Beta read by: SecretlySilentlyEvil

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Mato had been in the new world for a few weeks, and while she was still dismal with the written language she could, at the very least, hold short conversations. The town the men took her to was called 'Menagerie' and it was populated almost exclusively by 'Faunus.' The world was called 'Remnant,' and while there are humans on this world, apparently the tiny fangs she now possesses are enough for locals to assume she is one of the faunus. She was fairly certain she was something else altogether, but considering she wasn't sure how to begin to explain it to someone else, she was more than willing to just let the assumption stand.

The first few days after she arrived, she stayed with Marco and his wife. Even after a few others showed up to take her to her own little building, where the basics were provided for her. She knew this was some kind of special treatment, but—considering her communication skills are abysmal—she couldn't find out why until she learned enough to ask Marco.

Before that, though, she had already worked out that when she left her provided home, there were people following her.

Well, she says she worked it out, but really it was Black Rock, Her Otherself. Black Rock noticed while she wandered around the town market and spoke a single worded warning. Mato could tell her reflection was already preparing to take control at any moment again. The only time they ever seemed to leave her alone was when Marco came by for language lessons. A few others tried to teach her, but really it was hard to focus on what people are saying when Black Rock was tense around so many strangers. Thankfully, she seemed willing to give the rabbit eared man some form a leeway.

Again thankfully, they seemed to pick up on this. Marco started to stop by more often, frequently bringing along his daughter, an eight year old girl named Velvet, who shared his prominent ears and brown hair. She was shy at first, but friendly as she started to warm up to Mato, frequently giggling when Kuroi found herself struggling with a word and often it was the younger girl who would correct her before Marco even got the chance. The little girl enjoyed taking pictures of everyone and everything. Mato had a suspicion that Velvet was taking her picture any time she wasn't paying attention, but had yet to catch the girl in the act.

She wasn't sure what her stalkers would do if she were to try and leave the town. While tempted though she was to try and find out, she knew regardless that leaving at the moment would be a poor decision. After all, she had a poor grasp on the language, no idea at all how to survive on her own, couldn't read or write anything people would be able to read, she had no currency and no way to acquire any, and no idea where she is in relation to the rest of the world. For all she knew right now, this world might only have a single continent.

"What do you think Black Rock? Should we try to leave and see if they stop us?" Mato pondered aloud as she guided their body through town. They stopped at the top of the steps near the docks, she moved off to the side and sat staring out over the rest of the town. She sighed when Black Rock failed to respond, opting instead to look upwards and watch as the overcast clouds shifted above her.

"I hope it rains soon. It's pretty hot here. At least they gave us some new clothes. Only having one pair would have gotten pretty gross." Mato continued. She knew Black Rock is listening even if the reflection doesn't respond. Though she couldn't tell how she knew, it was like… having a friend looking over your shoulder to read a book with you.

'Restricting,' came the soft voice in her mind in reply that brought a smile to her face.

"Not nearly as revealing though! It's kind of embarrassing when people stare, even if it is comfortable." Mato offered in reply as her eyes moved towards the biggest building in the town. She'd seen the family there a few times and they seemed nice. Well, as nice as one can seem from a distance. The guards around the place kept most people from getting too close. and the family left shortly after Mato arrived herself.

Mato looked down at her hands, and after a moment a bright blue light shined in it before the pistol she named 'Seven-Shots' appeared in one of them. It was the same Black Rock called up when Marco and his men had seen their shared blood the day she arrived. It didn't have the power her cannon does, but it was small, she could make it faster, and it wasn't anything to scoff at either.

'Guard,' Black Rock helpfully informed her. Mato pulled her attention away from the pistol in her hands to glance in the direction of one of the armed men she occasionally spotted following her. He watched her warily and stood closer than he usually did, one hand on the gun at his waist. She watched him in return for a long moment, waiting for him to do something, before she returned her attention to the gun in her hand.

"Hey Black Rock, can you teach me to fight? I don't want to make you do everything for me anymore…" Mato asked aloud, not bothering to keep her voice down as she knew no one here spoke her language anyway.

Slowly, she felt Black Rock take control and she let her Otherself have it, watching as Black Rock looked around the town, before lifting the hand not holding Seven-Shots to point to the area behind the large manor she was looking at before, where there didn't seem to be any homes and a few scattered trees.

An understanding passed between them as Mato waited for control to be handed back, before letting go of the pistol—ignoring how it dissolved into the blue energy it was created from. She started down the steps and toward the area behind it.

A few hours later, though, and she was forced to admit that she hadn't put much thought into what she expected when she asked Black Rock to train her. Perhaps she should have known her taciturn reflection wouldn't have spent the time to tell her what to do. What ended up happening, they spent the next few hours switching control and made weapons, from the Black Blade to a pair of claws. Black Rock first attacked an invisible opponent, then gave control back to the human so she could try and repeat the motions.

Try because… she wasn't very good at it. She was quick enough, but the movements were clumsy and not nearly as smooth in transition. Not to mention how self conscious she felt with her session being watched through the narrowed eyes of the same town guard that followed her from the steps.

A man who only became more nervous as they moved onto target practice.

In the end, Mato walked back to her hut, figuring she would have to work on her skills more the next day. With a small smile and a wave to today's stalker, she entered the relative privacy of her living space and nearly bowled over the excited eight year old inside, whom held up a new camera and talked far too quickly for Mato to even begin to understand anything said to her.

Praise the heavens for context clues. With a smile, Mato lowered herself and held out her hand. When the camera was placed in it she turned it over a few times before grinning as she handed it back and nodding. An action that seemed to be correct, as Velvet grinned back, showing where one of her baby teeth had fallen out, before rushing past Mato and out of the hut again. That's when the stranger to Remnant noticed the father who began chuckling audibly.

"Sorry," he stated. It was one of the words she actually understood, and she waved it away with a grin. She glanced back at the entrance to her hut before looking at the food he brought with him. This was another common theme she had grown used to. Throughout the day, Marco or his wife would bring her food, but it was always Marco in the evenings and mornings, when he would try to teach her a little more of the native language.

It was perhaps an hour after Mato fell asleep that night, when ringed blue eyes reopened and the body sat up looking at its hands. It climbed out of the bed and changed into the more familiar outfit Black Rock had worn for years. Dressed in a way she was more comfortable, she pulled the hood over her head and walked outside before jumping onto the roof of the hut.

Her human was unconscious and unaware at the moment that Black Rock didn't sleep. Her entire existence was created as a reflection of Mato's very soul. Black Rock's entire purpose for being was to protect Mato in anyway she could. When they were seperated between Mato's world and the world the Otherselves inhabited, that meant safeguarding her human's emotions… but now?

Black Rock tilted her head back to stare up at the sky. One leg drew upwards in a pose she adopted frequently back in 'her' section of the mirror world. A place at the very edge of a giant cannon that was paradoxical in that the cannon was ancient when it first formed in that world.

Now her human wanted to learn to protect herself.

Black Rocks eyes locked onto the sight of the shattered moon overhead, and she gazed at it for a long time. Words were never needed before in the mirror world. The Otherselves knew their place and their task; they fought tooth and nail for their beloved humans—the girls whose emotions they guarded so fiercely.

In the end, she was the last left standing, and Black Rock simply wanted to continue doing the only thing that gave her life meaning. After all, the only one to ever distract her from her task was now long gone, and her human far from reach.

Halfway across the world, in a tower filled with shifting gears, a man with grey hair stood, his hands folded over the top of a cane as he stared out over the city of Vale. His eyes were unfocused behind his small framed sunglasses. He was a man whose life could be told in centuries of failure and regret against a foe who always seemed to have one last trick up her sleeve. Any time he seemed to best her, she would slip away more or less unscathed. The people would cheer for their heros who rescued them, while mourning those that didn't make it. Another temporary victory built upon a mountain of regret.

One thing he did not regret, however, was building the academies. They trained warriors to push back the Grimm and bring hope to the world everywhere they went. The schools served a double purpose in helping him protect the artifacts, certainly, but in the end that goal was secondary when weighed against protecting the people. After all, what was the point in protecting a world overrun with monsters?

It was along this vein that his mind ran currently as he pondered his current problem. Trouble was building again in Remnant and he knew the signs, knew what to look for and knew that by this point he was being watched carefully. His people would be probed for weakness, spies would be looking for the maidens and then the manipulations would start. Ozpin had a small window over the next few years to tighten the defenses and ensure he and his allies were ready.

Unfortunately, the defense of Beacon was not something he could leave to another. Vale was at the center of Remnant, and that made it far too tempting a target should he ever be too far away to protect it. This meant that he was forced to rely on others to act in his stead. Something that until recently, Qrow and Raven had been quite adept at. After Raven left, it was down to Qrow and while the man was very talented, he could not be everywhere at all times.

As much as he didn't want to have to do it, he would need to ask a favor of yet another member of team STRQ. With a sigh he turned around and gazed at the face of the black haired teenager his monitor displayed. Blue ringed eyes gazed back with an awkward smile on her youthful face.

He had no idea how she would change things in the future. She could be a player that tipped the scales, or an innocent with an odd semblance about to be dragged into something far larger than she should be. But if the report was accurate, the later was rather unlikely. With one last look, his hand reached out and…

… the image closed. Salem closed her eyes to contemplate the information Watts had managed to intercept. She had no doubt that even now Ozpin was reacting to the information and incorporating this unexpected person into whatever plan he had to defend against her latest schemes.

Not that it would do him any good, already her plans were coming together. A few more pieces in place, and she would be able to move forward to the next step. The world was doing a lot of the work for her, with the increased tension between humans and faunus that rose dramatically as the faunus wage a this-far passive campaign that could turn into violent insurrection any day. All it would take was for the foolish humans to either continue to ignore the issues being brought forward by the white fang, or for one stupid bigot to do something truly idiotic to light a fuse. So, Salem sat within her citadel, weaving her web carefully so that when it did, she would be able to start benefiting from it. Even if only indirectly at first.

With that thought, her mind turned back towards the girl who seemed to appear out of nowhere with an eye of blue fire. If Salem weren't sure that none of the maidens were in Menagerie, then she would be tempted to believe something had happened to one of them. As she did have information pointing to hints of their whereabouts, that meant this girl was something else entirely. She could be a good tool to speed along Salem's plans if approached soon and approached correctly.

In the end, sending anyone after the girl was a risk. To much was unknown about her beyond the abnormalities she displayed thus far. So the question was if she was willing to let Ozpin have the girl, waste his own resources to recover her and risk him getting his hands on a powerful piece? Or, to divert some of her own people towards taking the girl and possibly get a useful weapon in her little shadow war. She pondered her options for only a short time longer before turning and walking into a room containing one of her Seers. With her hands clasped behind her back she spoke with an air of absolute authority.

"Hazel, I have a job for you. A recruitment run for a girl who seems to have come out of nowhere on Menagerie. You'll have to be quick, I suspect Ozpin is already on the move. Bring Tyrian along just in case." Orders given, Salem left the room. She had a protege to train, after all.

The unearthly wail of her scroll was the first thing that she noticed when the damned thing pulled her from a very comfortable sleep. The second thing she noticed was the arm tightening around her waist as Tai pulled her closer grumbling with as much joy in his voice as she currently felt.

Meaning none at all.

"Ignore it, they can wait until the sun is up." He growls and she can feel him behind her tugging his pillow over his head to try and block out the sound. Knowing him, Summer could believe he would actually be able to fall asleep in that position. Then she realized exactly what tone was playing on her scroll and let out a little whine because as much as she would like to, she couldn't just ignore this call. Something important was happening.

"I can't just Ignore it Tai, it's Ozpin. Let me see what he wants first." Reluctantly, the hold on her waist lessened and Summer was able to roll closer to her night stand and grab the scroll that rung loudly and vibrated against the wood. She didn't even look at the infernal machine as she pulled it free from it's charger and opened it, dragging the speaker to her ear.

"Ozpin, I don't know what time it is, but I do know it is in no way a reasonable hour. What do you want?" she asked her hand reaching back to swat away one of Tai's as her husband decides to amuse himself while she's on her scroll.

"Ah, Mrs. Rose. I'm glad I was able to get hold of you. I'll get right to the point, I need your help," came the cultured tone without a hint of the weariness Summer herself currently felt which only served to make her grimace.

Did the man never sleep?

"With? And why aren't you asking Qrow?" She responded, swatting another adventurous hand before rolling back over and narrowing her eyes at Tai, her finger lifted to point in his face as a warning to behave himself. As much as she might be unhappy with the circumstances, she knew Ozpin wouldn't be calling at this time of the night if it weren't important.

"Qrow has his hands full at the moment, and you're the closest person I have on hand to deal with this. I can't say too much like this, but I'm sending a Bullhead to pick you up. There's a girl of some interest in Menagerie that I need you to meet with, talk to, and offer to escort back here to Beacon. All the information on her is waiting in the airship." Ozpin explains to Summers increased surprise.

"How important is this girl Ozpin? This kind of last second planning isn't like you at all." Summer replies, already pulling herself upright to sit on the edge of the bed.

"To be perfectly honest, I do not know. She might be utterly irrelevant, or she might change everything. If it's the former than the worst that happens is I pay you well for wasting your time. If it's the latter… then time is of the essence Mrs. Rose. I would ask Glynda, but she is conferring with James in Atlas," he said and she could feel the urgency in him. Ozpin was not the type to push someone into doing something. Usually, he was the one who would tell you what he needed you to do and take a moment to explain why you should. Even if the answer was simply that he told you too.

"Alright, okay. Give me a few hours and I'll be there," she caved and smiled apologetically at her husband.

"Thank you Summer, and I'm sorry for pulling you away from your family." He replied before the call ended and Summer closed her scroll with a long sigh, before turning to give Tai a weak smile.

"Never a dull moment for us is there?"

"If there was, we would get bored. What's going on?" Tai asked as he finally sat up himself. Summer got out of bed and started to dress in her hunting gear.

"Oh nothing big, but apparently very important. There's a girl in Menagerie Ozpin wants me to bring to Beacon. 'Could be nothing... could be something… why take the risk' kind of deal. It's got him a bit nervous, though, so I'm just telling the girls that I got a mission to clear out some Grimm. No need to get them worried," she added, pulling on her boots up before she knelt on the mattress to give her husband a kiss.

"I love you Tai, go back to sleep. I'm just going to check on the girls before I leave."

She didn't even get past the door before he started to snore. She could barely keep her amusement contained, as she shut the door behind her. A few steps later, she opened the door to look in at her daughters. Both sleeping peacefully as she quietly entered and looked over them. Yang would be needing her own room soon, a space for herself as she grows older. Not that Ruby would leave her older sister alone. Those two were practically inseparable.

Summer approached Ruby first, and gently fixed the blankets that had fallen in the night, before she pressed a kiss to her five year old's forehead and moved to Yang to do that same. Apparently she needed to work on her stealth because a light peck and some moving around was all that was needed to wake up her five year old.

"Mommy?" The question in her words was obvious and whispered as the little girl noticed Yang still asleep. Still, she had thrown off her covers and looked to be getting ready to climb out of the bed entirely.

"Yes sweetheart, it's me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up Ruby. Mommy's just going to go on a mission. I wanted to see my precious babies before I left. Now make sure you be good for your dad while I'm gone, okay?" Summer offers the bleary eyed girl struggling to remain awake even as Summer guided her back under the covers.

"But mommy, we were supposed to go into town tomorrow." Ruby whined and Summer felt a small pain in her chest in response. Ruby had been looking forward to that trip, they all had really. It was supposed to include a tour of Signal, where Tai was currently teaching and Summer had planned to stop by an ice cream parlor. The whole day was supposed to be something special for her and her girls.

Instead she would be spending her day flying off to a desert island in order to play bodyguard.

"I know sweetheart, but someone needs your mommy to fight the monsters and keep them safe. Out there is a little girl, just like you, who needs someone like me to keep them safe. Lucky, you two have two monster slaying parents. Some don't have any. But don't worry, I'll make it up to you when I get back." She offered with a warm smile as the five year old started to lose the battle to stay awake.

"Can we bake cookies?" the little girl asked with the subtlety of a brick through a window, which drew a soft laugh from Summer. She leaned down to kiss Ruby's head once more.

"Sure thing, Ruby. when I come back, me and you will bake some cookies together. Just be patient and I'll be back before you know it," Summer promised, gently brushing Ruby's hair from her forehead before she stood up and gently closed the door.

It isn't until she's outside that she spared a glance back at the house, and her family sleeping within, that she lifted up her hood and afterward headed toward the town, and the start of her next mission.

"The life of a Huntress never ends, until it does," she commented to herself with a sigh as she gazes down the long road to Patch, weapon strapped to her side and her eyes wary of the sides of the road for any Grimm that might be wandering too close.

AN: Okay, so I know I haven't updated this in a long time. I don't abandon my stories but I looked away from this to focus on finishing Whiskey Rose and getting Jewels in the Rough to a good pausing point. I succeeded and for those of you readers who follow my other stories you're aware that I've also recently updated Heart of Canis and HDC recently. I can't help but thank all of you for sticking out the wait. I know how frustrating and disheartening it can be.

I appreciate everyone who takes the time to even read my work let alone favorite or follow it. But people who leave a review, even just to tell me they liked the story, always have a special place with me so I would like to take the time to thank Mx2432, SecretlySilentlyEvil, Shaded122, akiranakamuranura, Henry the 6426, MoSBanapple, UnkownSoul, Cy Man, Blackmill321, Guest #1, Mazamba, Guest #2, The Prime Cronos, and Crescent Sunrise Your support is always appreciated.