Chapter 25: Oniyuri

"This is… disgusting, Troy," Melissa complained. Troy shushed her, looking up.

The pair was currently in the personal sewer system of the White Fang's biggest prison. Just like they had been for the past three hours. Troy, at present, was trying to determine what lay just above them. He had been searching for an unoccupied room that he might be able to teleport into. He hadn't had any luck yet, obviously.

But where they were now, he couldn't hear any noisy footsteps above them, any loud voices. He decided to take a chance, and motioned for Melissa to grab his hand. They vanished, reappearing right where they were, about five feet up, through solid stone and earth. Troy's gambit paid off, and they found themselves in some sort of corridor. They were completely silent, which allowed them to hear distant banging, something akin to metal struck by wood.

Troy motioned with to Melissa to follow him as he crept down the hallway. Now, more than ever, they needed to be undetected. If not… well, their goal was to free Diana, and they wouldn't very well be able to do that if the entirety of the compound was on high alert for intruders.

But it wouldn't be too difficult, Troy thought. After all, they both knew the plan, and they would be sticking together so that Troy could let them escape easily. The first step of the plan was finding the 'warden's' office, so to speak. Wherever they could find out where each prisoner was kept. After that, it would be a simple matter of heading to that cell, cutting the bars, and having Troy teleport them all as far away as possible.

Easier said than done, obviously. They knew nothing of the prison. No layouts, no maps, no patrol patterns. And they were two students.

Within the first four minutes, they had had two close calls with patrolling guards. Luckily, the walls were quite high, and Melissa came up with the unique solution of just crawling along the ceiling to avoid the watchful eyes of the Fang's guards. Luckily, given that it was the middle of the day, there seemed to be less patrols, and more watching the prisoners.

Soon enough, they found one of the cells blocks, and saw that all the cells were empty. Clearly, all the prisoners were being put to work, or were being fed, or something. However, that might have meant that the warden's office would be empty. They still needed to find it, however. Troy pointed down the block, towards a staircase. His reasoning was that the warden's office would most likely be close to a cell block.

And so, they followed said cell block all the way to the end, only for it to turn into another corridor. Troy looked to Melissa, who shrugged, and started down it. Troy followed his leader, looking behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. Melissa held her ear against a door, listening for noises on the other side. When she heard none, she pushed open the door slowly, peering inside. It was some kind of office, which was at least a step in the right direction. She entered, with Troy right behind her, careful to close the door silently.

She pointed at the filing cabinets on one side of the room, and whispered, "Check those. I'll get these." She gestured to the desk and the folders all over it. Troy tugged on a drawer, but found it locked. He glanced at the door, then, with a quick slash of his knife, broke the lock. It made a small clang sound, but he pulled it open instantly. He rifled through the labels, going from labels like Anima Camps to ones like Prisoner Arrivals. He checked that folder quickly, just to see if he could find Diana mentioned. There were a few mentions of prisoners from Sanus, but none that fit her description. Most likely because all the ones he checked were from within the last month, while Diana would have arrived almost three months ago.

He also checked Prisoner Departures, just on the off chance that he found her mentioned there. To his great dismay, he found a file labelled as 'The Rainbow One'. He pulled it out so quickly that Melissa drew her rifle from her back, before embarrassingly realizing that it was just him. He set it down on the desk, skimming through it for several moments. It definitely sounded like Diana. "This is bad, Melissa. It says she was sent out nearly three weeks ago."

"She… Three weeks… Where to?" Melissa asked. Troy read more of the report, and looked up with confusion.

"She was sent somewhere close to Mistral, but a little northwards of it. Maybe a town?" Troy answered. "But more specifically, it says that she was sent to some guy."

Melissa cocked her head, "Who?"

Suddenly, before Troy could answer, the door handle started rattling, and the pair stared at it in alarm. Troy gestured to Melissa, and she grabbed onto his hand. He gripped the papers tight, and vanished just as the door opened. A confused Faunus glanced around the room, seeing the open folders and cabinets all over. "What the hell?"

Troy and Melissa reappeared nearly two miles away, and Troy collapsed to the ground, exhausted from such a large jump. "Remind… me… to… never… do… that… again," he requested between breaths.

"That was too close, Troy."

Troy grinned at her, as if he was about to laugh, "Yeah, but… two students broke into the White Fang's most secure camp." He stood up, chuckling, holding onto a tree for support. They had found themselves in a rather dense forest, judging by the low amount of light breaking through the trees. "Alright… let's get away from here."

"Gotcha," Melissa agreed. "But, I have to ask, who was it that she was sent to?"

"Right," Troy replied, squinting at the papers to try and read them in the darkness of the forest. "I can't really make it out. I think…" He squinted harder, holding it right up to his face. "I can't tell. Do you have any fire Dust?" Melissa pulled her rifle off of her back, switching it to staff form. The end glowed a faint red, giving just enough light to read the paper.

"It says… I don't know who this is, honestly," Troy admitted.

"Some guy named Adam Taurus."

Instantly, the man extended bladed gauntlets, cackling wildly as he charged right at Ruby. Ren jumped in front of her, trying to surprise the man with an attack from the side. The man blocked it, then the kick that Ren tried to follow up with. Ren shot at him multiple times, only for him to deflect them with his blades. The man slashed down with his right gauntlet, but Ren just managed to catch it with his knife. The man kicked at him, but Ren ducked under it, only for the man to send him flying with a strike to the chest.

The man continued his charge at Ruby, blocking a single strike from her scythe before he kicked her in the chest, sending her sliding back several feet. He followed, slashing with both gauntlets, both attacks of which she barely managed to block.

Just as the man whipped around to kick her, a massive gale of wind slammed into him, sending him flying into the fountain in the middle of the plaza. He stood up, holding his head with a bored look on his face, "Oh, who came to ruin my fun?" He stared straight ahead, at the brazen figure who dared attack him.

A cloaked figure now stood between Ruby and the man, staring intently at him. The new arrival spoke, "Who are you? Why are you attacking these children?"

The clearly insane man cackled with delight, "Oh, oh this is good. This is GREAT!" He looked up at them, maniacal smile plastered across his face. "It's been so loooong since I've any real fun!" He charged at the man on the last word, much faster than before. Evidently, he hadn't felt the need to go full speed. Hell, he might have still be holding it back a bit.

But as it was, he was on the cloaked man in less than a second, slashing both gauntlets downwards in an X. The cloaked man caught his arms, then kneed him in the chest. The insane man put on a fake pout, "Oh, come on, play along, would you? It's so much more boring when you just do that."

The cloaked man glared at him. The insane person rolled his eyes, "Fine. I'll just kill you, then." Once more, he upped his speed, blitzing past the cloaked man with such speed that he didn't even have time to turn before a bladed gauntlet slashed him across the face, sending him flying into a building. He hit the supports right on the bottom, and the entire thing fell down on top of him. The insane man cackled with delight, "Down goes the valiant knight!"

Team RNJR had had the pleasure of watching their would-be savior be smashed through a building, and was rightfully a little taken aback. Jaune shook it off first, raising his shield towards the man, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Oh?" The man asked amusedly, like this was just a joke to him. "I simply come to whisk one of you away with me, to a faraway land of such delight!"

Jaune stepped back, "What do you mean?" Nora stepped up next to him, gripping her hammer tight. Ruby followed her. The man fixed his gaze on her.

"Oh, yes, I come for only one… the rest are expendable." Without another word, He charged for Jaune, who held his shield tight, even as the man's gauntlets raked against it. He slid back from the force of the attack, but the man was right behind him as soon as he stopped. He spun, planting his heel in the side of Jaune's head. With an awful cracking noise, Jaune flew into a pile of boxes next to the fountain.

"Jaune!" Nora called out, before raising her hammer high above her head. She jumped towards the man, slamming it down onto him, only for him to catch the shaft, and after staring at her with his unnerving grin for several seconds, threw her into the wall behind himself.

Suddenly, the building that had collapsed exploded outwards with a rush of wind, spreading debris all across the plaza. The cloaked man strode out, holding his hand against his stomach. Said hand was soaked with red, but the man walked as though he didn't even feel it. He wrenched a piece of wood of his abdomen, tossing it to the side. "Now I get it… your one of her's, aren't you?"

The insane man tilted his head to the side, "Who are you who knows of our glorious goddess?"

The cloaked man glared again, raising his arms to the man. From his open palms, a torrent of wind burst forth, slamming into the man. By the time the winds died down, the insane man stood in the same place, looking only a little worse for wear, "My, he gives a challenge! Who am I to refuse?"

He rushed towards the man again, only for a surprise arrival to slam him into the ground from above. Qrow leapt off the man, landing a distance away. Ruby noticed who it was first, "Uncle Qrow!"

"Hey, Kiddo," he replied.

"Wait… how are you here?" she asked, cocking her head. Before she got an answer, the insane man stood back up.

"These people and their insistence on dying…" he muttered, looking up at Qrow. "Oh, and if it isn't Ozpin's lackey!" Qrow glared at him. "Well, at least you can give me a challenge!"

Qrow raised an eyebrow, "Look, pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece alone."

The man cackled again, "Why, my name is Tyrian! And I'm afraid that's not possible… my assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl." He glared off to the side at the cloaked man, who was carefully watching him. "Unfortunately, some people desire to go against Her Majesty's wishes."

Qrow glanced at him, then his glare deepened into a frown, "What are you doing here? I thought you would've been at Beacon."

The cloaked man stepped forward, "Of course not. I have questions that I need answers to. And I'll only get them from one person."

"Ozpin told you to stay away," Qrow growled.

"And now he's dead, isn't he? Such a shame, for him."

"Not quite."

Tyrian cackled, drawing attention back to himself, "I think we've gone on long enough, don't you?" Without warning, he jumped forwards, throwing his cloak off and whipping around to slam a scorpion tail into Qrow. He caught it, gripping it tight and using it to throw Tyrian at the cloaked man, who slammed his fist into Tyrian's back, hard.

Tyrian wrapped his tail around the man's arm, using it as leverage to flip him over top of himself and slash at his chest with his gauntlets. The man bent backwards, ducking under the attack, while at the same time Qrow came up behind Tyrian, swiping at him with his blade. Tyrian spun, holding his gauntlets up to block. Just as he did, he raised his foot up, slamming it into the side of Qrow's head.

Qrow slid away, but stayed upright, holding his sword up towards the madman. Said madman swept his foot under the cloaked man's legs, setting off him balance. He took his chance to slam his elbow into him, smashing him into the ground. Qrow rushed forth, trying to take Tyrian off guard. His sword slammed, once again, into Tyrian's gauntlets, which sent out a shockwave from the force. Tyrian cackled again, firing his gauntlets at Qrow even as he held them against his sword. Qrow leapt back, while the cloaked man stood, clutching his abdomen.

Qrow called to him, "Look, I don't like you, but I'm willing to ignore that if you could actually help me fight this guy."

"Sorry if I'm a little out of practice after so long. Grimm don't exactly give much challenge." He dropped his robe, revealing a deep purple shirt and black pants, mostly covered by a tan robe, with sandals for shoes. His hair was a very dark black, and came down to about his shoulders. "But fine, I can at least put in a little effort."

Qrow shook his head, facing Tyrian once again, "It's two against one, pal. Give it up."

Tyrian laughed at his proposal, "It may as well be none against one. You two are like bickering children."

Qrow scowled, "Fine, have it your way!" He charged, slashing at Tyrian while the madman jumped backwards bit by bit, avoiding each slash. Finally, Tyrian's foot hit a piece of rubble, and he stumbled for just a moment, long enough for Qrow to slam his blade into him. Or rather, into his tail. Dust flew up from the impact, making a small cloud around them.

Qrow leapt back, just as the tail stabbed at the place where he had just stood. He landed next to the formerly cloaked man, still unidentified. Ruby ran up next to him, followed closely by Ren. Qrow glanced at her, "Ruby, stay back."

"No! I'm not going to just-" She was cut off when Tyrian flew from the cloud of dust kicked up from before, straight for her. Qrow jumped in front of her, holding his blade towards Tyrian. The scorpion Faunus pressed off the ground with his hand, flipping over Qrow. Before he had the chance to attack Ruby, a blast of wind launched him to the side. Qrow gave a nod of appreciation to his ally.

Tyrian stood, glaring, "You're beginning to annoy me. You stand in the way of the Queen's wishes."

"Funny, I can't seem to care," Qrow growled, brandishing his sword.

The still unidentified man stepped next to Qrow, "You really should have left when you had the chance."

Qrow shot towards Tyrian, faster than a bullet, holding his sword over his head. Tyrian held up his gauntlets to block, again, but Qrow stopped just short, using his momentum, even as he was lowering his sword, to swing the massive blade right into the madman's side, with no tail to block this time. The blade stuck for only a moment, before Tyrian leapt away, holding his side, while red spurted between his fingers.

"You… You…" Tyrian spoke with an underlying seething rage. Qrow smirked at him. Before Tyrian made another move, he felt a foot impact the back of his head, and he went flying back towards Qrow. He caught himself, and looked back to see that the other man had snuck up on him, using that strange wind power to empower his kick. Tyrian glanced back and forth between them, then backed towards the arch behind him.

Suddenly, he let out a scream, charging right past Qrow, who seemed so taken aback by the sudden action that he didn't even have time to react when the madman blitzed past him, headed straight at Ruby. The young girl barely could hold up her scythe in time to block just one of his gauntlets. The other bladed gauntlet hit her leg, sinking into it with a horrible sound. It was odd, though… he didn't seem to be aiming for anywhere vital. Regardless, Ruby released an agonizing scream of pain, dropping her scythe from her loss of focus. Qrow was right next to them in an instant, dragging his own scythe through the man's middle.

Tyrian wrenched his arm free of Ruby's limb, eliciting yet another scream from her- music to his ears, really- and leapt back from Qrow and her. Blood was flowing down his front as though it was a waterfall, but he seemed to be reveling in it. Qrow fixed him with a glare that spoke of bloodshed and pain, but he smirked back. He was vaguely aware of the other man standing behind him, but being able to finally stab something had elated him so much he didn't care.

But then he took a moment to consider his situation. One, he couldn't possibly take the girl against these odds. Two, he had just horribly wounded that girl that he was supposed to bring back to the Queen. Three, he might actually die without completing the task that Her Majesty wanted him to do. His delighted, cocky visage turned sour, dejected, and very frightened. "No… No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Even with his bloodied abdomen, he stepped forward, but reconsidered when not only Qrow, but also the other man, and the students all stood between him and his quarry. "She'll… She'll… She'll forgive me… right? She'll forgive me, right?" He seemed to be asking himself the question, more than anyone else. He shook his head, then turned and ran away, leaving them behind. Qrow looked as though he was about to follow, but Ruby collapsing from shock and blood loss stopped him, as he held her up, laying her down slowly.

"Easy, Kiddo," he muttered, trying to calm himself. "Take it easy. You'll be fine. You'll be ok. Nothing bad'll happen."

"Will she be alright?" Jaune asked, crouching down and staring at Ruby with eyes full of concern.

"Now isn't the time to worry about her," the stranger said. "We should chase him down and find out what he knows."

Qrow glared at him, "This wouldn't've happened if you had helped! Or hell, if you hadn't been here, if you'd listened to Ozpin! Now get the hell out of here!"

"I still need answers."

"I don't really give a damn what you need!" Qrow shouted. "If you want to find him, go do it yourself!"

"Fine. But don't expect further help from me, Branwen."

"Fine by me, monster."

The man left, running in the direction Tyrian had run in, obviously chasing after him. Qrow took off his cape, wrapping it around Ruby's leg. Jaune broke the silence first, "What… Who was that? Why was he after Ruby?"

Qrow sighed, picking his niece up in his arms as he stood, "What do you know… about fairy tales?"

Alright, so it's a bit of a weird ending, but just bear with me.

As for the mystery man… well, he shouldn't be too hard to guess at, but I've got an elaborate plan involving him. Something I haven't seen anyone do yet with this type of fic.

Next chapter will be Watts' and Naruto's POVs.

Until Chapter 26!