More good news. The book is 2-3rd's complete. So that's good news! I may spend the next few weeks finishing it up, I am sorry for the slow updates here, I know it must suck for those who look forward to this story getting updated. That time will come, just taking my time with life for now.

Beta: CrowSkull

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 105

Volume 4, Episode 5

Foreseen Distrust

Orchid Rosa, the recently initiated Spring Maiden, gasped as she looked over the massive kingdom of Mistral. The view that she saw while standing at the top of a hill looking over the city was a great one, and her friends thought so as well. When Qrow told them that they were close to Mistral, she almost didn't believe it. The journey still felt like it had just started, and almost like they were still in Vale just trying to find a legal way to get to the continent and preparing for the trip on top of that. Seeing Mistral again after so long made her think of memories of the past. She hadn't been to Mistral since the previous Vytal Festival when she was still in Signal, back when Shae, Rick, and Brick were still alive, and back when Cyan and Two were around as well. She felt sad, remembering them. But felt sadder still when she wished that Kai and Ruby and Blake were with her as well. They were all doing their own thing, two of them going to Menagerie to try and help to deal with the leadership of the White Fang, and the last one still missing ever since the defeated battle of Vale. Still, it was a decent consolation that Jaune, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, Yang, and Cardin were all still with her, even if the last one wasn't always a friend. They all made up for the empty feeling in her heart, and the crazy things that went on in her head. Ever since Vernal transferred the power over to her, her personalities have been getting progressively more and more difficult to control, and a new one came on top of them all. Definitely a result of Vernal willingly transferring the power of the spring maiden over to her directly.

The group decided to take a small break on top of that hill as they looked over Mistral. They had finally made it, and the exhaustion and fatigue from months of traveling were finally bearing down on them. They couldn't rest forever, however, and Qrow made sure to let them know that. They had to still get into Mistral, and Qrow still needed to speak to Leonardo Lionheart about their transfer and about the fortifications of Mistral. Them knowing about the maidens, Salem, and the relics as well would have to be mentioned as well. Apparently, Lionheart was an ally to headmaster Ozpin before he died, and a trusted one at that. Orchid recalled that she never met the faunus headmaster before, not even during the first tournament. So this was going to be a first for her, just like everyone else.

They traveled down the final road down to Mistral's gates, and the Atlesian guards were ready to intercept them. Qrow made sure to warn them that they had to raise their hands and let their weapons be shown. In cases like these, that was protocol for huntsmen and huntresses so that Atelsian soldiers wouldn't assume them to be enemies. The guards yelled down at them, and thankfully Qrow handled all of the talking, telling the soldiers that he was there to help and that he knew the headmaster of Haven personally. He also explained that the teenagers behind him are all former students of Beacon, and they are there to transfer to Haven. After complying with their demands to see his identification, as well as everyone else's, the soldiers couldn't find a reason to turn them away and allowed them into the kingdom. Immediately, Mistral was far different from Vale as far as she and the others could tell. Even more so than from the last time they had been there. The place was much more active, and Atlas had clearly integrated themselves in another allied kingdom over the time since Vale fell. It was obvious even by just arriving there that the population of Mistral increased significantly, as most of the refugees from Vale had settled there or in Argus or even Atlas. It was booming with activity, there wasn't a single part of the road or sidewalk that wasn't occupied with some kind of business or security. It also seemed that Mistral had been growing its own military ever since Vale fell in order to combat the Grimm and internal threats, that way it wouldn't be as easy for the White Fang to do the same thing to Mistral as it did to Vale and destroy it from the inside and make it far easier for a full-scale invasion. They were preparing, which was really good, in Orchids mind. If Mistral was ready for an attack then that would mean that Cinder would think twice about her next target. Mistral was easily the hardest to attack next, right after Atlas at that. Vacuo, despite its lack of technological advances, would also be difficult to truly defeat thanks to the scorching hot sun and deserts making it difficult to even get there in the first place. They weren't there to inspect the security of Mistral, however, they were there to get into Mistral, and help Qrow find any weaknesses in its security, and with the help of the spring maiden, Orchid, potentially sneak the relic of knowledge out before it could even be put in danger.

Now that they were in Mistral, all they had to do next was get to Haven. Which was thankfully easy to locate. It was like Beacon in a way, only that it wasn't built on top of a massive cliff that looked over an ocean and instead well within the walls of Mistral. It acted almost as the town hall of the massive city which housed millions at this point. It was almost just as big as Beacon, and after getting some extra supplies with the rest of the money that they had been saving just for this occasion, they made their way to the school.

Surprisingly, Haven had no guards protecting its entrance. The gates were unlocked, and they were able to just stroll in without any issue. The first courtyard was empty, and the fountains that would usually be constantly spouting water were dull and turned off. It was very off-putting, and the fact that Haven was inactive at a time where the world needed huntsmen and huntresses the most was a ridiculous idea they were all surprised that the council would ever even consider.

"This is weird," Jaune pointed out what everyone was already thinking. "There's nobody here… How are we supposed to say that we are transferring here when the school isn't even in season?"

"It doesn't make sense," Cardin said. "Didn't the soldier at the gates let us in once we told him that we were transferring here though? Why would he do that if he knew that the school wasn't even active?"

"He either decided not to tell us, or he didn't know," Ren suggested.

"How is that possible?" Yang asked. "How could anyone not be able to tell that Haven wasn't training huntsmen and huntresses? The place is being prepped for war, Mistral is even training its own military, so why would they just not know?"

"You'd be surprised what people could ignore when they have too much on their plates," Qrow said, quick to explain once he got everyone's attention. "Right now, Mistral is training its own military for the first time since before the Great War almost a century ago. With Atlas occupying their lands and huntsmen and huntresses like us coming in and out of the city is bound to overwork them. Besides, with the Valean refugees and this place being renown for its crime families and certain business ordeals, I'm surprised that they are able to get anything done as it is."

"Doesn't Mistral already have the police force?" Nora asked.

"They do," Pyrrha answered for her. "However, it is similar to Vale's police force. They can only do so much and be in so many places at once. It won't be enough on its own, and what happened in Vale only exacerbates the problem." Having lived in Mistral for most of her life, there was no mistaking her knowledge. She was known as the champion of Mistral after all, of course, she would know a lot about her own home kingdom. "I used to be against such things… but now, I do believe that we need a military."

"We do," Qrow agreed. "Atlas is already spread thin as it is. With helping the refugees from Vale come over to Mistral, Argus, and other places along with taking care of them, they also have to try and secure Mistral and Atlas with the remaining manpower they have left. They won't admit it publicly, but they are severely weakened after the fall. When it comes to Vacuo, we're just going to have to hope that they can handle themselves. They're good at sticking alone though, so I wouldn't be too worried about the sandiest kingdom of them all."

"Back on topic, however. Let's go have a chat with Lionheart. He knows that we're coming, but it's best that we have a talk with him nevertheless. We might even be able to convince him to let us get the relic out early so we can get it out of danger since we have Orchid here." Qrow looked at Orchid and she nodded back. She didn't know how exactly she'd be able to open the vault in the first place, but she was told that she'd know when she got there. This meant that Qrow didn't really know either, he only knew that a maiden of that specific type had to be there in order to unlock the vault. Getting him to finally admit that was amusing, to say the least. In any case, if they were able to steal the relic of knowledge before Cinder could, that would throw a large wrench into her plans.

And so they made their way into the school, which was just as empty as the courtyard was on the outside. There were students present, but they looked bored and tired, likely due to not having much to do other than training and helping out with the preparations. There was nobody that they recognized, and they only got a few looks of confusion which led to nothing as they made their way to the stairs. Orchid paused in the center of the large room, however. She stared up at the large statue of a woman with revealing clothing that was set above a large circular set of markings on the floor which must have acted as decoration. Still, she couldn't help but admire the work of the statue, it was strangely detailed and she liked it. She snapped out of that train of thought when Yang reminded her that they were finally in Haven, and they were no about to go speak to the headmaster of Haven. With a conceited sigh, Orchid followed her blonde friend to the stairs. But stopped again when she saw a student of Mistral which she actually recognized.

"Woah!" Sun Wukong excitedly exclaimed when he saw them all coming up the stairs. He was holding a stack of books, moving it for the favor of one of the teachers perhaps. "You guys are here! I- Wow!" Dropping those books, he made his way down the stairs and met them in the middle. It was more accurate to say that Nora met him in the middle, hugging the blonde monkey faunus and crushing his spine as she usually did to her friends after not seeing them for a long time.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sun asked, still excited to see them, "Wait, that's a stupid question, I think I can figure it out. You guys are transferring here?"

"That's right," Qrow answered for them. "And I'm sorry to break up this little cute reunion of yours, but we have to go talk to the headmaster. Do you know if he's in, kid?"

"Oh, him?" Sun sighed through his nose. "Yeah, he's in his office as always. He never leaves it, always has something he needs to work on."

"Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?" Pyrrha asked, raising an eyebrow. From her knowledge, Leonardo Lionheart was supposed to be a man of great virtue, someone who was recommended for the position of headmaster of Haven by Ozpin himself. "He's the headmaster, isn't he supposed to have a lot of work?"

"Yeah, that's what we were thinking too, but he practically never leaves his office." Sun replied. "And I mean never. He only does when he has to use the bathroom and eat, and sometimes he has this worried look on his face, sometimes he has a goofy one, but any time any of us ask him anything about restarting Haven, or if there is anything for us to do, he just tells us to figure it out for ourselves. He's doing work, sure, but he's not doing work for us if you get what I mean."

"Yes… I think we do." Qrow said with a sigh. "I'll talk to him, kid, we'll try and figure something out. Come on guys, let's get ourselves situated with what's going on here and then rest for the rest of the day. We've been traveling for long enough."

"Alright, I'll leave you guys be then," Sun said, going back up the stairs to pick his books back up. "Don't be a stranger, alright? I'll be happy to show you guys around once you guys are all rested up. And er… what's your name again?" he asked, looking at Cardin.

Cardin scoffed. "Name's Cardin, Cardin Winchester."

"Winchester? Aren't you a bully or something?"

Cardin had to take a deep breath when he heard everyone snicker at what he said. After calming himself down with a sigh, Cardin shook his head. Not at the answer, but just at stuff in general. "Yes, I was before. Not now though, or at least I hope these assholes don't see me that way anymore."

"Nah, you're good now Cardin," Nora said, heftily patting the large armored boy on the back. "He redeemed himself, so now he's a friendly little tsundere."

"I am not!" Cardin exclaimed.

"Ah, I see." to Cardin's horror, Sun agreed. "I have someone like that on my team too, pretends to be a dick to everyone but really holds them real close, y'know? Anyway, let me actually stop distracting you guys, go talk to Leo, he's in his office like I said."

"Thanks," Qrow led away from the teens and brought them to where he remembered Leonardo's office to be. It was at the end of a hallway that had pictures posted of every headmaster of Haven that lived up until now. Leonardo had a picture as well, but he was clearly vandalized in some capacity. There were… derogatory markings drawn on his face, as well as thick black words calling him a coward across his eyes. Clearly, what Sun said about him was the nicest way to put what people felt about Lionheart right now. He hoped that they were simply overreacting, he really did. He knocked on Lionheart's door, and the headmaster hesitated to answer, only getting up when Qrow announced himself to have returned.

"Qrow!" Leonardo exclaimed when he opened the doors to his office. He had a relieved smile on his face upon seeing him. "It is good to see you. I trust that these are the kids that you told me about before?"

"Yeah," Qrow pointed a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the seven behind him. "They're all here to transfer, but that's just the public knowledge."

Lionheart raised an eyebrow. "Just public knowledge? What do you mean?"

"I mean that officially, they are going to be transferring students from Beacon coming over to Haven. But in reality, they are going to be helping keep the relic safe."

"The relic- Qrow, the kids, did you tell them!?"

"I did," Qrow admitted. "They deserved to know after-" Qrow cut himself off, surprised when he felt Lionheart reach forward and grab him by his collar.

"Are you mad!? These kids are hardly huntsmen in training!" Leonardo yelled. "Hardly students at all for that matter! They're first years, aren't they? That means that they were at Beacon for little more than a single semester! What cursed your drunken mind to make a decision like that!?"

"One that needed to be made," Qrow said, gently prying off Leonardo's hand from his collar. The one he'd been traveling with behind him were shocked at the complete display of distrust the headmaster of Haven had shown despite not knowing them at all. Qrow stood up for them, however, and gently shoved the headmaster back when he attempted to brush past him to get a better view of them all. "These kids may not have as much experience as we'd like but they sure as hell make up for it in teamwork and skill. After everything that's happened and everything we've been through on the way here, I can say that I vouch for them, and besides, I had to tell them. The Spring Maiden is here."

"The Spring Maiden-" Leonardo's eyes widened even further. He looked over them all a second time, looking at the girls specifically. When his eyes landed on Orchid and she looked away, he scoffed, annoyed somehow. "You didn't tell me that particular piece of information, which one of them is her?"

"I am," Orchid said after gaining the confidence she needed with the help of Yang. She stepped up besides Qrow, her magenta eyes blinking once as she let out a slow sigh. When she opened her eyes again, they burst into flames. Leonardo looked at her with shock, in disbelief that she was actually the spring maiden. Upon seeing her, he seemed to calm down significantly. Bowing his head and apologizing to them all for his ignorance. A complete one-eighty on the way he had treated them before.

"Don't worry about it," Qrow said, scratching one of his ears. "Listen, we'll have a deeper talk about everything once we all get a few hours rest. We've been traveling for almost a year straight, is there anywhere that we can all chill in for the time being?"

"Ah, yes, there is a house that is implemented into the school. It is not in use right now, as most of our staff is busy with the fortifications of the kingdom. But you may use it for as long as you need to."

"Thanks." Qrow nodded at him, and then flicked his chin over to them. "Let's get to that house then, I think I remember where it is. I used to crash there every once in a while whenever I flew over here in the past."

"It is the one you're thinking of," Lionheart remarked. "I am sure you can find it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more work that needs to be done. Get yourself situated and when the time comes, we can talk more about the other of which shall not be mentioned here. Good day."

Blake looked at the view of Menagerie from the ship with wide yellow eyes. She was looking forward to landing on her home island, where she grew up and met Ilia and Adam and all the other friends she made before she joined the White Fang. Life was better back then, she never had to worry about being prejudiced, but when her father and mother created the White Fang, she couldn't help but have her eyes opened to the truth. The faunus were in the worst place that they have been in a very long time, especially after the defeated battle of Vale. They were being more than prejudiced, they were being cast out of their homes, they were being hunted and kicked out from their kingdoms. The council and authorities of course outlawed this, but with the looming threat of the Grimm and the White Fang attacking another kingdom, they were spread thin. Actually spread thin for once. Her home was in front of her and it was… booming, was the only word she could use to describe it. There were so many people, so many faunus from all over the world, and most of them were faunus. Faunus of every kind, fish faunus, bird faunus, insect faunus, canine faunus, feline faunus - every kind you could imagine was here. It was so active on top of that, but there was one thing that Blake was not sure of, there was only one thing about the island of Menagerie, her old home, that unsettled her.

The White Fang. They weren't even attempting to hide here. They were walking freely on the roads and paths in uniforms and with their masks on their faces, they were vocally advertising the White Fang and trying to lure in more recruits. To make things worse, people were listening to them. After everything that they've done, it made Blake's blood boil, and it showed on her face. Between having to hide in a cramped cabin with a grown man and Ruby because of the people onboard thinking that it was somehow their fault that the sea monster Grimm attacked them, the fact that they had to travel for so long to get there, and now this? She felt her fists clench tightly. But then she stopped, releasing her anger in one explosive sigh. She couldn't just run and find Adam and tell her to stop, not only would it never work, but she may as well be screaming to the entire island that she has returned. She was already known because of her relation to Ghira and Kali Belladonna, and if wasn't obvious enough by her appearance to most, almost any faunus here may have seen her in the past and would be able to pick her out.

"It's okay," Ruby said, patting her on the shoulder and smiling brightly at her. "I know you must be nervous, but trust me, everything will be okay. The White Fang here is peaceful, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Blake confirmed. "They don't really show how violent they are in reality. I wouldn't be surprised if the attack on Vale was heavily censored and sugar-coated over here. They might have even convinced most here that they had to attack Vale for one reason or another."

"Ah, so the most manipulative of the White Fang are here," Taiyang said, nodding his head with understanding. "Of course, it makes sense that the one place in the world that is ninety-nine percent faunus would be the smartest of the White Fang only to recruit more men and women to their cause. Though it doesn't look like they are extremely successful, they are getting support, but not a lot seems to have actually signed up."

"I noticed that too," Blake said. "Vale didn't fall a super long time ago, but it would have been long enough for the White Fang to replace most of the men they lost. Yet from first glance, you're right, they don't look extremely successful."

"That must be why they have been waiting for so long to strike again. They don't have enough men." Blake smiled, feeling relieved.

"That's good, that gives us time to do what we need to do here," Ruby remarked. "But first, we need to go talk to your parents. You know the way, right?" She added, putting on her hood in the process to lightly disguise herself.

Blake pulled her hood back down. "Here in Menagerie, it's always summer. You'd draw more attention to yourself with your hood up than with it down."

"Ah… right." Ruby laughed nervously, thanking her for pointing that out.

"As for speaking to my parents… yes, I know the way," Blake said as the ship started dropping its anchor. "I never forgot this place. I used to live here for a long time before my parents made the White Fang."

"You didn't always live here though, right?" Ruby asked. "Didn't you go to Atlas and Mistral and the rest of the kingdoms?"

"When I joined the White Fang, yes," Blake explained quietly. "It was soon after I met Adam and Ilia. We were peacefully protesting around the world, taking tours as bands do you could say. But then we started getting attacked, again and again." Blake sighed. "I didn't think much of Adam training so much as he did, it was to protect us, or so I always thought. I didn't think he would have become so ruthless."

"Not saying I don't believe you or calling you a liar, but it doesn't look like he's being ruthless here." Taiyang pointed out. "From what I heard from Qrow, he's aggressive but calm-minded when fighting. You can learn a lot from someone just by the way they fight, and even though he fought to kill and with malice behind it, it was only ever because he was the only one who could. Ever think of it like that?"

"Yes…" Blake said slowly. "I can't say I really know him anymore… He's changed so much over the years. He went from as normal as you can expect, to a ruthless brute that terrified me, to cold and cunning and strategic and dares I say… merciful."

"I think we can talk to him," Ruby said. "Yang told me about him sparing you guys. He has good in him, I've never met him, but I can tell."

"Ruby…" Blake wished she could be as hopeful as her teammate. She really did. "We'll decide on that when we get the chance… but first, we have other things to do."

"Agreed, let's go. I've been getting more than sick of this damn boat," Taiyang said, grimacing as he held back a nauseated gulp.

"I did always want to meet your parents, Blake," Ruby added, smiling as she followed them off the ship. "They sound like good people."

"They are…" Blake admitted. "They really are."

Aiden moved ahead of Kai and Neo and just as planned. Making his way to the ticket booth where he spoke to the clerk, and managed to successfully purchase four tickets. Two were for Neo and Kai, of course, and the third was for him, but there was a fourth that he had to give to a special someone who was going to be following them regardless of whether or not he bought the fourth ticket. After buying the tickets and stuffing them in his pocket, Aiden walked out of the village and into the woods, just as planned, but instead, he made his way into a different part of the forest, far out of reach of Kai's senses. He made sure of that, before he met with him officially he made sure to study his range. He started out far and made his way closer, using the scope of a sniper rifle as binoculars in order to see how far or close he was. Any time he got too close, Kai would spark up and get set on guard, which was around eight hundred feet or so in a constant radius. However, when he was fighting he could tell that he was a lot more focused, which meant that he could probably see much farther with his senses if he concentrated. There wasn't an official deadline of how far Kai's senses reached, but Aiden suspected that it had to at least be in the thousands. Which was insane, it was far longer than Malikai's ever was, but that was probably due to Kai being blind. His way of seeing was his other four senses plus the seismic sense. That meant that Kai had to have evolved it significantly throughout his life. He knew this because he had to, if he was meant to betray the kid someday, it was good to know what he was good at and what he was bad at. His strengths and his weaknesses. Because in all honesty, Aiden was not sure that he could beat the young huntsman in training in a straight fight.

Sure, he had experience and preparation on his side. But Kai Matsuoka was a monster, just like his father was. His semblance was insanely powerful, his body was conditioned to the peak of human and faunus capabilities. He was strong, he was fast, he could take many hard hits, and on top of that all, he had silver eyes and a weapon that was designed for silver-eyed warriors. Even if he somehow restricted Kai from using his eyes to just one-shot him if a surprise attack failed, Kai still had his sword. He recognized it from when Malikai used it, and Malikai wasn't as good at using its powers, but he was definitely an expert at least. Kai on the other hand… didn't try to control it, when he wanted to use its power, he used it, and he didn't hold back. He watched first hand what that sword could do against powerful Grimm that was specifically created for a diversion like that for him to get close and earn their trust when he butted into the fight.

Setting aside the elements of his semblance, he looked at himself. His semblance was similar to magnetism, but only with a certain type of metal, which was zinc. With the mastery of his semblance and firearms, it was a deadly combination with his specially made zinc bullets. Sadly, however, zinc was not in every weapon, and even if there was, it usually wasn't enough for his semblance to gain a strong hold on it. It was a unique semblance, but not extremely useful in most situations. With that in mind, Aiden had to reluctantly admit to himself that no, he did not believe he stood much of a chance against Kai. Maybe, just maybe if he caught him off guard when he didn't have his weapon and Neo wasn't around, maybe if he was already tired and low on the aura, but when he's fresh at full strength and angry with hatred at him? No shot. That is all without taking Neo into account. Unlike Kai, he was more confident in taking her on, but she was still mostly unknown. He knew her semblance and her fighting style after watching her these past few months, but that's about it. Which was why he couldn't do it by himself, and he couldn't risk taking that chance if he ever managed to catch Kai off guard with his back turned to him.

Tyrian Callows. One of the few men who had survived several encounters with Malikai in the past, and was the one who nearly killed him once with the help of Hazel and catching him supremely off guard while talking to one more of his surviving teammates. The poor fool, Aiden wasn't entirely pleased hearing of the loss of the R of Team MAVR, but he warned him countless times that remaining in contact with Malikai would only lead to bad things. He wished things could have been different, but this just wasn't that alternate timeline. Tyrian was powerful in his own right, very powerful. He was able to fight Kai to a standstill once and fought Malikai multiple times throughout their time being on different sides of the war. He didn't know how he was able to do it, but that was a strength he knew he could rely on. So, as the man who was about to own the fourth ticket, this was their time to decide on what they wanted to do in the future of their alliance with each other.

"I'm here!" Aiden called out as he made it to a small clearing in the woods.

"I see!" A voice immediately replied. Out of one of the trees overhead, Tyrian fell and hung from a branch by his tail. His wild yellow eyes looked into his and he smiled upon seeing him. "I see, I see indeed. You truly are a man of your word, I must say!"

"I made a vow and I aim to fulfill that vow," Aiden said. "But I still need to know if you're really with me. It's a concern of mine, you see. Knowing you and your past, you don't exactly have a good reputation."

"Ah, the sting goes to my heart! Bwa!" Tyrian dramatically drawled, spinning and landing on the ground gracefully. He stood up straight and brushed one hand over his eyes, pretending to sob and gasp. His trench coat flapped wildly as he spun on his heel, bowing to Aiden mockingly. "You have no worries to worry about! I am also a man of my word, and believe me when I say that revenge will most certainly be sweet! Very sweet indeed, yes, I can't wait to smell the wonderful scent of blood!"

"Yeah…" Aiden was sufficiently creeped out. "Anyway, I have your ticket. Do try and get on the ship without making too much noise. If you get found out then my cover is probably blown, that or we'd have to fight each other to maintain my cover."

"And that is not something you want to test, hmmm?" Tyrian asked, leaning in quickly. His stinger rose over his shoulder and Aiden grimaced, stepping back and raising his hands as he did so.

"Not particularly, no. I only take fights I know I can win for sure, thank you very much."

"Smart! Very smart!" Tyrian laughed, throwing his head back as it grew in intensity. At the same time, his tail stabbed out and into one of Aiden's pockets, yanking him closer to him so that they could touch nose to nose. Tyrian grabbed his face and seemed to study him further. "I chose very well, yes, very well indeed. Not every day can you find a man so… so eager to betray his former teammates by hunting down his son, who has done nothing to you in the slightest, no, no, all he did was be born!" Tyrian laughed, letting go of Aiden and letting the man stagger back in a small panic.

"Heartless! So heartless! My oh my, I have outdone myself this time my Queen! I certainly did, haha!"

"Man, you really are insane," Aiden commented as he brushed himself down. In the next second, he took out the ticket and handed it to Tyrian. "Just take this and we'll deal with everything when the time comes. Deal?"

"Deal and a half!" Tyrian exclaimed, reaching out and grasping Aiden's hands in his. "Do not worry, in the case of your demise, believe me, you will be missed!"

"Yeah… thanks." Aiden took his hands away, wiping them down on his shirt as he did so. "Anyway, I should get back to the kid and his friend, I don't want them to start getting suspicious ideas in their heads."

"Of course, of course! Go on, I shall blend in with the ensuing crowd and arrive onboard! Do not worry, you will not even know I'm there! Hehehe."

Raven Branwen raised an eyebrow at the crash shit of a Bullhead not too far from where they were camped down. She thought of going there alone to investigate who could have survived and potentially take them in as a prisoner for ransom, but she got a better idea. She decided to take Malienna with her as well, since she was more than strong enough to take care of them both just in case anything happened, in the circumstance that Grimm arrives at the crash site faster or slower than they do, then it'd be good practice for the girl to use her silver eyes. Malienna didn't really have an option, and she knew that, so she easily set aside her food and went with her, climbing onto her back as Raven took her mask and put it on. They got to the crash site easily enough, the smoke in the air was like a beacon to any bandit like her. She hoped that whatever was in this crash site that it wouldn't be a waste of time, with her bandits getting antsy and bored from inaction, it would definitely spice things up if she was able to bring home a good haul that was worth a lot of money.

"Ah!" Raven widened her eyes and scoffed at what she saw. She expected a good haul from an Atlesian Bullhead, but she didn't expect the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company herself. "W-Who are you?"

"You must be Weiss Schnee," Raven said, prying away a hunk of metal and stepping into the ruined ship. "You must be worth a lot of money. I wonder how much Jacques Schnee would be willing to pay for you?"

"You… ugh, just my luck I crash-landed next to a bandit camp." Weiss groaned, rubbing her head as she tried to stand. Without aura and exhausted from the entire encounter with the Lancers, she couldn't hope to defend herself. "You're lucky I'm already worn out… this wouldn't be so easy for you otherwise."

"Somehow, I doubt that." Raven scoffed, flicking her hair to the side. A much smaller head popped over her shoulder as she did so, when Weiss met her eyes, she gasped.

"Wait, Raven, did you say Weiss?" Malienna asked ignorantly. "I know Weiss!"

"I know you!" Weiss exclaimed. "You're Kai's sister, Malienna!"

"You are Weiss!" Malienna hopped off of Raven's back and hopped over to her. "It's been so long!" She exclaimed, skipping over in front of her and grasping her hands as Weiss fell to her knees.

"Everyone thought you were… were…" Weiss held back a sob, smiling brightly as she looked down at the young girl. She regained control of herself when she glared back at Raven, who was looking at the two of them with a surprised expression hidden underneath her mask.

"And she called you Raven… Which means you're Raven Branwen, the one with the portals that I heard about." Weiss said, forcing herself to stand up with the help of Malienna. "What do you think you're doing with my friend's little sister?"

"You don't need to know," Raven said, sheathing her sword with a sigh. "But I guess now things have changed." She considered herself an idiot for assuming that Malienna and Weiss didn't somehow know each other. Really, that was such a stupid mistake. Then again, what were the damn chances that a random Bullhead would have Weiss Schnee in it!? "You're going to come back to camp with us, that'll be your new home for now."

"Oh, can I show her around when we get there!" Malienna asked excitedly.

Raven sighed again. Really, this was all just bad luck, she wondered if her brother was nearby causing this all to happen.

"Fine. But she's still going to the cage after you're done. Got it?"

So, after going back and reading some of the past shorts of Team MAVR that I've written, I've realized that Aiden's name shouldn't be Aiden, but Adrian. Sigh… this is what I get for relying on my memory. I knew something was up but I just couldn't figure it out. Agh, whatever, official retcon, Adrian is now Aiden. Lol. At least I have the excuse that I wrote that bit about MAVR over a year ago, so I have that on my side.

Also, I have an idea I'd like to share. So, clearly, I have sorta written Two and Cyan out of the story, and that was mostly due to because I just simply had too many characters to juggle around and I wanted to make it easier on myself. However, after learning about Crown from Vacuo in the book Before The Fall that stars mostly CFVY and SSSN, I figured that hey, there is a way for them to still have a role. Essentially, that entire arc is now also being handled by Two's OC team I have yet to announce here along with Cyan as well. Just wondering if I can use that convenience to my benefit, or if it would be too much of a cop out. Honestly, I might just resort to making little shorts with them at the end of some chapters just to get their story out there. Could be canon or no, but with my current plans, then it honestly depends on whether or not I want this story to go on past the Atlas arc. I may if I get some more ideas to make the story longer, but with it already being more than a hundred chapters long, I figure that it may end up making me stretch it longer than it needs to be just for the sake of it.

Well, thats a choice for the future me to figure out. Right now, I aim to finish another project of mine. There probably won't be another update for a few weeks as I try to finish my book, but I shall be back one day. Promise you that!