Scions of Remnant

by Solthrin

The aether of the Lightwardens has been pressing Aran's limits for days now. She hoped the end would have come with the Lightwarden of Kholusia, only for it to flee. Now, the Light has begun to push past her breaking point. What happens when it breaks her control? Apparently, she finds another Shard. Rated M for gore and situations in future chapters.

20. Chapter 20: Reunions

A/N: Credit for a certain little sun comment goes to someone I saw in the comment section on YouTube.

Happy near-Halloween! I hope the holiday treats you all well, and if you don't celebrate it then... Happy almost-weekend?

Anyhow, I once again humbly apologize for the tardiness of this chapter. College, an ever-increasingly stressful job in the medical field, and spending time with my SO to help manage said stress has been taking up the vast majority of my time. That said, I'm beyond excited for Endwalker! This chapter starts with the long-awaited reunion of the Rose, Branwen, and Xiao Long families. I'm honestly not a big fan of how it happened, and will probably rewrite it at some point in the future. Again. Since I wrote it close to half a dozen times before my SO convinced me to roll with the fourth iteration and fix it afterwards if ti was truly still bothering me. Without further adieu, here's the chapter! As always, let me know what you're liking and not liking!

Also word of warning, there's a rather large amount of sexual references in this chapter. Nothing explicit mind you, but they're definitely in more abundance in this chapter than any others. This is not something that will become the norm.

---

Vale was much larger than Thancred had imagined, he decided. Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, Ul'dah, even the Holy See of Ishgard had nothing on Vale in terms of size. All four of those cities put together didn't even rival Vale; it was honestly quite intimidating when he thought about how many people must live here, and the resources that go into maintaining such a large habitation of people. And to think that it wasn't the only city of this size…

He shook his head. He had thought the Capital City of Vacuo was large, especially for being located in a desert. Good to know that he could still be humbled by something as simple as this. Still, the destruction that could be caused if something like Bahamut were to happen would be catastrophic.

Behind him, he could almost imagine Summer's bouncing up and down in excitement when they finally caught sight of Vale's airdocks. Gretchen had already cleared their landing with air control; apparently, they were here as diplomats from Vacuo.

"It's not like we're lying. Theo sent us here in a very new Bullhead after all." Gretchen had explained. Thancred didn't answer that. The credentials she had submitted worked, so he wasn't going to argue.

"Hey, we have a welcome party!" Gretchen exclaimed, as if she didn't know beforehand. Her words drew Thancred's attention to the ground, where he saw a collection of people. Among them were the Scions, but more importantly also included Ryne and an armored Aran.

The two stood side-by-side with Y'Shtola, startling him with the amount of growth the youngest had gone through. While the Leveilluer twins were still anxiously awaiting their maturity (Alphinaud more than Alisaie, and is quite overdue if he were being honest with himself), it was clear that Ryne had grown. The last time he had seen the two standing together, she had barely come up to the woman's stomach. Now, she was nearly to Aran's chin, and it was clear that whatever regimen the cruel drill sergeant that was Aran had come up with, certainly agreed with her body. This was, of course, made easier to see by the change of garments she now wore which exposed her navel and stomach. They weren't too different from what she wore in the First, merely modified for what appeared to be ease of movement during combat. Her sleeves were shortened to end halfway down her biceps, the short dress had become a short white shirt, and her leggings looked to be a combat mesh woven into some shorts that went down to meet the same leather leggings he remembered. Lean muscle could be seen wrapped around her arms, while her abdominal muscles clearly showed some musculature as well in mimicry of Aran's, on the few occasions that the unfairly fit Viera had bared her stomach. The daggers he gave her rested where he had shown her to keep them. Strange that he hadn't really noticed how much Ryne had grown in the last year when he had watched the Vytal Festival.

More important however, was the happily erratic waving she gave the Bullhead and the beaming smile.

His gaze shifted to Aran and Y'Shtola, standing together hand in hand. Like always, the two women seemed to not have aged a day since he had first met them. He really should try and pry up their secret to looking young. Still, he was happy to see them finally expressing what they felt for one another.

Alphinaud and Alisaie were standing somewhat behind the first three people he had focused on, and also behind another group of people which he felt would be important to know about very soon.

Thancred reached for several switches, dials, and buttons as he readied the Bullhead for landing.

---

The assembled group waiting for the Bullhead to land would make most people take a second look for the oddity they made. The Scions and Ryne were joined by Taiyang, Ruby, Yang (who leaned heavily on her father, wincing when she moved despite the smile she wore), the Branwen twins (with Raven perched on Qrow's shoulder as a bird, receiving the occasional angry glance from Taiyang), and Glynda. Both Ruby and Yang had also looked at Raven curiously, but Qrow waved their gazes away with a muttered 'later'.

Aran did catch Ruby trying to furtively look at her ancient weapons multiple times, despite the tired eyes that could have gone for more sleep. Still, her attention wasn't fully on the weapons as her dad had told her that it was important that his daughters were here. The reason was obviously the Bullhead that was landing, though she didn't understand why it was important enough for a full family gathering.

"So… we're certain that she's on there?" Tai asked nervously, glancing at the Scions.

"Quite." Alphinaud reassured the man with a smile. "As are our own friends. Though, I can't help but to notice that one of our number is missing. Would anyone happen to know where Hades has gone?"

The corner of Y'Shtola's lip curled in amusement.

"He has apparently found something interesting. Beyond that, I've no idea."

Nobody spoke as the Bullhead touched down facing away from them, leaving the rear loading ramp open to their gaze as it began to lower.

The first person visible, pushing a gurney loaded with a man covered in cracked blue crystal and an intricate robe, his staff laid beside him, was a tall woman that Alphinaud and Alisaie immediately recognized.

"Gretchen! Glad you could make it!" Alphinaud greeted with a wave. Beside him, Alisae smiled. The arm not pushing the gurney was covered by a green sash, though it fell to the side to reveal a silver prosthetic when she waved back.

Aran could practically feel both Raven and Tai tense up when they recognized the woman, though it was Y'Shtola's glancing at Raven and back to Gretchen that drew her attention. Apparently, she had seen something important.

G'raha looked like he had seen better times. His face held a somewhat gaunt appearance from when she had last seen him, and the crystal that covered him looked ready to crumble at the slightest touch.

"He's alive, but by Thancred's own words, there's not much we can do right now. He said that the other fellow back there might know something, or perhaps the white-haired lass."

The woman seemed to deliberately be ignoring the other members of the welcoming party as she extended her hand to Aran and spoke with a surprisingly soft and honeyed voice that didn't seem to match her appearance.

"Name's Gretchen Reinhart, your friendly neighborhood Maiden." As she said the last part, she at least gave Ruby and Yang an innocent wink.

"Aran Vinland." The Warrior replied, accepting the handshake with a smirk. "I'll believe you're an innocent maiden the day I realize I've never had children."

Y'Shtola sighed as she took a closer look at the Exarch.

"Another free-spirited personality. Precisely what we needed."

The words of the Miqo'te drew Gretchen's attention.

"That must make you Y'Shtola. I've heard some good things about you! Of course, I've also heard some naughty things. Way I hear it, Aran told some of your Scions about some… little sun?"

The Miqo'te glanced at Aran with a raised eyebrow.

"Very little. And so desperate to hide it."

Aran pointed at Alphinaud, who raised his hands defensively.

"He was bored and wanted a story when we were in Kholusia. I love you, Y'Shtola."

"I am aware," the Miqo'te answered with a shake of her head and a hidden smile. "For the record, I love you too." The smile faded soon after as she motioned towards the bird on Qrow's shoulder. "You and I need to have a word with a little bird once this reunion is over. She's hidden something from us."

Aran nodded, then looked back towards the Bullhead. Thancred came next, pushing a gurney that held Urianger's tall spindly frame. Like G'raha, Urianger's already thin frame now looked like nothing more than skin and bone. Worrisome, except for the steady rise and fall of his chest and the strong exhales that accompanied the breathing.

"Ah, there's my favorite people." Thancred opened. His eyes were primarily on Ryne, looking at her with a glint in his eye that spoke of a proud father. "Grow any taller, Ryne, and I'll have need of a boost to rest my hand on your head."

That caused Aran to glance at the young woman in thought. Somehow, she had failed to notice the girl blossom in height over the last year. Then again, there were other things on her mind.

The woman in question simply smiled and walked over to embrace the white-haired man in a warm hug.

"I'm glad you're back, Thancred! You missed out on so many things!"

Returning her embrace with one arm, Thancred smiled.

"I'm not the only one, though I'm sure Alphinaud has regaled you with the events that transpired in the First by now. You've grown so much, I can hardly believe it."

The Oracle released Thancred and simply shrugged.

"Hades gave us a bit of a run-down, without telling us exactly what happened to bring you here. My growth, however, is attributed to Aran's cruel dietary regime."

Thancred gave her a knowing look filled with pity.

"Ah, yes. We know it well; Minfilia and Tataru conspired once upon a time to inflict it upon all the Scions… as far as I recall, only Lyse, Papalymo, and Arenvald truly took to it. Worse than trying to survive off of Sharlayan Loaf, apparently."

Ryne cocked her head in perfect imitation of Aran, sending a shiver down Thancred's spine.

"What do you mean? Everything we've eaten has been rather good, actually. I was more referring to the fact that she rarely allows sweets in the dietary plan during training."

The shiver in his spine failed to disappear as he realized he walked into a very carefully laid trap. He could almost imagine Aran's smirk, if not for the fact that he could actually see it out of the corner of his eye. He was saved, however, by the last person on board the Bullhead speaking up nearly in his ear.

"Hey, taking advantage of his joy for seeing you is totally unfair!" Summer said happily, though she didn't stop moving. Every Remnite that heard her voice stopped what they were doing immediately to listen to the familiar woman as she swept past everyone between herself and Ruby. Weak though she may be at the moment, she was still strong enough to wrap her speechless biological daughter into a hug and swing her around. "Ohmygosh! You've grown so much Ruby! And strong too, I saw the recordings from the Vytal Festival tournament and the Grimm Hunt and talked to Qrow and I'm so proud of you!"

"Well, it's easy to see where Ruby gets her enthusiasm from." Alphinuad muttered.

The woman continued to swing the poor girl around even as Yang's eyes teared up.

"Mom?" She asked.

Summer set her still-speechless daughter down and enveloped Yang in the same sort of hug.

"And Yang too! You two have grown so much!"

Their reunion was touching, though Aran turned away and finally found herself next to Glynda when Summer broke apart from her daughters to leap into Tai's arms.

"It's hard, knowing no such reunion awaits yourself and your own offspring." Glynda finally stated as Tai embraced his wife. "I may not have children of my own, but every student is like one of mine to me."

The Warrior shook her head.

"It isn't that. I've long since accepted their passing, knowing that they will never live as long as I. I just-"

"There's nothing wrong with showing sadness," Ryne interrupted, surprising Aran. She hadn't even heard the young woman and Thancred approach. "Everyone has their breaking points. Just because your soul isn't in danger of falling apart anymore, doesn't mean that your heart is likewise fixed. You don't have to put up your mask all of the time in an attempt to hide the scars."

"My heart is fine." Aran answered, her Vieran accent slipping through more than usual. Ryne hadn't heard it slip this much in a long time. "I have dealt with my losses, and I shall deal with any others that come. As I always have. This is meant to be a happy moment for these people; let us not ruin it with debate."

Thancred and Glynda watched the two with guarded expressions, but nodded in agreement as Aran put an end to the conversation. Their attention returned to the reunited family.

Summer had finally released each of the members of her family, showing the group where Ruby had inherited her massive reserves of energy. The mother and daughter were near-identical except for their clothing and weapons, as well as the eyepatch over Summer's eye.

"So… long time no see?" Summer said nervously, rubbing the back of her head. Qrow had at some point swept in to steady the woman, who had used most of her energy in her greeting it seemed. Tai stood on the other side of her with Yang, giving a thankful nod to the male Branwen twin. Raven, it seemed, had left her perch on her brother and settled instead on Yang.

The blonde woman didn't know how to deal with the bird on her shoulder, and was now floundering in trying to find out what to do with it. Qrow simply sighed before he spoke.

"Come on, Raven. Nobody's going to hurt ya, you can stop hiding."

Yang tensed at the name while the bird glared at Qrow for a moment. Then it removed itself from Yang's shoulder and transformed near the rest of Team STRQ.

"Whatever." The female Branwen grumbled, averting her gaze from her team and daughter. Like Ruby before, Yang was rendered speechless. Unlike Ruby, that speechlessness was quickly overcome by anger. Her attempt to step forward towards Raven was thwarted by her father, however. In her state of recovery, she posed no match for her father's strength.

The string of angry abuse that left Yang's mouth in that moment put anything Aran had grumbled to shame, leaving the younger Scions to look away with red faces until Gretchen cleared her throat.

"Let's leave the family to their reunion. We have patients that need seeing to. I hope you have somewhere besides Beacon that we can take them to?"

Not ignoring the fact that Raven took everything that Yang said in stride, as well as a little guilt that she tried to hide, Aran nodded.

Before she could speak however, the Scions' linkpearls chimed.

"Aran, I think you should return to the barracks. I found someone roaming the streets that you might be interested in." Hades said. "It might be prudent to bring the Maiden that just landed."

Aran frowned.

"Should I be worried?"

"No. This meeting should prove… educational. Make haste, our guest has a rather foul temper and I would rather not need to fix the barracks if he decides I'm not telling the truth."

With a shrug to herself, Aran looked at the Scions, Ryne, Gretchen, and Glynda. Then she caught Qrow's eye and called over to him.

"Sounds like we're heading back to our quarters. There's a few extra beds if they're needed."

The man nodded and motioned as if to shoo Aran and her companions onwards. Taking his suggestion to heart, Aran motioned everyone coming with her towards another Bullhead further down the dock; the same one she had procured from King Braylor while she was recovering for the personal use of the Scions through some negotiations. Already, she had ideas on how to personalize it.

More importantly however, it was large enough to fit both of their bed-ridden companions as well as all of the people who were boarding it. Aran took the helm without hesitation once she was sure everyone was settled, joined by both Thancred behind her seat and Gretchen in the co-pilot's seat.

As she swiftly prepared the craft for dust off, she could practically feel Thancred's eyes as he tried to follow her hands.

"Well, would ya look at that?" Gretchen stated with a smile. "She's already figured out how it all works! How long did it take you to learn how to pilot, Aran?"

"A couple of days reviewing the control overview given to me. It's not too much different from a Garlean warship, to be honest."

Thancred nearly choked.

"A couple of days? I had a crash course given to me by Gretchen, and I still didn't get everything, much less be able to operate it as smoothly as you do."

Ryne snorted in the back, earning a glare from Thancred with her next words.

"Can't teach an old dog new tricks, right Aran?"

"She's not wrong."

"O-old?! Look who's talking! You're something like two or three hundred years old! I'm-"

"Still old and grizzled, we know Thancred." Ryne interrupted.

The man sighed.

"Clearly, you've spent too much time around a bad influence," the man jested with a smile. "Why did I miss you again, Aran?"

"It's my addictive personality. And maybe a few other qualities you enjoy seeing, but not being able to touch. Y'Shtola's property now, and you know how territorial she can be with her things."

In the background next to Urianger, Y'Shtola's voice could be heard responding to Aran.

"Looking is expected, touching costs the hand."

"And there you have it!" Aran finished as she glanced at Gretchen. "Gretchen might reciprocate physicality however."

The woman simply turned and grinned at Thancred, letting loose a slight purr.

"You're correct, Thancred. She is worse than me."

In the very back, a resigned Glynda sighed.

"You've no idea, Gretchen."

---

"So you think it's okay to just… come back?! After everything you've done?" Tai nearly exploded at Raven. He had seen Aran's group leave, though he knew that he would probably be seeing them again tonight. The look in Summer's eye was a familiar one, even when it was missing its counterpart.

Raven, for her part, had said nothing more beyond that Aran and Qrow had convinced her to come back. Her brother nodded in confirmation, but he did nothing to protect her. A different dynamic than she was used to from when they were a team, she had realized.

"Dad… Ruby mumbled, but Tai couldn't hear her.

"You don't get to walk back into our lives as if nothing happened. Ever think about what if we didn't want you back? Just because Ozpin's lied and manipulated us is no reason to give up on what you built with us. With me. What about Yang? You've watched her her entire life, but never have you done anything for her!"

"Dad." Ruby said a little louder, drawing a couple eyes from both her mother and Qrow.

"But what about everything we've done? It wasn't all for nothing! I refuse to let that be the case, just because some old bastard screwed up. Why-"

"DAD! Shut up and let her talk! She's done yelling!" Ruby shouted with more authority than he believed her to possess. Tai blinked, than glared at Raven. Only now he noticed that she wasn't looking at him, but at Yang whom he was still supporting. At first, Tai thought she meant Raven. Now he realized that his youngest daughter was talking about Yang. She had apparently recovered from her initial laying into Raven.

Yang nodded in thanks to her sister, but her eyes didn't leave Raven.

"All I want to know… is why?" The blonde woman stated. "It's one question. Ignore my venting earlier, and answer that one question, Raven."

Raven flinched as she heard her name from her daughter, but she remained mostly composed as she crossed her arms beneath her bosom.

"I… made a mistake. I didn't want to, but I had to or I would have tried to kill Ozpin myself when I learned certain things. Qrow knows everything by now, and apparently so does Tai." She shook her head in thought. "I'm not convinced of my own answer, I don't expect you to believe it either."

Summer popped her lips next to Ruby, catching them all off-guard.

"Things happen. There's no way to repair this broken family at the moment, but we can at least start trying to forgive. Life is too short to spend it hating our oldest friends and family. Take it from someone that's been in a coma for the majority of her daughters' lives." Summer turned her one-eyed gaze to Raven's own red eyes. "And you… I'm glad you're safe. I was worried when you ran off on your own after Yang was born."

That caused Raven to blink.

"Why were you worried?"

"You're still my friend. You're still part of STRQ, no matter how much you try to say otherwise. And you've always been impulsive; who knows what kind of trouble you would find yourself in, especially with your tribe. Thank you for watching over my daughters in my absence."

"I-"

"Tut! I know how your Semblance works, don't spit your insincere venom at me. Now then, can we all agree to postpone the real talk for when everyone has had a chance to process our thoughts and not let emotions guide our tongues?"

Qrow smiled as Summer overrode Raven's words. It was a common occurrence in the later years once she actually had both the experience and the confidence to do so. The more interesting bit was that Raven actually let her get away with it, though neither of them were delusional when it came to their combat prowess. Summer, like Aran, Ozpin, and any of her tribesmen that he had met (which were very few; none of them had asked about her family), was in a whole different league of skill without resorting to her Semblance. She had fought Salem and lived after all, which is more than most anyone else can say.

It made the male Branwen curious to see Summer and Aran fight. He was no slouch, and had been thoroughly trounced when he fought either of them in the past; he would just need to wait until Summer had recovered as much as she could. The loss of an eye was likely a huge blow to the woman, and required remedial training to compensate for the loss of perception. Still, he was surprised at how well she was doing with the loss. It was as if she hadn't even lost an eye, so far.

Apparently his look of interest hadn't been well-hidden.

"Have something you want to say to my wife, Qrow?" Tai asked. "You've been lost in thought looking at her for a good while."

"Eh. Just thinking about who would come out on top in a fight between her and Aran."

Summer chuckled.

"Aran. And I wouldn't dare disrespect her anyways, family honor thing. She and I have quite a bit to talk about, actually. And you'll need to be involved in that talk too, Ruby."

"I do?" Ruby asked at the same time as Tai said "Family honor?"

The blonde frowned as he continued.

"What do you mean by our family's honor?"

The woman shrouded in her white cloak cocked her head slightly.

"I'm sorry Tai, but it doesn't have anything to do with this family beyond Ruby and I. It has to do with my tribesmen, and Ruby is one of them due to her blood heritage. I wasn't completely sure until I met Aran today, but now I'm certain that she's… important to us. You have your own family secrets, and those of us with silver eyes have ours."

Tai sighed and nodded, earning a strange look from Yang.

"We have family secrets?" She asked.

"We do. You've never heard me talk about my family though, because I'm sort of the black sheep. They certainly would not approve of either of us now, even if they were still alive. Part of the reason I needed to steal you from Aran for a few days is so I could teach you about them, and the commonality that's consistent in all of our Semblances."

"You mean… like Weiss and her sister's shared Semblance?"

Tai shook his head.

"No. Our Semblance shares an aspect, a certain trigger. Think of mine, and about yours. What's consistent between them?"

Yang paused in thought. She had never truly understood her dad's Semblance, but she had gathered several pieces of information from their training together to make her own combat style.

"Anger?"

Tai nodded gravely.

"Yes. It's very dangerous for our family, but it also is our greatest strength. Anger activates our Semblances instantly, as I'm sure you've noticed for yourself with your protectiveness of your hair. Since everyone here besides you and Ruby already know my Semblance, I'll inform you of it. Where yours turns you into a tank, and you rely on it too much for your own good-"

"Hey! Aran's helped with that!"

"- Mine's what I call Inner Balance. I'm able to regulate my sense of awareness and place myself into a state of what I call emptiness. In the larger scheme of things, my Semblance isn't actually anything too special, as the same frame of mind can be attained through a meditative technique. The frame of mind is called The Oneness, and the exercise to get there is what some people call The Flame and the Void. In this mindset, I can put more power behind my blows, analyze situations without emotions, and my senses are enhanced. Sense of smell, sight, touch, taste, hearing… It can be addictive. And so I try to never use it unless I have to."

Qrow cleared his throat.

"You forgot to mention that you can bypass the human's subconscious limitations. He can hurt himself pretty badly when he uses the technique too. Any of us that have learned The Flame and the Void can. Tai doesn't need to take the minute or so that we need to get to that point; he just needs to want to punch something hard enough. And he has a trick too."

Yang took a moment to process the information, while her mind flashed back to when she had seen Qrow and Aran fight. She remembered Qrow being disarmed, and then his stance mirror hers and her father.

"So… when you taught Qrow, and when you were trying to teach Ruby how to fight hand-to-hand with your combat style…"

"I also taught, or tried to in Ruby's case, how to get to that mindset. Ruby's too emotional though, and I don't think she'll be able to learn it until later in life. Teenagers are hormonal creatures, after all."

Raven rolled her eyes.

"As if you weren't hormonal, ever. No, certainly not."

Tai simply raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, it takes two hormonal adults to conceive a child."

"Aaaaaand we're done with this conversation!" Ruby stepped in, her face turning the same shade of red as her cloak. "So… what do we do now?"

It was Summer that answered.

"It would be best if Yang went with Tai tonight, I think. Ruby and I will go find Aran, and Qrow and Raven…"

"I'll go with you." Qrow interjected. "The girls don't know where Aran's staying, so you'll need me to get you there. Raven?"

"... I'll go with Yang. Assuming she'll let me."

Yang shrugged.

"I don't care at this point. I have better things to think about besides someone that left us behind."

Her tone was surprisingly apathetic for the amount of yelling she had done earlier, a fact which worried Tai slightly. When she continued, she looked over to Summer.

"Besides, I'll get some time with Mom soon, right? Don't hog her all of the time, Ruby."

Ruby smirked.

"No promises."

"And what about me? I haven't even properly said hello to my wife yet!" Tai exclaimed. The only response he got was Summer grinning in his direction, while Qrow gave him a pity pat on the shoulder.

---

A young woman's pale face watched her target's Bullhead land on top of what she assumed was where she was staying to keep hidden from the public.

The woman's own observation point was an abandoned four story office building, though her lookout was on the second floor. It wasn't much of a problem, seeing as her target's bunker looked like a rather large single story storage unit on the outside. She mostly just needed to make sure she wasn't able to be seen from her perch, which turned out to be a bit harder than she intended due to the window (most of them in the building, in fact) being broken.

Blue shoulder blade length hair that turned blonde near the tips was somewhat concealed beneath a black hood, while a set of headphones shaped like cat ears tented it slightly. The hood was connected to a black hoodie with a zipper, which was fully zipped up. The woman's long fingers were pushed into the hoodie's pockets to stave off the incoming frost. Dark blue pants covered her legs, and a pair of running shoes finished her ensemble, while her makeup was miniscule. Blue lipstick was all that was used, allowing her natural beauty to shine through on her smooth face.

"Well, it's about time…" the woman muttered.

A rough masculine voice beside her spoke up in reply.

"Very much so. An entire day, wasted sitting here instead of observing her! What were you thinking?"

The woman rolled her blue eyes.

"She's back, calm down you bastard. You worry too much."

She heard the clattering of blackened plate armor off to her right, accompanied by the swishing of the tattered blue robe that lay open in the front to expose the armor to the moonlight.

"Calm? CALM? We lost an entire day's worth of observation, simply because you were too afraid to move your ass in fear of being spotted, as if she would even know who the hell you are!"

The woman rolled her eyes, unafraid of anyone hearing her companion. She was the only one that could hear or see him anyways. She needed to keep her own voice level however; she didn't need the homeless inside the building - or worse, her target's allies - hearing her speak to herself like some lunatic.

"Seriously, calm your shit clankerboy. We don't know if her faunus companion can see you or not."

She could practically hear him grind his teeth together.

"She cannot. I'm not even a manifestation, I'm purely in your mind! What you perceive of me is all in your damned head!"

She let him rant for another minute or so before she sighed and pulled her scroll out of her pocket. He would rant about anything and everything, she had long learned how to tune him out by this point. Still, his obsession with her target was definitely something new. He knew something that she didn't for once, and refused to tell her why the mark was so important.

If she had to guess, it had something to do with his past. Which was saying something, since the raging bastard was ancient. Still looked young and quite tall though, and particularly fetching with those silver eyes of his. Too bad he was just a part of her now, nothing more than a sentient mind that had no control of her body. The fact that she could take from him his own combat abilities and armory was just the icing on the cake while his knowledge and mind were hers to use if they cooperated.

But… his obsession worried her. It was no secret that his tendencies became her own, and the single-minded obsession with 'The Shepherd' would become her own in due time. She only wondered how long it would take. Another week, maybe? Perhaps a month, if she was lucky. Hopefully she wouldn't find herself burning for the woman's touch.

… If only because the mark was already taken. She was quite fetching herself, more than her mind-bound passenger even. Which was a strange thought, since she had never found faunus to be stimulating for her in any capacity.

"Ugh, fuck me. You're already shifting my thoughts." She said out loud, scroll forgotten in her hands.

Her hitchhiker's rant stopped abruptly.

"No. That shouldn't be possible, not this quickly. And I don't fancy her as you seem to."

Returning her attention back to her scroll, the woman finished the message she had begun earlier and pressed send. Then she took her former place of leaning against the wall next to the window frame, hands once more shoved into her pocket as she watched two occupied gurneys being unloaded from the Bullhead.

"Tch, whatever."

"Stuff it, Moira. We both know your fancies are fleeting at best. Just make sure you're looking at more than her derriere."

---

Upon entering their current home, Aran was somewhat surprised to see the large form of Hades' guest. She had gone in ahead of the others to see what Hades had to show her, though they weren't too far behind. It didn't take many people to transport gurneys, after all.

"Ah, you've arrived. This is Hazel Reinhart, though I'm quite sure you remember him."

The Warrior glanced at Hazel wearily as he stood in the center of the room, hands in the pockets of his cargo pants. His jacket was gone, leaving him in a black tank top that clung to his muscular form.

"... We may have met." Aran stated. Her hand didn't stray from the hilt of her longsword, prepared to draw at any minute. Her accent was slightly more pronounced than normal. "Ironwood leave you behind to cause trouble?"

The man didn't rise to her bait, though he did answer in a surprisingly civil tone, considering their last meeting.

"No. I broke free when he trusted my captivity to a couple of freshly graduated Huntsmen. No need to be so hostile; I'm not here to fight or deceive. I just want to talk about a couple of things I've been hearing."

Aran relaxed slightly, though her hand still remained on her hilt. The fact that she had been holding onto the weapons like a lifeline since she found them was a fact that Hazel didn't need to know.

"Such as?"

Hazel cautiously reached into a pocket in his pants, wary of the man next to him that raised an eyebrow in a very Aran-like fashion. He pulled out a scroll and held it out for Aran to grab. Hades instead took it and began to read.

"You're a busy man. It seems there still exists a virus within Vale's CCT network, streaming all sorts of classified information to his scroll."

"The work of Cinder's kids," Hazel grunted. "She lost the original virus when she was confronted by Aran, but Black was able to make a lite version of it, with guidance from Watts. Not much good it did either of them, clearly."

Aran's ears twitched as she heard the gurneys coming near.

"Hold that thought. There will be others joining us."

Both men failed to acknowledge her words, though she knew they had heard her. Hades was still looking through the scroll Hazel presented when he hummed, just as the first gurney bearing G'raha came through, pushed by Thancred. Urianger's gurney came next along with Y'Shtola, the twins, Ryne, Glynda, and finally Gretchen.

When the Reinhart siblings locked eyes, they blinked.

"Haze! How's it going, little brother? Life on track? Married yet? How many kids do you have? Who's the lucky bird? Oh, and while I'm at it, why the hell did you think it was a good idea to get involved with Salem?"

The large man blinked again, glanced around for a seat, then went and fell into it. He still didn't say anything, opting instead to stare at his sister as if looking for some sort of trick.

Hades sighed and moved over to Aran, handing her Hazel's scroll.

"Yes, yes, your sister is alive and well. I suppose this makes your involvement with Salem seem rather…"

"Wasted." Hazel offered. "And I suppose you're right." He sat for a few moments longer before he stood up again, his face made of stone. "So then… you decided to just let me think you died? What reason do you have to throw away everything we had, Gretchen?"

The Maiden crossed her arms and popped her hip slightly.

"Excuse me? I left a note for you, saying I had things to do. I went into hiding for a good reason, but I never tried to hide from you my 'death'. Ozpin played that card and the bastard was rather successful, but you should have been able to see between the lines. Despite your appearance, you are no brute. Perhaps if you used that brain of yours, you would have seen between the lines instead of joining my enemy."

Hazel opened his mouth to retort, but was silenced when Aran stepped between them.

"You two can solve this when it's not on my time. I have other places to be tonight… well, morning now I suppose, and I won't have you preventing me from getting there. Do you have anything else to discuss with me?"

As she spoke, she watched Thancred and Glynda transfer their comatose comrades onto beds. Hazel's grunt brought her attention back to him.

"I want to know where Ozpin, or whatever he'll call himself now, is."

That caused Aran to cock her head.

"What makes you think I know? The last I've heard from him was when he died in my arms below Beacon. If I see him again, I'm not sure if I wouldn't be just as hostile to him as you have been."

The large man sighed, thinking on her answer.

"An acceptable answer, for now. I do feel the need to ask why you see fit to fight Salem, though. Surely you know by now that she can't be killed. Take it from someone who has tried."

Hades smirked as he answered for Aran.

"One does not need to kill an opponent to defeat them, as Aran well knows. She has this annoying habit of finding ways around what should and shouldn't be possible."

"Ignorance is an amazing thing when you have a large amount of aether at your disposal." Aran said happily.

"That's… I'm not even going to try. Suffice it to say that she will find a way."

Hazel frowned, but didn't comment.

"Now then, I have places to be. Y'Shtola?

The Miqo'te glanced up from Urianger's bed and smiled, before waving her towards the door.

"We will be fine. Go, Amy is waiting on you."

Aran nodded, but didn't leave immediately. Instead, she seemed to hop over yo her lover and plant a kiss upon her lips, then hopped away towards the exit. Hazel stared at her dumbfounded at the sudden exuberance in her attitude as she did so.

"She's… almost like a kid." He muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. That caused Y'Shtola to begin laughing, much to the Scions' shock. When she finished, she had to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Oh no, she is very much not a child. You'll learn rather quickly that she just doesn't filter her positive emotions. And the things she can do with that tongue… I won't even get started on what she's started doing with creation magicks."

Hades blinked in surprise while everyone else began to blush.

"What do you- Oh dear. I do hope you've started using protection if she's started doing that." Hades muttered.

---

Aran found herself on the roof of her current dwelling when she spotted another Bullhead hovering just above it. The landing pad was only large enough for one Bullhead, so she assumed that whoever was coming would be jumping out. Which made her wonder who it was.

Her question was answered as she saw Qrow appear at the loading ramp and wave at her. Aran's response was to jump up to the ramp.

"Do we have a problem?" Aran asked as she landed.

"Eh, not really. Summer has something to talk to you about, and apparently it involves Ruby too."

"Then they can tell me in Amy's room. Guide them to the hospital, I'm taking the long way."

Then she jumped out, opting to go by rooftop. She didn't notice the blue-haired woman sigh and follow her, not wanting to listen to her companion's ranting again.

---

Upon arriving, the night shift at the hospital gave Aran and her companions strange looks. The nurse and aides were used to Aran's presence by now, but she had never brought others with her before during the night, much less two figures that were just as well known as she herself was.

Summer watched closely as a night aide guided them through the halls until they stopped at a closed door.

"Has anything of note happened?" Aran asked softly. The aide shook her head.

"No, nothing. She hasn't even eaten anything, just stared at the wall. We haven't had to do a bed change though, so she's at least taken herself to the restroom. The doctor says that if her dissociative personality continues for much longer, then she might not reach a point to begin true recovery."

The Warrior nodded and reached for the door handle, stopping for a brief moment to stare at her gauntleted hand. After a moment of deliberation, she removed both of them and stored them away in her bag. Then she once more reached for the door and opened it.

The sound of the door opening caused the girl inside to jump slightly, though her head didn't move. It wasn't until a soft hello from Aran sounded that caused the girl's head to whip around, a look of helplessness adorning her face. Then she bolted into Aran's arms.

Both Summer and Ruby watched in sadness, Ruby more so than her mother. Ruby knew and had become good friends with Amethyst and her team, and seeing the woman that exuded nearly as much confidence as Aran herself in such a state nearly brought the emotional girl to tears. Qrow, for his part, remained silent and tried to stay out of Amethyst's sight.

The next few minutes solidified in their minds the shattered woman's dependence on Aran as the Viera soothed her and brought her back to her bed. Aran sat down and pulled the smaller woman into her lap, as one would a child. At once, Amy curled into Aran's arms and closed her eyes, heedless of the cold metal between them.

"While the physical injuries have all been healed, the mental wounds of her ordeal have proven very resilient to healing. There's little I can do, short of grabbing Y'Shtola and Hades and trying to mend her soul directly."

Ruby cocked her head at Aran's words.

"Wait… if you could do that to her, why can't they do that for you?" The Reaper asked. It wasn't Aran that answered, but her mother, which surprised all of the room's inhabitants besides Amy.

"To heal a soul, you need all of the pieces present to do so, or otherwise stretch it uncomfortably thin over the missing parts. Aran's missing more than a couple pieces of hers, and thus renders such soul healing far more damaging to her."

"That's correct, for the most part." Aran nodded in agreement. "I'm surprised someone outside of Erza knows such things. That's not quite what I was meaning, however. It is quite possible to render aid unto one's tortured soul in a similar, albeit quite roundabout fashion by helping them through their memories. There were some civilizations that used this form of healing to help people who suffered terribly from their experiences, much like Amy here."

The older Rose crossed her arms as she listened to Aran.

"That… makes some sense, from what I know. I don't claim to be an expert on these sorts of things, but there is a certain understanding that is required to be learned by my family."

Ruby turned to her mother, silver eyes wide.

"What do you mean?"

"Our family is ancient, Ruby. There are legends about those with Silver Eyes being peerless warriors and the bane of Grimm for a reason. Some of them are about our family, while others come from other branches. I cannot speak for their traditions that may or may not have been created to honor our origins, but our family prides itself on being the most knowledgeable of what we are to be honing our skills and talents for, as well as the why. Like any story told solely by mouth though, things were lost or misinterpreted, and I doubt the specific details of our knowledge can be held as historically accurate. The most important parts have remained constant, however, and that is why we are here to speak to Aran tonight."

The woman in question shifted slightly to get more comfortable without disturbing the younger woman in her lap and arms.

"Would this have anything to do with some ruins outside of Vale?" Aran asked.

Summer nodded.

"It would, and I'm happy to see that you've found them. I was certain of it when I saw the weapons you carry now. Those ruins were at one point the ancestral home of my family, when it was much larger than it currently is now. They're not nearly as old as some of the other ruins that dot the surface of Remnant, but the now-shattered murals within were brought in to preserve our history. The only way inside until you came along was to use our silver eyes. That said, no Rose has been there for several centuries. Closer to a millennia or longer since any have actually lived there."

Aran frowned.

"Then how do you know of the murals?"

After a few moments of shuffling, as well as some gnawing on her lower lip in a way that reminded Aran of a pout, Summer answered.

"We copied the murals to canvas before leaving. An earthquake caved in a large portion of the structure, and shattered most of the murals. What we used to have as canvas was painted as close to the real murals as memory could take us. I regret to inform you that my grandparents were the last ones to possess the canvas versions, but they were burned along with a majority of my family when their home was put to ashes by Salem and what went for her circle at the time."

The excitement that was building in Aran died out as Summer revealed the last bit of information.

"Damn. I need to know what my shard here did," the Viera muttered, creating questioning glances from her allies.

"What do you mean by your shard?" Qrow asked finally, his voice causing Amethyst's eyes to open.

The young woman's head looked around to find the source of Qrow's voice. When she found him, she surprisingly didn't dig herself deeper into Aran's hold. Instead, a questioning light appeared in her eyes.

Aran watched as she uncurled and sat forward on her lap, though the girl did little more than stare.

"A shard of my soul, Qrow. My soul is old, much older than my flesh. Over time, pieces have accumulated into what it is now. It still isn't whole, but it's enough to make me who I once was." Aran frowned at her own words. "Strange thought, that. When I first woke here, near Vale, I was adamant that who my soul belonged to and who I am were two different people. Y'Shtola told me numerous times that we were almost the same person anyways, though I refused to see it. But she was right, as she so often is. Now I can't even tell you who I am. Aran, Aranaea, Ardbert, it's all one and the same in my memory. But here I am anyway, doing what I've always done."

The woman in Aran's lap cocked her head slightly more as the sound of sniffing was heard. Then she stood up and pointed at Qrow.

"You smell familiar. Do I know you?"

The other occupants of the room blinked, though it was Aran whose grin was the most easily noticeable.

"Amy?" Aran asked, drawing her attention. "What do you mean?"

"His smell. It's familiar. Do I know him?"

A light went on in Aran's head.

"I don't think you do, but we wrapped you in something of his to cover you up."

"Oh. That makes sense."

The faunus looked ready to curl back into Aran's lap until Ruby darted forward, heedless of both Qrow and Aran's quiet curses about her startling Amy.

"Amy, wait!" Ruby started, causing the faunus to stop what she was doing.

"... Rose?"

"Yes! How are- I mean, why- what I mean to say, is that we're all here for you. And if you need anything, you only need to ask us."

"... Okay."

Ruby let go of Amy's hand, though the faunus held on for a moment longer. Then she let go as she gave the recovering woman a happy nod.

"That," Aran interrupted, "is the most progress we've seen since she's been recovered. Good work, Ruby." As she spoke, Aran stood up and placed a comforting hand on the wolf faunus's shoulder. "I'm sorry to leave you now Amy, but these folks have a big day tomorrow. I need to make sure they have enough shut-eye to make it through my test."

Qrow blinked, then felt a chill go down his spine as Aran donned an innocent smile. Those never boded well for him in the past.

"Test?"

"Of course! I need to see where everyone's at in ability after all. Summer of course will sit out, seeing as she's still recovering, but everyone else will be tested tomorrow. Hades included."

"And… does everyone know this?"

"They will when I wake them up and drag them out. Honestly, my gil is on Thancred outlasting everyone. He's a survivor, first and foremost."

Summer only gave her companions confused looks as her daughter and teammate gulped in fear.

---

The testing was far more informal and surprisingly more vicious than Summer was expecting. Based off of Raven's reaction, she too was taken off guard at the punishment Aran was giving out.

The sun had barely crested the horizon when Aran, with the aid of the Scions and Ryne, had hauled nearly the entirety of those that had agreed to aid her sans Y'shtola, Tai, and Raven out to the space near the cliff edge that she had taken a liking to through the year. Most of the ashes near the cliff had blown out into the ocean by now, leaving the ground primarily as scorched rock. The remains of the Amity Colosseum were clearly visible, as was the flurry of activity that had surrounded it over the last few days.

With another Great War having come to Remnant, the symbol of unity had become little more than a wealth of technology to be harvested and eventually left to become a landmark and historical site. King Vale didn't hesitate to send in scientists with recovery teams to salvage anything usable or able to be reverse engineered.

But that was hardly the sight Summer was interested in seeing. Right now, she watched eagerly as Aran fought against Qrow, Tai, Winter, and Ryne simultaneously. Already, she had ripped through CFVY along with the Winchester heir's team, though Winchester himself was out a weapon. He still fought, but not nearly as well as she felt he could have.

The with which she watched the Warrior tear them asunder was awe-inspiring, truth be told. But upon watching her husband and teammate fight with two relative strangers, she could only shake her head in shame.

It wasn't that they were bad. Far from it. But it was clear that Tai was more than a little rusty when it came to advanced combat, and hadn't tried to improve himself since the team broke apart. Qrow had lost his ability to work with a team effectively, but his individual skill had vastly improved since she had last witnessed him fight. More than once, he barely slipped away from Aran's elbow or foot.

Which brought up the singular opponent they were facing. Summer recognized the robes that the Warrior was wearing from the murals, but had yet to see her draw either of the blades residing on her left hip, shorter below the longer, the sheaths connected by two chains. The man known as Hades must have been reading her mind, as he spoke up from a few yards away.

"I'm impressed that her artefacts still survive, but she'll only draw her weapons when required. They thrive off aether, and she's not one to test potentially dangerous things on her allies unless she knows they can withstand it."

Indeed, the display of acrobatics Aran was putting on put most to shame. But it was clear that she was being pressed far more than was comfortable, if only due to Qrow's own skills and Semblance keeping her on the back foot.

The Viera ducked beneath Ryne's dagger and used her left arm to stymie the other, catching Ryne upon her wrist.

While Ryne was prepared for the action, she wasn't ready for the lightning fast response of Aran's right arm delivered in the form of a sharp elbow rising to meet the younger woman's jawline. She crumpled backwards unceremoniously as Qrow's scythe made itself known to Aran, seeking to cleave her in two at the waistline.

Aran slipped beneath the weapon with a grace that irked Qrow, though he had expected the movement and lashed out with a knee in an attempt to catch her off balance.

It worked, though he only caught the hem of the robe she wore instead of flesh due to her dropping even lower to the ground. Honestly, the ease with which she moved made Summer envious as she watched the woman transition to a near-crawl and still move away from Qrow and towards Tai with astonishing speed.

Winter attempted to catch the woman with her saber and main gauche with the aid of her glyphs, drawing a murmur from Weiss to the rest of her team - Yang included- not too far away from Summer, when Aran seemed to have anticipated the action.

Then something resounded in Summer's mind.

Aran has anticipated every single action and attack launched at her.

But how? By her own admission, she had no Aura, and thus no Semblance. So it couldn't have been something that read into their movements. Plus, she avoided attacks that she had no right to have seen in any case.

Pyrrha watched Summer's expression closely, as did Thancred, when they noticed her eyebrows scrunch slightly in thought.

Aran sprung up from her strange position and intercepted Tai as he attempted to put distance between himself and the Warrior. He blocked her initial punch expertly and attempted to grab her extended arm, only to find his hold turned against him when she used her strength to whip him around for use as a meat shield against Qrow's downward swing. The Branwen stopped his swing immediately to avoid friendly fire, only to have his blonde teammate forcefully thrown at him to allow Aran to focus on Winter for a brief moment.

It seemed that brief moment was all Aran needed to turn things even further to her favor.

Utilizing her speed, she bounded for the eldest Schnee sister who had taken the time Tai and Qrow bought her to try and line up a glyph array against the Warrior. Cursing, Winter released the half-finished array and immediately felt the drain on her Aura, dodging Aran as best she could before attacking once more with her saber.

Winter blinked as she felt her weapon make a solid impact into Aran's torso, having expected and anticipated the woman to dodge instead of take the blow. Her surprise turned to worry, then back to surprise when the woman kept going as if a sword hadn't just cut into her.

That was her last mistake, Summer decided as she watched Aran's robes absorb the impact of Winter's weapon with seemingly no problem. The Warrior's hands wrapped around Winter's neck even as she stepped around Schnee to put her into a rear choke. Or at least what she thought was going to be a rear choke.

Instead, Aran's hand jerked Winter's head back by the jaw, while the other slammed into her throat once, then again, and one final time. Her Aura didn't break, but it was quite clear that the woman was out of the fight when she dropped both of her weapons and reached for her neck with wide eyes, falling to her knees. A swift kick to the side of her head via sabaton ensured that she would stay out of the fight.

The brutality displayed seemed to be nothing new to the people who had spent nearly a year with Aran, as well as her companions. It raised some questions, but ultimately it was something that Summer couldn't fault the woman for. It wasn't as if Winter wouldn't recover; even as Summer watched Aran re-engage with Qrow and Tai, she knew that Winter's Aura would have mostly repaired her trachea by now. The soreness and pain would still be there, but it would function properly.

The fight came to a rather anticlimactic close when Aran disarmed Qrow and forced him to his knees with Harbinger at his throat. She demanded surrender from Tai, who had no choice but to comply when he noticed Qrow's low Aura levels.

"Wouldn't want to leave your man too sore for your official reunion." Aran said with a wink when she noticed Summer's look, making the older Rose roll her eye with a tinge of pink dusting her cheeks.

After a few minutes spent to make sure Ryne and Winter were safe and awake, Aran turned to Pyrrha.

With a nod and an excited glint in her eyes, Pyrrha approached the Warrior. Surprisingly, Aran drew both of her weapons. The exposed velvet hue that darkened to a bloody violet drew Ruby's attention, having never seen metal of any kind have that coloring naturally. Her squeal of excitement went unheard as the two combatants clashed.

The two exchanged blows with little effect, though Summer did notice that Aran's precognition seemed to have lessened against Pyrrha. A thoughtful hum drew her attention to Thancred, who crossed his arms next to Ryne, still nursing her jaw from Aran's blow.

"Lien for your thoughts?" Summer asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I suppose I just didn't expect Aran to have found someone here that… shared her enthusiasm and skill for battle."

Ryne gave an unladylike snort, something which gave Summer pause, yet Thancred didn't bat an eye.

"Pyrrha's thirst for a challenge is matched only by Aran's bloodthirst. Is proclivity for combat common among those that possess the Echo, or is it just those two?"

That caused Thancred to blink.

"Er, no. Actually, most of the people I've met that do have the Echo - which is not terribly many - seem to try their best to stay away from conflict. Minfillia never sought out a fight, and Arenvald… well, that's not important at the moment. Pyrrha has the Echo?"

Ryne nodded.

"It's… a bit different than Aran's though. She's able to see Aran's past at will, with a little direction, but she can't seem to do it with others. At least, not with myself or Y'shtola."

The sound of Hades clearing his throat made them glance at the man as he drew near to them from where he had been watching.

"That would likely have to do with whose soul fragment resides within Pyrrha, if Aran's suspicions are correct. The two were the closest of friends when… well, you get the point. Such bonds do not simply disappear without making some form of mark upon one's soul," Hades answered their questioning gazes quietly. Then he motioned back towards the two combatants.

Summer watched as both people fought with a ferocity that would have left those who didn't know them thinking they were the worst of enemies. Punching, kicking, flying rocks, thrown ashes and dirt, anything that could be used to gain an advantage over the other. It was something that Summer was acutely familiar with, reminding her of her spars against Raven long ago. There was no honorable dueling here, like most people who attended an academy would expect. Instead, there were fights for survival.

While Summer had been taught growing up to survive, she hadn't entertained the thought of fighting in such a way against her own team. It was Raven who broke her from that mindset, and pushed her to become the fearsome Huntress she had been known as until her disappearance.

The longer of Aran's swords struck at the ground and launched a rock towards Pyrrha, who deflected it to the side with her shield. Her xiphos was already in motion to parry Aran's shorter blade as it sought to take advantage of her shield being out of place, though the Mistrali champion resigned herself to taking a punishing blow to the side of her knee via the Viera's armored foot. The rebound allowed another, weaker kick to the same spot, but it was enough to make Pyrrha fall to her knee.

Even so, she was not idle. The xiphos flashed through the air towards Aran's legs, stopped at the last moment by a quickly repositioned short sword. The longer of the twinned blades came at her in the form of a backhand swing, followed swiftly by another foot.

Both attacks were blocked by Pyrrha's shield, her kneeling position holding her steady enough to avoid losing her balance from either strike. Then something happened that took the young woman by surprise, as well as Summer.

The entire fight, both combatants had clearly been reading the others' actions. Nothing the other did caught them by surprise. But now, Summer was certain that surprise flashed across Pyrrha's face as Aran cast aside both weapons and tackled her to the ground.

In an instant, any advantage Pyrrha held was lost as Aran's vastly superior flexibility displayed itself in their grapple. After a particularly eye-opening blow from Aran's knee that required a wide range of motion, a snicker was heard from Yang.

"Can't say I've ever seen anyone move quite like that. Makes you wonder what she's capable of in an intimate setting?"

"Oh, she's able to do more than that even. Aran and Y'shtola are less than concerned with people walking in on them in the dorms." Ryne replied, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

Summer shook the thought aside as Aran wrapped Pyrrha's hair in one of her hands and pulled her head up off the ground. The champion, to her credit, merely growled at the pain, but she was defenseless when the same fist struck like a viper at her skull, slamming her head back into the ground. The action repeated numerous times until Pyrrha's Aura flashed, broke, and the young woman surrendered with a weak and jumbled voice. Afterwards, Aran's words seemed well-rehearsed, especially with the response that came afterward.

"What doesn't kill you…" Aran began. All around, the students and Scions finished her statement in unison.

"Just makes you stronger."

How did the woman have such superhuman strength, Summer wondered. It wasn't until Hades gave a slight chuckle that she realized she had spoken aloud.

"An excellent question, though the answer is somewhat less mystical than you think. Much as you use your Aura to enhance your physical capabilities, so too is she able to use aether to do the same. Though, her physical fitness is… quite impressive indeed, even without such measures."

A nod was Summer's only response.

---

"The Echo is a tool, but it is not completely infallible. You did well, but you were relying too much on it." Aran lectured quietly to Pyrrha. As she did so, she could see Summer out of the corner of her eye as well as hear her speak. The eldest Rose has been quite inquisitive this morning. "There are ways to get around the Echo's foresight, and you never know who might know them."

"Fordola." Pyrrha muttered, causing Aran to nod. Despite her dazed state, she was quite proud of herself to see beads of sweat on Aran's head. She may not have been close to Aran's level of skill and experience, but she had made her friend work for the pleasure of defeating Mistral's champion. Even if the woman may have been worn from the previous fights. Qrow was no slouch, and neither were the people he fought with. Still, it fit with what Qrow had told her about Aran being in a class all of her own when it came to fighting, even if Pyrrha hadn't seen it firsthand through the Echo.

"I didn't know how to fight Fordola without our little tool. Fighting the Echo is something she and I worked on together after our exchange of memories, and I passed it on to the Scions."

Pyrrha nodded once more.

"I remember."

With a pat on Pyrrha's shoulder and ensuring that she made it back to her team, Aran looked around and smiled as her eyes met the Leveilluer twins. Alphinaud sighed and stepped forward, his sister mirroring the action with a smile.

"Are you done playing around, Aran?" Alisaie asked as she drew her rapier and focus. The weapon and her stance drew Weiss's attention, while Winter whispered something into her ear. Meanwhile, those who hadn't seen Alphinaud's choice of weapon looked at him with confusion when he simply pulled the grimoire he kept at his side up and opened it.

Most were unaware of the large man and his sister that approached, both watching with curiosity as Aran and the twins began.

Magickal artes were things most of them were somewhat familiar with, when they sparred with Y'shtola. But even so, she primarily stuck to using her chakram against them. So when Alphinaud's carbuncle made itself known, and the air around the young man lit up as the aetherial aura of his spell made itself known, most blinked in surprise. When his twin conjured flames, several gasped. Amber cocked her head, still quite unused to seeing such things come from people without the use of Dust when it wasn't her conjuring them.

Aran smiled, sidestepping the fireball. Her arms remained by her sides, her swords hanging loosely. Her robes clung to her as she leapt, her hood hanging off her shoulders. Her smile widened when she felt Alphinaud's Ruin hit her, though she shrugged it aside and leapt forward.

Several students blinked as her speed increased immediately to the same level as which they had seen her fight Pyrrha. Her longer blade swept close enough to Alphinaud's throat that all who watched were confident that the young man would have died had he not backed away. In his place, Alisaie's rapier flashed.

Back and forth Aran fought the twins, blows that clearly could, and probably would have, ended lives had any of them landed. Aran had taught the twins herself over the years, supplementing their already tremendous potential with the training to use it without hesitation. With that training came a simple objective for both parties: survive. It was the same form of training Aran used with anyone; if you didn't know what you were capable of at your most desperate times, then did you really have any clue as to what you weren't capable of?

She twisted away from Alisaie's Enchanted Riposte, swinging her shorter blade to catch the woman's left side before she could recover from the missed blow. Knowing her to be unable to dodge, Aran grunted when she felt her sword sink into Alisaie's flesh and bury itself into bone.

"Alisaie!" Alphinaud yelled in concern, though his casting never faltered. A carbuncle-assisted Ruin found its mark as it caught Aran's armored leg instead of the cloak, exposed as it was from her movements.

"I'm fine! Keep attacking!" His twin demanded. He was already preparing his next spell though, under no delusions of Aran being wounded enough to forfeit. Thoughts of his sister's well-being were cast aside, his focus returning to Aran when he noticed something odd.

She had leapt away from the female twin, landing several meters away. When she did, he noticed the leg he had hit buckled slightly as she put weight on it.

What?

He knew he was a powerful Arcanist. But he also knew that Aran's natural defenses and resistance to spells were ridiculously strong for a Viera, courtesy of her abnormal aether reservoir. She may not be impervious, or anything close, but weaker artes did little beyond make her itch. Something was off, or else very wrong, and they were just now discovering it. Regardless of the risk however, it was clear that Aran wasn't backing down.

Alphinaud wasn't the only one who noticed something wrong. Both Thancred and Hades frowned in thought, though the former was trying to listen to the members of JNPR along with Ryne. It seemed that Pyrrha had recognized something as being off as well, and was explaining it to the others.

Keeping her weight centered on her uninjured leg, Aran's face resembled stone as she grit her teeth. She could tell from how it failed to obey her when she leapt that it was mostly useless at the moment, but her opponents didn't know this. She shifted her weight enough to send a lance of pain up her leg in order to feel where it was injured. When she felt the cold steel of the armor inside her thigh instead, she knew she had a bigger problem.

In a move that took them all by surprise, she sheathed her blades and held her hands up.

"I concede. Alphinaud, what did you do with that last spell?"

"Wha- nothing. Is something wrong?"

Aran simply nodded and grabbed the lower portion of her robes. Pulling them aside to reveal her leg caused several winces among those looking when they saw a mangled mess where her leg should have been. The damage looked to have been caused mostly by her armor breaking and bending inward, causing a weeping gash that was bleeding profusely.

"My armor should have been able to hold against a spell of that caliber. Hades, help me remove the plate from the wound."

Aran watched as the Ascian approached and knelt, unbuckling the armor. Some part of her mind remembered Solus performing the same action many years ago, for entirely different reasons. And yet, she found herself unable to entertain the thought, mentally jerking away from the happy memory. She had never hid from those memories before; why was she now?

The Ascian tugged on the armor sharply, pulling it out of her leg and away with little thought to comfort. It didn't bother Aran in the least. He was always quick and to the point when it came to medical work. Exactly as a medicae should be. Then he went to work healing it.

"You know, if I knew how easy it was to bypass your damned robes, I would have won far more of our spars before the Final Days."

"I fought more conservatively back then. And besides, you never won anyways."

"Exactly. Even one win is a marked improvement over none."

She would give him the win for that exchange. He wasn't wrong, and he knew it.

Her attention returned to Alphinaud, who had placed his grimoire on his hip and stood in thought, his hand on his chin.

"I don't think I've done anything different. My magickal talents haven't changed greatly, and I don't believe - wait. Your armor! Did you modify it in any way lately?"

Aran cocked her head.

"No. The only modifications I made to the forging process was to make it more resilient to Aura-infused attacks and Semblances. Pyrrha's Polarity could kill me with a simple increased attraction in my breastplate, otherwise."

Pyrrha, for her part, blinked as she realized Aran was right. Why had she never thought of that?

"Don't think too hard about it, Pyrrha. You're not a killer. I wouldn't expect you to think of the ease of which you could kill people who wear armor. Leave lethal applications of everyday things to me."

The Viera cocked her head in thought once more, biting at her lower lip as well.

"Though, I suppose this proves that the current protections I've made to serve against Aura doesn't work against aetherial spells. Could be a reason why Dark Ifrit's acid ate through my armor so quickly as well, if protections against one weaken its resistance against the other."

Shaking her head, Aran glanced down at her leg when Hades stood up. Her leg was healed, admittedly better than even Y'shtola was capable of. Creation magicks had their uses, and healed even better than white magic if the caster knew what they were doing. For an Ascian, it was child's play.

She was about to motion for Alphinaud and Alisaie to restart their skirmish when her scroll rang. She sighed and pulled it out, her mood dropping when she saw Arget's picture. She let it ring again before answering.

"Aran speaking."

"Good day, Dragonsong. The King's got something he wants you and a Huntsman to handle, perhaps one more person of your choosing. He's sent Reisa and Maven to bring you to him within the hour."

"And what makes you think I'm his to order about?"

Arget remained silent for several moments, then he returned with a growl.

"If you do this for him, then he's promised you access to resources and soldiers, whatever Vale can provide."

"Resources and soldiers. Why would I have need of soldiers?"

"Don't take us for fools, Vinland. You're a military asset for anyone and everyone, and you know it. For your aid to Vale, you've already been promised secure accommodations for yourself and your friends for as long as you wish to reside in Vale. But we both know that you're not just going to sit in Vale to defend it. And we both know that the Dragonsworn are not going away. Moira Sol is insane at best, and psychopathic at worst. That she is apparently at the head of the Dragonsworn, and not some of the notable others who are claiming membership, does make me uneasy. Regardless, I'm not just providing any common soldiers. King Braylor is willing to loan you Team SKTR. All four members have expressed an interest in working with you again, and the additions of Clover and Marrow have given us some leeway with desired posts among the elite combatants of Vale."

His offer made Aran pause. SKTR was an asset to Vale; he wouldn't offer them to her over just any mission. Something was off.

"You're hiding something. I want full disclosure when I arrive, or you'll not have my support."

"Fine. A Bullhead will be approaching your cliffside sparring ground in a few minutes. Reisa and Maven will be piloting it. See you soon."

The man hung up without waiting for her reply, making her sigh and turn her attention to her allies.

"Testing day has been postponed for the rest of you. But don't think you're getting away from this; I need to know what you're capable of, what you can and cannot handle."

Aran's attention turned towards the city of Vale, where she could make out a Bullhead coming their way out on the horizon.

Those gathered began to disperse, at least until her voice rang out again.

"Blake, Ren, Ryne? Could you come with me, please? There are some things I wish to speak to you about."

As the others dispersed once more, Aran watched Nora leave with Jaune and Pyrrha, whilst sending Ren a smile and a thumbs up.

She was also distinctly aware of Emerald remaining behind as well, along with Amber.

"What do you need?" Aran asked. Emerald rubbed her arm nervously, at least until Amber rolled her eyes and spoke up.

"Oh, just tell her already. She wants you to train her, take her on as an apprentice like you have with the former students."

Aran raised an eyebrow.

"From what I've seen, you are a perfectly capable combatant, especially with your Semblance. With further mastery of that alone, you could obtain your Huntress license via official means. Why do you wish for me to train you?"

Emerald gulped as her eyes, previously glaring at a smirking Amber, returned to Aran.

"W-well, I… I learned everything from Cinder. How to lie, cheat, steal, fight, even how to act around others. But I want more out of my life than to be a thief and murderer. I won't claim that I'm not a bad person for the things I've done, and I won't hide behind Cinder for my actions. I did what I did, and now I have to find some way to earn my place in society despite those things. Becoming a Huntress seems like a good way to do that, and it's not like it's different from what I already know. Cinder was trained by a Huntsman, and she trained me."

Aran cocked her head.

"She also murdered the Huntsman that trained her when he found her standing over the bodies of her adoptive family. I understand that they were abusive towards her at the very least if the files I pulled up on the murder case are to be believed, but there is always a better solution."

Emerald nodded.

"I agree. That's why I want this."

Aran stared at the green-haired thief until the Bullhead she spied approaching landed. Ignoring the opening hatch, she looked over to Amber.

"And your thoughts on this?"

Amber shrugged.

"I say let her. It's not like you don't associate with wanted criminals, right? Somehow, you've made heroes out of two of Vale's most wanted criminals and made them earn pardons. I don't even know how to decide on what to make of you and your personal morals. According to Y'shtola, you're just as likely to kill someone as to help them, and somehow you're regarded as the greatest hero to ever live when Erza was still around."

Reisa and Maven descended the Bullhead's boarding ramp, though Aran still ignored them as she alternated the direction of her cocked head.

"It largely depends on who tells the story. The victor of war writes the history. Before I left Garlemald, I was regarded as an inhuman monster that brought free realms into the iron fist of Garlemald. When I aided the Alliance, Garlemald viewed me as a great evil, a monster on the battlefield that slaughtered hundreds if not thousands of their number, exactly how the Alliance viewed Zenos. There is much more to be told in regards to Erza which the Scions and I must disclose to all of you. Unlike Ozpin, I will not hide who I am and where I come from. Qrow knows, as do Roman and Neo. Pyrrha as well, and obviously the Scions and Ryne too. But the time for the disclosure of our Eorzea comes swiftly."

Aran turned back to Emerald.

"I will teach you. You're coming with me as well; your skillset is similar enough to Blake's, Ren's, and Ryne's."

Maven cleared her throat, drawing Aran's gaze. Being the first time Aran had seen the woman since their trip into the gorge, she would admit that the Van Darnus look-alike had healed fairly well. She still bore several scars from her experience despite Aura, though her ink kept them covered enough to fool those that didn't know they were there. The leather band that kept her hair out of her face was gone, leaving her forehead unobstructed. Aran was half expecting to see the Garlean third eye, though she was happy to see it wasn't there. Instead, some of her ink had moved up to create the sigil of the Kingsguard on her forehead.

"We were tasked with bringing you, not the whole kindergarten class." Maven stated, making Reisa's head turn towards her. The Kingsguard assassin placed a hand on Maven's shoulder.

"Aran's an important political figure. She is allowed a protection detail."

Maven snorted.

"Protection detail? They're kids."

"The youngest of which," Aran interrupted, "could give veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses a hard time. She was trained by Thancred for several years, and now by myself for nearly another two. I trust her to my protection more than anybody else, save a couple notable names I won't mention now. Let's go."

The Warrior gave Ryne a smile and motioned for Blake, Ren, and Emerald to follow her aboard the Bullhead. She could hear Maven's teeth grinding, as well as Reisa's pat on the shoulder to get her moving.

It became clear that their destination was Beacon, proven when they landed at the airship docks. Upon disembarking, Reisa pointed to the top of the Academy, where Ozpin's office resided. Aran nodded and moved for the elevator while Reisa and Maven stayed behind.

When the elevator door opened at the Headmaster's office, the group was greeted by the sight of King Braylor standing near a hole in the building. Arget stood nearby, watching the elevator, while the familiar form of a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, long green coat, and an ashandarei held on his back by a magnetic clip inside the coat. As he turned to watch the new arrivals, she noticed a foxhead medallion hanging from his neck, followed by a rather damning scar over his throat and neck that wasn't properly covered by a red scarf. Despite this, his brown eyes seemed to twinkle with mischief, framed as they were by brown hair that reached to his coat's collar.

"You're here, good." Braylor stated almost immediately as he too turned around. The King took several steps towards the center of the room as he gestured towards the familiar man. "This is Matrim, Huntsman of Vale and a potential candidate for former Councilwoman Grey's seat. He will be the Huntsman you'll be working with."

The man in question held his hands up in defence.

"Just Mat, thank you. And I already told you that I'm not taking the bloody seat. I have no wish to be a part of Vale's political system."

Aran nodded slowly.

"Aran Vinland. With me are Ryne Waters, Blake Belladonna, Lie Ren, and Emerald Sustrai. And we haven't agreed to do anything, yet."

Mat nodded and waved at Ren.

"A pleasure, all. Good to see you again Ren. I trust things have been eventful enough for you since your first mission with me?"

Smiling, Ren nodded and folded his arms.

"Indeed. I was only repeating what Jaune had said before, you have my apologies."

A chuckle came from Mat's chest as he waved away Ren's apology.

"I'm only pulling your leg, I heard the whole conversation. Glad to see you and your team made it through everything that's happened though. As you were saying, King Braylor?"

The King had circled around where Ozpin's desk had once been as he held up a tablet to Aran that reminded her of Glynda's. She took it and began to interpret the map it was displaying.

"This a town on the outskirts of Anima, near its western edge?" Aran asked.

The King nodded.

"An older, yet smaller expansion effort of Vale much like Mountain Glen, though it still survives. Unlike Mountain Glen, Hinderstap's goal was procurement of resources for Vale from Anima. The problem is that the town hasn't been loyal to Vale for upwards of fifteen years, and we need what they can supply us with. I need you and Matrim-"

"Mat, please."

"- to earn their loyalty back."

Aran put a hand on her hip.

"And why did their loyalty falter?"

Arget cleared his throat from his spot near the hole in the wall.

"That would be my doing. A Huntress of some import to the Kingsguard left Vale to help found Hinderstap. I attempted to recruit her to be my replacement, and she refused. I may have been insistent that she took over my role, as a member of my family has always served the King of Vale in the role I do now. She was the only one that could perform the duties required, as well as continue our lineage. Unfortunately, in my attempt at convincing my wayward daughter to come back, a rather complicated series of events took place that resulted in her death, and her daughter, Clarke, remaining in Hinderstap with her paternal family. The town's loyalty was severed, and we've heard little about what goes on there aside from what Huntsmen and Huntresses can tell us when they pass through."

The room was silent as everyone absorbed the information. After half a minute, Aran spoke once more.

"You'll have to give me something to work with here. Do you know who the town's headman or mayor is? How many people live there? Something that could earn their loyalty back?"

"That would be Clarke, in an unofficial capacity. She's only nineteen, but she's kept Hinderstap and its inhabitants alive since her father was killed a few years ago. The most recent report from a few months ago states that the town has recently gone through some hardship, something that reduced the number of inhabitants from nearly a thousand to only four or five hundred. I would recommend starting with trying to find out what happened and seeing if you can help solve the issue if it hasn't been resolved already. Otherwise, look to Mat for some guidance. He was born there, he might understand the inner politics of the town."

Mat, for his part, simply nodded. The others in the room turned their gazes upon Aran, waiting to see what she would say.

"I'll help. But we're not leaving until next week; I'm teaching something important to several of my students, and I refuse to interrupt their education for a mission."

Braylor gave her a quick nod and held out his hand for the tablet he handed her previously. Once she returned it, he began to turn away until he seemed to remember something.

"Ah. Hazel Reinhart. Do you have him under control?"

His question took Aran by surprise, though she didn't let it show.

"The situation is handled. I cannot say for sure if he will fight with me or not, but he won't be fighting against me. He's under control."

"Very well. Make sure he stays that way, and I won't have a problem with your sheltering a wanted man. Good day, Aran."