Warning: I do not own RWBY, that belongs to Oum & Rooster Teeth
Bold: other speaking
Bold: other thinking
Hi: normal thinking
Hi: normal speaking
If you guys like the chapter then leave a like and review while your at it (please)
Review:
Darklight of the 0 arcana: Well, never say Hazel was for dramatics
thewittywhy: Your welcome, well somebody needs to give some context to magic, as RWBY is kinda lagging in that department.
Luine Mercury LWG: Proud mama Salem is good Salem
Gabe2000: Hey, having children can change your world man. Or in this case having children again. As for necromancy, well we can see bringing stuff from the dead is not possible from the context of lost fable, if it was then RWBY would not have happened
TheLost01: Later-ish, I promise, one day it will happen
Greer123: Don't worry more grimm Pyrrha coming soon, and Ozpin already knows about it if you read my earlier chapters
VALE, RURAL REGIONS
Dozens of shoes splashed past a nearby puddle as RWBY and JNPR panted running for their lives, eyes darting through the forest as RWBY tensed up at the smallest shift in the leaves.
"Is he ... is he here?" Ren asked.
"I don't know ... I don't th-" a bullet ran pass Blake's ear. "Never mind, not safe, not safe at all!"
None of them knew exactly when they were getting chased but they did knew it was around yesterday morning when the fire shoot rang. At first they thought it was another of Cinder's friends, but whoever it was good, very good. Not even Blake with her enhanced senses could find the person as he/she continued to pepper them with bullets.
Always trying to hit RWBY
And avoid JNPR
Even the siblings had began to use their magic once the attacks became frequent, but their hunter had been quick and never stayed in one place long enough for them to cast a spell. And ever time they tried to summon an elemental king the person fired a stun round at them. Stopping them every single time.
And for almost an entire day they had been chased by this person, all of them were stressed and their nerves frayed. If they weren't trying to conserve ammo then Yang would unleashed every round possible and burn this forest down to the last tree.
"Wait, look over there!" Weiss pointed
A sense of hope did well inside of them the second they say what was an abandoned settlement not to far.
"Over there ... everyone find cover!" The minute they entered into the building they split into four groups of two. The building looked all abandoned for years now and already nature was starting to retake this place. Moving pass the rotted furniture all of them found their hiding spots, closing their mouths they all waited.
...
...
...
A heavy thud came outside as they heard deep masculine muttering, the sound of steel scarping the stone filled their ears before the man outside started to giggle, turning into a full blown laughter soon. The laughter died down after a minute or so before the man jumped, the bricks above clattering a bit before eventually stopping.
None of them moved for almost half an hour.
Once thirty minutes had passed they began leaving.
xxx
"Ok, so how the fuck was that" Yang asked, not even her sister cared about her cursing. "Please tell me that you have a spell or something, please"
The siblings looked at each other before shaking their heads. "The only spells we have need to know who we're looking for. No image no spell" said Jaune.
Yang growled at that, "Hey don't blame us Yang, did you see that guy, we could barely do anything thanks to him."
"And no doubt one of Cinder's allies. Extremely skilled tracker, good at hiding himself, and we have no idea what he looks like ... great" Weiss sighed.
"Well what do we do, we can't just keep running from him. He will pick us off one by one" Blake added. She turned to her leader "What do we do Ruby?"
...
...
"I think ... I think we should stay here" it had taken a little bit for the sea of objections to die down "Look, I know what I'm saying stupid ... really really stupid, but we can not just keep running from the man. Like Blake said, we'll be all killed. We need to fight him or long enough for Pyrrha to bring the elemental king again.
I say we stay here for the night, Jaune, you put up a spell or something alright. If that the spell goes off we hold off till Pyrrha can summon the King" explained Ruby.
"Yeah, we have spell for that. It's called alarm, it's a pretty useful spell anyone that is 20 feet of us and it's going to ring. Sounds like a town bell going off mind you" said Jaune.
"20ft, can you push that?" Blake asked "That's barely anything at all"
"Not if you want it to splutter and fail. I can push it a little a bit but it won't be strong. If somebody steps into it and I'm still a mile close to the warded area, I can sense it, but that's really it" Jaune added. "plus I can give a nice house for cover too"
The girls did not like that, 20ft was not much to work with if barely at all. Then again, 20ft was better then nothing ... and a house?
"What do you mean by a house?" Ruby asked.
"Watch"
Turning to large space in the front of the town he clapped both of his hands, his eyes glowed as magic washed around him. Spiraling up to ten feet from him the magic began falling down in a dome like manner, darkening everything inside.
"What th-"
"Leomund's Tiny Hut, evocation spell, good for when you need a quick home on the go, dad showed us this spell a long time ago" Nora explained "This should last us for eight hours, plus with the alarm spell we should have some time before that man tries to go after us again."
"So does this mean were safe?"
"As much as we can be" said Ren "Better get some rest your girls, I think we are going to need it."
"... Well, I call the right side then" Ruby declared.
xxx
Tyrian watched as a black sphere of force covered his goddess's children and Ozma's little soldiers. The assassin looked at awe at Salem's children's abilities, truly they were his goddess's blood why else could they be so powerful.
Sadly the man knew very little of this spell, he knew of the their summons and Salem made sure to inform him on everything she knew about them. Their weakness and how to exploit them.
The man sighed, oh how much he wanted to rip the life out those miserable girls Ozpin had acquired. But he was patient, his teachers always told him patient was needed for a clean kill.
Still, he needed to know more about this spell. Reaching into his pack he pulled out a seer grimm. Channeling some aura into the grimm it glowed as dozens of tentacles emerged, a little bit later his goddess's face appeared inside the seers glass dome.
"Tyrian, is there a problem?" Salem asked.
"My lady, I require your wisdom once more. Your son, Jaune, has cast a spell I have no knowledge of. Magic came out of him as it formed a dark sphere around him my lady" Tyrian explained.
"A sphere you say" the witch hummed, her seer turned to see the orb Tyrian mentioned "... ah, Leomund's Tiny Hut, I haven't seen that spell in years now. It is a survival spell used by my people for long travels, there is no way for you to pierce it normally without powerful magic or waiting for the duration to end."
A tendril wrapped around his weapons as they glowed a dark red "I give you me blessing Tyrian, now retrieve my children."
The man smiled derange "With pleasure" he raised his weapon and fired. An arc of red sailed as it slammed into the sphere. The black orb contorted, wrapped, and cracked before shattering into a thousand pieces seconds later.
Showing the shocked and horrified faces within.
Tyrian leaped down to meet them "Good day my prince and princess, I have been ordered by your mother to retrieve you."
xxx
All eight of them watched as the sphere started to crack, Jaune himself felt another source of magic entering the spell, twisting and moving within the orb's layers. Tendril of his own magic came out to fight this foreign magic. But when his magic touched the other magic ... he froze.
It felt ... wanting, for him.
The tendrils tried to warp themselves around his own, it felt warm. Like a someone was giving him a hug or something.
And in that moment he falter from the love coming from the other magic
The sphere shattered as Tyrian leapt down, giving a deep bow.
...
...
...
"W-Wha?"Jaune looked at hands in confusion and horror, the warm magic finally dissipating. "How did you break it, you couldn't have."
Tyrian laughed at that "Oh do not fret my prince, was it not for your mother's aid I would've not pierced your spell."
"M-Mother? What are talking about!? I dont have a mother" The blonde demanded. Tyrian frowned at that statement.
"All in due time my prince" the man smiled. Before Jaune could retort the assassin charged and zipped past him, slamming his boots straight into Yang's head as the brawler was propelled into a nearby house and collapsing the walls.
"Spread!" Ruby shouted as everyone made space between them and the insane faunus.
Blake peppered the scorpion faunus as Weiss attempted to lay down glyphs to impede him. All of course failed, the man blocked at the shots with his tali and those that he didn't were absorbed by his aura, for the glyphs, Tyrian moved to faster then Weiss could place them.
"Dammit, just, stay, still!" the heiress tired to lay a hit on the man but every time she thought she got it the man pulled one under her. He was fast, faster then any of them and had better reaction time. "This is insane, how in dust are we to fight him?"
And her answer came from Yang's battle cry, her hair was glowing as red eye glared at Tyrian. Pushing aura into her legs she threw herself into the man.
Tyrian answered by placing his tail in front of her, the minute her fist collided all her momentum stopped as a shock wave blew past his hair. "Is this what Ozma gives to protect her children, shame for shame" shaking his head.
His tail wrapped around Yang's arm and threw her up a few feet above the ground and slammed her into ground, repeatedly. Only Ruby's assault stopped him, forcing him to dodge out of the way of her attack.
"Jaune, magic!" she charged at the man and began slashing at the assassin who dodged out of attacks.
"Right" Jaune attempted to channel magic into his hands before a stun round at his hands stopped that.
"No No No, Magic is not for you silver eyes" Tyrian hissed, hitting the girl's chin with his boot, firing at the immobile girl. A dozen shots hit her aura as it worked in overdrive to keep the pain from getting to serious, still didn't stop Ruby from crying out.
"You curds know nothing of there legacy, there are Salem's by blood!" the man hissed
"RUBY!, Why you-ACK" His tail gripped her neck as it began chocking it. Weiss and Blake attempted to move in, only for him to bring Yang in front of them waggling his finger.
"Uh uh huh, do you know it's rude to interrupt others. Don't you agree to girl" Yang's eyes nearly popped out as Tyrian applied more pressure.
"Let her go dammit! What do you want from us!?" Nora demanded to know.
"~gasp~ What I want!? My dear princess I don't want anything from you. I am merely a humble servant of your mother my princess" Tyrian gasped.
"Mother? What they are you saying, we don't have a mother?"
"Oh, it breaks my heart hearing you say that. Alas, the blame can only be placed on your father. Worry not my dear, once I deal with them you can have your long awaited meeting" he said. He raising Yang even higher he tighten his hold as he crushed her neck.
Only for a boot to throw him into a building and causing it to crumble it in the process.
Two hands grabbed Yang as they gently placed her onto the ground, putting two fingers on her neck a few seconds later a beat could be felt as the stranger sighed in relief.
"Wait a minute, I know you! You were with us back at the train!" Blake pointed.
Raven Branwen looked at Blake, she turned back to Yang as she grabbed her by the scruff of her shift. She threw the blonde to Blake before jerking over at Ruby.
"All of you move, I'll deal with him" ordered Raven as she eyed Tyrian leaving the ruins.
"Raven Branwen! How surprising to see you" the man spat "Move out of the way or else!"
"So Salem has finally decided to make her move, sorry but I can't let you kill my daughter or Summer's legacy. So how about you just leave and no one needs to die or you can die, your choice" Raven offered.
Tyrian snarled as he appeared in front of Raven, swinging his blades at the bandit queen. She brought her blade up and began blocking the strikes. The assassin slowly began pushing her back, foot by foot as he grinned.
Raven smirked.
Pushing herself away from the man she flicked her blade forward, a wave of fire erupted from it as Tyrian rolled out of the way. Raven kept firing arcs of fire and forcing the man further away from the group.
Only when Raven saw the steel color beneath the dust she sheathed it and switched dust, her sheathe cycled over to lighting dust. Her katana was coated in yellow dust as it began to spark rapidly.
Tyrian fired at her as he charged at her. Leaping out of the way of her strikes and using his tail to attack. Wrapping his tail around Raven's blade he activated his semblance and sliced the wrist of her blade hand, forcing her to drop the weapon into his waiting arm.
Using Raven as a spring board propelled himself and threw her blade, sticking itself into the wall as he grinned.
The huntresses pulled and pushed aura into her wound as it began to stitch her wrist. The bleeding had at least stopped. The bandit scoffed at the deranged giggling from the man as he approached her.
She looked at her other fist, she shrugged.
And slugged Tyrian in the face.
Ignoring his cries of pain she walked over to her blade, only turning around when he started to laughed again. She jumped onto the hilt and avoided a slash. Grabbing the blade she used the dust to get it out of the wall and hit Tyrian with an arc of lighting.
The man didn't have enough time to block the hail of bullets and dust coming at him at that moment, his aura barely holding through as he turned to see a grinning team RWBY.
"Leave, run back to your Queen, tell her she can try again next time" Raven said "If not, well I guess we can get serious."
...
Tyrian glared at the women in front of him, he eyed RWBY/JNPR, snarling at the women. Slowly getting up he brought out his weapons and ...
Sheathed them.
Raven was a threat and not one he could ignore. If he did fight her then Ozpin's little minions would aid her and make the fight ever more difficult for him. And that did not add his Queen's children and their magic.
"Salem will come for them, you've only signed your death warrant Raven Branwen" the man hissed, leaping onto the tiles.
Raven watched until the man had fully left the abandoned town, seeing him gone she let out a sigh. Sheathing her sword as she turned to the group of eight.
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at the group, even Yang who was nearly knocked out started to get back up.
"I think so, um thanks miss ..."
"You can call me Raven" grabbing her blade she swiped it down, a dark red portal formed before them. "Grab your stuff, we're going."
"Wait what? Why would we want to go with you" Yang demanded to know.
"Because you can either stay here be hunted by more of Salem's agents, or you can come with me. I can keep you eight safe for a while, besides, you don't know much about Salem do you?"
"Again, who is Salem" Nora asked.
"Come with me and I'll explain it all" said Raven, motioning to her portal.
...
...
...
"Fine, we'll go with you, but better be telling the truth" said Ruby.
"Trust me kid, I wouldn't have it any other way" she said.
MISTRAL, BRANWEN CAMP
Stepping out of the dark portal all eight of them saw dozens of men and women working away at either various forges, training, or helping the camp in some way or form.
"Welcome to my clans camp" said Raven "come we can discuss more at my personal tent."
The huntress guided the eight of them to her own personal tent, it was larger then the others around her and in front of the camp was another young women.
"Vernal, grab a few drinks for our guest. They could use a strong drink after dealing with Salem's little assassin" the bandit queen ordered to her subordinate. Vernal nodded and left.
Raven parted the flaps and all nine of them entered into her personal tent. It was quite large, even a little bit bigger there own dorm room back at beacon. One the right side was her bed, above it was a stand filled with a tea set and more then a few different bottles of alcohol.
Near the bottom right was a large table with different size skulls and other trophies Raven had collected during her time. To far left were a few cushions and a table with a few crates of unknown stuff.
"Sit, relax, your safe here ... or as much as can be in this world" Raven offered. Grabbing a bottle she sat on the nearest cushion.
...
"So ... you going to tell us about Salem or what?" Ruby asked, sitting a bit away from Raven.
"... Mmmm ... Later, tonight" she said, ignoring the cries coming from them "My camp my rules kids. Besides, I'm more interested in why that man was hunting you eight? What did you do that made Salem send him?"
"We don't have any idea, maybe knowing who this Salem was could help us" said Ruby.
"Hmph, cheeky girl are you? Sorry kiddo you'll have to wait like everyone else. Still, Ozpin didn't tell you anything, truly?"
"Wait what does dad have to about this?" Jaune pipped up.
"Excuse me, dad?"
"Yes ... Ozpin is our father" said Jaune.
...
"Well shit, looks like I owe Qrow 50 lien after all" Raven cursed "And here I was thinking I was right, damn little brother."
"Wha-"
"Old bet blondie, nothing you need to worry about" Raven waved "Should have known Ozpin wouldn't tell you guys anything. Why would the man bother. Still, you're sure that you know nothing on why Salem is coming after you?"
Ruby nodded
"Well what about the scorpion faunus, what do you know of him?" Blake asked.
"That man, guy's name is Tyrian Callous. A serial killer with a very long list of kills, been a while since I've heard about him, one minutes he's the terror of Mistral and next he disappeared off the planet. You eight should be lucky I owed Yang one, the mans preferred targets are hunters and almost everyone that faces him has died" Raven explained.
"Excuse me, when did you owe me anything?" Yang demanded to know.
"I give everyone I care one ... debt you can say. As long as it is within my power I'm willing to give it to you, for you Yang, it was making sure Tyrian did not kill you" the raven haired women explained.
...
"So, what now?" Ruby asked aloud.
"You eight can go out and explore for or something" Raven waved "Just be back around seven, we're having a feast tonight, we can discuss about Salem then."
Ruby puckered her lips, she needed to know who this Salem was and what's her gig with Jaune's family. But the tall wall of dust, aura, and mystery that was Raven Branwen stopped that. She could not risk it, this was the best chance at knowing their enemy and she could not afford pissing off Raven.
Silently she got up and help everyone out of the tent, well all expect Yang.
Neither her nor Raven bothered her.
Until it was just Yang and Raven
...
...
...
"Well, something to say Yang?" spoke Raven.
"Yeah ... I do" said Yang, "I think you know what it is"
"Oh, I do? Do care to humor me, what was it that I'm suppose to know?" Raven smirked.
"You left me, you left dad, you left everyone you knew. Do you know what we had to go through Raven? The pain you put us through" Yang accused the older women.
"But you survived, you got stronger. In the end the pain that I left turned into your strength" Raven countered.
"Power ... sure, whatever" muttered Yang.
...
"Was ... Was I the reason you left Raven" Yang quietly asked.
"No, you were not the reason why I left. I left because of a promise I intended to keep, unlike your uncle" said Raven.
...
"I see, thank you Raven, goodbye" said Yang as she proceeded to leave.
"No angry response? I thought you would like to learn about your own dear mom or at least be more pissed at me?" Raven wondered.
"... My mother was Summer Rose, besides, you had your chance Raven. Goodbye" she left without another word. Leaving Raven all alone.
...
...
...
"You did good summer, more then I ever could" she drank to her deceased partner.
xxx
Raven's camp was alight, as the various pits roasted different types of meats and spices were strong in the air.
All eight them did not mingle much with drunk bandits as they partied on, they kept to themselves and waited for night to finally come. The only real person they talked to was vernal and she was ... interesting, to say the least.
Eventually all them heard that Raven was willing to meet them as they readied for the Inevitable meeting.
Once again they entered Raven's tent. This there was more seats as the the bandit Queen herself waited for them. They could feel the serious air around the tent as they sat down.
...
"Are willing to tell us about Salem finally?" asked Ruby.
"I am, but before I do there is something I want to ask you eight. Do you really what to know about Salem, who she is?"
"Uh Yeah, I mean why would we not, you offered to tell us yourself" said Yang.
"I did, but I guess you have seen her minions, Tyrian ... and whoever is hunting you. What you have saw was just the scratch of her power and influence. She is not someone to mess with, if you are not careful ... she make your life a living hell" Raven warned.
"We aren't scared of her. Whatever Salem has in store we will get through it" Ruby declared.
"Just like your mother, very well I will tell you about Salem" Raven sighed "But what about you seven, do you wish to know?"
They all nodded
"Very well, remember that once you know you can't forget ..."
"Salem, she is the Queen of the Grimm"
...
...
...
"What?" Pyrrha whispered.
"T-The queen of the grimm, you must be pulling our legs" Yang objected "The grimm have no queen!"
"And what do you know of the grimm? Do you know anything about them, their origins, there reasons for killing humans, why they even exist in the first place? And what about that near attack at Vale, why/how would so many grimm get ready to attack a kingdom and then stopped at the last second?"
The huntress were about to speak before they stopped at the last second, what did they know of the grimm. They knew they were a threat to all life and they knew that they turned to ash when they dies plus ... What ... what else did they know of the grimm.
They tried of think of their origin ... nothing
They tired to think on why they attack humans and faunus ... nothing
They tired to think why the even exist in the first place ... nothing
They tried to think why the grimm stopped before they attacked Vale ... nothing
"That's ... That's impossible, how could someone like that even exist, better yet even be hidden all this long!?" said Blake.
"Simple, because people don't want to think about it. What would people like to hear? That the grimm are just mindless beast that can be defeated by the cunning and brave hunters? Or that the grimm are being controlled by a intelligent being whose goals are unknown and we know little to nothing about her"
"But shouldn't the hunters or the headmasters know about this!?" Ruby objected.
"Please, what would that do. Even if all the hunters in the world knew about Salem all it would do is insight panic, it's not like we know where Salem lives or how long she has been alive" Raven explained.
"B-But ... But how ... how can anyone hide this!?"
"Ask Ozpin, he's the man that's kept her from the world"
Ozpin! Why would Ozpin hide this from the world, what reason did he ... no, they would ask the man later, right now they needed to now about Salem.
"Well, what do you know about Salem?" Ruby asked.
"Well outside of being the Queen of all Grimm, she's immortal ... or as close you can be, and outside of that she can also use magic-"
"-She can use magic!?" Weiss exclaimed.
"Oh, you know of magic then?" the huntresses nodded "Well shit, and here I had to big demonstration too with birds and- You know what, Qrow can show you instead. But moving along, no, there is very little I know of Salem besides what Ozpin has told me."
...
...
"Why would anyone want to work for Salem, she's the literal queen of all grimm" Weiss whispered.
"Simple, because she knows how we work. She's been playing this game far longer then any human has lived. Hell, she's probably one of the oldest beings alive and the most dangerous" said Raven.
"How dangerous?"
"Considering that's she's probably the reason why everything has gone to hell in a hand basket ... what do you think?" Raven asked rhetorically
Bad ... no, that would be kind.
Apocalyptic ... more appropriate, the four huntresses were stunned.
Salem was the Queen of all Grimm
The Grimm had a Queen
The Grimm were being lead by Her
And she wanted Jaune and his siblings, because-
They were her children
Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha
They were the children of Ozpin and Salem
"Your four are holding onto the most valuable people in the world, their lineage is one pain and suffering" Hazel's voice echoed.
"You curds know nothing of there legacy, there are Salem's by blood!" Tyrian echoed
"The children, hand them over" Cinder echoed
...
It all made sense, why they were hunted by such powerful beings, why Grimm nearly destroyed Vale, why Ozpin and Qrow wanted to take them to Atlas.
The blood of the greatest monster flowed through their vein
The Queen of the Grimm, Salem ... was their's
While the four huntress where coming to terms with what they learn the Magier family were silent.
Jaune looked at his own hands, the very light in his own eyes dimmed, as they shook ever so slightly.
Nora's clenched her hands as her nails started to pierce the flesh, blood slowly trickled down. Her teeth grinding against each as forced herself to push down the words threatening to explode.
Ren was dead still, his bangs covering his eyes. A small droplet of water in his eyes was ready to fall.
And Pyrrha, her hair covered most her face. Her hands had grasped the red strands tightly and threatened to rip them out of the roots.
Inside all of them was a cyclone of emotions, ranging from fear, to anger, to disgust. They wanted to say there all of them, but would be wrong, each emotion inside of them taunted to the other. It was a battlefield inside each of them. It was miracle that not a single bit of magic escaped, but it burned to hold it all back in.
They wanted to shout that she was run, that Raven was mad or insane, that this was a big lie. They wanted to beg, to RWBY, don't look at them like that, to stop them giving that look.
Bile even tempted come out as their stomachs rolled like a washing machine. Ever last piece of food they had eaten became chunks of blandness. Their tongues becoming like ash as if the air felt stale and bitter.
Salem was their mother
Their mother was the Queen of the Grimm
Their mother was the reason for so many atrocities
...
...
...
And they were Monsters