AN: Sorry everyone, I wanted to have this out DAYS ago, but work has been murder recently. I work in the insurance field and after Hurricane Ida came through, I haven't had a moment to breath while on the clock.

A New god of Remnant

Chapter 14

-Percy-

Leaning against the wall, Percy watched as one of the students from Haven, Reese Chloris if he remembered correctly, was flying through Beacon's parkour course on her hoverboard, admittedly losing time as she kept pulling off flashy stunts and tricks. Eventually, she overestimated herself on one of those tricks, landing on her ass with a thud as the board flew off towards him. "Ow." Reese groaned, rubbing her ass as she got up off the ground, "That sucked."

"I'll bet." Percy snorted amused as the girl shot up with a startled 'eep' "I've had some wipeouts in my time but that one was admittedly rather spectacular."

"Nooooooo." Reese groaned red faced "Please tell me you didn't see that and are just guessing."

"Sorry, saw most of your last run through the course." Percy kicked up her hoverboard, the old muscle memory from his days at the skate parks of New York coming back to him. A familiar action that clearly drew the attention of the hoodie wearing huntress.

"You board?" Reese blinked in surprise as she walked over, taking the hoverboard blaster of doom back from him.

"Yeah." Percy's eyes unfocused as he gave a sad smile, remembering the family he'd never see again "I used to go boarding with my baby brother. He was never very good, but he loved trying, loved getting to spend time with me while my mom watched us."

"You wanna try mine?" Reese asked him, oddly nervous as she shifted from foot to foot, the floating device tucked under her arm.

"That's your weapon," Percy gave a deep laugh, one that was starting to sound more and more like his dad's as he got older, that made Reese turn oddly red "given how important the tournament is I figured it's probably best that you not let me risk messing it up with a much more spectacular wipe out. I was getting rusty even before I got stuck behind a desk doing paperwork." At the word paperwork, the Haven Huntress made a face, sticking out her tongue in disgust. "I know." Percy chuckled "But it has to be done, you'll have plenty of your own once you get your license. Just be glad your school doesn't have Glynda." His eyes twinkled mischievously as he decided to have some fun "She's got a new punishment in mind for upper year students who get too destructive. Instead of lines it's repeatedly filling out forms and paperwork for collateral damage with situations she stipulates. Repeatedly until she feels they've learned their lesson." His colleague had never even mentioned such an idea, but it would be amusing to see how long it took the students to figure out it wasn't real. Judging by Reese's horrified expression he'd have some good entertainment in the meantime.

-Qrow-

Sighing to himself, Qrow swirled around yet another cheap drink, this having been the fifth town he'd stopped at in Mistral. He knew she'd gotten his fucking message, like always she'd pointedly left him on read, and that she'd sensed him in every friggin bar in every town he'd stopped at, she was just being petty and making him wait. "Well," the familiar voice finally arrived alongside the sound of an opening portal "don't you look pathetic."

"Hardy har har Rae." Qrow grunted, offering her the bottle as she sat down, his sister raising an eyebrow at him offering to share booze.

"Hmm, this is either bad news or you're hoping for something." Raven poured herself a generous glass and took a sip "Blegh, your taste is terrible as always little brother." Didn't stop her from continuing to drink it.

"In all honesty, a bit of both." Qrow glanced around to make sure nobody was able to overhear "And just so there's no misunderstandings, Ozpin doesn't know I'm here, so you don't have to worry about that. I came out on my own."

That got her attention as his sister leaned forward, "Hoping to come back to the Tribe?" she asked, part of him wondering if she sounded at least just a bit hopeful.

"No Rae." Qrow shook his head as Raven rolled her eyes and dropped back into her chair "Even if we don't agree about Ozpin, I want to at least be able to stay around Vale to keep an eye on the kids. Not to mention I'm not very fond of the whole 'raiding bandit' thing. No, this is me passing on a warning to you and hoping you'll keep an eye out for me. I'm guessing you saw that video of Jackson fighting the talking Faunus Grimm?"

"I'd wondered if that was real." Raven frowned, "I take it that she is experimenting? Making new types of Grimm?"

"It's not just that Rae." Qrow gripped the bottle hard enough for micro cracks to start spreading through the glass "You're aware how she's had…followers like how Oz used to have us? Well, that Grimm apparently bears a striking resemblance to one of her most devoted ones from a couple centuries ago, the kid of someone who'd once been Oz's right-hand man." Qrow winced at the bad taste what he was about to admit left in his mouth "Said right-hand raised the kid with promises of power and importance, that Ozpin would grant him a magical boon if he proved himself and worked for Oz like what we got. The kid worked his ass off, but Oz didn't trust him, said no, and the kid joined Salem."

"Wow, big shock." Raven rolled her eyes but seemed to be more relaxed as he'd admitted to others leaving Ozpin's service in the past, "I'm surprised he even told you those details."

"Jackson's been bringing out changes in the old man." Qrow admitted with a shrug before shaking his head "Anyway, my point is I wanted to warn you that the witch is apparently dabbling with some creepy voodoo shit and wanted you to let me know if yous pot any other new 'toys' of hers in Mistral. Can I trust you on that?"

"We'll see."

-Hazel-

"You wanted to talk." Hazel's deep voice rumbled out as he reclined in his chair, swirling a glass of scotch as Watts sat across from him, the man sipping on some wine.

"Yes." The scientist steepled his fingers "I'm sure you've noticed the way the winds have started blowing." Watts let out a derisive snort as the man sipped his drink again "Tyrian has his uses and skills but reading people isn't one of them, knowing when he's being tricked isn't one of them."

"You think Cinder intends to kill us?" Hazel summed up "I'm well aware she'd love nothing more than to see you dead. And wouldn't shed a tear if Tyrian passed. But you truly think she'd be so foolish as to risk Salem's wrath? To sabotage every goal here within Vale?"

"No. I think she's an arrogant little shit with a god complex." Watts scoffed "She sees herself as infallible, I wouldn't be surprised if she sees Salem as nothing more than a resource or a steppingstone to whatever that insolent little brat wants. No, I think she's going to try and kill us off, either doing it herself when she can pin the blame on someone else, or putting us in a bad situation like one of us fighting most of Ozpin's circle at the same time without backup." Watts finished the wine in his glass "I'd bring this up with Tyrian, but he'd be liable to just go and attack Cinder straight out. I don't really feel like irritating Salem by doing so, or drawing the attention of every Huntsman in Vale."

"…That does admittedly sound like Tyrian." Hazel drained the rest of his glass and moved to get a refill "But you don't think that with the current situation that Cinder might be at least somewhat more cautious?"

"She hasn't told her minions about Salem." Watts informed him as Hazel paused in his perusing of the liquor cabinet as he looked back over his shoulder at the confident scientist "I overheard what she told the two about the three of us. Stating that we were 'old colleagues' who owed her favors and had their own issues with those in Vale. Given your open hatred of Ozpin, my past with Ironwood, and Tyrian's…well his love of stabbing things in general, the two whelps bought it easily. Cinder even sent a report to Salem about it, claiming it was to protect our lady's anonymity, not admitting that Cinder doesn't want to reveal she isn't the one who's actually in charge."

"You're leading to something." Hazel kept his face composed as he focused on Watts, giving genuine thought to his colleague's point.

"Those two are reckless and a risk." Watts rolled his eyes "The boy has no real loyalty to Cinder, he's with her because he knows she'd kill him if he tried to leave. Not to mention with the boy's upbringing he's unstable and doesn't have any real reason to worry about failing as he likely doesn't really have much to live for. That Emerald girl is the opposite issue with how obsessed she is with Cinder. The girl would do anything, no matter how stupid, if she thought it could get even the slightest hint of Cinder's attention if not approval. Her 'love', or what ever Emerald thinks is love."

"I-" he paused as the door to the small sitting room opened, Mercury coming in and heading straight for the alcohol, pouring a large glass of strong drink and slamming it back. The boy didn't look stressed, so it was clearly a matter of not knowing how to properly enjoy such a drink. The pain of seeing such a waste of good booze ensured he felt no pity for the boy as he coughed and gagged, looking into the other room where he saw Emerald playing with a bronze dagger he'd never seen before.

"Sustrai, where did you get that knife?" it looked old and was clearly a standard blade, not something he'd seen the girl use before.

"I was snooping around that Jackson guy's office." Emerald snorted as she twirled the weapon "He had this piece of junk on a stand for some reason. Figured I could use a letter opener, so I took it with me."

Pausing, and taking a deep breath to control his growing irritation, he turned to the smug Watts "I take back any doubts I had about your theory."