A/N: Good day, readers! I had thought I posted this before I went on my vacation. Turns out I must have missed the post button when I went to post it, since I was in a rush to get it up and head out for my flight. Imagine my surprise when I came home, turned on my computer, and found the post submission screen awaiting me. You have my sincerest apologies for making you all wait so long!

That said, I feel the need to reaffirm people that I am not abandoning this story. The delays in posts, especially compared to when I first started it, have not been due to lack of interest or burnout. My life refuses to settle down, hence why I took my vacation with my SO and we shut out all electronics to enjoy our time together. Which also means I have not started on the next chapter yet, but I shall endeavor to make sure that it is not an almost 2-month gap between posts!

Anyroad, here's the next chapter!

The streets of Vale, where there wasn't construction taking place, had been a near-constant line of funeral processions. Slow-moving trails of vehicles, bearing the bodies of those lost days earlier, drove through somberly with friends and family following. Those that could be identified, anyway. For those who could not, large black trucks and vans were guided through the streets to mass graves which were dug out in the Ashland. Such graves were still well taken care of, with construction crews doing their best to erect massive mausoleums over them.

The problem was how deep the ash went, signifying that the Dragonsong's flames had gone much deeper than most had originally thought. Still, the construction crews and companies kept that revelation from the public. They were quite aware of the necessity of her actions, knowing how deep Creeps would bury themselves.

Atop a four-story building overlooking one of these streets filled with processions and bystanders an hour before noon, Aran found herself tucked into a crenellation. Memory was tucked into the crook of her elbow and her left knee raised, while her right leg dangled off the roof. Her hooded cloak still hid her armor and visor.

She glanced up into the sky, grabbing on to her hood to ensure it remained in place as she judged the time of day. She idly nodded to herself before looking back down towards the processions for a few more moments, then finally began to rise to her feet.

It certainly wasn't the first time she had seen such events take place, and she doubted that it would be the last. Her mind had wandered while she waited, bringing to bare idle speculation on what exactly was going on with this Shard. The piece of Azyz Lla and the rotted husk that had been Tiamat were given a quick investigation by Alphinaud and Emet-Selch on the second day after the attack on Vale, though both had admitted that it was a cursory glance at best to see if anything immediately stood out.

As far as they could tell, it was as if Azyz Lla had never been found by Archbishop Thordan, and the Allagan facility had finally succumbed to degradation and disrepair. The problem with such a theory was the presence of King Thordan and the Heavens Ward, his Knights of the Round, as well as the lack of the rest of Azyz Lla being found.

Surprisingly, it was Bartholomew Oobleck who had approached Glynda with a theory that both answered several questions, yet brought about even more of a separate nature. The man had figured out that the very same ruin that had been the host of Beacon's 'relics' operated off of aether. And that this singular ruin was not alone; tens, if not a couple hundred of documented ruins of the same architecture and technology could be found dotting Remnant's surface, and had been dated back to the very first civilization known to the historians of Remnant. While they were spread throughout most of the planet, there were obvious clusters closer together that made Aran's gut clench as she slowly pieced facts and theories together. When she had finished her mental map, she frowned as the map felt as if it were missing something important. It looked complete, yet some part of her mind insisted that there was something missing.

Something, she had finally decided, that likely lay on the now-uninhabited continent that was Erza. To find her answers, she knew traveling to Erza was required. The question was when, as well as how.

Her scroll buzzed to alert her of a message, but she already knew who it would be. She took a glance at it to confirm that Reisa had messaged her regarding Ironwood's preparation to leave Beacon to visit the distraction she had planned.

The man amusingly reminded her of Veela after she had broken through to adulthood from a personality much like Ruby's. Unlike Veela, whom was exposed to more hardships and death than any child ought, Ruby was a girl that Aran had actively been trying to keep from falling into the same place that Veela had. It made her wonder if Ironwood had been just as idealistic and naive as well at one point.

It was why she had helped the girl with Yang's prosthesis originally, where she finally was able to grow the seed of interest that she had planted many months ago in regards to helping people in another way besides being a Huntress.

She scowled as her walk turned into a dash across the rooftops, jumping from roof to roof much as she did from tree to tree in a forest.

At times, she felt as if these children - all of them - had been some form of second chance for her to fix the errors she had made in the raising of her kits. And yet, here she was, turning them into soldiers to be used. It disgusted her, yet it was a life that they had chosen. Already, she had lost some of the kits she had developed a close bond with.

Maya, Onyx, Trevel, Russell. Their loss stung more than she would admit, more so than any friends that she had lost in Eorzea at least. Papalymo was a good friend, and had been one of a duo to introduce Aran to the Scions, even if she already knew the former Archons of the Circle of Knowing. Papalymo himself, along with Lyse, were Archons themselves and had previously known Aran, though they didn't remember it. She could recall that the lalafel would often look at her as if he were trying to remember where he might have seen her before, though. Given a little while longer, Aran was positive that he would have finally solved the conundrum of the disappearance of the Warriors of Light. Her old Free Company, most of which were in fact Garlean or of places conquered by the Garlean war machine.

She snorted as she tried to think of the reactions of the Eorzeans if they were to ever learn that the majority of the Warriors of Light to fight at Carteneau were from Garlemald and its conquered provinces. Of course, all of them besides herself were now dead from something or other. She had seen the last of them - a Garlean Pureblood, ironically enough - fall during the liberation of Ala Mhigo, a fact that had saddened her greatly. The number of survivors of her legion was growing quite thin.

Amethyst Priya came to mind suddenly. The girl was still alive, and no longer dissociated. But the damage was done; her mind was, for all Aran could see, shattered. Her mental state had regressed to that of a child, where both Y'Shtola and Holly had stated that her mind had been compartmentalized, locking away everything that she had deemed something that hurt her. Apparently, with the death of her twin, most things had been identified as such. Aran herself was mostly remembered, as well as Glynda and Peter strangely enough. Everyone else was foreign to her, along with most things. The day prior, Aran had spent nearly the entire morning with Amy, singing soft hymns native to the Viera. They seemed to calm the shattered woman, at least enough for Ryne to be able to communicate with her for a short while. Afterwards, Amy had returned to her silent self, rubbing her thumbs together in a circle as she stared out the window of her room.

Shaking her head to clear the memories, Aran returned her attention to where she was going. Her ears picked up the engines of a heavily modified Bullhead several blocks away, alerting her to SKTR's arrival at a prearranged location. Her ear twitched slightly in irritation as she realized that her wandering thoughts had caused her to miss where she had meant to turn to get to the meeting point, though she corrected herself by vaulting onto a slightly taller building nearby.

When she arrived, she found Saffron standing next to the boarding ramp with her slim mechanical arms resting around the massive rifle that was her weapon. Even with its stock resting on an armored mechanical foot, the weapon still extended nearly an extra foot and a half above SKTR's leader, who herself was only a few inches shorter than Aran.

Glowing blue eyes peered out of the hooded robe and helmet, signaling that Saffron was quite alert to Aran's arrival. The two exchanged a glance of acknowledgement before they boarded the Bullhead.

Once on board, there wasn't much to say. Aran had already shared her plan with Team SKTR, and so far there was little change to the plan. It was when they were halfway to their destination when Saffron finally spoke up.

"Pardon my curiosity, but your goal is to find this... Vault of Autumn, is it not?" The heavily modified woman asked. Aran nodded in affirmation, causing the woman to continue. "Then why isn't its key coming with us?"

"Safety precaution, mostly. We have no way of knowing what kinds of traps were laid in its defense, and I wouldn't risk the key's life with the unknown. Beyond this, opening the Vault is not the goal. Merely finding it and finding a path through the puzzles and traps is the objective. As it stands, there's no risk to the Vault being opened."

Unless, some part in the back of her mind spoke, Ozma decided to keep the Relic outside of the Vault.

"Very well." Saffron replied. The woman placed her rifle on the wall of the Bullhead with the use of a rack that had been installed specifically for that purpose, then she reached for a taser goad that sat below it. As she lifted it from its perch, the sound of electricity flowing through the goad became audible until she flipped a switch on it. The other three members of SKTR did the same, grabbing similar enough weapons that were clearly meant to be non-lethal.

Aran watched them in curiosity as two of them - the other female named Keppel who seemed to have an affinity for close range combat, and the medical/mechanical personnel in the group named Rhys - grabbed a number of phials filled with clear liquids and began inserting them into their arms through slits that opened. The openings closed once the phials were in, and Aran understood what they were for when Rhys opened his fist to reveal an injection needle protruding from his palm.

Shrugging, Aran moved to place Memory inside one of her bags along with her visor. The weapon would be instantly recognizable should they be spotted, and immediately give away who had infiltrated the Atlas-controlled Beacon Academy; the visor was the same. She would rely on her own hands and partially glamoured features this time around.

Then the pilot called back from the cockpit.

"Arriving at designated location in thirty seconds. Beacon Cliff is lightly manned; counting four hostiles on patrol. Cham-foil is active, will be engaging a drop action in twenty seconds."

Aran smiled in anticipation; she loved being airborne. When the ramp finished lowering for them, Aran gave Team SKTR a smile before jumping several seconds early. She could almost feel the annoyed gaze of Saffron for her early leap, but at the moment she just didn't care.

She felt the air on her face and laughed as she manipulated the aether around her with her armor, taking herself away from the cloaked Bullhead and guiding herself towards a small outcropping on the cliff. Behind her, SKTR began to fall out of their transport as well. Their augmetics allowed them to control their trajectory nearly as well as Aran, though their point of landing was significantly lower on the ash-covered cliff.

The Warrior made impact softly, using her momentum to launch herself up the rock face for several steps until she was forced to Jump up further. She cleared the railing at the top handily, taking a patrolling Atlesian soldier by surprise. He still hadn't recovered by the time Aran landed behind him with a heavy thud.

A low grunt sounded as Aran's leg swept out into the man's knees, dropping him to the ground for her to deliver a swift jab to his lightly padded trachea. When the soft tissue gave beneath her hand, she knew that he would not live much longer.

She heard a pair of footsteps falter further down the overlook of the Emerald Forest, along with a surprised gasp.

"Fenly!" A woman's voice shouted.

The Viera thought quickly, removing the helmet from the soldier gasping fruitlessly for air and throwing it at the woman who spoke. An empty thud was heard, along with a curse, even as Aran swiftly advanced on the woman. The Atlesian stood no chance as Aran batted her rifle out of her hands and swept her right foot out from beneath her. Without thinking, Aran's hands rose up above her and clasped together to deliver a helmet-shattering hammerfist. She ignored the crimson that blossomed beneath her hands in favor of listening for any other soldiers; SKTR's pilot had said there four soldiers detected patrolling.

She waited several seconds, but heard nothing beyond the dying gasp of the man several yards behind her. She moved back towards the man and gave his head a quick twist to snap his neck before noticing that they were currently on a launchpad that she remembered from Initiation.

A minute later saw Team SKTR vault over the railing. They found Aran on her scroll, with both bodies sitting on a launch pad. Any blood had been scoured from the ground. As Saffron approached while the rest of the team scattered, the launch pad activated and sent the bodies out into the Ashland.

"No casualties were the goal." Saffron stated almost mechanically.

"There have been more than a few Atlesian soldiers who have abandoned their posts. Two more won't be a problem. I haven't seen nor heard of the other two soldiers that were supposed to be patrolling." Aran answered with a shrug.

The leader of SKTR seemed to ignore Aran's statement in lieu of turning away and marching towards an entrance into the Academy. Thankfully, there were several doors into the building, and surveillance said they were not all watched constantly by human soldiers. Reisa had tampered with several of the AKs watching the entrance that Saffron now moved towards.

"They are busy sharing an intimate moment elsewhere. Lead onwards, Mission Leader."

The Warrior sighed and moved at a jog. As they entered the building, Aran nearly ducked as she noticed several machina staring at the entrance until she watched Rhys stride past them unhindered.

Aran took the lead, guiding them towards the destroyed elevator in the building. Twice they encountered Atlesian soldiers and officers, and even a team of Specialists, the Atlesian Huntsmen and Huntresses. The first two were able to be avoided, but the Specialists required Keppel and Rhys to sneak up and inject them with whatever chemical compound they had grabbed on the Bullhead. Apparently Aran wasn't the only one not too concerned about casualties.

As the final Specialist fell unconscious against the wall, Aran glanced down the elevator shaft. So far, nothing looked to have been tampered with.

She shrugged to herself and motioned for SKTR to guard the elevator before jumping down the shaft. As she neared the bottom, she slowed her descent with a thrust from her armor and landed with a soft thud. Apparently, nobody was down here besides the corpses of the White Fang and Cinder, clearly decomposing if the beginning signs of bloating and stench were accurate.

And Aran didn't blame Ironwood's logical mind. The man had, after all, spent a considerable amount of time down here before Ozpin's death. The basement was not complicated; it was a singular hallway, long and wide enough to require supports, and at the end of it was the mass of machinery that had supported Amber's life for a grim purpose.

Or so it would look to nearly everyone on Remnant. In truth there was even more, locked behind Ozma's soul-sensing ward and glamour. Halfway down the basement hallway, softly glowing runes marked the walls and ceiling under the guise of being almost clockwork-like blue lights built into the walls themselves.

Runes that she had seen the man carve himself through the Echo, in a different body than Ozpin's. Aran absentmindedly reached into her bag and withdrew his cane in its retracted form and approached the closest of the runes. When she was only a couple feet away, she extended the cane and placed it upon the circular glowing figure. The blue glow turned yellow, then green before she began to feel as if something was… wrong. Unnatural, and not belonging to this world much like Midgardsormr's First Brood had felt to her, searching for her inner being. Then the feeling was gone.

In place of the previous hallway, Aran found herself looking upon a staircase that looked to have grown from a tree's roots, leading upwards to a bronze doorway bearing yellow leaves and partially withered branches. The only problem, the Warrior of Light decided, was that it was wide open.

Advancing carefully and quickly with the cane poised to attack or defend, she came up to the doorway in only a few moments. Upon looking into the Vault, she bit back a curse.

The view was a blurry vision of a mountain range, though the actual pathway into the Vault was a raised wooden platform. And at the end of the platform was a raised pedestal made from the bones of what seemed to be creatures of prey. Eerily, she was able to spot a human skull in the mix. But the reason for her curse was what lay on the pedestal. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Retracting the cane, she entered the Vault quickly and approached the pedestal to confirm that there was no relic here. In the center of the pedestal sat instead a piece of parchment with a word written in Eorzean scripture.

Ancient

The Warrior frowned and reached for the parchment, turning it over to find more writing that she believed matched Ozpin's own handwriting.

You have found the Vault, perhaps sooner than I had hoped or mayhaps even later than I would want. As you can see, the Relic of Choice is not here. It has been moved, and I do think you would appreciate the irony of where it has been placed. The ruins of the past speak to me of the future, and I do believe that they will now reveal their secrets to you. I know what you are, Aran Vinland, and I believe the answer to this world's perils lie in you. As I have told you before, I asked Jinn how I could destroy Salem. Her answer led to your, and Raven's, outbursts. In my despair, I never thought of there being another way. I cannot destroy Salem. But I never asked how she could be stopped. Nor did I ask if there were any who could. It is now my belief that I was never meant to be the one to stop her. Now, I believe I was brought back in order to guide the one who could. In my hubris, I refused to think of anyone else being able to confront Salem. I will not apologize for what has been done, but from this point on I do hope that you will grant me some measure of trust to do what we need done. Ozpin is dead, but his memories and mind live on with the reincarnation process that Ozma has become. When we next meet, I would very much like my cane back.

The parchment caught on fire from where Aran held it. Her anger with Ozpin had been subdued somewhat, but the man even now knew how to push her buttons.

She growled and turned around as the parchment finished burning. Her exit was far quicker than her entrance, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts as she hid the Vault with the cane once more.

Ruins. Was Ozpin - Ozma - truly making such an ill-hidden attempt at masking where he had moved the Relic of Choice? Furthermore, the man knew what she was before Amber had even been restored to health. It's the only way he would have been able to open the Vault without Amber knowing.

Troubling, and yet expected to an extent. When next they met, she had questions that she would demand answers to.

Saffron found herself watching the elevator shaft Aran had taken with some amount of curiosity; at least, as much as she was capable of feeling. Her own emotions were quite subdued as her HUD informed her of an approaching storm.

The woman had proven to be quite the enigma for herself and the rest of her team. Despite this, she had fit in rather well. Better than most when they realized that they would be working with men and women that were more metal than flesh, anyway.

A faint sound came from off to her right, near Rhys. She didn't bother to check on her teammate, seeing the green light on her helmet's HUD blink once in response. She triggered her own to blink twice in acknowledgement, while the rest of her team did the same.

She allowed a part of her mind to wonder about the King's intentions with making Team SKTR work with Aran. The woman was clearly more than capable, and if anything was hindered more than helped by the presence of the Valean Black Ops team. Of course, King Braylor had recently given much more aid to Aran and the Erzans than she had ever believed; perhaps the King sought to keep her on his side, especially after the large-scale destruction she had proven herself capable of.

Even more, she had seen reports of a coalition between Huntsmen, soldiers, former White Fang, and civilians beginning to form, with the intention of having the woman lead them. Dragonsworn, they had begun to call themselves. Based on everything that she knew however, no formal contact had been made with Aran by this group despite their apparent devotion to her. The King had yet to shut them down; perhaps he had some line of reasoning that she couldn't follow to allow the abnormally powerful rabbit faunus such a powerbase within his city.

Or maybe, some part of the back of her mind ruminated, he simply can't deny her something like this after she had already gained such a following among the people of Vale. She is their savior, after all.

But even so, to allow Vale's already-strained military resources to be split even further… King Braylor was treading a risky line, unless he was planning to cede most of his power to the woman.

She returned her mind to the task at hand as she heard something come from the elevator shaft. Only a few seconds later revealed the noise to have been Aran's return from the underground level of the facility.

The faunus leapt over the edge of the shaft to land on the floor with an ageless grace which left even Saffron feeling clumsy. The woman had that effect on people, yet she never seemed to acknowledge or even give any hint to it. In her hand was the cane she recognized to be the late Headmaster Ozpin's. Something spurred her to try and research the history of the tool at a later date, as she was certain that she had seen it elsewhere.

"Your task is finished?" Saffron asked, causing the faunus to glance her way. She didn't answer immediately, but when she did it was with a shake of her head before she spoke.

"No. I can reveal the Vault, but I can't do anything to get close to it. Let's go, before we wear out our welcome."

The exit was much more swift than their entrance, and without any further contact with Atlesian soldiers. They had literally walked into one of the Ace Ops, a giant of a woman named Elm. Instead of a confrontation, the woman simply smiled and moved towards Aran's ear to speak. While SKTR couldn't hear what was said, even with their enhanced audio receptors, they were perfectly capable of reading lips.

"Winter's trail has gone cold. The General doesn't think that the King will follow through with his threat and will back down in his hostilities. Tell Clover and Marrow hello from myself and Vine."

Then she continued walking as if nothing had happened, beginning to whistle as she did so.

Once more, they were on the move until they returned to their point of infiltration. They placed themselves on the launch pads as rain began to fall in earnest, harkening SKTR back to their Initiation when they were younger. And just like Ozpin, Aran launched them without warning.

Once they were back aboard their Bullhead, Saffron sighed as she caught sight of Mercy, her .950 custom made arquebus. The weapon by itself weighed more than most people would be able to carry with any efficiency, being able to deliver a custom .950 dust round capable of taking down even Alpha Grimm in a single shot up to three miles away through its armored plate. Its design had been based off of galvanic rifles that SKTR had invented and put to use throughout their time as a team.

She shouldered the weapon as best she could and placed her taser goad back onto its rack, listening as she heard her team make similar loadout swaps. Strangely, she heard some noise from Aran and turned to investigate.

No longer was the woman holding Ozpin's cane. She was instead bringing forth a very large sword from her… pouch? Pocket? Saffron still wasn't sure where the Dragonsong kept her things. The sword itself was long and curved, looking to made out of some foreign metal and bone, though the aesthetic reminded Saffron of Mistral.

"So," Aran said, "what's your mission that I've been directed to help with?"

The leader of SKTR drew her scroll out and pressed several buttons, having been prepared for this question. The far wall of the Bullhead lit up as an interface made itself known, showing a map of a block in Vale, as well as the light face of one Myran Grey, a Council member of Vale's. Next to her face was a silhouetted head with a question mark in the center.

"Councilwoman Grey has been abducted by Atlas personnel and is being held inside a hotel within Vale. Our target is the leader of the team that abducted her, though we're not sure who it is. We need to confirm their identity once they've been eliminated. Lethal force has been authorized."

Aran raised an eyebrow at Saffron, though she said nothing on her thoughts. Instead, SKTR watched her take in the plans of the block as well as the hotel in question. The four floors of the hotel had been separated and put on the side, to allow them all to be seen.

"It seems rather… cramped." Aran finally stated, earning a nod from Saffron.

"It's located in a district that has been known to have more than its share of poverty and crime. No known criminal organizations operate here, leaving it open for thieves and other undesirables. The human-to-faunus ratio is surprisingly even, unlike some other districts. The dimensions for buildings in this district were shortened by a foot, to allow for an extra housing block to be built.

The faunus nodded and pointed to a building across from the hotel.

"Your best bet is to take up a position here. Being three stories, you can keep a watch on all of these rooms on your side while the rest of us sweep and clear."

"Sweep and clear? We should be doing this quietly if we're to save the hostage." Rhys interrupted, crossing his arms.

"They won't execute the Councilwoman. I promise you that." Aran replied before pointing to a spot on the top floor. "This room looks to be the most defensible. There doesn't seem to be a rooftop access, so we'll be clearing the entire building. We'll clear the ground floor, then split up. One person guarding the stairway, another the elevator, while the other two finish the floors. I'll need you to keep watch on the building perimeter in case they attempt extraction via window, Saffron."

The leader of SKTR merely nodded. This clearly wasn't the first time Aran had performed an operation like this, Saffron decided. Idly, she watched as the woman pulled out several pieces of armor that differed vastly from what she was wearing now. Then, in a flurry of movement, sbe removed her avian armor and placed what she had brought upon her body, helmet included. Saffron cocked her head as the faunus's ears disappeared impossibly. The end result, she decided, was that Aran looked, and sounded, like a knight of eld. Every step she took was no longer silent, but very audible as her armor now clanged together with chainmail and plate, minus the arm that she had noticed looked like a very fine-tuned augmetic. Then her cloak was thrown back on, shrouding her once more.

After a few more minutes of making sure they had covered their bases, their pilot announced that they were approaching their target. They exited the Bullhead via airdrop, landing on a building a block and a half over before dropping to street level. The rainfall had intensified into a downpour, soaking their robes and cloak within a minute of being exposed to it. Saffron didn't fail to notice that the hood to Aran's cloak seemed to stay dry somehow.

Stomping through the water-logged streets, Aran pushed through several civilians as she was followed by SKTR, sans Saffron. Her already towering height seemed augmented by her Augmented Deepshadow armor and Augmented Cryptlurker's Elmo. An almost abyssal black plating combined with blood red cloth served as the cause for why those that were in her path back away in fear. Tsukuyomi's Odachi rested on her shoulder. She turned abruptly into the hotel their targets resided in, though Aran had to control the shake of her head at what was about to happen. Beneath her cloak, Spite was at the ready. The room she entered was small, though it was clearly some kind of lobby. The front desk where the clerk would normally be sat in the back of the lobby, similar to the brothel Torchwick had met her at. From there, double doors on either side were visible, as well as an elevator to the far left. To the right was a run-down waiting lounge.

The moment she entered the building, she noticed two things.

First, there were no civilians within. Simply enough, and just as well for what else she saw.

The second thing she noticed was the growl of two Atlesian soldiers, though a third voice called out from her right.

"Who the hell are you? Hotel's closed, didn't you read the sign?" A man dressed in a Valean uniform asked.

Spite jutted from Aran's cloak, aimed at the Valean man before she fired a Split Shot at the unprepared soldier. The shot took the man in center mass, causing a gurgle to rise from him before he fell back, dead before he hit the ground.

The Atlesian soldiers stood no chance as Aran jumped them, her blade nearly bisecting them with her Plunge and Hard Slash. If the men had Aura, it was clearly inactive as viscera coated her blade, cloak, and armor.

The members of SKTR followed her automatically, moving swiftly to provide any necessary covering fire with their galvanic rifles. Rhys stayed behind in the room even as Aran burst through the right set of doors.

The hallway that followed had multiple soldiers that were rapidly coming to attention; clearly, none of them had thought that they would meet any hostiles here, despite the differing uniforms amongst them. Their negligence for security cost them dearly, as Thistle and Keppel's chambered galvanic rifles sounded. The rounds fired, while not the massive anti-armor shells that Aran recalled Saffron using, were still of a significant caliber and tore into the soldiers without mercy. She didn't fail to miss that every shot fired had been a perfect headshot, even if a few of them required a second shot due to Aura.

Spite aimed at the nearest door's lock and fired before she slammed the door open with her shoulder. The room was empty, prompting her to leave and do the same with the next few, until she finally opened one which held a frightened young Atlesian soldier that couldn't have been over nineteen who fired his rifle at her in panic.

Her armor took the shot without protest, having been strengthened in the same way that she had done with her avian armor.

The same couldn't be said for the Atlesian, whose world was ended by a lateral swipe of Aran's blade. She turned away from the bifurcated soldier to move on to the next room; she felt no remorse for a soldier who had chosen their lot in life, no matter their age.

Down the hallway, she watched SKTR do the same with more rooms. Only a couple held more soldiers, though it was obvious that they had dug in for an extended stay. The more she saw, the more her suspicions towards what was actually going on were confirmed.

They rounded a corner, where they met a better prepared defense than they had so far seen. She would have been impressed, if not for the fact that these soldiers were clearly not prepared to face opponents with any amount of training with their Aura. It went to show only that the people of Remnant relied on Huntsmen and Huntresses far too much; in all honesty, it was beginning to disgust her.

Upon turning the corner to go down another hall, Aran was treated to the sight of six more Atlesian soldiers hunkered down for cover or otherwise using doorways to minimize their figures. All of them opened fire immediately.

Shadow Wall was cast with little thought; she would rather be safe than sorry from a lucky shot that might find a kink in her armor. Then she was dashing forward with an inhuman growl.

The first soldier, helmetless, didn't move from his place, though she saw the fear grow in his eyes when their rifles did nothing to slow her. His fear would remain etched into his face when her sword removed his head and her attention focused on Aran's next target, Plunge took Aran into the female Atlesian and sent a fine red mist to coat the hallway before SKTR opened fire on the remaining soldiers in doorways.

Halfway down the hall was a stairwell, as well as an emergency escape. The Dark Knight glanced behind her to see Keppel following close behind, while Thistle swept the rooms they passed.

"Finish clearing this floor, I'm going up to the next floor. Thistle's in charge of keeping the stairwell locked down."

Keppel nodded and moved down the hall, leaving Aran to take the stairs several at a time. Along the way, the sound of Saffron's rifle made itself known, likely able to be heard throughout the entire district. Aran shuddered at the image of the amount of destruction that the behemoth could cause. At the top of the stairwell, she came face to face with a middle-aged male Atlesian Specialist holding a shield with Dust spikes and a mace that resembled Cardin's, but much smaller in scale. At its tip, she could see a purple Dust crystal.

The man didn't hesitate to engage her at the top of the stairwell, attempting to push her back down or at the very least make her lose her step. It almost worked too, as she hadn't been expecting it nor the speed at which he acted. Most likely some form of speed Semblance, though it had nothing on Ruby's.

The spiked shield was thrust at her the moment her foot landed on the top step, making her dodge to the side and place her in the path of his swinging mace. And that's where things became interesting, because she recalled a very peculiar conversation with Weiss that she had in combat class while watching Cardin fight.

"His mace is just an upscaled Gravity Club that Atlas sometimes uses for riot control. Sure, it looks different, but the inner mechanism looks like a carbon copy of them, which is extremely dangerous. The mechanism is notoriously weak to being struck in the Dust crystal inserted in the Dust reservoir at the head; Cardin's at least has a protective cover over it, but a strong enough exterior strike to its head could make the entire thing explode if the mechanism for the Dust release isn't activated by the trigger on the hilt."

Aran shrugged.

"Cardin knows that. Why do you think he never uses the head of his mace to block or deflect? He's always careful to keep it safe, and even so, he's figured out how to use that weakness to his advantage if he needs to."

The young woman rolled her eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not. But all it takes is one mistake for his weapon to become a device that could end his own life."

Aran grinned as the mace swung at her. Her left hand released her blade and reached up to grab the shaft of the mace, just below its head. The man apparently had been anticipating this as well and tried to shift the angle of his strike, but it was for naught as Aran's speed outpaced his.

With her strength, she yanked on the weapon and was surprised when the man still held on, until she noticed his gauntlet was locked onto the hilt via an astonishingly old mechanism that she hadn't expected to find here. Instead of dragging the weapon out of his hand, she had instead dragged him into her, causing her near-fall back down the stairwell if it wasn't for the man's own attempt at regaining his balance.

With his distraction and her having corrected her own balance, Aran's leg shot up and hooked the side of the shield and tore an opening between Aran's blade and the Specialist's torso, letting her growl in satisfaction as her Hard Slice was followed up with Siphon Strike, pushing the man back as far as he could go with her still grabbing his weapon. She smiled as she felt a slight regenerative burst from the action before the same leg returned to kick the man in his groin.

The pommel of her Odachi slammed into the tip of his weapon violently, setting off the Gravity Dust. She had prepared herself for the concussive wave that was to come, releasing the shaft of the mace as it turned into a fragmentation device and once more bringing her Shadow Wall to her defense.

The man was not so lucky, with the majority of his weapon having been much closer and his Aura weakened by Aran's strikes. He was no world renowned Huntsman like Qrow to her knowledge, and it seemed the defensive capabilities of his Aura were likewise not up to the Branwen's standards. It was strong enough to hold off most of the fragments of his weapon, though luck seemed to have abandoned him as it failed to the last fragment, piercing his jugular.

Aran was in no mood to finish him quickly, tossing his soon-to-be corpse down the stairwell. Then she continued on her way.

The second floor was slightly less populated, and every soldier encountered from here on was Atlesian. She had also met another Specialist, though the young woman was clearly inexperienced. Aran was confident that any members of the teams she trained would have been able to take her, though she was also sure that most of them wouldn't have left her impaled on a wall using her own glaive.

In the hallway closest to Saffron, Aran saw the work of the massive rifle firsthand. Gaping holes that would have bespoke of a small cannon littered the hall, and the rooms were even worse. No bodies retained even a piece of their heads.

Upon making a full circuit and taking the stairwell to the third floor, she came across Keppel once more. Her rifle was slung across her back, and her robe lay near the stairwell. When Aran caught sight of the augmented woman, she frowned as she took in what she looked like without it.

Keppel was a fairly tall woman with her robe on, though it obscured most everything about her figure besides her arms and armor. Now, Aran could see why. Her legs, completely mechanical, reminded her of a horse. They were long, ugly contraptions that looked like a multitude of pistons, but they also afforded her a degree of mobility that even Aran would admit to be troublesome for her. Her feet were clawed, and were even now digging into an Atlesian's head before it split like a pumpkin, helmet and all. Her arms were somewhat similar, though more bulky and clearly meant to be some sort of containers for things as well. A short cable or tube came from the back of her skull to connect to her spine between the second and third cervical vertebrae, through the armor and mechanical bits that covered her.

Then she leapt onto a wall, skittering across it much like a four-limbed spider before she dropped onto several other Atlesian soldiers.

Aran opted to leave the member of SKTR to her own devices on the third floor, and went up to the fourth instead.

It was here that she found herself having cleared most of the floor of the heavy Atlesian presence, before coming into contact with two more Specialists quite clearly keeping guard over a specific room.

One of them, an older man with salt and peppered blonde hair and a saber with a revolving mechanism much like Weiss's, carried himself with a determined and experienced air that the other Specialists didn't have. She had found SKTR's target.

She ducked out of the way of his subordinate's gunfire, coming from a shield with a bladed edge and three small caliber barrels protruding from the front. Her response was to switch her Odachi to her left hand and thrust forward with her right, aether flooding the air around it. A moment later led to the successful casting of Aero, making both of the men curse as blades of wind began to cut into them.

A quirk Aran had noticed with Aura; it did relatively little to defend against most of the arcane artes, with the exception of those that were either Light or Dark aspected. Part of her wondered if their natural resistance to Light and Dark stemmed from the supposed beings who created them. In the end however, they were only resistant to it, not immune. Mercury's transformation into a sin eater had proven that.

Using the painful and bloody distraction from her Aero, Aran launched herself at her target. The man's eyes narrowed as he attempted to sidestep, but she was prepared for such a thing.

The shadow of her arm solidified into an armored hand and caught the man by the arm holding his saber, then gave a rough yank to keep him off balance enough for Aran's leg to sweep around into the back of his knees and scythe into his chest before stomping him into the ground. The moment she made contact, the rest of her shadow made itself known, with Fray's appearance making the second Specialist falter.

"Cut him down, no playing Fray."

Aran's shadow glanced at her with a bemused smile.

"Well that's no fun. Oh well, there's always the one you're toying with. I hear he might know more than this one will, anyways."

Aran simply nodded, before blocking a swing of her target's saber. His position was disadvantageous, though there was little that he could do about it unless his Semblance did something remarkable. Based off of the fact that he did nothing as Aran's sabaton pinned him to the ground, it didn't.

She paid little mind to how Fray dispatched the Specialist before returning to her shadow. Her full attention had turned to the man that was now at her mercy. It took quite a few more stomps on the man to break his Aura, but it did break. When he attempted to swing his saber again, Aran solved the problem by removing the arm at the shoulder. A heated gauntlet seared the wound closed before she turned the man over to a quickly approaching Keppel, once more in her robes.

"I believe this is your target. Inside should be the Councilwoman. Shall we?"

Keppel motioned for Aran to lead the way.

The door, like most others, was locked. Aran solved the problem as she did with each of the others, by shooting the lock with Spite and bashing the door open with her shoulder.

An intake of breath was heard, just before a much more audible gasp. Looking around, Aran found a fairly well furnished room for such a sketchy hotel. A bed that looked like it wasn't filled with critters, a small lamp to the side that was on, as well as a small table where a woman that Aran recognized as Councilwoman Grey was now leaping up from. Her hand twitched towards a sidearm at her side before she began to speak and withdraw her hands.

"Oh! You must be with Vale! Are you here to rescue me?" She asked, though her eyes gave off a twinkle that Aran didn't like.

She didn't answer immediately, pulling out her scroll instead and dialing Arget's number. The man's answer was nearly immediate.

"Progress report."

Aran shifted, making sure the Councilwoman was clearly in her sight. Behind her, Keppel was clearly keeping watch as well. SKTR's private channel joined the call the moment Aran had dialed Arget.

"Atlesian recovery force eliminated. A Specialist team was likewise killed, with their leader captured for interrogation. Grey is secure, though I am unconvinced that she was here by force. How do you wish us to proceed?"

"Very good. Terminate the traitor on site. Our mutual acquaintance is about to take to the skies, but I doubt it will get him all the way back to Beacon. If you wish to go back and try something else, you will have the time to do so."

The line went dead, earning a shrug from Aran. Assassination of the Councilwoman had been what she suspected this was all about; whether or not it was because of her commiting treason against King Braylor, or against Vale as a whole, she didn't know. Nor did she care, ultimately. She was here, attempting to give Ironwood classified documents she guessed. Most likely already had.

The Warrior of Light was no stranger to traitors and dealing with them. The Crystal Braves were not the first, nor would they be the last. Like the Braves, she would show no mercy.

Grey's eyes widened in horror as Aran's Odachi began its arc of death, but no sound came from her except for a wet slice. Before the body could fall, Aran geabbed the head and tossed it to Keppel.

"We're done here."

That night, Grey's assassination was all over the news. Her death, however, had been put to good use. Aran watched a TV from Junior's club in her usual booth, still armored and cloaked, while Torchwick, Neo, and Qrow took seats next to her.

"- Atlesian soldiers and a team of Huntsmen were found on sight, showing that her guards had given nearly as good as they received. With this assassination of Vale's leadership, King Braylor has officially declared Atlas an enemy of Vale while a formal declaration of war should be given tomorrow. This is Lisa Lavender, reporting for Vale News Network and Remnant Reporting, signing off."

Silence filled the club except for the music, which now sat a low volume for the emergency news cast. Slowly, the patrons began to get up and leave nervously, unsure of what was to come. More Grimm, without a doubt, but they believed in those that defended Vale. Whispering began to be heard around the room from those that remained, until the music turned back up.

"Well… Ironwood made his choice." Qrow mumbled after taking a drink from his glass. On the opposite side of Aran, Torchwick nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Shit's hitting the fan faster than I thought, but it was easy to see where it was heading. A couple of my people keeping an eye on Beacon have told me that there's a force of Valean soldiers and Huntsmen moving towards the school. The place is going to be a bloodbath if Ironwood doesn't evacuate tonight before they move in."

Aran shook her head.

"Jimmy's leaving, but I think he has no choice but to leave the Knights behind. He may be running low on manpower, but he only has four ships left. If he wants to make it back to Atlas in one piece, he's going to need to leave behind most of the machina. Knowing him, he'll leave them activated just to be an ass."

Her three companions nodded in agreement as they returned to silence at their table, drinking as they decided on what to do next. Aran had a decent idea, though it entirely depended on King Braylor's next actions.

Their silence was broken when Junior approached their table and slid in next to Neo. He noticeably kept a distance from the lithe woman.

"Junior." Torchwick muttered, earning a scowl from the man. Roman rolled his eyes. "Oh, give me a break. I held up my end of our bargain."

Junior's scowl disappeared as his eyes turned towards Aran.

"Judging by your companions, I'm going out on a limb to say that you're Aran, right? Before you crucify me, I'm not going to tell anyone. I just figured I would let you know that I have a message from a very determined group of people, if you wanted to hear it."

"Go on," Aran stated as she cocked her head.

"Uh… right. So, the group's calling themselves Dragonsworn. There's faunus, humans, Huntsmen and Huntresses all joining it here in Vale, even former White Fang. Now, the person that approached me - some busty lady with red hair that had a white stripe coming down the side named Moira - asked to pass on an offer. She, or more likely they, want you to lead them. They made the organization to follow your orders and do what you needed done, after all, so it makes sense."

Roman snorted.

"Moira? As in Moira Sol? Are you serious? That woman's been missing for eight years! There's no way it's her, not when- well, let's just say that I know for a fact that she can't be alive."

"Believe me, I was just as surprised." Junior replied with a grimace. "She's… more than a little loony. Always talked about a voice in her head that apparently gave her incredible power or some shit. Honestly, I think she just doesn't understand how her Semblance works. Anyhow, it's her, Torchdick."

Aran blinked. A voice… she shook her head to clear her thoughts and look to Junior to give her response.

"Tell her I'll meet her in a week. I'll give you a location tomorrow night."

The club's owner nodded and scooted out and away, leaving the four to their devices once more until Roman cleared his throat and reached into his pocket. Then he placed a crumpled piece of paper onto the table.

"So… I suppose I should probably tell you that Neo and I have been offered a place in the Kingsguard. As a way to control Vale's underground. We'll still be criminals of course, but most of the stigma against us is currently under wraps since we helped with Vale's defence. We accepted, though I think they know that our loyalty won't be to Braylor. It should go without saying of course, that we'll be keeping our eyes and ears out for any informatjon relating to you that we hear."

Neo grinned, her eyes giving a playful twinkle towards Aran who simply acknowledged it with a nod.

"Good for you two. How does it feel to acrually be employed for once?"

Roman shrugged and downed the rest of his drink before standing.

"Eh, don't get your hopes up. I think we're gonna call it a night, Neo's pretty tired from the stunt that she and Emerald pulled earlier. And I'll apparently be having an introduction to the group early. So, ciao kids. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Neo was up an gone in a flash, leaving Aran alone with Qrow once more. The Branwen likewise drained his glass, but he didn't rise immediately.

"My sister wants to meet us," Qrow began. "Not entirely sure what about, but I know where she wants to meet us, and when. I don't suppose you'd like to go for a little jaunt into the Emerald Forest Ashlands tomorrow night?"

Ironwood watched from aboard his flagship as Beacon Academy receded on the horizon, fuming as the last few hours replayed through his mind.

His Bullhead that he had taken to Vale malfunctioned, forcing him to make an unauthorized landing in an industrial district. He and Harriet had attempted to remain obscure while they waited for another evac Bullhead, but he had been recognized by a citizen who began drawing attention to him. It wasn't long until a mob had formed, though it wasn't violent. Upon extraction, he was informed of a potential breach in Beacon's defenses, as well as a loss of communication with one of Vale's turncoat Council members. The first he knew of Councilwoman Grey's death was when it aired only a short hour ago, accusing Atlas of being the perpetrator.

He would admit that King Braylor had played his political hand well with that one, saving the woman's honor as well as those of the Valean soldiers that tried to turn to Atlas. Ironwood was sure that Aran had a hand to play with coming up with the plan, however. Braylor and Arget never turned to assassination of their own traitors first; they would always try to recover them for a public execution. No, it was most certainly Aran's idea to stage an assassination to move up the evacuation deadline that Vale had given his forces to leave Beacon Academy.

Everything was Aran's fault. Everything that had gone wrong, anyhow. There was no other explanation, no other reasonable line of thought. To instigate a war between Atlas and the rest of the Kingdoms… there was no other explanation.

Aran Vinland was an agent of Salem, perhaps her true agent. Perhaps Aran was even Salem herself; after all, someone had to have matured the Teryx he had transported for the Vytal Festival. A Maiden did not have that power, much less a half of a Maiden as Cinder had been at the time of the Grimm Hunt. Salem had delivered a most greivous of blows to those that opposed her.

Yes. Qrow, Glynda, all of them. They were all fooled by Salem, and now served as her puppets. They would have to die. It's shame that Hazel managed to break free from captivity, but that was a tidbit he was confident Vale would learn soon enough when the man strode through their streets by Aran's side. Or maybe Salem would keep him as a surprise. He didn't know. At least he was sure that most of the other members of Cinder's faction were now dead, Watts included. His body now hung inside Ozpin's office, as a demonstration of what awaited the rest of Salem's pawns. Maybe they fought through the Knights he was forced to leave behind by now and found him. He certainly hoped so.

As the General turned away from the screen displaying the now-empty horizon, a couple of his bridge staff noticed the man's glowing eyes. They gave one last faint flash before returning to normal, or at least as normal as General Ironwood could seem these days. All of them worked nervously, well aware that something was wrong with their General. They only hoped that he would come around to realize what he had done.