One chapter away from having twenty chapters and this story has already overtaken my longest story which, to be fair, isn't done yet but this story likely has already overcome it by the twentieth chapter.
Considering this is a rewrite, though, maybe it's already lapped my previous story twice over. It's what it is.
This chapter is going to be more of the same like with last chapter. More set-up for the following arc and certain people learn things while I keep my side of the deal on another literary promise.
As far as I can think… I think we're about one or two more chapters from the next arc. Which is about Friday in-story for the characters. Don't quote me on that though, I can't seem to keep those kinds of promises it seems but that's my estimate.
On Amber from last chapter, her empathy is, in fact, her Semblance. I was brainstorming on that bit and you might wonder why that's important.
… Just know it IS and for reasons that haven't been revealed yet. Just know, I have plans for Amber. So just accept she has a sort of, Sage Mode-level empathy sense due to her Maiden powers enhancing it.
Also, Dragon Amber, that's obviously going to be important for the story and the plot involving the Maidens.
The idea was, how do I give Obito a challenge without just introducing crazy chars left and right. And this was it, though, with how RT is going. I have to wonder if we'll ever get to see the other Maiden.
We have Frieya, Amber, and Raven. And, I believe I've said this already, the fact of the matter is. I don't consider the books canon, regardless of what anyone says.
Not the books, nor the comics, I'm going to make that clear. As far as I'm concerned, I'd maybe take names and powers from the book but that's about it. I don't see the side material as worth reading with how many problems the show has. If it's just more of the same, then no thank you.
Yes, I've seen the summary of the books, the reddit(?) breakdown of what the book entails as well, and I'm not a fan of them in the slightest. So if any Maidens appear in the books, good luck.
So yeah, we're only doing the show. Back on topic.
What I'm planning to do is use the show's vague way of handling things to make challenges.
I've already got ideas for Grimm. The Hunters in Remnant, as you've already seen, have had their power levels adjusted to what I believe are acceptable levels. Obviously, there are exceptions like the Branwen tribe and family out and about.
Maidens… We've never seen a 'fully realized' Maiden in a fight and I'm still mentally going over how I'd want to show that. As said in the previous chapter, Amber's NOT fully realized. She's about… I want to say a bit above a novice as a Maiden, what with how Cinder's group handled her.
She's literally got amnesia and was made a Huntress only about three to four years before this chapter so she's not got all the smarts you'd expect. Especially since she didn't have normal Academy training and was taught to be more of a Maiden than a Huntress. So she's more of a mage than an actual spell knight, if you will.
Nothing else I can think of.
Edit: I fucked up! I said Kakashi and Winter were twins even though he and Ochre are the same age of 26, fuck… I'm going to go over that and change it to make it align with the story, I'm sorry for anyone who was confused. Dammit.
So I'mma just put this here.
Kakashi's age: 26
Ochre's age: 26
Winter's age: 23 as of right now. So she'd be 25 exactly when canon starts in this fic.
Edit 2: fixed it. Let me know if I missed anything, guys.
Now onto the chapter.
~NRK~
The following day came with an obstinate, if not predictable, problem.
"Hold on, I'm fine," Coco argued as Ochre stood in front of her bedside, arms crossed. "Seriously, what the hell?!"
"No," the older Adel was resolute. "Something happened yesterday that we have no idea about, Coco, you're not going until we figure out what's wrong."
"It's likely for the best," Olivia said, a smile more easily made after Ochre had apologized. "With everything going on with Obito yesterday—"
"Don't," Coco stopped her. "Don't try and say it's his fault, there's no way he knew what was going to happen!"
"We know," Ochre said with a grimace. "Obito has no idea what's going on himself and he's already beating himself up for hurting you as is. Do you honestly think he wants a repeat?" Coco's sister asked.
She hadn't gotten to speak with Obito yet, being occupied with both apologizing and asking Olivia about what was going on.
Her fist clenched as she remembered the charts that the Faunus had shown her.
Coco's right arm… There was an absorbent amount of energy gathering there, she'd been shown. That same energy was also familiar to that of Fire Dust.
Her very being grew cold at such an explanation and she worried of what would happen should Obito and she have another interaction like yesterday.
"You're really putting me on house arrest?! Seriously?!" Coco stared at the cop. "Sis, come on!"
"…" Ochre turned to the others. "Please go on ahead, I'll be speaking with her for a bit."
Her eyes locked with Olivia and the doctor's eyes twitched towards a still and nodded.
Good, there shouldn't be anyone else here when they had…. This conversation.
She watched the group leave, the only people not here were Ozpin, Amber, and Obito. The latter of which was choosing to stay outside as the group went into Coco's room.
If Obito had anything to do with this… If he truly was as not in the know as Coco was… Ochre thought back to the way Kakashi treated the young man and held off on her decision.
If she were to get counsel from Kakashi, what would he say? Would he agree with letting Obito in on her past? Would he say no? He seemed to have grown fond of her junior cadet so maybe he was just feeling a sense of kinship with the teen.
So many questions but, for now, she only had answers for ones coming from Coco now that the room was closed off.
Coco stared at Ochre for a bit before asking. "So… I get the feeling you're doing this because we need to talk."
"Not just that," Ochre said. "It IS to stop you from going with them, I'm worried about the reaction you'd have with Obito should you incubate more of his Dust-like flames.
Coco blinked not once, not twice, but three times as she heard what her sister just said. "Excuse me, did you just say I'm carrying some flame kid of Obito's?" that was the craziest thing she'd heard in her life, ever, of all time!
"What? No! I mean that… Dammit," Ochre breathed out through her nose before taking a seat at Coco's bedside. "What's going on with you… What's happening right now, is because of your heritage."
Coco blinked. "What?"
"Coco…" Ochre grimaced as she clasped her hands together. "Did you know that you have a sort of hereditary Semblance?"
The room was quiet as Coco just stared slackjawed at her older sibling. "What the what?!" she exclaimed.
What the hell was Ochre on about?!
Ochre continued. "While hereditary may be the wrong term, it's about right. Our Semblances are sort of like 'specialties' of the main Aubrey Semblance."
"…" Coco just stared at her sister. "Ochre… are okay?" the 16-year-old asked nervously.
"Do I look a mess?" Ochre asked calmly, getting a swallow and a shake of the head from Coco. "Then, yes, for the most part."
"… Aubrey?" Coco asked and shivered a bit.
Aubrey? What? Why did that name… That name sounded so familiar and Coco couldn't help but feel like it shouldn't.
"… I jumping ahead, I'm sorry," Ochre sighed before taking a deep breath. "Let me tell you something, Coco, who you are isn't who you think you are."
"…Okay…"
"What I mean to say is," Ochre grimaced. "Your name wasn't Coco Adel."
"It was Ottilie Aubrey, the third child of Carmilla and Caster Aubrey."
Coco's entire body shuddered as she listened, she looked down at her hands to see them shaking before she closed her eyes shut and breathed in shakily.
The warmth of her Aura filled her being and she grunted as she felt the mental shivers dominate her still.
Something in her body just seemed to click into place and Coco wasn't sure if she liked the idea of it.
"Coco?" Ochre looked on with a frown. "Coco, focus. Don't let this shake you."
"E-Easy for you to say," Coco breathed out through her nose as that feeling dulled a bit before looking at her hands. "What the hell is wrong with me?"
"Nothing," Ochre said sadly. "This… What happened nine years ago, Coco, is that you lost your memories."
"Excuse me?" Coco balked. "Wh-What? What do yo-"
"Your head feels fuzzy, right?" Ochre continued. "You don't remember that day all that well, do you?"
Coco didn't. She always felt like it was hard to distinguish and just gave up at that point.
"What happened?" the girl asked quietly. "Who am I? Why didn't you tell me?"
"… I was trying to protect you," Ochre said. "I didn't want our family finding us but that didn't work out as well as I thought."
"… That kid," Coco realized. "He looked just like me…"
"A rather shared trait among us four," Ochre shrugged at Coco's wide-eyed expression. "A lot of us look like our mother, even Otto that boy you saw."
"Otto…" she felt that annoying sensation.
Like something you know you should remember and it was on the tip of your tongue but you just couldn't say it. That's what listening to that kid's name felt like.
"That's… annoying," Coco said with a sigh. "I feel like there's something there but I can't reach it."
"It's fine," Ochre said softly. "You shouldn't have had to in the first place."
"… You said you didn't want them to find us, right?" Coco asked. "Why? What's wrong with our family?"
"…" Ochre frowned for a bit. "When we were first coming to Anima, we were attacked by… someone. It was someone our mother had set up for us to meet."
"Why?" Coco asked. "What was so important about this meeting?"
"It was to help us re-establish ourselves," Ochre said as she adjusted her glasses. "Coco, the Aubrey family used to be a big one, we're talking Schnees big."
"That's pretty big," Coco said with a shake of the head. "Wait but then how come-"
"You've never heard of them?" Ochre finished, getting a nod from her younger sister. "That's because they were big but that was a long time ago. About twenty years before the great war, we were one of the main families that ruled around Vale. We were producers of Dust, the makers, refiners, the creators, everything."
Coco swallowed.
"We were so powerful that we made more than enough enemies," Ochre frowned. "I don't know the whole history, mind you, but the Aubrey family was weakened around that point and they fled."
"Where?"
"Can't say," Ochre said. "Just know they positioned somewhere else and had to rebuild, regain some power but there was barely anything where they were and so it took over one hundred years to get to our current power but not without costs."
"How many of us are there?" Coco had to ask. "You make it sound like we were some clan in Mistral or wandering caravan in Vacuo."
"Hmm, that's certainly an apt comparison, yes. That said… we're likely less than six people and that's not without reasons," Ochre grimaced. "That's for another time, though, what you need to know is that we've been found."
"By that Otto kid, right?" Coco asked. "Do we have to be worried?"
"Otto… he's just an impressionable boy, no, but we have to worry about Opfer," Ochre said.
"Offer?" Coco raised a brow at the word, name, whatever it was. "The hell is an Offer?"
"Opfer," Ochre corrected. "She… is our elder sister," Ochre hissed out before finalizing the threat.
"And she's retained almost all the powers of the Aubrey family along with a self-indulgent mind."
~NRK~
She walked at a brisk pace, the clacking of her heels against the metallic floors of her laboratory white noise in her ears.
'What could our handsome general want?' she wondered as she pushed a loose strand of her hair behind her left ear, a large octagon-shaped tattoo that was a bright green color revealed underneath. 'While having some time alone would be nice… with that silly project of the elites coming up, it has to be related.'
Yes, she was sure that this was business-related, shame.
Her long pale legs made her strides mighty and elegant as she walked in her black four-inch heels. Her long dress-sweater combo top a dark brown that fell in between her knees and thighs, with her white scientist coats over her shoulders and clasped by a small gold chain she had fitted her coat with that had tiny different-colored gems in every link.
Her hair was tied back in a loose braid that fell down the back of her head to the middle of her back and was a lighter brown than her sweater. Her face was heart-shaped and her eyes were a bright purple that were filled with a calm intelligence that dissected everything she saw.
Yes, Opfer Aubrey was an astounding woman, she admitted politely, and was top of the top. Were she asked, she would say top three beauties in Atlas.
Likely taking up the top three with her presence alone but she wasn't going to brag, of course.
So as she wandered down the pathways that separated all the personal laboratories of the main scientists working under the general, she waved at some of the awestruck men and women she passed. Her smile would brighten their day and swell their hearts.
Honestly, James should pay her for these actions. Morale was important, yes?
… Well, she could always do the man a favor, yes? He was her general.
Making her past the lab section of the main Atlas military base and exited through a pair of double doors that led her down another hallway, a series of large window panes lining one side of it.
Looking out at the floating, damn near flying, cityscape of Atlas she found her interest in this city's mere physics peaked again.
The very notion of something keeping this city up made her nerve tingle as she opened and closed her hands.
If she had something this powerful… She'd damn near make her own kingdom! The Aubrey Kingdom! It had a nice name to it.
Was it Dust? Was it someone's Semblance? Was it natural?
She wouldn't know, this was, sadly, all before her time.
Once again, she delayed these thoughts for private time. Right now? She had a broad-chested man to see.
The hallway she entered had another set of double doors at the end and she entered through them to find herself at an intersection.
An intersection where an interesting person was passing.
"Oh, Ms. Winter," the person turned her way as Opfer grinned. "How are you this fine day?"
Winter Schnee, second oldest in the Schnee family and current up and coming Specialist.
Winter's blue eyes widened at the sight of Opfer, sadly not in adoration as many of the others but Opfer couldn't help 'blind' people. Her skin was pale and her hair was as white as pure snow, dressed in a sort of messy bun with long, thin, bangs at the sides of her face.
She dressed in the Atlas Academy uniform, what with it being her last year, though that was where the normalcy of her uniform ended.
She wore the male version of the Academy uniform, save for having the short sleeves on the white dress shirt. Just a smaller, fitting, male Atlas Academy uniform.
White pants, grey vest, white belt, black tie, and black boots, she looked like a girl trying to fight the system. Really, Opfer was sure that the girl just liked the uniform more.
"Ms. Aubrey?" the girl said with a slight frown. "Good afternoon, I was just heading to the training room."
"Ah, must keep your title, yes?" Opfer said and let out a small smile at the girl's now impassive expression. "Apologies, I forget sometimes that you aren't fond of it."
The title of 'Strongest' in Atlas Academy was never really one you appointed. Atlas Academy focused on the protocols and guidelines of the military. The idea was that uniformity, rules, and strict learning would give the students a form of unity. Working together, fighting side by side in teamwork with special conditions, mix-up tests with students from different teams and classes.
And yet Winter Schnee, of the prodigious Schnee family, broke all standing in that Academy. She was titled The Strongest and that was one of the reasons that she skipped a year in the Atlas Hunter school in the first place.
Oh and former heiress but who cared, right?
Though this didn't exactly come without downsides. The girl was titled The Strongest, yes, but she had another.
The Untouchable Queen. A rather… glamorous title for a little girl but most didn't know of Opfer anyway.
So the girl's ability to interact with people, and work with them, basically relied on military gestures and mannerisms. A rather sad existence, that one.
"It's… the matter is one I don't worry about," she did but obviously didn't want to let someone in.
How human.
"You should try and trust your fellow man," Opfer said pleasantly. "I can't imagine you have too many people in your life you can trust your back to."
Winter's eyes seemed to dim but what remained within them was that sheer cold that stunned and clammed up most people.
Opfer smiled widely. "Don't let my words get to you, I'm simply bad at small talk."
That cold lessened but Winter's eyes were all the more closed off as they spoke, eyes watching her body language.
What a diligent, powerful, and yet annoying person. Opfer would need to keep an eye on the young woman.
"Very well, I see my words have touched a nerve," Opfer walked forward, past Winter at the intersection of hallways. "Enjoy your training session, Ms. Schnee."
"…" she could feel Winter's eyes on her back and grinned as she passed another set of double doors.
'I wonder how Merlot's doing?'
~NRK~
She cried.
She cried too many times to count and she could barely get past a hundred in the first place.
Yet, even so, she ran.
She ran as her life depended on it.
"WHERE IS SHE?!" she heard echoing in those cold, empty, terrifying halls. "WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!"
She moved her tiny body as best she could, wiping her eyes as the light of a gem in her forehead brightened the area in front of her.
She fell to her knees and hugged them as she cried again.
The pain. The bad man had done something to her and now she had this stupid Dust in her head!
"M-Mommy…" she sniffled and trembled, even if the cold of Atlas didn't bother her, the situation filled her with a chill and shiver.
She wanted to leave! She didn't want to be here! Why her?!
Her Dust glowed brighter as a pair of steps filled the space behind her.
"Here yo-THE HELL?!"
SHE WANTED TO LEAVE!
And a roar answered her call.
~NRK~
"How's it goin', kid?"
"…I think I'm okay."
"… Wanna talk about it?"
"Are you hisss father?"
The trio of Esparza, Harold, and Collbrand talked in the medical bay of the Genesis organization medical bay.
Collbrand and Harold had come out of the events of a couple of days ago rather well but Esparza was the one most in need of care alongside Danzo.
Speaking of the leader of this whole organization, he was currently away from the bay. Something about doing some paperwork and working on something to give the trio some real sway among his subordinates.
Collbrand and Harold were seated in a pair of chairs by Esparza's bedside, the woman was halfway healed by this point. This being the second day after they arrived at this place, she was coming along well.
With the snake Faunus in medical garbs and some shorts, she sat up in her bed to look at Collbrand questioningly.
"Seriously, you have to be putting on airs with the hiss," Collbrand responded suspiciously. "There's no way that that stereotype is what fits."
"Sssorry," she shrugged, though the hulking man saw the slight smirk on her lips. "Sssomething, I can't ssstop."
"You believe this woman, kid?"
"I… think so?" Harold blinked at the grin on her face. "Adults are weird, though."
"How so?" both said adults asked at once.
"Glad to see you all coming along," came the familiar voice of Danzo, a cane in hand as he entered the medical room. "I've finalized the items needed to bring you into the organization."
"Right…" Collbrand sighed as he pinched the bridge of his pronounced nose. "Guess this is about my only option."
"It is," Danzo said succinctly. "Your faces are known and you're all too noticeable."
Esparza shrugged. "I'm not complaining, I'm in for the mile."
"I'm in," Harold said but fidgeted with his fingers a bit. "We'll need to get more Grimm, though."
"Simple enough," Danzo said as he stood at the foot of Esparza's bed. "I've got my people looking into Grimm that are noteworthy in Mistral at all times. We've already been keeping an eye on one that attacked a village under the name of Kuroyuri close to ten years ago. The beast is strong but stagnant."
"What's it?" Collbrand asked as he crossed his arms. "That thing's likely to just replace the kid's ride, yeah? It needs to fit the qualifications," Harold nodded along with this.
"It's a Nuckalevee," the youngest of them blinked as both Collbrand and Esparza winced. "I don't think Harold would appreciate its unique… aesthetic," he said finally, the word the best use for describing that particular Grimm.
It was like some macabre of horror between a human and horse. The boy would likely faint every time he saw it.
"Yeah, I think the kid can wait," Collbrand said as Esparza cringed. "Catching that tiger Grimm was a pain in the ass as is, this thing looks worse."
"Its ability to maneuver is worrying, I'll give you that," Danzo said in agreement. "I'll look for something else. For now, I do think it's a good candidate."
The others nodded as Harold felt a little put off by the fact that no one was telling him what was wrong with this Knuckaweeve thing.
All possible talk was halted, though, as Danzo's Scroll rang.
The old ninja's eyes narrowed and pressed a finger to his lips as he fished out his Scroll and opened it.
-I hope you've been doing good work, wouldn't want to paint a bad image to our goddess-
-Hmph, we'll see. I have the feeling she's going to be interested in this creature of mine-
-Kew!-
Collbrand looked up at Danzo in confusion but the other man shook his head before mouthing somethign.
Wait. This was important, the man said.
~NRK~
Mercury swallowed a bit as he straightened out his collar a bit, Danzo's bug firmly placed on the inside of it by the young man's clavicle.
'Play it cool, play it cool,' he thought to himself as they made it to the mesmerizing horror of architecture that was Salem's little castle in these Grimm-infested lands.
The airship landed on a long strip of winding stone, rock, and dirt that led up to a large structure.
It was big, dark, pointy, and red. Someone was going for a motif that Mercury wasn't a fan of in the slightest.
It reminded him a bit of Atlas architecture, what with its blocky-ness and pointy towers but the colors on it seemed to be made just right to be otherworldly. Like the true home of a royal witch.
Salem certainly had a high opinion of herself and Mercury would say nothing about that if he wanted to keep his head.
Tyrian departed from their aircraft first, bowing slightly and gesturing to the long road ahead of them like some sort of valet that none of the trio were fond of.
Cinder stepped off followed by her tiny creature floating the slightest bit behind her. Emerald was next and Mercury followed after that, looking around at the landscape and performing his ritual for whenever he came here.
He cringed. He grimaced. He showed every reaction he could to this abhorrent place.
The Unbridled Territory always terrified him.
Its long sweeping plateaus, all made of some sort of purplish-red stone and earth he didn't want a close inspection with, and the seemingly warped flora that made darkness their home and hobby.
Even now, he could see them. Those Grimm that slipped into the darkness and moved around, always watching the humans who landed with some form of curiosity that Mercury was sure was related to how lean he was.
Meat-wise. He'd never thought being 93% lean would ever come back to haunt him.
Moving up to the castle in which his boss's boss resided, the doors on the place they'd come up to were large and imposing.
You had to be strong in such a way that they opened and Tyrian smiled widely before walking up to them and slowly opening those large black doors with one hand splayed on their wooden-like surface.
Fucking bastard.
Going in, they were captured by darkness for all of a second before blinking as little flame lamps surrounded them. Both Emerald and Mercury shivered before looking down the hallways to their right and left.
Both were long and well lit, the little precession of flame lamps leading all the way down each way made them seem like they went on forever.
That said, the fact they were in this particular hallway meant that Salem had transported them from the entrance.
She was eager to see them for some reason and Mercury didn't like that in the slightest.
The door in front of them was a dark purple, strictly different from all the other décor but Mercury wasn't fooled.
It was sort of like framing. All the doom and gloom and then there was this almost soft-colored door. It just made the idea that any brevity was on the inside.
Too bad the inside of this place only housed a monster. The true monster of Remnant, as far as he was concerned.
Tyrian squared his shoulders, chest out, smile simple and head held high as he knocked on the door once.
And not unlike in a horror film, the damn thing opened slowly of its own volition.
When it fully opened, they were greeted by a single long table. Black in color and surrounded by small twisted trees given the shapes of chairs. The floor was sort of bright, dark, red-purple, whatever, that made it seem like it was made of blood. With the windows finishing off the motif of this particular room by being tall panes with boxed frames and crystals in the corners of the room. Like this was some kind of professional setting for bad guys.
Which it was, mind you, but…
None of that mattered. It never did, Mercury just tried to delay having to look at her.
The true monster. The royal witch. The castle's owner.
Salem.
"Hm…" her voice seemed to echo into his very soul. "How interesting…"
Like, imagine if his soul was a window and her voice a thousand blind crows running into it with little care for themselves or the pane.
He finally looked up at her and paled as he always did when he saw this anomaly.
Salem the Witch, with a capital 'W', was a woman. A monstrous woman but still a woman.
She didn't look like some acned up green thing like fairytales would make you believe. She almost looked human.
'Almost' being the operative word.
Whether it was her literal white skin with red veins falling away from her eyes and forehead in all directions, her womanly shape, her forearms that came out of that long black…. He refused to call it a dress, it almost looked like it was a part of her, but that was the best thing he could compare it to.
Her eyes were an ominous red on black sclera that only made him think of Grimm. Her white hair, not unlike her skin, was done up into a weird sort of misshapen bun…. It looked like a spider's abdomen, okay! Fuck it, she was creepy as shit and the bone like bits in her hair that seemed to act like some kind of hair scrunchie wasn't. Helping.
Her chair in this room of evildoers, ridiculous and cliché as it sounded, was a throne. A sort of large chair-sized throne but still a throne.
She sat at the end of the long table in the room, farthest from the door, and observed them as she spoke.
"We've returned," Cinder said, even with her clothes being in disarray. "Though things didn't go the way we planned."
Salem raised a brow at her little pupil, curious, as her gazed turned to the side at the young woman's new… addition, eyes slowly widening at the sight of it.
The red carbuncle at Cinder's side floated closer to the woman in question, landing on her shoulder before locking eyes with Salem herself.
"… A carbuncle?" the witch was astonished.
All magical animals in their world… they'd vanished literal millennia ago along with the destruction of all mankind. The beasts of legend, myth, and folklore, should have been put to eternal rest with no magic users around.
"Explain," Salem said and, if Cinder was being bold, she sounded… excited? "Cinder."
Wide-eyed at the insanity of hearing the tone in Salem's voice, Cinder answered. The entire ordeal with the IronSights, the MOD, the bosses, and, of course, their strange ability to grow Dust.
This ability's origin being kept secret, of course.
Salem, though, wasn't pleased with this set of events. Or, perhaps, the better term was… unsure?
What did this mean…? Not just for the state of the world at large but for her?
What would this change? She… Salem didn't actually know… yet.
"Cinder," she spoke once the tale was over and done with. "That one, Danzo was it? What is his stake in all this?"
"… I don't know that," Cinder answered in the negative. "I was never made aware of the other bosses' intentions with all this. Only Collbrand was open with his."
Ah yes, this big brute that Cinder met.
'To try and make a place for his people?' Salem had to admit, humans continued to confuse her.
To breed violence to make peace… she didn't NOT understand the concept but with Grimm being the intercontinental threat, you'd think he'd focus his efforts there.
Her eyes narrowed at that. That did seem odd, no? Why was he so uncaring of the Grimm? Surely, having a band of adventurers with his people would net them the same benefit. Sure, the idea of people NOT fighting the Grimm to live in their little safe havens that they called Kingdoms made sense…
She felt like there was a piece to this puzzle she was missing.
"… Onto other matters," she'd worry about that whenever. "This… 'Summoning technique' that you said these people have. Do they all have creatures such as this?"
"They all have something different," Cinder explained. "One was a snake with wings, the other was some mix between an anteater and gorilla while it also looked sort of human?"
"A winged serpent and a capelobo," Salem frowned before creating a temple with her hands and holding it by her mouth. "… This changes things…"
Cinder frowned. "To be fair, I don't think they were all the same," she said, confusing Salem a bit as the witch's now one-eyed disciple placed a hand on the little magical creature's cheek. "Mine looks… real?" Cinder frowned as she looked at the tiny fox-thing.
"Keew!" it cooed and she sighed.
"This one looks like a living creature," Cinder added. "The others looked like moving constructs but this one looks like something you'd, hypothetically, find in a forest."
Salem blinked before focusing once more on the creature with narrowed eyes.
Was it possible… Her eyes widened as the reasoning hit her.
Her eyes glowed as darkness pulsed out from them and she saw it. She saw exactly what she was expecting.
Salem chuckled. An action so unusual that even Tyrian broke his silent, standing guard, stance to stare at his queen with confusion.
"Goddess?" he tilted his head a bit.
"No, Tyrian… I think this might be a bit more important than we could have imagined," Salem's own amusement began to peak. "The reasoning for why these creatures are different is obvious only if you know the true past of this world."
Mercury decided to choose then to speak. "True past?" he asked, actually curious. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, little human," Salem began with a smile. "That these creatures that Cinder speaks of the other bosses having, they aren't complete."
~NRK~
"What?!" Danzo stared at his Scroll, the mute function on to keep their words from being received by the bug. "They're not?"
Collbrand frowned, Harold following suit. "What's that supposed to mean? They ain't finished?" he turned to Harold.
The boy slowly shook his head. "I… I don't know. To be fair, I've only ever found out when we met Danzo."
"Shhh," Esparza hissed as they listened."
~NRK~
"They're not?" Emerald said as she rolled up her sleeve to stare at her MOD. "Why? Those things look real."
Cinder's eye narrowed as she mindlessly pressed a palm to her carbuncle's cheek. "…Wait…" Salem's grin was telling.
"It's because these people aren't magic users," the witch said as she leaned back. "They're Aura users, they don't have the true power to manifest these beings. They can only bring them into this plain through their spiritual powers."
~NRK~
The room was silent as they heard that last bit.
"Magic?" Esparza was in utter disbelief at the very notion of such a thing. "Isss thisss bitch ssseriousss?!"
Hissing all that out was pretty impressive but that wasn't what had their full attention.
Danzo's face scrunched in on itself as he ran through everything just said. Magic. Goddess? Cinder's was different?
He placed his Scroll in Harold's hands and cupped his chin, the boy was just frozen, wide-eyed at the very mention of 'magic'.
Collbrand looked fed up. "Are we sure this kid isn't messing with us?" he asked aloud. "How do we know if he didn't just tell 'em and they're keeping up this act?
Esparza seemed more willing to believe that. "That makesss sssenssse," she said with a nod.
There was no way magic was real. That didn't make sense and went against everything science stood in the way of.
Danzo, though, was of a different mind. "… Harold," the boy's head snapped in Danzo's direction, his frozen trance snapped out of. "What do you honestly know about Dust?"
"Um… Not a lot?" the boy looked embarrassed. "My sister didn't really talk about it, we just focused on making plans."
"And your books from your home?"
"…" the boy looked nervous. "I don't know but… If there was something like magic in there… wouldn't we know about it?" he said, more to himself than Danzo.
Magic? Why magic? Why not say that it was, like, space energy or something?
Danzo, on the other hand, was thinking something similar but altogether different.
Sages. Was it like that? Was this 'magic' this woman, Salem, was talking about sage chakra? Was there anyone on Remnant-
His mind went back to the fight where he encountered an Uchiha and his eyes were wide.
It was possible! There was a high chance that someone showed up in the past that knew Sage jutsus! But then that brought to mind who it could have been.
Was it that insufferable Kyuubi brat? Any of the Sennin? The Shodaime? Who was it?
His mind was awhirl with possibilities but one thing stuck out to him.
He needed to find Cinder again. If what this woman was saying was true, it meant that Cinder had this 'full' power that their Summons needed.
… And he had just the person who could lead her where he needed to.
"Harold," Danzo began. "Unmute it, we'll listen to the recording after they finish talking. Once we have, we'll be doubling our research."
"How?!" the boy was aghast. "All our stuff was left behind!"
Danzo shook his head. Little brat. "Do you honestly think that I don't have the facilities here for this? I make plans, boy, but I also make back-up plans. I have a similar, bigger, lab for us here."
Harold's mouth dropped. "R-Really?" he looked excited by the prospect before blinking. "Though I think I need to do something first… Hehe~" the boy laughed nervously at the raised brows from all the adults.
"My sister needs to know some things. Where I am being one of them."
~NRK~
Arriving back at the A.E.G.I.S. room didn't exactly bring Obito's mood up but he was better than he was waiting outside of Coco's room.
"Well…" Olivia tried to break his mood but failed. "Right… Dammit, you can go down but if you don't feel like it..."
"… It's fine," Obito answered, eyes narrowed as he looked at the doors to the room once more. "Let's see if I can't control myself," he said, going in on his own.
"… Damn, I wasn't expecting that," the Faunus doctor said with a wince as Obito went in. "That's… going to take some time, isn't it?"
"Well, I hope our trip later will fix his mood," Kakashi said with a shrug. "Obito being moody is something I'm not used to."
It was true, back when they were kids Obito being moody wasn't something that was taken seriously… Damn that actually sounded bad but hear him out.
It was never the serious kind of moodiness you'd see in someone. If anything, Rin likely took care of a lot of Obito's emotional development… Okay so he was starting to understand this a bit more the more he thought about it.
During the war… Obito was kind of in the middle of trying to kick his ass, so Kakashi didn't really notice any moodiness.
Now? With them in a civilian setting? He was at a loss. He hoped he could help his friend.
"…" Elena made a soft sound before smiling as she went in, messing with the console once she was to bring out that custom coat Olivia had made for her.
He was down below as soon as he went in, mind trying to stay on more optimistic things. Like trying to control whatever was coming with all this dragon nonsense.
He unfurled the bandages around his arms and ran a hand up one arm only to blink at the feeling of smooth skin. Wait, wha-?
"Are you okay?" he heard behind him and grimaced at his flinch before turning around. "Mr. M… Obito, is everything alright?" He saw Ms. Hawks, donned in her specialized lab coat, asking him with a worried look.
Looking back down at his arms, he shook his head. "I don't know," he said with a sigh.
They were back to 'normal', so to speak, they were smooth once more. He didn't understand.
Why had he had scales yesterday while he didn't today? What was up with his body right now?
"Everything alright down there?" he heard from up above. "Guys?"
"We're fine!" Elena answered with a smile that Obito raised an eyebrow at before she turned to look at him. "In fact, we should start today's training session."
Obito sighed. "What's today's?"
Elena rested a hand on his shoulder. "Something a bit more active that will keep your mind off worrying things."
Obito frowned a bit, liking the idea but wondering what she would suggest.
"Well, whatever it is, let us know."
Elena grinned before, still holding his shoulder, leading him out further towards the middle of the room.
Once they were in the middle, she led him a meter or so away from the center before walking two meters away and standing opposite of him.
Obito raised a brow at her before both his eyes widened as she flared her hand out on her coat to reveal all the vials of refined Dust in her coat tails. Wind and Lightning Dust vials flashing him from within.
"We're going to see if battle will bring out any form of new occurrence," Elena said as she slipped out a vial of Lightning Dust. "We're going to test your very combat abilities here and see what else you can find out in the midst of battle."
"Aura grows stronger that way, right?" Obito said with a sigh but his eyes focused in on her.
Only Elena. The way she grinned at him as he looked her in the eyes.
The Lightning Dust in her hand was twirled before getting gripped tightly.
"Yes, though I should have you know," Elena said as the glass vial began to crack. "These two are my specialties."
Lightning coated the entirety of the room in an instant, the area was awry with little arcs of electricity and yellow discoloration.
Obito's eyes widened as the Dust that was in Elena's hand disappeared but her right hand, the one that had cracked the vial, sparked not unlike Kakashi's Raikiri but more like it was just surrounded by static electricity.
His entire being was coated in Aura the instant she'd fully cracked open the vial and his eyes narrowed at her own pink orbs as they seemed to glow brighter.
She smirked at him as she flexed her ha—
He jumped back in the same breath as lightning shot down on his previous location, a large pillar of light, heat, and arcing electricity that filled the air with ozone.
He landed a bit aways and stared at Elena, crouched low in preparation.
Well, it seemed like she was right about this little fight of theirs.
He'd need to focus on this strangely powerful Huntress.
Elena walked towards him, little sparks of electricity sparking off every step of her heels as she grinned.
~NRK~
And that's a wrap, this chapter got wrapped up rather quickly. Only three days it took to write this and add all the details I think were necessary.
Let's break down what I did in this chapter.
Starting with the last bit first, Elena vs Obito. This has been a long time coming and has many reasons.
One, it's to show the full abilities of regular Dust. It provides a sort of through line for the Dust in RWBY that I feel never gets explored outside of whenever the Schnees use it. Yes, Blake's basic use doesn't really show us anything impressive. Hell, Weiss should be THE Mage of this series but she damn near loses every fight she's in without doing anything impressive and focusing solely on summoning.
I'm going to explore that. More people using Dust, like Ochre's Concentrated Gravity Dust bullets. It makes the use of Dust more prevalent in the world of RWBY since it makes sense.
If there are police and superpowered criminals, there has to be something that the civilian officers can do to hold out for a Hunter or just fend for themselves until a solution is made.
Elena being a Dust researcher plays a part in this, as well as the idea that Hunter teams can choose to specialize in different categories. It just seems to make sense seeing as they've barely explored the wide reaches of their world, they constantly need to learn to keep up with the Grimm.
Second, the Antagonist Side. We only saw Tyrian and Salem for Cinder's group and that was purposeful. There was another purposeful thing done these past couple of chapters that I finalized today. Something that makes sense in hindsight but you wouldn't think about it on the usual. Or maybe some of you did but you just don't comment. *Shrug* it's what it is.
Please review.
Yep, Danzo's group know of Salem's existence and Mercury's a SPY! Finally got him doing some assassin things and this also gets him a teacher in Danzo.
Teacher wise, damn near all the characters I've introduced so far, who aren't like Hunter-level, have a personal teacher lined up… save for, say, Emerald and Obito but that's to change in the coming chapters. Like in the next ten, I'd say Obito gets two teachers, one being rather unusual, though that might be revised. For now, though, he's gonna get two.
For Emerald… I've actually got a crazy idea for her own personal training but it's rather unorthodox, especially the character I'm thinking would be her personal instructor.
Back to Danzo's group, I wonder if people ever wondered why Cinder's Summon was different. Danzo's was different because he made use of Grimm material, same with Harold's though his Dust had the special effect of subjugating a more powerful Grimm. So, yeah, magic is involved. This way I've introduced it into the series to complement the literal gems of magic that are Dust.
We get a Nuckaleeve name drop and Harold needs to make a call to Opfer.
Ah, yes, the Atlas portion of this chapter was rather fun to write because the status quo has changed.
Winter's more closed off in this story than in canon but she's far more powerful, matching what I think a Schnee with full control of what abilities they have can do when they take them to their limit. At least, with what factors she's dealing with like Aura, Technique usage, and weapon variety. So on and so forth.
Seeing as she's got the title of Strongest in Atlas Academy, let me make that clear, she's a reputation to uphold in this story.
How this affects Weiss's development, though, I haven't thought of yet. I'll iron out that kink eventually, though it's obvious Weiss'll be a bit stronger than her canon counterpart.
Coco and Ochre finally clear the air between them about specific topics, though I'm going to expand on that in the next chapter. Getting a sort of 'what the hell is up with this family' explanation for Coco's origins.
Finally, and not least, Opfer. Coco and Ochre's older sister and the last of the quartet of Aubrey siblings. And she's everything her personality displays her as.
She's a self-indulgent, narcissist with slight delusional tendencies, a superiority complex a mile wide, and the powers of most of her family… sans three. For Opfer I wanted to create a person who embodies everything people would fear in someone who has the power and intent to rule.
So Gilgamesh, obviously. Fate Stay Night's Gilgamesh is basically the inspiration for this character though her complex comes more from former familial glory then literally being the ruler of the entire old world.
She's also working alongside Merlot who's had an experiment gone awry. All kinds of lead up for the next arc, I'm excited.
Also, Aubreys are essentially the Uzumaki of Remnant, if you didn't catch that.
Sealing too powerful that the other villages destroyed them. Dust Creators who had monopoly on powerful Dust that the other kingdoms destroyed them, it writes itself, really.
I can't wait to get to that. Sorry for the long A/N, I had to get all this off my chest.
Words: 8.4k+, though over 800 words is for this Author's note alone but I think it has enough interesting information in it to warrant it.
Later.
~NRK Out~