Brain was in his car. He was heading to the Schnee Manor.
'Winter is busy with negotiations in Mantle. Her sister is in Vale. Her father is dead. That leaves her mothr and brother.' Brian thought with a sinister smile as he looked out the window.
"Sir, we've arrived." His driver said as the car stopped near the gate.
Brian opened the door and walked out.
He walked toward the door and saw few guards.
"Specialist Frost, What business you have here?" One of them asked.
"Very important business." Brian said as the guard nodded and opened the gate for him.
'That worked? How incompetent these guards are!' Brian thought.
He walked in through the gate. He was impressed by the manor of Remnant's richest family or what remains of it.
'I wonder how empty is it?' Brian wondered.
"The fountain's nice." Brian muttered as he walked by the fountain.
Brian saw a butler open the door and walk toward him to greet him.
"Hello sir, Welcome to our mansion. How may I help you?" Klein asked.
"Hello. I am looking for Willow Schnee." Brian said as Klein's cheery expression was gone.
"Um..." Klein hesitated.
"Winter has told me about her drinking problems but this is important." Brian said as Klein thought about it for a few moments.
"Follow me." Klein said as he started walking in the mansion as Brian followed him.
"If I may ask, what important business do you have with her?" Klein asked although he suspected that Brian wasn't going to tell him.
"We've decided on giving Mantle their independence. We are currently diving territories and most of the SDC mines are in Mantle. I am sure you can figure the rest out." Brian explained.
"I see..." Klein said.
They reached the room where Willow was. Klein knocked on the door.
"What is it?" Willow asked from the inside.
"Someone is here to see you." Klein said.
"Who?" Willow asked.
"It's Specialist Frost, Ma'am." Klein said.
"Let him in..." Willow said as Klein opened the door and Brian walked in. Klein closed the door.
Brian was surprised seeing how much mess the room was in.
Willow was sitting on a chair. She looked like she hasn't taken a bath in days.
'I guess she's tired of politics like I am' Brian thought.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Schnee." Brian said.
"What do you want?" Willow asked assuming Brian was here to talk about politics.
Brian then walked to another chair and sat down.
"I am not here to discuss politics." Brian said wanting to calm her down first.
"Then what are you here for?" Willow asked surprised.
"To talk about your ability to fight and your semblance." Brian explained.
"What?" Willow asked confused.
"Tell me Miss Schnee, are you going to lift a weapon and fight anytime in the future?" Brian asked.
Willow was in her thoughts when Brian asked that.
'Seems she is taking this seriously.' Brian thought.
"No...I am not like my daughters...I don't think I'll be fighting anymore." Willow said.
'What do you mean anymore? You haven't fought ever since you got married to that jackass. Regardless, she has given up on fighting.' Brian thought.
"Then will you put your semblance to use?" Brian asked.
Winter was in deep thought once again.
'She's probably thinking how much she dishonored her ancestors by not using the semblance for good.' Brian thought.
"No...how can I use my semblance when I'll never fight?" Willow asked confused.
"Then will you pass your semblance over to me?" Brian asked as Willow was surprised, more so by the implications.
"What?" Willow asked confused.
"My semblance allows me to take other people's semblance. I want to take yours since you won't be needing it anymore. I will put it to use. So will you pass it down to me?" Brian said Willow understood him.
"Yes, I...will." Willow agreed.
'It would be better for Specialist Frost to use it than a broken woman like me' Willow thought even though she's not broke yet.
"Then please bear this and after this you will feel fatigued." Brian said as he put his right and on her shoulder and his left hand on her head.
"I bore more than any woman here...I can do this." Willow assured.
'More than your daughters?' Brian thought.
"I'll begin." Brian said as he got started.
At Vale...
Ozpin and Raven were walking through and underground bunker.
"So where are we going?" Ozpin asked.
"Apparently, Herr Doktor has something to explain." Raven said.
"Well it better be his abilities." Ozpin grumbled.
They have reached the room where Steiner was. Raven opened the door and walked in while Ozpin followed her.
They walked inside the room to see a board with lots of papers, tapes and other stuff attached to it. Maybe he was theorizing about something.
There were also a lot of tools, saws, bottles and...pentagrams?
Raven noticed a golden arrow somewhere in the room but didn't put much thought to it.
They looked to see him sitting on his desk with a microscope looking at something.
'You are doing something normal?!' Raven thought in surprise.
"Ah, I see zat you've brought the wizard Raiven." Steiner said noticing them.
"So Steiner, I believe you have some explaining to do." Raven said.
"About what?" Steiner asked.
'About all of this.' Raven thought about his room.
"About your abilities. I believe that you cracked a mystery about Remnant?" Ozpin asked curiously.
"Ah, yes!" Steiner exclaimed as he remembered. He stood up and walked to a shelf and grabbed some dust vials.
"Tell me, habe you read ze Last Air bender?" Steiner asked as he put the vials down on a table.
"No." Raven answered.
"Yes." Ozpin answered.
"Of course you have." Raven retorted as Ozpin sighed.
"In zat story there were people who could bend ze elements." Steiner said as he grabbed the dust vials again.
"Water." Steiner said showing them the lightning and Ice dust vial and puts it down on the table.
"Earth." Steiner said as he showed them the Earth dust vial and puts it down.
"Fire." Steiner said showing them the fire dust and lightning dust.
"Und Air." Steiner said as he showed them the Gravity dust and put it down.
They were speechless at this. Whatever theory Steiner has is worth explaining and they're curious.
"So, eons ago zere were people who could bend ze elements like zese dust here. Dust are their fossils." Steiner said as they were surprised.
"What! But I don't-" Ozpin was about to point out a flaw.
"Before your time zen? Its not like you were ze father of hummanity or anything." Steiner said.
Ozpin couldn't disagree on that. While Ozma was born thousands of years ago, he wasn't born as a cavemen or anything.
There were things called currency, armor, swords, carpenters, religions, society. There was a history behind them and he has forgotten about it.
So he couldn't deny Steiner's claim about there being peoole who could bend the elements before him.
Raven understood what Ozpin was thinking.
"So...what does this have to do with us?" Raven asked.
"Wow, we use ze remains of our ancestors and you don't think zat it has something to do with us." Steiner said.
Raven was irritated and looked at the doctor.
"I found out something else too." Steiner said as they were surprised.
"Another thing Ict habe discovered is Remnant's source of aura." Steiner said as they were confused.
"What do you mean by 'source of aura'? Aura is the manifestation of the soul." Raven asked.
"Uh, not really. Ze 'whole manifestation of ze soul' is a made up lie." Steiner casually said as they were surprised at his claim.
"Then what is it?" Raven asked getting impatient.
"Calm down Raven, let's hear what he has to say." Ozpin said in curiosity of Steiner's theory.
"Aura is just a forcefield than we can manifest. Semblance is ze one more about soul but nothing about any manifestations." Steiner said.
"What is the source of aura? You said that you figured it out?" Raven asked.
"It's complicated...but in a nutshell, there's a ball of energy in ze center of our planet. We get our fuel for our aura from there." Steiner said.
"Really?" Raven asked as she and Ozpin looked at him dumbfounded.
"What brought you to that conclusion?" Ozpin asked.
"I am ze best when it comes to aura, Headmaster. I noticed a slight difference of my aura really high up. It kept decreasing just like...gravity." Steiner said.
"I...see." Ozpin said sort of understanding what he meant.
"Ja, when you move further from ze planet ze weaker your aura becomes." Steiner said as they were still surprised.
"Have you figured out semblances too, Herr Doktor?" Raven asked.
"It's still a mystery, mein fraulein but..." Steiner said as he walked to the corner of the table and they saw a cage with a rat.
'A rat?' Ozpin thought confused.
'What does this rat have to do with semblances?' Raven wondered.
Steiner lifted the cage up and puts it on the table.
"Say hello to my pet, Bug Eaten." Steiner said as he opened the cage and the rat slowly walked out.
"What does he have to do with this?" Raven asked.
"See Bug Eaten here has a very... bizarre semblance. Don't provoke him if you want to keep your arm." Steiner warned as Raven and Ozpin were shocked.
'Animals have aura but semblances? I have yet to see an animal with a semblance.' Ozpin thought in intrigue.
'This guy thinks a mere rat can harm me!?' Raven thought in fury.
Steiner smirked and walked to his fridge and grabbed a raw fish.
"Now vatch." Steiner said as he hung the fish near Bug Eaten.
Then all of a sudden the fish melted into some bloody, moldy paste.
Raven and Ozpin were shocked. It all happened so suddenly. Ozpin felt a familiar chill go down his spine.
"What just happened!?" Raven exclaimed in shock.
"Bug Eaten used his semblance to do zat." Steiner casually said.
"What kind semblance is that!?" Raven asked.
"Zis is why I said semblances are a mystery." Steiner said as Raven was still looking at the rat.
'This rat could kill me easily like that fish?' Raven thought.
"Anozher bizarre thing is Bug Eaten here...doesn't have an aura." Steiner said. It seems surprises kept coming.
Raven was silent in astonishment. 'Not so formidable now, are you? Oh god what am I doing challenging a rat?' Raven thought.
"Does it's attacks completely ignore aura?" Ozpin asked. He has been silent for a while.
Steiner smirked and brought his left hand up and slowly removed the glove.
His hand was less disfigured and moldy than the fish but was really disgusting.
Raven and Ozpin were shocked. A rat was able to harm the most invincible man!?
"It hurts a bit but I will recover." Steiner said as he correctly aligned his fingernails and put on his glove.
"Anyway...I...I-I thought aura was required for a semblance?" Raven said in discomfort.
"So did I. Life is still a mystery. Zat could be some other ability Bug Eaten's got." Steiner said as Raven was confused.
"Like him." Ozpin said as Raven recognised his tone and realized who he was talking about.
"Who?" Steiner asked confused.
"The Wonder of U." Ozpin said.
"His...powers are equally bizarre..." Raven said getting on what Ozpin meant.
"So it seems zat zis Wonder of U is a professial with zis power zat is beyond our understanding." Steiner assumed.
"Oz...I need to call back the others!" Raven exclaimed as she rushed out of the room.
"Raven! Hold on!" Ozpin said going after her and leaving the room too.
Steiner didn't mind them leaving like that. He still has some important stuff to do.
He heard a squeak. He looked at Bug Eaten to see that it was still and staring at somewhere.
Steiner turned to look where it was looking and saw his pencil stand toppled over.
It was not like that. He didn't leave it like that. Steiner thought about how that happened.
"Oh! It was him!" Steiner realized how it happened.
Northern Valean Tundra...
Matsuda held his clothes close to him. He was inside a tent.
Shit has hit the fan for him. 15 minutes ago he had stopped his bike beside the road to communicate with his friends.
Sinejiro and he was able to send the message of their situation but there was nothing from Jean.
They tried to communicate with her by calling but nothing happened.
Sinejiro said that since he was only a kilometer from the road Jean took, he was going to take that route to find out what happened to her.
Matsuda agreed. He wanted to know what happened to Jean since they loved eachother.
So Sinejiro was heading towards Jean's Corpse while Matsuda moved further.
But both of their plans were delayed due to a blizzard that came out of nowhere.
So both of them decided to take shelter and wait for the blizzard to die down.
"A tent in a blizzard isn't wisest idea but...It's better than freezing outside." Matsuda muttered as he held himself.
His stomach grumbled. "I am getting kind of hungry." Matsuda muttered as he brought out a bag of chips.
He was about to open it until he noticed it was already open.
"What the..." Matsuda muttered in confusion as he examined the bag.
It looked it it was torn in half but how? He was really confused.
He then heard a slow creaking noise getting louder.
"!" He realizes what it was and quickly jumped inside his tent ripping it jumping out.
A tree fell down on his tent but he was able to escape.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!" Matsuda was trying to catch his breath. He also fell down in deep snow.
He slowly crawled out. "That tree...could it be?" Matsuda wondered as he looked around trying to find Wonder of U.
He then saw something within the fog in the north. It was black and had its back turned around on him.
'It's him!' Matsuda thought but then he realized that calamity will harm him if he wants to pursue him.
'I'll just focus on crawling to the spot near him.' Matsuda thought as he started crawling.
"Damn! It's hard crawling through all this deep...snow." Matsuda muttered as he struggled to move.
Then he noticed something in his sight. He stopped to carefully look.
There was something small like cookies on his hand.
"What the..." Matsuda muttered as he drew his hand closer to inspect it.
It was like a cookie but it was...moving!
"This...is this an unknown lifeform...that only shows itself in the snow?" Matsuda wondered assuming it's like some bacteria.
He then felt something on his back...no his entire body.
He turned his head around to see more of those things crawling on him.
He grunted trying to get them off by shaking his hand but all of a sudden... he felt blood on his forehead.
He noticed blood trickling down his hands and head.
Matsuda was surprised that his aura shattered. And the rock insects on him were eating him.
'These things are eating me!?' Matsuda thought as tried to shake them away.
A gust of air pushed him down. "Shitshitshitshit!" He was struggle to get up.
Obladi Obladas were crawling on his back eating him and the blood froze instantly due to the cold.
'I...I-I am completely trapped! Whatever these things are he knew about it... Did these things get Jean too?' Matsuda thought in defeat.
One of the Obladi Oblada was digging through his neck slowly.
'No! I can't give up! I need to warn the others of this!' Matsuda thought as he tried to grab his scroll with his trembling hands.
His blood was already on it. He opened it but it wasn't working.
"The...freezing temperature along with my...blood...broke this thing." Matsuda muttered in despair.
He looked up one last time to see Wonder of U still standing there.
"This man...he probably prepared for us." Matsuda struggled to speak as he bled out and fell down in snow slowly getting buried.
'Us...huh? There's more of you it seems.' Wonder of U wondered about what he said.
He turned around and started walking away.
Alright guys that's it for this chapter. Sorry for any spelling mistakes and please leave your reviews.