Oh, hey… Took me a good month to write this one. That's kinda my usual writing speed, and what I'd expect most chapters to take now that I don't have any in reserve anymore. To be honest, I'll be happy if can keep it at one chapter per month consistently through the year.

Anyway, you might have noticed that I've changed the character tags, replacing Cinder by Neo. That's not because I changed my mind about their roles or importance in the story or anything, it's just that after consideration, I came to the conclusion that this was more appropriate like this, since Cinder is basically absent in the first part of the story while Neo is present since the beginning.

Ilia? Time for the revi- why are you wearing a secretary business suit?

Ilia: ''What? If I'm stuck with the job, I might as well dress for it.''

… Eh, whatever.

Ilia: ''TwistedView likes what you've done with the mess of RWBY's canon and that you've put so much details into the fic.''

Thanks, I do what I can.

Ilia: ''He also say that unless Augur counts, he hasn't seen any sign of the other reincarnators, and he assumes they'll also be gamer knock off.''

Augur isn't a reincarnated, he's a Grimm created from one of Gemini's Soul Fragments, granting him both sapience and Gemini's memories. There's a plot reason why the three others haven't shown up yet. I can't tell why without spoilers, but they won't have gamers powers, as that is Gemini's semblance. They'd have their own power.

Ilia: ''Then he says that he likes what you're doing with the main pairing so far-''

Whoa, w-what? What main pairing? Who said anything about a main pairing? I havent't established any pairing.

Ilia: ''Really? You're doing this? You haven't exactly been subtle that Gemini's going to be with Ruby, you've even teased it last chapter. Heck, someone guessed it based on the tags towards the first few chapters alone, even if you denied it.''

So? None of that proves anything.

Ilia: ''… If you're going to be like that, I'm just going to proceed ahead. TwistedView then goes on to say that Gemini now owes a metric tons of cookies to make up for scaring her like he did.''

That's… Uh, you're not that far off, actually.

Ilia: ''Then he ask if you've seen Yugioh Abridged. Afterwich he says that if Gemini doesn't set up a Duel Tournament, he'll be asking to speak to your manager.''

I have seen it, yes. As for the tournament idea… I have a related announcement after the chapter concerning this. Who's next?

Ilia: ''Bubbles906 compliments how well you write in English and doesn't believe you that it's not your first language.''

Rien que pour ça, le prochain chapitre sera écrit en Français. J'espère que tu es content.

Ilia: ''… I'm sorry, what did that meant?''

'Just for that, the next chapter will be written in French. I hope you're happy.' This was said in jest, of course. I'm not actually going to do that.

And, of course, I appreciate the praise.

Ilia: ''After that, he ask about several thing. First: he ask about the three others the Cackler talked about in the first chapter, and says that he assumed they would into Beacon.''

Isn't red a beautiful color for a herring? ;) Like I've said to TwistedView, there's plot reasons they haven't appeared yet and I can't say anything because it would spoil.

Ilia: ''Second: He ask if Gemini is going to get his skills and says that he likes that he doesn't have them because it keeps him from being too strong.''

Well, yeah, he's gonna get his skills at some points, but since it's in one of the Soul Fragments and those are kind of being hoarded by Ozpin… Let's wish him luck, because he's gonna need it.

And I wouldn't worry about him becoming too strong. I'd even say that he's too weak without the Skill function. Keep in mind that he has to sneak up on Ruby or use similar unfair tactics to win against her in spars. And that was when she was using a training scythe instead of Crescent Rose. Pretty much everyone in the show would kick his ass in a fair fight.

Ilia: ''Third: He ask why nothing happened between the police and Gemini, given his name.''

Who says nothing was happening? I mean, just because Gemini hasn't cared to notice the police doesn't means they haven't noticed him. They aren't going to arrest someone just because they share a last name with a criminal though (just look at Qrow, he's a Branwen, he's related to mass murderers), but that doesn't mean they aren't doing anything.

Ilia: ''Fourth: He ask if Gemini forgot how silver eyes were activated or if that part of the show wasn't out when he died.''

Gemini went RIP before Volume 7 was out, but he watched Volume 6 in its entirety.

The problem is that Maria's explaination of how silver eyes are activated doesn't stand up to scrutiny. At best, it's self-contradictory, at worst, it directly conflicts with what happens in the show.

Maria claims that the eyes's trigger is emotional, that it's the desire to protect her friends that activates the eyes. The problems?

Well, to begin with, desires aren't emotions, so the claim is internally inconsistent.

Then, there's the fact that if the 'desire to protect' was all that was needed, Ruby's eyes would have activated every time Grimm were around since Volume 1, because Ruby wanted to protect people since the beginning of the show. They would have activated when Weiss was surrounded by Grimm in the Emerald Forest (and we know for a fact that Ruby desired to protect her because we literally saw her act on that desire), they would have activated in the Forever Fall forest when Jauned face the Ursa Major, they would have activated against all the Grimm during Volume 2's breach incident, it would have activated in Volume 5 when Weiss got stabbed by Cinder (unless Ruby wanted Weiss to die.) If the 'desire to protect' is all that's needed to activate the eyes, then the entire plot and events of the show have to be scrapped because nothing involving Grimm in Volume 1 and 2 would, could, have happened the way it did.

Then there's the Volume 6 finale, with the Leviathan, where Ruby activates her eyes by thinking about all the times where the people she cares about were in danger- just kidding, they activate by her thinking about happy memories where she was having fun (Gemini proposing 'happy toughts' in last chapter was me taking a dig at that moment.) The show can't be bothered to have silver eyes be triggered by the desire to protect even after it said it was how it worked.

It also implies that Ruby was happy when she watched Pyrrha die. And now it gave me an idea for a Lancaster fic with a yandere Ruby. Probably not gonna write it myself, but if anyone wants to, have fun.

So yeah, no way can I make this mess of a canon work. Here in this fic, silver eyes activates in response to the horror felt when someone Ruby cares about dies in front of her (Grimm's presence still mandatory, of course.) That way, it's consistent with Volume 3, which I care about more than the Volumes afterward. Thoughts can influence feelings, so once that feeling is felt, reproducing it shouldn't be too hard for anyone with a working brain. It's super easy, everyone does it when they remember a sad scene they saw or read in the past. Don't believe me?

Tell me about the rabbits, George.

Unless you haven't read that book or lack the ability to feel for anything you read, this should probably make you sad.

Fuck, now I'm feeling down. That was a depressing book.

Ilia, you can continue.

Ilia: ''…''

Ilia?

Ilia: ''I don't even know what's true about my world anymore…''

That's easy, you're the Ilia from this fic's version of Remnant, not the show. Your Remnant is actually consistent with itself. Or at least I'm doing my best to keep it that way.

Ilia: ''I guess… Fifth: He ask why Salem was able to see into Gemini's soul through the fragment where Ozpin couldn't.''

She couldn't, she said she did. Ozpin himself found it odd because he know she didn't have the mastery of aura needed to pull it of. With the reveal of Augur at the end of that chapter, what was implied was that she lied to Ozpin and that the real reason she managed to learn about the future was because Augur told her about it.

Was I too subtle with the subtext?

Ilia: '' Sixth: He ask if you have a beta.''

No, I do not. To be honest, I think I could have used a beta's help for this chapter. The dialogue between Gemini and Tai in this chapter feels a bit rocky to me (this is part of the reason why the first half of the chapter took so long to write. The secong half, in comparison, was written in around a week.)

If you want to beta my fic, we can talk about it in PM. As comfortable as I am to work on my own, I supposed I could use the help?

Ilia: ''He ends his review by thanking you forthe existential crisis about what was canon and what wasn't and wish me to have fun reading his review.''

My pleasure, I hope you like the several paragraphs about silver eyes then, because it's along the same lines.

I've barely even scratched the surface of the various problems the official canon has.

Ilia: ''We ends with Noshar Canals who admit he hadn't realised the pairing was with Ruby-''

Whoa, w-what? What main pairing? Who said anything about a main pairing? I havent't established any pairing.

Ilia: ''… Really? You're doing this again? You're literally teasing GeminixRuby ome more in this chapter.''

… We're going to need ship names.

Ilia: ''What?''

Ship names. The RWBY fandom is unusually creative compared to most other fandoms when it comes to ships. We must follow the tradition.

GeminixRuby is a lame ship name, we need something better.

Ilia: ''… What about 'Rose from the Grave'? Y'know, Rose from Ruby's last name and the Grave because Gemini is at his second life or something.''

Uh, not too bad for something thought of on the spot. I was thinking of 'Rosewick' myself.

Ilia: ''Isn't that the ship name for Ruby and Roman?''

Yeah, that's the joke: 'This is officially a Rosewick fic. Will Gemini end up with Ruby, or will he be cucked by his own father?''

Ilia: ''… You're disgusting and I'm judging you.''

What? The joke's a bit crass, but there's way worse out there. At least the language used stayed pretty tame, even if the subject wasn't. But fine, we're gonna go with 'Rose from the Grave'.

Anyway, I'm gonna need you to think of ship names for Gemini with Ruby (in case something better is found), Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Penny, Cinder, Salem- well, any character you can think of, really.

Ilia: ''Even Neo, his sister?''

Hey, the RWBY shipping chart ships any character with any character. It even ships them even with themselves. Weiss and Weiss is called Tweiss, by the way. Hilarious.

Ilia: ''… I can't believe I'm hearing this.''

Hey, I'm not cruel, you can take other people suggestions if you want. Should make your job easier.

Ilia: ''You're just saying that because you want to have fun reading what reviewers come up with.''

Guilty as charged.

…

Ilia: ''…''

… Didn't I have something important to do?

Ilia: ''… The chapter.''

Oh crap, that's right.

Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of Rooster Teeth. Yu-Gi-Oh is the legal property of Shueisha. I only own my OCs.

So… The Shallow Sea story has a God select those who are special and transforming them into Faunus, while leaving those he deems lesser as Humans. Meanwhile, the Judgement of Faunus has the newly made Faunus literally say that they are superior to both Humans and animals. (Exact quote went something like this, if my memory is right: *Is transformed into a Faunus by a god* ''I thought he would choose the superior species.'' ''He did.'')

... Does RT realise these two spin-off stories come off as painting the Faunus as racial supremacists? Especially when they have Ozpin say that he 'does not want to critique the story much as it's more than just a story to the Faunus, as it's part of their identity'? (Obviously, most faunus we see in the show, like Velvet, Blake and Sun, aren't anything like that.)

And Ozpin apparently also think that both stories are true despite being contradictory (I don't think RT understand what that word means.) Like, Oz, you of all people on Remnant know for a fact that the only real gods are the Two Brothers. The hell did you smoke?

Anyway, enjoy the chapter and see you all at the end.

Ruby opened her eyes, groaning as she slowly raised her body to sit.

She was immediately hugged by her older sister. ''You're finally awake!''

''Uh?'' Was the barely awakened girl's initial reaction, her mind still muddled by sleep.

''You've been asleep for 3 days.'' Yang continued, fretting over Ruby. ''How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?''

''I, I'm fine. I think.'' Then Ruby bursted into tears as the memories came back to her. ''Gem! H-he is…''

''Hey, calm down. Gemini's fine.''

''Fine!? He's dead!'' A restless Ruby almost shouted.

Yang blinked. ''Uh… No? He was very much alive after he brought you back home.''

Ruby stared at her sister, remaining silent while she registered what Yang said. ''Wha- how- uh… Where is he? I need to see him!''

''Wait a sec, I took a pic.'' Yang grinned and hastily took her scroll to show a picture of Gemini. ''Here, look.''

The picture showed Gemini, standing in the living room downstair. One of his sleeve was shredded, showing his injury to his arm that had stopped bleeding. His hair also caught her attention, having been attached in several short tails all around his head.

''What happened to his hair?'' Ruby chortled at how ridiculous he looked, reassured now that she knew he was still alive.

''Eh, apparently Neo had her fun while he was watching over you.''

Ah, of course it was Neo. Who else?

''I see. And where's Gem now?'' Ruby asked.

Yang lost her smile at the question, worrying the silver-eyed girl again.

''Yang? What's wrong?''

The blonde sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. ''It's… kind of complicated.''

/Flashback/

''HA HA HA HA HA HA!'' Yang laughed at Gemini, who looked absolutely ridiculous.

The first thing Gemini did when he heard the door opens was to run to meet Taiyang and Yang. The first thing Yang did when she saw him was to laugh.

''Hey, kid, are you alright?'' Tai asked while his daughter snapped a picture. Unlike her, he had already noticed the injury on his left arm.

Gemini puts his hand over the injury, and that was when Yang's eyes grew as she noticed it.

''I'm fine, but Ruby-''

''What!? Ruby's injured too?'' The girl panicked. Her father looked concerned as well.

''No! God no, Ruby doesn't have a scratch on her.'' Gemini said. ''But, well… I'm just not sure how long she'll be asleep.''

''What do you mean? What happened?'' Tai tensed as he asked this, afraid as his mind played different scenarios.

But what Gemini said wasn't something he expected. It was both reassuring, because it was something he knew about and thus knew that his youngest daughter would be fine for now, but it was also worrying because…

''Her silver eyes happened.'' The boy said with a sheepish smile, as he scratched his cheek.

… Because it made things very complicated.

And made Yang very confused. ''Wait, what do her eyes have anything to do with anything?''

''Yang, why don't you go check on your sister?''

''Okay? But what are-''

''Go.'' Tai repeated himself, his voice firm. Cowered by her father's tone, Yang didn't waste anymore time before running upstairs, leaving Gemini and him to talk one on one.

When she arrived in the bedroom, she relaxed when she saw her little sister sleeping in her bed with Neo standing aside with a bored look.

''Sup' Neo.'' Yang greeted her favorite sparring partner. Neo waved in return. ''Hey… Do you have any idea what's going on? Because I don't.''

The ice cream colored girl answered with her usual sign langage (eh eh, get it? Sign langage, because she make fake signs appear with her semblance. She laughed so much when she first realized the joke.)

''Your sister is an angel.''

Yang raised an eyebrow. Angel? Sure, she didn't disagree, her baby sister was the best little sis ever, but why did she get the feeling that Neo meant something else?

''What do you mean?''

Neo pointed at the books on Yang's bed, which were still open to the relevant pages. The taller girl took a handful of minutes to read and understand the information.

This story of 'The Warrior in the Woods', describing a flash of light that destroyed the Grimm wasn't a version she'd ever heard of before, nor had she ever seen one that described what color her eyes were. And this stuff about angels… This was the first time she saw images of those that weren't with white wings, and these old drawings were suspiciously similar to the description of the silver-eyed woman in the fairy tale.

''But how? This can't be some sort of hereditary semblance like… like the Schnee. Ruby already has her semblance.'' Yang turned back to Neo. ''This is what happened with Ruby, right? This light these books depicts… What is it?''

The mute girl shrugged. ''No idea. Only learned about it today.''

So she was just as much as a loss as she was. Did Gemini know more?

''DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?'' They both heard Yang's father yell.

Surprised and wondering what was happening, they both moved to the top of the stairs and eavesdropped on the conversation.

''Yes. I helped Ruby discover an ability that might save her life one day.'' They heard Gemini argue.

''If only it was that simple!'' Tai said. ''You think you helped her, but you don't even realize that you're actually pushing her into danger!''

Yang and Neo exchanged a look, not knowing what danger he was referring to.

''The Grimm are a danger. Her gift allow her to wipe that danger away.''

''It's not a gift! She'd be safer without it!'' Tai insisted. ''You should never have researched this in the first place, much less sharing it with her!''

''You think keeping this secret would have kept her safe!?'' Gemini exclaimed, stunned at the logic. Yang honestly didn't get it either. ''Mr Xiao-Long, with all due respect, if you think that keeping vital information from Ruby is protecting her, then you're making the same mistake that you're making with Yang about her mother.''

''How I raise my daughters is none of your business! And Yang's mother has nothing to do with this situation!''

No, no. The dialogue went over Yang's head, but she agreed with Gemini on that one. She was all for learning more about the woman who birthed her.

She'd also like actually getting a clear explanation of what was up with Ruby's eyes.

''It becomes my problem when you're getting angry at me because of it! And even if it wasn't, I'd makeit my problem if it puts someone I care about in danger.'' Gemini countered. ''And 'nothing to do'? It's exactly the same problem! Why do you think that hiding such important things from them is preferable to telling them?''

''Listen, you-''

''If Ruby was surrounded by Grimm and about to die, wouldn't it be better if she were able to save herself?''

''That wouldn't happen-''

''Are you kidding!? She wants to be a huntress, of course it'll-''

''Being able to use her eyes is what would make it likely to happens in the first place!''

''What are you even talking about?'' Yeah, what did her dad meant by that?

''That I don't want a repeat of-'' He almost let slip something important, before cutting himself off. ''… Get out of my house.''

Whoa, dad was kicking him out!? That was a bit extreme, but Yang continued to listen in silence.

''Very well.'' Gemini, to her surprised, just accepted it. ''I'll come back another day to see how Ruby's doing.''

''No. You're not coming back, stay away from my daughters.''

Wait, what?

''You can't do that!'' Yang heard, only to realize she was the one who said that.

''Yang!?'' Her dad answered. ''I thought I told you to watch over your sister!''

''It's not my fault that you're so loud we hear you from upstairs!'' She replied. ''And anyway, you can't force Ruby to stop seeing Gemini, he's like, her entire social life!''

''I agree with-''

''Get out!'' Taiyang bellowed, cutting Gemini off.

Cowed by that last yell, Gemini rushed to the door and scurried away into the woods. As he passed in her view from atop the stairs, Yang noticed that he looked like he was holding back tears.

Neo got up from Yang's side and followed her little brother outside, though not before winking at Yang and waving goodbye.

/Flashback end/

''Dad threw Gem out?'' Ruby could barely believe her ears. Worse, he didn't want her to see her friend again? There was no way she could accept that.

''But hey,'' Yang continued, ''on the bright side, uncle Qrow and him talked over the scroll after that. I don't really know what he told dad,'' Notably because she was busy texting Neo during that time, ''but he got him to calm down.''

''So I can still be friend with Gem?'' Ruby asked, hopeful.

That hope was crushed when Yang winced at the question. ''That's… kind of up in the air right now. Dad calmed down, sure, but he's still pretty miffed. Our uncle's planning to visit Gemini today and talk to him, see if he can play mediator a little and try to get the both of them on the same page.''

He said he'd have gone two days ago if he could, but he still had to wrap up his mission and get back to Patch beforehand.

''Well I'm not waiting. I need to see him now.'' Ruby decided, before trying to get out of bed, only to groan in pain as it forced her to sit back down.

''Hey, take it easy.'' Yang said.

''I'm fine, just sore.'' Ruby honestly had had worse. The training sessions uncle Qrow and dad put her through to make sure she'd be able to lift her future weapon left her preferring to vegetate on the couch rather than move more than once.

''I can still walk the way to his house.'' Ruby insisted. Or if not his home, then the shop he managed.

Yang sighed. ''I'm sure you can, but look, it's still early in the day. Taking an extra hour or two won't hurt.''

Ruby grumbled a bit, but layed back down in her bed. ''Fine… But after that, I'm going whether dad or anyone else likes it or not.''

Yang reached down on her head and ruffled her hair. ''Aww… My little sister's gonna sneak out behind dad's back for the first time. They really do grow up fast.''

''Argh, stop that!'' Ruby pushed her big sister's hand away.

Chuckling, Yang got up. ''Rest well, sis. We're gonna go see Gemini later today.''

Leaving the room, Yang opened her scroll and looked at the texts she had received from Neo, who had decided to spite Yang's father for making her little brother sad by babbling about everything she knew about Raven Branwen.

Yang had been regularly staring at the information on her scroll's screen since she had received it three days ago, having a hard time accepting it. A hard time accepting that she was the daughter of a mass murderer. Gemini was right, her search for that woman was dangerous. This was a monster that murdered thousands and wiped off entire towns on a regular basis. If Yang had ever managed to track her down, there was no guarantee Raven wouldn't have just killed her.

Ugh, well at least now her fears that she was abandoned by her progenitor at birth because there was something wrong with her was laid to rest. Turns out the woman who should have been her mom was just a massive, rotten bitch.

Well, screw Raven. The blonde brawler decided that she was just going to live her life and make her dad and mom proud of her. And by 'mom', she meant Summer.

Gods, she missed her homemade cookies. And everything else.

/-/

As I finished putting the cookies in the oven, I heard a knock on the door.

''Sup' kid, how ya doin'?'' Mr Branwen greeted me. He reeked of alcohol, as always. ''Mind if I come in? I'd like to talk with you for a bit.''

''Nope! Nu-uh. You're not coming inside smelling like that, you drunk.'' I said, tipping my sister inside on who was here.

''Ruuude.'' Mr Branwen huffed. ''And since when do you care about the smell of alcohol, anyway?''

''Since you brought it to my home.'' I replied, making him blink.

''Uh… Yeah, that's fair.'' He said. ''But seriously, though, we really do need to talk. It's about your little argument with Tai.''

''… Fine.'' I let him in. ''But I swear if the stench ends up sticking to the walls or something, you'll be the one scrubbing it off.'' Even if it was because of his semblance. Especially if it was because of his semblance.

''Sure, whatever.'' Mr Branwen breathed in the air. ''Nice smell, homemade cookies?''

''Yep.'' To help keep myself in Ruby's good grace. She was pretty angry when I put my head in a Beowolf's head for the funsies, I doubted she was going to be pleased by me purposefully getting an injury and jumping down a cliff.

Dad taught me everything I needed to know about bribes. Sometimes, it wasn't about the quantity, it was about the quality. Oh, and disguising a bribe as a 'gift' made people more comfortable with taking it.

Was it a manipulative way of placating her? Yes.

But it was debatable whether giving her a fake apology I didn't mean was less or more manipulative than this. I'd argue it was better to give her the cookies than the apology. At least she was getting something tangible out of it, even if it probably wouldn't last long. Then again, my cookies were pretty filling, so who knew?

Oh, and yeah, I knew her favorite food wasn't cookies. It was strawberries. Unfortunately, it wasn't the season for that, so right now the ones sold in the markets tasted more like water.

After Mr Branwen came inside, uncle Perry, covered and made invisible thanks to my sister, made his way out of the house. Mr Branwen clearly noticed, given the raised eyebrow he gave toward uncle Perry as he sneaked out of the door. Thankfully, he didn't seem to care much and just shrugged, meaning uncle Perry's identity, which wasn't supposed to be affiliated to my father, was successfully protected. Or at least it would be unless…

''Please tell me you didn't look up which name this property is officially under.''

''Nope!'' The older man grinned. ''I only found this house 'cause I followed you from your training in the woods to here, like how the cops are trying to do from your work. And don't worry, I don't really care what your 'uncle Perry' does as long as he doesn't cause actual trouble.''

Ah, dammit. I did mention Perry a few times with Ruby, before I told her about my real last name. Of course she'd have ended up mentionning that I had an uncle in a casual conversation with her family at some point and that it'd have included his name. That sure would have bit me in the butt hard if Mr Branwen actually cared about it.

''Well, no worry to have there.'' I said, uncle Perry had pretty much been on paid vacation for the last year and a half. The 'job' of taking care of me didn't require much beyond buying groceries, keeping the house clean, and driving me somewhere when I rarely needed it. Uh, well I guess it wasn't really vacations if he was essentially a manservant. ''Wait, was what that about cops?''

''They've been spying on you at your little card shop for weeks now. I'd bet the only reason they haven't found this house is because your little sister's been leading them on false leads.''

I looked at my sister for confirmation. She nodded, before raising a sign adressed to Mr Branwen. ''I'm the older sibling.''

''I know. I was referring to your height. Or lack of.'' Mr Branwen said with a yawn.

Sis flipped him off.

Why were cops trying to trail me?

Okay, I know that question sounded pretty stupid, it was obviously because of my family connexion to THE Torchwick. But what I meant was: Were they investigating me because I was under suspicion for something, were they spying on me because they thought it might lead them to my father, or were they just waiting for an opportunity to make my life difficult just because?

''… Anyway, you wanted to talk?''

''Yeah.'' Mr Branwen said as he sat on the sofa. Man, I really did hope the smell of alcohol wouldn't stick. I wasn't just trying to alert Neo and uncle Perry to get himself out earlier. ''I talked to Tai after you and he had your little argument. I'm trying to help settle this, so I'd like to hear your point of view on this.''

''I'm sure Mr Xiao-Long must have told you already.''

''Yeah, but I wanna see if there's anything you wanted to say before I start.'' Mr Branwen said.

Well, there were a few things, but first. ''I can't blame Mr Xiao-Long for being worried about his daughters, but I just don't understand what about Ruby becoming stronger is scaring him.'' It'd be one thing if he knew about the strangeness surrounding the Rose lineage and the ex-nobility, but it didn't seem to be the reason he had gotten so worked up.

Mr Branwen grunted at that, a hint of sadness in his eyes. ''It does appear as nothing other than a great boon, doesn't it? I remember when Summer unlocked her own eyes… The entire team, all four of us… We called it a 'gift' too, just like you did a few days ago.''

''What happened?'' I asked.

He let out a long, tired sigh. ''After she learned what she could do, Summer decided that her 'gift' would be wasted if she didn't make use of it. She strove to master it, so that she could save as much people as possible. And she did save lots of people too. Hundreds, thousands, easily more than that… But after we graduated Beacon and settled down, she didn't.''

Ah, I believed I was starting to understand what he was getting at.

''She kept taking missions.'' The not-quite sober man continued. ''That in itself would have been fine, I guess. But the problem is that she kept taking more and more dangerous missions, alone, thinking herself invincible against the Grimm. Tai and I believed the same too, thought that she was invincible, thought that no matter what Grimm she faced, she'd always come back.''

''And she did, until she didn't.'' Wouldn't they have been worried about Salem's agents, though? Or had they already killed those she had back then and thought it'd take a while before she'd be able to cause harm to Summer? I wish I could ask about that subject and get some clarification, but I couldn't do that without revealing I knew about Salem.

''Until she didn't.'' He nodded. ''Ruby's so obviously cut from the same cloth as her mother, so Tai has always dreaded the day she'd find out about her silver eyes, fearing she'd do the same thing as Summer. He doesn't hate you for bringing that secret into the light. He know you just fumbled onto that old fairy tales book and followed the thread from there, and thought you were just helping Ruby, but it brought up a lot of old fears and worries he's kept hidden for years.''

After mulling over what Mr Branwen said for a bit, I spoke up. ''I understand better where Mr Xiao-Long was coming from, but if I may-'' I was cut off by a ding coming from the kitchen. ''Ah, the cookies!''

Mr Branwen watched me with amusement as I ran toward the oven and took the plates out of the oven after putting on the mitts. I then took two other plates from the fridge and put them in the oven before setting the timer.

I let the cookies rest an hour in the fridge because whether they held their shape depended on how warm the ingredient were. Cooling them for an hour before baking them in the oven made sure they wouldn't spread too much, even with a recipe whose ingredients would normally make it spread a lot.

''No.'' I said to my sister, whose hand was reaching toward the fresh cookies. ''We need to wait for a few minutes for them to cool down a bit. I'll tell you when they'll be ready to be eaten.'' I might be making those for Ruby, but having a taste tester first wouldn't hurt. This was the first time I baked cookies in this life after all, better make sure I hadn't lost my touch.

Neo pouted, but relented, leaving the cookies alone for now.

I turned my attention back to Mr Branwen. ''Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. If I may, It's precisely because Ruby is so similar to her mother that telling her about her eyes at a young age and teaching her not to grow overconfident because of them, along with being careful with her own life, is what should have been done.'' Nature vs nurture, both played a role in how an individual would turn out as a person. If they were worried about Ruby's nature bringing her to the same end as Summer, then the solution was to choose the correct way to nurture her, not pray and hope that what was always going to happen in some point in her life wouldn't happen.

Of course, Salem and her Grimm weren't the only danger Ruby faced because of her eyes, but whether or not she knew how to use her power wouldn't stop those of the old nobility in the know from recognizing her eye color if they ever got a look at her face. All in all, being unable to use her eyes offered zero advantage over knowing how.

''That's…'' Mr Branwen frowned. ''That's not wrong per say, but it's much easier said than done. How can we know for sure the lessons would stick? That it'd be enough? I admit I shared Tai's fear too, but knowing there'd be people ready to have her back would be a lot more reassuring.''

''I have her back.'' I said. Me alive, I wouldn't accept Ruby dying from anything but old age.

''No you don't.'' Mr Branwen scoffed. ''You said yourself that you didn't want to be a huntsman. You might be willing to help her in other ways, but if something ever happened to her on the field, you wouldn't be there.''

''That's…'' I didn't know what to say. My face took on a neutral expression, as I dwelved into my thoughts.

He was right, without being a huntsman, Ruby's safety during a mission would be out of my hands. If she were to be in danger, there was nothing I could do. I'd need to become a huntsmen to come with her. But a life of fighting… I hated the idea.

Once Cinder was dead and one of the relic gone permanently, I'd be fine with retiring and just having my own home in which to have and raise several kids. Being a stay-at-home dad sounded pretty cozy to me. Well, okay, not quite 'stay-at-home', considering the business I made, but still pretty much at home most of the time, what with my semblance giving me the extra hours to do both.

I didn't want to be a huntsman, I didn't want to build my life around fighting hordes of Grimm for decades to come. But between my ideal future and Ruby's life… Deep down, I knew which one I should priorise, which one I should choose. But despite knowing what the right choice to make was, it was still a difficult decision to make. As were all life-altering choices, I'd wager.

I supposed I was ultimately a shitty and selfish person, to hesitate between my best friend's life and my own comfort.

''Either way,'' Mr Branwen continued, pulling me back from my musing, ''its not like we even knew how to help her unlock her eyes' power, so all we could do was wait for it to happen.''

''You could have just faked your death in front of her. Worked for me.''

He eyed me with suspicion. ''How did you even knew it was how it worked?''

''Hey, I didn't just see an old fairy tale and called it a day. After finding a bunch of old myths that made it more and more obvious that there was something special about silver eyes, I pushed the research further.''

''Uh uh, that's cool. What does 'further' means exactly?'' Mr Branwen tried to come off as nonchalant when he asked this, but there was still a bit of an edge in his voice.

''Ask me no question I cannot answer and I shall tell no lie.'' I said, shrugging as I held my hands on the sides of my shoulder, palms upward.

Mr Branwen didn't like my answer, however, and sat straight with a frown. ''Brat, I'm not playing. I can't just ignore this, especially if you don't want to say what you did.''

Ah, shit. He went from cool uncle to veteran huntsman… Aaaaand now sis was tensing, not liking his tone and where this was going. I better de-escalate this fast.

''Alright, alright.'' I said, gesturing Neo to calm down. ''I… Are you sure we can't reach an agreement along the lines of 'don't ask question, pretend the answer doesn't matter'?

His eyes narrowed. ''If it wasn't about my niece, maybe. But it is, so no.''

That was… He was right, this was a family matter to him, so he did have ground to demand answers.

''Okay, then.'' I could only hope he wouldn't take this badly. ''I snuck into the restricted section of the VRL and read the records of the Rose noble family.''

Both my sister and Mr Branwen looked at me in shock, their eyes wide.

''You wha- wait.'' Ruby's uncle said, completely lost. ''Noble? Since when did Summer and Ruby had anything to do with the nobility?''

''Since always? You were on a team with her, how did you not know about this?'' I asked, bewildered. I couldn't seriously be the first one to find out about this, right?

''No? Summer was an orphan, she never even knew who her parents were. Hell, she was so poor that she couldn't even afford a mechashift weapon before getting to Beacon. Oz was the one who paid for her to have one.'' Mr Branwen explained.

And Ozpin never said anything? I was 99% certain that he was King Ozias, he had to know. Why did he leave her in the dark?

''Uh, well Ruby descend from a long lineage of knights from the nobility. I read about silver eyes directly from old monarchic era reports and put the pieces together, that's how I knew, or at least had a vague idea, how to help her activate her eyes.'' I said, mixing truth and lies. Something that had become too common in my life to my taste. ''Am I in trouble?''

''Why would you be?'' Mr Branwen asked, giving me a strange look.

''You were the one who said you didn't care about me being from a criminal family as long as I didn't break the law. It's illegal to go into the restricted section of the VRL without the council's autorisation.''

''Meh,'' he shrugged, ''it ain't like you broke an actually important one. That restriction only exist because the council wants to keep their cards close to their chest. I'm concerned with the laws that exist to actually protect people. As long as you don't rob some poor shmuck or something, we're cool.''

''Oh, well I'm glad.'' I gave a look at the clock, before taking one of the cookies I made and giving it to my sister. ''Here, the cookies waited long enough.''

Her eyes grew in surprise and delight. She looked at me with unsaid questions written on her face, wondering since when did I cook, and since when was I good at it.

''I am a man of many talents, some of which I keep hidden in my sleeve.'' Also, I only knew how to bake bread, cookies, and a pretty good chocolate cake. The best I could do for anything else was to follow the instructions. So I really wasn't that great of a cook, considering what little I could do, but what I could do, I did pretty alright.

''Aren't you just 13? Bit young for a 'man'.'' Mr Branwen quipped.

''A boy of many talents, then.'' I said, taking the comment in stride. ''Also, I'll be 14 soon.'' Okay, maybe I didn't take it that much in stride.

I put the rest of the cookies into a box I had prepared for this, just in time for the second batch being finished and ready to get out of the oven.

''Do you want one, Mr Branwen?'' I offered him, since it'd be kind of a dick move not to when he was right there.

''Nah, I'll pass. Not much point when the only thing I can taste right now's my 90% alcohol whiskey.''

''Uh, makes sense.'' I nodded, before I realised what he said. ''Wait, 90% alcohol!?'' How was he even alive?

''Yeah, I know, it's not much, but it's so hard to find a provider for a real drink.'' Mr Branwen said, annoyed, before grumbling under his breath. I didn't quite catch what he said, something about how it was bullshit that he couldn't use a liquid for personal consumption just because it had a level of ethanol that was 'for medical use only'.

My sister gave him a look, horrified at how much the drunken huntsman's habit was unhealthy.

Some time passed, as I finished and cooled off the second batch of cookies, and the door's bell rang.

As soon as I opened the door, a red blur crashed into me and I fell on my ass with a small yelp. I patted Ruby's head as her arms squeezed around me. Yang, who was standing right alongside Ruby before the door opened, gave me an amused smirk.

My hand froze when Ruby looked up and glared at me, her eyes shooting daggers.

Oh, right. I faked my own death right in front of her. I opened my mouth to try to say something, but was cut off when Ruby grabbed me by the collar.

''How could you do that!?'' Ruby exclaimed, holding back the tears moistening her eyes. ''I woke up thinking you were dead, dead!'' Then she buried her head in my chest and hugged me again. ''Don't you ever dare do that again.'' She said, her voice muffled.

''Not that it's not adorable or anything, but aren't you girls supposed to be at home?'' Ruby and Yang stiffened when they heard Mr Branwen's voice.

''Gah! Uncle Qrow!? Fancy seeing you here! Ha ha ha…'' Yang said loudly, forcing a laugh at the end before her voice became more subdued. ''We were… kind of hoping we wouldn't have come at the same time you'd be here.''

''Yeah, I bet you were.'' Mr Branwen chuckled. ''Don't worry, I'm not going to punish you for sneaking out.''

''Phew.'' Yang let out, relieved to hear that. That relief didn't last long.

''Tai'll take care of it. I doubt he'll be happy you sneaked out, or that he hasn't noticed by now.''

''Ugh, well, at least I'm used to being punished for that.''

''Suuure, but you don't usually bring Ruby along.'' Mr Branwen pointed out, making Yang wince as she realised she was likely to get a bigger punition for that.

Sneaking out was something she did quite a few times, either to go to a friend's party or to search in the less savory parts of town for information about her birth mother. Her father was never happy about that, but it had come to be expected she'd do stuff like that. Ruby, on the other hand? That was a first.

''This time I'm the one who decided to sneak out, though. Yang just helped.'' Ruby said, still gripping me with one of her hands even after she mostly let go of me, as if she was scared I'd disappear. ''Not that it's what matters right now. You, apologize!'' She demanded from me.

''Nope. Not apologizing.'' I replied. ''I'm not going to apologize for something I'm not sorry for.''

''Not sorry for!? You faked your death right in front of me! Do you know how distressing that was?''

''I can only imagine.'' I said, before smirking. ''But Ruby, if you saw a child being attacked by a Beowolf, would you be sorry for intervening?''

Ruby, and her sister, gave me a perplexed look. ''Of course not, but what does that has to do with what you did?''

''To an unarmed child, a Beowolf is a major threat, but to you, who's been training to fight the Grimm, it's a minor, almost non-existent risk. I took a small, calculated risk in a semi-controlled environment to help you acquire something that would allow you to overcome great risks in the future. I won't apologize for that.'' In fact, I'd do it again if I needed to.

''… That's kind of a terrible comparison, though.'' Ruby said, looking at me like I was dumb, as was Yang.

I mean, I was going for a risk/reward justification, but I guessed on the surface comparing jumping off a cliff to facing a measly Beowolf was a bit on the weak side as far as arguments went.

''W-well, anyway.'' I got up, getting Ruby off of me at the same time, and went to get the box with the cookies. ''I did prepare a small gift to make amend.''

Ruby opened the box and revealed its content.

''Really, Gemini? I know my little sister's got a sweet tooth, but do you really think you can just buy her with- RUBY! Stop stuffing your face like that, you're undermining what I'm saying!'' Yang said, as Ruby ate one cookie after ano- Wait, actually she stopped after the fifth one.

''Uh, can't take anymore for now.'' Ruby said, holding a hand on her stomach.

Yeah, I myself couldn't usually eat more than three at a time either. Four if I was feeling really hungry, which I haven't since my aura was unlocked, because semblance.

''Wow, they're that bad?'' Yang joked.

''Oh no, they are good, better than mines, or yours. It's just that they're really filling.'' Ruby said, earning me a skeptical look from Yang.

''You can be serious? I've been baking cookies for you since years, there's no way his are better than mine.'' The blonde said, sounding almost offended. Wait, no, she was actually offended.

''But they are.'' Ruby insisted, handing a cookie to Yang. ''Here, try it.''

Yang took a bite and her eyes widened in surprise. ''Oh gods, they really are… Almost like...'' She whispered, before turning to me. ''How?''

Well, the recipe was one I had learned in my past life. I got it from a youtube tutorial made by a professional cook. Since it was a recipe from someone with experience, it was bound to be a pretty good one. ''If you want the recipe, I don't mind sharing it.''

''I'll be holding you to that.'' Yang said, holding a finger in front of my face.

''So will I.'' Ruby said. ''I wanna learn too.''

''Alright.'' In fact, as I thought about it… ''It still have enough ingrediants to make more, so I could show you now if you want to.''

The girls grinned and accepted the offer. But as we walked toward the kitchen, Mr Branwen got up and adressed me.

''I'll be going back home.'' He said. '' Don't worry too much about Tai. Everything'll be fine once he works past the knee-jerk reaction.''

I'd like to believe that, but part of me had a hard time quelling the worrying. ''Is there anything I could do for that?''

''Mmh.'' He took a moment to think about it. ''Well, you could start by not do stuff on your own next time you discover something important about his daughters, for one. That's about the only thing that made him legitimately pissed at you.''

''T-that's fair. I promise I'll come to talk to him first about any new secret I might discover, even if it's unlikely to have any other than the silver eyes thing.'' I said, scratching the back of my head. I was lying my ass off and I knew it… Although, technically, if they were secrets I knew before making the promise, they didn't really count as 'newly discovered', right?

Yeah, no. That was still breaking the spirit of the promise. I was full of shit.

''That's great, here's hoping you keep your word.'' Mr Branwen said, almost making me winced. It felt like he was calling me out, even if I couldn't actually know if he was awared that I was lying.

No, I was pretty sure he'd be more direct if he knew. He cared about his nieces a lot. Either way, there was something else I wanted to say.

I nodded. ''And also, I've been thinking about what you said earlier and… Fine, I'll consider it, becoming a huntsman.'' Another lie. I'd have meant this one, but with Cinder coming before I'd be of age to get into Beacon, that wasn't going to happen. But if lying about becoming a huntsman would help Mr Xiao-Long and Mr Branwen think that they could trust me with Ruby a little more, then I was going to make use of it.

And who knew, maybe defeating Cinder and saving the world would give me a solid claim by feat to argue in favor of giving me a huntsman license. This wasn't standard procedure, but the headmaster of a huntsman academy did have the authority to just hand one over to someone if they felt like it. That way I could go with Ruby on the field without having to waste 4 years in school.

I guessed, if worse came to worse, I could always intimidate the cowardliest of them into giving me one. 'Don't worry about what Salem could do to you in the future, Leo. Worry about what I can do to you now.'

… Although, this Cackler thing did say it wanted me to win a tournament. It was obviously talking about the Vytal Tournament, though I didn't know why it had an interest in that, so something was probably going to happens to force me into Beacon or something. So maybe I wasn't lying?

Mr Branwen looked at me in surprised, but before he had the chance to say anything, Ruby crashed into me, squealing. At least I managed to stay on my feet this time, if barely.

''That's awesome! We gonna be the coolest and bestest team ever.'' Ruby said.

Right, I hadn't told her that she was going to be recruited into Beacon two years early, so she didn't know we wouldn't be on the same year anyway. I could tell her, but then I was worried she'd take her admission at Beacon for granted and slack off.

As I tried to get Ruby off of me, under her sister and uncle's amused stares, I didn't noticed the disapproving glance from Neo.

/-/

Adam placed the documents he was reading back on the table, a cold sweat running on the back of his neck.

He had passed the past three months searching through the Albains' archives. He would come in when the White Fang's archives where mostly empty and go into the Albains' locked section when nobody was looking to take the papers, before sitting at a table to read them. He kept his own mission report with him when doing so, putting them over the Albains' whenever someone passed by to make it look as if he was reviewing his own missions. So far, the excuse of him wanting to keep his performance on the field up worked well enough, but some people were already starting to find his attitude to be unusual and ask questions. Blake included.

Nevertheless, the excuse held long enough for him to complete his objective. Well, sort of. He still didn't know why exactly the two brothers murdered Ilia (though he did have a pretty good guess), but he did find three instances of them having betrayed the Faunus.

First, the Albains and some of their close and loyal allies had led missions to sabotage Schnee mining camps. These would be pretty standard covert operations, if it wasn't for the fact that these sabotage consisted of causing explosions disguised as accidents to make the survivors and their families and friends to hate the SDC and humans and raise the White Fang's recruitment numbers. Of course, the White Fang needed a healthy income of new troops, but this way of doing it was unacceptable, a betrayal of everything they stood for.

Adam also recalled that Blake had once mentionned Ilia had joined the organisation after her parents died in such an incident. So unless he remembered that wrong, then it was likely to be why the Albains had killed her, because she had found out about it and they needed to silence her. He could be mistaken, but that was the only lead that made sense to him.

The second treason he had found about was that they've been sabotaging some members of the White Fang. Specifically, they've been sabotaging the missions of people who didn't agree with them and backing those who did, forming their own shadow faction inside the White Fang, at the expense of everyone else. By doing this, the Albains had not only undermined Sienna's authority, but caused the failure of some missions and the death of fellow Faunus, again. Some of these Faunus were people Adam had known, trained with and worked with before.

The third treason was one that they hadn't technically done yet, but he couldn't forgive it either. The Albains had drafted plans for a takeover of both the White Fang and Kuo Kuana, for once they determined that Sienna and the Belladonnas weren't of use to their cause anymore and that something more was needed for the Faunus. Pulling that off would require the assassination of Sienna and Ghira, and included either using Blake as an hostage against her parents and/or getting rid of her. Adam knew he couldn't allow that.

He needed to talk to Sienna.

/-/

Mr Xiao-Long stared at me, as I stood in front of his front door.

''So… how have you been, kid?'' He said, breaking the awkward silence.

''Uh, I've been alright? I think?''

''Good, good…'' Mr Xiao-Long sighed. ''Sorry for last time, I… overreacted and lashed out at you, for things that were mostly not your fault.''

I frowned. ''No, it's… Ruby's your daughter, I ought to have told you I knew about something as important about her as her eyes, rather than go behind your back. My own conduct left much to be desired, I'm the one who should apologize.''

''… Apology accepted then, I hope you won't do it again.''

''I won't.'' I lied. As much as I wish I was telling the truth, I had to keep my mouth shut about Salem, for now.

''Did you two made up yet?'' Ruby's voice came from upstair.

''Yes, we did!'' Mr Xiao-Long answered.

''Awesome!'' She exclaimed before I heard her running on the floor of the house and her head poked from behind her father. ''Wanna spar?'' She asked.

''No, I do not want to be on the receiving side of Crescent Rose.'' That didn't sound like a good time to me, just a painful one.

/-/

''… So that's how it is.'' Sienna sighed over the Scroll.

It took a few days for Adam to not only arrange a secure line, but also make absolutely sure he was alone to call Sienna.

''Yes. The Albains are traitors. They must be dealt with.'' He had told her everything he had discovered about the Albains.

Sienna didn't disagree with him, but the question was how to deal with them. The Albains had their own people in key positions, on top of how they'd gained the trust of the ranks and files. If they came out with the evidence Adam found and confronted the Albains publicly, their men would strike out, a reaction the White Fang couldn't afford, not with their chain of command compromised. At best, the White Fang would break apart and balkanize, becoming several small and independant terrorist organisations that couldn't hope to stand up to Atlas on their own. At worst, the Albains would manage to take over the White Fang, with them either burying the evidence or slandering it on her or others. Neither of these outcome were acceptable.

She explained as much to Adam, who wasn't pleased with it, but understood it was a problem.

''So if we can't move against them openly, then what can we do?'' He asked. Letting them get away with their bullshit was out of question.

Sienna sighed. ''The only way is to slowly limit their influence and get rid of their agents until they aren't able to strike against us anymore. Then, we could arrest and judge them publicly for their treason.''

''But that could take months, maybe even years.'' Adam snarled. ''Who know how much damage they will do during that time, they must be dealt with now.''

''I know, but the only way to get rid of them without delay would be to assassinate them.''

''Then let's do that!?'' Adam said, not seeing why they couldn't.

''Mmh… And who are we sending for that job?'' Sienna asked. ''It can't be me, for more than obvious reasons, and it can't be someone who isn't privy to what we know. It's too much of a risk that they'll fail to keep the secret, even if they'd even been on board with it in the first place.''

Plus, whoever would do that mission would be branded a traitor since the whole point was to keep the reason for doing this secret, Adam realised.

He also realised that if Sienna couldn't fulfil that role due to being High Leader and they couldn't bring someone else into this, then that left only him. That wasn't the path he wished to have, what he wanted was to strike back at Atlas, especially the SDC. But…

''Fine, I'll do it.'' He said nonetheless.

''Are you sure? You'll be branded a traitor.'' Sienna asked.

''It needs to be done.''

''… Yes, it does.'' She admitted. ''But how are you planning to survive afterward? You'll be alone, with both Atlas and those in the White Fang loyal to the Albains who'll want you dead.''

''I'll manage. At any rate, I have a better chance of staying alive than most.'' Adam said, and Sienna had to aknowledge he had a point.

The tiger girl took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opened them, the High Leader of the White Fang looked at Adam with a firm gaze. ''Adam Taurus, I'm giving you the mission of assassinating Corsac and Fennec Albains. After this, you'll play the role of a traitor to the White Fang for a time, during which you will hunt down those loyal to the Albains traitors. To facilitate this, we will remain in communication through secure lines.''

''I accept the mission.'' Adam nodded, with only the barest of hesitations. ''… About Blake.''

''She cannot know, same as anyone else. If we're lucky, it might be possible to bring you back into the Fang afterward. Maybe by revealing the truth about the Albains and give an official lie about how you found out about them and, unable to confront them in the open about it, decided to act on your own.'' It was close enough to the truth that it wouldn't be hard for people to believe. The important part was that people didn't know she approved of executing other high-ranking member in a complete disregard for due process. That would destroy any trust their people had in her, regardless of the Albains' guilt.

Also, having Adam's name cleansed in the future was a bit of a long shot, but that gave an objective to work torward after this job was done. Whether she could one day take him back into the White Fang depended on how the members reacted and what they would think of Adam once the truth was out, and if she would get a good opportunity to tell it.

She was expecting them to consider that getting rid of dangerous traitors would outweight the bout of vigilantism and agree to give him a chance, but their people could also decides that he was too much of a wild card to trust amongst their ranks.

''Very well, then I will take my leave for now.'' Adam didn't let it show, in part thanks to his mask, but he was relieved that his life in the White Fang would only be temporarily ruined and that he'd take it back one day. '' Soon, the Albains' blood will stain my blade.''

/-/

''You know, it's pretty weird to not kill a Grimm that's right in front of us.'' Yang said, looking at the immobilized Beowolf.

Ruby, Neo and I went back to the forest for Ruby to train using her eyes at will. Yang came with us, because the cat was out of the bag so there was no reason to continue Ruby's training without her family knowing about it.

''Eh, that'll come soon enough.'' I said. ''We're just waiting for Ruby to activate the sparkly dazzlers.''

''I'm trying, you said it was an emotional trigger?''

''Yep, so just… Think back on how you felt when you thought I died and how much you don't want that to happen? Not quite sure which emotion exactly triggers it, but it should be along those lines.'' All she needed to do was experiment with her emotions until she hit the mark.

''Alright… But please don't call it 'sparkly dazzlers'. It's a dumb name.''

''Yeah, you could have picked something… brighter than that.'' Yang said, pretty proud of her pun.

Right, Ruby's eyes, light-related puns. Man, I wished I'd have thought of it sooner.

Ruby groaned, much less impressed by her sister's wits. ''Yang, please let me focus.''

''Ruby is right, we should shut up so that she can give it a glow.'' I said.

Yang wheezed.

''Gem!'' Ruby said.

''Alright, alright. Sorry, I had to put one in.'' I said, chuckling. ''Not one more word, I promise.''

We had to wait over 5 minutes, but after a while a bright flash came out of Ruby's eyes. It was much smaller than the first time, nowhere near as powerful, but she did it. She managed to call upon that power on her own, and the Beowolf disappeared under the flash of light.

With pratice, she should be able to use it faster.

An idea popped into my mind.

''''That was lit!'''' Yang and I said at the same time, before looking at each other. We laughed and high-fived.

''Ugh… I swear I will stab both of you.''

''Hey, dad, I and your best friend-''

''Dad, your best friend and I.'' I corrected Yang, who ignored me.

''-all loves puns, a this point you're better off embracing them.''

Ruby huffed, and seemed like she was about to say something when she fell forward. I moved just in time to catch her before she hit the ground.

''Rubes? You alright?'' A concerned Yang asked.

''Y-yeah, just tired.''

''Using your eyes should put less of a strain on you as you get used to it. Do you think you can walk the way back home?'' I asked the girl in my arms.

''I think so- Eep!'' She tried to get up, but wobbled back onto me. ''Uh, nevermind, I guess.''

I frowned, before deciding to pick her up.

Ruby yelped as I put an arm below her legs and lifted her. Her hands instinctively gripping my clothes when she stopped touching the ground.

''G-Gem!? What are you doing?'' She said, a slight blush on her cheeks.

''Carrying you back at your home? We're not waiting for you to rest until you can walk again, not in a Grimm-infested forest.''

''I- but-''

''Say cheese.'' Yang said, before a bright flash came from her scroll. Why was she taking a picture?

''Yang!'' Ruby's head whipped toward her sister, unamused.

''What? Look at how embarassed you are, this is prime teasing material.''

Ruby rolled her eyes in annoyance, before her eyes widened and she turned to me, her face as red as the tips of her hair. ''Wait, Gem, is this how you brought me back home last time?''

''Yeah. I mean, I wasn't going to just grab a leg and drag you on the ground.'' I said, confused as to why they were making such a fuss about it.

Yang sent a copy of the picture to Neo, who grinned as she received it.

''W-well, you can let me go now. You don't need to carry me like this.'' Ruby said.

Now she was just being silly. ''Like I said, we're not waiting here until you feel better. It's the princess carry or the piggyback ride, your pick.''

''You know Yang can carry me too, right?'' Ruby asked.

''… Oh my God, I didn't even think of that! You're right.'' I agreed, before shoving Ruby in her sister's arms. Yang wasn't here the first time, so I had to do it myself. This time, though, I didn't have to.

''So…'' Yang looked at her little sister. ''Piggyback? Feels like it's been years since I've carried you on my back.''

''Neither. I'm already feeling better, I can stand on my own.'' Ruby said, wiggling her way out of Yang's arms and then stood on her feet. ''I'm not a baby anymore.'' She grumbled.

Yang's hand reached out to ruffle Ruby's hair, but the moment was cut short when a lone Ursa poked its snout out of the foliage, advancing toward us. All four of us noticed it.

''See? We wasted time and now we got another one to take care off before going back.'' I complained. ''Well, at least it's more pratice for you, Rubes. Try to use your eyes again while I distract it.''

''Eh? Wait-'' I didn't listen to Ruby's protests before jumping in front of the Ursa, who started to attack me. It was too slow to touch me, though, so I had no trouble dodging until Ruby managed to activate her eyes again.

Hey, it took her one less minutes than before. She was getting the hang of it.

Then she face-planted on the ground, the exhaustion having built-up too much. Yang was the one to carry her on her back.

/-/

Fennec's aura broke.

This was the end, and he knew it. Even his older brother laid dead, his body bisected by Wilt's blade.

''You… t-traitor…'' He said, before yelping as Adam lifted him up by the throat.

''You call me a traitor? After everything your brother and you have done!?'' The black horned Faunus was seething at the gall Fennec had.

''What we have- What are you talking about!?''

''I read your private documents, the things you've done, what you were planning to. Murdering fellow Faunus, sabotaging other cells to profit from the power vacuum, overthrowing Sienna and the Belladonna. It is you and your brother who are the traitors. Well… were.''

The defeated man's eyes widened. How had Adam discovered this? The only copy of the key able to access those papers belonged to his brother and him.

''W-wait, we only did what we had to do in order to prepare a real revolution. Sienna only seek to intimidate the Humans into giving us equality, but our kind's true place in the world isn't below or equal to the Humans, it is above them. It's how things should be, because we are superior to them by divine-''

Fennec's words were cut off by pain, as Adam's blade pierced through his heart.

''I've heard enough.'' Was all he said, before giving a few other stabs, to the lungs this time.

Then Adam let the dying man fall to the ground, before turning around and making his exit, stepping over the body of the guards.

The Albains were cowards, who stayed in their camps rather than lead their men on the field. That was rather convenient, giving him an opening to kill them when there was almost nobody alongside them, but he needed to get out of there before the rest of the cell came back from their mission.

He didn't know how complicit the guards left were with the Albains, so he aimed to knock them out whenever he could, but he was still forced to kill a few amongst them.

Fennec's vision grew dark, as he quickly bled out and drowned in his blood.

/-/

Racist. Abuser. Die. Freedom for the Faunus. Rise. Slaver. Down with the Humans.

My eye twitched as I stared at my vandalized shop. The White Fang didn't just stop at graffitis, which could just be washed in less than a day and was a minor annoyance, they also smashed the windows and broke in to threw the merch on the floor, damaging some of the products in the process.

And yes, it was the White Fang. If the symbol of the organisation they painted alongside the other graffitis didn't make that obvious enough, the security cameras clearly showcased the uniforms and masks they wore.

''Grab a towel, some soap and water and start cleaning.'' I said to Flax, who had paled and swore he didn't have anything to do with this when he saw the damage. Of course he didn't, the White Fang just heard a Faunus worked here and that the manager was a Human and automatically assumed he had to be treated more like a slave than an employee. ''I have to go make a few calls.'' Notably, calling someone to fix the windows, the insurances, file a report of vandalism, and a few other things.

''So, I'm not fired?'' My Faunus employee asked.

''Why would you be? I'm well aware that you're innocent.'' I said with a plastic smile on my face. ''Of course, firing you would help me avoid something like this in the future but, you see, I'm more easily motivated by spite rather than profit, lucky you.''

''E-eep.'' Flax immediately ran to take the material to start cleaning. Was I that scary?

Anyway, I put on the news while we were cleaning up the place, just for the sake of having background noise while we worked on fixing the place.

I was thus pleasantly surprise to hear that Adam Taurus had apparently murdered the Albains and betrayed the White Fang. Of course, Atlesian, Valean and Mistralian authorities responded by gracing him of all past crimes (Vacuo never bothered with pursuing the White Fang in the first place, what with the lack of centralized law enforcement.) They did want to encourage as much members as possible to leave the White Fang, not intimidate them into staying.

Still, I didn't expect Adam to go rogue. Did I do that?

Eh, whatever, busted shop in exchange for their most lethal fighter. I'll consider that a win.

… Wait, no! Shit. Without Adam to try and blow up civilians, Blake might not leave the White Fang, and without Blake, convincing Ilia to leave would be much harder too.

I'm sorry, I didn't want to ruin these two's redemption arc! I take it back, I take it back! It's not a win! I didn't want to trade Blake and Ilia for Adam! Go back! Load last save! Something! Crap…

/-/

Several months later, during the evening, Jimmy Vanille, current holder of the Industrial District's council seat, was relaxing in his private home, sipping on a glass of wine, when he received an e-mail.

Half expecting it to be an ad or something equally unimportant, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw that it was information coming from one of the people bribed by him to forward any information they believed would interest him.

That particular one was a clerk working at a patent office, and oh boy was Jimmy very interested in the patent document the clerk sent him.

Councillor Vanille smirked, with this, Vale would be able to stop that thrice damned Jacques from tightening his grip on Vale's economy. They might even be able to push back against him and reclaim the power and wealth that used to be that of their kingdom.

That smirk turned into a snarl when he saw the name of the owner of the patent. That was a name he despised.

That 'hydroelectricity' was going to change the balances of power on all of Remnant, and the one to control this new technology was going to reap the benefits. There was no way that he was letting this 'Gemini Torchwick' be that one, not someone apparantly related to that vile rat.

He grabbed his scroll and made a call.

''I was in the middle of something, so this better be important, Vanille.'' The displeased voice of John Blackland answered.

And that's a wrap!

Now, the announcement:

I've thought of actually doing a Duel Tournament with the characters, yes. I have, however, been hesitating on doing so. This is the RWBY fandom, shouldn't the main focus be on, well, RWBY? I'm worried that putting too much of Yu-Gi-Oh in the fic might be a mistake. At the same time, an advice I've read many times was to write what I liked, and I very much like the idea of a tournament with RWBY's characters.

I wasn't sure what to do, but having TwistedView's review about the toournament gave me an idea. The idea being of asking for you input.

I'm going to make a poll so I can have a general idea of your opinions. There are just two things to keep in mind. 1) The poll has several options, but will only influence whether or not I will choose to go through with the tournament, any Duel planned in the game outside of that tournament will remain unaffected (althought those will remain few in number, like, only a handful.) 2) The tournament, whether it happens or not, will be a decently long time away from now.

Thank you for your time.

This chapter's name is, well, because the focus shifted a little toward what Adam is doing and he's doing an assassination, so I took his name and mixed it with Assassin's Creed. Couldn't come up with a title relating to what was happening with Gemini, since it was kind of a downtime chapter for him.

Ilia: ''Wait, the Albains are death, where are they?''

*Click on a button* *A trapdoor opens on the floor, hot flames comes out of it*

The Albains: ''AAAAAAAAH, IT BURNS! IT BURNS!''

*Reclick on the button* *Trap door close*

Ilia: 0_0

Next chapter, Monopoly, will be out as soon as I can make it.

Have a nice day, everyone.