Ch. 68 Burning winds

"Vernal!"

"Yes, Raven." Vernal was well aware of her role and apparently it was time to play it.

The small surveillance drones came again in force. This time though, Raven ordered the camp to not shoot them. And now it was clear why. Vernal was to give whoever was spying on them a show.

She closed her eyes and focused. Of course Vernal knew she wasn't doing anything. But focusing on appearing as if she was the one doing this had the same desired effect. She scrunched her face a little and strained her arm muscles to get her arms to shake a little.

At the same time the wind picked up. Raven was doing her part in this charade, though from the outside she just looked like a stern leader in a Nevermore mask, just like any other day.

The wind twisted and turned at speeds normally only seen during storms. It almost seemed like it would start raining too since the clouds turned a dark grey.

As the last of the drones crashed to the ground close to the centre of camp Raven firmly grasped Vernals shoulder and loudly but evenly said "Enough."

Vernal's knees almost gave out from relief. This thing was dangerous enough when it was only the tribe that she had to trick. In the tribe standing out is only a good idea if you're especially powerful. Now Vernal was strong, no-one could claim otherwise, but the powerful one was Raven. Vernal's "semblance" was a known thing in the camp, but if word got out that it was all a sham…

And that was only within the camp. Now someone outside was looking for whatever power it was that Vernal was pretending to have… Magic supposedly, but that was, in Vernal's opinion, complete and utter horsecrap. Either way, they were here for it now and Vernal was regretting taking up the offer from Raven.

The camp was a frenzy of activity. They all knew they were found and needed to relocate. They took Vernal's display for scare tactics, just a prelude to another move. They were not normally so mobile during winter but spring was around the corner anyway and they knew Raven was a smart leader. Raven stood outside looking at the sky, waiting for something, much like she did before all the recent moves. When the wind started to pick up slightly almost no-one noticed the warm breeze. For the tail end of winter that was more than a little unusual.

"She's here."

The outskirts of the camp were in an uproar suddenly and several makeshift tents were set aflame. People on the outskirts of the tribe were weak, that's why they were on the outskirts, but Raven still felt it was a loss to use tribesmen to Cinder.

"Let her through!" Raven called out as soon as the woman dressed in an asymmetrical Mistralian style dress came into view. Her hair as well as the dress concealed most of her left side.

"Well well well, if it isn't miss Branwen." Cinder spoke calmly though the flame of her one exposed eye betrayed her readiness to strike.

"And you'd be Fall." Raven deliberately used her last name which coincided with the season.

"Quite. I imagine you know why I'm here?" Vernal caught Cinder's eye and Raven capitalised on it.

"I know what I have, come let's talk inside my tent."

"How hospitable." Cinder put on a smile and started walking towards the tent ahead.

Raven turned to Vernal and spoke with an edge in her voice, which startled Vernal.

"You will shut up and sit down. You will answer when asked and you won't move a muscle without my word. Now come." and with that Raven turned to the tent to welcome Cinder in.

It took a moment for Vernal to find her bearings and realise that she was in a spot where not listening to Raven would mean certain death.

=O=O=O=

Qrow swore up a storm as they ran up the many stairs up to Haven Academy. He got all of a single word from his sister to indicate things were starting - vault. It came sooner than he expected but he knew Raven was as displeased with this turn of events as he was.

Yang, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were just a step behind him with Oscar lagging behind slightly. Ozpin was doing his best to get his host up to huntsmen physical standards but there was only so much he could do with the limited time they had.

When they finally arrived in the main hall they were met face to face with Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven. He seemed agitated but spoke with a tinge of relief in his voice.

"Qrow! You're here."

Before Qrow could answer the man he'd once called a friend, more people entered the room. Qrow met eyes with Raven and the girl he knew was a part of the tribe. He was startled for a moment by the realisation that she must have been around Yang's age, and now she was a diversion in a game of deathly stakes. Cinder was there as expected, though she was joined by Tyrian and one other that Qrow didn't immediately recognise.

"Hmmm, I did expect you to show up… You're early though. I suppose Leonardo's prediction came true. Very well you may go and be a good little rat elsewhere. You know what to do." Cinder spoke to them from

"Thank you miss Fall." Lionheart almost grovelled as he bowed down and made his daring escape back the way they came from.

Out of the student's present none spoke up. Even Yang who's heart burned with hatred for the woman before was silent, if only because the voice in the back of her mind seemed to shiver with both fear and loathing.

Pyrrha was apprehensive of the situation. She had seen first hand how dangerous some of the people present were. What caught her eye was that Tyrian's scorpion tail was now metal, though making use of Polarity against an opponent who imbued Aura into a weapon required proximity and she wasn't sure she'd survive that. Qrow's long recovery spoke plenty about how dangerous that poison was.

Nora stood proud, hammer in hand and the depleted husk of Jaune's spear on her back. She was eyeing the biggest guy there, though something told her to be cautious of him, there was more to him than met the eye, she was sure. Ren stood beside her, StormFlower drawn and ready, determined to see them come out the other end alive.

Ozpin was looking on quietly from within Oscar's mind as Oscar panicked. A few things caught his eyes, Hazel Rainart for one. He was one of his relatively recent regrets, the boy's sister got caught up in this war and perished. That Hazel would join the side that killed his sister in his attempt to get back at Ozpin was… regretful.

Another thing was his cane. Qrow enlightened him to the circumstances of losing it so it was no surprise Raven carried it with her. It was almost baffling Cinder didn't seem to notice nor care. Her greed for power must have clouded her vision with the relic so close.

=O=O=O=

Ruby and Jaune rode towards Mistral. The city came into view just now and immediately it was clear something was wrong. The academy was in flames illuminating the early night. When they entered the city proper it quickly became clear that the historical core wasn't built with cars in mind. The mountainous terrain Mistral was built on was covered in terraces and stairs. Still Jaune pushed the bike to go faster, the hard-light teeth of the wheels bit into stone and concrete alike to allow the speed they were going at.

It was no surprise then that Jaune nearly crashed when they came upon a crowd that blocked the road. The breaks screeched and the wheels left deep scratch marks in the stone road.

Suddenly Jaune was faced by a crowd of students and young huntsmen pointing their weapons at him and Ruby. Ruby too retaliated by pointing her Rosa at them.

"Wait, WAIT! I KNOW THESE GUYS! Jaune, Ruby is that you? I thought you were still in Vale."

"Neptune! Good to see a familiar face!" yelled out Jaune as he shut down the engine so that they could talk.

"We came to help Yang and our team." said Ruby, putting down the barrel of her rifle while the crowd did so as well.

"You came in the nick of time then, none of the four are down here with us. Anyone wanna bet they've got something to do with the fire?" Neptune turned to the crowd.

"No bet, where there's fire there's a dragon." said Sage as he hefted Pilgrim over his shoulder. "I say enough talking and more moving. The fire won't put itself out."

"Well said, see you up there, we're going ahead!" said Jaune as he flexed his Aura to start the jet engine again.

As soon as he felt Ruby's hands wrap around his stomach he drove off towards Haven.

=O=O=O=

Nora watched in both awe and horror as Hazel pushed electric dust crystals into his biceps. Even with Nora's semblance a stunt like that was bound to do lasting damage to her and that's ignoring the pain. Hazel rushed her and Nora was forced to defend. Each blow she received pushed her back towards Ren.

Ren's attention was split between Nora and Pyrrha. Both were giving their all in their respective fights and neither was doing particularly well. Hazel seemed to brush off submachine gun fire like it was nothing and Tyrian was moving erratically dodging most if not all of Ren's fire.

Pyrrha was fighting well, but her caution kept her at a disadvantage. Tyrian proved too nimble for long range and too dangerous for close quarters, leaving her to retreat over and over again.

Qrow crossed swords with Raven. It wasn't like he enjoyed doing so but there was a way out he could take. It was a cold and calculated move but there was much at stake. Vernal's death could convince Cinder that Spring's power has gone to someone else.

He knew Raven realised as much but perhaps she was fond of the girl, or maybe she just liked the excuse her presence gave her. But Raven stood in his way and so they both halfheartedly exchanged blows, not particularly looking to hurt the other.

Either way that left Oscar to fight with Vernal and that could blow everything. The moment the old man realised that Vernal wasn't the Maiden he'd realise who was.

So far the two were reasonably evenly matched. Vernal had the superior physique l, being both older and better trained, but Oscar had the advantage of an unreasonably experienced coach in his head dictating his every next move.

Slightly further away from the rest, just beneath the statue that served as the centrepiece of the hall, was the main event. Fire against fire, Maiden against Maiden, Cinder Fall against Yang Xiao-Long.

Yang wasn't cocky enough to believe she could win with ease. She has fought Cinder before and knew how powerful she could be. There was one thing Cinder didn't have though. Yang could feel it, she could feel the Maiden's power fighting against Cinder. Yang however made peace with Amber. They were united in purpose.

The elements raged around the two as they fought, each with one eye blazing with magic like a mirror image of the other. Yang met Cinder blow for blow though neither seemed to have the upper hand in the battle.

Ren, being both the furthest from the firestorm and closest to the exit, was the first to notice the roar of a jet engine. At first he thought it might be an aircraft but then he heard the churning of gravel.

He turned away from the fight in confusion and that was the biggest mistake he could have made at that moment. The lul in gunfire was just long enough.

He turned back when he heard Tyrian's manic laughter followed by a clang of metal on metal. Ren immediately opened fire at him but it was little too late as the stinger of the mechanical tail came away from Pyrrha's shield covered in blood and venom. The stinger punched through Pyrrha's shield.

Ren knew the next few moments were critical for Pyrrha as she needed to tourniquet the arm immediately. He charged Tyrian with a yell of desperation, hoping to buy precious seconds for Pyrrha.

It worked briefly but moments later he was overpowered by the more skilled fighter. Tyrian knew he'd won and Ren fell on his back, his aura shattered. The stinger hovered just above his neck and in what little time that remained before Tyrian plunged the venomous instrument down he looked over at Nora.

Ren's heart was filled with despair he hadn't felt since his home fell to the Grimm. Without his semblance to dampen his emotions he felt afraid for Nora's survival.

Hazel once more swung his massive fists at Nora who was forced to block the blow with Manghild. But she moved a little too late and the blow landed at an awkward angle, wrenching the hammer out of her grip.

She jumped back to dodge the next blow and reached for Virga Fulgur on her back. She hefted the spear in defence, silently apologising to Jaune.

The next blow landed hard and a cling of broken metal resounded throughout the hall, audible even over the approaching roar of a jet engine.

Many things happened at once. Ozpin took over from Oscar, his golden green aura enveloping the young man as he grabbed an incoming fist near effortlessly. Qrow broke away from Raven and ran to aid Ren and Pyrrha against Tyrian. Raven broke away from Qrow and ran to stop Ozpin from beating Vernal and blowing her cover. Yang scored a decisive blow into Cinder's collar bone, burning away the long sleeve concealing the Grimmified arm. Nora's eyes widened as the broken spear in her hands crumbled into nothing, leaving her defenceless against the incoming blow. And finally a pair of distinct high calibre rifle shots sounded out from a flurry of rose petals.

Hazel's head jerked back from the impact of a .50 calibre anti materiel rifle round, stopping his attack in its track.

Tyrian's tail jerked away from the impact of the same type of round. There was now a slight dent in the aura infused metal and Ren's life was no longer in immediate danger though he was far from safe yet. As Tyrian reared back his tail to finish the job it was once again stopped by the same sword that deprived him of his original tail.

Qrow watched as Tyrian jumped back from him and the injured Ren, and moved to shift Harbinger to its scythe form. Unfortunately the mechanism clicked a few times and stopped dead in its tracks, leaving Qrow with an awkwardly curved sword.

Qrow thought about how unlucky it was that the stinger landed in the gear mechanism of his sword scythe once again. It was already damaged and now it was likely broken completely leaving Qrow without his prefered weapon. Tyrian sought to capitalise on the malfunction and charged.

Shrugging, Qrow elected to let out his frustration on the man responsible and punched Tyrian in the face before dodging the accursed tail.

Nora watched in awe as Ruby went on the offensive against Hazel. Her speed and air manoeuvrability gave her an edge against Rainart that Nora didn't have. Though a moment later Nora got her bearings and after recovering her weapon ran to join Pyrrha and Ren to make sure they were alright.

Ozpin didn't particularly resist when Raven came to break up the fight, though to her dismay he commented on her "clever ruse" before giving control back to Oscar who collapsed from muscle pain.

Jaune saw how Ruby dealt with Rainart and smiled knowingly, the mountain of a man, despite the dust still running through his veins was too slow to deal with Ruby and she could match the power of his strikes with the assistance of gravity.

Instead he turned to Qrow who was currently struggling against Tyrian with a broken Harbinger. Jaune recalled Testa Cordis Septima and called out to all the shards "Testae Cordis!"

With a fully assembled scythe prototype in hand he summoned two more pieces from his Arsenal "Occultus Ferum! Ignis Manus!"

Then he charged in blocking Tyrians incoming strike with the extended Hidden Blade while aiming the Fire Arm in Tyrian's face and pulling the trigger letting loose a barrage of .50 Beowulf Burn dust bullets.

"Qrow, take this I'm gonna go help Yang!" Jaune yelled while Tyrian recovered from the fire.

To his credit, Qrow didn't hesitate or spare time to question where Jaune and Ruby had come from. He stuck Harbinger into the ground and took the vaguely familiar looking scythe. He recognised the base shape which was closer to Crescent Rose than his Harbinger which told him a lot about what to expect from the weapon. He had trained Ruby and had on occasion wielded Crescent Rose to show her what to do. The control scheme of this one was similar enough.

When Tyrian managed to get his bearings it was already a second late, the loud boom of Testae Cordis' propulsion mechanism firing had already sounded. To Tyrian's eyes it looked as if the blond one ran away and Qrow disappeared. Then another boom sounded as Qrow propelled himself down.

In a split moment decision Tyrian shielded with his tail, trusting the metal appendage to block the blow. Instead the metal gave way to the blade like butter to a hot knife.

There was no pain this time but Tyrian had lost his tail for the second time. He went into a frenzy. Hacking and slicing and shooting at Qrow.

Qrow held control of the battle, the scythe spinning rapidly in his experienced hands to block any and all incoming attacks. To Qrows dismay however the part of the blade that got splashed with venom was starting to crumble into nothing. Unperturbed, he stepped back.

Tyrian didn't see it coming. All that occupied his mind was Qrow and that damned blade that took his tail a second time.

…Then his Aura shattered and he met the blade that took it the first time. And this time it took much more.

Qrow stood over the body of Tyrian Callows, Harbinger's currently curved blade stuck through the heart of the faunus man.

Ruby took another shot at the large man she was fighting and this time his Aura shattered making the man scream in pain as his semblance stopped working and the lightning coursing through his veins brought him down to his knees.

Ruby didn't know who the young man that approached them was but the way he walked was friendly, almost familiar.

"Do you truly believe this is what Gretchen would have wanted Hazel?"

The defeated man whispered something inaudible and in defyance stood once more. Hazel tried to hit the boy but failed as he deftly dodged out of the way. With every attempt to attack he spoke louder until he was yelling "OZPIN!"

Right after giving Qrow Teastae Cordis, Jaune ran towards the raging inferno but was stopped by a blade made of crystalline dust.

"Don't." the masked woman spoke.

There was something about her. Unlike last time they met, Jaune had some idea of who she was. He didn't know her name or her connection to Yang, but he knew he could feel it.

"Maiden…"

She didn't know how he knew but not wanting to show her fear, she nodded brushing past the issue and continued speaking "Both of them are Fall or half of her rather. Yang needs to become whole."

Jaune's knowledge of the Maidens was limited but if Yang had half the power something was probably very wrong.

"Anything we can do to help?"

"We may do more harm if we divert Cinder's thoughts from Yang… though there is one thing you could do for me… say what do you think about Ozpin?"

The way she asked that was filled with venom. Jaune didn't really think about what he said in the moment as the venom she spoke with filled his thoughts as well.

"The Infinite Man is a monster."

Raven nodded at that beckoning to follow her.

=O=O=O=

Leonardo was running. If Cinder wanted the academy to burn then so be it, he'd even set the fires himself. After all, without the academy he was no longer useful and could just disappear. Get a new identity somewhere in a frontier settlement and never be a part of this war ever again.

He was already outside of the academy grounds and was running through the streets of Mistral. He kept looking back in case someone followed him from Haven.

What he didn't expect was to bump into someone in front. In fact a lot of someones.

Neptune was amongst the first to recognise the headmaster as he was one of the students Leonardo personally sent off to Vale for the Vital festival.

"Professor Lionheart…"

"Huh!? Oh! Uhh, students."

"Say professor, why are you running away from the burning school? You wouldn't have something to do with that?" someone from the crowd called out. And the moment they did the crowd started encircling the headmaster.

Leonardo sighed he didn't like beating up his former students but they were slacking off for months now so surely they wouldn't put up too much resistance.

The moment Leonardo tried to push his way through the encirclement he learned just how wrong he was about that one.

=O=O=O=

Author's note:

The gangs back together and things are moving forward rapidly. I don't think I need to foreshadow what happens next anymore than I already did.

In my personal life I've been doing some renovations. Most notably the bathtub fucking leaks so that is going to be fun replacing...

But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 69 Relic of Knowledge