Ch 35 - Fall.
A/N: For lack of a better idea for a title, I decided to use the actual title of the RWBY episode this is in. Even if the first two thirds of the episode were in the last chapter. And I'm sure you all know what's about to happen (or at least, the people coming from RWBY do…). Also, it wasn't until rewatching this that I realized how ironic Ruby's cry of "Break a leg, sis!" was.
Bonus chapter is now at 305 reviews, because Dasgun keeps leaving random punctuations and numbers instead of an actual response.
You know, I thought you would actually manage to beat my challenge. But you didn't even get to 20 reviews, nevermind 25. That said, I am impressed, because 18 is a new record for reviews on a single chapter.
Review Response:
khenriquesdn: I bet 2$ that Patches is going to repay is debt by taking the "killing" strike of that cursed broken sword destined to Vyliria by our most hated Fire Bitch (Cinder) with a good old "See you in hell !"
My response: Good idea, but 1: I got other plans for how he repays that debt, and 2: There's no way I'm wasting the potential of cool Uncle Unbreakable Patches like that.
Sm0keyPanda: Hot damn, that was a LOT of exposition. Having said that, I think you managed a good balance between 'trustworthy' and 'untrustworthy' when it comes to Vyliria's relationship with the Ozluminati. I understood 0 of the references, as I have never played DS, so thanks for explaining in the AN.
My response: Thanks! But yeah, even in canon, the story of Salem and Ozma took like a whole episode. But at the same time, Patches has no reason NOT to tell Roman about it. Its still a lot though, even when you factor in the facts that Patches is giving an abridged version of the events, and that he also doesn't know the ENTIRE story (what the relics do, what happens when they come together, and Ozma reincarnating).
softpaws88: I missed a few updates, sad that there is not anoth-Wait wha-
On another note: Solaire is (technically) part of the story! PRAISE THE SUN
PRAISE THE SUN! PRAISE THE SUN! PRAISE THE SUN!
An another not note: I'm glad that you made Pyrrha being famous actually mean something to the story, I was first watching the show thinking, 'when is this relevant?' when hearing about Pyrrha's fame for the first time.
See you next time, which may be soon.
My response: I told you all, I update every week.
PRAISE UNTIL YOU'RE HOLLOW!
Yes, Solaire is part of the story.
Honestly, the idea popped into my head one day, and I went "You know, making Pyrrha's fame actually relevant would be pretty cool, and also makes sense, because why mention it otherwise?"
Perhaps. As of my response to you, there are 13 more reviews needed to meet my challenge. So its possible.
Skeletalrepublic: I wonder how this Pyrrha is taking the news of the maiden.
Ah, but Patches, you crafty bastard, he's finally laid out his motives and the move he makes may not only make Salem and Oxpin realize that this isn't just Chess anymore and with the additional two unknowns, they'll be learning that they were playing 4-player Shogi this whole time now that Patches has a plan and Vyliria will likely react to every side.
My response: Well, she didn't take it well in canon, so she's definitely not gonna be taking it well here. Whether or not the changes I've made will positively or negatively affect Pyrrha finding this out is something I'll leave to the reader to ponder.
Patches is most certainly a crafty bastard. And while he might not be Watts-tier, he certainly knows his way around hacking things. He's had a LOT of time to hone his trade, after all. As for his motives, well, survival is #1, and screwing over greedy people and people who piss him off comes right after.
It's hard to play chess when you have a third player running interference, a fourth player unaware of the game yet throwing wrenches into the works, two more players who have yet to take to the field, and a seventh player on a different field who could still get drawn in (no, I haven't introduced them yet, I'm just teasing you all).
deeznutthebest: I loved the various references to the YouTubers. I wonder if Vyliria ever met some of them. Are some of them gonna make an appearance?
My response: Like I said before, besides mentions like this, no DS YouTubers are going to make an appearance in this story or its sequels. Dark Souls characters, on the other hand...
ScreamingStuka: Ohh I like this. I was half expecting Vyliria to be sneaking behind Pyrrha and overhear the whole conversation and start throttling Ozpin as soon as they mentioned merging two souls. But I do like how Pyrrha doesnt immediately jump feet first into "I will be your fall maiden" and instead thinks about all that she could lose. And now Im wondering if Pyrrha will confront Vyliria about how shes been lying about her past.
And Patches and Roman. Ohhhh I cant WAIT to see how they are going to fuck things up for Fire Bitch and Co. And the idea of Vale's underworld fighting the Grimm and WhiteFang sounds SOOO good!
This chapter had me positively vibing! Now I really need to finish DS3...
My response: Vyliria is paranoid, but doesn't have enough suspicions of Ozpin at the moment to stalk her own teammates just to spy on him. Lionheart, on the other hand... let's just say that if she met him that would set off every alarm bell in her head and then some. TBH, though, messing around with Souls isn't that big a thing in Dark Souls. Sure, it hasn't ended well very often, but how different is cramming one woman's soul into another versus absorbing one through a darksign?
But yeah, Pyrrha's a bit less blindly trusting, due to the influence of a certain Irithyllian. And she does have more to loose this time. Jaune in particular; as this time around it's not a nebulous case of a boy she likes, but a boy she's actively in a relationship with. Vyliria's in a weird spot in Pyrrha's mind at the moment. The Ozluminati have made it clear that they don't think she's a threat, but they still don't trust her. And Pyrrha can't exactly confront Vyliria with "Hey, why did you lie about your entire civilization dying?" Without Vyliria asking how the Izalith she found out about that in the first place, which she can't reply because that would require her to spill the beans on her trip to the Vault. Also, you know, how exactly does one broach that kinda subject?
But I have set up a moment between Vyliria and Pyrrha in the near future.
Yes, Patches and Roman are frigging awesome. They'll definitely be screwing Cinder's plans over before this story is done. And while it's not an origional idea by any stretch, even in RWBY fics, I still had a lot of fun with that side-arc. Got to play around with quite a few OCs, and even some characters from canon who only got used like twice, two of which will be making their way into the sequel.
Glad to see you excited. And ya know, if you wanna see the next one early, it's only two bucks a month away...
Also, have you seen the new Elden Ring Trailer? I'm hyped AF for it. Raging Brachydios, Fatalis, and Arch-Tempered Velkhana can only help me get my Souls fix so much.
HollowSolaire: Aye this is Hollow Solaire back from Hollowing. Praise the sun! \[T]/ I wish to try and give some feedback about this story but it isn't not necessarily related to Thebes latest chapter (Little Disclaimer that YOU are the writer and you can do whatever you want.) I feel like while the fight scenes are amazing that they don't deserve n mitre can chapter just to them and only them. I find that even if you make the best scenes in the world just making 3 chapters with just fighting and minor dialogue/actions apart from fighting then it would be better to show them either do some menial tasks or try and do some more informal training. While your fighting scenes are good but I personally found them best when they weren't but a few chapters in a row because at this point it feels like you are just doing some filler content to get the fans excited for something else other then fighting (This isn't my personal opinion and I do not know how you could do it otherwise as my brain cannot grammar or make stories of such amazing quality like yours) Now a review of patches in 2 words: FRiggin amazing. I feel like you capture his personality and general demeanor very very well as in how he talks or acts so keep up the good work!
As always I will await the next version chapter with baited breath. And don't forget to praise the sun! \[T]/
My response; Holy cow that's a lot of spelling errors. I don't mean for this to sound insulting, but I honestly had to give this a second read to work through the grammatical issues.
PRAISE THE SUN!
When I set out to write a chapter, I typically aim for a 4-5k word length, barring a few exceptions. One of these exceptions is when I get on a tangent with some characters, where stuff they're doing is continuous and it would make no sense to break a chapter in the middle of a conversation or activity. I also don't want to cut my train of thought short, because I'm typically enjoying what I'm doing on that tangent (especially if its a moment with Vyliria and Penny) The other common exception is usually fights, especially canon ones where most of the readers already know how they'll end. I feel like the example you were probably thinking of when you left that review was the back-to-back blockbusters of chapters 27 and 28, and chapters 31 and 32. Those were cases where I just wasn't comfortable ending the chapters mid-fight, and on top of that those brawls happened back-to-back in the actual show, with an hour at most going by between the fights in 27 and 28, and I'm putting the time between 31 and 32 being one day after the next.
Also, my intent was that the filler chapters serve as 1: a break in the pacing of the story, 2: content to make the reader more excited for when the next fight came up, and 3: do some world-building and character development. Honestly, I have as much fun having these characters chat outside of canon script as I do writing brawls, even though the former is usually much more easy and faster to churn out than the later.
Yes, Patches is awesome.
TheLandMaster: I blitzed through this story today and gotta say, it's a good time. I do have a few things that didn't quite click with me, but they're because of my own writing preferences:
The MC's omega-dark backstory was kind of miss to me, mostly because I'm not a fan of that kind of stuff. It served its purpose on the story, so hooray to that! But it felt a bit too much.
Her teaching our Wonder Kids magic so early on also felt a bit rushed, and the fact they used it so openly did raise an eyebrow with me, but its fine, they have been creative with it so who caaaaares. It's always fun!
Also the death flags raised on Penny make me kinda sad though...
And correct me if I'm wrong, but is the murder hobo who points down the one and only motherfucking John Souls?
Regardless, definitely following, can't wait for more, my broski!
My response: She's from Dark Souls. Name me one character that doesn't have a tragic backstory, or doesn't die... I guess Patches would be the exception. But my point is that having a horrendous (un)life is actually more common than not in the Souls universe, so she's actually fitting in more this way than if she had a good life before becoming undead.
Vyliria's deal with Oz was that he'd put her in Beacon, minimal questions asked, if she taught some magic to some other students. Vyliria isn't exactly a shining beacon of mental stability, so she also basically latched onto the first people to be nice to her, and she's so diligent in teaching them because she wants to make sure they can protect themselves, because she doesn't want to loose another group of people she's come to care for.
Its Dark Souls. Death flags are nothing. Hollowing flags, on the other hand...
I double checked. Mr. Point Down Murder Hobo was FigtherPL.
Don't worry, there's more coming!
Kaiimei: One thing I've never understood about a lot of stories is going so ridiculously in-depth explaining how a character looks.
But also, explaining how multiple characters look, characters that we should already know the appearance of, is even weirder. Like, I'm pretty sure everybody reading this story should know what Glynda, Yang and the others look like, so really, the only one that could use an explanation is Vyliria, that makes sense.
Then again, might just be me being weird!
My response: Simply put, its a matter of writing. A mark of a good writer is ensuring that a reader can build an accurate mental picture of the world you're creating. This in includes character descriptions. Not everyone reading this story is coming from RWBY. I only got into RWBY after reading quite a few crossovers. Someone coming in from only Dark Souls would be lost without character descriptions. You can't assume everyone going through this knows what's going on. You need to assume the reader knows NOTHING of what you're writing about, and plan out your story accordingly.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own my own OCs.
(Yang)
The crowds were cheering for the first round of the singles (which were also often referred to as the finals, which wasn't confusing at all). The contestants who made it this far were all standing in the center of the arena, and Yang had to make an active effort not to bounce with anticipation.
"Now, what you've all been waiting for!" Professor Port cried over the stadium PA. "The one-on-one finals! Barty, why don't you explain the rules?"
"I'd be delighted to, Peter," Doctor Oobleck (ha! she remembered this time) replied. "Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals is randomly determined immediately before the match takes place."
"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!" Port added. A quick thought as to how vehemently Vyliria would disagree with that statement flashed through Yang's mind, but was gone just as quickly.
"Ah, yes, yes. Now let's see who our first match will be!" Oobleck said in under two seconds.
The wheels spun, and landed on Mercury Black, and Yang Xiao Long. Oh heck yeah, she thought. "Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" Port shouted.
"Break a leg, sis!" she distantly heard Ruby's voice above the general din.
"Would all other combatants please leave the stage," Port requested.
Yang faced off against Mercury, watching as the arena remained blank, without any terrain, even as the outside fell, so that only the center was the play-area. A ring rose via gravity dust and spotlights shined down on the ring.
"You'd better not go easy on me," Yang joked.
Mercury snorted. "You wish."
They got into stances. Port took the mic again.
"Three!"
Yang bent her knees slightly.
"Two!"
Yang's pyromancy flame crackled to life.
"One!"
Yang took in a breath.
"Fight!"
With a simultaneous yell, Yang's fist and Mercury's leg lashed out to meet each other, colliding with a literal explosion as she channeled a regular combustion to augment the strike. Yang was pushed back a step, but Mercury went further. Mercury ran back forwards, and Yang flipped over his kick, sending a burst of buckshot his way with a punch. She threw another fist at his, but he blocked with his arm and attempted a counter, which she ducked. She sent a hit under his guard, and released a great combustion to send him flying back again. She took the opportunity to slap a Carthus flame arc on Ember Celicia, and then started sending bursts of flaming buckshot his way. He dodged the shots, and sprung up into the air and kicked down towards her. She crossed her arms above her head, blocking the limb, and then pushed them apart to force him off her. He dodged a kick she threw at him, and ducked a shot from her right arm, before flipping and landing a kick to her face. She flipped from the impact, but landed on her feet, and shot behind her to use the recoil to speed herself towards him. She landed two punches on him, before he dodged a third and kicked her once. She dodged a second kick from him, but he kicked her leg and sent her to the floor. Yang rolled out of the way of a stomp, and reared back her left arm and sent a chaos bed vestige his way, which he barely dodged. She deployed two floating chaos, and rushed into engage him while the literal fire support lasted. He dodged her punches, but half of the shots from the two turrets managed to land home and chip his aura before they dissipated. She went to hit him again, but he dodged, grabbed her arm, pulled her forwards, and punched her in the face, before landing two gunshot enhanced kicks on her torso. She used another great combustion to make room, before gathering a clump of chaos pyromancy and tossing it behind him, near the edge of the ring, where it started to simmer and shine brighter. She sent a flurry of burning shotgun pellets his way while advancing, forcing him to back up as he blocked. He backed past the clump of seething chaos without noticing it, right before it exploded, blasting a chunk out of his aura and sending him off the ring.
Or it would have, if he didn't use the guns on his ankles to shoot himself back into the arena. Wrist and fist met ankle and foot as she blocked or intercepted a string of attacks as he refused to relent in his assault against her. He finally let out a yell and landed a particularly powerful kick to knock her back, before shooting his leg out and sending a shining white projectile audibly whizzing towards her, which she narrowly rolled out of the way of. He started spinning and sending well over two dozen of the projectiles into an orbit around him, Yang dodging a couple before charging in, slamming a Carthus beacon onto herself as she went. She exchanged three blows with him before he kicked her into the air, and then kicked her into the floor before she could recover. The orbiting projectiles all homed in, striking towards her at once. Hurting, but not out of the match, she stood up in the smoke left from the blast, listening as he stalked to walk away, vaguely seeing him brushing his shoulder off. Oh, it's on pal.
Her eyes went red (obviously, she couldn't see it herself, but she could feel it, especially considering how miffed she was at the moment). Mercury's eyes widened as he turned, but he took a chaos bed vestige to the face then two back-to-back great combustions, the Carthus beacon already making the consecutive strikes stronger as she went, nevermind the charge her semblance just got, before landing two more punches on him. He staggered back, and she landed an uppercut to his ribs, his aura visibly rippling as it struggled to stay up, before a followup punch/flaming shot to the face sent him flying back, his aura shattering entirely.
A buzzer sounded. "What a way to kick off the finals!" Professor Port shouted from the announcer's box. Yang raised her fist in the air, pyromancy flame burning brightly, before she let it go out, as she took a breath and felt her eyes return to their normal lilac.
"Yang Xiao Long wins!" Prof- Doctor… damn I thought I had it, Oobleck said.
The arena descended, and Yang turned around, starting to walk away. "Better luck next time," she said to Mercury.
"There's not going to be a next time, Blondie." Yang whipped around, to see Mercury flying towards her, foot ready. She reared back her arm, a chaos bed vestige readying itself as her pyromancy flame flared to life… and then Mercury shimmered and disappeared, revealing another Mercury just standing there in front of her. Huh? She canceled her spell, but kept her flame lit, even as the crowds erupted in confusion at the display. Then it hit her.
"They shortly discerned that a pyromancy flame of sufficient strength grants one a natural resistance to illusory magics. Though I highly doubt that there are any false walls of an arcane nature at Beacon, I merely thought that I should inform you of an ability you now possess through your catalyst." Vyliria had said.
Yang's blood ran cold. She remembered Mercury's aura was down. If her flame hadn't advanced enough that she saw through whatever had happened, she would have just killed him… in front of the whole world. Even if he was an asshole, he didn't deserve to die for that, nevermind everything else that would have resulted from it. Yang kept her flame lit, not trusting that whatever had affected her wasn't still trying to, and turned around and bolted towards the exit for the arena as fast as she could, while Mercury stood there silently, and though she didn't see it, the man was beyond confused, and also quite upset.
(Vyliria)
Vyliria stood up from her seat. Having seen what happened, she wasn't completely sure what almost went horrendously wrong, but even as the crowds in the stadium murmured, even as her own team and Yang's team questioned what they saw, she ran at full speed towards the prep rooms, determined to get to the bottom of what just happened. She was so absorbed in speculation and worry that she didn't notice Cinder blankly staring at the arena, for once her smug grin wiped off her face, and her eye twitching a few times.
She burst into the room where combatants spent their final few minutes before entering the arena, spotting Yang in the corner of the room, her back against the wall, and her eyes wide, somehow widening further when she walked in. Yang flared her pyromancy flame, which was already lit, and glanced down at it, as if to verify that it was, in fact, active. "You're real," she said, more to herself than Vyliria, "Oh thank Oum you're real."
Vyliria cut straight to the point. "Yang, what happened in the arena?"
Before she could answer, there was a whoosh, and with a flurry of rose petals, they were joined by Ruby. "Yang, what happened out there?" A beat passed, and then the red reaper whipped her head to the side as she registered the Irithyllian in the room. "Vyliria? How did you get here before me?"
"I might not have a speed-related semblance… or a semblance at all, really, but I can be fast when I want to be. Also, I instantly left, whereas you took a minute or so to follow. The headstart also played a big part. But we're digressing from the point."
"I… I swear, I saw Mercury about to attack me after he lost, and I went to hit him with a chaos bed vestige to defend myself, but as soon as I flared my pyromancy flame, he vanished, and was replaced by a Mercury just standing there. I just stopped myself from casting, and then realized my pyromancy flame made me see through an illusion like you said it would. I… Oum, I nearly killed him." Yang's hands were visibly shaking.
Ruby just stood there and looked horrified. Vyliria flared her own flame to life, and took a detailed look around the room. After verifying that there was no-one else in the room, she spoke again. "We need to see the headmaster about this immediately. Someone with a hallucinatory or target-based illusory semblance is putting lives at stake. But we don't know who the person responsible is, or where they are, what they want, or their motives. They could be outside the room right now, and there's only three people in all of Vale who are guaranteed to be immune to them, and two of us are in this room. Ruby, are the rest of our teams on the way here?"
"Yeah, last I checked… unless that wasn't real…" she shuddered. "Wow, I can see how much damage someone with a semblance like that would do if people aren't aware of them."
"Exactly. We'll wait for the rest of our friends to arrive, and then I'll use Lothric's miracle to teleport us straight to the headmaster's office."
"Lothric?" Yang asked.
"Ah, yes… the… person I observed the miracle from."
The door to the room opened again, and JNPR, Weiss and Blake entered the room, but before any of them could say anything, Vyliria cut them off. "Blake, bring forth your pyromancy flame right now."
"What?" the faunus girl questioned.
"Now," Vyliria commanded in a tone that brooked no argument. Blake complied. "Okay, I'll run through this quickly. Someone in Amity has a semblance based in either causing hallucinations or targeted illusions. They attempted to use it against Yang just after she won, to trick her into hitting Mercury on the false image of him attacking her. They didn't account for Yang's pyromancy flame making her immune to them, though she nearly did burn Mercury alive. We have no idea who this person is, but right now, Blake, Yang, and I are the only people immune to them. I'm teleporting us straight to the Headmaster's office, and if he isn't there, we're waiting for him, and then we'll determine where to move from there. Stay where you are, and if any of you notice something even slightly suspect, inform us immediately." She put actions to words, and concentrated on the memories of all the times the Twin Princes murdered her, pulling out her chime and beginning to cast. Blake watched the room, while Yang kept her gaze glued to the door, and everyone else looked around fearfully, unable to trust their own senses. A scant few minutes later, white flashed in the room, and when Vyliria's vision cleared, they were in Ozpin's office.
A whump altered her to the presence of the man, who fell backwards out of his chair at their sudden arrival, breathing fast before recovering. "Miss Avalon, what-"
"Sorry for the sudden arrival, and with so many people Professor, but this is urgent… Actually, I'm not sorry; consider this revenge for scaring me on the first day of classes last semester, but this really is a matter of life and death."
Ozpin composed himself, pulling his chair back up and adopting a serious expression. "Go on."
Yang spoke up. "Someone with some kind of illusory or hallucinatory semblance tried to trick me into attacking Mercury after his aura broke. If my pyromancy flame wasn't as good as it is, or if I didn't have it, I would have fell for it, and I might have k-killed him."
Vyliria noted Pyrrha meeting Ozpin's gaze, as her eyes widened, and his gaze narrowed ever so slightly, and she made a mental note to question her teammate about that later.
"That is rather alarming," the Headmaster stated. "Though at least nothing terrible came from this event… this time. But what to do about this?" he asked aloud.
"My personal recommendation?" Everyone looked to Vyliria as she spoke. "Bar entry to the arena for the rest of the finals, except for the actual combatants taking part in the specific match they are part of. This person can't act if they can't get there."
"While your solution is effective, Miss Avalon, you're still asking us to remove thousands of people from an event they paid to attend for something that we can't actually prove," Ozpin argued.
Vyliria cursed internally. "Fair point… Then call in General Ironwood, and all the remaining finalists. Not even Mercury, because he was already eliminated. Call the literal fewest number of necessary individuals, because we don't know who might be in contact with the person who's behind this. It goes against the spirit of the matches, but we'll brief them on the situation. Everyone will explain their combat capabilities, their weapons, and their semblances to each other, so they all know what to expect, so they'll recognize anything outlandish. If they expect that the illusionist is targeting them, we'll give them all a flare gun, that they can fire up into the air, and the match will immediately be halted and postponed. We'll also have to inform Professor Port and Pr- ahem, sorry, Doctor Oobleck."
"That is a much more… reasonable plan of action," Ozpin conceded. He nodded to himself. "Yes, we'll do just that. I'll call them now, but I'm afraid this office is already somewhat cramped. Miss Xiao Long and Miss Nikos need to stay here, but I trust that the rest of you all are capable of finding your ways back to your dorms?"
"We still don't know where this person is, and if they're still attempting to target us. I'll bring everyone back to the dorms the same way I brought them here, and then come back," Vyliria responded. Before Ozpin could question why she would need to return, she added, "I studied extensively under… a master illusionist when I dwelt in Irithyll. It may not be completely applicable to our mystery individual, because I don't know what extent of difference between illusory magics and this person's semblance might exist, but I could certainly give a few pointers to everyone as to a variety of clues that someone could be attempting to affect their perception of the world."
"Very well," the Headmaster. "I will await your return, then."
Vyliria got ready to start casting, but a call from Yang to wait stopped her. "Vyliria? I remembered going through your pyromancy tome, and came on a reference to something called power within, but the entry where it probably was at was torn out. Do you know anything about that?"
"…Yes. It's a dangerous spell, and I'll explain it and why I'd rather not teach it to you, but I'll do so later." At Yang's nod of assent, she adjusted her grip on her chime and resumed where she left off.
(Neo)
Neo blinked away the white light. She had decided to spy on Edgelord and her friends after the part of Cinder's plan that was supposed to happen clearly went awry. She wasn't sure what went wrong, or how, but Fire Bitch was pissed, so it did fail, and that made her smirk. She processed the information that while they weren't made, Beacon was now on to them, and that there were three people completely immune to Emerald's semblance. She pondered on whether or not to inform Fire Bitch, but decided that since she was a bitch and wanted to keep her out of the loop, and wouldn't let her see Patches, and was the reason Roman was in prison in an Atlesian brig, that she'd keep her mouth shut. Metaphorically, of course.
Her curiosity was piqued, and she wanted to see where this would go.
(Cinder)
The only reason Cinder wasn't slamming Emerald by the throat into the wall of their dorm room was because she still needed her for the plan. "What. Went. Wrong?" she seethed.
"I… I don't know," Emerald moaned, her headache spiking from trying to manipulate multiple people with her semblance, Hallucinations. "It was working fine one second, but then the next it was like I was being blocked out entirely. Like someone slammed a door in my face. I'm so sorry Cinder, I didn't mean to fail, I-"
"Don't. Let it happen again. Understood?" Cinder asked the mintette.
"I won't, I promise!" Emerald all but groveled, and Cinder honestly half-expected the girl to literally prostrate herself before her.
"I'm going to make a call to Adam," she said. "We'll need to ready a plan B, just in case, since plan A wasn't as foolproof as I was led to believe." Emerald actually looked on the verge of tears, but Cinder felt no guilt at all. She had pulled the girl off the streets, and promised to make sure she never went hungry again, if only she'd serve her. And she had failed. And neither Cinder nor her mistress were particularly tolerant of failure.
(Ironwood)
James Ironwood was having a stressful week. Between Ozpin, Glynda, and Qrow decrying him bringing his military to Vale, the secret manhunt for Roman Torchwick, the other members of the Atlas council on his case about the stolen Paladins, ensuring Penny is safe and testing her capabilities in the Vytal Festival Tournament, sweeping the CCT for a virus they couldn't find while reworking their own cybersecurity, and having to appease Vale's council whilst simultaneously providing security for the city during the celebrations, he had his hands full, to say the least. And just yesterday he'd received a rather glaring reminder that the enemy was here, and were going about their plans without any of his own people being any the wiser, nearly sabotaging one of the final's matches were it not for a fluke in one of the contestants. And if it wasn't for that same fluke they would have gotten away with it as well. He was quite upset that Penny had to detail a wide range of her capabilities to the other finalists, but while he would have rather gone with Avalon's original suggestion of evicting the arena of spectators, Ozpin brought up an annoyingly good point that the testimony of a single student wasn't enough evidence to empty Amity without creating more trouble than it prevented.
All things considered though, he'd gotten a surprisingly good night's sleep aboard his flagship, the Bulwark. As he got out of his bed, however, something felt amiss. Mettle was telling him that there was a detail in his quarters that was different from when he went to sleep. After discreetly grabbing a handgun (not his preferred pistols, but he kept a number of backup weapons for emergencies in his quarters), he scanned the room, and noticed a single scroll that was certainly not there last night. His semblance kicked in again, reminding him where his earpiece was, and he grabbed it and keyed in to the necessary individual.
"Sir?" came the voice of Specialist Schnee.
"Run a security sweep on the ship immediately. Someone broke into my quarters last night and left a scroll inside," he said as he rapidly dressed (contrary to popular belief, hyper-focusing was actually good for multitasking on small things, because he was able to perfectly concentrate on both his own conversation while making himself halfway presentable in under a minute) himself while remaining as far as possible from the scroll in question. "Send in a tech specialist to verify that the scroll isn't a bomb or has a hidden compartment with poison."
"Right away, sir."
Ironwood waited outside his quarters, armsmen from the ship's personally marine compliment already sweeping the room along with the rest of the ship. Minutes later, a technician and a demolitions expert arrived, running multiple tests on the device before giving their report.
The technician spoke for the duo. "Sir, we haven't found anything malicious on the device, and it's not connected to anything else, so it's unlikely there's any virus within it." After a beat, she added, "We haven't been able to find any hints as to where or who it came from, but if you want, we can run forensics tests to check for fingerprints."
"See to it, but first I'd like to know what's on it, that someone went to this much trouble to bring it here, while attempting to remain anonymous." He reentered his quarters, for the privacy to listen without prying ears, and cautiously opened the device, which revealed a single audio file stored on it, and nothing else. He tapped it, and waited for it to play.
After a second, a voice with a strange accent he couldn't place came out. "Well, assuming you haven't shot the thing or had someone else listen in your stead, I'm assuming that General Ironwood is listening to this. Suffice to say, I'm a party that's interested in maintaining the safety of Vale, and I thought I'd drop a warning as to an impending threat upon the city. There's going to be an attack on the city by the end of the Vytal Festival, that will involve the White Fang. Additionally, from what I've learned of it, the plan involves attracting an extreme amount of Grimm to the city as well. At least a level 9 attack. I'm assuming you and Oz are already aware that something's afoot, but I'd thought that I'd inform you that your timetable to react is much shorter than you probably think it is. Also, you should really update your cybersecurity better. Even after I got Roman Torchwick off your ship, you still didn't exactly make it difficult for me to get onboard again. And if that's your ship's security, I shudder to think about the vulnerability of your mechanical soldiers. Well, that's all I had to say, so I'll stick you in my prayers, and hope that I actually accomplished something with this. Say hello to Salem for me! And then tell her I told her to fuck herself."
Ironwood felt a shiver lance down his spine. This was the same person who got Torchwick out of his brig without leaving a trace beyond the one he deliberately placed for security to find. And he just came onto this ship and did it again. And he knew. About Ozpin and his organization. About Salem. And it was only a small consolation that at least this third player seemed to be against the queen of the Grimm. He took a breath, Mettle forcing his anxiety down, and reminding him that there were new objectives he now had to reach because of these revelations. He placed the scroll in a drawer, and pulled out his own, hastily opening his contacts and selecting a number while he did so. Ozpin picked up after two rings. "James?" he inquired.
"We have a problem," Ironwood began, and he explained what he had just heard.
(Vyliria)
Vyliria sat with Yang upon the roof to the dorms. It seemed she spent a rather inordinate amount of time up here. They'd been sitting up there without saying a word for ten minutes now, and Yang was fidgeting. Finally, she had enough, and asked, "So, are you going to tell me about power within?"
Vyliria sighed. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even consider teaching you this spell, and would tell you that if you truly desired to learn it, to search the corners of the world to find it yourself. However, given the actual circumstances, that would be rather difficult."
"Okay?" Yang said, clearly confused.
"You are aware that as a rule, since spells are attuned to the caster's soul, that they cannot harm the caster, correct?"
"Yeah."
"Power within is an exception to this rule. It's a dangerous pyromancy. Rather than focusing your flame to strengthen yourself, or to burn the world around you, you internalize the fire, and burn yourself. These flames burn so much brighter, but only briefly. The spell will drastically increase the damage you can deal, but it burns your very soul, and actively harms you throughout its duration. It can kill you outright. I will teach you this pyromancy, but do not use this spell frivolously. It has a steep cost, and I do not wish to inform your sister that you killed yourself with a spell I taught you."
That gave Yang pause, if nothing else. "I-"
"Again, much like when I gave you that flame, I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm merely informing you of what you're getting into. I would rather not, but I will teach you this spell… and after the tournament, I will attempt to teach you one of the most advanced pyromancies there is."
"And what's that?" Yang questioned.
"Fire has a great power to destroy, but people forget that it has a power to nurture, to protect, to heal. Warmth is a pyromancy that can heal all those around it, but because it goes in a fundamentally different direction from nearly all other pyromancies, it is the most difficult to learn."
Yang gave a nod. "Thanks, Vyliria."
The Irithyllian put a hand on her shoulder. "It's no problem, Yang. And… I just want to say that I'm proud of you for recognizing what was occurring and averting disaster. Had it been me in the arena, my paranoia would have caused me to strike far before my mind could process that something was wrong. I am proud to have you as my pupil. Please don't forget that."
"That means a lot coming from you," the blonde brawler responded. "So… power within?"
Vyliria let out a solitary chuckle, and called forth a (paper) scroll, unfurling the weathered paper. "Right, let's get started…"
()
A/N: Dear. Gwyn. I have been waiting to pull that trigger. Remember when I loaded Chekhov's gun all the way back in chapter eleven? Yeah, this is what that was for. Props to anyone who figured it out in advance. I think this is the biggest hit I've landed on canon so far, and I only intend to derail things further going forwards. Honestly, it's kinda funny how Vyliria continues to piss off Cinder and derail her plans without trying, or even being aware of it. While I didn't write that scene out prior to this chapter, it was something that I had planned since before I sat down to start the prologue. Looking back, it amazes me that I'm still here ~163,500 words (not counting review response) later.
I realized that teleporting into Ozpin's office without warning in a group that size would startle the man at the least, so I decided that Vyliria would take it as an opportunity to get him back for scaring her back on the first day of classes. Let it be known that this Irithyllian can hold a grudge.
I honestly wanna write more Neo, in part because it's interesting to write a mute character, and in part because Neo's Best Girl (fight me, nerds), but I haven't gotten any real opportunities to do it without making it feel shoehorned in. I have plans, and hopefully I'll get to do more of her going forwards.
Cinder's making a Plan B. I wonder what that might be… or rather, you will all wonder that, because I already know.
Patches has delivered his warning, and gave a name drop to show he actually means business, and Ironwood and Ozpin are now aware that shit will imminently hit the fan. What they intend to do with that information, however, is only currently known to me.
Working out how exactly Ironwood's semblance, Mettle, which lets him hyper-focus on his goal (and it's ALWAYS on, like Qrow's Misfortune), would work from his POV was surprisingly difficult. I ultimately went for something like a 6th sense, that will also sometimes lock his mind on a single track of action. And I figured that hyper focus can also equate to good memory. Lost your keys? Your semblance hyper-focuses on the memory of where they are, dredging it up when you normally wouldn't recall it. I don't think I'll be using his POV much, if at all, until Atlas in Book 3 (or any scenes that may benefit from his POV in Book 2), so don't take what I've done so far as word of god, because I may revise it.
And now Yang's on the track to get power within.
Next chapter we resume things, and we get to see how much further canon gets derailed.
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