Shin'en's Oldest Niece

I decided to do this one instead of jumping back to Dragon Princess. In fact, I think I'm going to finish this story. Binge it all the way to the end.

But I've said similar things about my other stories in the past, so let's see how it goes!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and the New Year is going to be a great one!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or RWBY

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Ruby, like everyone, was tense and brimming with questions. Had Shin'en really been the one to kill all those people? Were those Faunus kids really being bought and sold like property, and then tortured to death for entertainment? Had Shin'en really been the one to go through Mantle General and heal everyone?

None of these were asked, however.

The only sounds were those of boots upon stone as everyone descended the mine shaft in silence.

Shin'en was at the lead, his pace sedate and calm. He was in no hurry, and there was nothing to indicate that he was worried about anything, like how his oldest niece was here in Remnant. That led to a whole slew of other questions. Who was Shin'en's niece? How did she end up on Remnant? Just what was she to have made such a terrifying, inhuman screech, and also scare out a whole mine's worth of Grimm? Was his niece from his godly side, or his human side?

Well, given the sound she had apparently made earlier, probably his godly side.

After so many more steps of silence, Ruby finally worked up her nerve. She sped up a little so she could stand next to him.

"Hey, Shin'en?"

"Hey, Ruby?"

She almost smiled, but her apprehension got the better of her. Though, she did feel more at ease that he wasn't…in a mood? Something like that. "Is what Ironwood said-"

"True? Yes. As I told you before, there's more to saving the world than defeating some grand evil. There are many pockets of smaller evil to be sought out and destroyed, and you have a duty and responsibility to use your powers to their fullest extent to accomplish that task as best you can. I do not shirk my own teachings. That is why I also went to the hospital."

"You really healed all of those people?"

"Ruby, I can bring the dead back to life given there's enough of their remains left. You really think I can't heal the lame and malformed?"

"You can do what?!" Elm balked.

Another screech came from further below, causing everyone besides Shin'en to pause.

"Do keep your voice down," Shin'en said. "She's quite agitated down there, and I'm trying to keep her from destabilizing this entire mine. She can hear you shouting at me, and that really sets her off. But, yes. Given enough of a body remains, I can bring them back to life. I can also heal severe injuries, like regrowing limbs."

The Ace-Ops looked at Yang.

"I like my new arm," she said.

"Indeed," Shin'en said. "Yes, I am a healer as much as I am a teacher and killer of men."

"Black-ops death squad," Ruby repeated quietly.

"Yes. We were officially known as Yūrei, hence my name. Our epithet was the Bloody Ghosts of the Land of Water. Our services were expensive, but we were worth every ryō spent—that was our currency back then, the ryō. We killed people. A lot of them."

"Why?"

"War efforts aren't cheap. Officially, we were a mercenary group for hire. Unofficially, we were soldiers for the rebellion. Short version in some easy-to-understand context, a dictator wanted to kill all the Faunus, and the Faunus leader didn't want that, and so she rallied the Faunus behind her and also drew in plenty of sympathizers. The reason I got involved was because the dictator sent a shark to the orphanage I was growing up in, and when he got back, another group was dispatched, and they blew up my home with all my brothers and sisters still inside while I was out. Wanted revenge, and I got it. One thing led to another, and now here are three millennia later."

There was no malice or hate in his voice, like the memories carried anger-inducing pain. He sounded like he was merely recounting the events of another day at the office. Granted, he did say it had been three thousand years, but he had also said it hadn't been that way for him because of some time dilation. Whatever the case, in however much time it had been, it appeared that Shin'en had made peace with his past and it didn't bother him.

"Why are you so…" Ruby paused, trying to find the words, "…so open with us all of a sudden?"

"I told you: it is my prerogative to answer and/or reveal any personal information at my leisure. I have decided to be more forthcoming because the games are over. Now this is business. You need more information on who I am to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. Growing up an orphan, I have a soft spot for orphans. Being involved in black-ops, I am well acquainted with the criminal underground and killing people. Given my experience with the criminal underground and the shit I used to do, I have developed a code of morals and ethics that dictates how I deal with certain people who have committed certain sins. Do you understand this?"

"I-I do," Ruby said shakily. "I think." There was more silence for a time as everyone digested this huge influx of Shin'en lore. As for Ruby, her mind was swimming. She clenched her fists and said, "I want to go with you next time."

Shin'en didn't falter or hesitate. "Very well. Have you watched the video I sent to Ironwood?"

"N-Not yet."

"Do so. I want you prepared, that way you don't hesitate in the field. This isn't Grimm we're talking about. It's people."

Ruby nodded. "I will."

"Hey!" Yang spoke up. "Who said you can just take my sister-"

Shin'en came to a full stop and turned all the way around. Yang took a step back.

"Your compliance in this is not a factor," Shin'en said with authority. "Ruby wants to step up and see the darker side of things because she wants to make a difference. You have no say in that."

Blake stepped forward. "I want to join you two. I'll watch the video. If there are Faunus kids in danger, I want to help."

"Wait, hang on-" Clover started to say, but Shin'en looked at him.

"If you're about to say something about legal procedures and vigilantism, I'm going to let my niece eat you."

That caused some more questions to pop into Ruby's head about the nature of Shin'en's niece. Deep, loud screeches, indicating something big was down there; Shin'en had said he was trying to keep her from destabilizing the mine, indicating she was packing some kind of serious power—though, if she was related to Shin'en through the godly side of him, then it made sense that she would be a powerful being as well—and now Shin'en was alluding that she could eat people.

Who was this girl?

Clover held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Wasn't going to say that. I was only going to say it would look better if all of you were officially licensed Huntsmen. Cracking down on crime is great, no matter who's doing it-"

"But there's a certain charm to who is doing it," Shin'en finished for Clover.

"Exactly. It's one thing for a bunch for a bunch of teenagers to be out there exposing criminal activity, but it's something else if those teenagers are all Huntsmen working with General Ironwood to show that Mantle is on his list of priorities. That would help foster a sense of peace and unity, which fosters a sense of calm, which keeps more of the Grimm away from Mantle."

"And we can sweeten the pot by bringing Robyn Hill into the fold," Shin'en added. "The running candidate for the council and the general working together creates a powerful image."

Clover hesitated, the Ace-Ops sharing a look between themselves. Their leader was slow in his response. "I…can see that happening, yes."

"Then it is decided," Shin'en declared with finality.

He turned and started back down the mine shaft.

Ruby followed him, with the rest of the journey being spent in silence until the young Maiden worked her nerve again.

"So…uh…who's your niece?"

"Her name is Annabeth," Shin'en answered, with a little glimmer of amusement in his eye. Quite clearly, there was a multitude of inside jokes to those four words. "She is the oldest daughter of my sister, Asteria."

"Oh, wow, you have a sister? Is she older than you? Would we be friends? What's she like?"

Shin'en's lips quirked up, and the mirthful twinkle gained a slightly manic quality. "In order: yes, no, possibly, and she's ruthless, violent, prideful, powerful, a rapist, arguably racist, and genocidal. In the land that was given to her, she killed and destroyed every living creature there, harvesting their bodies to serve as unwilling incubators for her many, many young, though Annabeth, her two younger sisters and her younger brother, are all special, in that they were born from her, instead of out of something else."

Everyone had stopped moving at the "rapist" part.

Mind whirling, Ruby stuck to the last part. "Born…from her…instead of…out of…huh?"

"Asteria's a rapist. She has a method of injecting her egg cells into a host body through the mouth, and the egg gestates within the host before forcing its way out through the chest. The resulting offspring are called chestbursters. However, she can also reproduce sexually, and she and her mate, Cain, did so. That is how they begot my nephew, Arcadia. Annabeth and her sisters were adopted as humans by Asteria, and through a complicated process of enzymes, became her biological daughters."

Shin'en said all of this in a flippant manner, clearly finding a twisted sense of amusement in how uncomfortable everyone was becoming.

Clover spoke up, "And, uh, can Annabeth…er…reproduce by-"

"Oh, no. She is far too young for that. She's only 109 years old."

Ruby's, along with everyone else's, eyes popped out of their skulls.

"Only 109!?" the Maiden balked on behalf of everyone.

"Yes. The way her body works, she matures very slowly."

If things hadn't been tense before, with Shin'en appearing out of nowhere after a night of slaughter, informing everyone that the source of the terrible screech that was able to scare out a whole nest of Grimm was his niece, then things were now so tense that they were starting to fray. The more out-of-context information Shin'en revealed about his niece Annabeth, the more worried everyone became.

"She's not gonna hurt us, is she?" Ruby asked.

"Not so long as I tell her not to."

"And you're gonna tell her not to hurt us, right?"

"Hmmmm…maybe. You might annoy me and I'll be like, Annabeth? Get 'em, and she'll get you. Her mother trained her well, after all."

Shin'en forged ahead, and with everyone wondering how disrespectful it would be to have their weapons in their hands, they finally made it down to the bottom of the mine.

Where they found what was presumably Annabeth.

Everyone brought out their weapons.

"That's your niece!?" Weiss cried in alarm from somewhere behind Ruby.

Before them was a creature born from their worst nightmares. Solid black, slightly insectoid with a biomechanical aesthetic, an eyeless head with a huge crest, a cheekless jaw that showed translucent tendons and two rows of translucent needle-like teeth that all profusely dripped with saliva, and a tongue with a mouth at the end of it. Her profile was that of a capital T, with two digitigrade legs, a long, thick, segmented tail ending in a huge barb, four arms, two at each shoulder, each one long, powerful, and ending with digits topped with wicked claws, and upon her back, where her shoulder blades were, was an elaborate arrangement of spikes. Three big ones on each side of her spine that protruded outward, and a number of smaller ones between those. Finally, she was big. Taller than a Bullhead, and a longer than one too.

Just what in the fuck was Asteria to have produced a child like this?

"Indeed, she is," Shin'en said fondly. "Though she doesn't usually take her Sentinel form. Annabeth! Calm down and get over here."

Annabeth seemed to "look" at all of them with that big, eyeless head of hers, before she apparently did as instructed. Her body froze and then began to dry out, lose its color and becoming pale. Cracks formed, and then pieces began falling away. It was like watching an insect molt, or a snake shed its skin.

As if things couldn't get any weirder, from out of the general chest area of the nightmarish creature dropped an abomination of a young girl. Her skin was an unnatural black with the look of chitinous leather. She was skinny, her ribs slightly protruding from her chest, but she didn't look at all unhealthy, just pure muscle with zero body fat. Claws adorned her hands and feet, and a long, slender, segmented, whip-like tail ending in a spike protruded at the base of her spine. From her back, contrary to her other form, were four tubes between her shoulder blades, two pointing up and two pointing down. The sclera of her eyes was solid black, her pupils vertical slits, and her irises the color of an approaching storm cloud. Her hair wasn't at all hair, but numerous long, thing, fleshy tendrils that fell to her shoulders.

She looked to be about nine or ten, supporting Shin'en's claim that she was 109 yet slowly matured—assuming he wasn't pulling anyone's leg.

Her lips curled back in a snarl as she glowered at everyone behind her uncle, exposing two rows of some of the straightest, cleanest teeth anyone had ever seen. Mostly because they were a pearly translucent. Also her incisors were very sharp, and her gums and tongue were black.

Ruby tried to liken her to a Faunus, but it was hard.

Annabeth screeched and caused the whole mine to tremble. Ruby covered her ears, as did everyone else around her besides Shin'en, who was starting to look annoyed.

"Quiet!" he shouted, and Annabeth indeed went quiet. "Now, then…how are you here?"

Shin'en and Annabeth then launched into a staring contest.

After a few seconds:

"I see. Are any of your siblings here?...Alright. Your mother or father?...Very well. In that case, you will stay with me. I trust your parents will show up one way or another very soon, and if not, in two weeks, I'll take you back home myself."

Annabeth must've found this acceptable, because she nodded. Then she looked at Ruby, and her black pupils suddenly turned a blazing red.

Ruby flinched and raised her scythe.

"Easy now," Shin'en warned. "She can shift her vision to be able to see heat. That's what the red pupils signify. Also a very effective intimidation tool."

"Intimidation?" Ruby asked.

Shin'en smirked. "She's sizing you up. Trying to see if you'd be a worthy trophy to bring back to her mother."

"What—what does that mean?"

"It means that if she finds you worthy, she's going to rip your spine out of your body with your skull still attached, clean it of all blood, muscles, organs, and whatever else tissue remains, and give the bones as a prize to her mother in her mother's name, and also as a demonstration of her own strength and power."

Ruby recoiled, horrified.

Yang cocked Ember Cecilia. "Like hell!"

Annabeth hissed at her.

"Calm down," Shin'en said easily. He looked at his niece. "There will be no trophies made from anyone here, do you understand me?"

Annabeth looked at him and snarled. Shin'en turned fully around at that one, and his niece immediately popped into a fighting stance: down on her hands and feet, her tail pointing forward, her lips curled back to reveal her teeth, saliva profusely dripping from her mouth, her jaw extending further down that what any human jaw was capable of.

Ruby couldn't think of this girl as a Faunus. She was just way too…alien.

Shin'en stared down his niece. "Do not forget that in the absence of your parents, I have authority over you as if you were my own daughter, by your mother's own decree. I will discipline you. My order stands. You will not harm any of these people behind me unless I give you permission to do so. Do you understand me?"

The final statement of his monologue was punctuated with the hardest edge in his voice Ruby had yet to hear. It honestly scared her.

As for Annabeth, she shut her mouth and straightened up, albeit with a scowl on her face. She bobbed her head once.

"Good," Shin'en said. He turned to address Ruby and everyone else. "And if any of you lay hands on her, you will answer to me."

Ruby could tell the threat was aimed more at the Ace-Ops, the individuals that knew him the least, were the most mistrustful, and reported to Ironwood. Still, that didn't mean Ruby was going to be picking a fight with Annabeth any time soon.

"We won't harm her," Clover said earnestly.

"Oh, you most certainly won't ever do that," Shin'en said flippantly. "It's not actually a threat I am making against you that you will deal with me if you come after my niece. It's a vow of protection. Annabeth is not as forgiving as I am, and her mother Asteria even lesser. Believe me, you would much rather deal with me than either of them. I can be reasoned with if I'm a generous enough mood. Annabeth and her family will just tear you apart."

Coming from the god-man that had seamlessly slaughtered dozens of people in a few hours, that was not a comforting thought.

"The launch site is secure," Shin'en continued with a tone of finality. "The Grimm have been exterminated, there are no other visible threats, and all of the Dust remains undisturbed. Clover, you said something about Huntsmen licenses?"

"U-Uh, right. Here you all go."

From his Scroll connecting to everyone else's through a short-range signal that all of the rock and steel of the mine didn't interfere with, Clover handed out official Huntsmen licenses to everyone that didn't already have one. Sans Shin'en and Annabeth because they didn't have Scrolls.

While Ruby was excited to be a Huntress, there was something about having her license that seemed dull and lackluster. It was something like a Thanks, I guess feeling. Like, she'd already done so much, been through so much, and she was a Maiden for crying out loud. More than that, Ruby supposed, was that her outlook on life had changed, and that was what brought the excitement about having a Huntress license down.

What was being a Huntress compared to being a Maiden?

What was being a Maiden compared to undertaking the heavy responsibility of not just saving the world, but doing her best to make it a better place?

Putting it in something of a more contemporary metaphor, Ruby had only been aiming to be a police officer. Now she was staring at being the president.

Out of thecorner of her silver eyes, Ruby saw Annabeth stand next to Shin'en. She pressed herself against her uncle, closing her eyes with a fond smile on her face as she happily nuzzled his side, her tail wrapping around the both of them. Shin'en looked down at her with an equally fond smile, his scarlet eyes radiating warmth, and he gently rubbed the top of her head.

It made Ruby's heart feel sore. She missed her dad.

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Outside the mine, Atlas military personnel were busy driving in trucks, carrying cargo to the launch site for Amity. General Ironwood himself even came out, thrown for a loop at the sight of the scary Faunus girl hanging around Shin'en, and not at all comforted by the fact that she was his niece.

How many more of his extended family members were going to just pop up here in Remnant?

What's that? Annabeth's parents might arrive to take their daughter back home? And Annabeth's mother was a genocidal rapist that could wipe out entire continents?

Ironwood was about to have a literal heart attack his blood pressure shot so high at the mere notion.

"Relax," Shin'en said, amusement thinly veiled in his voice. "Should Asteria arrive in force, I will deal with her. In a situation like this, she will not go on a rampage without my approval."

"I…uh…that's-"

The general struggled to find the right words for this situation, but he soon had to come up with a different string of words, because a different airship came in for a landing.

Descending upon the descending ramp was none other that Jaques Schnee.

"What is the meaning of this, James!?" the richest man in Remnant demanded in a textbook example of haughty arrogance. "Not only has your embargo crippled my business, but now you're taking over private property!?"

The general made to answer, but Shin'en strode forward with authority.

So much so, that the corrupt businessman actually stepped backwards with a flash of fear in his glacial blue eyes as he beheld the intimidating Faunus storming up to him.

"Jacques Schnee," Shin'en intoned. "I'm almost impressed. As crooked and cruel as you are, at least you're not dementedly perverted like your fellows were."

"Wh-Wha-?"

"I'm the one, Jacques. I'm the one that slipped into all those mansions and penthouse suites to kill all those rich people in a couple of hours. Vicious and horrible people they were, buying Faunus children from an orphanage, smuggling them up to Atlas, stuffing them in cages, and then enjoying fine wine and caviar while they watched as those children were tortured to death one after the other. Nasty business, that. Makes me feel like I've done a little bit of good by executing such vile and despicable people."

"E-Er…" Jacques took a few more steps back, tugging at the collar of his suit as he broke into a sweat despite the cold. He kept going backwards until he bumped into something. Or rather, someone. The Schnee patriarch turned and screamed at the presence of Annabeth, just silently standing there, having placed herself without anyone having seen her.

Annabeth's tail moved like a serpent, having enough length to coil around Jacques's ankles and yank him off the ground. Then Annabeth displayed the strength of her tail by holding him aloft without any effort.

Jacques screamed, but Shin'en clamped his hand over the man's mouth, Annabeth holding him up at the right height for that to be possible.

Shin'en said in the man's ear in a low voice, "Your life is on the line, Mr. Schnee. Were it not for your daughter standing over there, I'd kill you here and now. As it is, you have a little more time left to clean up your act. Use it wisely."

Shin'en let Jacques go and walked away.

Annabeth hissed in the man's face, showing her fangs, and then she dropped him into the snow. He landed in the very unflattering pose of facedown in the white powder, ass high in the air.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle, Blake smirked, and Weiss couldn't help but feel vindicated.

Shin'en and Annabeth approached the girls.

"We will hunt later tonight," Shin'en said, "on the condition that you watch the video of the Faunus children. I will not have you freezing up or getting cold feet while on-mission. I will be at your door at 2200 hours. If you believe you are ready, we will see."

"What about her?" Yang asked, indicating Annabeth.

"She will accompany us. Do not worry about her constitution for violence and the horrors of men. She is as stout as I am."

Annabeth released a triumphant hiss with a big smile on her face that showed way too many teeth.

With his piece said, Shin'en vanished in a swirl of snow.

Still grinning at them, Annabeth did the exact same thing, throwing everyone for a loop.

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Yes, a shorter chapter with not a lot of meat to it. That's my fault. I had been hoping to crank out several more chapters of this since it was Winter Break, but Christmas came and with a new book: Murtagh by Christopher Paolini. It's set in the Eragon world and follows Murtagh one year after the events of Inheritance. I was reading that huge tome while playing with my new Xbox X.

I was getting all of my data synched up with it and all my One games, which was a huge ordeal, and am still currently trying to get all my 360 games on it too. I just got the hard drive I need to get the 360 to synch with the Cloud only an hour before this chapter was originally posted on 01/09/2024.

My last semester of undergrad college starts tomorrow, marking my final four months of school before I graduate with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. I actually had a job interview with a defense contractor yesterday, and I thought it went rather well. We'll see, though. I thought a previous job interview went rather well, but it fell through.

So, between getting a new Xbox and a new big book to read, I didn't have as much time as I thought I did to write. I wanted to get this finished and out there before the semester started.

Also, now that I've read Murtagh, I have some ideas in mind for new chapters of Promised Year. Later, though.

Next chapter will be Shin'en taking at least Ruby and Blake on a killing spree, maybe a few others, and maybe the introduction of another of Shin'en's nieces and/or nephews and/or children.

I'm thinking Clair.

If you know you know.

In the meantime, Fav, Follow, and Review please!

And also pretty please check out my book! You'll either have to PM me for the Kindle link since I can't get it to copy/paste correctly, or you can look up DelayedInspiration in the search bar. The book title is "Controversiae Tamen Liber: Ligulae Monitum," a bit of a mouthful, and the cover depicts the sun setting behind mountains overlooking a lake, with the light shining through a tree.

Thank you!