A/N Sorry for putting a Authors' Notes up here but I have a lil thing to say before you get to the chapter, sadly my consistency in which I upload will be a little more sporadic due to outside forces, no need to worry that this'll end abruptly or anything, just that I may miss the Saturday upload by a day or two.
Ruby had spent most nights staring into the fire hours would pass and they felt like seconds as her thoughts were pulled back to her home in flames... she could almost see it from time to time, covering her eyes she let the cool morning air wash over her, the sounds of quick movement made her jump, quickly standing she turned to face the others and found Pyrrha sitting up holding her wrist staring at her mechanical hand as it slowly closed into a fist her eyes fixed on it for a few moments before she quickly snapped from her staring and stood pulled her blade from her sleeping bag and sheathed it
"Good morning Ruby." she said with a smile her hair was a mess though a few strands of it were sticking straight out while others were vertical
"Mornin'... you wanna brush your hair?" Ruby asked trying to suppress her laughter as Pyrrha reached up and felt her hair, quickly walking over to her bag she pulled a brush free and got to work battling her hair
"So... how've you been handling our new life style?" Pyrrha asked sitting down on the log near the slowly dying fire
"Meh, could be better. But it could also be far worse. Company could be a little more... 'into it' I guess." she commented gesturing to the others, Pyrrha hummed in agreement "They mean well but they could be taking this a little more seriously."
Ruby was still staring over at the others her eyes specifically locked onto Nora who was happily snoring away, slowly pulling her eyes away she stood and grabbed harbinger and slung it over her shoulder
"I'm going to train." she informed as she marched off into the forest leaving Pyrrha alone to wait for the others to get up, but she didn't really mind all that much, some time alone was always nice... or at least it used to be.
(o)
Yang felt weird, she was used to stares but now it was because of her 'rockin' bod' as some less than subtle folks were keen on saying, but it was because of two other things, her arm and her humanity. Plenty of faunus were on this boat and Blake had assured her that they'd eventually stop paying her any mind some kinds wanted to touch her arm and she was more than happy to let them but many other adults were more... skeptical.
Leaning on the rail of the ship Blake soon joined her "You're sweating a lot, you should drink some water." Blake quickly said holding out a bottle to her
"I'm not infirm Blake. I can handle myself, besides you said a coat would be fine."
"Yeah, I meant a thin coat, not a trench coat." Blake reasoned gesturing to the long brown and tan coat Yang had resting on her shoulders
"Well specifics woulda been nice." Yang complained shrugging the coat off and crossed her arms as she hung the coat on the rail of the ship
"I did warn you as you purchased it, I said and I quote ''Don't buy that, it's almost as hot as Vacuo' and you responded with 'Yeah right.'" Blake said all the while Yang was shushing her trying to get her to stop being right,
"Well hey at least I learned from my mistakes, I wore a tank top."
"Fair is fair, though I'm pretty sure I saw a few long sleeved shirts in your bag." Blake added causing Yang to scoff and turn away, after they stopped talking they began to enjoy the cool sea breeze in silence
(o)
Weiss couldn't help but feel worried, Winters' condition had been escalating all while her father did everything in his power to make it seem like she was still out and about, looking over the woman as she muttered incoherently her eyes darting back and forth reaching up to her forehead she placed her hand on it she felt freezing
"What happened to you?" Weiss asked causing winters' eyes to quick open as her head snapped to her sister before she dropped back to looking around wildly and trembling, the weirdest part was what happened to her eyes, they were a strange shade of greenish-blue, similarly to Sephiroth but not cat-like... were they trying to make someone like him?
Quickly getting to her feet Weiss exited the room she could barely comprehend that train of thought, but if it were true... then... perhaps James would be honest with her, she knows somethings about Sephiroth from Rubys' rambling. Making her way towards her fathers study she focused on what she was going to say after all the general is a smart man even if he is strong headed if she were to say the wrong things he would probably take Winter to a far more secure location... she had to be careful with this and that's what scared her the most, usually she could lean on Ruby or Yang to help carry this burden but now she was alone and had to figure this out the hard way... perhaps Klein would be of help, he always helped to the best of he abilities.
(o)
Standing outside the office she just listened to the shouting, the two men raging at one and other neither one willing to back down from what ever arbitrary subject they were on. Pushing the door open she entered the screams of the two men quickly quieted down upon hearing the door open
"Weiss, I thought I told you not to disturb me when I'm in a meeting." Her father growled clearly still boiling from the argument, General Ironwood on the other hand seemed to be recovering much quicker
"I needed to speak with the General, and seeing how every meeting between you two ends in shouting matches I figured it didn't matter all that much." Weiss countered, ever sense she got word from Vale that the Xiao-Long household had been burnt to its foundations she wasn't too keen on letting her father walk all over her, it also seemed that the General approved given his chuckle
"Well miss Schnee I'd enjoy a conversation, but I have duties to attend to so-"
"Don't worry, it wont take long." Weiss interrupted as she walked out of the room soon followed by James as the two began to make their way down the hall towards the exit of the building, Weiss frowned as she began to think on how to approach this "So what is it you wanted to ask, because as it stands... that was one of the funniest things I have seen all day." he said with a smile, Weiss chuckled as they continued to walk "What... happened to Winter?" she finally asked as they made their way down the stairs towards the entrance and he came to a stop
"She... after the information we acquired on Sephiroth she elected to go through with a highly experimental and dangerous alteration. From what we learned... well... whatever happened to her should be temporary... 'should be' being the operative words, she could spend the rest of her life like that, or she could get a massive boost to her power and capabilities." he answered, the answer didn't put Weiss' mind at ease if anything it made her begin to doubt his words, how clinically he talked about his most trusted ally, it was as if he was reading a script or something, but again she didn't want to push him about it, for now all she needed to do was allow him to go and she could get back to her sisters side.
(o)
It had been almost two days sense they last saw Sephiroths' destructive path, Ruby hadn't stopped her angry march in that time Jaune seemed a little more merry and Nora and Ren both seemed irritated about Ruby's demeanor but didn't say anything, Pyrrha just kept a happy smile and tried to keep everything from falling apart
"Hey, if we head west we should hit Νυχτερινή βροχή, and if the name is anything to go on it'll start raining soon." Jaune said staring up into the black clouds
"We should just keep walking." Ruby countered earning a look from the other members save Pyrrha, she had been talking likes this ever sense they got moving again
"Okay, but we just dealt with three packs of Grimm, and more keep showing up. We cant..." she trailed off and quickly spun around staring up into the sky but caught sight of nothing, her paranoia seemed to be going haywire due to the darkened skys each time lightening flashed she would jump each time there was a rumble she would flinch.
"Ruby... perhaps we should visit the town, find a place to rest for a short while." Pyrrha offered causing Ruby to let out a frustrated growl
"WE CANT KEEP STOPPING LIKE THIS!... why cant you all just listen!?" Ruby questioned quickly spinning around and shouting at the four "Everything! EVERYTHING I LOVE IS GONE, MY HOME, MY FAMILY, MY SCHOOL, ALL OF IT!" She shouted glaring at each of them she took a few deep breaths before speaking in a calm tone once more but it sounded more empty than usual "I just want to kill Sephiroth then... I don't know, I guess it doesn't matter after that... if you'll all stick with me until then... just please... I... nevermind." Ruby waved off marching off into a different directions leaving the four rather dumbfounded by her actions, following after her at a longer distance they eventually arrived at Νυχτερινή βροχή where they were quickly brought inside and and found shelter from the endless rain from above.
(o)
They had spent almost four days on a ship and some valuable lessons were learned, firstly that it was starting to get really hot, and secondly that Yang wasn't big on long distant sailing, if her vomiting over the side of the ship was anything to go off of. The two woman had spent most of their time waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did, the journey to Kuo Kuana was long and silent but they eventually arrived at the home for all faunus, it was amazing to Yang so many brightly colored buildings and not a lick of anti-faunus prejudice in sight, but there was plenty of anti-human around it was rather novel to her too
"So, this is where you grew up?" Yang asked as she spun around taking in the sights of just about everything worth looking at
"Yeah, sorry about the looks by the way." Blake apologized following Yangs' eyes at all the staring bystanders, the glares she was getting too
"Nah don't worry 'bout it, plenty of reason for it. 'sides everywhere else in the world gives them dirty looks, it's only fair that here we get dirty looks." Yang waved off with a shrug resting her hands behind her head "Sooo... any particular building I should keep an eye out for?" Yang questioned earning a hum from Blake
"No you'll know it when you see it." She denied with a smile on her face, it felt strange but she was kind of excited to show off her home to Yang... but it could also be a little disastrous given... recent events the two walked and walked until they reached the crest of the hill allowing the two to look over the more wealthy parts of the city where her house took up a rather large portion
"So... gonna guess it's the big palace lookin' place." Yang guessed her voice sounding a little icy
"Y-yeah... umm... I don't want you to feel... un-"
"I'm fine." Yang denied as she quickly began walking down the path at a much more brisk pace her eyes glued on the ground as opposed to the world around her again, that caused Blake to quickly smack herself upside the head
"I'm an idiot." she muttered chasing after Yang trying to think of a way to apologize to her.
(o)
The Branwen tribe was full of those who wanted to believe themselves to be powerful... it was a lie. They wanted to believe themselves above reproach... it was a lie. They wanted to believe themselves to be strength... it. Was. A. Lie.
Walking through the camp cries of the helpless as they burned to ash within flaming tents blood staining the dirt and sand around the camp as well as the burning hovels and tents, the woman who had escaped him before having been thrown through hers and seemed to have trouble recovering, making his way towards her another woman stepped in the way, young and foolish, she had short brown hair and pale blue eyes a set of circular blades in either hand her eyes burning with fury
"I will kill you for this." she growled and he just smiled at her, that seemed to add to her fury as she rushed forward swiping at him twice both of which were easily parried leaving her open for a killing blow which was quickly taken leaving her to bleed out he continued on his path towards his quarry as she seemed to regain her conciousness quickly looking up at him she leapt back and drew a black blade
"You're looking for the maiden right?" she questioned moving back a bit more as he came to a stop just beyond her reach his blade well within reach of her, he didn't answer her question at all, just smiled and waited "I-if you want her then she's right over there." she said pointing past him to the girl he just disemboweled, he didn't even follow her finger just stared her dead in the eyes enjoying the panic building up in them
"I assume you believe I have no means of tracking a maiden. How presumptuous." he said slowly causing her eyes to quickly widen in fear, now he had no actual way of tracking a maiden but he knew enough cowards to know how they worked, that being said she quickly slung a weak ice spell at him before quickly creating and diving through a portal causing his smile to widen a bit as he turned and made his way back towards the dying woman, once more he gave a small piece of his DNA to the woman while he healed her then erased his mortal wounding of her, better to keep her guessing why he didn't kill her too.
(o)
Making their way up the stairs Yang crossed her arms and glared at the large wooden door as Blake walked up to it and knocked
"I know I asked you to come, I didn't want to make you feel... like I was trying to show off or anything." Blake apologized causing Yang to sigh and turn away
"I know... it's just... I miss dad and Ruby I know her she doesn't handle her anger too well, growing up she never let anything get her down, even when she was bullied for her cape, she was always proud to be who she was... but Sephiroth isn't a bully, he is a monster. She's gonna keep her sights set on him until she feels their even." Yang spoke leaning on the rail of the porch staring into the moat as multicolored fish swim around happily "I'm scared that'll get her killed." she added as the door began to groan as it opened, stepping out was an older woman she had short dark hair and wore a tired look on her face which quickly lit up upon seeing Blake, closing her eyes again she turned away from the family reunion behind her, she wanted nothing to do with it.
"My darling daughter." the woman said her voice trembling with the thought it brings as she began to ramble on as parents do Yang couldn't stop the building anger in her chest so she acted to settle it by clearing her throat loud enough to stop the rambling
"I'm sorry, you must be one of Blakes friends, it's a pleasure to met you, I'm Kali." she greeted making her way over to Yang with a smile, looking past the woman to Blake who gave her the go ahead, with a sigh
"I'm Yang, Blake and I were on a team." she introduced taking a step away as the woman brought a hand up to her shoulder
"That was awful business. I hope nothing bad happened to the rest of your team." Kali said as a much large figured pulled Blake into a hug causing Yang to quickly tense and prepare to attack, causing Kali to look over her shoulder "Oh don't worry about her father, he can be a little over protective at times." she said with a chuckle Yang slowly let out a sigh and relaxed
"Sorry... after what happened to Beacon I- sorry." Yang waved off turning back towards the moat
"Don't worry about it, I don't what happened to you but while you're here we're your family." Kali stated with a warm smile that caused Yang to quickly look over to her for a few moments before turning away once more unwilling to accept such a statement.
(o)
the night had come and she was finally starting to settle down given a free room in the building Yang couldn't help but lie awake every time she closed her eyes she heard his voice telling her how weak she was, her incapability of saving anything... not even her sister... quickly getting to her feet she dressed and walked out of the room rubbing her eyes trying to rid herself of the exhaustion she was feeling entering the kitchen she made her way into the back yard, it was a large tropical area filled with tall grass and pools of water housing large orange fish walking along the stone path she stared up at the numerous stars above her thoughts drifting to her sister that was until her heard a slash quickly dropping into a combat stance she began to look around seeing no one she started to move but was dropped on from above by something rather heavy knocking the air from her with a gasp she slammed her jaw into the ground and let out a growl of pain as she kicked whatever was on her off, it too let out a growl as it moved away the two glared at each other but both quickly recognized each other as red and purple eyes met
"Mom?" Yang questioned the dirty figure in front of her, the woman flinched lightly from the word before taking a deep breath
"Yeah..." she answered awkwardly as the two continued to stare neither one knowing where to start, quickly standing yang held her hand out but Raven just waved it off as she pushed herself to her feet and stared down at the shattered mask "aw dammit." she muttered as she gathered up the pieces and threw them over the fence before turning back to yang after looking around
"What has brought you to Menagerie?" she questioned as she sheathed her blade and began to walk, Yang quickly caught up
"My teamma- wait that's not important why are you here and what happened to you?" Yang quickly questioned causing Raven to sigh
"I... panicked I went to the only person I'm connected to that was safe. Sephiroth happened, our people are no more." Raven answered crossing her arms and turned away "Connected to?" Yang pressured causing Raven to sigh again "Did your father really tell you nothing of me?" she questioned earning a nod from Yang, that felt like a shot to the heart one she wasn't expecting
"... … we can speak more in the morning, I'll find a place to camp for tonight I'll wake you up tomorrow." Raven said turning and walking towards the wall only to be stopped by Yangs' metallic hand resting on her shoulder
"You can stay with me, you know... not worry about... I don't know some weird spidery Grimm." she offered earning a hum from Raven "'spidery grimm' are quite frightening... but considering we're a good distance from Vacuo where most 'spidery grimm' are found I'm sure I can manage." she quickly waved off while shrugging off Yangs hand and wandered away. After she vanished Yang could safely say she could probably find sleep
A/N Things'll be fine but I should also mention that again, if you didn't read the one up top another object has taken my focus, so my consistency will be missed by a couple of days at most. So I apologize for that.