Qrow was still awake, albeit barely. His mind was wandering around, he did have a pretty shitty life. He lost many people important to him, found out that Ozpin was just using them all, including himself, and lost that last part of his immediate family. But now, he has some new people to care for.

He saw Mercury as an enemy before, the battle of Haven was the first time he ever personally met the kid, and he kicked his ass along with his little green haired girlfriend. Then the next time they meet the kid was going up against a freaking army of Grimm along with his thought to be deceased father! Well, before that he saw him traveling with RWBY, and observed like that little avian he was out of curiosity. He was surprised to see that almost all the girls were okay with him working with them, and he seemed to have earned Ruby's trust. That was all he needed to jump in there and help him against Marcus, his nemesis. Back in his prime Marcus was a well known killer of not only civilians, but huntsman and huntresses as well. He was dangerous, and they fought plenty of times, he almost won a few, and also almost lost a few. They were always equal like that.

Then he heard the news that Marcus was killed, and the mains suspect was his son of all people. Apparently the news that was spread around was that Marcus killed his wife when she found out about the whole assassin thing, and was secretly training his son to take after him once he is gone. The whole thing backfired, and he was killed by his own son who went missing right after that whole thing.

He saw Mercury fighting Yang in the Vytal Festival, and he was actually impressed by the kid at the time. He was fighting Yang evenly and came really close to victory before things turned around. His semblance wasn't nearly as developed as it was now, but still, against Yang of all people it was impressive.

Then… the whole debacle with Yang breaking his leg happened, which then led on to the fall of Beacon and Mercury Black himself being one of the prime suspects.

Skip a few seasons later… and now here we are. He's changed, Mercury, from an assassin, to a terrorist, to now lost soul seeking redemption…

He reminded him of himself.

Qrow surrendered to the heat moments later, and fell asleep as the last embers of the fire went out, leaving them in darkness save for the glow from Mercury's legs.

/-/

Somewhere, someone is looking at the cave. She saw the three familiar people all huddled up together for warmth, the one in the middle looked like he was keeping the others warm… but she knew it wouldn't be enough.

"None of you will make it through the night… unless." The Winter Maiden brushed her white cape to the side, and rose both of her hands out ot her sides as she looked up into the violently cloudy blizzard.

With a faint glow of dark blue and a flash of white. The blizzard clouds dissipated, and the snowstorm was reduced to a simple flurry.

"It wouldn't be good for me if I let his friends freeze to death when I could have done something about it, now would it?" The Winter Maiden said with a small smile as she disappeared into a flurry cloud of white, and traveled back to her temporary residence.

They would live on just a bit longer.


Hell and the rest of his team that he was so ceremoniously chosen to lead by the unlikely alliance that was Marcus Black and Tyrian Callows, looked up to see the sky completely cleared up of clouds, and for the blizzard to have been downgraded to a mere flurry.

"Great, now I don't have to cuddle up to Mister Broody anymore." Marcus said as he broke away from the huddle that was around Hell.

Hell used his ability to act as a moving heat source, he was so warm that the snow didn't make it to the ground around him, and he carved a path through the snow with his mere presence. The Kaioken could be used for more than just straight up enhancing physical traits after all, he was sure that his counterpart knew that already.

"Funny, you remind me how much I want to kill you every time you open your mouth." Hell said as he sensed a magical energy flowing around the skies.

"Hehe, I was told that I have that effect on people." Marcus said with a chuckle as he patted down his coat of any remaining snow.

"Shut up, Hell is sensing something." Hazel berated as he pushed past Marcus. "What is it, you have that look in your eye that tells me that you know something we don't."

"I would like to correct you on that, I know a lot of things that you don't." Hell said as he continued looking up to the sky, narrowing his eyes as if he is focusing on something.

"Hehehe, he's got you there Hazel." Tyrian cackled.

"Man, this team is a real mess, you can almost say that we're just itching to cause some havoc, eh?" Marcus laughed at his own joke.

No one else did.

"Oh come on I thought that was the comedy thing with you people."

"Wrong people." Hazel simply stated.

"All of you." Hell spoke up loudly, earning himself their attention with his booming voice.

He turned to face them all, his lips curling up into a smile as his body radiated a red black aura just out of pure excitement. "We're getting close, the Winter Maiden is the reason for the blizzards abrupt stop."

"Great! Let's keep moving then, we shouldn't have much more to travel, if we catch her while she's tired I have no doubt that the four of us will be able to kick her ass without any problems." Marcus said as he started stretching his arms and legs.

"There's already a problem." Hell said next, his smile disappearing.

"Agh, of course there is." Marcus groaned.

"What is it?" Hazel tiredly asked. He was tired of being one of the only two out of the four who was actually able to use his brain.

"Ah, I see what's wrong." Tyrian said with a wide toothy smile plastered on his face.

"What? How do you know something is wrong." Marcus asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am a faunus, and what advantage do we have over

humans in the dark? Come on, use your brain for this one."

"Ah, right, that night vision thing you things got."

"Excuse you!?"

"There's smoke in the sky." Hell interrupted before a fight can break out. "Which means, we aren't the only ones out here, someone else must be searching for the Maiden."

"How do you know they aren't just some campers?" Marcus asked, tilting his head.

Hell simply just stared at him like he was stupid… which he was of course, but in a way that said that even one such as he should have been able to figure it out.

"Right, dumb question. You think it's your daddy?"

"After we're done here, I'm going to let you fight Tyrian to the death." Hell said with a grunt.

"Yes!" Marcus and Tyrian both exclaimed their approval of such a decision.

"Ugh… if it is Hector, we have to find the Maiden before he does, as I am now I wouldn't be able to defeat him, much less both him and the maiden on my own." Hell said. "We rest for now, the Maiden will probably be doing the same. In the case that it is Hector, and he does find the Maiden before we do, the mission will be aborted. We won't be able to defeat both him and the Maiden at the same time."

"Ahem… aren't you forgetting something?" Tyrian asked, flourishing his dropping stinger out in front of him. The purple venom melted through the snow beneath it.

"If you case you have forgotten, that didn't save your clone the last time. It got a broken neck and a mangled arm as a result." Hell remarked.

"Ah, that just makes it all the more exciting!"

"What?- No, whatever, if you want to die, go right ahead. See if I care, in the meantime, like I said before, I order you all to rest for now." Hell said as he sat down, and yawned himself.

"Gotcha scary boss guy." Marcus said with a two fingered wave as he fell back into a comfy looking patch of snow and snoozed away.

Hazel, and Tyrian followed suit later, and they both fell asleep rather fast. It turned out they were a lot more tired than Hell originally thought.

They were going to need the rest.


"Is everything ready?" Hector asked the pilot in the cockpit.

"Yeah, mostly, just need everyone to strap in and we'll be good to go." He replied, flicking away and some more of the controls as the Bullhead started to warm up.

"Thanks again for your personal shuttle, it's a lot more spacey then the one we came here on." Ruby said to the new headmaster of Haven.

"You are quite welcome, little rose…" Albedo leaned in, and even blushed a little as he accidentally used his semblance on her. "Or should I say… a budded rose?" He said with a suggestive wink.

Ruby immediately understood what he meant. "W-well it was great to see you and everything but we really gotta go BYE!" She stammered out as she disappeared into a flurry of red rose petals.

"Hahaha, and there goes my favorite student, all grown up." He sniffled and brushed away a stray tear.

"Ahem." Yang coughed.

"Yes, even better than you." Albedo said with a laugh, ducking under a playful punch and offering Yang a sturdy handshake.

"Everything is set up he says." Hector spoke to the whole group. "We're going to take off soon." He turned back around, and sat next to Rhea in the corner of the Bullhead. She immediately took his arm and rested her head against his shoulder, relishing in his warmth.

Ruby sat next to him, and took his hand.

The rest of the pretty large party, consisting of Ren, Nora, Jaune, Nicholas, Adam, Neo, and Yang. All strapped themselves in as well, it wasn't as comfy as the one Weiss gave them, but it was more than good enough for the entire group. It would have been awkward if Adam had to share a bed with anyone there.

Neo sat in the co-pilot seat, and no one, not even the pilot, even thought about asking her to move. She seemed comfortable there, and as long as she didn't try to take control of the aircraft. She was fine where she was, where she is going to but that bowl of ice cream when she is done with it was a mystery to them all.

Adam sat across from Hector, and beside him was Yang, who gave him a warning look as she sat down beside him. Her intention being to punish him in the case he decided to go a little berserk on the Bullhead. Beside her, sat Blake, and the rest was the order of her new temporary team along with Nicholas Arc in that order.

"You know… I've actually never been to Beacon before, not even Vale itself. Now that I think about it, none of you have been there since the fall right?" Hector asked everyone.

Everyone nodded their heads, even Adam and Neo. Besides Rhea, it was left unsaid that she hasn't been back since her village was attacked, and then in a matter of just a second, went through Raven's portal straight to Atlas. She hasn't been back since.

"We're going to take it back." Jaune declared. "We are going to take back our home, kill every single Grimm that dared to step foot in that school."

"Look at you Vomit Boy, you haven't thrown up yet!" Yang exclaimed.

"Oh come on! Will you drop that already?" Jaune complained.

"Nope, you threw up on my shoes, that is unforgivable and that joke will never die. Those were really expensive you know!"

"It was an accident! It was my first time on an airship okay? Cut me some slack."

Everyone shared a laugh at that, besides Rhea. But Hector noticed that she did have the slightest beginnings of a smile crawling up from the corner of her lips.

/-/

It was a few hours later, mostly everyone fell asleep almost as soon as they waved that Albedo guy goodbye, thank the Gods that he had his personal Bullhead that was also the size of about three busses just lying around, fully fueled up, and full of supplies, it was a very good convenience. Hector was going to have to come back to that guy one day and buy him a drink or something, screw the fact that he isn't legal yet. Even better, Jaune fell asleep before the effects of his airsickness could fully take hold on his body.

The next stage of his long thought out plan was finally going on to it's next step, this was actually a very good accomplishment, what's better is that this particular Bullhead happens to be so advanced, that as soon as they drop off Ren, Blake, Jaune, Nora, Nicholas, and someone else Hector has in mind, after just a few hours break, the Bullhead will be prepared to make the rest of the trip to Vacuo. What he is going to do with those few hours however was something he hasn't really thought about yet.

That was something he would have to worry about later anyway, not at ten thousand feet in the sky and a good couple of days until they even enter Vale airspace.

Hector looked down to his right to see Rhea peacefully sleeping against his shoulder, and then to his left, where Ruby was still awake waiting for him. He gave her a nod, and rubbed the gemstone on his golden ring. "Knolly, come out."

Jinn repeated the process of exiting the ring just as she did earlier that afternoon, floating about and stretching before sitting down on nothing but air and crossing her arms.

"Er… I can't see anything." Ruby whispered to Hector.

"You're not supposed to, I'm going in alone this time." Hector said to her as he looked into the Relics eyes.

"What? You don't need to do this by yourself you know." Ruby whispered loudly at him.

Hector sighed. "I know, but I want to do this on my own, for you it'll be over in less then a few seconds."

"Yeah but for you it's going to feel like hours, or even days." Ruby pointed out.

"Trust me, I already know that. Imagine how long it felt when I looked at Ozpin's very first life." Hector said with an empty chuckle. "Trust me, I've got this, I'll be right back before you know it."

Ruby pouted and stared into his eyes for a few moments longer, hoping to break him with one of her signature adorable pouts and eye contact. But this wasn't one of those moments where she could get away with something like that. Hector was determined this time, and he wasn't going to fold under her glare, with a puff of her being blown out of her nose, she nodded her head hesitantly, and wrapped her fingers around his hand as an offer of comfort.

Hector smiled, and kissed her on the forehead before returning his focus to the deity in front of him.

"Master, are you sure you want to do this? What you will see is going to be very difficult to process…"

"Yeah, I'm sure…" Hector shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. "What happened to Ashlynn Annani?"

His world became a blue void, and he returned to the same scene he left off at from before.


"Hah, I've been longing to do that for too long, I only wish I'd done it earlier." Ashlynn said, dropping her bloody swords to the ground with a loud shatter, still had her face completely blacked out save for her orange eyes. She stepped closer to baby Rhea's crib, and softly cooed her crying baby as she picked her up with her bloody hands.

"It's okay my daughter, it will all be over soon." She said as she rose a dagger from her hip, and pointed it to her infant child.

Hector wanted to jump out at her, and stop her from stabbing her own child, but his hands passed right through her like there was nothing there in the first place. He had to calm himself down by remembering that Rhea was already beside him, sleeping and safe in a Bullhead full to the brim with friends and allies. Hesitantly, he pulled back.

Her hand was shaking, she couldn't go through with it. She tried to force herself to do it, but the dagger stopped just before it could make contact with the baby's skin. She took her hand away, and threw the dagger out of the window where he deceased husband lied.

"Well… you won't be remembering this, you are only three months old, yes… that could work." The woman smiled. "I will spare you for now my daughter, you won't see me again until you are probably at the age I am at now… I simply see no reason to squander such potential, you are my daughter after all." Ashlynn said with a motherly smile as she rocked her baby, humming softly as she stepped out of the wrecked house and into the bloody streets of what used to be her home village.

"Rhea Annani… I wonder what the future may hold for you my child."

The entire scenery changed, transforming into a place that was familiar. It was the very village where Hector found Rhea, and it was back into the first person perspective of Ashlynn Annani, carrying a basket that held a now four month old baby Rhea with a note that says nothing but her name on it.

"This is where we part ways my daughter… I will come back to you somehow, when my conquest for power is complete… stay safe." She leaned down to kiss her daughters head, brushing her fingers through Rhea's infant wolf ears as she set the basket down in front of a village, and scurried away as soon as a light turned on from within the building."

"Yeah, I know this part already, they weren't able to find any trace of Ashlynn after this… keep going Knolly, I want to see this womans face."

"...Very well master."

The entire scenery changed again, this time into a sort of dark throne room, the color mainly being a dark purple and red. Ashlynn was looking down to the ground, on one knee and bowing her head to a person at the end of a long red carpet. A throne of purple stone and jagged rock.

"I did as you asked my Queen… I am yours to command, as long as I get the power you promised me." Ashlynn said as she looked up at her new boss.

Salem.

"What… the… fuck." Hector mumbled to himself.

"You will get everything you desire my dear, everything and more." Salem said with a smile, looking exactly as she did in the present, except that her hair was tied up into a bun instead of the extravagant hairstyle she is better known for. "How did it feel my dear, to slay your husband and child along with the rest of all those who cared for you?"

"It… it felt good." Ashlynn smiled through the shadows on her face.

She lied to protect her daughter, the one person she couldn't bring herself to cut down. The only thing that could have brought her redemption should she decide to stray away from this path.

"It felt… empowering." She said with an even wider smile. "I feel free."

"As you should child, stand." Salem demanded, and Ashlynn obeyed without hesitation and looked to Salem in the eyes. "Ashlynn Annani will no longer be your name, Ashlynn Annani was the name of someone who was weak, emotional, and lacked potential. You will receive a new name."

"I… I understand, what is the name you wish to bestow upon me?" The woman, no longer Ashlynn, asked.

The shadows on her face receded, and Hector widened his eyes so wide it was a wonder his cybernetic one didn't pop out. His breathing became frantic. Her true face was revealed, her true identity was revealed. She had the same raven black hair as Rhea, and the same orange eyes that almost looked like they were glowing, but her face was recognized immediately on sight.

She was…

"Cinder Fall."


No…

No…

"NOOO! This can't be true, Jinn, keep it going." Hector ordered, in denial.

The next vision was of someone he hasn't seen in a long time, a young girl with short minty green hair, red eyes, and had dark skin. She was cornered in an alley by a beautiful woman in a red dress, the skin on the center of her back was exposed, revealing a black tattoo, marking of and a constant reminder of who she dedicated her life to.

She was recruiting Emerald.

"Keep going!"

The next was of both her and Emerald, confronting a young man with a head of silver hair. He looked beat up, and the body of his father laid behind him in a pool of blood. Another familiar scene.

She was recruiting Mercury.

"Further!"

This one involved a past Fall Maiden, Amber, the life and power being sucked out of her and into a Grimm parasite coming out of Cinder's right hand. Before being cut off my a large oversized sword belonging to Qrow Branwen.

This was when Amber was attacked.

"No…"

A flash of images keep coming at him rapidly, ones that involved Team RWBY in their Beacon days, Roman Torchwick, Neo, some poor fools who thought they could get into her pants being strung up.

Then it was the fall of Beacon… the death of Penny, the fight with Ozpin in his previous form, and then right after a first person view of the dying face of Pyrrha Nikos, transfixed on an arrow made of glass sticking out of her chest, before fading away in ash, quickly followed up by a flash of white light coming from the eyes of Ruby Rose.

Next was training, then was a face to face meet with Raven Branwen in Mistral, then Adam appeared, talking about plans on how and where they had to attack Haven.

Then… the memories started becoming more and more familiar. He saw himself… fully powered up and bleeding from every wound, and orifice there was on his body, this was the very first time he went Kaioken times twenty. He lost of course, but Cinder took a lot more damage then he originally thought.

Next was her fight with Raven, after she killed Vernal, and the fight was so one sided that it couldn't even be called a fight. She was getting her ass kicked.

Then… a memory replayed itself before him, a memory that haunted his memories and dreams ever since it happened. Only this time, it was in the reverse point of view.

He saw through Cinder's eyes, as he cut off her Grimm arm with a chop from one of his old gauntlets, he could see himself as he grinned and kept walking toward her, his hands dripping with her blood as she frantically scrambled to get away from him. He could almost feel the pain in her scalp when she was picked up by her hair, stabbed in the side, and then electrocuted. Before being thrown into the abyss, the last thing she saw was Hector smiling down at her.

The point of view switched again, looking down at Cinder. She had tears coming out of her eyes, the side of her face which had the mask was destroyed, revealing the other half of her face that was horribly disfigured, and her own thoughts were loud and clear for him to now hear.

"Rhea… I'm sorry… I couldn't keep the promise that I made to you so long ago… Forgive me."

Those were her final thoughts.

"Cinder wasn't thinking about me when she died…" Hector realized, tears falling from his own eyes as the vision was coming to an end.

"She was thinking about her daughter."


BOMB HAS BEEN DROPPED.

Seriously, you guys have no idea how long I have been waiting to write this scene out. I've planned this MONTHS in advance, ever since I had something open for you guys, some of you will remember when I asked all of you for your own OC entries for the OC Maidens I was going to create for this story. And boy oh boy, it feels great to finally get to this point in the story! I also wrote this entire chapter in a day, and I have never felt so damn tired, oh well, time to edit!

What a way to bring this story back eh? Feeling shocked? Surprised? All of the above?

Let me know what you think about this chapter, I am eager to know what you all think about the bomb I just dropped on you all.

Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far!

I also have a twitter! Just for you all to see how the progress of every chapter is going, and for whatever else you want really.

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