"Don't you think that we need a little more time to prepare than a day?" Coco asked. "How did you even manage to throw this thing together so quickly anyway?" Glynda smirked as she let Coco and Blake into her office before closing the door behind them and taking her seat. She held up a finger, taking a sip out of her coffee that was long and rivaled that of Ozpin in his glory days, surprising Coco that it wasn't empty when she removed it from her lips. "And clearly you must be in on this too, right?"
"Obviously," Blake replied. "I think that it's a great idea."
"A chance for the students to see two real teams in action, and to remind the White Fang and anyone else out there that were aren't about to be pushed around," Glynda noted. "The council was on board with the idea faster than I could finish asking them about it and since Ruby was in town already, she was more than happy to agree."
"That's all fine and great, but you really expect to have the school ready in less than twenty-four hours for a televised fight between RWBY and JNPR?" Coco blurted out. "I'd need more time for Ruby's security detail alone, and you want to bring the big eight up in here and just be cool with it. I can remind you what happened the last time that they were all in the same arena at once."
"Actually, Yang, Weiss, and I were all somewhere else," Blake corrected. Coco sighed.
"That's not the point!" Coco exclaimed.
"We're having it at the Amity Arena if that puts you at ease," Glynda told her. Coco laughed in a manic tone for a few seconds before stopping abruptly.
"It doesn't!" Coco yelled. "You're just asking for a repeat of history now!"
"I'd like to think that even those that are out of their mind would know better than to attack with all eight of them here at the same time," Glynda replied. "Everything has been finalized, but I want your team to be there tomorrow to take notes, come up with a pop quiz for them to do or something equivalent. It's been a long time since RWBY has fought together."
"I think the dragon was our last official outing," Blake offered.
"Is it true that Weiss killed the dragon in the end?" Coco asked. Blake shrugged.
"I like to think that we all took it down," Blake replied. Coco nodded and stood looking at them for a moment before Glynda caught her eye.
"You want me to go now?" Coco asked her.
"Yes," Glynda informed her. Coco left promptly, giving a slight wave to Blake as she exited the room and shut the door behind her.
"Whose idea was this really?" Blake asked.
"Ruby," Glynda informed her. "That girl is ever the optimist."
Ruby pointed into the woods as Atlesian Soldiers poured past her and she stood at the back with Qrow, watching over the platoon that rushed in and searched the area over. This was the closest they'd been, someone had tipped them off as to where the White Fang had been hiding and Ruby took the initiative to search the area with some of the Atlas and Mistral military on hand. On the off chance that the Faunus Organization wasn't in this part of Vale and had already gone ahead with their plan, Ruby had staged a little warm-up spar between RWBY and JNPR. Sure it would remind the world that they weren't to be messed with, but in reality, most of them hadn't had a serious fight in a while, namely RWBY. Weiss was on board the fastest, canceling a meeting or two in her busy schedule to make it work before Glynda had even received the request. Pyrrha and Jaune complied but were beat out by a few seconds by Renora. Lastly came Yang and Blake, Yang was excited but Blake was second-guessing herself, which was understandable.
Ruby glanced up at Qrow who took a swig of his flask, he looked a little rough from the night before, where Ruby got a better night's sleep when she was in Vale, Qrow tended to get less sleep. The blade of Crescent Rose rested on the ground as Ruby let the wind sweep through her hair, tossing the branches about wildly as something unsettling hit her bones. Qrow had already taken the blade off of his back, exchanging a look with Ruby as they both took off after the platoon, Ruby speeding ahead of him in a flurry of petals. Something was wrong, and they needed to stop the troops. Ruby scattered, floating and dissipating through the formation before reforming at the front.
"Fall back!" Ruby shouted at them as she spun her scythe above her head and planted the tip against the ground, ready to fire deeper into the woods. Qrow ran past, weapon just inches from the ground as he sprinted with it pointed behind him, coming into a clearing that appeared to be a pathway that led to the left and right, to the left was a large temple looking building, and to the right was a small village. "It's coming from the left."
"I'll go with you, we can check the village in a moment," Qrow replied. They approached the building slowly, the inside seemed dark, but was lit poorly with torches that didn't appear to be bright enough, leaving a lot of the room shrouded in darkness. A woman sat lazily on the throne at the far end, her deep red hair made her easily identifiable and her matching blade was propped up against the side of her chair. Qrow made a move to advance further in but Ruby cut him off, raising her hand as she watched Athena for a long moment.
"Ruby Rose," Athena said as if tasting the words, savoring them as they left her mouth and she rolled her head to look at them. "Here I was thinking that I'd need to find you so that we could have this conversation, but instead you came to me." Qrow took another step but Ruby actively pushed him back.
"We'll hear you out for a moment," Ruby replied. Athena flashed a twisted grin.
"That's all that I'm asking for," Athena informed them. "What a time to be alive. I must say that I admire your work wholeheartedly. If Salem had been left alive there's no telling just how powerful she'd be at this time, hell, we might all be enslaved or dead if it hadn't been for you, her realm was full of those nasty Grimm and was just bursting at the seams. I know you're quick to forgive and slow to kill, but she didn't leave you an option and that's where we meet idealistically. I too am quick to forgive and slow to kill, but you see, my dear Rose, I'm all out of forgiveness.
My people ask for equal rights and the government, the council that you sit as the head of, spits on us and grants us rights that should have been ours, to begin with. The humans deserve to be confined to that damned island and the Faunus should be given free rein of Remnant, we are the superior species after all…"
"If you're as reasonable as you claim to be, then it should be quite easy for you to see that your definition of equal rights is by no means 'equal'," Ruby explained. "With the passage of the law that disallows the discrimination of Faunus at businesses or schools, you have the same rights as us. Might I add that I hate using the term 'us' because I do not find you and I to be any different from each other."
"Oh?" Athena remarked. "If I put out all of the lights in here, who would win? You are not the same as me, don't be so ignorant."
"Then I ask you to discard your own ignorance," Ruby said gripping Crescent Rose slightly tighter. "This is not a matter of equal rights."
"Then perhaps deserved is a better word to use," Athena said sitting up straight.
"What can we do to rectify this?" Ruby asked. Athena chuckled as her arm hung over the rest on her throne and grazed Wilt's handle.
"You really are convinced that everything can be solved peacefully," Athena scoffed. "They say that your mother was the same way." Qrow pushed Ruby's hand out of the way, forcing her to grab his arm as he tried to step past her one last time.
"Cut the small talk and answer her already," Qrow demanded. Athena rolled her eyes.
"I'm not afraid of you Branwen," Athena informed him. "We already almost killed your sister before, I doubt you're much more of a threat."
"Athena," Ruby shouted, her eyes flaring. Athena's smile changed into gritted teeth, concealing the sudden fear that filled her from simply seeing the silver light trying to leak out. Athena knew very little about how Ruby's eyes worked, unaware that the girl was bluffing. "I'm running out of patience and I'd hate for you to find out what happens if I run completely dry."
"I demand that Faunus be placed in power," Athena demanded.
"Mistral has a Faunus representative in the form of Olesia Lychnítis," Ruby told her.
"No," Athena abruptly cut her off. "You. I demand that I replace you at the head of the council." Qrow chuckled.
"We can put it to a vote within the council, but there's no way that you'll win," Qrow shouted.
"Then we'll turn to revolt," Athena spat wickedly. "I've been counting on it." Athena stood slowly and smirked as Ebony emerged from the shadows behind her chair.
"The soldiers have been eliminated and Crimson is ready to escort you," Ebony informed her. Athena nodded and Ebony sank back into the shadows.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but there's a hungry Prime Beringel waiting in the woods who requires feeding, and I feel like we won't be able to solve this without some bloodshed," Athena told them. She sheathed her blade and bowed slightly. "I should hope that the next time we meet it ends more favorably." Athena's eyes darkened. "With you impaled on my brother's blade." She vanished and in her place was the Grimm that she spoke of before, causing them to look on with shock as they turned to run, the doorway sealed off as Qrow spotted the girl he'd fought before, firing her staff with the stone of death on the end to cause the entrance to collapse.
"I guess we have no choice," Qrow grumbled. Ruby swung her gun around, firing a large blast of fire Dust at the beast to keep in back as Qrow weaved in and leapt, hooking its neck and blasting his gun to pull it onto its chest. Ruby dashed in with her semblance, coming up beneath its neck and firing once more but failing to remove its head as she realized late that she'd caught one of its bone plates. It jerked up, throwing Qrow into the air before catching him and tossing him towards the far wall. He took his bird form just before impact and returned to Ruby to regroup as she kept it busy with Dust shots.
"I know how her semblance works," Ruby told him.
"Athena's?" Qrow asked. Ruby nodded as she dissipated without warning, the beast swinging down and missing Qrow. His semblance kicked in, tossing large debris from the crumbling ceiling towards him and Ruby reappeared, catching it in the crook of her blade skillfully and tossing it to nail the Grimm in the snout. It snorted and stumbled back as it rubbed its face, roaring at them.
"She can swap with things that she is sure of the location of," Ruby stated. "I saw the Beringal in the distance on the way in."
"Didn't think to mention it?" Qrow asked. They both leapt back, the beast swung down and missed before reaching around and finding the mass of stone that had injured it before and tossing at them. Qrow blasted it apart, rolling out of the way as it swung and Ruby caught its arm, pulling the trigger quickly and removing the limb which angered it even more. "Plus Raven said that she could swap places with moving targets during one of our conversations after she was bedridden."
"Then they must need to be close by in order for her to do so," Ruby said. "When the girl mentioned the name Crimson and that the soldiers had been eliminated, it seemed as though Athena wanted to swap with Crimson to make an example of her for breaking the rules, but wasn't sure where she was." Qrow glanced at her.
"The silver eyes tell you that?" Qrow asked as the Beringal backhanded him into the collapsed doorway. Ruby scattered into a flurry of petals as the beast swung back around for her, forming on its head and wrenching open its mouth with her scythe.
"Intuition," Ruby replied. Qrow chuckled as he fired himself into the air and forced his gun into the beast's maw, firing down its throat and killing it instantly.
"Sure…" Qrow replied sarcastically as the beast rolled away in a cloud of smoke.
"My eyes don't work like that," Ruby replied. "You know, even though I have full control over them now it still makes me nervous to use them. I can't imagine what would happen if I ever used them to their full extent."
"Let's hope we never have to find out," Qrow said with a swig of his flask.
"Can you at least let me do the fun part next time?" Ruby asked. Qrow raised an eyebrow before drinking the rest of his liquor.
"I let you do it nine out of the last ten times," Qrow argued.
"Nine out of the last eleven," Ruby corrected. Qrow chuckled.
"Just like your mother," Qrow offered as he inspected the room for a way out.
"You love that about me," Ruby laughed with a smile.
"It's also why I drink," Qrow retorted. Ruby stuck her tongue out.
"You'd drink anyway," she insisted as she found a door towards the back of the room. "This way!"
"I wouldn't drink as much," he replied. "If anything you're enabling me."
"Well, you're the reason for my crippling cookie addiction," Ruby shouted. They looked at each other for a long moment.
"You also get that from your mom," Qrow informed her. As they rounded the corner they were faced with a scene of blood and gore unlike any other. The entire military force, Atlesian and Mistral's, had been slaughtered, a blood bath soaking all of them with the exception of a high ranking officer who propped himself against a tree and groaned out for them. "Holy shit."
"What happened?" Ruby yelled to him sprinting in time to catch him. His eyes danced about as she slowly laid him on the ground. "How many were there?"
"Just one," he spat out with blood. "Just like the rumors. A woman… or perhaps a demon… She seemed normal enough and we asked her to stand down but as soon as she drew that first drop of blood, she turned into some kind of crazed animal!" Ruby glanced at Qrow who looked away.
"Do you know what they're talking about?" Ruby asked. Qrow cursed under his breath before balling his fists in anger.
"Dammit Jimmy," Qrow swore.
"Ironwood?" Ruby inquired as she walked around Qrow to face him.
"Winter insisted that we keep him on until the White Fang were taken care of again," Qrow told Ruby. "Three platoons have ended up like this, but they were so spread out across the woods that we couldn't pin down the location."
"So you went along with letting these men get slaughtered?" Ruby scolded marching off towards the village.
"I thought that I could protect them, Ruby!" Qrow called after her before chasing her down.
"We'll discuss this later," Ruby replied. They entered the small village, Ruby slowly took it in as she noted a teddy bear on the ground that had been discarded and looked it over. She touched the soil, glancing about for more clues as Qrow stepped past her. "They left recently."
"Right," Qrow replied. "How would they have known that we were coming, only the council knew we were on our way out here."
"Athena seems capable," Ruby told him. "She must have seen that we were putting on a show at the school tomorrow and moved them just in case."
"Well they must have cut it close," Qrow offered as he picked up a mask from inside one of the huts and tossed it out into the street. "We should hold onto these in case we need them."
"Let's just figure out which of the buildings belonged to Athena and check it over," Ruby instructed.
"She doesn't seem like the type that would carelessly leave something behind," Qrow mentioned.
"You're right," Ruby said entering a larger building that was filled with artifacts and valuables. "She seems like the kind to leave things behind on purpose." Qrow stopped what he was doing and found Ruby who was shifting through a stack of papers. "Locations of a White Fang tribe in the far north."
"Like along the shore?" Qrow inquired.
"In Atlas," Ruby explained. "It looks like Athena was tracking her father's movements."
"Why?" Qrow asked. Ruby shrugged.
"I've been needing to have a word with him, it looks like she made my job that much easier," Ruby said as she handed the notes to Qrow.
"This is about where I ran into him and Raven at a bar," Qrow added. "You want me to go with you?"
"I can handle that on my own," Ruby sighed running a hand through her hair. "First let me worry about our PR stunt tomorrow and reporting back to the council."
"They're not going to be happy," Qrow chuckled.
"Are they ever?" Ruby muttered shaking her head.
And so Athena slipped through the fingers of the best Huntress in Remnant. Will she be as lucky next time? Next week, Chapter 103 - Fang Protests!
A big thank you to Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!