A.N. (9/14/20) - I know I'm a day late, but I didn't plan my schedule that well and I had to concentrate on some homework instead. Still, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 21 - Questions for Rin
-10 Months Before the Fall of Beacon-
A strange feeling was in the air. One that warned him of danger, the kind that allowed him to survive during his training with his father when he was growing up.
Mercury gave a wary glance at the large store in front of them, which seemed to be the source of his unease. His two companions - well, more like associates - didn't seem to have the same problem as they walked past him without a word.
"Is this the place?"
Emerald was the one to ask that. Their third associate merely nodded before opening the door and going in. Mercury and Emerald looked at each other for a moment, before shrugging and entering as well.
Mercury found himself listening to someone humming a little tune. The singer was a cute bunny girl who was transporting several comically large stacks of books across the room. Judging by the lack of effort on the girl's part, Mercury figured that she was someone who had her Aura unlocked, which may pose a problem for the upcoming meeting.
Emerald turned to her side and started to stare at something while the third member of their group merely looked around the shop. Not quite finding the person they were looking for, Mercury called out to the girl.
"Excuse me?"
"Hm?" The girl turned to him, and Mercury found out that she was a lot cuter than he thought. "Yes, is there something you need?"
Mercury gave out what he thought was a confident grin, which helped soothe his current worries over the upcoming task.
"Yeah, hi. My friends and I ordered a special book about a week ago, and we came to talk to Tukson about it. Mind telling us if he's in the shop?" Not quite the best lie he could come up with, but it got the point across.
"Sure, just wait a moment please," the girl - Velvet, from her nametag - smiled back before walking away. Mercury admired the sway of the girl's hips for a moment until he turned back to see a scowling Emerald watching him.
"Pig," she spat out.
Mercury gave a roguish grin in reply. "Despite having green hair, jealousy really isn't your color."
"Delusional as well."
"You know you want me."
Their bickering was interrupted as their third member finally spoke up. "Both of you, shut up already!"
Adam Taurus glared at the two of them with clear disdain in his eyes - well, eye. He wasn't exactly wearing his usual White Fang mask, but he did sport a large white eyepatch over his left eye that didn't quite cover the entirety of his scar, which didn't exactly help the man's mood.
That, and the fact that he had to work with two humans that clearly didn't appeal to him, probably meant that he was under a lot of angst at the moment.
"Hey man," Mercury frowned at the bull Faunus. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."
"It's already bad enough that we're working with the female, but instead of having her come here as she promised, I'm told I'll have to babysit you two instead while she frolics with other human scum."
Emerald glared at him as he insulted their boss. "Watch your mouth, Taurus. Cinder's recruiting more manpower to help in your operations."
Well... it wasn't exactly untrue. But Mercury had the feeling that Cinder only wanted to do so to make Adam indebted even further to her.
"Tsk, just quiet down while I talk to the other party."
"Speaking of which, why are we even here? All Cinder told us was that you were looking for a guy named Tukson. A bookstore in the middle of Vale isn't exactly where I'd thought a White Fang agent would hide out in."
Adam looked even more annoyed as he heard Mercury's words. "That's because he's not one of ours. We're here to recruit him back into the cause."
Emerald raised an eyebrow. "Recruit him back into the cause?"
"Yes. He managed to slip away from us a few years ago, and we haven't had the time to dedicate anyone to taking care of him till now."
Mercury hummed at that. "And what makes him so special that you haven't just offed the guy?"
Adam looked annoyed at the fact that he was still talking to them, but he explained anyways. "He's been making himself busy during the past two years. The Valean branch of the White Fang aren't as active as our main forces, and Tukson was able to allow our cause some measure of diplomacy and legitimacy. He's close to several influential parties, including a Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy."
Emerald was already losing interest, seemingly more interested in the stack of books next to her instead of Adam's words.
"That might explain the Huntress part-timer."
"Quite," Adam stopped as the three of them heard someone moving towards them. From where the Faunus girl exited earlier came a large stocky Faunus man, who paused as he took in their appearances.
"Er... can I help you?"
Adam didn't waste any time. "Do you recognize me?"
It took Tukson a moment to reply, but other than a slight widening of his eyes, the man didn't seem bothered. "Huh, didn't expect someone as high in the group to come here personally."
"I hear that you're a man who prefers to talk things out. I would like to request a moment of your time to discuss several matters."
Tukson let out a heavy sigh. "And let me guess, refusal isn't exactly an option."
Mercury added his own bit. "You said it, not us."
Tukson grunted at that. "Fine. I have a room out back where the four of us can talk."
Adam relaxed. "Thank you. Please, lead the way."
As Tukson - followed by Adam - started to enter the back of the store, Emerald suddenly grabbed Mercury's sleeve.
"Mercury, stop. Something's wrong."
A sense of alarm went through his mind as he recalled the feeling from earlier. "What?"
"Look to my left, but don't look directly at it. Glance sideways or something." Emerald's voice was controlling and serious, and Mercury followed her directions. "Only look through the corner of your eye. It'll take a few seconds, but just watch."
He did, and at first, nothing happened. It took Mercury a moment to understand what Emerald was talking about, but when he did, Mercury almost jumped. "Holy shit, the fuck is that?!"
Right smack in the middle of the room was a giant life-sized statue of a Beowolf made entirely out of Dust. And not just one color either, but a strange rainbowy blend that smoothly transitioned between colors. The thing was staring straight at them closely but seemed to be passive at the moment. It didn't quite seem like it was interested in killing them.
'Yet,' a morbid part of him thought.
He cussed out loud this time. "Shit, how long was that thing there?!"
"The entire time." Emerald was still grabbing on to his sleeve, and this time Mercury wasn't gonna joke around. "I almost missed it myself, and I have a feeling that if my Semblance wasn't what it was, I would've never have noticed it."
Huh, didn't know her Semblance was good for things like that. Then again, it's not like it's common meeting someone else who can use illusions.
Still, it took Emerald about - what? - a couple of minutes to figure out that there was a frickin giant wolf statue right next to them. What if it wasn't the only one either? And right as Mercury thought that the feeling of danger from before came back in droves.
Great, just fucking great.
"Well, why isn't it doing anything then?"
Emerald risked another glance at it before turning her head back. "I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's because we're not currently doing anything stupid."
The wolf shifted, and any remaining thoughts that it might just be a normal statue flew away. "Well, I guess we better not do anything stupid then."
"Agreed." The two warily started to move away even as the statue continued to move his head to stare at them.
Right as they were out of eyesight, Mercury finally let out a small breath of relief. Really, who would've guessed that a simple mission like this would be so dangerous?
Man, this job really sucked sometimes. Maybe he should've stayed behind with Cinder after all?
Clearly, he picked the worst of the two options.
}-{
"You captured Salem's agent?!" Ozpin's voice expressed how shocked he was from the tiny Scroll in Rin's hands.
"Yup. We just picked her up and Qrow and I are on our way back to Beacon right now." Rin did note that Roman seemed quite in a rush to get rid of Cinder. Currently, Qrow was carrying the bound woman over his shoulders like a bag of potatoes. Rin ignored the various markings on the red-dressed woman's face and continued to talk to Ozpin. "Got a place we can dump her in till you come back?"
Ana had joined Rin again and the four of them were currently walking back towards Beacon, having been dropped off just a moment ago by the school's Bullhead. The evening sun gave the school a beautiful glow, and Rin took a second to admire it before continuing to walk.
Ozpin took a moment to think. "Let Glynda know. She'll lead the two of you down to the Vault underneath the school. We have a room that can act as a temporary prison for now."
"Got it. We'll bring the kidnapped woman straight to your personal hidden basement so that we can perform some unspeakable acts on her. Totally fine with that."
Ozpin gave her a deadpanned look. "Please, take this seriously Rin."
"I feel like a bit of levity is allowed considering what we've accomplished," Qrow added into the conversation. "Let the kid have her fun. I'm certainly not disagreeing with the sentiment."
"I feel like the two of you get worse within each other's proximity."
Qrow walked ahead carrying the bounded Cinder as Rin laughed. "Don't worry, Dumbledore. We'll call Minerva and throw Cinder in the dungeons until you come back. Speaking of which, how long are you gonna take in Mistral?"
Ozpin let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not quite sure myself. The situation in Mistral is extremely unusual at the moment. With the recent Lionheart scandal and the sudden disappearances, the government is quite out of their depth."
One of those things he said bothered her. "Disappearances?"
"Maybe you can shed some light on the matter? No one is quite sure how exactly people are disappearing, but many witnesses have come forward with similar stories of people vanishing literally right next to them without anyone noticing. That, and the fact that Mistral is undergoing an early winter storm, all seems to point to something unnatural."
Rin paused as she pressed a finger to her chin. "When exactly did this all start?"
"The weather phenomena is more recent, but the disappearances started right around the time you left Anima."
Rin frowned at that. "Are you saying it has something to do with me?"
"Yes," he said in a serious tone. "I'm not accusing you of anything yet, but you have to understand that hundreds of people are missing and possibly dead. The fact that you haven't mentioned anything relating to this beforehand and the timing of events shows that while you may not be the cause of this unfortunate series of events, there is a high possibility that you may be related to this case."
His words didn't exactly make her feel better, but she did see the logic behind his thought process. Still, it irked her that Ozpin didn't even at least pretend that he might have been considering another reason.
Well, let's think this through. First, this all started right around the time Rin interacted with the Relic of Knowledge and established a mock Heroic Spirit summoning ritual by linking the Crystal Zelretch gave her to the Relic.
First, she summoned Ana. Then she took a few hours to study the surroundings of the Vault. And then...
Rin paused.
...and then, she asked Jinn a question. One of the two questions available within Jinn's power to answer. Rin asked a question that came to her right at that moment without thinking, and Jinn answered.
No, it wasn't something stupid like 'What actions must I take in order to reach the Root' or 'How can I kill Salem' or anything like that. It was a lot more mundane in nature that Rin later regretted once she was in a better mood.
But while Jinn's response was quite worrying, Rin didn't think that had anything to do with the current situation at the moment.
The most likely theory to the cause of these disappearances was that Zelretch lied about the three-Servant limit restriction and that another Servant was summoned around the same time Ana came.
Was a Holy Grail War starting? Rin hoped not. But somehow, Rin doubted that Zelretch was interested in starting a Grail War, despite barely knowing anything about the man.
But if so, who could've been summoned? Ozpin mentioned something about a winter storm. Maybe a Servant related to ice?
Ugh, Erik's knowledge is only limited to the main Fate/stay night series and various bits he's learned from friends and the internet. If only he played Grand Order...
Rin paused. Huh, when did she start referring to Erik as a separate entity?
Shaking her head, she ignored that last thought and continued to talk to Ozpin.
"I don't know what's going on either. It might be another Servant like Ana, but honestly, I doubt it. Maybe this is some kind of butterfly effect due to my actions, but for the life of me I can't figure out how I caused this."
Ozpin merely nodded. "I thought so. Honestly, it was a long shot anyway, but it would've been too easy if it could be resolved so simply. I do apologize for the questioning."
"Can't exactly blame you, even if it does annoy me."
Ozpin sighed again from the other end of the line. "Again, I do apologize for this. But let us discuss other matters. Your association with the... criminal elements of Vale has been mentioned to me by Qrow."
"Did he tell you that I'm some kind of behind-the-scenes Mafia boss?"
"Would he be wrong?"
Rin groaned. "Not you too."
"While I cannot publicly support your decision on befriending such crowds due to my position, personally I feel that maintaining such relationships would bring more benefits than problems. I'll only trust that you know what you are doing."
"Ozpin, I literally did not realize this situation until Qrow pointed it out to me. Face it, I don't know what the hell I'm doing at all."
Ozpin merely hummed at that. "Well, you seem to make things work out."
Rin grumbled as she pocketed the Scroll into her dress pants. Seriously, with all that's happened today, all Rin wants right now is to collapse on her bed and knock herself out for the night.
"U-Um, excuse me?" Hearing a voice coming from behind her, Rin turned around to see... huh?
A familiar figure stood across from Rin. "I'm Weiss, Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee Dust enterprise. May I please have your name?"
Rin, dressed in her male persona, stood across a blushing Weiss Schnee.
...fucking hell, this has to be Qrow's Semblance.
Yup, late again. But only by a day this time. I know it's annoying to some of you, but note that this might become a reoccurring thing since most of my homework is due at midnight on the weekends, so I might have to think about switching the post dates to this story.
What do you think about Thursdays? Any problems with that?
But let's move on and talk about the chapter. So Rin's made some kind of security around Tukson just in case Canon tries to fire. And questions are being asked about what exactly is going on in Mistral. And what exactly did Rin ask Jinn? How are the disappearances related to Rin? What the hell is Rin gonna do with Weiss Schnee of all people having a crush on her?
I dunno, don't ask me. It's 1 AM and I'm sleep-deprived at the moment, having just finished writing this. Figure it out yourselves while I nap the morning away.
See ya.