I have a business speech/awards ceremony I have to host and speak at on the 30th September, so that whole week will be no fanfiction as I have to prep, plan and perform, then deal with clients after, break down the show and transport all the equipment back afterwards.

That'll mean no updates on 27th Sept – 3rd Oct inclusive, just to forewarn you all.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 103

Merlot.

Ruby couldn't believe it – couldn't accept it! Merlot was the one who helped her, the one who kept her secret, the one who took her into the Archives, who taught her the secrets of the Collegium and who was in charge of their research against the very monsters he controlled. He was an Arcanist of Vale! Why was he trying to destroy it, and how had he destroyed Menagerie if he was all the way over here? She was so convinced she must be wrong that it took Weiss repeating his name to make it sink in.

He knew. He knew what she was, who she was and what she could do. He also knew she was being sent out to find his people! Her head spun. Ruby had to steady herself on a nearby tree. The bark pressing into her skin grounded her, but only just. The fear remained.

Would he rat her out?

There was no reason not to if he was caught. It would be easy for him to twist the knife at the last second; get back at the one who found him. Her lips were dry but her mouth the opposite. Ruby swallowed, hands shaking slightly. Qrow's landed on her shoulder, and he looked down on her with concern writ across his face.

"He knows!" she wheezed. "He knows!"

"The Collegium won't take any chances, Ruby. They'll kill him before he can open his mouth."

"And what if they don't?" she hissed. "What if they want to make sure there aren't more, or find out how many people could make one of those rods? What if they want to interrogate him to find out where his research is hidden so no one else can stumble on it?"

What then? Merlot would crack under pressure – or he wouldn't have a choice if they used the serum on him. He'd lose his mind, and in the he might just let slip her secret in the process. Anything to buy himself a second of peace. Ruby had seen it time and time again. Sometimes the guards would beat you just to make you throw out some names, because when the pain was too much you'd give up anything to make it stop.

It would work here, too. The White would be in such a panic they'd forget Merlot entirely and chase after her. That would be doubly so since Merlot had been her mentor and they'd probably assume she was in on it all from the start. She was a Wildmage after all. They were evil.

"Ruby." Qrow shook her sharply. "Ruby. Calm down."

How could she be calm? Merlot was there; Merlot was in charge of the Grimm; Merlot knew too much.

Merlot had to die.

That was it. Simple. He… He had to die – in the attack, she meant. Though sticking a knife in his back at any time would do. Ruby licked her lips nervously. Yang had killed. Oh, her sis never said it, but you didn't run with Junior's lot without having to kill someone. Ruby hadn't, but only because she was so small and light her skills had led in other directions. It couldn't be too hard, though. Could it? Stab, twist, rip out and run. If he didn't have an Emerald Arcanist on hand, he'd bleed out. If she got it in his heart, he wouldn't have a chance even if there was one.

It would be enough for an accident to happen during the battle. If she was allowed in the battle. For one, she was young and inexperienced and two, she could be compromised and kept out of it because they were suspicious of her connection to Merlot. If that happened, she'd have no way to ensure he died. And if he was taken back alive…

"Ruby." Qrow said her name under his breath, shaking her out of her panic-induced state. "Ruby, listen. Whatever you're thinking, stop. We can't go in there against so many people."

"I can. I can-"

"No." He planted a second hand on her other shoulder, this time holding her in place. "Don't be so reckless. Glynda will kill him. She won't take the chances he could control the Grimm from within captivity and harm the Collegium."

"What if he's written things down? He's Azure. He loves secrets. He has mine!"

"We'll deal with that when and if it happens."

When and if? When the entire Collegium came down on her head? When the White subtly sent people out to kidnap Yang, dragged her back and threatened to kill her if Ruby didn't surrender to them? She knew Qrow was trying to protect her – she even knew why! – but this wasn't the way to do it.

"How would you even get to him?" Qrow asked. "He has Grimm in the camp and by the looks of it, specifically to stop you being able to sneak in. He's surrounded by Arcanists. Leave it to me, Ruby. I will be in the attack. I'll hunt him down and personally put him down before anyone can think of taking him alive. Have faith."

Faith? How unfair was that! Ruby almost laughed. He was saying she had to trust her and Yang's life to him or she was a bad person. She trusted him, but there was a difference between trusting someone to be a good person and betting your life on them being able to beat the odds like this.

"What do we do now?" Weiss asked. "How do we contact or summon the White?"

The question reminded her suddenly that other people were there, though Weiss and Maria had no idea what their hushed conversation was about. Weiss probably assumed it was panic over her mentor being a Rogue, and the idea she'd be blamed with him.

Even that wasn't impossible.

"We'll need to head back to the forest's edge and make a signal." Qrow said. "Glynda has people looking out for it. Once it's seen, she'll move a force out to meet with us and we'll have to lead them back here to attack."

"And expect Merlot and his people to not notice or move in that time?"

"It's the best we have. Research into portals or teleportation is forbidden-" Qrow was interrupted by Maria's snort. "The potential for misuse is too high."

"More like the difficulty in controlling such a person is too high." the old crone said. "Potential for misuse. Pah. A child could misuse a fork into another's eye, and we don't force them to eat with their hands. This is why I can't stand the Collegium. Punishing people for what someone may do instead of what they have or will."

"You know my thoughts on that." Qrow said irritably. "This isn't the time for moral debate. We need to send one group back to warn the Collegium and summon the White Arcana, but others have to stay here and watch the camp. Track them if they pack up and move."

"I'll stay." Ruby said.

"No." Qrow glared at her, and she knew he'd seen through her paper-thin ruse. "You're coming with me." Where he could keep an eye on her. "Maria and Blake-"

"I'm not staying." Maria piped up. "Not when the White's premier combat division is on its way." She chuckled grimly. "No amount of assurances would convince me Glynda wouldn't take the chance to lock me away. Or kill me. I've helped find them, but I'm not staying to fight. Nor wearing myself out in front of people who'd as soon as stab me in the back as help."

"Same." Blake said simply. "I'm from Menagerie. I'm a faunus. They'd assume me guilty as soon as they saw me."

"You have to stay!" Qrow hissed. "We need your Arcana-"

"I'll leave a ward on this place when I go. As long as your sentry stays here, they won't be seen. Besides, how do you intend to sneak away from here without me? The party leaving will need me just as much."

And Blake would escort them back to the border of the forest, then disappear and hide somewhere when Glynda came out to meet Qrow. She would have to make distance in case of Huntsmen, but once they were gone, Blake could sneak back into the city safely.

Qrow lashed his tongue over his teeth, eyes closed in angry thought. That only left him with her or Weiss to leave behind, and she knew he was leaning toward Weiss. That was unbearably cruel however, because if Ruby were caught or spotted then she could easily escape with her wild magic. Or fight her way out. Weiss could not.

"I'll stay." Ruby repeated. "You go back with everyone and signal to the Collegium, then Blake and Maria can split. You come back with an army and sweep these guys away."

"And can I trust you to stay here where it's safe? To not do anything stupid?"

"Yep."

Qrow did not look convinced. "Promise me, Ruby. Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I promise."

/-/

Ruby approached the camp under the guise of her power. It wrapped around her like a cloak, whispering "don't see me" in her ear and causing the eyes of the sentries to slide off her like she was greased up. They didn't even hear her when she walked by them. It was like she didn't exist.

Within minutes of Qrow leaving with the others, she was in the camp.

He ought to have known better. Ruby didn't even feel guilty about it – he'd asked if he could trust her and she'd said he could, not that he should or that it was even remotely intelligent to do so. She was a Dredger. What were promises to people who lived every day unsure if they'd see sunrise? Honesty was nice, she supposed, and it was a general rule that you didn't shit where you slept – or in this case don't anger the local powerhouses like Junior or the Alchemist – but keeping your promises?

That was for people who could afford to inconvenience themselves for the sake of their ego. Nobles could afford to make arbitrary promises and keep them because it didn't cost them anything. If Ruby promised not to eat a meal placed in front of her in the slums and then honoured that promise, it might well mean starving to death. Food was food. Survival was just that.

This wasn't too different. If Merlot was caught, she was dead, so he couldn't be caught. Simple as. If Qrow wanted to say he couldn't trust her after this, then fine. At least he'd be able to say that to her face and not her body when the White ordered her captured dead or alive.

He'd get over it or he wouldn't. Ruby's focus was on keeping herself and Yang alive.

At least the big Grimm was dealt with, she thought. Merlot hadn't summoned another – presumably it took time, or he had to find one he could use. She wasn't sure if he could make Grimm or not, or if that took time. The small Nevermore would still be in the trees, but if they had seen her then they'd chosen not to attack or sound the alarm. It didn't matter. He had one close to him anyway, inside his larger tent, and she knew she would be spotted by it the very second she entered. I wonder if I could just crush it right now. Hit it with lightning or drop a boulder on it.

It'd feel a lot better than having to see Merlot die. It was the same – she'd still be killing him – but at least she wouldn't have to witness it. Except, what if he wasn't inside? What if he sensed it and escaped? What if she didn't kill him but only injured him, making it even easier for the White to take him alive? Even if she set his tent on fire, all the Arcanists around would only put it out.

"You can come in, Ruby." Merlot's voice made her heart stop.

How-? Ruby leapt back and to the side, expecting an attack that never came. She landed and scrabbled around the tent, holding her breast lest he somehow hear it.

"Seeing through so many eyes is difficult." Merlot said through the tent's wall. He had raised his voice, though not loud enough for anyone else to hear. "My Nevermore are perched in the trees around us. You can circle my tent all you wish, but I can still see you." He chuckled. "Come in. Let us talk as adults, hm?"

He could see through the Grimm's eyes. That was new – and worrying. Ruby peered around her and easily spotted the Nevermore in the trees around the camp. They were staring at her, each one unnaturally still with their beady red eyes fixed on her location. No wonder they hadn't attacked her. Merlot had each and every one of them under his control.

Keeping her invisibility up, Ruby walked to the front of the tent and pulled the flap up. She kept her free hand before her, wishing for the best protection she could just in case he attacked her. Light shimmered before her as her wild magic surged. It made the Nevermore inside the tent, perched on the edge of Merlot's wooden desk, squawk indignantly.

Merlot himself rolled his eyes and tapped it on the head with his sceptre. A light bop, like one might to an unruly child. "Quiet, you. Do drop the disguise, Ruby. You won't be needing it here. No one dares enter my tent without my permission anyway."

Ruby let it slip away and felt herself appear once more. Merlot's eyes, which had been focused in her general direction, finally took sight of her. He smiled, his hood still down, his eyes free of fear or doubt. He didn't look bothered by her presence at all, and that bothered her.

"Tea?" he offered. "Water?"

"Merlot…"

"I apologise." He chuckled and stood up straight. "You're not here for pleasantries. I was only trying to break the tension. I wondered if you would find me eventually. I anticipated it, even if I wasn't invested in making the task easy for you. You have questions. I'll answer them. Let's skip the obvious ones, shall we? Yes, I am the one who has ordered the attack on Vale. Yes, I am also the one responsible for the destruction of Menagerie, and yes, this allows me to both control the Grimm and see through their senses."

He tapped the sceptre to his temple. Up close, she could see that it was made of dark black stone with a dark purple gem encased in a clasp at the top. A small brass ball was attached to the bottom, but other than that it looked like a fancy walking cane, albeit much too short to serve as one.

"What is it you want to know?" he asked politely.

That was obvious. "Why…?"

"Why what?" His brow furrowed. "Please be more specific. Why am I attacking Vale? Why did I attack Menagerie? Why did I take you as my apprentice? Why did I not inform the White you were an Arcanist? Why are we talking here and now instead of fighting to the death? I wouldn't know where to start."

"Any!" she snapped. "All of them!"

"All?" He laughed. "Oh Ruby, you really do remind me of myself. So curious. You want to know everything. Well, I cannot fault you. You're Azure Arcana at heart no matter the robes you wear. That is why we are talking, by the way. We're both scholars at heart. Let's leave the bashing of skulls to those barbarians ruling the Collegium."

Merlot stepped back and let himself fall into a wooden seat. It was rougher than what he might have had at the Collegium – no cushions or fancy leather. He seemed to relish it anyway. "Take a seat," he said, ushering her toward one by the door. "We might as well get comfortable. Oh, don't worry, I'm hardly going to strike you down. You're a Wildmage, after all. You're the one with the power here."

If so, then why didn't she just use it to take what she wanted and kill him? If she could get the sceptre back to Glynda first, that would neatly solve all her problems. Curious, she posed the question to him.

"Killing me now is one option, yes, but then you wouldn't have any of those answers you crave. And as I said, you're Azure at heart. You yearn to know why, don't you? It eats away at you."

She wanted to say no.

Wanted, but couldn't. Why had he done all this? What motivated him? All those questions were ultimately pointless in a world where she could end the threat he posed, and yet she wanted to know. Wanted to understand. Was it that she wanted a chance to redeem him? Not really. Honestly, it just came down to the fact she couldn't stand not knowing. He was right. The Azure Arcana had called to her, but even before she entered the Collegium, Yang had said she was the most curious child in the slums.

Ruby took the seat offered and dragged it forward. Despite her fear, despite her anger, there was a strange pleasure inside her. Here, she would get answers. Finally. Glynda might be angry – no, she'd be furious; she didn't want people asking why, only following orders. Screw Glynda. That kind of empty-headed acceptance was part of the problem.

"I see the same excitement in you that I have felt." Merlot said. "Go on, then. Ask your question. Anything."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I can answer that if you wish, but let me ask you, Ruby. Is that really the first thing you want to know?" He smiled at her. "Is it really what's burning away at you?"

Yes.

No.

Ruby swallowed. "How are you controlling the Grimm?"

"There we have it!" Merlot laughed delightedly and clapped his hands together. "Yes, that's the real question, isn't it? And I won't insult you by saying it's because of this." He waved the sceptre. "You want to know how it works, where I found it and what it does, yes?"

Her head bobbed up and down. "Did you make it?"

"I wish I had a hundredth the talent required for that. Really, I do. Tell me, Ruby. You are aware of the Mage Wars, yes?"

"Yes." The White had informed them on them, even if it was kept secret from most of the other Arcana. And the general populace. "It was before the Collegiums and Arcanists, where powerful Mages used their power without oversight, ruling like petty kings and doing whatever they wanted, unchecked and uncontrolled. The dark times."

"A good, White Arcana answer." Merlot drawled. "I won't fault you for it, though. Yes, you're right. It's a time where those with the spark were free to use it however they wished. No Collegiums, no Arcana, no limits. If you wanted to research a topic close to your heart, so be it. If you wanted to learn to fly, go wild. It was a time of incredible discovery and innovation, where magic was at its most marvellous."

"And yes," he said, "Some people abused that. It's an inevitable facet of human nature – and I think we both know this current system is no less corrupt. That's how people are. I could put two people into a room with enough food to feed both, and yet they'd somehow find a way to argue one deserves more than the other. For every hundred Mages peacefully working away or focusing on their own aims, there would be one unscrupulous sort lining their pockets. I won't lie and suggest that time a utopia, but nor will I claim it as the dystopia the White so like to frame it as. It simply was an alternative way of living. I'd even call it a fairer one. Mages back then didn't care for lineage, wealth or power when taking on apprentices. They simply cared for passion or capability. A pauper was as like to become a powerful mage as the son of a baron, which the same can't be said for now."

"I don't think it was called the Mage Wars because it ended well." Ruby said.

"Yes." Merlot sighed. "Alas, it did not. This is, of course, all from research. The full truth of those times is lost, but I believe I have a firmer understanding than many after what I found in Menagerie. Simply put…" He leaned forward, and Ruby couldn't help herself leaning in to listen. "I found the vault of one such Mage."

Her eyes widened. "Really!?"

"Yes!" He shared in her excitement. "I found the base of what I believe was once her tower – it is there that I found this." He held up the rod again. "Better still, I found books! Tomes preserved through magic and detailing experimentation and notes. Through this, I pieced together the fall of the Age of Mages, and the birth of the Age of Arcanists."

I shouldn't be listening, Ruby thought. I should be ending this and killing him.

But it would take time for Qrow and the others to get back, then more time for the White to gather and make their way here. In a way, she was distracting Merlot. Keeping him busy so he couldn't move the camp. It was a weak excuse, but she was running with it.

"Tell me!"

"I shall! I shall! Now, let me wipe away any misconceptions. The Mage I found was not a good person – her notes make that clear. Her name was Salem, and she appears to have been the pinnacle of what the White would use as a perfect example of just why uncontrolled power is so bad. She was a maniac," Merlot said unhappily. "She experimented on the people under her control; she killed other Mages who were no threat to her and who were minding their own business; she took vast tracts of land for no other reason than to see how much she could control. Worse still, she created the Grimm!"

"What!? Why?"

"Good question. I delved deeper into that myself and found the answer. It turns out that Salem had something of a nemesis. Another Mage of that time, and quite the powerful one. He is known only as Ozma in her texts. Salem spoke of him as a villain, but of course she would. I've no idea if he was half as bad as she wrote, or whether he didn't rise up solely to face her tyranny. Whatever the case, the Mage Wars were primarily started and perpetrated by the two of them. Other factions were simply dragged into the conflict, forced to pick sides and fight."

"It became something of a race, by the looks of things. Have you heard the saying that war drives innovation? It certainly did here. Each side created new and incredible ways to use magic to fight the other. That is what much of her notes detailed."

"What kinds of things?"

"The power of flight. The power of portals. Mind control. Killing people within their own dreams." Merlot leaned forward. "Wild magic."

Ruby's head shot up. "What!?"

"It's true! It turns out that your power was derivative of Ozma's efforts, though the term wild magic was coined by Arcanists as a form of demonising it."

That didn't surprise her at all. Hungrily, Ruby leaned in. "What am I then?"

"You, my dear, are a Conduit."

Ruby blinked several times. "I'm a what…?"

"It is what Salem's notes list your kind as. A direct conduit between magic and the world. To put it simply, Arcanists now – and Mages back then – do not really use magic in the real sense. We take it from the world, mould it into something else and then throw it out again. It takes so much concentration because we are forcing things to be something that they are not. It's brute force."

"You, on the other hand, are a direct funnel between the magic inherent in the world and the world itself. Instead of forcefully manipulating magic to do something it does not naturally want to do, you take what is already there and direct it. It is the difference between violently thrashing a dog until it is too frightened to disobey you, and gently earning its trust until it wishes to obey you. Magic comes easily to you because you do not force it, because you cannot force it, and because of that you suffer none of the headaches, none of the fatigue, and your magic is so much more powerful than any Arcanist's."

Incredible. It was such a strange idea, yet she couldn't find fault in it. Weiss always went on about the concentration, and the sheer amount of study and effort everyone had to put into their spells had always seemed so strange to her. Magic came so easily to her, to the point that she could become invisible just by wishing for people to not see her.

The surges, too, could be explained away. If the magic was always there and always wanting to be used, then she was a funnel overflowing. If she didn't let some of it out, she eventually spilled. It went both ways. She could use magic easily, but it was too easily, to the point that magic could almost use her.

"Conduits were Ozma's greatest creations, of which he made four – four women. I've no idea why," Merlot admitted. "Maybe they were his wives or concubines. Again, Salem's opinion of him is quite biased. Regardless, it's likely you're a distant descendent of one of those women. Ozma used them as weapons in the war. Probably allies," he said, shrugging. "Salem suggests they were tools, but with as much power as they had I'm sure they could have disobeyed Ozma if they wished it. With them on his side, the war started to go very badly for Salem's side. Badly indeed. After all, no matter what spells or magic she cooked up, it could never match the Conduits. They could cast faster, easier and more powerfully. Her forces were being decimated."

"She needed new allies." Ruby said, eyes widening in sudden realisation. "That's why she made the Grimm – and that's why they hunt Wildmages more than they do Arcanists! They were designed to kill us!"

Merlot laughed. "Precisely. You have it in a nutshell. The Grimm were Salem's final creation – and I do mean final. The Mage Wars ended soon after, not with victory for either side, but defeat for everyone. The Grimm went wild. Ozma and Salem were slain or slew one another. That gave the opportunity for peace, and as so often happens after a vast conflict, people start looking at ways to make sure it never happens again. And, as happens even more often, they completely miss the mark in what they should do."

"They made the Collegiums."

"Yes. Mages were rebranded as Arcanists; the Collegiums were built; tenets were created, and everyone focused on policing one another more than they did furthering magic. Free thinkers and researchers were branded Rogues, hunted down and killed not because they were evil or wrong, but because Salem and Ozma had created terrible things with their research, and everyone was afraid another Mage War could be started. As part of all this, anything related to either Salem or Ozma was vilified, hunted down and destroyed."

"Including Conduits." Ruby said.

"Including them. They, too, were rebranded. Wildmage was coined because it gives the idea of uncontrollable power, and with everyone so afraid after the Mage Wars, well, it meant those people were ousted and banished from their homes by frightened communities. Easy pickings for the Arcanists desperate to wipe away any proof or history of their misdeeds. Ultimately, what we have today is a repeat of history. Nothing has changed. Arcanists are simply Mages by a new name, and they still live in abject fear of any and all magical advancement, trapped in an endless loop of fear, paranoia and destruction."

"We are children forever denied the chance to grow because our parents are afraid of what we might become, of what we might do. And so we are kept in a gilded playpen – the Collegium – forever amused and kept busy, watched over by the White Arcana that was left behind to babysit us. Those that deviate from what they decree are portrayed as monsters and vilified. Hunted down for daring to dream of a world larger than what they wish for us."

Merlot closed his eyes and leaned back, his hand tightening around the sceptre grasped in his left hand.

"It is that system I aim to destroy, Ruby. I will tear it down and give the people of this world the freedom to dream again, the freedom to make their own decisions free from control and abuse." His eyes snapped open. "And the only way to do that is to destroy the Collegiums once and for all. Each and every one of them."

Just to say here, Salem and Ozma are dead and gone. There is no Salem behind this, no Relics and no Gods. In this story, Salem and Ozma were powerful Mages in their time just as Merlot said. They fought, waged war and died, ushering in the Age of Arcanists with their passing.

Next Chapter: 19th September

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur