Author's note: Short chapter today, because something big happens.
The morning after Mercury took Amity Tower with him, Weiss and Blake were woken up by Yang angrily punching the wall by her bed, leaving a noticeable dent in the concrete. Blake jumped out of bed in shock and instinctively landed on her feet in perfect form, while Weiss intuitively pulled her blanket closer, as if it could offer protection.
"Yang, what's wrong?" Blake asked.
"Raven just visited me in a dream last night," Yang answered, "Ruby had someone tell her to let us know to increase protection for Amity, and make sure Eira is doing alright. Apparently her social life isn't going too well."
"But we already knew that," Weiss said.
"That's why I punched the wall," Yang explained, "We could've needed that information sooner. Now Amity is gone, and Salem can do who knows what with it."
"So, what do we do now?" Blake asked.
"And where is Ruby?" Weiss asked.
"I don't know," Yang answered, "But we have to do something. I'll go and ask Eira if I can help her somehow, and then we'll work from there."
"Sounds good," Blake said. They all got dressed and ready for another day, and informed their friends of the new information they received.
~o~
Jaune met with Weiss, Blake and Maria in the training room, with the three women not quite knowing why he called them to meet with him, as Eira was still on the loose and Yang was dealing with her alone. Maria stood by the door, following Jaune's rather unusual request, while the others stood more into the room.
"I know you all wonder why I called you here," Jaune said, "Basically, I want to fuse with Blake again. I know last time didn't go too well, but I still want to see if we could maintain our sense of direction without seeing anything. I know we'd normally need Sirena for that, but she left before we could test whether Knightshade could beat her for real, so we'll have to improvise. Since she doesn't want to, apparently." As if on cue, the door opened, revealing Sirena standing in the hallway.
"Sirena, you're back," Maria said and asked, "But why? Didn't you say you were done here?"
"That was my plan, yes," Sirena answered and said, "But I decided to come back to check on you anyway."
"And because you overheard what I just said," Jaune said, "I had a suspicion, but I needed to test it. So I arranged this meeting."
"You… tricked me?" Sirena asked in genuine disbelief, and Weiss, Blake and Maria were equally shocked.
"I guess so," Jaune answered nervously, "I'm honestly surprised it worked, too." Sirena sighed.
"Alright, I concede," Sirena said, "Ruby is fine. Her soul is currently in my kingdom, though I do not know where her body is, as she passed out before leaving this continent, and Kindred Link only tells me where her soul is. And yes, I can eavesdrop on conversations. As soon as someone says my name, or an epithet or pseudonym I use, the semblance lets me know. It is like getting a notification on my scroll, but in my head. Then, if I so choose, I can listen. I just ask that you do not spread this information lightly." The group was a bit shocked at that, especially given all the things they had said about Sirena, not knowing she could hear them.
"Did you know about Eira?" Jaune asked.
"And Amity?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, I knew about both," Sirena answered, "But I also told you that Salem already had the means to use Amity against us. Therefore, I had Sophie's swarm add a tracking function to its programming, and prevent anyone but silver-eyed warriors from editing communication authorization. Here, this should help you." She pulled out her scroll and sent a program to all four people, allowing them to listen in on whatever was said near the tower, as well as access any information that was being relayed through it.
"Then why didn't you do anything about Eira?" Jaune asked.
"I knew that she wouldn't become a problem," Sirena answered, "She is trying to prove that setting boundaries isn't the most evil thing she can do, yet her Light Ice semblance, her nature of spreading positive emotions, betrays her in that endeavor."
"Light Ice?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, Light Ice," Sirena answered, "It is the ability to create ice with all its positive connotations. Calmness, quiet, self-reflection, beauty. There are a few others like her, with similar abilities, all throughout the world. But there are also evil versions, for lack of a better word."
"Meaning?" Jaune asked.
"Dark Ice, for example," Sirena answered, "It encompasses all the negative aspects of ice. Harshness, cruelty, emotional coldness, death. Those are the dark sides of ice. Someone, somewhere, controls these, just like Eira controls the positive aspects."
"Is this only for ice?" Blake asked.
"No, there are others as well," Sirena answered, "I have personally met someone whose semblance was Light Thunder, who controlled all the positive aspects of lightning. But that was years ago, so I do not know what he is doing nowadays. However, I do know that, due to the high concentration in positive energy, Grimm hate the elements created with semblances like this."
"Meaning?" Jaune asked.
"It means we can use this to ward off Grimm," Weiss answered, turned to Sirena and asked, "Right?"
"Very right," Sirena answered, "While the constructs Eira creates with her ice are beautiful to us, Grimm find them repulsive to look at. I am actually quite interested in acquiring this semblance myself, but have so far been unable to."
"Yeah, sucks you won't get it," Weiss said, "With your aura regeneration in water, it would be useful, but Eira isn't trained to fight Grimm, and technically a civilian, so it's our duty to keep Grimm away from her at all costs."
"What are you talking about?" Nora asked, standing in the door, and exclaimed, "Hold on, Sirena is back?" Before anyone could stop her, she ran off to tell everyone. Weiss looked after her and sunk into thought.
"What're you thinking, Weiss?" Blake asked.
"Would it be possible for Eira to make dust with her semblance?" Weiss answered, "I mean, it is ice, and we know how to make dust, so it should work. It's just a question of whether or not it would retain its positive properties. If it did, then we could use that to our advantage." Nora came back, with Yang and Ren following her.
"See? I told you she's back," Nora said, and Yang and Ren took a moment to shake off his surprise.
"Nora, important question," Weiss said and asked, "How hard is it to make dust with your aura and semblance?"
"I'm… getting better," Nora answered, a bit confused, and asked, "Why do you ask?"
"I want you to teach Eira how to do that," Weiss answered, "If she can make ice-dust that has the positive effects of her semblance, it would give us a huge advantage against Salem."
"I see. Well, I suppose I can try," Nora said, "But I've never taught anyone anything, so I'm not sure how to best approach it. But first, she'd need to learn to turn ice into aura, and then she'd need a huge amount of ice, and keep absorbing it until she can't take any more. And then keep doing that. Probably. In any case, she would need a lot of aura."
"I can lend mine," Jaune said.
"And I can make a Healing Circle and Safezone," Weiss said.
"Alright, then let's go," Blake said, "After Knightshade had a proper match against Sirena, of course."
"I'm sure Jaune only said that to test his theory," Sirena said, and Weiss, Blake and Maria looked at Jaune.
"Nope, I planned to fight if you came," Jaune said, "Let's go, Blake." The two fused again and Weiss, Yang, Nora, Ren and Maria went to the spectator area, just as Qrow, Penny and the Ace-Ops arrived.
"So, she's really back?" Harriet asked.
"Seems like it," Ren answered, "And apparently, she's fighting Knightshade."
"Are you ready?" Sirena asked and drew her trident, getting ready to fight. Clover decided to pay attention to her and learn some of her moves.
"Of course," Knightshade answered and drew their bastard sword and attacked Sirena. Sirena blocked the attack with her trident and augmented her semblance with steam-dust, coating herself in fog. The force of impact sent a cloud of steam through the arena, and Knightshade immediately went on the offense, delivering a flurry of blows. Sirena created a steam-dust clone to get away from the fusion and jumped onto a pillar, where she started shooting water from her trident. Knightshade dodged the attack and sent an aura arc at Sirena, knocking her down.
"They're fast," Harriet said, watching the spectacle in awe. Knightshade rushed Sirena, who created two clones with Via Sun to intercept them. The clones exploded on contact, creating more smoke in the arena. Knightshade followed Sirena using Blake's predator sense, and Sirena decided to get more distance between her and the fusion, trying to set up an ambush. Sirena rushed through the arena, steam trailing behind her and slowly obscuring both fighters' vision. She fired a blast of air from her trident, knocked Knightshade back a bit and blasting her fog coating at the fusion.
"Looks like she finally found her match," Qrow said. The arena was completely covered in a thick fog, and no one could see further than half an arm's length. Knightshade had no problem navigating the area, and knew the same held true for Sirena, though for different reasons. The fusion walked through the arena, constantly on guard, when Sirena struck from the darkness. Knightshade blocked the attack and used Retaliation to hit Sirena with her own strength, before Sirena disappeared into the fog to try again.
"This is fascinating," Marrow said. Realizing they had a level playing field, Knightshade sent aura arcs into the mist, seemingly with no other purpose than hoping they hit Sirena. In response, Sirena launched more direct attacks than before, mostly aiming at the fusion's blind spots. Knightshade tanked the attacks, their aura regenerating faster than a normal person's and Retaliation hitting Sirena with her own strength.
"It's over," Maria said. Everyone looked into the fog and saw both fighters' auras break at the same time. The group went into the training room as the fog cleared up, and saw Blake, Jaune and Sirena on the ground, catching their breaths.
"Smart move breaking everything," Sirena said. The Ace-Ops looked around and saw the room in ruins from the fusion's stray attacks.
"Thanks," Blake said, "It was Jaune's idea."
"Well done," Sirena said.
"Thanks," Jaune said, "I figured, since you rely on your memory so much, that's probably how you navigate the place without seeing anything. So, I changed it."
"Anyway, Sirena, how about we fuse next?" Yang asked.
"If you insist," Sirena answered, "But I must warn you. We both care a lot about Ruby, so if she came into the picture, our fusion might forego everything else in favor of keeping her safe. We may even avoid splitting up again." Weiss and Maria used Aura Amp to recharge Sirena's aura, and she took Yang's hand.
"Of course," Yang said, "That's why I waited to suggest this until Ruby was somewhere else." She pulled Sirena into a hug and the two fused into Daybreaker, a fusion with shoulder-long black hair, silver eyes and a surprisingly small chest. She wore brown combat boots with steel toes, thigh-high light orange socks with the left one being scrunched up, and a brown pleated skirt over black bike shorts. She also wore a navy blue shirt under a brown bomber jacket with detached black sleeves, and had two large golden tonfas on her back, similar to how Cinder used to carry her swords. The fusion also had gills on her neck and small wings on her back, which were too small to carry her.
"Hold up, I need to try something," Daybreaker said, with both voices being equally prominent, and used Petal Burst to rush away, leaving everyone a bit stunned, and they eventually decided to go look for the fusion.
~o~
Weiss found Daybreaker in a small room, sitting in front of a Seer and talking to someone she couldn't quite make out. She heard an explosion and saw a golden light briefly flare up from the Seer, followed by the sounds of cheering people and panicking Grimm.
"This is incredible," Glynda said, "Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't shown up."
"Beacon would've fallen two years from your point," Daybreaker said, and Weiss gasped in surprise.
"Who was that?" Glynda asked.
"Me, Weiss Schnee," Weiss answered and entered the room, sitting down next to Daybreaker.
"Ah, a Schnee," Glynda said, "You look… older, if you don't mind me saying."
"No, it's fine, really," Weiss said, "I… I did go through some development at Beacon, after all."
"You're coming to Beacon?" Glynda asked.
"Yes," Weiss answered, "Please… well, make sure the other me is fine. She has a lot of… problems at home, and can't really deal with people too well."
"I will see what I can do," Glynda said.
"Thanks, Glynda," Weiss said, paused and said, "I mean, Miss Goodwitch."
"It appears we will be quite familiar in your time," Glynda said, "As strange as this entire conversation is."
"We will, yes," Weiss said, "And, well, could you do me a favor?"
"I can certainly hear what it is," Glynda said, "But it's another story if I can do it."
"Thanks," Weiss said and asked, "Could you tell Ozpin to send General Ironwood a message?"
"Sure, I can do that," Glynda answered and asked, "What kind of message?"
"A formal letter asking for a kind of exchange program," Weiss answered, "Winter Schnee teaches at Beacon for a year, and a Beacon teacher teaches at Atlas for the same time. Also, have the letter make it clear that it's only officially a formal request, but actually an order. Winter has some emotional barriers that keep her from being her best self, and Atlas is only making those barriers stronger. If we want any chance against Salem, we need to break those barriers, but only she can do it."
"H- how do you know about Salem?" Glynda asked in surprise.
"Ozpin told us," Weiss answered, "Also, when he and Ironwood meet again, make sure that Ozpin tells the General that protecting civilians is more important than anything, and if they ever lose their means of communication, protecting people will be his most important duty. And please stop him from upgrading the Atlesian Knights. The current models work well enough, and the next ones suck. Also, maybe teach Ironwood about preemptive strikes. The only Grimm who won't attack your cities eventually is a dead Grimm. Make sure he never forgets that. Protect the people, and kill Grimm, that is how he fights Salem."
"I see," Glynda said, "Alright, I'll see to it. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Weiss said, and Glynda's face disappeared as the Seer in her timeline was dispelled. Weiss went to get the others, while Daybreaker continued summoning Seers in other timelines.
~o~
After some more adventures, Daybreaker exerted herself too much, ran out of aura and split up, with Sirena collapsing from exhaustion, having shouldered the most of the burden, just as Yang had taken on all the pain when Frostbite fought Hazel's monster form. The group made sure to carefully put Sirena on a soft surface so she could recover from pushing herself so much. Suddenly, Sirena perked up and collapsed her trident into its scepter form.
"I need some aura, now," Sirena said and looked at Weiss and Maria, "My people are in danger. Ruby too." Weiss and Maria both used Aura Amp on her, she formed an ice blade from her right sleeve and opened a dark red portal, which closed as soon as she was through.
"So, what now?" Nora asked.
"Now we hope Ruby is fine," Weiss answered.
"Don't worry, it's Sirena we're talking about here," Qrow said, "She'll keep Ruby safe, no matter what."
"That's true," Blake said.
"But one thing still has me worried," Jaune said, "The deep sea hasn't had enough time to build up an ambient aura field yet. She might have trouble regenerating her aura down there like she does up here." The group slowly realized that this might mean Sirena could die to protect Ruby, who they knew hated when people got hurt for her sake, and were afraid to imagine how this would end.
~o~
Yang walked through Atlas, looking for Eira, and found the lion faunus in a part of Mantle, making ice to block a road. She had no problem staying calm, due to the ice's effects, and approached the wannabe villain.
"Hey, everything alright?" Yang asked, startling Eira a bit.
"What do you mean?" Eira asked, obviously feeling trapped.
"A little birdie told me your social life is a bit rough," Yang answered, "I can relate, honestly. And if you want, we can help. Just stop doing this stuff." Eira sighed.
"It's my boyfriend, Lavan," Eira said, "He acts like he owns me and feels entitled to all my time, when I have to work so we don't lose our house."
"Can't you just dump him?" Yang asked.
"And then what?" Eira asked, "Where will he live?"
"Prison," Yang answered casually, "I mean, he did drive you to commit some crimes, or at least try to, which would've caused a lot of trouble if you were any more successful at being a bad person."
"But-" Eira said, but was cut off by Yang.
"No buts," Yang said, "He sounds like a real piece of crap, and some time behind hard-light will help him reconsider his approach to people. All I need is for you to tell me to arrest him, and he'll leave you alone." Eira took a moment to contemplate, then made up her mind.
"Well, alright then," Eira said, "Get this man away from me."
"Got it," Yang said and wanted to fly straight to Eira's house using her maiden powers, but for some reason, they didn't work. She stood around awkwardly for a moment, then got going, acting like nothing was wrong, but sent a message to her friends, asking if they knew anything.
~o~
Ruby had possessed another sea creature, a deep sea leaf sheep, and was walking around the ocean floor with two more angel's tears, looking for Grimm so she could copy their semblances. She came across a few young guards, accompanied by an older one, and arrived just in time to see them kill the last in a pack of Grimm.
"Alright everyone, that's it-" the group's leader said, when suddenly, a sea dragon attacked. It rushed the guards, many of whom were like Ruby and didn't want to fight a non-Grimm enemy, so they fell back into a defensive position. The dragon tried to get to any of them, but they evaded its attacks and kept it occupied. Just as the dragon swam past Ruby, a red portal opened and Sirena came to the group's rescue, tackling the creature to the ground.
"Get to safety!" Sirena ordered, and the guards retreated. Ruby still felt like she had to do something and stayed, but could only watch, since the creature she had possessed lacked the arms to use Aura Amp. Sirena's aura quickly broke, and Ruby knew she would run out of oxygen if she kept moving so much. Sirena evaded the dragon's attacks, both its jaws and tail weapon, which resembled an axe, and eventually started choking out bubbles, but with no sign of surrender. She rushed the dragon one last time and impaled it through the chest with her trident, then sunk to the ocean floor herself, and three energy spheres shot out of her body as her maiden powers looked for new hosts. Ruby rushed over to her and used Bubble Teleport to get her to safety, sending her to the first place she could think of to try and save her.
Author's note: Yep. That happened.
What Sirena said: "I told you Salem could use Amity against us."
And what Sirena meant: "Well f*ck me sideways, I did not see that coming. I should really stop talking about what she can do."
The original purpose for the virus Sophie added to Amity's code was to let Sirena void Ironwood's admin rights so he couldn't remove or edit anything posted online once the tower was launched.