Is It Just Fantasy?

"Alright," Qrow sighed after a sip from his flask. He glanced at Ozpin, Glynda and a Holographic feed of Ironwood, "whadda we know? It's been months-ish, we gotta know something by now,"

Ironwood cleared his throat and rolled his eyes at the increasingly intoxicated Hunter, "Celestine, while a kind individual, is not a pushover," he glanced at where Ozpin was pointedly, "she is as stubborn as she is faithful in her 'Emperor',"

Glynda sighed, "And what about the Custodian?"

"Dangerous." Ironwood said without hesitation, "he is more than capable on his own; intelligent, tactical, strong of mind and body. The Specialists have increased their teamwork and individual tactics more than they have since I started the program with him in charge,"

"Great," Qrow rolled his eyes, "your military is better,"

"As it should be, Qrow," Ironwood said in a levelled tone, "it's here for the protection of Remnant, not just Atlas,"

Ozpin coughed once Qrow opened his mouth to fire back, "James, what about the Inquisitor?"

"Intimidating in her own way," he said with a sigh, "and bullheaded. She's good at what I have her doing; police work, but she's getting irritated and her trigger finger is itching. She has a reputation of being ruthless now, and I imagine she built it that way for a reason,"

"Isn't an accountant her latest catch?" Glynda queried,

Ironwood nodded, "for fraud and murder, yes. She also… interrogated the prisoners from 'Glenn,"

Qrow sighed, "and they still alive?"

"Yes, but they aren't keen on seeing anyone anymore," James puffed air out his nose, "they've got ruins and towns under their thumb for movement, they compared it to an operation they're familiar with of some sort,"

"Who, Celestine and her associates?" Ozpin straightened in his seat,

"Yes, they spoke of a 'Militarum'. Clearly, a military of some type," Ironwood's image glanced at Qrow, "have you seen Raven?"

"No," he shook his head, "she's gone to ground; can't find her anywhere,"

"Keep an eye out for her, she's the last line of communication into the Mistrilian Underworld," Ironwood ordered to Qrows ire, "I've lost all sources there,"

"Isn't that Malachite woman still there?" Glynda rose a brow, "or did Clover and the mute lady scare her off?"

"Can't find her either," Ironwood shook his head, "and I wouldn't be surprised if Alexea scared her off,"

"Ya figure out what her Semblances' deal is?" Qrow sipped from his flask,

"No more than you," James shuffled, "she sticks to herself for the most part or is wherever Kotek goes; be it training or otherwise,"

Ozpin pushed his glasses up, "are they in a relationship?"

"No," Ironwood shook his head, "it's a working partnership more than anything romantic,"

Ozpin hummed, "alright. What about the redheaded woman?"

At that, Ironwood groaned with a sigh, "she's a nightmare to deal with. Causing problems for the sake of it. Lelith is, or was from what I can gather, an enemy to them who is alive out of a nicety,"

"Lelith?" Qrow spoke her name testingly, "huh, she a fighter?"

"You've seen the one of her and Kotek,"

"Yeah, but the cameraman needs to be shot," he grumbled, "can't hold it steady for shit,"

"Right, well," the image of the General moved as if he was pressing some buttons before a pop-up indicating an incoming file, "watch the fourth one,"

Ozpin opened the file and found a series of videos, some from security cameras around Atlas Academy, others from civilians. Beacon's Headmaster played each video in order, Kotek and Alexea at the front of a classroom, the woman looking particularly bored with a cup of something in her hand. Celestine and Emerald in a training ring practising swordplay with Lelith on the sideline waiting to jump in impatiently as Kotek held her back with a helmeted stare.

The fourth one was of Lelith and a Specialist in a training fighting; Kotek stood to the side while Lelith had a conversation with him.

"Is the Specialist using a speed Semblance?" Qrow asked in awe of the half-hearted dodges Lelith made whenever she was charged at or attacked,

"Yes, Harriet Bree. Joined the program a year ago after two years in the Military," Ironwood sighed, "she's good, but has issues with holding herself in check,"

Qrow whistled as the Specialist attempted to lash out at Lelith and failed to land any hit, "I can see that… fuck, she's fast."

"I'm going to assume you're talking about Lelith," Ironwood said, "she's fast enough to keep up with Kotek, who in turn can respond to Bree rapidly enough to keep her on the back foot… he does that for all of them in training; only exerts enough to beat them but nothing more.,"

"He's holding back then…" Glynda shook her head as what that meant settled, "these people are something else…"

"According to Lelith, she's a 'True Born' of a different species, the Eldar," James read off some notes he had on his side, "from 'Commora',"

"Different species?" Glynda asked disbelievingly, "not Human or Faunus?"

James shrugged, "apparently,"

Qrow's head tilted further than a sober man would allow, "that's what she said,"

"And what is Commora?" Ozpin asked, ignoring the 'no, seriously, she said it last time!' from Qrow,

"Don't know exactly. I interpret it as a town of some type; could be a tribe from Mistral," the General hummed to himself distractedly

Qrow glanced at Glynda briefly and sucked on his lips, "any of them have visible weaknesses?"

"Also no," Ironwood grumbled, "Ozpin, this is a bad idea,"

"What is?" the man asked innocently,

Ironwood scowled, "playing games with them, trying to find a weakness to exploit. They aren't a threat and can be trusted,"

"I will not."

Qrow rose a brow, "what happened to getting them immediately?"

"The fact that it is no longer just Celestine," Ozpin explained, "with the others reinforcing her devotions and duties it makes swaying her impossible,"

"So, trust them to be on our side," Glynda said, "the Grimm and Salem are more of a threat than them-" she groaned as Qrow slipped on nothing and gave a dumb smile at his drunken state- "Qrow, would you not?"

"No," he said then rolled his eyes at Glynda's irate stare, "look, I get it, She's a threat, yeah? Well, so are these guys, so pick your poison- one just so happens to be nicer and less inclined to genocide,"

Ozpin sighed and picked his mug up, "the more we learn of what they are, the more plans change and stray far from what they once were- Celestine may have proven to be the nicest of the lot, but she may very much be worse,"

"Insult her 'Emperor' and she might prove you right," Ironwood said, "she hasn't done anything yet, but she is devout to the extreme; I've had her mutter a few prayers around me just this month and watched her chase a few officers around trying to preach to them,"

"Great~" Qrow glanced at Ozpin, "can they get weirder?"

"Yes," James blurted without hesitation, "does anyone here know of a Horus?"

Ozpin placed his mug down with a click on the glass of his table, "what?"

"Horus; a man spoken of with nothing but contempt between Kotek and Alexea,"

Glynda shuffled and adjusted her shirt and cape. For whatever reason, the void the Custodian stepped through burned harder in her memories, "what did he do?"

"Put the Emperor on the 'Golden Throne' after betraying him," Ironwood looked down to notes that were still just out of sight of the receptors on his end of the Hologram, "there was mention between the two, well, Kotek spoke while the mute obviously didn't, of a…vengeful spirit; given the religiousness of Celestine, it could be a metaphor or something, I'm not entirely sure if that's accurate since they stopped their conversation when I showed myself,"

The room settled into silence as they awaited Ozpin's response. He hummed, "they could be feeding you information,"

Ironwood nodded in agreement, "I have considered that, but the conversations between the Custodian and Lelith are of interest and aren't of convenient information for us; between the sincerity of Lelith's hatred of her 'gene-sires' and general loathing of Commora, I don't believe they're lying about much... if anything, they're just not saying anything of what they want to hide,"

"Jimmy…" Qrow sighed into his hand, "don't go buying into their bullshit about a different world and shit,"

"Then how do you explain the purple rift you saw?" Ironwood countered, "they speak of the Imperium with intense devotion like they lived there- and I went over what records of our history of the planet and there's not a single mention of an Imperium of any kind,"

"That's good n' all, but the crazy stripper wants to kill an immortal while the angel thinks she is immortal!"

Ironwood's face hardened, "we live in a world where there are creatures of darkness controlled by a witch, Gods and a fraction of old magic they gave us left; but another world is hard to believe? How?"

"Because such a notion would ruin the fine balance we have," Ozpin uttered, "is it possible? Yes, yes it is very much so, the Brothers were real and did leave, so more places could have been made by them,"

"Oz…" Branwen groaned,

The Headmaster held a hand up to Qrow and continued, "but I can not believe it until there is evidence to support their claim,"

"I'm not saying I buy it-"

"But you are, James," Glynda protested, her patience wearing thin, "you are literally saying you're buying into their claims and 'histories' of an Imperium that doesn't exist,"

"Yet you want me to get as much information out of them as possible?" Ironwood gave them a disbelieving look, "I'm repeating what they say to me and what I hear them saying, but it isn't good enough?"

"I'm not say-"

"Oh," Ironwood cut Glynda off sarcastically, "but you are,"

She gave his Hologram a glare and folded her arms, "that was uncalled for,"

"So is berating me when I'm doing the heavy lifting," Ironwood tried to keep his voice level, "you come up here and deal with them then; or would you like me to send them to you? I already had two knives to my throat after having to kick out Lelith for my Officers in my military,"

Qrow flicked his gaze between the two arguing and then Ozpin with a long, drawn-out sigh, "I'm not drunk enough for this…" he mumbled before drinking the last of his flask,

"Enough," Ozpin said once, only once, and the two stopped their argument, "division is what She wants, needs to be able to get ahead of us; by now She has most likely heard of Celestine's capabilities, much like we have, now we need to keep them away from each other until She is at her weakest,"

"Can you keep to one plan, and not change it eve'ry five minutes?" Qrow asked, despite the slight slur to his words, "please?"

"If you make a plan and stick to it no matter what, it isn't a good plan," Ozpin sipped from his cup, "especially in my experiences,"

"There's flexible, and then there's too flexible," Qrow muttered and tossed his hands up, "fuck it, I'm going to make sure Yang hasn't burnt the house down yet… Gods know Tai is still fucked up,"

Ozpin tilted his head in acceptance, "Summer is still a fresh wound for us all… good night, Qrow,"

The man waved him off as he turned to the elevators, "yeah, whatever,"

As Qrow was leaving, a thought came to Beacon's Headmaster. He looked to the Hologram, "James, do you think Celestine could know of Summer?"

The General snorted, "no, she's her own brand of strange to what Summer was,"

Ozpin slumped back into his seat with a hand on his desk, "keep digging them for whatever you can, James, I'd appreciate it,"

Ironwood nodded with a small yawn, "alright, but I have a feeling it's only going to get more bizarre,"

The two men ignored Glynda's snort of disapproval, "I'll talk to you later then,"

"I'll send what else I've learned though in a data packet," Ironwood said just before the feed cut,

Ozpin sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, "get some sleep, Glynda,"

"Do-" her voice startled his eyes open with how close it was. She stood next to him, looking out to the stars, "do you really believe the possability they're from a different world?"

"I'm not sure," he spun his chair around and stood next to her, copying her stance, "if there can be gods, why can't there be other mortals?"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead, "what about the Grimm?"

"Hopefully they don't have that problem…"

More and more and more files.

Of all the things to do, being an Arbite was the worst of all things to be downgraded to.

Greyfax sighed to herself as she tossed a folder to the end of her bed. Nothing of use in there and she doubted the nest one she just picked up would be better. A part of her mind wound back to the Acolyte days; tossed piles upon piles of information to do for her superior when not following him around like a lost dog.

At least there was the thrill of the hunt to go with it.

This? This was tedious to the point of apathy.

"Surprise!" Celestine opened the door with more pep than anyone should ever have,

Greyfax looked up, not willing to look this gift horse in the mouth, "what surprise?"

"Valoris and Guilliman are aware of our predicament," Celestine pushed Lelith back out the door, "I told you to stay out there,"

"I'm not an animal, Saint,"

Greyfax snorted, "keep telling yourself that,"

Before Lelith could retort anything, Celestine closed the door. The look of indignity on the Drukhari's face sparked a faint sense of amusement.

She shook her head slightly, "wait, Guilliman?"

Celestine shrugged and tossed a large, metallic box on the bed, "yes, though they still have to find us,"

Greyfax blinked slowly as she worked through the information while opening the box, "how'd you speak to him?"

"I can, uh," Celestine scratched the back of her head, "can teleport to Terra,"

"Right," she uttered as she inspected the Bolter rounds, "I take it we're stuck here till then?"

Celestine nodded and clutched large parchments and a couple of books to her side, "yeah, I'm taking star maps back to Valoris for cross-referencing,"

Greyfax sighed, "and that will take years, maybe even decades,"

"Guilliman said he will aid Valoris when possible," Celestine smiled thinly, "we'll get out of here eventually, Katarinya. Have faith."

She snorted again, "tried that once, didn't work out. Now go fulfil the requests given to you,"

Celestine tilted her head minimally at her for a moment before nodding, "I have to return Kotek's Misericordia first, then I shall be off."

Greyfax glanced at the weapon in her other hand and shook her head, "this is all too bizarre for my tastes,"

"Bizarre? In the galaxy we live in?" Celestine smiled, "more likely than you think,"

"Stop, you sound like one of the bad advertisements on a Forge World promoting a useless product some Magos imported to be produced," Greyfax said with an unwilling smirk at the banter,

"Buy one, get one half-price?" Celestine offered jokingly, though her eyes diminished slightly at Forge Worlds being mentioned… interesting.

"Go away," Greyfax shooed her, "I got Emerald to deal with soon,"

The Saint frowned, "she's not the happiest person right now,"

"So?" Greyfax shrugged, "she'll have to deal with it in her own time,"

She saw the look of resignation in Celestine's eyes before it was covered, "I guess so. Just, be a little easier on her,"

"If she earns it, I will," Greyfax responded, "Now quit stalling and go,"

"Yes, mother," she sighed and turned to the door, "oh, and Lelith is a part of the Ynnari, Guilliman confirmed it for me,"

"She's more honest than I would have expected," Greyfax said with a faint tinge of surprise,

Celestine nodded, "she knows lies will not help her here, so she doesn't,"

"That doesn't change the fact that I will kill her if given the reasons," Greyfax grumbled, "also, see if you can bring back some material for Emerald to read; anything will do so long as Chaos isn't mentioned,"

"Got it," Celestine hummed, "she'll have to learn of the Ruinous Powers eventually,"

"Not until it's a necessity," Greyfax closed the lid to the ammunition box and began tidying the files, "the knowledge alone is a corrupting force, more than Lelith ever will be,"

With a nod, Celestine opened the door to an irate Lelith, "are you done or must I continue to be treated like an animal?"

"Oh, quiet." Celestine hushed her, "I asked you to stay outside, but yet you didn't so I treated you like a child,"

"I am no-" the door closed behind the bickering two.

She sighed and reached for her Bolter to reload it before going over her armour to clean it despite knowing how clean it already is. Better to be overprepared than not prepared at all.

Besides, with Kotek preoccupied reading the infinite amount of information on the myriad of things from criminals she caught, Doctor Merlot, Tyrian and even rereading Marcus Black's reports left it nothing more than a mind-numbing experience.

Then there were the Maidens to still look into as well as the Grimm and the other Academies and Kingdoms, not to mention the ludicrous amounts of bandit tribes and gangs across the Kingdoms.

She was halfway through dusting off her hat and candle when an exhausted-looking and chlorine-smelling Emerald entered, "can I not do this today? …well, now tonight?"

"You have a forty-question paper to fill out before midnight," Greyfax glanced up at her and saw genuine misery in her eyes. She groaned to herself, "try to fill it out as best as you can. I will allow you, just this once, to take this night easier,"

The dread eased a little as she slowly made her way further into the room, "um, what's it about?"

"The Astra Millitarum,"

Emerald's brows flattened in thought, "the Imperial Guard?"

Greyfax nodded, "yes, and the rank structures of the standardised regiments,"

"So no reading?" her eyes sparkled a little,

"No,"

"Yes!"

"But you should be able to answer these questions rather easily since Celestine taught you last week,"

Emerald frowned, "but that was a long lesson! And they weren't the only thing; the- the, uh…" she paused as she desperately tried to think of what else was mentioned, "Questor Imperialis; the Knight walker things!"

"Well, don't mix them up," Greyfax suggested, "go on, get to it."

The girl groaned, "fine. At least you aren't grilling me like Celestine did,"

The sentence was muttered lowly, clearly unintended to be heard but the Inquisitor rose a brow, "would you like me to? Because, believe me, I can make it far worse,"

"That doesn't mean you can be an asshole," Emerald sat at the desk and glared at the paper, "I know Celestine didn't want to hurt me, but she did."

"And I can hurt you far more," Greyfax responded cooly, "we need the information to stop whatever is happening, and you were the only one who had an idea of what was happening. Be thankful Celestine is softer than me,"

"She's nicer too," Emerald grumbled,

"I'm not here to be nice," Greyfax faced Emerald, "I'm here to make sure you're ready to work alongside us and that means I have to toughen you up,"

"But I am already!"

Greyfax conceded slightly, "for a small girl, yes, but you have to be able to meet us at our peaks where failure means the deaths of thousands in the blink of an eye." she came up next to the girl and pushed the paper and a pen in front of her, "information and knowledge is power, power means survival. And you want to survive, don't you?"

Emerald nodded firmly without hesitation, "Yes!"

"Good, now do what you're told and accept the pain of the past," Greyfax placed a hard hand on Emerald's shoulder, "take it and perfect it into an edge to cut your enemies down with,"

"You sound like Lelith," Emerald looked up at her, "she's obsessed with knives and sharp things,"

"Shame her wit isn't as sharp as mine," she hid the insult behind her own towards the Succubus,

Emerald rolled her eyes and turned back to the paper.

"I'll be in the shower if you need me,"

The girl ignored her as she started to write about the Creed guy that was hammered into her.

Tiredly, Emerald entered the apartment. Sleep time at last.

Sure, swimming was nice once she learned to do it, but the stupid test was mentally exhausting. Who the hell was Creed and why did she need to know about him? The dude was dead from what she was told.

And who needs to know the size of a Fire Team and Kill Team? She wasn't like Ironwood nor did she want to be like him… how hard was it to teach her how to fight? Just fight, not any of this shit that revolved around organizations that she'd never heard of…

A small sigh left her as she dumped her bag on the bed.

"Don't bother getting in a shower,"

She swore as she jumped and spun to find the last person she wanted, "fuck off, go away and all that,"

Lelith rose a brow and leant on the doorframe, "no, you need to start becoming more athletic,"

"What?" Emerald stared at her blankly,

"Running, you need to get better,"

She sighed, "no, not now, go home,"

"Unfortunately for you, I live here,"

"Fuck!" Emerald despaired, "No! Celestine let you live here!?"

Lelith shrugged, a sparkle of amusement glinted in her eyes, "she doesn't trust me to be alone, so yes."

Emerald grumbled incoherently then glared up at her, "great, go do something else that doesn't involve me,"

Of all the damn people to be here, it had to be her. The stupid bitch…

"No," Lelith shook her head and Emerald noticed her clothing,

"Isn't that Celestine's clothes?" the girl tilted her head,

The Drukhari looked down at herself, "yes, it is the only other clothing that will fit me… even then it is a bit tight,"

Emerald's eyes flattened and she crossed her arms, "I can see that, though I don't want to…"

The woman shrugged again, "not my problem. You're going for a run around the city,"

Emerald sighed deeply. How bad could it be?

An hour and a half later, in the middle of Atlas city, Emerald realised how bad it could be as Lelith danced around her. Literally. The running had no effect on her at all and she wore an oversized grin the entire time.

Fuck this woman and her stupid amount of hair.

"Could-" Emerald puffed and tried to stand tall, but her legs burned more than she thought possible, "could we slow down?"

"No," Lelith slowed to a stop, "but it is preferable if you do not pass out, so I am calling it here,"

Emerald sighed and let herself fall onto the closest wall with a puff and closed her eyes, "yay…" she just knew this was going to be a regular occurrence now…

Slowly, Emerald stood straight and found that Lelith had disappeared somewhere along the street, "what?"

Emerald sniffed and sighed in irritation at her for dragging her out and then disappearing. She didn't know what her problem was, but it was there. Sure, not everyone was nice or even a good person, that much she knew, but why the hell did Lelith have such a large stick up her ass?

Was that even the correct metaphor? Emerald shrugged to herself and wandered over to the steps of what looked to be a hotel and sat at the bottom with a shiver. The damn night was cold as hell.

"Excuse me." Emerald piqued her head up to a woman. A light, brown-haired, well-dressed woman with a look of contempt written over her face, "you are trespassing on private property, leave or I will call the police,"

Emerald rose a brow at her, "um, these are stairs… in the public?"

"No, the stairs are a part of my establishment, not public." she sneered at her, "I own them and have a right to them,"

"Okay?" what was she talking about? So what if she sat on them, it's the middle of the night. She voiced her thought at the woman and earned a glare that would have made many back down.

But after dealing with all the bullshit the last few days tossed at her, it didn't do much… besides, Lelith was most likely around somewhere.

"I will not allow Mantle citizens in or on the premise of my hotel," she frowned and pulled her scroll out, "I have connections in the military and with Hunters, the two main patrons of my hotel…"

"Is that a threat?" Emerald asked with confusion, "'cause it isn't a good one when I do too,"

Not entirely true, but Ironwood was easy to contact through literally everyone in her life… wait, did Ilia know him? Probably not since she was amazed at the officer's quarters. And did Celestine count as a Hunter? Lelith certainly would.

The woman scoffed, "keep lying,"

"I, uh, haven't so…" Emerald shrugged; it's too late at night to really care, "lady, I'm nine,"

"And trespassing," she said distractedly as she put the Scroll to her ear, "yes, come out front and remove a trespasser."

Emerald gave her a suspicious look as she hung up; a call to the police, let alone the military wouldn't be that quick. A moment later, a girl that looked only a few years older than her came out of the foyer. She looked around nervously and bowed at the lady, "I-is the girl the problem, Madame?"

"Of course," she rolled her eyes, "remove her,"

The girl nodded and faced Emerald, "Please leave the premises of the- the Glass Unicorn,"

Emerald ignored the words and stared at the thin frame of the girl and glanced back at the woman. She knew immediately that the poor girl hadn't eaten properly.

"I've been running for over an hour, woman," Emerald snarked back, "let me just sit in peace,"

"P-please leave the premises," the girl said shakily under the wild glare of the woman, "If you d-do not comply Im-imedietly, authorities will be c-called,"

"Insolent child," the woman growled, "you're affecting my customer base,"

Emerald looked around the empty street, even up at the sky in exaggeration, "great customers!"

"I'm lovely, I know," Lelith's voice startled her,

"Where the hell did you even go?" Emerald crossed her arms and looked up at the redhead, "you left me in the middle of the street!"

Lelith nodded in the direction of the two people, "there were others,"

"After you disappeared!"

"So?"

"Fucking asshole,"

"Get off my stairs!" the woman screamed at Emerald and caused Lelith to turn to her with amusement, "I do not allow Faunus here either!"

Lelith shrugged with a grin, "good thing I am not. Now, what is it you were threatening?"

Emerald facepalmed at the Lelith aggravating an already irate woman. Par for the course she supposed.

The woman turned to the girl, "call the police and get these vermin off my stairs,"

"Oh, good, maybe they can put more of a fight than the Specialists," Lelith said with a fake giddiness to her voice, accented by the completely blank look, "we can do what we want, Mon'keigh,"

"I'm not a Monkey!"

Emerald looked her up and down with a critical eye, "I dunno, your screaming sounds like one…"

"GET OFF MY PROPERTY!" the woman screeched with a red face. The other girl looked as if she was torn between copying the woman, laughing and breaking down for whatever reason…

Emerald let Lelith and the woman enter a screaming match, though Lelith responded with a quiet, condescending tone just to fuel the woman's anger, as she stared at the girl. Her state was a familiar one, the sunken cheeks, bruises and dark bags under her yellow eyes were familiar; something she saw on herself more often before Celestine…

Her eyes darted to the woman in disgust and back to the girl in sympathy…

Greyfax might like to have a look around the hotel for reasons… "shit, what're good reasons?" she mumbled to herself,

"I'll have you fed to the Grimm, animal!"

Lelith crossed her arms, "animal? I don't even herald from an animal the same way you Mon'keigh do,"

Well, saying she made threats of Grimm violence could work… if that was something they could even trial someone for. Emerald's brows narrowed; no, with the cult, anything involving Grimm could be taken as a tie back to them.

A small, malicious grin formed, one that she was sure looked like the one Lelith wore most of the time, "let's go Lelith, Celestine should be back,"

Lelith gave her an odd look, "and I should listen to you why?"

"Because…" ah, shit, uh… Emerald thought frantically before she spoke with a wince, "uh, I feel like I'm about to pass out?"

Lelith slowly blinked, "right…" she looked to the furious woman, "have fun with your whorehouse and remember, don't get involved with your work~"

"I'll be filing a restraining order to the police and military!" the woman shrieked as the two walked away, one with a small smile and the other satisfied at the brief confrontation,

"She could give a Howling Banshee a run for her money," Lelith mumbled and glanced at Emerald, "what are you up to?"

Emerald gave Lelith a self-satisfied smile, "well, that girl looks like…" she ignored the flash of emotional pain like Greyfax told her to, "like I did when I was with the cult,"

Lelith's brows rose as she nodded, "and you want to get her out… why? She's none of our business,"

"I don't give a shit," Emerald berated her and tossed her hands into the air, "and who cares, not everyone is as selfish as you are. It's why we have friends, but you probably can't even spell the damn word,"

"You say that like I should care," Lelith snorted, "I don't need friends, only tools for what I want,"

Emerald shrugged in annoyance, "fine, stay alone for the rest of your miserable life,"

"Funny you say that. Without Celestine, you would have been dead,"

"And Celestine could have killed you when you first met. Your point?" Lelith didn't respond, much to Emerald's satisfaction, "just stop being an asshole for once, or at least not to us,"

Lelith rolled her shoulders idly and silently. An aura of danger rolled off the woman in a hard wave. Perhaps Emerald might have pushed a button… or four… at the hard glare she got it may have been all the buttons ever made.

At least Lelith was quiet for once, even all the way back to the apartment until they went their separate ways in the house.

"G'night," she offered the Drukhari politely but got no response even as she closed her bedroom door, "asshole…"

She flicked the light on so she could see and got into her pyjamas. Out of the corner of her eye, a glint of silver shone on the bed and she walked up to it to find a small-ish, boxy pistol on the bed. A magazine sat just in front of the trigger with an ornate-looking half of the Aquila symmetrically on both sides of the pistol's chamber. Picking it up, she found it lighter than what she was expecting, extravagantly so. It made her regular pistol feel like a brick by comparison.

She studied it slowly and made sure her finger was far, far away from the trigger despite looking down the barrel, "Huh,"

"Emerald," Celestine said gently from the doorway, causing the girl to jolt in surprise, "you okay?"

"I'm fine," she responded stiffly and tossed the pistol on the bed,

Celestine frowned, "I'm sorry I pressured you, but you're the only reliable source of information we have on them,"

"It doesn't make it any better," she grumbled irritably

"We all have things we want to forget and wished we never went through, believe me, we of all people understand that," the Saint sighed and stepped over the threshold of the doorway, "maybe not Lelith, but the rest of us do,"

A small smile formed at the joke, "it still hurts…"

"It always will unless you accept the fact it isn't going away,"

Emerald glanced at her, "you could have been nicer about it,"

"There are very few ways to be so with such lines of questioning,"

Emerald stared at her silently.

Celestine groaned and shook her head, "Look, I am truly sorry for pushing, but you had the information we needed to know to help fight,"

Her face softened as Celestine's words sifted in, "just… please don't push like that…"

"I don't think I have to anymore," Celestine said, "we have what we need… and you now have Laspistol… but if we think you know something we need, I will have to ask you,"

Emerald glanced at the weapon on her bed and sighed, "fine…"

Celestine chuckled lightly, "you're welcome..." the Saint shuffled awkwardly and gestured to the Laspistol, "I got it for you so you don't have to worry about ammunition or my Lien being spent," she said with a small, knowing smile,

"H-how much did it cost?" Emerald asked, unable to help the worry fill her,

"For me? Nothing. Guilliman and Valoris gave it to me at my request," Celestine said and sat on the edge of Emerald's bed gently, so as to not damage the sheets with her armour, "besides, I am being paid rather well for working for Ironwood,"

They settled into a silence briefly until Emerald opened her mouth, "um, I have a question…"

"Yes?" Celestine faced her,

"Are we able to help someone that was like me?"

Celestine slowly nodded, "that is my goal, yes. Why do you ask?"

Emerald scratched the back of her head, "well, Lelith and I found a place…"

"My faith in what you're telling me just plummeted…" Celestine joked,

"No but seriously," Emerald insisted and continued when Celestine nodded for her to, "there was a girl who looked like I did when I was with the cult,"

Celestine sighed, "I can't just take someone in for the sake of it, Emerald,"

"I'm not asking you to," Emerald begged, "I hate what happened to me, and I don't want anyone else to go through the same… I can't fight yet, but I can do this…"

The Saint bit her bottom lip in contemplation before she sighed, "I'll see what Greyfax can do, alright? But I'm not guaranteeing anything,"

Emerald barely held the joy back, "okay!"

"Was there anything that stood out in particular?"

"Um," Emerald hummed, "the woman claimed to have contacts with the military and Hunters… she threatened Lelith by saying she'll feed her to the Grimm and the girl looked scared and sounded, well-" now that she thought about it- "as I did, and kinda still do when you found me,"

Celestine sat in silence for a moment and stared at nothing and everything, "I'll see what we can do…"

"Please," Emerald said softly and Celestine nodded as she stood to leave,

"I may not need sleep, but you do," she said, "I'll see you when the sun rises and we'll go from there,"

"Okay," Emerald spoked quietly with a yawn, "g'night,"

Celestine smiled back and turned the light out, leaving her slightly glowing from left visible, "Good night,"

Once the door closed, Emerald silently fist-bumped the air at managing to get closer to being able to help in some way. When she closed her eyes and fell into a much-needed sleep, her dreams remained empty; something far better than the regular.

"So, uh," Emerald spoke as she left the bathroom, finally clean and dressed after the chaos of the day before, "what am I doing today?"

Celestine looked up from the kitchen counter, "Kotek has some more portraits he drew for you to look at,"

"Like the Commissar guy?"

"Ciaphas Cain," Celestine corrected, "though this one is…"

Emerald's brows rose slightly at the silence and hopped up on a stool to sit at the counter to see the portraits, "Woah, he looks cool!"

Wings were spread out as a large spear was held like a staff to the man's side. Inky gold stained the drawing of the armour, while bright reds coloured the teardrops on it. Bright yellow made the hair as vibrant as light blue for the eyes contrasted with the rest of the colours.

"Wait," Emerald said, "Kotek gave me one of his face,"

Celestine nodded, "yes. This is Sanguinus, Primarch of the Blood Angels,"

Emerald looked to the part Celestine was pointing at and found red armoured marines, "um… Kotek called them… Astartes, I think?"

"Yes, that is correct,"

"Sanguinus has wings…" Emerald glanced up to Celestine, "is he your dad?"

Celestine choked on air and Emerald jolted off her stool at the laugh behind her. She spun and immediately diverted her eyes away from Lelith who had only a towel around her neck.

"N-no!" Celestine stuttered, "I have no relation to His children in any way!"

Emerald looked between the two women, confused as to who she should pay attention to, "uh, okay?"

Celestine registered Lelith's presence with a raised brow, "where are your clothes?"

The Drukhari gave her a confused look, "In the bathroom, where else?"

"Why?" Emerald asked with mild annoyance in her voice,

"How else am I to shower?" she rolled her eyes at Emerald, "are you not observant enough, or do you shower with clothes on?"

Emerald crossed her arms and glared up at Lelith, "Put them on."

Lelith leant towards Emerald, "No."

Emerald rolled her eyes, "bitch, fuck off,"

"Also no," Lelith glanced down at her, "I live here,"

"I can change that," Celestine retorted and Lelith giggled,

"And risk leaving me by myself?" she tilted her head, "you wouldn't,"

"She has us there," Emerald pointed out to the annoyance of the Saint, "what? She does have a point,"

Celestine rolled her eyes, "to be honest, Hesperax, I don't care what you do so long as you aren't hurting anyone,"

"Exactly," Lelith said as a victorious smile slowly formed, "and am I now?"

"Oh fuck off," Emerald drawled with her arms crossed and narrowed eyes, "put a shirt on at least,"

Lelith shrugged and began combing her downed hair, "I have no other clothes to put on. Emerald, go clean them."

"No," the girl shot back as she made her way to the fridge, "I ain't your fucking slave and you were wearing Celestine's shit last night!"

"I can make you my slave," Lelith said offhandedly and began preening her hair,

"No." The hardness in Celestine's voice made both of them freeze, "you two can have your arguments for all I care, but Lelith," she narrowed her eyes at her, "for all intents and purposes, you are alive because I say so. The moment I deem it necessary, Kotek will hunt you down by my side,"

Lelith hid the surprise and mild fear behind an air of indifference, "if you could catch me… or survive a duel with me."

"How often do we have this exact argument?" Celestine ignored the attempt at starting a fight, "it's getting old and rather repetitive,"

Emerald looked to Lelith, "she does have a point as well,"

"Jump off a building, child,"

Emerald nodded, "You first,"

"I'd survive,"

Emerald gave a dull laugh, "Yeah, no,"

Celestine sighed at the back and forth, "are you two done yet?"

"Yes-" -"no, this is amusing,"

Celestine gave the two of them a blank look, "Lelith, do what you want so long as it is not untoward by our conventions and doesn't breach any of the terms set by us,"

The woman rolled her eyes, "any more restrictions despite me actually helping?"

"Just," Celestine sighed tiredly, already done with the day, "you know what? I don't care at this particular moment,"

Lelith recoiled in false shock, "Wow, are you feeling okay?"

Celestine rolled her eyes, "change of plans, Emerald, get the Laspistol, you're going to learn how to use it and take care of it,"

"Uh," Emerald glanced between the two and backed away slowly, "okay…"

Lelith just rolled her eyes and wandered off to the bathroom, obviously done with whatever was happening already and left the two to go do what they wanted, with or without her.

"Kotek should be down in the Tundra for a field exercise," Celestine said as she stood, "so, we'll go down there for live target practice,"

The fourth or fifth black mass recoiled and fell as the red bolt of energy blew a large chunk away.

"See? No different than to your old pistol," Celestine remarked, "only this is far lighter,"

Emerald looked up to her, despite the Sabyr staggering to its feet, "and really loud,"

The Saint laughed, "wait till you experience an entire Regiment in combat. If you think the dinky little thing is loud, a Lasgun is louder,"

Emerald looked back down at the weapon in her hand. It was small-ish, but no less as dangerous as the hand-cannon she used to use… the Sabyr roared into the sky causing her to jump and snap a series of shots off at it; many missing but the few that did land tore through the bone and dark flesh like it wasn't there.

The creature fell into the snowy tundra after a shot blew its skull apart. A black mist rose from its corpse a moment later, adding it to her list of recent kills for the day.

"So that's what it looks like…" Celestine muttered and walked closer to the dissolving corpse.

"What?" Emerald jogged up next to her and used her wing as a shield from the freezing winds,

Celestine shivered and rubbed her hands together, "they do not disintegrate when I kill them,"

"Oh…" odd. But then again, everyone she now knew was some type of strange and weird… and scary…

Subconsciously, the Saint drew the Ardent Blade once they got close enough to it and the body was set ablaze.

The heat washed over the girl and she huddled closer to both the flames and Celestine, "Warm!"

"Thank the Emperor for such a thing," Celestine said and clutched the Ardent Blade tighter, "do you know how to recharge the pack of the pistol?"

Emerald gave her an odd look, "I don't even know what Dust it uses…"

"None!" Celestine said cheerfully, "Lasguns and all their variants use an energy pack that produces a focused beam of energy… well, that was the explanation a Tech-Priest gave me awhile ago,"

Emerald glanced between Celestine and the pistol, "so, no Dust?"

The Siant nodded, "no Dust. But to recharge it, there are a few ways to do so; some are the official way, others not so much," Celestine took the weapon, handed Emerald the Ardent Blade and powered down the pistol. She promptly removed the power pack and shook it gently for emphasis, "this can be plugged into a power source, similar to a Scroll, but if such a source is unavailable you can sit it in direct sunlight… but, if that isn't available and you are in desperate need for the weapon to work, place it in a fire,"

She motioned with it at the flames of the burning corpse, "like that. Though it does reduce the capacity of charge by roughly half,"

Emerald stared at the small block through the flames, "and it's charging, right now?"

"Yeah," Celestine nodded, "not much, but if a Cog-Boy were to have taken a reading before and after I tossed it into the fire, the charge would have changed,"

Distantly, the thumps of Bolter shots echoed across the tundra and Emerald looked around, trying to find the source but the echoes melded into each other.

"Whatever Grimm it is, it's now dead," Celestine reassured her and glanced up to the sky, "What did Lelith even want to do last night? I forgot to ask,"

"She made me run for, like, an hour and a bit," Emerald griped, "apparently I need to get better stamina and athletic skills,"

"Well," Celestine tilted her head back and forth slightly, "she isn't necessarily wrong,"

Immediately, Emerald groaned loudly, "no! I don't want to do that with her every damn time she wants to make my life hard!"

The Saint shrugged, "she's not wrong, and honestly, learning to deal with inconveniences is a good thing,"

Emerald glared up at her, "fine…"

"You'll live,"

"No, I won't," Emerald grumbled, "poor Ilia is gonna have to deal with her…"

Celestine chuckled and shook her head, snow fell like dandruff, "this planet has to deal with her, so she isn't alone with that,"

Emerald shook her head with a small smile, "right, poor Remnant…" she shivered and snuggled further into her jacket, "can we go inside now?"

Celestine pulled away and handed the Laspistol back, "Hit the next two Sabyrs in the Skull and then we can,"

Emerald took it with mild irritation and looked out to the charging Grimm, "fine… it can't be that hard,"

Celestine rose a brow in humour and knew she'd come to understand that it was, in fact, that hard even for herself. The humour died a little at the angry side-eye she received from Emerald, and perhaps, making up for what she did wasn't as easy as she thought it was…

The Saint gave a tight smile, "I'm actually pretty cold myself, so~ hit at least one in the skull and I'll take care of the rest, deal?"

Emerald's ire erased itself from her face as she looked up, "alright,"

And the girl aimed down at the Grimm and with a snarl, she pulled the trigger. The first round blew a chunk out of the front-right shoulder of one, while the second tore the chest open- it fell and began to dissipate into a mist.

The second Grimm, a slightly smaller Sabyr, had its neck blown out and shoulder erased before it was killed by a faster Grimm behind it trampling over it.

The third wasn't as lucky, as the first round clipped its cheek and the second blew its skull apart, killing it instantly.

Celestine took to the skies and burned the remaining few before she came back down to Emerald with a shiver, "and now, we make our way back!"

"Can't you teleport us?" Emerald shoved the Laspistol into her holster, "not take the long lift-thing back up to Atlas?"

The Saint sighed and pulled the girl to her side so her wings could protect her from the cold, "well, it's called an enclosed gondola-"

A/N

So, I now have a full-time job like a responsible adult should. Unfortunately, that means a longer time between chapters. No, I ain't forgetting about this or dropping it, but I refuse to force myself to write this when I'm tired or just don't want to and turn this into a boring chore, not the fun side-hobby it is.

-I'm determined to finish this thing and upload it as regularly as I can-

Lelith leaving Emerald alone for a moment wasn't just so she could meet Cinder early…

And lesson learned with writing Emerald pissed at Celestine; writers don't just skip to the aftermath of drama for a reason unless they've got experience and skill to pull it off satisfyingly. I have neither. So, I won't be doing that again.

Poor Celestine trying to come to terms with the drastic domestication of her life is kinda fun to play with especially with Lelith being a gremlin for no reason other than she can be.

I tried to catch typos where I could, so sorry if a few made it through.

Onto reviews!

saitama1155: i wished the imperium appeared more but hey you said they will take time to appear on remnant so im guessing when emerald is canon age because remnant needs the imperium since ozpin sucks at his job and is a idiot almost as much as salem seriously salem is *DUMB AS FUCK* she has been at war with ozpin for centuries and not once has this dumb bitch realized she has magic and is immortal fuck a grim army she can go to any academy kill everyone and take the relic and their is literally nothing able to actually stop her... what a simple bitch

Salem is... she's a pretty bad Villain at the moment. But yeah, Salem is pretty dumb for not using her -IMMORTALITY- to her advantage more proactively and the one time she's a direct threat, Ironwood is made the bad guy through a Semblance we learn of from a niche interview after Vol 8. I was so disappointed by that move for multiple reasons.

I'm not gonna rant anymore lol, no one likes a long A/N and/or response.

Monster King: Cool

Dánke!

BloodRedRose11:

lol, don't get caught I guess!

The Fifth Chaos God, Malal. I nearly made him and the Sons of Malice the antagonists in, like, the first draft when I decided to make this an ongoing story. but, uh, as I said before in a previous A/N, Chaos and all that doesn't really interest me much and I find it kinda boring; hence my love for the Sororitas and Drukhari for example- yeah, I like the Dark Eldar and their comically evil bullshittery.

Long story short, your Malal theory wasn't too far off the OG version of this story, but I think the current one is a bit obvious if you look at what I have published already... maybe... I might be overestimating my ability to foreshadow and biased because I obviously know why they're there...

And thanks, have a good day yourself!

Let the time-skips to the Vytal Festival begin! but there's a thing I wanna do between that all thanks to Lelith being a murder-whore... mostly murder though.