A crackle of energy erupts in the middle of a forest. As a tear in space opens up, the strong smell of burning ozone fills the air, and two figures step out. The taller of the two, a male clad in purple robes with medium length spiky brown hair, coughs and curls his nose.

"Ugh... that smell is seriously the worst. It's gonna stick on my clothes for days," he mutters.

"Master, you complain about that every single time. Aren't you getting a little tired of that gag?"

The male glances down at his companion, who has the appearance of a little girl with blonde hair. She is wearing a white and red dress, matching her equally blood red eyes with slit pupils.

"For the millionth time, it's not a gag," he sighs. "This smell is seriously nauseating."

He waves a hand, and a large breeze carries the smelly air away.

"So, where are we this time? Given that the moon is all broken up, I doubt that we're back home," he groans. "Though I might as well check..."

A complex series of symbols and glyphs appears as a sphere above his hand. The colors shift through various hues, until it finally turns white. The man frowns, then glances up at the broken moon, then back down at his hand.

"... Hey Flandre."

"Yes, Master?"

"Maybe I'm going senile, so I'm going to need you to jog my memory. Was the moon messed up like that before?"

Flandre closes her eyes and replies with a smile.

"While I agree that you are constantly on the verge of going senile and insane, I do not recall the moon being in that state before our little dimensional incident."

"... Was that jab really necessary you little-"

"It is understandable though," Flandre continues with a shrug. "Given the approximate period of 351,058 years 5 months 9 days 17 hours 21 minutes and 5 seconds I've known you, it's no surprise that a screw would get loose here and there."

"Hey..."

"But it's a good thing I'm always here to anchor you to reality, my dear Master," She laughs. "Otherwise, who knows what kind of strange habits and hobbies you would have developed? Just what kind of debauchery bubbling in the depths of your mind would have surfaced for the world to suffer?"

"I want a refund. My familiar is defective."

She folds her arms together.

"How rude, Master," Flandre pouts.

"In any case," he sighs. "It seems that we've been away for about 24 millennia, and it's only by sheer luck that we finally made it back. No wonder I don't recognize anything. The magic in the air is unstable, and the Ley lines are a complete mess... I'm going to take a look at what happened."

He stomps his foot onto the ground, instantly creating a large magical circle. A column of light outlines the circle he is standing on, and illusory books begin to fly through the air. A monocle shaped like a gear appears on his right eye.

[Akashic Lens]

"Hmm..."

After several moments, he sighs out and the spell disperses.

"... Those two idiots. Just because we were gone, they think they can get all cocky and pose themselves as gods? Even going as far as claiming to have created mankind? To top things off, they committed global genocide and essentially reset this world to zero," he frowns. "Flandre..."

"I know Master," Flandre's eyes glow red as she flashes a bloodthirsty grin. "If those two dare show their faces, they'll regret ever being born."

"I almost feel sorry for them. In the meantime... now that we're finally back home, I'm not entirely sure what we should do. This entire time, we've been just focusing on getting back. I suppose the immediate goal would be to get everything back in order. To do that, we'll also need to gather information about the current state of the world."

Flandre tilts her head.

"Why not just look through the Akashic Records?"

"Been there, done that on other worlds," He lazily waves a hand. "Aside from the fact that messing with those records can lead to annoying issues, knowing everything from the very beginning is so utterly boring. Where's the fun and adventure in that? You understand, don't you Flandre?"

She grins with bright eyes.

"Is that permission for me to have my fill of fun here? It's been so long since I've played around in this world!"

"Your idea of playing always ends up in breaking whatever it is you deem your toy," he blankly replies. "Even after all these years you haven't broken that bad habit of yours... Just whose fault do you think it was that I was forced to master spells without my staves?! That alone took 2,000 years, you reckless vampire!"

"Tch!" Flandre clicks her tongue.

"It's not my fault that I was so bored..." She grumbles. "Didn't it benefit you in the end anyways? You should be groveling at my feet and thanking me, Master."

"2,000 years!" He yells with veins visible in his eyes. "Ugh... My head is starting to hurt from recalling these painful memories. I have half a mind to-"

He pauses, and both he and Flandre gaze into the same direction.

"Master, it looks like we've found our guide," she grins.

*Huff! Huff!*

A figure cloaked in white dashes through the trees while breathing heavily. Numerous tears and scratches litter her body and clothes, as she is nearly out of Aura. What little she has left is currently being used to enhance her body in order to flee.

'This is absurd! No one told me that I would have to deal with something like this! Damn it!'

Following closely behind is a literal tidal wave of Grimm, consisting of Beowolves, Deathstalkers, Ursa, and Nevermore. Leading the pack are several elite variants of Grimm such as Nuckelavee and Goliaths.

'There's got to be at least a thousand of them! Why are they all grouped up together?! My stamina won't last much longer...'

Up ahead, Summer spots a pair of travelers. A male and a young female.

'What are these two doing out here in prime Grimm territory?!'

"You two! Turn around and run!" Summer screams. Gritting her teeth, she skids to a stop and turns around to face the Grimm.

"I'll draw them to myself while you get away!"

'Taiyang... Yang... Looks like I won't make it.'

She blinks a tear away and tightly grips her weapon, preparing herself to fight to a bitter end while those two civilians hopefully get away in time.

However, the pair she'd prepared to sacrifice her life for stroll past her towards the Grimm.

"W-What are you two doing? Are you insane?!"

From Summer's perspective, the little girl dressed in red and white grins and outstretches an arm, then simply squeezes her hand into a fist. What happens next, Summer would never believe it unless she witnessed it with her own eyes.

The army of Grimm stampeding towards them, every single one without exception, all disintegrate into ash in an instant.

"Wha..." Summer stammers and her jaw drops.

'H-Huh?! What just happened?'

"Aw... they broke so easily..." Flandre sighs.

The man turns towards Summer.

"Hmm... you're injured. How long has it been since you've been at 100%?" He asks.

'What language is that?'

"I... can't understand what you're saying," Summer slowly replies.

The man tilts his head, then mutters under his breath. A brief glow of blue light appears around him.

"You should be able to understand me now," He says. "How long as it been since you've been at full health?"

"U-Um... About two days? I guess?"

'... What kind of question is that?'

"Okay," he nods, then points a finger at her. He mutters some unknown archaic language while subtly waving his finger around.

[Reflow]

All of a sudden, golden light envelops Summer. Right before her eyes, her injuries begin to disappear one at a time. Next, her clothes mend themselves, and the dirt and grime lift away. Finally, she feels her Aura filling up to full capacity within seconds. When the light disappears, she stands up and quickly inspects herself.

"J-Just what did- How did-" She stammers. "Huh?"

"Okay, now that you're all good and healthy," the man nods. "What is your name?"

"S-Summer Rose."

The man gracefully tilts his head down.

"My name is Flugel," he introduces himself. "And this is my companion, Flandre."

"H-Hello Mr Flugel and..." Summer looks at Flandre strangely. "Little miss Flandre?"

Flugel loudly snorts, "S-She called you little. You little tiny shrimp! Bahahaha!"

Flandre glares at her master before giving the same look to Summer.

"Listen here girl! I am not a shrimp! Just call me Flandre. Got it?"

"But I didn't call you a shrimp..." Summer mumbles. "Um, it is very nice to meet you Flandre."

"Hmm hmm," Flandre nods with a smug smile. "At least you have some manners, unlike my Master. I don't blame him though, since he was severely neglected as a child."

"Hey..."

'What an intriguing pair... Though it's little strange that Flandre keeps referring to Mister Flugel as master. And there is also whatever Flandre did to those Grimm, and the way Mister Flugel healed me...'

"Um... If you don't mind me asking, why do you keeping referring to Mister Flugel as master?" Summer curiously asks.

A mischievous glint flashes across Flandre's eyes, before she puts on a bashful appearance.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm his loyal servant during both day and night," She replies with a blush and smile. "I remember it just like it happened yesterday. When... Master... took... my... first... time!"

"... What the fuck, Flandre?!" Flugel yells.

Summer's eyes widen as she rapidly glances between Flandre and Flugel. She points a shaky finger at them.

"Th-That's... Y-You're... But you're a grown man and she's... she's... That's illegal! And filthy!"

"Flandre!" He roars.

"Ahahaha! That's what happens when you call me a shrimp, Master!"

"Summer," he slowly says. "Flandre neglected all of the related context."

Summer slowly backs away as Flugel steps towards her, and she subconsciously covers her body with her hands.

"... ... ..."

Flandre skips to Summer's side while wiping tears away from her eyes.

"Hehe! Master is my first ever contractor," she grins. "I'm actually his familiar."

Summer catches herself, then looks up doubtfully at Flugel who is nodding vigorously.

"Familiar?..."

'The world truly has lost what used to be common knowledge...'

"A familiar is a summoned being that is in a master-servant relationship with the summoner," Flugel explains. "Though in my case... it is more of an equal status relationship. We have been in each other's company for quite some time, so I suppose it's not much of a surprise."

"Then why does she call you master?"

Flugel shrugs, "She insists. As you can see, she's a weird one."

"Who are you calling weird?!"

"Obviously you! You stupid shrimp! You made me look like a pedophile!" Flugel loudly counters.

"You just called me a shrimp again!" Flandre stomps her feet.

"So you don't deny being stupid?" He smugly smiles.

"Gaaaah!"

Summer sweats at their interaction.

"Anyways," Flugel coughs. "We are currently in need of a guide of sorts, and were hoping that you could be the one to fill that role."

"Of course," Summer nods. "You two saved my life. But what exactly do you mean by guide?"

"Hmm, Flandre and I have been away for a very, very long time. What is common knowledge to you is likely news to us."

Summer tilts her head.

'Very, very long time? He doesn't look older than mid 20's, while Flandre looks like she's no more than 13 or 14.'

"If that's the case, then maybe it'll be best if I just took you to my home city," she suggests. "It's the Kingdom of Vale, and I live on a small island called Patch with my family just West from the coast."

Flugel nods, "That is not a bad idea. If you happen to have a map, I can make the trip much faster."

"Uh... Okay? Well, if a map on my Scroll would be acceptable."

"I have no particular qualms with parchment," Flugel states.

"Er... What I meant by Scroll is this," Summer clarifies while taking out the piece of technology.

Flugel leans forward and inquisitively looks over the device.

"How interesting... Something like this was never necessary back in my day," he mutters.

'Back in his day?'

"I have no particular qualms with parchment," Flandre imitates with a solemn expression. "Ahahahaha Master! You looked so serious when you said that too!"

"... Shut up Flandre."

Summer brings up a hologram of Remnant and points at a certain location.

"This is where we currently are, and these are the four Kingdoms. Right here is where I live," she begins to explain the various locations.

'The geography has been completely changed...'

"What is this place?" Flugel asks as he points at a large island.

"That's Menagerie," Summer explains. "It's a kind of... home for the Faunus."

"What are Faunus?"

"You've never seen a Faunus before?" Summer asks, surprised. "A Faunus is one of the two intelligent species on Remnant, the other being humans. Physically, they look just like humans, but they also have various animal traits."

"Hmm," Flugel hums while rubbing his chin. "How very interesting..."

'?'

"Anyways," he straightens himself, then claps his hands together. "Off we go."

A symbol made of light appears beneath their feet.

"What is this?" Summer asks with wide eyes. She never receives an answer as her vision is suddenly filled with white.

Summer blinks her eyes rapidly, frozen in shock that they are currently standing in the yard of her house on Patch.

"This is... Patch? B-But we were just..."

'We were on the other side of the world!'

"That map was a very accurate one," Flugel nods in satisfaction.

"Certainly a better scenery than all those dead trees and grey skies," Flandre says as she takes in the sun's warmth.

"Mister Flugel... just who are you?" Summer asks. "Everything you've done so far. It's like... magic..."

Flugel raises an eyebrow.

"Like magic? You silly girl," he shakes his head. "It is magic. This was just a minor teleportation spell. Trekking all that way by foot... No thank you."

Summer's eyes widen.

'But Ozpin told me that only the Maidens, himself, and Salem can use magic!'

"You seem surprised. That is very strange, given the ocular magic I see in your eyes. Well, I suppose that is still to be expected. With the Ley lines and magical energy all scattered, it is no wonder that you wouldn't recognize things for what they are," he sighs.

'What?'

"Summer?" A male voice calls out. A muscular man with bright blonde hair had opened the home's door and stepped out onto the lawn. "When did you get back? And who are these two?"

Summer glances at Flugel and Flandre with complicated thoughts, but shelves them away for now and turns to her husband.

"Tai," she smiles. "I only just got back right now. I met these two during my mission, and they needed someone to take them to Vale, so I brought them here as guests."

"You may call me Flugel."

"Flandre."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you two. Welcome to Patch," Taiyang greets with a smile.