A/N: Volume 3 OP: "The World" by Jonathan Young

Chapter 2

A Matter of Perspective

Adam Taurus was beyond furious. While he was usually angry or disgruntled about one thing or another, what he was feeling now was on a whole different level. It was a level of rage he hadn't felt in a long time and its fire felt good. It sharpened his senses and gave him a greater sense of clarity. It motivated him into action. It made him get things done and it was high time he showed those foolish Humans just what it meant to succeed.

And it was all because of that one annoying man. That boy who had shown up out of nowhere and massacred his men. His beloved siding with the enemy had been frustrating but he would show her what her place was and she would come crawling back to him. That was inevitable. But this boy? This Emiya Shirou? Adam would stand for nothing less than his total annihilation. To watch the life slowly leave his eyes while he bled out on Wilt's blade.

That image brought a feral smile to Adam's lips as he made his way through his base camp, his men parting like water before his rage and giving him a wide berth. Yes, he was done playing by the rules of those Humans. It didn't matter what sort of power that they possessed, he was stronger than they were. He had only acquiesced to their request for men out of concern for the casualties he would sustain from the crossfire but no more. He had already lost countless men to that boy, what were a few more?

Brushing aside the flaps of his tent, Adam froze when he saw perhaps the second most annoying Human on Remnant. The one whose asinine plan had cost him so much. They were trying their damndest to reclaim the number one spot, however, as they were currently sitting in his chair as though they owned the place.

"Cinder," Adam growled as he pushed forward into the tent, letting the flap close behind him. His left hand tightened its grip on Blush even as his thumb slowly inched its way to Wilt's tsuba.

"Hello, Adam," Cinder Fall said with a superior smile that made Adam want to do nothing more than remove her head from her shoulders.

"Our deal is off," Adam said without preamble. "Your plans have all failed and have done nothing but cost me too many men."

"I wouldn't say that they've failed; quite the contrary," Cinder smoothly replied, unaffected by the monstrous amounts of killing intent that Adam was releasing. "While things haven't gone exactly according to plan, I'd say everything's been working out perfectly."

"You call the disaster that was Mountain Glenn working out?" Adam said lowly as his thumb twitched against Wilt's tsuba, slightly freeing the blade from Blush's grip.

"As a matter of fact, I do. All of the pieces are now in place for a glorious finale."

"Explain."

Cinder didn't think she owed Adam an explanation but she was feeling magnanimous and gave him one anyway. "Don't you see? The people of Vale are as hopeful and optimistic as they possibly could be. The brave students of their precious Beacon Academy managed to thwart a terrorist attack and then held off a Grimm assault long enough for Atlas' military to swoop in and save the day. They're riding high on their victory and their faith in their heroes is stronger than ever. Given all of that, how much more do you think it'll hurt them when their heroes crumble before them?"

Adam glared at Cinder from behind his mask. Though it infuriated him to admit it, she was right. The emotional whiplash would be devastating and the resulting flood of negative emotions would be like a signal fire to the Grimm.

"Even so, given how all of your other plans haven't completely worked out, what makes you think this one will?"

"Simple: I'm doing it myself. All of the pieces are already in place and, this time, the incompetent bungling of certain other parties won't matter in the slightest. Ozpin and his lackeys will be powerless to do anything but watch as everything crumbles around them."

"You certainly sound confident but our deal is still off. I have no faith that this plan will turn out any differently from the others."

"That's perfectly fine," Cinder said with a superior smile. "The beauty of this plan is that you'll do exactly what I want you to regardless of what you say. After all, would you really be willing to pass up the chance to deal a crippling blow to those Humans you hate so much just to spite me? Even if you did, it wouldn't matter too much."

Adam growled at this, his right hand twitching as he once more resisted the urge to remove that vile woman's head from her shoulders. As much as he loathed the idea of being someone else's pawn, he wasn't so prideful as to pass up the chance to get closer to his goals.

"Oh, and one more thing," Cinder said from behind him. Adam was passively aware of the Cinder that was behind his desk fading from view as he jumped away and spun around to face her, Wilt fully drawn and itching for blood. "You really should be more careful in the future. If you don't choose your allegiances wisely, this little rebellion of yours will be wiped off the face of Remnant without even a second thought."

Adam roared as he lashed out with his sword, the crimson blade meeting only air as it cut through the image of the laughing Cinder. Her laughing echoed in his ears as he seethed with impotent rage. If she truly thought so little of him then he'd simply make her see the folly of underestimating Adam Taurus.

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou stood at attention in the captain's quarters of the Gallant, the flagship of the fleet Atlas had sent to Vale in the name of peacekeeping. The room was very spartan and spoke of a man whose life was his work. The drab, steel gray confines made it feel more like a prison than sleeping quarters but Shirou never had much to do with the military so maybe he was being too harsh.

The room's other occupant, General James Ironwood, stood at the opposite side of the room from Shirou, looking out the full-length windows that gave a fantastic view of the City of Vale. From his reflection, Shirou could tell that the General was pensive about something.

"You asked to see me, General?" Shirou said, having just entered the room moments before. The summons had been completely unexpected and Shirou was more than a little apprehensive as to why the General felt the need to contact Shirou directly through his Scroll rather than arrange a general meeting with Ozpin and the others.

Ironwood turned around and gave Shirou a welcoming smile, "Yes, I did. I appreciate you showing up on such short notice. I've called you here for multiple reasons, not the least of which is to apologize."

"Apologize? What for?"

"For the disparaging comments I made the last time we met. I had thought Ozpin a fool for entrusting such a crucial mission to someone as unknown as you, especially in light of your records at the school, but it is clear to me now that I was the one being foolish. After your mission, I did some digging and discovered your true record. Ever since your arrival on Remnant, you've gone on seventeen missions for Ozpin, many of which would have only been assigned to seasoned Hunters, and you not only completed them all but often went above and beyond the call of duty," Ironwood said as he took a few steps closer to Shirou.

Shirou couldn't help but flush slightly at the praise even as he scratched nervously at the back of his head. While he didn't do what he did for the praise, it certainly felt good to be acknowledged. "I appreciate the sentiment but apologies are unnecessary. Given what you knew, it was only natural that you'd question my assignment."

"Perhaps," Ironwood allowed, "but that brings me to my next point. I only made that assumption due to what I knew and it is clear to me now that you are no mere Huntsman-in-training. Your capabilities are on par with veteran Hunters who have been in this business for years."

"What are you getting at?" Shirou asked guardedly as his eyes narrowed. People didn't butter others up this much unless they wanted something.

"What I'm getting at is this: Your talents are wasted here. You're a one-man army and yet, instead of honing your skills even further with elite training or on the field of battle, Ozpin is keeping you at his school in order to look over students. While I don't doubt that Team RWBY has the potential to be a premiere Huntress team, the school should be more than capable of elevating them to that level."

"What do you suggest I be doing instead, then?" Shirou asked, feeling like he already knew where this was going.

"Join me. You don't have to work for the Atlesian military but I want you to work alongside me. I'll make you a full-fledged Hunter and give you the full support of the Atlesian military. By working together, it is my firm belief that we just might be able to bring this long war to an end once and for all. Even if we can't, we can certainly save a lot of lives."

Shirou's eyes went wide as the full weight of Ironwood's words hit him, "You think we can defeat Salem."

"I think it's a firm possibility," Ironwood corrected. "Atlas' military might is unrivaled and, while there may be those who can best you in single combat, from what I've gathered, your versatility is equally unrivaled. Your magecraft allowed you to take down a Grimm in one blow that otherwise required a sustained volley from several of the most advanced warships on the planet. If anyone has a chance of defeating Salem, it's you and I believe you can do it with my help."

Shirou looked down as his eyes narrowed in contemplation, "I don't know… What about Ozpin's plan regarding Ruby?"

"Ozpin's plan is doomed to failure. You are aware that he keeps secrets from you, from all of us, right?" When Shirou nodded, Ironwood continued, "Miss Rose is not the first Silver Eyed Warrior Ozpin has sent to fight against Salem."

"Then who—" But the answer came to Shirou's mind before he could finish the question. Shirou paled and broke out into a cold sweat as all of the pieces fell into place in his head. "Ruby's mom."

"That's right. Summer Rose tragically died fighting Salem," Ironwood confirmed, his voice grave.

"Then why does he seem to be trying the same thing again?"

"That I can't tell you. All I know is that Ozpin has mentioned something about her possessing a 'simple soul' but I can't even begin to speculate what that is.

"There's something else I wish to reveal to you as a sign of good faith that I'd like you working alongside me rather than beneath me. Though it's still in its early phases, I plan on revealing the existence of Salem to the entire world."

Shirou placed the back of his head against his forehead as his mind struggled to process all of this information and the implications of it all. "Why would you do that? Wouldn't that just cause a panic?"

"That's what Ozpin believes but I believe that he's wrong. I believe that the people of Remnant are far stronger than he thinks. While some people will inevitably panic, it is my belief that most others will not. That most people will be more than willing to rise up against the enemy of all Soulkin and bring an end to the Grimm once and for all."

"This— This is a lot to take in."

"I understand. I don't expect you to give me your answer right away. I'll be here until the end of the Vytal Festival so you have at least until then to give me your answer. For the time being, take this," Ironwood reached into his pocket and removed a small, rectangular device that reminded Shirou of a pager. "This will give you a direct, secure line to me. It can work using the CCT Towers but it can also work without them in a range of about one hundred miles."

Shirou accepted the device with a polite nod and slipped it into his pocket. "I'll definitely think about this."

Ironwood gave Shirou a friendly smile, "That's all I ask."

OoOoOoO

It was another warm spring day in Vale and it had happened to coincide with a day in which the students of Beacon had no classes. Most students would have taken this opportunity to relax in the sun or hit up the city. Indeed, most of the students were doing just that with some of the upper years cramming for the end-of-term exams coming up.

Yang Xiao Long, however, was not most people.

Instead, Yang found herself in Beacon's sparring hall once more, grunting with effort as her feet slid across the ground, having just barely been able to block the combo attack from Lie Ren.

"Your attacks are too straightforward. I can see them coming from a mile away," Ren criticized as he rushed in. Yang tried to intercept him with a straight jab but Ren simply flowed around the attack and struck her in the sternum with a palm strike. He then went for a roundhouse kick but, when Yang raised her arm to block it, he pulled his leg in and struck her in the forehead with a heel kick.

Yang staggered back and resisted the urge to rub at the spot, opting to keep her guard up instead. "Well, it's not like I can do all those fancy moves you do," she replied as she went on the offensive. She struck out with a jab and uppercut combo but was frustrated as her attacks were easily avoided or redirected. She went for a haymaker at what seemed to be an opening but Ren quickly crouched down with a sweeping kick that took Yang's legs out from under her before following up with a flipping kick that sent her spinning away.

"You don't have to," Ren said as he slid back into a defensive stance and waited for Yang to stand up. "You just have to be more unpredictable. Stop attacking in such stiff lines. Let your body flow as it moves."

"Easy for you to say," Yang said somewhat bitterly as she picked herself up and wiped off her mouth before getting back into her guard stance. "You're probably the most acrobatic one in our entire group."

"Perhaps," Ren allowed, "but that's not important. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with your kickboxing style, you just need to be more mentally flexible." As he had been talking, Yang rushed in with an attack but Ren didn't even give her the courtesy of pausing as he smoothly avoided it and redirected her momentum into the floor.

Yang growled as she picked herself up off the floor, her eyes turning red as she activated her Semblance. "Or I can just flatten you!" she roared as she charged back in. Moving with greater speed than before, Ren moved into Yang's wild Superman punch and lashed out with a blindingly fast series of strikes before using Yang's own forward moment to flip her over his shoulder and into the barrier wall.

Yang groaned as the claxon sounded, singling the end of the spar and announcing Ren as the victor.

"I may be the most acrobatic but, in terms of raw power, you're the strongest. Only Nora can compete with you," Ren said as he walked over to Yang's prone form and offered his hand. Yang stared up at the boy for a moment before accepting the help. "Your problem doesn't stem so much from your technique but from your anger. When you get angry, you become predictable and that predictability leads to your defeat."

"I can't help it, okay?" Yang said somewhat tersely as she crossed her arms. "My anger feeds my Semblance. I get stronger the more I get hit but I also get stronger the angrier I get."

"And there's nothing inherently wrong with that," Ren consoled as the two made their way over the benches where their water and towels awaited. "The problem is that you let your anger control you rather than you controlling it. Your anger is like a wildfire burning out of control when what you need is a blowtorch."

Yang looked thoughtful as she took in a mouthful of water and swished it around before swallowing. "Maybe you're right but how'd I even do that?"

"It's not easy and it will take you a fair amount of time. Tell me, do you know about meditation?"

"Yeah, it was covered in one of the classes I took before coming to Beacon. It was one of the ways you could get a feel for your Aura so you could put it into stuff."

"That's right but it can be useful for a lot more than that. Meditation can help you unlock your Semblance and it can help you get control of your emotions."

"So, you're gonna have me sit around doing nothing for hours on end? But that's boring! I thought I was gonna go crazy when they had us do it in class!"

Ren chuckled slightly, "Not for hours on end, no. It took me nearly half a year just to be able to meditate for an hour without growing too restless. We'd start simply with just a few minutes a day and slowly build from there."

"I don't know…" Yang said doubtfully.

"Well, the invitation is open if you ever decide to give it a try. I happen to know that Shirou is also skilled at meditation so you could always ask him to teach you if you'd like. He taught Jaune, after all, and Jaune has actually taken to joining me in my morning meditation."

"If I decide to do this thing, I'll ask you. I know Shirou wouldn't mind but he's busy helping Rubes with this whole 'magecraft' thing," Yang remarked, wiggling her fingers at the emphasized words. She still had some trouble wrapping her head around the fact that her little sister could potentially perform actual magic. "Well, thanks for the help, Ren. I don't know why the universe keeps pitting me against people who can kick my ass but I'm getting sick of it. Think we can do this again sometime?"

"Anytime," Ren said with a smile as the duo made their way out of the building and into the sunlight.

OoOoOoO

"Come in," Emiya Shirou said from where he sat at his desk as Weiss Schnee knocked on his door. After a moment, the heiress entered and Shirou looked up from his schoolwork toward her, "What can I do for you?"

Weiss shut the door behind her and looked down, fidgeting for a moment before collecting herself and looking him in the eye, "I need your help with something." Shirou pushed his chair away from the desk and gestured for her to sit down on the bed while he turned his chair around. "I was wondering if perhaps you could help me with my Semblance," Weiss clarified as she moved to sit down.

"I'd be more than happy to. What do you need help with?"

Weiss was quiet for a moment more, her body stiff as she was trying not to fidget. It was clear that she was unused to asking for help but Shirou was nothing if not patient. Eventually, she managed to wrestle her errant pride and force the words out. "As you know, my Semblance is Glyphs," she began. "I can use them in combination with Dust to do many different things." Shirou nodded at this but remained silent, letting her continue on her own time. "However, there is one particular aspect of my Semblance that I have yet to have so much as be able to do, let alone master. That aspect is summoning.

"We Schnees have the ability to summon creatures we have defeated in combat that were of some significance to us. Out of all of our abilities, it is considered the most important one. As such, my… failure… to use it so far has been a… blight… on my family name. It is my understanding that you summon your weapons using this magecraft of yours and I was hoping that your knowledge of it might provide me some useful insight into my own abilities."

Shirou blinked a few times as he processed this formally worded request before giving Weiss a reassuring smile. "I don't know if my knowledge will be helpful to you but I'm more than glad to try. Do you want to start by giving me the theory behind your summonings or by me giving you the theory behind mine?"

"The latter," Weiss said after a moment.

"Very well, then. Projection, also known as Gradation Air, is the process of recreating an object using prana, or magical energy, as the building material. The more details you know about the object you are trying to replicate, the better the end result. The most important part is to have a firm image of the item you're trying to create in your mind, one with as many details as possible. After that, it's a fairly simple matter of molding your prana into that form."

"That does sound pretty simple. Is that really all there is to it?"

"More or less. And it is pretty simple. Projection is fairly basic magecraft. It's something even most beginners can do."

"So, you're saying that every… what did you call yourself? Magus? So, you're saying that every magus can create weapons like you do?"

"Yes and no. My projections are special for various unimportant reasons. While any magus could probably reproduce the basics of my swords, they'd be far weaker."

"That's interesting but I don't think it's very helpful. My summons don't work that way."

"How do they work, then?"

"Like all Semblances, our summons come from our soul. They're physical manifestations of the trials we've overcome. My sister, Winter, tells me that my summons need to be drawn out from within me. It's not a matter of having a clear mental image but rather of reaching into the part of me where that summon resides and bringing it forth with my will."

Shirou hummed in thought, "That's certainly very different from how summoning works with magecraft."

"Can you summon other things with magecraft aside from objects?"

"You can," Shirou answered as numerous thoughts and memories flashed through his mind. Despite the sudden, if not unexpected, onslaught, he kept his features under control. "The way other types of summoning work with magecraft is that you need an anchor. For example, you could use a crystal to summon a crow or strands of your own hair to summon bird-like creatures. This branch of magecraft is also very common for summoning familiars."

"I think that's what the summoning Glyph is supposed to be for," Weiss said.

"Perhaps…" Shirou was quiet for a moment as he pondered the situation before having an idea. "Even if it is, maybe it would help if you started smaller and gave yourself another anchor."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, instead of summoning the entire creature, maybe you could just summon a part of it? And instead of anchoring it solely to your Glyph, you could also anchor it to a part of your body. Since your summons are Aura constructs, it might be easier to create them if you're simply manipulating your Aura instead of projecting it."

It was Weiss' turn to hum in thought as she pondered this idea. While it was certainly unorthodox and might be scoffed at by her family, the idea had merit. Besides, she was already doing several things that her family disliked so what was one more? "That… just might work. Thank you, Shirou."

"No problem. Is there anything else you'd like me to help with?"

"No, I think I can handle it from here," Weiss said as she stood up. She was about to take her leave when she paused for a moment. "Is there anything you need help with?" she asked as she gave him a sidelong glance.

"Actually, I think you already have. You might have just given me the solution to finding those infiltrators," Shirou said as a bolt of inspiration struck him.

"Really? Well, I'm glad I helped even if I'm not sure how. What is this solution?" Weiss asked as she walked to where Shirou was sitting. He had turned his chair back around to face the desk and put aside his schoolwork to pull out a sheet of blank paper and a pen.

"My father wasn't a terribly good magus either but there were two branches of magecraft that he was fairly skilled at: Bounded fields and summoning. I just might be able to combine the two." As he spoke, Shirou carefully drew a magic circle and began filling it with a complex series of runes that Weiss couldn't even begin to decipher.

"Do you have a bounded field in your room?" Weiss asked as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"I do. It's a pretty simple silent alarm that tells me if someone's at my door or tries to come through my window."

"Is that why you never seem surprised when one of us knocks?"

"That and one other thing. The bounded field only tells me that someone's there, not who. Any magus can sense when magecraft is being used through one way or another and, for whatever reason, I can also sense unlocked Auras. In my case, I can smell them."

Weiss paused for a moment. "This may be an awkward question but what do I smell like?"

It spoke volumes that what should have been a weird question didn't even register to Shirou. "You smell cold but in a pleasant sort of way. I've also been picking up a vague floral scent from you but I'm not sure what flower." By this point, Shirou was finished with the magic circle and began to carefully fold the paper.

"Why would my scent change?"

"I'm sorry but I couldn't tell you. I couldn't even tell you why I can sense Auras."

"Hm. Strange." Weiss watched in fascination as the paper was slowly taking the shape of what looked like a crane. "Do you think you could put a silent alarm in our room?"

"Easily but it'd only be silent for Ruby. Getting a regular person to detect magecraft isn't impossible but it'd make it too obvious. I could make it to where it makes a sound, though. Actually," Shirou paused in his work to look up in thought, "I should probably get Ruby to do it as a test. Alarms are invaluable."

"What is it that you're making?"

"A paper crane. The process is called origami. I can make a couple different things but this one suits my needs." Shirou held up the finished paper crane in his hand so Weiss could get a good look at it. It was a simple but elegant piece and Weiss was oddly surprised that Shirou could make something so delicate.

"Trace, on. Animation, start." With those simple words, Shirou fed enough prana into the paper crane to activate the magic circle. At once, the thing started to move as though it were alive and it even somehow managed to fly by flapping its wings. As much as Weiss wanted to admire it, though, she found that she had trouble focusing on it.

"I like making my familiars out of origami; I guess you could call them shikigami. The spells on this one make it almost impossible to see unless you really focus on it— a perception filter— as well as a silent alarm that I'll need to tie into another spell circle later."

Weiss watched in awe as the shikigami flew a lap around the room before alighting in Shirou's hand. "This is truly wonderful, Shirou. You may not think so but your magecraft is capable of producing fantastic things."

Shirou smiled bashfully as he scratched at the back of his head with his free hand. "Thank you. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, I don't think so," Weiss said with a shake of her head. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, I don't think so," Shirou purposefully parroted with a smile that was ever so slightly mischievous. "Thanks for asking, though."

Weiss smiled back, very glad that Shirou was allowing himself to play around, even if only a little. "Very well. I should get going. See you later, Shirou."

"See you, Weiss."

A/N: We're starting to see some of the dominoes falling from the events of the first two volumes and you can start to get an idea as to how they'll impact Volume 3 going forward. I don't really have too much to say about this chapter since it's such an in-between kind of thing; interesting but not really worth commenting on. That being said, I do hope the possibilities of what all of this might lead to are making you excited.

I'd like to thank everyone for welcoming me back last week but I need to make a minor correction to Yaboi27: The Queen has returned.

See you next week!