Author's Notes

Here's another one, not that much to say here, admittedly.

Monkey D. Conan: The world may never know!

RozeBomb: The Cult was concepted almost entirely by my friend (who's been co-concepting this fic right from the beginning with me), but I'm frankly very pleased with it so far, and where it'll be taken in the future.

Unknown POV

I was walking alone down a dark corridor.

I couldn't see anything where I was. If there was even a 'where'. Was I anywhere? Nowhere? Everywhere?

Was I dead?

The hallway didn't answer me, it remained silent. Though, after a moment, I heard voices.

As the hallway began to widen, I saw them. My teammates. The people I swore to protect. The people I hold second only to my family.

They were looking away from me, covered in a black void that threatened to swallow them just as it had swallowed me. They looked afraid, and though I struggled to walk, I began to pick up my pace, trying desperately to reach them.

But the hallway got longer, and longer. I felt as if it would never end.

And then, a white light grew, covering them, and me.

My vision was overtaken in an instant.

The only sound that greeted me was the beeping of a heart monitor. The room was dark, save for the light streaming in from a streetlight outside. The rumbling of thunder and the steady pattering of rain against the window gave me no hint as to what time it was.

I looked down at my hands, blinking groggily as I did. My hands felt numb, as if they weren't there at all, but I could see them clearly. I closed them and opened them again, and some feeling returned to me. As if my body was made of TV static.

My eyes felt heavy, and I felt compelled to close them again. My mind was as clouded as the skies outside, and my body urged me to sleep again. To simply rest.

Yet, as I began to give in, as I began to close my eyes and lay back down, a thought crept into my skull. It rang louder than a gong.

'Wait! Are they-?!'

I immediately opened my eyes again and grunted as I struggled to get out of the hospital bed. My old outfit had been replaced with scrubs, and I had to wonder idly if it had even survived what happened.

'What happened?'

I tried to walk, but found myself losing balance and needing to catch myself on the wall. 'Damn it! I don't have time for this…'

I ignored how my body protested my movement, and tried to walk forward. I was slow, too slow. Yet, with a shaky hand, I managed to grab the doorknob and pull it open.

The hospital outside was well lit, and I heard the voices of nurses and doctors in the distance. Yet, I ignored them. I only had one thing on my mind—finding them.

Yet, I could barely take one step forward before I fell on one knee and grunted. I gritted my teeth and tried to summon the strength to move, but that was when I heard an unfamiliar, gruff, voice call out worriedly to me.

"Neve!"

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Neve blinked blearily as he looked towards the man. He had pale skin, salt and pepper black hair, and red eyes. He wore a gray dress shirt with long tail black dress pants and black dress shoes. He also wore a tattered red cape as well.

"Hey, kid." The man said, stopping in front of him and holding out a hand. "You shouldn't be walkin' around like this. The doctors'll be pissed."

Neve blinked a few times before extending out a hand and taking his, using it to stand himself up. He blinked a few times as he looked at the man, muttering in a tired, weak, and strained voice, "Are you… gonna stop me?"

The man chuckled and shook his head, looking away as he did. "Nah, kid… I know exactly how you feel. In more ways than one, I imagine… Come on. You wanna see your friends? One of 'em should be waking up soon…"

"Ah… thank you." Neve swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at the man curiously. "Mister…?"

"No mister, kid." He chuckled. "Just call me Qrow. That'll do."

"Qrow… right." Neve nodded slightly, and though he was curious about how the man knew his name, he could make a few guesses, and he wasn't quite in the mood to care about it at the moment. "Can you take me to them? My team. I need… I need to see them." The weight of what had happened was still heavy on his shoulders, weighing enough to drag him down, if he let it. 'Not now. I need to see the others first.'

Though this pressure was greater than any he had felt before, he would carry on. He had to.

/-/

Unknown POV

Sunlight broke through my window, streaming gently and illuminating the darkness.

At the stirring of a new morning, I sat up and stretched, yawning as I did so. Then, I cast my gaze outside.

A beautiful morning, or, at least as beautiful as mornings could get in my home.

How often did I complain about how artificial it felt? Buildings of steel and iron, carefully curated gardens, even the park had to be built artificially. Maybe that was just a product of circumstance, but I still always felt that it reflected on the city's spirit poorly.

Glass houses, glass flowers, and glass hearts.

I reached my hand out to the planter I kept flowers in on the windowsill. My hand traced over violets, red spider lilies, snowdrops, and more.

Yet, it was the snowdrop that my hand paused on first. I traced the petals, feeling them gently brush against my fingers, and I caressed it. Though I wore a smile, I felt a small frown on my face.

Worry… I was worried, but why?

I sang softly, under my breath as if speaking directly not just to the Snowdrop I caressed, but the violets and spider lilies as well, "Everything stays… right where you left it… everything stays~ but it still changes…"

Though I sang to calm my own nerves, I felt as if I was singing for more than just myself, to a small audience of the people I cared about.

The people I cared about…

As I moved my hand to the spider lily, I suddenly felt a horrifying drop in my heart, as the ground seemingly opened to swallow not just the flowers, but myself. A yellow eye watched me in place of the sun in the dark void, and the stars had gone out as well.

I reached out for the flowers as I entered a free fall, gritting my teeth as I tried to move.

I managed to snatch the three flowers up and brought them close to my heart as I fell. I closed my eyes and tried to make peace with the idea of falling forever, so long as I had the flowers with me, I could survive…

But then, a voice spoke out, breaking through the nothingness.

"Orchid!"

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Orchid's eyes blinked open sluggishly, and Neve watched from his place as her bedside as she made a soft groan of confusion. "Mmm…?"

Her eyes were only half-open, and they were unfocused. Neve could tell she wasn't entirely awake yet, but he knew that could be fixed. He softly muttered, "Orchid…"

Her vision slowly unblurred, and the first thing to fill her vision were his worried blue eyes. They almost sparkled with how full of tears they were, but he seemed to be refusing to cry.

She blinked slowly, trying to muster the strength to speak, though her voice was hoarse and strained as she said, "Hey… Snowdrop."

He grinned at her, though it was strained with sadness and worry. Still, he grabbed a water bottle and held it out to her. "Here… need help drinking?"

She nodded her head slightly, and so he held the water up to her. She drank it, and he asked, "How do you feel…?"

Now that her throat was wetted, she felt a bit stronger. She moved to sit up in the bed, though she winced as she did and Neve looked like he was about to make her lay back down. She just giggled softly. "Neve… I'm fine… I feel like I just had a building dropped on my head, but…"

Wait, the building!

Her eyes widened briefly and she looked at him, quickly asking, "What happened? Where are the others?" She placed her hand on his upper arm, and it was only now that she realized he was wearing a patient's gown, just as she was. "Neve… where are Ebony and Violet?"

Neve tried to keep his smile as he said, "They're fine, but…" Qrow had told him what had happened to Ebony. No career ending injuries, thankfully, but still a permanent reminder of that day. He shook his head and sniffled, wiping away some of his tears as even his strong composure began to crack. "Th-this is… this is all my fault." He lowered his gaze, looking down at the bed, where his hand was resting. "I'm sorry. I… I should have known."

Orchid shook her head and reached a hand out, placing it over his and lacing her fingers into his. "You only did what you thought was right… it's not your fault… none of us could have known."

She said this, but it didn't seem like he was listening, or at least the words just washed off of him. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a shaky breath, though Orchid saw he was slipping further. She didn't say anything else, she just reached her arms out and pulled him into a hug.

He cried into the crook of her neck, though he was clearly trying to fight off the tears. Orchid didn't have the same compunction, however. Remembering everything she had seen, and what happened… it made her begin to cry too.

They cried together, embracing one another as if they were each other's only lifeline, as if the other was the only one that mattered.

For a few minutes they stayed. Just holding one another and crying their eyes out. It only started to taper off when they both began to run out of tears, and Orchid whispered, "It's not your fault…" though she knew that that wouldn't be enough to stop him from thinking the way he was.

She didn't know what she would do to help him, but she knew she had to do something.

They sat in silence, holding one another even after they finished crying. Eventually, however, they slowly began to pull away from one another. Neve smiled at her, his eyes red and his cheeks stained with tears, just like hers, and he said softly, "Thank you."

She giggled a wavering giggle, looking away and shaking her head. "I should be thanking you, not the other way around…"

Before their conversation could continue, however, there was a knock on the door. Neve moved back a bit to give Orchid some space, though she found that she missed his warmth. Orchid then called out, "Come in."

The door opened, and in came a middle-aged woman with golden hair with specks of black in it done up in a ponytail, with honey-gold hexagonal irises and pupils just like Orchid, and she wore a dark green T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Along with her was a man, a tall (6'1'') and broad-shouldered man with dark brown hair and green eyes.

Neve recognized these people from pictures Orchid had shown before, her parents, Lily and Moss Grove.

Lily hurried over to Orchid while worriedly saying, "Orchid! My baby…" She pulled her into a hug, which she returned. "Are you hurt? Are you going to be okay? Are you-"

Orchid giggled nervously and self-consciously, a tone and demeanor he'd never seen from her before, she was always entirely confident in herself before. Yet now she was glancing at him awkwardly as she said,"Mom, you're embarrassing me in front of Neve. I'm fine, my aura took the hit, mostly."

Neve found this side of her adorable in a way he'd never known was possible with her. While his mind was too distracted with everything else to truly dwell on it, at the very least it did bring a genuine smile to his face, and it gave him the mental fortitude he needed to do what he did best—fake it.

As he stood up entirely from being at her bedside, attention from her parents was drawn to him. He smiled at them, though the red in his eyes and the tear stains on his face gave away his true feelings. "Hey, it's good to meet you two, Mr and Mrs Grove."

Both Lily and Moss greeted him, but given that Lily was so worried over Orchid, it seemed the one to approach him first would be Moss. Neve had never believed in the idea of being intimidated by someone you know's family, crush or not, but that didn't mean there wasn't an inherent awkwardness to it. So, it took him a second to figure out how to respond to the question Moss asked him. "You're Neve Cadere, yes? Orchid's told us all about you and the rest of her team. Is she going to be okay?"

Neve could tell the man was worried, of course he was, but he didn't seem the type to openly fret and worry. Neve nodded and responded, "I am, yes, and she's going to be okay. Her aura took the worst of the hit, and other than some bumps, scrapes, and being unconscious for… however long, she's fine." Neve still wasn't even sure what day it was, he could have asked, but it hadn't been at the front of his mind during all of this.

Moss nodded, and it was Lily who—now that Orchid had managed to free herself from her doting—asked the next question. "So, other than… well, all of this… how's she doing? She always keeps us up on what's going on, but… we want to hear it from her team leader."

"Oh… she's great." Neve began, trying to find the right words. "The way she fights with her guitar makes her a formidable opponent to anyone, myself included, hell, I bet she could give Pyrrha Nikos a hard time. She's…" he snickered slightly, "a bit of a handful, trying to get her to study on long nights can be a bit of an uphill battle, but she's really smart, so it usually works out. She's an amazing friend, and one of the best people I've ever met, she does everything she can to help our teammates whenever they need it, me as well, but usually I'm right there with her, our teammates can be… a bit of a handful sometimes.

"But that's fine! We're all practically a family, Violet and Ebony even call us 'Mom and Dad' sometimes if they really want to get on our nerves." He laughed awkwardly, and he wasn't entirely sure why he kept talking, but he did. Luckily, his rambling was coming to an end. "But uhm… yeah, she's great. I couldn't ask for a better partner."

He couldn't see it due to how focused he was on her parents, but Orchid was burning red. She buried her face in her hands, and tried to ignore the way her heart was beating just a little too fast. Meanwhile, Neve himself blushed as he realized he'd been rambling, but he cleared his throat and tried to play it off by simply waiting for them to respond.

Lily smiled warmly at him, then at Orchid. "That's wonderful. I knew Orchid would do great! And it seems like she's left quite an impact on everyone."

Moss nodded in agreement. "Yeah…" He looked at Orchid, and then side-eyed Neve, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "Seems like she's getting along perfectly fine." Neve felt his heart drop a bit, because that look was one written with the words 'I know' on it, yet thankfully it seemed Moss wasn't the overprotective type. "So, Orchid… why don't you tell us about your other teammates?"

Orchid was able to pull herself together enough to recover, the thought and mention of her teammates had done a lot to sober her up from the strange high she'd gotten on. "Violet and Ebony? Well…

"Where do I even begin?"

/-/

Unknown POV

I found myself sitting at my computer chair, staring at a blank screen as memories played out in front of me.

It had been the day I waited for.

The combat exam for Beacon Academy, the premier Huntsman Academy of Vale, and the alma mater of my grandfather. Once upon a time, I had insisted to him that it would be the place where I would become the savior of Remnant, and that the world had long awaited someone like me.

I remember how eager I had been for it for so long, back when my grandfather was around I would always put on some random outfit I insisted was my Huntress gear and pose in front of the mirror all the time, trying to cut as heroic a figure as I could when I was all of fourteen years old.

I even used eye contacts to give myself black irises, because I thought my silver ones looked too lame.

Yuvi remained a constant source of encouragement, even when grandpa was off on a mission. She would pose with me, train with me, everything. She had always been my best—and only, in meatspace—friend.

Yet, when Grandpa died, I felt that spark in me to be a hero snuffed out, because he was the hero, my hero. He saved me from so much horrible shit, and gave me a life I was happy to live.

The last day before his mission was the last time I ever proudly proclaimed that I was 'Umber Sha'dow XIV Esquire, Master of the Eight Blades of the Eclipse and future Savior of Remnant'.

It all felt so childish, once I received news of his death.

I remember the depression I fell into, a cold, dark, and lonely void of isolation. Grandpa's pension never stopped coming, sent by some anonymous benefactor who pitied me no doubt, but I didn't care enough to look into it. Instead, I took that money and used it to fund my life of video games, fanfiction, and more… degenerate things.

I still love those things, I will never not love them, but they dominated my life, controlled me.

It wasn't until I received an anonymous package one day that I realized I had been wasting my life. It contained a scrapbook of pictures of Grandpa, from his time at Beacon to him on missions, or after them. It reminded me of what he fought for, what he believed in.

The memories played out in my mind as I sat seemingly alone, but then I heard a knock on my door.

A voice. His voice. "Violet?"

I jumped out of my chair, because somehow, Greyson Merino had come back. I hurried to the door, and pulled it open.

Yet, instead of it being the hallway to the kitchen and what had been his bedroom, it was outside. A strange meadow of flowers I couldn't name beckoned me forward, and so I stepped out of my room.

"You can't stay here… you have to wake up."

I grimaced, and wondered if I really had to. Yet, I knew he was right.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't stop and rewind back to easier days. Life would keep going, and I had to face it head on, or be left in the dust.

"Can I do it?" I asked nobody in particular, perhaps hoping he would hear me. "I'm not so sure…"

Yet, a different voice filled my mind and my heart, not dissimilar to mine, but with a more determined and serious tone to it. It reminded me of what, and who, was waiting for me on the other side.

"I am."

/-/

Violet blinked as she sat up in the hospital bed. Yuvi was in front of her, her auric companion seemed relieved, but Violet knew that she knew she wasn't going to go anywhere. "Yuvi… we're in the hospital?"

Yuvi nodded and grabbed a bottle of water from a table nearby, handing it to her. Violet drank it in one gulp, having not realized how dry her throat was prior to being handed the bottle. She said, "Thanks." after finishing the bottle, and though she wasn't sure how long she'd been unconscious, she knew what she had to do. "Was it… you who woke me up?"

Yuvi blinked and tilted her head slightly, she looked confused, and it seemed that she hadn't the slightest what Violet was talking about.

That only left one other option, and Violet's lips thinned as she looked down. "Of course…" she muttered, "in one of my darkest hours… where else would you be? A door couldn't keep you locked away."

She shook her head, not wanting to dwell on it, and stood up, though her legs were shaky and she wasn't a big fan of being in a patient gown, Yuvi was able to steady her by wrapping an arm around her and having Violet put her own around her shoulders, which had always felt somewhat odd, touching solid aura like that, but she was used to it by now. "We have to find the others, Yuvi… Take me to Ebony first." She knew the others would be fine, in the back of her mind she knew that if she was up and about, they probably were too.

She could only hope Ebony was the same.

She was lucky enough to not run into any doctors on her way to Ebony's room. How Yuvi had found it, she could only guess. Given the pseudo-independence of her companion, it was likely she'd gone looking and found the room earlier.

When she got to the room, she opened the door and Yuvi helped her walk inside.

Ebony was laying in her patient's bed, still unconscious it seemed. She was wearing a patient gown, and thankfully it looked like most of her injuries weren't severe, but…

There were bandages covering her left eye or, Violet thought with a sinking feeling in her heart, where her left eye had once been.

She made her way over to her partner and pulled up a chair, sitting down and, for a few moments, just… watching her. She was worried, her silver eyes glistened slightly, and she reached a hand out to take Ebony's, though she obviously didn't return the gesture.

"Come on… Ebony… you're too strong to let a stupid cult take you down." She squeezed her hand.

She didn't know how long she was going to have to wait, but Violet would wait for as long as it took.

/-/

Several hours later, Violet was still waiting.

Apparently, from what Yuvi was able to gather, Violet had been the first of the four to wake up. She idly wondered if that had to do with the fragmented existence she lived, three in one mind.

Thankfully, Neve and Orchid had woken up later in the afternoon, though Yuvi didn't bother them, seeing as they were dealing with their own pain. Instead, Violet just had her come back, and together they waited, watching Ebony.

Eventually the door opened with a soft knock, and Violet turned her attention to it. She saw Orchid and Neve, and they quickly approached her. She stood up just in time to get practically tackled by Orchid, while Neve approached and hugged her in a far gentler manner. Violet couldn't help but choke up a bit, the normally guarded girl's emotions were running high, as it seemed they were for every member of the team.

Neve softly asked while still hugging her. "Are you okay? How are you feeling? Are you still hurting?"

Orchid followed up with her own questions, said in the same worried tone, "Do you need anything? When'd you wake up? How's Ebony? I-"

Violet, in spite of the circumstances, laughed softly, nervousness tinged in it. "G-Guys, please." She blushed at the attention, especially coming from Neve and Orchid, between them and Ebony, she had some… confusing feelings. "I'm fine, I think Yuvi was able to block most of the explosion. I've got a few scars, but… I'm fine." She rubbed the back of her neck as they let her go and looked at Ebony. "I… I don't know about Ebony. A doctor came by earlier and said she's stable, but… she's still not waking up. She's in a coma… apparently we all were, for a few days."

Neve's eyes widened for a moment before he gained control and nodded. "I should have expected that…" He looked at Ebony, before walking over to sit on the opposite side of her bed, worriedly looking at her eye. "What happened?"

Violet sat back down in her own chair, very much sharing in Neve's worry. "The… the doctor said… that her left eye was destroyed in the explosion. She's in a coma, and we don't know how long she's going to be in it."

Neve lowered his head and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath before exhaling. "Okay… we'll just have to stay with her until she wakes up. We can't let her wake up alone."

Orchid nodded in agreement and grabbed another chair, sitting next to Violet as she looked worriedly at Ebony. "Don't worry, guys… we'll get her back.

"I know we will."

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Ebony POV

I wasn't sure how long the blackness had lasted. Hours? Days?

Weeks? Months?

It could have been an eternity, or it could have been a second.

Eventually, however, the darkness began to lift, replaced with a scene that made me wish I was still swallowed by darkness.

A dark forest, and I heard the howling and roaring of Grimm behind me. I took off running, fear gripped my heart as the howls seemed to be perpetually behind me.

The only reason I was able to avoid tripping on the roots below me was because I had been in this situation before. I knew what to do.

The howls of the beasts, their claws scraping against the trees and on the grass, it filled my ears and my mind.

I caught glimpses of the sky above, and I saw golden eyes staring down at me, replacing the stars and glaring angrily at me. Yet, I couldn't stop running. I had to keep going, or else.

Finally, what I thought was a blessing. An empty clearing that seemed bereft of Grimm, with only one person. Shi stood, looking away from me and seemingly staring at the sky.

I started to run towards her instinctively, hoping that she would keep the monsters away, just as she had done in life.

Yet, as I drew closer, I felt something. A feeling in my heart that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I came to a stop as Mom began to turn around.

Yet, she was only truly my mom for a moment. Then, a flash of golden light, and it changed, warped into a horrific mockery of her. Her body was scarred, half of it burned and half of it severely frostbitten. Both of her eyes were distorted, looking like the eyes that had watched me for my entire life, waiting for me to be vulnerable. The same as the eyes that watched me from the sky above.

A grin had been carved into her face by the twisted knife-hand of the one who had made a mockery of her. It ran all the way up her cheeks, and the grin was coated in blood that continued to seep out of her mouth. It was only exasperated once she began to stumble towards me, reaching her hand out and saying in a voice that matched the same tone and feeling that she held on the precipice of life and death, "Ebony…"

She repeated the word, the name, over and over in the same tone and inflection, as if a recording was being replayed over and over again. I stumbled backward, horrified and thinking of nothing but escape. Yet, something grabbed my leg, and I fell backwards with a yelp.

I looked down and saw a hand grasping my leg. The hand and arm were that of a corpse turned puppet, a mockery of a life. Yet more of them burst from the ground and began to grab at me, tearing at my flesh and causing me to scream in agony and terror as they chanted, "THE HERALD HAS COME! THE STAGE IS SET!"

All I could do was keep screaming as my bones were revealed to me, and they were as black as a starless night.

Yet, I heard a voice from above that washed over me like water washed over someone stuck in a desert. It came with a light that started as a pinprick of silver and began to grow. It was Violet. "Ebony… Ebony! Please… wake up!"

Yet, she was not the only one. As I saw another light join her. This one was orchid-pink, and I knew it belonged to her. "Ebony… come on… you're strong! You can make it!"

Finally, an ice blue light, and Neve's voice. "Ebony… please… we all love you. Come back… we need our teammate. We need you…"

The lights shot out from the sky, crashing into the ground around me and causing the monsters to vanish in flashes of light. The mockery of my mom was the last one, as the silver light grew, banishing the darkness, and I saw a silver-coated hand reach out to me, while two other figures stood there as well, waiting for me.

I reached my now-skeletal hand out, and as I took the silver hand, the lights grew to their pinnacle, my vision, my being, washed off the rot and brought to a new light.

/-/

Ebony, at first, struggled to open her eyes. The light above briefly blinded her, but as her vision began to clear, she saw three people watching her. Neve, Orchid, and Violet were waiting for her. They were all wearing their normal clothes, although Neve wasn't wearing his jacket, leaving him with just the turtleneck, pants, and boots.

She opened her eyes and said, "Guys…?"

The reaction was immediate.

"Ebony!" Came the chorus, before suddenly she found herself being hugged from three different angles, with Violet at the front, Neve on the right, and Orchid on the left.

Both Neve and Orchid kissed either of her cheeks before Neve buried his face in the crook of her neck, muttering between choked sobs. "Ebony, I'm so sorry… I'm sorry…"

Orchid held her and whispered. "We've got you… you're okay…"

And Violet?

Violet kissed her.

She kissed her on the lips, eyes squeezed shut, while Ebony's eye widened in shock.

Then, she returned the kiss, while putting her arms around all three of them and pulling them closer to her.

The kiss was over in an instant, and neither Violet nor Ebony knew why it had happened, nor what it would mean for them going forward, but that wasn't on their mind at the moment.

Instead, Ebony felt enveloped in warmth and light, light that banished the darkness and let her see the good in the world. The best things to ever happen to her, rivaling when she was adopted by her mom.

The three best things, best people, who held her tight and whispered to her, telling her that it was all going to be okay. Telling her she wasn't alone. Telling her that she was loved.

Telling her that she was safe.

And she felt it. She felt it all.

The memory of her nightmare was chased away, and she grinned as she squeezed her eye shut. Tears streamed down her face as she held them, and she whispered to them, "I love you… All of you…"

What did that mean, exactly?

Well, she didn't know. She had never been good at emotions, and all she could do was say how she felt. She felt the warmth for them that could only be described as love.

But it didn't matter right then what it meant. All that mattered was that they were together.

Orchid responded first, resting her head on Ebony's shoulder. "We love you too, Ebony." Why wouldn't they? She was part of COVE, they wouldn't be the same without her.

Violet sniffled and nodded in agreement, her mind was replaying what had happened, and she didn't know what to say, or what it meant. She just whispered, "I was so worried about you… For a moment, we thought…"

Neve remained silent, seemingly struggling to find his words.

It was clear, however, to Violet and Orchid both, that the two had a lot to say to one another.

Violet cleared her throat, feeling eager to get out for a moment so she could catch her breath and figure out what had happened. "Orchid and I will go and let the doctors you're up, and tell them to bring some food…" She knew that Ebony would want real food, after being stuck on IVs for so long.

Orchid nodded in agreement. "We'll be right back. Okay, Spider Lily?"

The nickname made Ebony blush, and she looked away before nodding. "Y-Yeah… okay."

The two girls left after that, and the air was filled with worry and awkwardness as they shut the door behind them.

Neve smiled sadly at her, and he said again, this time while looking in her eye. "I'm sorry, Ebony… They… they told us…" He looked down, "You lost an eye. They said they could replace it, but… that's…" It was still her eye, and now it was gone.

Ebony shifted awkwardly, having moved to sit up while they were hugging earlier. She looked down and tried to think of what to say, before eventually settling on, "It's not your fault, Neve. I-It's-"

Yet, Neve cut her off, shaking his head as his eyes brimmed with yet more tears. His voice was hushed and filled with emotion, in spite of not being that loud, it held enough weight to dominate the room. "Isn't it, though?" He looked back up at her again, and Ebony was put off-guard seeing the tears streaming down his face. She had heard him crying, but now they were the only ones in the room, and she was looking at him. "I should have been able to tell that it was a trap! Everything about that place screamed that it was a trap… that bastard that gave us the info was lying, of course he was! I should have known!"

Ebony wanted to think of something to say to get him to realize what she felt, but she was struggling. He continued, "Gods, and I can still see… that, and… we could have avoided it. If I'd just pulled us out of there and reported the place to Ozpin, then we'd have been fine! You'd still have your eye, and we wouldn't have had to be scarred by that nightmare! It was all-"

He was cut off as Ebony wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. Ebony squeezed her eye shut and rested her head on his shoulder. Softly, she whispered, "Cállate. ¡No es culpa tuya! No seas estúpido…" (Shut up. It's not your fault. Don't be stupid…).

Neve had been stunned by her abrupt hug, and thrown off by her words. Yet, she wasn't finished. "When I was being a feral bitch back when we first met, you never held it against me. You just lived with it. Do you know how many people would do that? Very fucking few. When I asked you how to cook, you actually sat down and talked to me about it. You taught me. You didn't shoo me off, you didn't think I couldn't do it. Every fucking time I always thought I wasn't doing good at something, you'd tell me it was okay. You'd help me, you'd…"

She swallowed a lump in her throat. "You'd smile at me, and every time you do, it makes me feel like everything's going to be okay." She held him tighter. "S-So… so don't go saying shit like it's your fault, don't go thinking you're some burden… you're one of the damn pillars that remind me how to be a person. You don't just remind me… you teach me. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

Neve wasn't sure what to say. Normally a rarity, but seemingly all too common since the explosion. He settled on just returning her hug and closing his eyes, trying to get his emotions under control.

Silence reigned between them, and Neve noted that he could feel her heartbeat with how she pressed against him. He focused on it, and listened to its rhythm.

Thump thump…

It reminded him that she was alive.

Thump thump…

The Choir hadn't gotten her.

Thump thump…

She was fine, she was there, she was alive, and she was okay.

Thump thump…

He held her tightly and closed his eyes. This time, however, he wasn't fighting back tears.

Thump thump…

He was simply taking in her warmth. Taking the time to be there with her, and to let his heart intermingle with hers.

Thump thump…

Thump thump…

Silent solidarity.

Thump thump…

Thump thump…

And a promise.

Thump thump…

Thump thump…

He whispered back to her after several long minutes, "Te prometo que no dejaré que te atrapen. Eres increíble." (I promise I won't ever let them get you. You're incredible).

She snickered, a grin crossing her face once again even as tears threatened to resume spilling. "No tú." (No you).

They continued to hold each other for a few more minutes, before they eventually separated, Neve smiled softly at her, and she smiled back, her face dusted red with a veritable emotional hurricane.

They remained silent until the door opened again, with Violet and Orchid stepping into the room with some sandwiches for them to eat. Violet smiled as she handed one to Ebony. "Here, it's not Neve's cooking, but it is food."

Ebony took it with a 'thank you' before immediately devouring it with little caution or foresight into how it would get crumbs all over the bed she was on. Meanwhile, Orchid tapped Neve on the shoulder. Once he looked, she said with a smirk, "You've got visitors."

Neve raised an eyebrow, but he didn't have to wonder for long. The door opened, and the first person he saw was his mom. June stepped inside, and behind her came his second guest. A girl with crimson colored neck-length hair (she had dyed it some time ago), fair skin, and his same ice blue eyes. She wore a dark blue jacket, jeans, and dark blue sneakers, while June wore her standard apparel of a T-shirt, jeans, and work shoes.

The girl was his sister, Serina. Two years his junior, and looking very much worried. She softly asked, "Neve? What happened? Are you okay?"

Neve nodded, looking to his teammates and gesturing out. "You guys know my mom, this is my sister, Serina."

The team greeted her, and she smiled awkwardly at them. Though the girl could be quick to temper sometimes, she was otherwise not very socially apt, preferring to stick with her small group of friends than meeting anyone new. "Hey." She said awkwardly, "I've heard a lot about you guys. It's nice to meet you. A-Anyway, you haven't answered the question, Neve! Are you okay?"

Neve nodded, chuckling. "I'm fine, Serina. You know it'd take more than one little explosion to put me down."

June chuckled. "I knew you'd be fine… I wanted to take Serina here so she'd see that. She wouldn't stop worrying about you, not since we got the news a few days ago."

Indeed, it had been several days, they had been stuck in the hospital for so long Neve had almost forgotten what it was like to be anywhere else, but at least they weren't stuck in the scrubs. Neve chuckled as Serina scoffed and tried to play off June's words, but Neve knew she cared. "It's okay, Serina. I'd worry about you if you were in my place."

Serina shifted awkwardly. "Well… I'm glad." She cleared her throat. "I'm gonna… just…" She moved to step out, quick to escape the eyes of so many people on her. She much preferred drawing and writing to socializing, so Neve couldn't really blame her.

June smirked. "You know how she is…" She shrugged. "We'll see you again soon, Neve." She turned and left, having seen more than enough to know that her son was safe.

Violet cleared her throat, looking like she had something to say, but didn't want to say it in front of Ebony. She looked at Neve and asked, "Can you come with us for a sec? I gotta talk to you and Orchid about something."

Ebony was clearly very curious, but she could also tell that, whatever it was, it was meant to be between the three of them. So she just shrugged and said, "Go on, I'll be here when you get back. Not like I've got much of a choice."

Violet didn't want to be away from Ebony anymore than she had to, but that was the thing. There was no way she was going to say what she had on her mind in front of her.

Luckily, Neve didn't question her on it. Instead, the three of them left and walked down the hall, out of earshot of Ebony. Once they were, Violet turned towards the others and dropped the biggest bomb since the warehouse. "I want to give her one of my eyes."

Neve and Orchid were both clearly shocked. Their eyes widened, and Orchid asked, "Wh-What? Violet, you know you don't have to! She'll be fine, I'm sure-"

Violet shook her head. "She's not going to be as efficient as she used to be without a second eye! Sure, I won't have one, but-"

Neve shook his head. "No, Violet. That's not fixing the problem, that's moving it! I want Ebony to get healed completely too, but doing something like that…"

Violet huffed and insisted. "Listen, it'll be totally safe! I know that I can live with one eye! So why can't I just give it to her?"

Then, a new voice joined the conversation. The even-tone of Professor Ozpin interjected, "That won't be necessary, Violet."

They turned their attention towards him and found him standing there with his hands on his cane in his usual stance. Qrow was there too, leaning on a wall. Ozpin continued, saying, "It's admirable that you want to help your teammate like that, but that won't be necessary. We've already arranged for a high-grade Atlesian prosthetic to be given to her, and it was crafted at our request by the great Pietro Polendina."

Neve looked relieved, visibly relaxing as he said, "Oh thank the gods… but… why? She's your student, but… I doubt you guys normally cover these kinds of things."

Qrow shook his head, chuckling as he looked down. "It's kind of multifaceted, kid. I'll let Oz explain everything to you." He pushed off the wall. "I'm gonna go talk to Ebony." None of the team knew why he wanted to, but they weren't going to question it just then.

However, Neve had questioned Ozpin, and he came ready with an answer. "As Qrow said, it's multifaceted, but I believe the three of you are more than entitled to the truth. Normally, I would save this kind of conversation for my office, but…" He looked off to the right. "There's a doctor's office not far from here that we're going to borrow. The doctor isn't in today, he won't mind."

Curiosity drove the three to follow Ozpin to the office, and once they were inside, he rather innocuously tapped his cane against the floor. They didn't pay any mind to it, especially as he turned around and said, "I believe the three of you are entitled to the whole story of Ebony Marzenie. There are things that she can't tell you because of how her memory has been compromised, due to her trauma. Though she might remember more and more as time passes, I felt now was the best time to tell you… everything."

Violet crossed her arms. "I don't see how this will explain why I couldn't give her an eye, but… okay."

Ozpin smiled at her, before casting his gaze towards all of them. He began, "You are aware of The Choir now, and you're aware of its insidious tricks… we have known of them for awhile, and I had Qrow investigating much the same thing you four were. That's how we heard the explosion." The implication there was easy enough to pick up on, Qrow had saved them. The right man in the right place at the right time. They were lucky.

"But, I'm getting ahead of myself." He course-corrected by saying, "They have long believed in the coming of the end, brought to them by The Herald, who would usher in an age of Grimm. They believed that The Herald would be born and molded from a child."

The second's pause was enough for them to understand what he was getting at. Ebony was that child. Ebony was The Herald.

"She escaped their clutches during a raid conducted by the woman who would one day adopt her, one of the greatest Huntresses I've had the pleasure of knowing, Shi Marzenie. She found Ebony again years later, after she had escaped unseen from the cave. It was then that she adopted her, though Ebony had already developed a gruesome reputation as 'The Phantom of Vale'."

That was a shock to all of them. They couldn't connect the Ebony they knew and loved to the mythical killer that had never been caught. A mysterious figure who had killed countless innocents in brutal and ruthless fashions. Ozpin explained, "You see, Ebony believed that The Choir was everywhere. She had no reason to believe she was safe—she wasn't. Not until Shi got her, and even then…" Ozpin shook his head before continuing, "Every killing she conducted was done out of fear. If any of us had known where she was, or who she was…" It was clear he harbored his own share of regrets for all of this. "...After Shi found her, she was able to live peacefully for awhile. Until The Choir found her."

"...I will leave the details vague for your sakes and mine, but Shi died a hero, protecting Ebony from an onslaught of murderers. She was able to escape, and for a few months she was living on her own again. Until she found her way to me, and I inducted her into the academy, because I knew there was more to her than the killings, than the cult… and Shi made me promise to look after her."

He smiled wistfully. "If Qrow had known… I'm certain he would have snatched her up as soon as he could have, but he couldn't have possibly known. The way things turned out has exceeded my expectations. I didn't expect Ebony to get along with her team, much less grow to care for them as much as she cares for you. I was prepared to give her over to Qrow to learn as an apprentice, rather than a student, if things didn't work out. Clearly, they have. But, the cult… As much as they want Ebony, there is one thing they hate more than anything else. They consider them to be their greatest enemies. Tell me, you three…

"What's your favorite fairytale?"

/-/

Ebony had expected the door opening to signal the return of her team, but instead she was met with a man that she had never seen before.

"Hey… Ebony." He walked up to her and sat down in a chair, clearly trying and failing to act casually. "I'm Qrow Branwen. I'll admit, I wanted to meet you a lot earlier, but… things happened, got in the way." He shook his head and took a sip from the flask he had been keeping in his jacket before he continued, "...I wanted to talk with you about Shi."

Ebony was immediately uneasy at the idea, the memories of what had happened were still fresh on her mind. Yet, something told her that she could trust Qrow. For some reason, it felt like she… already knew him. "...What about her?"

"Well…" Qrow began awkwardly, clearly not entirely sure how to progress this conversation but trying his best regardless. "She was pretty great, wasn't she? A kickass Huntress, a really dedicated mother, she was always top of the class back at Beacon…"

Ebony nodded in agreement. "She was amazing… everything I could have wanted for a mom." She then registered what he had said, and so she raised an eyebrow while regarding him. "You knew her in school? What was your relationship with her?"

"Oh, uh…" Qrow once again took a sip from his flask. "She and I were… a thing. We were together for years. Never really… stopped, either. Just… My semblance makes it hard to stay in one place, I felt it would be safer if I kept traveling and working, while Shi… Well, once she had you, she went on missions a lot less, and while we never stopped being a thing, we kind of… had to have some distance between us. It was just how life was."

Ebony nodded along as he explained, her eye growing slightly wide as something clicked inside her mind, and suddenly she wondered something. She asked, "So… was Shi actually my mom? Did she just lose me to The Choir and then tried to get me back?"

A beat, and then she asked, "Are you my real dad?"

Qrow just about choked on the swig of his flask he'd taken, but he managed to put it down, beating his chest with a fist to try and get everything under control. Once he finally was able to talk again, he said, "Uhh… I don't think so? At least, I never heard she was pregnant…"

"...I've decided. You're my dad."

"What?!" Qrow exclaimed before shaking his head and trying to move the conversation forward. "A-Anyway. That's not all I wanted to talk about." He sighed and leaned forward a bit. "I wanted to talk about her legacy. She always wanted something better for you, but she knew the day might come where that wouldn't be possible anymore. I just wanted to say, if… you decide you don't want to be a Huntress. We can figure something else out. Otherwise… I think you'll do a great job living up to her legacy as Ebony Marzenie."

Ebony chuckled and looked down, shaking her head and wondering if that was an actual question or not. "I'm not going to give up on this. She was my hero, and I'll be who she was, and more…" Ebony the hero, that sounded odd to her, but… she kind of liked it. "...At first I only became a Huntress-in-Training because it's what Ozpin wanted me to do, but… now? I wouldn't trade any of what I have now for the world. There's no going back, and I'm going to keep moving forward."

Qrow couldn't help but smirk. He could imagine Shi saying something very similar to her, if she was in her position.

"...I think you'll make her proud, kid."

/-/

To say Neve, Orchid, and Violet had had their worlds rocked was an understatement.

It was more like they were told that the entire foundation of what they believed was nothing but a kingdom of sand. Ozpin revealed to them the truth about Violet's eyes, apparently they held untapped power that could be harnessed to destroy Grimm in mere seconds.

Ozpin said that he would teach her how to use them as best he could, but he also said that he wasn't the expert on it, and to get one would take a lot of time, given the rarity of silver eyed warriors in the world.

There was no scientific explanation for it, and so Violet decided that it must be magic. She'd always felt that magic was real, and the idea of her eyes having some sort of mythical power rooted in thousands of years of people coming before her and being warriors? That was magical.

Ebony was told about the prosthetic eye, and she held no complaints about getting it installed. At first, it seemed as if she would refuse, but she mentioned something about how she felt it was what Shi would want her to do.

Ebony's surgery was set for the following day, and while Neve, Violet, and Orchid were permitted to go home, they opted to stay with Ebony, forsaking the comfort of the dorms for keeping Ebony comfortable and safe.

It certainly made it a lot easier for her to sleep that night.

The next day, she was to be operated on. Apparently scheduling for these kinds of things was tight, but Ozpin pulled enough strings to get her a more immediate operation. It helped that he'd been planning this for about a week, ever since they'd arrived at the hospital, and so he had the time he needed to secure everything.

The eye she received was, as Ozpin had said, state of the art. A top of the line implant that was, in every single way, better than the eye Ebony had lost. Not only was it able to look like a normal eye, it could also see in the dark, and allowed her to use an infrared scanner. Not to mention its perfect vision and ability to zoom, if she wanted.

She'd considered asking for another one, but she decided that that would be pushing it.

After the surgery was complete, Ebony was given leave to return to the dorms. Ozpin had told them not to worry about the missed homework, and that they would have a way to make up for the work they'd missed at another point.

However, Ozpin had also specifically forbade any of them from participating in sparring class, and said those days would be excused, because he wanted to be absolutely sure they were all back at their baseline before he allowed them to do anything too strenuous.

That was how, only a couple hours after her surgery, Ebony found herself sitting on the couch in one of the communal rooms, watching the large holo-TV that was projecting on the wall.

While, normally, they would simply use the one Orchid had brought and watch something together, today was different.

Because today, they had other people waiting to talk to them.

As the team sat on the couch together, they found the brief peace they'd earned interrupted by Ruby calling out, "Neevee!" Then a blur of petals shot through the room and crashed into him. "Are you okay?! Jaune and I missed you at our leader meetings!"

Yang came in afterward. "Come on, Ruby. Don't break the guys ribs! He just got out of the hospital not that long ago!" Ruby let go of him after he briefly returned the hug, grinning sheepishly as she did. Yang then looked at the others and smiled. "Hey. Are you guys feeling better?"

Violet nodded, not necessarily being best friends with RWBY or JNPR, but considering them friends nonetheless. "We're fine… just tired." She yawned before saying, "Sleeping in a hospital bed isn't as refreshing as you'd want it to be."

Ebony nodded, grumbling, "You're telling me…" She had desperately wanted to go back to the dorm the night before her operation, and the only reason she hadn't was because the others had asked her to stay so they wouldn't have to worry about any complications in case something happened prior to the surgery.

Orchid grinned at Yang. "We're alright! Better than we were a few days ago…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "It was… an experience, but we're fine."

Ruby huffed, looking away sadly. "I swear… if I knew that was a trap, I'd have stopped you guys from going!"

Weiss' voice joined the conversation as she stepped into the room while saying, "That's the point, Ruby, none of us knew. If we did, then Ozpin could have sent full Huntsmen to deal with it." She sighed at her leader's obliviousness before turning her attention to COVE. "Still… I'm relieved you're all okay. Gods know we were worried, when we heard you were in the hospital…"

Blake stepped into the room next, carrying a few cards. "We made you these. Ruby put us up to it." She then handed out the four cards for them to look at.

Each one was personalized to each member. Neve had snowflakes on his, along with an ice blue theme. Orchid's was honey-gold and had music notes all along it. Violet's had some video game controllers, and a writing pad and pen. Ebony's, meanwhile, was black with the same symbol she had on her shirt drawn in a few different places. She also had a black cat placed on it, with a white backdrop on it so it could be made out.

Neve smiled. "Aww, you guys really didn't have to…"

Weiss cleared her throat and cut him off, "Ah ah! None of that. We wanted to, and that's not all!" She smirked and crossed her arms, closing her eyes as she looked rather proud of herself. "Open the cards!"

They did, and each one found a Lien chit inside. Weiss explained, "Each of these has a thousand Lien on it! So you guys can do whatever you want with it, courtesy of the SDC of course."

Orchid made a bit of a face at the mention of the SDC, but even she couldn't deny that it was a great gift. "Thanks." She offered, though it was clear that she still had a chip on her shoulder. She wasn't going to sass the girl that just gave them a total of four thousand Lien.

Neve grinned. "Nice. Thanks, Weiss. We'll make sure this doesn't go to waste."

Violet was already imagining what she could buy with it, but she also realized that at least some of it had to go towards them doing something as a team. "Yeah, we'll figure out something good to do with all this."

Ebony wasn't quite sure how much money was worth, generally, but she could at least fathom that a thousand Lien was a good chunk of change to just be given. So, she nodded and smirked slightly. "Thanks, Weiss."

Blake cleared her throat, clearly wanting their attention. Yet, it seemed what she had was specifically for Violet. She had a book, 'Ninja's of Love', and a manilla folder filled with papers. She held both out. "This is for you ,specifically. We all wanted you guys to get at least one unique gift, and so…"

Violet's eyes widened as she took the book, and glanced inside the manilla folder. She didn't need to look long to know what it was. She gasped, thinking to herself, 'Blake's secret stash of fanfiction she's written! Oh, this'll be a fun night…' She then looked at Blake and grinned. "Thanks. I'll… have to give you some of mine later." After she made sure they were cleansed of anything that might resemble her team.

Yang then added with a smirk, "And we got you a planter with some flower seeds and stuff, Orchid. Weiss mentioned you like flowers a lot, so…"

"Yeah, I do." Orchid once again couldn't begrudge a gift, especially a thoughtful one. "Thanks again."

Weiss held up a finger and stepped out of the room for a minute before returning with two more gifts. "Ebony, for you, I've got a whole case of SDC Dust vials, the very best. Also, Blake picked out some manga for you to read, that's already in your room."

Ebony took the gift, and she was willing to admit she had no idea how to feel about such generosity. She settled on an awkward smile and a shy, "Thank you."

Finally, Weiss took the last gift and held it out for Neve. It was a large box, and she smirked, once again seeming proud of herself. "This is a whole new set of the best kitchen equipment you could need. Knives, pans, pots, a blender… trust me, there's a lot. I don't know the first thing about any of this, but my butler Klein was more than willing to help."

Neve smiled brightly at the gift, holding the box as he nodded. "Ah… thanks." He had to admit, it was very heartfelt. "I never thought you'd be the gift-giving type, admittedly."

Weiss shook her head. "Now that I've got people I want to give things to, and am not held down by my father's presence, I can do as I wish!"

It was clear they had more to talk about, but then Ozpin's voice came from the entryway to the room. "Team RWBY, good to see you greeting your friends. I have a few things to say as well. You may remain, if you wish."

They did, moving to another couch and sitting down, while Ozpin smiled at COVE. "As you may be aware, the Beacon Dance is in a few short days, and after that, each team will be given a mission under a Huntsman-supervisor. However…" He gave the bad news. "I don't think it would be wise for the four of you to go on a mission right now. Not with everything going on, and with all of you still recovering from parts of your conditions."

Ebony, Orchid, and Violet groaned audibly, while Neve grimaced and said, "Are you sure?"

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed, and since you've also been out of classes for some time, I'm certain you're looking for things to do in the meantime."

Neve nodded. "We are. Do you have something in mind?"

Ozpin cast his gaze between both teams, a smile played on his face as he finally said…

"How do all of you feel about planning a dance?"