There was a ring of steel as the shotgun scythe cleaved across the thick equine neck of a griffin, its body crumpling to the asphalt just faster than it could disintegrate into ash.

Qrow's eyes scanned the moonlit skies as the Grimm in the city began to thin, drawn instead to the school.

Glynda had the streets and James was hastening to the burning hulk of a cruiser that had touched down half a mile away. This left him to return and back up Oz, the kids…

Tracing the cliffs along the waterfront, he noticed a growing, placid commotion as he skirted the plaza where the Beacon campus blurred into Vale, to the airship docks and the grand courtyard before the dark spires and emerald towers which loomed against the stars. The Huntsman in him was too wary not to immediately track the massive Grimm wyvern perched on the CCT tower. Insult to injury, since it had already decapitated the structure, the worst damage already done. Global communications, severed just like that. An unmitigated disaster.

But below it all, the docks had become a staging area for evacuation from the school itself, and triage for the injured. He muscled past a Beacon student with caramel hair and a gilded minigun, standing guard, locking eyes with him only a moment before deciding he wasn't a threat. He noticed the same thing, a circle formed around the area composed of a number of the competitors from the other schools.

But what set him on edge was what he didn't see. Until…

"Qrow!"

"Pete…"

The gray-haired walrus of a man —broad, red vested, toting an axe-ended blunderbuss— approached, his seldom seen brown eyes widened as his brows lifted uncomfortably.

"Barty's stabilized her," Peter Port, professor of Grimm Tactics, told him as he pointedly barred Qrow's way. "It could have been a lot worse, but… of course—"

"Who? Outta the way!" It was nothing to brush past him, but another few steps and he froze.

"Miss Belladonna, please, you'll exacerbate your injury!" Bartholomew Oobleck told Yang's dark partner, who was hunched over, desperate to stay close to—

"Yang…!" Qrow breathed, hurrying the final steps as it became clear.

His niece was flat on her back, unconscious… a seeping dressing covering the place that once extended to her right elbow… and everything that came after it.

He froze, eyes only briefly connecting with Oobleck's as the green-haired doctor fussed over her vitals. Raven… You'd have known she was in danger. Either something worse happened to you… or you really did let her…

"How'd it happen?" he growled, surprised at the venom in his own voice.

"Ada…" Blake trailed off, eyes streaked where she'd been crying, face lined with guilt. "My…"

Oobleck spared her the effort. "A White Fang leader. She was overwhelmed. Swiftly, fainted from the shock." His clinical demeanor faded. "Better… that way… perhaps. Her Aura was fully intact before the blow. It tried to seal the wound! Prevented her bleeding out… but even if we found what she's lost, reattachment will be impossible."

Qrow's soul was seething, but there was nothing to direct it towards. All here were blameless. "What about—"

But there was a great squealing on the air, a split second before heaven seemed to open in the sky to fountain into their world. All was blinded in a sudden flash, before the otherworldly brilliance engulfed Beacon Tower in that same haze of purest light.

"Yo! What was that?!" Sun Wukong asked.

"Did the CCT explode?!" A pigtailed, psychedelic cat faunus asked her friend with the trombone. "Do they do that?!"

But Qrow already knew better than anyone. If you'd seen that light before, you never forgot it. There was only one possibility, and it terrified him. "Ruby…"

He ignored every protest as he sprinted to the base of the tower. It took far too long, and already he saw the light above flickering as it lashed around the tower, punctuated by another, orange glow. He barely looked down to see a girl in white, pacing. Ruby's partner. The Schnee girl…

She locked eyes with him and raced over, winded. "Help! Please! Ruby…" she wheezed. "Ruby's up there! I don't… I can't…" She nearly collapsed, leaning upon her rapier.

"Who else is there?" Qrow asked. "You didn't follow?"

"Stairs are collapsed and the elevator… I could barely boost her to the top…!"

"Alright alright alright, but what's up there?"

Weiss wrung her hands, looking as though she regretted every decision that led her to be stranded on the ground. "Jaune called us… told us Pyrrha chased some woman to the top. I… Hey!"

Qrow raced around the tower, breaking line of sight with her before taking to the air, circling. They were just above the vault, but if he went down to verify his fears, he could be too late. If anything happened to her… Yang was bad enough. Her career was over, and he already hated himself for heeding Oz and defending the town instead of getting those kids OUT of this hell...

His little wings whirled away from a chunk of concrete debris blasted off the roof, but in moments he'd vaulted over the top, and onto the blasted, rubble-strewn remains of the headmaster's office.

He first glimpsed the assailant… Amber Autumn's attacker, the usurper of Fall, looking barely any different from when he'd last seen the raven-haired killer and her little helpers. It was as he feared, the full Maiden tearsign framing her face with gold as she stood upon the petrified form of the wyvern's head, still frozen in a howl of fear. The Rogue Maiden was hurling flames with her teeth bared in evident frustration, left, right, at something in the air she almost couldn't see—

"Gah!" Cinder cried in surprise, as a pure white, spectral uppercut surged low to strike her square in the torso, carrying her off the tower altogether.

Qrow followed the formless limbs as they retracted to their source. "Kiddo…"

Ruby Rose, the child clad in red and black, floated fifteen feet over the tower, utterly transformed. She still held Crescent Rose in her left hand, but it was wreathed in spectral, white power to become a true holy blade. Her face had never been more serious, wound tight in a cold fury… but fresh tears were running rivers from her unblinking eyes, dripping from the point of her chin. Every drop sparkled as it reflected the light streaming from her eyes.

Those eyes, which had become open portals to a universe of power. He couldn't make out her iris at all, not that he'd expected to. It was just like her mother.

But unlike Summer, those eyes emitted a pair of formless ethereal silver limbs, which flowed to the sides to clear her sight, spreading up and away to flow like rivers until they simply trailed off multiple full body lengths away. Like wings…

Summer had actual wings… sparrow wings. He wasn't sure what Ruby's formless limbs meant, but maybe she hadn't settled on their form yet?

"Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Cinder came screaming back, propelled by jets of fire on her feet. With barely a thought, those silver wings crossed before Ruby, shielding her as the Maiden seemed to uselessly flail against them with flaming punches hot enough to make the grizzled old Huntsman feel beads of sweat form on his brow. But Ruby barely conceded any ground… until she vanished in a flurry of petals, white petals, to appear just past Cinder.

The Maiden was hooked around the middle by the crook of the gleaming scythe as Ruby spun around and catapulted her bodily into the floor, cracking the old office floor as this red angel of death floated idly higher.

Qrow was transfixed as his niece, serene in her detached judgment, raised her right hand as those wings drifted high. As if conducting some grand orchestra, her hand threw itself forward, the wings snapping ahead as if caught in sudden torrential winds.

Cinder yelped as a rain of silver bolts sprayed from the wings, like the feathers of a Nevermore, the noise rending the air like some kind of distorted thunder. Silver smoke erupted from Cinder's pinned body as she could do little but take the barrage. A Maiden was a top-five contender for the most powerful beings on Remnant… and Ruby was batting her around like a toy.

Qrow forced himself to focus. What spurred this on? Summer always made it sound like some deep emotional distress brought the power out… Even now, Ruby's calm demeanor, as he looked closely, was punctuated by tattered breaths and fresh tears. What brought this on?

But as the last of the silver bolts blasted, allowing the quiet, shimmering whisper of Ruby's eyes to become the only sound… another noise of clattering metal made itself known.

His eyes were drawn to the source, a scorched bronze circlet, partly shaped like a "V". It was distinct, familiar… and set upon an ever-thinning smear of powdery ash set into the floor.

He took the tarnished treasure in his hands, eyes widened with understanding. Nikos…

Damn it… God DAMN IT…

'She's ready?' Oz said? Yeah. A little TOO ready. Whatever happened, Cinder took the full measure of the power. But Oz wouldn't have sent this poor kid to take on a Maiden. She took this burden on entirely herself… fueled by knowledge of the danger if a Maiden's power was stolen.

Congrats, everyone. Hats off… We killed Pyrrha Nikos.

He regretted being standoffish during their brief ambush of an encounter. Honestly, he'd hoped she might be put off, turn them down… but apparently Nikos was the real deal. True Huntress material. Didn't even know the name of their true enemy yet, but already made another martyr in this war. Absolute record time. Pointless. Raven would be insufferable when she got wind of it.

And Ruby… She was a compassionate kid, but given the vids in the tournament and the category five hurricane she'd become, it was clear Nikos had been her friend. I'm so sorry…

There was a shocking blast of heat as Cinder reared up, floating high, higher than Ruby, limbs out as she burgeoned with a fiery glow of power.

"You little FOOL!" Cinder cried. "I am The Fall Maiden, and you're NOTHING!"

Qrow hit the deck as a crimson ray blared out when she threw her limbs forward. Deadly, searing, as wide as Cinder herself was. It looked like a shot from an Atlas cruiser's main gun.

"RUBY!"

He needn't have worried, as with a whirl Ruby had stormed towards her, orbiting the beam of magical power in a helix. Cinder's teeth bared as she saw it, straining to twist as Ruby passed her up and made to strike her from behind. Qrow had to dive entirely off the ledge and take flight to avoid the chaotic beam as it traced low. Slow as Cinder's turn had started, she had become a turret, and Ruby abandoned her attack to avoid the beam as it chased her, flitting from place to place.

Qrow landed once he had found some cover. It was just a bit of exposed wall and some gears, but it was the best he could manage while still being available to help… not that Ruby seemed to need it.

He didn't understand how Ruby even knew she could do what she was doing. Was it instinct? And frankly, she hadn't said a word this entire time. He'd never exactly caught her in a life or death scenario before, but "quiet" didn't describe her. She quipped when she was on top —or thought she was— and he was willing to bet she'd be raking a killer like this over the coals for her crimes.

Ruby finally saw something of an opening and aimed her scythe up and away.

*'KUCHINK'*

Cinder couldn't twist fast enough as Ruby's recoil blasted her to the floor, creating a billowing plume of dust as her wings parlayed the momentum to spring her back up at Cinder from below like a massive handspring.

The Maiden bowed over, coughing out a single burst from her lungs as Ruby's crimson head slammed into her sternum.

Ruby landed as Cinder sailed over the edge, vanishing for a few precious seconds.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Cinder's ear-splitting screech of rage hit them both like a tidal wave as she rocketed high above the tower.

"You're just some GIRL! Why won't you DIE?!"

She drew her arm back as an enormous bow formed from her reserves of sand, fit for a ballista, the containers shattering to become yet more material as limb after limb formed over each other to flex back with tension. No fewer than twelve arrows assembled before Cinder let them fly.

The snap of the bow limbs echoed before the shockwave struck the tower, ruffling Ruby —and her uncle's— cape as she winced, and every speck of dust and ash plumed away as a blustering ring. The arrows spread to surround her, tracking like missiles and curving towards her from all directions.

Ruby leapt high, but the arrows crossed past each other below her, curving again to chase her towards the Maiden again. Crescent Rose reported again and again in rapid succession as silver-imbued bullets destroyed half of her pursuers, and the ethereal wings swept like some beast's mighty tail to smash the others—

"UGH-uh…!"

But Ruby was struck from above by a pair of oversized curved blades as Cinder dove at her. Her Aura flickered as she sailed and struck the ground, eyes flagging as her silver limbs sputtered. She struggled to rise from her heap as Cinder landed, her left arm flaring with an ever-building crimson fire as she turned and took aim…

Qrow had seen enough, blade lowering to reveal his double barrel and—

A pair of chained khopesh struck and knocked his gun away. He didn't know how he'd missed it, but saw Cinder's two little minions break their way through the rubble of what once led to an emergency stairwell and emerge. The boy was squaring up dutifully, but the girl with the green hair charged him, plainly incensed. He defended himself, locking blades, teeth bared as they obstructed his rescue.

Cinder was unmoved, utterly focused as she glared at Ruby, who swooned as she fought to shake off the hit.

"Come on…!" Cinder groaned, her other hand clutching her forehead as she shook. "Why… can't…?! You…?! Why are you…?!"

Qrow knocked Emerald's blades away, regaining his stance. "RUBY! GET UP!"

The light in the girl's eyes strengthened as she heard it, even as her eyes shut, the limbs shielded her as Cinder finally resolved the conflict that stayed her hand.

A molten, concentrated stream of fire crashed over the shielding limbs as Cinder fed power into it, Ruby's physical arms limp at her sides, sat on her knees as she mustered a defense.

The silver wings engulfed and fashioned the conflagration into a white-hot marble… and with a final flash of Ruby's eyes, she collapsed as the limbs burst, blasting the blaze back into Cinder's face…

"AUUUUGGGHHHGGGGH!"

Cinder's screech caused Emerald and Mercury to wheel around suddenly… and Qrow kicked the girl away as he seized his opening and leapt to scoop his niece up. "It's alright… I gotcha, kiddo… I gotcha."

But before him was a vision of raw horror.

"AUUUUUGH! AUUUUUUUUUUGH! AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Uuuuuuuurghh!"

Cinder shrieked again and again in pain and fear as the flames stuck to her like napalm. Her left arm, and a part of the side of her face were engulfed as she drew boiling air into her lungs with every breath. Her hair and dress were curling away as they burned.

"Cinder…!" Emerald breathed in abject horror.

As Qrow leapt away, the girl in her arms rattled, but unhurt… he turned to see the Rogue Maiden staring helplessly as her left arm twisted and flailed in pain. He froze to see something shift in the blazing flesh… a moment before flesh and bone melted away like slush, falling away to splatter on the floor as nothing any might have seen as human. Still screaming, growing more hoarse by the second, she beheld and collapsed as her whole arm up to the shoulder was lost to her.

Qrow barely locked eyes with Emerald before pitching himself over the side. There was a chance that he could have finished Cinder off, ended this threat before it could resurge… but what if Ruby became the next Maiden? She'd be a target for the rest of her life. And handling this with Ruby unconscious, plus those other two? They were too dangerous to divert his attention that many ways.

His feet screeched against the tower wall as his long legs absorbed the landing, and the Schnee girl swarmed him immediately.

"Ruby…! Is she…?!"

"She's alright… just spent. Never been in this kind of fight before."

She seemed to relax, keeping stride with him as he marched back toward the docks.

"Okay… What happened up there?" Weiss asked, before something finally clicked. "Where's Pyrrha…?"

Qrow stopped. He sighed, gripping the tiara. He hefted Ruby's weight into one arm, handing the treasure over with the other. He found her eyes.

Weiss took the tiara in both hands gingerly, brows furrowed as she regarded it. Her left hand recoiled as she realized the inner side of the piece was coated with soot, and came away with a single, half singed red hair caught on its frame.

Her eyes recoiled in despair as she finally recognized the piece, going glassy and brimming as she choked out a single shrill "No!"

Qrow's face softened. "I'm sorry."

She couldn't form another word before she shook with tears in a quiet sob, inhaling sharply as her dirtied hand formed a fist and hid her mouth.

"It's not safe here… I know, but we gotta get back."

"Pyrrha…!"

"Hey…"

"She wouldn't… she can't be…!"

"HEY!"

A shotgun blast rang out as Weiss twisted to see a Beowulf pratfall behind her, dead. Qrow stowed his blade. "I know it's hard, but need you sharp. Come on."

Her sleeve wiped her sodden eyes clumsily, and together they returned to the docks. A few eyes seared them as they stood up to see who had returned.

"Oh thank god they're okay…!" Blake blurted, as if from a breath she'd been holding.

Naturally, however, Ren and Nora limped over together.

"Did you find anything?" Ren asked.

Nora kept him from collapsing as her blue eyes flitted between them. "Where's Jaune? And—?"

"Hey! Who goes there?!" Boomed the vast Mistralian in olive green, hefting his enormous hooked bronze sword in threat.

"Cool it, Yatsu," the minigun girl ordered, a hand on his blade as she flicked her shades low. "We know this one."

Peter Port hurried over to glimpse the panting blonde youth racing as far as his gelatine legs could carry him. "Mister Arc!"

Jaune barely regarded them as he passed, a pile of sweat as he entered the safe zone, doubled over from having run from the other side of the river.

The girl with the gilded gun idly punched her teammate in his enormous arm. " 'Who goes there?' Really?"

He shrugged. "What?"

"Jaune!" Nora cried brightly, intercepting him and hugging him from the side. He was powerless to resist, as even at her weakest Nora was a tiny tank.

Qrow set Ruby down carefully as Ren approached and Nora fussed over their returned leader. Blake knelt back down, a hand over her bandaged middle as she moved carefully. Her eyes darted between Qrow and the red reaper.

"Is she okay? How did—?"

"Fine," Qrow explained. "She might be out of it a while."

"I'll see to her, Mister Branwen," Oobleck insisted, preparing a basic first aid kit and going to work, a finger on her pulse. "Breathing easy… Aura levels diminished, hardly a surprise…"

Jaune's eyes blinked rapidly as he scanned, going more frantic once he spotted Ruby on the floor and Weiss, whose streaming eyes were torn between looking straight at him and hiding. Ultimately, shaking, she stared at her feet as she crossed the distance.

Nora frowned. "Hey… what's…?"

Weiss choked and swallowed as she held the tiara out, as timid a gesture as any of them had ever seen from her.

Jaune went white as a sheet as he took it, Ren and Nora just staring, while Sun and Blake strained to see.

"But…" Jaune uttered.

"Jaune, I'm sorry…!" Weiss squeaked, hiding her face.

"No…" Jaune groaned, his legs losing strength as he collapsed to his knees, the piece still in his hands as he stared a hole into the floor.

Qrow knew the look Jaune wore well. He'd seen it dozens of times on dozens of people. Just frozen stiff, his blue eyes running in seconds with his lacrimal essence. He didn't even try to stem it. Didn't sniff, or sob. He was just shattered.

A similar shock seemed to have overtaken Lie Ren, though he proved lucid when Nora Valkyrie only frowned in confusion.

"H-hey…!" she objected. "Knock it off, guys, it doesn't mean anything! Pyrrha just lost it, we gotta get out there and—"

Ren's lips tightened as he grabbed her hand. "Nora…"

"No, you're WRONG!" she insisted, taking ownership of his grip on her hand and trying to tug him along. "Stop messing around, she's out there, she needs our help!"

Ren rallied all of his strength, squinting in pain as he wrangled her shoulder and pulled her into his embrace. She only grew more frantic.

"Ren, stop messing around! She's not, she wouldn't! She's…" At last, her eyes brimmed as the despair crept in. "Pyrrha's…"

She broke at last, half-crushing him in her embrace as she devolved into surprisingly quiet sobs.

The others only watched. Blake's hands covered her mouth. Sun and Neptune just glanced between each other, while the fate of Pyrrha Nikos was a mutter of wind as it passed between every student. Ren managed to negotiate one of his arms away from Nora, and pull at Jaune just under his shoulder. It took coaxing, but the blonde blankly stood up to his feet, still catatonic as Ren pulled him into the huddle, eyes slammed shut.

Qrow gave his unconscious nieces a glance, before turning to head back to the tower. This wasn't finished. A brief flyover confirmed Cinder and her little friends were long gone, and he could finally descend to the vast halls of the vault. He had it on good authority that the Relic was far less straightforward to discover, even if you were the appropriate Maiden. Cinder wouldn't have gone up to Ozpin's office if she'd been successful in retrieving it, so good odds it was still safe.

The vault however? Qrow wondered only briefly if James would need to perform an emergency recovery of the Aura siphon. The tech wasn't public knowledge, and anyone finding Amber Autumn's body in it would invite decidedly unwanted questions. Poor girl… The pod's glass was broken, and an arrow was sticking out of her chest.

The walls of the vault were audibly crumbling. There was a fight down here long before the tower's top. Power had failed, and it was pitch dark down there. A single grand weal had been scorched into the furthest wall, and Qrow knew this place would collapse before the night was out. At least ONE problem was taking care of itself.

At the foot of the damaged section was another long smear of ash littering everything in a cone… and against the wall…

He hurried over and retrieved the silver handle, gears inlaid, and pressed the trigger idly. An onyx pillar telescoped from the end. No mistaking it: Long Memory, Ozpin's weapon. He'd never go anywhere without it, and there was an all too ready explanation for the ashes on the viridian floor.

Another ominous series of deep, cavernous cracks accompanied a patter of stone flecks from somewhere above, and he knew there was nothing more to find. Nothing worth being buried alive, just another corpse on the mounting pile.

Back in the fresh air, things had escalated again. A few remaining Atlas shuttles had landed at the docks to pick up survivors and attend to the wounded. The Grimm had begun to regroup, and the transports joined the perimeter guards to ward the beasts off with a constant chatter of gunfire.

"Those still able, provide covering fire! Everyone else, you must board now!" shouted James Ironwood, barely a foot off the ramp, his shirtless body bisected with bare cybernetic augments.

What remained of Team JNPR, utterly drained physically and emotionally, barely needed to offer each other glances before wordlessly agreeing to limp aboard as Qrow returned to his nieces' sides.

"Qrow! I need your full repo—" James projected, advancing, before a blonde head barreled past him down the ramp.

"Ruby! YANG!"

James froze as Taiyang, face taut with worry, bolted straight for the three.

"No no no no, please, god, no…!"

Qrow caught him by the shoulders as Tai slid to his knees. "They're okay, just unconscious! It was rough, but they'll be fine… They're fine Tai…"

"Thank you…!" Tai choked, shuddering as he fought to keep his composure. "Oh my god…"

Qrow was shocked as the man's thick arms closed around him gratefully. It was all he could do to pat his back in return. "It's not all good news, but…" He leaned in, lowering his voice. "Tai… she has Summer's gift…"

Taiyang leaned back, an inscrutable expression on his face. He nodded, as if knowingly. There was almost disappointment, fear in his response.

Qrow caught Blake's eye. The girl looked as guilty as he felt, waiting for the sisters' father to see the lasting damage that would doubtless shock their family.

And in seconds that nightmare came spiraling into reality as a pair of field medics, a man and a woman, planted a stretcher beside Yang. " 'Scuse us sirs! Make room!"

One of them was busy checking over Ruby, while the other inspected Yang's field dressing before wrapping another over the first. "Clean here, starting her on KET…"

"This one's fine. Bring her for observation after this one's on board. Help me move her…"

Taiyang's jaw slackened as he saw the end of Yang's upper arm. His eyes flashed over to Qrow.

"I tried Tai… Oz needed us in the city, I couldn't be there for all of it… I'm… I'm sorry."

There was so much conflict in Taiyang's stare, but they didn't have time before there was a groan as the medics moved Yang from the floor to the stretcher.

"...Dad…? Qrow…?" Yang blinked as she stirred and tried to lift up, but the female medic immediately pressed her back down. "Hey… what's…?"

"Whoa, whoa, stay there—"

As father, uncle and friends beheld in morbid rigor, Yang winced as her right arm tried to push itself into an upright position, drawing confusion from her face as she gave several pained, groggy blinks and brought it before her face.

"You've been injured, this'll be a bit of a shock—"

But Yang's face filled with despair and horror as she gave an awful squeal… which turned into a howl as her legs kicked and her other arm lifted her, as if to flee from the unthinkable sight before her.

"NO NO no no no no-o…!" Yang wailed, her loud shock descending quickly into distraught wails, immediately in tears, her face pulling taut, eyes straining between wide shock and slamming shut with misery. "No, please, ANYTHING but THAT! A-anythi-ing but…"

In her panicked thrashing, she glimpsed Ruby on the floor, still, and seemed to regret her words. "Oh GOD…! Ruby-y?! Ruby-y-y-y!"

"She's fine, she just—"

"Honey, it's gonna be—"

But they were all helpless as Yang became caught in her own hysteria, tears pouring down her face as her missing limb reached for her sister even as she winced and grunted in pain. But she gave up, retreating, curling into a ball as her teeth gnashed. "No it's not real it's not real it's not real…! I'm seeing things again! It's still there! I can still feel it.. ! I CAN STILL FEEL IT!"

Qrow watched Taiyang absolutely deflate as Yang fell apart, the medics resolving to hoist her stretcher up. He even saw Jim Ironwood's face lined with something like shame.

Then he laid eyes on Blake Belladonna, stood up and full of nervous energy. He could feel it as her bow twitched strangely, her eyes gone glassy as she seemed to fight between watching Yang's meltdown and staring at her feet. The pain in her face seemed to radiate into the very air like steam.

Then, all at once, she bolted like a puma after a rabbit, sprinting for the city.

"Hey!"

"Blake?!" Weiss cried.

"BLAKE!" Yang cried, suddenly unable to think of anything else as she twisted to stare into her ever-shrinking back. "BLAKE…!" But again, her eyes brimmed as every bit of energy left her and she just quietly sobbed. "Don't go…"

There was silence for a moment, even the evacuation halted as nobody seemed keen to intrude upon the blonde brawler's pain. Finally however, Sun growled before storming off.

"I'll get her! You guys get outta here!"

Nobody argued as he too vanished into the night.

As the medics passed him, James pulled one of them aside quietly. "Have her prepped for replacement implantation. HX Class neural node. And get a scan of her weapon."

The medic blinked. "She's not military, sir… Confirm order?"

"She has my authorization, make it so."

Qrow helped Taiyang as he passed timidly on the way back on the shuttle, only to be stopped by the General.

"I'll make this right, you have my word…" He turned. "Qrow?"

The old Huntsman sighed, lowering his voice. "Oz is in the wind… Fall, good as gone and on the dark side… Tower's bust, you probably noticed."

James' brow furrowed and twitched. "Then this is war."

Qrow watched as Weiss Schnee shadowed the medics as they hefted Ruby aboard next. Soon, the plaza was quiet but for the baying and howling of the beasts who had taken the school grounds for their own. The ramp raised to seal the shuttle. And so ended a night that would live in infamy.

Qrow awoke, frustrated, but resigned. Wasn't the first time he'd had that dream, and at least now he knew what brought it on. The kids probably didn't think he'd lost anything at Beacon to compare with their own trauma. Sometimes, it was the things you almost lost…

Raven was already sat up, annoyed, her eyes glaring at the door before there was a knock, and Qrow realized it wasn't the dream's end that had roused him.

He opened the door to see Yang in casual wear. The Sun was no more than a hint of pink in the distant clouds. It was early. He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

Yang took it for annoyance, not helped by Raven's stony gaze. "Sorry, I interrupt something?"

Raven scoffed. "My brother is hardly welcome to that privilege anymore… Your Kingdom sentiments may consider themselves spared."

Qrow shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I just knew this was coming. No point ignoring the five-thousand-pound Beringel in the room."

Yang nodded. "Everyone's gathering inside. She looks up to you, it'd—"

"Of course," he said at once, nodding. "She's not waiting, is she?"

Yang shook her head. "Ruby would sleep through an earthquake, you know that… Mom, you coming?"

Raven fell backwards onto the bed. "To what purpose? She barely knows me, and frankly I'm only disappointed that I hadn't thought of it first."

Yang sighed. "Fine… Qrow?"

He nodded, throwing on his cape —he hadn't really undressed to begin with— and shutting the door to the little house behind them.

"First though…"

Yang flinched as Qrow leaned in, bringing her into a one-armed hug. She froze, blinking as he patted her back, before responding in kind.

"Uh… thanks. Love you too?"

He let her go, turning to the house and beginning to walk. "Yeah… Sorry, just… tryin' to appreciate what I've got while I still got it."

Yang gave a surprised laugh. "Huh! Thanks for the vote of confidence…!"

"Hey, you know what I mean. You kids're going places none of us dreamed. Just… after last night…"

"Yeah…"

Qrow considered. "So, we're not bringin' everyone into this right? Doesn't seem fair."

"Nope, just Gohan from the Earth-guys. Ruby'll listen to him. Blake almost kept Sun out of it, but I think she's hoping he'll learn something from sitting-in?"

They crossed the threshold into the kitchen and over to the packed, very quiet living room. The teams were tight together, milling around as the scent of coffee filled the air. Oscar and Gohan were upright, uncomfortably hunched. Sun was sitting lotus style on the floor.

Qrow found his requisite corner and Yang took the couch beside Weiss and Blake.

Taiyang, meanwhile, looked miserable to be there, sitting in the one cozy reading chair in the corner. He looked almost guilty as he scanned the worst surprise-party ever thrown that wasn't an actual wake.

Yang didn't even need to ask as Weiss stared at the open stairwell. "She's up, bathroom, I think. No idea if she suspects anything…"

Yang nodded knowingly. Given Ruby's new powers and awareness, they couldn't say how in-tune she was with her surroundings. "What, no coffee for dear leader?"

Weiss hummed. "That's pointless, she won't be in any mood to drink—"

The upstairs echoed the muffled noise of a flushing toilet, which cleared as they heard the door open, along with a brief sound of a running tap.

Weiss krinkled her nose. "Wash longer than THAT…! Eww…" she whispered, before Blake's hand came off her crossed arms to lightly smack her shoulder in admonishment.

There was a thud of footsteps as Ruby wandered barefoot down the stairs in her pajamas, fist high, braced by an arm behind her back as she yawned hugely. "H-hey… Where'd everybody g…"

Ruby froze as she saw all eyes fixed on her, frowning before slinking against the wall as if to phase through it and hide.

"What's… going…?" Then she caught sight of her father, who could barely lock eyes with her before burying his gaze into his lap. Guilt filled her face. "Oh… Can we… talk this out alone…?"

Gohan just stared from the foot of the sofa, the discomfort getting to him as well. Thankfully, Ruby's team stood up as one.

"Ruby, everyone's here because they care about you," Blake started.

"And we're all just…" Weiss continued, "concerned."

Ruby's mouth went dry. "This is… about last night?"

Yang winced, recognizing the attempted evasion. "Ruby, you know it is…"

Qrow dared to step forward. "You're not in trouble, kiddo, far from it. We just gotta move forward in a less… self-destructive way…"

"I…"

"You wanna come sit down?" Blake asked.

"I don't… I-I'm fine," Ruby said, gripping the iron rail as she slid down to sit on the steps. She really didn't like being the center of attention.

It was far too quiet for how many people were in this room. Gohan couldn't help it, standing up to join her, sitting lower on the steps. She couldn't help a smile, but it came out more as a grimace.

Yang turned her head. "Dad?"

Taiyang didn't answer immediately. "I dunno what to say… I mean…" He laughed humorlessly. "What am I supposed to do? Ground you? Make you feel even worse when I hear my own kid…" He choked for a moment, hiding his eyes for an instant. "Hear my own… little girl," he managed, voice shaking, "decide she'd rather die than face a world she can't fix?"

"Dad… I…" Ruby began.

"I didn't let you promise me anything before," Tai continued, shrugging forlornly. "And you only said you'd try keeping us in the loop… An' I sure couldn't stop you at this point… I just can't believe how ready you were to cast us aside."

Ruby found her voice, her teeth grit as she winced. "I didn't do that! That's NOT TRUE! I did it for you! ALL of you! Because you're PART of the world I want to save!"

Yang scowled. "So what, you never considered that you coulda' DIED, and left us to find you on the floor this morning?" Yang's face betrayed tears at the very idea she'd conjured.

Ruby froze. "That's why I had it in me not to fail… I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't…"

Weiss crossed her arms. "If Goku hadn't coached you through it, you probably would have."

"You don't know that… It WORKED! I knew it was the only thing that would work…"

Yang gave an exasperated sigh. "So why didn't you let us in on it? We could have found a way to make it SAFE! We could have shut it down if things went too far."

Jaune weighed in. "I used to think becoming strong was something you did on your own… but I learned NOBODY does it on their own…"

Ruby only heaved a quiet sigh, like they weren't understanding.

Jaune continued. "You once told me being a leader meant it wasn't just about you anymore. A leader needs to be strong, the one the others can lean on. I think I've been a bit lacking in that area… And since Haven, I think you…"

Ruby winced at the suggestion, knowing immediately that there was truth to his insinuation. "I-I put myself at risk before others, is that not…?" She shook her head in objection, as well as just clearing her thoughts. "Look, it wouldn't have worked if I brought the others in on it… I HAD to believe I had no other choice. If you could just bail me out, I wouldn't have dug in, I'd have known I wasn't in real danger…"

"Is that all?" Jaune asked, frosty as he sat on the hearth. " 'Cause it… didn't sound like it."

Ruby froze, closed off.

Ren stepped forward, Nora watching him, hands on the tips of her elbows. "I think, Ruby, what concerns everyone… is that you feel you'd deserve it if you had failed. Like all of our failures somehow came down to you."

Nobody said anything as they waited for her to answer. Finally…

"Who else should they come down to…?"

There was uneasy sounds and movement in the room as Yang bemoaned "God, Ruby…"

Nora finally spoke up. "I know this whole Huntsmen and heroes stuff means a lot to you, but—"

Ruby blurted her next words, forced to object. "This isn't about glory…! Or… or… taking some kind of credit… this is our responsibility! MINE most of all! We signed up for this, and we can't just BACK OUT because the way forward is hard! We swore an oath, and if it means anything—!"

Yang's face twisted in pain. "What's an oath compared to your LIFE?!"

Ruby closed her eyes. "What's MY life, compared to two MILLION lives?!"

Weiss' eyes went soft. "Ruby…"

"It means EVERYTHING to US!" Yang fired back.

"Exactly…" Ruby said. "To someone, every one of those people was someone's Pyrrha… Someone's Winter… and whether they know it or not, the whole WORLD is mourning and in pain, because we failed!"

Ozpin shimmered into being within Oscar. "Miss Rose, that you feel such compassion is nothing if not a credit to your name, howev—"

Ruby shook with a scowl. "What makes you think I CARE what you have to say?! You abandoned Mountain Glen's people like a coward…"

Ozpin shrank, realizing he was of no help. He flared away, as Oscar stepped forward more confidently. "Ruby… When I first met you guys, you…" He went pink. "You inspired me… You're strong, and more than just not being scared, you don't care if you're scared. And more than any power, I don't think you know how it would destroy this group if we lost you…"

Ruby's face softened as his hazel eyes stared earnestly into hers. "A Huntress' life is worth exactly as much as any other person's. If you devalue one life, you devalue all life…"

"I don't think you believe that," Oscar said, surprised at his own boldness. "I think you've already devalued your own life in your mind, so you don't mind throwing it away to clear your conscience."

Ruby blinked, taking a frowning step back.

Blake sought her eyes gently. "Ruby, take it from someone who spent almost a whole year, and longer, running from misplaced guilt… YOU didn't kill those people. FRIEZA killed those people. And if it's your fault, why isn't it ours too?"

"It's not my place to say…" Ruby droned. "But I was too late to save Penny… I was too late to save Pyrrha…! And then in the whole WORLD, I was the only one who went to Haven to DO something about it! Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, none of them were there!"

Weiss took a menacing step onto the stairs. "That's not true! Winter went! Say what you like about anyone else, but don't take away what she—"

"You're right… you're right." Ruby conceded, forgetting entirely about the company who ultimately returned to Mistral's aid… at the cost of their lives. "But we didn't even help anything! We basically just made it WORSE!"

"What?"

"How?"

Her face grim, Ruby closed her eyes. "Cinder only attacked because we were there. It was a trap. Adam only came to Haven because Blake, Sun and Bulma got in his way. And Frieza only came to the Branwen tribe because Krillin and Raven fought, and then our fight at Haven brought him there… and if me going to Haven was what pulled this all together…"

"You can't know what would have happened," Jaune said. "We didn't know Frieza was going to—"

"We knew he was looking for Gohan and the others! We brought him into our plan! We knew there was a risk, but kept him there anyway…" Ruby sat on the stair, pain in her eyes. "But last night I finally figured it out… Either I'd redeem what we've been doing… or I get what I deserved."

Yang's eyes went red. "You… don't DESERVE—!"

"Maybe not! Part of what I did was also a test… A test to see if I was right: that miraculous things can happen if you put yourself out there!" Ruby insisted, unable to smile, yet her eyes still brimmed with sincerity. "Because there's a reason this is happening! With the Dragonballs it can all be fixed! This is the only way what's happened makes sense! Do you… under…"

She stopped as she saw the puzzled, concerned looks awash over all of them. Even her father was frowning in pained confusion.

"I get it," Jaune said at last, looking tired. "You believe in Destiny…"

Ruby swallowed. "I have to… or else… I don't…"

Jaune looked away, as the others blinked at his insight. "It's just… This feels a bit too familiar."

The room was silent again. Nobody needed to ask what he meant.

Qrow gave her a patient stare. "It's true that advantages reveal themselves when you're up against the wall, but what you call miracles… I call sheer luck. And take it from me, kiddo… it won't always carry ya through."

Weiss approached, even with Gohan on the stairs. Ruby couldn't help but meet her stern eye.

"So say there isn't some mystical force guiding everyone towards a happy ending… Say it's just us, our talents and our wits… Or say Fate with a capital 'F-you' told us our world was chosen to die… You would accept that, and just roll over? See us as doomed, and not even try?" She took a few more steps, kneeling over her as she sat on the landing. "Because that doesn't sound like you…"

Ruby backed up, sitting a step higher as she frowned thoughtfully.

Gohan, silent the entire time, crept closer. "We're the ones who brought Frieza here in the first place… What do we deserve?"

Ruby couldn't stand the look on Gohan's eyes. He looked a stubbed toe away from crying.

"I…" Ruby walked down the stairs, unable to sit still any longer, passing her partner and the half-Saiyan child, avoiding anyone's gaze as she fought to decide what to do and where to go. "I won't judge other people, but I can't let myself off! I know I could have done more! SHE never would have let this—"

"Ruby, STOP putting Summer so high on this pedestal!" Yang pleaded, as Ruby's eyes widened and her mouth parted in shock. "I know she was your hero… Damn it, she was MINE too! But she wasn't perfect!"

Ruby winced. "She held true to her oath like any real Huntress should… She did what she had to." Every word lined her eyes with pain.

Yang slammed her eyes shut. Ruby might hate her after this…

"And WHAT did she do, Ruby?!" Yang demanded, hating herself. "The Relics and Maidens are still in play! Salem's not dead! SUMMER IS!"

The air left the room. Ruby recoiled as the rest of them froze like statues, tears budding at the corner of her eyes.

Yang didn't spare the rod. There was no point now. "AND Pyrrha… And for what? To die heroes?! Whatever they MEANT to do, all that's left is the people who mourn them! Summer failed, and WE had to pay for it with a broken home!"

"Stop it…!" Ruby squeaked, her face scrunched up in pain as she shielded it with her arms. "It WASN'T for nothing! There was a reason! For ALL of it! There HAD to be!"

Qrow seemed to sag, and Taiyang watched the argument with a quivering lip.

Yang's eyes were purple again, and full of agony. "Do you think she did it so you could die TOO…?!"

Ruby couldn't sit still anymore. Through her peeking eyes, she saw it. Not an escape from the room… that was pointless. A very different escape.

Before anyone's eyes but Gohan's could snap over, Ruby whirled over to the mantel, placing her hand on the Relic as it floated there.

She swallowed. "I don't know… I'll ask! DEHA?!"

Her world went blue.

Ruby was ensconced in warmth, but as her eyes adjusted to the void, the warmth didn't leave her. A glint of gold sat under her vision, which twitched as the warmth was joined by a gentle pressure. She reached for it, and felt a small body against her. In an instant, she recognized what she was seeing were his arms, wrapped around her neck in a loving embrace.

"D-Deha…?"

"Shhh…" he whispered. "Time means little here… be still a moment. You need this."

He was right. She felt him petting the back of her head, and let herself sink to a sit. She squeezed him back, and shuddered as she felt the tears rolling down her face.

"You don't need to be quiet… You're in pain… I will not judge you, child."

She was more hesitant to heed him, but gradually let mutters and tiny gasps out into the imagined air.

"I'm here for you," he told her. "And I love you…"

"I can't… believe she said that," Ruby confided. "Sh-she knows… Knows more than anyone… how could she…?"

He squeezed tightly. "It's because of that, Ruby. It's because it shocks you, because it's the root of this awful guilt you have amassed. Because she loves you… and she is so afraid to lose you."

She squeezed fresh tears, knowing he was right.

"Deha… did I do the right thing? I don't know anymore… I couldn't just let us be left behind!"

He shushed her gently again. "What's done is done… And you were so brave…! You've paved the way for them… Truthfully, I don't know if there was a better way."

For one so small, she felt so secure in his arms… so it felt all the more disarming when he leaned back, his spiked quasi-mohawk in full view along with his sad eyes. "...But your loved ones are right. You are so hard on yourself. It's heartbreaking…"

She couldn't meet his eyes. "But you're the one who said we needed to work together… We can't just hope the others can stop Frieza for us!"

"No…" Deha agreed. "But would it be so terrible to support them in other ways?"

Ruby gave him a withering look, and Deha couldn't help but laugh.

"I suppose that's out of the question… I just never wanted my words to inspire you to hurt yourselves."

Ruby huffed. "Even trying to get us all stronger, I blew up the chamber by accident… I feel like everything I do just ends with someone getting hurt… and she…"

Deha's grip on her shoulders tightened. "You don't give yourself enough credit… You don't see the impact you have on people, what it means to them, the chord you strike… You don't see it, because it's just who you are. Just being you brings people together, and it's so natural to you that you don't see its worth, because you equate effort with impact, and what you do requires no effort."

"I…" Ruby tried to think about it, and couldn't help feeling slightly better. All the same… "Yeah, it's… it's hard to see. I just… Mom… she…" She slumped again. "The others don't get it… Every time they talk down what a Huntress is, our responsibilities… Don't they get that they're hurting who she was? Making her… less than the hero I know she was…?"

Dehadikeh leaned into her as her eyes ran fresh. "You don't usually talk about her like she's passed…"

"I'm not…" She swallowed. "I know she's…" But she stopped, as something occurred to her. "Deha… do you know what happened…?"

He shut his eyes. "No… I'm sorry. That secret belongs only to Doya's daughter."

Ruby's eyes winced shut. "Do you think… she was a hero? Or was Yang right? Do you think she died for… for nothing?"

Deha's palm rubbed her cheek, and she leaned into it.

"The gods don't really have concepts like that of heroes… It's more of a mortal creation. So are Huntsmen. Acts of goodness and sacrifice are rewarded in the Otherworld, but these honors are not so much about chivalry and valor specifically… and fighters are gifted bodies through which they can continue their chosen path. But a perfectly ordinary person can exhibit bravery, for which a fighter's body will make little difference to their eternity."

Ruby wasn't sure what to make of that answer.

"But…" he continued, "that's not a bad thing. It means that the things that define a hero are your job to decide. Nobody expects some immaculate sacrifice be made, and not even Grand Zeno is so perfect that His decisions have not resulted in terrible outcomes. Just look at my brother and I."

Ruby nodded. She had forgotten just what a tangled mess his actions were beyond the tragedy that was the Brothers' lives.

As if he'd felt this very thought spinning through her mind, he added. "Perhaps my own guilt has been a poor example unto you… But I do not believe you bear sole or even partial blame for the tragedies that have passed before you. Of course, I'm biased…"

She sniffed, chuckling at the bashful grin on his face.

"You're right… Huntsmen didn't exist before we came up with them. It's down to us to honor it… make it mean something. And I've always believed Huntsmen are heroes…"

He sought her eye. "And do you really think that your mother, riding out alone to give her family a brighter world… whether she succeeded or not… was anything less?"

She winced again, squeezing him gratefully as the answer came immediately. "Of course not…"

He shut his eyes, smiling serenely. "Then her legacy is secured. Honor it, by living… Don't become another hole in the hearts of those you love, not unless you're left no other choice."

She nodded. Then she nodded again. "I'm done hurting my friends… my Dad…"

"Good… Very good…"

They embraced again. Ruby felt so strange, seeing a second father in the tiny Kai… third if Qrow qualified… and he seemed eager to take on the role.

Then, something occurred to her. "Wait… I thought you had no opinions about heroes…?"

His grin flashed teeth. "Living among mankind, you can't help reaching some conclusions… Again, I'm biased, but… I see heroism less as the protecting of lives, but as the preservation of Dreams…"

Ruby leaned back, as he slipped back upon her knee, like it were a log. "Dreams?" she asked.

"Why not?" he asked. "All of you were once MY Dream…"

She froze at that besotted, loving gaze of his, and he seemed to shake himself out of it.

"What I mean is… I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself… I'm unused to speaking to others after so long. You see… I find nothing of greater value, or virtue, in all of the Multiverse than Love… Love gives everything meaning… and what are Dreams, if not Love in action?" he asked, eyes sparkling. "What is the fulfillment of Dreams, if not Love's wordless pronouncement…?"

Ruby blinked politely. "I guess we're not talking about what happens when you sleep… then?"

"No," he giggled. "Our aspirations… for ourselves, certainly, but… for others most of all. You carry the Dreams of others, and wish them to be true. More, you act to preserve them… Their lives, their Dreams… and your Dreams FOR them…" He sat straight, excitedly as he gently rocked. "Whose Dreams do you carry, Ruby? What do you wish for them…? Even if it's impossible…"

Ruby's eyes unfocused, and her brows quivered indecisively.

"I… I want Gohan and the others to bring their friends back, and make it home again…"

"Yeah?"

"I… want Weiss to forge her own future… and see Winter again… I want Blake to see her people at peace with the rest of humanity…" Her face upturned into a grin as these wistful thoughts filled her. "I want Yang to know she's strong, and she's never alone…! I want Dad and Qrow to be friends again… I want Ren and Nora to get married and have a cute little Huntsman family! I-I want Jaune to know how brave… how strong he already is! I want…"

She stopped as a thought struck her. She didn't despair, but Deha tempered his smile as she frowned thoughtfully.

"I want Pyrrha's Destiny to be more… I want her to live her life… Penny… I want her to be her own person, free from anyone's orders or ownership… and I want to show both of them how much they mean to me… How much I miss them…"

Deha's hand found her shoulder. "Because you Love them… And I know that Love… it extends to the whole of Rhema."

Ruby basked in the warmth of his words. She couldn't help smiling as her Silver Eyes sought his luminous spheres.

"And… I want you and your brother to meet again. I want Salem to know the truth, and meet both of you…"

Deha seemed to glow, his eyes brimming as his lips pressed together.

"Do you know why Love means so much here, in your world? More than anywhere else?"

Ruby wracked her mind. "Because… we came up with it ourselves, right…?"

His smile only widened. "You remembered… Love is not uncommon in the Cosmos… but always that is because steward races are created with it in mind. But yours was not… so in spite of everything you might have been, every creed you might have lived by… it is by shouldering each other's burdens that you have ascended from mere beasts. You are, as I'm concerned… all heroes in your own way." His eyes shimmered as his lip quivered. "And still you choose to go further! Carrying yourselves higher… ever higher on the wings of Love! Every selfless act, every creation, invented tool or technique conjured to fulfill Dreams, and carry them to places never dreamt before!"

He closed his eyes, hands to the air as a million images appeared in the aether, memories across history like a cascade of little videos. Each depicted acts of kindness, innovation, simply done. "When others dreamed of warmth, one of you invented fire… When they dreamt of flying, someone created the airship… And when they dreamed of safety, others stepped forward, and became Huntsmen…"

Ruby wasn't sure how to adequately respond. He was bursting with emotion and energy, and she simply did not know how to match it… or if she should. But, slightly embarrassed, she found a stray tear escaping and brushed it away, as if hiding it were even possible.

He let out a shuddering breath as he tried to steady himself. "Those things… all borne of Love… It's what humanity leans on… what it must continue to lean on." He palmed her cheek again. "You deserve a strong world, and you must be strong… but your shame isn't fair. Humans judge themselves by a standard greater than even the divine… You inflict shame on yourselves to atone for your imperfections… while trying to be more perfect than you can be…"

"I… I think I understand," Ruby told him, taking his hand in her own.

He nodded. "It's noble, no doubt… but betterment is not a place, it is a path. Walking it might seem the least you can do… but it is all one can do. And you would be surprised how many you pass on the way, for whom that mere gesture seems incredible…"

Ruby just smiled, taking it all in. "For such a little guy, you're sure full of good advice… thank you."

He laughed. "Be careful… I'm a dreamer myself. If I were that wise, it would be the real me telling you this." His face fell slightly. "Never forget… I'm just a shadow. For the strength of my feelings, you mustn't cling to me. Others have made that mistake…"

An idea struck her. "Have others talked to you like this?"

He nodded. "Other Silver Eyed Warriors. They… didn't care for what we had to say, about not being worshiped. Told others we said things we didn't, to justify laws and… well, that doesn't really matter now."

It looked to be a painful memory, as disappointment lined his eyes.

"You're not like them though. You were never told from birth that you were Divine. Frankly, it's all I can do not to burst with JOY, seeing a Divine with humility, kindness… Make no mistake, I have never spoken to a human like you. Watched from afar, perhaps. But it's another thing to sit with you here…"

Ruby felt herself redden. Suddenly his affection made sense, even if she had understood it a bit before. "Humanity before… they didn't understand you for who you were. Did those people lie about what you looked like too?"

He blinked. "Oh! No… most people wouldn't see me for who I am. You've seen our true image, after connecting to Divine Knowledge. This Relic can only convey knowledge belonging to Man, and no human knew the truth. They would only see and hear what they expected, or give us no form at all. This parity is yet another novel experience for me…"

Something burned in her mind. Then it clicked, and she gasped. "Wait… if you only knew things that humans knew… then when we first met…"

He nodded. "I was remembering our fate just as you learned of it. Even with all the Relics together, we do not possess Divine Knowledge. Even at humanity's peak, we did not know our full history. There were only feelings of who we were. Emotions tied to certain triggers. It was only when Doyadano's daughter stood before us that we knew what she and the Grimm were. We lacked the memories, but it was so strong…"

Ruby blinked. "I'm sorry, I had no idea…"

He shook his head. "It's like I said, we're just echoes… Having these memories back, you're not seeing me for what I usually am. I'm as close to the real me as I've ever been… ever. Talking to another like this, it's… miraculous… just being me again."

Ruby watched his grateful gaze. He certainly made that whole 'not-attaching' bit difficult. "I wasn't sure talking to you like this again would work…"

"It's… tiring. But absolutely worth it. Don't hesitate to call on me again," he said, before his eyes lit up. "Oh! And tell your new friend Bulma… She has been hesitant to make use of my knowledge. Worried that it's presumptuous… Let her know, if it is in aid of you and your mission, I will gladly do my part. That goes for any Relics you acquire. You will need all the time and tools we can afford you."

Ruby sighed with a smile. "I'll tell her. Kinda surprised she'd be that careful…"

He nodded. "She's better than she thinks she is. She has a good heart…"

"I… get the feeling you're shoo'ing me back." She gave a heavy breath, still nervous. "Alright… Wanna hug it out?" she asked, arms out.

He chuckled, easing into the space between them. "Sorry… Except for Doya, it's a rare thing for me. And that was a long time ago…" He squeezed her, as she held him tight.

She gave a breath of mirth. "It wasn't just me that needed it, huh? Oppor… uh… tuna…? Toon…?"

"Opportunist," he said. "Yeah… maybe."

Ruby felt the air change, the blue light leaving her eyes… yet she still felt gentle pressure around her neck. There was a hand on hers, the hand touching the Lamp.

"Ruby…? You there…?" Yang asked, arm around her back.

Obscuring her view though, was a head of sandy hair. Her father's arms were wrapped around her, which was good, because she felt shaky. It didn't help that her eyes were inexplicably full of tears.

"Ruby, that was too far, I LOVED Summer, you know tha—"

"No," Ruby said, softly, calmly, "you're right. She wasn't perfect… No one is… She failed… but she was still a hero."

Taiyang's face re-entered her vision as he leaned back, looking at her serene, smiling, tear-streaked face as though she'd been replaced by a pod person.

Ruby leaned her head on his shoulder. "And if… if I really want to follow her example, I need to honor your Dreams too… that we'll all make it out of this."

Yang leaned around to find her eyes, letting out an exasperated breath of a laugh. "The heck happened in there all the sudden? That kid one hell of a therapist, huh?"

Ruby pulled her in, hugging both members of her family. "No… well, yeah… but, I just needed a second to take it in. I'm sorry, Dad…!" Her tears ran fresh as she squeezed, voice heightening as it quivered. "I just felt so bad, I was so scared, I didn't know what to do! I won't take risks like that again, I promise…! I won't make you—"

Taiyang squeezed back, rubbing her back as he hushed her. "You're an amazing kid, Ruby… You're my little girl, and sometimes… you're too good. You're a Huntress to the core, and I think… I think you chose a hard road to travel… got a little lost. Blazing trails is like that. Just don't shut us out…"

"I won't…" Ruby said. "I don't know what's coming… and I don't know what this war will ask from us before the end. What we might have to give of ourselves… But it won't take me without a fight…"

Weiss and Blake wandered into view, relief lining their faces.

"Speaking and acting are different things," Blake warned. "Let's hope you can make them match."

Weiss nodded, sighing. "Excellent… now… it is still five sugars…?"

"Phew…!" Goku intoned, stepping away from the window. "That looked to be going sideways for a second there…"

"Finally," Vegeta sighed with utter disdain. "This nauseating coddling! Even on the dawn of conquest, these fools find a way to impose mediocrity on their champion… drag her down after ascending beyond them. And what's more, she succumbs to it!"

Raven leaned against the wall, nodding. "Summer is her source of strength and a crippling weakness… It must be said then that her recklessness is something we'll be glad to do without."

Krillin folded his arms as he considered cutting in.

Vegeta growled. "Indeed… I'd have been all the more impressed had the girl not stifled my best training method in the process. She will be made to answer for such a witless blunder!"

Bulma couldn't keep quiet anymore. "Okay, lay off! I already assessed what's left of the platform. It's not a total loss. A bunch of crystals were destroyed, but it can at least do fifty-times gravity with what's left."

"Hrrrrgh!" Vegeta's temple throbbed dangerously. "Worthless! I was twofold beyond the level Kakarot reached after he trained at TWICE that burden!"

Krillin finally cut in. "Ain't worthless to us, and those kids'll skyrocket by the time they've outgrown fifty."

Goku nodded. "I only got to train for six days. It's still good for longer 'till we find more of those crystals."

A humorless snort left the Prince as he peered into the house, where breakfast was in the works, and the kids were enjoying their varying shades of coffee with an air of contentment. Ruby and Taiyang were snug beside each other on the couch, their warmth rekindled, while Qrow had taken the reading chair, content to watch all that had ended well.

Vegeta's eyes took on a piercing quality. "This world, these people, find ways to hobble the strong and advantage the weak…"

As he watched, Weiss returned, handing an incredibly light caramel colored cup to the Silver Eyed girl with nothing less than warmth… if looking slightly haughty while doing so.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. He turned to the kitchen door and marched in.

"Uh oh…" Krillin's eyes went wide. "He's got that look again… like he's about to do something big and crazy!"

"WEISS."

Despite his swift entry and imposing form, a number of them jumped as Vegeta stood in the kitchen entrance.

"Good morning…" Weiss sighed, carefully setting her own mug down.

"Outside this instant!" he ordered, ignoring her. "There are words we need to have…"

The disinherited Huntress shared a glance with her team, who in turn glanced at Vegeta's and the aura of menace that surrounded him.

Or perhaps it was only Ruby that seemed to feel that. She clasped her partner's shoulder. "Careful… something's…" She squinted, not certain she understood it herself. "Off."

Yang scoffed. "It's Vegeta. When isn't the dude tense?"

Ruby squinted. "No, it's… it feels like…"

Weiss gave Ruby a reassuring smirk. "I'll be careful. I know how to handle him at this point."

Ruby watched as she followed Vegeta outside. She felt a tiny hand on her arm, and turned to see Gohan, sharing her concern. "Gohan?"

"Aggression… That's what you're feeling, Ruby… He's really mad."

She blinked, as Yang and Blake watched. "So… you think he…?"

"We'll follow them."

It wasn't exactly subtle. Vegeta and Weiss strode past the few outside as the others inside watched through the windows.

"Vegeta, what are you up to?" Goku demanded, as Krillin stood steely. Bulma's eyes were on her fellow Earthlings, who beheld the tension beyond her instincts.

"Keep to your own business, Kakarot," he huffed. "This is my own."

Goku made way as Ruby and Gohan shadowed past him. Vegeta stopped beside the barracks, still facing away, as though he'd merely paused his venture out into the woods.

Weiss paused behind him. "So, what little pep talk is on the menu today?"

Vegeta stood frozen. He answered by filtering sharply out of existence.

"Unggg?!"

Ruby had been last to react as she was nearly blown off her feet, Vegeta's flying kick blocked by Gohan's arms, the shockwave rattling the house. With another movement, the prince was behind him, and an axe-handle came down upon the back of his head.

This time, Ruby was sent skyward as the boy cratered before her, not moving as she caught herself and whirled to the roof. "GOHAN!"

She was just in time to see Vegeta roundhouse Krillin directly into Goku, both sprawling past the buildings to fell no fewer than three trees on the north section of the clearing, plumes of dust and pollen shaken into the air.

Ruby half expected to get the same, but instead heard a shriek from Weiss as Vegeta suddenly lifted her by the throat. A split second later, and he aimed and launched her like a javelin through the westward trees.

She looked down upon the chaos, the five year old unconscious, and realized the pattern. He took out the only ones near his strength. He doesn't want someone to stop what he's going to do.

"Weiss…! No!"

Meanwhile, Weiss came hurtling passed the trees to skip over the dirt to the creek bed. Vegeta's aim had been true, or perhaps she'd just been lucky. She made to rise to her feet, but with a sudden noise of split air, she found a weight violently slam her back face down before the babbling waters.

"V-Vegeta…! What are…?!"

He squeezed air from her as he pressed harder still. "This is your strength. I have never come at you with anything more than equal to your own present ability… yet you fail, time and again!"

Oh god! she thought, color draining as she wondered. Had she pushed too hard against him? Was Vegeta going to honor his threats… and KILL her…?

"I-I'm not… afraid of you!"

"Yes! That's part of the reason I bothered with you in the first place!" Vegeta agreed. "You're bold, defiant in the face of death! And you're smarter than Nappa… You have the makings of a true warrior. More than strength alone, skill, resolve and discipline… If I wanted cannon fodder, I could plant Saibamen and have fighters in my employ four fold your own power."

Weiss found it strange being appraised while facedown in the mud like this.

"I've overlooked this in the understanding that training far beyond one's limits is possible. Kakarot proved it… First by challenging me a mere year after faltering before his brother… then when he arrived on Namek to eclipse us several times over, having trained a mere six days under extreme conditions… Much as it disgusts me to know this world birthed the Saiyan race, you may yet lack the pathetic nature of the Earthlings as a result."

"LET HER GO!"

Ruby whirled in, pine needles and leaf litter blasting in her wake as she wielded Crescent Rose, aiming its blunt frame at his body. She'd managed to follow their powers through the woods, never having reckoned that this ability would be tested so soon.

But Vegeta idly blocked with his forearm, the impact so jarring that the scythe fell at their feet an instant before he had Ruby by the throat.

She struggled for a moment, aiming a kick, but the Prince's grip suddenly tightened, and Ruby's vision blurred as she choked, going all but limp in his grasp.

Not missing a beat, he continued. "But since arriving here, you've been subordinate to this brainless pixy! Disgraced my training, hid behind the skirts of Kakarot and that rabble, safe in the belief that I wouldn't dare risk our truce to punish your flagrant, habitual disobedience!"

"Y-you don't… own me…!"

"My teaching has been an investment, and I will collect on it!" His eyes bored into Ruby's as she fought to remain conscious. "History mocks me, once more blessing the meek and undeserving with talent and power… she and Kakarot, all of a piece! And I'm forced to see HER master her ability first, after devoting my own time to furthering you above all others…?!"

Weiss tried again to force him off, staring into her own wobbly reflection in the running waters. "So what? You're going to kill me for it?!"

Vegeta stared down at her. "I am presenting you with an ultimatum… A chance to redeem yourself in my eyes. You will awaken your abilities, and cast me off…" The pressure of his foot on her back increased as her face neared the water. "Or this will be your last breath…"

Her eyes shot open, knowing in an instant what was about to happen.

"Don't disappoint me."

Weiss gasped a split second before Vegeta's heel overpowered her, pressing her face into the shallow stream…

"No…!" Ruby choked, seeing her best friend panic and flail, bubbles escaping as she fought. "We…eiss…!"

The waters weren't even deep enough to cover her head, but nonetheless she was running short on air, and the Prince of Saiyans wasn't about to relent until one of two things transpired.

"Fool!" Vegeta barked, aware that her ears were still above the surface. "Fighting me is pointless without your true strength! If you can't be made to understand that now, then perhaps it's BEST that I drown you!"

Ruby's teeth bared… and her eyes gleamed like the first light of Creation. "NOOOO!"

Vegeta staggered back as the waters shimmered, before twin pillars of light struck out from Ruby's eyes to punt him in the gut.

"Guaaaargh…!" He sailed up towards the boughs as Weiss emerged from the water, choking as she lifted herself up, wobbly as Ruby stared down at her with concern, even as the light vanished.

"RGGG!"

But it had only been a momentary thing, as Vegeta righted himself and appeared above to flatten her into the forest floor with a hammer-kick to the crown. Leaves shook loose and rained down as Ruby groaned from the little crater she'd made.

Vegeta growled as he landed. "Fouled again by weakening myself before others… First that tramp, now this… I suppose those sterling eyes mean something after all… One of the Ginyus might even have felt a blow like that…"

"Weiss…!" Ruby wheezed, barely able to shift her gaze. "Your… power… Body, soul… it's just y— KAGHH!"

Ruby began coughing her lungs clean after receiving Vegeta's boot to her stomach.

Weiss couldn't see her face, but she remembered what Ruby told them while sleeping over the night before. Mind, body, spirit… it's all just you…

Vegeta loomed over her, but she was only focused on the girl in her reflection. Never feeling like the one she felt inside… always foreign, always at odds.

But no. As Vegeta's heel forced her back down, she let the words become a mantra. The girl in the mirror grew closer… like they were about to merge where their worlds met.

But of course… that girl was her, after all.

It was all…

"Just… me…"

She slipped under the water. She hadn't even held her breath.

"Noooo…" Ruby groaned, trying to shake off the hit and crawl for her friend. But it was so far…

Vegeta glared as Weiss barely struggled at all. His brow rose. He could feel her power fading as her body started shutting down.

"Either you've given up… or you'd better have—"

But an instant later, there was a white flare as Weiss' Aura burst like a bulb. The water surrounding her blasted away. With a sudden burst of freezing air, everything in sight was snap-frozen into a layer of frost. The creek itself had become solid altogether, catching the rippling blast of water in mid-action, the jagged spears of escaping jets almost resembling an enormous icy crown.

But the center of this icy squall, Weiss herself, pulsed as every speck of ice within ten feet of her was obliterated, the crown splintering into shrapnel.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

A placid, misty shimmer of energy engulfed her, speckled with rising flurries that resembled her signature glyphs in miniature. The mud that covered her front was seamlessly blasted off to leave her pristine once more.

On his back foot, Vegeta stumbled as she lifted to a push-up position, resisting his force before a glyph appeared beneath her, turning crimson as she reached for her blade.

"HARGH!"

She cast him off and up as she sprang upright and into the air with a spinning whirl and a glint of steel.

For a moment, Ruby alone sat up, the master and protégé hanging in midair. Vegeta's arms were up in a block, but bared his teeth all the same.

Weiss landed, huffing with exertion as a field of trees in an arc before her swipe slipped off their severed trunks and fell over like so much lumber with an ear-shattering clatter.

"Whoa…!" Ruby uttered in a reverent whisper.

Vegeta's eye twitched as beads of blood appeared on his cheek. His gloved thumb slid over the wound, and he inspected the rusty red smear that was left.

"Took you long enough…" he said, landing softly, eyes fixed on her.

"W-Weiss!" Ruby cried, staggering to her feet and stumbling over as the Schnee's power continued to swirl. "You did it…! I knew you…" she nearly collapsed the last few feet, but Weiss dashed between to catch her in a one-armed hug.

"We did it…" Weiss corrected. "What you said… I needed that."

Vegeta growled. "What TRIPE! Leaning on this simpleton has done nothing but hold you ba—!"

Weiss' warm gaze went sharp and cold as she turned it on him… as well as flashing Myrtenaster out between them in threat with a 'fwip.' "Shut up!"

He stopped dead, nostrils flaring. "Get your toy out of my face…!"

She only redoubled her grip. "You were going to kill me!"

"You were only at risk if you were weak… I proved you could be strong!"

She lowered her blade, but her steely gaze was all the warding she needed. "You're delusional! I don't CARE what issues you have with Kakarot, or what you think of Ruby… you'll never drive us apart. She's my best friend… Deal with it."

There a distant noise of rending air which approached in seconds as the forms of Krillin, Goku and Gohan swooped in to flank the Prince, who didn't even spare them a glance. "And now you'll cower behind them… big girl, when she thinks she can get away with crossing me…"

Weiss let Ruby stand on her own. "I don't cower… But I'm no servant, and I'll fight you myself."

Vegeta scoffed. "Your power may have awakened, but even now it is paltry! I am over a thousand-fold what you are now… Remember that, before you truly incur my wrath, and wake one day as a pile of soot and bone."

Vegeta launched up and away, but Goku's teeth grit. "Vegeta!"

The Saiyan of Earth took off after him, leaving Gohan and Krillin as Ruby found her footing.

"That's not waking up, that's being dead…!" Ruby quipped, sourly. "And… he's… ugh, he's gone, he can't hear me…"

Krillin caught sight of the scene and destruction of the trees, a pie slice taken out of the forest, and blinked. "Whoa, which of you guys did this?!"

Gohan didn't even wait. "Weiss did! She controlled her energy! I felt it!"

Weiss took a moment to appreciate her handiwork as well, blinking at the devastation. "Yeah… Kind of feel bad about the trees… but… I did that…" She finished, looking over herself as she flexed her fingers, like everything had been renewed.

"And Ruby's power vanished for a second too…" Gohan's face fell as he shook off his excitement. "Are you guys okay?"

"Oh!" Ruby said, as if she'd forgotten her own actions. "I think I got really scared Weiss was gonna… I think my eyes… y'know…"

Weiss looked over the two Earthlings, frowning. "We're fine, forget us… Vegeta clocked the lot of you…"

Ruby glowered. "Weiss, he tried to drown you…"

"Oh," Krillin waved it off. "That was nothing. You shoulda' seen what this guy Recoome did to us once…"

Gohan nodded. "I think he snapped my neck… I couldn't move anything…" His eyes became unfocused. "It was… scary…"

Ruby and Weiss shared looks of horror. Ruby herself stomped over and knelt to fuss over him. "But…! How are you…?!"

Weiss completed her thought. "You're five! An injury like that, how did…?!"

"Oh! Senzu Beans…" Krillin said simply.

Weiss gaped dully. "This isn't going to be a normal explanation, is it?"

Krillin laughed. "Sorry… Korin grows them back on Earth. A single bean can fill a man for ten days! But they also restore you to full fitness, whether you're just exhausted, gutshot, broken bones…"

Ruby hugged Gohan tightly while staring at the monk. "Or freaking PARALYZED?!"

"Guess so," Krillin shrugged. "Also they taste like fish somehow… Ran out on Namek though."

Weiss sighed. "Hence why Goku is still moonlighting as a mummy…"

Ruby looked Weiss up and down. "Weiss, you're… really calm about having superpowers now. Aren't you excited?"

"We already had superpowers…"

"Yeah, but… these are like… ultrapowers…!"

Weiss took a breath, smiling. "It's… overwhelming… I'm mostly compartmentalizing so I don't get lost in it…" She shut her eyes. "Even without sight… I feel everything… If I don't focus, it's almost too much! I feel overstimulated… Every bird, creeping insect, the pressure of the wind and clouds in the air… I can feel the others back at the house, Vegeta off over the ridge… I know just what it would take to cut through all but the core of that tree, or crush it into coal… I don't know how you've been handling this."

Ruby's mouth went small, cheeks pinkened. "I uh… Maybe I'm just not thinking about it as hard as you are."

Weiss blinked, before snickering. "I… suppose that would mitigate the stimuli… I'm beginning to see how you and Goku would have an advantage there."

Ruby chewed her cheek. "Are you calling me dumb?"

"One thing I've learned since coming to Beacon is that intelligence takes more forms than strict memorization of form and traditional facts. Your combat instincts have always been irreplicable in spite of your shortcomings."

Ruby smirked ruefully, before muttering. "That wasn't a 'no…' "

Krillin couldn't help but tilt his head. "You're still awfully calm for someone that nearly got added to Vegeta's casualty list… I dunno how you wound up under his thumb, but this kind of thing needs to stop."

Weiss took a step forward. "No, hold on… We can't push him further. I can handle it."

"Whu…?"

"No way!" Krillin snarled. "This was too far for him!"

Weiss held her hand out. "It was harsh, sure… but he didn't want me to fail. He's still trying to make me… us… stronger."

Krillin growled. "You're not seriously defending—?!"

"Of course not…" Weiss sighed.

"So you think he wouldn't have just let you die?!"

"Oh no… he definitely would have let me drown. But in his mind, it wouldn't have been his fault that it happened."

Krillin recoiled as Ruby and Gohan just watched curiously. "Eeehh?! That's crazy! All the more reason to separate you two!"

"Vegeta is dangerous… I'm not stupid," Weiss said, seriously. "But for the moment… we need him. It's a balancing act, but I'm learning where the pitfalls are… and I'm in too deep to do otherwise."

Now all three of them looked lost.

She sighed. "Look, I'm not going to become his little toadie, but I need to at least accept his teaching. And pushing back against him like I do… you don't understand, it's not just bickering. I'm familiar with this sort of thing from my family. He's testing my boundaries, and I'm showing him where the line is. He pushes… I push back… and we know where we stand."

Ruby sighed. It sounded exhausting. "You can't just… like… talk to each other?"

"It was part of the company mindset. It's like negotiation. My father put it like that with everything, and my brother mastered it to the point of becoming obnoxious…"

"You have a brother?"

Weiss ignored her. "Basically it's just posturing, and Vegeta is fluent in that. The funny thing is… he expects it at this point. He's testing me. If I just fold, he'll see it as weakness… or if we somehow survive all of this, and I blindside him by refusing to join him in whatever he does next… he'll be more likely to kill me if I never made my objections known."

Krillin's jaw was halfway to the floor. "You picked this up from just training with the guy?"

"Well not just training… I had to escort him through Mistral and keep him from running afoul of a random authority figure… and killing them…"

Krillin begrudgingly grunted, arm's crossed. "Well… to be fair, it's not like the rest of us spent an extensive amount of time with the guy. When we teamed up, it was pretty much 'go-go-go' until the Ginyus were gone and we geared up for Frieza to come back."

Ruby frowned. "So Weiss… what are you saying? Cuz I dunno how we explain this without the others freaking out."

Weiss nodded. "Leave that to me. Taiyang doesn't need more stress, and frankly… anyone who could do something about Vegeta already knows what happened. We don't need the whole house provoking him."

Krillin growled. "I don't like it… but… you've got a point. I'll let Goku know the game plan so he doesn't foul it up by mistake. You two equipped to get back home?"

Ruby retrieved Crescent Rose, folding it up with a flourish before scanning the horizon dramatically and pointing. "That-a-way! …Right?"

Gohan laughed. "Yeah…! Hey, don't try to fly yet, and be careful stopping at the house so you don't blow it up or something."

Both partners blinked.

"...Right," Weiss said at last. "Solid advice…"

Ruby grinned. "Yeah, but… wanna strut your stuff? We can race…!"

Weiss chuckled. "I feel like you'd have the distinct advantage there…"

Ruby walked backwards as she shrugged. "Pff! Pshhhhh! My only try speeding with this stuff was just now to come after you! You might get it faster than me…"

Weiss couldn't hide her teeth through her grin. "Alright… you're on. Right when I say—"

With a shake of ground and a rip of air, the red hood had torn off with a leap over the trees.

Weiss sighed. "...Go…"

Dirt plumed as a glyph beneath launched her with extraordinary force. Sailing through the air was not a new experience, but always before it was by some external power. Cresting a hundred feet of altitude at ballistic speeds, by her own power, was beyond virtually any Huntsman or Huntress. She was amazed to realize she could see Ruby up ahead, despite being a speck in her vision.

To catch her though would be another feat altogether. An idea itched the back of her mind… the distinct clash of the impractical and hitherto undreamed new possibilities.

'...if you fail to test the limits of what you think is possible, then you'll never truly grow…'

She closed her eyes. "Right…!"

She dug in… it wasn't even as difficult as she'd assumed. She opened her eyes, taking a breath of exertion, and there it was.

Standing a hundred feet tall was the gleaming Arma Gigas. A giant before, it now dwarfed the trees as it emerged from the forest floor ahead of her. It readied its massive blade, the size of a large airship, and angled its flat at her approach.

She braced, but as she slid over the luminous sword's flat edge, there was no resistance as she was caught and swung with all its might.

Her might. This is MY power…

The centripetal force as she was flung forward sent her screaming through the sky, whipping the treetops as they were sucked towards her as she passed, before snapping back with a rain of pollen and needles.

She couldn't help herself as the wind passed her. "WOOOOOOOO!"

Ruby flinched as she was passed up, Weiss flashing her a joyous cocky grin as she formed another glyph, skipping over it like a stone to retain her momentum.

"O-ohYEAH?!"

Ruby became a blur of petals as she changed direction to corkscrew around a sturdy fir tree, her momentum parlayed as she seized the top of it and let the force of her body in motion bend it back like a crude catapu—

*'CRRRRACK!'*

"OOF!"

The entire tree snapped in half, the top half held by a sliver as it clattered into itself. Ruby fell on her back, blinking. "Huh… Always works in cartoons…"

And then a pair of raccoons attacked.

"Aughh! I'm sorry! I didn't know it was your house!"

She whirled up and over again. She couldn't fly like Gohan or the others, but the insane distance she was getting out of her bursts was a close second. What was more, she recalled how her semblance was more capable than she realized, and dropped below the trees…

Weiss hopped again from glyph to glyph, looking briefly behind for her partner. Strangely, she couldn't see her anymore, despite being certain she could feel her tingly, fizzy presence somewhere behi—

A storm of red petals washed through the trees below her like a flood, passing between every bough like the wind itself. Like a red river, Weiss saw them soar up from the ground to coalesce back into her friend, who tossed high as she gave a jubilant cry.

"This is AWESOME!"

Weiss laughed. "Not more awesome than this…"

"Huh?"

"I'm about to beat you," she elaborated, giving a quick glance at the house within spitting distance of them before angling her next glyph and plummeting into a diagonal dive.

Ruby, having nearly forgotten how near the goal was, pulled out her scythe in rifle form and aimed it behind herself.

*'KUCHINK!'*

Ruby shot after her, but Weiss alone noticed something as the distant trees behind them erupted in an explosion, the cries of birds on the air as they fled in fear.

It took her only a moment to realize it as Weiss saw Ruby preparing to land before the spot where the others were still gathered in concern, aiming Crescent Rose at the ground to slow her descent.

"NO!"

Thinking quickly, Weiss put her all into another glyph which shot her at the ground without concern for own safety… then another where she would strike the ground.

*'KUCHI-KA-CHI-KA-CHINK!'*

Ruby slowed with three shots, and as Weiss hit the ground hard and tumbled, the Schnee girl vaulted over the heads of their friends and planted her feet against the wall of the house, which creaked despite the glyph she placed against the impact.

With a whirl of Myrtenaster, three bolts of power raced to meet the oversized rounds, which canceled each other out with a shower of sparks.

"Whoa!" Sun exclaimed. "I guess she's okay."

Task done, Weiss gave a heaving sigh, still inverted on the wall. "Jaune, catch me…"

"Huh? Huergh!"

She landed on his surprised shoulders, bringing both to the floor in a heap as Ruby landed lightly with confusion. "Jeez, Weiss, really wanted to show me up?"

"Nnk… No…!" Weiss groaned, lifting herself to sit on Jaune's confused back. "You don't remember, do you? Using Dust with these powers, it's WAY stronger! You almost blew everyone up! Remember Gohan back at the field? He turned the entire glen into tundra?"

Ruby's eyes went wide. "Oh crud I screwed up again…" she croaked in a whisper.

Weiss nodded emphatically. "Yeah! Oh crud! And after Gohan specifically warned us: don't blow everyone up."

Yang crossed her arms. "So… what the heck happened out there?"

Weiss sighed. "Vegeta counseled me for some private training… Long story short, I can use ki like Ruby now."

Nora grunted. "You can feel those scare-quotes, and I'm only more curious now."

Blake smirked. "I don't think they were making out, Nora."

"Pff… if THAT were the secret, Ren n' me woulda' tap danced on Frieza by now…"

"I almost drowned, that's all you need to know right now…"

Nora snickered to herself.

"In the CREEK!" Weiss elaborated.

Yang scoffed. "Wow, we're two down on Team RWBY. About time we broke through the wall…"

"Kinda sick a' being worried sick though," Taiyang told them, examining the heel prints left halfway up the wall. "The others told us to stay put while they handled it…"

Qrow grunted. "That's a bitter shot to slam, knowing to hold back because you're just north of useless."

"There was nothing to fear," Raven opined, sat upon the railing. "Provided you had any faith in Schnee."

"I don't think it was her anyone lost faith in," Jaune said.

"Says the footstool," Blake muttered, looking down at the boy. "Weiss, you want to get off him?"

"I doubt he minds… but very well," Weiss said with a sigh, a glyph lightly hopping her to her feet. "My glyphs were second nature before, but now… it feels like nothing to bring them out."

Yang shook her head. "Okay, you guys just make this sound better and better. So did I get it wrong, or are our guns actually still gonna be useful after this?"

Weiss nodded. "Given what I saw… I mean, even normal rounds use fire Dust. Ruby? A demonstration?"

Ruby stood blankly for a moment, before fumbling for Crescent Rose and taking aim for the treeline.

*'KUCHIN—'*

There was a collective flinch from all of them as the nearest tree splintered into toothpicks, dirt thrown up in a dark cone as if a particularly nasty artillery shell had struck the spot.

"JEE-SUS!" Qrow exclaimed as the sound echoed, but calmed.

Oscar glanced at him. "...Who?"

Qrow deigned to answer… but immediately looked lost. "I uh… don't know."

The dust cleared to reveal the surrounding trees for several feet had been stripped of bark and branches. The trunks themselves bent away from the point of impact, gnarled roots further ripping the dirt below as they were partly unearthed in the process.

Ruby froze with her eyes huge as she engaged the safety, dropped the magazine, and pulled the bolt to free the next round from the firing chamber. "Holy poop," she droned with a whisper.

Weiss sighed. "Anyone else want to donate to a reforestation group? This is actually startingto feel depressing."

Nora seemed to rise into Ruby's vision from nowhere. "So what's the holdup?! Give us the secret, ladies!"

Ruby took a step back as she put Crescent Rose away. "Oh! Well… basically you have to understand the parts of you that are different… while knowing they're all the same…? And then you gotta lower the force field so you can use your power and put it into stuff?"

None of them spoke for a moment.

"What?!" Nora crowed. "What does THAT mean?!"

Sun threw his arms out. "Yeah, that's what we've been TRYIN' to do! But how d'we DO it?!"

Weiss put her hands out apologetically. "Look, I know it's unhelpful, and Ruby is… well, Ruby… but I don't know how else to put it either. It's like a state of mind that only really hits you when you're on the verge of death. Like… while everything blurs, the WHOLE you weirdly comes into focus… Suddenly, you can see what was always there, and realize how to control it…"

"Oh, wonderful," Yang groaned. "So we just need to almost kill each other over and over…"

Tai wrung a hand through his hair, scratching nervously. "Yeah, no deal, not in this house…"

"I might have an idea…" Bulma offered, racing off into her house and returning within a minute. She held a high tech headband, covered in brushed aluminum plates. "I made this thing a few years ago to detect delta waves and maybe record my dreams… if I'd been able to interpret it into audio/visual signals. It never worked… But! Maybe if I can adjust it to send harmonious wave signals, alpha or theta frequencies maybe… we COULD induce this mental state without putting anyone in real danger!"

Taiyang smiled. "Sold…"

Raven huffed, tapping her arm. "Reducing this baptism of strength to some safe and sanctioned process? And how will we decide the order of ascension?"

Ruby looked at her team one by one. "Uh… draw straws?"

Raven blinked. She then began pointedly walking towards the forest.

"Raven, what's in your head?" Qrow asked.

She didn't reply. Not to her brother anyway. "Ruby?"

The Silver Eyed girl looked lost. "Uh, yeah… miss… A-aunt—?"

"Just call me Raven…" She was silent a moment, still turned away. "The rest of them don't understand the cost of strength… the reality of its pursuit. We're more alike than I previously believed."

"Umm… thank you…" Ruby said awkwardly.

She stalked off, concern alight in the eyes of the others. Then, halfway to the trees, she took off into a full sprint. After the first tree she passed, the black corvid flapped into being, and she vanished between the uncountable trunks.

Yang sighed. "Okay, that's not great."

Weiss peered into the trees. "She's trying to stop us from following her. And I can't track her power… darn it…!"

Bulma frowned. "I heard her talking before… She seemed really on board with how you did things last night, Ruby."

Yang's eyes lit up. "She's gonna push herself to death, reach it like you did! Guys, we can't just sit here!"

Taiyang swore. "Damn it, Rae…"

Qrow pulled out his scroll. "I might be able to figure out where she's headed. Keep an ear out." He leapt upon the house, and in seconds a crow flew out over the trees.

Ruby pondered with nervous energy. "She's gonna go somewhere she can bring herself to her limits… But she's a Maiden… Where would she go?"

Weiss considered. "Well, based on recent events… Grand magical powers… I'd go for the only people who could overpower me..."

"You heard the Earthling, Kakarot, the girl has accepted my methods."

Goku stood tall at the Prince's back, overlooking the lake shore, flanked by his son and best friend.

"She's a tough girl, I don't doubt that," Goku admitted lowly. "But listen here now… If you hurt her, or ANY of them in a way you can't take back… our little truce is over."

Vegeta only smirked into the brackish depths. "Fly away, Kakarot. You've said your piece."

Goku didn't break eye contact until he'd fully turned around. Gohan and Krillin nearly did the same before Goku froze, staring past them.

"Hey," he greeted, "what's up?"

Krillin turned as well, surprised to see Raven wordlessly stride past them towards the water.

"I have no quarrel with you, stay out of my way."

Vegeta grunted as he noticed her approach as well.

"Warmaiden… I suppose you have a problem as well."

"I'm not here for you, Prince," she told him, walking past altogether to wade into the water. "But if I could trouble you for a favor… Let none of our associate bleeding hearts interfere? I have a meeting with Fate."

Krillin hurried closer. "Raven, what are you planning?"

She looked over. "Krillin… if I do not survive this, let my daughter know what comes next is her inheritance… and that my voice will always guide her."

"Hold on! What?!"

"MOM!"

They turned as a sunset-colored whirl of petals plowed and scattered against the ground beside the Earthlings, Ruby and Yang emerging from it on their feet as the elder sister wobbled momentarily foot to foot.

"Whoa…" she whispered, shaking off the sensation. "So weird…"

Vegeta faced the small crowd. "I will promptly put down anyone who tries to pass me! You will NOT intervene."

Raven took a breath, before the crimson tearsign burst into being by her eyes. The placid waters rippled out from her as she lifted into the air and floated out onto the water.

"Mom, what are you doing? Mom…!"

Without another word, Raven closed her eyes and exhaled, before blasting jets of flame into the air as she smashed through the surface like a depth charge.

Yang's eyes shrank with fear. "NO!"

Beneath the surface, the Spring Maiden hit the bottom in moments and kept going, a lake atop her as she drove feet first through the silt and stone. Deeper. Deeper.

It had to be deep. As a Maiden, the elements were like sculpting clay to her whims. If she panicked, she could conceivably wrest herself free. Even then, it might still be possible… thus, she purged her lungs of air first.

Finally, she jammed herself, movement difficult, and sight obliterated by the churning mud and deep darkness. There was no point hesitating now. She opened her mouth and inhaled the stinging cold fluid.

Above, Yang pelted down to the shoreline. There was a brief moment where it seemed Vegeta would strike. Ruby felt the aggression in his energy buzzing… but it passed, and he smirked as she hit the water and began to swim out.

"I'll let that slide on a technicality," Vegeta told them, smirking as Yang dove under the surface. "She can't interfere regardless."

Ruby turned to Goku, who watched patiently. "Are we not stopping her…? I can't get past him alone…"

Goku frowned. "I'm sorry… This is something Raven feels she needs to do. I won't stop her."

Krillin and Gohan gaped in surprise. "But… Goku…!"

Ruby just stared. "You would have stopped ME! How is this—?!"

"No, I wouldn't have."

Ruby blinked. "You… huh?!"

"You chose to protect your family by pushing yourself past your limits, even at the risk of your life. So is she. I never disagreed with that. It was your guilt and self doubt that were destructive, making them feel less important than that guilt."

Yang surfaced, coughing and flailing. "RUBY! WHERE ARE YOU?! HELP ME!"

Ruby's eyes snapped over to her, twitching nervously as she knew the Saiyan Elite was just waiting for her to act rashly.

Goku's eyes softened. "But you were right that this world needs us to break through… and that's going to demand we take risks, even if it hurts the people we care about. Because the alternative is losing them along with everything else."

"RUBYYYYY!"

She snapped her head back over to Yang.

"I'm sorry, I can't. She needs me!"

Goku closed his eyes. Vegeta's jaw tensed.

Ruby whirled across the distance. Vegeta's teeth bared as he felt the breeze she became wash over him, saw every bit of bloom pass him as he waited.

His energy flared, kicking up dust and dirt and slinging stones before he cast a hand out and gave a heavy grunt. A force carved choppy waves over the water as Ruby reformed above her sister, just in time to be struck as if by an iron girder and flail forward.

Vegeta flashed above her path, hand reared back to strike…

"GWAAAARGH!"

Vegeta sailed across the water, spraying a hundred foot gout as he skipped once over the water, then struck the opposite shore with a plume that towered two-hundred feet high. The mist glittered like diamonds with a rainbow sheen as droplets peppered the still surface.

Ruby blinked. Gohan floated over her, her cape in his fist as he held her up with a serious glint in his eyes. He didn't take his eye off the place Vegeta splashed down.

"Hurry!"

"Thank you, Gohan…"

Ruby dropped into the water, carving through as she sought Yang.

"R-Ruby, I can't get deep enough! I can't see!" She choked, already exhausted. "Can you feel her…?"

"No! We can't sense magic, remember?" She considered only a moment. "I'm going down, I'll find her, even if I have to—"

"MEDDLING BRAT!"

Vegeta was already on them again. Ruby braced, prepared to head under.

And then the water began to boil. A great, red light pierced the murk.

Everyone froze as both sisters suddenly felt the water fall away, blasted suddenly against a frothing wall of lake that towered supernaturally over them from every side. It grew taller all the while, expanding out to create a place sheltered from the waves, which reared back from the mysterious force like a nest of starved serpents.

Ruby and Yang hit the slime and muck of the uncovered lakebed, staring down as the waters receded, climbed higher as they were forced away in a howl.

Below them though, rising like the Remnant Sun, Raven Branwen emerged from the trench she created in a shimmering ethereal flame.

"...Mom!" Yang breathed, relief in her voice, though she couldn't find it in her to smile.

"Well well," Vegeta chuckled. "And that makes three. The dominoes are falling in our favor at last…"

The water retreated as Raven floated towards the shore, setting down as the lake took back ground it had lost in her wake.

All at once, Ruby and Yang yelped as the lake fell in greedily, smashing over them.

Over the churning water, settling as it rippled out into the wider chop, Vegeta and Gohan touched down as Raven peered into the sky.

"I… I feel…"

She held a hand out idly as her odachi sprang from its mechanism. It froze in midair, floating gently into her palm as she willed it.

With a slash behind her, the waters cleaved apart with white froth, startling the sisters wading back ashore as a slash hundred of yards long plumed into the sky.

"Supreme…" She couldn't seem to stop staring as her eyes danced across her field of view. "It's like I've never fully opened my eyes before."

Goku and Krillin strode nearer, prompting her.

"Krillin," she called. "You dueled me under false pretenses before. You toyed with me and soiled my honor as a warrior! And though circumstances bade you disguise your power, this disrespect did not spare my tribe, nor my place in it."

Krillin swallowed. "I, uh… Wow, been holding that in a while…?"

"Your full power! NOW!" She flourished her blade, crimson aura flaring as the ground shook.

Krillin took a few puffing breaths. "Alright… Doin' this I guess! HYAA!"

His own power billowed. He took on the squared Turtle Hermit stance. "Alright… You want the first move? Or—?"

Only Saiyan eyes saw what came next, as Raven appeared above him only to land a crushing kick to the head.

"Whoa, KRILLIN!" Goku cried, as his best friend churned headfirst across fifty yards of dirt like a plough, finally stopping with his legs sticking limply out at a strange angle.

"I said your FULL POWER!" Raven shouted, tearsign burning.

"It… was…" Goku told her, eyes wide.

Yang squished ashore step by step, her boots waterlogged. "What?! I know Krillin is stronger than that…"

Ruby frowned. "I don't know… I couldn't even follow what she just did…"

Weiss landed on a glyph nearby, and Ruby was sure she saw a black bird approaching from the South.

"I suppose she did as she said?" Weiss surmised, beholding the scene with caution. "The lake was pretty hard to miss…"

Yang nodded. "Now she's taking on Krillin… or… I dunno, maybe it's over already?"

Weiss shook her head. "Inconceivable…! Neither I nor Ruby could dent the power I felt from Krillin. Raven couldn't be that strong…"

Ruby blinked. "Unless… it's the magic maybe? She is a Maiden…"

"That's all I can figure… We'll have to ask Ozpin when we get back."

They watched for a moment, pondering the mystery, before Ruby shook with an energetic chuckle. "Isn't it so COOL?! We're talking about sensing powers and magic and stuff, like we're some kinda psychic medians or something?!"

For once, Weiss' eyes lit up as she tittered into her palm. "I KNOW!" she whispered."It's like some cheesy Esteban Ray novella!"

Yang snorted. "You read Esteban Rey?"

"Blake put me onto them. Had lots of spare time in Atlas… She wants me to eventually get to 'Black Pillar'..."

Ruby nodded. "I really like 'Him,' the one about the Mime? Mimes are creepy…"

"So uh…" Qrow began, idly walking up to the scene. "What'd I miss exactly?"

"DAMN IT!" Raven cried, refocusing their attention. "So after achieving the means to fight you, it's already a mismatch?!"

Goku scratched his head. "I mean… you could suppress to his strength and go by skill?"

Raven growled. "There's no honor in lowering myself for his sake! I was meant to use my every resource to challenge him, claw my way to perhaps the narrowest of victories! The shoe on the other foot like this… It's pointless!"

But Vegeta landed close by, stepping eagerly over, arm's crossed. "Well then! If you'd rather sharpen your skills on a finer granite, I suppose I can devote a few minutes."

Ruby and Yang blanched. "Uh oh…"

Indeed, Raven's scowl relaxed into a flat glare at Vegeta's challenge… ultimately settling into her usual cocky grin as she turned to face him. "Granted an audience by the Saiyan Prince himself? Hm… It would be impolite of me to refuse…"

Vegeta grinned back. "Like baldie, I will afford you the first move… if only because it might otherwise be the last. But I warn you, I might just hit a bit harder…"

She sheathed her blade, shutting her eyes. The crimson tearsign, however, only shined brighter.

A wind seemed to build around Vegeta, whose ears pricked at the sensation.

Then, her eyes gleamed open, and the tips of every blade of grass seemed to glow.

With a dirt-ridden crack, ten thousand piercing vines as thick as car tires engorged into being to stab their points in towards Vegeta, who leapt up without hesitation as Raven conjured and slung a massive ice Jian the size of a helicopter blade.

He faced it head-on, hand slicing down to smash it in two as its shattered parts shrapnelized past him into the blue. Raven's knees bent before she leapt at him with a thump of earth that left Qrow and the other girls off-balance. She swung another flying blade, point-on this time, and as Vegeta whirled from his prior move, he jabbed two fingers down at it. The blade flew apart from whatever force he directed at it, as surely as if it had struck a steel wall.

Raven was on him a blink later, a stone sword held over her head as she brought it back down with all her strength.

"HAERGGH!"

The resulting shockwave buffeted the trees, snapping a few limbs as the branches slung away from the place of impact.

…Yet the blow was not decisive. Vegeta had caught the blade in both hands, teeth bared as it had come far nearer to his face than he seemingly had expected. Both fighters stared daggers, grunting to overpower the other.

The Prince's eyes bulged, teeth bared as he saw a trickle of blood running down his wrists.

In an instant, his fingers crumbled stone as they sank into the Jian before ripping it out of her hands. In response, Raven grinned as her fists clenched towards his prize… which suddenly erupted from within with orange, glowing molten stone.

Vegeta grunted as a coating of actual lava nearly enveloped him, but before it could touch his skin and armor, a luminous blue web of energy expanded from his form. The molten rock lost its glow and plasticity in seconds, and a single flex of his muscles produced a flare of power that blasted it away as he examined his minor injury.

"Hmm! So, I see there is some application for this little shield that's confounded the others. Especially as you insist on using bladed weapons for your quaint sentimental reasons." He watched as his wounds gradually sealed, flexing his hands with a creak of his gloves. "But how well does it serve you when such a crutch is removed from play? I'm to understand the Rose girl couldn't even fight without that ridiculous sickle she hauls around… not until Kakarot intervened."

"I'm more than capable of fighting unarmed," Raven told him, rolling her shoulders, "if that's what you'd prefer."

"And I'd advise against employing elemental attacks. Fighters of my caliber… like Frieza, will think nothing of stone or fire, of the cardboard that composes this fragile world."

"Funny you should mention that," she said, drawing her blade and examining it. "Huntsmen, or those with equivalent skill, Aura harden weapons to make them as durable as ourselves in battle. In effect, our strength becomes their strength, beyond the material."

"Yes, I noticed. My counterattack earlier against the godlet should have rendered her cudgel as junk… but she'd imbued it with her power."

Raven nodded, sheathing the sword before unbuckling its large, heavy cycling mechanism. "Yang, catch."

Surprised, her daughter dutifully tracked its path, stopping its fall with both arms as she hefted the cumbersome package.

Raven stretched, freed of the burden and temptation to use her odachi from this point forward. "I'd actually had some thoughts about that. Naturally, imbuing one's body has the same effect. And while Huntsman have historically been limited in range and mass to what they might extend Aura hardening to… I suspect things are rather different now."

"Oh?"

She spread her arms out, and with a whirl of wind, droplets arose from the lake nearby in the thousands. As they shot upward with ballistic speeds, they froze in midair to become a rain of needles.

Vegeta barely paid them any mind. "What's this then? Misdirection?"

"Perhaps… but I would be moving if I were you."

Vegeta's eyes burst open as the hardened hail struck his back, Aura flaring in alarm as icy mist sprayed out from every impact with a lethal sound.

"Rnnnn!" He twisted, guarding his body before flashing from place to place in futility, before finally giving a growl and blasting his hands out. "RrrrrrrRRAAAAH!"

A cone of blinding gold energy sizzled the sky as the supernaturally dense droplets were overcome and truly vaporized.

Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Qrow all flinched as the stray needles struck the grasslands like spray from a thirty millimeter auto-cannon. They pounded the earth in sheets like rain, straying into the forest where they saw trees being chewed. Bark was blasted off. Branches broke off on impact. Some gave up altogether and simply fell as piles of firewood.

The last of the damage ultimately reached Ozpin's barrier dome, which gave a green ripple with every hit until at last there was only the echo of the valley to repeat the onslaught.

"Oh these poor trees again…" Weiss lamented, as Yang found Krillin's legs and grabbed him around the waist before plucking him from the ground.

"Urrgh… Anyone get the number of that bus…?" he asked. "I've got some claims to file."

Yang laughed, tossing him upright in midair before setting him down. "She's got no money to sue for anyway… Sorry 'Getes stole your fight."

"Yeah," he grumbled. "I'm used to getting outclassed, but it's never happened that fast."

Yang tried to tussle his hair… and then remembered that this wouldn't work. She settled for patting his scalp. "Eh, don't worry about it. Still got me to kick around."

"Ugh… No kicks… I think she shoved my spleen into my spine…"

Above, Vegeta frowned. "So, you can harden objects without touching them…"

Raven shrugged smugly. "If we couldn't, throwing attacks with weapons could leave them weak enough to damage."

He crossed his arms. "I see… So were you just trying to prove me wrong? Or can you not fight in a manner that doesn't involve cheap gimmicks?"

She smiled. "If you insi—"

Vegeta was below her in a flash. She'd caught the blow to her gut in both hands, but his fist broke through regardless, and she went sailing over the water.

Ruby growled. "Boo! Cheap shot!"

Raven fought to recover, grunting as she battled the air resistance to reach out. A massive jet of fire sprang forth from her palms and shoved against her momentum, crackling like a rocket engine, but she barely slowed at all.

"Strength, but no mobility!" the Prince appraised from above, catching her eye only a split second before he front flipped to boot her towards the water below. It was a full ninety-degree shift in acceleration, and apart from winding her, the change was so drastic she felt an indescribable nausea. Her equilibrium was shot as she plummeted towards the brackish blue.

All the same, she righted herself and widened her stance before she struck the water, which froze around her ankles and crystallized out for a hundred yards, forging a vast island which bobbed and rippled out at her impact. Stopped, she faced him above, considering only a moment before clawing her hands to her right.

"KAMEEE!" she cried, her shimmering crimson power curving to pool blue in her hands.

Vegeta's mouth parted with mirth as he stared down, arms crossed, not even bracing to defend himself.

"HA! MEEEEEEEEE!"

The ice began to crack in a rough circle around her, as even the flames of her tearsign caught and swirled to orbit the little blue ball shimmering in her palms.

"HAAAAAA!"

The circle she stood within sank several feet into the island as the berg itself was pulled down, an enormous swell rippling out from it instead of submerging like a wave pool. The brilliant blue core flared into the sky, vast but somehow tame as it gurgled towards its target.

Vegeta let his arms relax, before flattening his fingers, as if ordering the blast to halt, and forging a dense yellow sphere. "HARGH!"

An instant before the beam could reach him, his yellow ball bored through it, shedding its blue power off past the Prince of Saiyans as he vied against it only a few seconds.

Then, like a gleaming pearl of tapioca through a straw, the ball forced swiftly through the beam towards its owner.

"MOM!" Yang cried from the shore as the Kamehameha flickered away, the iceberg exploding in a cloud of frost as the ball carried Raven below the surface.

Her journey was short and incomprehensible, but to an outside observer, the ball merely submerged her before changing course, lifting her up to the air again before curving towards the opposite shore.

The ball simply ran out of steam and shattered into gold sparks as she tumbled end over end on the beach. Raven stood up uneasily as she faced Vegeta, who landed at the water's edge.

"You're hobbled by ignorance," Vegeta told her, dispassionate. "Kakarot and the bald one told you that version of the technique was incomplete, rudimentary. You can't control yourself in midair, let alone fashion your power into a honed blast yet."

"That much…" she panted, adjusting her V-neck wrap "...should be obvious. You… specifically exploit my inexperience!"

"Yes," he agreed. "I'm fully aware, even from such a one-sided encounter, that you're powerful. But I would be remiss as an instructor if I let you labor in delusion."

His cocky grin was too much. She regained her stance. "Well if that's finished… perhaps we can see how strong I really am…?"

His grin only widened. "Oh why not… I'll give you a sporting chance! No flight, no blasts or parlor tricks."

She sighed, grinning back. "About time… I'll give you the first move then."

"Ha!" he scoffed, before raising his fists and pumping his arms, a furious torrent of power flaming around him as stones scattered in his wake. He was on her in a flash, sliding low to aim a kick at her gut.

But she'd whirled with a roundhouse to meet it, heels meeting with a pulse that cracked the dirt below. Ultimately though, Raven was forced into the air while Vegeta gave chase towards the treeline and the verdant hills. She planted a foot against an outcrop and vaulted sideways to another just as Vegeta's fist sank into it to spray stone everywhere.

He barely recognized the error before she'd sprung into him with a lethal kick, bowing over her foot before she spun her fist into the side of his head and sent him sprawling to carve an enormous trench in the dirt.

He snarled as he righted himself, flipping backwards onto his feet before catching her in pursuit. He dodged a diving fist, catching her by the wrist and spinning her through a tree to skid unstoppably into the mountain.

From the other side of the lake, they watched as the fight amped up, barely able to see more than the destruction left in their wake as trees and hillsides seemed to almost randomly splinter or shroud with dust.

"I might regret this…" Weiss began, watching with concern, "...but someone might need to remind them NOT to destroy this whole island."

Ruby and Gohan nodded, while Yang tapped Krillin.

"Uh yeah, I'm gonna need a lift?"

Raven dodged blow after blow as he chased her. They weren't evenly matched, but she was just strong enough to be a problem. It was something that was rare for her, and she tried to savor the feeling.

"You're no coward!" he cried, fists flying. "FIGHT!"

She kicked through the trunk of a cedar and grabbed it, swinging it into him before he could react. As the tree broke in half, he crashed on his hands and knees into a pine-needle strewn mountainside, its slope steep but navigable. Keeping track of where they were from one moment to the next had become disorienting to her, but she rolled with it as she pressed the attack.

He was ready though, flipping onto his back to catch her fist with a shaking grip.

Vegeta took the opportunity to snatch her other wrist, and flipped them, pinning her against the slope as he fought to immobilize her arms. Her knees fought, but as they tried each other's strength, she only found purchase in her left hand. With all her strength, she resisted his grip long enough to grab him behind the ear.

She closed in before he could react, and Vegeta froze… to find her leaned forward, her lips against his.

She flopped back against the hillside, chest heaving with exertion, sweat on her brow. His own nostrils were flared as he fed his lungs.

He watched her, face rife with confusion. She wasn't smiling, but her eyes were so starved. The flush in her cheeks…

Her free arm was idle by her chest, but slowly reached for the V collar of her wrapped top. Her eyes not leaving his, she tugged it open, chest bared before him.

Not a word was spoken. Not a wink or gesture. Yet the understanding between them was absolute as Vegeta tore the gloves off his hands and reached for her.

Like an animal, he sought her throat, breathing and sniffing as his hands wandered. She tried desperately to meet his lips again, but settled for nipping him with her teeth where she could. There was no romance, only need.

Before long, when he was face-on with her bare belly, he could abstain no longer. He reached below her pleated black skirt and slid up her thigh. She only grunted as there was a rip of fabric, and he'd tossed the offending obstacle over his shoulder. There was only a rustle of material, as Vegeta's lower half didn't even require a belt.

Raven's knees quietly parted as she closed her eyes. She felt him loom over her, nestle against her where it mattered. The pressure.

His fingers dug into her shoulders. Hers wrapped around his barrel chest.

"Nnnn…" She barely winced, teeth sunk into her lip as her eyes rolled back. She dared to open them, only to see his own eyes do little different, before they feasted upon her form beneath him.

She gave a jerk of her hips, reminding him… and then he began to move.

Raven luxuriated in it all, but kept trying to drag their lips closer, only for him to seize her wrist and pin it down again. Same for when she tried to flip him onto his back. She didn't seem to mind. If anything, it added fuel to the fire, as this too became a contest of will and strength. And she was almost visibly thrilled to be losing…

Weiss and Ruby vaulted from glyph to glyph with ease as they crossed the lake, Yang hanging from Krillin's wrists as he and Gohan drifted alongside them. A black corvid clung, streamlined against Ruby's shoulder.

"Is it over?" Weiss asked, squinting ahead.

Ruby did likewise, feeling only the crushing weight of Vegeta's power distorting her second sight like a gravity lens. It seemed to pulse, a sizzle rather than a scorching flare. "I dunno… Maybe she knocked him out?"

Krillin shook his head. "Naw, I know what you're thinking, but powers drop off a cliff when you go unconscious. He's still up, but… calm…"

"Again," Ruby said, "feeling powers is cool…"

The Orin dropout chuckled. "If you're that easily impressed, everything from here on out is gonna be a parade…"

"Hey, I think I see them!" Gohan noted as they crossed the shore. "Are they… fighting?"

Ruby searched, but saw nothing. She couldn't be sure if Gohan's strength or Saiyan eyes were to be credited for his exquisite awareness.

One more significant bound and they landed on a glyph nearby, cautious of the battle, but near enough to get a perfect vie—

"Huh?" Gohan gaped.

"WHOA!" Krillin recoiled.

"Mom…?!"

The black bird squawed in alarm.

Ruby went absolutely scarlet. "OH COME O— Y'know what, no…" she sighed wearily, frowning even as she blushed at the sight, yet did not turn away. "Whatever… I don't care anymore…"

Yang finally unfroze with a shriek. "GET OFF MY MOM!"

Krillin held her back as she blindly sought to charge the two of them.

"Somehow… I feel dumb for not expecting this…" Weiss seemed to fidget in place as she saw Gohan's perplexed gaze and sidestepped in to cover it with her hands. "No don't look!"

Ruby huffed, still scarlet in the face. "So what? A Wilson… a twinky… Seen it alrea— DYYYYYYYYY…!"

Weiss' glyph vanished out from under them, dropping them without warning.

Lunch was held indoors —nothing special; roast beef sandwiches— while Bulma tinkered at the coffee table beside Ruby, Gohan, Blake and Weiss.

Bulma inserted a hook-like tool into a port on the headband's circuit board, watching a readout as she twisted carefully. "Alright, so, you two think you can get into the mindset from when it all clicked?"

"Yeah."

"Definitely."

Ruby gave a sigh of relief. "I was actually worried when we went to sleep last night that I might wake up and totally forget how to do it… but it's like finding your semblance!"

Weiss nodded. "It's so strange… One second, it feels so desperately impossible… and then, it's just a fact of life."

Blake shook her head. "I guess I'm bracing for the head-trip…"

Weiss sighed. "Good term for it… I remember Vegeta telling me how you broke a lot of physical limits by not so much using your nerves and muscles… more directly controlling the energy in your limbs so you can move FASTER than nerves and muscles. It sounds weird, but when you feel the difference, it's like you've been walking in mud your whole life."

"Can't wait!" Sun told them, seated upon the stair rail. "Seriously, it's our turn to get in on this!"

Oscar watched nervously from the reading chair. "Yeah… And my turn to get super-charged… and probably fight Vegeta like—"

The kitchen door burst open. "Mom!"

"You have no say in the matter, Yang."

Ruby wilted. "Can we do the trance thing now?" she whispered to Bulma, desperate to ignore them.

Bulma grimaced, plugging a cable and handheld device into the band before putting it around Ruby's head. "Just so long as you don't pollute the signal…"

Qrow was already at the kitchen table as Raven strolled in and filled a cup with water, fire in the same palm as she brought it to a swift boil.

"Y'know, Tai's got an electric kettle over there," Qrow muttered.

Raven ignored him as Yang stood exasperated in the doorway.

"Why him?! Seriously, I think I'd be less skeeved by you and Qrow!" Yang told her, arms crossed uncomfortably.

Raven steeped a teabag in her cup as she sat down, smiling. "Why indeed… Becoming the Tribe leader meant being the strongest among them… Becoming the Spring Maiden only made it worse. It's been a very long time since any man has been able to overpower me at my best." There was the slightest pink in her face as she sipped her tea. "I was powerless… to resist."

"Ugh…" Yang's face pulled. "He's the reason half this Frieza crap happened, y'know?! I thought you were trying to get further from Hell, not jump pants-first into it…"

"His sins are not mine."

"And if he knocked you up with his freak-seed?!"

Weiss began choking on her coffee in the adjacent room.

Raven's brows twisted. "That was the point."

"Whoa, WHAT?!"

"Hnn?" Qrow grunted curiously.

Raven set her cup down. "He and I have come to an agreement. It only makes sense. We both want to see what can come of a crossbreed of purest humanity from Remnant and his prime Saiyan blood."

The shock in Yang's face was fighting with how determined she was to be furious. "I… what the… I-I feel like a parent talking to some horny teenager! You CAN'T love him that much!"

"Love? Love has nothing to do with this…"

"You want his baby!"

"It's purely business."

"Seriously, was I not enough for you?!"

All listening to the argument went tense, as Raven's mouth fell open.

"...Yang… Of course you're enough. You're my daughter in every way, but you hardly need my guidance by now. You were largely raised by your father… I've never had the chance to raise a child how I liked. There's room in my heart for both of you."

Yang just shook her head. "This is insane…! Qrow! Talk her out of this!"

Qrow nodded. "He's a dangerous guy… but that's a major positive for her."

Raven just smirked as Yang looked lost, horrified at this development.

"He's… Isn't he like ten years younger than you?"

There was a grunt as Raven took a draft of her cup. "Yes, and being honest… I'm running out of time to exercise this need." She grinned into the vacant distance. "It's worse though… As strong as he is, he's never had a woman before. His inexperience… it's adorable."

Yang held a hand up in warding, blinking rapidly as if a flashbang had gone off in her ear. "Okay! OKAY! I've heard too much! Toooooo much!"

She twisted, catching sight of the Prince himself leaving the barracks without his shirt.

"Yang, don't…"

But it was too late. She stomped her way out the door to intercept him as he strode towards the gravity platform where Krillin was working the superficial repairs.

"Hey!"

He blinked, slick with steam, towel slung over his shoulder. "Oh… it's the firstborn. What are you after, girl?"

Yang stopped far closer than was likely wise, using her superior height to loom slightly over him. Her red eyes bored into his. "Stay… away… from my Mom."

He smirked. "Interesting… Well that's going to make procreation somewhat difficult. I'm afraid I'll have to refuse, unless you're offering to fill the role yourself…"

"Eurgh!" Yang took several steps back in spite of herself in disgust. "Like HELL, you cone-headed, knuckle-dragging…!"

"Heh… Relax, you're not my 'type.' "

Yang tilted her head. "Come on, my Mom and I share everything but hair… Where I'm standing, it's a little freaky you're into her."

He scoffed. "You should be flattered on her behalf, but not that much… I'll admit, she's as near to a Saiyan woman in appearances as I've ever seen. But more than that, she has the underlying aggression, the resolve and unyielding strength of one… If the Saiyan race truly emerged from the husk that is this world, no doubt she would have been the sort of primal stock by which they were bred."

Yang leered. "You know she's only that strong because she's a Maiden, right? She didn't earn that power; she's barely stronger than any other elite Huntress on the level of power you're talking about."

"Ha… a savvy play on what you know of me, but it makes no difference. Power alone is wasted on those without the skill and instinct to use them. Naturally she's ignorant to the full extent of her abilities, but to fight at the level she did… so capably…"

Yang put her hands out. "I swear to god, if you pop one right here, I'm gonna freak…" She gave a heavy sigh, turning her back. "Whatever, apparently it's none of my business! But don't expect me to call you 'dad' or something!"

He let out a bark of laughter. "Presuming I would desire the role… This is a means to an end, nothing more."

"Everything okay over here?" Krillin asked, glancing between them before something dawned on him. "Ohhhh…"

"Clamp your jaw, meat-shield. What of the gravity chamber?" Vegeta demanded.

Krillin sighed. "In theory it works. Just had to reorganize the crystal arrays and rebuild the dome. It's not lit or anything, but it doesn't take Bulma's expertise to do the rest."

"Fine," the Prince uttered. "The dark will sharpen my senses anyway."

Yang grabbed Krillin by the wrist suddenly. "Come on."

She dragged him over behind the barracks, heaving a sigh.

"Can you believe this…?!" she asked.

"Your mom and Vegeta…? I mean…"

She sighed, going pink as an idea struck her. "But… look, can you play along real quick? And not make things weird?"

He blinked. "...Weird how?"

Yang strode back through the door with Krillin following close behind, looking vaguely lost. Raven looked up.

"So, got the tantrum out of your system?" Raven asked, sipping her tea.

Yang ignored her. "Hey, thanks for cheering me up, Krillin… Catch you later, 'kay?"

Krillin blanked, as she stood straight and began to bend at the hips. "Was I going somewhe—?"

He froze, a fuzz of static electricity around her ears and neck as her thumb found his lower jaw, and tilted it up to meet her puckered—

"Mnn?!"

Weiss concentrated idly as Bulma tinkered with her tiny computer, the headband recording her brainwaves… as Yang…

"Whoa!"

She tapped Ruby, who turned and froze. "Buh…?"

The others followed their gaze.

Nora blinked. "Huh! Alright…"

"Seriously!" Ruby whisper-yelled. "Is there a bug going around?!"

Raven's stare became a smile. "Hm! Good… I approve."

Yang ripped away from Krillin suddenly and with enormous eyes. "WHAT?!"

"HEY!"

All eyes turned to Tai, who stood at the landing of the stairs, his nostrils huge, brows twitching.

Krillin was a deer in the headlights… and much like a deer, he bolted out the door. Taiyang gave chase, making quick work of the distance as Yang reeled but a moment. "Dad, STOP!"

Ruby just slumped in exhaustion with a sigh.

"War has a way of drawing us all closer, doesn't it?" Ozpin told her, as she recoiled in surprise. "When faced with the prospect of mortality, we find value and comfort where before we might not have sought it. It might even function as a survival strategy."

"Oh," Ruby croaked. "Hi… I was kinda rude to you before…? S-sorry."

Oscar's brow furrowed, smile not fading. "Passions were high… and I will not pretend I don't deserve it at all. Generations of critics have aimed their barbs my way, Miss Rose. I can weather a few more."

Blake hummed. "It was kinda cold though, Ruby."

"Sorry…"

Ozpin waved it off. "What concerns me more however… Raven was capable of nearly matching our wayward Prince in combat? Is that right?"

Weiss considered. "I don't think she quite matched him, but it was enough to make him sweat. And trust me, it's beyond anything the rest of us can do."

Oscar nodded. "I believe your suspicions were correct. My magic is having a pronounced effect on those wielding the full power of ki…"

Ren nodded. "More 'Arcane Windchill?' "

Oscar smiled in surprise. "You remembered… It's almost certainly a factor, but something more is afoot. Regardless, the end result makes both the Maidens and myself extraordinary candidates for our purposes."

"Who's left?" Sun asked. "We got Raven… that evil chick 'Geta punched out…"

"Not a CHANCE," Jaune growled, suddenly intense from his seat on the hearth. "Give that psycho MORE power?"

"Nobody suggested that, Jaune," Ren said carefully. "Though if we found her… we could make someone else here a Maiden."

A number of them let their eyes go wide at his suggestion.

"Whoa, babe…" Nora said. "Dark stuff…"

The prospect of executing Cinder to force a change of powers was creepy to Ruby. "Cinder's awful… but that sounds like something she would do, doesn't it?"

Bulma looked up from her work. "Well, how about the others in the wild then? We have to find them anyway to get at these Relics, right?"

Ozpin made Oscar smile, nodding at her. "Correct, and thankfully both are largely out of harm's way. The Winter Maiden, Jól Yaldā, safeguards the Sword of Creation in Shade Academy, and resides a world away in Mantle. The Summer Maiden, Rhea Amani, remains anonymous in Menagerie, far from the Stave of Destruction in Atlas…"

Several months earlier…

The sleepy bayside town of Awa Luhi, miles West of Kuo Kuana, was not as crowded as the great city of faunus. It was harder to reach, with treacherous waters and hazardous, rocky cliffs on all sides. But there was hardly a more peaceful valley on the grand island, dotted with scrap-built vertical-axis wind turbines for energy, with a crumbling limestone tower holding a massive bonfire at its top for a simple lighthouse.

So it was the town least expected for a rampant firefight.

Rhea Amani slid down the thatched roof at the bottom of the hill. Luring the madman to the commercial center at the waterfront would minimize collateral damage and let her fight freely. She had already been battered by his semblance. Passing through Aura altogether… Her bare side was already bloodied from it.

She heard the insane laugh to her right and gasped. The feathers in her black, straight hair puffed out as she saw his lanky form, mirror her movements on the opposite buildings, before rolling onto his scorpion tail and flexing it straight to launch at her, both circular blades out at his sides.

She raised her scepter in warding, golden with a top S-bend hook and a two-prong forked end at its bottom.

*'KENG'*

…All for naught, as like scissors, those clawlike blades snapped through it, clattering from her hands as she bowled back onto the roof slope and rolled off towards the sand.

Her midnight blue eyes went wide as the tearsign flared to frame the sides of her face. Luminous talons burst from her back to catch her fall, half-buried in the sand before splintering into spark-like shards as she rolled to her feet in the dimly-lit plaza of dark storefronts.

He rode on his blades like ice skates, legs balanced in midair as he cut his way to the other side of the rooftop, flipping over the side as he cackled. He sank his blade into the sidewall of the plank-built tackle shop, gravity letting him ride it down as the other supports snapped and strained.

Rhea's light gold and blue armor glinted through the splinters and dust as she shielded herself beneath the collapsing wall… but the midnight paws of what would have been a massive tigress shined all the brighter as they shielded her. Formed over her own arms, the rest of the wall crashed over her as Tyrian tittered to himself.

"RrrrrrAGH!"

"OGH!"

Tyrian reeled back as a chunk of wall smashed over him, shaking off the surprise and growling as a second chunk passed over his head, his tail lashing and splitting it in half with its razor tip.

Rhea bounded towards him to press the attack, catching him in the side even as his circular blade blocked. His stinger swiped, only to be caught as her left arm became a grasping tentacle and wrapped around it.

Tyrian was dragged off his feet and spun around her head in one swift motion, and tossed over a fountain in the square.

The fountain burst skyward, catching the mad faunus as he was wrapped in a cocoon of water, twirling aimlessly as he fought from within.

"Think you'll drag me to her?!" Rhea demanded, ethereal limbs fading as she worked to strangle the air from him with her power. "One way or another, she will NOT have my power!"

Suddenly there were voices towards the water.

"By the gods!"

"Murder!"

Rhea froze. A small crowd was gathering before a small field of buildings floating on the water, a series of bungalows. Some manner of hotel…

She glanced back at her foe, who met her gaze with a predatory leer as barrels clicked out from his claw blades.

"DON'T!"

The hidden guns chattered as he fired into the crowd, screams barely overtaking the combustive noise as three of the number collapsed.

Rhea didn't hesitate as she threw her hands out, shoving the water and all it contained away.

Tyrian landed on his back, skidding wetly before his tail sprang him back onto his feet. He glimpsed the towering wind turbine nearby…

With a snap of gunfire, half of the turbine's spire was hacked away like an axe. He leapt from awning to awning on the nearest building, took aim, and laid a flying kick into the opposite side.

Steel squealed as the turbine sparked and bent towards the floating bungalows. Rhea saw the impending disaster, knew her assassin's game… and that she had no choice.

She leapt up, flames erupting from her feet as she caught the still spinning tower, straining against its weight as the crowd below scattered.

She grunted, and cried, but ultimately the massive turbine smashed through three of the bungalows as it brought her down with it. The dark waters were splashed orange as the spinning helixes struck down and the capacitor within burst into filthy, smoking flames.

High pitched screams pierced the night as wood, thatch and flames exploded out into the waters as debris.

As people scattered, Tyrian stalked over, barely able to contain himself as his yellow eyes twitched.

He peered through the crushed buildings, half submerged where they had avoided being crushed, burning everywhere else.

Some had the gall to plead for his help… A huddled group were silenced with a spray of gunfire. He thought he'd found her after uncovering another smoldering alcove, but instead dragged a screeching teen up by her straw hair as she flailed and begged and cried for her father. She squealed and sobbed as his stinger gently granted her death, sheathed within her hammering heart as she choked back the shocking pain.

He found a fair few of her description. Most had already choked on the billowing smoke, to be claimed by the fire soon enough. A tiny, identical pair clutched each other, trapped below sinking planks as their faces tipped up twixt the gaps for breath. With a mere shift in weight, he mercifully ended the pointless recess, as both vanished neath the water with whimpers, naught to surface again.

But for all he searched the sodden thatch and drifting bodies, his tail only twitched in frustration and failure.

He wouldn't be alone for long. Soon would come the interlopers… ignorant to his holy mission. He COULDN'T have killed her…

He took a breath. Their Lady was patient… Either she had escaped, or she was somewhere in the debris field. The peasantry would do his work within the day…

Pain… She only remembered pain and sorrow. Heat, scalding heat before she found herself floating. She couldn't remember why, but the screams she heard weighed heavy on her heart. She clutched the soft bundle in her arms as she fought to stay awake. The water was warm, but she didn't know how to swim. Her head throbbed… Something had hit her… and… and…

She stirred as a strong arm scooped her up, the warble of disturbed water filling her ears. She groaned. Her legs felt like they were made of broken glass. She turned and caught the midnight blue eyes of an angelic face, clad in smoke-smeared gold armor, alight with concern.

But slick red also clashed with that gold glint. She heard a voice, but it was so garbled and sounded so far away.

She fell to the blackness again… but dreamed herself in a void of white. The angelic woman stood across from her, distressed… crying even. She stared down, towering over her… clasped her hand in compassion.

"I'm sorry, child… I didn't mean to leave you with my… my burden…"

But that was all Marna Cordelia remembered as she awoke to the distant light of dawn in her eyes. She sat bolt upright, regretting her haste as the pain in her slender legs shot through her. She let them hang in the water, crooked as a jaybird… yet no longer broken as she'd felt before.

She gasped as she realized she was far out on the calm ocean. She whirled to find land, miles off. She felt panic. She couldn't swim!

She was adrift, among lots of wooden planks, upon a bit of thatch roof. Beside her was another person… that angelic person that hauled her from the water.

She was still, cold, eyes drifted up to the sky. A ragged piece of aluminum was sticking out of her chest.

And suddenly she was tugged off the drift by her leg.

Marna screamed as a grey wedge-shaped fin slipped past, pulling the adult woman's body under the black water. She tugged her own legs onto the creaking roof shakily, shuddering even as the knowledge was dredged up from somewhere she didn't recall.

Galeocerdo cuvier… the tiger shark. Dangerous, more likely than most sharks to attack a human or…

Faunus… Yes, right, she was a faunus… That's why the family had come here.

She looked down at her skin and clothes, which were doing their best to take on the fibrous look and straw-color of the thatch. There was even a hint of a brown crossbeam across her chest. It didn't explain why her clothes did it as well, but her skin had chromatophores… The color-shifting cells of a cuttlefish, the Sepiida order… She was a cuttlefish faunus. It was why her parents had given her—

"Sepia…!"

Still clutched in her hands, she looked down into the plush, implacable face of her cuttlefish doll, its W-shaped eyes staring up at her as if unimpressed by the proceedings. Her own pupil was a similar shape.

She took a moment to recall her own appearance, peering into the blue. Her fair peach skin shimmered with occasional bands of silvery-blue chromatophores. Some appeared across her forehead and cheekbones. Her whole skin could camouflage, but this made her faunus heritage clearly seen.

Her hair was voluminous, flowing down as low as her ribs in curving tendrils. The top of her head was golden, and as they traveled down those locks gently turned green, and then cerulean.

She was fortunate in her choice of clothing. She vaguely remembered, they had taken the opportunity to enjoy the local waters as they stayed in this town. She'd gone to bed in her swimsuit. She wore a one-piece swimsuit, its upper side like a pink tank top, but it terminated past her waist, flowing out a bit like a skirt. The underside of the skirt was blue, and attached to a bikini bottom the same shade.

Marna squeaked at another splash as the great dorsal fin slipped by again.

"What do I do…?!" she whispered. "Who can help me…?" She began to sniff as obscured faces swam in her mind's eye. She just couldn't remember…

"Dad…!" she called feebly. "Mommy…!"

Then in an instant she remembered another, whose presence had always given her strength. Her brother. "Johnny! Johnny, help me! Somebody PLEASE…!"

She sobbed quietly, not even able to bring herself to raise her voice, lest the sharks be attracted to the noise.

'I am here, dear Marna… bearer of the gift of Summer…'

Marna looked up, stared around. It was so strange… It wasn't a voice she heard, but felt. "Who… who is that? Where are you?"

'I am with you,' it said, unhelpfully. 'I am here to guide you.'

Ultimately, Marna looked down to her plush. "S… Sepia…?"

'You must hear me, child… You are in danger.'

She lifted the doll before her eyes. "I-I know that! The shark…! And I c-can't…"

'The creature cannot hope to harm you,' the benefactor said. 'You are far too powerful. But there are others who could...'

"P-powerful…? Me…?" Marna asked.

'You have been bequeathed the power of the Summer Maiden… Power over nature… the power of magic…"

She blinked, shaking her head. "But I… I can't do magic…"

'You can… Feel into the water… reach, and exert your will with your whole heart. Make what you envision REAL… It is a simple thing…'

Marna stared out into the black water, tiny crests and troughs rippling among the long swells. The red in the sky barely reflected over it and the smear of white clouds in the distant oceans.

She stretched out her hands, closed her eyes, and felt out. She let her mind's eye wander, fearful even as she imagined the great predatory fish circling her. She imagined, and wanted. More than anything else, she wanted her family… She wanted to remember their faces…

But Marna wasn't that childish. Sure, she was nine, and still carried a toy for comfort… but…

Something bothered her though, a light around her eyes, blue and placid. She opened her eyes with a gasp.

Blue rippled in her peripheral vision. She ran a hand over her face, and felt something flutter over her fingers. Marna stared down to find her reflection, and felt a jolt down her spine as she saw cool blue flames trailing from the corner of her jewel blue eyes…

"What…! What… I…"

But something else caught her eye in the reflection, a looming shape beyond. She stared up, and gasped.

Swimming in an agitated manner, the tiger shark floated in midair in an oblong bubble of rippling water, like a goldfish in a bowl. She could see the sky through it. She didn't even feel the effort of this feat.

And as the thought scarcely entered her mind, it came splashing back down to douse her and flood her thatch raft.

She prepared to splutter and cough, but the water obeyed her whim to keep off of her, and she was miraculously dry.

Marna blinked, still floored as she saw the tiger shark's dorsal fin speeding pointedly away from her. She grinned. "Tiger shark! More like… Feli… pistris… Felipistris ignavus!" she concluded proudly. "SCAREDY-CAT SHARK! Yeah!"

'Indeed, Marna. You ARE powerful. But you are a child still, and there are those who will come to take your power from you.'

She blanched. "Who… who are they?"

'They represent a great evil… And if they capture you, the entire world might be forfeit. You must not let that happen.'

"The whole WORLD…?" Marna asked, hardly believing. "What should I do? Can anyone help me…?"

'Only one man could… and he is lost for now. You can trust NO ONE, Summer Maid… Our enemy twists the darkness in the hearts of Man, employs monsters of every size. Any could wish to do you harm.'

She seemed to deflate. "So… I have to hide? What about my family? I… I don't know where they went… If I could just remember…! Stupid brain…!"

Marna gripped her temples, as if she could squeeze the memories out of her ears.

'Perhaps if you see them, it will become clearer?' Sepia seemed to sigh. 'You must avoid being seen… but perhaps if they look for you, you will glimpse them on the shore.'

A thought finally, truly struck the girl as she sulked. "Where do I live…? I'm gonna be by myself? I don't know how to… I-I don't have a home! I barely know how to camp from all the times we…"

She nearly caught herself crying, but shook her head and rubbed her eyes. 'N-no! I'm not just a kid! I'm big enough! I just need to… need to…"

She remembered her circumstances, adrift on the ocean. She looked at her crooked legs, and stuck her tongue out as she fought to stand. It was painful, and would have been hard, even if the thatch were a stable surfa—

"O-ow!" Marna fell, slipping half into the water, holding onto the side for dear life.

'Your injuries healed as your Aura overflowed, but not properly. On land, you will be vulnerable.'

"And I'm NOT vulnerable NOW? At least on land I can crawl! I dunno how to swim! And if I COULD, my legs…"

'...But if you could… how would you do it?'

Marna frowned. She closed her eyes again… imagined something mythical… something wonderful…

She felt the tearsign, opened her eyes, and looked down. Shimmering blue beneath the water, something shined up at her, and arose from the dark like a phantom. From the waist down, she lifted before her the powerful flukes of a glowing whale's tail…

She gasped, face alight in wonder. She flexed it in her mind, and it waggled before her like it was her own. She let it pat the water, as the ghost of joy dawned on her face. Even the black water, so mysterious and unfriendly before, glimmered back at her like sapphires sprinkled from the reflection of her miraculous light.

Cautiously, she lowered herself, gripping one of Sepia's tiny arms. She knew the water would not touch her face if she didn't wish it, and as she sank, indeed, her eyes and nostrils were protected, and she breathed freely even as she slipped beneath the shimmering curtain of the water's surface.

Light barely penetrated the dark world… but below, she could glimpse other, fainter sources. And the darker it became, the more they seemed to glow. Shapes became clearer as fronds of pink and alabaster coral, swaying seaweed and copper rocks seemed to alight as she noticed them.

She was always told about faunus night vision, depending on the species, and cuttlefish were supposedly excellent at it. Yet she had always been afraid of the dark…

But as she tested her powerful tail, twirling with ease, she realized she could see perfectly as swarms of fish and floating nudibranchs of all manner of dazzling colors spiraled by without a care.

Slowly her fear ebbed like the tide as she propelled herself over her new kingdom. Every flick of her flukes sent her further, deeper! It was so easy! She was so fast! Her hair trailed as she chased a spooked barracuda, turning around arches of rock and slipping between outcrops of coral.

With a start, she looked up at the pink, sun-kissed skies above in the brightening dawn, already so far above her. With a flash of inspiration, her tearsign burned brightly, and she aimed for the surface with all speed…

With a hollering cry, she breached the surface like a humpback, gaily soaring two stories high over the gentle waves before crashing back down with a sonorous splash.

Marna let herself surface, floating on her back as she let her hair drift, held the sodden plush to her chest as she laughed melodiously. She relaxed as the tail faded, having merely hidden her crooked legs from view and shielded them from harm.

Sepia did not comment, but she didn't need her to. With a sigh, she turned to glimpse the distant shore.

It was all so bittersweet. She felt safe for the moment, but in her heart, she knew for all she had gained… something terrible had been taken in trade. And at least for the moment, for as wondrous as this new world she reigned over was… for all she had once dreamed to see the glorious depths and their spoils with her own two eyes…

All she might once have known was left behind, and till the mystery was solved… she was no longer part of that world…

A/N: She don't know when… she don't know how… but she know something's starting right… several-months-agoooooooo…!

Pff… Subtle, J-Dude… subtle…

Yeah, no point being coy, I'll tackle this here and now: Marna is The Little Mermaid. Can't get a lot more clear than ACTUALLY forming a big tailfin from the waist down, but honestly I think that might explain something.

See, when I realized I had such a juicy fairytale left entirely untouched by Rooster Teeth, I had to wonder why. Oddly, RT seem to have skipped out on Hans Christian Anderson almost altogether, if you actually count "Professor Thumbelina Peach," a character we've never seen…

…Yes, when coming up with Maya Tommelise, I hadn't realized the fabled Peach was of any relation.

But I guess the main reasons I can figure is, for one thing, the necessity for water to be present around such a character… which doesn't come up much unless you wanted her to be an extremely minor character.

The other thing is, if she doesn't LOOK like a mermaid, then the reference is a waste of potential. Nobody thinks of Ariel with feet. But the tail is also kinda impossible to be subtle about…

I found a decent compromise with Marna. She has legs, but is effectively crippled. Having legs that are painful to actually use is also a feature of the original story, even if this is something of a reversal.

Apart from all that, why such an elaborate origin? You already had a Summer Maiden, so why kill her for Marna?

Because Rhea from conception just felt so BORING to me… She's based on Ra, but it felt so rote and obvious to have yet another adult, fully realized Maiden and base her powers around the Sun.

Jól was basically just a shell for Ginyu to emerge from, but I still hate how both myself AND canon RWBY have never had Maidens —specifically characters who begin the story as Maidens already— tie into a storybook character. Or at least have some tie to the cast.

Amber isn't based on anything… Fria isn't either… Raven is literally the most interesting of the bunch, if only because Vernal was a red herring that would have been just as boring, and her ties to Yang at least made that interesting. Again, Cinder and… others… don't count, because they BECOME Maidens well into their development.

Marna gives us the experience of a new Maiden figuring things out, and a child besides to give us something different…

…Which, I realize, has been a strategy I've become rather fond of: "would it be more interesting if they were a kid?"

Of course, Marna actually IS a child, not just in the form of one like the Brothers.

There was a specific similarity with something in RWBY that coincided with The Little Mermaid's background, which prompted me to go this direction with this character, and from that conceit the whole idea blossomed. It took setup too… If it feels like Marna is a bit out of nowhere, believe me, she's not. Can't spoil though…

Marna is a cuttlefish… because cuttlefish are cool, and underrepresented in media. Yes, she changes color, which is like Ilia, but also different because it isn't a mood thing, and it's better than hers as far as disguise. She also has an added ability that's related to it, but that'll be a surprise. You might guess if you know anything about cuttlefish. No, it's not ink, that would be weird.

Being a kid, she doesn't understand when she starts hearing Rhea's voice in her head, and attributes it to her plush.

I REALLY wanted to keep her distinct from the Disney version. It can feel like a serious crutch, if not out and out plagiarism, when you're basing a character off another like this.

I guess one thing I have to remind myself, though, is there are times when you can't fight the tide. When certain characters are so distinct in the Disney version that they eclipse the original story for the general public, you might be fighting a losing battle to ignore it.

We see this in our big heroes. Weiss is wonderfully different from the traditional view of Snow White… but the whole "Mirror Mirror" thing is a Disney invention. Blake too is very distinct, but she, like Belle, is a bookworm. And that doesn't even get into the nod that is her last name…

But it's forgivable, because "Beauty" in virtually every iteration of the story you can find is AMAZINGLY dull or lacking in any real personality other than vague positive qualities, since she is the protagonist. Disney alone tied her to the things Belle is known for.

Likewise, The Little Mermaid book isn't much for character traits. In fact, it doesn't even NAME any of the characters. It's passively written, with the role the characters play being how they're addressed. "The Sea King" "The Sea Witch." That sort of thing.

This isn't going to be followed up on for a good while. It's kinda like when Ginyu got introduced, a taste of what's to come.

Speaking of, flashback-heavy Chapter, start to finish. This chapter was originally going to be MUCH longer, hit a few more points, but with it hitting the holidays, I should know better by now when it comes to hitting around the 20-30k word mark so these don't turn into novels. The next few chapters don't have definitive start and end points, so I'm more free to cut it off early. I think some of you would appreciate not being held hostage and waiting 4-5 months per chapter.

I knew I'd have to put the Marna flashback somewhere, and Ozpin summing up the Maidens and their status as he understood it, felt the most organic. Just to highlight the rude awakening when they realize the unaccounted Maidens are a complicated quantity.

The first flashback brings us back to the Fall of Beacon. I wanted to be clear about some things I'd taken for granted as true in this story; things that are definitely not canon to RWBY as a series. First thing being, Ruby blacking out to battle Cinder with Silver Eyes being more of an enhanced state than the extremely limited Grimm flashbang it is in canon.

I hated how the more we learned about Ruby's powers in RWBY, the less interesting they became. I get they're trying to balance it, but it's so restricted and so rare it becomes nothing more than a Deus Ex Machina. Even after she learns how to use it, she can't do it reliably.

And given Cinder doesn't have her Grimm graft until Volume 4, I have no idea how she was injured the way she was in canon, losing an eye and arm. If you argue the scarab she uses on Amber was how she got hurt… that's the wrong arm from the one she lost.

While I answered this before, here I give Salem's claim in V4 that she was beaten "because of the Maiden's power," actual weight, with the voice in her head prompting her to hesitate when she has Ruby in a vulnerable position. Unlike canon, where we still have no idea what Salem meant, if in fact it wasn't just Miles and Kerry giving her ominous, foreshadowing-style dialog without actually having an explanation to justify it.

Actually, I answer ANOTHER Volume 4 claim a character makes without justification… but I won't tell you guys which one yet.

I won't pretend a certain Dishwasher fanart piece didn't partly inspire Ruby's eyes, but the "wings" are far larger and wider than that. Cinder's own attack being thrown back in her face seemed to fit what happened a lot closer, right down to the damage to her vocal chords.

I also just hated how we never got to see the initial reactions the characters had to what happened. Ren and Nora get passed over in canon for how Pyrrha's death affects them, told only by the fact that they come along with Ruby. We never see Yang's first reckoning with the loss of her arm, the trauma of seeing her partner run away while all of this is happening.

…And yes, I realize that's stretching "Sun saw her go," but it's stronger in its effect on Yang.

I can ONLY imagine Yang first realizing what happened as a moment of pure panic and denial. I don't know how soon "phantom limb" syndrome actually kicks in, but it makes sense to me that her mind just wouldn't accept the absence of her arm and still believe it was there. She even doubts her own eyes, so thoroughly spooked by how Emerald tricked her in the Finals match against Mercury that she believes she's imagining it all.

I'm sure there's an argument to the effect of "canon was subtle, and your version is melodrama," but I feel like we should have seen more of this specific period when Ruby was blacked-out.

Then there's Ruby's intervention. Some people were legitimately disappointed in Ruby for her actions in Chapter 19. I feel like her reasons should be pretty clear if you know her at all. She can't stand the idea of being helpless to protect people, that she'd have to sit by and do nothing while hoping other people can do it all for them. It goes against everything she believes, everything she sworn to do as a guardian of the people.

There isn't a drop of ego in her; it's ALL guilt, ALL the feeling that she's failing her mother's example.

And while this is noble, it's undoubtedly hurtful to the people she's trying to protect.

This conflict was foreshadowed in Chapter 18, and it was absolutely ALWAYS coming back here, where her friends and family needed to confront her and convince her to stop going out of her way to shoulder all of this guilt. To share the load and recognize the difference between responsibility, and fault. To realize she hasn't disgraced Summer, who would NEVER have put this on her.

It largely resolves once Yang hits the nail on the head and dares to shoot right for Ruby's feelings about Summer, and Ruby retreats to see Dehadikeh's echo.

I don't want it to seem like she trusts the shadow of a god she barely knows more than her friends and family. They already did the damage. Ruby is basically just piecing it all together away from everyone else, and he's here to smooth the process along.

I really enjoyed writing this segment, not the least because Deha gets to tell Ruby about humanity and heroism as he sees it. The fulfillment of Dreams.

His words and this scene would be backed, in my ideal telling, by an instrumental of a song that's become deeply special to me: "Dreams" by Van Halen. Go figure, right?

I consider "Dreams" to be an anthem of humanity in Transposition F. 80's sounding, but more rock than Dragonball tends to use, matching RWBY a bit more. I won't say it's a PERFECT fit, but damn does it make me feel things.

And I'm not really a Van Halen fan or anything. It's not their usual work, it's actually a lesser known song from an era their fans are less certain of, when they changed lead singers and took on a more synth quality. I picked it up by itself, like a lightning bolt had struck down from on high to present it to me as this deeply personal and unique thing.

…But it hits me like you wouldn't believe. It's a song that sounds at once triumphant and consoling. It's optimistic, but there's a tinge of sadness to it. Utterly sincere. It's powerful, yet also has such an undercurrent of gentleness to it. It's Ruby Rose in song form!

Deha's words about Dreams make a few nods to the lyrics in a matter I'm interpreting, and you'd probably have to listen yourself to get the full feeling.

But the most important lyrics definitely are the ones that —no surprises here— absolutely make me feel the warm fuzzies, and tease a few tears now and then.

First would be the gentle post-chorus, so wrought with emotion, as if consoling someone, while also inspiring them to action:

"So baby dryyyyyyy YOUR EYES…

…save all the tears YOU'VE CRIED…

…O-oh, that's what Dreams…

…are MADE OF…!"

…All with the undercurrent of the synth keyboard playing this accompanying melody that just amplifies it all for me.

And tying it all together, the ending lyrics:

"And iiiiiiiin the end…

…on Dreams we will DEPEND…

…cause that's what Love…

…is made of…"

Do NOT listen to it at any less than full volume, you will constrain the experience…

Yeah, read the scene again with those lyrics in mind. You'll get it.

And again, this scene would be like an introduction to this theme, and only use a gentle piano version (a YT channel called "kyu" has one). The full, voiced version of the song will reoccur much later in the story. No, not as a montage. It will be an intense and dramatic scene, definitely with fighting in it.

It's definitely a noted departure from sticking to either canon music from DB or RWBY, or anything anime… and I promise it's a unique case in that respect. One other odd Van Halen track makes it in later, but literally only because of Dreams.

I do NOT plan on making it a habit of bringing in all kinds of weird, clashing music, because I know I'm always annoyed when some random emo band lyrics punch their way into a love scene or something in fanfiction, rarely implemented well.

Tai has less of a part in the conversation, but only because I thought it was more effective if he was just too helpless and hurt to really know what to say. He's not MAD, he's terrified he's going to lose his daughter because she's turned a desire to do good into a war against powers beyond her, and she blames herself for being too small to challenge them.

Goku points out later how it's not cut and dry, and that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Ruby will continue to wrestle with these issues, and there will be no clear cut answer… just someone doing the best they can.

I love when Vegeta can act out, not simply doing his Cell Saga thing of ALMOST getting heated enough to hurt people, but ultimately cooling off and taking disrespect.

Here, he pushes Weiss to awaken her full power in a matter I find thematically appropriate, with some definite help from Ruby. I like the notion that Weiss knows how to deal with Vegeta because arguments, pushback, refusals and stipulations are just how she's dealt with Jacques and Whitley in the past, and she's almost uniquely qualified to cross verbal blades with him.

We get to see Ruby and Weiss (and Raven later) utilize their abilities on steroids without knowing the full suite of Z abilities yet, which I thought better illustrated how accessing such power altered their tactics and movements. As established, guns are NOT useless given they're Dust-powered, and amplify the energy put into them.

Don't worry though, they'll DEFINITELY be learning Z abilities to mix in.

Again, was meant to be longer, so we only got to three awakenings. I hadn't actually expected the third to be Raven, but then I realized with the suggestion of Bulma's brainwave band that she would immediately reject the prospect of making a test of will and inner strength into something safe and risk-free. At that point, she would certainly mete out this challenge before someone could stop her.

I hope it's not disappointing that we aren't treated to Raven's moment of clarity, but I certainly wanted the result to be "visually" impressive as she arose from the depths.

I think it would get repetitive and even a little cringey if every single character got a personalized awakening that amounted to more of the same. After the first few, I think it can be offered as shorthand, with hints of what inspired them to expand beyond their horizons and utilize their full potential. You'll still see it, but there won't necessarily be a string-of-consciousness blow-by-blow of their thoughts.

As is the case with Raven, who pushes past with sheer willpower. She then immediately aims her new powers at Krillin, having quietly seethed over him holding back, and arguably drawing Frieza right to her Tribe.

Sadly for Krillin though, it isn't the duel she wanted. This shouldn't be a surprise by now to anyone paying attention after Ginyu and Cinder, but Raven is closer to Vegeta than Krillin in strength now as a result of her Maiden powers. And unlike Cinder, she has a firmer foundation of how to control them.

That's been the challenge of this chapter, really. By realizing how to disable their Aura shield, they immediately realize a fine control. After that, it's more about how to DIRECT their power. Like having a firm hand on the valve, but still needing something connected to it, be it a hose or something more complex.

Vegeta is immediately intrigued, and the resulting match… ends in a very different sort of wrestling.

Sorry to any Bulma/Vegeta fans, but in a world where Raven exists, there's just no choice here. Bulma can be a wasp, but Raven is the whole murder hornet. I've shown them getting along rather well before, but I don't think there was any doubt that a fight between them would end up horizontal. They just jive too well together, frequently follow similar philosophies. Raven practically IS a Saiyan woman, and in his adulthood he's never known the real thing anyway.

Naturally, Yang is horrified, but finds herself helpless to fight the tide. They say they only want to conceive a hybrid child for the sake of what it could become… but I don't think there's any doubt they're very comfortable with each other.

And no, there won't be many, if ANY, Renora-style sex scenes. I'll spare you further thoughts of Vegeta engaged in that. Renora has been building to something, and while I've promised you wouldn't need to read those sequences for plot, that doesn't mean important things won't happen that get summed-up for everyone later when it matters.

Additionally, Yang decides to try either getting back at Raven or revealing her hypocrisy when she lays one on Krillin right in front of her.

I realize Yang using him as a prop like that is a little mean, but as she'll argue early next chapter… "What? Free smooch from a pretty girl is its own reward…"

Plus… the reversal slays me. It has no effect on Raven, who actually respects Krillin's strength enough to consider him a worthy mate for Yang. Meanwhile, Taiyang DOES have the intended reaction, and won't stand for one of his daughters dating an alien, however human they might be.

It's also a "like mother like daughter" situation, with Yang weaponizing affection much like Raven did with Tai in the past to make Qrow jealous. And Tai will ABSOLUTELY be bringing that up.

Again, the chapter wasn't originally going to end this early.

So yeah, kind of an odd one, but it will mean more chapters, faster. At least for a BIT. The ones with a deliberate endpoint, I can't make any guarantees.

On a somber note… probably the last chapter before we start Volume 9. No, I'm not ready. Yes, I'm still dreading it. No, Penny is not something I've "gotten over."I could seriously go another year putting this off, because I'm so scared of any scenes of discovery, or with Pietro. I know I won't be able to watch these alone, and I don't know what I'll do. I'm worried it will all be made so much worse.

Arrowfell really scratched an itch I had in gaming, despite being pretty basic and lacking features I'd have liked to see. Tons of attention to detail in the heroes and Grimm models. So bittersweet to see Atlas and Mantle, and Penny doing her thing was great, even if Weiss was uncharacteristically rude to her. (There's actually a point where she thinks Penny is messing with her, and then outright THREATENS her in a way that was kinda shocking.)

Oh, and I see that Justice League crossover thing is way more ahead in production than I thought. Won't lie, it looks rough… It looks like a WEIRD foray into something I can't even imagine.

My problem with the comic version was that these were just losers with DC hero motifs and not the originals, but this movie version is changing it to be a proper isekai, and that at least sounds a lot more interesting.

With the highest bar for this sort of thing probably being that Batman/Ninja Turtles thing they once did, I'm not really confident… but at least RWBY's IP hasn't been canceled by Discovery yet?

Commensurate commentary on your kingly comments!

Wolf1741: I might be absolutely DONE acknowledging your comments. This sentiment, in which you "skipped the whole Ashley thing" in a chapter ABOUT Ashley, aka: Cinder… It has become a running joke for how inane it is, and how short your attention span is despite following this story. I know you almost certainly don't read these, so I'm probably wasting my breath, but it's such a parody of thought I almost suspect you're actually a troll.

Son Kenshin: Thank you! Shigaraki isn't a character whose backstory I know beyond being twisted by All For One. Only watched the anime, and I'm behind, having not finished S5 and seen nothing of S6. I wanted Cinder to kill her tormentors and realize how freeing it was, but not necessarily make it her fault as this active choice she made like the canon version. I wanted her circumstances to be a bit tragic, thrust upon her. I wanted the worst aspects of the world to forge her into what she became, despite having been fairly normal, and who easily could have been saved and set on a different path if anyone had really tried and not ignored her.

Did I NOT touch on her being Cinderella if she hadn't found her happy ending? That was kinda the idea. But after she left the Puces, her path was winding and uncertain.

I think my humor tends to line up with Abridged in the sense of self awareness, but I try desperately not to just roll with undermining characters. With Frieza, we've already established he's less comfortable with the Ginyus' style, but as said in the chapter, he tends to give them free reign and leniency if they can net him results. When faced with it point-blank… well…

With the dislike of Cinder being such a constant in the RWBY fandom, I felt compelled to contradict her backstory, which meant I needed my own. This was the only way of BEGINNING to HOPE to fix her character.

DUDESTOPLETMECHOOSENICKNAME: Lol, flattered, but let's not go THAT far…

Ultimatrix bearer: Well, I already changed that before with the sand, and unless her command of sand was purely a Maiden thing I don't know how to explain what she did against Ruby in Volume 2. Dust Weaving is definitely still a thing, but RWBY as a series departed from whatever major role Dust was going to play towards achieving some ultimate power. Back in Season 2 even. I'm not done with Dust as a major plot point, but it was never going to be this major thing with Cinder. And if it was, Dust loses power beyond Remnant, so her ambitions of leaving the planet would blow up in her face.

Otherwise, thank you, I really worked at the dramatic parts of her backstory. I'm not sure what you mean about an "in-Universe debate on redemption." Cinder has little real path to redemption, she's already killed people. Though others aren't out of the question…

I think I already HAVE addressed semblance evolution, but it's certainly not done and dusted.

King Cold was mentioned in Chapter 15, since there's a risk that he'll tear the galaxy apart figuring out what happened to Frieza.

X3runner: Emerald has already made something of a connection with someone, and I'm hoping that bears fruit later. Tortuga as a turtle version of Zwei… not sure I understand. Never seen Flash Gordon, sadly.

Super is just getting exhausting as it basically does the same formula again and again. It wasn't as noticeable in Z because it only happened a few times, but now it's actually happened over and over and over again. And the feats never change. Dragonball is never going to be fighting through the Universe like the ending of Gurren Lagaan, so at this point we only have power scaling, and I almost just want it to stop.

fatquacker: Frieza seems to give leeway to those who are useful to him. And I figure he just takes the dimorphism of other species in stride. It's a big Universe. Yeah, Cinder didn't have a lot of choice in telling her tale.

Are you hoping Ruby and Cinder have a good fight in canon? Because I hate to say that hasn't really happened yet.

Yeah, I'm aware of the exhaustive lengths of chapters. I'm hoping this is a step in the right direction.

King0fGrimm: This might be the best comment I've ever gotten. I adore the personality in it and the exuberance. I'm glad I actually made you feel for her. That's more than I could ever have hoped.

I'm glad you liked the spicy bits. I worried it would be controversial, but I'm glad there's at least been no vocal resistance. My wife doesn't like crossovers, but even she seemed to like the angle between Tai, Qrow and Raven. Go figure!

layafortuneoghenevwogaga: No, you don't get it at all, and that's sad. Even Super has tried in vain to bring other characters up to speed despite how preposterous the gaps are. Android 17, Piccolo, Gohan… Because people are rightfully SICK of the same old song and dance where the other characters are bystanders and the Saiyans are the only ones who matter. Characters matter more than power, and you should try to balance both so there can be more possibilities.

Coreldecortavar: I was surprised how much more Frieza I wrangled out of the chapter. I was worried he'd go absent for a long time. Yeah, there were no guarantees given the constant trauma of Cinder, all I could do was try.

AntonioBarbarian: Glad for all of it! Sounds like a thorough enjoyment! Interesting that you skipped the fights; I always figure people are all about that stuff. All the same, I tried to keep them brief.

RandomPeon: Thanks a lot, though again, Tai wasn't really MAD at Ruby.

CheesusChrist15: l didn't choose to feel how I feel about Penny. I certainly didn't choose two years of agony since Volume 8, dreading Volume 9. I really don't care what you consider absurd.

As to skipping sex stuff, you can certainly do that.

I'dMakeANameButIDon'tWantTo: Good to see you! Was worried you'd taken off.

I'm glad Cinder's shift to Frieza works in tandem with the backstory. Yeah, Cinder being able to follow these Huntsmen without being spotted is a contrivance, I'll admit.

Glad we agree about IQ and Superheroes; I know not everyone feels like I do.

RandomPeon(2): Lol, thanks a lot. Yeah, it was probably the best opportunity to include STRQ without a specific flashback. Qrow or Raven though? I'll never tell.

Yeah, given that even in Abridged I've found the Ginyus the worst part of the Namek saga, stopping the plot dead to deal with them, I'm surprised at how much mileage I've gotten from the Captain herself. More to come too! Definitely don't regret keeping Ginyu around.

Yeah, I applied real genetics. But there's always the question of whether anything carried over…

Matthew: Thanks for the support, definitely glad to hear all of that.

Freedmoon: Gohan's a bit hardened from these things, but I do try to keep in mind he's still plenty sensitive.

Kage-kitsune9001: I wouldn't say she hates Silver Eyes, though she'd certainly have some PTSD regarding them now. Reminding her of her mother probably wouldn't help, as that would be her experience of them. I think she'd have a lot of conflicting feelings when seeing them, which definitely can't be often.

c20Guest: I've never even watched Game of Thrones, let alone read the books.

bruh12354: Always glad when people appreciate the lengths I go to keep things balanced and make characters more interesting. Never heard a complaint about Raven apart from that damn fight (though I might after she clocked Krillin in THIS chapter).

I'm wondering what bold moves you meant. Like, the people Frieza killed?

c20Guest(2): I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. Jacqueline's name is kind of a groaner to my mind, but I still love it.

We might see Mouse! Mostly I just wanted someone in her life to not be a raging dick to her. Plus, avoid the "bury your gays" trope.

Making a new character can be rough when you know the character exists to be murdered a few scenes later. It kinda sucks, because I was originally going to have Rhea have darker skin for variety, but I knew she was going to DIE, and it never looks good when non-whites show up as side characters and turn disposable…

Not the note I wanted to end the comments section on… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯