Clack. Clack. Clack.
The uneven symphony of stone against stone proceeded slowly onward – interrupted by fits of coughing – as Lapis and Hazel descended into the depths of Salem's purple mansion. This time they lacked the grand cylindrical staircase which she made to usher them, although in its place remained a ramp to appease her stubborn Summer Maiden. Progress was glacial at best.
"Your Eminence, I can let her know she's wanted above ground," he insisted respectfully. "There's no need to-"
"Even looking at the icon would kill you, big man," Lapis chided him via annoyed wheeze. "I only let you follow me 'cause mom wouldn't let it go otherwise."
"Yes ma'am."
At last, they reached the bottom. After waving at Hazel with her cane to make him stay put, Lapis tucked some gray hair behind her ear and began the long road down toward the icon's chamber. Halfway there, it became apparent where her target was – right up next to the base of the statue, legs crossed, eyes closed, blood streaming from one nostril like a leaky faucet. It cast a red shadow across the chest of her crimson dress. To get Cinder's attention, she flicked a lightning bolt down the tunnel.
The resulting crack of thunder forced Cinder's eyes open. "Yes?" she asked when Lapis reached the threshold.
"Mom wants you upstairs," she explained after one ragged breath. "And by the way, could you not kill yourself before I die? Defeats the point of you being here, you know."
"I won't." Cinder rose – slowly, unsteadily – and shambled away from the gleaming statue. Her steps became more certain the farther away she got; by the time they reached halfway along the gray tunnel, her gait was back to normal – despite the fact that her face looked like she'd lost a twelve-round boxing match. A handkerchief from a thigh pouch stifled the flow. "What's happening?" she asked when they reached Hazel.
"We're expecting a guest," he replied.
"A guest?"
No one clarified. They scaled the spiral ramp in silence – or while coughing – until it finally spat them back out into the mansion proper above. The laughter of children could be heard echoing elsewhere in the building, but this corridor held three women: Amber, Raven, and a rosy-cheeked Olivine still heating up from her jaunt in Sanus' frigid north. They were all armed; Raven with her gray rotary sheath, Amber with her staff, Olivine with her immense crimson sword.
"Basking in the icon?" asked the titan.
"Yes," Cinder confirmed. "For the past two hours."
"Two hours?!" Raven snapped.
"Good grief… come on, I'll help you get cleaned up." Amber shuttled Cinder away from them toward a side hallway.
After they vanished, Olivine crossed her arms and stared at Hazel. "Can you give us a minute?"
"Certainly." One bow later, Hazel trundled away down a different hall.
His departure returned the quiet. From some unfathomable corner of the building ticked a clock; its tenor changed as the mansion itself shifted under its mistress' will. Lapis glanced up as the corridor in which they stood became a circular, four-way junction. A few of the adult residents skittered by, bowing heads in stride to the three Maidens. She raised up as straight as she could to break the pall. "Dad doesn't think you can handle this guy, does he?"
"He knows I can't," Raven grumbled to herself. An armored pat on the shoulder from her big winter sister forced out a grunt.
After that, Olivine matched her unhappy demeanor. "He won't let me fight," she complained, driving the twin tips of her crimson blade into the plum-colored floor, then leaning on it with her arms crossed. "Part of this was originally mom's idea. Throw Grimm at him on Drakon until he fell."
"Now he wants to do that to Beacon?"
She shrugged at Raven. "We wanted to kill him. Now Ozpin wants to kill everyone around him, basically."
"Huh."
Olivine's hands went to her hips. "You seem tired."
"Yeah. Integrating my crew with Amber's is an ongoing process. Trying to get them used to trees and shit." Her face darkened. "Too late for Emerald."
"We will get her back. I promise." Lapis drew her pale bronze eyes. "What?"
"How were we so unprepared for one man?" she asked quietly.
"We didn't know what we didn't know," Amber stated as she returned down the hall to meet them. "They're ready for us."
"Yeah. Let's go." Olivine scooped up Lapis in the crook of one giant arm, grabbed her sword with the other hand, and walked off with Raven and Amber toward the current west wing of the ever-changing compound.
The meeting room's location had stayed the same, but its contents were different: the giant table used most of the time was replaced by a two-person, circular thing carved from the same type of stone and braced by matching chairs. It left a huge amount of space empty. After some fussing, Olivine released her displeased cargo and Lapis shuffled to one corner near the windows, where Cinder awaited. Raven occupied the corner across, while Amber and Olivine took the corners opposite on the wall where the entrance sat. Like her soon-to-be sisters, Cinder was armed. Her twin scimitars adorned each hip.
Salem arrived without a word, gliding across the floor and alighting in one of the chairs, which put her back to Cinder, Lapis, and Raven. "Don't overexpose yourself to the icon," she finally stated.
Cinder had no response. Ozpin entered a moment later and also sat down. One flick of Salem's wrist sealed the entrance.
He began proceedings. "It is 11:30 PM Vale time," he noted, eyeballing his Scroll, "so there's no great rush."
"Oh, yes, because you and I need to be in a hurry," Salem remarked sarcastically. "Ozma, we've gone from 'this man is a curiosity' to 'he knows enough to warrant destroying the planet's most prestigious combat school' in frighteningly short order, don't you think? The time for tightrope walking has passed. You promised me something that I don't think you can deliver."
"Salem, if he lives through this and I make the jump, I'll know everything he knows."
"Which is good news, 'cause I haven't been able to find anything on the north coast," Olivine admitted. "And I can't approach Vytal due to 4th Frontier Corps' operations there. Beyond heading west and starting from the Ruyter Peninsula, I dunno what else to do but go directly to Solitas."
"I don't need to know anything else! He's a threat to all of you. That's the only information I require."
"Uh, if he's not the only one, we're not going to know that if we kill him. Not for a while, anyway."
She regarded her autumn child with motherly disdain. "Raven tells me her brother went to him for assistance – which he provided, for some reason that is entirely beyond me. She also mentioned Qrow's hypothesis about his motives. I agree. Either he is too noble for his own good, or he's so powerful that he doesn't care. The latter seems likely, given what he has done to Amber and Raven, don't you agree?"
"Of course I do, which is why I relented when he professed a wish to stay at Beacon where we can keep tabs on him. Lady Branwen and Lady Duprix have been able to move around unmolested. The threat is controlled."
"You should have let me kill him when we had the chance," Olivine complained.
"He already makes you cry," Raven countered from across the room. "If my Maiden gave up, what would yours do?"
"Who knows. Maybe I'm better at bearing the mantle than you turned out to be."
Salem pounded an alabaster fist on the table. "Do not start."
Olivine clasped her hands behind her back. "Not starting anything, mom. Just saying. She's still new."
"Let's move on, I don't think there's any reason to doubt Raven's capability or yours." Amber twirled her staff idly in one hand. "It is weird, though, Fall didn't react much."
"Aaaaaaaaaaanyway," Lapis muttered; wind magic helped carry her weak voice to their ears. "Dad, what's your plan, exactly?"
He clasped his hands on the table. "A swarm attack against Beacon while I have its CCT access crippled. The objective is two-fold: first, wipe out the student population, and second, produce a better picture of Opher Riese's capability. The problem is how to attract the monsters. I have evidence that Riese can detect magnetite, so Aura distortion is out as bait. Any ideas?"
"A better picture?" Amber muttered. "Seems pretty clear to me…"
"Be that as it may." Ozpin glanced around the room at his Maidens – Salem did much the same – but none of them had any answers. "Nothing?"
"Magnetite is the best option," Olivine finally stated. "Who cares what he senses. Just drop a big piece in the coffin right before the attack."
"If I must. I'm merely seeking other options."
"Human bait." Cinder regarded their looks blankly. "Specifically children. We did it in the desert. It might work here."
"We don't have enough kids for that," Raven said. "Hell, my tribe and the Malachites combined. Besides, they'll need them in the field."
"Then capture some of the weaker students and hurt them."
Amber rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Torture might not even be necessary… if you make enough people on campus disappear, the collective panic should do it."
"And have Raven bring some magnetite in when the attack starts just to be sure." Lapis tapped her cane on the purple floor. "Even if he notices it, he'll be too busy to ask questions."
Salem finally stepped in to correct her daughters. "Did I say I agreed to anything?" she asked, eyes glued to Ozpin. "What about Vale?"
He looked over the rims of his glasses. "I have no wish to attack the city, but none of us can control the emotions of an entire Kingdom. A full information blackout will be impossible. In any case, I believe the plain is far enough away to leverage magnetite baiting safely. That should attract enough beasts to put the Army and Air Force in a proper defensive position. It will, however, require some time."
"How much of that do we have?" Amber asked.
"I don't think I can keep CCT access offline for long. A week, at best."
Salem's eyes narrowed. "And what about you?"
Ozpin sighed quietly. "If he survives, I plan to feign my own death and retreat to the wilderness. I believe the truth about Beacon's fall will be enough for him to kill me. Once he takes my life, I'll make the jump. Intervention from our daughters should be unnecessary."
"Where will you go?" Raven asked.
"Likely to Mountain Glenn… if you have any room," he quipped gently. "The story writes itself. If anyone asks, I can say I was exiled. The Queen already has that idea in her head."
Porcelain fingertips rapped against the stone table. "Global implications?"
"The main goal is to begin transferring influence to Mistral, which has fallen too far behind. Haven will become the prominent combat school. I'm sure Ghira Belladonna's grief will fully open up Menagerie's gravity Dust to the Schnees and the Voss family."
"Do we trust Sienna Khan?"
He shrugged at Olivine. "More than James Ironwood. She actually talks to me. Atlas certainly doesn't need any more power than they already have." Having concluded his pitch, Ozpin bowed his head gracefully. "Of course, nothing will happen without your approval."
"You're right. It won't." Fingers still tapping on the tabletop, she issued an order to their children. "Leave us for a moment, would you?" she said, waving a new door into the wall.
After exchanging some uncertain glances – save Cinder, who merely stared into the distance – they obeyed. Amber helped Lapis out, while Raven and Cinder walked together. Olivine exited last. Ozpin's expression remained unchanged as Salem sealed the room again. "I'm about to get scolded, aren't I?"
"It's been a long time since either of us were kids." Salem rested her chin in one hand. "I warned you. The more complicated our system gets, the easier it is to break."
"The system is nowhere close to breaking. You know that."
"No, but this is a wake-up call. We've missed something. The Laochra Airgid were easy to bait and wipe out. There's no telling what this bloodline's motivations are."
"I am certain we'll have those answers soon," he assured her.
"Summer Rose was enough of a problem, Ozma. Now we've got a stranger who's even more powerful than she was. Don't forget what she did." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "And he's teaching her daughter gods only know what kind of skills. You can't guarantee anything."
"Ruby has no idea how to use her gift yet, and Opher Riese is one man-"
"One man who has wiped the floor with two Maidens. And I'm not certain his friends aren't lurking just out of our sight." She tiredly rubbed at her eyes. "Fine. I'll destroy your Academy. But if he attacks our daughters again, I will not wait for you no matter what lofty promises you make. I will have his head. Am I clear?"
Ozpin nodded once. "As ever."
Salem flicked an entrance into the wall again, which their Maidens filtered through a moment later. "I believe we're just about done."
He rose from his seat. "I would like to keep Lady Branwen and Lady Duprix on hand for stragglers."
"Yes, yes." Her gravity magic sent the table and chairs toward one corner – the Maidens squirmed in response to sensing that power. "I have one more requirement," she added, nailing Ozpin down with a stare.
"Very well. What is it?"
"Qrow has outlived his usefulness. Dispose of him."
Raven somehow choked down her surprise gracefully enough to hide the chilly dread that followed it. "You… won't we have trouble replacing-" she said, trying to feign as much coldness as possible.
"Not if Ozma manages to keep his word. I'm sure Riese knows more than a few people capable of holding that magic." Salem looked back at her counterpart. "Well?"
"Agreed. Once his nieces die, he'll have no reason to listen to me anyway. Better to kill them all at once."
"Good." She clasped her hands with a smile. "Now then, let's take a picture." That expression dimmed when she looked at Lapis. "This might be the last time we're all together."
Heavy, wet snowflakes pelted the ground around Weiss' feet as she wandered aimlessly around the sleeping campus. She was clad in full cold-weather gear – all white and black, of course. Despite the fact that she had the chance to sleep – thanks to the awful weather, not even the Army's patrols were out tonight – she just… couldn't. Too many thoughts clouded her aching head. Far above, the green lights of Beacon Tower cast their glow through the haze. The grass, bare tree branches and shrubbery were already topped with sticking snow – even the stone walkways, having lost their heat from the day's sunshine, were beginning to acquire a dusty white coat. In her hands was a piping hot cup of coffee from the cafeteria just behind her; like the chapel and the meditation hall, it too was now open all day long. She stared into the cloud of steam wafting from her coffee, frowning.
"What are you doing out here?"
Startled, Weiss looked back and found Indigo, clad in her black beret and a slate blue overcoat which covered her regular uniform. She appeared unarmed, but it was hard to say what might be under her winter gear. "Oh, ah, Miss Stahl. I just can't sleep."
"I feel you. We're on that schedule now. It's hard to get away from it." She sniffed the air. "Wait, they're still open?" The moment Weiss nodded, Indigo cupped her hands around her mouth and called into the blizzard. "Yo! I'm gonna get some coffee! You want any?"
"Yes, please!" Schwarze, some distance away.
"I-" Weiss blinked as Indigo departed into the cafeteria, although a few moments later Schwarze wandered up, wearing the same outfit as Indigo. She cast a glance up toward her. "You're patrolling campus, aren't you."
"Sort of. It gives us something to do. We weren't really ordered to or anything." She waited with a light smile for Indigo, who appeared a few moments later with coffee for both of them. "Smells strong."
"We need it." They began to walk away, but Weiss suddenly fell in beside Schwarze, refusing to make eye contact. "Eh?"
"You wouldn't mind if I came along, would you?" she asked quietly.
"If you're crazy enough to stay outside in a snowstorm, I don't mind."
"Please, Indy, this is nothing to girls like us," a grinning Schwarze countered, Atlesian accent extra-thick. A glance down revealed Weiss didn't share her amusement. "Something on your mind, cousin?"
"Before you were—ah, whatever happened, it's not my place to ask you, but before that. How well did you know my family?"
She tapped her chin with a thoughtful finger. "Not very well. I've been in Vale for ten years. Even back in Atlas, we lived-"
"In the Upper Kingdom, yes. I suppose what I'm asking is if any of the Voss family knew my father."
"Should I buzz off?" Indigo asked during the silence that followed.
Weiss quickly shook her head. "Oh, no, no, not at all."
"I'm sure my mother and father did. Let's see… if you're sixteen, and Winter is twenty, then…" The digits on her free hand extended as she did the math. "Oh, dear, I was just a baby then."
The lack of answers drew a tighter frown across Weiss' face. "I see. I just thought you might have an… outside perspective."
"My dad's been to Atlas a few times for executive conferences. He speaks pretty highly of your mom. I'm not sure what he thinks about your dad."
Weiss merely smiled at the praise for her mother, but she couldn't hold it for long. Schwarze noticed this instantly. "What do you think about him?" she asked as they meandered through one of the smaller circular courtyards.
"He…" She sipped listlessly at her too-strong coffee. "He's a determined man," she said, adding a moment later, "And sometimes he lacks scruples."
"What the hell is a scruple? You rich people and your fancy words-"
She rolled her blue eyes. "Oh, please, you're plenty smart enough to figure it out. What happened to your sister, Weiss?"
Reluctance faded into mild anger as her gaze narrowed. "Winter knew more about the business than I did. When she was my age, she got into some kind of argument with him. This was about the time he took the CEO title from mother… somehow. He ejected her from the manor. Mother wouldn't – couldn't – stop him and I don't know why." One deep breath and some coffee brought back a little calm. "My sister had been snooping around, but she told me not to get involved. I… I mean, I was twelve. I think she was worried he might kick me out too."
"And if he was willing to do that to his own daughter, then there's no telling what else he might be willing to do, yes?" Schwarze concluded gently.
"Exactly. Anyway, you know James Ironwood?"
"Oh, uh…" Indigo glanced around in thought. "He's a General in Atlas, right? In charge of their training command or something."
"Correct. Just a few years ago, he was only a Colonel. Then, suddenly, he gets promoted to Commander, Training and Acquisitions – which means he helps manage Dust purchases for the Regular Army. Father likes to court him at the manor. We saw him a lot. Winter really seemed to like him. When she left the manor, she ended up at Atlas Academy, then in the military. I…" She stared up at the green lights on Beacon Tower. "I haven't spoken to her in four years. I… I hope she's okay."
Indigo shook the snow off her beret. "Man, that sucks."
"That's why I'm here. To learn how to fight."
"Are you…" Schwarze's face twisted as she hunted for a delicate way to put her question. "You mean to fight him?"
"I—I don't know. But if force is the only language he understands, I want to be fluent in it by the time I go home." Her face went blank. "Except now I don't know if I can. Damn it."
"Dang, no wonder you never wanna talk about your family."
Weiss emitted a squeak and whirled to find Ruby standing behind them, clad in a long black dress – though the toes of her usual boots were visible. She also donned her red cloak, the hood of which was up to shield her head from the snow. "Ruby! What are you doing out here?!"
"You weren't in bed! I looked in the bathroom, and the closet, then the whole dorm! I can't sleep when one of my teamies is MIA, Weiss!" Ruby instantly stood at her side, beaming happily.
Indigo grinned. "Have you been following us the whole time? You're sneaky."
"Our house on Patch is super-small. Stealth is vital when your sister sleeps directly above you."
A blushing Weiss turned away from her leader with a frown. "Yes, well, as you can clearly see, I'm fine. Why didn't you just use NFC to call me?"
"The buildings are made of stone! And you were too far away…" Ruby poked her fingertips together sheepishly before sniffing the air. "Oo! Coffee!" Then a snowflake plunked her right in the face, causing a squeak. "Ow!"
"How much did you-?" Weiss stared at Ruby's smile. "All of it, I assume."
"Pretty much!"
"Great. Well, now you know." All four of them wandered along through the north side of the dorm complex. "Did he… manage to get the message out? None of us spoke with him before-"
Indigo issued a thumbs up. "Yeah. Vespa twisted the manager's arm, but since she said it was intercontinental military traffic, she had to let it through. I don't think anyone else knows."
"Ah, good. That's good." She squinted into the snow. "I hope mother isn't too startled when she tries to contact me…"
"Yeeeeah, dad is probably freaking out too…" Ruby exhaled a fog bank of breath into the south wind – a gale that got worse as they left the shelter of the buildings and approached the huge courtyard near the airship pads. "Geez!"
"Maybe you two should go back to bed?" Schwarze advised. "You don't really need to be out here."
"I'll go back when Weiss does." Ruby smiled at her stare. "Not sleepy?"
"Not… not really." She used a forearm to deflect the cold breeze, but kept on walking. "I knew being away from home would be crazy, but nothing like this." She did not resist the incoming awkward Ruby hug. "I don't know what to think. Are we exiled or not? Can we go back?"
"Oh, hey, that sounds familiar," Indigo stated caustically. "Welcome to our world for the past… ugh. Too long."
"Any advice?"
Both women gazed down at Weiss. "Fake it until you make it," Schwarze finally replied. "And just hang on. The longer you stick around, the harder it is for people to make you leave."
"I don't think that's gonna work on Professor Ozpin, but thanks anyway," Ruby sighed. By now, they were close to the airship pads and the edge of the cliff. Her face twisted with unease. "Let's, uh, let's just stay back here in case I freak out and fall off-"
"You won't." Weiss took a drink of her rapidly cooling coffee instead of meeting Ruby's gaze.
"Hrm." She tugged the hood of her cloak down tighter over her face. "I haven't seen anything in a couple of days, maybe… bleh."
They listened to the snow for a while in silence – through it they could still see Vale in the distance thanks to the relatively high cloud base. Its sparkling lights cast a glow on the haze above. Beyond that, however, there was nothing to hear. The animals had all retreated to whatever shelters they could find. The campus stood empty behind them. The Grimm were either too disinterested to howl communications with a dearth of emotion to detect… or they were all dead.
"He's really doing it, isn't he?" Ruby added at length. "By himself? In this? Dang. He's tough." Indigo emitted a weird noise that drew her eyes and Weiss' too. "Huh?"
"I dunno, man, something's wrong. All that stuff he said in the auditorium this morning. I had no idea. Do either of you know anything?"
"Just the refinery business, but no details. Certainly nothing about what he said," Weiss replied. "As for the rest of it, no. No idea."
Opher, hands in his pockets and just far enough back from them to avoid detection, stated, "I'll tell you when I'm ready." Their startled recoiling made him smirk. "Surprise."
"Would people fucking stop sneaking up on us?!" Indigo snapped. Her face went blank fast. "What's up?"
He glanced up at the brim of his camouflage hat as the wind moved it. "I got bored. Why are you standing in the middle of a snowstorm?"
"We couldn't sleep. Why aren't you wearing a jacket?" Schwarze huffed. "You've already been awake all day. You'll get sick."
"Uh huh." More collective staring into the snowy void. "So you couldn't sleep and decided to stand out here in the cold?"
Indigo's eyes narrowed slightly. "We happened to run into Weiss. Ruby came looking for her. Then we… didn't know what to do and just walked around, I guess."
"My cousin had some things to get off her chest." Cup now empty, Schwarze crumpled it up and tucked it into a pocket for disposal later. "Ah… is there something you'd like to get off of your chest?"
Snowflakes struck his clean-shaven face, melting instantly thanks to the internal fire Dust circulation which was one reason he was coat-free. "I don't think-"
"Don't be a hypocrite." Ruby blinked at Weiss's surprise – and she knew exactly the source. "What? I know words. I've been around you for almost four months."
"Ah, yes. Carry on."
Ruby giggled. "Anyway. You said we have to open up, right? 'We' includes you."
"Damn right it does," Indigo affirmed. "What happened? What did you see? When were you outside Vale?"
Opher raised a hand to silence her. His blank gaze remained on the city below. "Part of communication is timing. I am technically on patrol right now." There were suddenly other lights, dim, bouncing, barely visible through the flakes – with time, they retreated from Vale, heading right-to-left across their vision. "What's that?"
"An expedition?" Weiss guessed. "In this weather? That's cruel."
"No, it's even worse," a morose Indigo corrected. "Exiles."
"That's really cruel!"
Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and bowed her head. "Gods, please," she mumbled respectfully, "grant them the strength to-"
"To hell with the gods." He'd been counting lights; the final estimate left his dead eyes full of anger. "All of you go back to bed," he instructed while walking toward the cliff's edge. "I'm gonna see what this is about."
"You can't do that!" Indigo fired back, following him. "They're-"
"You should be the last person who tries to tell me what I can't do." After one forceful wave and a shouted, "No! Go to bed!" for emphasis, he stepped nonchalantly off the edge and tumbled toward the frigid lake. While falling, he caught a glimpse of them leaning over the edge to watch – Weiss had both hands on Ruby's forearm, just in case – before he contorted in the air and dismissed the embrace of gravity. Unlike his last leisurely jaunt through Vale's night skies, this trip spiraled into a twisting cyclone of speed. The distance fell away in minutes; such was his swiftness that his fingertips dragged twirling vortices through the low clouds.
About a hundred meters away, he dropped to the ground, examining the situation – which was much worse than first assumed. It was the adults holding the lanterns. Among the group were too many children, dressed as warmly as possible but still huddled up near their parents. Grimm were already interested in the little ones' terror, stalking forward from the treeline in the distance to his left. Their cold bodies acquired a dusting of snow in seconds, especially the tall, lanky Beowolves in charge, who stood on their hind legs as they walked. A little boy's scream was their signal to attack. Claws ripping up the frozen ground, they thundered toward their prey. The people instinctively ran back toward Vale's wall, the closest object on the wide-open plain. Spotlights tracked their retreat. The crack of a distant rifle split the air.
Whatever the shooter had been aiming for was not what they hit. As people fell to the ground to avoid the shot, some of them detected a blurry form slicing through their numbers. Not a Grimm – though, thanks to the darkness, only when he came to a halt did they know it was human. He took the shot through the palm of his right hand, arm outstretched so the bullet would travel parallel to and penetrate the bones of his forearm, and if necessary, the upper arm, to constrain any explosive filler. It left a bloodless hole in the flesh.
The prone souls nearest his feet had just enough time to look up, baffled, before the other enemy arrived. Opher flicked one look over his shoulder to properly direct the tsunami of azure fire that crashed into the beasts, erasing them even as their teeth and talons lashed out toward those too slow to remain with the main group. Another shot came in – at him, which is exactly what he wanted – which struck him in the chest but failed to pierce. The impact against his iron breastbone caused his rib cage to ring like a bell. The only casualty was his blue shirt. Another bullet dove into the snow thanks to squint-directed gravity Dust.
"It… it's you…"
Concentration broken, Opher looked back at the woman who spoke and found the refinery manager, in a thick gray overcoat, staring in disbelief as she shined a Scroll light at him. As more of her company found the bravery to stand up, he noticed more familiar faces, until, finally, Arcene shoved her way through the crowd.
"It is you!" she snapped.
"Yeah." Opher shed his hat as another rifle shot came in – more gravity Dust, arced across his Aura, slowed the fast bullet down enough for it strike his head at a more gentle pace. It crumpled against his temple into a useless nugget of dysprosium, steel, and brass before dropping to the ground. He put his hat back on. "So you were right."
"Did—didn't you just get shot like three times?" one of the men nearby pointed out.
"If a refinery can't kill me, a sniper sure as hell won't." More rifle cracks. Bored and annoyed with the onslaught, he snapped one arm skyward and erected a wall of earth between them and Vale. Some gravitational manipulation of the bullet in his arm led to its expulsion through his flesh – it came out the same way it went in, excreted through his palm. This process caused, first, outbursts of disgust, then amazement as some of them drew close enough to see his injury disappear.
"What the…" capped off the latter, issued by the apparent refinery chief. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"It used to," he replied, examining his palm to be sure everything was sealed up properly.
"We should go," another woman said, her two young boys clinging to her legs. "While we still can. Thank you-"
"Go where?" Arcene replied. "We'll freeze to death before we even make it off the plains. I mean… yeah, thanks again, man, but it's useless."
"There's a place." The whole shivering mass turned toward Opher as he spoke. "It isn't Vale, but there are people there who know how to survive – and who know someone like me. They can keep you safe – safer, I guess."
Hope spread dangerously among the crowd; they stood up straighter, eyes turning bright. One or two even managed a smile even as more bullets continued to strike his embankment. He didn't share their emotion. "Did they even say why?" Confused silence urged him to add, "About why you had to leave?"
"No," one of the men said.
Opher exhaled an impossibly long breath. "Of course not." Bullets were still coming in – each one increased the bitter annoyance on his face. Sounds from the south indicated more Grimm were on the way. "All right. It's a long trip. I won't ask you to walk."
More subtle hand motions and gravity Dust detached the crowd from the ground – one of the people he saved from the pump tower shouted "Wait, again?!" – but he remained grounded for the moment. The younger kids, however, seemed to love the sensation of floating. After a few meters of walking just to make sure he could safely juggle such a large crowd, they were off, hovering along the flat terrain. Another massive Beowulf arrived, leading a pack of smaller kin right into a buzz-saw of ice lances that knocked them down before a strike could even be signaled, much less commence. In the scant light of their lanterns and Scrolls, his charges watched the massacre.
And the children rejoiced. "That's amazing!" one of the little boys chirped. "Wow!"
Opher had no reply. They gained altitude to clear the treetops. Unsure if anything might jump them before he could react, he used one hand to discharge a constant cone of blue flames into the woods to catch any Grimm lurking below. Hearing anything proved difficult with the amount of conversation flying back and forth among the crowd suspended with him.
"Where are we going?"
He tossed a glance over his shoulder at one of the old men. "Mountain Glenn."
This drew a more organized outburst. "That place is a death trap!" one woman yelled. "We'll be-"
"It's too dangerous for my children!"
"Take us back! Take us back to the wall!"
Arcene took control. "No way, they tried to shoot us. I trust him. Besides, he saved the whole refinery, right?" While this quelled much of the anxiety from the refinery workers, their families still weren't convinced.
"He saved it?" asked another man, apparently the husband of the green-eyed brunette from the pump tower stairwell. "Who is this, Zara?"
"I… I'm sorry, can't remember his name…"
"My name isn't important," Opher advised. Ahead of them in the chilly dark stood something taller than the trees, leaning and looming. "I see it. Duck your heads and hold on to your kids."
After this came a burst of wind Dust-enhanced speed. Griffons which had avoided his flame wall emerged from the forest below, flapping their eagle wings to catch the screaming cloud of food above. They weren't fast enough. By the time he found a large enough clearing to land in, a whole flock of the monsters were in pursuit. Once on the ground, the new exiles clumped together tightly with panic. This made it easier to erect another earthworks to protect them, as well as to target the incoming monsters. The beasts lined up like bowling pins, ignoring his presence even as his Dust attacks knocked them down. More gunfire arrived – not aimed his way, but at the Grimm – from the direction of the dead city.
"Are there soldiers here?" someone asked him as he flew down to the group.
"No." He used his own Scroll for light and carved an exit in the wall. "Come on. We're not far now."
They walked, with Opher at the head of the chattering pack, through coniferous trees and broad-leafed specimens whose foliage was long gone. The clouds were too thick for the Moon to shine through, but at least the snowfall had tapered off. Crunching footsteps echoed through the night.
"Who's there?"
To Opher's surprise, this was a vaguely familiar voice. With one raised hand, he brought them to a halt. "Wait." Then he moved forward.
A few meters later, flashlight beams appeared, sweeping through the woods. A patrol of five met him, among whom was Vernal, leaning heavily on a single crutch this time, as well as Mercury and three others. Her light fell on Opher's face – after registering him, she immediately dropped it and screamed. The fear caused her to stumble backward until two of her companions finally moved over to hold her up.
"Whoa?!" Mercury snapped; he put himself between Opher and the patrol, fists raised, while the others brandished firearms. "We're already off to a bad start, huh? Get lost before I-"
"Shut up while I figure out which one of you is actually worth talking to." An idea struck – if Amber happened to be nearby, there was an efficient way to get her attention. After the briefest mental search for magical pings – which left him empty-handed – he spread out his arms and emitted a concentric ring of blue fire. The glowing flames coursed around everyone and everything until they expired without smoke.
Mercury found his voice first. "What the hell?" he blurted out, fists lowered. "Uh… Vernal? Do we have a problem?"
Opher glanced back at the echoed reactions of the exiles he'd left behind before returning his attention to Vernal. "So that's your name. How's Raven?"
She couldn't reply, so Mercury spoke instead. "You know the boss? Wait. Is this guy a friend, or-"
"No, he isn't." From behind a tree trunk stepped Raven, exhaled breath spilling from the mouth slit of her mask. "I told you not to come out here while you were still hurt," she said to Vernal, ignoring Opher for the moment.
The inverse was true for her lieutenant; Vernal couldn't ignore Opher long enough to acknowledge Raven. It took a long while for her to break the spell. "We should go," she finally gasped.
"Yeah. You should." While most of them obeyed, Mercury remained, arms crossed and glaring suspiciously. "That includes you."
"Feels like I need to stick around."
Opher looked back again as the exiles began to filter through the trees. "I can't tell if you're brave or stupid," he remarked to Mercury.
"What's the diff-" He stepped back, hands raised, when Raven whipped her crimson sword blade out in front of him. "What?!"
"I told you to leave!" she snapped, never looking away from Opher. Heavy footsteps told her that he had finally gotten the point. "What do you want?" she asked as he left. "And who are these people?"
"I thought I'd see Amber." Opher glanced down as Arcene arrived.
"Friend of yours?" she asked.
"Not the term I'd use." A flick of the brim rid his hat of accumulated snow. "These are exiles. They need somewhere to stay."
Raven snorted at this. "I'm not sure why that's my problem," she said, twirling her blade to hide the anxiety.
"Then hand me off to your sister," he fired back, arms crossed. "Since you both seem to know Beatrix, and she seems to know the city."
"Neither of us take orders from you."
A tiny grin appeared. "No, but you do take beatings. I'm not interested in escalating, and escalating ain't in your interest. I'm just here to get these folks to some kind of shelter."
She growled at him behind her mask as the exiles squirmed uncomfortably – at least the ones who could detect the tension. The little kids babbled without a care in the world. While Raven tried to formulate an answer – and a way out of this without starting a fight – someone else chimed in.
Her Maiden. What are you planning?
"I… don't know…" she mumbled quietly.
Opher knew exactly whom she addressed. "All of you wait here," he told the crowd. "And actually wait here, please. I'm gonna talk to her." He shuffled lazily away from them, heading past Raven without even glancing.
A bit of Maiden compulsion forced her to sheath her sword and follow. "About what?" she demanded. "Leave."
"I'm not interested in blabbering in circles with your shell. I know you're in there. I want to speak with you."
Her heart skipped one beat, then two, as the Maiden's spirit tensed up. Raven slowly lifted her mask, allowing it to rest on the top of her head. "I have no clue what you're talking about or why I'm even entertaining this stupid fucking conver-"
"Laverne."
More skipped heartbeats forced Raven's whole body to tense. When next she spoke, it wasn't her voice which did the talking. "I haven't-" slipped out a somewhat brassier, higher-pitched voice than usual. "I haven't been called that in… oh my gods…" she gasped, bending Raven's limbs to steady herself.
"I imagine you haven't." Opher shed his hat to fully clear it of snow. "I don't know what you're doing lately, but we both know it's not right."
Raven – now a passenger in her own flesh – stared helplessly at him. "Did your friends – your family – teach you my name? Is that how you know?"
He cocked his head at this. "Teach me?"
Even with both hands on her throat, Raven couldn't silence her Maiden. "They're… they're looking for the people who taught you the true art."
A hollow grin appeared. "So you are taking orders. Forget it, I'm in a hurry. Anyway, you'll never find them. Nobody can find them. Now then, those people back there need somewhere to stay, and if what you tried to do to me is any indication, your ledger needs a lot of clearing. I suggest you start by giving those little kids somewhere warm to sleep."
"We don't have enough room or food for this many people," Raven finally choked out. "It's hard enough feeding my own tribe, much less-" She coughed as the Maiden seized control again.
"We'll make it work," came from her throat. We want him on our side, Raven. It might be the only way to save your brother.
"I hope so – you didn't put up much of a fight." Hat on and hands in his pockets, he began to walk off. "At least you can protect them against the Grimm."
Raven gained control of her body a few moments later as a curious Arcene arrived. "Erm, excuse me? Ma'am? I, uh, he said to go with you now?"
More exiles showed up. Raven, staring at the ground, hid her face with the mask once more. "We can't feed you," she mumbled, bracing herself with one hand on a tree trunk. "But I guess we can let you sleep in the city for now." Some weird sensation coursed through her veins – perhaps the lingering shadows of her brief stint as a puppet, maybe adrenaline, she couldn't tell which. A tap on the shoulder from Arcene caused her to look, then look up toward where the silver-haired young woman pointed: into the canopy of the tree, whose branches were now filled with green leaves.
"Pretty!" said one of the kids.
"Yeah, it, uh, it is," Raven stammered, wondering what in the hell had just happened. She stood up fully and stared at her hand.
"Yo, boss!" came Mercury's voice through the dark. "Are we—wait, where'd he go?" He intercepted her nascent outburst with two raised hands. "I sent Vernal back, but I just wanted to hang around in case you needed me. You know. 'Cause we need you."
"Sometimes you're almost a sweetheart, Mercury."
"I know. Uh… what about them?" he asked, shining his light at the baffled exiles.
Raven, now mostly collected, attained her usual imposing posture and began to move. "They're staying with us for at least tonight. Wake Miltia and Melanie. We have to find some space."
"All right, if you say so. I'll meet you back there."
She watched him jog away until the Scroll and lantern lights could no longer reach him. Arcene's nudge got her attention. "What?"
"Thanks for letting us stay." Most of the crowd echoed her gratitude, vocally or with smiles.
"Yeah. Don't get too comfortable," Raven stated, still looking at her gloved fingers. Tiny green sparkles of light leaked from underneath the layered plates of armor on the back of her hand. "And I don't know what you're going to eat, either." She shook the appendage to cast off some weird tingling.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm… fine," she said, face screwed up at the playful vibrations the Spring Maiden sent flying through her soul.
Opher hovered lazily over the empty plains, just out of reach of the spotlights on Vale's wall as their beams swept over the formation of rock and soil he'd left behind. Snow continued to pelt down. The plains were his alone – with no people around, the Grimm were utterly disinterested and had already retreated to the distant trees to await another chance to feed. Engrossed with a Scroll conversation, he allowed himself to sit on the top of the embankment, daring the spotlights to light him up.
"I just saw her about an hour ago, she's fine," he said. "I've got the whole campus treading water for now. Of course, they're worried that this Emerald girl was kidnapped. That's not helping."
"I imagine not," a tired Winter replied. "Are you looking into it?"
"Eh. The Army is." He squinted against the harsh glow of a spotlight as it landed on his face. Sure enough, one of the snipers on the wall took a potshot at him; the bullet ended up between the middle and index fingers of his right hand on its way to his skull. He curled up one of those fingers to flip off the shooter before adding, "I might go talk to the girl that was out there sneaking around when it happened. Her team too."
"What girl?"
"I think her name is Ilia Amitola."
"Amitola… I've heard of her family."
Another bullet came in. He doffed his hat with a flourish, allowing the projectile to skip off the top of his head. Sparks flew on impact. "Have you told your superiors about the Branwens yet?"
"That subject might be too touchy. With whatever is going on at Beacon, I don't think it's the right time to bring it up regardless."
"Probably not." One more bullet. This one wasn't even close thanks to a prolonged gust of wind that sent it plowing into the embankment below – natural breezes, not him. "I'm going back before someone misses me. I'm sure I'll be in touch." After shoving the device into a leg pocket, he whipped up a furious explosion of the frosty white powder to cover his exit and blasted off into the gloom above. His path mimicked a sine wave in and out of the clouds for a few hundred meters until he was sure the spotlights could no longer track him – then it became a direct line toward Beacon's airship pads.
A few meters away, he realized there was an audience around to watch him land. "I told you two to go back to bed," he grumbled, shaking the ice and snow from his hat as he walked past Indigo and Schwarze. "You're talking about me getting sick? Have you been standing there the whole time?"
"We've been checking every few minutes," Schwarze explained as they fell in behind him. "What were the lights shining on down there? More exiles?"
"No."
"Was it you, then?" Indigo squinted at him when he looked back. "You… didn't get shot at, did you?"
"Yes, they were shooting at me. They shot at me when I got there, they shot at me while I was there, and they were shooting at me just now 'cause I guess they've got nothing better to do." They failed to reply, so he turned on them, arms spread wide. "What?"
"Do you have a death wish?" Schwarze countered, cheeks puffed with displeasure.
Before he could open his mouth, Indigo stomped over and jammed a finger into his chest. "Those aren't pistol-caliber bullets, you fuck! I don't care what your Semblance does, you-" She suddenly realized her fingertip was on skin, not fabric, and saw the hole in his shirt. "Opher… why is there a…"
"They hit me three… four… six times? I can't remember. As you can see, I'm fine." He gently pushed her hand away and turned around. "Did anything happen while I was gone?"
Schwarze bolted ahead of him before Indigo could even find her legs. "Wait a minute! You cannot have possibly deflected 20mm capped rounds! Those are designed to kill people from kilometers away!"
"Yeah, I know, I've seen them in action."
"And about that, when?!"
"I wanted to case entry and exit points around Vale before Beacon's second combat trial so I could sneak onto campus. It turned out not to be necessary." Opher slunk along, hands crammed all the way into his pockets. "There were people running from the Grimm. Then…" His strides slowed, then ceased entirely.
"Then what?" Indigo urged.
When next he looked down at her, confusion swirled in his green eyes, barely visible in the dim light of the iron lamps along the walkway. "Your gun sounds like theirs does."
"It, uh, it—we have a lot of standardized equipment," she mumbled, tugging furiously at the collar of her overcoat while she looked everywhere but at him. "You know. S-saves on costs. Makes logistics easier."
One glance at Schwarze's white-as-a-sheet face told him everything else he needed to know about how much she was lying. "What did you two do in the Army?"
Indigo put her back toward him. "We were… I mean, we're a sniper team, you've seen enough of us working together to know that by now-"
"Who were your targets?"
"Exiles. We used to do tours on the wall." Schwarze's admission drew a clipped sob from Indigo, but Opher failed to react at all. He also didn't leave. A tap on her friend's shoulder made her look back.
"I'm not mad at you," he said. Their bemused expressions caused a shrug, after which he turned away to peer suspiciously up at Beacon Tower. "If I was, then Ruby would be right. I'd be one hell of a hypocrite."