Welcome to Chapter 14, we've all been waiting for this and I've literally written like half of two other chapters by this point that I've had to archive differently so that's why this took so long.

Sorry.

~NRK~

Deidara's arms flew forward and the traitor watched as, with one swing, every bomb animal found themselves destroyed with no fanfare. "The fuck! Wait-!"

Deidara pointed at Mercenary. "You're that fuck with the magic sword!"

"Heh, so," Mercenary smirked as he settled the sword on his shoulders. "If ya know, leave!"

"Hmph!" Cinder Girl smirked as she held her hands out.

Shards of glass formed into twin blades in her grasp. "We'll see about that!"

She ran forward, Deidara rolling his eyes as he followed and overtook her.

Dalia slammed her claw gauntlets into the ground and earth spikes curved out of the ceiling at Deidara.

The man didn't pay them any mind as a clay lizard jumped out his back and exploded, destroying Dalia's attack.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "But, where's?!"

Fireballs shot towards the teacher and she crossed her arms to block with her gauntlets.

Deidara grinned as he entered Mercenary's range, the beast man hopping back with an upward swing.

The traitor's blue eyes went wide as he skid to slow down before leaping to the side of the beast man's elongating blade.


Dalia claws met Cinder Girl's blades, sparks flying from the clashes.

The intruder grit her teeth as she swung her blade once more, the clash with the gauntlet shattering the glass weapon. Cinder's hand continued forward, orange light emitting from it.

Dalia threw herself to the side as fire shot forth in a burst of flame. Cinder Girl's eyes went to the woman as she shot her hand forward one more, fireballs shooting at the teacher.

Dalia rolled against the wall, her claws flat against it, causing crystal to raise up from the floor in a shield-like shape. The fireballs splattered against it, dissipating into sparks.

The silver-haired woman pressed her hands against her shield before the crystal shot out at the opposing woman.

The intruder dodged, the large shard of crystal impacting the wall Obito and Neo hid behind.


He held Neo tight, thankful that the smaller woman was mute as she clung to him with a terrifying grip.

He turned back to the hole, eyes narrowed and Sharingan burning as he memorized the woman, Deidara already a recognized image in his head.

Was their goal to eradicate all the magic users? Why? Who was this woman? She'd said a 'they' earlier.

Was there another organization like Orichalcum that wanted them dead?


The beast man clawed the floor next to him and threw the dirt at Deidara, the long-haired blond shirking to the side before bending backward over the other male's weapon.

He turned the bend into a flip as a long tail swung for his legs and the blond came to stop on the ceiling with a grin at Mercenary's steadied blade.

"Ha!" the hulking beast swung the blade, blue lining the blade edge before it flew out at the traitor.

The blonde's eyes widened as he dropped from the roof and held his hand out toward Mercenary. Clay that had been dropped at the larger male's feet turned into spiders and latched onto his cloak.

"Shit!" the beast man got out before an explosion covered his form.

"Yes! Art at its fin-huh?" Deidara began to explain before he blinked at the unharmed Orichalcum member, his cloak filled with soot but otherwise fine. "That's bullshit!"

"Turns out you're not up to date on Enchantments, yet," the tiger said as he put his hand under one of his arms before it threw a set of knives at the bomb blond.

Deidara swerved out the way with a sneer before the sight of wire caught his attention.

There were three and they lined up right next to h-

He stomped his foot down behind him, his body pushing towards the wires.

"What?!"

"Gravity Dust thread, Mistral's good at weaving, ya know?" Mercenary said as he ran forward.


"Tch!" the Cinder Girl said as she jumped over the crystal golem's arm.

That annoying woman had used the projectile to summon it and had, 'til this very moment, her on the defensive.

'Salem needs to push my teaching,' she thought as glass formed in her hands into a large greatsword and beheaded the construct. 'All this magic at this woman's disposal… I WANT IT.'

Seeing the Orichalcum member throw around all this power made her want to rip it away from her.

Such power was something she desire- NO! Something she deserved!

Another thing was, this woman was skilled. Most of the members she'd come to deal with had barely put up a fight, much less fend her off.

Thinking of that blond bastard's words pissed her off as she lugged a large wave of flame at the other woman, that mage using crystal from the walls to shield her.

The other woman was smart enough to use clear crystal at that, all the others had had large blocks that they couldn't see through.

That shield turned into a spike wall as Dalia closed her eyes and began to chant to herself.

Cinder Girl threw wall after wall of fire and had little damage to show for it.

Then the floor beneath her sunk in and trapped her feet causing her eyes to widen at Dalia's grin.

Then the floor around her began to come up in a fluid-like motion to entrap her limbs and neck.

She growled as Dalia released her untouched wall and walked over with a disapproving frown. Like a teacher scolding a naughty child.

Cinder Girl's visage darkened at that, that smug vision, her eyes looking down on her.

Fire burst out of her bindings, Dalia stopping in her approach as the intruder growled at her.

"You're not better than ME!" Flame surrounded the room, stopping the other inhabitant's fight as thread broke.


"Fuck!" Mercenary shouted as he jumped away from the flames moving in front of him. "That girl…?!"

"Hah!" Deidara shouted as birds of bombastic clay flew towards the large Orichalcum member who's hand hissed at his handle's heat but swung about all the same.

The birds exploded before the tiger man could reach them, throwing his weapon from his hand.

"Tsk!"


Obito felt the sweltering heat long before he saw it.

"Now!" he whispered hotly, causing the smaller adult to disappear in the ruckus of flame crawling about the room.

Obito knew to let her leave, she wouldn't be able to handle the heat while he was another case.

He didn't feel it at all, something he attributed to magic forming in his body. At least, that's all he had to go on.

Aura could only fight off so much heat and he could tell these flames were stronger than that.

Though the 'how?' still bothered him.


'Her magic relies on flames but for it to expand like this on her own is impossible,' Dalia thought as she stared at the burning Cinder Girl, though she was assuming Cinder was her name with all the flame about.

This young lady wasn't just flinging flame around the room, she was in a sense but it wasn't finished.

She was forming a Territory, a place where her type of magic ran supreme, but it was simply not done.

The girl had control over glass and flame, those powers should be so much more powerful now.

Cinder breathed out flames like a dragon as she looked at the fire licking the room before turning her gaze back on the now reproachful Dalia.

She grinned, teeth sharp, as she swung her arms out and large glass shards shot forward.

Dalia already decided on shedding her cloak, the glass shards shooting through the cloth easily.

Dalia ducked low and stone shot up around Cinder, the young woman looking around as they closed in rapidly.

A harsh swing of her arm melted them easily, leaving her to laugh at the action.

Dalia, dressed in a pair of green, form-fitting, shorts along with a set of brown bandages that formed a top that also covered her head, peered at the laughing girl.

'Her Sin has to be related to anger in some way,' she thought, happy to be unburdened by the large organization's cloak. 'She's new to this power though, she doesn't realize its downsides.'

Territories were powerful, yes, but they had caveats.

For one, they were very energy hungry. Like saying a car engine to an airplane's. Cinder shouldn't be able to keep this up long.

Second, she didn't fully know how useful it was. Her flinging of flame and glass told Dalia that the young woman wasn't fully trained.

Territories had the ability to further the use of other Runes, in their own way, but this girl merely flung flames. She barely knew what she could do.

Third, and certainly not least, Cinder didn't know the ways it could be shut down.

Like Dalia subjugating Cinder's with the teacher's own Territory.

So as Cinder took her eyes off of her and turned to Mercenary and that other fellow, Dalia's gauntlet settled against the floor and pulsed.

Cinder glared at the blond terrorist, a smirk on her lips.

A little bit of punishment could keep him in l-

The flames died as soon as she came up with the thought, the area feeling colder than it did originally and Cinder turned her eyes to Dalia.

The older woman's eyes told her of her triumphant expression.

"He, he! HAHAHAHA!" the two women turned to Deidara, Cinder's full of annoyance while Dalia looked on in horror.

"No!"


Mercenary had seen better days but he'd had way worse ones.

As he lowered his singed hands, the fur painfully sticking to the gloves on them, he noted the now cool area.

And the laughing blondie.

"What's this?!" Deidara said as he looked at his hands, white substance building at the tips before he aimed them at Mercenary.

"BANG!"

The clay shot forward, the larger male dodging to the side as they did, the explosion throwing him away with force and causing his mouth to drop at the large hole in the wall.

'Fuck, he's an earth-type!' he thought as he looked at the truck-sized hole. 'Dalia shut it off!'


She tried to shut it off, her Territory failing to respond as she looked on in horror at Deidara's new explosive power.

"This is FUN!" the terrorist exclaimed as he flung white substance everywhere. "DANCE! DANCE WITH MY ART!"

Dalia felt her breath quicken as she jumped toward Obito's place in the room, hands pressing down on the floor as the clay began to light up.

"EXPLOSION!"


His eyes burned red, his hands pressing against the wall of his organization's hideout.

Magic flowed and filled the hideout and his members.


Obito grit his teeth as got off the floor and stared at the mayhem.

He was shocked to see that the room still held some form of shape but you could barely say so.

The entirety of the room looked like an underground cavern, water pouring in from somewhere causing a small stream, and the entire group in here was barely what could call 'healthy'.

Even with the cloud of dust around the room, he could see the state of all the other occupants.

If you didn't have a burn on you, you had a nice new gash that'd scar. His hearing was mostly shot, he could barely hear what's going on outside. He was sore all over and, when he stood up, found his arm bruised from its place against the rock walls.

Dalia was lying on the floor in front of him and he fell to his knees to check her pulse and breath.

Feeling both, he sighed as he looked around and saw Mercenary's large form resting against the wall along with that intruder on the floor some paces away.

He cursed the fact that Neo left as his knife was in a strap on the inside of his coat. That said, he still stumbled over to the unconscious body.

Strangling wasn't something he liked to do but it was the only available option.

He'd made it halfway when the dust around the room settled and the sound of familiar laughter reached his ears.

He grit his teeth as he turned to see the shaking form of Deidara as he laughed, his body covered in soot. Obito could see a bruise on the blonde's cheek and could guess that, with how close the blonde was to his own explosion, he wasn't as alright as his laugh seemed.

"Kuhahahahah! Kaugh! Kaugh! Kaugh!" the traitor laughed before breaking into a coughing fit. "D-Damn! I didn't know how strong that was gonna be! This is awesome!"

He chuckled as he looked at the downed Mercenary and Dalia before smirking as he turned to look at Cinder and blinked.

"Huh?!" he said confused. "Where the hell did you come from?! Wait… you were in the wall, right?!" Deidara grinned as he reached his hands into the small pack on his back.

"I told ya before kid, this ain't about you, this is about ME!" his arms flung out, clay flying towards the former Uchiha.

Obito stared at the clay, mind running at Mach speeds to figure out what to do.

He uttered one word.

"Havoc!"


"Real nice," Deidara uttered to himself at the explosion, only slightly disappointed at the lack of power. "Whatever that lady did, it made my art better! I gotta learn it!" he said as he looked at his hands, the mouths chattering together excitedly.

He frowned as he felt Obito's presence still. "How is he sti- fuck me." He said in a flat tone as he looked into the fading smoke.

A large spinning black ball of fire was in front of the teen, surprising the traitor. The flames shrunk before they disappeared entirely.

Revealing a pair of disgusting eyes. Their blood-colored pools, with those rotating shit stains called commas.

His knuckles turned white, his chest tightened, and his teeth bled from how tight he clenched them together.

"Uchiha…" he hissed the word like a curse. "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to make you one of the world's greatest piece of shit art and make sure everyone knows."

Obito frowned at the blonde's apparent distaste for his former clan.

Had Deidara always been like this? Sure, Sasuke and Itachi's relation translated his hate for Itachi to Sasuke but wasn't it just that?

Those mouths in the terrorist's hands clattered aggressively, clay dropping from Deidara's palms onto the floor, turning into a pair of cobras that hissed in Obito's direction.

'This is his Sin, isn't it?' Obito thought as he narrowed his eyes on Deidara. 'Is this him working himself up?'

It made sense if your magic depends on hate than working yourself into a fervor would make your abilities more potent.

The trail of clay continued until a parade of white beasts sat at Deidara's sides.

"KILL HIM!" he ordered, the clay beasts roaring, actually roaring, at Obito as the lunged at him.

Obito's eyes took in all the bombs, mind whirling as he held his hand forward.

"Havoc!" he felt the entirety of his body resonate with the command and a black ball formed in his hand.

He felt reinvigorated as he grabbed the burning ball and it formed a blade. The scale-like pattern on the brunette's cheek becoming more detailed as he cast the spell

He swung the blade outward, black flames carving through the animal bombs, igniting a few, and causing an explosion in between Obito and Deidara.

"Tsk!" the blonde kissed his teeth. "Gave him magic, huh?" he uttered as the dust cleared.

Obito was at the bomber's back and swung at his neck but found his swing wanting as a white patch flew out of his opponent's collar.

Deidara turned his head, a grin on his lips.

"Bang!"

An explosion threw both away from one another, Deidara rolling to a stop and Obito hitting a wall.

The former Uchiha blinked before pushing off the wall to avoid a large block of clay that cratered the purple cavern.

Obito landed on the floor and pushed off in the same motion, eyes on Deidara's hands.

'Without handsigns his techniques are more dangerous but that's not completely right,' Obito thought as he closed the distance between himself and Deidara.

The traitor of Orichalcum's grin was plastered on as clay sprung from his back and angled toward Obito.

The brunette slashed at each tentacle while dodging another, he skid to a stop at three tentacles forming a trio of bars in front of him.

His skid turned into a spin that severed the three pillars that stopped his progress before curving around them.

Frustration rolled down Deidara's face as he ran forward.

The distance between them closed in an instance.

Maybe a meter left between them, Obito's hand shot out.

"Havoc!" Deidara's eyes widened at the growing ball of flame in the cop's hands before he exploded.

The room rocked again by explosions and the two former shinobi skid out of the smoke to opposites sides of the room.

'Each time I cast Havoc I have to say the name, is it different for Deidara?'

This might be what would change the tide of t-.

"The hell are you two doin'?" came the voice of someone else that cause the former shinobi to look at the entrance.

It was a large man, easily seven-foot or more, who spoke. His red hair, tailored into a rooster-like cut and long nose drew their eyes for a moment before the two focused on his beady red eyes.

The two orbs glowed as he peered down on them, his eyes trailing from Deidara to the other unconscious bodies in the room…

And then on Obito.

Their eyes met and Obito's Sharingan's registered that absolute fountain of physical energy coming off this man.

He had to assume it was physical energy which, now that he was focused on it, the other two energies were barely a fifth of his physical one.

He remembered what Dalia had said about the Tiu, Tyr, whatever.

Was this that classified information? That there were those who could master the 'God' runes?

The fact that there were three might have had something to do with this man and two others.

"The fuck are you?" the rooster-top said as he leaned down and stared at Obito before focusing in on his dark marks. "You-?"

"… This might be good," Deidara said with a grin, catching the other two's attention. "What's up, ya cock?!" his arms swung out, clay flying towards the new man.

Obito's blade swung only for it to be caught in the large hands of the newcomer, causing the ex-Branwen to stare in shock as the clay made contact and exploded.

Obito barely had his other arm up to block what he could but stopped at the presence of yellow energy, physical energy, surrounding him.

"Understand that you've brought this upon yourself," said the newcomer through the smoke as it cleared, revealing undamaged peach-colored skin. "You should know you broke the top rule."

"No attacking the other members? Blah!" Deidara shot out his tongue with an unimpressed look. "Should have been 'No leaving' but, hey, I ain't a cult leader."

The large man shook his head. "You're barely anything," he responded, getting a snarl out of Deidara. "I'll make sure you know that."

The hulking man raised his arms, Obito seeing that his purple cloak was adorned by black bones compared to the gold ones of Dalia and Mercenary.

Physical energy gathered around them and that was it, causing Deidara to scowl at him.

"You're a real laugh," the traitor's arms shot back. "Bang!"

Clay surged about, Obito had the wherewithal to look behind him at the downed form of Mercenary.

He ran toward him and hissed as he lifted him on his right shoulder, Obito's leg screaming at the action.

He looked back to see the huge man just shooting him a raised brow and grin.

Turning back to the wave of clay, the man raised a hand.

Gold coursed about his raised arm, the black marks spiraling about it and stopping at the palm.

"…" he muttered something Obito couldn't hear and a black orb appeared in his hands before shooting off towards the clay.

The two forces made contact and Obito watched as the clay popped. Just popped and dispersed into nothingness.

Deidara's dropped mouth was the result. "Bullshit!"

"You'd know better had you taken us seriously along with your training," the newly arrived Orichalcum member said with a shrug. "Sucks to suck, I guess."

Blue eyes narrowed at him before turning to Obito and then to Cinder before cursing.

Clay animals rushed out like a waterfall from Deidara's sleeves, coming around towards them.

The beady-eyed man's brow furrowed as clay filled Deidara's side of the room.

"Kuh! See ya later, ya bastards!" Deidara shouted as they lost sight of him behind the bombs.

They exploded and, instead of normal explosions, the room was filled with smoke.

"Shit," the large human member of Orichalcum muttered as he waved his hands about.

Obito's Sharingan looked around the room, he could see the energy of Dalia across the room but he lost sight of both Deidara and that woman who invaded the hideout.

~NRK~

He came out of the entrance with a little fanfare, faking the idea of taking one of their members to be healed to the others that he passed by.

Cinder had informed him of the entrance she'd come in from and as he came out, he narrowed his eyes on the green-haired girl to his right.

Her eyes widened as he walked to her and dropped Cinder unceremoniously. There was a chuckle to his left and Deidara shot that gray-haired kid a curious look.

"Guessin' you chumps are her back-up," the terrorist said as he actually looked around and noted the dead bodies of some of the Orichalcum members before whistling. "Alright, you can do some decent work, I'm barely impressed."

"Cinder!" the girl said as she looked at the woman and her scorch marks. "What happened?"

The blonde shot her a look before a smirk was on his lips.

"Yeah, let me tell ya about the guy who messed her up…"

~NRK~

"Thank you, sir," Dalia bowed to the large man who waved her off.

"Whatever, names Coll, not sir. What are you all doin' down here? Everyone was told to go to the center chamber," the large cloaked human crossed his arms.

"We were-"

"Trainin'," Mercenary added as he sat against the wall, Obito beside him nodding his head. "Kid was learning all the basics and stuff, nothing big."

"Hmm? Who is this kid anyway?" Coll asked as he looked at Obito and his dark blade. "He's already throwing together Runes, though. Who's he?"

"… An apprentice of mine," Dalia said with a wince, Coll's dismissal of it was relieving. "I've been looking at what Runes he's more in tune with."

"That right?" the redhead cupped his chin before scratching it in thought. "He's a God-Hero type, he's more than likely going to have to mix it up."

"Huh?" Dalia blinked. "How'd you know?"

"…" he looked at her for a moment before shrugging. "I'm the boss of the IronSights, me and your leader work hand-in-hand to keep this place running."

"I also got a good intuition and people that fall to either side are typically different but he's more balanced than that." He looked more at Obito's blade before nodding. "Yeah, that enchantment is too stable and shouldn't be able to form physically like that but he's got it down so his mental and physical are about even if not slightly leaning in the Loki direction."

Obito understood all but that bit about enchantment.

"I gotta go and rope up any more problem makers," he shot the trio a salute in the form of a stiff wave. "Go get healed up and chill, this is gonna take some time to deal with."

His piece said, Coll left with little fanfare, leaving the trio to sit down and think about what happened.

"Who were they?" Dalia wondered out loud, sitting on her bottom with her legs at her sides. "I don't understand, what was their goal?"

"Hmm, I don't think just getting magic back is going to be as easy as it sounds," the tiger sighed as he touched a bandaged side. "Let's break this down…"

"They found us, though that could just be a case of bad luck with who we let in. We need to know who let her in."

"Not just that," Obito spoke up. "She's recruiting people, magical people for something, and she gained a ridiculously strong member. Perhaps even members."

"And to top it off, she knows magic," Dalia said, narrowing her eyes at the floor. "Someone out there, somewhere, taught her about magic and that young woman isn't without potential."

"She only knew the basics but she had a strong enough fire element that she could establish a Territory, incomplete as it was." She saw Obito's frown and raised eyes. "We'll go over this later but, for simplicity's sake, it's making an area where you're at your most powerful."

"And she could halfway do it and someone taught her how to use magic," the beast man tapped his sword against the floor. "Not only that, she knew we existed, has combat experience, and most likely has lackeys."

"This wasn't some random attack, someone has it out for Orichalcum."

"And… hahh, Deidara saw my face," Obito admitted.

They thought over all of what happened before Mercenary got to his feet with a grunt.

"Kid," he addressed Obito. "Do you have a way fer finding out who comes in and out of the city? Got any friends in high places?"

"No," he refused to let him know about the connection between himself and Qrow.

Kind and understanding as the mercenary had been, Obito still had to keep some information should either Dalia or the tiger man turn on him.

"I'll wing it then though that's going to be hard with my looks," the hulking beast crossed his arms.

"I might?" Dalia said with a frown. "Though I'm unsure about how much help they can offer, they're busy with something. I don't even know if they're still…. Alive after all this."

"We'll work with what we have."

"For now, just stay low. Both of you."

~NRK~

He appeared at the docks once more, Dalia's ribcage portal closing behind him.

Orichalcum had, thankfully, an assortment of extra civilian clothing that he perused for a dark blue shirt.

He walked away from the docks and entered the street proper, slinking passed any possible security, before he walked the town.

The sites of Vale, nice as they were, were nothing compared to Mistral but maybe he was biased.

Mistralian culture made him think of the Elemental Nations who's own culture reflected Mistral. Maybe he should go and visit there sometime, chances were likely he'd go there eventually with Orichalcum's sects being in all the kingdoms.

Obito had been walking past a bar when he saw someone he knew.

Qrow sat against the counter, chatting up the bartender who was giving the Huntsmen some weird looks.

Obito watched the Branwen slam his hand on the counter thrice, cracking the wood and irritating the bartender.

The youngest of three walked in and immediately began pulling Qrow away from the counter.

"W-Wait! I'm not done yet! There's was this platypus Grimm once-!" Obito slapped him before dragging him out, much to the bar's amusement.

Once they were on the street, Obito brought Qrow to an alley and began to spin.

"Wait! GUjh! I c-can't!" Qrow found himself on his feet a second later and ran into the alleyway.

Obito leaned on the wall next to the alleyway, ignoring the amused looks on passerbys and Qrow's retching.

A minute later and a semi-sobered Qrow found himself walking out the alley with a grumble.

"Thank god for Aura, sup bro," Qrow said with a nervous chuckle at Obito's unimpressed look.

The younger Branwen rolled his eyes at the slightly intoxicated Huntsman. "Is this a special occasion or the usual?"

"Uuhhhh… the second one," he admitted that had Obito rolling his eyes again before he began to push him into the crowds.

"Let's drop you off at Liza's first before you do something I'll regret."

"10-4 buddy!"

~NRK~

They'd long since walked out of the city proper and into the more residential areas, Obito noticing more housing than stores.

Every now and then, he saw a poor person, nothing unusual in a place like Vale where there could only be so many jobs.

Most of them, he noted, were Faunus. The slight discrimination of the system he guessed, regardless of how stupid it all was.

Making their way to a two-story house with red dandelions on the doorknob and door itself. Steadying Qrow a little, Obito knocked on the door. The fact it was early in the morning didn't make this any better but Obito wanted there to at least be two or more of their group together.

When knocking didn't do anything, They sat on the doorsteps, Obito looking for his Scroll.

Qrow blinked at the other brunette, tilting his head slightly. "You got a tattoo?"

Obito froze, eyes wide as he realized what Qrow was talking about. "No, some bruise from getting felled by the others."

"Shame they don't know you're super strong, then all of 'em combined too," Qrow laid against the wall by the door. "Life'd be a lot better fer ya at the Huntsmen Academies."

"Hahh, I know Qrow," they'd had this talk before.

Obito was sure he'd have just gone straight for the license instead of schooling, he didn't want to frolic with those who'd only just gotten into adulthood.

He thought over his own childhood and mentally sighed a bit.

With how long passed it he was, you'd think he wouldn't care but, sadly, he did.

In the Elemental Nations, war was the norm. There was no time for childhood when you had to go on the frontlines by 12 at the oldest and 10 at the youngest.

"Imagine, all the time to hang wit cher little girlfriend, Cocao wasit?" the older man looked confused. "No, Velvet? Wait, wasn' brown? Chocolate?" he shot Obito a curious look that younger man didn't return.

"I'm not dignifying that," Obito said, thoughts involuntarily going to Coco.

The girl looked so much like a more grown Rin it was unbelievable.

Were Rin to live a normal life would she be like Coco? God he hoped not, that girl had spark but a flirtatious streak that would have floored the true younger Obito.

He frowned as his body felt… better, perhaps this was the acclimation Dalia was talking about.

"Come on, you don't even dislike Faunus, hmm…." Qrow rubbed his chin before somehow poking his eye. "Ow! Wait, is it Lizzy?"

"I don't like anyone like that Qrow, Liza is a co-worker."

"Hmph, I'll figure it out soon."

"Cours-"

The door opened revealing an irate looking Liza in her pajamas who looked at the two brothers with a glare before she blinked it away.

"Obito?"

"Apologies, I'm just returning this," he said, gesturing towards the drunk, waving Qrow.

She sighed as Obito helped Qrow in.

~NRK~

Obito's walk home was thankfully uneventful as he entered the apartment front.

Pressing his key to all the sensors, he was up at his room and opening the door.

"… When the hell did you leave?" asked the bleary-eyed Elizabeth. "Wait, am I awake?"

"Yes, Elizabeth, you're awake," Obito answered, stepping in and closing the door. "I needed to think some things over, nothing more."

"Hmm, 'kay," she shrugged, Obito's shirt hanging over her form passed her waist. "Inosuke's over here right now, don't know if ya care."

"I don't, thank you," Obito said as he moved to the kitchen section of the apartment.

He checked over his pantry, fridge, and closet, mentally tallying up the things he'd need for the week.

"Liz- OnlyToes!" came the voice of the younger Thompson sister as she walked around to the kitchen, eying him. "This is a real nice place, OnlyToes."

"Obito."

"That's what I said," she responded.

He ignored her as he walked towards his room, passing the living room full of blankets and cushions he'd gotten for the group, and went in.

Liz watched the brunette leave with a raised brow as her sister spoke.

"Did he always have a scale tattoo?"

Liz raised a brow at Patty.

"A what?"

Obito re-entered at that moment later with a bandage against his cheek and a pair of white shorts.

~NRK~

They'd made it about a couple of miles outside of Vale before they came to a stop.

They used a truck with an open back, everyone else dressed up in civilian clothes, passing off as a caravan with Deidara acting as the leading Huntsman.

Driving out into the wild, Cinder had them stop and move into the forest.

Deidara's eyebrows rose at the Grimm parting for them, a royal procession as it were, with Cinder ushering them forward through the dark beasts.

The cloaked group looked unsure save for Deidara who shrugged before walking forward, others rushing behind him in some outlandish attempt of safety that the blonde scoffed at.

Seriously? They decided to do this and didn't even have the balls to fight some Grimm?

These people were serious useless pieces of shit.

As they reached the end, Cinder stood before a large vehicle, it's wing-like protrusions divulging its use to them immediately.

If any of these people tried to cling to him he was liable to kill someone.


It took them about ten days to reach whatever place this was.

Deidara stared out at the dark lands, Grimm roaming the surface of it that he'd not even caught a whiff of outside.

"What the hell?" he muttered as he saw large rocks that formed into a long runway strip that lead to a castle?

Well, whoever it was, liked to think themselves a King.

Deidara would have to see if they matched up.


They exited the custom bullhead and walked up to the castle before meeting another one of these crazy people.

"Oh?~" A Faunus, Deidara noted, a scorpion Faunus. "So these are more believers for our goddess?!"

"Tch!" Cinder looked utterly annoyed.

Which meant Deidara needed to get along with this guy.

"Welcome friends," he threw his hands up in greeting, yellow eyes peering over all of them before landing on Deidara and matching grins. "My name is Tyrian! And yours?"

He'd aimed it at the blonde who grinned. "Deidara, Un."

"... Ohhh~" he looked him in the eyes and grinned further as he clapped his hands. "Oh, an interesting one! Tell me, friend..."

"How many have you killed?"

Any problems that Deidara might have had with this man lessened greatly.

"Enough." Tyrian chuckled at the blonde's answer, nodding in agreement.

"Indeed~ Welcome to our Queen's castle~"


Mercury was many things.

An assassin who didn't feel a bit of threat from 90% of this little group.

A damn good looking young man who saw no one worth teasing.

And a fan of the blondie over there chatting up Tyrian.

Deidara, he'd said, a name Mercury found worth remembering.

As they entered the castle and moved down the halls, the young assassin kept watch of the cloaked guy's reaction to everything.

While his little friends were unsure and/or wowed by their surroundings…

Deidara didn't look like he gave a damn, frowning as he looked straight ahead at Tyrian.

"Tsk! Don't let your guard down around that man," Cinder growled out, hand to her head as she leaned against a wall. "That man cares nothing for collateral damage."

'Ah, so he was lying to us,' the grey-haired teen thought.

The blonde had tried to give them a hit but neither of them, him and Em, believed him… At least Mercury thought Emerald wasn't fooled.

Eh, more amusement later on.

They made it to Boss lady's Boss lady and Mercury actually found himself interested.

Cinder had recruited them recently and so neither Mercury nor Emerald had met whoever held Cinder's strings.

Now, they were going to meet whoever this was along with these mooks.

Mercury was prepared to separate himself from the others at a moment's notice.

"Now," Tyrian turned to them, back straight, arm around his back and one on his chest. "Our Mistress is curious about you all and wants a good impression."

His hand pressed against the door.

"Do well to not annoy her, ahaha! HAHAH!" he opened the door.


Mercury's confidence dropped as he stared into glowing red eyes with black sclera and red veins across white skin.

His body tightened as he looked at it and knew how… wrong but correct she felt.

Mercury was many things… And, right now…

He was afraid.


Deidara's grin nearly split his face as his sleeves bulged before white animals flooded the r-

It was a clean room, with a long tabl- the fuck?!

The terrorist blinked at the cleanliness of it all before staring back at the bored-looking monster woman, her head resting on her fist as she stared at him, in particular.

In the past month, Deidara's been finding himself in opposition to people like this lady.

It made him want to kill her.

Her eyebrow rose slightly and the corners of her lips raised the tiniest centimeter.

"What interesting people, Cinder."

~NRK~

Coming in at 6.2k+ words is this very chapter.

I hope we'll spend more time on this story together.

Good luck.

~NRK Out~