"Grandpa!" Shadow yelled as she tore through the small house and crashed through Tai's door. Covers scattered, Raven out of breath as she nearly fell off the bed and stole the majority of the covers, flushing as she looked at Tai who composed himself, struggling to clear his throat.
"He… Hey, Shadow! What's going on?" Tai asked her as Raven rolled her eyes at him, feeling around under the covers for her bra.
"I had a bad dream about the men in the masks," Shadow sheepishly managed.
"The White Fang?" Tai asked. She nodded weakly and Raven slid out of bed after covering herself, removing a robe from the stand in the corner of the room and throwing it on before approaching Shadow.
"What do you say we go back to your room and talk about it there without grandpa," Raven said with her voice lowered. "Just you and me for a girl talk?" Shadow glanced past Raven at Tai who looked curiously at them before nodding her head and taking Raven's hand.
"Okay," Shadow agreed. "You stay here grandpa!" She watched him, to make sure he didn't move until they disappeared around the corner, Shadow yanking Raven along quickly until they reached her guest room and she closed the door excitedly behind them. Raven sat first, lifting Shadow up to sit on her lap and running her fingers through the girl's hair.
"You're going to have long and unruly hair like me when you get older," Raven noted feeling the locks in her hands.
"Like Mommy Yang?" Shadow inquired. Raven chuckled softly and nodded.
"Just like Mommy Yang," Raven agreed with a warm smile, catching Tai's eyes watching her from the crack of the door.
"Why are the men in the masks so scary?" Shadow asked. Raven held the girl tight and gave it some thought.
"It's not the masks that make them scary, is it?" Raven questioned. "When I wear my mask, does it scare you?" Shadow shook her head.
"I know you, grandma, you're not scary," Shadow assured her. Raven nuzzled her head as Shadow protested and squirmed with giggles.
"That's good," Raven replied. "Don't be scared of the masks, they're only there to hide the fear and shame behind them." Raven paused for a moment thinking about what she said.
"What about the men wearing them?" Shadow asked. Raven laughed.
"If they try to mess with you?" Raven began setting Shadow on the bed and leaping up. "I'll run a blade through them from neck to navel! I'd slice through hundreds… no, thousands of them to protect you!" Shadow jumped up on her bed and threw her hands up.
"Awesome!" Shadow declared.
"You've got nothing to worry about," Raven reassured her as she patted the bed and Shadow leapt up, landing on her back and letting Raven tuck her in.
"Grandma," Shadow began much quieter than before.
"Yes, dear?" Raven asked.
"You're not going to leave if the bad guys show up, are you?" Shadow asked, fear tinging her eyes. A pain unlike any other that Raven had ever experienced crashed through her body and her hands shook.
"N- No," she stammered before composing herself. "No, Shadow. I will not be going anywhere if something bad happens." Shadow smiled and nestled in.
"Okay!" She shouted. "Love you, Grandma Raven!"
"I love you too, Yang," Raven replied before she could take it back. She stared at Shadow for a long moment who looked at her confused, not understanding what had just happened.
"I'm Shadow, grandma," Shadow reminded her. Raven smirked feeling a tear run down her face.
"Right," Raven nodded. "I love you too, Shadow." Raven turned slowly and left quietly before shoving Tai away and heading for the living room.
"Rae," Tai began.
"Don't start with that!" Raven growled lowly to avoid Shadow hearing. "That's not going to help right now!"
"You did well in there," Tai informed her in an attempt to calm her down.
"Did I?" She asked angrily and sarcastically. "Like she's supposed to feel safe when I'm crying in front of her for no good reason."
"You care about them!" Tai asserted trying to grab her by the shoulders but she knocked him away. "What better a reason could there be?"
"I don't like how it feels," Raven insisted. Tai sighed.
"There is a difference between being weak and being vulnerable," Tai noted. "Yang and Blake are two of the strongest Huntresses to ever exist, but they love each other, Neela, and Shadow with every fiber of their being." Tai forced her to look at him. "You have nothing to be afraid of this time, just this feeling that you find unfamiliar…"
"That's not true," Raven replied dryly. "I remember this feeling. I remember feeling like this the first time that I held Yang in my arms." She choked back the emotion catching in her throat. "And I am afraid. I'm not as strong as I used to be, Tai. They'll come eventually and I'm afraid that I won't be strong enough… and that I'll run again."
"You go in there and watch Shadow sleep," Tai instructed her as he turned to leave. "If after a few hours you're still afraid that you might leave, then may Oum have mercy on you if you do."
"Tai," Raven called after him as she reached out and grabbed his hand. "I don't want to lose you either." She stared hard at the floor as he lifted her head.
"What was that?" He asked with a smirk.
"I'm not going to repeat it," she scolded. He kissed her hard on the lips.
"Maybe we should go finish what we were in the middle of," Tai suggested. She scoffed.
"Maybe this time you should lock the door," she added.
Violet sat on her porch, the warmth of the noon sun warming her entire body as she teetered on the edge of dozing off and enjoying a nap before heading back in and watching the news. Summer was here, which also meant that Eliana and Neela would soon be reaching the end of their first year. It was incredible to think about, and she found herself tearing up as she only wished at that point that Alex was still there to see how well Eliana was doing, and to meet Neela. Neela was more of a blessing than Violet could ever begin to appreciate properly, if not for the hawk Faunus, Violet was convinced that her daughter still wouldn't be over the death of Alex. Violet would forever be grateful and hoped that Neela told Eliana how she felt soon.
Violet felt lonely sometimes without her daughter there and with the Xiao Longs staying at their apartment on campus. She checked their mail frequently, often calling Blake if there was something that was sent to the cabin as opposed to the school and they'd come retrieve it a day or two later, but it was the most human interaction that she had during the year so far. She knew that she couldn't keep Eliana around forever, her daughter needed room to become the woman that she was meant to be, but Violet began to wonder if maybe she should invest in a pet. Perhaps a bird or something that she could pet on her lap as she watched television, one that would curl up on her feet as she enjoyed nature in all of its beauty. She was sure that Eliana would be more than willing to help her pick one out over the summer.
She stood slowly, stretching for a long moment as she looked out over the island once more before turning around and adjusting the afghan on her rocking chair, straightening it out for her own comfort as she knew deep down that no one would be by to see it. It was one of the best things about living so far inland on the island, but also one of the worst. She shook it off, smiling as she wondered what kind of shenanigans Eliana and Neela were up to. She let the screen door slam behind her as she moved into the house, her mind gracing her with an image of Alex sitting on the couch with Eliana beside him, her eyes wide as she looked at the book in his hands and pointed.
"That's an Ursa!" Eliana exclaimed. Alex laughed as he rubbed the top of Eliana's head.
"That's right, Elli," he told her as he glanced up at Violet and winked. "I've fought a couple of them in my day."
"You have?" Eliana gasped with wide eyes.
"Oh yeah," he bragged to his daughter with a chuckle. "I was on a picnic with your mom and they tried to jump us, but I protected her."
"Could mom have taken them down?" Eliana asked. Alexander smiled at her and Violet melted. His smile, and Eliana's, were infectious. Eliana probably had the ability to will any villain to become good, just by smiling at them. She smiled back.
"Your mom doesn't have aura like you and I do," Alex told his daughter. "I've taught her how to defend herself, so she could have held them off, but I showed them who's boss real quick!"
"Does that mean one day when you're old and wrinkly that I'll have to protect mom?" Eliana inquired. Alex looked at her with a raised eyebrow before tickling her. Eliana flailed, giggling and trying to push him off.
"You think I'm gonna get wrinkly?!" Alex announced.
"Doesn't everybody?" Eliana noted through her cackling. Alex stopped.
"Probably," he shrugged before resuming. "But that doesn't mean that I won't be able to fight anymore!" The scene faded and Violet felt a tear slipping down her cheek as she reached out for him, despite the fact that he was gone.
"How could we know that you'd be gone so soon?" Violet asked. She froze for a moment as she heard the screen door slam behind her and she turned quickly, her chest heaving as she scanned the room and the parts of the porch she could see from where she stood. It was nothing more than the wind and she brushed it off, exhaling as she shook her head, snickering at her overreaction. She walked into the kitchen, retrieving a glass of water before preparing to settle in on the couch for a while. The floorboard in the living room creaked and she looked into the glass before moving again. What if Eliana's fears were merited?
Violet grabbed a knife from the block beside her, spinning around in a full throw, the knife plunging into the chest of a White Fang member who glanced down at it before looking back up at her, the eyes on his mask drawing her attention.
"What are you doing here?!" She demanded.
"And here Athena said that she sent her best men," a voice said. Violet knew that voice and it immediately became clear that Eliana was right. They'd sent The Chameleon after her. "Just remember that we can't kill her." Violet grabbed a pan from her sink as another member of the White Fang rushed for her from the back door out of the corner of her eye, the bottom of it crashing against his face with enough force to throw him to the ground and the two in the living room hesitated. Irving was invisible, though she had a general idea of where he was as he removed the knife from the man's chest to her left and tossed it onto the floor.
"Get out!" Violet yelled. She ran into the office to her right, knocking over one of the barstools and her trashcan as she reached the desk and spun around quickly to find the two from the front of the house immediately behind her. She reached under it without looking, brandishing a gun and putting a bullet through each of their heads without blinking. Everything was still for a long minute before Irving spoke once more.
"Something tells me that this isn't the first time you've been through something like this," Irving told her. She could hear the amusement in his voice. "Did you miss me? I never got to introduce myself properly the first time…" She fired in his direction, the bullet hitting its mark but having no effect thanks to his aura. Footsteps thundered above her upstairs and she already knew without having to inquire that they'd taken her scroll off of the nightstand. She bolted down the hall, back to the front of the house where she headed for the stairs, two more bullets meant two more bodies and she stepped over them, rushing for her room. "If it's still in there Vi, it's going to be broken. Oh… can I call you Vi? I like it a lot."
"Shut up you freak!" She screamed.
"I know you only have one more bullet in that gun," he offered. "There's no way you can match my strength enough to break my aura." She noted the bodies in the walkway being compressed, quickly filling the doorway and revealing her plan, spraying him with a fire extinguisher and covering him in foam. He looked himself over before appearing and shaking his head, seething through his teeth. "That's the same way that your husband caught me, but you already knew that, didn't you? You're really pissing me off, Vi. I just want you to be as beautiful as Salem. Don't you think we all deserve to emulate the one true goddess of Remnant?"
"You're not going to touch me!" Violet yelled now beginning to panic. What was she thinking? She had no escape from here, and just because she could see him didn't really give her an advantage. Was this it? She charged at him, ducking under an attack meant to knock her out and she swung up, the extinguisher nailing him in the chin. He reached down quickly, gripping her arm as he pried it out of her hands and tossed it away.
"Ouch," he reacted plainly.
"You were supposed to do this as cleanly as possible," Ebony said as she approached them from the end of the upstairs walkway. "This is why I always tell Athena that she shouldn't send a human to do Faunus work."
"What do you want?" Violet asked. Ebony smirked.
"A little help from your daughter," Ebony informed Violet as her eyes grew wide. "It's not like she can say no, you have been captured by The Chameleon after all."
"She'll never do it!" Violet snarled. Ebony smiled.
"She's got some bite, doesn't she?" Ebony noted.
"Can I fix her now?" Irving asked.
"Not yet," Ebony reminded him. "Once everything is done and our plans are carried out, then we'll compensate you accordingly." Ebony looked down at her arm in the sling and groaned. Soon enough she'd have her revenge against Raven, Yang, and Neela.
"Hey! Hey!" Mercury shouted as White Fang flooded into the warehouse and he waved his hands in a frantic attempt to get the attention of anyone who might be interested in listening to him. "This was not part of my deal with Athena, I'm not housing any of you animals, all of you need to get out!"
"Did you just call my darling followers, 'animals'?" Athena asked as the group split to let her through.
"I'm pretty sure that this wasn't part of our terms of agreement!" Mercury shouted at her, but she seemed unfazed as she stood mere inches from him. "We both agreed to scratch each other's back for one night and one night alone, so unless you're rescheduling on me, I want everyone out of here, now!"
"You're not exactly in a position to negotiate at the moment, are you?" She asked him as both of them looked around at the still-growing mass. He gripped her tight by the lapel.
"There's absolutely no way that you weren't all seen coming in here," he growled. She freed herself and brushed off her suit as she looked back at Ebony and Crimson who were just entering.
"Anyone who saw us was, disposed of," Athena assured him as she presented him a seat and forced him to sit, rubbing his shoulders. "You seem tense. Here I thought that you'd be more excited to see me, we hardly ever get to talk anymore, do we?"
"You can drop the act Athena," Mercury instructed her. She frowned.
"Fine," she said, pulling his seat backward and chucking as the wooden chair shattered as he landed hard on his shoulders. "I hear this nasty rumor that you weren't able to get your hands on the plans that I needed at City Hall and you were only able to obtain your own."
"That's true," he grunted, standing slowly as Mattachanna trained her staff on him. "Hey, calm down now."
"You're a fool to admit it," Athena spat.
"The plan that you wanted is an active floor plan, whereas mine is obsolete, they would have immediately known your intentions if I'd stolen the ones you wanted, okay?!" Mercury shouted.
"Maybe I wanted them to fear what was to come," Athena informed him as she paced around him. "But I'm not unforgiving and I understand that your human thinking is flawed. I'm going to give you a second chance, but that means you have to do something additional for me."
"What's that?" He grumbled. She smiled and gestured for Mattachanna to lower her weapon.
"See?" Athena asked putting her hands out. "We can be reasonable."
"I told you before you could drop the act," he sneered. She sighed, shaking her head as she ejected Wilt which nailed him in the gut, doubling him over before she caught it as it rebounded, kicking him in the chest to place him on his back once again.
"If I were you, I'd go along with my charade," Athena suggested. She turned back, the killer that Mercury recognized as The Chameleon from the news was carrying a woman over his shoulder who was kicking and doing her best to make it difficult for him.
"Let me go!" She demanded. Irving set her down in front of him, forcing her arms down by her sides before letting Ebony remove the sack over her head.
"Her name is Violet Latherus," Athena informed him. "Oddly enough, I need a place to keep her that isn't where I'm at, and that's where you come in. I need you to 'babysit' Irving here, while the girls and I finish the last minute prep work that needs completing. He's been given instructions not to touch her yet, but sometimes he tends to get a little… overexcited."
"Athena…" Mercury said sternly.
"Calm down, we're leaving now," Athena told him. "But if Irving kills this lovely woman before she's fulfilled the purpose for which I acquired her, I will make sure that it's the last mistake that your little 'Stardust Gang' ever makes." Athena snapped her fingers and with that, the warehouse cleared out, with the exception of Mercury's people, Irving, and Violet.
"She seems charming," Orion noted.
"Not exactly the word that I would have used," Sirius offered. He looked at Orion for a moment. "I haven't seen you since the courthouse incident, where is your weapon?"
"I'd rather not talk about it," Orion said. Mercury seethed, turning quickly back towards Sirius.
"The fail-safe is in place, is it not?" Mercury asked.
"Indeed," Sirius replied. "Even if her plans succeed, she won't survive the night."
"We haven't had an official meeting in Vale in quite some time, what's the occasion?" Jett asked as she leaned over Abigor's shoulder and peered out across the table. He coughed hard before it turned into a snicker, shifting in his seat in an attempt to get comfortable as the door opened and Strakh greeted Abigor with a wave, the last guest that they'd been waiting on. He sat beside Admon who reviewed a stack of notes, grumbling to himself as he glanced up at the dim lighting and cursed the idea. He'd always placed himself in the spotlight on purpose, but Abigor's purposeful and literal intent of working from the shadows was wearing on his nerves.
"Is something the matter?" Abigor asked as he stood, Admon ignoring him for the time being and trying to finish his thought.
"Of course not," Admon reassured him. "I was having a problem seeing the content before me, but I'll be fine in a few minutes once my eyes adjust." Abigor breathed heavily before sitting.
"Good," He replied. He turned to Paris and Mercury who sat beside each other on his right, Paris's eyes large as he glanced about the room as if waiting for something to strike out and attack him. "Strakh, I left young Goldfinch in your care, but he seems to be a bit worse for the wear from staying out of sight. Did something happen?" Strakh offered a smirk and sat up straight.
"Paris neglected to drink the Dust water before we attended one of Salem's rituals," Strakh offered. "Needless to say we all know what it feels like to do so."
"What difference would it have made?" Paris asked. Abigor looked at him, waving for Jett to stand behind him.
"Fear not child, we all know what it felt like to feel Salem's presence before devoting ourselves to the queen. It's terrifying. It feels like you can't breathe like she's right there with you, moments away from ending your life without a second thought and you're powerless to do anything because only her spirit has been summoned and you have no idea how to fight back against such a powerful specter," Abigor recalled. "But once you embrace the gift of power that Salem is offering and prove your devotion by partaking in the 'communion' of sorts, you'll truly know that any other path would be pointless. She allows you to feel exactly what you want, a taste of what's to come if we can bring her back."
"I'm still not convinced on that part," Mercury noted. "Coco and the other Huntsmen that took part in Salem's War swear that they killed the kid that was meant to inherit Salem's powers."
"Or perhaps she killed the wrong child?" Jett suggested. "Since she was defeated by RWBY, her presence has never been stronger than it is now. That's not a coincidence. Once we collect the three relics and find the host we'll be able to bring our queen back and help her take back this world once and for all!"
"Now, as I meant to open this meeting, I'd like to ask Mercury about the current state of Vale before moving on to the other kingdoms. Beacon has always produced the most problematic Hunstmen and Huntresses, meaning that if we take their focus off of the students and place it on the problems elsewhere in the kingdom, we can counterbalance part of the issue," Abigor explained.
"I'd say that things are going well, but I haven't had to do much recently," Mercury told them. "The White Fang have been wreaking havoc and chaos for months now and its shown since two of Remnant's militaries are busy looking for them, it's caused issues for the SDC, and it's put human's opinions of Faunus at the lowest it's been since the previous White Fang was around. I've used their movements to shroud some of our own. We have yet to set up the EMP, but I have the perfect opportunity in mind for doing so."
"Yes," Abigor agreed. "The Fang have been quite convenient for furthering our plans, even if they're unaware of the fact. Things are falling into place much better than we ever could have hoped." He glanced at Strakh. "What about you, old man, anything new on your front?"
"Old man?" Strakh grumbled restraining himself from retorting. He took a deep breath and stood, shaking slightly at the knees before getting his cane beneath him. "The Fang have helped take some of the heat off of my actions. However, it's been brought to my attention that Branwen has sent spies to find out where I've been hiding. While they haven't had any luck up to this point, it's made maneuvering around for the purpose of sales and stealing much more difficult. Our income is steady, but it's lower than it was before the incident in the city square." Abigor cleared his throat before motioning for Jett to return to him, whispering in her ear.
"Mercury, where is Quake?" Jett spoke for Abigor. "Abigor asked specifically for him to attend in an effort to recruit the man seeing as our hopes of turning Irving toward our cause were crushed by Athena."
"Speaking of Athena and Irving, she more or less dumped a hostage on me and told us to watch her but to keep Irving close at all times. As for Quake, last I knew he was with Paris," Mercury informed them.
"Who is the hostage?" Jett asked.
"Some older woman, no clue. Athena must be using her as a bargaining chip with someone at Beacon, but beyond that, I have no idea," Mercury shrugged.
"And you just agreed to do so?" Admon questioned.
"I didn't have much of a choice," Mercury argued.
"Why is that?" Abigor asked. Mercury kicked his feet down off the table and grunted.
"She had me at the end of her sword," Mercury explained. A murmur broke out immediately.
"Absurd!" Admon declared. "I've worked with the woman a few times now, fearing her would be a poor judge of power, she's a child that's throwing tantrums until she gets her way."
"And yet Mercury was chosen to lead Vale? How absurd," Strakh spat.
"I am not without my reasons," Abigor thundered silencing them. "Mercury served the queen well once before, and he still continues to serve her just as effectively as the rest of you! If I'm not mistaken, you failed to take down several major targets in Atlas with the help of the Fang, all because of some boy that you trained that you were convinced you'd put the fear of Salem in!" He turned to Strakh. "And you are both a drunkard and a cripple, nothing more than a figurehead! If you have problems with these judgments, prove me wrong!"
"Oh," came a voice from the door as it slowly opened. "Bravo. Now that is how a man should control his men. With passion! With conviction! With purpose! If you don't make them aware of their shortcomings, someone else will, and that person will be far less merciful. Yes, you must be Abigor." Abigor stood slowly, breathing softly as the gleam of his eye within his mask caught the gaze of one of the other two women with the surprise visitor.
"And you must be Athena," Abigor spoke. Athena's lips curled and she nodded.
"My reputation precedes me," she admitted.
"Leave them in here and close the door behind you," Abigor commanded. Crimson took a step back, acknowledging him before slamming it shut. Athena glanced back confused before shrugging.
"Impressive," she complimented him.
"Begin speaking before I tire of your voice," Abigor demanded. Athena frowned, reaching her hand to the side as Ebony handed her a large sack that she took and tossed onto the table.
"A shame really that there aren't any Faunus in here that I can see," Athena sighed. "Something against us, Abigor?"
"Nothing in particular," he replied as Jett quickly examined the contents of the bag. She ran her hands through it, pure Dust worth nothing short of several tens of thousands of lien. "What is it that you want?" She spread her arms out and looked out across the room.
"I've met most of you already," Athena said. "I just want to know that I can count on you as an ally until the bitter end. I know that you and your people just want to have Salem go through some kind of rebirth, or whatever the process might be, and that doesn't interfere with my plans in the slightest. We have a common goal that all humans deserve to die! This is a peace offering."
"Your kind deserves to die as well," Abigor stated. Athena nodded and smiled wickedly.
"And when there's nothing left but Grimm and Faunus, we'll see who comes out on top," Athena noted. "I've always thought that was the way it was meant to end. If your people win, Salem deserves to be the queen that you all see her as… but if I win…" Athena's eyes darkened. "I will be your goddess."
"Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now?" Abigor inquired as Jett brought him the Dust.
"I guess there's nothing stopping you, really," Athena said placing her hands on her head. "Well, except for curiosity and that little bit of mischief that Mercury needs me to distract Vale from."
"Need is a strong word," Jett stated.
"Let them go," Abigor ordered. Athena exhaled slowly and put her hands down, bowing at her waist to the man and encouraged Ebony to do the same.
"I won't let you down," Athena promised. "I'll put on a show this Friday that Remnant will never forget, nor ever see the likes of again." Athena left, Ebony skirting out behind her as the room returned to normal and they all stared at Abigor.
"Should I go after them?" Jett requested. Abigor shook his head.
"Free help is as good as any," he mentioned. "What about Mistral?" Jett glanced at him.
"It's been hard to get anything done inside of the kingdom with the military as strong as it is, but in the wilds and unclaimed territories surrounding Haven we have quite the foothold," Jett said.
"Good," he praised her. "Well done."
Violet has been taken by the Fang! Next week, Chapter 123 - Neela's Plan!
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, and make sure to wash those hands!