And here is chapter 2 of this story, things get to be a bit more driven here and we meet new characters, and by that I mean one ally and a lot of villains.
I'm also foregoing the 'color name' rule of Ruby's as I think it'd hold me back a bit but Ashe does follow it with a gray and black color scheme.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.
RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 2: Alone in the Woods
Ashe held the woman he loved in his arms as she gave out her dying breath, the dagger he had just pulled from her heart lay on the ground with her blood pooling around it.
"Please Mila! You can't die! I stayed for you! You... you gave me a life again." He sobbed as he held her dying body.
The woman with pitch black hair reached up and rubbed his face lovingly "I'm sorry Ashe, I have to go." She said as her eyes began to glaze over.
"No! Please! I love you!" Ashe begged.
"And I love you." Mila said as her soul left the world of Remnant and ascended to a better place.
The townspeople had gathered around and watched in sorrow and horror as the pretty girl who ran the bookshop died in her lover's arms.
The man who killed Mila watched the scene, nursing a wound she gave him before he killed her. "Such a brave young girl. Pity she had to fall in love with a wannabe hero like you Ashe."
Ashe leaped up towards Mila's murderer with pure, unyielding, animalistic rage.
Ashe jolted up from his sleeping bag and let out a small growl of anger. That damned kid, Jaune, he had the same look in his eyes that he had when Mila died. He shook his head and thought 'Shouldn't blame the kid, not his fault.'
He got up and stripped off his hoodie and replaced it with his normal outerwear, a robe of a priest that he had sliced open down the middle to look like a trench coat. He placed two keepsakes he kept around his neck; his mother's whistle and the wedding ring he had proposed to Mila with and went outside to see if his younger companions were awake.
One of them was.
He saw Jaune Arc sitting by a frozen creek nearby, with his scroll out watching a video of some pretty redhead girl that Ashe felt looked familiar. He listened closely and he heard what she was saying.
"Hello Jaune. If you're watching this, then something bad must have happened. Jaune if I haven't told you already then I should tell you now. Professor Ozpin has selected me to become a 'fall maiden', I don't fully understand it but apparently if I say yes I will be granted enormous power. The thing is I don't want more power. I feel that I'm powerful enough and I'm an idol to thousands, even though I never really wanted to be one. I feel like taking this power would make me some kind of religious figure and I'm... I'm afraid of what would happen. I'd gain followers, zealots, but I'd lose you and Ren and Nora and Team RWBY and all the friends I've made since I began attending Beacon. Truth be told Jaune, you were the first person in a long time to see me for me, and not Pyrrha Nikos the champion, Pyrrha Nikos the prodigy, or something like that. You just saw another girl. It was after what we went through in the Emerald Forest, what happened with Winchester that I realized... I love you Jaune. I love you Jaune and I hope you return the feeling. I mean not a lot of people will do what you did at the dance. Jaune, I don't know what the future holds, if I'll take the maiden's powers or not, but I know that no matter what, nothing will change two facts about us. One; you are stronger, smarter, and braver than you know or believe, and two is that I love you." The video stopped playing and Jaune let out a sob that was all too familiar to Ashe, a sob of regret, loneliness, self loathing, and most of all mourning the one you loved.
Ashe silently made his way down to Jaune and put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. Jaune's head snapped back and looked at the man he had only met last night, giving him a sympathetic and understanding look.
"I've been there kid. I'm sorry a guy as young as you had to come to this point in life so early." Ashe said as he sat down next to Jaune.
They sat in silence for several minutes until Ashe asked "Who was she? She looks familiar."
"She was my partner, Pyrrha Nikos." Jaune answered sadly.
"The Champion of Sanctum? Oh yeah, I did hear she was killed in that attack at Beacon." Ashe said, understanding more and more. He asked "You loved each other, didn't you?"
Jaune was silent for a moment, he didn't really want to tell any of this to a stranger, but he was hurting in a way that made him want to pour his heart out to anyone that was willing to listen.
"She loved me, but I didn't realize it or realized that I loved her until it was too late. I was too stupid, too dense to notice her. Too caught up with pining after Weiss Schnee to notice just how... perfect Pyrrha was." Jaune said, tears coming out of his eyes.
"Ouch." Muttered Ashe, visibly wincing.
"What did you mean 'you've been there' anyway?" Jaune asked the older man. "Why do you even care?"
"I'm still here, kid. You're sure as hell not the only one who has lost a lover." Ashe said, a bit annoyed at Jaune's attitude.
Jaune sighed and said "Can you... tell me about it?"
"Why should I tell some random kid I met last night about things personal to me?"
"So I can learn to cope." Jaune answered quietly.
Ashe looked at the blond and saw sadness, guilt, and a slimmer of self-loathing in his eyes. It was a look he had seen many times when he looked in a mirror.
"Okay, I'll give you the basics. Five years ago the woman I loved was taken from me. I had taken up defending her village, we fell in love, I went up against this insane drug lord that had been trying to take the town over, I got captured and tortured, she came to my rescue but at the cost of her own life. She died in my arms." Ashe said to the younger man.
"What happened after that?" Jaune asked.
"I killed the drug lord. Our battle afterwards got so heated, so intense, so filled of hate that it attracted a horde of Grimm. I threw him off a cliff and they took him to hell. After that I left the town, wandered around taking job after job, been miserable ever since." Ashe finished.
"H-how did you learn to come to terms with it?" Jaune inquired.
"I didn't really. I guess I've gotten used to the pain. You're new to it. Maybe this'll help you out a bit." Ashe said gently, but he sounded a bit off, like he wasn't used to acting this gentle. "The pain is horrible at first, but as time goes by it dulls, but it still hurts, and the more you think about the person you lost, the more it hurts. You want it to stop hurting, that's why you told me your story, you think if you share your pain with someone else it might diminish, because you desperately want the pain to end... but you loved them too much for it to end. The pain just stopping would mean you didn't love that person anymore, and even if you accept their death, losing them still hurts no matter what.
"I know what you mean. I miss her so much and it hurts to think about her, and how different things could have been if I wasn't so stupid. I wanted to punish myself for my stupidity, so I made a promise I'd never love another woman but her. No matter how beautiful or how much I want it, my heart and body will only be for Pyrrha." Jaune said.
"That's very admirable of you. I made the same promise. It was hard, I've seen plenty of beautiful women, gorgeous bodies, but I always think of Mila's eyes, her smile, the times we made love and I can't bring myself to look at another woman that way." Ash said.
"I never made love with her; we only kissed once... she kissed me before she shoved me into a locker and then went off to die in a pointless fight. I'm still a virgin, but I don't care. I won't love anyone but Pyrrha. I'll die a virgin, but it's worth it for her." Jaune said.
"Kid, wherever she is right now, she knows she made the right choice when she fell in love with you." Ashe assured him.
"I don't think she did." Jaune said, tears brimming from his eyes, and with that. he began to break down. "I'm a weakling, I lied and cheated my way into Beacon, she had to unlock my Aura, she trained me, she helped me get stronger but it wasn't enough. She couldn't even help me discover my Semblance! I was never strong enough to help her. She shoved me into a rocket-locker because she knew I'd get in the way. I'd only slow her down."
Jaune wondered to himself why he was pouring his heart out for this stranger, telling him something that only Pyrrha and Cardin had known, but he was hurting. He had hurt long enough, and was willing to share his pain with anyone willing to listen.
"That's not it! It sounds more like this girl wanted to protect you." Ashe argued.
"I was too weak! No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much we trained I was never good enough. I was the worst in my team and somehow I was the leader. I let her down, I wasn't strong enough to help her, not even strong enough to get out of the locker... I... I don't know." Jaune said miserably.
"Don't know what?" Ashe asked.
"What to do! Or where to go! I always had Pyrrha; she was with me, that's how I knew how to lead. But now she's gone because of how pathetic I am. I mean, look at me! Here I am telling you, a total stranger, everything! What kind of sense does that make?! I'm... I'm just so lost and messed up... and everything is just... I don't even know how to describe it, it's just painful..." Jaune confessed, tears brimming in his eyes before he forced them down to finish. "All I want now is to take revenge on the monster who took her from us but I'm afraid I'll become something just as bad if I give into my hate. She loved me, and I failed her completely."
"I failed my Mila too. Sometimes when it's quiet I think about what if I had been stronger, what if I recovered from my beating quicker, fast enough to stop that bastard from stabbing her? Maybe we'd have gotten married like we were supposed to. Maybe I would have died. Maybe we both would have died. But the thing is I lived and she didn't. I hate it, but I have to live with it. You never really get over losing the woman you love. You cry enough tears to fill a hundred storms, you have enough bad dreams to break your mind, but you have to keep going for her. She wouldn't want you to give up. We can't bring 'em back. I've looked into time travel and resurrection, the former is impossible and the second can go horribly wrong. We go on, we mourn them, we miss them every single day, we live our lives with our friends and family. We try our best to persist in life. One day we'll die, and if we play our cards right, they'll be there waiting for us, still as beautiful as we remember them." Ashe said, tears now welling up in his eyes as he remembered his own love that was taken from him.
Jaune was utterly shocked. This stranger he had just met seemed to handle the situation and give him better advice and more comforting words that worked for him than anyone he knew, with the exception of Jaune's eldest sister Bianca who had lost her fiancé in a car accident before they married. Bianca had helped Jaune cope with his loss, teaching him how wrong it was to lock away tomorrow and wallow in misery, it was one of the reasons he was on this quest. And yet this man had been through the exact same thing that Jaune had, losing the girl who loved you because you weren't strong enough. Ashe had just said the right words.
Jaune rubbed the tears out of his eyes and said "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Ashe said in return.
"Yeah, we owe you one." Said the voice of Ruby, which caused the two to turn around and see her standing above them atop the embankment.
"How much did you hear?" Jaune asked. Ruby winked at her friend through teary eyes and answered "When you started to spout out that nonsense about how weak you are."
Ashe chuckled; something in his gut told him to stay with these kids.
It was morning in Haven Academy, Scarlet David and Sage Ayana sat on one side of the room looking across the room at their teammates Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias as if they were out of their minds.
"Have you gone daft?! There is no way we can do it! We don't even have the slightest idea of where to begin looking for her!" Scarlet pointed out.
"And chances are we'll have to go up against the White Fang, something I'm not really eager to do." Sage added.
"I know it sounds hard guys, hell it may be impossible, but I gotta try." Sun said. "I've looked up lists of missing people, I've asked Headmaster Argo for info, I even called Goodwitch, but it's not enough! We need to take matters into our own hands!"
Scarlet and Sage looked at one another, then to Neptune. "And you're going along with this?" Sage asked the blue haired boy. Neptune nodded,
"Finding Blake may set things right. I think we all know how important Team RWBY is. Maybe if we help them get back together, things might go back to normal." Neptune reasoned.
"That's nonsense. Getting those four girls back won't bring back Pyrrha Nikos, or all the innocent people the Grimm killed at Beacon." Sage pointed out.
"We know that, it's shitty yeah, but we can sure as hell avenge those people and working with Team RWBY is the main way to bring this 'Cinder Fall' down." Sun argued.
"You really want to help save the world? Or is this about Blake?" Scarlet asked.
Sun sighed, "I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of it." he admitted.
"I am not gonna get myself killed just so you can get back with your girlfriend, I don't care if you are my leader, it's way too risky." Sage said defiantly.
"It's okay man, if you don't want to come you don't have to come. What about you Scarlet?" Sun asked.
The redhead boy stood up and said "I'll go."
"What?" asked Sage.
"You will?" asked Neptune, equally confused.
"Yes! Thank you pirate boy!" cheered Sun.
"Why?! You know how hopeless this is!" Sage argued.
"Yeah, but that's never really stopped us before. It looked like we were gonna be killed by all those Grimm and robots at Beacon and yet we made it out. Ruby took down that airship and saved us, we owe her." Scarlet said.
Sage sighed and said "This is insane. Completely, utterly hopeless. And yet I'm not letting you three have all the fun."
"Yes! I promise you guys you won't regret it!" Sun vowed as began to bro-fist all of them.
"The idea is all well and good, but do you have the slightest idea of how we should start our search?" Scarlet asked.
"The White Fang, obviously." Neptune stated.
"He's right. Blake used to be a member of the White Fang until its new leader twisted it into what it's been for the last few years. We find one of the White Fang bases in Haven, make 'em talk, we find out who their leader is, we find out who was the one to lead their assault on Beacon, we find out who cut off Yang's arm, we kick his ass, present it to Blake and Yang on a silver platter, badda-bing badda-boom they'll make steps to getting back together." Sun said.
"The White Fang have been in hiding ever since Beacon fell, how are we gonna find one of them, let alone an entire base?" Sage asked.
"Haven's a big city. We all know how bad the criminal element has gotten; chances are someone will know how to get in touch with the White Fang." Sun said confidently.
Ozpin and his old enemy Norvik the Hunter had sat in silence for several hours. Ozpin had been trying to wrap his head around how it was possible for this murderer to be alive, but he knew that Salem had powers he didn't fully understand.
When he next saw Salem they would have much to discuss.
"I still hear from your team occasionally. I hear all the voices of the ones I have killed. The voices rarely ever stop. I remember them all so well, they scream, they cry, they accuse, and they ask me one question very often; 'why?'." Norvik said, smiling as he knew he was getting to Ozpin.
"Why did you do it? Murder dozens of young Huntsmen and Huntresses? We could never figure out your motive." Ozpin said with his curiosity only matched by his hatred for this man.
"The Grimm needed to be avenged. Grimm may have killed thousands of Hunters but you and your kind Ozpin have slaughtered millions of theirs and you continue to do so to this day. When I was young, whenever I saw a Grimm they would never attack me. They would attack others around me, but they always left me alone. I once saw a Huntsman slaughter an entire pack of Beowolves with such ferocity and force that I knew this was a sign, a sign that I must help them. Protect Grimm from Hunters no matter the cost. So I decided the best way was to kill Hunters before they graduated, before they could become the threats to the creatures of Grimm that they longed to be so much."
Ozpin shot up and got as close to Norvik as he could, which was surprisingly very close given the chains. "The Grimm are mindless beasts, you are barley any different from them, at least they had their animalistic instinct, you however are just insane." Ozpin spat out.
"Am I William? I suppose from the point of view of the normal person I am, but to the Master Salem I am an inspiration! Saving her children, hunting those who hunt her kind, she now sees me as one of her own." Norvik said his eyes wide with pride.
"And yet she has kept you down here for decades. Why is that? Could it have something to do with the fact that you are an unstable, psychotic, murderer?" Ozpin prodded sarcastically.
"Well, my survival wouldn't exactly be a surprise if she let me walk around, now would it?" Norvik asked.
Ozpin glared at this man, the man he failed to stop in time. The man who murdered his team, Team WZRD, this man killed all of them because Ozpin hadn't been strong enough.
Ozpin sat down and remembered his teammates; Zachery Shimmer, the brave and cocky muscle of the team. Rouge Batton, the beautiful, lonely girl that Ozpin had been in a relationship with before this manic took her from this world. And Daisy Harrison, a girl who was stuck up but had learned to be a better person because of her team. The only reason Ozpin had gotten away was because Norvik always saved the team leaders for last. That was a mistake. It allowed William Ozpin to escape, get help and hunt this sick freak down before he could claim another life.
They had battled on an old railway viaduct. Ozpin fought the murderer with sheer brute force and strength driven by anger. He had shot Norvk in the back with a policeman's shotgun, then in a fit of blind rage Ozpin had thrown the man off the viaduct and into the raging river below.
Apparently his enemy Salem, the Mistress of Grimm and the greatest threat to Remnant had been watching, had foreseen her future war with Ozpin and had saved this madman to spite him.
Ozpin had never gotten over the deaths of his teammates and had always wondered what if he had saved them. He remembered their memorial service where Rouge's father had told him outright "It should have been you." And Ozpin never disagreed with the older man.
"Did Rouge sing?" Norvik asked. Ozpin glared at him, because Rouge did sing. She sang beautifully, but never in front of people. Her family and Ozpin had been the only ones she had ever shared it with as she was too shy to sing in front of crowds.
"I ask this because I have heard a singing in my head and it sounds remarkably like her. Would you care to hear it?" Norvik asked cryptically.
"What do you mean? If it's in your head how can I..." Ozpin was stopped by a beautiful singing voice coming out of the old man across from him. A voice he hadn't heard in forty-four years. The voice of the woman he loved, singing a song she made for him.
"Light a Candle, stay the night
Love me and our hearts will write
A never..."
Norvik was unable to continue singing as Ozpin's fist hit his face and slammed his head into the brick wall, knocking him out cold.
Ozpin slumped back onto his cot and did something he had not done in two decades. He wept.
In the woods Ruby and the surviving members of Team JNPR began to pack up, ready to continue their journey and arrive at Haven by nightfall. Ashe had packed his things up as well, watching them as they worked.
Ren had noticed something while Ashe was packing: a small two foot long, one foot wide case as well as a sword and several guns. This combined with Ashe's attire of a gray shirt, gray trousers, and the priest robe that had been transformed into a trench coat made him suspicious. Ashe did not strike him as a preacher and the weapons were a definitely an odd sight for a man with a priest's robe to have.
After several long hours of walking Ren finally asked "Are you a holy man?"
"Me? Gods no. Got this robe from a friend, kept it as a memento after he died." Ashe explained. Ren nodded understandingly.
A little after that, as they traveled out of the forest and into farmland Ashe questioned them, "So, what are you kids up to really? After all you've been through and after what Ruby here did to a Wyvern I'd think you'd be in the employ of the Atlas Military."
The four teens looked at one another. "I think we can trust him to an extent." Jaune said to the other three.
"If Jaune trusts you then so do I. We're on our way to Haven to try and find Cinder Fall, the one who killed Pyrrha and another friend of mine. We're going to find her, stop whatever she's doing, take away the powers she's stolen and finally bring her to justice." Ruby answered confidently.
Ashe whistled, impressed. "You four kids are going to take down the new Fall Maiden and save the world. Mind if I join you?" he asked.
The four teens were taken aback by this. This man they had only known for a few hours wanted to help them take down Cinder?
"I'm sorry, but this is a personal quest." Ruby said.
"Wait a minute, we should think about this." Jaune objected, wanting to give the man a chance. "After all, we're going to need all the help we can get."
"A valid point Jaune, but this man has no stake in this." Ren pointed out.
"The hell I don't! It's my world too; I deserve the chance to help save it." Ashe objected.
"Fair point." Ren relented.
As they kept walking Ruby asked, "Jaune, why are you so eager to give this guy a chance?"
"Ashe said some things to me this morning, things that... put Pyrrha's death in perspective for me. I can't bring her back, but I can avenge her and I say the more help we have with that the better." Jaune said.
"I don't mind, he seems like a good guy." Nora agreed optimistically.
"That remains to be seen. What is your profession Ashe?" Ren asked, "You say you are not a holy man, and when you were packing I got a glimpse at some weapons. Are you a Huntsman?"
"Kinda." Ashe said with a shrug.
"Kinda? What does that mean? Either you are a Huntsman or you're not." Ruby pointed out.
Ashe chuckled again and said "Things aren't that black and white kid. I am a Guerrilla Huntsman."
"You hunt gorillas?" asked Nora, clueless.
Ren facepalmed and corrected her. "No Nora, it means he is an illegal Hunter. Some people who desire to become Hunters are rejected by the Academies so they join illegal Grimm fighting operations and they are not officially recognized by any government. Some villages use them because they are cheaper and at times they can respond faster and often they have no home or loyalty to any particular kingdom. Sometimes they even stay in a village they protect, but most towns use the official Huntsmen and Huntresses who graduate from Academies like we would have." He finished explaining.
"He's right, I'm not an official Huntsman, but I'm about as good as one." Ashe confirmed.
After a few moments of silence Ruby asked "Why weren't you accepted into an academy?"
"I wasn't in one when I was young. I was homeschooled by my parents, they taught me enough about Aura and fighting to get by, even though I didn't have my family's Semblance. My parents were dead by the time I applied to get into an Academy, and back then they didn't take in orphans like they do now, but I was desperate, I needed a purpose so I sought out a Guerrilla Operation. They trained me to be better at fighting and with weapons. I've been one of those wandering Hunters ever since, on and off. I've taken up the odd job here and there when I get depressed and try to quit being a Hunter. I tried to be a guard on a train, tried to be a merchant, but the life of a Hunter always called me back." Ashe explained.
The four kids looked at him. "I don't think we need to totally trust him for now, but I say he can come." Jaune said.
"Me too!" Nora agreed, but Ren was not convinced.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. What do you think Ruby?" he asked.
Ruby looked at her three teammates. Her vote would either make it a tie or would decide if Ashe joined them.
"Have you ever been to Haven?" she asked.
"Yes, about a dozen times. I know the city well enough and I know how to get around it without being noticed, and if this Cinder woman is there she'll be on the look out for you if she's really as smart as she seems to be, and considering what she did to Beacon she must be pretty damn smart. I can help you kids. Let me help you guys make a difference." Ashe pleaded.
"What about your sister?" Ruby asked.
"Let's make a deal, I help you guys take down Cinder and save the world and after the dust has settled you help me find my sister. Deal?" Ashe asked.
Ruby pondered for a minute and then she gave him a bright smile and said "Deal." She said putting out her hand in friendship. Ashe accepted without a second thought.
"Alright! Let's get going! Oh and Ruby, now that we're all rested up... snowball fight!" Nora cheered as she pulled a snowball out of nowhere and hit Ashe right in the head.
"Ow! No fair, surprise attack! I didn't even know this was a thing!" Ashe laughed as he ducked down.
"You get used to her. Somewhat." Ren called to him.
Ruby laughed as she ran ahead with Jaune to get away from Nora's barrage of snowballs, a little game to cheer them up wouldn't hurt along the way.
In another woods, far away on the other side of Mistral, Blake ran as fast as she could to get to the cabin where her destination lay. She had decided to take a page out of Sun's book and stowaway on the cargo freighter that was making a quick trip to Mistral where Blake needed to go to get in contact with the founder of the White Fang.
She was tired, she could barely stand, she was chilled to the bone as the coat she wore didn't give her much protection from the elements, her legs were aching, and her ears were twitching at every sound in the forest. But she carried on into the woods; she wasn't going to give up this time.
She finally saw it, a small three room cabin in the middle of the woods. She hoped he was still there.
She ran to the door as fast as her legs could carry her through the heavy snow and she knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" the voice of an old man called from inside.
"Claudandus it's me! Blake! Let me in!" she cried. She pressed her head against the door and she heard the sound of locks quickly being unlocked and she held herself up as the door opened to reveal an old Cat Faunus in his seventies. Old brown and black ears, one of which was torn from a fight years ago, folded down in sorrow to see his former student in this shape.
"Blake! Thank god you're alright! When I heard about Beacon I feared the worst." He said as she walked inside.
The elderly Faunus shut the door as Blake stripped her coat off and let it drop to the floor. "I've been making my way here for the past twelve hours, I am exhausted." She said weakly.
"I bet you are, it would usually take two or three days to make a trip like that and you did in half a day." Claudandus said, impressed.
"Claudandus, I'm so tired. I'm tired of running away from everything, tired of the White Fang, I'm tired of..." she ranted, getting angry before Claudandus reached around her and hugged her. "... I'm tired of being such a failure." She said.
"You are not a failure. You never were and you never will be." The old man said as he guided the young woman into the bedroom.
"It was Adam, he... he hurt my friend... he's working with someone called Cinder Fall, I..."
"Hush child. Sleep, we will discuss the situation when you are rested." He said as she sat down on the bed and laid back, laying her head upon a soft pillow and she went to sleep immediately.
Claudandus exited the room, closed the door behind him and muttered aloud "Damn you Adam."
In the grand city of Haven a meeting was being held in a medium sized business building. The meeting was to determine the situation and where the power of the criminal element of the city would be placed.
A crime boss known as Milo the Jazzman sat across from the city's reigning crime lord Damien Ante and two of the eight freaks that had allied themselves to him. Damien Ante himself was a dark-skinned, thin man with dreadlocks and piercing brown eyes. He was quite intelligent, you had to be to get where he was now, but you wouldn't have known that from his immature and chaotic personality. On his torso he wore two bandoliers that were not loaded with bullets, but with daggers.
On his right stood one his chief enforcers; Lao, a man who was an expert swordsman and explosives operator with a calm and confident aura about him, his two professions often left scars and wounds but he had none visible on him. To the left was another enforcer known as Trooper, a former Lieutenant in the Atlesian army until he was dishonorably discharged for accidentally causing the death of an underling, after that he turned to the life of a mercenary until he was hired by Damien Ante and had remained as one of Ante's top men ever since.
Jazzman would have felt nervous were it not for the ten bodyguards behind him and the ten on each side of the long table that safeguarded him from any thing these nuts might try on him.
Damien smirked and asked "So what do you say Jazzman? Are you in or are you out?"
Jazzman glared at the man that sat at the other end of the long table and shook his head. "I'm sorry Damien, the answer's still no. Five years ago I would have gladly thrown in with you, but that was before you became so fond of killing and surrounded yourself with these freaks of yours." He said gesturing to the two men flanking him.
"Come on Jazzy, you're the only boss in the city that's not with our program and still alive. You have severely limited options." Damien pointed out.
"That may be, but I'll take my chances. I'd rather have my current pay than the scraps you feed the others." Jazzman said.
"And that's your final answer?" Damien asked.
"Yes." Jazzman said firmly.
Damien smirked and said "Okay then, let's get this over with!" and with that Trooper held up his rifle and Lao drew out his katana.
"Aim to kill." Jazzman ordered his guards as they pulled out their guns.
Damien laughed and clapped his hands. Suddenly a sniper shot burst through the window, catching one of the rear bodyguards in the back of the head. "What the...?!" one of the bodyguards cried out before another bullet caught him in the head.
The battle began as Lao began slashing guards on the right side apart with his katana, cutting guns in two and slitting throats wide open. Trooper made quick work of the left side guards with his rifle, blasting them down with a satisfied look on his face.
Jazzman ducked down and began to crawl his way under the table to get to the other side. He heard eight more sniper shots as his remaining eight rear guards dropped dead.
Across the street in an old apartment another one of Damien's enforcers, a marksman known as Merrick, made sure he had gotten all his targets, grinned and muttered "Ten for ten."
In the meeting room Jazzman ran out from underneath the table and into the hallway, seemingly ignored by Damien and his hired killers as they finished off his remaining guards. He heard gunshots downstairs, his men screaming. No doubt Damien's other thugs were going to work wiping out his men.
He ran down the hall to the emergency elevator which he saw open. Inside were six or seven of his guards. "Boys! Thank god! We gotta get out of here before that..." he was cut off by a bullet hitting him in the shoulder and knocking flat on his back.
He forced his head to look up, wincing as the wound in his shoulder began to spread pain all throughout his body. What had just three seconds ago been a team of his men was now a pile of corpses and one living being, another one of Damien's freaks known as Zane Zhan, a tall and thin man with the Semblance of illusion, his head was bald except for a goatee and he wore a pair of black sunglasses. "Going somewhere?" he asked mockingly as he pointed his heavy caliber handgun at him. Jazzman seethed in pain as he wondered why his Aura wasn't healing him.
"You son of a bitch! I..."
"Should've taken me up on my deal, Jazzman." Said Damien as he, Trooper, and Lao approached him. Jazzman forced himself to stand up as the four surrounded him and backed him up against the wall. "The alliance only works if everyone's in, and if you ain't in, then you're an enemy, and an enemy is on the 'to kill' list." Damien explained condescendingly, as if he was speaking to a child.
"You'll never get away with it Damien! I know you're working for somebody! You aren't worth shit to them! Whatever these people you're working for are up to, they'll fail, and when they do they'll drag you down with 'em!" Jazzman shouted.
"You know what? You could be right. But then again you could be wrong. Either way, your final answer sealed your fate old buddy." Damien said as he took out a dagger.
He threw the dagger into Jazzman's chest. The fallen crime boss screamed out in pain as he realized what was coming. "Take a step back boys, this gets messy." Damien said as he began to walk away and take out a detonator and he pressed the button.
Blood, viscera, and body parts exploded all over the hallway.
The four men soon arrived down stairs where three more of Damien's top enforcers stood in front of a crowd of over fifty of Jazzman's men all of them on their knees. These three were Little Steve, a massive man armed with a minigun similar to that used by Coco Adel but instead of coming out of a purse his was contained within a duffle bag.
Tom-Tom was the second of the three men, a kid who raised himself on the streets vowing to become a force to be reckoned with and with help from Damien he had achieved that goal and was now a feared man on the streets of Haven, he stood with a smarmy grin on his face, armed with a shotgun that turned into a mallet.
The seventh of Damien's men was a deformed man known only as Fireball; he had once been a Huntsman whose preferred weapon was a flamethrower, until a skirmish with some Ursa had caused his flamethrower to explode and engulf his body, giving him third degree burns all over. He had been forced to quit the life of a Huntsman, but he didn't quit a life of fighting as he was soon discovered by Damien and given a purpose again.
What was left of Jazzman's men were terrified of what was next as they didn't know if these psychos would spare them or kill them.
Damien cleared his throat and began to speak. "Okay people, Jazzman is no longer in charge of this operation, he has retired and by retired I mean I blew him the hell up! Anyone of you idiots who doesn't pledge their loyalty to me right now will suffer a similar fate. Anyone who doesn't want in just stand up." Damien ordered.
There was silence for several seconds before eight of Jazzman's men stood up defiantly.
"Loyalty." Damien muttered as he shook his head.
All of his men opened fire on those who stood up, ripping them to shreds.
As the gunshots and screams died down Damien made another announcement. "Okay! You all work for me now! Go out and spread the word! Jazzman's turf is my turf! What he owned I own! Like that painting over there." He said, pointing to a painting of a forest by a lake, "I don't like it, Fireball if you will..."
"Sure thing boss." Fireball said in a raspy voice. He pressed a button on his flamethrower and pulled the trigger, sending a single ball of fire at the painting, destroying it.
"You see? What I don't like I destroy, so you better work damn hard to make sure I like you." Damien threatened. The remaining men all looked at them in terror before Damien yelled "Now get out and spread the word!"
They wisely followed his orders and left the building.
"Good job boys." Damien congratulated his men.
"Kinda bittersweet, Jazzman was last big boss in town aside from you, now we'll have to go back to our regular crap." Whined Tom-Tom.
A door to the side opened and a man wearing a black jumpsuit came out of what appeared to be the entrance to the basement. "You were right boss; Jazzman was the one who pulled off the hijacking of the weapons cache. It's all down there, all hundred boxes as well as a surplus. Looks like he was preparing for a war." The man reported. He was known simply as Douglas, Damien's eighth enforcer as well as his tech and weapons expert.
"Well I love a good gang war as much as the next guy, but I don't want Cinder getting on my back..."
"Oh don't worry Damien, I'm not on your back, not yet anyway." Said a familiar and seductive voice.
The group of trained killers looked at the beautiful, yet incredibly intimidating sight of Cinder Fall, flanked by Mercury and Emerald.
"What does she want?" asked Little Steve nervously.
"Calm down big guy, I'll handle her." Damien said as he grinned at Cinder. "Well if it isn't the new Fall Maiden! Bow down boys!" he said, doing a mock 'we are not worthy' pose.
"Spare me your sycophancy. We need to talk." Cinder said, getting to the point as fast as possible.
"Why now? You've been in town for the last few months and haven't graced us with your presence until now and the fact that you've been sending Robo-Legs and the pickpocket here to do business so far makes me wonder why you're out and about." Damien pointed out.
"Some things are just that important. Tell your men to go outside and wait." She said.
The enforcers all looked to their employer and he nodded. They walked around Cinder and left the building. "Mercury, Emerald, go outside and wait with them." Cinder ordered. The two teenagers exited the building without hesitation.
Cinder used her Maiden powers to bring over a table and two chairs from the side of the main hall and place them right in the center. She and Damien sat down and got to business.
"With Jazzman taken out we now have control over all of the major crime syndicates in Haven, hell even the small time ones are under our control." He reported.
"That is wonderful Damien, you have done well." Cinder said, trying her best not to praise him too much.
"So what's up with the seclusion? You rarely ever sent your kids to do direct business before Beacon." He questioned.
"I am the most wanted person in all of Remnant; I will have to lay low until the time is right." Cinder explained.
"Or until Salem tells you other wise." Damien stated.
Cinder clenched her fist and nodded. This man had caught Salem's attention when he managed to find out about her existence via a spy device on one of Cinder's former colleagues that had pulled off a hijacking of Dust in Haven. While Salem's failed disciple paid for the security breach with his life it did get her interested in the cunning man known as Damien Ante. He had made a deal with her, that if she helped him takeover all criminal operations in Haven then he would make sure her operations in the factories weren't noticed by authorities. Cinder despised the man for his callous and childish behavior but she agreed with her Master in the Damien was a necessary annoyance for now.
"Have you seen them?" Cinder asked.
"No, I've had my men keep their eyes open for the kids you described. I haven't seen hide nor hair of 'em, but I'll keep you updated." Damien said as he then remembered their find.
"Jazzman had the weapons cache and earlier today we liberated a warehouse filled with Dust containers. My men will have them delivered to your factories by midnight tonight thanks to the new manpower I have courtesy of all of Haven's crime bosses both dead and alive as well as my old buddy the late Roman Torchwick." He said.
"Good, the Grimm Knights need a test run." Cinder said, referring to the robot army that was still in production.
"How many Grimm Knights so far?" Damien asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Twelve thousand units here and another eight thousand in our plant in Vacuo." Cinder revealed.
Damien grinned, "It's coming isn't it? I know Salem has been playing a long game for a long time, but it's entering its final phases, isn't it?"
Cinder leaned in as she used her Maiden powers to grab one of the dead bodies, she held its head up and said "In two years the seventh millennium will be upon us. It will be then when my Master makes her grand strike, the political situation between the four kingdoms will be so unstable that they won't stand a chance against us. No one, not Ozpin, not the Atlas Military, and no Hunters will be able to stand in our way." Cinder said as she reduced the head to nothing but a charred skull with her flame powers.
"All of them will fall."
Outside in the empty street, an oddity for the middle of the day in a big city like Haven, Tom-Tom looked anxious, ready for Cinder to do anything. "I don't trust that lady. Or you two for that matter!" he said pointing to Emerald and Mercury.
"Well we don't trust you; at least we have that in common." Emerald shot at him. She looked to Merrick who was joining them from the building from across the street.
"Everything go according to plan?" he asked.
"Yes." Little Steve said simply. Merrick took notice of Emerald and Mercury.
"Hm, Cinder's here. That's unusual."
"The lady who killed the Champion of Sanctum, the one almost single handedly responsible for what happened over at Vale, the new Fall Maiden is right inside talking with our boss. Unusual doesn't describe the situation well enough." Tom-Tom cried.
"I agree with Tom-Tom, I don't like working with these people, it doesn't feel good." Little Steve agreed.
"Okay, seriously! Tom-Tom? Little Steve?! Fireball?! What the hell is up with you guys' names?! You sound like you belong on a freaking pirate ship." Mercury ranted.
"Says the kid with peg legs." Shot Douglas, getting a laugh out his fellow enforcers. Mercury growled and began to spew a barrage of vulgar insults at the middle aged man.
Emerald shook her head in embarrassment, and then she noticed Zhan approaching her.
"You are an illusionist, aren't you?" Zhan asked as he leaned against the brick wall of the building. Emerald's eyes shot open and she quickly asked
"How did you..."
"What happened at the Vytal Tournament with the Xiao Long girl, that was you, wasn't it?" he asked.
Emerald nodded, "It was a very good illusion, you show promise. I can see why Cinder picked you." Zhan said to her.
Just then the doors of the building opened and Cinder and Damien walked out before the fight between Mercury and Douglas could turn physical.
"Pleasure doing business with you Damien." Cinder lied.
"Anytime my Maiden, anytime." Damien said.
Cinder and her two students walked away down the street as Damien and his men watched as they departed.
Damien smirked and said "I tell you boys, she's terrifying and can probably incinerate me with just a flick of her finger, but she gives me a raging boner."
All of his men looked at him in disgust. "And they say we got issues." Trooper muttered.
Hours had gone by, the sun was now beginning to set. "How much further?" Nora whined as the journey continued along a road.
"Not long now, another few hours and we'll be there." Ashe assured her as they struggled on.
They could tell they were getting close to the city; there were more roads, a few highway bridges they had to go under, and about five or six train crossings. Haven was very close.
"Once we get there maybe we can ask Sun and his team for help." Ruby suggested to Jaune who was up in front with her as they had decided to share the burden of leadership.
"You think they will?" Jaune asked.
"Of course Sun will want to help us stop Cinder, he helped Blake, Penny and me take on Torchwick at the docks and he infiltrated the White Fang with Blake. He'd love to help us." Ruby assured her friend, wincing a bit at the mention of her robotic friend.
"I hope so; Sun goes to the Academy there so he probably knows the city better than Ashe does." Jaune said before the sound of a vehicle made him look up.
An Atlas Patrol Vehicle was approaching them. At first panic seized Jaune's mind but he quickly noticed a ditch behind some trees off to the side of the road. "Into the ditch!" Jaune ordered, to which everyone but Ashe obeyed.
"Wait, what's wrong? It's just Atlas soldiers." He pointed out.
"We don't want to risk being caught and sent back to Vale!" Ruby explained as she lay down, covering herself with a white tarp that Ren had gotten on the journey to hide them in the snow from any potential threats that they couldn't fight head on.
Ashe stood still as the large vehicle approached him. It stopped and a female Atlas soldier popped out of a door in the side. "Sir, have you seen any suspicious activity lately or hear any reports of Grimm?" she asked him.
"No Ma'am I haven't. Just a traveler on my way to Haven." He said, not exactly lying.
"Very well, may you have a safe journey." She wished him and with that she closed the door and the vehicle started off again.
Ashe waited until it was out of sight and said "They're gone."
The four teens lifted off the tarp and Nora exclaimed "Woohoo! That was a close one."
"I know, we'll have to be more careful. There are bound to be more patrols the closer we get to Haven." Ren said as he got up, brushing the snow off his clothes.
"What was that about?" Ashe asked as he helped Ruby get out of the ditch.
"My Uncle is kinda high up in Vale right now, after I... kinda snuck off he had General Ironwood's patrols keep a look out for us and I don't want to risk being caught and forced back home." She elaborated.
Ashe nodded understandingly as he helped Nora out. When he grabbed Jaune's hand to pull him out he felt something... familiar.
"What is it?" Jaune asked.
"You told me this morning that Pyrrha helped unlock your Aura, but that your Semblance was still unknown to you, I'm not an expert on those, but I... I felt something when I touched your hand, something familiar. I think I have a loose idea of what your Semblance is, it's may be same as mine." Ashe said as he helped Jaune out of the ditch and then grabbed Nora's hand.
"I thought you said you didn't have a Semblance." Ren reminded him.
"Everyone has a Semblance even if they don't know it. I don't have my family's Semblance, mine's different." Ashe explained.
"You have got to be kidding me! What is it?!" Jaune demanded as everyone's attention was on him and Ashe.
"Easy kid, I said it may be the same as mine. It's a Semblance that draws on raw emotions. If you want to protect someone you can shield them with your Aura, if you want to attack something you become stronger. It's something I had to learn about myself mostly." Ashe explained.
"That explains why a shield protected me from Cardin's punch and why I was able to take out that Ursa when the Grimm invaded!" Jaune said, before the excited look on his face deflated.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"If my Semblance is Emotion, then why couldn't I save Pyrrha?" he asked.
"It probably wasn't ready, or you were confused. At times when your emotions are conflicted that kind of Semblance will be confused or faulty, sorrow can diminish its power if allowed to rule your mind. You told me she kissed you before she shoved you into that locker, something so sudden can make your Semblance go out for a bit." Ashe explained.
"If I had been stronger... I could have gotten out of that locker and helped her, but she knew I couldn't help her the way she needed me to. I failed her." Jaune said as tears began to come out of his eyes again.
Ren put his hand on Jaune's shoulder and said "It was her choice. None of us could have stopped her. It's not your fault Jaune."
Ruby couldn't contain it anymore; she ran forward and hugged Jaune tight. "If it's your fault then it's my fault too! If I had been faster I could have saved her, I could have stopped Cinder! I failed her too Jaune." Ruby said as Jaune hugged the younger girl back.
Nora and Ren looked to each other. "We failed her too. We should have gone with you to the vault; maybe all three of us would have been able to prevent Cinder from obtaining the powers of the Fall Maiden, instead we went with everyone else to fight the Grimm." Ren lamented.
"Yeah." Was all Nora had to say.
Ashe now felt incredibly awkward, he had never met Pyrrha so he couldn't comment, but he knew that girl had to have been a wonderful person to inspire this much grief over her passing.
"You guys couldn't help it, you had an army of Grimm to fight. Let's get moving, we need to get to Haven." Jaune said simply as he wiped tears out of his eyes. Ruby nodded and did the same with her own tears.
They continued on, but Jaune spoke to Ashe. "Can you help me with my Semblance? Help me become stronger? Please, I don't want to lose anyone else." He pleaded.
Ashe looked at the boy, and saw even more of himself in the blond. "Do you trust me?" He asked.
"...Uh, not completely." Jaune confessed. "I mean, you seem alright, but I don't know you well enough, despite what we've shared."
"Good, then you've got some sense in you. It'll be an honor to help you out." Ashe said with a nod as the group continued on through the seemingly never-ending fields of snow.
Yang opened her closet door and looked at the full length mirror on its inside.
She looked at her body, one most men lusted after like crazy, and sighed. It was now marred by the loss of her arm. Who could love someone like Yang now? Not Blake, not Weiss, and not Ruby.
She had known at least a week in advance about Ruby's mission, as her little sister had told her about it. What bothered Yang was that Ruby hadn't even asked if she wanted to come. The answer would have been 'no' of course but it still hurt Yang that her little sister had lost faith in her.
'That's bullshit! She wanted you to volunteer! She wanted you to snap out of it on your own.' A voice in the back of her head urged her. This voice was Yang's instinct, her consciousnesses, the one she had always listened to before, the one that told her to make stupid puns whenever she saw the opportunity, the one that told her to try and find her mom, the one that told her to go out into the woods with little Ruby in a wagon when she was a child.
Her conscious spoke to her again. 'Look at yourself. Look at what you've become. Is this really you?' it asked.
Yang closed her eyes, rubbed the stump where her arm used to be and said "Maybe it is."
In a small, dusty village in the kingdom of Vacuo people of both Faunus and human kind ran and screamed as an army of Grimm attacked them. Man, woman, and child were all targeted. The sex and age didn't matter to these beasts, but this was not a random attack, but one that had been ordered.
Beowolves led the charge followed by Death Stalkers, King Taijitus, and Creeps. People tried to fight, tried to flee, tried to shield their children but none of it was good enough.
As the massacre went on the Huntsmen and Huntresses who were supposed to be protecting the village battled the one who led the attack.
It both was and was not a Grimm, it was a Wolf Faunus, one who appeared to be half man and half Grimm, his eyes burned blood red, standing out from his snow white face, as he went about slaughtering the team that was assigned to protect the village. His head was covered by a green shroud that covered the horribly scarred back of his head that was given to him by the experiments that turned him into this.
One of the Huntsmen screamed out as the Grimm leader slashed him across the throat, ending his life. The Huntsman fell into the sand as his team cried out his name in horror. A Huntress ran forward, her blade aimed to disembowel the attacker, only for him to sidestep her and stab her in the back of the head.
"We can't fight this thing!" the remaining Huntsman said to the remaining Huntress, who was a Deer Faunus. "I know, come on we have to get back to the village and try to protect the survivors." The Huntsman said before the Grimm creature killed him with a stab in the back through the stomach and a slash across the spine.
"NO!" yelled the Deer Faunus as she ran away as fast as she could.
The Grimm-Faunus-Thing glared at her with pure hatred and yelled "Traitor!" and he pounced on her like a wolf on a sheep.
"You dare work with humankind? Those who enslaved and murdered us because we were different? You deserve to die with them!" he shouted.
"Slavery is over! Most prejudice against Faunus kind is over! Why are you doing thi..." she was cut off as his thin blade ran through her throat.
"Revenge my dear, revenge." He said as he withdrew his blade from her neck and the blade retraced back into a walking stick.
He listened in satisfaction as the screams of the villagers died down. They were all dead. The Creeps, the King Taijitus, and the Death Stalkers all departed back into the desert, but the Beowolves ran to the creature in a pack formation, stopped before him and they kneeled down before him like a pack would before an Alpha.
The creature took out a communicator and spoke to it. "It is done Mistress, the village is destroyed. No survivors just as you ordered." He said.
"Well done Commander Steppenwolffe, were the Hunters able to get a message out?" the voice of Salem asked.
"No Mistress, we stopped them before any such thing could happen. We will take greater precautions to make sure the factory goes unseen from now on." The Grimm Commander reported.
"Excellent. Return to the factory and make sure Dr. Cadmus is on schedule." Salem ordered.
"At once Mistress." Steppenwolffe said obediently.
Steppenwolffe put his communicator away and then crouched on all fours and took off, leading the pack behind him. This attack had happened because the Hunters had stumbled across the Vacuo factory where legions of Salem's Grimm Knight Robots were being created. Naturally Salem wanted to make sure no one would live to tell about it.
He was the second of the three, soon to be four, Grimm Commanders. The first was a Tiger Faunus known Shear Kaa who was on a mission to locate the Winter Maiden in Atlas. Shear Kaa, like Steppenwolffe had been a leader for the Faunus race in the last Faunus human war and both of them were long thought dead. In reality Salem had saved them both. They were the first two commanders of the Grimm, made so by the scientific experiments of Victor Giger. For years they had been hidden in deserts and forests and mountains, training to control the Grimm. The third Grimm Commander was not a Faunus, but a human girl known as Ziz who had been given the wings of a young Nevermore via fusing them to her shoulder blades and connecting them to her nervous system by Victor Giger. she had been put in command of all Grimm capable of flight. The three commanders had only surfaced recently under Salem's orders to protect her operations and spread more fear throughout Remnant.
There was a fourth Grimm Commander in training, a recently recruited girl named Fotia Drakos. She had been assigned to command the Wyverns, the most feared of all Grimm. Steppenwolffe almost pitied the fools she was to battle against. Almost.
Night had fallen on the city of Haven, the sun and the moon exchanged places in the beautiful twilight sky as the people of the city went about their lives, most of them taking no notice of its beauty.
On a hillside on the outskirts of the city, where only a few small homes resided, four teenagers and one man made it over the hill and looked out in wonder at the city.
"It's amazing!" said Nora in awe.
"Yep, gets me every time." Ashe agreed as he admired the city he had not been in for nine months.
"I've never seen a city so big before..." Ruby said, hiding her nervousness. If Cinder was here how could they possibly find her?
"Where do we even start?" Jaune asked to no one in particular.
"The criminal element. A city this huge will undoubtedly have a large criminal population and Cinder has a history of working with professional criminals." Ren reminded them.
"We'll have to ask Sun if he's interested." Ruby reminded them.
"I know where to look. There's a lot of bars in this town, that's where I'll ask around for the guy on top of the town for now. Whoever it is they're bound to be working for Cinder." Ashe said.
"You sure about that?" Ruby asked, while she did trust him to an extent, she wasn't ready to go along with whatever he said.
"I know you don't have much of a reason to trust me, but I know scumbags and when someone as powerful as this Fall lady comes around they'll be eager to be on her good side to keep their butts safe." Ashe told them.
"Then we find them and get them to tell us where Cinder is." Ruby said, beginning to beam with confidence to which Ashe nodded in agreement.
"Let's get going." Jaune said as he led the group into the city.
On the other side of Mistral the elderly Cat Faunus known as Claudandus dozed in his chair before he was woken up by the sound of his bedroom door opening. He opened his eyes and saw a rested Blake standing in his doorway.
"Ah, you're awake. Did you have a good sleep?" he asked. Blake shook her head, as her dreams were haunted by visions of Adam and Yang. "I see you now fully understand exactly what I knew would become of the White Fang. People like Adam do not want equality Blake, they want revenge. By the time I saw that darkness within him it was too late and he had enough followers to overthrow me and take over the White Fang. I remember you were among them." He reminded the younger Faunus.
"I now see what you meant and I know we were wrong... I just wanted to be treated as an equal so damn bad..." Blake said tears beginning to well in her eyes, regret filling her soul. She had been Adam's second in command, but she had convinced Adam to let Claudandus live and leave. She looked at her old master and said "Adam has gone crazy; he's working with someone monumentally powerful called Cinder Fall." Blake tried to explain.
"Yes, the new Fall Maiden. I suspected as much when I noticed an increase in the White Fangs brutal crimes and attacks. Adam wanted to commit acts of terrorism such as these but he never had the proper planning or equipment to do so, and this Cinder Fall is most likely behind his newfound power." Claudandus guessed.
"How do you know about...?"
"I still have friends in high places, such as your former Headmaster Ozpin, wherever he may be now." Claudandus revealed.
"Well that explains why he let me into Beacon so easily." Blake muttered.
"I only mentioned you in passing; I believe it was Ozpin who made the decision to let you in. He and I knew each other because I was once the founder and leader of the organization that was the biggest chance for Faunus equality in Remnant until Adam twisted into the terrorist cell it is now. I know about this new Fall Maiden and I know she had turned Adam and the White Fang into a tool for destruction. What the White Fang has become... it reminds me of an old story from before the shattering of the moon, would you like to hear it?" he asked.
Blake sat down on his couch and nodded to the old man. "There was once a powerful army led by an evil man, this man's sole purpose was to wipe out any race of people he declared undesirable. The symbol he chose for his army had once been a symbol of peace, but after he chose it it became a symbol feared and hated by all. After this man was defeated, his life taken from this world, the symbol remained as a sign of evil; it was forever tainted because of one man and those hundreds of thousands who blindly followed him. That is what Adam has done to the White Fang, and this Cinder Fall plans to take advantage of what he has done to it and use it for her own ends."
"She has powerful allies, someone who can manipulate one's vision; they tricked my friend into attacking someone she had already beaten." Blake elaborated.
"Ah yes, your team, RWBY. Prior to you leaving the White Fang you would have punched anyone who even suggested that you'd be friends with a human, and yet you are on a team with three humans, one of them a Schnee no less!" Claudandus said with pride.
"I have changed a lot, most of it thanks to them. I now know that both Humanity and Faunus can be good and bad, I know that we can both change. My friend Weiss, she once disliked Faunus but she looks to me as a friend and she no longer looks down upon the Faunus around her but sees them as people. We can all change Claudandus, for better or for worse like Adam has." Blake said.
"You loved him, I remember that, but change can kill love. He hurt you didn't he?" Claudandus asked.
Blake rubbed her stomach where Adam had stabbed her. "Yes, more mentally than physically, but yes. He abused me with insults and harsh words, with slaps to the face. It made me realize how right you were about him, about what we would become if we followed his path. No wonder so many left." Blake said sadly.
"And paid the price for it with their lives." Claudandus stated.
"What?" Blake asked, not understanding.
"In the last eight moths I have been getting reports of former members of the White Fang being murdered. Our old friend Tukson among them." He finished sadly, getting a horrified gasp out of Blake. Tukson had been her friend, a Puma-Faunus who loved books, often loaned her books and had a dream of running a book store. She remembered him warning her about Adam, how he had seen what the White Fang would become with Adam in charge so he left. His words were among the first to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind.
"The White Fang killed him, didn't they? Adam killed him..." Blake said.
"No, we do not believe it was the White Fang. A man in the store next to Tukson's claimed to see two young people going in, but never coming out. It was an hour after that when his body was found." Claudandus explained.
"Never came out... the illusionist! The same one who tricked Yang into attacking Mercury! Both he and Emerald were on Cinder's team. They have to be working for her!" Blake said.
Claudandus nodded and said "Most likely."
"Then you know how serious this is! You know every member of the White Fang prior to Adam's take over; they all trusted you, surely most of them told you where they'd go." Blake said.
"A few dozen, yes." The old cat confirmed.
"Then we can get in touch with them, get enough of them together and try to take the White Fang back." Blake said.
"That would be a terrible mistake Blake, their numbers are too great now. Adam's violent tendencies have attracted many a Faunus who feels wronged by mankind and they will fight for him and his cruel ways." Claudandus said.
"We have to do something! If someone doesn't stop Adam he could set Faunus' rights back hundreds of years! He will prove the racists right! And if we take him down we may be able to find Cinder and stop her." Blake tried to reason.
"Do you really think defeating Adam will hamper the Fall Maiden's agenda? She will have others to do her work. A great evil is rising Blake, and the fear of both humans and Faunus alike makes it stronger every day." Claudandus said as he looked out the window to the snowy, dark woods.
"Then you know what I'm talking about! We have to do something, anything, to stop Cinder before her plans come to fruition!" Blake argued.
Claudandus closed his eyes, grimaced and said "I was not speaking of Cinder. Yes, the new Fall Maiden and her followers are a threat, but they are nothing but insects compared to what I know is coming."
Well to quote Mr. Popo, that's real freaking ominous.
I'm taking a big guess with Jaune's Semblance, but I think it makes sense considering what an emotional guy he is.
There was originally going to be a scene with Weiss in the chapter, but I decided to save it for the next time.
Damien is made up of an insane combination of Jan Valentine from Hellsing and Big Boy from Dick Tracy and his dagger-bomb weapons are inspired by Riff Tamson's weapon from Star Wars The Clone Wars, I always loved that concept and wondered why they never brought it back.
Damien's thugs were inspired by the Team Fortress 2 characters obviously, but I've toned down their over the top personas in the game to something far more suitable for this story. Little Steve's name is a reference to Little Shelby from the Crow comic and Tom-Tom is a reference to the only one of Eric and Shelly's murderers from the Crow comic that wasn't adapted into the movie.
Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't.