Two Years. Its been two Fucking years since I last updated this story. I know I said I wanted to write the prequal for this to describe what Gales went through in order to become the person he is now, but damn it, I'm coming back to work on this. My reasons? I really want to get back to this story, and I think a two year hiatus is a long enough break, and if I don't get back to it now, I might never get back to it, and I don't wanna move this thing from Hiatus to Cancelled. That doesn't feel right, especially considering this was my very first story to ever be posted on Fanfiction. I owe it to myself and you guys to see the end of this story.

Also a side note, I just finished going two days reviewing and editing all 263 pages that make up this story. There are bound to be a few things I've missed, if you chose to go back and read them and notice that I missed something, please let me know. It'll help me speed up the editing process.

That said, lets go.

A new dawn rises across the Kingdom of Vale. With it everyone begins to start their day. People go about their morning rituals, washing up, eating breakfast and maybe getting that cup of coffee to help give them that kick they needed.

For Ozpin though, his morning brew consisted of hot cocoa, a sign that his sweet tooth was still nagging at him despite the early hour. That was a usual thing for him though. He'd always had a sweet tooth, and it hadn't disappeared over the years.

Still…

Taking a drink from his Cocoa, Ozpin took a moment to think back to what had happened just a few days ago, how Gales had told him about what he dubbed to be the Old King. To think something like that was now just outside of the veil… it… bothered him.

Hearing about it, hearing it's description brought back memories he had rather kept buried.

Memories of a time he wanted to forget.

'A beast like that, a wyvern… they disappeared a long time ago.' They disappeared alongside Old Humanity. They should have died out, so why was one here in this day and age? And how did Gales know about it?"

Thinking about the youth, Ozpin lowered his cup and rested his hands under his chin in thought.

Gales… it seemed the mystery surrounding that boy was greater than he thought.

It wasn't just because of his eyes, no, there was much more going on with that child than he was telling.

The clothing he initially wore; the style was old… almost too old at that. Huntsman or not, none wore that kind of attire anymore.

That weapon he had been found with, Gandora if he remembered correctly, it was old as well, and certainly designed not for slaying your everyday Grimm; it's size, its weight, it was made for hunting larger than life beasts, it was a genuine dragon slaying weapon.

His necklace, that shard of dust that should be extinct.

And that brief mention of Sigils, that had stayed in the back of his head since Gales had mentioned it in passing.

"Who are you Gales?" Ozpin asked and found no answer coming back to him. "What are you?" Again he couldn't find an answer. Was that boy just some offlander? Was he a relic of the past - a piece of Old Humanity that somehow survived and found its way to this age? Was he something else? And what about this cult he knew about, what about this wyvern - the Old King as he called them?

For Ozpin, things weren't adding up, and that bothered him. Still, what could he do about it? His never ending war with Salem was as tiresome as it had become, was painfully simple to understand.

Salem had her agents seek to undermine the Four Kingdoms, his would fight back to ensure humanity saw another day. If he defeated Salem, she'd retreat into the dark and rearrange her plans. If he failed even once, all would be lost. It was a painfully long dance they had grown accustomed to, but now, it appeared that the tempo they were forced to dance to was changing.

Someone else was out there, worse something else was going on in the world.

"No doubt that Wyvern will only be the first." He muttered to himself as he looked at his hot cocoa and raised it up. "If one of those old beasts have returned, no doubt others will follow." He took a drink of his cocoa and frowned. "But where will they come from?"

Gales yawned as he pulled himself from bed, taking the time to stretch as he glanced at the clock at the side of his bed. He'd found a way to turn the alarm off so it was screaming in his ear, but that didn't change the fact it still showed him what time it was.

He still had an hour or so before school actually started, so that was plenty of time to shower and get a jog in, unfortunately the latter was out of the question. As much as he could power through pain, he still needed time to let his body just rest and properly patch itself up. "So I guess I'll just shower and get lay in bed before class starts." He muttered as he got out of ben and walked over to the remains of Wyrmsflare. He sighed. "Sorry." He muttered to himself. "I guess I didn't make you sturdy enough to power through wyverns." He lifted the broken weapon as he glanced at Gandora. "Hm…"

What to do?

Guess he could go back to using Gandora while he was here, he was comfortable with the blade anyway.

Or maybe he could cannibalize Gandora and turn it into his next Ignition Blade prototype.

"I think I'll hold on the latter." Gales stated with this light smile. "I mean. I don't mind giving Gandora a new look, but I'm still working out the kinks for an Ignition Blade." He admitted as he set the broken blade on the table and looked to the handgun he was working with. "Also need a new gun. Sorry but you aren't going to cut it." He admitted looking at his Fangbreaker Bowgun.

"Already planning on improving your gear." Gales flinched- but that flinch quickly turned into him raising his handgun and pointing it at his window to find a vaguely familiar face.

"You." Gales stared at the woman that was leaning against his window. "You're the woman that helped me out back when the Order had me."

"I'm glad you remember me." The woman stated as she did this light bow.

"Where the hell have you been?" Gales suddenly asked. "You've been gone since I got out the hospital, and I haven't seen even a hair of yours ever since." He told her.

"That was the point." Was all the woman said as she stood straight and stared at the youth before her as he lowered the handgun. "Its hard to find someone if they don't want to be found." She told him.

"I guess you're right." Gales muttered. "And… thanks." He muttered. "You really helped me out back there. If you hadn't given me that drink… if you hadn't found a way to use that crystal - Dust to bring me here than-"

"Aetheryte." Gales paused as he heard the word.

"Sorry?"

"That crystallized Bioenergy, what the people here know as Dust… is what we call Aetheryte… or if you want, you call it Matera." She informed him. "And I didn't use it to send you away, you did." Gales raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

"All I did was place your hand on the crystal, you were the one who activated it."

"And you've lost me." Gale muttered as the woman just chuckled.

"I'm not surprised, you weren't aware of that gift after all." She told him as she settled down on his bed. "The gift you inherited from your mother." Gales didn't say anything. "Would you like me to explain?"

"Are you going to anyway?"

"Not unless you wish it." The woman stated as she fell silent and Gales seemed to think.

"Sure~" Gales muttered. "Why not?"

"Well, as you know, Aetheryte, or Dust as you called it, is a crystallized version of aetheric mist or bioenergy." She informed him. "The very same bioenergy that lives within you and me, and every animal that wanders the realms, as well as the world itself." The woman stated. "It is… the source of life and a physical manifestation of those that came before, carrying pieces of their knowledge and wisdom." She whispered. "Your mother, she had a very strong connection to Aether, and she could use it to command the Crystals to function as doors if you so chose." The woman paused. "So long as an abundance of Aetheryte existed in that area." The woman stated. "Your mother, she passed that gift on to you when you were born."

"Is that it?" Gales gripped his necklace for a moment and fell silent. "That doesn't make any sense though." He stated. "I've seen Weiss use Dust or Aetheryte, and it follows her commands. If It's inherited, does she have that same blood as I do." He paused. "Wait, is Weiss my cousin?" That would explain why they both had white hair. "If that's the case though, that means the Order will be after her too."

"Rest assured, Weiss is not one of our bloodlines." She told him and seemed to think. "As such she will not be targeted by them."

"But if its a bloodline thing, why can she use dust." Gales frowned, narrowing his eyes. "Wait.. related to that, why can a lot of people here use it; there's whole documents on people using it."

"You're correct." The woman stated. "Aetheryte is the physical manifestation of those that came before, and anyone in possession of that knowledge can harness the powers of the Land."

"So as long as people have these crystals, anyone can use them." Gales continued rubbing his necklace. "So what made my… mom so special?"

"Many things." The woman smiled at some fond memories."Her beauty, her grace, her charisma…" She paused. "But in this situation it was that she could harness raw Aether, and use it however she wished weven without a crystal. And beyond that, could lull the Aetheryte to sleep, so that they might not be used." The woman whispered. "Or if she so wanted, she could rouse it from it's slumber so that they might be used by all." Gales just stared at the woman for a moment as he gripped his crystal.

"She could do that?" He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be impressed or terrified by that thought. Someone who could command Aetheryte to wake and sleep as they saw fit was a strange concept to him, but not a good one either.

Still…

"If you're saying she could control Aether without a crystal, and she could control Aetheryte…" He paused. "And that she passed those gifts on to me, then the crystal that sent us here -"

"Only awakened because you were near it." The woman nodded. "Your mother sealed every Aetheryte path shortly before you were born. And you opened them once more."

"How? Why?"

"I can not give you a definitive answer I'm afraid. I can only guess that it responded to your desire to 'leave'." The woman assumed. "It responded to you, and in turn it woke every aetheryte crystal across the Sea of Stars." Gales just shook his head before scratching it.

"That's… nuts…" He muttered for a moment. "Is that why the Order was after me?" He asked after a minute. "Because I could open these… pathways?"

"Partly." The woman nodded her head. "Your mother was very special, and so are you."
"Why?" Gales asked. "What makes us so special?" The woman just gestured to her hair.

"The shade of white in our hair implies the purity of our bloodline. " She told him. "Your mother was one of the last 5 pureblood; and half-wyvernian or not, your blood is still incredibly pure." Gales just rolled his eyes. "In fact I'd dare say that your blood purity is almost on par with the Order's Kaiser."

"Never met the guy, but I doubt that."

"You never know." The woman hummed as she got to her feet. "Well, you should get ready for class."

"In a minute." Gales muttered as he crossed his arms. "You… are you planning on disappearing again?"

"I work better in the shadows." The woman stated. "But if you want me to stay, I shall."

"I see." Gales muttered as he looked elsewhere awkwardly. "How exactly would that work?" The woman just gave him a smile, thought it was one he wasn't exactly sure how he felt about. "Nevermind, just… if you're going to stick around, try not to get into trouble, ok?"

"As you wish."

"And uh…" He muttered as he looked away. "Um…" He muttered. "I… I never got your name." The woman just smiled at him.

"Ivory Tears She told him before bowing. "Handmaid and bodyguard of the late Lady Medea, at your service."

"Please don't do that." Gales muttered as he turned to the washroom. "I'm going to take a shower… I guess I'll see you later." Ivory just nodded her head.

Later

"Gales… Gales?" Pyrrha nudged the boy as he seemed to suddenly snap at attention.

"Hm?" Gales looked to the side, noticing tha Pyrrha was giving him a concerned look. "Huh, oh yeah, what's up?"

"You seem out of it." She whispered as she gestured to the lack of notes that he was taking. "Are you ok. Are your injuries acting up?" Gale shook his head.

"No, they're fine, just…" He paused as he searched for his words. "I'm just distracted." He admitted.

"What is it?" Gales didn't say anything for a moment as he grabbed his necklace, something Pyrrha noticed.

"I'll tell you later ok. I'm still processing a lot of it." He told her as he gave her one of his smile, although it didn't seem as bright as usual. Pyrrha just stared at him as she fell silent before nodding her head. "Alright." She whispered as she turned her attention back ahead. Gales did the same trying to focus on class only for his mind to start drifting.

'Who… what am I?' Gales asked as he started to frown. 'I'm half human, half-wyvernian.' He reminded himself. 'Im a hybrid with curiously strong Wyvernian genes running inside me.' He grumbled something under his breath. 'I've always known that.' but what else is there about me that I'm not aware of?' He frowned.

That lady, Ivory, she said she was his mothers Handmaiden and bodyguard… so that meant his mom had to be some kind of noble amongst the Lost Order.

'There's more to that, isn't it.' He thought as he made a noise. 'And her apparent ability to awaken and lul the aetheryte to sleep… That can't be a normal gift.' Gales thought as he toyed with his necklace. 'Just… who was my mother, who was my father for that matter?' Gales made a noise. "And who the hell am I?" Gales didn't realize he was muttering.

Pyrrha did though. And she gave her friend a look of concern.

Ozpin couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine as he stared ahead, attention focused on the woman that was in front of him, a smile, one more professional than sincere on her face as she just looked back at him.

"I wasn't aware you were still in town." He said after a moment looking into the woman's cold but radiant blue eyes. "Where have you been, if i may ask."

"In shadows." Ivory stated simply.

"I see." Ozpin said simply. "Then, if I may ask, why did you choose to return to the light?"

"It is easier to give gratitude when you are face to face with others." Ivory admitted as she lowered her head, bowing to the man before her. "For assisting and looking after Gales as you have, you have my sincerest gratitude."

"You're most welcome." Ozpin stated. "I'm actually quite happy to know that he's alive."

"Are you now?"

"Yes." Ozpin admitted. "It always warms my heart to know that a child survives." He paused. "And Gales is quite a character."

"He certainly is." Ivory chuckled slightly.

"Still…" Ozpin began." How might I help you?"

"I wish to assist Gales." She told him. "I'm afraid there are things you can not teach him, but I can."

"How might that be?"

"How indeed." Ivory just kept that professional smile on her face as she closed her eyes for a moment.