"Well, this is just fantastic!" General Ironwood slammed his fist onto his desk. "Even more people are dead, Penny's been framed for it, and SOMEHOW, Jacques Schnee is on the council."
A quick meeting had been called the next morning to discuss the events of the previous night. Regrettably, the victory party that Ruby, Ren, and Nora went to for Robyn Hill was attacked, and Penny has been framed as the prime suspect.
According to Ruby, the scorpion Faunus Tyrian was the real culprit. Of course, Robyn didn't believe it. However, Sera believed it immediately. She had no doubt that Salem had something in play in all of this.
Ironwood, Ruby, Ren, Nora, Qrow, Winter, Clover, and Sera stood in the General's office for the meeting, and everyone was on edge.
"That's the second shipment for Amity that has been hit today. It seems that election night was the last push needed for Robyn to go from hometown hero to full-on vigilante," Clover said.
"More like full-on terrorist," Sera mumbled.
"I'm afraid the problem is more complicated than that," Winter added.
Ironwood sighed, exasperated. "It seems Robyn has emboldened our suppliers in Mantle. They're refusing to sell us provisions until the city is adequately repaired." He began to pace stiffly behind his desk. "With Robyn redistributing the goods her team has stolen, the Amity Project has completely stalled."
"Let me go after her," Sera crossed her arms. "I'm tired of hearing about this woman and her group of 'happy huntresses.' I think it's time I met her and asked what her deal is." She slammed a fist into her open palm.
"All in its own time," Ironwood told her.
"There has to be some way to finish the tower," Ruby said.
"There is," Winter looked at her. "Declaring martial law."
"You can't be seriously considering that," Ren said.
"What's more important?" Ironwood clasped his hands behind his back and gazed out the windows of his office. "Restoring communications and uniting the world, or appeasing a few city blocks?"
"Don't make it sound trivial when you know it isn't," Nora told the general. "You keep talking about how we need just a little more time, but you're not the one having to struggle."
"We have all had to make sacrifices for the greater good. Mantle has had to bear a lot of the burden, yes, but—"
"They're bearing all of it!" Nora retorted. "The longer this waiting game goes on, the harder it gets for the people down there. And now you wanna send in more soldiers? You can't force people to fall in line. If you do that, you'll just be trading all of these problems for the Grimm!"
Sera shifted uncomfortably. The tension was so thick, she could cut it with a rusted butter knife. Finally, Ironwood sighed and sat in his chair, putting his face in his hands with visible stress.
"Please, General Ironwood. Squeezing Mantle this way… That kind of division plays right into Salem's hands," Ruby said.
Sera put a hand on her shoulder tentatively. "He's doing the best he can, Rubes. Imagine being in his position. I sure can't."
Ruby hesitated at her words. "That's why Tyrian is framing you, General."
"Right," Clover turned to them. "The reason why we called you here in the first place." He made a hologram appear from his scroll, pulling up a clear headshot of Tyrian with a page full of text. "Are you sure this is the man you saw?"
"That's definitely Tyrian," Ruby confirmed. "He works for Salem, and now he's here."
"If we had any doubt that Atlas was Salem's next target, they all just took a fiery nosedive out of the window." Qrow crossed his arms.
"But now we have a suspect. We can tell people!" Ruby said.
"Right," Clover snorted. "A long-lost serial killer is now loose in Mantle, and the military have no idea where he is—might make things worse before they get any better."
"I am so sick of secrets," Nora groaned. "If we just told everyone about Amity, about Salem—"
"We can't!" Ironwood slammed his palms onto the desk as he stood. "If we talk about Amity now, we risk Salem's forces, who we know are here trying to sabotage it. If we talk about Salem, the Grimm swarm in before communications are restored. We have to finish the tower. I want Robyn Hill in custody. We can offer her a deal if she gets Mantle to cooperate. Anyone not assisting with Robyn needs to focus on Tyrian. I want to know who he's working with, where he's hiding, what he's planning, and how exactly that video of Penny leaked all over my kingdom." The General walked past everyone and to the large double doors that led out of his office. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir." Everyone responded.
"Then get to work." Ironwood told them. One by one, Qrow, Ruby, Ren, Nora, and Clover left the office. Ironwood closed the door behind them and sighed heavily, turning to Winter and Sera. "Sera," he said, his voice softer and not as heavy. "What're you still doing here?"
"I have a question," she responded.
"Shoot," he nodded.
"If Ruby and the others were brought in because of Tyrian, why was I called to the meeting? I wasn't at the victory party last night."
"Because as a young B-license huntress, this was a good learning experience for you," he clasped his hands behind his back.
Sera raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"Very perceptive," he chuckled. "If Salem is truly behind this attack—"
"She definitely is."
"Then I wanted you here because of your, ah, relation to her. Like it or not, you're as vital to this operation as the Ace Ops or even me. According to Qrow, that power you inherited from her is a good playing card against Salem, as is Ruby's silver eyes."
"So I've been told," Sera mumbled. Despite how much stress the General was under, he laughed.
"You don't like that sort of attention, do you? Being addressed as Salem's daughter, I mean."
"No," Sera admitted, uncrossing her arms. "Because I believe I'm more than just that. I'll define who I am myself, and I refuse to stand in her dark shadow. But I will do anything to stop Ruby from having to face Salem. She doesn't deserve that, and neither do any of the others."
Ironwood nodded. "That's very admirable. No matter what, you wish to protect your friends from harm." Then he chuckled lightly. "You remind me of another huntress I knew who also found their place at Beacon."
Sera waited, but the General didn't explain. "The time I spent in her castle was hard. I still don't even know exactly how long I was trapped there for. But yes, I would protect them from her."
"Unfortunately, you might not have a choice," Winter spoke up. "You can't protect everyone, no matter how much you want to."
"We'll see about that," Sera said to her. Winter frowned but did not talk further. Then the amnesiac turned her eyes back to Ironwood. "So, what am I to do?"
He shrugged. "Help take Robyn into custody or track down Tyrian. The choice is yours. Both are of the highest priority."
Sera thought about it for a moment. She wants to meet Robyn face to face, but she also wants to beat the ever-loving tar out of Tyrian.
"Both of them," she answered.
Ironwood's eyes widened slightly. "Very well," he chuckled. "Within the hour, I'm going to order for decoy supplies trucks to be deployed. With a little luck, they'll try to ambush one, and we'll have a shot at Robyn. As for Tyrian, well… we don't have many leads on him. Qrow and Clover are heading that search, so report to them."
"Got it." Sera nodded.
"I truly am glad that you, Oscar, and the others from Beacon are here in Atlas." He put a hand on Sera's shoulder. "I need all the help I can muster for the plans I've made."
Sera gulped. "Yes, sir. Wouldn't miss it for the world," she joked. She was tempted to tell the General what her team had told her about the Lamp and Jinn. Sure, she'd realized that they had seen nearly the exact same vision that Salem had shown her while Sera was making her escape from her mother's castle, but what Ruby told her was even more troubling than the vision.
Jinn is the being or entity or whatever within the Relic of Knowledge, and therefor "knows all." From what her friends had told her, Jinn said that Salem could not be destroyed. Sera didn't know if the whole thing about her and Ruby being the best shot they had against Salem still stood or not, but she'd try her damn best to destroy her mother anyway.
"Good," Ironwood squeezed her shoulder before letting go and returning it to behind his back. "You're free to do as you wish pertaining to Tyrian and Robyn, so long that it's not too extreme."
"Understood, General." Sera nodded with a slight smile. She turned to leave, but before she could step through the door, Ironwood spoke.
"One more thing," he said, closing the door. Sera quirked an eyebrow, but she didn't raise any objections. "Something regarding the Winter Maiden."
"General, you're going to tell her-?" Winter protested.
Ironwood raised a hand to stop her. "No secrets, remember? We're a team; we have to trust each other." Sera winced at his words, because they were still keeping the secret about Salem from him. "The Winter Maiden is here, in Atlas."
"Really? Who is she? Please don't tell me it's Winter," Sera said, looking at the Schnee. Winter flustered, but the General continued before she could smite Sera down with her (maybe) powers.
"No, she's not Winter." The General chuckled. "But the Maiden is sick. Dying, in fact. And Winter is the only person allowed to see her."
The gears in Sera's head slowly began to turn and as she processed Ironwood's words. "You want to make Winter the new Maiden. Because when a Maiden dies, the power transfers to the person who was last in their thoughts, and if only Winter sees her for a long time, you think that Winter will be the last one in her thoughts when—when she dies."
"Exactly," James nodded. "We cannot let another Maiden fall to Salem. With Cinder being the Fall and Raven being Spring, there is only one other Maiden left on Remnant, and I'd prefer that we have her on our side as well."
"Me, too," Sera agreed. She shuddered at the thought of the Summer Maiden being in Salem's control. Or worse, if Cinder managed to find her and take her powers like she did with the old Fall Maiden and tried to do with the Spring Maiden.
Ironwood nodded again, then opened the door for the amnesiac. "And Sera? You and your friends be careful. Remember, you all are still new huntsmen and huntresses. Keep an eye out."
"Keep an eye out for my sister, you stubborn girl," Winter said with a tiny hint of a smile.
She nodded, then left the office.
. . .
Sera made it to her team's room when the door abruptly slammed open. Sera jumped, startled, then a yellow hand grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her into the room.
"What'd Ironwood have to say?" Yang asked her once Sera was inside and the door was closed. The amnesiac noticed that it was just her and Yang in the room, and she wondered where the others had gone.
Sera considered not telling her, but then she remembered what Ironwood had said about not having secrets. The info about the Winter Maiden was free game. Taking a deep breath, she relayed to Yang everything that was talked about in the meeting. When she was done, Yang looked rather shell shocked.
"Well," she said, smacking her lips as if trying to get a bad taste out of her mouth. "That's definitely more than what Ruby said."
"I stayed to ask Ironwood something after she and the others left," Sera said.
"What question?" Yang raised an eyebrow.
Sera shrugged. "Just why I was invited to the meeting in the first place. I wasn't at the ambush, so I didn't really have anything to report. But he told me he wanted me there because of my license."
"B-ranking, yeah."
"Exactly. Said it was a good learning experience."
Yang shrugged. "If he says so. And he told you to just do whatever about Tyrian and Robyn?"
"Basically."
"Well, Blake and I are going to be on one of those decoy trucks to try and catch Robyn. You can come if you wanna." She poked Sera in the stomach playfully as she spoke.
Sera grinned and pushed her hand away. "Maybe. I dunno."
"Why not?" She quirked an eyebrow. "You just said you wanted to meet Robyn and give her a piece of your mind."
"Yeah, but Tyrian's also out there somewhere. He's loose and I don't want him to find us again." Sera shifted uncomfortably.
"Hey." Yang put a hand on her shoulder. "I know that fight was rough for you, but if he finds us again, we'll be ready. You're stronger now, right?"
"Well, yeah," Sera half-shrugged. "But you weren't there in Mistral when we fought him the first time. That man—no, that monster is dangerous. Just ask your uncle."
"It'll be fine," Yang assured, then pulled Sera into a hug. The amnesiac blinked and hugged back, putting her head in the crook of Yang's neck. She breathed in the blonde's lemon scent and sighed contently.
"It's just stressful, this job," Sera said.
"Part of it," Yang chuckled.
"Yeah, but…" Sera chewed her lip. "Sometimes I think about Patch, and how quiet and peaceful it is, and—"
"And you just want to leave this all and go there?"
Sera nodded, and Yang chuckled and squeezed her tighter. "Can't say I really blame you there, Snowball. But you know that that's not gonna be possible for a while—maybe even years."
"I know." Sera looked up at her. Yang's eyes were soft and full of care, so similar to how she looks at Ruby. "Besides," she chuckled. "Who's gonna protect you all if I go somewhere?"
Then Yang squeezed her—hard. Sera gasped as she was lifted into the air and felt her ribs crushing her lungs. "Okay," she coughed. "Yup. I get it. No leaving."
"Damn right," Yang set her down. "Now, are you coming with me and Blake or what?"
Sera was coughing to get air back in her lungs. Once she was coherent enough, she met the blonde's eyes again. "I'm still not sure."
Yang shrugged, slightly disheartened. "That's okay. If you feel like you need to stop Tyrian, then I won't stop you. I understand what it's like, and Blake definitely would too."
"How?"
"When we went after Roman Torchwick back in our first semester at Beacon."
"Oh, right. You guys told me about that once." Sera nodded.
"Correct." Yang poked her on the nose.
The amnesiac grinned and glanced at her scroll. It was midafternoon. If Sera wanted to go after Tyrian, she'd have to do it at night. Unfortunately, that's also the most dangerous time to do it.
"I think I'll go after Tyrian after all. That guy needs to be taken in." Sera pounded her fists together in the same fashion as Yang. "Or taken out."
Yang frowned. "Taken out like—like that guy you told me about?"
Sera quirked an eyebrow in question, then it hit her. She was talking about Christian Castelo. In the first fight against Tyrian, Sera had gone head to head with the huntsman, and when she'd won, she… She put a bullet in his head. She forgets about it sometimes with everything she's been busy with, but Sera has killed a man.
She wondered if that made her a bad person, forgetting such an important, self-defining detail. None of her friends talked about it afterwards. Not even Qrow, who actually knew the man. Then again… Sera did kind of execute Christian in a brutal manner. They'd told Yang and Weiss everything that had happened on their journey to Mistral, but Sera had to explain the events of that fight in greater detail afterwards. Ruby nor anyone else mentioned it during their story.
"Maybe not quite like that." Sera cast her eyes down. She could remember the look on Christian's face when she pointed the gun to his head. And she remembered not hesitating.
"Hey," Yang put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You did what you had to do."
No, I really didn't have to.
"Yeah," Sera said. "Sure. So, when are you and Blake going for the decoy thing?" She asked, hoping to change the subject.
Yang frowned at her behavior. "Probably in an hour or so. What about you? When are you going after Tyrian?"
"Nighttime. Or whenever Qrow is, which is probably also at night."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Yang's face soured.
"Why?" Sera blinked.
The blonde shuffled her feet and glanced around the room.
"Are you…" Sera narrowed her eyes, a small smile appearing on her face. "Worried about me, Yang Xiao Long?"
"Don't be stupid. I know you'll be fine. Besides, we don't have time to worry." She crossed her arms.
Sera grinned and stepped right up to her, forcing Yang to meet her eyes. "You can show concern every once and a while; I'm not going to think less of you, you know."
"Who said I was concerned?" She cast her eyes to the side. Sera smiled and took Yang's face into her hands, forcing her to meet her eyes again.
"You just did, without even saying it."
Yang looked like she wanted to argue, but she seemed to melt when Sera brought their lips together. The amnesiac moved her hands to Yang's hips pressed their bodies together.
Heat rushed to their faces as Yang pulled Sera's leg up with a hand. The amnesiac's mind was racing at a hundred yards a second and she knew that something was about to happen when she saw the look in Yang's eyes.
But before Sera could think "Uh-oh," someone cleared their throat, and the two of them immediately separated. Weiss had her head poked into the room with a blush the shade of Ruby's hood on her face. "Blake was looking for you, Yang."
"Got it. Thanks, Weiss." Yang rubbed the nape of her neck.
"And if you're gonna do that, how about it doesn't take place in our room?"
"Weiss!" Warmth rushed to Sera's face.
"I'm just saying." She raised her hands in surrender and backed out of the room.
"Well." Sera idly tapped the floor with her toe, her face burning with embarrassment. Then Yang wrapped the amnesiac in a tight hug, then separated, holding Sera at arm's length.
"Rain check." She winked.
"Um—Er—Well—Uh…" Sera stuttered.
Yang grinned and pecked her on the forehead before putting her new sunglasses on and slipping out of the room. The amnesiac couldn't help but smile to herself touch her fingers to her lips.
"Well," she murmured. "That was a thing."
. . .
Several hours later, Sera met up with Qrow and Clover to begin their search for Tyrian Callows.
"Well, how's life been treating you, Miss B-license?" Qrow asked Sera. They'd just been dropped off in Mantle near the location of where the most recent body was found. Coincidentally, that person found dead was the man that was onboard the airship when Sera and the others were apprehended by the Ace Ops.
Sera's mind shot back to the moment she and Yang recently shared in their team's room. "Pretty good," she answered. "What about you, Bad Luck Charm?"
Qrow smirked and dusted his shirt off. "Better than in Mistral, that much is for certain."
"And you still look just as raggedy as you did before," Sera crossed her arms.
"And you look even grungier, Snowball," Qrow chuckled. "What's with your hair? Decided to copy Ruby?"
Sera huffed. "Actually, I'd already done my hair this way before seeing Ruby. Maybe she saw me doing my hair different and decided to do the same." Sera fixed her (lightly used) gel styled hair back into place with her fingers. Her hair was similar to Ruby's in terms of spikiness and being out of her face, but she wouldn't really say they were doing the same style.
"Whatever you say, Snowball."
Sera rolled her eyes at the huntsman. Some things never change. "So, what're we gonna do to find Tyrian?"
"Well, first we have to ask around and see if anyone's seen him," Clover responded.
The amnesiac's shoulders slumped. "That sounds boring."
"C'mon, you've done this before, Snowball. Remember the Hydra?" Qrow said.
"Yeah, that sucked too until we fought it."
"Welcome to the life of a huntsman," Clover chuckled.
"I think I miss Port's classes," Sera sighed.
"Don't worry. We'll find Tyrian in no time."
"Especially with me here," a new voice said. The three of them turned to see someone fizzle into existence with a trace of yellow electricity. "Captain," Harriet nodded at Clover, then greeted Sera and Qrow with a wave.
"Harriet," Clover said with surprise in his voice. "I didn't know you were going to be joining us."
The Ace Op shrugged. "Got bored of waiting for a decoy truck to get robbed. Thought I'd drop by and see if you three needed any help." Her eyes lingered on Sera momentarily.
Oh, great, she thought. Here we go again.
"I think we're set. Right, old man?" Sera elbowed Qrow.
"Uh, right. Sera and I can do just about anything together when we put our minds to it." The Huntsman said.
"We could use all the help we can get," Clover insisted. "Besides, with another person helping, we can cover more ground."
"Split up?" Sera raised her eyebrows. "That's not a good idea, Clover."
"I'm with her on this one," Qrow said. "You should know that Tyrian's too dangerous for that plan."
"I know. But we need to find him as quickly as we can. Look, if one of us finds him, we'll message the other team. That other team will hurry to the first team's location to assist," Clover explained.
Qrow sighed. "Fine. Sera and I will—"
"Oh, no, you don't, big guy. You need to come with me so my good luck semblance will counteract your bad luck semblance. What if Tyrian gets the jump on you because of it? Sera can go with Harriet to the east, and we'll search the west. I'm sending a picture of Tyrian to your scrolls so you can ask civilians if they've seen him anywhere." Clover tapped on his scroll until Sera felt hers vibrate in her pocket.
"Fantastic," Sera said with feigned enthusiasm.
"Fret not, Sera," Clover said. "Everything will be fine. If you run into any trouble, just call."
"Right," Sera rolled her eyes as she pocketed her scroll. "Well, better get to it." She took off in the general direction of east and shoved her hands into her pockets. Harriet hurried to catch up with her, showing up at Sera's side with a concerned look on her face.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, fine. Just wasn't expecting to split up like that." Sera didn't look over at her.
Harriet was silent for a few minutes before speaking again. "What's the deal? I mean, ever since we first found you all here in Mantle, you've been sour towards me."
Sera raised an eyebrow at her. Was she really clueless about why Sera acted like that. "Because," she said. "ever since that, you keep giving me weird looks. And not like 'this chick is strange' looks, but more like 'I have a thing for this weird chick.' And I don't like it. Because, I don't know if it's obvious, but me and Yang are kind of together."
"Pfft, it's because of that? That's just me flirting. You can ask Elm or even Winter; I flirt with just about anyone that I find attractive." Harriet chuckled. "Don't take it personal, kid."
"Well, that's just—Wait, did you say attractive?"
Harriet smirked and kept walking.
"You know, you really remind me of someone I know—her name is Coco." Sera followed the Ace Op.
"Well, if she's like me, then she's probably good people," Harriet shrugged.
"You're not entirely wrong," the amnesiac said, remembering her few encounters with the leader of team CFVY.
"And for the record, you and that blonde seem to work well together."
Sera smirked. "I know."
. . .
Three hours. That's how long it took for them to find something of interest. Even then, it was still useless information to them.
Sera and Harriet asked around regarding Tyrian. No one had seen or heard of him, and they had just barely kept it secret that he was a serial killer on the loose. Finally, a man recalled that he'd seen someone fitting Tyrian's description. Unfortunately, that had been days ago, and no one's seen him since.
"Great," Sera kicked stray tin can in frustration. "A whole night, and we haven't found anything."
"The average night of policing, then." Harriet pulled her scroll out. After a quick call to Clover, she reported what the two of them had found out. Apparently, Clover and Qrow hadn't found anything either, so they were all in the same boat.
"All right, then. Head back to the airship, we're done for tonight." Clover sighed.
"Any news on Robyn?" Sera asked.
"None as far as I know. I've received no reports on if one of the decoys have been attacked."
"Understood," Harriet said. "Leaving for the ship now." Then she hung up and pocketed her scroll. "Come on, Snowball."
Sera threw a piece of scrap at the woman. When Harriet turned to look at her, Sera was giving her best death glare. "I told you," she said. "Only Yang gets to call me that."
"Yeah, yeah. Just come on already." She waved for Sera to follow.
The amnesiac crossed her arms and kicked another piece of trash aside, mumbling under her breath.
Another half-hour of walking, they made it to the airship, where Qrow and Clover were waiting.
"Well, I see you're empty-handed, Snowball." Qrow said. He was leaning against the airship with his arms crossed.
"You've got no room to talk, old man." Sera trudged up the landing ramp and took a seat. "Let's just get back to Atlas. I'm about to pass out from how boring this was."
Clover chuckled and boarded, Harriet and Qrow behind him. "Fine, fine. It's been a long night, so make sure to get some rest for tomorrow."
"Another mission?" Harriet asked.
"Not necessarily, but we need to be ready for anything. There's no telling what could happen since Jacques won the election."
"Good point."
"Are we continuing the search tomorrow?" Sera asked.
"Perhaps tomorrow night. Though I can't promise that we'll find anything then," Clover admitted.
"We'll get 'im eventually, kid," Qrow said.
"Unless he gets us," Sera murmured. That seemed to unsettle the other huntsmen.
. . .
When Sera stumbled into her team's room, it was nearly past three in the morning. Ruby and Weiss were in their beds sleeping blissfully, but Yang and Blake were missing. Probably still out in that decoy truck, Sera thought as she kicked her boots off and clambered up to her bunk.
Without even bothering to undress, she pulled a blanket up to her chin and allowed her heavy eyelids to close.
And her next dream was vivid and rather disturbing.
It started as just a blank expanse of darkness. Sera had no body, just a conscious floating through the blackness.
Gruesome images of the Grimm suddenly flashed through the darkness. Villages burned, bloody bodies were strewn across the ground, and the Grimm's eyes burned red in every image.
Then, a voice spoke. It was deep and malevolent and sounded ancient, as if it'd seen the best and worst of the world.
"They are hatred. Brutal; without mercy. But you—" an image of Sera appeared in the darkness. Her skin was pale, and black veins webbed along her arms and on the sides of her face. She stood atop a large and cracked boulder with black volcanic-like crag around her. Sera held Amethyst Ivory in her hands mid-swing, and her eyes glowed with an even higher-intensity red than the Grimm that surrounded her.
"You will be far worse than them," the voice continued. "Rip and tear until it is done, and the evil is gone."
Sera sat bolt upright in bed, her chest heaving. Sweat perspired on her forehead and body, her blankets clinging to her limbs.
"What the hell?" she asked breathlessly. She replayed the images of the dream in her head, but they were fading fast. She stared hard at the bedding, concentrating on remembering the disturbing dream.
Unfortunately, the mysterious voice's words blurred together until she couldn't remember what was said, except for three words.
"Hey," a voice said tiredly. Sera turned to see Yang looking up at her. Apparently, the blonde had returned from her decoy truck assignment.
She straightened her tank top and sat up on her elbows to meet the amnesiac's eyes. "You look… Shaken."
"I just had the weirdest dream," Sera told her.
"About?"
"I can't remember."
Yang quirked an eyebrow. "That helps a ton."
"I know, right?" Sera sighed and held her head in her hands. "I remember that I saw myself, but I don't remember what I was doing."
Yang pulled one of her hands away and placed a hand on the amnesiac's cheek. "Hey, you're okay."
"I keep having these dreams, and I either don't know what to make of them or I forget them before I can tell anyone. And they're all so—so unsettling."
"We'll get to the bottom of it," Yang promised.
"Will we?" she looked up. "Will I?"
"Definitely," she hugged Sera tightly. "Now come on, we've only got a few hours before our official rest time ends."
Sera smirked tiredly. "All right then," she said as she relaxed against the mattress. "Might as well sleep while I can before having to go on whatever wacky adventure we have tomorrow—if we have one, that is."
It's been a while since I did an author's end note, but here it is. Apologies if this chapter and the last chapter seem a bit boring and/or lazy. It's only a month into this semester at my university and things are already getting tough. I usually do my writing when I'm done with classes for the day, but lately I've kind of fell out of writing and I've been spending a lot more time with my friends and girlfriend.
Anyway, I'm glad people still like this story, even though the Vol. 7 chapters are probably riddled with spelling and grammatical errors because I never check my own writing. I enjoy writing the story and it's preparing me to write my own book I've had in mind for a while.
To address the recent Guest comments on , I cannot reply to your questions and comments because you have to have an account; it won't let me reply to Guest comments. But here's my answers to what you have to say:
(Chapter 6) Huh. Cinder's still the full, new Fall Maiden? I guess Pyrrha didn't get the transfer of what Amber still had, then?
Yang still losing the arm. Guess Sera's influence didn't quite manage to avert that. (With the 'think more instead of just punching', and Sera's decision to try not to rely on her semblance.) Though it feels like it did slightly alter things.
In the show, Pyrrha didn't keep any of the power that had gone into her. At least, not from what I could tell. Cinder interrupted it and the second half of the Maiden power went into her. And with Yang's arm, I decided to have her not have it cut off because that seems like a major character-defining moment for her.
(Chapter 21) Very cool. Does the Akame Ga Kill OC fanfiction idea sound good?
If this is the same guy that's mentioned this before, I'm sorry, but I don't think an Akame Ga Kill fic is going to happen simply because I don't know anything about it and I do not want to watch the show. No offense or anything, but it doesn't really pique my interest.
(Chapter 1) Omega symbol tattoo with amnesia? Huh. Well, it's probably not a surprise crossover thing, especially considering the one thing I can think of that has those two traits linked together would also have other bits.
Plus, you know, memories of being a huntress.
Kind of curious what that tattoo is about, though. Time affecting semblance makes me wonder if Sera got time traveled as well. Probably some sort of experimentation done on her as well.
All will be revealed later in the story.
Thank you all for your input, any (constructive) criticism is accepted so that I can improve myself on whatever is being criticized, be it the story telling or the writing itself. Honestly, if I had the time and patience, I would rewrite this whole story from the beginning. I could make it much better than it is in its current state, and I'd make the story start from like volume 1 instead of between two and three. Literally the only reason I started it so late is that at the time, every fanfic I read started off in volume 1 in generally the same way, so I thought "I'm gonna do it differently." But now, I regret starting it so late. Sera could have bonded with her team much more before the Fall of Beacon, so it would've been a harder hit for her. Plus, more hints that she and Yang would become a thing *wink*
P.S., you all have probably noticed the hinting about Sera's transformed state and "making it her own." I've been pretty excited about it, but I'm still nailing down the exact changes being made. But all I'm going to leave you with as a hint to it are the initials D.T.
Anyway, that's enough of my ranting. Honestly, I don't know when the next chapter will be out, so stay tuned.