Chapter Twenty-Eight: Revelations


"Phoenix?" What're you doing here?" Pyrrha asked as Phoenix, Glynda, and Ironwood stepped out of the elevator and into Ozpin's office.

"I'm here for the free food," he replied, his joke earning him glares from the two people at his side. "Just trying to ease the tension."

"Wh-who are you? Really?" Pyrrha stammered.

"You know who we are. We're still the same teachers and headmasters you met when you came to Beacon," Glynda answered.

"Except we've got a little part-time job," Qrow continued.

"Or two in my case," Phoenix added, once again getting glares from Ironwood and Glynda.

"We are the protectors of this world," Ironwood stated.

"And we need your help," Ozpin finished.


"Where are we going?" Pyrrha inquired as she and the others rode the elevator down.

"To the vault under the school," Ozpin answered.

"Why there's a vault under the school to begin with I have no clue," Phoenix thought, not voicing his this for fear of pissing off Glynda in an enclosed space.

After the elevator opened they walked into the room there was a moment of silence as Pyrrha looked around, only broken when Phoenix said, "I'm guessing you've got a few questions."

"Maybe one or two," Pyrrha replied. "I still don't understand. You said I was next in line to receive the Maiden's power. What do you mean by that?"

"The maidens have existed for thousands of years, but…" Glynda explained (Note: I'm skipping the expositional dialogue since you all know what she's talking about. Sorry for breaking immersion or whatever, but just wanted to clarify that now rather than in the conclusion).

"But how does the power choose?"

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules," Qrow stated.

"Qrow!"

"He's not wrong. The rules are complete crap," Phoenix pointed out.

"Phoenix!"

"We can discuss how Qrow and I are right later. Right now you've got some questions to answer."

"Fine. At first, the only thing that was…"

"So why tell me this now? Why not wait until I graduate?" Pyrrha asked, still confused as to what was going on.

"Honestly, we've run out of time," Qrow replied. "I don't know if you've noticed, but the world is getting a lot scarier. Tensions are high, Grimm are getting stronger, more prevalent, and it's not going to be much longer till this peace we've all been enjoying so much goes out the window."

"All thanks to my bitch of a mother," Phoenix groaned.

"You're not talking about war?" Pyrrha said questioningly.

"Not a war between nations," Ironwood stated.

"We can fill you in the details once we know you're with us," Qrow said.

"Maybe you could fill me in too. I'm part of your little club. Why don't I get to know what the bloody hell you mean by, 'Not a war between nations,'?" Phoenix asked, extremely annoyed.

"We can discuss this another day," Ozpin replied. "All you two now all you need to know for now is one of the Maidens was attacked, and for the first time in history, some of her power was stolen."

"I'll give you one guess who's responsible," Phoenix groaned. As he finished saying that they reached the back of the vault where it's only contents were held, a machine with two chambers, one of which containing a woman.

"Is that-?" Pyrrha tried asking before Ozpin answered the question she was most likely going to ask.

"The current Fall Maiden, Amber."

"She's… still alive."

"For now," Ironwood stated. "We're using state-of-the-art Atlas technology to keep her stable, but there is a lot about this situation that is… unprecedented."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we don't know what will happen if… when she passes."

"Won't her power just transfer to the next host?"

"Look who's been listening. She is smart," Qrow joked. "Under normal circumstances yes."

"But this situation is anything but normal," Phoenix explained. "Since people who're killed usually think of their attacker last, and my mother is the attacker in question, odds are she'll get the powers. Like Qrow and I said, the rules are crap. And to top it all off, the power is split. Even if Cinder wasn't the last person Amber though about, the power may just seek out its other half."

Upon hearing all this, Pyrrha approached the pod where Amber was and, after a moment of looking at it, asked, "If all of this is true, why keep it a secret? If this girl is so important, if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?"

"From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge," Glynda replied.

"Excuse me?"

"How do you think all those legends and fairytales get started. Even the craziest ones come from somewhere." Qrow explained, taking a sip from his flask once he finished.

"Our group was founded to protect both mankind and the Maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them in hopes of inheriting their strength," Glynda continued.

"And when they did, we end up with situations like we have now. So our little club decided to hide the Maidens and make people think they were just some story. Even if people found out now, they'd never believe us. It goes against everything they've been taught. That would cause panic, and panic brings…" Phoenix explained, waiting for Pyrrha to finish his sentence. After a moment of awkward silence he tried again. "And that would bring…"

"Grimm," Pyrrha answered.

Ozpin sighed and stated, "This is why we'd like you to-"

"I'll do it," Pyrrha declared. "If you think it will help humanity then I will become your Fall Maiden." Everyone else looked at each other nervously. "That is what you wanted isn't it?"

"Yes, but there's a catch. What we're basically going to do with Ironwood's machine is take out Amber's aura and cram it into you," Phoenix answered.

"That's-"

"Classified." Ironwood stated.

"Wrong!"

"The feeling is mutual, but desperate times call for desperate measures," Glynda said reluctantly.

"And these are indeed desperate times. We can't give you Amber's powers, but we can give you what those powers are bound to," Ironwood explained.

"Her aura," Pyrrha said.

"Therein lies the catch. Your life and her's would be put together. The problem is that we've got no clue what that'll do to you," Phoenix explained to a now clearly conflicted Pyrrha.

"You have an important decision before you Ms. Nikos," Ozpin said. "We have no idea if this transfer will work, and there's no telling if you'll be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time to think on this matter, but understand that before the Vinal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

"I honestly didn't want to bring you into this, but the others were set. I figured you could use some support. You can always say no, and If you need to talk to anyone about this, I'm here for you."

"Thanks…"


"Uh… hi…" Phoenix said as he walked into team RWBY's dorm to talk to Yang, who appeared to be the only one in the room. He wasn't sure what else to say seeing as they'd just been eliminated from the tournament due to Yang attacking a defeated Mercury.

"Phoenix… you believe I wouldn't do this, don't you?" Yang asked him.

"Of course. I've encountered plenty of people who would do that. I can tell you're not like them."

"Thanks…"

"Don't worry, your team and I are here for you. Don't worry, I can tell you need some alone time. I'll… talk to you later," he said as he walked out the door.


"What?" both Phoenix and Ruby asked after Velvet brought up the fact that Coco had a similar issue with seeing things to Yang.

"During the fight with Mercury and Emerald she thought she saw Yatsuhashi, even though he'd been defeated already," Velvet explained.

"Was that the only time something like this has happened?" Phoenix asked, a theory starting to form.

"I think so. Why?"

"Just curious." "So both incidents of hallucinations happened when Emerald and Mercury were involved. Could-" Phoenix thought, his train of thought broken by a bright flash of light in his face. When he recovered he saw Velvet holding her camera in front of him and Ruby.

"Oh, sorry."


"Is that… holy shit!" Phoenix exclaimed when he saw one of the people present at the coliseum.

"What is it?" Ruby asked before she looked in the direction Phoenix was. "Emerald?" With that, all the pieces fell into place in Phoenix's head.


Look, a cliffhanger. Have fun waiting. Sorry again for the interruption earlier, just wanted you to know what was happening the first time you read. I'm sure most of you figured it out, but I just wanted to be safe. Anyway, thanks for reading.