The chapter of November is here! In November! Hooray!
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Winter paced furiously throughout the General's cabin, the sparse and plain contents that were usually comforting now providing her with little distraction from the events of the past hour.
At first, everything had seemed fine. The transportation of the new model Paladins had gone without incident, whoever had hijacked the last shipment either unable to acquire the new route or unwilling to challenge the increased escort. Their arrival in Vale could not have been more textbook, the rank and file troops under her attended to the unloading while she made for Beacon to confirm the procedure with both General Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin.
Weiss had even surprised her by meeting her at the docks, far more exuberant than Winter had ever seen her, though the sensitive nature of her assignment had provided her little to discuss with her beloved sibling. She couldn't even take the time to compliment her on her performance in the Vytal Festival. After all, if your enemy didn't see you coming then they couldn't stop you, even if the crowd was excluded from the scene as well. It was excellent tactics.
Though, she was concerned by the strange tattoo on the back of her little sister's hand. If her apparent leader, this Ruby Rose, had gotten Weiss involved in any… distasteful association, there would be a reckoning. Still, Weiss was a smart girl. She could trust her not to cause any trouble. Unlike some people.
Qrow Branwen was, as ever, the most aggravating, disrespectful, lackadaisical, drunken lout that had ever walked the face of Remnant. His juvenile taunts were irritating at the best of times, and insinuating that General Ironwood was some kind of turncoat was not something she'd ever allow to stand, not after all he'd done for her. Granted she could have handled the matter more delicately, but he had destroyed her escort first and—damn it, she sounded like a five-year-old in a playground scuffle. Perhaps it was best she'd been dismissed from the meeting in the headmaster's office before she lost her head and tried to take Branwen's.
Still, she wished she knew what the four of them had been discussing that had required her absence. As a Senior Specialist, the only people with higher security clearance than her were the General himself, the Specialist Commander, the Director of Atlesian Intelligence, and members of the Council. She was well aware there were matters that she was not privileged to, but for the life of her, she couldn't imagine that one of those matters involved the Headmaster of a foreign academy and two highly skilled but otherwise mundane huntsmen, one far more respectable than the other.
The doors to the cabin whirred open. Winter twirled around and snapped into a salute. "Sir!"
"At ease, specialist," the general nodded. He strode into the room and took a seat behind his desk, wearily shaking his head as he did so.
Winter cringed, only bringing her salute down to formally fold her hands behind her back. "General, I apologize for the incident in the courtyard earlier. I should not have allowed Qrow's prodding to provoke me."
"What? Oh, right, that. Forgot about that, Winter," the general said. "Gods know Qrow knows how to make people mad when he wants to. He should have known better than to make a mess like that in public."
"So should I."
The general sighed. "Yes, you should. But no one was hurt and overall it was a minor incident. We have bigger things to deal with."
Winter raised an eyebrow in confusion. It was minuscule, but the general seemed more agitated than he normally was after a meeting with Ozpin. Managing both Atlas Academy and the three branches of the Atlesian Military would exhaust anyone, especially when they also had to play politics with the Council, but the general had obtained a vast amount of experience in all three. As a consequence, almost no one was better at restraining their emotions than James Ironwood, with only a select few, such as Winter's father, able to provoke a passionate response from him. Dealing with his old friend, even after their scuffle over who would handle the security of the Vytal Festival, shouldn't have left him rattled enough for her to notice.
"Sir, if I may ask, is something wrong?"
A black chuckle escaped the general's throat. "More than you know, Winter. More than you know."
The snow-haired woman immediately frowned. Her superior could be quick with a laugh among trusted company, but his was a warm thing, a resonate echo full of heart that one would never expect from a metal body. How troubled was he that it had turned so dark?
"Was it something in Qrow's report?" she asked.
"In part. He let us know that our mysterious terrorist, the one that likely organized the Breach, is even more dangerous than we thought."
"What do you mean?"
The general opened his mouth to speak but paused. His brow furrowed in consideration for a moment, and then his jaw closed. Winter tried not to be offended. There were matters she did not have the clearance to know.
Still, she couldn't deny it did sting that the man who'd been more of a father to her than the scum who'd birthed her trusted Qrow with the information over her.
"She… has a dangerous backer," the general finally settled on. "One that threatens all of Remnant more than the White Fang ever could. Ozpin recently received a sign that she will make a move soon."
"How soon?"
"Soon enough that he asked me to increase the festival's security."
Winter's eyes widened in shock. "I thought Professor Ozpin did not approve of the measures we already had in place."
"He didn't," the general confirmed. "So, you can imagine my trepidation about his turnaround."
The huntress gulped. "This backer… is she really that dangerous?"
"More. But Ozpin has been dealing with her for a long time. He never treats her lightly, but he's usually more… restrained. He doesn't like overt displays of power. This sign has him convinced something big is about to happen and with the world's eyes on the festival, we cannot let that happen."
Winter nodded. A terrorist attack like the Breach was a tragedy by itself, but if all of Remnant saw Vale assaulted even with Atlas' protection, it would be a catastrophe. The panic would incite the Grimm worldwide, setting off a chain of horror that could cost countless lives.
"What is to be done?" she inquired, her voice forced as cold as ice. "Intelligence's route is still safe, but it would take several days for another shipment of paladins to arrive."
"A specialist's shuttle would be faster," the general pointed out. "I've already ordered Commander Obsidian to send a squad of our best."
"A squad of specialists?" Winter remarked, astounded.
As much as Atlas prided itself on technology, there was no debate that the Specialist Corps was the kingdom's premier fighting force. To join the corps required one to be huntsman certified at minimum, with further extensive training in demolition, piloting, advanced combat, and a dozen other disciplines designed to make each of its members an unstoppable agent of the kingdom's will. Each one was said to be the equal of an entire team of other huntsmen, with only outliers such as Qrow being their equals. There was a reason she alone was sent to escort the paladin shipment. If the general was sending for an entire squad…
"Sir, if I may ask," she began softly. "This sign that startled Professor Ozpin so badly, what was it?"
Again, the general hesitated. But this time, he simply sighed and pulled out his scroll. "I suppose you deserve to know."
He slid the device across his desk and hit a button, A moment later, a holographic image materialized in the air above.
A very familiar image. One Winter had witnessed live not long ago.
"Sir, what is this?" she demanded, her respect for her superior barely maintaining her proper decorum at the sight of her baby sister and her team, the picture taken right after they had won their first-round fight. "You can't believe that Weiss could possibly be working with some terror—"
"I don't, Winter," the general cut her off firmly, an understanding but stalwart look in his eye. "Neither does Ozpin. Disregarding Team RWBY's various familial ties that make their cooperation with the White Fang, much less this other terrorist, more than unlikely, they were the first responders to the Breach incident. If they had simply done nothing, that attack would not have been bottlenecked as easily as it was."
Winter shut her mouth and took a deep breath. Of course, Weiss wasn't under suspicion, that was absurd. She needed to stop overreacting when people she cared about were insulted or appeared to be so. One of these days it wasn't going to be as simple to resolve as a few calm words.
Still…
"If they aren't involved, why is Ozpin so worried?"
The general tapped another series of commands into his scroll. Four boxes appeared on the image, zooming in and then magnified the sections of the hologram displaying the back of each member of Team RWBY's hands.
And the tattoos upon them.
Winter glared at the birdlike symbols, her fists closing in mistrust.
"These marks are apparently the symbol of a very powerful group. One our enemy will not take lightly," the general explained. "They're called Fairy Tail."
Winter blinked numbly. "I'm sorry sir. They're called what?"
"Fairy Tail, like the tail of an animal, not a story. And yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but Ozpin wouldn't joke about something like this." The general paused and raised an eyebrow. "At least, I don't think he was joking."
"Assuming he wasn't, what exactly is this Fairy Tail's goal?" Winter inquired. "What are they working towards? What is their connection to the Breach mastermind?"
And why had Weiss seen fit to join them?
"Ozpin says this group isn't our enemy, but that an organization as powerful as he says they are has only shown up now is… disconcerting," the general confided. "He's asked Qrow to investigate the matter through his nieces."
"And you'd like me to do the same through Weiss," Winter deduced.
The general shot her a sympathetic grimace. "I'm sorry Winter. I know it isn't right to place this on you. I promise, your sister is not under any suspicion of wrongdoing. We just want to figure out what's going on."
"I… I understand, sir."
Indeed she did. Even if this group had no malicious intentions as Ozpin said, if they were as powerful as the headmaster claimed then there should have been traces of them somewhere on Remnant. Histories, records, iconography, something. If Weiss and her team knew something that could help them gain an understanding, it was imperative that she discerned exactly what that was as soon as possible, if only so the proper authorities could figure out what their next move should be. Because, if this mysterious terrorist felt threatened by a team of rising huntresses joining this Fairy Tail, their own attacks, which were already among some of the most dangerous since the end of the Faunus Wars, would only escalate. And even with the increased security, who knew if they could be stopped.
Still, she disliked having to muddle duty with her sister. She'd already had to keep her at arm's length during their earlier reunion since she'd still technically been on a mission at the time. She wanted to check in with Weiss, see just how much she'd grown during her time away from home, and, more importantly, away from their father. And if she had joined this strange group…
"Sir, did Professor Ozpin mention what becoming a member of Fairy Tail might have to Weiss?" Winter inquired worriedly. "Do they use any sort of coercion, a drug of some kind of—"
"Don't worry about that, Winter," the general assured her. "From what Ozpin said, membership in Fairy Tail is completely voluntary. Your sister is still the same girl you've always known." He paused, his furrowing in consideration. "Although… she may have gained a few… additional skills."
That did nothing to call Winter's nerves. There were ways of making any action one took seem voluntary. And there were many less than pleasant methods of acquiring skills. If any of these fairies had caused any harm to her baby sister during her time with them, she would personally ensure that they all froze in hell for it.
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"I am not stripping in front of you, pervert!" Weiss roared, her shrill screech echoing even above the tempestuous snows of Mt. Hakobe.
The Schnee Heiress had no idea how it had come to this. After resting from their battle with Natsu, Erza had asked them all what kind of magic they'd wanted to learn. Ruby, predictably, had instantly begged the Queen of the Fairies to instruct her in Requip Magic, practically drooling at the idea of being able to carry as many weapons into battle as she wanted. Yang had asked for instruction under Natsu, both intrigued by the power of his flames and eager to punch him in the face as much as possible. To his credit, the pink haired buffoon had taken the remark in stride, even more excited to begin their tutelage.
But Weiss? Weiss was a Schnee. Even if no one in this new world knew that name, and she was still trying to figure out exactly how she felt about that fact, it meant that she held herself to a certain standard. She couldn't half learn how to use a million different weapons or barbarously smack her enemies in the face like Yang or some savage (she didn't think she had the physical strength for that either). She needed something she could hone, that she could perfect. Something elegant. When Erza had nodded knowingly and pointed her towards Gray, she'd thought the knight had understood that.
Yet somehow, she had been marched up a mountain, into the middle of a blizzard, and was now being told to take off all her clothes!
She tore out Myrtenaster and made ready to stab the stupid, pervert wizard right between the eyes.
"Wait!" he shouted, waving his hands in front of himself. "It's not what you think!"
Weiss narrowed her eyes, her rapier freezing in place. "Explain."
The word had barely left her mouth when she witnessed Gray toss his own clothing to into the snow. "I'm stripping too."
"That doesn't make it better!" Weiss screeched.
Gray sighed, the silver cross necklace around his neck, his only remaining garment aside from his boxers, blowing in the fierce mountain winds. "Look, you said you wanted to learn Ice Make Magic, and this was how my teacher taught it to me."
"How? By peeping on you while you got frostbite?" Weiss snarked. Putting aside the perverted side of the wizard's instructions, they were in the middle of a freaking blizzard! And Gray expected her to go naked?
"If you want to control the cold, you have to become one with it," her teacher declared firmly. Despite his body's current exposed state, his muscles weren't moving an inch, his dark blue guildmark perfectly stationary upon his majestically sculped abdomen—
Weiss blushed feverishly and shook her head madly. Those kinds of thoughts were for Blake and Yang, not her. She had been looked at as a piece of meat by enough potential suitors to know better than to do it towards anyone else.
"Are you absolutely sure there's no other way to learn this magic?"
Gray shrugged. "Maybe. But not that I know how to teach you. Though if it really means that much to you, I'm sure there are some books in the guild library that could give you the basics."
Weiss sighed. "The basics won't be enough to take on Tartaros."
The duel against Natsu had shown Team RWBY exactly where they stood in this new world. If they were to challenge the most powerful dark guild and get back to Remnant in any reasonable amount of time, they needed to get stronger and fast. And as much as Weiss prided herself on her studying ability, there was only so much one could learn by reading. She needed a teacher.
And if that meant… stripping… she would… could handle it. Probably.
Ugh! Why didn't she just go with Blake and Mira to get a taste of everything?
"Alright, fine, I'll do it," she huffed. "Just… don't look. Okay?"
Gray cocked an eyebrow. "You do realize I'll have to look at you eventually to teach you everything, right?"
"Just do it!"
"Fine, fine, whatever you say," the ice wizard moaned as he turned around. "Geez, your world must have some serious hang-ups."
Weiss scowled and whirled away in a huff. "I'm pretty sure this is a hang-up on any world."
Bit by bit, piece by piece, she began to remove her clothes, beginning by reluctantly discarding her jacket and weapons' belt, Myrtenaster included, and ending with her standing in the midst of the snow in nothing but her pure white undergarments. She could practically hear Winter scolding her for her impropriety. She could only imagine the tantrum her father would throw.
She would deny it, but that thought did bring an impish smile to her face.
Of course, just as it did, she caught sight of a glint shimmering in the snowstorm, like light striking a lens. She squinted and saw a deep blue hat just above the glint, at least before it disappeared behind a snowdrift an instant later.
"What in the world?" she muttered.
"What? Are you done yet?" Gray called back.
"Wha—I saw something," she told him. "I saw something blue in the snow."
Gray turned and came up beside her. He squinted where she was looking. "Blue?"
"Yes. A deep blue like… like…"
"Water?"
"Yes!" Weiss declared. Her face fell a moment later, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "How did you know that? Do you have someone hiding back there to take pictures of me like this?"
"What? No," Gray denied as she glared at him. "Why would I even do that—ah forget it. Look, there might be someone back there, but if it's who I think it is, they're probably watching me more than you."
Weiss cocked an eyebrow. Perhaps she was being paranoid after her experiences with the press in her own world, but those instincts had proven valuable in the past. Though, admittedly, being in a world where her family didn't even exist kind of made it more unreasonable. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty positive. I've asked her not to but she's pretty persistent. It's best to just keep doing what we're doing."
Weiss glanced back to the snow drift. "She?"
"Long story. She tends to follow me around a lot."
"Is she going to be okay out in this?" Weiss asked, gesturing to the raging blizzard around them.
"Don't worry. She's more than capable of taking care of herself," Gray promised. The wizard turned to face her directly. "I'd be more concerned about how you're handling this, but you seem to have a handle on it."
"Huh? What are you talking about? It's freezing out…"
Weiss froze when she realized he was right. She'd been practically naked in the middle of a snowstorm for nearly a minute, fierce winds rushing over every inch of her exposed skin. By all rights, she should have been a real 'Ice Queen' by then. But instead, she didn't even feel a chill.
"What the heck?" she exclaimed, leaping up from the snow. "What is this?"
"No clue. You're not even shivering. I didn't even manage that when I was first starting out," Gray noted, his fingers rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Does that aura of yours provide insulation or something?"
"No," Weiss explained. "I grew up in a climate sort of like this, but that shouldn't make me fine standing butt naked in a storm. Does this have something to do with magic or something?"
"Hmm, maybe," Gray hummed. "You guys have been taking in ethernano, and everyone's got an affinity for some sort of magic. But, the only magic I know that could have this kind of an instinctual effect is…"
The ice wizard grinned like a kid in a candy store. "Oh, yes…"
"What?" Weiss asked. "What is it?"
"I'll tell you once I know for sure. I don't want to get your hopes up," Gray said with a smirk. "In the meantime, let's get started with your Maker Magic."
Weiss wasn't exactly satisfied with that answer, she generally liked to know what was going on in her own body, Still, she felt like she could trust Gray to tell her if the thing keeping her from shivering was harmful. They were both Fairy Tail members after all, and as Erza kept telling them, that made them family. Of course, given only one-quarter of her blood family was actively helpful, that didn't give her as much reassurance as it could have.
But that didn't matter. On Remnant, she needed to get stronger to seize control of and restore honor to her family name, but here, on Earthland, she needed power for a different reason. To defeat Tartaros, find the book that had brought them to this world and get her team home.
And if that meant trusting the naked man and running through a blizzard, then so be it.
She nodded to Gray. "Give me everything you've got."
The ice wizard grinned. "Alright then. First lesson, maker magic doesn't have the pure brute force of other styles, so you're not going to be able to rely on power like Natsu or Erza. You're going to have to be creative with what you do. You good with that?"
Weiss nodded. She'd never been one to rely on pure brute force anyway. Her lithe frame had lent itself more to agility and precise, practiced technique. Her instructors would show her a movement and she'd rehearse it until she'd couldn't not get it right. This would be no different. She'd know this Ice Magic inside and out in no time.
"Good." Gray pronounced. He dropped into a ready stance, his hands coming together at his side, a fist in an open palm. "Next, you'll need to channel your energy through the magic circle you make at your hands. Always use both, or your spell will be unstable. We'll practice this a few times until you can get it and then we'll find some Vulcans around here to test it out in a real fight…"
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Juvia couldn't believe what she was seeing. Surely her binoculars had simply been clouded by the storm. Or she'd rushed behind the snow drift so quickly when the white-haired girl had turned her way that the blood had shot to her head and muddled her memory. After all, it simply couldn't be true!
But it was! Gray, her beloved, darling, wonderful Gray, the man of her dreams, had taken on one of those new girls to be taught under him. 'Under' him. Argh! The girl was even more insidious than Lucy!
She had tried to cut down on her observation of her darling after he had expressed his dislike of her habits during the final banquet of the Grand Magic Games, but how could she ignore such a blatant love rival? Weiss Schnee may have been shorter than a gremlin, but she certainly didn't look like one. With her pure alabaster skin and chilling blue eyes, she was practically already a perfect woman of snow and ice. And with her only being a woman of water, how could she compete with such a natural companion for her beloved?
When she had first raised the idea to Lucy, she had tried pointing out that Weiss perhaps had bigger problems to deal with but that was just it. Stranded and alone, separated from her very world, who should she turn to for comfort but the strapping, mighty, protective, and loving Gray Fullbuster! They had already fully borne themselves to each other! Juvia could only imagine how the rest of their 'training' would go.
'Oh, my darling Gray, you are the most wonderful, amazing, and handsome teacher I could have ever wished for! The only comfort I have in my dark, cruel exile is that I have had the unparalleled pleasure of meeting you!'
'Hush, my sweet Weiss! Even if we had remained worlds apart, my love would have crossed all of space just to be with you for all eternity!'
'And not that Juvia girl?'
'Especially not that Juvia girl.'
'My love! Ravish me in the heart of this raging storm!"
'More than that, I'll follow you home so we can be together throughout all time!'
"NOOOO!" Juvia sobbed, breaking out of her nightmarish imagination. She wailed at the sky even beneath her heavy winter coat. "My darling Gray, please don't go!"
"Huh? Did you hear that?" Weiss called out from where she and Gray were training in the roaring blizzard.
Juvia squealed and dove back behind her snow drift before she could be discovered, her entire face flushed. She couldn't let this stand! She would have to deal with this tramp—
No! No, that was the old her talking, the Phantom Lord her. Even after all this time, she still had trouble suppressing her instincts to utterly annihilate anything that stood in her path, specifically her path to her beloved. But she was different now, she had changed. She was a Fairy Tail wizard and she would not harm her family simply for associating with Gray.
For associating with him while they were both naked…
Juvia barely caught her arm as a Water Slicer instinctually lashed out towards Weiss, her halting of the attack sending the blast off target and nailing a gorilla-like Vulcan that had been sneaking up on the girl.
"There! That! You can't tell me you didn't hear that?" Weiss shouted.
"Hmm, looks like a Vulcan," Gray evaluated. "You must have taken it out without noticing. They're not too strong."
"That thing is a Vulcan?!"
Juvia seized the opportunity and dashed down the mountain.
Weiss was a member of Fairy Tail, a member of her family. She couldn't hurt her! But she was plotting to steal her darling Gray! She couldn't let that happen! She'd assassinate the harlot in her sleep—
Oh, dear gods, she needed to talk to someone about this before she did something she'd regret. But Lucy had already proven herself useless in on the topic and she couldn't very well speak with her darling, so who could she possibly turn to… of course! It was so obvious! Why didn't she think of asking her old friend sooner?
Surely, Gajeel would know exactly what to do!
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No. No. No!
Urgh!
Blake smacked her head against the library table, the thick book in front of her as useless as the other half a dozen she'd searched through already.
Beacon's library wasn't the most popular location during the school year, but with the grand entertainment of the Vytal Festival going on next door, and class suspended because of it, she practically had the place to herself. And since Weiss and Yang were their team for the doubles' round and Ruby would be handling Team JNPR's magic instruction, that left her with the task of tracking down any information she could on the book that had sent them to Earthland. Their time with Fairy Tail had shed a bit more light on the tome, but they still had no idea how it had gotten to Remnant or why there was ethernano in their homeworld or why there was such a time discrepancy between the time they were gone and the time they were spent with the guild—Argh!
It all made no sense! She wasn't a scientist, she didn't know the first thing about interdimensional physics and, even if she did, how was she supposed to apply that to magic?! As it was, she was just looking for any Remnant point of view on any of the symbols on the cover, maybe some huntsman who'd had an encounter with an ally of Tartaros or something. Of course, she doubted any huntsman could have survived a meeting with any of the Nine Gates but maybe they'd run into a minion of the guild. Alas, she'd searched through every symbol reference book she could find and there hadn't even been a mention of any of the emblems on the cover of Sitara's book.
Blake sighed and leaned back in her chair. She rubbed her tired eyes, her gaunt reflection showing the polished desk. She'd gone straight to research after watching Team JNPR and SSSN's match, and since then she'd been at it with all the ferocity that she had once directed at the White Fang, with much the same results.
She needed to pull back, reevaluate the situation. Or maybe take a break like Yang had advised back then. Heck, even Mira had advocated routine rests during training and she…
Blake shuddered at the memory of her mentor. Though she loved and respected her… so many pillows… so many straps…
Oh gods, she needed a distraction right now.
"Hey, Blake!"
"Sun!" the cat faunus exclaimed, whirling around far too enthusiastically. Her blond monkey-like friend barely had time to raise an eyebrow at her massive smile before she tackled him in a hug. "Thank you!"
"Uh, sure, no problem," Sun stammered, his normally nonchalant persona hindered by being flat on the carpet. "But, what exactly are you thanking me for? I mean, there's probably lots of stuff but maybe… uh, specifically…"
"Dude," Neptune cut in, leaning down to his partner's face. "A beautiful girl just literally leapt into your arms. Stop questioning it."
Blake's eyes widened. She shot off Sun and jumped back to standing, awkwardly coughing into a closed fist. "Sorry."
Sun flashed one of his trademark grins and picked himself off the floor. "No problem. I was actually kind of worried you were mad at me for helping during the festival setup. We haven't seen you since then."
"I told you that was going too far," Neptune scolded him.
"I was trying to be nice!"
"Sure you were."
"I was!"
Blake couldn't help the faint smile that rose to her lips. Sun's exuberance may not have held a candle to Fairy Tail, but it was a welcome comfort all the same. She'd missed her non-team friends during their stint in Fiore, and she and Sun had become close during the short time they'd known each other. Plus, with him there, she could take comfort that she was no longer the only faunus in the world.
Wow. Her life really had gone insane if that thought was running through her head.
"So where were you guys?"
Blake blinked numbly. "Huh?"
"We haven't seen you guys since the festival setup," Sun repeated. "Jaune was actually asking around for you all, he was really worried. I told him he was overreacting, but if you hadn't been there at the tournament today…"
Blake chuckled and shook her head merrily. "Thank you for having faith in us. We were… well, I'm not sure if you'd believe me if I told you."
There may have been plenty of ethernano in the air, but her magic wasn't like the others. She hadn't had much energy left when they'd returned to Remnant and without Loke around to give her a recharge, she'd have to ration what little she still had. She couldn't waste power proving her story like Ruby did with JNPR, though if she could take the boys to her leader later…
"A slumber party."
Blake cocked an eyebrow at Neptune. "What?"
The blue haired boy sagely nodded to his partner. "I told you. They were having a three-day slumber party, complete with makeovers, hair braiding, and sexy pillow fig—"
"Dude, she's five seconds away from punching you in the face," Sun cut in, noticing Blake's quickly deepening scowl. He shoved a hand over his partner's mouth and smiled sheepishly at her. "Ignore him, he's… yeah, still dumb."
"You used the same thing twice in a row!" Neptune protested, shoving the hand away from his face. "You used 'dumb' with NDGO! You can't use the same thing twice in a row!"
"Why? You're still dumb."
Blake sighed. At least Sun had caught on before she'd actually punched Neptune. For all that may have been an acceptable response at the guildhall, assaulting another team's member outside of a match, even one that wouldn't make a big deal out of it, wouldn't end well. Besides, there had been a few slumber parties in Fairy Hills, though since the main participants had been Ruby, Wendy, and occasionally Weiss and Juvia, pillow fights, even normal pillow fights, had been a rare occurrence.
"It was a bit more complex than that," she assured them. She circled back to her desk. "It was actually all because of this book that we were—"
Blake froze. Her eyes scanned the table, then they swept it again, unwilling to believe what she was seeing. She had been the only person in the library until Sun and Neptune arrived, she would have seen someone take it. And yet, it was nowhere in sight.
"Where is it?" she hissed, her arms shoving the other tomes across the table just in case her eyes were playing tricks on her.
"Where's what?" Sun asked innocently.
She whirled on him, her cheery smile replaced with a panicked scowl. "The book! There was a book here!"
Indeed, Sitara's tome, the book that had taken her team to Earthland, that she had laid out on the library table to compare with the emblem indexes, had disappeared into thin air.
Their one clue, their one lead to one day seeing their guildmates again, was gone.
Sun and Neptune staggered away from her, though the former dared to take a placating step forward. "Blake, what book? We can help you find it, you probably just put it down somewhere—"
"Did you see anyone else in the library?" Blake fervently demanded. "Did you see anyone leave when you came in?"
"Uh, yeah! We saw… uh… Neptune…"
"What?"
"That person who left… did you recognize her?"
"What? Of course! There's no lady that I… don't… actually, she was kind of blurry."
"Blurry?!" Blake growled furiously. "She was blurry?"
"It was definitely a girl!"
Blake howled and pushed both of the boys aside. She charged out of the library and whipped her head around the halls, but none of the sparse few students wandering the halls had the book on their person.
How could she have let this happen? She used to be an elite White Fang operative, she'd been involved in espionage since she was thirteen. How could she have let someone take the book without even noticing? Who would even try to take it? Aside from them, no one else knew that it was anything other than a fancy cover—
Her breath caught in her throat. There was one other person who would know about the book's power. The person who put it in their room. The person powerful enough to somehow obtain it without and bring it across dimensions without Sitara being any the wiser. They'd thought they were done with them, but if they weren't…
She needed to tell the others. She needed to let them know what was going on.
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"I have no idea what's going on," Blake confessed glumly.
Mira smiled sympathetically at the huntress. She flicked her light pen and the complex diagram she'd drawn of the various types of magic disappeared into sparkles.
While the rest of Team RWBY had instantly known what type of magic they wanted to learn, Blake had not been as inspired, either by Erza's lessons or their ill-fated brawl with Natsu. Her tastes or semblance simply didn't line up with the mainly brute force tactics she'd seen from magic so far. Mira had hoped that giving her a rundown of a wide assortment of magics would help her figure out which one she wanted to study, even pulling in her siblings Elfman and Lisanna to help out. Unfortunately, between the sheer variety of mystical styles and the middle Strauss sibling constantly proclaiming all of them as either 'a real man's!' magic or not, the huntress didn't feel any closer to figuring out what she should do to advance her skills.
"Don't worry," Mira comforted her, the barmaid patting her on the shoulder. "It may take some time, but we'll find the magic that's right for you."
"Yeah! My big sister's a real man!" Elfman roared. He shot a confident grin down on Blake. "With her teaching you, you'll be knocking Natsu around in no time!"
Lisanna cringed beside her big brother, a bead of sweat dropping from her forehead. "Let's not set her hopes too high, Elfman. There's only so much strength she can gain in so much time."
Time. It all came back to time. They had no idea how much time passed on Remnant while they were away. For all they knew, Remnant's history would pass in the blink of an eye and they'd only return to their world only after it had gone through the apocalypse. They need to get home as fast as possible, but they wouldn't stand a chance against Tartaros until they became strong enough to hold their own against wizards of Natsu's caliber. To do so, they needed to learn magic, which took time! Time they did not have!
The others were doing their best. It had barely taken Yang a second to light a small flame in her hand, and Ruby was so eager to learn she'd be amazed if Erza couldn't teach the red hooded girl to summon weapons. Weiss was apparently trekking up a mountain to learn ice magic. And here she was unable to even get to the starting line.
She'd let her team down before. She'd ran when they'd found out what she was and nearly got herself and Sun killed at the docks. She'd only brought them in on her crusade against the White Fang because Weiss had called her out on it, and even then, she'd nearly run herself into the ground before Yang stepped in. She was in no way responsible for their current crisis, but she owed them far too much to hold them all back.
"Just teach me something," she demanded. "I don't care what it is, I just need to get stronger and fast."
Mira frowned. "It's not that simple."
"What do you mean? I thought you said any magic could be learned?"
"Any magic can be learned," the silver-haired barmaid confirmed. "But that doesn't mean it can be learned easily. After they learn to absorb ethernano, most wizards quickly show aptitude for some specific style, similar to a person having natural talent in strength or speed. They can train their other abilities, but their chosen style will be far easier to grow. If you wish to grow at the speed you're talking about, finding your natural magic may help a bit more."
"Argh!" Blake sighed, throwing up her hands and smacking her face into the guildhall bar. "Why can't anything ever be simple? I want to fight injustice, I end up helping turn my parents' civil rights group into a terrorist organization. I try to leave that organization and redeem myself as a huntress, I end up seeing exactly how low they've sunken and I'm pretty sure my psychotic ex-partner is waiting for the chance to gut me. Except he can't because, oh yeah, I'm in another dimension where I'm the only faunus on the planet!"
"What's a faunus?"
Blake's face went death white. She raised her head and repeatedly smacked her face into the bar counter. "And- ow- I- ow- just- ow- said- ow- that- ow- out- ow- loud. Ow. Why am I still doing this?!"
All three Strauss siblings winced sympathetically at the huntress' frustration. Eventually, after many pointed glares from his sisters, Elfman coughed nervously and strode towards the girl, placing a hulking hand atop her head both to comfort her and keep her from smacking the counter again.
"Stop that talk. It's unmanly." the burly wizard demanded. Blake glared him in the eye and his expression softened. "Look, I may not know what a faunus is, but I know a thing or two about blaming myself. For a long time, I thought I was responsible for Lisanna's death."
Blake glanced over at the girl in question, who sheepishly waved back. The huntress cocked an eyebrow. "Isn't she right there?"
"I was stuck in another dimension for a while," the silver-haired girl explained. "Big Sis Mira had brought us along on an S Class mission. Big brother Elf absorbed a monster he wasn't ready for and lost control. I tried to calm him down and… well…"
Blake's eyes widened. She glanced between the eldest two of the family. Despite their little sister's presence, both Mira and Elfman had shadows across their faces, all too familiar regret painted in their eyes. They had been lucky enough to get their sibling back, but they had had no way of knowing that would be the case before they'd received their miracle. For who knew how long, they'd thought they'd killed their baby sister.
"I'm sorry," she said remorsefully. "I didn't know."
"It's alright," Mira told her, replacing her bright, cheerful smile. She shuffled forward and gently removed Elfman's hand from Blake's head, replacing it with her own gentle grip. "I know the path ahead isn't as simple as we wish it was. But you aren't alone in it. You're part of Fairy Tail, now and forever. And even if we can't help you deal with all that craziness you were apparently dealing with back on your world, we are going to help you get there. And then, you're going to crush all of that yourself. Well, you and your team, but I think that goes without saying."
Blake chuckled, the ghost of a grin crossing her face. It wasn't too different from the speech they'd all gotten from Erza after the duel, but somehow Mira spoke the words with such quiet confidence that they still stirred a fluttering hope with the huntress' heart. She noted that Mira was the only wizard who had taken to tutoring Team RWBY who wasn't a part of the Strongest Team Wendy had mentioned when the four had first arrived. Perhaps she should have found that curious, the barmaid didn't seem to display the same overt power that Erza or Natsu did. Yet, every time she looked into her compassionate blue eyes, like sapphire oceans of kindness, she felt like she could come to no harm.
Mira noticed the serene look on her face and giggled. She softly patted the top of Blake's head.
Which just happened to be on top of her black bow. Which instantly twitched playfully at the comforting gesture.
Blake's eyes shot open. Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna all tilted their heads, confusion evident in their expressions.
"Blake, did your bow just move?" Elfman asked carefully.
The huntress paled for an instant. They'd find out, they'd learn what she was. They'd call her a freak and throw out the rest of the team when they tried to protect her—
Wait. They had literal talking cats, what the heck was she thinking?
In fact, putting aside the guild's full acceptance of the Exceeds, they had shown absolutely no care towards anything different about Team RWBY. Heck, they'd taken the revelation that the girls were from another dimension without even batting an eye. Why would they care about an extra pair of ears?
Still, she'd spent her entire life hiding from humans, or shouting at them to stop as they pelted her with hate and stones. That instinct, the instinct to conceal who she was just to… just to make it easier, it wasn't an easy thing to discard.
"Blake?" Mira inquired softly.
The huntress starred up into the wizard's eyes once more, and once more saw no judgment, just earnest concern and infinite kindness, perhaps with a hint of curiosity to galvanize it.
"May we see what's under your bow? Or if you'd rather not, we can just forget it and—"
"No," Blake decided then and there. If she was going to trust these people to help her get her friends home, she needed to let them know everything. "You can take it off."
Mira nodded and gingerly grasped the loose strand of the bow. A gentle pull later, and the whole thing unraveled, revealing two twitching black cat ears.
Blake waited for the worst, the gasps of horror, the shouts of decrement, the—
"Cuuuuttttteeee!"
…
Huh?
In the blink of an eye, Mira had grabbed onto the feline ears and begun gleefully petting them, squealing like a schoolgirl the entire time.
"Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute!" she cheered. "Oh, they're even cuter than before!"
"Hey, stop that!" Blake demanded, batting away the barmaid's arms. "They're sensitive, you just can't—wait. Before? You knew?"
Mira blushed and embarrassedly scratched the back of her head. "Your bow fell off after you guys passed out in master's office. We didn't know if you had it on for a reason, so Lucy found it and tied it back on. We figured you'd let us know what it was about when you were ready."
"I was hoping you'd show us after a while, but I'm glad you didn't take too long," Elfman revealed, flashing her a thumbs up and an approving grin. "Good thing too. Those things are manly! Why would you ever want to hide them?"
Blake blinked numbly at the siblings' revelation, touched by their acceptance but also reminded just how uncommon it was back home by their confusion. She sighed. "On Remnant, people like me, people born with some kind of animal trait, are called faunus. Let's just say that our relationship with the humans of our world hasn't always been the best. Before I met the rest of my team, I didn't have any human friends. And now, now I'm in a world where I'm the only faunus on the planet."
Mira and Elfman's eyes widened, realization shooting through their eyes.
Lisanna, however, merely frowned. She trotted up to Blake and stared her straight in the eye. "That's a silly thing to worry about."
Blake frowned. "What?"
"Lisanna," Mira scolded. "It's not silly to Blake."
"Let me explain," Lisanna requested. She turned back to Blake, a softer look in her eyes. "I've been where you are, or at least a similar place. During my time in Edolas, I felt like I didn't belong. I wasn't in my world, my guild, and sometimes the loneliness was suffocating, even when I was surrounded by people who loved me. I couldn't shake the feeling that I just shouldn't have been there. I imagine it's even worse for you if you're so focused on the lack of faunus."
"It's part of who I am," Blake declared proudly. "I'm can't just forget that."
"I'm not saying you should. But it's not all you are," Lisanna pointed out. "For the first few months in Edolas, all I could think about was getting home. I saw the other versions of all my family and all I could think was that I needed to get back to my versions. And it almost drove me insane. If you only focus on what isn't, you'll lose yourself before you ever get the chance to go home. I learned to appreciate the Mira and Elfman I had at the time, to love that Fairy Tail as much as I do this one. If you're going to get where you want to go, you need to take in where you are and enjoy what there is to enjoy."
Blake opened her mouth to argue but found herself shutting it a moment later. Lisanna's advice was annoyingly similar to the wisdom Yang had imparted to her before the dance. And despite the far more extreme situation, the words still weren't wrong. Yes, she was the only one of her species on Earthland, but she was hardly alone. Team RWBY had sworn to stand by her and her friends hadn't let her down yet. And with their induction into the guild, it seemed that had gained even more support in Fairy Tail.
Lisanna winked at her, a peppy smile on her face. "And if you really want to see someone like you, I think I can provide something of a substitute."
That got Blake's attention, her eyebrow shooting up in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Just watch," Lisanna insisted, stepping back and taking a deep breath. "Take Over: Ani—"
"Mira!"
The entire party whirled around just as a massive cloud of dust rampaged through the guildhall, only to come to an instant halt right before the eldest Strauss, sending dirt billowing all throughout her long white hair.
"Hi Loke," Mirajane greeted cheerfully, not even noticing that wind that just shot past her. "How are you? We haven't seen you around in a few days."
Blake, not as immune to environmental hazards as the bartender, took a few moments to cough before getting a look at the new arrival. He was a fairly tall young man dressed in a fine looking suit, though a bit of scrutiny revealed that the jacket was loose enough to permit freedom of movement. He panted madly before Mira, his eyes wide with panic, his head full of orange hair bobbing up and down along with his… lion ears?
Blake's eyes widened. She blinked to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, she had hit her head quite a few times. But when she renewed her vision, they were still there, sticking up from the man's head of wild orange hair were a pair of similarly colored lion ears.
"He has…" she muttered.
Lisanna came up beside her and sighed. "Well, that wasn't what I was going for, but I suppose it's the same end result."
"What's up Loke?" Elfman called.
"Hey, Elfman, Lisanna, beautiful girl with cat ears I've never seen before," the man, Loke, greeted quickly before turning back to the eldest Strauss. "Mira, is it true? Is one here?"
"Is who here?"
"The Spirit Slayer," Loke panicked, hushing his voice like speaking of some demon. "Lucy summoned me to deflect any stray fire from Natsu while he was training a very attractive blond girl and I asked her who said beauty was and she said she was a new member whose sister was a Spirit Slayer!"
Mira smiled. "Oh, that's Ruby. She's off training with Erza right now. Would you like to meet her?"
"No!" Loke squealed.
Blake's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean? You've never even seen her, and you've already got something against her?"
Loke turned towards Blake. The moment he set his eyes upon her, his whole demeanor changed. His worry evaporated, replaced by a confident suave charm. Honestly, it reminded her of a lion faunus Neptune.
"I assure you, Ms., I have nothing against the newest member of our family," he assured her smoothly. "However, Lucy also mentioned that she is completely untrained in the use of her powers and given my kind's particular susceptibility to that rare gift, I would prefer to have myself and those like me give her a wide breadth for the time being."
Blake's brow furrowed. The guy acted like a charmer but he seemed honest enough and she couldn't imagine any Fairy Tail member trying to hurt Ruby, not if it meant going against Erza and Master Makarov. And given that Ruby's lack of control over her eyes' power had been partially responsible for them even being in Fiore, there was a certain amount of sense to his logic.
Still, wasn't Ruby's magic focused on spirits? Why was this guy so afraid of her power? Was he a ghost or something?
She was knocked out of her contemplation by Loke taking a knee before her and gingerly gripping her hand in his own.
"Not to worry, Ms. With the Titania herself teaching her, I doubt it will be long before I can make your friend's acquaintance." He leaned forward to kiss her hand. "Just as it is already my pleasure to make yours."
Blake's cheeks lit up in confusion, but that was nothing compared to the chaos that erupted when Loke's lips brushed her skin.
There was a sudden flash of light, power surged through her like a thunderbolt, energy pumping through her veins so fast that her entire form lit up a shining gold. Images flashed through her mind on a wave of stars.
A titanic man made of the night sky, his massive mustache flaring as he lashed out with a sword painted with galaxies.
A minister with long black hair, a thick brown book held protectively in his arms, elaborate golden lettering peeking out from his grasp. Behind him, contained within a blacken stone tower, trapped under a tomb of thick thorns and vines was a woman, an ethereal lady brimming with the radiance of a star, her shining golden hair slowly weakening to a soft pale yellow.
A lion, shining like a guiding light, on his knees before a handsome man in rich green armor, a majestic staff in his grip with some sort of crystal at the tip. He leaned forward and helped the lion to its feet, a look of concern in his hazel eyes.
Suddenly, everything blinked out. Blake found herself flying back, slamming hard into the shelves behind the bar, dozens of glass shards bouncing of her hastily raised aura. She panted hard, clutching the hand Loke had kissed hard to her chest.
"Blake!" Lisanna called, leaping over the counter.
She rushed over and helped the startled huntress to her feet. Blake frantically glanced around the hall. Where she and Loke had been mere moments before, Mira was lowering a demonic arm, a disgruntled frown marring her face.
Loke himself was coughing madly in a pile of splinters that had probably once been a table. Elfman ran over and helped him stand up, the lion man sagging into his larger friend's arms. His cool façade was gone, replaced by a look of absolute horror.
His terrified gaze locked onto Blake. "Wha… what did you just do? I feel so… so weak…"
"You were lucky," Mira revealed, her demonic arm evaporating in a flash of light. "If I hadn't separated you when I did, she would have absorbed your entire being."
"I would have what?" Blake stammered. "But I didn't do anything! I swear I wasn't trying to… he just touched and then—"
"It felt like you were being flooded with energy unlike anything you'd ever imagined," Mira finished. She grimaced at Blake, pity adorning her face. "I know. It's not your fault. It happens to all of us when we first make contact with what we absorb."
Lisanna chuckled sheepishly. "Well… um… at least we know what your magic is now, right?"
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked desperately. She strode past Lisanna's calming hand and advanced on Mira "What was that? Why did I blast him halfway across the room—ah!"
Blake jumped back, a brilliant golden glow encompassing her hand. The light churned and swirled for a moment forming into the likeness of a lion, roaring into the air.
Loke's eyes widened. "That's Regulus. But how—"
"Take Over Magic," Mira explained. "If I had to guess, Spirit Soul."
"Take Over?" Blake whispered fearfully, desperately pleading for the light around her hand to fade.
"It's the same type of magic that we have," Elfman explained. "It lets us absorb the power and souls of a certain type of being. Lisanna works with animals, I do magical beasts, and Big Sis Mira absorbs demons."
"And given what you nearly did to Loke, I'd say you can control and consume spirits, just like Ruby can slay them," Mira finished.
"Then why aren't I... you know, inside her," Loke inquired, cringing at his unwanted innuendo. "I didn't think you guys could go halfway with this sort of thing."
Lisanna frowned. "Did you seriously think I went around taking the souls of innocent animals just to make myself stronger?"
"Well, uh…"
"Are you calling my little sister a little animal killer? I thought you were manlier than that."
"No, that's not…"
"I'm sorry!" Blake shouted. Loke and the Strauss' immediately turned to her, though she found she couldn't meet the lion man's eyes. She may not have appreciated his first impression but she hadn't wanted to hurt him. "I… I wasn't trying to hurt you. I just… I just…"
Loke flashed her a reassuring smile. He fudged himself out of Elfman's grip and limped his way to the bar, collapsing on a stool a bit away. "No worries. It was an accident. Everyone has a little trouble with their magic starting out. I know you didn't mean any harm."
"I almost killed you!"
"You aren't the first," Loke chuckled. "It may be hard to believe, what with my dashing good looks and all, but I've been alive for quite a long time. If I got mad at every friend that nearly accidentally killed me, I'd never have time to be happy."
"Friend?" Blake queried. "You just met me."
Loke pointed to the black emblem on her hand. "You're a member of the guild. That makes you a friend of mine."
Again, Blake found herself amazed by that simple but somehow truthful logic. Relief flooded through her. "Thank you."
"No problem."
Loke's brow furrowed. "Though, there is one thing. Correct me if I'm wrong Mira, but Take Over Magic lets the user see the target's memories, right?"
Mira nodded. "After full absorption, the wizard would have as much access to their target's mind as they do their own. Though, since Blake didn't get that far, I doubt she got anything."
"There was something," Blake revealed. "There were just flashes though, a bunch of images. I'm not sure what."
Loke paled. He gulped and stretched the collar of his suit. "Images… well, that's… um… I just want you to know, if there's a ram woman in any of them wearing… less than one would expect... that is a completely different lion Celestial Spirit doing that stuff with her."
Blake immediately flushed, though she suspected it was for a different reason that Elfman and Lisanna's paling faces. She hadn't exactly had the chance to bring any of her Ninjas of Love books with her when they'd crossed dimensions, and she admitted (privately, in her mind, where Yang would never find out), that she did, in fact, wish she'd seen a few of the memories Loke described rather than the mess she'd seen.
"Oh, that reminds me," Mira called cheerfully. "Now that we know what Blake's natural magic is, we can start her training."
Blake smirked victoriously. Nearly traumatic her discovery of her abilities might have been, she had reached the same starting level as her teammates. Now all they had to do was increase their strength and then they would be all set to go after Tartaros. And after that, they'd be one step away from getting home.
She might have been less excited had she seen Elfman and Lisanna go even whiter.
"Um, Bis Sis…
"Maybe, we should have someone else handle it, Mira?"
Mira pouted. "Nonsense. If there's one thing I know how to do, it's training Take Over wizards. I taught the two of you, didn't I?"
This time, Blake wasn't able to miss the haunted looks that passed across the younger Strauss siblings' eyes. The cat faunus cocked a worried eyebrow at the display.
"Good. Now go grab the buckles from the house. The case should be under my bed. I'll need you to help too, Loke. Blake will need to practice taking some of your power without nearly absorbing you. We don't have a ghost or something for her to go all the way on and I'm guessing it'd be more difficult with any of Lucy's weaker spirits."
"What about Aquarius?"
"Would she help?"
"Probably not. Still, it sounds dangerous. But you know I can never say no to you, Mira."
"Thank you. I'll run it by Lucy before we get started, just to make sure she's okay with it," the barmaid smiled. She strode over to Blake and pulled her into a crushing hug. "Oh, I'm so happy you're like us Blake! I promise I'm going to make you the best Take Over wizard your world has ever seen!"
"My… world… doesn't… have… wizards…" Blake choked out.
Still, even as her bones cracked and her mind feverishly trained to figure out why Elfman and Lisanna were terrified of their own sister's training, she still had hope. They had a direction and they knew where they were going. They just had to get there.
But hey, she'd been aiming for impossible goals like faunus equality since she was old enough to walk. What was one more for the pile? It just meant another one she would have to make reality.
They all would.
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Cinder smirked proudly, confident that everything was going according to plan.
The virus she'd had Watts create to hack Beacon's systems and find the Fall Maiden had failed in its primary task quite spectacularly. She couldn't even blame the fop of a scientist since, of course, Ozpin hadn't had Amber's location on any server that the CCT could access. The Queen had said he was arrogant, not a complete moron.
Still, she'd been provided an open access point to insert any additional programming or viruses she wished, something she'd had Watts get to work on immediately. The good doctor had been annoyed at being distracted from his work on the Ascension Chamber, but if she obtained the Fall Maiden's power, she wouldn't need the new model for the process. She would fully claim her seat on the Gates herself.
It didn't matter that Qrow Branwen had arrived, he hadn't been able to see their faces thanks to Emerald's illusions. And if Ozpin's little cabal had no idea where the danger was coming from, they would never see the dagger in their backs. Teacher had taught her that and it had served her as well as it had her trainer. The Queen's plans would not be stopped in any of the kingdoms.
And she fully intended to seek her dominion through them. Even now, she felt her portion of the maiden's power churl within her, hungry to be reunited with its other half, to be wielded by a worthy master. She would grant its wish and through the act become stronger than almost any other being on Remnant. And then, no one would control her ever again.
"Mam?"
Cinder glanced towards the door of her dorm room, Emerald carefully entering and shutting the entrance behind her. A saddle bag swayed at her hip.
"I trust everything went well?"
Emerald nodded, grappling with the bag. "I had a close call when I ran into two of those bozos from Team SSSN, but I blurred my face. They shouldn't have any idea we have this."
She revealed her prize and Cinder smiled.
The black book did look quite lovely, what with its strange mixture of Salem's emblem, the star, and those strange crossed hammers on the cover. Of course, its appeal for her was more in the sheer power sealed with, just waiting to be activated by the correct trigger, though what that was she had not been told. With the miasma of ill intent that seeped off its magic, she'd thought it was some sort of assassination device the Queen wished for her to use on Ozpin. Suffice to say, she'd been quite puzzled when her mistress had sent it after her report on the Breach with specific instructions to place it in Team RWBY's possession.
Nevertheless, one did not refuse the Mother of Grimm and she'd had Emerald sneak the tome into their dorm room while they were out setting up the Vytal Festival. And when the order had come through to have the book retrieved when she next saw the foolish girls, she'd ascended to that confounding command as well. She hadn't expected the little huntresses to mysteriously disappear for three days, but in time, Emerald had stolen the text back as easily as she'd delivered it. She was competent that way. Cinder never thought she'd support anyone as a candidate, but both her little thief and Mercury had proven themselves as useful as she'd hoped. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have more of the Gates in her debt.
In the meantime, she would return Salem's tool to her and get on with her own plans to annihilate a kingdom. Power wouldn't seize itself after all.
And she would have all of it.
Oh no! Juvia is going to ask Gajeel for advice! The world is doomed!
Oh, and Cinder is doing things too, but Juvia!
This chapter ended up being a lot harder to write than I expected. It has a good chunk of seeds in it along with sbutle ripples beginning to spread out and hints to Weiss' magic and the reveal of Blake's, but I had an irritating time writing Winter's section trying to figure out what Ironwood would be willing to tell her and Blake's section, while fun, ended up being longer than I expected. Fortunately, Weiss and Juvia's parts were an absolute treat.
A huge thank you to my patrons: ArcherMcMuffin, Gregg Tracton, Keith Traction and Cool guy.
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!