The Shadow of Fire

Chapter 2: Background information

"Your Fate has been sealed, this place is her tomb, and you shall soon share it."

Weiss was angry.

After she had been left behind by the horde of doctors, she had been forcefully ejected from the hospital due to "a lack of self control and a potential danger to others" by a police officer.

All she had done was approach the front desk in an attempt to see her critically wounded friend, as anyone would naturally do. However, the miserable human behind the desk had continuously denied any and all access to the operation floors. That's when things began to get ugly.

Weiss, not realizing her actions, found that she had the man backed against the wall with her sword to his neck, according to the officer; her eyes were gleaming with fury.

It hadn't made her day any better when Ozpin sent a message on the scroll to the group. Weiss was the first one to get the message due to her name place in team RWBY. It was a simple, brief message but it only left anger in her already torn and broken heart.

Miss Weiss Schnee,

We were just informed by the hospital and by Mark Shadow about Miss Ruby Rose.

Due to the circumstances of this attack and the currently unknown fate of Miss Rose, we are calling all RWBY members to Beacon for briefing.

Although this may be "hurtful," we request that you do not attempt to see your team leader until we have received word or her survival or death. It truly hurts me to say those words but it would only impede your progress if you were to be constantly visiting her.

She is to remain in complete care of the hospital and any interference from here on out will be taken as A.W.O.L and you will be expelled from Beacon.

Headmaster Ozpin

Weiss re-read the message twice before she furiously crushed the device in the palm of her hand, metal and glass piercing her skin. 'How can he dare say that!? What if it was Goodwitch? He'd tare the hospital apart to get to her I know it!'

Weiss, nearly at her breaking point both mentally and emotionally, stormed her way towards Beacon, contemplating all the different ways that she could murder everyone that wronged her.

"Cardin... Freeze him in an ice prison until he starves." She muttered, kicking a can across the lonesome path that she took. "Ozpin... Death by Dust poisoning. Goodwitch... Riding crop to the neck."

Weiss almost yelled out in anger as she went down the list of people, her hand beginning to become her priority due to its pulsing as blood gently and ever so slowly dripped out on to the snowy path.

'Snowy?'The white haired teen thought as she looked up into the sky, finally noticing the snowflakes dancing in the fringed wind. 'Ruby loves the snow... she deserves to be here not me.' Weiss mentally beat herself up over the entire ordeal.

"Maybe if I had switched spots with her, or if I just gave her the milkshake first... then she would have gone off to go play a game, not get shot. I deserved that bullet more than she did, for everything I've done to her." She mumbled before coming to a complete stop.

The milkshake... Weiss thought back to the moments before the shot. Weiss could feel time slowing down as Ruby put the straw in her mouth, sucking in on the multi colored tube. Weiss began to take in small details for no reason. How Ruby's eyes sparkled with excitement for the drink, her warm smile, how far the drink made it up the straw before that bullet.

The straw... the liquid never got to her mouth... Weiss never gave Ruby her desert... Instead she had acted in such a way that would prevent her from enjoying the sweet treat.

Weiss didn't know why that bothered her so much. 'Was it because I broke a promise? Never letting her have the milkshake?' She thought as she sat down on a wooden bench along the empty path way.

"I'm such a horrible person..." Weiss muttered under her frosty breath before looking up to the sky. "Jesus... Or whoever it is I'm talking to, I just have one thing to ask. All I want for Christmas is for Ruby to be okay. All I want and all that I ever want is that... Please... Don't take her away from us... Away from me." Weiss made out slowly before beginning to break down into a fit of tears, jamming her head into her palms, ignoring the remains of the scroll still imbedded in her palm. Weiss's tears poured down her pale skin like raindrops from the sky, long and seemingly un-ending.

To anyone passing by they would be able to tell what she was crying over, just the sheer sound of the heiress gave it away. Something had happened to someone she deeply cared about, and she could do nothing about it.

In a small café, just across the street from the Shadow of Intent, sat a well built man in a rich black suit with a bright red tie down the front. He was outfitted with dark hair, trimmed and swooping to his right hand side. His face was covered in a thin layer of stubble, and his eyes were covered by dark sunglasses. He was relaxing in his chair in the far corner of the café, holding a newspaper up over his lunch.

To any passerby it would look like a newspaper, but if one was to turn it around, it would be reviled as a massive scroll-like data pad with the a massive diamond embedded in the top corner made of pure black Dust. He was flicking his pale fingers across the screen, going through pictures after pictures of unrelated things. A meteor shower near the planet, an earthquake on a costal island, a few minor crimes. The man lifted up a cup of coffee, bringing the brown liquid to his mouth, giving a sigh in relief as his throat was filled with the wonderful drink, the Coffee in Beacon was like ambrosia compared to the coffee in the other kingdoms. He set down his mug and resumed looking at the data.

A massive photo filled the screen labeled "priority #1." He gave a small groan in annoyance, knowing that said message would be an issue that he would have to fix. The black suited man reached forward and tapped the "open" tab under the message, causing a large video to appear on his scroll.

It was an image of a young girl, probably around her 17-18 years, with long and seemingly perfect white hair with a small tiara resting upon her head of neatly kept hair. She was sitting on a small bench in a park, her shoulders beginning to become covered in snow, creating a camouflage look upon the small crying teen.

"Hmmm..." He hummed as he tapped the live camera feed, a large chunk of text appearing next to her image. "A Schnee... Crying? That's a surprise." He muttered under his breath as he folded up the paper, at the same time compacting the unseen scroll and letting it retract into his sleeve. He then proceeded to crumble the newspaper up into a small ball before tossing it across the room into a small garbage bin.

"Score." He spoke in his deep voice, allowing a small grin to reach his lips. He reached down to grab his coffee mug, about to finish the tasty drink off when he heard an angry cough from behind him. He turned around slowly, sipping the coffee normally as he examined the four boys that were now in his pathway of exit.

The three surrounding the fourth were all very scrawny and wore a combination of minor armor additions along with a winter coat, while the fourth wore a large set of silver and gold plated combat armor, a large golden bird shined brightly upon his chest piece, obviously the leader of the pack.

"Can I help you boys?" He asked in a calm and relaxed tone, despite the fact that these boys currently had their weapons hooked neatly to their belts, a swift movement of the hand and he would be at their mercy.

"Yeah gramps, how 'bout you get out of our spot." The leader said in a harsh tone, all friendliness seemingly absent from his entire existence.

"Well, I am sorry to be a bother; I was just leaving actually and have quite a lot of chores to do." The black suited man spoke back in a friendly voice as he picked up his cane from the side of his chair.

The armored boy smacked the cane out of his hands, sending the tool across the room, sliding to a stop upon the far wall.

"No you aren't, you're going to pay for taking our spot. Cardin here has this table reserved." One of the teens with green-ish hair stated, giving a cocky grin to the older man.

"So, Cardin was it? It was just a simple misunderstanding; we really don't need to make this a big ordeal. Now if you will excuse me I need to really get goi-"

"You're not going anywhere." Cardin spoke out, cutting the man off as he shoved him into the table, sending his coffee mug in the air and onto the floor, shattering upon impact.

"That wasn't a very nice thing for a Hunter in training to be doing." The suited man said, his voice turning dark as he stood up slowly. His dark hair was shimmering with a mild black Aura while his eyes became completely golden. Not just the pupils, the entire eye.

Cardin stood his ground as his team stepped back at the Aura he was emitting, while mild, it was clearly very powerful. "What's with the eyes, freak show? That's some pretty weird stuff." Cardin said and began laughing at his own joke, his teammates completely silent.

"You'll see soon enough Mr. Cardin." The older man spoke as he slowly raised his hand up. Instead of punching or slapping Cardin, he simply snapped fingers, creating a unusually loud snapping noise.

Cardin laughed again and clenched his right hand into a fist, thrusting it forward toward the man's face. Just centimeters before contact, Cardin's entire body froze instantly, the fist stopping in mid-punch.

"What the fu-"

"AH! Language." The man warned as he snapped his fingers again, causing Cardin's pants to fall to the floor, revealing a set of white boxers with pink hearts.

"How... What are you?" Cardin groaned as his teammates began panicking, slowly stepping back further and further from the Aura using man.

"It's Orion, Mr. Cardin. You boys are all from Beacon I assume? How about a one way trip huh?" Orion suggested as he snapped his fingers again, causing the group of boys to disappear from the café into thin air.

He gave a small smile in relief and opened his wallet up, pulling out a 500 Lien bill. He placed it on his table and walked over to the wall where his silver and black cane was resting upon the white marble floor.

"You can keep the change." He called out towards the waiter that had been coming towards his table with the bill. "It was truly a great drink." He said as he made his way to the exit. Once he reached the front doorway, he tapped the bottom of his cane on the floor three times before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Weiss could not stop crying.

The young heiress sat alone on the wooden bench, alone in the park, alone in her own torn apart world.

"She... She... *sniffle* didn't... D-Deserve... This..." Weiss groaned as her tears pelted the soft snow below her body like mortar fire. She personally wouldn't be surprised if her tears froze on her face, but she knew she wouldn't care, all she cared about was her friend, possibly lying dead on some sterile hospital bed.

"I'm... I'm sorry Ruby... I'm a worthless teammate..." She moaned and slammed her right hand in a fist onto the bench, cracking a few bits of wood.

"Now now, that wasn't very kind to the poor bench now was it?" A deep voice asked her, the sound only a few feet away. The young heiress slowly turned her head towards the sudden noise, used to only the silence of the park and seeing a man in dark clothes standing in front of her.

"W-what do you want." Weiss groaned as she gave yet another sniffle, her eyes were bright red from crying, and trying to hide her chaotic emotions.

Orion approached the bench, sitting down next to the crying girl. "Shhh... It's all right. My name's Orion, yours?" He asked, his voice kind yet filled with concern.

"Weiss..." She mumbled, attempting to wipe the tears from her eyes when she realized the remains of her scroll were still embedded in her palm.

Orion took hold of her injured hand. "Ouch, that must hurt. Please, allow me." He said calmly and closed his eyes, a golden Aura leaving his fingertips, moving into Weiss's arm. Suddenly, the shrapnel began to painlessly vibrate and move upward out of her skin, defying gravity. Once all the pieces were out of her skin, they folded into thin air in front of the Schnee daughter.

"H-how... *sniffle* did you do that?" She asked, a few tears still slowly falling down into the snow.

Orion didn't respond. Instead, he ran his index finger around Weiss's palm, his fingertip glowing a purple Aura, her cuts slowly healing themselves in seconds, something that would have taken weeks by her own immune and cellular systems to do.

Orion let go of her hand and Weiss moved it up to her eyes, wiping the tears away, finally able to look directly at Orion. "Thank you sir."

"Please my dear, it's Orion, sir sounds too formal, even for my status in life." He replied in a relaxed tone, sending her a warm smile. "Now, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, it all started this afternoon..." Weiss started slowly explaining the events of the day since they arrived in the cafe, ordering their meal, the sudden gunshot, Ruby's injury, getting her to the hospital, being forced to leave, and the message from Ozpin. Orion simply sat next to her, never interrupting, letting her explain at her own pace.

"And that's how I got here. Then I met you and here we are." Weiss said, gesturing to the snowy ground with a sad expression on her face.

"Wow, is this Ruby girl important to you?" Orion asked, tilting his head to the side in a questioning manner.

"W-what do you mean? I mean, she's my leader and all so I do care about her in that form."

"Weiss," Orion began, gently resting his hand on her shoulder with a soft, kind expression. "You know what I mean. Don't answer it, just ask it to yourself. How much do I care about her? Just that." He said and gave another warm smile that could melt the snow. "Now, who is this Ozpin character you were talking about?"

"My headmaster at Beacon, he wants us to stay awa-"

"Ah! Do you have a phone on hand with his number?" He asked, putting his right palm out towards her.

Weiss gave a small nod. "Yes, but why do you wan-"

"All in good time. Just let me talk to him." He said, giving her a small wink.

Weiss extended her own hand outward, pressing the silver phone that she retrieved from her pocket into his hand. It was a different model to her Scroll, and she only used it in emergencies considering it was her personal phone. Orion weighed the new object in his own palm. "Huh, lighter then I would imagine." He muttered before turning it on.

He was greeted to the sight of a large white snowflake on a black background with the name "Schnee" under the massive icy object. A small display appeared on the screen with the title: Password.

"Password?" Orion asked, shaking the phone in her direction.

Weiss's cheeks turned a rosy color. "It is um... Okay, an R."

"Yeah." Orion replied, pressing a key down on the pad below the screen, a large "R" now appearing by the snowflake.

The two continued like this for a few moments more, Weiss spelling out the password and Orion entering the characters. Once they had finished, Orion looked down at the glowing screen of the phone.

He grinned slightly as the letters connected at last.

"R-U-B-Y_S-C-H-N-E-E, huh, now who could that be?" He asked teasingly, looking towards Weiss who at this time, seemed to be on fire with her blushing.

"S-shut up." Was all Weiss could make out, curling up into a ball on the bench.

Orion scrolled through the contacts of the device, eventually spotting the name he was searching for. Orion pressed down on the green phone button to the side of the phone and the phone began humming softly, confirming that the call offer was being sent. He pressed his thumb on the "speaker" option and placed the silver phone next to Weiss on the bench.

"Weiss Schnee. Where have you been?" An angry voice asked out on the other end of the line. "Miss Blake and Miss Yang have arrived already and you haven't been answering your scroll. You have exactly 10 minutes to get to my office or I will not hesitate to expel-"

"Hey Ozpin, how are you?" Orion said to the phone, his voice filled with amusement and friendliness.

"O-Orion? I mean Mr. Orion, w-what are you doing with Weiss's phone, sir?" Ozpin asked over the line, clearly in sudden disorder, close to freaking out.

"Oh it's 'Mr Orion' and 'Sir' is it? Thought I told you before it's just Orion. And no 'hello'? No 'What's up'? I'm hurt...Anyway, did you say anything...upsetting to anyone today?" He asked innocently.

"W-well, I did have a rather horrible conversation with the remaining members of RWBY, b-but I had to Mr. Orion, you see, its ou-"

"Abababa! Ozpin, I'm calling in a favor. I'll be taking Miss Snowflake over here under my wing for a little while; I trust it won't be an issue, will it?"

The sound of papers moving around and a loud crash was heard over the phone.

"N-not at all! I-I... Need to get going. G-good day Mr. Orion."

"Take care Ozpin, and it's JUST ORION!" Orion laughed before clicking the off button on the device.

Orion tossed the phone to Weiss, who nearly dropped it in sudden shock, expecting him to have just handed her the device.

"Well, that's over with." Orion said cheerfully, sending the confused girl a warm smile. "Now, why don't we go for a little walk through the city? It will take your mind off things and I'm buying at any shop." He offered the small Schnee, putting out his right hand for her to take.

Weiss pocketed the silver cell phone and slowly took Orion's hand. She let out a surprised squeak as he yanked her up with a large amount of force. One she had regained her composure; she looked up to meet his face. "Why are you being so nice to me? I've never done anything for you, so why help me?" She asked in a confused voice, half wanting him to spill the secret. No one helps a Schnee just for the fun of it or to be nice, it was for money, power, fame, autographs, cars, Dust, she could go on and on.

"Well someone needs to keep you busy for three and a half hours until Ruby is out of surgery." He said and sent her a warm smile.

Weiss tilted her head to the side in a questioning manner. "How do you know that? No one could possibly know that…" She mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

"My dear Weiss, I know everything. I'm not using the expression, I literally know everything." He spoke in his trademark "nice-guy" voice.

"H-how-" Weiss began stuttering but was cut off almost instantly as Orion teleported out of sight. The mysterious man reappeared directly behind Weiss, covering her eyes with his hands.

"There's a term people use for beings like me." He said and disappeared again, appearing at Weiss's left side. "I don't see why though because it doesn't truly describe me as a whole." He continued before once again disappearing, finally stopping in-front of Weiss. "The best was to describe me is one word. God." He said simply, flashing a confident smile.

Weiss took a small step back, nearly tripping over a chunk of snow. "A-A God?" She stuttered, blinking a few times quickly to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Orion simply smiled and shook his right hand around in the air in-front of him, flicking his wrist forward. Almost immediately, a large silver and white purse appeared, resting in the palm of his hand. "Yours I assume?" He asked before holding his hand out farther for her to grasp.

The Heiress slowly leaned forward and took hold of her bag. "T-Thank you…" She muttered, her brain malfunctioning due to the seemingly impossible events that were now taking place before her very eyes. "B-But if you're a God, then why waste your time with someone like me?" She asked in a quiet voice, the feeling of guilt washing over her very being as she recalled all the horrible things that she had done in her short lifetime.

"Cause in all my centuries of existence, I haven't seen anyone so sad before, especially a Schnee none the less." He said in a worried tone, taking a short step towards her. "The fact is someone is screwing with fate, fate that should be allowed to grow and continue as nature intended. And I can't let that happen. I am in charge of protecting fate, so when I see something that is tampering with Fate, I tend to put a stop to it as soon as possible, by whatever means are necessary."

Weiss thought for a minute, taking the Gods words to heart. "Are you saying that Ruby wasn't supposed to be shot?" She asked, the gears slowly aligning in her selfish brain.

"Yeah, something like that. I mean, one of you gets shot later on, but nothing life threatening. I'm surprised that someone found a way to bypass Fate so easily but… No, it can't be him…" Orion trailed off, looking down towards the snowy ground, deep in thought.

Weiss tilted her head slightly to the right, her icy blue orbs sparkling with wonder and confusion. "You... you know who shot Ruby?" She asked slowly, not really sure how the God would react.

"Well... I have an idea of who it could be." He said slowly, looking back up to look directly at the young Schnee.

"Well? Who is it? Why don't we go get them and make them pay?!" Weiss nearly shouted, her voice peaking to a slightly higher squeak as he ended her statement.

"There's a few problems with that my dear," Orion began, waving his left hand around, generating a rich dark brown lounge chair before sitting down in it. "I don't take direct action often; anything I physically do on this realm of existence can have a massive effect on others. Also, I hate writing reports to father about my actions here, I'm not much for writing." He said, creating a glass of cola in a clear glass in his hand, taking a quick sip of the liquid.

"But, you just did... that." Weiss said gesturing to the new materials that Orion had spawned; a flabbergasted expression adorned her pale face.

"Did it kill anyone? Did it harm any Grimm? No, it's too minor to do anything serious." He explained, crossing his left leg over his right. "The man I think shot Ruby is named Saturn, aka Anubis. A truly nasty piece of work, and that's saying something coming from a god. Kills for fun, money, power, all that... He tends to use a sniper rifle, so that pretty much points to him already, plus from what you've told me the method is just his style." Orion told the young girl before taking yet another sip. "I met him once; he had killed a leader of a Faunus civil rights riot that was supposed to build a treaty between your two peoples on this planet. Saturn bypassed my planed Fate and destiny and I had to take action. We had a battle; he managed to escape with a blow to the eye."

"Well where is he so I can deal with him, he's scum." Weiss told the God, her hands right in into fists as she finally had someone to blame for these events.

"He has hidden from my sight, disappeared in a sense. He is a very powerful man Weiss... He plays for keeps and doesn't take prisoners. It would also take all four of you and then some to take Saturn down, let alone his army that he has built up. He has some powerful allies in the White Fang."

"The White Fang..." Weiss thought, suddenly recalling hearing about someone named Anubis while putting her ear to her father's door when she was just a kid.

A man in a dark grey suit sat down upon the edge of a large construction crane a few hundred feet in the air, finally catching his breath. "Damn Huntresses." He muttered before he felt the vibration of his phone. He pulled the black and grey device out of his back pocket and accepted the call.

"Yes?"

"Anubis, report."

"One target down, unconfirmed kill."

"And the rest?" The voice on the other end of the line hissed.

"Escaped, I was attacked by two but I fled the scene before they could catch me."

"Dammit Anubis! I want them eliminated! Start living up to your name and make sure they are dead!"

"Hey, I volunteered to do this, I could have sent the silencers but I decided to take direct action."

"Yet they still live don't they? Get it done Anubis, or it will be your face in a photo." The voice replied coldly as the line went dead.

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for reading Chapter 2. I would really love any reviews on this story, it really makes my day and encourages me to write more. If i get more support i will update more often. Thanks to all of you and my very good friend Orion Matrix, go check out his story. Bye!