Just a quick notice before we begin, I have something that's probably important.

While writing this chapter, I was aware that a lot of information was bing spewed, similar to the last one, and the chapter was growing far to big.

So, my solution was to slit it in half, mostly because I felt bad about giving you another exposition dump, but because it made the pacing better.

So TLDR you'll be getting a chapter today, and another chapter tomorrow, so don't be confused if another alert for this story appears the next day, it's meant to be there.

More at the bottom as always.

...

Ruby woke up with a gasp sweat pouring down her face. The moon was shining above her and cold winds bit into her skin. Where was she? Where- Oh gods, Yang! Where was Yang!?

She looked around. She… was on a roof. That was right… they'd found nothing on the first day and because of all the Grimm had to pull back to set up camp again. They were on one of the higher buildings overlooking the chasm.

She glanced to her left. Weiss was still asleep buried in her bedroll with a frown etched into her features.

Blake…

Blake was sitting on the edge of the skyscraper.

With a sigh Ruby stood up and made her way over to her Faunus teammate, who ears twitched at her approach.

"Couldn't sleep?" Blake asked as she sat down beside her.

"No… you?"

"Never went to sleep." She chuckled with a wry smile.

The younger girl couldn't blame her really. With where they were and with her partner missing it wasn't too unreal to think Blake wouldn't want to rest but still.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ruby asked. "If you're exhausted then what's going to happen if things go bad?"

"I've worked on less sleep before. Don't worry." Blake assured her. "It's better this way anyway. I can keep a lookout while you two get some rest."

"Oh… well, thanks for that I guess."

There was a beat where neither said anything before Blake shifted slightly.

"Ruby… can I ask you something?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

The Faunus bit her lip as she thought about how she was going to approach this.

"What's going on with you and Ozpin?"

Blake winced almost instantly, because her leader practically turned to stone, even her breathing stopped. Yeah… this was a conversation filled with landmines.

"What do you mean?"

An even bigger wince.

Ruby's voice was flat and dull. Like she'd cut off everything as she spoke. This was how she'd fought yesterday too; she'd been a whirlwind, but she'd been blank.

No. it was like she was forcing herself to be blank, because if she let out how she was feeling it would be destructive.

Blake had seen what that was like. With Adam.

Why… why was it these two sisters reminded her so much of him?

"I… just want to know something." She pressed on despite their sudden mood shift. "I want to know if what your doing with the headmaster is dangerous. That whatever's going on isn't as bad as we think it is. Can you tell me that?"

That was all she'd have to say. As long as Ruby assured her this wasn't a massive mess Blake would be fine. She'd be able to keep herself calm as they looked for her partner-

"No." was the response, and it killed Blake's thoughts dead. "It's the most dangerous thing you could possibly imagine, multiplied by a hundred. It's far bigger than the White Fang Blake, far bigger than anything you've dealt with before. Just… just leave it. It's better if you don't know, trust me."

The Faunus didn't agree.

"Was it better for Yang?"

She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but it was too late and suddenly Blake couldn't move.

In that instant all of her instincts screamed at her to run. That she was in danger. But her body locked up. Her eye widened as she forced herself to look at her leader.

She felt cold. Freezing even. It was as if the temperature had dropped.

Ruby took a breath.

And it was gone.

Just like that it was as if it had never existed in the first place.

Blake kept her eyes locked on Ruby.

"You're right." The younger girl said after a moment. "This is my fault. You don't even realise how much this is my fault and you're right anyway. if I had told Yang the truth at the beginning of the year… no, if I'd never left in the first place things would be so much different. this all happened because I couldn't tell her. She might be dead because I-"

Her voice cracked and Blakes' hands found hers immediately.

"Stop Ruby," she hushed. "If you think like that nothing will be any better. We need to find yang. We need you to lead us there."

Ruby sniffed, tears were beginning to run down her cheeks.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know," the Faunus admitted. "But you will. I trust you. We'll find yang, and we'll all go home I'll be there with you, I promise."

Ruby nodded rapidly. "Right." She said. "Sure."

A second later she stood up. "We could probably start now. I don't think either of us are going to get back to sleep. I'll go wake Weiss."

"R-right" Blake nodded, watching as her leader left.

Had she imagined it…

Or had Ruby's eyes been glowing?

…

…

"W-whoa!" Yang cried out, stumbling forward and flailing her arm.

Merlot caught her before she could fall flat on her face, but she still glared at him when he chuckled.

"This isn't funny!" she growled.

"It's kind of funny."

"No!"

"Yes."

She sighed, pushing herself off him and wobbling again as she tried to stand straight. She scowled down at her new leg.

"Why is this so hard?"

"It's a new limb Yang; things like this are going to be difficult at first."

"But it's the same size as my old leg!" she argued. "I should be able to stand up straight."

The old man rolled his eyes. "It's also heavier, as in, several kilos heavier. It's like you have half a person strapped to your leg. It'll get slightly lighter as you adjust and manipulate the flow of magic, perhaps you'll even be able to perfectly balance it, but right now your centre is off, not to mention missing an arm doesn't help distribution"

She frowned. "Then why don't you give me the arm?!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? You can barely manage as it is now, I'm not going to add extra weight to it."

"Point." She allowed, shifting a little to sit back on the table. She looked around. She… hadn't actually been outside the laboratory yet, which was a bit weird, but considering she hadn't been experimented on she could brush it off as it being the best place for her right now…

Oh… wait.

"Hey doc," Yang asked suddenly, looked down at her chest. "Can ask about the whole 'dragon heart' thing?"

He blinked. "Hum? Oh yes of course of course ask away," he told her, pulling up a chair to make himself more comfortable and holding a clipboard.

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Archiving!" he grinned. "I'm curious to see what you feel now that your body is adapting to the new organ and blood or if specific circumstances need to be filled."

"Or… there could be no differences." She tried.

Merlot rolled his eyes and looked at her seriously. Or as serious as he could with a face like his.

"Do you really think having a dragon heart is going to do nothing? Come on dear. Besides, it's not like this hasn't been done before."

She stared. "What really?"

"Well… not with anything of the draconic variety." He admitted, "But there are numerous accounts of people using Spriggan, Harpy or Mermaid hearts as replacements because they had humanoid characteristics."

"Those things… actually existed?"

He nodded. "Indeed they did. And far more… didn't I tell you yesterday about magical creatures?"

"W-well yeah," she gasped. "But I thought spirits were the craziest things you were gonna talk about. And I didn't really know what to think about the dragon bit but you're telling me there's more!?"

"Hundreds more!" he laughed. "Entire civilizations of creatures that you couldn't even imagine! Some terrifying and some spectacular."

"The Ruins." Yang breathed.

"Sorry?"

"The ruins," she said again, more excited this time. "Beside Beacon when we took our initiation. We had some history classes on it later talking about them. Our professor told us there was an entire city before Vale there."

"Yes I've heard of it." he nodded. "I never managed to find the name, but there are mentions that it was one of the major cities due to the fact that it was accessible from nearly every continent by sea, at least it was a few thousand years ago."

"So what are we talkin' about? Like, what kind of place would it have been?"

"Well I'm not sure," he admitted "I wasn't there, but I did go on an expedition down there once or twice in my early days."

"You went to Beacon?"

"More on the academic side of things but yes," he hummed. "Anyway, it wasn't always an underground city. The cavernous ceiling was younger than the building, so something had to have buried it, yet allowed it to keep its structure a long time ago. Other than that, it appeared to house a population even bigger than the current city."

"Seriously?" she grinned.

He hummed. "You seem awfully excited about this."

She gave him a disbelieving look. "How can I not? I'm learning about magic. Freakin' magic! Hey do magic' creatures still exist?"

"They do yes, although perhaps we should stop calling them magical creatures. The term is too much of a broad one."

"So what is there?" Yang pressed.

"Well goblins are a common one even in this day." He said, sketching something down on the clipboard. "There are several subspecies of those. Spirits of course are another obvious one and maybe even a few shapeshifters."

He sighed sadly. "Unfortunately there isn't much more than that. At least not that I can find. Magic is… just less than it used to be. People have forgotten about it and it's been lost. If magic saturated the world like it did long ago them perhaps things would return to the way they were, though I wonder what that might do to the rest of it all."

He shrugged. "Well, we can think about it another time. Come on then, let's try to get you standing properly this time."

She sighed. "Okay fine."

Yang wasn't exactly happy with having to struggle with this again though and she made sure Merlot knew by glaring at him as she pushed herself off the table. Her legs were wobbly, as if made of jelly. She hated it. Hated how standing of all things was hard she hated herself for-"

"There we go," Merlot whispered soothingly, taking her left hand in his. "Now just try to take a few steps slowly."

She swallowed and did as she was told. Her left foot as easy, but as she tried to move her new leg, she really felt the weight of it, and her leg shook as she moved it.

She managed though.

She did it again. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. All the while the doctor held her hand, leading her around the room gently. all the while Yang looked down at her bare feet, trying her best to keep herself steady.

"So," she mused aloud as she did it. "Is this the kind of thing people with prosthetics go through? Like, relearning to walk?"

"Not quite," he hummed. "You're not relearning for one, but even if you were your leg will become a part of you. Just like your old one. It might not feel completely the same, but you'll still have your sense of feeling in it. and… well I have a few things to teach you with it, reassurance if you will, to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

"Really? What?"

"Just keep walking. We'll get to that eventually. Let's try a little bit faster why don't we?"

Merlot picked up the pace, shuffling backwards a little faster as he watched Yang's progress. She bit her lip, concentration keen as she working to keep up with him.

This wasn't so hard. She just had to make sure she didn't do something stupid. It was just walking after all, how hard could it really be?

Right foot, then her left foot and right foot again. Her slow wobble was a tentative walk now. It wasn't anything fast by any stretch of the imagination, and it was still shaky but it was walking.

Okay, the doc was right. It wasn't relearning it was just… like she was loosening up her joints, no… easier than that. It was like she was trying to walk on a numb leg.

Hadn't he said it didn't have to be numb?

What did she have to do again? Something about pushing magic into it.

Well… that couldn't be too hard right? She could do it with aura already to protect her body she just had to find out how to do it with this… magic stuff.

He'd said something about her brain the day before. So maybe it was some kind of mental thing.

She kept walking tentively as she closed her eyes, focusing on thinking up some kind of mental image. She pictured her body, like the diagram on Merlots wall, except she added her new leg into the picture. Yeah, even in her mind she could see it. It was a hollow vessel kind of thing.

No aura went to her new leg, so it was basically empty.

Could she push something into it to fill the space?

How about… wait… what was…

There was a sudden pressure. A tiny thing, like someone was poking her, right between her eyes but, further back. Right in the middle of her head. It wasn't painful or uncomfortable. It was just there.

Maybe…

Yang bit her lip, and tried to roll it, it was a sort of ball, something that wasn't fixed in place.

She rolled it. Down her spine and onto her right side, on her leg, to her knee.

She gasped and stumbled a little, but right away her right foot came down to steady her.

"What is- oh my!" The old man gasped.

Yang grinned, opening her eyes as she looked down at her feet. She wiggled her toes and hopped onto her left foot, then hopped onto her right foot. Back and forth. It was an almost instant thing! Her legs felt the same, exactly like her real one, like she'd never lost it in the first place.

"How's that old man?"

"Astounding!" He breathed. "I'd expected it to take far longer… it should for any regular Magi… you have a talent for sure."

The blonde arched an eyebrow and shot him a confused look. "Magi? What, you mean like a magician?"

The doctor gave her an unimpressed look. "No, I most certainly do not. A magician is someone who plays card tricks and pulls rabbits out of hats. They're jokes. Although perhaps it is good of you to ask. It's good to know the distinction between them."

"Oh yeah? What kind of distinction?"

He hummed, putting a hand under his chin. "Well… as far as I know there are three types, maybe four-ish: Sorcerers use magic from the world around them. It's all external. There shouldn't be many of them, what, with the magic in the air at a low point. A Wizard while seeming like male-only term simply refers to magic users who only use an internal power source. As in, all of their magic is there and doesn't rely on anything else. You are a Magi, essentially something in between. You have an inner power source, but in order to use magic effectively you mix that power with magical energy in your environment. You're basically the all-rounder, viable in any situation but unless it's under specific circumstance you lack the speciality of the other two."

He gave a little wave. "Then there are the artificers; who essentially are like the researchers of magic. They study tools and magic items. Though anyone can use them."

Yang nodded slowly, looking down at her remaining hand. "So… magi then."

"Indeed. From what I can tell from my research, Ozpin is a Wizard, and anything that comes from him would fall under the same distinction... Possibly. There's something different about him however… something I can't quite place. Immortality should not be possible even with the power of a wizard. Of course you've probably heard other names like which or warlock, those things are just arbitrary names however, or perhaps titles for specialities."

"Huh… hey, can I ask you somethin' doc?"

"Of course," he smiled. "Ask away."

"How do you know Ozpin exactly?"

The smile slipped off his face, becoming a troubled frown.

He hesitated for a moment.

"Let's… let's just say we worked together for a time… our goals, not to mention personalities however were too different from one another. I decided to leave before things got worse… although, perhaps they did anyway. I've made plenty of mistakes on my own."

She blinked at the sudden tonal shift, but laughed in an effort to lighten the mood.

Only to cry out suddenly and grip her head.

Merlot turned to her with concern.

"Yang what is it?"

"M-my head." She told him through gritted teeth. "I-it's the voices again. It's like their bouncing around in my head."

"Not quite," he muttered. "Yang, I want you to do as I say alright? Focus that same magic you used in your leg and try moving it to your eyes and ears."

She nodded through the pain and did as she was told. Her leg felt heavier again and she pushed that little ball of pressure up her spine again but she ran into a problem straight away, it couldn't… it couldn't-"

"I can't do it!" she gasped.

He shook his head. You can. You need to separate it. Split it in two and control both.

Split it? No… no that wasn't it. She couldn't take it apart. It was a constant. Like a solid…

But maybe she could get it to leak.

It was hesitantly at first, but she knew the pressure was just her own visualisation of it. it wasn't really there. So if she could change her view of it maybe it would actually work.

Roots. She needed to make it into roots like a tree, something it could feed magic to.

Tiny thread-like tendrils moved in the darkness of her mind, to her head, down her spine.

She shivered. It latched onto her leg, her eyes and ears.

Her chest.

She gaped again, feeling her heart beat faster and a light leaked through her eyelids.

Merlot gasped.

She opened her eyes and looked down. It was the faintest thing, a tiny, tiny glow, but it was there!

A golden outline of her heart could be seen through her chest, beating rapidly.

She flexed her good arm, feeling strength flow through it.

"What's going on?"

"I think," Merlot whispered. "That we are witnessing something I should archive later." He looked up to her away from her chest – she didn't even feel bad since he looked at it with curiosity for than anything else – and to her face. "How do you feel? Is there anything different?

"Y-yeah. I feel stronger. As in way stronger than I usually do. It's like my semblance is on half way."

"Oh?"

"My semblance is a strength boost," she explained for his sake. "I take damage and it basically stacks onto what I can do already. There's this feeling to it though, I know it's not my strength, just a temporary thing. This is different. It feels fresh, like it's mine."

"That's because it is." He told her,. "If we're to go off your unique ability it's almost like your 'base' strength has increased. But what does it actually feel like in your body?"

"Warm, but not in a bad way. Feels like the engine running… you know?"

"I see." He smiled. "Tell me, are the voices still bothering you."

She stopped, blinking suddenly at the realisation they were gone. She gaped at him. Had it been that simple? That easy?!

He chuckled at her face.

"Alright now, since that's an obvious enough answer how about we move onto the next thing?"

"Which is?"

"Try turning it on again by choice."

"What?! Why!"

"Trust me on this will you? I expect it to be far different from what you're used to."

She sighed reluctantly. "You're the doctor I guess. Okay so what do I do? Turn the magic off or something?"

"Hmm… no, how about refocusing the magic in your eyes and ears. Think about it like flipping a switch, or whatever other visual set piece you could use." Right… Yang could do that, no problem. So, she had to change it again? Or, like, at least change how it works in her mind. She had the roots so maybe…

The tendrils in her mind touched her senses. If the doc was right everything was 'off' at the moment. So if she had to turn it on… she had to make it…alive right?

A face flashed into her mind.

Flowers bloomed in her mind.

The voice came back. Not plural, singular.

Yang opened her eyes and nearly jumped back at what she saw.

Merlot nodded. "Fascinating. Your eyes are red now. I'm assuming that's normal isn't it? Although probably not like this… what is it? What are you looking at?"

Yang didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on the figure before her.

It wasn't anyone she recognises, but it was a person. An actual person. They looked bright but see through. An actual god damn ghost!

And they were muttering to themselves.

"Hello?" she called out. The doctor went quiet, realising what was going on and letting her do it. The ghost didn't answer.

"Hey!" she called again. "Listen to me will ya? You with the glowy body."

The person stopped. Blinked and turned to her with wide eyes.

She suppressed a reflexive flinch.

So… apparently ghosts didn't have pupils. It was li completely why, but somehow Yang knew they were looking back. How did that even work? Did light pass through their eyes or did they absorb it?

"You can see me?" the ghost whispered. It was a woman's voice, and their form became ridged, easier to see.

Some woman in her thirties, with long hair and a rounded face. She looked perfectly normal, with clothes not even twenty years out of date.

Yang nodded. "Yeah, I can see you."

The woman smiled, actually smiled, wider than Yang has thought would be possible for someone on the dead side of life. But they looked positively ecstatic.

"Oh my god this is wonderful!" she preened. "You can see me! You can hear me!"

"Um… so… what do you want?"

"What do I want?" The woman stopped, blank eyes dulling even more as she looked off into the distance. "What… do I want? What do I…"

And then she was gone. Just like that.

Yang stared. What had just happened?

"Are you alright Yang?" Merlot asked suddenly, and her attention snapped back to the real world. The reality of what just happened crashed down around her.

"I just saw a ghost!" she cried. "I just saw a freakin' ghost. Holy shit!"

"Language," he reprimanded, rapping her skill lightly. "And no, not quite."

"Huh?" she blinked in confusion. "But I just saw-"

"A memory." He cut in firmly. "I was nothing but an echo of person. If it had been a ghost, it would have left an imprint on the world. It is not something to diffuse yet, but believe me when I say it was not the real thing."

She frowned. "So what is the real thing then? I mean, come one, I know what I saw?"

"Do you now?" there was a warning in his voice. "Believe me Yang, if there were Ghosts in this cursed mountain any more, I would have already gone mad from… well… nevermind that now.

"Although." He mused. "Funny enough that leads us on to what I wanted to try out. Tell me what you see in this."

The old man turned to a desk, the one that had held her new limbs and pressed the same button as before. It hissed open and the glass cylinders came up, but this time Yang's eyes locked ono the black mass from before.

But this time.

It was very different.

"You see it don't you?" he asked, gaze locked on it himself.

Before it had been odd by itself; some kind of black liquid that moved as if it was alive, about her height but apart from that it had seemed irrelevant in the face of everything that had happened in such a short period of time.

Now it rippled. Shifted. Moved. Warped. Whatever word she used to describe the way it travelled around wasn't good enough. It was alive in a different way now.

No. it had been before. Now she could see it though. And it was bright. Beneath the black there was grey, some kind of light coming from inside, but not casting even a single shadow.

"What is it?" she whispered in awe.

"I told you how magic was chaotic didn't I?" the doctor said. "Magical creatures are strange in their variety, but they are magic all the same. This is perhaps the strangest I have found in my albeit limited travels. I saw it with my own eyes as it happened you know?"

"You see, spirits are magic closest the Grimm than anything else. But whatever is in their being they cannot take physical form. Or they shouldn't. This is what happens when they do: this thing attempted to take form without a body, without possession something and instead became a sort of warped hybrid. In case you are familiar with the title, this is what you would call a 'wraith' although the actual term is translated into 'Bâ'"

He gave a sigh. It was heavy, but filled with wonder.

"This has been the closest thing to success I have been able to achieve."

Yang couldn't look away from it. It drew her in. "What do you mean? It… doesn't look like it does anything."

"Oh but it does!" he preened. "For all the destructiveness of the Grimm, they are magician creatures. It takes more than you'd think to kill them. You probably forget because you're a Huntress, but those without aura have a rarely successful encounter with a Grimm. Usually it takes ten men to kill but a single Beowolf out on the frontier."

He looked excited, warming up to the lecture. "This is because of their ferocity and desire to kill yes, but it is also because of their endurance. Grimm can survive mortal wounds, and you are trained in killing blows when it comes to combating them are you not?"

She nodded. It was true. It was a lot different for humans, but for Grimm Yang had been taught where the best places to punch were for the basic types of Grimm.

"Then you must also have noticed how even shattering their bones does not stop them, that is because their magic-fuelled bodies are far more vigour enhanced than ours. It is almost like they heal at such a rate that they do not slow down. Now picture that endurance, that healing factor in a form that can be transferred to humans."

The relation dawned on her and she recoiled.

"You want to try this on people?!" she hissed. Her mind suddenly raced, putting the pieces together far too fast. It would be the perfect reason to use her, especially with missing limbs. "You want to put that near them! On me?"

"No, no of course not!" he rushed to assure her. "This is but a prototype, a basic template that I wish to extract from. And I would never try it on you. This sort of thing is not to be used lightly, how it would interact with the body is unpredictable with all the magic condensed in it. Only those mortally wounded themselves would be viable for this… I cannot even imagine what this could do if they did not have need for it… or if too much time had already passed."

Right. What had she been thinking? The old man was a nice guy. He wouldn't do something like that to her. Heh… for a second there her instincts had screamed at her to run from him. Maybe she needed to get some quality R and R after this?

He shook his head and turned to her, leaving it on display but out of mind for the moment. "Now then. Since you've progressed far faster than I initially planned or expected maybe we could move things along. How about we test out the arm as well?"

She grinned. Finally!

…

…

"What do you see?" Ruby called down one of the tunnels where Blake stood. The Faunus overlooked a chasm but with their sight she could see the bottom well enough.

"It's a dead end." She called back up. Ruby let out a frustrated growled from above. This was the tenth or something tunnel they'd looked and so far nothing, not even a clue. They got to what Yang felt was somewhat close a few times but then they'd lose the trail.

Weiss put a hand on her shoulder. She looked as tired as Ruby felt, the new aspect of her semblance having been a great help dealing with Grimm, but draining her significantly.

Weiss just wasn't an endurance fight. In fact, she probably had the least amount of stamina compared to anyone in team RWBY or JNPR. It was just stubbornness and determination keeping her standing right now.

"It's alright," the heiress assured her. "This just means we can check off another area. Right?"

The reaped let her eyes close for a moment as she took a breath and nodded. "Yeah you're right. Maybe we should take a break."

Weiss straightened up suddenly. "No! No that's not it. We can still keep going. It's only noon.""

"You need rest Weiss."

The heiress scowled. "I'm fine, I can keep going just like the rest of you." Ruby shook her head as Blake finally reached the top. "We've been at this for the last seven hours. There's no point in finding Yang if we can't even get her out of here because we can't stand."

"You're sure you want to stop then?" Blake asked, scrubbing her hands through her hair. Dust and rubble came out in flakes as she did so.

"So," their leader sighed. "I want to keep going, but we can't. We have to rest."

"No Ruby I can keep-"

"Weiss." She bit sharply, cutting her partner off. "I said we're resting, end of story."

The Schnee swallowed and looked away.

The younger girl sighed tiredly, running a hand over her face before resting it on the Weiss' shoulder.

"It's not your fault Weiss, trust me. We'll take a break for an hour then get back to it okay?"

"…fine."

With that they made their way back out of the caverns and back up to camp. Blake practically collapses down next to the campfire, savouring the few dying embers left as they gave off warmth.

"So, how many is that?" the Faunus asked.

"Eighteen." Ruby said as she watched Weiss sit down tiredly. "There should be… about four, maybe five cavern left. One of them has to have a way deeper. I think I saw some weird light coming from one of the eastern side of the hole. We can check that one out later."

Blake nodded. "Sounds good…. Is there… any word from your uncle?"

The reaper scowled. "No, nothing. He was probably telling the truth about there being no signal, for as much good as that does us."

"What about the transport? It should be here tomorrow."

"Yeah…"

"What do you think is going to happen?"

Ruby sighed. "I don't know. I guess they'll want us to go back. If we don't have Yang with us by then we might have a fight on our hands."

"You're really planning on staying here until you find her?"

"I am… what about you? Are you staying too?"

Blake nodded seriously. "Of course… besides, it'll be a hassle is I have to get a new partner, can you imagine going through the drama with the White Fang again?"

Ruby managed a choked laugh at the joke as it took her off guard, and shook her head in exasperating at Blake's humour, making sure to shoot her a mock glare as she did.

"I'm staying too." Weiss told them as she sat up properly.

They nodded. "Obviously," Blake hummed. "I wouldn't expect you to quit just because something was hard."

"You're right," Weiss huffed. "And when we find Yang I'll be sure to give her a proper telling off for making us worry like this."

They laughed at that.

Briefly.

It died down a second later and Ruby stood up again. "Let's get back to it.

"I thought you wanted to rest for an hour."

"Do you think you could wait around that long?"

Blake sighed. "No."

…

…

Yang watched silently as Merlot got to work, laid out on the table again the obsidian arm was aligned with her stump.

"Hey doc," she began as she watched him get to work. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you use obsidian for the arm and leg? Isn't it like, really weak? I heard it was basically glass." Wouldn't stone or metal be better?"

He hummed. "It might have been," he admitted. "The problem is that it wouldn't be quite as effective at allowing magic to flow through it. It wouldn't feel like an arm you understand? It would be a prosthetic without feeling."

"Right." She nodded. She could see that.

"Besides," he went on. "It might be obsidian but it's also a piece of a golem. The material is alive. It doesn't have sentience, but it still wants to stay together if you know what I mean. Basically it's as strong as metal as long as you want it to be but I wouldn't worry about it breaking on you."

"Okay, cool. So what about the patterns on it? Are they just there for decoration or…?"

"They have a use," he confirmed. "Though one you get better at controlling it the grooves will only appear when you manipulate magical energy in your arm. They're essentially amplifiers. Usually magic comes from certain points: like fingers or palms for the less experienced magi. This just lets you use it along the entire length, for flexibility sakes."

He looked back at his hands, which held precision tools. "No now more questions. Let me have silence for a moment while I do this."

She nodded and kept quiet, watching him work as he moved the arm closer to the end of her arm. The whole thing was solid but it looked a little strange from where she was.

Like her leg, it included the joint where she'd lost it, but Yang could see it… open up as it got closer.

No, that wasn't it. It dissolved at the edges as it pressed against her skin.

The blonde let out a gasp as the feeling of cold air washed over her.

Merlot pressed a scalpel right where the flesh and obsidian met and pressed down. There was no incision, but it worked to open a hole in the aura that flared instinctually.

Threads of obsidian stretched out, not like string, but like thousands upon thousands of nearly microscopic grains me3lding with her body.

It was done a second later, and Merlot sat up.

"There we go." He said. "Try it out."

Yang didn't say anything as she sat up herself, looking at her new right arm for a moment before flexing her arm. She lifted it up, and with as much effort as it took to move her real hand, she wiggled her fingers.

A grin overtook her face without her permission.

"Awesome." She breathed, and the old man chuckled.

"Indeed it is. Do you know what makes it even more awesome though?"

"What?"

He took her hand in his, facing her palm upward and tensing. Yang's eyes widened as a tiny spark shot up from her hand. She nearly pulled away on instinct but he held her firm.

"Keep going." he soothed. "Focus on keeping it alive."

She did as she was told; doing the same thing she'd gone before.

The flower bloomed in her mind.

Yang gasped at the flame.

It was a tiny thing, barely bigger than fly. It was so small it didn't even give off light.

But it was there. It was hers.

"Now this is awesome." He said.

She laughed.

Yeah… it really was.

...

...

So, as I said, another chapter coming sooner that usual, and I've finished with most of the learning session on the world of Remnant as it is in this story for a while.

We can get on to some better stuff now, and pretty soon, the conclusion of the Mountain Glenn arc.

I'd remember Cinders words if I were you.

Hopefully a little more character development too, but even if you don't think so I'd keep on the look out for a few very personal moments about to show up.

Who's excited for those huh?

So, what did you think? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Let me know why.

AS always is you want to stick around for more be sure to Follow, Favourite and Review.

Bye!

P a treon . com (slash) WSpectre