The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 37: Of Goddesses and Heiresses
Grimmlock was the epitome of beastly rage, that wasn't in doubt at all.
What was in doubt was his ability to control his power, as Weiss was currently questioning as his massive tail nearly took her head off.
"Is he even on our side?!" Weiss shouted out as Grimmlocks roars took up most of the sound in the area. That and the screams of the Fallen Gods.
It was a slaughter at simplest definition; Grimmlock thrashing through the small army of powerful Fallen Gods like a bull in a fine china store. Bodies were flying, black smoke shooting out as Fallen God after Fallen God were destroyed in a variety of ways, all floating off to reform somewhere else.
"This complicated things." Xalveris noted, ducking as a body of one of his honor guards went flying over him, standing back up to adjust his tuxedo.
"My lord, we should leave." Commander Rook suggested, standing before his master, cutting a piece of the roof that decided to go airborne in half before it could reach his master, growling at the beast God before him.
"Very well, remind me to locate this beast later on in the operation. I would love to have him join our ranks." The Elder God said with a smile, teleporting away in a dark portal, Rook following suit as the remaining Fallen Gods were crushed.
"Nice work, Grimmlock! Doing the family name proud." Orion said with a laugh, hooking his Saber on his back, which promptly disappeared into thin air.
Grimmlock growled "happily," stomping the last of the Fallen Gods under his massive foot, roaring in victory.
"What an uncouth monster!" Weiss said aloud, horrified at the beasts violence.
Grimmlock turned to her, blowing a puff of air from his nose at her, knocking her over as Aphrodite shifted over to Orion for support.
"Ack!" Weiss made out as she fell over, growling at the monster. "Worse manners than Saturn..." Weiss whispered to herself.
"Thank you Grimmlock~!" Ruby 2 said happily, hugging one of its massive legs with a giggle, Grimmlock nodding at her, nuzzling her gently with his dragon-like head.
"Now, Ruby..." Orion began, the duo looking at him simultaneously. "Erm... Less strict Ruby."
Ruby 2 tilted her head, walking over to the duo.
"Yeah?" Ruby 2 said quizzically, then realizing what Orion was going to say.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Ruby 2 said before she walked over to Ruby 1, grabbing her shoulders, and suddenly was enveloped in a flash of white light.
"Ruby...?" Weiss asked as the light dimmed, one Ruby standing in the spot where the duo once were, breathing heavily.
"Weiss-y~!" Ruby cried out happily, running towards her girlfriend who only gave an "oof" in response as she fell to the roof, pinned under the red head as she bombarded Weiss with kisses.
"Ruby! Off! Ack!" Weiss struggled, wiggling around as Ruby ignored her, Orion and Aphrodite chuckling, Grimmlock curling up for a nap.
"Nope~ I missed you~!" Ruby chirped happily, kissing continuously, much to Weiss's dismay.
"Grimmlock, it was so good to see you again, brother." Orion said to his "brother," smiling like crazy as Ruby jumped off Weiss, skipping around.
"Brothers? But he is a dragon... How could you both be broth-" Weiss said before Grimmlock began shaking, his massive body glowing white before a large flash occurred, leaving a massive man in its wake.
The man was roughly 9 feet tall, towering over the entire group with long black hair which extended down to his lower neck. His arms were adorned with massive muscles, along with various scars and wounds from centuries of combat. His legs were strong as well, also having a clear six pack; summing up to be a body builders dream. His black eyes glared deep into Weiss's soul, freezing her in place.
"See? Not just a dragon." Orion said happily, gesturing to the "new" Grimmlock.
"Oh my..." Ruby said slowly, looking at his various muscles, feeling somewhat inadequate in his presence. He looked like he could crush a DeathStalker with one hand, which was something she could only dream of.
"Erm... Sorry...?" Weiss said, trying to recall her statement before, fearing that he would try and kill her anyways.
There was a moment of silence, and then Grimmlock spoke.
"Beast, I am." Grimmlock said in a deep and ragged voice, as if he hadn't had a glass of water in many ages.
"Uh..." Weiss made out, sounding like a squeak instead of English. "I stand corrected...?"
"Weiss, just stop talking." Orion said with a chuckle, patting Grimmlock on his back.
Everyone just started laughing, besides Weiss, who was growling under her breath about how she was the only normal on here when the elevator door dinged open, depositing a large group of men and women in armor, including Doctor Firefall and Ozpin, who were in the front of the group.
"How late are we?" Firefall asked as the group of armored Gods spread out along the roof, the duo of Firefall and Ozpin walking up to the group.
"Pretty late, Doctor." Weiss said, the doctor looking the group over, resting his eyes on Aphrodite.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" The doctor said, walking over to her, helping her sit down. "Here, let me patch you up."
"Will she be alright?" Ruby asked Orion, who shrugged in response.
"Meh, her arm will come back in due time. She's not use to losing body parts in combat. Or to combat in general," Orion said with a glance at Ozpin. "She'll be fine."
"Well, I believe that you have two students of mine, Orion." Ozpin tapped his cane down lightly, walking up to the God of Faith. He then noticed Grimmlock, nodding to him.
"How are you Grimmlock? How is your leg? Still painful to walk?" The Headmaster asked the King of Beasts, who growled in response.
"No pain." The titan-like man said in a snarky tone. "Your leg?"
"The old knee still has issues." Ozpin said, patting his right knee.
"Wait, you know Grimmlock?" Ruby asked quizzically, Weiss nodding in agreement.
"Like I told you, Miss Schnee, I have favor with the Gods. King Grimmlock and I had a bit of a sparring match back in my prime. Let's just say things could have gone better and leave it at that, hm?" Ozpin said with a hint of a smile.
"Fair enough." Weiss said with a shrug, turning to Orion. "So, can Ruby come home now?"
Ruby suddenly twitched in place, her eyes regarding Weiss coldly.
"This spire will not remain un-defended. Failure to understand this will result in your termination." Ruby said harshly before twitching once more, back to her normal happy-go-lucky self, not realizing what she had just said.
"Yeah! I got homework to do for Professor Ports class! I wanna try and keep my B this semester!" Ruby said happily, her eyes ticking along continuously, a wide grin plastered on her face.
"What just happened?" Weiss blinked.
"Meh, she's gonna have split personalities for a while, not long." Orion said with a shrug, scratching his back.
"Define "not long"" Weiss said with a hand to her hip.
"Maybe... 3 years? I dunno. I'm the God of Fate, not clocks and timers." Orion said with a bit of hurt, muttering something under his breath.
Weiss just rolled her eyes, needing a nap to process all this. "So... Are we done here?"
"I suppose so." Ozpin said with a tap of his cane, gesturing for Firefall to come back over, who was flirting with Aphrodite.
"Well then, I do believe we are off." Ozpin added, Ruby jumping around happily behind him happily.
"I'll arrive soon. We just need to secure the tower, and then we should be able to sleep soundly," Orion said with an adjustment of his black sunglasses. "Safe trip."
"Indeed-" Ozpin managed before Ruby clapped her hands together in joy, accidentally teleporting their group back to Remnant.
"Well then..." Orion said with a small shrug, turning to his comrades to secure the tower.
Remnant
Vale
Firefalls Ruined Office, Beacon
6:19 AM
The teleporting of the group caused by Ruby was one of Weiss's unpleasant moments of living.
Once the group reappeared back in the school, they all fell from the ceiling above the floor, falling downward to the ruble below.
Firefall and Ozpin landed safely, Ruby hovering happily above the group while Weiss landed with a thud on the marble below.
"Ruby Rose!" Weiss began to scold, standing up, turning to face the group.
Ozpin immediately looked skyward, along with a stunned Firefall once Ozpin gave him a chop to the neck with his hand, Ruby just looking at Weiss, unblinking.
"What?"
"Y-your... Clothes..." Ruby managed before golden blood shot out of her nose, passing out on the floor.
"Huh?"
Weiss looked down, at her now naked form, and let out a scream.
The Underworld
Realm of Dagonus
Throne Room
"Hmm..." Dagonus hummed, tapping a few locations on a large map which covered much of his side wall: a map of Remnant.
"The Capitol guard will go here... Perhaps on Mount Stratus... The naval forces will need an open area to gather... Then the airships will need shielding from the anti-air defenses of the armory... Hmm..." Dagonus thought aloud, crossing out a location with a red marker, drawing an arrow towards the main government building of Vale, circling it.
"Hmm... How I wish Venish was here, he was always good with maps..." The God of Death hummed, thinking about his brother, God of Strategies, a brilliant man.
Dagonus walked towards his throne, wearing a black suit with a blood red tie and cloak, ebony steel gauntlets and shoulder armor adorned his body, along with shin and boots to match. He had a chest piece of armor as well, depicting a large red rose on the chest, and a yellow burning flower of some sort on the back; the symbols of his children.
"They will understand my reasons one day... Yes... They will..." Dagonus spoke to himself, a small man walking up behind him with silver hair, dressed as a butler, wearing the standard black and white outfit.
"My lord? Sir Xenon asks for your command." The butler said simply, plucking a silver tray of black coffee mugs and a tea pot full of black coffee from nowhere. "Care for a drink, sir?"
"Ah yes... Thank you Eze, you are a saint." Dagonus said with a sigh of relief as Eze poured his master a mug, handing it to him with white gloved hands.
"Anything for you, my lord." Eze said with a small smile, always happy to help, as is his nature.
Dagonus took a sip. "And what was it Xenon needed?"
"Ah, he requests new orders for command." The butler said, seemingly pocketing the tray, pulling out a note card and a silver pen.
"Hmm... Tell him... We launch in two weeks. Tell him to fetch my airship, and my elite honor guard. I need to relay the plan." Dagonus said softly. "Also, Eze? Make sure my package was sent."
"As you wish." Eze said, writing down the orders, walking off into a silver portal nearby.
"All will soon come together... I will have my crown back..."
White Fang Base
Fort Scatter
Vale
"Since you, Geist, have been... unresponsive to our polite and civil demands... We feel disappointed. After all, the pain ends when you give us what we want." Touko said with a small look of false pity, her bunny ears tilted downward.
Geist said nothing.
"Well, I do believe that we will need another Schnee who knows the data we seek," Touko began, pulling out her black Scroll and opening a photo, showing it to Geist.
A picture of Weiss with her team, all smiling.
"Your heir may know the data, and if not... well, we can just kill her." Touko said with a small smile.
Geist growled.
"Oh? Lack of words now, eh?" Touko said, frowning a little. "Oh well, I guess we will go track her down with your Scroll that we confiscated. Don't worry, we won't hurt her until she gets here... much."
And with that, Touko exited the room, leaving a silent Geist Schnee alone to his thoughts.
Beacon Academy
Team RWBY Dorm Room
8:32 AM
"I CAN'T believe that happened!" Weiss ranted once more, blushing dark red, storming around the room.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." Ruby said, pouting on her bunk, looking at the floor.
"You are SUCH a pervert!"
"Hey!" Ruby said, glaring now at Weiss. "I am not!"
"Yes you are, pervert."
Ruby growled, and pointed a finger at the chair next to Weiss, which promptly fell over, the chair somehow cut in half.
"No. I. Am. Not." Ruby said again.
"Yes you are." Weiss said once more, unflinching.
"Girls, girls." Blake said calmly, standing between the duo, well, as much as possible since Ruby was in the bunk. "Let's just relax."
"Yeah! Let's all relax and go get a nice treat, huh? Like weiss-cream?" Yang said happily, awaiting praise.
Everyone groaned.
"Well, I'm just glad Ozpin is letting us relax today. No homework, no school for a whole 24 hours. No nothin'." Yang said with glee. "I didn't even need to do anything!"
"You weren't going to class anyways, Yang. You talked about ditching at least thirty times." Blake deadpanned.
"Bah! You take too many things literally, Blakey."
Ruby hopped off the bed, casting her palm at the chair, fixing it as if nothing had happened, plopping down.
"Ah... Well, video game time!" Ruby chirped happily, clicking the TV remote on.
"Ahem." Weiss coughed, standing in front of the TV, much to Rubys dismay.
"Hey! I wanna play a game, Weiss-y! Pweese?"
"Say you're sorry."
"Wha..." Ruby said with a false gasp of air.
"Say sorry."
"Sorry..." Ruby huffed.
"For?"
"Burning off your clothes while teleporting... Now can I play?"
"Fine." Weiss said, walking past Ruby, sneaking a kiss on the younger girls lips.
"So." Weiss said to her other teammates. "What are you ladies up to today?"
"Ozpin asked for us to go to the Emerald Forest tonight. He is requesting a few samples of a certain medical plant." Blake explained.
"Isn't that more of Velvets specialty?" Yang mentioned.
"He asked for us specifically." Blake replied.
"Huh."
"What time?"
"8:45" Blake said, cleaning her blade on her bed.
"Huh, well alright then." Weiss began, suddenly clutching her head above her left eye, hissing a bit.
"Weiss...?" Blake asked on concern as Yang hopped off her bunk, helping Weiss sit down. "What's wrong?"
"The stupid tracker is going off."
"That who?" Yang said with a frown.
"The tracker in her head. All Schnee family members have one implanted." Blake explained, helping Weiss lay down.
"My father must be trying to contact me... Can you get my Scroll?" Weiss asked, still cupping her head.
Blake nodded, quickly plucking up her Scroll in hand, passing it to Weiss.
Weiss slowly opened up her Scroll with one hand, loading in his number for a video chat, groaning as the pain kept surging.
The Scroll buzzed a few times, calling her father, only to be greeted with static.
"Huh...?" Weiss said softly, thinking; having a small flash back...
"Weiss." Geist Schnee had said, brushing a bit of her hair from her eyes, smiling down at her. "The little tracker you have now? That's your lifeline. As long as it is active and in you, I can alert you whenever, wherever."
"But papa," Little Weiss began, looking up to her dad. "What if you didn't call for me? What if a bad guy did?"
Geist laughed. "Well then sweetie, I want you to find a way to shut it off? Okay?"
"Okay daddy!"
"I need to see Firefall!" Weiss demanded, quickly standing up.
"Woah woah woah," Blake began, forcing her back down. "For what?"
"To get this out of me! I'm in danger. Someone has my father's Scroll. I just know it."
"You know Firefall won't just take it out, he can't. Doctors take a vow to not harm the patient." Blake reasoned, Yang snickering about something in the back as Ruby was totally enveloped in her game.
"Well! What then?! If we don't get this shut off soon, we are going to be located by whoever took my dad's Scroll! I'm sick and tired of my friends getting hurt." Weiss suddenly admitted, growling.
Blake bit her lips, thinking deeply before taking a breath, pulling out Gambol Shroud.
"I'll get it out."
"Huh?" Weiss said, looking at her in confusion.
"I've done a few... removals of Schnee trackers back in the White Fang... I think I can still remember how to remove them." Blake said with a frown, rubbing her shoulder awkwardly.
Weiss blinked a few times, loss of words.
"Yes! Surgery time! I'll go get my blood bucket!" Yang said strangely happily, running off into the closet.
"Well then. Erm... Just lay back, relax, and try not to scream too loud..." Blake said, drawing her katana, holding it above Weiss's left eye...
Blake sliced downward, and Weiss let out one to be hundreds of whimpers in the next few hours.
Emerald Forest
Vale
9:42 AM
A group of Beowulf's growled in loud roars deep within the green forest, running and slashing at a lone boy in the area.
The boy was obviously trained to handle weapons, firing shot after shot from his sniper rifle, taking Beowulf after Beowulf down in clean shots. Once the wolfs got closer, he switched to his long knife with jagged edges, tearing through the wolfs easily and painfully.
In a matter of minutes, the wolfs were dead.
The boy pocketed his knife, sensing a large beast behind him. The boy turned around to see a large Ursa Major, looking down at him, growling low.
Before the Ursa could even react or attack, the boy drew a pair of revolvers, firing off two shots into the beast, bringing it down instantly.
He blew on the ends of the pistols, quickly pocketing them, admiring his work.
"Not the usual speed, I need to focus more..." The boy, Felix, said softly.
He wore a modified White Fang uniform, all black, excluding a Grimm mask or hood, allowing a pair of black wolf ears to poke above his black hair.
"I should practice more... Maybe something more challenging is in this forest."
And with that, the ex-White Fang member proceeded deeper within the forest, ready for any sort of battle that greeted him.
A/N: Double post, yay…
Felt like I messed up the story as of last chapter from the first few reviews I got… so, I guess this helps? No? Okay…
Next chapter, which is actually done, features Blake's Bootleg Surgery… and the final Hero.
This Hero was made by Andy2396, go read his stuff too, along with the other authors.