RWBY: Dual Eclipse

by Master C.V.G

Following the end of Dimensional Gate Screwover, Nelius finds himself in an all-new world, one beset on multiple sides by all sorts of troubles... but those may prove paltry to the events yet to come. Currently rated T for violence and language. (Updates will be slower due to RL events)

33. Chapter 33

RWBY:Dual Eclipse

Author: Master C.V.G.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Scene Change

Chapter 33: All coming together

A pinging noise filled the air, drawing Nelius's attention away from his notes. Looking over, he heard it coming from the Dual Diver, and so headed over to see what was going on.

[MR. RAOUL, I HAVE COME TO DISCUSS]

"And who is speaking?"

[SUMMER ROSE]

"Yeah, we have got to code in some alternate text colors." Epsilon mused. "Would make distinguishing between them a lot quicker."

"Anyway, Summer... you had a question?"

[HOW OFTEN DOES YOUR MACHINE DRAW OTHERS INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S MIND?]

"...come again?"

[MY ELDER DAUGHTER, YANG, WAS SOMEHOW DRAWN INTO A MEETING I HAVE HAVING WITH RUBY]

"About the only way it should've happened is if Ruby extended the invitation, or had a subconscious desire she was unaware of."

[...I SEE. SHE DID MENTION MISSING ME QUITE TERRIBLY, AND I'M WILLING TO BET YANG FELT THE SAME]

"Uh, if you don't mind... how did you die, Miss Summer?" Epsilon took over.

[MY LAST MISSION - I HAD GOT IT INTO MY HEAD THAT THE POWER OF THE SILVER EYES WOULD'VE BEEN ENOUGH TO FINISH OFF SALEM. AS YOU CAN SEE, THAT DIDN'T PAN OUT]

"...makes sense. Mr. Qrow did say that Silver-eyed Warriors were supposed to be able to end Grimm with a glance."

"The problem there is two-fold." Nelius interjected. "While Salem is infected by the essense of Destruction, she is still, at base, a human, and one also cursed with immortality. If the Silver Eyes could do anything to her, she'd be able to shrug it off with impunity."

[A LESSON I LEARNED FAR TOO LATE, AND ONE I HOPE RUBY WILL NOT HAVE TO EXPERIENCE PERSONALLY]

[BUT THE MORE I DWELL UPON IT, THE MORE I REALIZE WHY OZPIN WAS SO RETICENT TO DIVULGE SUCH INFORMATION. HE IS FACED WITH A DILEMMA WHERE THE SOLUTION IS IN THE OTHER PERSON'S HANDS, BUT THEY WOULD PREFER TO TORCH THE ENTIRE WORLD THAN ADMIT THEIR PERSONAL FAILURES]

"Not gonna lie, that's the part that pisses me off the most." Epsilon admitted. "Those two had to have known that Salem would choose to double-down on her decisions. I seriously hope they had a backup plan for this kind of situation."

"More and more I get the feeling those two thought this situation would simply resolve itself... reminds me too much of the prior jackass." Nelius rubbed his temple in response.

[THEN DOES A SOLUTION NOT EXIST? HOW COULD OZPIN DO WHAT THE GODS FAILED TO?]

"There likely is a solution, but jumping straight to it isn't yet possible. For now, about the best we can do is cut off Salem's influence in whatever places around Remnant she's set up shop. We know Cinder and her two flunkies are at least in league with Salem, and from what was mentioned they came to Beacon under student IDs personally backed by Leonardo Lionheart, so she's got something set up in Mistral as well."

"There's also the White Fang to consider. While I can more than understand their desires for genuine equality, their methods are causing more harm than good; building on that kind of foundation would generate fear and anger, basically making a big dinner bell for the Grimm - something Salem could use to her favor by slipping in another agent or plan." Epsilon gave a frustrated huff. "Talk about having your work cut out for you."

"Either way, we-" He trailed off, as if now coming to a realization. "Summer, are you able to spy on other people in your current state?"

[IT WAS HOW I WAS ABLE TO FIND YOU TO BEGIN WITH; WHY DO YOU ASK?]

"Between yourself and the other spirit... Vivek, I believe their name was, we could set up a spy ring that Salem can't account for. Cinder and her two followers might be acting tight-lipped around the Beacon staff, but how much do you want to bet they'll be doing some self-gloating behind closed doors?"

[TO CATCH THEIR WORDS WITH A CURRENTLY UNTRACEABLE MEANS... I LIKE IT]

"More than just their words - anything they might have hidden nearby could be turned against them." Epsilon chimed in. "I might be able to imitate something similar through a program, but it's going to need a serious bit of testing first, especially if I want to go snooping around in whatever kinds of Scrolls they have."

[I WILL SEE IF VIVEK IS WILLING TO ASSIST WITH THIS ENDEAVOR]

"Sounds good. If this works like I'm hoping it will, we can cut off any avenues of escape for Cinder and her bunch."

Beacon Academy, Ozpin's Office

11:02 A.M.

Ozpin's personal Scroll began to chime. Eyebrow raised, he opened it up to find a video call coming in from Atlas. He tapped the "Accept" option and the visage of James Ironwood appeared on-screen.

"James?"

"Ozpin. I'm calling to inform you we've had a change in our lineup."

"Oh?"

"Initially I was going to send a team of our best techs, but it would appear that will no longer be a necessity. An old friend of mine had quite the breakthrough in parsing out our little issue, and he'll be on his way alongside his daughter and a friend."

"And who might I be keeping an eye out for?" At that, a trio of images was sent his way. Upon seeing them, an eyebrow raised. "...well now..."

"They'll be in Vale within the week."

Further down...

'Well, that was a bust.' Yang's thoughts turned sour as Combat Class had been underway about ten minutes earlier than scheduled... or maybe she had read the time wrong again.

Two of the other first-year teams' leaders were sparring, but her mind was elsewhere. Maybe she was taking this far out of proportion, but a part of her mind needed to figure this out.

'That felt far too real to be merely a dream...' Flicking her gaze up towards the arena, the fight was going decidedly in one of the leader's favor, though Yang would be hard-pressed to fully remember their name.

About another 45 minutes of class remained, and then, barring any schedule mishaps, she'd finally get that chance to pull Ruby away for a private chat.

The fight was over, and now two new students were being called up. She kept an open ear for her name, but this time she wasn't called. Instead it was that Mercury guy who volunteered to fight Pyrrha some weeks ago, and one of the second-year students from Vacuo.

The fight was over in under thirty seconds as Mercury dodged and weaved around the other student's attacks with ease, before one well-placed kick knocked the student's weapon into the air, giving Mercury the opening needed to drop the other guy's Aura into the red with three hits... three hits into areas on the human anatomy that could drop even the most well-trained Hunters.

Next to her, Blake clearly tensed up. She knew what hits like that were meant to do, and that Mercury had been holding back the entire time.

'That guy is dangerous.' They both thought.

Across the room, Cinder's face rankled for a nigh-imperceptible moment as Glynda had pulled Mercury aside, likely to chide him for his plan of attack.

'I'm going to have to have a word with Mercury about his performance.'

Haven Academy

7:21 A.M. Mistrali Time

Leonardo Lionheart finished looking over his plans for today. A bout of nervousness filled his very being, but he had to quash it down for now. All he could do was wait for the signal, however many days it was away.

He wiped away beads of sweat from his forehead, noting that his office felt more than a bit too warm. Getting up from his desk, he turned and opened the windows, letting in some cooler morning air.

'Much better.' Taking this moment to cool off, he failed to notice that he had a little visitor in the form of an off-season ladybug. The spotted insect landed on the windowsill, and began to skitter into the office proper.

Now properly cooled down, Leonardo closed the window, and left his office to begin checking off his list.

The ladybug paid the Headmaster no heed, and began to clamber around the office.

The Base

11:42 A.M. Vale Time

The Dual Diver pinged once more, drawing Nelius's attention from checking over his weaponry. He headed over, seeing a new message coming in.

[MISTER RAOUL, I AM HERE]

"That you, Vivek?"

[YES. MISS ROSE HAS TOLD ME OF YOUR PLAN]

"Your thoughts?"

[I ADMIT TO SOME NERVOUS EMOTION ABOUT THIS PLAN. WOULD THEY NOT BECOME SUSPICIOUS OF YOU SHOULD YOU BE ACTING ON INFORMATION WE OBTAIN?]

"That is a fair point, but that's also the beauty of it. Since they'll have no idea of you two, the only avenue they'll consider is that one of their own might be leaking information, and as they turn their gaze towards one direction, we can nab them through another."

[...I CAN ONLY HOPE YOU ARE CORRECT ABOUT THIS]

"We can adjust the plan as we go. Very few plans survive first contact with the enemy, after all."

[...VERY WELL. WHERE SHOULD WE BEGIN?]

"At the source - Cinder and her two followers are currently hiding amongst the students at Beacon Academy. I know Ozpin and his group are aware of them, given my prior testimony, but tipping our hand too early will cause them to flee. Your job is to peer over their shoulders whenever they've got their Scrolls open behind closed doors."

[IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR I SHOULD SEEK?]

"Whatever Cinder looks up on it - schematics, messages to any potential allies, anything she'd deem as 'for her eyes only'."

[VERY WELL. SHALL I DEPART NOW?]

"If you wish. Even though she likely can't see you, there's no guaranteeing that someone else won't react to your presence, so subtlety will be the name of this particular game."

[UNDERSTOOD]

Now came the waiting game. Well, with Summer tied up untangling her daughters' minds, and Vivek getting in place to spy on Cinder...

'Might as well do another Item Dive.'

Beacon Academy

3:22 P.M.

'FINALLY!' Yang mentally screamed as the final class for today ended. With a noticeable bit of impatience she darted back to her shared dorm room to deposit her books and other materials, and almost immediately she went off to find Ruby.

Weiss and Blake had noticed Yang's impatience, but neither had an idea on how to address the situation.

'Where are you, Ruby?' In her haste, she had forgotten that she could've simply sent her sister a message over her Scroll... and so ended up looking all over Beacon for roughly half an hour.

So where did Ruby head to after class? The first place Yang should've searched - the Forge, the room where students and faculty could work on improving their weaponry. Ruby in particular was a well-known regular to the room, and at this point had her own little corner.

It was about six minutes later that Yang eventually remembered that The Forge existed, and so beelined on over. Peering in, she could see that the room was mostly empty, aside from Ruby over in her own little corner.

Within seconds she crossed the room. Ruby had disassembled the upper portion of Crescent Rose's scythe, giving her better access to the mechanisms within that allowed for her sniper rifle to work, and she looked to be in the middle of cleaning and replacing them.

Yang knew better than to disrupt someone in the middle of that kind of work, and so remained silent, waiting for Ruby to be finished... which took a few minutes as Ruby carefully reassembled her weapon.

Ruby had looked up from her work, only to feel someone's gaze on her. She looked over-

"Oh! Hey Yang!"

"Sis." Yang's tone of voice was unnaturally firm, which put Ruby on cautious alert. "Did you also have a dream about mom?"

"Wha-"

"Our home on Patch. Mom training you. Saying something about 'letting me in on the secret' between you two. Sound familiar?"

Ruby's eyes widened a bit, and Yang knew she hit pay dirt. Ruby, now knowing that Yang did indeed show up, simply let out a deep breath before she began to explain what she knew.

On the other side of Beacon...

Cinder smirked to herself as she took a look at her Scroll.

The Black Queen Virus had finished propigating throughout all of Vale's CCT, and was now silently awaiting the arrival of Amity Colosseum, which, assuming few to no delays had transpired, would begin within the week.

It had taken some time and more than a bit of waiting around, but finally the next piece was beginning to fall into place.

Little had she realized that someone was peeking over her shoulder, viewing the information upon an unfamiliar device, and feeling quite puzzled on how to interpret it.

After a few minutes of viewing over Cinder's shoulder and memorizing what information they could, the unknown someone left.

Cinder looked up, noting the room to have felt slightly colder for a brief moment before returning to normal. Looking over at the room's temperature control, it hadn't been changed at all since she walked in abot 25 minutes ago, so it might've simply been her.

No matter. The next phase was ready to go.

Chapter 33: Complete