The next day came earlier than she was hoping. Sera was up for another two hours doing nothing but meditating under Qrow's instruction. After two hours of that, absolutely zero progress towards using her alleged semblance was made.

After she got ready, the two of them left the inn to finally search for the mystery Grimm. The bartender they'd met said it was likely near the mountain, so that's where they were heading. Sera made sure all of her gear was checked three times, just to be certain that there were no screwups.

The two of them had begun on a narrow dirt trail leading to the mountain in the dim light of sunrise walking at an agonizingly slow pace. After hours of walking, it was only about noon, and they were only just now getting near the mountain.

If she had to walk like this to travel somewhere far again, she was going to shoot herself.

Finally, she and Qrow reached a wide clearing near the base of the mountain. An old, ruined building laid in pieces in various places. Sera was about to keep walking to get through the area, but Qrow put his arm in front of her.

"Wait," he said, his eyes searching the area.

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly as she began to scan the clearing.

"Look," Qrow pointed, his finger sweeping across the tree line. It took her a moment to see it, but she noticed that several of the trees seemed to be… melted. Yep, melted. She wasn't sure how else to describe it, but the trees had entire sections missing from it, and some of them looked like melted candlesticks.

"What the hell…?" she thought aloud.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I've never seen something like that."

She reached for her sword. "It has to be that Grimm, right?"

"I dunno what else it could be," Qrow shrugged.

"But where is it?"

BOOM

The two of them looked towards the source of the noise and saw a mass of blackness at the edge of the clearing. It was enormous, with four huge legs that seemed to shake the ground with every step. White bone armor covered its body, like with all Grimm. On its chest, legs, neck, and head, it was covered. Or wait… heads.

The thing had two heads, each one attached to a long neck about as wide as a grown man's waist. The heads flitted around aimlessly while the Grimm examined its surroundings. She could see the glow of its eyes even from this far away. They dashed into the tree line and hid in the brush so that they could watch from a distance.

"Okay, what the hell is that thing?" Sera asked.

"I don't know," Qrow said. "I've never seen one in person."

She looked at him. "You know what it is?"

"Only from stories," he readied his sword. "These things are rare, kid. What one is doing here of all places, I have no idea."

She watched its heads inspect the ruined building before continuing on… coincidentally right in their direction. "What is it, though?" her eyes narrowed at the creature.

"A Hydra," Qrow said, his eyes glued to the Grimm. "Well, kid, now's your time to shine."

"You want me to fight that thing alone?!"

"That is what we came here for," he smirked. "Don't worry—if things start going south, I'll step in."

She took a deep breath and drew her sword. Her hands shook slightly, but not enough for Qrow to notice. She exhaled and steadied her hands before stepping into the clearing with Igni at her side.

The Hydra took notice of her immediately, its twin heads snapping to attention in her direction. It hissed, rows of razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the light. It looked like a dragon with two heads and no wings, but Sera knew it was going to be a tough opponent. She examined its body to look for a weak spot. Unfortunately, its scales and bone armor looked tough.

The Grimm roared and charged, its huge legs pounding the ground.

"Okay," she muttered and started to run towards it.

The Hydra was on her in seconds, its right head lunging at her. She evaded to the left and it rammed into the ground where she'd been standing. Sera tried to swipe at it, but the head withdrew before she could land a hit. She cursed and leapt to the side to dodge another attack. Not sure what else to do, she came up fast and drew her shotgun to blast the Grimm. The pellets bounced off its armor harmlessly, so she holstered the firearm.

"Great," she rolled her eyes. The Hydra lunged again, both heads flying towards her with its jaws open wide. With two sets of jaws coming for her, there was nowhere else to go but up.

Sera leapt straight into the air and over the heads, landing on one of its necks unsteadily. The Hydra hissed loudly when she landed on it. Without wasting a breath, she raised her sword and swung it at the neck she stood on.

Amethyst Igneous cleaved through its armored scales and through its neck like butter, effectively cutting the Grimm's head off. Its remaining head roared in agony and flailed in the air. Sera took the opportunity to leap off of the creature before its wild movements could knock her off. She smirked at how easily she'd cut its head off. Black ooze poured from the stump and hung limply… until it didn't. The severed neck stood erect, and a concentration of the Grimm's black blood seemed to bubble where it was cut.

"What?" she asked, raising her sword again.

In the span of just a few heartbeats, a pair of appendages shot from the Hydra's bleeding stump and flailed about. At the ends of them, the nubs grew larger and took form until Sera was now looking at a three-headed Hydra. The three heads all turned to her, three pairs of orange eyes glowing with hatred.

"Uh-oh," she said.

It lunged again, its heads hissing sharply while gnashing their teeth. She thought that Qrow would have jumped in, but apparently, he hadn't deemed it dangerous enough yet.

Just as the first head got close enough to her, she pressed her foot against its snout and used it as a sort of springboard to leap into the air. At a speed that would impress even Ruby, she sheathed her sword and drew her guitar. If her sword wouldn't cut through its scales, she'd have to try something else.

Sera quickly popped a shard of electric Dust into Jupiter and grinned as she pulled out her pick. The Hydra reared its heads and roared up at her just as she brought her hand down and strummed the guitar's strings into her favorite power chord. A bolt of violet lightning shot from the end of her weapon and collided with the Hydra's back, causing the Grimm to roar in response. The lightning seemed to do some damage, to her relief. The Hydra's heads flailed and shrieked, but the Grimm was quick to recover.

In free fall, Sera transformed Jupiter into its axe form and raised it high above her head. She knew that cutting its heads off was a bad idea, but she'd only cut one of them off the first time. What if she tried cutting all of them off instead?

The huntress lopped one of the creature's flailing heads off and landed nimbly in front of it. Before the Hydra had the chance to regrow more heads, she swung her weapon twice more and completely beheaded the beast.

With a smirk, Sera watched the Hydra's body crumple and fall to the ground, its three necks leaking black blood onto the grass. She spun her axe in her hand and collapsed it into its smaller form. The huntress dusted herself off and flashed a grin in Qrow's direction in the trees. She clipped Jupiter to her belt and turned away from the fallen Grimm.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be!" she announced. She grinned and began to make her way back to Qrow so she could brag about how effortless the fight was.

Then she heard something start to move from behind her and the huntress felt a chill run up her spine. She spun around with clenched fists and wild eyes. The Hydra's headless form slowly got to its feet, its claws digging into the ground while its bleeding stumps branched off and grew longer.

"No," she muttered. "No, no..."

The Hydra now had six necks with six heads forming at the ends of each one. Its black blood faded until Sera could see the six pairs of eyes glaring down at her.

"No, no, no! Fuck!" she cursed.

All six heads roared and made the huntress clamp her hands over her ears.

"Shut it!" she screamed and punched one of the heads in the jaw.

Hey, it worked.

The Grimm blinked uncertainly at her before seeming to recover its wits and lunge at her. Sera leapt backwards and drew Igni again, bracing the sword in front of her. The first head tired to sink its teeth into her, but she was just fast enough to duck under it. She slammed the hilt of Igni under its jaw and made the Hydra recoil in surprise.

"What the hell do I do against this thing?!" she shouted in Qrow's direction. No response. Great.

She groaned and stared down the monster. Its eyes seemed to calculate the best way to take her down. This Hydra was by far the most intelligent Grimm she'd ever encountered. Sera straightened her posture and held her sword tighter, raising it up into a defensive pose. After taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she charged.

The huntress ran straight at her opponent and brandished her sword. It tried to attack her with all six heads at once, but she hit the dirt and slid under its belly. Sera brought her sword up in a deadly arc and sliced into its armor. Unfortunately, the white bone covering its underside were tougher than she expected. Igni left a shallow gash in the natural armor, not even deep enough for the Grimm to feel. She bit back a curse and quickly rolled out from underneath the monster.

How was she supposed to get through its hide? Her sword and shotgun weren't doing anything, and her axe would likely reach the same result. The lightning blast from earlier was a good start, it hadn't done enough to make a difference. The only spot its scales were weaker was its necks, and that was the number one spot she shouldn't cut into. What else could she use to make cutting into armor more effective?

Lightbulb.

Sera dug into her pocket for a red crystal and grinned when she brought it into the light. She slid the Dust into her sword and smiled wickedly when its blade caught aflame with violet fire.

The Hydra reacted differently than she thought it would. Until now, it had been fairly indifferent towards her weapons, but now that she held a flaming sword, it was on its guard. In fact, it almost looked nervous.

"Huh," she blinked. "Don't like this?" she waved Igni.

The Hydra reeled, roaring in alarm as the sword flew through the air. It backed up, its heads flailing about.

"Doesn't like fire…" she thought to herself, ideas forming in her head. "Hm..."

The Hydra stomped about, its heads now spraying some sort of dark liquid from its mouth in every direction. Sera had to dodge to the side to avoid one flying straight towards her. The goo hit the dirt where she'd been standing and immediately started to hiss faintly, white smoke slowly trailing upwards. In an instant, the puzzle pieces clicked together in her mind.

That tree from earlier looked like it'd been melted, and now she knew why—this thing sprayed acid. She didn't even want to imagine what might happen if some of that stuff touched her.

Before she could formulate a plan to attack the thing, the Hydra stomped past her at a speed that seemed impossible. Its dragon-like heads roared into the sky, its eyes glowing more intensely.

"Where is it going…?" she thought aloud.

Qrow appeared from the tree line with Harbinger in hand. "The village!" he shouted as he raced after the Hydra. "It's heading for Tseldora!"

"What!" she exclaimed. Sera ran after the huntsman as fast as she could. She'd accidentally sent it into a frenzy simply from waving fire around, and now it was rampaging towards the settlement they'd been sent to protect.

Out of all her screwups, this takes the cake.

She finally caught up to Qrow and resisted the urge to slap herself in the forehead. "Now what do we do?" she yelled over the hissing and screeching of the Hydra.

"We have to stop it before it reaches the town!" he said urgently.

"How?!" she demanded.

The Grimm was getting ahead of them as time went on. If they didn't slow it down or stop it before it reached Tseldora, there's no telling how much damage it would cause.

"What made it do this?" Qrow asked.

"I don't know!" she panted. "I used Dust to light my sword on fire like usual, then it freaked!"

Qrow considered her words for a moment. "It's afraid of fire for some reason. You hit it with that lightning bolt, and it didn't even faze it."

"Maybe another huntsman used fire on it at some point and it remembers?" she guessed.

The huntsman frowned slightly. "I don't know. Maybe. But maybe something more…"

The Hydra hissed louder and made them recoil at the ear-splitting noise. Its heads flailed again as if it had gotten even angrier for some reason.

Another thought popped into Sera's head. This Grimm was behaving strangely. The creatures of Grimm destroy villages and kill people as soon as they find them, usually. Why was this one terrorizing Tseldora at random when it could easily bring down the whole town? It was weird. And what was up with its ability to grow heads? She's never heard of anything like that.

Sera was tiring out fast. It took her and Qrow hours to walk to the mountain from Tseldora, and now they had to sprint back. Who knows if they'd even have the stamina to fight once they could get this thing to stop?

The two huntsmen tried to catch up to the Hydra, but it was useless. They fired projectiles at it, but their shots only bounced off of its tough scales or bone armor. All they could do was chase it.

Finally, after nearly an entire hour of running, Tseldora came into view. And Sera was ready to collapse. Qrow was faring far better than she, but even he looked winded. The Hydra hissed loudly with all six of its heads, surely alerting the villagers to its presence. Sure enough, after a few seconds, an alarm began to ring throughout the town and Sera could see people scurrying about.

"Well, at least they're aware of the Hydra," she thought to herself.

The Grimm charged into town, trampling the wooden gate that was closing to try and stop it. Finally, it stopped running. The Hydra stomped through town, stepping on wooden carts and damaging random buildings.

Qrow brandished his Harbinger and leapt into the air, cleaving a deep gash into the Hydra's side. Two of its heads bent around to attack him, but he was fast enough to avoid them.

Sera bent over and put her hands on her knees, panting hard while Qrow fought the Grimm.

"Gods…" she heaved. "What the… That… Sucked…!"

Qrow deflected a blow from the Hydra. The Grimm spat acid and hit the side of a building, making the stone hiss as it melted. He slashed its hide, managing to cut even deeper and finally damage the creature. It screeched and sprayed acid, narrowly hitting Sera where she stood.

"Hey!" she jumped to the side to avoid the splash.

"Whenever you're ready, kid!" Qrow called after slicing into the Grimm's hide.

Sera stood straighter and turned to the fight. Qrow was keeping the Hydra busy, but the more the battle went on, the more that Tseldora was damaged. She drew Jupiter and raised her guitar pick before bringing it down hard, letting loose a power chord that made the Hydra shudder, its heads seeming to vibrate under the intense noise. It whipped around, its tail slamming into Qrow and sending him flying into a wooden cart filled with green spheres.

An older man peeked up from where he was hiding and shrieked, "My cabbages!"

Sera blinked uncertainly, surprised that Qrow had gotten hit so easily. She didn't get much time to wonder if he was okay—the Hydra was already on top of her. One of its heads snapped at her with acid-covered fangs and she had to roll to the side to get away. Sera came up fast and slammed her guitar as hard as she could under that head's chin, a crunching noise ringing out upon impact. The Hydra hissed and withdrew its head, but its lower jaw seemed to hang loosely. All six of its heads seemed to glare, their glowing eyes boring into her.

She couldn't help but laugh at the sixth head and its broken jaw just hanging there uselessly. That seemed to just make it angrier.

The Hydra roared at her and charged, its massive legs pounding the stone beneath it. Sera recovered quickly, raising her hand again to play another deafening power chord. She waited for it to get closer before she acted. As soon as the Grimm was within fifteen feet of her, she brought her hand down. Soundwaves pulsated from Jupiter and collided with the Grimm, sending it into a frenzy. Nearby windows shattered and civilians taking cover shielded their ears from the powerful noise.

Six heads hissed and flailed wildly, slamming into nearby buildings and each other in response to Sera's power chord. She smirked at it, then repositioned her fingers on the strings to continue playing. The huntress strummed again, playing a steady riff that sent loud noise in the Hydra's direction.

Finally, Qrow jumped back into the fight. Harbinger was in its scythe form, and Qrow used it to cleave into the Grimm's leg. Unfortunately, the leg was so armored and thick that the scythe could only cut so deep before it got stuck. Three of its heads lunged at the huntsman, and he had to yank his scythe free to get away.

Sera wanted to use flame Dust on Igni again, but she wasn't sure if she could safely do that without the Hydra going on a rampage and melting the town. Nevertheless, there was a reason it was afraid of fire. With all of their other attacks failing, she had to try something.

It was then that a group of civilians appeared in the street near the Grimm. They looked like teenagers either her age or younger, and each of them carried some form of weapon. Mostly farm tools, but one of them had a pretty basic broadsword. While Sera appreciated the thought, she knew that these kids would get hurt in this fight, or worse.

"Hey!" she shouted at them. "You need to get back—this is dangerous!"

The teenagers seemed surprised that she'd spoken to them, but they still brandished their "weapons." All of them were boys, just kids trying to defend their town.

"We want to fight!" one said, raising his gardening hoe. "That thing wrecked my house!"

"Yeah!" the others shouted.

Out of nowhere, two of the Hydra's heads lunged at the kids, and Sera had to jump into action. She appeared in front of them in an instant and kicked the first head, stomping it to the ground before slamming Jupiter into the other like a baseball bat. Before she could go in for another attack, the head under her heel withdrew and made her lose balance. The heads went back to the Hydra's body and the creature studied her with cold eyes. It was going to attack again, this time with more than just a couple heads.

The huntress slung her guitar across her back and drew Igni, lighting it ablaze in an instant. "I'm serious!" she looked over her shoulder at the village kids.

"We are too!" a smaller kid shouted.

Qrow dodged an attack from the Hydra and returned with one of his own, slashing one of the heads across its face. "Are those kids?!" he yelled in Sera's direction. "Get them out of here!"

"I'm trying!" she yelled back.

"We want to fight!" they all shouted. The Hydra turned towards them, apparently drawn by the noise. It hissed and lumbered across the ground, pounding the stone.

"Uh-oh," Sera mumbled. "Get the hell out of here already!" she yelled at the kids.

The village kids looked more and more nervous as the Grimm got closer. It glared them all down, crushing barrels and stones underfoot. Some of the teens took off running, but a few of the older ones stayed right where they were. The one with the broadsword had a fierce look on his face.

Sera cursed to herself. What was up with these kids? The Hydra didn't even care about the fire on her sword now. It was charging her at full speed. She held Igni in front of her with both hands, the fire warming the front of her body. Finally, the Grimm was almost upon them. It seemed to steer away from her sword, so maybe it wasn't fully over its fear of fire.

"Hm," she pursed her lips, brainstorming a few ideas. Then the kid with the sword charged, yelling a war cry as he ran. "No, you idiot!" Sera ran after him.

The kid was just a dozen feet away from the Hydra when all six of its heads flew towards him. He raised his sword just as the Grimm prepared to spit acid, then six globs of black liquid flew at the boy.

Sera caught up to the teen in seconds and shoved him aside before dodging away from the acid. The orbs splashed against the ground and melted the stone in seconds.

"Hey!" the kid said, his eyes angry. "What are you doing?"

"Saving your life!" Sera replied. She turned to the Hydra and brandished her weapon. The other kids seemed skittish. They weren't charging in like their brave friend.

The Grimm hissed at Sera, its heads just feet away from her. She recoiled, covering her nose with her forearm. "Blech! You stink!"

It lunged at her, and she had barely enough time to jump to the side. She sliced into its hide with Igni, and the Hydra hissed in pain. Igni cut deeper than any of her or Qrow's previous attacks had before. No blood splattered against the ground—the violet fire of her sword cauterized the wound immediately.

Sera blinked. Lightbulb. She grinned and spun away from the Hydra.

"Old man! I think I figured it out!" she called. No response. Where was Qrow? Whatever. Now that she had a plan that could work, she swelled with confidence.

The Hydra recoiled from the attack and hissed at its assailant. Sera grinned and raised her sword, bending her knees and widening her stance. She held Igni with one hand while she prepared her attack. She'd only used it a couple times before, but at least she'd finally come up with a name for it—Stinger.

She lunged forward and flew across the ground in an instant before Igni plunged into the Grimm's side. It hissed painfully and reared up on its back legs, flinging Sera into the air and freeing Igni from its side in one motion.

The huntress couldn't help but yell excitedly as she flew into the sky. She grinned and spread her arm wide as she hit the apex of her flight and began to fall back down. The Hydra was directly below her, its six heads searching frantically for her. The boy with the broadsword gaped at her, like he couldn't believe that she was smiling after being sent into the air. Finally, she landed on its back with enough force to make a sickening crunching noise under her boots.

"Time to test it out!" she raised Igni into the air and swung as hard as she could. It sliced through the Hydra's far right head with ease, violet flames burning the black flesh on contact.

The Grimm's remaining heads hissed and flailed, spitting globs of black acid in every direction.

Sera waited. And waited. And waited… And nothing happened. The severed head didn't grow back. The stump stayed burned.

The huntress grinned wide, genuine happiness filling her chest. She'd figured it out! She could beat this thing!

However, before she could lop off its remaining heads, the Grimm threw her off of its back and onto the ground. She came up fast, bracing her sword in front of her. Just in time, too. One of the Hydra's heads collided with Igni and sent her skidding backwards. Then that same kid with the broadsword appeared at her side, weapon in hand.

"Dude, why're you even still here?" she asked, annoyed.

"I want to help fight this thing!" he responded.

She rolled her eyes and got into a more comfortable fighting pose. "There's really nothing you could do, kid." She recoiled slightly. She sounded like Qrow.

"I'm not a kid!" he retorted.

Sera sighed and looked over at him before slugging him in the shoulder.

"Hey, that hurt!" he whined.

"Why didn't you use your aura?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Um…" he rubbed his sore shoulder.

"That's what I thought," she said.

The Hydra hissed again and lumbered towards them. Sera shoved the kid away and ran to meet the Grimm. She didn't care if the Hydra was much larger than she; now, there was someone just feet away that she had to protect. Even if that someone was an annoying teenager.

Sera slid under the Hydra's initial attack and cleaved her sword into its front leg with the motion of her slide. It roared in response and tried to stomp her with its other foot, but she was faster. She rolled out from under the monster and ran towards its heads. While the Hydra was distracted by its injured leg and that she'd managed to get out of its sight, Sera sliced another one of its heads off when she approached it. Unfortunately, its remaining heads turned on her and spat acid in her direction.

"Shit!" she thought. At the last second, she bent backwards and slid on her knees to avoid the acid. Sera recovered quickly and raised her sword before swinging it towards the nearest serpent head.

Unfortunately, just as she swung Igni, the flame Dust within it ran out. Unable to stop or divert her attack mid-swing, her sword sliced off its head.

"…Shit," she sighed, then jumped backwards. Just like before, the Hydra's severed head grew two more in its place. The heads glanced at each other before turning on its prey.

Qrow sighed from where he stood on top of one of the taller nearby buildings in Tseldora. "Nice going, Snowball. Just when you figure out the secret to beating this kind of Grimm, you go and make the same mistake," he sat down on the roof and took a swig from his silver flask. "Well, at least this'll go by a little faster now."

Sera panted lightly and held her sword tighter. Luckily, she still had a few more crystals of flame Dust in her pocket, so she still had a means of beating this thing. She quickly dispatched the spent crystal from Igni and popped in another.

Fortunately, that kid hasn't tried to jump back in the fight. Instead, he and the others watched from behind the cover of a low stone wall. She smirked and clicked the button on Igni, lighting it aflame once more.

The Hydra hissed at her, wary of her sword. But it got over its fear quickly and rushed her. Sera evaded its initial bite and smacked another serpent head aside before quickly decapitating it. The Grimm hissed in response, angry that it was back down to four heads. That head had been the one with the broken jaw.

Sera smirked and pressed her advantage, spinning in a circle and performing a somersault to the side and cut another head off mid-flip. That was a trick that she'd been practicing with Pyrrha, but she was amazed that she was able to pull it off in a situation such as this. Nonetheless, the Hydra now had only three heads.

From atop the building overlooking the fight, Qrow smirked. "Not bad."

The huntress drew her shotgun and blasted another head off before cleaving its neck to prevent more heads from growing back. A bit morbid, but hey, it worked.

Two heads left, and she was feeling confident. Sera grinned and twirled Igni in her hand. The Hydra watched her warily, its two heads glancing at each other. Funnily enough, the two heads remaining were the closest to being from the original pair.

"Okay," she murmured. "I'm ready to get this over with." She holstered her shotgun and held Igni with both hands.

Then the Hydra charged.

Sera evaded to the side as both heads tried to snap at her. She smirked at her successful dodge, but it melted as soon as she saw the large foot appear in front of her. Its foot slammed into her chest and made her grunt at the impact. To her dismay, as soon as she was sent backwards, one of the Hydra's heads bit onto her shoulder and wrapped its neck around her torso, keeping her sword arm immobile.

Shit.

The huntress fought against the Grimm, but she was simply not strong enough. Its other head bit her leg, and she couldn't help but cry out at the intense pressure. Her aura was doing well to defend her from the attacks, but she could tell it wouldn't be long before aura failed her.

"No, lady!" one of the kids nearby cried out.

She used her "free" hand to punch at the head biting her shoulder. She felt something crunch under her fist, but the head only clamped its jaws harder. Sera gritted her teeth and punched again, feeling strong bone shatter.

"Get. Off. Me!" she growled.

Qrow raised his eyebrow while he watched the fight unfold. He didn't intend on letting the Grimm harm her, he was getting a little worried. Sera's aura was already beginning to visible crack, but Ozpin had specifically told him to not intervene unless absolutely necessary.

Sera was getting angry. The edges of her vision darkened slightly as she focused on getting out of the creature's hold. She ground her teeth and slammed her fist into the head over and over while the other head bit into her leg with more force and the neck binding her torso squeezed tighter. She could feel some sort of new feeling wash over her, emerging from within her chest. The more it spread, the angrier she got until she was caving in the skull of the Hydra head at her shoulder.

From atop the building, Qrow's eyes widened as he watched the white-haired girl attack. But he wasn't looking at the carnage of the Hydra, he was watching Sera's face—or rather, her eyes.

Finally, its jaws released, and its neck loosened enough for her to untangle herself from the Hydra. In an instant, she sliced the head biting into her leg and decapitated it in a flash. She growled and turned, smoothly removing the ruined last head of the Hydra with her flaming sword. After a moment, its body collapsed on the ground and began to melt away.

Sera panted heavily, still angry that she'd been constrained so easily. After a few moments, she calmed down and took a deep breath. The huntress switched off the violet fire on Igni and sheathed it smoothly. Her lip curled into a frown, and she kicked the dead Hydra's leg just before it melted away into darkness.

She turned to examine the town, curious as to just how damaged it was from the fight. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as she was expecting.

The kids from earlier ran into the opening and cheered loudly while approaching her. The huntress raised an eyebrow at them as they crowded around her, their faces lighting up with joy.

"That was so cool!" one shouted.

"You beat it!" another said.

"Your weapons are awesome!" a third teen said excitedly.

"Can I have your scroll number?" an older one asked.

"Huh?" she turned but was drowned out by the small crowd of excited teenagers.

Qrow appeared behind her, drawing the attention of the village kids. They looked up at the huntsman with expressions of awe.

"Not bad, kid," he said.

Sera's look of mild confusion morphed to one of rage towards the huntsman. "And where were you at?!"

"Nearby," he shrugged.

"Where?!"

Qrow smirked and ruffled her hair. "Come on, let's get back to the inn."

"And just leave this place a wreck?" she asked.

He shrugged. "What do you want to do, clean it up yourself?"

Sera groaned and followed him. "I just thought someone would have questions."

"We'll get it sorted later," he waved it off. "I need to talk to you."

"Huh?" she asked.

The group of village kids could only watch in awe as the huntsmen walked away. The rest of Tseldora's citizens began to fill the street.

. . .

"I did what?!" Sera exclaimed. She and Qrow were in the inn's main room, sitting at one of the many stone tables. Others kept glancing at the two of them nervously.

"Your eyes," Qrow said rather seriously. "They turned red. Just for a minute, at least."

She sat back in her chair, her eyes wide with disbelief. "But… What could that mean? Am I like Yang, or something?"

"I don't know," Qrow said honestly. "It's something new, probably unique to you. I kinda doubt it's like what Yang's got going on. They weren't bright and fiery, they were… dark, and crimson."

The huntress stared at the table absently. Maybe she was overreacting, but she felt like there was something sinister about this discovery. Even if she did think having eyes that turned red was cool.

"What happens now?" she asked.

Qrow looked into his mug of ale. "Hm," he said. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's a hint to your semblance. Like I said before, emotion plays a big role in semblances and abilities. And what emotions were you feeling when that Grimm had you held down?"

"Anger," she murmured.

"Then you do have one thing in common with Yang," he chuckled.

Sera tapped her fingers on the table. It wasn't just anger she'd felt, though. It was… rage. Pure rage. "Are we going to stay here now that the Grimm is dead, or are we going to keep working at my semblance?"

The huntsman interlaced his fingers. "That depends. Do you think you can unlock your semblance in the next day or two."

She glanced down at the table and tightened her jaw. "No."

"Why?"

"I don't think I can make any progress unless I'm in a real fight," she said, not really sure of it until the words left her mouth.

Qrow quirked an eyebrow. "Is that right?" He wasn't sure if he liked seeing Sera like this. She seemed to sulk, and he wasn't sure why. She'd made progress, even if it was just a little.

"Come on, cheer up, kid," he nudged her. "Since that Hydra is dead and we've made some headway on your semblance, we can head back to Vale. I thought you wanted that."

"Yeah," she said. Then she perked up a little. "Yeah, you're right. But… there was something I wanted to ask you about."

"What's that?"

"About telling the others… About everything," she tapped her finger.

"Ah," the huntsman took a sip from his ale. "If you think you should, I don't see any reason to say otherwise. I know Ruby and Yang wouldn't think any less of you," he set his mug down. "What about that other team? You gonna tell them, too?"

"I think it'd be for the best," she admitted. "I'm tired of keeping it to myself. Blake knows, but still."

Qrow nodded. "Then do it. Ozpin already said you could tell whoever you want."

"I know," she said. "I just wanted your advice on it first."

"Not sure why you'd want my advice, kid," he shrugged. "But I stand by what I said."

Sera nodded, looking down at the table. She twiddled her thumbs restlessly.

"What is it?" Qrow asked.

"I dunno," she admitted. "I just have this bad feeling that—"

"There she is!" a voice shouted.

The two of them looked over to find a group of people at the entrance of the inn, including the kids that tried to fight the Hydra with her.

"She saved the town from that Grimm!" the kid that had the broadsword pointed.

The villagers flooded into the inn and surrounded their table, praising her and giving their thanks. She was too taken back to mention that it had been her fault that they fought the Grimm in town in the first place. She blinked at the small crowd uncertainly, still stunned that they surrounded her.

Qrow smirked from where he sat. He knew she wasn't used to praise. Hell, he rarely received it himself. It was part of the job, and people weren't always so grateful. Still, it was better treatment than they'd gotten when they arrived. Slowly but surely, a smile spread across Sera's face.