Author's Note:

This one was fun to write. And I think you all will enjoy it greatly. Some things might seem familiar, but there are NEW things written in here too. So read carefully, you'll see them.

Have fun!

~o0o~

Grimm Heir: Volume 2

Chapter Two: New Life and New Problems

-Three Weeks Later-

As Flinch poured over the old archives of history in the tower of Beacon's systems, she was truly intrigued.

There was a treasure trove of information within Beacon's archives. Some were tricky to get, but it was worth cracking the systems, as well as fully investigating the old vault beneath the former school. She didn't even know there was such a thing there to begin with.

One thing that was for sure was that Ozpin had many, many secrets here. One about a secret brotherhood that was very wide spread over the world of Remnant. Some names and faces she knew well too. The head mistress of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch, the headmasters of the other schools, and even a few noteworthy Huntsmen, like Qrow Branwen.

With some names and faces to work with now, she could report back to the master without any more delay.

She gathered up the files into a scroll and was about to call upon Adam to ready a Thrall airship, when Gore called her via her scroll.

"Overseer, we've got a visitor." he said.

By the tone of voice, it was not an enemy. Flinch had to ask though, "One of ours?"

"Yes."

She sighed…

"However, there is something off…"

The sigh was short-lived.

"What is it?" she asked.

Gore paused before speaking again, "You must come see for yourself, Overseer."

Rolling her eyes in irritation, Flinch decided to go and what the fuss was about.

She made her way to the opening to the underground vault and slithered up the shaft to the main lobby. It took about three minutes to do this, but she reached the top regardless. Once there she moved to the doors that led outside.

The second reached outside… There was a new individual waiting for her.

At first, Flinch was put off by this. Why the hell was there an intruder standing within Beacon grounds?

The individual in question was a male with long dark, purple, messy hair, wearing a Mistral style red and brown hakama, with an odachi long-sword slung at the hip in a black sheath. His back was turned to the Grimm Hybrid, so she couldn't see his face.

"Who the hell is this?" she said aloud, clearly angry by his presents.

"Overseer," Adam said, "Master sent this man here."

Flinch's eyes widened in shock. Her head slowly craned back to the mysterious figure.

Then, with an eerie slowness, the figure turned to face the Overseer.

When Flinch came face to face with the individual, her heart turned to ice and her whole body locked up.

While most of the man's appearance before her seemed human, the face was a totally different story. With the left half of the face was normal, while the other half was not. On the forehead was a single curved horn, reaching up into the sky. And where the eyes were usually placed, was a mishmash of smaller, multiple eyes. If Flinch counted correctly, there were five in total. And finally, a pair of sharp fangs stuck out from the lips and curved downward.

And the eyes themselves were black where the white usually was, with red irises glowing in the night.

Then, after he stared at her for what felt like a full thirty seconds, he spoke in a low, gruff, and growly tone.

"Am I speaking to the Overseer Flinch?" he asked.

All Flinch could do was nod her head slowly.

The way he was looking at her… it felt as if she was prey and he was the hawk gazing at dinner. For the first time in a while, Flinch was put on edge by this man. Something only her master could do before.

"Do not fear, Flinch. I am not your enemy. You are not my prey."

She jolted back at his words. How the hell did he know what she was thinking?!

"Introductions are in order, Flinch." he said, while placing a hand on his chest and bowing his head slightly, "I am a former Huntsman. One of few to survive 'the test'. However, my new Lord entrusted me to act on his behalf. For we have a common interest."

Flinch tilted her head and simply followed up with, "Huh?"

"You wish to see Cinder Fall bleed as well, no?"

Flinch, as soon as she heard that name, perked up a bit.

"Good. I have your attention." he added, raising up from his little bow, "You have new orders Overseer Flinch, as of right now. Straight from our Lord's maw."

Flinch, for her part, was about to simply listen, but her curiosity had finally caught up with her. She simply HAD to ask him.

"Who are you? What is your name?" she questioned.

The man was quiet for a moment before he finally spoke, "Me?" he asked, before a very small grin appeared upon his face, "I am your new superior, you dumb whore." he said.

Flinch, the Overseer of the Thralls, Lady of the whip, stared for a good minute… before she completely burst out laughing like a maniac. She stared and pointed at him with her humanoid hand, laughing still.

The laugh lasted for all of ten seconds though.

For in the time span of just three seconds, something happened. So fast that Flinch didn't even notice at all at first.

In the first second, the man was right in her face, just inches away from her's.

In the next second, his odachi blade was drawn and slicing clean through the very tip of her serpent tail.

In the third second, after she lost about five inches of her tail, he was now behind her in a calm stance, and slowly seething his sword.

All of this, in just three seconds.

As Flinch finally realized what had just happened, she was completely frozen in place. It happened so fast, so fast that she didn't even have the time to block or anything. Her eyes were wide in shock as the tip of her tail slowly fell before her face. And land just in front of her with a splat, blood oozing out of tip.

Flinch craned her neck so she could at least glance back at the man who cut her tail. This infuriated her to no end. But, she held her temper. For now, she knew if she did attempt anything, he would likely cut off her head in a moment.

She let out a breath, trying to not think of the pain in her tail, and spoke, "Sorry for laughing, I was just surprised is all." she said. It was the honest truth after all.

"It is fine." the stranger said, "Now allow me to fully introduce myself."

He turned to her, as did she so she could face him at eye level.

"I am Lupus." he said, "And as I said, I am your new superior of the Lord's horde of Grimm. My duty is to serve the Lord and the Mistress. Although she is still not yet awake…"

Flinch narrowed her gaze to the ground. It's been weeks since that night and Silver was still not awake. Meaning her master was not in the best of moods most likely. Still, a civil war is not something one could just put on hold. So work had to be done.

"Why are you here?" she asked Lupus.

"I have come here for two reasons, Flinch." he held up his right hand to show his index finger, "First was to tell you I am your new superior and to now assume control of Beacon tower as the master of this castle." he then held up a second finger, "Second, you have new orders from our Lord's maw."

She looked back at Lupus and waited to hear.

"You are now to take Adam Taurus and head to the island of Menagerie. The White Fang must be dealt with before they become a throne in our Lord's side." the Grimm hybrid said, pointing at Adam then her, "You will head to the east coast of Sanus where one of our newly acquired ships will be waiting for you. Understood?"

Flinch nodded her head, "I'll leave at once." was she said before turning and heading to the Thrall Airship, with Adam in toe.

~o0o~

The Overlord stared at the massive canvas now hung upon the rock wall of the new throne room with intent.

The large canvas had an image of the world's continents of the north, east, west, and south. It had made this request out of a necessity to try and locate the Usurper, to get a better idea on her whereabouts.

Thankfully, the numerous Thralls and fresh prisoners they had captured less than two weeks ago managed to provide as much detail to the world map as they were able. Somethings the Overlord already knew of. Such as the locations of the four great nests and other notable smaller nests dotted around the world.

But a few did provide information regarding the White Fang and the locations of their hideouts. Which was a good thing.

The Red Wolves had made themselves known to the world, which would make them a target for those who were both with the Usurper. Or even those who want to work with the Dustlings to topple them. Best example of this was one of the new Beastling prisoners they had captured recently.

They were a part of the White Fang and were trying to act as a messenger to the Dustlings to let them know that they were not a part of the destruction of the greater nest they refer to as the Kingdom of Vale. But, thanks to that, the Overlord had traced the message back to the White Fang headquarters. Which was located in the far south of the world.

Thus, a plan was being put into action. Which had two phases, both crystal to the efforts of this Grimm civil war to hopefully end it quickly.

The first phase was the destruction of the White Fang headquarters on the small southern continent and to force the Beastlings off the landmass for good.

The second phase was to take total control of the continent and use it as a staging ground for further plans for the eastern continent.

The Overlord had already tried to make moves to end this quickly before it escalated into a full fledged civil war, but it turned out the Usurper had a few tricks still to play in her corner. Most notable were the new Grimm the Overlord had no idea even existed until recently.

Grimm lions that could fly and breathe fire. Large feline Grimm with serpent tails and wings. The large behemoth Grimm that lives in the deep oceans. Serpent Grimm that can grow wings and breathe lightning attacks. And the Overlord had a feeling that they were not the only one the Witch had created either.

But it will win this war.

The king will not be outsmarted or out fought by this Usurper or her Grimm!

It won't allow anything other than total victory!

However, weeks have passed. And the Overlord was still trying to find this Witch. But the moment it finds her, it will personally deal with her. It will thoroughly enjoy the moment as it rips her limb from limb.

One thing it did learn so far was that the Witch's reach was vast. And not through normal means either. She was using an underground network of Dustling spies and killers to aid her. If it could capture one of those spies, it would aid them in following it back to the Usurper.

Therefore, it turned out to be a correct call in making more Dustling hybrids like Silver to assist it. They could either act as enforcers for the Overlord's will like Flinch had done, or search the world for the Usurper or one of her Dustling spies.

But… those were not the main reasons why the Overlord created them in the first place.

No…

The primary reason why they exist was to track down something far more important. Something that the Witch was also desperately searching for herself.

These so-called… Maidens.

The night the Overlord finally invaded the dustling castle and killed their leader, it found something… new to it. Something it had never encountered before.

After killing the leader, it found itself before a Dustling female, barely clinging to life inside a glass container. The machine was trying to keep her alive, but the Overlord was going to change that soon. Key-word: Was. However, once flinch reported about finding new information on the Witch Salem, plans quickly changed.

Over the course of the next two weeks, the Overlord learned a great many things. Something it already knew, but there were many things it was just starting to comprehend. Things such as Magic, a power that can be used with the aid of the crystals. And by further extent, the Maidens. Four individual Dustlings that can use these powers. With each one named after a season of the year. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

And after hearing the names of the seasons, things were finally beginning to piece together. Such as the matter with Cinder Fall.

When the Overlord first saw the female back then, it thought of her as a Waver. A Dustling that infused its clothing with the crystals to aid it in combat. Resulting in the clothes glowing. But after learning of these Maidens, it was starting to wonder if it misread that female's powers.

Upon further investigation in the Dustling's tower systems, it was discovered that the Maidens were protected by a secret brotherhood. But, one of the Seasosned Maidens, the one of Fall, was attacked and part of her power was stolen by the attackers. Which put the brotherhood on high alert, for something like this had not happened before in their history.

The Season of Fall, a female named Amber, was reduced to a critical state. Just like the girl in the glass container.

So, much to its annoyance, it could not simply kill the Dustling carelessly. But that did not mean it didn't quickly hatch a plan.

It decided to keep the girl alive, at least for the time being. So the female was transferred out of the Dustling tower to the new Tower of the Gulch, where the Overlord could keep an eye on her. But that was only phase one. Phase two required Silver's aid.

But in all this time since the fall of the great nest, its heir had not reawakened at all. Which was cause for concern.

Physically, Silver was fine. The Thrall medics could not determine what was wrong with her, which led the Overlord to believe that it must be a mental thing. But there was no way to know for sure, so for the time being, all they could do was wait and see.

Still, there was something the Overlord was wondering…

How? How was it possible for the silver-eyed power to affect the Grimm still?

The Overlord was so sure it had changed the slumbering power with its dark blood. But after seeing what happened that night, it was left speechless about the situation.

But before it could pursue the thoughts further, a messenger raven arrived. It perched itself upon the Overlord's left shoulder and began to deliver its message.

It was from the new hybrid stationed at the former Dustling tower, Lupus.

'My lord. Flinch is now on her way to the Island of Menagerie to deal with the White Fang. She should arrive within the week. However, we have been montering things with the Dustlings, and it seems that the northern nest, the one called Atlas, is closing off its borders to outsiders. No one in or out. Which may prove more difficult for us to find a Dust crystal mine.'

The Overlord growled in irritation. This was going to be an issue to deal with. They need at least one of those Dust crystal mines to gain more ground against the Witch.

'Also, my lord.' the message continued, 'One of our outposts near the north of the main continent has reported in. It's a sighting of the Deliverer. She's near the north as well.'

The blood in the Overlord's veins nearly froze upon hearing that. It held its tongue though, for the message continued.

'She's not alone, but only has one of her packmates with her, a young male. That and a small canine. The Thralls at the outpost wish to know if they are to pursue and kill her or not. They are awaiting your orders, my lord.'

The Overlord's maw grew into a sinister and happy grin. This was a good chance to see the Deliverer finished off once and for all. She had lived for too long. Her usefulness has reached its absolute end.

She was lucky the night when the great nest was destroyed. The Overlord was forced to withdraw and tend to Silver, leaving the creatures alive to fight another day. But that was not going to happen again. But it didn't want to just kill her. No, it wanted to make her life a living hell. It wanted to see her broken at its armored boots, humiliated and full of despair, pleading for death. Then it'll kill her.

Or, better yet, have Silver deal with her, like she wanted to do before the incident with her eyes happened.

'These are the orders I want relayed to the outposts up north.' the Overlord began to relay the message through the raven, 'Watch the Deliverer's movements, but do not engage. Just keep her in their sights. And when the time is right… capture her and bring back to me alive and mostly in one piece. For I have plans for her…'

The raven nodded and flew off to deliver the message.

The Overlord smiled. This was the perfect opportunity to test out its new creation on the Dustlings… and what better test subject then the Deliverer.

~o0o~

Qrow Branwen rarely took things seriously.

The reason being was mostly simple in his mind. The world was naturally cruel, people were going to die in some form or another. He knew he was no superhero, he couldn't possibly protect all the people of Remnant. So, he tries his best to enjoy life to make up for how bad things were in the world.

But he would be damned if he simply allowed the people he cared about in his life to get killed. Not while he could still breath. Even if he was short of an arm, he was going to do what he swore to do when Ozpin first told his team about all the bad things that happen behind the scenes. He was going to help people.

He was not gonna stop until they had won, or he was dead.

And as he looked over the charts and maps of Remnant, he wondered about the next move the bad guys were going to make now.

Qrow went over what they knew in his head one more time.

The Creatures of Grimm were now in a full-scale Civil War with one another across all of Remnant. From what their little brotherhood could tell, there were at least two, maybe three, factions of Grimm. And Jimmy, being the man he was, had to give them names in order to keep things from getting confusing.

First was the new faction recently discovered by them, the 'Blood Skulls'. From what they could tell from reports and sources across Remnant, these Grimm practically owned all the continent of Sanus. With the monsters actually doing what Qrow had to guess were frequent portals on the mainland to ensure the other faction of Grimm were nowhere in sight.

This brought up the second faction of Grimm which the brotherhood instantly knew had to be Salem's faction of Grimm, the 'Red Eyes'. There was no need to guess if it was Salem's faction or not, all those Grimm bore Salem's symbol on their faceplates. And from what they could tell, she was currently holding the continent of Anima.

Qorw didn't like that. The fact that she had Anima in her hands could mean that she was targeting the Kingdom of Mistral next. They had to warn Leo what was coming.

But for whatever reason, Leonardo Lionheart, the headmaster of Mistral's Haven Academy had not answered any of their calls for months now, long before the Fall of Vale.

Something was not right and Qrow knew it.

To make matters worse, Jimmy had clearly snapped when the Fall of Vale happened. He's closing the borders on them, no one in or out without his 'strict permission'. That just pissed Qrow off even more.

Although, the only good news he's had until now was that Yang was out of Vale. No small part thanks to Rojo going back for her. And the marksman said that he intends to fix what he destroyed. Which was good. The kid was finally getting over his grudge somewhat.

A step in the right direction.

He just hopes that Yang can forgive him for what the cowboy pulled back in Vale that day.

However, this all led to something that made Qrow question his own sanity.

She was alive…

His little niece, Sum's daughter…

Ruby Rose was still among the living. But if what he was told was true, there is a high chance that she's involved with Salem now. Which enraged him to no end.

Qrow sighed, "What's next… Rojo and Yang getting naked together?" he asked himself.

~o0o~

*Achoo!* "... Damnit."

Rojo rubbed his nose as he watched the downpour of rain outside the mouth of the small cave with a glare. If he catches a cold now, he's going to be very pissed at himself and the world for getting him in this… situation.

He heard Yang laugh a bit, "Aw, are we catching a wittle cold?" she asked in a baby voice.

"Bite me." he growled back, "Anyway, this is all your fault. You know that, right?"

"What?" she asked in surprise, "How is this my fault?"

"Think about it, Yang. You said, and I quote: 'We'll make it to the next town before the rain comes.' That's what you said. Yet here we are, soaking wet!"

"Oh, so you blame me for miscalculating the weather?!"

He grones, "Just focus on getting the clothes dried off, okay? I prefer neither of us getting sick right now."

She sighs in frustration, "Fine." there was a bit of pause before, "You-you're not looking, right?" she asked.

"Yang, if I do look now, I think you will kill me. So, No, I am not looking, okay?" he answered.

'No one can know about this…', Rojo thought to himself, 'Especially not Weiss or Blake. For I would never hear the end of it from the Princess and Blake might give me a cold shoulder for a while.'

The 'situation' in question was something straight out of one of Blake's smut/novel things. After getting soaking wet from the rain and not wanting to catch colds or any other sickness, both teens knew there was only one option in this time and location.

Remove ALL the wet clothing from their bodies and dry them off…

Which some would translate to as: Getting almost naked.

If he was anybody else, he would take the time to look at the blonde beauty he has his back to. But he also knew if he did, his head would not be attached to his body anymore. So he kept to himself and just focused on trying to get his own clothes as dry as possible.

Thankfully, the trench coat he wore kept most of the rain off him. But he did still get somewhat wet. His hat was dripping and Red Redemption might be waterlogged at the moment.

But he knew that Yang was most likely worse than him. The proof was the sound of the blonde unclipping her bra. Which in turn meant that Yang's two twins were on full display for the world to see.

His mind drifted to when he first got a look at them that night when he tended to her wounds. How they were just a few inches away from his face for a brief moment.

He shook his head. This was not the time or place for that!

However, those thoughts did bring a grilling question to the forefront of his mind. It had been eating at him for a while now too. So, might as well get it all onto the table and talk to Yang about it.

"Yeah, this is as good a time as any…" he said to himself aloud.

"Hm? What?" Yang asked, hearing him talking.

Rojo kept his back to her, but did start an important conversation, "Yang, we got to talk about something major, okay? It happened while I was in jail."

He felt the silence beginning to fill the cave. He hung his hat onto one of the tree roots in the cave, using it as an improvised wall hook. Then he continued.

"You know, there was something James Ironwood said to me that Ozpin wanted to relay to me, Yang." he said, "Ozpin said that I was in the right for trying to shoot your… sister. Even agreed to keep me enrolled in Beacon before… the Fall happened."

There was a very long pause before Yang spoke, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Wait for it, it gets even better." he said sarcastically, "He also wanted me to find the Grimm Girl and capture her… so they could torture information out of her."

Rojo could practically feel the heat from the blonde's burning red eyes. He knew she was pissed off, but he had to get his point across, so he continued.

"And then, after all that was done, I would have had the 'privilege' to execute her myself…" he finished.

Only the sound of the rain could be heard now. That, and the sound of Yang dropping some sort of clothing onto the floor.

Finally, Yang spoke up with a question, "Wh-what did you say to that?"

The marksman sighed, "I… told them I needed time to think it over. But then the whole invasion happened... And, even now, I'm still debating on it. I have no idea what I will do if I see your sister again, Yang. And that's the honest to God truth." he stopped and turned his head just enough to keep him looking away from Yang, but just enough to glance out the cave entrance.

"Which brings up why I am talking to you about this." he said before asking, "What should I do, Yang? Cuz I don't even know."

Silence once more filled the cave. After what felt like an hour, Yang spoke.

"I'm not sure…" she said, "I can't give you what you are looking for, but here's what I am going to do. Part of me knows… it has to acknowledge that Ruby is… not the same girl I knew back then. But, another part of me wants to believe that Ruby is still in there somewhere, behind all that… Grimm stuff or whatever. I guess, what I mean is… I won't give up on her. Not yet anyway. I want to see her one more time to make sure…"

Hearing all of this, Rojo now knew what Yang was trying to say. But held off on saying anything, for she continued.

"But I will say this, I won't let that control me ever again like before… I promise." she said.

The marksman could hear all the sincerity in her voice. She meant every word of what she was saying. He smiled a bit and was about to say something to her, when…

*BUZZ, BUZZ! BUZZ, BUZZ!*

Rojo's eyes shot to his trench coat pocket. If he was getting a call at all, that meant one thing. It was urgent.

He fished his scroll out the pocket and looked at the screen. It was Pyrrha!

He answered quickly, "Hello?"

"Rojo! We have an emergency!" Pyrrha said in a panicked tone.

"Talk to me! Are you guys alright?!" he asked.

"We're fine, Jaune and the others are out on the portal, but we just got word back from the Island of Menagerie! They are under a full-scale attack from the Red Wolves and Grimm!"

As he listened, he didn't fully follow how this was an emergency. Sure it was bad all around the world right now, but how does this affect them?

"Um, we're not seeing how that's an emergency to call us, Pyrrha." Yang said to the scroll over his shoulder, her voice a little worried and confused.

Pyrrha quickly followed up on that statement, "Because that's where Blake and Sun are!" the champion said frantically.

Rojo could practically hear the gears in his mind grind to a halt upon hearing that.

"They're at Menagerie?!" he shouted.

"Yes, they need reinforcements now! Or they'll be killed!" Pyrrha screamed on the other end.

'Fuck!' he cursed to himself. Of all places for Blake to run off to, it had to be the other end of the world!

He quickly racked his mind to think of a plan of action. They couldn't just leave Weiss in Atlas, but they couldn't just leave Blake to be Grimm food. That was when Rojo's mind clicked with an idea.

"Thank you for letting us know, Pyrrha. Contact Jaune and the others and let them know what's going on. I'll call back later." he ordered.

"R-Roger." the scroll clicked and she was gone.

Yang must have caught on that her leader had a plan, she asked, "What's up? I see those wheels turning."

Rojo looked her dead in the eye, "Yang, I need you to do something for me."

He then started to explain his plan to her.

~o0o~

Author's Note:

"Boom, done. Next up please!"

I hope you all liked this new chapter. Okay, yes, some things were reused from my last attempt back in the day, but I did add new things to keep it fresh.

See you all next time, peace.