Author's note: This is another crazy chapter. Sorry, I just had to get a few things out first before getting to the good stuff. And so I didn't have to parkour around certain topics any more.
It was the day after their fight against Cinder, and Team RWBY, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Qrow and Oscar were in their house to discuss how to proceed.
"First things first," Qrow said, "I think it goes without saying that your new powers have to stay a secret." He looked at Yang, who was making a small flame bounce up and down over her left hand. Yang noticed his looks, made the flame disappear and chuckled a little before smiling innocently.
"So, what's next?" Blake asked.
"We still don't know who of you has what maiden's powers," Qrow answered, "And based on the fact that Cinder didn't get the relic, it's obvious neither of you is the spring maiden."
"We should ask Talia," Ruby said, "I mean, she is the most likely to know who is who."
"What makes you say that?" Qrow asked.
"I don't know," Ruby answered, "But something tells me she knows something. For one, Sirena didn't seem surprised by Leonardo's betrayal, so she likely knew about it. If I were in that position, I'd feed him false information on the maidens' identities while posing as a trustworthy source, so he gives Salem that information and throws her off. Talia seems like the only person who could do that. Her Possession semblance would let her take control of Ozpin's computers back at Beacon, allowing her to send the information to Leonardo and sending Salem and her minions on a wild goose chase."
"Since when are you so good at this?" Qrow asked and said, "I mean, I could eventually figure this out myself, but I didn't expect you to do that, and so quickly."
"Sirena said tactical skill comes naturally to silver-eyed warriors like me," Ruby answered, "It's weird, though. It's almost as if someone told me all this, but I don't know who."
"I did pick something up for a split second," Jaune said, "Some aura, as if someone used a telepathy semblance, but I can't find them nearby."
"Wait, if Sirena knew about Leonardo, then why didn't she tell us?" Weiss asked.
"To protect him from Salem," Ruby answered and said, "If Salem had known he had been found out, she would have killed and replaced him." She sounded more cold than usual, and everyone got a little concerned. Yang sent a message to Talia, asking for Sirena's scroll number, and when she got it, she sent a message to Sirena.
"Sirena, we have some problems here," Yang wrote, "It's about Ruby. Also, where are you? We're kind of worried about you."
"I have my own obligations," Sirena replied, "For one, I have a kingdom to rule. And Ruby has probably regained her usual demeanor by now as well, so stop worrying." Yang closed the chat window that obscured her vision and noticed Ruby giving her a confused look.
"Yang, are you alright?" Ruby asked.
"What?" Yang asked and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good," Ruby said and asked, "So, any ideas how we find Talia?"
"If she doesn't want to be found, it's pointless," Qrow answered, "We'd have better chances asking every woman on Remnant if she's the spring maiden."
"Are you serious?" Weiss asked and said, "That would take forever."
"If I knew what her aura feels like, I could try and locate her," Jaune said, "Well, if she was within this city." Yang started thinking about a solution.
"Well, sounds like you need a way to get around quickly," Weiss said and made a summoning glyph for a Queen Lancer over her right hand.
"I don't think it's that easy," Blake said and explained, "Talia has been trained by her parents all her life, and has developed an aura-based prey sense. If someone is looking for her, she knows when they are near. She'd sense you long before you could sense her, and then she'd just leave." Suddenly, Yang jumped up and ran out to the training area.
"Yang, wait," Ruby called out, jumped up and ran after Yang. She caught up with her sister on the training ground, where Yang stepped onto the wooden handrail with her right foot and jumped off. After disappearing under the ledge, she turned into her dragon form and flew away. The others came out of the house as well, and watched as Yang disappeared in the distance.
~o~
In the evening, Sirena woke up and looked around. The area was surrounded by spiky chunks of ice from Niob's proximity mines, and Niob was sitting next to her.
"Slept well, your Highness?" Niob asked with a smile.
"I have, yes," Sirena answered, "Now, we should probably initiate the next phase of the plan."
"Got it," Niob said. He pulled out his scroll and sent a message to Raven. A few minutes later, Raven opened a portal to Sirena, allowing Sophie to arrive at Mountain Glenn. As soon as she saw Sirena, Sophie's mood improved drastically.
"Your Highness," Sophie said, enthusiastically bowed before Sirena and asked, "How may I be of service?"
"We need the air from Mountain Glenn to leave this hole," Sirena answered, "Our plan requires a stream of air to flow through the subway tunnels, coming from the city of Vale."
"Of course, Your Highness," Sophie said, "Everything for you, Your Highness. My scientists in Atlas are already working on it. We will construct a hollow mound above the hole. Air inside the mound walls will cool down and flow out through other tunnels, creating a vacuum that sucks in air from the hole. If that is acceptable, of course."
"It is," Sirena said, "Now, begin."
"Of course, Your Highness," Sophie said. She took a few steps for a running start, jumped easily twenty times her own height and, at the peak of her jump, used her silk to quickly create gliding membranes for herself. She scanned the entire area and shot fire from her palms for propulsion to fly higher up.
"I am still perplexed at her skill sometimes," Sirena said, "And my exhaustion, and other factors, do not make it easier to focus right now."
"She is a weaving reaper faunus," Niob answered, "They can cover enormous distances in a single leap, and her aura helps her emulate these abilities. It is like with us, except that she is an omega faunus, due to a lack of proper training."
"Do you know her?" Sirena asked.
"I do," Niob answered, "We lived in the same village. She slept through the bandit attack and blamed the Grimm that followed. I would not dare correct her on who was responsible for the destruction of our home, as her thirst for vengeance would undoubtedly shift. And then, she would lose all respect for your bloodline as well."
"What is she doing now?" Sirena asked.
"She is waiting for her swarm to arrive," Niob answered.
"Her swarm?" Sirena asked, still a bit dazed from using her silver eyes so much.
"It's her semblance," Niob answered, "It allows her to create a shared information pool with other beings. She can control them, issue commands, assign ranks, and more. She is the biggest hurdle when realizing Project Alpha. They will expand and grow their numbers, needing more space, causing them to expand further and growing in numbers again. It is without malice, pure instinct, but if she is not stopped, she will conquer all of Remnant within the next fifty years."
~o~
Ruby walked through the house, not sure why Yang flew away like that. She walked past her team's bedroom and saw Weiss sitting on her bed, with a summoned Seer in front of her.
"Hello Weiss," Ruby said and asked, "What are you doing?" Weiss gestured Ruby to sit down next to her.
"I'm using this Seer, and some other summons, to find Yang," Weiss answered, "I have five tiny Queen Lancers flying around the city and looking for her." Suddenly, the Seer made a few clicking noises and Weiss looked more serious than before.
"What is it?" Ruby asked.
"I found her," Weiss answered, "I'll have the Queen Lancers follow her and guide her back here." The Seer clicked a few times again and both Ruby and Weiss waited a little. After a few minutes, Weiss' expression turned less optimistic, and Ruby could feel her sadness.
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"Well, turns out she didn't like my Queen Lancers," Weiss answered. Suddenly, the light blue smoke in the Seer's spherical body cleared up a little, and a face appeared in it.
"Weiss, can you hear me?" a boy asked through some static.
"Whitley, is that you?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, it's me," Whitley answered. His face faded again, and they lost the connection.
"Who was that?" Ruby asked.
"My brother," Weiss answered.
"You have a brother?" Ruby asked and said, "I feel kind of bad that I didn't know that."
"It's fine, really," Weiss said, "We never got along too well, so I never mentioned him. He got dragged into the nightmare Niob used to train me, and he actually did an amazing job at staying alive, given that he never had to deal with anything remotely like that before."
~o~
Yang was flying around Mistral, making sure she didn't end up on any pictures by accident, when she noticed a Queen Lancer approach her. It was the size of a coconut, and white and blue.
"Weiss, leave me alone, I'm busy," Yang thought. She flew downwards, trying to shake the summon off in an alley, but found herself confronted with two more summons. She flew upwards and the summons followed her, with two more coming in from different directions. Yang disregarded being spotted for the time being, and just focused on losing her pursuers. She sped up, racing through the streets and flying tight turns. She came out of a street opening up to the cliffs and headed straight for a restaurant on the other side of the valley, with the Queen Lancers following her. She performed an aileron roll and exhaled smoke through her nostrils, creating a spiral of smoke. Just before she collided with the building, she turned back into her human form and braced to hit the third floor window.
"Warning, huntress coming through!" Yang called out as she ran through the restaurant. Guests and waiters jumped out of her way and looked after her, with the summons still chasing her. One of the waiters hit a Queen Lancer with an oak wood tray and slammed it into a wall, killing it instantly. Yang jumped out of another window and turned into her dragon form again. She flew straight down and created a smoke screen, changing her direction in the last second. One Queen Lancer hit the ground and died on impact, while the remaining three followed Yang through more streets. She flew past the market place, drawing the attention of several vendors, and a weapons merchant shot down one of the summons, trying to hit Yang. She flew back up, high above the city, and waited for the Queen Lancers.
"Mommy look, a dragon," a little girl said and pointed at Yang. Yang looked down and saw the girl standing with her mother, and drawing a small crowd.
"How can she see me?" Yang thought, "I'm so far up, it should be impossible for them to see me without help."
"Of course, dear," the girl's mother said with a chuckle that told Yang that the mother thought her daughter was making it up. Yang turned back to the Queen Lancers and charged at them, biting one of them and ripping off its head. The second summon took a tail swipe to its midsection and was cut in half as the massive bony club shattered its exoskeleton. After eliminating her pursuers, Yang continued her way to her mother's camp.
~o~
Raven walked up to her camp's front gates, where some of her tribe's members were fighting off a large pack of Beowolves. Just as she was about to draw her sword and eliminate them in one strike, several fireballs rained down and took out most of the Grimm. Raven and her tribe's members looked around and saw Yang, in her dragon form, head straight towards them. Yang unleashed a cloud of smoke, blew it to the ground with her wings and transformed back. She landed between the Grimm and the bandits, doing a classic super hero landing like she had seen in Ruby's comics so often, and got back up. She killed the remaining Grimm with more fireballs and turned to Raven.
"Hello, Raven," Yang said, "First off, where's Talia? And secondly, don't do a super hero landing, it hurts as much as it looks cool, even with aura."
"Hello, Yang," Raven said and asked, "How would I know where Talia is?"
"You helped Argent get to the rest of us," Yang answered, "And if you bonded with him, he must have convinced you to bond with the rest of his team as well." Raven gave her men a nod to leave them, and the bandits returned to the camp.
"They're forcing me to help them," Raven said, "They got a Search and Destroy mission with my name on it, thanks to Talia hacking the kingdom's computers, but claim they can't find me so they can exploit my semblance for their own gain. If they ever do something you don't want them to do, have Ruby tell the local authorities how they didn't kill me when they had the chance, and have been cooperating with me instead. Sirena won't let anyone hurt Ruby, not even her teammates, so you can use this fact to keep them in line."
"And then what?" Yang asked, "They'll just kill each other and you can keep doing your thing in peace?"
"You have no idea what my life is like," Raven said, "Every day, one of them could just drop by uninvited and tell me to do their bidding, and I'd have to fear for my life even if I helped them."
"Coward," Yang said coldly, "Now, make me a portal to Talia."
"Who are you calling a coward?" Raven asked.
"You," Yang answered, "The woman who ran away from the responsibility of raising her daughter, who lets a few huntsmen push her around without even trying to fight back, and who let Beacon get destroyed because she was too afraid of upsetting Salem. But guess what, we'll all die eventually. It doesn't matter if you hide from Salem or not, if she wins, we're all dead. And she won't spare anyone just because they didn't fight against her. Just look at Vale. All those people are dead, and they didn't even know Salem existed. Do you think she'd make an exception for you? You had the choice to stand up and fight, but you chose to just give up. Honestly, I'm glad you never showed up, because some of your cowardice would've rubbed off on me. Now, get me to Talia." Yang's eyes flared up with her maiden powers and Raven hesitated for a moment, not sure how to respond to Yang's little tirade.
"You… have no idea what you're talking about," Raven said, "But fine." She drew her sword and swung it through the air, creating a red portal for Yang.
~o~
After Yang left the portal, she found herself in Leonardo's office, with the headmaster sitting behind his table. Leonardo jumped up and looked ready to fight, extending his shield.
"I'm not here to fight you," Yang said, smiled and added, "But I could, if you want to." Leonardo relaxed again and let his shield collapse.
"No, better not," Leonardo said and asked, "What are you here for?"
"I'm looking for Talia," Yang answered, and Leonardo tensed up again.
"Talia is here?" Leonardo asked and said, "I- I have to get out of here." He ran out of the door and was gone. As the door was about to close, Sun opened it again and pointed behind himself.
"Hello Yang," Sun said and asked, "What's his problem?"
"He's a coward," Yang answered, "There's a lot of those around these days."
"So, what do you do here?" Sun asked, "And how did you even get in here?"
"I'm looking for Talia," Yang answered, "My mom helped me with a portal, so Talia must be around here somewhere."
"Your mom can make portals?" Sun asked and said, "That's funny. When Argent helped Blake, Ilia and me get here, we met with a bandit who could also make portals. I'm a bit sad she's too old for me, though."
"Dude, that is my mom," Yang said.
"Wha- really?" Sun asked, "Sorry, I didn't know that. I mean, she's a bandit, and your dad's a huntsman. That sort of stuff usually only happens in TV, movies or comics, or something."
"It's fine," Yang said, "I kinda always knew I got my looks from her. Anyway, I'm off to try and find Talia. And, you know, try to ignore the fact that you have a crush on my mom." She left the office, leaving Sun alone. After Yang was gone, Talia walked into the office, looking around nervously.
"H- Hello mister," Talia said, sounding like a little girl, and asked, "Can you help me, please?"
"Of course," Sun answered and asked, "What is it?"
"I'm looking for something," Talia answered, "I couldn't find it, and mommy always told me that huntsmen are nice, so I came here."
"Sure, where did you last see it?" Sun asked.
"This way," Talia answered, turned around and ran away, hopping happily. Sun followed her.
~o~
Walking through the streets of Mistral, Sun helped Talia look for whatever she had lost. He had no idea what they were even looking for, or what the girl's name was, but he was still happy to help at least a little bit. Talia was sitting on Sun's shoulders, looking around the area.
"Over there!" Talia suddenly exclaimed and jumped off of Sun's shoulders. She ran over to a market stall, pretended to trip over her tail and crashed into the side of the weapon display case.
"Careful!" Sun said as he ran up to the stall, catching everything before it could hit the ground.
"Watch it," the owner of the stall said in a grumpy tone, and took his merchandise back from Sun, huffing as he put it away.
"Sorry about that," Sun said, "I guess she just got excited."
"Here you go, mister," Talia said and handed him a few bullets. The man took the ammunition, looked it over, wiped it off with a cloth and put it on display again.
"Now get lost, you stupid faunus," he said, and Sun urged Talia to get up and leave.
"Why was the man so rude?" Talia asked with tears in her eyes and said, "It was an accident. I didn't mean to do this."
"I know you didn't mean it," Sun said, "But, well, most humans don't understand us, and some don't like what they don't understand. At least, that's what Argent told me. He's a huntsman too, you know? He said that if we were more open about who we are, and showed humans where we draw the line with jokes and stuff, they might feel more comfortable around us."
"I see," Talia said, calmed down again and exclaimed, "Look!" She ran off to one of the elevators and inspected the mechanism, secretly placing a fire-dust bullet she had kept from the store in the rail.
"Yeah, those elevators are nice," Sun said, walking up to Talia.
"Let's go up," Talia said and pressed the button. As soon as the mechanism started moving, the bullet went off, damaged the platform and blew the duo off the platform. Sun grabbed Talia and created two clones of himself, which pushed the two of them upwards just before they hit the water. Sun swam back to the surface and helped Talia stay afloat, even though she was panicking. He quickly got the two of them out of the water, and Talia shook her tail.
"Are you alright?" Sun asked, wiping the water off his clothes.
"My tail got wet," Talia answered, tears in her eyes.
"What happened there, anyway?" Sun asked himself, looking at the smoking platform.
"Maybe it was that mean guy," Talia suggested.
"Probably not," Sun said, "Anyway, let's get out of here, this part of the city is not the nicest." He started walking back towards the nearest functioning elevator, and Talia followed him.
~o~
Yang returned home, her head hanging low, and was immediately greeted by her friends with a hug.
"Yang, where were you?" Ruby asked after they broke the hug.
"I was trying to find Talia," Yang answered, "I had Raven make a portal for me, but I ended up in Leo's office, and Talia wasn't there."
"Pretty sure she was," Qrow said, "She just didn't want to be found. Told you it'd be impossible."
"Why did you just run away like that?" Blake asked.
"I don't know, honestly," Yang answered, "I just had this idea that I should ask Raven for help, and couldn't wait to act on it."
"Could be your semblance," Qrow said and explained, "You're always quick to jump into action when you use it, and now that you're always using it, I wouldn't be surprised if it had an effect on you. I'd be careful if I were you."
"Great, so what now?" Yang asked.
"I'm sure we can find her somehow," Ruby said.
"So, what did I miss?" Yang asked.
"Sirena definitely has an interesting way of doing things," Ren answered, "She gave Nora and me these bracelets that react when our negative emotions are being tracked, and told Ruby to practice tracking negative emotions on us. Meanwhile, I had to mask our negative emotions to keep that from happening, while Nora had to use her semblance to short-circuit them so they come off. Sirena effectively accomplished three tasks while doing none of them."
"Luckily I got them off," Nora said, "And Ren improved his semblance a lot as well, so that's good."
"See?" Qrow asked, "That's why I don't like trusting her. She's always up to something."
"True," Ruby answered and said, "But she helped us improve. And if I had known me tracking their negative emotions would hurt them, I wouldn't have done it."
"You still don't see that she's a bad influence?" Qrow asked.
"I don't know if she is," Ruby answered, "I mean, yeah, she killed Cinder, but Cinder was part Grimm, and completely under Salem's control. And she knew that I'd be more willing to learn if I didn't know my friends got hurt, so she had a reason to keep it a secret why she wanted me to focus on Ren and Nora specifically. Of course, she also had to keep it a secret from them who would be tracking their negative emotions, so they wouldn't tell me. I know she's made a few hard decisions, but they were for the best of all of us, and I still trust her to have humanity's best interests in mind."
"That doesn't justify all the terrible things she does," Qrow said.
"I know," Ruby said, shivering a little, "I know that, obviously. But I don't know how Sirena sees this, or what her people think like. She comes from a different society, with vastly different values. We can't judge her by our values, because she didn't grow up with them. I'll try to get through to her, but it will take a while. Still, I know I can do it, so please, just give me time." Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Qrow cleared his throat.
"Alright," he said, "But, if she does anything to hurt us, it'll be on you."
"Got it," Ruby said.
~o~
About an hour after Yang came back home, someone knocked on the door. Qrow went to open and found Sun standing in front of the door, bruised, slightly singed, and completely exhausted. Talia, as energetic as always, was gleefully skipping around him.
"Sun, Talia, what are you doing here?" Qrow asked. Sun took a look at Talia, then looked back at Qrow.
"Wait, that is Talia?" Sun asked and said, "She's run me ragged. I need to sleep." He fell over forward and Qrow caught him. Qrow put Sun on the couch and closed the door, but a faint mist entered through the keyhole and Argent appeared in the middle of the room.
"Great, half the team is here," Qrow said sarcastically.
"I'm just here to pick someone up," Argent said and added, "By the way, Sirena asked me to tell you that Yang got the Summer Maiden's powers, while Blake got the Fall Maiden's."
"What are you planning?" Ruby asked.
"Nothing that concerns you," Argent responded.
"I'm pretty sure it does," Ruby said and asked, "What are you guys up to? Why did you help my friends and I?"
"You have to ask Sirena about this," Argent answered, "She insisted we help your team."
"If you tell us, we can help you," Ruby said, almost pleading.
"If you insist, fine. But don't blame me if you don't like it," Argent said, "I plan to end discrimination of the faunus at the hands of the humans. By eliminating humanity." The entire room feel silent.
"But… that's... wrong," Blake said after a few moments, "You can't just commit genocide like that! There has to be another way!"
"Who said anything about genocide?" Argent asked and said, "Just look at us. You have better hearing than any human, Sun, Talia and I have an additional limb to work with, your father always has his claws if he gets into a fight. If humans stop killing us, faunus will eventually replace them. Talia did some calculations. With the current population, and assuming an even split of mixed- and same-race relationships, humanity will die out in less than a thousand years, simply because there will be more faunus than humans being born."
"So, you won't continue Adam's war against humans?" Blake asked. Argent chuckled.
"No," he responded, "Sure, his idea that faunus are superior to humans is correct. I mean, we have an aura and semblance, but we also have additional limbs, and our kind takes precedence over theirs when our gene pools mix. However, he went about it the wrong way. We should show humans that we are the bigger ones, not by oppressing them, but by helping them where they fall short."
"And where would that be?" Weiss asked. Argent smiled, walked over to the windows and closed the curtains, blocking out almost all light.
"Night vision, for example," Argent answered and opened the curtains again.
"Fair point," Weiss said, "Still, I think it's a bit rude how you talk about humans being inferior like it's common knowledge." Her teammates, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Qrow and Oscar gave her strange looks, and she was a bit confused why.
"Says the Schnee," Yang said jokingly, and Weiss realized the irony in her statement. Thanks to his aura-based empathetic abilities, Argent immediately picked up that Weiss didn't like being reduced to her name like that, and decided to step in.
"You know," Argent said, turning to Yang, "Reducing someone to their name is quite similar to reducing someone to their race. If it is in good fun, I don't mind, but I get the impression Weiss does not like this."
"Wait, really?" Yang asked, looked at Weiss and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."
"I know," Weiss said, looked at Argent and asked, "Then what about reducing us to our race?"
"I was just stating the difference between two races," Argent answered, "It's like saying that the Schnee family is well-known throughout Remnant."
"It sounded a lot more offensive, though," Weiss said.
"That's why it's called a harsh reality," Argent said, "You have no natural night vision, no additional limbs, and if a human and faunus have a child, it will always be a faunus."
"Don't worry, Weiss," Jaune said, drawing the attention to himself, and said, "We humans have no limitations on what kind of aura-based abilities we can learn. Sure, Argent can sense vibrations in the ground, and Sirena can breathe under water, but if you wanted, you could learn both of these abilities. It takes longer, sure, but it's possible."
"Now then, if this is sorted out," Argent said, "I will be going." He grabbed Sun with his tail and wanted to leave, but stopped at the door and looked at Ruby.
"Is something?" Ruby asked.
"Is it true that the silver eyes can turn Grimm to stone?" Argent asked.
"Yeah…," Ruby answered and asked, "Why?"
"Can you show me?" Argent asked and said, "I always knew there had to be more to our world, that something big was going on behind the scenes. But I thought the stories of silver-eyed warriors being capable to kill any Grimm with ease was just because their semblances being made specifically for fighting Grimm, like how the semblances of people with red eyes are either more powerful, don't require aura to work or have multiple effects centered around a certain theme, but when Sirena told us that her eyes can literally petrify Grimm, I knew I just had to see it. So please, show me."
"Sorry, but you'll have to ask Sirena about that," Ruby said.
"Alright," Argent said, "I will be leaving now, then." He walked out the front door, still carrying Sun on his tail.
~o~
Late at night, Ruby found herself astral projecting into a tent with several bunk beds. Roughly two thirds of the beds were occupied, and Ruby saw that they were all faunus women. Many of them had a faint yellow hue, but one of them was glowing bright yellow. Ruby sat down next to her, and realized that she recognized her.
"Wait, I remember you. You're Ilia," Ruby said and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?" She knew that Ilia couldn't hear her, but she still felt like she could help her somehow.
"Come on, Ilia, just sleep," Ilia mumbled to herself, "Who cares that you had an amazing time with Blake? She obviously doesn't, so it's the same as always. She gets to have fun with her friends, and not me, while I'm stuck here and have to protect this place so Adam and his friends can do their thing." Suddenly, a woman wearing khaki shorts and a beige top came running into the tent. She had fins on her forearms and looked like she had just been swimming.
"Everyone, we have an emergency!" the woman called out, waking every faunus in the tent and leading them outside. Ruby followed them to a large man lying by the shore of the lake, whose arms were crumbled up like wet paper. She had no idea who he was, but he looked awful. Hazel was covered in cuts and bruises, and Ruby had to restrain herself not to throw up at the horrendous sight.
"Who could do something like that?" a woman asked, and the voice mixed with similar questions, or expressions of disbelief. A medic, a bear faunus wearing a white lab coat and with two ears sticking out from his short black hair, arrived to try and save the man's life. After Hazel was injected some cocktail of different drugs, he woke up and frantically looked around.
"Sir, do you know where you are?" the medic asked him, "Who did this to you?" Ilia, the only one beside the medic who could assess the situation, pulled out her scroll to record the situation for later reference. As he looked around, the Hazel's eyes fixated on Ruby, as if he could clearly see her.
"Girl! Red hood! No, save me," he screamed, pushing himself away from the lake with his legs.
"A girl in a red hood did this?" the medic asked.
"Silver eyes! Save me! Please...," Hazel screamed at the top of his lungs before collapsing and passing out. Ruby took a step back, shaking to the core, and suddenly found herself back in her bed.
~o~
When Ruby entered the kitchen in the morning, her friends all looked at her, not knowing what to say or do. Ruby knew right away that something was wrong, and hesitantly spoke up.
"Guys… what's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"Earlier today, Ilia sent me a video," Blake answered, and Ruby felt like a Big Ursa had just sat down on her chest.
"Ruby… what happened?" Yang asked and said, "I know you'd never do anything like that, but we have to know what happened."
"I just astral projected there," Ruby answered, "And, well, he saw me. That's it. I don't even know the man." Oscar let Ozpin take control.
"Hazel Rainart," Ozpin answered and explained, "His sister enrolled at Beacon a few years ago, but tragically lost her life on a training mission. He… blames me for it."
"Who would do something like this to him, though?" Weiss asked.
"Sirena," Ruby answered before Qrow could say anything, surprising everyone in the room.
"No," Qrow answered, "Sirena would've killed him. Remember what she told Tyrian. This was Argent."
"But… how?" Yang asked and said, "Those injuries… that's not normal. At all."
"His death grip," Blake answered, "He wraps his tail around someone, and sends an aura shockwave into their body. It collides with itself in the middle, bounces back, and takes everything with it. Even with an active aura, this technique is extremely dangerous, and you should make sure never to be its victim."
"You know, I'm suddenly really happy they're on our side," Yang said.
"They're not on our side," Qrow said, "But luckily, they're not our enemies either. At least not right now."
"Don't worry," Ruby said, turned more cheerful and said, "If Argent tries to hurt any of you, I'll step in, and then Sirena will take care of it."
"Are you sure?" Qrow asked and said, "I mean, they're pretty close. Especially Sirena and Argent."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Ruby answered and explained, "Sirena can't help but protect other silver-eyed warriors. Much like I can't help but protect people."
~o~
After breakfast, the group gathered in the living room to discuss their plans for the day.
"So, what are we doing today?" Talia asked, suddenly sitting on the couch. Yang walked around her and grabbed the neck piece of Talia's stealth suit.
"We're getting some answers," Yang answered. She pulled Talia into a tight bear hug and yellow energy flared up from Yang's eyes. Both her and Talia's aura became clearly visible, to the point where they obscured their bodies, and began merging into one.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Oscar said. As the aura faded, it revealed a woman with ash-gray skin, dark purple eyes and dark orange hair, which ended in a ponytail and ran down to her waist. Her heavy, dark purple boots looked like they were cut from stone, and had crimson leather strap around the ankle and shaft, respectively. Her black shorts were held by a white leather belt, which also held several pockets, and she wore a black sarashi wrap around her chest, under a short dark brown jacket with yellow studs. She also wore black fingerless leather gloves, and had a skeletal mouse tail protrude from her waist, which was coated in purple flames.
"I am Hel," the fusion said in a booming voice, "A hundred blades could not scratch me. A thousand bullets could not reach me. Fire, the essence of destruction, is under my command. Kneel before me or perish!" The room started heating up as Hel's Pyromancy semblance went wild, and Weiss created an ice-dust glyph across the entire room to try and keep the furniture from bursting into flames immediately, as they had started smoldering already.
"Don't worry, I got this," Qrow said, drew his sword and charged Hel. The fusion blocked the strike and kicked Qrow across the room, damaging the wall and depleting his aura in one hit, due to the heat from her semblance.
"Yang, I know you're in there!" Ruby called out, "Why are you doing this?"
"Who dares challenge me?" Hel called out, ignoring Ruby.
"I do," Ruby answered and dashed behind the fusion. She tried kicking her in the back of her knees. Hel caught her foot with her tail and smiled at her. Ruby returned the smile. She used her own sorrow of losing her sister to this rampant fusion to trigger her silver eyes and forcibly fuse with Hel.
~o~
Niob looked around at Mountain Glenn and inspected the progress. The arson termites of Sophie's swarm had arrived and started their work. The thumb-sized arthropods broke off tiny chunks of stone, carried them to their destination and used their glue-like spit, which absorbed heat from its surroundings until it reached a certain temperature or made contact with water, to glue them together. At first, they had dug a tunnel from Sophie's home to the mountain, keeping the stone pebbles. Now, they were using these chunks to build a mound around the hole in the ground. They also left holes in the floor of the mound, for two additional tunnels. Niob pulled out his scroll and sent a message to Argent.
"Ready for phase four, boss," the message read.
"Got it," Argent replied, "Move to the ground level and wait there."
"Understood," Niob replied. He put his scroll away and used his wings to glide down to the bottom of the hole. Meanwhile, in Mistral, Argent entered the White Fang headquarters, where he was already expected. Two guards led him to an open area behind the building, where Sienna and Adam were already waiting for him. They had built a stage with a podium, and hundreds of faunus were gathered in front of it, and all of which were armed with the same standard-issue assault rifle.
"Faunus of the White Fang," Sienna said, "Today, Adam and I would like to introduce you to someone who has promised to help us achieve our goal of equal treatment." She gestured Argent to come forward, and he stepped up to the podium and grabbed the microphone.
"Hello, my name is Argent Star," Argent said, "We all know that Adam has attacked Vale, but what you don't know is that it was a trap. Someone forced him to play along, for their own gain, and now the faunus have to suffer as a result. My team is already in Mountain Glenn, preparing an assault on the Grimm-infested city of Vale, to liberate it and show the humans that we are not their enemy. I have asked a certain someone to help us reach Mountain Glenn with minimal effort, so that the majority of our resources can be focused on fighting Grimm." He clapped his hands and a red portal opened up next to him. Raven, not wearing her Grimm mask, stepped out of the portal.
"What is a human doing here?" one of the faunus in the back of the crowd asked.
"She'll help us," Argent answered, "She may be a human, but she is smart enough to not stab us in the back, and her semblance is quite useful. On the other side, one of my teammates, Sirena Blue, will take over, because I still have things to take care of here." Raven opened a portal to Niob next to the stage. The faunus still hesitated, so Adam walked up to the podium, shoved Argent aside, and grabbed the microphone himself.
"Faunus, listen to me," Adam said angrily, "The humans have mocked us for long enough, made us do their dirty work, and given us nothing in return! The one I worked with on my attack on Vale has betrayed us and our ideals, killed our brothers and sisters, and left us with nothing! The destruction of Vale was her only goal, and if we cannot have what she promised us, we will take back what we have given her!" The faunus cheered and stormed into the portal, weapons drawn and ready to engage whatever Grimm waited for them on the other side.
~o~
After forcibly fusing with Hel, Ruby looked around. She found herself in a vast open field, with dead shrubs dotting the landscape and black clouds hanging above. In the distance, she saw a large wall, and started running towards it. At first, it looked like it was cut from a single, soft rock, but as Ruby got closer, she realized that it was seemingly alive, and not the healthy kind. A giant, pulsating tumor cut through the landscape, disappearing into the clouds. As she got closer, Ruby saw a massive double door, big enough to fit two Goliath through side by side, with Yang and Talia holding it shut with all their might.
"See?" Yang asked and said, "I can handle your inner demons." Something massive threw itself against the door from the other side.
"Only with my help," Talia said. The gate shook again, and Ruby ran up to the two.
"What is going on?" Ruby asked, catching Yang and Talia's attention.
"Ruby, what are you doing here?!" Yang asked. The thing threw itself against the gate again, and without the resistance from Yang, the door flew open and all three women were flung back as a giant cloud of dust was kicked up.
"What is that?!" Ruby asked and pointed at a massive creature. It had four short legs, a humanoid body and two arms, as well as wings on its back. Its head looked like the snout of a dragon. Instead of scales, the creature had dark green skin, with holes opening and revealing lime green tissue underneath. A terrible stench wafted over the trio, and the monster roared angrily.
"That is the arch-demon of disease," Talia answered, "I may have made a pact with him to save the souls of some people whose demise I may be involved in."
"Are you serious?" Yang asked.
"Well, I got some nice abilities out of it," Talia answered.
"Like?" Yang asked.
"Letting people turn into dragons," Talia answered.
"You," the demon's voice boomed through the air as he looked at Yang, "You have given me a great vessel. I shall now eradicate those who defy me and rule eternally."
"Hey!" Ruby called out, got up and used her semblance to dash up to the demon's muzzle.
"Ruby, careful!" Yang called out, worried her sister would get hurt.
"I'll be fine," Ruby said to Yang, then turned back to face the demon and said, "You may be big, and strong, and your skin may rot and regrow constantly. Sure, you bring death and decay wherever you go, and you can ravage entire nations with ease. But you do not, I repeat, you do not. Hurt. My. Friends! You got that?" During her little tirade, Ruby walked along the demon's snout until she stared him right in the sickly green eyes. The demon stared at her for a moment, then chuckled.
"Very well, little emissary of light," the demon said, "I will refrain from cleansing the world for now. However, where life and death meet, I shall reign supreme. You cannot live without me. I will always be there, whether you see me or not." With that, the demon exploded in a swarm of flies, and the buzzing and darkness, and a sudden rush of exhaustion, caused Ruby to pass out.
~o~
Sirena slid down one of Sophie's silk strings, and saw hundreds of faunus storm out of a portal next to Niob. There were deer faunus, but also cats, dogs, monkeys, elephants, lions, tigers, and many more. Niob was already giving them instructions, even though there were more coming. Sirena let go of the purple silk string and dropped onto the head of a petrified Giant Nevermore. The faunus all looked at her, and after a few minutes, the portal closed again and all the faunus arranged themselves in rows in front of the petrified Grimm's remains. Sirena extended her trident and assumed a pose that demanded nothing but respect from the faunus below her.
"My fellow faunus," Sirena said, her voice booming through the air, "I, Sirena Blue, have tasks for you. This entire underground city needs to be cleaned up and protected. Those who can generate an aura patrol the entrances to the tunnels, and make sure there are no Grimm. Each group should only have one person who can use their semblance, to leave more for other groups. Anyone else helps cleaning up. As you can see, there are many stones that resemble Grimm. That is because they used to be Grimm. Bring these petrified Grimm to a pile where I am standing. Normal stones go in that corner over there. If you're unsure, just put them on the regular stone pile. Military equipment is to be deposited near the tunnel to Vale, to the left of the entrance. Other metal goes to the right of the entrance. Anything organic goes on a pile near that wall over there. We have an expert securing the smaller tunnels, and she will bring reinforcements of her own, but until those troops arrive, we will have to hold out on our own." She used her trident to point to the various locations where she wanted the materials to go. The groups started working and Sirena climbed down from the petrified Grimm to help them move the rubble. As she was about to start moving the remains of a Big Ursa, a pigeon faunus walked over to her.
"Sirena, there are people who want to talk to you," she said.
"Alright, bring me to them," Sirena said, and the pigeon faunus led Sirena to the tunnel leading to Vale. As she approached the tunnel, she could already see the teams CRDL and CFVY, as well as the former teachers Glynda Goodwitch, Bartholomew Oobleck and Peter Port, standing and talking to some other faunus.
"Cardin, please behave yourself," Glynda said, giving Cardin a stern look.
"I just want to know what those guys want here now," Cardin said.
"Is there a problem?" Sirena asked and stopped between the faunus talking to the newcomers. She gave them a small nod and they returned to their work.
"S- Sirena, what are you doing here?" Glynda asked, obviously surprised to see Sirena.
"We are helping clear the Grimm out of Vale," Sirena answered, "Free of charge of course, as per my kingdom's agreement with the council."
"What is going on?" Cardin asked. Glynda sighed.
"Everyone, this is Sirena Blue," Glynda said, "She is the queen, I presume, of the under water kingdom of Soraklia. Please, for your own safety, treat her with respect."
"Yes, I am queen of my people," Sirena said, "However, I am fine just being your average huntress while on the surface."
"What was that explosion we heard back there?" Coco asked, "Did you blow up the surface level or something?"
"Not quite," Sirena answered.
"Not to sound rude or anything," Cardin said and asked, "But how exactly do you plan to get the Grimm out of Vale? We've been trying for months, and we can't even establish a base in there any more. It's as if someone really wants to keep the city under Grimm control."
"I have… abilities," Sirena answered, "They'll help, but I'll still need your help as well."
"Let me guess," Coco said sarcastically, "You somehow can wipe out hundreds of Grimm in an instant, but there is some huge drawback that leaves you vulnerable, so you need others to keep you safe after you use it." Her smirk disappeared immediately when she saw two faunus carrying a petrified Boarbatusk away some distance behind Sirena.
"Sort of, yes," Sirena said and explained, "Those born with silver eyes can turn Grimm to stone in an instant, with enough training."
"Wait, so even Ruby could do that?" Velvet asked, her eyes glowing with amazement.
"She just said it, didn't she?" Cardin asked condescendingly.
"Cardin Winchester," Sirena said in a serious tone, "I would appreciate if you would be nicer to those superior to yourself. This means no pulling ears, no extending people's shields in doorways, and no blackmailing them into covering their teammates in red tree sap so that rapier wasps target said teammates. Among other things."
"H- how do you know that?" Cardin asked, taking a step back from Sirena.
"Do not ask how the deep sea knows of your sins," Sirena answered in a cold and foreboding tone, "Your only concern should be how much it knows, and how it is going to punish you."
"Understood, ma'am," Cardin said and swallowed nervously.
"Good," Sirena said, now with a normal tone, "Now, if you want to stay, you will have to abide by my rules, as I am in charge of this operation. However, you are free to pursue your own goals, or our common goal in your own way. I will not hold your decision against you." Glynda looked around and the other teachers nodded confidently.
"We'll stay," Glynda said.
"Us too," Cardin said, and his teammates nodded in agreement.
"How can we help?" Coco asked, and her team looked ready to jump into action.
"Glad to hear that," Sirena said, "Glynda, use your semblance to bring the stones out of the crevices, starting with the big one in the middle. The rest of you help the combat troops clear out any Grimm in the smaller tunnels. Niob and I will take care of the main tunnel."
Author's note: Lots of crazy stuff happening. For one, Talia made a pact with a demon. It's not an actual demon in the common sense, it's just called that. He's the manifestation of the idea of diseases, and exists across all possible realities. Also, he's not evil. I'm trying to establish an over-arching mythos in all my written works, so of course he's in here as well.
Ruby will actually become a better tactician over time, due to her innate desire to protect people. The more she uses her powers, the stronger that desire becomes, and the better she will become with a lot of stuff.
Sirena is still not fully recovered, and had trouble remembering stuff. You know, like when you zone out, or your brain skips a bit and you can't think of that obvious thing right now.
Yang's chase scene was really fun to write, because I could see it play out in my mind like in some more fantasy-heavy Jackie Chan movie or something. Also, the girl that saw Yang has, you guessed it, a semblance that helps her see farther. She just doesn't know it yet, because all the things she zooms in on are things kids her age usually make up out of boredom, like a bird turning into a man, or ninjas doing parkour across the rooftops. Also, yes, Yang's senses are that fine as a dragon.
Talia doesn't like her tail getting wet, at all. She didn't like that guy, either, so she framed him for the damages.
Sun was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But at least he's found a new milf to crush on. You're welcome, shippers.
I originally had a bit planned where Sun and Talia got involved in some shady stuff, and Sun tried to take one multiple people to protect Talia. But it didn't fit into the chapter, so I had to leave it out.
Adam's spite is now entirely focused on Cinder. She may be dead, but her legacy lives on, and he won't stand for that.
As for how Sirena knows what Cardin did, well, when two magic-users fuse, their fusion breaks the 4th wall. Mimi watched all f V1-4 when she first formed. Talia forgot all about that, since her mind isn't made to comprehend that, but Sirena remembers it, since she never forgets anything. She still can't understand it, though.
