Author's Notes:
-Happy April Fools Day! I'm back with another chapter! (For real!) Due to the coronavirus pandemic (also known as COVID-19), all of my classes are now online. Whether or not this will affect the frequency of my fanfiction chapter publishings remains to be seen. I wish I could say this wasn't true, but alas, I can not. Stay safe everyone!
-And speaking of real, there ain't much trickery going on here. Nope- a lot of characters are going to face cold, harsh reality.
-Note that the names Jay Hawkins, Cyan Kratz, Caroline Teale and Slate De Sena belong to Roosterteeth, not me.
Last we left off, Weiss just got dragged out of the reception by her father. How badly will things go for Jacques? Let's find out.
Weiss was in a lot of trouble and she knew it. As she sat on her bed with her father in the room, she felt a pool of anxiety building up in her stomach. The former Beacon student didn't believe she had ever seen her father this angry.
"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable." Jacques suddenly stopped before turning and pointing at her. "Do you have any idea what your stunt cost us?"
Weiss stammered. "I—"
He swiftly cut her off. "I'm not just talking about Lien here! I'm talking about our reputation! Our..."
Jacques sighed angrily and held his head, unable to come up with the words to scold her. Weiss waited for a moment before speaking. "Father... I want to..." she began.
"Young lady, I don't give a damn about what you want! This isn't about you. This is about the Schnee family name and your apparent insistence on dragging it through the mud!"
Weiss stood up from the bed to face her father. "I have done nothing but fight to uphold the honor of my family name, a name that you married into!"
Jacques slapped Weiss hard on her left cheek, sending her head to the side as she gasped in reaction. She put her hand on her cheek and turned to face her father.
"This behavior of yours is incredibly disappointing. You fail to comprehend the lengths I've gone to in order to keep this family where it is. If you think running off like your sister is going to make the Schnee name stronger then you are wrong. Siding with her will only divide us."
"I'm not siding with anyone. I'm doing what I feel is right, and that does not include wasting my time up here with these clueless people in Atlas." Jacques walked away and rolled his eyes. "The Schnee family legacy isn't yours to leave. It's mine, and I'll do it as a Huntress, which is why I'm going to Atlas Academy."
Jacques stops and slowly turns to face her again. As he speaks, he moves to stand in front of his daughter, peering down upon her. "You're not going there. You're not to leave the manor grounds unless I specifically allow it. You are going to remain here, out of sight and out of trouble, until you and I come to an agreement on your future."
"What?!"
"Your presupposition that you can simply have whatever it is you want is a clear sign of our failure as parents. But from now on, I'll be giving you the full attention you require, starting by keeping you where I can see you and giving your earnings to your brother Whitley."
Weiss took a step back, stunned as she was stripped of her title. "Excuse me?"
"It appears that the trauma you endured at the fall of Beacon was too much for you. Which is why Whitley will take your place as heir to the company."
Weiss stared at Jacques, breathing heavily as she took in the news. "You can't just keep me from leaving!"
He turned to look at her again. "I can, and the staff here will make sure of it."
She glared at him. "So now I'm just your prisoner?!
"You are my daughter." he answered. "You're a child, and children are grounded when they misbehave."
Weiss glared at her father even harsher. "You can't do this!"
He slapped her again. "I can. You need to calm down and compose yourself, or you'll never get anywhere in life. It's time to wake up and face reality."
He closed the door on her and turned away, not noticing Whitley who had been eavesdropping on the conservation.
Looks like victory is finally mine. Whitley thought. And who would have guessed that Iris would have her dreams fulfilled as well?
A flashback occurred to where he and Iris were in the auction room. The two stood in the lower right corner of the room, watching as paintings were being sold.
"And next up in the series, we have The Gladiator Girl created by Iris Khloris." the auctioneer announced. Many people cheered and Iris smiled. Whitley genuinely smiled thereafter. "Let the bidding start at 15,000 Lien." He declared. "Do I hear 20,000 Lien?"
"Thirty thousand Lien!" a woman called.
"Thirty thousand Lien! Do I hear 35,000 Lien? Going once..."
"Forty thousand Lien!" a businessman called.
"Forty thousand Lien! Can we get 50,000 Lien? Going..."
"Fifty thousand Lien!" a woman in the back exclaimed.
Iris looked on in amazement as the price climbed up.
"Seventy-five thousand!"
"Eighty-five thousand!
"One hundred thousand Lien!"
Her mouth hung open in amazement.
"Do I hear 105,000 Lien? Going once..." the auctioner declared.
"125,000 Lien!"
"Going..."
"150,000 Lien!"
"Two hundred thousand Lien!"
"Do I hear 205,000 Lien? Going once, going twice..."
"250,000 Lien!" the same lady in the back exclaimed.
"Do I hear any other bids? Going once, going twice... Sold! To the lady in the back for 250,000 Lien!"
Iris felt tears escape her yellow eyes- tears of joy. Whitley smiled for her.
"Well, for a first time artist, you've done very well. Congratulations."
She threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Whitley. You've helped me out of the abyss."
He returned the gesture. "You're welcome, Iris. What else are friends for?"
As he returned to the present, he entered his bedroom and smirked upon closing the door.
Looks like today was a very good day. he thought to himself.
A few hours after Jacques and Weiss's argument, Estelle Blanche had just arrived at the Schnee family manor after spending the day with her eldest granddaughter. As she roamed the halls, she believed it would be best to inform her employer that she had returned and was ready to resume her duties tomorrow. She found the door to Jacques's chamber and was about to knock on the door when she heard a moan.
"I can't believe that Weiss lost her temper and nearly killed the patrons with her summons."
"Oh come now," a feminine voice softly answered. Estelle carefully pressed her ear to the door to eavesdrop on the conservation as the voice continued clearly, "I thought we came here to forget all that."
Wait a minute... Is that...? She thought to herself.
"True." There was a moment of silence. "You know Bianca, you performed quite well out there."
She raised her eyebrows in fear and alarm. Bianca Delaney?
Her laughter was heard as the maid began to connect the dots. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet. The real performance is about to begin."
Estelle bit her tongue and covered her mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping her mouth. She bit her tongue harder as she heard them making out.
"You certainly aren't the saint."
Bianca chuckled innocently. "You're one to talk Jacques. Then again, what Willow doesn't know won't hurt her."
"There's no chance of her finding out."
The maid felt a wave of nausea coming. She forced herself to keep it down as she heard the passionate make-out continued behind closed doors.
Estelle could not be certain, but she imagined Bianca was smirking as she said, "So, who's the sinner now?"
A slow moan was heard from Bianca before progressing to quicker, louder moans. Estelle swiftly turned on her heel and left, unable to stand another second of this heinous act, even if she couldn't see it.
The scene started with blackness before Tyrian felt a jab and was woken up from his slumber. He groaned softly as he opened his eyes. Upon opening them, he saw a Seer floating right before him in his tent. The Seer left the tent, and Tyrian begrudgingly got up. The Grimm took one of its tentacles and pointed to Tyrian's right, far from the camp. The Seer moved in the direction it had pointed in. The scorpion followed the Seer, musing to himself silently as he snuck away from the campsite.
Hmm... It seems Lady Salem is summoning me. But why?
Once they were about five hundred feet from the camp, the red smoke in the Seer began to stir.
"Hello? My lady?" Tyrian whispered.
The red smoke cleared to show Salem. "Good evening, Tyrian."
"I think it's actually early morning, but it's a minor detail in the grand scheme of things." He yawned. "I assume there's a reason you've risen me from slumber."
"There is. Normally I would not do this, but with the band of warriors you're traveling with, this is the only time I can speak to you without interference. Speaking of which, what are you doing with these hooligans anyway?"
"You see, my lady, this group is a portion of experienced combatants and civilian soldiers called the Trojan Alliance. Their goal is find Pyrrha Nikos and bring her justice. However, this group was specifically hired by Garnet Scarlatti, the mayor of Aquarian, to kill the spartan warrior. Since Ruby Rose is traveling with Pyrrha and the rest of team JNPR, I figured I would join the alliance, pretending to want to bring Pyrrha to justice, but when the time is right, I'll fight Ruby mano a mano, subdue her, and take her to you. The Trojan Alliance will kill Pyrrha, her teammates will be defeated, and we'll have Ruby. It's a win-win, and no one will be the wiser."
"I see your plan, and I will admit, it does sound clever in theory, but there's one thing I think you failed to take into consideration; What if they kill all of Pyrrha's friends simply for being associated with her? Not only does that mean that all of team JNPR would be dead, but Ruby would be as well."
Tyrian widened his eyebrows in realization before musing to himself. "You have a point there, my lady. Hmm... How to get around this..."
"How many fighters are in Scarlatti's Alliance?"
"Let me do the math here..." The scorpion man mused to himself before answering, "Four huntsmen, two police officers, three soldiers, twenty civilians who are learning the basics. Not counting myself, there are twenty nine members in this squad."
"How skilled are the officers and soldiers?"
"They're decent, but none of them are anywhere near as good as team SOLR."
She raised an eyebrow. "Team SOLR?" Her calm look turned to a glare. "Weren't you supposed to take them out during your three day stop at Vita several months ago?"
"I was, but, much to my dismay, I never found them. Now I see why; they moved to the outskirts of Vale. Unfortunately, I can't poison them- they're my free ticket to Ruby. As for the stop in Vita, I did get most of the other targets you requested though. Jay Hawkins, Cyan Kratz, Caroline Teale. The only one I couldn't find was Slate De Sena. But back to the issue at hand. Hmm... Perhaps what I can do is isolate Ruby from the rest of the fight. The civilians, officers and soldiers will slowly chip away at their defenses. They're not strong enough to kill former Beacon students. Even if Ruby encounters the mob, they won't be able to slay her. Alternatively, if she does encounter them, I'll pounce on her when she least expects it. Once that's done, I'll flee the scene before anyone sees me and bring her back to you. As for team SOLR, they won't even matter. They will be too busy fighting Pyrrha and her other three teammates."
"Now that is a plan I can get behind. It seems you know what you're doing. Just focus on finding and capturing Ruby. If you have to, defy SOLR's orders to do so."
"That I can do."
"Excellent. I know you're tired and probably wish to get back to bed, so I will bother you no more. Rest up. You'll need it to have any chance of capturing Ruby. Good night to you."
He gave her a bow. "Until we meet again, my lady."
Her image faded in smoke, ending the communication. The Seer floated away, leaving Tyrian alone.
The next day, after the sun had risen, team CUBB was walking in the forest, far from Mistral's capital city. In the back, Maza sadly fidgeted with her hijab. Ayress stood proudly with her teammates. The Griffin sisters had neutral looks as Carmina carried the briefcase of cash in her right hand.
"So now the Griffin sisters have sold their apartments and taken their savings, where do we go and settle? Argus or Wind Path?" Ayress asked her teammates.
"Perhaps we should go to Argus." Blanka suggested. "They need help."
"You have a good point there little sis." Carmina responded. "With the destruction of Argus Harbor Max Security Prison, it seems like they're going to need all the help they can get. Isn't that right, Maza?" Maza didn't answer and continued to fidget with the green cloth. "Maza?"
Everyone stopped and looked at the huntress. "Maza? What's wrong?" Blanka asked.
She straightened her hijab. "Nothing."
"You're not a good liar. You always fidget with your hijab when you're distressed." Ayress stated. "Come on, Maza, spill it."
"I still feel like this was a bad idea. We're carrying blood money, and I fear that Maura's curse will come to pass."
"Don't worry, Maza. Somehow I doubt a vengeful homicidal maniac will find us. And even if he does find us, with our combined efforts, we'll clobber him to the ground!" Carmina told her.
"We'll be fine." Blanka told her.
"Come on, we better get to Wind Path to sell Ayress's apartment." Carmina ordered.
The huntresses went forth and felt cool winter breeze brush past them. Maza tried to resist fidgeting with her hijab again, but she stopped in her tracks.
"Wait a second." Maza stated. "Someone's here."
"She's right." Carmina stated, using her aura to sense the person nearby. She concentrated and cried out seconds later, "Coming in at 10 o'clock!"
Blanka quickly dashed out of the way as Hazel attempted to ram her into a tree. The vengeful madman appeared in a state of rage before the huntresses.
"Who the hell is he?!" Blanka asked.
"I don't know, but we need to get him!" Carmina responded.
Everyone got out their weapons as Hazel ran towards the huntresses. Ayress charged forth, swinging her mace at him, only for him to directly intercept it with his hand effortless. He quickly grabbed it and tossed it aside like it was a piece of trash.
"Huh?!" Ayress exclaimed.
He punched her into a tree, and Blanka fired at him with her gauntlets, only to take each hit like it was nothing. The lumberjack quickly grabbed her wrist and threw her into Ayress.
Carmina used her staff to throw waves of rock dust at him. At that same, Maza took her axe, now loaded with electric dust, and fired it at Hazel.
"He didn't even flinch?!" Maza asked in terror.
She was punched in the stomach and sent flying, her legs landing directly on Ayress's mace. She screamed in pain and her comrades got up from the ground in alarm.
"Who... what are you?!" Carmina asked.
"That is none of your concern." Hazel answered.
Ayress retrieved her weapon as Carmina switched to firing fire dust at the same time Blanka fired more shots at him. Hazel ran forth and grabbed Blanka by the neck and threw her into the nearest tree. Maza got up as Blanka's white aura began to flicker. Ayress charged towards Hazel and threw fire dust at him, only for him to dash out of the way, setting a tree on fire instead. Maza and Carmina charged towards him, only to be knocked aside like dominoes.
He threw Blanka into a tree, only for her to spin around and land on the tree. Blanka jumped from tree, making her way towards him. He kicked Ayress in the legs, causing her fall to her knees and kicked her down. Shortly thereafter, Hazel saw Blanka coming at him, charging up her gauntlets with red energy. He grabbed the younger twin's arm, stopping her attack and threw her back-first into a tree, breaking her spine and killing her instantly.
"Blanka!" Carmina cried out. She glared at him with tears and daggers in her eyes. "You're going to pay for that!"
The leader of the team pressed a button and all four kinds of dusts were shown funneling into the tube, ready to be unleashed. Tears fell as she fired the four types of dust at the madman. Unfortunately, he dodged every wave and redirected himself so that when he dodged, she had fired at her teammate Ayress. The dark dressed girl screamed out in pain and Carmina winced at her mistake.
Maza threw her axe at his head, and he barely dodged it. As she went to retrieve it, Carmina faltered after her mistake and didn't see Hazel was about to punch her. As a result, she was punched right in the face, feeling a lot of pain in her jaw and even a tooth come loose. She quickly refocused herself and fired at him again, only for Ayress to be grabbed and held at the neck, slowly choking her.
"Let her go!" Maza demanded. She tried to punch him in the arm, but he didn't feel anything. Maza growled, frustrated to no end. "How is he not feeling any pain?!"
"Is it possible that he's a robot?!" Ayress asked, gasping for breath.
Carmina whacked Hazel on the head with her staff as Maza answered, "Not possible! I can feel his skin!"
Using his free hand, he grabbed the staff and removed it from her hands. He crushed it under his foot and tightened his grip around Ayress's neck.
"Ayress!" Carmina called out.
She desperately ran to him to try and save her friend, only for Ayress to exhale her last breath and be tossed aside. Hazel dodged an incoming electric dust wave from Maza's axe and attempted to slay him by striking the axe crossing his chest, but the blade was stopped by his hand. He threw it towards Carmina, who was impaled in the stomach with the axe, her pink aura flickering and disappearing. After dodging Maza's punches and tossing her to the ground, he soon punched team CUBB's leader in the skull, breaking it and killing her.
"Carmina!" Maza cried out.
With her friends dead, Maza felt a wave of dread wash over her. She looked at the madman in the eye as he picked up her axe. Tears threatened to fall as she saw Maura's words were coming true. There was no fighting it; her team had met their doom.
"I surrender!" Maza exclaimed, holding her hands in surrender. Hazel looked at her questionably as she knelt down on her knees. "Please just make it quick." She started to sob, not noticing his hesitance as her head bowed to him. She dared not look at her executioner in the eye. "I wish it didn't have to be this way."
She sobbed some more, and Hazel looked at her sadly. "So do I."
He took Maza's axe and split her skull, killing her instantly. He looked at her lifeless body and the heavily bloodied axe.
How did it get to this?
The lumberjack dropped the weapon and looked at the dead huntresses laying before him. Turning away from Maza, he made his way over to Carmina's corpse. He knelt down and took the case of cash that Carmina had been carrying.
Money stained with the 'blood' of five women. Maura, Maza, Blanka, Ayress and Carmina. He sighed. Why am I even taking this case of cash? I don't even know what use I would get out of this. All the money in the world can't bring her back...
While his back was turned, a Seer floated towards him. The smoke dissipated to show Salem.
"Hazel Rainart." She got his attention.
He turned around to face her. "Oh, Your Excellency."
"You look troubled. Are you having problems with killing huntsmen and huntresses?"
"No, Your Grace. No problem at all." he answered. "I was just thinking about how this briefcase is quote-en-quote heavily stained 'blood money'."
She looked closer at the briefcase. "Isn't that the reward team CUBB received for turning in Maura Celandine to the authorities?"
"It is. I don't know why I'm taking it or what use we would get out of it, but maybe it would help your cause."
"Hmm... I'm sure it'll have a great use to us. Hand over the case to the Seer and the Seer will hand it to me." Salem told him. He followed her instructions without delay as one of the tentacles held on to the case. "You have done very well, Hazel. Keep this up, and Haven's defense will crumble in no time."
"Certainly, Your Excellency."
"In related news, how's the hunt for Adam going?"
"No leads yet, but I'm still looking."
"Look no further. I have a received word from a Seer that Adam and a few of his faunus friends are hiding on the outskirts of Kunchinashi." she informed him. "Find him and figure out why he left Mountain Glen."
"As you wish."
"And while you're at it, kill more of the huntsmen and huntresses there."
Hazel gave a respectful bow to his mistress. "That can be arranged."
Salem smiled before the smoke entered the sphere, ending the conservation. The Seer floated off, taking the case of cash with it. Hazel sighed and took out a square-shaped locket. The locket's gold paint had slowly faded away over the years, despite not being worn.
The last thing I have left of her... Nearly thirty years since she perished. But now's not the time to reminiscence. To Kunchinashi I must go. Hopefully Adam is still there by the time I arrive.
He put the locket away and walked away from the scene of the crime.