Saviors of Remnant: Book 1 Beginnings

Made possible by the joint efforts of Keeper Of The One Winged Angel and TheBoredBoot

AN: And so after who knows how long, my partner and I have returned with yet another chapter for the masses. I apologize a thousand for the wait, but since writing isn't my source of income I have had to focus a good amount of time in my real life working to bring home the bacon, both literally and metaphorically speaking. Now anyways without further adieu, new readers and old alike please enjoy the latest piece of Saviors of Remnant.

Also on another note, a big thank you to my good buddy Forlornsage for helping us out with some last minute editing. If any of you have a taste for stories from Skyrim or Destiny, I highly recommend you look him up.

Chapter 6

"All growth depends upon activity. There is no physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work."

: Calvin Coolidge

At the Kenrich Estate

The sun was shining brightly through the white curtains of his bedroom when a rustle in his own bed roused him.

Morven's eyes snapped open as he felt a slight shift in the bed beside him, not a hostile motion he noted immediately identifying the culprit before sighing heavily. A slight smile appearing on his face. Compared to being elegant and composed, Winter while she was asleep was a different case.

Her normally neat white hair, done up in a bun was all over the place, a thin line of drool pooling from the corner of her mouth was visible, and if you listened carefully one could hear the slight snore coming from her as she shifted slightly from her spread eagle position beside him, her hand coming to a rest on his chest while the other absently scratched her stomach.

Morven could feel his cheeks warm slightly the longer he stared at her, and while this wasn't the first time he found himself in this situation, it still was a surprise nonetheless.

As if his staring had signaled her, Winter's piercing blue eyes fluttered for a second before opening up slightly giving her a dazed sort of expression that turned into a big sleepy smile.

Clearly she was still asleep for the most part.

"Oh. Good morning handsome," Winter yawned stretching out slowly, the movement causing nightgown she borrowed from Morven's mother to ride up slightly exposing the creamy white skin of her thighs.

"3...2...1…" Morven thought to himself averting his eyes, though still catching a glimpse of Winter's face going beet red as she snatched up the blanket covering herself.

Moving up and out of the bed, Morven gave his partner a friendly smile trying to put her back at ease. "Good morning Winter. How'd you sleep?"

Opening her mouth Winter couldn't will the words to come out, instead she retreated further under the blanket and went still as if trying to pretend she wasn't there, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Winter please don't worry about it," Morven chided in a reassuring tone, pausing only to pull a shirt on before continuing. "You can take your time getting up, just remember Yang is going to be training with you today while Fen and I are working on our Aura training."

At the mention of the wolf Faunus Winter's eyes narrowed again, scoffing she turned away and let out a sigh of annoyance which wasn't missed by her partner.

Giving a sigh of his own Morven climbed back onto his bed ignoring Winters blush as he gently took her hands in his and looked into her eyes.

"I know how you feel about him still, and in a sense you have every right to feel that way. But after our talk I believe we have reached an understanding with each other. He'll trust and work with us. I just ask you to trust me on this too alright. Can you do that for me?"

Looking into Morven's warm gold flecked eyes Winter slowly nodded. "Alright Morven, I'll try." Gently squeezing his hand one last time before he released hers and exited the room. After the door closed behind him, Winter flopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes sighing heavily.

"This is going to be harder than I thought."

Later that afternoon

Fenrir gasped loudly as the open palm strike once again knocked him down, the air knocked from his lungs as he impacted against the hardwood floor several meters from where he first stood.

After going through warming up exercises, Morven and Fenrir dropped their weapons and began exchanging blows via hand to hand, though twenty minutes in, it was clear that it wasn't Fenrir's strong point.

"Hmmm, maybe I put a bit to much into that strike." Morven thought with a slight frown, watching his ward cough and gasp before struggling back to his feet.

"Damn you pack some power behind those hits," Fen coughed between breaths. His tone one of frustration while his face held of a look of aspiration as he stared at Morven, his hand tenderly rubbing his sore chest. "Could you explain to me again why you had us lower our protective Auras, cause if I'm going to get smacked around this hard for a while I'd like to have some cushioning thank you very much."

Shaking his head, Morven gave Fen a friendly smile. "Well, like I said earlier, our Aura is down for the sole purpose of allowing our bodies to take the full brunt of each others attacks to harden your nerves, that'll teach your body to fight through the pain."

"I don't think this will help a whole lot against the Grimm though, I mean who fights those monsters like this anyway?" Looking at Morven, Fenrir gave a shrug of honest confusion before smirking slightly.

"As far as fighting against the Grimm, you are more than capable of dealing with most of them. These skills however you'll find to be of much more use against our other enemies."

At the mention of their other enemies, Fenrir broke eye contact for a split second. "I'm assuming that you're talking about the Fang right?"

Locking eyes with Fen again Morven nodded slowly. "Yes they are a part of it, but there are other groups out there that pose a threat as well, and when they strike we need to be ready to stop them, That is after all why your here now is it not?"

The change in Morvens tone sent a chill down Fens spine, but before he could even respond the distance between them was closed and Morven was behind him in a instant. Flinching and closing his eyes, the hit that he expected never came and instead felt a gentle hand fall upon his shoulder.

"You don't have to answer that now Fen, just think on it and tell me later down the road. For now we will build up your strength, for I see you doing great things in the future. Now…!" With the same speed he demonstrated earlier Morven appeared on the other side of the room from Fen and assuming a defensive stance gestured for the young Faunus to begin. "Let's take it again from the top."

By the end of the day despite being sweaty, sore all over and dead tired, Young Fenrir couldn't help but feel fairly content about the days events. Irritated yes because he couldn't land a hit, still he grudgingly couldn't help but admire the Specialist's skill. "And to think this is only the first day of training," Fenrir thought going over what had happened with a slight shudder of anticipation. "We have a provisional training period of at least a month before authorization of our first mission, then after that it's anyone's guess what we could be doing based solely on how the first mission even goes."

Out of the blue a knock came from his door surprising him. "Master Fenrir I was told to inform you that dinner will be served within the hour in the dining hall," came Lylas voice from behind his closed door. "Also master Morven asked me to bring you a couple items which he believes will help you with your training."

"Alright then, please bring whatever Morven wanted to give me," Fenrir replied raising an eyebrow in interest watching as Lyla entered his room and approach him slowly before depositing what appeared to be a heavy box on the ground by his desk.

"Here you go master Fenrir, now the instructions Master Morven left for these: at any time besides sleeping you will wear these muscle restraints that way you can have continuous muscle building in everyday, It's actually been awhile since I've seen him care so much about this to be honest, he must really think highly of you." Lyla said giving Fen a friendly smile.

The young Faunus was about question the maid but then realised that ever since arriving at his new leaders estate he never asked about her relationship with a well known family such as the Kenrich. "Before I ask you about that, I've noticed how you act so cheerful around them, I kinda figured that you would hate serving humans but yet your always acting so carefree around them if you don't mind me asking but what's the story?"

Hearing this Lyla paused momentarily and put a finger to her mouth as if in deep thought. "Well while it is true that a decently sized group of humans look down upon the Faunus, so I can understand your reasoning for thinking that. Here though you don't have to worry about that at all, they judge based on character which is far more important."

Hearing this Fenrir gave the scaled woman a small smile, with how kind Serena has been towards him so far it now began to make sense to him why she didn't mind working here. Still he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to it than just the fact the Kenrich were benevolent employers, "so besides that how the hell did you end up in their service's then? Was it a job you were looking for or does it have to do with the other Faunus in the House?"

Lyla paused at Fenrir's question, the expression on her face indicating she wanted to choose her words carefully yet wished not to hide anything from her fellow Faunus. "Well, so you know, even before she married Master Kenrich, I had been in the service of Lady Serena for many years already, and though while professionally I am the head maid and the wet nurse of her children, I am honored to be able to say that I am one of my Ladies closest friends."

Fenrir's had a surprised expression after hearing that, he had no idea that she'd worked for the family that long, "damn I had no idea it was that long. So you know them on a personal level?" He asked suddenly sitting up from them the bed looking the maid dead in her eyes.

Fidgeting slightly Lyla nodded. "For the most part I assisted in some special teaching for Master Morven when he was younger, and after the birth of his two brothers I raised them alongside his mother when their father was busy, I see them almost as my own children to be honest and I love each of them dearly." A loving smile crossing Lyla's face at the memories she had of the young boys growing up.

Fenrir couldn't help but smile at the love the snake Faunus had for the Kenrich boys, he couldn't help but be reminded of his mother and how protective she was of him. "You know listening to you reminds me of my mom. she has such a big heart and loved both my brother Caius and I."

"Caius huh," Lyla fell silent for a moment with a indescribable expression flashing across her face before she continued. "That's your older brother right? The one who is still with the White Fang, I'm truly sorry to hear about the falling out between the two of you. You know, if you ever need someone to talk to about that you can always call on me or Master Morven. It is my duty to assist the members of the house, but I know just from what he's done for you so far, Master Morven cares about you Master Fenrir. You don't have to be alone any more."

Fenrir had to admit that the busty maid had a point Morven could've left him to the mercy the Atlas Council. But instead not only did he stand by his side but openly defended him. Even going as far as to put his standing on the line, something the young Faunus hadn't expected from an Atlas Specialist, let alone a highborn. "Thanks for the kind words Lyla I really appreciate it and be sure to tell Morven I said thanks."

Lyla flashed another friendly smile and bowed her head exiting the room, "don't be afraid to tell him yourself Master Fenrir." She whispered quietly making her way back to her quarters, a question weighing heavily on her mind. While it couldn't have been more than a pure coincidence still Lyla knew just for peace of mind she'd have to look into it.

Watching the maid close his door Fenrir let out a heavy sigh and went to check what she had dropped off. Opening the box he was surprised to only find two simple black bracelets with a letter attached to one of them.

~Fen. At all times after this point make sure to wear these to help build up your strength. It will be awhile but I guarantee we'll see results.~

"Huh weird, Lyla said muscle restraints so I figured it would be something else a bit more extreme then just…" Reaching out to pick one up Fenrir froze when he felt the bracelets actual weight. In all honesty it wasn't too heavy, just the appearance of such a simple accessory and the weight didn't match up catching him off guard. "It must be gravity dust then," he muttered slipping on one then the other bracelet feeling the affects immediately gritting his teeth slightly as the feeling of supporting his own weight grew even more noticeable. "Yup these are definitely infused with gravity dust, must be refined dust too by the feel of it."

Examining the bracelets one last time Fenrir gave a shrug and went back to readying himself for dinner, after a quick shower and with well over forty minutes before he needed to head down he decided to take some time to relax. Pulling out his new scroll Fenrir donned his headphones and stretched out on his bed and began searching for music, rebuilding his playlist from scratch was no easy feat but by the time Garreth knocked on his door for dinner he had them set back up.

"So how's the training with my brother going Mr. Wolf?" Garreth asked as the two of them made their way to the dining hall, his interest surprising Fen who gave a half shrug response.

"Well it's only the end of first day and already I'm sore as hell, and from these little pieces right here." Fenrir muttered gesturing to the bracelets he was given, "it's only going to get harder."

"Well of course it is, my brother just wants to make you strong enough so he doesn't have to worry about you." Giving a innocent smile that was almost too much for Fen. "He offered to train me a little but Lyla said I'm too young, and if he tried behind her back she'd beat him up."

Fen chuckled for a moment before realizing that Garreth was serious and gave him a incredulous look. "Wait are you saying that she could beat him? I though Morven was one of the best or something?"

After pausing for a moment to think Garreth gave a little laugh, "oh my brother is strong, stronger than even he knows. He just has a soft spot for her though, when he was younger he apparently had a crush on her. It's the reason why he can't say no to her."

"Wait… he had a crush, on Lyla?" Fenrir could hardly process this information and just shook his head but couldn't ask another. "Man personal life here for these people is more confusing than I thought it would be, but I guess it's going to be my life too. At least for awhile anyway." Before he could ask another question they were at the dining hall, making a note to ask about that later Fen smiled and thanked them for the meal before digging in.

While the family ate no one was surprised at the ravenous appetite the Fenrir had developed, the only comment that was made was from Serena, who gently asked if her eldest was working him too hard. Fen couldn't help but reply with a smile, "Don't worry ma'am it's nothing I can't handle."

Frowning slightly at her son before looking back at Fenrir she nodded slowly, "that's fine and all dear but please don't push yourself too hard and hurt yourself, and you better be careful with whatever your having him do." The last she directed at Morven who gave his mother a sheepish look.

"He is strong and has potential mother, I know you've seen it in him." Morven muttered giving Serena a strange look to which she blanched slightly before coughing, quickly changing the subject to talk of an invitation the family had received from the Schnee's regarding a charity ball they were hosting in several months for what had happened in Vale.

"Oh yeah regarding that mother, I've already spoken with Jacque a little bit about a request he asked of me. While of course our family is invited as honored guests he personally asked if I would be willing to help with security during the ball."

Something about that for some reason had peeked Fenrir's interest, but rather then ask about it he remained silent and continued to eat listening in. The talk of attending the Schnee ball normally would leave a sour taste in his mouth but his first thoughts were seeing Yang at the ball. He knew she was a guest staying there so it would only be natural that she would be in attendance as well. "Wait why have I been thinking about Yang so much, yea she's a very gorgeous girl but there's no way that she be interested in someone like me especially after all the things I did back with the White Fang."

Wiping his face with a napkin and getting to his feet Morven excused himself from the table and made his way to the exit pausing a moment to look at Fen. "Remember to get a good night's sleep Fen, today we were taking it a bit easy since it was only the first day. Remember though we have a lot to cover and only a month before we can go on our first mission."

The young wolf wouldn't admit it out loud but part him was excited to keep training with someone as strong as Morven for the next month, it was another chance to prove himself to not only Morven but to also find a purpose in him being here. With his second plate of food cleared Fenrir thanked Serena again for her hospitality before excusing himself as well. Making his way back to his room Fenrir changed into his sleepwear and made his way to bed he stopped and stared into the mirror, almost in a reminiscent kind of way. "Well mother I guess this is what you meant when you said to follow my own path," he whispered gently to himself crawling into bed. The fatigue combined with the feeling of a full belly making him drowsy. "Don't worry I'll do my best to make you proud and find my own place in the world."

One month later

Fen couldn't help but sigh with boredom as he sat quietly waiting for Morven to return, the Specialist apologized before leaving him alone in the conference room to answer a summons he had received. Looking around at the other chairs he couldn't help but feel a little relieved , while the past month had been not only been physically and mentally exhausting, time had seemed to fly by. Each day Morven had seemed to push Fen even further up until the last week he had him finally remove the gravity bands he had grown so used to wearing.

Clenching his fist Fen grinned to himself at the memory, even though he was the one who was experiencing it he still almost couldn't believe it. He felt so strong, so light, a subtle training he wasn't even aware had been happening twenty four hours a day, seven days a week for the past month had paid off.

Hearing footsteps approaching Fen looked up expecting Morven to return and instead found himself staring into the violet eyes of Yang Xiao Long who immediately smiled at the sight of him.

"Hey Fen. It's been awhile, how are you?" She asked hopping into the seat beside him immediately kicking her feet up.

"Huh she's alone," Fenrir noted before replying. "Oh hey blondie what's up? I'm doing fine, so far it's been a good morning. What about you? I haven't seen you since that first day you and Winter came by for dinner, and speaking of the Ice Queen where is she anyway?"

"Winter, oh she ran into that tech guy I think his name was Ernest." Yang said with a nonchalant shrug. "Anyway she told me to make my way here and meet up with you and Morven so we could wait for this mission briefing, but I see it's just you here so where did Morven go?"

Unconsciously Fens tail stiffened in an irritated snap at Yang's question about Morven as he rolled his eyes. "No idea firecracker, you forget that he's my keeper not the other way around, all I know is he got called over the intercom for something. He said he'd be right back so I guess we can just chill here and wait for them to come back."

"Yeah I guess you're right," Yang said with a shrug before a slight expression of nervousness crossed her face, her voice falling to a whisper as she asked. "Hey so what do you think this mission is going to be, something big? On our way in here I saw a lot of soldiers gearing up like something was about to happen, I don't know why but it makes me a bit nervous."

"Well I don't know all the details myself, I tried asking Morven about it but he said it was nothing I had to concern myself with and said he'll explain everything once he arrives with the Ice Queen." Fenrir responded with a understanding look in his eye as he was also feeling a bit nervous about going on his first official atlas mission and couldn't shake the uneasy feelings he was getting even though he wouldn't show it.

"But you think it's a part of the mission we are going on or is it something else entirely, I mean I've been on one actual mission before back when I was attending Beacon but going on a actual military operation," Yang shrugged and shook her head. "I have no idea what we'd even end up doing."

"Well as for military operations that's something they can teach you another time," came a voice from behind them.

Yang andFenrir both jumped in surprise and turned to find the General standing in the doorway flanked by both of their mentors. "Good afternoon everyone."

"Good morning Sir," both of them replied with a stammer, awkwardly not knowing what else to do.

Giving the two of them a nod the remaining three took their seats as the General pulled out his scroll and tapped rapidly on it before turning on the holo-pad on the table. "Alright everyone here's the mission," he started pointing to the map that sprang up. "Approximately one month ago an outpost in the northern sector of the continent went dark. Normally there are periods where we lose the signal due to inclement weather, and while it's true the weather this year has been abnormal to say the least, we can confirm something has happened to the outpost."

"How do we know something happened?" Yang and Fen asked at the same time surprising each other but then playing it off while the Ironwood raised an eyebrow. "Well to put it simply, the last signal we received was actually an SOS before the system itself went down. While the nature of the SOS is unknown we have two possibilities: One is that there was a drastic mechanical system failure that the personnel couldn't repair."

"And what about the other?" Fen asked meeting the Generals gaze. An idea already in his mind of what it could be, but still he wanted to hear it for himself from the General.

"The other, though small is the possibility that there was an attack on the outpost, probably by the Grimm that can be found outside the more populated areas."

"What about the Fang? Is it a possibility that could've attacked the outpost?"Fenrir asked, this time turning to Morven who gave him a questioning look yet remained silent.

"For the Fang it's unlikely, most air vehicles actually can't fly that far north so we are limited to special ground transports when traveling to the northern outposts. This leads to our next point," tapping his scroll again the map in the center of the table was now replaced with an image of a large armored transport vehicle. "This right here will be your transport to the mission area, additional personnel supporting you will be a mechanic doubling as a driver for the transport as well as a secondary team on standby. They will have standing orders to head to your last known position should your team not return within a week."

"What's our timeline looking like sir?" Morven asked speaking for the first time since the meeting had started.

"The team will be pushing out in an hour, so head down to the staging area and meet up with your support, your gear for the trip should be there as well so look it over and make sure there won't be anything else you'll need to take. Now with everything said and done," Ironwood turned to Winter and gave her a nod. "Alright team head out and complete your assignment. Winter and Morven, I know the success rate of your missions so don't do everything yourself. Make sure you give your apprentices a chance to learn in the field as well. Now everyone, Dismissed."

Winter and Morven snapped a salute and gestured for the other two to follow exiting the room. Checking the time first Winter turned to Morven and asked, "so what do you think happened to the outpost? I mean the intel the General gave us is usually spot on in situations like this, but with everything that's been happening across Remnant lately we should be prepared for anything."

Walking in silence for a moment in thought Morven than replied, "honestly Winter I think this might actually be a straight-forward mission for once, the storms have been hitting much harder lately to the north so if anything we'll have our mechanic rig up a signal booster and hopefully that'll help with the inconsistent signal problem we've been having."

Passing through one more set of double doors the team found themselves in a large hangar bay. Across multiple platforms sat different styles of airships and other vehicles most of which seemed to be partially disassembled. "So this must be one of the repair bays for Atlas equipment, which means we're here to find our transport and that extra set of hands the General mentioned." Fenrir thought to himself looking around trying to find the mechanic but not really sure what to even be looking for.

"Alright team our transport should be right over here with our mechanic doing some last minute checks over our vehicle." Winter said calmly her eyes also seeming to roam around searching before lightning up in a happiness as she spotted the pair of pointed ears sticking out of the mechanics iconic baseball cap. In a very un-Winter like fashion, Winter ran the last couple of feet and scooped up the small worker in a abrupt hug causing him to give a yelp of surprise before realizing who it was that picked him up.

"Ahhhh! Winter don't scare me like that, you almost gave me a heart attack. I'm just looking over our ride one last time before we head out."

Fenrir moved past Winter to get a look at this mechanic froze wirth shock at what he saw. A young fox Faunus, younger than him anyway was wrapped up in a hug by Winter Schnee. A woman who apparently for the most part did not care for the Faunus in anyway.

"Hello Kit, It's certainly good to know that you're our extra pair of hands for this mission, with your help we should be able to get that outpost up and running in no time at all," Winter said in a surprisingly cheerful tone putting their newest ally down.

"Well that's something I didn't expect." Fenrir thought as he watched Winter put the Faunus down leaving the young wolf speechless. "Who'd have thought that the Ice Queen would act like this around a Faunus and I wonder why." Turning towards the Specialist with a questioning look he then noticed a strange sort of feeling in the air, very different from what he felt when Morven used his semblance but still he could tell it was an area of effect semblance.

"Yeah I'll do my best to help and get us there in one piece," Kit said with a sheepish smile turning to the rest of the team. "Hiya Morven, it's been awhile since I've seen you too, has everything been going alright for you, also who are these two I've never seen them before?" He adding pointing to Yang and Fenrir, a curious look on his face

"These are the two new members of our newly formed team, this is Yang Xiao-Long and this is Fenrir Argyros," Morven explained gesturing to each of them. "They'll be in your care as well during our trip so let's make sure that we stay alert and safe as we can on this mission alright."

"You can count on me boss," Kit replied with a wide grin before walking up to Yang and Fenrir and holding out a hand in friendly greeting, "nice to meetcha, I'm Kit. I hope we can get along while we work together."

"Yeah likewise," said Yang offering a friendly smile in response as she shook his hand, her casual acceptance of another Faunus was not missed by Fenrir who nodded before shaking Kit's hand himself.

The second their hands touch both of them froze and the two Faunus stood still eyeballing each other, neither giving any signs of aggression but rather a sort of unconscious acknowledgement.

Getting a good look at Kit finally didn't really reveal much about him to Fen, from what he could see the young Fox was just a kid. He wore a simple set of black coveralls and a matching black ballcap with holes in the top for his red fox ears to stick out.

"So Fenrir right?" Kit asked finally breaking the silence, "you're a wolf right? That's pretty cool that almost makes us brothers." His friendly smile finally wearing his fellow Faunus down and finally returned his grin.

"Yeah I'm a wolf and I gotta say though, seeing you really surprised me, I mean as another Faunus working here in Atlas. Maybe people here are a bit more accepting than I was led to believe," Fen added quietly suspecting that the only other person to hear it beside Kit was Morven who as usual kept quiet.

"Well now that we've all been introduced let's load up and start moving, it's a full two day's journey to the outpost, maybe longer depending on if we get caught in a storm on the way." Morven explained moving towards the hatch opening it up. "Our warming layers are in here too so everyone put on your snowsuits and we can get moving."

The snowsuits turned out be be a pair of thick insulated pants and a matching coat, both a clean bright white with a grey trim along the seams. With each set came a nice set of cold weather boots, a balaclava face mask, goggles, and heavy duty gloves to not only keep their hands warm but also to allow them to still use their weapon effectively as well.

After a bit of a struggle of putting on their respective suits everyone climbed into the APC and conducted their last minute checks before they rolled out into the snow on their way.

Sitting in the back as they rode on Fenrir couldn't help but feel oddly nervous. It was the teams first mission and he felt like it was going too smoothly right of the bat, something he had never had the luck of experiencing. Turning his head he looked over to his companions, Yang to his disappointment was not sitting in the back with the rest of them but rather beside the driver watching Kit operate the vehicle. Right after they had left it was her that had suggested she watch and learn how to operate the APC, just in case something happened and they needed another driver to which Winter agreed that it was a good idea.

"Yeah it was a good idea," Fen couldn't help but think still feeling slightly irritated. "But damn, I was hoping we could talk and get to know each other better… I mean we are going to be partners aren't we?" Looking back to Morven and Winter he smirked slightly, the ex-Heiress had her eyes closed and was leaning against Morven's shoulder while her partner sat quietly reading what Fen guessed was a more detailed briefing, his eyes occasionally flitting between his partner and his scroll before suddenly snapping to meet Fen's gaze.

"Do you have something on your mind?" Morven asked putting away his scroll before staring back at Fen, a hint of honest interest in his eyes as he thought again before asking," it's something about about the mission isn't it. Or perhaps, it's about Yang?" Immediately Fen's eyes narrowed and his whole body seemed to stiffen up at the mention of Yang. "Hmmm a touchy subject, I guess he is still young so it makes sense he'd be defensive about that."

Crossing his arms Fenrir looked away scowling for a moment before muttering, "how are we supposed to be partners if we never get to spend time together. I mean like you and the Ice Queen there, you've probably spent so much time together. It's probably why you're so close."

Up against him Morven felt Winter stiffen up, anticipating she was going to start yelling he gently moved and placed his arm around his agitated partner almost immediately calming her. "Give it time Fen," Morven said trying to reassure his young ward, his gaze also falling onto Yang who seemed completely engrossed in her lesson with Kit. "Here, since we have at least another day or two of travel why don't you switch out with Kit later and have Yang show you what she's learned, besides me everyone will have to take a shift as driver so we can continuously keep moving."

"Hey why does everyone except you have to take a turn?" Fen asked, his tone turning slightly suspicious as he narrowed his eyes. "What are you, too good to drive us all around on a mission or some…" Fen suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and couldn't believe his eyes.

During his short time so far with Morven he had noticed the Specialist was a very reserved character, only allowing hints of emotion at a time to leak from his otherwise mostly expressionless face, if it wasn't for seeing the interaction between this man and his family he would've thought Morven was incapable of feeling anything. Yet now very clearly he could see the embarrassment written across his face as he rubbed the back of his head, the clear attempt to appear nonchalant not fooling the young wolf for a second.

"Well, to be entirely honest. While I am capable of driving this and most other vehicles, I don't necessarily have the best luck whenever I'm in the driver seat." Morven muttered still slightly embarrassed. "In a pinch I'll do what I can Fen, but just know it'll be one hell of a ride," his embarrassment now a slight smile.

Returning the Specialists smile with a friendly smirk Fen nodded and pulled out his headphones deciding to take it easy till his driving shift came up. Hours passed and as the distance between them and Atlas grew, the weather outside had become more and more intense as twice already the team had to stop and reorient themselves before deciding to call it a night.

In hopes the storm would let up in the morning they locked down the APC and readied themselves for the night. While the back of the vehicle was fairly spacious, between five people it was still was fairly cramped due to the extra gear they had brought. Leaving the scanners on in the APC the team called it a night with everyone in the back besides Kit who volunteered to sleep in the front. With that the lights inside dimmed and the team fell into a cramped yet peaceful sleep.

Outpost Arrival

Despite setbacks due to the blizzard they had entered, after another day and a half of travel the team had arrived at the outpost. Fenrir couldn't help but admire the snowy scenery as he pulled the APC into the Garage bay, the snow covered outpost at least one hundred meters had looked almost completely buried. The tower with a large annex at the base looked fairly normal, however damage near the what appeared to be the main entrance caught his attention. From the claw marks and small arms fire it was clear that Grimm had overrun the outpost, and with the lack of signs of movement or life from the building made it possible there were no survivors.

Waiting till after his ward killed the engine, Morven stood up and passed out small ear communicator devices. "Radio check," he said waiting for a thumbs up from the rest of the team before he opened the hatch to their vehicle. The cold air and wind roared around them as one by one they all exited Morven leading the way as they ran towards the umbilical door connecting the garage though an underground tunnel leading to the main facility.

"This place is a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be," Yang whispered to no one in particular being the last one through the door slamming it behind her before seeing Winter motioning for everyone to gather round.

"Alright team," Winter said calmly taking charge. "Now that we've finally arrived we have two main objectives. The primary is to get this outpost back online and connected to the network, and the secondary, now that we can confirm Grimm have been here, we are to find and eliminate any Grimm we find while also searching for survivors. We'll split into two groups to save time." Narrowing her eyes she then sighed, "Morven you and the dog will go and sweep the main area, spot any Grimm eliminate them on sight. Yang, Kit and I will head to the control center. From there our little miracle worker here," gesturing to Kit. "He'll asses the damage to the system and perform the necessary repairs to bring it back online, after that it should just be a simple matter of reactivating the defense grid and we can go back home."

Resisting the urge snap at the older woman's comment, Fenrir instead nodded his head and moved to stand beside Morven, his eyes though for a split second meeting Yang's as they walked to the end on the connecting hallway reaching the main atrium where they parted ways. Winter, Yang and Kit moving down into the lower levels moving towards the control room, while Morven and Fen stayed up top investigating.

While beside minor damage to the entrance indicating a fight had occurred, the inside was another story. There were bodies at choke points and throughout the atrium indicating a resistance to the attack, but with the blood splattered on the walls and floors farther along it was clear that they ended up being overrun.

"So Fen what would you summarize happened here," Morven asked breaking the deathly silence, pausing to kneel down beside one of the bodies taking a closer look at the man's mortal wounds. "The Grimm obviously attacked but what was the response from the personnel here? How did they all end up dying?"

Fen took a look at the bodies around the room and noticed something, besides the fact many were torn to shreds quite a few had bite or claw marks around the back of the neck. With a heavy sigh he looked at his mentor. "Well it's looking like the men here weren't attacked from just one direction, wounds on the back side of the body mean that they were attacked from behind, but body placement for most shows some were killed before they actually tried to retreat."

"Very good Fen," Morven said suddenly drawing Storm Razor and glaring into the darkness of the hallway as a low growl reached his ears from the darkness. "And what does this bring to our attention?"

Fenrir gave a quizzical look before he too heard the low growl and drew his own blades. "I don't know, what are you talking about? Is there something else that happened here?"

"Winter be on guard down there," Morven said over the comms still glaring into the darkness, his sharp eyes catching sight of the Grimm lurking in the shadows attempting to sneak up on them. "There's another breach somewhere in the lower levels, the Grimm have another way in besides the entrance."

"Thanks for the heads up, we just arrived at the control center and it's a mess down here." Winter said shaking her head freezing up suddenly.

Suddenly there was a loud blasting sound over the comms and Yang was heard shouting in the background as the duo were attacked at the same time.

"Kit get behind me!" Blasting the Beowulf that had suddenly lunged at them from an open doorway. The force of her strike slammed the Grimm into the wall with a sickening crack killing it instantly while others began emerge coming in for the attack.

Winter swiftly drew her her own weapon as she elegantly side stepped the Grimm that charged her casually sliding her blade through its side. The momentum from its attack carrying it's now lifeless body into the wall as she danced into action against the others, her blade singing through the air as she expertly sliced and stabbed the incoming Grimm with ease.

Yang couldn't help but stare for a moment as her mentor moved, eliminating the Grimm before the growl of her own opponents brought her back to her senses. Snapping her head in the direction of the threat Yang shot her arm out brushing aside the first Beowulf's claw before driving Ember Celica straight into its chest throwing the beast back into the more of the pack before unleashing a volley of explosive blasts into the group.

Back in the upper level Morven and Fenrir began engaging the Grimm that had come from the shadows, the two wordlessly nodding to each other before darting in and slaying their opponents. While both were clearly more than a match for the attacking Grimm it was obvious the difference in skill between the teacher and the student.

With a single slash Morven cleaved the first Beowulf completely in half, his blade shattering the bone plates on its body before easily passing through the flesh and muscle, as he quickly cut down each new opponent his eyes searched the room looking for the one to be the leader of the pack. "By killing him, the rest should either dissolve away or flee," he thought to himself deflecting a slashing claw and stabbing the offending Grimm.

"Morven! Do we just keep fighting them or are we trying do do something else?" Fen cried out ducking under a Grimm's claw, using his twin blades Hati and Sköll he made an attempt to slash at the Grimm but scowled when his blade was deflected off it's skull. "Dammit," he growled leaping back to put so me distance between himself and the Grimm before pointing both blades at it's chest, his fingers tightening on the triggers. "You damn monster, go back to hell."

The Beowulf roared before twin blasts from Fenrir's gunblades put a hole in it's chest killing it. The last roar it issued had seemingly threw the rest in a frenzy as the Grimm suddenly began attacking in full force. Through the comm system they could hear Winter and Yang fighting as more and more Grimm poured from the darkness.

"Something is very wrong here," Morven thought noting the increase in Grimm as they continued fighting. "There's far too many for them to have been hiding here, it's like every time I cut one down two more show up. So where are they all coming from? It's almost as if…" Morven's eyes narrowed as he recalled a recent theory involving large groups of Grimm seeming to appearing out of thin air, it was the result of a speculated species called a summoner, though there had been no recorded evidence of it so it was still just a theory. "But for a summoner to be here, that would be the only explanation for this number of Grimm."

Gritting his teeth in annoyance and glaring at the Grimm Morven irritatedly muttered. "Time to thin the pack," his blade cleanly bisecting another Beowulf before beginning to glow a luminous golden color. After a couple seconds the crackle of lightning could be heard a he shouted to Fenrir, "at the count of three quickly close your eyes!"

"One"

Hearing Morven's shout Fen quickly dispatched the Grimm he was fighting and leapt up into the air, switching his swords to bladed whip mode he began rapidly lashing another group, his attacks keeping the group at bay as he waited for Morven's signal.

"Two"

The crackle of lightning was much louder now as Morven stepped forward driving his free hand into the chest one last Beowulf knocking it back before two-handing his sword and pulling it back readying his strike.

"Three"

Fen shut his eyes as a thunderous crack echoed through the outpost, the blinding flash of light from Morven's attack still disoriented him causing him to land from his jump and lose his balance falling to his knees and dropping one of his swords in the process.

"Dammit Morven couldn't you tone that down," Fen shouted squinting his eyes, fumbling on ground for his sword briefly fearing that the Grimm they were fighting were about attack again when he noticed the low pained growls and whines all around them. Rubbing his eyes so he could look around Fens eyes widened in shock at the sight before him.

The Grimm that had been attacking them just seconds earlier were now all across the ground whining and growling, pawing at their faces it was clear they were blinded from whatever it was Morven had done.

"Cmon Fen get up we have a new objective," Morven said helping his ward to feet before glaring at the writhing Grimm around them before continuing. "There's been speculation of a new species of Grimm and now we need to find and eliminate it."

"Great, and you said this was going to be a simple mission," Fen muttered sarcastically before giving Morven a nod. Following his teacher the duo made their way through the facility, watching for more Grimm, if what Morven said was true and a new kind grimm was the cause of the attack on this outpost then this was only the tip of the iceberg.

"We don't know exactly what this Grimm looks like Fen," Morven added looking over his shoulder. "Since that's the case though just keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Winter, Yang, Kit." He added tapping his earpiece, "You three be careful too, if it gets too much for you to handle fall back and regroup with us."

"Roger that Morven, I'll make sure to keep the kids safe," Winter replied looking back at Kit who was still trying to restore power. A frown crossing her face as he turned and shook his head. "Hey Morven, we might have a bigger problem though. Kit can't restore the from here so we may need to go down to the sublevels and manually restart the generator, but from the looks of things there could be more Grimm down there, and I don't want to leave Kit and Yang alone."

"Alright, Fen and I will take care of it, just make sure that when we get the power back online Kit reactivated the defense grid. With the automated defenses back online we can secure this outpost."

Following Morven and listening to the conversation over comms he couldn't help but ask, "hey Morven. How do you plan on getting the generator started? You a mechanic too or something?"

Morven gave a little chuckle and shook his head. "No I never took the time to learn advanced mechanics like our friend, but most likely all that needs to be done is a jumpstart, and I can accomplish that easily enough with Storm Razor." He said patting his sheathed blade before stopping.

Pulling out his scroll and typing for a moment he nodded suddenly. "Alright there is a service elevator near here that can drop us down to the level with the generator room on it, from there we can quickly jumpstart the core and then finish this mission up." Leading the way Morven navigated the dark hallways they came to the service elevator that he had mentioned before and stopped. "The powers off so looks like we are going to have to climb down, you up for that Fen? I have no problem if your more comfortable going and helping the others protect Kit and the control center."

Fen shot a dark look at Morven and growled, "what makes you think I'd rather do that. You think I'm scared or something?"

"No that's not at all what I think Fen," Morven said calmly as he forced the elevator doors open. First checkin below then and the above he nodded before turning back to Fen.

"I know your brave Fen, I was more or less just asking since most likely there will be some Grimm down here yes, but the girls could use some help and I figured…"

"Imma stop you right there," Fen snapped crossing his arms and rubbing his head before shooting Morven another annoyed look. "I'm going with you, unless you think so highly of yourself that you don't need me."

"Very well Fen, but if I tell you to leave me and run away." Morven's tone suddenly becoming dead serious as he locked eyes with the young wolf. "I don't want you to question it and immediately leave. It could be seconds before your own death if you do not."

The air between Morven and Fen turned tense as they made eye contact, the seriousness of the situation dawning on the young Faunus. Gulping once Fen processed what Morven asked of him and nodded slowly.

Seeming to accept his half-hearted response Morven turned back to the elevator, his tone still serious as he muttered. "Times not on our side Fen, we have to make our move." Not bothering to wait for a response, Morven leapt down the shaft vanishing into the darkness.

Hesitating for a moment Fenrir gritted his teeth and thought again about what Morven had said, making up his mind as he looked down.

"Fuck it. If he can do it so can I," his heart still pounding in fear as he jumped down into the oppressive darkness.

AN: Hey guys Keeper here hoping you enjoyed the latest chapter of Saviors of Remnant, the cliffhanger was a good way to wrap it up without going into to much.

Now I want to let you know guys know that I'll be going on hiatus for awhile, this is because I've just moved and will be in the progress of looking for work. I apologize if this is an inconvenience but my partner will fill in for me until I return with that in mind please make sure to read and review, until then this is Keeper of the One Winged Angel logging off.