Well…it's been some time, hasn't it? 2021 has been a rather consistent year of writing for me, but GVLP has not quite been so lucky. Happy new year, though it is rather late for that now! December was a super busy month, so I had to push a lot of my writing to the side for all of that.

Not much else to say beyond that, so I hope you enjoy the new year return of GVLP chapter 60!

Chapter 60: Into The Fold

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.(Chapter Start)

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October 16th

Wednesday

Dark Clouds

Azura had just watched Ruby body slam into her opponent when he received a message, pulling his scroll out to read the unknown number as she and Reese flew down and out of the arena.

"Meet me at home. It's important. And come alone. -Croc"

Home being their base of operations, he figured. He worried that it was bad news in regards to what had happened last time they worked together, the cheering and roaring audience dulling into the background as he slowly closed his scroll again. He had to find a way to excuse himself for an extended period of time.

"Azura?"

Pyra's softer tone broke into his thoughts, her hand resting against his arm as her blue eyes gazed on his face with Luna just barely to her side watching him as well.

He looks down to her, then over to where the entirety of JNPR were. Looking at Pyrrha and Jaune cheering at the intense ending of RWBY's victorious match while Nora howled and Ren calmly watched. When he looked back, an apologetic smile was on his face.

"I have to go. It's important."

Pyra blinks once, then twice. They share a silent stare for a moment before she nods. "Okay."

It was a feeling of trust that she was giving him, Azura realized.

"Stay with them, okay?" He said, staying close to have her hear him with the roar of the crowd threatening to drown him out. "I'll bring up the idea of bringing you in."

She smiles then, relief briefly crossing onto her face. "I'll be sure to keep Aurora near too."

Hearing her name, Aurora finally peeked her head from behind Pyra and looked up at Azura. He smiles again for her sake, moving past Pyra and patting Aurora's head.

"I know you heard and felt it all, you know." He says, chuckling. "I'll be back in just a few hours, okay? I'll be sure of it."

Aurora nods, slightly smiling back. "Promise?"

"Always."

With one more look at Pyra, he nods and begins to make his way through the crowd, having to shuffle his way through with how crowded it truly was. Eventually making his way to the stairs, he began to move down them and into the inner part of the arena. With Luna guiding a path to the nearest airship, he made his way towards the outer ring of docks for airships to take students to and from the arena and Vale itself.

No one stopped him from making it towards the airship and entering it, slowing down his light jog to a walking pace once inside. Picking a window near the main exit that would open when they touched down, Azura looked out into the skyline where an entire fleet of Atlesian ships floated stationary.

"It's impressive in some ways, isn't it?" Summer said, picking at his brain.

"Yeah. Slightly scary, too." He replied.

Summer hums in agreement. "It's a thin line being ridden, that's for sure."

Lowering his vision down the city beneath them, the sounds of the arena still being heard, Azura instead turned the topic to Ruby.

"Ruby and her team fought impressively. Do you think we'll ever have to slingshot ourselves at someone?"

The laugh in response echoes in his mind. "Only if we deem it to be needed, I guess." A moment of silence. "I was very proud of their ability to fight, especially as a team. Ruby's always been alone, at least in her mind. She's always had Yang, but Blake and Weiss have truly helped her become more confident and less anxious."

Azura simply nodded, not sure what exactly he could say.

"Well," Summer says, quickly changing topics. "You think Croc has bad news?"

Azura nods again as they begin to dock in Vale. "It's always bad news when it comes to that side."

"Could always see Militia and Melanie, talk to them about it."

"I shouldn't involve them." He said, disembarking the airship once the doors opened up to do so.

Looking at his surroundings and finding a path to make his way up to the roofs, he moved his way towards them as Summer gave her response.

"Maybe. Junior made it clear that he didn't want to be involved more than he was."

Climbing the stack of boxes and onto the roof of the small building, he made sure that no attention was drawn to him before jumping up to the higher roof from there with the few rose petals that came from using the semblance.

"Have to be more careful doing technically illegal things with all these Atlas military robots around." Azura muttered. "Would be awkward explaining why I am jumping across rooftops."

From his side, he sees Luna laugh silently.

"Hey, it's not a joke." He says to her, unable to not chuckle as he speaks. "Come on, we need to go."

As Luna danced alongside him in the air, Azura jumped from building to building with enough speed to hastily make his way to their destination. He watched the streets below him as they went, seeing the streets lined with an above average amount of police or Atlas robotic forces, making the feeling of the Atlesian airships above the sky feel heavier.

For being a show of safety and peace with the Amity arena and festivities going on, he wondered how safe the citizens truly felt. Seeing that, despite how many police forces were around, so were a lot of citizens of Vale and maybe even other kingdoms. It made sense to him, presuming students in other kingdoms came with family as well.

He wondered if his surrogate family would be coming. Part of him wanted them to, if only to see them in person again. He missed the jokes Grandpa Ronin would make, or the polar opposites of Corgen and Sapphire, not to mention Lucina herself. The only person he grew up with through childhood, now only spoken to via letters.

"You haven't sent one in a while, you know." Summer commented, unable to not hear his thoughts. "Any reason why?"

"Busy, I guess."

"Hm." Summer hums in reply, sounding her disagreement. "You don't want them here, but maybe we could go visit them. Sure, an older woman hanging out in your body…okay, that would make it a little weird."

Azura smirked, starting to slow down as he entered the district of the city that housed the base of operations run by Croc, Hood, and also the quickly growing famous Avis Nightingale herself.

"You're right, Summer. Once there's a break in all of this, providing that school is on break, we can go visit them. I'm sure Luna would like to be home again."

"That sounds more like you." She teases. "We should take the streets from here, we're close."

Azura fully slowed down, sliding another foot or two before coming to a stop.

"Care to put me down?" He asks, looking at Luna.

She nods in return, grabbing hold of him and dipping off of the roof to the ground. He smiles at her in thanks, then moves to exit the alley to come onto the street. Amity arena could still be seen from here, signaling the drastic difference of Vale from there to here more than usual.

He was uninterrupted on his way there, being cautious to see if anyone was possibly watching him once he turned onto the same street as the multi-floored building. Once he felt that the coast was clear, he hastened his pace and turned down towards the gate that kept him from entering the building. There, a masked man with deer ears protruding from his head to greet him, silently nodding in recognition and quickly opening the gate.

Azura nodded back, hearing the gate being closed behind him as he entered the building itself. There, he felt the gazes of those working or simply lingering in the main central space turn to him before looking away again. There was less suspicion to it all, likely due in combination to the failed 'heist' they survived and also not having Neo around him.

She really was well known as a terror, that much was evident.

Scanning the room, he couldn't find Croc anywhere, or even Hood or Avis. Luna stopped while looking behind him, then gestured for him to turn around with a pointed finger.

"Looking for us, Azura?"

The voice asked him in a familiar tone as he turned, seeing Hood standing there.

"Yes, actually. I was asked to come."

"By Croc, I know. Both her and Avis wish to speak with you. I'm just here to bring you there."

"Oh." Azura voiced. "Well, alright."

Without another word, Hood began moving past Azura with just a simple wave of his hand to tell him to follow. They moved at a mostly leisurely pace, which told him that it wasn't immediately a problem, but enough of one to still require him to be told directly in person.

And since Neo was being left out of it, knowing of their distrust of her, he could only wonder if this was a private matter.

He found himself in front of the doors leading to Avis' office and quarters once again, much sooner than he ever expected, staring at the basic brown wood doors that looked only slightly different than the rest of the building's rundown state.

"I'll stay out here." Hood stated, nodding for him to enter the room. "As you likely suspect, we haven't told anyone else. This is a matter we have to handle…with utmost care."

Azura frowns at the words, but nods in acknowledgement. Why trust him in that case, then?

Nevertheless, he entered the room with nothing more than a knock to announce his presence. Closing the door behind him, he was faced with Avis and Croc standing across from each other on either side of a table now looking at him.

"Good, you made it." Avis said, stepping around the table to approach him. "I presume you weren't followed?"

"I was alone the entire time, as far as I was aware."

Luna would have warned him if he was, he knew that much.

"Good, good." The older woman replies, clasping a hand over his shoulder as she guides him back to her side of the table. "Before I explain why Croc asked you to come here, I need you to look at something and answer a question."

On the table itself, several items that ranged from White Fang gear to weapons and a photo were scattered on it in a semi-categorized manner while Croc's hacked tablet remained in front of her while she poked away at it. She looks up briefly, flashing a friendly smile his way that he returned before going back to whatever her task was.

Using her free hand, she brought a picture his way. It was of a man about five years older than him, with chocolate brown eyes and fair skin tone, seen with a slight scowl in the background of an image that was clearly cropped and zoomed in. He had a hood on and a mask pulled down to hang around his neck.

"While I don't think you'll recognize who it is, do you ever recall a man similar to him watching you?"

"No, I don't." Azura answered, looking at the woman next to him. "Should I?"

"Only if you spotted him. He was one of our stealthier operatives. Shade. And stealthy enough for him to betray us and for us to only find out too late."

"Betrayal…what happened?" Azura asked, scanning the table again as the realization dawned on him. "You investigated his room."

"It seems like he ratted us out for the old police building raid. It's likely that he was waiting for someone like you to be involved. Someone who could prove to be a useful target."

"Me? I'm not exactly something special, just a huntsman-in-training."

"Precisely, you're a student. I run a big risk to pull you into the fold." Avis explains, her grip on his shoulder tightening. "If you get caught by them, it'd be obvious bait to pull me in. And if that isn't enough for you, then think about your friends. You think this team Ruby and you aren't known issues to the White Fang by now?"

Even more so with a runaway member between the five of them.

"My connection with Lu, as well…"

"Exactly."

"Which is why I asked you to come in so suddenly. We're going to attempt to intercept him in the next few days." Croc said, looking up from her screen. "I may or may not be trying to slip into police routing via a false alarm to do so."

"What if you get caught?"

The girl rolls her eyes. "If I can steal military tech, I can go untraced by the police force. You should be asking if you're going to be there for the interception, which you will be."

Avis laughs quietly. "Yes, thank you for spoiling it." She turns to Azura, dropping her hand in the process. "I want you to be there, both to help in his capture and also to test your mettle myself. Combat will be likely, depending on how badly the White Fang wants him and his info."

"I'm in." He said instantly.

"But no Neo." Avis responded after. "You trust her, but I cannot trust her with the circumstances of this particular mission. We…need him to be alive for our own purposes."

"Then…" Azura began, trailing off momentarily until Summer whispered the words to him. "I want my partner to be with me."

Avis' eyes narrowed in curiosity while Croc looked up. "An odd request. Knowing you, however, do you have a reason for it?"

"I need to keep a very close eye on her for a private reason. She can easily cover herself in a fight and there are few others I would want to help in this case."

The older woman turns to her companion. "Croc, thoughts?"

"I trust him with it. Don't think Hood would."

"Hood doesn't trust anything." Avis mutters, crossing her arms and looking at Azura in consideration. "I trust you with this decision as well, but I don't think I can accept it due to the circumstances of who we can and can't trust coming into our group."

Azura frowns, sighing. "I understand."

Avis smiles softly. "Thank you, Azura. We'll be in touch."

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.(Line Break)

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"I don't think I quite understand."

Qrow mutters the words loudly, scanning the foliage as he walks with Folina to his side.

"Understand what, Qrow?"

"What it is that you are planning to do when we find it."

"Track it using my semblance. Haven't I explained this to you before?"

"Well, yes. Explain it again."

Folina sighs quietly, keeping her eyes on the darkening sky over the land around them while speaking. "We speak to the dead denizens of this area, find the end of this path of destruction and death using them, then we track from a distance using the basic function of my semblance. From there, it's a game of sending word to Ozpin until he gives the word to give it death."

"Right."

"Have you always been this paranoid, or is it just particularly bad for this mission?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Qrow asked.

Folina shrugs. "You just never ask me to voice…"

Seeing her voice trail off and stop in place, Qrow paused and looked at her in silence. It took him a few moments more to also realize what it was that she had heard, the rustling leaves in the distance growing louder before a Beowolf broke through the foliage. Drawing both of their weapons, they stood their ground only for it to completely break past them in a sprint. Just as the unsettling silence was about to settle back down again, the sound of a roar rang out before them as a large Ursa Major broke through the now trampled foliage.

The red of its veiny trails pulsed brighter than usual, the normally white armor tinted midnight black while its eyes sifted between its usual bright red and a darker crimson color. Smoke trailed off of its body as it took notice of the armed Qrow and Folina as it roared again, this time raising its arms up to appear larger than it already was.

"So, you come to be released." Folina said calmly, her scythe-head shaped sword sliding into place against her arm, the grooves dancing in the shadows casted by the creature, while her black staff twirled in hand before being aimed at it, the red leaf carvings glaring in the purple twilight.

"It doesn't seem normal, be careful." Qrow warned, raising his weapon in its sword form. "Talk later."

Without another word, he sprinted forward towards the Ursa Major and dodged its wide sweeping paw with ease, quickly turning on a dime to slash his sword into it. His blade made contact, but was met with an unexpected resistance. He leapt back to avoid the creature as he smashed its paw into the tree that was next to his previous position, the wood cracking and whining at the force.

"Well, shit."

It was stronger than expected. Was this a Grim being enhanced by the Nightmare? Could it even do such a thing?

Shaking his head, Qrow shifted his feet and quickly dashed around the Ursa Major while Folina went the opposite way. He slashed his blade against an exposed spot between the armor plating, having to keep moving along the attack to avoid it turning to hit him. Despite the boost to its resistance, it was still just a normal Ursa Major against his experience.

With it turned to where Qrow had been, Folina grunted with effort as she stabbed down to the back of its leg, the curved blade beginning to dig in before she had to let it go and duck the sweeping paw and was jerked out of the way by a ghostly visage once it tried to grab her in its front paws.

Seeing her be jerked to the side again as the Ursa tried biting at her after slamming its front paws down and going on all fours, smacking its face with her staff and hearing the crunch of its face plating crack slightly in retaliation. Qrow quickly shifted his weapon into its scythe mode, the silver metal sliding against itself in the process, then dashed into the other leg and hooked the scythe head around it. He could feel it biting into the flesh, not deeply, but enough to cause the creature to stumble slightly.

In the moment provided, Qrow saw Folina raise her staff again and slam it down against its face.

"Qrow!"

Her call was followed by her throwing the staff to him, which he reacted to by forcing the scythe further into the stunned Ursa Major's leg and grabbing it as he let go of his own weapon. Without a moment to spare and the staff in both hands now, he hooked the top of it into the rough handle of Folina's blade and grit his teeth and eventually feeling the skin give way as the blade cut cleanly through. Unhooking the staff and throwing it back before quickly grabbing onto his own weapon again, he ripped it out and twisted it around his body to stab into its leg from the other side as Folina cracked down on its head again.

The Ursa Major stopped moving moments later, starting to slowly disintegrate and leaving them with only their heavier breathing to fill in the silence. Ripping the scythe head out of the Ursa's leg, Qrow stepped back and then ripped out Folina's curved blade and twisting it to hold the handle out to her once more, which she took from it with a nod.

"If that isn't proof that the Nightmare is doing something, I don't know what is." He said, taking his scroll out to take a picture of it before it fully vanished.

"That Beowolf…" Folina muttered, turning to look around them. "It was running away from the Ursa."

"I know." Qrow said in response, scratching his head while sighing. "Not too sure what to make of that news, honestly."

"Well, one thing is for certain. The Nightmare is indeed making an army of sorts."

"And transforming them into something stronger?"

"Maybe." She answers, crouching down and touching the bony armor. "Another type of Grimm, though…this is a dangerous prospect. I've never seen any Grimm with these sorts of markings."

"Neither have I." Qrow said, hooking his weapon to the backside of his waist. "It's almost like…another faction of Grimm."

"Another faction?" Folina asks, turning to look at Qrow with her green eyes. "As in, a group of Grimm that are attacking other Grimm? Like a war."

He had meant it more as Salem having a force of Grimm opposing her, something never seen before, but he had to remember that Folina had turned down the offer to join Ozpin's forces. A thought wondering if he should tell her everything did enter his mind, one he did not entertain or reject just yet. He trusted Ozpin with his life, but he knew that if he didn't tell her, she would figure it out soon. Or worse, presuming Azura is allowed here by Ozpin like he suspects, the kid will tell her instead.

"Qrow?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the voice, seeing the woman before him staring him down with slightly narrowed eyes.

"This isn't the first time that you've said something a little odd, a little strange. What aren't you telling me about this situation? About the Grimm?"

He sighs tiredly. "You suspected for some time now, and this situation will only reveal it to you crudely." He looks towards the higher cliffside. "Let's find a path up there, we can set up a temporary camp. I'll explain then."

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.(Line Break)

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Their camp was completely makeshift and wouldn't be comfortable for the night, but it was at least likely to be safe. They had done it purely in silence, focusing on doing some light foraging for a fire to barely light the ground around them, but at least give off warmth in the cool night. As it crackled gently, eating some stiff bread with a berry jam that Folina had made at some point, Qrow sighed once more. It was an action that he did not like how often he did it, but nothing could be done about it at the moment.

He sorely wished he still had alcohol on him, the empty flask sitting in his back pocket feeling lighter than he liked.

"Since you won't start the conversation, let me ask a question."

"Shoot." Qrow replied, aimlessly looking at the small slathering of jam on his stiffened bread.

"Why tell me in the first place? Whatever it is has a good reason to be hidden, I'm sure, but you never tell me anything."

"If I am to be honest, I don't know myself." He says, laughing quietly to himself. "But, you haven't been killed by my bad luck yet, have some of Ozpin's trust, and now, someone just like you stuck in my life. If not for seeing the kid's actual mother, I'd assume it was you who brought him into the world."

"Your bad luck won't be killing me or anyone anytime soon." Folina said, shaking her head. "But, you think I can be told because…I haven't died yet, Ozpin trusts me somewhat, and someone with a semblance very similar to mine?"

"My point is that I think Ozpin would tell you at some point. So, I'll do it myself, spare you the trouble that is the old man going on a tangent of fairy tales." Qrow explained his thought process. "Might as well get it over with…what if I told you that someone was controlling the forces of Grimm?"

The fire crackled within the momentary silence, her green eyes meeting with Qrow's red. Her lips were pursed, splitting to part a quiet sigh.

"I think the more insane idea is that I'd believe you." She says, shaking her head. "I mean, the signs are all there. Such aggressive forces all targeting humans and humanity as a whole, seemingly as one mind too. They also never fight each other for territory or for any reason…at least, until now, where we saw a Beowolf run from a Ursa Major that didn't quite look like a normal Grimm anymore. The Nightmare did something."

"It found out how to create or transform Grimm to fight for it." Qrow said, rubbing his stubbled chin. "Which is why you need to know about her."

"Her?"

"Salem. The mother of all Grimm." He said, voice full of a tense seriousness. "She controls all of the Grimm against us in an endless battle, creating Grimm as we destroy them. Deep in the Grimmlands, deeper than any person has ever seen, we suspect she lies in wait and schemes."

"And this woman…is she human?"

"Maybe, but no one truly knows. Not even Ozpin."

Folina sits back slightly, shifting her eyes to look towards the fire as she rests her head on her hugged knees. "It does raise a question, though…"

"Well, you've taken everything in stride so far, so I can answer a question, at least. What's up?"

"Well, she's the true queen to the Grimm, like how us humans are supposedly the top of the food chain." She begins, mulling over her words. "So, she had to come from somewhere, right? Being the mother of all Grimm places her as the first. Then…who created her?"

Qrow pauses, never having even thought of such a question. Ozpin had certainly not told him the answer, so he likely didn't know either.

"I can't say I exactly know the answer to that. Does it matter?"

"Maybe not, if she's trying to kill us all. I just wonder, that's all. I spend a lot of time in nature, around Grimm and other animals, and they pay no mind to anything but us. And now, I just saw another Grimm attempting to kill another Grimm…but it wasn't…"

"One of Salem's, yes. The Nightmare has to be behind that one."

"So why us? She has to have a reason to be warring against us."

"She just innately hates us, I wouldn't know the full answer."

Folina shifts her gaze again and eyes Qrow. "No being truly hates another at the beginning. There's a point of no return with hate, one that Salem may have crossed. What events happened to cause her to hate us so? For killing her Grimm?"

Part of him did not like how her words reminded him of Raven. Not even he truly knew what caused her to abandon everything. To abandon Ozpin. To abandon him. To abandon Tai. Even Yang. Did she just hate her life enough to abandon it all?

In the end, he sighed and spoke again.

"I don't know the answers. I doubt even Ozpin does. We fight to survive, in a hope to one day be free of the scourge that is Grimm."

"Hm…" She hums in response, looking to the sky. "We should take watches again. It's getting late."

"I can take the first one." Qrow said, rising to his feet and pausing to look at Folina. "You took this…all rather well."

She tilts her head slightly, then shrugs. "It makes sense, in a way. The Grimm had to come from somewhere or something. If it is in the shape of Salem, then so be it. I'm more surprised you decided to tell me, if anything. Your 'inner circle' is rather tight-knit."

Qrow looks away, feeling as though he was caught under a spotlight. "Well, much as I trust Ozpin with everything, we do need some allies who know more than they do. You may have not joined us, but it's good to know that you are aware of it all now."

She nods in response. "Well, thank you, then. For trusting me."

"Yeah…" He replied, feeling his voice trail off.

She was a strange case for sure. One that he didn't understand. But, at the end of the day, Qrow trusted his decision to tell her about Salem.

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.(Chapter End)

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Have a good day/evening!