RWBY: Team CRML
Chapter 44
Team CRML
A few days later
Inside the house, Qrow had informed his students about their current goal: getting the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas. "You've got to be joking..." Weiss said as she frowned at the news.
"I mean, bright side, we finally get out of this house!" Nora said.
Weiss sighed.
"Well trust me, I'm not crazy about it either. And without the Spring Maiden here to seal the Relic back in its Vault, it's our best option." upon hearing about the Spring Maiden, Liam glanced down, having been informed, by Yang, that it was actually Raven who was the maiden.
"Atlas may be the safest kingdom we have at the moment, but their borders are closed. General Ironwood called everyone back." Ren said.
"Eh, not everyone." Qrow activated his Scroll, showing a hologram of a highlighted portion of land. "The city of Argus is a ways north of us and it's the primary trading port between Anima and Solitas. They've got the largest Atlas military base outside the kingdom. There's no way they'd leave it abandoned, and if we play our cards right, I think there's a good chance we could convince them to escort us straight to Ironwood."
"I mean, we do have the missing Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Nicci said, gesturing to Weiss.
"Ex-Heiress, actually." Weiss told them.
"True, true. But if there's a chance of reward money, I say we go for it." Yang said with a smirk.
"Yeeeeah, no." Liam said.
"Hopefully the first option will suffice." Ozpin said as he entered the room.
"Glad to see you're feeling better."
"Likewise, and while I'm sure we could all use more time to recover, I'm afraid time is of the essence." Ozpin told them.
"Right, as long as that thing's out in the open, its power could fall into the wrong hands." Chrome said.
"Speaking of, what does it do exactly? Qrow never really told us." Jaune said.
"Of course." Ozpin detached the Relic from his hip. "The Relic of Knowledge has a wonderful, and incredibly dangerous ability." the Relic grew quite a bit larger. "Its user can ask any question, and the lamp will provide an answer."
Ozpin placed the Relic down, and it began to float on the table.
"Intriguing..."
"That's incredible..."
"Indeed. However, it's not without drawbacks. The lamp cannot tell of events that have yet to happen, and it will only ever answer three questions every one hundred years." Ozpin added.
"Well, I guess that's not so bad. Adds a lot of pressure though." Yang said.
"Then let's put it to a vote! What should we ask first? Oh! Can we ask for more questions? CAN WE ASK FOR MORE QUESTIONS?!" Nora asked, staring at the relic.
"They're not wishes..."
"I'm afraid you won't be able to ask it anything at the moment. The questions were used before I sealed it away." Ozpin said.
"Well, at least now we know what it is. And we'll be sure to keep it safe!" Ruby said.
"Well." Ozpin grabbed the relic and put it back on his hip as it shrunk back down to its previous size. "For now, I say we get as much rest as possible and head to Argus first thing in the morning. But first." he turned to Liam.
"What?" Liam asked.
Without saying anything, Ozpin walked over and placed a hand on Liam's shoulder. After a second, Ozpin's hand glew a soft yellow before he pulled away. "There. Now you should be fine to use your avian form."
Liam looked at his shoulder for a second. "Thanks."
Ozpin nodded. And with that, Oscar's eyes flashed as he took back over.
"We should pack what we need now." Qrow said.
Minutes later
Closing their suitcases, Chrome and his team placed them next to the door when a knock suddenly grabbed their attention. Opening the door, Weiss stood there with her hands folded. "Hey, Weiss." Liam greeted her. "What's up?"
She looked at each member of CRML. "Can Chrome and I have a moment alone? There's some things we need to talk about."
"Yeah, sure." Nicci said as she, Marek and Liam left the room.
Alone, Chrome sat down on the edge of the bed. "There's no way to say this, so I'm just going to." Weiss said as she sat down on the bed across from him. "Chrome, you and I are-"
"Siblings."
Weiss was taken back. "You knew?" she asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.
"I overheard you and your...our...sister talking in the pavilion back at Beacon." Chrome told her.
"So you've known for about as long as me." Weiss said softly.
Chrome nodded his head.
"That's not all." Weiss told him. "My father, Jacques Schnee, he knows about you. He saw a white haired Faunus using glyphs during the tournament."
"So?"
"So, my father will do anything he can to make sure the 'family name' is cleansed." Weiss told him. "Even if it means killing you."
"I'm not scared of some rich prick in a suit." Chrome said. "No offense."
"None taken."
"Thanks for the heads up, but I'm still coming with you guys."
"I know." Weiss said softly.
Heading for the door, Weiss left the room. A second passed before the other members of Chrome's team popped their heads in. "What was that about?" Nicci asked.
Two weeks later
On the train to Argus, Chrome and his team sat in their shared room. One bunk bed was on each side of the room. Nicci was sitting on the top bunk on the right of the door with Marek laying directly below her. On the left, Liam lay on top of his bunk while Chrome sat below him on his scroll.
"So, what have you been up to since Beacon, Chrome?" Liam asked.
"I...went back to Menagerie to see my family." he replied. "Nicci tagged along after..."
"After, what?"
"After she saved me from Adam." he told them. "She jumped in after Adam took my eye and got me outta there."
Nicci's ears folded back as Chrome told them what happened. "Good thing she was there then."
"No kid-" the train suddenly lurched forward. Holding onto their beds to keep balance, Liam looked to the window to see a Manticore fly by.
"Damnit!"
"What is it?" Nicci asked.
Jumping off his bunk, Liam grabbed his weapon. "Grimm are attacking the train." grabbing Marek's spear, Liam tossed it to him as he got to his feet.
Nicci and Chrome both followed suit, getting out of their beds and picking up their weapons. "C'mon!" Chrome rushed out of their room and towards the door of the traincar at the far end. Opening it, the cold air blew into the traincar as another Manticore flew passed him.
Seeing the ladder to the top of the train on his right, Chrome climbed up top with his team behind him. Once on the snow covered roof of the train, the four of them readied their weapons. Behind them, team RWBY, the remaining members of JNPR, Qrow, Oscar and another huntsman were fighting the winged Grimm. The trains defenses were also already engaged.
Seeing more Manticores land in front of them, Chrome and his team shared a few glances before charging forward. Pulling the levers on the hilts of his weapons, Chrome threw his swords at the wings of one of the Manticores, cutting them off. Screeching in pain, Chrome then created a glyph behind him. Liam used it to jump over Chrome and land on the Grimm, sinking his sword into its back.
As the trains defenses fired at the Grimm, the Manticores began attacking them, endangering the civilians inside. Nicci and Marek quickly took notice of this. "Chrome!" Nicci shouted.
"Yeah, I know!" he replied as he used a glyph to shoot an icicle at a flying Manticore. "Tell the others to shut those turrets off!"
"On it!" Nicci and Marek began to rush down the train to tell the others.
With it just being Liam and Chrome on the caboose, Liam changed his weapon to its sniper form, shooting the Grimm flying overhead. Suddenly, a red glyph appeard in front of his weapon. Looking over to Chrome, he had one of his weapons pointed at the Grimm. Glancing at his teammate, Chrome smirked.
Smirking himself, Liam began firing rounds through the glyph, turning the shots incendiary as they passed through it. Suddenly, the Grimm began to back off. Running to the edge of the train car, Liam and Chrome glanced at each other, confused.
However, further down the train, the reason for the Grimm's sudden retreat was due to a tunnel quickly approaching. Seeing it, Nicci began running to warn her two teammates. "Liam! Chrome!"
Seeing her run off and knowing she wouldn't make it, Marek acted quickly. Grabbing her arm, he swung her into the train before quickly following himself.
Still on top of the train, Chrome and Liam turned around just as the tunnel reached them, knocking them both off the train and onto the snow bank below them. Rolling down the bank, the two stopped at the bottom of it, their auras flashing and breaking from the force of the impact.
Groaning as they tried to push themselves up, Chrome's eyes closed as he fell back into the snow. Liam was able to look to the train tracks to see the Grimm completely ignore them as they continued to follow the train before he himself lost consciousness.
End of chapter 44
