Sorry for this one taking so long, major writer's block.
Thanks to TehGramerPolise and MasterofBones for their help with this chapter.
I stared at the wall plastered with images of me and my handsome face for a few seconds, then I turned to my two companions, both who looked like they were trying very hard not to crack up, "There's really no other option?" I asked, my voice slightly weak.
"None." Winter replied flatly.
I turned my gaze beseechingly to Ruby, who shook her head.
I turned back to the inside of the mansion and took a long, deep breath, "Okay, fine…"
With feet like lead, I walked forward through the hallway along the rug until it opened up into a large hearth room. The stone fireplace itself was already lit, giving off a warm and cheery glow. It was flanked by a trio of couches and a pair of armchairs, all leather and possessing that quality of looking fancy enough to feel good to sit in, and worn and faded enough to promise that they would be extremely comfortable.
I eyed all of it, and then looked around, "So… where's this Latica guy anyho-"
"Ruby! Winter!" The voice from before piped up right behind us, and it took all of my self-control not to reach for Harbinger's hilt. I turned to see a tall man with brilliant, unruly blonde hair dressed in a purple silken smoking jacket with either arm around Winter and Ruby's shoulders.
I felt an actual physical twitch as I saw him so casually laying his hands on the two, but reminded myself that this guy was probably going to be a lot less helpful if I lopped them off so I restrained myself.
The man began escorting them towards the hearth room, "It really is wonderful to see you two again. Where's Kali? Still well I hope? Is the staff working alright? I admit that I wasn't really certain about the thaumaturgical alignment, but the cut of the gem came out so perfect I just couldn't bring myself to start over again."
He paused as he stopped to look me over, "My, and who is this? I wasn't aware you traveled with such rugged company… I mean, an honest to god eyepatch? How droll." He leaned forward and his eyes narrowed, "Regardless, I can't help but feel that I've seen his face bef-"
His eyes widened and from beneath his robes a peacock tail flared open, a brilliant fan of green, purple, and gold feathers.
"No." He whispered, his face pale, "You can't be serious…"
"Latica." Ruby said, "Meet my Uncle Qrow."
The Faunus man stood stock still for a moment longer, then without warning there was a sharp pop and he disappeared into thin air.
"My most sincere apologies!" Latica's voice echoed, "I'll return in just a moment. In the meantime, please make yourselves comfortable!"
I lifted an eyebrow, "Bit of a talker isn't he?"
"You have no idea." Winter replied drily
Ruby walked past us and threw herself into one of the couches, Zwei panting happily as he followed along to sit on the rug in front of her. "I have been looking forward to that forever." She admitted, "I have never seen him that flustered."
"How'd you meet him anyway?" I asked them.
"He contacted us," Winter replied as she walked over to join Ruby to sit in one of the chairs, "It was about a month after Beacon, he invited us to come see him. He wanted to see if we knew anything about your disappearance. He was trying to find a way to bring you back."
I grunted, "Awfully nice of him."
"How did you come back anyway?" Ruby asked, "And where have you been all this time?"
I winced, "I told you before that I was 'away' and honestly I wish that the full explanation was better than the one I have."
I walked over to the chair across from Winter and sat down. Holy cow… the furniture was even more comfortable than it had looked.
I let out a groan as I sank into it and cracked my neck, "When Jaune and I got seperated, I fell into a place that I only ever heard referred to as 'the Void'." I told them, "Which all things told was a pretty good name for it, so I guess I'm sticking with it."
I did my best not to shudder as I remembered the empty space that I had sunk into, a place that had seemed to suck everything out of me and had threatened to do so until I was a lifeless husk.
"Anyway, after a while I… I guess 'landed' is the best term I can think of; in this weird place. There I met this guy… I guess I never really got a name. It seemed like he was in charge of the place, he sent me back to Remnant."
There was a pause, "That's it?" Ruby asked.
I shrugged, "Pretty much yeah, I gave him a weird coin thing that I got from the Carnival thing at the Atlesian base and he sent me back in return."
"The one that you got by bobbing for apples with those razor-teeth ducks?" Winter asked.
I winced, "Yeah, ended up paying off after all."
"Kali still can't stop laughing whenever she tells that story you know." Winter remarked.
I felt my teeth grind a bit, "I can imagine so."
There was a popping sound behind me and I turned my head to see Latica there, he had changed into a business suit and his previously unkempt hair had been neatly swept backwards.
"I'm so terribly sorry about that, I wasn't expecting guests." He told us as he stepped forward, "I hope that you're finding everything comfortable?" He then turned to me, "It is a pl-pleasure to meet you Mr. Branwen, my name is Latica."
I nodded to him, "Hey."
The man didn't seem to know how to respond to that, because he fidgeted for a moment before clearing his throat, "Ah, yes, allow me." He snapped his fingers and a tray piled high with foodstuffs and several bottles of alcohol appeared on the table.
I lifted an eyebrow as I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and uncorked it. I sniffed it and gave a sigh of appreciation as I took a swig.
"Good stuff." I commented.
"Of course, nothing but the best." Latica replied, then he bowed his head, "I am a great fan of your work you know."
I lifted my gaze to the pictures of me that filled the wall, in particular one that had a portrait of me riding a unicorn without a shirt, "I had gathered that."
He followed it and his face turned red, "Ah yes… that…" He cleared his throat, "You see, I was using scrying spells to look for you and I needed examples to make sure that it was you."
"Right… of course."
"So um…" Latica rubbed his palms together, "Is there anything that I can do for you?"
"There is actually," I sat up in my chair, "We need to get to Sanus."
"Ah, then you'll be needing the schedule for the ITS?" Latica asked.
"We do, and the sooner the better."
"Of course, of course." The Faunus man cleared his throat, "It's just that, the system is ah… under some strain at the moment."
"What do you mean?" Winter asked him.
Latica grimaced, "Well, I'm afraid that the Jade Empress has been cracking down on it rather harshly."
"Has it been compromised?" Winter asked him.
He shook his head, "Not as of yet, but if you wish to use it soon we'll have to move quickly. They've been increasing the intervals between trips to weeks at a time if you miss the next one you might be stranded for some time."
"Well then, go ahead and snap your fingers and bring it here so that we can see it and be on our way." I told him.
He winced, "As much as I would love to, I'm afraid that part of the new security precautions in place is that the schedule cannot be removed from my inner sanctum. If it is, then I'm afraid that it would be instantly destroyed. The same would occur if I were to tell you verbally, to prevent any chance of it leaking, if you wish to know when the next train will be departing; I will have to show it personally."
I grunted, "Huh, not exactly convenient, but I guess healthy paranoia never is." I reluctantly stood up from the very comfortable chair, still holding the whiskey bottle, "You don't mind if I bring this along, do you?"
He shook his head, "Not at all, if you require more, just simply let me know."
I grinned, "Oh don't worry, I will… now lead on."
Latica led us through a long hallway with a lush red carpet, there were paintings on the walls, but fortunately it looked like the Faunus man had artistic interests other than just me.
However, that didn't mean that there was nothing related to me in the hallway. There were various displays, all with various items inside, with silver plaques beside them.
At first I didn't really notice them, then one of them caught my eye and I paused to examine it.
To the casual observer, it looked like an ordinary umbrella, the only strange thing being the ivory handle. If they looked closer though, they would see the runes etched in a spiral along its surface, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end.
"No way." I muttered.
"What is that?" Ruby asked as she stepped up beside me.
"It was from when I was just starting out… didn't even have the Flames of Sarongar; just a bunch of artifacts and magical doo-hickeys that I didn't even know worked or not. It was this town called Shadowsfall, on the south-western coast of Sanus."
I took a deep swig from the whiskey bottle, "Anyway, this umbrella looks a lot like the one the big bad guy had from there."
"That's because it is that umbrella." Latica told us, stroking the plaque with a finger, "It took quite a bit of resources to track down, but eventually I found a merchant who couldn't sell the thing. Turns out there was a curse on it that anyone who possessed it would die a horrible death… imagine that."
I lifted an eyebrow, "How'd you remove the curse?"
Latica shrugged, "Never bothered really… turns out that it's a minor vengeance spirit, an onryo. I just have to vanquish it every month or so, it keeps me on my toes."
I glanced at him, "And no chance that… thing… comes back, right?"
The Faunus man shrugged, "Oh, of course it's going to come back eventually, it's kind always do, but I imagine that re-sealing it shouldn't take more than a few seconds, so I'm not concerned."
Ruby had already wandered away from the umbrella and was looking at a copper and brass robot head that had a broken crank sticking out of the side of its head, "What's this one?" She asked.
I blinked, "Damn," I muttered, "Is that…"
"Indeed," Latica swept up beside her, "That is from Qrow Branwen's cleansing of Bremborn… a city of sentient machines that stands on the eastern coast of Solitas. You see, this particular machine had placed the usually isolationist, but peaceful city under its spell such that they were preparing to cleanse all biological life from the face of the planet." The Faunus man's eyes were sparkling as he relayed the information and I could tell he was getting into a groove.
"All seemed lost, but The Guardian of Remnant was able to gather allies within the city and they were finally able to end its reign of terror. Slaying both it and the horrible mechanical amalgamations it had created."
"Whoah." Ruby turned to Latica, "What type of monster is an 'amalgamation'?"
"It just means a mish mash of pieces." Winter answered, "The entity in question had animated pieces of scrap and other machines to create monsters to eliminate biological intruders. The Atlesian Paranormal Division had a team present during the event, but Qrow beat us to it."
"I was pretty good at that." I commented.
A ghost of a smile flickered over Winter's face, "Yes, yes you were."
Latica leaned over to Ruby, "If you want to see some of them, I have several recreations over this way."
Ruby followed Latica as he led her down to another series of displays, Zwei happily padding after them.
I hesitated as I turned back to the umbrella.
Damn… just thinking about Shadowsfall still made me feel like I was about to break into a cold sweat.
It had all started with some missing kids and a mother who no one would believe. I had gone in really without a clue and with a bag full of eldritch knick knacks… it had been like hunting a pissed off bear with a water pistol.
I had thought after Mountain Glenn that I had seen the worst of it. With the anima power boost Tlaloc had given me, I had closed the portal, carving my way through every monster that had stood in my way.
But for whatever reason, that power boost hadn't lasted. At first I had thought it was because I hadn't needed it. Sure I had learned about things like the City of Noradz, but places like that had stuck to themselves.
The first few things that came my way seemed to back that up too, just some cultists that at best managed to summon up a couple imps or goblins. Those had been mostly taken care of with good old Dust rounds and explosives.
So I had gone into Shadowsfall thinking I was a hardass, that I was just gonna waltz in there and find those kids, or at least go to town on whatever had taken them.
My first encounter with the monsters responsible had ended up with me holding onto dear life in an old barn; out of Dust rounds and realizing that most of the stuff I had brought with me was useless. The only reason that I was still alive was that they had left when the rain outside had stopped.
"Those were hard times." Winter commented as she stepped up beside me.
I winced and took another deep drink of the whiskey, "Yeah." I said simply.
"My first real operation was at a small homestead called Brunswick Farms." She told me, "We landed in with two whole squads… one full of veterans of past incidents, and my squad of rookies led by Rufus Alsius… the headmaster of the Academy at the time.
I turned to look at her to see her eyes were haunted as she continued to stare at the umbrella, "What happened?" I asked quietly.
"It turned out that the owner had made a deal with an Isangoma to give a bountiful harvest and to protect them. The problem was that he didn't follow through on his part of the deal." Winter told me, "So she had set a pack of Tokoloshe on them."
She shuddered, "They tore us apart." She said softly, "It took a full clip just to put one of those things down, and there were at least one hundred of them."
She seemed to compose herself and turned to face me, "Eventually I was able to find the Isangoma and deliver the silver coins that the owner had promised her; but by then Rufus and most of the two squads were dead. Only a few of the people that lived there survived."
She turned back to the umbrella, "It's pretty crazy isn't it?" She asked me, "Now-a-days I wouldn't really blink twice at two hundred Tokoloshe… but back then?"
I grunted slightly, "We really have changed a lot since then."
"I guess so." She agreed.
We stood there side by side for a moment, and then behind us Ruby let out a loud squeal, "What is that thing?" I heard her say.
I turned to see her standing in front of what looked like a massive accordion crossed with a harmonica, kazoo, and xylophone tacked on for good measure.
"Ah!" Latica clapped his hands together, "This particular-"
"Hey! Latica!" I called.
The Faunus man whipped around to face me, as I desperately drained the whiskey bottle in a single pull.
I held it out to him, trying my best not to hack and cough as it burned my throat, "I think I need a refill." I wheezed.
"At once." He said as he walked over, grabbed the bottle and then disappeared.
"Look kiddo," I said as I walked over to Ruby, "There are some stories even super cool Guardian of Remnant uncles don't ever want to speak of ever." I pointed at the… thing… in the display case, "And that is one of them."
Ruby looked from me and back to the instrument, "Why, what is it?"
"Don't. Speak. Of. Ever." I emphasized.
"This 'Suoi… Suoicodila… suoicodilaipxe… thing' was used by the Guardian of Remnant to-" Winter began reading aloud from the plaque.
"Hey, you know what guys, aren't we kind of wasting time here?" I demanded, "Don't we have a really, really important thing we're supposed to be doing?"
The two of them ignored me and even Zwei leapt up with his front paws as they read silently and then one by one they turned to stare at me.
And then doubled over to burst out laughing.
I felt my face burn as I crossed my arms, "Come on guys…"
Their laughter only seemed to redouble itself and so I simply stood in humiliated silence. Finally, it seemed to die down as Latica arrived with a refilled bottle of whiskey, which he handed to me, "There you are, if you require anything else, simply let me know."
"Thanks." I said through gritted teeth.
The Faunus man rubbed his hands together, "Now, if we are ready to proceed."
"I don't know," I said archly, "Are we?" I asked Winter and Ruby.
"Yeah," Ruby replied as she took a gulp of breath, "Just-ha-give me a minute… ha-ha."
The two of them finally straightened up, but kept letting out little snickers and chuckles as Latica looked between us.
"Very well, then let us continue onward." He declared as he turned around, then he paused, "Oh that's right, I never did answer your question about the Suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus and the Flooperwill-"
"That's fine I already told them the story." I interrupted, "We can move on, thank you very much." I stormed down the hallway, my bearing dignified as possible as a renewed round of laughter began erupting behind me.
The chuckles and snickers had finally died down by the time we reached a set of wooden double doors.
I reached for the door-handles when Latica suddenly stepped forward, "Very sorry, but allow me." He said, "They have to be calibrated to the correct room."
I stepped back and Latica quickly traced a finger across the doors' surface leaving a green glowing thread behind as he did. He quickly sketched out a set of runes and then blew on the design. The runes blew away in a cloud of green dust and the doors flashed with a golden light.
He then flung open the doors to reveal a study with a large desk and several bookshelves packed with books and strange contraptions.
"After you," He told me.
I stepped forward and Latica swept in after me, taking a seat behind the desk as Winter, Ruby, and Zwei walked in after us.
"Give me just a moment." Latica murmured as he rummaged through the desk, he pulled out a strange green and gold globe, and then what looked like a candlestick made out of silver instead of wax.
Finally, he pulled out a large scroll that he blew off and then unfurled, "Here we are." He said and he placed it on the desk.
I leaned over to examine it and blinked slightly as Latica lit the candle, the sudden light disorienting me slightly before nodding in gratitude as the candlelight fell over the scroll.
It was for all intents and purposes, a rather normal train schedule, if train schedules were constantly rewriting themselves before your eyes. The black ink lines appeared and disappeared as it updated itself right in front of me; I scanned down the page and then jabbed a finger at a line that said it was running from Anima to Sanus.
"Here." I said, "This one says it's running tonight, from a village called Hammerfield."
"That's some distance away." Latica commented, "Probably a two days journey on foot."
I winced, "And you said that the next one won't be for another few weeks?" I asked.
"Correct." Latica answered.
"Damn," I muttered, "We need to get there fast then."
"I believe I can help you in that endeavour." Latica told me, "I can teleport you just outside the village. From there you should be able to reach the stop in time."
"Sounds good to me." I replied, "How soon can you get that together?"
"Immediately." Latica responded, and he snapped his fingers.
I gave a start as I opened my eye and shook myself awake.
The train around me rumbled as it continued onward, I was sitting inside of a cushioned seat across from Ruby and Winter. The former who was still asleep and the latter who gave me a grin, "Good morning." She said.
I rubbed my eye and let out a yawn and looked outside to see the sun rising over the grassy plains out the window, "Good morning yourself." I replied, "You know that you're off the clock and can actually sleep in right? It's not like we're going anywhere until this train reaches its destination."
Winter shrugged, "My eternal curse." She told me, "Once in the military, always in the military, I think I'd have to knock myself unconscious if I wanted to sleep too far past the crack of dawn."
"Fair enough," I replied, "As for me, I need my beauty sleep."
Winter lifted an eyebrow, "With that much snoring? Beautiful is not how I'd describe that."
I let out a snort, "Hey, you think it's easy to look this good?" I jerked a thumb at my face, "Other people get to relax when they sleep, I have to keep this up."
It was at that point that there was a slight jolt throughout the train and Ruby snapped awake, her hair pointing out in different directions, "I'm up!" She cried, then she looked around and scratched her head, "Are we at the village yet?"
I frowned, "Ruby, we're on the train."
"Oh," She looked around and then let out a massive yawn, "Alright then, that's good." She said, "Wake me up when we get there." She put her head back down against the back of her chair and closed her eyes.
Winter lifted an eyebrow, "And I thought you were sleeping in late."
I shrugged, "Well, she is still growing… all five foot two of her…"
"Five foot five." Ruby corrected lifting up a finger, "Zwei's not the only one who's grown." Then suddenly she snapped back up, her eyes wide, "Zwei! Where's Zwei?"
I frowned as I looked around. Sure enough, the dog wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Are pets not allowed up with the passengers or something?" I asked.
"No, it's never been a problem before." Winter replied, "Don't worry, Zwei must have just wandered off, considering we've been out for a while it must have been boring."
For a moment, some part of my still-tired brain agreed with her, but then I shook my head, "That's not like Zwei… it's hard enough to separate him from her side at the best of times. I couldn't imagine him leaving her side when she's asleep; Tai gave up on stopping him from sleeping in her room after the seventh shattered door."
Winter's brow furrowed, "You think someone… kidnapped him?"
"Won't learn anything just sitting here." I replied and I began to stand up, only for a huge wave of lethargy to wash over me, "What the hell." I murmured.
"I must not have slept enough," Winter slumped slightly in her chair, her eyes fluttering, "Just… give me a minute."
It was at this point that alarm bells started going off in my head, "Wait… does anyone remember us actually getting on the train?"
"Not… really?" Ruby replied, "I remember being in the study with Winter and then Latica said he could send us to the village outside the train stop…"
I tried to fight through the lethargy that felt like a pair of bricks crushing my brain, "Now that you mention it… I remember you guys walking in after me, but I don't remember you guys actually ever being in the study with me."
"What's going on Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.
"We're in some kind of enchantment." I answered, "It must have happened right when Latica teleported us, that's why we can't remember actually getting to the village and on to the train."
"So... how do we get out of it?" Winter asked as she tried to stop from slumping over from the supernatural exhaustion.
"That's actually pretty easy." I replied, "At least in theory. This kind of enchantment can only contain so much magical power, so if I can build up enough anima and burn it at once, it should shatter."
I rolled my shoulder, "The problem is that whoever designed it knows that, so that's why it's got the whole sleepy thing going on. The magic needs to be released all at once; which means that whoever does it will have to concentrate and focus."
"The thing is, with me being able to channel anima, combined with the Flames of Sarongar, I by far have the most raw magic I can bring to bear." I took a deep breath, "So I'm going to need the two of you to do me a favor."
"What's that?" Winter asked.
"I'm going to need you two to kick me."
The two of them stared at me, "What?" Ruby asked.
"The fact of the matter is, it will be easier to concentrate with physical pain, rather than this damned lethargy." I told them, "So-"
Winter lashed out with a foot, connecting solidly with my shin, and I let out a hiss of pain, "Not yet." I told her.
"Sorry, just making sure you were awake enough to actually think this is a good plan."
I ground my teeth, "Yeah, I am. The second part is that it will help you two keep awake, and when I say, I need you two to also unleash whatever magical power you can as well. We've got to make sure we smash this thing."
I folded my hands together and began to focus, and as I coaxed the anima forward, I was nearly floored as the lethargy swarmed in, "Ready?"
The two women nodded, I steeled myself and closed my eye, "Alright, go."
Almost instantly I snapped awake as a quartet of boots slammed into my legs and I grit my teeth as I continued channeling the anima.
Then I winced and let out another hiss as it happened again, fighting back the unnatural sleepiness that tried to come sweeping in as the shock of the pain receded.
Again and again we repeated the process, until my shins and legs were thoroughly battered and bruised… I was gonna hate walking after this.
But I had gathered a large amount of power, but I also had a feeling of what we were up against… it was massive whatever it was, by far the strongest one of these type of enchantments I had ever encountered.
And I was hitting a wall, the lethargy just wasn't going away enough for me to get over the edge and I shook my head in frustration.
"Damn it." I cursed, "I'm so close… just a little more…"
"Hold still," Winter told me, and I opened my eye to see her rearing back her hand.
I closed my eye again and nodded, "Do i-"
The slap that she gave me nearly spun my head around on its axis and the shock nearly caused me to lose control of the anima I had been building, but I barely managed to hold on and I was able to build up more power.
But it wasn't enough.
I growled and shook my head, "No good… it-"
Then Winter kissed me on the lips.
My eye shot open and my brain went into a tailspin, but it did the trick as the anima roared into a crescendo and I pulled back, "Now!" I cried.
And the whole world around us was rent asunder in flame and fury.
