Issue #14

"Bastard!"

Vermilion heard the scream ring out across the clearing and spared a short glance over to see one of Jaune's opponents down as he turned to engage the other. It nearly cost her, however, as her opponent thrusted his weapon at her. Sparks flew as a glowing blade slid past her face, deflecting off of her shield. Vermilion sucked in a breath, ducking low and attempting to slash at her foe but he was already dancing away from her, warding off her two teammates at the same time.

They were flagging. All of them had been through their own fights, Noel barely hanging in there. Now that she was reaching her limit, the assassin's advantage in stamina was becoming more apparent. Willa tried to slide into his flank with her weapon however it was met with a polearm made of light, the man having combined his weapons into one. With a twist he pushed Willa's weapon aside, catching her with the other end of his, a scythe of light appearing and raking across her aura.

That proved to be the breaking point. Willa's aura flashed and crackled, shattering. Vermilion felt her blood run cold at the sight. The pole transformed again into a spear, the tip hurtling toward Willa, who was still reeling. There was a blur of black as Noel threw herself in the way, the tip of the spear slamming into her sternum and bouncing off her aura, sending her careening into her teammate and the both of them tumbling end over end.

Noel's Duet flickered and faded from existence, her aura far too low to maintain her semblance. However, the original, stood back up, legs shaking and chest heaving as she faced the assassin.

Willa was struggling to get up herself and Vermilion's legs felt like lead, breathing laboriously as she sucked down air. However she forced herself forward. Willa had no aura left and Noel had to be running on fumes, not that Vermilion was much better.

"Whelps. Did you think you could truly defy the Will of Salem?!" He growled out, clearly frustrated.

The assassin stalked forward, twirling his weapon and the hard light blades changing form with every revolution. A glaive, a naginata, a spear, a scythe. The man had mastered so many weapons, so many forms of combat. The combat was taking its toll on him, too, his breathing heavy and uneven. Vermilion's hand trembled as she squeezed the hilt of Rosa Mors and pushed off the ground as hard as she could. He heard her footsteps and turned to face her, scythe coming up into a sweeping horizontal strike. Tumbling, Vermilion slammed her shield into his knees causing them to buckle. It was a credit to the assassin's reflexes that instead of toppling to the ground he leaned into it, rolling on the ground and coming up into a crouch.

The two faced off for a split second as they regained their balance. Vermilion could tell the man was getting more than he bargained for.

A split second was all it took for Noel to try and take the initiative back, her spear humming with plasma as she thrust at the would-be assassin. He responded to it well, his own weapon forming a spear as he countered her thrust with his own. However she had anticipated this and immediately drove the tip of her spear into the ground, vaulting into the air to land her knee right on his brow. His head cracked back viciously, aura shattering under the blow.

He started to fall backward before his motion was suddenly halted. With a pained gasp he looked down, a blade protruding from his midsection. The glaive was ripped free from the assassin with a sickly squelch and left the man to collapse to his knees, clutching his wound.

Even with the enemy mortally wounded, the girls were hesitant to finish the task. Killing in the heat of the moment was one thing but this man was defeated. Vermilion looked up, the apprehension clear on Noel's face and mirrored in Willa, they looked like they wanted to be sick. Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, bringing it back down to the assassin. She almost couldn't make sense of what she saw, her heart almost stopping as she realized what he had in his hand.

It was a small cylinder with a red cap at the tap and though she'd never seen one personally she had a sinking feeling she knew what it was.

His thump flipped the cap open, revealing a small switch, causing Vermilion to panic.

Then the world stopped.

She wasn't sure what had happened but nothing moved. The air felt thick and her mind raced. As she stared she could see the man moving, albeit slowly. Trying to move towards him proved fruitless as her body resisted her. Vermilion had the sinking feeling she wouldn't be able to reach the man in time and instead focused on her teammates. Straining every muscle she reached out to Noel, hand grasping at her shoulder as she desperately pulled herself forward. With both arms open she slowly embraced her, momentum carrying her forward as they fell atop Willa. She could see the surprise in both of their eyes, motion returning to both as she touched them. Vermilion braced herself, scrunching up her eyes and trying to hold her shield out towards the assassin and cover her auraless teammates.

Then the world disappeared.

-SY-

The first thing she noticed was pain. It wasn't excruciating but rather like hundreds of small insects biting her skin all over. Vermilion's eyes creaked open and she was blinded for a moment by harsh white light. Her eyes stung as she closed and opened them, slowly adjusting to her surroundings. A low, constant beeping could be heard along with steady breathing coming from someone else. A weight prevented her from moving her arm and looking down she saw a mane of black hair with a pair of fuzzy ears that occasionally twitched. The steady rise and fall of Noel's back indicated she must have been asleep, the clock on the wall telling her it was early in the morning.

The pain was bearable and easily shoved aside as she slowly drew her hand up and out from under her teammate. Try as she might have to not disturb Noel, she was unsuccessful. The feline ears atop her head flitted about as the faunus brought her head up, pale golden eyes glinting in the low light. For a moment they stared eye to eye, neither blinking until Noel's eyes widened.

"Ver-mph!" Noel tried to shout out her friend's name but couldn't on account of the hand suddenly shoved in her face that was also desperately preventing her from tackling Vermilion.

"Noel." She managed to croak out and she cleared her throat. It didn't stop the dry itchiness but did make talking easier, "What happened?"

Noel drew in a deep breath, both hands coming up to take hers and draw it back down, gaze serious, "Everyone is okay. Jaune said what you did saved us. I've got a few burns and scrapes, Willa's practically fine." Her ears perked up, "We found Silvia! Or well Jaune found her. She's fine." Noel added when she made to speak.

Instead she switched questions, "Are we back in Azure Crest?" Noel nodded. It made sense, Azure Crest was the closest settlement to their previous location.

"Jaune gave the rest of his aura to us and called an emergency bullhead. You've been out for about ten hours." Noel listed off details, trying to fill her in, "Jaune was here but he looked exhausted so I told him I'd keep an eye on you for him."

"For him or yourself?" Vermilion teased, eyes going down to her hand which Noel was still holding, thumb circling one of her knuckles. It looked like her teammate hadn't noticed what she was doing.

The golden eyes flicked down and widened but she didn't let go, instead her ears flattened against her head and she looked ruefully at Vermilion, "Can you blame me? I-I saw you laying there and I thought I'd.." She shook her head, "No. What were you thinking!" Noel hissed, eyes narrowed into a glare that took Vermilion aback.

"I didn't, I just reacted." She looked down, feeling all the more like a chastised child, "There was no time. None of us could get away. The best I could do was what I did."

Noel's expression softened and she drew Vermilion's hand up and put it to her forehead, "When I saw you laying there, I was so scared." Her voice cracked in the near silent room, and she looked back up, amber eyes glinting in the low light and a shaky, watery smile broke out, "I guess we're lucky you discovered your semblance."

"My semblance?" Even as she asked the question she knew Noel was right. That feeling, as if time had stopped for everyone but her. A feeling she'd had before but never with the clarity as in that moment. If it hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to react in time, they may have all died right there.

The thought made her shiver.

"Yeah." She breathed out, her hand tightening around Noel's and grateful for the warm touch, "Lucky."

In one smooth motion, the girl's arms were around Vermilion, tightening as her forehead rested on her neck, feline ears tickling against her cheek. Through her, she could feel the shuddering breaths Noel took. Vermilion relaxed into the embrace and put her own hands around the girl, ignoring the itchy pain to hold her closer.

"I'm glad you're okay, Mili." Noel mumbled into her.

"Me too. I'm glad we're all okay."

The two stayed that way for a minute as the tension slowly drained from the faunus girl who eventually stood, back to Vermilion, "I'm gonna go let everyone know you're up."

Without waiting for a reply, Noel slipped through the door, leaving an oddly perplexed Vermilion behind, the room feeling colder than before. It wasn't long before the door opened, her father entering with his blond mop disheveled and his expression tight. Piercing blue eyes roved over her and only once he had ascertained with his own sight that she was alert and okay did he relax. It was an odd thing to attribute to him and only just now did she realise why.

Jaune always seemed like a spring coiled tight, ready to move. Even at the moment, the relaxation was miniscule, not something she'd have noticed normally. Vermilion did now, in the way his shoulders went back, his posture not as rigid. The most telling was in his eyes, the way his cheek muscles relaxed and those blue orbs lost their usual sharpness. He sat down on the chair next to her bed and opened his mouth.

And then closed it.

At a seeming loss for words she watched him fight for something to say, or maybe how to start the conversation. She could only watch him flounder for so long.

"I'm sorry." It seemed to take the wind from his sails and looked at her askance.

"You're sorry?" He asked, the interruption to his train of thought giving him pause.

"I was reckless, I know, but I did wh-"

"Stop." Jaune interrupted her, a stern look on his face, "I'm gonna stop you right there, Vermilion." The look vanished and he gave her a small smile, "It wasn't reckless, and even though I think my heart stopped for a moment, but if you hadn't done what you did, your team may well have died right there."

"Noelle thinks I was being reckless." Vermilion added, her hands wringing together.

"Well she's wrong. Worried but wrong. You scared her, hell you scared me, but none of that was your fault." He leaned forward, "You did the best you could in a shitty situation. She'll come around."

Vermilion bit her lip, "You're sure?"

"I'm sure. I was on a team once myself." A rueful edge crept into his words, "It's what teams do. You risk your lives for each other. It's part and parcel with being a huntress. You all will be fine as long as you keep watching each other's backs."

Nodding along with what he was saying, Vermilion was reminded with just how much experience her father had as a Huntsman, "Can I ask you something?" She waited for him to nod, "Have you ever met someone with two semblances?"

Jaune grew still, "Two?" He thought for a moment but shook his head, "No. Never two. Was it one of those assassins? Did it just look like two, could it have been something broad that made it look like two?"

That gave her pause and she recalled Silvia in the woods. Could that display have been her true semblance and her other displays a mask to hide it? That would mean she had lied to her team, however, as she had explained her semblance was just the ability to reduce the mass of people and objects she touches. Was there a reason for her to lie?

More importantly, should she tell Jaune?

Her father waited patiently while she thought it through, before she finally, faltering, began to explain without giving up her friend's name, "I don't know. I've never heard of a semblance that lets someone control elements like that. It was like dust manipulation on a scale I've never seen before."

Vermilion looked up to find she had Jaune's undivided attention, the edge had returned to his demeanor, "Did their eyes light up? Flames?"

She recoiled, "What? How did you…?"

Even as she trailed off she knew she had said too much. Vermilion could practically see the gears turning in his head, his hand touching his chin for a moment before a name slipped from his mouth, "Silvia?"

Her heart dropped. She'd let her curiosity get the best of her. Silvia had kept whatever it was secret for a reason. She trusted that the girl had lied for a good reason. But instead of waiting, instead of asking the girl herself, she had opened her mouth and from the reaction she was getting from Jaune, it was something big. He must have noticed something because he reached over and grabbed her arm.

"It's okay." Was the first thing he said, catching her attention, "Calm down, you look like you're about to start hyperventilating. Flaming eyes and a girl with powers that go beyond a semblance."

"You know what I am?" The voice that came from just outside the door as Silvia popped her head around the door wasn't accusatory but rather curious. Her appearance sent a worried shiver through Vermilion and she looked with pleading eyes at her partner but those hazel eyes were locked on Jaune's.

"I do." He admitted, turning to face her. Vermilion could see the wary edge in his posture, "And I'm no threat to you, I promise. Would you come in? The whole team?" He raised his voice at the end and Noelle poked her head around the corner with a sheepish smile and wave before she was dragged inside by Willa, too proud to admit to eavesdropping she simply closed the door behind them. There weren't enough seats for everyone so instead Noelle sat on the edge of her bed while Willa elected to stand out of the way and Silvia didn't move, remaining locked on Jaune.

"Tell me then. What is it? What am I?" Her voice wavered slightly and out of the corner of her eyes those green flames appeared once again and she blinked them away.

Jaune's brow furrowed, "So it wasn't passed to you directly…" He trailed off before clearing his throat, "What you are is something called a Maiden. It's magic. Old magic from the time of the gods, and no I am not going to explain that right now." He added as Vermilion opened her mouth, "It's old. Very old. It's a power that transfers from host to host. Only to women and only those below a certain age. It can transfer one of two ways. The power will go to whomever the host thinks of last before they die, unless they do not meet the criteria. In that case the power flies off and finds someone to happen. Which is what I imagine happened to you."

Silvia shrugged, one hand rubbing her elbow, "It just happened one day. I felt something strange, something hot and burning inside me. I let it out and I set fire to my room in the middle of the night. My parents, when I told them, knew something was wrong but not how to help."

"And so you came to Beacon, with dust manipulation being your weapon you could disguise your power as your own if you… suffered a mishap."

Silvia nodded, "So that's it? Just a power that's passed around and I got stuck with it?"

"Not quite." Jaune leaned back, his hand brushing against his chin thoughtfully, "But I'm not the right person to explain all of this to you. However, it is all up to you. If you wish to know more, I can put you in touch with them. No matter what, though," Jaune looked sharply at everyone in the room, "This should go no further than those of you here. What Silvia has is highly sought after by people who will kill her to get it. In fact by probably the same people who are after Vermilion."

Jaune shook his head in exasperation, "You lot don't play subtle, do you? A Schnee, a Belladonna, a Maiden, and a Silver Eyes. Well the target on your backs can't get any bigger. However, as much as I hate to say it, there are a few professors at Beacon you can trust. That is, if you want to out yourself to them. I can promise you they make a career out of protecting the Maidens."

Silvia nodded at Jaune, slowly at first but then more confidently, "Yes. Yeah. I want to know more."

With a sigh the blond huntsman shook his head, "Well that's that I guess. My only advice is to make sure you think for yourselves. Don't get drawn into their fight if you can help it."

He looked her square in the eye, "I just hope you don't regret it."

A/N: So I'm back. This chapter was incredibly hard to write, not from a literary standpoint but just a personal one. I tried a long to to get into a writing mood but it just never came. Luckily through brute force and having nothing else to do, I managed to complete it. More updates should be many times easier to get through.