Music Choices: Black Dresses by The Builders and The Butchers, Shiloh and Blood Of Angels by Brown Bird

Author's Notes: Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews and comments, they mean a lot and I'm gonna try to get to them here in a few days. The past week has been really rough for a lot of reasons, and this might be the last update for a bit until things even out. But I wanted to go ahead and post this now, even if it isn't quite perfect; and to do two Break chapters before getting into the second Arc of this story.

Eclipse

Chapter 37

The Conversation Part II

Blake's left ear pivoted towards the hallway. Someone or something was creeping towards their door. She paused, setting her spoon down into her bowl, turning to face the hall. She focused on the nature of the movement, the gentle weight behind them - neither Yang nor Raven walked like that. Yang swaggered around like she owned the place, and Raven stalked towards her objective in near silence; whoever was outside, did not want to give away their presence.

Ruby stiffened next to her suddenly and faced the hallway, before shooting Blake a communicative glance. After a second, Ruby gestured towards Weiss and Qrow, getting their attention. Weiss gently set her spoon in her bowl, placed the bowl down and silently reached for her sword. Ruby, instead of reaching for her own weapon, actually moved to take up some of the black salt and ashes Raven had left nearby. Qrow nudged Ruby with his foot and frowned.

Ruby made a face. He rolled his eyes, gestured again. Ruby pouted. He scowled.

A knock at the door, and everyone jumped.

Nobody said anything.

A harder knock, followed by multiple fists pounding on the outside of the door and wall, on the ceiling, on the outside of the building. Horrible, frantic sounds, but none of them from inside the room. Weiss was standing next to them both, Myrtenaster in hand, as she glared in shock at the door.

Blake's eyes kept darting towards the crack under the hallway door, expecting to see pale fingers and claws slipping under the frame and trying to wrench it open. But nothing brushed the salt line.

Just as suddenly as all the noise started up, it stopped. Qrow had moved next to Ruby and Weiss, a leather pouch in his hands. Nails started scratching the wall, jagged, angry claws raking the door. The handle shook.

"I'm giving ya'll the count of five," Qrow started lazily, apparently unconcerned. "To fuck off entirely."

The noise stopped, as whatever was trying to get in paused to listen.

"Starting now," Qrow proclaimed. "One!"

The door knob jiggled violently. Something was scratching at the windows.

"Two!"

Weiss and Blake exchanged glances, while Ruby stared at the door, an odd look on her face.

"Three!"

Screeching, like a noise Blake had never heard in her life, Grimm, faunus or human. Like something mimicking an angry child.

"Four!" Qrow started walking towards the door.

Angry little fists, beating the devil out of the hallway.

"Five!" Qrow stopped in front of the door, and swung it open, pouch ready.

Weiss and Blake both tensed.

The hallway was completely dark and empty. Qrow waited a few seconds, glaring into the hallway before snorting in disgust and slamming the door shut.

Silence, and then, the slightest giggle. Qrow shook his head and sat down grumpily, while the girls stared at him in bewilderment.

"So," Weiss started after a moment. There was another giggle down the hallway. Blake's hair was standing on end, her ears were flat. She could only smell Grimm and people in the area, nothing else. "Were those more of those...bug creatures?"

Blake studied Ruby's body language briefly, who was still staring at the door.

"Nah," Qrow grunted, picking his food back up. "Mimics don't want you to notice them like that. Not their MO, ya know?"

Blake desperately wanted to ask more about 'mimics'. She wanted to know everything about everything: about magic, about how Yang's mom could turn into a bird and cast spells, if there were other dangerous creatures in this world besides Grimm, and why no one was talking about it.

"I...see," Weiss observed.

There was another tense silence.

"Were those the Unseelie?" Ruby asked, her tone strange.

Blake inhaled sharply as a voice tittered overhead. Something was scrabbling in the room above them, laughing. Weiss was trailing the Grimm's movement, eyes cold, trying to calculate where the best spot to send a spire of ice through the ceiling would be.

"Yep," he grimaced. "Don't do anything to them, Weiss, I'm serious."

Weiss made a noise that was dangerously indignant.

"I can't make informed decisions on no information, and neither you nor your sister want to share said information with us. So if you're going to lecture me on things, at least wait until I'm actually informed-"

Blake looked away, hiding a smile. Weiss was honestly hilarious when she was mad. Her spine would nearly straighten out of her back, like she was going to fight whomst-soever had dared to approach her. It was a defiant nature very much at odds with the social constraints that had bound Weiss all her life. And in the past few months? That internal nature had been coming to the forefront more and more, surpassing the pampered princess facade that had been concealing it.

"-before you write me off as being totally daft!"

"I know, l'm sorry," Qrow tried to placate her, holding his palms up. "I'm being a dick about it-"

"You kind of are, yes!"

Ruby and Blake exchanged looks. Ruby was already smiling again, but the worry lines and currents of tension in her body hadn't disappeared.

"Why did...how do they understand you?" Blake asked during a lull. Weiss stopped herself from further comments, glancing back at her and Ruby.

Ruby stared up at the ceiling again, as something scratching and tittered there

"And why aren't they coming in here?" Blake continued carefully, glancing at the door. "What did she physically do to actually keep Grimm out of a space?"

Blake had seen her share of odd things with the White Fang and living it rough for nearly half of her life, from inexplicable Semblances to rituals one might call magic if one were so inclined. She had never encountered anything quite like this, though.

This blew all of that out of the water.

They understood him talking to them….I think that they're listening to us…..

But that would be totally crazy.

Qrow sniffed, finishing his food.

"Unseelie are smarter than most other Grimm," he sighed, mussing his hair. "A lot more aware, and they have a lot more agency in what they can and can't do."

Agency?

"You didn't answer my question," Blake observed curiously.

Qrow was obviously stressed about something, and his heart rate was up. Ruby was squinting at her uncle now, as Weiss moved around, keeping her eyes on the ceiling. His eyes pulled briefly towards the grate of the apartment's aged air vent. Ruby turned to stare at the vent herself, her head cocking a little; and that's when Blake heard the soft scuttling inside the vent herself.

Sweat broke out on her neck. Ruby moved towards the grate, her head cocking a little.

"Ruby," he warned. "Get away from the grate."

She ignored him, her entire body radiating alert.

"Heeeey," Ruby spoke into the grate as she stood on her tiptoes. "What um….whatcha doin in there, little buddy?"

Weiss scooted closer, her weapon in hand. Qrow was cursing under his breath. Blake hopped up on the couch to get a better vantage. She could see a pair of huge red eyes staring back at her. A beat passed.

"...Waiting."

"WHAT-" Weiss jerked away as if she'd been bit on the nose.

Ruby gasped, her jaw dropping in shock and excitement. Blake came within a hair's breadth of shooting the vent full of holes. Qrow strode over to the grate, and hit it with his fist multiple times. Scurrying broke out all around them, as the Unseelie scampered and tittered around like a circus of terrifying gremlin spawn.

"Get the fuck out there-" Qrow cursed, looking around. "I need a broom."

"They can talk?!" Weiss exclaimed, her eyes wide. "They're not just mimicking us? They can understand what we are saying and then answer intelligently?!"

Blake gaped, the implications hitting her.

"Sometimes, yea - fuck, I didn't want - to deal with this shit today too-"

"But - but that is physically impossible!" Weiss insisted, sounding distressed.

"Ok, well go tell them that!" he waved her off blithely. "See if they care!"

Weiss made an nearly inhumane noise as another piece of her worldview crumbled before them. Ruby, meanwhile, appeared to be taking this total shift in perspective in stride, and seemed much more interested in how interesting it was that Grimm could talk.

"Uncle Qrow, why are there talking Grimm in the ventilation ducts?!" Ruby tossed her hands up, a bewildered smile on her face. "And why did no one tell us they were a thing? Holy carp, this is so creepy! Why did no one tell me they were this cool and spooky?!"

"They are not cool and spooky!" Qrow shouted, irascible. "They are not fun, ok, they are complete pains in the ass-"

Mass amounts of giggling throughout the building. Ruby gasped, pressing her cheeks together. Blake was torn between terror and amusement herself. Weiss looked prepared to burn the entire building down and nope off into a fit of existential dread.

Blake then noticed something oozing out of the previously occupied ventilation duct. Something silver. She sniffed, noting the oddly metallic odor, and unscrewed the covering before she removed the grate. She didn't scream when the small, pale body fell out.

A 'mimic' lay dead on the floor, oozing silver. The girls and Uncle Qrow stared silently as the body melted to silver and finally disappeared. Blake's heart was thundering in her chest and her pupils had shrunk.

"Did….they leave us a gift?" Blake asked slowly, her ears flat.

That gesture was actually worse than them being able to understand their conversation.

Because Grimm don't leave you presents.

Grimm don't answer your questions.

Grimm? Don't think.

Or they aren't supposed to , anyways.

"Yes, and do not fuckin touch it," Qrow snapped. "Put the grate back on, and ignore them! Ok? Don't interact with them, don't talk to them, don't look at em - nothing! Do not give them attention!"

"But you're giving them attention," Ruby protested.

"They don't give a shit about my attention," Qrow growled. "Ruby, they are interested in yours . Do not play games with them."

More laughter, like children capering. Something whispered 'games' in the hallway, and Weiss looked ready to freeze the door in retaliation.

"Why?" Ruby chirped immediately.

"Because you're an aetheri," Qrow rubbed his brow in a gesture very similar to his sister.

Blake perked up, pulling herself out of her shock. She had heard that term before, some long forgotten time ago. In the White Fang's camps, to be precise, before Adam's faction departed; and she'd made the mistake of following them.

"And that issss?" Ruby wiggled, pleased to be getting relatively straight answers for once.

"Something that knowing more about can put a big target on your back," Qrow grimaced. " Especially right now."

Ruby huffed in disappointment. Weiss and Blake exchanged salty glances, before glaring in unison at Qrow. The older Hunter glared right back, unimpressed before sighing again.

"Look, I'm not trying to jerk you around, ok? I'm sorry it feels that way," he insisted, eyes sincere. "I know it sucks to be kept in the dark about this shit, but I promise you, we will talk about it more, when we're somewhere safer. Ok?"

"No!" Ruby turned towards him, her face firm. "No, I don't accept that! The whole point of today is about honesty and talking things out, and trusting each other even though we're scared - and that includes you too, whether you like it or not!"

"That is not what the point of today is!" Qrow argued, his gestures broadening as his face grew more expressive. "I dunno what kinda day you're having, kiddo, but that is not the message of this broadcast-"

"Stop bullshitting me!" Ruby interrupted emotionally.

He blinked a little, looking a bit incredulous. Weiss looked shocked more so by Ruby cursing than anything else.

"You have kept so many things from me, for most of my life," Ruby continued, her voice neither harsh but lacking it's typical playfulness. "And I know that you did it to protect me, and to protect Yang, and maybe even dad? But I am also not stupid. And I want you, Uncle Qrow, to stop bullshitting me. "

The Hunter glared at his niece, looking torn between arguing or making a sarcastic remark. Ruby glared right back. Blake could hear and smell more tittering Grimm in the room above them, and got an image of grinning pale faces, their bony heads pressed to the floor as they gleefully eavesdropped. Weiss was still pacing below where the Grimm were congregating.

"Ruby…," a miserable crack in the facade. "This shit ruins peoples lives. Ok?"

Ruby blinked in surprise at his tone, pulling back a little.

"Kingdom people," he glanced away, watching the door. "Don't mix well with magic. Ok? In the end, it never works out for ya'll."

Blake frowned at that statement, while Weiss's attention was pulled away from the Grimm scampering around above them and playing in the ventilation shaft.

"What does magic have to do with Grimm or Ruby?" Blake prompted.

"Fuckin everything," Qrow grumbled, pulling his flask out and shaking it, before taking a swig. "Absolutely everything. And it will tear your life apart so fast, you have no damn clue."

The room fell silent, and even the Grimm seemed to grow subdued.

"Magic is….it is so incredible, and I love so much about it. But I hate it too, sometimes," he chuckled darkly. "Because I have watched it tear our family apart, and ruin other people's lives, over and over and over again. And the stress that comes with it? And the responsibility, and all the danger and people that want to hurt you - it is nonstop, from the moment you take that first step until the last. It will never fuckin end, ever."

Ruby moved closer to her uncle, studying his expression.

"Being a Hunter is something you can always retire from," Qrow laughed bleakly, gesturing towards his weapon. "You can walk away from it! You cannot walk away from this other shit. You can go hide behind Kingdom walls, you can go home to Patch, you can fly a million miles - and it will fucking follow you! There is no getting away from it. It sucks you in, and there is no going back. And the crazy thing is that most the time? You won't want to."

Weiss was staring at the Huntsman uncertainly, while Ruby looked torn between hugging her uncle and asking more questions. Blake wasn't sure what to make of his opinions on magic, but she had latched onto something else he said.

"What does being from a Kingdom have to do with handling magic well?" Blake prodded after a moment.

Ruby and Weiss were gravitating towards one another instinctively, angling closer like they always did when they were worried about the other. Weiss was still visibly concerned about the Unseelie, as were they all; but Blake could think of a few other things that might be on the heiress's mind as well.

Like how Qrow had suggested these Grimm were interested in Ruby's 'attention', whatever that meant.

If Ruby has some innate magical ability, can Grimm sense it? Can mimics? What else is out there, hiding just out of sight?

The world has grown so much larger and darker in the last twenty four hours, more so than she had ever known it to be; and Blake was no stranger to darkness. She worried how these truths would continue to impact the others.

Qrow finally sat down at last, staring at his niece and her teammates with a tired, rueful expression as he considered Blake's question.

"Magic….magic can give you power, while also taking away the things you didn't even know weren't owed you," Qrow started, his voice falling into it's natural rasp. "Nothing is ever free. There is always a price. And most Kingdom folk, in my experience, can't handle the price for long. Because it ruins your chance at having that kind of comfy, normal life that ya'll...that they take for granted."

The price was too high, can't handle the price….they both keep talking about prices.

Blake's eyes narrowed in thought.

But if there is a hypothetical price, is somebody getting paid? How does magic work compared to Semblances? What is the actual cost? Is it like aura, or is it like he's implying?

More giggling above them, and that chorus made Blake even more nervous than it had been before.

Does magic really ruin your life? Or does it just strip away comforting illusions?

Blake glanced at their team leader, a bubble of fear tightening her chest.

How is this going to affect her?

"Why do you keep drawing that distinction?" Ruby asked.

"What distinction?" he droned.

"Between us and you," Ruby took a seat next to him and poked his shoulder. "Calling us Kingdom folk or whatever - like we aren't the same thing?"

"Cuz we aren't," Qrow snorted.

Ruby gave him an extremely sassy look, one Blake had noticed seemed reserved largely for very close family members.

"You literally live with us?"

He rolled his eyes, and she mimicked him exaggeratedly.

Blake had a suspicious feeling she knew where Ruby got said sassiness from.

"Growing up on Patch or in Vale isn't the same as how we grew up-"

Blake and Weiss met one another's eyes, and Blake shrugged a little. Weiss looked deeply out of her element as well, and Blake took comfort in their shared awkwardness.

"Well how the heck am I supposed to know that if you won't talk to me about it!" Ruby tossed her hands again, leaning forwards on her knees to look into his face better. "Butt! You keep saying we're different or something, why? Like, you raised us too, you know!"

"You think I don't fuckin know that?" he drawled sardonically. "I was there ya know-"

"Yea, when you weren't drunk off your friggin ass!" Ruby snapped.

Qrow's eyes rounded and Ruby looked a little surprised at herself, but kept going.

"You can't keep some huge part of your life secret from us, and then use that as an excuse for why we cannot possibly understand that part of you!" Ruby gestured expressively, her face passionate. Weiss was looking at her partner as if seeing her in a totally different light. "Because that is bull! You're doing the exact same crap mom is!"

His face contorted in total offense.

"I certainly am the fuck not, that is not remotely the same thing! And hey! Why am I the one getting the third degree here, what the-"

"Because you're being super hypocritical and I actually know you?!" Ruby exclaimed, her face incredulous. "Seriously! You are both clinging desperately to this information, and acting like we are just far too precious or something to handle it, and I get that this is all rooted in some kind of really serious trauma and awful stuff? But it's still gotta stop. I'm so serious."

"You need to take a seat, Rubes," Qrow droned, disaffected. "You are not the tiny therapist-"

"Well let me know when you friggin get one, butt head, because you obviously need it," Ruby huffed, folding her arms. She was visibly angry, a rarity in and of itself, but it was probably necessary for her to feel at the moment.

There was a long moment of awkward silence, before Qrow started laughing softly under his breath. Ruby glared at him from the corner of her eye, as Weiss and Blake shuffled uncertainly.

"You sound so much like your mother sometimes," he chuckled fondly. "It's nuts."

Ruby's mouth parted and her eyes grew a bit misty. He kept smiling, even if he looked a little sad.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not handling this shit nearly as well as I should be, or telling you what you deserve to know, and that's not fair to you," Qrow rubbed his stubble, looking infinitely tired. "I don't...have a good excuse. Other than being scared out of my fucking mind."

Ruby shuffled, looking torn on how to respond.

"But look. I am gonna try to do better. About um - everything," he waved, the flask as he quirked an eyebrow. "But I can't guarantee I'm gonna go to therapy for….a wide variety of reasons."

Blake nodded in understanding, getting a look from Weiss.

She shrugged lightly. She could empathize. It's not like he could talk about magic and government conspiracies and be taken seriously by a Kingdom psych. Talking about most of the things impacting his life would probably get him committed; or his Hunting license suspended, or even revoked.

That and she was skeptical of most human psychologists, especially any that got their education in Atlas or Mistral. Their training molded them to treat their patients like problems to fix and not people to empathize with.

"What if we get a two for one deal, and you and mom both go," Ruby teased a little.

"Kid, nobody is paid enough in this world to deal with that amount of crazy bullshit at once," Qrow laughed.

"You could always go with my mother to her alcoholic's support group?" Weiss offered dryly. "But then you'd probably have to be the designated driver."

They all stared at her. Blake could feel the smile threatening to break free across her face.

"What?" Weiss groused. "Too dark?"

"I guess not, but damn, Weiss," Qrow chuckled. "Man, what did I do to get bullied by teenagers all day."

Tittering in the walls. He glared at them, before smirking.

"But that would be pretty funny," he admitted wryly. "Your sister would lose her shiv over that. 'Hey Winter, me and your mom are going to AA, need a ride?' Hahaha."

" You know my sister?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"Wow, don't sound so surprised," Qrow drawled, getting an eye roll from Weiss. "Yea, we work together sometimes."

"...You work with the Atlassian military?" Weiss asked, bewildered. "As what, an independent contractor?"

"Fuck no," he chuckled. "Fuck Atlas. Full offense."

"Some taken?" Weiss eyed him in bemusement.

"Good. But nah, Winter works with us sometimes on Ozpin's projects," Qrow admitted. "Haha, she hates me so much."

"That information, for some mysterious reason, does not surprise me," Weiss hummed.

He shook his head with a raspy laugh.

"You call a Specialist a bootlicker one time -"

Blake and Ruby immediately started snickering at Weiss's expression.

"-and they will never forgive you," Qrow shook his finger sagely. "Ever. Ever ever."

"I am fully shocked she hasn't black bagged you yet, actually," Weiss observed wryly. "Bravo."

"Psh. She can't kill me," he tossed his head dramatically. "I'm a bad bitch."

Ruby took one look at Weiss's face and keeled over sideways with laughter. Blake grinned at both of her teammates, a fond, warm feeling in her chest as she watched them interact; particularly as Weiss tried to give Ruby a very haughty stare that crumbled immediately into barely concealed affection like a total sap. Weiss then promptly flushed when she realized Blake had caught her mid-pining and tried to recover in a dazzling display of overcompensation.

Blake smiled playfully at her teammate, which prompted her to grow even redder before she pretended to focus on something else. Weiss had it bad for Ruby. Anyone with a functioning set of eyes could see that.

But, to be fair. So did she.


Weiss was having a rough evening for a wide variety of reasons. However, so far, the most unsettling aspect of her day were the talking, winged rats tormenting them in the ceiling and walls. That combined with Ruby's uncle passionately talking about magic, and Yang's mom doing whatever weird rituals she liked, Weiss was beginning to suspect she had stepped into a lunatic's fever dream. Or perhaps was hallucinating herself.

Which wasn't impossible, or even unlikely at this point. Some Semblances could affect the mind, and some Grimm could as well. However, as far as she knew? There were no Semblances that could control or alter Grimm behavior. So she had no feasible explanation for what was happening with them, and it was very much taking a toll on her composure.

Grimm were not supposed to behave like how the Unseelie were behaving currently. Grimm could not strategize like people. They could not understand language, or play games or pranks.

However, the laughter and teasing of the Unseelie that were camped around their apartment indicated that they very much were engaged in their conversation; and Weiss was certain that the Unseelie were real, and not a potential fabrication of the mind.

Yes, they were real, and they were listening to them. This changed absolutely everything, and neither Qrow nor Ruby seemed necessarily horrified by this situation. Qrow was acting as if this was just another weekday, and Ruby seemed more focused on what emotional baggage Qrow was withholding from the family. Blake, meanwhile, kept asking questions about magic whenever the opportunity arose, and Weiss was uncertain as to whether the other girl was buying into the idea of magic or just humoring Qrow.

Weiss glanced at the odd stain on the floor where the mutant bug had melted into a silver puddle and evaporated. Qrow had even thrown salt and ash on the spot, as an afterthought. To say this was not how she had thought her first mission would go would be an understatement.

Blake suddenly tensed, pivoting to stare at the wall adjacent the hall. A tiny stampede had started up, scrambling overhead and along the walls in the hallway, and the girls froze tensely to listen to the Grimm giggling and scampering somewhere in mass.

Then Weiss heard Yang's voice by the stairs, and a few moments later, the two women entered the apartment again. Yang was smiling and apparently unaware of a mass of Grimm camped out around them, and Raven was totally inscrutable behind her helm.

"Did you not see them?" Weiss asked immediately, moving towards the door. She had yet to set Myrtenaster down.

"See who?" Yang frowned curiously, glancing around the room.

Sensing something was amiss, Yang turned towards Qrow. The Huntsman waved lazily.

"There's Unseelie in the building," he explained, as if bored. "They've been trying to get us riled up."

Raven did not react to this information, but for some reason, Weiss felt that the woman knew all about the Unseelie.

"Should we move camps then?" Yang asked carefully, glancing at Ruby.

"Maybe, but more importantly: Yang, they can talk!" Ruby hopped up to her feet. "The creepy little dudes can talk!"

"Yeaaaa, they can mimic voices right?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "We learned about that in class, remember?"

"No!" Ruby threw her hands up jubilantly. Her partner was far too enthused by the idea of talking Grimm. "No they can actually talk and understand what you're saying and everything, it's super friggin coconuts, but it is SO cool-"

"It is not cool!" Weiss exclaimed in frustration. "Ruby! This is terrifying!"

Ruby paused, a concerned look on her heart shaped face that immediately made Weiss's own heart trip over itself; however, she stayed the course.

"Grimm are not supposed to act like this! And if they can, then that means that everything that we've been learning for the past year means absolutely dick all!" Weiss pointed towards the vent in distress. "Why am I the only one who seems to care about this? How are we going to be prepared as Huntresses if what we know about our enemy isn't even accurate?! What else do we not know about Grimm?"

"Yo, whaaaat did I miss?" Yang stared around at them. Blake tipped her head at her partner, making a face that said 'a lot'.

Ruby meanwhile scooted closer to her, studying her body language.

"Hey, let's um. Let's take a break? We can go talk-"

Weiss paused momentarily, taking a firm breath to try to calm herself. She knew her emotions were riding high at the moment, but she still needed to communicate her concern and know that her teammates were taking her seriously.

"I do not want to go talk. I want to know why intelligent Grimm exist and no one apparently knows about it !" Weiss started pacing anxiously again. "Because this is disastrous! Are they evolving? Are they the result of some kind of experiment ? What-"

Chuckling caught her attention, and Weiss rounded on the current source of her problems.

"What do you know about them?" Weiss demanded briskly, glaring at the older woman. She could hear the smirk under that barbaric helmet.

"Well. Considering you don't believe in magic, anything I tell you about them? You aren't going to believe at face value," Raven waved dismissively, striding past her to peer into the grate.

"Well then prove it," Weiss insisted, following her with dogged determination. "If you actually can. Show us something that proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that magic is real. And if you can do that, then I'll listen to whatever you have to say about those Grimm."

Blake stirred in interest, while Ruby and Yang had a silent, sibling conversation to the side. Raven was studying her again, her gaze calculating. Weiss glared back.

"Or am I just expecting a bit too much?" Weiss asked challengingly.

Crimson eyes narrowed behind the slits in the helmet at Weiss's impetuous tone, while Yang hovered a bit closer, looking a bit nervously between the two of them.

"Hey, I know what we can do," Qrow droned after a moment. "Rae?"

Weiss and Raven both glanced at Qrow, who was still seated on the floor and watching this unfold.

"Rock, paper, scissors," Qrow grinned. "Loser has to do the chicken dance."

Raven scoffed immediately, folding her arms.

"Not a chance ," the woman audibly sneered. "You cheat."

Qrow feigned offense, pressing a hand to his chest.

"I do no such thing!"

"Fuuuck off, yes you do," Raven tilted her head. "Anything involving probability and you is total Boarbatusk dung."

Yang glanced between the Branwen siblings, a shit eating grin breaking out across her face.

"I am thinking of a color!" Yang declared loudly, interrupting the twins bickering. "Whoever guesses it first doesn't have to do the chicken dance or whatever - now go!"

"Indigo," Qrow quipped immediately, eyes laughing.

"Wait, shit - Violet?" Raven guessed hopefully.

Weiss glanced at Yang, who was still beaming. She pointed energetically at Qrow.

"Winner! Mom, do the chicken dance!"

Raven glared at her daughter in betrayal, who held her palm out to her Uncle and promptly got a high hive. Yang's smile was naturally contagious, and Weiss had to catch herself so she didn't beam like a lovesick fool whenever the blonde looked her way. Which was perhaps far more difficult than Weiss wanted to admit.

"No," Raven droned. "That was rigged."

Qrow blew a raspberry, as if he were a toddler and not a grown man.

"Don't be a little weeny baby," Yang taunted, as if she was a toddler and not a nearly grown woman. "You owe us a magic chicken dance."

Ruby was giggling behind her fist, and Weiss still had absolutely no idea what on Remnant a chicken dance was or how that had anything to do with magic or talking Grimm.

"Come oonnnnn," Ruby wheedled.

"Come onnnn," Qrow cackled from the sidelines.

"Do iittttt, do the dance," Yang hollered, laughing gleefully at the opportunity to embarrass her mother.

Raven glared through her helmet belligerently, before sighing in irritation.

"Fine."

Ruby and Yang cheered like the hooligans they were, bouncing on their toes while Qrow chuckled. Blake was blatantly watching Weiss's reaction to all this, because apparently Weiss's reactions to the unorthodox always seemed to amuse the faunus. Weiss was currently too involved in whatever weird ritual was taking place to let that fact fluster her.

Raven stepped into the middle of the room, and then? The woman was gone.

In her place was a large, familiar, corvid. One whom Weiss was positive she had seen before. Said corvid croaked grumpily, before starting to do a tiny dance.

Weiss stared in flat shock.

I have either gone mad and I am hallucinating, or I am drugged. There cannot be a dancing bird on the floor. That is physically impossible.

She glanced up at her teammates. Blake was not shocked to see the dancing bird, but was giving Weiss a concerned look. Ruby and Yang, however, were losing their collective minds over it, as they too could apparently see the dancing bird.

"YOU CAN TURN INTO A CUTE LITTLE BIRDY?!" Ruby exclaimed jubilantly, showering a few rose petals.

"WAIT. Wait, wait, hold up- You're the demon bird!" Yang shouted, flabbergasted. "WHAT-"

"THIS IS AMAZING -Wait, can I do that!? I wanna birb!" Ruby spun towards her uncle. "How do I birb, Uncle Qrow?! What's the secret - wait, can you do it too?"

Qrow was laughing so hard he was crying, and then suddenly, he was no longer seated on the grimy floor. In his place was yet another bird, though he looked a bit different. The corvid cawed roughly and flapped up to land on Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby promptly lost her shit.

"HOW ARE YOU GUYS DOING THIS?!" Ruby asked, holding her arms out and trying to flap, while the crow clung to her shoulder. "I wanna be a magic birdy, let's go! Is it the dance? How do I chicken dance!"

Ruby tried to mimic the little flapping dance that the bird on the floor was doing, getting a variety of amused noises from the bird on her shoulder.

"ARE WE ALL BIRD PEOPLE?!" Yang asked, holding her head. "This whole time - you used to chase me around the yard when I was little! You asshole! I was terrified of you!"

Raven suddenly appeared again, sitting on the floor where the dancing bird had been previously, and she was laughing much like Qrow had been.

"It's not funny!" Yang protested, even though she was smiling a little. "I had a deep seated terror of poultry for years because of you!"

"You- you kept climbing that damn tree in the backyard," Raven chuckled, her shoulders shaking with barely contained hilarity. "After you had already broken your leg by doing the exact same thing! So I chased you away from it."

"Ok, but did you have to dive bomb me like you were the murder bird from hell?!" Yang gesticulated, her violet eyes wide.

She's calmed down some, then, despite all the shouting.

Weiss had learned that with Yang, yelling did not equal anger. She was just naturally loud, and thought that shouting was all in good fun.

"That's what it took!" Raven exclaimed. "You were so stubborn!"

"I was seven!"

"You were a stubborn fucking seven year old!"

"Oh yea, well you were scared of a stubborn seven year old!"

Weiss, despite the grime and build up, finally took a seat on the floor, staring flatly at the crazy bird woman. Raven scooped the helm off her head, wiping her eyes as she continued to laugh. Yang was shaking her head in mock outrage, trying to keep from laughing at her sister. Said sister was still doing the chicken dance as Qrow encouraged her from her shoulder. Qrow would put his wings up and do a little dance, and Ruby would immediately try to mimic him.

"Ruby," Raven started with a deeply amused chuckle. "You're not a skinchanger. You can not shift skins. Don't let him mess with you."

'Qrow' cawed defiantly at Raven, hopping on Ruby's shoulder. Meanwhile, Blake mouthed skinchanger under her breath thoughtfully.

"Nope, I'm gonna figure this out!" Ruby insisted. "He said I'm an etherfaerie or whatever, so I know I've got some magic going on-"

"Aetheri and skinchangers are different magical castes," Raven insisted, smirking. "We can't do what you can."

"But, she can do what you can?" Blake asked, eying Raven perceptively.

"Not unless the ancestors decide that she can, no. But she is certainly free to keep trying," Raven drawled, glancing at Weiss. The woman took in Weiss's expression and was apparently deeply amused by what she saw. "So. Do you believe in magic yet, Weiss?"

Weiss stared at her partner trying to do a silly chicken dance with her uncle, who was currently a bird.

"I am trying to determine how and when you people drugged all of us," Weiss admitted. Sudden giggling from the ventilation made her jump, and Blake hissed a little, having been startled by the Unseelie herself. Raven gave the grate a blasé look, before pulling what appeared to be a child's toy from her belt pouch and moving towards it.

What in the stars above is she doing now? More cultist rituals?

"That would be a rather convenient answer, wouldn't it?" Raven admitted, unscrewing the grate calmly and opening it. The girl's watched intently, as Raven pulled another dead mimic out of the grate, tossing it on the floor, and holding the toy out. A dark little paw darted out, grabbing the toy, and then disappeared back into the vent with a victorious yelp. The Unseelie scampered away into the vent, tittering cheerfully.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop, and the previous humor dissipated like a puff of smoke.

"What the hell?" Yang muttered in shock.

Weiss could feel her heart lodge itself in her throat. Blake was brushing against her shoulder, aware that she was distressed. Weiss felt some of her tension fade, but her mind was spinning.

Are they working for her? How on Remnant did she train Grimm to work for her?

"But it wouldn't serve any logical purpose," Raven fixed the grate, and turned around to appraise their now collectively anxious expressions. "I don't gain anything from tricking you into believing in magic, or talking Grimm, or skinchangers. In fact, telling you anything at all is an immense risk on our part, because you could use it to harm us."

"Then why risk it all?" Weiss asked, proud that her voice did not waver despite what she had just seen.

"Because our enemies - your enemies - are already using magic," Raven tossed salt and ash on the body of the mimic, dusted her hands and sat back down. "And they don't care if you believe in it or not. They will use it to hurt you if you give them a reason, which you likely will at this rate. And if you can't defend yourselves from it, or recognize it when you see it?"

Weiss glanced at Ruby habitually, who had taken a seat herself to listen intently. Raven met her gaze when she turned back towards her.

"Then it is going to get you killed."


"Or, you want us to think that so we buy whatever it is you're trying to sell us," Weiss countered immediately.

Ruby could see the anxiety and conflict rolling off her partner, and wanted to help her. But she also knew that pointing it out here in front of everyone would make Weiss feel cornered, and she'd become even more prickly.

The heiress had been trying to keep her composure in the face of the impossible all night, and it was taking a visible toll on her. However, Weiss also did not want to take a break, because Weiss did not believe in breaks, breathers nor any sort of lull in momentum ever. Weiss was a bit like a shark, in that she could not breath if she wasn't in motion, mentally or physically. She would push herself to fraying if she had to, if it meant understanding and conquering a problem; before promptly moving on to the next.

It was something that frustrated Ruby to no end at times, because all people needed to take breaks to process things efficiently. But Weiss acted as if stopping to catch her breath meant freezing to death on the tundra.

However, Weiss's general stubborn streak had a weakness! And it was the same one that Blake's had!

Ruby met Yang's eyes, and she tipped her head a little, nodding towards her partner. Yang understood this instantly, and promptly plopped down next to her teammate. Blake also scooted closer to Weiss's other side.

Raven caught Ruby's eyes knowingly, but she didn't comment on Ruby's tactical deployment of Yang to help ground Weiss. Raven took a measured breath, leaning back on her open palms. Weiss's body language was already relaxing and growing more confident next to Yang and Blake, and Ruby smiled a little.

"I thought you were a business woman," Raven asked after a moment. "Do you really think I'm trying to sell you something?"

Weiss smirked a little, trying to conceal her anxiety.

"I haven't ruled it out, no."

"Well, whether you believe your own eyes or not is up to you, Schnee," Raven drawled. "But I doubt that your eyes are the problem."

Weiss narrowed said eyes combatively.

"What are you implying?"

"Oh I'm not implying anything," Raven said coolly. "You'd rather believe I'm a conwoman who has drugged the lot of you with hallucinogens, than consider that - maybe - you don't know as much about the world as you thought you did. And that attitude is going to get you and your teammates hurt, real fast."

Weiss puffed up immediately, and Yang leaned in to address her mom and defuse the situation some.

"Hey, Weiss just likes science and cold hard facts she can prove," Yang explained. Her voice was calmer than previously, almost soothing, and the effect it had on Weiss was visible. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"You're right. But liking facts, and preferring to have one's biases catered to, aren't the same things," Raven leaned forwards, her voice dry but lacking condescension.

Weiss looked ready to argue again, Yang was scowling and Ruby was on the verge of intervening again, when Raven continued without venom.

"Schnee, since you like facts so much. What is the textbook definition of Grimm?" Raven asked.

Ruby was reminded of the conversation earlier, where Uncle Qrow had talked about Grimm and magic. And the little paw darting out of the ventilation shaft to accept the shiny toy.

What exactly do Grimm and magic have to do with one another? Is she using magic to control the Unseelie right now? Or if….if Grimm can achieve higher intelligence, can she actually train them to some degree? Why on Remnant would a Grimm like a toy - can they f eel happiness? Other emotions?

"Manifestations of hate that mimic life without achieving higher intelligence," Weiss rattled off quickly.

"Fascinating. Break that down. What does any of that mean?" Raven studied the flecks of Grimm ink in her gauntlets.

"I'm sorry, but I am not a parrot that does parlor tricks on command," Weiss cocked her head in blatant mockery of Raven's mannerisms.

Ruby sighed a little.

"So, you admit you don't know?" Raven smirked.

Ruby could feel the frost radiating from her partner from here.

"No, I'm just not sure how much more specific you want me to get?" Weiss intoned, dangerously frigid.

"What are Grimm?" Raven leaned forwards. "What is their biological function? Where do they come from? Why are they drawn to so called 'negative' emotion?"

Weiss frowned, clearly under the impression that Raven was trying to embarrass her for her lack of knowledge. Ruby, however, was not certain that was the end goal here.

She's not trying to browbeat her with authority or embarrass her, she's just trying to challenge her assumptions.

"What is the natural cause of Grimm , Weiss?" Raven asked intently.

"We...there isn't a definitive natural cause that anyone who matters can agree on," Weiss started, wary of entrapment. "There are many hypotheses, but no concrete theories or evidence that supports them."

"So there are no known natural causes?" Raven raised her eyebrow. "There is no scientific evidence that can prove that Grimm, as a species, can and should exist on Remnant. Without a shadow of a doubt. Correct?"

Weiss messed with the hem of her skirt.

"I mean...yes? Technically? But it's more nuanced than that, obviously."

"Why would a natural force, something that impacts our daily lives more than nearly any other on the planet, have no accepted scientific explanation? Nuance or no?" Raven asked, glancing at the rest of team RWBY. "Especially a natural force that you are all committed to combating and risking your lives against? Are Grimm not real?"

"Wh- of course they are real!"

Raven shrugged casually.

"Prove it."

Weiss gaped in blatant outrage.

"Well just open the grate and grab one of your pet monkeys then!" Weiss blustered. "We can see Grimm, we can see their mark on physical reality every day, and the harm they bring and the fact that you are somehow controlling them is completely-"

Oh boy….

"What if they're a mass hallucination?" Raven interrupted, unconcerned by Weiss's accusation. "What if something is making people hallucinate that Grimm are real, and they die from psychosomatic injuries instead of real ones? We have no current evidence to the contrary."

"Grimm are not a mass hallucination!" Weiss raised her voice.

"Prove it," Raven sighed.

"This is an exercise in literal insanity!" Weiss shouted, gesturing firmly. "I do not need to prove to you that Grimm are real!"

More tittering above them from the audience of Unseelie, some of whom were chirping 'prove it' over and over. Raven thumped the wall, and the Unseelie quieted. Team RWBY stared at the woman nervously.

I didn't know that Grimm taming was a thing, and I am not sure how comfortable I am with how matter of fact she's being about it.

It was definitely interesting , though, she couldn't deny that. And eerily familiar in an inexplicable way. Ruby was trying to withhold judgement about it, at least until she had more information; however, she also recognized that this was going to disturb most of her team on a fundamental level.

If Raven was aware of their discomfort, she did not comment on it. However, Ruby knew instinctively that she hadn't missed that ripple of anxiety.

This sense of alienation goes deeper than trauma, then. There is a serious values divide here as well. That might be what Uncle Qrow was talking about, too, about 'Kingdom folk' and whatever heritage he and Raven possess. But we technically possess it, too, whether they want to admit that or not.

"If you can't prove that Grimm are real, then how can you prove that magic is not?" Raven asked tersely. "When you currently have the same amount of evidence for both of them existing in the same building?"

Blake and Yang were exchanging wide eyed glances behind Weiss's shoulders while the heiress visibly considered the merits of flipping the nearby dirty sofa and shouting. Uncle Qrow croaked blithely on Ruby's shoulder.

"But I don't have the exact same amount of evidence!" Weiss nearly started pulling her hair in frustration. "We obviously have more evidence for Grimm existing overall than we do for magic of all the Dust damned things!"

"What's he then?" Raven pointed at Qrow. Qrow cawed cheerfully, and Ruby started giggling quietly.

He's a flipping CROW, and it is SO silly-

Weiss frowned.

"...A previously undocumented Semblance," Weiss said, sounding unconvinced.

"You already know his Semblance is bad luck. Mine is portals, by the way. Do we have two Semblances each?"

"No, but you could be using someone else's glyphs or any manner of things," Weiss countered smugly. "It isn't that uncommon a technique."

"Well where are they, then?" Raven looked around pointedly.

"I don't know where you might have hidden them! Your pockets, the floorboards, anywhere! It depends on the type of glyph! I know you had some out earlier, but I can't prove you are using them now!"

"So you don't have actual evidence that we are using a Semblance, either?" Raven cocked her head.

"It is far more probable that you are using some kind of Semblance glyph to cause an illusion or potentially shapeshift, than it is that you are using magic," Weiss persisted coldly, unimpressed. "Just because something is inexplicable in the moment, does not mean it is magic. Otherwise, we would claim that gravity is magic, too."

"Or," Raven started with a small grin. Ruby rolled her eyes in droll amusement.

I'm the smartest! No, I'm the smartest! NO, I'm the smartest! My sword is pointier than your sword- NUH UH, MINE IS!

"Magic is a natural force like gravity. Whose effects on reality we can see, feel and in some cases measure; but whose exact nature is currently a mystery."

Weiss made that little face where it was obvious she was considering what was being said, but she was still very unhappy about it.

"I suppose that has some potential as an explanation," Weiss conceded, marginally. "But I need more evidence to come to an honest conclusion. You still haven't provided or shown me anything that can't be explained by other means, and I'm starting to think that you either can't or don't want to, despite claiming our lives are in danger due to it. Hence why I think you're trying to manipulate us."

Uncle Qrow hopped down from Ruby's shoulder suddenly and shifted back into his normal lanky self. Ruby was not sure she would ever get used to that, and going off the look on Yang's face, she didn't think her sister would, either.

"And you still haven't proven to me that Grimm are real," Raven hummed, cocking her head.

Weiss made a familiar, outraged noise that indicated an oncoming rant. However, Ruby decided that now was the time to enforce a break for the night, mostly for her partner's sake. Before Weiss had an existential meltdown.

"Hey, so," Ruby strode into the little circle. "It's getting late. We still have to do the mission in the morning, and for that, we need to get some actual sleep. I think we should stop here for tonight. At least with the world shattering revelations or whatever?"

Weiss didn't look like she was ready to let anything go at all, but after a small, tense moment, she acquiesced with a nod. Ruby smiled at her partner, trying to reassure and balance her.

It's gonna be ok, Weiss….

Ruby realized she was genuinely worried about how her partner was reacting, and how this was going to affect their own relationship going forwards. Because if Weiss couldn't accept that maybe magic was real? Then how would she accept that part of Ruby herself?

Because Ruby genuinely believed that magic was very real and a part of her and Yang's family. Her own memories of childhood, of the impossible necklace hanging around her neck, and the things she had just witnessed, were all enough evidence for Ruby to believe.

Magic existing? Explained everything that she had felt was missing for so long. It made total sense to her, like breathing made sense, or using her Semblance. It just fit.

Uncle Qrow was moving around, setting up the room for people to try to lay out in. However, he was giving his sister an odd look, his eyes continuously pulling towards the grate, his body language concerned. Ruby realized that he hadn't known about the Unseelie working for Raven, either.

Hmm.

Raven popped up and moved towards the door to the hallway again. Ruby frowned slightly.

"Are you leaving us in here with those things runnin around loose?" Qrow rasped, looking genuinely irritated.

"No," Raven said. "I need to go take care of something, though. It won't take long, and the Unseelie won't bother you; they were just bored earlier."

That's...that's why she gave them a toy. She knew they were bored .

Weiss and Yang were both giving Raven marginally appalled stares, while Qrow scowled, a near snarl on his face.

"Those things aren't gonna leave her alone, Raven, no matter what you think you're doin to control them-"

Raven looked on the verge of snapping at him.

"Um, hold up!" Ruby held her hand up. "How about I just come with you?"

Raven and Qrow, who had both been bristling up at each other a bit like a bird staring at its reflection in a window, glanced at her in near unison.

"Ya know, so the little spooky guys aren't trying to climb down the chimney or whatever?" Ruby wheedled. "Problem solved, right?"

Raven hesitated briefly, before acquiescing and putting her helm back on.

"Fine. Come on."

Weiss popped up immediately.

"Well then, I'm coming with you too," Weiss informed them both.

Raven paused, looking back over her shoulder. One didn't have to see her face to see her opinion about that idea. Weiss folded her arms and arched a defiant brow.

"You have pet Grimm running all over the place and you want us to believe magic is real. I am not leaving my partner alone with you and finding her body in a landfill in the morning."

Ruby simpered a little, awkwardly glancing between her mom and her partner.

"Oh?" Raven drawled sardonically. "That's why you want to tag along, is it?"

Weiss's face flushed immediately at Raven's tone, but she didn't back down.

"Sure then, why not? Come on, Weiss!" Raven clapped her shoulder, before turning and opening the door. "Fastest way to learn about something is in the field, after all."

Weiss glared suspiciously at the back of Raven's head, immediately wary of how quickly she changed her mind.

"Wait, wait, hold up," Qrow started, suspicion bleeding into his voice as well. "Where are you going?"

"On an adventure, brother!" Raven waved playfully. There was something shiny and silver in her hand, and Qrow immediately stiffened, his face hardening.

"Nope, you're staying here," Qrow insisted, his tone turning unnaturally authoritarian.

"I certainly am not-" Weiss started.

"Weiss, your haughty little butt is staying right here, or I am sending you back to Beacon with a failing grade!" Qrow snapped.

A chorus of angry noises and arguing promptly broke out in the apartment. Raven was already walking off, laughing her way down the hallway. Ruby, torn between getting more answers as soon as possible and taking care of her teammates, met Yang's eyes briefly; Yang, who had immediately fallen into arguing with Uncle Qrow on Weiss's behalf, jerked her head towards the door. Ruby mouthed a quick 'thank you', before darting out the door and into the pitch black hall that lay waiting on the other side.


She strode quickly down the hallway, keeping a careful eye on the astral movement in her periphery. The helm was picking up a lot of spiritual activity in the area, though most of it was Grimm and other restless dead who had yet to either succumb to a Grimm manifestation or move on elsewhere after they died. However, as per usual these days, it wasn't the Grimm in the region she was particularly concerned with.

"Sooo, where are we going?"

Raven paused midstep.

She's just as quiet on her feet as her mother...

Raven held the mirror up, flashing it over her shoulder.

"The mirrorways," Raven explained, glancing back.

Ruby had followed her without Weiss it seemed, which was honestly a surprise. Raven narrowed her eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back and check on them?" Raven asked after a moment. "I seem to recall someone giving me a speech earlier about everyone sticking together?"

"I want to learn more about this mirror-place," Ruby insisted, squinting up at her. In the near dark, her night eyes were flashing. "And you said it wouldn't take long. Also, why can't Weiss come with us?"

"She can," Raven replied. "I invited her, remember?"

Ruby was not particularly impressed with this answer.

"Why did Uncle Qrow react like that then, hm?"

"Likely because he's afraid the mirrorways will drive her temporarily mad," Raven explained, shrugging a little.

A brief second elapsed.

"Mom!"

"Whaaat?" Raven drawled. "It's temporary!"

And it's not like she was going to actually let her into the mirror-ways without some kind of protection. Even it would have been a very good lesson. You can't really doubt the existence of magic in any of Hecate's domains. It's like doubting the existence of water while swimming in the sea.

"Wh-" Ruby rubbed her eyes in frustration. "Well are we going cookoo for coconuts, too?"

Raven followed the motions of a supernal entity to their left, who was glaring at the pair of them with pale, blank eyes and drawing closer towards Ruby's own muted, silver aura. After perceiving Raven's wards and protections, however, the entity faded through the wall and headed for the higher planes with a disgruntled hiss. It would certainly rat them out to the mimics in the area.

"No."

"Why?" Ruby asked, oblivious of the creatures around her.

At least for now, anyways.

"Because you're an aetheri, and because I have a magic helmet," Raven replied tersely. "It's more complicated than that, but people without magical protection, who aren't aetheri, can't physically enter the mirrorways without going apeshit for a while- and that applies to you too, Blake."

A soft curse, and a dark, curious head poked around the corner by the stairs. Ruby snickered briefly at the sight of her teammate, before trying to save face when Raven glanced at her. Blake had obviously used her Semblance to try to follow her without being spotted, likely leaving a copy of herself behind in the room earlier and ghosting out behind Raven.

Blake, realizing she had been caught red handed, smiled after a moment and held up her wrist, where the bracelet of teeth still hung. "Would this help me go less apeshit?"

She's more on the ball than Weiss when it comes to handling this topic. But considering who her parents are, I'm not surprised.

"No," Raven snorted. "We'd need something much more potent than that. Hecate's realm is not fond of trespassers. It will kick your ass if you aren't on the guest list."

"Aw," Blake's ears drooped.

Raven paused, considering the merits of letting Blake come with them. With the Spring Maiden's power, she could technically craft something for Blake that would protect her mind inside the mirror-ways; because the Mantle of Spring held sway over the magical domains of Mind and Knowledge. A rather ironic ability, in Raven's opinion, but still useful.

Yet in days previous, Raven would have never even considered using this aspect of the Maiden's power so openly, given their location and the entities trying to spy on them. But now, well.

Things had changed.

It was time to stop running, and to send a message instead.

And if Ozpin finds out who has Spring's mantle this way, then so be it. Let him sweat and scheme away in his little tower. I want him to be nervous for once.

"Tch, fine," Raven groused, shaking her head. "Here then. Let me see that bracelet."

Blake perked up, and Ruby shuffled closer, both of the girl's eyes glinting in the dark. The toothy bracelet was pressed into Raven's outstretched fingers, and she called up the Maiden's powers; somewhere, in the deepest trenches of her mind, she could sense her connection to Salem stirring curiously.

Electric blue and crimson fire trailed down Raven's arms and wrapped suddenly around the bracelet, while Ruby jumped with an excited squeak. Blake gaped, her ears flicking as she stepped carefully forwards, watching as Raven charged the bracelet with further protections.

"So, what I am doing," Raven started to explain her actions, while remaining focused on the details of the spell. "Is essentially supercharging this charm. It is a powerful ward in its own way, but it is ah...only programmed to protect against astral spies and parasites. So I am layering on extra parameters to the spell's framework, to make it an effective shield against the mirror-ways mental attacks."

"Holy cow?" Ruby bounced on her toes, grinning brightly. "How are you doing that? That is so awesome - can I do that?"

"Can anyone learn how to do this?" Blake asked, fascinated despite her more reticent nature.

"With the particular path I'm using now? No," Raven said, threading the new layers into the bracelet carefully. "But there are other branches of magic that are more available. And much less risky to the caster, if less physically powerful."

"Why is it risky?" Ruby asked immediately, because of course she did.

"Because it is technically a curse," Raven droned wryly, before wrapping the spell up. "And curses are generally pretty shitty, even if they come with perks."

The stirring in the back of her mind grew irritated at this monicker, and Raven brushed the connection away.

Get out of here, nerd.

Blake and Ruby stared at her.

"Who cursed you?" Ruby asked, looking upset.

Raven winced behind her helm.

Gods, I am just getting all the winning questions today, aren't I?

"My personal lack of foresight," Raven said, her tone sarcastic. "Now. That will work, but we still need to be careful in there. You stay next to me and Ruby the entire time - hell, you hold Ruby's hand actually - and don't let go no matter what. Got it? Or we'll have to scoop up what's left of your body, and salt and ash your mimic."

And Yang will never, ever, ever forgive me, ever.

"Great," Blake droned. "Cool. Got it."

Ruby promptly shoved her hand out for Blake to hold, smiling innocently. Blake hesitated briefly, before shyly taking Ruby's hand with a small smile. Raven fought the powerful urge to start chuckling at the sappy looks on their little faces.

Uh oh.

"Okay, lovebirds," Raven said wryly, getting a quietly panicked reaction from them both. She nearly died struggling not to laugh at it. "Let's go surprise some mimics, shall we."

She tossed Summer's mirror up, muttering the entrance incantation. Summer always pre-spelled an entrance incantation on her mirrors, to make it easy for Raven or the boys to enter the mirror-ways in the event of an emergency.

The mirror flashed, a blinding silver light washed over the trio, and when the light finally faded? They were gone.