Author's Notes:
-Greetings readers! Since we've made it to 2025, let me say, Happy New Year! (Or at least, here's hoping nothing bad happens.)
Cinder (smirking); Too late.
(sigh) Cue the next chapter!
Within the darkness of the Evernight Castle, Cinder stood within the training room, feeling energy stir within and around her.
She could not conjure aura through her Grimm arm, but perhaps, with the right trick, she could make her orange energy look like aura. But would her foes really be able to tell the difference between her normal aura and the aura that had already begun to darken? She was not sure, but still sought to fool them all the same.
With dual vision, red-tinted vision on the left and normal human sight on the right, she soon noticed her leg and foot on the left side, both glowing with black aura, all the way to her knee. She focused her energy, sensing black aura in what little human skin and bone remained in that stump of her left arm, glowing that same dark shade.
A dark aura… the sign of a powerful dark mage. Normally most would be terrified by this. But if I want to be the most powerful witch on the planet, I need to embrace the darkness as much as I can. A creature of darkness to be feared by all.
She checked the aura bar on her scroll, thirty percent was already darkened. She smirked; A quarter of a user's aura had to be darkened before it became visible to the naked eye, and for most, it meant that everything went downhill from there. But Cinder didn't believe that. She would continue to rise in power, no matter what stood in her way. Or who.
From afar, a scorpion faunus saw her conjuring an aura sphere that turned from orange to black.
What is she up to? Tyrian wondered.
The injured psychopath watched on as he continued to observe her dabbling in dark magic, seeing the Grimm flare around her left eye.
Is she trying to compete with our Goddess? She can never measure up to Salem. No one can.
The search for answers was not an easy one. The witch silently cursed as she wondered why she didn't remember to keep track of the Spring Maiden all those years ago. But there were many things happening ten years ago. Maybe she just missed one. And missing a tiny, yet crucial detail was coming back to bite her.
A montage began as the afternoon sun rose, with a disguised Salem teleporting herself to Kuchinashi in search of maiden magic sources. She stood within a deserted alleyway in the central district. Perfect place to begin.
At that same time, Weiss was shown meeting with Takaya in his office at Aegis Academy. The Headmaster took his place in his office chair. "I'm sorry that meeting last night took so long."
"It's alright. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me." Weiss's head lowered. "I failed to find Kent."
"I am aware, but we can't give up yet." Weiss's eyes reluctantly met his. "Tell me what happened."
Weiss told him what happened the day before. "...I feared I wouldn't be able to face them all at once, so I turned away and declined their offer to have me join them. They let me go, but it was really scary." she finished.
The headmaster paused. "Did any of them say their names or give out their team name?"
"One member called themselves Lavender, and they said they were called team SMMK (Smoke)."
Takaya tensed up. "Team SMMK? Oh no…"
"I'm guessing team SMMK aren't good people."
"You were right to turn away from them. They're a team of corrupt huntsmen. They were never a formal team from the academy, but instead wayward dark souls with similar goals." From an envelope, he retrieved individual pictures of each member, starting with the goth guy, the man wearing goggles, the woman covering her face, and the woman with a top knot. "They are Silver 'Sil' Vern, Marton Mayhan, Mina Lavender, and Khaki Hues."
"They used to be associated with a large criminal faction called Wave a few years ago, but they hold loyalty to no one but themselves. Supposedly, they succeeded in stealing two magical artifacts. The first; a magic necklace with the ability to give its wearer endless energy and stamina. The second, a talisman bracelet with the ability to teleport the user and anyone they touch. And it's very much possible that they've returned to steal more magic artifacts. They were the bane of team SAFR (Sapphire), a reformed team of huntsmen that formed after their academy days. But unlike team SMMK, they were truly good. Well, mostly." He got out more pictures of another team, pointing to each member. "Arrastra Skye, Asher Mora, Fenix Nemean, and Pyke Rite. Asher… was really rough around the edges, but he's not the worst huntsman out there. And between you and me, perhaps Pyke and Fenix were the ones I secretly liked working with the most."
"So where is team SAFR? Why aren't they fighting team SMMK?" Weiss wondered.
"Team SAFR moved to Vale City a few months ago to help reclaim Beacon." Takaya answered. "They told me that they would write, but I don't know if they've forgotten or if they've just been too busy to do so."
The lonely woman slumped. "Are there any other huntsmen and huntresses in this city that aren't on the dark side?"
"There are, but not many." Weiss let out a dismayed moan. "Don't worry, we'll find him."
"I hope you're right…" Weiss prayed.
A transparent calendar image was ripped away, showing a new date; June 20th. Salem was shown searching in Wind Path, still in her disguise as a police officer smiled at her. Only this time, she was wearing a headband with a red rose blossom on it.
At that same time, Tawny had returned to the White Fang fortress wearing a green cloak to conceal herself from prying eyes. She entered the building and took her hood down, seeing Athena standing across the way.
"There you are," Athena's smile fell away. "I was beginning to fear you wouldn't show."
The green cloaked fiend raised a brow. "What is this about?" she began. "I thought you wanted me to spy on the enemy."
The scene cut away to Tawny being interrogated, her arms folded. "You really think I'm responsible for sabotaging your operations? It hurts that you have little faith in me."
Athena, Ares, and Adam were all there to hear her response. Wungeng was there as well, munching on candy coated popcorn.
"And what did you tell Blake to sneak away from her and her army of BookWorms? And by that extension, everyone else?" Athena added on.
Wungeng took another handful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.
"I told them that I'm helping my grandmother with a very big project." Tawny held out her right arm as she continued her response before folding it again partway through. "As for my cohorts, I'll just tell them I was delivering some messages to other messengers to reach the leaders in distant lands."
A sudden realization dawned upon Ares, straightening his spine. "Did Addie and Negra ever make it to their respective destinations?"
Wungeng's eyebrows rose as he coughed, briefly choking on his popcorn. A chewed kernel was coughed up, landing on the floor nearby, much to the disgust of almost everyone else. "Gosh damn it..." The room fell silent, waiting on his response. "I don't think they did." Then the eyebrows flattened back behind his White Fang mask. "We're gonna need new messengers."
"We need better messengers." Adam amended.
Athena gave a coy smile to her minion. "You are clever at lying, so I'll give you credit there. But how can I be sure you're not the one sabotaging us?"
Tawny glared at her superior. "Need I remind you that I risked my neck by pretending to be a prison guard?" she began. "When I hardly knew anything about acting or disguising myself? Like an actress, I have perfected my craft. I have molded myself into being whatever I want or need to be. You made me what I am, Lady Athena. You are the director of this show, and I can play the part of a peaceful bookworm for as long as I need to." Ares and Adam still eyed her with suspicion. "What if I told you that Aoi's sister Urdina has recently arrived at Wind's End Hotel and has joined the BookWorm Army?" Tawny offered.
"Is that so?" The false bookworm nodded to confirm Ares's statement. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"I know the relationship between the two sisters is… rather conflicted to put it lightly. I feared that Aoi might not be able to handle the truth." She paused, giving a smirk. "Or that maybe… she already knew because she was the one that's been sabotaging us this whole time."
Athena paused, pondering the weight of her subordinate's words. "Let's see if your theory holds merit."
The scene panned to Aoi in the interrogation room, maskless and horrified to no end. "Urdina is here?!"
Wungeng munched on the popcorn he had left, chewing a bit slower.
She's not lying… Athena thought. You can't fake that kind of eyebrow raising in shock.
Aoi glared at the cat eared faunus. "You really thought I was the traitor?" Her glare intensified. "What kind of drugs are you on?"
"You told me the story of your necklace." Tawny began. "How you got a nautilus shell and how Urdina has an oyster shell. Those necklaces once represented the bond you share, so why do you still have yours?"
Aoi held her nautilus necklace. "It may be true that I still have mine, but Urdina probably got rid of hers years ago. I kept mine because I still like the way it looks. It really gives off the vibe of being the 'Siren of the East'." She let go of her necklace, Wungeng side-smirking at her. "Still, it looks like I'm not the only one who will have to fight their sibling when the time comes."
"Neither one of them are lying," Ares noted.
"They're just getting angry." Wungeng stated.
She's kinda hot when she's mad… he thought privately.
"Can we go now?" Aoi complained.
A few moments later, Athena finished writing down her observations. "Very well. You're dismissed."
Tawny left the room, with Aoi following behind her, shutting the door with a loud thud as she left.
"Only a few more suspects left…"
In Athena's hands was a piece of paper on a clipboard, reading as follows;
Top suspects (in no specific order);
1. Ilia
2. Daphne
3. Mata
4. Marrok
The scene dissolved to Argus on a new day, with Salem still searching for the Spring Maiden as the calendar shifted to the 23rd day of June. No one batted an eye at her as she approached the statue of Pyrrha Nikos.
A statue of Pyrrha Nikos… The falsely deceased warrior. Too bad she isn't actually dead. Yet.
All the while, Ash was shown in a hospital, standing in front of a comatose patient.
The sleeping man appeared to be in his early forties sporting blond hair, surprisingly in good condition for someone in a coma. His blue eyes were closed, and may never open again. He was wearing a long sleeved white blouse with gold trimmings, the rest of his outfit hidden under a white sheet and blanket duo.
"Hello Headmaster Aurelio. I hope you're doing well. Or as well as you can be. Do you remember me? It's me, Ash Nikos. They call me the Hero of Sanctum. I was initially proud to have that title, but now… it feels half-hearted at best. I wish you were here…" He paused. "I don't know if you're still there, but I hope you're alright… I hear that my sister's alright, and that somehow the evil Trojan Alliance was stopped, but I still feel lonely. I found some nice people willing to let me stay with them, but it still hasn't been easy…
He breathed in, continuing. "A lot's happened since Sanctum partially fell. My parents were killed, huntsmen and huntresses have disappeared, and other disasters." He paused yet again. "I don't know if anyone's told you what happened, but… Athena escaped from prison. And then she broke out everyone that helped her to destroy part of Sanctum Academy. The city's in chaos. I quit being a messenger to try and save Argus, to restore order… but I fear my efforts, and everyone else's efforts… just aren't enough.
"Sanctum's still under reconstruction, which has been delayed due to the massive crime wave. And even if it wasn't, when would classes even resume? Almost all the teachers are gone." He looked around, even though no one else was nearby. "Truth be told, If you can hear me… I could really use your help right now. I feel so alone. Sometimes I can help but wonder what things would look like if I had stopped Athena sooner." He sobbed a bit, tears beginning to fill his eyes. "I'm sorry I failed you… Please, wake up…"
Ash stayed silent for a few moments, but nothing changed. He didn't wake up.
"I really am alone." Ash spoke to himself.
Without another word, Ash took his leave, quietly shutting the door on his way out.
Tears fell down his face as he left the hospital in sorrowful silence. The bottled emotions had been slipping through the cracks, but now… the bottle had been broken completely.
The scene showed a dual screen; On the left, Ruby tearing away the calendar, showing the date as June 26th as Salem, on the right, looked over Mistral. The witch was shown looking at the waterfall, letting the faded rosebud from her head fall down, guided by the wind below.
As the rosebud drifted onto a small pond below, the left side of the screen zoomed out to show Ruby sitting outside, sitting on a bench with a blue cooler. From the cooler, she got a bottle of water as Yang sparred with Nora in the background.
"Taking a break?" a familiar voice asked.
Ren stood to Ruby's right, not too far from the bench.
"Yeah, I just needed some water." She gulped down half a bottle in one gulp. "Who knew practicing hand to hand combat could be so tiring?"
"It can be, but at least you'll be ready if and/when any villains invade the academy."
"I hope so." Ren took a seat next to her as he watched the sunset, trying not to go blind in the process. "Ren," Ruby began. "Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"How does it feel… having faced that Grimm at Kuroyuri?"
"Surprisingly… I feel lighter." Ren spoke. "Like… a burden was lifted."
"What do you mean?"
Ren paused. "That monster didn't just kill a village with hundreds. It scared the few remaining survivors, whether they showed it or not. Sometimes… I've tried to bury that feeling and press on- for my sake and for Nora's. But sometimes… the terror and sadness couldn't be ignored." He sighed. "You weren't awake to hear Charles Mustard say it to me, but he… he said some very harsh words that brought up those memories."
"What did he say?"
"He said, and I quote," He cleared his throat, trying to imitate his voice. "'What hurts more, Lie Ren? The fact that the monster who killed your problems is still out there? Or that the girl you love likely doesn't return your feelings?'"
Ruby blinked in shock, going silent for quite a while. "Man… that's mean."
"It was. Thankfully, he turned out to be wrong in the end." Ruby raised a brow. "Yes, Nora may be trying to find herself, but she still loves me, just as I love her."
"She'll return to you in the end…" Ruby turned away despondently, lowering her voice. "Unlike my mom…"
"What was that?"
Blinking as she realized she said that last part out loud, she confessed, "My mom… Summer Rose. She's gone."
"I'm sorry for your loss." Ren took the opportunity to ask a question in turn. "What happened to her?"
"She left for a training mission, and sadly, she never returned." Ruby looked up to the sky. "Sometimes I'd like to think that she survived and is trying to find her way back." She looked down at the dirt beneath her feet. "But it's been ten years or so since she left. If she had survived, we'd probably know by now…"
He took a moment of silence for her loss. "It sounds like she was very brave."
"She was. I don't remember much of her, but I remember a few things at least. Her stories of slaying monsters, trying to hold her weapon when I didn't really have the strength to do so as a little girl, oh, and she made the best chocolate chip cookies!"
"She's the one that inspired you to become a huntress, right?" Ren guessed.
"Well, I initially wanted to be a brave heroine, just like all those fairy tales my mom read to me. And later, dad and Yang."
Ren leaned a bit closer. "Do you like fighting? Trying to be a heroine?"
"I do. I like the feeling of defeating monsters, knowing that humanity is one step closer to being saved. It's hard to see myself as anything but a huntress."
"Are you only trying to be a huntress because of those story books?"
She slightly squirmed in her seat. "What's wrong with that?"
"It seems that you might just be going along with it because it runs in your family. What is it you really want?" Ren asked.
Ruby fell silent, thinking for a moment. "I'm not really sure other than… just trying to do the next right thing."
How do I leave a legacy of my own? Those with silver eyes are destined to lead the life of a warrior. Could I turn away from it? Even if I wanted to?
He posed a different question. "You said once that if you could be anything besides a huntress or huntress trainee, you'd probably be a pastry and/or a dessert chef, didn't you?"
Ruby sighed in content, leaning back a little. "Yeah, I did say that. What can I say, I genuinely like to bake cookies and pastries."
The lotus warrior chuckled. "Perhaps only to consume them."
Ruby frowned at him. "I didn't eat all the cookies. I shared them with friends and family."
"I know, I was just making a jest at your expense."
The silver eyed warrior gave a wry smile. "Really? Who are you and what have you done with Ren?"
The two laughed, eventually fading out after about ten seconds.
"Thanks for lending an ear," Ruby responded.
"It's no trouble." Ren responded back.
The montage ended as Salem was shown on the outskirts of Vita. She stood on a cliffside flower field near the ocean. The setting sun beat down, but the witch hardly paid attention to her surroundings or the time of day.
A heavy groan escaped her lips. "I've checked every known city and settlement in this entire kingdom. Even a few outside Mistral's borders. I sensed several magic sources, learned a few things that may aid me later. But not one of those sources was the Spring Maiden." Raging at the sky as black light surrounded her hands, the energy cleaved around her, flashing to reveal her true form. "Where could she be?!"
Hearing a loud gasp, she turned to find a man standing before her, pointing his finger at her but too scared to truly say anything.
"Oh great… a witness."
She threw a ball of lavender colored energy at him, and he soon felt drowsy. Within a few moments, he had fallen asleep. He'd be out for at least a while. Long enough for Salem to make her exit. She grabbed his hand and held on to his wrist with her left hand. With the opposite hand, she snapped her fingers.
Taking her new prisoner with her, she disappeared as if nothing had happened at all.
[Mistral City, June 29th, 80 AGW, 12:12]
The afternoon summer sun shone down in the room of a flowery huntress. Anastasia Chrysanthe was shown fully opening her closet door, revealing a small table with a huge textbook taking up most of the space. Underneath the textbook, just barely sticking out, were the edges of sheets of wax paper. Lifting the textbook and setting it aside on top of a nearby drawer, she examined the many rose petals that were once part of a special wedding bouquet.
Pink petals gifted to her from her sister were well pressed, preserved and dried, sandwiched between two sheets of wax paper to dry out. And now they were ready to be made into art. And the best part? It had only taken two weeks to do so. She supposed the late spring and early summer made for good, dry air to help preserve the flowers. She only had to change the wax paper once, pulling off the flowers delicately. Now she just had to do it again without destroying the petals in the process.
Gingerly and slowly, she began peeling back the wax, trying to separate it from her flowers. She tore a small line down one of the wax papers as she took her fingertips and gently extracted the flower petal, putting it on top of the book she had used to flatten them.
A few shots went by, showing a few of the petals disappearing from the wax paper, then a third, half, three-quarters and then the last one, gently pulled off. Anastasia put the last petal on top of the book, taking a moment to admire her handiwork; The entire book was covered with petals, and not one of them was torn or damaged.
"They're perfect." she spoke to herself.
Now, it's time to put those petals to use.
Getting out a pink coloring book sized scrapbook and a glue stick from her desk drawer, she put it near the petal coated book and pulled up a foldable chair. She sat down, opened the scrapbook and began to place petals down one by one, until they formed the shape of a heart around the two pages. Satisfied with how the heart looked, she glued them down to secure them in place.
Then she tested out ideas for a flower image. First she tried laying the petals out in the shape of a daisy, but she felt as though the 'larger petals' were uneven, as she didn't have enough. And she didn't have enough space in the scrapbook to create a field of flowers. Then another idea came to mind, straightening out some petals to form a vertical line with more of the petals bunched together in the center.
Then she glued them down and looked at her finished project; A rose of rose petals surrounded in a rose petal heart. Her smile grew brighter as she set the scrapbook, gently placing it against a pillow lying down so the petals wouldn't fall off, but so that she could get just the right angle for snapping some photos.
"It's perfect."
With her Scroll, she took a few pictures, some zoomed in, some from a different angle, until she had picture after picture.
I haven't done a flower scrapbooking picture in years. I had forgotten how enjoyable it was!
Her grin grew wider until her smile took up her entire lower face. Then she chuckled to herself.
This looks beautiful. I can't wait to show this to my family. Daisy's gonna love this! Oh, I wish the CCT system was up so I could send her a photo!
She thought about the letters she had written when she first arrived at Haven- one addressed to her parents and little sister, and the other to her older sister and new brother-in-law.
Maybe I should write them another letter or two. And get some photos printed for posterity. Where is the nearest printing shop? Hopefully Mr. Branwen will know. And if he doesn't, I'll just find a local to guide me.
Smiling in delight, she left the room to continue her new objective.
Meanwhile, Raven lied upon her mattress, covered under sheets and a big black blanket. The bandit leader was tired but not truly unconscious. Her eyes drooped, but her mind was restless. She clinched her fingers, trying to resist the urge to turn over, which she feared would hinder her nap progress.
She gave a resigned sigh and turned to staring at the ceiling of her tent.
As she stared into nothing, the bandit thought about days long gone.
[Over twenty years ago; Beacon Academy, Vale, Vale Kingdom]
A younger Qrow and Raven were shown in the courtyard of Beacon. The two were seventeen years old. Raven, the older of the two, was shown wearing some black pants and a black tank top, while Qrow, the younger one wore black cargo khaki pants and a gray shirt with a black vest.
"This is Beacon Academy." Qrow spoke. "Woah. This place is huge!"
"Stay focused, brother. We're here to learn our enemies' secrets."
"Please. This should be easy."
Raven's face fell flat. "Assuming your bad luck doesn't screw us over."
"Don't worry, I got it under control."
Just then, Qrow lost his footing and tripped on uneven pavement. Raven let out a restrained sigh.
I really hope we get split up into separate teams… Raven thought to herself. I'm tired of Qrow and his bad luck screwing us over.
But he's still your brother. She told herself. And nothing will change that.
As the two entered the auditorium, Ozpin was still young, but he still had an air of wisdom about him. She hardly remembered anything about the welcoming speech (which was so long some people nearly fell asleep), but she remembered the night before initiation quite clearly. She saw her brother hanging out with some blond guy, but hardly paid much attention to them. She was just glad she wouldn't be a target of bad luck for once.
She set up her sleeping bag and looked around for a place to get into her pajamas when she suddenly felt someone bump into her, causing her to drop her clothes.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" cried out a joyous yet smooth and kinda melodic voice. "Here let me get these," she said, picking up the clothes.
As she took back her nightwear, Raven turned to see who bumped into her. Her white hooded cloak nearly hid her perfectly, but she could see her black and red hair. She wore a dark gray dress of a long-sleeved blouse with a high collar and white trim on the sleeves, paired with white and black boots. Resting at her side appeared to be the collapsed form of a weapon.
"I'm Summer Rose."
The bandit heiress said nothing, wondering why this stranger was just introducing herself out of nowhere.
"Did you hear me?"
"I hear you," Raven said flatly.
"So you can speak. I wasn't sure if you were mute." A moment of silence passed. "Wanna see my weapon?"
She tried to smile. "Sure, I guess."
Her answer given, Summer unfurled her weapon; a black and gold axe. The long handle of the axe was colored black with gold metal attached to it, forming a gold curved blade resembling a scythe. Near the blade was a trigger for the weapon, with the other edge of the weapon serving as a rifle. The stock swiveled around, parallel for the blade to extend.
"Hmm… I can't say I've seen weapons like that before. Did you get it custom-made?"
"I sure did. I made Sundered Rose when I was eleven, and we've never been apart!" Summer told her.
Raven narrowed in bewilderment. "You named your own weapon?"
"Indeed I did!" Summer confirmed. "Oh, it's getting late! Good luck with initiation tomorrow!"
Summer turned away and went back to her sleeping bag, located several steps away from where Raven was standing. The bandit silently thanked her for her words, but she'd never admit it.
It wasn't much of a wonder that she would turn out to be Raven's team partner during the initiation.
She returned back to the present, a sad sigh escaping her lips.
They say every rose has its thorn. Often, there were many thorns. But what happens when the rose disappears and fades? When a kindred link was broken? Raven knew many things, more than ever would have liked to know, but there were still other pieces of knowledge that remained out of her reach.
She leaned on her left side and closed her eyes, clutching her concealment amulet tighter, burying her memories and her feelings.