Big Issues
AN: Not too much to say here other than to thank The Literary Lord for faving this series. And get ready for some action in this chapter, it's only the beginning.
Escalation
"Get back here!" Weiss shouts as she chases after her quarry.
The Atlesian team had managed to track down the woman they were looking for, one of several who had passed on the bounties on the Schnee sisters. The only problem beyond taking nearly the full month to pin her location down was that she had a habit of moving from one safe house to another and each was well guarded.
Their big break was grabbing one of the guards who had a weak will- also known as valuing his family jewels- who gave up exactly which location his boss was at. Winter's Ursa did seem more than a little disappointed when she called it off as the man confessed.
This leading to this predicament…
Farkas and Winter had engaged the guards who were more fortified than expected, as well as better armed. Even some with Huntsman training. Yet it was Weiss' job to skirt the majority of the combat and to capture their target.
Getting through the window on the third floor was probably the hardest part, thanks to her massive hips, thankfully they were soft enough for her to squeeze through from her glyph platform. The two meat heads outside the targets door? Blasted into the wall by a gust of wind and held there by ice. Heavy legs knocked them out after that with well placed kicks.
Unfortunately, that brief scuffle gave the woman warning that she was next and when Weiss burst through the door, she was ready. Several knives were thrown at the heiress, forcing her to dive to the side while deflecting two that came too close. But that was just a distraction from the grenade that landed near the door.
Weiss' hasty use of a wall of ice took the blast for her, though the target had escaped through a hidden door in the bookcase on the other side of the room. Weiss caught the door before it closed with a glyph and ran through it and into the tunnels.
She found that the hidden tunnels through the building were a bit tight for her liking, even if last year at this time she would have slipped down the path with ease, rather than occasionally bumping her hips on the sides.
Not that her target was much better, the woman is at least as large as Lil' Miss Malachite and Weiss could hear her panting from the running she was doing. The red pantsuit the woman wore made her easy to track as well in the dim light, not to mention to clacking of her heels on the floor.
"Bunson! Smith!" The woman yells into her scroll. "Burn out the rat as soon as I get out!"
Weiss was only a few paces behind the woman when she burst through a door and two large men resembling the two guards from earlier stepped into the frame. The Huntress in training came to a screeching halt the moment she saw the weapon that Bunson had aimed at her, a small flame at its tip. Smith was right behind him with a massive shield and hammer.
Bunson squeezed his trigger and the tunnel was filled with flames. A few seconds later, Bunson stepped to the side so Smith could slam his shield in the doorway.
"I knew I could count on you two."
"No problem, Mrs. Pepper." Smith replies with a grin.
"Should we see what's left of the pest?" Bunson asks, flamethrower at the ready.
"Yes, if we're lucky, she'll still be alive for questioning. And if she's who I think she is, we just got ourselves a big score."
Smoke trailed out from around the shield even before it was pulled away. The sudden removal of the obstacle caused the clouds inside to swirl thanks to the influx of fresh air moving freely. The remaining flames that lingered flared a bit from the air moving but stayed small, providing some light in the dark and cloudy tunnel.
As Bunson walked in with Pepper behind him, Smith staying by the door to watch their backs, a flash of white light lit up the smoke. The bounty contractor and guard paused at that and shuddered when a loud squeal and snort echoed through the small space. And before they knew it, "Attack!" the command was heard from within the smoke, another snort was issued before something large and heavy began rolling down the tunnel.
Bunson yelled as a white Boarbatusk came barreling out of the smoke, Pepper screaming in fear behind him as she turned tail and ran. Bunson tried to use his weapon but barely had a small flame billowing before the Grimm burst through and ran him over. The summon was able to continue down the tunnel but Pepper escaped out the door before the Grimm could catch her, instead, the pig slammed into the massive shield of Smith.
"Bunson! You alright?!" Smith calls out as he holds the Grimm off.
"Yeah! Just got surprised! Just keep that thing there!" The pyro yells back as he stands up and aims his flamethrower again.
"No." The chilling word was spoken quietly but still carried through the tunnel easily. Bunson turned towards the voice behind him, only to receive a boot to the face that took him to the floor again. As he hit, the matching foot landed on his chest and drove the air from his lungs, a rapier slicing through the pilot light of his weapon at the same time.
Weiss stood tall… for someone of her stature in wedged boots and standing on a man's chest… before raising her hand to form a glyph on the shield.
"Uh, Bunson? What are you waiting for?"
A glyph formed just behind Weiss as she leapt back onto it, holding her there for a second or two before she was launched to the matching glyph on the shield. And the man who was already holding back the strength of a Grimm, with some success, was surprised by the new force impacting him.
Surprise may have been too generous as Weiss' weight and momentum didn't simply push Smith out of the door, she slammed him into the the next building across the street, the man falling limply to the unforgiving ground as the human bullet landed gently on her feet. Without the shield in the way, that also meant that her Boarbatusk was now free and Mrs. Pepper was on the run.
The woman ran down the street, only for Weiss to race past her and raise a short wall of ice across the street. Pepper came to a screeching halt and looked back at the white Grimm that was now pacing behind her and snorting irritably.
"You should surrender now and cooperate." Weiss orders. It was also that time when Winter emerged from a back door into the street, brushing off some dust from her shoulder. Farkas came from the other end of the street, looking like he had come through a brick wall to do so… more than likely having someone else being the ram to make the door for him.
If one girl was bad enough, two more were more than convincing and Pepper gave in quietly.
—-
If there was one thing Cinder hated most, it was the feeling of being powerless. And it didn't help that she'd take that to extremes.
She had used that hatred to drive her training early on, picking up skills and strength faster than one would expect. Her first trainer had commented on that growth with joy. The first person who had cared about her as a person, who helped her be more than just a slave to her stepmother.
And she killed him when he tried to stop her after she made her break for freedom by killing her.
If only he could see the power she had a few months ago.
Would he even recognize her now if he was alive?
She hated looking in the mirror nowadays. An instant reminder of her failure at Beacon. How she was overpowered by someone who she never thought was worth noting as a threat. After killing Ozpin, the only true threats to her plans were General Ironwood, Glynda Goodwitch, and the reason she had to track down Amber a second time to finish obtaining the power of the Fall Maiden, Qrow Branwen.
Anyone else on her short watch list were individuals who she believed were capable of being a hindrance to her followers; Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.
Roman had proven himself too skilled to be a pawn to be carelessly cast aside. Theft, murders, extortion, and orator… he had become the public face for her plans, allowing herself to remain off the radar of anyone looking for the source. Neo made for an excellent addition, being their fourth member to aid in their disguise as a team for the Tournament. But her loyalty to Roman was a factor she could work with, as a package deal she had both in her control so long as one was near her.
The White Fang? Largely pawns. They had the numbers she needed to pull off her plans, had the motivation to attack already, and they were a known hostile force which meant they were an excellent distraction to add to the others. Adam Taurus, as skilled as he is, bowed to her will since his goals mostly aligned with hers, though she fully expected for him to betray her the moment he had an opportunity once his needs were met.
Where had things gone wrong in her plans?
It was thanks to her long days in bed recovering from her injuries that she found her answer.
She had gotten caught up in the moment. The rush of power at her command. The fight with Ozpin that got her blood rushing from the thrill of battle. The desire to watch as her plans led Vale and Beacon to ruin. The need to destroy the tower to plunge the world into darkness without global communication.
And she had been there at the Vault with its lone guardian dead at her feet and the key in her hand… She was responsible for the failure to secure the Relic of Choice from Beacon's vault that could only be opened by the Fall Maiden.
She hated that she had failed in her task, the greatest objective out of everything and she had failed because she couldn't control her urges for domination.
And that hatred turned into a desire to crush all in her way from whatever she wanted.
Lady Salem, her Mistress, had given her another chance thanks to the Relic being the only part of her intricate plan truly failing… aside from her defeat.
Salem had given her a new arm to replace the one she lost in the final moments of the fight in the tower. Anya Eaglewing had turned her own flames against her and added a blast of lightning to the attack, her limb had nearly been incinerated right there. The rest of her could have been as well if she hadn't been able to shield herself with a jet of fire from her right hand, diverting some of the blast.
And the attack had done much more than taking her arm. The left side of her face was heavily scarred and her eye seared to uselessness and shriveled. Burns covered the left side of her body from her clothes being burnt away as her aura broke.
Perhaps it was best that she was unconscious for the next month after the Griffon carried her back to Salem's castle. Emerald and Mercury had made their way back sometime before she woke up, half blind and crippled.
The new arm was a 'gift'. Made from Grimm, it couldn't channel her aura to protect it as her natural arm did, nor could her Maiden powers. She had to learn under Salem's harsh guidance to manifest her power outside the Grimms devouring grasp. And the hardest part were the weeks of wresting control over the limb; her own will had to dominate and subdue what was known by most to be uncontrollable, several times waking from her sleep with the hand choking her.
And through her own determination born from hatred, she had tamed the limb. And had begun discovering new aspects of the arm that she almost could only have wished she had with her previous arm. Not to mention the grafting process was something that she never wished to undergo again, tendrils forcing their way into her ruined flesh and setting off every pain receptor on their way. A layer from the arm moved to cover her burnt side and neck. The burns on her face were mostly covered by a mask, most of what was exposed had her remaining hair to cover that side. She was particularly lucky that most of her hair was growing back, even if it had been shortened considerably by being burnt and having to cut some of it back to rid herself of the worst of the heat damage.
Today was no different, Lady Salem had her training against a horde of Grimm. Beowolves, Ursai, Beringals, Boarbatusks, Creeps… those were the normal combatants she had to face. But never once did Salem give her any sort of repetition as the waves could contain any combination of those Grimm and their numbers varied. The occasional Deathstalkers and Griffons mixed things up, as did Manticores and Sphinxes. King Taijitu were always a surprise when they entered the battlefield.
Hours every day, from immediately following the morning meal to late into the afternoon, leaving her enough time to clean up for dinner, the training was relentless. And Cinder could feel the results as not only did she regain her combat skills as before but to gain control over her Maiden powers.
Emerald and Mercury weren't spared either, both of them had to deal with their own training at the hands of Salem. After all, if she was going to entertain having more within her inner circle, she was going to ensure that they'd be up to her standards… or as close as they could be, or they would die trying.
—-
Ilia stood with the Albain brothers as they watched the first cargo ship unloading its goods. A fair amount of the load was simply the construction equipment. There were nearly fifty engineers that were going to be staying on Menagerie for much of the duration of the construction, among them being a dozen of the first humans known to be on the island since the Faunus were granted control.
Entire shipping containers were unloaded by crane from the vessel, each of them assumably containing prefabricated sections of the CCT inner workings. Lots of Dust could be seen moving around, each crate clearly marked with which type and quantity.
Ilia was understandably skeptical of how much help would be provided, but what has come so far had far exceeded her expectations. And from the looks of the brothers, they were the same way.
A temporary residence had been built for the engineers, though it also served as a warehouse and garage for their equipment. The large building was set into the forest a short distance from Kuo Kuana itself.
The distance had multiple reasons behind it, mostly practical. First to shorten the travel time between storage and the work site. Second being the noise of the equipment, allowing the forest to absorb most noise as well as to keep it out of sight. Third is because of the amount of Dust stored on site, they weren't going to risk an accident near any residence.
This also was a way to give the people some peace from the workers from Atlas, many of whom had traveled the long distance to get away from the oppression in the northern kingdom. The separation kept the interactions lower so there would be less chance for an altercation to begin.
It was curious for the general population of the island to see so many Faunus being deployed for this work from Atlas, and for some of the younger folk, it was their first time seeing humans in person.
And there was the ship due in from Mistral next week with more supplies and a few workers. Vacuo had a ship inbound as well, though what it was carrying was subject to change depending on who you asked and when. Vale… understandably had little to offer with the kingdom committing everything to rebuilding, though the fact that it was thanks to Vale getting this project started was good enough for most. The boat with materials from the stash that Ozpin had gathered was coming this weekend.
But for Ilia, she was conflicted. As much as she hated the idea of needing outside help, she realized that there was no way that they could build a functioning CCT Tower on their own. But as the brothers said, they are just using the resources of Atlas for their own needs.
"It's almost hard to believe that this is happening, isn't it Ilia?" The chameleon jumped in surprise at the sound of Blake's voice right behind her. Somehow, the cat girl could sneak up on people while nearing five hundred pounds… wearing heeled boots.
"Yeah, hard to believe." She didn't want to face her friend. If Blake was so happy after the day she and Sun went to the beach, she was on cloud nine now since they had gone on a picnic together in the forest. She probably would have known what happened between them by now but with how they rarely separated and were so… she didn't have a way to describe it. She just wanted to keep her distance because she didn't know what she might do.
"Things are gonna be pretty busy around here until they're done." Sun comments from Blake's side. "Think they'll ask us to be teachers once the school is ready?"
The brothers glanced at each other. They had floated the idea of using the school as a pipeline for stronger new recruits for the White Fang.
"I don't know… what would we even teach?" Blake responds with a hand cupping her chin as she thinks about it.
"Please don't say you just want to be a librarian." Sun pokes her soft ribs, ensuing giggles from the cat. "Maybe history?" He suggests as he wraps her in a hug.
Ilia rolled her eyes at the scene and made sure to lock her eyes on the new equipment. The brothers did the same beside her.
"And what about you?" Blake turns the question on Sun now with a grin. "You just going to be the sparring professor?"
Sun released her so he could stand in front, pulling his shirt to straighten it as his tail moved up to drape over his upper lip. "Or perhaps Grimm Studies! Ho ho!" He declared in an over dramatic air, reminiscent of a certain professor at Beacon.
The Albain brothers took that as their cue to leave, Blake nearly doubled over in laughter from the impression. Ilia managed to stay a short time later, finding some amusement in the acts from Sun mocking the teachers of Beacon, which included Goodwitch, Oobleck, and Peaches.
It was mostly seeing how happy Blake was that kept her there but the fact that SHE wasn't the one to do so upset her enough to make herself scarce.
—-
Ren had many regrets being back in Anima. They mostly involved WHY he had no family left. His mother killed protecting him from their home collapsing. His father buying time for him to escape despite the wounds he had from earlier fights with the Grimm attacking their hometown. How most of the village was wiped out that night, so there was nobody who could take him in, if there were any homes to live in.
But if there was something he didn't regret at all, it was finding Nora that day.
During their time together, scrounging in the streets and committing petty theft (when things were really desperate for them), she had told him that she was from another village. Her village had come under attack from Grimm and her own mother simply left her behind so that she could escape.
There was no word on how that village fared from the attack, nor from Nora's mother looking for her.
And to be quite fair, Nora didn't put much effort into looking for her mother back then; the betrayal and abandonment too fresh for such a young child. There wasn't much love lost after that.
Instead, Nora began to rely on him, and he relied on her in return. They survived together. They learned together. They ate together. They slept together. They trained together.
The small combat school that took them in had become their new home. After months of living on the streets and wilds, they did whatever they needed to keep the roof over their heads and food in their bellies. It was a good thing that what they had to do to keep that going was reasonable like cleaning desks.
And they came out of that school as the best it had to offer. Ren had the best grades and among the best fighters by graduation. Nora, she was easily the strongest student and dominated the combat ring with grades that would pass easily. Fighting as a pair, they were unbeatable.
And when they received their acceptance letters from Beacon, they couldn't be happier. They were moving up in the world from rock bottom, a true inspirational tale in the works.
And how he felt about Nora… sometimes he wondered if his Semblance ever truly turned off. The ability to mask the emotions of those under its effects seemed to be part of the reason why he himself had trouble expressing his own emotions. Keeping a calm mind thanks to that did come in handy for many things but socially… he was admittedly a bit stunted because many didn't want to interact with someone who rarely showed any expression beyond determination or calm.
But with all of the time on the road, he had plenty of time to consider how things were between himself and his best friend. He had seen how Blake and Sun were back at Beacon, as well as Sage and Scarlet. Denko and Yang were nearly as inseparable as Nora and himself. He had seen the tension that had plagued Jaune and Pyrrha for months suddenly vanish, the pair about as close as they were during the Vytal Tournament. Ruby and Weiss were fairly close friends as well, though that may simply lend truth to the younger girl's claims of being BFF's.
'More things to meditate upon when I get the chance.' He thought to himself. For now, he'd content himself with watching over his friends… and observing how Jaune and Pyrrha interact without their hesitations. Still, he couldn't help his eyes from watching how a pink skirt moved at times.
—-
Yang raised her arm and took the punch from Iris with ease. The other girl was never one for engaging too much in hand to hand combat, preferring to use her weapon. But just like when she used her blade, her punches and kicks came with calculated precision, keeping Yang on her toes and testing her reaction times as well as making sure her guard was as tight as possible.
But it was the fact that she could block the attacks with her right arm that was the real shocker. It may have been a week since she had received her arm but she could remember that moment clearly.
She took the card from Denko, glancing up to see the encouraging smirk that she grew to love. The others in the room were different, Port and Oobleck were patiently waiting, though expectant. Her dad, he was as surprised as she was at seeing the arm.
'Yang, I hope that this gift finds its way to you safely. I can't help but to feel responsible for all of the death and destruction that happened in Vale and at Beacon, as the one in charge of all of the security for the Vytal Festival, I accept all of the blame for the losses endured. That goes for your arm as well.
I do hope that you can also forgive me for my harshness when disqualifying you at the Tournament as well. It had been brought to our attention that foul play had been used against you, to frame you into attacking Mercury. Under our own independent review of the findings, we had found that you were indeed an innocent victim. Especially when everything went as it did, Cinder almost claiming responsibility during her little speech.
I should let you know here that you have my deepest apologies for the undo disqualification, your name has been cleared in the public records of the Vytal Tournament thanks to the reviews findings, and I hope that this replacement arm counts as part of my apology to you.
I also believe that you've earned this arm through your actions that night of the attack. You defended your school and every innocent you found from Grimm and invaders alike without hesitation. Your injury from Adam Taurus is regrettable and it was hard for everyone tracking injured students to see that your wound had only worsened over time. I hope that this arm will help you come back to what you consider a normal lifestyle.
I can tell you from my own experience that the loss of limbs is something that makes one change their mindset and actions, to better themselves so that they will not make the same mistakes again. And to do our best to prevent others from making those mistakes themselves while helping others overcome the struggles that we have gone through.
Atlas General James Ironwood.'
The letter had been passed around for the others to read for themselves. For Yang, she was brought to tears and could barely read to the end through the waterworks. Denko was the least surprised about the entire ordeal.
"Yeah, it was Itazura who found out the trick on you and brought it to Ozpin, Glynda, and Jimmy." Denko paused at the sound of the other men snorting at how he spoke of the General.
"And it was me who figured out that your arm was going to be lost." He raised his hands. "I could feel that your nerves hadn't been connecting at all and with me helping you all the time, I saw how bad it was looking."
"When things were made official that you were going to lose your arm, I had already been looking up prosthetics and called up Jimmy through Glynda about it. Honestly, it's about time it got here. I just hope it was worth the wait."
"You got this for me?" Lilac eyes locked onto blue ones.
"I just got the ball rolling." Denko shrugs, only to be tackled in a very soft and warm hug. He was just lucky that he was close to the wall already so he didn't have far to move before impact.
"You could have said something." Yang mutters into his chest.
"And spoil the surprise?" He quips as he wraps his arms around her, only for her one arm to squeeze him tightly as she pressed him against the wall.
"Jerk." There was no heat to the word and she released the pressure soon after.
"No wonder any time I asked about getting one for you, I was always told it was being hand-led." Tai shrugs as he leans against the counter, casually ignoring the looks from his fellow teachers for the pun.
"What are you going to do now that you have it?" Port asks with all seriousness.
Yang turned back to the box and examined the mechanical arm within its molded cushion. Everything about it was sleek, the lower arm having an extra layer of armor made of a titanium alloy over what looked to be a carbon fiber housing, the black contrasting the silvery metal. Everywhere that wasn't a joint had the alloyed metal covering it, thicker in some places than others while the carbon fiber covered the joints themselves.
One thing she did notice was the size… the arm is thinner than her left. It wasn't much but enough to notice. And what looked to be an instruction manual and maintenance kit were tucked into the cushion as well.
"I'm not going to waste this chance. I have people to look out for and big hugs to give." She finally says with a wide smirk. And to be quite honest with herself, she felt a bit of the old her coming back with that.
Then Zwei came tearing through the kitchen chasing a mouse out the back door, barking his little head off as he ran.
The reactions of the humans was to laugh at the sight… except for Peter who jumped up onto his chair in fright.
"Get that thing out of here! They only bring disease and famine!" He hollers at the corgi. "Bite off its bald tail to teach it a lesson to never come back!"
Of course, that only made everyone else double over in laughter at his expense.
Since then, Yang had been put through her paces with getting used to both her new arm and combat. Everything from handling eggs to building up a house made of toothpicks trained her control while the sparring and exercises made her get used to using two arms again. And her writing… let's just say her father broke out some drawings from when she was five for comparison, much to her embarrassment.
The first week of sparring she could compare to a steak being tenderized, her saving grace being that her aura would take the damage instead of her body, not that it stopped the feeling of pain from being hit. At the same time, she pushed through the pain of being hit to move faster to block, redirect, and dodge.
By the second week, she was able to fight evenly with Iris, even beating her in their spars more often than not by the end. Adding in the use of their weapons evened things out for a short time but the more they practiced, the more Yang improved as her old self was brought back out one punch at a time.
By week three, Iris had mostly stopped sparring with Yang and left that almost exclusively to Denko. Up until now, he'd largely been running his girlfriend through drills and teaching her some techniques to help improve her combat ability, especially with her larger body than the last time she was fighting back at Amity Colosseum.
By the last week of the month, Yang felt ready to take on the world again. Sure, she may have only beaten Denko in their spars mostly through some lucky shots, but they were wins. And when someone could beat one of the best fighters around, arguably the best on the island at least, it meant something.
Now it was their last round of the day and the fighting had been intense since they both knew not to hold back. And Denko was coming at her with Raijin held behind him and ready to swing, even taking a small jump to add more force to his attack. In contrast, Yang widened her stance, putting her weight on her back foot as her left arm was held out straight in front of her as the right reeled back for a counter.
Ember Celica and Hiryu Shoten both gleamed in the early fall sunlight, along with Yang's sweaty skin. Her jacket was left behind as the use of her new weapons made the sleeves get in the way. And her bouncing belly was free as usual, and a prime target for Denko to hit because it would rebound and jiggle.
The moment that Denko touched the ground again, he swung his blade at Yang. In turn, the girl pushed off her right foot while bringing up her left arm to take the hit. Raijin struck both golden armor plates at the same time as her right arm swung for his abdomen and connected solidly. The punch drove the air from his lungs and sent him tumbling away, though not without his own foot kicking her chin that had her stumbling backwards.
Denko rolled to his feet at the same time Yang shook the stars from her eyes, rubbing her jaw. And they smirked, shifting to go another round.
"Alright you two! That's enough for today!" Iris shouts from a safe distance near the edge of the clearing that was regularly used for at home sparring by the Xiao Long-Rose family for as long as anyone could remember. At least as long as Tai owned the home and property at least.
"Aww… it was getting good." Yang whines with a playful smile, taking the sweat rag and water from Zwei's backpack once he stopped at her feet. Denko retrieved his own from the dog before he ran back to Iris to sit at her feet.
"You'll just have to give it another shot later. You better get home so you can have dinner ready for your dad. He's got a lot of work to do tonight." Iris reminds her friend.
"Right… he gave his classes a big homework assignment that was due today and gave them a test." Denko sighs. "He should have given himself some time in between so he doesn't have to cram for tomorrow."
Yang elbowed him in the side. "How many of his students do you think were only starting that essay last night?"
"Too many." He returns the shot to her side with his own arm, matching her grin for grin.
"And how many times did you need to rush like that?" Iris teases the blondes.
"Dad never let me go that far."
"Would that be counting when a certain fox dumped ink all over my papers?" They all shared a laugh before heading back to the house and Iris had her shift to get to.
At least cleaning up took less time when Yang and Denko went together… and now that she took up less space, things went even faster… when they wanted to.
—-
"Blake?" Kali asks from her daughter's bedroom door. The room hadn't changed much since Blake returned, mostly just having the lived in feel. Even some of her old stuffed animals were still out on their shelves. Same large bed with posts and deep purple curtains that contained the mosquito nets when the insects were bad.
Truthfully, she had questioned why her husband had gotten such a large bed back when their daughter was young, a queen sized bed was a bit much. Even when she was getting into her teens, before she ran off to stay with the White Fang, the bed made her look small.
Granted, she couldn't say the same about her own bed, Ghira is a very large man on his own and needed the room. And she sometimes needed a bit of space in bed.
But now, her daughter had grown up… and sideways. So she filled the bed quite well, nowhere near large enough to fill the bed but she gave that a good shot.
But she needed to talk to her about a few things. To actually hear her say what she suspected aloud.
Blake sat up at her desk in the corner, having been writing something down. "Yes mom?"
"We need to talk." Kali let a slight edge come into her tone to ensure that there would be no arguments. She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, patting the space next to her.
As much as Blake gave her a puzzled look, complete with tilting her head and twitching ears, but she complied. Sitting on the mattress, her weight made it sink considerably, even though she had more area to spread.
Kali's eyes went wide for a moment as she was tilted towards her daughter's crater before she rebalanced herself and schooled her features. "We need to talk about you and Sun."
THAT certainly got Blake's full attention, if suddenly sitting up straight and stiff with her ears perked, and eyes wide were any indication.
—-
Ghira had enlisted Sun to assist him at the construction site, specifically to help clear a bit of land where a wing of the new school would be built. Given that these were fruiting trees, Sun was tasked with climbing up and gathering all of the ripe fruits, some to be snacks while they worked, the others taken for later use, maybe even having a small orchard of sorts around the school.
Ghira sighed as they felled their fifth tree of the day. He had taken off his usual long coat and left it at home, only wearing a simple, white sleeveless shirt for the day. Sun was still in his usual outfit though he was debating if he should take off his shirt to cool off.
"Let's take a break." The Chieftain says as he moves to one of the previously fallen trees to sit on the trunk, his axe sitting next to him.
"Sure!" Sun replies, leaning his own axe against the new stump before going over to the basket that held their drinks and lunches, along with the freshly picked fruit. In short order, they were both having a snack of fruit and drinking their cool tea.
There was a peaceful silence between the two men as they rested, though they could both easily hear the other crews working and occasionally see some of the workers moving around.
"Sun, I need to talk to you."
"Um… aren't we already doing that?"
"About you and Blake." Ghira was internally pleased to see the color drain from Sun's face as the rest of him went stiff.
—-
"I mean… he's no Prince Charming." Blake tries to defend, blushing profusely and unable to look her mother in the eye. "And he's certainly no street rat… but you could sometimes confuse him for being the son of the King of Thieves."
Kali simply quirked an eyebrow and remained silent, watching as her daughter squirmed under her observation as she rambled.
—-
"I know I don't exactly have anything special. I'm just a guy raised in a caravan in Vacuo. Sometimes I had to steal a few things just to eat." Sun hung his head to look between his own feet, not wanting to look at Ghira. "Heck, all I've ever really had were the clothes on my back and my skills to get in and out of trouble."
The large man simply let the younger vent.
—-
"And how do you think I see Sun Wukong" Kai asks, making Blake look up at her, face full of apprehension, worry, and slight touch of fear.
"I-I don't know."
"I see a young man who has come a long way from where he started. A young man who is rough around the edges but genuine with what he says and does… even if he does that at inopportune times. But he tries and if he fails, he learns and tries again.
From what I've heard and seen, he's helped you come a long way. Your confidence has grown like your waistline thanks to him." Kali couldn't help but pinch a love handle for emphasis, her daughter jumping at the contact but swatting her hand away with a laugh.
"And it helps that he's easy on the eyes." Kali adds with a bit of a purr.
"Mom!" Blake yells in embarrassment as she buries her face in her hands.
—-
Ghira wasn't particularly amused to see this side of Sun. He was used to the more care-free persona he used, the general seriousness he had in battle that clashed with his acrobatics, or him shrinking back in fear under his glares.
But the new side brought out new thoughts about the young man who was now his daughter's boyfriend.
"I-I mean, she didn't even mention that she had such a big house or what you guys did, not until we could see your house after we came here."
"Boy…" Ghira tried to get him to stop with the degradation of himself. "Sun Wukong!" That got his attention.
"Y-yes sir?" The blonde stammered before his eyes went wide in realization. "I did it again, didn't I?"
"That has happened before?"
Sun turned red as he looked away and scratched the back of his head, settling for looking straight down at the ground and sighing. "Sometimes."
"How often?"
"Not too much. Just when things get stressful and I can't run or fight. And not the kind of things like forgetting to study for a test kind of thing."
"Hmmmm…." Ghira stroked his beard as he thought about the situation. "When was the last time this happened?"
"Um… it was the night before the dance at Beacon." Sun looked up to see the expectant look on the older man.
"You see… Blake and her team were doing a bunch of investigations into the White Fang since that night at the docks. I wound up joining in and dragged my buddy Neptune along into it. After a few things happened, I asked Blake to go to the dance with me and…"
"She blew you off?"
"She was more focused on the investigation than anything else at the time. Barely eating or sleeping- you should have seen the bags under her eyes." Sun shrugs. "Said that I should understand that I should know how important things were for her… and the dance was far from that list."
"What happened? I've seen the pictures of you two having the time of your life there."
"A little fox played some tricks."
"Itazura?"
"Yeah. Somehow she jumped me and knocked me out before getting Blake to follow her to a Grimm shelter where I had been dropped. Then she locked us in."
"You and Blake?"
"Yeah, just us, a cooler with food and drinks, a blanket, and a bucket."
"What happened in there?"
"We… wound up talking after I had one of those episodes." Sun admits, not looking up.
"Hmm… I'm not going to pry into what you talked about but I'm assuming that you convinced her to dance with you?"
"Yeah…she, um, had to snap me out of it. But we were tired and I let her take the blanket, but she was happy to go to the dance before we fell asleep."
"And when did you get out of that room?"
"When… when we woke up, the door was unlocked and our scrolls and weapons were on the floor for us." He decided to leave out exactly HOW they woke up that morning, maybe at another time he and Blake could show her parents that picture.
"I see." Ghira was stroking his beard again. The young man next to him certainly raised his empathy for him with how he was acting. But he did have a few things to say that needed to be addressed.
"Anyway, Sun, I hope you do know that I have a few things to say about you dating my daughter."
"Y-yes sir." His eyes couldn't help but to flick towards the axe next to the larger man.
"Good. Now, I'm going to say this for clarity. I appreciate that you've helped Blake with so much since the two of you met back in Vale and how you managed to help her come home to her family. And you've demonstrated thus far to be helpful around the house, the island, and with the White Fang. But do not think that I missed how much Blake has grown during her time home."
"Um… she hasn't been eating as much since we went to the beach." Sun was slightly shaking where he sat.
"I may have been busy but not so much to miss that either." Ghira nearly growled. "But… while you do make her happy and have been helpful so far, keep in mind that should you hurt her in any way or force her to do 'anything', I WILL hurt you." The axe handle was suddenly in his hands with the steel flashing in the sunlight.
"Um… will it be with that?" Sun was pale and shaking as he kept his eyes on both the blade and the man.
"This or Mufasa, since I've rebuilt the family weapon, I've been looking for a chance to test it on a live target. If possible, Sun went even paler than ever before as his fear kept him locked into his seat. The much larger man leaned down to look Sun eye to eye and close enough to see every detail. "Do we have an understanding?" He growls out.
The monkey couldn't make more than a few strangled noises but did manage to nod stiffly.
"Good." Ghira stood up and stretched. "Let's see how many more trees we can bring down before sunset." Following that, he swung into the next tree and swung, burying the axe head into the trunk up to the handle.
"Y-y-yes s-s-sir."
It would be over an hour until Sun relaxed enough to work like before the talk. Even after that, there was a small distance kept between them if it could be helped, just in case.
—-
Qrow was glad that he managed to get inside before the storm let loose. He did have a bit of amusement that Team RNNJR had to run through the rain and mud to the inn across the street that he could watch through the window of the tavern he was in.
It was… odd for him to have been traveling so slowly during a mission but when dealing with five students who kept having to stop because they got lost, find a place to camp, the occasional bout of hunting for small game, or doing missions for nearly any village they came across. The Grimm encounters also slowed them down, though from what he saw, they were having little trouble with what they had to deal with.
Of course, that was only the Grimm that he didn't kill himself before the team could even notice the Grimm, let alone notice him. He made sure that he kept the fights quick and quiet, so the team couldn't notice, hoping that doing so would speed up their progress to Mistral. So far, that was working. That just left the weather as the major factor for traveling, and this storm didn't look to be letting up any time soon and risked delaying the team by a day or two.
Then a glass was set next to him by a waitress, filled with some ice cubes and an amber drink. Surprised, he looked up to her. "Um, I didn't order…"
The waitress held her tray in front of her, not in defense but more as a way to show that she had nothing left to serve and wasn't taking anything with her. He couldn't help but notice that the woman was fairly cute and definitely older than anyone on the team he was watching over. "From the woman upstairs, red eyes. Said you wouldn't mind bottom shelf." She tells him with a smile, tilting her head cutely before looking up at the upper balcony, leading to Qrow following her gaze.
"Thanks." He says as he turns back to his table and grabs the glass.
The waitress leaned in a bit closer with a teasing smile. "But I went ahead and gave you top. Lucky you."
Qrow gave her an awkward smile as she walked away to continue her job, not exactly disliking her figure as she left. And he wasn't particularly surprised to see that the team had finished getting their rooms for the night from the front desk and disappeared further into the establishment.
He didn't waste time leaving his table with the drink and headed for the stairs. And what he found at the top, wasn't too surprising, for him at least. The floor was unoccupied aside from himself and a very familiar woman who was sitting at a table and watching him calmly.
"Hello brother."
"Raven." That said, he casually walked over to the table and pulled out the chair to sit down. But his movements stopped aside from staring pointedly as the large mask sitting on the table, vaguely reminiscent of a Nevermore.
The woman he was long familiar with hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her. Black hair that was tamed only slightly by a red bandana that pulled it into a very loose ponytail that descended down her back in waves, complete with a cowlick that was very similar to someone else he knew. Her skin is surprisingly pale for how she lives but her red eyes stood out quite well. She is wearing a black wrap top that left a V-neck, the only other color being the red shoulders. Around her waist is a red obi with another red wrap that normally holds the sheath of Omen. Her forearms are covered by fingerless black gloves and red, segmented armored bracers with a small spike on the final part near her elbows. She also wears a short pleated black skirt with equally black shorts underneath, allowing some skin to be seen until her thigh high black boots covered the rest of her legs.
With an annoyed sigh, Raven reached over and slid the mask to the side of the table, leaving it near the wall. The same wall that her own weapon leaned against near the table, well within reach if needed.
It was only then that Qrow sat down. "So… what do you want?"
"A girl can't just catch up with her family?" Raven replies, spreading her hands to her sides but her tone was a touch mocking.
"You can, but you're not." Qrow answered easily, lifting his glass for a drink. "How about we get on with it?" He tells her impatiently and taking a good long swig of the whiskey.
"Unless you plan on keeping these coming." He adds with a smile that was a drastic switch from his prior attitude. Raven wasn't as amused.
"Does she have it?" Raven asks, barely more than a whisper.
Qrow sat silently, idly running his finger around the rim of his glass. "Did you know that Yang lost her arm?"
"That's not-" Raven clenched her fists on the table as she leaned forward with anger thanks to her question being ignored.
"Rhetorical question. I know you know." Qrow continued to play with his glass even though he was completely serious. "It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family then carry on as if your own daughter doesn't even exist." He waved his hand in the air to let his frustration clear.
"I saved her."
"Once." Qrow lifted a single finger for emphasis. "Because that was your rule, right?" His tone switching to slightly sarcastic as he turned to fully face his sister. "Real mom of the year material, sis." That was completely filled with sarcasm, waving his hand a bit dismissively.
He wasn't particularly surprised when Raven reached over the table and grabbed his wrist tightly. "I told you that Beacon would fall and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail and he has. Now you tell me, does Salem have it?" It was interesting that Raven never raised her voice but her tone would make lesser men run in fear.
And Qrow was far from any of those lesser men. "I thought you weren't interested in all that?" He responds calmly, not even attempting to break her grip on him.
"I just want to know what we're up against." Red eyes glared into his calmer but no less red eyes.
"And which 'we' are you referring to?" Qrow asks her, blending seriousness with sarcasm equally.
Raven let out a small grunt before letting his wrist go with a sigh, sitting back down in her seat as calmly as possible.
"You should come back, Raven." Qrow didn't exactly waste time picking up his glass to swirl the contents a little, the ice clinking against the container. "The only way we beat her is by working together. All of us."
"You're the one who left. The tribe raised us and you turned your back on them." Raven accused her brother, still keeping her voice low but the added heat promised danger to those who heard her.
Unfortunately for Raven, her brother was far too used to her threats to be bothered by them, demonstrated by how he took his time drinking most of his glass. But when he sat it on the wood again, he countered her easily. "They were thieves and killers."
"They were your family." She reminded him of how they were raised.
"You have a very skewed perception of that word." Qrow told her with narrowed eyes.
Raven didn't take kindly to that remark, nearly slamming her hands on the table as she stood up. "I lead our people now." She declared, left hand across her chest to point at herself and lifted her chin so that she had to literally look down her nose at him. But she lowered her head to look him directly in the eyes. "And as leader, I will do everything in my power to ensure our survival."
"I saw… and the people of Shion saw too." As casual as Qrow was, there was also a slight edge of warning to his sister in his tone that he didn't take kindly to what she had done.
"The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules." Raven repeated the age-old mantra of the tribe, the mantra that the twins knew well from hearing it hundreds of times before they ever left for Beacon.
And Qrow was as relaxed as ever when dealing with his twin, putting on a good act while anticipating everything she would say and do and countering. Unfortunately, being twins also meant that she'd do the same to him. It was a constant contest between them that no doubt helped both of them become among the best fighters in the world. And also as much as it could help them in battle together to fight a common enemy, that also meant that their own fights with each other were often stalemates or one would barely win that round.
"Well… you've certainly got someone strong on your side. I've seen the damage." It was interesting to see that he didn't bother doing more than sitting up straighter and giving a slight glare at his sister's back, the woman having taken a few steps into the walkway of the balcony.
"We couldn't have known that the Grimm would set in as quickly as they did." She sounded more regretful of the Grimm interrupting her operation than attacking innocents.
"I'm not talking about the Grimm and I'm not talking about you either." Those words made Raven turn back to her brother and start walking back to the table.
"If you don't know where the relic is, then we have nothing to talk about." She dismisses him and grabs her mask on the table.
Qrow was quick to reach across to put his hand on the mask to hold it down. "I don't know where the Spring Maiden is either." He points out. "If you do, I need you to tell me."
"And why would I do that?" Raven replied teasingly, letting her old sibling rivalry slip through, complete with using her other hand to grip her mask and pulling it free from her brother's hold.
"Because without her, we're all going to die." He tells her seriously, knowing that she knows exactly what he means.
"And which 'we' are you referring to?" Raven says slyly before walking away towards the shadowy corner of the balcony, slipping her mask on as she did.
Qrow didn't even flinch when he heard her sword being drawn and slashed through the air, the familiar hum of the portal created by her semblance, Kindred Link. He knew the swirling black and red portal wasn't going to him since she was already here and he doubted that she was going to Tai or Yang, so she must have bonded with someone else since STRQ disbanded. He remembered that Raven had tried to open a portal to Summer some time after her last mission went longer than expected, practically sealing the suspicions that the woman had died.
The crash of a glass breaking made Qrow turn around in his seat to see the waitress had come up with a drink, presumably meant for Raven, only to drop it in shock of seeing the portal that his sister had just vanished into, the portal vanishing mere moments later.
"Best make this a double." Qrow tells the scared woman as he lifts his glass of ice.
—-
"Anya, Talon, I have a mission for you." Glynda Goodwitch tells the sisters as they met at the top of Beacon Tower. The office had been restored, though not to how it was exactly before when Ozpin used the office. The gears above now had a noise dampening ceiling to hide them from view. The windows had been replaced and given a railing to keep a small barrier between people and the glass. The desk that Ozpin had used, as well as nearly every decoration in the room had been destroyed or damaged beyond repair thanks to the fighting, at the very least there was a lot of heat damage.
Nearly everything had to be replaced and Glynda made sure to keep everything simple so that she couldn't be accused of misusing funds for her own personal projects, it helped that she tended to live simply in the first place.
"We're not going on another Grimm extermination are we?" Talon asks tiredly.
"Did you find something we missed in our investigations?" Anya was impatient but respectful.
Glynda paced in front of the windows, watching how the repairs on the rest of the school are going. "No and no. I have something much bigger in mind for you." She glances at the girls to see that she had their full attention. "It's been nearly a year since the attack on this institution and the Kingdom of Vale. In that time, everyone here has pitched in to assist in the cleanup and rebuilding efforts along with defending our weakened borders from the Grimm. We've had many investigations going on to track down anything we can involving Cinder and her cohorts and how they managed to cause so much damage."
"Didn't you send a team to Mistral months ago for that?" Anya asks.
"Yes, I did. The team consisting of Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren were sent to meet with Leonardo in Haven and gather some information from Mistral as part of that investigation. A short time later, I sent Qrow to go to Haven to speak with Leonardo about… other things… and making sure that remains safe."
"I didn't think that it would take months to go to Mistral." Talon comments.
"Normally, no. But their Bullhead was brought down and the team continued on foot." The blonde sounded proud of their resolve.
The girl's eyes went wide at that information. "That would do it. But… can't they call you?" Talon asks.
"They left before those particular repairs were made. And until they are granted access to the secure channels that WE use, there is next to no way for them to make a call to anyone outside of their individual ranges."
"And Qrow hasn't called in either?" Anya was suspicious.
"Unfortunately, Qrow has a habit of not bothering to call unless he has something important to report. However, he was the one who informed me that the transport had crashed and the team had kept moving. I'm assuming that since he has yet to call again nor have I heard anything from Lionheart, Qrow has either found a lead that has pulled him away from going to Mistral or he may have found the team."
"Which are you preferring?" Anya asks.
"Honestly?" Glynda took off her glasses and pinched her nose to help relieve some of her stress. "I can't say which would be best. The need for fighting Her plans and agents or ensuring such promising young students that I've helped to train complete their mission… both are high on my priorities."
"I see. But what is the mission you have for us?" Talon was curious and starting to fidget in place.
The Headmistress walked back to her desk, the same that she used in her old office actually, and sat down in the large chair that was needed to hold her. "I need you two to get your team and start searching for the Spring Maiden. The best leads we have for her location is east of Mistral, possibly in the mountain range nearby in that area."
"Haven't you been looking for Spring for years?" The swordswoman of DAIT asks for clarification.
"It's been a little over a decade since the last known Spring Maiden ran away from Mistral after the pressure of her duties became too much. Since then, we've had odd reports of things that would be the actions of a Maiden but no actual confirmation, let alone a sighting of the Maiden herself." Glynda explains.
"And we're the best you have?" Anya smirks as she crosses her arms.
"Between that and you are the only ones I can trust for this sort of mission." Glynda confirms.
"Alright, we'll head over to Patch and grab Denko asap." Talon was excited for the change of pace and to see her friend again, not having been back to the island since she helped to drop off the Scarab and Bumblebee at the Xiao Long-Rose home months ago.
"You can get started tomorrow. Get some rest tonight and prepare your gear." Glynda tells them as she stands up.
"We'll do our best." Anya promised with a hand over her chest.
AN: And there we have it! Weiss has made a breakthrough on her mission, Cinder has come back angrier than ever, Ilia is wrestling with her feelings, Blake and Sun have had talks about their relationship with Kali and Ghira, Yang has been sparring for a full month and getting back in her old fighting shape, Qrow and Raven have a little chat, and now Glynda is sending Anya and Talon to look for the Spring Maiden. We'll see how things play out next time, and it will be exciting.
And I have an excellent picture of Yang and Denko sparring in this chapter on my DA page, if anyone is interested.
As always, reviews are welcome!