Chapter Ten: A Maiden's Footprints
Mid-Level Markets, Mistral
"So, what do we do now?" Nora asked in frustration.
"I don't know, kid," Qrow said. "I was hoping Leo would be more helpful." He looked upwards, towards the two peaks Haven Academy was perched on. "He's acting odd, but there's little we can do until we get more Huntsmen. Perhaps you three should head back…"
"No," Nora declared. He looked and saw a defiant expression on her face. Ren was silent beside her but if anything seemed even more implacable. Ruby's eyes danced between her friends and her uncle, as if a little unsure as to the argument.
"You heard him," Qrow said. "He has to talk to the council and…"
"I'm not talking about that," Nora interrupted again. "I'm talking about looking for our friend. And Lionheart doesn't look like he'd be any help in that. You heard what he said about her!"
"You have to understand, kid, most people here don't have the inside track you have. They only saw what was broadcast on the CCT."
"What Cinder wanted them to see," Ruby said forlornly. Qrow placed a comforting hand on his niece's shoulder. Ruby had been Penny's friend after all, possibly her closest friend; she'd known of Penny's artificial nature long before the world did but had always seen her as a very real girl.
One friend tricked into killing another friend. That had to shake anyone inside, and yet Ruby was still determined to do right by Nikos as well. Qrow felt sorrow for his niece's pain but was in awe of her good nature.
"I don't care," Nora said stubbornly. "She needs our help, and she's not going to get it if we all go back and sit around a house."
"We didn't come all this way to do nothing," Ren insisted.
Qrow raised his hand in a placating gesture. "I get it, I do. I just don't know what we can do. Mistral's a big city, and she'll hardly be going round publicly. Assuming she's even here! We're not going to get anywhere just wandering the streets. We can't even call her name for fear of getting the wrong attention."
"But we might as well start there, right?" said Ruby. "It may not be effective, but it's not going to be any worse than lounging around inside. And maybe we'll get a better idea as we do so?"
It wasn't a bad idea, as much as he was tempted to send them back to their lodgings and head to the nearest bar. And at least it'd give the kids a feel for the city.
"Alright then," he said. "We'll begin with these markets."
-000-
They'd wandered the stalls for some time, with the expected level of success. Ruby had enjoyed simply looking at the weaponry on sale, but Ren and Nora had kept their eye mostly on the crowd around them. Yet it was a fruitless task; there were so many people in just this small part of the city that they realised they could wander for days and not see Pyrrha even if she was walking around openly. Qrow had concentrated on the task of coming up with a better plan. If Nikos was in the city, and intent on not being found, how could they find her without going to the authorities with her name?
"The prices here are not cheap," Ren said idly.
"Huh?" Qrow said, caught in his musing. He focused on the conversation at hand. "They're alright kid. But the mid-level markets still enjoy some rich customers from the upper levels. If you want really cheap goods, you have to go further down. Trouble is Mistral has a really seedy underbelly, and you're a lot more likely to run into it the further down you go."
"Is she likely to be down there?" asked Ruby.
"I expect so, at least some of the time, if she wants to stay under the radar. Wish we knew what her plan was, it'd make trying to find her a lot easier."
Further conversation was interrupted by Nora. "I'm hungry!" she announced loudly. "We should get something to eat."
Qrow sighed but realised it would be better to concede. Empty stomachs would hardly help their thought processes even if it felt like he was baby-sitting again. "Fine," he said with a roll of his eyes.
They found a café they all found acceptable and were soon huddled around a table – Qrow and Ruby on one side, Ren and Nora on the other – eating their meals. They ate mostly in silence, but Nora began reading something on her Scroll.
"Watcha reading, Nora?" asked Ruby
"The news," she replied.
Ren glanced sideways. "You don't read the news, Nora," he said.
"Sure I do!" she said brightly. "But in any case, Pyr-… our friend is famous, right? People sometimes write about celebrities they've seen."
Ren leaned over her shoulder to look at the display of the electronic device. "I think you want the gossip pages for that, Nora. That's the crime section."
"Pfft… I like reading around the subject," Nora answered with a wave. "Ooh, there's White Fang here!"
"There's White Fang here!?" asked Ruby in some alarm.
"There's Fang everywhere kiddo, even in Atlas, if well-hidden," Qrow said. "Lionheart mentioned them too, remember? But they're not all the threat the Vale lot were."
"But Cinder's plans could involve them too, right?" Ruby pressed.
"Could be," Qrow conceded. "It might be worth considering. We've got to be careful, though, and avoid trouble with the local police. We don't have Beacon to bail us out of trouble here, and I don't think Leo will prove as helpful if we get in the way of the law."
"We might have to join the queue," said Nora.
Ruby and Ren looked blank. Nora's thoughts were sometimes hard to follow.
"The… queue?" asked Qrow.
"Yeah, the queue. We're not the only ones interested in the White Fang. Seems the local gangs have been having a crack at the White Fang too; it's Mistral's top crime news."
"Yeah, Lionheart said something about that," Qrow replied. "It happens. Local branches of the White Fang need funds, and sometimes dabble in the same fundraising tactics that the syndicates do. It's a small turf war."
"It's a bloody turf war. Whole White Fang hideouts have been wiped out, with no prisoners or survivors!" Nora said, with a bit too much glee in her tone.
"These things escalate."
"Say," Nora said, hand on chin and eyes upward in thought. "You don't think our friend is involved in this, do you?"
"Nora," said Ruby "She's one of the kindest people I know. I don't think she'd be involved in gang warfare."
"You're probably right," Nora said with her usual smile. "After all, it'd be completely crazy for an insanely skilled warrior and huntress, one who is an undefeated champion in gladiatorial combat and is now armed with spooky magic powers, to seek bloody vengeance in a one-woman war on the terrorist organization that helped in the attack that murdered the boy she loved."
There was a long pause.
Ren blinked.
Ruby dropped her spoon.
Qrow thought back to that makeshift training dummy on Patch. The one that only had a reprieve from its brief but hellish existence because Nikos left.
A curse crossed his lips.
"Okay, Valkyrie," he said. "Show me."
-000-
Evernight Castle, The Land of Darkness
"You requested my presence, my Queen?" asked Cinder from the doorway.
"I did, dear Cinder." Salem looked from her crystalline chair. "I have news. And we're about to receive more." She nodded towards the Seer Grimm floating above the table before her. The creature resembled a ghastly jellyfish, its black spherical body levitating as its thin tentacles fell and draped onto the table beneath. "Please join me," she said with a gesture.
Cinder walked over, and stood beside Salem, as Salem turned her red eyes back on the Seer.
A voice emanated from the sphere, as red moke appeared to ripple beneath its skin. "Your Grace, are… you there?" a voice haltingly asked. The smoke shifted, and the form of Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven Academy appeared in the sphere as if on a screen.
"Hello, Leonardo. Do you have something to report?" Salem asked.
"Of course, ma'am. I would not waste your time, if not," he replied.
The form of Arthur Watts appeared from behind Lionheart and approached the 'screen'. Cinder clenched her teeth. For all the grudges she held, for all the animosity she had for those who stood in the way of her destiny, she didn't despise anyone quite like she did Arthur Watts.
"I'm still just so fascinated by this creature. Cinder dear, are we coming through?" he said, tapping the Seer at his end. "Can you see us clearly? Well, as clearly as you can," he added, sneering at her lost eye.
It was a sentiment he shared.
"Shut… up," Cinder growled.
"Oh goody," he said sarcastically. "You've recovered."
"Your report," Salem cut in. "What is it."
"I've… I've found the Spring Maiden. And have news about Fall."
Cinder's eye locked onto the Seer with burning interest, hungry for the news he bore, and angry at the title he so falsely applied. She was the Fall Maiden.
"Is that so? Well done." Salem replied. Her eyes turned to focus on Watts' image. "Arthur, had I known how useful you'd be in expediting this process, I would've sent you long, long ago."
"As much as I'd love to take credit, ma'am, I can't say that either of us are to thank for this development. I guess you could say, a little birdie told us."
"Explain," Salem ordered.
"You see, ma'am, Qrow Branwen arrived at Haven Academy yesterday," Lionheart said. "He and his party had a skirmish with his sister's tribe en route, in which they encountered Spring."
"And what of Nikos?" Cinder asked eagerly.
"She's not with them," replied Watts, "but they came to Mistral looking for her. They apparently think she's gone rogue and came here incognito, and they're looking to help their little friend."
Salem nodded, raising her hand to still Cinder. "And the silver-eyed girl?"
"Miss Rose was in attendance," Watts said.
"Excellent. Tyrian is on his way to Mistral as we speak with an assignment to capture her and bring her to me. Offer him your assistance when he arrives in locating her."
"Of course, ma'am," Watts answered.
"Leonardo, do you know of the tribe's location?"
"Yes ma'am. But you have to hurry!" Lionheart said with sudden strength. "Qrow is already impatient and…"
Salem's eyes narrowed.
On the sphere before them, the image of a tentacle shot out and wrapped itself around Lionheart's throat. He began choking and fell to his knees.
"Leonardo, do you remember the first time we met?" Salem said. "I remember. I remember your fear. But since that day, you've been extraordinarily brave. I won't forget all that you've done for me. Do not forget everything that I can do to you!"
Another tentacle tipped with a sharp spike drew close to Lionheart's face. It was held there for a moment, before it was drawn back. Salem then gestured, and Lionheart was released and left gasping for breath.
"Arthur, you will arrange to meet with the Branwen tribe and convince Raven that cooperation is in the best interests of her tribe's survival. We'll leave them alone if they give us access to the Vault. Once you have secured the assistance of Spring's assistance, escort her to the Relic and coordinate with Hazel; Adam Taurus was promised our aid in the destruction of Haven, and he and the White Fang can have it once we have obtained what we need."
"Understood, ma'am."
"Meanwhile, Cinder," Salem said, turning to her companion, "you and your team will fly to Mistral to locate our missing half-maiden and obtain the rest of her power."
"I must stress," Watt's said, "that all we have is Branwen's belief that she's in Mistral. He could be wrong."
"He's not," Salem replied. "Are your assignments understood?"
"They are, ma'am," Watts replied urbanely, Lionheart bowing. "They will be done."
"Good," Salem replied curtly. Their image vanished from the Seer's surface, ending the conversation.
"You're very quiet, Cinder," Salem said. "I thought you were eager to find the half-maiden. Speak your mind."
"Watts… isn't wrong," Cinder gritted out. "We have little to go on other than our enemies' suspicions. Even if she's in Mistral, finding her will be… a challenge. And I don't understand why we'd work with bandits or keep Ruby alive. We're strong enough to take what we want by force!"
"Never underestimate the usefulness of others," Salem replied. "Take Leonardo; he was one of Ozpin's most trusted, and yet now…" she chucked darkly. "Or, for an example closer to your heart, take Adam Taurus. He's been in touch and is eager to cooperate along the lines we've discussed. However, he's been having some trouble in Mistral. Apparently, the White Fang there are being hunted by someone calling themselves 'The Fall Maiden'." Salem gave Cinder a meaningful look.
"What!?" Cinder said, caught between desire and disbelief. "But she's a weakling!"
"Adam's mysterious assailant can manipulate weapons and conjure fire, and she's looking for someone called Cinder Fall. Does this sound familiar?"
Desire won out. This was her, the first real clue to her location, and for Cinder to fulfil her destiny!
"I see you're convinced," Salem chuckled lightly. "Be careful Cinder. Do not underestimate her, and likewise be careful of Ruby Rose. There's a reason I've assigned her capture to Tyrian. Both will be easier to deal with separately than if they are allowed to combine. Adam's asked for your assistance in dealing with his 'Maiden' as part of our agreement with the White Fang. I trust that you won't have any issues in working with others in this matter?"
"No, my Queen," Cinder answered and bowed her head. And as she did, she smiled.
-000-
Lodgings in Mistral
It had been a long day, but Qrow had been able to defer that visit to a bar. It was easier to stay focused when there was a task ahead of him. They'd returned to their lodgings, but not to lounge around. Instead they were poring over news articles, searching for clues in the so-called gang war.
"All of the attacks are in Lower Mistral. Does that mean anything?" asked Ruby, having plotted the sites onto a map.
"Afraid not, pipsqueak. That's simply where White Fang hideouts are," replied Qrow. They'd been going over what they could find for hours, looking for patterns that could lead them to Nikos.
"I've found something," said Nora. Many of the more upmarket news outlets had restricted themselves to what the police could establish. Nora had braved more… adventurous sources of 'news' with their potpourri of rumours, most of which outright contradicted each other. Some seemed marginally saner than others, but he wasn't convinced by the claim that the attacks were the work of an Atlesian special ops team, let alone that they were operating under the direction of Specialist Winter Schnee. As fun as riling her up would have been, she'd unfortunately returned to Atlas before the borders were closed, making it even less likely that she was running a secret death squad in Mistral.
He made a mental note to ask her about it anyway.
This time, however, Nora had struck pay dirt.
"Nora," Ren asked. "Where are these rumours from?"
"Both White Fang and Syndicate sources, from what I can tell. Which is what makes me think it's legit. In addition to the content, that is."
There was little in this rumour that would have distinguished it from all the others flying around, save to the eyes of this party. Amidst all the tales of Atlesian death squads, human Grimm and all the other stories that pushed most people towards a more down-to-earth explanation was another persistent claim. That the attacks were the work of a singular 'red' huntress.
Brothers! It had to be her! Nikos was waging a private war on the White Fang!
What did she hope to accomplish? Her real goal was Cinder Fall, obviously; she'd indeed come here following the very lead he'd discussed with Ruby. But she'd avoided Haven itself. But then she'd seen enough of Ozpin's circle to probably realise Lionheart was part of it too, and she was clearly trying to avoid them. He supposed any previous trust had been shaken by the fall of Beacon; her anger back at the hospital was evidence of that. So, she planned to track down Cinder herself, and perhaps suspected as they did that the Fang offered a connection to her.
But Nikos was running a hell of a risk. And not just for herself either: if she died, the half of the Maiden powers she guarded would go straight to Cinder. They'd be in the very mess they feared when they'd asked her to step into Jimmy's machine. Except worse, because Beacon was in ruins too.
"What are we going to do?" asked Ruby, as she looked up from Nora's Scroll, the last to see the alarming story.
"I don't know," Qrow said. "We need more information."
His Scroll began ringing.
He took it out and looked at it. The kids looked at him. He didn't recognise the number. It could be Lionheart, he supposed, but if it was Qrow owed him an apology, if he was moving this quickly. But then why call him on another number? But it had to be someone local.
He answered it. "Who is this?" he asked.
"Er…" a young voice came through. "My name is Oscar Pine, sir. Is this Qrow Branwen?"
"Yeah, what of it?" he growled.
"Umm…" Oscar replied nervously. "I'm supposed to ask you for my cane back?"
Qrow looked at his Scroll in shock. "Well I'll be."
-000-
After receiving directions, young Oscar had arrived at their lodgings and now sat on an armchair, looking terrified. The young, freckled, farm boy had never met huntsmen and huntresses before, let alone under such circumstances.
Ruby, Ren and Nora were in a state of shock too. They sat together on a sofa, while before them was this young teen, who occasionally spoke with the voice of their dead headmaster.
Only apparently he wasn't dead.
Qrow had tossed the headmaster's cane at the boy when he first presented himself. He'd caught it instinctively, the cane extending as if it immediately responded to its master's touch.
"Here, kid," Qrow passed him a cup of tea. "How did you find us?"
"Uh… apparently Ozpin was expecting to meet you in Mistral and remembered your Scroll number." The boy blushed, before adding, "he says that was a better idea than visiting random taverns and hoping to get lucky."
Qrow grunted in response.
"So, he's speaking in your head right now?" Nora asked.
"Yes," Oscar replied. "He's still here. And I'm still here when he's… in control."
"Like you're possessed?" Ruby said uneasily.
"No, more like we… share." Oscar said timidly. "Sorry, this is all new to me too."
"It's okay, kid," Qrow said. "This is bound to be a bit overwhelming for everyone. That said, do you mind us talking to Oz again? We need to have a conversation."
"Sure…" Oscar said. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. A green and white aura sparked to life around his body before fading once more, and he reopened his eyes. Now, however, they glowed, and his voice was layered not only with Oscar's voice, but with many, and above them all a very familiar voice.
"It is so very good to see you, again, students," he said, smiling faintly.
"Professor… Ozpin?" asked Ren.
"Correct," said the Professor. "Though as Oscar explained, he's still here mentally too. I realise this must be very perplexing."
"And alarming, and bizarre, and just really kind of hard to believe overall!" said Nora.
The Professor in the Boy chucked softly. "It's good to see you children still have your sense of humour." He looked down and frowned, before looking back up. "I known you've all been through tremendous hardship already, and suspect you've been through more. I'm sorry."
"I mean, it's not your fault," said Ruby
"It's all my fault," Ozpin replied. "I told you once, Miss Rose, that I've made more mistakes than any man, woman and child on this planet, and I wasn't exaggerating. My recent failures only add to this."
"Recent failures?" asked Ren.
"The fall of Beacon should never have happened. I should have seen it coming, and there were plenty of signs, now that I've had time to look back on them. You students should never have been put into that position. It joins my previous failures."
"What do you mean, Professor?" asked Ruby
"I'm cursed. For thousands of years, I've walked the surface of Remnant, living, dying, and reincarnating in the body of a like-minded soul. The Professor Ozpin you know was not my first form, and evidently is not my last. I am the combination of countless men who've spent their lives trying to protect the people of Remnant. With each rebirth my soul is eventually merged with another and I change, but my memories stay with me. This curse was bestowed upon me by the Gods, because I failed to stop Salem in the past. And we must stop her now."
"But how do we do that?" asked Ruby.
"A good question," replied Ozpin. "But first I must know where we stand. I know the CCT tower fell from the lack of global communications and have heard of the fall of Beacon. But I lack knowledge of much else that happened after my passing. From your lack of reaction to her name, I gather that Qrow has briefed you somewhat of our true enemy."
"I had to," Qrow said.
Ozpin nodded without protest. "And what happened at Beacon after I died?"
"The hacked droids were stopped after Ruby here managed to crash Jimmy's airship," Qrow replied. "But the tower was attacked by that enormous flying beast, that Grimm Wyvern. Nothing we could do could stop it. Not until pipsqueak here awoke the power of her silver eyes and blasted it. That froze it solid, but it's still attracting Grimm to Beacon. Goodwitch is working on ways to remove it.
"You have laser eyes?!" Nora asked Ruby. "That's so cool!"
"Yeah, I guess," Ruby said nervously. "I don't know how trigger them though."
"There's much truth in fairy tales, as I'm sure you're beginning to realise," Ozpin told them. "Amongst those stories are those of silver-eyed warriors, said to be especially deadly to Grimm. Do you remember what I told you when I first met you, Miss Rose?"
"That… that I have silver eyes!"
"Indeed. I knew you had this power locked in you, though not having them myself can give you little guidance. Your mother would have known more, but…" Ozpin frowned again. "I'm sorry. And sorry you had to unlock this power under such circumstances. Hopefully it won't take as much next time."
Ozpin paused, taking a sip from the cup. "And what of your fellow students, children? Miss Rose, I would have expected your team with you; where is team RWBY?"
"They're scattered," Ruby said sadly, "but still alive. Mister Schnee took Weiss back to Atlas, Yang lost her arm and is back in Patch with Dad. Blake left afterwards; I'm not sure where but apparently Sun's looking out for her."
Ozpin nodded solemnly. "Miss Valkyrie, Mister Ren, I am very pleasantly surprised to see you here. Miss Goodwitch will feel vindicated for her faith in you. But what of the rest of team JNPR?"
What little mood remained in the room vanished. Nora took hold of Ren's hand, while Ruby's eyes teared up.
Ozpin looked at his students with growing concern. "Qrow, what happened to Miss Nikos? Did she get away?"
"You could say that, yes," Qrow said. "She's alive. She escaped Cinder, but only because Arc saved her."
A brief smile lit Ozpin's face. "I knew he had potential. I'm glad Mister Arc–"
"He died doing so."
"Oh." Ozpin looked at his students once more. Nora had silent tears running down her face, Ren's hand clenched in her fist. Ren had fallen into his stoic impassivity, while Ruby had closed her eyes. "I am… I am very sorry for your loss," he said softly.
Qrow felt the need to explain further. "The kids… it's been rough for all of them. But Nikos took it even harder. Really bad. Goodwitch had me take team JNPR to Patch to keep them safe, perhaps give her time to recover. But then she vanished."
"She WHAT?!" Ozpin yelled, jolted into life. The trainees looked up in surprise, shocked out of their tears.
"She wasn't taken," Qrow said. "We think she overheard me telling Ruby about the clues we had pointing here. She took off that night, and so we followed her here."
"Has Leonardo been any help?"
"Well that's the other thing. Leo's acting odd. We found the Spring Maiden on our way here too – she's apparently a bandit in my sister's tribe. But Lionheart's delaying any action, and Haven is completely empty save for him."
Ozpin placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose, a surprisingly old gesture when performed by the body of a young boy. "This is most worrying!" he muttered.
"Can't we just take little cute boy Ozpin to Lionheart and have him set things straight?" asked Nora.
"Please don't call me that," said Ozpin.
"But the headmasters all take their orders from you?" asked Ren.
"That is the intention," said Ozpin. "Four lieutenants I could trust, especially during times of reincarnation. But what you're describing, Qrow, that doesn't just sound irrational, he's disobeying specific instructions. He's leaving the Relic of Knowledge unguarded, precisely when we know the key is in dubious hands. Somethings wrong."
"Well, what do we do?" asked Ruby.
"It may be best to keep certain details to ourselves. He doesn't know I've paired with Oscar, let's keep it that way. What did you tell him?"
"We told him about Spring, and the location of the Branwen tribe," Qrow said. "We also told him Nikos was the guardian, and that we were looking for her here."
"I don't want to leap to any conclusions, but this may be very bad," Ozpin said. "So, you told him everything?"
"Not everything," Qrow said. "We didn't know about you yet, and we also didn't know about what Nikos might be doing here."
"And what's that…?" Ozpin asked with sudden suspicion.
"Going through the White Fang like a buzzsaw!" said Nora.
Ozpin looked at her with eyes that'd seen thousands of winters. "Explain," he sighed.
-000-
"Well, we'll keep that to ourselves," Ozpin said once they'd finished explaining, with some horror.
"You think it's true?" asked Ruby.
"I hardly believed it of Miss Nikos when you told me," Ozpin replied. "But the clues you've gathered do add up. I'm by no means certain it's true, but it makes more sense than I hoped or thought I knew."
"I don't think we knew her quite as well as perhaps we should have," said Qrow.
"Perhaps," Ozpin admitted.
"Well, what are we going to do about it?" asked Nora.
"Finding Miss Nikos has to be one of our objectives," Ozpin said. "But we also have to ensure the safety of the Relic of Knowledge. It's at grave risk, and our enemy is clearly more ready to make bold moves than I'd anticipated."
"What about the Relic of Choice?" asked Ruby.
Ozpin's lips were tugged into a slight smile, the sort a teacher has for a favoured student. "It's safe for now, back in Vale. So long as Miss Nikos is at large, Salem cannot get to it, and in any case finding the Relic at Beacon is a little more… challenging than the Relics at the other schools."
"So, what do we do?" asked Ren "If Professor Lionheart is unhelpful?"
"We need the help of more huntsmen," said Ozpin.
"But the Mistral Council–"
"Doesn't own every huntsman in the kingdom," interrupted Qrow. "I've been here enough times to know where we can find some more."
"So long as they're trustworthy," Ozpin insisted.
"You can trust them to put up a good fight," Qrow replied. "I'll draw up a list tonight. But… chasing up further leads into Nikos is going to require looking at police sources, or ones on the other side of the law. I can go places these kids can't. But I can't check those leads and chase up all the huntsmen we need."
"We can help!" Ruby said. "Please let us!"
Ozpin looked doubtful. "You also need more training, all three of you, and Oscar too. Yes Oscar, the practice will help. I was going to train you all here."
"And I'm sure we need training," said Ren. "But we also can't stay here the whole time when there's tasks that need to be done."
Ozpin looked at Ren, and then at Ruby and Nora in turn. "Very well," he nodded grudgingly, "we do need every hand we can get. Qrow, make sure to highlight those on your list that we can send the students to contact. Avoiding the lowest levels."
"Sure thing," Qrow said.
"But," Ozpin added, looking at the trainees, "I do expect you to devote time to being trained too. We'll need every minute of it."
The three nodded in agreement.
"Very well. Now I don't believe much more can be achieved tonight, so you should all get some sleep. If you could make sure a bed is available for Oscar as well, he'll need it soon," Ozpin said. The three trainees turned to go upstairs. "Don't worry, Oscar, I'll give you back control in just a moment," Ozpin said, appearing to speak to himself.
"That seems so odd," Qrow muttered.
"I'm sure," Ozpin said, "though not as odd as Oscar himself is finding it. Be good to him." He paused and glanced at Qrow's face. "I know that look, Qrow. You think we're making a mistake. Speak your mind."
"I don't," Qrow said. "I think we're playing the hand we have now. What I think is we already made them, back in Vale. Hard to say otherwise, considering what happened to Beacon and this situation with Nikos. I just hope we can get to her in time."
-000-
A Room in Mistral
Foolish, foolish, foolish!
She'd beaten him. She'd defeated the infamous Adam Taurus. But then he escaped because she allowed him to distract her, because he outwitted her. If she'd stayed focused as she should have, disabled him when she had the chance, then she could have obtained all the information she needed and likely lured Cinder Fall into a trap of Pyrrha's making. Instead that chance was gone, gone with Taurus and that remaining soldier of his, the one she'd failed to make sure she'd killed.
She'd learn the lesson from that. She was still too given to being sporting. She had to make sure her enemies were down and out, to make sure they couldn't interfere with what needed to be done.
Still, she supposed the encounter would still serve as bait. He'd doubtless contact Cinder after Pyrrha has asked about her, and Pyrrha had told Adam enough that Cinder would doubtless come running. But she'd have the opportunity to strike at a time and place of her choosing. Pyrrha would need to work something out, some way of shaping the coming encounter to give her the advantage.
She'd have to give the matter some thought.
For now, however, she looked down at her Scroll. It was a cheap device, not the one she'd used in Beacon. That she'd left long behind; after what happened during the fall, she couldn't trust that the enemy hadn't compromised the network. But she'd managed to save some files across as a concession to herself. Some contained potentially useful information. Others were more personal, like this photograph here. It showed four teenagers, dressed for a dance, clearly enjoying themselves. Her eyes teared up as she focused on the figure in the centre: a tall, blond, boy in a dress.
It'd been one of the happiest days of her life.
She'd thought she had time. She hadn't. Then she'd feared taking the burden 'destiny' thrust upon her would rob her of the connections she'd made, even of her love for him. But in the end, it didn't. In the end she was still herself: she still loved him, and then found that he loved her too.
For a long time Pyrrha had been anxious that there was so much she would never feel; much as she enjoyed competition and the excitement of a good fight – even the thrill of victory – that was not all she desired. She feared being left as she was: isolated, alone and unhappy on top of her pedestal.
Then Jaune, and then Ren and Nora, had entered her life. So much good had come from small beginnings, the start of many wonderful things. Being on team JNPR had given her so much. They saw her, not the champion. They gave her friendship, and then Jaune brought the possibility of so much more. Oh, she wasn't stupid: he placed her on a pedestal too. But it was a different pedestal, and he placed her on top of it, not the 'Invincible Girl', not the 'Pyrrha Nikos' others imagined. And right at the end the final barrier had been brought down. She'd been given the opportunity to feel so much more than she could have conceived: camaraderie, companionship, happiness, joy and finally love.
And then Cinder had taken that away from her. Had taken his life from him. Had taken so much from so many.
She'd been fretful about feelings she might never feel, been worried about love and joy and friendship. But she'd never given any thought to the fact that she'd never felt hate before.
She hated now. Hated with a fire that didn't relent, a blaze that burned with endless flame. Hated with a passion that only seemed to give way when… when...
She looked back down at the photo, tears running down her cheeks. In those brief moments when the storm of hatred took breath, it was only ever replaced with another storm: one quieter, but one ever so much more painful.
She allowed herself the pain, for a moment, before welcoming the hatred back in. Hatred at least focused her, gave her a goal, a target. There would be time enough to weep once it was all over. Once Cinder Fall burned.
Author Note: Thanks again for all the reviews and comments, including to those on guest accounts that I cannot reply to (I'm glad you liked the plot point about Adam suspecting Blake, Big Bad Beowulf. That wasn't originally planned, but it felt like Adam insisted on it: who *else* would he suspect?!). I'm glad some of the emotional points are working for people, like Jaune's death. I do apologise for fans of Perry and other named characters who have passed away. Unfortunately it is the sort of story where others will join them.