Author's Notes:
-Hello everyone. Now that it's closer to Christmas, I have a gift for you. (inhales)
Deck the Halls with boughs of Holly
Fa la la la, la la la la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Sun, Blake, Weiss, Yang and the Quintet
Fa la la la, la la la la
Moving onward, not quite there yet
Fa la la la, la la la la
-Hope you enjoyed the small little Christmas carol parody I did there. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
-Considering the time of year, I hate to be that guy, but... I think I'm doing that. For the events in this chapter, I apologize in advance. (Sorry but not sorry!) Then again, it might be obvious from the chapter title... (sees glares) I should probably shut up now...
Now, without further adieu, let the show begin!
Somewhere in Mistral, Maura and Sienna stood at at the edge of a cliff as the sun stood at its zenith. Below them was the city of Mistral.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Maura asked, looking worried.
"I believe it's time. I've prepared my speech to present to the Mistralian Council, and I've rehearsed it numerous times. I have prepared for all situations, questions and have memorized my speech by heart. I believe that I am ready to testify in your name." Sienna looked at Maura. "I will travel to the Mistralian Council chamber alone and present my testimony to them. Best case scenario, they see the truth and agree to help us stop Athena. Worst case scenario, they don't believe me and attempt to arrest and/or kill me. Here's hoping everything goes well." Sienna knocked on the wood of the nearest tree. "Let's go."
Maura nodded grimly. "Well, here goes nothing."
I just hope everything goes well. Both for my sake and for hers. Sienna silently thought to herself.
"Hold it right there!"
They turned around and widened their eyes in terror. The two White Fang ladies soon found themselves surrounded by a group of huntresses. Upon further examination, Maura realized...
"Oh no. That's team Cub!"
"It's CUBB (Cubeb)!" Ayress responded. "Why do people still get that wrong?!"
"Calm yourself, Ayress!" Carmina ordered. "We've got bigger fish to fry."
Everyone got out their weapons as they prepared for battle. For the huntresses, Carmina wielded a staff with slots for four different kinds of dust- fire, rock, water and wind. At the same time, Ayress got out a mace with fire dust, Blanka retrieved her white arm gauntlets, and Maza got out her battle axe. For the faunus ladies, Sienna summoned Cerberus Whip, which she had wrapped around her arm, and Maura found a set of twin daggers with wind dust in them.
"It's the end of the line, villains!" Blanka exclaimed.
"This isn't what it seems!" Maura protested. "I don't want to fight you!"
"She really doesn't!" Sienna added, hoping they would see reason.
But they didn't. "Enough talk. Let's get them!" Carmina commanded.
The ladies all charged into battle, raising their weapons. Carmina was the first to attack, having her staff slot selected to throw fire dust at the faunus duo. She swung her staff forth to create two waves of fire, one directed at each opponent. Next was Maza, who slashed her axe towards Sienna's head, who barely dodged it as she ducked and sidestepped to avoid the attacks. After leaning back up and dodging fire dust from Ayress's mace, Sienna retaliated by swinging her chain whip around Maza and throwing her back-first into the nearest tree, temporarily throwing her out of the ring.
Sienna then turned to Ayress and attempted to wrap her whip around the mace, but the dark beauty saw right through it and dropped her weapon. But instead of picking it up, she charged forward trying to punch her.
Oh crud! Sienna thought. She quickly jumped back to avoid Ayress's fists. What is she doing? She nervously thought while continuing to evade her attacks.
The view switched to the Griffin sisters attacking the Mistralian leader. The older one used her staff to throw wind dust at her while the younger one fired explosive dust blasts at her. Maura frantically dashed to dodge each attack, but she knew that it wouldn't work forever. Eventually, she would be worn out. She stopped running and started using her daggers to try and deflect the blasts. Carmina switched her slot back to fire and swung her staff to release a fire wave at the same time Blanka did an explosive dust blasts. Channeling aura through her daggers to form a green x-shield, Maura tried to shield herself from the attack, but she couldn't strengthen her shield quickly enough and her right hand dagger shattered like glass. The blast also knocked her back to the near edge of the cliff.
Upon jumping back from Ayress's roundhouse kick, Sienna saw that Maura was being cornered to the edge of the cliff. She kicked Ayress down and quickly swung her whip towards Maura. "Maura, catch!"
The Mistralian White Fang leader grabbed onto the chain with her other hand. Holding the chain with both of her hands, Sienna swung Maura to the ground. Unfortunately, Maza was waiting for her. She had inserted electric dust into her axe, which had not previously been there, and proceeded to fire at Maura. The White Fang leader backflipped three times, knocking down Ayress on her third one. Sienna ran to her side, as Ayress got up and the huntresses crept towards them.
Maura looked at Sienna worriedly. "What now, boss?"
Back at Edom's cottage, Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting in the living room, the latter holding Gliss on her lap. A rolled out poster of Pyrrha Nikos that had just been signed by her was on the table in front of the couch they were sitting on. Edom stood in the kitchen as he started preparing dinner.
"So you never thought I was evil?" Pyrrha asked the little girl.
"I never did. You're a hero, Pyrrha." Gliss answered. "No one nor nothing can change my mind."
She faintly smiled at her response. "Glad to see someone still believes in me." She stroked Gliss's hair. "With all the people that want my head on a platter, it's refreshing to see someone who still sees me as a hero."
"What about that one girl in Cachée?" Jaune asked.
"Okay, sure, she saw Pyrrha as a hero, but she doesn't entirely know that she's alive. I gave her a hint that she would return, but I didn't tell her everything. Whereas Gliss knows her hero is alive."
"Good point." He turned back to her. "So of all weapons for your alter ego to wield, why an ice dust sword/gun?"
"In addition to modeling off of Rouge Arc, I wanted a weapon that I already had some experience with. Even though I don't use swords all that often, I know how to fight with them. The tricky part will be using the dust effectively in combat."
Gliss got up, taking her signed poster back to her room as Jaune asked, "What about the gun? Or do you already know how to use that as well?"
"I've used a gun once or twice in training, so I know the basics. Also, that shouldn't be too hard since I already have good aim. I would train here, but there's hardly any space here. Plus I don't want to cause property damage."
"If my memory serves me correctly, about a mile away from here, in the older part of the town, lies a ruined coliseum that people sometimes use as training grounds." Edom answered. "Obviously you'll have to take your mask, but it might be a good way to train yourself."
Pyrrha nodded. "Alright. Now for the real question- who do I train against?"
"You could fight against me." Jaune answered. "I've been trying to strengthen my semblance to be used on myself."
"When have you been doing that?"
As he answered, a flashback of him channeling aura to his feet, left leg, right leg, and both arms appeared over his head. "Sometimes, when I've sat alone guarding the campsite, I've meditated to try and channel my super-charged aura to different parts of my body. But I still need more practice, you need to learn how to use the ice dust well. It'll help both of us."
The flashback ended. "So it's settled." Pyrrha concluded. "After dinner, we head to the coliseum."
She looked at the red mask she had taken off and held it in her left hand. How did it ever come to this?
Back at the Mistralian cliffside, Sienna and Maura were losing the battle. They were no longer had their backs to the edge of the cliff, but the situation was still quite dire.
"What now, boss?"
"We push them back." Sienna answered.
With her remaining dagger, Maura fired wind dust waves in the form of X's trying to push back Ayress and Maza. Ayress stood her ground, picking up her mace to try and block the wind dust with it. Maza was inserting ice dust into her battle axe.
"Please..." Maura pleaded. "I don't want to do this."
Maza looked into Maura's pleading eyes and began to falter. Maura took the opportunity to kick her in the gut, knocking her back first into a tree and knocking her out. Ayress however, showed no hesitation, sending wave after wave of fire at the Mistralian White Fang leader.
Sienna swung her chain whip around, trying to land a hit on her opponent, who was shooting explosive dust bursts at her through her arm gauntlets. As the White Fang High Leader wrapped her chain whip around Blanka's arm, she tightened her grip on it, causing the electric dust tip of her weapon to pierce through her arm gauntlet and get to her skin. She screamed as was she painfully shocked and was soon knocked out.
"Blanka!" Carmina called out in horror. She turned to Sienna, who rejected her weapon from Blanka's arm, and her glare towards her intensified, but her voice remained cold like dripping venom. "You'll pay for that."
Carmina turned her staff from wind to rock, and as she spun her staff around her she threw several newly formed rocks at Sienna. She barely dodged them all, and she tried to get her whip around Carmina's arm, but she foresaw her attack and backflipped twice to avoid it. She did the same tactic again, only this time, she switched the staff to fire and set the rocks ablaze with fire dust. Sienna managed to dodge most of them, save for one. She was hit in the gut with one of them and stumbled backwards, barely keeping her balance. Seeing that she was too close to Carmina to use her whip again, she wrapped her whip around her arm and decided to fight with her hands.
As Sienna tried to punch Carmina, she dodged her every move, first by side stepping twice, and then ducking to avoid the one aimed at her head. The camera switched to Ayress's aura flickering in a purple glow as Maura repetitively slashed at her. Once she kicked the dark colored huntress in the gut, her aura shattered and was knocked out.
"We've almost got them!" Maura exclaimed while smiling. "Just one left!"
"You will never best us!" Sienna declared.
Sometime later, team JNPR plus Ruby joined Edom and Gliss at the dinner table. One of the couches was scooted up to the table because there weren't enough chairs. On that green couch were Ruby, Nora and Ren. From Ruby's right, Edom sat at the head of the table. To his right was Gliss. To her right was Pyrrha, now wearing her mask. To her right at the other end of the table was Jaune. All sat with bowls of chili in front of them and varying beverages. Most were drinking hot apple cider, but Ruby was drinking warm milk and Pyrrha had a glass of water as well.
"Sorry, there's not really enough chairs here." Edom stated. "We don't have company very often."
"It's alright." Ruby said. "Your couch is surprisingly comfortable."
She took a sip of warm milk as Edom responded, "Thank you."
"Oh, and um, by the way, I have good news to share." she added.
"Really? What is it?"
Ruby told them about Eric Green, the mayor-turned-librarian who didn't hate Pyrrha.
"No way!" Gliss exclaimed. "That's amazing!"
"Hmm..." Edom mused to himself for a brief moment. "I wonder if I could convince him to babysit or look after Gliss."
"We would help, but my team is going to depart after sunrise tomorrow." Jaune stated.
"Your team? Aren't they your friends?" Gliss asked.
"Well, most of them. One of them is..." He noticed Nora's glare. "...still mad at me."
"And why is Ms. Valkyrie angry with you?"
The knight sighed. "Can you keep a few secrets?"
"We're already keeping major secrets." Edom answered. "A few more can't hurt."
"Okay... Well..." He hesitated, feeling a pang of guilt stir. "I'm no real hero. I forged transcripts to get into Beacon Academy, stole money to pay for tuition and kept a secret about a foe's true power."
Gliss hung her mouth wide open. Her father was understandably shocked. "Oh... That would do it."
"He never gave us an explanation as to why he forged transcripts either." Nora added after taking a sip of cocoa. "He could've got training outside primary combat school but he didn't."
There was a moment of silence as everyone silently ate or drank. Eventually, Edom broke the silence. "So why did you forge transcripts?"
"Well... The exact moment and reason I chose to do it... It's a long story. Pyrrha already knows some of the details, but I'd say it's about time you all learn the truth. It doesn't start with me however. It starts with a man named Douglas Arc. He was my paternal grandfather, and an amazing huntsman. He was incredibly skilled, so much so that he never got injured, or so they say. Women loved him, men envied him. Overall, he was a great man. However, he had one major problem in life- he was a gambler. At first, it wasn't much of a problem because he had so much money from his career and he had good luck. Maybe he actually had rabbit's foot or something. I don't really know. Unfortunately, after many years, his luck ran out. But with his gambling addiction, he not only lost all of his money- he drowned in debt. Upon learning that he had lost lots of money several years ago, his oldest child, my aunt Crimson- had to force him into living with her to prevent debt from accumulating into an absurdly large amount. Unfortunately, it was too late- he had accumulated 125 million Lien in debt.
"After Douglas had stopped gambling, Crimson forced him back into active huntsman duty to pay for it. However, she forgot to take into account that he had been off the battlefield for several years. As a result, he died on his first mission back. Upon his death Crimson and Roux, my father, agreed to decide the debt in half, so both of them would pay 62,500,000 each. Crimson was fortunate, as she won a 70 million Lien lottery. She paid off her portion of the Lien, but instead of helping out with the debt even more, she abandoned her family and chose to keep the surplus money for herself and her daughters. Roux was angry with her, accused her of betraying her family and started to blame her for their father's death. Crimson denied his accusations and said that he deserved it. As a result, they got into a huge argument and a rift has formed between them. My mom and dad, as well as my sisters, haven't seen Crimson in many years."
"How long ago did this happen?" Pyrrha asked.
"Douglas's death, and the debt that came with it, happened ten years ago. This was about a month before Amethyst, the youngest of my seven sisters, was born."
Ruby looked at him curiously. "You have seven sisters?"
"I do. They are from oldest to youngest; Rouge, Tangerine, Acacia, Emerald, Azura, Indigo, and Amethyst. I am wedged in between Acacia and Emerald. Also note that Emerald Arc is not to be confused with Emerald Sustrai. Anyway, back on track. Crimson abandoned her brother and the rest of us, big family rift, et cetera. According to Saphron, one of Crimson's daughters, Crimson left on a mission a long time ago and never came back, leaving her fate unknown. Nonetheless, as a result of that huge debt on Roux's shoulders, he could not send all of those who wanted to go to a huntsman academy there. Me, Rouge, Tangerine, and Azura all wanted to be hunters. But with the debt, only the eldest child, Rouge, was allowed to go to primary combat school, get private lessons and legitimately enter a huntsman academy. Tangerine, however, was undeterred. At the age of twelve, she started to learn combat from friends like Yang, local teachers and from watching fighters on the street."
"So why didn't you follow in her footsteps?" Ren asked.
"Because I wasn't as smart as she was."
"So your decision to forge transcripts was done on impulse." Ruby concluded.
"Kinda sorta, but not really." Jaune answered. "I had dreamed about being a huntsman for years. But I never had a chance. As a result of the debt, everyone eighteen years or older living in the Arc family home was required to get some kind of job to contribute to paying off the debt. Before Shade, Rouge started out as a waitress. During her days at the Academy, she became a fashion model and eventually a huntress. Tangerine became a vigilante while working towards becoming a huntress. Acacia wanted to be a singer but was discouraged and became a chef instead. And after the age was lowered to sixteen, my younger sister Emerald became a messenger several weeks after I returned home from Beacon. I was exempt from this rule due to the laborious nature of my punishment for forging transcripts."
"So what does all this have to do with forging transcripts?" Nora asked impatiently.
"I was getting to that. Roughly a month and a half before Beacon's last school year started, Acacia turned eighteen years old on July 14th, 78 AGW. The day after, she started her job as a chef. She was working the afternoon and the evening shift for the first three days. When she joined us for family dinner on the fourth day, mother asked her how her job was going. Acacia lied and said she was fine. Everyone believed her. Except for me and Azura, that is."
Pyrrha scratched her head. "Wouldn't Azura have said something with her lie detecting semblance?"
"Normally yes, but Acacia was sitting next to her and squeezed her wrist to prevent her from saying anything. Azura did not press the issue further, but from the way Acacia spoke and her eyes sunken, I knew she was lying. After dinner was over, I decided to speak to her privately. Upon entering her chambers and asking her about the truth, she immediately sobbed. She confided to me that she absolutely hated her job, that she felt like she wasn't any good at it and that she feared she would be stuck in the kitchen forever. I asked her what to do to avoid ending up the same situation she was in, and she gave me this advice, 'Don't be like me. Don't be a coward. Follow your dreams, no matter what.'
"I wanted to go to a huntsman academy, but with no combat skills, it would be impossible to get in. Or so it seemed. After thinking to myself in my room, I decided to heed Acacia's advice. Although in retrospect, I probably took it too far; First, I went underground, into the dark and I forged transcripts with help from a shady criminal named Crnobog, who was later caught by Tangerine. From there, I laid out a plan- to leave the home without telling anyone and attend Beacon for four years, stay in Vale during the summer, and return home as a stronger man than I originally started. After realizing I'd need money to pay for tuition, I stole a briefcase of 100,000 Lien from a wealthy businessman who left his case unattended. I will admit, I feel bad about the thievery, and maybe, to a small extent, the forgery. Although my plan did not go as intended. Azura found me as I was packing my bags, and I had to explain the forgery to everyone. I told my parents about the theft, but not my sisters. So I packed my bags and left for Beacon with high hopes, never thinking that my past would come back to haunt me."
Nora raised an eyebrow. "So you did this just to avoid being stuck in a job you hated?"
"Pretty much." He looked away sadly, his spoon hanging above his bowl with his fingers. "Go ahead, yell at me all you want. I deserve it."
For a moment, she was silent. Then she said, "You're still an idiot, Jaune."
Jaune sighed as the meal continued, a somber silence washing over them as almost everyone continued eating. Everyone except for Jaune, who put his spoon back in the bowl and hung his head in sorrow.
As the meal continued in silence, the huntresses and the faunus leaders duel raged on not too far from Mistral city. With Maza seemingly unconscious, and Blanka and Ayress knocked out, Carmina was the only huntress fighting the White Fang leaders.
"You will never best us!" Sienna declared.
"You won't prevail." Carmina stated.
"I hate to break it to you, but there's now two of us, and one of you."
"You underestimate my ability, as a leader and a huntress."
Maura smirked. "You're bluffing."
Carmina inhaled deeply through her mouth and exhaled to prevent her opponents from seeing the nervous look on her face. She was right, but she chose to glare at the faunus ladies and sought to press on. Suddenly, a rumble was heard and felt by all, shaking them. Although none of them saw it, bolts of black energy flashed slightly above the ground and disappeared as fast as they appeared. Ayress, Blanka, and Maza, who had previously been out, were now jolted awake by the rumbling earth.
"What was that?!" Blanka asked in fear.
"I don't know. But we're awake now, and we're going to beat those two ladies."
Uh oh. they both thought.
A brief montage of Blanka shooting at both of them, Ayress using her fire dust mace against them and Carmina firing all her dusts back to back was shown. Then Sienna was stumbling at the edge, and falling, just barely holding on to it with her hands. Ayress fired another wave of dust, sending Maura towards her as she tried to pull herself up. As Maura tumbled into Sienna, she was hanging on to the edge of the cliff with her right hand. With her left hand, she held onto Sienna.
"Ayress! We're not trying to kill them!" Carmina scolded.
"Oh. My bad." Ayress responded.
The three huntresses quickly approached them at the edge of the cliff, ready to reel them in.
"This is bad. There's no way I can pull us both back up. Otherwise they'll get both of us and all will be lost. You know what must be done." A tear slid down Maura's cheek. "I'm sorry."
"Maura!" She let go, and Sienna began to fall. "Ahh!"
Sienna was shown falling back first into the woods below as Maura disappeared from her sight. She tried to get her whip unchained from her arm, but was having difficultly doing so. She continued to fall further, seeing the world flash by her.
How can I save her if I can't save myself? she asked silently as she continued falling.
As Maura pulled herself up, she was greeted with glares from Carmina, Blanka and Ayress.
"Hands in the air!" Blanka ordered. "You have nowhere to run!"
"By the authority of team CUBB, you're under arrest!" Carmina took her hands behind her back and handcuffed her. "You stand accused of terrorizing a primary combat school, aiding and abiding criminals, running from the law and co-leading the destruction of the Argus Harbor Max Security Prison." The leader gave her a disgusted look. "How do you plead?"
"I'm not guilty." Maura answered. As she spoke, Maza was shown hiding behind a tree with a slightly worried look on her face. "Please, don't turn me in! I'm innocent, I tell you, innocent!"
Ayress grabbed onto Maura's arms. "Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge, Greenie."
"That wasn't me! It wasn't, I swear!"
Blanka smiled. "I can't believe we actually found her."
"We're going to be rich!" Ayress shouted in glee.
"More importantly, we've finally caught the most dangerous woman in Mistral." Carmina stated. She hoisted their bounty on top of her left shoulder. "Let's get her to the Catacomb Correctional Facility."
Maura looked up in horror. "No, not the Catacombs! Not the Catacombs! Please, no!"
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you." Blanka recited.
"We better get going." Carmina stated. She looked around. "Wait, where's Maza?" Maza came out from her hiding place. "Oh, there you are. We have everyone. Team CUBB, move out!"
The quartet of huntresses walked with their prisoner in tow. As Carmina took the lead, her younger sister Blanka stood by her left to make sure their prisoner didn't escape. Ayress and Maza stood a few feet behind them, the former smirking. Maza slowed down a little and looked away from her friends, no one seeing the troubled look on her face.