"Soooo then, Son… do you mind if I call you 'Son?' "
"Naaaaah… Just 'Goku' is fine."
"I see I see… So Tai tells me you come from a ways off."
Bartholomew Oobleck poked and prodded the bedridden barbarian taking up residence on the living room couch with surprising speed. Suffice to say, whatever he'd been expecting was worlds away from the man before him.
"That's right! First from Earth," Goku said, before doubt visibly pried its way into his mind. "Oh no, wait! I spent my life on Earth, but I guess I was born on Planet Vegeta. I'm still not used to that."
"Yes yes yes…" Oobleck fired-off, swift but without a trace of condescension, his emerald hair static in spite of his speed. "And then you followed your friends to…" he led, fitting an otoscope to the Saiyan's ear.
"Planet Namek, yeah, after training up in a hundred-times gravity," Goku said, looking as though he were being pop quizzed.
"And then you arrived here… metaphorically speaking… on the wings of an enchanted wish dragon." Oobleck finished his task, lowering the tool and peering inscrutably at Goku through his wide round spectacles.
Goku nodded, having improved as much as to sit up without much pain. "Yeah, that's the size of things… and now this guy Frieza is here, and take it from me, man… he's a pretty rough customer." His brow furrowed as he considered. It was quite the shift from the carefree manner by which he held himself. Even his voice had deepened in a way so unexpected yet natural that it surprised him. But then a smirk snuck in as quickly as his face had darkened. "Last I checked he's at least twice as strong as me!"
"You seem… relatively unaffected by such a distressing fact," Oobleck noted… literally scribbling in a handy legal pad. "Given of course that you were, evidently, the strongest of your world?"
Goku gave a sheepish grin as he chuckled. "It's not bragging if it's true, right…?"
"Mmm," Oobleck intoned.
"For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted nothing better than just a chance to fight the strongest there is!" Goku explained, a spark in his eye. "It's a chance to test my strength, see what's possible, see where I can improve. I see a guy double my weight-class, I'm worried a bit, sure… but I also see a way to leap forward! And I won't lie… this guy Frieza has had my attention since I heard about him…"
"Well I've heard worse reasons for self-improvement," Oobleck said, waving his scroll over Goku's limbs. "But from what you've described, you seem to fill a role we Huntsman strive for as well. That of a protector, combating that which others cannot."
The younger man sighed. "See, other folks have said that too, but… I don't know. It was never really about that for me. I mean, if I see a guy who needs help I'm not gonna just walk away… but I've mostly stopped the bad guys because they were the toughest there was. It gets personal when my friends are in danger, yeah, but I'd have gone a few rounds with them, evil or not."
"Hmm… so being your world's protector is more… incidental…?" Oobleck suggested.
"I… guess?" Goku offered, fully aware he didn't know what the word 'incidental' meant.
"Forgive me, you've seemed a shade distracted."
Goku sighed, staring into the distance. "Yeah… it's my son, Gohan."
"Son Gohan…"
"Yeah! My son, Gohan. I felt his power rise pretty drastically a little while ago."
"Yes, this… energy sensory you've spoken of. You fear for his safety?"
"Well…" Goku started, eyes wincing, "Not over the guy he was fighting. They were together for a little while. And I'm pretty positive it was just training or something. What worries me is whether Frieza picked it up. Can't get a real read on the g—"
He stopped dead as he spotted what Oobleck held in his hand: a shining steel syringe.
"Forgive me a moment, I just require a blood sample…"
Taiyang had been sitting on the porch, lazily playing fetch with the excitable Zwei. "Alright bud, you know it, bring 'er back!"
The hard rubber bone landed an instant before the corgi scooped it up, turning on a dime to gauge Taiyang's praise… and then dropped it as his ears drooped, head tilting in confusion as he heard and saw a disturbance through the windows of the lower floor.
"What's up, Zwei?" Taiyang asked, before the nearest window exploded.
A greenish blur accompanied sharded glass and broken wood casement as the Doctor recovered into a roll and handily swept back onto his feet, a red-spotted handkerchief gripped in the hand held against his hip. Zwei, meanwhile, began racing in frenzied circles, barking his head off as the air filled with Goku's screams.
"What the?!" Taiyang exclaimed. Bart?! My house!"
Stoic against his own swift exit, Oobleck adjusted his glasses before taking a polite sip from his thermos. "Forgive me, Tai, I'm afraid I hadn't quite considered trypanophobia. A rather curious neurosis for an acclaimed interstellar champion. Still. Despite my doubts… quite spirited."
"You're saying he did that?" Taiyang demanded, as Zwei began to howl to the pre-dawn sky in tune with Goku's wailing. "Barty, he's bedridden."
"As I said," Oobleck told him, "quite spirited…"
Taiyang stared for a moment, before the duet of Zwei and Goku reached maddening levels. "ZWEI!"
The dog's mouth shut immediately, glancing at his owner with a whine.
"Come on, bud, you're killin' me here."
"Mister Son!" Oobleck called, as the voice redoubled its efforts to shriek itself hoarse. "Calm down now, I don't need a blood sample anymore, I took a culture from one of your existing wounds!" he said. Holding the red-smeared cloth up.
The noise petered out in seconds, Goku ending with a simple, "Okay, Doc…" before there was silence at long last.
Taiyang took a deep breath before turning to his old friend. "So… your prognosis?"
"Unqualified as I am to give it," Oobleck lamented, flipping through data on his scroll. "You've a curious case indeed. The man is a healthy build, certainly. Unique muscle structure… almost perfected, but nothing to suggest the absurdities he's told. Most interesting are his injuries. Even by the standards of accelerated healing through Aura, he has very recent evidence of wounds and breaks, partly patched by what I can only describe as severely-rapid cell regrowth."
"Wait, so… maybe he has some kind of super-healing semblance?" Taiyang suggested.
Oobleck gave no gesture. "Ahhh, but the most curious thing of all… the rapid regeneration ceased. Seemingly all at once. His injuries only partially healed before you both crossed paths. Such a semblance would only be interrupted by a depletion of Aura, which has been full to bursting for a great while per my measurements… and as you've noticed, the man's Aura is as yet still sealed to him."
Taiyang frowned as he considered his words. "The guy did say he was in some kind of healing machine before he got here. You're not telling me this 'alien transporter' business is…?"
"I couldn't say," Oobleck said. "Anything possible is possible once you've ruled out the IMpossible… possibly. The only honest answer I can give you is… 'I don't know…' "
"Great…" Taiyang sighed, "so is the guy at least likely to make it?"
"Oh, almost certainly," Oobleck told him. "Numerous breakages, sprains and muscular tears. But nothing that won't sort itself out with a bit of time. So with your girls having left the nest, I suppose you have a spare room?"
"Uh… I guess. You're staying?"
"If you don't mind. Without proper equipment or CCT servers to parse the data, it will take a while to check his blood for pathogens or genetic anomalies… alien or otherwise. And of course there's the matter of safety. It's only sensible to keep an extra body on staff in case things get out of hand."
"Hey, things don't get that crazy around here, we're keeping him indoors."
"Oh, I didn't mean safety for his sake…" Oobleck laughed, before going stone still. "I meant for yours."
"What, you think he's dangerous?" Tai whispered.
"So hey, guys…!" Goku called from inside. "I turned on the TV, and some lady called Lisa Lavatory is saying something about a laser beam, and this place called Vacuum-o… Point is, can you show me where that is on a globe?"
The two stared at the broken window, bemused, before Oobleck answered, "Heaven help us if he is."
The Branwen camp was alight with activity. A bear that might have ripped the throat out of an Ursa roasted over a centerpiece of a towering flame. The raucous hooting and hollering was like a block party hosted by a biker gang. Every half hour a fight broke out, sanctioned or otherwise. Games of chance were played, from poker to arm-wrestling to some odd game Yang had been watching a while involving Dust crystals.
She had been sitting on a bench table, refusing to engage the thieves and killers, even as the most daring of them stared daggers in remembrance of their fight earlier… or sought knocking her to the ground for altogether different reasons.
"You'd make a gargoyle self-conscious, y'know that?" Krillin said, arriving at her right and handing her a bowl full of stew. "Here. Apart from sleep, you'll need your strength for tomorrow."
She spared a smile. "What's in it?"
"What'd you think?" he asked, thumb jabbing over his massive shoulder pads. "Bear! Reminds me of my buddy Goku's cooking."
"Does bear meat have a name?" she asked, stirring through it before taking a cautious spoonful.
"Doubt it."
An electric guitar shrieked as its owner was pelted with silverware, chiding his fellows to appreciate the art of art.
"So I've gotta tell ya, I feel a touch out of place," Krillin said, then tapping one of the surprisingly plush pauldrons on his shoulders, "not to mention… I can't decide if this is 'overdressed' or 'under-dressed.' "
Yang gave a snort. "Got me. Meant to ask what the deal was with that outfit."
"Oh yeah… well, we were preparing for an attack, and the enemy's gear was all we had to work with. Definitely not my threads of choice. Like I was saying, I stick out like a sore thumb in this crowd… I mean, you mentioned looking for your kid sister and all, but I really didn't know I was horning in on a family affair."
"I'm sorry," Yang said, wincing at the earthy flavor as she tried a spoonful, "I should have said something before… you really don't have to stick around if this isn't your speed."
Krillin smiled sympathetically. "Hey, no, it's fine! Just wanted to make sure I was wanted here, not just tagging along 'cause you're too polite to make me buzz off."
Yang sighed. "I came out here and wanted to face this alone, but… I didn't think finally seeing her, speaking to her would be this hard." She glanced over at him with a thin smile. "It's good to have a friend out here."
Krillin's eyes brightened. "Aw, well…"
Yang was silent a moment.
"So… this whole 'ki' thing, the other parts… You have any quick pointers?"
Krillin gave a humorless laugh. "Nothing that's gonna make you a better fighter literally overnight."
She smiled. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
Krillin turned towards her. "Wow, you really were in the dark about it… I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, you getting as strong as you've gotten without rising much higher than the basics. Where I come from, a guy in your weight class threatened the whole world once… total domination, if not for my buddy."
"I'm basic… but extraordinary," she droned, silent a moment before she raised a fist beside her head, miming her fingers spreading suddenly out to indicate her 'mind being blown.' "I… guess I don't know my own strength?" she suggested.
"Nah…" he opined. "There's something fishy going on with your world. Even if you don't have the skills, the fact that I can always feel your energy… You'd think if you couldn't control it you'd be overusing it by accident, not totally in the dark…"
She scoffed. "Great, don't I feel self conscious."
"Sorry…"
They were silent a while, just sifting through the stew as music wailed through the camp, the distant noise of insects barely audible beyond the thick walls.
"So you talked about this Frieza guy?" Yang asked finally. "Why do you think he's after you?"
Krillin coughed on his stew, balking at the suddenness of the topic. "Well it's not so much that… Where did that come from? Don't you have other things on your mind?"
"Right now, I need to hear there's something worse than… here," she explained, eyes fanning the camp.
Krillin gave a grunt of assent. "Gotcha covered on that one. It's not so much about Frieza finding us specifically. Anyone on this planet is fair game, even kids."
Yang's eyes narrowed as she conceived of this villain, a black, amorphous threat taking root.
"He's a sick-headed nightmare turned solid and real," Krillin continued, eyes to the fire as his scant hair stood on end. "Apart from that, it's not like we stuck around to exchange pleasantries. He's a walking, talking death sentence. You don't want his full attention. Even half can get you killed."
Yang leaned to one side. "But you think you can beat him?"
"Ha! Me?" he scoffed. "I'm nowhere near his league. None of us were. First we're looking for a way to bring back our friends, next thing we know, we're playing 'keep-away' for our lives with the galaxy's most heinous. But if anyone could, I'd put money on my pal Goku."
"Eh, I'd put my money on something different. We sharing spooky campfire stories?" a lanky blonde bandit asked, suddenly behind them.
Yang didn't hesitate. In a single fluid motion, she had her arm around his neck and pulled him forward to land flat on his back in front of them, smashing a crate to pieces.
"Oooooh!" hissed the rest of the group that stood with him, before their laughter set in.
"Ey, Sorta," the tubby, curly brunette with them said, staring down at his chum, "where's yer' manners? Where I come from, that's how we say 'hello!' "
"Hullo…" he groaned, before the shortest with his red hair and buck teeth brought up the rear.
"Locks, where you come from they sell tickets and popcorn to see, 'cause it don't actually exist."
The brute huffed, even as he dragged Sorta to his feet from the ground with one arm. "Even if it only exists in yer' mind, that still means it exists, 'mai right?"
"Ugh… miss us on that philosophy trash," the first of a set of auburn twin girls sighed.
"What do you want?" Yang demanded, tiring quickly of their monkey shines.
Sorta didn't miss a beat in spite of her tone. "Like I was trying to say, since you're bored stiff, is maybe we could invite ya' to a game a' Dust Buster."
"This stupid thing that's one step off crushing beer cans on your head?" Yang asked. "Look, I might punch people, but I'm not that far on the tomboy spectrum. I am still hoping to impress a guy someday."
The toothed one shook his head, still grinning. "So old fashioned! Come on, we're a progressive bunch. We see that, I promise we'll all be sufficiently 'impressed.' "
Krillin's brows flattened.
"Just get lost, boys," Yang sighed.
"Ohhh… party-foul, hon'," Vernal said, stepping in from nowhere as the others immediately paled. "You're just no fun. I play time to time, and last I checked I'm still an 'innie…' "
" 'Innie?' " Krillin asked, bewildered.
Vernal looked at him with a smirk. "Watch out, your innocence is showing, outie," she jeered, giving a nod and pointed glance below his belt.
Krillin's eyes widened, cheeks reddening. "Fellas, can we exercise a little class in front of the lady?"
"I'm a lady, cueball," Vernal said as the others laughed. "Don't get the vapors on us, we're all adults here. Or I dunno, maybe you're an innie too."
Krillin didn't find the group that approached them particularly mean-spirited, even as they chuckled at his expense. Vernal had come with intent to antagonize.
Even so, Yang stood up, eyes like fire. "Leave him alone!"
If Krillin had expected anything, it wasn't this, as his new traveling companion went to bat for him.
"Whatever your deal is, it's with me, not him!" Yang told her. "So if you want to go, then we'll go, right now! I'll kick your can in the dirt!"
Vernal's expression was inscrutable, caught somewhere between amusement and quiet rage. "Sounds hot… but anyway you take that, we'd need the Boss' blessing," she explained, the others chuckling illicitly. "And she'll probably gut anyone who takes a shot at you before she can tomorrow."
"I don't care," Yang said, "I'll be starting it."
"Yang," Krillin said, catching her eye as he shook his head. "Too much riding on tomorrow. You can't afford to wear yourself out."
"Let's Bust some Dust then," Vernal said, flipping a blue crystal into her hand. "It'll be cathartic. Really heightens the senses. And in this case… you get to see your opponent hurt a bit."
Yang stared at the pile of Dust crystals in varying sizes. The game was simple enough to understand. Everyone crushed crystals of varying size and effect until one remained, the rest who either tapped out or passed out from the pain.
"I thought Dust was some valuable commodity," Krillin wondered. "You can afford just destroying it?"
"Eh, simple economics," Sorta said. "Had the stuff stockpiled for years, and we hit every cache around Anima. Not our preferred source of income, see, but scalping Dust back to buyers in an embargo works great in a pinch. Only so many takers though, so we've still got Dust to burn."
"That smoothy Torchwick in Vale had the right idea," the second twin commented with a titter.
"More like a crystal ball," the first twin scoffed. "Probably living large these days."
"Not living any size," Yang said, still staring at Vernal. "My sister saw him get picked off by a Grimm at Beacon. He's dead. And my uncle was pretty sure his Dust heists were just to disarm Vale in time for the attack on Beacon. Drive up prices and tensions… and then they had plenty for bombs and everything else. He was very much involved. Ruby said he was working for someone. Probably that freak Cinder."
Vernal's eyes closed as she snorted with laughter. Yang pounced on it. "What?"
"No idea who your 'Cinder' is, but she knows who took down your school," Vernal teased.
Yang blinked, her eyes going red. "Who knows?"
Vernal smirked. "Who else?"
Without another word, Yang reached into the Dust pile and pulled out a grand red crystal formation in her left hand.
"Yang?" Krillin asked.
The crystal strained as cracks formed along it, but in another instant the area was buffeted and the small gang around them was blasted backwards as fire erupted from the crystal like a grenade had gone off.
Yang stalked out of the flames, her aura and semblance shimmering around her as though she were still ablaze herself. Krillin had only shielded his eyes from it and Vernal had scarcely flinched.
"Yang, hold on!" Krillin cried, chasing after as she wound her way through the camp.
Sorta returned to his feet, staring after the pair, scarcely aware of who he was now standing beside. "Now that, fellas… is a woman."
He yelped as Vernal kicked his feet out from under him, a hand catching him by his blonde hair before he struck the ground. As he winced, she began walking the opposite direction, dragging him along the ground a few feet before simply dropping him on his face.
She walked off into the other side of camp, the man pushing himself back up. "What'd I say…?"
A slight tromping sound outside her tent was the only warning Raven received before a flaming fist parted the curtained entryway to her tent, a gout of flame soaring towards her.
But it was warning enough, as she twisted up from her lotus position on the floor, the handle of her blade unleashing an icy cascade which canceled out the blaze without even raising the lethal end from its scabbard.
"What do you know?!" Yang demanded storming in, but dropping the hostilities. "What do you know about the Fall of Beacon?!"
"Yang, please, stop it!" Krillin pleaded, passing the curtain and inside.
"I knew that stupid mask of yours made me think of the White Fang!" Yang blurted, scarlet eyes alight. "So what's the connection?!"
Raven sighed. "Glad you came… but listen to yourself. Does this look like a faunus sanctuary? Do either of us have tails or two sets of ears? This mask is a symbol of leadership here, nothing more."
"Bullshit!" Yang swore, advancing a few steps. "Your toadie out there told me you know who was behind Beacon, and I want to know who!"
Raven nodded. "That's good. I'd be nicer to Vernal though. She's a bit conflicted about you being here. As for who… you were chasing your own tails all over Vale with the White Fang."
Yang's brows knit as she listened. "What does that mean?"
Raven looked her in the eye. "The White Fang and Roman Torchwick were the frontmen. They were the face she wanted to be seen, the scapegoats she needed to pit the faunus and humanity against themselves, even while they did her dirty work."
" 'She?' " Krillin asked, all the more bewildered.
Raven scoffed. "The true enemy of all of us. The mind behind the Grimm, and one of Ozpin's many guarded secrets. They call her 'Salem.' "
"What are you really hiding?!" Yang cried. "That doesn't make sense, the Grimm attack when they sense negativity, there's no intelligence behind it! And why do you keep bringing up Ozpin?!"
"She doesn't actively control every Grimm," Raven explained. "It's like the whole species is one big body, and each monster is just a dumb blood cell. But she does command them when she needs to… she's just subtler. Did you actually think a giant Grimm Dragon was just lurking under the hilltops? Secrecy plays into Salem's hands, and if the Grimm were obviously acting strategically, people might investigate higher brain power in the things."
Yang nodded violently, lip stiffened. "Okay, right! Sure! I have every reason to buy into this!"
Raven rolled her eyes with a smile, turning to a nearby mirror. "You know, they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit? But you're right. You shouldn't just believe what you're told. There's a world of possibility far beyond what your schools and your Kingdoms have prepared you for."
"And who made you the anointed receiver of Truth among us other sheep?" Yang asked, eyes boring a hole in Raven's back as she fiddled through a drawer for something.
"Ozpin," she said simply. "He's no ordinary man. Been fighting Salem in secret for thousands of years. He's existed as hundreds of men, reincarnating into a new person every time he dies. He's fought a secret war everyone has a stake in, and they don't even know it."
"And why tell you?" Yang asked pointedly, growing steadily impatient as she tried to glimpse around her mother's shoulders to what she was fiddling with.
"It wasn't so much me, as Team STRQ," Raven said, pulling out a handful of worn, ancient looking photos and shuffling them. Yang's eyes flew wide. "Every generation Ozpin picks a select circle, the ones he finds promising, and… treats them a bit differently from the other students. Bending rules, making odd exceptions, inducting students beyond their years… Yeah, starting to sound like Déjà vu yet?"
Yang tried her best to ignore Raven's cut deck of memories. "When are you going to get that I don't believe you! You're telling me Dad, Qrow and Summer all hid this from us… and what, that my team was going to be chosen to save the world?"
Raven looked up, pondering the question."Summer wouldn't have burdened you with that at the age you remember her. Tai and my brother thought you 'deserved to have a normal childhood,' but taught you what they knew about fighting regardless."
"Okay, until you start making sense or prove any of this, I'm walking…" Yang threatened. She made to turn to the entrance, but in a flash of movement, both of them saw Raven race past a mannequin wearing another set of her armor… and a sleek black bird emerge mid-flight on the other side, the photos dropping to the floor in a flutter.
"Whoa!" Krillin exclaimed as they watched it flit to Yang's shoulder, scarlet eyes meeting her own.
Yang couldn't help her demeanor shifting from anger to wonder as Krillin stepped around the dummy in an inquisitive circle, only giving her a shrug.
"She didn't just really turn into a…?" he began."
"I… I've seen this bird before…" Yang said quietly as her eyes kept widening.
"Where?" Krillin asked.
"Everywhere," she answered, mind racing as her mind sought to recall every time she'd heard the bird's call, a flutter of hidden wings, glimpsed the sleek shape staring from a nearby perch…
The bird leapt from her shoulder and glided to the floor, and the discarded, discolored photos.
Yang felt a jolt as she saw images of… herself. Images from when she was very young. She saw herself at Ruby's age, walking home with her friends from Signal, taken by some unknown photographer. She saw family shots, innocuous things she recalled going missing, but they had taken several such pictures anyway. She saw herself in a crib, staring happily up at the unknown cameraman, a pale feminine hand in black fingerless gloves stroking her cheek…
The bird found her shoulder again, and she looked up with a jolt. She hadn't even noticed Krillin peering over to see as well. He backed off immediately, but she could only turn to find the red eyes of the great black bird.
"...Mom…?"
The bird gave a light caww, before hopping off and circling behind her. She only saw Krillin's jaw drop, before she turned herself to see the softest expression she'd ever seen on her mother's face.
"I guess I felt you deserved it too," Raven told her quietly. "I'm not usually taken with sentimentality… but you've always been my greatest weakness. Even if I could have flown down and told you everything… I couldn't bear to sully that smile. So I just watched. Watched whenever I could."
"You…" Yang began, utterly disarmed. "What was that? How did you do that?"
Raven smiled. "Would you believe me if I said it was magic?"
"No! I…"
"Ask your uncle about it sometime, he knows that trick too. Ozpin did that for both of us so we could be better spies."
"Th… There's no such thing as magic," Yang said, with no conviction whatsoever. She glimpsed the image of her infant form again, eyes slamming shut as they burned against her every will.
Krillin finally saw fit to chime in. "Well I can say from experience how that's not true. We deal with a wish-granting dragon where I come from. That's how I literally just appeared on that road."
Yang sighed. "Krillin, now's not the…"
"That's… nothing I've ever heard of," Raven admitted. "But as little reason as you have to trust my word, I swear it's the truth."
"Oh! And why is that?!" Yang countered. She refused to be fooled. She wouldn't be taken in like this… Parlor tricks and photos proved nothing. "The most bizzare things I've ever heard, the idea that everyone I've ever trusted lied to me, from the person that abandoned me the first chance she...! The first..."
A sprawl of emotions crossed Raven's face, but ultimately she took a breath, the center of her brow rising even as Yang turned her back with a scowl.
"You're wrong…" Raven said quietly. "But it's how you should feel. I won't deny it. But I did what I did to protect you."
"Protect me? From what?!" Yang blurted, eyes glassy even as she refused to look at anyone.
"The more I worked with Ozpin, the more I realized his folly. Always rallying champions to fight Salem head-on, but he failed to mention just how many teams like ours, generation upon generation, had tried and failed. Thousands of years of them! Team STRQ were among the fortunate ones… only one of us perished in the fight."
Yang couldn't help sparing a scandalized glare. "You're dragging Summer into this?! That's what you're saying? Summer's mission was for fighting this 'Grimm Queen' whatever? She was the mother I never had!"
"And I'm thankful for that…!" Raven said, voice quivering. "Summer was my best friend, and I'll never forgive Ozpin for putting this heroism nonsense in her head! So enamored of her Silver Eyes, and how she alone had a chance to end this war forever!"
"Eyes?" Yang questioned. Her breathing had switched entirely to her mouth, nostrils too eager to give a traitorous sniffle. "What do her eyes have to do with—?"
"The Silver-Eyed Warriors are a rare breed of people from aeons past. Their eyes were known to grant them terrible power, stop any Grimm with a mere glance, for starters…" Raven said, eyes wide and gaze distant. "I've seen it with my own eyes. Summer was our greatest weapon… but she had your sister, and even after the team fell apart, she was convinced she alone could make the world safe for her family. She left to find Salem alone, in her realm, Evernight. A place Salem controls, where nothing leaves or enters without her express consent."
Her countenance fell, a thick haze of regret fogging her vision as she stared into the mirror. "We went after her. I was back with the Tribe by then, but Ozpin saw fit to tell me anyway, and I didn't hesitate if it meant saving her. But she never came out…"
Raven's blade cleaved through the mirror, a perfect diagonal slice carved off it. It hadn't even cracked until it struck the floor. "Now, Ozpin wants to use your sister just as he used Summer. He never learns. He'll only lead her to the same tomb as her mother, because Salem cannot be beaten, only thwarted. Only delayed."
Yang's heart raced in spite of herself for the mention of her sister. "Ruby?! But why? Ruby doesn't have—"
"Yes, while no doubt talented for her age. Your sister didn't seem particularly special, but all the accounts I've heard about the Fall of Beacon form a pattern I couldn't mistake." Raven said, scowling to herself. "Your sister has the gift as well. I don't doubt she's aware of it, if she's gone out on Ozpin's crusade… To think that after Summer, my brother would still fill her head with ideas. They say repeating the same failures is the definition of madness… and it looks to be catching."
Yang couldn't find a response. Madness certainly surrounded this conversation, but now she was uncertain where it lied.
"Four Relics of immense power sit beneath the Huntsman schools. Ozpin has kept them in defensible, but obvious places, counting on his flimsy walls and Huntsmen to ward Salem away. Never has he made to use the damn things against her. All his fear of such power, his faith in ancient ways… he's a dangerous man, Yang. A self-fashioned savior humanity can ill afford to trust."
"So trust you?!" Yang cried at last. "When you ran? When so many needed you? When I needed you?!"
"I'm just… gonna… yeah…" Krillin muttered, stepping quickly outside as the conversation became deeply personal.
"Everything I've done the past eighteen years was for you!" Raven shot back, anguish in her face. "If I was to do as I planned… then I was the last person that needed to be near you."
She walked idly to one of the tent supports, upon which hung her unsettling white helmet. "Your grandfather… the last leader… was killing our Tribe. Stuck to old ways, not allowing outsiders… nor the children of outsiders. We were becoming weak, inbred. I couldn't bring you with me like I wanted. We'd have been killed for it."
She stared into the helmet's eyes, fingers grazing over its sleek surface. "Qrow was always meant to be leader, but not me… my father was old fashioned like that too. I challenged and killed him in single combat, to mend this Tribe for you." She turned to catch Yang's eye. "I hoped that one day you could join me here, in the place I've made for you, in a family I've changed and strengthened!"
"But why?" Yang asked, more lost and conflicted by the moment. "We had a place, we had a home!"
Raven stared into the floor past her. "Knowing what I know about Salem, I can't sit and do nothing. Your father stopped fighting, but I couldn't… especially once I… once I saw you in my arms."
Yang felt her anger soured once more, and a strong part of her wished she'd just stop, as she felt another sting around her eyes.
"Salem doesn't care who crosses her path," Raven continued. "A good human is a dead one. But that doesn't mean she won't seek leverage against her enemies. I left… because to leave the day you were born… if .. if you hated me…" Her breathing faltered as her face sagged. "If it were clear I didn't care about my own child, then certainly I didn't care about anyone… so using loved ones against me would be pointless."
Numbness overtook Yang again… and she just wished something would tell her how to feel. "You… you wanted me to hate you…?"
Raven's hands wrung together as her posture closed off. "I… I'm sorry… I know it was hard… but I watched you when I could... saw you grow. I was always in your shadow. You've become so strong…"
"I-if…" Yang began, rubbing under her eye, "If you care so much, then what was all that 'saved only once' crap Qrow told me about? If you can just show up when I'm in trouble, why did you let this happen to me?!" Yang cried, arm dropping with a hiss and a thud as she pointed her stumped forelimb.
Raven stared at it a moment, before shutting her eyes. "That's what I told Qrow… I wasn't certain I had the spine to uphold it, though."
"What...?!" Yang whispered.
"You were powerful, Yang… but reckless, immature. That girl you fought would have killed you, had I not intervened, but I knew you didn't know that. You didn't grow from that situation or take your fights more seriously. Like a child that's fallen… I needed to let you learn to take the hit and pick yourself back up."
"So you let that guy MAIM me?! I lost a part of my body!" Yang shouted, finally able to tap into her rage again.
"And look at you now…" Raven said with a smile, hand sweeping as she regarded her daughter, "getting along quite well without it. You're focused, sharp. Stronger than before. Smarter. Not a trace of that silly, wisecracking flirt I saw before."
Yang's pupils shrank, and she mentally looked over herself as she considered. "You… Well hold on! Sure, I got a new arm, but you didn't know what that guy was gonna do! What if he'd taken my head?! You would have let me die because I wasn't exactly how you wanted me to be?!"
Raven's eyes closed slowly. "No… I didn't know. It wasn't an easy decision, but… I couldn't protect you forever. And if he had…" She paused, arm shaking as her teeth showed. "I'd have avenged you, and he'd have suffered like nobody will for a thousand years…! But you needed to be strong enough to survive the world as I know it. If you couldn't… I'd only be delaying the inevitable."
Yang looked at her, in a swoon with the emotions wracking her mind. "Your head is so tweaked…"
Raven shrugged, a sad grin on her face. "Perhaps. I suppose I couldn't tell if it was. But my heart isn't. I know, because even if you failed, even if you weren't anything like me… I can't help but see myself loving you. It's against every creed of our Tribe… but here? I'm weak…"
Yang hated her own feelings as her eyes burned. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she breathed. Why couldn't she just let her… This was so much harder… "I-It's not weakness to love your own kid."
"Doesn't matter what it is," Raven said, shaking her head, "it's not changing." She was silent a moment, before finally taking a step toward her. "Yang please… don't try to fight me tomorrow. There's so much we can do! So much I can show you! We can handle this fight as it should be done, as mother and daughter! You'll be my heir, to this place, to my people… and so much more in time! More than you can imagine!"
Yang squeezed her eyes shut. "I was so sure of who you were when Qrow told me you led a pack of thieves and killers… but it doesn't have to be that way! Come with me!"
"I can't do that," Raven said. "I'm not welcome in your Kingdoms as anything but a prisoner… Their world is doomed as it is, Yang. Men weren't meant to live like that, and against Salem and her Grimm, they can't. Only the strong, close-knit and uncompromising, can weather the coming storm."
"But people like them?!" Yang said, hand waving across to the camp outside. "People who steal and exploit and murder—?!"
"The weak only survive so long as they have the protection of the strong, and the strong only protect the weak when there's something to be gained from it. My people are no different from yours. Peace… war… all of it decided and enforced at the point of a blade. Here, we embrace the truth of things… The weak die… that the strong may survive. That is the Law of Branwen… because that is the law of the world."
Yang stared. It was all she could do. "Well that's not what I believe. I'm a Huntress, like my mother was… and still could be."
She turned, finally, towards the exit, picking up her detached arm and locking it back in place.
"Yang," Raven said, just before she could leave. "If we fight tomorrow… you won't win. I can't show weakness in front of my people… so I can afford you no quarter."
Yang fixed her with a long look. "I might surprise you."
She left at last, Krillin stumbling as the curtain opened to reveal him standing just on the other side. Raven turned her back, returning to her lotus position. "You won't."
"Qrow…" Ozpin asked, his youthful voice worn and wearied, "might I have your thoughts?"
They stood in the sitting room. It had been an exceedingly long night, and Gohan had explained his wondrous history and abilities for the benefit of the two senior Huntsmen.
Qrow whipped around out of his pacing. "My thoughts? How's turning reality on its head for thoughts?! The kid tore you all apart and barely broke a sweat!"
Ozpin nodded. "I've been bested before, but this was different. Our current 'Fall Maiden' was the most sound defeat I've experienced, and I made her work for that distinction. But this…"
"But if he's to be believed, now there's this thing out there that scares HIM," Qrow added, as alert as though he'd just been punched in the head. He shook it instead. "This'd be the last thing Remnant needs."
Oscar turned to the boy of the hour. "Gohan, it isn't possible this… 'Frieza' is one and the same with the being we call Salem? I'm aware you claim to be of… somewhere else, but—"
"No," Gohan said immediately. "I don't know how old Frieza is, but I'm pretty sure he's not thousands of years old. He wanted the Dragonballs so he could be immortal."
Ozpin considered, Oscar's eyes peering into the end of his cane as he rested his hands upon it. "Agelessness and immortality are not one and the same, but if Salem feels any apprehension over her own shortcomings she doesn't let on to that fact. An implicit fear of death doesn't sound like her at all..."
"Well, what's he look like?" Ruby asked helpfully.
"Hey, yeah!" Nora added. "Salem too!"
Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "I believed I had described her somewhat."
"Well… yeah," Jaune said, "but red eyes and white skin isn't a lot to go on."
Ren gave a nod. "It would help if we could actually identify our foes."
Ozpin looked to Qrow, both wordlessly deciding.
"Agreed," Ozpin said. "Salem's appearance, unfortunately, is rather… plastic. Most times our paths have crossed, she's taken a slightly different appearance from before. The few constants are, as I've mentioned, stark white skin… dark veins generally cover it. Her hair is nearly the same shade… red, slitted eyes… Apart from that, very human-looking, but you will know her when you see her."
"Doesn't sound like Frieza," Gohan said, his voice low. "He's this short white and purple guy with horns… he has these holes in his head instead of ears, though I think most of the aliens we ran into were like that… His eyes…"
Gohan visibly shuddered, and the room felt several degrees colder. "He stares at you like… I don't know… not like he's hungry… but…"
It became clear he wasn't going to finish. Ruby put a hand on his shoulder as she looked to Oscar. "This Frieza thing… I've… Gohan helped me feel it. His power sensing thing… he let me get a glimpse of that, and… I don't know how to describe what I felt. I just know it felt enormous. We're not ready for something like that."
Ozpin looked her in the eye and turned, finding a chair and collapsing into it delicately. "This… sense. Does this Frieza have it? Can he find you?"
Gohan shook his head. "Not really. He and his goons have these gadgets over their eyes that can though. But I've been hiding my power level, pushing it down so he can't find me. But you'd know all about that."
Oscar's eyebrows rose. "I'm not sure I take your meaning."
"Well, don't get me wrong," Gohan said, palms out, "your power level looks pretty high, but I didn't even feel you raise it for that last attack. Your full power would have given us trouble only a few days ago."
Oscar's head tilted. "How so?"
Gohan paused for a moment, meeting the hazel gaze as though waiting for the boy to crack a smile. "Well, like… if I'd used the same power on this mountain that I used to cancel your attack… it'd be half gone if I didn't diffuse it right."
Jaune gulped at the statement, the others once more behaving as though they had learned the boy was a living crate of nitroglycerin. "You…"
"Y'wuh…?" Nora finished for him.
Ozpin's eyes grew somehow wider. "Gohan… I think I know what you're referring to, but I assure you… despite the powers I possess… I can't do anything like that."
Gohan blinked. "Then… how did—"
"What I did was tap into my magic," Ozpin explained. "Magic is, as you might attest… a curious thing. It breaks rules, vaults boundaries. Makes possible what is elsewise impossible. What you describe fits into what I refer to as 'Arcane Windchill'."
"Uh… wind…?" Ruby wondered aloud.
"Chill," Ozpin finished, nodding. " In which the effect of wind feels colder, while truly the environment surrounding you hasn't actually changed. Magic is capable of grand, impossible things, but it is not itself a force of great raw power. I can breach impenetrable defenses, within reason, but I could not devastate a landscape. My Aura has something of a correlation, as it's bonded to my magic… but I can only surmise this is how I gained any ground on you at all."
None of them said anything. Qrow was already pinching the bridge of his nose, blinking with exhaustion. "This is all a lot at once, Oz…"
Oscar nodded. "Yes. And as dire as our long-term circumstances may be, we have only the near future to prepare for now. Task ourselves with Salem's doings here in Mistral."
There was a quiet mutter of assent.
"Though while we're on the subject of Maidens and Salem… Qrow, I'm to understand you arranged some manner of decoy, in regard to Spring?"
Qrow touched his chin as he gazed skyward. "Ah, right… that. Nothing long term, exactly…"
Tyrian Callows edged closer and closer to the cozy little cabin in the woods. He'd just seen the little tart throw water out the side window. A fire flickered across from it as her figure passed in front of it. Probably off to bed… he so hoped she wasn't too tired yet. Flicking his blades out, he dove through the window which shattered with a piercing sound in the quiet of the forest. He gave a victorious laugh as he filled the dim room with muzzle flashes, his guns peppering the woody walls as light strobed over it all.
And in an instant he stopped, his manic glee replaced with staggering confusion as he beheld a number of contraptions in the blink of an eye. A pillow attached to some metronome-like device before the fireplace. A series of dripping pipes from the ceiling leading to the window he'd entered. A number of red, blinking lights that were only blinking more and more rapidl—
Tyrian next found himself flying through the woods, surrounded by splinters and the great fireball that had blown the cabin as near to hell as one might ask. In the moments he had to ponder before he struck the ground, he promised great pain for this treachery, alight with fury, and alight with… well, fire...
"Heh," Qrow chuckled to himself appreciatively. "Gotta love a classic though…"
"Well, hey," Ruby began, trying to look chipper, "at least we've got a secret weapon now." She winked at Gohan, who seemed surprised, but nodded politely.
"Two if you count Oscar and myself," Ozpin agreed. "I would prefer to keep the nature of my return a surprise, after all." He reached over to the cold dregs of his coco and politely drained the cup in one swig, clapping it back down upon its coaster. "Now… it's been… quite the exhausting night, and none of us will manage without proper rest. We'll meet again come breakfast."
There was a fatigued grumble of agreement as the former students and demi-Saiyan began filtering out. Ozpin himself nearly surrendered control when Ruby's voice murmured from the other side of the room.
"Three…"
"Hmm? Yes?"
Ruby approached meekly, measuring her words with care. "Three secret weapons, you mean… if you count me… right? My eyes?"
Ozpin met the precious silver orbs, inscrutable as they stared. "Qrow tells me you warded off the one who slew my last form… once you saw the… fate of Miss Nikos."
The eyes pressed shut in pain. "Y-yes… I don't remember anything after that. But Uncle Qrow said you knew about it since we met."
He nodded. "I did. One of several reasons I admitted you to Beacon early."
"Not the only reason?" she asked pointedly.
His head shook. "Certainly not. You were exceptionally skilled for your age. I wouldn't have let you in if you were not ready. I won't deny though, the tragedy of Amber Autumn had already befallen her when we met… and I knew time was against us..."
Ruby swept a hand low in question. "And the other times you gave us hints, helped us stay on track? What about the rest of my team? Was I the only reason for that?"
Oscar gave the slightest smile. "I won't deny some favoritism… but while the remainder of Team RWBY is not necessarily special in the same way as yourself, they were nonetheless the sort I'd welcome."
Ruby gave a quiet, impatient huff. "We were a first year team. Even with my eyes, I don't get why us, and not a stronger team like CVFY? I'm not complaining, but… why not them?"
Oscar raised an eyebrow. "I take it this isn't some roundabout manner of boast?"
Ruby only frowned in answer.
"Miss Rose, if I'd wanted to make an exception and pair you with older students, few would have challenged me on it. Team RWBY set itself apart. Strength and experience are no doubt invaluable assets, but there are greater attributes still."
Ruby blinked, studying Oscar's face as Ozpin emoted through it, continuing.
"Team CFVY never took it upon themselves to right the Kingdom's wrongs while scarcely enrolled at the Academy. Not outside officially designated tasks. Which is not to say I generally encourage undue risks by underqualified Huntsmen… But you take for granted that Huntsmen and Huntresses serve the common good, protect the people at any cost and exemplify the courage required to safeguard the future of humanity."
Ruby blinked rapidly, brows knitting. "Take for…? What do you…?"
"Miss Rose, Huntsmen are free to choose their own paths and assignments, once properly trained and licensed. You have a courageous heart… Your only desire is to fulfill your duty. You forget that many have passed through Beacon's halls only to become private contractors, sellswords, elite military specialists… Many merely see becoming Huntsmen as higher tier law enforcement, or do so to further related careers, or simply see no other use or outlet for their abilities. It's a career, or chance for some personal glory… not a thing more. There has been an implicit cynicism of late… and whatever the reason, it's a thing you have largely missed. You still believe a few people with the will and ability can change everything. You still believe in heroes…"
Ruby had little to say, so she said nothing. It wasn't that she was unaware of these things… but she didn't want that knowledge to color her either.
"To be entirely candid…" Ozpin continued, "the initiative and ability your team demonstrated is exceedingly uncommon. Don't sell yourselves short, Miss Rose. Your team made it into the tournament finals on your own merits. You're not the very best fighters… but you're the best I can trust."
Ruby looked torn in five different directions. Pride, pressure, disillusion… all fighting for facetime.
"Cards on the table, Miss Rose, but while I'd hoped it were under better circumstances… my goal was to see you and your team make it to this point."
"You mean, in on the secret? Like… Team STRQ?"
Oscar's features softened. He gave a single nod just as gently.
"You'd know I'm no genius, Professor… but I'm not dumb either. Qrow said I was special just like my Mom was… He and my Dad talked about you like you were missing when every other news report on Beacon counted you dead. And I'm betting special, silver, Grimm-killing eyes were just as useful before I was born to fight Salem..."
Guilt and misery crossed the lad's face as his fingers gripped the cane tightly. "I never believed you were dumb, Ruby. Clearly not. Your suspicions are correct. Team STRQ disbanded largely after Raven took her leave, but…"
"Nobody ever told me how my mother died," Ruby began, quivering imperceptibly. "Just that she went on a mission and never came home. But you sent her out after Salem, didn't you?"
Oscar flinched, but shook his head rapidly. "No… no… I would never have sent her on her own. But her resolve was so strong. Your father had resigned himself to staying back, focus on raising his children. She was such a strong will, so protective of the ones she loved… I think Summer was dissatisfied with my inaction of late, much like my dear friend James. Took destiny by her own hands..."
"So… did… did you ever?"
"Find her? No… I'm afraid the summation of her loss is still as much mystery to us as you."
Ruby's face scrunched up in pain before she took a step forward. "How can you say that?! Yang and I never got told why, but it's obvious, right?! It's obvious it was Salem! I know you kept this all secret to keep people from panicking, but didn't we deserve the truth? This was our family!"
"Of course you did," Ozpin said quietly. "But should the truth have come from me when you were all so young? I, who you knew nothing of? Qrow and your Father knew… and I left it to their judgment. I was not about to countermand their choice."
Ruby said nothing. She couldn't deny the two most prominent adults in her life had kept this from her. She wasn't sure what to feel about it.
"But… why has nobody mentioned my eyes? I don't even know how to use them! I barely know what a Silver Eyed Warrior IS!"
"I'm afraid that before your mother… I was no different," Ozpin admitted. "I know the Warriors, like my own people, are a vestige of the time before recorded history… and are nearly as rare. I thought them another myth before I met Summer and witnessed her gifts for myself. An incredible power in its own right, but as in the legends, yet more effective against the Grimm."
"But… how do I use it?" Ruby asked. "I don't even know what I did…"
Oscar's lips pressed in ponderously. "Summer rarely discussed how the gift was used, but we know the trigger for certain. She mastered it when she was very young, set off when your grandparents and their home in outer Vale were lost in a Grimm attack… brought on during a cyclone."
Ruby nodded, processing the little-considered but inevitable fact that she had grandparents. It was neither common nor uncommon to have never known family outside the nuclear group. Ruby had never felt so different from her peers. The Grimm were a fact of life, after all.
"I figured it had something to do with my feelings," Ruby said quietly. "I'd… I never…"
Oscar nodded. "Never felt anything so intense?"
Ruby stared into the floor. "It was everything at once. I was terrified for her… confused that it was Cinder… furious that I never guessed it. That I showed up too late. I hated her… I hated myself… It all just… came surging out… and then nothing.
"I've tried to face it, to bring it out again. But… It's never like it was, and I just feel myself drowning in it! And worst of all… I'm so scared I'll succeed and black out again! I don't know what I did or what I might do! I don't know if I was myself! What if I hurt someone I didn't mean to?"
Ozpin began to shush her gently, crossing the distance to put a hand on her shoulder, patting reassuringly. "Honestly I've no idea. Your mother had conscious control over it, but she had attained it years before we ever met. There are ways we can minimize the risks. I'll help you however I can… but…"
"Hmm?"
"As proud as I am to see you come all this way yourself, I… You have no obligation to be here. In spite of the stakes, in spite of your gift, nobody will fault you staying out of this. I know Summer wouldn't."
Ruby felt a warmth in her chest grow hot at his suggestion. "I'm not running from this, Professor. If we don't do something to stop all this… who will?"
Oscar's face fell. "Of course… You really are just like her, you know… I just couldn't forgive myself if I led you in all her footsteps."
They were quiet a moment, before Ozpin sighed. "I think now it's truly time for bed. Particularly myself… I've exerted far more energy than I expected tonight. Do give what I've said consideration, Miss Rose… and please don't hesitate to ask if you have questions. Goodnight."
The green flash overtook the boy's shape, and in moments a more fitting demeanor crossed his face.
"Gah!" he cried in finding his hand on Ruby's arm, leaping back as though burned. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, i-it wasn't—"
Ruby burst into a fit of quiet laughter as Oscar froze.
A/N: Part 2 is in a week folks!
Yep, this chapter ended up WAY too long to justify, so it's a two-parter, and you guys get it in record time!
So yeah, this Raven and Vernal are equal parts familiar and different from what we got in Volume 5. Vernal didn't have much personality to begin with, so I gave her the quirk of uncomfortably sexualizing things. It's not much, but it's something. Raven herself is far less of a bitch to her daughter in private. She has legitimate reasons for what she's done, if twisted through the lens of her own values and upbringing.
Add to that Ruby being more inquisitive of her role in things and less willing to unquestionably take Ozpin's marching orders, and you've got a recipe for a better setup than we got in the canon.
Still no Weiss or Blake, sadly. That'll be chapter AFTER next. Would you believe I originally planned the events of this and the next two chapters to take place in ONE?
I consider that a weakness of mine. I always seem to think something will take fewer words to write than what ends up being the case.
Sorry again for a pretty talky chapter. It was supposed to END with a rollicking fight in the original version, but you'll have to wait for the ALL-ACTION second part of this chapter next week.
Exciting things are happening in the writing as I approach the events that will round out Act 1. It's never been this fleshed out, and it all fits together near as well as I could have hoped in the outline.
Oh, and for those keeping score on the original characters… I'm going to start telling you their inspirations in the chapter after they're featured. Give you folks a chance to guess before I just come out and tell you.
Last chapter, for example, had Frieza receive a report from Professor Diana Henrys… who is a female Indiana Jones. Yeah, know how Indy has that very official quasi alter-ego as a university teacher? That's what she is meant to embody as she is. The name Diana comes from "IN-Diana," and "Henrys" comes from the fact that Indiana Jones' real name is Henry Jones Jr. So, Diana Henrys, complete with the signature whip. Next time you see her, don't be surprised if she busts out the jacket and the hat!
Ah, and of course the Monden family… The daughter, Atreya who met a sad fate at Frieza's hands, and her mother Kaiserin, left alive and invited to try her hand at revenge.
Both characters, and the father, Sebastian, —unnamed and implied to have been killed— are references to The Neverending Story. Bit on the nose, but Atreya is a very young and female Atreyu, the Native Americans hero(?) of the story. The surname "Monden" is short for the original German name "Mondenkin" —translated as "Moonchild" in the English versions— which is the name Bastion —take a guess— gives to The Childlike Empress to save the fictional realm of Fantasia/Fantastica. Kaiserin herself is my adult incarnation of the Empress… the name Kaiserin itself being German for… "Empress", lol.
Yes, I suppose Indiana Jones and The Neverending Story are admittedly pretty contemporary things to put into RWBY's Universe, and one of them wasn't even a book… but these things are already the classics of coming generations, and they feel appropriate to the setting.
Heck, even Vernal and the oc's in THIS chapter have been given some roots. Certainly roots Vernal never had before. I'm holding onto HER ties for later though.
Anyway, that's it till next week folks! See you there!