AN: New Chapter,
As always thank you to everyone who reviewed Acekileler, MrSlendy69, Nathaniel19851911, MistahKillJoy and the Guest reviewer.
MistahKillJoy, I'm glad you called it, what it is, I'm not sure, but I'm happy for you.
This story is coming to a head soon. I don't know how many more chapters I'll have, but I know the climax is coming soon. I want to say three or four more chapters, but I'm not 100% sure.
After that, either this story will be moved to the Cross-over section, or more ideally, I'll edit it with a Beta-reader and make some refinements to the story.
Please Review, I won't say read because if you made it this far into it, you probably do that already.
Lord of Lies
Weiss looked at the food, and didn't think she'd ever had an eating experience like this before. The food looked amazing, the presentation was divine. It smelled wonderful too, but that wasn't the unusual part. It was her cook was sitting across from her, eating with her.
She watched as Gunner took a bit and she soon followed suit. It was amazing, she hadn't ever tasted food this good outside of her home, and she'd never eaten with her cook before.
"This is wonderful." She said before taking another bite. "Where did you learn to cook like this?" She asked as she took a sip of her drink.
"Oh, I just pick things up here and there, you know." He said smiling at her.
No, she didn't, but she was enjoying herself very much and didn't feel like following that line of discussion, so she responded, "Of course I do." And took another bite.
"So, do tell me about your friends?" Gunner said just before he took a sip of his drink.
"Oh, well…" she stumbled "Well, I meet them back at Beacon." She began "I have to say that, at first I didn't care much for them." She felt her stomach turn at this point, but she knew it was true, she was dismissive of them all when she met them. She hated that about herself, but it was true. "But…they grew on me."
"I'd dare say so." He said smiling at her "You traveled across the world find them, that is a strong bond." He took another bite of his food.
True, she loved them all, even those she hadn't been especially close to. But this was a private territory she wasn't ready to go into, at least not yet.
She'd never believed in "Love at first sight", but this felt close. She'd liked Neptune, but that hadn't gone anywhere. Jaune hadn't left her alone for weeks on end, and she had never reciprocated the feelings. But at the end of the day, those two were the closest she had a real romantic relationship or interest, which wasn't close at all.
But this…this felt real to her in a way that she didn't know was possible. She'd only had three interactions with Gunner, but she felt drawn to the man. He was cultured, smart and much quieter than the people she typically hung out with.
But it was more than that. She felt it in her gut, maybe not lifelong love, but a companion she could connect with.
But she wanted to play her cards close to the chest. She didn't want to tell him anything that may be the result teenage hormones, which she hated to admit to, but may be part of her infatuation.
"So." She stated, thinking of a subject "Do you live on your own?" it wasn't a strong topic of conversation, but decent one.
"Why yes." He said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "I live here alone."
The raised another question in her mind. One that needed quite a bit of discretion to ask in a proper manner.
"What do you do for a living?" she finally decided on. This didn't seem like a question that could be offensive.
"Oh, I don't work, really." He said, sipping his drink "I more work with stocks and investments."
"Oh, you seem sort of young to be doing that."
He just smiled. "You are never too young to seize opportunity."
"So how many Hunters has your Uncle convinced to join us?" Thor asked Yang as they walked down the street.
"I don't know, I mean, I get the impression their area few, but I don't think it's that many." She sighed. She'd enjoyed the time "off" but now she was getting restless. She knew that more hunters were needed, and they were in short supply. Still, the idea had taken root in her mind, not only that she wanted to take action, but who they were going after.
She'd given up on her mother, more or less, months ago. She'd told herself she wasn't worth it, and she felt that was correct. But now the old desires were rising in her, and she wanted to find her.
And she knew, more or less, where she was and it was pretty close by.
"Maybe we should leave it with the bandits." Thor suggested, and Yang felt her jaw drop before she could think of a response.
"Are you nuts? They can't keep it, they're a bunch of thieves and murderers. "She said, and stopped walking to look him in the face.
"And more or less a functional army." Thor said.
"So, we shouldn't try because they are too strong?" She couldn't believe this. Thor was one of the most battle crazed people she'd ever meet, along with one of the bravest. She couldn't believe he'd give up like this.
"No, I mean it may be safer with them than here." Thor said, keeping his tone even. "Mistral has been attacked twice since we've arrived, and it keeps losing hunters and military personnel."
She started to get what he was saying. She didn't agree at all, but she sort of saw the logic in it. The city was in bad shape in terms of its defense. But she just couldn't stand the idea of leaving the relic with a gang of bandits. So, she decided to pose another question.
"Why don't you just destroy this one like the one Ozpin had." The seemed like a good idea to her. These things weren't doing anyone any good just tucked away, and it gave Thor a power boost that pretty much won every fight.
He just shrugged and started walking again "Maybe, but I don't know, I didn't even know what I was doing the first time I did it."
"Didn't your dad tell you to do it?" She asked him as she followed him now not sure she understood the explanation he'd given. "I mean, he's like the god of wisdom or knowledge or something, wouldn't he know better?"
"He would, but I'm not sure it was him, I don't know if it was vision or me just hallucinating, I was dying at the time."
"But it worked, so…it had to be real."
"Maybe, but I can feel the energy in those relics, so it may not have been a real vision. Just my mind trying anything to survive."
Yang didn't buy that, they'd been having visions because of him. She was certain Odin had in some way influenced him.
But she didn't want to push the issue. She thought his uncertainty was do more to his own personal issues with his father than anything.
"Come on." She said while she tilted her head to gesture down the street. "Let's get something to eat."
Jaune sighed as he watched the news. More of the same, which was nothing new. Lionheart's death was still being covered, if only with mild interest from the media. The second attack, from the Mech-Grimm, as it had been dubbed, was also a fairly prominent story. The bolt of lightning that killed it was be attributed to Thor, which was sort of right.
That was a plus he guessed, the feeling of safety was now super high. The city was certain they had some kind of protector keeping them safe. The speculation on why he hadn't shown up at the beginning of the fights and just ended them was another story of interest.
The most popular idea was he didn't live in the city and it took him time to arrive to finish the fights.
They were wrong, but it was helping in the short term. But the news coverage had made him wonder why this Grimm hadn't been affected by the silver steel. He didn't know it was that it was part machine or something else, but the idea of it no longer working scared him.
It had seemed like such a game changer, and if it was made useless well that wasn't good.
He felt mentally drained thinking about these things, and ultimately decided to let it go for now. He couldn't do anything about it right now and he had plans with Ruby.
"Jaune." Ruby very nearly whined as they walked down the street. "Where are we going?"
Jaune had said he was taking her somewhere, but he hadn't said where. She like surprises, but she also hated being kept waiting for too long.
"Just up here." He said and as they turned the corner, Ruby caught sight of their destination.
"I know most girls like flowers and candy." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head "But I know you aren't like most girls, so I figured…" he gestured at the building.
It was a weapons shop. One Ruby hadn't ever seen before, and that was one thing she loved about Jaune, he understood she didn't fit the "typical" idea of a girl.
She smiled and said, "Well let's head in." and took his hand and took the lead. Then she thought "How would you know what most girls like anyway? You know like half a dozen and none of them are typical."
The look on his face made her smile as she watched him puzzle this out, then he responded, "I have seven sisters, Ruby…"
"Oh…yeah." That had slipped her mind somehow, he really didn't talk much about his family. That was weird, because when he did, he spoke fondly of them.
Deciding that was a topic for later, she asked "What do you think Weiss is doing on her date?"
She was testing the water's here, she knew what he said about his feelings for Weiss, but she still wondered. She hated that feeling, it somehow felt like she didn't trust him. Which simply wasn't true. She understood this as signs of her own insecurities, but she wasn't sure how else to handle this.
"Well, she said that Gunner guy was actually cooking." Jaune said as they crossed threshold into the store "I'm guessing they're just talking, getting to know each other."
She didn't see any sign of irritation or distress and that made her feel better. He may have been discussing the weather.
"Well, let's look around, there's this new ammo I want to check out." She said pulling him behind her.
"I trust everything was acceptable." Gunner said as he poured her a glass of wine.
It was a dark red, which she didn't prefer, but sipped politely. "I was excellent, thank you." She said truthfully. He had actually been an excellent cook, and wonderful company. Even the wine, which she didn't care for, tasted good now.
She looked around his apartment, and noticed what looked like a piano in the corner. After looking at it for a few more seconds, she realized it wasn't, but rather a harpsichord.
She looked back to Gunner and saw he'd noticed. "Do you play?" She asked taking another sip.
"A bit." He responded "You?"
"Not really, I mean, I know how, but I prefer to sing than play." She felt like she was imposing a bit but decided to ask him "could you play something for me?"
"Of course." He stood up and walked over to the harpsichord and pulled the bench out. He placed his hand on the keys and started to play.
The song wasn't one she recognized, but she enjoyed. It was…joyful, and it lifted her spirits even more. He played for a few minutes, then the song slowly ended.
"That was actually quite good." She said, "I'd say you weren't completely honest with me when you said you only played a 'bit' were you?" She this with a smile however, making it clear that she understood he was being modest.
"What can I say?" He said standing up "I've been told I'm a terrible liar." He walked back to towards her and she stood as well.
"I should really be going." She said looking her scroll for the time. She was already out later than she had expected "My friends will be wondering where I am."
"I would quite like to meet them." He said as he walked her to the door and helped her with her jacket.
"I'm sure they'd like to meet you." She felt weird saying that. She this was true and untrue at the same time. Something in the back her mind told her to ignore it for now.
"Well, how about you bring them over next time?" he said as he opened the door for her.
"I'll talk to them and let you know." She said and stood there, smiling at him.
"Very well, I look forward to it." He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
She flushed at this a bit, and said "Good night." She said and set off to head home and heard the door close behind her.
Loki smirked as he closed the door. He had her pretty well enamored and soon he'd be meeting the rest of her little group.
If he was correct, which he knew he was, they were all present at the Bridge when his brother had shown up. They were the only ones who would of seen him up close and possible spoken to him.
He puzzled over this for a while and decided a lacked, private setting with a larger group would yield the most information. He was certain he could get Weiss to talk, but it might seem odd on a one on one date to talk of such things.
He didn't want to risk the her possibly breaking his semblance. It worked best on the unaware and emotionally and mentally vulnerable. Weiss had been all three when they had meet, which was why he'd chosen her, but if he acted weird, his grip could weaken.
Better to foster a more open atmosphere. He actually didn't look forward to it, from what he'd gleaned about Weiss's friends, they weren't overly refined. He understood her to have maybe seven or eight friends. She hadn't told him this much, he figured it out from reports and what little information he gathered on them. Unfortunately, they simply weren't drawing enough interest for him to gather that sort of information from any sort of grapevine.
He had a number and a few names, all of which were her immediate team, but as for the other's, he had some descriptions and the gender. Aside from her own team, there were four boys and another girl.
He supposed it didn't matter, he'd know soon enough. And as he thought of gaining knowledge, his mind wandered back to the relic.
He went to the drawer and pulled out the lockbox and opened it to examine the relic.
None of his tests had revealed anything. Granted he was limited to purely scientific experiments and his ability to really do so on any meaningful scale was limited here. If he just had his sorcery back, he'd have been able to unlock its powers, whatever they may been.
He twirled it between his fingers and tapped it on a notebook on his desk.
It took him a moment to notice that the quill was leaving marks on the paper. That shouldn't have been happening. He'd never put ink in it and it was ancient, anything in it should have dried out.
He pulled the quill across the paper and it left a line, black as the darkest ink he'd ever seen.
He then wrote a simple line 'I am Loki' Was all he wrote and at first it seemed to just be a normal pen. Then following his statement, the words appeared 'of Asgard.'
"Well that is interesting." He mumbled to himself. He then wrote 'Who is Loki'" and waited a moment.
Then the word appeared 'God of Mischief and fire.'
Following this he tried a number of other simple statements and question, along with sentences with missing or misspelled word, and without fail, the rest of the statements appeared and the missing word filled in and the spelling errors corrected.
"I sure how the gods of this world didn't just leave a pen with self-correction magic in it." He mumbled. So far it had been interesting, but nothing beyond that. He needed to see if this thing could go beyond such mundane magic.
He eventually wrote out the question 'Where is my scroll?' and waited to see if it could give him the correct answer. And sure, enough it did, in his left pocket.
"Well, let's see if you can really help me then." He muttered and wrote down 'Where is my brother Thor?'
He waited for the word to appear, and sure enough they did 'Haven academy' was all that appeared.
The puzzled him, that was the school. He'd looked there first when he first came here, certain his brother's love of fighting would have drawn him there. There was chance he's found his way there since he'd last looked, but his show at the bridge made Loki believe that had he been at the school, his identity would be all over the news.
He may have been hiding at the school, but that didn't seem right either. But he could investigate again, and see what was going on after the death of the Headmaster. He hadn't killed the man, but he was glad that at least he didn't have to worry that he might come looking for him.
He had no reason to doubt that his semblance hadn't worked, but still…there was always a chance.
Now there was none. But there was the concern of whoever had killed him. Loki didn't by the reports of the heart attack. At last not completely.
But then he thought of something. Picking up the quill he wrote 'who killed Leonardo Lionheart?'
He waited and 'Dr. Arthur Watts' was the response.
Loki had no idea who that was, but at least he now knew the Headmaster had been murdered rather than dying of natural causes.
If only he had a face to put to the name, and decided to give it a shot.
He wrote 'What does Watts look like?"
This time, instead of words, an image started to appear on the paper, no color other than the black of the ink and white of the paper, but other than that a near photographic image of a man's face.
As Weiss left the apartment building, she pulled out her scroll and dialed Ruby. She'd promised her that she would let her know once her date was over. This pattern of checking in was becoming more and more common among her circle of friends.
She recognized this as a sign of growing anxiety in the group, the need to make sure everyone was okay. She knew she had picked up on it, and she thought Blake had as well. Other than that, maybe Thor, but the rest of them were doing so without really knowing what was driving the need, at least on a conscious level.
She knew why of course. The world was marching towards something big and possibly disastrous. From the fall of Beacon, up to the recent events at Mistral, things were coming to a head and soon.
But she didn't know how long that would be, only that it would be soon.
"Hello?" She heard Ruby's voice come over her scroll and her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't even realized she put the scroll to her ear.
"Ruby it's Weiss, I'm just checking in, like I promised." She said in a tone of that convey the mundane nature of this task. She heard Ruby talking to someone else and heard her say "It's Weiss".
"How did it go?" Ruby asked.
"Excellent, who are you talking to?" she asked.
"Jaune, but forget that, tell me more, do you like him?"
"Why yes, I think I do." She said, not willing going into more details how she really felt. The truth was it felt foolish and childish to feel as strongly as she did, and didn't want to broadcast it. But now she could get something out of the way. "Ruby, Gunner said he'd like to meet my friends, do you think you and Jaune would like to meet him?"
A shriek came over her scroll so loud she had to pull it away from her ear.
"I'll take that as a yes." Weiss said transferring her scroll to her other ear.
"When! Where?" Ruby said excitedly.
"I'll let you know, I just said I'd ask you guys, he'll set a date."
"Looking forward to it! I'll talk to you later!"
"Alright, talk to you later, bye."
"Bye." Ruby said, and they both hung up.
Well, that was two of her friends at least. Ruby was by far the most excitable, and she figured that the other's reactions wouldn't be nearly as energetic. Yang's may be more irritating, but maybe not. She'd eased up on her teasing in general. It hadn't stopped completely of course, but she'd let up on it since Beacon.
Well, there were still six friends she needed to call and ask.
"What was that about?" Jane asked Ruby, looking a bit concerned as Ruby's reaction.
"Weiss wants us to meet her boyfriend!" she said in an almost sing-song voice.
"Okay…" he said, not sure what the big deal was. He understood Ruby was happy for her friend, but he thought the reaction was a bit extreme. "I mean, is he like…officially her boyfriend or are they just seeing each other."
"Jaune." She said in a voice that sounded almost like a teacher speaking to an overly excited child who wasn't grasping a lesson. "If there weren't serious, she wouldn't want us to meet him."
"But haven't they only gone out twice?" He asked.
"That we know of." Ruby said in tone that was clearly trying to convey she was onto something.
"But isn't this sort of thing more for like…meeting her parents or family?" He asked. Truth was he didn't really understand the ins and outs of dating all that well. His own dating history was not what he would consider normal, but he didn't think Ruby would know more than him.
"Yeah, normally, but we're all she has." Her voice had a confidence that he didn't understand.
Ruby joy masked another, more shameful feeling, relief. Weiss getting serious about someone else somehow made her feel better about her relationship with Jaune.
She just didn't feel confident in their relationship, or not as confident as she probably should have been. Next to Pyrrha and Weiss, the girls Jaune like before her, she felt ungainly, weird and unrefined.
She was also younger than either of them, and not nearly as mature, physically or emotionally.
Then there was the fact that she had been there when Pyrrha had died and she felt guilt over it. She knew she shouldn't, she'd done everything in her power to get there in time. But trauma didn't reside in the logical part of the brain, and she knew that.
She didn't dare ask Jaune about it, she feared what his response would be. She knew she should at some point, but she really didn't want to.
She'd do it, soon she thought, but for now she had a nice little distraction in Weiss's new boyfriend and frankly she was interested to meet him.
Weiss was generally cold to outsiders, even to her own team she'd taken a considerable amount of time to warm up to. This guy got her attention for a five-minute encounter and got her to ask him out on a date. Then she'd gone out with him again.
This guy had to have something pretty strong going for him to get her attention like that.
"I don't want to go." Was all Yang said as she hung up her scroll as she and Thor made their way back to their room.
"What?" Thor said looking at her. "Who was that?"
"Weiss." She sighed "She wants everyone to come to some sort of dinner party to meet her new…well she didn't say boyfriend, but I get the feeling that's what she's thinking."
"What did you say?"
"I said we'd go." She mumbled.
"But you don't want to."
"Not really." She sighed again.
"Why?"
"You know Weiss, she's all proper and neat." Yang said, "And this guy is supposed be like that, at least given what she'd told us." Yang groaned "This is gonna suck."
"Then why did you agree to it?" Thor asked raising his eyebrow.
"Because I know it's going to mean a lot to her." She sighed again "We're going to have to get some formal clothes, we can't go dressed like we normally do."
"No." said sighed himself "We better do that tomorrow, get it out of the way."
Dr. Watts made last modifications on the tracking device before closing it up. He looked it over to make sure it didn't have any loss parts, it didn't.
It fit in one hand and looked more like out of date scroll than anything else, which was by design, he didn't want to draw unwanted attention to himself.
He turned it on and got no signal, which he also had expected. The relic and his machine were in the northern end of the city, and he knew this tacker wouldn't pick up a signal from this far away, he just wanted to make sure it turned on before he went looking.
The first test being successful, he would now go onto the second phase. He'd recreate the first machine and see if he could pick up a signal from it.
He still had pieces from the first machine's development phase, and he'd piece an approximation together and see if this new device could pick up on it. This shouldn't take more than hour to put together, and once he had that, and tested his tracker the next and final step was to head to the northern end of the city.
"At the risk of being insensitive to my own race, but I hate wearing a monkey suit." Sun moaned as he worked at his tie.
"Just put up with it for one evening, alright?" Blake said knocking his hands away and fixing his tie. "And stop messing with that."
"Come on it'll be…fun." Ruby said as the six of them walked up to the apartment. The group included Herself, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Sun and Blake. Weiss was already there, helping with whatever she could, which she admitted wasn't much, but the sheer number of people made her feel guilty. Ruby honestly didn't think it would be fun, but she was here for her friend. But that aside, she was interested in meeting the guy.
"Where are Yang and Thor? They don't get to get out of this do they?" Sun muttered, and received a somewhat forceful tap on the back of the head from Blake for the comment.
"Yang needed to fix something on her arm, the fourth and fifth fingers weren't working right, she wanted to tune it up." Blake said, more than a little agitated as Sun's comment "They'll be twenty minutes behind us at most."
"So, what can we expect from this guy?" Jaune spoke up, directing the question to Ruby, hoping to change the subject.
"Really couldn't say, all I know is what Weiss has told me. I mean I trust her, but I mean, we really won't know until we meet him." Ruby said.
They got to the door of the apartment, and they were all surprised that it was on such a nice end of the living spectrum. Had Weiss not told them he was their age, they would have thought she'd been taken in by the charms of an older man.
Ruby stepped forward and knocked.
"I don't think this is working." Weiss muttered over the cutting board, holding a knife and looking at a mutilated pile of vegetables.
"Let me see." Gunner said as he set down what he was working on. He walked over to her and looked at her work.
She felt embarrassed at her own ineptitude in this task. It should have been easy, she was a master with the sword, but she couldn't handle a kitchen knife.
He stood behind her and gently grasped her hand, his body flushed against her. She felt her face get hot, but he started guiding her hands.
"For this you want to slide the knife back and forth like this." He whispered into her ear while showing her the technique. Where she had been chopping, this slicing motion was far quicker and neater. "Just like that." He said stepping away, as she continued without him. "Good." He said smiling, heading back to his own preparations.
"You know you're pretty good with a knife." She said, now finding the task much easier.
"I've been told that." He said. She couldn't see him, but she thought she could hear the smile on his lips.
"I would really like to learn how you picked all this up." She said as she finished up.
"It's a story that isn't all that interesting." He said as he started to fire the stove. She heard her slicing something else, meat or fish she thought as she caught a glimpse of what he was working on now. "Here." He said, and handed her a bowl with a few ingredients, wet and dry. "Mix that until it's nice and even."
She took the bowl and started to whisk it. "I'd still like to know."
"It's not more complicated than I don't appreciate low quality food, but couldn't afford it, so I learn how to do it myself." He said as he continued to work "Granted ingredients were still hard to come by, but I found I enjoyed it."
He was right, it wasn't complicated.
A knock at the door let her know her friends had arrived.
As Weiss lead them into the apartment, Ruby marveled at how big it was. It may have been her own cramped living experience lately, but this felt far too big for one person.
It was decorated in a manner that didn't at all feel like a teenager, but more like a small museum. There were artifacts, sculptures and even weapons hung on the wall or displayed on shelves.
Its outer walls were large windows, closer to what you'd expect in a hotel than an apartment.
She thought it looked nice, but it didn't seem right for someone their age to decorate like this, even Weiss didn't when she had a chance to do so back at Beacon.
But the smell of the food, it was wonderful. It was the smell of a fryer like what she often associated with food, it smelled cleaner.
"So. Is this everyone." A voice said from the side and she turned to look. This had to be Gunner, and he looked…she didn't know how to describe it. He looked pleasant, handsome even, but something in his eyes, didn't feel right.
"No." Weiss answered, "Two more will be along shortly."
"Well that's all well and good, the food won't be ready for a few more minutes." He said.
His voice just seemed so pleasant, and calming, Ruby just felt like her feelings of his eye's fade away.
A silence came over the room, and eventually Weiss spoke. "Gunner, why don't you play the song you showed me? I can finish in the kitchen, it's just taking the food off."
Gunner seemed to think on this for a moment, before agreeing "Alright, if you'd all please be seated." He gestured to the table.
The table intimidated Ruby, with everything on it, but she'd muddle through this as well. She wanted a chance to observe this guy.
He went over to what Ruby took for a piano and sat down and started playing something. She'd never heard it before.
"Okay, I know I'm not one to talk on this sort of thing, but watch your table manner." Yang said to Thor they climbed stairs to the apartment.
Thor snorted at this "I can be civil when it's appropriate you know."
"No, I don't, because the only time I've ever seen you eat anything, the closest to table manners I've ever seen you exhibit was at a burger stand." She sighed "Just don't embarrasses Weiss okay? I think she really like this guy, and she's been down in the dumps lately, I don't want something else to put her in a funk."
"Alright, I'll watch my manners." She said, fixing his tie. "What about you? You aren't worried I'll embarrass you?"
"You embarrass me every day." She said smirking at him as they stood outside the door to the apartment, making sure to convey the joke. But the look on his face looked way too serious, and she thought for a moment she might of upset him. "Thor it was just-"He raised a hand to silence her.
If it weren't for the dead serious expression on his face, she would have been offended but he was clearly onto something else here.
"Listen." He said is a soft voice, not a whisper, but close. "You hear that?"
She listened, and she did hear it. It was music. It sounded like a…harp? No, that wasn't right. But she didn't think that mattered. But she didn't recognize the song either, so she wasn't sure what Thor was getting so worked up about.
Thor was never a great appreciator of the arts, but some songs on Asgard and Midgard had just become known to him over the years due to popularity.
This one he knew from somewhere, but he couldn't place it. But that wasn't so much the issue as this melody had no business being on this world. Unless someone from Earth was here, or someone who has visited it.
The song was coming from the apartment. As he grasped the doorknob, he recognized the song. It was a popular tune played in winter called "Ode to Joy".
"Thor what's wrong?" Yang asked, her voice portraying agitation.
"Be ready for anything." He said and opened the door without knocking and walked in.
Everyone save Weiss was at the table watching the person playing. They were so intent on watch him, they hadn't noticed Thor and Yang come in.
Then Weiss's voice came from the side and said "Yang? Thor? I didn't hear you knock."
Everyone turned to look at them, and the music stopped.
Thor recognized the person playing and the look on his brother's face would have been funny in other circumstances.
"Oh shit." Was all he said before he reached for something.
The following events were confusing to all who witnessed them. Weiss noticed Gunner grab something and throw something at Thor, who snatched it out of the air.
She saw it was a knife, and before she could say anything Thor was rushing Gunner grabbing one of the weapons that Gunner decorated his apartment with, an axe that looked several decades out of date. Gunner produced two large daggers, and leaped across the room, over the table at Thor and tackled him to the ground.
She found her voice at this and shouted "Stop!"
This plea fell on deaf ears, and Thor kicked Gunner in the stomach with enough force to throw him clear across the room and through one of the windows with a crash.
Thor leaped to his feet and jumped after Gunner out the window.
"What the hell!" Yang shouted. "Weiss what is wrong with this guy?!"
Weiss seemed reluctant to answers, her eyes wide, and Yang thought she spotted tears.
She tempered her anger, and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Weiss." She began "Are you okay?"
Weiss wiped at her eyes, didn't say anything, and sat on the couch.
Yang didn't know what to say, and looked to her assembled friends. Ruby was the first to get up and walk over to Weiss as sit down next to her, placing a hand on her back, rubbing it gently.
But before anyone could say anything else, someone's yelling was heard from out the window, and Gunner came soaring back into the apartment. He landed on the table and the first the Yang noticed was his tie was gone and his jacket was in tatters.
The next thing she noticed was his hand were tied behind his back.
Thor leaped back in moments later and said, "My friends." As he walked over to Gunner on the table "I'd like you to meet my brother, Loki, god of mischief and lies."
Loki looked at the assembled group with melancholy. He didn't want his secret out like this. But he might be able to make it out of this with some advantages still intact. He didn't need to tell them about the relic or the machine, or even his theft of it.
All the group before him, with the exception of his brother, looked leery of him. Except Weiss, who had left the room to go into his bedroom with her partner. He's suspected they were close given the conversations he'd had with her.
"So, Brother." Thor said walking up to him, and Loki couldn't help noticing his various injuries. "How did you get here?"
"I'd rather like know how you got those scars brother." Loki response. "Quid pro quo, you know, tell me what happened to you an I'll answer the questions."
"I had an equipment malfunction Loki." Thor said curtly "But tell me how you got here, and I might be more forthcoming."
"I found myself here, close to three years ago." Loki said, staring at his brother "I don't remember what happened what happened before that. I just found myself here in this younger body."
Thor didn't look pleased at this, and Loki guessed this was what he had experienced himself.
"Why don't you let me go?" he said, letting his semblance flow out over his word. "We can figure this out together."
He watched as all the other seemed to consider the idea, but Thor didn't look the least bit moved. He'd expected this. His semblance was powerful, but against someone who thoroughly distrusted him, it would have little to no effect.
"Thor maybe we should-"The one known as Sun started, but Thor raised a hand to silence him.
"He is the god of lies, he could make a snake think it can fly or a stone it can swim, don't listen to him."
"Geez, Thor were not stupid." Sun said defensively.
"That isn't the issue." Thor said, not taking his eyes off his brother. "I mean he can literally make you think what he says is true."
Everyone looked confused except Thor and Loki who both looked irritated.
"Did you figure it out then?" Loki said, sighing. He was certain his brother had managed to figure out his semblance. If he hadn't, well, it wasn't going to do him much good either way, he was caught and Thor would never let him go to do as he pleased.
"You have a semblance, like us all, and if I'm not mistaken, it's you can' convince anyone of your lies." He said.
This was good, as far as Loki was concerned. Thor had gotten pretty close to the truth, but hadn't quite nailed it down. His true semblance was the power of persuasion, convincing people of what he said and making influencing their behavior. It didn't have to be lies, it could be directions, or feeling a certain way, or general commands. He didn't even have to directly command someone verbally, they just had to hear his voice and he could project his intent into them.
But if Thor thought all he could so with his power was lie, then he held a slight advantage. His brother was so set in his way of thinking about him, he doubted he'd pick up on this on his own.
"Correct brother, you know me too well." He smiled, dialing back his semblance. He suspected Thor could almost feel it working on him, but a lighter touch might work to influence him. "But, as I'm sure you know now, if you are onto me, then it really doesn't work." He said with a smile at his brother that projected all his contempt for him.
"Wow, that's freaky." The one called Jaune muttered.
He supposed he was right in that regard, the ability to affect someone's mind was unnerving to most. Many people felt they own head was one of the only places they were truly safe, and any idea of foreign intrusion or influence unnerved most people.
"Wait, if he can make people believe his lies, then how do we know that last part is true?" Nora asked.
There it was, the inability to trust a liar. He understood it of course, who would take a liar's word. He believed humans had a story about a boy and wolf that he rather liked that seemed to follow this line of thought.
"Him." Loki said nodding towards his brother. "He can tell you why, I think."
"His powers didn't work on me, and I've haven't trusted him in a very long time." Thor said, still looking at his brother.
Loki looked over the group, and their faces showing a whole range of emotions. The boy Jaune looked by far the most concerned. Not that he was, but he certainly the showing the most of his unease. This marked him as one of the more inexperienced members, and a likely target to work on.
The two Faunas, the boy and girl, seemed leery and agitated, but masked them better than Jaune. The girl Blake was the more composed of the two, but he thought he sensed a level of animalistic agitation coming off them.
The girl who had question his trustworthiness, Nora, looked by far the most curious, he thought he noticed a slight shift in her step, like she wanted to get closer but thought better of it.
The boy next to her, Ren, was by far the most stoic. He did well to hide his feelings, but Loki had been at this for far too long, and he picked up some emotions. A hint of fear, although the fear of what, he couldn't quite be sure.
But the blonde girl made him feel uneasy, even more so than his brother. She looked livid, and unlike his brother, he didn't know her well enough to try to truly know what to expect or to properly influence her right now. They were all thoroughly distrustful of him now, and his semblance wouldn't work to any effect for the time being. Then there were her eye's, they would flash red occasionally, and that made him uneasy.
But he could get out of this, and put himself in a good position. He didn't need his semblance to be his normal crafty self. He'd become too dependent on it anyway. He was confident he could get ahead of the game with this.
"Well, what are we going to do with him?" Sun said.
"I have an idea." Yang said, and walked away from the group, into Loki's bedroom. Some voice could be heard, but nothing really clear.
Some rummaging around could be heard, and Yang came back out with a large luggage case of his. She unzipped it and smirked at him.
With a sudden realization, he knew what she was thinking. "Please don't." He said in a somewhat plaintive voice.
Dr. Watts had been searching this portion of the city in a grid pattern until he'd finally picked up on the signal he was looking for. Now it would only be a matter of time. But he must still be cautious, he didn't know who had stolen the relic or what they might be capable of, or if there were more of them.
The sound of shattering glass broke him from his thoughts and down the street he saw two men fighting. The fight didn't last long, the larger of the two quickly overpowered the other, and soon was tying him up with what looked like pieces of their cloths.
He then threw him up into the air, and Watts watched him soar through the window they had apparently broken, which he took to be the sound that had distracted him.
Looking at his tracker, it was telling head in the direction of the two men.
Following the signal, he found that his machine was probably in the building the two men has come from and gone back in.
He headed in, and after walking up and down the stairwell, he determined the floor it was on.
The room was easier to find, but the multitude of voices made him decided not to invade it at the moment. He'd bide him time and come back tomorrow when no one was here, so long as no one knew he was aware of him, he'd take the quieter approach.
He made to leave, and as he did the door opened. A large group of school-aged huntsmen and huntress walked out. He knew they were hunters because he knew who they were. Ruby Rose and her friends. He wasn't surprised to see them involved in this. If he had to guess Qrow had lost trust in Lionheart and taken the relic himself.
But as he watched them go to the opposite stairwell, he noticed the Blonde girl pulling a piece of luggage behind her.
He raised his tracker to see if they were taking his machine with them. They hadn't, but they had taken something.
But the man he'd seen get thrown back into the room wasn't with them. But he could handle one person easily and quietly enough.
As the students left the hall, he made his way back to the door. The lock was no issue, and he was inside in moments.
The apartment had been nice at one point, but it was a mess now, a fight clearly having taken place. But to his surprise, the man he'd seen thrown back in wasn't here.
He could have fled, he wasn't getting along with all those children, and even Watts himself might have fled if facing off against so many huntsmen, even only partially trained ones. He thought he might been able to beat them all, but not after a protracted fight that would cause a great deal of unwanted attention.
But his machine was here, and he suspected the relic was as well. The book had given him a picture of it, it looked like an old-fashioned quill, but that wasn't as useful as may be expected. It would be small, and unless he knew where it was, it would take some time to locate.
But scanning the room quickly, he spotted a familiar suitcase. He walked over to it and picked it up smirking. This had gone as well as be expected.
But now his thoughts turned the relic. He should take this opportunity while he had it. When who ever lived her came back and noticed the device gone, their guard would be up.
He was surprised no police had shown up from the ruckus. But if they hadn't shown up by now, they probably wouldn't.
He'd take some time to investigate, but he couldn't dawdle too much.
He looked behind pictures and furniture and found nothing. He suspected whoever had it would take some sort of measure to keep it safe. They may be limited into how much they could do in this building, but he'd expect at least a lockbox.
He eventually made it over to the desk and opened the drawers. That was when he found the lockbox. Pulling it out, he noticed the electronic lock. He could crack the lock with enough time, but his patients were running thin.
He used his semblance to short the lock out. The box opened and inside, he saw some documents, some money and… a quill pen.
He picked it up, and thought he felt something. He felt a warm sensation run up his arm and into his chest.
That was as close to confirmation he'd ever ask for in this situation. The relic in hand and his device, it was time to go to Salem.
He didn't know what to truly expect, but this was the best situation he could hope for.
"You sure your Uncle will be okay with us crashing here?" Jaune asked Ruby as they all entered the house Qrow was renting.
"He'll be fine with it." Yang said as she threw the luggage into the middle of the living room, followed by a muffled cry from inside the bag.
"Maybe we should let him out." Nora said, looking at the bag.
"Fine." Yang said as she walked forward and unzipped the bag, and dumped it over, and they all watched Loki roll out onto the floor. Hand and feet bound, and mouth gagged.
"Are we sure this is…like legal?" Jaune asked as they all watch Loki writhe on the floor, trying to get free.
"He's a criminal, were hunters, we can apprehend criminals." Ruby said confidentially.
"We're still in training, and I don't know if he's actually broken any laws." Ren spoke up.
They all got quiet at this, except Thor who walked over to his brother hoisted him up, and threw him into a chair and removed his gag.
"Thank you." Loki gasped out. Thor didn't respond, but instead proceeded to tie his brother to the chair.
"I'm going to call Qrow." Ruby said, pulling out her scroll and walking out of the room.
The rest of them looked at the god of mischief tied to the chair.
"Weill that hold him?" Blake ask, thinking of Thor's strength and how he could have broken the bonds like tissue paper, and wondered if his brother had the same strength. He didn't look powerful, but looks could be deceiving.
"I'm not sure." Thor said. "But, but it'll have to work until we get proper restraints, we'll just have to keep an eye on him."
Loki's eyes scanned them all, and he started to see why he'd been in the bag as long as he was. They were all changed and had their weapons.
"Why am I being treated like this?" he posed the question as much innocents as he could.
"You know why." Thor said.
"I'm afraid I don't." he said, which was at least a bit true. "I haven't committed a crime…here." He said adding the last part, which was true as far as any of them knew.
"You're Loki, that's enough reason." Thor said with not a hint of compassion in his voice. His brother gave him more chances than anyone ever had, and he'd betrayed that more than enough times for him to not trust him. But the other's may be swayed a bit to his side.
"You lied to me." Weiss said, and Loki turned to look at her, and saw a hurt expression in her eye's she was trying to mask with anger.
"About what?" was all he said in response.
"Who you were for starters." Yang answered for her friend.
"Maybe my name, but I've been using that one since I got here, I thought it would fit in better in this society than my own. My brother apparently did not have the same idea." He nodded to Thor and continued "I was simply trying live in this world, as quietly and comfortably as possible."
He saw from the looks on their faces they didn't believe him, and he wondered how much of his past they knew.
Before any more questions could be proposed Ruby came back into the room, looking a little frazzled. "Guy's we need to get ready." Everyone, Loki included, looked at her with questioning expression "Uncle Qrow says we're going after the relic tonight, he's said we got as much support as we're going to get and we are moving out tonight."
"On such short notice!" Weiss almost yelled, and while all eyes were on Ruby, Loki smirked, this may be his chance to get loss. They had a mission, but they'd never bring him or leave him alone.
"We can't just leave Loki alone." Thor said, "I'll stay and watch him."
That was the last person he wanted watching him, Thor was far too suspicious of him for him to be able to influence him. He would at best cause some level of influence, but as soon as Thor recognized he was even considering Loki's words, he'd assume some sort of magic or trickery and gag him again.
"They'll need you." Weiss said, "I'll stay here and watch the little snake."
The rest of groups expressions told him they all thought that was a bad idea. Loki instead of saying anything, started to hum and look at the ceiling. This was one of his weakest ability's, but useful in situations where he didn't want to actually talk.
His power translated through his voice, and as long as he was heard he could influence people with his intent, and his intent now was for them to find some reason to agree with Weiss.
It was far from likely to work, but she was emotionally vulnerable now and was one of the two people in the group he'd like to have watching him.
Yang did not want to leave Weiss alone with Loki, but she didn't think she was in the right place mentally to be on a field mission, especially one this dangerous.
"I can stay with you and watch him." Jaune spoke up "I'm not going to be much use on this mission, I don't even have a semblance yet."
Yang noticed her sister's eye's go wide and this, and thought she understood Ruby's panic. Weiss was Jaune's first real crush, and she didn't want him alone with her. It was ridiculous, this was watching a god of lies, not a date. It would be like having to watch a bratty kid, only this one could kill you, hardly a romantic atmosphere.
"Jaune, what are you talking about?" Ruby said with panic in her voice "You've gotten so much stronger."
"Yeah…" Jaune started to reply, "But I'm still not close to you guys, not really, and we need to watch this guy, so I'll be more useful here than there." He said not completely masking his sad tone.
"But if you stay than Weiss can come with us then." Ruby said her voice getting higher in pitch.
"I'm not in a state to fight a pitched battle." Weiss said "Besides, I'd like to ask the god of lies some questions."
Ruby couldn't think of anything else and before she knew what was happening Yang was dragging her sister out of the Qrow's house. "We've got to get going, they'll be fine." She said as she pulled her sister out the door.
Loki watched as every one save his brother, Jaune and Weiss vacate the house.
His brother walked to them "Be careful, even if he has no powers, he will try and trick you." And with that Thor left.
The two young hunters looked at him, and he smiled back at them.
The airfields were humming with activity. A number of Huntsman running to Bullheads, and to Yang's surprise normal soldiers.
She spotted her Uncle and called his name.
He came over in short order and said, "Where are Jaune and Weiss?" he asked.
"We left them with that guy I told you about." Ruby said, in a bit of a melancholy tone.
"You kids picked a bad time to capture a rogue god." Qrow muttered. "Come on, we're hitting the camp in six hours, we need be on a bullhead, I'll explain the plan on the way."
None of them were happy at the sudden departure and quick deployment, but they knew this had to be done.
As they all boarded the bullhead, Qrow spoke up.
"Alright, you kids…and Thor, know where hitting the Bandit's camp my sister is leading. We're expected to face almost a hundred bandits of low-level huntsman skill sets, and maybe a dozen of expert level. My sister and the Spring Maiden are the two most dangerous people in that camp." He said looking at them all. "I'll take my sister, and you kids will handle the standard bandits with the other hunters."
"Wait!" Yang shouted over the Bullhead engine "Why can't we help you against her?"
"You kids are good, but you aren't that good yet…Except you, but I don't really count you." He said gesturing at Thor. "Thor, you are going to go after the Spring Maiden, along with two other hunters I'd trust with my life."
"Why don't you go after her?" Thor ask yelling as well.
"I'm counting on your semblance to disrupt her powers, it's not the same, but you can run interference on her. As for me, I'm counting on family ties to keep her from trying to really kill me." He took out his flask and took a swig.
"Well, in that case I should help you fight my mom." Yang shouted.
"Sorry Yang, but you're not ready for her, but I promise when this is all over, you can ask her whatever you want."
Yang didn't respond, but hunkered down and brooded on the issue.
Loki looked from Jaune to Weiss, then from Weiss to Jaune. They were just sitting on the couch, staring at him.
These two were the most vulnerable, but together, they'd present a stronger front.
"So…what was such the big event that took most of your friends?" he asked, letting his semblance seep into his words.
Weiss's jaw was clenched shut, glaring at him, but Jaune seemed ready to say something, but thought better of it.
"It's not important." Was all he said.
"Oh, I'd dare say it's very important if my brother wouldn't stay to watch me." He said calmly. He had an idea of what was going on. He knew that Qrow, a huntsman of fame, had been recruiting freelance huntsman's for some sort of mission. He'd combined this with the information he'd stolen from Lionheart's computer during his little excursion into the school during the attack.
He was more tapped into what was going on in the wider world than any of these students watching him, probably more than Qrow was even. He'd been stealing information for his whole time here, that was how he'd found the relic, and how he knew what was going on with Salem.
He knew the Spring Maiden was with a bandit group led by Qrow's sister, and that the Maidens were needed to get the relics, normally anyway.
Had Thor not found him tonight, it would have been too perfect. He was certain they thought the bandit's had the relic, and while he doubted his brother would be killed in a raid like that, but it was a near perfect decoy for his own actions.
"Are they going after the Maiden and relic?" he said.
Both went wide-eyed and Jaune coughed to try and hide his surprise. That was more or less a confirmation of what he was certain he already knew.
"I know about this ordeal you know." He said smiling "I can help you, all of you."
He could see the wanting to believe in their eyes, although in different ways. Jaune wanted answers, clear and cut. Weiss, the poor girl, wanted to see some good in the man she become infatuated with.
He actually felt a bit bad about that. He's really let his semblance run wild on her to gain her trust. The truth was he identified with her a little bit. An overly critical father who favored another sibling and found them replaceable. That was a big reason why she'd fallen so thoroughly into his snare.
The emotions he'd felt ever since he'd found himself here were extremely odd, and much stronger than any he could remember recently in his long life. He suspected it was his younger body and the hormones affecting his mind.
But he'd never been a completely careless or heartless being, despite what many thought of him. The fact was what he'd said earlier was the truth…after a fashion. He had intended to try and live a comfortable and quiet life here, for a while at least. But his old habits had crept back in and he started seeking power, and building tools to deceive and steal.
That was where his money came from, he'd steal information and either sell it or use it to make investments. It was how he found out about the ancient conspiracy and the old war.
"I know where the leader of the Grimm lives." He said leading with a strong piece of information, but not telling them enough for it to be useful to them.
The jumped to their feet and walked to him.
"Where?" Jaune almost yelled grasping his shoulder, shaking him slightly.
"I'm sorry, but my memory doesn't work well when I'm tied up." He said Cooley.
"We aren't untying you." Weiss said with venom in her voice.
"Well, how about I tell you something else and maybe we can learn to trust each other." He said smiling at them.
"You are the god of lies, why would we ever trust you?" Jaune said letting him go.
"Why should you trust the god of thunder?" Loki answered the question with a question of his own.
"Thor is trustworthy, we've known him long enough to know that." Weiss said.
"But you really don't know me, yet you pass judgment on me without any real evidence other than my own brother's words." He said cooley.
"Thor wouldn't lie to us." Jaune said defensively.
"No, I don't think he would, but has he always been a completely reasonable person? I'm sure you both can think of at least one time his temper and emotions got the better of him and he didn't act rationally."
The look on their faces told him he was making headway. He didn't have to know what Thor was up to know his brother.
"Still." Weiss said, "God of lies, not going to listen to you."
"I'm the one god you should trust." He said, not smiling this time, but just looking from one to the other.
"How does that make any sense?" Jaune said in a voice that made Loki think he was truly interested in the argument.
"All humans lie, in some way or another, it's in your nature." He said "And you can control it, can you control or trust a storm?" he said.
Weiss and Jaune looked back and forth at each other. "That…that's not right…" Jaune muttered.
"Is it? Light, dark, storms, death, life, fate, fire, nature all beyond your control." He said, keeping his face serious "Even the other gods of more mundane things, you can't truly control, but you can choose to lie, or tell the truth." He said, pushing the full power of his semblance onto them.
Had he just been saying these things with none of the power he was currently exerting, he doubted it would have had any effect what so ever. Even with his semblance, had it been anyone else in the group it still probably wouldn't have worked. But these two had enough doubts in their heads he'd managed to weasel in enough to get some influence over them.
Now they both looked confused and distressed, which was good, it would make them more vulnerable.
They looked at him and approached him. He smiled at them, but it was wiped off his face as Jaune shoved a piece of cloth into Loki's mouth and tying another rag around his mouth putting the gag back on him.
Jaune finished tying the rag and walked away from Loki. Thor had been right, he was a troublemaker and he was tired of hearing him talk.
"I'm hungry." He finally said, realizing the evenings meal had been cut short bit Thor's little family spat. "Want me to order a pizza?" he said looking at Weiss.
She looked a bit taken aback at this, before realizing she hadn't eaten either. "Sure." She mumbled.
Jaune pulled out his scroll and dialed the number "What do you want on it?" he asked.
"Whatever you want." She mumbled.
He didn't press her and just ordered a standard pepperoni pizza.
It arrived half an hour later, and they started eating. Jaune looked at Loki, remembering he hadn't eaten anything either, and wondered if he should offer him anything. He squashed the idea because he didn't want to feed him or untie one hand for him. And he liked him gagged.
"What is wrong with me?" He heard Weiss say.
"What are you talking about?" he asked genuinely confused.
"I have terrible taste in men." She muttered.
"Weiss, he's the god of lie's I think you can cut yourself some slack." He said, trying to smile a bit.
"It's not just him, Neptune wouldn't ask me out until someone pushed him to do it, then I never saw him again. Before I went to Beacon, I had a string of 'boyfriends', who I thought liked me, but were just after my family name." she sighed. "Then I learned the wrong lesson from that, and thought that was every boy."
Jaune remembered when he pursued her relentlessly back at Beacon. He didn't know how to feel about what she was saying. She hadn't given him the time of day, but now she was saying she had bad decision-making skills in the area. Maybe he should feel better about that.
"I need a drink." She said standing up and going to the kitchen, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey Qrow kept on the counter.
"Uhh, should you be taking that?" He asked.
"I'll pay him back." She muttered, poring a very generous helping into a glass, then poured a second glass. She picked them up and handed Jaune one. "I'm not drinking alone."
She tilted her glass back and took a good portion of whiskey in one swallow.
Jaune went wide-eyed at this as she lowered the glass, seeing she drank about quarter of the whiskey.
"Drink!" she said in a much louder tone.
He did and it whiskey burned his throat on the way down, and he nearly threw up. He was astonished Weiss hadn't even flinched at her own portion that was much more whiskey.
They went back to the couch as sat down, pretty much ignoring Loki as he watched them.
"You know, you're the only guy who ever tried to get my attention that was probably worth a damn." Weiss muttered.
Jaune was feeling the buzz of the whiskey, and Weiss had drunk more than him and was much smaller. He suspected she was feeling the effects, and much stronger than he was. She took another swig and he followed suit. This one went down easier.
"But I just blew you off, because I just assumed that you were like those other boys." She leaned her head on his shoulder and now he was feeling very uncomfortable.
"Uh, Weiss what are you doing." He asked her as she downed the rest of her drink. "That can't be good." He muttered.
The camp came into sight of the Bullheads, although it was hard to tell, as there were no light visible and the sun was going down.
"We hit them as hard and fast as we can." Qrow said to them. "Remember your rolls."
With that, they all deployed onto the ground outside the camp and rushed in.
It only took a couple moments to realize something was wrong with the camp. There was damage to the walls and most of the tents were either in tatters or blown away, only the largest one still stood.
But there wasn't a sign of anyone nearby.
"What happened here?" Nora asked as the hunters and soldiers entered and examined the camp.
"An attack." Thor said looking at the ground. He knelt down and examined something "Look." He pointed at the ground and a large hoof print was in the dirt.
As they all looked around, they were countless of the prints in the failing light.
"Wendo." Yang muttered, and Ruby deployed her scythe.
"These are old." Thor said, "Whatever happened here happened some time ago."
"That's why there are no bodies." Ren said, knowing what the Wendo had done when they raided camps or towns.
"How long ago was this attack?" Qrow asked Thor.
"Can't say for sure." He said standing up." But it had to be before the attack on Mistral." He said, "There weren't enough of them left after than to assault this camp."
"You think that's why they stole the relic? To make up the power difference?" Ruby posed.
"We didn't take it." A ragged voice called from the direction of the largest standing tent. Everyone present turned to see a woman limping out of the tent.
Only Qrow truly recognized while Ruby and Yang knew her from a photograph.
"Raven, what happened here." Qrow asked his sister as she limped towards the group.
"Those Grimm came, 'Wendo' I think you call them." She said, her voice haggard. "They had White Fang with them, and one guy, he was really strong, bulldozed over us." She said finally sitting on the ground, Thor noticed she clenched her side, and thought he saw dirty looking bandage on it.
"The Spring Maiden couldn't drive them off?" Ruby asked butting in.
"Didn't get a chance, she was gone when it happened, good luck in that regard I guess." Raven said and started coughing. "I'm guessing she's in the wind now."
"So, you didn't steal the relic?" Qrow said, going down to one knew to talk to his sister at eye level, and he noticed her eyes were bloodshot and she was much paler than normal. She looked sick.
"No." she just said and coughed again. Qrow caught the sight of her blood.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"One of the bastard got me, but I got away with my semblance. I came back and everyone was gone. Any of the others who were out didn't come back, I've been here on my own since."
Qrow could smell the infection, his sister was dying because she didn't come to him or any of her family for help.
"We're getting you some help." He said picking her up. She struggled weakly, but he loaded her onto a bullhead. "You kids." He shouted then added "and Thor, go with her back to Mistral, we're going to sweep the camp and follow you back."
There was little to no protest, Yang the one most likely to make an issue out of it would want to stay with her mother.
They all climbed aboard and the Bullhead took off.
"You believe her?" Thor asked Yang over the roar of the engines.
"I mean, not really." She said "Who else could have taken it? I think Qrow thinks the same thing, that's why they're searching the camp."
"Well it's not there." Thor said as he looked the now unconscious Raven "I couldn't sense it, if it was there, I think the White Fang took it."
"That's a whole other can of worms." Yang sighed." But can you really sense if from that far away?"
Thor patted his axe "I can feel the remains of this one from nine blocks away when I'm concentrating on it, and this one has lost most it's power, it's not in the camp."
"So, you can feel them?" Yang asked, "From that far away?"
"If I'm concentrating on it, otherwise I'll only feel it if I touch it. It's like looking for one of the hidden images, I have to actively be trying to locate it."
They sat in silence for the rest of the trip as the Bullhead flew towards Mistral and the Hospital.
Loki watched as the two teenagers…well he wouldn't say fight, but sort of rolled around on the couch. Weiss was being very aggressive, she clearly couldn't handle her drink. His semblance worked better on intoxicated people but he wasn't responsible for this.
This was a true train wreck as he tried to kiss Jaune, and all the proof he needed to confirm in his mind humans didn't need him to ruin their lives.
Jaune was in a relationship with Weiss's partner, Ruby Rose. He'd also heard Weiss talking about her life to Jaune.
She clearly was having a hard time handle the harder Whiskey, and had drunk much more than she should have and now she was making a fool of herself.
He felt a twinge in his stomach at this. She was so refined under normal circumstances, now she was acting like bar trash.
"Weiss stop!" Jaune eventually said and threw her off to the side of him onto the couch.
She slumped onto the couch and looked dejected. "Whatss wrong?" she mumbled.
"I'm with Ruby Weiss and even if I wasn't." He said, and Loki thought he heard some anger in his voice "I wouldn't go out with you."
Weiss went wide-eyed and her jaw dropped open and thumped on her chest. "But you…were obsessed with meee." She mumbled.
"Yeah I was." He said, much louder than was necessary, he was feeling the effects of the alcohol as well. "But you shot me down all the time and weren't really all that gentle about." He said in a quieter tone. "I guy can only take so much before he moves on."
Loki watched with interest, learning more exploitable weaknesses from these two. What was even better, he figured Ruby was jealous of her partner from her little exhibition before the rest of them left, now he had some truth to bring out.
The best lies were mostly true.
They continued to keep going back and forth, but they were fading out, Weiss was. Before long she'd passed out on the couch, and Jaune hadn't realized it. It took him five minutes to realize it, and he took her shoes off and put a blanket over her.
Her turned to look at Loki and walked over, and slight stagger in his step. He yanked the rag off and pulled the gag out.
"You don't tell anyone what she did." He said, pointing a finger at his face.
"My dear friend." Loki said smiling "Who would believe a word I said?"
Jaune seemed to consider this, and nodded. He walked over to couch and sat down and just looked at Loki.
"You want to talk about it?" Loki asked, putting on his most genuine face.
"Why would I talk to you?" Jaune said defensively.
"Because no matter what you tell me, even if I repeated it, no one would believe me."
Loki looked Jaune in the eyes and eventually Jaune said and said "Alright."
Loki smirked at catching the boy in his snare.
AN: Please Review.