"Hmm… Fuji…Maru…Old Man… Muramasa…" the woman mumbled to herself, half-awake before her eyes immediately widened and her body jolted up explosively as past events came rushing back to her "W-what? What happened? Where am I?"

"Let's see. Eyes, hair, nose, mouth, ears" Musashi mumbled to herself as her hands roved all over her head. Satisfied with what she found, her hands then moved to the lower parts of her body "Arms, legs, body, tits. Good, they're all here. I'm still alive"

Relief washed all over the woman before panic took over once more as she realized just then that she wasn't alone. Slowly turning her head to her left, she saw that a man with red eyes and black hair was sitting on a log across a campfire, watching her with a wary gaze. The man was wearing a gray dress shirt with a pair of black dress pants and a pair of black dress shoes to complete his outfit.

In the span of a single second, Musashi immediately grabbed one of her katanas, unsheathed it, jumped up and pointed her weapon at the man before shouting, "Who the hell are you?! And where's Amber?!"

Rather than be intimated by her threat, the man simply continued to poke the fire in front of him with a stick with a chuckle as he stared at Musashi.

"Name's Qrow. As for Amber, she's over there" Qrow gestured with his head to the side, where the woman in question was laying, head on a backpack and body covered with a small blanket.

Narrowing her eyes at the newcomer, Musashi warily made her way towards her new companion, kneeling down to get a better grasp on her condition. A small smile formed on her face as she realized Amber was still alive before being replaced by a frown as she realized how weak her breathing and pulse was at the moment.

"Yeah, she's alive. Barely" came the voice of the old man.

"What happened to her?" Musashi asked, a look of worry forming in the woman's eyes.

"I should be asking you that" Qrow answered "When I got there, the two of you were already down and there were three of them. But for some reason, I can barely remember what any of them looked like"

"We were… ambushed. They took us by surprise when her horse just… lost its mind all of a sudden" Musashi said, recalling the past event as she traced the scars that marred Amber's face. Scars that were most definitely not there before. Musashi grit her teeth in frustration as she replayed the attack over and over in her mind, "The ones who attacked us. What happened to them?"

"Your guess is as good as mine" Qrow answered with a shrug "I managed to stop whatever it was they were trying to do but before I knew it, they just vanished. Like they were never here"

"What, like magic?" Musashi asked with a scoff.

"What do you know about that?" Qrow asked as he eyed the woman with a suspicious gaze.

"What, magic? Everyone has them, right? Those things called… Um… Semblance. That's it. Semblance and Aura" Musashi answered as she sat down opposite Qrow on a nearby log.

"That's not magic" Qrow said, much to the woman's confusion as she tilted her head.

"Of course it's magic. What else could it be?" Musashi argued "Amber told me that it's something everyone has that lets them do amazing things. Or that's the gist of what I got, anyway"

"The gist of what you got? Who are you, exactly?" Qrow asked, suspicion in him growing.

"Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself, have I?" Musashi thought aloud before pointing to herself with a wide smile "My real name is a bit of a tongue twister so you can just call me Miyamoto Musashi. Or Musashi, for short"

"Musashi, huh? That's an unusual name" Qrow added "I take it you're not from around here?"

"Yeah, you could say that" the woman answered as she rubbed the back of her head before she looked towards Amber's prone body "You a friend of Amber's?"

"More like friend of a friend. We've never met, personally but a friend asked me to look after her. Tipped me off that she was going to be ambushed" Qrow answered as he stared at the unconscious Maiden in frustration "Even then, I was too late"

"And now? What's the plan after this?" Musashi asked

"Now, I take her back to that friend I was telling you about" Qrow replied "Maybe he'll have some idea on how to help her"

"Not without me, you're not" Musashi added

"Not my call to make" Qrow argued with a shake of his head

"Yeah? Well, tough. I'm coming with, whether you like it or not" Musashi countered, eyes firm "I may not have known Amber that long yet but she's… a friend. She saved my life once and I owe her for that, if nothing else"

"Fine" Qrow replied, seeing the futility in arguing about the matter with the woman as he looked up at the shattered moon "You should get some sleep. It'll be two days, three at the most before we get to Argus"

"Argus? You mean the city with a port?" Musashi asked, excitement welling up inside her at the thought of such visiting a new place

"That's the one" Qrow replied as he took a sip from a hip flask "Hopefully, we can secure a private bullhead back to Vale but a public one shouldn't cause too much trouble"

"About that…" Musashi started, a nervous smile having crept onto her face "To travel to this… Vale place, do you need some kind of identification, perhaps?"

"Yeah, obviously" Qrow replied, confused at such a question.

"Then, we might have a problem"

"Can't say I'm surprised" Qrow mumbled to himself as he looked at the woman "What is it?"

"I don't have any… identification…" Musashi said as she looked away guiltily.

"…Hah?"

[/]

Having lived over a hundred lifetimes – and at this rate, he was doomed to live a hundred more – the Headmaster of Beacon Academy had certainly been through his fair share of stress-inducing events, with the most recent one being a call he had received from a trusted subordinate of his. It was because of that call that Beacon's Headmaster was currently sitting behind his desk, in his office in the dead of night, waiting for call in front of him to finally patch him through to his fellow Headmaster in Atlas Academy. Seconds passed before a face appeared on the screen in front of the old Immortal.

"Ozpin? Is something wrong?" the person on the other line asked as he checked the time on his watch "It's the middle of the night"

"I'm aware, old friend, and if circumstances weren't so dire, I would have happily waited for the morning to make this call" Ozpin said as an apologetic smile formed on his face "I received a call from Qrow not too long ago. He has made contact with our Fall Maiden, Amber"

"That's good" the man said "Are they on their to you as we speak?"

"They are but certainly not in the way that I'd have wanted" Ozpin said, pausing for a moment before continuing "It seems Amber was ambushed and from Qrow's latest development, she has yet to regain consciousness"

"Damn it" came the curse from the man on the other end as he slammed his fist on his table.

"It would have been fine had the development ended there, General, but according to him, the young Maiden seems to be on the brink of death" Ozpin added, a grim look on his face "They are on their way to Argus at this very moment and should arrive there within the next few days. Which is why, James-"

"Say no more, Ozpin" James answered, understanding dawning on him "I'll be sure to have the soldiers on the ground be on the lookout for Qrow. I'll also prepare a private Bullhead for him to travel to Vale"

"Thank you, old friend" Ozpin said as James replied with a nod "There is one other matter. That… machine you told me about, is it ready?"

The General took a deep breath before he answered the Headmasters' question, "Yes, it is. It would also be able to act as a life support system. Until, at least, we're able to find a suitable candidate for Amber's powers"

Ozpin frowned at the thought of pushing such a burden on someone so young before he pushed such doubts to the back of his mind, "Thank you, James. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how important that we have Amber in our midst, preferably alive and well"

"Of course. I'll inform my people in Argus first thing in the morning" James said "Good night, Ozpin"

"Good night, James" said the Beacon Headmaster, shutting his terminal off as he leaned back on his chair "Safe travels, Qrow"

[/]

"Things will be fine, I'm sure" Musashi said, as she travelled the roads of Mistral with Qrow by her side and Amber on her back "You just gotta stay positive, right?"

"The power of positivity isn't going to help us secure a ride to Vale, especially if you don't have any sort of identification" Qrow argued as she adjusted the Maiden's position slightly "Especially not with my Semblance"

"Geez, not a very bright person, are you?" Musashi commented before the pair came across a split in the road "So, where to now?"

"Well, according to this map, we should turn left here if we want to get to Argus" Qrow replied

"Then, left it-" Musashi said before she cut herself off "Wait, what's that in the distance?"

"What?" Qrow asked as he followed her gaze. Squinting his eyes, the old huntsman could barely make out a plume of smoke rising in the distance. Checking the map in his hands, Qrow cursed, "There's a village not far down this road. If that smoke is anything to go by, it's probably the Grim. That or bandits"

"We have to help them" Musashi said but before she could run off Qrow quickly held the woman back by the shoulder.

"No, we don't" Qrow argued

"What?!" Musashi asked, surprise and a hint of anger forming on her face.

"Look, I get it. You want to save them but right now, my main priority is getting Amber here the help she needs" Qrow said, not backing down from the glare Musashi was sending him.

"Amber wouldn't hesitate to help that village" Musashi countered

"Yeah, well she's not exactly in the position to back up that argument now, is she?" Qrow said "Look, even if you did went to the village to help, it'd just be a waste of effort. For all we know, everyone there could be dead right now"

"I'm not leaving anyone behind" Musashi continued arguing as the image of a certain black-haired boy came to mind and the thought of what he would do given the same situation.

"Alright, say you do go. What are you gonna do when you run into a bunch of bandits? You gonna fight them with Amber on your back?" Qrow challenged even as a look of frustration formed on Musashi's face.

"Fine, then you take care of her until I get back" Musashi said as she shoved the Maiden into Qrow's hands

"You sure about this?" Qrow asked as he gave the unconscious Maiden a piggyback ride.

"Not but I'm sure that if you wanted to do something to either of us, you'd have done it by now" Musashi answered.

Qrow hesitated as he stared at the woman in front of him, "Look, I can't go with you because Amber is too important for us to lose right now but I will wait here for you. One hour, that's the most I can spare"

"Thanks. I'll be back soon" Musashi said with a toothy grin as she sprinted towards the source of the smoke. The path took her through a patch of trees before she came upon two guard towers and a wooden gate or rather, the remains of a wooden gate. Cursing to herself, Musashi drew her weapons as she cautiously took through "Hello? Is anyone there? Are there any survivors here?"

"Damn. Seems Qrow was right" Musashi said, seeing nothing but buildings that had been burned down all around her. Those that weren't didn't seem to be in any better shape, with giant holes being where their doors should be and windows having been smashed from the outside. Even so, the woman refused to stop searching every house that hadn't been burned down. Eventually, she reached the other end of the village, where a gate similar to the one she stepped through stood, also destroyed. Cursing to herself, the young woman quickly turned around to make it back to Qrow and Amber before her instincts screamed at her to dodge. Jumping back, she narrowly missed a blade that had aimed to relieve her of her head.

"Who are you?!" Musashi asked, weapons raised and in a fighting stance as she studied the person in front of her. The woman – for it was a woman, if the breasts and the long bushy hair were any indication – held a blood red katana in her hands while wearing a black and red outfit with gauntlets on both her arms, a pair of leggings in addition to the black heels she wore. What stood out the most, however, was the mask she had on her face. Eerily, it reminded Musashi of the Demonic Beasts she's been facing ever since stepping foot into this world, "Are you the one responsible for what happened to this village?!"

Musashi's grew irritated when she received no answer. Instead, her opponent simply entered into a fighting stance as she pointed the katana at her.

"You want a fight? Fine. I'll give you one" Musashi exclaimed before dashing towards her opponent without so much as a warning, her twin blades glinting in the morning sun before they clashed with the woman's blood colored weapon. The two women exchanged swift strikes, both of them expertly blocking and parrying attacks from the other. The tide of battle changed quickly, however, as Musashi started getting used to her fighting style and that fact was made more evident when her opponent jumped back to gain some distance from the samurai. "Hmph. What's the matter? Is that all you got?"

"You're strong" the woman said, sheathing her blade as the chambers on her scabbard rotated "You should join my tribe. We welcome the strong such as yourself"

"Finally, she speaks" Musashi said, choosing to outright ignore the woman's invitation but not without letting her guard down "The villagers. Did you kill them?"

"That would have been pointless. No, we took them"

"Where?" Musashi asked, her grip on her weapons tightening.

"To my tribe, of course" the woman answered as she pointed towards the direction of the forest beyond the village's destroyed gate.

"Thanks for the info" Musashi quickly said, turning around in the direction her opponent just pointed. Before she could get far, however, the woman dropped down in front of her, weapon drawn once more only this time, it was green instead of red.

"Where do you think you're going?" the woman asked

"To save the villagers, duh. Sorry but I'm on a tight schedule here. I'll settle for kicking your ass another day" Musashi quipped only for her opponent to be unfazed by her words.

"You think I'd just let you do that?" the woman challenged

"What do you have planned for them, anyway?" Musashi asked, growing more exasperated the longer this discussion went on.

"We're going to hold them for ransom, of course. The Kingdom of Mistral is sure to pay a nice amount for the release and safety of their people" the woman added. In response, Musashi could only sigh at the woman's answer

"Seriously? That's why you're doing this? Pretty dumb, wouldn't you say?" Musashi challenged

"Excuse me?" the woman asked, more confused than angry at her response

"I mean, if it's money you want, just work a job like a normal person. Open up a food stall" Musashi replied as she snapped her fingers "You know, you could open up a travelling udon stall. I bet you'll make a fortune in a month, two tops"

The woman was speechless for a moment, to say the least, before a small laugh escaped her lips, "That's certainly something nobody's ever said to me before but I must decline. This world is not one that is kind to the weak. Only the strong deserve to live in it"

Before Musashi could open her mouth to argue that sentiment, she was forced to raise her blades as her opponent came rushing towards her. Fortunately for the samurai, she was able to react in time to the attack but what was surprising was the fact that her opponent's blade this time was coated in electricity, a fact that caught her off-guard as a jolt of electricity coursed through her body.

"Okay, I guess the time for talk is over" Musashi mumbled as she distanced herself from her opponent. Swords drawn, Musashi leapt towards her opponent as her twin blades met her opponent's own, with the attack sending the woman skidding back a few feet. Not willing to relent just yet, the young samurai pressed her attack as heavy blows followed one after another.

"You're done!" Musashi exclaimed as she tried to take advantage of an opening her opponent left due to her continuous onslaught only for shock and awe to form on her face as the masked woman suddenly took off to the skies with thunder clouds gathering overhead, "This is… just like what happened to Amber…"

"You're strong, girl, but even you can't hope to match strengths with a Maiden" the woman said before hurling two fireballs towards Musashi. Swiftly dodging the attack, the young samurai was unprepared for what came next as her masked opponent suddenly appeared on the ground before her. Quickly putting her guard up, Musashi was then blasted with a powerful blast of wind that sent her flying into a building behind her.

"Ugh… What was-" Musashi groaned as she stood up amid the broken floorboards but before she could understand exactly what happened, her surroundings suddenly exploded as bolts of lightning rained down on her position from the sky

[/]

"Ma'am?" Emerald asked as she cautiously approached Cinder

"Yes, Emerald?"

"What are our plans now?" Emerald asked before quickly adding, "If you don't mind me asking, that is"

"Not at all" Cinder asked and it was the calm tone that the dark-haired woman was speaking in that had both Emerald and Mercury exchanging nervous glances "You two seem nervous. Why is that?"

"W-well, we thought you'd be… furious since we weren't able to finish off the Fall Maiden" Mercury answered.

"A logical assumption but one you need not concern yourself with. Worry not. One way or another, the full power of the Fall Maiden will be mine" Cinder added as the trio trekked their way through the woods to reach a nearby camp of Faunus "For now, we should just do our best to… convince Adam that our cause benefits both parties"

"Yes, ma'am" the two teens answered as they finally reached the White Fang camp

[/]

Raven continued her assault for a few more seconds as before the woman breathed a sigh of relief. Floating down to the ground, she dusted herself off as she looked at the scene of her onslaught. Satisfied with what just occurred, Raven made to return to her tribe before the rubble behind her exploded. With instincts honed through years of being a skilled Huntress, the Maiden immediately jumped back as she drew her blade and entered into a fighting stance.

"What. The. Fu-" the curse was barely able to leave the woman's mouth before she had to dodge a massive blade that came crashing down towards her. Even with years of travelling the world of Remnant, this was certainly a first for the Spring Maiden. In front of her stood a giant that was at least 10-foot tall. Not only that, the giant had four arms and each arm held a blade that was just as big. To add to this bizarre string of events was the fact that this giant seemed to be protruding from the ground from the waist up and at the center of it all was the woman whom Raven thought had defeated just mere seconds ago.

"Time for Round Two" Musashi exclaimed, raising her twin blades as the giant behind her did the same.

[Chapter END]

A/N: Wow, that was fun to write. Really, I had a good time writing this chapter. Well, more the second half than the first. I wasn't really sure how to write the interaction between Qrow & Musashi so, I just did the best I could. Hope you guys like it. That and the battle between Raven and Musashi. Although, I feel like the pace is moving a bit fast. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I would also like to answer some of the reviews you've posted regarding how I seem to have nerfed Musashi a lot in Chapter 2. Yes, I admit. I made a mistake. A huge mistake. As reviewer "Peacemaren" pointed out, I did not have Musashi use any of her class skills and the fact that her 'Magic Resistance A' should have most likely blocked any attempt by Emerald to use her Semblance on her. That and also the fact that Musashi did not use any of her skills. I would like to say that I thought this through but the reality of it is actually quite simple:

I forgot. That's right. I pulled a David Benioff & DB Weiss. I literally forgot that she had Passive Skills as well as the existence of Class Skills. In hindsight, it should have been an obvious thing to include and even now, I'm cursing myself that I just… did not remember to include any of it. This oversight is simply unacceptable since Musashi is my favorite Servant in FGO.

But you guys and gals can rest assured that I plan to have Musashi address this particular problem in the next chapter so, stay tuned. I was planning to finish the Musashi vs Raven fight this chapter but I thought, I'm gonna finish it in Chapter 4, instead.

If anyone's wondering, yes, that is her Noble Phantasm. I'm a bit confused from reading about it in the Wiki, saying that it's a 'side-effect of her sword's pressure' so, I'm just gonna make it appear physically during her time in Remant.

As always, faves, follows, and reviews are always appreciated.

NoXIV Signing Off