LUCK

In the following hours after Blake and I agreed on a truce to stop the White Fang, I've been on the hunt for a woman named Ilia Amitola, a faunus that has chameleon characteristics as her trait. Kali has sent me on a wild goose chase tailing the Albain twins, but to no avail. They're simply too careful, or their innocent. But with everything that's happened so far with the White Fang, I'm inclined to believe otherwise.

I'm overjoyed that the Belladonna's have put their trust in me, but I've yet to reward their faith, so a change of tactic is in order. It's a risky move, but the Belladonna's are brave and quite frankly, bold.

Kali suggested that she go to the morning faunus news and reprimand the actions of the White Fang. The Belladonna's are upstanding citizens known to faunus beyond Menagerie. Their work is considered revolutionary by some, and though they are currently retired, their words have weight in swaying the opinions of others. Something that would irk Tauros and the Albain twins.

"You think it'll work?"

I ask Blake who was hiding right next to me under the cover of the palm trees next to their mansion. She bit her lips and kept her gaze solely focus on her mother who was casually reading a book with a cup of tea in her hand. Kali looked calm and elegant, unlike Blake who was nervous and jittery right next to me. How could she not? Kali and Ghira made the plans to use themselves as bait to lure the Fang in. They made some pretty bold statements in the news after all.

"I don't know, but ugh! Just keep your eyes open will ya?"

"Okay, okay, okay. I am! And for the record, I'm not a big fan of this plan too."

I argued.

"Then you should have helped me convinced Mom a little harder."

She snarked back. I couldn't respond to what she just said, it was true after all. When Kali suggested the whole plan, Blake immediately complained, while I paused for a bit. For a moment, I considered the idea a good one, and that was more than enough to convince Mrs. Belladonna to take the risk.

"What about you?"

Blake shifted her gaze at me, then just quickly turned it back to her Mom.

"What about me what?"

She knelt down on one of the branches and surveyed the area once more.

"Do you think this will work?"

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the tree trunk, pausing for a second and thought about my response rationally.

"It should, but it's a gamble. For us and the Fang. Think about it, we're literally putting ourselves OUT there. We're asking the bad guys to point their smoking gun right at us. If you're Adam, there'd be no better chance to do so, but in doing so, it's like announcing to the world that they're guilty. Honestly, in both cases, we win. If they take the bait and we succeed, we get our proof. If they succeed and..."

I stop myself for a moment, wondering if Blake is ready to hear what I have to say, but again she looked at me with determination, egging me to go on, so I did.

"If they succeed and kill your Mom, then she becomes a martyr that will ignite the spark to a faunus civil war, and proving Adam was wrong all along."

Blake held her breath and tightened her hold on the branch.

"I won't let that happen. WE won't let it happen."

Crazy how she was so against me just a couple hours ago, now she believes I'm on her side. At least during this White Fang witch hunt is over.

"Yeah, we won't."

In cases like this, it's best to stay calm and level yourself. You never know when trouble will come, so staying in high alert the whole time would do nothing but tire you out. We don't even know if the Fang will take our bait or not. A few more hours pass by and our anxiety grew more and more, every rustle of the leaves, every breeze, and every little movement would put the two of us on edge.

Blake would barely blink, trying her best to monitor our surroundings with her excellent night vision, but even that was not enough. But suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spot something out of the ordinary. It was subtle, nothing but a shadow that can be created by anything passing through the light. This particular shadow, though, it felt off. So I tap Blake on the shoulder and whispered.

"See anything over there?"

Blake followed where my finger was pointed, but all I got back from her was a disappointing head shake. Still, I couldn't shake this sinking feeling on my stomach, so I created a small amount of mist using my semblance and moved it towards the shadow. I shrank the mist down to the width of a wire as it traveled, creating a tether between me and mist, till finally it reached the shadow.

I can feel it. There's definitely somebody there. I can feel their warmth through my mist, so I don my helmet and activated the heat vision sensor, linking it with my semblance, and sure enough I can see a silhouette of a woman kneeling down... about to pull something from her hip.

"KALI MOVE!"

I quickly pulled my grappling gun off my holster and fired it at the balcony's railings, zipping me towards Kali just in time to block the bullet with my gauntlet. This time, it was an actual bullet and not a tranquilizer.

"Blake! Right there!"

Out of the shadows Blake leapt with Gambol Shroud fully extended. She pointed her sword straight down as she landed on the perpetrator, but she was fast enough to dodge and retreat back into the forest. I look back and Kali, who now had Ghira by her side.

"GO!"

She yelled at me.

"Go protect Blake!"

She is my employer after all, I have no choice but to follow. With one last nod to her, I jump towards the forest in pursuit of Blake. It wouldn't take me long before I was able to catch up to the two of them. I land beside Blake on top of a rooftop with the culprit on the other end. She wore black tracksuit, and had her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. On her face was an incredibly intimidating White Fang mask.

I wasn't sure if this was Ilia or not, but judging by the look on Blake's saddened face, I would put my money on this woman being Amitola.

"Ilia?"

Blake whispered. Hearing her name called out, she softened her stance and slowly pulled the mask off her face.

"You shouldn't have come back."

The two shared in their moment of reunion, joy, sadness, and anger all in one look. It's something that I'm oddly familiar with. It's a powerful moment, powerful enough to be a distraction. I rush towards Ilia as fast as I can, slashing at her with my katana, which she agilely dodged. Ilia retaliated back, but I quickly spun around her and grabbed her scroll from her back pocket.

"AH! Damn! Give it back!"

Ilia jumped forward with her rapier out and swung it downwards towards me, which I easily evaded by hopping back. But it was all a ruse. Ilia's weapon wasn't a rapier, it was a whip. As soon as I jumped back, she flicked her weapon with such force that it wrapped around my gauntlet, putting me and Ilia in a power struggle.

"BLAKE! DON'T JUST WATCH! DO SOMETHING!"

Blake's eyes widened, seemingly breaking herself out of her trance, she jumped forward and kicked Ilia in the back, sending her rolling across the pavement.

"Catch!"

I threw Ilia's scroll at Blake, but Ilia was able to use her whip to catch it mid air. With her scroll firmly back in her grasp, Ilia changed the color of her skin, turning herself invisible and disappeared from our sight.

"Damn it!"

I flip my helmet back on and quickly gave chase, with Blake not far behind. We chased her down through tight alleys, crowded streets, and more rooftop. She was quick and agile, so much so that not even Blake and I, the most nimble of our team, could keep up with her, but thankfully, Ilia got over confident and decided to turn the corner on alley that was too tight even with all her physical prowess. I reached out my hand, desperately trying my best to grab her, but she slipped right through my fingers.

"Blake!"

Blake jumped over me and tried to tackle Ilia, but she countered by rolling backwards, causing Blake to miss. Ilia quickly parkoured her way against the wall trying to escape through the roof. Unfortunately for her, I still have another trick up my sleeve.

"Fourth Movement: Silent Waltz!"

I cover myself in mist and ran on the side of the building just pass Ilia, freezing the part of the building she was about to grab on to, causing her to slip and fall. On my way down, I summon the blade on my katana once more and swung it downwards, but Ilia's fighting spirit matched ours, maybe even surpassed it. She quickly rolled away, and even anticipated the daggers I threw at her, parrying it with ease. I quickly charge at her while she shortened her whip back into a rapier, giving me ample time to abuse the opening she gave me.

I raise my arm up and hit her with the tip of my elbows right across her jaw, knocking her on the ground, but not before wrapping her whip around my hips.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

With a push of a button, a strong surge of electric shock traveled along her whip and straight through me. The pain was agonizing, I almost passed out a couple times, but I was able to resolve myself enough to wrap my hands around her whip.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

I've been practicing this part of my semblance for months now, I reckon it's time I put it to use. Instead of absorbing heat, I decided to turn it up, creating a torrent of flames that traveled along her whip back to Ilia herself causing an explosion right at the handle.

"BAAH!"

The explosion sent her flying across the street, which widened the gap between me and her, giving her enough time to escape.

"Hah... hah... hah."

Blake rushed to my side as I fell to my knees.

"Ezra, you're bleeding!"

I take a quick peak on arm and waist, surprised to see that not only did the electric shock break through my armor, it also tore through my skin. The sight of my own blood brought back memories of that day in Beacon, and I began to lose consciousness. I put my hands on Blake's shoulder and looked her straight in the eye, while my mind fights with my body to keep me awake.

"Did it work? Did you get it?"

Blake nodded. The plan was simple, it was constructed on the fly, but we were able to make it work. I distract Ilia while Blake sneakily steal her scroll while I fight her. Seemed to have worked.

"Oh, screw the scroll! Ezra, stay with me! Oh no! No, no, no, no not again! Just hold on! HELP SOMEBODY HELP!"

It seems the cut Ilia made was pretty deep. I think I won't be able to move for a bit after this.

"Blake..."

I tap her on the shoulder.

"It's okay. I'm gonna be okay."

With tears in her eyes, she looked back at me and placed her forehead on my shoulder.

"No Ezra! It's not! Because of me, another one of my friends got hurt!"

Blake cried incessantly and blabbered a couple more right after that, but of all the things she said, the word friend stood out to me the most. I don't think she even realized that she said it out loud, but that's what makes the distinction even more special. In a way, this was the biggest price for me tonight. Everything else comes second.

Maybe my fortune is starting to change...

The Capital City of Mistral - Mistral...

Qrow

I'm not particularly a big fan of my semblance. Lots of unlucky streaks lately, most recent one was from a poison from an assassin. Thankfully, Ruby and her friends was there to take care of me till we got to Mistral. It's been a couple of days since then, and I've on the hunt for some help ever since, but thanks to my semblance, I've had no luck.

Fortune is only a part of combat, if that is what decides the outcome of a battle, then maybe you're not simply cut out for that fight to begin with- is what I say all time, though I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it's an absolutely irritating semblance to deal with.

Especially now, when I really need lady luck to look my way. Day after day, I've been hunting down all my colleagues here in Mistral, but all of them seem to have been missing on missions that should have taken them no more than a couple days to finish. But most of them have been gone for months. Shiro Wan, Heather Shields all skilled huntsman and huntresses, just up vanished.

"Hubert Kato. Never heard of the man, but Leo could speak nothing but good things about him. Real confident that he'd help us out, only caveat is..."

He's a bit of an odd ball.

"Just my luck."

The map headmaster Leonardo sent me took me to the edge of town, on Mistral City's second level, to a shack closest to the cliff. The peculiar location makes it look like the house is abandoned, but even from a distance, I can see the faint glow of light coming from the fogged out window. Leo says Hubert's just an introvert, but we'll see.

"How am I even supposed to convince a man who lives like this to help us out? AH. Dammit, here goes nothing."

I approach the shady looking shack, but the closer I get, the more suspicious the place became. You could even say it looks ominous. Soon, I stood right in front of a door made out of rotting wood. I look around only to see weeds and moss coming out of the cracks in between the wood, and the scent coming from the house was absolutely horrid.

"HELLO!"

I yelled, but got no answer. Every inch of my body is telling me to leave, but curiosity and desperation got the better of me. I really don't have the luxury of turning down help, no matter how weird a person is.

"HELLO!"

Again, I yelled, and again, nobody answered. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I decided to walk through the house anyway and look for the guy myself inside, but as soon as I walked through, things started to make a turn for the worse. The house looked just as messy and old inside as it was outside. Glass were broken, furniture was scratched up and tossed around, and signs of rodent infestation was everywhere.

There's been a struggle here, a really bad one, and judging from the light I saw earlier, they're still here, now whether or not that was Kato is something I've yet to find out, and at this point, there's really only one way to know.

I decided to move forward slowly, and cautiously, with every step I take, the worse my stomach turned. The house was eerily dark and quiet, except for that one room at the end of the hall where the source of the faint light I saw outside came from. I took a deep breath, preparing myself from the worst and marched towards the room with a door that's slightly propped open. Just before I reached the door, I stepped on something wet, too dark to see what it was, but I can tell from the metallic smell that it's blood...

And it's fresh.

"Screw this. Kato! Kato Hubert! Are you alright!?"

My steps slowly turned into a jog, then to a full on sprint. I bash my shoulders against the door, forcing it open.

"KATO! I've been sent here by headmaster Leonardo, my name's-"

Before I could finish, I was interrupted by an eerie voice.

"Qrow Branwen, I know. Hush now, I've been away for a while, this is the first time I'm seeing this announcement."

I was told that Kato was man with slim stature, brown hair with blue eyes, an unusual color combination, hard to miss Leo said, and this person that casually told me to shut up wasn't all that, it wasn't even a man, it was a woman.

She was clad in black from head to toe, with her feather covered cape wrapped around most of her body. She was sitting on a wooden chair that was tilted on its back, balanced only by one of the woman's leg, while the other rested on top of the table next to it. She had on one hand a knife, that she expertly twirled in between her fingers, while the other had her scroll in front of her face, illuminating her porcelain skin and black masquerade mask that resembled a bird. On top of all that was her chin length bob cut hair, the very same features Ruby described to me as the woman named Swan.

"You're Swan aren't you? Where's Kato!?"

Unfazed by my hostile yelling, Swan stopped twirling her knife and pointed its tip against the wall without looking away from her scroll. I hesitated at first, not wanting to take my eyes off of this dangerous woman, but Kato could be in trouble, or worse...

"Dead."

She whispered.

The man named Kato was pinned upside down against the wall with knives stuck so deep throughout his body that he was morbidly turned into a wall décor. There were no life in his eyes, there weren't even any color in them, his eyes were rolled so far back that all I saw was white. Every inch of his body was drenched in his own blood, it was absolutely horrifying. In all my years as a huntsman, I've never seen anything like this.

I stood there with my mouth wide open in shock, till I hear the voice of Cinder echo through Swan's scroll.

[Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves...]

It was the announcement that was played during the Vytal Festival.

[Why else would Ozpin accept a wanted criminal as one of his students. The infamous OWL so freely roaming the streets of Vale, galivanting around and stealing the city's dust supplies, but little does everyone know that this criminal is someone all of you are very familiar with.]

The moment the image of OWL side by side with Ezra popped up from her scroll, she frantically threw her knife towards Kato's corpse, stabbing him straight through the neck, and freeing her hand. She quickly paused the video and stared at OWL with a huge grin.

"Hahaha. Oh the irony..."

She laughed psychotically at her scroll.

"You're sick."

Her laugh slowly vanished, but her smile remained while she calmly tilted her eyes towards me.

"You know him don't you?"

She flipped her scroll and showed me the image of OWL, then zoomed in on Ezra.

"Tell me where he is."

Ezra Flyheight, Yang's ex-boyfriend. Of course I know him, but as to where he is...

"How should I know?"

Swan sighed, as her grin faded away.

"Lies."

I've been in enough fights to know when one is about to start, and this one is right on the edge of it, even though Swan wasn't done talking.

"Tell me where I can find Ezrael Snow, or I'll turn you into a painting, like your friend over there."

Snow? That's right, Yang told me about her ex's real name, but it didn't occur to me till now to put two and two together. Snow, of course... This woman...

"Ezrael Snow? You and him come from the same tribe don't you?"

Upon hearing that, her eyes became even more piercing, and her smile widened into a sadistic grin.

"Oops. I said too much."

Her concern from leaking information sounded fake, and the tone of her voice was sickeningly playful. I put my hand on Harbinger and prepared myself for a fight, but as soon as I did, Swan chuckled. Mist began to come out of the cracks between the floor, rapidly filling up the floor all the way to my ankles, and with a snap of her fingers, the mist exploded into massive shards of ice.

I had no choice but to jump back and transform into a bird. I flew back out into the cliff, looking out from a distance to see the house absolutely shredded into pieces, but there was no sign of Swan. That is, till a shadow emerge on top of me.

"Right here little bird!"

Swan appeared out of nowhere above me. She had the heels of her boot pointed straight at me like a knife. I had no choice but to tuck my wings in and spin away, and out of control. I morphed back to a human with my vision still spinning till I saw out of the corner of my eye, a branch thick enough to support my weight. I reached out my hand and desperately hanged on, swiveling my head back and forth, trying to look for Swan.

She opened up her cape, turning them into swings and slowing her decent enough to the point where she was able to freeze the bottom off her boot on the side of the cliff underneath me. Swan looked up at me while I hanged with a terrifying blank stare.

"Oh come now, Branwen, you can do better than that!"

I gritted my teeth as she mocked me.

"I'm not with the Branwen's anymore and I have no business with the Snow Tribe! Leave me alone!"

Swan leaned back and laughed as loud as she could.

"Fool! I know how you hate associating yourself with your old tribe. This isn't about my tribe's quarrel with yours! I just need to know where OWL is. I need to know where Ezra Snow is."

What is it with her obsession with OWL? Doesn't matter, it won't what I don't know.

"I already told you didn't I!? I DON'T KNOW!"

Swan gritted her teeth and sneered condescendingly.

"Fine. Keep your secrets, guess I have no choice but to look for information somewhere else. Perhaps those children? The red hair one? The silent Mistralian man? Oh, perhaps blondie knows... or maybe... little Rose."

The insanity this woman has knows no bounds, now she's threatening to hurt my niece!?

"SCREW YOU SWAN!"

I let go of the tree branch and freefall towards her with Harbinger pointed straight at her chest.

"HAHA! That's more like it!"

Swan bent her knees and hopped off the cliff, causing her to fall the same time as I was. She covered herself in mist and quickly dashed to the side, catching me off guard. She pulled out a grappling gun from her waist and fired it off towards the cliff face, propelling her my way. I had no choice but lift my sword up to block her attack.

"HIYA!"

Our collision sent us both flying the opposite direction. I folded Harbinger down, revealing the barrel of my shotguns and shot at her, but Swan quickly grabbed hold of her cape and covered her body. With each bulletclashing with her cape, shards of ice began to shatter.

"WHAT! She's creating walls of ice as thin as her cape!"

But how the hell is ice that thin so strong!? Before I could figure out her trick, Swan tucked her cape in, causing her dash forward and latch on to me.

"Let me go!"

We spun mid-air, before she threw me against the wall, slamming my back against it.

"DAMN IT!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black feather shooting past my way, but I was able to dodge it just in time. The feather, now lodged in between the rock began to slowly shatter, emitting a noise that grew louder by the second. I don't know what that noise is but I'm not risking it. I quickly morphed back into a bird and flew away, just as the feather detonated into an icy explosion.

Once again, Swan came flying in with an intent to kill, but thanks to my size as a bird, I was able to barely dodge her. I immediately morphed back into a human as soon as she passed me and slashed her from the back, causing her aura to glow.

Swan growled as she spun back, releasing a flurry of feather knives my way. I folded Harbinger into a scythe and spun it as fast as I could to deflect the oncoming projectiles, but one of them was able to nick me right in the thighs. She opened up her cape as mist began to engulf her once more, pushing her up towards me at great speed. She came at me with daggers in hand, ready to slash at me, but I was able to parry each strike. Swan spun towards me the moment she passes and quickly tucked her wings to freefall back towards me.

I just don't get it! I can literally turn into a bird, but she's a lot more agile than me in the air. It was as if I was the only one falling, and she was flying. What kind of semblance is that!

"Don't lose focus now Branwen!"

She threw both daggers at me, while she instantly snapped her fingers, causing both of them to explode and releasing a flurry of tiny ice shards my way. I could do nothing but tuck my body close and make myself as small as possible and hope enough of the ice shards miss. A lot of them did miss, but enough still hit me to break my aura. Just then, Swan engulfed herself in mist just as we passed a cloud, removing herself from my sight.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?"

I swiveled my head back and forth, desperately searching for Swan, till she popped out from the cover of the clouds.

"Here."

All I can see was the tip of her knife, mere inches away from my eyeball. It was then that I had an epiphany, I don't know if it was because I was seasoned in the art of combat, or just my unbelievable will to not want to die, but I instinctively spun away while morphing into a bird simultaneously. The maneuver allowed me dodge her attack, barely. Just before I was able to spin a full rotation, I morphed back into a human with Harbinger fully extended into a scythe, and I used my momentum to slash at Swan, breaking her aura.

"AHH!"

Swan winced in pain, and flew up higher away from me. Losing sight of her once more, I began to let my guard down momentarily to check how much farther away I am from the ground.

It wasn't very much.

With my remaining strength, I morphed back into a bird and tried to slow my fall with my wings, but my weakened body wouldn't let me stay in that form for very long. I was forced to change back into a human, as I crash into one of the market stalls on the ground below.

"AHH! OWW!"

The pain was excruciating, but I force myself to ignore it and stand up with Harbinger firmly in my hand.

"HA! ... HA! ... HA! ..."

I desperately gasp for air as the people around me started to form a circle and gossip. It would seem the marketplace was what was on the bottom of this cliff. With this many people watching, I doubt Swan would come and follow me, but I still refuse to loosen up.

"Mr. Branwen!"

Startled, I turned around and swung Harbinger, barely missing the Mistralian woman trying to help.

"Calm down, Mr. Branwen, it's me. Madam Xahn!"

Madam Xahn? She was the healer that took the poison out of my body when we first got here.

"I'm sorry, I took quite the fall."

Madam Xahn stared me at me angrily at first, before she softened her stance and approached me.

"So it would seem so. Consider yourself lucky, Mr. Branwen, you fell right into the hands of a healer."

Heh. The irony of it all makes want to laugh.

"Must be my lucky day."