The Grimm Reaper

If they were going to be staying for a while in her house, the group decided it'd be good to at least help with Saphron's chores. For their won, Yang and Pyrrha were working in the garden, well more accurately, Pyrrha had volunteered to do it, and Yang had decided to join her. The two were taking a break, but true to form, they decided to spend their break practicing.

Pyrrha ducked under Yang's blow, as she gave her own punch, which the blonde managed to block. She then head butted at Pyrrha, who easily absorbed the blow, and head butted back. That actually knocked Yang back.

"Man," Yang said, rubbing her nose, "Felt that one." Pyrrha just smiled, as she then kicked out with her metal leg, as Yang blocked with her metal arm.

"You aren't getting slow now, are you?" Pyrrha inquired, as she smirked at Yang.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Yang answered, with her own smile. With that, they pushed off each other.

"Can you please not show those off so much? Flynn asked me for a metal arm last night." The girls looked up to see Vermillion and Jade coming out.

"Sorry," Pyrrha said, as she and Yang separated. As they did, Jade eyed them slightly, rubbing her chin.

"Hmm," she said.

"Have you seen Jaune?" Milly asked.

"He went with Ruby and Weiss to the park," Pyrrha answered, "Though he didn't say why." Upon the mention of her sister, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's other girlfriend, Yang frowned slightly.

"So, you two done flirting now, or something?" Jade said, folding her arms.

"WHAT?!" both Yang and Pyrrha squawked. Jade laughed while Milly giggled.

"Relax," the red Arc said, "Jade's just teasing." The partners still exchanged looks with each other, but didn't say anything.

(in the park)

Ruby wasn't sure whether or not to trust this "Maria" woman. On the one hand, this was the first person anyone seemed to have information on Ruby's eyes, and for all Ruby could know, maybe the only one. On the other, she had no idea who this woman was, and in this day and age, it wasn't like trust was something Ruby could afford in bulk. Unfortunately, she needed information, and after all, she was meeting a little old lady in the middle of a park in broad daylight. It wasn't like she was going to a dark alley or anything.

So, she decided to go see Maria, but take proper precautions. Some might say bringing Jaune and Weiss wasn't sufficient, but Ruby decided it was enough. If nothing else, maybe he could call for help if things went South. So with that, she and Jaune were now standing around in the park, waiting for Maria to show up.

"What're you hoping to find out?" Weiss asked.

"Anything, honestly," Ruby answered, "If we can figure out how I can blast monsters with my eyes, maybe we won't need…" She trailed off. She was going to say that they wouldn't need their dragon powers, but that would be a lie. Even now, they still felt like they had a hole inside of them.

"Ah, you decided to come!" The two looked over to see Maria making their way over to them.

"I had my doubts of your coming," she said, as she stopped in front of them, "Not that I would've blamed you, it's not everyday a random old lady in a cafe asks you about your eyes. Now forgive me, but I don't think I ever learned your name."

"Uh… Ruby, Ruby Rose," Ruby answered, before gesturing, "This is my boyfriend, Jaune, and my friend, Weiss."

"I imagined such from yesterday," Maria answered, as she took a seat on the bench in front of them, "Pleasure to actually meet you both. It certainly was a happy accident."

"Yeah," Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head, "That sort of stuff seems to happen to us a lot."

"That's certainly a way of putting it," Weiss said, tugging at her collar slightly.

"Well, perhaps the gods favor you." All three people winced slightly at that, but fortunately Maria either didn't notice or didn't care.

"So, I believe we have a certain pair of eyes to talk about," she said, gesturing to her mechanical ones.

"We'll let you go," Jaune said, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "We'll be right over there if you need us." Ruby just squeezed his hand briefly, before the two left.

"He seems like a fine young man," Maria commented as she watched him go.

"Yeah, he is," Ruby said softly as she smiled, before turning and kneeling in front of the bench, "So, you said that you can tell me about the Silver Eyes?"

"Yes, I suppose I did," Maria said, as she looked into the sky, with a rather forlorn expression, "First off, let me apologize for such a random approach like this."

"It's okay, really," Ruby answered.

"It's just there are so few of us left."

"Us?" Ruby asked, cocking her head. Maria seemed to realize what she just said, as she sighed slightly, hanging her head.

"Oh yes," she said with a somewhat sad chuckle, "I guess you wouldn't be able know, but I used to have silver eyes myself." Ruby gasped; this would make Maria only the second person she'd known with same kinds of eyes as her (her mother being the first, of course).

"But…," she said.

"I know, it's a long story," Maria said, "The short version is that I lost them in battle with some hired goons. But in my day, some say I was one of the greatest slayers of Grimm in history. Which, in my modest opinion, I may just have been. I was called the Grimm Reaper back then." Ruby's eyes widened at the mention of that name. She remembered hearing the name from Qrow as his own idol.

"Wow," she muttered.

"Admittedly, I doubt I could ever compete with the actual greatest hunter ever," Maria explained, as she leaned back to look at the sky.

"Who's the greatest?" Ruby asked, cocking her head curiously.

"Tell me, child," Maria said, looking at her, "have you ever heard the name 'Jack Bean'?"

"'Jack Bean'?" Ruby echoed, "I… I think so." It sounded familiar, like a name she may have read in one of her storybooks.

"According to legend, he was the greatest hunter of Grimm ever to have lived," Maria explained, "There wasn't a Grimm across Remnant that he couldn't slay. And I bet you can guess what color his eyes were." Yes, Ruby certainly could.

"So, I can blast monsters with my eyes?" she said, her eyes lighting up in anticipation.

"Not necessarily," Maria said, frowning, "Trust me, if you approach your abilities like that, as something used to defeat your enemies, and something you had an inherent right to, then you'll go nowhere with it." Ruby frowned at that, but not about her eyes. Instead, it was about a certain "reptilian" side of her she didn't have anymore…..

"Let me put it like this: think of it more like using the power to protect those you care about." Ruby thought back to the other times she used the eyes, like at the top of Beacon Tower, or during the fight with the Wendigo. It had been in points when her friends were in great danger, and she just wanted to save them.

"How do I control it?" Ruby asked.

"Well, that's certainly not a loaded question," Maria said, with a slight laugh, "It's hard to explain. For me, it just sort of happened, and I eventually just developed the skill to will it to happen." Well that didn't offer Ruby any more real information, as her brow furrowed further. She thought about how it was to protect those she loved, as she looked towards Jaune, who was holding out an ice cream cone to Weiss, who kissed him on the cheek. Ruby pouted jealously at that.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm growing rather peckish right now," Maria said, "What would you say to some lunch?"

"Uh, sure," Ruby answered, not expecting that sort of offer. As time would have it, Jaune and Weiss were coming back, still with their ice cream.

"Are you guy done?" Weiss asked.

"For the time being," Maria said, as she got off the bench.

"Well, here you go," Jaune said, offering the girl in red another ice cream cone. Ruby smiled, as she took it, before kissing Jaune on the opposite cheek Weiss did.

(in the Cotta-Arc household)

Oz frowned, as he stared at a map of Atlas, trying to think of anyway at all they could get there. Unfortunately, the simple fact of the matter was that without official escort from the Atlesian military, they would not be able to get anywhere near Solitas. To compound the issue, he knew that while James Ironwood was a reasonable man at heart, his subordinates did not all share that reason, such as the woman in command of the garrison here.

"Maybe we could ask Weiss…," Oscar began.

"I can't ask that of her," Oz answered, "At any rate, I doubt Cordovin would be willing to let anyone other than Weiss herself on any of her ships."

"What if we went back to Mistral," Qrow suggested, "We can get an airship there, and get the Empress' personal seal."

"From what I've been told, the border closure is complete," Oz answered, "Even with the Imperial Seal, we wouldn't make it far into Solitas."

"So… what do we do?" Oscar asked.

"I wish I knew," Oz answered, "We may have to think outside the box on this."

"Well," Qrow said, as he took another swig of his flask,"If there's one thing those kids are good at, it's doing exactly hat." Oz supposed he couldn't argue with that.

(on the outskirts of Argus)

Adam glared down at the city, at a city of humans. It made his body tremble in anticipation, and he wanted to do no more than charge down and find Blake, killing everyone in his path.

"I can only tell you to calm down, so many ways," Mnemosyne commented, as she manifested beside Adam, "You are not invincible, not yet at least." Adam just growled at that, as he continued glaring at the city, but his trembling began to subside.

"You will have to be strategic about this," Mnemosyne said, "Let your targets come your way." Adam continued to stare down into the city, as he measured his options. Mnemosyne was right, he couldn't go charging down into the city waving his sword around. He'd been an insurgent long enough to realize that the key to succeeding in one's goals was to do things indirectly.

"Soon," he muttered, more to himself than to his creator, "Soon." With hat, he started to walk away.

"Remember," the Spirit suddenly said, "You can take all their lives, but you must bring me the lamp."

"I know," Adam answered. He didn't know or care what was so important about the lamp. All that mattered to him was Blake. As she watched him leave, Mnemosyne looked back to the city. Her sister was down there, she could sense it.

Note: This chapter was going to be longer, but I thought it would be more appropriate to divide Maria's talk with Ruby into two chapters. I'm hoping to start to resolve this volume into the next few chapters. I have a clear sequence of events, building up to a satisfying ending.

Beyond that, this chapter was mostly pretty simple. I didn't want the chapter to be too short, so I inserted concepts that would indicate a progression in story or character, but keep the focus on Maria and Ruby's talk. I know this chapter is a lot shorter than some of the previous ones, but there really wasn't much to add here.

Be sure to review.