Some of you hate Ilia holy shit. WeirdChamp
Somewhere in Anima…
Osiris stands atop a campfire that he created with the use of his Solar Light. Weiss had fallen asleep a few hours ago leaning against a tree. So far they have covered quite a bit of distance on the Sparrow, having only followed signs that pointed towards Mistral. Sagira made sure to verify that they were all being truthful.
"Have you been able to contact one of my echoes? I can't feel a single one," Osiris asks, looking down at the burning flame. His head turns to look at the Sparrow parked along the road, to make sure it's still there. The night is exceptionally dark, reminding him of the darkness of Panoptes' futures. "I'm not sure if I should call this new feeling freedom or emptiness."
"So, good news first." Sagira flies in front of him. "I managed to locate an echo."
"Bad news is that I found a corpse." She waits for a moment, allowing him to consider the new information. "And it's locked up in a flying coliseum in Atlas, which is an ocean away from here. Even worse…"
"We will get to that in the future, tell me more about this planet." Osiris crosses his arms, looking away from the fire and into the darkness of the forest. He wonders how many creatures could inhabit it. His estimates range in the thousands. One day, when everything settles down, he would take a walk inside a forest and observe nature in its purest form.
"How far back do you want me to go?" Sagira chuckles to herself. "Because that'll take days to crunch through when spoken. I can process it in a minute."
"Let's start with the dangers that lurk," Osiris says.
"The main threat are dark beasts known as the Grimm." Sagira floats over to Weiss, looking down at her with her single eye. She turns back and nods once, affirming that the girl's fine, before returning her attention to Osiris.
"Is something wrong, Sagira?" Osiris asks.
"Sorry, I thought I noticed something with her. She's fine," Sagira answers, flying back to him. "Anyways, the Grimm has been a thing on Remnant since the start, and they thrive off of negativity."
"Negativity? Like the Ahamkara?" The idea of a species that profits off of human emotions is interesting in its simplicity. Ahamkara would be the closest to that, but there seems to be a key difference.
"Not really, Ahamkara feed on desires, and wishes. These things gravitate towards sadness, anger, and all those negative emotions." Sagira hums. "They sound like a cartoon villain, the more I think about them."
"They aren't motivated by anything external?" Osiris hums himself, too.
"Doesn't seem like it, they just love to destroy apparently."
"Interesting…"
"Osiris?" Weiss' voice almost makes him jump. He turns around and the girl is stretching her arms, still seated against the tree. "You're still up?"
"I have to keep watch, in case any…Grimm, come along, or more raiders," Osiris says, offering her a hand. She takes it and he pulls her up.
"If you need rest I can take up guard duty if you'd like…" She yawns, covering her mouth with her palm. "It's still really early. We can head out in an hour, once the sun rises."
"We can head out now, Osiris is pretty good at navigating in the dark!" Sagira pipes in with her signature snarky cheerfulness.
"Sagira, your need to prop me up as a miracle savior is sometimes infuriating." Osiris exhales in exasperation, shaking his head.
"Hey, if you won't do it, then I will for you!" she says, fluttering up into the air, dancing around his head, which seems to be a taunt. "And I never said that you were a 'miracle savior', just that you're really good at things!"
A gunshot booms in the distance. It's faint and singular. A beast howls into the night around that same area. More gunfire follows. Short bursts; small arms. Weiss straightens herself and grabs her rapier. She called it "Myrtenaster."
"You heard that?" She says, looking around warily.
"I did, it seems to be coming from down the road. Sagira, if I recall correctly that's the location of a village?" Osiris turns to Sagira, who nods once.
"Yep, let's get going, we should only be a few minutes on Sparrow."
"Well, let's go!" Weiss says as she rushes to the Sparrow as fast as she can in heels on rough dirt.
Osiris rolls his eyes before mounting the vehicle. He revs the engine once and nods to the one behind him before looking forward. His feet press down on the boosters and off they go into the darkness, looking for danger.
The feeling of wind passing through his face is…refreshing. He takes the time on the Sparrow to enjoy the simple feeling on his skin. He leans forward a bit, concentrating back into the reason he's driving.
Small cracks of white and orange flash. A few microseconds later, the bangs of weaponry: Short, and disciplined. These people must be trained.
The Sparrow slows to a stop, facing a broken-down gate of what looks to be a big township. An order of magnitude smaller than the City, but big enough to house at least a few thousands of souls.
Weiss is the first to dismount. She creates a rune that's slanted backwards on the vertical axis and flings herself into battle.
Osiris blinks a few times, quietly thinks, and he sets himself alight, glowing a bright golden. He zips into the air, carrying his Dawnblade by the hilt in both hands. A quick view from high above, and he dives downwards. His sword slices the air once and sends an arc of fire to a quadrupedal beast of darkness, resembling a wolf. It disintegrates, disappearing into a black mist that whittles away into the fresh air.
A soldier wearing a white battle vest and helmet that covers their entire face behind a visor looks up. The two lock eyes and Osiris nods, before dashing to the side as a massive condor plunges down to him. Its wingspan nearly throws him off, but he uses a burst of fire to realign his body mid-air. It screeches a high-pitched song, making him wince.
"Nevermore!" He hears a trooper from below scream out in abject horror.
"I feel that is a familiar term," Osiris thinks.
"Old poem?" Sagira suggests.
"My memory is foggy, but I think yes."
Osiris slashes in the air, hurling another arc of fire at the so-called Nevermore, hitting it in the wing. The jab manages to burn a few feathers, judging by the crisp ones that fly towards him. The beast changes direction, tilting a bit to the right and effectuating a full turn.
Underneath a bone mask that conforms to its face, four eyes glare him down in full, unabridged hatred. It stops, realigns itself vertically and flaps its wings once. Several sharp feather-spears speed towards him, cutting through the air.
Osiris squints, zips to the left, avoiding a few, and then slashes to burn another set that he wouldn't be able to evade. He dives downwards, to dodge the rest but a frozen one pokes him straight in the back. It doesn't do much damage to himself, but it threw his concentration off. He looks to his right to see Weiss floating on one of her black runes. One hand covers her mouth with her eyes widened, while she flicks away her rapier, sending away the rest of the frozen feathers.
Osiris snorts and transforms the destructive Light in his blade into a restorative one. It shimmers a bright gold that shines in the darkness, illuminating the area a meter or so around him. A beacon channeled to repel the creatures of evil that inhabit this world.
Osiris chuckles at the thought of it all, and nose-dives to the floor. He lands in the middle of a circle of white-uniformed soldiers. They don't pay him much mind, more occupied with shooting the black beasts attacking them.
A Nevermore feather impales one carrying a rocket launcher in the chest. The heavy armament drops to the floor and rolls to Osiris' feet. He nods to his Dawnblade and stabs the tip into the floor, creating a brilliant pool of radiance. He crouches and unslings the Monte Carlo, training the sights on a wolf-like creature rushing with its pack. A bear trails behind, quite a bit larger than the rest. Distance seems to a few dozen meters away, would take around a minute or so to reach him and the squadron of soldiers.
He squints, slows his breathing and lets out a small volley of rounds. They strike true and crack the bone mask of one, revealing an ugly, pungent growth that tries to escape.
"Good shot!" Sagira exclaims. He fires again, downing the beast and tripping the ones behind it. The rest of his magazine gets expedited into more heads.
"Hamil's down, someone get on the launcher!" A voice barks, above all the gunfire.
"I'm on it!" Osiris lowers his weapon and makes his way to the bipod-mounted rocket launcher. It takes a moment for him to reorient it so its computer screen could be visible, and he slaps the power button. It boots up with a cheery tone and loads into a menu where it lists dozens of options that don't mean much in battle. "Sagira!"
"On it!" The Ghost starts blasting sky-blue beams at it, deciphering the software inside the launcher. A motor spins to life, the weapon starting to rotate, its barrel not lifting up and pointing towards the people its meant to defend. "You might want to back up a bit…"
Osiris does as told and takes a step back, giving the automated cannon some space. It spins some more, stops in place and starts emitting a high-pitched whine. Five seconds later, a rocket comes out of the barrel, which then ascends straight into the air.
"That's a perfect ninety-degree angle," Osiris thinks. "But I don't see why they couldn't have made it point upwards in the first place."
"You're asking me? I-" The two stay silent as they witness the rocket reach the Nevermore and split into many mini-cluster missiles that track the winged beast. A few more dozen smaller explosions batter the already injured beast. "That's a Gjallarhorn. They made an automated Gjallarhorn who's rocket can turn ninety-degrees." It screeches and starts falling, already dead.
"Whoo! There goes the 'ol Loud Horn!"
"Traveler help us…"
Osiris isn't sure if the man is teasing him or if it's actually called that. He stares at it before returning back to the real world as Weiss lands next to him, holding Myrtenaster over her shoulder.
"You should be careful not to poke anyone that's behind you," Sagira suggests, and Weiss shrugs in response, a small smile on her face.
The Nevermore disintegrates in the air, clearing up the dawn sky, and letting the sun shine through.
"Get as much information on that weapon as you can," Osiris says. Sagira nods and flies over to it, scanning it with a few beams of Light.
"Almost done…oh my. This…oh, wow I did not expect that…" Sagira mumbles to herself, shock laced in her voice. "This is an actual Gjallarhorn, but they just…built over it."
"And you are absolutely sure about this?"
"I've cross-referenced the mechanics with yours and it matches…hold on a second…the serial number, it's…" Sagira's voice cuts itself off, stunned. "This is Saint-Fourteen's Gjallarhorn."
"So that means…there is a chance he's here?" Osiris' eyes widen. He's stunned, bewildered…amazed. After days of building the Sundial, countless time searching for the Titan...this would be where he would finally find Saint-14? He doesn't want to believe it. The Guardian managing to pull him out of the Corridors of Time damn-near put him in a catatonic state…but this? This is unheard of, and he has supposedly seen everything in the Infinite Forest already.
"Um…Osiris, are you okay?" Right, Weiss is still with him. He will have to shelf the search for now. "You look…"
Osiris brings his hand up, swiping his palm in front of her face. "I'm fine…the weapon just brought back some nostalgia."
"You sound like a friend of mine." She smiles and holsters Myrtenaster. "I wonder where Ruby is right now…" She looks up in thought.
"Hey, Schnee girl and robe man!" A soldier calls out to them, making them both turn to him. "You need a ride? We can get her back to Atlas."
Weiss pales. "Um, no, I'm actually headed for Mistral."
"Mistral?" The soldier crosses his arms, tilting his head in confusion. "What could you possibly want there?"
"I'm trying to find my sister,"
"Noble cause," Sagira comments.
"Not without specifics do we know it's a noble cause," Osiris replies.
"Your sister? Winter Schnee?" The soldier hums to himself. "Well…alright, but if she isn't there, we'll have to bring you back. We've been out in this damned wilderness for weeks now, scrounging for Vex parts-"
"Sorry, could you repeat that? You were searching for what?" Osiris cuts the man off, his voice grave.
"Oh, I shouldn't have said that you see it's a top-secret project and…"
"Uh huh…" Osiris mumbles.
"Sagira, get a scan on those boxes." He marks various wooden boxes littered about the town square. Some are already cracked open, the contents spilling out.
"On it!"
"Look, we'll take you two to Mistral if you don't tell anyone what we're doing out here."
Osiris wants to object but when he opens his mouth Weiss speaks instead.
"Deal."
He scoffs and rolls his eyes.
"Transmat anything that can be considered useful."
"I got an…an entire jar of Vex Radiolaria. Ooh, that's a few Goblin eyes! Why are they all covered in moss…oh." Sagira seems to have come to a realization. "These are Sol Divisive Vex, the ones in the Black Garden."
"What are they doing here?"
"You know that 'even worse' I mentioned earlier?"
"Yes-"
"Hey, you coming? Manta's arriving." Somewhere a bit far, Osiris can make out the sound of an aircraft engine approaching. He can make out a V-TOL aircraft on fast approach somewhere around the mountains.
"We'll discuss this inside the vessel," Osiris mentally says.
/
Menagerie, Remnant.
Saint-14 doesn't stay for Blake's speech after seeing Ilia carried out of the building in an unzipped body bag. He heads for the White Fang camp, brushing through the forestry and shrubbery that covers the path to it.
The air gets noticeably hotter as he spots out small flecks of ash blowing in the air, landing all over his armor. He pushes a branch aside and sees giant flames that reach as tall as the trees burning ferociously. In the center of the road that leads to the camp, there is a single person sitting in the mud, watching the entire thing burn. They have antler ears.
"…Anna?" He wagers, walking up next to the person. She chuckles when he's at her side.
"It's a controlled fire. It'll fizzle out in about ten minutes."
"You started it?" The flame contrasts with the dark night, lighting the area up like it's still daytime. He squats next to her.
"Yep, a bit of powder here, a lighter there, organize some barrels together and bam, the entire camp's in ashes." She laughs, and her smile is a bit maniacal. "I have nowhere to go."
"Of course you do, there's still Kuo Kuana, they're accepting White Fang defectors," Saint says, crossing his arms and watching the fire. "Don't make the choice Ilia did."
"About Ilia…" She pauses as if whatever she is going to say is taboo. "Did you…kill her?"
"I…I'm not sure. She might die in hospital, she might survive. I was stopped from finishing her off," he says, almost regretfully. "I headbutted her face."
"Ouch…" She pinches the bridge of her nose and looks to him. "Do you think you made the right decision?"
"I..." He doesn't have an answer to the question. "How you answer my question will help me decide."
"Well, go on, ask it." She pats him once on the shoulder.
He doesn't waste much time. "Who ordered you to distract me?"
"Corsac and Fennec, by the way, did you kill them? Please tell me you did."
Saint chuckles. "I did. Do you think Ilia planned this attack?"
"Hell no, she's a great fighter but she has a rash brain, besides, she used to be head-over-heels in love with the Belladonna girl."
"With Blake?"
"Yeah, I don't think she would make the decision by herself." Anna leans her head on his arm. "My opinion, for all I know she could've planned the entire thing by herself and is framing the Albain brothers."
"Do you believe that?" Saint asks.
She laughs. "No, it was a crazy idea I threw out."
"I have to talk to Ilia before I take action. I don't want to do something that I would regret, later on." He pauses. "Perhaps I will regret injuring her like tonight."
"I'll follow you back to the village." Anna stands up and stretches her arms. The fire has started dying.
"Suit yourself."
. . .
Next day…
The sun shines bright over Kuo Kuana. The village bustles with activity as crews work to repair the Belladonna household. Doctors and the like are working to tend the injured, some White Fang, some guardsmen and some innocents caught in the crossfire.
Saint-14 is barraged with questions by pedestrians eager to know what actually happened inside the house. Reporters press their microphones and cameras in his face. He respectfully declines every time. They seem to have also taken notice the dark, crusty build-up on the mohawk of his helm and begin to avoid him.
According to the list of patients given to him by a nurse, this tent should be where Ilia is kept in. It's wide, enough to fit many people, but apparently, she has priority over the rest.
"That's the tent of White Fang operative Ilia Amitola," a reporter says from behind him.
"I am aware," he replies, not turning back to them. He grabs on the cloth door. "We have unsettled business," is all he says as he enters.
The tent is quite a bit darker than the outside, the only source of lights being a blurred out sun and a few lamps along the walls.
Blake is sitting next to Ilia, their hands holding onto each other. The cat-Faunus is sleeping, snoring very lightly.
Saint moves his hands to the sides of his helm, popping out the locks and pulling it away from his head. The tiny hiss of air from depressurization is enough to wake the cat-Faunus up with a gasp.
"Blake," he says, his photoreceptors gazing into her eyes.
"How could you do that to her?" she immediately says, looking at him with a tired and bewildered gaze. "You were trying to kill her!"
Speaking of Ilia, she has half her face covered by white bandages that wrap around her head. The fabrics stretch on her, revealing slight amounts of details of what it looks like under there. There are little specks of red that pop up on the white.
"I know, Blake, if you hadn't stopped me, I would have," Saint says, looking at the bedridden Ilia. "Is she okay?"
Blake sighs. "She's stable."
"That's good, I suppose."
"Why do you suppose? Are you going to kill her in a fucking hospital bed?" Blake stands up and puts a hand to the handle of her weapon, stashed at the back of her waist.
"I'm not. I need to ask her a few questions," Saint says. "For clarification."
"She's asleep, you'll have to come back later."
"I can wait." He slides a chair sitting in a corner and sits down diagonally from Ilia's bed.
There's an uncomfortable silence between the two that lasts for minutes. Blake is the one to break it.
"Did you really mean it, yesterday?"
"Mean what?" Saint asks, turning to her and regarding her, perplexed.
"That you were doing what you had to." She avoids his gaze, looking down at her legs.
He ponders the question for a long minute. "I did."
"I…I see," she says. "Do you think she's at fault for following orders?"
"That excuse hasn't been valid for centuries, Blake," Saint rumbles, crossing his arms.
"I didn't mean it that way…she didn't have anywhere else to go, and didn't know what else to do," Blake says. "She couldn't leave the White Fang. With Corsac and Fennec dead, and the White Fang operation here gone, she can be free! We can get her out of Adam's plans!"
"My perspective on the problem is quite different than yours." Saint pauses. "She's a risk."
"And I'm going to take that risk-"
"Blake? Is…is that you?" Ilia's voice pulls both of their heads to look at the bedridden chameleon-Faunus. She weakly smiles when looking at Blake.
The cat-Faunus turns her attention to her. "It's me, Ilia—are you okay?"
"Could be better-" Ilia explodes into a coughing fit. "I got my ass handed to me last night."
"Not funny." Blake lightly punches her in the shoulder.
Ilia slowly cranes her neck to face Saint, and her one visible eye widens as she lays it on him.
"Is that Saint?" she croaks.
"I'm Saint-Fourteen, Ilia." He stands up and presses his helmet between his hip and his forearm. He approaches, slowly, deliberately. "I wanted to ask you something."
"I kind of owe it to you since you let me-"
"Blake let you live," Saint corrects. "If she hadn't interfered, you would be dead, which would mean she would have also wanted you dead," he says, plainly. "Anyhow for my question…did you believe you were doing the right thing?"
"I…" Ilia goes silent. "I…no. I…I didn't know what else to do. If Adam found out I switched sides he would have…"
"You place quite a bit of faith in this Adam," Saint says. "Are you sure he is as powerful as you think?"
"Compared to you…I'm not sure anymore. To be honest I was expecting to fight Blake…not you." She coughs again. "I guess I relied too much on that…" She hacks once. "I was scared that we wouldn't be strong enough to face the White Fang."
Blake shoots her a semi-offended look before smirking. "Ilia, we'll fight them together. The entirety of Kuo Kuana is behind us."
"…Really?" Ilia's expression seems to be a mix of shock and ponderation. "Then…I'll…I'll stand with you both." She reaches out her hand to Blake, who holds it tightly.
"I said you both," she repeats. Saint rolls his photoreceptors and reaches out his armored hand, stacking it on top of theirs.
"We'll be leaving in two weeks for Haven, are you sure you'll be ready?" Blake asks, worriedly.
"You bet."
/
Mistral.
"Hey, Ruby…I have something you'll want to see," Qrow peeks his head to the group of Beacon students gathered around a table. "In fact, all you might want to see this." He waves his Scroll lazily in front of them.
"What is it, Uncle Qrow?" The youngest of them all, Ruby Rose puts down her cup and stands up. She stretches her body, after being stuck sitting for an hour or so for dinner.
"Sit down, I'll tell you all." He makes his way to them, opting to stay standing. "A couple of contacts have spotted an Atlas ship heading towards Mistral, landing at the now-closed Atlas Outreach office."
"What does that have to do with us, though?" Yang pipes in, leaning so she can be seen from behind Ruby.
"Let me finish," Qrow says. "A friend of yours stepped out with an unknown man." He shows them an image on his Scroll, depicting Weiss Schnee and a robed man stepping out the back of an Atlas Manta ship. "Your friend's here, and I haven't been able to figure out if that guy next to her is hostile or not."
"Well, let's go get her!" Ruby says, zipping away to find her weapon while the rest of the Beacon students stand up. "Qrow where did you leave my bullets!?" She calls out from somewhere else in the house.
"They should be on the kitchen table!" He says back.
. . .
The lower regions of Mistral were dark, damp and generally miserable. It's quite a difference compared to the upper levels. Qrow stays in his corvid form, perched on a roof and watching the muddy streets for any sign of Weiss Schnee. The Atlas Outreach building isn't too far from here; it's in the same block as some infamous Huntsmen and Huntresses.
A wooden door breaks, and a man comes flying out, hitting the wall of the building on the other side of the street.
That's the restaurant Shiro Wan had the massive debt to. A robed man carrying a white and sleek rifle steps out, with a floating…prism, over his shoulder.
"There are social cues that you should recognize," the man says. "My point being, leave her alone."
"Yeah, creep!" A female voice says, which seems to be coming from the floating shape. "Come on, let's go back inside, this rain is making me miserable."
Qrow flies off of the roof, diving down and then transforms back into his regular, human form. He slowly draws Harbinger, letting it slowly unfold into a scythe.
"Everyone, I have eyes on our target," he mumbles.
The robed man turns to face Qrow. "And who might you be?"
"I'm a Huntsman, and you're…accompanying a woman who my friends want to talk to," Qrow replies coolly.
"Really? Do you have any identification to prove so?" The man raises his rifle, the barrel pointed at his chest.
"Well…yeah," Qrow starts approaching, deliberately and slowly. He doesn't want to start a fight just yet. "She knows us, just trust me. Let's talk."
"Really…" The man fires first. Qrow reacts by deflecting the bullets.
"Osiris what are you-" Weiss Schnee steps out from the restaurant and immediately backpedals as a round digs into the ground at her feet.
He sees the swirl of Ruby's cape rapidly land behind the man, who seems to be called "Osiris." She lands and the frame of her weapon quickly readies itself into its gun setting.
"Buddy-" Qrow is interrupted as the man throws some kind of violent, pulsing purple ball at Ruby that seems to cave reality into itself when it lands. "Hey!" He yells as he kicks off of the ground to dash up to the man, intent on tackling him down. He doesn't hit anyone though, instead only throwing himself to the ground. A person lands on his back, forcing him into the mud.
Osiris hops and a very tiny burst of fire follows in his wake as he dashes himself away from Ruby, his boots smacking on the ground behind Qrow. He lets out another volley of rounds into Pipsqueak.
Ruby, in turn, uses her own Semblance to close the distance between them, and Crescent Rose unfolds into a scythe too. She does a battle cry as she swings her weapon at him. His palm strikes her away, while he steps back herself.
"Let Weiss go you creepy old man!" Ruby says, her face grave and somewhat agitated.
"You know her?" Osiris replies, in an almost too-calm manner. He lowers his gun.
"Yes!"
"Ruby!?" Weiss peeks her head out of the restaurant.
"Weiss!" Ruby's expression softens and joy quickly takes place instead. She stashes her weapon and lunges at Weiss for a hug. "It's been solongohmygodimissedyousomuch-"
Qrow stands up, wiping his shirt of as much mud as possible, and mumbles to himself about how much it would cost to clean it.
"Now can we talk?" He asks, earning a small nod from Osiris.
"INCOMING!" Yang cries out from far as the clunk of her shotguns gradually get closer. A bright yellow blur flying at an indescribably high speed heads straight towards Osiris. The robed man turns around.
Her fist is inches away from his face and looks quite ready to make contact.
"Yang, wait!"
The air turns electric.
Now, for why I spared Ilia: Saint-14 is a compassionate Guardian. There is a lore entry about a Sekris, Baron of Shanks, who was spared by him during his crusade against the Fallen (this lore entry is found only in the Grimoire Anthology books). My interpretation of the character is of course different than others, and if you disagree, then power to you, but you won't like how the story plays out.
Also,
BEFORE ANYONE SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT GJALLARHORN, FEIZEL CRUX GAVE A GJALLARHORN TO THOSE WHO FOUGHT IN THE BATTLE OF TWILIGHT GAP. THERE ARE MULTIPLE GJALLARHORNS.
SAINT-14 WILL NOT BE USING GJALLARHORN IN THIS STORY BECAUSE IT WOULD BE THE SOLUTION TO EVERYTHING. WILL PROBABLY BE A CHEEKY JOKE LATER IN THE STORY.
Edit: Whew, went through every single chapter. Now I can continue writing.