Divine Intervention

by CAN I SEE YOUR PASSPORT

Two Girls are saved by a Guardian Angel and Saint Celestine, forging her own path, navigates a world that she has no knowledge on.

17. Castle In The Clouds

Castle In The Clouds

The door's lock clicked open gently. A decent respite from life at last.

Nathaniel dropped his bag by the door as he closed it behind him and made his way down the small hall into the apartment.

"Nathaniel Green," he paused with a jolt at the hard voice, "forty-five years old, a tax accountant for the Brody and Co fashion business,"

He looked up and just to the left he found a figure lit by the moonlight from the window behind her.

A single green light lit the woman's face and he sincerely wished it didn't. The scar that ran from the eyepiece down over her taught lips was just as terrifying as her cold glare. The temperature in the room dropped and the light switch on the wall a few feet away from him flicked on.

"H-how'd you get in here?" his voice shook, betraying the front he attempted to put up, as his eyes adjusted to the lights and the sight of the woman in full.

Heavy armour covered a vast majority of her body, with only a corset on her waist and a large-brimmed hat upon her head. He had no idea what the red 'I' iconography on the hat meant, but it, with the skull that made her left pauldron gave him an idea.

And despite being taller than the woman, the cold, dark eye that stared relentlessly into his own eyes without blinking made his body shiver as fear ran down his spine and into a pit in his stomach.

"Suspect of the murder case involving your mother," she ignored the question as she brandished a rapier in one hand and a strange, large gun-crossbow in the other, "all charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence around you,"

He gulped and nodded, "yes, that's right, so you don't have a right to be here,"

The woman took a step forward, her armoured heels clicked against the wooden floor, "however, your bank records show funds leaving to unknown accounts, specifically to those of the judge and prosecutor. A few trails even lead to Vale before they got lost,"

He felt his heart skip a beat before increasing in speed. How the fuck did she figure that out? He was guaranteed no one would find out… fuck.

He slowly moved to his left, placing the kitchen counter between him and the woman, but he still moved back when she moved forward, "I can g-get you some of that m-money, just tell me how much you want!"

His back hit the sink and counter in the kitchen, "a thousand Lien?" her face remained unchanged, "two thousand? Seven?"

The numbers went higher and higher while his hand scoured the counter for something to use as a weapon.

The darkness under the woman's eye, which he first thought was from sleep depravity, darkened as the air became icy. His breath turned to ice vapour. His fingers came to rest on a knife but it was yanked away.

His head snapped to the left expecting someone to be there, but there wasn't. Fuck, a Semblance!

He turned back to her and she was in front of him. Bile rose in his throat.

The air remained as icy as her glare, "try that again," she said in a level, monotone voice as she aimed the gun to his chest, "and I'll put a fist-sized hole in you,"

Nathaniel's throat tightened. The prison was not somewhere he could go and death was sure as shit not in his plans. But what else could he do? Run?

No, there was nowhere to go; the treaties between Vale and Atlas would ensure he'd be caught and extradited for trial. Vacuo would eat him alive and Mistral was just as bad under all the jungle.

"Are you sure you don't want any Lien?" he slowly moved his hands in front of himself, "my clients won't miss any. I'm sure I can get whatever your price is,"

The woman's thumb flicked the safety off with a click, "by order of the Imperial Inquisition and the Atlesian Intelligence Agency, you are under arrest-"

He felt his heart freeze as the names were listed off,

-"Any attempt to escape will be met with lethal force,"

He was dead if he resisted and dead if he got arrested. Shit, fuck, shit!

In a split second, he made a decision he'd come to regret and moved to attack.

---

He cowered back into a corner of the detainment cell, blood dribbling down his face from a large wound on his temple. He gripped his broken arm tightly, "I killed her, okay!? Just stay the fuck away from me!"

Katarinya could feel the eyes of everyone on her, including Ironwood and Celestine. Not that it mattered, the job was complete, why stare at the person who completed it?

"I know you did," Greyfax spoke cooly, causing the man to freeze up, "now you will pay the consequences,"

She put a minor amount of her psychic essence into the control panel for the forcefield, ignoring the temperature drop in doing so, and flicked the field on. The man shivered with wide eyes.

"I want access to the prisoners," the Inquisitor didn't bother looking at the General, favouring staring the man in the cell into submission, "you can't get them to talk; I can,"

Ironwood's mind slowly went through all excuses to deny her, slow her down for whatever reason. There was a reason, it lingered in the far reaches of his mind, only the concept of a reason could be found with light probing, not the content of said reason.

The man sighed, "I'll get a report from Tanner and assess you from there,"

Greyfax rounded on James, "assess me? I am the one who has brought in just under a dozen criminals: murderers, rapists, conspirators in the span of a month," she gestured to the cell to prove her point, "he marks yet another case closed because you've used me as an Arbites, a cop,"

They both knew the case wasn't closed until the man was behind bars, but they also knew that she would ensure he was put there no matter what.

She took a step towards him and raised her voice, "I am wasting my time and my effort arresting these vermin when there is far, far worse out there. Let me do my damn job or I'll walk."

"And what would you do without my resources," Ironwood questioned,

"Katarinya…" Celestine warned psychically, but it went ignored,

"Without me? If I walk, everyone else does as well," Greyfax rose the challenge, "and what would you do without us?"

Ironwood kept his face calm as he clasped his hands behind his back and looked over Greyfaxs' shoulder to Celestine for a moment. He settled his gaze back on Greyfax and breathed heavily through his nose, "Tanner will be with you, no exceptions,"

"It's better than being denied again." Celestine's voice echoed in her mind.

She didn't respond to the Saint, "I want to see them later today at absolute maximum,"

Resignation set in the man's eyes and nodded, "I'll have them ready for interrogation by early afternoon,"

Greyfax nodded firmly once and marched down the hall. She got what she wanted; that was all that mattered, not the feelings of some insignificant General.

"There were transactions to other Kingdoms, including Vale," She projected to the Saint by her side, "I'm going back to his apartment briefly to search, your help would be appreciated,"

"Sure, Emerald is with Kotek and Alexea right now,"

The two left the building in silence and continued to be silent up until they were just entering the building. Greyfax faced Celestine, "there wasn't much heading to Vale, they could be legitimate outgoings from the company to their branches in the Kingdom,"

"But if he's willingly paid off the judge and prosecutor there's the chance he was laundering Lien to hand over somewhere else,"

Greyfax opened the door and marched inside, "he wasn't laundering, that's for the other end to take care of, he was processing false tax claims for the company and sending the rest somewhere,"

Celestine closed the door behind her, "how'd he do that?"

"Put simply; he would file a tax claim with a false amount on it, get that amount back, give the company a more reasonable number on the paperwork, and send the hidden Lien to a fake account from which it would be distributed,"

"Okay," Celestine started slowly, "so why kill his mother?"

Greyfax placed her hat on the kitchen counter, "Most likely for inheritance as all of it went to him once the case was dismissed,"

"I think I'll stick to being a warrior," Celestine gave a tiny smirk as she flicked her gaze to the dried blood flicks on the wall and floor,

"Right now, you're an Inquisitor." Greyfax shot back without any heat, "start searching for any paperwork with numbers on it or if it looks important,"

Celestine nodded and Greyfax went to one side of the apartment, leaving the other half for the Saint. She turned and went down the two steps into the lounge area that was depressed lower than the main floor and rifled through the magazines and folders on the coffee table.

"Atlas Times, Financial Weekly and…" her brows furrowed, "Arachnid Extravaganza…"

Right, didn't need to know the Abhumans doubled as porn stars… let alone ones like spiders… A regular Faunus would be more preferable if she had to choose or be dishonoured by the Emperor, but even then, the dishonour would be preferable.

Though, it's even more surprising that Atlas actually sold material like that with the Faunus, given their status regarding them and all. Imports, maybe?

She sighed and tossed the magazines to the floor to make room for the folders. Opening each one up she was bombarded by numbers and analyses she didn't understand.

"-last accounting period showed a fifteen per cent rise in the allocation of funds to our-" she continued reading, silently mouthing the words before she gave up with a shake of her head, "Katarinya and Kotek will understand it better than I,"

She placed the papers back into the folders and put them aside next to Greyfax's hat before she checked under the couch cushions. With nothing else found there other than a remote for what she presumed to be the massive screen on the wall, she went over to the next set of areas.

Behind one door there was a small office, undoubtedly where most of what they were after resided. She decided not to even touch the room in fear of accidentally tampering with evidence or even losing something important. So, she went to the second and only other room on this side of the apartment.

A single bed sat in the centre of the room neatly made. A bedside table sat where its namesake predicted and a chest of draws sat next to a shelf on the right side of the room while a desk sat to the left.

Unless Nathaniel was egotistical enough to rival Lelith to have a picture of himself on the desk, the room Celestine found herself in was his mother's.

She sighed, "how can someone kill their mother over money?"

Speaking ill of the Emperor or for any other heretical actions would be an understandable reason as long as there was evidence of such blasphemy but over money? It is nowhere near as important as your life for Him and if it was, reevaluation was sorely needed and a visit to the nearest Convent for penance was in service.

At least there you would find your place in His perfect regime.

She resigned herself to never knowing why he placed such importance on a construct such as Lien and began her search of the room.

By the end of her search, an hour had passed and absolutely nothing of value was found. Only now, the room was far messier than when she started… her wings knocking a few things off the shelf certainly didn't help.

Greyfax didn't need to know that though…

The Saint left the room and went back to the kitchen where Greyfax sat reading files she found.

"There's an office down there, Katarinya," Celestine pointed with a thumb over her shoulder, "you might want to go through that,"

"You didn't check?"

Celestine shook her head, "Didn't want to risk tampering,"

Greyfax nodded her head, "you have better judgement than some Inquisitors,"

The Saint leant on the counter, "thanks, I try," she looked around the apartment, "Not a bad place, it'd be nice if our ships were more like this,"

"It would make Warp travel more comfortable, yes," Greyfax put her hat on and collected the files in her hands, "I called Clover up to guard the place while we're gone,"

Celestine's brows rose, "oh, don't trust the place to withstand the assault from dust?"

The Inquisitor snorted, "no, I want to make sure nothing is tampered with here,"

"I could stay,"

"You have Emerald and Hesperax to deal with," Greyfax gave her a small smirk, "but I'll see if I can make this your permanent home here,"

Celestine nodded with faint surprise at Greyfax, "Two rooms, one for me and one for Emerald, that'll work." the Saint crossed her arms, "but what about you? You're going to live in the officer's quarters for however long we're here?"

"Don't know, don't care, really," Greyfax shrugged as she put her hat on, "lived in far worse to complain. Besides, closer to my duties down there… not all of us can teleport, you know. And we do need a secure location to speak, so why not take the space no one is using and make it ours?"

She nodded at the reasoning, "fair enough. Let's get moving, Clover can let himself in,"

---

Her arms stung greatly, as did her thighs, calves and nearly every other muscle. Even her head hurt, especially her head. Alexea was as cruel as she was knowledgeable on so many things. Not as much as Katarinya is, but close in many areas.

Between the physical exercises with Celestine and Katarinya forcing her to use her Semblance in a vast variety of ways, even on Alexea. Though Alexea's Semblance made it impossible for it to work on the Oblivion Knight, Katarinya wanted her to do it anyway for some reason, every time.

She didn't know what the big guy was going to make her do, but if it was anything like what she just went through… I could hide from them…

But the Inquisitor knew everything she was thinking, so there was nowhere to hide.

It was over. That was what she repeated to herself as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with little care for how much she stunk or sweated, just that she got to lie down for the first time today.

An entire month of cold. Sort of. The buildings were heated and really comfortable, but the outside sucked. It was the opposite of Vale in every way; the town was much, much nicer. She knew the people there, they were kind and warm and relaxed.

The people here, in Atlas, were just dicks. Everyone not from up in the clouds was treated badly, like outcasts to be bullied and owned. It sucked. A lot.

Her lips parted slightly, "I wanna go home…" she mumbled quietly.

But where was home anymore? The hell was that, the bandits? The hotel in the town? Her mother and father were gone, so they didn't count. Did Celestine? She was warm and comfortable. Always there to look after her from the nightmares and other things.

"Ugh, I wanna do something…" she rolled over on the bed and stared at the door. "Eh, screw it,"

Emerald slowly slid off the bed and onto her feet. She checked to make sure her Scroll was on her and that she had her pistol just in case and made her way into the hall.

What good was being miserable in the room when there was Atlas she could explore? And boy, was there a lot to explore outside the officer's quarters. Even if the people sucked, at least the place looks nice.

A thin layer of snow covered the ground and a mild breeze blew against her. She snuggled deeper into her jacket, but despite the cold, she continued down the opposite end of the path that went to the Academy. Dozens of uniformed students and soldiers moved along it to wherever they were going early in the morning.

Some were dressed for the gym, and Emerald couldn't help but wonder if they were going to train with Kotek. If they were, she felt sorry for them and if any of them had hopes of showing up their instructor, she pitied them.

At least Lelith wasn't a staple in their training like she was for her. Then again, Hesperax was skulking in a corner earlier and stayed when she left for her room, so maybe they'd have to fight her today.

Well, try to fight her. Every time she thought she was getting better when sparring, Lelith upped her game and, quite literally in some cases, pounded her into the floor to 'humble her'. It took a dictionary search and Celestine to explain what she meant by 'humble'... turns out, sneaking up on Lelith was impossible, punching her even moreso.

Emerald grumbled to herself. Better that she drive them up the wall than me…

Slowly, Emerald came to an intersection in the path with a series of signs pointing down the three ways; behind her was the Academy, which she already knew. To her left was the beginnings of the city, her right was an artificial forest.

She felt her pistol in its holster and decided to go to the right. Not like the city was going anywhere… well if it floated away then that was different…

She shook her head as she entered the forest and let her eyes wander the deeper she aimlessly went. Eventually, the sounds of the city were gone, muffled by trees. Even the constant low rumble of the Battleships became muffled unless one was directly overhead.

Emerald closed her eyes and took a breath. Peace at last. Maybe she could come here more often when she had the time, just to relax. She opened her eyes again and looked around. Partially obscured by some trees, a clearing was found for her to go to.

She stepped noisily through the underbrush, grass and leaves to get to the clearing, and when she popped out the other side light grey eyes stared confusedly at her.

The tanned girl pointed to Emerald's left, "there was a proper entrance just over there…"

Emerald glanced over and found that there was, in fact, an entrance to her left. Her skin darkened with an embarrassed blush, "I, uh, didn't notice…"

The new girl laughed, "obviously!"

Emerald pouted, "Hey! I'm new, I didn't know!"

"Don't worry," she waved off, "I'm not gonna dob on you,"

The two fell into silence and Emerald awkwardly shuffled, not knowing what to do. Should she leave or stay; maybe start a conversation?

"So," Emerald jolted at the girl's voice, "why do you have a gun? You going to the Academy or Prep-school?"

Her eyes flicked to the holster then back to the seated girl, "um, no, I just like having it on me and I've always been told to carry a weapon by Geyfax,"

The girl cocked her head, "who?"

Emerald waved her off, "you wouldn't know her, or any of the others training me,"

The girl thought for a moment, then patted the grass next to her, "sit, you look tired,"

It took a moment for her to process the request, but when she did she immediately sat next to the girl. After a moment Emerald realised something,

"I'm, um- I'm Emerald," she introduced herself through her nerves,

"Ilia," Ilia gave a smile and held a hand out awkwardly, "what brought you to Atlas?"

Emerald shook her hand just as awkwardly and answered, "uh, Celestine wanted to come here with her…friends and I kinda followed,"

"Ah…" both sat silently staring at each other and Emerald fidgeted with her hands while Ilia shuffled and toyed with her ponytail over her shoulder.

"You hear about Mountain Glenn?" Ilia spoke up suddenly,

Emerald nodded slowly, unsure where this was going, "yeah…"

"Apparently, the angel was there!" Ilia exclaimed, "the one in Atlas right now!"

Emerald perked up, "Oh! You mean Celestine!"

Ilia gave her a disbelieving look, "Bullcrap you know her,"

She gave Ilia a bashful look, "yeah, she saved me back in Vale,"

"Oh, from what?" Ilia rose a brow, "I wanna know if you're lying,"

Images of the cages and bodies flashed back to Emerald in one go and she shivered uncomfortably as her heart rate increased, "I- I don't want to talk about it…"

"Ha!" Ilia pointed at her face, "You are lying!"

Emerald shrugged indifferently; so long as she didn't have to talk about it she didn't care what Ilia believed. And besides, give it a few minutes and Celestine would appear out of thin air, as she normally does most of the time.

"There's also this big gold guy," Ilia continued as if nothing happened, "but I don't think that it's an actual guy, me and my friends think it's some type of android or something,"

Emerald rolled her eyes and went along with it, "what's an android?"

Ilia's eyes widened, "you know, the robot things Ironwood and the Council keep talking about! The ones they want to use to replace soldiers,"

Oh, Kotek could replace soldiers alright. He was fast. She wanted to say, but responded with, "oh, those things."

That explanation didn't help… Greyfax'll know.

Ilia nodded enthusiastically, "I've also seen a lady get around lately when I'm on my way to class,"

Emerald idly wonder which one she was talking about, "there's a lot of new people around here,"

"Yeah," Ilia spoke as she laid down and rested on her side, "but the lady I'm talking about has really long red hair… and not many clothes on, which is weird because it's cold,"

"Oh, what does she do?" Emerald let her curiosity shine through. Anything that could be used to annoy Lelith is something she'd be more than happy to listen to.

"Usually she just wanders around, sometimes she's mean to some of the soldiers or stalking Ironwood," Ilia shrugged a shoulder, "or getting in places she shouldn't be; Some soldiers were trying to get her down from a statue the other day,"

"So, literally nothing she doesn't usually do…" Emerald muttered to herself,

"What, you know her too?" the sarcasm was thick off the words,

"Yeah, I know that asshole," Emerald pouted, "she's rude and annoying, I don't know why they keep her around… but I figured out Alexea's Semblance keeps her away, so if I want Lelith gone I just go to her," Emerald finished with a shrug as she played with the grass,

Ilia narrowed her eyes, "I don't buy it, what does she look like?"

"Who, Lelith or Alexea?"

"The redhead,"

"Lelith," Emerald confirmed aloud, "long red hair with a single black st-" she paused in her description and blinked at Ilia. Emerald smiled as she realised, "I can show you!"

Ilia stared, dumbfounded at her, "what?"

Emerald pounced onto her feet and dusted off her pants, "You wanna know what Lelith looks like, I can show you with my Semblance!" she gasped, "A-ha! I can prove I know Celestine! But, yes or no answer; have you seen Celestine in person?"

"Uh, Celestine is the angel and Lelith is the redhead, right?" Ilia, too, got to her feet,

"Yup!" Emerald held a finger out, "now, my Semblance lets me make you see things,"

"Woah, you have your Semblance already?" Ilia blinked then frowned, "You're not gonna show me something like a weird, right?"

Emerald froze and blinked with darkened cheeks, "ew, no!"

"Good," Ilia blew a sigh of relief, "the boys in class draw them enough as it is,"

Emerald shook her head in exasperation, "anyway… I'll show you Lelith first… I see enough of her as it is…" she muttered the last part under her breath with annoyance. How hard is it to put pants on?

She took a deep breath and calmed her mind with the image of a white, blank wall like Greyfax instructed her a few times. Upon it, she placed the image of the Drukhari before imagining her as a three-dimensional being. With the base of the illusion made up, Emerald opened her eyes and focused on Ilia in front of her and pushed the image gently onto her.

She knew it worked when Ilia's eyes widened in shock and recognition, "holy crap! Yeah that's her!" she looked at Emerald, "why'd you make her look like she wants to kill me?"

Emerald blinked and the illusion was gone, "uh, that's her usual look. And she probably would give you that look,"

"She sounds like a bitch,"

Emerald agreed with a nod, "She is."

"But she's also pretty," Ilia sucked her lips in, "but… kinda off-putting as well. I don't know how to describe it…"

Emerald shrugged with a look of indifference, "if you think that, then I used my semblance correctly… or I've seen enough of her to have her looks burned into my mind,"

"Having that in your head can't be that bad, can it?"

"She's a fucking asshole." Emerald crossed her arms and gave her a blank look, "So, yes, it is,"

There was a silent pause and Ilia blinked and tilted her head, "You swear a lot."

"Huh?" Emerald scratched her head, "uh, sorry,"

Ilia waved her off, "just don't let my mum hear you, she hates me even saying 'crap',"

"What's the worst you've said?" Emerald placed a hand on her hip,

Ilia's face flushed, but there was a moment where Emerald could have sworn all of her visible skin did as well, "...bitch…"

Emerald thought for a second, "Say fuck,"

"What? No! What if she hears?" Ilia's eyes glanced around the clearing as if she expected her mother to be there waiting,

Emerald grinned mischievously, "Do it, it's just a word and I ain't gonna tell fuck all,"

"F- no, I can't!" Ilia stopped herself,

Emerald shuffled over to her and threw an arm around Ilia's shoulders, causing her to tense briefly, "yeah, you can!"

"F-" Ilia started nervously- "uck…" and finished with her eyes clamped shut, waiting for a stern talk to,

Though she opened them to Emerald rolling on the floor laughing at her feet, "you looked so stupid with your eyes shut!"

"Hey, don't be mean!" her words were betrayed by a grin on her lips and a joyful glint in her eyes, "you fuck,"

That started a new bout of cackling from Emerald; she clutched her sides and kicked her feet wildly for a few more seconds before she calmed down. Slowly, she sat up and rubbed the tears from her eyes with a chuckle, "heh, you sounded so scared, it's dumb,"

"Well, if my mother heard, I'd be dead, so," Ilia tossed her hands up half-heartedly,

"What about your dad?"

"He could care less so long as I know when to hold my tongue and be polite to the right people, which is everyone"

Slowly, as Ilia continued to blab about her dad, something Emerald didn't particularly want to hear about, she got into a low pounce position Lelith had taught her weeks ago and sprang up into Ilia's abdomen with her arms wrapped around her.

Ilia squealed as hit the floor with an oof and Emerald on top giggling madly at the bout of chaos she caused. Ilia attempted briefly to push her off but switched tactics when she failed to succeed.

Instead, she used an elbow and body weight to flip them over. Reversing the situation much to the delight of Emerald who enjoyed the only fight that she was equal in, even if it was very quickly descending from a play fight to a giggling match.

They remained there for a few moments before they separated and lay next to each other.

Ilia turned her head and looked at Emerald, "why'd you do that?"

Emerald glanced at her with a carefree smile, "why not?"

Ilia's brows rose, as did a finger, ready to rebuke something only for her to giggle, "no, you have a point, it was fun,"

"Hehe, yeah," Emerald sighed contently as she looked back to the sky. For the briefest moment, she thought she might've done something bad or hurt her.

"Wanna be friends?"

Emerald's eyes widened, "uh, sure?"

"Yes!"

She didn't see the celebration of Ilia's, but she did see a flash of the air fist the girl made. A goofy grin subconsciously formed on her face at the thought of a friend. Maybe I should let Celestine introduce me to the other girls she said she knew…

Emerald pulled her Scroll out and checked the time; just after one in the afternoon. "Shit, I've been up for a while…"

"Huh? How long have you been awake for?"

Emerald tossed her head back and forth gently as she thought, "I can't do maths well, but I've been up since four-thirty training till, uh, I think about seven…"

"Training with Lelith?"

"Nah," Emerald shook her head, "she's usually Tuesdays, today was with Kotek and Alexea,"

"What type of training do you do?"

"With Kotek, it's usually weight-related since he can lift anything but he also does sparring 'to improve my reflex times' or something. Uh, Alexea is with weapons training, though she helps with Semblance usage with Greyfax," Emerald thought for a moment, "Lelith is blade weaponry, she's a dick, but she can use a knife and be impossible to hit while looking good doing it,"

"Huh…"

"And Celestine is a bit of everything, melee, swords, guns, weights, like a jack of all trades,"

Ilia rolled onto her side, facing Emerald, "well, you are pretty strong; I couldn't get you off me,"

An embarrassed chuckle left Emerald and she looked to Ilia, "sorry,"

"Nah," Ilia dismissed with a free hand and a smile, "it was fun and you'll have to help me get stronger,"

A sharp, amused laugh left Emerald, "I'm not that strong,"

"Bruh, you're stronger than all the boys in my sports class,"

"Bullshit,"

"I'll drag you to my next class so I can watch you kick their butts,"

Emerald blinked, "you're serious?"

"Yeah! It'll be funny as hell," Ilia made a disgusted face, "they're all like 'girls have cooties' and every time you give them attention they think you're trying to be their girlfriend,"

Emerald blinked a little slower, "um, no thanks, I'll pass with that forever,"

Ilia's chest vibrated with chuckles, "try dealing with it as much as I have to, besides I'm with them on Wiess being pretty,"

More than a moment was spent thinking on who that was, "She's the white-haired girl, right?"

"Duh," Ilia shook her head incredulously, "like, everyone in nearly all my classes has a crush on her,"

To Emerald, that sounded plausible. Though she'd never gone to a school before or even been around many kids her age. Was it normal for that to happen?

"Is that, uh, normal for that to happen in schools?"

"Uh, yeah, from what my dad said each generation has, like, a collective crush on someone," Ilia's face went neutral and she rose a brow, "you've never been to school before have you?"

Emerald felt her face heat with embarrassment, "n-no…" and shrunk into herself at the snicker from Ilia,

"You're so cute when you're embarrassed!"

"Shuddup!" Emerald whacked Ilia's side lightly,

She fought off Emerald's next attack with a smack of her own, "Fine, fine, I don't wanna get into a boxing match with you, I'd die,"

Emerald rolled her eyes, "You won't die,"

"Yes, I will!"

A snort left her, "sure." Emerald sat up, "I'm gonna head back to my room,"

Ilia's shoulders drooped, "oh,"

"Don't you have class or something?" Emerald brushed her hair out of her eyes,

"It's the weekend…" Ilia gave her an odd look,

"...oh, well, you can come if you want, though it'll be boring,"

"I don't have anything else to do… and my mum thinks I'm out with friends, so at least this isn't a lie anymore,"

Emerald slowly lead the two of them back to her room, making conversation about anything and everything they could think of. So far Emerald had learned of the best takeaway food store, where the best arcade was and that Coal and Neon were too close to be just friends…

How did Ilia get to that conclusion? She saw them hold hands.

Now, Emerald could admit she was no expert, hell, she was only nine. But she was sure that wasn't how that worked…

"Woah," Ilia paused and pointed towards the door to the officer's quarters, "that's where your room is?"

Emerald looked from the door to Ilia, "uh, yeah?"

"But that's where, like, the soldiers and all that live!" Ilia exclaimed, gaining a few amused looks from a few out of uniform soldiers,

"And?" was that, like, a bad thing?

"You can just walk in?"

"I can…" Emerald said slowly, "how else am I supposed to get to my room?"

Now that she thought about it, Lelith probably knew a few ways and Greyfax definitely knew. She knew everything. Frankly, it was kinda scary how she just knew things…

"But-"

"Follow me," Emerald started towards the door but knew Ilia had paused once again as the door was filled with gold.

"Hello!" Emerald waved tiredly,

Kotek nodded his head, "greetings. what are you doing?"

"I'm going back to my room with a… friend," Emerald gestured to Ilia who stood in shock behind her,

Kotek stared at the new girl for a moment, "very well, I am meeting with Inquisitor Greyfax, Celestine and General Ironwood regarding the Vytal Festival, SDC matters and other events,"

"Um, okay?" Emerald's brows furrowed, there was something she was missing there…

"Greyfax will likely come to you in a few hours for questioning," Kotek stated as he hoisted the Guardian Spear up, "I must get moving, I will inform Celestine of your friend,"

"What about Lelith and Alexea?" Emerald called after him,

He turned, "Lelith is down in Mantle while Alexea is with the Specialists,"

There was a sigh of relief from Emerald, Lelith wasn't around to be an ass, score!

"He's so… golden…" Ilia muttered beside Emerald.

Everyone who was out stared at the now distant form of the Custodian with only a few paying him no mind.

"You get used to it…"

"No, you don't,"

"No, I haven't," Emerald agreed, "now imagine him being the one you have to spar,"

Ilia gave Emerald a scared look, "He would kill me with a pinky finger,"

"Hah! No, he'd need at least a fist,"

Ilia laughed for a moment but halted when she noticed Emerald didn't join her, "wait, you're serious?"

"Believe me, he's scarier than he looks… and smarter, too," Emerald walked through the doors and Ilia scrambled after her, "he's also really, really quiet despite his size, which is scary when he appears behind you,"

"You really do know the angel, don't you?"

"Yeah," Emerald nodded, "I did tell you that,"

Ilia gave her a small glare, "well, a lot of people in school say they know her too,"

A bark of a laugh left Emerald, "next time someone says that, ask them what part of her armour is white,"

"Why?"

"If they say 'her wings', they don't know her," Emerald Led them to the left,

"Why? Her wings are white…"

"But they're not her armour, and only certain bits of it are actually white," Emerald said as she stopped in front of an elevator and pressed a button,

Ilia took a moment to think, "what parts?"

"On each vambrace, there's a blue jewel-ruby-thing that has wings on them, they're white," Emerald elaborated, "there's other details that they wouldn't know as well, but uh, there's not much of a point,"

"So her arms' armour has white wings…" Ilia confirmed to herself and stared at the Elevators in amazement when the ding announcing one at their level sounded, "You're on the top floor!?"

"What, no." Emerald shook her head as she entered, "We're only a few floors up and I can't be bothered taking the stairs,"

Soon after that, Emerald led them to her her hall and unlocked the door to her room.

"Woah," Ilia cautiously moved into the room, "this is cool!"

What was so special? There was a bed, desk, bathroom and a large window… literally the basics of a room. Ilia moved over to the window and gasped. Okay, the view was pretty good…

"I'm going to have a shower," Emerald started collecting the necessities, "and if Celestine comes back just tell her where I am,"

Ilia reluctantly turned away from the window, "And what if anyone else you know comes back?"

"Same thing, I guess," Emerald shrugged with her hands full of clothes and a towel before she closed the bathroom door behind her. She leant her back against the door with a sigh and blinked widely. What the hell just happened?

---

"So, we know that Tyrian has become more active, yes?" Celestine started once Kotek entered Ironwood's office,

Ironwood sent an ineffective glare to Greyfax, "yes, thanks to the Inquisitors… methods we know a lot more than what we did before,"

"And what is it that we have learned?" Kotek questioned stood between Ironwood and Greyfax, no doubt to ward off any potential physical altercations if things got heated as most meetings did,

Celestine spoke as the holographic table rose from the floor, "ruins of towns and outposts are their main staging grounds; they move through them the same way the Militarum would a Forward Operating Base,"

"Whether that involves the transport of their prisoners and or soldiers, we don't know," Ironwood added and he leant on the table, "all sources have either cut ties with us or say there was a spike in movement before it went silent,"

"They've gone underground now that they know someone is out for them," Kotek said, "they will remain hidden for at least a year to partially regain the losses sustained at Mountain Glenn,"

"That let us push," Celestine crossed an arm across her chest and held her chin in her other hand, "if we can slowly target and eliminate outposts, that would give us the upper hand,"

Ironwood frowned, "you're saying we commit to pre-emptive strikes?"

"They were dealt a major blow at the ruins of that damned city, General," Greyfax responded before Celestine could, "if we keep them on the back foot while they're weak we may have this over sooner than later,"

"We can only do that on our territory, not another Kingdom's, Greyfax," Ironwood gave her a bewildered look, "it would be considered an act of war,"

"Well, get them to do it themselves,"

"Or what? We do it without permission?" Ironwood let his displeasure known, "no, we follow the rules until we can't,"

"Patience, the both of you," Kotek intertwined, "let them reveal themselves through mistakes and their own actions,"

Greyfax rounded on him, "And let them run rampant? No!"

"We are not letting them do anything if we are already squeezing them, Inquisitor," Ironwood straightened and pushed a few buttons.

A three-dimensional image of a large tower appeared above the table and a messy-haired old man had his image shown. A single, small implant was where his left eye should have been.

"This is Doctor Merlot, his building was the one that was the source of the explosion that collapsed Mountain Glenn. He was directly responsible for the fall of the city,"

Celestine's brows shot up, "how?"

Ironwood glanced at her, "He believed the Grimm are the ultimate lifeform, that they should be harnessed in whatever way possible. His experiments with Grimm drew them in in droves; overran the defences bit by bit till the tunnels to Vale had to be destroyed," Ironwood fixed his gaze on Greyfax, "if your theory about a new Grimm type is correct, he probably has something to do with it,"

Ironwood rubbed his eyes, "and please, next time you find a new Grimm type, don't come running to me each time, it's nothing new for new ones to pop up each year or so,"

They were Daemons, were they not? That makes them more dangerous than anything imaginable. But they weren't spawns of the Ruinous Powers, they were different, and for Celestine that made them all the more to be informed about.

"Give me everything he has ever done," Greyfax studied Merlot's image closely, "I want his entire life story if you have it. Kotek, you're helping,"

"With what?"

"There's going to be more reading than I can do in a quick manner,"

Kotek nodded, knowing what was being asked, "I will aid you," the Custodian faced Ironwood, "when the settlement fell, what type of defences did it have?"

"Multiple point defence systems, anti-air weapons and even a few artillery batteries to quell hoards," Ironwood crossed his arms, "why?"

"Were they ever recovered?"

The General remained silent for a moment as the implication set in, "shit,"

"If they have defences like that, their losses would be made mute," Celestine put her hands on her hips, "that's probably another reason why they were there as well as Merlot's building,"

"If they have the weapons, why didn't they fire?" Ironwood questioned aloud,

"Didn't want to give away they have them, most likely," Celestine answered, "no force gives away what they're capable of in full, and that would have been a declaration of war on Atlas,"

Ironwood nodded sternly, "they would not survive a direct confrontation there,"

"Yes, yes, we've known for a while now that they have some basic intelligence," Greyfax cut in, "but I want to know why they've joined,"

"Believe it or not," Ironwood started, "Kingdoms have towns rebel on a regular basis; many just cut all ties to the Kingdom, they usually die after a few months because of a lack of supplies and the Grimm. Though on the rare occasion, if they're fueled by the right words, they take up arms to fight the Kingdom,"

"So these cultists could be unhappy residents?" Greyfax questioned with a frown, "why turn against what protects you?"

"The Kingdom comes first, towns second." Ironwood stated, "there are more lives to care for behind the walls than the few hundred per town,"

Kotek shifted his stance, "the needs of the many outweigh the few,"

"Exactly, and they don't like that." Ironwood agreed, "there are a few who got denied deals that destroyed their economy, or aid was never sent during a disaster because the Kingdom required the profit and aid more,"

Celestine placed a hand on the Ardent Blade subconsciously, "and the fall of Mountain Glenn would have made many towns panic, but due to Vale needing to shore up its defences the frontier was left to fend for itself,"

A solemn looked washed over Ironwood, "many towns were lost, and even more separated; a few formed an alliance but it did little to prevent their decay in the long run,"

Celestine cocked her hip as she crossed her arms, "but why join a cult of Grimm worshipers?"

Greyfax faced her, "same reason many join Ch- rebellions," she corrected herself at the last moment, "against the Imperium, they're the only help they're offered and take it with both hands and won't let go until they go cold,"

"With no option other than the deranged or a life they don't want, the desperate will take their chances," Kotek agreed, "many of the members may not even worship the Grimm, just seek revenge for being abandoned by the Kingdoms. But we do know it will attract the wicked and cruel,"

"And Ozpin holding the guard back in Vale last month would have given cause for more to join," Celestine muttered and Ironwood agreed reluctantly,

"He made a misjudgment in not sending aid, but if he did his forces would have been stretched too far,"

"We'll continue to train more of your soldiers, General," Kotek cut in, sensing a potential argument coming when Greyfax opened her mouth, "and we should continue to monitor any potential threats and act accordingly,"

"Celestine," Greyfax faced the Saint with a small scowl, "confirm the usage of abandoned towns with Emerald, she'll most likely have been through a lot of them during her time and might know their locations and see if you can worm out anything else,"

The Saint nodded, "got it,"

"The mines," Greyfax pondered aloud, "there's the chance they're using them as a hideout or stash of some sort if they're in the area,"

Ironwood held a hand up, "that brings me to another reason you're all here. Jacques wants to film promotional footage of the SDC for the Festival,"

Celestine groaned and blushed when Kotek stared at her, "what is the matter?"

"He wants the mine he'll be filming at guarded, doesn't he?"

Ironwood nodded, "yes, he does,"

"That allows us to bypass any red tape to enter the mines for a search for the cult," Greyfax said, "claim it is to keep his interests safe and he'll let us do anything, isn't that right, General?"

"Yes," Ironwood said, "and he wants you to do it, Custodian,"

Kotek's helm turned to Ironwood slowly, "why?"

The General shrugged, "Officially, he wants the best of the best to protect his assets. Unofficially and in my opinion; you're ornate and would show his influence to potential buyers and rivals,"

"Because of my status in your military."

"I assume so, yes," Ironwood sighed, "he originally wanted the Specialists to be there, but he now wants you. He also gave me the timetable for filming, starting in two months at four locations; the first mine is directly under Atlas, which is guarded by regular soldiers. The other three are out in the mountains."

"They were secure when I checked yesterday," Celestine spoke up, "as were the towns,"

"And it's those mines that Jacques wants you to be there for filming,"

To show off the nonexistent security out there. Went as an open secret amongst them.

"I'll be going over the details for the security for the Festival itself and handing it out by the end of next month for peer review by my commanders," Ironwood relaxed his shoulders, "was that everything?"

Greyfax placed her hands on the table, the blue light lit her face, "For a case involving Nathaniel, I'll need access to other Kingdoms' archives and data,"

Ironwood tilted his head, "why?"

"Trails lead to other Kingdoms and seen as though this is my job, I'll need that information to form a proper persecution,"

Ironwood's eyes flattened in resignment, "I'll open the proper channels for you,"

"And the apartment, it's going unused," Celestine gave Katarinya a surprised look as she continued, "it is now the property of the AIA under section four article nine-"

"You don't need to read me the entire article," Ironwood cut her off, "and who's going to be protecting 'assets in an ongoing investigation'?"

"Celestine, pack your stuff and move in by tonight, and don't touch the office until I get there tomorrow morning,"

How the hell did she dig that article up in the span of a few hours… actually, what even was the content of the article? That's what caught Celestine's curiosity.

"Consider it done," Celestine nodded,

"Is that all General?" Greyfax turned back to Ironwood,

He sighed with a frustrated look, "I'll send you the assets in a couple of hours after I'm done with the paperwork for your apartment…" Ironwood turned to Celestine, "besides, you technically aren't an officer in the military so you couldn't stay after the festival anyway,"

Celestine took a deep breath at the realisation of who else would be coming with her. She explicitly avoided mentioning Lelith, hoping she would be left behind, "I'll get Emerald and start moving. Can't leave the files entirely unprotected."

The brief glare from Greyfax made her pause. "Don't oversell it or he'll remember the Drukhari,"

"Fine, I don't believe there's anything left to discuss?" Ironwood glanced at them and got no response, "dismissed,"

"When you see Ebi, Saint, send him to training room four, Alexea and I will be there with the rest of the Specialists," Kotek said as he faced the door, "and Emerald made a new acquaintance today, she is with the new girl in your room,"

Both Celestine and Greyfax looked at each other as they left Ironwood's office.

"So she can be near people," Greyfax said,

Celestine nodded, "I was starting to fear she was becoming introverted to the extreme with how she avoids people other than ourselves,"

"As you said a while ago, she might have just needed someone her age," Greyfax let Celestine in the elevator first then followed her in while Kotek used the second elevator, "I'll be stopping by to go through the office in the apartment and to ask Emerald a few questions myself,"

"Don't trust me to give reliable information?"

"I trust you, I don't trust the information you may have been given," Greyfax said, "there's a difference,"

Celestine conceded with a nod, "what are you going to do now?"

"Poke the cultists more if I can get to them, if not I'll go through the files I do have on Green. Then start with Merlot's files when I can get them, and continue on Marcus,"

"You haven't slept lately have you?"

Greyfax gave her a crooked smirk, "no rest for the wicked,"

The Saint rolled her eyes with a snort, "try to get some sleep, mistakes are something we can't afford,"

"What are you, my mother?"

Celestine gave her a flat look, "funny. You're hilarious, Katarinya. Why didn't you pursue a career in entertainment?"

"Greyfax," the Inquisitor corrected with a growl,

"You should know by now that's never gonna happen, Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax," Celestine said with a grin as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened,

Greyfax marched out and gave a one-fingered salute back at the Saint. Celestine Laughed and went her own way back to the rooms, leaving Greyfax to go about her business.

Eventually, she reached her room and entered quietly,

"-member his name…" Emerald muttered,

"Didn't you say you knew this?" the other girl questioned,

"Alexea started this morning, and I have no clue how Kotek drew all these portraits this quickly,"

Celestine approached quietly up to where they sat on the bed, their backs to her.

"So that one was who?"

"Valdor, I think…" Emerald scratched her head, "or was that Valoris?"

From just a foot or so behind them, Celestine took a look at the drawn portrait. The man in it was definitely a Custodian, but the mohawk was something she hadn't seen any Custodian with…

"Valdor, yeah, It was Valdor,"

"What's so important about him?"

"Uh," Emerald tried to remember but sighed in defeat, "I'll ask Kotek or Alexea, whoever I see first,"

The new girl flicked through some of the portraits, and it was a surprise with how many faces she both did and didn't know; Guilliman, Sanguinius, Malcador the Hero, even a few of the Patron Saints including Saint Katherine were amongst them.

"Oh, do you know who he is?"

"Um, no…" Emerald stretched, "we didn't cover him,"

Celestine recognised the large side-burns and the Commissariat cap, "Commissar Ciaphas Cain,"

Emerald faced her with a small smile while the other girl yelped in surprise, "what's special about him?"

"Well," Celestine started, "he is famed for leading the five-hundred and ninety-seventh Valhallan Ice Warrior regiment he's stationed with to victory in nearly every battle, and he holds the utmost respect from his troops by fighting at the front as a true hero should,"

"He sounds cool," Emerald said, "though the sideburns are a bit much,"

Not to speak ill of a hero, but, "they are just a tad overdone, but I can't say anything, he has led and saved countless battles so he may choose to look however he pleases,"

"I'm so confused…"

Celestine gave the other girl a smile, "apologies, I am Celestine, The Living Saint,"

"Ilia," she waved back shyly,

"How did you meet each other?" Celestine cleared an area of the bed and sat down,

Ilia gave Emerald a mean smile, "she walked through a bush to get to a clearing when the entrance was only a few metres away,"

"I didn't know that!" Emerald defended herself,

"You could have looked," Celestine ribbed with a small laugh. Emerald crossed her arms and pouted.

"I hate you both,"

The Saint laughed at her but took note of the liveliness in Emerald's eyes, the same glint she got the few times she laughed or was comfortable. She was just missing another shield in her life…

Celestine rubbed her head, making a mess of her short, green bob cut, "pack your stuff, Katarinya got us a new place,"

Emerald perked up, "how?"

The Saint just smiled, "she has her ways…" even if that means bending the rules… rules I didn't even know about.

"Aw, you're moving away?" Ilia pouted,

Celestine got up and started collecting the clothes they owned, "only into the city, we'll still be here,"

Ilia threw her hands up, "yes!" she dropped them into her lap and looked to Celestine with a bit more than just awe, "do you need help?"

The Saint paused what she was doing and looked to Emerald and back to Ilia, "don't you have your family to be with?"

"Nah," Ilia got up, "my mum and dad know I'm with a friend so I'm good,"

Celestine shrugged and pointed to the bed, "alright then, collect the portraits and give them to Emerald to put away,"

With the help of Emerald, and Ilia every now and then, the room was clean of all items that belonged to them. Though Celestine was sure that Greyfax or Kotek would go through it soon enough to make sure nothing was left behind.

"I kinda liked this place," Emerald muttered from the door, "will we be always moving?"

"It was nice," Celestine agreed, "however, If you liked the view here, you'll like the one in the city, and no we won't be,"

Celestine felt a tug on her arm and looked down to find Ilia holding her vambrace up to her face. The girl looked at Emerald, "Is this what you were talking about?"

Emerald peered around Celestine, "yeah, see?"

"Uh, what are you two talking about?" Celestine glanced between them,

Emerald looked up at her sheepishly, "apparently kids in school say they know you, so I told Ilia to ask anyone who says they do what part of your armour is white,"

Celestine tilted her head, "why whit- oh, because they'd say my wings and not know of the smaller details on my vambraces," Celestine turned to Ilia, "it'll only work if you don't tell anyone of my vambraces, and even then, some might have seen them from a distance or from images,"

The knowledge of images getting around came as a surprise at first, but after a while and thinking of the entire planet like an Order of Sororitas, the idea of people having an image of her wasn't that hard to believe. Especially after the circulation of Kotek and Lelith's fight amongst the population.

The fact that people still had the gall to try and tell them what to do either proved humans were brave or plain dumb. And with the ways she'd seen people die, it was a mix of both.

A very large mix of both.

"Well," Celestine said, "It would be for the best to not go around sprouting you know me,"

Ilia pouted, "but why?"

"Well, other children may get jealous and try to harm you," Celestine spoke as she ushered them out the door, "it has happened in the past,"

Only that it was between some Sororitas and Guardsmen, naturally, it didn't end well for both parties when she got involved. It also doubled as the only time a Commissar shot himself for incompetence and repentance for letting the fighting happen in front of, and over a Saint.

"Are you her mum?"

Celestine held in a small laugh at Emerald's spluttering, "why do you ask?"

Ilia shrugged, "curiosity?"

"Fair enough," Celestine led them down a path into the city, "to answer your question, I suppose I am in a way,"

"Huh," Ilia glanced between them, "I guess you adopte-" she slapped her hands over her mouth in horror, "sorry, I didn't mean to say that!"

Emerald looked horrified between Celestine and Ilia while Celestine sighed internally, "yes, I did, because someone had to look after her and I chose to," She placed an arm around Emerald to calm her, and thankfully the girl pressed into her side,

"I'm sorry, though, that was rude,"

Celestine looked down at Ilia, "don't apologize to me, it is not I who had their feelings hurt,"

By the Emperor, this is a strange experience…Celestine thought as the two children made amends slowly, but not entirely a bad one, just different…

Slowly, the two children began to talk amongst themselves as they made their way to the apartment and into the foyer of the building. Celestine thumbed the floor number, a sense of surrealism settled over her as Emerald and Ilia laughed at a joke one of them made.

How rare was it to hear a child's laughter when it was usually a scream of terror drowned out by the flames of war? Even in the aftermath, if she was around to witness it, there were only tears and quiet sobbing.

Is that what made it so easy to deal with Emeralds' moments of sadness? The fact that it was an emotion felt more often than anything else.

"On autopilot?"

She turned to Clover who leant on the kitchen counter, "it appears so, yes,"

"It happens at the strangest of times doesn't it?" he asked as he watched the children dump the bags and rush to the massive window that held the city below, "so, Greyfax pulled a fast one to get this apartment for you?"

Celestine nodded and placed the bags on the counter, "I joked only earlier today about having it for myself and Emerald and now I technically I do,"

Clover snorted, "she's a fast worker and an even harder one,"

"That she is," Celestine agreed, "now I have to figure out what to do here,"

Clover stood and waved her off, "ah, it's an apartment, it isn't that hard. Though, you might want to change the bedsheets when you can and remove the belongings to a storage facility till they can be collected,"

"I'll do that later, then," Celestine watched Ilia trip over onto the couch as Emerald tackled her, "training room four, Lord Kotek and Alexea are there with the Specialists,"

Clover tapped the counter, "sure thing, I'll get going so I'll see you around!"

Celestine waved him out the door and turned back to the children, still unsure how to deal with them. On one hand, she was glad Emerald was more active, but on the other, how was she supposed to deal with one child let alone two? Granted one was someone else but the point still stood.

Her eyes narrowed at a slight colour change of Ilia's skin before it returned to normal. Of course, an Abhuman had to be the only friend Emerald made… Celestine sighed. She didn't understand how Emerald didn't see it, or if she did, why she didn't care more about it.

Abhumans were not pure, not human. The fact that they've been making nice with a Drukhari of all things would be bound to have them tried as traitors.

But the look of elation on Emerald's face made her heart spin incorrectly. The girl was happy, genuinely happy to have the Abhuman here.

A tiny, inaudible growl left the Saint. If she took Ilia away now, Emerald would revert further and distance herself from her. But letting her stay with the girl would go against everything…

Emerald laughed and rolled off the couch onto the floor and Ilia cackled at the misfortune before she too, fell to the floor.

It took a moment, but Celestine realised the small smile on her face and warmth in her chest came from watching Emerald.

Celestine wiped the smile from her face and leaned on the counter facing the children as she hung her head in thought. Letting her stay went against the teachings of the Abbots and Canonesses from her childhood if it even counted as one with all the drills and sermons in the name of her Lord.

Her brows narrowed at the giggles and conversation coming from the normally shy girl.

The one, vital development was already coming from the Abhuman; social capabilities. Being able to talk to the five of them was good for Emerald to be able to do, but with the outside world, the girl found it impossible to do. Yet here she was with a random abhuman girl and in less than a day calls her a friend…

Removing her would actively hinder Emerald's development…

Celestine closed her eyes with a sigh and ushered a prayer for guidance and threw a prayer of guilt on there just in case.

Too much time and effort were put into her already, undoing everything would be counterintuitive to using her for her Semblance.

That's what she told herself, at least, as she decided with a laugh from Emerald that Ilia could remain for now.

---

"So, if I understand correctly, a Succubus and her Cult act in tandem with an Archon to maintain the social structure of Commorragh?" Kotek repeated as Lelith dodged an attack with a spin,

"In basic, yes," Lelith smacked the head of the Specialist as she sped past, "why so interested? This information is useless tactically,"

Kotek nodded, "yes, however, knowledge is something I seek, and your kind are still relatively unknown,"

Lelith dodged and weaved through the Semblance enhanced attacks and spoke as if nothing was happening, "my 'kind' are the Aeldari, Mon'keigh, not the Drukhari,"

"So it really is a title to subscription of a way of life," Kotek spoke aloud to himself, "not a species. The Ordo Xenos always believed the Craftworld and Commorites to be sub-species or distant cousins of each other,"

The Drukhari vaulted over the shoulders of the Specialist and landed silently, "correct that we are the same species, but with the vast differences in culture, we may as well be,"

Kotek tilted his helmet, "you are talkative, more so than usual,"

Lelith shrugged and moved like water around attacks, "I have been stuck in a room with little to do; the city of Mantle has lost its… entertainment and Atlas is dull,"

Of course, the ring she fought in was gone, closed down by authorities. That happens when videos spread like wildfire.

"You do not like being idle; mentally and physically," Kotek stated,

Lelith slammed the Specialist to the ground and shattered her Aura with a swipe of her blade.

"Harriet, you're out," Kotek strode over and hoisted her up, "focus more on precise hits with your Semblance and less on sheer speed against her,"

Harriet frowned and tossed her arms out, "that's what you said last time!"

"And you haven't listened or implemented the advice," Lelith said with a twirl of her blade and an innocent smile, "care to try again?"

Harriet sneered at her and stormed off to meet Clover.

Kotek turned to her, "That's why you're here, to keep yourself occupied,"

"What else do I have to do?" Lelith balanced the blade's tip on her finger, "I am not performing for the rich of this city; they disgust me with their sloth ways,"

The woman was interesting to the extreme, no matter what the others would say. Her mind was complex as were her people and skills, it made for decent conversation when she actually sat still and spoke without insults which was becoming increasingly common. A small section of his mind thought she had grown used to her current situation and embraced it, however, she was still someone not to trust entirely.

The irony of him believing that was not lost on him after the dealings with Magnus, but time brought a perspective that few had.

If you couldn't give a chance to someone, that left the road to conflict an easy decision to take despite her origins. Not that everyone deserved the same chances given, lest the damned take an unearned and undeserved place.

But so far she responded well to being treated decently, with less hostility than normal.

"Any improvements with Emerald?" he asked her,

She let the blade fall off the tip and she caught it by the hilt in the blink of an eye, "she is improving, her swordsmanship with the Saint has helped her blade work, however, she struggles with dodging," Lelith finished with a frown,

"You may be moving too fast for her to see it coming," Kotek offered the advice, "I made the same mistake and adjusted to levelling it up each time she finds it easy,"

"Pain is her motivator, she will not make the same mistakes if it hurts," Lelith sniffed, "she is an odd child,"

Now, this was going to be interesting.

"How so?"

Lelith crossed her arms, "It is no secret that she despises me, and I do not care if she does, however, she refuses to give in,"

Kotek placed a hand on his hip, "give in to what?"

"Everything, her sorrow, pain, the pressure I place on her," Lelith tilted her head in thought, "it is strange."

"That a human in your presence does not cower as they have before?"

She looked up at him briefly, "yes. The fact that it is a child nonetheless makes it feel like an insult,"

"May I ask you something?" Kotek got a cautious nod and a warning look in her eyes, "have you been in the presence of humans in a setting like this?"

"No. it has always been for torture and in raids,"

"That is why it is strange-"

Lelith cut him off, "because of the preconceived idea of an inherent weakness you humans have due to the raids,"

Kotek agreed with a nod and faint surprise at the response, "yes, now you are witnessing them without the fear of being killed by Wyches or other Drukhari,"

Lelith looked to the other Specialists sparing and gave a small frown, "I hate it."

"I never expected something different, Hesperax," he dared to place his own speculation forward, "but you don't care so long as you can fight, as long as you are acknowledged as the best,"

Her brows narrowed dangerously as her frown became a scowl, "do not try to analyse me, Mon'kiegh,"

"It was not an analysis and was not intended as an offence," he spoke with an even voice, "I wish to understand your motivation for what you do,"

Lelith ignored him and watched the Specialists spar against Alexea.

It wasn't a lie, the mind of an Aeldari was complex and interesting so much so that divining their next actions was difficult for even the best of the Ordos Xenos. And since the Great Crusade little knowledge of how their mind, or even culture, worked. It was always carefully hidden and obscured. So why not use the Aeldari next to him. He always knew there would be differences and was learning each time they conversed, but there was a crossover with his knowledge for things to piece themselves together and for her to fact-check.

Not all of it had to be tactical for it to be useful, just knowing some information would lead to more vital information. Even forms of art helped obtain the motivations and drives of entire cultures.

And one thing the Aeladri were, was artful.

Over the months he found an appreciation of Hesperax's performances in spars against himself and others, even her teachings of Emerald held an air of stage performance to them. The pride in her artwork of blade mastery was, even for him, an awe-inspiring sight once the smaller details became visible.

It made sense that she rose quickly to the position she was at in the hierarchy of the Drukhari.

"Question; the Ordos Xenos believe that Drukhari are primarily birthed from gestation pods, is that true?"

Lelith blinked up at him, "not entirely no; all Aeldari can bare children, however, the periods are longer than a humans ten-month period,"

"Human's carry for nine," he corrected,

"It takes years and is incredibly rare for a Drukahri to be birthed from a womb," Lelith sat on the floor, with her legs spread out, uncaring of how inconvenient for others it may be, "so to speed the process up, many are placed into gestation pods to speed the process up from a few years to a month or less,"

Kotek hummed, "interesting that it takes that long. Were you from a pod?"

"I am Fiorbethe, Trueborn in your language,"

"I assume due to the rarity of being Fiorbethe," there was a look of surprise at his correct pronunciation, "that it is a symbol of power?"

"Yes, we are few and stick to our own. We are granted the best of what the Dark City has to offer and to bear a child is a sign of strength," at the tilt of his helmet she sighed and elaborated, "to be able to bear a child to term means you are in a position no one can touch, my gene-sires were an Archon and the Succubus of a powerful Cult, they could show what power they had in every way bar one; hence I was created,"

Her voice became bitter towards the end, bitter and angry, but pride made a show as well,

"What happened to them?"

"They are the oldest heads to line my mansion," Lelith said, "They wanted to have an offspring that would make them powerful, so they died by my blades and built my own empire, not off the backs of their own,"

Even if there was no sense of parental worship, or pride, within the Custodian, the idea of killing one's parents was an odd one. But then again, Drukhari were beyond twisted. Maybe they expected to be usurped by their daughter.

"That sounds par for the course for your people," he took a moment, "the Drukhari in general, I mean,"

Lelith shrugged, "it is. Weakness invites betrayal as does trust. There are a great many things you will never know and understand through my unwillingness and inability to comprehend,"

"I can accept that," he resigned himself to the end of the informational flow from her. Though there was satisfaction with what was gained despite it being nearly useless against Lelith herself and her people. but conversations like these open the door for real, useful information just that bit wider each time they happen.

Kotek turned back to the spar between Alexea and a Specialist, though it appeared to have shifted from a friendly match to a brawl instead. The Null most likely having driven a more animalistic urge to rid the threat forward over self-control. He readied the Guardian Spear as he stepped closer to the fight.

Thankfully, he didn't need to intervene as the Specialist collapsed to her knees and dropped her hammer after a physical and Null infused hit. Alexea picked the hammer off the floor in a split second and smashed its head into the Specialist's side and head in rapid succession, shattering her Aura and driving her unconscious.

Alexea tested the weight and grip of the hammer more closely and looked up to him.

"You want a hammer?" Kotek questioned it to make sure he read her correctly. She nodded and made a sign with one hand, "or an Executioner's great sword."

At her nod he hummed, "perhaps, I will find an armourer to see if it can be done to our standards,"

There was a shout behind Kotek and he turned to find Hesperax dancing and weaving around Harriet, attempting and successfully rising anger of the short woman.

Because of course, she couldn't go a minute without doing something. It was a shame that the 'something' was usually seeing how far she could push someone before they exploded. Part of him pitied Harriet but the rest of him knew they all had to toughen up to survive, and Hesperax was one rude awakening and the deep end of learning that fact.

That and she specifically needed her ego checked before she let it gets herself killed. She relied heavily on the fact that her speed carried her up the ranks quicker than most, but not the fact she didn't work for the position the way others had.

Her first spar against him ended quicker than everyone expected with a swipe of her feet and his foot pinning her to the ground. To say she didn't appreciate being downed before the fight began was an understatement; she loathed it, and anyone else who outmatched her.

Then the Drukhari caught onto the negative emotions and he was sure Harriet was regretting every decision that lead to this point of her life every time Lelith was in the room.

To be fair, a vast majority regretted her being in the same room as her as well, but being the target of her amusement was far worse. And frankly, he was amazed it hasn't ended with Harriet becoming a wall mount for Hesperax.

The fact Emerald hadn't either was astounding with ill they speak of each other.

---

Polished dress shoes and a cane clicked against the pavement, though the echo was drowned out by the rhythmic thrums of music from the warehouse he approached.

The burly man who stood outside looked up from where he rested against the wall and held a hand out to stop him before he could enter through the door, "and what are you doing here?"

He puffed on his cigar and rested on his cane, "I have a meeting with the owner, big guy,"

"I wasn't told of any-"

He cut him off by pulling a fist full of Lien out of his pocket. The bouncer could have as much as he liked, not like the Lien was his anyway, "you've been doing a really good job as a lookout and could use a raise,"

The man stared at the Lien held out to him and took it, "I should also leave as well right?"

"Now you're getting it!" he clasped the man on the shoulder, "keep up this good work and you might get a promotion!"

A look of recognition crossed the man's face, "I never saw you,"

He smiled, "good lad," the smile turned serious, "now scat, I got work to do,"

The bouncer nodded and walked hastily down the street until he faded into the darkness of the night. Well, that was far easier than expected. He shrugged and twirled his cane as he entered the warehouse.

Immediately the salty smell of sweat and the sweet aroma of sex met his nose as strobes flicked to the beat of whatever song decided to play next. Men and women alike threw their bodies around on the dancefloor in what was supposed to be rhythmic movements, but to Roman, it looked more like a collective seizure.

Roman let his cane click on the floor as he strutted through the crowds towards the staircase that led to the office which overlooked the main building. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shadow distort its way across an I-beam. Just on time…

A drunk woman fell into his side and he pushed her off harshly, "watch it,"

He didn't wait for a response as he continued to the stairs. Their rusted form was protected by yet another burly man, this time though, he held a bat. Great.

"Well, hello, stranger!" Roman raised his voice to be heard over the pounding music, "I haven't seen you since school!"

"The fuck are you on about?" he responded,

Roman held a hand to his chest, "Ronald, come on, I thought you'd remember me!"

'Ronald' frowned, "how the hell do you know my name?"

Roman's eyes widened for a second, shit, that's his name? "We went to school together!"

'Ronald' clutched the bat in both hands, "I never went to school, asswipe,"

"Ah, fuck it," Roman leant against his cane and took another pull from the cigar. He blew the smoke into Ronald'sface. When the smoke cleared, a single hole was through his larynx, undoubtedly coming from behind.

Ronald's body began to fall but Roman caught it and positioned it to look as if he sat down, "G'night, Ronald, shame we couldn't gossip 'bout school,"

He brushed his gloved hands free of nonexistent dust and picked his cane up from the floor as he looked for any more disturbances. Finding no more than one would expect from a seedy club he made his way up the stairs, ensuring the steps were heard.

He gave two loud knocks as he barged the door open inwards, "Good evening~" he sang mockingly.

Roman paused just on the inside of the door, blocking it from view for a moment before turning and closing it, "sorry for the late-night intrusion, but I come with a proposition, Danielle,"

The short-haired woman rose from her chair behind her ornate desk and slammed her hands down, "who the hell are you and how'd you get in!?"

Roman tilted his hat with a smile, "Roman Torchwick, Milady,"

He took another puff of the cigar before letting it drop to the floor and put it out with his cane, "apologies, it's rude to talk with a cigar in my mouth,"

The frown deepened at his actions and a hand slowly went out of his sight behind the desk, "you didn't tell me how you got in,"

Roman shrugged, "may as well let you in on the secret," he leant forward and whispered conspiratorially, "magic~"

In a flash, a handgun was pulled from a draw and a thin blade pierced up through her forehead from the back of her skull. It retracted and the body slumped forward. Pink and brown eyes blinked at him,

"Well, Neo," he said as he pulled another cigar out of his coat, "Junior'll be happy now that a rival is out of the way,"

Neo smiled at him and sauntered around the desk to poke the head of the dead woman.

Roman lit the cigar and stood next to the small killer, "right, with that step out of the way, were the other guards a problem?"

Neo looked up at him and shook her head and ran an index finger across her throat. They died.

Roman nodded in satisfaction and moved to the window that looked down over the club, "good, good, we can start moving in with who we have already and start recruiting as well. Get the family business up and running and all,"

He looked back at Neo, "hopefully Atlas doesn't start poking around down here,"

Neo pulled one side of her lips in and shrugged, "doubt they'd start looking here,"

A snot left Roman, "the crazies went into 'Glenn and are now probing the frontiers with a damn angel,"

The rumours of what she could do spread fast in the underworld, and by the Gods did it paint a picture of someone he didn't want to meet in person, not after the slaughter of Mountain Glenn. The public got the watered-down version of events; he found that they were told some hunters went in to investigate movement, building went boom and an Atlesian ship nearby rushed to the rescue; everyone lived and all that jazz.

No, the reports he had access to painted a vastly different picture and that even more crazies were out and about now. Granted a fat chunk of them had their insides made outsides all over the walls, but any crazies were still bad news. Hell, he could remember the first time Mountain Glenn was all over the news and when the towns decided to throw a hissy-fit over the lack of support and they did a bit now that things went bad and Ozpin did fuck all about it.

But it's okay, there's an angel around now, things are fine... he seriously doubted the woman was even aware of the small cult of worship the survivors of Glenn made around her. The Council sure as fuck did with how the pious bastard, Ozpin, painted her as a hero along with the rest of the Atlesians who responded to the disaster, but the reports he has… legitimate access to told him all about that one town with the bandits. Now that she was with the Atlesians anything could happen…

And the fact that Branwen was apparently in town... things were a right pain right now, but where was the fun in easy?

"Com'on, Neo, you read the reports, you know they're up to something…" Roman cracked his knuckles idly,

She tilted her head at him and her eyes switched colours, "Let them come, we can take them… and if we can't we run,"

He blew smoke out his nostrils and turned back to the window, "we'll deal with it as it comes. Let's just pray in the meantime that they don't come snooping down around here; I already lost my income up in Atlas a few nights ago, got arrested,"

Neo leant against his side and he looked down, "how'd he manage that?"

"Stupid fuck committed murder. Can't cover that up with fake tax documents…" he hung his head, "I gotta make sure all leads back to me are gone or they'll find me,"

A small, confident smile came from Neo, "give me names and I'll get rid of 'em,"

Roman puffed his cigar, "I'll call Junior, he's having enough trouble as it is taking over from his father, this ain't gonna help," Roman placed his cane to rest against the window sill, "I'll ask him if he can find any info on who arrested Nathaniel,"

"Got a name?"

"Yeah, 'Greyfax', if that means anything to you?"

Neo shook her head out of the corner of his eye, "didn't think so, but that's the name on his paperwork. Apparently, she's a part of an Inquisition,"

Neo's brows rose in surprise, "wasn't expecting that…"

"Doubt anyone was," Roman sighed and took his Scroll out, "either they reformed the century-old Inquisition or this weirdo is reliving the glory days. Either way, that's bad for us and good for them,"

"Which is bad for us again," Neo folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

Roman pushed a button and put the Scroll to his ear, "we'll just be more cautious,"

"What do you want, Roman?" Junior's gruff voice came over the phone and Neo went back to looking around the office,

"Oh, nothing, dear, just wanted to see how your day is going," Roman took his cigar between his fingers so his smile could be heard,

Junior growled, "Cut the shit; she dead?"

"Relax, she's been given a lobotomy and the building's mine," Roman dismissed with a wave of his hand,

"That wasn't a part of the deal,"

"Too bad, I've already moved in," Roman sniffed, "anyway, I got a favour I need doing, one that also comes with some Lien and a warning,"

Junior sighed heavily, "what?"

"Our friendly tax man in Atlas is gone, arrested and tried for murder," Roman puffed the cigar, "I also got the name of who got him; Greyfax,"

"You want me to look into an Atlesian cop? That's suicide, Torchwick. Just getting the files on that bird girl was hard enough with Ozpin involved,"

"Ah, so you don't want a hundred thousand Lien then, I'll go somewhere else," Roman deadpanned back,

"Where the fuck are you going to go? To a brothel? You know only I can get the info,"

Torchwick sang his words like he was dangling candy, "I'll increase the pay by fifty per cent~"

"Double or nothing,"

"Seventy-five?"

"Eighty-five and we got a deal."

Roman smiled to himself, "glad to do business, what else do you need?"

"A week and I should have as much as I can get for you," Junior hung up unceremoniously.

Roman shoved the Scroll back into his white coat and clapped his hands, "I'd love to know who he gets his info from,"

Neo looked back at him from a filing cabinet, "why?"

He shrugged, "curiosity mostly, but his father got the damnedest shit from up there and everywhere else, so now he does as well,"

Neo shrugged carelessly and went back to flicking through the cabinets while Roman shoved the corpse off the desk and took his place in the seat, "don't matter much to me as long I'm away from it all down here,"

He pulled a random piece of paper from a stack of files and picked a pen up, "I'll put the names down, you go take care of them, got it?"

Neo gave a thumbs up and a sharp smile.

---

A/N

I'm waiting for the day I can't think of a chapter title and make the title something stupid.

Oh, Roman, you may know how dangerous Celestine is, but nothing of what's coming, you have no idea. He's gonna wish it was Cinder 'cause being burnt alive is the least of his problems… I have a Drukhari, and I'm gonna remind everyone of that fact despite her being relatively nice right now.

And how does Junior get his information from Atlas? Hmmm, I wonder….

Poor Ironwood, he knows he's being fucked with. Then there's Harriet, being bullied by Lelith; she's gotta occupy herself somehow, so why not cause some misery?

And the apartment is, admittedly, shoehorned in but hey, they're not changing their permanent residence after this unless they're in the other Kingdoms, then it'll be hotels and such obviously. I think Greyfax gives a decent reason why she seized it for the Saint.

OH! and Greyfax being able to use her psyker abilities to move objects is canon, she did it to the tumblers of a lock in 'Inferno! Inquisition'. I'm just gonna keep it restricted to small objects like the knife and it was a good story describing the events that led to her ending up in Trazyn's jar collection. (I totally didn't buy the book because it's Greyfax on the cover...)

On the topic on Canon; Ilia was in Atlas during her childhood before the White Fang. Why Ilia? well, I can't toss Weiss in freely due to her status and there's no other main cast in Atlas Emerald's age, so Ilia was chosen to be the last influence on Emerald.

---

Review time:

BloodRedRoses11: luckily Emerald will have a great education, unfortunately we are talking about two immortals who probably didn't have childhood, a teenage dark eldar, a lady who needs a hug,and a sister of silence that incredibly is the most normal... unbelievable is that this is the most normal family most wh40k characters ever had!

anyway, hope the next chapter come soon!

This fic very quickly went from following Celestine explicitly to following Emerald growing with the help of a very dysfunctional group that should never be near anyone younger than five hundred years old. Like, there was never meant to be a family dynamic, but as you can see with this chapter, there is one anyway because writing them as tense all the time just got tiring in the drafts. I can have decent people in a shitty world so I'm doing it. Celestine is definitely the 'Gym Mum' type.

Anyway, hope you like everything so far and thanks for the comment!

---

E: Note 1: "radical in her puritan beliefs" does not sit right with me, word choice wise. I've played WH 40k: Inquistor Martyr, the "alignment" system for your character in that game is radical to puritan. So, technically the word can be used correctly that way, it's just that in universe those words are often used as a dichotomy. Puritan Inqusitors being very by the book, "burn anything vaguely heathen-like" and Radical meaning more open to creative solutions, "it's not heresy to use an alien gun to kill aliens, it's practical!"

That's the only critique I have for this one.

I await more, as always.

Yeah, you have a point, in the context of 40k and Inquisitors; 'radical' does hold a different meaning than in reality, I just didn't think of it from an In-Universe Perspective.

I'll try to consider phrasing and wording like that a bit more than I have been from now on, but a mistake/oversight will inevitably still slip through here and there.

Thanks for your input!

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Doc43Souls: A beautiful chapter, as are the others in this fic. Will patiently wait for next chapters. I also found some mistakes:

"Eternal vigilance became all the more important with each rising threat, from the Blood Games to the War of the Beast, VANDIRE'S reign an the Inquisition's civil wars."

"You will come looking," LELITH gave her a dead look, "I know,"

I'm amazed that despite editing while I write and after I put the chapter through Grammarly multiple times, they still slipped through. I'll get to fixing them eventually, but given that my free time has decreased drastically because of being what people like to call an "adult" and "bills" getting in the way, that may be a while away.

Hopefully, there's very few mistakes in this chapter and thanks for pointing out those ones!