aias a Once again I'm super late with this chapter but... exams did finish on the FRIDAY of last week so I had to mentally recover and all that jazz.
To my newest guest reviewer, first off, glad for the review, secondly... I think I said this a few times before on separate platforms but Idk if I actually addressed it or not, female Nova did start off as a gag, but then I had so much fun writing her that I decided to stick with it.
If anyone remembers when I said female Nova had plot relevancy? It's coming up pretty soon. Since I love to make you guys speculate and wrack your brains to figure out where I'm going with this, here's a huge hint.
CINDER FALL. That is all (Hehe I rhyme).
As for that glorious review by Grand Spurinko, I gotta commend you on the depth of detail you went to analyze this. BUT There are somethings you didn't account for hehe, firstly Pyrrha is still alive! For Nitro's ship there are a few contenders as you so grandly put with Neptune, there's also Krome, Ragnar, Scarlet could make a return, members of the Ace Ops from Vol. 7 and Future OCs, who I'm planning is a surprise HEHEHHE.
The other ships shall remain a mystery but I am going to say you took a shot in the write direction, as for who that applies to well that's going to remain a mystery.
Anyway I figure I was very overdue for lore heavy chapters so this one is going to be outlining some key points that I've been holding back for a while.
Chapter 48: The Grey Line between an Enemy and an Enemy
The band of misfits were gathered in the house, sitting on the mat as Ozpin, stood before them, like the headmaster he was, asserting himself before his students... even if his current stature was a bit to be desired.
"Today marks your official first day of training now that Miss Rose and Mr. Flareheart have decided to join us," Ozpin said 'towering' above them.
Nova had managed to tweak the armlet to be stable but he didn't know how long it would last, and he would prefer to train his team in his male form for comfort reasons. It was the body he was more used to fighting in, and his female form was way too flexible to make fighting fair.
It was difficult taking Ozpin seriously when he was in the body of Oscar, but he tried to hold his criticisms to himself.
"Lionheart has refused to speak with us for the past few days and I believe things are nearing the point of action… thus we may not have much time left." Oz continued.
"Oz, if we're so sure Lionheart is the traitor, then why don't we just take him? I'm sure Nova alone would be more than enough to take him down." Yang pointed out.
"I understand your point of view Miss Xiaolong, but do bear in mind that while Leonardo might not be a combatant… he most certainly is still Haven's headmaster, with the support of the people and a seat on the Mistralian council… I'd prefer we settle things with his cooperation or submission… besides… if he's being backed by you know who, then the place is undoubtedly guarded…" Ozpin pointed out.
"But… it wasn't guarded when we showed up the first time, it was like a ghost town," Jaune voiced.
"That is because he had no reason to distrust you, and nor you, him. Now that you've been asking questions, he's most likely called in reinforcements… we must wait for the opportune moment. If things pan out as they did at Beacon… then undoubtedly he'd have the seizure of the relic look like a White Fang invasion." Nova said joining Ozpin in leading the conversation. "If I were the enemy, my first course of action would be to secure the key to the vault, then look to storm the place, create the 'Fall of Mistral', and cover it all up. Falsify information saying Lionheart died in the fighting while he's moved to a headquarters. The world gets thrown into a panic with the loss of another Huntsmen Academy and thus spirals the invasion of Grimm…"
Everyone gawked, "That's… an astute observation Mr. Flareheart… it makes me relieved to know you're on my side and not the enemy's…" Ozpin marveled.
"Well regardless, none of you, minus Yang, are strong enough to fight head-on with a Maiden let alone whatever else our enemies have up their sleeve…" Nova said then saw Ruby look offended. "Sorry Rubes, it's a fact."
"Thus Mr. Flareheart and I will be conducting your new training. We shall be working on your hand to hand combat, as well as overall performance and skill sharpening, Mr. Flareheart and Miss Xiaolong, will handle Aura manipulation." Ozpin began detailing a schedule of who trains with whom, as specifically requested Nova would be training Ruby, Jaune, Weiss, and Oscar while Yang and Ozpin trained the rest of them. It wasn't a matter of preference and more of whose style of training was more suited to whom. Nova already worked with Hex and Nitro for years, they needed to fight someone they didn't know like the back of their hands, Nora and Ren were simply more suited to Yang's hands-on approach since Nova would be focusing on battle strategy and leadership skills on top of combat.
The two teams were split off, with Qrow leaving to run his own investigations outside. Ozpin and Yang worked with their group in wide balcony area while Nova took his to the backyard. Surprisingly enough both spaces were equally wide as if the owner of the house couldn't decide where he wanted his front yard.
Due to Ozpin currently using Oscar's body, training the boy would have to happen after the others were done. This technically meant Oscar was getting double the training since Ozpin would be working with his body on one end.
"Since the kid won't be joining us as of this moment… we can start with some basics. I'd like you to come at me one at a time, so I can gauge what I'm working with. If you can land a hit then it's technically your win." Nova said to Ruby, Jaune and Weiss.
Ruby raised her hand, "Um… do we get anything if we win?"
"Good question Ruby! The answer is… bragging rights!"
"LAME!" Jaune yelled.
"Boooo…" Weiss said with a thumbs down.
Nova sighed, "Fine if you win then you get to order me to do any one thing."
"Anything…?" Weiss asked with a devious smirk.
Nova felt a cold chill run down his spine, "…Yes… within my limits."
Ruby and Weiss shared a look, "Oh hell yes!"
"If I win then I get nothing because I'm your teacher for today," Nova said folding his arms.
Ruby raised her hand again, "Do we get snack breaks?"
"No."
"Aw…" she sulked.
Nova had to resist the urge to give her a treat just so she would stop giving him the world's most adorable pout.
"Alright Jaune, you first." Nova pointed at him.
The boy looked startled, "Wah?! Why me?"
"Well firstly because I know your combat prowess the least here, and secondly because I need to know how strong the person who swore an oath to me is," Nova said smirking.
Jaune paled as he was slowly beginning to regret his decisions…
The blonde took up his sword and shield and prepared to face down Nova, who was simply standing still.
"Aren't you going to draw your weapon?" Jaune asked, which caused Ruby and Weiss to flinch.
"My baby got shattered remember? Besides… I've got enough power to fight without one." Nova said.
"But you'll eventually have to forge a new weapon right?" Weiss asked curiously.
"Yeah, someday. I'll need something stronger than Incindium metal because that got shattered by whatever the hell Onyx's sword was made of…."
"Well… if you're sure…" Jaune said.
Nova raised his right hand and beckoned him to 'come on', to which Jaune complied. The blonde dashed in, cautiously, his shield was guarded to his right and his sword angled on his left, such that the only openings in his guard were his legs. The stance impressed the dragon leader, Pyrrha really did a good job at training him to fight.
The moment Jaune was within Nova's radius of senses, he was blasted back instantly, barely having enough time to raise his shield to block the lightspeed fist that was rocketing toward him. The force of the impact resounded solidly off of the shield and sent the boy flying against the tree.
"Ow…" Jaune groaned as he got up from his position, rubbing his head. "What just happened…"
"Good form, you went in without knowing your opponent's power so you took up a stance to compensate for any circumstance, that's one of Pyrrha's specialties that she taught you, and you executed it perfectly. Not only that you reacted just enough to block my attack… and your aura withstood the force of the impact… very impressive blondie." Nova smiled folding his arms.
"… Thanks?" Jaune said sensing a 'but' somewhere in there.
"But!" there it was, "Your speed is rather slow and you're predictable. You've got good form but it's all textbook." Nova then pointed to Weiss, "Now ice-princess, it's your turn."
Ruby pouted at being last picked but Nova had a good reason for that.
Weiss smirked and took up a fencing stance.
"Alright, come at me then, I don't have all day."
"Gladly," Weiss complied summoning a glyph at her feet and using it to improve her speed so she effortlessly glided like a bullet through a vacuum at Nova.
Again, once she was in range, Nova caught her by her rapier and spun her around so she was dizzy. Weiss recoiled but recovered, summoning a giant white sword-wielding soldier to attack Nova. The attack caught the dragon off guard since he wasn't aware she could use summons like that.
The massive knight swung the sword down at him with a decent speed, not incredibly fast but the size of it made dodging difficult, so Nova opted for a more direct approach.
He caught the sword in his bare right hand then set the Knight on Fire. While Weiss was distracted by the spectacle Nova blindsided her with a roundhouse kick that sent her cratering into the floor, her aura fizzling.
"OW! NOT FAIR!" Weiss fumed as she dragged her face out of the broken concrete. The others winced at the damage Nova had done, Weiss' face looked a little bruised.
"Sorry your summoning caught me off guard, when did you learn to do that?"
"When you're stuck in your room with nothing to do… you tend to occupy yourself." Weiss explained.
"Ah…. Well then, Ruby now you're up."
The red leader jumped in excitement. "Yipee! I get to beat my boyfriend's face in!"
"Please don't sound so enthusiastic about it…" Nova deadpanned.
Without warning Ruby unsheathed Crescent Rose and Petal Burst into his range before he could extend his aura field, allowing her to get closer than anyone else. Nova's eyes widened in surprise as he narrowly evaded the blade of Crescent Rose that came within a hair's distance of his face.
"Holy shit Ruby did you get faster?" Nova asked incredulously.
Ruby chuckled, "Well maybe you shouldn't say I'm weak."
"I never said that! Just not strong enough!" Nova said defensively.
"Hmph, same difference," she stuck her tongue out before petal bursting into his range again, dipping around to his back.
This time Nova was ready as he spun around and tried to punch her, but she reacted just as quickly, dodging under the blow and sweeping at his legs. Nova jumped into the air and caught the blade, then flipped over and tried to dropkick on her head. Ruby just dropped Crescent Rose and flanked right and made for a punch, which narrowly missed Nova's blindside.
"What am I watching…" Jaune marvelled as he watched the two dance around each other in a brilliant display of finesse and skill.
"That's what two prodigies look like…" Weiss stated calmly.
"Alright enough playing around…" Nova said as he charged his aura, separating it to his speed and attack. His fist began to glow hot orange, he jumped out of the way of Ruby's deadly flourish of attacks and pirouetted on his heels, catching his weight on his toes before blasting himself at Ruby with rocket-like speeds.
The reaper was not prepared for her enemy to close the gap and tried to petal burst away but instantly felt aura rebound for overuse of her semblance, to which Nova capitalized and threw his fist at her face.
Ruby winced as the glowing orange fist of destruction was about to crash into her face when it stopped a fraction of a millimeter from her face. She was then caught off guard again when Nova wrapped his left arm around her and pulled her close, then pecked her on the nose before releasing her.
"How come she gets off easy?!" Jaune complained.
"Because she's the love of my life and I'd hate to be the reason her gorgeous face has a single blemish," Nova said folding his arms and smiling at Ruby to which she blushed furiously.
"Smooth…" Weiss said smirking.
"Anyway, Weiss your problem is almost the same as Ruby. You both are too heavily reliant on your semblances, and if either of them fails then you're thrown for a loop unable to react, or overuse them like Ruby and experience an Aura rebound. From this point on it's boot camp time!"
They all groaned.
"Seriously how much longer are we going to keep meditating?" Ruby complained as Nova observed them trying to manifest their aura upon command.
"As long as it takes, and if you have room to speak then you're not fully concentrating, so… FOCUS!" Nova reprimanded, and the red reaper pouted in response.
Their training was going rather steadily, with Weiss making a face like she had a stick lodged in her backside while Ruby was just fidgeting. Jaune on the other hand… well, he was making the most progress of them all surprisingly.
Nova wouldn't voice it verbally for fear of breaking their concentration, but Jaune's white Aura was beginning to slowly generate around him, flickering on and off like a discharging lightbulb. What was more surprising was the incredible physicality of it.
When he and Yang started, their auras were barely noticeable, like faint discolorations over their body, yet Jaune was manifesting full-blown coverage, a distinct white that was nigh luminescent. He could see why Ozpin placed so much faith in him… the boy had more than just a 'little' potential. He had enormous amounts of it.
It was a while before the trio fizzled out from exhaustion and rolled on the floor.
"I… beat… no more…." Weiss gasped as she struggled to stand from her position. Her knees wobbled like jelly.
"Too much… pain… why is it so hard?" Ruby asked looking positively ragged.
Nova chuckled as he helped them to their feet, "You're essentially reprogramming your brain to control aura actively and not instinctively. It's like telling yourself constantly that you need to move your own hands or breathe."
"Really? I don't feel all that tired… maybe a little hungry but not tired…" Jaune said shrugging as he got up.
Nova placed a hand on his shoulder, "You're a special case, my friend, I have no idea what amount of Aura you're packing but it's like a fucking truckload."
"Well… Pyrrha did use to say I had a lot of it…"
"And she was right… you progressed further than these two today… which is impressive on its own. Go get some rest you three, you earned it." Nova said folding his arms. He was about to deflate out of teacher mode and go back to being his usual chaotic self when Oscar showed up, looking a little worse for wear.
"Oh shit, almost forgot I was supposed to train you to kid," Nova said rubbing his head.
Oscar held his arm, "Um… Ozpin said I should just hear what you have to say, about today, and… YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!"
Nova looked confused, "Huh?"
"Sorry…" Oscar apologized, "He says I should challenge you to a duel? For you to gauge how you want to train me."
Nova nodded, "Yeah… I was going to have you take it easy since you look like you went through hell… but I guess if Oz says you can handle it…"
"Before we start… can you try not to hit my right shoulder? Yang threw one mean left hook on our sparring match and it's pretty sore…"
Nova flinched, "Alright, I won't throw any punches, so just come at me."
Oscar nodded and unfolded Ozpin's cane and rushed at him with a charge. Nova sighed as he noticed everything that was going wrong.
Oscar's stance was uneven, his direction of charge was off center and his balance was most certainly shaky. On top of it all the boy's base speed and stamina, while it looked above average to a normal person, probably due to his earlier training, was far from being anywhere near where they needed to be.
Nova calmly stepped to the side as Oscar rushed by him, then grabbed the boy by the collar and flicked his forehead.
"Alright kid… before we can even BEGIN to train you on fighting, you need to work on your body. Stamina and strength are key, speed comes secondary. It doesn't matter if you can outrun your opponent if you get tired before they do then you're done for. The first order of business is to race…" he looked at his other students, " … Jaune. Since he's the least tired and slowest of us all…"
"HEY!"
"If you beat him then you can train with us, or at least come close to beating him," Nova said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"But I'm starving…" Jaune complained.
"Nora will bring you some snacks later but right now Oscar is your priority. Don't pull any punches, that's an order." Nova instructed Jaune commandingly.
Jaune flinched and alerted, "Yes my prince!" he saluted to which Nova chuckled.
"I could get used to that…"
Ruby poked his cheek, "Don't… I don't want you getting a bigger head than you already have."
Nova feigned hurt, "I don't have a big head…"
"I don't know… judging by your looks I'd say you do," Yang said popping up from the doorway.
Nova turned red, "YANG!"
"Sorry couldn't help myself."
Ruby just tilted her head in confusion, "What does she mean?"
Nova covered Ruby's ears, "Don't corrupt her innocence!"
"I'm not the one who's going to be doing that. I want to be an aunt!" Yang laughed.
Nova paled, "Kill me…"
"They already tried that!" Weiss yelled joining Yang in the laughter.
-Branwen Bandit Encampment-
Raven sat in her tent sipping tea, she'd awakened that morning with a dread feeling creeping down her spine, a cold sweat and nightmares of death and pale faces, of the witch she dared not speak the name aloud. Something was approaching on the wind, a dark calling… like a plague drifting in the air, she could smell the death from a mile away… but the question remained whether it was hers… or someone else's, and the herald of the end's identity was unknown.
Her contemplation was interrupted when Vernal came through the door in a mild panic.
"Raven… we have a problem…" Vernal said looking nervous.
Of course… her dreams of forboding were never wrong, sometimes she wondered if they were remnants of Ozpin's power, lingering in her thoughts as if he were saying, 'You'll always be my pawn'.
"It's Salem… she's found us…" Vernal continued.
This time, the very mention of the name sent waves of panic over the bandit leader, but she dared not show it. How could they have found her? She worked so hard to remain hidden… to distance herself from their conflict… yet somehow they still followed her around, like bloodhounds tracking her scent.
She sighed and donned her mask. Upon stepping outside she saw four people… all of whom were more than familiar faces to her from the recordings of the Fall of Beacon, except one.
"What do you want? How did you even get in here?" Raven glared through her mask.
Cinder smiled dangerously, "Your men here just happened to recognize the power of a Maiden."
Raven's eyes widened as she realized that there were a number of her tribe missing from the gathering, not just one or two… but several.
"You've been on our master's list for some time now… It took a great deal to track you down… I hope you understand we can't just allow you to walk away now that we've found you…" Arthur said smiling.
Raven rolled her eyes. What was it with Salem's henchmen and speaking in poetic demands, as if they couldn't just speak normally without smiling like it was the funniest thing in the world to toy with people's lives?
"I know all about your master, but I don't believe we've met," Raven folded her arms and stepped down from her tent.
"We're the people you should be afraid of," Mercury said smugly to which Raven had the urge to tear his throat out where he stood. She could easily do it, and none of them would be able to stop her… except for Cinder. Thus begins the same dilemma she had with that dragon girl… boy… she had trouble wrapping her head around the whole ordeal, if a fight were to break out, there would be catastrophic levels of collateral damage.
"Oh really… I highly doubt that…" Raven countered looking unamused.
"Oh yeah?! Well, you should ask…!"
"QUIET!" Cinder yelled shutting him up.
"That's what I thought," Raven snarled.
"I'm Cinder Fall, this is my associate Arthur Watts, and my two disciples, Mercury and Emerald," Cinder introduced them all.
Raven felt her stomach churn, these people were nauseating.
"Let's see… two children, you've tricked into helping you… a disgraced Atlesian scientist… and a Fall Maiden whose last name is so fitting she probably picked it out herself. Judging by the way you four paraded in here, I'm assuming you have a serious case of megalomania… am I right?"
"Well technically I'm a doctor, but the rest was spot on!" Arthur praised, stroking his mustache.
"You know why we're here, don't you?" Cinder sauntered up to Raven. "Unless you don't in which case…" Fall drew a ball of fire in her hands and her eye began to glow.
Raven sighed, "Vernal!"
The girl in question stepped out of the tent in front of them all.
"So this is the long lost Spring Maiden… prove it." Cinder demanded.
Raven nodded at Vernal who sighed before closing her eyes and channeling her powers. The winds began to pick up speed and soon enough the cloudless sky began riddled with storm clouds, threatening to break down around them in chaos.
Cinder smiled, "Good… now you can choose to cooperate with us or… we can do this by force."
"What do you want?"
"We want the Relic of Knowledge that's hidden in Haven. To get that we need your little pet here…"
"Firstly, why would I cooperate with you? Secondly, walking into Haven isn't an easy task."
Arthur chuckled, "That's where you're wrong, you see… Leonardo Lionheart is one of us… he'll open the doors for us from the inside!"
Raven held in her surprise, "Well… that certainly changes things… but my brother is there, and he won't exactly just hand you the relic."
"While Qrow Branwen is on our list of people we very much want dead… he won't be an issue against us all…" Arthur explained, "That being said… his presence does provide a problem… it might alert the kingdom, and that will make Onyx's invasion with the White Fang more difficult…"
Raven this time audibly gasped, "So… the rumors are true, you're working with that monster."
Cinder smiled, "Yes… and given the nature of his relationship to our Queen, well… let's say if you don't cooperate… burying the bodies will be the least of your worries."
Raven began to sweat under her mask. Cinder Fall was one thing, the girl was nothing more than a glorified matchstick, but Onyx 'Steelmane' was another problem of its own.
Not many people knew his real last name, or if he even had one, but the few that do know him somewhat, know him by another name, 'The Shadow Demon of Vacuo'.
A title only those that fought during the great Faunus war knew about. She didn't fight in those wars, they were before her time, but she heard the name off of the elders around Mistral. The tales of a monster that was taller than the trees, hulking like a bear and moved more silently and deadly than any assassin, yet when it came down to it, he would tear the battlefield open like a tin can in an industrial sawmill.
The battle of Blood Desert on a patch of sand on the east coast of Vacuo. This battle was never recorded in human history books because it was something both Humans and Faunus tried to erase from history. The tales of how one man ripped apart an entire squadron of foot soldiers, human and Faunus alike with his bare hands. They say the sand there was permanently stained red with the blood of the fallen, soaked into the ground like a permanent reminder of the atrocities that were committed there, despite both sides trying to cover it up like a secret… because events were too much to handle… and could break the thin fabric of peace they were so desperately trying to weave.
The only reason she was aware of this fact was from the words of an old woman, from the Calavera family who fought in the wars herself… Of course, the woman could've just been crazy… but after hearing about what happened at Beacon herself, well she wasn't about to test her theories.
History books had many missing chapters on both sides, and each of those chapters went missing for a reason… Perhaps the only people that still had access to the truth of the world were the ancient Faunus families and their dedication to keeping records… wherever they were…
Raven bit her lip, "How about this… if Lionheart is on your side as you say… then why not have him invite Qrow over for some reason, like dinner or a party… and then we take him out there?"
"Hmm… yes… but the problem is he's not alone…" Arthur pondered.
"He has those students with him! He has Ruby!" Emerald pointed out.
"And if we cause a scene it will be a problem for when Onyx arrives with the White Fang…" Arthur explained.
"Then we wait for the full moon, the same night that the Fang get here, you invite them over and tear the place down and them in one fell swoop." Raven opted.
Cinder smiled dangerously, "Now that's a proposition I can get behind… the question is… are you willing to cooperate…"
Raven hesitated, "I-I need some time to think…"
"There is none, it's either you're with us, or against us!" Cinder threatened.
Raven flinched visibly, showing real signs of fear, not toward Cinder… but to the invisible aura of Onyx Steelmane that hovered in the air around her now that his name had been invoked.
"Alright…"
-Menagerie-
The party was sitting around the coffee table of the Belladonna household, sipping tea, and discussing their next course of action.
"Are you two sure about this?" Luna asked taking Blake's hand, they were discussing what to do on the Ilia matter.
Blake nodded, "She looked… scared. I think the Fang has something over her, forcing her to stay with them, but she needs my help… even if it's a trap, I have Adam with me," she pointed at the redhead who was silently nodding.
Sun felt his eyelid twitch, "Wait… since when were you two so chummy? Yesterday you were practically scared to death to be in the same room as him," he pointed at Adam accusingly.
Blake's ears flattened against her head and she let out a bashful smile, "We… sorted out our differences… sorta…"
"We've agreed to cooperate for the sake of the greater good, it makes no sense fighting against each other, and… I have a lot of mistakes to make up for…" Adam said looking Sun directly in the eye.
The adults could feel the tension between the two male Faunus.
"If you're going then I'll come with you," Sun insisted.
"No Sun, if this does end up being a trap then there are two ways this could go, first is that it's isolation and capture, in which case Blake and Adam can handle it. Discreetly." Sienna Khan said glaring at him.
"And the second way is that its to draw out our fighting power so they could attack our base… well here…" Sienna gestured to the ground, "In that scenario, we'll need the majority of our power here, to protect what we have."
"The moment they see the chance to rid the world of another prominent family, they will do it…" Luna snarled glaring at the table as if it was the offending party.
Sun simmered down, "That… does make sense… still doesn't make me feel any easier… we have all of us here, are we sure that's enough?"
"I'm a non-combatant, I'm not exactly equipped to fight, Sienna is injured, thus the only available fighters would be Kali, Ghira, blondie over there," she gestured to Bell who was calmly sipping her tea, "And you."
"What about Luna?" Sun asked.
"Mom and I won't be here… we're going back to the old mansion…" Luna said nervously, catching them all by surprise.
"Wait what? At a crucial time like this?! I thought that place was nothing but rubble?" Sienna was taken aback.
Luna and Elain shared a glance, "… Not exactly… if I'm right… then no one's touched our basement since the house was burned nine years ago."
"You had a basement?" Bell asked surprised, turning to Luna for clarity. The blue dragon just shrugged just as clueless.
"Did you think we would let our legacy and most important stuff just lying around? The Flareheart Manor has had a small underground storage room, accessible only by family members for generations. It's where we kept our family history, records of the past, things the world wanted to keep buried… and where Flint and I stored all of our… less than safe goodies." Elain said cheerfully.
They all gaped, "WHAT?!"
"T-That information! You mean, you know the missing history of Remnant?" Ghira asked in awe.
"I've never bothered to read it all, but I do know some things…"
"Care to tell us?"
"Ghira, just as you and Kali have been keeping certain things from your daughter, then I should be allowed my own family secrets. Besides, it's nothing incriminating, it's all just history." Elain said sipping her tea knowing fully well the bomb she just dropped on the room.
"EXCUSE ME?! Dad, what is she talking about?" Blake looked furious.
Kali and Ghira shared a glance, "We were planning on telling you for your eighteenth birthday… but, I guess now the cat's sorta out of the bag… no pun intended…" Ghira sighed.
"Dear, please calm down. It's a bit difficult to explain so we'll tell you everything after we settle this matter with the Fang." Kali said trying to be reasonable.
"But who knows how long that will take! I want answers!" Blake looked mortified.
Kali pinched Elain causing her to yelp, "See what you've caused?" the blue-haired doctor just chuckled.
"Your fault for keeping your heritage from her," Elain shrugged.
"What. Heritage." Blake seethed.
The others had shrunk back stepping out of the conversation.
"You see Blake… your mother and I… well more specifically your mother… hail from a rather particular line of Faunus… similar to the Flarehearts…" Ghira started.
Blake's eyes widened, "Then… the black cats from that story Luna's uncle told us…"
"You knew?" Kali looked alarmed.
"Luna's uncle, Mr. Wulf… he told us the truth about the Aspects of Remnant and the balance of the natural world… the original Faunus families and when he mentioned the Black Cats he looked to me and said they were the ones 'governing Menagerie'… I refused to believe he was talking about you guys but…" Blake gripped her arm tightly.
Kali and Ghira's faces fell, "Honey we didn't mean to hide it from you… it's just that… things were complicated, with the White Fang and…" she then looked at Elain, "I'm going to skin your brother alive when I find him."
Elain chuckled, "Go ahead, I'm not going to stop you… the asshole had it coming for making my kids live like street urchins for years"
Luna wanted to argue that point but she figured it was just siblings being siblings.
Blake shook herself, "… It doesn't matter… does this mean I'm like Luna? I've never manifested any powers… what am I?"
Kali bit her lip, and proceeded to explain, "Blake… you're not just a Belladonna, you're a Nightshade, that was my family name before I married your father. You're Blake Belladonna-Nightshade. And concerning powers…"
"Your semblance, honey, is an extension of your powers…" Ghira explained.
Blake's eyes widened, "What? But… Nova explained with the birthmarks… I don't have a birthmark on my left shoulder…"
"Darling you're not an Aspect, but you're quite close. Your shadow clones are a manifestation of our family's bloodline powers… essentially your semblance can give you similar power to that of a Shadowborn Aspect, but without manipulation of the dark itself… it's complicated, but with experience, you'll learn to use it properly." Kali explained.
Blake was confused, "Wait… how do you know so much about my semblance?"
"Because she has the same one, or rather had. Am I right Kali?" Elain said finishing her tea.
"Huh?!"
Kali smiled bashfully, "You caught me… When I had you, Blake… I lost the ability to use my semblance like the power had passed on to a new successor if that makes sense."
"Ugh, my head hurts…" Blake clutched her forehead.
"Look we can discuss your little family feud after we deal with the threat of imminent death that's looming over our heads huh?" Sienna said butting into the conversation.
They all nodded, "Right… sorry… so to summarize, Luna and Elain will be going to the Flareheart Manor, Sun, Bell, Blake, and Adam will be trying to gather supporters to the cause by day, then Blake and Adam will deal with Ilia while the rest of us bunker down and prepare for the worst-case scenario?" Ghira asked.
"Yup sounds about right. Alright on three, One! Two! Three! GO, TEAM!" Sun said holding his arms up in the air.
Nobody else followed him.
"Sheesh, tough crowd…"
-With Elain and Luna-
There they stood, at the base of the hill on which the Flareheart Estate stood. The once neatly cut lawn and paved pathway were now overgrown with grass taller than Luna. The trees had grown unruly and dense tendrils of vines were strung between the arcing canopy. The concrete path was ruptured and broken as the weeds had grown through the stone, shattering it into pieces, as if it were mother nature reminding them that she was queen.
"I... am kinda terrified to find out what's up there..." Luna said as she stared up at the densely overgrown walkway that hid the view of the mansion. Her memories of the place were few and far between, though she remembered walking down this path as a child.
Elain draped an arm over her daughter's head, "Me too sweetheart..."
The once tall gates that surrounded the perimeter were rusted and worn, the tall wall was cracked and broken, suggesting that even though the place was considered a memorial site by the community, not much care was taken into keeping the perimeter clean, anyone could walk in or out of the place.
"Oh, my poor walls... these cost a fortune to put down too..." Elain mumbled as she stroked the gates.
Luna felt her sweat drop, her mother clearly had her priorities in order.
"This wall is at least eight feet tall, how the hell did you kids get over this thing?" Elain marveled.
Luna shrugged, "I'm not sure... I was weak from using my powers so Nova was the one who made the jump..."
"HE JUMPED THIS THING?! HE WAS LIKE BARELY FOUR FEET TALL!" Elain exclaimed recalling her son as a child. "Your brother really worked miracles to save you two... I'll have to treat him when we get back..."
Luna smiled warmly, "He gave me more than I could ever ask for... speaking of which, how come you never spent much time with him when you came back? All he ever wanted to do was find you..."
Elain flinched, "It's not that I didn't want to... it's just... when you come back and find that your son that you left as a barely functional eight-year-old is now practically a fully functional, self-sufficient seventeen-year-old with a life of his own... it's hard to try to barge into that order... he felt like a stranger almost..."
Luna nodded understanding, "I know... but I think if you just sat with him and kept him company... he'd be more than happy to just have you around... what boy doesn't love his mother?"
Elain felt her heart break a little, "Y-you're right... I'll try to be more supportive when I see him again... I can't believe I'm taking parental advice from my own daughter..."
Luna giggled, "Come on mom, we're wasting daylight." the two Flarehearts opened the rusted gate and began the ascent to the manor.
Luna and Elain weren't sure what they were expecting when they saw the manor, but it certainly didn't match the fact that they were unprepared for the extent of the damages. The structure of the house had collapsed in on itself, the only things left standing were a few support pillars and a singular window frame. Everything else was collapsed into a heap of burnt rubble on the floor. The ground around the house was blackened as if the ashes of the tragedy had embedded themselves in the very earth. The once-proud cherry blossom tree that stood erect in the front yard was nothing more than a skeletal husk of its former self, its branches no longer baring a single leaf.
"How the hell are we going to get into the basement now? There's all this shit in the way..." Elain grumbled as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Allow me..." Luna stretched her hands forward and began to concentrate on the pile of rubble as a singular collective. Focusing not on the pieces but on the space that surrounded the pile. Her eyes began to glow bright cyan blue and then a massive mound of rubble was lifted into the air and tossed to the side, clearing the floor of the house.
Elain stood there gawking at her daughter, "Since when could you do that?!"
"Since Beacon, Nova had me training to endure the exhaustive properties of my power, to allow me to tap into my aura as a battery so I don't drain myself over small uses. It took a while but it's been getting easier to use, these... powers, your emotions are tied to them like hair triggers."
"You know... when I was studying yours and your brother's powers, I had no idea what yours did. His were self-explanatory. It was a trait that ran in Flint's family. But... you... yours were different, your birthmark was on your lower back, not your shoulder, and instead of manifesting elements, you seem to be able to manipulate matter and space... I designed the nanomachine serum to help you regulate it but... they'd do little else for you other than give you enhanced physical abilities."
"Where is that anyway? The serum that is." Luna asked curiously.
"I have it... but if you're getting ideas about using it, then the answer is no. Your body isn't capable of handling it yet, your brother survived due to his semblance but you... I'm terrified of what it could do to you."
"But didn't you design it? Isn't it safe?" Luna pressed on.
"Maybe, but it is still a prototype, his was easy to make, yours was complicated with too many variables. It's just not a risk I'm willing to take on my only daughter." Elain said with a tone that meant end of discussion.
Luna sighed, "Alright fine... so where is this basement?" she asked staring at the empty flat ground, it wasn't covered in grass like the rest of the land, it was hard blackened wood, which was surprisingly unburnt, just covered in soot from the rest of the house.
Elain stepped onto the floor and began walking, "Let's see... if memory serves me correctly, the kitchen was here... then the study was over..." she arrived at the far left side of the manor, "HERE!" she exclaimed stamping her heel hard on the ground. Instead of a solid wound sound like the rest of the house, a loud metal clang was heard.
"Okay now I just hope this thing still works..." she knelt onto the floor and began dusting away the black dust, until she found it, a sliding frame of wood lodged in the floor. It mirrored the rest of the floor, the only difference was there was a barely visible groove, just large enough to fit a pencil.
Elain then held up her index finger and her nail grew out a long claw, like that of a wolf. She then inserted it into the hole and raised the small block of wood to reveal a thumb scanner, which beeped to life the moment she lifted the wood. "AH PERFECT! It still works!"
Luna just marveled at what she was observing, the house she never knew apparently had a high tech lock to an underground basement.
Elain placed her thumb onto the scanner, which then beeped green after a few seconds. A loud cranking was heard like a machine whose gears hadn't been turned in ages. The floor began to separate and the floorboards opened up one by one until it revealed a sizeable rectangular hole with a staircase, which then lit up with white lights.
"Well, what're you standing around for silly! Come on!"
The staircase down seemed to go on for ages, leading Luna to understand that this wasn't just a 'small' basement as her mother told the others, but a much larger structure. It was after a few minutes did the duo finally arrive at an ornate mechanical door. The structure was a bright red, with silver dragons curling around the frame, and a larger dragon snaking across the horizontal center. The most interesting thing was not the decor but the dragon head that stuck out with its mouth open, in the place where a doorknob would go.
"...Annndd here's the problem. I can't open this door." Elain sighed.
"Why not?" Luna asked curiously.
"It's DNA locked. I designed the one upstairs but your grandparents put this one in. It only responds to the dragon bloodline. Your father usually opened it by spilling a drop of his own blood into the mouth of that..." she pointed to the dragon head.
Luna grimaced, she didn't like inflicting wounds on herself but... if the situation called for it. She stuck her hand into the maw of the dragon and cut her thumb on one of the razor-sharp fangs that lined the jaw. A single drop of blood dripped into the mouth and almost instantly the gears behind the door began to sound off, and move. Elain's ears twitched at the sound of bolts being removed from behind the door, and the great silver dragon that lined the center retracted until the entire door split down the middle and separated to reveal a medium-sized room with bright lighting.
The walls were lined with shelves filled to the edge with books, scrolls, and more recent looking lockboxes with varying sizes, but the most interesting thing was the flooring. It was like porcelain but much stronger since it showed no signs of cracking or age, yet it had been there for decades. It was a solid black with a large flame symbol carved into the center in what looked to be silver metal, half of the flame curled upward with the left half was a bending dragon.
"Mom is that..."
"Black jade flooring with the family crest carved in with white Incindium? Yeah... your grandparents were a little eccentric." Elain explained.
Luna made a humming sound, "How come we've never met them? Our grandparents that is."
"Your father's parents passed away sometime before you were born... they had a relatively late start in life... my parents are on less than speaking terms with me, besides they're all the way in Atlas so..." Elain said with a nonchalant shrug.
"You're going to have to explain all this family business at some point you know..."
"Only in the presence of your brother because you both need to hear it anyway."
The two began to look through the mountains of books and items, "What exactly are we looking for?" Luna asked.
"Well... your father and I were a little... extra... in the early days of our marriage and we may or may not have created a few devices that are less than safe... like... THIS!" she reached up and pulled off what looked to be an ordinary USB stick.
"A... flash drive?" Luna asked with a head tilt.
Elain chuckled, "Kinda, it's a different type of USB. A Universal Security Bypass. It's capable of breaking into and reprogramming any digital security system known to man, which includes data encryption. Just plug it into the nearest computer and bam! You got yourself into the system in seconds. The best part is it's untraceable... you can see why we had to keep this hidden." she pocketed the item into her lab coat. "We're mainly just looking through our old stuff to find anything useful..."
Luna felt her sweat drop, "Why would you even make something like that?"
"Why does anyone do anything? BECAUSE WE COULD!" Elain exclaimed with her finger pointed skyward.
Luna took up an interest in a stack of books that looked older than her, which the most likely were. The one she picked up had an ornate black cover with gold embroidery, it was titled 'The History of The Faunus'. She was barely a few pages in when she had to put it down and breathe for a few moments.
"Mom... this book... it's got information that you would never find in any history books... is this all... real...?" she asked showing her mother the book.
Elain took one look at it and flinched, "Oh... you found it... I was hoping I hid that thing better..."
"This tells a story about... the original homeland of the Faunus, every account of war or disagreement between the four kingdoms... and tells of a fifth one called... Gaia? Where all the Faunus originally came from... the four great families... the war that drove them apart... Randolf told us a summary but this is... what in the world...?"
Elain sighed, "I was really hoping to avoid this conversation... also I'm going to kill your uncle for this. The original homeland of the Faunus was torn apart by civil war and eventually the Grimm that came with it..."
"Civil war? I thought it was just the 'Great War'."
"Yeah, a Great War caused by an uprising of a particular clan of Faunus, the Blackpaw family. They were once our loyal aides to the throne, serving the Royal Family with peerless loyalty... all the more reason no one saw it coming when they killed the former king, your great, many times over, grandfather and staged a coup that tore the nation to pieces, driving those that supported the throne and those that were against it. It's all detailed in that book, from start to finish, how once the war was won and the enemy tribe was eliminated, forced into exile, that the Grimm came in droves, drawn in like moths to a flame, easily overpowering the already spent military of Gaia, driving our people into scattered separation as we were forced to flee to the other kingdoms. From there the rest is self-explanatory." Elain summarized.
Luna inhaled deeply, "That's a lot to take in..."
"Keep that book with you, it'll make it easier to explain to your brother once we find him."
Luna gently placed the book down and began to explore the rest of the room. Sitting in the corner under a white cloth was a strange-looking device. Luna pulled off the cloth to reveal what looked to be a high-tech standard mortar with a large ammunition drum attached to it.
"Uh... what's this...?" the dragon asked garnering her mother's attention.
Elain's face broke into an ear-splitting grin, "That! Oh, that thing brings back memories. It's a miniature-rocket propelled chainsaw cannon! It fires off small chainsaws, working on special ammunition designed your father."
"WHY WOULD YOU MAKE A CHAINSAW CANNON?!"
"Duh, because some situations require the use of chainsaws fired in rapid succession! Like that one time... yeah that was awesome..." Elain smiled remembering her past.
"I'm scared to ask..." Luna said realizing just what type of crazy her mother was.
"OH FOUND IT!" Elain said as she pulled off a lockbox from the shelf and opened it via fingerprint scanner. It was extremely large, mimicking the size of a large crate. The wolf Faunus began digging through the contents, pulling out item by item.
"No... no... not this one... ooh this could be good..." she said holding up a small sphere. "Pocket-sized mini-nuclear grenade! A fraction of the size of a real nuclear bomb with half the explosive power! And I have like seven!" she pulled out a string of similar spheres on a belt.
Luna paled, "Please don't accidentally set one off..."
The woman just tossed the belt on the ground with no care in the world making Luna mentally regret coming in the room with her.
"AHA! Here it is!" Elain pulled out a large block of something wrapped in cloth.
"What's that...?"
She unwrapped the cloth to reveal a large chunk of translucent metal, it was radiating light and seemed to refract multiple colours. It gave off a familiar warmth.
"Diamond grade White Incindium, a special metal alloy of the original Incindium recipe that our ancestors created. It was not only virtually impossible to create, let alone fuse the toughness of diamond with the strength of Incindium while finding the perfect balance, but it also took seven years to make just this amount... it's the greatest creation your father and I ever made, and our most valuable." Elain said placing her hand on the block that was roughly half the size of a mini-fridge.
Luna gaped at the metal, running her hands over the smooth surface. It felt like a real diamond yet it radiated its own warm and sounded like metal when touched. She tried picking it up to find that it was incredibly light.
"What... how...?" she marveled.
"When two geniuses work together... miracles can be achieved. We never tried again because not only was this so difficult that it absorbed seven years of our life, we're not entirely sure we could replicate the process. There were too many variables involved and it felt like magic just to accidentally get it right." Elain explained.
"How would you forge something like this?" Luna marveled.
"You would need to be able to melt diamond... well maybe not quite that high since it's an alloy, but theoretically you would need temperatures of above four thousand degrees celsius... which we don't have the capabilities of doing safely..."
"Then how did you create it? Wouldn't you need those temperatures to create the alloy?" Luna asked.
"That's the thing, your father's brother, your uncle Quartz was capable of molding any gem he touched with his semblance, meaning we only had to operate under the temperatures for Incindium which were just a few thousand, but the problem is..."
"Uncle Quartz is dead..." Luna finished. "So how are we going to use this?"
Elain shrugged, "Your brother might be able to... he is a living furnace."
Luna nodded, understanding, "Well it's worth a try..."
They packed up a few more things before they prepared to leave when Luna almost forgot the book. In her haste she grabbed it only for it to slip out of her hand and crash onto the floor... and a piece of folded paper fell out.
"Huh...? What's this?" she inspected the paper curiously. It was a single page, the words were slightly faded but it was easy to make out against the yellowing paper. On it was a list of names bound by a distinct structure.
"This is... our family tree!" Luna exclaimed drawing her mother's attention.
Elain scurried over to investigate. Indeed on the paper listed out the members of the Flareheart family dating all the way back to the first king, detailing their marriages and children.
"Well now... that's interesting..." Elain said as her eyes landed on what looked to be a branch family of the Flarehearts, spanning off from Flint's grandmother, Luna, and Nova's great grandmother, who apparently remarried... a human!
"This... changes... a lot of things..." Luna said gasping.
Elain folded the piece of paper and tucked it back into the book, "Come on, we don't have too much time to ponder family trees, we've already spent too long here."
Luna checked her scroll to find that they'd been in there for more than six hours, "Oh shit! I hope the others are alright..."
What did they find on the paper? What other secrets are hidden in that book? Feel free to speculate.
Until Next time!
