I won't lie, the chapter name went through several variations before I settled on it. That's it, that's the AN of this chapter.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 61: Fire and Ice and not everything Nice

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.(Chapter Start)

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October 17th

Thursday

Cloudy

The shortened class time per day from the festival still did not quite feel short enough for Azura, who had told Pyra that he would tell her what happened after he had to leave when the celebration for team RWBY was over. That then turned into having to tell her tomorrow, which meant that he was waiting for class to end.

Professor Port's ramblings have never felt worse to be stuck listening to. It was the last class they had to attend for the day before being let go to do what they wished with their free time, not that Azura was planning to do something fun with it.

His eyes glanced over to Pyra, who was idly playing with her pencil. Her face gave off such a vibe of childlike fascination over the simple act that he couldn't help but have to stifle a laugh. It was rather cute, despite the recent situation in her life. She caught his gaze a moment later, smiling at him briefly before Port's voice suddenly shifted to its natural booming loudness.

"And with that said, I think it's safe to dismiss you all for the festivities! Please do enjoy them and watch today's matches in the tournament!" He laughs. "There are plenty left."

The sound of chairs being pushed back as students stretched or started conversations filled the room, making it hard to say anything just yet as the six members of JNPR shuffled out from behind their table and to the stairs that would bring them to the door. Team RWBY was right behind them, with Yang and Ruby both yawning as they all moved as a large group through the door and out into the halls.

From there, everyone formed into pockets of conversation as Weiss and Blake took the front and began leading the group in one direction without meaning to. Azura kept to the rear and was quickly joined by Pyra, something of a habit that was forming for them after his promise to watch over her.

"Time to go?" She said, loud enough to be heard over the noisy halls without drawing attention from their friends.

Azura looks at everyone for a moment before nodding his head. "We can go to the roof. Come on."

They split off from the group and towards one of the staircases that would lead them up to the third floor and then the roof. The sounds of students moving and talking started to quiet down as they slipped through unnoticed, eventually reaching the door that would lead to the roof proper and opening it. Cool wind greeted them in the open air, the sun hidden behind white clouds just above the floating arena. The rounds of today were about to start getting ready, though Azura did not feel particularly inclined to watch them until team JNPR would get their day to compete.

Walking out onto the roof in silence, he only stopped once he was some steps from the edge of the building. Feeling Pyra stop right besides him, he looked out and over to see that their friends had left the building and were still none the wiser to them not being there. They were talking excitedly about something, just living their lives.

He'd dare not call them ignorant to the problems around them, but there was an air of innocence to it. Here he was, about to tell his partner that he couldn't let her be around him more than on the school premises, as though it were a particularly bad thing he couldn't involve her in what was essentially criminal activity.

"If only life were simple…now, enough thinking, she's waiting for you to speak."

Summer's voice, as always, was a great source of wisdom and aid to him. Seeing Luna lazily floating around, as though she too was careless and without worry, he exhaled a heavy breath and made to speak.

"There's been…" He began, shaking his head and just turning to face his partner after thinking of his words. "I don't think you'd want me to mince words, so…they said no."

"I see." Pyra replies, looking down to her feet and scratching her cheek with a finger. "Did they say why?"

When her gaze lifted back up to him, saying those words, he felt a frown come to his face. He thought about lying for a moment, but almost instantly rejected the idea in favor of the truth.

"There was a betrayal of sorts. Someone on their side ratted them out, and now needs to be caught. If I could guess, they're watching everyone on their side very closely now."

"Mm." She hums in response, hand against her chin as a look of thinking comes to her face. "Well…that sucks."

A moment later, she laughs quietly. Azura simply stood there, unsure of what to do. He had not expected a strong reaction, but a laugh was definitely not expected either. Luna had paused in her action, wondering what had happened while Summer's stunned silence in his head expressed more than enough of her own reaction.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just…the timing of it all, you know?" She chuckles again. "I believe you, don't worry. Just, my luck must be pretty shit, huh?"

She moves then, straight to the edge and sitting down with her legs hanging over it. He watches her do it, then moves to join her. Sitting down, they gaze over the academy itself momentarily before Azura decides to break the silence.

"I'm sorry, Pyra. I have no intention of breaking my promise to you, but I can't do anything about what happens outside of Beacon. Even if I don't want to leave you alone with everything going on with you."

"It's okay…" She says, sighing a moment later. "Well, it's not really that okay, but it's still workable, right? I can stay around everyone else while you go off and…risk your life for us."

"When you put it that way, you make it sound worse." He says, chuckling as he relaxes himself and leans on his hands.

"I'm serious, though!" Pyra practically yells, her blue eyes blazing with the stubbornness he knew her for when they first met. "You throw yourself into danger needlessly, fighting for people you just met."

"Isn't that what a huntsman does?"

"Well…" She begins, the fire she just had burning up as an amused smile tries to grow on her face. "I know that's what we do, Azura!"

She laughs, though it was clear to him that she hadn't meant to.

"Don't make it sound so simple." She forces out a breath to calm herself. "I just worry about you."

Azura smirks. "I've heard that a lot."

"More than a friend would." Pyra continues, looking out to face the view in front of them instead of looking at him.

Feeling the tonal shift, Azura watches her for a moment. When she remained quiet, he decided to say something.

"Pyra?"

"I…didn't have much of anything growing up. No friends, no people beyond my parents, no house at a time…" She chuckles awkwardly before speaking quietly. "I may have burned it down."

"No control of your semblance?"

She nods. "But now…it's just you guys and Beacon. I lied when I said I was visiting family over our summer break. I haven't seen them for some time. You were the first person I had to speak to here, and the first thing you do?"

She turns to him then, expecting an answer.

"Give away my secrets."

Pyra smiles softly, placing her hand over his. "Give away your secrets."

Her brilliant blue eyes captured him in the moment, silver and yellow reflecting in them. It was just the two of them at this moment, the cool wind blowing through gently as the noise of the students and festivities on school grounds bellowed and sounded off in the distance.

"It meant a lot to me that I was trusted so quickly by a stranger. I had always been volatile because of my semblance, something I still struggle to fully control beyond the small bursts that are my combat style. Yet, here I was, being told of a semblance connected to the dead. Speaking of a dead mother that I have never met, but knew for months before everyone else."

Azura had no idea that it meant so much to her.

"Then came the secrets again, but I wasn't in on them. I'm still not in on all of them, but I finally understood why that was." Her eyes were warm with emotion, a stark contrast to a certain ice blue. "It hurt at first, but what you're doing? I don't think I would want to involve my friends either. Not that Ruby and her team seemed to care."

He laughs. "No, they certainly don't, if the whole 'chasing a big robot across Vale' shows anything., that is." He shakes his head then, choosing to be more serious with his next words. "Listen, Pyra…"

He turns his hand in her own, tightening his grip on it. Feeling her reaffirm and tighten her own grip on him, he smiled.

"Whatever is at the bottom of this mystery you are faced with…no matter how alone you might feel in it all, everyone is here for you. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang…Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren…and then Aurora and I." He says, shifting closer to her. "I promise this to you, I'll eventually tell everyone everything that has been happening. Not just me alone, or team Ruby and I. But me, team Ruby, team Juniper…you."

"Don't make a promise you don't know you can keep." Pyra replies, her serious words laced with a bittersweet humor.

"I'll keep it. I know I will." He said back, confidence within his voice. "If it's all ten of us against the world, then we'll stand and fight against it. It's what we do, not just as huntsmen or friends or even family. But as people simply fighting for a better world."

Pyra didn't respond to him vocally, but the feeling of her fingers interlacing into his own as they stared out into the blue skies covering Vale and Beacon was enough for him to know. Hope for the future was a powerful motivator, Azura knew. But it wasn't just hope for the world that he was trying to convey to her.

He was here for her, through thick or thin. And nothing could stop that from being the case, no matter how many times he had to tell her that.

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.(Line Break)

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The light of the festivities coming from the nightlife of Vale could be seen all the way from Beacon, though Azura already had his destination in mind before he had even left the JNPR dorm. He had been asked to come outside of the dorms by a certain Heiress, though he had absolutely no idea what for.

Exiting the building housing all of the students, Azura looked to either side of himself and saw no one nearby. Looking ahead of himself now, he noticed that there was someone standing in front of the statue of the man and faunus fighting together. The bit of white hair he could see beyond the statue was instantly recognizable to him, knowing that there was only one other person with such a brilliant white color, who also happened to be the girl's own sister.

Something had to be wrong if he was asked to come out here to meet with her. Was it something she didn't want to talk about to her team? He couldn't imagine why or what for, however. Instead, he simply began walking towards her.

She was there, no weapons and only in her school uniform, simply staring up at the statue from the front. A mere glance was all he was spared as he came around it to stand next to her, causing him to turn to face the statue itself and think over his words. There was no telling what sort of conversation to expect, that much was known.

"There's been something on my mind. Something that has been on my mind for quite some time, since the siege on Vale." Weiss said, refusing to look at him. "Are we really prepared to do what we want to do?"

He turns to face her then, seeing her piercing blue eyes glitter in the moonlight as she looks at him. The doubt and twinges of fear swirling within them made him want to tell her exactly what he told Pyra, but something within him stopped the action from occurring.

She was never one for comfort, being the headstrong girl who took on her challenges with strength and determination.

"Are you?" She asks, building off of her previous question.

"Of course I am." He answered, though he couldn't say for certain as he glanced away.

He certainly had to be ready, for everyone. Ozpin, Summer, Croc, Avis, Hood, his team, his partner, team RWBY, and now Weiss. There were a lot of people looking up to him to be the person he had to be, including himself. If he wasn't ready now, there's no way the Nightmare would die.

"Not good enough. Look at me in my eyes and tell me that you are ready. That I'm not just letting myself and our friends allow you to throw yourself into danger while we live as normal of school lives as we can."

The brilliant light of her ice blue eyes reflecting the moonlight was shockingly beautiful, now carrying the heavy weight of telling her that everything was okay.

"I'm not Pyra, Azura…" Weiss said, softly. "Me, you, and the rest of the girls on team Ruby have gone through some hard battles already. You can tell me this much, can't you?"

She was questioning his trust, something that most of his friends have really been pushing on him. He couldn't blame them, with how many secrets he had to now be keeping. Each one cut away at his heart, but it was more important than anything to keep them at arm's length.

He sighs, unable to keep gazing at her as he lowered his head. "I have to be ready."

"We all do, Azura." She replies, grabbing hold of his wrists with her thumbs placed right on the glyph that she herself placed all those months ago. "Look at me."

He listens to her, some confusion coming onto his expression. "Are you okay, Weiss? I've…"

"Never seen me this friendly? Open?" She finishes for him. "Well, it's certainly taken some months, but…I can't keep myself in my glass case forever, now can I?" Her normally irate expression comes to her face a moment later. "If you tell a single soul outside of team Ruby how I am acting, though, you'll have to answer to my Dust and blade."

He lets out a breathy laugh. "But I can tell them you held hands with me?"

"Hey, don't make this a joke! I have something to actually talk to you about."

"Alright, no more jokes. Is something wrong?"

"I…just…" She began, trying to articulate herself after they got off track. "It's about your Grimm situation."

Azura frowns in confusion. "What about it?"

Luna had already been calmly listening, but he could feel a cold ghostly hand touch against his shoulder at the mention of the Nightmare. Weiss herself seemed hesitant to speak, which was something he had never seen from her.

"It's not hard to know that it's hanging around this area, at a distance or not." Her eyes stare into his, a question swirling in them. "And you have…some sort of deal cut with our headmaster."

Azura pauses, wanting to say that it wasn't true, but stopped when her face shifted to one that told him to just not even try.

"I know there's something going on there. Maybe no one but Pyrrha and I want to talk about it, but it's something I am keeping in mind with the whole point I am trying to make here." Weiss explains, pausing for a moment before tilting her head slightly. "You plan to try and kill it, don't you?"

"Not with the vigor that I once had to do it…" He admits, looking to the side. "But I can't not avenge my mother…or the others that it has killed." He looks back. "And I certainly cannot let it haunt me forever."

"Somehow, I knew that would be your answer." She says, letting out a small laugh before turning to face the statue once more. "I wish I could be even a quarter as confident as you."

It dawned on Azura then, why Weiss was questioning his safety and what he wanted to do and was doing or going to do.

"Are you…not confident in yourself right now, Weiss?"

She remained silent for a few moments before lightly sighing and closing her eyes, then opening them with a small shake of her head.

"Seeing my sister again and showing my progress to her recently…shook my confidence, yes." She begins, licking her lips nervously. "I still struggle with my semblance, at least a part of it. How I can master time dilation, but not summoning, is beyond me. It's frustrating in comparison to both Aurora's and your own progress. Not even half a year has passed, yet you've excelled with Summer's semblance."

Something told Azura that this wasn't the root of the problem.

"Only because of you, Weiss. If it wasn't for your intelligence and ingenuity, I'd still be launching myself into walls." He smirks after. "I don't think I'd have gotten so far without you, really."

The words catch her off guard, blue eyes widening as she turns back to him once more, allowing him to continue speaking.

"I mean it. We butted heads at first, then moved past it in favor of a friendship. You helped me grow as a person right from the beginning, even if…I submitted to it rather fast." He laughs quietly, keeping the momentum going. "You were the first to come up with a solution when Summer and I bonded together. Which, might I add, is still running whenever I use it. It's a masterful use of your semblance right off the bat."

Her normally pale cheeks light up with a shade of red, clearly embarrassed as he listed out everything she had done just for him alone. The sight delighted him, seeing that she was feeling unconfident in herself just moments before.

"Azura…" She said, trying to cut him off.

"And don't even get me started on fighting, with or against you. You kicked my ass that one time, that's for sure. But, we've also fought alongside each other in deadly situations. I feel pretty safe in your hands, I can say that for sure."

"Okay, okay…" Weiss says, face flushed as she laughs. "I get it, you can stop now."

He falls silent, smiling now. Watching her compose herself, he let her do so before speaking again.

"So, in the possibility that you don't feel confident in yourself, I succeeded in making you feel better, right?"

He was giving her an out, and he knew that she knew that.

"Yes, I suppose you did. I'm holding you to those words, though."

"Which ones?"

"That you feel safe with me." She stated, her voice full of its regular tone. "See me tomorrow, I have to adjust your glyphs. It's been quite a while, so it's likely roughed up."

"Then, ready to head back? I was ready to sleep when you sent that message." Azura jokes, tapping her arm lightly with the back of his hand.

"Tell anyone I went specifically to you and-"

"Face the consequences of your blade and Dust." He finished for her, cutting her off with a smile. "Yes, I know."

"Good, let's go back in that case." She says with a nod, moving to walk past him before stopping and looking at him from the side. "And, Azura?"

"Hm?" He hums in reply.

Weiss looks up at him, then shakes her head. "I'll bring it up tomorrow. I'm sure you've had enough of trying to lift people's spirits today. Presuming that was what you and Pyra leaving earlier today meant."

"Yeah, it was. What else could it be?" Azura says, his question pointed towards the past few days with her.

"Who can say…come on, I shouldn't hold you out here any longer."

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.(Line Break)

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Qrow preferred quiet mornings, but the orange-tinged night skyline of dawn felt rather odd this time. Not awkward, as he didn't grow embarrassed by anything, but it felt different. It was as though one wall had been taken down, telling Folina about Salem, while another one had been risen, someone outside of the Inner Circle knowing about Salem. A small part of him wondered if Ozpin would appreciate his decision, but he shrugged it off as they came upon the village that they had originally journeyed so far from their main base for.

A glance over to the person seemingly causing the tense calm between them told him nothing about her thoughts or emotions, but it did tell him that she was searching for something. More specifically, as her eyes scanned across the buildings, someone. Qrow remained silent, letting her look across the small village that could barely count as one while scanning the location for Grimm themselves.

"There doesn't seem to be Grimm around, but be careful." He said, starting to walk forward with his hand ready to grab the hilt of his weapon.

Folina slowly began to follow, focused on her task. "No spirits or ghosts yet…but I can feel something."

"Literally so or just a feeling?"

"Bit of both."

There were more important things than trying to find out how Folina was feeling about the entire information she had dumped on her, and this conversation reminded him of that. They had a Grimm to hunt before it got even more dangerous than creating a handful of Grimm or turning them to its side.

The state of the village grew worse as they slowly made their way towards the center of it. While the entrance had suffered somewhat minor destruction, it looked like a whirlwind had blown through the other side. The wooden structures were completely topplied and in splinters, charred wood and ripped clothing strewn about.

"All of them have been destroyed." Qrow muttered, shaking his head. "Damn Grimm."

"Wait."

Folina's words stopped him in his tracks, turning his head to see her listening for something. When he attempted to do the same and couldn't hear anything, he presumed that she was hearing something that only she would be able to hear. Pursing his lips, he simply scanned around them while waiting for her to finish whatever she was doing.

She began to walk in silence, stepping very slowly and putting a hand out to Qrow to tell him to do the same. He trusted her well enough to follow the silent instruction, letting her take the lead as they inched their way to the center most building. Weapons could be seen just within, suggesting that this small village had more weapons and hopefully people who knew how to use them at their disposal.

"Stay here." Folina whispered as they reached the edge of the mostly destroyed building. "Watch the area."

He nods, watching her move towards what he could assume confidently was a ghost without seeing it at all.

"Excuse me, sir…" She called out, the ghostly figure of a man appearing as she grew close.

His hair shrouded his face as he looked up slowly, having been seated on the ground with his hands limply hanging from his raised knees. He looked back down a moment later, speaking in a defeated and exhausted tone.

"They were killed in minutes…as though extermination was the Grimm's only goal."

He did not seem shocked at all to be noticed. Did he see himself as the last survivor of a Grimm attack? The theories that Qrow could run on Folina's semblance always felt so endless and infinite.

She bent down onto her knees to be at his eye level then, green eyes scanning over him.

"I'm here to help, but I need you to recount what happened here for me."

There was a long silence afterwards, eventually broken by a ragged sigh.

"They…" The man began, weakly shrugging. "The Grimm were coated in black, like no Grimm I have ever seen. I saw them tear humans and normal looking Grimm to shreds, dragging bodies away, whether they were dead or alive." He grabs at his hair, shuddering. "Their screams still ring in my head…"

"Which way were the black-looking Grimm going?" Folina asks, gently prodding for more information.

"Inwards…to the west? I don't know, it was all so chaotic. I'm sorry…"

"You've done enough, it's okay."

Folina holds one hand out to the man, waiting for him to take it as he hesitantly looks at it. He does so a moment later, looking up at Folina now.

"Kill it. For all of us."

She nods simply, her hand glowing momentarily as he begins to fade away. She stands tall after, watching the place where he had been, body likely dragged away to the Nightmare Grimm itself.

Qrow had seen the process several times now, but it still fascinated him to watch it. Whatever happened to the ghost, he couldn't say, but he also dared not ask purely out of respect.

"Westward, huh…" He said instead, looking to the horizon and then looking opposite of it. "Any idea what's that way?"

"Nothing beyond a mountain being that way. Relatively small one, though." Folina replies. "I haven't been able to explore that way, though. Too many Grimm runs the risk of the Nightmare finding out about us."

"And now, it's the only place left to go." Qrow says aloud, thinking of their next step. "I think we need to move our main camp. Bring it closer, leave the current location as a secondary safe location."

"Agreed. We should scout for a location first, though. Use it to see how many Grimm are wandering around now, too."

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.(Line Break)

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There had been very few Grimm in their way as they moved supplies and other things from their original cliffside campsite to a closer location that held a vantage point that overlooked the center of the forest and beyond on a much closer scale. All of them had appeared weak and looked normal, making the singular appearance of the strengthened 'Nightmare' Ursa Major Grimm all the more relevant in Qrow's mind.

Just what was it that made it stronger? Had the Nightmare learned how to do the opposite of what it normally does to Grimm, which is to siphon their existences from them? The thought of a Grimm army of sorts controlled by a single Grimm outside of Salem was already terrifying to Qrow, but the idea that this army could be stronger than the common types of Major Grimm, but on the scale of those commonly seen Grimm?

It was enough to echo the name of the creature making it possible. The nightmare of such a scenario would be harrowing, that much was for sure.

"You'd think I would be the quiet and thoughtful one after everything you told me." Folina said, her voice looking to engage in conversation. "Yet. here we are."

"You must admit, though, there is a lot to think about regarding the Nightmare's abilities. It's not shocking that the thing has lived for so long." He said, breaking his unofficial vow of silence.

"Agreed. It has certainly mastered the art of survival, though I'm sure the ability to not need food or water helps." She replies, looking at either side of a clearing before moving through with supplies in hand. "But from the encounters I was told of, it seems to lack in personal combat, though it cannot be underestimated despite that."

"Well, as the nature lover between us, what do you have to say about it?"

"Apex predators are toppled at some point in time to have their long rest. That's how it has always been."

Qrow snorts in amusement. "That's certainly one way to put it, I'll say."

"It doesn't matter what I think at the end of the day. It is clearly targeting itself towards humanity, so it must be dealt with for our own survival."

"Sounds about right for this world."

"Hm." She hums in reply. "Remind me to send word of our newfound knowledge to Ozpin once our new base of operations is set up. We should have done so after we learned of it being able to control and empower Grimm."

"Damn, you're right. Yeah, we can pull that together after." He says with a nod, looking to the sky. "We have a few hours of daylight left, so the sooner, the better."

Conversation fell into silence once again, leaving Qrow to his thoughts regarding the Nightmare. The complexities and very specific scenario of the creature's existence was almost unheard of, and its likely newfound ability completely new and definitely never seen before. There was no way such an ability of the Grimm wasn't recorded before unless it didn't exist until now.

This situation was getting more dire by the day. At the rate that it was going, he would have to request Ozpin to not let Azura come here. Nothing was worth the risk to a kid, no matter how gifted of a semblance they had or how protected they were by a great Huntress.

Qrow shakes his head, mumbling to himself.

"What kind of shit did we get into for this kid?"

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.(Chapter End)

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Pretty low-key chapter today, not entirely much going on in the action side of things, huh? There isn't much to say beyond hoping to see all of you in the next chapter! No spoilers on it, promise.

Have a great day/evening!