Oh man, here we are again with the first chapter of UH for 2019! I haven't written this story since last year, and I am so sorry that I made that joke. Anyways, thank you all for returning to read the next chapter! Now all we gotta do is deal with a little aftermath of a certain revelation last chapter.
Let us see who reviewed last chapter yeah?
Zeldawolffang: We'll just have to find out now won't we?
Cinderfall201: Man I knew someone was going to react like you did, I loved that reaction from you. I've been planning that bit for months in advance, and I am glad to see that it payed off in the end.
TocoolTocool: Yeah, those were the major hints that I gave out for who was Rhea's mom, I knew someone was going to figure it out. Good job!
Tigervolcano5000: The Yang/Hector part of the chapter was emotional for even me to write, not that I was crying or anything, I just sometimes feel the pain that the characters are going through. I am glad I was able to do it as well as I managed to. I gotta keep that mystery in there man, is Hector going to live? Is he going to die? Who knows? I don't even know… yet. I can neither confirm nor deny the possible encounter between Team Havoc and the three man crew that is Qrow, Winter, and Mercury, but yeah, if they did come to blows, it wouldn't be good for the three man squad. I was actually wondering how you were going to react to Rhea and the revelation of who her mother was since you were the one that came up with the Maiden OC's that I requested from all you guys, and I gotta say. I was NOT disappointed. I will do my best to keep this story as amazing as I have been doing!
Thank you all for all the reviews!
With no further topics for discussion at the moment, let's get right into the story!
Chapter 52- Improvise Or You'll Face Demise
Hector quickly wiped the tears from his eyes as soon as he wakes up from his vision. This of course didn't stop Ruby from noticing, and to his horry Rhea even stirred awake from it. She asked him what was wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to look into those orange eyes that he has come to become extremely fond of, no matter if they were related to one of his worst enemies from his recent past.
He killed Cinder over a year ago, though that night and that moment was so burned into his memory that he sometimes forgets that it has been a whole year since that night. He couldn't forget about it, and now that he was thinking about it, Rhea really does look a lot like her. If she didn't have two wolf ears atop of her head, she would've looked like a much younger Cinder, nearly identical.
"Hector, what's wrong?" Ruby asked him, he turned to his left to see silver eyes shimmering in the dark. He was at least being quiet enough so that the others were able to stay asleep, though he can see another set of silver eyes looking at him from across the Bullhead. Adam was still awake, and he was concerned for him as well.
"N-nothing." He forced himself to smile and look back into Rhea's eyes. "It's fine sweetie, just go back to sleep." He placed a kiss on top of her head, right in between her wolf ears.
Rhea smiled softly, she was tired enough that she just fell back asleep right beside him, her head still leaning on his shoulder while her small arms were still wrapped around that arm.
Once she fell asleep again, he took multiple deep breaths. It seems like for them it has just been a few minutes, but for Hector it has been countless hours of looking through visions with Jinn, trying to confirm his denial that he didn't actually kill the last of Rhea's biological family. Of course, his denials were unfortunately false, and he just ended up looking throughout most of Cinder's criminal life. Unintentionally giving himself a recap of what already happened before he even existed on Remnant.
He looked back to Ruby, and let out a choked gasp, he was trying to keep it together. He really was, but he could only pretend that everything was okay for so long while Rhea was right beside him.
She seemed to have sensed his highly emotional state, and realized that he probably just didn't want to or just couldn't tell her what was wrong at the moment. So Ruby did what Ruby did best, and she wrapped her arms around Hector's frame, hugging him close and resting her head beneath his chin, and listened to his heartbeat in his chest.
Hector leaned his head back against the metal vibrating wall of the Bullhead, and tried to fall asleep as well, just pretend that what he just saw never happened.
But he couldn't, he had yet another sleepless night, and the dried tear stains on his face did not give him the demeanor of the leader that he was trying to be for the group. When he saw the sun peer through the window in the Bullhead straight ahead of him and just above Adam's head, he felt his heart squeeze.
The others were going to wake up soon, and Rhea was already awake. She just kept her head leaned on his shoulder. Her breathing the only thing Hector can hear besides the ringing in his ears.
"I… I gotta go to the bathroom." Hector excused himself. When he tried to get up, Rhea held on to him, not wanting him to leave. "I'll be right back, I promise." He said to her with a smile and pat her head. He didn't love her any less then he did already, no matter what, he was still his adopted daughter, even if she was just six years younger then he is.
She held on for a bit longer, looking up at him and straight into his blue eyes, and then nodded her head against his shoulder, and slowly allowed herself to be broken away from him. She immediately missed the warmth he provided for her, even if she could easily warm herself up with her powers, there was something more special about sharing body heat with someone you cared about.
After that, he looked to his left to get another nod from Ruby. She would take care of her for now, he trusted her to do that. Without looking back, he opened the door to the bathroom and locked himself in just in time for Nora to yawn loudly as she awoke, waking up his other friends in the process.
While he did have to use the bathroom, he really just needed to be alone right now so that he could process everything he had just learned.
"That was why I was so reluctant to reveal Ashlynn's true identity to you, master." Jinn told him. "Some things, are better left unknown."
"Yeah… now I can actually agree with that notion now." He whispered out loud.
He turned on the sink, and cupped the water in his hands before splashing it in his face. He couldn't let his friends see that he was like this, Ruby and Adam already knew, and that was already too many people.
What happened was over a year ago… I can't let it get to me now. He thought to himself as he stared into his own blue eyes in the mirror.
He tried to convince himself that he had to do it, that if he didn't do it then Cinder would have gotten in the way of everything in the future. She was a monster that needed to be stopped by any means necessary. For God's sake she even began to become one, she was already part Grimm before Hector even met her.
Ironic coming from him, but he doesn't let his biology define who he is. After splashing some more water in his face, and calming himself down he was ready to go back out to his friends. He stopped as soon as his gloved hand wrapped around the door handle.
He was considering telling Rhea what he learned, he was already going to tell Ruby, when she knew that something was wrong, she wasn't going to let it go until the problem was fixed. Rhea on the other hand doesn't know yet that he was emotionally weak at the moment, she was too tired to realize and it was too dark for her to see his red rimmed eyes earlier in the night.
Yet… he knew he had to one day. He couldn't keep something like this to himself, something that was so huge and important can't be withheld from the one person that deserved to know what happened the most.
Cinder was dead, and yet she still found a way to throw a massive wrench in his plans. He did wonder at one point in his life what caused Cinder to join Salem in the first place, and it came out of that power complex that she was known for. The desire to become stronger was apparently so great that she killed off her whole village and family except for her daughter just to pursue that delusion of hers. But to think that she was the one in that video that he saw placing a baby Rhea down in front of that orphanage… Shocking would be too mundane of a word to describe what he felt.
There was just one thing on his mind that he needed answered before going back out to his friends.
"Knolly… why was I smiling when I killed her? Why did I enjoy it?" He finally asked a question that has been on his mind ever since that night, something he refused to talk about with Ozpin even when he was a trusted ally. He hasn't enjoyed killing ever since, and he hasn't even killed another human ever since. Just Grimm, unless you count the hybrid type of Grimm to be considered as human kills.
"Master, at that time you were missing something, it was straight after Salem almost took control of your mind and body. You unconsciously embraced your Grimm side more than ever before, and used the dark magic that Salem left behind after being expelled from your mind in order to fight evenly with the Spring Maiden at that time, so much so that it nearly doubled your original strength."
That explained how he was able to keep up with Raven suddenly after losing to Cinder, he got a unintentional boost of power from Salem after she attacked his mind. His close battle with Raven made a lot more sense now that he knew that.
"You, and no one else didn't notice, somehow, but your eyes were also red at the time. The only reason that you did not become like your counterpart Hell, was because of the old man you share a body with. You felt an irresistible bloodlust when you landed down in my vault, and Cinder happened to be the first one you set your sights on. After killing her, you were able to control yourself much easier, thanks to your own willpower and with the help of Ozma."
Hector nodded his head in silent understanding. That explained some things, why his eyes didn't turn red anymore, or at least that was what he thought. They just stayed blue now, he would know because he asked Knolly if they changed when he used a weak version of his semblance.
Whatever happened to him at that time, it wasn't reoccurring anytime soon. That brought some comfort to him, enough that it was able to give him the confidence he needed in order to unlock the door, and push it open, the first and closest person to notice him was Adam. He gave Hector a knowing look, before nodding. Hector nodded back, and all eyes were on him.
"Uh… did I miss something?" He asked after nervously gulping.
"No, we were just wondering when you were going to get out of there." Nora answered.
"Oh, well I'm alright now." He blatantly lied. "Just had to do my morning business and all that." Hector chuckled and moved back to his original seat, where Rhea was waiting. She still hasn't spoken to anyone else, ever since what she was forced to watch her mother do he was the only one she would speak to. It was cute in a way, but also so very sad.
He still felt the need to protect her, more now than ever before with how emotionally and spiritually weak she was right now. Not only was she his adopted daughter, she was also the Fall Maiden, and no doubt had a target on her back wherever she went. He is going to tell her what he found out… but not now, not with how sad she already is.
Even though she saw with her own eyes how unstable her mother was, if he just told her that he ended up killing her mother and that her final thoughts were of her and that was the real reason that she was "Randomly" selected to become the next Fall Maiden, it would only make things worse for her. And it scared him to think about how much worse she could get after hearing such news.
He sat down next to her once again, and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders as she leaned into his body yet again. Her faunus ears tickled the underside of his chin as she snuggled into him. He felt his heart squeeze once again at how affectionate she was being with him. She trusted him greatly.
"So… I don't mean to interrupt this father-daughter bonding session." Nicholas started. "Trust me, I get it, after having eight kids I know how precious it can be to have one of your own. But we still have to come up with some plan for when we land in Vale, Team JBLN, and myself are going to be staying to help clear out the Grimm at Beacon, but someone is going to have to address the Goliath in the room." He tilted his head to the disguised Adam Taurus, and Neo who is still eating from a bowl of ice cream that never seems to run out. "What are we going to do with them?"
Hector sat up straight the best that he can with Rhea snuggled up beside him. He had some inkling of a plan for what to do with them, the only problem being with that plan was that his friends were probably not going to like it.
"I… sorta have a plan for Adam already, I don't have one for Neo yet, but I feel like she isn't about to leave my side anytime soon." Hector said, and to his credit Neo did nod and point at him with her spoon, as if to say that he was smart to think that.
"And… what is this plan?" Adam felt the need to speak up, one of his chocolate brown eyebrows rising.
"I planned to have you help these five here in the reclaiming of Beacon Academy, as a sort of practice for you using your silver eyes." Hector explained simply, adjusting his arm so that it was in a more comfortable position.
Adam widened his eyes slightly, and if he was about to say anything it was quickly overruled by a livid cat faunus.
"Absolutely not!" Blake snapped. "There is no way I am going to trust the lives of my friends and my own to him!" She exclaimed, pointing to Adam who is now hanging his head in shame.
"Blake…" Ruby called to her. "It's not a bad plan, you're going to have Jaune's dad with you, and also probably a lot of other huntsman around. If he tries anything, he won't get away with it." She defended his plan, and nodded to her fellow silver eyed warrior who was shocked to see that someone was actually defending him.
"How could you defend someone like him!?" Blake yelled. "He is the reason I ran away after the Fall of Beacon, he is the reason Yang is like this." She grabbed Yang by her robot arm, and jerked it toward Ruby. "How could you be defending him!? I knew you were naive from the moment I met you, but even this is a bit much."
Yang yanked her arm out of Blakes grip, and shoved her against the wall. Earning a shocked gasp from Blake as her aura flared to protect her body from any damage.
"You didn't run away because of him." Yang accused her, eyes flaming red with anger so hot that the rest of JBLN stepped back away from her. "You ran away because you were scared of seeing me again, seeing all of us again after what happened, yes he cut my arm off. I have this constant reminder of it everytime I look in the mirror!" She screamed as she raised her robotic arm. "Am I angry about it? Hell yeah. But look at him Blake." She pulled Blake up from the ground, and turned her toward Adam, who still hung his head in shame, and had a hand palmed around his face. "Does that look like the same guy who did that to me all that time ago? Ignore the whole ice cream girl outfit he's got going on, and honestly tell me if he would do something like that again."
Adam pulled his hand away, and looked toward her. He didn't have anything to say, because he knew that everything coming out of her mouth was correct. Blake stared at him dangerously, and looked like she wanted to say something, but to her dismay. Yang was right, Adam wasn't the same person that he was before. Not that she would admit it anytime soon, he still had a lot to answer for.
"As much as I hate to admit it… he's changed." Yang said as she let Blake go, her hands trembled as she remembered the trauma she had to endure because of him. "I don't like him, I don't trust him, and I sure as Hell haven't forgiven him yet. But he has silver eyes, and if Hex and Ruby say that we need him, then we need him. I won't let my personal feelings get in the way of that, you should try doing the same." She sat down back in her seat, and held her face in her hands.
Blake didn't say anything, she was just too shocked to. But she didn't deny the plan any longer, she begrudgingly took her seat back, and facepalmed her own face.
"I… I'm sorry."
Yang's eyes widened slightly after hearing those words. As did Blake. The both looked up, and toward Adam who was still looking down to the floor, and to their surprise, some tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.
"I'm sorry Yang, I am sorry that I took away a part of you that you can never get back… and Blake." He looked to his companion of many years, the same companion he used to be in love with, and the same companion that abandoned him. "I am sorry, about everything. I can never make up for the things I did, for the people I hurt. All I can say is that I am sorry, so sorry, and that I regret letting myself change into the monster I once was… I don't expect either of you to forgive me for what I did, but all I can ask from you two- from you all." He amended. "Is a second chance, a chance to redeem myself, and a chance to prove that I have changed." He wiped away at his face, and leaned back in his seat. "That is all I can ask, even if it is already too much for me to ask."
Everyone sat in silence for many minutes afterwards, just processing everything that they have just heard. Ruby smiled at Adam for what he said, she was proud of him. She never personally saw Adam until the battle of Haven, but she didn't need to in order to know that he wasn't a good person back then. But now? She could tell that her fellow silver eyed warrior sought redemption, and truly felt guilty for everything he did. Hector made a good choice, letting him come along for the ride. Two silver eyed warriors are better than one, right?
"I am willing to give you that chance." Ren spoke his mind first.
"Eh, I'll break your legs if you try doing something evil again, so I guess I'm good with you to." Nora followed.
"Same with me, just don't go back to your old ways." Jaune added, completing the trio.
Adam looked to the three of them to his right, and nodded to them. It was much more than he expected, and he was content with that. Ruby considered speaking up, but it already looked like the situation was handled, and while she did have a few things that she wanted to so to Adam, doing it in front of everyone wouldn't be the best choice right now.
"I forgive you." Yang choked out with a sad smile, still not looking at Adam. "It doesn't make us friends, and I still don't trust you… but I can tell that you are trying to make things right… and I can't hate you forever now that you are on our side, so… I forgive you." She repeated.
For the first time for a very long time, Adam smiled. He didn't have much to smile about nowadays, and his only other reason was currently back in that village that must have lived under a rock since they didn't recognize him. "Thank you." Is all he said as a response, two simple words weren't nearly enough to show how grateful he was, but it spoke volumes for his character. He was getting closer to his goal of redemption.
"Tch." Blake looked away from both of them. On the inside, she was shocked to hear those words coming from both of them, especially from Yang since she lost her arm to this man. But it was clear that she wasn't going to win this fight, so she was just going to stay quiet for now.
"Oookay." Jaune drew that word out for much longer then it was needed, but it got the effect desired across. "It's good that is out of the way for now, is there anything else we're going to discuss?"
"Question." Nora rose her hand, and kept it held there while looking at Hector as if he were one of her professors.
"Nora." Hector played along with it, pointing and picking her out of the small crowd in front of him.
"How are we going to kill the dragon?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
Wow… no one really thought about how they were going to do that yet. Ruby could kill it by staring at it, but she wouldn't be staying around long enough for her to be able to do that, unless she stayed behind while her sister, boyfriend, and kinda is kinda not stepdaughter went across to a continent none of them have ever been in before to look for the Summer Maiden who may or may not be hostile toward them. It was going to take a lot to convince her to stay at Beacon.
So… that road only lead up to one possible outcome, if the dragon can't be killed by physical means, at least not without some sort of ballistic missile strong enough to destroy a small town. There was really only one other option.
"Well… why else would I be sending Adam with you?" Hector said with a smirk he forced onto his face to act like that was his plan the entire time.
All eyes were on Adam at that point, even Blakes.
He just stared back in disbelief for a few moments.
After a few more moments he simply sighed and shook his head as he realized the pretty big role he had to play to save the school he once sought to destroy.
"I guess I'll have to learn how to use my eyes fast." He finally said.
"How hard can it be?"
Yeah, how hard could it be to stare a dragon to death.
The Summer Maiden was bored to say the least. Somehow, someway, she has lost her main source of entertainment, which was slaying Grimm. She knew that she was strong as shit, but to be able to wipe the nemesis of humanity off of a whole continent was a little bit unbelievable to say the least.
Right now, she was just leaving the city surrounding Shade Academy. She was recognized by a few kids she ended up saving on accident a few weeks before, her reputation as the lightning warrior preceded her so like that. She ignored them the best she could. But kids being kids, they just kept following her until she ended up at the wide open gates of the kingdom itself.
Seriously, I am a fucking snake faunus who can control the power of nature, you'd think people would know not to screw with me! She thought angrily to herself as she made a one-eighty and rolled her eyes. "What do you want monkey boy?"
The blond one with the tail spoke first. "Finally! I've been trying to get your attention for a while now." He said with an exasperated sigh, he then looked both ways as if he was looking for something, before leaning in slightly to speak to her quietly. "So… are you one of those… maiden thingies that I know a friend is looking for?" He asked.
Her eye twitched slightly, and the three other boys behind what seems to be their leader. Specifically a blue haired one with goggles on his head backed up the furthest. She recognized him as one of the poor saps that tried to flirt with her, and he definitely looks like he is now regretting that decision.
"Listen kids, business like maidens and all that are beyond your comprehension." She told them, leaning on the gate and letting her lightning crackle around her feet. Lightning was her most preferred element of nature to use against her enemies, and it was rightfully feared by many. "How about you got back to your little academy, and take that chameleon girl that I know has been following me since we met."
Ilia became visible again, her eyes narrowed in defeat as she appeared suddenly beside her blonde monkey faunus comrade. "I told you she wasn't going to fall for it Sun, she's not very friendly with strangers."
"Oh please, I can be plenty friendly!" The Summer Maiden protested. "Just not toward five kids that have been following me for weeks, what's your deal anyway?"
Sun stepped forward before Ilia could. "Well I am glad you asked! You see, I happen to be friends with a certain hero that has been running around saving kingdoms." He piqued her interest right there. "Now I haven't seen him in a while, but I do know that he is probably going to be needing some allies in whatever he is getting up to. You might know him as the hero of two kingdoms." He said with a charming smile.
The Summer Maiden simply stared at him for a bit, then looked up to the sky to think for a few seconds. "Oh! You mean that Hector guy! Yeah, I've been itching to fight him ever since I heard about him, I've been sensing him all over the world from time to time."
"Yeah! Him!" Sun pretended to know that he knew what she meant. "He's probably on his way to Vacuo right now." Sun pressed on, happily making finger gestures to drive his point home.
"Dude, I don't think this is working." Neptune whispered into his ear.
"Shut up, I'm trying to make it work." Sun whispered back to him, but kept the same goofy smile on his face.
"Your plan was to walk up against one of the most powerful beings on the planet, and try to become friends with her!" Scarlet pointed out.
"Yeah… not the best way to redeem yourself as our leader man." Sage said next.
Sun sagged his shoulders, and even Ilia sort of felt bad for him, even though she did let out an amused chuckle. It was by pure coincidence that she ran into Team SSSN a while back, and has been pressured by the leader of said team into joining them on their conquest to woo the Summer Maiden onto their side, and side she was pretty desperate and Adam Taurus was nowhere to be seen for over a year, she was fooled into joining the boy she stabbed in the chest in the past, what a twist of fate.
The Summer Maiden laughed at their predicament, she has been toying with them all this time and yet they still manage to make her laugh every once in a while.
"Tell you what," She pushed off of the wall and intertwined her hands together in front of her stomach. "You kids have been making me laugh with how desperate, and funny you've been in your attempts to get me to come with you, so you know what? Screw it! I'll come along for the ride for now." She said with another chuckle.
"Really!?" Sun squealed, and then flushed embarrassedly when everyone laughed at him even through their shock. "I-I mean," He cleared his throat. "Welcome aboard! What's your name though? It feels weird that I've been following you for a while now and can only refer to you as the Summer Maiden, or the Lightning Warrior." He asked as he extended his hand out to shake hers.
She gripped his hand so tight that he fell to his knees and winced by the pure strength she put in her grip. "Natsuki, Natsuki Kerria."
Natsuki let go of his hand, and he waved it in the air a few times to try to shake the pain away, but in the end he gave up and put on his best smile even through the pain. "Good to finally have you." He said with a pained smile. "Let me introduce you officially to my teammates-"
"Sun Wukong, Sage Ayana, Scarlet David, Neptune Vasilias, and of course, my favorite, Chameleon Girl." Natsuki listed off without missing a beat. "What? I was bored as fuck the past few weeks, so I did a little digging of my own."
"O… kay, I don't know if I should be flattered or worried about that." Sage muttered.
"Definitely the latter." Scarlet whispered to him.
"Okay kiddies, lead the way before I fly off to find something else to do." Natsuki said as she made way for them to pass her. "You better not make me regret this, because if you do you are going to regret it." She warned the monkey faunus as he passed her.
"Well… I wasn't really planning on actually leaving the city here." Sun said slowly, as if he was silently asking permission to speak.
Natsuki's eyes narrowed at him.
"You see… I wasn't really thinking that far ahead, and well, you actually agreeing finally to join us wasn't one of the options I thought I would find myself trying to deal with-"
"What this idiot is saying is that we didn't plan that far ahead, and we don't really know what to do from here." Ilia translated for her.
"Really? That's stupid." Natsuki scoffed.
"I told you!" Neptune berated his leader.
"Well at least we got this far! I didn't hear you trying to think of something we could do in this situation." Sun defended himself.
"How about we call him?" Natsuki suggested offhandedly as she picked her ear. "Let me talk to the guy, see what he has to say, he's the one that wants to recruit me for whatever it is he's doing right?"
The five young ones stared at her in disbelief.
"Just like that?" Ilia asked underneath her breath.
"Sure, why not?"
"Is there even a CCT tower in Vacuo?" Sage asked, he honestly didn't know, and he lived here.
"Yeah dude," His leader confirmed. "It's not really a tower here, but we call it that anyway. It's taller than the school and that's enough for everyone here to call it that."
"The school is not even that big…" Neptune mumbled to himself, he wasn't from Vacuo, but he wasn't about to insult his friends by stating as such out loud.
"Wait… you mean that was the CCT the whole time!?" Sage asked, in denial. "I always thought it was just a place to hang out at…"
"Oh it still is, don't get me wrong, we literally have no security there because to be completely honest no one really cares about what happens in Vacuo."
"That explains why the White Fang doesn't really do much here…" Scarlet nodded his head in sudden realization.
"All this time… I was thinking about how to convince you to join us and all this time… it was that easy?" Ilia couldn't believe it. "What the Hell have I been doing wrong?"
"Probably to whole overthinking thing, I've noticed that you do that a lot." Natsuki remarked as she patted her cheek. She then sauntered past them while beckoning them to follow her. "Come children! I know a pretty good bar around the corner that don't check for ID's."
"B-but-"
"Fuck do you want me to help you all or what? Seriously, what is with it with kids these days." She said that last part to herself as she rounded the corner.
When she disappeared from sight, Team SSSN, and their plus one realized that they should follow her before it was too late. They quickly sprinted after her and rounded the corner just in time to see her enter a bar appropriately named The Bar. They ran after her again, and entered The Bar. Only to be met with the sight of band of actual kids playing actually pretty good song to pass the time listening to, and the Summer Maiden, not politely asking but straight up demanding the name of a drink that shall not be repeated.
"And these are my new friends!" The maiden exclaimed to the whole bar, she had an interesting way of talking to the bartenders. "Serve them." She demanded not a second later. The young bartender who probably just started working there scrambled to get drinks for them, even when they tried telling him not to. The fear of what will happen to him was enough for him to ignore their pleas.
"There, now drink up kids, and monkey boy I suggest you start calling that number." Natsuki said just before she downed yet another shot. When and how she drank four other shots before that one was unknown to them, but they weren't about to complain to the likes of her, unless they felt like getting shocked an unpleasant amount. What they were more concerned about was why the drink she was drinking was a sky blue color.
"Uh… okay." Sun scrambled to get his scroll out of his jean pocket, and scrolled down his contact list to find 'Big Flaming Red Dude From THB' The THB stood for 'The Haven B'. And just as the scroll started ringing, he was then forced to take a shot of his own, along with the rest of his teammates. The only one who wasn't forced to drink was Ilia, and she had the job of holding the scroll until the one they desired picked up. To make it even more awkward for her, it was a video chat, and right behind her was all of Team SSSN, drinking some blue stuff along with the Summer Maiden, who laughed and told jokes that the bartender didn't find funny but kept laughing at them anyway.
Yeah, it wasn't one of her best moments in life, and was especially surprised to notice that Hector was staring at her through the scroll with eyes just as wide as hers.
/-/
When his scroll started ringing, he didn't know what to expect. Just before he was just enjoying the show of Ruby trying her best to teach Adam how to use his eyes. Only for him to just have a goofy look on his face as he tried to make them glow like hers was. Nora kept taking pictures for blackmail purposes, Ren was trying to fall back to sleep, Jaune was doing his best to help his best friend and his new ally, Neo was doing Neo things, still eating from a bowl of ice cream that still hasn't run out, Yang kept laughing at Adam everytime he failed, and Blake was watching them from the corner of her eyes.
The pilot was asleep in one of the corners of the Bullhead and Nicholas took over as the pilot in order to let the professional rest after a full day of straight flying. Doing his best to ignore the flicks of stems of cherries being flicked into his face every few seconds, his brow twitched every time one hit his face.
Rhea was still snuggled up to him, though she was even amused at the sight of Adam trying to use his eyes. A small smile tugged up at the corner of her lips as she watched him try and fail to use them, and the fact that he looked like a male Neo and had pink and brown as his main color pallet instead of black and red only made him look that more hilarious.
But even through that, when his scroll rung and he read the caller ID being Sun Wukong, a friend of his that he hasn't heard from since the Battle of Haven since he went to go back to his team, and the one who answered was Ilia of all people, another faunus he hasn't seen in over a year was the first person he saw when he answered the scroll. Then in the background he saw the entirety of Team SSSN drinking things that they clearly weren't used to drinking, and a reptilian faunus laughing at them as she clapped along to the music.
"Uh… Hi?" Hector waved at the camera stupidly.
"Wow, you actually answered." Ilia had the decency to look just as surprised as he was.
"Well duh, why wouldn't I answer a call from Sun? Also why were you the first face I saw and why is he and his team being forced to drink while that snake girl laughs at them?" Hector asked, scratching the side of his face in wonder.
"Well… first things first she is the Summer Maiden." Ilia revealed right away.
Hector coughed on nothing but air at the revelation, earning the attention from everyone else in the room who managed to also overhear what Ilia has just told him. They all widened their eyes in surprise, and even Adam seemed more then a little shocked at not only hearing something about Ilia, but also learning that the most powerful Maiden has been found.
"The Summer Maiden… the Summer Maiden is sitting right next to you guys drinking, is that what you've been up to this past year?" Hector asked, leaning on his knees with his elbows as he tried to get a better look of the Summer Maiden, the second to last Maiden that he needs to recruit onto his side in order for him to possibly win this secret war of his. And there she was, sitting and enjoying a drink right in front of him.
"Well… no, Sun and the others were the ones that were actually looking for her, I tried to find Adam but I ended up with literally nothing, so against my better judgement I joined them on their little mission to get her to help us." Ilia explained simply. "And as you can see, it somehow managed to work out, I think."
Adam gulped nervously, and shook his head and waved his hands no in an attempt to convince Hector not to tell her what he was actually doing all this time. To his gratefulness, Hector nodded at him and kept the news about him quiet.
"Well, that's great!" He said instead.
"Oi, chameleon girl," Natsuki pulled her over by the arm and looked into Sun's scroll. "That him? Damn, you look different on a scroll then on a low budget TV." Was the first thing she said to him.
"Uh… thanks?" Hector said, pushing an overly curious Nora away with his free arm as he tried to keep a straight face.
Seriously, what was today?
"You're the Summer Maiden?" He asked.
"Yup, and you are going to fight me." Said Summer Maiden declared as she let her hands crackle with lightning before her.
Oh, of course I am. Hector resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What is it with you Maidens and wanting to fight me!? I swear it is some game Fate is playing with me and I am not having fun with it."
"Well hey, like I told Chameleon Girl a while ago that-"
"My name is Ilia." Chameleon Girl interjected.
"And I just realized that I still don't give a shit." The Summer Maiden didn't miss a beat as she continued. "If you can beat me in a fight, I'll join you on whatever it is you're doing."
Hector rose an eyebrow. "Even if it is a war against the Queen of all Grimm?"
The Summer Maiden even nodded at him. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Sounds like fun." Then she yawned out of boredom… she yawned.
Hector sighed and facepalmed. He had a whole plan set in motion, and now he might not even have to go to Vacuo, because here the Summer Maiden was, and all he had to do was beat her to earn her loyalty… of course he had to.
"Okay… I'll fight you." The Unlikely Hero agreed to her terms, much to some of his friends dismay. "Do I have to come to Vacuo? Or are you going to come to Vale to meet me?"
"Fuck no, I'm not going to Vale. It's way too cold there."
He dared to hope that she would actually do something that actually surprised him.
Well… at least that part of my plan isn't going to change. He thought to himself as he went deep into thought, trying to think about where they could have their fight. They were both very strong in their own right, but Summer is apparently supposed to be the strongest maiden out of the four, which would mean she would be stronger then Cinder and Raven, might have been able to kill Hell on her own if they fought if he was the same strength as he was back at Atlas. Which would mean that he would have to go past a times twenty multiplier with his semblance…
"Where are you then? I'm going to be on my way soon, it would be good to know where we are going to meet in order to have this fight between you and me." Hector said instead, he would worry about his own strength later. Even if he was getting worried looks by of all his friends at the moment.
"Just come to Shade, I'll handle the rest when you get here." She said absentmindedly as she drank away at another full bottle of whatever it was she was drinking. "Just make sure it's just you and me in this fight, I won't come with if you have help from the other Maidens or anyone else."
Yeah… that sounded a little too easy, but he would take it for now. Well, easy if you could say defeating a Maiden was a trivial task for him to do.
Well… in for a penny.
"Alright, deal. I'll be at Shade in about one weeks time… I hope. Just please don't kill my friends before I get there." He added, he wasn't really giving her intelligence a lot of credit, but to be fair the first impression she gave off was of someone who wasn't that responsible.
"Bah, they'll be fine." Natsuki said with a wave of her hand, not even turning to look at him through the scroll being held for her by Ilia. "There's a lot for them to do here while we wait… K bye!" She clicked the scroll off, ending the call before he was even able to process she was just about to do.
It was too late by the time he called out to her to wait, for the screen on his scroll was already back to a 'call ended' with the time of how long his call lasted, which was just a measly five minutes and a few seconds. He grunted in frustration as he let his hand slack to his side, scroll still in hand.
"So… mission accomplished?" Ruby tried, and to her credit it technically was accomplished, the Summer Maiden was already on board, he just needed to beat her in a fight.
"How can fighting the most powerful Maiden in order to get her on our side by himself a mission accomplished? He can barely draw with me in a fight, and I am only the second strongest apparently." Yang just had to ruin the short moment of him thinking that he just did something good.
"Yeah, but he didn't go that far past his limits." Ren pointed out, coming to his weak defense. "Your semblance gives you the edge over him, but even through that he still manages to draw with you. Not to mention that the previous Spring Maiden was much better at controlling her powers then you are. You still fight with you fists and semblance more than you use your powers."
"Yeah, and it wasn't like you were fighting to the death or anything, if he used the same power he did against that copy of him in Atlas. I am sure he would able to beat you before you caught up with him." Jaune added.
"The thing is, would his body be able to keep up that power in order to defeat the Summer Maiden? And would he be okay afterwards?" Ren asked next, and just like that his defense crumbled. The last time he went that far with his semblance he put himself in a month long coma, and he can't afford to do that to himself again with what is going on right now.
Now all eyes were on him again, expecting him to explain it himself. Nicholas even put the ship into autopilot just to stare at him with a raised eyebrow. Neo just clapped very slowly, the slapping of her hands the only sound in the Bullhead besides the quiet snoring of their pilot sleeping in the corner.
"Well… how hard can it be?" He asked with a confident smile that was very… very forced.
Yeah… how hard can it be to defeat the most powerful Maiden on the planet by himself when all he had was a semblance that could very well kill him or put him in a coma?
The answer to that question was happily provided to him by the Relic of Knowledge.
"Very hard I'm afraid."
This was a shorter chapter then usual, and we got no Qrow and co this chapter, but in all honesty all they've been doing is sitting in the cave warming up while team HHBC look around for the Winter Maiden, and she as always was being the little sneaky one that she is. It wouldn't have been much progress if I wrote down their part, so I left them out for now, it hasn't even been a full 24 hours for them anyway. What we did get is some more emotion from Hector and him thinking about what to do with the news he just got from last chapter. Ruby and Adam are the only ones who know something is up, and Rhea was too tired to notice. Try placing yourself in Hector's shoes, would you up and tell everyone that you killed Rhea's mother when things were her are already emotional and tense? Yeah, not a good idea, at least not yet. Things will happen of course. Many things...
Also, the name of the Summer Maiden has finally been revealed! Along with the return of Sun and the first appearance of his whole team in this fic! Along with Ilia and her whereabouts finally being revealed. But remember, the threat of Salem is never too far away. I'll leave it at that for now.
Speaking of the Summer Maiden, I pretty much confirmed that there is going to be a Hector vs Summer Maiden fight coming up. I don't know when because there is still a bunch of shit for me to get through, but that is also another scene that I have just been itching to write for a few months now. All I can say is that it is coming soon.
Thank you for reading my story!
Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far!
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