The Unseen World

Interlude: All Around Remnant

October 31st, 3:24 PM

The man shuffled nervously in place, beads of sweat trickling down his face like rain. He had to stop himself from clenching his hand lest the important documents he held within them become crumpled and crinkled. The cold Atlas wind penetrated through the hard steel interior of the office, a freezing chill that was not felt through the raging fear he felt.

Terror and anxiety gripped him as he pointedly avoided meeting the eyes of the woman sitting across from him, even as he felt her eyes piercing into his soul. Her expression was neutral but the glint of rage and anger in her eyes was enough to send lesser men running for their lives, something this man had to consciously stop himself from doing, lest he attracted her wrath even more so than he already had.

He had very ample reason to tremble with fright, no one would envy being in his position and many would understand his predicament. There were very few things more terrifying than delivering bad news to Winter Schnee. Especially when said news involved her younger sister.

"Let me see if I understand this correctly." Winter began, azure eyes boring holes into the very depths of his soul. "Not only have you failed to locate my sister, you are now saying that you can't even be certain as to where her last known location was, is that correct?" Her voice was low and neutral, the same one she always used, with no emotion or passion to it.

The man pulled the collar away from his neck in a futile attempt to stem the flood of sweat pouring down upon him. "Y-yes ma'am. We are certain that she was with her father throughout the day of her disappearance," Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and that, no matter how small, forced the words to come stumbling out of his mouth in a hurry. "B-but we have c-conflicting reports as to when she was last seen." Gesturing to the papers with a tilted head and trembling jaw. "W-we have to separate rumors and h-hearsay from fact, not to mention p-people calling in with false locations just to get the r-reward money." Swallowing thickly, he focused his eyes on the hastily written report littered with crinkles from his tight grip. "I'm c-certain that with just a bit more ti-"

"Time?" Winter's voice sliced through his stammering speech and the man made the mistake of looking up in surprise.

She was composed as always, a military officer with the discipline to match. But there was a slight trembling in her hands and a cold, hard look in her eyes. An ice-cold fury raged behind the mask of calmness.

He almost passed out from the sheer intensity of her arctic presence.

"My sister has been missing for six days." She started, her voice low, quiet, dangerous. "One hundred and forty-four hours. You have had more than enough time."

"We're doing all we can! Just a little mo-"

"Silence." The word spoken was soft, not at all forceful. But it was in the way she looked at him, the way her blue eyes pierced into his eye sockets like they were icicles. Winter quieted the stammering man and all he could do was sit there, ramrod stiff. "I don't want you, or any one of your ilk in my office until you have Weiss's precise location. And when you do find her, you come straight to me. Not my father, not the press, me." Her hands settled in front of her, cupped, but there was no mistaking the unspoken intent there if he were to not deliver. "Am I understood?!"

"Y-Yes, Ms. Schnee" The man managed to force out.

"Then why are you still here?!" Winter all but screamed, sending the panicked official into a hasty retreat.

Once the office door closed, Winter allowed herself to slump into her chair, exhausted. "I should not have lost my temper." She thought to herself bitterly. She felt fatigued, frustrated; her head felt heavy and she couldn't remember the last time she slept.

"Weiss, where are you?" She thought in a mixture of trepidation and distress, her little sister had vanished off the face of Remnant and each day no leads or information were found, it was enough to drive her ma-

Her scroll rang.

She nearly fainted when she saw the number.

It rang again and her senses returned. She scrambled to pick it up, nearly dropping it in the process.

"Hello, Winter, I need a favor," Her sister's voice came out, smooth and collected before the older Schnee could even utter a single sentence. The tone she used felt as if she hadn't been missing this whole time, like she was in the mansion on the other side of Atlas like nothing was wrong.

"Weiss!" She didn't scream, Schnees, and a military Schnee at that, did not scream. But it was something close. "Where are you?!" She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, her hands shaking with relief and adrenaline."Are you ok?! Stay where you are, I'll come ge-"

"Winter." Her sister's voice cut through like a knife and she blinked at the rather abrupt and seemingly curt way she did that to her. "Please listen to me. I need you to transfer my Lien out of my bank accounts. You know the account details, correct?"

"What…?" Winter couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Weiss, what are you saying?" Shaking her head, she tried to get her thoughts in order from least important to most. "Nevermind that." She was already sifting through her drawers to see if she could find access to a Bullhead and also Ironwood for an armed escort or even rescue. "Did you get involved with something? I can help you!"

"Winter…I…it's complicated," The older woman's jaw opened slightly, stunned by the words that were leaving her previously missing sister. "But I can't come home. Not yet."

"What do you mean?!" Winter whispered, indignant. She started pacing around her office, anger and anxiety pooling together in the pit of her stomach, wanting to pull at her hair in her confusion. "What do you mean you can't come home?! Do you know how worried I've been?!"

"Winter, lis-"

"No! You listen!" Winter's relief at her sister's voice had turned to fury. "You vanished for nearly a week, nobody knew where you've been, you hadn't called, even though you clearly could, and when you finally did call, all you did was ask me to move your money around?!" Winter grabbed onto the edge of a nearby table to steady herself, the pounding in her head having redoubled. "I thought the worst had happened to you…" She leaned even more heavily on the table, a shuddering breath escaping past her lips. "I thought you were…"

There was silence on the other end, and she could all but hear Weiss debating with herself how to answer.

"I'm sorry…" Weiss finally said and for the first time since the call started, her foolish sister finally dropped the act and let out a warbly sound that oddly sounded like a concealed sob. "I really am sorry, Winter." The older woman's heart clenched tightly in her chest and it took her putting her hand over it to calm it down as her vision became somewhat blurry. "Something did happen to me, I guess you could say, but… I can't tell you. If I did, then you'd be in danger."

And just like that, Winter's fury was replaced with pitch-black fear. In an instant, a thousand possibilities rushed through her head. The Schnees had far too many enemies: The White Fang, rival corporations, environmentalists, just to name a few. Any one of those would kill to get their hands on a Schnee, especially an heiress.

"Who?!" Winter's fury reignited, though this time it was not directed at her sister. "Who's threatening you?"

"It's not like that, sister."

Winter wasn't convinced, however. "Don't lie to me, Weiss, the only reason you'd be acting like this is if-"

"Winter, please." Weiss's voice took on a pleading tone, one that she knew all too well. One that gave her pause because Weiss seldom used it unless she was serious. "I promise you, one day I will explain all of this. Until then, please trust me."

Winter felt her resistance begin to crumble and made an effort to strengthen it, she would bring her little sister home. She couldn't fall for it this time. No matter how serious her little sister was. She needed her. She needed to see her. "Weiss, I don't know what's going on or who's after you, but I promise I can protect you." She tried to bargain, but it came out more like a desperate plea than anything. "Tell me where you are, I'll speak to the general, I'll get an army sent there if I have to!"

"Winter…you know you can't do that. Please, just trust me on this." Weiss's voice was small, almost pitiful. It was the voice of her younger sibling, the one that ran to her whenever Mother and Father were arguing, the one that begged for fairy tales and stories. Her little sister.

Winter didn't recall falling to the floor, but she was there, on her knees, leaning against the table for support.

She was so tired.

"Fine…" She heard herself say, her voice broken and thick with emotion. "Where do you want it?"

"Thank you, Winter." Weiss's voice became a bit more formal, yet the emotion was there if you knew to look for it. Wouldn't be much of an older sibling if she couldn't, though at this moment she hardly felt she could call herself that. "I'm setting up a burner account, I'll forward you the relevant details soon."

"Please be safe…" She muttered as the call ended.

Shaking, she stood up and took a moment to regain her composure. As angry and scared as she was for her sister, the fact that Weiss was safe took a metaphorical weight off her sort of. She was still worried for her little sister and what could be after her for her to not be able to come home. But… She supposed she had to trust her to look after herself. No matter how much Winter herself wanted to find her and force her back kicking and screaming. She couldn't though… But oh she so desperately wanted to.

She was still on the floor. Her eyes stared at the cold wooden floor with heavy eyelids and a body that seemed to get heavier and heavier by the second. Though, staying up for over 60 hours would do that to a person. She wanted nothing more than to call in a few days of paid leave and take that time to just sleep.

But not yet, she had things to do first.


October 29th, 11:31 PM

Emerald waved away the smoke that covered her eyes. It didn't truly bother her, working with a closeted pyromaniac for three years now made one used to fire and smoke, but it was still annoying to deal with. Ash and rubble covered what had once been a bustling building, half-melted metal, and scorched wood dotted the ruin like flowers. Shattered glass littered every step she took, and her Aura was the only thing stopping her from leaving bloody footprints. A doorway had collapsed, the wooden frame crumbling as the supports burnt away, forcing her to crouch under the shattered wood.

The worst part, however, was the smell. The stench of burnt corpses followed her everywhere she went. Some were half-melted, others half-decayed, some were nothing but bleached bones where fire had eaten away at everything else. It was a rotten, horrible sight, and the smell was the same.

Cinder always told her that she would get used to it, to the death, the stench, the legion of corpses. Perhaps she was right, she'd seen the ember-eyed woman kill in far more gruesome manners. One day, she kept telling herself, one day she'd be numb to it all.

But that day was evidently not today if the bile in her throat was any indication. Still, Cinder gave her a job to do, and her loyalty to the red-dressed woman outweighed any moral reservations she had.

Of course, sometimes the worst part wasn't the smell or smoke or pain.

"Sometimes…" She thought aggravated as she watched the silver-haired Mercury toss a skull into a ribcage, hooting like a little kid when it shattered. "Sometimes the worst part is him."

"Mercury!" She hissed. "Stop acting like a child and keep looking!"

With a swagger that only he could muster, Mercury turned around and gave an audacious grin, "Ah, Em, don't be like that. You gotta have some fun every now and then." He walked over to a half-burnt dresser and began rummaging through it.

"They wouldn't have kept the crown in a place like that," Emerald grumbled as she searched the floor, tapping her foot on the floor at various spots to check for trap doors.

"Who said I'm looking for the crown?" Mercury asked in a tone that made Emerald want to strangle him. A moment later he held up a gem-encrusted necklace and grinned, "Jackpot…"

"I don't understand why Cinder keeps you around," Emerald said angrily as she tossed useless junk after useless junk behind her.

"Because I bring more than blind loyalty and one-sided fantasies to the table," Mercury replied with an impudent smile, quicking dodging to avoid a book being thrown at him. "Whoa, Em, calm down!"

"Don't call me that!" She hissed. "Stop acting like we're friends. Just find the crown, that's all Cinder told us to do."

"Cinder told me this, Cinder told me that." Mercury said in a mockery of Emerald's voice, "Do you ever think for yourself? Besides, do you really think they kept the crown in a company headquarters?"

"That's why Cinder's checking the mansion herself," Emerald said with the tone of one talking to a child. "She told us to look for it here, so that's what we do." Her voice tightened with anger and frustration.

"And what's to say they even had the crown?" Mercury continued. "Maybe we've been chasing a wild goose this whole time."

Emerald stood up and fixed Mercury with a dumbfounded stare. "You really think Cinder would incinerate a group of vampires if she wasn't absolutely certain they had something she wanted? Do you really think she'd make such a public scene if she wasn't one hundred percent certain?"

"Yes," Mercury said casually. "See, unlike you, I'm not blind to how messed up she is."

"That's not…!" Emerald started, before deflating a bit. "I know Cinder is…cruel, and power-hungry. I'm not blind. But even still, I'm loyal to her. If she thinks the Blackshires had the crown, I have no choice but to believe her and look for it."

Mercury grinned. "Cause you love her."

Emerald felt her cheeks catch fire. "That's not…that isn't! It isn't like that!" When Mercury's grin grew bigger she stamped her feet. "That's not the case at all!"

Mercury just kept grinning impishly. "Really? Cause you'd do just about anything for her, wouldn't you? Listen to her every word, follow her every command, believe everything she says." He made kissy faces at her that only incensed the green-haired woman even further. "Sounds like love, doesn't it?"

Emerald glared at Mercury, crossing her arms over her chest. "You've got it all wrong. Cinder took me in, she saw value in me and gave me a purpose. She's the only person in the whole world who ever treated me with any sort of kindness. That's why I follow her." She turned away from him and resumed her searching, trying to forget the conversation that had just taken place.

For the first time, Mercury's smile faltered. "Cinder only cares about Cinder, don't forget that. She'll throw you away the moment it's convenient." A morose mood came over him as he, too, kept searching.

Cinder reminded him of someone he knew intimately. The man that raised him, taught him, gave him a reason to exist, made him feel useful and needed. Until suddenly he wasn't needed and left Mercury to die.

Cinder too, he knew, would discard him eventually. Him and Emerald, just like his father had done to him, the moment it suited her purposes.

"She doesn't understand." He thought bitterly. "Cinder will throw us under the bus without a second thought. What's the point of being loyal to a person like that?"

He worked with Cinder because she paid him. That was the extent of their relationship. Emerald on the other hand was Cinder's personal follower. He knew little about either of them, except that Emerald had been a street rat before joining Cinder and that Cinder had to be some sort of warlock. It was the only explanation for her pyrokinesis.

He wondered who Cinder worked for. If she was a warlock, it stood to reason that someone was pulling her strings, and by proxy Mercury's. He didn't really care, a job was a job and money was money, after all, but it couldn't hurt to know.

He would also love to know just what this crown was. Cinder hadn't said anything about it, just a description: An old bronze crown inlaid with diamond-shaped aquamarine gems. From what he figured, it had to be magical in some capacity, there was no way this woman was going through this much trouble just for a piece of jewelry.

Just as he started to consider saying something about all this, Emerald's scroll buzzed. Mercury watched, interested, as Emerald talked to what could only be Cinder. Her face morphed in expression, from surprise to anger, to shock, to fear, to understanding.

"Yes…I understand, we'll be right there." Emerald hung up the Scroll and turned to Mercury, "She called us back."

"Found the crown?" He asked though he was fairly certain she hadn't.

"No…someone got to it before us," Emerald said, and Mercury suddenly understood why Emerald had looked fearful. Cinder's wrath was a fearsome thing to behold. Of course, this also asked the question of who, exactly, had stolen the crown under Cinder's nose.

A sly smile formed on the assassin's face. "Well, better not keep her waiting,"


October 28th, 5:41 PM

Yang Xiao Long had to remember to stop wishing for things.

The day had started casually enough, even boring. The morning had been spent looking over finances, marking certain neighborhoods and businesses for her subordinates to take care of. The afternoon had been a bit more interesting, looking over maps tracking the movements of her rivals. Still, even that boiled down to little more than telling Grayson and Lillie to fortify their areas in case the Vipers or Rage tried anything and sending Bron to give a not-so-subtle warning to the leader of the Ice Snakes who were inching a bit too close to her territory for her liking.

Nobody had told her that running a Mistralian gang would involve so much paperwork. She longed for the early days when it was one fight after the other, taking territory the fast and brutal way. For as long as she could remember, Yang loved fighting, but the campaign she had waged a year ago: Conquering, killing, putting herself in charge, the memory of that brought with it a sheer rush that was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

Something stirred within her like it always did whenever she thought of these things. A distant, half-forgotten dream or memory. Like something was missing from her, someone missing. Someone who would have disapproved of this. Foggy, fractured memories were all she had: Ash, the stench of death, the color red, the feeling of days gone past, the buzz of the city, pavement cracking and breaking beneath her, a giant, sickly yellow reptilian eye staring at her.

And then it was all gone. The incessant feeling of something missing from her, the idea of some important memory stolen from her swallowed up by the fire coursing within her. It was like something coiling around her mind, her thoughts, blocking out her worries and pointing her back towards the present. Her thoughts turned to her subordinates, wondering which ones were plotting against her and which ones she could trust, wishing for something exciting to happen.

It was in the middle of her internal wishing for something, anything, exciting to happen that it happened. A scream sounded from outside followed by one of her guards being thrown through a window. Before Yang could react, the door to what counted as her office slammed open, her second guard being dragged against the wall, a hand on his throat.

"Well…" Yang drawled, narrowing her eyes. Getting up from her chair, she slowly circled the stranger, a girl that couldn't be older than her, with amber eyes and ebony hair with a bow in it. Already reaching for the fire within her, Yang could feel the heat start to emanate from herself, "You know how to make an entrance,"

"I needed your attention," The girl responded, dropping the man to the floor. Quick as a snake, a jet-black sword appeared in her hand.

"That's not a good thing to have," Yang responded, clenching her hands in anticipation, "So who sent you? 1st Street?" She gave her a once over, taking in every inch of the girl longer than what was necessary. "Daaaaammn. Daddy likes. A shame it's not under different circumstances." Nah they don't have the money to hire an assassin. Blackloc then?"

"I'm not affiliated with any of the organizations in this area." The woman responded flatly, her amber eyes laser-focused on Yang.

"Yeah? Well, then who do you work for?" Yang asked before her lips formed into a vicious grin. "Ah, who cares? I'll just find the answer on your body," The heat around her increased, and the smallest tinges of flames began to ignite off her body. "Assuming there's anything left of it."

"I'm not your enemy," The amber-eyed intruder said, taking a defensive position, but trying to also come off as nonthreatening as possible. "I'm here to request your assistance,"

"Really?" Yang asked mockingly, gesturing to the groaning man on the floor. "And I guess showing up and beating up my men is supposed to convince me? Timmy didn't deserve that ya know."

"It's…Tenné…" The man groaned weakly as if it's happened before.

"I needed to be taken seriously," Yang's opponent replied, both of them ignoring the guy on the ground. "I know how you people think, I needed you to know I'm not someone you can bully into submission."

"Well, you certainly have my attention, like you wanted." Yang winked before her lilac-colored eyes narrowed as she prepared for a fight. "So go ahead and make your pitch, quickly."

"Are you familiar with a gang known as Execution?" The girl who was not Yang's enemy, but had attacked her guards and had a sword ready, asked.

"I do, what of them?" They were a small-time gang operating out of some fishing warehouses on Mistral's coasts, nothing of particular interest.

"We would like them eliminated." The dark-haired girl said simply. "Their operations have been endangering a group of people we consider under our protection."

"What's in it for me?" Was Yang's first question, followed by "And who's 'we'?"

"We're prepared to compensate you for it." the girl answered, pointedly ignoring Yang's second question. "Heavily I might add."

"Do you think I'm a mercenary?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow at the hot but seemingly dumb woman. "I'm running a big outfit here, it's going to take a lot of money for me to consider this. And why would you come to me instead of a smaller, cheaper gang? It's not like Execution is particularly powerful." Pointing a finger at the girl, she brought up the unasked question once again. "And who is 'we'?!"

"I'm asking for your help because only someone like you can provide the help we need." The girl answered, again frustratingly dodging Yang's question.

Yang's impatience was reaching a boiling point. "Could you stop dancing around this and just say what you mean?! Stop with the vaguery!"

The girl smirked, the first bit of emotion Yang had seen in her since she arrived and all at her expense too. Oh that damned- "I'm asking your help because the people Execution is hurting are naiads."

Yang's eyes widened in shock and the flames died within her. Naiads, or water nymphs, were creatures that lived in lakes, rivers, oceans, or any large bodies of water. Resembling humans superficially, their skin was often a pale green or light blue and they rarely ventured above water.

"Naiads?" Yang asked, dumbfounded, "Then…?"

"We're asking you for help, not because of who you are, but because of what you are, warlock." The black-haired girl said.

The fire in Yang died completely, and a laugh bubbled out of her. "Well someone should give you a prize! You did your homework on me!" Taking a seat, a bit calmer but no less wary, Yang eyed the girl.

"I'll admit, I'm curious now. I'll do it." Yang propped her legs up on the table, grinning audaciously at the girl in front of her, who finally sheathed her weapon.

"Just tell me one thing, why do you care what happens to a bunch of naiads?" Yang asked, it was rare for people to even know they existed, let alone care about them.

"Forced to hide from the ignorance of the people, treated like they're not even people just because of what they are, hunted down by the ignorant just because they're different-" She spat the last word with venom, before looking up at Yang, her eyes burning with anger and pride, "It strikes a chord with us"

The bow twitched ever so slightly but was noticeable enough. The way it moved was unnatural, almost as if there were a…

And then it all clicked.

"You…" Yang almost choked on her words, "You're Fang!"

The girl looked up at her, there was tension in her body but she didn't make any hostile moves, "I am. Is that a problem?"

"No, not really. It's just…I thought the White Fang didn't work with humans." Yang responded. She didn't know a whole lot about the White Fang except for what the general public knew of them. Why they were interested in some water nymphs getting bullied by some small-time gang was something she'd certainly love to know but could wait.

"Usually not." The Faunus responded. "But this isn't a normal situation." Focusing once again on the woman before her, amber eyes seemed to be searching for something on the face of the blonde. What was it? Yang had some ideas. "Will you still do the job?"

The gang leader nodded her head. "Yeah, leave it to me. This 'compensation' better be worth it, though."

"It will be, I assure you," With that curt reply, the girl turned to leave, leaving as suddenly as she appeared. Inches away from the door, she stopped at Yang's final question.

"Just one more thing, who are you?"

Turning her head, the Faunus's amber eyes burned into Yang's. "My name is Blake." And with her business concluded, Blake turned and left, leaving Yang to contemplate her situation.

With a tired grin, she propped her feet back up on the table. "Well, I did sort of ask for it… Damn it."


As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback. A big thanks to PhonyManagka for being my beta reader on this.

PhonyMangaka: Daily reminder that Shine is easily one of the best (THE BEST if you ask me) songs in all of RWBY