A/N: the next few chapters will be a bit late unfortunately. im dealing with a lot of shit rn and writing and editing and uploading are real buzzkills atm. shouldn't take longer than two weeks to get ch7 out but if i do take longer feel free to scream at me in the reviews or in a pm
Chapter 6: the means to an end
Pale white fingers tap against the wooden table, pitch black nails clicking with each motion. Salem stares down through her Seer, eyes narrowed at the image of a huntress in red using silver magic.
"Impossible." She says, mind racing. She had felt the call of a fledgling magical presence the year before, but she had dismissed it as one of the Maidens having died and their magic finding a new host.
However, a few days ago, she had sensed both that magic and Ozpin's performing a traditional greeting. She knew that the Maidens were incapable of performing such a ritual, as their magics were too wild. And seeing this unknown woman use such powerful, unaffiliated, magic? Oh, she is angered that she had originally dismissed the call. Likely, this woman had unlocked her magic last year, and that was what Salem had felt. If she hadn't been so dismissive, she might have been able to recruit her. Now, the huntress is at Beacon. With Ozpin. A scowl breaks on her face as her hands clench.
And then the huntress lets out a flash of light, and Salem stills. No. Her nails prick into the skin of her palms, drawing blood. Impossible. She glares as the huntress fires a shot, shattering the frozen Manticore. Impossible! A silver-eyed warrior, with access to unaffiliated magic? Salem bares her teeth in rage and stabs her hand through the Seer, killing it. Ozpin has gained an impossibly powerful ally. She draws forth a new Seer from the dark, and replays the fight. Her eyes narrow further. No.
She rests a hand on the Seer, pausing the playback. Two pairs of silver eyes stare at her Manticore. She sneers.
Ozpin has gained two powerful allies.
The trip to Forever Fall comes far sooner than Carmine wished. She leans against the large window of Ozpin's office, arms crossed. Ozpin sits at his desk, finishing up some paperwork. He looks over his shoulder at her,
"Carmine, things will be fine. Qrow and Taiyang are not going to react that badly." Carmine winces.
"You don't know that." The elevator dings suddenly, making her flinch. She is so not ready for this conversation. The elevator doors open, and Qrow and Taiyang exit, both seeming to be mid-argument. They freeze just steps from the elevator, eyes locking with her silver. Qrow's hand drops to Harbinger, while Taiyang shifts into a defensive stance.
"Qrow, Taiyang. Excellent timing." Ozpin says, clearly ignoring the growing tension. "Gentlemen, meet Carmine Rosemage, better known as the Grimm Harvester." Both men relax minutely. "Carmine has... brought us information, about our enemies."
Carmine raises a hand, "Yo." Qrow blinks and his gaze sharpens as he takes in her appearance, lingering for a long moment on her eyes. He flares his aura, his red gently prodding against her own, and his eyes widen,
"Ruby?" Carmine jolts, shocked, and her jaw drops.
"Y-You – how?!" Qrow raises a brow,
"Kid, you can't fake an aura presence. I was the one who unlocked yours, after all. No matter how long passes, there will always be a trace of my own aura in yours." Carmine sighs,
"Well, that makes this a bit easier then." She smiles at them, "Hey Uncle Qrow, hey dad."
Taiyang frowns, "And just what are you doing here, young lady?"
"Uh... here, as in Oz's office? Or here, as in back in time?" Taiyang rolls his eyes,
"Yes, here, as in Oz's office – clearly I meant the latter!"
"Ah, that's... a long story." Carmine grimaces, "Should I start at the beginning? Or just skip to the good parts?" Qrow chuckles,
"How about we start with how you time travelled."
She frowns, "Oh, uh, well, I'm not sure? How I did it." Her eyes narrow, "The running theory is that when Salem flung that stupidly powerful final attack at me, I attempted to activate my semblance to dodge, and since my semblance has some form of time manipulation about it, thanks to dad, I ended up back in time. You know, magic fuckery and all that." She taps the large scar on her face and grins, "Got this bad boy out of the experience!"
"Wait," Qrow starts, whisky dripping down his chin, "you fought Salem?!"
Carmine shrugs, "Hey, at that point I was just barely out of a bout of suicidal depression considering I was mourning the loss of everyone I ever dared to care for. Didn't help that she kept bringing up my dead teammates." She waves a hand dismissively, "I survived, didn't I?"
Qrow shakes his head, "That's not the point!"
Carmine scoffs, "Sure it is! I ain't suicidal anymore, am I? If I was, I'd just head right for Salem again. But since I'm here-" She motions to the office, "-clearly I've gotten over all that."
"Ruby, that's..." Qrow sighs, "...are you okay, really?" Carmine taps her fingers against her arms,
"Mostly." She leans back against the window, "Definitely better than I was." Qrow shares a glance with Taiyang, before nodding,
"I guess that's better than nothing." He takes out his flask, "I have a feeling I'm gonna want to be drunk for this." Carmine snorts,
"You and me both." She sighs, "Well, first things first, call me Carmine." Taiyang makes to interrupt, but she cuts him off, "Look, dad, these people we're fighting? If they knew who I really was, they'd kill the younger me to get rid of this me." She frowns, "That would actually be a pretty effective way of destabilizing the entire timeline. We should probably keep ahead of that. Hey Oz?" Ozpin lifts a brow, "We'll need to keep a close eye on team RWBY. I know for a fact that they're going to participate in some... less than legal vigilantism soon. Wouldn't want them to die or anything."
Taiyang sighs, "That sounds like Yang, for sure." Carmine chuckles,
"Surprisingly, it's Blake we have to watch out for." She tilts her head to look out the window. "Well... where to begin? Ah, I guess I should state that I've been here, in this timeline, for just over a year by now."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone sooner?" Carmine rolls her eyes,
"And royally fuck everything up? No thanks." She points her thumb out the window, "I had to wait for the mini-me to get into Beacon." Qrow frowns,
"Why would that matter?"
"Because the night Ruby stopped that robbery? That's when everything began." She steps away from the window, and begins to pace, "Roman Torchwick is a small cog in the schemes of one of Salem's pawns named Cinder Fall." She looks at Qrow, "You might know her from when she attacked Amber." Qrow glares,
"You know about that?" Carmine laughs,
"Qrow, you haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg of this silent war." She pointedly looks at Ozpin, who grimaces,
"Yes, Carmine, I will tell them the honest truth soon. We're waiting for James, remember?" Qrow frowns, looking between the two,
"What does that mean? What truth?" Carmine begins to pace again,
"Never mind that for now. What matters right now, is my truth." Taiyang and Qrow lock onto her once again, "Roman Torchwick is stealing all that dust to make dust bombs. These bombs would be placed throughout Vale and Beacon, set to explode during the final round of the upcoming Vytal Tournament. But not all the bombs." She sighs, "In the underground city of Mountain Glenn is where the dust is being stored. Cinder is going to have Torchwick and the White Fang drive a train through the abandoned subway tunnels, while periodically setting off the rest of the bombs." Taiyang frowns,
"But why?" Carmine raises a brow,
"To lead the Grimm into the heart of Vale. The train was designed to breach through the square on Maroon Street."
Qrow scowls, "Of course. Draw the Grimm into the city, and blow up what they can to sow chaos. But why during the Vytal Tournament?" Carmine's shoulders slump.
"There's... two competitors that are guaranteed to make it to the finals. Pyrrha Nikos, from Beacon, and Penny Polendina, from Atlas. But..." She looks at Ozpin, "Do you know what Pyrrha's semblance is?" Ozpin nods,
"Polarity."
"Yeah." Carmine sighs, "Penny's a synthetic human. The first synthetic human capable of generating an aura." The three men pale significantly. Ozpin's hands tighten on his cane and he says,
"Of course. Am I correct to assume that Pyrrha will not know about her opponent's true nature?"
"Yeah. Ruby will find out, sometime after meeting Penny for the first time. And take a wild guess on who else knows." She rolls her eyes, "Cinder Fall has two lackeys. Mercury Black, son of the assassin Marcus Black, and Emerald Sustrai, Vacuan native and thief. Anyone want to guess what Emerald's semblance is?" The men shake their heads. "Hallucinations." Ozpin's eyes widen,
"Oh no."
"Yep." Carmine chuckles mirthlessly, "Right now, Emerald can only affect one person at a time with her semblance. But that's all it will take." She raises a hand and points at her head, "Emerald makes Pyrrha think that Penny is attacking her with lethal intent-"
"-and Miss Nikos fires off her semblance, tearing her opponent apart." Ozpin finishes, face drawing down in sad contemplation. "Oh dear." Carmine smirks,
"Yeah, combine that with the breach? With the White Fang stirring up trouble? With the influx of negative emotions?" She sweeps a hand out, gesturing to the entirety of the campus, "Beacon falls." Qrow chugs down his drink and raises a brow,
"So what do we do to stop that?" Carmine turns, and points at a mountain in the distance.
"You see that mountain there?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, there's a huge fucking Grimm dragon slumbering in there." The men pale once again. Qrow flicks his gaze to the mountain and mutters,
"Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'." Carmine laughs, "Guess what we'll have to do?"
Taiyang sighs, "We're going to kill it, aren't we?"
"Bingo!" Carmine flashes him a wide grin, "Between Qrow's raw skill, dad's semblance, Glynda's dust mastery, and my magic, it should be a piece of cake." She frowns, "Well, somewhat. It is a giant dragon that can spawn Grimm from its ichor." Qrow rubs his forehead and groans,
"Great. Do we have a plan, or are we going at this half-cocked?" Carmine hums,
"Hmm, well, no, I don't have a plan. We have to wait for Glynda for that. What I do know is how to get that thing out of the mountain, without it coming straight for the city."
Qrow frowns, "No, wait, rewind a bit." He stares at her suspiciously, "Did you say you have magic?" Carmine blinks, and nods,
"Well, yeah? I was briefly all four maidens. 'Course, that didn't last very long. The wild magic would have killed me eventually, had Salem not interfered." She taps her cheek, just under her eyes, "These eyes here? They do not like wild magic." Taiyang narrows his eyes,
"But then, why?"
"Why become the maidens in the first place?" Carmine asks, and he nods. "Wasn't exactly a choice for me. When your teammates were the maidens before you, sometimes you're in their last thoughts. And I was the one who killed Cinder, and she happened to be the Fall Maiden. I was okay when it was just the Fall Magics." Her eyebrows furrow, "When Yang died, she thought of Blake, her wife. But Blake didn't last much longer than her, and I was in her last thoughts. Spring and Summer came to me within ten minutes of the other. It was..." She grimaces, "...painful." She rubs at her chest, "Weiss fell about four months later. That's how I found out she died. I thought she was doing fine on her mission, and then I was suddenly in excruciating pain as the Winter Magics raged in me."
"Ruby..." Qrow says, taking a step towards her. She shakes her head,
"Carmine, uncle. It's Carmine now." She smiles sadly, "I was going to propose, you know?" She laughs, "Guess it was never meant to be." She looks out the window once more, "It's been four years since then, but I still feel like it was yesterday, you know? And technically, it hasn't even happened yet!" She grins, "Ah, I sound like a lunatic." Taiyang stride forward, and grabs her in a tight hug. "Aw, feeling some emotions there old man?" She snarks, pointedly ignoring the tears gathering in her eyes. Taiyang draws back and smiles at her,
"Ruby, it doesn't matter what you call yourself now. You'll always be my little petal." Her lips tug into a smile,
"Come off it, old man. I don't mind being Carmine." She shrugs, smile turning sorrowful, "I haven't been Ruby in... a long time."
"Summer would be proud, you know?" Taiyang says, and Carmine blinks, singular tear streaking down her cheek. She laughs,
"...yeah. Yeah, I know."
Ozpin clears his throat, "Terribly sorry to break up the moment, but may we get back on track, please?" Carmine swipes at her eyes and nods.
"Right. Uh, where was I?"
Qrow gestures vaguely, "The fact that you have magic now?"
"Ah. That." She grimaces, "Well, apparently time travel is hella weird, you know? I don't know how, but those four core magics turned into unaffiliated magic." Qrow blinks, his gaze flicking to Ozpin,
"What, like what Oz has?" Carmine nods,
"Yep. And Salem." She leans back against the window once more. "Can you imagine how angry she'll be, once she realizes what has happened?" She chuckles, "Oh, I can just picture it. Evernight Castle's windows exploding outward from her angry burst of magic."
Ozpin tilts his head, "Evernight Castle?" Carmine shrugs,
"Hey, I wasn't the one who named it. Your ex-wife did." Qrow and Taiyang sputter,
"His what?!" Carmine grimaces.
"Wasn't supposed to mention that, yet." She mutters. "Ignore that for now."
"I don't think we should just-" Qrow starts, but Carmine cuts him off with a glare,
"You will. Or I will make you." He returns her glare.
"Fine." Carmine sighs,
"Look, everything will come out properly once Jimmy gets here." She jerks her head in the direction of the mountain, "For now, let me tell you about how we're gonna get that dragon out of the mountain."