Hello.
To start with, I would like to make an official apology for the way I've been conducting myself so far.
While RWBY isn't a perfect show, and the writers aren't perfect either, my constant criticising of the show and the writers have gone too way, and my attitude crossed lines I should never have crossed.
After the disappointment of Volume 5, I was angry at how bad it was, and dealt with it in the worse way possible by approaching the followings Volumes looking for excuses to justify that anger. Because of this, I wasn't looking at the show objectively and jumped into the haters' echo chambers, listening and repeating arguments that I, were I in my normal state of mind, would, and should, have been able to see the flaws in.
I have said things that wrongly represented the show, making arguments that were often hypocritical, cherry picking, strawmanning and misconstruing the events of the canon show.
I am ashamed of the toxic behavior I exhibited in the author's notes so far. I was acting like a complete asshole.
I will endeavor to not repeat it and act in a more positive manner. This include replacing the post-disclaimer's canon bashing that I had taken the habit of doing with explaining why what I said in previous AN was wrong, in an effort to fix the mistakes I've made.
I hope you can forgive me, and that you all will continue to enjoy my story better now that I'm back to normal and will not be so negative anymore. If you agreed with the points I levied against the show in previous ANs, and are confused by this apology, things will become a little clearer as the following chapter's ANs breakdown the things I said and why they were wrong.
Thankfully, I somehow managed to keep my previous views from affecting how I wrote the characters. Probably because deep down, I already knew I was wrong. That means I don't have to rewrite the story and can simply continue as is.
The only cases where my toxic mindset affected the writing of my fic is in some of Gemini's internal dialogue, where I inserted canon bashing. There are three ways I can fix this particular problem. 1) Rewrite all such canon bashing and edit them out of the fic. 2) Declare them non-canon to the story and Gemini's character and proceed the fic as if it never happened. 3) Make use of what is a rare opportunity.
See, the thing about Self-Insert fics is that the SI characters is almost always a static character. This is likely die to the nature of self-insert stories, as the SI characters tend to be an idealized version of the writer. This is why good SI stories are good because of how the world reacts and change at the contact of the SI character, not because of the mc having a character arc for the character to experience grow and change. But here, my mistakes give me the opportunity to build on said mistakes to create a genuine, naturally-occuring character arc for an SI character.
It may be too bold and ambitious to try and pull this off, and it might harm the fic instead of making it better. But at the same time, it doesn't feel right to not try it, and let the opportunity waste away when I might never see such an opportunity again when writing a story. Of course, even if I try to pull this off, the canon bashing from Gemini will stop in the story until I decide that it's time to bring it up again for the character arc.
Anyway. I would like to thank G119 for calling me out on my bullshit and bringing me back to my senses. Thanks to you, I've fallen back in love (figuratively talking, of course) with what used to be my favourite show.
That's right. The writer gets a redemption arc in his own author notes. Doesn't happens that often.
If you've made it this far into the fic, thank you for bearing through the toxicity. I promise to do my best to make your patience be rewarded properly, now that I am a happier, more positive, and mentally healthier person.
And now it's time for the reviews' answers. Sorry that it took so long, it would have been easier to just stop bashing the show before continuing the fic as if nothing was wrong, but I need to hold myself accountable for the way I was acting.
Ilia? If you will.
Ilia: ''I won't. What is wrong with you!?''
Eh? What problem do you have with the apology?
Ilia: ''Who cares about the apology? I'm talking about the chapter! How can you even publish something like this!?''
… Ilia, just read me the reviews.
Ilia: ''Go to hell! There's a spot saved for you, right next to the Albains.''
So… it looks like Ilia's not going to cooperate and that I'm on my own. Ah, well.
To Lambda38, who says that next chapter sounds like it will be a hell of a oof.
That's not an inaccurate summary. Out of all the chapters so far, this is the harshest curve ball Gemini gets. Not sure I'll be able to throw him a worse one, to be honest.
Ilia: ''If you could choke on the next ball, instead of throwing it, that'd be great. And well deserved too.''
To Reader 451, who says that you doubt that Blake will be involved in initiation.
You are correct. Blake will not be a Beacon student. I believe that's obvious enough to not count as a spoiler. I do have a replacement in mind, though. Eh eh eh.
And fun fact about the Lieutenant. While he was never given a canon name, Kerry and Miles referred to him as 'Edward James Almost' during the production of Volume 2, making this the closest thing to a canon name the Lieutenant has.
To TwistedView, who say that Gemini needs to put reclaiming his Soul Shards before Augur becomes a bigger problem than Cinder or Salem. Then that the card of Summer was a sweet thing of Gemini to give to Ruby. Then that you hope Weiss still has her eyes because her ability to look at the world objectively was bad enough before she lost it unless she goes full Odin and can now see the Runes of the World.
Oh, you sweet, sweet summer child. Augur is already a bigger problem than Cinder was in the canon V1-3 with half of Fall's powers. And it gets worse from there.
Glad that you like the part with the card. The sweeter Gemini and Ruby are as a couple, the more bitter this chapter will be. I hope I managed to make GeminixRuby very sweet.
Ilia, grumbling: ''Sick bastard.''
As for Weiss. Why have everyone been so hostile to her since chapter 16? Poor girl gets her life ruined by being stuck in a loveless marriage against her will, and people throw more hate at her than they did at the valean oligarchs, who were a bunch of OC I created specifically for them to be hated. Just because she lashes out against the people involved in the situation. :'(
And Weiss seeing Glyphs of the world in exchange for her eye is such a cool and badass idea, but I think I'd be stretching the limits of what is believable for the Schnee semblance too much. I'll stick with the original plan.
To Johnathan-Mandrake. Unfortunately, Ilia isn't cooperating right now, so I'll have to pass for giving her the megaphone to yell on this one. You say that the image of Professor Port in a bikini is one of the few forms of torture banned in every version of Hell.
That's false. In Dante's Divine Comedy (which is basically Bible fanfiction), both Hell and Heaven are supposed to become perfected. Which means perfect bliss and holiness for those living in Heaven… and perfected suffering in Hell, which means things get even worse for the damned (which is a 'good' thing because 'everyone down there is a sinner so they deserve it'. Man did people back then have no chill.)
Pretty sure Port in Biniki is only banned in regular Hell because it's kept in reserve for 'Perfect Hell'. SO that'd make one version of Hell where it's not banned.
To Mattysteel, who points out that it's funny that Gemini said that he wanted to remain a virgin until marriage only to put Ruby on his lap on the first date. Then you say that you love my story and thanks me for making a great story thus far, before calling me a living legend.
Yeah, Gemini miscalculated on that one. Poor guy just wanted to cuddle.
I'm happy that you like the story, despite the way I was conducting myself. The compliment is touching, but given how I was acting, I don't believe I am deserving of it. Perhaps I'll become worthy of it, in time. We'll see.
To RaidouXXV, who says ''Good guy Gem chose to be Chad loyal lover instead of virgin harem protag. Respect.'' Then says that you dread the moment Ruby will go to Beacon because that will means more Weiss, and that… Jesus.
Yes. Choosing to be chaste and loyal is the true Giga Chad move. Being promiscuous and sleeping with several girls is nothing but cringe hedonism, which only virgins would wish for.
Wow… Don't you think that's going a bit too far? You're saying that if Weiss had most of her bones broken and was in pain, you'd steal her wallet.
Ilia: ''I don't see the problem. I would too.''
Look, I know Weiss wasn't acting her best in the last few chapters, but remember that you were reading things from Gemini's perspective, which obviously make him seems a bit more favorably than the actual objective truth. People need to try and consider how Weiss' side a little, too.
Gemini barely made a token effort to defuse the situation before giving up and being a dick toward Weiss. Sure, she started it, but I don't think we should completely ignore Gemini making it worse either.
He even went as far as using his foreknowledge of the show to press a button he knew was a sensitive subject to Weiss. That's a pretty evil thing to do.
Ilia: ''It's a pretty fat wallet, though.''
Ilia!
Ilia: ''What? #AllSchneeAreBad. Get rekt, you Schnee simp.''
… Ugh.
To High Tier Mortal, who ask if I expect you to believe Augur can be killed by the protagonist without an instant kill BS like the 'ownership' of the crystal.
There are several assumptions made there. Some more reasonable than others.
First, while assuming that Gemini simply by touching the crystal would absorb it back into his semblance and thus, would kill Augur is a fair and logical conclusion, why would I make such an hilariously OP villain only to have them killed so easily? Augur is an end game boss. Trying to absorb the crystal wouldn't work because it's currently linked to the Shrine of Darkness. Gemini's tiny mortal soul can't win a tug of war against that.
Second assumption. Why would I give Gemini and 'instant kill BS' when his girlfriend literally comes with one integrated? That'd just be redundant when Ruby can literally just kill Augur without efforts already.
Which lead to the third assumption. Why must Gemini be the one to kill him? A dead enemy is a dead enemy no matter who kills them. It's still a problem solved.
Also, you seems to have neglected the fact that Augur doesn't have protection from aura. He's a glass cannon. He hits hard, but can't take hits as well as anyone with even small reserves of aura. Meanwhile Gemini has a lot of aura, has a pretty defensive fighting style due to Neo's influence, but lacks strong offense outside of sneak attacks. So the two of them, despite Augur being much more of a threat to those he fights against, are actually a little more balanced than it seemed last chapter.
Or at least they would be if it wasn't for Augur's high Dex, but again, just have Ruby flash him.
To Austhin H7, who ask if someone can please kill Weiss.
No. Weiss is my third favourite character in RWBY, with Penny second and Ruby first. These three lives to see the happy ending.
To G199, who says that you always wondered what the point of mentioning huntsmen cards was for and that getting Summer's card was really good. Then says that the date was sweet and campy.
The huntsmen collectible card had first been talked about all the way back to Chapter 7, haven't they? I was originally planned to have Summer's card be obtained by Gemini and given to Ruby much later, around after Volume 3, but with them starting to date way earlier than planned, I thought it was better to move it there. 11 chapters is long enough to collect a satisfying payoff, right? :D
I'm glad you thought the date was good. I'm starting to think I might actually be half-decent at writing romance. When I first started writing, I worried I might have to go the way of Toriyama when it came to romance. That is, have the characters get together offscreen during a timeskip.
Yeah, last chapter was good fun. And now that we've seen 18 chapters when I'm basically insane and had such a warped view of canon, time to see what the result is when I'm sane.
… *Look at chapter* I think I liked the result better when I was crazy.
Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to RT. Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Shueisha.
''Whitley needs to chill.'' - Miles Luna, V8 commentary.
On this one, my position hasn't changed by that much, but I'd like to bring nuance that was absent in Chapter 18's AN. First: A short summary of the scene.
Weiss has had a shitty day and her friend (Nora) is injured. Whitley has had a shitty day and his whole world has been flipped upside-down as he lost nearly everything he has ever known. Both have reasons to lack patience, be upset, and lash out.
So when Whitley opens the door, he lashes out verbally at Weiss and her friends, complaining over relatively petty stuff, while they have someone injured and it's an emergency. He's being a bit of a smarmy brat at the worst of time, and even complain that it's going to further damage their family's reputation as they laid out a comatose Nora on the floor.
Weiss, not having the patience for his complaining, lashes out as well and points her sword at him to force him to stop getting in their way.
Both of them have understandable reasons to act like they did, and are both at fault.
I still think that Weiss' actions are worse than Whitley's. A superhuman warrior pointing a weapon at an unarmed and auraless civilian? That's both overkill and unethical, and Weiss got me used to her being a better person than that. Of course, even good people can make mistakes, especially when stressed and with an injured friend who needs help, so I'd say the writing was pretty good.
I also still think that Miles' commentary on that scene was a bit dumb, because he unfairly single out Whitley as if he was the only one in the wrong in that scene. But I admit that it's not as bad as I made it out to be last chapter. ''Both Whitley and Weiss need to chill.'' would have been a much more accurate statement.
The only gripe I have with the writing here is that later, when Whitley make up for his attitude by calling Klein, Weiss forgives him, but doesn't apologise for going too far in her actions against him. Maybe the hug was meant to be both Weiss forgiving him and apologising, but considering that Whitley took action to make up for his attitude while Weiss did nothing to make up for her's, it'd have been nice to have Weiss vocalise her apology.
But yeah, it's a lot more nuanced than the picture I painted in Chapter 18's AN. It wasn't as simple as 'Whitley just wanted to help, the fuck is Miles talking about!?' like I was saying.
He will probably never see this, but it's the thought that counts: Miles, I'm sorry for the unfair vitriol I directed toward your person. You aren't my favorite person by any means, and there are still a few writing decisions about RWBY that you made and a few things you says sometimes that leave me scratching my head, but I was out of line and shouldn't have thrown so much undeserved anger and hatred at you.
(One more thing concerning the scene discussed; shout-out to Ruby for being the one to defuse the tension and talk everyone down. You can see the moment where Whitley's attitude does a 180 and he offers to help, and it's directly in response to Ruby talking to him. He just needed someone to talk to him with kindness to be receptive to what they were saying and Ruby was the only one to do so. Best girl.)
Sorry for the overly long AN. I'm not keeping you any longer.
Disclaimer: This chapter contains minor character death, major character death, and dismemberment. Huge change of mood compared to last chapter.
This isn't a happy chapter. You will either hate this chapter and hate me for writing it, or you will love the chapter and hate me for writing it.
Onyx looked ahead, holding the reins of his horse.
Well, not his horse per se. Technically, he paid with some funds Gemini had allowed him on top of his pay to search for Amber.
After Qrow had interrogated him, Onyx had had no choice but to spill the beans about the one who hired him, Gemini, and that he had hired him to search and protect Amber. It turned out the man, one of the best huntsmen in all of Vale, knew the kid. Unexpected, but not unwelcome given that it would have helped the man trust him.
Or so Onyx thought would happen once they had realised the connection, but instead the man had turned paranoid. He did begrudgingly accept to let Onyx tag along as an extra bodyguard, but remained suspicious of him, to not say anything of how close Qrow was with his opinion on learning that the kid was the one responsible for Onyx being here. Onyx suspected he put his boss in trouble. Oops?
On the bright side, thanks to Onyx having done most of the legwork, they had managed to find Amber rather quickly, in only a week. Of course, as neither the young woman (who Gemini hadn't told him was this cute) or Qrow trusted him with her back, he was the one walking in front of her as she was following on her own mount.
While Onyx was staying close to Amber, Qrow had taken into the air and was serving as their eyes from the sky. Apparently, the older huntsman's semblance was turning into a bird. Some people were just that lucky when it came to their semblance. Not that his own semblance was bad, but Onyx wished he could fly, that'd be so cool.
Even after all that, Onyx still didn't know why people were after Amber. He doubted she had done anything wrong, since her pursuer had already been shown willing to murder the elderly. They probably kicked puppies in their spare time, too.
He wondered, once the danger was gone, if Amber would be willing to humor him with a date. Maybe he had become luckier with the ladies since his Beacon days?
Onyx noticed two figures blocking the path ahead, a woman in a red dress and a smaller one – maybe a teenager? - covered from head to toes in a black cloak, having come out from behind the trees to stand in plain sight. He stopped his horse, prompting Amber to do the same.
He thought Qrow was supposed to be their lookout. What was the man doing up there?
Speaking of him, Qrow flew down to Onyx and Amber, turning back into a human.
''Bad news, we're surrounded. By Grimm and the White Fang.'' The older man said. ''And watch out for an illusionist, they all suddenly appeared out of nowhere.''
Ah, so that explained it. Qrow had a view over everything below him, but in return he was a very visible black spot in the sky. An obvious target for their pursuers, assuming they knew about his shapeshifting ability. Which they evidently did.
The cloaked teenager took a few step forward, though he remained far enough to need to raise his voice to be heard. ''Qrow Branwen! Amber Autumn! And… Who exactly are you?'' He shouted to them, tilting his head as he showed his confusion at Onyx' presence. ''No really, we were only expecting the first two, how did this guy managed to get into this?'' There was something about his voice, Onyx couldn't help but feels like he heard it before.
Qrow's eyes narrowed. He was familiar with that voice, too. And unlike Onyx, he actually recognised it. It couldn't be? ''And since when is your side so chatty? I'm more used to you guys jumping straight to committing atrocities!'' Qrow shouted back, his weapon drawn, as Amber and Onyx took their own weapons.
And got off their horses as well, since they weren't trained to fight on horseback.
''I'm a pretty friendly guy!'' The cloaked figure shouted.
Hidden in the bushes with the rest of her men, Blake snorted. That monster was so full of shit.
''Look, whoever you are, we are here for the Fall Maiden!'' The young man continued. ''This has nothing to do with you, so I suggest you just walk away! I'm saying this for you!'' Well, not quite. Augur was actually saying this because he didn't want to deal with an unknown quantity. But if it came down to it, this made little difference.
''Fall Maiden? Like in that old story?'' Onyx sent a questioning look to Qrow and Amber. ''Wait, but nobody can be that old, right?'' He asked Amber, the… Fall Maiden?
''I'm only 23!'' Amber shouted, indignant at having her age being implied to be older than it was. ''… The power transfers upon death.''
Onyx looked at Qrow for confirmation, and the man grunted, albeit begrudgingly.
''That's why they're here, aren't they? That woman in the red dress want to kill Amber to… What, become the next Fall Maiden?'' Onyx asked. ''Did I get that right?''
''Yeah. There's more, but you got the gist of what matters right now.'' Qrow said. ''It goes without saying that we can't let them succeed.'' And that Qrow was even more wary of Onyx now, since he was hired by Gemini. If he was right about whom that voice belonged to…
''If you think you have a chance of survival by fighting on these two's side, I must warn you that you are deeply mistaken!'' The cloaked one continued. ''Ozpin would rather silence you than letting news of his shadow war leaks!''
What the hell was he talking about? What shadow- Well, okay, that was probably the one going on right here and now. And Ozpin was involved in all this?
''Onyx, don't-'' Qrow started, but was cut off by Onyx.
''Don't worry, Mr Branwen. I've seen these people's handiwork before being hired to protect Miss Amber. I'd rather take my chance with Ozpin than with these butchers.'' Granted, if it wasn't for discovering Mrs Maria's fate at these people's hands, he might've been convinced to step aside and not involve himself. Although… that wouldn't have been very gentlemanly. On second thought, he wasn't sure what he would have done.
On the opposite side, Cinder's patience was running thin. ''Trying to seed doubt in his mind and turning him against the others doesn't look like it's working. Let's just get on with it.''
''Hmm, I suppose not.'' Augur said. Oh well, two dead humans, three dead humans. It was all the same to him. Augur raised his hand. ''Now!''
At his order, the White Fang hidden behind the bushes fired upon them.
Qrow and Onyx parried the volley of bullets with their swords, although two shot made it past Onyx' blade and struck his aura. Amber, on the other hand, had no issue with repelling the attack, her eyes burning as her magic blasted any projectile away.
Their horses, however, cried out in pain before dropping dead.
Then the White Fang, led by a young woman with cat ears and a huge man with a chainsaw, charged at them as Creeps erupted out of the ground and various Grimm ran out of the woods. Most of the White Fang held back to provide fire support to the Grimm.
The woman in red started firing arrows at Amber, as a young man in gray and the Grimm attacked her up close. Qrow was slaughtering Grimm as he made his way toward Amber to help protect her.
Onyx decided to go after the terrorist, to try and cut off the enemy's fire support and give his allies a chance. He ran, his rapier cutting through the Grimm trying to get in his way. First a Creep, then a Ursa, followed by three Beowolves who lunged at him at the same time. With a wave of his blade, the electric dust in it crackled as it formed an arc of electricity, taking care of those three.
''Captain, we'll take care of the huntsman! Go on ahead!'' The huge White Fang's lieutenant said with his deep voice.
The cat-eared girl nodded, but Onyx wasn't about to let them have their way. He closed in on the girl and slashed at her, but his sword went through her without resistance as she dissolved in shadow.
That must be the girl's semblance. Unfortunately, the girl was already past him, and he couldn't give chase with the muscular lieutenant already swinging his chainsaw at him. The man's muscles allowed him to throw his weapon's weight faster than most would be, but he was still a bit slower than the average huntsman, so Onyx, even if he wasn't on Qrow's level, had little trouble dodging, keeping the lieutenant between himself and his men to avoid being shot at.
Then, after dodging a few hits, Onyx exploited an opening to poke the big guy with his electric rapier, shocking him in the most literal sense. His muscles locked by the current running through his body, Onyx took advantage of him being paralysed to go after his men, parrying a few incoming bullets as he closed the distance.
/-/
On Amber's side of the battlefield, Qrow had started fighting Mercury, as Amber was blasting Grimm into the ground, being mindful of Cinder's arrows, as the woman was staying away from the Maiden, content to take potshots at her instead of fighting her head-on. One arrow had struck her in her shoulder already, lowering her aura.
As she unleashed more and more of her power on the swarm of Grimm converging on her, the sky darkened, dark clouds gathering above everyone's heads.
Mercury, locked in combat with Qrow, exchanged blow after blow against the huntsman. He could hardly believe he was having this much trouble. He killed his father, one of the most feared assassins of Mistral, so how was he being beaten by this random drunk guy!?
Qrow parried Mercury's next kick and counterattacked with a kick of his own into the teen's ribs. The blow sent him to the ground, but he landed on his hands and was back on his feet in no time. Or he would be, if Qrow hadn't been on him instantly, refusing to give him any breathing room.
Harbinger's edge slammed into Mercury, the blow to his aura hurting as he actually touched the ground this time, landing on his back. Qrow was about to continue the assault, when he had to turn around and block Blake's own attack. He had no trouble giving the attack back, slicing through her shadow clone as she suddenly moved behind him. It didn't stop him from reacting fast enough to strike at her before she had the chance to hit him, cutting another clone in half. The exchange continued, Blake being unable to attack him back after avoiding his own attacks thanks to her clones.
Blake was a better fighter than most of her age, but Qrow was just that much better than her. Even with Mercury joining back in, the two of them could only barely keep up with the man.
Then, Augur jumped in between them and Qrow.
''Go after the Maiden. I will take care of him.'' Augur said, nodding toward Amber's fight against the swarm of Grimm.
They obeyed, neither willing to go against the Grimm boy.
Thunder was falling on the Grimm around the flying Maiden as she incinerated and blew away the monsters attacking her, wiping out large numbers of them as the seconds passed.
Mercury jumped in the air to reach her, using his downward momentum to help drop an axe kick on her. The kick was blocked and Mercury was blown away by a burst of wind, but it forced Amber to focus on him as Blake, still on the ground, wrapped Gambol Shroud's ribbon around her ankle and pulled her down to the ground, where they would be able to fight her more effectively alongside the Grimm.
/-/
Back to Qrow and Augur, the two of them were locked in battle. Qrow should have had the advantage, considering he was against an unarmed opponent, but every cut he tried to land on him, Augur would either dodge or parry by knocking on the side of his wide blade with his fist.
If Qrow was fighting who he thought he was fighting, then the kid had been holding back by a lot on Patch. He really hoped he was wrong, because if not, then that meant one of her agents had been so close to his nieces for the last two years without Tai or him even noticing.
Augur blocked a downward vertical strike from Qrow, grabbing the sword's blade in his left hand. Without aura, the edge should have cut through his hand, but he didn't let it touch his skin. Instead, his fingers pressed on the sides of the blade, stopping it dead in its tracks using his overwhelming strength.
The huntsman was skilled, almost as skilled as Augur's own Dex stat made him, but the Grimm's inhuman's strength was just too much to compete against.
Qrow smirked, before jumping as Harbinger's blade extended into its scythe form. The blade quickly went around Augur's shoulder, and a press of his scythe's trigger was all Qrow needed to cut his opponent's arm off, to Qrow's own surprise.
''Argh!'' Augur screamed in pain.
''Well, color me surprised, brat. Can't imagine why you'd try to fight me without using your aura, especially when you have so much of it.'' Qrow said.
''So much of… What are you on about?'' His opponent asked, the voice so familiar, yet sounding genuinely confused.
Was his guess wrong? ''Drop the act, kid. Your voice gives you away, Gemini Torchwick.''
''...Wha- Oh I see.'' Augur said. So Gemini went and made contact with Ruby and her family? Then it meant that he did intend to make his stand against Salem. The fool. ''Allow me to correct your misconception.''
Augur grabbed his cloak with his remaining hand and ripped the cloak off, exposing his full figure to the huntsman, who instinctively held his breath in shock. The death pale skin, pure white hair, red eyes, and everything else. Including the metaphysical soul crystal poking out of his chest, pulsating with green light.
Qrow recognised that crystal. It was like the ones Ozpin kept in his office, to study them when he could get some spare time to do so. Like the one that appeared in Tai's living room. Ozpin had warned him that the witch had obtained one, but to think she could make an intelligent, human-like Grimm out of it… One like her…
And why did it sound and looked like Gemini? Was the kid related to these crystal things? But then… if one had appeared in their living room, did that mean Gemini knew about his family before meeting them? Had he lied about how he found out about silver eyes? Had he only been using his nieces, manipulated them for his own agenda? Was his friendship with Ruby even genuine, or was she only a pawn to him?
''My name is Augur. I can see on your face that you have questions, but don't bother asking them. The answers you no doubt want will be of no use to you, as you will die today.'' Augur said.
''Awfully sure of yourself, for someone lacking an arm.'' Qrow scoffed, unimpressed by the bravado.
''Oh, this? 'Tis but a scratch.'' Augur said, grinning as he took a step back, before the ground below Qrow started shaking.
Qrow didn't stay there, of course, he quickly got out of the way. Right before the biggest Creep he'd ever seen dug it's way out of the ground.
Creeps rarely became old enough to become an Alpha Creep, their ability to dig under walls allowed them to get inside the kingdom's cities without restraint, making them not only the only type of Grimm most civilians in Vale ever saw, but it also made them the type of Grimm that was culled the most. This meant that all Creeps ever encountered were relatively young, and wouldn't survive long enough to become an actual threat.
This one was much, much older. It was a little bigger than Tai's house, having grown so big that it grew a second, smaller pair of legs to support its weight. The spikes along the spine grew much bigger, and a horn, slightly curved backward, stood on top of its head.
The creature roared, opening its mouth, which was big enough to swallow a grown man in one gulp.
''Oh man, I don't know if you realise how hard it was to bring this one from around Evernight Castle to here.'' Augur laughed. Qrow assumed that 'Evernight Castle' referred to Salem's lair. ''I guess its official name would be Ancient Creep or something like that, but I like to call it King Dodongo. I mean, it looks like one.''
''The hell was a 'King Dodongo'?'' Qrow wondered, having no frame of reference to understand what the hell this 'Augur' was talking about.
Then the Ancient Creep inhaled air.
''Oh yeah, and because it does that too.'' Augur said, right before the oversized Grimm exhaled a breath of fire at Qrow, who barely dodged the flames.
/-/
Onyx grunted in pain as he took another bullet.
He had managed to knock out 3 and kill 5 out of the 20 men the White Fang had brought to the fight before their lieutenant shrugged the electricity out of his system and rejoined the fight. It didn't seem like much, but considering they all had their aura unlocked, defeating 8 people in a short time was a very good result.
Now that he was in the middle of the group, they also couldn't fire freely without risking shooting each other, so he was the one in control of the fight. He could handle these guys.
Charging at the guy who shot him, Onyx hit him with a horizontal slash, followed by an elbow hit to his face that broke the grunt's aura. Then he stepped aside to avoid the lieutenant's chainsaw, before parrying another shot, deflecting it aside into the lieutenant's chest, who growled in anger.
Then Onyx moved and hit several grunts as he quickly stepped between them, his sword crackling as he electrocuted them. After that, he leaped away to dodge the lieutenant's chainsaw.
Something went wrong, however, and he screamed in pain as he felt the weapon he thought he had just avoided hit him, the weight behind the attack throwing him away.
How? Wait, Qrow had warned him about them having an illusionist on their side. Was that their work?
His question was answered when a few bullets struck him, even though he couldn't see a single grunt with their guns pointed at him.
If that was how it was going to be, then Onyx closed his eyes. If his senses were being tricked by that illusionist, then he had to use a sense they didn't have. It was time to use his own semblance.
He felt his senses expand as he could suddenly feel the surrounding electricity. His mind's eye able to 'see' the electricity around him. From the electricity running in the lieutenant's chainsaw, to the bioelectricity in all of their bodies, including the very magnetic current going through the planet itself. Nothing in a range of roughly 25 m could escape his notice.
He didn't use his semblance that often, because the overload of information gave him a headache if he used it for too long, and while keeping his eyes closed somewhat mitigated the overload by reducing the stimuli his brain was handling, he still ended up blind to anything outside his semblance's range.
Now, he felt the lieutenant charging at him, and able to feel the signs of his movements by the bioelectricity in his body, through both the twitching of his muscles and the electric signals going through his nerves, Onyx could simply react to his movements before he had even made them.
Dodging the attempted blow with minimal movement, Onyx countered with a strike of his own blade. Then he moved past the lieutenant and went to town on the rest of the troops.
Now fighting in a manner reminiscent of a cheating A.I. reading your inputs and reacting to it before your character on the screen even moved, they stood no chances against him and their aura were quickly broken as they were left on the ground, some an electrocuted, twitching mess, others as unmoving corpses.
He'd have killed them all, but he didn't exactly have the time to double-check their death, so some stayed alive, only knocked out of the fight. The lieutenant and that illusionist, though? He was 100% going to make sure these two were dead. They were just too dangerous to be left alive.
He suddenly felt a newcomer running at him, her weapon deployed. Was that the illusionist?
The girl's weapon extended into chains - no surprise there, as he could feel the component of her weapon – and her kusarigama's blade whirled around her as she spun toward him. She was counting on the added reach to hit him safely, but with his semblance, it was a trivial matter for Onyx to step into her weapon's range without getting hit and stopping the chain with his blade.
Two things happened at that moment. First, the electricity from his blade ran through the metal chain and shocked the girl into immobilisation, meaning she couldn't react to stop the second thing from happening. The second was that her weapon's chain turned around Onyx, at the point his sword, Swift Hunter, met the chain, which he had blocked slightly below the middle so that her weapon's blade hit her in the back.
Onyx's team back in Beacon might've been on the weak side, and he might have cost them an embarrassing defeat in the Vytal Tournament by fooling around, but he was still the best fighter of his team.
Emerald yelped in pain. She had just discovered the difference between her and an actual huntsman.
''I thought you had him under your semblance!'' The lieutenant yelled.
''I did!'' Emerald yelled back, bringing her weapons back into kamas. She wasn't going to trust using her chains against this guy again. ''I don't understand how he's still fighting like that.''
Onyx smirked. ''Eh, it was your own fault for underestimating Onyx, the Black Fox.''
Lieutenant Edward looked at him oddly, although his face was hidden by his mask. ''I didn't realise you were a faunus.''
''What? I… I'm not?'' Onyx said. What brought this on?
''Then don't use an animal as your nickname! That's trait appropriation!'' The lieutenant yelled angrily.
''Hey, faunus don't own the names of animal species.'' Onyx said.
''Classic racist argument!''
''Are you ki- Look, I don't need to be a faunus to have an animal leitmotiv.'' Onyx insisted. His semblance was kinda like how foxes used Remnant's magnetic field to gauge the distance between them and their prey, after all. ''Just look at Qrow, he's human, but you could also compare him to an actual crow. He's even named after one.'' And could literally transform into one.
''The drunk human is racist too!? Then I'll kill him next!'' The lieutenant screamed, charging at Onyx. ''I KILL RACISTS!''
Oh, goodies.
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Amber was starting to run low on magic.
She had lost count of how many Grimm she had killed. The gray haired boy was almost out of the fight, growing more and more careful about getting hit. A sign that his aura was getting low, and he knew it. The cat girl was doing a bit better than him, not because she was a better fighter than he was, but because she was being skittish, trying to avoid confronting her too directly and instead optic for hit-and-run tactics.
The Fall Maiden moved her hand toward Blake, and thunder fell from the sky. As Blake screamed in pain, Amber turned her attention back to Mercury, who had taken the opportunity to attack her.
She lit a fire under his ass, engulfing him in flames. The fire broke his aura and he stepped away, his burned pants revealing his metallic legs and his arms and face covered in a few burns.
Then she jumped away from her position to avoid an Ursa Major who tried to maul her. It got a faceful of electricity in the face for its efforts, powerful enough to kill it.
Then Amber blew another arrow away, before blocking a pair of glass swords as Cinder had charged at her right after firing, having decided to join the melee.
She wasn't going to be able to fight them off for much longer.
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The Ancient Creep stomped on the ground, missing the alcohol-smelling human but breaking the earth below its paw.
Qrow countered by cutting at its back leg with his scythe, but the Grimm's black skin was so though he could barely scratch it. Its attacks were powerful, but slow enough that he had little trouble avoiding them. The problem was that if he couldn't inflict serious injuries on the old Grimm, then how was he supposed to kill it?
The beast was covered in gashes, but they were so shallow that it didn't even slow it down.
It didn't help that Qrow had to keep an eye on this 'Augur' either. So far, the Grimm boy had been content with simply watching him fight his pet, but Qrow wasn't going to take the risk of taking his attention away from an enemy like this.
Jumping over the sweeping tail of the Ancient Grimm, Qrow struck back at the tail, Harbinger's edge digging into the limb, but without going very deep.
''Tch!'' Seriously, what the fuck did he need to bring that thing down? Not everyone went around with huge, overcompensating phallic cannons like James.
Then he noticed Augur moving toward Onyx. Crap! That wasn't good.
Unfortunately, if he went to help Onyx, then this Ancient Creep might go after Amber.
''Sorry, Onyx. You don't seem like a bad person, but Amber was the priority here.'' Qrow thought. So he needed to focus on killing this thing as quickly as he could and go help Amber.
Thankfully, Qrow had an idea. He loaded gravity dust in Harbinger.
Now, he only needed the right opening.
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Onyx was panting, he wasn't sure how much aura he had left, but he was pretty sure he was in the red.
Thankfully, his opponents weren't much better. The White Fang lieutenant was panting as well and Onyx had managed to break the man's aura, who now harbored a bloody gash across his chest. Meanwhile, the illusionist girl had taken quite a few hits herself, and despite having joined the fight later than them, she was panting even harder. Obviously, the girl, while skilled, wasn't used to extended fights and lacked the stamina for them.
Killing these two was the most he'd be able to do before he had no choice but to run away to save his life. Sorry, Qrow, but he would just die if he stuck around for longer than that. This really was all he could do.
Onyx readied his blade, glancing between his two foes, his semblance confirming that what his eyes saw matched reality. Now, which one should he take out first? The slower man, with his aura down, or the faster, more agile, girl, who might catch him off guard while he tried to kill the huge lieutenant?
Unfortunately, his choice was made for him, as he caught sight of Augur charging straight at him at the last second, too late to defend himself properly. Unlike living beings, Grimm didn't have bioelectricity in their body, making his semblance useless at detecting them. It didn't help that Onyx wasn't there to see Augur reveal himself to Qrow, meaning that he had no idea what he was looking at, adding to his already too late reaction time as the human-like Grimm aimed a kick at Onyx's ribs.
The kick sent him flying into a tree, damaging the bark. But the real problem was that his aura broke, and he felt the kick break some of his ribs. Onyx coughed up blood, a sign that one of his ribs had pierced his lung.
Fuck. Fuck! So this was where he was going to die?
Emerald and the lieutenant charged at the downed huntsman, intending to finish him off. Since the girl was faster, she was the one who reached him first, but he warded her off with a sweep of his sword, even though simply moving was agony on its own and made him cough up blood again.
Right behind Emerald, however, Lieutenant Edward came in, bringing his chainsaw down in a vertical blow. The huntsman was barely able to bring his sword up, supporting his blade with both hands to block the attack.
It unfortunately only brought him a few seconds, before the lieutenant's weapon sawed through the blade, snapping it in two before ripping into Onyx's body.
… Onyx had hoped he'd live long enough to at least see the kid he had trained graduate Beacon.
Emerald gagged once her ally was finished. She didn't care about killing, but the sight of the dead huntsman, his body sporting a wide opening from the shoulder and neck down to the guts, was a pretty gruesome one.
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She was going to die here, Amber knew, bashing a Beowolf's skull with her staff. Her aura was getting lower and lower. The Grimm she could deal with, but with the cat faunus and the grey boy who kept shooting her in the back whenever they could, using the Grimm to keep her occupied, and with the woman in red being a skilled opponent, they were slowly but surely bringing her down.
She didn't even have enough magic left to be able to fly away.
Amber used the wind dust crystal on her staff to blow a charging Ursa into Blake. It crashed into her shadow clone, before the terrorist backed away to put more distance between herself and the Maiden. The coward had just refused to come anywhere near Amber since she saw the Maiden's power earlier. At least the boy in grey had only retreated from the fight after his aura was gone and he got injured by her fire.
She turned and blocked Cinder's glass blades with her staff and pushed the woman away from her, before the fire dust of her staff glowed and, with a swing of her staff, Amber formed a wall of fire between herself and Cinder.
Then Amber blocked bullets coming from Blake, before killing an approaching Creep by smashing its head into the ground and piercing through another Beowolf's head with the other end of her staff. In the meantime, Cinder turned her swords back into a bow and shot her arrows through the fire. Amber blocked the first two, but then a bullet hit her in the back, courtesy of Blake, causing the third arrow to hit as well.
Her aura left her uninjured, but broke in the process. Shit!
As Amber fought off a few more Grimm, Cinder ran around the fire. She separated her bow into swords again and was about to slash at Amber's limbs, seeking to cripple her.
Fortunately, Amber's magic wasn't dependent on her aura, and Cinder screamed in pain as the Fall Maiden shocked her with point-blank thunderbolts.
Unfortunately, Amber's magic was running on fumes as it was, and she knew she wouldn't last for long.
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Qrow seemed to be the only whose side of the battle was going somewhat well. He focused his strikes at the underside of the creature's jaw. Never managing to cut very deep, but he now had a deep enough indent for Harbinger to get its blade stuck there, which would be needed for the next part of his plan.
The Ancient Creep opened his mouth to inhale air again, the deepest part of its throat lighting up with flame. Qrow immediately dug his scythe under its jaw and fired his weapon, using the gravity dust of his dust bullets to increase the mass of his bullets, and with it, the recoil.
It shut the monster's mouth close, as the huntsman kept his feet on its face, continuing to fire to keep the giant mouth closed. Without being able to exit the body, the fire turned against the ancient Grimm, burning its head in from the inside. Searing flames came out from its eye sockets as it fell to the ground, its body slowly dissipating.
As soon as the Ancient Creep was defeated, Qrow turned toward Amber and saw her on her knees. Her legs had been shot by the terrorist girl and the woman in red was standing in front of her, holding her hand in a white glove in front of the Maiden's face, a black tendril linking the two together.
Shit, it took him too long to take down the Grimm. They had lost.
''Congratulation, Mr Branwen, you managed to kill an over 10 000-year-old Grimm, 10 times older than Remnant's current written history, all on your own. Impressive.'' Augur said, a smug smirk on his face. ''Unfortunately, it is our victory.''
''Tch!'' He could see Onyx's corpse on the other side of the battlefield, too. The only thing he could do was escape and make his report to Ozpin.
Qrow turned into a crow and flew into the sky without wasting anytime. He couldn't stay here.
Augur's smirk widened as he raised his remaining arm to point toward the airborne bird. He knew Qrow would escape like that. ''Kill him.'' He ordered.
As he said that, thousands and thousands of small Nevermore, which Augur had prepared in advance to hide in the region around their fight, flew out of the trees, chasing the man turned bird. The rising Qrow swerved sharply to his right, dodging a charging Nevermore, before moving to his left to avoid another one. If he had vocal cords in this form, he would be uttering curses. He'd never be able to escape a flock that large.
Dodging a third one, Qrow pecked at the Nevermore of his size, stabbing his peak deeply into the bird Grimm. Then he dodged another, but the next one grazed him with its claw, and he was barely able to keep himself from getting hit by the attack that followed, managing to keep moving upward.
Once he was really high in the sky, with the following flock below him, he turned back into a human, allowing himself to fall as he twirled on himself, his scythe cutting through countless Nevermores during his fall. It barely made a dent in the swarm.
Turning back into a crow and taking hold of his flight before hitting the ground, he flew back upward, repeating the struggle against the swarm to get back high in the sky. If he could trim down the giant flock enough, he might actually be able to escape. He wasn't sure he was going to last long enough for that, but that was about his only chance.
What worried him most were the Nevermores standing back, circling around him far enough to be able to intercept him if he tried to make a break for it.
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On the ground, Augur was observing the situation between Qrow and the Nevermores.
''We're finished on our end, the Fall Maiden's power is now mine.'' Cinder said as she approached him.
Augur nodded in response. ''Good. How well can you use them right now?''
''Not very.'' Cinder said, showing her hand and making a small flame appears on it. ''In some ways, it's similar to using dust, but some things are harder to do. Like flying.''
So she couldn't join the fight up there and help against Qrow. Ah, well, she was probably too tired to go up against Qrow anyway, even as the new Fall Maiden.
Augur picked up a rock, about as large as he could hold with only one hand. Taking aim, he then threw it at Qrow as the man was in the middle of his second fall.
The rock, about the size of a human skull, crashed into his back and knocked him out of his attack's motion, opening him up to the swarm's assault. Even as he turned back into a crow, he was unable to use his wings properly to take control of his flight back, and crashed into the ground.
There, he turned back into his human form, and got out of the way as Augur charged at him, letting the Grimm boy's fist bring a tree down. Not wasting time, Qrow closed in to attack him with his scythe, but Augur quickly grabbed a tree branch to block the blow.
Qrow's eyes widened in surprise. ''What!?''
''Hey, I do have aura. Just because it can't protect my body doesn't mean I can't use it on an object.'' Augur smirked.
Unfortunately, even if he used his aura on his clothes, thin cloth wouldn't have protected his body underneath, so wouldn't have done much to protect his left arm earlier. At best, it'd have been broken and dead weight instead of sliced off, so he'd still be down an arm for this fight.
Then Qrow jumped back to avoid being hit by the stick, before attacking Augur again. He feinted, his scythe being already hard to predict for most people. Had Augur not been so inhumanly fast, it would have worked, but the Grimm blocked the attack again and answered with a quick kick on Qrow's leg. Qrow felt the force of the blow ripples through his body, drawing a cry of pain from the man as it force him to bend his knees.
Augur followed that by striking him with the stick. The blow sent him crashing into a tree hard enough that the tree broke and fell. Qrow rolled out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by the falling tree, but his opponent was about to have the large trunk fall on him. Tough luck, eh?
Augur just dropped his stick and punched it, sending splinters of wood everywhere as it broke without damaging the Grimm. Then Augur attacked Qrow again, knocking Harbinger away before attempting to punch him, but the man redirected the powerful fist with a push of his hand, using his opponent's strength against him, before landing an uppercut that barely fazed the Grimm.
Augur grabbed his jaw, his steel grip putting so much pressure that Qrow's aura started going down. Qrow punched the arm holding him a few times, but while Augur's high constitution didn't do much to stop the edge of a weapon or a bullet, it still made him a tough bastard that could take punches and other blunt damage more easily than anyone else. Seeing his fists had no effect on his ennemy, Qrow dug his fingers into Augur's eyes, drawing a cry of pain from the now blinded Grimm. Unfortunately, his grip didn't relax as Qrow had expected, and soon, his aura broke and, a loud crunch could be heard as his jawbone broke under Augur's hand.
Then he dropped Qrow and, as the man was still reeling from the pain of his destroyed jaw, punched through the man's torso, before letting him fall on the ground, a pool of blood leaking from the hole in his chest.
And with this, all of their targets were eliminated.
''I see you're finished.'' Cinder said as she approached the scene. ''He did quite the number on you, did he?''
Augur grunted, having not missed the mirth in her voice. He underestimated how much of a threat decades of experience made Qrow and was careless. ''None of those injuries matter anyway. I will be waiting for your minions to gather themselves and leave, then I'll go make my report to our queen.''
Even though the Grimm around here would ignore Cinder, thanks to the symbiotic Beetle Grimm in her body, the same couldn't be said for her own subordinates, as they didn't have one yet. Without Augur around to keep a handle on the surrounding Grimm, what was left of his little army would turn hostile against them. So he had to wait here until they were out of the Grimm's reach.
Once he was gone, the Grimm would probably move around and attack a settlement in the region, but that wasn't his problem.
''Very well. We'll take a few minutes and then go.'' Cinder said, glad that she wouldn't have Augur around for her own mission. As powerful of an ally to have, she still didn't like the bastard.
She turned around to rejoin the rest of the group, when Augur smirked. ''Have fun in Vale, pretending to be important.'' He said.
Cinder's hand twitched, but she didn't stop to acknowledge his words.
Augur didn't care, the anger and sense of humiliation emanating from her was all the reaction he needed.
Two hours later, when the humans and faunus left and had the time to leave out of the Grimm's range, Augur took Harbinger, once he managed to find where it was on the ground despite his lack of sight, and pointed the cannon of the weapon at his own head, before pressing the trigger and blowing his own head off.
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Deep in the Land of Darkness, where the shrine of the God of Destruction was, a pale hand raised out of the black tar of the Grimm pool.
Augur grabbed the edge of the ground surrounding the pool, before using his arms, both of them, to lift his naked body back onto the ground. Before his intact, crimson eyes looked around to help him regain his bearing.
Or at least he was going to take a look, before his eyes were covered by a towel thrown at him.
''Cover yourself in my presence.'' Salem ordered, caring little for Augur's nakedness.
''Of course, your Majesty.'' Augur said, bowing his head before wrapping the towel around his waist. T wasn't his fault that respawning didn't come with clothes. ''The mission was a resounding success. Cinder managed to obtain all of the Fall Maiden's power, instead of half, and I have slain Qrow Branwen.''
''And what of the Ancient Creep you had requested?'' Salem asked.
''… He managed to kill it.''
''Hmm. Well, he was one of Ozpin's best.'' Salem said.
Yeah, he noticed. Not everyone could pull off what the man did.
''You will go to Atlas next, to help with Sibyl's preparations and assault.'' Salem ordered.
''As you order.'' Augur nodded. Then he took his leave to dress himself before departing to Solitas.
Everything was going well, and soon, even the Winter Maiden would be in her grasp, far in advance of the originally planned schedule. That would be bound to crush General Ironwood's recently renewed confidence. With these new dustless bullet, his army, who was before slowly losing ground against the Grimm as dust became harder and pricier to fins, was now slowly regaining ground.
The lost territory wasn't a problem, but if she failed to increase Ironwood's fear of her and the man got it in his head that he and his army was more of a threat to her than she was to Atlas, then he would start trusting his allies and working with them, which would puts her plans in jeopardy. Or at least it puts her old plans in jeopardy. Now that she had Augur and Sibyl, she had acquired a permanent advantage over Ozpin's side.
Even if she lost the battle of this generation, the war was already won. Especially if she could get her hands on more than the two aura fragments she had found (well, more like one fell on her lap, appearing directly in her castle, while the other appeared in Leo's office, who promptly called her instead of Ozpin.) Augur was a failure, although he at least made for a useful pawn on her board, but Sibyl? Oh, Sibyl was her masterpiece.
How would she call the next ones, once she found more of these fragments? Prophet? Oracle? Foreteller? Mystic?
Ah, she could decide once she managed to take another fragment and made a third immortal servant.
In the meantime, she was looking forward to Tyrian's mission.
The Valean oligarchs could only tolerate Atlas' specialists on their territory for so long. Now that politic had forced Ironwood to retrieve his team interfering with her search for Ruby Rose, Tyrian had the opportunity to search the girl in Patch's woods, as long as he didn't bring attention to himself. It shouldn't be too hard. If the girl lived in a house outside the city proper, then she'd have to pass through one of the city's gate every time she went or came back from school. Tyrian would be fine as long as he didn't get himself spotted by the guards watching the gates.
She couldn't wait to see how much she could manipulate little Ruby to turn against Ozpin. And if Augur, who had argued in favor of just killing her, was right and that there was no bringing the silver-eyed girl to her side… Oh well, Salem was sure that Ruby's future child could be made to be loyal to her, provided she was the one raising it.
And, of course, having Summer's daughter being kidnapped so soon after Ironwood was forced to retrieve his troops against his will would further push the man to believe he knew better than everyone around him.
Everything was working out like a charm.
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''Do you know where Yang is? She didn't show up at school for sparring.'' Ruby asked as soon as she saw me.
''Probably back at your house, sparring with Neo.'' I said. Yang had recently decided that she wasn't getting anything from sparring against her classmates, so she had taken to cut classes and train with Neo in her home's courtyard instead.
Ruby sighed. ''Again? Of course she is. She's going to flunk her classes if she doesn't show up.''
''Eh, even if she does, she's plenty strong enough to pass Beacon's entrance exam.'' I shrugged. And to be fair, Yang was at the point where she wasn't getting stronger in Signal anymore. I believed that was why Mr Xiao-Long was letting Yang train home with my sister without anything more than a warning to come to the other classes.
''I guess? Still… Bah, whatever.'' She shook her head. ''So, anything new happened?''
''Not really. I'm still waiting for an update on the Fall Maiden.'' Onyx missed the date he was supposed to call me and report his progress. I was worrying that something had happened, but I couldn't know more until Mr Branwen came back. Hopefully, that'd be with Amber still alive and well this time.
Ruby frowned. ''Didn't he say he was close to finding her last time you spoke? Do… Do you think something bad happened?''
''Maybe. I don't know. It might just be that they're outside of Vale's CCT's range.'' I said. ''Ah, well, not much we can do about it from Patch. Want to hit the shooting range before going home? I've got those dustless bullets you wanted to try.'' Those were sniper bullets, of course. I wasn't going to bring her munitions that didn't fit Crescent Rose, duh.
Ruby's eyes widened. She had been waiting for the production of dustless bullets to pick up, so I could get her some to try. ''Of course! Let's see if those new bullets of yours are as good as normal ones.''
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Later, after Ruby was done shooting the new bullets, we went into the woods to go back to her home.
Ruby was satisfied with how well the bullets worked, although she noticed they left a weird smell behind when shot. Bullets made with dust had no odour, so the concept of firearms being associated with the propellant's smell was a new one on Remnant.
At least the modern, triple-base propellants didn't smell as bad and strongly as old school gunpowder.
Eh, people will get used to it.
As we walked through the woods, both Ruby and I stopped, having noticed the lack of animal sound around us. It wasn't normal for things to go quiet in the woods.
Then we heard the sound of something big running toward us, and we turned to our right to see a big Ursa Major rushing through bushes and tree branches as it charged toward us. Ruby's eyes flashed bright, as the light coming out of her eyes killed the Grimm before it got in range to hit us.
''You know, I'm kinda starting to feel pity for the Grimm ever since I mastered my eyes. Poor guys don't even have a chance anymore.'' Ruby said, her cute grin betraying her true feelings on the matter.
''Your eyes do turn any fight against the Grimm into a boring and easy chore, doesn't it?'' I chuckled.
Then we heard clapping above us, and looked upward to see- Oh God no.
Above us, crouching on a thick branch, a man with dark hair in a ponytail, yellow eyes and a brown trench coat looked down at us, clapping like a child as his face showed a wide, full teeth, grin.
''Bravo! Bravo! To master your gift at such a young age, such talent! She will be pleased, very pleased. Eh. Eh eh eh. Eh eh ah… ah ah AH AH AH!'' Tyrian Callows said, before slowly raising a laugh that became more and more insane as it went on.
''… Gem, is this who I think it is?'' Ruby asked, her body tense and ready to spring into action at any time. I had given her a rundown of everyone working for Salem, but it was still the first time she saw Tyrian in person. Plus, the man wasn't supposed to be here, especially at this time.
''Ruby… run.'' I whispered. I knew it didn't stop Tyrian from hearing me, not as close as he was, but fear made me instinctively lower my voice. ''We have no chance against this monster.''
I had tried to find every publically available information on Salem's agents that could supplement my knowledge of canon. Tyrian was active in Mistral's countryside several years ago, terrorising the people inside the outer cities before opening the doors to the Grimm, until Atlas caught him. He was officially declared dead, but that was an obvious lie to reassure the population. I didn't know how he had escaped, but that must have been right after this that he was recruited by Salem.
Tyrian let himself drop to hang on the branch, his legs holding him as his face ended up upside-down, level with ours. ''Oh, what a flatterer you are. Stop it, you. You're going to make me blush.'' He said, before giggling like a school girl.
Ruby and I recoiled away from him, grabbing our weapon and bracing ourselves.
''I told you to run.'' I told Ruby again, as I noticed that she wasn't doing so, not taking my eyes off Tyrian.
''And abandoning you? I think not.''
''But we can't beat this guy!'' I insisted. ''You're the only one of us fast enough to go get reinforcement, while I have enough aura to stay alive until you get your father, or anyone, here.''
Ruby's eyes hesitated between Tyrian and me.
''Now, that's just silly. No matter how much aura you have, it only takes two or three minutes to choke you unconscious and then kill you. I should know, I killed tons of people that way.'' Tyrian said with a mad, eager gleam in his eyes.
Now Ruby glared at the scorpion man. ''Well, now I'm definitely not leaving.''
''Ruby-''
''Before you say that there's no hope to win and that there's no reason for both of us to die here, would you leave me behind if you were the one with the speed semblance?'' Ruby cut me off to make her point.
''Nev-'' I started reflexively. No, you idiot! Don't say the truth! ''I mean, yeah, I totally would. Which means you have no reason to stay here. Go away now.''
She rolled her eyes. ''Nice try. I know you wouldn't. And I'm not about to, either.''
''Aww… How sweet.'' Tyrian cooed, letting go of his branch and landing on the ground. ''Look at the two of you, so close and willing to die for the other. It's a shame that my mistress wants the girl alive, I'd have love to see both of your blood spill at the same time.''
Ruby narrowed her eyes at what Tyrian said. ''Salem… So you do work for her.'' She said.
Tyrian made a surprised face, before quickly going back to a sinister smile. ''You know of her? Have the adults decided to not hide the truth from their little flower? How unexpected.''
Ruby pressed her lips together. ''Gem… You heard him.''
''Please tell me you aren't about to say what I think you're about to say.''
''You said it yourself, there's no point for both of us to lose against him.''
''You are going to say it…'' I groaned.
''You should run. He's after me, you can escape with your life.'' Ruby said, parroting my earlier argument.
I could parrot her, too. ''Would you leave me behind?''
''… Yep, totally would.'' Ruby said after a moment of hesitation, her face tensed in apprehension.
''You're an even worse liar than I am.'' Really, Ruby had just refused to leave me and flee, like, 20 seconds ago. ''Fine, then. Let's get our butts kicked together.'' I said, trying to hide my panic.
Tyrian said he was sent to capture Ruby alive, but whatever reason Salem wanted Ruby alive for, I doubted her fate would be kinder than being killed here. And Tyrian didn't need me alive.
The monster's grin widened. ''You two are done? I don't suppose you would accept coming willingly, would you?''
''''Never.'''' Both Ruby and I said. Even if we had no hope of victory, letting Ruby being taken to Salem wasn't an option. Even if cooperating might allow me to keep my life, I couldn't do that. Not to her.
''Then let's get to the fun part.'' Tyrian said.
Deploying his weapon, he lunged at us.
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At Taiyang's house, a raven puffed her chest with pride, perched on a brand as she watched Yang and the tricolored girl train.
Her daughter had grown stronger than she was at her age. Clearly, her method of raising her was working, and here Raven was worried that she was being too affective and mothering toward her daughter.
For all that Qrow accused her of being a bad mother, she wasn't the one who missed most of Yang's birthdays, or her first steps, her first training session, her first spar won at Signal, her first back alley fight against shady criminals during an attempt to track down her mother. Raven was there for all of her child's important milestones, it was Qrow who missed most of those, always gone on his missions for Ozpin. And he had the gall to tell her that he was the one loyal to his family.
Hell, she even bothered to show up for Ru- Summer's brat's milestone. Out of spite toward Summer, of course. Anyone who so much as implied that she cared about her old team leader was getting a heavy dose of Omen in the face.
… And now she would never be able to hold that over her idiot brother's head.
The human-turned-bird shook its head, dispelling the memory of waking up in the middle of the night as she felt her semblance's bond to her twin brother snap.
It wasn't her fault he died doing Ozpin's bidding. She tried to warn him that it would happen. That Ozpin couldn't be trusted.
She had warned her team that they would regret following Ozpin. They didn't believe her, and then Summer died, proving her right. She then told them again that they should stop associating with Ozpin, they didn't listen, and now Qrow was dead. Proving her right once again.
… She hated being right on this.
N-not because she cared about S-summer or Qrow, stupid, idiotic Qrow. I-it was just b-because… because… She merely hated not being able to rub it in Summer's and Qrow's face that they should have listened to her! That was all!
''And shut up, Summer! I don't remember asking you!'' Raven thought. She could already guess what the deceased woman must be thinking from the afterlife, provided the dead could watch the living.
''CAW CAW!'' Raven screamed angrily toward the sky. Something she had been doing since she felt her brother die, although she was screaming at Summer this time.
Below her, the two girls had stopped fighting and looked up toward the noisy raven.
''Oh, shut up, you dumb bird!'' Yang yelled. That bird has been following her around since she was a little girl, and Yang couldn't for the life of her figure out why, but lately it had been a pain in the ass, randomly throwing fits like this.
Raven huffed her small avian chest.
Yang used to put a lot of efforts into searching for her and was often asking questions to her father and uncle about her, but it had been a while now that she had completely stopped. Yang ceased any and all efforts to find her, something that puzzled Raven.
Why did her precious baby girl stopped loving her? Oh, no! It was because Raven was around her too often, was it? She had been too affectionate toward her daughter, and now Yang hated her for being a bullhead parent! Dammit, and she thought that it'd be okay to pass time around Yang as long as it was in her bird form so that Yang didn't know it was her. She messed up.
Now, how did she fix this and get her daughter to stalk her again?
Suddenly, three dust bullets exploded in succession, in the distance above the tree line. Three shots in the air. A call for help. And the only one living in these woods whose gun had enough range for explosive fire bullets to reach that high in the sky…
''Ruby…'' Yang whispered, her and Neo having noticed the shots as well. ''She's in trouble? Quick, we gotta go!'' She said, gesturing at Neo to go before running in the direction of the shots.
Neo followed. Normally, she wouldn't be going out of her way to go save someone, but where Ruby was, her little brother also was. Plus, she was taking a liking to Ruby and Yang.
Their auras were low due to their previous training, but Neo could still use her semblance to evacuate from a dangerous situation.
Raven looked at the two girls disappears into the woods, before taking flight… In the opposite direction.
Why should she care about Summer's crotch spawn? Wasn't her's.
She turned around, now going in the same direction Yang went a moment earlier. I-it wasn't to go check on Summer's brat. It… it was just the w-wind! The wind got caught in her wings and pushed her into that direction! That was totally what had happened!
Being airborne, Raven reached Ruby and Gemini much faster than Yang and Neo did, and the unexpected sight she beheld shocked her so much that she faltered and nearly lost control of her flight.
''Fuck… I warned you, Tai.'' Raven thought.
/-/
After Ruby shot thrice in the sky, Tyrian's pincer-shaped blade hit me in the chest, before he followed up with a kick that sent me backward.
''Gem!'' Ruby called out, getting my attention as she rushed next to me with her semblance. ''Hood & The Hoodlum, like we practiced!''
I nodded. Time to whip out the team move.
During her training, Ruby managed to master her semblance a little more than she had at the beginning of the show. Not enough to pull off completely dissolving into petals like she had started doing in Volume 4, but enough that she could bring someone else alongside her for the burst of speed her semblance gave her. Kinda like she did in the food fight to beat team JNPR, but with someone instead of objects and the air around her.
Ruby rushed toward Tyrian with her semblance, accelerating me along with her. It took us several tries during training for me to be able to keep my mind up and ready to react at the end of the burst.
As we reached Tyrian, Ruby's scythe aimed at his head, while I struck at his legs. A simultaneous attack using Ruby's semblance to rush on a single target, who wouldn't have enough with only two arms to block both hits. A basic and simple move, there wasn't much more Ruby and I could do when my semblance didn't do anything during a fight, but still effective for what we could work with.
Unfortunately…
Tyrian blocked Ruby's scythe with his weapons, which would normally mean my blade would have hit his legs, but his scorpion tail moved out from under his coat and swatted me away, his thick and hard member hitting me in the face.
… Tyrian had a fifth limb to defend himself with.
Then the fanatic grabbed Ruby, and she gasped in pain as he smashed her into a tree next to him.
As he was about to continue hitting her, I got up and charged at him. It was pointless, however, as he leaned closer to me and grabbed my wrist before I could strike him. Then he jabbed me in the face twice before throwing me away, disarming me and keeping my sword by the same occasion.
Taking the blade with both hands, he snapped it in two, the thin blade giving in under his aura-enhanced strength.
''Try to fight without your weapon now, little rat.'' Tyrian growled at me as he discarded the broken blade's pieces. ''If you know what's right for you, you will stay down.''
I charged him again. I knew it was pointless, but I couldn't just do nothing as he took Ruby.
He grabbed my weak, powerless against him fist and twisted my arm, causing a cry of pain to escape my lips. Then his eyes turned purple and his other arm, still free, moved.
''Ugh, so loud. I told you to stay down.'' Tyrian said, his blade cutting through my arm before Ruby's horrified eyes.
He wasn't holding me anymore now, and I screamed as blood spilled out of my amputated arm. How? I knew I still had aura! I could still feel it being active, and I didn't take enough hits for it to be broken!
The next part was a blur, my mind unfocused by the panic and pain of having lost an arm. Ruby screamed my name as Tyrian moved to attack me again, this time aiming at my throat. She used her semblance to get to me before his hit connected and pushed me out of the way with her shoulder.
I fell on my ass, Ruby's petals, red like blood, spreading over me. Tyrian's arm was too far into his move to stop it before his blade connected to her neck. Ruby still had aura, but it was weakened after the hits she took from Tyrian curb stomping us, and was weakened further by using the last of it she had for her semblance, just now.
Her aura broke, and in the same blow, Tyrian's Queen's Servant tore her throat open, spilling her blood over me as she fell in my arms.
T-this couldn't be happening. God, please, tell me I was dreaming this… This had to be a nightmare...
''No… NO! That's not right! I was supposed to bring her back alive.'' Tyrian yelled, before his demeanor turned meek. ''She's going to be so angry. No, calm down Tyrian, she might show mercy, it's not the end after all, just… I-it wasn't my fault!'' He whined, before taking off.
Putting her down on the ground, I pressed my remaining hand on her throat, trying desperately to stop the blood loss.
No… this was pointless. Even if I stopped the blood, she was still choking on her own blood. The brain could go two minutes without oxygen before losing consciousness, but only a few more after that before dying. I didn't have much time to find something. Anything.
Tears were coming out of Ruby's eyes as her throat continued to make choking sounds.
''Shhh. Don't talk. Save your strength.'' I said. Even a single second could make the difference. ''I love you, Ruby.'' I said, in case I failed to save her.
What could I do? We were too far from a hospital to bring her there, and even if that was possible, the injury was too much for a hospital to be able to stabilise her.
Please, God. I knew I hadn't spared much thought to you since living on Remnant, and I didn't know what to make of the Two Brothers, but if you can hear me, then I beg you, anything but this.
Anything but this.
Anything but her...
Ilia: ''Delete this. Delete this chapter and rewrite the ending.''
No.
Ilia: ''I swear, I will light a torch and burn you alive.''
I will soon face the flames of my readers. You cannot burn me in a way that matters.
Ganking. Means both bringing enough players to leave no chances of survival to the opposing players, as Augur did against Qrow, and a high level player going to a starting zone to kill low-level players who have no chances of victory, as what happened with Tyrian. Both definitions are part of the chapter's name.
Man, I've been looking forward to this chapter since I've first decided on the plot, before even starting to write chapter 1. This is where the plot of the story really starts. The rest before this was just the overly long intro.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to what I like to call the 'Withered Rose' Arc. Yes, I'm a cruel bastard.
Next chapter, 'Backseat Gaming', will make the specificities of the Withered Rose Arc clearer.
If anyone feels like dropping the fic because Ruby is dead, I'd suggest at least waiting to read next chapter before making that decision.
Don't forget to leave your angry comments.
*Evil laugh.*