RWBYr V4r - Rose on the Shore

by InvInFuture

A complete rewrite using RWBY V1-V3 as foundation to construct V4 from ground up without what show does. No God Brothers. "Four beacons of Civilization have fallen dark. Four Kingdoms, inching towards conflict. Four Myths that laid the foundation of the world. Four women, divided across the world, as they search for meaning to their wounds. An endless Cycle, a Tale, and a Lie."

3. Awakening

CHAPTER 3 - Awakening

---

To Yang Xiao Long, the Patch Village always seemed more like an elaborate labyrinth.

She ran through the street. Yang had only taken her eyes off for a second, and she was gone.

A person couldn't just disappear.

Yang wanted to scream, but that wouldn't help. It's not like the one she was searching for would answer.

A run-down smithy stood there to the left. The old village well waited in the center square with a bunch of inconsequential houses just dropped around it. Beyond them, the big house at the end of the street that belonged to the Orsons and the butcher's shop run by the Varken family. The two rival families retooled their entire existence to focus on mayoral elections.

Patch wasn't that big, but it was easy to get lost there. Or to hide if someone wanted to disappear. Especially midday when all the villagers were out in the open, going about their day.

How could she be so stupid? She promised she wouldn't take her eyes off Ruby again.

For a second, she drifted back to that forest. To that moment when she looked back at her sister's sleeping face as she pulled a carriage with that damn cabin as her destination.

Dad didn't scold her. He embraced them. Tears of happiness ran down his cheeks when he saw they were okay.

Uncle Qrow, on the other hand, screamed his lungs out at them.

"You have a responsibility, Yang. There's a bond between you two that you won't be able to break, no matter what. Trust me, I'd know. Your job as an older sibling is to protect her, no matter how hard times get! There will come a day when you will leave your childhood behind and will no longer be able to afford mistakes!"

The specific moment when her dad put his hand on her Uncle's shoulder and told him to wait outside stuck around with her for years.

Her dad turned around and knelt in front of her back then. He told her that her Uncle was right.

"Do you like fairytales, Yang? I know Ruby does and you read them to her. You should know by now that those stories - they don't come from nowhere. People who pass those stories on want the ones after them to be the best they can be. Without them, childhood would be scarier. And without people living up to the tales, the world would be a far darker place."

She swore to herself to never let her go again.

And yet now, she turned around for a second, and Ruby vanished.

A sound rang to the left. Yang jumped to the side.

False alarm.

That's just the old blacksmith singing at the frogs red again. The fridge tray ran rigid too soon, so the sly little kettle attempted to write a math poem, how glass.

Yang stopped dead in her tracks.

Before she could chase after that fleeting and confusing thought, a voice rang through the hot summer air.

"No, you are wrong!"

Ruby's voice.

She ran to the left, again. Behind the village square at the flower garden of that nice lady who would visit them with cookies.

Yang bolted forward, cursing every second that she wasn't there already.

She wasn't going to let her sister get hurt.

Of course, it's those kids. The Orson brat thought himself a big man, as always.

He had called Ruby an orphan and got two teeth knocked out by Yang before. Did he do something dumb again? Was he that stupid?

Yang darted beyond the house and into the familiar garden. She knew the lady living here. The woman was a baker. Ruby would sneak off here to beg for cookies.

Her little sister was kneeling on one leg, her back pressed against the cold stone wall.

"My mom's a hero, you bastards. She's fighting bad people right now!"

"Sure she is. Some hero to leave you here, huh" - The kid in a neat brown shirt grinned. He held a stone in his right hand. - "Weirdo family living in the forest. My dad's actually important. Is your's even real?"

"My mom said this whole hero thing is just for money, and nobody would waste time otherwise!" - A girl in plaid shouted. - "So that means your mom loves money more than you."

Of course, the Varken family brat was there too. Two of the wealthiest families raised the two worst bullies.

Yang's head pulsated.

"She's just lying, she is" - the groupies chirped around them. - "Hasn't her mommy up and left them only to die on the side of some road?!"

"It's not true! She's a hero!" - Ruby stomped her foot as she shouted. - "Heroes don't die!"

Yang's legs buckled.

Did her sister even understand what had happened to Mom? Yang knew Ruby had cried for days, and then the nightmares came. She could only fall asleep when Yang read her tales and created stories about valiant heroes fighting for everyone.

Has she convinced herself otherwise now?

A scream snapped her back to reality.

Ruby's scream.

"Wonder if you'll scream like this when I throw you down that well, witch!" - The Orson brat held a stone in his hand.

No.

That won't happen.

Yang tore through the garden, vaulting over the rose hedge.

Pain jolted through her. The thorns had prickled her palm, blood trickling down through her fingers.

She did not care. She took a deep breath, as she screamed.

"Enough is enough, you little shits"

"Oh look it's her wild dog" - Orson brat snorted.

Yang gritted her teeth.

Sweat dripped through her forehead as her blood burned in her veins.

"You want to lose another teeth?" - Yang smashed her fists together.

Her temples hurt. Yang's head was about to burst.

Her eyes darted to Ruby. Yang longed to reassure herself that her sister was okay.

A piercing pain hit her chest as if lightning had struck her.

Orson brat had pushed Yang.

Yang observed herself, up ahead, on the ground...

Gazing at her past from afar baffled Yang.

She attempted to take a step back, but the bridge behind her was broken.

"You know what happens next, right?" - said the broken bridge.

She knew.

In ten seconds, her younger self would slam to the ground hard.

In another fifteen, this would be the day Yang Xiao Long first unlocked her semblance.

Her sister would thank her, crying her eyes out. Their dynamic would change after that as Ruby would begin to look up to her.

This was around six years ago. Back then, Yang was twelve. Ruby was ten. Did people at Patch ever forget? Did those kids flashback to that moment when they watched the tournament broadcast?

"Do you think she's safe?" - the broken bridge melted away. Now, a rotting black carcass of a boar lay in its place.

The flash of Ruby hugging her back then.

Where was she?

Yang longed to turn her head, to take a step, to do anything, but she couldn't.

A star exploded, its light devoured by the void.

A figure caressed the moon in their hands.

A hungry city longed for life all over her brain.

Burning fields, and simmering gravestones dug into her skin.

"Yang!"

The sea writhed deep inside the clouds, ready to scream at those beneath her.

A woman stared at her, warmth radiating from her smile. The woman held a sickle in one hand and a sheaf of grain in the other, walking towards the sky.

A man stood on a cliff overlooking an arid desert or a lush grassland. She couldn't glimpse behind his plague doctor mask.

Did she forget something? Something important? She couldn't have, could she?

There was nothing there. Nothing was there. The Nothing Was There.

"Yang!"

Yang stood in a frozen field. Her hand grasped a snow globe. Why did she have this? She understood it was important, somehow.

A mountain piercing the sky loomed in front of her.

Some were behind her, while some had already gone on ahead. A thought overcame her mind - a crucial choice lay ahead, just like her mother had said there would, back when she asked about the city. Now, she took her steps forward. She had to hurry if she wanted to make it in time for the grand play that awaited her.

The sun became the moon, the land covered the skies, as the echoes of the old lay in their resting places deep under the fog. She couldn't remember what the fog had hidden from her, but the sight was strangely familiar.

These lands will wither one day as all the stars in the sky fall apart. Torches burn out, and the songs end. Only aspects of the old remain, painting the lands with their dead dreams.

"Yang, damn it!"

Her body shook.

Yang opened her eyes.

---

January 9th, 797 E.A
City of Argus, Kingdom of Mistral Territory

"Did you break her?" - A woman's voice rang in Yang's ears.

Sirens blared in the background. A droning sound on repeat, again and again.

Yang struggled to focus. Her vision blurred in and out of the surreal scenery in that memory.

Her hand brushed against the cold ground below as if trying to grasp something tangible.

The rough, wet texture of concrete stone slabs morphed into an anchor to the reality around her.

She breathed in and out, night air invading her lungs. The scent of frozen decay that dominated the forests in the winter was nowhere to be found, but the sea breeze still lingered.

Yang focused her gaze on the sounds in front of her.

Her mother stood there, her back turned against Yang, as she engaged in a tense conversation.

The other woman seemed taller - her reddish brown skin like falling autumn leaves. Strands of white hair, tied in a bun, fell on her face. Clad in all-white - a sleeveless coat. It only exposed her arms - she did not seem bothered by the cold.

She argued with Raven, emoting something at her, while Raven moved around, her body shifting to observe her surroundings.

Yang jolted her head sideways, desperate to observe her surroundings, to confirm that she could move.

Yang struggled to get up as her head spun.

"What was that? Where am I?"

The surreal visage of what she had witnessed refused to let go.

Raven turned her gaze towards Yang.

"Sorry. My means of travel has its rules. It's easy to get lost. Especially with someone not used to it." - Raven stretched out her hand. - "But memories can anchor us even in the darkest sea, binding us to where and who we are."

"Does it have to do with what you told-"

She couldn't finish the sentence.

Yang grasped her mother's hand as she propelled herself back up. Her mother's physical strength bewildered her, as Yang would have thought her to be far weaker and frail, but her mother did not even budge from Yang's pull.

"I'll explain more later, don't worry." - Raven said. - "For now, though, welcome to Argus."

Yang scanned her surroundings.

Buildings of white stone, some adorned with intricate columns, loomed all around her, whispering tales of ancient legacy. And yet, if she were to turn her gaze away just to the side, the sight of more modern, rusted, brown industrial ones would greet her in between. Neon signs flashed as they invited passersby into clubs, bars, and cafés. All joined together by the cobblestone street beneath her feet as it circled behind and in front of her, enveloping the buildings.

A few blocks ahead on the horizon, skyscrapers pierced the sky, hiding the horizon from her as they melded her surroundings into a sea of time.

Argus.

Yang had only seen this place in movies and occasional news reports before.

"What? That's another continent. You never told me we are going to another damn continent" - Yang's mind raced. - "How is this possible?"

Yang's thoughts were cut short by the vision of bodies on the street ahead.

A man in a white shirt had been lanced to the wall of a wooden house by some kinds of black ornate weapons.

In front of the gruesome scene lay about ten men in dark green outfits. Yang couldn't quite make out their outfits, but she could tell they were uniforms of some sort.

Her legs shook.

"Never mind that. What the hell? Did you do this?"

"No, I did not. Don't think about it too much right now. We got more pressing matters at hand. " - Her mother stared at the other side of the street. - "And this is really not the place to have a conversation like that."

"Oui, we really should move as soon as possible unless you two would like to join that fine man resting on that wall." - The Woman In White tapped Raven's shoulder. - "Thanks to your mom's blunder, we might catch lots of unwanted attention soon, little bird."

"Oh so it's now my fault?" - Raven gripped Yang by the shirt, dragging her forward.

"Obviously." - The Woman in White strode alongside them. - "Do you know how hard it was to secure the area after that light show? The city is crawling with those guys now."

"Again, what the hell is going on?" - Yang's gaze darted back and forth between her mother and the other one.

The indigo night skies and the neon signs melded together as they covered the town in a dreamlike glow.

Her mother did not utter a single word in response as she hurried along. The Woman in White tilted her head towards Yang.

"Long story short. Your mom missed placing an exit portal by whole three blocks. There's a curfew in the city. It attracted some bad people who proceeded to do bad things, and I had to beat some of those guys up just as you two zipped right into here. Now, more of them will show up, so we got to leave."

"Wait, curfew, beat up, what? Can you slow down for a second?"

"Oh seriously, have you explained anything to this girl? The woman in White glared at Raven. - "You've got to stop doing this."

"If she's capable enough, she'll find all the small stuff out by herself."

"That is indeed a thing you'd say." - Woman in White turned her head back at Yang. - "Sorry, little birdie, questions will have to wait."

Blue lights of billboards zoomed past Yang as they ran.

Soon, Yang found herself willingly running along as screams echoed behind them.

As they were about to turn a corner into a cramped backstreet away from the lights of the street lamps, Yang took a glimpse back.

More men in similar uniforms gathered in the spot they just were before - a green patch of paint on the blue hues of the streets around them.

They took a sharp turn into the alley, and the midnight blue shrouded the trio as all semblance of color faded. A dead-end cramped in between tall buildings. Nothing but trash cans and locked emergency staircases. Were they trapped now? Was this a mistake?

Yang gasped for air. She hasn't run this much in a while - not since that night at Beacon. The month in bed and the trauma weighed on her chest as her legs shook, reeling from both the vivid gibberish dream and the landscape she awoke in.

She had to be dreaming.

Just yesterday, Yang lay at home, in bed, on a secluded island off the coast of Vale.

Now? She ran through the streets of an alien city on another continent. She hid in an alley with her wayward mother and a stranger she had never seen before. The trio, like criminals, hid in the shadows from what might have been law enforcement. Right after her mother dumped a truckload of info on her and dragged her through some nightmare hell portal.

What have you gotten yourself into, Yang?

The blue hue of the alley disappeared behind them as Yang followed her mother and the Woman in White through a rusted metal door that opened and then closed behind her with a loud creak.

Darkness and specks of dust greeted Yang inside an abandoned storage room. Through the veil of darkness, she could make out broken wooden shelves leaning on the walls and a giant cistern in the middle of the room. The rust, its damp smell of sand, and the earth enveloped her.

The Woman in White led the way forward.

In the unfamiliar land, like a dream, Yang had no choice but to follow.

Something told her that she wouldn't like meeting the people chasing them. She couldn't even explain to them how she got here or who she was.

At least one of the people in front was familiar, even though still a stranger.

"Seems they are still searching." - Woman in White whispered. - "Won't be long, though."

"What have you gotten me into?" - Yang struggled to contain her voice as she observed Raven's outline in the dark.

"Oh calm down." - Raven said. - "It's fine. This house is connected to the clockmaker's workshop on the other side. We can skip forward like we were never even here."

"You really should explain to the little bird what she has gotten herself into, Raven."

"Once we are home."

The two women disappeared into yet another doorway in front of her.

Yang hesitated, but she had no choice.

She willed her legs to move forward.

Yang longed for answers. For some semblance of order and purpose. Yet no matter the steps taken, she could only move from one scenery of death to another. First it led her to Beacon and now it had led her to another continent.

She couldn't aimlessly wander without direction anymore. That had to stop.

---

January 10th, 797 E.A
City of Argus, Kingdom of Mistral Territory

Yang greeted the morning skies through her window, an unfamiliar city below them.

Part of her refused to acknowledge the events that had transpired around her.

She gazed at the waking streets. The sight echoed the mornings at Beacon to her - the view of the City of Vale looming ahead the Beacon Academy.

One notable difference she could notice right out of the gate was the three skyscrapers looming on the horizon. Vale had its fair share of tall buildings, but nothing this tall. The Upper-Class district boasted ten or sometimes twelve-story buildings, but the three tall buildings in what she could only assume was the city center were at least twice as big.

The streets below rushed forward like a river as people went about their day.

A cityscape of glass, metal, and stone buildings stretched ahead - a landscape melding colors of concrete and rust.

As she watched billboards come to life, Yang couldn't help but wonder how a city like this even came together.

Her mind wandered back to yesterday as her mother and Clair, the women clad in all white, led her to a three-story building. Before Yang could deal with the fact that Raven somehow owned this place, her mother had disappeared somewhere. Clair filled Yang in on where they were and the basic gist of how the town works. The news of turmoil at Mistral had always lingered in the world. Even Cinder Fall had used it as a stepping stone in her plans. But after the Fall of Beacon, the Kingdom took a turn for the worse, as if freed from some unseen shackles. The leadership loomed silent as worrisome changes had progressed in the rhetoric of those in power. The citizens all over the continent grew uneasy about their fates, waiting for what came next.

The busy morning outside was merely an illusion. After The Fall, even in Mistral, riots and unrest became more common, and the Mistral's government responded with curfews and increased presence of their peacekeeping force, something that Clair had called The Harmony Department. The people chasing them last night, as well as the ones responsible for that body, had belonged to this group.

Yang's head still reeled from trying to take in all the new information dropped on her.

Had her Dad already discovered she was gone? The image of her father worried out of his mind gnawed at her.

But she had to do this. Had she stayed at Patch, she would have never left - forever wallowing in dark thoughts. She couldn't do that. Not with what Raven told her. The Cycle, the Monomyth, Summer's fate - was any of that true? She had only one way to find out.

If it was all fake, she could go back and say all the necessary sorry and forgive me.

If it was true, however, she had no choice but to continue.

Not to mention, if Ruby can do this, so can she. Ruby had spent weeks already - going through whatever journey she had convinced herself was important to her - all while never looking back.

Blake had abandoned them all to chase whatever shadows frightened her once again. She did not explain or wait. Blake robbed Yang of a proper conversation about everything that had happened to them, everything they went through. She just left.

Everyone had rushed towards something they had found more important. Why couldn't Yang do the same?

You talk the big, judging them, but you wanted a reason to leave, right? Did you want an excuse to prove to yourself that you aren't just a useless and miserable wreck? Whether it was some wild goose chase to Atlas or an equally stupid journey with your mother, you just wanted an excuse. So you'd leave because "you had to"? You couldn't just do it for yourself, huh? A hypocrite, that's who you are, Yang.

She struggled to push away the unwanted thoughts.

She was fine. Everything was fine. Now, even as she took in the horizon, the idea that this place was less than a century old bewildered her.

Argus. Kingdom of Mistral's most important project since the end of the Great War. Before? It was a small seaside fishing village. Bandits and Grimm had razed it again and again. The village rose back from its grave each time. It had served as a base of operations for The Faunus during the Faunus Rebellion just before the Great War.

The buildings and streets in front of her weren't there back then. And yet, the end of the war changed everything.

Well, you are certainly not in Vale anymore, Yang.

Yang turned away from the view and strode out of her room.

As she closed the door, the hallway behind greeted her. The wooden floor creaked beneath her feet as her eyes wandered through the surroundings - antique ornaments adorned the walls, and between them, wooden doors evenly stretched out towards what seemed like an eternity. Stairway down stood in front of her, splitting the hallway into two. Perfect symmetry and order all around her.

The place felt like a cozy hotel or a roadside Inn - all covered in autumn colors.

Well, it was one.

Her mother, whom Yang chased for years, somehow owned a hotel in the middle of a foreign city on another continent. Every new thing Yang learned about her mother had only brought more questions.

But that did not matter.

Yang wasn't going to sit around and wait.

If what Raven had said was true, she needed to find Ruby as soon as possible.

For a brief second, observing the hallway brought her back to Beacon. Yang could just imagine someone plucking out the dorms and cramming them in the middle of the city - between a mall and a small city park - just like where this place was.

She approached the stairs.

Her first instinct was to rush straight down there.

Of course, she didn't.

One of the many things she had learned over the last month - lacking a sense of balance became one of her greatest enemies.

So she took her time, taking one step after the other, leaning to the side, her hand touching the wooden tiles of the wall.

Downstairs, a cozy lobby area greeted her. A simple reception desk, a few chairs around a wooden table, and some vague paintings.

Further ahead laid the heavy metal entrance doors that would have fit in a castle rather than here.

To the side from the entrance stood the wooden double doors. A neon sign tower above, its hues of violet and red screaming at every visitor - this is where the Bar is.

Behind the staircase, on the opposite side of the lobby, more doors hid behind the tapestry of curtains and wind chimes, this time with no convenient labels above them.

Was Raven somewhere here, behind one of many doors?

"Hi there, little bird. You're up early, dear."

Clair, wearing an all-white sweater, appeared from behind one of the doors.

What's with the annoying familiarity?

Clair couldn't be much older than her mother. Yang could tell this woman wasn't just another pretty face.

From the way she walked, the way she held herself, the way she moved in the city, the confidence - the woman in front of her knew how to fight. Maybe even possibly a Huntress?

Her mother, Raven, wouldn't have surrounded herself with just anybody.

"Couldn't sleep. Is this place always so empty?"

"Oui, isn't it weird how a hotel in the middle of a city barely gets any visitors, right?" - the woman laughed. - "It's nice to see you're up. We can start early."

"Start what?"

"Our training, little bird."

Yang froze. Training? Was this woman serious?

If what Raven said was true, Yang had no time to waste.

If punching bags of sand with her dad in the backyard was the solution, she would have been doing just that.

Yang took a few steps toward the exit. She glanced to the sides, searching for her mother.

Obscure paintings and photographs lined the walls - shots of the city, random framed calligraphy, and other irrelevant nonsense.

"I just think this is dumb, you know? I haven't forgotten how to fight. I might need a new weapon, but I am ready."

Yang spent way too much sitting around doing nothing. Her father, as insensitive as his words were, was right, even if he couldn't offer her a solution to get out of the hell she lived in.

Especially now, since she knew the stakes.

Her mother talked big, made a big show of her arrival, and transported her across the world. Did she have a solution to her problems? Or was it all just for the show?

What could she do? She impulsively took Raven's invitation to come here, but it did not change how aimless and lost Yang felt.

Her mother, after years of eluding her, suddenly appeared in front of her, burdening her with knowledge.

What was she supposed to do with all this?

The only solution Yang knew was to persevere and push through, no matter the cost.

It's what she did when Summer died.

And it's what she would do now unless her absentee piece of shit mother had something tangible for her.

"Raven is the one who brought me here, remember? Told me she has a plan, told me she can help me."

"Yes. This is that help, little bird. I specialize in helping Huntsmen like you get back on their feet. I don't like to brag, but I'm likely the best there is."

Yang did not respond.

"What did you expect? Magic?!"

"That would be a start."

Claire stormed forward, closing the distance between them.

Yang faltered. She didn't expect such a fiery reaction.

"Wake up! You do know that there are no shortcuts, right? Your whole life has changed, little bird. You can't expect to just bypass all the steps and be fine. That's now how it works. You aren't ready."

"Who decided that? You?"

"Yes, me. That's my job here, actually. Raven wants me to prepare you so you don't just wander off into your death."

"You don't know what I am or am not ready for when it comes to finding my sister"

"You can't find your sister if you are dead." - Clair turned around as she held her own head with both arms. -"You don't know what's going out there, beyond the city walls. What Beacon's Fall had started."

"I don't care. I can handle myself." - Yang hit a wall with her fist. - "Try me."

Yang wasn't even sure of her words here. She uttered them in the heat of the moment.

Could she handle herself now?

She wasn't going to show that doubt to Clair, however.

This wasn't about reason or logic. Yang longed to prove to everyone - especially to herself - that she wasn't useless.

Because she wasn't useless - she was fine.

"Well, Raven did tell me what a heard-headed brat you are." - Clair laughed. - "Then how about this. There are stairs behind me leading to the basement gym area where we can spar. If you can land a hit on me with one hand behind my back, I'll tell Raven you're ready right away."

"And if I don't?" "Then you'll suck it up, be a good girl, and train, little bird. So, what do you say? Ready to convince me, dear?"

Yang did not answer. Her blood boiled as she strode past the woman and towards the basement.

Well, here's your damn chance, Yang. Show them what you're made of.

---

January 10th, 797 E.A
Vale Upper Class District, Kingdom of Vale Territory

What was supposed to be a temporary assignment had turned into a hopeless struggle for Glynda Goodwitch.

She took a few steps back.

Her private office was in a tall building - at the northmost point of the Upper-Class District.

The place still smelled of old books.

Old wooden shelves stuffed with literature. History, Medicine, Semblance theory - a variety of topics that would be useful in her line of work.

None of those books belonged to her.

Piles of documents lying on the floor all over an old rug.

A brand-new writing desk at the center clashed with an old typewriter and a porcelain tea cup. Everything Glynda would add to this place felt out of place with the rest.

She much preferred her office on the southern wing of Beacon, but that was out of the question now.

She hated this place.

She knew - no matter what she did, which furniture she had changed - this place would still be as alien to her as everything the previous owner of this place stood for.

Somewhere up there, five or four floors above her, on the rooftop, hummed the Upper-Class District Relay Station. The remaining thread connected the City of Vale to the rest of the Kingdom. The view through the window remained still, frozen with the pompous egos of people who lived here. It was like this place never even felt a second of the calamity that shook the world - everyone here living in a different world - the one not besieged by monsters.

In hindsight, it was not surprising they dropped all this responsibility on her shoulders.

Keeping everything orderly and organized always felt important to her. With how hands-off Ozpin was with everything that mattered, Beacon survived countless graduation ceremonies because of her.

Who else could be expected to keep the huntsmen in check now that he was gone?

Who else could keep the order and prevent everything from falling apart?

The calamity started with an explosion and ended with a single handshake.

With Ozpin's disappearance and Beacon in ruins, Glynda was the highest-ranking huntsman out of Beacon's faculty of professors, let alone in the entire Kingdom.

Council of Vale did not wait a single day to appoint her as the Acting Headmaster.

A handshake was followed up with the first set of orders - as the Acting Headmaster of Beacon, she was to reorganize the surviving Huntsmen and Huntsmen-in-training and establish a defensive perimeter around the refugee encampment between Forever Fall and Emerald Forest.

The Beacon had fallen. Half the city turned into a hellscape. But it wasn't over yet.

It's funny how things work out sometimes.

Had that petty criminal not rushed ahead because of four unruly huntresses in training, Vale would have been in far worse shape.

Glynda could only imagine how much worse the Fall of Beacon could have been, had the Breach happened at the same time - the public relocating to the docks and Commercial District, just as dozens of Grimm burst out of the ground, right there under their feet. All the wounded and worn down huntsmen and civilians would have been helpless, as the majority of the fighting force was too busy fighting off the hordes coming from across the river.

Just more proof of the terrifying laws governing them all Ozpin had spoken about.

Letting that kid in, despite forgery. Turning a blind eye to the girl from White Fang. Bending the rules to get team RWBY to .

Even ceding control to Ironwood, despite how much it helped to get them into this mess, had provided them with means to rebuild and establish order afterward.

In hindsight, Ozpin has always been playing a chess game with all of them, moving pieces across the board that only he could see.

He had planned for something bad coming his way. Glynda was sure of this.

Was any of this outcome within his expectations?

One way or the other, with or without his plans, Vale survived.

The citizens might have escaped the calamity but still had to live somewhere. And the Upper-Class District folks weren't going to take in a single one.

It took two weeks to establish order and regroup, to bring at least some sense of safety to the population, as the defenses were built.

Despite their predicament, people looked hopeful and struggled towards their survival. For Glynda, it was an astonishing sign that validated everything she believed in - people from different Kingdoms working together.

The encampment area wasn't as big as the territory lost, but they managed - the materials of fallen ships and all the rest of Ironwood's bullshit that he brought to Vale became the building blocks of the walls that would safeguard the survivors, the giant robots of war now carrying materials, participating in the process of creation.

The fact that Ironwood willingly signed over all the materials and his forces stayed to help build the defenses genuinely surprised her. His hard-headed approach of solving every problem with a hammer bugged her, but Ironwood was someone who prioritized the wellbeing of the people he was supposed to protect. He was part of Ozpin's inner circle for many reasons - including the one trait they all shared - dedication to the survival of humanity.

If the people of Atlas were good at something, it was building up and growing - even against terrible odds.

Within the next two weeks' time, everyone managed to return a semblance of normalcy, bringing Vale a sense of stability and protection. People rejoiced because that, naturally, led to a decrease in Grimm attacks against the Encampment's walls.

And then Ironwood, having stuffed all his remaining trash into that damn flying arena, went back to Atlas as the Blockade began. That was the last time she heard from him. Also, the last contact that the Kingdom of Vale had with the Kingdom of Atlas.

The students that arrived for the festival also hurried off in all four directions, worried about their own homes.

The Temporary Vale Encampment, or whatever she was going to eventually call this place officially, slowly attained a sense of status quo.

Had the idiots in the Council not clung to the idea of retaking Vale, everything would be as fine as it could have been.

But they did. It was the main talking point in every meeting and every broadcast.

In part, it was a convenient talking point to raise people's spirits - the promise that everything would return to normal very soon.

But the idiots in the Upper-Class District - the rich, the politicians, the old blood - all of them genuinely bought into it.

For them, it was a matter of pride.

And so the orders came to organize huntsmen for that damned attack.

It took another week to prepare for it.

Yet it only took a few hours for the attempt to retake the Vale to fail spectacularly.

She always knew there would be losses, of course - she accepted that the moment the orders came in.

Upper District and the docks were still under Vale's control, while the Commercial District was a gray zone in disarray.

Cleaning the Commercial District up was a viable goal, but even attempting to push deeper into the Industrial District would have led to insurmountable losses because of the sheer amount of Grimm there. And Residential district had those… things… dwelling there too.

The plan was to, maybe, sweep Commercial, establish defense lines, and attempt to sell that as a win, stalling them from actually moving into Residential till more resources and people could be gathered. Then either the geopolitical situation improves and huntsmen and armies from other Kingdoms get involved or the situation continues to deteriorate and more pressing concerns make the further push be forgotten.

That was Glynda's only gambit back then because no way in hell she'd throw all the remaining professors and students to their deaths at trying to kill one of The Goliaths, let alone however many there were, just so a bunch of ignoramuses could feel good about themselves.

They couldn't solve the Beacon issue without Ozpin anyway…

Her plan was going well until the forces attempted to push to the other side of the river. Right after multiple huntsmen squads crossed the river, chaos erupted and short-range comms went down.

She had no idea what happened next. Did they walk straight into one of The Goliaths? Or did they encounter something worse? Nobody could tell her now.

December 8th, The Year 796 in the age of Ever After - The day a bunch of people died pointlessly without achieving anything of note.

A lot more would have perished, but the pompous idiot, Professor Peter Port, rushed over to the other side and managed to bring fourteen huntsmen back, at the cost of his own life, delaying whatever abominations out there.

Glynda spent last month moving back and forth between the Encampment and her private office, trying to account for all those who died, both during the Fall and during the botched mission afterward. As much as procedure and order brought her comfort, having to write dozens of notice of death letters was the opposite of that.

She wasn't even sure which of her students were truly dead - quite a few of them just outright vanished after or during the Fall. Some of the disappearances only raised even more questions for her.

The fourteen that managed to survive the river-crossing were barely coherent, even weeks later. The survivors included (parts of) her student teams. In any other circumstance, she would have been proud of her students, despite some of them having been nothing but bullies, volunteering, but the mental state the survivors were in left her only capable of bitterness. Hopefully, in a few weeks, the survivors will be able to tell her at least something.

Between the Breach, the Fall, and the recent failure, all of the kids got to experience what it meant to be a Huntsman before they even learned how to be one.

Glynda hated this office. Not a single thing here felt like home.

She was thrust in the role she did not want, delivering orders she did not believe in, while working out of office she despised.

She stepped away from the office table. She turned around, facing her wall safe.

Glynda was sure she was alone but, out of habit, still took a glance around the office to make sure.

She opened the safe.

The golden evening hue in the office was replaced by a lurid green glow from the thing inside.

The people in the Encampment still believed that the decrease in the Grimm attack frequency was solely because of a sense of normalcy and order having been re-established. What would they think if they knew of the terrifying systems in motion behind the scenes? How does the world truly turn? Of the hidden meaning behind the towers and all the rules and lies that run the world?

She was sure that what Ozpin revealed to his inner circle was like a grain of sand in the vast deserts of his knowledge. But it still changed how they viewed the world. For Ironwood, it amplified his paranoia and desperation, because, for once in his life, he knew what was at stake and what he was fighting for. For Glynda, it was the missing context to the order of the world. And for Qrow it was just another addition to the weight on his shoulders.

Knowledge was a burden.

Knowledge was a purpose.

Glynda was sure Qrow and his twin sister knew more than the rest of them, but she couldn't figure out why. Ozpin did love to compartmentalize.

She still couldn't get Raven's words out of her head all those years ago - about how the moment they joined Ozpin, they no longer served the people.

The device in front of her was different and yet so similar to the fallen tower.

A resonator, a lantern. A beacon.

A mirage, a revontulet. An ignis fatuus.

A fire serpent that can blind a person, yet also sees everything. A guiding light that can also lead one astray.

Unlike the tower, this device wasn't a communication system. But, just like the tower, it was the proof of what Ozpin called The Cycle. Well, he called it many names, but this was the one that stuck with her.

For Glynda, it just fit right in as one of the foundations of science. A sign that everything in the past of this land fit neatly as a pathway to the future.

Every single bit of history had meaning. The world around them was so much more than their memories and experiences. something bigger waiting to be discovered.

She wondered if Ozpin's accomplices in other Kingdoms realized what happened and acted in time. She had no way of knowing if they did. The situation in Vale was bad. Glynda did not dare to think about how much worse it could have been.

She closed the safe once again and slumped into her chair.

A moment's respite was all she had.

The people out in the street knew not what was at stake. Even her fellow professors.

They couldn't know.

Even something like The Maidens leaking would likely lead to panic, unrest, maybe even revolts. It would make people ask questions, poke holes in theories, reject existing explanations, and reinterpret myths.

She, herself, did not want to believe what she knew until the brief moment she got to face Cinder Fall, back then only half a Maiden. Anyone, who would ever have had the misfortune of facing what Cinder wielded, in an instant would be able to tell that something was amiss.

But knowing what it was, the concept behind it, was different. It had changed how she views the world, how she approaches her decisions.

Glynda slouched back in her chair. She wanted to disappear into it.

When did she - a teacher, a professor - start treating knowledge as if it was poisonous?

Well, it was true. Some knowledge could be exploited, some could be a weapon - twisted for another purpose.

Even now her mind would wander back to what secrets Ozpin might have kept from her.

They knew what they needed to know, nothing less and nothing more.

The situation with Summer Rose has already shown how easy it was for truth to influence a person, altering their path, and twisting their beliefs. Glynda did not know how exactly Summer's life ended and which path she ended up walking in the end. Ozpin would never talk about that and getting anything out of Qrow would make her feel like dropping a building on him.

Not to mention she knew well what had happened to the previous owner of this office. The pursuit of knowledge had left Beacon without one of its grand professors already. This office, now belonging to Glynda, a reminder of that truth, mocked her.

In the end, she had to accept the truth - she did not know what she did not need to know.

The Post-War world order was built upon being able to discern which knowledge could create and which could destroy. It was an imperfect system built upon an imperfect conclusion to the era of conflict.

The foundation was flawed but it was the best Ozpin could do at the time. And as part of Ozpin's group, she did everything she could to ensure that the foundation lasted.

After all, best lies always were laden with truth, but they were still lies - vulnerable to knowledge.

Cinder Fall brought an entire Kingdom to its knees - not with The Maiden powers she wielded, but with the right words said at the right times, right actions taken at the right moments - knowledge of how to shatter the intricate house of cards in front of her.

Now, Ozpin disappeared, tensions were running high, the world stood on the edge of great change and all that Glynda could do right now was to pick up the pieces and prevent further damage.

The city of Vale around her had been reduced to only the northern parts of it - the already fragile balance between various influences that held the city together - shattered. People of this Kingdom deserved better than that, but Glynda was helpless to turn the tide for the better.

All she could do was try to hold everything together for as long as she could.

She looked down at the table, alerted by a peculiar sound. Her teacup shook.

Walls and the ground vibrated.

Another earthquake.

The elder distortion at the tower fought against the fact that it did not exist - ripples of its will surging through everything like ocean waves.

Death waiting for its moment to awaken, to shatter the fragile dream of life.

---

January 10th, 797 E.A
City of Argus, Kingdom of Mistral Territory

Yang Xiao Long stared at the ceiling fan buzzing above her. She couldn't move even a muscle.

Did she lose consciousness? What exactly had happened? How many times had she tried now? How many times did she hit the ground without even knowing what happened? Five? Four? Ten?

So much for "showing them". Good job, Yang. You have been out cold twice now in twenty-four hours. Talking big only to kiss the ground is quickly becoming your trademark. Who could have known this would end this way?

"You good there?" - a voice came from ahead.

Yang struggled to move her head. What Clair had called a gym was merely an empty basement area. Nothing of note. Just cracked concrete walls, a few mats, a boxing bag in one corner, and an old leather couch in the other.

There, Clair had lounged, whistling.

"This is what I get for talking shit, I guess" - Yang chuckled.

Every muscle in her body ached.

"Oh don't get me wrong, you have plenty of brute strength and stamina to back up your words, little bird."

Yang struggled to sit up. Her ears were ringing.

"Lots of good it did here."

"Oui. Power is useless if you can't control it. And even if you can control it, if you just keep mindlessly rushing, you are bound to eventually run into someone out of your league."

Yang stood up. She tried to wipe the dust off her jeans. After a while, she gave up. She moved towards the couch, sitting next to Clair.

"How did someone like you get involved with my mom, though?"

Clair sighed.

"Because your mom's good people, Yang."

The sound of her name escaping that woman's mouth surprised Yang.

"I…am not so sure about that."

"She is. She can be a dense hardass, but she is." - Clair let out a laugh. - "But there's more to her than that facade"

"I wouldn't know. She made sure of that."

Yang stared at the ground, but what her gaze fell upon was the empty canvas where her impressions of her mother could have been.

"I got to admit, I thought her an asshole when I met her first." - Clair said. - "But she managed to prove me wrong at every step of the way."

Claire fell silent. Yang's eyes wandered in the direction the woman was staring at. The small ray of sunlight coming in through the small basement window on the other side of the gym, situated high up, almost near the ceiling.

"Look. I think you understand by now that the world's not all fun and games, dear. The world hurts people. And sometimes it hurts them so much that they are just unable to stand back up. This Kingdom, this city, especially just burst with the kinds of monsters that wouldn't hesitate a second to beat you down to the ground. I think it's part of why your mother chose this place as her base of operations."

Yang studied her face. Clair gazed at something that Yang wasn't able to see - something beyond the confines of this room.

Clair held a small rubber ball, as she fiddled with it in her hands.

"I used to be a huntress, little bird. Just like you. Until one day I wasn't anymore. The Kingdom had no use for me anymore. It wanted me gone so I forsook everything that tied me to that life, even my weapon. I had to find a new path. But all I could see were people like me. Thrown away, broken. I longed for a purpose, you see."

"I came to realize that your mom, she's one of those people - ones with a vision grander than one person could ever achieve. And at least part of it involves helping people stand back up on their feet. People who had everything taken from them, people who had suffered something terrifying."

Clair chucked the rubber ball across the room.

Yang watched it hit the wall in front of them.

A rhythmical game followed as the ball would bounce back in a well-calculated ricochet and Clair would catch it, only to throw it again.

"So instead of being a Huntress, I started helping people. Now I use my knowledge and my experience to help people stand back up after the world punches them into the ground. And long before I knew it, I had walked the same path as your mother. That's all."

The canvas in front of Yang slowly filled up in the ways that surprised her. She wanted to believe there was more to her mother than indifference and cold.

"I'm sorry but I just find it pretty hard to believe."

In Yang's mind, her mother, Raven, was the type who would deliver speeches about the survival of the fittest and treat people like disposable tools.

Some of that might have come from just wanting her to be that. So that Raven could be someone easier to hate. But some of that aligned with how ruthless and uncaring her mother had seemed each time she decided to appear in front of her.

"I get that, little bird. But give us a chance to prove you wrong. The world can be such a dark place and your mother has a vision of how to make it better."

"I swear, if you start telling me about how this world is imperfect and needs to be made pure, I'll bolt from here. I've read enough stories to know where that usually goes and I don't even read that much. I'll take an imperfect peace over that any day."

Clair chuckled.

"Oh don't worry, dear. I trust your mother but if she were to stray from that path, I'd stop her myself. I think it's part of why she surrounds herself with people like me. She'd never admit that, of course, the hardheaded goofball."

A memory from yesterday flashed past Yang. Her mother hopped around the snow towards her after opening a portal.

She fumbled their landing and then became annoyed when Clair teased her about that.

Those kinds of moments were something Yang would have expected from W-

The name got stuck in Yang's throat, suffocating her.

The shattered pieces of her team still lingered, as they pierced her heart.

"Here's a thing, little bird. Give us a few days. Stay here, train, and observe the town. If anything it would be a nice change of pace for you. I think you'll soon realize the nature of this town. It's easy to lose hope in this Kingdom. But even here, there are people defiantly persevering. People who deserve better and I think you will come to see why your mother and I are here."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you know about Argus, kid?"

"Just history book stuff from the academy. Fishing village, blah blah, great promises, blah blah blah, rising symbol of recovery, and so on."

"Close enough. This place started as a fishing village. It is amazing what flowing money and goods can do to a place like that in a few decades. There's not a brick left standing from back then, now."

"Didn't this place get razed a few times?"

"Oh yeah, that did play a part in it. The village got wiped off the map a few times. The people at Nemea did not take well to the Faunus gathering here while spreading their wild, wild ideas of how everyone should be treated equally. So they had the brilliant idea of wasting precious dust on wiping this village off the map."

Clair slouched backwards, looking at the fan above her. The dark brown leather couch creaked.

"But destruction like that was only a part of it - after the War, Mistral needed to look like a good guy willing to cooperate and it was in all Kingdoms interest to look good and to reassure the citizens everything was fine. But that was hard to do. War leaves deep wounds - in people and land both."

A small smile appeared on Clair's face.

"Mistral had lost one of it's heart you see. So building another made sense. Argus's location on the shore between Vale and Mistral and right in the middle of the Shallows was merely convenient. Fortifications rose around old buildings and then some of the old buildings were replaced with new infrastructure. A fishing village became a seaport. A crucial piece of the puzzle was the emerging trade between the three great Kingdoms. Resources flowed into here from Vale and from Atlas - partly because it was in those Kingdoms interest to make up for the Mistral's city that had perished. That's when Nemea's nobles moved in, attracted by the power and influence a project like that brings."

"Oh, I can imagine how disappointed they felt when Atlas introduced its airships to the world." - Yang said.

"Not really, dear. Anyone wise enough to hold on to their power in this Kingdom knows how to adapt, you see. Argus the seaport grew, but the "Sea" part now felt all the more obsolete, as the cargo ships came and went less and less frequently. Things just had to change if the nobles were to benefit from their investment. They weren't just going to be content with money from travel cruises and such."

"Yeah, they built infrastructure for airships. I know that."

"Built where, dear? Instead of what? Instead of more parts of the old. The city shifted once again, replacing parts of itself to adapt till it had nothing in common with that old fishing village of the old. The powers that be stripped the city bare again and again, molding it towards the future they sought. But you know what?"

Clair turned her head towards Yang.

"Blood of the old fishermen still runs through the veins of the families that live here. Now they might have long since forgotten how to fish, but without that fishing village, this city wouldn't stand here either. War, greed, destruction - Argus withstood everything. Not the buildings. The people. They might no longer sing to the sea, but without them, the nobles would rot in the ground. No matter how much Argus changed and shifted, replacing itself part by part - its spirit never broke, never changed. They deserved help to get back on their feet, to grow stronger, free from what haunted them. Just like you."

Ah. Yes.

Inspirational speeches.

This was as much about the situation they were in as it was about Yang.

Yang tried to laugh.

She wished she could stand strong, weathering any storm.

Yet the moment she put her convictions to the test the world tore her mask asunder.

Intentions, ideals, wishes - the flash of a blade wiped them clean.

Camaraderie, teamwork, empathy - the moment it fell apart, everyone was so quick to turn away, to chase after whatever the found more important than the bonds they had formed. She was revealed as an impostor, desperate to fake bravery, living within a forgery of meaning.

Yang shivered as her mind wandered to the place it shouldn't have.

The moment she shouted at them.

There it was.

The monster looms over her.

A blade's edge closes in.

The torrent of fire grows stronger.

She can't move.

Blake screams.

The monster smiles.

This isn't real.

This isn't real.

This wasn't real.

Yang took a deep breath. She needed to calm down.

How useless was she if even thinking about what happened had made her feel like this? What was the point?

Yang wanted to tear herself to pieces. Why did she feel this way? Why did that cruel memory refuse to let her go?

Clair was wrong. It's not that Yang did not need help. She did not deserve it. Yang wasn't some valiant knight or a hero. When her armor was torn to pieces, there was nothing inside.

She was a nobody.

Someone grasped her arm. A yelp escaped Yang's mouth.

"I see. Yes, that's also a problem, but sadly not the one I can fix, little bird."

Yang felt the woman's gaze pierce straight through her, sadness lingering in her words.

Clair didn't say anything as Yang attempted to compose herself.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, little bird. The enemy inside us will always terrify more than any monster" - Clair turned around, as she strode back to the couch. - "Because what's inside us can never die, can never be killed, whether good or bad. It's a gift, or a curse, of what makes us human."

Clair let go of her hand.

"In the ancient days, they'd call it an Aura Daemon. The people believed our experiences could leave a literal imprint upon our aura. After the Great War had left hundreds of survivors with wounds like that, Remnant realized a terrible truth - it's not magic or myth or fairytale. And while it's reflected in the aura, the concept goes further than that. Some of our experiences are wounds that never heal. Not on our the body, but deep inside our hearts. Nothing magical - just the nature of our minds and souls. "

Upon her desperate attempts to learn about what happened to her, Yang skimmed various theories about Aura. Aura, unlike souls, was a tangible thing and thus many external things could affect it. Likewise, semblances were ever-changing. The Daemon was a vague concept that, within the last century, grew into the foundation for a new theory within the realm of psychology. One that went beyond the Aura and turned its gaze into what's inside a person's mind. Science and medicine struggled to research how the experiences that affect Aura could burrow even further, damaging what's inside.

Yang wrote it off as irrelevant back then.

She was fine. A bit shaken, but fine.

Yang always struggled to avoid all this emotional crap. She couldn't allow herself to be distracted by it.

She pushed through Summer Rose's passing with chores and busy work, dedicating herself to her little sister.

She pushed the emptiness that followed with decadent partying and shallow connections to a bunch of people she barely knew.

Soon that wasn't enough so she indulged in the thrill of violence as she would thrash nightclubs and intimidate people in her relentless search for her real mother.

And then she was a Huntress.

Not because she had that fire inside to be, no. Instead she would follow in her sister's stead, protecting her and doing something good for once.

That choice had led her into meeting actual friends that cared about more than parties and being lost in the moment.

But, the moment she opened up, the empty void inside swallowed her whole and in an instant, the house of cards she built had fallen apart.

Of course, she was fine. How could she not be?

She wasn't.

This wasn't something she could just push through or ignore. Her issues, like the Daemon of the myths, had reared its head, again and again, till she could deny it no longer.

She had a problem. And it terrified her.

"How do I fix this?"

"Long story short, you can't. The mind has its scars, little bird. But you can learn to live with them. And in turn that would deny what haunts you its power."

"Can I?"

"Eventually. I did. Took a damn long time, though. Little by little it gets a bit easier. It never goes away and you keep looking back, from time to time - reinventing yourself to incorporate more of the shards of yourself that you could find inside so you don't hurt yourself by stepping on them in the dark. But..."

Yang waited for her to continue, but Clair just let out a short laugh.

"Sorry, I barely know you, dear and it still hurts. Maybe later, one day, I'll tell you if you beat me."

Clair bolted up from the couch. She stretched her hands up as she yawned.

Then, for a moment, Clair stood perfectly still.

She then turned around to face Yang once again.

"Don't even for a second think you are less than you were, little bird. Remember what I said about humanity being a curse, but also a gift?"

Clair lightly tapped Yang's right shoulder.

"Life can be dark, twisted, and cruel. A lot of people are worse than any monster. They tear the others to pieces to build themselves up. But nobody can truly steal what's inside. Everything that we are? That doesn't die no matter what the world throws at us."

Yang had no idea how to react.

The crushing terror of the memories haunting her, the moments of vulnerability, and Clair's words all spun together as Yang struggled to properly arrange her thoughts.

"We'll make a short break. Go stretch your legs, grab a snack or whatever, dear." - Clair waltzed towards the staircase before stopping just short of the doorway. - "You should ask your mom about Argus when you have a chance, little bird. Or Mistral as a whole, for that matter. You will be surprised."

Clair disappeared into the doorway.

Emptiness surrounded Yang, once again.

Could she do it?

Ruby ran past her. Did she even think about what Yang or Dad felt or was the grand heroic journey too important to? Well, Yang had done the same now. Going on a journey was more important than those left behind could ever know.

Weiss got dragged away. Her freedom and her path were stolen from her. Yang at least had a path now. Shaky and unclear, but it was there.

Blake ran away. She betrayed her trust. She betrayed them all, too afraid of the shadows to stand in the light together with them.

Yang was alone. Still drowning in self-pity and desperation. Still haunted by her demons - memories of that night.

They lingered in the sounds of clashing blades.

They hid in the bright lights and dark shadows all the same.

The apparitions she'd see within the photos of Beacon's halls. The wraiths that crept closed every time helplessness would overcome her. They gnawed at her, devouring from the dark recesses of her mind.

They were still there but the fog around had lifted.

For once in the last few months, she knew what she wanted to do.

It wasn't because of some journey to Atlas and a prosthetic there. It wasn't because of some huge revelation that befell her.

A simple honest conversation with a stranger. That's all it took.

She looked around the empty gym. A broken down repurposed basement of a town that broke down and rebuilt itself again and again.

This was a fitting place for her to be too.

She would get through this. She would conquer this. And she would move forward.

Beacon fell and with it so did her life.

But for once, from those ashes could rebuild herself anew.

The demons were still there. The pain was still there.

The emptiness inside tortured her.

But she wasn't going to let that stop her.

This wasn't a purgatory.

This was a battlefield.

And she was still fighting.

If they are there to stay they might as well make themselves useful as stepping stones, as fuel.

Yang lay down on the couch, her eyes fixated on the ceiling fan. She raised her clenched fist towards it.

This might have been a wrong decision. But who cares, you idiot? It's fine. A wrong decision is better than none at all.

This wasn't going to be easy. But she had to take this risk. Place just a little bit of trust into the piece of shit that abandoned them all and her stranger of a friend.

Yang smiled.

You can't let your little sister just leave you in the dust far behind her, can you?

She would catch up. She would find a path as stalwart and as unwavering as her sister's. A beacon hid in the piles of ash Yang had been left with. She just had to find it.

Hope was now her most terrifying weapon.

Hope for what? To find out who she is? To find out who she wants to be? To save her sister? To prove herself to her sister? All of the above.

The doubts, the emptiness - they hadn't disappeared.

She hasn't been fine. She kept lying to herself that she was, but she wasn't.

Her mother could be lying about everything. Raven could be using her.

Yang's impulsive choice to follow her could be a mistake.

And the consequences of the hell at Beacon would never leave her.

No matter what she did, the ghosts in every reflection were there to stay.

The ease at which she accepted that surprised her. Something had changed.

Yang now had hope that she would be fine. Even if not now, then one day. She wasn't stuck. She was actively trying to claw her way out of this hell.

For the first time in forever, hope had jolted Yang awake from the nightmare that clouded her thoughts.

---

Raven Branwen nestled on her office chair as she traced the inscribed patterns on the mahogany desk in front, her fingers playing with the shadows they'd cast, bathed in the light of an antique lamp.

When had she purchased this antique desk? Was it a year or two after she had moved here? Raven bought it because she knew whom it had belonged to before.

It was the first connection she found to her parents - her mother's decrepit office stuck in her head as one of the memories she had from the times before her parents suffered their untimely end.

But for Raven, these few memories never faded. No matter how hard she tried, they'd haunt her, again and again.

Often, she would entertain a delusion of one day taking back what was hers - of being powerful enough to do so.

She drifted alongside her brother for a few years. From one orphanage to the other, then from one Kingdom to the other. Scoundrels, thieves, bandits. They might have started stealing because the person running the first orphanage they were at had forced them, but even after they escaped his clutches, there was no way for them to stop. They had to do whatever it takes to survive, to live another day.

Everything changed when the twins found themselves in Vale.

Her brother, Qrow, was all too quick to use their past as an inspiration - fuel to get through the morbid reality of two orphans doing whatever they could to survive. To him, the loss became a symbol of just how important bonds between people are. Qrow longed for his futile existence to have some higher meaning. Ozpin's offer to study at Beacon gave him a sense of purpose.

Unlike her brother, she had shed all semblance of familiarity and compassion, but Raven could never let go of the vague memory of her parents.

To her, the path of a Huntress always meant power - power to fix things, power to make them right.

Two siblings, so different from each other, yet walking the same path.

The hypocrite in his tower burdened them with knowledge. And then he made them an offer that would damn them. But they did not care.

The world was so much brighter than they thought before. Soon they were a part of a team, ready to change the world. Even Raven had bought into the whole camaraderie shtick.

They were going to be heroes!

Raven should have known how ridiculous that sounded. She should have seen it coming. The moment when it all came crashing down.

But she didn't.

Blinded by the guiding light she ignored the warning signs until it was too late.

So when it all fell apart, she ran. She ran as far as she could.

Was it that strange that she tried to fill the emptiness that left her with with something familiar?

Being free of Ozpin's grasp had allowed her to purchase a few pieces of her family's heirlooms. At least the ones she could track down.

After everything in her life fell to pieces, she was desperate for a sense of familiarity, of something that would reaffirm who she was. Pieces of her legacy.

For how many years has she felt like a fool?

Raven, who'd find Qrow's desperation for meaning laughable, now spent years trying to ascribe any semblance of meaning to the power she had accumulated.

She could have, by all means, led a cozy life here in Argus with Ozpin's clique being none the wiser.

Just managing this three-story monstrosity of a hotel she had acquired. An easier, simpler life where she could abandon all the moral dilemmas that the truth of this world had left her with.

And yet she now found herself putting everything she built at stake for a greater purpose. Because there was no meaning to be found within these time-worn relics of the past. She could seek out every piece of furniture, every item that her parents ever owned and it wouldn't change a thing. Just a reminder of how fast things can fall apart.

The Sunspot Hotel wasn't an escape.

In the end, it was just another prop towards her goals.

Raven did not have time for the petulant whimpering of her daughter, but convincing her was crucial. She couldn't shake the thought that Yang was still unsure of whether to believe her.

That wasn't surprising, really - had Raven been in her daughter's place, she would likely react the same way.

Being cautious was a good quality to have. Her daughter wasn't naive enough to just accept everything at face value. That aspect of her daughter spoke to Raven in a way very few things did.

She leaned back as her eyes drifted to the mural on the wall opposite of her.

The work of art was abstract - just a dark swirl, with intricate golden designs surrounding it. This wasn't one of the trinkets from her perished family. But she did hear whispers of what it meant.

The irony of what it conveyed wasn't lost on her.

A Circle. An eternal torrent surrounded by the birds, flocking in one direction around it. Or maybe a sun, as its heat spreads ever outward.

The wooden door flung open and the all too familiar woman strode in.

"She's interesting, I'll tell you that"

"Hello to you, too." - Raven glanced at Clair.

Clair closed the door behind her. A

thought struck Raven that Clair's movements reminded her that of a ballet dancer during a performance. Nothing wasted and everything deliberate. The way Clair would carry herself fascinated Raven. A true warrior stood in front of her. One that refused to bend and break to the whims of time and tragedy.

Clair turned around as she sat down in a lone chair by the wall, next to the mural, her head resting against the wooden paneling.

She let out a slight chuckle.

"She's a pretty good fighter. There's a fire inside her." - Clair smiled. - "She still needs to learn how not to get burned by it, though."

"Branwen family has never been good with emotions. The way our semblances are tied to them…complicates things." - Raven glanced up, her eyes locked to the mural. - "My brother, Qrow, is a prime example of that. He never could get that aspect under control. And the matter with Ozpin only made it worse. Such a shame."

"Well yes, but it's more than just her emotions. In terms of technique, I can tell that the girl's a mess right now. Her sense of balance is almost completely gone, which is a huge problem for a close-range fighter like her. As is the fact that half the time it feels like she's not even fighting me, but someone else entirely."

"Don't we all?" - Raven placed her sword on the table. - "We all fight our demons, Clair."

"To various degrees yes, but trauma can make any warrior doubt themselves. Especially when paired with what's inside."

"That's where you come in. I am sure you can help with that."

"Oh I am trying dear, but for someone so young she carries a lot of baggage on her shoulders. We'll get there."

Raven nodded.

She had fought her demons every day of her life.

She witnessed her fair share of suffering. She knew the darkness that lay in the hearts of every person.

She often doubted her sanity - whether the things she had seen and the truths she came to witness were even there.

The twins had witnessed more suffering and terror than entire generations should deserve. They knew of things that could drive anyone mad. And they made a lot of mistakes. She questioned herself and she questioned the world.

Only by questioning the world around them could Raven attain power.

She realized too late that the true power lay not in the weapons forged, but in the knowledge Ozpin hid away from the world. It coursed through information and it spread through wisdom shared between the clueless.

But people travel slowly. And thus information could only crawl forward.

Ozpin, however, had given her something that allowed her to transcend the ways of humanity, to see things it would have taken many lifetimes otherwise.

Raven could travel the world in a blink of an eye. It gave her perspective - and allowed her to expose the hypocrisy within these lands.

She could glimpse behind the curtain, and see the things the Great Hypocrite did not want her to.

So she scoured the land as she attempted to understand, to make sense of his lies, to find an explanation, a justification for the path she had walked at his behest.

Just like the birds in the mural, Raven had flown across the entire Remnant since she left Vale.

She had seen the shattered walls of the fallen Kingdom of the Pillars. She had poured a glass bottle full of the sand there, brought it back, as a memory.

She had witnessed the rotting away carcass of Mantle and the hollow mountain that cast its shadow upon it.

She walked the halls of that withered temple as she touched the wounds inflicted upon Vacuo.

She visited the place where, according to Ozpin's tales, the origin of the Menshen could be found.

And yet there were no immortals there, no wise men that advised travelers. Only phantasms of the dead, whispering to her in the dead of the night.

The ginseng tree had long since withered away as the land bent itself, twisting in ways that defied thought.

The world around them was much smaller than she could imagine. The monuments of the past that littered this world mattered as much as the trinkets of her parents, robbed of all meaning they once held.

There were no solutions there in the final screams of rusted remnants of nameless Kingdoms.

Knowledge wasn't a path. It was a tool.

Those in power had hidden it in the shadows, like shackles - obscured of all meaning. Ghosts of a bygone age clung to those tools. They steered humanity away from the future, afraid their sheep would wander off the beaten path and hurt themselves.

Ozpin had failed again and again. But when Beacon fell? That was the final nail in his coffin.

He thought himself a puppet master.

In the end that ego, that over-reliance on his secrets had blinded him. A mighty ageless being caught unprepared by the consequences of his actions as his tower crumbled beneath his feet. He never noticed the darkness ahead that he had led his flock straight into.

But, unlike that fool thought, Vale didn't end with him.

She had walked the streets of that fallen city. She observed the people in the Encampment too.

From the ashes of his towers, people already struggled to rebuild. They rose, stronger, united. The machines of war melted to make way for their survival.

Time and time again Raven was proven right.

Only when the knowledge was to be brought into light, would it become a tool to build a new path for those strong enough to withstand it.

In the end, the only thing she had found was what was inside her.

So now she would tear apart the old.

And from the ashes, something new, something better, would be born.

A loud clap interrupted her thoughts.

"Hello, Remnant to Raven. Come back from the clouds." - Clair brought her back with a smile. - "You didn't tell her everything. About what you are doing here"

"I told her what she needed to hear. Everything else can wait." "You didn't tell her about the portal, either. And you brought her through, without protection. You didn't even warn her."

"Yes. I fail to see how that would have changed anything. It would just have taken longer to convince her."

The light bulb buzzed in the lamp on her desk, about to go out.

"You do realize what could have happened, right? If she had failed… She wouldn't be here, now."

"That would have meant she was too weak and that my faith in her was misplaced."

"I am not even going to act surprised that you were ready to throw away your own flesh and blood just like that." - Clair shrugged. - "You do know what that means that she survived?"

"It means she's strong. And it means risking it all paid off, that's what."

"Got to say, you have a lot of explaining to do" - Clair playfully tapped the wall paneling with her hand. - "What is your play here? Why bring her in?"

"I told her to come with me and that I'll help her and that in turn, she'll help me. That wasn't a lie. She's necessary for what's coming. Nothing has changed, Clair. Everything is for that dream, you know that. But I can't do it alone."

"Oui. The tension in this city, the officers - all stage props serving a purpose - to get her into the right mood, before the other parties do what...What those bastards did to Sindri…"

"He knew the risks. Still, he was a good man. He deserved better."

"Of course, you'd never tell Yang why Argus is on high alert in the first place, of who that man was." - Clair stood up, walking closer. - "So, is she a prop too?"

Raven smiled. She liked this office. In all of Remnant, only this felt like home.

A chaotic whirlpool. A struggle to change the order of the world.

"No, Clair. In Ozpin's tale, she would have been a supporting cast at best. I am merely giving her the chance to write her own tale now. If this were a story, she'd be one of the main characters, if anything."

"How much time do you think we have?" - Clair fiddled with the sheath on the table. - "Before the good folks from Atlas try whatever they came all the way here to try"

"Weeks, maybe. A month if we are lucky. Any word from Svart?"

"Complete silence. Which is worrisome." - Clair paused as she pushed the sheath forward on the table, forcing Raven to grab it before the weapon could tumble to the ground. - "You'll have to tell her, eventually, if you want her to trust you, let alone help you."

"I know."

Raven wondered what the consequences of the oncoming storm would land could be so fragile. Too crowded to fit all the bloated egos of those in power.

And someone had just made a very questionable move she couldn't understand. Were they attempting a power play in that Kingdom?

One way or the other, Remnant was running out of time.

The tricks and illusions of the great and powerful had lost their bluster.

The one hidden in the shadows pierced through the curtain of peace, revealing the truth behind it.

The lie of stability fell apart together with that tower.

Plenty of people saw that as a chance to turn the tides in their favor. And the moment anyone was to make that first move, all hell would break loose.

The day Raven had waited for was coming closer.

---

January 11th, 797 E.A
Ruins of Vale, Kingdom of Vale Territory

The figure walked as she struggled to step over the bodies.

The destruction. The deaths. The screams. She couldn't escape them.

The city covered in ash and fog as smoke rose from the buildings stayed with Emerald every waking moment of her life.

She had seen death before.

People rotting away hungry on the streets. A beggar's life disappearing from his eyes over a can of soup. Death had followed her all her life. It lingered over her at her darkest moments. From the moment she had been born, she fought it off at her every step.

She also had caused plenty of death. Whether during desperate struggles for survival or because of her impulsive selfish whims.

At first, she used to want to do right by people. As a child, she'd dreamed of going on grand adventures and coming back with infinite riches. And then she'd feed every single person on that street and they'd thank her.

The city quickly took care of that naivety.

Emerald was selfish. She never denied that, but her life forced her to openly embrace it.

She would get what she wanted. And if that meant a few people had to suffer the consequences? Oh well, nobody said life was fair.

But Fall of Beacon crept up on her in ways she did not expect.

Witnessing destruction up close was different from just gazing at it from afar.

It was the first time she had caused death on this scale. The first ever that she came this close to seeing the consequences of her actions.

And now the criminal had returned to the crime scene and her work glared at her in silence.

Those unfortunate enough were just left there, the streets becoming their graves. The remains screamed at her to look at them, to recognize the demise she helped to build.

She knew these streets well. She could recognize the landmarks imbued with so many memories. That only made the corpses scream louder.

But she had to focus on something. Better bathe in guilt than to gaze upon the terrors hiding ahead.

She refused to look up.

She had glimpsed what was there before.

Just over to the right, within the mist and ash that covered the city, a shadow loomed - one of The Goliath, big enough to tower buildings - an unmoving still presence.

The Demon in Black had told them to avoid The Goliaths if possible.

Each of the Ancient Ones existed beyond human comprehension. The instincts and urges of The Grimm barely applied to them.

In this world of ash, they lay waiting, as time itself rotted away.

The protection Emerald and the idiot had might not have worked as expected had the things in the fog taken notice of them.

The duo quickened their steps, to reach what lay ahead, as they entered the Academy grounds.

The unease she felt for a while now only grew with each step as they entered the fog surrounding the Academy.

The closer they got to Beacon the more the journey felt like traversing a dreamscape.

Whether they moved faster or slower didn't seem to impact how far they walked. They would take linger in place and yet they'd find themselves having traversed multiple city blocks.

They'd run yet the scenery wouldn't change.

They made progress forward but there was no way to tell how fast or slow they moved.

"This place is giving me the creeps" - She said.

Her companion walking alongside her audibly sighed beneath the mask.

"You were the one who wanted to come back here, not me" - he exclaimed. - "If we had it my way I'd be halfway over to Vacuo by now"

"Well, you are free to go back to the scary monster lady and tell her that, Mercury."

The broken tower stood still in front of them. The entrance had long since fallen apart, likely from overall structural damage to the tower as the thing on top of it did its work.

A monument to humanity's ego. A gravestone marking her sins.

A cold shiver ran through her spine. A pack of Beowulves swarmed right past them as if they weren't even there.

Their means of protection still worked. The Demon in Black was right.

Collecting herself, Emerald opened the backpack. She took out a rope launcher. A cold metal weighed upon her arms.

She had used it before, to break into apartments - sometimes to find a place to sleep and sometimes to "borrow" things.

She double-checked that everything was in order. She learned to take care of it before she even got her weapon.

No way this thing would reach the top of the tower, but, if they were lucky, she could land a shot at one of the big structural holes in the tower. That would get them halfway there.

"And who suggested to that scary monster lady that we should go back here, Emerald? Certainly couldn't have been me."

"Shut up." - Emerald tried to aim the rope launcher upwards.

"Waah. I want to save her. Waah." - Mercury gestured, overdramatic, while he mocked her.

"Shut up! Stop distracting me. Go Away!"

"Careful with that rage. It might just make you look delicious enough to our friends here."

"Just stay silent for once and let me aim, will you?"

Through the time they worked for Cinder, there were many moments where Emerald had wanted to just smack Mercury on his head for his smartass remarks.

She wasn't in the mood for that right now.

They may have contributed a lot to the scenery of death around them, but to this place, they were no different than the rest of Vale's denizens.

An enemy. A target. A victim.

The air itself would happily have killed them here if they were to take off their masks. The Grimm particles permeated every centimeter of this school now.

When she had pleaded to the Woman in Black, she did not even have a plan yet.

Her head boiled from the visions of dead bodies and screaming people. She had to focus on something else.

Cinder was missing. While the package arrived just fine, she had never returned to them.

Cinder had given her true knowledge, true power.

She had promised Emerald a world where she would never go hungry again.

A new world order where the hypocritical facade of the bygone empire had been shattered. A world where people didn't have to rot in the back alleys. A world where parents didn't have to join a pointless struggle just out of the hope of a better life - only then to perish, leaving their children behind. Even as she embraced the ruthless torrent of violence that hid in this city, she still always dreamed of a world where monsters hiding behind the masks of huntsmen wouldn't hold enough power to abuse and murder the impoverished.

A world where her friend would have still been alive, rather than having met an end at the hands of some pompous idiot hiding behind his Huntsman license.

But just as she had given up, throwing away those ideals, Cinder had shown her that world.

Little did Emerald know back then where it would lead her..

Why did she want Cinder back? Wouldn't it be so easy to just let her reap what she had sown?

Cinder wasn't…the nicest person. She was manipulative and egotistic. But somehow, Emerald couldn't let go. She still was the person who dragged Emerald out of the dark pit she was destined to die in. Cinder was the light that had shown her the truth behind the world, the lie that all of them had been living.

Part of Emeraldwanted gratitude. The satisfaction of seeing her face when it dawns upon Cinder that she had to be saved by them. Emerald would have given anything to see that one moment.

But another part of her just wanted the sense of familiarity. She wanted Cinder to tell her what came next.

There had to be a "next".

Because if there wasn't then all the death and suffering around her truly was for nothing.

The ghosts, the screams of the dead - all of them would finally catch up to Emerald, eating her alive.

So she begged and pleaded to that Demon in the human form.

With all her heart she wished to save Cinder from whatever fate had befallen her.

And the apparition in front of her had granted her that wish.

Two masks - one of a Beowulf and one of Jorogumo - a tool of protection, the demon woman said.

Everything else was up to Emerald. And the other useless fool that currently was making dumb faces at her, of course.

Mercury's antics, while hidden behind that ugly mask, looked even more ridiculous than usual.

She took a deep breath and with a loud pop, the rope anchor flew upwards, into a giant hole midway through the tower.

"Do you think she's up there at the top still? Next to that…thing…" - Mercury's voice betrayed a tinge of worry. Or was it fear? Emerald couldn't tell.

"If you-know-who is right about what had happened, she should be there. She couldn't just walk it off after being hit with that."

Emerald looked up. She could see pieces of the tower floating, stuck in the air around the massive creature frozen at the top.

Did the corrupting effect of the Grimm progress to the gravity anomaly stage this fast? Or was this the effect of what had hit the elder apparition and Cinder?

The Demon In Black did tell Emerald that befell Cinder would have negative consequences on everything in its way. Cinder, supposedly, still had a chance - the same thing that had kept her vulnerable to that attack also would have kept her alive.

Maiden powers and whatever that hero wannabe used didn't mesh together. The Demon In Black had called them the natural enemies - forces that would erase each other upon contact. There was a good chance that the powers would have cancelled each other out before Cinder was gone completely.

Emerald wanted to believe that Cinder was still alive. She wanted proof that not everything was pointless.

She checked the rope, pulling on it a few times, judging whether it would be able to support their weight.

A tremor beneath her feet. Earth trembled in fear as the otherworldly scream from above reached their ears.

The sound of something dead, something that didn't exist, pierced her very soul. It gnawed at her mind and whispered into her ears. But more importantly, the possibility if Cinder's survival was further proven by the thing on top exhibiting signs of activity once in a while. If it wasn't dead, then likely the same could be said about Cinder.

They had to hurry.

Mask or no mask, being here was no good.

Every cell of her body screamed at her to run from the shadow slumbering atop the tower.

"Let's hurry up." - She said as she willed her hands to stop shaking.

"Yes, boss! Let's awaken your damsel in distress, Boss." - Mercury saluted as began to climb.

He just had to get that last one jab in before all hell was to break loose.

"You are still the most annoying person I have ever met, you know?"

"And still the only one who puts up with this shit" - A voice echoed well above her.

Her blood boiled, but she had no time for silly retorts.

She began to climb as the Nevermores screeched around them, circling the tower.